A-Rod fastest to 13 homers
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- April
- 23
Had I not smuggled in two Diet Cokes to the Trop, I might not be awake now. But we’re still going strong.
According to the ever-diligent folks at the Elias Sports Bureau, Alex Rodriguez is the fastest player to 13 home runs in the history of baseball.
Meanwhile Brian Cashman could be the fastest GM in history to look for loopholes in a contract if this keeps up from Kei Igawa. He has a 7.84 ERA and has put 33 runners on base in 20.2 innings.
Derek Jeter just extended his hitting streak to 14 games. Giambi has hit in 10 straight.
Forget to mention before that Joe Torre said he spoke to George Steinbrenner this morning. “I just called him to say hello,” the manager said. “And obviously he wasn’t happy with the weekend, but that’s the extent of it.”
I see where several of you believe Steinbrenner ordered the promotion of Phil Hughes. Two things: Cashman’s contract gives him power over such things and Steinbrenner wouldn’t know Hughes if he ran over him in his golf cart.
For better or worse (and I believe it for the better), Cash Money is running the team. This is 2007, not 1987.
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on Monday, April 23rd, 2007 at 9:34 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
The move to bring up Hughes is so bad on so many levels, its not even funny.
Three weeks into the season and you abandon your development plan for a major league team that is so flawed right now, Hughes can’t fix it.
Its a shame. Joe Torre put in control of a 20 year old arm. A recipe for disaster.
how come the yankees don’t put a keg of beer behind second base and have their pitchers throw underhanded?
SJ44…completely agree.
Igawa is just putrid, they can only hope he improves to bad.
kerouac, that doesn’t sound like a half bad idea, considering the garbage their throwing out there.
Keg is to New York Yankees as Diet Pepsi machine is to the New England Patriots?
I believe after the All Star break would be the ideal time to bring up Hughes, and that’s what the Yankees wanted to do at all costs, but who else would you rather have called up? Not only that, but he might only pitch a start or two, a good thing to just get his feet wet a little. Regardless if he does good or bad. If he does good, then he knows what he has to continue to keep doing. If he does bad, then he knows what he needs to work on down there in the minors to be suceesful in the majors the next time he gets a stat up here.
I understand your concern, but this is probably a good thing for both sounds. It’s not like the Yanks will leave him out there for 110+ pitches anyway. They are still going to somewhat baby his arm.
Here comes Vizcaino for the 100,989,789,657 time this season. Clueless making pitching changes when he doesn’t have to.
Torre just lifted Bruney in the middle of an at-bat. I think he has officially lost his patience with this bullpen. I know its early, but this is shaping up to be just a train wreck of a pitching staff.
“Cashman’s contract gives him power over such things”
yeah right peter. if george wants something done and cashman doesn’t, what’s cashman going to do ,sue him ? it’s silly to think cashman has the power to overrule george. it’s pretty hard to get your way when you’re fired. cashman has power over the tampa faction. he does not have it over george.
i think it’s more a case of cashman getting his way as long as george doesn’t want his way.
where is there a copy of that contract anyway?
Scary to think the Yanks have to play 6 days in a row following todays game considering the state of the bullpen. There is little chance the pen won’t be seeing a lot of work in the next few days and this weekend against the Sox. Any chance Ramiro Mendoza is available to eat up some innings???
I think the biggest concern for promoting Phil to the big leagues is the mental reprucussions he might suffer if he gets shelled… hopefully he’s not a headcase.
Well, it’s good to see Vizcaino getting some work in. lol
why did torre take out bean? he gave up a single. you need innings. let him go.
Somewhere in Texas.. Roger Clemens calculator just exploded and caught fire
we were all sure igawa’s ineffectiveness was just jitters in that first start, right anaconda?
we were all sure this bullpen was going to be the glue that held the team together, right anaconda?
and forget about carryover from the boston series, right anaconda?
this is an absolute disaster.
Shoot me. Just shoot me. This game is painful. Is there a pitcher in the bullpen with a good line?
and the losing streak continues
Did anybody see who pitched for us this weekend? not to mention tonight? We dont really have anyone else. Might as well give the kid a shot. Our pitching is just atrocious. Its embarrassing. Someone needs to step up. Our lineup has at least. its pretty bad when you lost 3 games and score as many runs as we did.
Sj44,
We don’t agree often, but you are dead-on with Hughes. It’s a big mistake to bring this kid up now.
A pure panic move and it’s not worth risking this kid’s arm.
On a positive note, Toronto is up over Boston, 5-3, top of the ninth…
They could sign me and put me in the bullpen for a lot less money and the same results, and I’ll sing the national anthem, too, no extra charge.
Some insight from John and Suzyn:
- the bullpen is a “mere shadow” of their former selves
- Pettitte has the best stats among starters and among relievers.
- how long can Wang really go tomorrow having not pitched this year?
This is an absolute embarrassment. Can someone please get someone out? Please?
i don’t care how early it is in the season. you don’t overcome pitching like this.
and if you think clemens is coming to this team, with THIS bullpen, you are out of your mind.
this is awful. absolutely awful. what an embarrassment.
but we’ll get the red sox next weekend, with karstens and igawa going, right? no problem.
awful.
