More from Tampa on Roger Clemens
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- May
- 19
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Kevin Devaney of The Journal News is a player when it comes to blogging. Here is the report he e-mailed me from Tampa tonight:
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Needless to say, Roger Clemens was sharp. He allowed one run and three hits in four innings with two strike outs and no walks. Tampa, by the way, won the game 2-1 over the Fort Myers Miracle (Twins affiliate).
What was most impressive was Clemens’ command. Of his 58 pitches, 42 were for strikes. He used all of his pitches and was consistently ahead on every batter after the first inning.
Sure, most people are going to dismiss those numbers because it was against a Class A lineup. But know that the Fort Myers lineup included two sons of former veteran major leaguers — Ron Gardenhire and Wayne Tolleson. Also note that he topped out at 91 MPH and was getting outs. A team like Fort Myers is chomping at the bit to face a guy like Clemens and are going to be very aggressive. And yet, they managed three hits, two of which were to the opposite field on a soft liners. The other was a home run by new media darling Erik Lis, who drilled a fat 2-2 fastball way over the well in right.
In an attempt to work his body up, Clemens threw 50-55 pitches in the bullpen before the game, which is way more than his routine. He also said he worked out harder than normal. Afterwards, he threw another bullpen session of about 30 pitches.
After pitching in three minor league games to comeback midseason for the Astros last year, the process is clearly being accelerated for Clemens’ return to the Yankees.
He better be careful, though. The major factor with him physically is the strength of his legs. He said on some pitches his legs came through his wind-up well. Others pitches, however, they didn’t.
Overall, Clemens looked pretty darn close to being major league ready. He’ll make another minor league start, on Wednesday in Trenton, before a decision will be made on his major league debut. I’m guessing it’s sooner rather than later.
Clemens, by the way, wouldn’t address Kyle Farnsworth’s comments. He’s basically tired of answering questions about the subject of his travel. Honestly, when Clemens was asked about it, he almost looked like he was thinking “Who cares about Kyle Farnsworth?” although he didn’t say it.
The kid who hit the homer off Clemens, Lis, is a nice story. When his father found out that Clemens was pitching against Fort Myers, he flew in from Illinois to watch.
Lis hit the home run and immediately his dad began finding a way to get his hands on it, which he did. That’s a pretty cool momento to have — a ball you hit for a home run off Roger Clemens when you were 23.
When asked if he was going to have Clemens sign it, his eyes widened “No! … I’m not that kind of guy,” he said. It drew a big laugh. As did when somebody asked if he looked at Clemens when he rounded the bases: “I didn’t look him, no way. That was the worst thing I could do.”
Lis said he got a hundred calls from friends, some of which he hadn’t heard from since high school, before the game. I’m sure his phone was going nuts after, too.
The Double-A manager in the Twins organization said before the game that if anyone hits a home run off Clemens, they’d get automatically promoted.
“First he said it’s a hundred dollars if anyone hits one,” Lis said. “That would be pretty cool.”
Wow, a $28 million pitcher serves up a home run to a kid who is giddy over a hundred bucks.
Great job by Kevin. Thanks.
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on Saturday, May 19th, 2007 at 12:26 am by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
He was probably thinking, “Kyle who?”
Unless Clemens is going to hit 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th for average and power, I don’t care how soon he comes back. The problem right now is the hitting, not the pitching. Losing 3-2 at Shea sucks. I’d rather be losing 12-8 games at this point.
“Sure, most people are going to dismiss those numbers because it was against a Class A lineup. But know that the Fort Myers lineup included two sons of former veteran major leaguers — Ron Gardenhire and Wayne Tolleson.”
Which means nothing. Honestly, sons of major league players? What the hell is the significance?
“A team like Fort Myers is chomping at the bit to face a guy like Clemens and are going to be very aggressive. And yet, they managed three hits, two of which were to the opposite field on a soft liners.”
Against a pitcher like clemens being “very agressive” can be a bad thing.
The only thing you can say from clemens outing is that his control appears to be there. Of course, if the hitters were “very agressive” they could have been swinging at balls. Devaney seems to be jumping the gun.
“He was probably thinking, “Kyle who?â€?”
