Blast Off (Postgame Notes 13 June 2008)

When Kyle Farnsworth came in to pitch the ninth inning of a 2-1 baseball game on Friday the 13th, you could hear a collective groan from Yankees fans world wide.

Kyle Farnsworth, normally so ineffective during high leverage situations that he gets booed at Yankee Stadium, could not possibly handle the ninth inning of a one run game.

Right?

Not so fast. It took the help of a great throw to second from Jose Molina, but Kyle Farnsworth worked around a hit batsman to lead off the inning and recorded his first save since 2006.

Despite the miracle performance from Farnsworth, however, the real story of the game was Joba's third start.

Though Joba did not get the win--the game was tied at one when he left--it was easily the best of his three starts so far. He went six innings, gave up six hits, one (earned) run and while the walks were a little to high, he left with a pitch count of 88--7 of those pitches intentional balls--cutting way down on his pitches per inning. His last pitch, in the sixth inning hit 97 mph.

While there still might be some arguing that Joba should still be in the bullpen, if only for lack of other options, Joba is well on his way to proving he belongs in the rotation. Whether or not he can make it as a number one starter will take a few more seasons to know for sure, but the progress he has made in his three starts so far is remarkable.

Coming out of the bullpen, Jose Veras looked possibly the best he's ever looked at the major league level, and for the seventh and eighth innings, it looked like he got better with each pitch.

The Yankees were lucky the pitching was as good as it was, because, as has become common this season, there was not much offense. An RBI single from Alex Rodriguez in the first and a solo home run from Derek Jeter was all that the Yankees got.

However, for the first time since April, the Yankees are two games over .500, the high water mark of the season, and for that reason, as much as the pitching, tonight's win was one of the most satisfying of the season.