Skippy – may want to post your contact info. Cashman might be reading this. See you on the mound tomorrow.
kerouac,
Thanks for the laugh. I needed it.
Well we have the best offense and the worst pitching.
- KMT
kasey — it’s torre on the phone. he’s wants you up and throwing. you’re going in after viz.
Kasey….not going to defend the bullpen but they are on pace to toss 600 innings this year….they are getting toasted having to toss 5 innings a damn night and clean up for Igawa (where are they going to hide him for four years ?) and Wright
The more I see from this team the more it DOES look like the late 80’s.
I am curious, is this rock bottom yet?
More idiotic moves by Torre in this inning.
Please, for the love of God, put the man out of his misery, fire him, hire Girardi and move on.
If you want to bring up young kids, I’d rather have somebody who has managed young kids (like Girardi), than putting Hughes in the hands of a man who has completely lost his ability to manage a team.
Embarrassed by the Devil Rays. What a joke.
hey!!! we got an out!
Still no outs? Man…
The effects of a DL starting rotation on the pen are just disastrous. I hope when the starters come back, the pen can regain a little composure.
Maybe with Wang, Petite and Moose they will only have to get worked hard when Igawa and Pavano (or Karstens or Rasner) pitch.
This is painful to watch…
Oh, the pain.
How the f do any of us know the best time to bring him up? Every player is different. Let’s see how it plays out before we reach conclusions please? Ok SJ44? Where is the RealisticYankeeHello?Offense? idiot today?
nah, guys, it’s the YANKEES! they always win the division, remember? these games don’t even matter, remember! they can overcome any deficit they play themselves into this april. they have in the past, so it’s a given that they will again!
nevermind that the pitching staff is inadequate or injured, the bullpen is burned out (but that doesn’t happen this early in the year, right anaconda?), and the offense now has to score 9-12 runs to win any game.
it’s the new york yankees! success is a given!
wake me when this season mercifully ends.
hey, how come we didn’t get to face timlin and pineiro?
Yo Pete, Yahoo!’s reporting that Franchise gets the go on thursday: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-yankees-hughes&prov=ap&type=lgns
Lets go!
Kasey,
Why don’t you take a break? Nobody cares what you think.
You aren’t smart enough to carry-on a discussion because you have no idea what you are talking about.
I’ll be sure to give you more crap when this team is sitting in First Place in August and September and has proven you wrong once again.
Like I said last night, you do more “gloating” when this team loses or is losing than when they win.
By the way, how is this a carry-over from the weekend?
It’s not like offense isn’t performing or sluggish at the plate. Their defense has been OK as well. They can’t help it if the starter (who never threw a pitch at Fenway) doesn’t pitch well.
Yeah, only 3 runs.
“Pettitte has the best stats among starters and among relievers.”
He’d get my vote for AL pitcher of the month… if I had one. He’s been fantastic.
“but we’ll get the red sox next weekend, with karstens and igawa going, right? no problem.”
I honestly almost threw up at the thought of this.
Yankees need Hughes, at least until Clemens comes. Igawa is not going to be part of this pitching rotation next season.
Can A-Rod pitch?
torre should have let Bean go. he is micro-managing this bullpen to hell.
kasey-
why don’t you just jump in the pacific ocean!
i’m saying that just for comic relief.
this is pretty bad as you say.
Geez, a lot of people here need to be on Prozac. No joke, see a therapist, it’s just baseball and it is healthier to be optimistic and root for good things. Good thing you idiots weren’t born in Kansas City or the south side of Chicago, you would have been institutionalized already.
Kasey, you are throwing the season down the drain again? You are too emotional about this stuff, dude, chill out. Get this crazy when the Yankees are 8 out in July, 7 out in August and 5 out in Spetember. There is no point getting this emotional and trying to play the “I told you so” game with everyone who disagrees with you.
Clueless does it again. He takes Igawa out too soon. Let him throw 110 pitches. Sometimes you have to just give up the game and LEAVE the pitcher out there!!! The starting pitching has been terrible but his managing has been absolutely dreadful!! Bean should of pitched another inning, no he takes him out. Then Myers pitches to one batter and he takes him out?!!! Why??!! Let Myers throw 2 innings..There was absolutely no reason for Torre to pitch Bruney and Vizcaino. Let them rest..Then he sits with that stupid face wounding why they cant throw strikes?!! I wound why because they have pitched in every single game this season.
Hughes has pitched less than 180 innings in his entire minor league career. Now, he is the savior?
Please.
You are putting a 20 yr old kid, with 3 AAA starts under his belt into this freak show? A shot bullpen, a team sleepwalking and you are going to risk your best arm for what?
Its not a dumb move. Its a stupid move.
Especially, putting him into the hands of a guy who has had more pitchers come up lame than any manager in baseball the last 10 yrs.
Anaconda…are you watching the games? Don’t you realize how poorly Torre is managing this pen? I know the starters have sucked, but Torre is adding fuel to the fire. In today’s game, he could have left Bean in; let Myers pitch to Wigginton; dust Farnsworth off; or allow Mariano to pitch before the next save situation in a week.
Then again, if Torre didn’t use Bruney and Proctor in the Cleveland blowouts, they might have been more available/effective over the weekend, allowing Viz to rest. Torre’s mismanagement is all interconnected. It’s not a one move problem…it’s systemic and is only going to get worse if a change is not made.
