Game 4: Rays at Yankees
-
-
- April
- 4
-
YANKEES
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Matsui LF
Betemit DH
Kennedy RHP
Notes: Thanks to Kevin Devaney for texting this in. He also reports that Melky Cabrera had his hearing today and had his suspension reduced to two games. So he will sit today and tomorrow. … Neither Betemit or Duncan have faced Andy Sonnanstine, so Betemit gets the call because he switch hits. I believe Shelley’s hearing is Monday.
I’m off to see Shine A Light so play nice and enjoy the game if they actually play it.
UPDATE, 6:46 p.m.: Boy, you go to one movie and everything goes to hell.
Joe Girardi has the flu and is too sick to manage. He was sleeping in his office for a while. Rob Thomson and Co. will take over. Try some green tea, Joe.
Meanwhile, it turns out that Duncan and Cabrera dropped the appeal of their suspensions when they were dropped to two games. Melky will be out today and tomorrow, Shelley on Sunday and Monday. Is it me or is MLB’s justice system a bit nonsensical? It took them three weeks to figure that out?
Finally, Jorge Posada’s shoulder is too sore to catch but he can DH. The new lineup:
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Posada DH
Matsui LF
Molina C
This entry was posted
on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 3:51 pm by Peter Abraham.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
not bad, but Matsui and Damon out there oh boy Ian get ground balls
does anyone know what happened to seth mcclung?
Are you sure duncan didnt start his suspension too?? I would think and hope that he would bat before betemit.
I heard that Duncan’s is Monday as well.
hows the weather lookin?
“Are you sure duncan didnt start his suspension too?? I would think and hope that he would bat before betemit.”
why?
Did anybody catch this tidbit in today’s Star Ledger by Ed Price:
“Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Posada are the first trio of teammates to play together 14 straight seasons since Jim Gantner, Paul Molitor and Robin Yount of the 1978-92 Brewers and the first ever for the Yankees.â€
Kinda cool, no? And maybe explains why we could never envision one of the them on a team without the other.
Eighth!!!
Doreen – Maybe they can’t envision that themselves either, and why Mo and Jorge ultimately decided to come back.
So Pete, I know I gave you a hard time a while ago about not posting frequent updates to your spring training liveblogs. I just wanted to say that now that I’ve had a chance to check out your content further, I see that you put out a lot of really great stuff and you have now converted me as a fan of the site. Looking forward to following this blog to the world series!
-Jensen
im so glad shelly is getting a chance to play regularly.
Hugh,
He was traded to Milwaukee.
wow what the hell did Bruce Bochy do, Mil was getting soft liners off of Jonathan Sanchez he left 2 in the middle then he’s pulled in comes Yabu and gives up a 3 run shot ERA of Sanchez goes to 15.75 ERA for Sanchez dem’ are the breaks
“im so glad shelly is getting a chance to play regularly.”
who said he would?
Doreen
kinda cool- yes.
Thanks
how is doing? I recall him throwing harder than anyone I ever saw…the first time I faced him, I almost sh my pants…he threw a legit 100+ mph(not a mlb stadium/tv juiced up radar gun), he really threw the ball 100 mph and then some. Guy was scary, I always thought he was going to be the next great pitcher back then.
So if tonight’s game gets rained out, does that count towards Melky’s suspension? Hey, it’s not his fault that it rained.
No, rain-outs don’t count toward a suspension. He’d have to sit another game.
Did you see shelly last year??
Betemit is worthless from the right side of the plate with career rates of .232/.281/.353
I think Big Ugly or Ensberg should have gotten the start.
for some reason i’m very happy that the tiger’s just lost thier 4′th straight, yeah, lets go yanks…
I meant to say this in the post game thread….what is the deal with Dustin McGowans burners? not a good look to say the very least.
Hugh,
He’s had trouble making the roster. Last year he pitched just 12 innings. He made the team out of spring training this year, he’s only thrown 1 inning. His fastball is too flat for the big leagues.
“Betemit is worthless from the right side…”
He is. But Sonnanstine is right handed so Betemit will be batting left handed.
Betemit has a career .811 OPS against right handed pitching.
Shelley wasn’t that good against right handers last year.
I have a question, I don’t know where else to ask.
Last year, my friend was working at H&M clothing store, and two salesmen sold him a coupon booklet for Yankee game tickets. The selection of games were pretty limited in terms of bigtime games, but we didn’t care.
I’m wondering where I could purchase a new booklet of coupons for the 2008 season? I don’t know what the booklet is called…
Matt B, the Yankees are facing a righty tonight, so Betemit won’t be hitting from the right side.
Shelly’s hot bat has had considerable time to cool off. I’d like to see him in the line-up.
“Betemit is worthless from the right side of the plate with career rates of .232/.281/.353″
you realize those are good numbers for someone w/ 4 HR 24 RBIs in 84 Yankee AB
My mistake folks – thought Sonnanstine was a lefty. I’ll have to double-check my facts next time.
“My mistake folks – thought Sonnanstine was a lefty. I’ll have to double-check my facts next time.”
They made that mistake on the post-game show last night as well, so you aren’t the only one….
what does the weather look like?
Alex Rios must not be smart in business neither is Aaron Hill they could have been FA targets RF Rios could have had the entire ML salivating for his services 2B Hill there is already the Mets and a bunch of other teams instead the Jays locked them up today
Rios,Hill locked
Bad night for Melky to be out. Ian is the one real flyball pitcher in the rotation. Too bad it couldn’t start tomorrow and serve it during andy and wang’s starts.
The weather looks better….It’s not raining here in Manhattan and the radar seems to indicate that the major stuff won’t hit until after midnight….I’m thinking we get a game in….maybe a sprinkle or two but that’s it…
They mentioned something on the game last night I am curious about – - – the catching Molina brothers all have WS rings. Does any other set of 3 brothers have that (Alou?)
“wow what the hell did Bruce Bochy do, Mil was getting soft liners off of Jonathan Sanchez he left 2 in the middle then he’s pulled in comes Yabu and gives up a 3 run shot ERA of Sanchez goes to 15.75 ERA for Sanchez dem’ are the breaks”
Well…he’d have given up 4 runs in 4 innings regardless, so I can’t say he was doing that amazingly. The guy’s 25…it’s kind of time to start turning that raw stuff into performance, no?
Brandon, neither is an FA for several years yet. They’re hedging their bets against injury and/or ineffectiveness.
I really have not liked the trade for Betemit from the beginning. Yeah, he’s got some pop, but he often has really bad, undisciplined at bats and doesn’t offer that much to the team. A better fielding or base-stealing utility guy, or a high-OBP but low power guy, would be much more valuable, in my opinion, and they gave up a pretty good reliever for him (pretty good, as long as he got a chance to recover from Torre’s abuse). Does anyone else see Betemit as a real plus? (Of course now that I’ve said this, he’ll probably hit a game tying 3-run homer tonight. Which you can thank me for later .)
Wow, Detroit lost again.
“Too bad it couldn’t start tomorrow and serve it during andy and wang’s starts.”
This was the only way to be sure they’d not have to spend a day with 23 guys. What if the suspension isn’t reduced?
Also, I doubt MLB offices are open on Saturday.
“Brandon, neither is an FA for several years yet. They’re hedging their bets against injury and/or ineffectiveness.”
oh thanks for clearing that up
I would much rather see Duncan over Betemit. Oh well, need to give all of those guys a chance.
“Ian is the one real flyball pitcher in the rotation.”
Kennedy had an outstanding ground ball rate last year. Over 40% of all contact against him came through ground balls.
That’s quite good. And he gave up very, very few HR.
He doesn’t have enough innings thrown in the majors to know how he’ll do but he doesn’t project to be a particularly fly ball prone pitcher.
“or a high-OBP but low power guy, would be much more valuable”
He’s a bottom of the order bat. Fast, good fielding util guys are a dime a dozen. They’re also not particularly useful on a team like the Yankees. High-OBP middle infielders start on NL teams. Wilson is an offensive asset in that he brings SLG, and actually decent K-zone judgement…his career OBP is 70 points higher than his career avg, so he does take walks.
“I would much rather see Duncan over Betemit. Oh well, need to give all of those guys a chance.”
Because you think Duncan hits righties better than Wilson, or because you like Duncan as a guy more than you like Wilson as a guy?
Betemit will obviously hit lefties better over the long run. I am of the belief that Betemit could be a successful starting 3B on most teams. His bat is easily above average for 3B.
Speaking of fly-ball pitchers, Hughes has actually showed some bad fly-ball tendencies of late. Those tendencies continued last night but none of the Jays hitters made solid enough contact for it to matter. I doubt it will be an issue but its something to keep an eye on.
I dont think the heavy stuff will come down for a while…
“Because you think Duncan hits righties better than Wilson, or because you like Duncan as a guy more than you like Wilson as a guy?”
They both look to swing and miss a lot, but I have more confidence in Shelley connecting than Betemit. I guess his spring raised my expectations of him.
“They both look to swing and miss a lot, but I have more confidence in Shelley connecting than Betemit. I guess his spring raised my expectations of him.”
Given that Wilson has a multi-year track record of hitting righties well, I have to give more weight to that — and to Shelley’s long and unimpressive minor league record — then to spring numbers.
“Speaking of fly-ball pitchers, Hughes has actually showed some bad fly-ball tendencies of late. ”
I know we’d like every pitcher to never give up a ball hit past the shallow outfield, but they all do. Many strikeout pitchers are also fly-ball pitchers. It’s ok.
“Those tendencies continued last night but none of the Jays hitters made solid enough contact for it to matter. I doubt it will be an issue but its something to keep an eye on.”
He got 8 ground ball outs and 7 flyball outs yesterday.
“Speaking of fly-ball pitchers, Hughes has actually showed some bad fly-ball tendencies of late.”
Phil’s ground ball/ fly ball tendencies have come up a lot.
Last year during his stint in the majors – with all the difficulties and injuries – Hughes had a ground ball rate of 38%.
That’s a good rate – not grate but good. Justin Verlander’s ground ball rate was 43%. Peavey’s 45%.
But again – it was a tough year for phil.
I think with Hughes part of what people are reacting to when they see him in the bigs with ground ball vs. fly balls is an implicit comparison to what his track record was in the minors.
Phil was such an extreme ground ball pitcher in the minors (none of the minor league hitters could get any lift off him) I think people have very high expectations.
Phil is not going to put up nearly the same ground ball rates in the majors as he did in the minors.
At the same time I see no concern that he’s showing “fly ball tendencies.”
You’d like a pitcher’s ground ball rate to go north of 40%. Hughes was close last year as a 20 year old fighting through injuries.
He’ll be fine.
“I know we’d like every pitcher to never give up a ball hit past the shallow outfield, but they all do. Many strikeout pitchers are also fly-ball pitchers. It’s ok.”
Obviously. I was just pointing out that Hughes’ fly ball % over the last year has been higher than expected. We’ll all have a better feeling for it after he makes several more starts. I don’t expect it to be much of an issue.
Correction,
Hughes had 7 GB, 7FB’s and 4 SO’s.
I heard on Michael Kay’s show that both Melky and Shelly were reduced to two games and Melky will sit tonightand tomorrow and Shelly Sunday and Monday. I also heard that Gomes was reduced to one game and he will sit tonight.
It is funny – people get on CM Wang for reliance on the sinker and generating ground balls, then they say he is not an ace.
Now Hughes is getting too many flyballs. If we were playing in Philly’s new park or Cincy then I’d worry, but Yankee stadium is fair and the new ballpark has the same dimensions.
Peter Rabbit,
I don’t know exactly what booklet you are referring to, but a bunch of coupons come with my season tickets, you can have them if you want. Can you post an e-mail address?
Also, I can’t make tomorrow’s game. I have 2 Tier Box MVP seats near home plate. 7 rows from the railing. You can have them for a steep discount off of the face value.
I’m impressed, Pete, with your tastes for old people’s music: Springsteen from the ’70s and ’80s, Rolling Stones from the ’60s. Next up, The Del Vikings and Bennie Goodman.
Seriously, I hope the cold doesn’t mess with Matsui’s legs. If worse comes to worse, the Yanks can call Luis Sojo from Tampa, suit him up, and put him in left.
Pretty amazing that the darlings of spring training, Shelly Duncan and Morgan Ensberg are going to be the last two Yankees to get off the bench.
GIRARDI IS “GAME TIME DECISION” w/ the flu.
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/yankees/
Mark Alan,
Springsteen music is not old music, Springsteen music is great music!
Don’t be a hero Joe!
Go home and get some sleep.
Drink lots of fluids Joe:
Chicken soup
OJ
Ginger Ale
Bourbon
yeah springsteens muscis ranks right up there with the beatles and bill withers
Bill Withers? I haven’t heard that name in a long time.
Let’s hope the two-game suspension doesn’t cool off Melky. He’s been one Yankee so far that fans want to see with a bat in his hands. He’s come of age.
Clay Buchholz stole my laptop, (aka Joe)—
I can be reached at Stinger947@aol.com Sorry for the delay! I’ve never sat that close at a Yankees game…Wow. Hope to hear from you soon about that booklet too.
Imagine my friend was scammed last year by those two guys–they could have just been season ticket holders that got the same coupon booklet you have. I wonder.
The Yankee website confirms that all of the suspension appeals were dropped and the suspensions reduced by 1 game each.
How’s the weather? The radar looks good.
Anyone know if this game is actually going to be played? Not looking too good it seems like…
Mel
Dreary but dry.
Can’t wait to see Ike tonight.
Skinny Mike-
“not looking good..” – how so?
Countdown,
“Wow, Detroit lost again.”
And yet they’re ahead of us in the power rankings.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....amp;week=2
If you had told me last September that on April 4th Rob Thomson would be managing the Yankees, I’d have had a Scooby Doo moment.
drizzling is expected, but it looks like the game will start on time. the bulk of the rainfall isn’t supposed to start until early tomorrow morning… it is supposed to clear up by 1PM too, so both tonight and tomorrow look good to go at this point.
Jimmy,
Thanks. Hoping for good weather for Ian. Ike? There’s only one Ike I know of, and he beat on Tina Turner.
Molina is going to catch tonight and Jorge will DH…and Giradi’s not managing.
Poor Girardi. Hope he feels better
Mel
I read on Wikipedia that IPK is known as “Ike” in the clubhouse – I have way too much time on my hands.
Anyway I wonder if it has to do with the comparisons to Mussina: “Mike n Ike”
I think it probablly predates that though.
Don’t forget the President Ike http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.....Eisenhower
“I like Ike” campaign slogan
Steph,
And the Rays are for real. They’ve been raking.
Anyone else enjoying Detroit’s beginning? I mean, doesn’t it irk you a little that everyone jumped on that bandwagon? Dontrelle makes his AL debut tomorrow. That should be interesting.
I know the Tigers will get rolling like a locomotive pretty soon, but the more games they lose now, the less we have to make up if we’re fighting them for a WC spot later.
Man it sounds like Girardi is really sick, hope he gets better soon!
Girardi looked really washed out last night and sounded terrible. Hope he feels better and that his illness doesn’t spread around thwe clubhouse.
I definitely don’t think that the D-Train is going to do too well in the AL. He’s in the superior league now and has to deal with the DH. He’s got command issues and he won’t have an easy out like he had in the NL lineups. Then again, he might surprise me. I thought for sure Zito would do better in the NL, but we know how that has turned out for the Giants. I don’t mind the start that they’re having, because the more games that they lose, the easier it makes it for the Yankees to make it into October if they need the Wild Card again (I hope not).
Yeah, Girardi not managing means that he’s feeling awful. From what I’ve read, he has a high temperature and the flu. It is good that he won’t be in the dugout but can be reached if the Yankees need him. We don’t need any of the players getting sick.
Jimmy,
Thanks. Good to know. Actually both Ikes were before my time.
What’s with Girardi? He should just take some Sudafed Severe Cold Formula to deal with the symptoms for a few hours. Tough all Day!! j/k. Hope he gets better soon. Like by tomorrow.
Yankee rules are slowly changing. Eight years ago Bruney would never be allowed to have long hair like that.
“Anyone else enjoying Detroit’s beginning? I mean, doesn’t it irk you a little that everyone jumped on that bandwagon?”
Steve “Genius” Phillips called their lineup the best in **baseball history**. This is a lineup anchored by Gary Sheffield and Miguel Cabrera — both premier talents, but Miggy has maturity issues and most of us were glad to see Sheffield traded. People brought up chemistry with a lot of our lineups the past few years, it’s only fair to apply it to that lineup.
Jax,
I was thinking the same thing.
Joba’s facial hair is also stretching the limits.
nothing wrong with it of course; it’s actually nice to see them allowing a little leeway.
Posada DHing tonight. I’m guessing Wilson got bumped. Must be bummed.
Did they send Joe home?
I think he quarantined in his office.
Saw on the Daily News blog that he will be in the managers office. He should just go home and sleep!!
If Girardi has the flu he should just go home for a game or two instead of breathing the flu bug around the clubhouse and getting the players sick. Last thing the team needs is a few guys at a time missing games because they’re wiped out with this thing.
I agree. Go home and rest, Joe.
