Don't Pull The Plug Just Yet

Before I get into a post about last night's game, just a heads up. Make sure you stay tuned to the blog over the next few days/weeks. I'm going to be giving away 5 copies of the Essential Games of Yankees Stadium DVD set through various contests. For those that don't remember what this DVD set is, I posted about it a few months ago. For those too lazy to click the link, basically, it's 6 games played at the Stadium, selected by fan vote, on DVD. Kind of like the 1977 or the 1996-2001 World Series sets. I'll post more info on that later, likely sometime tonight. Make sure to check back. On to the business at hand....

The Yanks won in Anaheim last night, keeping their slim playoff chances alive. And by slim, I mean as close to non-existent as you can get. Is there a term for that? Anyway, they'd have to pull off an unbelievable run of 17 straight wins to close things out to even have a chance. Lose 1 and they're done. Not mathematically, but to me. 94 wins will win the wild card, or at least tie for it. With 77 wins and 17 remaining, they can technically still pull off 94. They won't though. Too tough a schedule. I've been saying this pretty much in every post lately so sorry if I sound like a broken record, but you never know who's reading this for the first time.

Maybe the Yankees would be a little better off if they had chosen to start Alfredo Aceves a ways back, instead of Darrell Rasner. The writing was on the wall long ago about Rasner. No way you could expect him to win consistently. If Aceves continues to pitch like he did yesterday, and like he has in the minors, he would have made for a much better option. I'm surprised Girardi and company didn't see this earlier. But then again, I'm not. One of Girardi's faults is that he gives people way too many chances. Rasner should have been bumped from the rotation a long time ago. Aceves had a pretty solid outing last night. He was never in any real danger. He was economical with his pitches and his control was outstanding, throwing 70% of his pitches for strikes. These other rookies need to take note. Ian Kennedy, I'm talking to you. Speaking of Kennedy, Pete Abraham brought up a good point in one of his posts about Aceves. We shouldn't get too excited about Aceves' outing as Kennedy after all pitched just as well when he got called up at the end of 2007. But he's still a better option than Rasner. Has been for a while.

It was nice of the offense to bust off some runs yesterday. Congrats to Derek on passing the Babe for 2nd place on the Yankees all-time hit list. Next up, the Iron Horse. The Yanks had a pretty nice night at the plate. Too bad they can't do this on a more consistent basis. Who know? Maybe they can find a way to hit like that for the next 17 games. They're certainly capable. But as we've seen all year, capable doesn't often translate into hits and runs. The Yankees offense has been puzzling all season. They're currently on pace to score 784 total runs this year. That's 184 runs less then they scored last year. That's pitiful considering the lineup is pretty much the same, if not, slightly better. The pitching staff is on pace to allow about 30 less runs than they did last year.

Ah, what could have been.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie