Pregame: Yankees vs. Indians
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Mar 06, 2007 
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Via the magic of dial-up, here are the lineups:
YANKEES
Johnny Damon DH
Derek Jeter SS
Hideki Matsui LF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Melky Cabrera CF
Josh Phelps 1B
Miguel Cairo 2B
Kevin Reese RF
Wil Nieves C
Chien-Ming Wang RHP
INDIANS
Grady Sizemore CF
Luis Rivas SS
Travis Hafner 1B
Victor Martinez C
David Dellucci LF
Ryan Garko DH
Shin-Soo Choo RF
Joe Inglett 3B
Hector Luna 2B
Fausto Carmona RHP
Pregame chatter: The Hendricks Brothers were at Legends Field this morning but not to talk about Roger Clemens, they said. … According to the notes in the press box, Greg Grimmer’s niece from the Hampton Inn will throw out the first pitch. Bet you wish you were here for that. … Phil Franchise will follow the Wanger to the mound. Ross Ohlendorf, Kyle Farnsworth and Sean Henn will finish up. … Hall of Famer Bob Feller, who’s a bit of a crank, is in full uniform watching the Indians take BP.
Back later, hopefully. But don’t expect 10 posts this afternoon. More like two or three.
every game with Hughes should be televised instead of every home game. I dont even know what the spring training away jerseys look like- how am i supposed to live like this? Someone please tell YES to step it up or atleast get John and Suzyn on the air for away games. This is ridiculous. The yanks have their own tv station, their own radio station and we cant even see or hear the future of our franchise pitch.
Dave, i feel the same way. The only thing I could think of is maybe they dont have the cameras set up at away locations as readily as they do in Tampa, so they cant televise the games.
But, If the Yankees have a home game, they should definately be on… what else could YES be showing thats more important than the games the channel was created to show?
and they werent on over the weekend, like when in Clearwater, but they had video highlights to show on the news… so if they have video highlights, that means they couldve shown the game and didnt… so whats up with that?
Michael Kay stinks on ice.
That’s one of the benefits of XM; even when John and Suzyn aren’t doing an ST game, chances are that you’ll be able to pick up the other team’s broadcast. It’s not a sure thing in ST (it is during the regular season), but most Yankee ST games have been on XM so far.
Actually, some road games are being televised, such as Thursday’s game vs. the Braves and Monday’s vs. Red Sox. Seven road games total are being televised, eight if you count MLB.TV.
Myers issues warning to Kim Jones??
Mike Myers has posted fair warning to reporters who venture near his locker. A new sign above his belongings reads, “Don’t ask foolish questions,” with an image of a clown kicking a question mark.
It was only appropriate, then, to ask Myers — excluding present company — what was the most foolish question he’d ever handled?
‘I gave up a home run last year, and the first question was, ‘Are you disappointed you gave up the home run?’” Myers said. ‘And it wasn’t just to me. The same reporter kept asking the question to different pitchers. Once in a while, it’s OK. But not every day.’”
sounds like Kim Jones’s questions. lol
I want to know what YES is airing friday march 9th at 7 15 PM because it better be more important than a yankee game. And considering YES is the yankees entertainment station, I find that nothing is more important than airing a yankee home game whether spring training or otherwise. YES should be sued by the fans for their incompetence.
Bill Md,
Where did you find that Myers story?
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com.....8;c_id=nyy
My foolish question for Myers is whether he chose the Theme from Halloween as his music, or whether it was forced upon him as a cruel, neverending joke.
Here’s another (foolish?) question, but not about Myers:
Why is Damon our leadoff man and Jeter our number 2 hitter? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Jeter is faster and better at getting on base than Damon. I don’t get this.
is jeter really faster than damon? For some reason, I think damon would beat out jeter in a race
Jeremy, I think it’s because Jeter fits so well into the #2 slot, he’s more productive there, even though he does well as a lead-off also (and had better numbers as a lead-off hitter in 2005 than Damon).
Damon gets on base a lot, and then they are forced to pitch to Jeter. I’m not arguing that Jeter’s not on base more, but when you hit .343 in the 2nd slot, why mess with it?
exactly. They want Jeter swinging the bat and being aggressive, which is what he does best.
Thanks for the link, Bill Md. Are you a doctor, from Maryland, or both?
Jeremy,
At least the Halloween music is better than the Austin Powers music they played for him in Boston last year.
It was actually pretty funny.
Reaons why Damon is #1 and Jeter is #2
1. Damon is a natural leadoff hitter. He’s used to it, it’s what he’s good at – he’s good at fouling off a lot of pitches, keeping a decent average and OBP, stealing a few bases.
2. Jeter is the best hitter we have and we want him trying to knock in RISP. We want someone hitting ahead of him so they can double or steal 2nd and Jeter can drive him in.
