Some Pregame Notes, 17 April 2009

Some quick pregame notes, courtesy of LoHud:

David Robertson has been sent down and Juan Miranda called up.

Matsui has fluid in his knees from being on base four times yesterday and is a scratch today.

Teixeira got a cortisone shot in his wrist but should be fine for today's game.

Yankees Look to Even Record with First Win

[Due to the holiday, I will be unable to cover this evening's game]

The Yankees will try for their first win of the season today, sending their is-he-or-isn't-he-an-ace pitcher, Chien Ming Wang, to the mound in Baltimore.

Wang lead the Yankees' rotation in wins in 2006 and 2007, winning 19 games each of those years, and was on pace to do so again in 2008 before a foot injury cut his season short. He has not appeared in a regular season game since last June, when he was injured rounding the bases in an interleague game in Houston.

The other thing fans will likely be watching is how Mark Teixeira responds (again) to the boos, which were probably much greater than he imagined they would be on Monday. While Teixeira is an admitted slow-starter, his 0-4 on Monday, including an AB with the tying run on third, did not exactly make the greatest first impression. Even so, it's a very long season, and Teixeira will more than likely prove his worth.

The Yankees should, perhaps, be thankful that hey are starting the season in Baltimore--this morning, in New York, there were snow flakes.

Welcome spring, indeed.

Happy Passover to those who observe it; I'll try to post something after the game, but, alas, cannot make any promises.

Pregame Notes 07 May 2008

These are short because I'm in the middle of packing, but here goes:

Tonight, Chien Ming Wang looks to go to 7-0, but to do so, he'll have to beat Cliff Lee, who currently has an ERA under one. Yes, you read that right--Lee's ERA is 0.96.

Meanwhile, Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui each have their own streaks to keep going--Matsui is looking at a 16 game hitting streak.

Meanwhile, here in Syracuse, it looks like the heavens are about to let loose...



More later, if I don't succumb to 'death by packing'.

Pregame Notes 06 May 2008

Well, it's only been one day without Yankees baseball, but it feels like a lot more than that.

Anyway, the Yankees open up the final series of their "welcome home after a three week road trip" home stand tonight, and Andy Pettitte will take the mound against Fausto Carmona of the Cleveland Indians.

The last time these two pitchers met, Pettitte out-pitched Carmona through seven, but ultimately the effort came undone, and if you're any sort of Yankee fan, I need not remind you how.

In his most recent two starts, Pettitte pitched well through the first four and came unglued in the fifth. If it happens again tonight, expect to see some questions as to his durability.

Coming off of a sweep of Seattle, the Yankees bats have been (mostly) hot; whether or not the offense has truly turned a corner has yet to be determined, and the Yankees will know more at the end of this series.

***

On a personal note: I've now completed all the coursework necessary for my BA, including the defense of my thesis (woo-hoo!)

As you might imagine, with graduation on Saturday (well, Sunday too, only I'm skipping because ceremonies that start at 9 AM on a Sunday totally don't do it for me), my posting will be a bit spotty this weekend. Brent Nycz has agreed to do gamers for Friday and Saturday, so you will get to see some more of his fine work.

Pregame Notes 2 May 2008

The Yankees will try to break a three game losing streak tonight, but to o that, they will have to face Erik Bèdard, who many believe would have lead the league in strike outs last year if not for an oblique injury that shut him down.

Fortunately, the Yankees have their own ace of the moment on the hill, as Chien Ming Wang looks to go 6-0 and join the league leaders in wins.

The Yankees will need a more stellar offensive effort, however, if they are to have any chance at wining the series. They still haven't won since they returned home.

The struggling Robinson Canò will get the night off, with Alberto Gonzalez playing second in his place. Johnny Damon will also get the night off, with Jason Giambi DHing and Hideki Matsui playing left.

Say what you want about Joe Girardi, but when it comes to line ups, it seems like he is a firm believer in 'variety is the spice of life'

Check back later for postgame notes.

