A Couple of Firsts and a 500th (Postgame Notes 28 June 2009)

First:

Chien Ming Wang notched his first win of the 2009 season, facing a depleted Mets line up at Citifield.

The win should not be confused with a good pitching performance--Wang only surrendered two runs, true, but he had very poor command and against pretty much any other legitimate line up, would have likely got roughed around.

Still, for the first time all season he did not just make it into the sixth inning, but made it into the sixth inning with a 3-2 lead. Had he been able to get two more outs it would have officially been a 'quality start', but with just a one run lead, Girardi, perhaps rightly, wasn't going to take any chances.

Phil Coke got the one out he needed and Phil Hughes was again excellent.

Hughes' dominance in the bullpen is captivating and eye-opening. To be quite honest, between Joba and Hughes, if you're going to have one of them in the bullpen, I think Hughes has shown better bullpen stuff.

Brian Bruney, however, struggled and could not get through the 8th inning. It's a risk you run with Bruney, who can struggle with his command; with more than a one-run lead it might not matter so much, but the one-run, high leverage situations are when set-up men need to be at their very best.


Still, the focus here should be Wang, who, for the third time in a row was not great or necessarily even good, but still not bad enough to forgo his next scheduled start (in this case, TOR). It's his first win of the season--the others should be easier.



First:


Mariano Rivera had his first career RBI, walking with the bases loaded while facing a very wild Francisco Rodriguez tonight.

(Don't believe me? Look here

The entire situation was as amusing as it was nerve-wracking as the Yankees only had a one run lead at the time, but from Girardi trying to play mind games with the Mets and get them to pitch to Jeter (they did, until they got to a two-ball count), to the reaction from the Yankee bench--who looked as though someone had just hit a World Series game-winning grand slam.

The most surprising thing, perhaps, here is how important the run actually was.

Despite walking eleven times, the Yankees only managed four hits--and only two after the first inning.

Part of this is due to hitting balls at Mets' fielders, but some attention has to be paid to the four DP balls that Robinson Canó hit--only two were actually double plays because the first was dropped by Daniel Murphy and the fourth was hit with two already out.


Five Hundredth:

Tonight, Mariano Rivera notched his 500th career save, becoming only the second pitcher in all of Major League history to accomplish this after Trevor Hoffman, and it was a four-out save to boot.

Yankees fans know how valuable Mo has been to their team, and tonight gave them a reason to celebrate it.

In his career, Mo has converted 500 of 581 save opportunities and if conversion percentages are how you measure a closer, Mo clearly exists on a different plane altogether.


Here's to Mo!





[oh, and a minor note, I know the Braves can be inept and the Mets are hapless, but games are games and the Yankees have won five straight. And Boston and Toronto both lost today, too.]

Burnett, Yanks One-Hit Mets (Postgame Notes 27 June 2009)

I'm not sure if it was AJ Burnett dominating or the New York Mets trotting out a line up that would have a hard time beating some AAA teams; maybe a combination of both, but the Yankees one-hit the Mets tonight.

It always comes back to pitching, and tonight AJ Burnett was en pointe.

Maybe it's something to do with the Mets--he pitched shut out ball against them back on the 14th--but tonight, he dominated, striking out ten in seven and allowing just one hit. He did walk three, but giving the rest of his performance one can hardly complain.

As Bryan Hoch (@bryanhoch) pointed out on Twitter via another, right now, Brett Gardner has more hits (5) in this series than the Mets (4), and I'd like to add that Gardner had an 0-fer today.


To be fair, the Mets lineup has been utterly decimated by injuries, as it has all season, but one should consider that that team did take three of four from the St. Louis Cardinals, who are not, if a spectacular team, certainly not a bad one.


For the Yankee, the offense was not the same sort of spectacular it was on the 14th, but they scored one run on Nick Swisher's home run, and then added more later in the game, with four runs in the top of the sixth inning--and who knows, perhaps the long inning disrupted Burnett's tempo and his quest for a second career no-hitter, but then again, only giving up one hit is no room for complaint.

It was especially gratifying to see Jorge Posada hit a home run--he had a .219 average in June going into the game, and more importantly, to see him so in synch with Burnett.

Perhaps now the "who's better, Posada or Cervelli" debate can stop.

