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"I think we'll see a benches clearing incident later this season as a result. Joba, you started things off and your teammates have you to thank..."

Please, you watched Pedro hit Yankee players for years and never lectured him. You don't like Joba which I get, but do you really think he is trying to hit Bay with a runner already on in a 4-3 game? If so, why didn't he send that message in the 3rd inning when the game was 4-0?

I don't believe it was on purpose.

But I do have an opinion about a couple of things.

Having the mlb package on cable allows me to see every Sox game, only on the road you get the pleasure of the home team's broadcast.

Warning! This next statement is going to be offensive to some:

The Yankee announcers are horrible! Mindless dribble that wasn't even over the top homers. No emotion, no insight, just monotone dribble...

ok, one thing they discussed was his ERA since he became a starter last June, 5th best in baseball. They also mentioned all his no-decisions in that time but failed to mention the fact that he rarely goes past 5 innings might have something to do with a no decision...

At what point do Yankee fans get tired of having a terrificly talented 5 inning pitcher?

At one point in the 5th, one of the announcers mentions Joba has thrown 76 pitches and is on track for a couple more innings. Fast forward a couple of batters and it still is the 5th and he is at 95 pitches...

BTW - home plate up was crazy generous for both sides...nice framing my butt...haven't seen the black on the plate that wide since Livan Hernandez got the 3ft wide plate benefit in the playoffs for the Marlins against the Braves in '97.

When a pitcher is pitching that well, no need to give him extra. Joba's ball was moving extremely well last night.

BTW#2: Physically, Joba is a stunt double of Clemens. His pitches move and his fastball is very similar to a young Clemens fastball.

BTW#3: my wife comes into the room, says "isn't that the guy who's mother got busted for selling Meth?"

Josh Beckett wasn't really throwing at Abreu's head last month, was he Andy? Nah, that multi-game suspension was all just a big misunderstanding. Josh is a fine, upstanding young man in his own right. ;-)

BL- You won't hear me defend the YES announcers. I can't stand Michael Kay and the rest of them are pretty bad. The best announcer was Kaat and he retired.

Then again, there are not many announcers I enjoy listening to other than Vin Scully, but the Mets on SNY have a great booth. Try them some time and let me know what you think.

Hi BL,

This Yankees fan agrees that the Yankee announcers are horrible. Sadly, I much prefer Jerry Remy on NESN who, although a former Red Sox player, will actually call a great pitch/play just that, great - even if it was from the Yankees. He just calls them like he sees them. Even Eckersley calls a better game - although his command of the language is less than his command of a baseball.

Joba's stuff was truly nasty from the 2nd inning on. But in the first inning nothing was working or breaking for the kid. Those were cookies in the first. Then, something clicked for him, he settled in and his pitches started moving around and his velocity came up. And yeah, in a lotta ways, Joba reminds me of Clemens - even in the way that both are/were REALLY slow to warm up in a game. Notoriously weak first innings. They even head hunt the same - and BS the same afterwards - sad but true. ;-)

The strike zone was a big for Joba last night as it was for Lester the night before.

Some Yankee fans see Joba in a different role than a terrifically talented 5 inning pitcher - but, I've already got the under on that bet with Peter.

And yeah, I think Joba would have liked to have been born from a different mother ... but the kid seems to have risen above his "starting circumstances" pretty well.

wow, nice to hear that both of you agree about the announcers, I expected a bit of a back and forth.

Remy does do a good job at calling the game. When it gets to idle chat I bet you don't like him though...

Joba is one of those that you don't like unless he plays on your team. I can live with that. I can respect his ability (if he ever gets out of the pitch count/inning count stuff).

Back in the 70's, I hated the Yankees, but respected a few of them including Munson, Guidry, Nettles, Gossage. That is about it. Even today, if Rivers came before me I'm not sure what this passive man would do to him. (Nettles was wrongly pegged as the one that sucker punched Lee and hurt his shoulder).

Peter, Joba had pin point control from the 2nd inning on last night and on the first pitch to Bay, he hits him on the numbers. Had it happened in the 1st inning, I would have said, no way was that intentional as he struggled, but at that point in time? Please. Yes, he had just walked Ortiz, but Ortiz should have been called out on strikes...twice.

As for Pedro, he hit many, many people in his career (many Yankees included) and I think the same thing applies. When he was with the Red Sox and hitting people, I obviously had a different take on it, I can admit bias, but there is always part of me that recognizes if a player is really at fault.

Mitchell mentioned the Beckett pitch earlier this year. I think that is a bit different b/c it was split second vs. time to calculate. I said at the time that I thought he meant to throw at Abreu, but I hope he didn't mean to throw it at his head.

I think lost in my post is the fact that I found it very entertaining but at the same time, IT WILL lead to retaliation. Just a fact. And I always thought this about Pedro, while he hit a Yankee batter, I fully expected retaliation and his teammates had him to thank. In the Yankees case, as you pointed out repeatedly, it rarely led to retaliation, but that's not the point.

My main beef with Joba is throwing at the head to Youkilis. For what it is worth, I have a great deal of sympathy for him and actually find him likable, but when he is pitching, not so much.

Andy

Bay said this after the game when asked if he thought Joba was trying to hit him.

"At that particular juncture of the game [fifth inning], I don't think it's something he was trying to do"

Joba and youkilis are a different story. There is no reason why he would hit Bay in a one-run game and put a runner into scoring position intentionally.

Remy revealed cancer and surgery during offseason yesterday.

Hope he has speedy recovery and gets back in the booth soon.

Ditto, BL. I am glad to see he added the "don't smoke" part to his statement.