Joe Torre was in a coffee shop in Seattle earlier this week when he heard the
people behind the counter talking about the Mariner's phenom pitcher,Felix
Hernandez.
Torre and the Yankees will get a first- hand look at the 19 - year - old right-
hander on Wednesday, as he gets the start for Seattle against New York.
"That's wonderful for a city and a team to have that kind of excitement."Torre
said. "There aren't too many kids his age that are going to get people's
attention, but evidently, he's pretty special.He seems to be pretty comfortable
with what he's doing."
The Yankees will have a pretty good pitcher of their own to throw against
Hernandez,as 41-year-old Randy Johnson dominated in his last start,allowing one
run over eight innings against the Royals.
"It should be fun,"said Jason Giambi." It shouldbe a great matchup of the old
and the new."
The Johnson-Hernandez matchup has been the buzz of this wssk's four-hame series
,as the two teams split the first two games.Torre compared ot to the Kerry Wood
-Roger Clemens matchup at Wrigley Field in 2003,when the Texans met up for the
first time.
Hermamdez is 2-1 with a 1.75 ERA in his first five big league games,creating
quite a reputation for himself in a very short period of time.
"Unlike a lot of young pitchers, he's got the ability to do a lot of things,"
Torre said. "He doesn't rely on any one pitch, and he has the courage to throw
someone that young to have that kind of command."
Mariners pitching coach Bryan Price is confident that Hernandez will approach
his first game against the Yankees with the same attitude he has taken into
other starts.
"I don't anticipate he'll make this situation any bigger,"Price said."He's
already done everything he can to win every game he's pitched so far.I can't
really fathom, at this point,that he can pitch much better than he has."
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