I wanted to see from Hughes, mixing it up and with good velocity on his fastball, a few reached as high as 94, a very promising start. In his post-game comments he sounded very confident as well, always a good sign.

It’s a long season, it’s one start after many terrible ones…….don’t get too high and don’t too low yankee fans.

if they can get some quality starts out of the SPs, then once that BP gets rested up and Arod gets back….things should get interesting…..

Trust me guys, I have seen enough baseball to tell the difference when Jose catches. He is energetic, helps out a pitcher setting the glove to get K, he is always talking, encouraging. And, the most important thing, the ERA difference when Posada catches and when Jose catches shows a huge difference. I would rather allow 3 less runs than score 3 runs. No disrespect to Posada, but he has lost the swager of catching. Even last AJ outing catches by Posada was bad.

i don’t think it’s much of a coincidence that Molina was catching last night and Hughes looked great.

A good catcher makes pitchers better. And you can’t really quantify it.

The Yankees dumped a huge OPS guy in Mike Stanley after 1995 in favor of some guy named Girardi who couldn’t touch his hitting numbers. The Yanks went on to win 4 titles in 5 years.

Posada – 12 starts – 101 runs allowed
Molina – 8 starts – 25 runs allowed (and one Grand Slam)

I made this point on a post yesterday but it needs to be hammered home for the non-believers.

This is absolutely ludicrous. The Yanks won a World Series with Posada behind the plate (and no Girardi) in 2000. You can list many, many great games that pitchers have had with Posada at C. He somehow forgot to call a game?!!

The Yanks have given up more runs with Posada behind the plate because Posada has caught most of CC’s and all of Wang’s games, while Molina has (mostly) been catching AJ. They are pretty much splitting up the rest. You are going to blame CC’s and especially Wang’s problems on Posada?

Yes, Molina is better behind the plate, but to say that the Yanks can’t win with Posada back there? Just look up his history of games caught!

is a superior defensive catcher. He doesn’t bring much to the table with the bat but given the rest of the talent on this roster, he shouldn’t have to. I like seeing Molina start against the speedier teams (Tampa, Anaheim) because you know they are simply going to run at will against Posada.

I have a difficult time believing Posada has forgotten how to call a game, although that seems to be the prevailing word on the street. I’m not buying it, although the numbers this season (albeit small sample size) state otherwise. IMO having both of these guys available to start is a huge asset. After last season let’s not underestimate just how important Jose Molina is to this organization.

 and his assertion that “Molina is THE WORST HITTING PLAYER in all of baseball” I’d like to know exactly what stats you are looking at this affirm this. Molina is hardly an offensive powerhouse but this claim is simply unsubstantiated.

Posada is a great catcher for a veteran staff. Because he doesnt have to really call the game as much as manage the starters. Posada has never been good with young pitchers. I know we won with posada as the starting catcher in 200 but look at the staff he managed that year. How many veteran pitchers were on that staff? Even when Andy was young pitcher Girardi caught him more than Jorge until he really learned how to pitch. Remember when Steinbrenner wanted to trade Andy? So i think that Molina should be Starting for CC AJ and Joba and let Jorge catch Andy and Wang.