Experience Is Sometimes Just Bad Habits

OMG! Season Over! Impossible 20-Game Stretch Looming!!

Driving home today I heard a little of the Michael Kay show on ESPN radio. For those who may not know, Kay is a YES Network broadcaster in addition to hosting the ESPN Radio show.

In the snippet I heard tonight Kay was walking about the allegedly "tough stretch" the Yankees faced over their next 20 games. 17 of these 20 are against teams that are right now in playoff position, this will be a real test to see if the Yankees' run of late is for real blah blah blah.

Kay is not alone in buying into this nonsense I've heard other sports radio and TV hosts spouting similar stuff. Some I foolishly thought would have known better.

The simple truth is this: It doesn't matter who you play nearly as much as when you play them.

Has everyone forgotten that just a short time ago the Yankees were riding high, and were looking at nine games against three indifferent teams -- San Francisco, Colorado, and Baltimore. The result was 2-7. 2-7!!!!

So please. I don't want to hear about Cleveland, Detroit, and Boston coming up. None of those three are playing very well lately. Detroit in particular is playing hideous baseball. Eight games against them is a bad thing? Huh?

Cleveland isn't much better -- they've picked up some ground because they haven't played as badly as Detroit has of late.

Boston and the Yankees is almost always a 50-50 thing. They should flip a coin on opening Day to decide who wins 10 and who wins 9 and save us all a lot of needless hype every season.

Of the 20-game stretch coming up, the two toughest matchups for us are Baltimore and Anaheim. For whatever reason the Yankees have difficulty with Anaheim and Baltimore is playing everyone tough (although they are laying down nicely for Seattle this week).

So enough about how difficult the next 20 games are. It's as I said last week. Tonight's game is the toughest. Until tomorrow. Unfortunately that takes about 5 seconds to say, and then you're left with hours of sports talk radio show to fill.

Kay was speculating, as I was getting out of the car, what Yankee fans should expect from these next 20 games. He said that 14-6 would be a "giddy" expectation.

Rubbish. 14-6 over the next 20 is no more "giddy" than predicting 2-7 against SF, Colorado, and Baltimore would have been "irrationally negative." 19-1 would be giddy. 18-2 would be giddy. 14-6 is simply what the Yankees need to keep doing to stay on the 95 win track and not have to worry about the other clowns.

And it's very possible. The main obstacle to 14-6 (or better) is four games in Anaheim.

Lipstick On A Pig: The 2007 Yankees

Free Runs Cost.

The Yankees' recent string of scoring a lot of runs masks the essential flaws of this team, flaws that were prominently on display Thursday and Friday nights.

Each night, the Yankees failed to get two 'free runs," that is, a man on second with no outs or a man on third with one or no outs. Runs that you can get without getting any more hits.

Thursday it doesn't look important because the final score was 7-0. But that was a 4-0 game most of the way, and 4-2, which it should have been, is much different psychologically than 4-0.

Last night of course the two free runs not gotten were the difference in the game.

Note that this has nothing to do with the team's 1-18 with RISP or whatever it is the past two nights. These were four runs we missed out simply by not making the right kind of outs.

This team has been horrible at this all year. The recent run-scoring outbursts against Tampa and KC (coincidence? unlikely) masked how poorly this team does with situational hitting, how ridiculously streaky they are, and how vulnerable the bullpen is.

Jeter, Cano, and Posada all had horrendous at bats in big spots last night (Jeter more than one).

Please Make That Deal -- We'll Throw In Airfare.

Rumor has it that the Tigers are interested in re-acquiring Kyle Farnsworth. Brian, make this deal NOW before Detroit comes to their senses. The arm isn't enough, as impressive as it can be. Farnsworth's fastball is straight, making it hittable at any speed, and he simply doesn't have the feel for pitching effectively in the late innings. He's a crummy teammate and a meltdown waiting to happen.

Hillenbrand Signs With San Diego -- Whew!

Shea Hillenbrand signed a minor league deal with San Diego, thankfully making it impossible for the Yankees to acquire him. As I've written before, offense at first base is not this team's problem -- Andy Phillips is more than good enough for the rest of this season. He plays a great first base and gets some big hits.

I Don't Make Idle Threats, But . . .

Rumor has it that Jason Giambi is close to returning to the lineup. If Giambi's return costs Melky an every day spot, I will have to seriously consider investing in a Mets' jersey. For whatever reason Torre doesn't like Melky too much -- I guess being a huge part of saving last year's season wasn't enough for Joe -- and it won't surprise Me at all if Giambi DHs, and Johnny Damon and his .240 average go back into the outfield until Damon literally drops, since he won't ever go on the DL and heaven forbid Torre ever overrules one of his veterans.

By then it won't matter anyway. We'll be well and truly out of it. Hmmm . . . Wright or Beltran, for the jersey, do you think?

I Think My Clicker Is Broken!

Did Mariano throw 72 pitches in the ninth inning of the suspended game last night or did it just seem that way? Amazing how Torre knew he wouldn't need Mariano in the regular game. The man's a genius, I tell you!

Two Out Of Three, The Hard Way (Of Course)

Caution: Keep Hands And Feet Inside Car While Ride Is In Motion.

After Thursday's shocking loss, I honestly was caught by surprise by the lackluster effort Friday night. This team keeps sucking me in like this -- making me think they've turned some corner, then wrenching me back to reality with a game like Friday night's.

It is going to be a roller coaster ride with this bunch of Yankees this year, and where it ends up is anyone's guess.

But there was one wonderful moment Friday night, and one subtle blown opportunity by Torre to take even more of the sting out.

Late in Friday's lopsided loss, Shelley Duncan got his first major league hit, and as is customary, they take the ball out of play to save for the kid. Always a nice moment, and I felt good for Duncan after striking out in his first two at bats and looking pretty bad and overwhelmed in the process.

The next batter up, Damon, gets a hit to break an 0-for-20-something skid, and, with brilliant comedic sense, calls for the ball!!!!!

I was laughing my head off . . . Damon's move was perfect.

Now, because Torre had earlier put the DH into play a position, our pitcher had to bat, and Ron Villone's spot was up next.

This is where Torre missed his chance: Let Villone bat. We weren't scoring 10 runs to come back and tie the game -- carry the laughs from Damon's calling for the ball forward. Give the guys on the bench something to laugh about, watching Villone trying to make contact against major league pitching.

Am I Psychic, Or What?

During the first game yesterday, with the Yankees down 2-0 and looking pretty blah, A-Rod walked. I told iris, "that was the turning point. Not just of this game but of the whole season."

The next pitch Matsui jerks into the stands to tie the game. Since I said that to iris we've scored 24 runs.

I scare myself sometimes.

Breaking News.

Yanks acquire Molina from Angels for minor-league pitcher. Not earth-shaking but for someone who's going to play once a week it's fine, and Molina is a significant upgrade from Will Nieves.

Breaking News, Part 2.

Will Nieves traded for two fungo bats. The fungo bats are reportedly extremely upset.

A Nightmare On 161st Street, Part 17: The F-Word Cometh

I Have Seen This Movie Before And It's Just As Scary Every Time.

The script is horrifyingly familiar, made no less upsetting by virtue of repetition.

We lead late. Have to get the eighth inning to give the game to Mariano. In comes Farnsworth.

And then there's a baserunner. Or two. Or a home run. Or some walks. Or all of the above.

Unlike the horror movie series, though, the bad guy isn't wearing a goalie mask, as if he's proud of his grisly crimes.

But, as often happens in the horror genre, the monster has a master, the mad scientist pushing the buttons and throwing the switches, giving life to the beast.

How many times do we have to see this particular (bad) movie?

I don't care how much money Farnsworth is making -- he's pitched his way to the bottom of the heap. That Torre keeps running him out there in big spots is inexplicable and bizarre.

If the archives are still out there, you'll know I'm not second -guessing. When the Yankees were thinking of signing Farnsworth, I wrote on the Yankees message boards that we needed to stay away from this goon at all costs. He had had one good season (one good half-season, really) and that we shouldn't be fooled by that.

He is Armando Benitez with a better workout regimen. All arm and no brains. All stuff and no heart.

Supposedly Cashman is looking to trade Farnsworth. Do it -- amazingly enough there are some teams out there desperate/stupid enough to actually trade us something for him. In the meantime, Torre needs to not pitch him unless we are ahead or behind 7 or more runs. Right now I want to see Proctor or Bruney or anyone else (except Meyers) in the eighth inning.

But this is what Torre does. You'll note that it took no time at all for Ron Villone to earn his way back into important spots. He's a Joe guy and a Joe guy gets 1,293 chances to fail. Meanwhile Chris Britton, who apparently insulted Torre's family or something, rots in Scranton. And don't tell me that Sean Henn can't do a better job than Mike Meyers.

Call 1-800-NO-F-CLUE

Say Whatever You Like -- The Radio's On But No One's Really Listening.

A WFAN caller today actually took the time to call, sit on hold for 20 minutes, and talk to a screener, just to complain to the host about Melky Cabrera. This caller, presumably sober at such a tender hour of the day, said that Melky's lack of power made him "not the long-term answer" in the outfield for the Yankees.

