I’ll use a golf analogy: Suppose you had a solid young player who was good enough to make cuts and earn a decent living on the PGA tour. Then for some reason you sent him to the UK to play solely on links-style courses and conditions. He would have to put in a lot of time and effort in order to adapt his game to that style of golf. There might be some mechanical issues to deal with, he might have to work on a number of shots that he doesn’t currently use, and he would definitely have to re-think how to get around those kinds of courses on a weekly basis. He may succeed or he may not, but you’re simply not going to know until after he’s gone through the adjustment phase.

He missed the early part of the season with (surprise!) a hamstring injury.

4 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 5 K’s.

He has a great arm. He could move up the ladder quickly. Worth keeping an eye on this season.

DeSalvo did a great job, and was only denied a win due to some pretty bad luck and poor situational hitting.

Chase Wright may be a sanitarium today thanks to the Sox, but he still got us a win and shows promise for the future.

Phil Hughes got us a win and made us all look forward to his return. His start against Texas showed us that he belongs in this rotation.

Even Igawa, for all the criticism he deserves, gave us a handful of good appearances, including his downright heroic pitching in relief of Karstens. Don’t count him out yet.

If necessary, we can keep digging into the minors because we have even more talented prospects.

This has been a tough season to watch so far. But it’s also been a really exciting one. We’ve had to change the game plan so many times, we’ve thrown it out completely. I enjoy seeing the Yankees relying on their prospects more than I can ever remember.

all we have to go on right now are facts.

fact: his ERA is 8.44
fact: he’s allowed 2 home runs through may 7. he allowed 3 all of last year.
fact: he’s allowed 10 runs through may 7. he allowed 15 all of last year.
fact: he’s throwing far less cutters and far more fastballs. the cutter is his best pitch, his trademark, and he’s going away from it. seems odd, don’t you think?

bringing up facts taht contradict the “mo’s just fine,” party line doesn’t make one a troll or a red sox fan, it makes them observant. if you feel comfortable ignoring what’s happening to mo and this team, that’s fine. but don’t badmouth people who are intelligent enough to have noticed a change. it’s incredibly petulant to call people names simply because they had the gall to point out that rivera is struggling.

oh, and just so we’re clear, there’s no way papelbon’s shoulder holds up, but mo is fine? papelbon’s arm slot is down and velocity has decreased (even though he’s been automatic all but once so far this season), so he’s going to be injured. it’s inevitabel. mo, on the other hand, has posted an 8.44 ERA and been largely ineffective, but it’s a given that he’s fine? really? explain to me how that works again, please? use a little bit of common sense, guys.

at no point have i said “yankees suck!” or “papelbon rules!” or any of that annoying stuff. the fact is, the red sox are playing very well right now and the yankees need to win games to catch up with them because there’s absolutely NO WAY to guarantee that the red sox will come back to the back. you can cite history and papelbon’s shoulder and whatever else, but there’s no way to predict what the red sox will do. the yankees have had seasons where they were largely healthy the entire year. it happens. it could happen to the red sox this year. so, without knowing whether they’lll come back to the pack, that leaves the yankees in a position to have to sprint out and catch them. guess what? if mo isn’t mo, that’s not happening.

that’s pretty simple. being logical doesn’t make somebody a troll. being childish enough to call names because somebody had the nerve to suggest something that doesn’t jibe with your picture of how the season will turn out isn’t exactly the epitome of candor and intelligence. try and be reasonable, folks. nobody’s saying they’re done. largely, people like SJ44 and myself are making IF/THEN statements. “if rivera’s not healthy, they’re in big trouble.” looking through the posts, not a single person has made a convincing argument to the contrary. all anyone has said is “you’re a clown!” or “go find a red sox board!” or “mo will be fine.” to me, that’s the sign that people are searching for an argument, can’t find a leg to stand on, and result to namecalling.