Yankees-Pirates: The Live Blog
-
- March
- 23
Thanks to some excellent (and mostly legal) driving by Speed Racer Mark Feinsand, we have arrived at McKechnie Field in time for first pitch.
It’ll be Jeff Karstens vs. Paul Maholm.
PIRATES
Morgan CF
Wilson SS
Bay LF
LaRoche 1B
Nady RF
Bautista 3B
Paulino C
Rivas 2B
Maholm LHP
Yes, the Yankees will have a DH and the Pirates will not.
SECOND INNING
The Pirates lead 1-0 on back-to-back doubles by Nady and Bautista. Rivas followed with a two-out single but Lane gunned down Bautista at the plate to end the inning.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 1:01 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
the melkman almost delivered on the first pitch.
Mostly legal?
You’d never survive driving in Jersey…
The Pirate pitchers have to get some at bats with spring training almost finished.
I might head out to Pittsburgh for a Yankees game this year..I’ve always heard good things about that ballpark.
I missed Melky’s fly out but heard Lorenz mention it. What did it look like?
Deep drive to left, Bay caught it running back at about the track. It was a solid pull swing, maybe a slight uppercut.
Bay caught it on the track. looked like it was going out. swing was pretty.
Brian–thanks. I’ll have to check it out when they archive it. I’ve been encouraged by the fact that Melky’s been getting the ball up more this spring. Once he does that consistently, he’ll exhibit more power.
Oh, and thanks, too, Jaewon.
No prob Elizabeth.
Anyone know if Joba is rookie eligible? He pitched less than 50 innings but I don’t know if he was on the 25-man roster for more or less than the 45 day requirement.
Jaewon: He came up early-mid August, so he’d meet the 45 day requirement.
However, as they’ve already “hazed” him, I think you aren’t allowed to consider him a rookie any more.
Rebecca: I know, he isn’t a rookie in my eyes, this is just for my pre-season predictions.
Rebecca–August 7th, to be exact. Vs the Blue Jays.
This was in todays’s New York Post about a book that’s coming out spilling childhood secrets of celebrities. This is from Derek’s mom.
March 23, 2008 — THE moms of some of the nation’s top entertainers and athletes aren’t shy about about spilling secrets about the childhoods of their famous sons and daughters.
Dot Jeter admits she was a disciplinarian when it came to the education of her future Yankee-star son, Derek. “If he didn’t bring home a 4.0, he couldn’t play baseball or other sports,” she tells Hirsch. “Once he was grounded for 30 days, and he wasn’t allowed to use the car. He had to walk to school, which was really hard on him.”
tkarstens - hey, i admire that he tried to pitch after his broken/fractured leg last year, but he’s awful. he can’t miss bats - he needs more to be serviceable. when he pitches, even the outs are hit hard.today being representative.
if there’s a long reliever on the roster, i’d rather take my chances with Igawa or Rasner - or conditioning Bruney to go 4-5 innings in a pitch.
George - I am not sure about Igawa. That is not an upgrade over Karstens. Maybe Rasner or Patterson if he can pitch in long relief.
george–Bruney’s got enough pitches to go long-inning. He’s got four. He might actually be quite effective in long-inning because he can use all of them.
Wilson why do you swing at sh** pitches like that
speaking of Lorenz - I just made a blog post PLEADING with YES to give us a chance to hear him during the regular season and ditch some of the generic sounding nostalgic color guys.
Because he’s Betemit.
Ross Ohlendorf was a starting pitcher until mid-season of ‘07.
Rasner showed on Friday that he can be a long reliever with the 4 quality inning he threw.
Rasner showed he can be a long reliever based on one good appearance?
He was awful for most of the spring, prior to his one good outing.
When they choose the long guy, they will look at all of the information. From bullpens to outings. Not just one outing.
Girardi has said he is leaning toward having a guy who was a starter as the long guy. That seems to eliminate Bruney and perhaps Patterson, who are strictly relief pitchers.
I think it also eliminates Ohlendorf for that role because they see him more as a later inning talent.
It looks like its between Rasner and Karstans. It may be too close to call right now.
Nick–often, minor league starters are still tapped to eventually be relievers. Most minor league pitchers start as starters.
yeah, Igawa is dicey too, no doubt.
Patterson - i saw him for the first time yesterday, very impressive. it seemed he had long legs, which perhaps adds an element of deception to his motion. his ball had a nice downmard plane. Patterson’s performmance yesterday was consistent w/his stats, it seems he should make the team.
for the 3 open spots, i’d like to see Ohlendorf, Patterson, Bruney. if a lefty has to be on the roster, be it Traber or Henn (yeah, i know), then option Ohlendorf.
