Joba to start Tuesday

It's official. Joba will make his ML debut as a starter Tuesday night in the Bronx against Toronto. We should not expect too much. I'm thinking 5 ip, 3 er, which I would be happy with - just something positive to build on.

- Didn't get to see tonight's game but Moose apparently pitched well - Shelley's error hurt him though (costing him 18 extra pitches). Edwar continues to excel: he came in in the 7th with a runner on and one out and got two quick outs on just five pitches. His ERA over 14.2 ip is 0.00. By the way, Mo pitched a scoreless 9th - his ERA is a robust 0.38.

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.

A shitty all around game

It was a Lazy Susan of ineptitude last night. First it was Kennedy blowing a four run lead (with Arod's help), then it was Ohlendorf doing the same, followed by Jeter making two costly errors (one on the bases, one throwing), and finally Betemit being incapable of playing a mediocre first base.

This is the price we pay for converting Joba to a starter. Despite what Girardi says, it does weaken the team in the short-term. I think we can assume Joba would have pitched better than Hawkins did, probably closing out the game. Joba's scheduled to pitch in relief of Andy Pettitte tonight (about 55 pitches).

Considering Kennedy is now on the DL with a lateral strain (the same injury as Posada), Joba could be starting in his stead the next time through the rotation. That would mean a Sunday afternoon or Monday night start in Minnesota.

Chris Britton was called up to take Kennedy's spot on the roster. But here's hoping to Hawkins being released. He was signed to a one-year deal for flexibility (aka, he could be cut if he sucked).

And will someone please brush back Kevin Millar?

I was there

At the game when Joba began his transition to starter. I didn't get home until 1 a.m. (the reason for the lack of posts), so I'll now catch up.

I went with a few guys and sat in Row V of Tier section 10. Rasner looked sharp from the beginning (as much as one call from from Row V of Tier 10); he k'ed two in the first inning.

Anyway, I had a feeling that Joba would pitch the tailend of the game (partly because he needed work), despite the 8-0 score. Lo and behold, I saw him warming, and he came in for the 8th. I then began to wonder if he wouldn't be used again for the 9th - to stretch him out in a low-stress situation. And it happened too.

When I arrived home, I was fairly shocked to see how open Girardi was about Joba's conversion.

Meanwhile, it should be pretty evident how badly the team missed Arod: two doubles and a HR (should've been two). That second double was tough to read, so I could understand calling it a double (I couldn't tell definitively either). It didn't appear high enough to clear the wall - I kind of lost it when it passed the Modell's sign, the next thing I saw it was rolling back toward the right-fielder. The only conclusion was that it either hit the concrete above the wall or the very bottom of the outfield wall (where there's no padding). Does anyone out there still think baseball shouldn't use instant replay? What if Arod finishes his career with 761 homeruns (one less than Bonds)?

The Next Pitching Wave

We now have four quality pitchers one bus ride from the Bronx. Two starters (Horne and McCutchen) and two relievers (Cox and Robertson). They all have a good chance to join the Bronx bullpen this year and improve it. When Joba moves to the rotation, it will open a spot most likely for one of these guys. And if more of the Scranton bunch force their way to the Bronx, it would probably mean the demotion of Veras, Ohlendorf and/or Edwar, and perhaps the DFA of Hawkins.

JB Cox
16.1 ip
12 h
3 er
5 bb
8 k
0 HR
2.38 ground outs/air outs

McCutchen
50 ip
38 h
14 er
15 bb
46 k
4 HR
1.26 GO/AO

Horne
8 ip
9 h
3 er
2 bb
8 k
0 HR
1.83 GO/AO

Robertson
28 ip
14 h
5 er
13 bb
36 k
0 HR
.92 GO/AO

That's a combined -
102.1 ip
73 h
25 er
35 bb
98 k
2 HR

2.20 ERA
1.06 whip
8.6 k/9 ip
3.08 bb/9
2.8 k/bb
.18 HR/9
1.6 GO/AO

Those are very good numbers...
but you know what sticks in my craw when I see those (or any pitcher's good minor league stats)? They pretty much always pale in comparison to those of Phil Hughes (who did it all at the ages of 18-20!). I'm very confident Hughes will be at least a quality major league pitcher. He completely dominated the minors, a lot more so than other successful pitchers. It's just a matter of time.


sources:
Yankee Prospects
MiLB

I'm divided

But not about one thing - this was (hopefully) the nadir of the season.

What I'm divided about is Latroy Hawkins. I like that he threw at Baltimore's Luke Scott, but I dislike that the pitch was near his head. I don't think he meant to throw it near his head, but he's got to be more careful. On the other hand, Cabrera has to be more careful throwing inside to Yankees; we're lucky Jeter's hand wasn't broken. I'm sure he is sick (I know I am) of constantly getting hit. Sure, pitchers throw inside to him which is fine, but that particular pitch was unavoidable. It was shoulder high, tailing in, at 92 mph.

And how the hell does Kevin Millar (who came in hitting .234/.318/.348) somehow hit like Albert Pujols whenever our pitchers face him?... Well, now that I checked the numbers, he doens't hit that well against us: a career 112 OPS+ against the Yanks compared to 114 overall. But doesn't it just seem like he kills us? Hmmm... Now I found it: his OPS against our current pitchers is 1.062, much higher than his career OPS of .825.

- Dan McCutchen is (finally) going to Scranton. The Yanks pen in the second half has a chance to be very nasty. Not even counting any current relievers, they'll have the opportunity to utilize David Robertson, JB Cox, Alan Horne and Dan McCutchen. Four very strong arms. And that's not even counting the possibility of others top prospects like Mark Melancon and Humberto Sanchez.

Moose shines

Moose came through again with another stellar outing: 6.1 ip, 1 er. It saved the series and gives the team a chance to once again reach .500. A win today would go a long way toward making the fans and players feel good about the next stretch.

- Hat tip to Pete Abe - Dan McCutchen will be promoted to Triple-A Scranton. The Yanks will have a lot of pitching options in the latter half of the year.