Game 21: Yankees at Tigers (with A-Rod rehab updates)
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Apr 29, 2009 
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YANKEES (10-10)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
Posada C
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Pena 3B
Pitching: RHP Joba Chamberlain (0-0, 3.94).
Chamberlain vs. the Detroit hitters.
TIGERS (11-9)
Granderson CF
Polanco 2B
Ordonez RF
Cabrera 1B
Guillen DH
Laird C
Inge 3B
Anderson LF
Santiago SS
Pitching: RHP Rick Porcello (1-2, 3.75).
Porcello has never faced any of the New York hitters.
END OF THE ROAD: The Yankees are 1-4 on a road trip that ends today. They start an eight-game homestand tomorrow. The next day off is not until May 11.
JERSEY BOY: Porcello is a 20-year-old from Morristown, N.J. He was a first-round pick in the 2007 draft and earned a spot in the rotation out of spring training. A top-rated talent at Seton Hall Prep, Porcello fell to No. 27 in the draft because of signability concerns. He signed a $7.29 million deal negotiated by Scott Boras and passed on North Carolina.
Porcello allowed one run and struck out three in seven innings with no walks to beat the Mariners on April 19. He retired the final 14 batters he faced.
GO GO CANO: Robinson Cano has a 15-game hit streak, tied with Baltimore’s Nick Markakis for the longest in the majors at the moment. His 32 hits are twice as many as he had last April. Canio’s career-long streakis 18 games.
MORE ON CANO: According to SABR’s Trent McCotter (via the Yankees), Cano is one of only three Yankees over the last 50 years to record a hit in 30 of31 games with an official at-bat, joining Don Mattingly (31-of-32, 7/19-8/21/85) and Derek Jeter (39-of-40 twice, 4/8-5/25/07 and 8/20/06-4/6/07).
CENTURY MARK: Joe Girardi has 99 wins as the manager of the Yankees.
THE MELKMAN DELIVERS: Melky Cabrera is 8 of his last 23 with five runs scored and four RBI.
OFF THE MARK: Mark Teixeira is 1 of his last 13. His batting average has fallen from .240 to .206. He has not driven in a run in the last four games.
SWISH SAFELY: Nick Swisher has reached base safely in 19 of the 20 games this season.
THE CAPTAIN: Derek Jeter had an eight-game hit streak (12 of 37). He also has four home runs and four stolen bases. He had 11 homers and 11 steals all of last season.
MINOR MATTERS: Zach McAllister starting for Trenton tonight and Brett Marshall for Charleston. … George Kontos fanned eight last night for the Thunder who are 9-7. … Austin Jackson (.357/.422/.464) has been the man for Scranton along with Shelley Duncan (.371/.436/.671).
Back with more later on.
UPDATE, 3:50 p.m.: Ian Kennedy was examined by a specialist in NYC today because of his numb middle finger.
He has a vasospasm that can be treated with medication. He will be evaluated again Monday and will not throw until after that follow-up.
Based on a Google search, it doesn’t seem serious.
UPDATE, 5:21 p.m.: A-Rod will play in a minor-league intrasquad game tomorrow.
There is what they call a “camp day” at extended spring training. It amounts to an intrasquad game. Alex will get atleadt four or five at-bats and because it’s a controlled environment, he can decide whether he wants to run.
He’ll DH at first and then start playing third. Joe Girardi all but said today that he would be back before May 15.
Put it this way, he’s starting games on April 30. He’s not going to need 15 day to get ready.
UPDATE, 5:55 p.m.: This from the AP on A-Rod:
Dr. Marc Philippon, A-Rod’s surgeon, watched the three-time AL MVP’s on-field workout Wednesday at the Yankees minor league complex and said Rodriguez could return to the majors ahead of his May 15 target date.
“He’s looking good. Looking awesome,” Philippon said.
Rodriguez hit in a simulated game for the second consecutive day, facing minor leaguer pitchers Christian Garcia and Kai Liu, a left-hander from China the Yankees signed two years ago.
Rodriguez slid five times on a sliding mat for the second time, ran the bases and took 112 swings in regular batting practice.
Philippon said after watching Wednesday’s session that “it’s crystal clear” that Rodriguez will be strong when he returns to the Yankees.
UPDATE, 7:16 p.m.: We’re underway in overcast Detroit. Joba will try and follow up the performance of Phil Hughes. Should be interesting.
UPDATE, 7:35 p.m.: How in the world is that a hit? It was a ground ball to shortstop that hit Jeter’s glove.
UPDATE, 7:59 p.m.: Joba looks pretty pedestrian. He he hit 95 once, 94 twice and is mostly 91, 92. He also lacks command of his fastball, hence the three walks. Tigers 1-0 after three.
UPDATE, 8:15 p.m.: Nick Swisher knows what to do with a high changeup. You crush it someplace. That’s six homers and 18 RBI for Swish.
And they got him for Wilson Betemit.
3-1 Yankees. Now we’ll see if Joba can make it stand up.
UPDATE, 8:21 p.m.: That’s it for Porcello. So much for the big matchup of phenoms. Four runs (at least) on six hits and three walks in 3.2 innings. Tough night for the kid against his hometown team.
UPDATE, 8:24 p.m.: I’m not so sure they want to walk Tex to face Matsui the way Godzilla is swinging the bat lately.
UPDATE, 8:26 p.m.: Like I said. 7-1 Yankees.
UPDATE, 8:35 p.m.: Strong inning for Joba as he fans two and was hitting 95 and 96.
UPDATE, 8:40 p.m.: Swish again. That’s three jacks in four at-bats.
He’s the 10th player in franchise history to homer from each side of the plate in the same game. Melky did it earlier this season.
UPDATE, 9:39 p.m.: This is weird. An alarm went off and a recorded voice told people to head for the exits. The game has been delayed.
UPDATE, 9:40 p.m.: The game was delayed for a few minutes. False alarm as it turns out. Now the fans are coming back.
Meanwhile, here is Joba’s line: 7 3 1 1 3 6. He is 4-1 with a 2.85 ERA as a starter. By all means, let’s return him to the bullpen.
UPDATE, 10:00 p.m.: Albaladejo has allowed a few runs here in the ninth. But the Yankees should be able to hang on and head home with a win. Check back for more later.
UPDATE, 10:05 p.m.: Um … So Albie gives up two runs and leaves two on. Mo comes in and gives up a three-run homer Now it’s 8-6.
UPDATE, 10:06 p.m.: Finally over. Ugly at the end
Annnnnnnnd here we goi having to listen about how Joba is bettter of in the pen cuz hughes pitched good last nite, Here is an idea how about we keep joba in the rotation and next year hughes gets Andy’s spot ( I see this as his last year) and we can have two phenominal young starters i the rotation ding ding ding ding
Future looks bright with Mr. Jackson. With the pitching not sucking and the pen getting some rest, can we please bring up Shelley or Miranda? We need a bench.
Trying to lowball people for Teix in fantasy leagues as we speak
dude, tex will come around, just painful to watch right now.
Good buy low strategy, V. I love pulling those kinds of trades on the more trigger-happy fantasy managers. The best is when you can swing a guy you know is off to a crazy start that they can’t sustain (i.e. Nick Swisher this year) for someone struggling out of the gate with a lot of impressive years on the back of his baseball card.
The same thing happened with Tex and CC last year and look where they ended up im not worried bout either of them
I’m still not over the Tigers picking one spot ahead the Yankees that 07 draft. Could of had Porcello instead of Brackman.
“Good buy low strategy, V. I love pulling those kinds of trades on the more trigger-happy fantasy managers. The best is when you can swing a guy you know is off to a crazy start that they can’t sustain (i.e. Nick Swisher this year) for someone struggling out of the gate with a lot of impressive years on the back of his baseball card.”
Already got Cano and Bedard on day 2 of the season for Felipe Lopez (fresh off of 2 HR), Joe Nathan, and Anthony Reyes.
Also recently dealt Jeter+Heath Bell for Jimmy Rollins.
Has anyone listened to Michael Kay today? I missed him and I was wondering what he had to say about Phil Hughes…. thanks!
Any word on Bruney ??
So is it Rick Por-sell-o or Rick Por-Chel-o?
(and dude, that is one heck of a baseball name)
Why Brackman has a very high ceiling hard thrower with a spike curve and he is huge, the only reason he fell so far is because of his elbow
Peter:
Ryan Zimmerman’s got a 17-game streak going on right now.
Teixeira has been as consistent as any hitter in baseball during his career. He’ll be fine.
The fact that he walked five times at Fenway should tell you how a) how feared a hitter he is, and b)that the team dearly misses it’s other substantial power threat.
Tex should be the least of the Yankees concerns.
When A-Rod returns, he’ll get better pitches to hit, and that will filter down through the lineup.
He’s already saved several runs with his defense at first.
If the starting pitchers perform better – in line with C.C. and Hughes’ last two performances – the team will be fine.
It’s amazing how a team doesn’t look so “old and slow” when their pithcers mow down the opposition’s lineup.