SJ–exactly what I was thinking re: Rasner. People have short memories.
Pray for Andy’s back. The thought that one spot in the rotation will be taken be Karstens/Rasner/Igawa is shocking…
Karstens is pitching himself out of a role. One more chance for Rasner to show he’s the long reliever, possibly tomorrow night vs. Phillies.
Pitchers are now facing good hitters the rest of this week.
for the purest of Yankee fans do not tune into WPIX El Duque w/ that beard and getting blasted is not a pretty sight
Pete gets scooped!
Pettitte update
Posted by Dan Graziano March 23, 2008 1:33PM
Staying behind has its privileges. You get to find stuff out that you wouldn’t if you were in, say, Bradenton. Just to name a place.
Andy Pettitte showed up at Legends Field hoping to play catch, but his back still didn’t feel good enough to let him. That means his week is all screwed up. He probably won’t pitch Thursday, as had been scheduled, because even if he feels good enough to play catch tomorrow he’d still have to throw a bullpen on Wednesday. That means he can’t pitch until Friday night in Miami, at the earliest.
Of course, that would still allow him to pitch next Wednesday at Yankee Stadium in the second game of the season. But at this point,
you have to wonder if this is going to keep getting pushed back and force the Yankees to start the year with Jeff Karstens or Darrell
Rasner in the rotation.
“It’s just the first start of the season,” Pettitte just told us. “I want to pitch, obviously, but I want to make sure I don’t go into the season with a bad back.”
need advice - who to draft with 3rd pick in fantasy league?
drivers upstate are the WORST
Neither Rasner nor Karstens has pitched well enough to this point to warrant a spot on the rotation.
They’ll get a spot because Girardi is defining roles in the bullpen for which only they (and Igawa) seem to meet the requirements (former starters, throw multiple innings, etc.)
One issue with Rasner - he’s not on the 40 man roster. He does have one option. But if they bring him north and he’s doesn’t fit and have to send him back down quickly that’ll use his last option.
Hopefully Rasner pitches well tomorrow.
Saucy I always take power OF or 2B w/ the #3
Rasner has not been awful this spring. He had one bad outing against the Reds (Griffey grand slam). Last year he had a 4 ERA. It was 3.3 ERA until he came out against the Mets and Meyers (surprise) let in inherited runners. I don’t understand some on this forum who believe Rasner can do nothing right. He’s a solid pitcher. He’s better than Karstens and he’s more proven than Patterson who has yet to pitch above the AA level.
I predict this will not help ARod’s relationship with the NY writers:
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2008/03/23/a_rod_back_on_good_terms/
He gives an interview to a Boston writer with one new nugget: that wanted to go to Boston if he didn’t stay in NY. He also says nice things about several Red Sox players.
I like Patterson. That’s a real interesting call.
IMO, Traber is on the team. They wouldn’t have put him on the 40 man roster to option him out.
You have Traber, Hawkins, Farnsworth, Joba and Rivera as set guys in the ‘pen. Wang, Pettitte, Moose, Hughes and Kennedy are set in the rotation.
That leaves two open spots. I don’t think Henn and Igawa are options. If they take a long guy, its probably between Karstans and Rasner.
What to do for the last spot? Bruney? He has pitched well this spring. But, strikethrowing is an issue.
They have a lot of experience in Hawkins and Farnsworth so, IMO, they could afford to go with a rookie for that slot. That gives Ohlendorf and/or Patterson a shot at a job.
If Pettitte ends up on the DL to start the season, something that has to be considered if he is still hurting by Tuesday, it opens up other options.
You fill his slot in the rotation with Rasner or Karstans to start the year. That leaves Bruney, Ohlendorf and Patterson fighting for two spots instead of one.
Interesting options, that’s for sure.
Just need Andy healthy. If it means he misses the start of the season, so be it. Can’t afford to have him hurt for a longer period of time. That’s when things could get dicey.
CB,
It’s ok if they use his option this year. He won’t really be a big part of the team in 2009 anyway. So he can be sent up and down this year as a spot starter.
Abepeter, i agree Rasner’s not that bad- last year he was OK for a 5th starter, he kept them in games.
i don’t think, though, that his lack of AAA experience rules out Patterson. AA, AAA - not that much of a difference. i’d like to see what he does in MLB.
