Some words on the Yankees...

Yankees welcome their newest fan in Asia!

2011-01-14T06:14:00.000-08:00

The Yankees bandwagon is never full, as we all know, and during the offseason, when we're all warming up and waiting for spring training, one of the best things we long-time fans can do is go scouting for new ones.

Well..... I found one! She's Helen Carmona, an enthusiastic new Yankees supporter from the Philippines. For the last month, Helen has been doing her due diligence, sifting through the websites, finding out all she can. (And this blogger is proud to note that this site was one of Helen's first stops! Yes, this blogger is VERY proud of that!!)

Now, with her first season as an official fan upcoming, all Bombers fans welcome Helen aboard!

Welcome to the big club, Helen Carmona! Your life will never be the same!

In order for us all to get to know Helen, here's a short interview with the world's newest Yankees fan:

So who's your favorite Yankees player?

HC: I dont have one yet. I'm looking at stats on the official team website. I need to decode the AB, the BB, etc. Haha! Right now, I'm just looking at terms, looking at players, and reading your blog!

How did you become interested in the Yankees in the first place?

I got introduced to this blog and I got hooked. And I wanted to learn the dynamics of the game.

What has been the most interesting thing you have learned so far?

Yes. The language of baseball and the meaning, like the count, innings, and double play.

Are you looking forward to watching your first game as Yankees fan?

Yes! I want to see if I really learned something! I need to watch so I know if I can comment on the game.

Trivia question, and you have to answer fast: How many World Series championships have the Yankees won in their history?

65?

You know Yankees fans will LOVE you for that mistake, right?

Ha ha! Well great then!

One more chance at trivia: Which Yankees players is considered the greatest player ever?

Babe Ruth, right?

Correct! And that's a good place to end, on a real high note. We welcome you aboard, Helen!

Thank you!!

Disappointment at its worst

2008-05-12T04:55:00.000-07:00

Is there a more depressing image in baseball than the tarp?

If so, enlighten me, because I don't think there is.

You wait all night, as I did Sunday night in Taiwan, thinking over the first inning, getting your pencils sharpened and your scorecard prepped. You mix the coffee because the one a.m. start means staying up until four-thirty (at least); you go over the notes from the previous two Tigers games, turn on the TV and.... there's Michael Kay saying, "...dreadful weather and no real window for it to improve today...."

Ugh! I got the Charlie Browns, those feelings that things are just going to go south and there isn't a single thing you can do about it.

Utterly, completely, hopelessly depressing...

I've never been left at the alter, but I can't imagine it feels any worse than a rainout. I often compare baseball to a marriage -- it's long, and not every day is worth getting out of bed for, but there are enough good days -- and just enough great ones -- to remind you of why you agreed to spend your life with this person next to you. You hang in there after the (many) small defeats, and even after the few crushing big ones. There are times when you wonder if you can come back for another season, but when February rolls around, you're there. It's a commitment, and it's life-long, so you roll with it, knowing there are always better days ahead.

The rainout isn't like an argument with your wife; it's more like dealing with a wife who's going through really horrible PMS. It's not really her fault, but you're stuck with the fallout, regardless. So you suck it up and wait until she feels better. No hard feelings. Tomorrow's another day.

So here we are at tomorrow already. And yesterday, what was that? It's good times again!

On to Tampa...

Not so fast

Before we dive headlong into the week upcoming, let's look back at the week that was.

Rounding into form

Even though Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano still occupy the bottom two positions on the America League batting table, both of them are just a few games away from being out of the cellar.

Giambi carried the Yankee offense, in spurts, last week, driving in six runs while collecting five hits, all for extra bases. His .385 batting average and .539 on-base percentage signal an awakening that the Yankees sorely need with their bottom-of-the-order hitters fading fast. (Morgan Ensberg, Jose Molina, and Chad Moeller were a combined 3-for-19 last week, and a heating-up Wilson Betemit went down with a hamstring injury.)

Cano joined Giambi's hit parade, posting a .389/.444 week on the strength of seven hits in 18 at-bats, including a home run and two doubles. But beyond the numbers, Cano finally looked like a confident hitter. It may well have been the better numbers that boosted his confidence, but the body language and the hand speed seemed much better than they did during the first five weeks of the season.

Combined, Cano (3) and Giambi (6) drove in nearly half of the 19 runs the Yankees scored in their five games last week. With Alex Rodriguez set to rejoin the lineup, with Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu and Hideki Matsui combining for a red-hot week (18-for-58/.328/.448), and a rejuvenated Cano and Giambi, the Yankee offensive slump over these first 38 games may be at an end.

Finally.

All hail Hideki!

His hitting streak may not have made it through the week, but Matsui's bat was as hot as any other in the Yankee order last week. He tied Cano with seven hits for the week, and tied Abreu by getting on base nine times in the five games the Yankees played.

Matsui's .331 batting average allows him to begin the week as the American League's number two hitter behind Cleveland's Victor Martinez (.346), and his .414 on-base percentage has him in fourth place in the league.

Other Yankees climbing the league batting charts are Jeter (8th place, .308) and Abreu (14th, .303). Jeter, however, is struggling trying to earn more walks. His on-base percentage sits at a modest .340 (his career OBP is .388) largely due to his paltry total of just five walks earned so far this season.

That figure puts Jeter on pace for only 26 walks the entire season, far below his previous career worst of 43 walks, in his injury-shortened 2003 season. But Jeter is also on pace for his lowest strikeout total of his career. The future Hall-of-Famer averages about 107 whiffs per season, but is on pace this year for around 60, far below his previous low of 88, also in 2003.

Raz-zle, daz-zle!

Fans of the Bill Murray classic Stripes will recall that abbreviated lyric from Murray's army graduation scene. But it just as aptly describes the feelings Yankee fans have after watching Class AAA call-up Darrell Rasner post two victories in two starts after replacing Ian 'Kry-baby' Kennedy in the starting rotation. Simply put, Rasner was all that Kennedy never even appeared to be.

Rasner looked confident, threw strikes (a razzle-dazzling 3.5-to-1 strikes-to-balls ratio in his second start), and made it through the fourth inning -- all things Kennedy was failing to do on an increasingly more frequent basis. Predicting success in baseball is such an inexact science that it's never really fair to say a mistake was made in trusting a young player; Yankee general manager Brian Cashman saw something he liked in Kennedy and promoted him. That it didn't work out this time just means that a new direction was needed. Thank goodness Cashman and Yankee manager Joe Girardi made the call they did.

With Rasner up and thriving -- so far; a dangerous Tampa lineup awaits later this week --Yankee fans feel a lot better about the fourth spot in the rotation.

On the other hand...

The Kei Igawa experiment just isn't working, and can anyone who has watched this guy pitch at the major league level say they see any positive signs when he's on the mound?

On Friday night, Detroit batters teed off on Igawa's pitches with such scary regularity that I actually feared for Igawa's safety as I watched. I was sure one of those shots was going to split Igawa in two right there on the mound. The guy has triple-A talent, and even down in Scranton he was only 3-3. With a one-game line of 3.0/11/6/6/0/0, 18.00 ERA and 3.67 WHIP, Igawa's future seems sealed. If he has any major league potential left at all, he has to go to the bullpen now and forget starting... forever.

For the bargain-basement price of $34 million, the Yankees got themselves a spotty, unreliable, situational reliever.

Oy......

Season to date

The Yankees went 2-3 last week, finishing their nine-game homestand with a 4-5 mark after a win over Cleveland on Thursday before splitting two games on the road in Detroit. Sunday's rainout will be made up on either July 24 or September 1, two scheduled off-days for both the Yankees and the Tigers.

The Yankees are 19-19 on the season and tied for third place with the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East, four games behind the division-leading Red Sox, and two and a half games behind second-place Tampa. Tonight, the Yankees begin an important four-game series in Tampa.

Projected starting pitchers

Monday
Yankees: Andy Pettitte, LHP (3-3, 3.77 ERA)
Last start: In his 400th career start, Pettitte got a no-decision after throwing 6 and 2/3 innings against Cleveland last Tuesday. He struck out a season-high six batters but also surrendered another home run to Jhonny Peralta, this one a two-run blast.

Rays: Matt Garza, RHP (1-1, 4.91 ERA)
Last start: Garza took a tough loss from the Blue Jays, giving up just six hits and one run in 6 and 2/3 innings, but the Rays went scoreless, handing Garza his first defeat of 2008.

Tuesday
Yankees: Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (6-1, 3.12 ERA)
Last start: Facing his third ace in a row, Wang finally came up short. After defeating Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia and Seattle's Erik Bedard in successive starts, Wang pitched well -- striking out four and allowing only five hits and three walks in seven innings -- but lost 3-0 to Cleveland's unbeaten Cliff Lee. Back on April 6, Wang threw six innings of four-hit ball, walking two and striking out six and holding Tampa scoreless for his second win of the season. Wang is 5-2 with a 4.11 ERA in seven career starts at Tropicana Field.

Rays: Edwin Jackson, RHP (2-3, 4.04 ERA)
Last start: Jackson got a no-decision despite throwing eight shutout innings against the Blue Jays last Thursday. He is 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA in nine career appearances against the Yankees.

Wednesday
Yankees: Mike Mussina, RHP (5-3, 4.36 ERA)
Last start: The Moose won his fourth consecutive start, throwing five innings, allowing three runs and four hits while striking out three against no walks. Earlier this season at Yankee Stadium, Mussina faced Tampa and gave up one run on two hits over six innings in getting his first win of 2008. He's 7-5 in 16 career starts at Tropicana Field.

Rays: James Shields, RHP (4-2, 3.14 ERA)
Last start: Shields threw a gem at the L.A. Angels, tossing nine innings and getting a one-hit shutout. In his previous home start, Shields also threw nine shutout innings, giving up just three hits to get the win. He has not fared well against the Yankees, however, going 0-5 with a 7.83 ERA in six career starts.

Thursday
Yankees: Darrell Rasner, RHP (2-0, 3.00 ERA)
Last start: Rasner got the win in Detroit last Saturday, throwing six-plus innings and giving up just two runs. This is his first career start against the Rays.

Rays: Scott Kazmir, LHP, (1-1, 2.70 ERA)
Last start: Kazmir sat out April with inflammation in his left elbow, but he won his first game last Saturday night against the Angels when he pitched six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out six. Last season's American League strikeout leader is 2-3 with a 3.00 ERA in nine career appearances against the Yankees.

Indians 5, Yankees 3

2008-05-06T21:28:00.001-07:00

Go figure baseball.

On a night when lights-out reliever Joba Chamberlain can't find the strike zone (or figure out which pitches to throw), demoted starter Ian Kennedy throws a gem (in Class AAA Scranton) that makes him look like the second coming of a mature Greg Maddux.

Ya gotta love this game!

I don't have much to say about Kennedy, except Do it when it counts, rookie! If Kennedy wants to bitch and moan about a demotion, then go down to Scranton and throw like he actually cares about his career, then let him repeat the performance when he gets back to New York, or else let the hype machine stop right now. A minor league outing means nothing, not after the remarks Kennedy made on his way out of town, and he needs to be handed a copy of No Medals for Trying, Jerry Izenberg's book on the Giants under head coach Bill Parcells.

And he needs to read it. Twice.

But enough about who's not here. Let's talk about who is, and let's talk about what the hell Chamberlain was doing on Tuesday night.

Maybe he knew in the bullpen that the slider wasn't there tonight, or that he couldn't locate the fastball where he wanted it. Whatever was going on in his head, he looked like a rookie, unable to shake what ailed him and get the job done. The one knock on Kennedy (last time his name appears in this post, I promise) was that he seemed to wallow too long in his own muck. Joba, except on rare occasions, has been able to bounce back from a walk or a hit or a wild pitch. Not on Tuesday night. Let's hope that fiasco was a one-off, and Chamberlain gets back to the hill soon and makes this disaster a distant memory.

(And for the record: Joba wasn't done in by the pitch David Dellucci hit for the home run; Chamberlain was undone by his own inability to throw strikes. If you don't have control, why not just throw gas -- 97-m.p.h. gas -- and make guys hit it somewhere? Not every batter is going to go yard as Dellucci did. Walking the two batters who were on base before Dellucci came up... that's what killed Chamberlain and the Yankees.

Just throw strikes, kid!)

And one more thing on the pitching... Tough luck, Andy Pettitte! Your six-strikeout, one-walk performance deserved better than a no-decision.

Oh yes they call him the streak!

It looks like marriage to a cartoon drawing has done wonders for Hideki Matsui's... wood. The Yankee designated hitter was still stroking it on Tuesday, collecting three more hits to run his hitting streak to 15 games. I know, I know... Joe DiMaggio is not grumbling in his grave just yet, but Matsui's streak is worth noting, just the same.

After an April drought for the Yankees, any sign of extended life from the offense is a welcome sight. No one expected Saturday and Sunday's explosion to continue -- and it didn't. Matsui, Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, and Bobby Abreu combined to go 21-for-37 over the weekend, with a billion RBI, but were just 4-for-17 with three strikeouts on Tuesday, and three of the hits came off Matsui's bat.

Hopefully, Matsui's streak will become contagious, and maybe it already has. Robinson Cano, ensconced at the bottom of the American League batting race, has had a hit in each of the last two games. That hasn't happened since... well, the box scores are too depressing to review, but with only 18 hits on the season, it's safe to say Cano's two-game hitting streak is a rare thing in 2008 and reason for (cautious) optimism.

Run on this!

You can mark this down and put it in the vault: There will not be many throws this season, by any player on any team, prettier than the one Jose Molina used to gun down Ben Francisco on a stolen base attempt in the third inning.

It is rare that the word perfect can be used accurately to describe anything done by mankind, but I defy anyone to find a single fault with the way that play unfolded. Molina's rifle shot from his knees landed in Robinson Cano's glove at the exact fraction of a second that Francisco's thigh slid into that samew glove for the tag and the out.

It would take a computer recreation to make that play look any more precise. Defense is so often underappreciated, and that's too bad, because few things in baseball excite the sense more than a bang-bang play at any bag other than first base. (Remember Mel Allen narrating those outfield assists on This Week In Baseball all those years ago? I sure do...)

Thanks to Jose Molina for a play that really cannot be topped.

Season to date

The Yankees are 17-17 and in third place in the American League East, four and a half games behind division-leading Boston, and one game behind second-place Tampa Bay. Tuesday's loss was the team's first since sweeping a three-game series from the Seattle Mariners. The Yankees dropped the first game of the three-game series with Cleveland and are now 3-4 on the current nine-game homestand.

Wednesday's starting pitchers

Yankees: Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (6-0, 3.00 ERA)
Last start: Wang threw six innings, allowed a run, three hits, and issued two walks while striking out five in a 5-1 Yankee win over Seattle, a victory that broke a three-game Yankee losing streak. Wang is 3-1 in his career against the Tribe.

Indians: Cliff Lee, LHP (5-0, 0.96 ERA)
Last start: Lee is the surprise pitcher in the majors so far this season. He has yet to allow a single run on the road. In his last start, at home against the Mariners, Lee tossed six-plus innings, allowed three runs on eights hits, walked none and struck out three.

Yankees 8, Mariners 2

2008-05-04T22:30:00.000-07:00

After Saturday's game, when the first four hitters in the Yankee lineup -- Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, and Hideki Matsui -- went 10-for-19 with four extra-base hits and five RBI, I wrote that they couldn't do that every day.

And I was right. They could do even better.

That four-man combination that chased Seattle ace Felix Hernandez from Saturday's start did the same to Sunday's unbeaten starter, Carlos Silva. Led by Jeter's 4-for-5 afternoon, the top of the Yankee lineup went 11-for-18 on Sunday, scored six times and drove in four of the team's eight runs. Toss in Melky Cabrera's team-leading sixth home run of the season, a two-run shot, and Robinson Cano's solo homer (Cabrera and Cano went back-to-back in the third inning), and it's easy to see why starting pitcher Darrell Rasner's first outing of the season was overshadowed somewhat.

Finally, the Yankees are hitting the way they did last season, and the way everyone knew they could this season.

In 2007, the Yankees scored five or more runs in one inning over thirty times. Sunday's six-run third inning was the first time the Yankees have scored five or more runs in an inning this season, and it came in the 33rd game of the year. As Jeter said in an interview after the game, it's almost a shame there's a day off on Monday. Who wouldn't want to see more of this weekend's fireworks?

One up, one down

Hello, Darrell Rasner. Hit the road, Ian Kennedy.

Rasner, who was the Class AAA International League's Pitcher of the Month for April, was everything Ian Kennedy was not during Kennedy's dismal month in the Bronx. Rasner was confident, quick, and most importantly, in control. In notching his first major league win of the year, Rasner threw only 76 pitches in six innings, 48 for strikes. He struck out four Mariner batters and walked none, giving up just five hits.

Rasner's one mistake pitch resulted in Adrian Beltre's two-run first-inning home run, and it was a genuine 'Uh-oh, here we go...' moment for Yankee fans. But Rasner settled down as the Yankee offense got fired up, and once Rasner was handed the lead, he looked like the mature pitcher that Kennedy needs to become.

It's entirely possible that Rasner will get blown up in his next start; or he could toss a no-hitter. Who knows? But with the Yankee offense soaring, the team needed a game where it didn't have to produce hit after hit just to bail out a floundering starting pitcher. Rasner gave the team a break, and allowed the hitters to relax after a month of watching Kennedy and fellow rookie Phil Hughes give up big inning after big inning.

There was just too much offense on Sunday to say that Rasner was the player of the game, but he was certainly in the conversation, and that's all Yankee fans have wanted out of their other young pitchers this season.

Whose bullpen is this?

The Yankee bullpen, maligned throughout the month of April, had a bounce-back week over the last seven days. Ten pitchers combined to hurl 22 and 2/3 innings in relief, giving up just five earned runs all week, and four of those were surrendered by Jonathon Albaladejo in one outing against the Detroit Tigers. That gives the entire relief staff a remarkable 1.99 ERA for the week, and leads to the question, is this really the Yankee bullpen, or a group of imposters in pinstripes?

The impressive numbers don't stop at the stellar ERA. The bullpen staff cut its walks down considerably, giving up just eight for the week, for a 3.18 walks per nine innings average. But when balanced against the collective strikeout numbers -- 21 strikeouts, for an 8.34 strikeouts per nine innings average -- Yankee fans will live with the bases on balls number.

And the WHIP wasn't bad, either. With 16 hits added to the eight walks, the relief crew registered a 1.06 WHIP number, which is just outstanding.

Taken as a whole, the bullpen finally rounded into shape last week, but if one reliever must be singled out -- besides Mariano Rivera, who is in MVP/Cy Young form -- it's Ross Ohlendorff, who continues to look more and more like a long reliever who can spell Mussina or Rasner should either exit before the seventh inning.

Ohlendorff tossed 4 and 1/3 innings of relief last week, and registered a 0.00 ERA and a 0.69 WHIP in giving up just two hits, a walk, and no runs while striking out five. As Yankee fans continue to wonder who will replace Joba Chamberlain once he's placed in the starting rotation, Ohlendorff seems to be making his case to fill Joba's shoes.

Season to date

The Yankees swept all three games from the Mariners, outscoring Seattle 19-4 overall. The Bombers are 17-16 and tied for second place in the American League East, one percentage point behind Baltimore and Tampa Bay (both 16-15), and three games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox. The Yankees have won three straight and are an even 3-3 on their current nine-game homestand. The Yankees have the day off Monday and will open a three-game series with the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.

Tuesday's starting pitchers

Yankees: Andy Pettitte, LHP (3-3, 3.93 ERA)
Last start: Pettitte was roughed up by the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, giving up seven hits, including a home run to Marcus Thames, and five earned runs in just six innings of a 6-2 Yankee loss. It was Pettitte's second consecutive loss after a 3-1 start to the season. Pettitte had good control -- tossing 63 strikes out of 90 pitches thrown -- but the Tigers were in a hitting mood. Against the Indians, Pettitte has never done well at Yankee Stadium, posting a career 1-4 record and a 5.48 ERA in seven starts.

Indians: Fausto Carmona, RHP (3-1, 2.60 ERA)
Last start: In 6 and 2/3 innings last Tuesday against the Mariners, Carmona gave up two runs (one earned) on eight hits and four walks, against just two strikeouts. In three career starts at Yankee Stadium, Carmona is 0-0 with a 3.24 ERA.

Yankees 6, Mariners 1

2008-05-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

Like most high schools, mine played all of it's home football games on Friday nights. During my senior season, we had one away game scheduled for ten-thirty on a Saturday morning, and some of the guys were grumbling about it. Friday nights were special; you played, you showered, and by nine-thirty or ten o'clock you were at one of the local pizza places hanging out until midnight or so.

In our youthful way, we didn't want to give up even a single Friday night. But as we were grumbling in the locker room after post-practice showers, a gravelly voice came out of the equipment locker. "Ahhh, be quiet," it said. "The game was meant to be played in the daytime."

That was our equipment manager, an old guy in his late-sixties who had played and coached before there were lights installed at most fields. None of us in that locker room said anything to contradict him, mostly because he was tougher than any of us were, and also because he was right. We just didn't know that then.

I recall this story here only because I was reminded of it while watching Mike Mussina pitch a whale of a game on Saturday, under the mid-afternoon Bronx sun. There were a few moments in that game when (corny, sentimental atmosphere reference alert!) the pale-blue May sky hung over Yankee Stadium, and it was comforting to see that picture.

Ever since television took over command of American sports, the amount of day games has dwindled to about two per week, and afternoon start times are all but extinct when it comes to the postseason. And the Yankees have had such crappy weather this spring that even their day games have looked drab, even melancholy. Saturday may not have been a totally azure day in New York City, but the few moments of sunshine that came through on the broadcast made the game a little more enjoyable.

Like football, baseball, too, is meant to be played in the daytime.

Another good Moose sighting

You have to hand it Mike Mussina. In the face of brutal criticism after two disastrous outings against the Red Sox, he has responded with some terrific pitching. He's a proud guy and would never admit that Hank Steinbrenner's tirade -- "Mussina should pitch more like Jamie Moyer" -- inspired him to dig deeper, but if Steinbrenner really was no catalyst, then the timing is awfully coincidental. (Actually, Yankee fans probably hope it's coincidental; otherwise Hank will think he really knew what he was talking about, then we're all in for it...)

It would be unrealistic to expect Saturday's performance to become the norm for Mussina -- not just unfair to Mussina, but unfair to most pitchers -- because Mussina was nothing short of brilliant. He opened the game with two perfect innings, gave up a run in the third but got a double play to end a threat, got another double play to end the fourth, stranded two baserunners in the fifth, then saved his best for last, in the sixth.

I don't know if Mussina knew it was going to be his final inning -- I suspect not, since he came into the sixth having thrown only 71 pitches -- but he sure pitched as if he were trying to leave with a flourish. Mariner third baseman Adrian Beltre reached first base on a one-out throwing error by Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, but no matter. Mussina was not in the mood to mind very much if his defense betrayed him slightly.

Moose had already gotten the first out of the inning on a four-pitch, swinging strikeout of Raul Ibanez. With Beltre on first, Mussina went after Seattle designated hitter Jeff Clement and first baseman Richie Sexson. He got Clement to strikeout with a swing and a miss on the third pitch, and took just five pitches to dispatch Sexson in the same manner. As Moose walked off the mound with three swinging strikeouts in his pocket -- something he hadn't done in one inning since the 2005 season -- it was easy to forget that Beltre had even been on base.

Mussina never made it out to the hill in the seventh. Manager Joe Girardi turned the game over to the Yankees' suddenly stellar bullpen. LaTroy Hawkins, Edwar Ramirez, and Jose Veras cleaned up the final three innings, and Mussina went to 4-3 on the season. Watching the game, and knowing Mussina had thrown only 84 pitches, I wanted to see more of him, but that was just a fan's selfishness. I'll take what Mussina gave us today and look forward to his next start in Detroit. where the Yankees will need more of what we saw on Saturday.

It was a Moose sighting. A Moose sighting of the best kind.

Alex who?

Here are the numbers: 10-for-19, a home run, three doubles, five runs scored, five RBIs. That's the stat line laid down by the first four hitters in Saturday's Yankee lineup -- Johnny Damon, Jeter, Bobby Abreu, and Hideki Matsui. With big bangers Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada out of action for a while, Yankee fans have wondered where the team's offense was going to come from. Certainly, there won't be this level of production every game -- especially against ace pitchers like Felix Hernandez, who just didn't have his best stuff on Saturday -- but maybe May was the antidote the Yankees needed for their April offensive woes.

Whatever prompted that outburst yesterday, let's hope it's contagious throughout the clubhouse. Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano are still anchored to the bottom of the American League's list of batting stats, while Morgan Ensberg and Jose Molina are slowly headed in that direction. (Slowly only because neither runs very well, but their numbers are headed south in a big hurry.)

The Yankees will probably need a different guy to be the big bopper each game, because the top four will not bat .526 with four extra-base hits every time out. But even though we know it can't happen every day, it sure as hell was fun to watch on Saturday, and against King Felix, no less!

The king is dead! Long live the.... Yankees!

Season to date

The Yankees are 16-16 and in fourth place in the AL East, three games behind the division-leading Red Sox and one game behind Baltimore and Tampa Bay, both tied for second. The Yankees have won two in a row over the Mariners and are 2-3 in their current nine-game homestand. Sunday's game will be the last with the Mariners in this series. Game time is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. at the Stadium.

Sunday's starting pitchers

Yankees: Darrell Rasner, RHP (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Last start: Rasner was called up to replace Phil Hughes after Hughes was placed on the disabled list last week. This is Rasner's first major league start this season. Last year, he earned a victory over the Mariners at the Stadium on May 6, the day Roger Clemens announced he was returning to the Yankees for one more season. At Class AAA Scranton this season, Rasner started five games and had a 4-0 record with an 0.87 ERA.

Mariners: Carlos Silva, RHP (3-0, 2.79 ERA)
Last start: Silva got a no-decision in Cleveland, giving up two runs on seven hits and striking out three while walking one in seven strong innings. Silva will go deep into games, averaging seven innings in six starts this season.

Yankees 5, Mariners 1

2008-05-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist. -- Crash Davis, speaking to Nuke LaLoosh, in Bull Durham.

Strikeouts may very well be vestiges of a far right-wing regime, but I'll take them any day. Thank goodness the Seattle defense was asleep behind starter Erik Bedard early in last night's game, because once Bedard got rolling in the middle innings, blowing the ball by Yankee hitters, he was fun to watch -- fun only because the Yankees were already up 3-1 thanks to four Mariner errors, and the Yankees' own starter, Chien-Ming Wang, was keeping the Mariner lineup off the bases.

After Bobby Abreu grounded out to second base in the bottom of the fifth, for the second Yankee out, Bedard struck out four of the next six Yankee batters. That's never fun for a Yankee fan to see, but for a baseball fan who has been bombarded by the increase in run-scoring in the Bud Selig era, watching a pitcher dominate brings a little tingle of excitement, even when that pitcher is wearing enemy colors.

But when Yankee reliever Kyle Farnsworth stepped to the mound in the seventh inning, and started throwing an unhittable fastball from the very first pitch, the tinge of guilt was gone, and it was simply fun to just sit back and enjoy a pitcher going for broke. Farnsworth netted ten strikes out of his economical 14 pitches thrown, and notched two strikeouts in his one inning of work, but it wasn't the strikeouts themselves that were so fun to see; it was the way Farnsworth completely overwhelmed Jeff Clement and especially Wladimir Balantien.

It looked unfair to the hitters, which is the way baseball is supposed to look when a pitcher is on his game. We don't see it much anymore, and when it comes around, it reminds us how much fun baseball can be when the game isn't taking three and a half hours as managers change pitchers after every late-inning home run.

Is Wang the new Pettitte?

Now that he's 6-0 in 2008, there's no longer any debate about whether Chien-Ming Wang belongs in the conversation with baseball's other top aces. The questions now are how high canhis win total go this season, and how much more important he's been to the Yankees than just a pitcher with a solid won-loss record.

Wang's 44 wins since 2006 place him four ahead of Brandon Webb for the most in the majors for any starting pitcher. But look at these numbers: 27-7, 22-6, 11-0. Those are the numbers related to Wang's starts the game after a Yankee loss.

Wang has taken the hill 34 times in his career the day after the Yankees lost the previous game. In thos games the Yankees are 27-7 overall; Wang's personal record is 22-6; and after last night's win, Wang is 11-0 in the last 11 starts after a Yankee loss.

For years, starter Andy Pettitte was known as the streak stopper, the one Yankee starter who was so competitive that he took Yankee losses personally and went to the mound the day after a loss and stopped the other teams in their tracks. Time and again, Pettitte got the Yankees back onthe winning track. Now, apparently, that's Wang's job.

For all Wang's success over the last three years, Yankee fans have never been sure whether or not he was a successor to a David Cone or a Pettitte as a knife-in-the-heart pitcher who could stare down an opposing batting order like a front-end ace should be able to do. But Wang's new pitch, the slider, looks more and more like an out pitch every time he throws it. he only had four strikeouts last night, as opposed to his nine last Sunday in Cleveland, but Wang is clearly now a top-level major league ace. It's still hard to believe, after last year's 19-win season, that Wang wasn't even in the top five of the Cy Young voting. That doesn't look like a problem this season.

And Cy Young voters wil have to take into account not only Wang's record, but who he's beaten, head-to-head. I know pitchers always insist that they're not facing the other pitcher, but the other lineup, but when Wang has two wins already against a lights-out C.C. Sabathia and a hard-charging Bedard, that can't hurt his credentials when it comes time for the awards to be handed out.

