The Yanks
felt confident in those choices (not trading for Santana), believing Pettitte was as close to a 15-win safety net as existed. He was the steady, high-end innings eater who was going to make it possible for Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy to apprentice within a rotation.
Except here we are in May and Hughes is hurt, Kennedy is winless and Pettitte is at five weeks without a victory. Here is Pettitte less reliable than Darrell Rasner. Here is Pettitte losing a Subway Series showdown to a homer-prone Santana. Pettitte traditionally has improved as the season has gone along and that must be true this season. Or else how do the Yanks revive?
Yes, it's all Andy Pettitte's fault that he hasn't won a game since April 20th. He didn't pitch into the seventh inning on May 6th having allowed just 2 runs with a lead. David Delucci didn't cheat on a Joba fastball and hit a 336 foot 3 run pop up in the 8th inning. As far as those other starts go, fair enough. He didn't pitch well against Tampa Bay, Detroit, or Cleveland the other time he faced them.But you want to attack him for yesterday's game?
Pettitte has been betrayed by the same difficulty each time: He opens well (five strikeouts of the first seven batters yesterday) and then blows up for an inning in mid-game.
He was not hit hard during the Mets' three-run, bat-around fourth - in fact, Santana was hit harder overall than Pettitte. But Pettitte couldn't find the big out, limit his pitch count (he threw 41 in that inning) or go deep enough to keep Kyle Farnsworth from all but assuring defeat by yielding two homers in the seventh.
He couldn't get the big out. I'm not sure that falls under the job description for pitchers. Let's look at what Wikipedia says about the object of pitching:"In most cases, the object of a pitch is to deliver the ball to the catcher without allowing the batter to hit the ball. The ball is delivered in such a way that the batter either can't hit a pitch through the strike zone, hits the ball poorly (resulting in a pop fly or ground out), or is fooled into swinging at a pitch outside of the strike zone."
The pitcher's job is to either make the batter swing and miss, or "hit the ball poorly". So, understanding the objective of each pitch, let me paraphrase that last paragraph:
Andy Pettitte did his job during the Mets' three-run, bat-around fourth - in fact, Santana did not do his job as well as Pettitte. But a lot of the weakly hit balls Pettitte induced that inning dropped in front of outfielders or snuck through holes in the infield. That's his fault. Since Pettitte, essentially, had no luck, he was forced to throw a lot more pitches than he should have. And that is also his fault. Because of course, Andy Nostradamus Pettitte knew Kyle Farnsworth would come in and give up a solo and a 2-run home run. He also knew the Yankees hitters would not do their jobs, which is also his fault. Damn you, Andy. How dare you be toast after 6 innings because you did your job well with no luck?
Now, don't you feel like an idiot? Probably not, because you're a moron. Otherwise there wouldn't be a post about you on PWNAGE of Morons.
Santana has not pitched very well, yet is 5-2 and his history - like that of Pettitte - is to excel in the second half. His presence in Yankee Stadium as a winning pitcher, for the Mets
, certainly provides Hank Steinbrenner more "told-you-so" ammunition.Fuck the "told-you-so" crap. It's way too early for that. I don't care how Kennedy and Hughes have been pitching so far. It was still the right call not to trade away the package the Twins were demanding. Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes both ripped through the minors and showed capability of success at the major league level. Remember Phil Hughes' September and postseason last year at age 21?
35.1 IP
24/10 K/BB
2.55 ERA
1.075 WHIP
Anyone remember Ian Kennedy's September last year?
19 IP
15 K/9 BB
1.89 ERA
1.158 WHIP
They are better pitchers than what they've shown so far this year. Part of Kennedy's problem (aside from nibbling too much and not throwing enough strikes) is probably the fact he's not throwing enough sliders. His average fastball's around 89 MPH and his changeup's about 80 MPH. That's not a huge difference. And those two pitches make up about 84% of his pitches. Last year he threw a lot more sliders and he was much more effective that way. Hughes's problem is similar. He's not throwing enough sliders and changeups. A 91 MPH fastball and a 72 MPH 12-to-6 curveball is a nice combo, but not when you do not supplement that duo with your slider and your changeup because it's easy to distinguish those two pitches.
"The decision (not to obtain Santana) for me is not short-term and it is not one vs. the other and it is not to be determined on May 17 or what the kids do vs. Santana by May 17," Cashman said.
But even in the long-term, the decision only will look worse if Pettitte doesn't get a whole lot better.
I hate morons.
