Yanks Rearrange Rotation For The Rays Series

The Yankees have their last scheduled off-day of the regular season today, and in a move that's ultimately too little too late but still the right strategic decision, Joe is going to use that off-day to rearrange his rotation.

The Phil Hughes-David Huff 2-headed 5th starter monster was scheduled to start tomorrow's series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays.  With the off-day keeping the rest of the rotation behind them on regular rest, Joe will skip over his 5th starters and go back to the top of the rotation.  He'll have 3 of his 4 best starters - Hiroki Kuroda, CC Sabathia, and Ivan Nova - start the 3 games against Tampa and push Huffes back to the final series in Houston later in the week.

In a perfect world, Joe would have Andy Pettitte in that mix, probably in place of CC.  Pettitte was brilliant yesterday and should have the adrenaline flowing again when he makes his final career start.  The Yankees' only chance to make the postseason is to sweep these 3 games from Tampa and get a lot of help, something that doesn't seem very likely given the agonizingly inconsistent nature of their lineup right now.  So with the season all but over, it's probably better to keep Andy on his regular schedule and let him make his final start in the other MLB city he called home.  Even without him, the decision to go Hirok, CC, Nova is the right one and an upgrade over letting Hughes and Huff pitch a meaningful game.