You know it must be bad when the good news for the Yankees is that they avoided a sweep. The real news for them, however, is that they discovered that they discovered they have a pitcher called Tyler Clippard, a 22-year-old right-hander throwing down in triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was on fire and even hit a bunt and double in his own cause. Funny seeing someone with bad acne playing baseball – something you see in soccer or hockey all the time given how quickly kids are promoted.
But they now have to get back to reality and play the Sox for the next three evenings. It will be interesting to see if Johnny Damon can turn making yesterday’s catch at the wall (as opposed to Saturday night when he just helped it on its way over the wall) and that bloop single into the start of turning his year around. So far on the Coco v. Damon trade, the Soxs are looking very clever. Both have underperformed expectations but Coco has done it for far less – and has maintained his position as a positive force on the team though his attitude and effort. Coco has also added to his average in the last month, outbatting Damon .261 to .250 during that stretch.