Hang On, Folks...

                "What's the matter with Jeter?" Petey Goods asked me as soon as I walked into McQuade's.  "I don't know.  What's the matter with him..." I replied, not thinking he really had a beef with Jeter.  If Petey Goods was going to point a finger at somebody, I would have thought it would be Cano.  Or Giambi.  Or Hughes or Kennedy.  "He's not doing anything," he said, walking away.  Apparently his beef was (is) with Jeter.  Noted.  The Rumble brothers, Brian and Mike, were at the back table with Sean, Dale, Mikey Juice and the Big Boy, taking down two plates of steak tidbits (one Cajun, one not), two plates of chicken tidbits (one mozzarella, one cheddar), two plates of wings (one spicy and the other one for Acc), two trays of sliders (burgers and pulled pork), and a plate of calamari just for giggles.  I was struggling to keep up with those guys, as usual.  All the while we watched a game that absolutely nobody in the place had any confidence in.

            First of all, has there ever been a worse debut for anybody in a Yankee uniform than Chris Stewart tonight?  I can't say I know what it was that kept crossing him up with Phil Hughes, but whatever it was it was awful.  Michael Kay, Al Leiter, and Flash Flaherty all seemed to think it was Hughes's fault.  Okay.  It's just that I've never seen that kind of a mess before, regardless of who was pitching or catching.  The most infuriating thing was when it cost them a strike, an out, two runs, and possibly the game.  Two strikes on Sheffield in the third inning.  Hughes dropped a beautiful knee-buckling bender right into the zone.  Strike three, sit down Sheffield.  Except that Hughes and Stewart were crossed up again.  So Stewart stands up, not thinking it was going to break, and the thing breaks right down and almost hits him in the jock as it bounced away.  Home plate umpire Mark Wegner, just as out-of-sorts as Stewart, just stood there.  Everybody in the booth waited for the out call until Michael Kay said, "I guess that was a ball?  I know the ball got away, but that looked like it was right over the plate."  Leiter and Flash agreed.  No call.  A ball it was.  Next pitch: kaboom.  Two-run homer.  And then we eventually ended up losing by.......right...

            Look, I know Hughes has been miserable.  But I do have some thoughts.  Two things have stuck out for me.  First, I remember very vividly having the same thought last year - he can't put people away.  He jumps out to two-strike counts on everybody, and then they proceed to get a piece of everything he throws.  Foul, foul, foul, then he throws a few balls, then he either walks them or he has to groove one.  He clearly has electric stuff, but the heater in particular isn't quick enough to put anybody away.  Everybody hangs around.  Gets his pitch count way up.  The other thing is just one man's observation.  The guy just doesn't get a single call out there.  I get it.  He's a rookie, and he doesn't pound the zone enough so that any umpire will give him the benefit of the doubt.  But dude, they just will not call his bender a strike.  It's a beautiful pitch.  He throws it just the way Boomer did.  Twelve to six.  But they just will not give it to him.  In the minors he had 66 walks in well over 100 games.  Here in the majors he's got 42 walks in 19 games.  He's not really throwing the ball a whole lot differently, boys.  Put these two things together and you've got high pitch counts, hitters waiting him out, and finally, pitches grooved right down the plate.  Not good.

            While we're on the subject, my thought is that Ian Kennedy is wearing a different uniform by the all-star break; chum for a veteran arm.  I'm not saying I'm in favor of it, I'm just saying I think it will happen.  I'm also not saying I'm not in favor of it, by the way.

            Also while we're at it, if The Boss were still in charge, the first call after Allie and Posada hit the DL would have been to Barry Bonds.  Believe it.  And admittedly, it would probably have taken about thirty seconds after his theme music started as he strode up to the plate for me to get the puke taste out of my mouth and start cheering for him.  I would still think he was a cheater, a jack*ss, an illegitimate record-thief, and an all-around scoundrel.  But what can I say.  I root for the uniform.  

            The Yankees futility with runners in scoring position has been so striking that it actually exposes a hole in the whole batting-average-with-runners-in-scoring-position stat.  I think the Yankees were something like 4-for-their-last-32 with runners in scoring position at some point tonight.  I kind of lost track, so that might not be right, but I think it's close.  And that's a .125 batting average.  But the story is actually worse.  First of all, two of the hits didn't score anybody.  One, an infield hit in the hole at short with Damon on second, didn't even move the runner to third.  And further, two (at least) of the outs were actually double plays; one with bases loaded and one with runners at first and third.  So when you're looking at it from a team perspective, it would probably make more sense to calculate run-scoring hits with runners in scoring position against outs.  In that case, the two hits that didn't score runs would be treated as a non-at-bat, and the double plays would correctly be counted as two outs.  So you see my point here.  For practical purposes, the Yankees were actually closer to 2-for-32 (take away the two at-bats for the non-run-scoring hits and add back two for the extra outs in the two double plays).  And that's a .063 batting average.  That's .063....  The good news is you know where I stand on this.  I'm a law of averages kind of guy.  Generally the team runners-in-scoring-position batting average is similar to the overall team batting average.  That means they have their hits coming to them.  They're due.  So due.

            So the jubilation and expected success of coming home has been offset by losing both Allie and Posada.  This is going to be a major struggle.  From a quality-opponent standpoint, they are in the teeth of their schedule.   They just need to keep hanging on.  Hughes and Kennedy will just have to keep piling on those wins.  Or, you know, get one.... Either way....