Tuesday, June 3, 2008

It's Joba Time

It is a sad state of affairs in Yankeeland when they can't even take a series from the Twins. The Yanks have always owned the Twins and last night they should have won that game. The offense has been much better since Arod came back but the pitching has suddenly gotten worse since they started getting run support.

Old reliable Andy Pettitte had been solid for three starts but for some reason he couldn't hold a lead last night. A lot will be said about Farnsworth losing the game last night and that it should have been Joba in there, but it is a mistake to think that. Sure Joba might have kept the game tied for one more inning, but there is no guarantee that the Yankees win the game even if Joba pitches.

The starter, not the reliever, was the reason the Yankees lost. Joba is not replacing Pettitte, but who would you rather see out there tomorrow Joba or Igawa? I'm sure that's all I have to say. Maybe if Joba is pitching from the start then the Yankees have a 5-1 lead in the eighth and Farnsworth doesn't even get up in the bullpen.

It is wrong to expect Joba to do too much too soon since the Yanks are rushing him into the rotation. They should have sent him down to Scranton in order to get his pitch count up and to get him used to starting again rather than trying to work him into games late for multiple innings. It is a small sign of desperation and a sign that though Cashman wants to keep up the appearance of competitiveness during this season, he also feels that developing talent is more important than winning. And he is right.

2 comments:

Joe said...

It's a tough draw for Joba as he faces Roy Halladay one of the best pitchers in the AL. Interested to see what happens.

Dennis said...

Yeah, it was a very interesting 2 1/3 innings. Maybe next time he will go 3 innings, really give them a good start.