Another horrendous loss. Mo comes in and throws a nice cutter - I can't believe Cano and Benemit let that ball go through the infield. WTF was that ****?!?!? Not really sure whose ball that was but I tell ya what if I'm Cano, I'm diving on that ball to at least keep it in the infield. We get beat on the weakest ball hit all afternoon. Andy (who pitched his tail off and wasn't getting any close calls all day) and Mo deserve better...

I still think our lineup needs that one more reliable thumper, lefthander or right (preferably right) behind A-Rod. Too bad we don't seem to have that on the major league roster or on the farm. Sexson's a shell of what he used to be (gotta be steroid fallout if you ask me), Eric Duncan's a bust who's lost at the plate and hitting .220, Shelley Duncan's not an everyday player and guys like Montero and A-Jax aren't that close. Not sure Austin Jackson's gonna be a huge power guy anyway - looks more like a Cano-type of offensive player.. Although Nady can rake huh? Not a 35-40 HR threat like we really need but he can hit. The guy's a real gamer. Funny how he was the distant second piece in that deal and he's been far better than Marte by leaps and bounds. Go figure....

Good news though: Hughes just went 4.2 innings (about 65-70 pitches) in his last rehab start 3 days ago. Supposedly hit 95 3 or 4 times in the first inning alone and mantained good velocity throught (the fastball sat between 93-94). And he was actually using his changeup and slider more - I read he threw 3 straight changeups to a batter eventually popping him up and he's using the slider more like a cutter - basically stuff we never saw the first few times up with the big club. Very encouraging. Sounds a heck of a lot closer to the phenom we've read about and have been waiting for. Looks like it really was that fractured rib that sapped his velocity and stamina. Maybe one or 2 more rehab starts (Nardi's looking for him to go 85 pitches next time out then hopefully 100+) then he'll be up. Can't wait. I'm hoping he'll be a huge shot in the arm for us. And even though Pavano's been atrocious for us he's pitching well and seems primed for a comeback too (in the same game that Hughes pitched in against Pawtucket on the 7th Carl threw 3.2 innings of 1 hit ball with 4 Ks. They're saying he might actually make it up here before Hughes. Bye-bye Chris Britton (waste)... Whatever, Pavano's been a huge joke but if he comes up and has a hand in us getting to the postseason I'd be inclined to forgive the dude. We'll see....

Meanwhile it could be worse. Forget Tampa. Forget the division. It's all about the wild card now. Boston and Minnesota both lost today. Boston's got us by only 4 in the loss column I think and the Twins are only 2 games ahead of us. That's nothing. We need to put the Angels behind us and really go to Minnesota and go after these guys. 2 out of 3 is an absolute must.

With Chamberlain still in the plans (he says he's fine, hopefully he'll be back in a week or two), Hughes and Pavano coming up and a guy like Mark Melancon ready for a Sept. call-up for righthanded bullpen help, I keep telling myself we'll turn this thing around soon. I still say that wild card's ours. Anyone with me?

division doesn't look great right now.

but we can still grab the wildcard...

update on Hughes from my Scranton-Wilkesbury guy:

PITCHING: Phil Hughes got the start and pitched very well against a good hitting Pawtucket team. His fastball was topping out at 94. Hughes line: 5.1 IP, 2 runs, 3 hits, 4 K's-1 walk. He threw 84 pitches---50 strikes. Hughes got 4 groundouts-8 flyouts.

I'm so ****ing sick of Robinson Cano. The guy just doesn't seem like he's trying. He's not diving for balls, he's letting balls drop, he's not hitting, he's not running out balls. I'm just sick of him, I think it's time we move him for a quality CF or the like.

Would the Pirates trade McClouth for him?

What about sending him to the Giants for Matt Cain?

I would say the Dodgers are a good spot for him to since Torre/Bowa is there. We can get Matt Kemp.

[Edited by - nyk4ever on 08-14-2008 12:03 AM]

Posted by djsunyc:

trading cano now would be selling low. he still has that sweet swing.

i think he needs to get his ass kicked but i see him as a guy you work WITH as opposed to someone you just dump. besides, he just signed that big 4 year extension so his trade value is not as high as it was before this season.

Sweet swings don't mean anything when they slump every year prior to the all-star break and they damn sure don't mean anything when theres no hustle from the player doing the swinging. This isn't a one-time thing with Cano, this has been going since atleast last year with his non-nonchalant ways. Theres no place it for it here.

[Edited by - nyk4ever on 08-14-2008 11:41 AM]

Robinson Cano is exactly what is wrong with the Yankees now a days.

Guys like Cano didn't exist on the 96, 98, 99, 2000 teams. Guys played their butts off ALL THE TIME, they never took days off, they never took defense lightly. Cano might be a nice guy, he certainly comes across that way, but he just doesn't care. When you don't care about running out grounders, when you don't worry about stepping on 2nd for a force out, when you don't worry getting out of the way for CF'ers flyball, when you don't dive for balls and when you don't care about hitting in the 1st half of the season EVERY YEAR, then you don't deserve to play for the New York FUCKING Yankees.

And just as an addendum to my last post...

The onus is on Girardi for allowing Cano to do what he's done this year, never benching him or anything. Girardi has done a VERY so-so job this year and I'm actually pretty disappointed with his job of managing this team.

Posted by Bonn1997:

Cano basically is an .800 OPS guy career wise. I'd easily trade him for a #2 pitcher. #3? I'm not sure. Probably not.

LOL, that's ridiculously selling low on the guy... & you complain about Cashman not getting full value out of his trades?

i, too, find it hard to fault girardi when 3/5th's of his starting rotation from opening day have been injured, matsui's out, posada's out. the onus of this year falls on the shoulders of the hughes/kennedy tandem absolutely sucking, cano absolutely sucking spare a few hot weeks in july, JETER (nobody talks about the captain, but, come on, lets get serious, jeter has had his worst year as a professional at the plate), melky's complete lack of hitting.

its hard to win games when you're best pitcher (wang) goes down, two guys you were hoping to win at least 10 games (kennedy and hughes) dont win 1, and you get absolutely ZERO production up the middle (nothing from C, 2b/SS, or CF).

the streak was bound to end, its really not that surprising this was the year when taking all of that into account.