Yankees Sell Rights to Rasner

The Yankees have sold the rights to pitcher Darrell Rasner to Japan.

Last season, Rasner was called up when Phil Hughes went down and surprised mostly everyone when his spot start ended up with him staying in the rotation for almost the entire season.

A borderline major-league American League pitcher, if one goes by the numbers, Rasner would have likely found employment in the National League easily, but maybe the money is simply better in Japan.

Anyway, the Yankees would do best gathering as much cash as they can, as they apparently need about $150 million to land CC Sabathia...

Mail Call

To the New York Yankees--

Hi. So I know you just had an eight game win streak right after the All Star Break. That was a lot of fun, really--everyone was hitting, pitching...it was great baseball.

I know that you lost on Sunday. That was a bit of a pitching mis-match. It's understandable.

However, I am extremely disturbed by your inability to rebound after a loss. It's never one loss in between wins, but a losing streak of significant length.

It is beyond frustrating to watch. I understand it's probably frustrating to play like it...but dude, this is the Baltimore Orioles. They're in last place in the AL East. There is NO logical reason they should be beating you in two straight games.

Darrell Rasner was great tonight, two runs in six innings...and while the bullpen should have kept it there, it wouldn't have been an issue if the offense had been able to come through at all, and yes, Jason Giambi, I'm looking at you.

At least, tomorrow, will you give Joba some serious run support? Please?

Because getting swept by the Orioles is not what you want to do heading into a series with the Angels.

Though I think you know this. That's why you scored three in the 8th and three in the 9th.

--A concerned fan.


John Lackey--

That was a great try. Please don't do that through 8.1 innings when you see us, or I might cry.

--Me.

Twin Killing (Postgame Notes 22 July 2008)

So I went to the Yankee game again.

I've had these tickets since the beginning of April--meaning it was the second game for which I actually had tickets this season (the first being the 12 April affair in Boston). So, as you might imagine, I was pretty excited.

Turns out, the Yankees seem to have been pretty excited to play as well--that happens when you've won four games in a row, and two of them by scoring more than five runs.

It was great to see Johnny Damon play again after he got hurt; when he is right all is well with the team and tonight wasn't much different.

Damon was 2-3 with two walks, which will do a lot to help jump start an offense.

The Yankees need his production to keep their offense strong--just look at what's happened in the past two games, 12 runs and eight runs respectively!


Robinson Canò has been absolutely on fire since the All Star break, and tonight was no different.

He went 2-4 with two RBI, and continues to act as though he is the best pick up the Yankees made during the All Star break that you simply did not read about in the papers.

I'm not sure what's in the water in the Dominican Republic, but perhaps the Yankees ought to import some before the start of the season?

If Canò could figure out how to hit in the first half like he does in the second, he'd contend for batting titles every year.






Derek Jeter was only 1-5, but the one hit he did have, in true Captain Clutch fashion, was a two run double down the left field line.

Before the double, the Yankee lead was a modest 4-2---comfortable considering how well the bullpen has been pitching, but not an impossible mountain for Minnesota to climb--so Jeter's hit was not just clutch because it scored two men on base, but because it blew the game open and virtually assured the Yankees would win.


The game was not played perfectly--the Yankees did have two errors in the game--but they were able to get the pitches and the hits when they needed them most.

Darrell Rasner pitched a gem through five, and should have gotten through the sixth with the game still tied if not for a botched call by the first base umpire. That said, tonight was by far the most impressive Rasner has looked in a very long time--it's as though the All Star Break has rejuvanated him just as it has the Yankee offense.

As for the bullpen, well, just take a look at this. Who would of thought that the Yankees could get this out of a bullpen where Kyle Farnsworth is your eighth inning man?

Yankees play a day game tomorow before heading to Boston for the weekend.

Yankees win game and lose a legend (Postgame Notes 12 July 2008)

In the words of Monty Python's Flying Circus:

And now for something completely different!

Perhaps it was because Halladay last night was so good that Jesse Litsch looked so hittable, or maybe it was that the Yankees were just that determined to bail out Darrell Rasner after a poor first inning, but whatever the reason, the offense scored as many runs today as they have in the previous four games combined.

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, the only two Yankees to have hits last night, each rewarded themselves today with solo home runs and a combined six RBI.