And why stop at Cy Young? With the way the Yankees have needed wins, and with the way Wang has kept this team from being a lot worse than 15-16, has there been another player in baseball who has exemplified the word 'valuable' the way Wang has? To heck with Cy Young; bring on the MYP!

How offensive?

Last night's win wasn't all about the pitching, but when was the last time we looked down a Yankee lineup and saw only one .300 or better batting average?

Last night's lineup had exactly one .300 hitter: Hideki Matsui at .313 (and a juicy .409 on-base percentage). All season, a chorus of Yankee fans and bloggers, including me, have wanted to blame the shoddy pitching for the lackluster record, and when it came to offense I've always pointed to the poor team average with runners in scoring position as a main culprit. But the Yankees don't just hit poorly with runners on base; they hit poorly all the way around.

Among hitters elegible for the batting title (3.1 at-bats per game the team has played), Robinson Cano and Jason Giambi are the two worst hitters in the American League. Shelley Duncan, who doesn't have that many at-bats, is hitting .190. Jose Molina has seen his hot start cool to a .218 clip. Morgan Ensberg is at .235, and even Derek Jeter and Melky Cabrera, at .284 each, aren't tearing up the baselines with their cleats. (Although any Yankee fans will take .284 from Cabrera, whose all-around-player stock is rising every week.)

Tha Yankees were handed their lead last night from a lackluster Mariner defense that committed four errors in the first three innings. Against Seattle starter Felix Hernandez today, the Yankees may need similar generosity. (Ironically, the Yankee with the best career numbers against Hernandez is Cano, at .571. Cano got a rest last night, and replacement Alberto Gonzalez went 1-for-3 with a run scored.)

Season to date

The Yankees are 15-16 and infourth place in the AL East, three games behind the first-place Red Sox and two games behind Baltimore and Tampa Bay, both tied for second place. The Yankee win last night ended a three-game losing streak. The Yankees are 1-3 on their current nine-game homestand.

Saturday's starting pitchers

Yankees: Mike Mussina, RHP (3-3, 4.73 ERA)
Last start: Mussina pitched five innings in Cleveland, holding the Indians to two runs, giving up four straight hits in the fifth inning. Seattle leadoff hitter Ichiro Suzuki has made a living off Mussina, hitting .409 off the Moose in his career.

Mariners: Felix Hernandez, RHP (2-1, 2.22 ERA)
Last start: Hernandez was on his way to a 3-0 record, pitching seven shutout innings against Oakland, but the A's touched him for four runs in the eighth and chased Hernandez. Despite striking out ten batters, Hernandez took his first loss of the season. Hernandez is 1-0 against the Yankees, allowing one run and five hits in a seven-inning start last season.

The Ode to Whitey Ford

2008-05-02T05:52:00.001-07:00

The song I will be singing for the rest of this season, to the tune of Country Roads, by John Denver.

Almost fed up, with these rookies
One named Phil Hughes, the other Ian Kennedy
I’ve grown old now, older than my years
Counting all their earned runs, screaming through my tears

Whitey Ford, come back home
To the place, where you belong
We need a pitcher, before it’s too late
Come back home, Whitey Ford

Eleven games now, they have started
How much more crap, do we have to take?
Brian Cashman, he’s the one to blame
For the way we… are losing every game

Whitey Ford, come back home
To the place, where you belong
We need a pitcher, before it’s too late
Come back home, Whitey Ford

I hear your voice, in the first and second innings
Rememberin’ how you won all those games for us
And watching these two, I always get the feeling
That things were better yesterday…. Yesterday….

Whitey Ford, come back home
To the place, where you belong
We need a pitcher, before it’s too late
Come back home, Whitey Ford

Tigers 8, Yankees 4

2008-05-02T04:25:00.000-07:00

Forget, for the moment, just how easily the Tigers swept the Yankees at the Stadium for the first time since 1966. At hand, for the moment, are bigger issues than a three-game home losing streak or being another step closer to the American League East division basement.

For at this moment, someone needs to remind Brian Cashman of the John Maynard Keynes line, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"

It is obvious, to anyone who has been watching, and to anyone who has been reading just the box scores, that the experiment with rookie pitchers Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes has failed in its present form. There is no telling what will become of either of these two young hurlers, but right now, the Yankees, who are suffering for a host of reasons, are suffering most because Hughes and Kennedy combined cannot put together a complete game a week.

After Kennedy's latest bomb last night (in which he again, luckily, avoided a loss), and the placing of Hughes on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday, the experiment, which was insisted upon in the face of an opportunity to get Johan Santana from the Minnesota Twins, has bottomed out, especially in light of the revelation that Hughes may be out for as long as 30 days, perhaps even longer.

Crying about the failure to get Santana is a fool's errand -- not only is it 20/20 hindsight, but it would be commenting without knowing all that went on in the discussions. Whatever the price for the Twins ace, it may have been ultimately too high, and nixing the trade may well have been the right thing to do.

But now that the two rookies have had eleven starts to prove their value, the plug has to be pulled. The 2008 Yankees are blessed in one respect: No other AL East team has made a move away from the pack, but how long before one does? Boston just got three terrific pitching performances in a row. God help the Yankees if the Red Sox start pitching like the Arizona Diamondbacks.

And what about the Tampa Bay Rays, or the Baltimore Orioles, two teams who have no business being ahead of the Yankees, except that they’re good and the Yankees are pathetic. Historically, May is the time when good teams have shaken off their April shivers and start rolling towards October. Pennants are never won in the spring, but they sure as hell can be lost there.

And that’s what lies in wait for the Yankees, who cannot possibly hope to put together another run like they did to escape last season’s opening 9-19 hole. That magical feat was accomplished with one MVP offensive year, another near-MVP offensive year, and consistent pitching that, if it wasn’t quite World Series worthy, at least it didn’t put up numbers like these: 4.1 innings per start, 8.67 ERA, 2.10 WHIP, 6.5 walks per nine innings. That’s part of the combined stat line of Hughes and Kennedy. If it looks ugly in print, try watching it every night.

What’s the answer to the Yankees pitching woes? There may not be a good one, but the worst one, right now, seems to be letting these two rookies get away, any longer, with masquerading as major league pitchers. They may still be prospects, but they’re nothing more than that. And how much more prospecting can the Yankees afford to do, as postseason gold slips away with every loss?

Say it with me: A one, a two, a three…

Bench Robinson Cano!!!

Oh, yeah...

I almost forgot. Bobby Abreu hit a first-inning, three-run home run last night. Yay, Yankees! (And oh yeah, I almost forgot this... Abreu looked like Fred Sanford in right field trying to field a fly ball near the wall. He's a DH waiting to happen next year.)

Season to date

The Yankees are 14-16 and in fourth place in the AL East, three games behind Boston and Tampa Bay, and two games behind third-place Baltimore. The Yankees have lost three consecutive games, all at home, and are 0-3 on the current nine-game homestand.

The Yankees open a three-game series tonight with the visiting Seattle Mariners. The Mariners have lost two in a row and are 13-16 and in third place in the AL West, four and a half games behind the L.A. Angels and Oakland A’s.

Friday’s starting pitchers

Yankees: Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (5-0, 3.23 ERA)
Last start: Wang pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out nine in last Sunday’s classic, 1-0 pitcher’s duel against Indians starter C.C. Sabathia in Cleveland. Wang allowed four hits while walking two.

Mariners: Erik Bedard, LHP (2-0, 2.04 ERA)
Last start: Bedard came off the disabled list to throw six and 2/3 scoreless innings and allowing only two hits in a 5-3 Mariner victory over the Oakland A’s last Sunday. Last season, with the Baltimore Orioles, Bedard was 2-0 against the Yankees with a 1.29 ERA in three starts.

Tigers 6, Yankees 2

2008-04-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

Right after Derek Jeter grounded out to Edgar Renteria to end the fifth inning, I scribbled this note at the bottom of my scorecard: Was that too fast? Pettitte just threw 20 pitches and looks gassed. Uh-oh....

On the second pitch of the sixth inning, Placido Polanco took Pettitte deep. Looking again at the question I had just scribbled, I wrote next to it, Yes.

Obviously, I'm not normally so prescient. If I were, I'd be living in a house outside Vegas and collecting my winnings every night. But will someone please explain this to me: When the Yankees are facing a pitcher who has a 1-3 record and who walked seven batters his last time out, and when that pitcher goes to a three-ball count on four of the first nine batters he faces and surrenders two runs in the first inning, why does this Yankee lineup decide that swinging early in the count is the rigth way to set about winning a game?

The Yankees had a rope around Jeremy Bonderman's neck in the first inning, forcing him to throw 27 pitches, only 14 of which found the plate. but after the first inning Bonderman's pitch counts looked like this: 15, 11, 9, 5, 11, 7, 15. And that would be fine if Bonderman had been dealing strikes and being generally unhittable. But from the second to the eighth innings Bonderman threw only 45 strikes out of 73 pitches (not a terrible ration, but not Hall of Fame stuff, either), and the Yankees swung and missed at exactly two pitches. Two.

The point is that they could have put wood on Bonderman's balls any time they wanted to, so why do it with a 1-1 count, or an 0-1 count? Why not let this guy run the counts deep and see if his tendency to walk hitters was still a problem? I simply do not understand a lineup that fails, nightly, to protect its pitching staff.

What is Joe Girardi preaching in that clubhouse before games? And for that matter, where the hell is Kevin Long? Do these guys ever take a look at how this team approaches at-bats and wonder if a different approach might be in order? Isn't Long paid to do more than just chit-chat with Giambi after Giambi gets back to the dugout?

It is infuriating to watch, game after game, when a lineup of veteran hitters like Damon, Jeter, Abreu, Matsui, and Giambi let struggling pitchers like Bonderman get away clean. In 32 trips to the plate in Wednesday's game, 11 Yankee batters put the ball in play on the first or second pitch. In those at-bats, the Yankees were 1-for-11. And the captain, Derek Jeter, pulled this stunt twice, going 0-for-2.

In a long baseball season, fans accept the inevitable 60-70 losses; that's what makes baseball such a different sporting experience. But losing games to average pitchers who are just begging to get beat gets old the first time. In two consecutive games now, the Yankee have faced struggling Tigers pitchers who were ripe to go down, and the Yankee batters have failed to earn their money.

It's enough to make me want to eat this damned scorecard.

They're kidding, right?

So now the Yankee front office, too proud to admit it was a little rash in insisting that Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy were ready for prime time, is inventing injuries and enabling Hughes' skittishness? An oblique strain that Hughes showed absolutely no signs of having while he was on the mound on Tuesday? Tell us another one, Brian Cashman, because this one's a real knee-slapper.

Hughes is no more injured than Joe Girardi is. Whatever problems Hughes has had on the mound this season, they do not stem from any abdominal injury. The only place Hughes might be hurting is in his pride. He was just too highly touted this early in his career. None of what has happened to Hughes is his fault, but be that as it may, he is still the guy collecting the paycheck, and it is still his ass on the line. He just has to perform better.

Call it a much-needed break from the stress of being in the rotation. Call it a trip down to the minors to work on some stuff -- like confidence. But to call it an injury is insulting. Girardi is creating a bunker-like mentality around his team when it comes to decisions and injuries and anything that might possibly lead to an advantage being gained by Yankee opponents. Okay, fair enough. Teams have to guard against leaking too much information in a highly-competitive league. But Girardi is dangerously close to the Bill Belichick model of how to appear the most paranoid in public. There's a fine line being secretive and being deceptive.

This Phil Hughes 'injury' seems very close to the latter.

Sit Cano, now!

Why is Robinson Cano still starting? Could the Yankee lineup be any less potent with Alberto Gonzalez and Morgan Ensberg at second and third base, respectively? Maybe Cano has more potential in his bat than either of those two, but potential is just French for "ain't done shit yet," and that about sums up Cano's season to date.

Bench him tonight, Joe G., and spare us all the pain of watching him slump his shoulders after popping up to short centerfield. If there's anything worse than watching a young player struggle, it's watching a young player sulk while he struggles.

Do us all a favor and let us get through a game (or two) without screaming at Cano through the television screen.

Season to date

The Yankees are 14-15, finishing their first month under Girardi with a sub-.500 record and in fourth place in the American League East, three games behind division leader Boston and one game behind Baltimore and Tampa Bay, whop are tied for second. The Yankees are now 0-2 on their nine game home stand.

Thursday's starting pitchers

Yankees: Ian Kennedy, RHP, (0-2, 8.53 ERA)
Last start: Kennedy threw 105 pitches in a five-inning start at Cleveland, allowing three runs, seven hits, walking one (with the bases-loaded) and striking out three.

Tigers: Nate Robertson, LHP, (0-3, 6.91 ERA)
Last start: Threw just 89 pitches in a seven-inning start against the Angels, but gave up four runs, including a two-run home run to Vladimir Guerrero.

Tigers 6, Yankees 4

2008-04-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

After one of the embarrassing losses that opened their season, the Detroit Tigers were reemed out by manager Jim Leyland in a post-game, clubhouse tirade. Before that tongue lashing, the Tigers were averaging fewer than 2.5 runs per game. Since then, that average has risen to a robust 6.4, and Detroit's season has turned around from a dismal 0-7 start to the 12-15 record they sport after defeating the Yankees 6-4 Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.

The point: When is Joe Girardi going to get sick of seeing his batting order let opposing pitchers off the hook, and administer the same kind of accountability speech that Leyland used so effectively?

The Tigers are baseball's second- or third-highest paid team, which is why Leyland got sick of them playing like a bunch of Class AA rejects. Well, Girardi skippers the highest paid team in baseball, a team whose bench, during one game last week -- whose bench! -- was three times the payroll of the entire Florida Marlins roster.

When is Girardi going to put the screws to this bunch and unleash that famous temper of his? I think Tuesday night would be a good time.

Blame Phil Hughes all you want -- he threw a first-pitch ball to 11 of the 20 batters he faced, and he managed to get to two strikes on only nine of those batters. He looked scared -- and even for a 21-year-old, it's time to look the part or get sent down to Scranton to grow up a little -- and he failed to respond when his offense did offer him some support. (In fairness to Hughes, new catcher Chris Stewart looked like he should be headed down the ladder of the minors, not up it.)

But what support Hughes did get from the Yankee lineup was minimal compared to what it could have been. As bad as Hughes was, Detroit starter Kenny Rogers was no better, at least not until the Yankee batters went to sleep in the fourth inning and allowed Rogers -- who at 42 years old brought a 7.66 ERA into this game -- to escape his last three innings by throwing only 26 total pitches. Absolutely inexcusable, and it doesn't matter who is on the DL.

The difference in this game was the three hits Tiger batters got with runners in scoring position, and the zero hits the Yankee batters recorded in their first five trips to the plate with runners ready to score. By the time Jason Giambi singled in Hideki Matsui from second base in the ninth inning, it was far too little, far too late.

The Yankees had Rogers on the hook early, and let him get away with surrendering only two runs, and those were on a Yankee Stadium home run off the toothpick that Robinson Cano has been swinging lately. In any other stadium, that ball is no more than a double off the wall, and maybe Magglio Ordonez runs it down in the gap for a long flyball out.

But that's neither here nor there. What matters is Giambi's pop-up with two outs and runners on second and third in the first inning, and Cano's flyout with the bases loaded and two outs in the third (not to mention Cano's game-ending strikeout with runners on first and second in the ninth). There is just no excuse, with a pitcher as shaky as Rogers, to let those chances go by, especially with a struggling Hughes on the mound. Hughes may be his own worst enemy right now, but he deserves some run support against a beatable target like Rogers.

But even worse is the way the Yankees folded after the third inning. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, Rogers had two outs under his belt before Yankee fans could settle back into their chairs. The guy was clearly laboring into the third inning, then poof!... the Yankee bats might as well have been made of cinders rather than ash (or maple, or oak, or whatever the hell...) Rogers coasted through his final nine outs like Hank Steinbrenner through a carton of Camels.

No one minds getting shut down by a C.C. Sabathia on top of his game, as the Yankees were on Sunday, and Hughes didn't really deserve more than he got. But when a 21-year-old rookie is struggling, the least his veteran teammates can do is help him out by stretching a pitcher who is clearly well off his best form.

This loss was tough to watch, tougher than most. And with the Yankees now batting .236 (54-for-229) with runners in scoring position this season, who can expect things to improve anytime soon?

Go figure Girardi

On Tuesday night's television broadcast, the YES Network's Michael Kay made what I think is a good point in reference to Girardi's decision to give Melky Cabrera a rest. Cabrera is 25 years old, and while his bat is not the most potent, he's been a semi-consistent performer in the lineup, and a terrific, if not an All-Star caliber, centerfielder. So why then rest Cabrera when Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada are already out of the lineup, and especially when there is another everyday player who clearly needs some time off?

Robinson Cano's home run was not a mammoth shot that suddenly caused his dormant bat to awaken, any more than his game-winning home run in Tampa two weeks ago awakened it. (All one need do is look at the other at-bats Cano had on Tuesday.) And with the left-handed Rogers on the hill, why not sit the struggling Cano and allow Alberto Gonzalez to hit?

Gonzalez has proven to be a valuable asset while he's been up with the big club, but he is wasting away on the bench. Girardi said, the day Gonzalez was called up to replace Wilson Betemit, that "(Gonzalez) didn't come up here to sit down." So why then is he sitting against lefties while Cano continues to struggle against everyone?

Resting Cabrera weakened, at least defensively, a team already suffering through debilitating injuries. The Yankee outfield is strongest when Cabrera is out there. And the Yankee lineup, at least this month, is weakest with Cano in it. Girardi can do what he wants, but the thinking here is that it's Cano, not Cabrera, who needs a rest.

Season to date

Tha Yankees are 14-14 and in fourth place in the American League East, two games behind Baltimore and Boston, and one game behind Tampa Bay. Tuesday's loss came in the first game of this nine-game home stand.

Wednesday's starting pitchers

Yankees: Andy Pettitte, LHP (3-2, 3.23 ERA)
Last start: Pettitte was cruising along in Cleveland until back-to-back home runs from Jhonny Perralta and Franklin Guttierez derailed him. Pettitte struck out three and walked three in picking up his second loss of the season. His last start against the Tigers was August 1, 2007, when he pitched eight innings and gave up just one run.

Tigers: Jeremy Bonderman, RHP (1-2, 4.28 ERA)
Last start: Although he allowed only two hits and two runs, Bonderman walked sevenTexas Rangers batters last Friday. In his career, Bonderman is just 2-6 against the Yankees (1-3 at Yankee Stadium) with a 5.58 ERA. Yankee left fielder Johnny Damon is .438 (14-for-32) in his career against Bonderman.

Yankees 5, Indians 2

2008-04-29T00:28:00.000-07:00

How much stranger can this season get, at least offensively?

The Yankees entered the final game in Cleveland batting 2-for-24 with runners in scoring position – nothing new, since a lack of situational hitting has been the main reason the Yankees were 13-13 coming into Monday’s game.

So what happens on Monday? Indian starter Aaron Laffey, just up from Class AAA Buffalo, gets a 2-0 lead and throws five no-hit innings at the Yankees. How do the Yankees respond? By producing one of the strangest innings they’ll likely have all season.

Melky Cabrera and Derek Jeter dribbled back-to-back infield singles to start the sixth. Then Bobby Abreu followed with a solid line-drive single to left centerfield (yet another Yankee hit with runners in scoring position that failed to plate any runs). Alex Rodriguez then got plunked by Laffey, forcing in Cabrera with the first Yankee run.

If you’re scoring at home, that’s two improbable dribblers for singles, a single that doesn’t score anyone, and a wayward pitch from a steady Laffey, all cutting the Yankee deficit to 2-1. From there, it got even better. Or stranger.

Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui followed A-Rod with two groundball outs – nothing new for the Yankees, as they’ve consistently failed to get hits with runners on base this season, and this time the bases were loaded. But wait just a moment: both groundballs were right at Indian first baseman Ryan Garkos, who was playing deep for the double play. Because Garkos failed to charge either ball, the runners moved up on each play.

So again, if you’re scoring at home, the Yankees take a 3-2 lead when two batters fail to get hits with runners on base. What’s going on here?

But yet, there’s more.

With two outs and A-Rod still on third, and reliever Jensen Lewis on for Laffey, Morgan Ensberg hits a pitch for – you guessed it – another infield single, scoring A-Rod for a 4-2 Yankee lead.

So here’s the total for that whacky inning: three infield hits, a hit batter, two potentially harmless groundouts, and one major league caliber single. Oh, and four runs for the Yankees.

That’s not strange. That’s stranger than strange. That’s bizarro-baseball.

So after 26 games when the Yankees can’t get a meaningful hit to save their lives, they win a game by going 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position, and two of those five hitless at-bats produce the tying and go-ahead runs.

I give up on trying to figure out this game…

Rumors of his demise are greatly exaggerated

Mike Mussina? Back-to-back victories? Getting out of April with three wins on his record? Show me the Yankee fan who had that figured coming out of spring training, because I sure didn’t.

We’re way past the stage in Mussina’s career when we’ll ever again use the term “vintage Moose” in the present tense (and I had him pegged for a 1-4 April), but with the Yankees getting subpar pitching at least half the time, and with a new team injury seemingly every day, Mussina’s two wins in the last stages of this road trip are huge for the Yankees. Chien-Ming Wang has deservedly gotten all the accolades this month, but Mussina has rebounded nicely from his previous fiasco with Boston. His last two outings won’t make anyone forget that Mussina should pretend to have the flu the next time he’s due to start against the Red Sox, but wins are wins, especially when the team is struggling.

Hats off to Moose for five fine innings on Monday.

Cano can’t do

At what point does manager Joe Girardi sit Robinson Cano for more than just a single game?

Three horrendous at-bats on Monday show that Cano is nowhere near breaking out of his offensive slump (.153/.217/.214), and with his body language after every piss-poor swing, it looks as if Cano’s hitting woes are now embedded in his psyche.

With Alberto Gonzalez on the bench, and the Yankees facing left-handed starters in three of their next four games, maybe it’s time to sit Cano for a few games and let him avoid the rain of boos that is likely on its way every time he jogs back to the Yankee dugout after another pop-fly out at the Stadium this week.

Looking ahead

It will be nice to play, finally, a team that’s having an even more disappointing season than the Yankees are having. Welcome to the Bronx, Detroit Tigers!

With a legion of baseball pundits touting the Tigers for this season’s World Series, the Motor City kitties got off to an 0-7 start (with the first six losses coming at home!). They’ve rebounded since then, and will come into Yankee Stadium on Tuesday with an 11-15 record but still mired in last place in the American League Central Division.

Let’s hope they leave that way.

Season to date

The Yankees are 14-13 and one game behind Baltimore, Boston, and Tampa Bay, all tied atop the AL East standings. The Yankees won the final two games in Cleveland to even the series at 2-2. Tuesday’s game with Detroit opens a nine-game home span with the Tigers, Seattle Mariners, and Cleveland.

Tuesday’s starters

Yankees: Phil Hughes, RHP, (0-3, 7.85 ERA)
Last start: Hughes was off to one of his best starts of the season after two innings in Chicago, throwing two innings and allowing just one hit. But a 50-minute rain delay led to a short night for the rookie pitcher, as manager Joe Girardi did not send Hughes back out in the third inning. The last time Hughes faced Detroit, last August 26, the Tigers scored five runs in six innings.

Tigers: Kenny Rogers, LHP, (1-3, 7.66 ERA)
Last start: The 42-year-old Rogers allowed six runs, three walks, and nine hits, and walked in a run with the bases loaded, in just 3 and 1/3 innings against the light-hitting Texas Rangers. Lifetime against the Yankees, Rogers is 5-7 with a 6.45 ERA.

Yankees 1, Indians 0

2008-04-27T22:26:00.000-07:00

I don’t have total recall of all 86 games Chien-Ming Wang has started for the Yankees, but if he has pitched a better game than today’s 1-0 win over the Indians, someone will have to show me the tape in order to convince me.

He may have given up only two hits in Boston two weeks ago, but that was far from vintage Wang. He served up a smorgasboard of flyball outs, and he was lucky J.D. Drew’s solo home run was the only ball that left Fenway Park. Sunday’s duel with Cleveland starter C.C. Sabathia showed an infinitely better Wang.

Nine strikeouts is the stat that immediately jumps off the scorecard. That’s three more than Wang’s previous season high this year. But Wang was even better than his strikeout total. Only one Indian baserunner made it as far as third, and that was due to a wild pitch.

But even more impressive than that was the way Wang never let himself become rattled. His difficulty pitching from the stretch is well-known to Yankee fans, yet on Sunday, after allowing the leadoff batter to reach base in four of the first five innings, Wang had no trouble settling in to his stretch move and getting the next three batters out. Only in the first inning did the Indians put two runners on base.

By the fourth inning, Wang was cruising. Over his final four innings, seven of the 12 outs came via the strikeout. Any Yankee fan can be forgiven for wanting to see Wang come back out for the eighth inning. With that two-hit, complete-game gem in Boston, Wang proved he is durable enough to go nine innings. But Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera are paid to perform in the late innings of tight games, and with the Yankees nursing a skinny 1-0 lead, manager Joe Girardi had seen enough of Wang.

But only for today. Wang is now the American League’s only pitcher with five wins on the season (he’s 5-0 with one no-decision in six starts), and anyone associated with the Yankees will be looking forward to seeing as much Wang as possible over the next five months.

And as a healthy, heterosexual male, I never thought I’d write a line like that……

Seen enough C.C.

Wang’s wasn’t the only brilliant performance from the mound on Sunday. Cleveland ace and returning American League Cy Young Award winner C.C. Sabathia was in top form, holding the Yankees to a single run. For once, however, that was enough for the Yankees to pull out a victory.

Sabathia tossed 111 pitches (and a whopping 78 for strikes) through eight complete innings, striking out eight and walking only one. It was a tough-luck loss that dropped Sabathia to 1-4 for the season, but lowered his ERA by nearly three runs.

What kept Sabathia in the game was his ability to do what nearly every other pitcher has done to the Yankees this season – get outs when the Yankees had runners in scoring position. The Yankees were 0-for-5 on Sunday in that department, dropping them to a miserable 2-for-24 (.083) in this series with Cleveland.

Monday’s starter for the Indians, Class AAA call-up Aaron Laffey, will hopefully provide a few punchlines for the Yankees as they try to get a woeful offense back on track.

And your home run leader is…

Wait for it…… Melky Cabrera, ladies and gentlemen!

If there was an offensive hero for the Yankees on Sunday, it was Cabrera, who clubbed a one-out, fifth-inning solo home run that provided all the offense for either team. It was Cabrera’s team-leading fifth home run of the season. The Yankee centerfielder hit only eight all of last season.

And it is worth noting that Cabrera’s home run was thirty seconds from being a two-run blast, if not for the continued hard luck of Yankee second baseman Robinson Cano. After Cano legged out an infield single (to boost his .151 average), he was picked off and caught in a run down between first and second. One pitch after he made the out, Cabrera went deep.

And so it goes…

Hip, shoulder, Jorge!

For the first time in his career, Yankee catcher Jorge Posada is on the disabled list. The most durable of Yankees over the past 13 seasons, Posada will now watch as his shoulder problems heal and the Yankees try to turn around a 13-13 start without him.

The Yankees have been lucky this season in only a few departments, and back-up catcher is one of them. Jose Molina and Chad Moeller have been as good as can be expected. Now, the back-up label will be off Molina for the foreseeable future. With Moeller uncertain to return (he is still on the “designated for assignment” list, which means the Yankees cannot reclaim him until at least Tuesday, perhaps Wednesday, if no other team in the major leagues takes him first), the Yankees now will be scrambling to fill the back-up catcher position. Journeyman Chris Stewart has been called up from Scranton to join the team on Monday.

Get well soon, Jorge. The team won’t be the same without you.

Too early for MVP votes?

Of course it is, but if the Yankees have a player in early contention for MVP, or at the very least April Player of the Month, it has to be Mariano Rivera.

The aging closer has put last April’s swoon – and premature talk of retirement in the media – behind him and is now seven-for-seven in save chances in 2008. But that perfect save percentage is hardly River’as most impressive stat.

Rivera has allowed four baserunners (all hits) in 10 innings, and has 10 strikeouts to go along with his 0.00 ERA.

Just a year ago, we were wondering if Mariano was near the end, and six months ago we were wondering if he was worth another long-term deal from the Yankees.

After another brilliant outing on Sunday – Rivera followed Joba Chamberlain’s perfect, two-strikeout eighth inning with a perfect, two-strikeout ninth -- who’s wondering now?

Season to date

The Yankees are 13-13 and in fourth place, one and a half games behind Baltimore, Boston, and Tampa Bay, all tied atop of the AL East standings. Sunday’s win broke a three-game losing streak, the team’s second three-game losing streak of the season.

Monday’s pitchers

Yankees: Mike Mussina (2-3, 4.94 ERA)
Last start: Mussina won his 252nd career game with a solid performance in Chicago, giving up just two runs in seven innings. (Both runs came on solo home runs.) He is 4-3 lifetime at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field, with a 5.88 ERA.

Indians: Aaron Laffey (0-0, no major league starts this season)
Last start: Laffey is 3-1 with a 3.13 ERA for Class AAA Buffalo this season, with 20 strikeouts and six walks in 26 innings pitched. Last season, in nine starts for the Indians he went 4-2 with a 4.56 ERA, including 4 and 2/3 scoreless innings against the Red Sox in Game 6 of the ALCS.

Indians 4, Yankees 3

2008-04-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts on Saturday's game...

