Matchups for the Red Sox series
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- April
- 27
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Tonight: Andy Pettitte (1-0, 1.78) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-2, 4.00), 7:05
Tomorrow: Jeff Karstens (0-1, 14.54) vs. Tim Wakefield (2-2, 2.08), 3:55
Sunday: Chien-Ming Wang (0-1, 5.68) vs. Julian Tavarez (0-2, 8.36), 1:05
The Yankees clearly need two out of three at least here to get the ship going in the right direction. Coming out of this series 9-14 would start the Joe Torre Watch and then it gets ugly.
A 10-13 record is controllable, especially with three games coming up up in Texas (where they play well) followed by a seven-game homestand.
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on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 12:25 am by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
Agreed, but 11-12 sounds better… lets go Yanks!
“Theres a reason Rasner was cut by the Nationals.”
Why is everyone so down on Rasner? Sure, he’s certainly not a top of the rotation guy, but he has the tools and the makeup to be a solid #5. I guess the problem is the Yankees don’t need 5’s… they’ve needed 2’s, and 3’s. He’s a hit per inning guy, who doesn’t walk many, and has a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio in the minors. Plus, he’s 26 and should be starting to put it all together. Karstens has put up similar minor league numbers, but Rasner is a couple of years older and seems to have handled himself pretty well.
As long as Moose is healthy soon, to go along with Pettitte, Wang, and Hughes, the Yankees are going to win a lot of games no matter what happens this weekend. Those four will form a great rotation THIS YEAR!!!
I think all of those games are winnable pitching pitch ups.
Pete or anybody else, I’ve got a dumb but worrisome question here: If tomorrow’s game is rained out, uh…what happens?
Does the game get pushed back to Sunday? Postponed to a later date? That’d be two in a week. What about the rotation?
We are sweeping the Red Sox. No doubt in my mind after seeing those matchups.
I think Pettitte would go on Saturday and Wang on Sunday, and they would reschedule the makeup later in the season when they will be out of this funk.
They’d probably schedule a doubleheader.
With the way the pen is spent? That would be foolish.
Rasner stinks. He can’t throw the ball over the plate or find the strike zone.
pete -
i see and read so much knee jerk, reactionary nonsense on this blog – of which, you sometimes take some crazy personal hits. it’s YOUR blog – why shouldn’t you have an opinion…
that aside and don’t get me started, thank you for always being the voice of reason. maybe you are the real ‘teflon yankee blogger’ deal; personally, i’d want to 86 50-60% of the fools calling for torre’s head, or wanting extended innings from petitte at this point in the season, let alone the dolts who think roger is THE answer. but, you thoughtfully explain most situations with info that backs you up, time and time again.
hello?! is anyone listening??!!
keep on keepin’ on. it’s the BEST source of yankee news and insight i’ve ever read. and please, NEVER apologize for your lack of posts. you’re pretty prolific man.
all the best. and here’s to the yanks righting the ship this weekend…
a fan.
Peter do you actually think there is a possibility that Torre will be fired before the end of the year?
I dont think a change would be bad actually, but then again I am not sure it’s a must. I’d love to see what Girardi would do with this team.
But unless they completely tank, let’s say to the tune of 20-40, I cant imagine that Cashman would fire him. Then again I didnt envision Cashman trading away Sheff and Johnson, so I guess anything is possible.
Tell me this. Clemens said he was waiting to see who would give him his best shot at a world series. Given that he is going to have to make his decision pretty soon, how does the Yankees poor start affect our chances?
Will he want to go with what looks like the safer bet in Boston and eliminate their big weakness in Tavarez, or will he like the idea of riding into the Bronx on a white horse and saving a nose-diving franchise (I’m sure the press will sell it this way, but surely he has to realise that once we can actually field a healthy full line-up and some major league pitcing things will turn around).
But if this series goes badly and we find ourselves 6 or 7 games back from Boston, could that be a bridge too far in his eyes?
Lohud Yankee Blog’s “Steinbrenner To Do List”:
1) Fire Joe; [he can't keep the bullpen fresh - lack of starting pitching no excuse; pulls starting pitchers too early except when he leaves them in there too long; pulls relief pitcher too early, except when he leaves them in there too long or calls on them too many times; calls on the wrong lefty to face lefty hitters; uses wrong players at 1st base; can't make out lineups; prefers Melky over Thompson]. Hire Girardi: he has tremendous track record of getting along with egomaniac owners who know nothing about baseball but like to meddle.
2) Fire Cashman; [he kept Pavano when he should have dealt him - lack of takers not an excuse; Moose is always hurt and has no velocity - should not have resigned him; Wang always gets hurt and is not an ace; traded Johnson just because Johnson asked to get out of NY; Sheff is better than Abreu; failed to sign Ted Lilly to long term contract at high price; failed to sign Zito to long term contract at even higher price; overspent on Igawa and underspent on Dice-K bid. Traded good old, 4 inning Wright for bullpen help; failed to maintain a full complement of major league ready replacement pitchers on hand at Scranton to address foreseeable event of three starters going hurt at once; Signed Pettitte past his prime].
3) Release Igawa [Cash has given Igawa too many chances to complete transition to American baseball].
4) Trade Pavano [There must be plenty of takers]
5) Make Hughes part of the rotation now [Stop babying him, he has good mechanics. What's the worst that could happen?]
6) Admit that Jeter has no range to his left and is costing us ballgames. Move A-Rod to shortstop and Jeter to 3d base.
7) Develop ability to predict future with perfect accuracy.
9) Return to good old days of signing guys like Jaret Wright, Kevin Brown and Javy Vasquez.
10) Bring Skippy back (left field ball boy) and offer him spot in starting rotation. Stop babying him.
NOW THAT’S how we start a morning murphydog haha.
Gonzo:
Just trying to keep track of all the calm, steady, sage baseball advice flowing through these pages.
I wonder if Pete can get these guys a discount on their ADHD meds?
Classic Murphydog. With a steady head like that maybe there is a seat for you in George’s Tampa brain trust!!
Why move jeter to third if he has no range to his left? That just does not make sense. A 3rd baseman’s primary movement rangewise is to his left. IF you are going to make the argument that Jeter needs to be moved, choose a position that (by your reasoning) that he can be good at.
It wouldn’t be the most terrible thing if Jeter moved to first or maybe third let and Arod go back to shortstop. okay I know I know it was only a suggestion I can hear the shrieking but still not a bad idea.
meyanskfan:
Jeez Christmas. It was a freakin JOKE, meyanks. The “To Do” list was a FREAKIN JOKE. I was mocking the completely ridiculous posts I’ve been subjected to the last week and a half. Do I have to put warning labels on this stuff now?
