Sometimes it's better to be lucky than to be good.
But most of the time you have to be good, and Andy Pettitte has not been good lately. In his last 3 starts Pettitte has pitched 16 innings and walked 14 batters. He's benefited from the improved Yankee defense so far, sporting a BABIP 30 points below his 3 year average.
If Chien Ming Wang weren't getting starts in the same rotation, we'd be hearing a lot more chatter about Pettitte and his future; here's hoping his back is rested and this can become the kind of blip we forget about by August.
We'll also hold off on berating Joba's bizarre pitching line (4.0IP 1H 5BB 3K), questions about why Brett Tomko is on the team (0.2IP, 3H, 2BB, 4R), and why Derek Jeter had a legit claim to the belt last night (without his SB there is no runner in scoring position so no intentional walk to Tex and maybe Castillo stays more mentally in the game so that even if he drops the ball maybe he springs up and fires home rather lobs to the shortstop; also Jeter has 13SB, on pace for a career high 36 against 3CS, a 92% rate).
The MLB home run leaders (double the Angels and triple the Giants) will face 27 year old minor leaguer Fernando Nieve. Since they've never seen him before we have to hope he hangs a bunch of breaking balls for the Yanks to have a chance.