In the meantime, I'm going to celebrate this grad school thing.

Pregame Notes 1 May 2008

If, at the beginning of the season, you said that the Yankees would be a game under .500 at the end of April, you probably wouldn't have been too happy, but given the Yankees' month-long road trip, you would have probably been okay with it.

However, even thought that's what the Yankees have, the cost of it is looking like it is prohibitively high. The Yankees have lost a large percentage of their offense with the injuries to Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada, and their young pitching has not only not been there, but is now getting hurt as well.

The Yankees will attempt to avoid a sweep tonight and get their first win since returning home, but they will need a better performance from Ian Kennedy than they have been getting, and much better production from their bats.

To that end, Joe Girardi continues to draw the line up at random; tonight Shelley Duncan will bat fourth, Morgan Ensberg will man third and Chad Moeller will catch. Melky Cabrera will once again bat in the sixth spot.

I have some more minor league tickets tonight so the postgame wrap will be a little late, unless it does like the radar says and rains, and then it might be on time.

Good, Bad, Ugly and Pregame Notes (30 April 2008)

One month into the season, and it is still hard to get a clear picture as to where this Yankee team is headed.

On one hand, they have just escaped a mammoth, 18-of-20 on the road, April and will, at worst, be one game under .500. It's certainly not where a team wants to be, but it is much better than it could be.

Chien Ming Wang seems to have matured overnight, rounding the corner from 'very good' to 'ace'--not sure? Consider the 2-0 win against Tampa Bay, the 2-1 two-hitter against Boston, and the 1-0 shutout against Cleveland. Also consider the performance against Chicago--far from stellar, but the type of battle, grind-it-out start that is the hallmark of a good pitcher. He's already 5-0, with just one poor start.

Mariano Rivera looks like he is on his way to a career year--eight saves already, an infinite K-to-BB ratio, and an ERA of 0.00.

Melky Cabrera, the supposed 'throw in' for the Santana deal, is doing his best to say "thank you for not trading me" and, by all accounts, doing a very good job of it as well.

In fact, all the M guys seem to be perfomring well--Chien Ming, Mariano, Melky, Matsui, Molina...even Mike Mussina is giving the Yankees what they need when he's not pitching to Manny Ramirez.

On the other hand, there is no getting around the fact that Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy have been struggling. They--especially Phil--are young, and the struggles are to be expected, but that neither of them have a win or an ERA under 5.00 is not a good sign if the Yankees expect to contend this year.

The offense has been stagnant, largely unable to get the "big hit" when needed; Jason Giambi and Robinson Canò have been the most notable of those struggling and Canò has the second lowest batting average of all American League qualifiers, despite his home run last night. The Yankees are confident he will heat up, but such an extended slump has got to play with his psyche.


The biggest blow of all, however, are the injuries. Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Jose Molina, Jorge Posada, Wilson Betemit and Brian Bruney have all missed or are missing considerable time with injuries--Brian Bruney, Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez have all needed to go on the disabled list.

It's impossible to know how much of the injuries are due to the poor conditions the Yankees have played in, or to other reasons, but to say they will have an impact on the Yankees is an understatement. They will have an impact, when two guys who provided the center for the Yankee offense last year are out of the line up for an extened period and so many others are struggling.


That said, the situation could be a lot worse. The Yankees do have things going for them, and it would be foolish to ignore the positives, just as it would the challenges they face.


***

Andy Pettitte takes the mound tonight in a role that has become very familiar to him over the years--that of the "Yankee Stopper". He will go against Jeremy Bonderman, one of Detroits young pitchers.

If the Yankees win tonight, they have a chance at winning the series with the Tigers tomorrow. Ross Ohlendorf pitched three innings tonight, so if Pettitte gets in trouble, it's likely that Jonathan Albaladejo will be the long man.

Pregame Notes 29 April 2008

So that's it, then.

I will never have another undergraduate class, or another undergraduate final, ever again. Well, I still have two papers and a thesis defense, but that's besides the point.

