Pitching matchups for the Seattle series
-
- May
- 23
Friday: LHP Andy Pettitte (3-5, 4.42) vs. LHP Erik Bedard (3-2, 3.24) 7:05, Channel 9
Saturday: RHP Mike Mussina (6-4, 4.11) vs. RHP Felix Hernandez (2-4, 3.34) 1:05, YES
Sunday: RHP Chien-Ming Wang (6-2, 3.51) vs. RHP Carlos Silva (3-3, 4.91) 1:05, YES, TBS
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Peter Abraham
Insomnia is fun Pete! but at least im at work!?
Is it too early to try and figure out who’ll be pitching the 6/4, 6/5 games vs TOR? Going to my first games since I live in Asia.
6/4 will be Moose 6/5 would be Wang I guess
depend on who pitch 5/30 game.
Hail, Hail to the Yankees, Hail, Hail to them…......Hail, Hail to the Yankees, 7.5 games back and Kennedy still can’t win…......Don’t get excited people on a 2 game winning streak. They take 1 out of 3 from Seattle this weekend and fall further behind the Sox.
Thanks, Taiwaness. I used to live in Taipei so seeing Wang would be nice.
we have a chance to really get a streak going…
a winning streak. WINNING
Could be what the doctor ordered for Pettitte. Seattle’s a terrible hitting team, although they are better against lefties.
Nice game by Kennedy. So nice in fact, that at 4:56 a.m., it brings us troll, russ m, like a big fat toadstool after a good rain. Russ, I look forward to more of your penetrating analysis.
Kennedy pitched out of trouble twice, which is what he’s supposed to do if he wants to stay here. He got a couple of strikes called when it could have gone the other way and that was nice too. In fact, if I were home plate ump Chris Guccione last night, I would have reminded Girardi of those generous strike calls while he was screaming at me about Giambi’s phantom foul tip. Nice hat kicking by Joe G although I was half expecting him to break out laughing at any moment because it was so over the top. But it screwed up
the Baltimore reliever, so I guess it worked.
Somehow Veras got the job done and so did Farns, although I did have my eyes closed while Kyle was working. Then Cano finally took a pitch and something good happened. Can someone ask Girardi to fine Cano every time he swings at the first pitch, at least until Robbie gets his average to .290?
Now they gotta keep it going.
Big test for Pettitte coming up tonight. I don’t know if it’s his head or his elbow, but something’s wrong with Andy. He needs to get through the middle innings tonight without a meltdown. Runs will likely be at a premium again tonight against Bedard. Knowing that every pitch counts may help Andy stay focused or it might tighten him up. Tough game.
Bedard’s last outing, against SD, was impressive but his start against Texas before that was horrid. A-Rod hits Bedard fairly well, Matsui too. (Po does alright against him but of course he’s not available). Don’t know how Girardi will see it, but going by the numbers I’d hit Matsui behind A-Rod tonight to make sure they don’t pitch around Rod.
Big series for the Yanks. They need to get it going. Their three starters are all coming off less than acceptable outings and need a good showing.
winning streaks are great an all, but for me, i’d settle for series streaks- take 2 out of 3, 2 or 3 out of 4.
this team has the pitching and the offense to do it, now its time to start putting a consistent effort together.
im going to the game on Sunday, so itll be exciting to watch Wang pitch live for the first time.
My 9 tonight? Blah.
We never seem to win My9 games. Hopefully that changes tonight.
Great job by Ian, Veras and Farnsy yesterday.
another happy day!
it was funny watching joe g. try to channel billy martin. its obvious that blowing a gasket is not something he really does. i dont know if that had anything to do with the yanks winning, but you cant blame a guy for trying something. we’ve all been on here screaming for the last 2 weeks for SOMEBODY to do SOMETHING, so whether it had any influence or not doesnt matter, joe was TRYING to do something.
murph,
I think Andy is and will be fine. With the execption of a “bad inning” in his last few starts he has not been that bad especially in the Mets game. Run support has hurt him as well. At any rate, I have faith in Andy and am sure he will be there for us especially down the stretch when the heat gets turned up. I think Rasners last performance(s) may be the kick start that the team and rotation needed. Would be nice to get on a roll now….let’s go yankees!
IPK – 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER
Johan Santana 7 IP, 12 H, 3 ER
Since folks have crushed Ian all year long with this comparison I thought it was only fair to put this “in the record”
Oh yeah –
IPK – $394,275.00
Johan – $19,000,000.00
I know it isn’t all about money, but maybe we can see what Brian Cashman thinks about when Hank needles him about the decision to walk away from the Twinkies offer.
Uh Kennedy had a win taken from him by Bruney. That was not fair. Kennedy gave up I think 1 or 2 runs in 6 innings. Bruney comes in and gives up 6 and I think it was Tampa tied it up. The next inning cano hits a solo homerun and the yankees win by 1. Bruney got the win. Anyway, Kennedy should at least have that 1 win.
The same matchups as earlier in the month. Because of the notorious schedule quirks in MLB, this is the 2nd visit to the Bronx by Seattle this month.