Additionally, it works with L/R/L
L – Damon
R – Jeter
L – Abreu
R – A-rod
I crunched some numbers on the Damon/Jeter thing last year on Bronx Banter. The conclusion being that, when you’re talking about swapping guys in consecutive spots in the order, the advantage to having the higher OBP guy hit in the higher spot is so small it’s not worth worrying about.
http://bronxbanter.baseballtoa.....24917.html
I jsut wanted to add my two cents on something Pete mentioned in his column, and that is bob feller is not just a crank, but he is a dispicable, angry, rude human being. He was signing autographs in Cooperstown when I was a young boy(like 20 years ago) and instead of paying $20 dollars for his autograph, my dad asked him if we could just stand next to him for a quick picture. Instead of just saying “no sorry, you gotta pay” his response was “get the hell outta here”. Real classy guy, way to be an ambassador of the game bobby.
I wish I could meet him in person one day to call him on this, or I would of loved to be there when Michael Kay had him on center stage. I would of asked him about that in front of the live crowd(if I could have) to whom he was representing himself as a warm caring person.
Pete say hi to bob for me.
What Cliff said. I’m not sure it would make any difference. i do think Jeter handles the bat like you would a No. 2 hitter to. If needed, he’s a good bunter, etc.
I think Damon’s speed on the bases was hampered by the broken bone in his foot. Let Damon lead!
Another Bob Feller story for you….
A couple of years ago, I took a friend of mine, a 75 year old man, to Winter Haven for an Indians game, knowing Feller would be there. Feller was my friend’s favorite player.
He had a baseball with him and asks Feller if he would sign it. He even said, “please”.
Feller asked him, “what are you going to do with the ball, put it on E-Bay”? My friend said no, that he was a diehard Indians fan and Feller was always his favorite player.
Feller looked at him and said, “I don’t believe you” and walked away.
My friend was mortified.
A week later, I took him to Tampa and Derek Jeter signed his ball, no questions asked.
He is now a Yankee fan!
Traditionally you want your #2 hitter to be proficient at hitting behind the runner, which Jeter does with the best of them. I also think Damon is more of a distraction on the basepaths than DJ is and could lead to a mistake by the pitcher. Just my $.02
Man I really hate hearing stuff like that SJ44, but since we both had a story on the same man I obviously believe you. The fact that he was so rude to an older man, someone his age, disgust me even more. This man is a black eye for the game and for Indian fans who I know personally are very passionate about their team.
But if Feller ever did one good thing it was he made you friend a Yankee fan, lol. Keep sending them our side Bobby.
I have to say, everything I’ve heard about Feller supports the fact that he’s a jerk. There’s one brutal anecdote in Brad Snyder’s book on Curt Flood, A Well-Paid Slave (which I edited). Down and out after his lawsuit had ended his career, Flood gave his two World Series rings to a Texas couple in exchange for a loan. Later, a friend of Flood’s sister was helping him get his life back in order and wrote the couple to get the rings back. They happily returned them, saying that they had never wanted them in the first place. When Feller heard about this, he called Flood and offered to buy the rings from him. Just dispicable behavior on Feller’s part.
Cliff,
Congratulations on working on Brad Snyder’s book. It was very well done and I highly recommend it to everyone. I was lucky enough to hear Brad speak at Hue-Man Books in Harlem this winter.
Why do the Hendricks brothers keep coming to visit the Yankees? It cant be to talk about Pettitte.
hey pete
yesterday you talked a bit about bronson sardinha, do you think he will start in AAA this year? who will be the other 2 OF if he does?
Cliff,
Thanks for the link to your article. Good stuff.
Todd, I was there too! Had we only known. Great work on your new blog, by the way. Everyone check it out via the link on his name above.
Simon, if I may take a stab at your Sardinha question (Pete feel free to tell me to back off), yes, and it should be Kevin Reese, Kevin Thompson and Sardinha left to right in the Scranton OF.
“I want to know what YES is airing friday march 9th at 7 15 PM ”
I guess I’m the only one here who follows the Nets… :/
Hi Folks,
I am so sorry to hear these disappointing stories about Mr. Feller’s bad behavior. I know only too well how some of the Hall of Fame ballplayers can act, especially in the context of memorabilia shows or autograph sessions, like the ones in Cooperstown. Of course, the hobby’s explosion as a real money-making venture soured some of the pleasant interactions that were possible, like the ones I can recall from my early childhood in the late 70s and early 80s.
I count myself lucky, as Feller was one of the “good guys” on one such occasion, going out of his way, about 20 minutes after he personalized a photo to me, to walk up, put his hand on my shoulder while I was looking at some baseball cards at a dealer’s table and ask me how I was doing, with a smile. My dad and I always remarked how that incident, however small it was, was nice and meaningful when many would not even really look up or do much other than sign their names. And yes, some were downright nasty.
One guy who has ALWAYS been a class act is Brooks Robinson. I met him on so many occasions, and he was always a mensch.
Keep up the great work Pete!
Interesting thread on the antics of Bob Feller.
Found this article on the NYTimes –
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03.....wanted=all
Makes Feller out to be quite a swell guy. I think I believe the posts above more than Mr. Kepner.