But he can kick like a mule

Chris Carter, back in May, using one of Jason Bay's bats in Pawtucket.  Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.

Chris Carter, back in May, using one of Jason Bay's bats in Pawtucket. Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.

So do I revel in Clay Buchholz pitching the way I knew he could or do I grouse about Paul Byrd pitching back with the Red Sox?

I mean Paul Byrd?  They already had Brad Penny.  Of course, not only is Byrd pitching today but I’ll be at the game.  Hoo-boy!  (Luckily, as has been pointed out to me, I’ll be in one of the EMC suites, thanks to the extreme generosity of others, and not in range to throw anything at him.)

Oh, and did I mention he’s pitching against Roy Halladay?  This should be quite a show, huh?

But how about Clay?  Pitches almost a complete game (and while I “get” why Tito took him out I still would have liked to have seen the kid finish the game.  The way he was pitching, I don’t think he would have done any worse than Okajima did!), threw 107 pitches (67 for strikes), only gave up three hits and walked two while striking out NINE and left the game having given up one run.  Sure, you can say it was “only” against the Blue Jays but Mr. Beckett had his own troubles against them, didn’t he?  Clay came up big for the team and for himself and it was great to be there to see it (even if I spent the game under cover in right field!).

Disappointed to hear about Wake’s setback but pleased that they’re dealing with it and not forcing him to pitch.   No harm in resting the “old” guy once in a while.

I’d like to direct your attention to a piece Evan over at Fire Brand of the American League wrote yesterday.  KellyO and I had discussed this very thing yesterday without having read Evan’s take.  We share Evan’s anger (for those of you who know KellyO her anger is deeper than  mine or Evan’s and someone at the Yankees should be worried about the Voodoo doll she might be making…) over the Yankees destroying Chris Carter’s chances for playing in the majors in September (which includes clocking major league playing time as well as picking up a major league paycheck) in the name of sticking it to the Mets (who have had it stuck to them, this season, more than any team deserves) and the Red Sox (who had wiggle room on their 40-man so it didn’t really “stick” anything to them).  I was going to write about it today but why reinvent the wheel when Evan said it so well:

What I’m more miffed about is the Yankees effectively shuttering Chris Carter’s career. Look, Carter is 26 years old and is a defensively liability at first and left field. He whiffed on his shot with the Red Sox in April, but still has a lively bat. The Mets had ample playing time available for Carter in September, which would have given him a shot to show the Mets what he can do.

Now? Now he’ll head to the Mets in the offseason, a time where everyone will be healing from their injuries and a time where the Mets will stock up on 1B/LF types in free agency. Carter will head to spring training having to fight for a spot. Even if he wins, playing time will be scarce.

Then before you know it, Carter is a Triple-A bat who turns 27… then 28… and his window of opportunity passes by.

The Yankees gain nothing from this move. It doesn’t truly affect the Red Sox nor the Mets so all they really did was torpedo Chris Carter’s genuine shot at playing time in the bigs this year and who knows what will happen next year? Granted, the Yankees weren’t sitting around making their plans to shoot down the hopes of one minor league player but in their efforts to go after their rivals they ceased to realize that the only thing this would do is hurt a player, not either team. Regardless of intent, it sucks in a major way. Thanks to Evan for bringing it out there and good luck to Chris Carter.

Back at Fenway today on what promises to be a much more beautiful day (weather-wise!) than yesterday.  Genuinely looking forward to afternoon baseball at the park – feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve experienced that at Fenway (although I guess it was just a couple of weeks ago for the 4pm Yanks game).

Enjoy the day, folks!

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