An Accident With One Door Opens Another - New York Times

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Hawkins, Farnsworth, Rivera...Patterson?
Published 3/17/2008 by Mark M. at The Bronx Stop
Article Courtesy of Tyler Kepner of the New York Times (edited for length): It was not the best way to pave a path to the major leagues. It was painful, and purely accidental. But when Scott Patterson jammed his right middle finger in a door three years ago, it turned his career around. Patterson, a 6-foot-6 right-hander with a herky-jerky motion, said he did not have enough polished pitches to thrive as a starter. But when his swollen finger forced him to the bullpen, he concentrated on his fastball and his slow curveball, which he says he has always thrown for strikes. After posting a 1.09 E.R.A. in 43 games at Trenton, Patterson was promoted to ...

We're tired of bad spring pitching
Published 3/17/2008 by Dave & Aziz Nekoukar at NJ.com: Pride of the Yankees
... a roster spot; this time Rasner gave up 5 hits and a walk over 3 innings, and allowed 2 earned runs to keep his spring ERA at a paltry 8.64. That's barely worse than the Wanger's 8.44. As you know by now, pitching has, for lack of eloquence, not really been dominant this spring. It's time for the Yanks' pitchers to catch up. At least Scott Patterson had a scoreless 1.2 innings yesterday, and you can begin planning on him (and Billy Traber ) to be in the Opening Day bullpen. Check Tyler Kepner's excellent profile of Patterson (Kepner has had an excellent spring himself, by ...

Getting the Finger
Published 3/17/2008 by StatsGuru at Baseball Musings
Tyler Kepner notes the progress of Scott Patterson from independent league starter to consideration for the Yankees bullpen . It's all thanks to a finger injury: Patterson is here because of his overwhelming success as a relief pitcher, first for the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League and the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League. His acumen for the bullpen earned him a spot with the Yankees' Class AA affiliate in 2006, but it would never have happened without a freak injury. "I stubbed my finger in a door at my host family's house in Lancaster," Patterson said. ...

Spring Training Roundup 03/17, Filling Out The Roster
Published 3/17/2008 by Moshe Mandel at The Bronx Block
The Yankees defeated the Red Sox at Legends Field today, by a final tally of 8-4. The Yankees offense roughed up Bartolo Colon and Julian Tavarez, two of the Boston options for the 5th starter role. It was particularly gratifying to see them hit Colon, as there seemed to be a little bit of talk from the mainstream media recently about the Yankees’ failure to be as efficient in creating a veteran backup plan for their young players as their counterparts in Boston were. At least for one day, Colon was exposed as being what most teams deemed him to be: a bad risk. The major culprits for the Yankees at the plate were Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, Robinson Cano, and Hideki Matsui. Cano, Abreu, and Giambi continued hot ...

Make Lemonade
Published 3/20/2008 by Mantlemurcer at My Pinstripes
"What is what to do when life hands you lemons?". Scott Patterson might have thought he was handed a bunch of lemons when he jammed in his finger in a doorway three years ago. But being switched from a starter, where he struggled, to a reliever, where he has excelled, has given Patterson's career a new lease on life. “I stubbed my finger in a door at my host family’s house in Lancaster,” Patterson said. “They brought me back slowly and said, ‘Could you work out of the pen?’ It was my first time ever doing that, and I just let it go for an inning. I was up to 90, 91, 92 miles an hour, and I was like, This could be good; let me stay here for a ...