The New York Yankees were undecided for much of the week on
who would start the second game of today’s double header with the Baltimore
Orioles before finally deciding on Bryan Mitchell. Manager Joe Girardi even mentioned the
possibility of having a bullpen game, which makes sense with expanded rosters
and September call ups. With David Phelps being activated today off the
disabled list why not just let Phelps start the game?
If the team is willing to throw multiple relief pitchers at
the Orioles in the nightcap anyway then what do you have to lose? I like the
idea of Phelps testing out the elbow starting off a clean inning without being
behind runs, etc. I like the idea of the pressure being off of Phelps so he can
simply go out there and air it out and test out the injury. There really isn't
much of a difference between him starting the first inning and starting the
sixth inning, I get that and understand that, but Phelps is less likely to
overthrow and try too hard to make the perfect pitch or blow someone away when
the score is 0-0 then it is if New York is behind.
It’s a minor gripe, I know, but it was just on my mind
before this double header today so I figured I would share. What say you?
