Yankees Sweep Tribe; Lose Two Arms

NY Times Photo

The Yankees have been on fire to say the least. Wrapping up a weekend series with the cross town Mets the Yankees opened up a home stand with a sweep of the Indians. An almost effortless three games for the Bronx Bombers until today.  

Before today's action, the Yankees placed ace pitcher CC Sabathia on the disabled list with a strained left groin.  Sabathia is currently the team leader in innings pitched, strikeouts and most importantly wins. He last pitched Sunday night at Citi Field. When the news first broke the Yankees had a contingency plan in veteran righty Freddy Garcia, the team looked like they could almost easily sustain the temporary loss. After all they still had Nova, plus Koroda and Hughes have been serviceable. Add Petite's solid arm and everything will be fine. The Yankees were feeling good about  their rotation.

Veteran Andy Petite threw a 62 MPH breaking ball to the Tribe's Casey Kotchman that came right back at Petite. In fact, it riccocheted off his ankle causing a fracture. You could hear the collective gasp of the Yankee faithful as the ball nailed his ankle and shot out towards third base. Yankee skipper Joe Girardi pieced together the rest of the game with five other pitchers that included Freddy Garcia. Once scheduled to pitch for Sabathia Friday, now Garcia will more than likely start in Petite's spot in the rotation. Thus leaving the Yankees without two key veterans. Even worse, these are two key lefty veterans. Petite is set to miss at least the next six weeks. Sabathia with any luck should return to action after the All-Star break. 

-Pal

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