I can’t expect him to pitch well, but I can at least hope for it. 

Hoping for anything from Burnett is, at this point, a waste.

With Hughes you know how the game is going to go after the first batter or two. With Burnett you know it’s going to bad, you just don’t know when.

In fact, were I a manager I would seriously consider taking AJ out after each inning he successfully completes.

I can just see the talking point now, “Burnett showed why he needs to stay in the rotating by battling to hold the Sox to five runs in five innings.”

[3] Also the Red Sox are the best offense he’ll see in the post season. So we can probbaly expect 5 IP 4 R from him on a regular basis from here on out. Which is more than enought for the Yankees’ offense.

In fact, were I a manager I would seriously consider taking AJ out after each inning he successfully completes.

I wonder if they could go back and look at his starts and see if there are any indicators. Like, if he misses his spot on 3 consecutive pitches by more than X inches, he’s out. So, you quickly warm up a reliever to get the 1, 2 or 3 outs to get you out of that inning, and then you go to a guy like Noesi or Pendleton if you’re still in the early innings.

Really thought cervelli did a good job behind the plate last night. Blocked a lot of low pitches.  Especially liked the way they got Crawford out.  He deked setting up low and inside and at last second moved up and in and Mo got the jam shot he needed.

that said, Sox kept the pressure on all game. Its amazing how many balls they hit hard to empty places.  There didn’t seem to be very many easy outs and the strikeouts came mostly after extended battles.

Hughes and Burnett- send us Spahn and Lew Burdette circa 1957 please!

Why send Noesi down and allow Ayala to stay??

Why do they keep Tex hitting cleanup?

[7] Hopefully to allow him to get some starts, although the AAA season is ending in like a week so I’m not sure what the deal with that is.

Since Hughes was a Sox fan as a kid, hopefully he’ll be geeked up a bit and be throwing 93 instead of 91.  As much as I don’t believe in watching the radar gun, Hughes is an exception to that.  You can basically predict what kind of game Hughes is going to have by looking at the 1st inning radar readings.  He is one of the few pitchers whose fastball gains movement as his velocity increases.

BTW, seeing how CC dominated Gonzales last night, we soooo need to concentrate on adding some good left handed pitching in the offseason.

[8]  Tex did look especially poor last night.  I have been watching the games on TiVo, so I have missed a good deal of the Kim Jones roster update rumblings.  What is the latest on Alex?

If for some reason the Phillies look to be out of it next year, would you guys trade for Hamels? If so how much would you be willing to give up?

Hey Tex has been bad lately but hasn’t Gardy been worse.  They both give you great D but at least Tex hits the occasional HR.  Fortunately Swish and Martin have their Mojo working.

[12] Betances, Nova and any other B- type prospect (i.e., one not named Montero, Banuelos, Romine or Williams)?  Who knows, maybe they’d be interested in switching Nunez for Nova or the third prospect. I’d be willing to pay pretty heavily for a lefthander of that caliber (a cheap and promising young cost controlled starter, a high minors stud starter, and a likely to make the majors or lottery ticket type prospect is a pretty high return for one year of control).

[7] Not 100% sure, but Ayala would probably have to clear waivers.  I’d say that’s a good reason to send Noesi down for 10 days.

With Hughes you know how the game is going to go after the first batter or two.

I’m sure this is demonstrably untrue.

[16] The general point is that Hughes is far more consistent within a single game than Burnett.

[16] I’ll give you that.  I just hate the idea that anyone - especially us - can “tell” when a pitcher is going to lose it, a hitter doesn’t look right, etc.  I usually go back and read the gamechats the next day, and I see a lot of 1st inning stuff of “here we go, Freddy/Hughes/Nova looks awful today, get the pen up!”  And sometimes they do poorly, sometimes they pitch quite well.  If the former happens, next day it was validation…“wtf? everyone could see Hughes didn’t have it, why did Girardi leave him in?”  If the latter occurs, the early complaints were forgotten about, and Hughes’s FB that he couldn’t control was suddenly tantalizing batters just off the plate.

One of the reasons I like Girardi…he’s patient.  One of the reasons several here I think don’t like him (not responding to you directly Clay).

[18] I think it’s obvious that our game chats are not the most objective and we tend to jump towards extremes.