Why the Yankees lost

Yes, another Yankee reliever blew it (and two others tried), but there's no way this game should have been tied at 3-3, not with a triple-A pitcher going for the Indians and the Yankees having 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

If it weren't for Jorge Posada's pinch-hit, bases-loaded, bases-clearing triple in the sixth inning, the Yankees would have had only a single hit to show for their dozen at-bats with runners on and ready to score. And to be honest, only David Dellucci's poor angle at Posada's line drive allowed that ball to scoot under his glove and get to the left-field wall. Properly played, that's probably a one-RBI single.

And you gotta hand it to the Yankees, for only they can invent so many unbelievable ways to screw up.

How often does Jason Giambi fly out to left field? Once a week? Twice? So why in the world, in the fourth inning, with men on first and second and no outs, would he decide that was the time to go the other way with a pitch? Giambi is ripping the ball these last few games, so why not just pull that thing to right, let Jeter advance to third, and let Duncan's flyball out to the left-field warning track (in the very next at-bat) become a sacrifice fly?

And what was that at-bat by Melky Cabrera after Johnny Damon's leadoff double in the seventh inning? (Kudos to a rejuvenated Damon for all-out hustle, by the way. But more on Damon later....) After Cabrera's first, little league-esque bunt attempt, why try another? And why then try to make up for both by swinging at an outside pitch outside that was above the visor of his batting helmet? Jeter followed with an infield single (a sign of recent Yankee bad luck: about a third of our hits with runners on second have been the infield hit variety, which fail to score a run), then A-Rod strikes out and Giambi pops to short. Sigh...........

Then, of course, there was Jeter's double play to end the ninth..... and so it goes.

The numbers remain ugly. With the team batting just .249 for the season with RISP, before this game started, a 2-for-12 night just seems par for the course. As I was marking my scorecard at home, I just kept shaking my head, not in anger but rather with a here-we-go-again sort of resignation. I know this was a strange Yankee lineup, with four starters -- Abreu, Cano, Matsui, and Posada -- sitting out, but these are still major league hitters, and 2-for-12 is just wrong.....

What was Girardi thinking?

And about those four starters on the bench.... I know it was a combination of things that led to the decision. A day game after a night game, with Abreu needing a rest and Posada still easing his way back into everyday catcher status. And with Cano looking like he never held a bat before, and a left-handed pitcher going, it made sense to sit him and Matsui. But look at the Yankee box score, and tell me what was accomplished by having all those right-handed hitters at the bottom of the order?

The first four batters -- Damon, Cabrera, Jeter, and A-Rod -- went 10-for-19 on Saturday. And how many of them scored? One, A-Rod, on Posada's pinch-hit triple. Of course, a manager never knows how a lineup is going to hit against a certain pitcher, but with a young guy on the mound, why not throw your most dominant batting order at him and make this kid sink or swim against real live sharks?

The doubleheader Cleveland played in Kansas City last Thursday really gave the Yankees a break in terms of the pitchers they were going to face, so why let the Indians off the hook by allowing Sowers to pitch to Duncan, Gonzalez, Ensberg, and Molina? Those are all big-leaguers, for certain, but the Yankees are going through a tough stretch, and it just seems odd to waste a chance to get back on the winning side by beating up on a young pitcher.

Sure, guys need rest and righties should hit better off of lefties, but I can't help but wonder how Abreu and Matsui might have helped score some of the runners the Yankees stranded on Saturday.

Kennedy turning a corner?

He looked terrible - surprise, surprise -- over the first three innings on Saturday -- seventy-six pitches, more walks issued than hits allowed, a still-horrendous strikes-to-balls ratio -- but after staking Cleveland to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, starter Ian Kennedy settled in, threw only 29 pitches over his final two innings, and didn't have that stunned look in his eyes that he's carried to the mound so often this season.

Best of all, Kennedy didn't get saddled with another confidence-crushing loss. He certainly did not pitch well enough to win, but after the way he settled down and got himself under control, he deserved that no-decision. For all the good the Yankee offense did not do on Saturday, one thing it did do was get Kenendy even in the score line.

Let's hope the young lad carries that middle-inning composure over to his next start against the Tigers in the Bronx.

As he goes, so go the Yankees....

If only that were true.

Earlier in the season when he was ice cold at the plate, Johnny Damon said, "As I go, so the team goes." That's true of just about every leadoff batter, so one would think that with Damon's recent surge of offensive production -- he was hot again on Saturday, going 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles -- the Yankees would be surging, as well.

Not so, as we all know. But despite the poor support Damon's getting from the rest of the lineup, he gives the Yankee fans hope that things will turn, and soon, and maybe the upcoming home stretch will see the Yankees put together a nice eight-wins-in-ten-days kind of run.

Of course, what's more likely, given the (hard) luck of this early season, is that Damon will go into an 0-for-18 slide as Jeter gets rolling.

Yankee baseball, 2008, ladies and gentlemen!

And finally...

You gotta hand it to the Yankee bullpen. It never disappoints.

LaTroy Hawkins threw 22 pitches over his two innings. Only eight of those pitches were for strikes. How Hawkins got away clean, without a run surrendered, is a mystery. (Actually, it isn't a mystery. Alberto Gonzalez's terrific unassisted double play to end the sixth inning saved Hawkins from giving up at least two runs.)

On comes Kyle Farnsworth in the eighth. At least Farnsworth bettered Hawkins, throwing 10 of his 21 pitches for strikes (Yay, Kyle!). And the two walks Farnsworth issued didn't hurt the Yankees. They only hurt the eyes of Yankee fans.

Not to be outdone, Ross Ohlendorf put four men on base, and the final one was Victor Martinez, whose bases-loaded single won the game for Cleveland. (And I'm guessing Joe Girardi was saving Mariano Rivera for today's game.... why? Why else wouldn't Rivera be in there last night in the ninth? He gets paid for those kinds of appearances, right?)

In April, Farnsworth, Hawkins, Ohlendorf and Billy Traber have pitched 49 and 2/3 innings and allowed 86 baserunners. That's a WHIP of 1.73. Incredibly, 24 of those baserunners have gotten on base via the walk.

How the piss is a bullpen supposed to hold or save games when it allows nearly two runners per inning, and a third of its runners allowed get on base without even swinging a bat?

Throughout the Yankee blogosphere, these guys (especially Ohlendorf and Traber) have their defenders, fans who think they just need time to get it going. But for shit's sake, are we supposed to wait until July before these guys start throwing strikes?

You know.... David Wells is available. Could he be worse coming out of the bullpen? (That's half a joke...... I think.)

Let's end on a high note

Alberto Gonzalez. Really..... how much longer can it be until he's full-time at short? Derek Jeter (whom I love....) has to go to first base next season. Can anyone give me a real, solid, baseball reason as to why we should wait on this?

You could make the argument, and I'm going to right now, that the Yankees win Friday night's game if Gonzalez is at short, because those two groundball hits in the fifth inning, Gonzalez gets one of those. As sure as I'm typing this, Gonzalez gets one, and Pettitte is out of the inning.

The time has come. Girardi needs to make the move after the season. Tell me I'm wrong.

Season to date

The Yankees have lost three in a row and are 12-13, two and a half games behind the Orioles and Red Sox.

Today's pitchers

Yankees: Chien-Ming Wang (4-0, 3.94 ERA)
Last start: Got the win against Chicago. Six and 1/3 innings, 10 hits, three runs.

Indians: C.C. Sabathia (1-3, 10.13 ERA)
Last start: Got the win against Kansas City. Five innings, four hits, two walks, 11 strikeouts.

Real Yankee fans are not happy today

2008-04-25T04:35:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to be naming any names, but certain people who leave certain posts on certain Yankee-based blog sites need to grow up. The corpse from last night's 7-6 loss to the White Sox in Chicago was still warm when apparently gleeful Yankee 'fans' were all over the Internet laughing over the dent in the armor of relief pitcher Joba Chamberlain.

What kind of fan takes an ounce of pleasure in his team's loss? A pretty shitty fan, if you ask me. We all know the motivation behind these posts, but it's worthwhile to spell it out just the same.

The debate over Joba's role with the team has splintered Yankee fans into two camps, one hostile -- the 'he must start, and the sooner the better' bunch; and one still chilled out -- the status quo, Joba-as-reliever supporters. But that second camp is getting increasingly hot under the collar as the first camp gets more and more incensed over the uncertain timetable of the Yankee plan to move Joba into a starting role... eventually. As the fans who favor Joba as a starter grow angrier, they start to needle the members of the other camp, and that's what is happening this morning.

"Oh look! Mr. 'Perfect for the Eighth Inning' isn't so perfect now, is he?" seems to be the tone of the day. The pro-starter crowd is tickled to finally have some 'evidence' that Joba might not be the god of the set-up. Yet none of them, or very few of them, are mentioning that ace starting pitchers, which they think Joba is destined to be, don't win all their games, either. Nor are they bothering to mention that that other god of relief pitching, Mariano Rivera, doesn't own a perfect resume. All ballplayers fail, eventually and fail often. Last night was Joba's time, and he dealt with it, as I'm sure all the Yankees and most of their fans are dealing with it, like the non-event that it is.

But Hank Steinbrenner's childish belly-aching last Sunday, and the fervor it stirred up, have given Joba's every pitch and every outing a value far exceeding it's actual worth. He's one cog in the 25-man Yankee wheel that is trying to win as many games as possible. He's a minimum salary employee who's role happens to place him in the spotlight whenever he takes the mound, and now Steinbrenner has made that spotlight seem hotter and heavier than it needed to be. Now, every Yankee fan who demands that Joba enter the starting rotation will be pointing fingers and blaming the other Yankee fans, those who see Joba's time as a reliever as a matter of helping the team while it shores up a better bullpen, for the 'disaster' that was -- a one-run loss in Chicago -- and the 'disaster' that looms -- Joba being wasted by denying him a spot in the starting five.

Not to make too much of baseball -- because at the end of the day, we all have other lives to live -- but for those who do cherish this game and who do spend a lot of time and money following it, this is a dangerous time for Yankee fans. This wedge that divides Yankee fans is unfortunate. Rather than pulling together and cheering the team after losses, fans are hurling nasty comments at one another regarding an issue that not a single fan can control. Whatever a fan's position on the Joba matter, I hope all fans will remember that this is one Yankee team and we are one, united group of Yankee fans.

Personally, I'm more in the Joba-as-starter role than I was before. I've been persuaded by some terrific arguments that make a lot of sense. Whenever the Yankees get around to doing it, I'll support it. Until then, I'm backng the boys, all the way. Joba is a reliever now, and I want his every outing to be as dominant as it can be. For the life of me, I can't see how a single "real" fan is delighted by anything that happened with Joba in last night's ninth inning.

Let's all remember who we are, and which team we root for: the greatest professional sports team in the world. Let's act like it.

Now that's more like it!

2008-04-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

"If you're gonna give him all the shit, you gotta give him all the credit."

That's the infamous Michael Irvin, live-on-television quote about Barry Switzer after the Dallas Cowboys won the NFC title game in 1996 and advanced to the Super Bowl, where they would defeat Pittsburgh. Switzer had been much-maligned during his first two seasons in Dallas, and Irvin was going to bat for his beleaguered head coach.

Fast forward to April 23, 2008, and the same comments could apply to a gem of a game pitched by beleaguered Yankee starter Mike Mussina, although I'm not sure Derek Jeter or Jorge Posada would be quoting Irvin.

Mussina's seven-inning, four-hitter was sparkling to watch. The two home runs he gave up were solo shots, which is all you can ask of a pitcher who has no real swing-and-miss potential anymore: Just don't fall to pieces with guys on base. Mussina didn't really have that problem last night, as he only had three other runners on base (minus the homer bashers) all evening.

Was it Hank Steinbrenner's calling out of Mussina in public? Was it the embarrassment of getting torched by Manny Ramirez in two straight appearances? Was it the steadying presence of Jorge Posada (who, ironically, has never been Mussina's favorite battery mate)?

Who knows? It may have been a little of all three, or maybe Moose just got tired of looking like he should have retired three years ago. Whatever the reason, Yankee fans had to be pleased to plop down in front of the TV for this one.

Hip, Hip.... you know the deal....

Welcome back, Jorge Posada. Not the Posada who came back behind the plate Tuesday night, but the Jorge Posada who was a legitimate challenger to A-Rod for the 2007 AL MVP award, and who was Wednesday's unquestioned star of another solid Yankee win on Chicago's south side.

Four-for-five at the plate? Doubles in three straight trips? A pair of RBI to break open a tight 3-1 game and give Mussina a 5-1 lead? Wow! Who needs A-Rod when Posada has the wood working like he did last night? (Just kidding about A-Rod...)

And Posada's influence in handling Mussina was just as important as were his at-bats. And it won't be forgotten that it was Posada who gave manager Joe Girardi a second thought when Girardi was signaling for LaTroy Hawkins in the seventh inning (Girardi should have a third thought, then a fourth, then a.... you know where I'm going with this...). Leaving Mussina in allowed Moose to get the final out of the inning, and a huge confidence boost for his next outing.

There has been some discussion around Yankee blog sites as to whether or not Posada is an all-time Yankee great and whether or not his number deserves retirement consideration someday. I've always been a huge Posada believer, and while one game isn't really a microcosm of an entire career, just ask Yankee fans how much better they feel about things when Posada is on the field.

Of all the great Yankees of the Joe Torre era, Posada is easily the most underappreciated. He may not have been the starting catcher for all those World Series-winning teams, but he's been as solid as anyone over the last nine seasons.

Wednesday night was fun to watch for all Jorge fans.

And then, there's this....

Into every life, a little rain must fall. And so it goes with the Yankees whenever the bullpen is given charge of a game.

LaTroy Hawkins just can't put a week of good relief work together. In a third of an inning Wednesday night, he put two more runners on base, and was followed by the totally ineffective (lately) Billy Traber, who surrendered a single to Jim Thome. On came Mariano Rivera, who got the final five outs to preserve the well-deserved win for Mussina (and Mo's sixth save in six tries).

I'm not a boo-bird (I have a personal policy against booing whenever I attend games), but Hawkins is getting close to forcing me to violate my own ethics. And he's way past the point of adding more white hairs to my beard.

How many more solid efforts from starters is Hawkins going to put in jeopardy before he becomes the garbage-garbage reliever, only coming in when the Yankees lead or trail by double-digit runs?

Or, more probably, how long before Hawkins is an ex-Yankee?

Finally hitting when it counts

2008-04-22T23:47:00.000-07:00

A win's a win, and last night's 9-5 victory over the White Sox in Chicago was as good as any other.... but it may have been even better, since the Yankees, for the first time this season, came from behind late in a game to win it.

Bobby Abreu's grand slam may signal that the three-week lack of clutch hitting is over, at least for a while, and Yankee fans will take that. During the 10-10 stretch that ended with Monday's off day, Yankee fans were not so much upset at the record as they were pissed off at how the record was attained -- poor clutch hitting and terrible relief pitching (not to mention three-fifths of the starting rotation taking its time getting into gear).

The poor clutch hitting ended last night, at least for one game. Besides Abreu's slam, Johnny Damon rapped a three-run home run. Both himers came with two outs, and Abreu's erased a 3-2 Yankee deficit. Damon's padded a lead, something the Yankees have not been able to do all month.

And while Jason Giambi's solo shot to lead off the second inning may not have been clutch, it gave the big man something to smile about and a chance to take a deep breath. That Robinson Cano came on later with a double means all three struggling Yankees -- Cano, Damon, and Giambi -- had nights to remember.

Their bats were needed to bail out a less-than-stellar Chien-Ming Wang. Wang got the win, but hardly looked like a 4-0 pitcher. He was lucky to get out of last week's Boston game with a no-decision, and Abreu's timely slam last night got Wang off the hook for another potential loss. For more than a few games now, Wang has been abandoned by his signature ground-ball out. With Posada back full-time (hopefully), maybe Wang will re-discover what got him here.

But all's well that ends well, and the Yankees got it done at the plate last night against a decent pitching staff. As for the Yankees' poor relief pitching...... that's another story.

Nothing comes easy

That might be the unofficial motto of the Yankee bullpen this season. Even with a 9-3 lead, how many Yankee fans were resting easy watching this one get wrapped up? Not many.

Bring in Billy Traber to get a lefty out; Traber walks the lefty. Bring in Brian Bruney to get through the seventh, and Bruney walks his first batter. Bruney got a strikeout but gave up an infield hit to A.J. Pierzynski. Bring in Joba Chamberlain... and another walk to force in a run!

Sheesh!

Chamberlain settled down and got through the seventh and the eighth with no further trouble. But in comes Kyle Farnsworth, in a non-save situation, and what happens? A solo home run to Pierzynski. That made it 9-5, and a collective groan must have risen up over New York City.

We're all going to age a decade before the end of this season's stress.

Mussina must be joking

Tyler Kepner doesn't give the exact quote in his piece on the New York Times website, but if Mike Mussina really said something to the effect that he isn't really upset about the way he's pitched this season, then he's either senile, in denial, or just plain careless about letting himself think out loud.

Mussina would be nuts to take any measure of satisfaction from the way he has pitched this season. Saying that he "must have figured something out" to still be in the big leagues after 18 seasons means Mike is looking at his legacy rather than worrying about how to help this team, this season.

Is it any wonder that rumors have never stopped circulating that Mussina is one of the least-popular players in the clubhouse? If Kepner's reporting is accurate, then Mussina's selfishness ought to give fans cause to worry if he has any hope of improving what has been a completely unsatisfactory performance in 2008.

Bad Moose.... Baaaaaaaaaad Moose!

Surprising Sox tough get for Yanks

2008-04-22T06:23:00.000-07:00

Before the season, no one was giving the Chicago White Sox much of a chance to overtake Cleveland or Detroit for the AL Central title. Three weeks in, however, we all know how Detroit (7-13) has struggled this season, and Cleveland (7-12) has yet to get going. But the ChiSox are 11-7, in first place as the only AL Central team over .500.

Although it's only April 22 and things could change a ton by the All-Star break (Yankee fans can only hope so!), Chicago has to be taken seriously for their record to this point.

Here's a look at the home team as the Yankees settle in for a three-game series:

The Arms

Chicago's pitching staff is everything the Yankee staff wishes it were. In every major statistical category, the Sox are ahead of the American League averages. The Yankees... well, you know already.

Chicago is second in the league in staff ERA at 3.45 (AL avg.: 4.20). The Yankees: 4.60.

Chicago has surrendered only 61 earned runs, best in the league (AL avg.: 81). The Yankees: 89.

Opposing batters hit .248 against Chicago pitchers, good for second in the AL, tied with Boston (AL avg.: .262). The Yankees: .270.

Chicago pitchers have issued only 57 walks, good for a tie for second in the league with the Angels (AL avg.: 69). The Yankees: 62 (finally, a category where Yankee pitchers do better than the AL as a whole!)

Strikeouts is the one area where the Yankee arms outdo those of the Sox. The league average for total strikeouts is 117. Yankee hurlers have fanned 125 opposingbatters; the White Sox, 119.

And finally, the Chicago staff WHIP is a stellar 1.28 (AL avg.: 1.40). Yankees: 1.40.

What does all this mean for Yankee hitters? It means Yankee pitchers are going to have to be uncharacteristically stingy this week. The ChiSox don't give away anything from the mound, and the Yankees haven't been able to take much from other teams. The Yankees have scored an average of 4.25 runs per game this season. Fans should not look for that stat to get much higher over the next three nights.

And with A-Rod possibly out for the series with a quad strain and the imminent birth of his second child, the Yankees are staring at the loss of their most productive hitter to date this season.

The Bats

The Sox aren't just having success with their pitchers. Chicago is second in the AL in runs scored (98; Yankees: 85), but it's how those runs have scored that is the eye-opener, and it shows just how badly the Yankees have suffered because they can't hit with runners in scoring position.

Chicago has a terrible team batting average, .242, next to last in the AL, while the Yankees sit in fourth with a .264 average. But the Sox leapfrog the Yankees in on-base percentage, with a .336 OBP, good for sixth in the league (the Yankees sit in eighth at .334). And when total bases are factored in, the Yankees are 30 ahead of the ChiSox, 284 to 254.

So what does all that mean?

It means the ChiSox -- for the most part -- don't hit so well, but they get on base (four Sox batters are among the top 30 players in the AL in walks earned). And when they get on base, they score. The Yankees are putting guys on base, but they're leaving them there.

How are the ChiSox scoring so often when they're not hitting well as a team? Quality, versus quantity.

Four Chicago batters -- Joe Crede, Jim Thome, Carlos Quentin, and Paul Konerko -- are in the top 19 in the AL in RBI. The Yankees? Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez are tied for 37th in the league with 10 RBI each.

The Chicago lineup is patient, but it has its potent bats, too. Jermaine Dye (.344) and A.J. Pierzynski (.339) are among the league leaders in hitting. And Dye (.403) is second on the team in OBP (Nick Swisher is first at .421). Contrast that to the Yankees, where Hideki Matsui (.405) is the only regular -- aside from the soon-to-be-departed Chad Moeller -- who approaches those numbers.

Outlook

Add it all up, and the series looks something like this: The White Sox are going force the Yankees to hit the ball, and the Yankees are going to have to string multiple hits together because the Sox are not going to walk guys around the bases.

And Yankee pitchers are going to have to throw strikes. Chicago batters walk, and walk a lot. If the Yankees can keep the ball in the strike zone, they can keep the score down against a White Sox lineup that has depended on the base on balls to help get runs across the plate.

Look for a series of low-scoring games, with the Yankees relying on pitching rather than hitting to get out of Chicago with a series win. That's not much of a stretch with Chien-Ming Wang on the mound tonight, but it means Mike Mussina (tomorrow) and Phil Hughes (on Thursday) are going to have to step up their games off their previous, disappointng starts.

Taking stock on a day off

2008-04-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Twenty games into a season may be too early to panic and start shooting your mouth off, as a certain son of a certain owner might do, but it's not too early to take stock of what we've seen thus far. Plus, it's an off day, and I'm tired of thinking about Hank Steinbrenner.

Things to cheer about

1. Back-up catchers. First Jose Molina (that's his job, so no real surprise there), but then Chad Moeller...??!! It's not a stretch to say that the Yankee back-up catchers have been the two-headed MVP of this first segment of the season, and not necessarily for their offensive production, although Mo-Mo have combined to bat .339 (19-for-56) with nine doubles, a home run, and 5 RBI. What has been more important is their stabilizing influence at one of the most important positions on the field. One of the things Joe Girardi has not had to worry about is the quality of play at catcher.

2. Andy Pettitte and Chien-Ming Wang. They're a combined 6-1 with a 3.13 ERA. Only Wang's meltdown against the Red Sox has been a real black mark on their combined record. When the Yankees have needed a strong start, these two have provided them. Wang had the complete game two-hitter at Fenway, and Pettitte has gone seven sturdy innings in each of his last two outings. Besides the wins, they've provided the young starters with some terrific on-the-job training.

3. A-Rod. Yes, he's been as guilty as anyone for the dismal team average with runners in scoring position, but there's no way to ignore .308/.357/.551, four home runs, seven doubles, and 10 RBI. He's not having an MVP-level April as he did last season (and his 17 strikeouts leads the team), but he's been the best offensive player thus far.

4. Abreu, Jeter, and Matsui. They're batting a combined .313/.371/.469. They have 18 of the team's 63 extra-base hits and 30 of the team's 79 RBI. The problem hasn't been the hitting; it's been the timing.

5. Mo-Joba. A 5-for-5 save record (Mo). A 1-0 won-loss record (Joba). In 13.2 combined innings, they've given up a total of one run between them, for a 0.66 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. They've got 16 Ks (eight apiece) against just two walks (both Joba's). Joba may not be in the pen much longer (Google: Steinbrenner, Hank, hot air), but Mo's place there is as secure as ever, and whatever problems he had last April, there's no sign so far that he's anything but ready for another 40-plus save season. If only the starting rotation wil give him the chance.

Things to forget about

1. Clutch(less) hitting. The numbers with runners in scoring position have sunk so low they're undetectable on my radar, despite yesterday's 5-for-10 performance in Baltimore. The Yankees have scored 85 runs in 20 games, good for eighth in the American League. But consider these numbers: the Yanks are third in the league in total bases (284), and the power numbers are great (.759 SLG, also third in the AL), but stranding runners after doubles and triples is keeping the team at .500 in the standings.

2. 0-5/9.20/2.21. That's the combined won-loss record, ERA, and WHIP of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. Add in the 23 walks-to-23 strikeouts, and it's easy to see why Hank Steinbrenner's smoking habit is now costing him more money than his payroll. And the Hughes-Kennedy combined stat of 4.1 innings per start is largely responsible for item number 3, below...

3. 2-1/4.20/1.40. That's the combined won-loss record, ERA, and WHIP of the bullpen, minus Mo-Joba. Those numbers look great next to the numbers of Hughes and Kennedy, but 55 hits in 55.2 innings isn't what a team needs from its relievers. On the plus side, there are 49 strikeoutss against just 19 walks issued, but striking out a batter after giving up a run (or more) isn't very effective.

4. LaTroy Hawkins and Kyle Farnsworth. Subtract these two from the pitchers used to tally the stats above, and those stats improve to this: 1-0/2.84/1.26. In short, these two have been horrible, particularly Hawkins. A 9.64 ERA is just.... Little League-esque.

5. Mike Mussina. There's no way to make it look good, and for the life of me I can't understand the "he hasn't been that bad" crowd. A 1-3 won-loss record? A 5.75 ERA? A 1.53 WHIP? Absolutely no ability to get hitters out in clutch situations. Almost no swing-and-miss potential from opposing hitters. Inability to locate a sub-standard fastball. Unwilling to adapt his style to his 39-year-old stuff..... Maybe people are right. He hasn't been that bad. He's been worse.

6. Cano, Damon, Giambi. Forgettable? Try painful. They've got 32 hits in 188 at bats, leading to a .170/.314/.303. And the .314 OBP is thanks only to their 27 combined walks. Only Damon has shown any sustained life over a multi-game span, and those spans have been brief and infrequent. Cano is down in the eighth spot -- when Giambi isn't occupying it -- and Damon may be regretting talking himself out of retiring. Both he and Giambi look great after hard-working offseasons, but 90-year-old Jack LaLanne's in great shape, too, and no one's giving him a contract to play baseball.

Things to wonder about

1. Joe Girardi. A 10-10 record is no mean feat with a horrific April road schedule, a terrible run of minor injuries, substandard offensive output, triple-A pitching three-fourths of the time, and weather that makes Scotland look like Scottsdale. Joe has to get a B+ thus far. But the team hasn't looked very energized, and the young pitchers can't seem to shake the deer-in-the-headlights expressions on the mound. Girardi has had to manage 19 different lineups in 20 games. Once he gets a full-time lineup together for a month, we'll see just how he can inspire a team that might need some major pepping up after a sluggish start.

2. Joba, where and when? Brian Cashman responded to Hank Steinbrenner's rant by saying the team would remain in the same configuration as it's been in thus far. How long will that remain the case? Everything about Joba is speculation and wonder -- except the numbers he's put up as a back-end reliever. It's April 21 and he's in the bullpen. There's just no telling where he'll be May 21. Scranton? Starting in the Bronx? Setting up Mariano? Not a single person knows right now.

3. The Season of Hank? Are we in for a 1970s-era circus with an owner using the newspapers to make team announcements, or can Cashman and Girardi get Hank Steinbrenner to stay in Tampa and disconnect his phone? No Yankee fan wants the former. Living through one volatile Steinbrenner administration is enough for one lifetime. With all the question marks surrounding this season, another one involving the potential repeated disruptions by Little Stein isn't what the Yankees need.

I can see this happening...

2008-04-21T01:25:00.000-07:00

Remember, at the end of this season, the Yankees will have tons of cash to play with after Mussina, Giambi, Pettitte, and Damon come off the books. But will Hank Steinbrenner let Brian Cashman have the checkbook.................?

SCENE: Brian Cashman's office. The Yankee GM is on the phone when Hank Steinbrenner walks in, followed by Hal and another unidentified Yankee flunkie (Oppenheimer?)

BC: Hey, Hanky...

HS: You have to answer for Pavano, Brian. You signed him from the Florida people.

BC: (Looks scared; hangs up phone.) Hank, you got it all wrong.

HS: Ahhhhh... That mega-deal you signed with that loser. You think that would ever fool a Steinbrenner?

BC: (Rising from his chair.) Hank, I'm innocent. I swear on Phil Hughes.

HS: Sit down. (Cashman sits.)

BC: Please don't do this to me, Hank. Please don't.

HS: (Sitting.) Torre's gone. So is Mattingly. Mike Mussina. Gator. Giambi. This year I settled all team business so don't tell me that you're innocent. Admit what you did. (Cashman starts sobbing.)

HS: (To Hal.) Get him a drink. (To Cashman.) Don't be afraid, Brian. Come on, you think I'd let you go do Baseball Tonight? I'm the new Boss. Go ahead. Drink. Drink. (Cashman drinks.)

HS: No, you're out of the New York end of the business, that's your punishment. You're finished. I'm putting you on the Amtrak to Trenton. Hal... (Hal hands Hank a train ticket.) I want you to stay there, you understand? (Cashman nods.) Only don't tell me that you're innocent. Because it insults my intelligence, and it makes me very angry. Now, whose idea was it? Torre or Mattingly?

BC: It was Torre.

HS: Good. (Rises from his chair.) There's a car outside that will take you to the airport. I'll call your wife and tell her what flight you're on. (Cashman rises to put on his jacket.)

BC: Listen, Hank... (Tries to hug Hank.)

HS: Go on. Get out of my sight. (Exuent Cashman.)

SCENE: A limo. Reggie Jackson in the backseat, behind Cashman. Tino Martinez on the other side.