Brian:
Thanks, but based on the above, I think the last seat at the Tampa Roundtable has already been taken.
Ok folks are we done with Minky at first yet?!
Hey Pete how a pole
Pete –
Yes, clearly you don’t know nuthin’ bout baseball, as Pete Simonetti said, since you are concerned about Hughes getting injured. Riiiiight. Simonetti, stick to your own blog.
We all know that many other blogs say that Hughes should be with the big club, that he can learn here, that he is wasting pitches in AAA. Those are valid concerns, but the problem is that THE KID IS 20. Mentally, he may seem older, but he is still 20. He went to his senior prom just a few years ago, folks. He needs to develop the mental toughness to pitch in the majors, even if he has the physical tools. That is why you have to be concerned with overthrowing. Doesn’t everybody wonder why the announcers and play-by-play folks talk about a pitcher having to “learn” how to pitch? It ain’t rocket science from a PHYSICAL perspective, it is the MENTAL aspect of knowing what to do, when to do it, and being able to execute in tight situations.
Let’s hope that Gator, Andy, Moose and the rest of the staff really take the kid under their collective “wing” and that this works out. Because if it does not, and he gets hurt, Torre may take the hit for it (undeservedly?).
I’m not sure they could schedule a doubleheader this weekend if they wanted to. Saturday’s 3:55 start can’t change, so that makes Saturday an impossibility. And Sunday night is ESPN’s blackout–no game can compete with their 8:00 game. And there’s no way the Yanks will do an ol’fashioned, one-admission doubleheader at, say, 1 and 5.
On an unreleated note, if Giambi’s smart, he should be breaking in his glove about now.
Pete, any word on Moose? I was thinkin he had a rehad last night but I could be wrong? Hopefully good news b/c any more bad news and this blog might self destruct. I think the Yanks can win tonight and Sunday, they have always had a problem with Wakefield it seems so you never know there.
The Torre watch should absolutely be commenced, and a few years too late at that. For everyone that says that it’s not Torre’s fault for pitchers or hitters not executing, I have to fall back on the guiding principle for managers: do they put their team in the best position to win ballgames? In the Yanks’ case, Torre has not done so. Torre’s mismanagement of the bench and bullpen goes beyond eccentricity, it is a major flaw that hurts the Yanks and costs them games. How many times does he have to go to Bruney or Vizcaino when Kyle Farnsworth has only pitched once over the span of 6 days? How many times will we have to sit and watch him stick with Doug Mientkiewicz when Phelps is the better option? Why pinch run for Giambi or pinch run with two outs? Torre’s a guy who brings a great deal to the table. But his time’s up.
Also I was talkin about this the other day, when the Yanks move into the new stadium they will have the worst defensive team in the league. Matsui, Damon, Jeter, ARod, I’m sure Posada will still be here and they will all be a few years older and ecspecially the outfield, Cecil Fielder could run on Matsui and Damon’s arms this year just think what two years will bring. 5 & 6 year olds will be able to tag up at third and beat there throws to the plate
Does anyone think Phil should/will get another start?
I think he will and should. I think his next start out he will be alot less nervous, and he should be able to go deeper into the game. The first inning of nearly 30 pitches hurt him.
I propose that for the next 48 hours, anyone who beats a dead horse around here gets fined or beaten – - or both. The following are dead horses:
1) Anything Torre
2) Anything Cashman
3) The bullpen
4) The rotation
WILL THERE BE A RAIN OUT TONIGHT???
couple thoughts:
1. Hughes did ok, which, while i was hoping he’d go like 6+ with 8-9 K’s and 3 ERs, this is what i personally expected… not great, not bad. his fastball spotted well, but its kind of flat. that curveball is unbelieveable. he can use the time at AAA, and i’d rather see him build some strength/pitch counts up there than continue to tax our bullpen because Torre and Cashman want to baby him at 90 pitches a start. But I have a feeling as long as he continues to not get bombed, he’ll be in this rotation.
2. Did Torre really bring Proctor in to pitch an inning last night when they were losing 5-0? When people talk about how Torre mismanages a bullpen, this is what they are talking about. I understand he had 3 days rest going into last night, but don’t they think maybe even a 4th day could be helpful?
3. Torre talked with Mike/Maddog yesterday before the game, and said that he had a conversation with Bernie about 10 days ago, and thinks this bench would look a lot better with him on it. He thinks Bernie would need at least 10-15 games in the minors to be ready, at the minimum. But he also said its time for Bernie to be a little proactive here and give them a call and tell them what he wants to do.
It sounded like Torre wants Bernie on this bench, and he’s waiting for Bernie to stop beings so stubborn and just make a move on his side already.
murphydog-
you can’t be happy with the state of the yankees. the last time i felt this bad about the state of the yankees was the scutaro walkoff. i took advantage of the jackie robinson day festivities to switch to being a baseball fan first. yankee fan wasn’t working.
how many losses can we say,it’s early. i run a small business on cape cod. i play a little game with the employees where every day in season we try to beat last year’s daily total. beat the total is a win. don’t beat the total is a loss. we never go more than 3 days without a “win”. if it hits three losses there is no talk of patience. we are shaking things up changing the energy if nothing else. this team is sleepwalking. no one is shaking anything up.
hughes is a panic move simply because he doesn’t have the arm strength to go past 75 pitches with his normal velocity.he was 89-90 after 75 pitches. verlander was 23 when he cam up last year. huh?
rivera has gone another 4 days with no work. huh?
rassner has a 3.86 era after 14 innings is at triple a, huh?
the back up catcher is batting .000 . if it wasn’t for the rainout he’d be starting a red sox game? huh?
the first baseman is batting .152. huh?
jeter gets knocked out of two games in the first inning and kazmir wins the game with no devil ray paying the price so it doesn’t happen next time. huh?
the first thing i do in my busines when we have 3 bad days in a row is get back to basics and take care of the little things. i don’t see the little things being taken care of on the yankees. it looks like no one is in charge.
being patient with losses is a bad habit to get into.
before the kids and the trolls take over for the day ,what are your thoughts on how to shake things up and get things back on track?
Damn I just wrote an amazing entry which didn’t get posted. Jist of it was Pete ripping Hughes would like someone telling you are new born baby is ugly.
Second point, the other blogs are almost all positive on Hughes. Those other blogs are written by Yankee fans, this one is written by a paid writer who is a fan of the Yankee’s competition. Fair and Balanced, this blog is not.