The Yankees play the Mariners once more in September for a 3-game series in Seattle.
To all the Chamberlain whiners:
If Kennedy gives up 3 runs last night in the second inning the Yankees lose even if Joba pitches a scoreless 8th.
It is all about starting pitching which is why the top guys get 15M+ a year
Do you see any 8th inning guys get that much money, yea I don’t think so
Get a clue
i saw alot of good things from ian last night. he worked alot faster, and it looked like he had a little more movement. he didnt throw alot of first pitch strikes, though, im wondering if that was by design, maybe he was told that the o’s hitters will chase a first pitch out of the zone, they didn’t but he worked around it very well. he will get the o’s again next start, so he’s gonna need to tweak his approach some, but that was a very nice performance. lets hope he and the team are both beginning a long hot streak.
Was he really moving a lot faster than in the past? It was painfully slow, I thought. We saw Rasner’s debut the last time we were there and he worked much faster.
Check out clueless idiot Ian O’conners article in the Bergen Record. What a fool he is.
Bryan,
You presented an “IF” statement. Reality was IPK did not give up 3 runs, and I admit I had to close my eyes watching “worthless” come in and I am sure you probably sweating too. We HAVE to get consistancy in that 8th inning somehow. I beleive we have the pieces in place to do so. It’s just going to have to be trial and error. By the way I am pro-Joba to the rotation.
**When are people going to learn not to slide down railings!! I guess it is Darwins survival of the fittest.
Man dies in fall at Turner Field
Man dies from injuries in fall at Turner Field
ATLANTA (AP)—A 25-year-old man died from injuries sustained after falling about 150 feet down a stairwell at Turner Field during Wednesday night’s game between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets.
The senior investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office, Mark Guilbeau, said Thursday that the man who fell was Justin Hayes of Cumming, Ga.
Guilbeau says an autopsy will be done to determine the cause of death.
Atlanta Police Department spokesman Ronald Campbell said Hayes was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with serious head injuries.
Braves spokesman Brad Hainje said Hayes apparently fell from the club level to the landing on the stairwell on the field level during the eighth inning.
Campbell says he may have been sliding down the hand rails when he fell.
2 yankees beat writers, watching the game, 2007:
BW1: wow, check out torre!
BW2: he’s just sitting there.
BW1: yeah, but its the WAY hes just sitting there, so calm, so in-charge, the guy’s a genius!
BW2:yeah, the guy’s a genius.
same 2 beat writers watching joe g. 2008
BW1: wow, check out girardi!
BW2: he’s just sitting there!
BW1: yeah, but its the WAY he’s sitting there, clueless, trying to act like he’s in charge, the guy’s a joke!
BW2: yeah, the guy’s a joke.
I also had the feeling that after the first few moments, Girardi amped it up a bit (perhaps for effect), and I thought at the very least it did what murphydog said, which was to get the pitcher out of the nice comfort zone he was in. Whatever. They won and all is good for another 24 hours, right?
Cano was very purposeful in that at-bat. Needs to do that all the time.
Great, another lefty throwing against the Yankees.
I wonder if they’ll have Duncan play again.
Abreu should be playing since he had yesterday off, but they have to get some right-handers in the lineup too…
I have to say this is one of the stupidest things I’ve read.
“It hit the knob. I heard it when it hit the bat,” Hernandez said. “I said to the umpire, ‘Hey, he foul-tipped it.’”
Jason didn’t swing at the pitch, it came way inside, and even if it did hit the knob of the bat, it is bs! But what is even worse is he didn’t call him out till the catcher told him!
I don’t think that was an act on Joe’s part. Like others have said it was 40 plus games of frustration pouring out. That was an awful call, and the explantation by the ump was terrible, he had every right to be ticked.
Do you remember so many obviously bad calls by umpires (all the messed up home runs etc)? Are the catchers being paid to call the game or the umpires?
jen, i have to disagree, it was the right call, the ball did clearly change direction and you could hear the tip on the tv. if the ball hit the bat and the catcher catches it, its strike 3.
but girardi is right, you cant not call that and then change your call when the catcher asks you to. if he saw the ball hit the bat, he should have called it. i cant remember the last time i saw a player get an ump to change a call. THAT was what was a joke about the whole thing.
Woof! Good for IPK, finally being aggressive with his pitching like he is supposed to be. 97 pitches over 6 innings is still a bit high, though.
Either way, I’m glad to see the youth movement starting to learn how to pitch.
Rasner is 27, IPK is 24, Joba is 22.
Joba takes Moose’s place, right? If IPK keeps this up?
So then what happens to Phil when he gets healthy?
Another stupid comment.
I think that you could clearly hear the ball hit the bat….I don’t really care if the umpire took a few seconds to get the call right….he got it right….end of story…but…I was happy to see the FIRE in Girardi !
