Of course Sabathia looked exhausted at the end, but Cone and Flaherty were talking early on in the game about how CC was pulling his body on his follow-through. Now you could say Flaherty doesn't necessarily know his stuff (though he does) but you can't say that about Cone. If Cone thinks a pitcher looks beaten up, he looks beaten up. I'm honestly nervous. I don't know whether I blame the 6-man or not, but right now it looks like it wasn't such a great idea, given that it may have thrown off Sabathia and no one else but Nova pitched okay anyway. We're on the same page regarding the Angels though. Well, I think it's safe to say Colon is no longer in the running. Along with AJ. The question now is how will Garcia pitch? Would he be adequate if we're up 2-0 in the first series and they want to give Hughes some more time to heal? Hughes is the #3 guy at this point, but he has to be healthy. If he's not 100% I really hope Garcia can get enough outs to get to at least the 6th. The one interesting thing at this point is what they'll do with Colon now. Will they just leave him off the roster completely, perhaps carrying someone like Noesi? That would make me a lot more comfortable with Garcia, since at the first sign of trouble you can go with Ayala, Wade, and Noesi (not necessarily in that order). AJ likely makes the team, though at this point I would like to see him left out completely.
I'd bet on Boston. Clearly the best shot. He's exhausted by his own admission. He requested to be kept on the 6 man rotation schedule because of it. It'd be Weaver vs. CC and Haren vs. G2 starter, at Yankee Stadium. Rotation issues, but not as much as the Yankees. Beyond Sabathia and Nova, it's all question marks.
I think Haren is lined up to be their game 1 starter if they make it in, but I'm not sure. My point was, let's say we split the first two games at home--then we'd be relying on Garcia and Colon/CC on short rest to keep our season alive in Anaheim, vs. Santana and Weaver/Haren. That's scary as hell. Thankfully it looks like a moot point, as the Angels loss last night probably killed their hopes of stealing the wild card. Really, you think that the Red Sox, Tigers, and Rangers all have better rotations than the Yankees? Bedard and Lackey are a hot garbage pile. The Rangers have zero idea what they're getting from Harrison and Holland in any given start. Scherzer and Porcello both have ERAs well over 4. And unlike the Yankees, those teams don't have deep bullpens than can hold another team down for 4-5 innings if the starting pitching isn't good.
Yeah, I'd rather have a "question mark" than an obviously mediocre starter, and that's what most teams have past the first two guys.
Detroit's pitching rotation is better than the Yankees. Anaheim's is as well. I wasn't including Boston because they only have two starters. Yes the Yankees have an excellent bullpen, but I was talking about the rotation. Burnett and Hughes stink. Colon and Garcia are question marks.
Garcia and Colon may be question marks, but Scherzer's confirmed to be mediocre and Porcello just flat out sucks. Especially considering the news that Verlander won't start on 3 days rest in the ALDS, I'd take our rotation over Detroit's with no questions asked.
I wouldn't. Don't see how you could. Porcello doesn't flat out suck. I think Girardi would start him if he were on the Yankees. I'd take Scherzer over Colon or Garcia, and clearly over Burnett or Hughes. Dunno. I didn't say anything about the MVP award recently. But you'd have to look at the whole team anyway. Detroit has a better rotation, but the Yankees have a much better bullpen and a better lineup.
What a dumb article, since at the time everyone knew the highest bid was the Angels until the Red Sox offer.
Remember last year and during the offseason when I said Gardner was "Crawford-Lite"? I just want to tell everyone how wrong I was about that... ...Crawford is Gardner-Lite.
Porcello's pitching to a 4.79 ERA, a 1.415 WHIP, he walks too many batters, and he gives up too many home runs. He's got a lot of potential, but this year he's sucked. He hasn't been better than Nova, Garcia or Colon by any metric. Scherzer's been a little better (4.37 ERA, 1.342 WHIP,) but the only thing he's done better than Colon or Garcia this season is his strikeout rate. I don't know if you're overrating Porcello and Scherzer or underrated Garcia and Colon, but the Yankees guys have a clear statistical edge.
Garcia looked pretty damn good on this September afternoon. That's 1 run in his last 11 innings vs. the Sox, by the way. So much for the Mike Lupica theory that you can't trust him against good teams.
Great. That's one start. I didn't say neither one had any good starts recently. I'm saying they're question marks due to recent struggles.
Yeah, but you have to play the games and after CC and Nova then who? Not Hughes, Not Colon. Burnette? Garcia? That's all they have.
No, I definitely have Colon and Garcia. I'm saying they're question marks. Obviously that still makes them better options than Burnett and Hughes.