Anyway, the stuff you care about:

The Yankees finally return home (you mean we don't get to hit first any more?), where they will start the homestand by facing the Detroit Tigers.

The Tigers, as you may have heard, got off to one of the worst starts that a baseball franchise can get off to, but they seem to be on their way to turning it around. They have Kenny Rogers on the mound tonight, who is getting up to Jaime Moyer territory in terms of age.

The Yankees are going with Phil Hughes at the opposite end of the spectrum; he is yet to have a win though he has pitched noticeably better in his last two starts.

Alex Rodriguez is sitting out the game with an aggravated quad injury; Morgan Ensberg will play third, Jason Giambi will DH, Shelley Duncan will play first, and both Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui will play in the outfield as Melky Cabrera gets a very deserved night off. Chris Stewart will get his first start behind the plate after being called up from AAA Scranton; it's really weird to think that I just saw him play on Sunday...

More after the game.

Pregame Notes 28 April 2008

With a win tonight in Cleveland, the Yankees can salvage a series split with Cleveland, and go 5-5 on the ROAD TRIP OF DOOM, as people like to say, and come out of the 18-of-20-on-the-road stretch with a +.500 record.

However, there are a few notable challenges to the Yankees being able to achieve that goal.

The first and most obvious is the injury to Jorge Posada. While the true extent of the injury has yet to be revealed, the fact that he is visiting the famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. Andrews does not bode well for anyone except Red Sox fans and those dependent on Dr. Andrews' salary for their living expenses.

The second potential challenge is that the hit-or-miss Mike Mussina is on the mound for the Yankees. When not facing the Boston Red Sox, his stats are actually good, but when not facing the Red Sox he's faced Toronto, Tampa Bay and the White Sox.

The third, and most frustrating issue, are the horrible numbers the Yankees have with Runners in Scoring Position. CC Sabathia was great yesterday, and the Yankee pitching better, but the Yankees had a few innings they could have opened up a 2-0 or 3-0 lead and did not capitalize.

That the Yankees are 13-13 right now despite everything that's gone wrong this month alone is somewhat of a miracle; hopefully they will ride the momentum from last night's win and return home above .500.

Pregame Notes 27 April 2008

The Yankees will try to stop the bleeding tonight and put an end to their three game losing streak, as Chien Ming Wang takes the mound against reigning Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia.

The last time these two pitchers met--last October--the result wasn't pretty. Cleveland's hitters killed the Yankees with two-out hits, and while Sabathia's pitching was far from Cy Young caliber, the Yankee hitters were never able to get the one big hit.

The inability to get the big hit has carried over with the Yankees, and, if you saw yesterday's game, you know just how frustrating it can be for the Yankees, and their fans.

With a bullpen as depleted as the Yankees' is, the offense will have to come around in a big way if the Yankees are going to salvage a +.500 record for the month. They have never lost more than 14 games in April (last year they were 9-14), but then again, they don't play 29 games in April very often, so the statistic might be a little skewed.

Pregame Notes 26 April 2008

Ian Kennedy is on the mound for the Yankees this afternoon as they look to halt their two-game losing streak, which has been made all the worse with the loss of Brian Bruney for the season.

Some good news for Yankees fans, however: fan favorite Shelley Duncan has been recalled to the bigs, and is in today's starting line up.

The Yankee line-up today is Damon/Cabrera/Jeter/Rodriguez/Giambi/Duncan/Ensberg/Molina/Gonzalez, which means that the Yankees have a bench that includes Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada, Bobby Abreu and Robinson Canò.

The line up is likely the way it is today to get as many righties in there against Cleveland's left-handed starter Jeremy Sowers.

If that's not depth on a roster...

Anyway, I am going to see the Scranton Yankees tonight as they're in Syracuse, so when I return later this evening I shall have pictures from last night's game in Rochester, tonight's game, and, of course, a recap of the hour or so of the Yankees' game today I will be able to see.

As I said before if you're in the area and going to the game, stop by and say hi--section 105, row 4, seats 11 and 12.

