The Stopper

Dandy Andy to the rescue. 6.2 ip, 2 er - that's what you need from your stopper. Despite allowing eight hits, Pettitte escaped many a jam. Joba relieved him with two outs in the 7th - he allowed a walk and a hit before striking out Kevin Millar (I don't know how that felt for Joba, but it felt great for me). His problem that inning was falling behind hitters, but he quickly corrected that in the 8th, striking out two in a perfect frame.

Unfortunately, it was only a two-run lead at the time so Girardi opted for Mo to close it out rather than keep Joba in for a 3rd inning. As a result, he threw just 28 pitches. When Mo came in, Joba jogged to bullpen to throw another 25 or so pitches in a simulated game.

I'm sure a lot of fans out there will look at these last two games as the perfect example of why Joba should remain a reliever. Not me though. What we saw last night was poor starting and middle relief pitching. That's why the Yanks lost, because they allowed 10 runs. The difference tonight was clearly the starting pitcher. As opposed to 3 ip, 3 er, they got 6.2 ip, 2 er. It allowed the 2-4 batters to go hitless (0-12) and still win.

By the way, is Mo not having the best season ever by a reliever? Come back later for an analysis.

Posting will be sparse for the next few days as my wife and I are going on vacation. Later.