I don’t see any tarp on the field or any other indicators that there won’t be a game.
mike mineo I never got to tell you that I absolutely agree iwth agreeing to disagree!
“This is a lineup anchored by Gary Sheffield and Miguel Cabrera — both premier talents”
Sheff used to be. Isn’t really any more.
“What’s with Girardi? He should just take some Sudafed Severe Cold Formula to deal with the symptoms for a few hours.”
I suspect that, in addition to feeling horrendous, he REALLY doesn’t want to give this to any of his players.
I say we have to remember that these Rays love to run and are as fast as the dickens. On top of it they don’t have trouble getting on base. They usually end up scoring when they do get on base.
I never underestimate their ability to walk away with a win.
LOL. I knew Joe couldn’t stay away. He must’ve read the blog & taken the cold pills I suggested. They’re miraculous. You take ‘em and you don’t even feel sick.
I bet he ends up a the top of the tunnel by the end of the game.
They’re immune already. Joe’s the last to get it.
Ansky, you’re ranting guy, no longer ranting, right?
I’m impressed that it took this long for Girardi to wear down! I cannot imagine the stress he has been under just preparing to debut as the manager of the Yanks!
Get well soon Joe!
Also, we don’t have da melk tonight or tomorrow night. Hopefully they don’t hit a lot of long balls out there – which they have been known to do!
“I read on Wikipedia that IPK is known as “Ike†in the clubhouse”
That was the answer to a trivia question that Phil Hughes posted on his blog. People had to guess, and I think it took a while before someone got it. His initials are IK, so it makes sense verbally. Eye-k.
People were guessing IPK (which makes no sense verbally) and Dorothy (because of the Oz-related hazing last year).
Yep. The name didn’t fit.
“I say we have to remember that these Rays love to run and are as fast as the dickens. On top of it they don’t have trouble getting on base. They usually end up scoring when they do get on base.”
Then why do they lose so very, very often?
I understand that it’s good not to under-estimate them, especially the offense, but let’s not get ridiculous here. The Yanks should really win this series. Lots of young pitchers, should be able to run up their pitch counts and get into that weak pen. And they should REALLY be able to hit this soft-tosser. They hadn’t seen him last year, but now there should be plenty of tape on this guy.
If that Ike=Ian deal is true, I’m wearing my I like Ike campaign button to the games I’m going to. My grandma gave it to me.
Where is Rob Thomson from? Is he a buddy of Girardi’s?
“It is funny – people get on CM Wang for reliance on the sinker and generating ground balls, then they say he is not an ace.
Now Hughes is getting too many flyballs. If we were playing in Philly’s new park or Cincy then I’d worry, but Yankee stadium is fair and the new ballpark has the same dimensions.”
Way to completely discount what I said and take it the wrong way.
Someone mentioned that Kennedy is the only fly-ball pitcher on the team (which CB correctly disagreed with). I just threw out there the FACT that Hughes has a higher fly ball % over the past year then many people expected. I also qualified my statements several times saying that I doubt it will be a problem just something to keep track of.
Going from hot Florida to cold NYC, starting a career as the Yankees manager, and Joe G sits down with the sniffles? These Northwestern guys are soft!
Maybe he needs to start a regimen of green tea and take it easy. Signaling back-to-back bunts takes a lot out of you.
(just kidding)
ryan,
He’s a holdover from the Torre era. Torre credited him last year for put a lot of stuff on computer & such. Seems like he and Girardi think alike.
Patrick – relax – i don’t think i even read your post.
Anybody know the skinny on Mo Vaughn ?
Maybe CB or SJ44 can answer this better. Was Thomson a Girardi choice or did the Yankees strongly “recommend” keeping him? I kind of saw it as “not only are we going to keep this guy, we’re going to promote him” kind of deal.
Ryan
thats a great slogan – up there with “pretty girls for Nixon”
“Ike Kennedy” Very presidential
Thomson has been with the yanks forever – waiting in the wings
games postponed, delayed?
The game is going to go on as scheduled
Thanks Mel. I vaguely recall a story about that last year.
Why do these lose so very very often? It was called horrible relief pitching. But it seems that may be in the past. And I also seem to remember the Rays taking the season against the Yankees in the past. And hey, they weren’t as improved as they are.
They have some really good starting pitching. They have always had good offense and lots of base stealing. If Troy Percival has anything left, this could be a very interesting season.
I don’t remember the last time the Rays won the Grapefruit league? Do you?
About being ridiculous – I remember seasons past when the Yankees couldn’t beat Detroit, KC and Seattle, when they were the dregs of the league. So the only poster who is ridiculous is the one who takes anything for granted, especially with a lot of signposts that say caution.
Wow, that’s a pretty weak 6-9 for the Rays. Navarro, Hinske, Haynes and Bartlett.
mel –
At the time that Girardi was named it was reported that Thomson was his guy. I don’t believe he has any Yankee roots.
Patrick,
I noticed that ground/fly ratio as well. Late last season, Hughes got back to being the gb pitcher he’s statistically been.
But SJ or CB’s response to you quelled my concerns. As long as he gets outs it’s good for me. It’s just you want to see the ball stay in the park that’s why I wanted the ratio to swing the gb way.
Get better, Joe.
I got the flu from my husband back on February 29th, I am STILL recovering from it. They say you are still contagious 6 weeks from contracting it.
I got Tamiflu and I swear it helped speed it along. I never got the nasty intestinal stuff my husband did. It just made me loopy with a slight headache.
I think he was susceptible to it because he finally got the Home Opener over and got his win. It is like that with my migraines, if I have something I have to do, I can sometimes manage the stress and ward of an attack. However, once it is over, BAM! I get hit with a migraine. I think it is the same thing as when people get sick on vacation. The body lets down.
Poor Joe!
Rays bottom of the lineup is National League-esque.
Anyone watching YES just saw a piece of this season’s
Rays that ended with the following: This season’s Rays “have left many prognosticators saying that the Rays will be in the mix all season long.”
Oh I just love it when I pay close attention and take nothing for granted…
maybe we can outfit Girardi in a plastic bubble.
Christine,
It had made it’s way through the clubhouse. Damon was out a couple of games because of it.
I know most NFL teams make their players/staff get the flu shot. I wonder what the Yankees do?
Rob Thomson
From the yankees site:
Bio:
Enters his 19th season as a member of the Yankees organization, his first as Bench Coach for Joe Girardi…For one season as Major League Field Coordinator, acted as the communication bridge between the Yankees’ Advance Scouts and the coaching staff…also, in conjunction with the coaches, oversaw the Major-League developmental plan for Spring Training…spent the previous three seasons as a special assignment instructor…Was named to the Yankees Major League coaching staff on Nov. 4, 2003…Joined the Yankees organization in 1990 as a third-base coach for Class-A Fort Lauderdale…coached in the Yankees’ system for five years before taking over as Manager of Class-A Oneonta of the NY-Penn League in 1995…served as the third-base coach at Triple-A Columbus in 1996 and 1997 before moving to the Yankees’ front office as a Field Coordinator in 1998…Was promoted to Director of Player Development in 2000 and named Vice President of Minor League Development prior to the 2003 season.
Playing Career:
Attended the University of Kansas and was selected in the 32nd round of the 1985 draft by the Detroit Tigers..Was a catcher and a third baseman in the Tigers system from 1985-1988 before joining the Tigers’ minor-league coaching staff in 1988.
Resides in Tampa, FL, with his wife Michele and their daughters, Jacqueline and Christina
Many people don’t believe in flu shots. Speaking of the flu, I went on a two week cruise last month. My daughter had a touch of the flu, and they quaranteened (sp?) for 24 hours.
“Why do these lose so very very often? It was called horrible relief pitching. But it seems that may be in the past.”
Their middle relief is basically the same as always. Dan Wheeler and Trever Miller were both bad last year, and Al Reyes isn’t scaring anyone. Sure, they added Percival, but he never had the injury corrected that caused his retirement in the first place.
They’ve always had good offense, and their young pitching is starting to come to fruition, and yes…they have speed. That is all undeniably true, but the back end of their offense looks really poor today, and their pen is still pretty uninspiring.
Like I said, sure, don’t assume these games will be layups. But the Yankees really, really should beat this team.
I can’t go to tomorrow’s game. I have Tier MVP Box seats Row D behind home plate. I can e-mail the tix as long as you can print them out.
I’ll take whatever I can get for them. If anyone is interested, just make me an offer. They are really nice seats!
Thanks.
Clay,
I don’t believe in flu shots, but then again I’m not walking around half naked with a bunch of ball players.
I’ve always believed that you’re contagious when you have a fever (flu). And by the time your cold symptoms appear, you’ve been contagious for days. (Old wives’ tale?)
hey all,
just wanted to check in and say hello to pete and those regulars who may or may not remember me from the last couple of seasons.
great to see hughes look solid against a pretty good lineup. i’m sure he’ll have bumps and bruises along the way, but i’m looking forward to (potentially) being proven wrong about the santana trade. hopefully pete and others were right about hughes’ future.
great post about joba, pete. couldn’t agree more. then again, i hate the papelbon glare and fist pump, so that’s definitely some bias speaking on my end. i do agree that the yankees could use a little bit of emotion, so maybe girardi, joba and a few others will foster that this season.
i’d actually like to see them move matsui or damon this year, but if all goes well, maybe that won’t be necessary.
hope everyone’s well. i’ll check in when i can.
take care,
kasey
Is tonight’s starting time still on time? I drive by the stadium on the way home and I like to avoid the delays … if it’s starting on time then I’m outta here in a few.
PLEASE READ
I can’t go to tomorrow’s game. I have Tier MVP Box seats Row D behind home plate. I can e-mail the tix as long as you can print them out.
I’ll take whatever I can get for them. If anyone is interested, just make me an offer. They are really nice seats!
Thanks.
Yeah, the game is supposed to start on schedule.
Kasey,
Have you seen Springsteen in Seattle?
How hold is Flash? His skin is so…plastic. I wonder what kind of astringent he uses?
oops. How old is Flash? haha.
Kasey, IMO Santana will probably be very good but Hughes (and Kennedy) will prove to be worth keeping regardless.
“This season’s Rays “have left many prognosticators saying that the Rays will be in the mix all season long.—
That’s because it makes a better story to say that.
I just googled for Rays predictions and read all the ones on the first page…none predicted anything beyond 80ish wins.
Some of the stat systems predict more than that, but all the proponents of those systems know that they’re notoriously poor at projecting very young players.
Point is, season long…the pen is weak, and they really don’t have anyone they can count on for 200+ innings in that rotation. Right now, Longoria isn’t here which really weakens them as they’re also offensively weak at SS and C, and on some days RF.
Kasey: Great to see you around!
“Like I said, sure, don’t assume these games will be layups. But the Yankees really, really should beat this team.”
I agree. I hope it happens.
a lot of empty seats behind home plate
As of today, The GIDP Machine is the major league co-leader in, you guess it, GIDPs.
Not the best way to start the game: a walk.
Let’s go Kennedy!
Nice to hear from you, Kasey.
That Crawford guy is kinda fast.
Ian continues to struggle in the first inning.
Great positioning by Jeter. That would have scored a run otherwise.
Hi Kasey…evening everybody! go yanks
Nice play by Jeter on Pena’s grounder. The Captain had Pena played just right.
I had forgotten how horrible the “Rays” announcers are.
He hasn’t shown much command on his pitches. Hopefully it improves in later innings.
Ian pitches so slow…
mel,
Thompson was sort of a hybrid choice. Both Girardi and the yankee’s brass liked him a great deal. Inside the organization people have a tremendous amount of respect for him (Cashman in particular). I remember Girardi saying how impressed he’s been with Thompson’s knowledge of the game and how prepared he was.
Thompson has had a wide variety of jobs in the organization (but don’t think he’s managed anywhere) and he’s seen baseball and the organization from a lot of different angles. Torre really liked him as well.
I’d guess that his hiring was one of those thing where Cash said I think he’d be great for the bench coach spot and Girardi agreed.
The ump squeezed Kennedy with Upton up there. Those two pitches on the outside should be been strikes.
The ump won’t give Kennedy pitches if he’s not showing much control right now. If it’s borderline right now, more than likely, it’ll be called a ball.
He needs to find a way to be sharp in the first inning.
Nasty change-piece to Floyd there, real impressive pitch.
gotta like Molina’s arm!
This umps zone does not bode well for Ian. On the other hand, our offense should get going.
Crap.
This umpire’s strike zone sucks. And the rays announcers say he has a big zone… yeah not.
Floyd with a single and Crawford scores
Approaching 30 pitches………….
Why are you listening to the Rays announcers will?
So, this is one of the great prospects, huh?
LazyRod
THE SEASON IS OVER, GODDAMN IT! FIRE JOE GIRARDI! FIRST!
Like I said, any close pitches aren’t going to go Kennedy’s way if he doesn’t show command.
If the yankees are going to win this game its going to be up to the pen.
His pitch count is already very high.
Looks like Girardi was smart to stay home tonight.
IPK behind in the ount again…
Hey John, you must be a “new” Yankee fan huh?
Santana > IPK
CB,
Thanks. That’s what I figured.
Oi, those leadoff walks. They score 75% of the time?
I hope that Ian can find the zone. He’s going to have to be more economical.
Thank goodness, there was no further damage. Navarro’s an all-star against his old club.
Be prepared for a long, boring game if Kennedy pitches. He takes as long between pitches as Colter Bean.
I live in florida. I have to … they won’t let us watch it on the ppv channel w/yankee announcers
The pitch count is discouraging, but not the end of the world. It’s definitely possible for him to bounce back and get us at least 5.
29 pitches, 17 balls in the first inning.. Not a good start for the newb.
Well, they can’t all be 1-2-3 first innings.
It’s bothering me a little that they are hard-hit balls so far, but, you know what? It’s just the first inning. Plenty of baseball to go.
“Navarro’s an all-star against his old club.”
Many people think Navarro is going to have a breakout year. He had a very good second half last year and made a lot of strides at the plate. He’s still only 24.
Is IPK on an innings limit too… i believe he is more seasoned innings wise.. right..
today is gonnab interesting, Andy’s throw day? Joe G will pull a Joe T if needed?
Well, not a good start for Ian. Let’s just see how it goes.
But right now, let’s get some runs
Kennedy wasn’t overly wild in the first, several of those pitches missed by just a touch. His first inning jitters are probably mental, something you see with most young pitchers. They just get a bit too amped up for the game. Ian will surely overcome the jitters as soon as he gets more experience.
Ahhhhh, that explains it. One of the few disadvantages to living in Florida, will.
Is IPK on an innings limit too… i believe he is more seasoned innings wise.. right..
today is gonnab interesting, CMW’s throw day? Joe G will pull a Joe T if needed?
How was shine a light
Of course, My Santana > IPK comment was made in jest. One inning does not make a season….Time to get that run back AND MORE ! Go Yankees…..oh..and death to the trolls !
Is it below 50 degrees, so the “cold” weather can be used as an excuse for the poor offense?
Kennedy usually struggles in the first, but he’ll have to be sharper and more economical to stay in the game.
Michael Kay almost made that fly out to right like it was goin out…
Just a thought, what’s Wilson Bettimit’s purpose on this team?
He does not hit for average
He cant hit left handed pitching (no power, higher % k rate than against rh pitching)
He strikes out too much overall
He cant pinch run well enough for that role
He cant play the middle infield positions on an everyday basis
He has no apptitude for the OF positions
He is an average first baseman at best (and playing out of position)
He is a third baseman by trade (I heard there is some competition at that spot, not even counting morgan ensberg)
He was a ss by trade (and there is some competition there too)
His upside?
He has some power (but not really when compared to your usual third basemen, for a SS maybe ok)
Was traded for Scott Proctor.
I guess he’s insurance if ARod goes down for the whole year?
At SS, I dont think he could play short the whole year, AGonzales would be a better option even though he is historically a hitting lightweight. WB would be a defensive liability for a prolonged period. Would rather go with a 225 hitter who can make the plays, instead of a 225 hitter who cant.
I’m lost on this one.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! THIS TEAM IS GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!
According to the Rays announcers, the Yankees look to hit curves because their older and their bats are slower than some of the younger players. After Jeter had fouled off a pitch, they used it as justification saying he was late on it.
Stay hot Bobby, stay hot!!!! Just tucked that inside the line. Now, make it hurt ARod!
Bobby gets a double and A-Rod has a chance at an RBI
the Rays announcers are smokin socks…
Wow, that’s quite the analysis. I wonder if they ever thought about a hitter’s read on a pitch being off and so they swing slower than they ought to? Nah.
A-Rod pops out.
Arod with the lamest pop-out of all time!
Yeah these guys are the same announcers who made a joke about rats and stuff in NYC a year or so ago
The Rays announcers are the worst in baseball. I heard earlier this week that Joe Magraine said that Jason Bartlett was the best shortstop in the AL East. And he was being serious.
I heard a rumor that Joe Girardi got crabs from A-Rod’s hooker. FIRST to report this rumor.
Is Dwayne Staats still doing Rays games?
The Angels’ broadcasters out here are God-awful. So are the White Sox ones…I haven’t heard many calls by the Rays’ announcers.
Great pitch, Ian. K’s him.