Which is kyle’s point, isn’t it?
as someone posted earlier reasonable criticism is absolutely fine and warranted. saying they stink, it is over, fie everyone is just nonsense.
they ar 2 – 8 in 1 run games… Call me in denial I still think they will be fine.. By fine I mean a team that wins alot of games, are they going to win the division? Not unless they pick things up real quick.
I was watching gary apple on SNY god he is a real annoying idiot… Waldman and sterling were suprisingly well spoken. not cavalier but saying hey it is a long season..
I think one of the Yankees problems is and I am sure many of the whiners will totally disagree is they actually treat too many games like they are world series games because of the hype and media nonsense they actually tru to hard. ie to hit a HR. Paul O’neill was telling Sterling something like that and I think he has a point.
on the signings front;; no MORE HIGH PRICED OLDER GUYS. NO ICHIRO, NO ANDRUW JONES, ETC. Ichiro is 32 or so do you think a very very good 35 year old slap hitter who relies on speed is a smart signing?
use free agency sparingly to deal with obvious weeknesses but the key is sparingly………
life goes on they will turn it around…
Worth noting that:
1) Wayne Tolleson sucked
2) Fort Meyers had a .222 team BA heading into this series.
Clemens better get here soon because they may be 10 under 500 soon.
Rasner. We need you and the bats. STAT.
Joseph P,
Its A ball. Not many 19 yr olds adjust to pro ball and wooden bats quick. Relax hombre.
I’m definitely of the mindset that they can turn it around, they just need to shake this rough patch. I do feel they need someone to step up and show a little fire though, ala Paul O’Neill. Posada gets a little pissed once in a while, I could see him letting off a little steam…hey but what do I know…I think I was referred to as a “bandwagon fan” by some numb-skull that will go unnamed.
stuart for the record, the yanks being fine does not mean they win alot of games. Fine means they make the playoffs. Your post made no sense.
The only good thing that may come out of this is that there is a good chance cash is going to be fired soon. Im not saying that it is his fault that they suck right now but with his payroll and his leeway, anybody can do this job better than he has done it so far.
Maybe the Yanks can acquire the kid who hit hte homer – they need offense badly.
I was out last night, so I didn’t see the game. I just spent the last, oh, half hour or so “speeding” through all these posts.
First, I have to respond to the Kristin Chenoweth entry, Pete. My daughter and I love her. She’s cuter than cute, can act like nobody’s business, and boy, does she have a set of pipes. I’m sure she was the best part of the game -for Yankees’ fans, anyway.
I should have written down the name of the poster — but, the guy who commented on Chenoweth’s being 4′9″ (being the bride on the wedding cake) – I was LOL — great post!
What to do about our Yankees? Not a pretty picture right now. I was of the opinion that what they needed was to win a couple of blow-outs in a row, but I’ve changed my mind. They REALLY need to win a few of these 3-2, 4-3, 5-3, CLOSE games (in a row would be nice). I think that’s how they get their confidence back. Once they know they can win the close ones, the blow-outs are an afterthought. They won’t be so concerned about beating up on their opponents if they know they can win even if they don’t. The pitching has been there for a couple of weeks now, give or take one or two games.
About the people who come here and rant away and bring most of us down — well, it’s not pleasant, to say the least, but, this is an open forum and they have as much right to their say as the rest of us. My suggestion is to skip their entries, if they bother you, and pretend they’re not here. It’s not that hard to scroll past an entry that doesn’t interest you.
Well, I’ve had my say. Let’s Go Yankees! (After all, it’s a new day, right?)
I’m psyched about Tyler Clippard’s debut. I saw the kid pitch in Tampa in March and was very impressed. They get less publicity than Phil Hughes, but Tyler Clippard and Joba Chamberlain are two kids Yankee fans can be very excited about. Hey, we’ve got to get our kicks somewhere right?
It’s great, because we beat Andy Pettitte,” Reyes said. “He’s their best pitcher right now. And we beat him. And tomorrow is hopefully going to be easy for us.”
Fire Kevin Long?
