Medic alert
Something's up with Jorge Posada, but the Yankees haven't let us know what it is just yet. All I can tell you is that the Indians announced the lineup change about five minutes before first pitch, with no reason given. Jose Molina is behind the plate instead and Posada was yanked out of the five hole. Yankees PR director Jason Zillo said that they'll have more information after the game.
It's a new era here with the Yankees. I think you've already seen that Joe Girardi doesn't like to give out any information that might somehow affect the opposition's in-game decisions -- Girardi has said numerous times that he won't speak about relievers' availability, believing that could be an advantage for the other side. The one exception was Brian Bruney, who was in a walking boot and obviously was not going to pitch on Thursday in Chicago.
That brings us to Joba Chamberlain, who sat for two consecutive games after throwing 33 pitches in that Chicago loss. Chamberlain hit a soft spot on the mound and felt a tweak in the back of his left hamstring, but the Yankees don't seem to believe it's anything all that serious. You can understand the cautiousness, though, when you realize that Chamberlain didn't pitch until May last year with a strained hamstring.
Those hamstrings are tricky things - once you feel them start to tighten up on you, you'd better back off a little before blowing it out. I should know - it happened yesterday in the gym (yes, we writers do get to go to the gym once in a while). My left hamstring will be ready to go tomorrow and the Yankees expect Joba's to be ready for today.
It's a new era here with the Yankees. I think you've already seen that Joe Girardi doesn't like to give out any information that might somehow affect the opposition's in-game decisions -- Girardi has said numerous times that he won't speak about relievers' availability, believing that could be an advantage for the other side. The one exception was Brian Bruney, who was in a walking boot and obviously was not going to pitch on Thursday in Chicago.
That brings us to Joba Chamberlain, who sat for two consecutive games after throwing 33 pitches in that Chicago loss. Chamberlain hit a soft spot on the mound and felt a tweak in the back of his left hamstring, but the Yankees don't seem to believe it's anything all that serious. You can understand the cautiousness, though, when you realize that Chamberlain didn't pitch until May last year with a strained hamstring.
Those hamstrings are tricky things - once you feel them start to tighten up on you, you'd better back off a little before blowing it out. I should know - it happened yesterday in the gym (yes, we writers do get to go to the gym once in a while). My left hamstring will be ready to go tomorrow and the Yankees expect Joba's to be ready for today.
Cano is killing me here! Since I am a glass half full kind of guy I will be happy with the homer, but Cano really needs to pick up his game.
Go Yanks!
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Melky!!! Thank goodness he wasn't traded
It just doesn't seem to be Cano's day right now...picked off before a HR
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I am listening to the game on the radio and Mark Feinsand just announced that Posada might have a tear in his shoulder. He is going to see Dr. Andrew. This is bad news.
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good thing we won't be relying on Will Nieves then
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Ha! Bummer we just got rid of Chad Moeller though.
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Torn shoulder muscle. Ouch. Bad news indeed, it's DL time for him. Am I the only one who doesn't like the idea of having Molina full-time at backstop? He's blessed defensively at least. Cano is picked-off before a homerun? Typical of him to lose his concentration ( I've read his bio, and this has been a lifetime thing with him. ) One of those things that you have to deal with, as long as he doesn't make it a habit. Pickoffs ARE part of the game, you know!
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Wang is sick!!! 7 IP 0R 9K
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Here is a rare treat. Yankees win despite scoring only one run.
Great game for Wang and the Joba/Mo combination wrapped it up beautifully with 2 perfect innings and 4 K's
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Wang 5-0, ERA 3.23 in 6 starts. This has to be his 20 win year if it's going to happen. In the AL only really Dice-K, Santana & Saunders of LAA & Cliff Lee 4-0, 0.28 (good job we're not facing him across this series) have had a comparable start
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Good to see Master Wang get the Indian monkey off his back. The guy pitched one heck of a game today. C.C. also pitched a great game for the Tribe. Jorge's injury puts the Yankees in a pickle, tell me can we get Moellar back? If you DH him what do you do with Giambi or Matsui? Tell you something Yankee fans the difference between Joba, Hughes and Kennedy is that Joba goes after the hitters. No fear with this guy.
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Wang is an ace, I hate when people think he's not. Nine strikeouts this outing, in his last win had six, the mastery of that slider has made him a dangerous pitcher on all sides of the plate and to all hitters. It's an interesting debate on who is the better sinkerballer Wang or Webb, who is pitching now against Jake Peavy. But back to the Yankees, please start hitting... please we're sucking right now and we're at .500, we need to get some hits. We wouldn't have scored 3 runs yesterday in Cleveland's LF didn't dive for Jorge's hit, Kennedy actually pitched OK, but we need to start scoring runs.
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Wang is a great pitcher. He is evolving. His first year he threw his sinker almost exclusively. Now he has that slider and a change-up to go to so hitters don't know what to expect.
Really bad news about Posada. It will be interesting to see what the solution is. Doesn't Jose Milina have some brothers?
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Jose Molina. Sorry about that.
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6 of our 13 wins have come of Wang's starts. Our team is struggling and he is carrying us on his back. If that's not an ace I don't know what is.
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Great stat arun7989. I understand that Wang is not a "shut down" ace like Santana, Beckett, etc., but really who would you rather want in your staff? I have to admit that I'm finally starting to have some faith in the staff. I mean Pettitte just got beat up, but that'll happen every once in a while. He'll be solid all year. Kennedy, after that bad inning, looked like he FINALLY woke up for the first time all year. Hopefully he continues along that path. Hughes is so young that he'll be all right given some time (that may take a lot of time unfortunately). And lastly I think we know what to expect from Moose. A couple of nicely pitched games based on whether he hits spots and/or gets calls mixed in with a bunch of stinkers...in other words, a #5 starter. If Hughes (or Kennedy) can step up and be a true #3, this team's in good shape even if the other "kid" struggles.
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I also think it's so funny how we as fans looked at the struggling Hughes and Kennedy and said "we blew it with Santana!" We all (myself included) forgot that MELKY would be gone too if we had Santana. Ironically, Melky's the one making that non-trade worthwhile thus far.
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In response to candyrunt's comment about AL potential 20 game winners, Felix Hernandex has to be considered, he's outperformed Bedard in a small sampling and today will get a ND after 7IP, 6H, 0ER, 4BB, and 10K, because his bullpen blew the game for him. Other than that I can't agree more with that list Cliff Lee looks amazing and has a lot to prove after an injury filled 2007 season.
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I lied haha, King Felix gave up 4ER ESPN's fantasy baseball "live" stats were anything but live, but I still think he should be considered to make a 20 game run if he can stay healthy.
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