Nice fastball there that ran back over the plate. That’s the Ike we saw last year.
Steph,
I watched the White Sox game today and their announcers are amazing compared to the clowns the Rays have.
Wow ump not calling the outside corner.
what is up with these damn umps!!!!??
horrible.
Ken Singleton makes the Pointer Sisters reference re: Nathan Haynes of the Rays…I love that guy…anyone else makes that joke and it’s stupid…with Singleton it works.
new life! Go IPK! 3 up 3 down!!
Another K by Ian.
Much better 2nd.
Now that’s more like it, IPK.
2 straight K’s for Kennedy
Great bounceback 2nd inning by Kennedy. Found command of his fastball to get ahead of hitters and started having success. Now, let’s get him some runs.
Lol, have you heard the Angels’ announcers? They know absolutely nothing about baseball. Or the Angels, for that matter.
Much better inning. Let’s go guys…
Now we need our offense to give him some support.
What’s up with A-Rod? He was so locked in. So was Giambi for that matter. On the other hand Ortiz was 0 for 12 before finally getting a hit the other day (a HR).
Nice catch by Upton.
I’m a big fan of Singleton as well Jason O. My favorite games to watch/listen to are the ones were he’s doing play-by-play with one of the other former players (Flash, Leiter, Coney).
Okay, Giambi’s just getting robbed now.
Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler? Those were the Angels announcers for years and they were always hilarious.
Giambi gets robbed
Robbie is really struggling.
Upton’s becoming a heck of a CF. A small tragedy (although it was good for the Yanks) that they Rays didn’t make that move sooner so that he could have been up on the league a couple years sooner.
Robbie pops out
Kennedy has some trouble in the first inning (even a bit in the minors if I’m remembering right).
He probably had some butterflies given that it’s his first start of the season.
Even though he doesn’t throw hard he has struck a lot of people out at every level.
It would be nice if the offense opened up and gave Kennedy some room to work with.
cano giambi and posada need to get their swing back. I Know I know this is the 3rd game..
I just want everyone to hit everytime, is that too much to expect??? *grins
Robbie’s back in ’swing-at-everything’ mode that he gets into sometimes. Gotta be patient and get a good pitch.
this bleeping ump is getting on my nerves. He wouldn’t call that a strike on Kennedy.
some consistency please?
I think the hitters are pressing. But it’s still too early to worry. It’s not like it’s June and they’ve been hitting like this the whole time. Once the weather gets warmer, they will be on fire.
Ths umpire hasn’t given Ian one of those pitches he just gave Sonnastine (sp)
Is there any pitch that Cano doesn’t swing at??!! Pathetic
Guys, what’s the score? Im at work on my sidekick and can’t get mlb.com or yankees.com
Iwamura with a single.
1-0, Rays
Beauty by Robbie!
What a play by Cano
1-0 Rays.
Great play by Cano there.
They should not be pressing 3 games (4) into the season.
Well, swinging or not, Robbie’s playing defense tonight!
What is IPK hitting on gun?
Better be a freaking Web Gem right there. Great play by Robbie with Crawford running and at DP depth.
Robbie has to be a bit more patient. Oh well
Weather gets warm they smoke.. .and October weather they whither… not a rant after 4 games.. just a worry based on the last 3 Octobers..
He’s hitting in the high 80s/low 90s.
Sorry, but Kennedy is nothing more than a number 5 guy, at best. He steers the ball and looks afraid, which we see way too much with Yankee pitchers.
Something is terribly wrong with NY if this guy is untouchable in trade talks.
“Is there any pitch that Cano doesn’t swing at??!! Pathetic”
Sonnanstine is one of the best control pitchers in baseball.
He walked 1.8/9 innings.
His entire game revolves around getting ahead. I’m sure that’s in the scouting report.
If a guy walks less than 2 hitters per nine innings your going to fall behind in the count every time if you keep taking pitches.
I’d be more worried about IPK throwing more strikes, rather than what he’s hitting on the gun.
Barely into his 3rd inning of his first start and we already know this? Wow, you’re amazing.
Ump’s squeezing Kennedy SO BAD!
Kennedy is a human “rain delay”
BillyJack: agreed but I would say he is more 4 or possible 3..
I do agree about untouchable in trade however.
I know it is early, obviously but Kennedy doesn’t impress me 1 bit. He was awful in spring training and today he is scared to throw strikes or can’t find the plate. I see the big 2 but Kennedy throwing 80 mph is not in that group at all and never has been.
Who is the long man? Kennedy ain’t getting too far.
Kennedy has nothing tonight.
Magic man Kei Igawa is coming to get you Kennedy!
Wow, the Yanks wouldn’t part with Kennedy for Santana? Wow…
c’mon ian, throw strikes already wtf. I Know the ump ain’t calling ‘em but geez..
what’s his strike to ball ratio?
If something wrong with Kennedy? Not watching the game but boy, 3 walks already?
BillyJack – wow !!
thanks steph.
This is not little league. I’m assuming if he can’t throw strikes he would be in double a.
Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy Please sit Kennedy.
like i was saying about the Rays and their proclivity to running bases…
He’s having an off-night with his command. He’s usually much sharper. New to baseball?
Kennedy kind of looks like Matt DeSalvo.
Did the Yankees pull the old switcheroo?
Sooo…why is our pitching coach not on the mound yet?
*groan*
Kennedy isn’t close to anything special, imo. Guys like him are a dime-a-dozen. No real fastball, nibbles constantly, can’t get the big out. Dime a dozen…
Why oh why do we have problems with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays? Yeah, that’s right. I’m using their old name because this Rays business blows.
Wow, this is what the threads become on game days? A bunch of sky-is-falling naysayers? Disheartening, to say the least. Disheartening.
IPK is not looking major league ready tonight.. no way.
First of all, Kennedy was not an untouchable. He and Melky were offered for Santana.
Second doesn’t anyone think that it could be getting to the pitchers that the offense is not doing anything? Isn’t it just as cold for the other teams as it is for the Yankees? When a pitcher thinks he has to be perfect, doesn’t that work against him?
You can see Kennedy getting discouraged. I was glad when Giambi came into talk to him. Where is the Eiland? Isn’t it his job to try and get IPK back on track? Isn’t that what is forte is?
Kennedy is really laboring.
And the Yankee offense has got to get going. Sonnenstine is not a top of the rotation guy like the Yanks faced vs. Toronto. They should be able to hit this pitcher.
Note to Kennedy, 2-0 counts bad, 0-2 counts GOOD
The command for Kennedy doesn’t seem to be much there tonight. Maybe it’s the cold, maybe not. Hopefully the Yankee offense can help him out.
Settle down Kennedy and get it together offense.
Doreen,
“First of all, Kennedy was not an untouchable. He and Melky were offered for Santana.”
Your are 100% incorrect. Even in the end, Cash told the Twins Kennedy is not available!
wow, look what you guys are saying. Giving up on 1 start. You guys are spineless. Pete already said .. don’t state the obvious.
IPK is going to run out of his pitch count in the next couple of innings. It will be interesting to see how the Yanks maneuver the bullpen. Pettitte is on about an 85 pitch count tomorrow. The ‘pen could get more work they we’d like the next couple of days.
Karstens, Rasner, DeSalvo, Kennedy…they’re all the same pitcher.
Fleas,
Excuse me, but the original deal for Santana included Kennedy. The TWINS said he wasn’t enough. Kennedy was on the table before Hughes was offered.
Some of you need to go root for the Mets.
Bases are loaded with one out.
William-it’s probably the trolls. We all know that Kennedy is usually on top of the game with his command.
eek
Get out of this Ian.
He’s just having a bad start. Can’t give this team free passes…they’ll run, run, run.
big moment for Kennedy here with bases loaded
According to one version of events Fleas. The other, more believable version was that the Twins came back asking for Kennedy AND WANG. That’s what Cashman turned down.
CB: Cano swung at 2 pitches that were no where near the strike zone. The catcher called for a very high pitch knowing that the free swinging Cano would swing at it. He swung at the same pitches against the Blue Jays in the 9th inning of game 2 and during the series. It has nothing to do with todays pitcher.
His pitches seem a bit off today. Jitters perhaps?
He’s gonna be tired just from his Mussina-like stretch.
Karstens, Rasner, DeSalvo, Kennedy…they’re all the same pitcher.
Do you have the DNA test to prove that?
William, easy buddy. Spineless? watching him give up 4 free passes and his pitch count up to mid sixties in the 3rd. Did you think people were gonna be on here talking him up? YOu must know of another blog that Yankee fans have that all of em say nothing but nice things. Where is that blog?
70 pitches in 3 innings – not so good.
what happened to navarro?
I believe the final trade proposal was Wang + Kennedy for Santana. Probably another prospect too but none of the “untouchables”.
31 strikes, 38 balls thru hardly 2 innings. Gonna be a long night for the bullpen today ):
where’s the coaching visit to the mound?
Bases-clearing triple. Ouch.
He’s getting squeezed, for sure.
Whozat,
The Rays have never won more than 70 games so anyone predicting more than 80 is really going out on a limb.
absolutely terrible. but c’mon do you really have to boo him?
Yankees fans can be so damn shallow.
Fran, Sonnanstine blanked the Yanks at the Stadium last season 9-1. Went 8 innings.
I won’t lie, that was disappointing. Hopefully we can turn it around.
“This is not little league. I’m assuming if he can’t throw strikes he would be in double a”
I just wanted to quote someone and subsequently provide pretentious, yet meaningless commentary. Like whozat.
Better luck next time out Ian
oh well… wonder if there’s anything good on tv tonight.
In comes Albaladejo
I’m not saying Kennedy is terrible or anything, he just doesn’t have it tonight. It was obvious 15 minutes ago and it’s obvious now.
It did seem like he pulled his best #35 impression tonight though.
Kennedy and Mussina in the same rotation? Yikes.
So Kennedy is looking bad? or is it the ump? defense, maybe? Guys, what’s going on? I gotta know. Are we swinging the bats? Cano’s looking bad, swing at balls? Jetes GIDPs?…….can I have a game recap…please?
Tough first start Ian
Kennedy is getting squeezed tonight. He’s not getting calls on the corner. Kennedy’s control is off, and coupled with getting squeezed, he’s really struggling. Not his night.
But he needs at least 5-10 starts before we can adequately judge what he is, at least right now. There’s still tons of potential. I still like the look he gives at the back of the rotation, and think he’ll get better.
He sucked, but the umpiring was just horrible…
I belivethey were booing the ump, not Kennedy. He got TWO strikes in that at bat called balls and was forced to throw a pitch over the middle of the plate.
Poor Ian. He just didn’t have it tonight.
Alright, guys. Let’s go.
they guys seem pissed.
IPK was horrible, but I think that the ump was cheating him on some balls as well.
I believe the final trade proposal was Wang + Kennedy for Santana. Probably another prospect too but none of the “untouchablesâ€.
That was what the Twins proposed that they’d accept if the Yanks offered it. Cashman said no.
And thanks for the score guys.
Doreen,
Uhm, yes he was. but in the end Cash pulled him.. hence.. kennedy was off the table and untouchable.
in the beginning it was all the game of negotiation.
What an embarassment for kennedy getting yanked so early.. WOW.
Next time Ian
Ouch IPK! Something must be wrong with him tonight…
You guys are lucky to have Michael Kay every day lol, I hate that mlb.tv has blackouts, I’m listening to the Rays broadcast down here in Orlando, not sure they’re worthy of doing high school baseball (still MUCH better then chicago’s announcers and a few others though lol).
Sunny615,
That’s what I would like to know. This was supposed to be what Eiland was good at, right? No one but Giambi even came in to try and settle Ian. He was obviously upset by not getting the close calls. It’s pretty apparent that he felt he had to come right in there, and it cost him
He’ll be okay next time around. I feel badly for him. Not a great season starter for him.
But now the Yankees are 5 runs down in the 3rd inning and if they were pressing before, what they heck are they gonna do now?
Kennedy had bad command all along, so the ump was never going to give him the borderline pitches. Cano was up hacking, yes. Jeter didn’t GIDP. I’ve got a live blog that I’m updating as the game goes on if you want to look at it.
And, with the punchless Yankee offense, 5 runs is easily enough to win this game.
13 walks in 20 big league innings.
52 walks in 149 minor league innings.
These are not the numbers of someone touted as having plus command. I wouldn’t expect his big league walk rate to continue; I’m sure it will come down over time since it’s a small sample size. The point is, where did all the talk of extraordinary command come from? When you throw mid to upper 80’s, you HAVE to be a great command guy, but it’s time for Kennedy to prove it in my mind.
Can I get a 1-2 or 0-2 count please.
The ump basically made him groove one with the bases loaded…result: 3 run double.
Like the YES guys were saying, Ian’s gotta throw strikes to get those calls. Maybe next time.
yikes. shame about kennedy.
Double into left scores Riggans…
“You guys are lucky to have Michael Kay every day”
Take that back. Take it back right now!
Cashman is so smart, this is why we didn’t get Santana.. we have Kennedy and abledejeho
heh, Cashman is a moron.
This is just a bad team.
And sure was a good thing Patterson didn’t make the team!
Is Kennedy still apart of Generation Trey?
I dont think Ill be able to watch Moose and this kid pitch in the same rotation all year. Its just painful
joe T
Gotta be better than Sterling/Waldman
The key with the Rays is to keep them off the bases. Period. Kennedy could have had his best stuff going and if he gave up a lead off walk and threw one wild pitch, we could lose the game 1-0.
I watch the Rays play a lot (as I have mentioned before) because I watch both Yankee and Sux games and so watch the Rays when they play both. If you really don’t have a memory of how well they play the Yanks just take my word for it – this is not a mickey mouse team anymore.
It’s hard to win ballgames when your pitcher isn’t throwing strikes, you let base hits go between your legs, your infielders mishandle relay throws, and your batters are popping up in the infield with a runner on base.
Tough game to watch so far. Let’s hope they can turn it around very quickly.
Kennedy’s going to have a few rough outings with this being his first full year in the bigs. Hopefully not too many like tonight.
Trish – I know but they also beat him once last season. He is not a top of the rotation pitcher and the Yanks have to be able to score.
“And sure was a good thing Patterson didn’t make the team!”
lol
You sound like me
Fleas,
Yes, in the end, Cashman decided to pull everyone off the table and trade no one. However, the only UNTOUCHABLES, not even open to discussion, were Joba Chamberlain and Robinson Cano. Had the Twins accepted the Yankees offer of Kennedy & Cabrera, Kennedy would be on the Twins right now. Or, if they had accepted the improved offer of Hughes and Cabrera for Santana, Hughes would be a Twin right now.
Ooops
Girardi should make Ian run laps for such a bad showing.
Kennedy wasn’t missing by much on many of his pitches, but he wasn’t throwing enough strikes to earn the umpire’s respect. When you miss that often, you don’t get the close calls. Plus, youngsters usually have to earn their stripes with umpires.
Albaladejo is on the mound now, he will probably be sent down tomorrow when Pettitte comes back. This has to be just a bit of a downer for Albaladejo, knowing that no matter what happens tonight, by this time tomorrow night he will be down in Scranton.
Good question Doreen… I guess Girardi being out doesn’t help either
You’re right trisha
They’re gonna be very good very soon. And their top prospect, Longoria, started the year at Durham (he played here last night against the Mud Hens).
KJ
“I dont think Ill be able to watch Moose and this kid pitch in the same rotation all year. Its just painful”
Having Santana would have made moose so much more tolerable..
However, I love moose he has my respect until the end of the year no matter what. He has earned that from me.
Global Warming – I will not take it back… i’m telling you, you’re lucky! lol
You guys are off the Kennedy bandwagon very quickly. You don’t think Hughes is going to have games like Kennedy had tonight?
Can’t wait to see those comments when Hughes and Joba struggle.
Remember the good old days when the Yanks used to beat up on Tampa Bay.
I think I would have felt better Fran, if they beat him at the Stadium at the end of the season and not vice versa. Sonnanstine beat us his second game out, and he did it at the Stadium. We don’t know enough about him at this point but he doesn’t have to be a top of the rotation pitcher to have the Yankees number. You know that there are certain pitchers who have a great record against certain teams. We’ll see where this guy stacks up.
With the stuff that Kennedy has he has to be perfect with his pitches. I think the Yanks are asking too much of him. He has only been in the minors for a year. It is much easier for Hughes and Joba to come up and be successful because they are better pitchers and they can get away with alot more. Kennedy only throws in the 80’s and he really has no margin of error. It is only start 1 but he didn’t look good in spring training and he could be fine after this but they might of rushed him.
That’s probably one of the biggest reasons why Albaladejo is pitching now: he’s going down tomorrow anyway, so he can absorb some innings for free.
Godzilla homers!
Gotta start somewhere, right? yeah Hideki.
YEAH HIDEKI!
You can’t get six runs without the first…
OK…so we have 3 good pitchers and 2 bums….(joke)….good thing our offense is firing on all cylinders, huh ?…..FUDGE !….
Yes, Matsui did hit the homer, but why didn’t Michael say “See ya!”?