BC: Reggie.....

RJ: Hello, Brian. (The car pulls away, and Reggie pulls out a jock strap and pulls it down over Cashman's face...)

Cue the theme song: Wah.. Wah-wah... Wah-wah-wah......... Wah... Wah-wah... wah-wah.....

Raise your hand if you knew this was coming....

2008-04-21T01:04:00.000-07:00

On the air during Saturday's 6-0 Yankee loss in Baltimore, YES announcer Michael Kay compared Joe Girardi's ashen-faced, post loss countenance to that of former Yankee manager Billy Martin, who was known as a gritty competitor, a sometime elevator/barroom, clubhouse brawler, and a basbeall near-genius.

Kay's comparison was limited to the gut-wrenching way the two managers take losses (or took, if you like, since Martin has been dead for nearly twenty years), but for those who remember well the fiery Martin and the turbulence that accompanied his brilliance, the reminder of the Martin years was a fun one.

And now, Yankee fans have a whole new reminder of what those years were like. Enter, Hank Steinbrenner. After Hank's verbal volley in the New York Times story posted on the paper's website on Sunday evening, Yankee fans will be waiting to see and hear Girardi's response. We all recal the jousting that took place between Billy Martin and Hank's dad, the original Boss, George Steinbrenner.

The hire-fire-rehire-and-repeat tango they danced together was legendary, and for good reason: no other owner-manager tandem in American sports history had the color, contrast, and headline-grabbing ability of their dynamic duo. With the passing of Martin in 1989, and with the fading of George Steinbrenner into the background of Yankee affairs, fans thought the fun and frolic of the 1970s and '80s was gone forever.

Could we have been wrong? We'll see.

George Steinbrenner, until last season, rarely meddled with Joe Torre in print. Their correspondence remained largely private, as much out of Torre's refusal to dance in the media as out of George's losing the energy to hook-and-jab with reporters. But Girardi doesn't have the lengthy baseball pedigree that Torre had when he took the Yankee job. And Hank is not the mellowed -- even ill, perhaps -- senior citizen that his father has aged into. This new manager-owner dynamic in the Bronx has a lot of questionmarks, mostly because it's just twenty games into its first season together. But now, with Joba Chamberlain's uncertain role with the team, and with the failure of the other young pitchers to carry their weight so far, the first crisis of the Hank-and-Joe Show has been brought to light.

It's up to Girardi now to decide how to respond. The timing is unfortunate for Joe G.: An off-day in Chicago will give the media no game to cover, and after the obligatory "How's A-Rod?" questions, the media frenzy will start in full-force. Girardi has to be shaking his head; just when the Yankees get a much-needed day of rest, here comes Hank, banging on the door, demanding answers.

Welcome to the Bronx, Joe, retro-style. It's the '70s and the '80s, all over again.

What harm's been done?

2008-04-19T21:05:00.000-07:00

First off.... fuck Peter Gammons.

I have always appreciated his commentary and his writing, but if he's going to get on his high horse on television, make a childish, schoolyard remark like "Ugh! Triple-A pitchers... give me a break!" in reference to Kyle Farnsworth, then end it right there without any further substantive remark about the Farnsworth pitch behind Manny Ramirez, then he's chipping away at his own well-earned reputation for impartiality.

Gammons is a Bostonian, or something like it, and we're all certain he danced with glee after the 2004 and 2007 seasons ended. Good for him. But he's paid to comment on major league baseball. he's not paid to allow his love of the Red Sox color his commentary. Gammons apologists will defend his Farnsworth utterance, but the man has an obligation to explain himself a little better than "Ugh!...." -- especially when it comes to a situation involving the Red Sox and the Yankees.

Not his finest hour, but this really isn't about Gammons.

What baffles me is this righteous indignation that people have over the Farnsworth pitch. It was a pitch that never came close to Manny. It wasn't as if Manny had to get out of the way of a pitch targeted for any part of his body. It was a message pitch, and the message was: "Look, you're the other team's top hitter. Your pitchers have no qualms about plunking our batters -- in the middle of the back! Here's a reminder that if we wanted to, we could make this situation ugly, in a hurry. Now get back in the box and hit..... punk."

Where's the crime? Where's the suspendable offense? This wasn't Armando Benitez taking direct aim at Tino Martinez back in May of 1998. And this wasn't Pedro Martinez plunking Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter, in the same inning, and sending both to the hospital, at Yankee Stadium in July of 2003. (And by the way, where was all the negative commentary about Pedro back then? All people have ever said about him was that he was a tough competitor who tried to own the inside corner. Please..... the guy was a great pitcher and at the same time a jerk who got away with stuff that other pitchers never could have, and good for him. I hated him, and still do, but I have no beef with his style.)

Farnsworth's toss was a no-harm, no-foul pitch that didn't even upset Manny. And now you have announcers and fans preaching from the soapboxes about potential career-ending injuries and other such nonsense. Give me an eff-ing break. Major League Baseball can take the paper their suspension was announced on and wipe their asses with it. Farnsworth did the right thing.

The refrain is getting tired, but here it is one more time: For the length of the Joe Torre era, Yankee batters took shit from opposing pitchers, especially Red Sox pitchers, for God knows what reason -- taking the high road; being classier than the other guy; bringing the game into a new era; whatever..... But when Yankee batters had to step into the box, knowing it was open season on them because Yankee pitchers wouldn't retaliate in kind, it had to be frustrating. When the other teams are playing by the unwritten rules of baseball, but your own pitchers refuse to play along, then how secure can you be in the bonds between teammates?

Kyle Farnsworth might be a lot of undesirable things -- shaky reliever; a touch whiny; unreliable in any serious pressure situation -- but at least he's a teammate who has someone's back. I'm gald he didn't hit Manny, because I'm not a sadist; I don't want to see human beings down on the ground in agony. But Farnsworth wasn't trying to ignite a beanball war; if anything, he was trying to end one before it started. If Sox pitchers got the message, then this thing can die a death right now. If they didn't, then so be it.

At least one Yankee pitcher is willing to carry the water for the guys who get drilled. Although they can't do it publicly, the players -- hopefully -- gave Farnsworth a high-five after Thursday's game.

Blow out the candles, forever

2008-04-18T04:47:00.000-07:00

I've only been there three times, and I'll never sit in it again, but it's never been about a single fan or the number of trips one could make to see it. It's always been about The Place.... and no other place in American sports has ever captured the magical mixture of grace, triumph, passion, and excellence the way Yankee Stadium has captured those things from the day it opened, eighty-five years ago today.

Happy Birthday, Yankee Stadium.

Turn the Moose loose

I sincerely hope Mike Mussina wins 12-15 games this year, because I'm not a mean-spirited guy. But I also sincerely hope he wins those games for another team. I hope I never see him in a Yankee uniform again.

I will see him in pinstripes again, because there's no other choice. But can someone please explain why he would ever pitch to Manny Ramirez again? EVER!!?? At this point in his terrific career, Mussina couldn't throw a ball by Ty Cobb's corpse or the head of Ted Williams. And if the accounts of last weekend are accurate -- that Girardi wanted Mussina out of the game in Fenway, but out on the mound, Mussina persuaded Joe G. to leave him in (one just hopes he didn't utter the ridiculous phrase, "I can get this guy.") -- then Girardi is as much to blame for last night's shame as anyone.

Managers are paid to make tough calls, and if you have to embarrass a veteran by taking him out or making him intentionally walk a guy he can't get out, then cash your check, Joe, and consider it an honest day's work. Mussina's -- Jesus God, Almighty! -- "stubborn streak" is a piss-poor excuse for failing to face reality. YOU'RE A SIXTH STARTER, MIKE! DEAL WITH IT, AND STOP KILLING THE TEAM TRYING TO RE-LIVE 1993!

It is obvious Mussina cannot live up to the dictate to live inside and back hitters off the plate, not above-average hitters, anyway. The only stunner from last night's game was that the Boston DH didn't get off his personal schnide and wrap two home runs of his own. It's tough to be a Yankee fan and watch Mussina stick to his limp-dick guns while Manny is getting hard-ons in the batter's box, waiting for the inevitable wheelhouse pitch. If I were an emotional eater, I'd have gained fifty pounds in the first three innings last night.

And for God's sake... if you're going to plunk someone, why the hell would you plunk Ellsbury? TWICE!!??

I can't talk about it anymore....

Papal Bullsh*t

Did you hear the one about the Pope who walked into a baseball stadium and said, "A baseball has as many seams as a Rosary has beads, my ass! You guys hit the road!"

Don't wait around for a punch line, because that's no joke. Because the pope needed a place to put 50,000 people, the Yankees can't celebrate the final birthday of their 85-year home. What, Shea wasn't available?

It's hard to believe that God has such a hard-on for Yankee Stadium that he needed the pope to pass out his blessings there. Are you telling me that if the Pope had picked up the red phone and said, "God.... it's me or baseball. You call it," God would have chosen to kick the Yankees, his favorite team, out of town? No way in Hell that happens.

Somebody screwed up. It is criminal that today has to be spent on the road. No... it is sinful.

A thousand Hail Marys for the pope. And I want to hear them all.........

Smell that sh*t? The Red Sox must be in town

2008-04-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

Let's get right to it. It's the 2008 Yanks-Sox, Part II....

Be realistic

"You go back, Jack, do it again..."

Not a chance, that's my read. No way Chien-Ming Wang repeats last Friday's two-hit performance -- okay, not no way, but the odds are reaaaaaaaaally slim -- so let's study some history for a minute, then we'll rub the crystal ball and see what might be more in store for tonight.

In 13 career starts vs. Boston, Wang has a 6-5 won-loss record, averages 6 and 1/3 innings per start, surrenders 1.05 hits per inning, has a 4.05 ERA, and issues nearly four walks per nine innings to Red Sox batters. (And the ERA was over 6.00 before last week's complete-game shutout). Career stats are meanignful in baseball because, all things being equal, those numbers usually bear out at any given time.

Last Friday, all things were not equal. Wang was giving up fly balls as if Fenway measured 400 feet down the lines. He was lucky only one left the park. He didn't issue a walk, which isn't that surreal (in his career with the Yankees, Wang has gone to a 2-0 count on only 93 batters, and only 42 of those guys have gotten to 3-0; the guy just doesn't like to live outside the strike zone). But the Sox have worked their way onto base against Wang, and it's likely to happen some more tonight.

Given his career numbers against the Sox, Wang is likely to check out of tonight's contest sometime in the seventh inning, probably with one out, with at least three runs given up and maybe a guy on base.

We'd all love a repeat of last week, but it's not very likely to come off that way.

Say it ain't so, Mo

And keeping Wang's numbers in mind, I have to ask: Why was Mariano Rivera in that game last night?

With Joba gone until probably Friday, and with Farnsworth looking okay, did we have to use Mariano to close out Tampa? I know he only threw 14 pitches Monday night, and only another 13 last night, but has Joe Girardi lost so much faith in the rest of the pen that he will risk making Mo unavailable, with Joba out of town and the Sox coming in?

Maybe I'm overreacting, and maybe the Yanks win 10-3 tonight, but it just seemed unnecessary to risk a long outing with Mo when he'll be potentially more crucial for these two games in New York. I just thought we could've gotten by without him.

The LOB stat

Does anyone keep a stat for teams leading the majors in runners left on base? I've been to lazy to look it up, but if there is one, the Yankees have to be league leaders. Another 21 runners were stranded last night. What's the threshold before Girardi starts having everyone steal home? 25? 30? The Yankees had more walks than hits last night -- 9-to-8 -- but runners are just not coming around to score. It's almost as if fans are starting to take for granted that guys on the bases are just going to be standing there a while.

At least we get to lip-read a lot of conversations between Derek Jeter and opposing fielders. Last night, I think I saw him say "Goos-frobba" to Carlos Pena.

Where's Terry Benedict when you need him?

The fictional casino owner of Ocean's 11 was renowned for ruining the lives of cheaters, and the families of cheaters. There's a debate going around the Internet about whether the Yankees should sue this jackass who buried the Sox jersey in the bowels of the new Stadium. Some worry it will make the Yankees look vengeful and ill-humored, but.....

I say, bury the guy. Ruin him. Make him a martyr! If his brother-in-law owns a tractor dealership, bankrupt it! If his father owns a bank..... rupt it! Make every Sox fan quiver at the thought of defiling hallowed ground.

Or..... we could just forget the whole thing and beat their asses in October.

Either way, I'm down.

Joe has a Joe moment

2008-04-15T02:19:00.000-07:00

During the insanely successful Joe Torre era, there were times, especially during the dynastic years of the late 1990s, when Torre seemed to conjure managerial magic where others saw only helpless failure. (And yes, I know, Torre made his share of mistakes, disastrous ones, but that's another post...)

Leaving Mariano Rivera in for a third inning of relief against Boston in game seven of the 2003 ALCS? Joe did it, and the Yankees won.

Putting Aaron Boone in to run for Ruben Sierra in the same game, when Boone was a terrible post-season player? We all know what happened not long after that.

We could do this all day. The point is, every manager lives and dies with two things, one he controls, and one he doesn't.

The one he doesn't: Players coming through not when they're supposed to, but when they have to. No manager can make the play from the dugout steps. Only players in the field can.

The one he does: Making the right call at the right time.

Joe Girardi got both things right in Tampa last night.

With the game inexplicably tied at 7-7, after disastrous 7th-inning relief appearances by Billy Traber and Brian Bruney, Girardi tried to shake things up offensively. He had a slumping Robinson Cano on the bench and a young Alberto Gonzalez at the plate. Gonzalez had a walk in three appearances and was 0-for-2, and with the very hittable Al Reyes (13 home runs given up in 60 innings in 2007) on the mound for Tampa, Girardi wanted some more big bat potential, only he waited too long and forgot to tell Gonzalez he was coming out.

With Gonzalez already at the batter's box, about to step in, Girardi had to call him back. (He later apologized to Gonzalez, in the dugout, for the embarrassment.) Up walked Cano, with his .170 average and fragile confidence. A minute later, Cano was back in the dugout, and the Yankees led 8-7 after his solo, pinch-hit home run.

The move did not make perfect baseball sense -- aside from Cano's current slump, Reyes had struck out Cano in the only two previous times he faced the Yankee second baseman -- but supposedly sound moves, made by managers every day, often go up in smoke (the best laid plans.... yada yada yada). So what Girardi did was just trust his gut, and this time, his gut was right.

Fans -- especially, but not only, those who are using Torre, unfairly, as a gold standard for the new manager -- have grumbled some about Girardi's moves so far this season. But Yankee woes thus far have had as much to do (I think) with an unforgiving schedule and piss-poor weather as they have with any moves Girardi has made or not made. Not so Monday, when a Yankee victory came directly off the bat of a player sent to the plate specifically for the situation in which he succeeded. Credit must go to Girardi for making the call (and, of course, to Cano, for making the play).

There wil be plenty of opportunity to criticize Girardi as the 2008 season wears on; there always is, for every manager. But Monday night's win, a seemingly insignificant April victory, might go a long way to helping team and manager get that much more acquainted with one another.

Nothing bonds men together more effectively than going through an intense competition together, and getting a good result in a game that was going south faster than Bill Clinton's pants can only help to make this a tighter team, especially during this god-awfully-long road trip.

Score one for Joe.... just like in the old days.

Cano can do!

2008-04-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

Not that one pinch-hit, solo home run to win a game on the road and save a team from a disastrously dispiriting loss can make up for batting a paltry .170 over the first thirteen games, but on Monday night Robinson Cano did show why manager Joe Girardi is so high on him, and why your humble blogger thought Cano was a pre-season candidate for MVP in the American League.

It will take a few 3-for-4, 3 RBI nights for Cano to vault himself into elite player status, but anyone who saw the ease of that home run swing in Tampa can see just how much talent Cano possesses. Over the last two weeks, Cano has repeatedly said that he felt he was swinging well, and that very well may have been true. But anyone who has watched Cano reach out, again and again, to try to pull outside pitches, only to pound them into the dirt for weak groundouts to second base, knows that Cano may have been swinging well, but his swing decisions were terrible. That changed, at least for the time being, on one swing Monday.

Cano will always be a free swinger (he walks only once every 23.5 plate appearances, but strikes out once every 8.3 trips to the plate), so pitchers who can locate balls outside are going to tempt him into bad at-bats every now and then. But if Kevin Long -- who after Monday's game was called the "greatest hitting coach I've ever worked with" by a 4-for-5 Alex Rodriguez -- can get Cano to cut that strikeout rate and raise the walk ratio, Cano's MVP odds will increase tremendously.

And my pre-season prediction won't look quite so insane..... which is what I really care about, right?

Kennedy deserved better

Rules are rules, and baseball history is littered with pitchers who could have had better records if it weren't for piss-poor relief perfomances, but it's tough to reason out how Brian Bruney can walk away with a win last night, and Ian Kennedy gets nothing to show for a pretty good outing.

Bruney has been one of the bullpen success stories thus far in 2008, but that wasn't the case on Monday. A horrible first inning of relief saw Bruney pelted for two home runs, including the first major league dinger for Evan Longoria. Billy Traber wasn't much better, surrendering a two-run shot of his own before Bruney came in to go Traber one better. By the time both relievers had finished making a mess of the seventh inning, Kennedy's 7-2 lead was gone. Sure, Bruney got the first two outs of the eighth before making room on the mound for Mariano Rivera, but for him to get the win just because of Cano's timely pop just seems wrong.

Bruney better buy a big dinner for Kennedy back in New York Wednesday night. He owes him at least that much.

It's gotta be the dome!

Fifteen hits. Five for extra bases, including four solo home runs. A .357 batting average for the game (and a .381, on-base percentage). A stolen base. Clutch hitting with the pitchers struggling. Could all that have been due to the move indoors and out of the frigid weather of the northeast? Probably. (Consider: the Yankees are a mixture of aging vets with creaky bones and young Latin players from sunny climes. April's showers can't be good for these guys...)

While the hitting with runners in scoring position still isn't top-notch (.286, 2-for-7 on Monday), the Yankees did just about everything else right at the plate on Monday. Games with 8-7 scores are the kind most people think the Yankees will need to win in order to reach the postseason in 2008. Personally, I'll take a 2-0 Wang win over Monday, anytime. But a win's a win, and being .500 is better than being below average. And if it takes getting warm indoors in Tampa, then maybe dome baseball has its uses after all.

Now, can we just get some relief pitching tonight?

The future is in view

2008-04-14T03:40:00.000-07:00

In all likelihood, El Capitan, Derek Jeter, will take his place at shortstop tonight in Tampa, and that's great for any Yankee fan to see.

But sadly, it also means no more Alberto Gonzalez patrolling the left side of the infield, and that's just sad.

If anything productive came from Jeter's six-day break from a quadriceps pull, it was witnessing the eventual successor at short, and what a sight it was to behold. Gonzalez is so sure-handed already that watching him play short for six games made me take out a mental pencil and scratch out in my head this imaginary 2009 lineup: Cabrera, cf; Jeter, lf; Cano, 2b; A-Rod, 3b; Abreu, rf; Matsui, dh; Posada, c; Duncan, 1b; Gonzalez, ss. (I have my flak jacket on, so fire away with your responses to that one...)

Is it too crazy to start spitballing which position Jeter might be playing in a year? Some have suggested left field; others first base. I think he's too athletic to waste at first base -- not that all first basemen should look and move like Kent Hrbek. What I mean is Jeter helps the ballclub more at a position where his athleticism might be more essential to fielding the position.

I know it is sacrilege, in some corners, to think about Jeter playing anywhere but in the six hole, but let's get real: No athlete cheats age, unless he's really cheating age. Teams, dynasties even, have suffered for years because they held onto sentiment and didn't want to do the prudent thing by asking an aging star to change his role. Some speculate that Jeter's ego will prohibit him from accepting any move, and that it will always be his call to make. I doubt that. I think Jeter always has the team in mind first.

(And if not, then Jeter ought to heed the Bernie Williams disaster. If WIlliams had spent one off-season learning how to play first base, he -- and not Andy Phillips -- might have been on the team last year.)

Whatever the timetable, Jeter will eventually be moved out (or move himself out) of the six hole. (I suspect it will be like this: Girardi approaching Jeter, then the move being announced as if it were Jeter's idea all along...) When that happens, there is no doubt that a terrific replacement will step in and keep the left side of the diamond secure.

We have seen the shortstop of the future, the shortstop of the new Yankee Stadium. It'll be Jeter, at least to start the season in the new ballpark. But will Jeter finish 2009 the way he starts it? When will Alberto Gonzalez finally step in full-time for the captain?

Enough already!

2008-04-13T21:37:00.000-07:00

I know Phil Hughes was terrible on Sunday night, but I'm laying the blame for the early 3-0 hole on A-Rod.

When you're the reigning league MVP, when you're destined to become one of the top 20 run producers of all time, when you're coming to the plate to face a pitcher who can't find the strike zone, when you have two runners on and only one out -- and when you're making more money this week than 90 percent of the fans will make this year -- you don't swing at the first pitch, even if it's a straight fastball down the middle. And you especially don't swing at the first pitch when it's a breaking ball on your shoetops. But that's what A-Rod did, and just like that, the Red Sox get a groundball double play, and Dice K gets off the hook that he tried, over and over again, to hang himself with all night long.

But leave it to the 2008 New York Yankees to fail to make him pay the price.

There were tons of reasons for this loss: A-Rod and Robbie Cano going a combined 0-for-10 and leaving a combined seven runners on base; Johnny Damon grounding into a double play instead of moving the runners over with the tying runs on base and no one out in the eighth; and Phil Hughes, Phil Hughes, Phil Hughes.....

How pissed off can you get at a rookie pitcher in his first start in the worst possible environment for a Yankee rookie? Fenway Park, freezing temperatures, first-inning control issues. It was unlikely Hughes was going to last long. But that's not the story of this game.

The story -- again! -- is the failure to go after pitchers in trouble. I'm too depressed to do the numbers right now, but what is the current Yankee average with runners in scoring position? .oo3? .002? Those guesses can't be too far off. Fans don't mind losses, even in Boston, but we do get tired of this failure to capitalize on situations where this team should be scoring at least two more runs per game. For all the talk of Kevin Long being this other-worldly hitting coach, he sure isn't turning around this atrocious offensive approach.

In the first inning, if A-Rod lays off that first pitch from Dice-K, it's a 1-0 count. Now Dice-K has to throw a fastball to avoid going down 2-0, a count that would have really given the Yankees a lift in this game. At the very least, A-Rod could have sat back, taken a strike to go 1-1, and maybe later in the at-bat forced Dice K into a situation where A-Rod would likely have gotten a pitch he could have driven somewhere. And even if he had eventually struck out, that would have been better than a first-pitch double play grounder. Ugh!

I was projecting a conservative 16-13 April record, considering the road schedule and the weather, but now that prediction seems not so much conservative as it does wishful thinking. With this offense, try flipping that record, and the Yanks will seem lucky to be that good at the end of this month.

Does deadbeat fan know where he is?

2008-04-12T03:13:00.000-07:00

I could be like most bloggers, and get on here today and talk about Chien-Ming Wang (briliiant), Jose Molina (better every game), Jason Giambi (finally!), Alberto Gonzalez (slick), Hideki Matsui (Matsui means Mr. Consistent in Japanese), or any number of things from last night's series-opening win in that cesspool called Fenway Park. But I'm not here to talk about all that..... yet.

I'm here to ask a question: What is up with that stiff who sits right behind home plate at every Red Sox home game?

You know the guy I'm talking about. He combs his hair like Robert Redford and sits there, unsmiling, unmoved, (dead?) no matter what's happening. I once saw this guy sprint for the exits not half a second after some play ended a Yanks-Sox game in Boston's favor.... and it wasn't any ordinary play. I forget whether it was a home run or a strike out. The crowd exploded like it was the seventh game of the World Series, but not this mannequin-faced wet blanket. He turned tail and hauled ass up the steps as if the parking fees were about to triple at midnight.

Last night, as Wang was blowing through Sox hitters like Lindsay Lohan going through a crack buffet, I noticed this guy, again, sitting there, stern-faced and frozen, as if he couldn't enjoy himself because of Wang's mesmerizing performance. But then I realized it: I've never seen this mope enjoy himself.

And I know what some will say: What do you care, Wolf? And you'd be right. I'm being a complete 12-year-old in worrying about how this guy passes the time at a baseball game. But here's the point: if you scored season tickets to the prime seat in the house, and you made the effort to be at the game every night -- or even worse, only when the Yankees were in town -- wouldn't you show a little spirit now and then? Wouldn't you act like you were actually at a Sox-Yanks game?

Ugh! The guy just annoys me! Anyway.....

Wang means king in Mandarin

Screw being called an ace. Wang is the king of the hill as far as Yankee pitching is concerned. To try to apply superlatives to last night's outing would be pointless. Sometimes, the numbers just have to speak for themselves: 9.0/2/1/1/0/3.

To be fair, that hits number should probably be a three, not a deuce. A-Rod should have that error expunged from his fielding record. Hopefully, Boston's official scorer will rectify that decision, which was made in defense of the no-hitter possibility.

And to be even more fair, Wang got away with some really dangerous fly balls in the fifth inning. He's lucky only J.D. Drew's drive left the park. As great a performance as it was, it didn't fit the Wang template of ground ball-outing teams to death. Ten fly outs, two pop outs, and two line outs made it a decidedly un-Wang-like game. No one's arguing with the results, but all the deep flies and the sinking line drives gave this game a definite "fate" feeling, as if it didn't matter what Wang did wrong, every ball put in play was going to find a glove somewhere.

Don't hurry back, Jorge

That line is made only half in jest. There are two good reasons why there's no need for Jorge Posada to rush to get back behind the plate: 1) he's 37 years old, and at that age he's better off taking all the time he needs to heal; and 2) we're doing just fine with Jose Molina back there.

With a pair of deep doubles Friday night, Molina is now tied for the American League lead in two-base hits, with six. Read that again: a Molina brother is tied for the league lead in doubles. While doubles aren't triples, this is Jose Molina. The guy has been terrific, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that, with his offensive output and his steady plate presence on defense, he's been the Yankees' most valuable everyday player this season.

He'll need a break soon, however, which means Jorge either has to come back and catch a game, or we all have to get ready to see a slide in Molina's numbers as the toll of catching so many games catches up to him.

But even if his numbers dive next week, so what. He's been heroic thus far.

A persistent problem

While Wang was terrific last night, he was forced to walk a bit of a tightrope because the Yankee offense failed to put the Red Sox away, and the offense had plenty of chances.

The Yankees are now 15-for-82 with runners in scoring position. That's an anemic .183 average. If they were just 16-for-82, with another hit last night, the game would have been over long before the ninth inning.

Loving the loathing life

2008-04-11T07:06:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what it says about certain fans who never outgrow their hatred for the enemy teams of their youth, whether it means they're developmentally arrested, emotionally challenged, insane, or just plain stupid. Whatever it says, then label me all of the above, because I hate the Red Sox, and as former Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips would say, I hate them "more than a little bit."

I wouldn't want to eat in a restaurant where Sox fans ate. I wouldn't take a job in Boston if it paid 'screw you' money. I wouldn't go to my daughter's wedding if she ever decided to marry a Sox fan (she wouldn't). If my best friend (whose a Phillies fan) got hit by a truck and suffered a life-changing head injury, and one of those life changes led to him wearing a Sox cap, he'd need a new best friend.

I know these things, because I know I never want to go to prison, which is where I would end up if I were ever forced into any of the above situations. I once stabbed a man through the wrist with a pencil because he beat me at cards and he was wearing a Celtics arm band. What would happen to me if I had to hang around Sox fans after a Yankee loss? I don't want to think about it.

It's a Yankee-Red Sox weekend, and I'm prepared to break a few things, like a remote control, a glass of Coke, or a few knuckles on the wall near the TV, maybe even a blood vessel near the brain. But all of that is okay. It would be better to have a baseball-induced stroke while sitting alone in a Taiwan apartment than it would be to share a single molecule of oxygen with any fan of those red-clad jackasses from New England.

Having said that, here's a preview of tonight's game:

Wang rarely right in Boston

In Chien-Ming Wang's two and a half seasons with the Yankees, 34 players have accumulated 15 or more at bats against him. Those 34 batters are a combined 216-for-687 (.314 BA/.396 OBP).

Of those 34 players, seven are currently on the Red Sox roster -- Julio Lugo, Mike Lowell, Coco Crisp, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek, Manny Ramirez, and the Boston DH. Those seven players have hung Wang out to dry in a way that is just scary. Combined, those Red Sox hitters are 53-for-167 with 15 extra-base hits (including five home runs) against the Yankee ace, with a .317 average and a ridiculous .497 on-base percentage (Youkilis alone has worked eight walks of Wang). And no one makes Wang suffer as Manny does: 13-for-22, .591/.654, with a pair of home runs and four walks. Five ninety-one!!??

It isn't all bad, however. Wang did beat the Sox three times in five starts last season, and the Yankee ace is a respectable 2-3 lifetime at Fenway Park, but -- there's always a but -- with a shaky 6.17 ERA. In his last start in Boston (Sept. 15), Wang was tortured for five earned runs on nine hits in just five and 2/3 innings of a 10-1 Red Sox rout.

(On the opposite side of the ledger, Wang has struck out the above Red Sox contingent a combined 22 times, and Lugo has whiffed six times against Wang, more than any other batter Wang has faced.)

It's a new year, maybe a new Wang as far as Fenway is concerned. As a new Yankee blogger, I may invent a few new words if I'm writing after a particularly tough loss this weekend. But there's no sense in worrying ahead of time. Let's have faith in Wang and let's hope Manny slips on a fake dreadlock extension and rips his knee in 75 places.

