Joba, Mo, ohh yeah and MARTE/NADY!!!!!

There is nothing in the human language that I could say right now that would explain how happy I am with Joba's performance... Not only did he win at Fenway as a 22 year-old... he completely out-dueled the Sux ace... Striking out nine and walking one.. retiring the last ten batters he faced. He showed a dominant curveball and a few change-ups as well... The control of his fastball still astounds me... reaching back and being able to pinpoint a 97 mph + fastball is astounding.. well done.. The one run came off of the shift-benefitted single by Giambi... (slow roller hit about 3-5 feet to the right of 2nd base). That proved to be the only run, but that was all we needed.. Mo came on with 2 on and 1 out in the bottom of the 8th and completely shut down the Sox. In the ninth he allowed a hit and then struck out two on questionable called strike threes.. But how can you argue... the game is over.. the Yankees won.. Life is beautiful. 

Marte, Nady

Trade- Yankees receive Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady 

Pittsburgh receives Ohlendorf, Coke, Tabata, and Kontos..

Yankees-

Marte- 4-0 3.47 (33)

Nady- .330 15 HR 55 RBI (29)

My take- Amazing trade for the Yankees, amazing trade for Ohlendorf... Decent return for the Pirates.. (though honestly I think that they could have done better). 

Reasons this is good-

Tabata- attitude problems.. Still young (19) and about 2-3 years away from being ML ready.. (we still have A-Jax to play CF)

Ohlendorf- as I said I love Olie and am going to be glad to see him get some playing time hopefully as a full time starter. 

Coke- Have not had the chance to see him pitch, but understand that he was climbing through the system quickly. Lefty, Projectable 4-5 starter. He is 26 though.

Kontos- Seems like a pretty good righty.. 3.77 era down on the farm.. 

This trade has huge benefits for the Yankees and it gives them a couple of options-

A. Play Nady in RF DH Abreu LF Damon/Christian/Gardner (I think he will be gone for Washburn)

B. Nady LF Abreu RF DH Damon

C. DH Nady have Damon play LF full time... (I haven't seen Nady's arm yet but I have a feeling that it is better then Damon's... so i'm thinking I like option B the best).

Next Question-

Who leaves the pen?

is it going to be..

Hawkins- Hopefully they DFA him.

Robertson- He has shown he can handle ML hitter's so I hope not.

Giese- I would rather him stay on as the Long reliever.

Random-

When are we going to see Aceves? I guess as we are on a 7 game winning streak, it will not be soon... but you never know.. I understand he is currently still limited to pitch counts because of his injury, but I cannot wait to see him in the stripes.

Garcia v. Burnett

With yesterday being an off day I figured I would talk about something a little bit different. 

There have been reports that the Yankees are one of the many teams looking into the currently rehabbing Freddy Garcia. Now despite a high ERA last year, he has shown flashes of brilliance in the past. '05 was arguably his best season. He pitched 2 CG and struck out 146 in 228.0 innings pitched.. He seems to be one of those guys who has the chance to be a solid 3-4 guy. 

There have also been reports of the Yankees looking into Burnett. Don't let his ERA this year fool you... he is almost 2 ER up from last year. He absolutely has the stuff,  he's struck out 111 in 113 and a third innings this year. His walk numbers could definitely use some work 53 this year.. He could easily become a 2 guy for us.. maybe even a one.. I see him as definitely worth going for.. he would absolutely solidify our rotation and I feel that he has just had bad luck this year. He is most definitely a sub 4 if not a mid 3 ERA guy... 

Your thoughts?

joba joba (Brett Brett Brett?)

Joba pitched what will go down as a no decision, but I saw as a gem. He may have allowed 3 ER but he pitched out of the jam that he worked himself into pretty well... There were some highlights- he made Crisp look ridiculous on an 0-1 count swinging as he fell away... His curveball seemed to be above par.. All of his "different" sliders seemed to be adequate.. (except the one he threw to Ellsbury to walk him... trust your fastball kid). I think he can easily settle into an above average 3rd starter and has definite ace potential if he learns to stop nibbling and trust his stuff. I was watching a short thing on Volquez and they said he almost never throws a ball up in the strike zone.. if he has had so much success with that why can't other guys (Joba) see this and change their pitching style.. The turning point in the game was without a doubt the ejection of Girardi... The 2nd time this season he has done this and the Yankees are 2-0 in these games.. 'atta boy Girardi. This was immediately followed by a single by Gardner a SB by Gardner and then a single by Jete... aka thank you Gardner (scored from 2nd..). Farnsy pitched well.. I may say this and regret it but he hasn't been too bad recently... Mo came in in the ninth and his cutter was straight nasty... I guess after two days ago... he's making sure the cutter cuts... and then the rest is history... (look at Yankees.com) Cano gets a single, steals 2nd.. hit and run in favor of Gardner who sees his usual 8-9 pitches... hits a perfectly placed 3o-hopper up the middle and Cano (running on the play) scores.. HUGE CONFIDENCE BOOSTER FOR GARDNER! Maybe if teams will stop playing corners in he will drop a few bunts down... raised his average above .100! perfect number 1 guy until Damon gets back... well maybe not perfect but he is better then.. say Melky... batting leadoff... Defensive Props- Jeter for the attempt at the 360 throw to first.. Attempt being the key word. Offensive props- Obvious enough, good stuff Gardner. Pitching- liked what I saw out of Chamberlain minus the 5th, but Mo came in and really shut the door so Rivera comes out on top! Pray for Ponson... seriously....

How about Moose?

Mike Mussina pitched quite well last night. In his post game interview, which you can find here, he talks about how he had control of all of his pitches and the lightheadedness he experienced in the 6th. In watching the game, I came to the conclusion that the answer to his success was hitting Manny twice and then striking him out looking with a slider (hard to distinguish between that and his fastball not only because that is how he intends it to be... they are also within 3 mph of each other).  Another good thing confidence wise last night was Gardner's sac fly that brought in what turned out to be the game winner. I feel like tonight against Wakefield will be his night, hopefully. He really has shown above-average plate discipline at the plate from what I have seen. He may however be to careful to swing as it seems pitchers have become more aware of the fact that he takes the first 50 pitches he sees and then swings only to protect.. He did however make a comment regarding this saying that he had noticed he was looking at a lot of good pitches and falling behind in the count... The walk he drew against Papelbon was only the 6th he has given up this season. Giambi scoring from 2nd was quite possibly the least likely thing I thought would happen... though he did triple a few weeks back. He seems to be pulling the ball less and less.. not saying that any of these will drop for hits, but it seems that he is a lot more comfortable at the plate... His numbers are impressive and quite unlike what most predicted. Good call Girardi. (5th in the AL in HR's). Melky was also impressive last night after catching a ball and then I guess all that weight kicked in and he fell.. (though it was called a dive?) The flash of leather shown by Cano is becoming more and more frequent lately. Especially the almost Jeter like play he made going across the diamond and throwing off of his back foot, kids got an arm. I heard an interesting idea yesterday, Cano, originally played 3B in the minors... why not move him to 3rd Jete to 2nd and AROD to SS?

Jeter has good range and would be able to handle the move... also could move him to 1b then pick up another guy to take Robbie's place. All in all I cannot wait to see Joba pitch tonight.. and Wake get bombed.

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