The New York Yankee Victory Train just keeps right on rolling. It swept right through Minnesota, and has barely stopped to refuel at all in the past two weeks as the Yanks have chugged to 13 victories in 15 games.
A little commentary before we search the Inter-Google for stories making the rounds of the Yankee Universe.
I can't believe some of you guys, whining in the Game Thread Thursday afternoon about Phil Hughes not coming into the game in the fourth or fifth inning. Hasn't the argument lately been that if he is going to be in the bullpen he should be the primary set-up man for Mo? That's exactly how he has been used the past two games, and exactly how he will continue to be used.
Why on Earth would you expect Manager Joe Girardi to bring him into the game in the fourth inning? He is only going to pitch two innings at most.
The bullpen did toss 5.2 scoreless innings Thursday, so it got the job done despite all the apparently horrifying choices made by Girardi. The only problem was that David Robertson's shaky outing highlighted the fact that Alfredo Aceves really needs to be the long man. After all, that would have been his spot to come into a game -- and he has excelled at it.
By the way, Hughes got tons of praise after the game. Like here. And here. And here.
Now, let's look at more stories making the rounds of the Yankee Universe.
- Tyler Kepner of the New York Times has a great, and I do mean great, story about Aceves. It includes a cool bit about how he proposed to his then-girlfriend during a game last season at AA Trenton. I wonder how the CYC would handle that?
- Brian Bruney says he "couldn't imagine" playing somewhere else after spending the last few seasons with the Yankees. Umm ... memo to Brian. Start getting some people out soon, or you won't have to imagine it.
- It's amazing, but at least one writer will actually miss the Metrodome. The Yankees might, too, the way they beat up on the Twins the past few days.
- For those longing for the days of Francisco Cervelli, Kimberly Jones has the sad story of his parting with the Yankees.
- River Avenue Blues reminds us how badly the Yankees wanted B.J. Ryan a couple of seasons ago. Looking back, that would have turned into another Steve Karsay-like nightmare.