I love Cervelli, I do, but, I mean...really now.

Anyway, the Yankees are back to 10 games over .500 as they've won four straight, and with a win tomorrow (and with the Mets trotting out Livan Hernandez, anything is possible) they could revisit the high-water mark of the season.

Yanks Meet the Mess (Postgame Notes 26 June 2009)

Quietly, or perhaps not-so-quietly, it looks like the Yankees have begun to emerge from their June swoon.

In the past three games, the Yankees have scored at least eight runs...and, while these games weren't necessarily laughers, given the timing of the scoring, the wins still count.

Tonight, the Yankees did the type of things that a competitive team needs to do: pitch well, take advantage of the other team's miscues, and add a couple of tack on runs just for form's sake.

Let's break it down:

1) Pitch well...

CC Sabathia, apparently recovered from his biceps tendinitis, had a very good outing, allowing just three hits in seven innings. Had the Yankees not blown it open in the 8th, he would have come back out again.

Although he was no doubt the beneficiary of a very pitcher-friendly appeal umpire at first, Sabathia's performance was what the Yankees needed after Pettitte's struggles and thus the stretching of the bullpen last night.

While Sabathia may not have received the attention that the FA success stories of K-Rod and Raul Ibañez have, he is pitching up to the standards expected of an ace. His record doesn't reflect it as the Yankees haven't always scored on his behalf, but he is clearly giving the Yankees what they need.


2) Take advantage of the other team's miscues...

The New York Mets had three infielders commit an error in the 2nd inning, though, strangely, Luis Castillo didn't have any of them. Ok, bad joke aside, the Yankees turned the three errors into four runs, all with the names like Gardner (who had the game of his career, thus far, with five hits), Peña, Sabathia...(Sabathia is no automatic out).

With the early lead, the Yankees didn't falter. It's a good thing they got the lead, too, because after that inning the Yankees had only one baserunner until the seventh inning.


3) Score some tack on runs...

I don't know if the Yankees want to play mean and keep Mariano Rivera from getting his 500th save, but you can't really complain about the tack on runs.

Three runs can be erased with one swing. Seven can't. And with eight runs to work with, you have more than enough time to change pitchers if yours starts to struggle (thankfully, Tomko was excellent).

And, you know what, the tack on runs weren't useless.

They meant that CC didn't have to pitch the 8th, got the Yankees a comfortable lead, and let them rest Teixeira and A-Rod, if only for a half inning. Still, with a flu bug going around, any rest would likely be welcome.




AJ Burnett takes the mound tomorrow, but the real interesting pitching match up comes Sunday when Wang takes on Livan Hernandez.

Oh boy.

This Yankees Fan Goes to Citifield. Stuff Ensues.

Sometimes it's really easy to tell what a day will be like.

For example, when you have a twenty page paper due the next day and you haven't started writing it, it's a fair bet your day isn't going to be a whole lot of fun.

Other times, however, the future is less clear, when everything sort of teeters on a horizon you can't see.


My friend Robin is a Mets fan. She has her reasons (and perfectly legitimate ones) for being so, and we've happened upon a tradition of going to one Mets game a year. I forget who they played the first year we did this--Arizona I think, but not sure--they played the Dodgers last year, and this year, it would be an interleague match up with the Rays, and with Johan Santana on the mound, no less.

The trouble was, however, when we woke up that we didn't know if the game would be played at all.

In the Bronx, it was dark and sullen, as has been pretty much every day this month. In New Jersey, where Robin was, it was raining.

I can't help but think all of this rain is punishment for something--for Bloomberg running for a third term, for some scandal up in Albany, for failing to get the Giants or the Jets a stadium within the actual boundaries of New York City--who knows? What I do know is that the rain is constant, and even when it doesn't rain, there is nothing but this bleakness that somehow has to pass for summer.

I've spent four years in Syracuse, NY and four months in London, and still I can't remember it ever being so...bleak.

Anyway, I'm going to stop waxing philosophical now.

So we, Robin and I, both woke up to pretty awful weather and weren't sure if we would bother heading to Citifield, which is out of the way for both of us, and we decide in the end that we'll go. After all, neither of us have been to the ballpark and so, even if it pours, we'll still have things to keep us busy.

