Thanks for the Memories, Moose!

Unless you've been living under a rock (like me) these past few weeks, you've probably known--or at least guessed--that Mike Mussina was on his way to retirement.

It is now official.

The signing of Mike Mussina is perhaps one of the best free agent signings that the Yankees have ever made, at least with a pitcher.

In his seven years on the team, he had one sub-par season in 2007, but, besides that, was magnificent--270 career wins while pitching in the AL East during the "steroid era" is no easy feat, and while Moose may not have the rings, he's certainly won our admiration.

I've had the good luck to see Moose pitch in person a few times--nearly all of them wins. While, in one sense, it's sad knowing that I won't get to see him pitch again, except maybe at Old Timer's Day, it's also comforting to know that he retired on the heels of one of his best seasons, a season in which, if not for the shenanigans of some dudes named Cliff Lee and Francisco Rodriguez, he would have been considered a serious Cy Young contender.

I don't know about you, but I plan on booking my tickets to Cooperstown in 2013 early.

Can We Get Our Moose Bars Now?

Back in April, the majority of us said that Mike Mussina and Ian Kennedy would do battle for the fifth spot in the Yankees rotation.


Oh, how wrong we were!


In 2008, nothing went according to plan, so, it's perhaps fitting that it's in a year after he pitched himself off of the rotation that Mike Mussina pitches himself to 20 wins and almost certainly Comeback Player of the Year contention.

Like someone who's college application lacks only a decent SAT score, Mike Mussina's Hall of Fame resumè lacked only a season with 20 wins. He'd had 19 and 18 and 17, and it seemed, at this time, with three wins to go and only three starts left, that Mussina would fail short yet again.

Fate, however, while not on the general side of the Yankees this season, was on Mussina's side these past two weeks.

Mussina was great against the White Sox in what might be his last start at Yankee Stadium, and last week in Toronto battled getting hit in the elbow to stay in long enough to qualify for the win.

Today, Mussina's great enemy was not the Red Sox, but instead the weather, which had canceled yesterday's game and threatened to derail today's first. After a rain delay of about an hour, however, the game went forward, and Mussina was stellar, needing just 73 pitches to get through six innings.

Though the Yankees bullpen made it a little hairy, it's important to remember that the Yankees actually have a bullpen, unlike these dudes and they were able to keep the lead intact.

Now, the greatest thing for Moose is that if he decides to retire, he gets to do it, on a personal level, on the heels of one of his best career years, and quite possibly the year that punches his ticket to Cooperstown.

****

In other news, congratulations to the following teams on their postseason berths:

Boston Red Sox
LA Angels
Tampa Bay Rays

Philadelphia Phillies
Chicago Cubs
Milwaukee Brewers
Los Angeles Dodgers

And congratulations to one of the Twins/White Sox, who just don't want summer to end.

Won and Done (Postgame notes 23 September 08)

For one day, Yankee fans could dream the impossible dream and a sweet dream it was.

Tonight, it became official through a Boston win over Cleveland--the Yankees will not make the postseason for the first time since 1995.

The reasons are many and varied and will be gotten to in due course.

Yeah, it hurts. I won't lie about that.

However, for now, there are still reasons to watch. There are still reasons to take pride in being a Yankee fan.

First, there's the fact that Mike Mussina now has 19 wins, which means that he officially has a chance at 20 wins. He's got to win his next start, in Boston, and this is hoping his arm hasn't swelled too much after getting hit by a pitch in the arm tonight.

Mussina looked excellent in the early innings, and was able to tough it out through five--all he needed to qualify for the win.

It's completely ironic that Mussina is the one and only pitcher on the Yankees that might get to twenty wins when you consider where he was in September last year--having pitched himself out of the rotation, and it is also wonderful.

Mussina has pitched too long and too well to not get a chance for 20 on Sunday.

Secondly, the Yankees are doing a great job of finishing strong. They were eliminated not because they lost, but because Boston won.

Think about the other teams that were supposed to contend this year and fell short--the Tigers, the Indians, the Mariners, all in contention as of 1 September 2007. The Yankees were the only ones to make it this far, and that's with the injuries to Wang, Posada, Matsui, Joba et al, and Hughes and Kennedy combining for 0 wins. Never mind the regression of Canò and Cabrera and the un-clutchness of Alex Rodriguez.

The Yankees have won six straight and right now actually look like a good baseball team. It's too late, of course, but it's easier to go into the winter on a positive.

More coming later, in the form of video.

The Moose is Loose and the Win Sinks In (Postgame Notes 19 September 08)

So I'm watching the Yankees tonight, watching Mike Mussina leave the mound and getting his ovation, possibly the last Yankee Stadium ovation he will ever receive, almost certainly the last at this Stadium, anyway.

And it hits me.

It hits me that this is it.

That after Sunday, watching a Yankee game will never be the same.

This has not been the best season for the Yankees. It's not been the worst, not by a long shot, but it also hasn't been anything close to what many of us were hoping for after the way we finished last year.

The mediocrity, however, has been exaggerated because of what this season means in the history, the lore, the psyche that goes into being a Yankee or being a Yankee fan.

So it's perhaps a bit of a surprise that it's taken this long for it to sink in--it did a little at the All Star game--but not, at least for me, like it did tonight.