I think the ump was squeezing Phil he missed minimum for 3-4 strikes, also the first base ump was blind, Doug clearly kept his foot on the bad when he first received the ball, than his foot left the bag, that was the beginning of the end of the night for Phil. The out come of the game wouldn’t have changed since we couldn’t score ONE run! but Phil’s line would have looked a whole lot better!
Pete,
I usually give your baseball knowledge the benefit of the doubt, but what on earth makes you think that 10-13 makes any difference as opposed to 9-14??? They’re both terrible, and if the Yanks take 2 of 3 they won’t get as killed in the papers, but not because they’re 10-13, but because they took 2 of 3.
Jeff NJ: Why don’t you go to those other blogs than. No one thinks you are the greatest Yankee fan in the world b/c you have a positive attitude during a 6 game winning streak. People come here b/c they like the insight and they like it better than the other blogs. If you don’t fine, but stay off this one if you don’t like it. I personally think Pete does a great job and has a perpsective just like many life long Yankee fans. If you want to be an idiot here than more power to you but I don’t think b/c you disagree with what Pete writes that you have to keep on ripping him. Get a grip man. I somewhat agree with some of your post that the Yanks will be alright but some of your other logic is just ignorant. The Yankees are only 2 games out of last place in all of baseball so something obviously isn’t clicking with this team and I don’t think that adding Moose is going to make this team shoot from last to first like you do. Every fan does not have the same opinion on what they see happening on the field, thats what makes being a fan great. So why don’t you grow up, stop acting like an idiot and if you don’t like this blog than take your happy go lucky attitude elsewhere.
I’d like to point out that Hughes’ fielding-independent ERA (FIP) from last night was 1.58. As the saber-goons will tell you, FIP (like DIPS), is considered a more reliable way to evaluate pitchers because it looks only at things that are exclusively within the pitcher’s control: strikeouts, walks, and HRs. It represents an expected ERA based on those peripheral statistics, taking disparities in team defense and luck out of the equation.
All things considered, PH made a very impressive debut last night. “All things considered” includes first-night jitters, poor infield defense, bad umpiring, and arguably a bad scoring decision in failing to charge Cairo with an error on the throw that supposedly pulled Mientkiewicz off the bag at first.
Tonight’s game will be rained out. Its suppose to rain all day and night with no “spots” in between until 11 pm.
Pete, I got your e-mails just now, although MSN won’t let me reply so I figured I would post it here. I would like to apologize for the personal attacks. I shouldn’t have gone that far, I just felt so angry but that doesn’t make it right. I thought you were a Red Sox fan, but I am glad you confirmed that you are not, I know it would bother me if someone called me a Red Sox fan too. Just for the record, this is my favorite blog, I vote for it in every poll and I have written on the other blogs how much better this one is. My sincere apologies.
As for Nick’s comments, I never said Moose would make the Yankees shoot to first, he’ll help but who knows. I have said many times that I think this is a rebuilding year, but I am hopeful that Cashman has walked the thin line of making it a competitive rebuilding year, something no other franchise can manage.
Anyway hopefully we get back in the win column tonight, this fighting is killin’ us
No one is arguing Phil is bad, they are arguing it would be nice to ease him into his Pro Career. He came right from high school so his arm doesn’t have a lot of seasoning. He hasn’t developed the arm strength to go through a full season without the reigns being kept on him so bringing him up to the majors makes it that much harder to keep the reigns on him. No one in Scranton cares if the manager takes him out after 85 pitches but if he is throwing a gem in the MLB and Torre takes him out and the bullpen blows it then fans will be outraged. It just makes it harder to develop him into one of the leagues best pitchers slowly. No one is arguing that he doesn’t have what it takes, but are arguing he still needs time to work on a few things and build up his arm.
Apropos of nothing, this is what I think of this team right now: I think it’s a really good team, and I’m not at all worried about how they will do this year. At the same time, it is really frustrating and no fun to watch them lose all these games in a row. It’s sort of like having a bad head cold. You know you’re going to be fine eventually, but in the meantime it’s a pretty miserable experience.
randy 1:
The offense was trying too hard last night to help out Hughes and to end the skid with runs. Add to that Burnett’s nice performance versus Hughes’ sincere but inadequate job and you have a recipe for a loss.
The biggest current problem – - the injury riddled rotation – - is not something that can be shaken up. The Yanks took a shot to the heart when the three starters went down with injuries more or less at the same time. Unlike when Matsui and Sheff went down, there is no Melky/Bernie solution. Yankee position players are easier to replace given the power in the lineup. Those who want to say that they should have seen this pitching injury crisis coming are not providing any ideas on how to get past this.
They have to slow down and relax. The loss column is getting ugly, but pressing even harder will only make it worse. The veterans have to take charge, remind everybody that they have been here before and that in a month it will look a lot better.
Maybe the first base issue needs settling. Phelps has been hitting and he can be replaced in late inning defense situations when the Yanks have the lead.
The Hughes thing is a red herring. He’s here because there isn’t much choice. When Moose gets back a decision will have to be made. Send Igawa to Scranton to get straightened out? If the tutorial with Gator doesn’t get it done, send him down to work it out. Maybe Pavano will come back (Sure he will). If not, God help us, it looks like Hughes and Karstens as #4 and 5. I don’t think Clemens is the answer now since he will not give us any real length. Prior to the injuries he would have been nice to have.
It’s a long season an anything can happen. Other teams will suffer injuries and go through slumps. And there are always trades. There could be a blockbuster if Cash is intent on saving the season. (But that would be the opposite of the “new philosophy.”) Or maybe they will play the hand that they and Fate have dealt and set up for next year and the year after that.
It’s like being held under by a big wave…gotta keep holding your breath till you come up.
A rainout of on Saturday would be nice. Skip Karstens turn in the rotation.
- KMT
I can see Murphs point of “taking a deep breath”.
I also think we need to can the injury excuse because Toronto is more beat up than the Yankees and they are winning games.
I am not upset about last night’s loss. Last night, Burnett was dynamite and they got beat. That’s baseball.
I am more disappointed at the way the team has looked the entire season and its not just because of injuries.
So many mistakes so early. Defensively, lineup changes, bullpen management, no retaliation to hit batsmen, etc. Its as if the entire team is still in spring training mode. Its not good to see.
Its time for the team to play better. No matter who is pitching, who is in the lineup, etc., its time they begin looking like a good baseball team again.