Did you see this about an all star game promotion where Papi will try to hit a “called shot” home run (like Babe Ruth in the 1932 World Series). Apparently State Farm thought it would be a great way to celebrate Yankee Stadium. The Yankees didn’t know about it and don’t agree.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/sports/baseball/23ortiz.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin
some observations and questions:
if pitching is everything, then why is boston running away from the yankees and comfortably in first place in the american league east while giving up the most runs of any team?
why is texas even ahead of the yankees for the wild card even though they have given up 290 runs, more than anyone in baseball.
the yankees still aren’t putting runs on the board.
the yankees only made the orioles throw 126 pitches. they really need to get the other team to throw 140 minimum and preferably over 150.
working the count doesn’t mean you never swing at a first pitch. it means you do it just enough to keep the other team from throwing it down the middle and getting ahead on each at bat.
posada will help when he comes back ,but more yankees need to consciously increase their pitches per at bat. i think if they simply start working the count and get in hitters counts a lot will change.
this is something that long can have an impact on if he chooses to. i really don’t know his philosophy on this. we know torre pushed patience with hitting. is this something that is missing now?
something has changed with the yankees knocking out starters and getting into the soft underbelly of middle relievers that all teams have.
maybe the low number of pitches that other teams are throwing to finish games with the yankees is a byproduct of a yankee team wide slump, but then on the other hand it may be why there is a team wide slump.
yeah, the ump made the right call… you could definately hear the deflection off the end of the knob of the bat.
it was just frustrating to have to wait for the delayed reaction, and have the ump be sold on making the call by the catcher.
the call was right but girardi had to be thinking, ‘i caught for 15 years and nobody ever changed a call b/c i asked them to.’
its not that he took a few seconds to make the call, its that he clearly wasnt going to make the call at all, and the catcher changed his mind.
Now that Ian O’Connor has completed his task of undermining Willie Randolph, he has trained his weapons at Yankeeland?
Seriously, this is an interesting piece with lots of good quotes from the people involved. The problem with the analysis is that O’Connor seems to think that relievers are PUMPED RAGING BULLS and starters are pussycats.
He has Ron Villone, who is a good person to talk to b/c he has done both things, supporting his point. Then he goes into a bunch of psychobabble about Joba telling Gossage to stuff it.
Then O’Connor falls back on the M&MD mantra – we haven’t seen an amazing Joba start, therefore it must not conceivably exist.
It is a good read, but the “analysis” is misguided IMO
Rishi…
I just read that link. Shocking they (MLB) would try to slip this past the Yankees. Levine has been working on planning this event for over a year, and yesterday was the first the NYY had learned of this STUPID promotion?!?!?
Okay, okay… I entered it.
But still, seems shady they would drop this on the Yankees at the final year of the Stadium.
Ohhhh, those darling Red Sux. Everyone’s favorite team!
Papi is one of the biggest called-strike-whiners in the whole damn league! Lets let him be the face of baseball!
Idiots…
Rishi
I just read that. How is that a great way to celebrate Yankee Stadium? Have someone who is a Yankee killer come in and kill YS? Horrbily stupid promotion. I hope the Yankees kill it, of course the media will say the Yankees are babies crying about it.
**When are people going to learn not to slide down railings!! I guess it is Darwins survival of the fittest.”
another sad story. no one goes to a baseball game to die.
another thing to wonder about is why do teams build stadiums with 4-5 story drops from escalators and stairs and then sell beer to their fans.
if pitching is everything, then why is boston running away from the yankees and comfortably in first place in the american league east while giving up the most runs of any team?
Well the answer is that pitching isn’t everything. Obviously the Yanks need to score more runs. 2 runs against Burres and the Orioles pen is terrible but we got a win so I’m happy.
I’d say pitching is everything in the postseason. I think that a great offense is more important to win games in the regular season. Look at the last few years the Yanks have had average to below average pitching but could mash on offense. Every year they have played well in the regular season but struggled in postseason.
Hitting matters in the postseason but to a lesser degree than the regular season.
I don’t think the ball hit Giambi’s bat. Not sure how anyone can say it definitevely did. If it was so obvious how did the ump not realize it or react until the catcher pointed it out? Guess it doesn’t matter because we got the win.
Anyway, I know it is too soon to crow, but the turn-around is very much underway. The Yankees have done well against Bedard and just swept Seattle in Yankee stadium a few weeks ago. We should win this series again.
things have changed, the game changes, other teams strategize against what you’re doing.
if i was an opposing manager id be telling my pitchers to throw strikes on the 1st 2 pitches against all the yankees to prevent them from going deep into counts.
if you watched last night, the yanks did swing at some early pitches but they also hit alot of them a long way, just didnt get hits off them. matsui’s in the 1st would go out normally(the wind kept it in), and would have given them a 2-0 lead. id like to see them make a guy throw more pitches, but if they’re throwing strikes and you’re taking them, you’re putting yourself behind every time up.
another factor it is that pitchers used to be scared of throwing strikes to the yankees. the way the yanks are hitting now, why would you be afraid to throw strikes?
once we start hitting, pitchers will be much less willing to challenge early in the count, but in the mean time, you cant just keep taking strikes.