I have to believe the ghosts were there tonight.

It wasn't an exceptionally dramatic game, but there were moments that were...well, they gave me goosebumps.

Like when the oldest living ball-player, at 102, Emilio Navarro, threw the first pitch, and if that wasn't chilling enough, if you catch the video, just as he's doing it, there's a squirrel--perhaps Scooter, perhaps not--running across the mound.

Like when Mike Mussina came out of the ballgame to a huge ovation, tipping his cap and entering the dugout with a giant smile, wearing, if just briefly, his heart on his sleeve. Oh, and the quest for 20 is still alive.

Like when Humberto Sanchez and Francesco Cervelli made their major league debuts and I realized, that might be the last time anyone makes their major league, Yankee debuts, at the Stadium. Juan Miranda, too. The three of them might be the very last to get those chills--hey, kid, you're in the game--at Yankee Stadium. There are three games left, but I'm not sure there's anyone left that the Yankees have called up that haven't already debuted.

This game probably won't be one we remember three years from now, unless our name is Humberto Sanchez, Juan Miranda or Francesco Cervelli (and maybe Mike Mussina), but it may have gotten to me much more than the game on Sunday will.

Because it's not when nostalgia is shoved down your throat, but when it comes naturally and almost by accident, amidst the chatter of the crowd and the jokes from the announcing crew about the answer to the night's trivia question, that you realize how much it means.

From the "Did you Know?" files...(including Doubleheader Notes 13 September 2001)

The Houston Astros are 2.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, and the way things are going for the Phillies and the Brewers, it's certainly not an undoable task...

***

The Yankees dropped the first game of their double-header today, 7-1, which might be a death knell to Mussina's quest for 20--he should get at least three more starts but he would have to win all three. It's not impossible, but it is a tall order.

The Yanks were much better in the second game, coming back from down 4-1 to win. Phil Coke was excellent in relief of Sidney Ponson.

Derek Jeter seems to have decided that he needs to break Lou Gehrig's Yankee Stadium hits record. He came into today needing nine hits, and he's whittled that down to three. If I remember correctly, they have all been singles.

***

Meanwhile, Syracuse football continues to be a national embarrassment.

Ponsanity (Postgame Notes 6 September 2007)

Wait for it...wait for it...

Sidney Ponson pitched well.

He made one bad pitch and got burned for it, but he pitched well and, at least against the Mariners, the Yankees were able to take advantage of the weaker team.

The offense wasn't great, especially in the early innings, but they took advantage of a bad Seattle bullpen and was able to put enough distance between them and the Mariners that even when Joba struggled, their lead was still fairly comfortable.

Now, with Mike Mussina on the mound tomorrow the Yankees have a legitimate shot at leaving Seattle with a 5-2 record on the road trip so far, which is already a lot better than 3-7 and would guarantee at least a .500 record on the trip.

While at this point it might be considered too late to do anything other than hope for the Yankees, there are still intriguing storylines: Mussina's quest for 20 wins is alive and well, Jeter is thisclose to being the Yankees' hits leader (at least at Yankee Stadium), and every home run Alex hits now seems historic.

***

In other news, I would pay Syracuse good money to get rid of Greg Robinson, and I am very much looking forward to the first Jets game of the season tomorrow.

Giambino (Postgame Notes 28 August 08)

All season long we've heard about and talked about how Jason Giambi has not been clutch, killing the team in important situations, hitting .205 with runners in scoring position.


Today, by himself, he may saved the Yankees' season.

Starting the game on the bench, Giambi didn't look like he would be much of a factor, but Joe Girardi guessed right and pinched hit with Giambi for Molina with two outs in the seventh inning. Giambi crushed a two run home run to center, and at once re-energized the Yankees enough to win the game.

Mike Mussina had some of his better stuff today, though, as has haunted him his entire career, he did not get the win. The quest for 20 wins is alive, though it is fading. Still, if it wasn't for Mussina, the Yankees would likely not even be a .500 team. Mussina has, quite simply, been amazing this season.

As a ballgame, today's game was a classic. Great pitching from both Mussina and Lester, and from both bullpens, and, of course, late inning drama. For the final Sox-Yankees game at the Stadium, it was certainly fitting.

Now the Yankees get to welcome Toronto for three--and once again have to deal with AJ Burnett and Roy Halladay. The Yankees can't let that faze them, however--they're in such a situation right now where they simply have to win every game they can.

There's still a month left.

Anything is possible.

Moose Almighty (Postgame Notes 07 August 08)

If a Little League coach ever wants to instill in his young pitchers how to work out of trouble, he might consider showing them a tape of Mike Mussina's performance tonight.

Mussina was not dominant--eight hits, one walk and six strikeouts over seven innings--but he made the pitches (and the defensive plays) when he had to, and ended up anchoring a Yankee shut-out of the league's leading offensive team in Texas.

At this point in the season, from the Yankees' viewpoint, they don't have to be pretty they just have to be wins. Every game is a must-win, especially on a night like tonight, when the Red Sox are off and the Yankees had a chance to pick up half of a game on Boston.

On the offensive side of things, Derek Jeter had one of his best games this season, and was responsible for two of the Yankees' three runs.

