Greetings from Tampa
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Apr 23, 2007 
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The 5:15 a.m. wakeup call today was not real pleasant. But after a restless sleep on the plane, here we are in Tampa somewhat ready to go.
Meanwhile, tonight’s game will be a very big deal in Japan. Hideki Matsui will be activated off the disabled list and Kei Igawa will be pitching against the Rays. He will be facing Aki Iwamura.
Igawa (Hanshin Tigers) and Iwamura (Yakult Swallows) were on rival teams in the Central League. According to a pal in the Japanese media (thanks, Gaku) Iwamura was 25 of 86 against Igawa with three homers and 28 strikeouts.
Meanwhile – and I am praying this isn’t true – one of the papers here says that the first 10,000 fans in the Tropicana Dome will receive cowbells. Cowbells, seriously? Cowbells?
The Bose headphones will be a getting a workout tonight.
In the immortal words of Christophe Walken, we need more cow bell, here’s the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBqPHJhmFHo
So basically everyone who attends will receive them? LOL Hopefully they are all yankee fans and they will throw them in the trash!! Isn’t the heckler bad enough? We have to hear him screaming everytime a yankee player is up, now we have to hear bells!! UGH, It is bad enough hearing it on tv, I can’t imagine being their in person! Someone buy the players ear plugs!!
More cowbell!
28 Ks? wowsers. Here’s hoping to a lot of innings from Igawa tonight.
I just checked the D-Rays website. IT’S TRUE! It is cowbell night. Cowbells. Oh. My. Gosh! Peter, you have my deepest sympathies.
Last I heard the D-Rays were a MAJOR LEAGUE team, right????
how many innings do we think torre will use proctor tonight?? 1? maybe 2?
(being sarcastic)
Japanese baseball’s biggest rivalry is Yomiuri Giants(Matsui’s) and Hanshin Tigers without a doubt. But, the biggest rivalry in baseball is Yankees and Red Sox. I grew up watching baseball in Japan, and always enjoyed Yomiuri Giants-Hasnshin Tigers matchups, but nothing comes close to the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. I’m happy that I’m in NY ’cause I get to feel the heat and beat!
That’s even worse than those “thundersticks” that they give out at basketball games.
Jeff NJ- Thank you for that clip. It’s impossible not to laugh when you see Will Ferrell in a cut-off shirt.
Hey Peter,
You can pass the time this afternoon reading the book:
Even Cowbells Get the Blues …
Peter,
Any rumblings on giving Hughes a try?
If he can pitch well that would help a ton…
beavis:
Scotty P is starting tonight, and will go until he gives up his alloted two to four runs. Then Viz will come in and give up three or four, Joe hasn’t decided yet. Farns will then come in for three runs and then Mo will close and give up five. If the Devil Rays need to catch their breath from running around the bases we’ll have to send in Pettitte again.
Stu:
I’m sure Pete can answer with greater precision and insight, since he actually knows what he is talking about and I’m just a cranky fan with time to kill while I choke down a ham and cheese sandwich with a Pepsi chaser. But here’s goes:
Q: Any rumblings on giving Hughes a try?
A: NOT THIS EARLY IN THE SEASON.
i’ve got a fever…
No matter how “bad” it looks now, we MUST protect Hughes. We can’t just give in and burn him out because of panic.
The Yankees never panic. And that is one of Torre’s and Cashman’s greatest assets — they never let you see ‘em sweat. This is good for the team on a day-to-day basis, but also good, as far as Cashman is concerned, if you’re trying to make some moves. People smell panic and act accordingly.
Let’s try to remember, too, that he struggled agsint major-leaguers in ST. The Phranchise is our future ace, not our present-day savior. The current crop of pitchers has just got to step up and do their jobs.
How many years in a row have the Yanks started off slow, EVERYONE panics, they go through May on a 19-6 clip, get back in 1st by July and win the division? At least the last two if not three or four years they have started like this? When the calender hits June 1 you can panic but please not a day before then unless they are over 10 back.
Doreen:
The “New” Yankees never panic. The Old Yankees, however, (pre-Cashman takeover, Tampa Cabal Days) frequently panicked.
The new plan is much better.
Last year the Yankees made it first place around July 31st or so. It was the first day that Abreu was on the team. Then they never looked back. That means we still have a long way to go to make up for the mediocre start.
