Curtain call for the Pope
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- April
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One of our readers, Dee, sent along this photo she took at Yankee Stadium today. That’s the Pope in the Popemobile.
The Stadium looks beautiful, doesn’t it? You forget sometimes that in addition to all the baseball games, the Stadium has hosted some of the most significant football games, boxing matches and religious events in history.
My understanding is the Pope left a note on Joe Girardi’s desk telling him not to pitch to Manny Ramirez with first base open. He also thinks Joba should be a starter.
Thanks to Dee for sending in this photo.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 11:48 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
Great photo!
Pete, love the jokes! Keep ‘em coming.
Pete, funny. Didn’t realize the Pope was a fan.
Can the Pope be a long reliever?
Rumor has it he also said to trade Farnsworth immediately – and to tell the young punks to quit sliding head first into first base.
If the Yanks go on a winning streak now, I wonder how many stories will talk about the link between the Pope’s visit and the win streak.
Ha, liking the note he left on the skippers desk
Sorry didn’t see the new thread…
Villalona is in the Giants system.
He’s only 17 right now (will be 18 in august) so he’s very young.
That said, he was considered a much, much better prospect than Montero.
He was 6′3 and almost 200 lbs as a 16 year old as I remember.
They were planning on him being at 3rd but now he’s playing 1st (not a good sign regarding his fielding ability – to give up on 3b this early is telling).
The connection between him and Montero is a very interesting one and part of the reason why i keep tabs on him.
Villalona is considered to have great physical tools – just great. And some have described him as one of the best power hitting prospects in the game.
Right now however he isn’t considered to have a very advanced feeling for hitting, especially plate discipline.
Montero probably doesn’t have the same physical tools.
But even though Villalona is considerably younger, comparing what they are doing in low A just tells you how good Montero is and in particular, how advanced his approach at the plate is.
Montero is at .356/.382/ .507).
Is it fair to compare an 18 year old to a 17 year old? Probably not – but they are the two youngest players in A ball.
Montero looks much more advanced than 9 months when you look at how Villalona is struggling.
And for some other, perhaps, fairer comparisons.
The third youngest player in low A is Freddy Galvis.
Galvis’s line: .136/.256/.136 over 60 AB. No idea if he’s even a decent prospect.
But a guy who is considered a very good prospect is the 4th youngest player in low A Engel Beltre (a major piece in the Gagne trade – most talented player to go to Texas).
Beltre is hitting: .263/ .311/ .404.
It’s just very impressive how good and how fundamentally sound Montero is at the plate. Really astonishing stuff when you compare him to the other guys his age in the Sally League.
Poof & vanished into cyberspace! Lol
Heh, do you guys realize a 17 year old player was born in 1990 at the oldest?
whoops
“Moving Joba from the pen is the dumbest idea ever. Has anyone ever heard of the saying, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix itâ€?â€
Eugie,
yup and it makes absolutely no sense in this case, because what your doing now is effecting the whole middle end of your BP w/ him not in the rotation, it’s not going to happen now, but midseason it is most likely that Joba will be moving into the rotation.
Joba not in the rotation is effecting series matchups, how long can you go Beckett vs Moose or vs AJ Burnett. The biggest problem is how the staff is taxing the bullpen, Ohlendorf being forced into a long relief role which he has not been preped to do this season, Abaledejo same thing, Bruney had to pitch 2 innings in Tampa, Moose isn’t the only problem, the BP is a strength but you can’t keep reaching in it and putting it on Joba and Mo time after time. Sooner or later you need innings to save your BP.
CB I’m looking for your post on Ross Ohlendorf be wasted in the long relief role and how other pitchers are going through the same from Sat. night
What no tips from the Pope for Giambi?
Kennedy & Hughes need to get there act together
http://tinyurl.com/4b2d5t
CB. Montero has amazing tools As a 16 year old before he was signed his power was an 80 on the scouts 20-80 scale and it is said he is major league ready with the bat. Montero even has a very good arm and if in the majors would be one of the top 10 catchers.
hitting wise not fielding ^^^
I wish Jesus was a closer—I could so see the “Jesus Saves” t-shirts flying off the rack…
IMO, Ross Ohlendorf should probably not throw more than 70 innings out of the pen this year (and even that’s on the high side).