Alex Rodriguez, however, had a horrible series and did not reach base once. Hopefully, the change of scenery--Anaheim next--will do him well; the Yankees will need his bat.

Robinson Canò's hand seems to have fully healed--he went 3-for-4 with a double--though he still needs to work on his baserunning a little bit.

The Yankee bullpen tonight--Brian Bruney, Dàmaso Marte and Mariano Rivera--did not allow a baserunner. Seems the innings given by Sidney Ponson last night helped rest the bullpen.

The Yankees are in Anaheim tomorrow night, and they will send Ian Kennedy (yes, that Ian Kennedy) to the mound against Jered Weaver. The Yankees have historically had trouble winning in Anaheim; a win tomorrow would be especially important in setting the tone for the series.

****

As you know, the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics start tomorrow night. I'll try to throw in a little Olympic coverage as well.

Go USA! Go United Kingdom! Go World!

Let the Old Time(r)s Roll (Postgame Notes 2 August 2008)

There are few certainties in life.

Death, taxes. and that Old Timer's Day will always leave a chill in your Yankee fan blood.

At about noon this morning, it was pouring Noah's Flood, and it looked like the Yankees would be lucky to get the ceremonies in, but, almost as if by destiny, the skies cleared and 72 former Yankee players--some Hall of Fame Legends, some that just caught lightning in a bottle--were able to assemble on the field of the House that Ruth Built for one last time.

While Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford produced goosebumps, and Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez, David Cone and David Wells made you pine for the late nineties, it was the return of Willie Randolph to the Stadium that received the most attention from the Stadium crowd.

As Michael Kay said in his introduction, "once a Yankee, always a Yankee."


The game that followed did not disappoint, from a Yankee point of view.

Mike Mussina pitched an absolute clinic--he did not allow an Angel baserunner to reach after the second, retiring seventeen in a row. It was a pure vintage performance, and while he struggled with his control in the first two innings, he found a rhythym and didn't look back.

The Yankee offense was sparked by an unusual source: a two-run home run from Wilson Betemit in the bottom of the second inning, the first of four Yankee home runs on the day.

After last night's offensive debacle, the Yankees had home runs from Betemit, the streaking Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez, and Jose Molina, who had his first home run of the season as part of a 3-3 day.

The Yankees now have a chance to salvage a split out of the four game set--which would be impressive against a team as good on the road as the Angels are--though a win last night would have meant the possibility of taking three out of four.

Brian Bruney, who was not expected to be back at all this season, pitched a one walk, one hit ninth inning. His command was a little off, but given the time he has missed, it is understandable.

Kyrptonite (Postgame Notes 28 July 2008)

There's no other way to describe it.

How else can you figure that the best pitcher for the Yankees this season loses to the worst team in the division?

The Yankees do tend to play flat after a series with Boston, but tonight wasn't just flat.

They were flat-out dead.

Mussina threw strikes--and got beat. The offense hacked at nearly everything and managed just one hit through the first five innings. David Robertson struggled to throw strikes.

Any way you look at it, it was a depressing game to watch.

The Yankees played a little better in the late innings against the Oriole bullpen, but it was a case of much too little, much too late.

One has to think that playing the Orioles now has become a psychological hurdle for the Yankees--they struggled against Baltimore all year last year as well.

Let's hope that the Yankees play a much better game tomorrow evening.

One of These is Not Like the Other

The way it's playing out right now, there are three candidates for Yankees' team MVP.

Two will be extremely obvious. You can probably guess them right now without me saying anything else, and you would be more than justified.

The third, however, will be so outlandish as to make you want to stop reading this blog all together. In fact, if you were to go by stats alone, this player would probably be in contention for least valuable. Curious? Keep reading.

Let's start with the first two blindingly obvious candidates: Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera.

Mike Mussina

This is a guy that was supposed to spend 2008 competing for the five spot in the rotation. The only reason he started in the two spot at all was because Andy Pettitte started the season on the disabled list (remember that?).

He didn't have an exceptional April, either--two starts against the Red Sox will do that to you if you keep pitching to Manny Ramirez--but since then, he has gone 10-3, with just one start, against Baltimore, bad enough to remind one of 2007.

How good has Mike Mussina been this year? Check this out:

Last year, all season, Mussina struck out 91 batters.

This season, on July 24, he has already struck out 81.

Last year, he walked 35 batters; this year, past the all star break, he's only walked 16--and none in his last start.

His ERA? At 3.29 it's the lowest it's been since his first year with the Yankees. In 2001.

You can also look at it this way: if Mussina makes ten more starts this season, and only wins five of them, he'll still finish with 18 wins...and the way he's pitching right now, the Yankees will probably win more than five of his remaining starts

It's not just that Mussina has been so valuable to the Yankees this year; it's that no one expected it--probably not even Moose himself. When the Comeback Player of the Year discussions start, his name will be mentioned, not just because of how well he has done for himself, but because of how much he has meant to the Yankees in 2008.


Mariano Rivera

Let's start with the obvious here: closers are not supposed to have career years at the age of 38, but that is exactly what Rivera is doing.

Rivera might not have the saves that Fransico Rodriguez of the Angels has, but that's because saves are a by-product off wins. As the Angels have the best record in baseball, Rodriguez has more save opportunties. Unlike Rodriguez, however, Rivera has so far converted all of his opportunities.

