The First Trip

For seven innings yesterday it seemed like I had chosen a terrible day to make my first trip to Yankee Stadium. The day was wet and cold, with rain coming in and out all day, and the Yankees were sloppy. C.C. Sabathia struggled to find his control, and wasn't helped very much by his teammates. While they were only charged with one official error, when Johnny Damon dropped a routine fly ball in the 3rd inning, but there were several more ugly plays that probably should have been counted as errors. Most notable, I think, was Derek Jeter throwing the ball home to no one in particular in the 6th and allowing Mark Ellis to take an extra base.

Then came the 7th inning. Joe Girardi, as is his habit, stuck with his starter for just a bit too long, and it seemed like we were about to face the injury of a Yankee loss to go with the insult of the weather. However, the rain finally stopped, and the bullpen which has been so volatile this year came in and locked the game down. With the score now tied, it was like a whole new game, and the next seven innings were as tight as the first seven had been sloppy.

The obvious hero of the game was Melky Cabrera who followed up a monster home run in the second inning with a game-winning two run shot in the fourteenth. However, as good as those two homers were, Melky epitomized the bipolar nature of this game. In his other five trips to the plate, he managed to strike out three times, and looked completely helpless each time. It's hard to know what to make of him at this point, but for now I'll take it.

Anyway, I think I'm going to hold off on giving my thoughts on the stadium itself. With all of the rain, it was hard to get an idea of what a typical trip to the ballpark might be like. I'm planning on going back next week when the Angels come to town, so I'll try to put something together then.

Rotationology

With the regular season wrapped up, it figures to be a slow couple of days while we wait for the playoffs to start Thursday. So, I've decided to take the opportunity to talk about the playoff roster, starting with the rotation. The first two spots in the rotation are no brainers. Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte have been battling each other all season long for the title of team ace. Torre seems to have decided that Wang is his number one guy, and that's who will take the start in game one against Cleveland's ace (and my Cy Young pick) C.C. Sabathia. Pettitte will follow on Friday against Chien-Ming Wang's doppleganger, Fausto Carmona.

The rest of the rotation is harder to figure out. There are three candidates for the last two spots; Roger Clemens, Philip Hughes and Mike Mussina. Supposedly Clemens' spot as the number three starter is locked up, but by the time game three rolls around, he won't have pitched in three weeks. His continuing health problems calls into question whether or not he can actually make the start.

Of course no matter what Clemens' ultimate status might be, a decision has to be made between Hughes and Mussina. They both have turned things around in September after struggling in August, and they both have done so against weak hitting teams like Baltimore, Toronto and Tampa Bay. Based on their last starts, you'd have to go with Hughes, who allowed only one run in seven innings against the Devil Rays. However, Mussina is the veteran with a history of postseason succcess. Ironically, I think it's that history that makes the bullpen the best place for Mussina. Both pitchers are at risk to get into serious trouble, and I feel better about Mussina being in the bullpen, ready to bail Hughes out, than vice versa.

Anyway, my schedule's pretty tight right now, but I'll try and write about the far more complicated bullpen situation in the next couple of days.