Bad Times For Brian Bruney (with Pregame Notes for 25 April 2008)

So if you asked me last September, what's the last thing I thought I'd be writing here in an April post, "I feel bad for Brian Bruney" would probably be somewhere on the list, but it is very true.

From Tyler Kepner's blog:

Here is what happened to Yankees reliever Brian Bruney on Thursday:

* He had a magnetic resonance imaging exam on his injured right foot, which the Yankees fear has two torn ligaments and which will probably put him on the disabled list.

* He learned that the 18-wheeler transporting his truck to New York had an accident, and his truck fell off and sustained significant damage.

* His aunt in Oregon found his uncle not breathing, and his uncle is now in a coma.

Even though Bruney has not been entirely successful this season, his attempt is worthy of note--at one point only Joba and Mo had a lower WHIP.

You never wish for a player to get hurt, and even more than that, you never wish for a player's family to get hurt.

Here's hoping Bruney's uncle pulls through and his foot heals soon.

****

After a long night last night, the Yankees are in Cleveland to begin a four game set--three of which are scheduled to be started by lefthanders for the Indians.

As tired as the Yankees are, however, they may have caught a break--Cleveland had to play a double-header yesterday, and the second game did not get started until 10.25 PM Cleveland time.

That said, the Yankees are without the services of Brian Bruney, likely Alex Rodriguez, likely Kyle Farnsworth and likely Ross Ohlendorf.

Andy Pettitte, however, will start (his spot in the rotation was switched with Ian Kennedy's), and hopefully, weather-permitting, go long enough into the game to avoid having to dig deep into the bullpen.

Given the lack of immediate bullpen help, expect the Yankees to make a few moves before game time.

As I stated last night, I'm off to see Rochester and Lehigh Valley tonight; you may or may not get a guest postgame post.

Pregame Notes 24 April 2008

The Yankees will go for the you-know-what of the Chicago White Sox tonight, but to do it, Phil Hughes will have to pitch much better than his stat line--though that would be very welcome, not just for the Yankees, but for the sake of my fantasy team as well.

Jorge Posada is out of the lineup for a day off, with Jose Molina getting the nod. Johnny Damon will DH so Hideki Matsui can play in left, while Morgan Ensberg will still play at third. Alex Rodriguez is back with the team, but not playing tonight.

The Yankees offense has had a decent showing the past three games, though the bullpen has left a lot to be desired. Given that Hughes likely won't go more than six full innings (maybe into the seventh), one has to hope that the bullpen can do what is asked of it today.

On a more personal welcome-to-my-life note, My law professor today made a remark about the Yankees getting off to a bad start.

He is clearly not a very big baseball fan, or, at least, greatly unfamiliar with the way the team started last year and is structured this year.


On a blog note note, I do feel I should make a brief mention of upcoming days when I will be unable to update this, so you will likely either get a guest post from Brent Nycz or someone else I annoy enough to do it, or no update at all. They are:

This Friday, I'll be at the Rochester Red Wings/Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs game in Rochester.

This Saturday, I'll be watching the Scranton Yankees up here in Syracuse; I should get back early enough to do some sort of post, but then again, last time I got lost and ended up where you don't want to be after dark.


May 9th and 10th is Graduation Weekend, so, for obvious reasons, I will not be around, and then, 21-29 May I will be "across the pond", doing it Italian style.

Joba Like It's Hot (and some 23 April pregame notes)

So I've just come back from my lone class of the day, Transnational Politics. At the beginning of class, I tend to talk to a couple of students in the class that happen to be big baseball fans--one a Yankees fan, one a Red Sox fan.

Let's call the Red Sox fan "T".

T and I stand on opposing lines, of course, but we usually manage to have reasonable conversations, like talking about how Jacoby Ellsbury is insanely fast and Jason Giambi is leaving a little something to be desired.