Then move mattingly back to hitting coach, and hire giardi as bench coach
Is there any other hitting coaches still around?
doreen-
i’m sure your optimism will be rewarded because it’s actually kind of difficult to be so bad when you have so many good players and when you score so many runs in relation to what you give up.
hmmm pointed this out the other day and he’s right. the yankees have a better expected won-loss record than the tigers. they are 1/2 game behind the indians. the yankees ExWL record is 23-17.
…and this was done with all the rookie starters and with much of the offense slumping.
so there is the possibility of a major run of winning baseball by this team.
the yankees are the only team that has an expected record 5 games worse than their real record. is it just bad luck or are they doing something to figure out a way to lose.
off the top of my head the losing when you should win goes back to mariano giving up that home run to scuturo off the foul pole. that was considered extremely bad luck at the time and was considering it hit the foul pole. on the other hand mariano has not been used well before or after that time with long periods of inactivity. that’s bad management of team resources. so it looks like a little of both bad luck and bad management that has created the 5 game discrepancy between actual WL record and ExWL record.
if clemens can get to the yankees healthy and strong that’ll be the shot in the arm the yankees need. they need a strong infusion of hardball macho. too many of the players are too classy to go outside their professionalism to jumpstart the team with some outside the lines behavior. clemens will give the team a shot of intensity, toughness, and emotionalism that the team needs. at a certain point you can’t wait for your luck to catch up to you. you have to make your own luck. if he’s healthy , clemens is just the man for the job.the yankees just need to tread water until he gets there and not get any farther behind. playing good teams probably will help. they played a good team tough last night.
Lupica Watch:
Loopy Mike has TWO columns today. One says that the Mets are better than the Yanks right now, especially off the bench. Wow. Talk about insight.
The other column is about Giambi’s dubious decision to open his mouth again regarding steroids. (”I was wrong to do that stuff.”) Not one to kick a guy when he’s down, Loopy gets all over Giambi, ostensibly because Giambi said (or, more accurately, implied) that steroids didn’t help him hit a baseball and because Jason only told the truth after he got caught. (Wait, Loopy. I thought you were breaking Jason’s chops because he didn’t tell the truth?). Let’s not forget that Loopy has also strongly suggested that Rocket abused or is still abusing steroids or something in at least one recent column.
I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be funny, really funny, if the guy so righteously kicking the crap out of everybody for a lack of complete candor regarding steroids and other things had an undisclosed fling with illegal drugs at one time?
Very few of us of a certain age – - including Mikey’s age group – - can make that statement. What would we say about our drug use? We’d say we did it because of the times we grew up in, and looking back it was something we shouldn’t have done. We did it because everybody was doing it, and it was generally accepted or at least not generally condemned. We did it because we thought it wouldn’t hurt anybody and because we thought it might make us funny or cool or help us stay awake. We stopped when we got caught or we got a scare or when we finally grew up and realized it was wrong. And we would apologize to anyone we hurt through our stupidity.
Jason is right to say he should not have done “that stuff.” But he knows he was not alone and that everybody tolerated it in the sense that more should have been done by MLB and by teams to be vigilant about the problem. But the fault is his own and he takes that hit. He could have continued to deny and lie like some other players, including at least one former teammate of Jason’s. Suggesting that the players and the game should apologize to the fans seems reasonable to me. It’s one of the 12 Steps of Recovery after all, isn’t it? So why is Mikey Loopica so sensitive?
If ye are truly the one without sin, feel free to cast the first stone, Mikey. But it strikes me as hypocritical to bleat and moan about a lack of candor in revealing drug abuse by others without a full disclosure of your own. Is that why you are so sensitive about all this, Mike?
anyone that wants a sneak peek at clippard who hasnt seen him pitch..here is a link to a video of him warming up for trenton last august. big kid!
http://video.google.com/videop.....&hl=en
I just heard on ESPN News that Clemens demanded a trade to a contender!!!!!
“mariano giving up that home run to scuturo off the foul pole. that was considered extremely bad luck at the time and was considering it hit the foul pole.”
Bad luck? Scutaro turned on a fastball and clobbered it. Not much bad luck involved, imo. Bad pitching, yes.
“playing good teams probably will help. they played a good team tough last night.”
This might be the most damning criticsm of what the Yankees have now turned into. Fans are now actually satisfied with losing, as long as the game is close. That is the true mark of a losing franchise.