Anaconda – I may not agree with everything Kasey says, but how can you say this isn’t a carry-over from the Boston series? We had to use every pitcher again and again all weekend in Boston. We haven’t given these guys a rest yet, and now we’re asking them to pitch again tonight. The pitching problems are more than Igawa. If we have a well-rested, capable bullpen, Igawa is out earlier, or at least we hold them once he is out. We probably have good guys out there – we just need them to pitch like regular guys and not like machines.
My Extra Innings schedule is showing that the Yankee-Blue Jays game is not being shown on Thursday night.
Pete, can you ask some questions? Maybe write an article? Those of us outside of the NYC area HAVE to see Hughes pitch on Thursday. I haven’t been this excited since Sam Militello.
Pete, also I feel like this panic and gloom and doom matches some of the stretches in the summer the last couple of years. Weren’t we raving about the bullpen seven days ago? How do you feel about the pen when/if we start getting six plus from the starters?
SJ44 – I disagree… Hughes has a better chance than our other options to give us innings. It all depends on how many pitches they will let him throw…
By the way, Kasey. I’m glad to hear that Roger Clemens has called you and told you his intentions.
You don’t have a clue what Clemens is going to do, but your natural instinct is to rip this ballclub.
Nice going. I’m sure Red Sox fans love you.
I don’t understand how bringing up Hughes would be risking his arm. Throwing 90 pitches in the majors is the same as 90 in the minors. Sure, the majors are more intense, but it’s still 90 pitches.
To me, this right not was the best move to do, to give ourselves a good chance. Because tell me, who other then Hughes would have been a BETTER option, not just ANOTHER option. I bet you won’t be able to name me one.
well at least the sox lost.
Anybody who is trying to keep Torre from feeling the heat here is misguided, IMO.
The guy is the highest paid manager in the game. He GAVE away the game Friday night. Even his staunched supporters have a hard time explaining Friday night.
Tonight? Yankee relief pitchers ALWAYS struggle when they work a second inning. Yet, there he is doing it again with Bruney.
The starters? Hey, that’s on the manager and pitching coach. Its their job to get them through their starts.
How about just having Igawa take one for the team tonight? Do you really need to blowout the entire bullpen AGAIN on Monday?
Its just dumb baseball and results show it.
If they don’t score 12 a night, they don’t win. The guy has been given more weapons than anybody in the sport and he has no idea how to use them.
Put him out of his misery now and make a change. This team needs a jolt. Coddling them clearly hasn’t worked, and putting it all on a 20 year old kid now is laughable.
Its a trainwreck and most of it was completely avoidable.
guys, it’s pointless to argue with anaconda. can’t you see that none of us can measure up to his baseball intellect?
how is this carryover from the boston series? let me see if i can pinpoint it…when the starters can’t go 5 innings and you have to call upon your bullpen in the 5th EVERY GAME, that burns out a bullpen.
the “wake me when the season is over” line was, quite obviously, hyperbole.
i’ve seen your arguments with stormy and others, anaconda. your argument almost always consists of, “i’m right and if you disagree, you’re an idiot.”
must be gratifying to never be wrong. or, at least, never have the fortitude to admit it. you’re a small, small person.
Maybe we should have Proctor start and Igawa go to the penn… thoughts anyone?
Torre should have left Igawa in to take a beating. SOME bullpen arms have to get a rest at some point. He’s pitching everyone (except Mo) practically every day. Sick.
and roger clemens is pitching for WINS, anaconda. not no-decisions. not blown leads. not for a team where he’ll be one of two starters who can go more than 5 innings.
we’re going to win this one 13-12 with mo getting his first save, a two-inning affair.
Kasey, jeez man, you don’t have to be such a Debbie Downer to get your point across. If you don’t think the Yankees have a chance in hell to win it this year thats fine, you’re entitled. But seriously man, you’re ruining the board here with the negativity. If this was July or August I could at least understand it somewhat. But its still April. It’s a little silly of you to be giving up on the season now.
Joe called Big Stein just to say hello? Yeah…because after 4 days where my coworkers and I basically burnt the office and half lacked productivity, the first thing I want to do is call my supervisor to say hello.
Come on Joe.
We’re down 4, but we’re coming back. We’ll win this game.
“Oh, the pain.”
This is a quote was from Dr. Smith, a cast member of a silly 60’s TV drama called Lost in Space. Those of us old enough to remember the show recall that it was a team of astronauts, scientists and explorers who were, that’s right, Lost in Space on their way to Alpha Centauri. (Make a left at Venus, go three light years, make a right at he last stop sign…)
They had all the most modern sophisticated machinery and instruments and a great captain and first mate but none of it ever worked and they remained shipwrecked on some godforsaken asteroid or planet or something.
That’s this year’s Yankees so far, lots of talent and sophistication and payroll, but it’s not working and they are temporarily …. Lost… in… Space. I thought of Dr. Smith tonight because at some point in every episode he would say in a melodramatic tone with the back of his hand to his forehead: “Oh, the pain.”
I know how he feels.
Thursday night is scheduled to be a WOR Channel 9 night.
Summer- Apparently Mo is warming up in the bullpen.