“If his stuff is still like this in another 2-3 weeks, they need to make some decisions with him, IMO.
What we have seen so far this year, stuff-wise, I’m not talking results, is not Joba Chamberlain.”
“I might add that IF they were to ever move him back, it has to be for good. He has to be groomed at that point to take over for Mariano as the closer when Mariano retires.”
So if you were running the Yankees and Joba Chamberlain doesn’t go back to consistently throwing his fastball in the mid to high 90s with better movement on his breaking pitches over the next THREE WEEKS you’d be ready to send him to the bullpen and keep him there for his entire career? You’ve already said you can’t send him down to the minors because he’s one of the Yankees top 6 pitchers.
Joba Chamberlain shouldn’t be given less of a chance to succeed as a starter just because he’s shown he can dominate as a reliever. That just doesn’t make sense. He’s got the potential to be as good as any starter in baseball. He should be given every opportunity to become that because that’s how he is most valuable to the Yankees.
Rebecca-Optimist Prime
April 29th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
So is it Rick Por-sell-o or Rick Por-Chel-o?
(and dude, that is one heck of a baseball name)
It’s Por Sell O
Rather have Porcello. The thing that concerns me about Brackman is he seems pretty raw for a college pitcher. I know he was playing basketball and doesn’t have much baseball experience. But he’s I believe 23 and pitching in low A Charleston.
Really not that encouraging.
Wasn’t Eric Duncan a Seton Hall Prep product as well?
The Rangers are out so it’s officially baseball season. Great effort by Hughes last night, hopefully we can keep it rollin with Joba and he can seize the reliever talks with a solid performance tonight
The Rangers are out so it’s officially baseball season. Great effort by Hughes last night, hopefully we can keep it rollin with Joba and he can seize the reliever talks with a solid performance tonight
Joba comes out tonight, establishes his ability to pound the zone and gets ahead of the Tiger hitters all this talk about his demise will go away….He needs to use his plus fastball as his punchout pitch…..Unless something were to happen to Mo for an extended peroid of time, that he would be considered to be the closer….This of course he has 98 octaine in his arm……I’ve always thought that to limit both Joba and Phil’s innings would be to piggy back them…Joba starts, Phil closes out the last 3-4 innings….
(from the previous thread)
“What you do is pose ridiculous questions asking if Molina would be a better everyday catcher than a guy who’s won WS rings and over 1000 games as a catcher.”
Ray, it is ridiculous to you because you are sold on Posada. I have no problem with that. There are a lot of people currently asking questions about Jorge’s game calling, right or wrong. So I consider myself perspicacious to have started asking about it last season. People are asking the questions for a reason. And for Lorenz to put it up on a chart and for Kay to ask Girardi whether Molina was going to be catching all of Burnett’s games, you have to understand that people are asking questions about Posada.
Whether you think the questions are valid, they are out there. I think everyone asking the questions will be thrilled to death if they find out the questions were unnecessary.
What we have as fact is that certain pitchers have asked that Posada not catch their games. Someone told me today that David Cone was also on that list.
I really don’t have a total pulse on it, and maybe it’s just the way it is, but pitchers seem to do better with Molina catching. Or at least it seems that way.
But I respect your right to think it’s a tempest in a teapot. Maybe it is.
Trevor
April 29th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Rather have Porcello. The thing that concerns me about Brackman is he seems pretty raw for a college pitcher. I know he was playing basketball and doesn’t have much baseball experience. But he’s I believe 23 and pitching in low A Charleston.
Really not that encouraging
Prior to finding out he would need tommy John Porcello and Brackman were pretty neck and neck, Porcello was considered the top HS pitcher Brackman one of the top college pitchers. The reason he is still in charlston is becasue he is just getting back from the TJ, he has the chance to be a very good pitcher
I hope joba shows tonight why he belongs in the rotation, and lets get some hits with risp.
A-Jax needs to start hitting some HRs.
Jobber MUST step up tonight
No more 90-91 MPH FBs and flat sliders and bad command.
“A-Jax needs to start hitting some HRs.”
Huh?
This is the problem with stupid Yankees’ fans learning about prospects.
A-Jax probably isn’t going to have totally developed power for a couple more years. Don’t be surprised if he tops out at 15-20 HRs in the majors.
Dan
April 29th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
A-Jax needs to start hitting some HRs.
All A-jax needs to do is worry about adapting, he can hit home runs but he is by no means a home run hitter, he is a contact hitter and then lets his athletic ability take over. that is a big reason Eric Duncan hasnt panned out he tried to become a HR hitter when he is a line drive hitter with some power
“A-Jax needs to start hitting some HRs.”
Wow so he’s getting ripped before he even makes it to the majors? Another great shining moment in Yankees fandom. Or should I say fandumb.
I’d be thrilled if Posada sat out another day to make sure his hammy is fine…
Oy, seriously, can we stop this Posada discussion?
He’s a borderline Hall of Fame candidate, and you really want José Molina to start over him?
If you want any indication to what happens to this team without Posada’s bat and with Molina’s replacing it, look no further than 2008.
you’re right, more homeruns… thats working for us so far. maybe some solo homeruns because we dont get enough of those.
Porcello is 20 and already in a ML rotation and has done well
Brackman is 24 and in the Sally League and has major control/mechanic problems and tons of moving parts. Not a safe bet to reach his ceiling.
I hope Brackman is great but I can’t see any team taking Brackman over Porcello at this point. Not a single team in the league.
Of course, once Detroit rushes and abuses (Por-Sell-O), it may be a different story.
Rebecca, nobody’s questioning Jorge’s offense. Some people have started to question his game calling. If the topic doesn’t interest you, don’t participate.
Maybe there should be 8 games threads.
One game thread for those who want to analyze the game and the players’ performances and the strategic decisions but only in a happy, non-critical, positive way.
One game thread for those who want to analyze the game and the players’ performances and the strategic decisions in a harsh, unfair, negative way.
One game thread for those who want to analyze the game and the players’ performances and the strategic decisions with a more balances appraisal, as they think the situation warrants.
One game thread for those who don’t want to analyze the particulars at all but just want to root for the Yankees with positivity and joy.
One game thread for those who don’t want to analyze the particulars at all but just want to concede the season and hurt hate upon the players/management.
One game thread for those who just want to make mean jokes with no regard to the game at all.
One game thread for those who just want to critique the sub-par comments in the other game threads.
And one game thread for those who just want to argue about Joba’s future role on the team.
I hope 8 is enough.
“He has a vasospasm that can be treated with medication. He will be evaluated again Monday and will not throw until after that follow-up.”
IIRC ‘vaso’ is a term usually used when referred to fainting?
Nick, I think you need to go back to the drawing board, as it seems 8 is Not Enough…
Seems Gardner has been banished. It didn’t even take 25 games.
Rebecca,
No doubt that we missed Jorge’s bat and leadership.
But almost made the playoffs without Wang and Joba for half a season.
Missing those two hurt more than Jorge’s absence.
Posada is in there?
Great. 3 IP, 7 ER, 7 BB for Joba tonight.
My colleague from MOT and I will finish work tonight at 8:00 pm, then go across the street to Comerica to catch the rest of tonight’s game. We should get there late in the 3rd, I hope. I’m excited to see Joba, one night after having seen Phil pitch a gem.
question. did they ever set a date for nady’s return?
“There are a lot of people currently asking questions about Jorge’s game calling, right or wrong.”
———
sure, asking questions is fine, but I still haven’t heard anybody answer those questions with anything logical, factual, or reasonable.
until somebody attempts to answer the questions with useful, pertinent facts, all signs point to Posada being by far the best option at catcher for the Yankees.
Mussina and Randy Johnson asking for Molina is hardly enough to go on.
If anybody has any evidence that Posada is not a good game-caller, please present it.
Good news on IPK, hope he can get back on the mound soon enough. Never can have enough pitching, and he may be on the verge of just making them look silly…
I guess the CF job is Melky’s?
Pete,
Marshall already got shelled today in Charleston. After a good start, seems like he is overmatched. Odds are he’s on S.I.
“Rebecca, nobody’s questioning Jorge’s offense. Some people have started to question his game calling. If the topic doesn’t interest you, don’t participate.”
———
again, lots of questions, zero answers.
of the more knowledgeable posters here (IMO, SJ44, CB, and others), nobody has seen any evidence that Jorge has any issues whatsoever with his game calling.
Generally, when you take the stance that there is a problem, you have a basis for it. I still don’t see one.
Mets making a come back
Rebecca
Vaso as in vascular as in blood flow.
Nobody’s saying Jorge calls a bad game. Just saying Molina calls a better game. Not saying Molina has a better bat or needs to be the #1 pitcher.
Just sayin’, that’s all.
Like no one should be offended if people say that Pena’s a better defensive shortstop than Jeter.
C’mon, Joba, please match Phil’s performance tonight. Gotta cut down on all those walks.
good news, i think, on IPK
just like Hughes, it’s way too early to give up on Kennedy.
#1 catcher. Jury’s still out on whether or not Joba’s the #1 pitcher.