Now, the host could have done the responsible thing and set the caller straight on Melky, and maybe tossed in the 800 number for AA, just in case.

Instead, the host, Evan Roberts, says, "I think you're right and I"m sure the Yankees aren't thinking of Melky as the answer. Melky's a lot like Endy Chavez -- good in small doses but when he plays every day he gets exposed."

That exchange is wrong on so many levels.

1. If the caller thinks that Melky not hitting home runs is the cause of the Yankees' problems, then I take it back, he wasn't sober after all.

2. Evan Roberts has to concede to the facts and the facts are that last year, when Melky played every day, far from "being exposed," he performed admirably in a difficult situation and was a big part of the reason we won 97 games last year. Torre not using the lineup that won those 97 games in the playoffs is one of his biggest blunders ever. [On a side note, I wonder how Torre feels now about kowtowing to Sheffield last year in the playoffs after Sheffield basically just called him a racist bastard.]

And for Evan, and everyone else who might wonder, here's Melky's numbers from last year:

130 games
Hit .280
50 RBI
75 runs
12/17 in steals
7 HRs

Perfectly respectable for a rookie, in fact better than respectable. And what doesn't show there is the infusion of youth and energy and speed that Melky provides, which was instrumental in last year's run.

After a slow start this year (when he wasn't playing every day, early on), Melky's got his numbers back in range of last year's.

And perhaps the most important thing -- he isn't even 23 yet. Who says this is as good as Melky gets? I see him filling out as he gets older, developing significant power, and possibly moving to a corner outfield spot.

3. Melky is by far our best defensive outfielder, not only because of his arm but because of his ability to get to balls that Matsui can't reach or that Abreu can't be bothered with because Abreu's brooding over being 1 for his last 48 or whatever it was there for a while. Already this season there have been several games we'd likely have lost had Damon been playing center.

But talk radio hosts basically say whatever they feel like, the facts and common sense be damned.

Silly me . . . I thought the idea was for the host to be smarter than the callers.

ESPN's M&M Boys Strike Out. Looking. Twice.

Mike and Mike Math Moment.

Mike and Mike this morning were talking about about the Yankees' situation this morning, and Mike Golic repeated the oft-cited, but wrong, assessment that teams in the Yankees' situation have "too many teams to climb over."

That matters in September. It doesn't matter with almost 70+ games left.

If 95 games will get the Yankees to the postseason, then they have to get to that number. It doesn't matter what other teams do, IF 95 is the number. Now to do that, as of three games go the Yankees needed to play .688 ball the rest of the way. A tall order, perhaps unlikely, but how many teams there are to climb over is no issue at this point.

Then they started talking about how the Yankees' first 28 games starting today are all vs. teams with under-500 records. What follows is a good illustration of why sports talk show hosts should avoid anything remotely mathematical.

Greenberg : The Yankees' next 28 games are against teams under .500. What do they have to go over this stretch . . . 24-4?"

Golic : Well even that that won't matter if Boston goes 17-7.

Greenberg : Oh well, if Boston goes 17-7 the Yankees are dead.

Um, guys? 17-7 is 24, first of all. Golic by his own admission has the brain power of a bag of slab bacon, but Greenberg went to Northwestern, which I'd always been led to believe was a good school. Secondly if the Yankees were to go 24-4 over these next 28 games, in all likelihood they will be atop the wild card standings or very close to it.

They don't need to go 24-4 over the next 28. If they win 70% of those games, that's 20-8, rounded up. Which won't be easy, but they are playing some less than stellar teams and any second half run has to start immediately.

Mike and Mike Money Moment.

Intertwined with that Yankees' conversation above was the Mikes talking about the "news item" that the Yankees "are willing to negotiate now" with A-Rod about a new contract. To me this is no news -- policies to the contrary, I believe the Yankees have been willing to talk to Boras about a new deal since last season ended. Perhaps now they have leaked Buster Olney's big scoop to make it publicly known that they are going to aggressively pursue an extension with A-Rod.

The Mikes went on to say, correctly, I think, that it will take something like $30 million per, for a fair number of years, to sign A Rod. Then Greenberg veers off the road, saying that it won't work, that A-Rod is definitely opting out and testing the market.

Err . . . Mike? What market, exactly? Given that we are talking about something like . . . $225 million over 7 years, let's say . . . how many teams actually could seriously be in the market for A Rod? I can think of four, perhaps five at the outside. San Francisco (rumored to want A Rod badly) is not an option, unless they are willing to 1) commit 35% of their total payroll to one player, or 2) dramatically increase their payroll. The Yankees, The Mets, The Angels, The Red Sox, The Cubs. Boras knows pretty much exactly what each of those teams can/will offer.

The other point, and this blind spot is not limited to Mike and Mike, but it's the most important thing in this situation: A Rod wants to stay with the Yankees! I know, gosh, how horrible to be the star of the most recognized team in sports, in one of the greatest cities in the world. And A-Rod is cognizant of his place in the history of the game . . . and he knows that, rightly or wrongly, accomplishments with the Yankees just plain mean more. A Rod's going into Cooperstown wearing a Mariners' hat? A Texas Rangers hat? I think not.

All off-season all the so-called "experts" had A Rod traded this off-season. That didn't happen, and all those experts now have him opting out. Greenberg said "I think A Rod really wants to go to Anaheim or the Cubs." This is based apparently on Greenberg's close friendship with and deep personal knowledge of A-Rod.

Not to mention that the Yankees have one advantage that other potential bidders for A-Rod don't have. And that is $81 million. $81 million that the Texas Rangers still have to pay A-Rod if he doesn't opt out of his current contract. The Yankees will extend A-Rod as opposed to ripping up the last three years of the current deal. In exchange for that I'm sure the team will go a little more money, or an extra year. As in all long-term deals with a guy in his mid-30s (A-Rod will be 35, I think, when the current deal is up), you know and have to accept that you're going to overpay in the end year(s). But that overpayment when A Rod is 42 is offset by the fact that Texas is paying a big chunk of A-Rod's salary during these hugely productive years.

I think the odds are very good that A-Rod remains a Yankee for the rest of his career.

2-1 in 13, 12-0. Go Figure

I Watched Fox Baseball For Four Hours And All I Got Was This Crummy "L."

Catchers often end up managers. Catchers have to think a lot during the course of a game. Because of that catchers can make good managers, and good analysts, too.

The issue is when the former catcher/analyst says everything that he thinks. This is Joe Gerardi's problem. After a couple of innings he becomes unlistenable because he has only two modes: Joycean stream of consciousness or catatonic silence. At one point yesterday, the catcher came out to talk to the pitcher and Gerardi was stone silent for about 30 seconds. I think Steve Albert deliberately didn't prod Gerardi with a "what is he saying to him in a situation like this?" line because Albert needed a break from listening to Gerardi as well.

As for the game. When you lose 2-1 in 13 innings there's always going to be regrets, at bats/situations both before and during the extra innings, that sealed the team's fate.

Two stand out for me. Bottom 7 . . . Posada leads off with a double. This is a free run -- we can score without getting any more hits. (I haven't looked up the numbers but my observations suggest that the 2007 Yankees are doing a terrible job of collecting free runs.) And we don't get this one either. Strikeout strikeout pickoff.

PICKOFF?!!?!!!???!!?!!!??

Off second? Where exactly was Crazy Legs Posada going? For all this talents and wonderful contributions over the years, Posada has always been a terrible baserunner. Not just slow, but with horrendous instincts/judgment as well.

There went that chance.

The one that really sticks with Me is in the bottom of the 13th, with us down a run. First and third, one out. Melky up.

Gerardi immediately talked about how the safety squeeze would work well here. Melky can handle the bat, Cairo's fast enough to score on a safety squeeze, and if they pitch out there's no risk since it's a safety squeeze.

I have to agree. Melky had struck out four times already. And striking out isn't even the worst that could happen -- he could hit into a game-ending double play, and then Jeter, leading the world in hitting with 2 outs and RISP wouldn't get up to bat.

To my way of thinking you do it on the first pitch.

They didn't. Not on the first pitch, or ever. Melky strikes out for the fifth time, Jeter hits a harmless grounder. Ballgame.

Now, since I'm the reasonable sort, I tried to think of reasons Joe didn't do it. I come with two possibilities, both of which seem pretty weak.

1. Joe, having already used everyone in the pen he felt good about using, decided to play for the win.

My problem with that argument is that you have to tie it or nothing else matters. There's no way of knowing -- if you hold your nose and put in . . . Villone, let's say, maybe he pitches three good innings. Plus, Anaheim had already used both of their good relievers. Scioscia's options were to use K-Rod for a third inning or roll the dice. In either case getting the game to the 14th (and esepcially beyond, if it comes to that) puts big pressure on Anaheim as well.

2. Joe felt that the Angels were looking for the squeeze, thus decreasing the play's chance of success.

Granted, K-Rod did pantomime a lot before throwing the first pitch to Melky, obviously attempting to get someone to give away the play. So it was on their minds. It would be hard for it not to be.

But, as Gerardi pointed out, all the ingredients were there for the safety squeeze: A fast enough guy on third and a good bunter at the plate. The night before, the suicide squeeze was used because Posada is very slow and if he doesn't leave the base until the ball's bunted it would have to be close to a perfect bunt. In this situation, with Cairo running all Melky has to do is get the bunt up the first base line a little and Cairo scores standing up.