Russell, with Karstens here, Hughes just called up, Wang coming back, Mussina coming back hopefully within another week, and Pavano about a week after that. I don’t see that to be a viable option right now. But it’s not a terrible idea, he just currently isn’t needed in the rotation.
And Igawa won’t be better in the penn, all of his thrown strikes, which are very little may I add, are up in the zone, and all the outs, which again are very little, are scolded outs. The guy stinks. Matsuzaka is way more worth his money then this Igawa guy is. I don’t want to call Igawa a scrub right now, and his stuff is OK, but with absolutely terrible location, he is going NOWHERE FAST.
Or is that UPN 9 now? Whatever. channel 9 out of NY.
For those of you that don’t want Hughes to pitch for the Yankees please explain the negatives? He’s not shut down, he’s not wrapped in Saran Wrap!!! He’s going to pitch somewhere why not have the best prospect in MLB pitch in NY???? Why is that a negative? First of all they make pitch counters and use them outside of Scranton! I think that Ron Guidry can punch the counter till it gets to 80-85 pitches. Where is it written that they can’t go get him after 85 pitches??? whether its in Scranton or in the Bronx or in Minneapolis??? Some of you people either want the Yankees to lose every game 10-8 and wipe out all of our relievers by May 15 or you are trolls. Let the kid pitch he deserves it and support him and the team’s decision. They have no other choice!!!! Who else can they turn to??? GEEESH!!
Please ask Joe Torre why he continues to start Melky Cabrera (Mendoza line average, 2 walks, -5 BRAR, -7 BRAA, .165 EqA, ZERO EXTRA BASE HITS) when he could at least let Thompson start a game and see how he does. Melky might need a stint in the minors to find his swing.
anaconda,
I agree the Yanks will probably be in first or close to it in September but not b/c of this God awful staff. Our offense putting up 1100 runs this season is the only way we stay with Boston.
Pettite and Wang should be fine
Moose: He would barely be a #5 on Boston and thats just cuz Wakefield struggled tonight, he isn’t that good anymore
Igawa: They didn’t have an 88 mph junkballer in the minors instead of paying this bum
Pavano: See you next year in your contract year
They need Clemens plus another guy just to have a half decent staff. Moose is a great #5 so you go Clemens, Wang, Pettitte, ???, Moose. Thats the ONLY way this team wins the World Series
damnit iwamura
melky’s up… easy out.
told ya
so why did torre pinch hit for phelps and not melky???
Melky the minor leagues are waiting for you. He is soo over matched it is not even funny.
he’s batting in the low .200’s, it wasn’t that tough of a call
a debbie downer? are you WATCHING these games?! the yankees have one (ONE) pitcher who is capable of posting a quality start, and when he does, the bullpen gives the game away.
this is a disaster. there’s no other word.
luckily, boston lost tonight. so they won’t lose any ground.
The only thing that worries about bringing Hughes up is if he gives up lets say 8 runs in 3 innings, and then where are we. That said, given the state of the rotation why not give him a chance to throw those 90 pitches.
Whoever signed Kei Igawa should be fired, 50 million !!! for what, unless i’m missing something this could be as bad a signing as Carl Pavano.
What happened to Leche, or the Melk Man, or the Melkyway?
hmmm: i was thinking the same thing… i just dont get it… maybe because he didnt want damon in the outfield? yea, ok.
Melky for a relief pitcher like Gonzalez would look pretty damn good right about now.
ANyone think that Kevin Thompson couldnt hit 260 and play solid defense?
Who would listen to what Kasey says anyway? The guy is a Red Sox fan. Its so obvious its really not even humorous anymore.
Thank god, this is the second correct decision Joe Torre has made in this game.
Igawa looks terrible I agree, he is an 88 MPH thrower with bad off speed pitches. I don’t think his ceiling is very high. Him and the Fat Toad will be drinking margaritas on some Pacific Island laughing at Cashman
Jake,
Kasey posts here every day and has posted for quite awhile. He isn’t a Sox fan.
Wow, it’s about time I saw something positive in this game besides the offense. Mo looks fine so far.
this team has scored 23 runs (so far) over four games and they’re not going to come away with a single victory.
what happens when the offense gets cold? they can’t even win when the offense is playing well.
so torre let melky hit, but then put Damon in the OF anyway?
huh??
let phelps hit, then pinch hit for Melky. holy crap, how simple is that?
that’s almost historically stupid.
Dude, their best pitcher hasn’t even pitched yet, does that matter?
The only thing that Kevin T. has done is hit and play great defense I dont know why Torre hates him. He refuses to play him. He can be much more useful then Melky. He can actually hit and they can use him to steal a base in the late innings. Melky shows that he has zero confidence right now.
i know nothing about the japanese league, i keep hearing he led the league in strikeouts, well if he throws this way that league is even less deep then i would of thought
it appears he was singed aa a panic move after the sox singed matsuka, i thought that type of stuff was suppose to stop after cashman got full control
My answer to you Kasey is that you need to turn off your TV and come back in two or three months.
You are not even rational with most of your hyperbole so nobody can make any sense to you.
The Stros have a problem with their pen as well because Lidge has fell off the wagon and couldn’t get anybody out.
