No, I’m not smiling because the Yankees put together consecutive wins for the first time since the middle of June, or the fact that Yankee bats erupted for 8 runs on 14 hits in Game 2 of their matchup with the Twins, or the fact that Chien-Ming Wang turned in a dominating four hit performance en route to the shutout, what I’m smiling about is Edwar Ramirez. Ramirez made his Major League debut in the ninth inning of an 8-0 shutout for the Yankees and in the spirit of Phil Rizzuto, Holy Cow he struck out the side! Wow, I haven’t seen a changeup that devastating in a while, and yes, with all our bullpen woes this season, Ramirez’s performance was definitely something to smile about.

After almost walking away from the game before his father convinced him otherwise, Ramirez made the most of what he thought could be his last hurrah in the independent leagues before Yankees scouts realized the potential in the hard throwing right hander. The results have been more than anyone could have expected as Ramirez has dominated both AA and AAA before getting the call to the bigs. In 43.1 innings pitched this season, Ramirez has an astounding 80 strikeouts! He has also posted a microscopic 0.62 ERA and a .128 batting average against. Once again, for all those who continually bark about New York’s lack of a farm system, they somehow keep pulling diamonds out of the rough…

(7 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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