My first hint that today will be unpredictable comes on my subway ride to Penn Station, where I'm meeting Robin, when a mariachi band starts playing. I'll give them this much: they certainly woke me up.

Anyway. After meeting up at Penn Station we took the LIRR to Citifield, two stops on the line to Port Washington. I must say, why does the LIRR have nicer trains than NJ transit? It's not fair!

Right.

So, amidst the bleak and gray of a rainy day, this was the view from outside the park



Even from the outside, this park's got character. It's a different type of character than Yankee Stadium, however. Yankee Stadium is kind of all HONOR GLORY PRIDE in terms of its invoking the past; Citifield is much more "ooh, the past is a friendly muppet". Which, as a student of history, I feel qualified to explain, is not necessarily true.




Outside, people bought bricks to lay out as such. It would be impossible to do it at Yankee Stadium because the space isn't there, but here it gives the Mets much more of a family sort of feel. Again, HONOR GLORY PRIDE vs "ooh, friendly muppet!"



Inside the Jackie Robinson Rotunda from the main entrance. Compare that and the Yanks' Great Hall, and again it's the same sort of feeling evocation...Jackie Robinson = warm and fuzzy (again, what Robinson had to experience, not so much). Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, etc... HONOR GLORY PRIDE!

Anyway. Today was cap day. I gave my cap to Robin because she'll know people that will wear it. In my case it would just sit on the window sill. I do have to say, I felt really weird not wearing a Yankee hat today...




At 3.30 PM, no one was in the seats, but given the rain this wasn't all that surprising. Interesting trivia factoid: the Mets do the anthem and then the line ups; for the Yankees it's the other way around.



One of the many concession options. Since I can't eat (most) ballpark food, I can't honestly say anything about the quality of the food offered here as compared to Yankee Stadium, but in addition to also having sushi (although, unlike YS, I'm not sure you can watch them make it), they also have a Subway, so I have multiple choices as to culinary options here. They also have this thing called Shake Shack. Maybe you've heard of it.

No garlic fries, that I could find, though.






The view of home plate. I can't actually spot the luxury boxes. Citifield doesn't intimidate. Well, I mean, unless you're David Wright and trying to hit a HR. I kinda like that.



View from our seats.



I didn't actually notice when they took the tarp off of the field. One moment it was there, and the next it wasn't. It was like magic. And hey, it meant an on-time start!



The scoreboard in center field. It's really tall. I'd mention something about tall and NYers preoccupation with size, but I'd hate to have to bring Freud into it. Guy always bugged me.



Hey! People in the stands and like a game thingie and stuff.



Do I have a great zoom on my camera or what?

Some dude named Johan Santana had a no-no through four and a third. I guess he's kinda good.



It's nigh on the first day of summer and the lights are on at 5 PM. This was the type of day it was--kept waiting for the rain to show. It did, eventually. And the heavens so totally opened when it did.





So...

You know what's interesting? The first time I went to the new Yankee Stadium, it was raining, too. The difference was, however, since it was at night, you didn't really notice it.

I keep trying not to compare the two parks, but I kind of have to, and what it comes down to is this:

Both parks are awesome, but for different reasons.

Yankee Stadium is about the Yankees, first and forever. It's about what the team has done on the field, for over 100 years, and it's meant to intimidate you if you are not already awed at the all-magnificence of the 26-time World Series Champions.

Citifield is about baseball. The Mets, yes, but, minus the HR apple in center field, you get the feeling that if need be, another team could come and play a game here and feel just as at home. This isn't a bad thing.

So many times, so many, including the Yankees, forget that nothing, in the end, is bigger than the game. No rule, no policy, no player and no team is bigger than the game.

Yankee Stadium is an homage to the greatness of the Yankees' past.

Citifield reminds us why we are baseball fans in the first place.

Amazin' Yanks Blow Out Santana, Mets (Postgame Notes 14 June 2009)

If you had asked any Yankee fan before today's match up with AJ Burnett and Johan Santana, they would have probably told you that they were worried.

Johan Santana is Johan Santana, and AJ Burnett has not been what the Yankees had paid him $88 million to be.

Still, any real baseball fan will tell you that you still have to play the game. It happened yesterday, when Fernando Nieve shut down the Yankees despite having only made a few previous starts in his Major League career; it happened again today.

