Sunday, May 2, 2010

Yankees Take Rubber Match

The Good

Phil Hughes pitched an incredible game, shutting out the White Sox over seven innings. Cano hit a three run home run, Swisher had a two run home run, and Gardner hit a home run. Even Johnson managed to hit an RBI double in the 7th. Teixeira had 4 hits. Crazy.

The Bad

Pena went 0 for 5, with an error. Pretty much the worst part of this game was the performance of our back-up infielder. Melancon's ninth wasn't pretty, but he shouldn't have been out for another inning anyway. We also went into that inning up by 12, so I just don't care.

The Ugly

Buehrle's performance was not pretty. After he came out in the fifth, RJG caught up with him to find out what went wrong.

"The other day, I was watching this great pitching video," explained Buehrle. "It's called, 'How to Pitch in the Majors, with Javier Vazquez.' I studied every aspect of that video, but for some reason it's just not working out. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I copied it exactly. It's just dumbfounding."

The Air Show

As I said before, Gardner, Cano, and Swish all had home runs today. Swisher dedicated his performance to Maya Angelou, an inspiration to us all.

Posada 5hr = $5
Granderson 2hr = $2
Cano 9hr = $9
Swisher 3hr = $3
Jeter 4hr = $4
Johnson 1hr = $1
Rodriguez 2hr = $2
Teixeira 2hr = $2
Thames 1hr = $1
Gardner 1hr = $1
Total = $30

9 comments:

hunter said...

Hughes is a beast. He looked absolutely amazing out there today.
And I sure hope this means Tex has decided to swing the bat. He also looked good today

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

It's amazing how different a player Teix is as soon as it goes from April to May. It really does seem to switch overnight.

Hughes has been very impressive. If he keeps going like this, he'll be the number 4 starter before long.

Anonymous said...

Based on his performance, Hughes is already our 4th pitcher.

Maya Angelou?

Rob B said...

I'm loving the "interviews" that keep popping up in the ugly. Keep it up.

And Hughes is the best pitcher in the rotation right now. Best ERA, best WHIP, best ERA+; he's pitching like an ace. And when Andy P, CC, and AJ are also pitching well? Who cares what Javy does?

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

Thank you, Rob. At this point Hughes is our de facto fourth starter, but I still have one concern about Javy. Hughes, while he has certainly been great, is still learning. With Javy unable to give us more than 5 innings, it puts pressure on Hughes to be the guy who spares the bullpen every time he starts. That's not fair to a pitcher that young. He needs more room to struggle every now and again. At this point, I think they should skip Javy in Boston next week, move Hughes up into the fourth slot and let Javy pitch fifth. That way, CC is left with the responsibility of having to regularly spare the 'pen instead of Hughes. Not that anyone should have to be responsible for cleaning Javy's messes, but as long as Javy is in the rotation somebody has to be, and it shouldn't be Hughes. Eventually the Yanks will have to decide whether Javy is really built for our rotation.

lady gaganonymous said...

HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHES!!!!

Rob B said...

Good points about sparing the bullpen. When I said who cares about Javy, what I really meant was that it's not an end of the world thing that he's not pitching well, since the team has four starters that are dealing. But, I really think you have something there with switching the order in which they pitch. Maybe they should even take it one step further and find a way to have somebody pitch in between the two. Go in this order? CC, AJ, Hughes, Pettite, Vazquez?

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

I thought about that too. I think the way you have it set up would make the most sense.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

I had to write something, so I went with Maya Angelou. I have no idea why.