Neither the Yankees nor Red Sox are winning the AL Pennant

Casual baseball fan complain that the Red Sox and Yankees are in the World Series every year.

And they are right when you don't include 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010 in recent years.



But they were ancient history. The Red Sox and Yankees spend the most. They have the best records in the AL and beat up AL West teams last week including the Division Leading Defending AL Champion Texas Rangers.



So it looks like the commuter lane has opened for either the big bad Yankees or the obnoxious Red Sox Nation to be playing deep into October.



Well, I'm not seeing it.

It smells a LOT like 2005 here.



The Yankees are beating up inferior teams and their bats are back. But have you noticed in back to back nights the pitching has let up 9 runs.



CC Sabathia is a great #1 work horse who is having a fine season but hardly last year's Cy Young caliber effort. He has been better than average in the second half and eating up innings. But his August ERA is almost 5. And he not ALL of his bad outings have been against the Red Sox.



After Sabathia, Ivan Nova has had a good year and has picked up the slack in August. But who knows how he will be in the post season. Freddy Garcia has been a savior in the rotation but do you trust his off speed stuff against the Red Sox, Tigers or Rangers bats in October?



Phil Hughes has been brilliant in some games and yet has an ERA over 6. That tells you what he is usually like. He put together some nice starts in a row and then let up 6 runs in less than 3 innings against a not very impressive A's line up.



And A. J. Burnett may get a mysterious injury soon... the kind that claimed Javier Vasquez last year. Tonight's fiasco put his ERA at 5.31. It's late August. That isn't a small sample size!



Yeah their lineup is better now, especially with Jeter back to being a .300 hitter and A-Rod back. But big bats don't advance in the playoffs. Deep pitching does. And if Sabathia is just ordinary they are putting a LOT of pressure on Ivan Nova.



And before anyone accuses me of being a Red Sox partisan here trashing the Yankees, I am including the Red Sox in this mess.



Some days the Red Sox look like world beaters. Other days they look like Egg Beaters.



They can hit with anyone and no doubt Jon Lester and Josh Beckett are as good a 1-2 punch in the AL Playoffs.



And the combination of Eric Bedard, Andrew Miller, Tim Wakefield and John Lackey make the #3 and #4 holes iffy at best and "Oh dear Lord make it stop" at worst.



As the playoffs stand right now, the Yankees would get the Rangers... who have a super deep if not spectacular pitching staff and whose lineup would crush any pitcher NOT named Sabathia.



And if Sabathia is just ordinary in the playoffs, the Yankees exit might be fast.



The Red Sox would draw the Tigers. And Verlander's presence on the team would negate Jon Lester in Game 1... and Game 5 for that matter. Meaning the Red Sox would be in a MUST WIN for Games 2, 3 and 4.



Did I mention their 3rd and 4th starters are questionable?



Doug Fister vs. John Lackey in Game 3 at Detroit. Who would you pick?



I'm not saying the Tigers and the Rangers aren't without their flaws. But they have less to lose. Despite the Rangers being the defending Champs and the Tigers trying to make up for the collapse in 2009, all the pressure is on the Red Sox and Yankees to advance.



And here we sit in late August, and I can't help but think "The ALCS could be Detroit vs. Texas."



And casual baseball fans next year will say "I'm sick of the Red Sox and Yankees every year."

Tip your cap to the Yankees... you ruined Joba Chamberlain's career

Hey! Where are all of the "Joba is going to be the ace of the Yankee staff as a starter" people now?

I am looking at YOU Chris DeLuca.

There is cause to fire Brian Cashman, the Yankees scouting and coaching department including Joe Girardi.

Why?

Because they were handed a pitcher with tremendous talent and a larger than life personality and was the clear heir apparent for Mariano Rivera. They turned him into a carefully handed middle reliever... then a mediocre starter... then an ineffective mop up man... and now is broken down and maybe be done.

I wonder if he could have been used as bait for Cliff Lee when Lee was traded three times between 2009 and 2010.

Try getting a Cliff BAR for him now.

This isn't hindsight being 20-20.

I've been saying this has been insane since the beginning of the 2008 season.

If George were still alive and he found out that the organization torpedoed the most talented pitcher the organization has developed in a generation, there would be many bodies to dump out.

And Cashman has the nerve to say he doesn't regret the Joba Rules.

He says the rules are common in the organization.

Even MORE reason to start firing people!

Think about it this way...

In 2007 the Yankees had Chein Ming Wang, who in his third year had developed into a 27 year old front line starter, winning 19 games in back to back seasons.

They had the talented Phil Hughes, a 21 year old with great stuff and of course 21 year old Joba Chamberlain who electrified the fan base and gave the bullpen unstoppable depth.

It's now 2011. All three are broken down.

The Red Sox have had young pitchers like Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon and Clay Buchholz who have had lots of injuries. (Lester had freaking CANCER!)

And somehow they were all able to not break down. And none of them are as big and strong as Joba.

Mission Accomplished, Yankees.

The Joba controversy has been solved.

Starter? Reliever?

How about neither.

