1. Ian Kennedy strained his latissimus dorsi and is headed to the DL where he will join Phil Hughes. Hughes also was on the DL last year, and Kennedy missed the last several weeks of the 2007 season and was not considered for the postseason roster due to a back issue. Keep in mind that one of the theories for not putting Kennedy and Hughes into the same deal for Johan Santana was worry about the large number of innings that Santana has worked in recent years, and belief in going with the relatively fresh arms and bodies of Kennedy and Hughes. But in the first third of this season alone, Kennedy and Hughes will now have combined to go on the DL one more time than Santana has in his whole career.
2. LaTroy Hawkins meet Kyle Farnsworth, Kyle Farnsworth meet LaTroy Hawkins. Discuss it amongst yourselves. Forget that, we will discuss it. These are the last two veteran set-up men signed by the Yankees. They were signed despite long histories suggesting that they would be bad fits in New York. And they really havenât disappointed. It is just now these are supposed to be the two veterans who help make the transition of Joba Chamberlain to the starting rotation easier. Except that they are as untrustworthy as ever. It would not surprise me if at some point this year Hawkins has to be released. And it would not surprise me at all if the Yanks are forced into a long audition to see if they can find suitable candidates to get the ball to Mariano Rivera. Chris Britton, Mark Melancon, J.B. Cox, David Robertson, Daniel McCutchen, Scott Patterson and Dan Giese are all down below and all may receive looks as the Yanks try to find a few arms to believe in.
3. The Yankees lost on Tuesday night against Baltimore because Kennedy blew a 4-0 lead, Ross Ohlendorf blew an 8-4 lead and Hawkins could not hold a 9-8 lead in the 11th inning. This should surprise no one. Among pitchers who have worked at least 20 innings this season, Kennedy has the 10th worst ERA (7.41), Hawkins (6.75) is at 14th and Ohlendorf (6.37) is at 19th. And just for the record, Hughesâ 9.00 ERA is still the second worst in this category.
