Photo: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
What a day.
First it was the Pineda thing that sent rumors flying. Did the Mariners know there was something wrong with him? (Cashman said no.) Could the Yankees’ own physical have turned up the torn labrum? (Cashman said no.) Did the tear occur prior to that aborted game Pineda pitched and was he playing hurt to stay in the rotation competition? (Cashman said no.) Did Pineda suffer the injury off the field, outside the Yankees’ purview? Did he come to camp out of shape and not prepared for the rigors of spring training? Or did the injury happen as the result of one fateful pitch? Who knows. The point is, he’s gone for the year. He’s young with a bright future. I choose to believe he’ll help us in 2013 and beyond.
Then there was Pettitte’s outing in Trenton. He gave up four runs (three earned) to some Double A team – not exactly awe-inspiring – so he’s clearly not ready to come back right away and be our savior. Plus, he’ll be leaving the team to testify at the Clemens trial. Nothing is simple.
Next comes Hughes and his ugly night in Arlington. I hate that I’m turning out to be right about him. I also hate the Debbie Downer frustration he showed when Girardi pulled him from the game; he muttered something and reminded me of a kinder, gentler A.J.
Even Phelps was a disappointment.
We were supposed to have pitching depth and now what we have are question marks.
I won’t bother discussing the offense; everybody but Jeter looks slump-ish right now.
To change the subject, I’m providing a link to tonight’s Deadspin post and video. In case anybody missed it on YES, the situation was this: a couple of Rangers fans caught a foul ball, the little boy sitting next to them burst into tears and Michael Kay weighed in. Be sure to read down to the end of their post with the update and second video. There really was a happy ending.