But Torre, who squeezed the night before in the midst of a big inning . . . in the THIRD inning, when the beer vendor could have thrown on a Yankee uniform and gotten a hit, doesn't squeeze in the 13th inning needing one run to keep the game going, at home.

I'm so mystified I can almost believe that Melky missed the sign, except that there was no conference with the third base coach after the first pitch, as there surely would have been had a sign been missed.


The Bronx Bombers Reappear, Much To The Chagrin Of An New Old-Timer.

Saturday's tough loss had no carryover as the Yankees took Santana deep, repeatedly, en route to a 12-0 win to close out the first half.

It was encouraging to see no hangover from yesterday, and to see someone other than A Rod hitting it out (although A Rod snuck one over the left field wall, too, for a nice round 30 home runs at the break).

But iris mentioned to me that "Roger must be really pissed."

I laughed. Hm. 14 runs the day before he pitches. 4 quick runs the day after he pitches. The day he pitched we looked like the 2005/2006 Houston Astros.

I assured iris that Roger was not mad at all. That he was all about the team. Etc.

Then it was 7-0. "You know Roger is livid now." Noooooooooo, silly. Roger's all about the team, I assured her. He just ran into some good pitching by Lackey yesterday.

Then it was 10-0. They showed a shot of Andy Pettitte in the dugout. No Roger sitting next to him. What the . . . ? At first I thought maybe they let all the starters except Wang leave the team early for the All-Star break, but in that case Pettitte wouldn't have been on the bench.

I had to stop reassuring iris at that point.

A Tough Game To Watch, Made Tougher

Shut Up.

Michael Kay is perhaps the more infuriating announcer in professional sports. I realize there is a lot of competition, but for Me Kay's aggressive stupidity, his refusal to let go of a "point," no matter how many different ways it is shown to be wrong and/or irrelevant, and his inability to stop doing radio even though he's been on TV for five years now, give him the crown.

Last night Kay was in rare form, even for him.

Pettitte couldn't hold a big lead and was taken out without being able to get the win. Now, in a situation like this . . . the scoring rules are clear. Edwar Ramirez came in, and by the time he left the Yankees had been tied, and then gone ahead again. Ramirez was thus in line to get the win if the score held.

Now there is one exception. If, in the opinion of the official scorer, the reliever who would technically be in line for the win was "brief and ineffective," the scorer can award the win to another pitcher.

It's very rare that that happens. And while there is no strict definition of "brief and ineffective," it's generally assumed that's it really brief and really ineffective, like . . . 1/3 of an inning and four runs allowed. Ramirez wasn't great last night but was nowhere near brief and ineffective -- 1-1/3 innings, one run allowed. Yet Kay several times said that Ramirez was in line for the win but that it would be up to the official scorer. Does he really not know, after all these years, that there was basically zero chance of Ramirez not getting the win?

Infuriating. Aggressively stupid.


Shut Up Shuttin' Up.

But Kay was in rare form already last night. When Ramirez came into the game, he talked about Ramirez' changeup, calling it a "Bugs Bunny changeup."

The reference comes from a Bugs Bunny cartoon in which Bugs is pitching and throws his special pitch, a very slow pitch at which the hitter swings three times and strikes himself out. It's a classic, but if you're going to talk about in on a baseball telecast, you have to have all the facts, namely, what the pitch was actually called.

Say it with me, Michael: The Paralyzin' Palooka Pitch.

Maybe it's sad that I know that, I don't know. But Kay has to know it if he's going to talk about it on TV. Calling it the "Bugs Bunny Changeup" is lame, and sad. And of course in typical Kay fashion, he mentions it over and over. Then to complete the self-humiliation he explains the reference! "For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, there was a Bugs Bunny cartoon . . . "

Stop, Michael, please. Just . . . stop.


And A Special "Shut Up" To The Rules and The Scoring Rules.

Two little odd things from last night. One from the game, one from the box score.

Cano apparently missed third base en route to scoring on Cairo's gapper and was called out when Anaheim appealed. The appeal play last worked in 1967, I think. It's time to take it out of the rules. If the guy left too early, or missed the base, have some guts and make it the umpire's job to call it. A system whereby the other team's mistake/cheating gets penalized only if you notice it, is ridiculous. What are umpires for?

The second thing is that in looking at the box score I see that Edwar Ramzirez, in addition to getting the win last night, gets tagged with a Blown Save.

In the sixth inning?

Not that it matters except I suppose in arbitration hearings, but there should be no blown saves given out prior to the eighth inning. Too much can still happen.

Non-Answers, Math Review, And Pitching Scared

Depends On How You Define "Is."

I happened to catch a little of Brian Cashman interviewed on WFAN this morning. Kim Jones asked Cashman: "I heard that Philip Hughes is pitching for the [Class A] Tampa Yankees Monday. Is he?"

This would appear to be a simple question. It wasn't. Cashman started talking and I quickly zoned out. Cashman spoke for what seemed like three minutes but I'm pretty sure the answer to the question was "yes." Hughes is pitching for the Tampa Yankees on Monday. Probably.

In other Cashman "news," another non-answer answer revealed that Kei Igawa is going to get another start after the All-Star Break. Sort of. Unless there's some other option, or something else happens. I think.

Kim asked Cashman if he had a number in mind, as in, how many wins in his mind the Yankees need to end up with. Kim wondered if 95 was a number Cashman might have thought about, since well, getting to 95 wasn't going to be too easy now. Not surprisingly, Cashman said he doesn't think of a particular number, we have to try to win each day and be consistently better blah blah blah.

B. S. Cashman thinks about a target number all the time, even if for some reason he feels he can't reveal what that number is. (Don't want to put pressure on the team, after all, right? They might not perform well. Oh . . . wait . . . they're already not . . . ).


In The Year 5525.

Speaking of numbers. We sit at 40-42. 80 games remain. 90 wins means we go 50-30 the rest of the way . . . .625 baseball. 95 wins would require a record of 55-25 -- a winning percentage of .6875.

Most likely 90 wins isn't going to get us into the playoffs but 95 will. So let's forget 90 and say the Yankees need to play .688 ball over the last 80 games.

As down as I've been on them, as much as I am convinced that Torre has been the wrong manager for this team for a couple of years, at least, now, I do not think it's impossible, honestly. If the lineup can just perform to the back of their baseball cards, if there is normal luck with calls and breaks, if thee are no more big injures, it can be done. Will it? I'm not sure. But it will be a fun final 80 games if the team addresses those 80 games with the proper sense of urgency, i. e., you can only win one game at a time but losing comes in bunches.


The 75% Solution / Strike Zone, Paging Mr. Mussina.

A good week, taking three of four from the Twins. Honestly I expected to lose three to the Twins, but the offense and pitching came through very nicely in the first two games, and yesterday, their crappy pitcher was a little worse than our crappy pitcher, and our bullpen was a tiny bit better than theirs. (Very satisfying when Shemp took Neshek deep -- Neshek is one of those pitchers whose mound mannerisms make him easily and instantly unlikeable.)

The Mussina-Santana game is one that, on paper, you could have written off ahead of time and in truth I had done so. But the reality is that for two-plus years now, more often than not Mussina has pitched just well enough to lose in big spots. Wednesday was a highly winnable game. [Why Torre doesn't pinch-hit Posada for the hitless wonder in the fifth inning when the game could be broken open, but then does use him with two outs, none on, down two runs, is beyond me, but even with that it was a winnable game.]

And that has everything to do with Mussina's refusal to not pitch scared. Has anyone noticed that some of Mussina's best starts are those right after returning from injuries, when he's limited to 80 pitches? The reason for that is that in those starts he's not nibbling because he knows he can't do that and last too long under the pitch count.

All these pitchers that can't throw 90 that the Yankees can't hit have one thing in common aside from their 86 mph fastballs: They throw stirkes. When they don't is when they get hurt.

Know it, learn it, live it, Mike. There's no point in making the perfect pitch if 1) it's too perfect for the ump to see that it's a strike, and 2) it costs you four pitches to throw that perfect pitch, one or more of which stands a good chance of getting hit hard or of walking the guy.

Chip, Chip, Chip . . . Oops!

Once More, With No Feeling.

Another numbing loss today. It would blend into all the others except that it started out with a jolt. That, and more classically horrible managing by Joe Torre make tpday's loss semi-memorable.

The jolt: Andy Pettitte allowing 8 runs in 1.2 innings. (Only 7 of said runs were earned thanks to an error by Abreu, who is suffering from Sheffield's Syndrome, in which poor performance at the plate causes desultory defense.) It was pretty shocking -- Andy has pitched well this year by and large and in most games has deserved a better fate. Not today -- there were some dribblers and bloops but Pettitte's location was way off and the shelling was richly deserved, disconcerting as it was.

So before I'm even settled in we're down 8-0. I check when and where the Boston game is on, since I figure to be watching a lot more of that game than this one.

But Haren is not his under-2 ERA self today. He's throwing a lot of pitches, and giving up some hits. 8-2. Villone, of all people, has replaced Pettite and Ronnie likes pitching down a lot of runs, obviously. Oakland's doing nothing against him.