They may deeply flawed (which they are), and have some injuries (which they do) but, this is not a last place team.
They keep playing like one, its going to be tough to keep George quiet much longer.
Pete is right. Win two of three this weekend and they begin to go forward. Get swept and look bad doing so, fair or unfair, things are going to get bad around the Yankees.
History has shown us that somebody inevitably takes the fall when things get REAL bad in the Bronx. Its not real bad yet but, another bad weekend, and it will be.
Another bad weekend and I think you are right. You could see the Yankees look to move certain players in the last year of their contracts in mid-June. We are not at that point but I don’t think I’m being ridiculous either.
What kills me right now is this Kei Igawa signing. Al Leiter said last night he has to live on the corners with his stuff topping out at 91mph. With Cashman at the helm cutting payroll and trying to get younger, why did they spend 46mm to get this guy. He looks atrocious. This more then the Pavano debacle could lead to Cashman losing his job.
SJ44: You’re right about someone taking the fall, but I don’t think it will be Torre. If Torre survived the aftermath of last year’s playoffs, I can’t see him getting canned a month into the season–even if they lose badly to Boston this weekend. At this point, and though it’s not totally his fault, Guidry is the one with the bullseye on this back. Cashman wouldn’t get it for signing Igawa, but Guidry may for not being able to fix him.
And speaking of Guidry, why is he the pitching coach? I’ve tried to breach this topic before, but I can’t seem to get a good answer? His resume seems a little thin (other than being a former Yankee great, which goes far in these parts.)
CM, i think you just answered your own question.
I still think we should exercise caution with Igawa. At $4.6M per year he could easily be traded. I guess they could trade Igawa, Farnsworth, Matsui but that’s about it. Still, I do not anticipate a Yankee fire sale (a firing is more likely). I wonder if Mel Stottlemeyer would consider returning or maybe David Cone would take the job, I have not been impressed with Guidry.
Cleveland,
Good points. One of the things I don’t like about the team is the fact that the two most important positions on the coaching staff (bench coach and pitching coach) are occupied by the guys with the least amount of experience.
Just because guys were great players does not automatically mean they are great coaches.
With a guy like Joe, known for mismanagment of pitchers and not being the best in game strategist, I don’t believe its the proper utilization of personnel to have your most inexperienced coaches in the most important positions on the staff.
You overcome it when the team is healthy, hitting, and firing on all cylinders. However, when its not, it really shows up as a glaring weakness on the staff, IMO.
At this point, it is what it is with the team. They just need to start playing better. The sooner they do that, the better it is for everybody.
This has been a very tough month to endure and it has understandably made a lot of people, including me, irritated. The good news is, the rotation’s wholesale ineffectiveness and fragility could not have been predicted (expect for Pavano). Our starting pitching can only get better.
Will Torre take the fall if the team is slow to bounce back? I doubt it. Torre has had such a long run, with so many championships, that it would seem excessively ugly to fire him in the last year of his contract. Plus, emotion aside, replacing Torre would not necessarily help the team. While I doubt a replacement could be any worse as an in-game manager, the damage to the pen has already been done. It’s Torre’s mess to clean up now.
That said, it’s still April and the team can and will play better. Much better.
KMT- Its suppose to be nice on Saturday. However, in Northern NJ, its been down pouring all morning and will continue to do so until the late hours of tonight.
The Igawa/Cashman bashing is classic “hindsight is 20/20″ material. As I wrote in a long post earlier, Cashman got a 27-year old pitcher with terrific Japanese stats, which improved considerably last year, for five years/$46 million. Only $20 million of that is his actual contract, so he is tremendous trade bait if he is merely a decent back-end starter. As everyone knows, this is an era where league-average pitchers get $10-11 million/year, and below-average pitchers get $7-8 million/year.
In baseball, any signing can fail to work out and any player can fail to reach his potential. I just can’t understand why so many people are throwing Cashman under the bus because Igawa has had a bad April. Igawa’s stats are good enough that his being a total bust in MLB is unlikely at best. Cashman made a smart move, even if it doesn’t turn out to be the right move.
Its not just this year but where does this rotation go from here? Wang and Hughes are the only building blocks and free agent pitchers aren’t flocking here and when they do its only because they are on the downside of their career and want one last big payday. All the minor leaguers are at least a few years off and thats if they ever make it. I’m not sold on Moose for much longer and counting on him and Pettitte to stay healthy this year and next is asking a lot. I guess we should expect a Cy Young type season out of Pavano next year since it is a contract year though. That and our awful outfield defense are my only worries about this team.
I may not watch any of the Yankee games, not because I don’t like to see them losing so often, but because of the sound quality on the YES network and any other station that carries their games. Has anyone else noticed you have to turn the volume way way up in order to hear the announcers? The other stations aren’t like that.
Just a couple of points after (lots of) reading.
Guidry and Mattingly may have little experience, BUT:
Guidry had been being groomed for the position over the past couple of seasons in spring training. I know that’s not a lot, but he didn’t jump on board out of the anals of Yankee lore alone. Plus, I seem to remember how he was being praised last season, especially with his handling of CM Wang.
As for Mattingly being the bench coach, how much more experience did Girardi have when he was bench coach? I have heard so many times how Mattingly is such a student of the game, and someone who knows the game. And he’s earned the right to start his next career somewhere. I believe that Joe has Pena and Bowa to rely on, as well, as far as in-game strategy and also pre-game strategy. Torre has said on numerous occasions how beneficial it is to have ex-managers as coaches on his staff and how they all contribute. (Maybe it’s a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth??)
Again, I posit that despite not winning WS since 2000, they did GET THERE twice since, and even when they haven’t they’ve had very, very good seasons.
I also say that I believe Cashman was aware of the fragility of his starting staff, and that is why he began to stockpile arms in the minors. But I suggest that NO ONE could have guessed that the majority would go down ALL AT THE SAME TIME. You can fill in for one, maybe two, with your reserved #6 guys (Karstens, Rasner). But this particular situation was not all that foreseeable.
I haven’t once heard a member of the Yankees team blame injuries. And I have heard Torre say no one cares about injuries — everyone gets them; everyone deals with them.
I don’t understand people complaining that Cashman traded Johnson. Johnson requested the trade; Cash would have been foolish to do otherwise.
I also don’t understand why people insist “Cash should have signed Matsuzaka.” It was a sealed bid. NO ONE anticipated the Red Sox taking that large a financial risk. They never had before.
