Some quick thoughts on the Yankees winning the series against the Mariners and other points:
FRIDAY – AJ Burnett was as awful as the Yankees offense. However, the offense was facing King Felix Hernandez; Burnett wasn’t exactly pitching against an All Star team. Or a playoff team. Or a team with a .500 record.
SATURDAY – Javier Vazquez didn’t have it again, and he all owed a home run into the upper deck, the first homer to be hit up there. Ah, Home Run Javy: if anyone could do it, he could. The bullpen and the offense weren’t taking it lying down and the Yankees recovered after an embarrassing loss the night before, which was good to see. It felt like the Yankees were getting their asses kicked, but it was actually tied at 4 before the Bronx Bombers took the lead for good.
SUNDAY – With rain looming, CC Sabathia put together a great start chuck fulla Ks. The offense was also out and about: the Mariners decided that with runners on 2nd and 3rd, they’d walk Mark Teixeira and load the bases. With a lefty on the mound and Robinson Cano coming up, who was 0-2 and 1 out on the board, I still questioned the logic; Cano had been K’d once already, but he’d also seen the pitcher twice before on that day, gotten a good look at his stuff, which was diminishing. Cano immediately rewarded my faith with a first pitch fastball grand slam. If the game wasn’t already out of reach, that killed it for the Mariners and gave the Yankees the series win – and the season series win.
Burnett is, by far, the biggest concern on this Yankee team. It’s clear that the Yankees are going to get into the playoffs one way or another, despite their injuries. I still believe Andy Pettitte is going to come back from his injury and pitch effectively, if not at the insane level he was at before the injury. Phil Hughes is good enough to be the fourth starter, which I believe won’t come into play until the ALCS. Javier Vazquez is hurt or exhausted or finished; I’m not sure which, and it doesn’t really matter, because I can’t see him starting for the Yankees in the playoffs this year. I still think bringing in Vazquez was a worthwhile risk, but it just hasn’t worked out.
Back to Burnett: check out his game log. April was good, May was ok, June was horrible, July was great and August has been bad. You just don’t know what you’re going to get out of this guy. I know I should be more concerned with Pettitte, who isn’t even on the mound right now, but Burnett is so hit and miss that its hard to trust him. In the 2009 playoffs, he lost one of the biggest games of the year – and also won one of the biggest games of the year. I don’t know what to think about Burnett, and that tells me that he can’t be counted on, which scares me in October..
The Yankees finally put A-Rod on the DL. They probably should have done this two weeks ago, but whatever. Cano is a more than capable clean up hitter, and the Yankees will manage for the 15 days. Besides, the Yankees are undefeated in games that A-Rod has missed this year, and he probably wasn’t going to play until around August 27 anyway.
The Yankees are going to Toronto to face the Blue Jays, and Ian Nova will get his first start, which should give the other guys an extra day of rest. No idea if this will help Vazquez and Burnett, but it couldn’t hurt. Nova has appeared out of the bullpen this year for the Yankees, and his starting numbers at AAA are pretty good – a sub 3.00 ERA.
Jamie Insalaco
