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The Yankee fan base will clench its collective butt cheeks tonight as Phil Hughes takes the mound against the league's best home run hitting team in the launching pad that is Camden Yards.
To the lineups!
Yankees lineup at Orioles: Gardner 8 Rodriguez DH Soriano 7 Cano 4 Wells 9 Nunez 5 Reynolds 3 Ryan 6 Stewart 2 Hughes RHP
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) September 12, 2013
Just in case you're not thrilled with the idea of Chris Stewart catching every remaining game of the season (Lord knows J.R. Murphy will never be given a shot), lets check in on the health of the recently-concussed Austin Romine:
Romine will have impact test during game. Feeling much better...No headaches or dizziness however not sure when he will be able to play
— Meredith Marakovits (@M_Marakovits) September 12, 2013
Now how about some even better news:
Ivan Nova just threw his between-starts bullpen, said forearm felt good, expects to start saturday.
— Daniel Barbarisi (@DanBarbarisi) September 12, 2013
Be healthy again, Ivan. Be awesome again, Ivan.
On the minor league front, the Yankees have named the four pitchers they'll be sending to the Arizona Fall League: RHPs Brett Gerritse and James Pazos, and LHPs Fred Lewis and Vidal Nuno. It's good to hear that Nuno has healed up and is ready to pitch - he pitched well in his three big league starts, and his loss was an underrated blow to the Yankees' season. This Yankee starter bWAR chart never ceases to amuse/terrify me:
| Age | IP | G | GS | R | RA9 | WAR ▾ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hiroki Kuroda | 38 | 183.2 | 29 | 29 | 66 | 3.23 | 4.4 |
| Ivan Nova | 26 | 119.1 | 20 | 17 | 42 | 3.17 | 3.1 |
| Andy Pettitte* | 41 | 162.2 | 27 | 27 | 81 | 4.48 | 1.6 |
| Vidal Nuno* | 25 | 20.0 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2.25 | 0.8 |
| CC Sabathia* | 32 | 198.0 | 30 | 30 | 116 | 5.27 | 0.2 |
| David Phelps | 26 | 82.2 | 18 | 12 | 48 | 5.23 | -0.0 |
| Phil Hughes | 27 | 137.1 | 27 | 26 | 85 | 5.57 | -0.5 |
| Team Total | 31.6 | 1303.1 | 522 | 146 | 607 | 4.19 | 15.7 |
Crap, I just reminded myself that Hughes is starting tonight. Time to head on off to church...