Mold that Clay

The Yankees have no history against upstart Red Sox starter Clay Buckholz, but that's no reason not to hate him and wish ill upon him. He had a so-what no-hitter last September and is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA this season. Let's not waste any more time or space on him. The Yankees have a chance to ruin this kid's life tonight.

There's always hope.

Whither Derek Jeter?

Will the Yankee captain play tonight? Will Giambi make a go of it? Can Jorge do anything with that lifeless limb? ...... Who cares? Remember your Henry V, and Wish not one man more!

This team, as is, is ready to roll. One of the benefits of this injury streak is the flowering of Alberto Gonzalez and the emergence of Jose Molina as terrific role players who can handle every-day duties. Let's dance with whomever brings us to Boston.

T-sh*t Controversy

And to this loser who thinks he did something original by burying a Red Sox t-shirt under the visitor's locker room at the new Yankee Stadium, don't get hurt patting yourself on that yellow streak down your back. Any jackass can make a claim that's unverifiable. Go buy 100 copies of the New York Post and wallpaper your mother's basement.

And if the shirt really is there, I hope the Yankees dig up the spot and build a toilet over the thing. It would only be fitting, since we've been shitting on the Red Sox for almost a century, anyway.

Bon (a) Pettitte!

2008-04-10T22:57:00.000-07:00

If this is the Andy Pettitte we're going to get this season, then who can doubt that the lanky left-hander will start the first Opening Day in the new Yankee Stadium, about this time next year?

He'll never be perfect, not at his age and with his recent health history, but last night in Kansas City, under difficult circumstances, Pettitte was as good as we have a right to expect him to be this time of year, and his performance has to whet the appetite of Yankee fans for the upcoming five and a half months.

With starting catcher Jorge Posada still off the battery with a dead arm (that's a deliciously graphic adjective the Yankees trainers use to describe Posada's condition, but if his arm were really dead, wouldn't he be swinging the bat one-handed?), with the Kansas City forecast mailed in from the rain forest, and with a patchwork offensive lineup that lacked Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, and (thankfully) Jason Giambi, and featured Melky Cabrera batting in the two-hole, Pettitte held down the hot-hitting Royals (20-for-53, .377 BA the first two games of the series) and allowed the Yankees to sneak off to Boston without the indignity of being swept out of town.

We may never again see the Pettitte of the late-1990s, but with all the offensive troubles of the last ten days, we'll take the Pettitte we got last night, and then some.

A-Rod's milestones march

I caught some of Mike and the Mad Dog earlier this week, and one caller asked if A-Rod was approaching "in the conversation" status, as in, he has to be in the conversation whenever the greatest players of all time are discussed. Mike didn't think so, at least not yet (I disagree), and his reasoning was the lack of a World Series ring (which is a fair argument). But can we agree that A-Rod is already in the conversation for greatest infielders of all time?

Let's start with the glove. He was already the class of the shortstops in the majors when he moved over to the hot corner to cover third base in the Bronx. And by this point in time, can another current third-sacker even enter the conversation with A-Rod for best active third baseman? If there is one, I'd like to know who he is and which manager would prefer him to A-Rod, who may be iffy on those mile-high pop-ups, but that's hardly relevant when he has initiated enough double plays, and made enough first-rate throws to first base this season to effectively end the debate over who's number one right now.

And now, for his real legacy. A-Rod passed Mickey Mantle for a spot on the all-time, major league RBI list last night. A-Rod now has 1,510 runs batted in, that's one more than the Mick and good for 45th place in baseball history. With a modest (for A-Rod) 120 RBI this season, A-Rod will pass several other all-time greats, and here is just a short list: Willie Stargell, Mike Schmidt, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Tris Speaker, Rogers Hornsby, Willie McCovey, George Brett, and none other than Joltin' Joe DiMaggio. As Ken Singleton said on an earlier YES broadcast, A-Rod's to the point where every name he passes makes you say, "Wow!"

And as for home runs, last night's was his 175th as a Yankee, tying him with Bobby Murcer for 19th on the Yankee career list. By the end of the season, he will have passed another Yankee legend -- Roger Maris - and will be closing in on a second -- Don Mattingly. Also in A-Rod's wake will be Bill Dickey, Dave Winfield, Tino Martinez, and Paul O'Neill.

Maybe the best-ever debate still doesn't include Alex Rodriguez, but how long before that changes?

Holy Jose Molina!

Brian Cashman has made a number of indisputably horrible pitching signings (I'd be too depressed if I typed out the list; you all know who I mean...), but on the other end of the battery, he made maybe the best call of the last few seasons.

Signing Jose Molina may have been a Who? What? Why?!! moment when it was announced, but where would the Yankees be without Molina's brilliant fill-in performance for the dead-limbed Jorge Posada? The River Avenue Blues guys are speculating on some magical break-out year for Molina, and that may happen. But for now, let's revel in the real and feel fortunate for what the best back-up catcher in baseball has meant to our team.

Hip hip, Jose!

Keeping it real

We're all about being positive after a solid win last night, but here's a stat for your ass, just to keep us grounded... the Yankees are still only 13-for-74 (.176) this season with runners in scoring position.

One-effing-seventy-six? How's that gonna fly in Beantown?

Memo to Yankee batters: Patience (at the plate) is a virtue

2008-04-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

You're not supposed to reveal birthday wishes, but since this is after the fact, after the wish has already been destroyed, what the hell....

All I asked for today -- leaning over that chocolate, strawberry-covered marvel of a cake, preparing to blow out far too many candles -- was that the Yankees didn't get shut out this season. I can take (though just barely) Kyle Farnsworth throwing flat heaters that turn into gofer balls, and I can even take that dopey stretch motion that Ian Kennedy stole from Mike Mussina, but what I hate -- HATE!... worse than liver or ex-wives -- is seeing accomplished, professional hitters giving away outs with loopy swings at first-pitch strikes. That's what the Yankees did in Kansas City last night, and that's why my birthday wish went up in (candle) smoke faster than one of Hank Steinbrenner's cigarettes.

Tyler Kepner wrote in the NY Times story (posted online after the game) that this first shutout was bound to happen, and sooner rather than later, with the Yankees plating an anemic 25 runs in nine games, good for 13th out of fourteen American League teams. That's an easy claim in hindsight (but to be fair to Kepner, I think we all saw this coming), and it gets even easier when realizing that two of the three best Yankee hitters from 2007 -- Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter -- are out of the lineup.

But the frustration this shutout brings with it doesn't spring from untimely injuries or even the personal slumps of Robbie Cano, Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi. The Yankees, all of them, are woeful with runners in scoring position -- bad enough in itself -- but the reason they're woeful is the way they're approaching at bats with men on second and third base.

How many times, with a runner in scoring position, has a Yankee batter run a pitcher to a full count? I haven't kept track, but I'd bet the percentage is well below a third of the time. How many infield pop-ups have we seen with a runner on second and no outs? More than enough. How many times has Cano tried to pull an outside pitch and grounded out with runners on second? He did it again last night with Damon on second in the eighth inning. (I'm tempted to cop-out on Cano and rescind my pre-season MVP tag, but that'd be cheating and.... on second thought, let me sleep on it.)

Before the season, Yankee fans were ready to lay all the blame for a poor start to the season on the pitching staff, but with a few timely hits, even last night's latest Farnsworth disaster wouldn't have stung so much. Girardi was right to start Bruney, who is looking more Joba-like every time he takes the hill. And Kennedy has to be excused his poor first inning because starters really don't perform well in relief, and last night was a unique game situation unlikely to come up again.

In Kepner's game story, he writes that Girardi held a team meeting before the game to address some in-game situations that have been troubling him. At the top of his list had to be timely htting. It didn't get corrected last night, but it better get turned around soon. The Yankees are already in a three-game hole, just a half-game out of the AL East basement. With an unforgiving April road schedule, the Yankees can't afford to fall much further back. Counting on another late-season rebound from a disastrous start is asking to much.

A 4-5 record is no time to hit the panic button, but the offensive trend of bad decision-making rather than poor swings is troubling, and it's a trend worth watching as the Yankees prepare to invade Boston on Friday.

Pitching staff a relief to fans

2008-04-08T03:29:00.000-07:00

After the first homestand, and the first week, of the season, what have we learned about this Yankee pitching staff?

The answer: It's nowhere near as anemic as some have suggested it would be.

The experts who get paid to know these things insisted the 2008 Yankees were going to have to live and die with their offense as the arms -- some too old; others too young -- took their time to get into the groove of a six-month season. Well, guess what? Through the first six games, the Yankees managed a 3-3 record -- not stellar, but not 0-6, either -- without scoring more than four runs or getting more than nine hits in a game. And even in last night's offensive semi-explosion (six runs, 11 hits), the pitching staff combined to hold the very potent Rays offense to a single run.

The leader, of course, was Chien-Ming Wang, whose 2-0 record, 1.38 ERA, and 1.07 WHIP were the reasons the Yankees won 3-2 and 2-0 in Wang's two starts. Wang may get lit up in Fenway this weekend, but he has put to rest any idea that he would not bounce back from the playoff disaster last October.

Right behind Wang was the Joba-Mo (or do you want Mo-Joba?) combination. Chamberlain laid waste to Jays-Rays hitters, showing that he, too, has forgotten about the Cleveland debacle. And Mariano picked up three saves in three chances. Case closed on whether or not that contract the Yankees gave him was a good idea.

As for the rest of the starters, Phil Hughes did everything but pick up the win on Thursday (instead, it went to Chamberlain in relief). Andy Pettitte was competitive if not overwhelming, and Mike Mussina gave the team two quality starts, going 1-1 and provoking a big sigh of relief from Yankee fans. Only Ian Kennedy struggled mightily, but it was 40 degrees and he's 21 years old. It's along season, and he'll get better.

The relief staff was the rollercoaster, and to whose surprise? Aside from the two stars, Brian Bruney looked terrific, and Billy Traber did what he was called on to do. We all know the other side of the story: LaTroy Hawkins and Kyle Farnsworth. As bad as they were in their early outings, neither one broke anything in last night's series ender with the Rays.

Will it be a long, nail-biting season with many of these guys? Probably, but for now, that 4-3 record sits well with me. With the Yankee offense ranking 11th (in the American League) in batting average (.245), 13th in on-base percentage (.287), and tied for 10th in runs scored (23), there's every reason to believe that the record could be far worse. (*These statistics were tallied before last night's game.)

And as always... we could be Detroit.

There's no panic in baseball

2008-04-06T01:42:00.000-07:00

MEMO TO YANKEE FANS: There are 157 games left in the 2008 season.

Because of the miracle of the Internet, I can live in Taiwan and listen to talk radio from New York. Usually, I'm not one of those who derides the lunacy of talk radio. People need a place to vent and sound unintelligent, and unless your Orson Welles scaring people into suicide, what harm's been done?

But listening to the string of calls to WFAN early Sunday morning (New York time), I had to laugh. Half a dozen callers in a row opened their remarks with some variation of 'Help! The SS Yankee clipper is going down!"

If it wasn't the relief pitching it was the bat of Robbie Cano (who's due to have an MVP season, mark my words). If it wasn't Cano, it was Matsui, or Damon, or Girardi, or.... you name it, Yankee fans found a way to use it as a 400-lb noose around our necks.

People, ease up on the accelerator and take your fingers off the panic button. Drop the despair and let the paranoia go! It's April 6, for crying out loud. If we're still a game under .500 on August 6, then we've got something to worry about. But it's not August, it's April, so lighten up.

This is a team that has battled itself out of huge holes in the recent past. This season's roster is not all that different from the one that nearly stole the AL East flag just last year, and last year's team had shaky relief pitching, April-May offensive slumps that would kill Joe DiMaggio (if he weren't already dead), and starting pitchers named Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, and Chien-Ming Wang. If any of those things sound familiar, they should. This season's team has exactly the same ingredients.

Will things play out the same? Who knows? I sure don't. But it is too early to pull our collective hair out and start calling for players' heads. The April schedule is murderous. Barring rainouts, the Yankees will be fortunate to get to May 1 at 16-13. And if that record were reversed, it still wouldn't be a tragedy.

That baseball is a marathon, not a sprint, is a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason: because it's true. If the Yankees are floundering come August, we can start burning up the phone lines and calling for blood in the streets from the rolling heads of Yankee decision makers. But it's April. The clouds will clear. The flowers will bloom. And the Yankees will win.

And anyway..... we could be Tigers fans.

Suspensions taking their toll

2008-04-05T07:51:00.000-07:00

It may seem insignificant, a ninth-place hitter missing two games against a perennial loser like the Rays, but Melky Cabrera's absence last night had disastrous consequences for the Bombers, and today could be more of the same.

With Cabrera sitting out the two-game, reduced suspension the league offered him on Friday, manager Joe Girardi is forced to move Johnny Damon to centerfield, leaving him two unattractive options for the spot Damon must vacate in left. He can either put Shelley Duncan in the field and continue to DH Hideki Matsui, or he can let Matsui patrol left, which is what Girardi did last night.

And we all saw what happened.

There's no way to let LaTroy Hawkins off the hook for his two-game disaster show, but if Damon is in left last night, that fly ball off Eric Hinske's bat is caught, and Hawkins is out of the inning and the game is 7-4, not 13-4. Does Duncan get to that ball? Who knows.... but Matsui should only play left field again in an emergency. He's that bad now. It may be the cold weather in New York, but it looks to me like his injuries the last two seasons have aged him, and he just looks incapable of being a competent major league fielder anymore.

Duncan's loss Sunday and Monday won't hurt as much as has the absence of Cabrera. Joe Torre was correct when he referenced Cabrera's taking over centerfield last year as the turning point in the season. The Yankee defense is not solid enough to withstand the loss of an up the middle defender the caliber of Cabrera, even if Cabrera is still prone to taking some strange angles on balls.

Let's get past today, and come Tuesday let's put this whole sad suspension business behind us and get the whole roster moving forward.

First four games have had it all

2008-04-05T00:06:00.001-07:00

Just four games into this young season, and Yankee fans have already seen everything.

First, the good.

You like solid pitching? We got that, twice. Thanks to Mr. Wang and Mr. Hughes, and Joba-Mo and the Relievers (well, most of the relievers..... raise your hand if you suck, LaTroy Hawkins), we've seen the Yankees' ability to hold leads and, more importantly, their resolve not to implode when the freezing temperatures and a teeny strike zone take away the corners.

Does timely hitting give you that happy feeling? We've even had some of that, though not much, but it is still the first week of April. A-Rod has a home run, as does Melky Cabrera. Giambi is swatting away and will start getting hits to show for it. Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu look like they're going to have hot starts. The hitting has been spotty, but far from horrific.

Good defense, that's your bag? How about five double plays on Wednesday, and a nimble Giambi at first base saving Jeter from two throwing errors? A-Rod, Cabrera, Giambi, Robbie Cano -- and even Jeter -- have made some terrific turns with the leather. And pressed into three starts behind the plate, Jose Molina has been rifling some terrific throws down to second.

Now, the bad, and the ugly (all rolled into one, because I can't take analyzing them separately).

Bad pitching got you down? Me, too. It looks like LaTroy Hawkins and his 10-plus ERA at Yankee Stadium (before this season) had less to do with the fact that before 2008 he was always facing tough Yankee lineups, and more to do with the fact that he is, well, LaTroy Hawkins. Even a math moron (you're reading one right now) could look at these numbers -- 2.0/8/7/7/0/0 -- and, well, have a stroke, because even an idiot would know that those numbers add up to a big fat ZERO, which is what Hawkins has been in two pathetic outings.

He's not alone. Kyle Farnsworth, at least Friday night, was back to being Kyle Farnsworth. Maybe Hawkins was contagious. Maybe it was manager Joe Girardi and his "I'll sleep this one off on the couch" bug that made this most recent game look so sickening. Who knows? But Ian Kennedy was nearly unhittable -- only because most of his pitches were nearly uncontrollable. He'll be better, but he can't wait too long. But Hawkins and Farnsworth? Pardon Yankee fans if they'll need a lot of convincing before ever feeling good with these two on the hill in a tight game.

As Cano goes... Okay, so maybe my pre-season touting of Cano as this season's league MVP was a tad premature, but he's looked nothing but uncomfortable in the six hole. Maybe he's just not a cold-weather guy, and things will change come May or June (they did last season), but until then Girardi may have to move Cano back down to the eighth slot. Will that damage a young player psychologically? No idea, but soon Cano is going to damage Yankee fans, optically. How many more weak at bats do we have to witness?

And Johnny Damon? His four-game strikeout streak -- and none of them have been pretty -- is bothersome (as is the gray hair plainly visible, whenever Damon is sans chapeau, in the dugout). The double and the triple were nice, but a .143 average and 162-strikeout pace aren't what you put off retirement for.

What does it all mean?

Taken as a whole, the 2-2 start is better than 1-3 or 0-4, and we shouldn't get too worked up over one 13-4 drubbing, in early April, to a young team with a chip on its shoulder. But a pitching implosion, led by one of the rookies and carried on by two scary relievers, is what Yankee fans have dreaded, and Friday night was a realized nightmare.

Everything that's happened over the first four games will probably happen again; it's been the best and the worst, and every Yankee has played a part. But Yankee fans have to hope that it's a lot more of games one and three, and a lot less of game four, that defines the arc of this promising season.

How far is too far for Joba?

2008-04-04T05:14:00.000-07:00

The official Yankees website has a story on the aftermath of Joba Chamberlain's post-strikeout, fist pump/war cry from Wednesday's game against the Blue Jays, and apparently the celebration rankled a few folks.

But it didn't lay too big a hurt on the feelings of Frank Thomas, who was the strikeout victim who ended the eighth inning and prompted Chamberlain's antics. Thomas told YES Network's Michael Kay that if he had gotten a hit, there would have been no celebration from the young Yankee reliever.

But Thomas followed that statement with another: "That's the way the game is today."

Chamberlain's trademark gesture, much like what Tiger Woods does after a long Sunday birdie, has been an issue with me since the first time I saw it. Thomas, and 18-year veteran, has apparently adjusted to how today's young players react to their own success. Good for Thomas, and in reality, Joba's gesture doesn't quite reach the level of showboating, because it never occurs in the direction of a vanquished batter, and it doesn't occur after every at-bat. He seems to reserve it for the tense, inning-ending variety of strikeout, and he directs it to the Yankee dugout and the Yankee fans. And if no opposing hitter's are complaining, why should anyone else?

But you have to wonder if a National League pitcher would do the same thing, knowing he would have to bat, eventually. (Although relievers tend not to bat even in the NL, the mere possibility does seem to check the urge to celebrate openly in that league.)

And you have to wonder where the line is. Last night, Michael Kay, on air for YES, recalled the over-the-top finger-pointing from Dennis Eckersley after he would set down a batter. That was a different era, and Eck got away with it, apparently. But what would happen to a pitcher's teammate -- say, to Derek Jeter -- twenty years ago if Joba were pulling this same stunt against a team from the early-1980s? If Eck got away with a much more offensive celebration, was it because he was in Oakland and not pitching for the Yankees? Is it the Yankee factor that is stirring up baseball observers?

Of course, it doesn't matter what would have happened then; this is now. As a Yankee fan, I get that first rush of excitement at a "Joba moment," but then as a baseball fan, I feel an immediate wince and a sense of uneasy moral relativism. I certainly wouldn't like to see a Red Sox pitcher doing that during a Yankee game.... but since I enjoy Joba, do I have a right to bitch about it now.....?

Screw it.... I'll still bitch if the Red Sox do it. But at least we can hope that Joba keeps it under some measure of control. The last thing Yankee fans should ever be for is an in-your-face kind of attitude that detracts from real performance.

It will be interesting to see how this is handled by the Rays should the occasion occur this weekend. There is already enough bad blood swirling around this interesting series.

Here come the Rays

2008-04-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

There will be more than enough mainstream media query about how the Yankees will handle the new "rivalry" with the Rays, so let's let the hype-obsessors deal with that. Suffice it to say, there will be tension, especially if there's anything cheeky going on on the field. But for now, let's stick to baseball.

On the hill

Tampa Bay: Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine doesn't have much big league history (6-10, including an 8-game losing streak, and a 5.85 ERA in 22 starts during his rookie season in 2007), but he does have some history with the Yankees.

Sonnanstine went 1-1 against the Yankees last season, posting a 3.14 ERA. He was downright masterful on August 31, throwing eight innings of two-hit ball while striking out five and allowing one run in a 9-1 Tampa victory. In fact, Sonnanstine went 4-0 over his final five starts of the season, with 29 strikeouts and only five walks allowed. The kid appears to have a future.

Yankees: Will it be Ian-steven for the Yanks tonight? Will Kennedy match the great outing of his mound mate Phil Hughes?

Like Sonnanstine, Kennedy has scant major league experience, but he does have a win -- his only big league decision, in fact -- against Tampa. Last September 1, Kennedy threw seven innings of five-hit ball against the (Devil) Rays, allowing three runs (one earned), striking out six and walking two in a 9-6 Yankee victory.

At the plate

Yankees: It isn't much of a sample, quantitatively, but here it is: Melky Cabrera, Robbie Cano, Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada, and Alex Rodriguez are a combined 3-for-30 against Sonnanstine. Look for those numbers to change dramatically.

Bobby Abreu is only 1-for-6 against the Tampa hurler, but with a home run. Derek Jeter has had the most success, going 3-for-7 a year ago with a double and a home run to go along with two strikeouts. Hideki Matsui has also had some good at bats against Sonnanstine, going 2-for-6 and, like Jeter, swatting a double and a home run against a pair of strikeouts.

(*Kennedy's limited sample vs. Tampa hitters doesn't warrant mention)

Pre-game Notes

Joba Chamberlain is now 37-for-56 in his career, striking out hitters after getting to a two-strike count... Johnny Damon has struck out at least once in each of the first three games... Derek Jeter's o-for-2 night Thursday snapped a 17-game hitting streak stretching from the final 15 games of 2007... The Yankees are 111-55 all-time against Tampa Bay, including a Yankee Stadium record of 59-23.

No win, but no loss, for Phil

2008-04-04T02:03:00.000-07:00

Yankee bats wait too long to hand Hughes a victory

It would have been nice to get starter Phil Hughes his first win of the season Thursday, in a game eerily reminiscent of New York's first win on Tuesday. But Hughes had to settle for a well-pitched no-decision, as the Yankee offense tied the score just before Hughes was yanked by manager Joe Girardi, and plated the winning run for Joba Chamberlain in the bottom of the eighth.

In the long run of Hughes' career, Thurday's non-win won't mean much. But in the short-term, his solid outing helped the Yankees take a 2-to-1 series win over the Jays, and that's all that matters.

The Report Card

Hughes: Big Phil did his job, much the way Chien-Ming Wang did on Tuesday. No one expects complete-game gems in April, but starters do have to hold down the fort and give the bats a chance. Hughes had great strikes-to-balls (2-to-1) and strikeout-to-walk (4-to-1) ratios, and both of David Eckstein's hits that figured in the Blue Jay runs scored were flukish: the bloop double in the fourth inning and the grounder A-Rod couldn't quite field in the fifth. Take those away, and Phil might have gotten the win, and the Yankees the shutout.

But, all's well that ends well, and Hughes was top-drawer on Thursday.

Grade: A-, the two runs were earned, after all.

Bullpen: Yankee fans have now seen every reliever of note, and things can hardly have worked out better so far. Brian Traber got a strikeout of the one batter he faced, and Brian Bruney was effective if not spectacular (as many balls as strikes, five and five). Joba surrendered a harmless single but got the win, and Mariano is 2-for-2 in save opportunities. In short, every reliever did the job he's paid to do.

Grade: A

Offense: If there was a star at the plate, it was Bobby Abreu, whose two hits included double and an RBI single that scored the eventual game-winning run. But getting thrown out at third to end the sixth inning was a no-no.... Robinson Cano, Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, and Hideki Matsui are still trying to find their swings, but it's early. Cano took another 0-fer, but cut down on the strikeouts after a bad game at the plate on Wednesday. Matsui, on the other hand, looked dreadful, in spite of the single he lined into left in the fifth inning. Damon has now had at least one strikeout in each of the first three games,but did slap a clean double last night. Giambi swatted the sac fly that tied the score in the fifth, and still has a sharp eye for the strike zone... There were no fireworks as with the Cabrera and A-Rod home runs of the first two games, but winning with good pitching and base-to-base offense works as well as waiting for the 3-run dinger.

Going 6-for-25 as a team, with six strikeouts while stranding 18 base runners, isn't a recipe for prolonged success, and the Yankees are only seeing 14 pitches per inning from opposing pitchers; that has to change. But... it's April, and we're 2-1, so Yankee fans will take it.

Grade: C+

Manager: Give Girardi credit for trusting his untested bullpen in a tight game. The relievers came through for him, and with the Joba-Mariano combo on the back end, how bad can a manager look?

Still, the "green light on the basepaths" strategy has yet to translate to any positive production, and in fact, it may have made the Yankee runners a little too carefree thus far. But until it costs us a game, let's not get too critical. It beats watching guys stand around.

Grade: A

Overall: Any bounce-back win is a good one. Avoiding early losing streaks is what the Yankees could not do last April. All teams have their April kinks to work out. And we're playing at a .667 clip. Life could be worse.

Grade: B+

Yanks fall, but A-Rod on track for 81 homers

2008-04-03T00:35:00.000-07:00

Fans will see more of the same after Wednesday

Last night's game seems a fitting sequel to Opening Night, because it's likely Yankee fans can expect a little of both this season.

Whereas the opener provided a paint-by-numbers template of the ideal Yankee game -- the Wang-Joba-Mariano pitching combo working to near-perfection -- last night's 5-2 setback provided what's more likely to happen between Wang's starts: nail-biting pitching, roll-the-dice defense, and the occasional home run to keep things manageable.

Grades

Mike Mussina: Despite the loss, Yankee fans will take what they got from Mussina (he wasn't god-awful, as many feared he might be). Moose was sturdy through five and two-thirds innings; only the Vernon Wells home run in the third inning made him look like the Moose of 2007.

Mussina got a lot of help from double plays (the Yankees turned five on the night, three with Mussina on the hill), and occasionally got a generous strike call at the plate from umpire Jerry Meals. A Jason Giambi error to open the game was a bad omen, and the Jays did score two runs in the inning, but by and large Moose managed the trouble spots without letting the game get out of hand.

For the night, 62 of his 91 pitches found the plate, so, if he was not spectacular, he was at least efficient, which is about all Yankee fans want from him in 2008.

Grade: a solid B

The Bullpen: LaTroy Hawkins made his first appearance, and wasn't terrible. He got a one-pitch out in relief of Moose to end the sixth, then allowed two hits and gave up a run in the seventh. Kyle Farnsworth relieved in the eighth and allowed two hits, the second a Lyle Overbay triple that probably should have been caught by Melky Cabrera at the centerfield wall. Farnsworth stranded Overbay by striking out Aaron Hill to end the inning. In the ninth, Ross Ohlendorf opened by nailing Marcos Scutaro, but got out of the inning behind New York's fifth double play of the night.

All in all, little harm was done, which is what these three guys are there to do. But Hawkins brings the grade down a half-notch, but only just. His 14-for-16, stikes-to-pitches-thrown ratio was astounding.

Grade: a workmanlike B-

Defense: Five double plays kept this game from being (at least) 8-2 instead of 5-2. Those five, flawless turns alone would warrant an A+, but Giambi's opening error -- booting a grounder from David Eckstein, then deciding too late not to toss it to a covering Mussina and being beaten to the bag by a hustling Eckstein -- got the ball rolling for Toronto. Giambi nearly made a similar gaffe later on, but recovered and made the out. His one redeeming moment came in the fifth when he kept his toe on the bag while diving to the dirt to snag an errant throw from Derek Jeter. The ensuing out ended the inning, giving Mussina his only three-up, three-down frame.

Elsewhere, Melky Cabrera failed to produce the highlights of Opening Night, which can't be expected every game. But on Overbay's triple, Cabrera wasn't under the ball the way he could have been.

And finally, Abreu's throw to the plate in the seventh was....... off line, just a tad. Ugly, is what it was.

Grade: the five DPs can't be ignored; A-

The Offense: A-Rods' home run was the single highlight, as Jays starter A.J. Burnett was sizzling Wednesday night. The Yankees managed six singles, but never strung together more than two in a row. Jason Giambi's ninth-inning fly would have tied the game at 5-all, but a wind in excess of 20 mph kept the ball on the warning track in left center.

On the bases, Abreu was caught stealing in the first inning, and in the fourth, Jeter was thrown out at second trying to advance after a throwing error allowed him to reach first. Manager Joe Girardi's take-the-extra-base policy needs a little fine-tuning.

Not a terrible night, but not the opportunistic Yankees we'll probably see by the end of the month. And several of the seven strikeouts were just plain awful to watch.

Grade: a wobbly C.

Manager: With Giambi semi-struggling in the field, why not bat Shelley Duncan or Morgan Ensburg against the right-handed Brian Tallet in the seventh inning? Giambi was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Tallet, and he whiffed again Wednesday night.

And letting Jeter try for second after the throwing error...? That ball that got away was not of the kind that would allow Jeter to make that turn successfully. Technically, it's Tony Pena's job to be on top of that situation, but the buck stops with the big man.

Otherwise, not much Girardi could do to overcome Burnett's efficiency.

Grade: B

Mussina has much to prove

2008-04-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

It's time for Yankee fans to hold their collective breath. Mike Mussina is about to take the hill.

