2 out of 3 ain't bad...

But I was 3 for 3, bitch. What did B.A. tell you?

On Friday, Beckett only gave up that 1 run (I expected him to allow more) but he did allow 10 baserunners in 7 innings, so you could chalk it up to a little bit of luck. Joba on the other hand was just God.

On Saturday, the Yankees were nice enough to give Wakefield's ERA a lift back to his xFIP's neighborhood, like I'd hoped. Robby pwns.

On Sunday, Ponson got knocked around as expected. Lester pitched well, again...but losing last night didn't hurt at all. I saw it as a loss days ago. And this could be a good thing. Might mean Ian Kennedy gets another shot, now.

And now onto other things...

Mike Lupica:

If Mike Pelfrey had an unusual nickname, people might get as excited about the way he's pitching for the Mets as Yankee fans are about Joba.

I heard about this on Saturday, read a few other comments on it by more level-headed people, including the ENOUGH LUPICA! blog, but I figured I'd make mention of this.

Joba Chamberlain:

a. has an ERA+ of 180. He's 80% better than league average.
b. strikes out 10.69/9 IP.
c. throws a fastball that AVERAGES 95.2 mph, touches 98-100, to go along with a nasty slider and a pretty good curve (changeup is rarely thrown).
d. pitches in AL East, probably the best and toughest division in baseball.
e. is 22 years old!!!

Mike Pelfrey:

a. has an ERA+ of 112. He's 12% better than league average in an inferior league.
b. strikes out 5.36/9 IP and doesn't have a ridiculously high GB/FB ratio.
c. throws 93 mph on average.
d. is 24 and has been up and down between the majors and AAA for 2 seasons.

He's been good, especially lately, but come on. Mike Pelfrey in the AL East would probably be league average or worse.

What Mike Lupica SHOULD say is, "Think Joba's incredible in the AL? Imagine how good he would be if he pitched in Mike Pelfrey's slot."

And my GOD...was last night's ESPN broadcast one long makeout session with the Red Sox or what? Even the biggest Red Sox fan couldn't deny that after watching this game.

A deep drive by Jeter to left center (though it wouldn't have been deep anywhere else because most parks don't have 11 and 12 year old tournament league dimensions) that Ellsbury had to jump for (ungracefully) because he misjudged it and they're showing one replay after another. Now, Ellsbury's definitely made some awesome catches and he is a better outfielder than he looked on that play, but we don't need to see 3 replays of an unnecessarily adventurous catch.

Derek Jeter charging in on a weak grounder fields and whips to first in time, while sort of like apples and oranges, was clearly better since Jeter had no other way to play it, and all you hear is a "nice play by Jeter, there..." out of Jon Miller's bacon fat loving mouth under his breath, basically.

And then with the Red Sox already up 5 runs, they pick up two more runs on a sac fly and an RBI single by Big Floppy and Manny "I beat up 70 year old secretaries, I'm so tough" Ramirez respectively and Steve Phillips is praising them with, "You know, this is just great baseball by the Boston Red Sox." I am tempted...VERY tempted...to start a blog dedicated to just disemboweling Steve Phillips and his brilliance. But then again, it would take too much time to cover all the stupid things he says on a daily basis, and besides, is it really a challenge to own Steve Phillips?

ESPN. The Egregious Sox-loving Pricks Network.