8-4. We actually get the tying run to the plate with two outs (Cano, inserted into the 3 spot today). He makes out, but at 8-4, middle innings, Oakland's bullpen hardly bulletproof, it feels like we have a chance.

Villone is unhittable. We get it to 8-5, thanks to a 2-out hit by Jeter, his first since Tuesday, it feels like. Once again, the tying run to the plate with two outs. Once again, Cano. He strikes out. But OK . . . 8-5, three innings to go . . . we can do this. (Side note: Cano's approach at the plate this season is, to be kind, comical. Where is the hitting coach? Where is Mattingly? Or Bowa? Someone? Anyone?)

Bruney took over after Villone's 3.1 innings of outstanding relief and in his second inning of work, Bruney does the unthinkable: he allows a baserunner! I'm cursing before the batter even reaches first base because I already know what happens next.

And there he is. Mike Meyers, our "lefty specialist," and I want to throw something at the screen. Please, will the shills in the media who defend Torre no matter what, who humiliate, dismiss, and trash callers who say Joe should be fired, please make a semi-reasonable argument why you bring Meyers into the game at that point. To face a left-handed batter, when lefties are hitting well over .300 against Meyers.

And, to no fan's surprise, Meyers coughs it up to a lefty -- Cust doubles and Ellis easily scores from first. 9-5. And you could feel the life go completely out of the crowd, and the team. There would be no more chipping away.

Vizcaino comes in and gets out of that inning but gives up two more runs later, but it didn't matter. (Vizcaino has been pitching his way up the heap, headed for the coveted status of "Joe's guy." Today may have been just a little sidestep, or was the beginning of the quick slide back down to the bottom of the pile. We'll see.)

But once again, Torre's managing takes away what (admittedly little) chance we had at coming back in this game. Using Meyers in that situation is premature, and a case of slavish adherence to "the book." I wish Joe would look at the book that shows how Meyers is pitching now, not how he pitched for Boston in 2004, which is what Joe must see when he looks at him.

Release Meyers (that's not a knee-jerk reaction to today's performance -- it's long overdue). Fire Joe. Back up the truck and see what interest there might be for various and sundry warm bodies inhabiting the Pinstripes these days.

None of those will happen, of course . . . as I've said, iris has told me "it's going to be long year."

It already is. I think I've said that already, too.

The Silence Of The Lambasted.

It's Not For Lack Of Trying

I've wanted to post but the words just fail me. Every time I got a thought, it just ran away.

I simply don't know what to say about this team any more. I have faith, though, that they will inspire Me, soon.


Friends In Low Places

Apparently one can not be a credentialed member of the New York media without swearing one's undying loyalty to Joe Torre, and the legend thereof.

The latest gem I'm aware of is courtesy of Yankees' broadcaster and ESPN radio host Michael Kay. Monday Kay dismissed a caller who complained about Torre with this gem:

"Joe Torre's not the problem -- he's been managing the same way for eleven years."

Is the media so mesmerized by Torre that they have lost all common sense? Michael, for the record -- and read this slowly, and repeatedly necessary:

When a manager manages the same way, without the same kind of team, then the manager is the problem.

If we still had Wetteland and Stanton and Nelson and Mendoza in their primes, hell yes -- I'd be routinely pulling the starters at the first sign of trouble. But that ship has sailed. The bullpen isn't as good and (this is related, of course) the starters aren't as good. You have to manage differently with a different kind of team.

Michael . . . is that really so difficult a concept to grasp? Joe is a big part of the problem. And one of the few parts that can be readily fixed.

[Thank you, iris, for pointing Me to Kay's comment.]


Party Like It's 1959

I've written before about how perhaps this, 2007, is "that year." The year where it all goes wrong and a team with good talent just doesn't perform. The 1959 Yankees. Mostly all the same guys who won the World Series the year before, and lost the World Series in seven games to an inferior team the following year. It's just that stuff happens, sometimes.

Predicting "that year" is a tough business. I was pretty sure that 2006 was "that year" (and in retrospect I wish that it had been).

I started to wonder if somehow what's happened since 2000 isn't in some measure a balancing of the books. Perhaps it's payback time. The bill coming due for every whacked-out move Torre made that he got away with. Every Luis Sojo clutch postseaon hit. David Cone in relief in the World Series. The perfect games. The ball call on that 2-2 pitch from Mark Langston to Tino Martinez. Ricky Ledee getting a clutch hit off Kevin Brown (the good, pre-Yankees Kevin Brown). Joe playing the B team, the C team, the D team, hell I think Skippy the ball boy pitched a couple games for us back then and no one knew it and we still won.

I know. There's really no "evening up." But sometimes I still do wonder.

The Songs Remain The Same, Part 2 (With Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks)

Song 3: Like Deja Vu All Over Again

Some games, you just know. Even before the first pitch. Wednesday night was one of those where I knew.

I heard all I needed to hear when they were giving the scouting report on the Rockies' pitcher. I didn't even hear the whole thing. But I heard the magic words.

"Doesn't throw very hard . . . good changeup."

We're losing this game, I said to Myself (and to iris, actually). Do the math. Pitcher we've never seen + doesn't throw hard + changes speeds + good control = Yankees do nothing against him.

And then, as Ive' seen at least 15 times over the last 2+ seasons in this scenario, we go. Quietly.

Weak grounder to second.
Swing and miss at an 85 mph fastball.
Lazy fly to center on a 3-1 pitch.
Rinse.
Repeat.

Pettitte does his best for five innings but when he gives up that home run to fall behind 2-1 the game's over. Colorado adds a few runs for show in the late innings.

Sound familiar? It ought to.


Song 4: "We're Not Hitting"

I rarely watch the postgame show(s), win or lose, but last night I couldn't be bothered to change the channel after the game ended so I caught Joe Torre with the press.

Joe's assessment of last night was basically, "we're not hitting."

Now, as of last night it was just two games that we were "not hitting," so I'd challenge the assessment "not hitting." But, OK, let's not quibble there. Where Joe's comment really irks Me is that he said that instead of saying something 1) constructive and 2) challenging at the same time.

Something like: "Guys, our approach at the plate tonight, and last night too, actually, was . . . I'll be truthful, unacceptable. It irks Me a little bit to sit there and watch us making decent pitchers look like Walter Johnson time and time again -- swinging at first pitches and bad pitches. This team is better than that, taking nothing away from the job of pitching that [Rockies' pitcher] did. I expect better from us offensively."

I know. There's 15 different reasons Joe would never say that. And that's one just one more reason he needs to be fired.


Song 5: Riot In Cell Block Number 9

The players love Joe Torre. We hear this time and time again. And I'm sure that it is absolutely, positively true.

It's true because, among other reasons, under Torre, the players, especially veteran players to dictate exactly what they will do and how they will do it (as long it doesn't involve any of George's rules on facial hair).

It's obvious that Johnny Damon is pretty badly hurt. In fact, Wednesday, after taking BP in the cage, Damon announced "my ribs are shot."

And yet he's not put on the DL. Joe's favorite group from the early 70s was Blind Faith, apparently, since Joe continues to use him even though he is useless right now, offensively and defensively. [One could even argue that Damon starting in CF today actually cost us the game, since the man who scored Colorado's fourth run most likely is on second instead of third when the sac fly is hit, if Melky is playing center at that point. But let's not get involved in that Michael Kay calls "the fallacy of the predetermined outcome." Which, while he has a point about, he takes way too far -- most of what happens in baseball would still have happened if you only change one little thing. But I digress . . . ]

His "ribs are shot." Put him on the DL instead of throwing away at bats and costing us defensively.

Who's running the show here?

Never mind . . . no need to answer that.

[Credit goes to iris for this topic.]


Song 6: Team Mascot, Bert Lahr

Bert Lahr played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, and he is the perfect mascot for this team. This team for some years now simply can't take a punch. Like a cowardly lion, or a fighter with perfect musculature and a glass jaw, we usually fold up in the face of daunting circumstances. It's most evident in the playoffs but it happens all the time in the regular season, too. That's masked by the fact that we do seem to bounce back, and always figure a way to make the playoffs [thanks to the rest of the AL East minus Boston, and to Boston's fairly regular swoon jobs]. And in the playoffs our lack of heart is quickly exposed.

Granted, this is not the Rockies of old. They are better then they've been, but they are not a great team yet, and to get swept by them, topped off by getting shut down by (omg!) Rodrigo Lopez, is beyond the pale. Five runs in three games. In Coors Field. Humidor or not, that's pathetic.

Can anyone on this staff besides Wang respond, please? I really don't want to hear that Mussina "pitched well enough to win." No he didn't. He pitched well enough to lose. Clemens today, in a spot where we needed a big effort . . . 4.1 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs, all earned, 2 homers, 90 pitches.
$1 million a start. For that kind of money I expect a much better effort in game that psychologically was very important not to lose.

Could it be we've had too many mercenaries (Giambi, Sheffield, Clemens, Brown, Pavano, Johnson, etc.) on this team lately? Guys who don't get excited unless there's some problem with their paycheck?

Perish the thought.

Kei Igawa, who when last seen in the big leagues was doing a remarkably good impression of a deer in the headlights, starts tomorrow night in San Francisco.