Today, however, our conversation was sparked by my shirt--my Joba t-shirt. On the front of the shirt, it says "JOBA THE HUT", while on the back it says "IN A BULLPEN FAR, FAR AWAY", to which T remarked, "where he belongs."

Now, of course, being the Yankee fan that I am, I felt somewhat violated by that comment.

"He's a starter," I said.

"If you take him out of the bullpen, you lose the best 1-2 punch in all of baseball," T remarked, "and you have no one to pitch the 8th inning."

This is so not right, I thought, it makes no sense.

"What good is the 8th inning," I said, "if you're already down 7-0 because you had no starting pitching?"

We preceded to argue in a fairly friendly manner for such divided loyalties as we have. He remarked that it would end up like Papelbon, who failed as a starter and now excels as the Red Sox closer. I said it wouldn't be, because unlike Papelbon, Joba has four pitches he can use.

The argument continue until T's friend and Yankees fan, we'll call him W, walked into the classroom and I posed the question, should Joba start or relieve? W responded,

"Are you kidding me? He has to start!"

***

There is some truth to the notion that Joba will likely get lit up as a starter--it's happened to Phil and it's happened to Ian, and it's happened to every great pitcher, every average pitcher and every failed pitcher.

Joba will not have a 0.38 ERA as a starter, and he will, in all likelihood, have a much lower K/BB ratio.

That does not mean he should not start.

When you have a talent such as Joba--someone with two amazing pitches, a plus curve and a serviceable change--it'd be high crime not to have him start at least a few games.

If it doesn't work, it doesn't work--but the far greater crime is not to try.

***

The question of when to make the move is a much harder one to answer. Ideally, the Yankees will find someone (at this point, anyone) capable of getting three outs in the eighth without surrendering the lead. However, despite an overall okay performance from the bullpen thus far, there is no one name that inspires enough confidence.

While it is impossible unlikely that the Yankees will find another Joba, they don't need a Joba--a Jeff Nelson or Mike Stanton would be exceptional, but right now, the Yankees just need someone to do the job.

Then, of course, there's the issue of how to stretch Joba out--you can't just give him the ball five days after his last appearance and say "Okay, now give us seven innings."

One idea might be to gradually increase the length of his relief appearances, if the Yankees wanted to resist sending him to the minors, but this would mean he would also need increased time off between appearances.

It's far more likely, however, that the Yankees would send Joba back to the minors, which, by virtue of a (temporarily) free roster spot have interesting consequences for the team.

***

It will be interesting to see how the Joba saga plays out, not just from the Yankees point of view, but from points of view around the league as well.

I have to wonder if what T thinks is peculiar to him, or if his is the prevailing opinion of Red Sox nation, and I have to wonder what fans of, say, National League teams like the Padres, who don't have longstanding rivalries with the Yankees, think.

***

Yankees will play the second of three in Chicago tonight, with Mike Mussina on the mound. Mussina has got to feel the pressure--the longer he struggles, the more likely Joba is brought up sooner. The Yankees need him to give them innings to spare the bullpen, something he was not able to do in his last start.

And Moose, for the love of everything holy, don't pitch to Jim Thome...

Pregame Notes 22 April 2008

Yankees are in Chicago tonight; Jose Contreras will pitch for the White Sox while Chien Ming Wang will go for his fourth win. He is coming off of his worst start of the season.

The biggest party of the year is on my street, so I'm out.

Catch you all later.

Pregame Notes 20 April 2008

The Yankees need a win today, but, more than that, they need Andy Pettitte to go more than six innings and they need their offense to actually show up at the ballpark today.

The lack of production from certain batters is hurting almost (but not quite) as much as the lack of starting pitching over the recent few games.

It's frustrating, because the rotation certainly has the talent to win every game, and while that won't happen, one would hope that they could at least make it out of the third inning before getting yanked.

Ross Ohlendorf played hero last night and has saved most of the bullpen so they are available today.

One gets the feeling that the off-day tomorrow will help, a lot. The team will finally get a chance to rest, and perhaps all this recent losing is is everyone being just a little bit overtired...