Clearly, we need to train Giambi to act like Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack- “Oh my arm!”
another thing to wonder about is why do teams build stadiums with 4-5 story drops from escalators and stairs and then sell beer to their fans.
Because to hold 60,000 people a stadium has to be big and people want to drink beer? Don’t blame the teams because a few dopes got themselves killed.
So how about subbing Giambi for Ortiz in the promotion? He could call his double play. Actually A-Rod could do it, but only if the score were like 9-0 already.
Pitching isn’t everything in baseball. You need a balance between having pitching and hitting.
If you have a pitcher who can shut down a lineup but your offense doesn’t score any runs you are going to lose.
Regarding the call on Giambi. Yes, there was a double sound, but that could have been from hitting the edge of the catchers mitt and then hitting the back of the glove. I didn’t see where it deflected untill it was going in the catchers mitt. There was also no mark on the end of the bat. Why didn’t the umpire look at the bat? Why, when they called the home run ball that was hit a double because there was no mark they could figure on the ball, ignore looking at the knob of the bat and simply take the word of the opposing catcher? The umpires blew the call with the home run because they believed the Oriole outfielders actions, and they blew the call to Giambi because he listened to the catcher.
we should clearly spend another 10 million dollars to design elevators that you cant slide down the railings on.
and another 10 to put netting around the entire outside of the stadium in case the drunks lose thier balance looking over the top.
and another 10 mil to soften the concrete so nobody will knock themselves unconcious running up the stairs with thier 11th beer in thier hands.
and another 10 mil to put netting around the outside of the parking garages so the drunks do fall while peeing over the side on passers by.
Ham Fighter, I work in the elevator industry and can tell you that there are solutions to keep people from falling off, but the architects don’t like the look of doing this.
This really comes down to personal responsibility. Because of idiots who think its fun to ride on the handrails the elevator industry has cut way back on doing installations of escalators. They are a big liability with minimal profits. Otis elevator had invented the escalator and yet they have cut down production on them and do not bid aggressively on projects with escalators due to stupid people who do not follow the signs and regulations.
Escalators are the fastest means of moving a lot of people from floor to floor, yet there will come a day when the industry decides to stop making them because people have no brains.
So two blown calls while watching the actions of the O’s players. I think they deserve Oscars, cause they clearly sold two awful calls.
“Hitting matters in the postseason but to a lesser degree than the regular season.”
this is probably true because the playoffs starting pitching then consists mostly of the top three pitchers of good teams. the old adage good pitching beats good hitting.
so if that’s true, then the yankees probably aren’t beating the bad #4 and #5 pitchers they are seeing during the regular season.
and other teams, until recently with rasner are kennedy last night, have been beating the yankees 4 and 5 starters.
having a quality at bat is something that can be decided ahead of time. it’s about approaching an at bat with a clue. the win was great last night, but even cano’s hit was a bleeder that wouldn’t have rolled to the outfielder had he not charged the ball.
anyone have a link for # of pitches per plate appearance for teams?
without looking , the yankees must be way worse than last year.
b g
hey now, you’re gonna start cutting into the lifestyles of alot of lawyers if you do that.
Bottom line, people need to start taking responsiblity for their own actions. At least he was the one who paid. He could have killed or injuried someone else with his own stupidity.
“Don’t blame the teams because a few dopes got themselves killed.”
now that’s an intelligent proactive approach to architectural planning for stadium design.
randy, you cant design risk out of anything, you can only reduce it and it costs alot of money to do so. if you want to wait for an elevator to get down from the upper deck just because drunks cant ride an escalator correctly, you go right ahead and wait. and then what happens when someone’s coat gets caught in the elevator door?
maybe we have to go to single deck stadiums so drunks dont have to deal with such challenges as stairs, escalators or ramps. that would work but it would also cut down the capacity to fenway size.
any opprotunity we have to reduce the risk to ppl who cant consume alcohol responsibly should be done, no matter what the cost to the people who act responsibly.
Had a chance to see some RS games lately, and I gotta tell you this team is the real deal. They have starting pitching, power, situational hitting, speed on offense and defense, a deep bench, and a lights-out closer. The only regular who stinks is Lugo, and you gotta have one guy on your team like that (see Bucky Dent, Bellhorn). Don’t see how anyone, especially the NYY, can beat them this year.
Now they’ve got Bartolo (Big Boy) Colon, who looks like he could eat Mike Mussina for breakfast.
doesn’t wang go before moose?
hankenstein, there are places where you can post your nonsense and people will care. It isn’t too difficult to do a google search and find it.
bubba – they swapped to give Wang a little more time to heal the calf.
we had ppl in my town screaming that the LIRR should elevate the entire far rockaway line b/c some kid COMMITTED SUICIDE by laying on the tracks. how many millions would that have cost, just to make it harder to commit suicide by train.
at what point do we say enough is enough? maybe when lawyers and juries stop calculating tragedies in terms of who has the deepest pockets and how much the grieveing family deserves to be paid because thier drunked father/son/daughter did something foolish and got themselves killed.