The free agent pitchers available this past off-season were mediocre, and would have cost too much in money, but more importantly, in the time commitment (contract length). Not being able to move players has hamstrung the Yankees and other teams. Zito was the best of the least, but he got, what, 7 years????? Right, that would have been a great move.
Finally, murphydog — loved your “to do list” — a much-needed breath of fresh air.
I never want to see Cairo on the field again. Not only can’t he hit, but he can’t even make the throw from short. It drives me nuts when every announcer talks about how valuable Cairo is. How is he valuable? He’s an automatic out in the lineup and he’s a bad defender.
They should start preparing Alberto Gonzalez to play third base and then bring him up and cut Cairo. He actually impacted the game with his weak little arm. I think Frank Thomas could go first to third on a single between the noodle arms of Damon and Cairo.
Minky batting second? I didn’t get the chance to read most of the comments last night, but I hope people were appropriately enraged. How do you give your worst hitter more at-bats than A-Rod and Abreu? Why not stick Cano there? It’s time to play Phelps against a righthander and see how he does; if he hits and plays a decent first base, then make Minky a defensive replacement.
I know I’m in the minority here, but don’t give up on Igawa so soon. He’s better than Karstens. It’s totally absurd that they’re skipping Igawa to get to Kartsens — so he can get blasted again by the Sox. Karstens has average stuff, and now the Sox are going to be seeing it again a week later.
Igawa’s start against the Rays was bad, but why doesn’t he get credit for his starts before that? He had started to look good. One game with bad location and he’s out? Torre obviously never liked him from the get-go and has been looking for an excuse to get rid of him. At his worst, he’s no worse than Karstens. And he has a much higher upside.
They should leave Karstens in the bullpen as the longman (a role he’s suited for) and give Igawa at least one more chance.
Maybe it’ll rain for a couple of days, and we can all pretend that the season starts on Sunday. Give everyone some time to re-group and use it as a fresh start.
LazyKnitter –
You are SO RIGHT about the sound quality on YES. I have to watch the game with the remote in-hand, so I can mute or lower the volume every commercial break. It’s horrendous. And last night on MY9 it wasn’t much better. It was not this bad last season.
I know I’m in the minority, but even though Mientkiewicz did not get a hit last night, I thought he hit the ball well 3 times with nothing to show for it.
If you can believe weather reports on the Internet, the game won’t be played tonight. It’s going to be raining in the Bronx all night.
Wang and Pettitte and pray for Wetted (Field)?
I was a big fan of the Mientkiewicz acquisition, thinking a great defender would off-set the hole he would create in an otherwise stellar lineup.
Now I see that the stellar lineup is part of the reason Minky is a detriment. With Matsui/Posada/Cano in front of him, Mientkiewicz is ALWAYS up with runners on base. It’s one thing to hit a weak grounder to leadoff an inning or with no one on, but it’s quite another to see it time and time again with runners in scoring position.
Derek Jeter did a Top Ten List for David Letterman last night. Check it out.
http://www.cbs.com/latenight/l.....7561.phtml
well, if item number one on GS’s to do list is enacted, it wouldn’t be Girardi. It would fall to heir-apparent Donnie Baseball. I wonder how Joe G would do though. He seems great with the younger guys, but what about a lineup that’s as old….er, experienced…as the yankees?
Great post by Doreen, and I want take what she mentioned about Guidry and build on that –
Success can really spoil fans if they don’t have a decent grip on reality and aren’t prepared for down times or bad runs. We get so used to the success and praises and whatnot, that when we actually have to deal with (gasp) disappointments, so many people can’t hack it. Heros get praised and we latch on to them like they are our personal property when things are going well. But the second they make a mistake or have a bad stretch, some people want to bury them. Although they probably deserve it, I hope most of those people don’t get treated at their own professions according to their own mode of thinking.
As Doreen mentiond, Guidry was praised for his work with CMW. Now that the pitching is struggling, all of a sudden he sucks? Whatever. The same goes for Torre – the man managed our club to four WS titles in a 5-year stretch, along with all of the consecutive division titles. Go ask the rest of the 29 clubs if that’s inferior. The fans of those clubs would laugh at anyone suggesting those are subpar results. So some of you want to frie Torre? Sure, fine – we can go back to the Steinbrenner way of thinking – just be prepared to deal with the rest of what comes with that package. Maybe Torre has lost a step – he certainly has made some bad decisions so far this year. But I’d still personally choose him over the overwhelming majority of managers out there any day.
As much as I liked Joe Girardi as a player and a human being, why does everyone think he’s such a lock for being a good Yankee manager? Because he won an NL Manager of the Year award? Yeah, he was also fired, as senseless as that move was. Where’s the rest of Girardi’s “track record” that people put so much emphasis on for other coaching candidates (Mattingly, Guidry)? I’m just saying, there’s a lot of double standards that get exposed when talk of firing coaches occurs.
So we haven’t won a WS title since 2000. Big freakin’ whoop. Trust me, I’d love for us to win every year. But that’s exactly how people poison themselves with those unrealistic expectations. It doesn’t help when players like Jeter preach the whole “our goal is to win the WS every year, period” each spring, because that rubs off on the fans and creates an expectation that anybody that’s been around baseball long enough will tell you just isn’t going to happen. There’s 30 MLB teams – a good half of them have a shot at a title each year. Sure, you can go on a run like the Yanks did in the 90’s and have dynasties, but that’s more rare than it is common. We’re not going to win every year. We’ve still been to 3 WS in this decade, and I think that gets lost in the list of “failures” that are focused on.
Murphy dog good post..
Mentkiewiecz would not be a bad signing if the Yanks had there whole lineup..
I think the real starters have played about 5 games together. When healthy put Doug or Phelps in the 9 spot and offense is not a problem.
Pitching is the problem. The early returns on Igawa are not good but I also believe he should get another couple of tries and think he is a better gamble then Karstens…
Hughes looks good. Mcdonald was out at first it was not even close. Hughes should improve and learn a lot just being around the big boys… He will increase his pitch count in the big leagues no different then aaa.
I think his makeup will be the difference I am very impressed.
Moose should be back next week and if he is just a 4.50 era pitcher it will help a ton..
keep the faith…
murphydog-
i agree that things will get better so holding your breath as the bad times pass by will eventually work, but why not play every angle to sneak in a few wins in the meantime.
doesn’t it rub you the wrong way when kazmir takes jeter out a few days after he did the same thing to vlad. it’s not an accident for kazmir to take out the key player on the opposing team. lou taught him well( or not so well). i’m not bashing any one person. i’m just saying someone should have stepped up and made sure kazmir, the devil rays and the league knew that you can’t do that to jeter without paying a price.
it’s things like this that shows me this is a team that doesn’t have an edge right now.ironically it’s arod who’s shown the most fight in him with his aggressiveness on the bases and at the plate.