Nick
are we free to discuss movies TV, swine flu in all of these threads? Or is that for an “other” thread
Also where will we find GB7s minor league updates?
“I hope 8 is enough.”
Nice Dick Van Patten reference there Rickles.
“Nobody’s saying Jorge calls a bad game. Just saying Molina calls a better game.”
—–
possible – but I’d like to know how you came to that conclusion. any stats to back it up?
he has a better arm for sure. but calling a better game? what are you using to measure this?
Buh…
I’m confused.
Was not Posada the every day starting catcher from 2000-2007 (not counting last year’s injury) ?
Didn’t we make the playoffs each one of those years, the WS twice and the ALCS three times?
Didn’t Posada catch David Wells’ perfect game?
Did Andy Pettitte, Chien Ming Wang, Roger Clemens, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, or any starter other than Johnson and Mussina ever mention having a problem with Posada?
I mean I know some people think the peeing-on-the-hands thing is kinda gross, but seriously?
If you seriously think the Yankees are better off without Posada in the every day line up, I guess I’ll join you on the golf course on October 1.
I’d be curious to find out if Joba’s just worried about his shoulder and it’s fine, or if it’s physically not back to normal after that pop.
The season is young, maybe he just needs a little time, like Hughes not being to cut loose right away after his torn hammy. I hope that’s all it is … I’m sure we’re all keeping an eye on his velocity & control already.
I’d also be curious to hear a doctor’s opinion on whether going to the bullpen and back (twice in two seasons) had a negative effect on his shoulder either time. I’ve said it before: Simply limiting his innings total is one thing, but adjusting his work vs rest timeline for the rotation or the bullpen is another.
Even if Molina calls a better game, Jorge’s bat more than makes up for it. The truth is that losing Jorge’s bat was the main reason the Yankees missed the playoffs last year. The difference between Molina and Posada is MASSIVE. Molina’s defense doesn’t even come close to making up for it.
trisha-
I asked yesterday if you could point to specific instances of Jorge’s alleged game-calling deficiencies.
You didn’t come up with any, and I didn’t really expect you to.
I seriously doubt if you or anyone else attacking Jorge’s game-calling skills on this blog could come up with specific examples, because we don’t have the expertise to do it.
(Maybe randy i does, but I notice he hasn’t been among the Jorge criticizers.)
If you can’t come up with specifics, this so-called “discussion” of Jorge’s game-calling is nothing more than a game of “I heard somebody say” and is mud-slinging pointlessness.
Considering everything Jorge has meant to the Yanks, I personally think he deserves better than that.
Wow the Marlins pen is awful
Try and unload Marte, Edwar, Veras on them
I found a couple of interesting articles that talk about the Yankees from our local newspaper and a TV station.
Here’s a video of Pat Venditte, the Riverdogs ambidexterous P that was drafted by the Yanks last season. He had completed all of his save chances in his career until last night, when he blew his first save of 29 opportunities.
The video is at the top of the page.
http://www.live5news.com/Globa.....menu1431_5
The Charleston paper also has an article about Steven Jackson and Gardner, and how their roots are very close together. They go hunting about 3 times a week in the winter, and live about 25 miles away from each other during the off-season (Summerville and Holly Hill, respectively)
Here is this article:
http://www.postandcourier.com/.....shot80330/
“If anybody has any evidence that Posada is not a good game-caller, please present it.”
NOBODY on this blog has that ability. We are only fans so to ask question to validate what Po is or isn’t is pointless. All we know is that game after game that Molina catches, the starting pitcher of the night always makes a POINT to reference Molina’s “called a great game” ability.
there was a graphic up during last nights game with comparative numbers when Molina and Posada are catching – don’t remember then all, but there was like a .140 differential in opposing hitter BA…
Boston Dave,
Nothing concrete. Just using the old ocular method.
“Mussina and Randy Johnson asking for Molina is hardly enough to go on.”
David Cone also, but who’s counting.
“If anybody has any evidence that Posada is not a good game-caller, please present it.”
AGAIN – someone said Bob Lorenz presented the following on last-night’s postgame:
“Better record with Molina, much lower ERA (Wang may account for part of that), lower BA against, less HRs given up, less walks and more strikeouts.”
Boston Dave, only the deaf, dumb, and/or blind believe that stands for nothing at all.
If YOU have an explanation for that to allay the fears of those of us who think those things may have profound effects on the outcomes of games, not to mention elevating pitchers’ ERAs, please give it to me. I am willing to listen to anything. Again, Bob Lorenz put up the stats on television, not me. So it is more than me asking questions here.
Until someone comes up with some reasonable explanation, or it appears that there is nothing to the stats, I and others will still sit with questions.
Is all.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask questions based on what at least appears to be a problem!
DT
April 29th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
“I hope 8 is enough.”
Nice Dick Van Patten reference there Rickles.
Wasn’t the Little one called Nicholas and wasn’t the show set in Sacramento which is near San Fran?
Hmmm
ANSKY — good questions. Joba’s been flirting with danger in nearly every start. His velocity is down, but it’s his control that concerns me most. We need him to be more than a 5-inning pitcher.
GreenBeret7
April 29th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Strange decision by Jerry Manuel. 2 outs, bases loaded 9th inning trailing by a run and you decide on the rookie Santos over Delagado?
“NOBODY on this blog has that ability. We are only fans so to ask question to validate what Po is or isn’t is pointless. All we know is that game after game that Molina catches, the starting pitcher of the night always makes a POINT to reference Molina’s “called a great game” ability.”
THANK YOU!
ok – trisha – that must be the graphic I was referencing…
Pat:
Ahh, so blood flow spasms in his finger? Yeah, that would make me kinda nervous. Especially if there’s some sort of clot causing it.
Uncle Ellsworth: if you’re just going to be negative about the swine flu, Pete should set up a seperate thread for that. At least try to keep an open mind about it.
Haha saying “my catcher called a great game” is total fluff. Every pitcher says it after every good game.
Patrick,
How many starts did Wang & Joba miss last season?
I think we could’ve made up the difference. Easily could’ve won at least 10 more games if those two made all their starts.
Andrew Brackman is a million miles away from pitching a major league game. Get him out of your head. You’ll be lucky to see him before 2012.
The Yankees have a lot of pitching prospects of varying degrees – Brackman, Betances, McAllister, Bleich, Marshall, Garcia, De La Rosa, Kennedy, etc. You’ll be very lucky if two of them amount to anything.
Of those, McAllister is the safest bet, in my opinion. He’s only 21, has quickly adjusted to AA and he’s a real workhorse. He should be a fast mover. His groundball to flyball ratio is outstanding.
AGAIN with the POSADA gargage???
really…what will be covered today that was not covered in the previous days?
Same goes for the JOBA debate- its all been said!
You never hear anyone say Posada is a better defensive catcher than Molina
“Wasn’t the Little one called Nicholas and wasn’t the show set in Sacramento which is near San Fran?
Hmmm”
that’s the kid – Adam “I love Oski” Rich.
Hmmmm….
“Boston Dave, only the deaf, dumb, and/or blind believe that stands for nothing at all.”
Even the deaf, dumb and blind have heard of such a thing called “SAMPLE SIZE”!!!
Way to early to draw conclusions based on such a limited sample size.
This from another forum.
“C.C
Best start: Posada, 7.2 IP, 0ER. I just want to make this note though. That was against KC. He had his best stuff in his 99 pitch CG, 4ER caught by Molina.
Worst Start: Posada: 4.1 IP, 6ER
Burnett:
Best Start: Molina: 8IP, 2ER
Worst Start: Posada: 5.0IP, 8ER
Pettitte: (Posada caught 3/4 of his games. Molina caught one- 7IP, 3ER)
Best Start: Posada: 7IP, 1ER
Worst Start: Posada : 6IP, 4ER
Joba:
Best Start: Molina, 6.0IP, 1ER (3R)
Worst Start: Posada, 4.2 IP 5ER”
http://forums.nyyfans.com/show.....038;page=4
Way too* early
Posada vs Molina, IMO:
Posada’s much better on offense.
Molina’s slightly better on defense – all aspects.
Posada’s no slouch on defense – Molina’s just a little better.
Molina would be a starter if he could hit .270 consistently.
It’s great having Posada as the starter.
It’s great having Molina as his backup – he might be the best backup C in the game.
swine flu is overrated
Rish, I didn’t see it myself, but I did hear about it.
“Even if Molina calls a better game, Jorge’s bat more than makes up for it. The truth is that losing Jorge’s bat was the main reason the Yankees missed the playoffs last year. The difference between Molina and Posada is MASSIVE. Molina’s defense doesn’t even come close to making up for it.”
Patrick, now I can respect that a heck of a lot more than posters saying there is nothing to it and continuing to refuse to discuss the differences in ERAs, runs, etc.
“my catcher called a great game”
Well, in all the postgames I’ve seen, they only say it when Molina catches. I’m not anti-Posada. I know that Po is a better baseball player than Molina, no one is taking that away from Posada. But ever since Molina has come on board there is cause for comparison amongst the starting pitchers. Mussina CLEARLY preferred Molina. I don’t care who catches, as long as we win.
