How does Mo do it?

I don't understand how he does it. Now, I am not complaining obviously, but how he does it just mystifies me. No matter what happens, Mo never seems to panic, and he never seems to look pressured. Last night was a perfect example, after getting the 9th out in 1,2,3 fashion, Mo went back out for the 10th.

Well the 10th didn't start out how he planned it, nor how the Yankees planned it. The first 2 men made it on base, in fact, they were at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Mo then intentionally walked the next hitter to load the bases, and again remember, no outs. Well he proceeded to very calmly get the next 3 hitters out. Including LaRoche who had all 5 of Arizona's RBIs. It was so very impressive to watch, and makes me so happy to have Mo on our side. When he enters a game, I never feel worried, and sure he has blown some games, but admit it, you never worry when he is on the mound, you feel that he will always find a way out of any jam he might be in.

Yankees, Dodgers, this should be awesome

OK, so first of all, I am sorry about last night I might have caused Vazquez' bad game last night by predicting he would pitch awesome. However, he hung tough and kept the Yankees in it, so I feel that justifies it. OK, so Dodgers and Yankees, anyone who knows anything about baseball, knows this is a historic match up. And I'm not even talking about the Joe Torre thing either, I am talking the past, when they met multiple times in the World Series, the rivalry that was once the Dodgers, Yankees.

Now, I doubt it will be anything like it once was, in fact, I know it wont be. The last time they met in a World Series was 1981, of which the Dodgers won in 6 games. Lets also not forget that Don Larsen threw his perfect game in the World Series against the Dodgers, of course they were the Brooklyn Dodgers at that point.

What I do expect to see is some emotion prior to the game with Torre, and the Yankees. Torre for years was a fixture with the Yankees, and brought them to prominence, and in my eyes, left on good terms between the Yankees, and Torre. Torre has already stated that he feels it will be tough prior to the game as he still has a lot of friends on the Yankees. In fact he has already had lunch with a few of them as well. Tomorrow should be a great game, and should bring up many flash backs during the game of historic moments, and maybe the new Yanks and Dodgers can create some historic moments as well.

Colin Curtis gets first hit as a pro

Talk about a magical moment for any pro athlete. Colin Curtis, who was just recently called up, racked up his first hit as a pro, last night, a hit that turned out to be a 2 run double in the 8th inning. What makes it so magical is a few things, one his mom, dad, and brother were at the game. Second, he went to school at Arizona State, and played a few times at Chase field.

For Curtis, he admits, when he got his hit and was standing on second base, he didn't even feel the need to try and play it cool. He couldn't help but let out a huge smile while he stood there on second base. While standing on second, the cameras paned to his family, and both his dad and brother had smiles just as large on their faces. It really was a great moment for Curtis, he went to school just down the street from the field, and has finally fulfilled a life long dream. Good job Curtis, may many more follow!

Pre-game notes

Finally, Cervelli is back behind the plate, and if your wondering, no I don't hate Jorge, I just feel he is severely overrated, to slow behind the plate, and is better served as the DH. Cervelli is extremely active behind the plate, blocks many more balls then Jorge, and changes the tempo of the game single handedly.

Vazquez looks to help the Yankees take the series from the Diamondbacks. Vazquez has been pitching very well, and took an extremely hard loss in his last start pitching 7 strong innings against the Mets allowing only 1 run, and taking the loss. He looks to start on the winning track once again tonight against the Diamondbacks. He pitches very well against NL teams, and loves hitting, expect to see him sharp tonight pitching in an NL stadium.

The top of the lineup looks to continue their hot hitting. After struggling the last couple of games, Jeter, Tex, and A-Rod, all had 2 hits last night, including a 2 run home run from A-Rod, who now has 592 so far for his career. A-Rod has been known to hit home runs in bunches, and if his swing continues to sharpen, expect him to start hitting many more in the coming weeks.

Burnett not happy right now

So not only is he struggling mightily, Burnett has now admitted that he isn't happy, and hes not having much fun either. Now don't read to much into that though, its not him saying he doesn't want to play, or that he is unhappy with the organization, he is just having trouble having fun given his struggles, and that's completely normal.

“I don’t feel like myself,” he said. “I’m not having fun right now. Who would during a stretch like this? The game’s supposed to be fun, and to come out and take the air out of your team right away for a handful of starts, it’s quite frustrating.”

In his last 4 starts, his ERA is over 10, and he has allowed 9 home runs as well. Most of his struggles are missed locations, and execution on his pitches. Most of that though tends to be due to mechanics, and also I'm sure at this point its in his head as well which doesn't help. Now, as I said last night I hate when Jorge catches Burnett, and I will never change how I feel about that. However, that being said, I don't feel its all his fault, but I am positive it doesn't help. Pitchers feed of their catchers, and when you watch Cervelli, he is animated, routing the pitchers on, celebrating when they perform well, and get out of jams. Jorge doesn't do any of that, he goes on as business behind the plate, his animation never changes, regardless of the situation he is the same, and it just seems that Burnett has a better chemistry with Cervelli, and it would be nice if Girardi would also see that.

Hopefully Burnett can turn it around, and I am sure he will, its just a matter of when. He knows what he has to do, and its honestly sad to watch. Many experts agree that Burnett has some of the best stuff of any pitcher in all of baseball. However he is inconsistent, and that's what hurts him, if he can find a way to harness his natural abilities every game out there, then watch out, he could easily win 20, again, that's if he could harness his abilities, and become consistent.