And secondly, Clemens signed with them last season even though they had one of the worst offenses in the NL.
The lack of offense and run support was far more detrimental to his win total than anything else.
In fact, he probably would have won the Cy Young again in 2005 if not for the lack of run support because he won the ERA title but lost a ton of decision because his team was shut out or scored him just 1 or 2 runs every time he took the ball.
Despite all of that, he still signed with the Astros last season.
Once again, your argument is based on “doom and gloom” irrationality and not common sense.
Pettitte coming back will probably have a strong influence on his decision that none of the other suitors have right now.
yeah, i’m a red sox fan. which is why i get worked up over a yankees loss. another brilliant deduction.
The Rays can fly. They get down the line so fast that routine plays all look close. It’s good to see that kind of hustle from a club that isn’t projected to be a contender. They seem to play hard.
is torre TRYING to get fired?
You may not be a Red Sox fan, but ranting and getting us all worked up is not productive for you or us. So you may be a Yankee fan, but you are a bad fan and all of us here would happier if you just shut up or left the Yankees altogether.
Yankees notes says: “Carl Pavano threw a bullpen session before Monday’s game and was optimistic when discussing his right forearm strain. ‘Before, it would grab and tighten [during throws]; now, it just grabs,’ Pavano said. ‘It is what it is, and it’ll work itself out.’”
Maybe he’ll be back before the All-Star break. Then again, I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach of deja vu . . .
boy am i slow. looks like the news about Franchise has been up on this blog for a while. Guess it takes a while to travel down to TX. Go Yanks!
No more cowbell.
They pinch hit for Phelps in hopes of avoiding a double play.
Sad thing is this could be a great bullpen if rested and used properly.
Not only is Kei worse than Pavano, he may also be worse than Karstens and Rasner.
Kasey, I have been watching the games but the season is not over. Who started this weekend? Pettitte, Karstens, and Wright. Not exactly the rotation we would like to have going into a series with the Sox. I don’t claim to be able to predict the future. But I am quite certain that once Wang and Moose come back off the DL the Yankees will be solid 1-3 in their rotation. Not to mention the fact that Karstens did look good last year. You can’t just judge him off of one start (his first this year AND at Fenway). You have 3 real good pitchers (Yes I think once they come off Moose and Wang will be real good) and a decent fourth starter emerges life gets a lot easier. For starters, those guys go deep into the games taking stress off the bullpen. Part of the reason the bullpen is getting hammered (actually probably most of the reason) is that they are being overworked out of necessity. Take some of the strain off of them and they will get much better. I would agree with you that some of the last few games have not been pretty. But teams get hot and cold all year. In this case, I think the Yankees troubles all are due to injuries to the starters which lead to overworking the bullpen which leads to blown leads. My problem is that you just don’t stop complaining. All the doom and gloom is not necessary this early on especially when most of their problems are injury related.
“so torre let melky hit, but then put Damon in the OF anyway?
huh??
let phelps hit, then pinch hit for Melky. holy crap, how simple is that?
that’s almost historically stupid.”
Just wondering out loud… there seems to be a disproportionate number of questionable decisions being made by Torre this year, and the only thing that has really changed as far as decision making goes is Don Mattingly. Is it possible that Zimmer, Willie, Girardi, and Mazilli aided Torre more than we ever knew?
I guess patting Joe on the back for his brutal managing makes you a good fan? It seems to me as if the fans who really care are the ones frustrated by the way the team is being handled, whereas the Joe apologists attitude is to tune in September and hope the team is doing well.
anaconda,
clemens wants wins, and he wants a world series ring. period. he made that clear in the offseason. he wants a shot at another championship. with the bullpen they have, with the rotation they have, with the PROBLEMS they have, the yankees will, in all likelihood, be 8+ games out when rocket starts warming up again.
so, he’s going to give up the wins and shot at a ring he wants so he can play catch with his best buddy andy on off-days? think again.
these aren’t doomsday scenarios. the bullpen is cooked. the rotation is AWFUL. they’ve lost four games in a row, the lastest of which will be an embarrassment at the hands of the TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS.
sometimes the facts are ugly enough that they seem negative. stating the facts isn’t negative. this team is NOT VERY GOOD right now.
if you’d like to refute that, let me point you to their record (8-10), their current losing streak (four games), their starting pitching (karstens, wright, igawa, take your pick), their bullpen (vizaino’s blown leads or mo’s blown saves? proctor’s blown leads? okay, farnsworth then? take your pick) and, finally, their deficit in the AL east (currently four games). go ahead and tell me which of these facts leads you to believe that the yankees are any good right now.
That strike zone is bigger than the Sahara desert.
my. goodness.
PAY-ROD
Ok guys, this is special A-Rod just hit number 14.
at least a-rod is a bright spot.
no way. I just wish it mattered tonight.
Is A-Rod single?
Peter, you have a typo in your headline there.
Forget Clemens, give A-Rod the money.
hopefully they come back here because another 2 homer game for arod where the yankees lose is depressing
2-man team: ARod Giambi. Jeter should be booed for this game
ARod is sick.
Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mroe no doubter homerun then that. He went down and got that ball, but you can tell the power he put into that swing, that it was going out.
That’s 14 hours for the guy. He leads the homerun pack by double the homeruns.
