Joe Girardi has yet to be impressed with Ian Kennedy.
Here is the latest from Tyler Kepner and Pete Abe:
"Right now we’re not really thinking of him," he said. "We like the way our other (starters) are throwing the ball. I mean, you have to earn your call-up. … You have to earn your spot back. You have to pitch well to earn your spot back. He has to pitch well. He was optioned out, this is him getting right. This is like the other 175 players in the minor leagues, or however many there are."
I wanted a split, and I wanted the Yanks to beat Oliver Perez. I got the split. Perez didn’t throw a three-hitter as I feared, it was a two-hitter. Seven innings. And he didn’t walk a batter. Believe that. Eight K’s too. The Mets’ southpaw, fighting to remain in the rotation, was brilliant on Sunday as the Mets shut the Yankees down, 3-1. The Yanks had four hits on the afternoon.
The best moment of the game came in the fourth with Derek Jeter on second and the Mets ahead, 2-0. Perez fell behind Alex Rodriguez 3-0, and then Rodriguez destroyed the 3-1 pitch, high and foul to left field. So close… The TV cut to the blimp angle which showed lightning cracking through the New York sky–it started raining but the game wasn’t delayed. Perez fired two more fastballs and Rodriguez put good swings on them but could only foul them back. Another fastball, foul tip. I kept waiting for him to go to the slider. But Perez challenged Rodriguez with another fastball, right in Rodriguez’s kitchen. Rodriguez swung and missed it. It was a Junior Miss Bob Welch-Reggie scene (Rodriguez just missed all day long; in his next at-bat, he skied a pop-out two miles in the air, and in the ninth, he narrowly missed a homer against Billy Wagner).
Darrell Rasner did okay; Jose Reyes had another lapse in form, as he threw down his glove in anger after making a throwing error in the eighth inning (a ball first baseman Carlos Delgado should have caught), but the Mets got a much-needed win all the same. Delgado had a solo homer, Bill Wagner got the save.
If the Yankees could only win one game this weekend I wanted it to be today’s game. That’s what I was saying all last week. I said two things: I hope the Yankees split the series and if they can only win one, let them beat Oliver Perez on Sunday. Perez is like AJ Burnett to me. Not as good, but still. Loads of talent, great "stuff" yet hopelessly erratic. Million Dollar Arm, Ten Cent Head kind of guy.
Of course, I’m more than half-expecting Perez to go out and throw a three-hitter. Walk five guys but still win. He is 4-1 lifetime vs. the Yanks.
