Daily Archives: July 30, 2005

If you were to ask me what could be finer than the Yankees beating Curt Schilling in the ninth inning I would say, “Not much.” However, a close second would be the Yanks beating Francisco Rodriguez in the bottom of the ninth, which is exactly what happened this afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Hot Dog.

Shawn Chacon pitched admirably in his Yankee debut allowing just one run over six but the middle relief imploded in the seventh. In a comedy of errors, Felix Rodriguez, Alan Embree and Flash Gordon only allowed two hits but four runs scored as a humble 3-1 Yankee lead quickly turned into a 5-3 deficit. When former Bomber Juan Rivera cranked a two-run dinger off of Gordon in the top of the eighth it looked like yet another discouraging affair against the Angels.

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Shawn Chacon gets the nod this afternoon on the FOX Game of the Week, becoming the thirteenth different starting pitcher the Yankees have used this season. Yesterday, Chris Karhl gave his take on the Chacon deal over at Baseball Prospectus (which is free-of-charge through August 3rd):

I know that I’ve been given to making historical comparisons in this space of late, but I see Chacon as being a less durable Mike Torrez: a wee bit uncomfortably wild, but good enough to keep you in ballgames. So I definitely like the decision to pick him up, having a perhaps unhealthy regard for a guy who’s been a relatively decent starter in Coors Field. His elbow problems haven’t been an issue of late, and eternal optimist that I can be, maybe working with Billy Connors this winter will clean up his mechanics. Will his strikeout rates go up now that he’s come down from the High Plains? I think they will, and add in that Chacon has been able to keep people’s hit rates under one per inning pitching in Denver, and I’m downright enthusiastic…

Now that he’s in New York, with an offense that can drop the hammer on opposing moundsmen as well as the Yankees do, that can keep the Yankees thinking in terms of winning the division instead of wondering about the wild card. Add in that the cost was only a pair of live arms that, given this organization’s predilections for the aged and infirm, weren’t likely to get brought up, let alone used, and this was exactly what the doctor ordered.

While the Manny-to-the-Mets blockbuster appears to be dead, Yankee GM Brian Cashman is still working the phones in the hopes of pulling off another minor deal before the deadline tomorrow afternoon.