“He could have killed or injuried someone else with his own stupidity.”
jennifer-
knocking innocent bystanders off when there is a crowed unruly situation is a possibility which is why it’s bad design. even when it’s their own fault, the guy at shea was with his little kids. he was obviously just fooling around. they saw him fall and die. no one wants that to happen. it’s not hard to build more safety in from the beginning.
there’s no doubt it could be done, and i think it’s likely the new yankee stadium has addressed this issue.
They moved Wang back a day cause of his strain and moved Mike up because he had such a short outting.
The Mets fiasco will take most of the thunder with Fatso & Fruitloops today.
All things point to Willie having managed his last game in Queens.
He’ll be lucky to survive the weekend in Colorado.
Jennifer—
I do concede that the Yankees have better blogs.
For what that’s worth.
THEY HAVE BARTOLO COLON???????
batten down the hatches!! The Red Sox have BARTOLO COLON. We’re through! DONE! They got COLON????
ESPN headline: Wang dominates Colon, Sawx walk funny afterwards
The Red Sox have weakness in the starting rotation and bullpen, they are being carried by their offense atm.
“any opprotunity we have to reduce the risk to ppl who cant consume alcohol responsibly should be done, no matter what the cost to the people who act responsibly.”
hamfighter
yeah, alcohol is probably the biggest problem. even if they make it safely to their cars, having a couple of hundred fans over the limit hitting the roads after a game can’t be a good thing.
it is kind of odd how most teams have banned alcohol in the locker room for it’s players because of liability problems, but they still sell beer to fans who are drunk.
This weekend has the look of a Yankees SWEEP and keeping a winning streak alive, building on 5 games in a row. I am looking forward to the Offense showing more signs of life and clutch hitting with A-Rod to contend with…
hankstein
this blog welcomes red sox fans or any other fans to join in the discussion. what we dont like are trolls who just come here to bust on the yankees with stupid blathering. if you want to join in our baseball discussion, then welcome, if you want to be a troll, expect the vast majority to ignore you and the ones who cant help themselves to engage in 3rd grade level name-calling. your choice of screenname kind of indicates that you want to be the later.
the choice is yours.
“This weekend has the look of a Yankees SWEEP”
Agreed. Seattle is putrid offensively, Bedard has been a lot less than expected and Hernandez is dinged up a little.
M’s are just what the doctor ordered for Pettitte.
actually, bedard has been good although he has missed a few starts due to injury. he is 3-3 with a 3.24 era on a team that has no offense. his only bad outing was may 12 against texas when he gave up 6ER. other than that he gave up 3ER once and 2 or less in every other start.
it is kind of odd how most teams have banned alcohol in the locker room for it’s players because of liability problems, but they still sell beer to fans who are drunk.
Well the players are their employees, the fans are not. It shouldn’t be a team’s fault if a fan drinks too much and does damage to himself or others. A fan that gets wasted and does something stupid would probably do the same thing if he/she were at a bar instead of the stadium.
All stadiums do have rules that cut fans off at a certain time or inning but theres only so much they can do. Are you proposing the Yankees should cut off all alcohol from the fans?
“They have starting pitching”
Yeah, I’m real scared of Matsuzaka and his 120-pitch, 5 inning outings. Lester, same deal. And their middle relief is poor.
personally as a drunk who drank my lifetime share of beer in 10 years (now 18 yrs sober) i dont want them to cut off sales, but i’d like to see them make big sections of the stadium alcohol-free (not just one or two sections as in some parks). i dont know how you can do this now, with season ticket holders wanting to enjoy an adult beverage sometimes, but it would be nice to have large areas that are more family friendly (where drunks arent screaming out obscenities constantly).
How many bars are in the immediate surrounding areas of these ballparks. People come to the games already liquored up.
“This weekend has the look of a Yankees SWEEPâ€
I hope so! I am going to the game on Saturday, when Joba is likely to pitch 3-4 innings
We really have two opposite pitching issues at the moment..
The Sox bullpen other than JP is woeful. This will be exposed when the Sox are not scoring runs in bunches. The Yanks on the other hand have at the moment a hole or two in the starting rotation. Here are the numbers behind it.
Sox starters- 3.93 Yanks-4.83
Yanks pen -3.49 Sox pen-4.50
Just curious, who has a better chance of hanging around in the mix until Sept… White Sox or the Rays?
Have a good holiday weekend.
-dennis
“The Yanks on the other hand have at the moment a hole or two in the starting rotation.”
It’s true. There’s a lot of reason to believe that’ll get better, though. Do you know who the Sox have in their relief pipeline? Is Hansen back in the majors at this point, and doing ok? I know he was supposed to be coming up a little bit ago…
Im going Sunday
Red Sox pitching staff is getting a lot of help from the defense, which is pretty good.
Matsuzaka’s periphs are all trending in a negative direction, but his BABIP is so low that he hasnt given up many runs.
