… and have a happy mother’s day.

I can’t believe I am typing this, but I agree with you regarding Hughes. He’s, what? 21? 22? To finish the year in SWB, really perfecting his craft and making those 3rd and 4th pitches into really effective pitches, would not only not be the end of the world, but would more than likely end up being in his and the Yankees long-term best interests. Disappointing? Sure. But if it means that next year is better than this? Absolutely.

I also agree he was rushed. It was initially borne of necessity, but once he showed he could pitch at the major league level, it became a fait acoompli that he would start the season with the Yankees in NY. At least it seemed that way.

Trisha -

I just wanted to tell you that much of the time I do agree with your opinions, and that I think that you and I are more alike than different in being positively supportive of the Yankees rather than negatively so.

Well, it’s off to spend Mother’s Day “on the road.” Enjoy the game all, if it doesn’t rain, that is.

I agree with you about Hughes.
Kennedy is another matter. He seems to be overawed by MLB and will never be effective unless he gets over it. In other words the problem is all inside his head

doreen-
i couldn’t agree more. rasner is much more seasoned than hughes and kennedy. it’s commonplace on the the blog for people to say hughes has nothing more to learn in the minors because he had done so well. it doesn’t work that way.

it’s hard to argue against the success hughes had in the minors, but i had no doubt and have no doubt that he was and is being rushed. no pitcher at hughes age just cruises into the big leagues. i know this is a controversial thing to say,but i’d like to see hughes stay in the minors until the very end of the year.

pitching depends on all the parts of the body being in sync and hughes has had three serious injuries in less than a year. that alone says he needs to back off. something is not right with his body. i think it’s just reacting to too much too soon.

the time at triple a could be used for developing a third pitch. it could also be used for learning the game sink into him the way it has with rasner. maybe hughes has had it too easy. nothing is that easy as he’s finding out.

hughes could be ruined if he’s rushed. it happens. taking time never hurts anyone. that’s the smart way to go. if hughes would have been traded to the twins, he would not have been thrown right into the rotation at the beginning of this year.

he would have been at rochester for a while to be brought up later in the season when he had a good base of innings under him or he would have been pitching in relief to get his feet wet. they bring up pitchers in a much different way than the yankees do. i think it’s a better way more grounded in the way young pitchers develop.

on the other hand, the yankees have done a good job with rasner and deserve credit for bringing him along. the irony is they do better when they don’t think a pitcher is special. the less they care the better they seem to do.

whozat-
before you rip my opinion about hughes just remember that every minute you spend doing that it is a minute that you aren’t preparing to defend your dissertation. good luck with it by the way. that’s quite and achievement. i look forward to calling you dr. whozat.

I can totally sympathize with all of you who don’t want to see Igawa on the mound again. I felt the same way when David Cone went into his final implosion with the Yankees. (I am not comparing the pitchers, just the feeling.)

That said, it is possible you need to gear up for this upcoming Wednesday. While something may be simmering behind the scenes, I would bet more on seeing Igawa pitch on Wednesday. As long as Girardi believes in Igawa’s ability to pitch - and it certainly seems he does - Igawa likely gets at least one more start.

I’d say at this point Igawa is his own worst enemey because he doesn’t seem to understand that he isn’t pitching the way we need him to pitch.

Congratulations! Best wishes for much success as you go forward. Enjoy your summer, too!

I loved that quote by “Big G” when I read it in this morning’s paper. I had to go out yesterday afternoon, with the game nowhere in sight or hearing range, so when I finally got into my car, I threw on the radio in time to hear Suzyn Waldman a bit and was able to surmise that the Yankees had won, Rasner got the win and Jeter had his first homerun (and a lot of razzing for it). I was all, “wow, I can’t wait to watch the replay!” Then I got home and my husband reminded me it was on Fox, so, no replay.

Anyway, I’m glad it was a good game.

I am becoming used to the idea that Igawa may still get a second start on Wednesday. Not what most of us would want, but he could surprise everyone and throw a decent game; he has done it before. He has shown brief flashes of “getting it.” So, if he’s going to get the start, we may as well get behind him and hope for the best, right?

As for today, I’m hoping IPK has another good start at SWB. It doesn’t have to be the gem he pitched the other day, but it does have to be indicative of his having turned a corner in his approach. I hope he’s watched Rasner’s two starts - that should give him a lot of confidence that he can do the same.

In the meantime, I do think it’s a fair argument to say that Rasner’s age (27) and experience (not a whole of easy successes) have a lot to do with where he’s at right now, his attitude about being in the bigs. IPK and Hughes, they have the stuff, but it is understandable, having had mostly success, that they would be a little thrown by their first taste of, dare I say, failure. Here’s hoping they’ll both be well-served by their setbacks. Plus, it’s got to be somewhat easier if you’re not under a microscope, if you can escape any hype. IPK and Hughes (and Chamberlain) have just that extra bit of pressure (which fans contributed to simply by being so excited by them) from the attention, the acccolades, the Three Amigo/Generation Trey pre-season interview blitz. Now, they’ve shown they’re human. Can’t wait to see what they can do.

Geise’s basically a two-pitch pitcher. I really can’t see him getting through an MLB lineup more than twice. I think he’d be a good swingman, though.

Hasn’t happened yet. I have to defend my dissertation first, which is set for 6/25.

Which is very, very soon. I am worried.