Friday, May 10, 2013

Bobby wasn't the next Mickey, nor Cerone the next Thurman, but let us agree that among continuing Yankee legends, Adam Warren will be the next David Phelps

For two years, at Scranton, they were a pair - (Phelps & Warren, Adam & David, Warren & Phelps, whatever)  - you couldn't keep them straight - they laugh alike, they walk alike at times they even talk alike, you could lose your mind. They were the two Yankee prospects nobody ever enshrined in Cooperstown, because all they did was pitch, and they'd knew too well the city of Scranton (or the NYS Thruway.) Cousins, identical cousins all the way. 

The ever-kinky Yankiverse - and I pass no moral judgement here - loves threesomes - Joba/Hughes/Kennedy... Betances/Banneulos/Brackman... Depaula/Campos/Ramirez? (or Mo/Larry/Curley?) - and the problem with Phelps & Warren was simple: They lacked a third, you know, the one with the 1.00 WHIP.

Today, David Phelps is our fifth starter, ready to be fourth, as soon as one of the ancient ones slips on a banana. Warren will methodically move up in the ranks. Neither will ever enter a game with the blare of expectations Dellin Betances will receive (if he ever throws a major league pitch.) These are the throw-ins - the Ted Lillys, the Bronson Arroyos, the Jake Westbrooks - the guys who might peak as an extra in an all-star game - but without them, teams go nowhere.

Phelps is 26. Last year, his ERA over 99 innings stood at 3.34 - not bad, though he got whacked in the playoffs. He was THE Yankee youth movement of 2012. Nobody gave a squirt about him, because he'd bumped around Scranton for three years. (In 2011, he pitched 107 innings at Scranton and a 3.19 ERA.) When a guy repeats Scranton, to the fans and bloggers, he dons the Harry Potter Cloak of Invisibility.

Warren is 25. He repeated Scranton last year - both seasons with 150 innings, both with ERAs around 3.60 - and came to NYC for one spectacularly horrible 2-inning start, then disappeared like Brigadoon. This year, it's early, but he's at 1.84 ERA. I'll take it.

On the trip to Colorado, Phelps & Warren won us two games that our short-staffed team probably deserved to lose.

Face it, folks. It's Phelps & Warren - War & Peace, Peace & Love, Love & Kisses, Kisses & Cream, Cream & Sugar, Sugar & Spice and what - everything nice? It was nice yesterday. Write this down: Adam Warren is the next David Phelps. The only question? Who is David Phelps?
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 10, 2013 at 10:36 AM

    Yankees are always three ways? You telling me both the M&M boys were banging Greer Johnson? That of Peterson and Kekich, someone was watching from the easy chair? No no no, there have been great twos and fours. But what nauseates me is when John Sterling keeps calling certain things "a solo job". I think it's a subtle dig on Susan.

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  2. Suzyn WaldmanMay 10, 2013 at 2:56 PM

    John can keep his claws off me. He knows all about solo jobs. But my heart belongs to Jayson Nix. I'm going to have Jayson's DNA cloned so that I can bang three or four Nixes at a time!

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