Beginner’s Luck, Margin for Error, and Passing Time
By Mike Silva ~ June 19th, 2009. Filed under: Morning Digest.
- The Yankees lost to Fernando Nieve, Craig Stammen, and John Lannan this home stand. On the flip side they beat Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez. It’s one of those baseball oddities why a team collectively can’t hit young pitchers they are facing for the first time.
- The Mets have no margin for error these days. Unfortunately that means they can’t afford any blown saves from their closer. The team is playing hard and shaking off both the physical and mental mistakes. You have to worry that eventually they will tire of this underdog role and stop believing. If that happens than this can get ugly.
- The Scranton Yankees were rained out and I decided to ask Shelley Duncan what he does to pass time during a rain delay. His response: “Drink coffee and just wait it out. Rain delays are tough. It’s easy to lose your focus and throw away the rest of the night”. Sounds like the Yankees didn’t drink any coffee at all during their 5 plus hours of sitting around.
- Are we headed for another David Wright funk? He is human, but you see what happens to the offense when Wright doesn’t hit.
- I am still waiting for this top of the rotation starter named Joba to appear. If it takes Joba as long as say, Matt Cain, to develop into a legitimate front line starter, will Yankees fans have the patience? I say undoubtedly yes! The big question is will management feel the same way.
- Critical 10 game home stand for the Mets. Is 6-4 too much to ask? That would require winning the Rays and Yankees series, while splitting with St. Louis. If they are going to play .500 ball over the 32 games stretch leading up to the break it will require those six wins. Thus far the Mets are 3-6.
- Do you realize that 17% of Washington’s wins this year have come on New York soil? One at Citi Field and two at Yankee Stadium. You have to wonder if Manny Acta watched “Damn Yankees” earlier in the week. Does this series save his job…for now?
- Biggest play of the game: Pedro Feliciano’s failure to retire Aubrey Huff. I know what you’re thinking. How can that be with how poorly K-Rod pitched? An extra run could have made all the difference to K-Rod in that ninth inning.
- Looks like Brett Gardner is going to be day to day.
- A-Rod is entering Dave Kingman territory again. I liked the A-Kingman moniker.
- Can someone kidnap Aubrey Huff on the way to the airport and bring him to Citi Field?
- Who would have thought Julian “kerosene on the fire” Tavarez would get Jeter to ground out in that bases loaded situation.
- Don’t forget about a special edition of New York Baseball Digest tonight at 6pm. Patrick Hickey of Dem Brooklyn Bums will join me live from Keyspan Park for the Brooklyn Cyclones/Staten Island Yankees NY-Penn League opener.