It might seem unfair to heap so much doubt on a veteran with 254 career wins, but Mussina has done nothing over the past twelve months to earn any benefit of the doubt. His 11-10 record and 5.15 ERA over 28 starts last season, and his increasing number of early exits -- Mussina averaged fewer than six innings per start last season -- cause concern for Yankee fans who do not want to see the bullpen taxed early, especially when the Yankees have one off day before May 5.

That concern is exacerbated when Yankee fans realize that manager Joe Girardi has a strict innings cap on his young starters, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes. With the bullpen already slated to cover the back innings when the rookies start, Mussina is going to be counted on to log 185-200 innings this season. That seems an unlikely mountain for Moose to climb.

But there's a reason they play the games: numbers on paper are as meaningful as a LaTroy Hawkins spring outing ("it don't mean shit, dude"). The Yankees are riding high after last night's thriller over the Blue Jays. Let's hope Mussina can keep the party going, and keep the bullpen rested.

The numbers

If anyone is going to send Mussina to an early shower, it's going to be the Big Hurt.

Frank Thomas could go to Cooperstown on his numbers vs. Mussina alone. Thomas is .375 (30-for-80) with nine home runs and 21 RBI off Moose. But Thomas isn't the only Blue Jay batter with a good history of teeing off on Mussina.

Shannon Stewart has a healthy but not superhuman .295 average against Moose, but of his 18 hits, nine are for extra bases, with a triple and a home run. Vernon Wells (.345, 2 HR), David Eckstein (.571, 4-for-7), and Aaron Hill (.313) will team up with Thomas to make life tough on today's Yankee starter.

For Yankee hitters, it's feast or famine off Blue Jays starter A.J. Burnett. Here are the numbers for today's probable lineup:

J. Damon -- .154/.267/.385, 2-for-13, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 2 SO
D. Jeter -- .357/.471/.571, 5-for-14, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 3 SO
B. Abreu -- .325/.462/.450, 13-for-40, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 11 BB, 12 SO
A. Rodriguez -- .357/.357/.857, 5-for-14, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 4 SO
J. Giambi -- .300/.364/.300, 3-for-10, 1 BB, 2 SO
R. Cano -- .222/.222/.222, 2-for-9, 2 SO
J. Posada -- .083/.214/.083, 1-for-12, 2 BB, 4 SO
H. Matsui -- .333/.556/.333, 2-for-6, 3 BB, 2 SO
M. Cabrera -- .091/.091/.091, 1-for-11, 1 SO

Yanks on track for unbeaten season

2008-04-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

"That's the way you draw it up."

Those were new Yankee manager Joe Girardi's words after Tuesday's Opening Night, 3-2 thriller over the Toronto Blue Jays, giving Girardi a win in his Yankee managerial debut, and giving the Yankees a Major League record 11th consecutive victory in a season home opener. The win also put a dent in Blue Jay starter Roy Halladay's career record against the Yankees. Before Tuesday, Halladay had gone 10-4 lifetime in 24 starts vs. New York.

Pitching-wise, the Yankees will surely want to bottle this game and break it out several times throughout a season that promises to be fraught with question marks surrounding the pitching. But there were no questions Tuesday night, as starter Chien-Ming Wang and relievers Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera laid down a template that teams around baseball will envy.

Despite some shaky control moments and a tightrope fifth inning, Wang sparkled, tossing seven innings of six-hit ball. He struck out two and walked two while allowing two earned runs. Of the Jays' six hits, only a liner to left from Alex Rios in the first inning and Aaron Hill's double to lead off the seventh were solidly struck.

Wang did get help from his defense, with Melky Cabrera running down two long line drives in centerfield on back to back hitters in the fourth inning, and Jason Giambi leaping high to snare a line drive at first base with two runners on base and no outs in the fifth inning.

Joba Chamberlain relieved to start the eighth, and showed only moments of the pop he had in his late-season fastball in 2007, when he came to the Yankees after a full season of starting in the minors. Chamberlain did record two strikeouts to negate a nine-pitch walk to Alex Rios.

Mariano Rivera mopped up in the ninth inning for his first save of the season, setting down the three Jays batters he faced, including getting a called strike three on Lyle Overbay to open the inning.

For the game, Wang threw 92 pitches (55 for strikes). Chamberlain threw 21, and Rivera 12.

Player of the Game

Melky Cabrera went only 1-for-3 off Halladay, but the one hit was a tough one for the Blue Jays ace to surrender. Cabrera lifted a fly ball to right on the tenth pitch he saw from Halladay in the sixth inning. The ball fell just over the 314 marker at the right field wall, prompting Halladay to shout "Blanking ballpark!"as Cabrera rounded first base. The homer tied the game at 2-2.

In centerfield, Cabrera ran down Lyle Overbay's drive to the wall in the fourth inning, and followed that up two pitches later with an even better diving snare of a sinking Aaron Hill liner to end the inning.

Yankees in the field

Cabrera wasn't the only Yankee to play sparkling defense. Giambi's leaping catch in the fifth saved a run with two on and no outs, and on the night the Yankees made no errors and completed one double play in one attempt... The Blue Jays, however, did steal three bases on three attempts.

Yankees at the plate

Despite poor career numbers vs. Halladay, Bobby Abreu went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles in his first two at bats... A-Rod collected an RBI double in the first inning and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh when Hideki Matsui's potential double play grounder was bobbled at second base... Johnny Damon had a triple to lead off the eighth, but was stranded as the Yankees could not advance Damon home... And when was the last time Derek Jeter, who was 1-for-4 on the night, grounded out to the pitcher three times in one game?... The Yankees did not follow their customary pattern of running counts deep on opposing pitchers. The first time through the order, only Cabrera saw more than five pitches. By the end of the sixth inning, Halladay had thrown a miserly 76 pitches to Yankee hitters... And finally, Yankee fans better get used to seeing Robinson Cano moving up in the order. Joe Girardi loves the kid, and put him in the sixth slot last night. How long before Cano is batting third? Not long, if Abreu repeats his April-May swoon of a year ago. Yankee fans will keep an eye on whether or not Cano's upward surge has sparked Abreu early in the season.

Other notes...

Blue Jay batters were set to tee off on Joba Chamberlain. Of the 13 strikes thrown by Chamberlain, Jays batter connected on eight of them, although only one was put in play, a leadoff grounder to second by Shannon Stewart... With two strikeouts Tuesday, Chamberlain has now struck out 36 of the 53 batters he's faced when having a two-strike count... After Cabrera's home run in the sixth inning, he took a curtain call as Halladay was pitching to Johnny Damon. After the pitch, Halladay screamed at Cabrera to get back in the dugout. On his next at bat, Cabrera struck out on three pitches. He was the last batter Halladay faced.

Somebody hand Curry a clue

2008-04-01T19:32:00.001-07:00

It's almost a shame to provide any word-of-mouth on Jack Curry's ridiculous piece, posted on the New York Times website Tuesday night, but what's the point of a blog if it's not to respond, occasionally, to other writers?

The timing of this hit piece on Alex Rodriguez is curious. The column landed on the Times website less than an hour after the final out of New York's 3-2 Opening Night victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. It's easy to picture Curry, who must have been waiting for A-Rod to go 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, wringing his hands as Rodriguez put together a 2-for-4 evening with an RBI double and a run scored. Sorry, Jack, that things didn't work out your way.

In brief, Curry's thesis is that A-Rod has some making up to do after the disastrous timing of his now-infamous contract opt-out during Game Four of last October's World Series. Curry refuses to lay the blame for the timing on A-Rod's former agent, Scott Boras. Rather, Curry only mentions in passing that A-Rod "angrily broke from Boras," without ever laying out the reason for the split, the omission suggesting -- at least to this reader -- that A-Rod was somehow complicit in the timing.

A-Rod has never been a favorite of mine, but the absolute last thing I was thinking about when he came to the plate in the first inning Tuesday night was, 'Gee, what a bummer that opt-out was!" Whatever happened in October should stay in October.

And Curry should stick to the present. In the final year of America's greatest sports arena, in Curry's hometown, he can't come up with anything else to write about? Curry should contact this website. I'll give him a list.

Evening start beats no baseball at all

2008-04-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

After yesterday's post about the sacred sounds of Opening Day.... we were all left with nothing but our empty scorecards and our disappointment once the game was postponed. Opening Day turned out to be the rainy day that baseball's gods toss down from the heavens from time to time, but don't blame them.

(Rather, blame the owners who wiped out scheduled doubleheaders in order to get the extra six or seven paid gates per season to pay for the financing of the new stadiums that came into vogue after 1991, making it necessary to push the start of the season back to March so if there are rainouts -- voila! yesterday!-- there would still be enough open dates left so the make-up games wouldn't have to be doubleheaders, and.... but I digress.)

(Still digressing.... weren't the snow-outs in Detroit and Cleveland last year a clue.....?)

Anyway, the Yankees and Blue Jays wil try to get the season started tonight. No changes for either team, as far as we know now. Chien-Ming Wang will still go on the mound for the Bombers, and Roy Halladay will still try to torment the Yankee batters as he has done so well over the past six years. You can scroll down and read yesterday's post for the relevant numbers. Today, let's just play ball, already!

(And if it's true that the Yankees told Wang, at noon yesterday, not to warm up, and they never turned on the stadium lights -- meaning they knew the game wasn't going to be played -- then went and opened the gates and sold memorabilia, food, and drinks before sending fans home.... then shame on the Yankee front office. That's just low-class. Go ahead and raise the ticket prices and make us help you pay the salary and new stadium costs, but don't bilk unsuspecting fans out of their money on days when you know a game isn't going to happen. That's just despicable.)

Crystal balling it

2008-04-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

I usually eschew writing predictions (yet, strangely, I enjoy reading them when done by others...) because it's just more fun for me to sit back and see how things turn out. Watching games day-to-day, noticing trends and seeing how things play out just suits me better.

But there are a few things -- a few possibilities -- about the 2008 Major League baseball season that are intriguing enough to make me wonder about them out loud.

These won't be strictly Yankee-related, but in the words of Terrence Mann (crowbar in hand) in Field of Dreams, "There are no rules here."....

Yankee Young-uns

Okay, so the first intriguing thing about this season is Yankee-related, and it's the immediate future of the three young arms that will be such a big part of this season for the Bombers.

Simply put, with the uncertain health of Andy Pettitte, the one-year-older, not-really-any-better Mike Mussina, and the frightening -- frightening -- prospect of Kei Igawa just one level down in Class AAA ball, the Yankees need Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, and Joba Chamberlain to have bigger years than any fan has a right to expect from a group of rookie pitchers.

As year-long starters, Hughes and Kennedy have to combine for at least 25 victories -- and that's being conservative. Perhaps more importantly, they need to combine for enough innings to keep the bullpen in some kind of working shape through August and September.

As for Chamberlain... his role is so unsteday, who could blame him if at some point in the season the confusion starts to affect his performance? His early-season reliever slot may not last long if either Pettitte or Mussina, or both, go 1-4 in April.

There may be some nervous chatter among Yankee fans regarding these three -- and remember, no team has ever made the playoffs with two rookie starters pitching a full season -- but hey, at least the Red Sox are in the same boat with Clay Buckholz and Jon Lester. It will be fun to see which team's rookie hurlers go under. (On second thought, if it's ours, no it won't be.....)

I'll go out on a limb and say the Hughes-Kennedy combo goes 29-18, throws 360-plus innings, and holds its own all year. Give Chamberlain a 4-0 record out of the pen in the first half, with an ERA under 1.35, and 12 Ks per nine innings. After July, who knows what the Yankees will do with Joba?

Historic worsts

There is a better-than-average chance that this season could provide not just laughably bad, but historically bad teams in each league.

In the American League, the Baltimore Orioles don't just look bad on paper, but they have the bad luck of playing int he AL East, where the Yankees and Red Sox reside, and the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays are both improved over last season.

The O's play 76 games in the division, and could quite possibly be as bad as 20-56 by season's end. And the out-of-division schedule -- against terrific teams such as the Angels, Mariners, Tigers, and Indians -- doesn't offer Baltimore much breathing room. The 2003 Detroit Tigers compiled the worst record in American League history at 43-119. The Orioles have the most losses all-time in the American League, with 8,724 during their 107-year history. Will they add 120 more in 2008 to break the single-season record? I think not, but it will be close.

Call it barely unhistoric, with the O's finishing 50-112.

In the senior circuit, the San Francisco Giants are in serious jeopardy of challenging the 40-120 record of the hapless 1962 New York Mets. The Giants have insisted that it's time to move on from the Barry Bonds era, which is fine, as long as they don't say they're moving forward.

The NL West division is loaded, with the defending league champion Colorado Rockies, defending division champions the Arizona Diamondbacks, last season's (barely) wildcard losing San Diego Padres, and a very strong Los Angeles Dodgers club. It can credibly be claimed that of all eleven other NL teams, only the New York Mets could challenge for even a wildcard in this division, that's how brutal this group is.

And San Francisco is poised to have its worst club, on paper, in decades. Will it be as bad as only 40 wins and 122 losses? That seems impossible, but with a very (probable) possible 15-61 record in their own division, the Giants could challenge history's worst teams.

Prediction: The 1962 Mets are safe, but barely. Giants finish 44-118.

Thirty and then some?

I'm still biting my knuckles to keep from screaming over the Yankees' failure to get Johan Santana from the Minnesota Twins, but at least he's safely in the other league and not in Boston.

Having said that, I hope he trips over one of Jose Reyes' bats in the clubhouse and twists his ankle in about six different places. Otherwise, barring any injury, this guy could become the first pitcher to win at least 30 games in a season since Denny McLain's 31-6 campaign in 1968. Santana is facing NL lineups, which will make his life much easier than it was in the American League. And, the National League is, on the whole, the league of lesser talent these days. If all the stars align - and yesterday's Met debut, a seven-inning Santana gem, indicate that they are well on their way -- Santana just might be unbeatable.

In fact, I think he will be. Hand Santana his third Cy Young, and first in the NL, to go with his 32-4 record.

Cano can do

Let's wrap this post with another Yankee note to bookend it the right way.

I'm already on record here calling it the Year of Robbie, and I'm not backing down. The Yankee second baseman was so hot in spring training that it didn't matter that it was only spring training. And new Yankee manager Joe Girardi is so high on Cano that he's likely to work overtime getting the most out of this ultra-talented young star.

Cano may not be the best second baseman in baseball just yet, but he's a year away, maybe half a year.

Cano's numbers in 2008: .335 BA, .395 OBP, .510 SLG, 195 H, 31 HR, 45 2B, 102 RBI, 40 BB, 70 SO.

And his first AL MVP Award.

Here's an idea...

2008-03-31T23:50:00.000-07:00

An interesting quandary has been served up by the guys at River Avenue Blues. And it has to do with honoring past Yankee heroes.

With the new stadium on tap for 2009, and fans clamoring for appropriate ways to honor retired Yankees of the late 1990s, why not come up with something novel that not only allows the retired guys -- and specifically we're talking about Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill -- to have a special place in Yankee lore, but also allows the sacred uniform numbers to remain in play?

Retiring jersey numbers is as time-honored as the games themselves, but for practical purposes, the practice becomes a problem the longer the game goes on. Conceivably, with enough great players in the history books -- and which franchise has had more great players than the Yankees? -- a franchise will begin to run out of numbers, at least numbers that are considered traditional for everyday players to wear. Already, the Yankees have shelved the numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 (twice), 9, 10, 15, 16, 23, 32, 37, 42, 44, and 49. With the numbers 2 (for Derek Jeter, no question about it), and 5 (for Joe Torre, almsot no question about it), headed for posterity, the Yankees certainly aren't in danger of putting letters on their backs (how would 'Z' look running down a fly ball in center?), but you get the point.

With the appearance of the number 21 on Morgan Ensburg's spring training uniform, fans were first stunned, then inquisitive. How dare he?, some asked. Then others countered with, Well, it's the Yankees' fault for leaving the number available. But does O'Neill really merit a fully-retired number? After all, eight of his 17 major league seasons were spent in Cincinnati -- not true of Bernie, who was a once and future Yankee, for always and for all time. Yes, O'Neill was an indispensible cog in the wheel for all of his years in the Bronx; no one disputes that. But the argument will rage on about his 'retirement' status, with no easy answer to the question.

But one easy solution is to retire a jersey with 'O'Neill' printed atop a '21.' Yes, I know, the Yankees do it the right way by not printing palyer names on their field uniforms, but this is a retired jersey, and it would not only serve O'Neill appropriately for his legendary contributions to the team, but it also would allow the number to remain in circulation.

(Personally, I think a current player wearing a hallowed veteran number is a better tribute to the wearers past. It keeps the 'spirit' of the retired players alive, whereas a retired number seems almost to be a memorial to the honored dead. But that's just me.....)

Anyway, there is no doubt the Yankees have to do something for O'Neill and especially for Bernie. What they will do, who knows? But retiring jersies might just be a better gesture than taking all these numbers out of circulation.

I mean, our great-great grandkids might one day be watching a hot young shortstop with a number 102 on his back. And that's not really baseball, is it?

No substitute for Opening Day

2008-03-31T06:36:00.000-07:00

We can argue all day about whether or not professional football has overtaken baseball as America's national pastime. If television ratings and advertising dollars are your calculus for determining the winner of that argument, then the NFL probably wins going away.

And for years, many sports fans have wondered aloud if the Super Bowl should be moved to Monday and be declared a national holiday.

As special as the Super Bowl feels, and as wonderful as the NFL seems on kick-off weekend, something special remains in baseball's Opening Day, something football can't match, regardless what the modern TV numbers suggest.

Much of it can be attributed to timing. Baseball opens after what, for many people in America, has been a bleak winter. Whipping winds and blinding snowdrifts give way to a greening of the twigs and a sky-high blueness blessed with a tinge of cloud puffs. Temperatures are climbing, not falling as in autumn, when football is often followed by the unpacking of the winter wear. Baseball signals -- it may be trite, but it's no less true -- the latest annual promise of what may be the best season of all: the gentle, mild caress of spring.

And baseball offers the prospect of redemption, for this week's five-game losing streak can quickly be turned into next week's -- or next month's -- six-game run of winners. Because baseball stretches across so much of the calendar, there is no desperation in a loss. Baseball teams may indeed be only as good as their next starters, but the comfort that comes with another tomorrow makes today's setback seem somehow more endurable, and Opening Day is where it all begins.

There is, in the very words, something sacred-sounding. You almost expect to see the letters, in block white, placed along the tops of church bulletin boards as you walk along the avenue on your way to the park. Children succumb to the temptation to skip school, and forgiving fathers -- mothers, too -- properly give the nod. For they know that this day comes but once a year, and no other day in any other sport can match what Openng Day offers.

Things change, pastimes pass in and out of prominence, and baseball long ago may very well have been supplanted as America's favorite sport. But there is nothing in sports quite like Opening Day, and it is here, again, and it is good.

Final Openng Day in old stadium no holiday, and no easy birthday gift for Wang

2008-03-31T01:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Chien-Ming Wang, and make a good wish before blowing out those candles, because this will not be an easy Opening Day start, and it won't be an easy debut for new Yankee manager Joe Girardi.

Yankee fans may come to the Stadium today full of emotion, what with the historic yard being given its final send-off and all that, and new skipper Girardi feuling the Yankees with a new, grittier attitude. But the Toronto Blue Jays may have something to say about how much joy the faithful take home with them later this afternoon. And in particular, Jays starter Roy Halladay may have an idea or two about how the Yankees will remember this final Opening Day at 161st and River.

Harry Leroy Halladay III, the 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner, will be making his sixth consecutive Opening Day start for the Jays. For his career, Halladay is 111-55 with a 3.63 ERA, including a 16-7, 3.71 ERA record in 2007, and he has enjoyed great success against the Yankees, posting a 10-4 record in 24 career starts, with a 2.99 ERA and a miserly 1.18 WHIP.

Yankee right-hander Wang is making his first-ever Opening Day start. Wang, who turns 28 today, was due for the honor last season but was injured and did not pitch for the Yankees until May 3. Despite a sparkling 19-7 record and 3.70 ERA in 2007, Wang's three starts against the Blue Jays were not memorable. He posted an 0-2 record with a 6.35 ERA.

Offensively, two Yankees will look to make a dent in Halladay's stat sheet.

Second baseman Robinson Cano will look to keep his hot spring going. Cano led the Yankees with a .452 spring average, and has hit .385 (5-for-13) in his career against Halladay, with two home runs.

And during his four seasons with New York, returning American League MVP Alex Rodriguez has feasted on opposing pitchers on Opening Day. A-Rod is a hot 8-for-20 (.400) with two home runs as an Opening Day starter for the Bombers.

Here is today's probable starting lineup and their career stats vs. Halladay:

J. Damon -- .328/.333/.306, 22-for-67, 1 HR, 8 BB, 10 SO
D. Jeter -- .258/.400/.418, 16-for-62, 3 2B, 7 BB, 18 SO
B. Abreu -- .167/.167/.250, 2-for-12, 5 SO
A. Rodriguez -- .277/.306/.362, 13-for-47, 4 2B, 2 BB, 10 SO
J. Giambi -- .315/.373/.481, 17-for-54, 3 HR, 5 BB, 12 SO
H. Matsui -- .206/.270/.324, 7-for-34, 1 HR, 3 BB, 3 SO
J. Posada -- .324/.457/.459, 12-for-37, 2 HR, 8 BB, 8 SO
R. Cano -- .385/.385/1.000, 5-for-13, 2 2B, 2 HR, 1 SO
M. Cabrera -- .267/.267/.267, 4-for-15, 2 SO

No defense for this argument

2008-03-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

Longtime sports fans ranting about the evils of ESPN is nothing new. For all the good ESPN has done for sports over the last thirty years, one bad thing it has done is demonstrate the dangers of monopoly in any business. When you have no serious competition, you can get away with just about anything.

But this post/rant has nothing really to do with ESPN as the unchecked behemoth, but rather with ESPN as the latest on the list of "experts" who continue to pile on the "Jeter's defense sucks" argument.

In their 2008 season preview of the Yankees (look for the JUST THE FACTS box), ESPN's baseball analysts cite the "defensive metrics used by opposing clubs" to support the argument, popular for several years now, that the Yankee Captain has become not only a liability in the Bronx, but also one of the "worst shortstops in the majors." (Never mind that no real numbers are offered to support the claim, although I'm sure somewhere these numbers have been cooked up by someone.)

No Yankee fan would ever argue that Jeter revolutionized the position, or was even one of the top five fielding shortstops of his era, an era of some unusually excellent play in the six hole. The names are well-known: Omar Vizquel, Miguel Tejada, Alex Rodriguez (way back when), Nomar Garciaparra (for a while), and there are many other guys that could make this list a post unto itself. But while Jeter may not have the best range, hands, relay, first step, etc., etc., etc., to call him one of the worst shortstops in the majors is ludicrous.

Devotees of the various en vogue sabermetric systems will tout all of these factors, and Jeter's supposed deficiency in any or all of them, as proof that the Captain isn't all that he's been cracked up to be over the years. Baloney.

Would these same "mathematical dicks" (best line from Good WIll Hunting, by the way) claim that Jeter's defense is the reason the Yankees have not won six (or more) World Series titles, instead of the four Jeter does have? If Jeter were more like Ozzie Smith, would the Yankees have won the 2004 ALCS? That's the reason Boston won four straight games? Derek Jeter's lack of range? Please!

There is not one -- NOT.... ONE -- fan of one team in the majors who would not have wanted Jeter on his (or her) team over the past 12 seasons. And if anyone suggests that Jeter would have been welcome on their clubs, just at a different position, they're exposing their jealousy. And f@#& them.

There are, and have been, more talented players, sure. But there is not one player any Yankee fan would rather have had in place of Jeter over the past decade plus. In fact, I can't imagine another player, ever -- at least not a non-Yankee -- who I would rather have had on my team at any time. And of the Yankee greats, only Ruth and Mantle would make me even consider thinking about it.

Jeter has been the consumate player, if not the ultimate shortstop. And for ESPN to suggest that Jeter may be asked to switch positions, when Joe Girardi hasn't even hinted that that is on his mind, is just irresponsible, and beneath the worldwide leader..... or at least it used to be.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008 New York Yankees

2008-03-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

Here are your 2008, Opening Day New York Yankees (unless half the team acts like Andy Pettitte and decides Opening Day is just too soon to play ball):

Outfielders
Starters: Johnny Damon, lf; Melky Cabrera, cf; Bobby Abreu, rf; Hideki Matsui, lf/dh
Reserves: Shelley Duncan, rf-lf

Infielders
Starters: Jason Giambi, 1b; Robinson Cano, 2b; Derek Jeter, ss; Alex Rodriguez, 3b
Reserves: Morgan Ensburg, 1b-3b; Wilson Betemit, 1b-2b-3b-ss

Catchers
Starter: Jorge Posada
Reserve: Jose Molina

Pitchers
Starters: Chien-Ming Wang, rhp; Mike Mussina, rhp; Phil Hughes, rhp; Ian Kennedy, rhp; Andy Pettitte, lhp, (DL)
Relievers: Jon Albaladejo, rhp; Brian Bruney, rhp; Joba Chamberlain, rhp; Kyle Farnsworth, rhp; LaTroy Hawkins, rhp; Ross Ohlendorf, rhp; Mariano Rivera, rhp; Billy Traber, lhp

Opening Day

The starting lineup on Monday, when the Yankees host the Toronto Blue Jays, should look like this: Damon, lf; Jeter, ss; Abreu, rf; A-Rod, 3b; Giambi, 1b; Matsui, dh; Posada, c; Cano, 2b; Cabrera, cf

Chien-Ming Wang gets the start against the Jays. He may have been 19-7 last season, but in three starts vs. the Blue Jays, Wang was 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA.

Yankee relievers, be ready.

Sheppard recovering, but slowly

2008-03-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

George Vecsey has his usual wonderful piece in the Times today, and it concerns the gradually improving health of longtime Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Sheppard. Due to a slow recovery from an illness he contracted last fall, Sheppard will not be in the booth for Monday's Opening Day game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Thursday, April 17 will mark the 57th anniversary of Sheppard's service with the Yankees. Sadly, the legendary PA announcer will not be on hand when the Yankees host the Red Sox that evening. According to Vecsey's piece, Sheppard will not be back at the mic until at least June, perhaps as late as July.

It goes without saying how terrible it would be if Sheppard were to miss the final All-Star Game ever in America's most important athletic arena. Let's all wish him a speedier recovery.

Rob's wrong about Wright

2008-03-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

As I've grown (matured? not so sure), I've used a percentage scale to gauge how important sports were/are/will be in my life. When I was 12 years old, it was an easy measurement: sports occupied about ninety percent of my waking hours, either playing them, reading about them, talking about them, or lying in bed at night planning to do all of the above the next day.

By my early twenties I was a married father, and a soldier, so the percentages shifted a bit. Sports took up about 40-60 percent of my time, give or take, depending on the time of year and the day of the week. Obviously, you can't sit in a foxhole at three a.m. reading Sports Illustrated with a flashlight.

By the time I was in my thirties, things shifted back. I was divorced. My daughter was in high school, or just about. And, I was a daily sports journalist for a small Pennsylvania newspaper. Although high school and small college sports monopolized our coverage, sports of all kinds were now back up to about seventy-percent of my life.

I mention all this for a reason: Now that I'm nearing my fortieth birthday and I'm a full-time teacher, and sports are inching back down the scale at about twenty, maybe twenty-five percent, even I know that ESPN.com's Rob Neyer is nuts! when he calls David Wright the best young -- and best future -- player in the major leagues. He's nuts..... NUTS!

I know Neyer makes his living watching baseball, and I don't. His opinions have infinitely more credibility than mine do. I understand all that. But while Wright might be the best 25-year-old player in the game, or at least in the National League, Neyer claims Wright will be the best player in baseball over the next five seasons. Excuse me, but has Neyer heard of a player, right across town from Wright's Queens day-job address, named Alex Rodriguez?

Obviously, Neyer has. But the travesty doesn't end with the Wright-over-A-Rod claim. Neyer has A-Rod tenth. Tenth! The tenth-best player in baseball? Rob, please.

As a matter of full disclosure, I have never been a fan of A-Rod, and even wished him away from the Bronx a time or two over the past few seasons, particularly during his anemic playoff disasters. But a slight is a slight, and Neyer's slight can't go unanswered.

A-Rod is not just the best player in baseball now, he might be the best player ever. Might, I said. And at 32, a very young, chiseled, determined 32, A-Rod may be ready to blow up in ways we haven't even seen yet, his 2007 MVP numbers notwithstanding. For Neyer to think that Albert Pujols -- I mean, Jesus.... Albert Pujols? -- is going to be a better player over the next five years is just ludicrous. And Jose Reyes? JOSE REYES!!??!! Who is Neyer kidding?

I try not to make a habit of defending people who instigate most of their own headaches, and A-Rod is a master screw-up at managing his public image, but this is a special case. Moving into a new Yankee Stadium, with its smaller dimensions, next season, and looking like he's in the prime shape of his life, A-Rod may be about to register numbers that make Barry Bonds' late-career (steroid-aided) numbers look pedestrian.

David Wright? He may be great, but he's a backseat passenger when it comes to taking his place on the list of best players in baseball, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Swing away, boys... Swing away!

2008-03-27T04:27:00.000-07:00

Baseball purists -- sigh -- can now list the Yankees as members of the modern baseball era, that post-1994-strike-disaster-reaction that brought us steroids, HGH, second basemen hitting moon shots, shortstops who could bench press Barry Bonds' head, and baseball stadiums right out of Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The Yankees have moved in the fences. Get ready for A-Rod's 1,000th home run, much, much sooner than later.

The gang at River Avenue Blues have posted a graphic and some additional information, and it has to be discouraging for pitchers and purists alike.