“All we know is that game after game that Molina catches, the starting pitcher of the night always makes a POINT to reference Molina’s “called a great game” ability.”
You can have that mean anything you want it too.
For instance, the pitcher has a natural desire to compliment the back-up, who doesn’t play that much. What else are you going to say about Molina, he really swings the bat well?
Plus, I seriously doubt you have undertaken any rigorous study to back up that “always makes a point” claim.
“How many starts did Wang & Joba miss last season?
I think we could’ve made up the difference. Easily could’ve won at least 10 more games if those two made all their starts. ”
The difference in what Wang/Joba were projected to give us and what we had was a lot less than the difference between what Molina gave us and what Posada was projected. Does that make any sense? I will search for a reference to this but there are numbers to back it up.
Posada is more valuable than Wang to this team. Joba actually pitched quite a lot last season and he out-pitched his projections.
Billy
April 29th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Pete,
Marshall already got shelled today in Charleston. After a good start, seems like he is overmatched. Odds are he’s on S.I.
————————————————————
You’re wrong about Marshall. He’s being overmatched by his defense. He’s 19 years old, and, he’ll be just fine.
melkman starting again. hopefully this gives him some confidence to keep hitting.
Uncle Ellsworth: yes, young Nicholas Bradford was played by the versatile Adam Rich. But I am not rich, so that’s not a valid connection. Nicholas Bradford had a step-mom named Abby and I have a step-mom who also has a first name with 4 letters! And I have been to Westminster Abbey, which is a homophone! Hmmmmmm…
“Plus, I seriously doubt you have undertaken any rigorous study to back up that “always makes a point” claim.”
Give me a break dude, “rigorous study”?? I’m a fan not a nutcase with nothing better to do than nitpick on fan’s comments on blog as if anyone of us has inner access to Yankeedom. Take what you will out of it. Molina calls a better game, you don’t have to agree.
“Way to early to draw conclusions based on such a limited sample size.”
Understood, though you realize the questions are being asked. When I ask them I understand that it is possible that it is just I. When Lorenz uses them for an illustration, it lets me know that a lot more than just I are asking the question.
Anyway, I guess if someone had the energy we could try to do some analysis about last season. I know Jorge missed much of the season, so I don’t know how much of a sample size there woudl be.
trisha,
I’d love to see the stats that Lorenz put up. That’s all.
Without them, there really isn’t much of a debate.
I’d also love to know how you measure a catcher’s game calling ability. ERA seems like a good start. Is that it?
Does it matter if Molina tends to catch only certain pitchers or the sample size is too small?
I didn’t make any claims at all. You did. I’m simply asking you to back it up with something of substance. I asked to know how you are measuring “game-calling” ability.
I guess that was too much to ask.
“swine flu is overrated”
========================
While probably overrated, I still believe Swine Flu has a greater upside that SARS. I drafted Swine Flu in my epidemic fantasy league and I’ve been absolutely cleaning house this past week.
This catcher game-calling “debate” is ridiculous. You think these guys don’t have the same scouting reports? It’s not some huge mystery how to pitch these guys. Pitch Ortiz inside. Elevate on Melky – he bites on high heat. Soriano swings at any slider in the dirt, etc etc etc.
95% of the equation is having the pitcher actually execute on the pitch. If the catcher makes the “right” call, and the pitcher can’t hit the location…then how much difference does it make?
Some people got up in arms over this topic after Burnett’s meltdown on Saturday. You really think Posada called for a pitch to go right down the center of the plate? “Hey AJ, let’s leave a few out over the middle just to see if they can hit it!” Burnett didn’t execute his pitch and paid for it. He said as much himself in postgame.
I’m not even sure if Posada is a better hitter than Molina anymore.
These last few games, I’ve been more confident with Molina at the plate than I do Posada. Molina just seems to have a knack for doing the right thing at the plate, whether its a base hit, sac fly, groundout to advance a runner etc.
A dollar to the person who had or will have the most interesting thing to eat today:
I’ll start with- Tuna salad on a flour tortilla – for breakfast
Every pitcher says their catcher called a great game, especially young pitchers. That’s called being a good teammate.
Funny how Posada’s game calling wasn’t up for debate when the team was winning World Series trophies.
Is Molina better at calling games? Probably. It’s a moot point though. Can’t lose Jorge’s offense.
Molina won’t be the starting catcher unless Posada gets hurt. The only way Molina would get the starting nod is if Posada could be permanently slotted into the DH role or at first base.
Well, we know he’s not playing first. And the team already has too many DH types. Matsui is far too valuable as a hitter to come off the bench. He’s the team’s best situational hitter, IMO. So there is your DH.
So it looks like everyone should just accept that Posada is the starting catcher.
“I don’t care who catches, as long as we win.”
I would say that’s universal here! Posada is a huge part of this team and a huge part of its successes. He’s a battler and he is clutch.
So it is to our benefit to have him call games where the ERAs are lowered, as are the runs, hits, etc.
It’s what we all want.
ANSKY
I hear Pee Wee Herman has good wrists.
Zach in Port Jeff
April 29th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
“swine flu is overrated”
====================
While probably overrated, I still believe Swine Flu has a greater upside that SARS. I drafted Swine Flu in my epidemic fantasy league and I’ve been absolutely cleaning house this past week
duh you ever hear sample size?
“This catcher game-calling “debate” is ridiculous. You think these guys don’t have the same scouting reports? It’s not some huge mystery how to pitch these guys. Pitch Ortiz inside. Elevate on Melky – he bites on high heat. Soriano swings at any slider in the dirt, etc etc etc.”
——-
Thank you! I said the same thing yesterday. Game calling is more a matter of reading the printouts than this mysterious “skill”.
Jacob X,
Lay off the hard stuff. It is hurting your brain.
ITT: People who cannot believe that the pitchers aren’t pitching perfect games every outing so they blame Posada.
Uncle Ellsworth
April 29th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Nick
are we free to discuss movies TV, swine flu in all of these threads? Or is that for an “other” thread
Also where will we find GB7s minor league updates?
————————————————————
Ellie, you can find all of my minor league updates on http://www.justaskGB7heknowseverything.com
If they aren’t going to play Gardner, send him down to AAA so he can work on laying off the high heat. He still has options left, right? Then we can bring up a slugger for the bench.
Jacob X:
You must be new to baseball.
Nick in SF
April 29th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Uncle Ellsworth: yes, young Nicholas Bradford was played by the versatile Adam Rich. But I am not rich, so that’s not a valid connection. Nicholas Bradford had a step-mom named Abby and I have a step-mom who also has a first name with 4 letters! And I have been to Westminster Abbey, which is a homophone! Hmmmmmm…
I’ve been called Abby Normal
What if Molina calls a better game for Joba as a starter but Posada calls a better game for Joba as a reliever?
LoHud might implode.
i have to say though, molina looks much better at the plate this year so far. granted he hasn’t had many at bats, but he seems like he’s off to a good start offensively.
Having a daily report on the minors is a great idea!
If I was a NY sports radio host I would have a weekly segment with a minor league beat guy (i.e.: Jennings, Ashmore, etc..)
Yeah I have noticed the gross amount of road games for us this year. Hopefully this 8 game homestand is the right medicine for the team.
GB7 -
Delgado’s hip is bothering him. Enought to not even pinch hit, maybe?
Uncle Ellsworth -
I was going to ask Nick in SF about a 9th thread for off-topic conversations during the game!
Eight is definitely NOT enough for this motley crew. 
The Posada issue is a non-issue. Because as long as Posada is healthy and hitting, Posada will play. Molina may be a better defensive catcher, but that is all he has to offer, in general, the GS last night notwithstanding.
I love Molina. Think he’s one of the best players that Cashman ever got. And was worth his weight in gold when Posada went down last season, but hitting is not his forte.
Posada gives you a more rounded game.
As far as Randy Johnson, it was a personality thing. With Mussina, I thought it started off as coincidental – Posada needed a day off every now and then and it fell on Mussina’s day and Mussina was happy with Molina so he went with it. So, I always thought that with Mussina it was not a matter of requesting Molina, but not being upset it wasn’t Posada. What do I know?
In any event, sometimes people have preferences for whatever reason.
And as far as the new pitchers this season, I think it might be a matter of getting into a groove with each other, learning the way the other thinks. Pettitte and Posada know each other so long, I’m sure it’s intuitive between them.
The Yankees have the best of both worlds – a great offensive catcher who is at least good enough defensively and a backup catcher who is not only not a liability, but a good defensive guy who once in a while can get you a hit.
“Alex Rodriguez could rejoin the Yankees within 10 days, according to the doctor who operated on his hip on March 9.”
http://www.google.com/hostedne.....QD97SBGAO1
JCA Boston Dave, stop acting opaque. I’ve always thought of you as an intelligent poster. I’ll try this one more time and if you come back with the same drivel, I’ll ignore your future posts on this topic.