I am not overly impressed with Karstens or Rasner. But they are being considered for a long role out of the bullpen, not the ace of the staff. The Yanks could choose one and always make a change during the season. More importantly, let’s hope that Pettitte’s back is ok. Seems like he could miss his first regular season start from the report by Dan Graziano.
Saucy: I’ll agree. upstate drivers are rough.
George,
I agree with you too about Patterson. No question he should be able to show what he’s got at the ML level. I just think he should start at AAA for a bit and see how he does there. I’m comfortable with Rasner as a spot/5th starter and long man. We know from last year that there will be lots of opportunities for pitchers on the Yankees. I’m sure Patterson will get his shot. Hopefully both Rasner and Patterson contribute.
Unfortunately for your case to prove Rasner is adequate, those one bad innings here and there don’t get discounted just because you want them to. They actually happened and ARE part of the ERA (the earned run AVERAGE of ALL your innings pitched). Just like those innings where you give up 3 line drives to the fence that all get caught, those innings where a couple bloops and bad plays turning into 3 runs count, too.
If you have to pick a long man between Rasner and Karstens, I WOULD go with Rasner, but only because you are forcing me to choose between the two. Thinking outside the box for a minute, who says we can’t get rid of BOTH of them? A guy like Patterson, who has dominated for 2 years and has nothing left to prove in the minors can be stretched out if need be (was a starter for 3 years) as can a couple other guys. It doesn’t seem like you are adding any value to your team by adding a terrible pitcher to your staff just because he fits into a neat little title called “long reliever”. Take the 12 best guys to start, and if your starters are so bad that the long guy becomes more important, think about replacing one of the inneffective STARTERS instead of the EFFECTIVE releiver.
Pettitte was terrible in his first start last season. I was there. It was sad. But it was also snowing. So maybe putting off his first start wouldn’t be the worst.
To me, Karstans and Rasner are the same guy. Nothing is really distinguishes one from the other.
They have both pitched well and horribly in Pinstripes.
The long relief role is not for some up and coming guy. Its designed for the Karstans and Rasner’s of the world.
Guys with pedestrian stuff, who can eat some innings on days your starter doesn’t have it.
In a way, it doesn’t matter which guy wins the job because they both would probably perform it equally.
Patterson is 28 and has dominated AA ball for two years, winter ball for two years and big league spring training for a year. AAA is going to do nothing for him. Some of the younger guys who have command issues or are developing another pitch NEED the extra time, Scott needs to be in the bullpen to start the year for Girardi’s team.
I have faith Andy will be healthy. I mean, he would theoretically be pitching when I see the Yankees at Fenway! But it would be nice to get through camp this year with everyone healthy.
I mean you can’t get much worse than Opening Day last year with Pavano on the mound…
Clare- LOL I don’t think it will hurt much most were saying after he opted that Boston was one of the places he may end up. We know that he wanted to stay in the American League, Play for a contender and stay on the east coast (closer travel to and from Miami). His options for all three of those were limited to the Yankees, Sox, Cleveland and Detroit….I don’t see Alex as much of a mid-western type guy that leaves Yankees and Boston as the two front runners.
I can also see Alex saying good things about some of the Boston players, he has mentioned that he’s good friends with Manny in the past and Ortiz was a supporter during the 2006 season……..not to mention I think that he’s learned not to bash other players in the media LOL.
Re: Alex’s interview. I didn’t see anywhere where he said he would have gone to Boston after the Yankees. That looked like a sportswriter’s spin on the issue.
Edwar Ramirez dominated AA and AAA and we saw his shortcomings when he came to the majors.
Dominating in the minors and then going to the majors is a big, big jump.
Especially tough if you peg him for a role (long relief) in which he won’t pitch with any level of consistency.
If he does, that means our starters are really bad! lol
That’s the rub with Patterson. He’s not designed to be a long guy and you really don’t want him in that role. Especially, if you believe he can get big outs during the season. Which, I believe he has the potential to do.
Ideally, he’s suited for the last, later innings slot in the bullpen alongside Farnsworth, Hawkins and Traber. Assuming, of course, Joba is the 8th inning guy.
That’s why Girardi has some tough calls to make soon.
BTW, that’s a good thing. I’d rather have too much talent than too little talent among the pitching staff.
sure he did Elizabeth look see ….
