The Yankees easy built a lead and put the Orioles into sleep mode early in Wednesday's matinee, but as the game progressed the Yankees fortunes and performance began to slip away.
Andy Pettitte had a stellar start and looked to be cruising until Girardi had to pull him after five innings and 77 pitches with tightness in his foreman. That is a phrase that tends to put dread into the hearts of fans of any player suffering from it. The tightness usually protends major elbow issues.
The Yankees sent Pettitte for an MRI and the results showed some inflammation but no structural damage. The veteran lefty will miss his next start as the Yankees evaluate him on a day-to-day basis. Things could have been far worse, but with the way Pettitte and the rest of the rotation, excluding Javier Vazquez, have been performing it is a blow to lose him for any amount of time.
It could also be something that limits Pettitte for the rest of the season and extended bouts of Sergio Mitre are not recommended. Mitre will have to step up against the Tigers on Monday and hopefully no one else. Really it would be more entertaining to see the Yanks call up Ivan Nova, but he probably wont be and option just yet.
While Pettitte was getting his elbow looked at, the Yankee bullpen was showing why the starters need to carry the team. Mitre was solid in 2.1 innings and Damaso Marte is performing slightly better, but Dave Robertson is a mess right now. Robertson could turn the pen into a huge strength for the Yankees along with Joba and Rivera or he could make it a question mark beyond those two.
Is it possible that Sports Illustrated has struck again?
Anyway the Yankees will have to press on and hope that Posada is back after the off day. Same goes for Rivera.
For now the only baseball on is the Sox. Hypocritical as they may be with their honoring of Nomar Garciaparra after his inglorious departure from Boston.
2 comments:
That's a little harsh, yo. I know the Nomar trade wasn't what everyone had in mind for an ideal end to his Sox career. But clearly Nomar has no hard feelings. What happened is just part of the harsh realties of the game. He had his greatest seasons in a Sox uniform. It's just unfortunate that he wasn't able to participate in the '04 championship.
Its hypocritical because each said was pretty adament that the other sucked. And plus Nomar bitched and complained to get out of Boston. He never stopped playing like Manny did, but by no means was their departure from each other amicable.
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