Soriano Struggles

The big story the other night was Rafael Soriano blowing a 4 run lead and the Yankees ultimately losing the game 5-4.  Although I tend to me overly optimistic when it comes to the Yankees, I don’t see much concern about Soriano (or Girardi) at this point in the season.  So fine, Soriano blew a lead and the Yankees lost the game.  It happens!

Soriano led the league in saves last year and he hasn’t done anything different this year.  In fact, the lead he blew the other night was the biggest lead he has ever given up in his career.  This was a fluke.  He looked extremely sharp on opening day against the Tigers and on Monday against the Twins (round 1).  He is so dominant against the AL central that prior to Tuesday’s game, he had only allowed 1 Earned Run in his last 18 innings against AL Central opponents.

The media seems to be playing this up more than anybody and it’s because they were pissed off at Soriano for not fielding questions at his locker after the game.  Bottom line is the guy is an awesome pitcher who had one bad outing.  The media can analyze his body language all they want, but one bad inning isn’t cause for major concern, especially when the wind chill that evening was 36 degrees!  If the Yankees have a close lead in the 8^th inning, they are still giving Soriano the ball.

The bigger story was CC Sabathia.  He pitched great and didn’t get the win.  His fastball was down and had movement.  He pitched 7 scoreless innings and even retired the last 17 batters he faced!  Hopefully this second no-decision for CC will keep him fired up for Sunday night in Boston.  The Yankees will need a quality start as Beckett is on the mound.  Regardless of Beckett’s numbers this season or last season, he is a Yankee killer

UPDATE @ 6:20 PM

Soriano pitched this afternoon for the 8th inning in the final game against the Twins.  He pitched 1 scoreless inning, allowing only a leadoff single.  He threw a total of 11 pitches - 9 for strikes.  I wouldn't be too concerned with Soriano at this point.

Side Note

Brian Duensing seems to have some bad luck when he faces the Yankees.  On Tuesday he pitched very well after the first two innings.  Both Arod and Texeira are red hot right now and hit home runs early, but Duensing didn’t let it bother him and continued pitching into the 7^th Inning allowing only 6 total hits and striking out 7.  Even though the Twins won the game, Duensing didn’t get the win.

Last year Duensing pitched in Yankee stadium on May 25 and faced off against AJ Burnett.  Duensing only allowed 1 run against the Yankees and again, didn’t get the win.  AJ actually pitched a shutout against the Twins.  This was the last win Burnett got until July as he didn’t win one game for the entire month of June.