If there wasn’t a compelling reason, apart from their ability, to put Melancon and Robertson in the pen and to show them the patience necessary to give them the best chance to become integral parts of the bridge to Mariano, there is one now.

What’s the buzz about CMW’s so-so performance last night?  That he needs a few more pen outings?  Can’t imagine, given Hughes’ solid outing this week, that they’d yank him out of Monday’s start.

This Bruney thing sux.  Just hope, as Rich indicates, that a Bruney trip to the DL means we get Melancon or Robertson, not Alby or Edwar.

Re CMW, I found this take at RAB interesting.  Not sure I agree, but anyway.

Not sure I agree with the tone of that RAB post (the usual overwrought sense of impending doom).  I don’t see activation of CMW as having been a “panic” move, but nevertheless they have a point: what now?

If they didn’t already have 5 capable starters, you could just slide him into the rotation and hope for the best.  Is it possible, based on some ridiculous Torre-esque veteranophilia that they’ll tell Hughes to step aside for CMW?

Let’s say Hughes pitches just ok in Arlington: 6IP 4ER or something like that, which is pretty decent against a good-hitting team in their hitters’ park.  And then let’s say CMW logs one relief appearance during the Texas series that’s slightly better then last night—say 3IP/4H/1ER.  Can’t you then see them giving Hughes spot to Wang?

Random thought about Jeter: has any major leaguer ever hit 15 HR in a season all to the opposite field?

Random thought about Jeter: has any major leaguer ever hit 15 HR in a season all to the opposite field?

Not sure but Jeter always seems to log at least one dead center HR a year.

bruney = carl?

or

carl = bruney?

boggles the mind…dont it?

I don’t agree with RAB regarding Wang. First, he is not going to benefit from pitching scoreless innings in the minors it’s clearly not the same as facing Utley, Ibañez and Howard. Second, why not trust Wang in a high leverage situation if much worse pitchers like Veras, Edwar, Albaladejo and Coke have been doing it all the season.

After watching CMW pitch last night I think that Hughes should be the 5th starter until Wang proves that he can get hitters out at the big level.

Wang was on his way back sometime this week no matter what.  so instead of pitching him in AAA last night, they gave him 3 innings in the bigs, which rested the taxed pen and gave him a chance to get his legs under him. 

i do find it a little funny how our reactions as yankee fans swing wildly from day to day.  before Hughes pitched on Wednesday, the consensus was that he needed to go back to AAA as soon as CMW was even close to ready.  he throws one decent game (stuff was excellent, results were meh), and now it’s a travesty that CMW is called up 2-3 days early.

Wang threw 7 shutout innings in his last start, and his last bullpen session reportedly went great. 

he wasn’t 100% last night, so maybe you let Hughes go and look for another opportunity like last night to let him pitch out of the bullpen. 

it’s better than calling him up, putting him right in the rotation, and giving away a game and killing the bullpen if he isn’t right.  and honestly, i don’t know if he can get to the point pitching in the minors where you are 100% sure he’s NOT going to do that his first start back.  he can probably still get out AAA hitters if he’s a little up in the zone.

if the plan is to ease him back into the rotation by pitching out of the bullpen, i’m not sure that’s so crazy and/or stupid.

i like RAB quite a bit, but i have noticed that 99% of Ben’s posts are of the complaining variety.  i think the other two guys are much more even-keeled and more fun to read.  just my opinion, obviously they run a great blog.

Yeah.  I guess I didn’t see Wang really diminishing the Yanks chances of winning the game last night all that much.  He came into a 5-1 game.  They didn’t have a great chance to win the game.  It was good to see him be able to get more outs than runs, and I think that was important.

One thing I was thinking was that the minor league parks don’t have the data-gathering abilities that the major-league parks do (I’m pretty sure, but correct me if I’m wrong).  It’s probably a lot harder to tell if someone is a little off with their mechanics in AAA than it is in the majors, but I guess that’s why pitching coaches get paid.

Yeah.  I guess I didn’t see Wang really diminishing the Yanks chances of winning the game last night all that much.  He came into a 5-1 game.

I think giving up any runs diminish the Yanks ability to win the game. I mean, aside from the comebacks recently, the Yanks are always a threat to make up a certain number of run deficit, 4 is within reach. So I wouldn’t think, if Girardi wasn’t sort of conceding the game, let one of the other relievers go one inning, see what happens, then go Wang for two if the Yankees don’t do anything in the seventh.

But whatevs, it’s only one game, and if it’s a net positive over the course of the rest of the season, then it is what it is.

i do find it a little funny how our reactions as yankee fans swing wildly from day to day.  before Hughes pitched on Wednesday, the consensus was that he needed to go back to AAA as soon as CMW was even close to ready.  he throws one decent game (stuff was excellent, results were meh), and now it’s a travesty that CMW is called up 2-3 days early.

I assume the hysteria you describe is for the fans of those other sites. Cause us folks here, we have nothing but clear eyes and grounded perspectives.

How is this page up? I though existence was over.

I think giving up any runs diminish the Yanks ability to win the game.

Well, that’s why I said “all that much”.  Maybe they had a 7% chance of winning the game, and putting Wang in lowered it to 6.5%.  It was the prototypical low-leverage situation.  I guess I don’t really see much difference between Wang and most of the other relievers in terms of run prevention. 

I would have also been perfectly happy if Girardi had done as you suggested and put in one of the short relievers for an inning with the idea of going with Wang for 2 unless it tightened up.

I hate 4 PM starts. And I hate Fox. On the other hand, I am looking forward to the game, lots of lefties for Pettitte to take advantage of.

I think Ben is a very good writer, and I have no problem with reasoned criticism by him or anyone else, but I’m not sure that there were/are any great options in the pen (since Aceves was unavailable), which continues to be their primary weakness.

On a positive note, at least Wang pitched like a credible ML pitcher, which is not something he was earlier in the season. I would hope that, if nothing else, it boosts his confidence.

Jeter’s HR today was cranked to left. There goes that opp field thing. Also, I’ve been impressed with his power this season.