Igawa the stopper. Heaven help us.

You Too Can Write For Foxsports.com

What The . . . ?

I happened to read a column by Ken Rosenthal today. Rosenthal is a senior writer (ooooo!) for foxsports.com, and you may have seen/heard his stands reports during Fox Saturday telecasts.

The column I read today had as its central theme that the Yankees should trade Philip Hughes to Texas for Mark Teixiera.

Along the way Rosenthal makes some observations that are so wrong, so egregiously wrong, that I can't let them them pass without comment.

His basic premise is that we should trade Hughes because, well, prospects don't always pan out, and the Yankees need Teixiera.

Um, Ken, have you been paying any attention to the Yankees the last month or so? Offense at first base wasn't this team's problem, and certainly isn't now. The Yankees have cut Boston's lead significantly and are right there for the wild card with basically no offensive contribution from first base. And going forward they don't need other than what Cairo will give them.

And while prospects, especially pitching prospects don't always pan out, can't we Yankee fans please have a couple of starters under the age of 36 for a change? And, more importantly, so far everything points to Hughes actually being that good.

Rostenthal floats the possibility that Hughes is overrated, based on . . . get this, a comment from a rival GM! Wow, Ken, way to dig for those unbiased sources! This "rival GM," who of course has no interest in driving Hughes' value down, said that Hughes is "only a number 3 or 4 starter." No assessment like that from any scout, or anyone with no axe to grind in either direction. Fascinating.

And since this one of those cutesy "pile on the Yankees without making it look like that's what I'm doing" sort of columns, Rosenthal makes the claim that the Red Sox have done a "much better" job of bringing along home grown talent, and cites as evidence Youklis, Pedroia, Papelbon, and Lester.

Where do I begin? OK, Cano is markedly better than Pedroia. I'll give you Youklis over Melky, but not by that much, especially since Melky can play center field. Lester? can Lester actually do something before we proclaim him any good? And as for Papelbon, he's been an outstanding closer so far, but, more than likely he will still end up a starter, and if he doens't he can't close on successive nights, severely limiting his potential impact. And who exactly was the Red Sox homegrown closer before Papelbon? So, if you want to say Papelbon you have to say Mariano. Oops!

What the Yankees need to do is resist, with all the will they can muster, the urge to get a "name" first baseman and to hold on to some of these prospects nutil at least we know what we have. Want to trade Eric Duncan? By all means do so -- he's had time to blossom and it hasn't happened. (And I'd be the first to admit the Yankees have held onto Duncan too long already.) Don't trade Philip Hughes. Not yet.

I'd hate to read Foxsports.com's "junior" writers.

Justice Comes From The Strangest Place.

Orioles Fire Perlazzo

The perentially struggling Orioles fired manager Sam Perlazzo today. I have one main thought in response:

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

A couple of years back, when Lee Mazilli was hired to manage the Orioles, he was not allowed to pick any of his own coaches. This was of course a recipe for disaster but Mazilli, anxious to get that first big-league job and thus (hopefully) get his name on the managerial treadmill going forward, took the job.

Well, as all Oriole seasons have been recently, it was a disaster, but Mazilli's tenure had the added flavor of the coaches greasing the skids, reporting every little thing back to Angelos behind Maz's back. Perlazzo was the chief skid-greaser, and just as Judas got 30 pieces of silver, Perlazzo got the manager's job when Mazilli was inevitably fired.

The 30 pieces of silver would've been a better deal. The knock on Mazilli was that he "didn't know how to use the bullpen." Well, in 2004, the one full year Mazilli managed, only one Oriole starter had an ERA under 4 and only one other had an ERA under 5. And the main guys in the bullpen, aside from BJ Ryan, were such immortals as Buddy Groom, Jorge Julio, Jason Grimsley, and John Parrish. No one was succeeding in that job, that year.

The O's problem is wqhat it's been for a decade. Angelos is where Steinbrenner was circa the mid-1980s. That is, assemble a team of big offensive names, mostly past their primes. Ignore the pitching. Act like an a-hole so that people think you're "decisive."

It doesn't matter who manages the Orioles. But Sam Perlazzo not managing them was richly deserved.

It Figures.

Is This Over Yet?

Of course, the Mets won last night. It was too perfect. Yankees had won 9 in a row, Mets had lost 5 in a row. One team streaking, one team stinking. Too nice a setup.

So it cames as no surprise that we basically handed the game to the Mets. Oliver Perez was all over the place last night, but allowed zero runs because we kept swinging at pitches way out of the strike zone.

I am not sure that Melky, Cano, and Phelps swung at a single strike all night. One Phelps at bat in particular killed us.

First and second, both on walks, no outs. The second walk was of the four pitch variety. Phelps comes up and takes ball 1. Nice. Perez can't find the strike zone with a map. The second pitch is high and away but Phelps swings at it. Foul ball. 1-1 instead of 2-0. The whole at bat is different now, and the whole feeling of the inning. After that Perez retires not only Phelps but the next eleven (at least) guys. Coincidence? No.

And let's not forget some of the worst baserunning I've ever seen, courtesy of Matsui. After Phelps makes out without advancing the runners (of course), Cairo comes up and hits one high and deep down the line in left field. Gomez goes to the wall and catches it (not, by the way, robbing Cairo of a home run as the Mets' announcer erroneously said). Problem is, Matsui is almost to third base and is easily doubled off racing back to second.

WTF?

A ball like that, where the runner can see that the LF has time to get under the ball, ends one of two ways: catch or home run. In either case there is no "running" involved, and no reason not to be right near the base. You're either trotting home or walking back to second. Awful, awful, play.

Roger Part II was ok. Two runs in 6.1 innings should've been good enough for a win, but Roger's to blame too, for throwing too many pitches early and and anyone who gives up a home run to Jose Reyes (who hadn't had an extra-base hit in forever) should be fined on principle.

And of course, Boston won last night. San Francisco is a bad team which is getting what they deserve for 1) Bonds, and 2) signing a "Bay Area guy" who is a money guy and nothing else.

Clippard vs. Glavine today. Wouldn't surprise me at all if the newly-energized Mets win this one big, thus putting the pressure on Wang Sunday night against 62-year-old Orlando Hernandez.

Am really looking forward to the end of the "Subway Series" and to the end of dumb-ass interleague play to be over so that the actual baseball season can resume, once the circus leaves town.

The Songs Remain The Same.

Song 1: Joe Must Go!

Seven game winning streak. Nice. But I'm not going into weather vane mode like everyone else. If Joe deserved to be fired two weeks ago (and he so did), then he deserves to be fired now (and he so does). All the things that suck about the way he manages (as I look at tonight's lineup -- Nieves catching, Posada DHing, no Melky) still suck. And still will.

Doesn't matter if we win seventeen in a row. Fire Joe, sooner, rather than later. No one else will say it now that we're temporarily playing better.

Cowards.

Song 2: The Closer You Look, The Better We Look

I happened to be in the car at lunchtime today and thus caught a little bit of Chris Russo on WFAN. Russo claims to hate the Yankees, but there's no oomph behind it, because you can't truly hate the Yankees unless you love the Mets or the Red Sox, and Russo loves neither. His shtick is being anti all the New York teams while doing a show on New York radio. I guess he feels it makes for "good radio," and after all these years the idiot fans still fall for it, so I guess it does make for good radio.

Today, Russo was downplaying the Yankees' chances . . . based on how good Cleveland and Detroit and Boston and Seattle are. The idea being that we have to many teams to get past.

And for a little extra bonus, Russo was factually wrong when he talked about how the Yankees had picked up "four games" on Boston but how Boston had righted the ship of late. Um, it's five games, loser. It was 14 1/2, now it's 9 1/2. It's a small small thing but I have to bring it up, since Russo is the ultimate hair-splitter.

Russo, please.

1. Seattle is a mediocre team, at best, currently playing as well as they possibly can. It won't last.

2. Detroit is good but not nearly as good as Russo was trying to make them. Who knows if Kenny Rogers returning is a lift, or not? Especially (presumably) if he's not cheating this year? Who's to say their bullpen gets past these injuries and just picks right up where they left off? Their lineup is pretty good, but not the Murderer's Row Russo was painting it to be. Russo procalimed that Verlander will be a "perennial 20-game winner." I almost crashed the car I laughed so hard -- could be win 20 once before you make that kind of pronouncement? Oh wait, as Russo reminded us, he also predicted that Mark Pryor would be a "perennial 20-game winner."

3. Cleveland is inconsistent on all levels and is hardly a lock to stay in the race.

4. Boston's biggest advantage right now is the size of their lead. It will be difficult for them to be caught, just based on mathematics. But Boston is hardly a flawless outfit -- their bullpen is not strong (and while Papelbon can be a dominant closer, he can't be the closer on consecutive nights, so his impact is limited by that), their lineup outside of Manny and Ortiz can be pitched to (the brief Dustin Pedroia hot streak is over already), and their starters outside of Beckett are a mixed bag -- Schilling is not the same, Wakefield, like all knuckleballers, ends up a .500 pitcher when all is said and done (and the Yankees murder him, of late), at some point Julian Tavares will wake up and realize that he actually sucks, and Dice-K thus far has benefited greatly by the Red Sox seemingly scoring 19 runs every time he pitches. Plus, I think there's a good chance that the real Beckett shows up in the second half of the season.

