Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Yanks Play in the Shadow of Strasburg and Get the Win

It was the first time that both the Orioles and Nationals were at home at the same time and the Nationals, with the aid of the second most hyped prospect ever, most definitely stole the show from the hapless O's.

Stephen Strasburg some how surpassed the expectations for his first start in the big leagues, which is ridiculous in itself. 14Ks? Could you tell he was pitching against the Pirates?

Not to say that he wouldn't have shut down a better lineup with that stuff, but sending him up against the Pirates is like bumping him up to AAAA, not the big leagues. Pittsburgh has maybe two or three hitters who should be getting at bats at the major league level and the rest of them are filler.

Still I'm interested to watch Strasburg and I hope he does well. I only hope that Washington changes their team name like Tampa Bay did before they got better. The Nats. Its just so stupid.

Anyway back to the Yanks. Phil Hughes pitched well enough to get the win last night, but that's it. Hughes has never really pitched well in Baltimore. He had his worst start of his career there last year when he gave up eight runs in just 1.2 IP and overall for his career he has an ERA of 7.65.

Even this season when Hughes has posted a 1-0 record and a 3.09 ERA in the tiny confines of Camden Yards, his performances there have not been good. In his first start there he couldn't find the strike zone and while he only gave up one run, he walked four and only struck out two.

Last night Hughes didn't walk anyone for the first time this season, but he gave up a season high nine hits and if you saw his body language, you could tell he wasn't putting the ball anywhere he wanted to.

It doesn't matter until Hughes goes back to Baltimore, but it is nice to see Hughes battle through starts where he doesn't have his best stuff.

And while Baltimore might be Hughes' krptonite, it certainly rejuvanates any hitters who walk in and get to face Oriole pitching.

Nick Swisher loves Camden yards and blasted a first pitch fastball over 400ft to dead center field for a two-run jack. Curtis Granderson added a grand slam and Mark Teixeira went 3 for 4 with a home run and two walks.

Granderson has been great since coming off the DL and its good to see him keep going. Teixeira is the one who hopefully uses this game to go on a hot streak. He hasn't been horrible since April, but he can definitely improve on his .267 average since May 1.

Next up is game two in Baltimore with CC Sabathia taking on Chris Tillman it what, on paper, should be another Yankee blow out.

2 comments:

Dennis said...

SECOND most hyped?

Peter said...

I'm sorry. I forgot that Stephen Strasburg was also on cover of SI and dubbed baseball's Lebron James at age 16 just like Bryce Harper