Great Day for the Yankee Faithful

Could yesterday have gone any better for Yankee fans all over the globe? The Yanks get their first win in dominating fashion over Baltimore. The offense looked very good and AJ Burnett looked like he was worth every penny of his newly signed contract. What made the day even better for fans though? It happened in the 2nd inning of the Texas/ Cleveland game when Carl Pavano was lifted from the mound after being pounded by the Rangers. Carl only recorded 3 outs while giving up 9 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. I'm sure Yankee fans all over couldn’t be happier.

Also yesterday in Toronto, New Jersey native Rick Porcello made his Major League debut for the Detroit Tigers. The 20 year old right handed pitcher started on the mound and pitched a pretty solid game, putting up a line of 5 IP- 4 ER- 9 H- 1 BB- 4K, though he was tagged for the loss. What’s more impressive though is his professional pitching career consists of only 125 IP in single A ball. Porcello is certainly showing that he is the Tigers top prospect and hopefully he will live up to expectations.

A Prelude of Things Worse to Come

If you took a look at the box score from today’s Yankees/ Tigers game you might be a little worried about the line from newly acquired CC Sabathia. 1.2 IP-5 ER- 6 H- 1 BB- 0 K. Looks bad and I’m sure the first thought in a lot of people’s minds was that CC’s heavy workload the last two seasons is finally catching up with him. This doesn’t seem to be the case though. As reported on Peter Abraham’s great LoHud Yankees Blog, Sabathia is still working on his cutter something that takes him a few spring starts to get full control of. So Yankee fans needn’t worry.

The fans that should be worried about the stat line from today’s game are those of Detroit though. The Tigers ace Justin Verlander posted a line of 2 IP- 2 ER- 3 H- 4 BB-2 K. After a 2008 season where his walk rate increased and his strikeout rate decreased from the previous season, today’s numbers look like it could be more of the same. Of course I’m sure he’s still working on his own pitches and it’s only one spring start that means nothing but after a disappointing ‘08 you can’t help being worried about today’s start.

If Verlander doesn’t return to his pre-’08 form the Tigers will be in a world of trouble. After Armando Galarraga the Tigers staff has a number of questions. Jeremy Bonderman is still an injury concern, Nate Robertson is coming off a +6 ERA season, Edwin Jackson showed a glimpse of his potential in Tampa in ‘08 and who knows if we’ll ever see an effective Dontrelle Willis again. 20 year old phenom Rick Porcello looks to be another year away from hitting the big leagues. The Detroit bullpen isn’t looking any better either. Oft-injured flamethrower Joel Zumaya hopes to have a healthy season but in his 23.1 innings in ’08 he walked 22 batters. Also returning are Fernando Rodney, Bobby Seay, and Freddi Dolsi who combined for a 4.43 ERA last season.

The man they brought in to help stabilize their pen, Brandon Lyon, registered an ERA of 4.70 last year allowing 75 hits in 59.1 innings. It looks like its going to be another long year in Detroit. Wasn’t it just this time last year when everyone was handing the Tigers the World Series Championship and touting their ’unstoppable’ offense? My, how times have changed.

-Robb Lennahan