I've gone over Rivera's crazy stats before, but if you need a refresher:

ERA: 1.21 (career best)
SO/BB: 13.5 (career best) (54 K/4 BB)
BAA: .168
OBP: .198
SLG: .232
OPS: .430

Rivera has always been immensley valuable to the Yankees. For the past 11 years now, if Rivera's healthy and the Yankees are winning after eight innings, you can almost guarantee a win a the Yankee column.

This season, however, he's pitching on another level.

Right now, the rest of the bullpen looks just as untouchable as Rivera, but earlier in the season, when that wasn't the case, Rivera was still the one guy the Yankees could count on to get themselves out of a tight spot.

Closers aren't supposed to have career years at age 38, but Mo's could not possibly have come at a better time.



Right. So those are two of the blindingly obvious team MVP candidates. While it's hard to quantiy value to a team, both Mussina's and Rivera's stat lines give you some idea as to the type of seasons they are having.


The next guy I'm going to suggest is not having a career year. Not even close. He's only hitting .222, has no home runs, no speed and isn't actually supposed to play every day.

At the same time, he's so good defensively, he is one of the few that can change the way another team plays a game.

If you haven't guessed by now that I'm referring to Jose Molina, well, you've not been watching a lot of Yankee baseball this season.

When the Yankees traded for Jose Molina last year, they weren't looking for another starting catcher; they were looking for someone that could spell Posada who hit a bit better than Wil Nieves.

Molina fit the profile, and the Yankees gave up very, very little to get him.

Value is relative--it's based on how much more (or less) you get from someone (or something) than you expect.

The Yankees expected a competent defender that could manage to get on base once in a while, too.

What the Yankees got was a catcher that has thrown out nearly 50% of all baserunners attempting to steal, helped Mike Mussina become the de facto ace of the Yankees staff, worked well with every pitcher in the rotation, and, oh yeah, he's played in 64 of the Yankees 101 games thus far--well on pace to break his career high of 78 games played in 2006.

Granted, he doesn't hit much, but if everyone else in the Yankee line up starts to hit--as they've done during this, their second longest winning streak of the season--Molina's defense more than makes up for his weak bat.


Consider it like this way: Mussina and Rivera are putting up seasons that could make them contenders for league MVP if not for 1) the league's MVP bias against pitching, 2) Cliff Lee and 3) Francisco Rodriguez.

Jose Molina is much more important to the Yankees in terms of suiting their needs right now, than he would likely be to any other team.

Oh, and one more thing:

Molina's tough as nails. In the 2-1 Yankee win over Boston during the July 4 weekend series, Molina was hit by a pitch while catching in a region that, for reasons of gender and anatomy, I will never fully understand what it feels like to get hit there.

He stayed in the game.

In the Yankees 4-3 win over Oakland last Saturday?

Molina stuck his knee out with the bases loaded to take a HBP for the team and win the game.

The next night?

He ended the game by throwing out a runner trying to take second.


The last time the Yankees had a back up catcher that meant as much to the team as Jose Molina currently means to the Yankees? Think 1998, with Joe Girardi and a young Jorge Posada.




So there you have it. My three candidates for team MVP (please do keep in mind this is team, and not league, MVP).

Two of them you probably guessed right off the bat; the third, probably not so much.

Enjoy the day off--exciting weekend coming up!

Six in the City (Postgame Notes 23 July 2008)

Eight shut out innings.

Two clutch hits.

Six wins and two sweeps in a row.

The Yankees can't ask for too much else right now (aside from an effective Hawkins, but even I admit that's pushing it).

The team hasn't just played better out of the break; they've been dominant. Oakland and Minnesota are not bad teams--overachieving, maybe, but certainly not bad. In fact, before the All Star break, the Yankees were trailing both Minnesota and Oakland in the Wild Card Race.

Now?

Not so much.

Mike Mussina's ERA is now down to 3.26.

Mussina. ERA. 3.26.

This is a guy that at the beginning of the season was supposed to be competing for the five spot.

He now has thirteen wins, tied for the league lead with Cliff Lee.

Today he allowed six hits over eight innings, struck out seven and (once again) did not walk a batter.

If he is not a candidate for Comeback Player of the Year, there is something drastically wrong with the universe.


Also of note: seven different Twins struck out.


As for the offense, the Yankees did not have a dominating offensive explosion as they had in the first game, but they played like the Yankees, exploiting Minnesota's mistakes (Alexi Casilla running off the field as if the inning were over as opposed to doubling up Jose Molina most prominent among these) and getting two two-run hits from Justin Christian and Alex Rodriguez.

They have scored five runs or more in four of their first six games after the brea.

The Yankees have a well-earned off day tomorrow before they head into Boston, and that series now has some added significance. As of right now, the Yankees are only two back in the loss column of Boston; if Seattle can win tonight, they will be just one game out of the wild card spot.

The Yankees have Joba, Pettitte and Sidney Ponson pitching against Beckett, Wakefield and Lester, so it should be a very interesting weekend.

The Dark Knight is Amazing. Go See It. (Postgame Notes 18 July 2008)

If only the Yankees could play like this every night.

Good starting pitching, clutch hitting, clean defense and an overpowering bullpen will get you a win almost every time, and that's exactly what the Yankees had tonight.