ARod continues on that 110+ homerun pace, when will this tease end? If anyone is going to beat the RBI record, it has gotta be this guy this year. Not only that, but he’s having a career year in a for sure HOF career, and it’s not even close.
If Posada or Melky could get the ball out of the infield the game would be tied. Or if Giambi had any instincts on the bases and came home when the outfielder kicked the ball.
A week left in April, and he’s just tied the record for most homers in April (right?)
A-rod’s married….Cynthia Rodriguez
Nick B. Nobody should be boo’d dumbsh.it.
Jeter’s defense wasn’t perfect, his offense was bad, he had a bad game, we all know that, sh.it happens. Booing a player is rediculous.
For all you people who say Jeter is better than ARod: ARod is going to surpass Jeter’s career highs in HR’s and RBI’s by the All-Star break even when he slows down
To quote the great Dicky-V, “ARE YOU SERIIOUSSS!!!”
Please tell me that there will be no cowbells allowed in the ballpark tomorrow night.
well when he opts out, hey what you going to do, we did it to ourseleves
There’s the game.
Once again, ARod does everything in his power to put us in the game, keep us in the game, and win the game for us. Yet we don’t win. Imagine if ARod did this last season, we wouldn’t have lost a game, as bad as our pitching was.
I am the biggest fan of not booing, I was being sarcastic, about an earlier post about ARod.
Yeah those cowbells were driving me nuts for the past few hours too.
A fine post, Billy Mo.
Kasey just doesn’t understand this game and doesn’t realize this team will be there in the end.
Thats fine. Let him pout. It just tends to make him look foolish.
Man A Rod is about 20% of the way to the record in 11% of the games. I hope he obliterates that record, as do all baseball fans not named Bonds.
Just to let you all know how far we have traveled into Bizarro World this April, the brightest light for the Yankees (and maybe all of MLB) is A-Rod with his amazing bat.
If I told you last year this is how April would go, would any of you have believed me?
“Kasey just doesn’t understand this game and doesn’t realize this team will be there in the end.”
i’ll go ahead and save this comment and we’ll check back in july, august and september, anaconda. and when they’re not in first, you can explain how someone with your MASSIVE, EXTENSIVE knowledge of the game could be wrong, okay?
i don’t understand this game? from the guy whose bullpen arguments were so laughable that his only defense against stormy’s argument was “you’re an idiot.” would you mind re-hashing that “releivers don’t get burned out in april” line of thought for me again? would you also run it by proctor and vizcaino for good measure? thanks, smart guy.
At least Mo looked good. Maybe that’s the beginning of the return to normalcy.
A bright spot that no one has mentioned is Cano upping his average to .324. Is there anyone who doesn’t think he is the real deal?
I am very interested to see how well Wang performs now that everyone expects him to be the Ace (or at least co-Ace). He was able to fly under the radar the last couple of years, and succeed as the years went on. However, now he will be expected to anchor the rotation starting tomorrow.
COME ON, WANGer!!!!
Joe needs to go, Igawa sucked today but so does our bullpen right now, Igawa should be left in every start hes in until his arm falls off to eat innings, since he is completely useless to the team and a season ending injury is probably a upside for the yankees 2007 season.
Vizcaino is the 2007 version of Sturtze and he is ruined already. how sad…….
Posada has been pulling his weight this season. With so many easy targets, why him?
Haha, it almost sounds like you WANT the Yankees to be bad to prove you right.
“SJ44…completely agree.
Igawa is just putrid, they can only hope he improves to bad.”
They can only hope he goes on the DL… if the Yankees need a pitcher, I’m willing to pitch. I’m pretty good.
Kruk is on ESPN now .. advocating brushing back Manny and Big Papi!!!! .. if not hitting them .. especially after Jeter got hit
Really looking forward to seeing Igawa at the Stadium on Saturday.
Kruk stole my idea from yesterday’s post!
Big spot for the Wanger tomorrow.
Billy Mo:
Good shot of sanity. Thanks.
no, i’d just like anaconda to cop to being wrong once in a while. lord knows i do it when i’m wrong.
to tell somebody they “don’t understand” the game because they’re noting how putrid the team has been of late isn’t a convincing argument.
the igawa signing was a huge mistake. an absolute waste of money.
Tomorrow is going to be the turning point of the yankees season thus far. We need a win.
How about no one on the offense gets booed. If it weren’t for the offense we would be 3-15 and getting beaten even worse.
If’s don’t count.
This team is probably 1-17 to start the season if not for ARod. That’s pathetic.
Right now, he is a one man team.
Another nine inning game filled with pathetic pitching, sleepwalking on the bases and a manager who shows every night he has no idea how to handle a pitching staff.
Now, we want a guy (Wang) who has not pitched in a regular season game all year to stop the bleeding. Good luck.
An awful display of baseball from this team and the injury excuse is just that…..an excuse.
I would have to believe most knowledgable people are getting tired of the excuses. Go out and play 9 solid innings of baseball. That’s not a lot to ask.
Considering they are squandering the greatest start by someone in the history of the game, asking a team with this much talent to perform like professionals more than once a week is not a big deal.
Hopefully, Wang can give them a good outing. But, its his first outing of the season so, I am tempering my expectations.
