1. The focus is likely be off Torre for a few days now that he’s got at least 1 win in this Rivalry.

2. Yankees broke their 7 game losing streak so that ESPN doesn’t have the losing streak as its theme to open Sports Center.

3. Igawa finally got the majority of his pitches over – and most importantly – down in the strike zone. Ortiz may be right: many of the pitches WERE hittable. However, that is likely Igawa’s future as a No. 4 or No. 5 – He’s not overpowering, but kept hitters off-balance with his 88-90 mph fastball, 77-79 mph change and 83 mph breaking ball.

4. Most importantly, Mo looked much, much better than his last 3 outings. Same good velocity, BUT his ball had the old movement – even Varitek’s hit was a broken bat blooper.

Still a long way to go, however, and these are some concerns:

As a No. 3 hitter, Abreu looks lost at the plate.

Damon’s back is obviously bothering him to the point that he might go on the DL. It really affected his swing yesterday.

The bullpen still didn’t get much rest.

Once again, too many runners stranded that were in scoring position.

Can’t expect Peters criticism of his favorite team to go beyond taking easy pot shots at the Drunken fans at Fenway

i know i’m impressed, but you need someone like torre to take you out of the game(blog)so you can pass that final. i think peter is going to have to pull the plug on your access to this blog.

Maybe I did misread, I apologize if I did..i am in finals time right now in law school and have not slept for a few days…I apologize to people if I did

I think you may be misreading people’s comments. Nobody is saying Karstens should have pitched. They’re applauding him for his courage at wanting to pitch through it as opposed to Pavano who only wants to pitch without any pain.

– KMT

I could not disagree with you more…could Karstens have pitched through the pain probably, but if you would have actually listened to Torre’s post-game audio they said that the was not pitching with his legs he was pitching with his arm, which means that if he continued that he would not only have a broken leg right now, but probably shoulder and arm problems as well.

I cannot believe all of you saying that he should have pitched through the pain. There is a difference between good pain and bad pain. It is not like the kid was taken out in a stretcher he tried to pitch and probably would have stayed out there and pitched if Torre did not take him out because he was pitching with his arm. Yes there is adrenaline but that only masks what is wrong, a broken bone is a broken bone, he will get another shot, but give the kid a break.

I have to agree with many of your comments regarding Karstens and most the vast majority of other big leaguers playing through pain. Most of these guys are super tough and have to endure tremendous pain to even get there. That’s why they’re pro athletes.

I think someone like Pavano is an anomaly.

– KMT

Swindal Believes Torre Is Safe

BY CHRISTIAN RED
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Sunday, April 29th 2007, 4:00 AM

(Steve Swindal talks about Job Security with the Yankees. Next up: “Dating as a Widower,” with OJ Simpson and “How I Keep My Marriage Interesting” with Bill Clinton).