“Yeah, I’m real scared of Matsuzaka and his 120-pitch, 5 inning outings. Lester, same deal. And their middle relief is poor.”
To be fair, those guys are averaging 6 innings per start. I cracked bubbly when Kennedy made thru 6 last night.
Lester may be figuring things out. Last 5 starts = 34 1/3 IP, .87 WHIP, 1.57 ERA, 26 K, 12 BB’s.
Matsuzaka’s numbers are logic defying, but they don’t lose when he starts (10-0). He’s been walking guys all season, but nobody was hitting him. Last few starts he’s been getitng a little bit. Don’t think the wheels will totally come off, but he’s going to start losing some games somewhere down the line. Probably sooner than later.
d-man, i really think its the rays! (did i just say that?) the white sox are and old team and i see them breaking down as the year goes by and the chitown weather gets hot. the rays, who play at home in air conditioning, are much younger and imo, have better pitching.
Whozat.
The Yanks rotation will get better before the Sox bullpen will get better. Hansen came in yesterday and got lit up. Delcarmen can not throw strikes and Okajima is banged up and is coming back to reality. Father Time Timlin has a few too many miles on him.
-dennis
“personally as a drunk who drank my lifetime share of beer in 10 years (now 18 yrs sober) i dont want them to cut off sales, but i’d like to see them make big sections of the stadium alcohol-free (not just one or two sections as in some parks).”
2 things:
1. I went to a game in SF last summer and was SHOCKED to see that they sold hard liquor at the park. That blew my mind.
2. Congrats on being sober 18 years. My friend’s dad is a recovering alcoholic, and from time to time he’ll go run AA meetings at prisons up here (VT/NH area). Back when he started doing this several years ago, every now and again a guy named Steven would show up to help facilitate as well. It was Steven Tyler, from Aerosmith. They’re originally from NH, and he’s obviously battled plenty of his own addiction problems. He feels pretty strongly about AA, I guess, and I just think it’s cool that he’d show up just like a normal guy without fanfare and try to help some people out.
The Mariner’s offense is atrocious so it should be interesting to see if the Yanks can keep it up. SIlva has been down right horrible the past few weeks and, after a hot start, Felix has come down to earth. Should be fun to see Felix against Joba during that game (assuming they pull Moose out after 4 or 5). Bedard has a good ERA but he’s walked a few and has been Mr. Glass so far this year- he’ll probably injure himself getting out of bed this morning.
Only person on the team that is hitting well is Ichiro. Plus, when Bedard throws they take out their starting catcher Jojima (who has been sucking it up this year, anyhow) and have Burke catch.
ham fighter.
Good points. The White Sox are old. Thome, Dye, Contreras etc etc..
Think the “experts” still belive the AL Central is the best division in baseball?
whozat, thanks for the sentiment but nobody should be thanking me for belatedly becoming a responsible person.
very cool about steve, when i lived in l.a. there were always a few tv people at meetings and they were all treated the same as all us other drunks.
Jojima and to think they just gave him entension.
Matsuzaka is going to come down hard, unless he corrects his walk rate. He is walking 5 or 6 per / 9, has a 1:1 K:BB, bigger fly ball rate than last year.
The only thing thats not really comforting about that is Beckett will most likely get better.
Lester I’m not sold on. He faced Toronto, Rays, Minnesota, Baltimore, and Kansas City.
The Rays, despite looking like world beaters against the yankees, aren’t that great an offense. Toronto, Minnesota, and Kansas City are all horrible.
I think it’ll take a few more good starts before I believe he has turned any corners. A guy with a high career walk rate even into this season suddenly finds strike zone? Doubt it.
“A fan that gets wasted and does something stupid would probably do the same thing if he/she were at a bar instead of the stadium.”
patrick-
your views on alcohol responsibility are about ten years behind the times.
if you want to argue with me just for the sake of arguing, why don’t you pick an issue that you have a chance of being on the right side of it.
“People come to the games already liquored up.”
Has anyone ever been on the LIRR treain that goes to Shea just before a game?
Each guy is drinking from a six pack.
“The Rays, despite looking like world beaters against the yankees, aren’t that great an offense. Toronto, Minnesota, and Kansas City are all horrible.”
I know…but are there any good offenses in the AL this year? It’s so weird to say, but…The Rangers, maybe? Are the Angels putting up lots of runs? I know the Indians struggled a lot, the Tigers are a disaster…the ChiSox?
Jerk Face.
Agree with both points. I need to see Lester have a few more quality starts in a row before I can feel comfortable that he is a legit 3-4 starter. Dice K will come back to earth. You simly can not have that many BB and continue to win. Sooner or later it will come back around. I think Dice K and Beckett will have opposite 2nd halves…
-dennis
“whozat, thanks for the sentiment but nobody should be thanking me for belatedly becoming a responsible person.”
Ok. But you did do it. A lot of people don’t. I’m just saying I think that’s worth something.
“A guy with a high career walk rate even into this season suddenly finds strike zone? Doubt it.”
I’ll tell Randy Johnson you still don’t believe it. (;
- Boston hasn’t had serious injuries … yet.
