Today in The Journal News
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- September
- 19
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Mike Mussina and Doug Mientkiewicz impressed again last night as the Yankees got closer to the playoffs – and the Red Sox – by thumping Baltimore.
Jason Giambi is a litle banged up. This notebook also has news on Pinkygate, Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Phillips, Melky Cabrera and Hideki Matsui.
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on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 2:49 am by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
Hey Mr Abraham – are you really sold on the Moose? Isn’t he just a 15 yrs older version of Ian Kennedy? Isn’t his velocity still frighteningly low? Hasn’t his “experience” let us all down the last two seasons in the playoffs? Is he really a risk worth taking? Consider that he did not even beat the Angels ONCE this year or last!
It seems to me that the Sox are content to just make the playoffs at this point, whether it be as the division champs or the wild card…looks like they want to rest their injured guys(Manny) and set up their starters like Dice-K with more rest…leaving Gagne in last night was also another sign of this….The Yankees are playing great heading into October and this will pay off for them….no matter how we get in, I really like our chances this year to go all the way…of course I did last year, but this year seems different with Petitte, Clemens, Jaba, and a motivated to do it in October AROD…I want #27…..lets do this Yankees!!!!
I think Steinbrenner owes Cashman big time for what he’s been able to pull off this year, whether the Yanks take the division or not. The very fact that they’re making it to the postseason after being down 14 1/2 games is truly unbelievable and due in large part to The Youth Movement as well as the non-trades. This team is re-energized, and the vets are playing like kids again. Moose hasn’t pitched this well in 2 years!
Even if the Yankees don’t get the division, I’m happy to see they’re giving Boston a major headache down the stretch.
It was fun to watch Moose pitch, and great to hear all the “M-O-O-S-E” calls last night.
with the way dougie m. has been playing and the constant injuries to giambi . it looks pretty simple . giambi comes off the bench for $20 mill a year and minky plays first . damon and matsui swap dh and left field and melky plays center . its the way its been and the way ( due to giambi’s constant injuries )it should be . swollen ewlbow – what is that ? i dont tell me its ” tennis elbow ” either .
Based on a preliminary release of the baseball 2008 schedule, in the last season of the House that Ruth Built, the Yankees will not close out the season at home. On Sept 28th, the last game will be away at Fenway…
once again, MLB officials show no intelligence, sense of history or even common sense whatsoever. Where do they find these guys???
“NY Daily News Link”:http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2007/09/19/2007-09-19_report_yanks_will_be_on_road_to_finish_2.html
“The House That Ruth Built will close at the end of the 2008 season, but the schedule that MLB built doesn’t seem to realize that.
…But when the regular season concludes, the Yankees won’t be there. They’ll be in Boston, playing the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sept. 28.
Preliminary copies of the 2008 schedule have been distributed to all 30 major league teams, giving clubs an opportunity to request changes.
According to sources, the Yankees had assumed that they would finish the season at home, and they had planned a host of festivities around the event. Yankee officials declined to comment on the schedule, citing the fact that the official schedule had not yet been released.”
You can bet the tickets for that final series next year will be snapped up the first day tickets go on sale, and we’ll all be begging brokers and scalpers for seats.
I think they scheduled the mets to finish at home next year..
Its good to see Mussina contribute. I’m not a big fan of his, but the Yankees need all the pitching they can get down the stretch. After all that’s gone on this Season, it would be monumental for them to beat out the Sawx for the Divison!
Torre would be crazy to move Minky off first right now. He’s hot with the bat and we all know how much better he is defensively.
No qustion….Giambi is not good. i’d like to know their record with him playing as opposed to him sitting this year. it seems As soon as he got hurt, the team began playing better. I think there is a correlation here.
I bet you weren’t boo’ing on Sunday when Giambi pinch hit and hit a double off the monster.
What was the correlation there???
Why don’t you people get it? What is so wrong about having talented players on the bench and able to contribute?
Check out nomass they pulled quotes from writers back in may putting the nail in the Yankees coffin. LOL FOOLS I TELL YOU FOOLS!
i got nothin’ against giambi other than he is always coming up lame .
