In George We Trust
A(nother) blog about the most storied franchise in sports
Thursday, April 27, 2006
In need of mo' Mo
Why did Mo get knocked around last night? Joel Sherman thinks it's his light workload:

So far this season, Rivera has become the Maytag Repairman, such is his lack of work.

But, as Rivera explained, "Playing catch is good. But there is nothing like being in the game.''
...
Rivera had been mostly idle because, of the Yanks' 10 wins this season, eight have been by five or more runs. That the Yanks did not generate another blowout last night to make Rivera irrelevant once again will drive them bonkers.
...
This was just Rivera's sixth outing of 2006. However, for his few appearances, Rivera is now 0-2. Good thing he has a long memory for a short reliever. Last year, he blew his first two save chances, and he had just three saves and five tries through the Yanks' first 32 games. Yet he arguably went on to his best season, with 43 saves and a 1.38 ERA.

"There are five months and 140 games left," Rivera said. "I will pitch and pitch a lot.''

Starting next week, the Yanks begin to see the Red Sox and Mets a lot on their schedule. That foretells tightly contested, pressure games. Rivera is right, there will be plenty of opportunities. The Yankees need him to catch on to his usual excellence, and quickly.

I'm not worried about Mo. Never have been, never will be. I just think Torre needs to use him a little more aggressively, like when the Yanks are tied in the 9th or even trailing by run. With the offense this team has shown, it looks like Mo may only get 30 save chances or so this year.

Here's the highlights from Jim Callis' chat over at ESPN.com:
bill (new york): phil hughes has pitched very good so far although its only been 4 starts, given his talent and with the age and question marks in the yankees rotation, would you be shocked if he was in the rotation nect year?
Jim Callis: Assuming you're talking Opening Day, I would be shocked from the standpoint that the Yankees just don't rush prospects. With a payroll pushing $200 million, they don't usually turn to young guys unless they have no other choice. On the other hand, Hughes is very talented, and there are a lot of question marks in the rotation, so he could surface by the end of 2007. I'm not sure that's much of an answer.

Mike A. (Chico, CA): If health was a non-issue: Pelfrey or Hughes? [I had a on-going debate to settle]
Jim Callis: Hughes, because he has a better breaking ball. But right now, factoring everything in, I'd give Pelfrey a slight edge.

Phil (Portland, ME): ok lets get it started..... A-rod at 25 or Wright at 25?
Jim Callis: OK, we'll go to either/or five minutes early today . . . A-Rod at 25. If he hadn't moved, we'd be talking about A-Rod as the best shortstop ever by the time he retired.

Kevin (CT): long term, Pedroia or Cano? [he's referring to Dustin Pedroia, a Red Sox middle infield prospect in case you don't know]
Jim Callis: At the risk of angering two huge fan bases, both of these guys are good players but not as good as most fans think. Cano can hit, but he's not a good second baseman and will have to move to the outfield. At that point, his bat doesn't stand out as much. Pedroia is solid, but he's not an elite prospect and he's not going to be a
superstar. He'll be a solid second baseman when all is said and done. I guess I still have to pick . . . I'll take Cano, who has more upside.

In case you missed it, Delmon Young turned into Elijah Dukes.

If you're looking for a good book to read, you should be able to find one here.

Down on the Farm:

Triple-A Columbus (3-0 win over Louisville)
Melky Cabrera: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SB - batting leadoff instead of his usual 3rd
Kevin Reese: 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K
Russ Johnson: 3 for 3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SB
Carlos Pena: 1 for 3, 1 RBI - played 1B, Duncan had the day off
Andy Cannizaro: 2 for 4, 1 K, 1 CS, 1 E
Kris Wilson: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K - 61 of 99 pitches were strikes (61.6%)
Scott Erickson: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Jose Veras: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Double-A Trenton (9-2 win over New Britain)
Justin Christian: 1 for 3, 2 R, 1 2B, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 SB - 14 for 14 in SB chances
Bronson Sardinha: 1 for 4, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Randy Ruiz: 1 for 5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K
Shelley Duncan: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Kevin Howard: 3 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Vincent Faison: 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K - LFer threw a runner out at home
Tommy Rojas: 1 for 5, 2 RBI
Danny Borrell: 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K - 7-3 GB/FB ratio
TJ Beam: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
JB Cox: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

High-A Tampa (10-4 loss to Dunedin)
Brett Gardner: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 K - just another day at the office
Eduardo Nunez: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Marcos Vechionacci: 0 for 4, 2 K - you know you're struggling when Battle is protecting you in the order
Tim Battle: 1 for 3, 1 K
Ben Himes: 1 for 3, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Zach Kroenke: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 K - knocked around, again
Jeff Kennard: 2.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Gerardo Casadiego: 1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Low-A Charleston postponed due to rain, doubleheader today
Written at 8:20 AM by Mike A.
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