I'm on to you Bigfoot-AKA- Carl Pavano
Oh what a zany season it has been for the 2008 New York Yankees. One would think they’d seen it all after losing Hideki Matusi and Jorge Posada to injuries, seeing Tampa Bay leap out to a huge lead in the AL East, and watching Yankees ace, Chien-Ming Wang go down. I’m sure this isn’t what first year manager Joe Girardi had in mind when he took the job at the beginning of the year.
The Yankees starting rotation has been so inconsistent this year that they were forced to move Joba Chamberlain from his set-up role to sure things up, and that lead to him injuring his rotator-cuff on August fourth. While crafty veterans Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina have carried their share of the load this year, the young guns that Yankees management have been touting for so long have been less than stellar. Rookie pitchers Phillip Hughes and Ian Kennedy have been pretty lousy when they have started, and have also had to deal with injuries of their own.
Tonight, us Yankees fans are in for a treat. After what seems like a decade shrouded in mystery and black magic (injury), the once highly touted starting pitcher, Carl Pavano, is going to make his grand return against the Orioles. In a way, Carl Pavano has represented everything that was wrong with Yankees management. Pavano stuck it to us in the 03′ World Series and they decided that they had to have him on the roster. So Steinbrenner overpaid Pavano for his post-season excellence in 04′, to the tune of 40 million dollars over four years.
What most people don’t remember about Pavano was that he pitched pretty well for New York in his first year as a Yankee. To start the 05′ season, Pavano pitched seven out of ten quality starts, winning six games while putting up a very competent ERA of 3.69. Then the wheels came off. Trouble started with a trip to the DL because of an injured right shoulder. Upon his return to the lineup later in the year Pavano struggled to a 4-6 record and had an ERA of 4.77.
In 2006 Pavano began the season with, and I’m not joking about this, a bruised ass. One could only hope this happened when the Captain shoved his boot up said…well, ya know. He would follow this up by getting in a car accident, breaking two ribs, and refusing to tell Yankees management about the incident for weeks. Way to go Carl!
Last year he provided Yankees fans with much of the same. He was starting to come under heavy scrutiny by members of the Yankees front office as well as starting pitcher Mike Mussina. Still, many Yankees fans (including me) were holding on to hope that Pavano could regain his All-Star form and help the team win a pennant. (Hold’s head in hands) The Yanks expected Pavano to be our opening day starter after Chien-Ming Wang went down with a bad hamstring, and while he did take the ball to start the year, he would not become the ace they were hoping four. A 15-day DL stint in April would be a precursor to Pavano getting Tommy John surgery on his elbow in the same month, an injury that would would cost him the season.
After the Tommy John surgery things went pretty quiet for Pavano. In fact, I had completely forgotten that he was even still a member of the Yankees organization until news came that Pavano would be starting tonight’s game. While part of me wants Carl Pavano to succeed, (that would be the part of me that knows the Yankees are in desperate need for some pitching depth) I find it strangely suspicious that Pavano is making his comeback the same week that the world was exposed to the greatest Bigfoot hoax in history. Hopefully us astute Yankees fans will be able to see through Pavano’s performance tonight and not get too excited or depressed by the outcome. Because, at this point, we’ve seen about everything.