Well, could be rough weather tonoght but should hopefully taper off by gametime. I don’t know much more. The other poster on my blog has some updates. I don’t like following that junk.
The amount of good sense exhibited in the last several posts is staggering.
I never liked the Mientkiewicz signing but I admit he is not a totally useless player *if* a manager knows how to use him – which is entirely as a defensive replacement. He is a non-factor offensively, with no power even when he does hit. Limited use will also keep his back in good shape. Plus Phelps has shown that he is capable of serving as an adequate everyday first baseman.
Inexplicably, however, Torre seems to have fallen in love with Mientkiewicz, as last night conclusively proved. The Torre-Minky connection reminds me a bit of Torre and Bernie, only Minky was never as good as Bernie.
“Mentkiewiecz would not be a bad signing if the Yanks had there whole lineup..
I think the real starters have played about 5 games together. When healthy put Doug or Phelps in the 9 spot and offense is not a problem.”
I couldn’t agree more regarding Eye Chart. He really is a stellar defender and if the Yankees are relying on his offense to win games, then this is going to be a very rough season. I do like the suggestion of batting Cano second yesterday. I don’t want him to get too comfortable down in the order… we need to see what he can do playing closer to the top of the lineup.
Regarding Huhes… I was quite impressed with his performance. As long as he can spot his pitches better, which I’ve heard he can, then he’ll be fine. I only watched half of his start, but of the hits he gave up, most seemed to be hit hard on poorly located fastballs. The Frank Thomas RBI in the first came on a very good pitch, but that’s what happens when you face a HOF’er. He certainly has the ability to pitch at this level, but as Peter mentioned, there are significant dangers having him pitch in NY. Whether or not he will get injured, I guess time will tell.
Someone mentioned that we need to drop the injury excuses, because the Jays are more banged up and are winning games. That may be true, but at last check, they still have Halladay, Burnett and Chacin… in fact, they’ve only used 5 starting pitchers this year.
BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DO IT CASHMAN!!!!!!!
The Jays just got banged up..
Look at the posts people are discussing Mientekeiwicz(however you spell it) like this is the big issue..
1B is a minor issues, NEWSFLASH the Yanks have 1 issue PITCHING..
Yes there d is not top tier but it is adequate, yes there offense is the best in baseball, put they need to straighten out the pitching, this is the only issue……………
Bernie coming back means nothing it is a nonsense limited value bad idea… How many games will he win 1 maybe 2……
Minky is our 9th hitter…
As of last night’s games, these are the AL’s 9th hitters (the last two are from Wed’s game because of rainout)
Laird, TEX, .140
Barfield, CLE, .125
Pena, KC, .205
Bartlett, MIN, .233
Zobrist, TB, .155
Wood, LAA, .000
Lopez, SEA, .278
Putnam, OAK, .191
Pedroia, BOS, .184
Patterson, BAL, .234
McDonald, TOR, ..469
Granderson, DET, .286
Anderson, CHW, .118
vin,
Mienktiewicz was not our ninth hitter yesterday.
Given that Torre was not going to move Cano to the 2nd spot, what, really, is the difference between Cairo at #2, and Minky at #2? It’s a choice between two “evils,” if you will. And maybe it made sense to split up the teams two weakest hitters?
Of course he wasn’t, but he is when our lineup is intact.
Mientekeiwicz hit 1st last night becuase jeter was hurt.
the point is 9th place hitters are not the issue. 1 thru 4 starters and 8th inning relief pitchers are the issue……………
I meteant hit 2nd of course..
Huges most certaily is ready — he will dovery well this year if they keep him — AAA is a waste of innings on what can be a long career-
There was near universal crap available among pitching ranks last year — Cashman if he did anything wrong it was not this year but the 2 years before 2005-2006 when there were deals (but maybe he had no one to trade). It all gets better from here — patience is not a Yankee fan long suit, and like stroks on the golf course the season can get away 1 game at a time
BUT
There is enough talent to work through this – the first 17 games could have all been wins – even the Boston series was a set of 1 run games.
Give Torre a course in GAME MANAGEMENT / Bulpen management for gosh sakes
So if Roger Clemens is the Rocket man, does that make Schilling the Ketchup man? Who cares whether the story is real or not. The point it that he so so over bearing and pompous that you want to believe it. Now he’s wagering a million bucks against anyone to prove him wrong. Something needs to humble this narcissistic prick and shut him up.
” And maybe it made sense to split up the teams two weakest hitters?”
doreen-
i’m not sure how that helps. maybe it just kills two innings instead of one. i think the consensus on lineups is you want your good hitters to come up as many times as possible. hitting second gave mientkiewicz an extra at bat last night. cairo is just as bad.
i would have gone with cano for the above reason of one more at bat. it doesn’t guarantee more at bats for any one game , but over time it will. maybe 80- 100 at bats a year. it’s just playing the percentages.
Mientekeiwicz has absolutely NO business being anywhere near the top of the that lineup.
The move was beyond stupid. Joe’s gotten lucky in the past with some of those type of moves, but recently it hasn’t worked. I’ve never been an over the top Torre basher, but enough is enough.
Mientekeiwicz supposed stellar defense is not anywhere near enough to offset his hitting. I understand the point that in our lineup we don’t necessary need the production from him, yada yada…..but until Phelps proves he can’t handle it, he should be there while Cashman works to upgrade the position over both of them.
My thinking on the Minky hitting #2 is that after they scratched Jeter, it was easier to just insert Mientkiewicz — much neater than scratching out two spots.
Seriously, I think Torre sees Mientkiewicz as a contact hitter, who will eventually get his hits. No way he’s a #2 hitter on any kind of a regular basis, but for one night, Torre probably figured he could get away with it. Of course, Mientkiewicz did make good contact 3 times, with nothing to show for it. If any of those 3 falls in, Torre’s a (not quite) genious.
Anyway, who got hits last night? Cano-1, Arod-1, and Giambi 2 (well, he turned it into 1). Toronto’s pitcher was seriously “on” last night.
When a team is struggling, you have to do other things to win. That’s when “managing” comes in.
Having Minky hitting second simply makes no sense. You put Cano in that spot and look to make the lineup top heavy (which is what Toronto did last night to compensate for their injuries), in the hopes they can get early runs for Hughes.