It definitely was fun listening to Chris Russo whistling through the graveyard today.

Stick A Fork In Me.

The Good, The Bad, and The Very Very Ugly

Two out of three in Boston. "Win Series" the mantra goes. Well we won the series. But why does it feel so rotten right now?

Could it be because Mike Mussina once again showed why I've nicknamed him "Goldfish Guts?"
Could it be because Joe can't shake his Scott Proctor fixation, used Proctor when he had no business doing so Saturday and pretty much wrote a new chapter of "How Not To Manage" in the seventh inning on Saturday?
Could it be because after Sunday night's thrilling win, we came out flatter than a pancake last night against a subpar Garland and overall a very beatable White Sox team?
Could be it because we are carrying a ridiculous 13 pitchers when Joe only uses 9 anyway?

I can't drag myself through all of it, in detail, so I'll settle for some quick hits.

1. Did Matt DeSalvo insult Joe Torre's family or something? How else to explain Torre pulling him after 1.1 innings last night? OK, DeSalvo was NOT pitching well, granted, but what goes through Torre's mind to convince him that attempting to get 7 2/3 out of the pen is a good idea, and in the best interests of the team overall?

Taking DeSalvo out in the second inning was a brutally dumb move.

2. I felt so good for A Rod Sunday night. After the week he'd had -- the New York Post's unfortunate foray into investigative journalism, the brouhaha over the play in Toronto, to end the series like that was an amazing moment. A Rod will hit his 500th home run this year. I hope he's in pinstripes for numbers 600, 700, and 800.

3. What exactly crawled up Tim McCarver's ass on Saturday? I know that the Fox story line obviously is the once-mighty Yankees, now pedestrian and struggling, but Tim really went over the top a few times.

a. Applauding Mike Lowell running over Robinson Cano. Not only praising Lowell excessively but also attempting to say that Lowell's play was perfectly legit while A Rod's play on Dustin Pedroia in the previous series between the two teams was dirty. Even mega-shill Joe Buck couldn't let that pass without (gently) putting McCarver in his place.

Bottom line: Lowell used excessive force, and had there not been all the nonsense with guys getting thrown at the night before, I'd hope that a Yankee pitcher would've stuck one in Lowell's ribs.

b. In Boston's big inning, A Rod made a mistake, not being on third, leaving Melky who might have had a play there, with no one to throw to. McCarver went nuts . . . using the words "Keystone Kops" and saying "the Yankees have had some bad innings this year but this is the worst yet!"

Tim . . . other than Yankee games you've worked, exactly how many innings of the Yankees have you watched this season? Any? How exactly would you know that that inning was the worst?

A totally irresponsible statement from a first-class bandwagon jumper. Disgraceful. And yet Fox retains him, year after year.

Three is all I can muster. Stick a fork in me. I'm done.

Memo To Everyone, Part 2: Shut Up Shuttin' Up.

Up And In

And here we go again. Last night, in hte ninth inning with the Yankees way ahead and Ty Cobb Kevin Youklis up, Scott Proctor threw one way up and way in. Youklis made a move towards the mound, the benches and bullpen emptied and there was all that testsoterone-fueled milling around and glaring at each other.

Cute.

But ridiculous.

The score was 9-3, Yankees. Bottom of the ninth, one out. All Proctor wanted to do was get two outs and get out of there. Yes, there had been some guys hit in the course of the game. But none of them looked particularly intentional and none of them were up high. There was no bad blood going in this game. Proctor was trying to pitch inside and it got away.

But whenever a pitch goes up and in rationality goes right out the window. Yankees' announcer Michael Kay even acted like it was intentional on Proctor's part. "Why on earth would Scott Proctor DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO that?!!!?!??!?" And Ken Singleton, who played the game, who knows it wasn't intentional, just sits there, instead of saying, "Michael, you stupid snot, have you learned nothing in all your years of watching baseball?"

After the game Kay tried to sound semi-rational, saying "IF it was intentional. . . . " Too late. Either you know it's not intentional and you say that, or you go along with the sexy story line. Post-facto backpedaling makes Kay look even more lame (which isn't easy).

And it makes wonderful talk-radio fodder. Chris Russo on WFAN said this morning that Scott Proctor "has good control." What? Do you watch any games, you weasel? Proctor is always walking guys at the worst possible time. 13 walks in 26 innings. Not "good" control. But of course if Proctor doesn't have good control that blows the whole "Proctor did it on purpose" story line.

Everyone, please shut up. Please.

Fox, today, and ESPN, tomorrow night, will have a field day with this of course. Won't it be fun to hear the opinions of Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, John Miller and Joe Morgan on this?

I may have to watch this weekend's games with the sound off.

Memo To Everyone: Shut Up.

A-Rod Causes A Stir

The Blue Jays aren't too happy that A-Rod apparently yelled something or other while running between second and third base on a tow-out infield popup. Apparently the Toronto fielder thought he heard "Mine!" and backed off. The ball dropped, everybody safe, and the Yankee went on to tack on some more runs in the ninth inning.

Everyone's been weighing in, and just about everyone I've heard had something negative to say about A-Rod.

Everyone really needs to shut up.

There was NOTHING wrong with what A-Rod did. Here's just some of the reasons why:

1. It didn't change the outcome of the game. The Yankees scored three additional, meaningless, runs. Toronto wasn't winning that game at 7-5 with three outs left.

2. It's no different than an outfielder trying to deceive a runner by pretending he's lost the in the sun/lights. Or, for that matter, no different than when the pitcher fakes to third and throws to first.

3. Had the Blue Jays done that to the Yankees, the spin would've been "that's why the Blue Jays are up and coming and the Yankees look old and slow -- it's just good hard-nosed baseball." Had the Tigers done it, Gammons and Olney and Kirkjian would've been building a shrine to Jim Leyland. So, suck it, everybody . . . the Yankees did it. A-Rod did it. Good play.

4. Some idiot called ESPN Radio today and actually suggested that the play was unsafe because it could have caused a collision! On the INFIELD, you dumb bastard? Amazing that the screeners can't tell when the caller has been inhaling floor stripping compound immediately before calling. And just a little while ago, Mets' announcer (now THERE'S an objective source) Ron Darling suggested the very same thing. Proof positive that an Ivy League education isn't all it's cracked up to be. (Thank you, iris, for reporting those two items today.)

Giambi to the DL

Giambi will be out 3-5 weeks with that bad foot. Torre has an opportunity to do the right thing. Very simple: Damon DH. Melky in center.

This of course will not happen. The team will go into panic mode and make that "big" trade for (or try to) for Texiera or Sexsun or heaven forbid Todd Helton. I hope Rasner and Clippard like pitching in Coors Field.

Lost Weekend.

Friday

Clippard pitching again and not having as easy a time of it this time. He's throwing a lot of pitches, scuffling a bit. After four innings, though, we're only down 3-2. Weaver doesn't look all that great -- we're getting some hits and making him throw a lot of pitches, too. We're by no means dead here.

Then a strange thing happens. Clippard doesn't come out for the fifth. What the . . . ? He hadn't thrown that many pitches. He must've hurt himself. Damn. Another starter hurt? When will it end? But of course he's not hurt -- 4 innings, 76 pitches, 6 hits, 3 runs, no walks, 1 strikeout. But he's lifted. I stare at the TV, mystified, as the fifth inning starts.

Matt DeSalvo, who was passed over for this start in favor of the guy he's relieving, retires no one. He's in long enough to pitch to four guys, two of whom he walks and two of whom get hits. Vizcaino comes in and all the inherited runners score and before you know it it's 6-2 and suddenly this game seems a lot less winnable.

We actually score a run in the bottom of the fifth, improving the score to a better-feeling 6-3. Weaver is over 100 pitches after five innings . . . maybe this game isn't over all. I mean . . . hey, you never know, right?

Vizcaino comes back out for the sixth and gets no one out. Single homer walk double. Enter Villone. Strikeout single intentional walk sac fly groundout and it's 10-3. And now -- hey, you know. I mean you know. I could easily stop watching but I stick with it out of pure masochism.

We score three in the eighth to bring it to a non-blowout looking 10-6. But make no mistake -- this was a blowout.

Meanwhile, Boston wins.


Saturday

Terrible first inning for Wang and we're down 3-0 before I'm even settled in to watch. But come on, it's Kelvim Escobar, for goodness' sake. He's been pitching well but we can hit this guy.

Wang, bless his heart settles right down. We scratch out a run thanks to Mientkiewicz's two-out hit.

But basically . . . no, we can't hit Escobar.

Great. Wang actually lasts eight innings and it's still 3-1.

And that's exactly where it ends. Shields pitches the eighth, and K-Rod pitches the ninth. The highlight of that inning was Abreu being called out to end the game on a pitch that was, charitably, eight inches outside.

