Yanks crush Twins, sky ceases falling

Now, the only question that remains: do we cut off Chicken Little’s head for the false alarm? Or do we let him suffer the same fate as the proverbial boy who cried wolf?

It appears all has returned to normal in Yankeeland, as they got their second straight “normal” start. Like with Pavano last night, there were a few things I didn’t like from Pettitte tonight. Thankfully, most of those concerns amounted to his control, which is surely the result of a shortened Spring Training. This really isn’t troubling, especially considering he’s still on a rough pitch count (though he kind of blew through that last night).

I must point this out 15 or so times a season, but it is incredibly difficult to put together an interesting recap of a blowout like last night. Yeah, they hit a lot. Yeah, Pettitte pitched like we remember him. But there was little that sparked any emotion, save for Alex’s first-inning home run.

At least Melky was able to avoid looking foolish at the plate yesterday. He went 3 for 4, and didn’t seem to be flailing at pitches like he was in the season’s first week. I noticed this especially in his at bat in the ninth (which coincidentally followed a nice play on a liner to left to end the 8th). He laid off a first-pitch off-speed offering, which he might not have just a few days ago. He still has plenty to work on, but at least he’s got some semblance of a swing working for him.

A couple of notes:

• I’ve been hearing a lot lately about all the times that Minky has saved errors this season. While it’s great that he’s playing solid D at first, I sincerely doubt that he’s saved more than two errors over what Giambi could have done. That’s because Giambi’s more glaring shortcoming isn’t his ability to scoop errant throws, it’s his complete lack of range (followed closely by his inability to throw the ball). But, as long as the Yanks are hitting like this, I’ll take him at first basel.
• Ben had mentioned something about the weather in his previous post, which got me thinking. Writers and bloggers all around the league are complaining about the weather in some form or another. The thing is, though, that most are blaming it for their poor hitting, while Yanks fans blame it for their poor pitching. Maybe we should lay off the weather argument?
• The biggest WPA shift for the Yanks today: Alex’s home run, of course (.174). The most detrimental to the Twins: Mike Cuddyer grounding into a double play in the fourth, with the game still close at 3-0 (-.126).

Mike Mussina gets his chance tonight against Ramon Ortiz. The Yanks just gotta take advantage of this crappy pitching.