Red Sox Nation Poll… Panic in the Streets!
http://www.boston.com/sports/b.....tra_bases/
jennifer-
Hah, thats pretty funny. It’s amazing how many writers forget theres 160 games in a season..
Yep. After we get in I’d like to site down and write a nice email to the writers that put the nail in our coffin.
chris-
While it is true that Giambi is hurt more frequently than the average player (in the last few years), the recent problems are not his fault. He was hit on the elbow by Beckett and hit on the right foot by Cabrera (Baltimore). Up to this point, he had been pretty healthy since he came back from the DL for his left foot problem.
“Why don’t you people get it? What is so wrong about having talented players on the bench and able to contribute?”
and not only that, when a talented player is on the bench there is a talented player in the game who has to bring his ” a” game or he’ll be the talented player on the bench. competition for positions brings out the edge in a team. as much as the players say they’d rather know everyday that they are in the lineup, they are more focused when they are fighting for playing time. it’s just human nature. the kind of player who can handle the pressure of fighting for playing time is the kind of player who can handle the pressure of big games.
i do not prefer a player like mussina as a baseball player because he is too physically passive and soft about how he approaches the game, but he is mentally strong and a gifted pitcher. by demoting him and having him have to compete has brought out the best in him. he dug down and found his “a” game. good for him. good for the yankees. but it wouldn’t have happened if his name was written in stone in the rotation.same with damon,giambi,melky,abreau,etc. it would not hurt to make matsui earn his time either. the yankees are made up of star athletes who have never had to fight for playing time, but they are also proud athletes who got to where they are by being mentally tough. they’ll respond to the internal competition. cano is the one player who could use someone pressuring him. arod , posada, and jeter are pretty much self contained in that they have so much internal drive you don’t worry about them.
so i’m all for talented players on the bench who are interchangeable and competing with talented players on the field. that’s one of the side benefits of the cashman youth movement though i’m not sure lighting a fire under the” old” guys was part of the plan. but it’s working.
jennifer-
Hah, you’ll never hear back from them. They’d rather just pretend they weren’t wrong then actually be creditable for what they say.
In order for a team to be successful, they need production from all 25 roster spots. There is no need to disparage one player to build up another. Giambi, Minky, Betemit, and the other guys ALL need to contribute because this month and next month (hopefully) will be long.
Okay…I want to trade Gagne to you guys for Pavano!! I would even consider bringing Goose Gossage back and giving you Gagne for him. Um..um…do you have any waterboys you would like to trade for Gagne??? Please.
Even in the nosebleeds which is where I was, you could see Moose was dealing hard….Great Job
ESPN is reporting that Torre is leaning towards lining up his pitchers for the Postseason if they have the Wild Card wrapped up headed into the final games of the season, even if they still have a chance to win the division. I hope someone slaps him one real hard to make him realize that the advantage of winning the division and/or being the number 1 seed in the playoffs is pretty significant. Being the Wild Card IS in the playoffs, (pretty obvious) but if you have a chance to increase your seed in the playoffs, it would be insane not to take it, IMHO.
Torre is going to keep Wang and Pettitte on regular rest for the rest of the season, so I wouldn’t worry too much about the way he lines people up before the postseason. I wouldn’t count on what ESPN is reporting just yet.
randy WHATEVER THAT IS, LOL. nice post, i tend to agree with you. competition makes everyone better in the long run.
Forget the writers, what about the so-called fans on here who ran and hid the first time we got punched in the face back in April. Check some of the posts burying Mo after that Sunday afternoon walk-off by Scutaro, or the bridge-jumping after dropping 5 of 6 to Colorado and San Fran. The same guys are firmly back on the bandwagon now.
It is fun to go over to the Sons of Sam Horn board and view the panic. We’ve still got 2.5 more to get back, but they are going crazy.
However, I will say that board is full of some incredibly knowledgeable, articulate, pragmatic people. Some great baseball discussion threads over there.
The Bronx Block has a great look at the prospects for the ‘08 Yankees today.
“I hope someone slaps him one real hard to make him realize that the advantage of winning the division and/or being the number 1 seed in the playoffs is pretty significant.”
