If they build it, the heat will still come….

Incredibly cheesy headline, I know.  But I figured this was more appropriate than what I want to say which is, I F*&^%G hate Texas.  I’m not really bothered by the Yankees losing last nights game, but more by what happened during the game. 

Let’s flash back for a moment to May 1st of 2007.  It was another hot night in Texas (there’s a shock) and Phil Hughes was making his second career start for the Yankees.  Hughes was coming off a rocky first start (which was to be expeceted, I mean it was his first ever MLB game) against Toronto in which he went 4.1 innings, while giving up 4 runs and 4 walks to go along with 5 strikeouts.  So most Yankee fans were eager to see how’d he do against a good hitting Ranger’s ballclub.  Well over 6.1 innings Hughes was dominate, blowing fastballs by hitters and making them look silly with his curveball.  He was looking like the stud we Yankee fans had been hearing about for 2+ years, and he just happened to be carrying a no hitter into the 7th inning.  And then it happened, on a sharp breaking curveball to Mark Teixeira, Hughes came up lame.  Clearly it was his hamstring, and you just knew he was gone for a few months.  Sad thing is, Hughes hasn’t thrown 6 great innings like this since then (his playoff performance was much shorter and his first game against Toronto this year he wasn’t nearly as sharp as that night in Arlington). 

So of course I had thoughts of Hughes pitching in Texas in my head last night, I mean can you blame me?  However the good news is I no longer have to think about Hughes getting hurt in Texas, because last night I saw somethinig much worse.  In the 5th inning Joba Chamberlain was taken out of the game with what was then described as shoulder stiffness, un-freaking believable.  I’ve always said if he can stay injury free he’d be a dominate pitcher for the next decade.  However injuries have always been a concern for Joba, as they were part of the reason he fell to the Yankees in the supplemental round in the 2006 amateur draft.  However his injuries then had more to do with his weight, which caused knee problems.  Since then Joba has trimmed down some, so it looked as if the injuries were now behind him.  Leg injuries, like Hughes suffered in Texas are one thing, even elbow injuries are fixable now.  But shoulder injuries can be career enders, especially if it is a labrum tear. 

Now so far Joba is saying it is just tighness in his upper back area, which means its not necessarily a tear of the labrum or rotator cuff.  Plus he was still throwing his max velocity when he came out, so that’s a good sign.  Still you don’t like to mess around with a pitchers shoulder.  Joba has great breaking stuff, but its made even better by his 95+ mph fastball.  If he loses that fastball, which is what shoulder injuries can do to you, he just won’t be the same pitcher.  Perhaps I’m worrying to much, but when Joba went down I didn’t just see the Yankees season go down the drain, I saw the next 5 years go down as well.

All we can do now is wait, and hope this is just heat related, which would be explained by the 106 degree tempature in Arlington last night.  Josh Lile, who covers the Rangers here at STB makes a good point, that the heat over the course of 6 months just kills the pitchers.  It really isn’t fair to the Rangers players, and it shouldn’t be a shock to you why most pitcher struggle in Arlington. I mean at least Houston has a roof for its old pitchers.  Hopefully JOba just misses one start, but there is no reason to rush Joba back even if this isn’t serious.  His longterm health is the main priority.  The rotation however will now consist of two guys over 35 years old, a fat drunk, and two AAAA pitchers.  But the Yankees did make the playoffs in 2005 with a rotation of Al Leiter, Randy Johnson, Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small, so anything is possible.  Unfortunately then the Rays were at least good for an extra 10 wins, not so much anymore.  And oh yeah, the Yankees lost on a walk-off grand slam last night, while Mo Rivera sat out again with back spasms.  Fan-freaking-tastic!

Other Yankee Related Notes

- Since that was so depressing to talk about, here is a story that may make you laugh.  Blue Jay fans can enjoy this too, as I’m sure they remember Raul Mondesi quite well too.  Apparently the man who never tried in a baseball game in his life, was elected to congress in the Dominican Republic! (this may have happened awhile back, but I just heard of it for the first time).   Guess that makes sense, I mean since when do politicians actually work hard?

- I read this over at thebiglead.com which is basically a blog on everything sports-pop culture related.  This link in particular is to a nice breakdown of the “new” stats which you may hear used today.  I recommend taking a quick look, as you’ll often see me knock RBI’s as being useless in my blogs.  Here’s you’ll find a good explanation why:

http://thebiglead.com/?p=6935#more-6935

- Quick comments on this past weekends series with the Angles.  After losing the first two, never in a million years did I expect a split.  I could see them winning on Saturday thanks to the rejuvinated Mike Mussina.  But beating Lackey on Sunday, after being down 5-0, then blowing a 3 run lead in the 8th?  Huge props to the X-man for delievering 6 RBI’s (should have been 7 except Abreu is an idiot) and Justin Christian for showing fans that speed on the bench is valuable.  Unfortunately (why does it seem that I have used this word way too many times in this column) the Yankees still have to face the Angles 6 more times, all of which will be played in California.  Ouch!

Well that’s it for me today.  Honestly I may take a pass on these next 3 games in Texas, as I fear I may see another start go down, which will pretty much all but guarantee the return of Igawa.  If that happens I think I may take a torch to the great state of Texas. 

Comments, Questions, whatever can be sent to jvg019@yahoo.com.  See ya later this week.

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