So, we have quite the matchup, the legendary
Sidney Ponson and the immortal Nick Blackburn. Ponson has a
10-2 career record versus los Twins. I don’t know a whole lot
about Blackburn. Just like I associate Ponson with being a
knight and drunk driving rather than pitching, I think of
black forest ham rather than Nick Blackburn usually. Anyway,
food-pitcher associations aside, my fellow blogger, el hombre
de Nueva York, the KidFromNewYork, or
yankeesquad.mlblogs.com, made a very valid point about the
Yankees this year. That the offense can be subpar at times,
but we can still win. He said look at the A’s, look at the
Twins, look at the ’69 Mets! And that really struck a chord
with me, because he was right. The Yankees are supposed to be
this huge offensive powerhouse with subpar pitching, but just
look at the rotation by pure stuff and ability. Joba
Chamberlain has some of the best pure stuff in the major
leagues, and Sidney Ponson, this year and in 2003, showed the
world he could really pitch, when his being arrested,
attitude, or control didn’t get in the way. Andy Pettitte
falls under this category as well, even though admittedly not
as much. In the bullpen, we still have LaTroy Hawkins, who
has done badly this season, but remember, we’re just looking
at stuff. We have Kyle Farnsworth, who hits 97 on the radar
gun regularly. We have Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, and David
Robertson. Plus of course Mo. Coming off the DL someday will
be Phil Hughes and Chien-Ming Wang. And that’s just stuff
wise. Falling under control and craftiness, we have Mike
Mussina headlining and Darrell Rasner, Dan Giese, and
Pettitte also going on that shelf. And we have that man who
has been forgotten in the minor leagues and on the DL, Ian
Kennedy, also going in the control and craftiness category.
That is a really great pitching staff, talent-wise. So if
they pitch to their full abilities, the Yankees won’t need to
live up to their powerhouse offensive team reputation. Just
look at the men from Minnesota who are coming to
town.