ANAHEIM, Calif. – Shortly after the Yankees strolled into the clubhouse with sleepy eyes yesterday morning several of them needed a question answered.
“Did [Ian] Kennedy say something stupid [Friday night]?” they asked.
On the bus ride to the hotel late Friday night, Kennedy’s foolish postgame comments drifted through the vehicle and were hard to believe.
“If he’s not worried he should be,” a Yankee said of Kennedy’s quotes following a 10-5 spanking by the Angels at Angel Stadium in which the right-hander was rocked for five runs and nine hits in two-plus innings.
Kennedy, delusional at best and dumb at worst, wasn’t the least bit apologetic for his putrid outing.
“It’s always disappointing but it’s my first bad outing in a long time, since the All-Star break,” Kennedy said Friday night. “I felt like I made some good pitches and got out of the second inning. I am not too upset about it. You move on and I have already done that. I am not going to look too much into it.”
Manager Joe Girardi wasn’t ready yesterday to take the 23-year-old pitcher with a 0-4 record and 8.17 ERA to task for his words.
“I don’t worry about the words as much as the action,” Girardi said. “When he came out of the game I could see he was upset with the way he pitched.”
Andy Pettitte believes baserunners have figured something out about the way he holds them at first.
“I feel like they do,” said today’s starter. “It’s a sense you get on the mound. Every time I throw the ball to first they go back and every time I go home they are running.”
Texas’ Marlon Byrd swiped two bases against him Tuesday night and Angels pilfered three against him July 31. Pettitte’s pickoff move is the best in baseball and has produced 91 career pickoffs and 10 this season.
Pettitte and Mariano Rivera are closing in on a twin milestone. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Rivera has saved 55 of Pettitte’s victories. That’s the second-highest total since the save was invented in 1969. Former A’s Dennis Eckersley and Bob Welch lead with 57.