Apparently unsatisfied with rightfield pop flies that already reach the fifth row, Yankee management has brought the fabled 314-foot right field fence in an extra two feet to 312. During the first season of Coors Field in Denver, Atlanta Braves first baseman Sid Bream hit what was then called by Sports Illustrated the first check-swing home run in baseball history. That laugher of a round-tripper will now no doubt have company.

And the Yankees didn't stop with shortening the right field barrier. While the left field and centerfield fences will remain the same, at 318' and 408' respectively, the left-center power alley has been shortened from 399 to 392 feet, and the right-center power alley from 385 feet to 371. Likewise, the foul ball area behind home plate has been shortened by 12 feet to bring the fans closer to the action.

With a smaller foul ground and three outfield areas shortened by an average of nearly eight feet, look for the Yankees to join the ranks of the teams which regularly post double-digit run totals three or four times per week.

Who are we now, the Rockies East?

Break for the BoSox

2008-03-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

Consider the Boston Red Sox lucky to be heading home from Tokyo with a 1-1 record, and consider Manny Ramirez the only reason the Red Sox leave Japan with a .500 record.

The Oakland A's outplayed the Red Sox in both games, battering Boston pitching, especially starters Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lester, as well as closer Jon Papelbon. The three Boston hurlers combined for a stat line of 10 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 9 BB, 11 SO, 6.30 ERA, 1.90 WHIP. Unfortunately, Oakland batters left 17 runners on base, and Oakland's Emil Brown singlehandedly blew a chance for the A's to win the first game with a boneheaded blunder, getting tagged out trying to stretch a 10th-inning double into a triple with the Sox ahead 6-5.

And.... the Sox had Manny. The contract-year slugger had a pair of two-run doubles in the first game, and his solo home run in the second game provided Boston's only run. More on Manny in this week's upcoming season projections post.

A few thoughts...

2008-03-25T20:57:00.001-07:00

Jose, can you go away?

Disgraced former slugger Jose Canseco's A-Rod "revelations" are circulating the Internet today, as Canseco's new book Vindicated is set for release. I haven't read the excerpts, and haven't delved too deeply into the half dozen or so blog pieces I've come across, and here's why: Although I loathe performance enhancers and support stiff, even career-ending penalties for players who use them, I don't want to hear any more accusations from this creep, Canseco. Were the allegations from his first book, Juiced, proven? Not yet. And until baseball starts serious and credible testing programs leading to serious punishment -- such as twice weekly mandatory tests for every player -- I'm not going to get fired up over anything Jose Canseco says. Any washed up star can mouth off and make headlines. I think we've all had enough of that.

Houston, you have a problem

Yankee fans can thank Oakland A's closer Houston Street (and idiot baserunner Emil Brown) for Tuesday's Boston Red Sox victory in Tokyo. While the BoSox victory was a downer, there were some positive signs for Bomber faithful.

First -- and yes, I know pitchers generally stink in March/April -- Dice-K was less than formidable in his season debut. It wasn't so much the number of pitches he had to throw in the first inning -- 30 -- as the pitches themselves. Close to half of Matsuzaka's pitches couldn't find the plate. For the game, his five innings of work resulted in 95 pitches, but only 51 of those were thrown for strikes. Yankee fans will hope for more of the same from Dice-K this season.

Second, the Boston DH (who shall forever remain nameless on this site) looked awful, and nothing could make this blogger happier. As scary as Manny Ramirez looks -- slim, strong, very locked-in -- his partner in the three hole couldn't have looked much worse. With Ramirez in a contract year, he's likely to put up A-Rod numbers from a season ago, which means the Boston DH will see plenty of hittable pitches batting haead of Manny, and the clean-up hitting DH is likely to produce, big-time. But screw the future. Any time the Boston DH looks vulnerable is a reason for celebration.

Third, Sox closer Jonathon Papelbon looked as wobbly as starter Dice-K. Only Emil Brown's inexplicable baserunning for Oakland saved the Sox, and Papelbon, from a probable loss.

And that's the name of that tune

And we're outta here, with a quote from Yankee reliever LaTroy Hawkins, who in a Tuesday interview summed up all this March mindlessness, perfectly: "Spring don't mean shit, dude."

La Hawk has spoken. The season starts Monday.

The logic of limits

2008-03-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

No spring training issue in recent memory has ignited debate the way Joba Chamberlain's role in the Yankee rotation has over the past month. Yankee fans have come down squarely on either side of the issue, and the campaigners on both sides are dug in so deep you'd think this was an Obama-Clinton moment.

But one thing that I've not seen discussed, at least not at the length of the starter vs. reliever issue, is the insistence the Yankees have on limiting the total number of innings thrown this season, not just for Chamberlain, but also for his fellow young hurlers, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy.

My question is this: When did this fear of flame-out get so out-of-hand?

Baseball is littered with stories of young guns who were shoved out to the mound too early and too often, and just a few years after these kids were supposedly on their way to Cooperstown they ended up going nowhere. And certainly, with young arms worth mega-millions of dollars, teams are more gentle and more deliberate with their seasoning of young pitchers. But at what point do we start to realize that babying these kids isn't necessarily the logical or the only approach?

Let's look at a few young pitchers of yesteryear, all rookies before their 22nd birthdays, to see how quickly or how slowly they were brought along as young phenoms.

Tom Seaver, one of the best pitchers of his or any other era, threw 251 innings when he was a 22-year-old rookie in 1967, and he averaged 273 innings per season over his first four years in the majors.

At 19 years of age, Dwight Gooden threw 218 innings during his rookie campaign with the Mets in 1984. The next season? He threw 276 2/3. Over his first four seasons, Doc averaged 230 innings per year.

At age 21, Greg Maddux threw only 155 innings in 30 starts during his rookie year in 1987, but his ERA was 5.61, which could have had more to do with his early exits than did a close watch on his innings total. Maddux threw 249 innings the next season and averaged 246 IP per year over the next four.

Mike Mussina was only 23 when he threw 241 innings for the Orioles in 1992. Mussina missed several starts over the next two seasons and threw for only 167 and 176 innings in '93 and '94, respectively, but a healthy Moose came back in 1995 and threw 221, 243, and 224 over the next three seasons. Despite the two abbreviated seasons after his first full year, Mussina still averaged 212 innings over his first six seasons.

At age 21 in 1984, Roger Clemens threw only 133.3 innings in 20 starts for the Red Sox, averaging over six innings per start. He was injured for much of 1985, but in 1986, at the ripe old age of 23, Clemens threw 254 innings, and averaged 263 innings over the next four seasons.

Admittedly, these are just a few samples, and just as many can be found of pitchers who had great careers after being started off slowly (Bob Gibson, Jim Palmer, Tom Glavine just being a few). But this post is not to argue that the Yankees are dead wrong with their softball approach. Nor is it to argue that the evidence suggests they go the other way and let these kids throw for all they can. The evidence doesn't support any single approach. Some pitchers can handle a tall workload when they're 22, and others might need a more gradual introduction into full-time starting. It's most likely a matter of what each individual arm can handle.

What I question is why, so quickly and vehemently, this blanket innings cap has been thrown over all three of these guys. Let's hypothesize based on recent evidence and suppose that April is over, Mussina is 1-3 with a 6.85 ERA, Andy Pettitte is 1-1 and missing starts with various ailments, and Wang is the only reliable veteran at 3-1/4.15. And..... Hughes is 3-0/3.75 and Kennedy is 3-1/3.50.

With those numbers at hand, would Girardi and Cashman continue to insist that looking down the road at the next 5-7 years is better than turning these young guns loose now and capitalizing on what seems like more-than-ready ability? Would they be willing to examine each arm on its own merits and say, 'Hmmmm... Kennedy just might have 200+ innings in him....'?

I understand the economic wisdom of taking the long view, but if guys are ready, they're ready. All three of these promising pitchers have had minor league and/or college experience. With the state of the Yankee rotation -- and to say it is a mystery is being both kind and conservative -- it might not be possible to maintain this kid-glove approach to these young pitchers.

Hindsight is useless despite its 20/20 ability. Looking too far ahead and anticipating hindsight can be equally useless if you paralyze yourself with fear of being second-guessed someday. This decision on the innings limits for these pitchers seems made at least in part to avoid any criticism down the road should one of them go off the rails, physically speaking. I hope Girardi, et al have the guts to let these kids go all the way if that's what it takes to have a successful season

Ensberg now; Duncan, Betemit next as Girardi makes right(y) choices?

2008-03-22T04:43:00.000-07:00

The Yankees on Friday added reserve infielder Mo Ensberg to the team's 40-man roster. The move prevents Ensberg from filing for immediate free agency, and appears to be a prelude to naming Ensberg to the Major League roster before the Yankees conclude Spring Training 2008 next week.

Yankee skipper Joe Girardi told MLB.com's Bryan Hoch that adding Ensberg to the roster on Friday did not indicate a final decision had been made on Ensberg's regular season status, but he did add that Ensbrg, who is out of minor league options and will earn $1.75 million in 2008 if he makes the team, had impressed the Yankee staff over the first three weeks of Grapefruit League action.

The move appears to allow Ensberg to claim one of three bench spots open on the Yankee roster. With Ensberg now a virtual lock to make the team, reserves Shelley Duncan, Wilson Betemit, Cody Ransom, Chris Woodward, and Jason Lane will vye for the final two spots as the spring season winds down over the next seven days.

Of that group, Duncan has had by far the best spring and the highest profile. He is near the top of the team stat sheet in several offensive categories and has showed flashes of improved defensive skills in the outfield and at first base. If Duncan does make the big club, he will await the results of an appeal filed with Major League Baseball in regards to a three-game suspension handed down to Duncan after an on-field incident against the Tampa Bay Rays on March 13. Starting Yankee centerfielder Melky Cabrera also received a three-game ban after that game.

Betemit came to the Yankees in a trade that sent relief pitcher Scott Proctor to the Dodgers last July. The 26-year-old Betemit is a switch hitter and can play all four infield positions. He enjoyed only limited success in 37 appearances for the Yankees last season, batting .226 with a .278 on-base percentage. He struck out 33 times in only 84 at bats. He also had four home runs and contributed 24 RBI.

Despite his modest offensive output, Betemit's defensive flexibility and switch-hitting ability make him, along with Duncan, an odds-on-favorite to make the Yankee roster out of spring training. Duncan, like Ensberg, is a right-handed hitter, and that fact persuaded Girardi when it came time to make the call on Ensberg Friday afternoon.

"We're going to face a lot of left-handed starters," Girardi told Hoch. "You look at the Red Sox, Tampa Bay, Detroit, Cleveland and the White Sox. Especially early on, we're going to see a lot of these teams that have a lot of those left-handers."

Was it the right call?

With a lefty-heavy lineup, Girardi needed to look for righty bats to achieve at least a little bit of balance at the plate. But aside from his attractiveness as a right-handed bat, Ensberg provides some veteran bench stability with a successful pedigree.

As a Houston Astros third baseman, Ensberg enjoyed some success at the plate, particularly in 2005, when he slugged 36 home runs with 101 RBI and finished fourth in NL MVP balloting.

Betemit has had an up and down career. In 409 major league games, he has a .260 average with a .332 on-base percentage, with 258 strikeouts in only 909 at bats.

Duncan is a raw commodity who, despite a power surge that lead to six home runs after being called up last September, has no real representative sample of major league experience to back up any confidence the Yankees may have in him right now.

Betemit shores up some defensive replacement concerns. Duncan is fiery; he will play hard on every ball and will take an extra mile with every inch granted him. But the Yankees needed a bench player who at least in the short term gives them proven offensive ability, some defensive help if Duncan can't spell Giambi at first base effectively, and time to let the other young players, who look promising, get more seasoning in the minors.

The right(y) call was a good call by Girardi.

Thursday game notes

2008-03-21T04:07:00.001-07:00

This may be a case of (very) wishful blogging, but Yankee second baseman Robinson Cano did nothing to derail his 2008 MVP hopes, which I'm proud to say started right here, yesterday.

During New York's 7-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday, Cano swung a sharp bat, going 2-for-4 with an RBI against Jays pitching that was, shall we say, somewhat less than stellar. In the field, there was no denying (obligatory hyperbole alert!) Cano's brilliance.

After Blue Jays leadoff hitter David Eckstein had slapped a double down the rightfield line to open the game, Yankee rightfielder Shelley Duncan dug the ball out of the corner and fired a terrific relay throw to Cano. With Eckstein intent on stretching the hit to a triple, Cano wheeled and gunned a strike to Wilson Betemit, who applied the tag at third base for the game's first out.

Cano stole second base in the third inning for his third swipe of the spring. Later in the game he was tagged out at second when he attempted to stretch a single to a double.

The MVP watch starts now!

Young arms continue to look good

It's difficult to get too excited about Joba Chamberlain's 11-pitch, three strikeout performance when considering that the hitters he faced -- Ryan Patterson, Sean Shoffit and Anthony Hatch -- have never done much if anything above Class A ball. That being said, Joba's postgame remarks about feeling sharper after returning full-time to the bullpen should leave Yankee fans feeling good about Chamberlain's attitude in the pen.

"You just attack the zone," Chamberlain told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. "You stop worrying about your mechanics and your abilities take over."

And for any Yankee fan still smarting over Girardi's decision to send Joba to the pen -- and there are Yankee fans who are dead-set against this move, long-term or short -- Joba's 6.14 ERA as a starter this spring might shake those fans out of their delusions of starting pitcher grandeur. All indications are that this kid is a born reliever.

Thursday's Yankee starter Ian Kennedy wasn't Cy Young sharp against the Jays -- three of the first four hits off Kennedy were doubles -- but he got the outs he needed when he needed them. Kennedy surrendered a run off six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out four and didn't walk a batter.

Yankees in the running

2008-03-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

The 2008 season projections will be posted next week. For now, let's take a look at which Yankees figure to be in the running for the major end-of-season awards.

AL Most Valuable Player

The obvious: Alex Rodriguez. The dark horses: Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano

A-Rod said two weeks ago that Jeter is in such good shape physically that he thinks the Yankee captain will be the MVP of 2008. Too bad for Jeter that the reigning MVP looks to be in equally good shape.

Jeter does look great, and he's probably in the pre-season running for MVP every season just because of the lineup around him. If Johnny Damon's healthy and getting on base, giving Jeter better pitches to hit, Jeter just might get the award he was robbed of in 2006.

Cano looks on the verge of a breakout season, and anyone listening to Girardi on last season's YES Network telecasts knows he loves Cano's potential. The only chink in Cano's MVP armor is his spot in the lineup. Batting eighth, he'll need Melky Cabrera to have a good season in order to keep pitchers honest when throwing to Cano. If Cabrera cooperates, Cano might sneak up on the league.

A-Rod. Well, what's left to be said?

AL Cy Young Award

Realistically, no Yankee hurler looks like a contender, unless Mo Rivera saves 48 games and keeps his ERA below 1.00. Andy Pettitte is past his 20-win days, and Chien-ming Wang just doesn't seem to get serious consideration from voters because he's not a big strikeout guy. And with the young arms apparently on an innings leash, it's doubtful either Hughes or Kennedy will get the innings -- and with them the win totals -- to make a run for the CYA. Similarly, Joba Chamberlain's bullpen/starter hybrid status doesn't seem to offer much chance for him to make an award run.

AL Manager of the Year

What will Joe Girardi have to do to earn a shot at his second top manager award? He won the National League award in 2006 with a sub-.500 Florida Marlins team. Obviously, the only thing he'd get with that kind of season in the Bronx is a one-way ticket back to the YES booth. But will he have to win the division in order to make a MOY run?

Almost certainly, and then some. Yankee managers carry expectation baggage that other managers don't. Without a 100-win season, even winning a difficult AL East division probably wouldn't get Girardi the top vote from most writers.

Predictions

AL MVP: Cano! It's an emotional call, but something says that the second baseman is ready. And give A-Rod a third-place finish as Cano gets the "Cano's a new guy/anti A-Rod" vote.
CY YOUNG: Wang still a top six finisher (because he won't be bad), but that's it for the Yankees.
MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Yankees won't win 100 games with three young hurlers figuring so prominently in the equation. Girardi gets votes for a 94+ win season, but not enough to win the trophy.

News and notes

2008-03-20T05:28:00.000-07:00

Joba to the pen; ball in Mussina's hands

No surprise that Yankee skipper Joe Girardi made the early call to start the season with Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen. It's the right (only) move for Girardi to make, and it came at the right time. With just over a week left until Opening Day, Chamberlain needed to know where he was going to be. The mental make-up of a reliever is so different from that of a starter, and the timing of this move gives Chamberlain the appropriate amount of time to wrap his mind around his role.

Apparently, this means the rotation will look like this: Wang-Pettitte-Hughes in the top three slots, with Mussina and Kennedy battling for the fourth position. With the innings restrictions on the young guys, look for Kennedy to take the fifth starter role as Girardi hopes Mussina can eat up some innings and give the younger arms a break. But if Mussina ends April at 1-3 with a 5.75 ERA, how long can Girardi keep Chamberlain in the pen?

Yankee fans have never really warmed to the moody Moose. If he fails to get off to a decent start next month, how long will Yankee fans wait before the "Mooooooose!" chants turn to "Booooos!"?

A crazy 45 minutes

Who says spring training can't be compelling?

After turning on the Red Sox-Blue Jays telecast yesterday to get a look at the Yankees two main rivals for the AL East crown, it was stunning to see the Red Sox in the dugout and catcher/captain Jason Varitek giving his impromptu press conference regarding the pay snafu involving assistant coaches and members of the training staff. Although it wasn't drama of the highest level, it certainly was entertaining.

How close did the Sox come to calling off the whole Japan (fiasco) trip? It's unlikely we'll ever know, and MLB will publicly insist that it was never that close to being cancelled. But for nearly an hour it sure seemed as if all bets were off.

Whatever compensation the coaches and trainers get from this trip, it can't be worth more than the respect the Red Sox earned for that ballsy stance.

Is Reggie serious?

"Hall, yes!" says former Yankee slugger Reggie Jackson, who recently expressed his desire to see principal owner George M. Steinbrenner inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame. If there was a vote here, consider it "no."

For any non-player or non-manager to get into the Hall, shouldn't that person have done something to change or effect the game in some very significant way? The answer here is "yes." And that begs the next question: Aside from presiding over six Yankee World Series titles and nine Americn League pennants, what has Steinbrenner done for baseball?

Maybe someone else out there has an answer, but I don't know what it could be. He was suspended for having Dave Winfield followed. He made a mockery of the hiring/firing process with managers in the 1980s. He has constantly sought (until recent years) to raise his own profile above that of his team and sometimes above the game itself. All Yankee fans have a love/hate relationship with Steinbrenner and his moves with the team, but any honest fan has to admit that there have been as many headshaking moments as there have been handclappers.

Put Big Stein's likeness out in Monument Park, but not in the HOF. A big personality shouldn't be an easy ticket to the Hall.

Thank you, Andy

2008-03-18T03:09:00.000-07:00

Finally, and for once.

After years -- YEARS! -- of watching Boston pitchers plunk Yankee batters, and then turning around and watching Yankee pitchers do nothing -- NOTHING! -- about it, finally, Andrew Eugene Pettitte did the honorable thing during Monday's 8-4 shellacking of the Red Sox. He gave David Ortiz's nipples a brush burn. Halle-effing-lujah!

If there is one thing Yankee fans implored, in fact begged shamelessly, from Joe Torre, it was to turn the Yankee pitchers loose, to take the leash off and let them retaliate as Boston took aim at our best batsmen. Torre, praised for his maturity in some corners, seemed to forget the baseball era which forged him, and the pitchers -- Bob Gibson ring any bells? -- whom he caught as a young catcher. (And if there was anything more infuriating than Torre's refusal to dance with the Red Sox, it was Boston manager Terry Francona's smug What? My pitchers don't throw at anyone! expression.)

Time after time, after time, after nauseating time, Jeter, then A-Rod, then Jeter again, then Giambi, then Jeter -- AGAIN! -- then Melky, then.... the list never stopped. And when Julian Tavares nailed Jeter in the elbow pad in yesterday's second inning, Yankee fans wondered: with Joey G. now in the big chair, would this be the day?

And it was.

Pettitte didn't hit Ortiz. Didn't even put him down on his ass. But that fastball in the third inning sent a message. It's a new day, Boston. That $hit you've been pulling for years is gonna stop, and if it doesn't, fine. The gloves are off. The bravado runs in both directions now. And Yankee fans loved it. (And we didn't need Pettitte's postgame comment, "There's no doubt I backed him off," to know that Pettitte put that pitch exactly where he wanted it. The look on Pettitte's face as he got the ball back from catcher Jorge Posada was confirmation enough. There was nothing sheepish or apologetic in Pettitte's eyes. It was a total purpose pitch.)

Murray Chass has a column in today's Times bemoaning the passing of the tit-for-tat era when baseball players were men taking care of business on the basepaths. Chass' piece has the tone of an elegy, with Cincinnati Rewds manager Dusty Baker all but eulogizing throughout the column. But if yesterday was any indication of things to come, then there is at least one place where baseball's bygone era ain't quite so bygone: that strip of highway between the Bronx and Beantown.

And Hallelujah! for that, as well, because that's baseball as it ought to be played.

More to the story

And forget the brushback pitch that Pettitte used to buzz Ortiz. That entire at bat was sensational. Pettitte may not have been lightning crisp yesterday, but that at bat in the third inning was beautiful to watch.

After the up-and-in got Ortiz's attention, Pettitte laid a beautiful slider out off the right edge and got a swinging strike. After a foul ball, Pettitte ended the at bat and the inning with another textbook breaking ball that Ortiz -- who hits .333 lifetime off Pettitte; Yikes! -- had no chance of reaching.

Pettitte's quick step off the mound was noted, and it showed a spark that may indicate that he is ready for the season and for the challenge of shaking off all the Congressional hearing/HGH/Roger Clemens stuff that many writers speculate will dog Pettitte this season. It sure didn't seem to have any effect on him yesterday.

Just a spring thing? Not!

2008-03-17T05:39:00.000-07:00

I really want to agree with the guys over at River Avenue Blues, I do. When they write in today’s postings that this afternoons Yankees-Red Sox matchup at Legends Field is meaningless, they are, essentially, right.

And wrong.

There is a time for everything under the sun, and today’s meaningless spring game is no time for beanballs, chest-thumping, spikes-up slides, or X-rated taunts from the dugouts. And the writers at River Avenue are correct when they see the media need not treat this like game seven of the ALCS. But for the fans, at least this fan, there is never a time to let this rivalry go.

In the end, does any of this baseball stuff that we infect our lives with mean anything? No, of course it doesn’t. And call me infantile, juvenile, childish, or just plain sad, but I carry my Red Sox hatred in the open, and meaningless or not, I know the sight, just the sight, of that cap, that logo, that big, fat, Jello-parfait of a DH (is he even playing today?), that manager who can’t keep his mouth closed when he chews (and I don’t care that Joe Torre liked him)… any and all of that, plus a laundry list more, will have me doing push-ups between innings and howling at Taiwan's midnight moon. And let, just let, the Red Sox get a lead, any lead -- a lucky, meaningless, one-run lead -- at any point in the game, and watch my head disintegrate like that poor sap in Scanners.

Meaningless? It very well may be. But it’s still Boston, and we’re still New York.

Go, Yankees!

It's Gotta Be The Cap!

2008-03-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

I didn't see much baseball over the weekend, but I did wake up Sunday morning with a replay of the Yankees-Blue Jays game. ESPN Taiwan loves to beat the Wang-kees into the hearts and minds of the local citizenry, and for a Yankee lifer living on the island, it's heavenly.

The first thing I saw when I looked at the television was Joe Girardi sitting in his chair among the other coaches near the on-deck circle. And I was struck by something: the way Girardi wears his cap. And at that moment, I realized we're better off now than we were with St. Joe.

When I was a soldier, one way we used to gauge a new leader was to spot his cap. We knew right off if an officer or a higher-ranking NCO was going to be a prick, a marshmallow, or a hard core, ass-busting (as in, respectable) soldier. We despised the first two, and longed for the third.

The marshmallow was the easiest to spot. He never broke his bill. These types would pull a cap off the rack at the clothing sales store and slip it onto his (West) pointy little head. The bill would extend out flat and unbent, like half a camouflage frisbee had gotten embedded into his forehead. He looked ridiculous, and we knew that if this guy didn't have the stones to break a bill on his BDU cap, he wouldn't have the brick balls to lead a unit on a real mission.

The prick was somewhat more difficult to discern, because his cap resembled the ass-buster's, but only just. Both guys liked to crack their bills on the sides and fold them down across the temples. But what gave away the prick was that he always went too far. He went Hollywood, covering his eyes by pulling the tip of the bill down just above the tip of his nose, and he would hold that permanent Clint Eastwood glare, one eye squinted and the other looking off into the distance for what, nobody knew. We figured he didn;t want us to see his eyes because if we did, we'd know he was ten percent talk and ninety percent bullshit. And that's where the ass-buster had him beat.

Soldiers love a hard-ass leader because for all the shit he drags you through, he lets you know where you stand, and he's usually right there in the shit with you. His bill is broken because it's supposed to be. It looks soldierly. The soldier's uniform isn;t a goddamned tuxedo, and it isn't supposed to be worn like one, a la the marshmallow. But a uniform cap isn't a weapon of intimidation, either, which is what the prick likes to think every time he slips it on and pulls it down cover his face.

Seeing Joe Girardi, his cap cracked and his eyes surveying the field, made me realize something about Joe Torre -- and God bless him, because I loved him -- and that was that he never cracked his bill. He wore the Yankee cap as if it were a toupee, just sitting up there to cover the recedes. I never saw Joe in his manager's uniform and thought that he was just one step away from leaping that top step of the dugout and going toe-to-Torre with anyone who might slip in a sucker punch to one of his guys. Some writers have called that the mature approach, and there's no denying that. But there's also no denying that these Yankees -- and I mean the aging vets who have been there and done that more than a few times -- maybe needed the fire of Joe, the Younger. They needed to know that there was someone behind them with a fire, not just for their game, but a fire for their asses. No one doubts that Joe Torre was the absolute right man for the Yankees when he came aboard 12 years ago -- and maybe he wasn't a marshmallow, but he certainly wasn't General Patton, either -- but likewise, no one can doubt that the fire this team is playing with now is a direct result of the harder-assed approach that Joe Girardi has brought to the club. Has too much been made of Girardi's toughness since the Rays incidents? Probably, but I'm not talking about the media hype that rose up around those two regrettable plays. I'm talking about the inescapable impression that this Yankee team has a new feel about it, a new hustle and urgency that weren't there -- at least not all the time, anyway -- during the last years of Joe Torre. When he said recently that he thought the change was good for both parties, him and the Yankees, he was dead-on (not that that was news to anyone). Torre had become mellow if not marshmallowed, and while there is a place for the ol' softie in baseball circles, that place is not occupying the first seat in the dugout. Let Don Zimmer play that role, wherever he happens to be (Tampa this season). Torre seemed to be headed n that direction. We all wish him well in Los Angeles, but we're also all kind of glad he's there now, and not here.

With Michael Jordan, it was said that "It's gotta be the shoes." Maybe now, with Joe Girardi, it's gotta be the cap. He wears it like a hard-assed, butt-busting, no-nonsense go-getter. A leader. Jerry Seinfeld was right when he said we're all just rooting for laundry, but sometimes it's how you wear the laundry that matters, and I like what I see when I see Joe Girardi back in a Yankee uniform.

Great start to 2008!!

2008-03-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

Here is the text of Major League Baseball's disciplinary announcement, released Friday afternoon:

Discipline has been issued to six members of the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays as a result of the bench-clearing incident that occurred during the top of the second inning of their Wednesday, March 12th Spring Training game at Progress Energy Park, Home of Al Lang Field, in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Shelley Duncan of the Yankees has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for his violent and reckless actions, which incited the bench-clearing incident. Unless appealed, Duncan’s suspension is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 31st, when the Yankees host the Toronto Blue Jays in their first game of the 2008 Championship Season.

Jonny Gomes of the Rays has been suspended for two games and fined an undisclosed amount for his violent actions, which escalated the bench-clearing incident. Unless appealed, the suspension of Gomes is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 31st, when the Rays play at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore in their first game of the 2008 Championship Season.

Melky Cabrera of the Yankees has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for his violent and aggressive actions during the incident. Unless appealed, Cabrera’s suspension is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 31st.

If any of the three players appeals his suspension, the discipline issued to him will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.

In addition, New York manager Joe Girardi, third base coach Bobby Meacham and hitting coach Kevin Long have been fined for their roles in the incident.

Regular season suspensions for a spring training incident? Opinions are certainly going to vary on this issue, and everyone understands the need to come down hard on players who participate in extra-competitive activities such as brawls, bench clearings, and charging the mound, but wouldn't fines have been sufficient here, big fines? Maybe the collective bargaining agreement limits the size of fines to the point that MLB didn't think fines would be substantial punishment, I don't know. But taking away regular season games seems a bit much for an incident that really was nowhere near as bad as the initial "Brawl!!" headlines suggested.

And the guys at RiverAveBlues.com make a great point about Gomes getting a shorter suspension, when it was Gomes who had to run in from the outfield, at a dead sprint, to attack Duncan and escalate the fight..... What a joke. And then (devilish) Rays manager Joe Maddon weighed in with this gem: "(The Yankees) perpetrated the entire situation, and then to have the punishment doled out (to Gomes) almost on a similar basis, to me is unjust and it's not right." Is he kidding? It is debatable whether or not the Yankees "perpetrated the entire situation," but what isn't debatable is that Gomes was the one player, from either side, whose post-slide actions were the most violent and most likely to lead to further altercation. If anything, Gomes got off light.

