That was an impressive performance by IPK today: 7IP, 5H, 1ER (3R), 2BB, 6K.
The thing that strikes me the most is that IPK threw only 96 pitches. He threw 18 extra pitches after the Arod error. Obviously, we'll never know, but the way IPK was rolling we could have been talking about a complete game.
We're going to be depending on Joba, IPK, and Hughes to stay in front of the Mariners, possibly catch the BoSox, and win those crucial eleven postseason game. This should be one of the more exciting Septembers of the Jeter era.
And yet I find myself thinking about April 2008 as much as I think about October 2007. If Pettitte comes back and Moose does not (pure speculation on my part), we're looking at a homegrown rotation- with an average age of 26.
How far back do we have to go to find a Yankee team with a starting five that young?
I had to scroll back through several decades of Yankee teams, but back in 1970 Fritz Peterson, Mel Stottlemeyer, Stan Bahnsen, Steve Kline, and Mike Kekich combined for a 61-44 record in 138 starts at the average age of 25.6. Incredibly, none of the starters were older than 28.
Knock Cashman all you want for his construction of the big league roster (he deserves a lot of it), but he has put the right people in place to run the farm system and the minor leagues.
I wonder if we'll see Dave Eiland (AAA pitching coach) get an expanded role with the big club, either as the bullpen coach or as the pitching coach?