Yankee Rotation Out Of The Break Says Something

When the Yankees start up play tonight, they'll do it with some ASB-aided adjustments to the rotation.  They've lined up Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda, and CC Sabathia to pitch the 3 games in Boston, in that order.  Despite what Joe says, there's definitely more to that decision than just making sure guys get extra days off.

Simply, it shows that the Yankees still don't trust their young pitching.  Big series out of the break, against the team they're chasing in the AL East who also happens to be their blood rival, and Joe doesn't want Phil or Ivan anywhere near that situation.  Nova's been the best starter in the rotation the last 3 turns through and Phil is at least as likely to give the Yanks a better start than Pettitte will if not more likely.  But once again, the Yanks are making the statement that they're going to ride their veterans to the promised land.

Which is not to say it's a bad strategy.  CC and Hirok are the team's top 2 starters, and Andy has more of a big game reputation than Hughes or Nova.  And maybe there's a bit of trade strategy mixed in there too, like not wanting Hughes to get shelled in a nationally-televised game to hurt his market value.  We've seen it happen before against Boston.  Hughes would be tagged to pitch one of the next 2 games in the Texas series and he's a much better pitcher out there in Arlington than he is in Fenway.

Good strategy, bad strategy?  Guess we'll find out in 3 days.