Yankee Links

Turns out CC had no faith in his fastball yesterday. Funny you should mention that, CC . . .

But wait! Not a single strikeout? The Post asks: couldn't Darrel Rasner have done better? (Or, one wonders, Carl Pavano? Steve Trout?)

Sitting in Minute Maid Park, watching the Orioles pile up runs in the eighth and put the game away, I did my best Superintendant Chalmers impersonation: you know, when Chalmers shouts, "SKINNERRRRR!" Except, without matching the scoreboard's posted jersey number to the specific pitcher--in other words, without being told who was going down in flames--I reflexively shouted, "BRUUUUNNNEEEYYY!" Correctly, as it turned out.

What has hurt the Yankees, post-2003, was the arm-falling-off work given to the Flash Gordons and Scott Proctors, who found themselves unable to pick their noses in the post-season, never mind stand up to Manny and Vlad. (I remember standing in Minute Maid Park in 2004, watching a monitor as an exhausted Gordon heaved the ball in against the middle of the Boston lineup. I thought, Well, maybe they'll hit a line drive at somebody--just as David Ortize did just that, hitting the ball right at some guy sitting in the fourth row of the Monster Seats.) Joba was the answer two seasons ago until . . . well, let's not revisit that Cleveland fiasco again.