Does anyone have any evidence that this is true? It seems to me, and this is without any analysis, that the wild card teams have been winning a fair amount of series.
Phil-
Yah MVN is a great website. Lots of down to earth people writing about sports.. I like that site.
While there are people who jump on and off the bandwagon, it seems to me that most of the people on this blog have stuck around for all of it, regardless of the negativity of the posts in the early part of the season. I’ve come to understand that part of the purpose of this blog is to vent the frustration that comes with the loosing AND to cheer collectively during the winning times. Let’s not be too hard on one another. It certainly was not unreasonable to think the Yankees were going to have a tough, non-playoff season way back in April, May and even June, and yet still retain hope that you are going to be 100% happily wrong.
Bosco – I agree with you. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it to the end — home field advantage in baseball is very, very overrated, at least as far as the configuration of the games is concerned. What has home field advantage gotten the Yankees in the last couple of years? And, if you’re really, really, good, and win in a sweep, you get to win ON THE ROAD! Yes, if you’re really, really good, and win four in a row, you are not rewarded with winning in front of your own fans, and you have to overcome the obstacle of playing in front of the other team’s fans. So, where’s the advantage? The advantage of letting the other team win 2 or 3 games so you get to come home and win?
**Uh, that should be “losing” not “loosing.”
Doreen….the advantage is playing the most important games of the series in front of the home crowd. You’re playing in a familiar park before thousands of cheering, adoring fans. If that isn’t an advantage then I don’t know what is.
I should have specified…by “most important” I mean Games 6 and 7
But define the most import games of the series. I would agree with you if they got to play 3 at home, then 2 on the road and then 2 at home. But the way it is, you can win 2 at home, then you lose homefield “advantage” lose 3, and although you get to play the last 2 at home, momentum can swing. If you have the best record, you should play the first 3 games at home. You should have the advantage of playing the most consecutive games in your own park, and you should start and end the series in your own park.
Because the mindset of the other team is – “we just have to split the first two games on the road, then we get to play 3 at home; if we win all 3 (in front of their own adoring, cheering fans, by the way), the series is over and they never have to go back to the other park.
Home field advantage means little in baseball. That’s been proven over the years.
The Yankees are 2-4 in their last 6 post-season home games.
Wild card teams have won 3 of the last 5 World Series. A WC team made the World Series last year.
The most important thing teams need to do is line up their pitching for the post-season.
The dumbest thing Torre could do (and he won’t do it) is forget about lining up his rotation for the playoffs and go to the wall to win the division. It makes no sense.
Swo – you have to get to games 6 and 7.
Yep.
Optimism works.
Absolutely, SJ. If you know you’re in the playoffs by virtue of the wild card, that’s all you NEED to do. Division is icing on the cake, MAYBE, but winning playoff games is more important. And pitching is everything.
Doreen and SJ44, I’m not arguing the results. You can name plenty of teams that lost despite having home team advantage. I’m just saying that, if you’re a baseball player, and your team is facing elimination, you’d rather have the fans on your side. It’s as simple as that.
swo – I will agree with that statement.
While I don’t think that we will win the division,(you know we will lose one game and fall back in the standings) It is still fun as hell watching all hell break loose up north!
Did doubt ever creep into my mind yeah. But I never lost faith, I knew we had the players to win.
Pete, thanks for sharing the make a wish foundation story with The Wanger. Great stuff. Of course Shelley Duncan’s autograph will get a lot more play than that.
That’s it, Doreen. Just get in. That’s all that matters.
The Yankees are also forcing the Red Sox to keep playing their regulars, despite their injuries, because of the closeness of the division and the paranoia eminating from Boston.
Ortiz is really hurting and has to play back to back series on turf. Not good for a bad knee.
As much as Tito may want to rest guys, he can’t do it because he incurs the wrath of the “Nation”.
I get a charge out of the panic coming from Boston. They are so freaked out right now its hysterical to watch.
They are now holding candlelight vigils begging Manny to play! Too funny.
I don’t think homefield matters as much in the 5 game series as it does in a 7 game.
In a 5 games all you have to do is win one of the first two games, and you have homefield. Now the 7 game series is different, but as we saw if it all falls apart (2004) it means nothing!
