Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Another 8th-Inning Comeback? What Else is New?

I'm sure the Angels are all broken up about losing last night after they became one of the lucky few to get a run off of Phil Hughes this year, and especially since the Yanks have turned the tides on their supposed kryptonite to win 6 out of the 7 matchups between the 2 teams.

But they should really just be happy that they had the first 7 innings to try to score runs and give themselves a chance to win, because the Yankees are the best late-game team in baseball. If every game started in the bottom of the 8th, they would be 145-0 instead of 93-52 right now and that's just a stone cold fact.

Starting pitcher has a bad night? No big deal, the offense will put up enough runs to keep them in the game and then blow it open in the 8th or 9th. Close game in the 8th? No big deal, Phil Hughes will come in and blow the other team away to hold the late. Hughes coughs it up? Even less of a deal, Brett Gardner will just run all over the bases to score the go-ahead run before the supposedly unclutch Robinson Cano provides some insurance for Mariano Rivera, the next surest thing in life besides death and taxes.

Christ, even Joba decided to show up and pitch last night! It's good to have him back after the last couple months. That fat guy trying to impersonate him was starting to get on my nerves.