How unlucky can you get? In the same season that the Yankees lost Jeff Karstens to a hit ball off his leg, they lose Darrell Rasner to a hit ball off his pitching index finger. Let's count the rookie starts for this year...Chase Wright: 2 starts, 1 good, 1 awful.
Jeff Karstens: 1 start where he broke leg in the first inning.
Kei Igawa: 4 plus one emergency 1st inning entrance as long reliever for the Karstens start
Darrell Rasner: 6 Games 4.01 ERA 1-3.
Philip Hughes: 2 starts, 1 good, 1 bad before his hamstring injury.
Matt DeSalvo: 2 Starts - 1 excellent, 1 so-so.
Tyler Clippard: 1 good start.
That's 18 games out of 42 games played so far, started by *rookies*. The amazing part is that the combined record there is just under .500, given that the Yankees are at 19-23.
Amazingly, if you consider Carl Pavano who made 2 starts as a ring-in sort of pitcher, then it's 20 games out of 42 that have been started by the non-Mussina-Wang-Pettitte pitchers. I don't know if I should be amazed or appalled by that run of injuries that has wrought this situation. Heck, if this had been any other team, they would have had to go 12 deep into their starting pitching depth, and who knows what kind of pitcher sits there. Because that's exactly where Tyler Clippard came in. If you count Humberto Sanchez on the 60day DL Clippard is actually the '13th Warrior' on the mound.
I'm actually of the school that Cashman and co. have done a good job stocking up on arms over the last few years, which has enabled them to go 12-13 deep in Starters. Which other organization could have lost 4/5ths of their rotaion at one point or another and gone to no.13 in their starting pitching depth, and still stayed near .500? This is no mean feat by the Yankee Organisation - not that it has contributed greatly to a big win total right now. Nonetheless, given the rash of injuries 19-23 may actually be a much better record than a team with such bad luck could normally hope for.
It should also be noted that the bullpen has at times featured Brian Bruney and Chris Britton, who are in the sophomore campaign and Sean Henn who is in his rookie campaign, as well as having lost Scott Proctor for 4 days due to suspensions. Call me a masochist but I'm actualy interested to see what this team can do once it has a Wang-Pettitte-Moose-Rocket-Hughes rotation going. It might just make the Post-Season.
While it may seem weird to say this, I do see the silver-lining; judging from the pitching roster names, this is actually a transitional Yankee team. You can almost start to see the future beyond Pettitte, Moose and Rocket. A future rotation that is going to be headed by Hughes, with Rasner, Karstens, DeSalvo, Clippard, plus Ian Kenndey, Joba Chamberlain, and Dellin Betances on the way. It may turn out to be a brand new dynasty.
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