It’s obvious to me that you don’t have the guts to open Pandora’s box on the topic. You want to see what Lorenz posted for charts? Go to the YES network and look at their postgame video. I’m not doing the work for you. It was enough to me, who has been questioning this stuff, to be even more skitterish hearing Lorenz also referenced it on his postgame.
FOR THE LAST TIME: this is what Lorenz said, according to a poster who watched the postgame. Better record with Molina, much lower ERA (Wang may account for part of that), lower BA against, less HRs given up, less walks and more strikeouts.
If that doesn’t trouble you, so be it. I’m not having to say it has to nor that it should. It does trouble me.
Joltin’ Joe
Good one – I was beginning to think nobody caught the name.
No ML scouts in the theater that night (well, none that would admit being there) so it’s still unconfirmed if he’s pitching lefty or righty.
But I don’t think anybody want to know.
Nor do they want to know if he was munching a bag of Cheetos from the concession counter.
“Game calling is more a matter of reading the printouts than this mysterious “skill”.”
Game calling is based on judgement and judgement is a skill.
If all it takes is any dummy reading printouts the search for a good catcher would be void.
Why can’t folks accept the possibilty that Molina might be a better catcher, NOT player, than Po. Varitek, who has called 4 no hitters is arguably better than either.
Nick in SF
April 29th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Uncle Ellsworth: yes, young Nicholas Bradford was played by the versatile Adam Rich. But I am not rich, so that’s not a valid connection. Nicholas Bradford had a step-mom named Abby and I have a step-mom who also has a first name with 4 letters! And I have been to Westminster Abbey, which is a homophone! Hmmmmmm…
I’ve been called Abby Normal
I’m just surprised Nick’s phone made it past the rigid filter here.
“Burnett:
Best Start: Molina: 8IP, 2ER
Worst Start: Posada: 5.0IP, 8ER”
A.J. Burnett melted down in Fenway. Anytime you cough up a six-run lead, that’s what happens. He constantly fell behind hitters and then threw a batting practice quality fastball to a guy who has a fork sticking out of his back. He stunk, plain and simple. It’s not Posada.
Doreen
April 29th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
GB7 –
Delgado’s hip is bothering him. Enought to not even pinch hit, maybe?
————————————————————
Thanks, Doreen. Thought it was a peculiar move, even for Manuel.
I wonder if the media will start questioning Delgado about steroid induced hip injuries?
Uncle Ellsworth –
I was going to ask Nick in SF about a 9th thread for off-topic conversations during the game! Eight is definitely NOT enough for this motley crew.
“The Ninth Thread” sounds like a thriller
Wish they had a Yankee High School when I was a kid.
http://blogs.tampabay.com/newt.....nkees.html
you can find all of my minor league updates on http://www.justaskGB7heknowseverything.com”
nice site GB. You worked hard on that.
I knew it was yours when “Oops! Thise link appeares broken.” had two spelling errors.
Losing Posada was the main reason the Yankees missed the playoffs last year. Check it out:
First check out the analysis of 2008 projected pitching vs what actually happened: http://www.replacementlevel.co.....ng_edition
Losing Wang hurt but not as much as the bad performance by Hughes and Kennedy. Joba, even though he missed some time with injury, actually outperformed his projections.
Anyways back to my original point, to compare the loss of Wang to the loss of Posada we have to look at what those two guys did and what their replacements did.
Wang was projected to throw 200 innings and have 25 runs saved above a replacement(RSAR). He ended up throwing 95 innings with 12 RSAR. Now for a little fudging. It’s tough to choose a direct replacement because there are 5 starting pitchers at a time and actually 7 guys that made starts who weren’t projected to make any starts. Darrell Rasner threw 105 innings so I guess you can say he filled in for Wang. He had -2.5 RSAR. So by losing Wang you are losing 15.5 runs.
Now for Posada I am going to totally rip off SG from ReplacementLevel. He said,
“Coming off his career year in 2007, Jorge Posada was projected to give back a fair amount of value in 2008. Posada was projected to hit .286/.380/.469, a performance that would have been worth 76 batting runs according to linear weights using my assumed 500 plate appearances.
Posada went down to a shoulder injury after just 195 PA, which made Jose Molina (Molino for the regulars) the primary starter. While Molino had a strong defensive season, he hit like crap. Molina hit .216/.263/.313 over 297 PA, which was worth 21 batting runs. The difference between Posada’s projection and Molina’s actual performance as the primary starter was 55 runs, which was a 5.5 win underperformance.”
Now to account for defense, Posada was projected to save -8 runs over replacment. Molina saved 7 runs over replacement. That’s a difference of 15 runs. Take that away from 55 runs Posada gains over Molina and you get 40 runs.
40 runs > 15.5 runs
All of this info is from SG at replacementlevel.com
If I made any mistakes feel free to correct me.
By the way here is the link to “why the Yankees lost in 2008, offense” http://www.replacementlevel.co.....se_edition
Scorpio
April 29th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
“Game calling is more a matter of reading the printouts than this mysterious “skill”.”
Game calling is based on judgement and judgement is a skill.
If all it takes is any dummy reading printouts the search for a good catcher would be void.
Why can’t folks accept the possibilty that Molina might be a better catcher, NOT player, than Po. Varitek, who has called 4 no hitters is arguably better than either.
————————————————————
Why can’t any dummy read the printouts and read that the reason that Molina isn’t starting is because he can’t hit?
“You want to see what Lorenz posted for charts? Go to the YES network and look at their postgame video. I’m not doing the work for you.”
——–
All I asked, originally, was why you thought he was a weaker game-caller and secondly how do you even measure “game-calling”.
If you are the one who is opening up this argument/question, I don’t think it’s all that much to ask you to provide the stats with which your entire question is based.
If there is a large enough sample size and #s to back it up, of course I’d be questioning it as well.
I still don’t know if ERA alone equates to being a poor game caller anyway.
There are so many variables in the game, it may be easy to apply just one statistic, but it might not be wise.
I’ll leave it alone. If you have anything else to back up the claim, I’d genuinely like to hear it.
you can find all of my minor league updates on http://www.justaskGB7heknowseverything.com”;
thats where I’ll be!
I’m assuming I can still find sarcastic comments there.
DT
April 29th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
you can find all of my minor league updates on http://www.justaskGB7heknowseverything.com”;
nice site GB. You worked hard on that.
I knew it was yours when “Oops! Thise link appeares broken.” had two spelling errors.
————————————————————
You’re cold hearted.
“Why can’t folks accept the possibilty that Molina might be a better catcher, NOT player, than Po. Varitek, who has called 4 no hitters is arguably better than either.”
——
so Nolan Ryan’s catcher was the best ever?
I’d LOVE to hear what makes a good gamecaller. I’m just not convinced that anybody has given the criteria.
“Why can’t any dummy read the printouts and read that the reason that Molina isn’t starting is because he can’t hit?”
I don’t think any of us are hazy on that point.
Brett Gardner isn’t starting. How many of you are crying?
Uncle Ellsworth
April 29th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
you can find all of my minor league updates on http://www.justaskGB7heknowseverything.com”;
thats where I’ll be!
I’m assuming I can still find sarcastic comments there.
————————————————————
as the cold hearted DT says, if you can read the misspelled words, it’s mine. If it’s perfekt, it ain’t.
The most dreaded words any Yankees fan can here:
“Porcello has never faced any of the New York hitters.”
7 IP, 4H, 1R, 2 BB, 8K ??
Forget Lorenz. If you take Wang’s ERA out of the equation, how much difference between Posada’s and Molina’s ERA? Is it statistically significant given the number of innings each has caught? Were Posada’s and Molina’s innings against teams of similar offensive ability? Did Posada and Molina catch approximately the same number of innings of each of our teams starters? There are a tremendous number of variables that go into the analysis, not just one.
Then, if you think Posada’s game calling is not as good, how? Does he set up differently than Molina? How? Does he call pitch sequences differently? In what way? Does he not study the scouting reports? If so, who told you so?
Saying Johnson or Moose liked another catcher better is meaningless. Why did they like the other catcher better? Maybe they liked a stronger arm behind the plate. Maybe they were better friends with the other catcher. Maybe they just did not like the cut of Posada’s jib.
Posada has been too good and too valuable a Yank for too many years to rate this ill-educated negative speculation.
“Varitek, who has called 4 no hitters is arguably better than either.””
——–
I guess Pedro, Schilling, Beckett, and Lester should thank their lucky stars they have Tek to throw to. Otherwise they’d never have been worth a damn.
Seriously, could it be that good pitching makes good catching??
Wang was atrocious for three starts. He has a 34.50 ERA.
Berra or Bench could have caught him and it wouldn’t have made a difference. His sinker stayed up in the zone, and his slider had no bite. He’s a mess right now, mechanically.
Again, it’s funny how Wang managed to finish third in the Cy Young voting one year with Posada calling the majority of his games.
trisha – click to see my bigger and better Opening Day pictures
April 29th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
“Why can’t any dummy read the printouts and read that the reason that Molina isn’t starting is because he can’t hit?”
I don’t think any of us are hazy on that point.
————————————————————
apparently, not everybody.
