It has become a common refrain during the Yankees’ slow starts the last few years, “this must be rock bottom, now they can start winning.” The Yankees seemed to hit rock bottom on Thursday after suffering a five-game losing streak at home that included two-game sweeps at the hands of both key division rivals, the Red Sox and Rays, saw both of their catchers hit the disabled list, and saw Mariano Rivera blow the last game of the homestand by giving up back-to-back home runs for the first time in his major league career. The Yankees arrived in Baltimore two games below .500, but the dramatic return of Alex Rodriguez, a strong showing from rookie backstop Francisco Cervelli, and CC Sabathia’s first Yankee shutout seemed to confirm that Thursday had indeed been rock bottom.
Then Phil Hughes couldn’t get out of the second inning yesterday and the Yankees took a humiliating loss followed by the news that today’s intended starter, Joba Chamberlain, had burst a blood vessel in the thumb of his pitching hand while flipping a ball underhand durring batting practice and was doubtful for today’s start.
Are you freaking kidding me?!
As I type this, the Yankees are still expecting Joba to make his start. Supposedly the burst blood vessell didn’t cause him any pain, and though the thumb comes into play on every pitch, there’s not as much friction against it as there is against the other fingers, particularly the first and second fingers. Still, if Joba decides during his warmups that he can’t go, Alfredo Aceves will take the ball. Either way, it doesn’t look good, as Koji Uehara, the 34-year-old former Yomiyuri Giants ace, has been sharp thus far this season.
Uehara didn’t strike out a single Yankee back on April 8, but he did hold them to one run over five innings for the victory. His next start, in Texas, was ugly, but since then he’s been sharp every time out, the one blight on his record being three unearned runs (on top of three earned) in his last start, though he struckout eight Rays against just one walk and no homers in that game. Throw out that one ugly Texas start, and Uehara’s ERA drops to 3.12 ERA and he’s walked just three men against 24 strikeouts in his other five starts. He gives up a lot of fly balls, which makes him homer prone, but otherwise he’s been everything the Orioles could have hoped for if not more.
As for Joba, throw out his worst start (five runs in 4 2/3 against Cleveland in the second game at the new stadium), and his ERA drops to 2.63. His last two starts have been very encouraging as he held the Tigers to one run on three hits over seven innings, then recovered from an ugly first inning to strike out twelve Red Sox against just two walks his last time out. Aceves, who could wind up playing a key role in this game, even if he doesn’t start, has pitched just once since being recalled, throwing 4 1/3 innings of relief following Hughes’ previous start. He struck out seven Red Sox in that outing, with the only runs against him coming on a two-run home run by Jason Bay. Aceves started against the Orioles on September 20 of last year and threw six shutout innings as the Yankees won 1-0.
