Good Starting Pitching Is Good. Great Starting Pitching Is Better

Do you see that?  Do you?  That's straight up DOMINANCE with a capital "dominance."  In the month of June, the Yankee rotation has posted the following line:

7-1 Record, 1.77 ERA, 2.58 FIP, 2.02 BB/9, 8.96 K/9

And that's with the ace of the staff not pitching his best.  If you're looking for the number 1 reason why the Yankees risen back to the top of the AL East, look no further than that spreadsheet.  They had their ups and downs early, but this crew looks like they're starting to settle in.  They aren't going to be this good for the rest of the season, but if they can pitch consistently well enough, that should be more than enough to win this division.  And if the offense ever catches up, watch out.

Bunch of stone cold killers right here.

(See no evil, smell no evil, speak no evil?  Courtesy of US Presswire)

Some Pregame Food For Thought: Starting Pitching

As the rotation cycles back around to Phil Hughes' turn again, and he makes his first start since his outstanding complete game against Detroit last Sunday, it's worth taking a look at the individual performances of each member of the rotation the last time through.  Take notice of who had the worst outing.

- Hughes: 9 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K (W)
- Pettitte: 7.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K (W)
- Nova: 8.0+ IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (W)
- Sabathia: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 12 K (L)
- Kuroda: 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K (W)

There really isn't a bad outing to be found in there, and I'll take rotation-wide production like this 25 hours a day/8 days a week, but the big fella was thoroughly outpitched by the rest of his rotation mates.  We're living in a world where CC Sabathia is presently the Yankees' worst starting pitcher.  It's some straight up bizarro world shit, and it can only be the latest sign that the end of days are near, but I'm OK with it.