Brett Gardner was not retired today, had 3 RBI himself and had his best game of his career so far.

The bullpen did not allow a hit in four innings of work.
*****


As you may have heard by now, Bobby Murcer has died. It was announced during the postgame, just after the highlights.

I'm numb. really, numb.

I'm too young to remember Phil Rizzuto in the booth, but Bobby, I remember.

As I said, I'm numb. Too numb to write anything coherent, really.

The Yankees won a game today, but it doesn't feel like one now.

They lost too much more.

The Process Has Begun

This is Brent from The Bronx Block. For the next week, until Rebecca returns from her Italian vacation, Elizabeth from Blogging the Mystique and I will be reporting for Rebecca's blog.

Yes, the Yankees won 8-0. Yes, Darrell Rasner was great. And yes, Alex Rodriguez had a big night and had a home run taken from him, but that's not the biggest news.

Joe Girardi admitting that Joba Chamberlain has started the process to become a starter is the big news.

What can I say on it?

You can't waste Joba's arm in the eighth inning. The simple fact that he was put up with four plus pitches says something: Joba has the stuff of an ace. A potential future ace for the New York Yankees. Think about that: with the ceiling of Phil Hughes and with Chien-Ming Wang pitching the way he has, the Yankees could have a strong 1-2-3 combo in their rotation.

You also don't know if Joba would be a great starter unless you give him that opportunity to start. I just hope Yankee fans don't freak out if Joba doesn't start out extremely great when he starts his first game in the majors, but considering all I've heard about Hughes and Kennedy so far, I'm not overly optimistic about that happening.

Honestly, I would have hoped Joba would stay as the 8th inning guy for the year and stretch him out during Spring Training next year to start next year, but the Yankees feel Joba is most needed as a starter, giving him the ability to affect 6 or more innings once every 5 games. To the Yankees (and to me), the amount of innings a starting pitcher can affect is more valuable than the 50+ innings a reliever can affect.

Let's hope that the Yankees are right in their decision.

In fact, let's be optimistic.

Jesus, Shelley, and Even More Snow

Some notes from today's exhibition game against the Phillies:

1) Shelley had five of the Yankees' nine RBI on two swings, a three run home run and two run double. If there's supposed to be a competition for the first base spot, Shelley looks to be in the clear lead, given what Giambi did yesterday and Ensberg did today (ie, nothing). However, it's only one game, and it'd be an awful mistake to judge who should get the first base job based on one game.

2) So we all know Jesus Montero is supposed to be good--he's eighteen (!) and one of, if not the, Yankees' top offensive prospects. However, that doesn't make him going yard on the, what was it, second pitch he saw (?) any less awesome. When he makes it to the bigs (and if he keeps healthy, it's a when and not an if), I imagine there'll be some pretty funny Jesus-related comments.

3) Pitching wise, Wang was okay--he threw a few too many balls for my liking, but as I said before, you can't judge a player based on game, and even less than two innings, especially given what Wang's done for us the past couple of years. Anyway, he only gave up one hit, so I really can't complain.

--Apparently, according to LoHud, Rasner hit 107 mph on the gun. They didn't show the gun on the screen, but you have to wonder how much control can you have over a pitch like that? I'm not even sure Joba throws that hard.

[EDIT: Rebecca, the word gullible is actually in the dictionary. Under G.]

--Only saw one inning each from Albaladejo and Traber, but I liked what I saw from both, Traber especially. Hope it continues; I feel somewhat more reassured when I hear that it's Traber coming out of the 'pen and not Sean Henn.

--I keep forgetting Ohlendorf is a Princeton guy.

4) MLB.tv has a new player. It doesn't lag as much as the original player, which is awesome, but it's still not better than watching the game on TV when you can. The Phillies announcers gave the game a little bit of an old-time feel, which I really liked.


5) In the past week, we've had ONE day without snow in Syracuse. I'm not talking about one day without flurries, but bona-fide road-covering, traffic-snarling, car-burying snow. Even my Freshman year it had kinda-sorta stopped by the beginning of March...and it really wouldn't be such a big deal except I'm driving home on Friday for Spring Break, and it would be nice to actually be able to get my car out of the driveway.



Anyway. Good game. I will probably miss most of the live broadcast tomorrow, but there's a reason they invented DVR.