I really don’t think Ian Kennedy is going to have a couple rough outings just cause he’s a rookie. He is going to have rough outings because a lack of pure stuff plus a lack of impeccible command is going to equal LOTS of rough outings in the American League. I love the hype stemming from his minor league track record, but he can’t survive in MLB with his stuff while walking 3.5-4 guys per 9 (his minor/major league average).
Matsui is NO spare part. HR!
I’m not sure here, but the Yankees have struggled offensively in April for years. We know this, they know this, and there isn’t anything we can do to change this? Maybe we should move our spring traiining up to beautiful Syracuse so we can’t blame the cold weather.
way to go matsui & molina
RE: Kennedy. No where to go but up.
Jose JUST missed. He’s been playing great. Who the heck did we trade for him again?
Nice Matsui
Ignore the trolls. Molina doubles!
Alright, let’s get some more runs!!!
Good to see the bats bounce right back after that inning. Two rockets. Gotta keep it going.
This is much better.
Keep it going
The good thing about the LONG top of the 3rd is that it seems to have knocked Sonnanstine out of his rhythm.
23.14 ERA for IPK….gee, I hope he doesn’t get hurt and land on the DL for a few weeks….that is gonna be a painful stat to live with…..and against that March Powerhouse the mighty Ding Dong Rays ?….I hope the kid can put this behind him….
Jeff Kennard, who was a AA pitcher for us.
You know, one of the bennies of being the worst team in the majors is getting the first picks all the time! They really have some very sweet players.
Trisha, you’re absolutely right. Just BJ Upton alone is a wrecking ball against the Yankees.
I’ve got the Rays picked third in the East this year. Some people will tell me I’m nuts, but this is a young team that is going to continue to give their division foes fits with their young talent more and more this year.
Lots of time left in this one. Hopefully we have a bullpen that could hold the lead. I think we’ll see Hawkins or Ohlendorf next.
J-Dawg….I love your Optimism…Gotta find the silver lining, friend….good job !…
What a weak AB by Damon, what else is new
Damon K’s on a check swing.
the john damon show is getting realllllll old
Time to call up Igawa
Those of you who are criticizing Kennedy are completely out of line. He had a bad night. Move on. There’s a reason why he was MiLB pitcher of the year–he’s TALENTED. Give him 15 starts with a 5.50 ERA until you start piling on him.
Oh, and whoever said this is a “bad team” is also completely out of line. 3 games into the season! There’s still like 6 and a half innings left. Relax.
Rebecca that trade would have involved Jeff Kennard no idea what he is doing now
Man,,,,Damon is starting the year off with a bang, huh ? yuck ! ;-(
Nobody earns the right to perform terribly for an entire year no matter what they have done. This isn’t tennis, there is roster of 24 other guys trying to win a world series. There are too many people that can do at least a serviceable job to let a grumpy old man take it on the chin every 5th day.
YEAH JETER! TRIPLE!
Also the one thing I didn’t do here is give up on Kennedy. I just pointed out the reality of who the Rays are these days. I believe Kennedy will find his groove.
The difficulty with Mussina-type control pitchers is that they are so fine with their pitches that if they’re off, they’re really off.
Mark my words, if you see Hawkins this game, we have little chance of winning….he’ll fold like a house of cards…
Damon looks terrible. Why does it take the lefties soo long to get going…
A triple by Jeter. Let’s keep this up!
I wasn’t sure Molina could run fast enough to score! Good thing he did, ’cause Jete’s on 3rd!
The lineup is awakening it’s slumber!!!
Oh Captain!
Nice Derek! Shades of Girardi in the WS in 96. Without the slide, of course.
Bomb it away!!!
Alright, keep the train rolling Bobby. Great triple by Jete.
Kennard is in the minors for the Angels still.
Bronx Bombers
jeter finally shows some life, he had a weak spring. nice to see him drive a ball again
come on Bobby!
i dont care for the umps strike zone
Alex…it IS a long season, but as a Yankee Starter, if your first game stinks this bad, you take all the “flack” you deserve and then go out there and SHOW everyone that you deserve another chance. ( this isn’t Tampa, my friend ) …. IMHO.
Trisha – I do agree with you; the Rays have been playing the Yankees VERY tough for at least 2 seasons before this one. AND it really is something the players they’ve been rewarded with for finishing last or close to it. Why doesn’t winning the World Series get you the number 1 pick, and then go last to first? I mean, after all, a trophy is nice, but what does it get you????
Kennedy will need to earn some love from the umps…uh, like Sonnenstine apparently has.
In NON yankees news, Rick Ankiel just hit a ball 500 feet.
Jeter seems nearly as comfortable and locked in as Abreu right now. I would expect very big things from both of them this season.
Kennedy didn’t gat any calls tonight.
Here’s what I don’t get. Blogs/chat rooms/message boards ALL have fans on EVERY team that come on here and complain about the other fans of the team because they “bash” them. HELLLLLOOOOOOOO that’s like going to a ufc fight and your buddy turning to you and saying “why did he hit that guy”? C’mon people, that’s what these boards are all about. Get a clue
Jeter scores on the grounder. 6-3 Rays with A-Rod coming up.
Way to get a job done Abreu. Would have liked a hit to continue the rally, but at least he got the run in.
we need to get to their crappy bullpen and keep Hawkins out of the game….our only chance, folks….
Let’s grill Sonnanstine the same way!!!
What’s that Joe Torre used to like to say, back in 96-99 about chipping away? =D
This baby’s far from over.
A-Rod with a single up the middle
Well, was Giambi due or what?
Think Giambi can make it a 1 run game?
ankiel is a stud…..giambinoooooo
Offensive outburst. Glad they saved it for tonight.
yay for NWO wolfpack!
Giambi crushes it to left and gets a double! A-Rod scores! 6-4 Rays.
BIG double by the Big G. Love to see him going oppo with power like that. Man, that’s gone in pretty much every other stadium.
The Giambino strikes! Nice RBI double. We have a ball game again!
Even Giambino is hitting today!!!
GIAMBINO!
Wow…I’m surprised Crawford didn’t run that down. It got out there in a hurry, though.
Wonderful inning. Lets go Yanks
Dang, we missed THREE home runs be a couple feet.
Love that we are back in this but baseball can be so fickle.
“Kennedy didn’t gat any calls tonight.”
I agree that a few calls were bad.. but you don’t get those calls when the rest of your pitches are missing by a mile.
Here come the BOMBERS!!! See, I am not all negative!
I’ll take it.
Wow, talk about a rally. The Yankees are back!
It all started with Hideki…he’s batting to low in the lineup.
Man oh Man! Nice! Well, so much for all my earlier griping.
hah, Yankees have hit for the cycle in this inning.
hello Yankees offense
These freaking Umpire is SCREWING US. That was not a strike to Cano!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This umpire is ridiculous.
He was NOT giving Kennedy those pitches. Jeeeeesh.
I will take a bomb right here, Robbie…
No matter what happens for the rest of the night, this bottom of the 3rd is a very good sign for the Yankees, that no matter how big the deficit is, this team is always in it. When they are down, they’ll show enough fight and resolve to get back in the game. As a fan of a team, you can’t ask for much more than that. Nice to see Giambi get a hit!
The boys are hittin’ it now!!!
Ah, the first hideously entertaining slugfest of the year. Honestly? We were overdue.
Come from behind wins give the most satisfaction of all. The true test of a resilient team.
Nothing sweeter than getting back in the game.
Bats rule tonight
Robbie pops out.
Dude, guys, if you aren’t paying attention, you know Toronto? That team that nearly shut down our offense the past three days?
They’re one hitting Boston in the sixth.
Somebody tell Robbie that it’s still Spring Training so he can start hitting again.
Cano just doesn’t look like he can hit in the middle of the order. He’s never been proficient with RISP, and probably is suited to a less pressure bottom of the order spot.
Great inning to get back in it.
Minor league update:
Scranton WB 1-1
Steven White: 6IP 3H 1R 1ER 2BB 4K
Juan Miranda single in Jason Lane (who tripled).
Doreen, I have a feeling it’s because there is no salary cap in baseball and maybe they are equating bad record with lack of money. Otherwise I don’t know. I don’t know how it works in other sports.
But you’ll be happy to know the Jays just took the lead 1-0 in the 6th!
WOO HOO!!!
Toronto has some good pitching
The problem I have with “getting calls” is that the strike zone should be the strike zone should be the strike zone. It should not have anything to do with the mood of the umpire or whether you’ve missed by a little or a lot previously or anything else. The strike zone is a defined area. Not only that, even if you allow that an umpire sets his own strike zone (which he shouldn’t, but, whatever), once that strike zone is set, it shouldn’t change during the game. It’s the most infuriating thing, whether it favors the Yankees or not.
Nothing sweeter than getting back in the game.
Bats will rule tonight
Stairs just homered against the Crock Sox. Marcum working a one hitter.
Man, that first pitch to Iwamura should have been a strike. Dang it Jeter, should have made that play.
Gah, that’s an E-6
wow, did they not teach Jeter to get in front of the ball?
Cano will be fine. He’s not exactly on fire, but to say that he can’t hit in pressure situations is a bit of a overreaction.
Does this umpire have a problem calling strikes? The captain with an error which will probably lead to a run.
Trisha –
I think it has to do with parity. They want as many teams competing for playoff spots as possible. More wins equals more money all around. It’s always about the money.
That error is not going to do much to dispel the rumors that Jeets is a bad SS.
Jeter Jeter Jeter… sigh
Jeter’s errors always lead to runs.
Excellent post Doreen. I totally agree. It’s ludicrous the way this ump is calling the game tonight.
Everyone needs to stop whinning. Kennedy will bounce back, not a big deal. You guys sound like Red Sox fans pre 2004. We’re NEVVVVEEERRR gonna win, nothing goes right for us, ever. Its game 4 of a 162 game season. Grow up.
In minor league news, Steven White has pitched pretty well in AAA. 6 innings, 3 hits, 2BB and 4 K’s.
Baldelli is obviously hurt again, right? Anyone know the details?
Crawford with a K
Great inning at the plate from the Yankees. Once again, it’s frustrating to see it end with a runner on and a weak infield popup – but I’ll take the inning for sure.
‘wow, did they not teach Jeter to get in front of the ball?’
Come on now. Man, that is total little league stuff. Much, much, much better to field that ball glove hand and not get caught in-between trying to get in front of it. Yeah, he booted the ball, but it wasn’t because he didn’t ‘get in front of it.’
Baldelli’s career might well be over, John. He was released from the Rays. He has a problem with his muscles. I forgot what it was…
For those complaining about Cano: he was awful in the first half last year. Relax.
I think yankee stadium has that umpire rating system in the ballpark doesn’t it? This dude blows!
JOhn he is on the DL with some disease that has him having constant fatigue I am sure you can go to the rays website and it will be there
John Flaherty: Doug Eddins has had an interesting strike zone tonight. That’s a very diplomatic statement!
this pitcher is good!
low 90s heat!
On Baldelli: it was a mitochondrial problem that keeps him fatigued.
http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/n.....mp;c_id=tb
This is a big inning for Albaladejo. Need to hold Tampa Bay and keep momentum on the Yankees side.
Baldelli´s career is in trouble because a very rare disease.
Strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out DP!
Great throw by Molina. SHOW OFF THAT GUN!!! Now, start another rally bats.
Jorge: WE WANT A HOMER!!!!
The srtike ‘em out, throw ‘em out came at a sensational time for the Yankees. This allows them to keep the momentum and to get these bats up again.
Except for that hit that scored the run, Albaladejo doing a good job. Nice double play there, Okay, I guess we’re all relaxing a bit from about 30 minutes ago, huh? :lo:
Steph
Oh wow…that’s terrible. He was a heck of a talent, who couldn’t stay healthy. I don’t know how I missed that. What a shame.
Being critical of Kennedy’s start is not the same thing as saying he sucks or is worthless. Nothing wrong with being honest about the performance of your players. Yes, he’ll be fine. In the meantime, there’s no sin in discussing his flaws and being realistic as long as the comments aren’t melodramatic and irrational.
Yuck! Blue Jays old uniforms are fugly.
Don’t be jealous but I just saw Lyle Overbay hit a ball that fell between Manny and Ellsbury and the Jays scored another run!
2-0.
back to work bats
Yeah, Baldelli has been in terrible shape. I feel really bad for him…he could have been something really special.
Cano in the 6 spot is really not looking like the best move, huh ?
Oh this is just disastrous. Wakefield’s knuckler is knuckling everywhere but in the pitcher’s glove! Wild pitch and the Big Hurt moves to third. 2nd and 3rd, still 1 out.
I don’t think the knuckler is supposed to find it’s way back into the pitcher’s glove, lol. It should go somewhere toward home plate. I love watching him struggle, lol.
Trisha -
Are you at the game, or watching on tv?
And Ellsbury catches a ball and then drops it. 3-0 Jays. Controversy over whether Ellsbury ever had control of the ball.
What a fun game!
Trish
Yes, terribly disastrous.
a little early to be judging cano in the sixth spot
How about that hawk story out of Fenway? Crazy?
#63 for the Yankees needs to take Hawkins’ place permanently ( we can tell that this early in the season, right ? )
Well that was pathetic.
D – watching on tv. I switch when we are between innings. But I am transfixed by this inning!
Listen to this. Ellsbury was called with not having control of the ball so it was back to one out. Then another hit. So Jays have the bases loaded with 1 out. Score 3-0.
Some stories report the hawk as being a red-tailed hawk, which would be funny. (Red tail, red sox?) I don’t know if that’s really true. But an incredible story nonetheless.
I think with Cano it might just be the cold weather. He got off to a slow start last year, I wonder what it was in 06?
If the hawk story had come out 3 days ago, I’d call B.S.
This ump’s a joke. At least the calls benefited us this time. We deserved it.
Looks like the Yankees are going to let this pitcher pitch his arm off and then send him down tomorrow to call up Pettitte. A long man might be needed soon.
4 K’s for Albaladejo…can we get him a nickname? That’s hard to type, lol.
Wolf in Pinstripes,
You’re right. The problem is almost everybody tonight is both melodramatic and irrational. Saying things like “i can’t believe he’s just another moose” or something along those lines does not sound like constructive criticism to me.
Alba has good stuff. Good trade for Cash money. With all of the good young pitching that the Yanks have in the minors Clippard was a spare part.
Albaladejo is doing pretty good. Pretty pretty good.
Jeff-that’s exactly what the Yankees are doing. He’s going down anyway, so why not get as much out of him as they can? Why waste the people that are going to stay up when the Yanks can try to keep them fresh?
DO NOT send this kid down
Very nice !very nice ! Albaladejo
Steph-
I like Alby, short and simple.
Alphabet day oh is looking pretty good in pinstripes.
How bout the job that JA is doing keeping us in this game? He’s looking pretty sharp. I wonder how long he can go. I saw that Ohlendorf is loosening up in the pen.
Jeff – they were planning on sending him down tomorrow whether he pitched tonight or not. They have to create a spot for Pettitte.
Alabadejo for long man! I like him. Throws strikes. Of course, if he starts getting hit and walks, I’ll be back in an inning or two cursing him to the minors.
Kei pitched 6 innings in Scranton gave up no runs. No BB, 7 Ks.
Alby is a good nickname. Short and sweet.
I like this guy, why would we send him down?
Great job by Alby. Going to be tough to send him down, but with Pettitte on a pitch count tomorrow and Alby likely unavailable, you need as many fresh arms in the pen as possible tomorrow so it’s a virtual certainty he’ll be sent down.
Trisha
That #28 looks like Dave Steib on the mound. He was good.
Alba is not a long relief guy or candidate for long relief, most likely a 2 IP type of guy again innings and what they are not use to comes to play here.
He’ll probably be first in line for a call-up if a pen arm struggles or a pitcher gets injured. After him, it’ll probably be Rasner or Patterson that comes up.
Albaladejo is providing a much-needed lift for the team by giving them these innings. If he gets demoted tomorrow, I wouldn’t worry. With a performance like this, he won’t be down in Scranton for long at all. The best thing about this performance is that he is saving other members of the bullpen. He keeps flowing along and getting pivotal outs and saving guys who they will need during this four-game series.
It sounds like a very hostile and loud crowd tonight.
Melancon is pitching tonight. So far 1.2 innings, zeroes, 1K. So far, so good.
Will,
Numbers game man, gotta activate Pettite, someone has to go down, and he’s the one.
i wish they would cut loose bruney
Alby or Alba works for me.
ok YES I get it Jetes is too good for another PA announcer to say his name …real shallow
Well it is either him, Olendorf or Bruney…Bruney will drive Girardi crazy very soon when he can’t find the plate but not yet.
I love how they play Sheppard over the PA to announce Jeter. Just awesome. Wow, and Kay just said he wants to do that for the rest of his career.
John – awesome. One hitting the Sux in the 7th.
Bruney didn’t look bad yesterday.
“Melancon is pitching tonight. So far 1.2 innings, zeroes, 1K. So far, so good.”
keep us updated
this ump has the hitters guessing
What’s wrong with that? If he wants to hear Bob Sheppard whenever he comes up to bat, let him.
Nice work on the live blog, Steph. Impressive.
What a difference a week makes. Last week when they made the decision to keep Albaladejo and send Patterson to SWB, many people were upset.