It isn't clear just yet whether the Yankees plan to appeal any or all of the fines/suspensions doled out by MLB, but if the Yankees choose to accept the penalties without appeal, then things look like this for the season-opening series against the Blue Jays: Melky Cabrera and Shelley Duncan out, meaning Giambi's at first for the whole series, and Damon's in center, putting Matsui in left. That's all we need, Matsui putting his gimpy knee on the line right out of the gate. And who does this leave for DH, Wilson Betemit? So our DH will be batting eighth? That will be interesting.

What a way to start the season....

Woof! Woof!

2008-03-14T06:13:00.000-07:00

My second helping of crow in 24 hours....

I had to laugh when I heard David Cone say on the air that these were "the dog days" of spring training, just before the Yankees played a game the other day. (For the record, Cone's voice usually makes me wince, so I should rejoice at any moment where he makes me giggle.) But dog days? During spring training? Give me a break....

But now I think Cone may have been on to something. I've mentioned in previous posts how life may have been better before every spring game was made available via cable television, which invited every amateur analyst with a keyboard to start hacking out instant copy detailing the euphoria, or the panic, that followed these premature demonstrations of what may or may not lay ahead for the season. Now that I've entered the blogging fray, and every day brings with it a new sense of anxiety over getting up-to-date posts on the site as quickly as possible..... I know what Cone meant.

These are, after all, just spring games. And some outings, like today's Phil Hughes start against a split Cincinnati squad, just don't ignite the fire. Certainly, we'd all like for something momentous to happen. (And anyone who says the recent dust-ups with Tampa weren't fun is lying.) But when nothing of consequence occurs, what's a blogger to do?

Derek Jeter told YES Network's Michael Kay (according to a Kay remark on the air last week) that he felt spring training was about ten days too long. Again, I laughed a bit, remembering that I heard the same claims from NFL players who bitched about training camp schedules. (I laughed then, as well, until I learned that the NFL used to play six -- frigging six! -- preseason games. That seems unduly harsh.) And now I think Jeter may have a point. Pitchers, certainly, need the time to build up shoulder endurance, but do we need thirty spring games?

Maybe the players really do need that many games, and maybe Jeter and Cone are just whiny, bitchy, over-paid jocks who'd rather be in Costa Rica promising one-day dream contracts to Hollywood stars than working (not quite) like dogs in the heat and humidity of coastal Florida. (I don't really think they are whiny or bitchy....) But trying to find something compelling in every spring training game, I feel a little bit of their pain.

Of course, Jeter could just quit if the games are that big of a drag, and I could just walk away from the computer. I'm not sure why he stays ($$$$ cha-ching! $$$$), but I just couldn't do without seeing the daily, obligatory YES close-up of Goose Gossage's moustache.

Can we give that thing a one-day contract? If Billy Crystal can foul off a pitch, then Goose's 'stache might actually have a chance to get on base.

I was wrong, kinda sorta

2008-03-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

As always, the understated strength of a George Vecsey column nails an issue dead-on. (The link to Vecsey's latest Yankee column appears at the bottom of this post.)

But having said that, I'd like to mildly disagree with St. George.

In yesterday's post I bashed -- immaturely, I might add, and probably with a touch of envy, although I honestly didn't feel any at the time -- the decision to allow Billy Crystal a one-day deal so he could fulfill a lifelong dream of being announced as a Yankee player. (I'm convinced it was hearing his name called just before his at bat, and not the at bat itself, that was the real thrill for Crystal, as it would be for any of us in his position. Lord knows he had no shot at doing anything meaningful at the plate, surprisingly decent foul ball aside...) And I still stand by my initial feeling that the Yankees are, or at least should be, above that kind of sophomoric publicity stunt.

But having watched it, and having seen the genuine thrill it brought Crystal, I have to admit that from a purely human perspective, no one can begrudge someone the chance to realize the thrill of a lifetime. Anytime you witness another person experiencing total joy, you have to tip your cap and say 'Good for you, fella.' (And let's be honest, no one was hurt by this stunt, and baseball has far bigger black-eye issues than a comedian taking swings in a sanctioned game.)

Yes, there is a bit of lustre removed when you learn that Crystal's dream chance came about only because he and Derek Jeter just happened to be at the same (luxury) hotel in Costa Rica in December, and the Yankee captain decided to do Crystal a favor after the comedian whined about turning 60. (Who goes to Costa Rica at Christmastime and moans about a March birthday....???)

And yes, had the one-time-only Yankee offer been given to someone a little less privileged in their every day life -- like, say, someone from Make-A-Wish, or some otherwise underprivileged person -- the moment would have rung a bit more genuine.

But now that it's over, it's time to forget about whatever bad feelings the idea aroused initially. Good for Billy Crystal, and Happy 60th to him. He has a memory today that many of us wish we could have. Now, can we just play real baseball again?

(Read the Vecsey column here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/sports/baseball/14vecsey.html?ref=sports)

Perfect Moose

Mike Mussina looked terrific throwing five perfect innings Thursday afternoon, but a few facts need to remain in the conversation.

One, it was spring training, and two, it was the Pittsburgh Pirates (which may render the first issue moot, since there may be no real difference between the Pirates in March and the Pirates in June.)

And a third item requires mentioning: Mussina, although he was locating pitches well, benefitted -- as did Pirate starter Paul Maholm -- from home plate umpire Mark Carlson's rather generous stike zone.

But all in all, Mussina did what starting pitchers are supposed to do in their third spring start. He gave Joe Girardi and Yankee fans something to feel good about and to build on. Nobody expects perfection in spring, but with Mussina's recent history, fans will take it, even if it's only March 13.

Other game notes

After his unfortunate performance running the bases on Wednesday, Shelley Duncan on Thursday showed what he can do to base runners. After Mo Rivera allowed two batters to get on in the sixth inning, Duncan fielded a sharp ground ball at first with men on second and third and one out. After checking the runners, spinning and stepping on first for the force out, Duncan whipped a perfect throw home to nail Pittsburgh's Jose Bautista, who then tried to return to third base but was caught in the rundown for the 3-2-5 inning-ending double play. It was a smart, perfectly executed play by Duncan, who continues to flash genuine baseball skills to go with his gritty, balls-to-the-wall gametime disposition.

It's going to be fun watching this guy grow into the uniform.

No $@#%ing way!

2008-03-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Maureen Ryan, the Yankees Chick --the link to her fabulous blog can be found by scrolling down the left side of this page -- my blood pressure hit the red numbers about ten minutes ago. For, it was while scrolling down her site this morning that I saw the Vegas odds on the World Series.... and the Mets -- gee-zus god, of all teams! - -are a safer bet than the Yankees! Who is setting the Vegas book, Joe Benigno?

The Mets can go out and get all the Johanna Montana Santanas they want, but that won't prevent them from stinking up their last year at -- excuse me while I try to massage the laugh cramps out of my face -- Shea Stadium. (Just where is that again?) Has anyone seen the chubby cheeks of Carlos Beltran? Or the crippled hip of Senor Delgado? And although I was dragged kicking and screaming to the TV to watch the Mets-Orioles exhibition game last night -- for whatever reason, the Yankees-Rays wasn't on here in Asia -- I was thankful for a look at my once-favorite Yankee, El Duque, whose former, signature high leg kick now makes Fred Sanford look like a Rockette. And this team is going places in a not-too-shabby NL East? Please.

It's nearly 10 p.m. here in Taiwan as I write this, and I needed a boost to keep me going until the Yankees-Pirates play ball at one o'clock. Thanks, Yankees Chick, you just did the trick.

The Mets, 5-to-1 to win it all..... LOL.. I mean, please.. they're the Mets!

Crystal's blue (as in sad) persuasion

And while we're expressing consternation here..... how the hell did Billy Crystal persuade the baseball powers-that-be to let him bat in today's game? There's only one way to make this Billy Crystal stunt any worse or more ludicrous than it already is: Here's hoping Crystal goes to the plate in his Sammy Davis Jr. blackface and wearing about forty pounds of jewelry.

Or maybe he can suffer a brush back pitch and step out of the box, point his bat to the pitcher, and laspe into his lame Muhammad Ali imitation. Actually, I do hope this happens, then the pitcher can do what he ought to do: blast this joker right in the ass with a heater.

That's what's lost in all this.... A Pirates pitcher working to get ready to do his job has to become part of a lame publicity stunt. It would serve Crystal right -- and the Yankees, and MLB for allowing this -- to get the real feel of batting in the major leagues. You show up the opponent, there's penance to be paid.

No defense for it

2008-03-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

Shelley Duncan is young and upcoming, and his grit and intensity are already earning him a reputation as a hard-nosed, I-got-your-back kind of player and teammate. What someone better tell him -- some veteran like, oh, say, the team captain -- is that a very fine line exists between being a standup guy and being a goon. The first gets and deserves all the respect in the world; the second, rightfully, is scorned and ridiculed.

Duncan crossed that fine line Wedneday afternoon. There's just no excuse for sliding in with your spikes waist-high to the defender. Just no excuse. And Duncan's silly explanation that he was "sliding toward the glove" would only be true if Iwamura were wearing a condom under his cup. Duncan needs to grow up, and fast, and he's in the perfect place for it. This Yankee roster is full of guys who have played the right way for years. It's time for one of them -- Mr. Jeter, you're on deck -- to pull this kid aside and teach him something before he ruins a potentially good, and respect-worthy, career before it ever gets started.

Every Yankee fan is all for sticking up for the pinstripes -- who hasn't wished that our pitchers were a little more aggressive in defense of our batters, particularly against Francona's Red Sox the last four years? But integrity is about more than just settling scores -- if it's even about that at all. Integrity is about staying on the right side of the line, and Duncan didn't do that against the Rays.

Shame on Shelley.

But also, shame on Joe Girardi.

I know the mass of Yankee fans are walking around with swelled chests and inflated senses of pride now that we have a field general who is apparently intent on exorcising the gentle ghost of Joe Torre as quickly as he can, but hold on a minute, pardner. This "new sherriff in town" posture poses a risk, and that risk is that the glory of the Yankees may be re-kindled, but at the expense of Yankee class.

Whatever fans of other teams may think of the Yankees and their supporters, the Yankees are -- whether those other fans like it or not -- the class club of Major League baseball. If MLB had a flagship franchise, it would be the Yankees and there wouldn't even be a runner-up in the race. With that honor comes not only the slings and arrows of outrageous envy, but also the responsibility to play baseball in such a way that defies criticism. People who hate the Yankees can rip the front office for how it builds its teams, but -- at least in the Joe Torre era -- those people couldn't rip the Yankee players for how they competed and how they carried themselves on the field. That aura of class and respectability seems to be seeping away. (I admit that is a rather alarmist and reactionary position, but the Cerevelli-Johnson discussion has gone on for too long, and now the Duncan incident is going to keep last Saturday's game in the spotlight just that much longer. A disturbing trend is beginning to develop here.)

As much as any Yankee fan, I watched Red Sox pitchers plunk Yankee batters over the recent years and I cringed when Pettitte or Mussina refused to follow suit. I secretly believed that Joba Chambelain's two fastballs over the head of Kevin Youkalis last September were intentional (although I'm sure they weren't..... pretty sure). I've longed for a tougher, grittier Yankee team. But watching Duncan yesterday didn't make me feel gritty; it made me feel dirty.

I hope Girardi can calm himself down and let the players play. Playing with quiet humility, class, and dignity isn't Joe Torre Baseball; it's Yankee Baseball. Let's all hope Girardi figures that out soon.

The Cherry Blast

2008-03-12T05:14:00.000-07:00

Whenever a paratrooper makes his first jump after Ft. Benning, it's called his cherry blast (for reasons I hope I don't have to spell out here. This is a family website, after all...)

Since this is the last year of the Shangri-la known as Yankee Stadium, I thought I'd share the story of my first visit and solicit visitors to leave a comment about theirs.

All Yankee fans will remember 1998 as the year the pinstripers laid another claim to the Greatest Team of All Time tag. What didn't go right that season? The list of accomplishments is too long to recall here in detail, but the final tally of 125 wins and a World Series sweep over the San Diego Padres were perfect capstones on a phenomenal, historical season. And for this Yankee fan, it also marks the season of The Pilgrimmage.

On July 22, the Bombers were hosting Detroit. It was a stifling Wednesday afternoon. I think the thermometer hit 96 just before game time. Our seats were in the outfield along the third base line, in the eighth row. We were about level with where Tim Raines played in left. El Duque was on the hill, and the Tigers never stood a chance.

Chuck Knoblauch, Darryl Strawberry, and Jorge Posada hit home runs. Knoblauch's hit the foul pole screen and bounced back, landing about ten seats to our left. In the mad rush of fans -- which I stayed out of -- a woman's halter top was, shall we say, reconfigured. (And yes, the bra had been left had home.) My daughter, in full stare: "Oooooo, Daddy! Did you see her?" Me, looking up into the third deck: "Hey, doesn't that cloud look like Yogi Berra?"

(I'll leave you to decide on the truth of that scene...)

At another point in the game, a foul pop -- from whose bat, I don't recall -- landed even closer, but I was in full protection mode as a mob formed under it while it was still in the air. When it hit the deck, I was hunched over my daughter, shielding her from sure destruction.

And my daughter is what made it all so special, if I may use such a shopworn and banal adjective to describe something that provided memories which still seem almost magical to me. (Ugh! There's another silly descriptor!) I was eight years old when I attended my first major league game at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, accompanied by a man not my own father. He was the father of a friend of a friend. My father never did take me to a game, and without getting maudlin I'll just say that to those who had fathers who did take you to games, I'll be forever envious. But having my daughter there with me on 161st and River, when she was nearly ten years old and excited to be seeing Derek Jeter (and bitterly disappointed that it was Tino Martinez Cup day... sorry Tino. I was excited by it!) was something that only fathers know.

Because she was young she was a little mystified when her father stopped to stare up at every team photo hanging above the concourse doorways, and she may have been a little embarrassed when I cried quietly on the 4 Train as we approached the Stadium at noon and saw that gorgeous grass green/Yankee blue contrast that riders witness as they pass by the outfield. But by the end of the day, with her Yankee bandanna wrapped around her head, and the Yankees walking off the field with a 13-2 victory, she understood it all. (She even understood why I was pissed off at the usher who didn't allow us to linger too long in our seats after the game. Prick...)

There's no way to top a day like that. A man waits nearly 21 years to fulfill a dream, and then it's over, and the dream wasn't even close to the reality, which was indescribably better than anything that could have been imagined. (And it didn't hurt that sitting across from me on the train downtown, after the game, was maybe the most gorgeous, dark-haird woman I have ever seen. I don't even care whether or not she was real, or just a Yankee angel sent down from Blue Heaven to make my day complete. She was smokin'....... Thank you, Lord.)

So that's the cherry blast in the Bronx. I hope all of you had equally thrilling days your first time around. I'd love to read about it. Drop your story in the comment slot.

Perfect Picture

2008-03-12T04:29:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about watching the BJays game was seeing the trio of players laughing it up in the dugout after A-Rod's HR -- A-Rod, Jeter, and Pettitte -- and then noticing that right next to them, and completely uninvolved in the banter, was the useless Carl Pavano.

When the book on Brian Cashman gets written, will there be a bigger stain on his legacy than bringing in this creep? Only if Kei Igawa continues to tank will there be a competitor in the Which Move Sucked The Most? chapter in the Cashman bio. Just the sight of Pavano sitting there -- still in uniform; still taking a roster spot that could have gone to Andrew Dice Clay or any other washed up comedian the Yankees feel like signing (oh, excuse me, Billy Crystal) -- was enough to make me sick..... until I saw him ostracized by the other three (contributing) players who were obviously enjoying a genuine moment of camaraderie. It may be a sign of mental weakness to get a thrill at the expense of another person's downfall, but call me challenged if you will. There's no point to being nice about the Pavano disgrace.

And how soon until the Yankees can send him off to the 60-day DL and get him out of sight for good? Sadly, not soon enough.

Almost Perfect: Community Projection--Robinson Cano

2008-03-12T04:25:00.000-07:00

Almost Perfect: Community Projection--Robinson Cano

If you're interested in trying to forecast what the individual Yankee players might do this season, try the Community Projections post over at the Almost Perfect blog. Just click on the link above and post your own projected stats for Robbie Cano. There's a Joba Chamberlain post you can access after that.

Now, where's that LaTroy Hawkins window........???

WWJ(T)D?

2008-03-10T23:48:00.000-07:00

It's hard to imagine Joe Torre going on about the Francisco Cerevelli-Elliot Johnson collision to the extent that Joe Girardi has. I'm not lobbying for a return to the good ol' days of yester-era, but you do have to wonder, in the same situation, what would Joe Torre do? (Or say...)

Girardi's three-day (and possibly more, if he approaches Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon on Wednesday) campaign for the condemnation of Johnson's home plate imitation of Pete Rose has become tedious to the point of being shrill. We get it, Joe G., you're upset about the broken wrist and the (according to you) misplaced hustle of the young Johnson. But let it go, already. Not a single player has taken up the media call to support your claim that Johnson's shoulder dip into Cerevelli's abdomen was as bush league as you claim it was. And the question must be asked: if you're so adament that spring games are devoid of any meaning, then why didn't you instruct your catchers not to block the plate? If Cerevelli had gotten your memo on just how meaningless these games are, then he might have 'ole'd' the play and just allowed Johnson to run freely across an unguarded plate. But Cerevelli is a competitor, a catcher caught up in trying not to waste a terrific throw from the outfield. And the equally competitive Johnson was caught up in trying not to get tagged out. It was a good, solid baseball play all around.

And WFAN's Evan Thomas was wrong on Monday when he informed his on-air partner, Joe Benigno, that Johnson had "stood over Cerevelli after the play, almost to intimidate him, it seemed." Thomas then went on to say that the camera cut away from Johnson to the fallen Cerevelli, so it was impossible to tell how long Johnson stood there. "Then that's wrong," Benigno responded. You're right, Joe, something is wrong, but it wasn't Johnson, it was Evan Thomas.

The replay cameras stayed on Johnson long enough for viewers to see that Johnson did not "stand over" Cerevelli. He stood near the plate looking down, and if anything can be read by his facial expression, it was that Johnson had some passive concern about Cerevelli's condition. After leaving the plate, Johnson did not sprint to the dugout to exchange any excited high-fives with Maddon or with any teammates. No one from Tampa displayed any kind of false bravado over the incident.

And on one final note, it is near-shameful for the media to be speculating that hard-nosed Yankee reserve infielder Shelley Duncan might somehow exact some measure of "revenge" for Cerevelli by crashing into a Tampa infielder or catcher should Duncan get the chance Wednesday (or sometime during the regular season). This kind of silly hypothesizing not only paints a false picture of the original play last Saturday, but it unfairly paints Duncan as some kind of NHL-like goon who's job it is to even scores. Duncan's a natural hardcharger who has earned a reputation for going all-out, all the time. If he does end up in any similar play against the Rays, it's a shame that he will now have to answer questions about his intent. Score another one for the media trying to 'develop' a story that was never there in the first place.

In the best interest of all involved -- including fans who are getting bored reading and hearing about it -- can we just let this go, once and for all?

More good things from Joba

Not the total-command Joba Chamberlain we've seen in the past, but Monday's performance against the Cincinnati Reds was another positive outing for the rookie hardballer. His first-pitch fastballs were crisp and biting the corners. His breaking balls ate a lot of dirt, but he got the job done. Yankee fans can now look forward to Chamberlain's first extended start, say of the five-to-six-inning variety. We've never seen him go that far against major league hitters. It should be interesting to watch.

The Case for Keeping Joba in the Pen

2008-03-10T05:04:00.000-07:00

I caught some of Mike and the Mad Dog on the WFAN website last week, and they were ripping Sweeny Murti a new one in regards to the Joba Chamberlain situation. It seems everyone has a point, and it seems everyone’s point has at least some measure of validity when answering the what if’s.

What if Mike Mussina stinks (and I think he will) and either Phil Hughes or Ian Kennedy prove unready to handle starting every fifth day? Then Joba belongs in the rotation. Easy call.

What if the starters are fine but the bullpen tanks and Mo Rivera has to enter too many eighth innings? Then Joba sits in the pen and handles the late-inning set-up role. Again, an easy call.

But what if both above situations occur, and both the rotation and the bullpen look weak out of the gate? Where is Chamberlain’s highest value, getting seven to eight innings every fifth day as a starter, or getting an inning, or slightly more than that, three or four times per week? What happens then?

Let's start by looking at Joba in the set-up role, and journey back to 1996, when Mo Rivera did exactly what Joba did late last season. That year, the Yankee starters were nothing to get excited about. After Andy Pettitte's 21-8 mark, there was a steep drop-off to the next three primary starters. Combined, Jimmy Key, Kenny Rogers, and Dwight Gooden were 35-26 with a 4.79 ERA. Do those numbers sound like a reasonable expectation for this season, from the combination of Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, and Mike Mussina? They should. Last year, those three pitchers combined to go 45-26 with a 4.23 ERA. Those are certainly better stats than the big three of Key, Rogers, and Gooden had back in 1996, but with Mussina and Pettitte both closing in on 40 years old, and with Pettitte's potential mental distractions from the steroid issues, it's very reasonable to expect neither of them to perform at the level they did just one year ago. And who knows how Wang will handle his playoff meltdown versus the Indians last October. Expecting him to put a third straight 19-win season together might be asking a lot.

And even if Wang does manage to match his previous two years, or even go one better and climb to the 20-win mark, then take him out of the mix, make him the Pettitte of 1996, and then add to the Mussina-Pettitte 2008 version.... whom?

The other potential starters -- Hughes and Kennedy -- don't have enough of a representative sample of stats from last season to make a reasonable prediction as to what numbers they might put up this year. It is reasonable, however, to expect that neither will challenge for a Cy Young, and that a 12-win, 9-loss, 4.25 ERA season from both or either of them would be considered a successful first season in the majors. Those are numbers that approximate what the Yankee starters did in 1996. That brings us back to Joba Chamberlain and Mo Rivera.

With questionable starting pitching that year, Rivera's value in the bullpen could not be overstated. While Yankee starters were not stellar as a group, they weren't horrendous, either, and the Rivera-John Wetteland combination was what ultimately allowed the Yankees to get into the postseason and eventually win the World Series. So now, imagine the Chamberlain-Rivera combination, helping a shaky but not dreadful Yankee staff pull out close games -- which most games will be because the Yankees are still going to score tons of runs -- getting the team to 93-98 wins, and Joba remaining in the bullpen seems like the obvious choice.

And while we're reminiscing about 1996, let's step even further down memory lane and revisit the Yankees' World Series opponent that season, the Atlanta Braves, who were so dominant for years, with a monster, Hall of Fame-worthy starting staff..... yet won only a single World Series because time after time their bullpen went south faster than John Rocker's reputation. For all their talk about not bemoaning their single World Series title, you know Bobby Cox and John Schuerholz will always wonder what they might have accomplished with a Mo Rivera in the bullpen.

My vote is for Joba in the bullpen. Make him a starter, and even if he's phenomenal and goes 20-8 with a 3.10 ERA, and strikes out 240 batters in 220 innings, what good will it do if the rest of the staff gets just 65 wins? The Red Sox are still the Red Sox. Toronto's better, but we'll see if they're ready to contend. The Rays might, just might, have the talent to put together a few runs where they win 10-out-of-13. This division is too loaded to mess around with a formula that obviously worked. If it breaks, then fix it. But until then, why are the Yankees even considering this move?

Hughes step forward

2008-03-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

How huge a start was it for Phil Hughes? Sometimes, it seems life was better before every spring training game was on television, because without access to the games fans and writers weren't tempted to place so much emphasis on these early outings. Nevertheless, this is the 21st century -- all access, all the time -- and it has to be said that Phil Hughes looked great for three innings Sunday when he took the mound against the Minnesota Twins. Just as encouraging was his fourth inning, where he started to show a little fatigue and less command of the strike zone, but still managed to get through the inning without having surrendered a hit during the game.

Who knows how the next start will turn out, but Yankee fans can walk away from Sunday's start with a positive outlook.

A-O-Kei?

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Kei Igawa. Yeah, he threw two hitless innings, but the three walks didn't do anything to assuage fears that he still hasn't developed the nerve to face big league hitters and throw strikes consistently. How much do facial expressions mean in terms of pitching effectiveness? Probably not much, but who can watch this guy pitch and not feel that he just looks overwhelmed? Every time I see him, I get the feeling he's dreading his next mistake rather than being aggressive and trying to go after batters.

It probably doesn't help his confidence when he reflects on what his two countrymen helped the Red Sox do last season (and it can't help that he's playing beside Japan legend Hideki Matsui). I live in Taiwan, not Japan, but if there is any overlap in the way the public can ridicule someone who is perceived to be a failure -- and failure is the kindest label to put on Igawa's brief tenure in the Bronx in 2007 -- then Igawa must have had his psychological foundation shaken and stirred by the reaction of Japanese fans and media. The guy's up against it, but that excuse won't get him a free pass from Yankee fans. I may be wrong, but he looks to me like he's on his way to becoming the Japanese Ed Whitson.

Was it or wasn't it?

2008-03-09T05:56:00.000-07:00

One can understand Joe Girardi's frustration over the Francisco Cervelli-Elliott Johnson collision at home plat on Saturday. And one can also understand Rays manager Joe Maddon's insistence that it was a good, aggressive play by a young ballplayer trying to win a game. But when YES Network broadcaster Michael Kay wondered aloud if the play was appropriate in something as "meaningless" as a spring training game, was he right in how he labeled the game? It depends on whose perspective one chooses to adopt.

Certainly by that point in the game -- the top of the ninth inning -- the game was meaningless to Girardi. He has a (relatively) secure job and he has the majority of his Yankee roster already penciled in. Most of the Yankees on the field at the time of the play have no shot at making the big club out of spring training. But what about Johnson?

Although he is rumored to be headed down to the minors for Opening Day, he has every right to expect that his every move is being scrutinized by Rays management. And in an organization loaded with young talent -- young, unpredictable talent -- a player like Johnson could get the call up anytime. Showing determination and hustle on a play like the collision with Cervelli could be the difference between being called up in June or called up in August, or being called up never.

Did it appear as if Elliott deliberately lowered his shoulder just to nail Cervelli in the gut? Yes. Did it look as if there was ample room for Elliott to execute a hook slide around the third-base edge of the plate? Yes. Is there any way for Yankee fans to know if either of the above answers are dead-certain yesses? No, not really.

Unfortunately, that's baseball. Guys get hurt. Some Yankee fans are getting emotional about the play, and Girardi's mild stoking of the fire won't calm any of that. But emotion aside, there is no clear-cut right or wrong side to take here.

Living in Taiwan, I don't have many chances to listen to NYC-area talk radio, so I don't know what the pulse of the Yankee fans is on this issue. Had it been Jorge Posada who had gone down -- no disrespect to Francisco Cervelli intended -- then Joe Maddon might have wanted to move his club out of Tampoa and to Miami on the overnight train. Yankee fans in Florida for spring training might have started a Battle by the Bay. Posada's hypothetical involvement still would not have made the play any worse, however. Elliott, I think, should get a pass on this one.

If Hank Steinbrenner...

2008-03-09T04:34:00.000-07:00

... is serious about becoming the Bigger Stein -- and every headline grab he's made this spring sends the signal that he is setting out to make his father the Ursa Minor of the Yankee universe -- then I hope he's already planning how to pluck David Price from the Tampa Bay Rays as soon as Mr. Price is available. Tomorrow would be nice.

There will be all kinds of qualifications about Price's 'major league (sort of) debut," and every qualification will be dead-on accurate. One late inning in a meaningless spring training game is, well, meaningless. But Price displayed every aspect of a future star - a future intimidating star -- with the way he plowed through the four Yankee batters he faced on Saturday.

Yankee reserve catcher Francisco Cervelli will certainly never forget Saturday's game, but when he looks back on it on some distant future afternoon he will likely remember it more as "the day David Price plunked me on the elbow" than he will as the day Elliot (Who's he, Grandpa?) Johnson bowled him over in a debatably bush-league play at the plate in the ninth inning. Earlier, in the seventh inning, Cervelli became the first professional victim of a Price(less?) inside fastball. The sound of the impact must have been wince-inducing for fans at Legends Field. For those of us watching through the television, it was sickening enough to hear.

What most impressed about Price was the tenacity he showed by going right back inside -- with another 98-mph heater, if memory serves -- on the first pitch, the very next pitch, to Shelley Duncan. Not every rookie would have had the guts to go back in there. Price, as everyone will recall, proceeded to cut down Duncan, Jason Lane, and Wilson Betemit in quick fashion. Every pitch seemed more impressive, and more authoritative, than the last.

Because he has a major league contract, the Rays are obliged to move Price to the big club before the end of his third professional season. If not, Price would be eligible for waivers. On Saturday's YES Network broadcast, Michael Kay said he is hearing that Price has a ticket already punched and will be in Tampa by sometime later this season. Yankee fans can only hope that if they see Price again this season there will be no repeat of Saturday's (qualified) performance. If there is, then all the qualifiers in the world won't change the fact that Price seems more than worth the money.

Personally, I like to leave the good old Yankees days of "spend, spend, spend for free agents" where they belong, in the past. Growing our own crop of young stars over the last decade has given Yankee fans infinitely more pride in the team that takes the field today. But if Price shows the ability to match the potential on display yesterday, then what Yankee fan wouldn't want to see him join the Joba-Hughes-Kennedy rotation?