At the winter meetings in December, Boras shopped Rodriguez for a while, but no intense interest materialized. If it wasn’t going to be New York, A-Rod wanted it to be Boston. He had wanted it to be Boston in ‘03 when the Texas Rangers worked out a deal with the Red Sox, only to have it dissolve when the no-fun Players Association wouldn’t allow A-Rod to take a pay cut.
“I personally didn’t talk to them [the Red Sox], but I think Scott had preliminary talks, but nothing financial, nothing that got close to that point,” said Rodriguez. “I’ve always had the utmost respect for Boston and their fan base.”
In the end, A-Rod stayed with the Yankees, Mike Lowell with the Red Sox.
“I love New York,” said Rodriguez. “I was born there. Look, New York is not an easy place, and it hasn’t been easy for me. I’ve had my best times and my worst times. But I think at the end of the day - like Boston - it’s a place that makes you look in the mirror and be honest with yourself and to be accountable for some of the stupid crap you do.
——————————–
evidence he clearly wanted to go to Boston
(shame on you Elizabeth)
Elizabeth,
Good point. I’m sure the writer was at least stretching things a bit, although ARod did admit there were at least preliminary talks between Boras and the Red Sox.
YankeeDiva, I meant I thought the writers might be annoyed that ARod talked to a Boston writer, while Peter keeps complaining that ARod doesn’t talk to them anymore, not that there was anything wrong with what he said.
Looks like Boston was his second choice.
“If it wasn’t going to be New York, A-Rod wanted it to be Boston.”
LOL Clare maybe they were nice to him and said please first
yeah, Clare’s unfortnately probably right about the press impact. the comments themselves are innocuous - A-Rod didn’t say he was targeting the Red Sox - but that won’t stop the print/sports talk press from trying to turn it into a back page fiesta.
toomany elements of these parts of the press don’t know (or case) enough about baseball to come up w/content, so this type of thing fills up space.
“We can say ‘not this time’”
It’d be nice if we could get through a season without any A-Rod controversy.
Rebecca: I feel that Kei Igawa would certainly be a worse opening day starter than Pavano.
george w/ NCAA mania , Isiah Thomas stupidity and El Duque his a$. handed to him today by STL I doubt this makes back page.
Rebecca it’d be nice but com’on that’s not “Alex being Alex”
I hope the Nets take it easy on my H.S. team
I hope the Nets take it easy on my H.S. team
see you in Scranton Edwar
Four in a row Brandon? That might be some record =P
I’m not sure who to be most angry at right now:
Syracuse for not making the NCAA, Villanova for beating them, Pitt (my champion) for losing IN THE $@#$@#$ SECOND ROUND, the Devils for deciding they don’t want to play hockey any more, the Syracuse women for not getting past the first round, myself for deciding there’s no better way than to spend spring my senior year on an 80 pager (I’ve made it to 26)….(it goes on)
The Nets? Can’t be mad. They’re living down to expectations.
LOL Rebecca
not to be mean, but please don’t call this a live blog if you will not actually be taking us through the majority of the game with live posts. The game just ended and all you have is the second inning. Is the only reason you’re calling it a “live blog” to drum up more clicks?
Joe,
All I did in pointing out Rasner’s one bad inning was the same thing every one does on this forum, make a point. Rasner’s bad inning was in his second appearance. 4 ERs in one inning translates to a 36.00 ERA. His ERA is now 5.8, that means his other outings have been good. Many people on this forum make “points or excuses” for players. Right now, ERAs this spring are: Hughes 7.71, Wang 8.44, Pettitte 5.63, Joba 5.44, Rasner 5.84 and Karstens 9.23. Again I don’t understand the double standard with Rasner. He’s a good pitcher, not an all-star but a solid contributor.
“not to be mean, but please don’t call this a live blog if you will not actually be taking us through the majority of the game with live posts.”
When the game has no regulars in it, who really cares? I’m sure there’s another site that’s doing live blogs. Vote with your clicks and go there instead if you don’t like what Pete’s doing.
Jensen:
Give me a break, I heard the Andy Pettitte news and wanted to post that instead. You want that or the exciting details of a bunch of backups getting two-hit?
You find another blog that updates as often as this one, let me know.
Peter: point taken about the lack of other liveblog sources. It would be nice to have a one-sentence post when are you are going to stop liveblogging so I’ll know to stop refreshing your blog though.
Hi y’all from Texas. Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate Easter. I said it before but I definitely mean it now. I’ve had it with Karstens!
Jensen
when you find a blog that updates as frequently let me know too.
I refresh this page four or five (or six or seven) times a day. If i had two places to feed my jones I wouldn’t get anything done.