Archive for May 26th, 2009
Hughes Shoots Up Texas; Sheffield Shoulders the Mets
Phil Hughes turned in an 8-inning odessey en route to a Yankee victory in Arlington, including an escape from a no-out, first-and-second jam by striking out three Rangers. Chien-Ming Who? Brian Bruney is back to the DL and he shouldn’t have been back to begin with. CYA, Joe Girardi, CYA. In the meantime, Alfredo “Aces” Aceves can help Phil Coke pack up in the eighth inning. With the offense starting to fire full bore, the ‘pen might not be so critical for a while…however, you know better teams beat bullpens so Bruney will have to figure out his elbow and how far he should push it on his own. Yanks have used 12 different pitchers so far out of the ‘pen, and it isn’t June yet: Aces, Day-O, Sleepah, Mo, Wang, Tomko, Edwar, Veras, Marte, Coke, Melancon, and David Robertson, who is returning, incidentally. Don’t look now, but Jose Veras has been the Yanks’ second most consistent reliever (outside Coke, barring Mo).
All is well in Metsville. Again, the Sheffield pickup was a good one, and now you see why. Gary Sheffield is a lion and has the ability to pick a team up his shoulders and carry it through rough stretches. He now has 15 hits in his last 11 games. You can’t tell me that’s not big for a team that lost Carlos Delgado for a couple of months and is down Jose Reyes. That said, John Maine held the underrated Washington offense to a run in six innings while the bullpen squeaked by the last three innings. Francisco Rodriguez is back in action, I just can’t tell (with that Tazmanian Devil windup) whether or not he’s easing off the gas until he’s 100%. Carlos Beltran has mental problems. Whatever is troubling his knee, it can’t be from sliding.