If the Yankees hang around the corner by July, at some point they will have a streak. But they need to take two of three in the coming weekend at the Stadium..cant be swept again. I think the worse loss this weekend was the loss by the Mets being taken again 2/3 by Atlanta at Shea.
Cowbell night? Now i’ve heard it all. What a gimmick.
It should be tacky Blue Oyster Cult tribute night.
Murphydog —
True — Yankee front office did panic in the past. But on the field, Mr. Torre has been Mr. Cool.
Looks like bad news for Pete:
http://www.gameops.com/content.....pa_bay.php
“Note: The reporter next to me in the press box just labeled this “the most annoying promotion everâ€?…and it’s only the top of the first inning.”
“True—Yankee front office did panic in the past. But on the field, Mr. Torre has been Mr. Cool.”
that’s b/c he’s asleep.
The funny thing is that the Drays are handing out cowbells to 9900 yankee fans. Can we say back fire.
hmmm:
I dunno. I’ve seen Joe drink tea, I’ve seen him hold Jeter’s bat. He’s given players The Stare. He even talks to Joe Morgan and Jon Miller on ESPN when he’s losing to the Sox. I’m pretty sure a person can’t do these important things when he/she is asleep ; )
i think the most important thing for us to accomplish is to rack up some wins BEFORE this weekend. the next seven days could say a lot about the rest of the season
i suspect proctor will go 4 innings tonight and another 4 tomorrow
“I dunno. I’ve seen Joe drink tea, I’ve seen him hold Jeter’s bat. He’s given players The Stare. He even talks to Joe Morgan and Jon Miller on ESPN when he’s losing to the Sox. I’m pretty sure a person can’t do these important things when he/she is asleep ; )”
Don’t forget my personal favorite… picking his nose.
“Cowbells, seriously? Cowbells?”
stuart sternberg’s been enamored with the walken skit for awhile now. here’s an article from a year ago about it: http://www.sptimes.com/2006/04.....ales.shtml
as a friend said: “sternberg’s brain’s convo with itself:
‘cowbell or pitching? cowbell or pitching? definitely cowbell.’”
Ryan:
I visited that site. How truly invigorating it must be to have a stadium full of friendly people who come to enjoy free parking and the atmosphere of the Trop, oh, and of course, the opportunity to root the D-Rays on to victory.
I’ve never been to the Trop but somehow I just know it has that faint airplane cabin smell, sort of like industrial strength air freshener sprayed in a used clothes hamper, mixed in with steaming, griddle-fresh hot dogs. I think the cowbells are the least of anyone’s worries at the Trop.
We’re not going to see all those relievers against the Rays. Joe needs to save them for the Boston series next weekend so they can blow leads in every game. This bullpen is atrocious, but then, so is the starting pitching too.
vin:
I’ve seen Joe go nasal prospecting and I gotta tell you it just reminds me that the hands are like the body’s Swiss Army Knives. You see, Joe is a thumb style nose picker. He doesn’t stick a digit right up there, like some rookie or small town kid. He kind of sneaks his thumb in and works with that trying to hide it with the rest of his hand, like a person caging a cigarette. That, my friend, takes skill and timing.
And people say he’s not Hall of Fame material.
does anybody know what a place that produces 10,000 cowbells even looks like? that’s got to be a very…interesting….place to work.
seriously, pete, any envy i had for you and your job evaporated when I saw that headline. thanks for the head’s-up, though, i think now i’ll watch the game on mute…
anaconda,
“I guess you must be happy about this weekend’s results because you do most of your “gloatingâ€? after a Yankee loss—rather than a win.”
evidently, you missed my post last night where i said that, despite the sweep, the red sox didn’t scare me.
then again, i just realized the rotation for next weekend’s series is set up to be wright, igawa, wang. i thought two of three next weekend was realistic. not anymore.
The plan is we get to .500. Then we stay there and work on getting 5 games over .500, then 10 over and so on. Can’t panic, certainly not now. Baby steps, my friends. baby steps.
Wright will not be pitching next Friday, it’s just not going to happen.
Tropicana Field isn’t too bad. I live in Orlando and will be going to tonights game. The worst thing is that Devil Ray fans actually get really hostile toward Yankee fans. You’ll hear a lot of Yankees Suck chants and stuff even if their team is losing.
Oh and someone made mention of the cowbells being in posession of Yankee fans. This is not true. If you go to the D-Rays site, it says to the first 1000 (or whatever it is) DEVIL RAY fans. Yankee fans will not be getting the cowbells.
