A PAIR OF SURPRISING STATS

While the pudits continue to wring their hands over the Yankees pitching, the staff has quietly compiled nine shutouts already this season, as compared with five all of last year. They are not as bad as people think, and the new Joe is clearly superior to the old in one respect, his handling of the bullpen. He even has the big F looking decent. On the other hand the Yankees have already gone 29 games scoring 2 or fewer, as compared with 33 all of last year, testimony to the weak-mindedness of the lineup with men on base. As the trade deadline approaches, maybe the Yankees could use a big righthanded bat==see Matt Holiday--even more than a starting pitcher.