Thoughts On Yanks/Sox Game

I didn't see much of last night's Yankees/Sox game. I was dead tired as the little ones have been running me ragged. Our older so has been waking up throughout the night and has been waking up earlier and earlier each morning. Couple that with a 2 hour plus rain delay and you know why I couldn't stay up for the whole game. I think I made it through 4 innings. I remember seeing Phil Hughes give up 4 runs. i don't remember seeing Alfredo Aceves pitch. I don't have a lot of thoughts on the game, but I have a few.

I was a little disappointed in Phil's outing. I don't think he pitched poorly, but he definitely could have been better. It seemed like he was always behind in the counts, which is never a good thing. He walked 4 and only lasted 4 innings, throwing 94 pitches, 56 for strikes. The strike-to-ball ratio was so-so, and it looked like the home plate ump had a hitter-friendly strike zone on a few of his pitches. Phil is going to run into problems when he faces a patient lineup. He needs to be more economical with his pitches and throw more strikes, especially strike 1 on the first pitch. I didn't see that from him yesterday which is the main reason why he was chased after 4 IPs.

I fell asleep with the Yankees down 4-0. I didn't think they had a shot as Jon Lester was dealing. They couldn't touch him in the 4 innings I saw. I was really surprised to see that Mark Teixeira went yard twice. Maybe that will break him out of his season-long funk. Hopefully it's not just a Yankee Stadium thing. He's doing much better at home than he is on the road, hitting 78 percentage points higher with an OPS on the road of .618 and an OPS at home of .949. So yeah, maybe it is a Yankee Stadium thing. Hopefully he can build on last night's performance over this homestand and maybe that will boost his confidence. He needs to be better, a lot better.

I saw on Pete Abraham's blog that Jorge Posada suffered a hamstring strain. Oh joy. That's just what this team needs. The offense suffered a great deal last year without Posada's bat in the lineup. Losing Jorge for an extended period of time would not be good. If he goes down, Teixeira really needs to kick up his game. I know A-Rod is coming back real soon, and that will help, but it might not be enough. I think the pitching staff may have to carry this team if they're going to play baseball in October. The rotation is more than capable of doing it. It's the bullpen that worries me.

Beckett vs. Chamberlain tonight. I was awake last night to see Girardi yammering with the Red Sox first base coach. It would not surprise me in the least if somebody got plunked tonight. Hopefully, the rain stays away. According to weather.com, there's an 80% chance of rain with accumulation up to a 1/2 inch. That can't be good.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie