Afternoon Baseball

If A.J. Burnett is on, he's not often to be beaten.

Phil Hughes was up against it, and there can't be much to go on. He was more interesting as a trivia concern: Youngest previous Yankees starter and last first-round pick to make the majors for the Yanks. The second answer is discouraging, and reminds me of how the Orioles developed Cal Ripken Jr., won a World Series, and basically never developed anyone until he retired.

The team is 8-12. What's the answer? Oh, for A-Rod's mindset or hitting approach to be the biggest problem.
Are we in must-win territory? I won't say that, but I think another Red Sox sweep, one at home no less, could push this season into wild-card mode.

Pitching is the biggest concern, and the Yankees may have to make a deal. For whom or how, I don't know. Of course, if Joe Torre wants to keep managing them out of games with weird handling of pitchers, it won't matter.
To be fair, as some of those links show, the poor starting pitching hasn't made Torre's job easier. But still.

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And as for the Curt Schilling bloody sock controversy, WasWatching says, understandably, "Why would he lie?" But Baseball Musings, whose author is an ex-ESPN employee who (openly) dislikes Gary Thorne's work, says he's simply sloppy.
Thorne's been a great hockey broadcaster, although not everyone agrees, and he's covered, well, some big baseball moments.
I don't know why he's bringing this up now, but I don't know if either blogger is right. Thorne doesn't have to lie to be incorrect, and Thorne not being a stat geek way back in the day, or rather, being the right type of stat geek, seems to not matter here. That being said, a reputation for sloppiness should be kept in mind should Thorne keep saying things of this sort.
As I commented on the Baseball Musings post, this whole issue just shows how great Curt Schilling is at public relations.

Labels: Baseball, Yankees