Far from his normal shutdown self, Johan Santana surrendered nine earned runs; four in the second and then five in the fourth to knock him out of the game, and the Yankees wouldn't let the Mets' bullpen off the hook either, scoring six runs off of Mets' relievers.

There is much to be impressed about; the most key moment came in the top of the third, when AJ Burnett loaded the bases with no one out...and then proceeded to get out of the inning without giving up a run. For any starter, being able to do so is important; for Burnett, it may have changed his season, though it's too soon to say for sure.

At any rate, it allowed Burnett to go seven, and thus save most of a much belabored Yankees' bullpen--the off day tomorrow could not have come at a better time.

Also worth mentioning is Francisco Cervelli's excellent day at the plate; he has blossomed in the majors, and you get the feeling the Yankees are telling jose Molina to "take your time, no, really".

If the Phillies hold on to beat the Red Sox, the Yankees will go into tomorrow's off day only two back of Boston and with the likes of the Nationals on the horizon.

The Weirdest Walkoff You've Ever Seen (Postgame Notes 12 June 2009

Michael Kay, for all of his faults, said it best: How many times can you fail, and still win?

Because that is, more or less, what happened tonight.

The Yankees failed in many, many ways.

They didn't get good starting pitching, with Joba walking pretty much everyone he saw and throwing 43 pitches in one inning.

They didn't get great bullpen pitching--Tomko was awful, Robertson was good, all right, Coke couldn't hold the lead and Rivera still can't pitch in tie games, even in the eighth.

They got some offense (I mean, dude, they scored nine runs), but they could never build more than a one run lead.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, they had the tying run on second base and the winning run on first, with two out and Alex Rodriguez at the plate. And A-Rod, as we have so often seen, popped up.

Except, this time, Luis Castillo dropped it.

Luis Castillo dropped it, and Mark Teixeira had the grit and the good sense to run hard on a routine pop up, and he and Derek Jeter BOTH scored.

How often do we see a pop up and automatically draw the conclusion? How often do we forget they actually have to see it into the glove? K-Rod forgot; he did a fist pump as A-Rod popped it.

This wasn't so much a game the Yankees won as it was a game the Mets lost; though, to be completley onest here, I think any question about ghosts moving across the street has been resolutely answered.

Anyway, what it means is that instead of the Yankees having lost four in a row, they've opened this portion of interleague play with a win and keep from falling any further behind in the standings.

Yankees fans can sleep just a tiny bit easier tonight.

Luis Castillo may want to watch his back. The Mets fans are apparently not very happy.

Yankees Vs Mets, 12 June 2009: A liveblog

6.15 PM: Tonight's lineup:

Jeter
Swisher
Teixeira
Rodriguez
Cano
Posada
Matsui
Cabrera
Gardner

An alarming quote from LoHud on why Damon is out:

"Johnny Damon is out of the lineup for assorted reasons. He hasn’t played well of late and he said his eyes have ben “fluttering.” Damon said he felt like he was going to pass out on the field last night. He wondered whether it was a lingering side effect of the concussion he suffered five years ago.

He’s getting checked out today and said he is available."

7.05 PM: Forgot to mention, but you probably know this by now, Dámaso Marte is set to see Dr. James Andrews. Everyone with me now: Uh oh.

7.17 PM: Joba pitched the top of the first there like he means business, which is good. Let's see if his teammates can make it stick.

7.25 PM: Two deep flues from Jeter and Swisher, but not deep enough.

7.36 PM: Some good defense there and the Mets muster a Wright single but nothing else.

7.41 PM: Robbie Canó with a solo HR and that was out in any park.

8.00 PM: "Oy." is about the best I can do.

8.11 PM: The Yankees are so beyond lucky the Mets couldn't get a hit there. But 43 pitches in that inning and we might not see Joba come out to start the fourth. I'm curious as to what happened between the first and the third.

8.22 PM: Teixeira just bombed one. And I mean bombed. Everyone was on him in April, but now we see why we paid the big bucks.

8.27 PM: Canó just missed his second HR in as many at bats, and I mean just.

8.38 PM: 100 pitches through four is not what Joba or the Yankees needed. Highly doubt he comes out for the fifth with that command, so maybe Tomko for two (7), then Robertson/Veras (8) and Mo if the Yankees keep the lead? Just guessing.

