Yanks Bullpen Implodes, Joba Unimpressive In Start

Another really frustrating Yankee game. It's becoming more of the norm. The bullpen for the most part was absolutely atrocious. I could barely stand watching them implode in the 7th inning. The magical season of Edwar Ramirez has come to an end. He was awful tonight. I don't think it's cause for alarm. His lack of control did him in tonight and he's had pretty good stuff all year. If he can throw strikes, he'll be fine. Jose Veras on the other hand. I don't know what the Yanks see in him. I just don't get it. I've never really seen the attraction. On the plus side, Latroy Hawkins didn't give up any runs. Figures. The one time it really doesn't matter how he does he pitches alright. And good for Chris Britton. Keep doing your thing.

I wasn't expecting much from Joba tonight. Not many of these guys do well in their first start. It didn't help either that the Jays' game plan was to sit and watch all his pitches. Lucky for the Jays he didn't have good control. Had he, joba might have lasted more than 2.1 IPs. But he pitched alright I guess. If the Jays didn't know the Yankees game plan perhaps it would be a different story. You could totally tell they wanted his pitch count to climb and to get him out of the game ASAP. His next start will be a better indicator of how things will go. I would still prefer to see the Yankees have him do this in the minors. Call up a guy with the arm strength to maybe throw 5 IP and save the bullpen. Dan Geise filled in admirably in what will probably be his 1 and done outing. It definitely doesn't make any sense to start Joba ahead of Moose. We're back to the problem we had with Phil and Ian. Back-to-back short outings will kill the bullpen. I hope Moose brings it tomorrow.

The offense didn't really do much tonight. But it's Roy Halladay. What can you really do? The Jays have the best pitching staff in baseball. Scoring runs against them hasn't been easy for anyone. Johnny Damon continued to swing a hot bat. His 3 hits have him hitting above .300. And Jeter's slump appears to be over. Jeet is now 6-12 in his last 3 games. The Yanks had their chances but again came up empty when they needed it most. After watching yesterday's game, I was resigned to the fact that the Yankees were again going to fail at scoring with a runner on 3rd with less than 1 out. In this case there were no outs which would have made it worse. But Matsui was having none of it. Godzilla has been the go to guy all year. He better get voted into the All Star Game.

So here we are again. 2 games under .500. The struggle to get over the hump continues. Now it will take at least 2 more games. It's not going to be easy to do against the Jays. The Yanks almost need to play perfect baseball. Something tells me that's not going to happen. It's all on Moose's shoulders. A win tomorrow and he'll still be the league leader in wins. I couldn't be happier that Moose is pitching effectively. I'm a big Moose guy. But he's got an uphill battle tomorrow. He needs to pitch deep into the game. The Yankees need at least 6 from him and then they'll turn it over to.....uh oh. We might be in trouble. Moose needs to pitch at least 7.2. That's all there is to it. Moose for 8. Mo for 1. Sounds like a plan. No go execute.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie