Oh how I’d love to see the Mets destroy the Sox.

I don’t wish injuries on anybody and I think it’s a horrible thing to do. People who do it should be ashamed of their low moral values and they should apologize for the embarassment they cause their families and friends.

That being said, if Beckett had injured Abreu with that pitch and Abreu had charged him and kicked his ass, he would have deserved it. Thankfully, Abreu has more class than that and the Angels focused more on winning the series than evening the personal scores.

40 years ago, that pitch was probably a lot more acceptable from the likes of a Bob Gibson or a Don Drysdale type than it is today from a Josh Beckett type because pitchers were allowed to intimidate. Hitter’s showboating was less common because they knew they’d get beaned and beaned good if they pissed off the pitcher. But these days, it’s unacceptable to throw a pitch near a batter’s head, which is how it should be. There are plenty of places to hit a batter if he pisses you off. The ass, the thigh, the lower leg and right in the middle of the back all work nicely and should send the proper message.

Beckett is the same tpye of douchebag that a young Roger Clemens was and people accept it from him because of the talent he brings to the table. It’s all in the name of winning and our morals and principles be damned! I won’t root for a guy if I think he’s a douchebag, and things like throwing at a guys head, holding out for a new contract when you’re already signed to a deal, playing a year in the independant league because you don’t like the team that drafted you, stating you won’t play for such and such a team and forcing them to trade you, all qualify you as a douchebag, in my humble opinion.

If you didn’t mean me sorry for rambling

TOR BABIP: .315
TOR pitchers BABIP against: .275

Some combination of the leveling of these two will undercut their performance, the question is how much. The Rays last year leveled off somewhat with a .302/.280 respectively.

The Yankees are much closer to the mean, at .290/.302 which tells me that if & when CMW comes back & performs like normal, we’re going to see what we thought we were getting, rotation-wise, which I believe will waver between very good & utterly dominant.

Joba especially, with a .330 BABIP, shines out to me. When he fine-tunes his control a bit more, you won’t see as many of those 2-0 get me over sliders or grooved 4-seamers down the middle, which will push down the BABIP #. I’m quite pleased with the progress he’s already made, and I’m enjoying his ascension into “my favorite Yankee” status.

Burnett also is under-performing his peripherals, so that’s another reason to look up. To segue, I’ve recently come back to this site & have been reading much disdain. Much lame-i-tude. IMO, this is a great Yankee team, & I’ve enjoyed watching the games. The early-season sluggishness just makes the inevitable rampage that much sweeter.

Now to close with a controversial point? I don’t know how much it’s been discussed, as I haven’t actually read through the game threads the last few days, but David Cone’s suggestion of Phil Hughes to the bullpen resonated with me.

NOT because I don’t think he can be a starter. Let’s just make that clear right now. I was never in the B-Jobber camp, but I was thrilled in ’07 when he came up & was lights out, defeated only by a malignant Biblical plague. I, and the Yankees, knew then that he was to be a starter, and a possible marquis starter at that. and yet, while he was still a bright shade of big-league green, it provided a BP hole-plug and crunch time experience at the same time. He got to focus on two pitches for a while, which in his case has not detracted from the nasty hook & effective change that we’ve seen this year. I also agree that shuttling him back & forth last year was a mistake, so far as the impact on his conditioning & mental routines.

I think that the mental toughness is the biggest hurdle for the Phranchise to overcome. I’ve never met the kid, so it’s just conjecture, but even thus qualified, I feel it’s valid. His near no-no in 07 against Texas spotted him 6 runs by the 3rd inning. His dominant performance that year in the playoffs saw him in a damage control situation, and he excelled. He has had other good & even great starts, but the consistency isn’t quite all there yet. He seems more comfortable working with momentum generated from elsewhere, positive or negative, if that makes sense. Even this year, he is marvelous is AAA, and the first start up here in the bigs, that momentum carried through. A couple of adjustments on the opposing side, and he’s not hopping along on this ride.

Is it because of lack of talent? No.
Injury like last year? Probably not.
That leaves the mental issue. The confidence that even if he doesn’t feel like he’s at his best, he can still beat anyone in front of him. I feel like Joba has that, and it may be due in no small part to the limited exposure of the BP & the dominance he showcased therein.

Of course there are no guarantees that Hughes would dominate in such a situation, and there may be some adverse affect, but it could help, and hey, we need help in the bullpen anyway.

We won’t be world beaters this season though…too many holes in the rotation even if all of our pitching prospects pan out.

Plus they do have some young talent on the team from recent draft picks, I feel like a lottery pick in the NBA is equal to having a top prospect in the higher minors in MLB.