It was just a bad move. Not the headscratching move like this we have seen this year.
Its these moves that cause doubt as to whether or not Torre is the right guy for this team.
Anybody can manage this team when its 100% healthy and firing on all cylinders.
However, when its not, and you have to find ways to strategize and create winning opportunities, it just seems to me he falls short in that area.
Why was Minky in the lineup at all last night? His bat is slow and he isn’t going to catch up with Burnett.
You can’t play the “Platoon card”, when one guy is hitting .150 and the other guy (Phelps) has probably had better AB’s than anybody else in the lineup this week.
It may be a “little thing” to some. However, little things add up to big things and, IMO, that’s where they are right now. All of these “little things” have contributed as much, or more, to their poor start than anything else.
Hopefully, they turn things around this weekend. But, regardless of injuries, weather, karma or whatever, its time for this team to start playing good, solid baseball.
They are running out of excuses.
This team needs a win badly. Next week Mussina, Pettitte, and Wang will be pitching, and that’s going to be huge. We need starters who won’t get knocked out in the 5th inning or before. I don’t expect Mussina to give much his first time out, but he’ll do good down the stretch. If we can take this weekend series, we’ll be in a good position to start gathering some wins.
Batting Mientkiewicz second, as an isolated incident, is *not* a big deal. Obviously we cannot expect Torre to do this on a regular basis. He is not as stupid as Ozzie Guillen.
And I don’t mean to dredge up the old arguments about whether Mientkiewicz is good enough to be on the team at all. There will always be those who say his glove justifies his inability to hit and those who don’t.
But recently there has been a lot of criticism of Torre, and batting Mientkiewicz second, even in an unusual situation, shows why that criticism is mostly justified.
A lot of the recent complaints about Torre have been that Torre is too willing to substitute inferior hitters into the game in late-and-close situations. Such substitutions have invariably come back to bite us, such as when we were down 6-4 against the Devil Rays and our top of the ninth hitters were Cano, Melky, and Mientkiewicz, the latter two being pointless late-inning substitutions in place of Phelps and Damon.
This criticism is undeniably fair because our starting pitching has nothing to do with it. This is pure game management based entirely on factors within Torre’s control.
What do these substitutions show about Torre? That he does not understand the need to maximize at bats for your best hitters and minimize at bats for your worst hitters, especially when the game is on the line.
Batting Mientkiewicz second, for any reason, shows a new level of incompetence because it presumes that Mientkiewicz deserves more at bats than any other player in the lineup for that game except Damon.
Say you and a friend were given the players who started last night and were asked to build a lineup out of them. Would you bat Mientkiewicz in the top half of the lineup? If your friend did so, wouldn’t you question his or her baseball knowledge?
This is terrible managing, pure and simple, as evidenced by the fact that even the most intelligent and perceptive commenters on this site can explain it. And my concern is that it’s due to Torre managing scared. His weirdest moves (his moving ARod around in the order in the 2006 ALDS and ultimately batting him eighth) seem to come when the team is in trouble. While starting Hughes shows the front office’s desperation, batting Mientkiewicz second shows Torre’s desperation, as if doing something so bizarre that no one else would consider it will somehow snap the team out of its losing streak.
Forgot the offense,batting order and all of this nonsense about bringing back Bernie. Bernie can’t throw, can’t hit very well anymore, and has no range in the outfield. Unless he figured out how to pitch over the winter, fine, but obviously that’s not realistic. Mientekeiwicz is not the problem either. Mientekeiwicz is not the problem either. Thats not a typo, thats for some of you people who aren’t paying attention.
This bullpen needs to be revamped. Obviously, Torre does not have the luxury of the likes of Wetteland, Mendoza, Stanton, Quantrill, and such to go to anymore. He now has guys who can’t pitch consistently, and really, thats not his fault. Over-using them, maybe, but again, if the Yankees had more than 2 starters who could go 6+ innings, we wouldn’t even be talking about it.
So, the biggest problem the Yankees have is that bullpen. Henn needs to be used more and Farnsworth and Proctor need to be let go before their arms fall of, which are filled up with inconsistency anyways.
Forgot the last week, or day, before the trading deadline – something needs to be done NOW about the bullpen woes and the inability of where it stands.
Doreen:
Bless your heart, you got the joke. The fact that a lot of people didn’t tells you something. Reading this blog the last few days was like being inside Steinbrenner’s head listening all the voices telling him to kill, er, fire everybody in sight.
While I am heartened that at least some of us recognize the foolishness of all the proposed changes, the beat goes on. Today’s blue plate specials include three new offerings: Guidry Gumbo, Chicken Cairo and Marinated Mattingly. I see that the main man course, Torre Tortellini, is still popular with the locals.
Yes, the Blue Jays are banged up. No closer and a pitcher or two down. The Blue Jays’s big three starters are available however. Getting innings from even their three big guns saves their remaining bullpen from the spreading disaster. Their record? 11 and 10 or 3 games better than us. Three games. Considering that over the same period we were working with Pettitte, Igawa, Rasner, and Karstens, and Pettitte in relief, we’re lucky it’s only three games difference.
Gotta admit that the BJ Ryan injury is big, though. He may not be back at 100% and the effects of it may be huge down the stretch. In fact in an unfortunate way, it’s a break for the Yankees.
Bill,
The pen is terrific this year. Look how many scoreless innings it put up before the recent string of blown leads – which in turn followed nearly a month of overwork.
We have the arms in the pen to win a championship. The questions are whether we have enough of a rotation to keep those arms from getting overloaded by the break, and a manager who knows how to minimize the strain on the pen when the starters are getting the job done.
That should read “are not getting the job done.”
Doreen:
I forgot to mention Chase Wright’s “contribution.” He at least “won” one game. (I don’t even want to mention that other kid, name starts with an Ph but is pronounced like an F. Don’t want to hurt his feelings or get the Philomaniacs going again).
Bernie is 100 times better than Melky
Um, Bill, did you mention Quantrill in that list of former great Yankee relievers? You might want to revise that.
100 times better than Melky at what?
Jeremy: I’m sorry, but to say ‘The Great Mariano”, Proctor and Farnsworth have been terrfic is the overstatement of the year. They have been anything but terrific. I think Myers (besides the crawford meltdown) and Luis have been decent, but thats about it. We’re practically in May, and the great Mariano still doesn’t have a Save under his belt, yet the bullpen has been terrific? They can’t get the ball to Mariano, and then when they do, he crumbles.