8.50 PM: Tomko doesn't have any more control than Joba.

8.56 PM: The disaster continues. Gary Sheffield? Really?

9.19 PM: For a team hitting as many home runs as we are, way too many are of the solo variety.

9.44 PM: Matsui needs it to be his birthday more often. Last year a grand slam; this year a three-run home run to give the Yankees a lead.

9.53 PM: Phil Coke probably shouldn't be pitching three days in a row, but at this point, who else do the Yankees have?

10.10 PM: Our four and five hitters have got to be more clutch than that.

10.16 PM: Girardi bringing Mo in to face the Mets' best hitters. I'm not the only one that's been asking for Girardi to do something like this. Let's see if we're right.

1024 PM: What is it with Mo and tie games?

10.40 PM: I hate Crosby, but congratulations to the Penguins on the Stanley Cup. A football championship and hockey championship in the same year, and that's about the best you can hope for in Pittsburgh. So well done.

Reports: Mets Sign Garcia, Ricketts to buy Cubs

According to this report, the NY Mets have signed or will sign Freddy Garcia to a minor league deal.

Garcia had been considering the Yankees as well; had he signed, it would have likely forced Andy Pettitte out.

The closer it gets to Spring Training, the more it seems like Pettitte really is the only option the Yankees want to consider, though Pettitte apparently wants more money and the Yankees aren't biting.

***

In other news, the Ricketts family has won the bidding war to buy the Chicago Cubs.

Perhaps new ownership will spur the Cubs on to...

Eh, who am I kidding--these are the Cubs!

Just joking.

Good luck to the Ricketts family--and remember, leave the baseball to the baseball people!

People That Play Baseball In New York Should Stay Off Airplaines

There are unsubstantiated rumors that NY Mets 3B David Wright was on the plane which made an emergency landing in the Hudson River earlier today.


At least we know that everyone survived the crash, and when you're thanking the heavens for small mercies, I guess this is a fairly large one.

Anyway, not sure why Wright would fly commercial for security reasons given how recognizable he is in New York, but it'd be a pretty cool thing if he did.

[Edit]: According to the Mets, Wright wasn't on the plane. Hat tip to Mike A of River Ave Blues .

Why Baseball Doesn't Need a Salary Cap

This post was inspired by a very well-written post by Mike of High and Tight, which can be found here. It's worth your time.

****

In the past decade, both the NBA, in the forms of the Spurs and the Lakers, and the NFL, in the form of the Patriots, have seen "dynasties"; that is, teams winning, year after year.

Both leagues have had a salary cap for that time span, if not longer.

The NHL also has a salary cap, but as it was only implemented a few years ago, it's still too soon for any conclusive remarks.


Baseball, on the other hand, has no salary cap. Every single person reading this post right now probably knows that. Still, in the last decade, only the Red Sox have won multiple World Series--and not consecutively, either.

In 2007, the Tampa Bay Rays finished last in the AL East.
In 2008, the Tampa Bay Rays went to the World Series.

Sure, the method of losing for nine years in a row, taking the first round draft picks and then building a contender is something many teams probably want to avoid, but the points remain: a) it's possible to build a winning team out of a perennial doormat, b) you don't need gigantic contracts to do so, and c) smart ownership and general managing is much more important how much the ownership spends.

Lucky for baseball, there are a lot of smart GMs and owners out there.

Okay, so there are a few that we like to pretend don't exist (I'm looking at you, Pete Angelos), but consider that in the past ten years the following teams have made the playoffs, including a one-game playoff scenario: (+ denotes at least one World Series appearance)

Diamondbacks +
Dodgers
Angels +
Athletics
Giants +
Padres
Rockies +
Marlins +
Rays +
Braves
Cubs
White Sox +
Red Sox +
Tigers +
Twins
Cardinals +
Yankees +
Mets +
Indians
Phillies +
Astros +
Mariners
Brewers.


That means that a grand total of seven teams in the league--Orioles, Nationals, Rangers, Blue Jays, Royals, Reds, Pirates--have not appeared in the playoffs in the last decade.

With the Orioles and Nationals, of course, there is a recent history of sordid ownership, and while the Royals and Reds have not had much recent success, both teams have a core of young players that will, quite possibly, make the teams much more competitive in the very near future.