“The most dreaded words any Yankees fan can here:
“Porcello has never faced any of the New York hitters.””
“You’re wrong about Marshall. He’s being overmatched by his defense. He’s 19 years old, and, he’ll be just fine.”
He might be fine in the future but defense aside, he’s not missing bats. He will be pitching for S.I. He’s got a 6.86 ERA and it’s not going to help his confidence sending him out to keep losing.
AJ’s choke job is on AJ, not on Posada
When you blow a 6-0 lead, it is on the pitcher.
Am I the only one that’s concerned about Kennedy?
Just did some really basic wouldn’t-cut-it-in-high school research and it sounds like there’s gotta be an underlying condition of some sort which could be really serious.
Patrick,
I appreciate your efforts to try and convince me using statistics, but you may as well have written it in Chinese. Don’t understand it all. Sorry.
But I know in my heart that Joba & Wang could’ve made up the difference. Especially since it’s entirely probable that we could’ve won some of the starts they missed against Tampa and Boston.
Carmen Angelini did not make an error for Charleston today.
He didn’t play.
“Varitek, who has called 4 no hitters is arguably better than either.”
Based on 4 no hitters, huh? So does Varitek also get credited for Clay Buchholz’s horrednous perfomance last year as well?
What about the bad games Derek Lowe pitched? Lester?
The myth of Cap’n Varitek lives on.
“Posada has been too good and too valuable a Yank for too many years to rate this ill-educated negative speculation.”
Aha! Well that puts my mind at ease and now I can just feel confident that until the day Jorge retires his catchers’ mitt he will be on top of his game and we have nothing to worry about.
Same with every Yankee player who has been too good and too valuable for too many years.
Okay then!
Posada was catching Hughes failed no hitter
“as the cold hearted DT says, if you can read the misspelled words, it’s mine. If it’s perfekt, it ain’t”
I’m not really cold hearted. Rickles told me I needed an edge or I’d never make it in the big city. I think his words were “If you can make it there, you can make it.. – ” …everywhere, or anywhere..maybe somewhere – I can’t find the word… I’ll check my notes.
This overrating of Posada has got to stop. He’s thirty-seven and he hits better than the team’s current DH. He’s a backup behind the plate, period.
If Jose Molina is the everyday catcher on this team, like he was for most of last year, its a third place team again.
The entire “gamecalling” theory is not something you use stats to breakdown.
For example, some pitchers, like Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens (two guys who have had “moderate” big league success) swear by Posada. They let him call the games, rarely shake him off, and they have been pretty successful.
El Duque, whom Posada got into two fistfights with when they were teammates, went postal at Torre everytime Torre tried to take Posada off him. In El Duque’s opinion, even though they fought like cats and dogs, he felt Posada could bring out the best in him.
Moose on the other hand, always blamed catchers for his issues. That was just Moose. Even though he won over 100 games with Posada catching him, he wanted Molina last year.
Cone? It didn’t matter who caught Cone because he pretty much called his own game.
There aren’t any hard and fast rules when it comes to pitchers, catchers and gamecalling.
Over the course of their careers however, its pretty tough to bang on Posada over his gamecalling, given the success of the pitchers and the teams he has played on.
Molina is a better catch and throw guy. No question about it.
Gamecaller? There isn’t any evidence to support that. Certainly no small sample size is “evidence” in this case.
AJ Burnett melted down in Fenway Park on Saturday because of AJ Burnett, not Jorge Posada.
If Posada was calling such a bad game, how come AJ dominated the Sox the first 5 innings? One assumes Posada was calling those pitches, wasn’t he?
“But I know in my heart that Joba & Wang could’ve made up the difference. Especially since it’s entirely probable that we could’ve won some of the starts they missed against Tampa and Boston. ”
Maybe having those two guys for the full season would have made the difference but the fact remains, having posada for a full season would have made MORE of a difference.
If you’re judging a catcher on no hitters caught, then, put Jeff Torborg in the HOF and remind every Yankee fan of what a dogmeat catcher Thurman Munson was.
“Aha! Well that puts my mind at ease and now I can just feel confident that until the day Jorge retires his catchers’ mitt he will be on top of his game and we have nothing to worry about.”
The reason your mind is not at ease about Jorge is that, based on your posts, it seems preoccupied with accusations pointed towards him for which you offer no evidence at all.
Ron: Oh man, you got me there!
DT
April 29th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
“as the cold hearted DT says, if you can read the misspelled words, it’s mine. If it’s perfekt, it ain’t”
I’m not really cold hearted. Rickles told me I needed an edge or I’d never make it in the big city. I think his words were “If you can make it there, you can make it.. – ” …everywhere, or anywhere..maybe somewhere – I can’t find the word… I’ll check my notes.
————————————————————
You want an Edge, buy a car from Jeter. Taking tips from Rickles is career suicide.
Not to be outdone by the catcher controversy on this blog Cheetos Manuel pinch hit Santos for Castro today.
You think Castro liked that?
forgot who made the Cheetos / Manuel connection
alright Yanks, get over .500 going into the Angels series; would love Joba to have a good outing to see how the national media/francessa spins it in the ‘joba to the pen’ argument
“The reason your mind is not at ease about Jorge is that, based on your posts, it seems preoccupied with accusations pointed towards him for which you offer no evidence at all.”
I guess you have selective reading.
Because you don’t necessarily agree with the indicators doesn’t mean evidence hasn’t been presented.
Wave, you needn’t get so up in arms when someone poses something with which you don’t agree – in this case numerous someones. Stay with your opinions and enjoy life and the game. We are not asking you to agree.
I will continue to pose any question that I want. If your answers aren’t sufficient to answer my question, then they aren’t.
Okay?
If not getting into the whole Posada/Molina debate – but it’s more than just calling the pitch.
The Detroit announcers last night were raving how Molina framed each pitch – never moved his glove and gave the ump a good look at it.
To win this year – the Yanks need both Posada and Molina to do well. Posada is no longer a 130+ gamer. At 37 years old most catchers have either retired or switched positions.
i traded tex for grienke str8 up in my fantasy
Hate to raise this point, but when do we start asking Selig about swine flu and if baseball has a worst-case scenario plan like the Mexican soccer leagues (i.e., temporary shutdown)? We’re not there yet, but it’s no longer out of the question that we could get there.
Patrick,
I’m only arguing your assertion that Posada was the main reason we missed the postseason.
And I’m telling you we ALMOST made the post season with Ponson and Rasner making the bulk of Wang & Joba’s starts. Do you really think that’s not worth a 5 game swing at least?
“If not getting into the whole Posada/Molina debate – but it’s more than just calling the pitch.
The Detroit announcers last night were raving how Molina framed each pitch – never moved his glove and gave the ump a good look at it.
To win this year – the Yanks need both Posada and Molina to do well. Posada is no longer a 130+ gamer. At 37 years old most catchers have either retired or switched positions.”
DT, stop making sense! Dammit.
“i traded tex for grienke str8 up in my fantasy”
You will for sure, 100%, no questions asked regret that idiotic move.
“The Detroit announcers last night were raving how Molina framed each pitch – never moved his glove and gave the ump a good look at it.”
And he still didn’t get the calls.
Joba the Great: If it gets to that point they’ll just shut it down.
Right now it’s okay, but really, the worst thing to do is worry about something that you, ersonally, can’t control. Just hope all the fans and players stay healthy.
oh god, the debate about posada again? so to be clear, if joba doesnt do well today and we lose its all posadas fault right?
I actually have to agree with Trisha. Neither Posada nor Molina should (or can effectively) catch more than 100 games.
WS – you want to get into the bad ump game calling debate now too?
THAT rankles me beyond belief!
trisha, all I’m asking for is the evidence. I think the deficiencies in comparing 2009 Molina ERA’s with Posada ERA’s have been pointed out to you, not just by me but by SJ44, Boston Dave, CB (yesterday), Patrick and many others.
You of course may have opinions, and it’s a free blog and I for one have never told anyone they shouldn’t express their opinions. You are obviously a passionate Yankee fan and I respect that, as well.
But, part of having opinions is to engage with disagreements with those opinions, and I don’t think you’ve done that here.
Keep in mind, though that one of the Detroit announcers is former catcher, Jim Price. Like pitchers turned announcers, catchers turned announcers inflate certain things about their positions.
Who else is tired of the Posada non-debate? Someone should bring up Jeter’s range and start that up again for a change.
“I’m only arguing your assertion that Posada was the main reason we missed the postseason.
And I’m telling you we ALMOST made the post season with Ponson and Rasner making the bulk of Wang & Joba’s starts. Do you really think that’s not worth a 5 game swing at least? ”
I’m arguing that the difference between Posada and Molina is a lot greater than the difference between Wang and Rasner/Ponson.
GB7,
So tonight’s our lucky night. Posada will get a good report from the Detroit booth.
Look, no one’s trying to banish Posada. Just saying that pitchers seem to love Molina. Nothing more, nothing less.
Tex has a reputation for starting slow. But his numbers don’t bear that out. This is so far his second-worst April in terms of OPS, and his very worst April BA-wise. Normally he bats about 50 points higher than he is now.