Unless some stuff changes and changes fast, the only fun this season will bring will be to watch ARod and see if any of the younger players can develop.
Maybe a sweep by the Rays will push George to do what he should have done at the end of last season and that’s change managers.
Joe Girardi is the guy who can get things back on track. Not the guy occupying the chair right now.
This is a dead team walking under Joe Torre and its not because of injuries. Its because players are too comfortable under Torre. That has to change if they want to win this yr, IMO.
i’ll take the week off from posts, though. maybe i’ll be able to learn something about this puzzling, confounding game i don’t understand. anaconda, if you have spare time, could you just teach me some basics?
we’ll see where they stand after the weekend series with boston. my guess? they’ll be AT LEAST 6 games back.
talk to you next monday.
thanks for the meaningless homers Arod
he he he
Let’s not panic.
Our rotation isnt healthy and our bullpen is suffering because of it. Torre needs to use Farnsworth more. I know he blew some games early on, but how does this affect his confidence. And Vizcaino better not pitch another game for 2 weeks the way he’s been called upon, not to mention the poor results.
Bringing up Hughes is the right decision. A major league start can only prepare him more. And Guidry is a great mentor. Don’t think too much about Torre, Guidry is the man.
The fact that Clemens came out of retirement to pitch for the Stros in 2004 because his buddy signed there is a pretty good indication that his relationship with Pettitte does indeed have an influence on his decision to pitch.
We’ll never know for sure, but I don’t think Clemens would have come back that season if Pettitte hadn’t left the Yankees and signed there. Clemens himself even hinted at that in past interviews.
Clemens ALWAYS wants a ring and that is nothing new. He’s got to be looking at this lineup and licking his chops a little bit because he couldn’t have dreamed for that kind of run support in Houston.
You mentioned the staff composed of Igawa, Wright, and Karstens as being the downfall of the rotation — but you conveniently leave out the fact that those guys were pitching out of necessity due to injuries to the regulars.
Wright is already gone and Karstens will be bumped in due time.
There is no team in baseball who could sustain 3 starters on the DL and replacing them with 3 rookies.
Your problem is that you don’t seem to take into account that their presence in the rotation is temporary — not permanent.
Who let the Red Sox twit on here? I can’t believe you would come here and talk smack when you know the Yankees are the walking wounded right now. Let me see Friday night Torre gave you the game, and saturday you beat up on Jeff Karstens and sunday you pounded on a double A pitcher and a tired bullpen. Meanwhile you threw your best three pitchers at us and they all got smacked around like there’s no tomorrow. Remember last year scum when we started 11 and 19 and how did that end? Wait atleast until mid season before you start getting all giddy. Nice job by your boys tonight by the way.
murphydog-
not only do the yankees have arod, but they have wang, pettitte, and hughes going in the next three games. that’s something to look forward too. when crap like this happens you just have to move on. it’s so over the top bad it’s not even worth looking at. just start over.
tomorrow is opening day and wang is out starter.
Check that. Igawa is part of the rotation. I meant to say that the other rookies pitching were out of necessity.
So if he was the fastest to 13 homeruns in a season, and then he hit another one later in the game, I take it he was the fastest to 14 as well. lol.
do the yankees just extend arod and keep texas on the line for part of his salary for the next 3 years?
“Torre needs to use Farnsworth more. I know he blew some games early on, but how does this affect his confidence. ”
I agree… the way Torre is using Viz and Bruney of late have resulted in poor performances, similar to what Farnsworth experienced. If Torre continues to completely stop using guys when they have a couple of bad outings, we’ll need a whole new bullpen by Wednesday.
most of you guys apparently did not live through the summer of 1978 when bad, bad pitching and injuries dropped the yankees 14 games behind boston. only guidry kept us above .500 into july by winning 14 of his first 15 decisions en route to 15-3.
that team turned things around in late july (after firing the manager). catfish started winning every fifth day while pitching on fumes. a few key injuries slowed boston down.
i’ll get worried in june if we’re 10 games back. and remember, there was no wild-card in 1978.
i’m confident the pitching will turn around by mid-may. and here’s your rotation: pettitte, wang, moose, hughes and clemens at the end of the month. the rest of the current dead wood can take the bus to scranton or tokyo.
typo alert: guidry finished 25-3, of course.
wow it’s only april and everyone is freaking out. There mere fact that we are hanging in by a thread is pretty good considering that our pitching staff is a disaster. I am a huge Torre fan and even I am beginning to question it. I agree with getting Igawa out, season ending injury, whatever I don’t care, he’s terrible. I guess the bright spot is that the only direction for him to go is up right?
Yes, take break Kasey.
We need to hear from intelligent fans whose first reaction after a loss isn’t “this team is awful and is going to be 7-8 games out by July.”
I don’t need to teach you the basics because you aren’t capable of understanding them.
By the way, you are a downright liar because I said no such thing calling someone an “idiot.”
I would challenge you to produce a quote where I called him that, but I know you can’t because it didn’t happen.
Not only do you not know what you are talking about — but you are a liar too.