A sweeping majority of teams have made the postseason at least once--many more than that--and a variety of teams have made World Series appearances, as well. If that type of scenario, or a scenario where a team like Tampa can go from worst to first, or, like the Mariners, from first to worst, does not speak for parity, then I'm not sure what does.

The idea of a salary cap, at least as presented to the casual fan, is to level the playing field, so to speak, right?

Well, baseball seems to have a fairly level playing field as it is!

You can't use basketball or hockey to argue that a variety of teams appearing in the playoffs is a moot point, because in those two sports, half of the teams in each conference make the playoffs, and once in, strange things can happen. In baseball, however, only four teams per league make the playoffs-meaning that your team has to be that much better to get in.

Heck, all you have to do is remember that .500 basketball gets you a playoff spot in the NBA Eastern Conference. In baseball, last year, that would have gotten you contention in the NL West for half the season, at least before the Dodgers got Manny, and nowhere close to the Wild Card.

Yes, it's true, teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets spend more than the GDPs of many smaller nations, but the important question to ask is what they spend it on.

All three teams spend the money they have on their team, and while we Yankee fans might lampoon the moves that the Red Sox and the Mets make, the fact is that the intent is to build a winning team, to entice players to come to Boston or New York, and not steer them away because the owners don't feel like paying for marquee talent.

That said, the plethora of teams that have seen success in the past decade illustrates that smart management and smart player development means just as much, if not more, than signing big free agent contracts.

To be completely honest, however, as incoherent as my argument may be (it's 2 AM, after all), there is one thing that shouldn't escape your mind: If the 2008 World Series saw the Phillies taking on the Rays, there is really no logical argument to be made that only the rich teams have a chance.

As much as we might get disgusted at the giant player contracts, or, in the case of some of us Yankee fans, revel in them, the truth is that baseball is surviving quite well without a salary cap.

A salary floor, however, is an entirely different argument--and for a different day.

C. C. You in the Spring!

Holy crap it's been a little while since I've posted, hasn't it?

Well, when you're spending eight hours a day in the library researching medieval Nottingham...yeah, yeah...anyway...

According to multiple sources--Peter Abraham, ESPN.Com, SI.com and the NY Post, C.C. Sabathia is all but set to sign his Yankee papers.

No doubt, primal yelps of joy are sounding throughout all of YankeeLand, as he is by far the best pitcher on the market.

That said, a word of caution--one great free agent signing does not a team make, and there is word that he is looking for an opt out clause in the contract.

It's like getting that shiny brand new ipod for Christmas--it could be amazing, but if you don't care for it properly, bad things can happen.

Anyway. The important thing is that there's a new guy in pinstripes in the spring--and it's the one (most of us) all wanted.


****

In other Winter Meetings news, Francisco Rodriguez has signed a three year contract with the Mets. It's a good deal--K-Rod wants the money, the Mets need some semblance of a bullpen, even if one closer does not a good bullpen make.

Not Dead Yet

The Yankees will have another few hours in contention as the Cleveland Indians hung on to beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3.

It would take a miracle on a legendary scale or a collapse worse than the 07 Mets or 64 Phillies on the part of Boston, but it is some comfort to know that the Yankees weren't eliminated on a night they weren't playing.

Meanwhile, the Mets are doing their best to repeat 2007, and the Jets don't seem to understand the concept of what to do with a football once they have it.

(Postgame Notes 29 June 2008)

Some things in the universe are unexplainable.

George Mason in '06. The Beanie Baby phenomenon. Why the Knicks took Danito Gallinari over Alexander, Augustin or the good Lopez.

Oliver Perez pitching against the New York Yankees.

Oliver Perez has shown flashes of greatness, but, for the most part, has been such a disappointment that a bad start would have likely gotten him demoted to the bullpen or even AAA. Today, however, he pitched so well that the Yankees did not have a realistic shot at winning the game.

Perez was perfect through three and a third, and allowed only three hits through seven while striking out eight. Even if Darrel Rasner had pitched the game of his life, it would have been hard for the Yankees to win the game with Perez pitching the way he did.

Rasner wasn't actually horrible--he yielded two runs in five innings, escaping a bases loaded jam in the second while yielding only one run--but it was, as they say, good enough performance to lose.

