Yankees Editorial: Which David Carpenter Will Show Up Tomorrow?

When the New York Yankees went out and acquired relief pitcher David Carpenter in the offseason, they thought they were getting the reliable hard throwing right hander we saw on display with the Atlanta Braves. Instead, he’s been the total opposite as a Yankee, pulling his best Kevin Brown impression as possible.

Through 18.0 innings pitched so far in a pinstripe uniform,the 29-year old veteran has a 5.00 ERA. His struggles continued on Thursday night during the series opener in Oakland, as he allowed both of the runners left on base from starting pitcher CC Sabathia with the game tied at 3 to all score in the bottom of the seventh inning. The first runner reached home plate after Carpenter loaded the bases and walked Ben Zobrist. The other run scored when Billy Butler smoked a long sacrifice fly to the center field warning track, putting the A’s up 5-3 and giving them the lead for the rest of the ballgame.

Why is Carpenter struggling so much?

Well, according to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com, skipper Joe Girardi isn’t quite sure himself.

In his post-game interview, Carpenter was pretty hard on himself.

"“It’s a new team, it’s a new way of being used. Other than that, it’s just trying to go out and execute,” Carpenter told Kuty. “That’s been part of the problem. I haven’t been going out and executing. You can only work so much. You can only throw so many pitches a day. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I’ve been trying to make things better, at least be useful around here.”"

The good news is that catcher Brian McCann, who actually caught Carpenter down in Atlanta when they played together, believes the right-hander will turn things around.

"“It’s about location and he’s got a great arm,” McCann said. “He’s got two really good pitches. It’s going to be about getting the fastball located and the slider off that. He’s got good movement on his pitches. It’s just a matter of pitching ahead in the counts.”"

Let’s hope Carpenter can turn things around sooner rather than later, unless he wants Adam Warren to take over his job as the seventh inning swing man.

Yankees Editorial: Which David Carpenter Will Show Up Tomorrow?

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