It Figures.

Hughes Leaves No-Hitter Injured

The way this season has started, I suppose I should've been expecting it. But I wasn't, of course. I was simply enjoying a Yankee starter actually pitching into the 7th inning, when Hughes pulls up lame after throwing a pitch. The no-hitter I wasn't really concerned about, because 1) pitching a no-hitter in your second big-league start ever is way too much to live up to, and 2) no way Joe lets him finish the game anyway (apparently Hughes breaks out in horrific festering sores if he throws more than 100 pitches -- he was at 83 with 1 out in the 7th).

They are saying 4-6 weeks for the Hughes injury, but given how the Yankees handle injuries, and the fact that Hughes is The Pitcher in the Plastic Bubble, don't expect to see him until after the All-Star break.


Is This "That Year?"

I keep saying to iris that one of these years, we are not going to make the playoffs. One of these years, all the money, the mid-season acquisitions, none of it's going to matter and "that year" where everything just goes wrong enough often enough and we end up out of the playoffs. I thought 2005 might be that year. It wasn't, amazingly enough.

But I'm starting to wonder if perhaps 2007 is. We'll see. I hate to even write these words, but not making the playoffs one of these years wouldn't be the worst thing. It might convince the organization of a few basic truths:

1. GM-ing against Boston is dumb. Create your team to be your best team; Boston will do what Boston will do . . . since 1918 it's 26-1 in favor of our way, but since the we started reacting to them it's 1-0 in their favor. Not a coincidence.

2. Missing the playoffs would once and for all end the Torre tenure. He is the wrong manager for the pitching we have had the past few years. It appears that missing the playoffs completely is what's needed to get that point across once and for all.

3. The way to improve the bullpen is to improve the rotation. Bullpen guys are good in inverse proportion to the amount they are used. Forget all the B.S. about guys getting rusty -- the season is long and grueling; everyone in your pen pitches enough over the course of a year. It's pitching too much (and getting up warm up too much) that wears the bullpen down. With this teams's offense, Leiber/Tracshel/Byrd types who give up 4-5 runs but pitch 7-8 innings are what we need in the rotation. One stud (Hughes, if he's ever allowed to exceed the 100 pitch mark) and four grinders is just fine with the way this team can hit.