Thank God That's Over

We may very well have seen Mike Mussina's last start of 2007, and possibly the last appearance of Sean Henn in a major league game. There's no word yet on exactly what kind of roster shuffling is going to happen, but here are my thoughts on the matter:

Obviously Henn will have to be sent down(or sent home, since his wife is about to have a baby). There's really no point in having a lefty in the pen that can't get lefties out. Just ask Mike Myers. The real question is, who is your new lefty? The system is dreadfully thin on lefthanded pitching, with the only candidate in Triple-A being Kei Igawa. Its enough to make me wonder how Ron Guidry's arm is feeling. In all seriousness, the team might be best off simply using righties like Jose Vizcaino and Joba Chamberlain, who've been just as effective against lefties as righties.

One guy who should never be sent up against a lefthanded hitter, though, is Edwar Ramirez. Its a pretty small sample size, but his splits are pretty astounding. Against righties, he's thrown a very solid seven innings allowing only five hits while walking two and striking out nine. Against lefties, he's struck out an impressive seven in just three and two thirds innings, but has walked six and given up four hits, two of which were homeruns. Granted, last night's homerun came from a righty, Placido Polanco, but that was the first time he's given one up to a righty, and has been generally effective enough against them to have some value in the pen.

One guy who has been able to get lefties out in his career is Mussina, who will either have to go to the bullpen or the DL. Considering that no one's got any idea what's wrong with him, there's really no reason to believe he'd be any better in relief, so the DL would be preferable. Neither he nor the Yankees have said that there's anything physically wrong with him, but at 38 years old there's got to be something that needs resting. The candidates for replacing him in the rotation consist of guys who have either been bad in the majors (Igawa, Jeff Karstens and Matt DeSalvo), or who have never been there (Ian Kennedy and Steven White).

Fortunately, the schedule is on our side. With three off days, the Yankees should only need a fifth starter three times in September. Even better, two of those games (Septembers 1st and 26th) are against Tampa Bay, a weak team if ever there was one. The other comes on the 16th, the final game against Boston, which may end up being a painful affair, but its still much better than it could have been.

The schedule's also on our side in the hunt for the wild card. Despite losing the last two series, the Yankees remain only two games behind Seattle for the wild card, and have a much easier schedule from here on out. Other than the six games against Boston and the three against Seattle, the Yankees only play two kinds of teams from here on out; mediocre and bad. Seattle, meanwhile, has seventeen games against contenders, and finish out the season playing a brutal 24 games in 24 days, with only one day off. Right now, I can't help but think that despite the standings, the Yankees have to be the favorites in this race.

The Sun Never Rises on the Britton Empire

Peter Abraham is reporting that Brian Bruney will be recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with Ron Villone likely being sent down. This is a pretty baffling move for me. I understand sending Villone down, as he seems to have lost the ability to throw a strike. What I don't understand is why Brian Cashman has again passed on calling up Chris Britton.

For those who don't know about Britton, he's the hard throwing righty obtained from Baltimore in the Jared Wright trade. When this trade happened, I assumed Britton would be in the major league pen from the get go, as he had pitched very effectively for the Orioles in 2006, posting a decent 4.36 RA (I prefer to use runs against rather than ERA, because, let's face it, official scorers are pretty lousy), and a strong 1.17 WHIP (that's walks and hits per inning pitched) in 53.2 innings. He's been dominant in Scranton with a 2.89 RA and a 1.13 WHIP, and allowed only one run in five innings in a short callup earlier this year. Considering the Yankees bullpen woes, I have to think that the Yankees have some sort of off the field reason for not bringing him up. So, I present to you my top 5 possible reasons that Chris Britton is still in the minors:

5. Mariano Rivera is afraid the 300 lb Britton will eat him if a game goes on too long. He also might use Edwar Ramirez as a toothpick.

4. He refuses to leave Scranton until Pam Beesly goes out with him.

3. Kicked Joe Torre's dog

2. He is the leader of a secret Scranton Army and is plotting to conquer neighbouring Wilkes-Barre

1. George Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman cannot bear to look upon him, for he is a reminder of their terrible shame for having signed Jaret Wright.

Tough loss

Last night was exactly the kind of gut wrenching affair we've come to expect from the Angels. Coming back against their bullpen is no small feat. To do so and still lose is pretty heartbreaking.

Joe Torre's taking the brunt of the blame after sending the lefty Sean Henn to face a talented righthanded hitter in Howie Kendrick, who would eventually score the winning run. This is probably a bit unfair, considering his options. The only righthanders left in the bullpen, were Joba Chamberlain and Edwar Ramirez. Chamberlain is only a year removed from the arm troubles that plagued him his final season at the University of Nebraska, and the Yankee brass has rightfully decreed that he not be used on consecutive days. While Ramirez is under no such restrictions, he had pitched two innings the night before, and the decision that Henn would be more effective is a valid one.

Overlooked amidst all this is the fact that Torre elected to bring in Kyle Farnsworth in the 8th inning of a tie game. Considering that everyone, myself included, wanted to see this guy traded, if not released outright, he acquitted himself pretty well. In fact, his past few outings have been pretty good, and I'm starting to think that its more than dumb luck. When he was struggling, Farnsworth's fastball had dipped down into the low 90s, but over the last few weeks its been 98mph at the knees; the kind of stuff he's paid to bring. I suppose it was inevitable that he catch the fire that's lit up the rest of the team.