Mike’s Lupica is clown… Look at Mirror Mike, 6 players from Mets were suspended for using performance enchancing drugs..
Maybe were not that good
Giambi can’t run, can’t play first , has a bone spur, Damon is always quasi hurt, cant throw and is really not a great lead-off guy, Abreau was not made for New York, Melky is no longer the second coming of Roberto Clemente. A-Rod is great, and then not so great, We have Rasner, DeSalvo, and another guy we never heard of starting today – not to mention the 4 home run guy. Joe’s calm and patience hurts him when you don’t have guys like O’Neil, Brosious, Cone, Martinez etc. to drive the team. I’m not saing we are bad. I’m just saying that other teams might really better this year all around.
I think The part of the problem is that the other teams have gotten much better thanks to revenue sharing and the luxury tax. MLB has done a good job of creating parity within the teams at the expense of the Yankees. Pitching salaries and length of the contracts have gotten totally out of control. Don’t know why teams would sign a pitcher for more than three years. So much can change in 2 years.
That being said, I still think the Yanks have to get into another mindset == playing small ball. I looks to me like everyone is trying to hit for the fences. For some players, that’s OK, but most players are not home run kings. They have to develp another strategy to win games — and soon.
Maybe Washington will take himm in a trade for some prospects!
jt: excellent point. (thanks for reading my extra long post).
realisticfan-
it’s easy to talk smack behind an anonymous user name.
I don’t know what to say but I think bad luck and malaise hanging over Yankees players..
Damon and Doug Mienkienwitchz has brought bad karma and curse of bambino to this team from Redsox… Doug M was last player who caught the ball 2004 world series. I would say get rid of these two players immediately.
“Joe’s calm and patience hurts him when you don’t have guys like O’Neil, Brosious, Cone, Martinez etc. to drive the team.”
agree with you totally, and also about the league catching up because of revenue sharing.
the baseball landscape has changed. a new startegy needs to be constantly developed. cashman is finding that it takes more than just revamping the farm stystem. this is a time when every tool in the toolbox needs to be used. small ball is good. i love it,but the problem is that only jeter and mientkiewicz can bunt and too many of the players can’t make contact at will. the yankees have some players who can steal, but for some reason that hasn’t been clicking.
clemens hopefully will bring in the toughness that cone,o’neil,martinez.etc had. the x factor that these guys had has been missing. it takes all the parts to make a team.
murphydog-
good post. our generation knows the complexity of the giambi issue better than most. i’m telling you . get a video of lupica’s golf swing. you’ll never take him seriously again.
Randy 1
When you look at the “paper” — the numbers and talent that would seem to support the Yankees’ winning — it is indeed frustrating that the wins are not happening. It surely does seem like that unlikely Scaturo homerun, was kind of like an omen for or a microcosm of what this season has become. Lots of “almosts” or “if onlys.” It’s early, so, yeah, you kind of would be silly not to think that things will start to right themselves. But it is weird.
I didn’t used to think so, but I am starting to give some credence to the idea that the Yankees need a (Martinez, O’Neill, Cone, Brosius)-type to jumpstart things off the field. You would hope that Jeter and Posada can do some of that since they’ve been there the longest and would have the most “street-cred.”
You are 100% correct to say that you make your own luck. I don’t and won’t believe that most of the Yankees are sitting back and taking this stretch lightly. Let’s hope Torre got into them a little after last night’s game. There are definitely some adjustments needed, though, even if this team turns it around 180 degrees, in the post-season.
murphydog -
I like your commentary regarding Giambi’s behavior, as seen through the prism of perhaps our own experiences with the not-so-good things we’ve all done (and not necessarily drugs/alcohol, but mistakes of judgment in general).
It’s easy to jump on the holier-than-thou bandwagon.
I feel bad for Giambi as the HGH and steroids did not help him hit HRs and he can not say why he took them…poor guy.
doreen-
jeter and poasada are absolutely amazing players, but they are grinders in the sense that they don’t get too high or low. what they do is hard to transfer to other players. emotionalism like o’neill had is catchy. the red sox are an emotional team. they live by it and die by it when things turn like the five game sweep last year. the yankees need a few emotional players to spark the team. clemens does have that in him. i can’t see cano smiling out there with an opposing player when the yankees are losing with clemens on the mound.
what the yankees need now is a few weeks where they don’t seem snakebit. then it’s roger to the rescue.