So here’s hoping this year’s another outlier and that he goes back to producing well from the get-go next spring. I can’t take seven more Aprils like this one. (Yeah, I know he’s walking a lot. And fielding well. But that’s only two-thirds of what we’re paying him for. And by “we,” I do mean Yankee supporters.)
m-
You are right, we didn’t make the post-season for many reasons. My personal list:
1. Posada going down and Molina replacing him.
2. Cano having a miserable season.
3. Melky having a miserable season.
4. Wang getting hurt.
5. Joba getting hurt.
Choose your own list. I just hope we don’t have such a list at the end of this season.
m,
You can’t really say that Ponson and Rasner replaced Joba and Wang. Joba didn’t miss that many starts and Aceves was more of a replacement for him. Maybe the Yankees win 5 more games with Wang/Joba healthy but they would win more with Posada healthy the whole season.
Patrick,
Sadly, right now that may be the case.
Are you arguing that Rasner and Ponson are better than Wang?
Posada is closer to Randy Johnson personality-wise than he is to someone like Swisher’s personality.
I think that’s what turns people off about him and that’s why he isin’t perceived the same way as Pettitte, MO, Jeter or any of the other dynasty guys.
?Meet the Mets, meet the Mets,
Step right up and beat the Mets?
Good thing there weren’t blogs back in the days of Yogi, Ellie and Johnny B.
I still wonder why we don’t see good hitting catchers playing other positions as a way of saving their legs. I understand Posada can’t play first with Tex. Not going there. But back in the days of the Golden Thong – Posada just about pouted if 1st base was mentioned.
Wave, I guess I am just more impressed with Molina’s game calling because relatively speaking we win more games when he’s behind the dish. Then there’s the runs/hits/Ks differentials.
Pudge Rodriguez is a shoe-in HOF catcher. He wasn’t picked up by a team this year until after the season began. I believe players can have declining skills. I think Posada’s skills calling games has declined.
I hope I’m wrong.
Best I can do.
WYH,
I hate looking back but w/e, here is my list!
1. Posada going down
2. Cano stunk
3. Hughes stunk
4. Kennedy stunk
5. Melky stunk
6. Wang injured
zman
No i’m not arguing that although right now it’s true like you said. I’m not sure how you drew that conclusion from my posts…
We didn’t miss the playoffs because of Jorge not being there.
We missed the playoffs because
Hughes and Kennedy didn’t win a game all year and were awful
Rasner made the 3rd most starts on the team with a 6 ERA
Ponson made 15 starts with a 6 ERA
Andy went 2-7 with a 5.35 ERA after the ASB
Pavano made 7 starts with a 6 ERA
Someone mentioned Tex’s slow start. I do think it’s time for him to pick the team up on his back for a bit. His defense is great, but that’s not why he’s being paid $20M annually.
“Who else is tired of the Posada non-debate?”
You are apparently!
I’ll tell you what. When there is debate here on a topic that doesn’t interest me or that I think is way overdone, I just ignore it.
When people continue to go at it, they obviously think there is reason for debate.
I know Patrick . . . it was just a sad truth.
Patrick-
Brain cramp on my part. The Hughes/Kennedy debacle certainly belongs on the list.
Its great having Posada as the starting catcher, and it’s great having Molina as the backup catcher. No complaints about catching here. Depth at catcher is not a weakness on this team as long as Posada’s shoulder remains OK.
The OF, on the other hand, has several guys who have limitations. Poor arm, old knees, inexperience, sub-par hitting. Just about everybody out there’s got something to offer in terms of weakness (Melky’s doing OK but it’s only April) but that’s not exactly the KIND of depth you want. So why are we arguing about who’s catching?
UPDATE, 5:21 p.m.: A-Rod will play in a minor-league intrasquad game tomorrow.
FYI
“I’ll tell you what. When there is debate here on a topic that doesn’t interest me or that I think is way overdone, I just ignore it.
When people continue to go at it, they obviously think there is reason for debate.”
Ah, trisha and I agree on something.
“So why are we arguing about who’s catching?”
Blame it on Bob Lorenz!!!
ZMan – Teix has been a huge disappointment
Hitting .206 this April when we need him badly. If Cano got off to his usual slow start, we would be dead in the water.
Someone mentioned Tex’s slow start. I do think it’s time for him to pick the team up on his back for a bit. His defense is great, but that’s not why he’s being paid $20M annually.
————
More money only makes a player richer – it doesn’t change them as a player or their historical tendencies.
When you decide to sign a free agent – you are buying the entire package – both their strengths and weaknesses.
Giving him more money isn’t going to increase his strengths and eliminate all of his weaknesses.
When the calendar flips to May and A-Rod returns, he’ll turn things around.
We knew he was a slow starter back in December. We shouldn’t be surprised that history repeated itself simply because his paychecks are now bigger.
Wave, I think we may have also agreed on something else last season. Can’t remember what.
Good point, ANSKY. I think we all know the outfield is subpar. Damon and Swisher are — being generous — very mediocre defensively, and all three outfielders are streaky and erratic at the plate.
Trisha,
You don’t think Posada frames pitches well? Why is that, because TV announcers haven’t praised him?
Having TV commentators as a basis for proof is really not the way to go.
As someone who has raised a kid who is considered by scouts to be the #1 catcher in college baseball this year, and ironically is going to be represented by the same firm that represents both Posada and Molina, the “evidence” you are pointing out as proof really doesn’t hold up under baseball scrutiny.
Jose Molina is a fantastic defensive catcher. On a scale of 1-10 defensively, he’s an 9. As a hitter, he’s a 1.
Posada, on the same scale, is a 7 defensively (8 before his shoulder surgery) and a 9 offensively.
The difference between the two is overwhelming. As gamecallers, they are pretty much the same. One guy has an easier going personality than the other but, that’s about it.
There isn’t a huge difference in gamecalling. There really isn’t.
For example, I don’t think Jorge Posada called a “BP Fastball down the middle” to Jason Varitek and AJ just said, “OK” and Varitek hit it out.
That’s not how it works.
Pitchers have to locate. If they don’t, regardless of who calls the pitches, the ending ain’t pretty.
The basis of this discussion stemmed from the game on Saturday.
AJ was sailing along until he melted down. You seem to be saying Posada is partly (or more than just partly) responsible for that meltdown.
Problem is, he called pitches in the first 5 innings when AJ was rolling along. Did Jorge suddenly forget to call pitches or did AJ simply lose it? Most baseball people would say its the latter.
Patrick: what you’re ignoring is the fact that Molina’s Mystical Mojo actually got a lot more out of Rasner and Ponson than the feisty-but-flawed Posada ever could have.
Therefore, Molina made up for his offensive deficiencies.
The best-case scenario would have been Molina catching a healthy Wang last season and Posada catching a bus to Palookaville!
Why we didn’t make the playoffs last year.
Add to the list (if you want, not forcing anyone to do anything here!
) Jeter’s slow start to the season, total lack of clutch hitting, and record-setting – I exaggerate, I think – GIDP. He heated up perhaps too little too late.
Molina is much better at getting a starter to grind out a mediocre start than Posada is.
When a guy has his good stuff, both can catch him. When a guy has nothing, neither can catch him effectively.
But when a guy is kind of feeling his way through and not great or not sharp or something, Molina is better at keeping the starter composed and can call a game to limit the damage. He also works MUCH MUCH better with young pitchers, they seem to be much more comfortable throwing to him.
Bottom line, Molina simplifies the game. He lets the starter do the work.
Melky will make the all star team
April 29th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
GB7,
So tonight’s our lucky night. Posada will get a good report from the Detroit booth.
Look, no one’s trying to banish Posada. Just saying that pitchers seem to love Molina. Nothing more, nothing less.
————————————————————
The only catcher that openly campaigned for his own catcher was Mussina. Of course he also wanted his own 1st baseman, own 3rd baseman or anybody else that didn’t make an error behind him. He never sent a get well card to the outfielder that wrecked necks, backs or shoulders chasing after somebody elses mistakes. He never nade any.
any pitcher that says something openlt to the press, about their catcher won’t be around long. Amazing how many quotes came without sources…..”the word around the clubhouse is…”
Giuseppe — The point wasn’t the amount of cash Tex is receiving. It’s the fact that they’ve needed his bat badly, and he hasn’t produced. Very simple. Nor was it a statement about what he might do in the future.
“Melky will make the all star team”
I want a hit of what V’s smoking!
“Problem is, he called pitches in the first 5 innings when AJ was rolling along. Did Jorge suddenly forget to call pitches or did AJ simply lose it?”
Declining skills in action!
Burnett has always been a stubborn guy.
He has the “heres my fastball, hit it” attitude. He did that to Varitek and paid. The location was awful.
That has nothing to do with Posada.
Who Caught Chacon and Small?
The dumbest argument people make on here is, “So and so player makes X number of dollars so, he better start playing well”.
The amount of money he makes has no bearing on his game.
If you think Mark Teixeira is a bust, nobody can help you out with that theory.