Mike Mussina was not dominant--he gave up nine hits over six--but he was effective. He allowed one run in the first and did not allow another run the rest of the game. He did not walk a single batter and struck out the side in the second--all looking.

Mussina now has more wins (12) than he had all of last season, and still has a potential, if unlikely, shot at 20 wins. Many agree that one 20 win season would give Moose the boost he needs to be a serious Hall of Fame candidate.

I could gush more about the season that Mussina is having, but tonight's win wasn't just Mike Mussina.

The Yankee offense did something it's not done much of late, and played a good game. It wasn't just one guy with a good night, but the entire team seemed to be playing well.

Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Canò and Melky Cabrera all had multiple hit games that included extra base hits (doubles for Abreu and Melky; home runs for Alex and Canò).

More telling, however, was that six of the Yankee runs were scored on two outs--three of those coming on Robinson Canò's home run in the third to put the Yankees ahead. The Yankees never relinquished the lead.

The bullpen, which tonight didn't see Jose Veras, Kyle Farnsworth or Mariano Rivera, was absolutley dominant.

David Robertson struck out the side in the seventh; Edwar Ramirez struck out two of three in a one-two-three eighth, and LaTroy Hawkins had a one-two-three ninth, ending the game with a strike out.

In the last few years, and, most notably, last year, the Yankees have been a second-half team, and tonight, they posted one of their best-played wins this season to start it off.

If you believe in omens t all, consider tonight a good one.

First Half Recap

So now that we've reached the midpoint of the season, it's a good time to take stock of where the Yankees are now, where they are headed and what they need to do in the second half of the season.

I was curious to see what Yankee fans other than myself thought about this season so far, so I set up a short poll here, in a Yankees' fans community.

Some notes on the results:

It's pretty obvious that the biggest (pleasant) surprise of the season has been Mike Mussina.

He won 11 games all of last year, and has already equaled that total this year. He's throwing more first pitch strikes, walking almost no one and giving the Yankees a chance to win in almost all of his starts.

He's even solved the issue of how to pitch to Manny Ramirez--just hit him!

Joking aside, whatever the Yankees expected they'd get from Moose this year, it wasn't this.

Mussina had, after all, pitched himself out of the rotation last August. He was supposed to be competing for the fifth spot, and when he ended up in the two spot because of an injury to Andy Pettitte, you could hear Yankees' Universe holding its breath.

Eleven wins later, there are still doubters, those that think Mussina will fall off, because pitchers in their late thirties aren't supposed to be this good.

The numbers don't lie, though. Without Mussina, the Yankees are under .500 and in last place.

He's stayed healthy all year, and pitched quality start after quality start, even if they haven't all been wins.



In terms of other surprises, the Yankee bullpen has come out of almost nowhere, and transformed from the greatest Yankee liability to the greatest asset. I'm not joking.

First of all, it doesn't hurt that Mariano Rivera is not just having a career year, he's having the type of year that can stand on its own for generations, like a Maris '61 or Pedro Martinez '99, and even then...

While, at 1.06, Rivera's ERA is about the highest it's been all season, it's still the lowest it's been in his career. In 42.1 innings pitched, he's allowed five runs. Five--and only one of those has come in a save situation.

His strike out per nine ratio is over 10; the only season in which he was better in that regard was in 1996, when he worked multiple innings as a set-up man, and his strike out to walk ratio, of 12.5, is by far the best it's ever been in his career. Considering that Mariano Rivera was headed to the Hall of Fame before this season started, that says something.

Never mind that he has converted all of his 23 save opportunities thus far.


Thing is, the bullpen hasn't been successful just because of Rivera.

With the probable exception of LaTroy Hawkins, everyone currently in the bullpen now is pulling his weight.

At the beginning of the season, the bullpen was a serious concern--outside of Joba Chamberlain and Rivera, there was no real confidence in any one of the relievers.

Somewhere along the line, however, the bullpen straightened itself out. Kyle Farnsworth figured out how to pitch and keep the fly balls in the ballpark, and Jose Veras went from being wildly inconsistent to a solid seventh inning guy. While Veras has given up a couple late inning home runs, for the most part he has come through in a big way.

The result of Farnsworth's and Veras' success is that the workload for Edwar Ramirez has been reduced--meaning that his change up is more effective because hitters see it less--and Dan Giese has thrived as a long man, while Dave Robertson has become another solid arm.

Joe Girardi has done a great job of spliting up the workload in the bullpen, but that alone cannot be the explanation to the bullpen's success.

Somewhere along the line--about the same time the Yankees decided to make Joba a starter--the bullpen figured it out.

To put it in statistical terms, considering the following splits, courtesy of Baseball Reference:

ERA
1998: 3.76
2008: 3.56

BAA
1998: .252
2008: .232

OBP
1998: .320
2008: .308

SLG
1998: .386
2008: .371

K/BB:
1998: 1.91
2008: 2.39


Granted, there's still a whole half season to go, but if the bullpen keeps this up, then once again we've got ourselves a team that can shorten games to six innings, and we know what happens when that occurs.




On the flip side of things, the most disappointing aspect of the season so far has easily been the offense.

At the same time there are both a million reasons for the fall off from last year, and no reasons at all.