Is the Yankee Organization embarrassed?
The highest payroll in the sport’s history and they’re 10 games out of first place and only 1/2 out of last place to a team whose payroll is about $170M less than theirs. So that extra $170M for that 1/2 game. It’s hard to imagine how much worse the Yankee record would be if it weren’t for the Texas Rangers.
If makes you feel that this team just needs to be blown up. Too many big contracts and clauses. Omar Minaya as a GM is light-years ahead of Cashman. Cashman’s job as GM is to offer the most money. You can get 8 million New Yorkers who could do the same job as Yankee GM. How did Cashman get Abreu? The Yankees were the only team that would/could absorb his contract. How did the Yankees get Damon? They offered him the most money. How did the Yankees get Randy Johnson? They’re were the only team that would give him a 2 year extension. The Yankees could afford the money for A-Rod’s contract when the Red Sox couldn’t. The Yankees grossly overpaid for Giambi. So Brian Cashman isn’t a good GM, he’s just the GM with the most money to work with. The reason Clemens is now a Yankee isn’t because of Cashman but it’s because of the Yankee money.
His mistakes with the pitching was enough to get 5 GM’s fired. Weaver, Contreras, Vazquez, Karsay, Wright, Pavano, Brown, Johnson, Farnsworth, and now Igawa.
So as a Yankee fan I could almost sacrifice this season so that the Yankee organization and team can finally purge itself for the 2008 season. Maybe Torre and Cashman will finally be held accountable by the owner instead of his silly threats. Abreu would be gone, maybe something will finally happened with Giambi’s contract, Clemens will be gone, maybe the Yankee will trade one of those big immovable contracts. So as a Yankee fan I’m willing to sacrifice another year of getting embarrassed in the first round of the playoffs again so this team and organization can finally change
at least now Kei Igawa can go back to Japan and tell his friends he saw Clemens pitch….
Randy 1
they are “snakebit” this season….? what the hell does that mean ?
Well Roger can dodge the questions about not being a good teammate while he’s in the Tampa cocoon but do you think the NY media is going to give him a pass or drop the issue.
Farnsworth was right and if Clemens doesn’t acknowledge this then other Yankees will question Clemens commitment to the team as well. Is he going to mentor Philip Hughes by email or fax ? Shouldn’t we expect more from Clemens than this ?
Well Roger can dodge the questions about not being a good teammate while he’s in the Tampa cocoon but do you think the NY media is going to give him a pass or drop the issue.
Farnsworth was right and if Clemens doesn’t acknowledge this then other Yankees will question Clemens commitment to the team as well. Is he going to mentor Philip Hughes by email or fax ? Shouldn’t we expect more from Clemens than this ?
I disagree with some of the previous posts about the need for a strong, tough clubhouse leader (I’m paraphrasing). Number 1, how does that translate into hitters not opening up and starting to bail out against tought inside pitching, or keep someone from not swinging at a fastball up at eye level? Number 2 – we do not know what goes on in that clubhouse, so to say that it’s not an atmosphere conducive to winning seems to be based on insufficient information.
I can’t say in words how frustrated I find this streak that they’re on. I wish it were that simple that getting Clemens back, on only one factor fixed, would get us on a 10-game winning streak. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s that simple. The only good point in this is that’s still only May. At some point it will no longer be the case, but for now I’ll hold onto that. It’s better than giving up.
Roger the Dodger….
the plan is for Clemens to arrive at the mound by helicopter every fifth day for the first pitch so the media will not have access to him.
How much is he going to use the “stay home” clause on a team 16 games out in August….? he might ask for a separate dugout when he pitches
Ths offense is going to explode sooner or later, hopefully its today.