Sux looking for a catcher. I wonder if they’d consider Piazza.
I think Bruney will eventually be the one sent down or released in favor of someone. Looked good yesterday, but his BB will start to aggravate Girardi I’m sure. C’mon offense, need to get back to hitting the ball.
Trisha -
That could be interesting. Piazza catching for the Red Sox. Very interesting.
And with one swing of the bat…
3-3.
yeesh
tied up in Toronto
D’oh
3 run homer for JD Drew.
Is it windy at the stadium. matsui took a bad route to that ball.
Who hit the jack trisha?
Matsui looks like a circus out there.
“What’s wrong with that? If he wants to hear Bob Sheppard whenever he comes up to bat, let him.”
it’s childish not really a tribut, Jim Hall has gone 40 who knows years as an understudy to Bob Sheppard now he can’t even announce the whole lineup.
Jennifer –
Looked like a zig-zag pattern, didn’t it? I haven’t heard them talking about wind, though.
A- Rod
Thanks. I’m trying to do as many live blogs of games as I can for people who have to use Gameday and stuff.
Nice play there by A-Rod to take the hit away.
Nice pick by ARod there. Especially since he was playing on the grass with Haynes and his speed at the dish.
tribute *
I’m gonna throw a party the day bruneys released, all invited
rodg -
the infamous JD Screw
Olendorf looked good.
Ohlendorf is nasty.
Drew with the kind of clutch hit the Yanks can’t get.
Let’s see the Yanks come back tonight!! LOL!!
Great inning for the big O!
I like the way our pen looks so far!
(knock on wood)Bullpen’s picking us up so far. Bats need to get the lead.
Good work by Ohlendorf.
Nice Ross
Brandon, where is your sense of nostalgia?
I wonder why the Jays are wearing throwbacks.
Trisha –
A person would think you didn’t like the Red Sox.
“Brandon, where is your sense of nostalgia?”
?
The middle relief looks great, this year.
Ohlendorf is my favorite prospect. I think he is going to be a major asset in the future.
My cousin went to princeton, and played basketball with Ohlendorf a bunch. He said he was an amazing athlete, but was also really nice.
If it was alex its all good…jeter no way
Doreen -
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
“Don’t like” is like describing a baby’s first word when you look at the way I feel about them on a spectrum!
Shame we have to send down either albaladejo, or ohlendorf tomorrow.
Geez. How unlucky for the Big G.
What is score? What inning? Help a homie out?
Well, that would hurt. Too bad the ball went straight to Pena after hitting Sonnanstein
Giambi hit that one on the nose, he just got unlucky there. Ouch. Sonnanstine will really feel the pain of that one tomorrow. That ball was hit hard.
6-4, Rays, bottom 6
Score: 6-4 Rays. Inning: going to the 7th.
How about everybody’s trendy pick, the Tigers?
0 – 4 at home, and several key injuries. Leylan’s probably smoking 3 packs per day.
cano needs to go back down in the lineup, the pressure from being moved up has gotten to him.. heh
Alby is going to be the one going down considering how much we used him today. Ohlendorf isn’t going to pitch as much and will be able to be used sooner, so he’ll stay. Alby will probably be the first up in case of injury to a pen member or a struggling pitcher.
How can a guy like Doug Eddings have a job as an ump in the majors? Don’t umpires have some kind of self-review? He was the guy behind the plate in Game 2 of the 2005 ALCS where Pierzynski reached on the whole trapped ball debacle.
Wow this is the best overall Yankee relief I’ve seen in years!
Pitching change for Boston.
Jays have first and second with no outs. Bottom of 7.
Good test for Traber here
Is this the great Yankee offense? Sure looks average to me! Maybe Arod can pull a late inning choke again tonight! I must say though that it is entertaining to watch such a gutless team not be able to beat the Rays! What a fun season this is going to be!
Traber’s got such a funky set position from the stretch. The way he kinda stops at the waist, then slowly brings it up, then pauses. Just funky.
Great turn by Robbie and Jete. Big DP for Traber!!
Rios pops out against Del Carmen. 1 out. still 3-3.
John, Leyland really called his team out after the 3rd loss. He said things like they looked lethargic and that weren’t trying and weren’t going to win games that way.
GIDP on Crawford-impressive.
LOL, Singelton talking about the Big G’s flat bill look. Man, I love that guy.
Jeeeeesh. Vernon Wells pops out also. 2 outs.
Big double play, when Crawford gets to second with a steal
Giambi has the grace of a ballerina.
Frank Thomas looks like a giant smurf in that blue uni.
akinori was out of line..
let’s get the fire burning and heat up this Yankee team!!! THey play much better under fire!
That wasn’t a strike but I’ll take it.
you just know Traber was thinking, “wow man that was really, ya know cooooool” about the DP to Crawford. Dude was a trip in his interview.
Haha, a Giambi shout-out to the 909? I didn’t know he was from San Bernardino. I thought he was an OC, 714, boy.
Man this bullpen is kicking arse this year. 0.00 ERA I believe.
Double up the gap for Thomas. 5-3 Jays.
Jays 5-3!
Sorry about Kennedy’s outing, at least our bullpen looks great. 3 runs in 3 innings against the Tempa bullpen, we should be good to go.
…meant to say when Crawford gets on he usually lands on second base with a steal.
.
Traber seemed pretty cool in his interview-very laid-back and casual. I like.
Nasty pitch to K Pena. Probably a ball, but we deserve that after the way Kennedy got squeezed.
John-Yeah, Traber’s interview was something else. Coney was right on calling him ‘flakey.’
Doug Eddings blows, but in a good way on that call! If yankee stadium has that rating system in the ballpark, I have a feeling this may be Dougies last game. He was just horrible in this game.
Hopefully the offense can get something started to thank the bullpen for their work tonight.
The Big Hurt must have quite a bit of energy left for the game tonight. He didn’t get to stick around very long for last night’s game.
How come Kate Smith doesn’t sound all that sluggish tonight?
I’m still feeling bad for IPK. This was not what he needed to gain his confidence. I unserstand that you have outings like this one.. but your first one of the year and at home no less..
poor kid, I am sure he is getting plenty of support in the dugout.
Still, I wish his name was Johan, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have a heart.
Hahahahahah
kate smith
Ian must be silently stewing at the strike calls that the ump gave Traber. Where was that strike zone all game? This umpire is a model of consistency, no?! LOL.
Kate did sound a bit more lively tonight.
say what you want….so far, the bullpen tonight is awesome !
I wonder what she sounds like on a 78
Thomas does look like a giant Smurf in that UNI. LMAO.
As long as the Big Hurt ain’t hurtin the Yankees, I’ve got no problem with him. If he’s hurtin the Sox, I’m very happy with him.
You know, regardless of what happens in tonight’s game, I think, and I mean really think, we have a chance to go all the way this year.
Last year, if Ian had a start like he had tonight, the game would have probably ended 12-0.
This year, the bullpen is doing it’s job, and the offense doesn’t need to do too much to catch up–remember how we tied it last night, all small ball.
There’s not one guy carrying the team right now. Everyone’s pitching in.
It’s going to be a great season.
(okay, I’ll step off the semi-delusional soapbox, but I feel good about this year, in a way I haven’t since…well, for a while)
What happened to the patience the Yankees had earlier?
Boston would of had another out if the smurf 2nd baseman was 5 feet tall and not 4 foot 7.
I’m hoping we don’t just have that one inning of offense tonight. That would be a shame.
Rebecca –
They have shown some good work over the first 4 games so far. it’s realistic to be hopeful.
That was pretty pathetic.
Rebecca, semi delusional? The Yanks are on their way to #27! That’s reality.
Yeah, wasn’t a good inning for the bats there Steph. Just up there taking hacks and not getting good pitches to hit. Hideki’s was a decent pitch to hit but the other two’s were not.
Rebecca, your like the anti-casandra
Well that was a pathetic 7th inning.
This Yankee offense is schizophrenic.
With this line-up, there will be very few chances to pinch hit.
The only time we could possibly see a pinch hitter is when one of the regulars doesn’t start.
Girardi’s not going to pinch hit for Giambi nor will he pinch hit for Matsui. Maybe Damon against a tough lefty out of the pen? But even then I doubt it.
the bats are old and slow. this is what we’ll be seeing all season. it’s just a fact.
NY is not a good come from behind team. Not enough passion and hustle on the club to do it.
Jason Fairytek has a feminine walk to him. Pffft !
Why are we going through so many pitchers?
I always have a bad feeling whenever I see Hawkins on the mound. It is only time before it happens….
What a sweet play!
Quick hands for the Big G. But man, the ump blew that call.
Rebecca- Nothing is out of the question with this team and this lineup. The talent is unquestionably there, and combine that with great drive, heart, and determination, and the stars will align themselves for wonderful things to happen. It’s never over.
Rebecca
It will be a great year if the Yanks have enough Energon to sustain them for the entire year.
We got a break there.
Not bashing, but gosh, Jeter is really staring to scare me. Not looking good defensively at all.
The Yanks get lucky on that one. Giambi didn’t tag Upton on the way by.
That call proves my point that we need Instant Replay.
Wow – Giambi did not get Upton at all there. This one is for the Yankee fans that say we never get umpiring calls that are in our favor.
Scranton Willkes Barre wins 2-1. White gave up 1 ER in the 2nd. Pitched 6 2BB/4K’s, 3 hits. Not bad. Can;t wait to see Horne tomorrow!!!
Giambi caught a break on that call..sometimes that all it takes
When Hawkins was with the Cubs, the fans treated him worse than dirt.
One thing Kennedy can fall back on is that he has already had success at this level, in a September pennant race no less….I think many of our fellow Yankee bloggers lose sight of this….Tough outing of course, lessons learned we have to think so…..Calling for his ticket out of town is crazy…..This kids real good….I clearly remember many here calling for Hughes’s head last August, as he was called over rated and belongs in the minors…..Man give him a chance, he’ll make you happy that he’s in the Bronx….
a pathetic 7th inning for a pathetic offense, how appropriate!
how much do you guys need to see to convince you that this offense just isn’t that good?
i know, i know, it’s the COLD! BRRRR…
“Why are wee going through so many pitchers?”
Because the starting pitcher didn’t give any innings tonight.
I’m confused. How can Andy Pettite be pitching tomorrow? I thought he was on the 15-Day DL. Wasn’t he placed on the DL on 3/28? (not 15 days ago.)
What happened to the offense that looked so potent and scored four runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning?
I can’t go to tomorrow’s game. I have Tier MVP Box seats Row D behind home plate. I can e-mail the tix as long as you can print them out.
I’ll take whatever I can get for them. If anyone is interested, just make me an offer (any offer). They are really nice seats!
Thanks.
If instant replay were to come into baseball, there’d have to be some ground rules on when it could be used. Otherwise, everyone would always be arguing balls and strikes. Games would last forever.
Sux went down 1-2-3 in the 8th. Blue Jays coming to bat with a 2 run lead.
Ugh
And I was right…..
Let the Latroy bashing commence…
That was hammered by Floyd. Got out in a HURRY.
Lucky for bad tag call otherwise 2 run homerun.
He missed his spot by at least a foot. Damnit Hawkins!!!
Wasn’t quite what we wanted. Oh well.
why did we get hawkins and im not saying this because he gave up a home run but he will get bombed in the east not that but the whole A.L come on yankees lets get the offense going!
I am telling you ALL,,,,Hawkins is the kiss of death…if you can’t cut it with the Cubs,,,you are up the creek as a NYY !!!
7-4 Rays on the homer by Floyd
I feel bad for Hawkins. I want him to succeed. So my jury is still out.
Matsui is awful in the outfield. Damon would have had that!
Matsui is a butcher out there.
Good thing the Yankees got the phantom out call, I guess.
Matsui is very rusty out there.
He was placed on the DL retroactively.
Hawkins blew the perfect bullpen. Oh well, it ain’t over till it’s over.
I’m more interested in tomorrow’s game anyway, when I’ll be sitting in my left field seats (right behind where Matsui just dropped that one.)
7-4 oh darn
Hoo boy….Godzilla probably should have had that one.
Matsui should have had that ball.
Charlie: He was placed on the DL retroactive from March 21, so you count the fifteen days from then.
ouch. How many Damon would have had that one post are coming? Alot I hope, cause he would have.
Charlie-
They back-dated it to like March 21st so that he could pitch tomorrow. They were able to back-date it to then because he didn’t pitch in the major league game after that.
Like that quote from Cashman referring to Hawkins. “We have arms in the minors just as good as his.”
Instant Replay could work if they used it like it’s used in tennis. Each team would get a certain number of “challenges” a game. If you are wrong on the challenge, you lose one. If you are right and the ump blew the call, you keep the same number of challenges. Selig is against IR so it will never happen. But I think it’s a good idea.
Hawkins will have a pretty serious lefty/right split. I think before the year is over you’ll see Girardi utilize him to almost strictly face righties.
PlEASE READ.
I can’t go to tomorrow’s game. I have Tier MVP Box seats Row D behind home plate. I can e-mail the tix as long as you can print them out.
I’ll take whatever I can get for them. If anyone is interested, just make me an offer (any offer). They are really nice seats!
Thanks.
Another loss for NY! HAHAHAHA!
Another braindead decision by Cashman…signing Hawkins! LOL at Cashman!
Nah, Hawkins gave up a run in his first outing as well, so it wasn’t a perfect bullpen. Runners on the corners.
Our defense isn’t very good…
1 more out Hawkins. Come on
Matsui should NEVER play LF again. It is amazing how quickly he has aged, knee injury or not. If the DH position is taken then he should not be in the lineup that day. Hawkins looks in mid season form.
Things are falling apart here.
This offense needs to get clicking! It is still very early but we won the first two games with our pitching.
Was watching our game so didn’t see how it happened, but 6-3 Jays.
Thanks everyone.
Tampa has a better offense than the mighty Yankees! LOL
Ian got lit up. Didn’t see much (though only 2 innings) that looked positive for the future. 4BB’s…NYOIKS! Maybe just his nerves? Dunno…
GO YANKS!
I still can’t believe Selig got signed to another contract…I wanted him out of there. Then again, he’s a puppet and that makes the owners love him.
Hmm. Maybe some infield/outfield practice before tomorrows game is in order.
Blue Jays add some insurance on RBI single by a REAL Smurf, Eckstine. 6-3 Jays.
You know, it was all going so well and I had to open my mouth.
My apologies.
captain, he has been getting worse and worse since his first season here.
And is it me or is the crowd mike espically loud tonight?
3-2-1 Latroy bashing starts now.
geez
Ugh…9-4 Rays.
All this while wearing Paulie’s number.
Paul O’Niell chants.
OK, Hawkins.
Dang it, little freaking fister to score two.
Ugh. Over.
You can blame the offense but when our starters don’t go deep into games this is what happens. We end up burning our pen. Slit happens.
Everyone else did well out the pen except for Hawkins…………………..figures.
I can see why he got booed opening night, he sucks.
The “Paul O’Neill” chant is back. What good does this do for Hawkins? This is ridiculous.
What’s very odd is that our staff hasn’t been hit too hard this year, but all the little bloops are finding the holes. But an average LF makes that play, and I’d even venture to say that most shortstops make the play Jeter failed to make because they have the range where they don’t need to leap at the ball and make the throw.
So it’s not my imagination!
Get used it with Hawkins everyone knew that it was TERRIBLE signing except Cashman. What a loser this guy is. As the fans chant PAUL O’NEIL.
I hear a Paul O’Neill chant
I think if Hawkins wants to get on the fans good side, he needs to change his number.
Oh, no!
its farnsworth
Regarding Matsui,
Last year and previous to last year, when he was the everyday outfielder, it seemed like he was an adequate defensive outfielder. He was just a solid defensive outfielder with limited range and limited arm. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but it seems like he would catch anything in that window, played the wall well, hit the cutoff man, etc. Now, it seems that he can not make those plays (at least in the early going). Is it due to deteriorating skills, injury, or rust? I think he is not the best choice as a 4th outfielder. Shelley seems better in right than left, so that leaves Brett Gardner, who could probably use the everyday work in AAA. What do you think is the best solution?
the offense is terrible.
damon, matsui, giambi, cano, posada are all terrible.
Not to make excuses for LaTroy but the ump sucking isn’t helping at all.
I don’t think that 21 should have been officially retired, but I think that once Hawkins heard what Ensberg had to say, he should have taken another number.
Rebecca –
It wasn’t you — it was Michael Kay, the official jinx machine.
What a hypocrite he is. Right now he’s talking about the #21 controversy, taking Hawkins’ side, when up to this point he’s been stoking the fire by constantly keeping it in conversation.
The Yankees’ dislike for Farnsy is being transferred to LaTroy. Farnsy is catching a break.
Hawkins really does look awful.
The Yanks would be better off with Olendorf, Alba and Bruney(for the time being) on the team and get rid of this loser.
Man, I feel bad for Hawkins. He chose that number for all the right reasons. It’s not fair for him to take flak for that.
The best solution is for Melky not to get suspended and to have JD play left.