– Manny hasn’t had his July-August sabbatical … yet.
– The back end end of their bullpen isn’t burned out enough … yet.
– The shaky middle relief hasn’t peaked … yet.
– Lowell and Youkilis haven’t had their 2nd half slump … yet.
– Varitek isn’t tired … yet.
– Lugo hasn’t sulked enough … yet.
– Francoma hasn’t made real dumb decisions … yet.
– Schilling hasn’t talked enough … yet.
– Jurassic Park in Boston hasn’t drank enough beer … yet.
All will come home to roost.
Whozat:
Angels score a lot of runs, Detroit is mashing but they are inconsistent, Texas is a LEGIT offense (hamilton is flippin fantastic, wish we got him for scraps when he was available), Boston is the best at the moment.
The rest are all middle of the pack or horrible.
There are some really, really, really bad offenses though. Mariners and Royals are putrid. Cleveland actually is pretty bad. We sucked for a great deal of time, hopefully turning that around. Minnesota is punchless. Rays have a lot of speed and some power, but not a great deal of OBP. Toronto is AWFUL. A guy on another forum looked @ LOB stats and Toronto strands 70% of the people that get on base. Highest in the league.
Baltimore is capable of stringing some things together, but overall they don’t really have any stand out offensive players(Markakis with a weird down year).
Oakland is an enigma. I havent seen enough of their games to comment on.
White Sox have power and some OBP.
i will say one thing about my drinking career, my favorite place to drink was yankee stadium. but we always took public transportation.
“Sox starters- 3.93 Yanks-4.83
Yanks pen -3.49 Sox pen-4.50”
nice stats dennis.
they do give some insight into the differences with the two teams.
the difference in hitting is what’s surprising and upsetting to yankee fans.
Fredo:
it took him 3 200 IP seasons to get his walk rate under 100 a year. And even in his good seasons he still walked 3 per 9.
Also Jon Lester is not a hall of fame pitcher.
Please pick a better example.
Jerk face-
What is the league average for percentage of LOB?
-dennis
I think offense is really a matter cause you can win games easier if you score a lot. That’s why i think Matsuzaka is so lucky.(8 wins now, 6.46 run support)) Is our offense really worse than sox?
Mid to lower 60’s. Can’t look at the chart(I’m at work), but the Sox were at 63%
“I’ll tell Randy Johnson you still don’t believe it. (;”
He didn’t suddenly find the strikezone. It took him 6 years of being in the majors to cut down on his walks and he still never had what I would call great control until he was 40.
Anyone listening to wfan, what did they just say about the vistors clubhouse at Yankee Stadium?
your views on alcohol responsibility are about ten years behind the times.
if you want to argue with me just for the sake of arguing, why don’t you pick an issue that you have a chance of being on the right side of it.
My views on alcohol responsibity are that people who drink should be responsible for themselves. I don’t think thats too much to expect.
I’m not arguing for the sake of arguing. You were implying that teams are irresponsible for serving alcohol in a stadium that has 4-5 story drops. Then you essentially said that teams are irresponsible for serving alcohol period. I was simply asking if you could clarify whether or not you think any alchohol should be served at baseball games.
Randy
The Sox are hitting .295 as team. That simply will not last and that is when the bullpen will be exposed if there are not improvements.
Off topic. My wife and I are driving to Maine June 20th where we spend the Summer and Fall. We stop in the Cape (Orleans) where my wife’s folks live for 3-4 days. We will stop by your store in Wellfleet to check it out.
-dennis
I thought we had it bad. But there is a mess in Queens with the Mets. I wish Joe and Evan were simulcast!
my money’s on jerry manual to be the met’s manager tonight.
willie, come home to the bronx!
holy crap what’s going on w/ Joe and Evan
Martin you can listen online. the show is very enjoyable right now.
At best, Red Sox Nation will watch their team collapse like the 2007 Mets.
oh, it’s ridiculous right now. I wish there was video.
It’s hilarious. They have this Beltran debate every few weeks and it always ends up with them at each others throat.
Beltran is a soft player and only got his huge contract based on his one hot playoff series.
” Off topic. My wife and I are driving to Maine June 20th where we spend the Summer and Fall. We stop in the Cape (Orleans) where my wife’s folks live for 3-4 days. We will stop by your store in Wellfleet to check it out.
-dennis”
Sounds very nice – would you consider adopting an adult Yankee fan?
holy crap what’s going on w/ Joe and Evan
I can’t listen, whats happening?
“Sox starters- 3.93 Yanks-4.83
Yanks pen -3.49 Sox pen-4.50”
The ERA splits Dennis brings up between Boston’s Starters/Pen and the Yankees Starters/Pen is perhaps the biggest single issue in the entire division.
I’m assuming the Yankees will start hitting (perhaps I shouldn’t – there is no doubt that the reason why the team has been so bad is primarily the underperformance of the offense). So if the offense does pick up I think this Starters/Pen issue is going to be a big part of deciding the division.
