Yankees bounce back from losing streak with help of starting pitchers

The Yankees were 9-5 entering their first season series against their arch rival the Boston Red Sox on Friday when all of a sudden their weakness was exposed, their starting pitching. Although many had questioned the Yankees pitching prior to this year the starting rotation (other than Chen-Meng Wang) didn't seem to have any major problems. However in that Red Sox series their pitching finally showed why it had been questioned by so many. Joba Chamberlain actually had a win going into the ninth despite not pitching well at all through five innings when the Yankees bullpen gave up a two run home run to blow their lead and eventually lost in extra innings. The next day A.J Burnett who many people thought was a questionable offseason aquisition gave up seven earned runs. To make matters worse on Saturday the Yankees bullpen also gave up seven more runs and the Yankees lost 11-14. And then on Sunday Andy Petite looked to give the Yankees some help but failed giving up four runs in six innings and the Yankees were swept by the Red Sox.

The next day the Yankees traveled to Detroit to attempt to end their three game losing streak by defeating the A.L Central leading Tigers. The yanks ace C.C Sabathia had a bad outing giving up four runs and a boat load of hits to the tigers in the Yankees 4-2 loss. Seeing as it was Chen-Meng Wang's turn in the rotation and also knowing that Wang had an earned run average just over 39 the Yankees moved Wang to their minor league affiliate Wilkes Barre/Scranton. They called up a young pitcher in Phil Hughes who had an opportunity to be in the yanks rotation last year but was horrible when he was moved into the rotation so the team sent him back to the minors. Hughes finally got an opportunity to try and earn a rotation spot on Tuesday against the Tigers and with his newly developed cutter pitch Hughes gave the Yankees a very good reason to put him in their rotation by giving up no runs on two hits through six innings and getting the Yankees their first win in four games.

And last night after there had been so much talk about experts on how Joba Chamberlain was not good enough to be a starting pitcher in the MLB and how the Yankees should move him to the bull pen Chamberlain finally shut up all of his critics (at least until his next start) by giving up one run on six hits in seven innings as well as having eight strikeouts.

"It shows you he has the ability to focus and concentrate and take the
adrenaline out of the situation and make a pitch," Yankees manager Joe Girardi
said. "That's how you'll be successful as a starter."

It looks as if for right now the Yankees pitchers have found their swagger but can it continue? Tonight the yanks begin a four game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. A.J Burnett, Andy Petite, C.C Sabathia, and Phil Hughes will get to pitch in the series and hopefully keep the Yankees pitching on this current hot streak they are on.

Giants wide reciever problems solved in draft

With the 29th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft the New York Giants selected Hakeem Nicks, the wide receiver from North Carolina. The following day they traded up six picks in the third round to draft another receiver, Ramses Barden, from Cal Poly. Both of these moves were clearly an attempt to repair the depleted wide receiver core that they were left with following the end of the regular season. In my opinion, both Nicks and Barden will be the answers to that problem.

With the departure of Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer (the two starting receivers for the Giants in the beginning of last season) the Giants attempted to bring in a veteran wide receiver to replace them. After several weeks of trade talks with the Cleveland Browns about Braylon Edwards there was no deal and talks were marked dead. The Giants also had minor trade discussions with the Arizona Cardinals about Anquan Boldin but nothing ever happened so the Giants focused in on the draft and got Nicks and Barden in it.

Eli Manning is a great NFL quarterback that was a pro-bowler this past season. He already has a Super Bowl ring as well as a Super Bowl MVP. He is clearly a number one draft pick that worked out. Seeing as I have not missed watching a Giants game since Eli has been a member of the team as well as also being able to break down plays fairly well, I know Eli’s strengths and weaknesses very well. Burress is a six foot five and was Eli’s leading pass catcher the two years before this past season in which he suffered from a self inflicted accidental gun shot wound to the leg and missed the remainder of the season. With his ongoing legal issues the Giants decided to release him and move forward.

What Burress provided for Eli was a tall receiver that was able to go up and get the ball. Eli loves being able to lob up high passes in the end zone at put it in a spot that only his tall receiver can get to. They helped Eli out in the draft this past weekend by getting him two big recievers. Hakeem Nicks is six foot one and has great hands. He is fast and is stronger than Burress was on the field. Nicks has the ability to run over defenders that Burress did not possess. While I loved Nicks as a first round pick I think that the steal in the draft came when the Giants selected Ramses Barden in the third round. I feel that Barden is going to eventually be the number one reciever that the Giants wanted to replace Burress. Barden loves to go up for the ball, he has incredible speed, and did I mention that he is six foot six (taller than Burress). Barden is going to be a threat to any defender that covers him just because of his height and speed but he has incredible hands. I know that he went to a division I-AA school and many people say that he will not be able to make the transition to the NFL but I think that he can. He has incredible talent and I think he is a future pro-bowler. I think that Plaxico Burress has officially been replaced.

New Blog

This is a new blog and it's gonna be the coolest blog out of the whole entire class. Eric Schrader will never have a blog as cool as mine ever.


Peace Out Cub Scout