Bur, as horrible as the call was, and a as putrid as the umps have been all season so far (not just in Yankees' games, trust Me -- having MLB Extra Innings allows me to see all the out-of-market atrocious calls, too), the most important thing about Abreu's at-bat is this: You can't be the last out and strike out without taking the bat off your shoulder. The 1-1 pitch might have been a little low. Might have. But, um, don't lefties like the ball down? Isn't the low pitch a good one for a lefty to drop the bat on and jerk out over the short porch?

Never mind. I'm just a dumb fan.

And Boston wins.


Sunday

This is the one that really sticks in me. Maybe because it's the freshest, or maybe it's because it was the most unnecessary of the three losses.

Mike "Goldfish Guts" Mussina is actually pitching pretty well. Going into the seventh we're up 2-1 and what's scaring me most is looking ahead to the eighth and hoping we tack on plenty bottom seven so that Farnsworth has a big margin for error.

Mussina gets an out then walks a guy. Then . . .

I'm seeing it. I'm hearing it. But I don't want to believe it.

Of course I have no choice but to acknowledge it, because it's happening. Mussina out after 6.1 innings, Scott Proctor in.

95 pitches. 95. Not 125, not 115. 95. Is this a veteran major league pitcher or not? 95 pitches?

Has Joe Torre never seen a starter pitch out of trouble after the sixth inning? Is the only way a Yankee starter can stay in the game after the sixth inning to allow absolutely no base runners at all?

Well, you konw how this story goes already. Double walk walk walk sac fly. And I do not want to hear that the long at bat by Aybar culminating in a walk unnerved Proctor -- what about the doudble Proctor gave up before that walk?

It's 4-2 but it might as well be 14-2. We are not winning this game.

We put up a rally against a sub par K-Rod but it's not quite enough, Jeter flying out after a 10-pitch battle, the tying run 90 feet away. (Torre messed up a little with how he used pinch-hitters in the ninth today but compared to the egregious error of taking Mussina out it barely rates a mention.)

This is the game that was really just tossed away, because Torre couldn't wait to use Proctor.

When Torre came out to go get Proctor, the crowd, seeing and feeling the game having just been torched by the Dr. Frankenstein of the bullpen, let Torre hear some of their frustration. Michael. Kay seemed shocked. "Wow, this is quite the change from the reception Joe Torre would normally get," Kay said, or words to that effect.

Well, two points there.

1. It's about time.
2. I think Kay must not listen to his own radio show. As iris pointed out to me (and which at the time I was too obstinate to see), a lot of his callers have to be saying what the fans today "said" about Torre with their reaction.

OK, our starters aren't as good as they were back in the Championship days. I grant that.

But neither is our bullpen. Joe looks out there and instead of Farnsworth and Proctor and Vizcaino it's as if he sees Stanton, Nelson, and Mendoza in their dominating primes. When you have a veteran starter, who's under 100 pitches, who's pitching well, and craftily, getting people out with a mid-80s fastball, you have to allow him to work around one friggin' base runner with one out in the seventh inning when your bullpen is overworked and wildly inconsistent.

Oh, and by the way. Boston won. I think we are 27 1/2 games behind. I can't wait for the "blockbuster" trade for a "name" first baseman. Future? What future?

The Suspense Isn't Killing Me.

Cookie-Cutter Loss

It's becoming a depressingly-familiar pattern. Decent starting pitching. Good bullpen work (ahem -- hate to say I told you so but as soon as our starters started pitching seven innings as if by magic the bullpen starts pitching better). No hitting. And we lose.

Andy Pettitte looks like he will end up 6-17 with an ERA under 3.00.

A few additional thoughts on last night's game.

1. Who exactly is positioning our outfielders? When Perez got that single in the third inning, Matsui was playing around towards left-center, and at normal depth. Um . . . for a pitcher? Perez of course hits a fly ball exactly how and where you'd expect a pitcher to -- shallow and the opposite way. Matsui had to run half a mile and couldn't quite get there. It's a tiny thing but it's disturbing in that it makes one feel as though those who should be watching these things are asleep at the switch.

2. Within the space of three weeks A-Rod has gone from superhuman hot to pressing as badly as at the worst parts of last season.

His first at-bat last night, on a 2-0 pitch that is borderline low, he swings, hits it off the end of the bat, and hits a weak grounder. In a way I feel as though it changed the game around. Perez came out way over-pumped and gave up an immediate hit to Damon (thrown out on a great play by all-around hero Chavez), walked Jeter, and was 2-0 to A-Rod. A Rod's gift out seemed to settle Perez down and aside from a mistake to Matsui he made very few bad pitches after that.

3. Willie's Whitey Herzog imitation. I happened to catch Willie on Mike and The Mad Dog yesterday afternoon. They asked him who was going to be playing in the outfield.

Mike: Who's in left tonight?
[Long pause. Like, long enough to wonder if they lost the phone call.]
Willie: The kid Gomez is playing left tonight.
Mike: Oh?
Willie: Yeah, he shows good energy and [bunch of cliched crap excised for brevity]
[Some banter cut here -- "sounded like you didn't want to tell us who was playing left, Willie" big fat Francesca guffaws, whiny little laughter from Russo . . . nothing you haven't heard before.]
Mike: Does Shawn Greene play against the lefty?
Willie: Oh, yes, he's my everyday right fielder.
Mike: Well yeah, plus Pettite's a lefty that lefties can hit against.
Willie: Right, and [thirty seconds of fawning over Greene cut]

So, game time comes and, why, Willie, you sly old devil . . . Gomez in right, Chavez in left, and no Greene. Oh, he must've hurt himself between 2:45 pm and game time. Because he'd be in otherwise, right? Since he is the everyday right fielder.

Not that it matters, of course. Chavez did hit the big home run, but even if he didn't play we'd have found another way to lose by one run. I just thought that Willie's gamesmanship was silly and unnecessary . . . and it's not the first time he's felt the need to act like an a-hole where Yankees-Mets is concerned.

4. Does it look to anyone else as though this team is mailing it in, badly? I know that a team that's not hitting always looks a little what way, but really, watching this team lately they look beaten already. Sad.


Blastoff in Tampa

Clemens made his first start last night, pitching in Tampa in Class A, I guess it was. Four innings, one run. Fine.

I didn't want him the first time he pitched for us and I certainly don't want him now. But I have to root for the laundry, even when it pains me to do so.

So, ummmm . . . Go Roger.


Top-Secret Scouting Report!

Through the manipulation of deep inside sources, I've managed to obtain the scouting reports that opposing pitchers use against key hitters in our lineup. Please don't tell anyone you saw this.

Cano: Swings at everything. Throw it anywhere but over the plate. For entertainment value throw it at his back knee and watch the ensuing swing.
Abreu: Swings at nothing. Throw three down the middle.
Jeter: Pitch him way out or way in. Worst case is hitting him, or a single to right. In either case he'll be thrown out stealing or doubled up.
Posada: Doesn't matter. He'll be leading off an inning. Let him hit his double; he's not going anywhere after that.
Giambi: Throw him four balls and save the pitch count. If you make a mistake it will be a solo home run anyway.
A-Rod: If he's hitting it doesn't matter what you throw, or where. If he's not, it doesn't matter either.
Phelps: Who??



What Would It Take?

Last night iris and I were talking about "How many games behind would the Yankees have to be in July to make them sellers at the trade deadline?"

iris thinks they never would be. I think we would have to be 20 games out.

But of course that's not going to happen, anyway. What is going to happen is the worst possible thing -- we will start playing a bit better, and Boston will slip up a bit, and coming into July we will be something like 7 games out, and 3.5 or 4 out of the wild card, close enough to create some (false) hope. And Cashman will pull the trigger on the "blockbuster" deal of DeSalvo and Rasner for Richie Sexsun, who will have gotten really hot by then. Of course with us he will go back to hitting .137 and striking out at a pace to make Rob Deer embarrassed.

As iris said, it's going to be a loooooooong year.


Cure-All

As usual, the Yankees coming to town is the cure for what ails any team. Jermaine Dye couldn't find his ass with both hands -- he was a one-man wrecking crew against us. 52-year-old oft-injured Darren Erstad I think reached base safely 13 times in three games and stole 9 bases, or at least it felt that way.


One Last Thing

I probably seem like I'm really whining here, and focusing totally on the negative. Thing is, there are thousands of happy-talk Yankee blogs. Go read them, or watch YES for a few hours if that's what you need.

One of these years it's all going to go wrong. This might be that year. If it is, no scorched-earth spending, no greatest living pitcher, no nothing is going to stop it.

But rest assured -- I live and die with this team. I can't wait to write some happy posts. Just give me a reason.

The Week That Was.

Sandwich

Two losses with two wins in between.

A brutal loss Monday, thanks in part to one of tine worst calls you'll see in a long time. But still, can't lose that game. Oh well, at least the umpire admitted the next day that he blew the call and was out of position.

What I don't understand is . . . this was a correctable error. Replay that game from the point of the stolen base attempt, with the guy ruled out instead of safe.

I know. I'm being silly. But I just don't really see how . . . anyway . . .

Yesterday's loss was much easier to take. To his credit, Joe managed somehow to not totally fry the pen in a lost cause.

And two nice wins in between . . . amazing what happens when a starter goes seven innings, even in a loss.

Desperate Times Call For . . .

. . . Desperate Managing, Apparently . . .

Another win. Nice. 5-0. Great. All's right with the world.