I’m now done with this p*ssing match with Kasey. If he wants to hate his own team, good for him. It cheapens this great blog and Pete’s good work and I won’t participate in this childish crap anymore.
you know why 1978 was one of the greatest pennant races in pinstripe history? because the yankees fell 14.5 games behind. that was the fun of it, coming back a game here and there, creeping back into it after boston had all but declared itself champs of the east.
we won’t fall that far behind again but 7-8 games back before our pitching regroups is probably realistic.
if all pennant races were easy, being a yankee fan wouldn’t be any fun. we’d win all the time. that’s no good. you’ve got to suffer some to make winning more enjoyable.
Some observation sfrom the game:
Clueless is clueless again in the use of the pitchers. However, give credit to him that he used Mariano for an inning so that he gets his sharpness back.
Igawa should spend time in the minors to get control and get used to larger baseballs in US. Dice-K is also having similar problems with bigger baseball, but he is too talented and able to overcome it, mostly. Iamn ot giving up on Igawa yet. He did have good success in Japan.
Many of us always love Jeter. But at the same time, let us be realistic. He gets much more credit than he deserves. He is a case of being at the right place at the right time. If you really look back, among the position players, Bernie and O’Neil were bigger contributors for our dynasty, not Jeter.
Until clueless Joe learns that it is OK to lose a game and not burn all the bullpen arms, we do not have a hope with this pitchiing staff. Look what happened. Proctor, Vizcaino and Bruney were pretty good to start the year, but clueless burned their arms. Now they may have long term effects of this misuse and my never recover this year.
The sooner Joe is fired and Girardi is brought in the better it is for the team. It may happen, if we lose the next two games to Tampa due to Clueless’s stupidity.
Still, I beleive we will recover and win the division possibly in the last week of the season, inspite of Clueless. But as it has been happening in the last six years, we may not overcome Clueless and still lose in the first round…….untless he is fired before the playoffs.
Hey SJ44
“a team sleepwalking” and “he is a one man team”.
These gems win tonight’s two most stupid comments.
SLEEPWALKING???This offense leads the league last I saw and 8 runs and adozen plus hits won’t hurt that tonight. And the ONE MAN TEAM has only 14 RBI if nobody else is getting on so as Girardi told Mikey K tonight several times – “you’re full of it”
“Look what happened. Proctor, Vizcaino and Bruney were pretty good to start the year, but clueless burned their arms.”
Although I am also disappointed with Torre’s performance, it’s not like he had many other options… if he doesn’t burn out the 3 guys you named, then it would be Meyers, Fransworth, and Henn.
“if he doesn’t burn out the 3 guys you named, then it would be Meyers, Fransworth, and Henn.”
Why not balance the load at least in the losing cuases instead of grinding down the same three people all the time.
WOW, that’s the only way to describe Arod right now. If you’re a fan of baseball you just have to enjoy what you are seeing. I wish we were winning of course but that’s another issue. Man would it be great if he broke the so called homerun record by Bonds. Maybe Alex can break all those records and clean the records, hope so.
I can’t imagine what our record would be if Arod wasn’t on the team right now.
OK, where’s everyone saying that Wang and Mussina are going to save this team? Just the other day they were coming out of the woodwork! Maybe seeing the mighty Rays whoop it up on the Yanks tonight cured everyone of their delirium. At this point, even if they came back strong, both Wang and Mussina wouldn’t even be able to begin to turnaround this trainwreck of a pitching staff.
I think Cashman needs to take a big part of the hit on this one. Ohlendorf instead of Micah Owings? True, Ohlendorf’s initial numbers have been promising, but, remember, those are only minor league numbers. By contrast, look at what Owings is now doing for the D-Backs at the MAJOR LEAGUE level…He’s already proving he can be an effective big league starter. Why didn’t we get him, again?! He sure would have been a damn sight better than Karstens, Wright, Rasner or Igawa!!!
Then, of course, there’s Humberto Sanchez. We might as well have traded for Mark Prior! Sanchez has a permanently lame arm (or so it seems). Why was he the centerpiece of the Sheffield deal? Will he ever get (and stay) healthy enough for long enough to develop into anything? My guess is no. Does anyone remember Brien Taylor?
Then there’s the Yanks’ so-called bullpen…Farnsworth, Vizcaino, Proctor, etc. Isn’t Cashman to blame for this bunch? They can’t stop anybody on a consistent basis. Heck, at this point they cough up batches of runs on a nightly basis! Now, I know people like to say they’ve been overworked, but no major league pitcher should be gassed after less than 20 games!!! I think you’ve got to start taking a hard look at the talent level. It’s just not there…and Cashman (again) should take a lot of the blame for that.
So, now we’re left with putting Hughes in the line of fire because of all of Cashman’s questionable moves…It’s a complete joke. Between Torre’s poor game management and Cashman’s poor choice of talent…AARGH!!! It’s so frustrating to be a Yanks’ fan right now!
yankee fans are better than this. it’s april. go plant some flowers and watch them grow.
Hey, I just watched the clip “A-Rod homers twice” on mlb.com. Sheesh … the two homers aside (ha!), he’s playing his heart out!
Why not send Igawa down to Triple A for the season and we just keep Karstens and Rasner around. Or even convert Henn to a starter and keep Rasner in the pen… Or, hell, does anyone know if Aaron Small is alive? lol…
After reading all the posts, all I can say, “I feel the love”.