B.A.'s game review: But we lost our 8th inning weapon!!!!!

Joba Chamberlain pwns. On his 98th pitch last night, he threw a 97 mph fastball for strike three. I think this guy can start, people. And most encouraging about last night: 1 BB. I also loved how into his ABs he was. He's not far removed from college so hitting wasn't a problem for him. Who kidnapped bad Robby and bad Jetes? Cano version Rod Carew launched a bomb, and then lines 2 base hits right back up the middle. I hope he hits .500 for a month now. Jeter! Two shots off the wall in center! Is he finally quitting with that dragging of the hands crap and learning to drive the ball again? If so, then it's good and hilarious at the same time, since the Yankees are playing the Mets soon, and Jeter rips the Mets a new one every time he faces them. A-Rod said before the season Jeter was going to be an MVP candidate. Maybe this is what A-Rod was talking about. As bad as Jeter's been, he's still hitting .286 and OPSing .739, and he's trending upwards now. I hope he goes nuts the rest of the year and winds up hitting my projections, making me look like a genius :-) And if he were to finish around those projections, say, .330+/.400+/.460+, 15 HR, and continues to play the defense he's been playing (.858 ZR, 18 OOZ), he does make a good case for MVP. Unless of course, A-Rod finishes with 40 HR and a 1.000+ OPS. Abreu showing signs of life, too! 6 for his last 13 with 2 homers and a double. All we need from him now is a few more walks, and some better defense, though I'm not sure how much of either we're going to see... Ross Ohlendorf has great stuff, but he needs to be used correctly. He's not a mop-up guy/long reliever. He's the kind of guy that needs to go all out when he pitches. Pitch him one inning, and he can dominate. Don't push him for more. Now, let's see if this team can get on a roll and play like this for an extended period. If they can, they will close in on Boston and Tampa Bay. I'm still iffy about Tampa's rotation holding up and there's no way Boston will keep winning at their home clip. Here are several things which will happen:



1. Sean Casey won't keep hitting .365. (Not that he's a vital member of the team, but come on. What a joke.)

2. Kevin Youkilis will cool off in the second half as he always does. By the way, his first home run on Sunday, traveled 343 feet. That's a cheapo to start with. But, without the aid of wind, it would have traveled 295 feet. That's right. 295 feet. Even Fenway wouldn't have turned that into a home run on a normal day. He's not as bad as Lowell in terms of cheap home runs, but he doesn't exactly smoke the ball all that often, as 6 of his 13 homers have landed shy of 370 feet barring the atmospheric externalities. And trim that goatee, you dirtbag. You look ridiculous.

See Kevin? You looked normal then.

Now you just look like a prick.

3. Lester will come back to earth. He only strikes out 5.64/9 IP, and he's never historically been a big groundball type pitcher (1.49 GB/FB ratio this year). It's not totally luck, but if he had really made a vast improvement, you'd see the Ks go up. They haven't. They've gone down. Over his largest MLB sample, this is the lowest K rate he's had. His BB rate's also been the lowest, but I suspect that will change. This guy relies very much on his command to be effective and I don't see him consistently having it. As I've said before, he's basically a poor man's Andy Pettitte.
4. Masterson will have more games like he did the other day, and the "Get 'em a body bag!" comeback crap isn't going to happen every time.
5. Matsuzaka will continue to pay the price for walking 12 batters a game as it finally caught up to him in his first start coming back from injury. Ah, good to know that the baseball gods are on your side every now and then...

Let's go Yankees!