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Posted by: Ben K. in Injuries, WhimsyDespite throwing a successful 75-pitch outing against Minor Leaguers on Sunday, Andy Pettitte’s prospects in the early going this season look bleak. The Yankees pitching depth, it seems, will be tested early.
According to reports out of New York, Pettitte’s back did not respond well at all to the weekend outing, and the Yanks believe he could be out for as long as two months. To make matters worse in the eyes of fans, the Yankees plan to replace Pettitte with the much-maligned Kei Igawa who, just a few hours ago, was named the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Opening Day starter.
The Yankees all of a sudden find themselves with a little bit of a pitching problem. While Chien-Ming Wang will retain his place at the front of the rotation, the four pitchers behind him are anything but a given. Mike Mussina will slot into the second starter position, but he’s coming off the worst season of his career and had a shaky Spring Training. Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, two youngsters who may struggle at times, will follow Mussina, and Igawa will pick up the rear.
When word of Pettitte’s injury came down, I, like many of you, probably turned your thoughts to the ace in the hole the Yanks seem to carry in their bullpen. Wouldn’t Joba Chamberlain be a much better choice than Kei Igawa? Right now, the Yankees seem unwilling to move Chamberlain out of the pen. They fear that he’ll be used too much too soon and will reach his innings cap before the Yanks need to call on him in October.
While the rained out Opening Day and subsequent 7:05 p.m. rescheduling of the game took some of the damper out of the festivities that surround the start of the season, this news casts a veritable pall over what is usually a joyous time of year. This time, Roger Clemens won’t ride to the rescue. All of a sudden, the Yanks are left with a hole, and Johan Santana sure looked good in his Mets debut.
But the Yanks have overcome adversity before, and they still have the makings of a championship team. Maybe Kei Igawa can step. Maybe he can pitch effectively. That is, after all, why they play the games. And, oh yeah, Happy April Fools Day.
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There’s a line you really shouldn’t cross for April Fool’s jokes. You guys jumped right over it.
Is it a practical joke or a heart-attack inducing joke?
That is the worse april fools day prank i have ever heard of. You guys are the CRUELESTTTTT
I would like you all to read this, it has to do with this april fools prank
http://samiamsports.blogspot.c.....oling.html
look…i love your site…i visit every day…multiple times…but common…that was horrible. My heart exploded just thinking about kei igawa and his stupid sunglasses ruining game after game after game….
no more of this nonsense
The non-link link was a giveaway.
Yeah, I used the same ploy last year.
You know that one last year proved the saying, “there’s some truth to every joke”. Dammit Ben, you’ve doomed us all!
Dumb of me to believe it: I saw the headline and said haha, you guys are kidding… but then I kept reading.. and started believing… and got freaked out… and thought I was going to cry… and could not understand where this report could have come from at this hour with no updates on it anywhere else… YET I still believed you. Silly me.
But GREAT joke. You really had me going there.
That was pretty good. A four letter word came to mind reading that Igawa was on the way.
fuck you
u sacred the crap out of me i was ready to flip
WOW i almost just killed myself luckily i finished reading it all
My heart stopped for a minute, good work
Mike f’s response is apt. LOL
Most annoying day of the year.
Don’t worry; it’s our only joke post of the day.
You know what, seriously screw you guys. I sure I am not the only one on this site who suffers from Igawaphobia and your utter lack of insensitivity to this condition is heartless.
Second damn time today, tired of this crap. Stop it already, I can’t take another one! It was so bad that I couldn’t even bring myself to read the full article, I jumped to the comments after the first paragraph and that’s when I found out about the joke.
So wrong. So, so wrong.
Man my heart dropped.
Well done sir.
You sinfoabiach!! i almost had a heart attack
Well played, that deserves a tip of the cap… just as soon as I can catch my breath again.
I keeel you
I fucking hate you guys. I was ready to cancel my MLB.TV subscription and take up watching UFC.
Don’t ever do that to me again.. Wow, you guys really blow.
Ah, the sign of a good April Fool’s joke.
Seriously, uncool. I called up like 6 people.
On the plus side, I’m going to be alert for the rest of the day.
Bastard.
I just read your posting guidelines last night, and was fully prepared to violate the “swear judiciously” requirement when I read Kei Igawa’s name. At the same time, I wonder if he’ll figure it out. Do you think the Yankees get anything out of his contract?
I’d say this is a judicious time to swear. Mike F’s response basically wins the thread.
Do the Yanks get anything out of his contract? Depends on what they get if they ever take the plunge and trade him. But I’m guessing now. When the Yanks can absorb what basically amounts to a $46 million loss, what does that tell you about the financial state of the organization?
If they got something for Irabu I’m sure they’ll be able to dump Igawa on SOMEONE desperate for pitching (Houston, Philly?)
except Irabu really wasn’t that bad for the Yankees.
everyone remembers him as sucking, but he didn’t really “suck”.
he didn’t live up to the hype, but in 1998-1999, the Yankees had the best 4/5th starter in baseball.
Wow, that had me so pissed in the beginning, and then it had me on the floor laughing. This is exactly why I check this site like 20 times a day. You guys are great, don’t you ever change. Riveraveblues.com is to changing as Joe Torre is to using Edwar Ramirez!
If I had not just read Google’s “custom time” joke, my heart would have dropped like cement for more than 2 seconds. Well done.
Fargin icehole bastiches!
I’ve played some nasty practical jokes on people before, but I’ve never, ever stooped to this level.
Although I must say, if Pettitte really does suffer any kind of setback, you’re probably going to want to move out of the country, nay, out of any land-mass on Earth.
I have the Witness Protection Program on speed dial.
Nice you did make me think that was true since it’s like almost 2:00 in the morning.Very good.
got me a$$hole
For a weird second there, I actually thought to myself, “yeah, maybe they’re right….maybe that is why the games are played….yeah, that’s the ticket…go Igawa!”
Now that kind of thinking from me deserves to be fooled, so I’m guessing you could do a few more like that and I may not notice.
The scary bit is….it really really could happen. But then Horne might come up and we’d have some ridiculous Big Four campaign.
As much as I’d love to see Joba in the rotation ASAP, this was NOT funny.
Seriously, you think we’re all dumb enough to think Igawa would be the first called up?
You my friend are an ass
Nice Job! The best part is that I fell for it and immediately called my Dad who flipped out as well…..then I read the notes and felt like a jackass….then I had to call my dad and tell him it was a joke who then called me a jackass.
Well played my friend. Wondering why Igawa would be the first guy to take Andy’s place, but it was a good joke nevertheless!
yup, you just got me. bravo!
Good joke. Next year I plan to infiltrate a randomly chosen Red Sox site and do the same thing to those dorks.
I hate you.
You got me, hook, line & sinker. I was all ready to bray about bringing up Horne.
damn you!, i have tickets to saturdays game is i was going to sell them because of that hahaha
YOU GOT ME!! You sons of bitches.
I will get you back for that one…wow
Nothing lamer than bad April Fools jokes.
Considering the 50 other comments before yours, I’d have to say that you must be referring to some other April Fools joke.
Well played, fellas. Even though I came here expecting an April Fools joke, that still made me nervous for a moment.
ahh………you blew your chance to report that yanks had opened up negotiations with the hendricks bros.
that would have been great.
I hate you guys!!!!!