I’m fully aware of the idea of not “burning out” Hughes but, realistically, if you’re going to throw two rookies one of them might as well be your best rookie. The next time we have a starter go down why not bring him up, limit him to 90 pitches, and send him down when we’re healthy again. If anything, a short stint in the majors might be beneficial to his development. I’d like to hope that’d give us a better chance to win that with Wright or Karstens.
“We’re not going to see all those relievers against the Rays. Joe needs to save them for the Boston series next weekend so they can blow leads in every game. This bullpen is atrocious, but then, so is the starting pitching too.”
The bullpen is not atrocious. Overrated, and overworked, but not atrocious.
You’re forgetting that for the last week or so (and the first week of the season when everyone sucked) the starters have been going 4-5 innings. This means the bullpen has to pitch 4-5 innings.
When Wang and Mussina come back we should have 4 starters that will go a minimum of 6 innings. That will take a huge load off the bullpen and you’ll see performance improve.
I knew it, I just knew that the first comment would be a link to the Christopher Walken skit. Nice, Jeff!
I can see it now.
Torre: Know what this game needs, Donnie?
Mattingly: What’s that, Joe?
Torre: MORE PROCTOR!
murpydog-
i’m not as sure about the “new” yankees as you are as far as using the panic button . because of revenue sharing ,the league is stronger, and i think cashman’s new mantra of “younger and cheaper” doesn’t take into account that all the teams are stronger. tampa bay for instance is starting to put together a nucleus. this two game series is no cakewalk. for example going younger and cheaper with nieves instead of signing mike lieberthal to a 1.75 million contact is not going to work in the new baseball marketplace that is flush with cash. not having a good backup catcher, a good first baseman , and a good conditioning staff is like owning an expensive mercedes and putting cheap tires on it and having no spare. the “Younger and cheaper” philosophy is dated already. the red sox even have moved on from it after their “younger and cheaper” resulted in a third place finish.
“younger” and “cheaper” and “good” are the real qualifiers. if the yankees can get young and cheap, ,i’m all for it. but when all there is available is” good”, like what happened with leiberthal, i say spend the money on “good” even if it’s older and more expensive.
cashman’s new philosophy is already oudated in this new marketplace. if he follows it strictly he’ll get a.500 team just like he has today.
the yankees are not going to be able to pick up players like abreau every year,especially because so may teams have extended their young star players. they have the money to keep good players. by the time cashman realizes the yankees are in trouble i hope he the time has time to spend money to solve the problem. of course clemens is the obvious solution if panic sets in. cashman has some moves . but not as many as in the past.
side note: i liked phelps at catcher last night. if he can throw to second and catch foul balls behind the plate, he can pinch hit for nieves and catch the end of his games. it might even save nieves who’s the worst hitting catcher in the major leagues( though he hit the ball hard twice last night).
They put Wright in whose a double A pitcher because they are protecting Hughes, Ohlendorf, Desalvo (whose been off to a good start for Scranton) and the other key pitching prospects in triple A ball. Let’s just hope Clemens gets here sooner rather than later.
Hi Everybody,
I have another stupid English question when i read an article from Yankees Beat Reporter Bryan.He wrote an English sentence
“As Derek Jeter said over the weekend, there isn’t anybody in the clubhouse who thinks the Yankees are simply treading water”
What does this sentence exactly mean?As a Yankee fan from another country,someone may help me out.Thanks.I am very sorry about this question which is not related to Yankees.
hughes: did anyone watch him pitch in spring training? did everyone forget that? ONE good start between spring training and the AAA season so far, and they need to call him up? get real.
clemens: he’s not coming. not to a team where the bullpen is giving away leads on a consistent basis (that’s six times in seventeen games by my count, or one-third of the time).
give up on clemens and hughes this year.
Regarding Vizcaino and Proctor:
It seems to me, through my years of following baseball, that you have two types of effective relief pitchers:
1. a quantity guy
2. a quality guy
The quantity guy is the type of pitcher who you can pitch a lot of innings and at the end of the season will have very respectable stats. If he doesn’t pitch often enough, he struggles; and if he is expected to come in and strike out the side with runners in scoring position in the 8th inning, he’ll probably struggle. Typically, these are guys who weren’t good enough to start or close, but are perfectly capable pitchers otherwise.
examples: Proctor, Vizcaino to name a couple.
