The RAB Radio Show: April 26, 2011

April 26, 2011 by Joe Pawlikowski 6 Comments

Tough loss last night, but those happen. There were positives, though. More important, of course, is the game at hand this evening. Ivan Nova has plenty on the line, as Kevin Millwood’s opt-out date approaches. They found a mechanical flaw that might have affected him his first few times out, but how many times have we heard that line?

Then there’s Phil Hughes, who will undergo tests and scans today as the Yankees try to figure out why his arm feels dead. There is plenty of speculation, but that’s all we have until the Yankees announce the test results.

Podcast run time 20:23

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Intro music: “Die Hard” courtesy of reader Alex Kresovich. Thanks to Tyler Wilkinson for the graphic.

mike_h

my guess, they place Hughes on the 60 day DL, add Millwood to the 40 man, then send Pendleton to the minors and call up Millwood who takes Nova’s rotation spot and Nova becomes the longman
Mike HC

Best podcast I have listened to yet.

A couple of entertaining ideas were brought up:

1) the idea that the Yanks struggle against pitchers they see for the first time is bullshit. We just remember those games more vividly than the games we bash these guys like we are supposed to.

2) The idea that the whole “mechanical flaw,” elbow flying out thing is at least sometimes a bullshit line. Maybe that is just the line they feed to the media to keep the media off the players and the teams back, when there really is no other explanation than he is pitching like shit right now and we are trying to get him to pitch better.

You guys could have expanded a bit more on those first two topics I thought, but just bringing them up was pretty solid.

And finally, 3) The speculating about Phil Hughes and the arm chair doctor stuff was pretty damn entertaining and also well hashed out. Who knows what is really wrong with him, Hughes and the Yanks sure don’t, but you guys definitely didn’t hold back on the speculation.

Overall, very well done today.
- The209
  
  Actually, it’s the reverse for me: I’ve seen them get beat up so many times by a ‘new’ pitcher, that I’d remember when they haul off one…
  
  what are the actual numbers on this, over the last few yrs — is there an online source for this type of thing?
  
  thanks in advance
  - Al Gore
    
    Get off your lazy ass and search that Internet thingamabob that I created
  - Mike HC
    
    I vaguely remember an article on RAB debunking this myth by Joe …
    
    Just looked it up. Here it is:
    
    http://riveraveblues.com/2009/05/the-yanks-shortcomings-against-mediocre-pitchers-12348/
    
    To quote the relevant parts:
    
    “In the past two years (since 5/27/07) the Yankees have faced 31 rookie pitchers for the first time. In that span, those pitchers have a combined record 3-18 in those games (after the Yanks beat Derek Holland last night).” – – Ken Singleton
    
    “When they [beat a mediocre starter], we think nothing of it. But when they don’t it tends to stick in our craw. When something goes according to plan, it’s easy to forget about. You can eat sushi 100 times from the same place and hardly be able to tell each one apart, but if you ever get sick from it, you will remember the exact order for years to come.” – – Jay at Fack Youk.
    - Mike HC
      
      This article by Joe, and the one how on average, about 2/5’s of a starting rotation is likely to hit the DL at some point during the year, continuously come up and come in handy when evaluating the Yanks and thinking about baseball in general.
      
      In short, nice work Joe.