Yes, yes, it happened. The Yankees have gained first place. Is anyone really that surprised? And yet, I’m still mantaining that I’m not worried. I’ve said many times why, so I won’t bother this time.
Mark Bellhorn was placed on the 15-day DL, and Alex Cora responded with two hits in four at-bats and one of these non-hits was a well-hit flyball in the ninth inning. We had no problem starting Pokey at second base, so why do we with Alex Cora? I personaly have no problem with a Gold Glover who while does not have potential to hit for power, does have potential to hit .280. He should start the majority of time while Bellhorn is out. In addition, Mueller could see time at second with Kevin Youkilis playing third.
Alan Embree came in again today to face a lefty. I don’t care that he struck Carl Crawford out, the man cannot be a lefty specialist when lefties are hitting over .300 against him. I suppose the benefit of this though was that Mike Myers was able to come on later in the game.
Wade Miller avoided his first-inning woes this year and was pitching quite well until the sixth, when he started walking a lot of batters and tiring. I was okay with Wade Miller up until Joey Gathright, but I felt that Tito should have pulled him then. I can understand why he didn’t, but when you have an inning going thusly: groundout, walk, single, pop-out, walk, it’s best to start thinking about yanking Miller based on past history.
Perhaps Jeremi Gonzalez comes in. He’s pretty much the only choice to come in (which makes my understanding of not yanking Miller legit for Jeremi is a longman) but you never know, he could have gotten Gathright out. Embree just is terrible and actually while is better against righties than lefties, I want to avoid him as much as possible. Myers is used against lefties only, and Timlin is not until later in the game – ditto Schilling. Sure, the outcome sucks, but what else do you want? This is why we need another impact arm in the bullpen to take over for John Halama.
Speaking about the AJ Burnett trade, his next scheduled start is today. A lot of people thought he’d be traded before then and he still could, but it’s really coming down to the last minute offers. Apparently, ESPN Radio was wrong in that Burnett was headed to the Red Sox, so I’m not putting much stock in the other concoted three-way trade they have going with the Orioles, Marlins, and Pirates. If we get Burnett, for reasons outlined earlier, great. If not, great. Bronson Arroyo is the sixth-best American League starting pitcher the last two years. Burnett has a higher ceiling, but I won’t complain bout keeping Abe.
Quite frankly, I don’t think there’s much I can say to offer insight. I think this is just one of these stretches we need to play through. We’re a streaky team, we know that. We just have to play through it. Bronson Arroyo goes against former Sox Casey Fossum tomorrow. Let’s see what transpires…
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