It is really hard to tell when a pitcher is done for the game and when they have just lost their mechanics/cool for 1 batter. That being said, if Hughes starts a game well (process wise, not necessarily result wise) I am far more confident in his ability to continue to pitch at a reasonably close level to his first inning than I am of AJ.

[18]  Were you looking for the “Reasoned Discussion No Panic Or Complaining Yankees Weblog” and stumbled in here by mistake?

I take your point.  Sometimes the ship rights itself, and sometimes it doesn’t.  But the most frustrating thing is to see Girardi standing on the deck of the SS AJ, which has been shipping water for almost two years.

Well, at least I’ll get to watch this game.  We finally got power back (72 hours w/o).

[21] Last I heard, most of my family in CT was still powerless.

We could take a hurricane or 3 here in Texas to break the heat and cushion the drought.

[20] Yeah, patience is used up with AJ.  Girardi usually seems to pull him early now.  Not always, and there are sometimes bullpen concerns why you may leave him in longer.  But the leash is much shorter.

[22] Last I haerd as well friends of mine in the Poconos will be w/o power until tonight.  So thankful my community has underground power lines.

Just read this in the Dave Cameron chat:

[Comment From Eminor3rdEminor3rd: ]
Most underrated pitching staff in baseball? I nominate the White Sox. 
Wednesday August 31, 2011 12:03 Eminor3rd

12:04 Dave Cameron: How about the Yankees? I tweeted this the other day, but does anyone realize that they’re 3rd in the AL in ERA, 2nd in FIP, and 2nd in xFIP?

[24] That’s pretty nuts considering how terrible Burnett has been and Hughes’ early terribleness.

As a weblog, we need to raise our awareness on issues.

[22]  Yeah, lots of people are still w/o power.  They’ve basically fixed about half the damage so far (~25% of the state is out instead of 50%). 

I can’t really complain.  This is a once-in-25-years sort of event.  The last major one was Gloria in 1985. 

One of the most painful things was that, for whatever odd atmospheric reason, last night the Orioles/Jays broadcast kept eating the Sox/Yanks broadcast (1080AM) and 880 out of NY wouldn’t come in.  It wasn’t until the 4th or 5th that I realized there was a clear FM signal with the Sox broadcast… and then I got to listen them talk to one Jimmy Fund sponsor after another, with the game as an afterthought (cancer is bad, fighting it is good, can I give ya $5 in exchange for quaffing a nice big cup of shut the F up so I can follow my baseball game?).

[25] Seriously.  It really is amazing.  Yankee pitchers have either been excellent or awful.  There’s an almost complete absence of mediocre.

[27] ERA and FIP mark Nova as being mediocre. Although it does mask him being mediocre to bad for a good part of the season and very good since his return from AAA.

[26]  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Sherman confirms Montero to be called up tomorrow.  No Banuelos or Betances.

[13] Teix has 2 HRs in the past 10 games, Granderson has 4.  just my opinion here, but Granderson has had relatively good ABs, taking pitches, working the count, fouling off good pitches.  However Teix seems to be making quick pop up outs off the trademark of the bat several times each game, often with runners on where a fly ball could plate someone.  In my opinion neither is hitting well right now, but Granderson is at least showing signs that he closer to coming out of it.  Teix does not, and when you hit under .250, it means you go entire games (4 ABs) routinely without getting a hit.  He’s making my damn hair fall out… or its old age, but probably Teix.

[30] I highly doubt we see either Betances or Banuelos this year. With his late season resurgence, we may see Brackman. It will be nice to see Montero. Hopefully he mashes.

[32] I agree about Betances and Banuelos being highly unlikely to get cameos in the Bronx.  I don’t agree with the logic behind not bringing up Betances since he is already on the 40, but I am not in charge.  Perhaps they’s do a 2010 Brackman thing and bring him up to sit in the bullpen but never pitch him?

[28] I’m really starting to not like the word “mediocre”.  It means average - which average is just fine and dandy, especially when it’s 24 and making the minimum - but it just sounds so much worse.

I know you know this.  Just venting.

[27] I was born in Gloria in 1985! Hospital lost power. Then the family went to FL for my entire upbringing. Now I just moved back to NYC with my wife last month. Coincidence or causation?