The Yankees have scored almost 30 more points than the Bo Sox and gave up 10 less (yes our crappy pitching gave up 10 less than the awsome Boston pitching)

Hopefully the Tigers will carry todays momentuem and sweep the next series... :P

Pitching Experiment Debated - 'Doug Melvin is in the early stages of a plan to have relief pitchers start some minor league games, then have starters come in beginning in the third inning. "We want our starters to pitch important innings, the eighth and ninth, and not look for the bullpen," Melvin, a former minor league pitcher, said. "We want them to know it's their game. This is what we're developing them for. Some guys never see the ninth inning.' (http://tinyurl.com/p88gl)

Wouldn't this be a solid option for the Yankees staff? It allows you to mix and matchup innings 1-2 with your pen. I'm sure pitchers like Moose and Randy Johnson feel a lot better handing the ball over to Rivera in the 9th in a tight situation than Tanyon Sturtze in the seventh. Plus it gives your lowest status pitchers a little status. Handing over a mini-shutout to Moose in the third is more glamorous than a hold. I know this will never happen but I thought it was a great match for the current Yankees staff.

I won't even mention Kevin Thompson.

On a positive note, Andy had yet another good night, even if Berman and Hershiser talked about anything but Phillips during his ABs.

On the bright side, Damon is feeling better with the new padding and all.

And now Mo's hurting too.

Tough night for ol' Farnswacker. Gets squeezed by the ump, before handing his lunch money over to that bully Pudge Mags, the Tigers equivalent of Manny Ortez. Happens to the best of 'em.

Speaking of which, Mo gets the "Pavano Of The Week" bronzed-buttock trophy for tweaking his back while tying his shoes.

The Yanks are so plagued by injuries even their fans are getting hurt in stupid ways.

I sprained my left ankle the other night, jumping up to grab a broken tree branch in my flip flops. Slipped and rolled it good upon landing. Worst thing about it was my wife tried to stop me before I jumped, which gave her every right to laugh her ass off as I limped across the front lawn cursing my stupidity and misfortune.

A-Rod must be looking over his shoulder every day, waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Meanwhile, Terrance Long will probably be the last healthy man standing. TLong in the field and Proctor on the mound, and a mixture of sandlot rejects rounding out the squad. Wow.

BP

It's not that radical an idea. Managers make out lineups for batters in advance based on percentages and rest, why not make out lineups for pitchers based on the same principles? It's got to be better for the mental state of your middle relievers to know you will pitch in a game when it counts, even if it's 0-0 in the first inning. Starters might like the boost to their W-L record as well. All the scavanged wins would revert to the delayed starter. If Farnworth hands over a 6 run deficit to Randy Johnson then Johnson can't get the loss. But RJ could get the win in a Yankee comeback.

(sigh)

Gonna be a challenging season. Wonder what impact this will have on Sheff's option for next year. I like Melky, but it's nice to have a bit of thump in the lineup, if nothing more than to add stress to the opposing pitcher.

Ah well. Whattyagonnado? This is going to be a weird season. Nothing else to do but enjoy the ride and hope for the best. I'd sure like to see Andy Phillips jerk out out of Camden Yards with authority this weekend, just to show us he can.

BP

BP

Question, who would we rather see: T-Long or Sierra?

minus 1 pernt for Cliff's inadvertent Wang joke.

however, 1 bonus pernt for his "shot or stabbed" response to the Sierra or Long question.

Ok, I'll stop keeping score now. Can Fairpole calculate it automatically?

BP

I think he'll be a solid pitcher once he gains some experience and maturity, but right now, he doesn't deal with adversity all that well.

- The kid had pitched well after the single, and he'd only thrown 22 pitches.

- Two out, bases empty in the sixth - is that a situation where you really need to use your LOOGY?

- Mo is out for who knows how long. Wang's out in the fourth. This weekend's starters - Wright, Johnson and Small - have been averaging about 5 innings a start for the last few weeks.

Joe can't keep using Proctor and Farnsworth at the brutal pace he has been. Given the circumstances, it was just foolish to burn a pitcher on one batter when the game wasn't on the line. At some point he's got to let his long relievers pitch long relief, or he's going to kill the rest of the bullpen. If he doesn't trust Erickson or Rasner enough to let them pitch, then for god's sake get rid of them and try someone else - that's the whole point of replacement level pitchers, right?

Yes, it was all a master plan to lose last night in dramatic fashion so the Tigers would go into the Boston series on a high. MUHAHAHAHAHAHA...

What, nothin'?

My only hope is that they're holding Rasner back to start in Small's place on Sunday, but that's just a fantasy.

Anyone know if Mendoza's still doing well?

My theory, anyway.

It made no sense to take out Rasner, for Myers to do his LOOGY thing - and Proctor to pitch 2.3 innings. What happened to resting him some?

23 25 I liked not seeing Erickson. But, as JL25and3 and Cliff pointed out, it was not very good bullpen management by Torre last night, though the personnel were right on.

Farnsworth should have been able to close things out. That said, couldn't last night be counted at least partialy as a "Torre loss"? Twice T-Ball Long came up with men on base with the game close, and twice he failed miserably. Torre not pinch hitting for him in the 9th, even with GOB, was inexcusable.

Nobody on: .201
Runners on: .358
Runners in scoring postion: .375
Bases loaded: .400

I didn't understand pulling Rasner, either. He was starting at Columbus, wasn't he? He could have eaten up some innings.

I think Steve Lombardi sums it pretty well at WasWatching:
Yanks had a runner on 2nd in the 2nd with one out and could not score him. Yanks had runners on 1st and 2nd in the 5th with no outs and could not score a run. Yanks had the bases loaded in the 7th with one out and could not score. And, in the 9th, the Yankees had runners on 1st and 2nd - albeit with 2 outs - and did not score.

In all of these situations - 2nd inning, 5th inning, 7th inning and 9th inning, Terrence Long was at the plate with a chance to do something and made outs.

Thanks 22 & 24 I like CMW, he does seem unflappable, just hope he gets better.

the guy pitches DP balls well.. so why does he gets woozy with men on base..

http://tinyurl.com/pygoc

Could this be a whole new curse?

33 Sheffield's never given a damn about what fans, press or anyone else in the world thinks. That's one of the things that makes him such a charming fellow.

[No Wangs were Yanked in the making of this post.]

I suppose it does make for a good story, though.

>> It appears that this injury is not directly related to the previous one. Cashman said there was "nothing missed" on any of Sheffield's previous MRI exams and that this injury came from simply "playing baseball." <<

Pudge is next and he throws him two good sliders. One for a called strike, the next one in the dirt that Pudge couldn't hold up on. Ok, so I'm thinking, throw him the gas now. But he goes back to another slider. It wasn't a terrible pitch but Pudge wasn't born yesterday and he loops it for a basehit.

It just seems that Farnsworth or Posada's thinking is screwy. But what do I know? I'm just some frustrated fan sitting on my ass at home. In light of the bad news regard Sheff, and the unfortunate development with Mariano, it was a stupid game to lose. Yeah, 3 of 4 is better than I expected in Detroit, but hey, with that kind of lead that's an unfortunate loss last night.

I don't think Jorgie understands this pitcher.