You can look at all the injuries as an excuse--it's hard to manufacture runs when you have Jose Molina, Alberto Gonzalez and Wilson Betemit all with regular playing time, you might say--or, you can say, well, the Red Sox lost Ortiz and they're still scoring something like seven runs a game.

The truth is, the injuries that should have hurt us the most--the loss of Alex Rodriguez in May and Jorge Posada for much of April and May--shouldn't be considered a factor any more (well, at least A-Rod. Jorge is still playing with a tear in his shoulder.)

Instead, the Yankees need to look at other factors. For instance, Derek Jeter is having the worst offensive year of his career. Robinson Canò, who has started slowly every season, has started especially slowly this season, and Bobby Abreu isn't just not hitting, he's not even walking at the pace that he's set for himself in years previous.

Nevermind the offensive contributions (or lack thereof) from Melky Cabrera, Wilson Betemit or any of the other bottom-of-the-lineup guys; when the top and heart of the order aren't producing, it's real hard for the rest of the line up to make up the difference.



So for the second half of the season, if the Yankees want to have a real shot at a playoff spot, what do they need to do?

First, they need to keep pitching as they are. They aren't getting perfect starts, but for the most part, their starters are giving the team a chance to win which is all you can ask for game in and game out. The bullpen is shutting the opposing team down in a way they haven't really done since the late nineties.

Second and more importantly, the Yankees need to get out of this offensive malaise. They need to follow Brett Gardner's lead when it comes to grinding out at bats--if they remember how to work pitchers again, success will eventually follow. They need to be willing to sacrifice an out to move the runner over if they're facing a tough pitcher, and they need to stop acting as though a nine run outburst every once in a while is a substitute for a consistent offensive effort.



So, can the Yankees make the playoffs this year?

They can, but it won't be easy. With both Boston and Tampa Bay ahead of them, the Yankees have even more games to make up and less AL East teams to feed on--even traditional cellar dwellers of late, the Orioles, are exceeding expectations.

The Yankees still have ten games left against Boston, and I think a similar number against Tampa Bay, which is more than enough to make something happen, but they can't sit around and wait for those games to occur.

The Yankees have to start putting together win streaks of four or five in a row, and then not follow them with losing streaks of almost equal length.

The Yankees can do it with the players they have on their team now--after all, they did it last year--but they have got to pick it up and come out of the break flying.

They've been in worse situations before, and made the playoffs, but they have some serious work to do.




First Half Yankee Awards:

MVP: Mike Mussina. The team is nowhere this year without him.
Cy Young: Mariano Rivera. Read above. 'Nuff said.
Rookie of the Year: Joba Chamberlain. Has over exceeded expectations.
Comeback Player of the Year: Mike Mussina

Best Win: 6/5/08 vs. Toronto. Jason Giambi has a two strike, two out, two run home run in the bottom of the ninth to cap a comeback from down 7-2 to win the game.

Most important win: 7/5/08 vs. Boston. Mariano Rivera pitches into a bases-loaded, no one out jam before pitching himself out of trouble and helping the Yankees to a series split with Boston.

Relieving Dangerously, Part Two (Postgame Notes 5 July 2008)

When I woke up this morning, I did not have a cardiologist.

I think I need one now.

Having lost two straight and four of five, the Yankees needed a win tonight in the worst way. One win can't make or break an entire season but yet, today, that's what it felt like.

Mike Mussina certainly pitched like it was the case, allowing just four hits over six innings and picking up his eleventh win. He has become the Yankee stopper in nearly every way this season and may have saved their season with today's performance. Mussina only won eleven games all season last year.

Jose Veras and Kyle Farnsworth were excellent; they seem to have morphed into a tandom with Veras in the seventh and Farnsworth in the eighth, and they have fit the roles well. With Jose Veras breathing down Farnsworth's neck for the eighth inning role, Farnnsworth has stepped up his performance.

Mariano Rivera in the ninth, however, was...interesting. Perhaps it's just that Mo likes making things interesting with Boston, but he seems to have some special enjoyment of pitching in pressure situations (which would explain why he's Mariano Rivera).

Anyway. Boston was able to load the bases with no one out in the top of the ninth, but Rivera wwas able to come back and get a strike out, a pop out and a strike out.

The Yankees offense was not great, but they were able to scratch out two runs, which, with the Yankee pitching today, was enough.

Anyway, I'm going to go phone for a cardiologist.

Joba tomorrow.

Texas Two-Step (Postgame Notes 30 June 2008)

Apparently, no one told the Texas Rangers or the New York Yankees that they were supposed to hit tonight.

Two line ups--one with this year's best offense, and one with last year's best offense (nearly all returning this year, too)--could not manage more than three combined runs in tonight's game.

While Texas had the misfortune of running into a stellar Mike Mussina, the Yankees have no excuse for their utter lack of hitting since Friday evening.

Yesterday the only run they managed came off of the bat of Wilson Betemit, and today they managed just four hits against a Texas team known for everything but their pitching. While Alex Rodriguez had (yet another) mammoth home run and Jason Giambi had his first triple since 2002, the utter lack of offense from the top and bottom part of the line up is astounding, frustrating, and extremely hard to watch.

