A Darn Good Thrashing!

Well the night after losing a tough one, the Sox highlighted what is likely to be the Yankees achilles heel over the next however long that Redding and May are realistic pitching options.

The Sox hit whichever Yankee pitcher was on the mound hard and often - Redding gave up 4 hits, 4 walks and 6 runs, May gave up 6 hits, 3 walks and 6 runs, Anderson allowed 2 hits, 2 walks and 4 runs, while Buddy Groom allowed 2 hits, 0 walks and was charged with a run - but that run was the last man across the plate on an Ortiz grand slam (incidentally, the Sox 9th of the season, tying the team record, with a heck of a lot of games to go).

Last year I thought Torre misused QuanGorMo - bringing them into games that the Yankees had already put away, or in tighter games, when the Yankees already had a commanding divisional lead. This year, given how the Yankees performed in the first half, there will most likely be a lot of must win situations for the Yankees, meaning a lot of use for SturGorMo - with the same potential for late season cause / effect results that hurt the Yankees in the playoffs last year.

Cashman insists that the Yankees will not look to trade chips for veteran talent, as the Yankees look to re-establish the model that was so successful in the mid and late 90's - a core of homegrown players complimented by trades and free agent signings. However, Wang's badly timed trip to the DL, rumored to be for the rest of the season, combined with continuing question marks over the health of Johnson, Pavano, Wright and Brown may mean that the need for genuine starting talent is now so urgent, that that goal needs to wait a while. Brown is scheduled to return to the Yankees next week, but I don't think it is just my Sox fandom shining through when I state that it has to be considered unlikely that he will make it through the rest of the season unscathed.