During an unusually hectic morning, I was able to take a second to sit back and laugh at the report that the Rays had shopped youngster Scott Kazmir (can you believe he turned just 25 this year?) to a few teams, including none other than the Mets. I had this picture in my head of Andrew Friedman and his frat buddies standing over the speakerphone with Omar Minaya on the other end, trying to contain their laughter as they crank called him. It just seemed like something too hilarious to be true.
Unfortunately for him, Kazmir’s had himself a season that Nick Swisher would describe as “rocky road.” He’s got a 58-40 K/BB ratio in 74 IP, and both his ERA and WHIP are ghastly at 6.69 and 1.72, respectively. He has, however, surrendered two runs or less in three of his five starts since coming off the DL, so there’s signs that the ship is starting to right. With the way the Yankees are rolling right now, I hope they knock Kazmir back off track tonight. Nothing personal.
The key members of the bullpen are rested, so all they need is five out of CC. Here’s tonight’s lineup:
Jeter, SS
Damon, LF
Teixeira, 1B
A-Rod, 3B
Matsui, DH
Posada, C
Cano, 2B
Swisher, RF
Melky, CF
And on the mound, Carsten Sabathia.