And So It Begins…

Joba Chamberlain pitched 2 scoreless innings tonight against the Baltimore Orioles, throwing a bunch of pitches, including a few changeups. When asked about Joba’s 2-inning stint after the game, Girardi answered that the Yankees are now working on converting Joba Chamberlain from a reliever to a starter. While this is big news (thanks to RAB, by the way, for the news of course), at the same time, Joba’s conversion process will really be contingent upon Ian Kennedy’s future outings, starting with tomorrow.

Rasner has essentially locked up his rotation spot, especially with the beauty he threw tonight, so it’ll be up to Ian Kennedy to prove, not only that he deserves a spot (he’s pretty much done that already), but that he can actually perform for the team and help them to win ballgames. Let’s hope that Ian Kennedy hears the news about Joba, and hopefully, it’ll light a fire in him for tomorrow. If he can get it going, I mean seriously get it going and deliver a few wins, the Yankees could pull back a bit on the Joba starter plan.

Wang Injured But OK

Chien-Ming Wang suffered a mild calf strain in his last start against the Mets, but he’s reportedly fine and will pitch in his next start. No worries (for now).

Game #46: Yanks VS. Orioles

Derek Jeter knows how to talk his way into a lineup. It’s simply one of the many things that he is good at. It doesn’t matter if he’s injured or hungover after a late night with a Maxim Top 100 Hottie (lucky bastard), either way, the guy shows up ready to play. That’s certainly the case for today’s game and with the Yankees in the cellar, I’m sure Joe Girardi didn’t mind penciling his name in.

Here’s the lineup (via PA):

YANKEES
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Duncan 1B (he’ll face the lefty, Garrett Olson)
Cano 2B
Moeller C
Cabrera CF
Rasner RHP

OK, so whenever I’ve predicted a Player of the Game (there have been two times I can recall, specifically), I’ve somehow been right each time. Recently, I predicted that Hideki Matsui would bust out a bit, and he ended up hitting a game-tying homer against Troy Percival and the Rays. So, in order to keep the streak going, I’m going to have to offer up my support for Shelley Duncan. Duncan has played so poorly that he’s due (if that makes sense). The rest of the Yankee lineup better get their forearms ready.

Posada Update

Jorge Posada caught Ian Kennedy in the bullpen a few days ago and is hoping to get into some rehab games by the end of May (28th or 29th). This would allow him to build his leg strength up for a few weeks before returning in mid or even early June. However, despite feeling better, Jorge is still pretty worried about his arm and from that, his ability to throw runners out at any point during a 9-inning affair:

“We’ve got to worry about the arm first,” Posada said. “It may be the ninth inning and you have to try to throw somebody out, and still have that strength in the ninth inning. That’s the biggest thing.”

Jorge also stated that he’s somewhat worried about making an off-balance throw, which certainly isn’t good news. He hasn’t ruled out offseason surgery and it seems more and more likely that surgery will be the eventual route taken in order to correct the problem. However, it’s also important to note that his shoulder is feeling better and that he’s been involved in a throwing program without any problems.

Maybe Jorge should refrain from talking about the shoulder or at least say a lot of positive things about it, which would foster some level of doubt in a runner or a manager’s mind when attempting to run on him when he’s behind the plate. If he’s just an ornament back there, that could become problematic.

Let’s Turn This Thing Around

The Yanks lost a tough one last night and Joe Girardi knows that we’re at rock bottom. The Yankees are playing like some zombies from an old monster movie. You know, it’s like they can react although barely, and they’re very slow, while looking lifeless despite moving. I’m talking about the old monster movies, not the new ones where the zombies can actually run around and put up a decent fight one-on-one (28 Days Later is a good rental). No, that’s not these Yankees.

But, tomorrow they’ll face Garrett Olson and have a shot at redemption. The only problem with Olson is that he’s a tough guy to go against. Although a rookie, he’s a solid pitcher and to top it all off, he’s a lefty. The Yankees are hitting .225 against lefties this year and one has to wonder about their production tomorrow. However, these LHP splits are somewhat skewed or atleast not entirely tangible due to Joe Girardi’s constant lineup changes. He’s batted Shelley Duncan and Morgan Ensberg in there against lefties but they have been terrible (Ensberg is hitting .179 against lefties while Duncan is hitting .240). The lineup is almost fully intact, so maybe the guys will collect some lineup stability (and from that, garner some confidence against lefties) instead of being juggled around while A-Rod was out.

Speaking of the bench guys, check out this quote from an anonymous scout:

“The Yankees built their team around a big offense scoring a ton of runs,” said the scout, who was granted anonymity so he could speak candidly about another team. “One-fourth of the offense — what is it, 250 runs batted in? — is basically out of the lineup right now. It’s a lot harder to compete, especially because this is the worst Yankees bench I’ve ever seen.”

That says a lot, especially after having the likes of Miguel Cairo, Nick Green, Sal Fasano and other seemingly worthless bodies sitting on the NY bench. I for one thought the bench would be a strong factor for our club this year, however, I have definitely been wrong about that one.