He’s thrown 14 all ready. Throwing 3 innings at a time in long relief is less taxing than throwing three separate 1 inning stints, however innings are innings. And Ohlendorf isn’t getting much rest between those 3 inning starts.
They have 50-55 innings left of Ross Ohlendorf this year.
That’s not a lot. They should deploy them very carefully.
Right now every inning he throws in long relief is one less inning that he may not be able to throw in a high leverage situation later on.
They need to come up with some one else to throw long relief innings even if that is LaTroy Hawkins.
Joba is going to end up in the rotation, but I don’t know when. With a 140 innings cap (including post season?) and the need (I assume) for some minor league tune ups, I guess they try to convert in maybe July? I haven’t done any math at all so that’s just a wild guess. If someone’s willing to crunch some numbers and find a probably target date, that would be good.
ah found it …..
“Ross Ohlendorf is going to be a terrific asset to this team this year if he’s used correctly.
His stuff tonight was absolutely fantastic. Forget that last inning – he was exhausted, losing velocity and his ball was drifting up in the zone.
And remember – he was never stretched out over spring training – he only threw 1 inning stints. Then all of a sudden the season starts and Girardi asks him to throw 3-4 innings at a time.
Which he’s gone out and done with a great deal of guts.
That’s said – the stuff is absolutely there for him to be the 8th inning set up man sometime soon. There’s less and less doubt in my mind about him each time I see him pitch.
His ball has so much natural life and movement it’s really remarkable – hitter just don’t get good swings on it and aren’t able to square it up.
And his slider is getting better as a secondary pitch. Tonight hitters were so geared up for his fastball they were out in front and flailing at the slider. He deployed it very effectively.
I bring this up because once they get Ohlendorf back to his rightful shortman role he will be able to take Joba’s spot in the pen.
Will he be as good as Joba? No – but that’ only because no one this side of Felix Hernandez has an arm like Joba’s. There is no one who can equal Joba’s talent.
But they are almost definitely going to need Joba in the rotation – that’s is now emerging as by far their biggest need.
Ohlendorf can fill that set up man role – he has the stuff and is close to ready to do that.
They need Joba in the rotation.”
Rebecca,
Haha, that would be so great. If they find any relievers named Jesus, they’ve got to sign them for that sole reason.
Mitch,
You don’t need to sell me on Montero. I was just saying that Villalona is considered to be a much better prospect than montero coming into this season.
Villalona was #33 on BA’s top 100 as a 17 year old. To achieve that scouts basically have to think you have other worldly tools.
Montero was not considered to be nearly the prospect that Villalona was despite his 80 power.
“I wish Jesus was a closer—I could so see the “Jesus Saves†t-shirts flying off the rack…”
In the ’70s the Bruins had bumper stickers that said “Jesus Saves and Espo scores on the rebound”.
Rebecca,
The hilarious thing that could happen would be if Montero was promoted to Tampa before the season was over.
The Yankee’s third round draft pick last year was a pitcher who is in Tampa now.
That pitcher’s name – Ryan Pope.
So the battery down there would be Pope-Jesus connection.
That’s a tough one to beat.
All right guys, good baseball day today but alas, the college student in me (it’s there somewhere, though I’m not quite sure where) has to go to class tomorrow.
It’s really anonying, we have no class Tuesday, and it’s probably going to be the biggest party day of the year, but we have class tomorrow.
They should just cancel class an give us the four day weekend. Gd knows I could use it.
Anyway. Rant over.
Later.
CB: LMAO!
Night all
CB-
What if Angel Villalona was up at bat while Pope pitched to Jesus.
If the pope pitched to my Id go triple decker.
we need a Priest or Church at 1B
Ryan Church plays across town.