Another division win would be sweet, but I’d much rather have the starters lined up properly. Plus it’s not like we’d knock the soxs out of the playoffs. If we win the division, the soxs would take the wild card.
Lining up the rotation is not a big deal with all the off days this year. As long as Wang doesn’t pitch in one of the final two games on Sat the 29th or Sun the 30th then he is all set to go in game 1 on either Wed the 3rd or Thurs the 4th depending on the schedule.
As for game 2, Andy should start one of those final two regular season games, but the only way that lines up without abnormal rest time is if Andy starts on Sunday the 30th. That would mean moving Pettitte ahead of Mussina on Tues the 25th at TB, that’s probably Joe’s plan anyway.
“They are now holding candlelight vigils begging Manny to play! Too funny.”
Honestly, I can’t tell if that’s a joke or not. Either way, it is absolutely hilarious. And if it isn’t a joke, it is absolutely pathetic.
They need something to take their minds off Bellicheck, and the Red Sox simply aren’t helping them right now.
Home field advantage changes with ONE game. That’s it. The road team wins ONE game, you lose home field advantage in the playoffs.
No series goes true to form with the home teams winning every game.
Its why I don’t put a lot of stock into home field advantage or playing to the wall to get it. Especially if you have some guys who could use the rest to heal some bumps and bruises.
Its pretty simple to set the post-season rotation. Wang, Pettitte, Clemens and Mussina. Not much thought needs to go into it.
The biggest question will be how young do they want to go with the bullpen. That will probably depend on the matchup.
I don’t know if they want 4 rookies in the bullpen (Hughes, Kennedy, Ramirez and Chamberlain) for a series.
Those are good “problems” to have though.
It seems like we wouldn’t need both Hughes and Kennedy in the bullpen in a short series. Especially, when you consider that neither has ever pitched in relief.
Hughes may translate well to the pen for the playoffs.
I agree bullpen is the only decision for the postseason. I think we can fit 12 pitchers on the staff. The 4 veterans in the rotation and Mo, Viz, Joba, Farns, Hughes, Ramirez that leaves 2 spots between Kennedy, Ohlendorf and Villone as far as I can tell. Can’t imagine he won’t want a lefty, so the choice is Kennedy and Ohlendorf, and being that the role is stricktly bullpen, I lean towards Ohlendorf at least for the first round.
The home field/no home field argument is an old one.
Luckily, the Yanks have been in the playoffs every year since 1995 so there is a large sample size: They’ve won many series where they held home field advantage; they’ve lost many where they held the advantage. And vice versa. There is no well established pattern.
Classic examples for the ALDS: In 2005, at 2 games apiece they had to fly all the way to Cali for the final game and lost a tough one to the Angels. Yet in the exact same scenario in 2000, they managed to win in Oakland. And on and on.
The only wierd pattern that the Yankees have established, is their strange tendency to lose best of 5 series when they WIN the first game. And incredibly, they always win best of 5 series when they LOSE the first game! This is the most nonsensical pattern I’ve ever seen, but look it up — it’s true!
You don’t think the players would rather play a game 5 at home????
Or a Game 7 in the ALCS?
Stats be damned.
How is home field advantage determined for the alcs?
Ohlendorf isn’t very good. Not really sure why anyone would want him on the playoff roster.
I’d rather Torre lined up the Postseason rotation rather than play for the division title.
I’d much, much rather win a World Series than a division title.
It’s not like we’re knocking Boston out of it.
The quitters and the ledge jumpers who bailed on this team in May seem to be back on the bandwagon.
How quickly times change????
Reading thru the April/May archives at the sheer panic and the utterly depressing comments from certain bloggers here makes the revival here even sweeter.
This is why you don’t quit as a fan. You don’t quit on guys named Jeter, Rivera, and Pettitte.
Any real Yankee fan should know that by now.
No Villone. Exactly when do you need a lefty who can’t get lefties or righties out? Hughes for middle relief (before Joba), Kennedy for long relief. Easy choices.
Where’s the argument?
Who wouldn’t want home field throughout the playoffs?