Anthony: You’re foolish to think Bernie is better than Melky. Melky can at least catch and throw the ball, something of which Bernie has trouble doing. Besides that, he has 100x more range in the Outfield. Offensively, they both suck evenly. So, the obvious choice here is Melky.
“It may be a “little thingâ€? to some. However, little things add up to big things and, IMO, that’s where they are right now. All of these “little thingsâ€? have contributed as much, or more, to their poor start than anything else.”
sj44-
i couldn’t agree more. there doesn’t seem to be a of sense of urgency to fix the little things. last year leyland went off on the tigers for them not doing the little things. being relaxed and cool under adversity sometimes works and sometimes leyland’s approach works. i think somewhere along the line someone needs a kick in the butt to pass it down the organizational chain to kick things in gear. it could be steinbrenner going after cashman or torre or the bullpen coach even or the bullpen coach’s dog. the point is everyone needs to know they could be replaced(even the dog). that was the message leyland gave to the tigers.
i’m old school ,and it made me jump out of my seat when kazmir hit jeter. as the game went on i knew there’d be no retaliation. that’s a little thing( not so little when it might affect jeter for weeks),but it shows the lack of edge that this team has. it’s one thing to lose. it’s another to have no fight.
Yes, Quantrill was great for the Yankees until Torre blew out his arm.
Enoch: Look below your post.
And anyone who thinks Bernie is a better OF than Melky is just not a smart baseball fan.
i agree with you Randy – this team is not showing any fight in them. Old school baseball was like this: You hit a HR off a premier SP who liked to control the inside part of the plate, you were getting beamed the next time you came up. And the batter knew it too. It was part of the game.
Yet, Torre won’t even knock down Ortiz or Manny when Jeter and Giambi are always getting drilled by Sox pitchers. Why?
Randy,
Couldn’t agree more. I remember Leyland going off on his team in late April last year (while they were off to a great start) because they had a poor afternoon home effort in a game before they were to fly to the West Coast. Even though they won the series 2-1, it wasn’t enough for Leyland.
I remember that sound bite as if it was yesterday.
He said, “Its not good enough to just show up and be happy with yourself because you won a series. That’s the reason why these guys have lost all these years. Its unacceptable and its going to stop NOW”.
Folks may downplay that stuff (and certainly, its a whole lot different managing a younger team than a veteran team) but, don’t discount the need to put a sense of urgency into your players. Not being done here this year, regardless of the Pro-Torre spin that’s going on. From Day One, its been a listless group.
The retaliation stuff? I couldn’t agree more with you. Its disgusting to see Yankee hitters get drilled and the pitchers don’t back them up. Ever since Clemens drilled Piazza in 2000, it seems Torre has put the brakes on that stuff and Yankee hitters have been open targets ever since.
Drives me nuts.
It would be nice if the, “season starts tonight” for the Yankees. Come out, play a solid game, win, and take over the inside of the plate from Red Sox hitters.
It would be a great way to break a losing streak and pump some of life into what seems to be a very listless team at the moment.
SJ:
1) How does one show a sense of urgency for pitchers’ muscles to heal? Give Mussina a team rubdown before each game? The problem is the starting pitching, not the offense. Not an excuse, but a fact. Stop using invincible ignorance to avoid dealing with the problem. It’s the pitching.
2) Just because A-Rod doesn’t always hit the game winning home run doesn’t mean these guys aren’t trying or aren’t looking to win. In baseball sometimes you lose. It’s a hard game.
3) Leyland’s speech is cool for a team of last place players like the Tigers were who haven’t won anything in a long time and don’t remember what it was like to win. The Yanks have not been a last place team complacent about losing. Could Torre be more fiery? You don’t know what it’s like behind closed doors. Besides, do you really think you need to motivate Jeter, A-Rod, Posada, Mo, Giambi, Pettitte. C’mon. Do they look like they are not hustling, just moping around? They are beating the drum all the time. Or is it just that you guys need to see water coolers launched from the bench?
4) Hitting people doesn’t get pitchers back any sooner and it sure doesn’t save the bullpen.
When you are throwing crappy AAA pitchers up against Major Leaguers the last thing you are permitted to do is knock somebody down who hit one of your crappy AAA pitches for a HR. You would look like a clown.
I’m also not against chin music. But the head hunting Clemens did to Piazza? No way. That was sickening.
But let’s play along. Tell me what happens when the Evil Empire starts hitting guys on the Devil Rays? Care to guess what the reaction is in the media? “Payroll just under $200 million, 26 titles and they have to hit people? It’s a sign of how desperate Torre’s team has become.” Not that the media is the be all and end all, but it does matter.
How about the Red Sox? Want someone to get really hurt? Want to start a riot? They will throw back and hurt someone. We need another injury? We need to issues free passes to put more Sox on base? And when our starter gets thrown out for hitting the batter and we have to go to the bullpen again, then what?
What about the other teams? Everybody watches this stuff on ESPN closely. They’re already more “up” to play the Yankees than any other team. Want to get them even more pumped up before you roll into town?
I understand your frustration, but getting porky is a sure sign that we think we have lost it. Keep your shirts on.
Finally, SJ: what Pro-Torre spin are you talking about? Here? On this blog? You have killed that guy at least ten times a night for the last ten days.
didn’t get to read thru all of this today, but ditto on everyone’s comments on meintkeivwicz batting 2nd.
The heart of our order was handcuffed while Cano spent pretty much his entire rookie season batting 2nd.
I can’t see one thing to justify that move. he’s not hitting. making good contact and hitting well are 2 completely different things.
Here’s to hoping jeter’s back tonight to limit our coaching staff’s dumb decisions.
though i’m sure they’ll think of something else to make 99% of their fans collectively scratch their heads tonight.
murphydog-
i’m surprised how you feel about protecting hitters and pitchers claiming their half of the plate. santana was taken deep by hafner the other night. next pitch hit martinez the catcher. next time up halfner was knocked off of the plate first pitch. hafner didn’t move off the plate so the next pitch from santana hit him in the front right shoulder. hafner didn’t get mad. he knew he chose to take over both sides of the plate. santana threw the ball where hafner made the choice if he was to be hit or not.there was no headhunter bad attitude on santana’s part. but pitching like this is why santana is santana. and the twins are the twins. overachievers.
this yankee team needs to overachieve if they are going to win it all.
that said i’m with you that hatfield/mccoy headhuting has no place in the game, but there is a middle ground and santana is the perfect example of how to occupy it.
the yankees have become pacifists in a game where turning the other cheek is not rewarded.