On a scale of 1-10...

[Kingdom]

...1 being not worried, 10 being SCURRRREEED

How worried are you about the pitching staff come playoff time? Burnett is terrible, Colon runs out of gas early, Hughes is hit or miss, and a rookie (technically) has been your 2nd best starter the past month. Robertson has been a good saving grace since Chamberlain got hurt and Soriano has been worth 1.5 million and not eleventy billion that he received in the off season. But there's still the threat of Boone Logan in a meaningful situation!

I think it's kinda funny that if the Empire and the Nation square off in the playoffs, game 3 could be Lackey vs. Garcia/Colon. /blinks

What say you?

[Hammer]

8, 9... cant give it a full 10 with cc. and im strongly confident in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings with soriano, robby and mo.

if nova closes out the season as hes pitching now (obviously not winning 13-14 in a row, but just a good solid starter), then id drop it to a 6-7. you can win with 2 pitchers if they both are superb... you cant with only 1 though. but as of now, my personal jury is still out on nova... i think hes really good, but that can turn at any minute... so its an 8 or 9.

and hughes is the wild card... his velocity still isnt what it was last year, but the results are coming back the last 3 starts or so. i have absolutely zero confidence in him though... id probably put him above colon, garcia and burnett though, as frightening a statement as that is. and as it is right now... i think thats how girardi would have it too... or at least garcia 3rd, hughes 4th.

[Kingdom]

Absolutely no way Burnett makes it right, unless he has a September for the ages.

[Hammer]

joe girardi is our manager... i put nothing past him. but even he cant likely see burnett as more than a reliever for the playoffs, if even that.

[love_that_reefer]

I rated it a 9 but then it dawned on me that no AL playoff team (if the season ended today) really has that strong of a rotation. The Rangers would be the best one in my opinion. I'll take mine down to a 7.

[Hammer]

"and hughes is the wild card... his velocity still isnt what it was last year, but the results are coming back the last 3 starts or so. i have absolutely zero confidence in him though... id probably put him above colon, garcia and burnett though, as frightening a statement as that is. and as it is right now... i think thats how girardi would have it too... or at least garcia 3rd, hughes 4th. "

so much for that. try hector noesi out next... sooner or later we'll get a 3rd guy who can get to the 6th inning.

[Kingdom]

I rated it a 9 but then it dawned on me that no AL playoff team (if the season ended today) really has that strong of a rotation. The Rangers would be the best one in my opinion. I'll take mine down to a 7.

Angels have one if they pass the Rangers. That race got interesting in a hurry.

[love_that_reefer]

They sure did and they would be the team I fear the most if I am an AL contender. Weaver, Haren and Santana would be tough to get past.

[Kingdom]

And some of their bats are warming up. Bourjos and Trumbo especially. Could be interesting. Texas' staff outside of Wilson has been getting reemed lately

[Tobywan]

Anybody but the Yankees.

[Hammer]

BAM! we found our 3rd starter... burnett gave up 6 runs in 1.1 [so far]. thusly, phil hughes is better than him. done and done.

[Hammer]

well burnett officially got through 3 innings... thus he moves back ahead of hughes for the 3rd spot.

[realmofotalk]

Gee, why don't the Yankees just call up Ian Kennedy? I read that he's been pitching really well down in Arizona.

[Hammer]

because we decided to keep hughes and joba instead

to be fair national league is a different animal, and i thought his stuff would translate better to the nl than the al east... but yea, hes gotta be an upgrade over the rest of these guys. cant be much worse... though burnett and hughes try every day to one up each other.

[Kingdom]

My favorite weekly sitcom on TV right now is AJ Burnett every five days.