Yanks Split Series, Moose Again Awesome

Say it with me Yankee fans: Mooooooooooooooose! In keeping with the tradition I've started here, there's one O for every Moose victory. The win total has now reached 15. 15 wins. 15 Os. 5 more Os and I'll be a happy camper. Well, I'm already a happy camper. Moose has won 15 and nobody expected him to do that. 5 more wins and I'll be happier than a pig in, well, you know. Moose is having an awesome season. I'll go as far as saying he's worthy of some heavy Cy Young consideration. That's not to say he should win, but he definitely deserves some serious consideration. Moose could win out though and I don't think he'd win. Cliff Lee has it wrapped up. But what Moose is doing is unreal. Nobody could have predicted this. 15-7 with an ERA of 3.27. Leading the league in wins. Yeah baby. I was most impressed with Moose shutting down the most potent offense in the league, and getting 11 ground ball outs, with only 3 coming on the fly ball. The OF thanks you for giving them the night off. Ground balls equal double plays. Double plays equal getting out of trouble. Moose induced 3 DPs. Those definitely were a key to his success tonight. So the Yankees have 47 games left. Assuming Mike stays healthy that's a minimum of 9 more starts. He'll squeeze out 10 if they keep on his regular rest, with his final start coming on the last day of the season against the Red Sox. 5 wins in 9/10 starts? I don't want to get ahead of myself but that's very doable. This could make for 1 fun fan club dinner. Oh, if there are any Moose fans out there, check this out. Nice interview with Moose posted on Yahoo today. Give it a look.

The bullpen was again rock solid. I wasn't a fan of pulling Bruney for Marte but it worked out. Mo again remained perfect in save situations. 28 for 28. He somehow needs to convince himself that every game is a save situation. His dominance in those games is amazing. Vintage Mo. He's definitely having one of, of not the best seasons of his career.

I wasn't overly impressed with the offense. 11 hits, 3 walks, a HBP and all they muster are 3 runs. This team needs to be more efficient at the plate. The DPs are killing them. As a fan it's extremely frustrating to watch them hit into so many rally killers. They've hit into 8 DPs in their last 3 games. Frustrating. Very frustrating. The pitching is definitely carrying this ball club. Robbie Cano had a solid night at the plate. It was his 8th multi-hit game in 19 games since the break. The Yankees are 8-0 in those games. Cano now has 31 multi-hit games this year. The Yankees in games when Robbie has 2 or more hits: 24-7 (.774). Considering Robbie has increased the # of multi-hit games each month, we might be in for a nice run the rest of the way if he stays hot and that winning percentage holds up. For the statheads out there, here are Robbie's multi-hit games by month and the Yankees record in those games:

• April = 2 (1-1)
• May = 6 (5-1)
• June = 9 (6-3)
• July = 13 (11-2)
• August = 1 (1-0)

Cano has been a better hitter in the 2nd half of the season statistically speaking. Take my word for it. I'm not looking those up. Robbie is swinging a good bat. Unlike his buddy Melky. I'm glad Girardi has decided that the kid needs to sit. There are a lot of better options than than Cabrera. I like him as the late inning defensive replacement. I have the sinking suspicion that Girardi won't be sitting him for long. I won't be a fan of that move.

Tomorrow marks the return of Ian Kennedy. We should all be a little nervous. I think IPK's success is going to be based a lot on his confidence level. I hope he's built that up during his stint in the minors because we need Ian to be a lot better than he was earlier this year. In 9 minor league starts this year, Kennedy was 5-2 with an ERA of 1.99, with a WHIP of 0.88. I don't know about you but that would build up my confidence level. Tomorrow is going to be an important start for IPK. Getting off on the right foot is a must. And that goes for the Yanks too. No more of this losing the 1st two games of the series and winning the last 2 BS. Let's kick it off with a win and build on the momentum that has come from the last 2 games.

And one more time for good measure: Mooooooooooooooose!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,