- Melky Cabrera strained his shoulder running into the wall in the first inning last night, and has an MRI scheduled for later today. He said that it does not feel too bad and that it should only keep him out a few days. We shall see.
- Joba Chamberlain looked awful last night, going just 4 innings and allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks. He struggled with his velocity and location all night, and was once again weak in the first inning. Coming off a 9 day layoff and a knee injury, he has an excuse, but be sure to tune into WFAN today to hear 6 hours of Joba to the bullpen talk.
- Joe Girardi went to Alfredo Aceves in the 5th inning with Joba only at 84 pitches. It was the right move to try and win a close game, and it paid off at first when the Yankees tied the game in the top of the 6th. However, the fact that CM Wang was not used in that spot shows how little faith Joe Girardi has in him at this point. He should have been sent to the minor leagues.
- Aceves faltered in the 6th, allowing a run with two outs, and then Girardi sent him out for the 7th for no discernible reason. If he is going to be used as a reliever for big spots, he should not be starting a third inning. He did not record an out, and left with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Phil Coke came in, allowed both runners to score on sacrifices, and gave up a home run in the 8th. In regard to Aceves, I really cannot figure out the role that the Yankees have carved for him. Coke allowed his home run to Chris Davis. Coke has pitched pretty well and has a WHIP under 1.2, but has allowed too many home runs to lefties.
- With the bats, the Yankees left a small army on base. Nick Swisher left them loaded in the 7th inning with the score 4-3 by grounding into a DP. If Melky had not gotten hurt yesterday, Swish would likely find himself on the bench for a few days to clear his head. His OBP is still .365,but he is not hitting at all lately. The return of Xavier Nady will be a huge addition, giving Girardi more options when Swisher or Matsui are slumping. As it is, we should expect to see more of Brett Gardner for the time being. Gardner went 3-5 with three stolen bases last night.
- Speaking of Matsui, he looked a lot better than he has in weeks last night, going 2-3 with an RBI double and a HBP last night. If he could heat up, it would cover for the absence of Melky at the bottom of the order.
- Dave Robertson pitched a perfect 8th and was throwing strikes. He looked very sharp, and hopefully he gets a chance to show his skills in spots that are a bit more important.
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11 Responses to Yankees Fall 7-3 To Rangers As Joba Struggles
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TIQ IQ
Coke’s slider is so hit and miss. Granted this is what he is, a good 3rd option out of the pen, but if he wants to ever become more than that he needs to work on his secondary pitches. How many homeruns or big hits have come off his slider?
Wang can’t be sent to the minor leagues without being exposed to waivers. Unless they can make up another injury and DL him again.
Except that he was on the DL and could have stayed there on a rehab assignment. They rushed him back.
Imagine this…Bruney in the 7th, Joba in the 8th and Mo in the 9th!!! Talk about making it a 6 inning game. Leave Hughes in the rotation and let Joba take over where he’ll be best suited-learing from the greatest closer in the game and then taking over in 2 years. With Hughes in the rotation you don’t loose much, if anything at all, over Joba and clearly if Joba only has to go 1 inning he can get his fastball back up into the mid to high 90′s dominate like he did last year and the year before that. All this depends of course on Wang who hopefully will regain his form from years past.
Joba has been the team’s second best starter. Why you would want that in the pen, I have no idea.
2nd best starter? Where did thay come from? What has he done of note besides striking out 12 AFTER he gave up 4 in the first?
My biggest concern is Joba’s velocity. What’s the point about discussing putting him in the bullpen when he’s not the same pitcher right now that was dominant there anyway. (FWIW I still think he belongs in the rotation) I think it is a false assumption that if you put him in the bullpen he’ll all of a sudden throw 98 mph again. Is there some explanation for why his velocity seems to be so inconsistent? I think overall his outing yesterday can be excused for being rusty and also testing his knee after the layoff, but his fastball seemed to average around 90-91. That was the key reason why he stunk. He couldn’t put hitters away, leading to long long long at bats with balls getting fouled off over and over again. If he was throwing 94-95, he would have been putting hitters away and throwing fewer pitches. What are the theories on why from start to start you never know how hard he’ll be able to throw?
As far as Joba is concerned…my problem with moving him to the starting rotation has always been with the fact that in doing so, he affects about half as many games as he would out of the pen. Would you rather have him start 30 games, or appear in 60-70 games where he’s helping lock down games the team is winning?
As for Wang and Hughes….as long as Hughes gets his innings in at the major league level, I’ll be a happy fan. I see no reason why he can’t keep starting, though, let Wang be a long reliever.
“Would you rather have him start 30 games, or appear in 60-70 games where he’s helping lock down games the team is winning? ”
**sigh**
Hey, I know, I’m just saying the bullpen has been a problem and none of these set-up guys they’re running out there are inspiring consistent confidence in anyone. We had a guy who could do it, but we made him a starter, so until we find another guy who can do it, the team’s excuses are their own.
Some people never learned from the mistake of how we wasted Dave Righetti’s career.