The Sunday Links
-
-
- August
- 24
-
Carl Pavano pitched five effective innings and the Yankees beat the Orioles.
Joba Chamberlain threw off a mound but remains a ways away. This notebook also has an update on Phil Hughes, Billy Traber, Austin Jackson, Brett Gardner and an ejection.
The Sunday Baseball Beat looks at how the Mets are trying to erase the memories of last season. Also check out the column for some interesting comments from Damon Oppenheimer on Gerrit Cole.
————
The best story of the day is in another newspaper, The Record. Bob Klapisch details his recovery from getting hit in the eye by a batted ball in his semi-pro league.
Sources tell us that Klap might be at the Stadium this week. It’ll be great to see him – and to read him again.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 2:32 am 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
Carl Pavano: “This is what I get paid to do, obviously. This is what I live for. This is all I really know, to go out there every fifth day and do my job.â€
LOL, That’s the best quote ever. If we had signatures here, this would be mine.
amazing blog!
greetings from a yankee fan from brazil
Good news about Klapisch.
Nice to hear about Wang, too. He sounds so wistful, like he wants to play.
O/T but this Ricky Rubio is going to be an amazing point guard in the NBA one day. He’s only 17 years old, but wow. 38-31 USA, but it’s a closer game than the score indicates.
“Billy Crystal and “Saturday Night Live” guru Lorne Michaels are co-producing the final event ever at The House That Ruth Built, which is being replaced next season by the new Yankee Stadium. The Nov. 8 tribute will feature segments on the greatest stars of each decade, including Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle and Berra.”
NYPOST.com
Watched all of Pavano’s after-game comments last night. My impression: the bulk of what he said was self-critical of his rusty first couple of innings and the fact that he couldn’t eat more innings, but happy he managed to compete. He gave realistic details about what he needs to work on and explicit credit to the players behind him. He was not a polished speaker but he covered exactly what you want to hear a pitcher cover. The jokes about a couple of his sentences are amusing, but don’t give much idea of the overall tenor of his remarks.
One of the reasons I read Pete’s blog is to be amused, so that doesn’t worry me. I presume in his *news* stories (which I don’t read because I watch the games in full myself and this is at least the fourth baseball source I see in the mornings so I pretty much have the game facts before I come here) he’s a reporter not a blogger and covers all the facts. As a blogger Pete is prolific, amusing, timely and full of background details as well as enthusiasm, which is why I’ve been reading here for much longer than I’ve been posting. Thanks Pete!
All is know is, Carl Pavano has more wins for the Yankees this year than Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy combined.
You guys want to see the team make the playoffs, correct? They need another starter to step up and give them a chance to win games, correct?
Carl Pavano is that guy right now.
You don’t have to like him. Many of the guys in the locker room don’t.
You don’t have to respect him. Many of the guys in the locker room don’t.
Guess what? Those guys would grow to love Pavano if can put together a good month of pitching and help them make the playoffs.
That’s the way you have to look at it. Its about what he can do NOW and not what has happened in the past.
The Yankees aren’t in the position they are in right now because of Carl Pavano. They are in position they are in because they have underperformed for most of the season.
The irony is, Carl Pavano can possibly save their butts if he can pitch them to the playoffs.
That would be the story of the year if it takes place.
Nick Cafardo from boston.com must have been hanging with the Yankees this week.
Stories about Nady loving it with the Yanks, Damon saying Giambi wants to stay in NY even if it means less money, Joba interviewed and Yanks players buzzing about AJ Burnett wanting to come to NY amond other things.
http://www.boston.com/sports/b....._grasping/
pavano looked awful for 2 innings.then he started to locate and pant the outside corner.i was shocked that his pitches had good movement as the game progressed.comment was funny if that was all you read.but he said he pitched on the defense and was 1 pitch away from giving up game.everybody has no respect for him ,so give him some credit it must be ard to walk in a dugout when your a laughing stock.
pat,
great stuff from nady in that read. he even sounds like a yankee.
The guy has pitched in 3 major league games in 3 years! What did you expect him to look like early?
Its not exactly easy to go out there and pitch when you are going to the mound every fifth day for the last 3 years.
When you do it as infrequently as Pavano? Its just about impossible to expect sharpness.
Yet, once he calmed down and allowed his mechanics to take over and finish off his pitches, he stayed down in the zone the last 3 innings of the game.
Nobody is saying he is CC Sabathia. However, he won the game last night. That’s what matters.
For everyone who wants to talk about WHIP, velocity and any other stat to make themselves feel important, fine by me.
There are only TWO stats that matter for this team the rest of the season. Wins and losses. That’s it.
All the other stats are for the off-season so agents can justify why their clients should get paid, even though they had bad seasons.
He won last night. That’s a step in the right direction.
SJ,
Both your posts were excellent.
There are too many here who have to get over their dislike of Pavano as much as they are right about it.
The bottom line is this team is not going to the playoff without him pitching effectively for the rest of the season. In one night, after a long lay off, he did something that Hughes and Kenneedy did not do for the whole season, that is win a game.
We all can comaplain about his injuries. He was an injury prone guy before we signed him, except for that last contract year. His body is brittle and I sincerely believe that his injuries are genuine, even if some of them are funny.
Now he is here as part of the team to help them get to the playoffs. He gets my full support.
Giambi wants to come back? Do you blame him? Where else could you underperform and get paid the exorbitant amount of money this guy has and still be treated like an all star performer? Where else can you be on a country club type team where veterans on the downslide are awarded playing time based on reputation? If this guy is resigned next year you can expect more of the same crappy baseball we’ve seen this year. Yankees need to get younger and hungrier. Giambi should be sent packing as soon as possible.
