Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Colon Relives Past Glories; Puts Yanks On Track

It has been a long time since Bartolo Colon was mentioned among the top echelon of starters in baseball. It has been almost equally as long since Colon pitched eight complete innings.

Colon was masterful tonight, using his two-seamer to freeze hitters while pounding away with his four-seamer that hummed through the strike zone at an average of 93 mph and even touched 96. It doesn't seem likely that Colon will hold up for a full season at age 38, but right now he is giving the Yankees quality and length and doing far more than eating innings out there.

Using a steady stream of fastballs Colon doesn't mess around. He pounded the zone and rarely threw anything off-speed, throwing just nine off-speed pitches out of 99. He never really needed the change up or slider he recorded 17 outs on the ground or via strike out, and all but one of those came from a fastball.

Right now the Yankees need all the pitching they can get. With Rafael Soriano struggling and the bats falling silent the length the starters give the Yankees will become that much more important. Right now they are doing they doing that. The past four games New York starters have thrown quality starts and at least pitched into the seventh (or in Freddy Garcia's case they should have). It is a reassuring trend, but Brian Cashman is sure to continue to keep his ear to the ground in search of another top end starter. There will always be doubt as to whether Colon's or Garcia's shoulder breaks down again or even both.

With the recent disheartening news that Phil Hughes might have thoracic outlet syndrome, every quality start until the tradeline will be that much more vaulable.

CC Sabathia should continue the trend tomorrow night since the White Sox still haven't come close to pulling out of their own hitting funk.

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