Well, not exactly. Rasner is pitching today . . . and pitching well. Top 6, 2 outs, Yankees lead 2-0. Rasner allows a baserunner. The bullpen starts, and starts fast.

Rasner allows the next guy on. Looooooooooong stall. I mean, I haven't seen a stall like this since before the shot clock was introduced in college basketball.

Then Nieves finally goes back to his position, but The Dour Countenance is already making that slow slow walk to the mound, signaling for Scott Proctor.

I truly can't take the way this man manages anymore. Rasner was at 75 pitches. Richie Sexsun, who I think is hitting .094, was due up.

How is a kid ever supposed to learn how to pitch out of a jam? What exactly was the Dour Countenance hoping for -- no baserunners at all the rest of the game?

But then I realized. Rasner never has to worry about pitching out of trouble, not with the Yankees -- he won't be here that long. He can learn that with whatever team he's going to be traded to in July . . . by that time we will either need 1) a first baseman -- we'll have tired of the Mink/Phelps situation by then, or 2) another starter, when Wang goes down with Bolivian Hemorrhagic Nail Fungus or whatever he's got. So, Rasner can make a career for himself in Pittsburgh or Seattle or Kansas City or wherever we end up dealing him in exchange for another old, highly-paid spare part someone else didn't want and/or couldn't afford.

Did Wang's eight innings convince Dour Countenance that the bullpen problems were magically solved? He's a kid . . . 75 pitches . . . let him try to pitch his way out of it . . .

And of course, we can't just dip into the bullpen -- we have to dive in. Five pitchers. That I can't blame on Dour Countenance since he had been tossed (could we somehow arrange for that to happen more often?); but apparently Guidry/Mattingly have been listening to their tapes of The Fifth Inning is "Late": Handling Pitchers The Joe Torre Way.

I want to be really happy about another win, but I can't even enjoy it . . . thinking more about the needless damage done to the pen today than about the win.

Great.


. . . And For Desperate Measures

Well, Roger's back. Cashman, trying to save Joe's job and his own, made a deal with the devil in hopes of winning it all this year.

At great personal risk I have obtained some details of the special contract Clemens has signed.

Road Games: Roger does not have to go on road trips where his turn to start wouldn't come up. In addition, no one is allowed to say "road game" in his presence. You may say "road," or you may say "game," as long as at least two other words separate those two.

Uniform Number: Roger may wear whatever number he likes on the day he pitches, even if said number is currently worn by another player. The Yankees' Media Relations Department will be responsible for printing up new media guides every time Clemens' number changes.

Tickets: Roger will be provided with 340 tickets by the Yankees for every game he starts at home, and 200 tickets for every r-- I mean, not at home start.

Bonus: Roger will be paid an All-Star bonus, since obviously he'd have been an All-Star had he pitched all season. Roger will also be paid shares for winning the divisional round, ALCS, and World Series, since if the Yankees do not win all of those series, it's obviously not Roger's fault.

Music: Roger controls the music in the clubhouse at all times. All other players will relinquish their radios, boom boxes, Ipods, and laptops before entering the clubhouse.


It's going to be glorious . . . isn't it?

Pat, I'm Really Really Trying, But . . .

Yankees Sweep Doubleheader, Series

I try hard to follow what I call The Pat Riley Rule. That rule simply states: No griping after a win.

And most of the time I do a pretty good job of following Mr. Riley's dictum. When you bitch after a win, you're sowing the seeds of disaster. I can intellectually and emotionally understand that. So I do my very best to be good after a win.

But this time, Pat, I just can't do it. I'm sorry.

I'm watching last night's game, feeling good about having won the first game earlier that day, feeling good about Mussina being back, feeling good about Melky having gotten three hits in the first game so that Michael Kay (gloriously absent from the Texas series) can refer to Melky without prefacing his name with the word "slumping."

Then it gets to be the bottom of the sixth, and . . . Mussina is gone.

Huh? I know Mussina was limited to 80-85 pitches last night, but he can't have been anywhere near that. I start to look it up but then Murcer informs us all that Mussina in fact had thrown just 64 pitches to that point. 64!!!!

OK, I know what you are going to say. Mussina in all likelihood could only have pitched one more inning.

And I agree. But at this point, one inning matters.

Nine outs needed from the pen instead of twelve, for a bullpen that has been abused and overused from Opening Day, matters. You want to say that's ridiculous -- that one inning in one game can't matter? OK, you're wrong, but for the sake of argument let's say last night doesn't matter. What does matter and what no one who's watched this team for any length of time can argue, is that Joe's psychology is geared towards less innings from starters and more innings from the bullpen. When we had Stanton and Nelson and Mendoza leading up to Mariano, and the right kind of starters, we got away with it. Now, when we have young, untested, shaky, and overrated leading up to Mariano, and being called on game after game after game to get "stress" outs, we get exposed. Continually.

Plus, as Mussina has done in other pitch-count-limited starts, he was aggressive, making the most out of his 80-pitch allotment. No 0-2 to 3-2. No long looks in at the ump when a pitch that caught 2 mm of the corner was called a ball. Mussina was pitching great and should've pitched six innings last night.

One.
Inning.
Matters.

Sorry to gripe after a win, Pat, but Joe needs to know it, learn it, live it.

One Inning Matters.

Good Start.

Everybody Beats The Viz(caino)

I got home in time to see the last inning and a half of the first game of today's doubleheader. Andy had pitched pretty well, but the walks and the nibbling had his pitch count used up after six innings (pleeeeeeease Brian, please -- get grinders who throw strikes and don't care about their ERAs).

Enter Vizcaino, with the score 3-2 in our favor.

File this one under "Joe, have you got the message NOW that this guy sucks?" Vizcaino gives up a home run. Tie game.

But the baseball gods are in a perverse frame of mind today and decide to reinforce the lesson that "no bad deed goes unrewarded." We score a run top 8 on "Shemp" Matsui's clutch two-out hit. Farnsworth, amazingly enough, doesn't blow the lead.

Mariano comes in and it goes check-swing strikeout, weak grounder, weak grounder. In other words . . .

Mariano saved THE WIN for Vizcaino!

The win. I think a win is worth three points in the Rolaids Relief Man Award standings. Remember that next time you're tempted to think that things like the Rolaids Relief Man Award have any meaning whatsoever.


Joe's Phone Messages

From Proctor, S: Called to say he's capable of lifting his arm above his shoulder again, so you can resume using him in four out of every five games.

From Sturtze, T: Asks that you return his call. Has been working out on his own and really likes the way his ball is moving these days.

From Steinbrenner, G: Just wanted to you let know he was just kidding. Pretty much.


Medical Update, or "$40 million just doesn't buy what it used to"

Carl Pavano, who you might have heard had a "setback" the other day . . . is going to see Dr. Andrews about his elbow.

Basically, going to see Dr. Andrews is the pitching equivalent of being put on "double secret probation." You are done -- you just haven't admitted it to yourself yet.

You can't make this up, or script it. You simply can't.

Happy trails, Carl.

It Figures.

Hughes Leaves No-Hitter Injured

The way this season has started, I suppose I should've been expecting it. But I wasn't, of course. I was simply enjoying a Yankee starter actually pitching into the 7th inning, when Hughes pulls up lame after throwing a pitch. The no-hitter I wasn't really concerned about, because 1) pitching a no-hitter in your second big-league start ever is way too much to live up to, and 2) no way Joe lets him finish the game anyway (apparently Hughes breaks out in horrific festering sores if he throws more than 100 pitches -- he was at 83 with 1 out in the 7th).

They are saying 4-6 weeks for the Hughes injury, but given how the Yankees handle injuries, and the fact that Hughes is The Pitcher in the Plastic Bubble, don't expect to see him until after the All-Star break.


Is This "That Year?"

I keep saying to iris that one of these years, we are not going to make the playoffs. One of these years, all the money, the mid-season acquisitions, none of it's going to matter and "that year" where everything just goes wrong enough often enough and we end up out of the playoffs. I thought 2005 might be that year. It wasn't, amazingly enough.

But I'm starting to wonder if perhaps 2007 is. We'll see. I hate to even write these words, but not making the playoffs one of these years wouldn't be the worst thing. It might convince the organization of a few basic truths:

1. GM-ing against Boston is dumb. Create your team to be your best team; Boston will do what Boston will do . . . since 1918 it's 26-1 in favor of our way, but since the we started reacting to them it's 1-0 in their favor. Not a coincidence.

2. Missing the playoffs would once and for all end the Torre tenure. He is the wrong manager for the pitching we have had the past few years. It appears that missing the playoffs completely is what's needed to get that point across once and for all.

3. The way to improve the bullpen is to improve the rotation. Bullpen guys are good in inverse proportion to the amount they are used. Forget all the B.S. about guys getting rusty -- the season is long and grueling; everyone in your pen pitches enough over the course of a year. It's pitching too much (and getting up warm up too much) that wears the bullpen down. With this teams's offense, Leiber/Tracshel/Byrd types who give up 4-5 runs but pitch 7-8 innings are what we need in the rotation. One stud (Hughes, if he's ever allowed to exceed the 100 pitch mark) and four grinders is just fine with the way this team can hit.