BBFan,
Pavano’s past should be irrelevent to Yankee fans at this point.
Phil Hughes is 22 years old and has been hurt every year the last 3 years. It may sound harsh but, Pavano has more wins, in less chances, than Hughes has with the Yankees this year.
At this point, they have to get help from whomever can give it to them. They don’t have the luxury to choose from the “A” List to get help to try and salvage their season.
Its just about wins and losses. I don’t care about any other stats right now.
If a guy isn’t hitting? Help out by moving guys over. Or, making productive outs. Or, helping out defensively, taking an extra base on the basepaths, etc.
The game gets real simple at this point. Every day, do something, anything, to help the team win a game.
If 25 guys do that everyday, they have a shot.
If one or more of them continue their “me” style of play? They have no shot.
Hopefully, Pavano gives them the chance to win in every one of his starts. If he does? Its all you can really ask of the guy.
Interesting comments from Oppenheimer regarding Cole. If this is all true and Cole lied to them, it shows you the character of some of the prospects that teams have to deal with. If Cole really wanted to go to college all along he should have been man enough to tell the Yankees and any other interested employer straight up of his intentions.
I suspect somewhere between the draft and the deadline he changed his mind and now wants to revise history about his intentions, thinking people are dumb enough to believe it.
However it happened, it can’t happen again, you can’t put your stock in a first pick that isn’t intent on signing, can’t let it happen again.
Oh, one more thing, happy trails Cole. You and your family are legitimate candidates for idiots of the month. Way to kiss off multimillions, a chance to play for the premier team in sports, have your arm taken care of, and also by the way get you college paid for in full. Good choice…
Pavano determines his own fate. He can pitch well enough the rest of the way to regain some respect and faith from his teammates but there’s a certain amount of fans that will always carry a grudge even if he pitched a quality start to win the final game of the World Series.
I am one of those who steadfaslty maintained that Yankees will make it to the playoffs this year.
I still beleive in it.
We have games against Boston and ChiSox the two teams ahead of us. Also, Rays are beating up on those two teams which is helpful. Boston is playing average right now and they are also experiencing injuries (Beckett?).
I think the series with Boston will be pivotal. If we are four or three behind after that series, with one month to go I like our chances even better.
“there’s a certain amount of fans that will always carry a grudge even if he pitched a quality start to win the final game of the World Series.”
It is not a good comparision, but there will always be fans who will not like AROD even if he hits a series winning home run
i’m probably one of those fans that will always bare ill-will towards Idle. Until he donates $30 mil of his ill gotten salary to some worth charity, he’s going to be living in the dog house.
worth = worthy
SJ44,
EXCELLENT POSTS.AS YOU SAID, WHAT pAVANO HAS DONE IN THE PAST IS IRRELEVANT TO TODAY’S YANKEE TEAM. iF HE HAS 7-8 QUALITY STARTS, ALL IS OK. THE ONLY STAT WHICH IS IMPORTANT IN IN THE WIN COLUMN.
Okay here is my gripe of the day.
I happen to think that the majority of the posters here are extremely baseball savvy, if not basically all. And I mean that sincerely. Not everyone is going to have the same perspective and some people want instant perfection, but I think that people understand baseball. They may just have different ways they want to get there.
That said, how in hell can’t people figure out that players who are just coming back
1. probably need some innings to get back into the groove
and
2. aren’t going to neceswsarily have their best performances first game out?
I couldn’t believe my eyes (okay I could but it still found it distressing) when some posters jumped on Matsui when he didn’t get hits his first AB; jumped all over Brian Bruney when he came back and didn’t have his best stuff; and jumped all over Pavano when he gave up some hits and runs in the first few innings?
Especially in the case of Pavano, how could you not figure out that the guy was probably dealing with nothing but a case of nerves for every reason possible and likely was going to overthrow and not locate his pitches too well for a few innings?
That lack of logic that is prevalent here when guys are just coming back absolutely defies reason, because this is not a stupid blog. Far from it.
Dats all for now.
Looks like Pavs took a page out of Crash Davis’ media training lecture.
* necessarily
The point is that if you are going to end up trashing a player who is just coming back, at least wait until the player has proven trash-worthy! (One inning usually doesn’t cut it…)
“Until he donates $30 mil of his ill gotten salary to some worth charity, he’s going to be living in the dog house.”
I may be in the minority but I don’t care what the Yankees have paid Pavano. I’m disappointed that he hasn’t been able to contribute and compete for the team but the money doesn’t bother me at all.
It is intersting to see hwat happened to the line up since Matsui returned.
Before, the bottom part of the lineup was so weak, if the top of the line up failed, there was no hope. Now the line up is balanced and the only weak link if the catcher position, still IRod is not that bad.
If Pavano holds up, the pitching will be alright and with lineup doing well we will have a better chance of making the playoffs.
Call up Hughes !!!! If has one decent start I would call him up to replace rasner.
SJ44 is right. Pavano had a rough first two innings, righted himself, and then pitched well. He had chances to give up the game, but worked his way out of them. I enjoy the funny stuff Pete writes about him. But the bottom line is getting wins. The Yankees need good pitching, good fielding, and timely offense if they’re going to make a real run. A productive Carl Pavano can play a big part of achieving that goal, so I have no problem with cheering him on. And yes, it’s ironic.