The quality guy is one who has a great deal of success pitching in tight situations, no more than 3 or 4 innings a week. This is the type of pitcher who relies on issuing few walks and/or overpowering the opposition.
examples: Bruney, Farnsworth (when his head is right), and Rivera (all successful closers for that matter).
The point to all this is that we have to realize what guys like Proctor and Vizcaino truly are, they’re quantity guys who will give up some leads and hold some leads… but at the end of the season their numbers will be solid and their contributions critical to the 162 game season. We call for their heads when they can’t hold a lead, and ignore them when they do their jobs (kind of like umpires).
This is why I’ve never liked the idea of an “8th inning guy”… unless you can use someone who has the talent to be a successful closer ALA Mo Rivera (circa ’96), Tom Gordon, Mike Timlin or Aaron Heilman. Many times the real save comes in the 6th, 7th or 8th inning, and you can’t find yourself beholden to using a specific guy when the situation demands the talents of someone else. I’m pretty sure Torre will continue to go to Proctor or Viz when he should be handing the ball to Bruney, Krazy Kyle (fingers-crossed), or maybe even a Sean Henn.
That’s my little rant for this morning. Thank you.
I GOTTA HAVE MORE COWBELL BABE!!!!!!!!
Lol, nothing like a bunch of godamn cowbells after a long flight from Boston after an exhausting weekend with the Sox.
kasey:
I’m not advocating calling up Hughes for the duration of the year. Nor do I think he will come riding on a white horse to save the season. But he clearly is the most talented pitching prospect we have. For a start or two he should be the choice. There is no reason to throw games away with pithcers who are not on the same level as far as stuff and talent are concerned. With that said, I’m still pulling for the guys we have to come through and make a name for themselves.
” But he clearly is the most talented pitching prospect we have. For a start or two he should be the choice. There is no reason to throw games away with pithcers who are not on the same level as far as stuff and talent are concerned. ”
If Hughes were closer in age to Wright and Karstens (who are 24) and Rasner (who is 26), then I would agree. But since Phil is only 20 I think Cash is right to wait.
Rasner hasn’t been that bad… in 3 starts, he’s given up 6 earned runs, and was victimized by poor defense (if memory serves). Karstens looked pretty good down the stretch last year, and Wright seems to have the mentality and stuff to pitch in the big leagues, he just needs to fine tune his command. No need to rush Phil.
When are we going to wake up and realize that proctor is a liability and not an asset? Someone who is smarter than me give me the stats on this guy and tell me why we waste games on him?
And what about the young texan, Wright? Do we realy think he can be successful vs. the red sox again this weekend?
our bats look great but our pitching makes me feel uncomfortable… and pitching wins/loses ball games… i know preaching to the choir
randy 1:
Cheap, young and talented are definitely each necessary pieces to Cashman’s plan. Remember, however, that Cashman means “cheap” like Bill Gates means “cheap.” They’re not pinching pennies; they spend millions without flinching. The Steinbrenner Yankees are never going to get so “cheap” that they fail to acquire the missing piece to the puzzle if it’s out there and makes sense. Cash is just trying to avoid being entirely dependent on free agents or selling off young studs for pieces that he should/could be growing at home, freeing up payroll for one of a kind pieces like Roger or Teixeira or whoever.
As for talent, I’m not sure Nieves is a lot worse than some back up catchers. Posada’s hurt and that is a big blow. Don’t forget that in this case context is a big factor. Combine ice cold hitting Minky at 1st with a cool Melky who is replacing Matsui, however, and Nieves seems godawful as Posada’s replacement in the lineup. If we had a different 1st base solution, and Matsui wasn’t out with a bad leg, maybe we wouldn’t even notice Nieves not hitting. That doesn’t mean that Cash isn’t looking at back up catcher options. It’s just too early to be dealing.
The pitching problems this year really aren’t a function of money not spent on pitching talent. There should have been enough pitching but for the injuries. (There is always a question in my mind as to the money not spent on a better conditioning program, an issue on which you and i agree 100%).
As for Phelps, there is some reason that he never caught on (no pun intended) as a catcher before this. But why not give it a try.
Re: Hughes.
