I doubt Hamels will have the his change-up he has been known to throw. Furthermore, I doubt Hamels will have Pedro's change-up which was excellent last night. So good news for the Yankees sluggers, they will have seen a better change-up 2 nights before.
It's not Hamels' change the Yankees have to worry about, it's his curve. If he can't get his hook over for strikes then he becomes a two pitch pitcher, and his fastball isn't good enough right now to live that way.
Burnett was electric last night, the 1 ER he had could have easily been an out (still not sure how A-Rod didn't get that Stairs groundball). Steady Andy is on the mound Saturday, can't wait!
You can cut and paste that argument for any pitcher. The curve ball is identified easier in contrast to distinguishing the changeup from the fastball. I wouldn't be worried about the curve ball even if it was on. Hamels is known for his good changeup, it's the changeup that creates the problems for the hitters not the curveball.
Interesting...Manual just announced: Game 4 will be pitched by Blanton Game 5 will be pitched by Lee Does this mean Pedro or Happ for game 6? He also mentioned he would throw Lee out of the bullpen if there is a game 7, so who starts that??? Blanton vs CC...Yankees have to win that game 4
Blanton has been pretty solid for them, but I'd much rather face him than Cliff Hopefully the Yankees can win games 3 and 4, that'd be awesome
Hamels has been struggling to locate his fastball. So when his curve isn't working hitters can sit on his changeup in breaking ball counts and it it. There are guys who can be very effective with only two pitches (Pedro went fastball/changeup for huge stretches when he was going through injuries and did great.) Hamels isn't one of them. Either he needs to improve his fastball quickly or he needs a 3rd pitch to keep hitters off balance. Obviously it's a small sample size, but in 4 career starts against the Yankees Blanton is 0-3 with an 8.18 ERA. So I'm encouraged. If the Yankees win both games 3 and 4 (which is looking waaaaaaayyy ahead) then the series is effectively over.
Anybody else figure out yet that Chamberlain and Hughes might just as well be Mets at this point? They would have just as much chance of making another appearance in this series if they were...go Cashman.
Ozzie in mangled English: "In National League, they take two player out of lineup. They take pitcher and DH." WTF?
They also were talking about Howard struggling, but they failed to mention that at least two of his strikeouts were called Ks on pitches that were actually balls. They're replaying the 9th inning now, and Rivera's pitch to Howard was clearly outside, as mentioned on Thursday night.