I know
Whose that Satan pitcher they have?
haha did the pope also mention bringing shelly and brett up for johnny and jason..i think the pope also mumbled something about wong not being an ace
Hey, Buddy.
Sorry about your Warriors. You think Lord (Baron) Davis comes back next season?
Pope isn’t the only one who wants Joba starting;
“Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner made it clear Sunday that he’d like to see Joba Chamberlain in the rotation as soon as possible.
“I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now,” Steinbrenner told the New York Times. “There is no question about it, you don’t have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don’t do that. You have to be an idiot to do that.” Steinbrenner didn’t get his way when it came to Johan Santana. It remains to be seen whether things will turn out any differently now. The supposed plan is for Chamberlain to go into the rotation around midseason, but many think he’ll simply be left in the pen all year. “
Speaking of Joba to the rotation, HANK wants Joba in the statrting rotation NOW! haaha, just like pops
http://tinyurl.com/4nazzn
I could have sworn I posted that not too long ago
I couldn’t resist.
http://www.puristbleedspinstri.....-team.html
The All-Holy Team.
Now, for real, I am going to sleep.
Very cool, thanks for sharing
Hopefully Joe will listen to the Pope!
What about trading for Adam LaRoche? They have a young 1st baseman behind him (steven pearce) and with LaRoche starting so poorly in a contract year and apart in negotiations with the Pirates, they may be looking to move him. he might be cast too much in the Shelly Duncan mold to make trading for him a possibility, but he’s a well-known perennial late starter who has ended with respectable numbers the past two seasons, and it might not cost more than a couple prospects for him.
Well I don’t agree. Our own history has shown us how important having a strong bullpen is. Joba and Mo are the best back end 1-2 punch in the league. Take him out of there and we have no bullpen again.
Instead of plugging a hole by making another one, they should address the actual problems. Hughes, Kennedy and Moose.
I’m not even Catholic but I did pray for world peace and for the Yankees to win #27 at the Mass!
Want just to share a few observations:
1. There were obvious presence of snipers walking around above the tier reserve sections, first time I’ve ever seen snipers in real life.
2. Saw John Flaherty buying Pope merchandize in one of the usual merchandize booths and went up to say hi. He was very warm and friendly. It was funny because it looked like Flash was waiting in line to buy Yankees merchandize.
3. I heard one of the biggest logistical problems yesterday was the disproportionate men/women bathroom ratio, as the stadium is designed for hosting a lot of men. There were not enough bathrooms for women.
4. There was not a single available seat open. The tier reserve section on the 3rd baseline you see empty from the picture was no-access area. All the people standing to the left of the Popemobile is the homeplate. They built a platform on it so those people were not stepping on the grass. I think that’s how they fit 60,000 in there more than normal stadium capacity.
5. The Boston diocese had a large contingence there. It was the loudest cheers I’ve ever heard when the word “Boston” was uttered at Yankees stadium.
Dee -
You must have had an awesome day. Thanks for the picture and your observations.
Really neat that you saw John Flaherty and spoke with him.
Thanks Doreen. Yeah it was a beautiful day.
I saw the Mass on FNC yesterday, and I think it’s safe to say, judging from that crowd, that the Pontiff could wear no. 21 if he so opted.
Nice Picture, Dee.
Pete,
I want Springsteen to play at Yankee Stadium. That would be awesome.
Very interesting post over at the replacement level yankees blog on whether Giambi’s is done for.
It’s a statistical look on what’s been going on over the beginning of the season.
I knew his batting average on balls in play was low but it’s very low (0.088).
Good read.
http://www.replacementlevel.co.....mbi_cooked
The pope’s visit yesterday to Yankee Stadium was an awesome thing to see on TV. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to actually be there in person.
Good afternoon.
I posted this in another thread earlier. If you have time hit this website if Hawk Harrelslon drives you insane if you have to watch your games on the Chicago feed. He is by far the most annoying TV analyst in the biz. Yes, he is worse than Joe Morgan.
http://www.heavethehawk.com
-dennis
test
please