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.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
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?
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?
Saturday, May 19, 2007
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.
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.
Friday, May 11, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
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?
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?
Friday, May 04, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
