Phil Hughes is starting to cheese me off.
We kept this guy rather than getting Johan Santana? Okay so he's 21. Joba Chamberlain isn't much older and he hasn't had nearly the kinds of problems that Hughes has been having. Okay, so the weather hasn't been optimal. Wang and Pettitte have been pitching in the same weather, and they're both doing very well; in fact, they're our only dependable pitchers right now. I'm all for giving the kid a chance to succeed here, but what have we seen from him this season that is going to make any of us feel good? Every time Hughes, Kennedy and Moose start, it starts as a loss and if we get lucky, we manage to win. That's 3 pitchers out of 5.....so basically we're punting 60% of our games and if we get lucky, we win a few of them. How is that supposed to help us win the division and then go past the 1st round of the playoffs?
And as if our pitching wasn't enough of a problem, our offense has been comatose, stagnant, dead and buried since game one.....with maybe 3 exceptions. There was that time we scored 15 runs (and then proceeded to jack sh!t offensively afterward) and that time we scored 9 runs (and then did jack sh!t offensively afterward) and then I think there was one more time after that I am forgetting. Alex in on the DL now according to YES, Jorge will be out for God knows how long, Giambi/Cano/Damon/everyone else except Molina are stinking up the joint....it's no real wonder why we haven't been able to win games. If pitchers like Hughes and Kennedy don't get offense from the lineup, they're more apt to over pitch in order to try and compensate. Wang and Pettitte can win with very little hitting going on behind them. So when we give them 2 or 3 runs, they make it work.
Another bone to pick about tonight's game: Girardi should not have sat Melky. Damon in CF is like watching Bernie Williams circa 2006 out there; it's embarrassing. A couple of balls hit out there tonight, Melky would have caught. Maybe that changes the tone of the game, who knows. I get that he wanted the lefty-lefty match-up, but screw the match-up when it effs with our OF defense, which is already abysmal. That didn't help us one bit. Especially since Melky has been hitting the ball well this season and Damon really hasn't. Overall, this was a sh!t game, one I'm sure we're going to see more of this season. *sigh*
And as if our pitching wasn't enough of a problem, our offense has been comatose, stagnant, dead and buried since game one.....with maybe 3 exceptions. There was that time we scored 15 runs (and then proceeded to jack sh!t offensively afterward) and that time we scored 9 runs (and then did jack sh!t offensively afterward) and then I think there was one more time after that I am forgetting. Alex in on the DL now according to YES, Jorge will be out for God knows how long, Giambi/Cano/Damon/everyone else except Molina are stinking up the joint....it's no real wonder why we haven't been able to win games. If pitchers like Hughes and Kennedy don't get offense from the lineup, they're more apt to over pitch in order to try and compensate. Wang and Pettitte can win with very little hitting going on behind them. So when we give them 2 or 3 runs, they make it work.
Another bone to pick about tonight's game: Girardi should not have sat Melky. Damon in CF is like watching Bernie Williams circa 2006 out there; it's embarrassing. A couple of balls hit out there tonight, Melky would have caught. Maybe that changes the tone of the game, who knows. I get that he wanted the lefty-lefty match-up, but screw the match-up when it effs with our OF defense, which is already abysmal. That didn't help us one bit. Especially since Melky has been hitting the ball well this season and Damon really hasn't. Overall, this was a sh!t game, one I'm sure we're going to see more of this season. *sigh*
I hear you Beth. I really do. I still urge patience for Hughes because he's young (the youngest pitcher and second youngest player in the majors) and needs to learn. But I believe that teams have figured out that right now he's a two-trick pony--fastball-curve--and it's killing him now. Plus, I don't think it's good for his confidence or development to see him get whacked every time out. I'm far from sold on Rasner and [gulp] Igawa, but they've suffered some knocks, and are pitching better at least in AAA. It may be time to let the kids develop back in SWB for a time and get their bearings again.
On the offense, I'm right there with you. It's been disgraceful, horrible in the clutch, too often generating something only with two outs when there is no margin for error and no chance for productive outs, and with way too many dead spots in the lineup. Giambi is driving me nuts right now, and I'm almost to the point of counting down the days that his bloated, wasteful contract ends regardless of whether or not he becomes a one-man juggernaut the rest of the year. He and Cano should sit. Cano continues to swing at the first pitch despite having a terrible rate of success when doing so, and Giambi has hardly hit lefties for beans.
You're completely right about Melky's sitting, a terrible decision by Girardi. I believe Girardi played Giambi because historically he's been 10-23 off The Pine Tar Gambler, and what does Big G do? off him tonight? Nothing. But Matsui sat for two games against lefties when he was batting over .300, Melky has five homers and is hitting well while being far better in center than JD, and sub-Mendoza Giambi continues to play. Enough already of this clown's act.
Garbage production from more than a huge payroll, but an experienced, talented lineup even without Posada and A-Rod. That's inexcusable.
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Good to hear from you, Jason. I still don't know if I'm going to make the move or not; it's so time-consuming to copy/paste all my posts and backdate them so they show up in the archives properly. Too, all my readers/commentors know me here and I don't want to lose traffic.
As for what you said, the sooner Giambi goes, the better. Our lineup is completely anemic even WITH Alex and Jorge, so imagine what it's going to be like if those two are out for any significant length of time. Everyone else needs to start picking up the slack and I just don't see them doing that. Also, the starting pitching needs to buckle down and pick this team up. We can't be going into 60% of our games already at a deficit. That's no way to win.
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Yeah, Hughes is having issues and all, but the real problem for me is the batting. Although I didn't have the opportunity to watch the game, from what I heard and read, they left the bases loaded twice and had something like 15 LOB. That's pathetic! They're just not getting runs in. The bats are dead and opponets have nothing to fear with this lineup. It's last year all over again.
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I agree about the offense being the worse problem, sillydiva. They left 13 on last night, eight in scoring position. Their average is dropping with runners in scoring position. Either they get nothing going UNTIL they have two outs, and then have no wriggle room or ability to score with a productive out, OR they get runners on early and don't score them. The offense is an utter mess right now, and was even before Posada's and A-Rod's injuries.
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