Once again, Phil Hughes has become Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack

Remember when Phil Hughes was the Yankees solid #2 starter?
It seems a lot longer ago than last summer, doesn't it?

He was so bad in the second half of last year and in the playoffs that some people thought that maybe he wasn't all he was cracked up to be.

He has been godawful this year. So bad that the Yankees have put him on the disabled list, even though it isn't 100% clear why.

Chris DeLuca, creator of What Sucks, wrote on his Twitter page:

Breaking: Yankee doctors about to diagnose Phil Hughes with "sucking".

It's funny and it is also familiar.

I wrote about the same thing happening in 2008.

Hughes was pitching awfully for the Yankees and suddenly he was on the disabled list with what looked like a case of the "We can't send him to the minors because we'll look stupid for not including him in a trade for Johan Santana" syndrome.

Cut to 2011 and he has the "This will make it look even worse that we couldn't sign Cliff Lee and Phil Hughes sucks"-itis.

2 times in four years Hughes has been so bad that they had to shove him on the DL.
So if you are keeping score, he has one mediocre year in the bigs (2007, his rookie year.)

He has one good year as a set up man (2009, his World Series year.)

Half a year as an All Star starter (2010.)
Half a year where he was a below average starter (2010.)

And two seasons where he simply didn't look like a big leaguer (2008 and 2011.)

The ace half year could have been a Dontrelle Willis level fluke.

Meanwhile he is going on the DL after once again reenacting the "Ow My Arm!" scene form Caddyshack.

Phil Hughes might be just what the Red Sox need

Yeah the Red Sox have stunk and the Yankees are in town.
All could be awful if the Red Sox lose.

But guess who also stinks?
Phil Hughes.
He stunk the second half of last year, he stunk in the playoffs and he stunk in his first start.

So let's say the Yankees come into Fenway, Hughes stinks it up and the Red Sox get a win at home.

It will go a long way to healing some wounds in Boston.

LET'S GO SOX!

Are the Yankees insane?

Let's say you are organizing the entertainment at a casino.
While putting the line up of shows together, you realize that you can have Frank Sinatra perform three nights... but you say "Nah... we only want Frank for two nights. We need to save his voice, so we'll book Steve Lawrence instead for a night."

And when lining up the shows you say "We won't have Sinatra in our biggest show. We're booking Wayne Newton for our biggest show."

Chances are someone would break your legs or at least call you an idiot.

That's basically what the Yankees are doing.

They have that most valuable of commodities... a legit ace in C. C. Sabathia. He's an innings eater (and a Subway sandwich eater) and can take the ball over and over again (remember his tour de force complete game marathon for Milwaukee at the end of the 2008 season?)

And there is no danger of the Yankees running him into the ground like the Brewers did that season. He's thrown 6 innings since September 28th.

He's ready to throw game 1. And the Yankees should line up their rotation to get Sabathia throwing as often as he can against Texas. Have him throw Game 1, Game 4 and OF COURSE Game 7.

I thought that was a no brainer. He is Sinatra in this scenario.

And evidently the Yankees have other plans.

They intend to go with a 4 man rotation... and start A. J. Burnett.
Yes, the same guy who pitched for them in the regular season.
The same guy with a 5.25 ERA.
The same guy who essentially pitched himself out of the playoff picture.

Girardi will start him Game 4.

He is Steve Lawrence in this analogy.

And what about Game 7? The potential do or die game for the pennant... the one where the Rangers will inevitably throw Cliff Lee...

They intend to give the ball to Phil Hughes.

A nice pitcher. A good pitcher. A pitcher who has been up and down recently.

He's Wayne Newton.
Wayne Newton isn't bad... but he's no Sinatra.

And the Yankees are putting themselves into a potentially bad situation with their pitching staff in the ALCS.

They have the clear advantage in game one between Sabathia and C.J.Wilson.
The Yankees also have the edge in game two between Phil Hughes and Colby Lewis, but it isn't a sure thing.

Then their proposed Game 3 has Andy Pettite against Cliff Lee. OVERWHELMING advantage to Texas.

Then A. J. Burnett will throw Game 4.
Does it even matter who Texas is pitching? They have the advantage in Game 4 as well.

In other words the Yankees have set up their pitching staff to give Texas obvious advantages in Games 3, 4 and 7.

All because they don't want to use Sabathia 3 times. If they did use him 3 times, the Yankees would have the clear advantage in Games 1 and 4 and set up an ace versus ace Game 7.

The Yankees should throw Sabathia in those 3 games.
If they MUST throw Burnett, why not use him in Game 3 against Cliff Lee? Consolidate the pitching match ups that favor the Rangers into one game.

Have Pettite go Game 2 with Hughes coming out of the pen.
Have Hughes start game 5 and Pettite start game 6 on regular rest.

This is not a second guess. I am writing this on Wednesday and the series starts on Friday.

I am clearly NOT rooting for the Yankees to win. I would love to see this rotation explode in their face.

It just strikes me odd... they aren't putting their best team on the field.
They aren't booking Sinatra.
Ah well... I guess Girardi is saying "I'll do it my way!"