On most teams, if your starter can go six innings while yielding just two runs, he is usually in line for the win, but Mike Mussina seems to be cursed in his quest for 20 wins--He has not won since the series in Houston, taking the loss against Edinson Volquez and having his start rained out in Pittsburgh (when the Yankees were actually winning the game).

Mussina and the Yankee bullpen ought to be credited for keeping the most potent offense in the league to just two runs, though that won't happen because of the loss.

In the seventh inning there was an exceptionally scary moment as Jose Molina was crossed up on a pitch by Jose Veras and a fastball hit him...well, let's just say he's probably worshipping at the alter of athletic cup makers tonight. As a true testament to the amazingness that is a Molina brother, Jose Molina stayed in the game.

Brett Gardner also had his much awaited major league debut today, and while he did not get a hit, he worked a full count twice and reached on a Fielder's Choice before promptly stealing second. He might not hit for much power, but the kid can fly and was adequate, though largely untested, in left field.

Joba Chamberlain will pitch for the Yankees tomorrow--with luck he will recieve a little more support than just one run.

Low Voltage

Sometimes, the forces conspire.

Tonight, for example, it wasn't just that Edinson Volquez was a stud on the mound for Cincinnati, or that Johnny Damon made what should have been scored a costly error, or that Mike Mussina decided to walk Jay Bruce and pitch to Jolbert Cabrera, who was already 2-2 that evening, but rather, it was a combination of all of these things.

A four-two loss can not be considered a clunker by any means, though the deficit seemed to loom larger just because of how well Volquez has been pitching.

So while a bad decision and a bad play doomed the Yankees tonight, in the long run, it can not be considered a terrible loss.

For one thing, Mike Mussina pitched into the eighth inning, sparing the bullpen on a night when Mariano Rivera, Jose Veras and Kyle Farnsworth were all likely unavailable. He threw 110 pitches, 76 of them strikes.

Despite the loss, it cannot be considered a poor outing from Moose--merely an unlucky one. Had he pitched to Jay Bruce, or had Johnny Damon caught a fly ball, the entire complexion of the game changes, and he very well may have picked up his eleventh win.

That said, the Yankees were sloppy on defense and ran themselves out of innings on a few occasions. They seemed to have forgotton that they weren't playing the San Diego Padres any more, and not every catcher is Michael Barrett.

Hideki Matsui, and, surprisingly, Robinson Canò had multi-hit games, but the Yankees were not able to do much else offensively.

Still, there's little to complain about--the Yankees are still six games over .500, the pitchers they face tomorrow and Sunday will not be named Edinson Volquez.


Also---I don't know if any of you are soccer fans but the Turkey-Croatia match today might explain why it's such a popular sport.


Apparently, as of about ten minutes ago, I'm going to the game tomorrow, and have seats second row behind home plate.

So, uh, if you see me on tv, holler.

A Healthy Dose of Optimism

Don't look now, but there's a team that's just won nine of twelve games to move to four games over .500. In the past three games, they gave up a grand total of five runs while scoring 23 themselves. In the past six, they've given up 15 runs while scoring 34.

With the exception of one bad start in Oakland, the starting pitching has been exquisite--even going back to the last game of the Kansas City series, despite the Yankee loss.

Mike Mussina deserves a spot on the All Star team. Whether or not he gets it is, of course, up in the air, but if there's any Yankees' pitcher not named Mariano Rivera that deserves a spot this year, it's Mussina. He has been the Yankee stopper, on pace for twenty wins this season, which is all the more amazing when one considers that at the beginning of the season, most of the fan base (and even the experts) figured he'd be lucky to win ten games all year.

Joba Chamberlain's transition to starter has not been flawless, but he's improved significantly in each start, and in his next one, he will not have a pitch count limit. In his last start he allowed just one run over six innings while throwing 88 pitches--and hitting 97 MPH on his last pitch.

Andy Pettitte looked more like his old self in his most recent start, getting both the ground balls and the double plays, and Chien Ming Wang looks as though he has emerged from his pitcher's slump, though it may be a while before he makes his next start.

While Darrel Rasner faltered in his last start, it was most likely fatigue after having thrown 110+ pitches in his previous outing. With the exception of that start--one clunker in seven starts--he has given the Yankees a chance to win every time he steps on the mound.

The bullpen, too, has stepped it up a notch. Kyle Farnsworth recorded a save in the Yankees' 2-1 victory on Friday, and then pitched the eighth in Saturday's game, which, at the time the Yankees lead by only two runs. Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez have been excellent; after pitching in five games out of six, Mariano Rivera has not pitched now in four games, so he should be available in the upcoming Padres and Reds series. Though he has given up a couple ninth inning home runs, he has not blown a save opportunity.


The offense, it seems, has finally figured out a way to score runs. Johnny Damon has been utterly on fire--currently hitting over .330, he is perhaps the Yankees' most valuable offensive player of the moment.

Derek Jeter's average isn't quite as high as he'd like, but his eighth inning home run on Friday illustrated why he has been dubbed Captain Clutch.

Alex Rodriguez has also been on fire since coming off of the disabled list; he's had two home runs in the past two games--a sign that he is utterly locked in--and, in other just-off-the-dl-news, Jorge Posada gives an added punch to the Yankee line up.

