The Yankees are facing the Indians just once at home this year, in a four game series. I’ve decided to forgo listing any pertinent stats like ERA/WHIP/etc until everyone’s got at least three games under their belt. Cleveland has been playing very poorly, which is strange as they are not as terrible as their record shows. They could very well come alive against the Yankees here, which would make me very sad. That said, here’s a look at who’s pitching:
Thursday, April 16th
CC Sabathia vs Cliff Lee
Everybody panicked after CC’s first start but he did a pretty excellent job bouncing back from that. Now we’ll see how it goes against a slightly better lineup. Cliff Lee has been crashing down to Earth after his Cy Young season at a rapid speed. His control isn’t as pin-point as it was and he’s paying for it. I don’t think he’s as bad as he’s seemed, but I also don’t believe the “real” Cliff Lee is the one we saw last year. I don’t expect him to just roll over, I think the Yankees wwill have to fight it out for runs here especially wit Xavier Ndy who hits lefties very well on the DL.
Friday, April 17th
Joba Chamberlain vs Anthony Reyes
Joba is a starter, things are the way they should be. He pitched well in his first start of the season, though he was using too many pitches at times against a pretty weak lineup. Still, he put together a quality start so I’m not going to nitpick too much. Anthony Reyes is likely a solid-average pitcher, the Indians acquired him from St Louis who had pretty much given up on him/didn’t like him/etc.
Saturday, April 18th
Chien-Ming Wang vs Fausto Carmona
The battle of the struggling sinker ballers. The Yankees have been having Wang throw a lot to try and get his rhyhtm back but who knows. This is probably his last chance to show improvement before he develops a mystery injury so he can work things out at a lower level of competition. Carmona’s been having a “throw strikes” problem himself, though his problems are different from Wang’s. He had an injury as well last year but it 1) Was pitching related; 2) Didn’t put him out as long as Wang so his explosion is more of a mystery.
Sunday, April 19th
AJ Burnett vs Carl Pavano
This one is the battle of the oft-injured pitchers, though to be fair to Burnett he does not get injured at anywhere near the same rate as Pavano. He has also been extremely good this season so far, much better than I anticipated. I still hate Burnett’s contract but I can’t argue with the results so far. Of course, he could slam his hand in a car door again tomorrow and my opinion could change very quickly.