I’m tired of the booing. C’mon people-support your players. I don’t care if he took your favourite player’s number…but booing him isn’t exactly going to encourage him to pitch better.
If Hawkins keeps this up he may replace Farnsworth as the crowd favorite!!
I know it is very early in the season but the Yanks should not be giving up 9 runs to the Rays. And they certainly should be able to score against the Rays in more than one inning. I know the Rays are better than in past years, but they are not as good as the Yankees.
Nothing like fans booing to help your confidence.
Yankees don’t suck, but some Yankee fans do.
go back to the NL, hawkins.
Trisha,
Yes and no. Starters going deep is key, don’t get me wrong, but watching this offense click in the 3rd, and look absolutely putrin in 1,2,4,5,6,7 against a average to slightly average MLB pitcher certainly doesn’t help. I don’t think you can count on any starter going 9 this early. Hey h\Hawkins I thought you were a sinker pitcher? HInt, throwing sinkers at the letters is not recommended. Can’t expect much more that 75-85 pitches for Pettite tomorrow.
way to punch evan longoria melky, good decision. that means we need to watch another game of damon in center and matsui in left
Cutting Hawkins and bringing up Patterson would be nice.
Well, on the bright side, at least the Crock Sox are losing.
And people were wondering why the regulars stopped posting…the board turns to extreme negativity and ledge diving when one game turns bad.
Hawkins may pass Farnsworth in the Boo department.
we are basically giving up on this game, right ? the moment you trust the ball with Hawkins, you dig your own grave…he is not a “clutch” performer and needs to be the last person that we trust. I know I sound like a broken record, but I have been saying this since we traded for him. MISTAKE…he is a big MISTAKE !
Hawkins is out and Farnsworth is in
I miss Patterson
I think it’s premature to get on Hawkins, he hasn’t been hit hard and a good defensive team would have had him out of the inning. Not fair to boo him this early.
Should’ve just let Hawkins close out the game. Don’t care if they scored 40 off him. We need a bullpen for the rest of this series. Did Torre fill in for Joe G tonight?
He should have been out of that inning giving up one run with a good LF. Hideki should have caught that ball.
Matsui scares me in LF.
O’Neill didn’t do Hawkins any favors the other night when asked how he felt about it by Kay. Should have given his endorsement and showed some class.
I’m sorry, but that’s my opinion.
Hawkins is a gutless punk. Give back that friggin’ number immediately.
instead of signing someone like linebrink cashman desides to SAVE DRAFT PICKS and picks up hawkins. great job by cashman.
Steph- Exactly. I wonder what some of the booing fans would do if the shoe was on the other foot. How would they like to have someone booing and yelling at them while they are trying to do their job? The memories of Paul O’Neill are great ones, but they are just that- memories. It’s time to move on and support the players that are in the here and now.
i think Hawkins was bad, but so many of those hits were bloops not bleeders.. i really feel sorry for the guy..
mayb his luck wud b better next time, Matsui – Damon combo OF is horrible by the way…
still have hope…
anti-mussina: thanks for your optimism.
Well so far just a frustrating game. The Yankees have the kind of offense that could come back, but down 6 in the 8th –don’t count on it. Hawkins has had awful luck following the HR, so don’t bash him.
All in all, the Yankees often get off to slow starts. I thought they have been promising so far, because the pitching prior to tonight has been good and I believe the offense will get their act together. But think of it this way: at least we’re not the Detroit Tigers.
Fran, Rays tend to smack the crap out of the Yankees offensively. It’s just the way it is. Actually it probably has to do as much with their speed as it does anything else. When they get on base, they tend to score. But this is embarassing.
bad karma caught up with us after shellys slide and the melky punch
John in Ohio, what did Paulie say? I didn’t hear it.
I wished O’Neill would just say something to end all the questioning about the number. Yeah, it’s weird seeing someone else in your number, but just say whether or not it bothers you point blank and end all of the talk.
guess my point was prooven by hawkins…went from a 2 run lead to a 6 oh wow damon jeter and abreu next inning come on a-rod let them get on then hit a grandslam then giambi cano and po do something…probably wont happen tho..
One thing that has become quite evident is that the Yanks are much better defensively with Melky in center and Damon in left. Matsui has become a DH.
Rod, I agree with you. At the same time, if the Yankees had retired the number we wouldn’t have this issue at all.
thats you farnsworth!!!!
I used to be riled by the trolls and felt compelled to debate them.. but ignoring them feels cool..
Booing for Farnsworth as that ball goes into the upper deck
The idea that Hawkins is a bad guy for taking O’Neill’s number is just horrible. It’s the 4th game on the season. Farnsworth on the other hand…
thats the kyle farnsworth i know
I take all that back this team is an embarrassment.
This game is really hard to watch. I hope Girardi is actually sleeping and not watching this on TV while puking or something…
You can see it in his eyes, he will not cut in here as a Yankee. Oh well, I’m hoping that some of these young guys are ready to step up by mid season. Sanchez, Melancon, Patterson, we are going to need you because our bullpen has had to throw a ton of innings already. Hawkins just looked scared to death with runners on. Allright Farnsy, sweet entrance. missed your spot by 1-2 feet, good things. I’m going to drink (ALOT).
WOW. Big Fly by Pena. The harder he throws, the farther it goes, especially when it’s straight as a string like Farnsworth throws sometimes.
Bringing in Farnsworth is really stupid. They already used almost everyone in the bullpen let Hawkins give up 15 runs and call it a night. Farns is not good but the closest thing they have to a 7th inning pitcher. Or bring in Bruney.
thats just kyle being kyle
right on cue
Can they send Farnsworth or Hawkins down tomorrow?
Don’t want to get on the kid but thanks a lot Ian Kennedy. Just about the whole pen is being used because he didn’t pitch well.
I take back my previous comment. I dislike both LaTroy and Farnsworth with a passion!!
John in Ohio –
I agree with you. O’Neill had a chance to put it to rest and talked all around the subject.
Nathan, yes about Hawkins.
Charlie – agree with everything you said.
Rays never let us off easy. I don’t think is going to be a fun weekend, despite the fact that in the end we will have won #27…
I absolutely hate when the fans boo their own team. If they struggle, how about a show of support? I know if I were playing and struggling, I’d like to have a little encouragement and know that people were backing me.
Farnsy should never had to come in this inning. They should have let Hawkins finish it. Now Kyle’s going to be down and out of his head again. I know its early but I don’t like the tone this team is setting so far.
Cash, DFA Hawkins now. save us having to watch the next 2 months of Felix Rodriguez redux before you DFA him anyway.
not just based on tonight – i remember how this guy looked when he was an oriole. looks the same – straight fastballs. i’d love to be wrong, but i’m sadly convinced he’s a run machine for the opponents.
the rays comes in here after all the spring training crap and sucker punches the yankees in the face. jeter and posada keeps smiling to each other. i dont think they care.
I agree Steph. O’neill could have quelched this by saying he didn’t mind Hawkins wearing the number. By saying it was weird, he, in effect, stoked the fire.
He just said something like “Yeah, I wore 21 my whole career and it’s special to me. And that’s all I have to say about it.”
Something to that effect. He should have taken some heat off the guy. The Yankees are not likely to retire 21, and they shouldn’t.
Well, I’m guessing this game is pretty much over. Unless a miracle happens
I wonder if Farnsworth is still wondering why Torre never brought him in the game in the middle of an inning.
give me Hawkins salary…you can boo me all you want…you sign with a team that has a fan base that demands winning and booing is part of it.
you really have to wonder just how badly the yankees really want to win when they sign a flop like Hawkins and keep Farnsworth on the team when he has demonstrated time after time that he can’t handle NY. What more does he have to do to get booted?
Well FWIW, Jays beat the Sux 6-3.
Game over in Toronto. 6-3 Jays.
i wish we had a good leadoff hitter and a bullpen
This is a crushing loss – I don’t know how the Yanks can manage to pull themselves together over the next 157 games
Trish -the Rays scoring some runs is one thing. But pummeling the Yanks is another. The only good thing is there is a quick turn around so there is no time to dwell on this one.
It’s gonna be hard to watch Patterson and Alabedejo pitching in AAA and have to stomach Hawkins and Farnsy outings because they make millions. It’s a damn shame.
Thompson is the worst manager in MLB!!! just kiddin.
Look we were going to eventually take one on the chin. This is it. The mid relief up until Hawk was great. Lets not lose sight of that!
I can sorry to break the news to the Blue Jays and there fans but it is not the World Series…Only game 4 of the season…
Too bad the Rays released Fossum. We used to always crush him.
Alba opened up some eyes tonight. He will be one of the first ones called back. If Hawk continues to stink it up his contract is cheap enough that they would just cut him.
on YES the other night, O’Neill did put it to rest. when hKay asked about it, he said something to the effect of “it’s just pretty cool that people still associate me with that number.”
Don’t put the bullpen situation on IPK. You should really be blaming Karstens (his performance/injury), Rasner (performance), and Igawa (performance) in Spring Training. If they had been able to do their jobs, we would’ve had a long reliever out of spring training. Every pitcher will got rocked from time to time, and have to be pulled early. I guess Joe G. was on to something by wanting to have a long reliever.
AL East has become the AFC south..
but imaging if Matsui had that flyball.. the inning was over long back..
anyways.. mayb time for Shelley to get some swings in.. same goes to Betemit..
its always good to have a quick turnaround.. hopefully a better game pitching wise..
Over the stretch of 162 games, every team has its share of clunkers. The Yankees are having a clunker tonight, but just remember one thing- before you get too down about this game, this is only the fourth game of the year. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and better times are ahead. On the bright side, Albaladejo was showing great command of his pitches and a great deal of poise tonight. He could be very useful as the season moves ahead.
These aren’t your big brother’s Rays… the offense is frightening. Young, fast, with some pop.
It’s early in the season – I’m holding off any post-mortem on the Yankee offense. The numbers will be there for most of the guys at the end of the season.
Interesting to see Hawkins and Farnsworthless pitching mop up the two “Big Money” bullpen guy (save Rivera). Again, early in the season – but both those guys are in the last year of a contract – if they can’t get outs in June… I’m pretty sure the Yanks will cut loose and bring up a couple of arms.
The roster flexibility is good too since with Hawkins and Farnsworth you can’t send them down.
Overall though – through 4 games – Wang and Hughes were very good. Mussina was as expected.. and Kennedy will have his ups and downs. He’s a rookie. Walks killed him.
I think the pen has been great. Forget the 8th inning tonight. Joba,Traber, Olie, Alby, and Bruney. Oh and Mo too. They have some options so they don’t burn out the same guys by August (see a-Proctor, Scott b-Quantrill, Paul c-Vizcaino, Luiz, d-Gordon, Tom)
Don’t jump off the bridge – it’s 4 games into the season. There’s some positive signs here and a bright future.
The score will be 0-0 when they start tomorrow. It’s just one game in April. Shake it off.
Farnsworth and Hawkins are the same type of pitcher and their makeup is the same. Why both of them are pitching for the Yankees is mind-boggling.
how long will we need to see performances like this from hawk/farns/brun before something changes. our bullpen is not reliable to keep games close
Saying that it’s cool to see people associating the number with himself doesn’t put an end to it-that’ll probably encourage the fans.
You don’t think the Yanks can pull themselves together in 157 games after a loss tonight? Get real.
I realize that this is only game 4. My concern is that the Yankees have started out slow the last few years and have had to claw their way back to the top at the end. It would be nice to get a great start right out the gate and not have so much pressure on us come Aug and Sept.
Ok well at least Pettite is pitching tomorrow
The Yanks will be fine. The bullpen, aside from LaTroy and Farnsworth has been great. The bats are slow, but it’s April for crying out loud. The only weeknesses I see are defense at first base, range at shortstop, and an absolutely anemic outfield when matsui plays left (which will be almost never). All in all, Yankee fans should be confident with the team and our chances to win.
This would of been a good time to get Betemit, Duncan and Ensberg at bats…Ohh Thompson heard me
Is the trade deadline here yet ? I have a few suggestions…
Let’s all chip in to get Matsui a “Powerchair” for out in left field.
Here’s Duncan
Shelley Duncan off the bench. Start him in left tomorrow Joe!
Farnsworth is like a broken record…it was a bad signing Cashman, not the end of the world, he can’t handle NY, square peg, round hole..get rid of him, not gonna work….I like Ohlendorf though and Traber, and Albaladejo, and the new Bruney…..need more young guys to come up..with Mariano and Jaba bullpen is fine…Kennedy’s start tonight scares me a bit….we’ll need and get a strong start from Pettite tomorrow….
Shut up, Steph.
The players are grown men who make a ton of money. They deserve to get booed when they stink up the stadium and they can take it.
And this is a huge black mark against the Yanks that they let the Rays kick the sh** out of them with what transpired in spring training. This really is a gutless club.
Bruney hasn’t done anything wrong this year. He has a clean slate.
Hopefully Shelley can hit his way into the lineup. He deserves some at bats.
Shelley nearly fell down on the foul ball swing!
There is no way that is mel.
Thomson is calling this game a lost cause
Can’t watch it anymore. Good night all.
Sleep well and pray that Andy can give us at least 6 strong tonight.
Yeah, let’s give Scott Linebrink, a shot pitcher, 19 million bucks like the White Sox did.
That makes perfect sense.
Four games into the season and the bipolar members of the blog are already losing their minds.
Really folks, get a grip.
Hawkins has a one year deal. If he doesn’t work out, they can release him and its no big deal.
If you are stuck with a 19 million dollar bill, like Farnsworth, its tougher to eat.
Nobody likes to lose but some of you either need to learn a little about baseball or follow another sport.
The Yankees aren’t going to win every game this year.
Once some of you figure that out, you will be better able to handle the ups and downs of a season.
And on that note, I’m out. Goodnight all. Hopefully, we will return to our winning ways tomorrow.
Gee, I’m sorry I seem to have offended you. But I’ll stand by my opinion. I believe in encouraging players on the team when they’re down.
Fran -
Maybe I’m the only one who remembers how the Rays have done the Yanks in then because I was not looking forward to this series. I don’t remember many, if ANY low scoring games with the Rays. Yeah this is a pummeling. It isn’t the first they’ve given us. People have way underestimated this team and definitely have forgotten how the Rays have manhandled the Yankees in the past.
Sorry but it is what it is, and that’s what it is with them. These aren’t your father’s Rays. They now have a mile of confidence and it is showing.
That’s why I cautioned against having too much confidence when facing this team. They are relentless.
Why does everyone in this country discriminate against age? If people knew I was 12, no one would listen to me. Sorry just had to make that point.
We’ll get em tomorrow
Some really nice work out of the bullpen with Albaladejo, Traber and Ohlendorf, looked impressive. Molina looks to be a real asset to the team, packing a gun behind the plate.
Just trying to emphasize the positive…
I would rather pay 19 million for a quality reliever than settle for a cheap piece of crap reliever like hawkins. theres a reason hes cheap, ok? its because hes a piece of crap.
We are .5 games out of the AL east lead, what ever will we do? We will continue to run Hawkins and Farnsy out in mop up situations, and use Joba/Ohlendorf in games that are close. Two big money guys stinkin it up, and a couple of rookie league minimum salary guys pitching when it counts. That’s gotta be some big b__tch slap in the face. Can’t wait until Farnsworth questions why he isn’t called on in bit situaqtions. Hopefully Girardi hits him with a bat.
Thomson, you will never manage in the majors after this!!! just kiddin man. Go Yanks, and get well soon Girardi.
Farnsworth makes me sick. Maybe he can pitch on no name teams…But not on this team in NY.
The scary thing tonight is that if Kennedy isn’t ready, then there is no real back up plan for a 5th starter except possibly Joba, but I like him in the pen. I would still rather see IPK than Kei any day of the week. Hawkins and Farnsworth are just pitching in losing efforts anyway, so that probelm is solvable.
Oh well. It only counts as one loss. And Pettitte is definitely the pitcher you want after a Yankee loss.
We’ll get them tomorrow.
Jennifer –
I know — that was not mel at all!!
FarnsworthLESS.
Why should the fans have to tolerate players that don’t deserve a spot on the team like Farnsy and Hawkins? I’ll never understand how it’s ok to have a couple guys in the pen who just aren’t capable of getting it done. Why give away roster spots like that? And age has really caught up to Damon and Matsui. They look finished.
Folks, i was stuck on gameday… so could not catch IPK..
was he missing the spots a lot or was he getting squeezed..
on one of Carlos Pena’s strikeouts he went ballistic.. i thought it deserved a ejection.. oh well…
SJ44- Good point about Linebrink. There were also a few who were desperate for Troy Percival, the same Troy Percival who has already had to retire once because of arm trouble. Let’s just keep our heads up and take the peaks and the valleys and let everything play out.
Wow – the naysayers are in late-season form on loss #2.
Let’s see tomorrow’s cut list – Hawkins, Krazy Kyle, Matsui
Did I miss anyone?
College football fans who expect an undefeated season should lay off baseball until late fall. You’ll kill yourselves.
If we play great we will lose 60+ games gentlemen – have another beer and sit back from the keyboards.
Ian just stunk tonight plain and simple. He will bounce back, I have all the confidence in him.