The rejuvination of Jason Giambi also continues--whether because of the 'stache or thong, though, is a question best left unanswered, and Hideki Matsui is still among the league leaders for batting average.

What does this all mean?

The Yankees have climbed to four games over .500, and while there's no guarantee, it feels like the Yankees have finally broken through the .500 barrier. There's still a while to go before they can catch Boston, but it's not quite time to worry about that just yet.

Currently, the Yankees are only 3.5 games back in the Wild Card--trailing only Oakland (from whom they just took two out of three) and Tampa Bay.

So while you're sitting there waiting for news on Wang, perhaps it will cheer you up to remember that these are the Yankees, and no season is ever over before July 4.

Moose-ic to the Yankees' Ears (Postgame Notes 14 June 2008)

In the last fourteen innings he has pitched, Mike Mussina has given up runs in just two of them.

While the two home runs total five earned runs, it also means that in his last fourteen innings, over two games, Mussina has pitched twelve shut out innings.

After last season, you would have been hard pressed to find any Yankee fan that expected Mussina to win ten games this season. If you were on the lookout for a fan who thought Mussina would win ten games before Father's Day, you would have probably spent an eternity waiting for Godot.

Yet, here we are, two hours before Father's Day, and Mike Mussina has ten wins--most of them not flukes, either.

If one subtracts the starts against Boston, Mussina's record would sit at 10-2, not that 10-4 is anything to be ashamed of, either. In fact, by having ten wins already, Mussina could theoretically win 20 games this year--something he has never done in his long career.

That the Yankees are averaging over four runs a game when Mussina starts doesn't hurt, either--and tonight they scored double that.

After Carlos Lee hit a three run home run for Houston in the bottom of the first to give Houston a 3-0 lead, things did not look all that encouraging--Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez entered the game with an ERA of 1.99 and no earned runs allowed in his last thirteen innings.

However, Alex Rodriguez, who lead off the top of the second, hit a solo home run (with a little help from a fan knocking Hunter Pence's glove out of the way), which Jason Giambi followed with a double and Melky Cabrera an RBI single.

In the next inning, Alex Rodriguez was intentionally walked for Giambi, who worked a two out walk to load the bases. Cabrera followed Giambi with a four-pitch walk of his own, to bring in the game's tying run and the Yankees never looked back.

Catcher Jose Molina followed with a two run single, and, in the later innings, the Yankees padded their lead with pinch hits from Robinson Canò (who this season is 2-3 as a pinch hitter with 2 RBI) and Wilson Betemit, whose two run double in the top of the ninth missed being a three run home run by inches.

The Yankees made it interesting when Ross Ohlendorf turned the game into a one run affair with the tying run at third base before getting out of the seventh and when they had Kyle Farnsworth pitch the eighth on back to back nights, but for once, the stars seem to be aligned in the Yankees' favor as they are now a season high three games over .500 (alas, since both Boston and Tampa won today, the Yankees did not pick up any ground in the division, but it's a little too early to be worrying about the pennant quite yet--six games in June is hardly out of reach).

It might be worth noting, that last year, the Yankees had their first extended winning streak of the season when they started interleague play--sweeping Pittsburgh and Arizona while on their way to winning nine in a row.

Maybe a little National League is all the Yankees need to get rolling.

Midnight for the Comeback Kids (Postgame Notes 09 June 2008)

After the dramatic wins on Thursday and Saturday, that today's game should have come down to the ninth inning should not be a surprise.

Alas, despite having the bases loaded with the tying run on third, the Yankees could not even the score, and once again fell back to .500.

The Yankees' loss today can in no way be put on the shoulders of Mike Mussina. Mussina was excellent--beyond, excellent even. Usually, when you pitch eight full innings and surrender only two runs (on one bad pitch), you will win the game.

Like Rasner's performance on Saturday, Moose was excellent, but done in by a lack of run support (which might be more a tribute to Luke Hochevar's pitching than anything else). If it's any consolation (and I'm not sure it is), Moose, at least, was not saddled with the loss.

In what was an uncannily similar performance to Saturday's, Mariano Rivera surrendered the solo home run before getting three quick outs. It is probably only fitting that the hitter of that home run was Jose Guillen, who has been killing the Yankees all weekend. Simply put, the Royals figured out that to win they had to pitch around Jason Giambi and the 'stache in the ninth. The Yankees forgot to do the same with Guillen.

The Yankees did not have a good offensive performance--only four hits--but Alex Rodriguez's home run in the seventh kept them in the game, and they had the bases loaded in the ninth, when Melky Cabrera just missed beating out the relay throw to first.

In the eighth inning, a blown call by first base umpire Ed Montague on a bunt by Melky Cabrera should be noted. Although the Yankees did not lose the game on the call, it may be argued that it took away the best chance the Yankees had at winning the game. Melky threw his helmet off in disgust, and was lucky not to get thrown out.

There's one thing that you can say about the Yankees' recent play--they've begun to show emotion, and life. When Rivera gave up the home run to Jose Guillen, the television replay showed him screaming in disgust (looked like a four letter word, but I don't lipread), before remembering that he was Mariano Rivera, the King of Cool.

When you show emotion like that, and remember to play all twenty-seven outs (as the Yankees have at last seem to be able to do), the wins will not be far off.