Part of the reason why the Red Sox have been so good is the distribution of their runs allowed.
Through the first part of games when the starters are throwing innings Boston’s generally been fine. With their offense I’d guess they go into the first part of most games with some kind of lead.
But then their bull pen outside of Papelbon is just not very good.
To date their offense and starting pitching has made up for their bull pen.
Boston is a great example of why starting pitching is so much more valuable that relief pitching. Good starting pitching allows you to take the lead and play form in front, forcing the other team to try to win the game over the last 9-12 outs.
But the flip side to the issue with the sox in addition to their ERA splits is something that ERA and averages don’t show – the number of innings thrown.
In a certain way, when you look at averages for a starting staff like Boston’s its misleading because they aren’t throwing very many innings.
It’s great that Dice-k has an ERA of 2.15 or so but it’s misleading because he never throw more than 6 innings in a game. So for 6 innings they have strong pitching – for the next 2-3 its up to their pen. That’s a lot of stress. This dampens the value of having a starter who has an ERA of 2.15. Lester is similar, wakefield and buchholz (though buchholz has to get a pass on this as he’s a rookie on a cap).
So Boston’s starters are doing a nice job but they are only throwing around 63% of Boston’s total innings. The pen is throwing 37% (those percents may be off by a little that’s what they were last week). At this rate Boston’s pen will only get tired and more ineffective.
The yankees have the opposite problem – the starting pitching hasn’t been very good. But the pen has been. The starters have only thrown 60% of the total innings. The pen 40%. So the yankee team ERA is better than it otherwise would be because the pen has thrown so many innings. That’s been ok so far because its early and they’ve used a number of different arms. But a bull pen can’t throw 40% of a teams innings over a season.
Perhaps the biggest issues to watch – what happens first – does the yankees rotation solidify or does Boston get backups for their pen? Conversely, do Boston’s starters start going deeper into games or the do the Yankees keep streaming arms into the pen that are both effective and fresh?
well Joe is not happy w/ Beltran and is calling him a softee flash in the pan, Evan is pissed because Beltran is getting dissed by Joe.
well Joe is not happy w/ Beltran and is calling him a softee flash in the pan, Evan is pissed because Beltran is getting dissed by Joe.
Ah I see, well Joe is a dope. Beltran has been fantastic for the Mets last year and the year before.
TK.
That would create a very, very awkward Thanksgiving.
All- Good to chat this AM. I am headed to the gym so when I take my shirt off this summer people are not throwing up a little bit in their mouths.
I will check in tomorrow if the Yanks win this eve.
Have a great long weekend.
-dennis
blaming beltran is not looking at the whole picture. yes the mets need a paul o’neill/erik byrnes/darrin erstadt/youkilis type guy, but beltran doesnt have to be that guy. not everybody needs to be that way, just a few. but the mets dont have any.
Keep an eye on Rich Harden tonight. Reports are he can be had without breaking the bank. Before you bring up his injury history, remember Beckett’s history with the Marlins, yet, the Red Sox were willing to part with Hanley. How’s that worked out for them so far? Harden is better than Beckett, and you wouldn’t even have to give up a Hanley-type talent to get him.
One thing that can’t be debated is his talent. He’s by most accounts the most talented pitcher in the majors.
“Clearly, we need to train Giambi to act like Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack- “Oh my arm!—
the ortiz promotion is an insult.
IMO, they will end up changing the promotion to include other players. absolutely absurd the way that is currently set up, and they know it!
martin, harden’s injury history is waaaaaay worse than becket’s. he was suposed to be 100% coming into this season after only making 4 starts last season, 9 the year before and 19 in 2005. basically hes more like pavano than beckett in terms of injuries.
blaming beltran is not looking at the whole picture. yes the mets need a paul o’neill/erik byrnes/darrin erstadt/youkilis type guy, but beltran doesnt have to be that guy. not everybody needs to be that way, just a few. but the mets dont have any.
Hmm I’d take Beltran over any of the guys you listed.
Martin Harden breaks every season, there is always something w/ him.
sorry meant to say that harden was supposed to be 100% this year and yet tonight will be only his 5th start…
patrick, exactly my point, you need those kind of intense guys on your team but you also need the beltrans. blaming a guy who puts up his #’s for not being the intense guy is stupid. im not saying trade beltran for one of those guys, im saying you need one of those guys plus beltran.
dennis-
definitely stop by. end of june is a nice time down here. the cape league games will be going by then too. i’m sure you’ve seen a few of those if you go to orleans on a regular basis.
ham fighter I had chime in here he’s not the 100% at fault but Beltran is a frustrating hitter right now, maybe he’s hurt or something, maybe the # 4 spot is not suited for him all I know is he rows into alot of groundouts and flyouts. I see him as a great #2 hitter but as soon as he got that price tag it changed what his expectations on what he had to do for his team.
This is the classic arguement of the money doesn’t dictate his limits, his limit is his limit the price tag was for his past achievements.
This will be an easy series for the Mariners. Yanks will be lucky to get a win.