Back-to-back K’s for Farnsworth
Pete mentioned a possible Matsui trade the other day. Does he have a no-trade clause?
I wonder if Florida would take him and Farnsworth for one of the prospects Detroit sent there….maybe if the Yanks cover the salaries??
nathan I think it was both. He had trouble locating, than when he did throw a strike off the plate it wasn’t called. But I think it was more that he couldn’t throw his pitches for strikes. It happens.
John I believe he has a no trade. But ly he stated that if he wasn’t wanted he would wave it.
Meet your Tampa Bay Rays, 2008 World Champions of Baseball.
Bye bye Hawkins. To AAA you go.
Anybody who doesn’t think April games matter just has to look back to last season when the rotten start cost them the division title. And I still don’t understand why you don’t want to field the best possible team. Farnsworth and Hawkins do not give the Yanks the best chance to win.
greg lets not get carried away. It is game 4 of 162.
I also thought that could not be Mel!
For the record, I am not ready to cut anyone, I don’t hate any Yankee players, I am positive that they are all out there trying, and I am also positive that there are going to be real stinkers throughout the season. Hey at least we got one of our quota out of the way!
It always amazes me that teams can have the right attitude after a game like this, and that is that they turn the page and come back out to win. I think good fans have to be able to do the same thing. I’m not saying it’s easy to feel good about a game like this, but it’s important to remember that it is only one game out of 162 and in all liklihood will be the exception rather than the rule.
It’s still the Yanks, and we’re still on our way to #27.
But the damned Rays will be a burr in our saddle the entire way. That I am prepared for.
Paul O’Neil chants
http://youtube.com/watch?v=g2DsfjolZ8Y
Everyone has to relax.. 4 game of the season… Win the series against the Rays – thats all that matters… I think we all knew Hawkins was a ? and Farnsy has good and bad days… its all good… IPK will pitch very well most likely… Only need 3 solid starters for the playoffs.. Hughes Wang and Pettite… with Joba and Mo finishing… all good
Linebrink isn’t a quality reliever anymore and hasn’t been for two years.
Nobody in the game pays 19 million dollars for setup guys anymore. Except for Kenny Williams.
He isn’t any good and just because Kenny Williams was dumb enough to pay him doesn’t make him any better than another pitcher.
Your childish rants everytime the Yankees lose a game get boring after awhile.
If Hawkins can’t do the job, they have guys in AAA to replace him.
However, only overly emotional fans, or radio talk show hosts, make definitive statements on whether or not a guy is any good after 4 games in a season.
Really, look at the game intelligently for once. You may actually learn something.
Three guys came out of the ‘pen and pitched very well tonight. Chamberlain and Rivera have been perfect so far.
No team in baseball has every pitcher on the staff who is lights out.
If your starting pitcher can’t get out of the third inning, its tough to win games.
One last note. Ripping the offense after 4 games of the season, playing in winter-like conditions, is just dumb.
If they aren’t hitting by June, then worry.
Its a little too early to go into full panic mode.
Geez, some of you sound like Red Sox fans.
Thanks Jennifer
hopefully a better game tomorrow..
Hawkins to AAA — haha, do people even know how the Minor leagues and options work
Mike Kay just butchered that story.
Of course we want the Yanks to field the best possible team, but we’re not the ones making the decisions. All we can do is support the players and hope that they take care of business on the baseball field.
Cano can’t wait to go home….
This was rough, but I do believe IPK will learn from this and use it to take his game to the next level. Looking forward to it. Four down, 158 to go. Go Yanks!!!
Jeff NJ…..Kennedy seemed pretty ready when called up last September…In fact many us were disappointed that he was shut down for the Postseason…Him and Hughes were solid in Septembers run to the playoffs……The calendar reads April 4th…..Matsui’s failure to track down that fly was the turning point no doubt…..Prior to that you have to feel real good by the pens performance….
Breathe Chicken Littles.
It’s a marathon; not a sprint.
nathan who suggested that?
It is called years of service. Geez!!
20 years ago, The Boss would have fired Thompson.
I agree, send Hawkins down. That’s 2 outings and 2 bad innings. Bring Patterson up.
“However, only overly emotional fans, or radio talk show hosts, make definitive statements on whether or not a guy is any good after 4 games in a season.”
To me this says it all.
lol, Countdown. The funny thing is, that actually might have happened.
Jenn — right
i saw that post from ‘la miserables’ regarding sending him to AAA.. not u
SJ you sound like a fanboy. Time to grow up and get real.
who exactly in our AAA team is better than linebrink?
patterson – good spring training
igawa – trade him
edwar – 28 and still cant locate his fastball
veras – cant locate
lil’ m
Agreed, ly when he was up he only tasted success. A little failure would do him good. It will be interesting to see how he reacts in his next start. He faces KC.
Just one of those games best forgotten but learned from. It’s time to play the Rays similar to a playoff mode before they get too significant as a franchise and feeling like they have their way with the Yankees. Nip it and nip it NOW.
SJ44,
In one of your lectures a few weeks ago, you had harsh words for fans who were debating who the Yankees’ long reliever would be.
Some folks thought that a long reliever was essential to the makeup this year’s bullpen, especially with the innings limitations on Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes.
Your response was that we shouldn’t worry about it..every team has one pitcher in their ‘pen that’s not good enough to start and works long relief. You said we shouln’t judge the bullpen by who takes up that spot. Agreed.
But the Yankees are in the midst of playing 33 games in 34 days. We know IPK pitched short innings tonight. Andy Pettitte will be allowed to throw approximately 85 pitches tomorrow. The Yankees need a long reliever at this point intime. Do you now see the value of carrying a long reliever and can you tell us who is best suited for the duty?
trisha
I still like the way you slapped that guy around the other night. LOL.
What is the world does Linebrink have to do with Hawkins or Farnsworthless? They all stink. Hawkins is still throwing straight low 90’s fastballs and they’re still getting belted all over the ballpark. Signing him was as stupid as thinking Kennedy was anything but a poor man’s Mussina. And that’s pretty bad. Great, another nibbler who is afraid of the strikezone.
Geez people, it’s not the end of the world that the Yankees lost a game. Tomorrow’s a new day and the Yanks will play again.
Well, it was good talking with the rational fans during the game. I enjoyed it. Yanks will come back tomorrow raring to go, just like Singleton said on the broadcast. It’s game 4, we had some impressive performances from 3 bullpen guys tonight, which was very encouraging. Kennedy will be better than he showed tonight, I’m sure of that. Like it’s been said multiple times over the last couple days, it’s a marathon, not a sprint and I see some good signs that we’re prepared for that marathon.
somebody call patterson, and cut hawkins and farnsworth , these two are like timing bombs and they exploded already.
oh man, the season’s over. I give up…
(sarcasm)
Mel, you’re quite the sourpuss, aren’t you?
I think you should take your own advice countdown.
Anybody in full panic mode after 4 games is a moron.
Every team in baseball will lose blowout games this year.
Its not being a “fanboy” to take a big picture look at the game.
In fact, that’s how baseball should be viewed.
Try it sometime. You may actually learn to enjoy the game for a change.
John -
One of “them” crept in over the border tonight and I was debating whether to do battle! But then I remembered that Pete attempted to take our fun away by saying to ignore them. Well it was just a suggestion. Next time!
I’m not your friend buddy!
“I’m not your friend buddy!”
What What?
steph, I don’t believe that is the regular mel. It doesn’t sound like how she normally posts.
I’m not your friend buddy!
Nice contradiction
Much rather lose a game like tonight than a one run game…..Lets gibe a little time before you waive Hawkins…He was a low risk flyer type signing…..He’ll serve a purpose for now,and may even prove to be a good signing….
Lol, I don’t even know who the regular mel is. Sorry about that.
Who should that long reliever be exactly?
Every one of the candidates stunk it up in ST.
Karstens was bad and got hurt. Rasner and Igawa weren’t any better.
Albie and Ohlendorf did fine in the combined long role tonight. Their undoing came in the 8th inning from Hawkins and Farnsworth.
Ohlendorf can handle “long” type work because he can pitch up to 40-45 pitches in an outing.
Its not like the long guy is going to be needed 4 days a week.
Look at the ‘pen for tomorrow. Bruney, Ohlendorf (who only threw 9 pitches tonight), Chamberlain and Rivera are all fresh.
How many more guys to do you need for Andy’s start tomorrow?
It will be interesting to see if Alby is still considered to be the automatic cut when Andy is activated in the morning. He pitched great. It was a great job by the pen prior to Hawkins.Here’s hoping Hawkins can shake it off quickly. We need him to be effective.
My money is on the Yanks bats heating up tomorrow.
At least I’ve still got a soccer game to watch and the Jazz just beat the Spurs…so a couple of good things for me tonight, at least.
SJ, you a pollyanna-Homer – pure and simple.
Yeah, that’s definitely not the real mel.
21 was for the grea Roberto Clemente not the good Paul O’Neil.
April doesn’t matter people!
(at least that is what we’ve been saying the last 4 years)
Farnsworth is an odds on favorite to draw the wrath of Hank Steinbrenner if his pitching were to continue as is for another month or two.
That cannot be the real Mel. It’s some imposter using her name.
SJ unfortunately you are always going to have knee-jerk fans. It drives me crazy but you can’t get them to look at the big picture ever because they are so mired in minutiae. Last year’s got for a long period of time was Luis Vizcaino. The less rational Yankee fans did not want to hear that he was overutilized (what a surprise!) and so just trashed the hell out of him. Eventually he got a chance to rest and came back and pitched well. But in the meantime, you would have thought he was the spawn of the devil!
All we can do is hang tight together realizing that we have a good base of commonality here, witnessed by the posts of the majority that counsel rational thinking and perspective regarding that it is the beginning of the season and nobody yet has a body of work upon which to be evaluated.
A marathon, not a sprint.
ONWARD AND UPWARD!
Newsflash…..you take BIG risks when you trust the game to Haskins and Farnsy…..try not to do that anymore. I am not buying this cold weather garbage…If the freakin’s Rays can put up 13 runs, we should be able to do at least the same, DANG IT
PAT M.
I agree. I’d rather lose a laugher then a 1 run game. Those are more frustrating. I wish they would have left Hawkings in there to get shelled and kept farnsworth fresh, but what do i know?
Alby will be cut because of how many pitches he had today. That’s about the only reason they could give. But the Yanks will probably give him an assurance that he’ll probably be first in line if a reliever is injured or someone is sent down for bad performance. I don’t think there’s any chance Hawkins or Farnsworth going down. Ohlendorf is fresh and pitched well tonight, so he’ll stay up. Bruney hasn’t done anything to warrant being sent down…and Mo and Chamberlain certainly won’t be demoted.
trisha
I was giving my son a play-by-play of that give and take Wednesday. We were laughing.
There was a lot of bitching going on yesterday morning. Jeeeesh.
I like the other mel better
Steph- The real mel is very upbeat, funny, and one of the most polite posters on here. There is some terrific camaraderie between people on the blog when it isn’t being bombarded with trolls and suicidal fans who go insane after every loss.
” Yanks bats heating up tomorrow ”
Sure, and the sun will rise from the west tomorrow.
SJ44,
Hopefully we only need 2, if not 3. But in the bigger picture, IPK will likely be throwing 5 – 6 innings per game. Phil will be throwing around 6 innings per start.It’s overly optimistic to expect Mike Mussina to average more than 5.3 – 5.6 innings per start. That puts a lot of pressure on CMW and Pettitte to go deep into games just about everytime out.
I think the Yanks may have to make a move before the end of May. Hopefully someone establishes themselves in Scranton. Otherwise, they are going to have to take a flier on a trade they probably dont want to make.
send down hawkins.
And you are moron countdown so, what’s your point?
Another Red Sox fan hanging out in a Yankee blog with nothing better to do.
Somehow, I think I will survive your namecalling.
Give it up Countdown. You’ll never win the duel. You’re clearly overmatched.
Ah, gotcha. So they wouldn’t be the one telling me to shut up for encouraging the players, lol.
Not that I think we should totally ignore people with low intelligence, but wasting time on someone who would take the screenname “LA Miserables”? Ouch.
one thing about tonight’s game is that it changed my mind – they should retire Paul O’Neill’s number.
O’Neill goes beyond the stats in terms of being a Yankee legend. i realized it when the fans were mocking Hawkins with the ‘Paul O’Neill’ chant.
Its a long season Drive. The makeup of the staff in June may be different than it is now.
Whether is through performance, injury or attrition, things happen during a season.
Personally, I think Hughes will throw more innings than folks are thinking.
That would give the Yankees 3 guys who can go deeper into games. About the league average.
Joba and Mo are the best 8th-9th inning combo in the game.
I have no doubt Kennedy will be better as the season progresses. One bad start doesn’t doom him.
They have reinforcements in AAA if needed.
Right now, better weather would be a help.
Awfully tough to play in winter-like conditions everyday.
Let’s see how the rest of this series plays out.
They couldn’t even get the name of the musical right.
Don’t you people get it, you can’t send down Hawkins. He is in the majors for 14 years!
If I was a Yankee fan I would not worry about Kennedy. It has already been mentioned that every pitcher will have a few less than stellar outings, and this is particularly true of young pitchers. Indeed Detroit at least theoretically improved their team and there are some other strong AL teams but I believe at the end of the season the Yankees and Red Sox will be there right together.
La Cage aux Folles would probably have been more appropriate.
Jennifer… its beyond funny… these trolls actually think they can demote anyone… haha
Jennifer, beyond that. The man deserves a chance.
Remember that Hawk told Patterson to charge his hotel bill to him? Well,looks like Patterson will need to return the favor now.
LOL!
you’re funny, SJ. I had no idea “homer” was a pejorative.
How dare you, call me a Red Sox!!! How dare, I say! You’re be hearing from Rusty Hardin, MISTER!
I suggest talking a bath in pickle juice – it’ll toughen your skin.
Exactly. Yeah I wasn’t happy about how he pitched today, but how does it help booing him? If he is still pitching like this in May he will be gone.
IPK has issued 13 walks in the 21 innings he’s pitched in the majors. Once he gets command of the strike zone he should be fine. We’ve seen that his stuff is good enough to get major league hitters out when he’s ahead in the count. Twenty one innings is a tiny sampling, but the 13 walks do stand out.
SJ44 – “Joba and Mo are the best 8th-9th inning combo in the game.”
I absolutely agree. I really would like to see Joba in the rotation because I think he can be an ace of the staff. But if he and Mo continue to be the best and continue to save many games for the Yanks, how can the Yanks take him out?
The way people are irrationally panicking is exactly the same as the end of the world hysteria that was going on here last year.
Substitute Hawkins for Vizcaino.
The offense is doomed.
All of the hitters are do nothing over the hill players who aren’t trying.
Cano is a dog.
The pitching is hopeless…
Cashman is an idiot. What was he thinking getting these players….
It’s exactly the same – only worse because last year there were legitimate concerns with all the injuries.
Even after watching what the team did over the last 2/3 of last season – the way the bats went on fire, the way young players stepped up and became key parts of the team, the way the bull pen improved in the second half – people seem to have taken nothing away from that.
Ian Kennedy has made 4 major league starts. 3 were outstanding – tonight was awful. No big deal. That’s going to happen some times with young pitching. You live with it. They are all going to having growing pains.
Next time he’ll be much better.
This offense will rake the ball. There’s no question about that. It’s game 4. Look at what Toronto’s 4th best starter did to the Red Sox tonight.
If Hawkins and Farnsworth bomb – big deal. They are on short term deals they’ll dump them and bring up other guys. They have a ton of depth.
This month is going to be very, very difficult because of the schedule and the fact that they are facing the AL East.
They just need to survive this month.
This is a very, very good team that has very deep pitching.
I agree with SJ. Let’s see how the series plays out. We could still take the next 3 and win the series.
Playing for the Yankees is one of the most demanding jobs in the majors. Players often go out and press because they feel they have to be perfect, and in the process, they try too hard and fail. Add the wrath of ignorant fans to that formula, and you have a recipe for disaster.
These men are paid professionals, but they are also human.
If you think that treating a player like pure crap is a way to motivate him to play well, you’re obviously totally devoid of intelligence and common sense.
Edgar Renteria was treated like dirt by the Red Sox fans and his play mirrored that experience. He left the Sox and had great success.
I’m sure it’s a great badge of pride for certain kinds of fans to totally trash a player if they aren’t happy with that player’s production. But you know people, what you put out in life you get back. While it might delight you to get that pound of flesh at the expense of someone else, remember that your day will come at some point in time. Karma is a blitch.
And, no matter what, Hawkins and Farnsworth will both be gone at the end of the year.
Not only do I come home to find that the bullpen blew up, someone’s borrowed my identity.
That’s not me @ 10:19. Thanks to those who had my back.
Well, I don’t know why, but Kennedy didn’t have it. I have every confidence that he’ll bounce back.
What happened with Hawkins? Were the boos bothering him?
Some commentator on the radio this past week was talking about how you can’t just plug guys in and expect them to close. It’s a different animal. (talking about Wood) But the example he used was Hawkins. He said, he’s great…until you put him in as a closer. Something about a nightmare?