Doreen/Randy1:
I’m getting on board for the Ghosts of the ‘98 Yankees Tour. Joe has always said that this is a veteran club and you don’t manage veterans the same way you do an inexperienced, younger club. True. But it really depends on which veterans are on the team. Matsui let that ball drop in front of him yesterday in the first inning and then let LoDuca sneak to second because Matsui lost his concentration. Abreu starts feeling the wall thirty yards from the warning track. Damon’s arm is just as much of a liability as Bernie’s was. Giambi’s hurt all the time now, and so is Damon. Melky is not hitting, Damon and Abreu are cold and A-Rod is regressing to being A-Rod version 2006 again. Can he break out and get hot again?
Just shows that numbers are not the be all and end all. I can’t quantify it, but Brosius, O’Neill, Martinez and Coney had heart and could make it happen, like Jeter and Po. It was a special time and a special team and you just can’t recreate that synergy by replacing their numbers on a stat sheet with new players. Even Billy Bean with all his Moneyball cannot get to the WS on numbers alone. Sigh. Maybe Olney was right.
But they are still my team and I will stay behind them win or lose. Better days ahead. This team is not dead.
Dg:
Right issues, wrong villain. Gotta blame Big Stein up to the last two years.
GO NYR…
it is due for a big day but the reality in the long run is that Giambi and Damon are cripples and cannot be counted on for much more that we are seeing today. That is two big cogs in the lineup that are falling apart.
Abreu, Cano, Matsui will all hit eventually and hopedfully this team makes the wildcard…..
BX 12:
You are practically a “paisano” of mine if you are from the BX 12 Fordham Road route. So I say this with love: C’mon. You don’t get the “snakebit” thing?
Guys, I am not Giambi, so I cannot speak for him. But don’t you remember the interview Pete had with him, where he said nothing can help you HIT the baseball – the actual connection of ball and bat. Perhaps this is what he meant… the steriods may have increased the power of the hit, but nothing can make you actually hit it better. Just a thought…
“they are “snakebitâ€? this season….? what the hell does that mean ?”
-snake·bit (snkbt) also snake·bit·ten (-btn)
adj.
Experiencing a period of misfortune or inability to succeed.
Kat:
I’m sure that’s what he meant. I’m just wondering what the heck made him elaborate? What’s in that water in Chicago that made Jason and that other big lug Farnsworth spew? Did they think they weren’t coming back to NYC at the end of the road trip?
Murph-
I agree….11 starters and it is only mid-May. The part I do not get is Abreu, Cano, Melky, etc. struggling for 6 weeks at the plate…..or Igawa turning out to be as helpful as another Pavano…for $51m…that is the part I do not get
Interesting Stat
Yankees had only 3 saves while Redsox have 15 all year Yankees Bullpen blows 10 games
I’m with you there, BX 12
Aging players and all kinds of injuries to starting pitchers have hurt the Yankees far more than Clemens contract.
my rebutalls… Again clown it is not the Yanks birthright to make the playoffs, at this point I hope for winning and tough baseball and then my expectations will increase. as far as cashman; abreu played great last yr. and the move had little risk because basically they got him for 1.5 yrs… cashman gets alot of crap here but really; how was the bruney pickup?, proctor part of ventura trade?, how about cano and wang call up a few yrs ago etc.. The yanks do not usually have the ability to draft as well or pick up guys because the teams with the better records have to wait..
after sunday they will have started 3 rookies in 4 days; desalvo, rasner, and clippard that is not a formula for success…
they have not had much luck so far this seaszon but if they continue to battle and play hard there luck will change. I watch alot of bball for many years and in the long run things even out..
people here want fast solutions to the Yanks problems, signing more old overpaid guys or firing everyone or trading everyone is fantasyland.
On Damon and Abreu they are 32 or 33 not 40 and both had good years last year if you think 6 weeks into the next season they are done you are STUPID…
Damon cannot throw then again he has not been able to throw for many years but he can still play.
as far as lupica, sherman, and the other writers really do they ever say anything of any intelligience? SHerman must hate torre for not sending him a christmas card or something… 70% of the US just hates the Yanks despises there success and uses there payroll as the reason for this hatred…..
aging players.. cano and melky are young. wang is young.
abreu and damon are 32 or 33 not 38!!!!!
