Strange Thinking
It's weird, but for all we hear about Joe Girardi and his heavy use of stats, last night's lineup made no sense. With Felix Hernandez on the mound, the Yankees had to maximize offense and with two lefties facing them later in the weekend, it made all the sense in the world to let Cervelli catch Saturday instead of Friday. But, Girardi chose to start Cervelli against the righty and compunded the error by letting Pena start at third instead of Nunez. It didn't make a difference, thanks to another Burnett beauty, but why put two dead spots in your lineup?
The Yankees have 40 games left and they have some real problems in the rotation. And it's going to get worse with Phil Hughes and his innings limit. Hughes is currently around 30 innings away from his reported limit. With 40 games remaining, it doesn't seem like there is any way the Yankees will be able to keep him under that limit and be able to use him as a starter in the playoffs. Short of shutting him down right now and then building him back up in a couple of weeks, how can they do it?
And with this year's playoff schedule, the Yankees absolutely have to have four starters. Brian Cashman better start picking up the phone, because this group needs a lot of help.
Comments
Watching Javy get booted/booed off the mound today, it's really time to put him on the DL and see if some rest will get him back to someone who can eat some innings after a little rest. Ivan Nova anyone? I'm not couting on Aceves to make any sort of meanigful contribution this year either. They may try to glue some starts together with Guadin and Mitre. Or maybe they give Joba a start? Nah ...
Rosters expand in 10 days - thankfully.
Posted by: Mitchell![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 21, 2010 03:11 PM
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Well, I was half right in my guess: Nova is coming up but it's not Javy to the DL, it's (gulp) A-Rod. I truly hope the rest does A-Rod some good - he's struggled for a long time this year. If he could come alive by mid September, that would be great.
Now about Javy's problems and Hughes' inning cap - we still need another arm until Andy returns, no?
Posted by: Mitchell![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 21, 2010 04:42 PM
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If we could get the DOJ to schedule Andy's testimony against Raja when he is eligible to come off the DL it could send the Yanks rotation spinning...
Posted by: blmeanie![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 21, 2010 09:38 PM
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Yeah Mitchell, it's a good step, but I think you are right about the additional arm. I wonder what the long term move is here, six-man rotation or skipping Hughes, Vazquez or AJ next time around?
Posted by: Peter![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 22, 2010 10:44 AM
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If we can keep some kind of 5 man rotation Hughes can go 5 starts at 6 innings a piece... if he has to pitch 35 innings I think it'll be OK! Hopefully we get Andy back next week.
Posted by: Evan![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 23, 2010 06:11 PM
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Nova looked pretty good tonight - even showed some backbone with Bautista. I would have preferred the pitch to be below the shoulders but I suspect Nova will get that memo from Girardi pretty soon.
Greg, I can see some problems with limiting Hughes to 5 innings per outing - and yeah, it would be great to get Andy back, healthy. I still think Javy needs to sit out his next turn (or two) in the rotation plus skip his bullpen sessions. We need Javy back so Hughes can take a seat for a bit.
Posted by: Mitchell![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 23, 2010 10:47 PM
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Ugh. AJ looks lost tonight (again). He's lost his stuff, the strike zone and his composure. Time for (ugh) Mitre. This is a lost year for AJ.
Posted by: Mitchell![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 27, 2010 09:34 PM
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