by Rex O’Rourke of Albany
THE BRONX, NY – Thrills, spills, and chills. It’s been a pretty much a typical Subway Series so far. Heading into today’s rubber match, and despite Mr. Castillo’s point shaving incident, I’d have to say; advantage Mutts.
First of all, where have you been hiding this guy Nieve? Holding the Yanks to two runs at the House That Air Flow Built is really doing something special.
Secondly, the Mutts have exposed the Yankees’ soft white underbelly with a tutorial from the Sawx; make the starters throw pitches early and get to the pen – a bullpen without Damaso Marte (make me like you), Brian Bruney (more on him later), Joba Chamberlain (don’t get me started, I’d rather have a shutdown eighth inning guy than a fifth starter), an inconsistent Phil Coke and a somewhat mortal Mariano Rivera. It’s not exactly re-inventing the wheel, but effective nonetheless.
Thirdly, although Johan Santana has been a bit shaky of late, I’d have to give a huge edge to him over A.J. Burnett. Mr. Burnett only seems to have a good year when he’s pitching for a contract. He’s two straight bad starts from getting “bust†status and my “Ed Whitson Can’t Pitch In New York†award. In fact, all Yankee starters just don’t throw enough first pitch strikes… PERIOD!
As for Brian Bruney, all I can say is that you’ve got to be kidding me. For a guy that spends more time on the DL than the roster, calling out K-Rod (arguably the Met MVP) in the media is just ridiculous. Now, I like Bruney a ton, when he’s healthy. He comes in to some tough spots, throws hard, gets strikeouts, and is really lights out – once again- when he’s healthy. But come on pal, part of being a Major Leaguer is staying healthy and showing consistency and until you can do that, just keep your pie-hole shut. When and if you get back from Trenton, take a walk over to Derek Jeter’s locker and he’ll explain it to you.
Finally, I must speak of the A-Rod Walk-off Pop Up. I guess if you live long enough, you’ll see everything. But of all guys to let off the hook, you pick Alex Rodriguez; a guy you just know isn’t going to get it done! As soon as Jeter singled (which everyone on the planet knew he would do), you knew it was coming down to A-Roid. There was no way K-Rod was giving Teixeira anything to hit and I thought both the Yes team and the SNY team (thank you DVR) were a little slow to pick up on the unintentional-intentional walk. As for Castillo’s gift, it was like giving Donald Trump a new car.
Until next week,
Rex
P.s… Who’ll be today’s Mel Rojas?