“I wish it were that simple that getting Clemens back, on only one factor fixed, would get us on a 10-game winning streak”
sometimes when your car doesn’t work it ,it might only need on epart, a starter. same thing with the yankees. i don’t always like what cashman does(understatement),but he’s right when he said yesterday that they have the pieces to have a really good team.
as far as a spark, i’m not talking about inside the clubhouse behind close doors. i’m talking about an on the field take no prisoners attitude. it’s not necessarily an in your face kind of thing that shows up opposing players. it can be as simple as tino not talking with baserunners at first because he’s in no mood to chat. it’s an attitude of no nonsense. and yes it is an attitude of aggresion like a force field that will not accept losing. sometimes clemens goes over the top (like with piazza) and that’s when torre’s balance comes in to prevent it going that far. what good is torre’s calm and patience if he doesn’t have some aggression to reign in? give him some talented aggresive players like o’neil,cone,martinez,and clemens and he is the right man for the job.
look at what leyland’s aggressive attitude did to the tigers. for them it was what they needed- the missing link. the yankees need clemens for his toughness as much as for his skill. when he goes up and in to manny( with safe laserlike precision of course), trust me, other yankees will catch the energy.
Anyone think that kevin long will get fired soon?
I dont understand why everyone is so shocked that they are doing so poorly against lefthanded pitching. Thanks to cashmans brilliance the lineup is just filled with lefty hitters. What would it take to get Teixera right now? A couple of pitching prospects – if they want guys like Karstens, rasner and wright or even ohlendorf I would say its worth it. Just throw in 10 million or so for good measure. Cashman needs to get his @SS in gear if he wants to keep his job much longer. Time for a trade for a power righty
“Farnsworth was right”
rule #1:
farnsworth has the IQ of a peanut.
if you think tesas would trade texiera for that you are out of your mind..
really the yanks failure against lefties was predicted!!nonsense there lefty batters are career wise very good against lefties. yea the yanks lost sheff and bernie in the offseason, so what sheff played in 40 games and bernie is on the significant decline and makes damo seem like tori hunter in the outfield…
more know it all monday mornig quarterbacking nonsense.
they are 2 and 8 in 1 run games, have there 7th rookie pitching on sunday and so far have had little luck…
my 12 year daughter has more no knowledge and trust they you babies..
at the end of the yr, they are just going to lose teixera so why wouldnt they get something for nothing now then just lose him later. Maybe we could trade clippard and ohlendorf or some other combination of minor league pitchers for teixera considering we are overflowing with right handed minor league starters who will be nothing more than four or five starters in the bigs if that. Plus, most of these guys are in triple A and practically ready to make the leap to the majors this yr. I can see texas trading teixera for two major league ready starters. Can cash at least do his job and investigate what it would take to get a right handed power bat in our lineup. This is why we suck against lefty pitching and are now losing almost every game in which a lefty starts against us.
What makes you think Cashman hasn’t already been trying to make a move or at least looked at his options?
Reopening Pandora’s Box By Buster “Rabbit” Olney on Giambi
[quote]
http://insider.espn.go.com/esp.....ney_buster
Jason Giambi talked about steroids again, and it has him in some trouble. I can’t imagine what the commissioner’s office would suspend him for, if they tried, but Giambi’s comments to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale were remarkable, on several fronts.
1) You wonder now if Giambi was sincere, whatsoever, with his initial apology, because in this piece Giambi indicates that steroids did not help him as a hitter. If he really believes this statement, then why would he apologize? Was it simply a media relations ploy?
2) He still has never really been up front and honest about the issue, as much as he would like to maintain with his comments in this piece — because he does not want to jeopardize his contract (which is his prerogative).
3) There is something mildly offensive about Giambi saying that others should apologize for the steroid issue. I mean, really, think about it: He was an OK but not great young hitter, a 15-to-18 homer a year guy, and at about the same time that he got very large, he became one of the best offensive players in baseball and landed a $120 million contract. So he committed the crime, so to speak, walked away with the cash, lied repeatedly about whether he used steroids — until he was scared into speaking the truth before the grand jury — and has never come clean, completely. And now he’s saying others should apologize? Please.
There’s no doubt that the entire institution of baseball shares the blame for what happened. But for one of the users of the “stuff” to criticize other players and owners, implicitly, reflects the arrogance of a burglar who got away with the goods.