Don’t give up your day job guys…
“Lost_Cause?”:http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/05/22/must_win_in_likely_lost_cause/
Get in, line up your starters, and let the chips fall where they may. Just because you juggle the rotation doesn’t mean you automatically lose those games.
However, Wang’s ERA at Yankee Stadium is lower than his road ERA by 2 runs. So homefield would be nice.
My girlfriend and broke up a couple days, she said I spend too much time involved with the Yankees and not enough time encouraging her through law school. Shes in Michigan and im in NJ, its tough man. Well, theyll always be more women, but only one New York Yankees.
And the way this season has come together my heart could not be swelling more.
I love this team.
Tony NJ — I think the players don’t want to get to a game 5 or a game 7, but if they did, of course they’d rather play at home. That’s not really the issue. The issue is the fallacy of “home field advantage” as it pertains to the way the playoffs are set up, and holding it out to be such a prize, which it is not.
Andrea: Home field advantage for the ALCS goes to the team with the better record, unless one of the teams is a wild card. Wild Card cannot get HFA.
In 2003, I would say having home field in game 7 was quite an advantage in beating the Red Sox. In 2004, not so much. Personally, I think HFA in baseball isn’t as big a deal as other sports. Last year, every postseason series except one was won by the team who did NOT have HFA.
As the Yankees just proved with a 7-2 road trip, if you’re playing well, it doesn’t matter.
Bottom line: The Yankees play like they have since the ASB, they are fine. If they play like pre-ASB, it won’t matter if every game is a home game.
*Bottom line: The Yankees play like they have since the ASB, they are fine. If they play like pre-ASB, it won’t matter if every game is a home game.
Darrin – Amen to that.
I lost my formatting “cheat sheet.” Can anyone tell me where to find those instructions again? Thanks!
“competition makes everyone better in the long run.”
rover- ( and you’re making fun of my name) the real trick for team chemistry is when players are competing for the same position but still rooting for each other to do well when the other player is in in there.
the yankees have some pretty good team players. everyone wants to be in there ,but they’re all in it together. that’s been one of the best things about this year. a few years ago players like lofton or womack griped about playing time, but this bunch seems to get it ,and it’s paying off with the late season surge.
Deep,
Just read the article. Thanks. To be fair, at the time the Yankees were really dead in the water at the time. Still hindsight can be sometimes deliciously 20/20.
First of all, how dumb is John Smoltz to make a prediction in May?
Second, Nick C. said, “The Yankees need something to shoot for (i.e. wild card). Umm. They did have a goal. The division.
Third, OK could Nick Eckersley get back into his time machine and travel back to the 70’s? They’re waiting for him on the set of the porn flick he’s shooting. That look is so old. Maybe he can take O.J. Simpson with him. Can’t believe he’s taking over the airwaves. Again.
Fourth, Shaugnessy does very little to hide his disdain for the Yankees, calling their fans “zealots” and describing the winner that night as the “immortal Tyler Clippard”. The downward trend of the Red Sox began around the time that Shaugnessy wrote an obnoxious article about the Sox, Pats, and Celtics shortly after the Garnett trade.
Lastly, I guess all those guys didn’t learn the lesson that Bill Simmons learned in ‘06. Simmons said it was over very early in that season. He could only watch in horror as they not only lost the division, but were lapped by the Blue Jays. That’s why Simmons has not said a peep nor made any prognostications this year.
sj44-
who would you a have backing up mussina for long relief if he needs it-hughes or kennedy?
“Yah MVN is a great website. Lots of down to earth people writing about sports.. I like that site.”
haha. the owner of mvn is a die hard red sox weenie who kicked off his best yankee writer , tony gicus, from the blog after the friday night miracle comeback victory.
every one to their own taste. i , however, would not go to a yankee site owned by a red sox fan. that’s just me though.
I don’t think Phil would translate well to the pen given his problems pitching in the first inning.
I’ve given Torre a lot of crap about his “platoon” at first base… but I have to say it has kind of shaped up to be a decent idea after all. With all the injuries, it was a good thing we had so many backups available.
YC, sometimes QUANTITY has a distinct QUALITY of it’s own. LOL