The Yankees' offense did not do much of anything today, though Wilson Betemit did hit a monster home run that cleared the left-field bleachers at Shea to provide the Yankees with their lone run. Alex Rodriguez twice came inches from a home run, hitting one mammoth shot that just went foul, and another in the ninth inning that sent Endy Chavez to the warning track.

The Yankees now head home to face the offensive juggernaut and pitching not-so-juggernaut that is the Texas Rangers.


In other sports news, Spain has just defeated Germany for the European Championship. Vamos España!

Messing with the Johan (Postgame Notes 28 June 08)

What better way to follow two blowouts (one bad, one good) than with a 3-2 nailbiter?

Today's game was without question the marquee pitching match up of the series, with Andy Pettitte and Johan Santana as the starters, and one way or another, the game had added significance as there are many (this blogger not among them) that believed the Yankees missed a chance to acquire Santana in the off season.

For his part, Santana did not pitch all that poorly--in fact, he even struck out the side in the second--but he got burned by the Yankees capitalizing on walks, and an utter lack of capitalization from his own offense.

Andy Pettitte pitched like Andy Pettitte, getting himself into trouble, and then almost effortlessly working himself out of it. He had his trademark double play, as well as a game-changing pick off of Jose Reyes to end the fifth.

The Yankees' offense looked silly the first three innings, but were able to scratch out the three runs when the opportunities arose, which was more than enough support for their pitchers.

Kyle Farnsworth kept paramedics everywhere busy with fly outs that flirted with disaster--the second out of the inning, caught by Johnny Damon, was about a foot shy of being the tying home run--but pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Farnsworth is probably the King of Relieving Dangerously.

Jose Veras continues to pitch well, and is fast becoming the most reliable arm in the bullpen outside of Mariano Rivera.

Speaking of Mariano Rivera.

Today he threw twelve pitches--ten of them strikes.

On the season, he has 42 strikeouts, three walks.

That's a K/BB ratio of 14.

His ERA on the season is 0.74.

Somebody, please get this guy a Cy Young?



Darrel Rasner will take the mound tomorrow, looking to rebound from a poor start in Pittsburgh. From the You-didn't-really-need-to-know-that files: In the four game series the Yankees are playing this weekend, he, Johan Santana and Dan Giese were the only starting pitchers not to have a first or last name begin with the letter "P"

Day and Night (Postgame Notes 27 June 08)

Day

I don't know why my karma is so bad, but I am now 0-5 at Yankees games I have been to this year. One had the sense after the Mets took a 3-1 lead that there was absolutely no way the game was going to end at that score.

It didn't.


It just didn't end in a score to the Yankees favor. It wasn't that the Yankees didn't hit...they did...but each pitcher they had was progressively worse than the one before. Dan Giese threw too many balls, Edwar was not sharp, and Ross Ohlendorf was bad enough to get himself optioned back to Scranton.

However, there were a few bright spots (and the part where I was on the DiamondVision doesn't count)...like, as shown in the picture above, when a fan came out of the right field bleachers and ran onto the field.

I'm not quite sure it was worth the getting arrested part, but it was the highlight of the first game (at least from the Yankees' point of view).


Night

What a difference a...bus ride (?)...makes!

Everything the Yankees didn't do in the first game, they did in this one.

Poor pitching with men on base in the first game?

The Yankees escaped bases loaded, less than two out jams twice in the night cap without surrendering a run.

Poor hitting in the first game?

Every Yankee starter--yes, even Sidney Ponson--contributed offensively in the second game.

Speaking of Sidney Ponson...

...The first few innings were certainly a roller coaster, but in an old Sports Illustrated article I have hanging on my wall, New Jersey Devils' goalie Martin Brodeur is quoted as saying that a roller coaster ride is okay, as long as you end on a high, and Ponson certainly ended on a high.

Six innings, five hits, no runs and four strikeouts certainly qualifies.

While he certainly can't expected to escape bases loaded situations without surrendering a run every time, Ponson has earned himself another start.


Do Not Go Gently...

The Yankees have Andy Pettitte on the mound tomorrow, against Johan Santana, without question the marquee match up of the series. He's working on a streak, of sorts.


Also of note--Hideki Matsui has been placed on the 15 day disabled list, though that is not exactly a surprise.