I think there is a significant difference between having the highest ceiling in the farm system (Hughes) and being the most ready to try his hand at the Show (Maybe not Hughes). To me that means it’s not the time to bring up Phil Franchise.
i don’t think hughes is ready just yet, hes close, but not yet, all he needs is his change up but if hughes throws a few more 10 K starts, i’m sorry but he needs to be called up, you’re just wasting his talent down there, but on the other hand if he struggles or is so so, just let him be down there.
Re Proctor, the guy looked fantastic for the first two days, the problem was it was the 3rd day in a row that killed us.
steve:
Nobody is wasting Hughes’ talent. You need to talk to Francisco Liriano and Felix King Hernandez.
Scott Kazmir is an interesting guy. He’s got a lot of talent, but is having trouble harnessing it and learning to do something other than try to strike everybody out. He’s throwing too many pitches as a result. Is it bad coaching and he can’t pace himself? Too much responsibility to be an “ace” that he fears trying to get batters to get themselves out?
Are there any other Yankee fans who see Kazmir as a set up guy or future closer… maybe for us?
murphydog, what i meant by wasting his talent is if he continues to throw 10K starts while chase wright is up in the majors giving up 4 hrs in a row or rasner or karstens, if hughes is dominating AAA in may. bring him up. limit his innings, i dont care. but bring him up.
murphydog-
“As for talent, I’m not sure Nieves is a lot worse than some back up catchers”
here’s a 2006 partial list:
mike redmond-min-.341
mark lieberthal – phi- .273
david ross- cinn-.251
laird -tx .255
blanco-chc-.241
jose molina-cal-.240
torrealba-col-.328
valentin-cinn.269
sntder-arz-.277
greeene-sf .289
bennet-sl- .223
treanor-fla.229
wilson-detroit-.283
paul-tampa-.260
rivera-mil-.268
fick-wash-.266
castro-nym.238
a few of these guys are probably starting in 2007, but they were catchers with 100-200 at bats last year . nieves really is that bad. out of 60 catchers in 2007 in batting average,he’s #59.
he’s a lifetime .140 hitter.
so ok, cashman isn’t going to be like tampa bay or like the marlins as far as being cheap, and you’re saying he’ll spend when he needs to . i hope you’re right. when theo epstein passed on abreau last summer while still trying to cut back and go with young and cheap” the balance of power shifted and the red sox imploded.
as long as cashman isn’t going to carry this young and cheap too far i get what you are saying.
the twins have a back up in redman who hit .341 last year. they even have a triple a catcher who is better than nieves. if nieves was in their organization he’d be at double a.
the twins have payroll of 50-60 million. how do they do it at back up catching? the yankees have 185 million. what’s another million to get a good back up? in this case younger ans cheaper has come back to bite the yankees in the butt. i agree it’s bad luck so much focus has come on nieves, but in baseball there’s an old saying that the ball has a way of finding the weak spot.
“When are we going to wake up and realize that proctor is a liability and not an asset? Someone who is smarter than me give me the stats on this guy and tell me why we waste games on him?”
Please tell me you’re joking. Proctor was a major part of the team last year, and there are plenty of times he comes in and does a terrific job. I believe Friday night he came in with 2 men on and no one out and no runs scored. Is that not what they call “clutch”? So he has a bad outing. Big deal. Every pitcher, no matter how good they are, will have some stinkers now and then.
Oh, and you want stats?
2006:
Games – 83
IP – 102.1
ERA – 3.52
SO – 89
BB – 33
WHIP – 1.19
Looks good to me.
I got you steve. I just think they are treating him as a long term asset rather than a short term solution and they prefer that he learns at AAA for a few months more.
randy 1:
Wow, I didn’t realize Will was that um, “offensively challenged.”
Still, if the pitching was even half way healthy, we wouldn’t need so much extra offense to over come bad replacement starting and the pen wouldn’t be burned out and would hold leads. With a healthy Matsui – - but no Posada – - we can still probably carry Minky and Nieves. So I think Cash made a rational, if not perfect decision, when he made the back up catcher choice. (But that’s when Murphy’s Law usually goes into effect, isn’t it?)
i agree he needs to learn in AAA, what he really needs to learn is what its like to struggle and see how he can react to it, but if he continues to dominate then he HAS to come up … as for a back up catcher nieves is pretty bad, but a back up catcher is one of the hardest positions to find in the majors, navarro was going to be a pretty good back up but he ended up getting traded away i think cash needs to trade away some of this pitching for a good young catcher. the yanks have good young pitching, but they have too much, theres not enough room for everyone at AAA