Now, I know that Hawkins wasn’t closing. But he definitely lost it. (I’m guessing cuz I wasn’t watching)
If the boos were bothering him to that extent, then he needs to change the number because tonight’s result is unacceptable. If the boos were bothering him, then that’s a shame because the stupid guys win. We knew it would be a problem to begin with. That Ensberg’s a pretty smart guy.
Oh, well. Back tomorrow. Hopefully Girardi feels better. Andy pitching? He has a great record in games after losses.
A thought just came to me..if Hawkins’ ERA ( over 10) was the highest of any pitcher in Yankee Stadium history , how high is it now?? lol
In 1975 the Yanks signed the HOF pitcher Catfish Hunter to a staggering contract ( 2.75 million ) Catfish was one of the game’s best….He started the season 0-5….Then when on to win 23 ( his 5th straight 20 game season )…My point is,it’s baseball, it’s all about surviving the peaks and valleys that is a baseball season…..It’s going to be good, shelve the negative vibes….Baseball IQ’s are all over the place here….
2008 Rays = 2001 D’backs
Trisha,
I don’t think the Red Sox fans were as hard on Renturia as the Yankees have been on Arod when they have booed him with no mercy especially two seasons ago.
Boy, these tough Red Sox fans have such fight in them, showing up to beat on the Yankees and insult us …
Where were you guys last night, though? Honestly, grow the balls to show yourselves when things aren’t going well for you.
Hawkins was booed mercilessly. The crowd eventually started a “Paul O’Neill” chant and booed him when he got taken out of the game.
“The way people are irrationally panicking is exactly the same as the end of the world hysteria that was going on here last year.”
Yeah, and all of those fools were full of it! After all, last year our 200 million dollar payroll came back and won the division, got out of the first round of the playoffs, won the division, and the WS!!!!!
Oh wait…
Pat M,
This is completely off topic but given how badly the topic has turned…
I was wondering – did you happen to see Brandon Laird play high school ball at Westminster when he was there 3 years ago?
If so what did you think? I like his bat quite a bit. He seems like a one tool guy but the bat seems impressive.
Kinda funny the Sox trolls are talking when their own team lost today as well.
“Even after watching what the team did over the last 2/3 of last season – the way the bats went on fire, the way young players stepped up and became key parts of the team, the way the bull pen improved in the second half – people seem to have taken nothing away from that.”
Why do you think that is, numbnuts?
Maybe because they got the crap kicked out of them by the Indians in the first round of the playoffs? Maybe because they couldn’t score runs in cold weather when facing decent pitchers? The “cold weather” “wait until June” excuses were the same last season. This team is no better than the 07 group. And the slow start (once again) is just proving it out.
Kennedy was nibbling tonight, a strategy which has a low margin of error. Combine that with the fact that he was also getting squeezed, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
He looked to be afraid to throw strikes…like when Al Leiter came on board a few years back. Nibble, nibble, nibble…a walk, a bloop, and a blast (although Leiter only gave up 4 HRs, but you get my point.)
I still look for big things from Kennedy. They wouldn’t be so high on him if he wasn’t full of potential.
But you gotta throw strikes, and you gotta get the count in your favor.
DJ,
In case you didn’t notice the Red Sox lost tonight…I don’t just show up when the Sox win or the Yankees lose.
If Kennedy had been able to command the zone early on, he probably would have had more calls go his way.
Paul O’Neil chants
http://tinyurl.com/4m4bvo
Jose was saying he didn’t think the ump was consistent.
Anybody see Hawkins on the post-game? He said the only pitch he really missed with was the HR. The other stuff they just hit. He also was disappointed that he couldn’t hold the Rays but that he’d put it behind him and be ready to go tomorrow.
ray,
I wasn’t referring to you, just the ones showing up to beat on us.
mel I knew it wasn’t you! I’m reading it, going this doesn’t sound like her! If I were you i’d alert Pete.
I can’t go to tomorrow’s game. I have 2 Tier MVP Box seats Row D behind home plate. I can e-mail the tix as long as you can print them out.
I’ll take whatever I can get for them. They are really nice seats!
Thanks.
btw, I don’t think Countdown’s a Red Sox troll. She’s been here since ST anxiously awaiting the YANKEE season.
Countdown,
Maybe it’s time to change the handle?
Ray (Sox fan), I agree with you. Yankee fans can be merciless, but cripes usually they give a player a bit of a chance before they turn on him. What they have done with Hawkins is inexcusable. The guy is honoring Roberto Clemente. He had no idea that #21 was a big deal to whiney Yankee fans. What a travesty. You know I really liked Paul O’Neill too, but he isn’t Christ. If the Yankees organization saw fit to assign #21 to Hawkins, then maybe the fans who are still sucking on pacifiers need to get over it.
DJ
Thank you for the clarification….guess I got a little defensive.
ray
you’re not a red sox troll; just a red sox fan.
And the Yanks are stinking it up at home while Boston is on the road, so figure it will only get even worse when NY hits the road. Gonna be fun!
baseball blows!
Fran, Hawkins did seem kind of matter-of-factly about the whole thing. To tell you truth, I would rather think that he was okay and ready to turn the page than to think that was an act and he was really affected negatively by the whole thing. I’m sure he can’t be real impressed with the love given to him by fans who have seen him a total of two times.
Trisha,
I agree with you 100 percent that Hawkins should not be booed because of his number. And I am very aware too that Sox fans can be merciless not only to opposing players but also to their own.
“Anybody see Hawkins on the post-game? He said the only pitch he really missed with was the HR. The other stuff they just hit. He also was disappointed that he couldn’t hold the Rays but that he’d put it behind him and be ready to go tomorrow.”
LOL! Oh, goody, he’s going to put it behind him and be ready to go tomorrow! LOL!! And he’ll suck just as bad as he did tonight.
Just one bad pitch, huh? Sounds like Mussina!
Maybe its time for the manager (or Captain?) to issue a statement to the masses to knock it off about 21. Its ridiculous.
By statement I just mean a quote to the papers or whatever.
LOL! And the Red Sox will lose 100 games! And Ortiz will bat .240. And Manny won’t hit any more than 20 home runs! And Buccholz will steal some more laptops and be suspended for the whole season! LOL!
See, anyone with two brain cells can do that.
Honestly, who uses ‘LOL’ anymore?
One last post before I go to bed. Several of these postings that have Mel’s name attached to them do not sound like Mel at all. I am embarassed to admit that they sound more like a troll (perhaps a red sox troll) just using Mel’s name.
“And the Yanks are stinking it up at home while Boston is on the road, so figure it will only get even worse when NY hits the road. Gonna be fun!”
Since the Yankees typically have a good road record, I guess you must be as stupid as you sound, yes? Is it possible to be that stupid and, say, order at a drivethrough restaurant? Pump gas in your car without trying to drink it? Do you have trouble going in a public bathroom without getting more on yourself than you do in the bowl?
Man you’re stupid! You know what’s gonna be fun? Laughing at whatever you post!!!
John I agree.
Trisha – did you see when they interviewed Molina about the Rays line-up? He said they have some holes and you can get them out if you make your pitches. He said that they did not scare him at all.
Hawkins was the first person in the Yankee clubhouse to console Patterson when he was sent down last week. He’s obviously a good guy. Let’s hope he’s thick skinned. He’s going to have to get used to New York and vice versa.
Let’s not go too crazy about him getting booed tonight. He stunk. In fact, he stunk so bad that just about any pitcher coming out of the pen not named Chamberlain or Rivera would have been booed. Perfomances like tonight are booed in hard core baseball towns like New York or Boston. We can debate if it’s right or wrong to boo,but it’s been going on since the days the players wore wool uniforms.
How the player reacts tells the fans a lot about him.
Believe me, if Hawkins rebounds and pitches well,he wont hear anyone boo him anymore.
4-5 I know you’re right. What sets me off though is that they started that bullsh*t on Opening Night, when they booed him at the Stadium when he was introduced. So now it is just compounded.
IPK, LOL
trisha
Grrrrrrr!!!!
I will give it a while before I really am concerned but what worries more than anything is Matsui. His defense over the past year in my opinon has gone down and the play tonight is an example of that. Either he didnt get a good jump, is not seeing the ball well after not having played left at the stadium this year or he really has lost something out there. UNtil tonight on the HR he more than anyone I think has looked really lost at the plate and much like last year he seem to be going back to the swing from last year and striking out.
Again I wont hit the panic button quite yet and we all know that he will have a good month of July when they start playing NL teams he always has great number interleague.
But this team really is a lot better with Damon in left and Melky in center
CB……Saw him play maybe 7-9 games in HS…Went to La Quinta HS in Huntington Beach…Same school as Ian Kennedy and Ian Stewart…He was all everything in OC,and rewrote many a record….Not as good as Stewart who was the best HS kid I’ve ever seen…..I remeber umpiring a HS game in his senior year ( Ian pitched that day ) and Stewart lanched a drive over the 385 mark in LF center and it hit the trees at least 40 feet up….Laird should make it though…..
triple mel from 10:52: you’ve just proven CB’s point. And resorting to personal insults is what has the regular posters (no, I’m not one of them-just a daily reader for over a year) refrain from posting.
Fran, again the key is to get them out. I don’t doubt we can do it. They are relentless when you don’t get them out. Where another team will get a runner on and possibly not bring him in, they are so fast you can almost count on a run if they get on with less than 2 outs. Do I believe we have pitchers who can keep them off base for the majority of the time? Definitely.
Kennedy’s bad outing set the whole thing up. Maybe another team would not have scored that many runs on us under the same circumstances. These cats run like the wind!
(Having Melky out of the lineup also hurt us because a few balls that went to center that Damon couldn’t get, I sat there thinking that the Melk would have caught them.)
Hawkins stunk tonight, that much is obvious. No problems with the fans letting him hear about it. The whole “21″ issue is getting old fast. Hawkins is doing it out of respect for Clemente, not out of disrespect for O’Neill. This should be apparent to anyone with even a room temperature IQ. Here’s hoping Hawkins next outing is better.
But John, I was responding to a troll!
pat m in ct,
triple mel is a red sox troll. I don’t pay it any mind at all.
This is a very good team. Perfect? No. But it’s very good.
They’ll be in the thick of it all year. No guarantees but it’s going to be an exciting and fun year.
“trisha
April 4th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Ray (Sox fan), I agree with you. Yankee fans can be merciless, but cripes usually they give a player a bit of a chance before they turn on him. What they have done with Hawkins is inexcusable. The guy is honoring Roberto Clemente. He had no idea that #21 was a big deal to whiney Yankee fans. What a travesty. You know I really liked Paul O’Neill too, but he isn’t Christ. If the Yankees organization saw fit to assign #21 to Hawkins, then maybe the fans who are still sucking on pacifiers need to get over it.”
Well said, Trisha. It’s tough enough getting hammered like that and getting booed off the mound. But chanting another ballplayer’s name? Classless and gutless on the part of those fans.
Hey….I’m on your side!!
Is Rebecca still with us?
PAT M,
Thanks for the info on Laird. I think i said Westminster – must have been thinking about Moustakas… I remember Laird played where Kennedy and Stewart did.
I’m surprised to hear that Stewart was that good in HS. That’s quite a statement that he was the best you’ve seen. OC baseball is probably the best in the country and I know you’ve seen your share of players in the area.
Stewart seems to have gotten stuck a bit with the rockies after that huge first season he had in their system.
Trisha,
Good point about once they get on with their speed they can hurt you. That is the what the Angels do the Yanks which is why they frustrate the Yankees.
“Having Melky out of the lineup also hurt us because a few balls that went to center that Damon couldn’t get, I sat there thinking that the Melk would have caught them.”
Right and not only not having Melky out but having Matsui in. He hurt the Yanks out in left field. The best defense is with Damon in left, Melky in center and Abreu in right.
My comprehensive analysis:
IPK and Hawkins had bad nights, and so we just lost one of the 60+ we’ll lose this year.
They (and we) will be fine.
CB
I know it’s a troll. I read the blog daily and I know who posts responsibly and who doesn’t. Please keep posting as I always find your posts insightful, intelligent and rational. Sadly, the board has been taken over by trolls and panickers. There are days when I simply do a find for posts by yourself, SJ, Doreen, Mel and a few others because it’s gotten ridiculuous.
And yeah, it’s going to be a very exciting and fun year on the field.
Good night all. Looking forward to next time.
pat m in ct,
Glad to hear you like the posts. I only bring that troll’s comments up because I’m squarely in the camp of not responding to trolls at all. It just makes the board worse. You can’t reason with them – every response they win and ruin things all the more for everyone.
Pat
How do you do a “find”?
Rebecca left. I think she was depressed.
John-
Type in command-F (I’m on a Mac) or control/alt-f
La Quinta HS is actually in the city of Westminster,but it’s in the Huntington HS district….Tht’s why they can recruit ( and they do ) from a very large geogrphic segment of Orange County…..Stewart is a stud….The kid the Yanks just drafted, Romine was a great HS player…Great stick, incredible arm and a beter catcher than Hank Conger….Very strong arm…Not certain if he’ll grow into a MLB catcher though…3rd base ?????
Just need ctrl f for pc.
Jen & Pat
Thanks and g’night.
John – I thought you were indicating that I shouldn’t have fed the troll! Sorry.
On the other hand, I seem to discourage trolls because they don’t seem to do much responding after I’m finished with them! He he he.
GO YANKEES!!!
Trisha,
You don’t feed the trolls, you eat them
Hey, no, I’m not depressed. Just had to take care of something.
What’s up?
hey all. just a couple notes from tonight
not particularly thrilled with LaTroy Hawkins up to this point. i’m sure most of you all aren’t either. Other than he and i guess Farnsworth, the pen has looked excellent so far. Rough outing for Kennedy. Just didn’t seem to have his control. Of course it didn’t help that the homeplate ump had a magical moving strike zone. so it was our first trouncing of the season. i was perfectly willing to chalk up the lack of offense in the first series to the fact that we faced three great pitchers…but Andy Sonnanstine? The guy lives over the plate. The Yankees should bomb this guy. In the 4th inning they finally did, the homer from Matsui and the three almost homers by Molina, Jeter, and I think Abreu was the other. After that though, don’t know what happened. Felt a little discouraged about the sleepy bats after tonight. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll see the first blowout in favor of the Yankees. I trust Pettitte will do fine. He just needs to be economical, if he can get us through 6 with around 80-85 pitches we will be fine. Bruney and Joba didn’t throw tonight (well, did Bruney? i stopped watching after Farnsworth gave up the 3 run shot)so they should be able to relieve Andy tomorrow. I’ll be at tomorrow’s game so i certainly hope to see these lazy bats wake up. I know it’s still really early but just like all of us, I’d really rather not have yet another crappy April.
night. Go Yankees!
you mean the Yanks are going to lose at least 2 games this yr.!!!!!!!!No way … the whiners and losers are out in force I am sure because they lost…
newsflash brain surgeons the Yanks will lose at least 50 GAMES….
I will not say they will be fine because anyone I need to convince that is to stupid to listen to any logic…
losers go to sleep.
Am I the only one absolutely amazed by the strike zones so far this season? And I don’t just mean against the Yankees – one pitch is a strike, the next pitch is a ball, the next pitch in the same spot is a strike, etc.
V
Yeah i know, it’s been ridiculous. i didn’t think the umpires could get any worse than they were last year. oh, was i wrong.
The ump was just awful tonight. Unbelievably inconsistent. At least if you’re not going to call a pitch a strike, be consistent with it and call it for both teams. Like was mentioned before by someone, this was a moving zone all night. Nobody knew what he would and wouldn’t call.
Oh, and Todd Drew had a great post the other day on Hawkins wearing 21 over at his Yankees for Justice blog. Here it is…
http://yankeesforjustice.blogs.....rever.html
Ok so the team took this one on the chin. It’ll happen this bad a few more times this year. No need to throw in the towel …. juat git bak on the hoss tomorrow.
juSt … (jeezus)
Anyways, some of you should listen to yourselves. Cripes.
SJ, don’t let them bug ya. The true idots will always be incorrigible regardless of what wiser people tell them.
It’s 1 out of 162. Move on, play tomorrow.
LMAO someone needs to issue a statement about the boos/chanting? This is baseball, not friggin synchronized swimming.
IPK & Hawkins = our ticket to 3rd place. LOL
I just read through about half of the comments but then got sick of all the sky-is-falling talk. Thank goodness for voices of reason like whozat and Rebecca.
What happened to the rain? I’m never listening to a weather report again.
I was at the game last night. It was a disappointing loss, but there were encouraging points. Ian had nothing last night, but the umpires were atrocious. They called a lot of pitches balls for Ian that they called strikes for the Rays.
Hawkins was disappointing also. However, I wouldn’t judge him on this one outing.
On the flip side, Albaladejo, Ohlendorf, and Traber were all very encouraging. Alba did give up that base hit that let the runners in, but overall he was excellent. 2.1 innings w/ just 1 hit is about all you can ask for. Remember, this guy will probably go to Scranton today when Pettitte is activated. I’m really excited that the yankees are going to have guys in AAA who can get outs. Oheldorf and Traber were excellent as well.
While it was a disappointing game, I say that Ian should just chalk it up as a bad game and put it behind him.