Why Didn't Joe Play Jorge And C-Grand?!?!

Oh well, guess Joe's lineup tinkering didn't work out today.  After his typical shaky first inning when he was clearly too jacked up because he was pitching in Cali again, CC was magic.  But the Yanks couldn't muster enough offense off Dallas Braden to pick CC up.  I knew Joe messing with the lineup today was a bad idea.

Speaking of Dallas, somebody tell this kid to chill out.  Screaming at The Horse because he walked across the mound? 

“I don’t care if I’m Cy Young or the 25th man on the roster, if I’ve got the ball in my hand and I’m on that mound, that’s my mound…. He ran across the pitcher’s mound foot on my rubber. No, not happening. We’re not the door mat anymore.”- Braden after the game.

Dude, it wasn't like you were going into your windup.  The fucking play was dead!!  And then to talk about how hard you throw and what you may or may not do the next time these 2 teams meet?  It's shit talking like that that will get your teeth kicked in by The Horse next time.  And then you won't even have to worry about who's walking on your mound because you'll be laying in the ICU.


P.S.- Calm down with the "We're not the door mat anymore" schtick, bro.  Look around you.  You play for the biggest penny pincher in baseball.  The Oakland A's exist to basically be every other team's farm system.  They horde good young talent and then trade it off for more good young talent when it gets too expensive.  Just calm down with the chest pounding, pitch decent over the next couple years and enjoy the new contract you get from some different team in free agency.

Joe Farting In Oakland's General Direction

Here's today's lineup for this afternoon's series finale against Oakland via LoHud:

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson 1B
Mark Teixeira DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Marcus Thames LF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner CF

LHP CC Sabathia

Wow, well that's a new one, ain't it? To be honest, I love it. It's only 14 games into the season and Joe is already trying to fuck with people. If you don't think this lineup is a big D-X crotch chop to the rest of the AL then you are out of your mind.

Johnson at 1st and Teix DH'ing? Swish going from day off to batting 6th? Thames getting the 7-spot for C-Grand? Frankie and Gardy rounding out the bottom of the order? Come on now.

No offense to anybody, but this isn't even the B-lineup that's going out there today, it's somewhere between B- and C+. And I love it because it's Joe showing confidence in his pitcher, CC, and his team. He's basically telling everybody "yeah, I'm going to start fucking with the lineup and give people day's off that don't need it because I know we're still going to come out and beat you with whoever I decide to throw out there in whatever batting order I choose. And while we're at it, I'll just throw Nick Johnson and his giant mascot head out there at 1st base for shits and giggles."

Now if only Joe would show up in the dugout today wearing the championship belt. Now THAT would be badass!

HUUUUUUUUUGHES!!!

(Photo Courtesy of The AP)

It's nights like last night that make me regret moving out to Wisconsin and losing my access to YES on cable and all the Yankee games that come with it.  Actually, maybe it's a good thing I didn't watch last night's game because my pants would have been off in no time and my TV would probably be a little sticky right now.

Phil Hughes was masterful last night, absolutely masterful. Kid was dealing from the time he stepped on the mound to throw his warm-up pitches to the time Joe came to take him out in the 8th inning. Everything about last night's performance was confirmation for why the Yankees have been so high on him for the last 5 years and why he was chosen to get the final rotation spot over everybody else.

You can say whatever you want about the 6 1/3 hitless innings he threw against the Rangers in '07 or the 6 shutout innings with 6 Ks against the Tigers last year, but last night was the greatest outing of Hughes' young career. And it wasn't because of the 7 1/3 no-hit innings that he threw before finally giving up that freak hit to Chavez or the career high 10 Ks (even though those were great). It was the way Hughes went about racking up those numbers that was impressive and showed the tremendous growth he has experienced as a pitcher over the last couple years.

Hughes threw 101 pitches last night, and all but 10 of them were four-seamers and cutters. That shows that not only were those pitches working for Hughes last night, but more importantly that Hughes recognized it early and stuck with those pitches, eliminating the fastball and changeup from his selections and only throwing 10 curveballs. The A's could do nothing with the 4-seamer and cutter last night, so he rode those pitches for as long as he could. He didn't waste time trying to mix pitches, set guys up, or pick at corners. He was on the same page as his catcher and he was just rocking and firing with what he knew the other team couldn't hit.
 
Our little boy is growing up.  Hughes is starting to think on the mound, recognize what his strengths and weaknesses are from outing to outing, and pitching to those strengths, and that is a scary thought for the rest of the AL.