But that's being delusional optimistic.

Pregame Notes 15 April 2008

Writer's block is horrible.

That aside, the Yankees can pull back above .500 and finish the road trip at 4-4 with a win tonight. While 4-4 is certainly not ideal, given the poor conditions in Kansas City and Boston, as well as the injuries to Posada and Jeter, it is understandable.

Joe Girardi, Derek Jeter and Robinson Canò will all wear 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson.

Mariano Rivera will also wear 42; he is the last active player to be able to wear 42 on a day-to-day basis.


Check back later.

Pregame Notes 14 April 2008

There's no easy way about it.

The Yankees knew April was tough, with 18 of 20 games on the road, and the two home games coming against the Sox.

However, the injuries just keep coming. First it was Jeter and Posada; now Molina is down as well, and, while not an injury, Joba's personal situation will have a similar effect in rendering him unavailable for at least three games (thoughts and prayers are with Joba and family).

Without a long reliever, the bullpen can only go so long. Wang's complete game on Friday was a godsend, but last night's poor outing from Phil Hughes relegates it a moot point. The Yankees don't have a long reliever because neither of the top candidates--Rasner or Karstens--had a particularly encouraging Spring Training, but the bullpen can only go so long before they're scorched.

The Yankees face Tampa Bay tonight, in Tampa, so, to extricate good news from the situation, the Yankees will not be playing in winter weather.

Wilson Betemit has been sent to the DL with conjunctivitis (pink eye) so that Chad Moeller can be brought up to catch and Albaledejo has been brought up to replace Joba who is on the bereavement list.

Also of note, Alex Rodriguez's wife is expecting this week, though given that Morgan Ensberg is on the bench already, it should not be the Yankees number one concern.

Pregame Notes 10 April 2008

The Yankees need a win tonight, but more than that, they need an offensive showing.

Fortunately, for those that think a little line-up shuffle will get the job done, that is exactly what's in store for tonight.

The Yanks are sitting Bobby Abreu, so A-Rod is hitting third in his place and Posada is batting clean-up. Since Jeter is still sitting, Melky Cabrera (as opposed to Canò) will get his chance in the two-spot and Gonzalez playing in short. Morgan Ensberg gets the start at first and Molina will be catching.

So, if the Yankees are looking for speed on the basepath, tonight's not especially the night.


Andy Pettitte will be on the mound, which should hopefully give the bullpen a little bit of rest, as he looks to bounce back from his so-so first start.


This time tomorrow I will be on my way to Boston (I have tickets for Saturday), so Brent Nycz from The Bronx Block has kindly agreed to do tomorrow's postgame recap.

Check back for more after the game.

Pregame Notes 09 April 2007

First things first.

If the story of Doug Davis doesn't inspire you or move you or get a response from you, you don't have a heart.

You don't even have to be a baseball fan to understand.


As far as the Yankees are concerned, Ian Kennedy will take the mound against Zach Greinke; Kennedy struggled greatly in his first start while Greinke, well, didn't.

However, ultimately, the bigger concern for the Yankees are the injuries. Jeter's out. Posada's out. Giambi is not 100%. Last year, the injury concerns included pretty much the entire pitching staff and Bobby Abrea; this year (thankfully, knock on wood) they haven't hit the rotation.

Right now, the trade and resigning of Jose Molina looks like a genius move; in him the Yankees have a capable, durable back-up that might not fill Posada's offensive shoes, but can certainly play some defense and hit enough to not be an automatic out.

However, the situation at shortstop is much more precarious; Alberto Gonzalez was pulled from the Scranton AAA game last night, ostensibly to come up and replace Jeter at short should Jeter be gone for any extended time. Gonzalez's one advantage over Wilson Betemit is supposed to be his glove work, but the absence of Jeter's bat in the line up will be felt. Robinson Canò has the makings of future batting titles, but a number two hitter, he is not.

If the Yankees can pull of a series win at Kansas City, it will put them in excellent shape heading into Boston.