And 4) The Yankees simply do not need any unnecessary distractions right now, as they fight for their lives as contenders. I’m sure there were folks within the organization are incredibly frustrated that Giambi would say this stuff at this particular time.[/quote]
“Thanks to cashmans brilliance the lineup is just filled with lefty hitters.”
why don’t you guys look up how sheff has hit lefties this year?
i’ll save you the trouble: .133/.333/.267
the lefty excuse is just a memo that is going around b/c they have seen a lot of lefties at the same time they are sucking. but they are sucking against righties too. it’s not that they’re not hitting lefties, it’s that they’re NOT HITTING at all.
Damon: .836 OPS vs. LHP, .658 vs. RHP
Cano: .743 OPS vs. LHP, .522 vs. RHP
Abreu: .577 OPS vs. LHP, .619 vs. RHP
Giambi: .809 OPS vs. LHP, .823 vs. RHP
is Abreu’s problem REALLY that he can’t hit lefties? no, it’s that he can’t HIT.
Cano and Damon have hit lefties MUCH better than righties.
also, this is basically the SAME offense they had last year and scored 930 runs. how come hitting lefties wasn’t a problem last year?
“What would it take to get Teixera right now? A couple of pitching prospects – if they want guys like Karstens, rasner and wright or even ohlendorf I would say its worth it. Just throw in 10 million or so for good measure.”
this is beyond laughable. you guys expect other teams to just give the Yankees their best players for scrap and get mad at cashman when he can’t make it happen. you’re not being realistic. why on earth would the Rangers trade an All-Star 1Bman in his prime for a slew of #5 starters?? it’s embarrassing to read stuff like that on yankee blogs.
Sorry but does anyone know where I can see Farnsworth’s exact comments concerning Clemens?
Mike North/Ozzie Guillen Explode (Audio)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oXdmmgZfA14
hmm what is laughable is that everyone thought that sanchez for sheff was a fantastic move by cash becuz he got something for nothing. Now, you are saying it is laughable that the rangers would try to trade teixera for some young and useful parts before he leaves for nothing. ok, ok whatever you say – the hipocracy in this blog is beyond ridiculous.
texiera is a FA after the 08 season. so we aren’t getting him.
I personally hope they can void Giambi’s contract somehow.
If they don’t void it and Giambi is around: .280 AVG, .400 OBP, and 20 HR, around mid july, could they trade him to a team like the angels. Giambi(+enough cash to get the deal done) for Mathis(if Napoli solidifies the starting job), Saunders, and Morales?
“hmm what is laughable is that everyone thought that sanchez for sheff was a fantastic move by cash becuz he got something for nothing. Now, you are saying it is laughable that the rangers would try to trade teixera for some young and useful parts before he leaves for nothing. ok, ok whatever you say – the hipocracy in this blog is beyond ridiculous.”
dude, you have NO IDEA what you are talking about.
1. Teixiera – NOT A FREE AGENT UNTIL 2009 SEASON
2. Teixiera – 27 years old, Sheffield 38 years old
3. Teixiera – healthy, excellent defender – Sheffield, coming off wrist injury, terrible defender
if you think the Teixiera and Sheffield situations are at any way related, you know very little about baseball.
ALSO, yes, the Rangers MIGHT trade Teixiera. my point is that they will NOT trade him for Karstens, Wright, and Rasner. that’s just absurd.
if you can’t see that, i’m not going to argue with you.
The Yankees are in re-building mode. It’s becoming obvious. Of course, the transition was supposed more smooth for us than most but it looks like the re-building gods are evening things out.
Is this season over? No, not really. It’s not looking good but it’s not over–yet. Even if it becomes “over”, there is a lot to look forward to.
Maybe Roger isn’t saying anything now, but you gotta wonder how he’ll feel about Farnsworth when he has a one-hitter through 6, ony to see Farnsworth cough up the lead and blow the chance for the win.
I’m sure Clemens will put up some good ERA and K’s/9 numbers, but the fact remains that he’s nearly 45. I have to think that pitching in the AL East won’t be nearly as easy as the NL Central.