Met With Cowardice

I'll admit it--even on a good day, there are few nice things I'm going to say about the Mets. Sure, I wanted them to win the NLCS in 1999 and 2000 so I might be able to appreciate the spectacle of a Subway Series, but, in truth, rooting for the Mets, for me, would be like rooting for the Rangers--and I'm a die-hard Devils fan.

However, what happened last night---or, if you want to be specific, at 3.19 AM this morning--defies common decency in every sense.

While there is no question that someone on the Mets was going to get fired--when you had the worst September collapse in baseball history and still aren't playing .500 baseball despite acquiring Johan Santana, someone's going home--the way in which they handled Willie Randolph's firing is atrocious.

It reminds me a bit of a boyfriend and girlfriend trying to end a rocky relationship, and then one partner doing all the dirty work over IM while the other slept.

The Mets' problems, however, go far beyond Willie Randolph. For one thing, concerned members of the Mets front office might want to look at how Omar Minaya has handled his job. Sure, the Santana trade was a blockbuster, but look at the rest of the team--largely aged and expensive--and look at the state of the farm system--depleted. At a time when most teams are concentrating on building their farm system to build talent from within, the Mets are notably lagging.

I am no Mets fan, but to see a team embarrass itself as the Mets have, should make any baseball fan unhappy.


Meanwhile, Willie, best wishes--you deserved so much better than this.

A Preview A Day Keeps the Winter Away, #15

For the month of March I will be doing a season preview, with a new team each day, going in alphabetical order by team so I can save the Yankees for last, because I am, in fact, that devious.

As this is a Yankees' blog, the previews for AL East teams will be more detailed than those of AL Central and AL West teams, and any AL team previews will be more detailed than NL team previews, save maybe for the Mets. Each preview will involve consideration of how much 'threat' a team is to the Yankees, for fairly obvious reasons.

Up today: The New York Mets

Well now, what can you say about a team that last September just had to win two games, with 17 to play, to grab a playoff spot...and couldn't?

You could say that they needed to make some changes, and, well, trading for Johan Santana is certainly up there, but aside from that, they haven't done much. Omar Minaya, who scouted the likes of Sammy Sosa, has done a less than stellar job as Mets GM.

This was a team in first place since May, that could not hold on, and that, for a time this spring, had exactly TWO healthy regulars. It almost makes you feel for them, but, of course, they're the Mets.

It's the last year for Shea Stadium as well, but of course Shea isn't quite the same as Yankee Stadium, and I will never forget the wet peanut shells on my seats when I went...yuck!

Anyway

Threat to the Yankees: Yellow, Exercise Caution

We do play the Mets the same amount of times we play AL Central and AL West teams, so thus we can't ignore them. They've got a legitimate shot at the NL East title as well, though I'd be suprised if the Wild Card came out of that division as well.

Predicting the Roster

I missed all of the Yankees' exhibition game today and didn't even get the chance to follow via text message (that's what three midterms will do to you), so, alas, no postgame notes.

It's still early, but you can basically get a feel for what the Yankees roster is going to look like:

LF Johnny Damon/Hideki Matsui
SS Derek Jeter
RF Bobby Abreu
3B Alex Rodriguez
C Jorge Posada
1B Jason Giambi/Shelley Duncan
2B Robinson Canò
DH Shelley Duncan/Jason Giambi/Hideki Matsui
CF Melky Cabrera

Bench: Wilson Betemit, Morgan Ensberg, Chris Woodward Jose Molina.

Wow, I am REALLY off my game today.

Pitching (I'm not projecting the rotation order, just who's on the pitching staff)

1. Chien Ming Wang
2. Andy Pettitte
3. Mike Mussina
4. Phil Hughes
5. Ian Kennedy
6. Joba Chamberlain
7. Mariano Rivera
8. Kyle Farnsworth
9. LaTroy Hawkins
10. Jeff Karstens
11. Billy Traber
12. Ross Ohlendorf

Now you can argue the roster all you want, but if I were you, I'd just be glad all these guys are healthy. If you don't get what I mean, take a look at the Mets depth chart and look at all the red crosses.

To put that in perspective, it'd be like Abreu, Melky, Damon, Matsui, Giambi, Shelley, Robbie, Molina and Betemit all going down.

So yeah. Healthy is good. Hopefully we stay that way.