Cleveland Indians' Carl Pavano delivers a pitch in the fourth
inning against the Houston Astros in an exhibition baseball game
Saturday, April 4, 2009 in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
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Out of sight, out of mind, the saying goes. Well, Carl Pavano, the once invisible Yankee, is probably someone you haven’t thought about in at least a few weeks, but he's coming to New York very soon.
Opening day at the new Yankee Stadium is right around the corner (Thursday 1:05pm) and all the buzz is around that historic first game at the beautiful new cathedral. But the real fun could be getting the great Carl Pavano back to the Bronx this weekend.
Thankfully Pavano is Cleveland’s problem now – and problem might be putting it lightly.
Carl did less than overwhelm in spring training putting up a 5.02 ERA over 7 starts striking out 13 and walking 6 in 28 and 2/3 innings.
Numbers don’t mean a whole lot in spring training though, and Pavano earned himself the number three starter spot in Cleveland.
That’s right, Carl Pavano is the Indian’s number three starter - yeah, that rotation might be in trouble.
The Indians’ depth chart shows only four starting pitchers. Still ironing things out I suppose. They’ll be auditioning minor leaguers later this week to find that number five.
So as the number three man in the rotation, in his first start of the year on April 9th, Pavano took the hill against the Rangers in Arlington.
Good ole Carl lasted only one inning, but in that inning he did manage to give up 3 walks, 2 home runs, and 6 hits to the tune of 9 earned runs.
Check out Indians Examiner Cory Felegy here and if you want the play by play of that horrendous inning read it here at WaitingForNextYear.com.
And so Carl comes back to New York for the first time carrying with him the baggage of a disastrous career in pinstripes and a cartoonish ERA that currently sits at 81.00.
A Tuesday start in Kansas City stands between Carl and his return to New York where a mysterious elbow soreness or knee inflammation might rear its head and rescue him once again from his struggles.
That would be fitting wouldn’t it? But if not, Pavano should take the hill on Sunday at 1:05pm and on YES or TBS. Come down to the stadium or get a comfortable seat on your couch, but in any case be sure to welcome Carl back to NYC in your own special way.
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