ANOTHER VICTORY LIKE THIS

and we are done for. Thus spake Pyrrus sometime before the birth of Euro-America's all-time Save-King. Forgetting about the dangers of relying on AROD for 2 out hits, let alone homers, the bullpen, which was brilliant once again, just can't take this much wear on a regular basis (although it is worth noting that Proctor, Farnsworth and Henn all had the day off and noone went more than an inning). BGW notes that the entire rotation looks like Jared Wright, though as I remember it, while he never went more than 5, he usually only gave up a couple. This rotation looks more like the last sad days of Chacon and Small.

But as dire as the pitching is, as weak as Mussina and Pavano might turn out, as impatient as we may be for the return of Wang, as desparate as we may become for the debut of Hughes, Sanchez and Clippard, I have to risk sounding like an idiot and affirming my continued faith in Igawa. Remember he looked awful his first start in spring training, but settled down after that and was quite effective. Today he got shelled not for a lack of stuff, but because he was wild with every pitch but his fastball, and there is seven years of control pitching in Japan to suggest that he typically has command of his breaking stuff. When he's putting the change and the curve over and he's getting rocked I'll start to worry. But for now, I would note that his fastball was coming in at 91 mph. If he can bring it at that level and spot his change up, I think he'll be awright and maybe better than that.

Rasner tomorrow, and you have to hope that a good effort by him might lead to a greater willingness down the road, a short piece down the road, to hitch the Yankees star to their suddenly vibrant farm system.