Who would have thought that Igawa would be the pitcher to shine and help end a seven game skid that has had us all scratching our heads. He lost his spot in the rotation this week, but since we're in Bizzaro Land, on the first pitch of the game...Karstens gets hit in the leg with a line drive and has to leave. The last man standing in the pen was Igawa and he comes in to a two man on and no outs situation----gets Big Papi to bounce into a double play and throws six shut out innings. I'm not kidding. Really...This is no joke.
And Welcome back Mo! He picked up his and the Yankees first save of the season and a 3-1 Yankee win. His location still isn't there yet, but he had good movement and actually broke a bat. It's amazing how bad the staff has been, but now the Yanks head into (correction) Sunday's game with the weight of a horrible stretch over and Wang on the mound. I won't write about a certain 16 million dollar #3 hitter bunting with two on and now outs...that sort of negative thinking. Let's stay positive. Focus on the win. It was nice to hear the song "New York, New York," once again.
Oh, I forgot about ARod's excellent play at third that gave the Yanks the second out in the ninth. Lugo hits a slow roller down to third; ARod is playing deep and has to rush in at full speed to pick the ball up bare handed. He throws a rocket to first to nip him for the out.
Update [2007-4-28 22:27:55 by anaconda]: First off, I find it sort of strange that Kei Igawa has not pitched well at all against two of the lesser offensive clubs (OAK and TB), but managed to pitch very well against two of the toughest lineups in MLB (Tribe and BoSox). Some things in life just cannot be explained.
Yes, TB’s offense has been very good this season, but they won’t likely sustain that kind of production because we are talking about the D-Rays -- the Houston Texans of MLB where nobody in the front office seems to know what they are doing and the team tends to fall short of modest expectations.
Secondly, Edwantsacracker suggested (or shall I say demanded?) that I shake things up a little bit and refrain from posting Saturday’s lineup since this team hadn’t won in 7 games.
Well, I’m not the least bit superstitious -- but I figured the gesture couldn’t hurt because this team needed a win in the worst way.
So, due to the improbable Yankee victory today with Karstens (for two hitters) and Igawa on the mound -- I am now forfeiting any responsibility to post lineups until the Yankees lose their next game.
Here’s to hoping my temporary leave of absence lasts 10 games or more…
Knock ‘em dead, John.