the one that got away...
Well last night the Yanks threw a game away to the Nationals in what seemed like a game that just flew by. However you must give credit where it is do, John Lannan's numbers were very good regardless of the team he plays for, and he pitched up to his numbers. He has a great delivery and works fast. Color me impressed by his "throw any pitch in any count" attitude on the mound, there are not enough young guys that do this.
Wang's performance was an improvement, but Phil's was flat out great. While you see all the unfulfilled potential Hughes has and assume that he could fill the starting role much better than Wang can RIGHT NOW, you sitll have to assume that as he gets more starts Wang will perform to his ability. Wang is a key to this rotation, if he gets going along with Sabathia and Burnett we could see a very formidable rotation come together.
Kay brought up a good point about the pitching on his show the other day. The ballpark does yield runs and you need to have pitchers that pitch against the park's strengths. So sinkerballers (Wang) and strikeout pitchers (CC, AJ and Joba) are the key to building a pitching staff. But Andy doesn't really fit in to that mold. He gets killed at Yankee Stadium lately because of the amount of long fly balls he gives up. His stuff right now hasn't been great, he's walking way too many guys and overall not avoiding the longball.
This is why the development of a guy like Phil Hughes is so important for next season. With at least three or four of your rotation slots filled up for next season, you can almost assume that it will be time for Hughes to take a full time spot into the rotation. This could ultimately save money on starting pitching and let you focus on the OF and some relievers.
Speaking of the OF spots, if Boston doesn't lock up Bay, it's really time for the Yankees to consider him as an option for left field next season. Dude seems to be really coming into his own in the American League. While Matt Holliday is also an option on the free agent market, it seems that Bay has really been a guy you can count on in the moment. A middle of the order lineup of Tex-Alex-Bay really seems to work for me.
Finally, some thoughts on last night's game, baseball and other assorted junk:
Listening to: Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisted
Drinking: Seltzer
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jaydestro
Wang's performance was an improvement, but Phil's was flat out great. While you see all the unfulfilled potential Hughes has and assume that he could fill the starting role much better than Wang can RIGHT NOW, you sitll have to assume that as he gets more starts Wang will perform to his ability. Wang is a key to this rotation, if he gets going along with Sabathia and Burnett we could see a very formidable rotation come together.
Kay brought up a good point about the pitching on his show the other day. The ballpark does yield runs and you need to have pitchers that pitch against the park's strengths. So sinkerballers (Wang) and strikeout pitchers (CC, AJ and Joba) are the key to building a pitching staff. But Andy doesn't really fit in to that mold. He gets killed at Yankee Stadium lately because of the amount of long fly balls he gives up. His stuff right now hasn't been great, he's walking way too many guys and overall not avoiding the longball.
This is why the development of a guy like Phil Hughes is so important for next season. With at least three or four of your rotation slots filled up for next season, you can almost assume that it will be time for Hughes to take a full time spot into the rotation. This could ultimately save money on starting pitching and let you focus on the OF and some relievers.
Speaking of the OF spots, if Boston doesn't lock up Bay, it's really time for the Yankees to consider him as an option for left field next season. Dude seems to be really coming into his own in the American League. While Matt Holliday is also an option on the free agent market, it seems that Bay has really been a guy you can count on in the moment. A middle of the order lineup of Tex-Alex-Bay really seems to work for me.
Finally, some thoughts on last night's game, baseball and other assorted junk:
- You know your team is bad when you call up Corey Patterson to help improve it.
- Manny Acta doesn't deserve to lose his job.
- Another young pitcher once again befuddles a team of Yankee veterans. I will never understand it.
- The MLB At Bat App for the iPhone is so great. The streaming video quality over WiFi was really impressive.
- Hey fans, quit booing when Alex doesn't do something, it makes you a bad fan. Regardless he is a Yankee. Booing seems to be the "cool" thing to do, I don't get it. I never boo guys on the team I root for.
- Today's weather in the tri-state area plain out sucks. How are they going to get this one in?
- Elijah Dukes has all the talent in the world but doesn't belong in the Majors. He really should be at AAA learning how to be a ball player.`
- Nick Swisher sometimes really lets you down in big spots. He's a good guy to have around but seems to have been exposed playing every day. Xavier Nady could be back soon, which could help a lot.
- Melky just isn't the same batter since that bump into the wall in Texas.
- If I had to pick a Yankees pitcher is going to get a base hit in a NL park, I guess I'd have to go with CC after seeing what he did last season.
- Phil Coke seems to have figured it out as of late. Nice to see considering that Marte is a total wash this season.
Listening to: Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisted
Drinking: Seltzer
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jaydestro
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