Fact is, whether he makes $2.00 or 20 million, that doesn’t help him when he steps in the batters box.
If the Yankees win more games with Molina behind the plate than Posada, how come they didn’t make the playoffs last year?
Also, how many rings does Posada have on his fingers from winning WS with the Yankees? Molina?
You don’t “lose” the skills of calling a game.
You lose hitting, fielding or throwing skills. Gamecalling is a mind thing.
Unless Jorge has lost his mind, he calls the same game he has called for years.
“Wave, I think we may have also agreed on something else last season. Can’t remember what.”
I feel like I ought to disagree with that, just for form’s sake!
Thanks for pointing that out Nick I totally forgot about the MMM effect.
“I believe players can have declining skills. I think Posada’s skills calling games has declined.”
So it’s not A.J Burnett’s fault at all for pitching horribly when he was staked to a six-run lead.
It’s not Wang’s fault for turning into a basketcase on the mound, and for his mechanics flying out the window.
It’s not Sabbathia’s fault for having more walks than strikeouts through his first three starts.
It’s Jorge Posada’s fault.
Is that what you’re saying? Just asking?
“Unless Jorge has lost his mind, he calls the same game he has called for years.”
You forget that Molina has been slipping LSD into Jorge’s gatorade.
SJ, we’re going to agree to disagree because I believe Posada’s game-calling ability has slipped. How about this scenario? Calling for a pitch in a location that is a hitter’s hot zone, having the pitcher throw that pitch, and having the ball fly out of the park? That’s just a generic example of a problem with game calling, having to do with any catcher. How about calling for the wrong pitch?
If all catchers were equal, they’d all be in the HOF.
That said though, how would you like to go even more controversial? If yes, I will bring up something someone mentioned the other night. I am not the author of the discussion, though, so I do not want to be lambasted for mentioning it. Up to you.
Correction: The only ***pitcher*** that openly campaigned for his own catcher was Mussina
I think Burnett himself took full responsibility for his mistake pitch to Varitek. It was unfortunate to see him lose his composure out there.
“Is that what you’re saying? Just asking?”
All catchers are born with mind-control abilities, that’s why good catchers are so rare.
Giuseppe—The point wasn’t the amount of cash Tex is receiving. It’s the fact that they’ve needed his bat badly, and he hasn’t produced. Very simple. Nor was it a statement about what he might do in the future.
———–
As I said, everyone knew Teixeira was a slow starter when they signed him so nobody should be surprised that he started off slow again this season.
It also didn’t help that he had to deal with that wrist injury for a week and A-Rod isn’t hitting behind him – which has resulted in the opposition pitching around him.
Check this out..
Yovani Gallardo struck out 11 over eight innings and homered off Ian Snell to give the Brewers a 1-0 victory over the Pirates on Wednesday.
Gallardo has already been on the wrong end of a 1-0 game this season. He made sure he was on the winning side today with his second homer of this year and fourth in 61 career at-bats.
That’s what I call a win! Tough to come up with a better example of one guy effecting a game so much.
“I believe Posada’s game-calling ability has slipped.”
Is this a matter of faith over evidence? Did your scenario never play out earlier in Posada’s career? Does he only call “bad” pitches now that his mind is slipping?
“If all catchers were equal, they’d all be in the HOF.”
If all arguments were equal, you wouldn’t need a straw man like that one.
“Yovani Gallardo struck out 11 over eight innings and homered off Ian Snell to give the Brewers a 1-0 victory over the Pirates on Wednesday.”
Yes, but what are his game-calling skills like?
ZMANN777 – will you be open to hearing that there are people who do not believe that Burnett took full responsibility? He said that he threw some pitches that he ordinarily doesn’t throw.
But the one thing I cannot fault is that pitchers have to be strong enough to overcome Posada’s controlling personality and if they don’t like a pitch he calls for, they have to shake him off. That’s on the pitcher.
The problem I have with the game-calling debate is that there is no objective way to state how game-calling influences the outcome of a game or even an at-bat.
Over the course of a game, how can you prove a causal relationship between the call and the outcome of the pitch?
i.e., a batter gets a hit. Was it because the call was incorrect or because the ball was left two inches to the right of the ideal spot? Or perhaps the degree of the break on the pitch was not as sharp as usual for that pitcher?
(trisha, if this secret topic is the one about the marginal impact of Arod replacing Ransom/Pena, I’m on board!)
Gallardo’s an all or nothing hitter. It’s home run or bust except for a couple of singles.
Has a catcher ever called a bad game that resulted in the pitcher having a great game?
A-Rods almost back!
Trisha,
How about a recess?
You can present more of your case tomorrow after Joba’s start, what do you say?
Taco Bell tonight?
Posada and Joba have a lot to prove tonight
Posada has to prove he can call a good game
Joba has to prove he belongs to stay in the rotation
Big, Big game tonight.
I think that NYY Trek is closest to what some of us has been trying to say.
I don’t know why people are getting bent. We’re not trying to replace Posada, just saying that Molina’s better behind the plate. Even if it’s a small difference, it’s one that some of the pitchers appreciate and respond to.
People acting as if we said that Molina kicks small puppies or something.
Nick -
Uncle, I am so good with a recess. Consider it done.
The raging debate goes on for me: Taco Bell or chinese food. And in true form, I make my decision close enough to game time to interfere with watching either BP or the pregame!
“Posada has to prove he can call a good game
Joba has to prove he belongs to stay in the rotation”
If only one happens, how will be know why??????
I don’t know Trisha. I don’t know how a guy can go from calling a great game, Burnett was dominant over the first 5 innings of the game, to melting down and have it be Posada’s fault.
If you look at both guys careers, AJ has had meltdown moments. Posada’s are few and far between.
Here’s what I think…..
Burnett made mistakes in that outing that he normally wouldn’t make.
People on blogs, who have a bug up their butts on Posada, begin posting stats, incomplete stats, that “show” Molina is a better catcher.
Fans, who really don’t have any idea about gamecalling or what the catching position entails say, “hmmm, seems reasonable to me. Its Jorge’s fault AJ melted down”.
Unfortunately, that’s not how it works in a baseball sense.
Let’s say for the sake of argument you are right…..Jorge doesn’t “call good pitches”.
Guess what? AJ can shake him off and throw whatever he wants.
You know how I interpret the, “I threw pitches I don’t normall throw” quote? I interpret that to mean AJ threw pitches in spots he doesn’t normally throw and that’s why he got lit up.
He can’t throw pitches he doesn’t normally throw. He’s a fastball, curveball pitcher.
Its not Jorge was telling him to throw knuckleballs.
“All catchers are born with mind-control abilities, that’s why good catchers are so rare.”
Hehe. Posada was a Jedi before he lost his mind.
trisha In New York a lot of the taco places are run by Chinese – FUSION GOOD
m – thanks.
Because we question it shouldn’t send anyone into a tailspin.
Ok, GB – put on your way back hat.
Wasn’t there a broadcast booth story when some non-catcher (Rizutto, or Murcer maybe?) thought catching was so easy – so the catcher let them call all the pitches from their field position? I think the moral of the story was – It wasn’t as easy as it looked….
If only AJ had shaken off that gyroball that Posada called for…
I wouldn’t bring A-Rod back until the Al-Star break
Why rush him? We’re not exactly struggling to score runs. I’d rather have A-Rod for October than in May,
Freudian slip.
People acting as if we said that *Posada* kicks small puppies or something.
Selective recess???
“You know how I interpret the, “I threw pitches I don’t normall throw” quote? I interpret that to mean AJ threw pitches in spots he doesn’t normally throw and that’s why he got lit up.
He can’t throw pitches he doesn’t normally throw. He’s a fastball, curveball pitcher.
Its not Jorge was telling him to throw knuckleballs.”
Exactly. The guy only throws two pitches. Location was the issue. It’s not like Jorge called for “throw it as straight as you can, and make it right down the middle”
On a related-side note…I really wish AJ would start throwing the changeup in games. With his stuff you would think the change would be devastating.
Stottlemyre in a complete game shutout, going 5-5 at the plate in 1964 driving in 2 and scoring a run.
Stottlemyre’s inside the park grand slam against Boston to win the game 6-3 in 1965.
Just wanted to throw that in.
m: clearly Freud isn’t only of your favorite bear cubs.
Hopefully these numbers will be enough for people to realize that there is nothing wrong with Posada’s ability to call a game.
2007: +.01
Team ERA- 4.49
Posada CERA- 4.50
2006: -.04
Team ERA- 4.41
Posada CERA- 4.37
2005: +.15
Team ERA- 4.52
Posada CERA- 4.67
2004: -.04
Team ERA- 4.69
Posada CERA- 4.65
2003: +.11
Team ERA- 4.02
Posada CERA- 4.13
2002: -.07
Team ERA- 3.87
Posada CERA- 3.80
The only years Posada’s CERA was significantly above the team ERA was in 2003 and 2005. In 2005, Randy Johnson was the Yankees best pitcher and Posada didn’t catch him. If you take out Johnson’s stats, the team ERA is 4.65 compared to Posada’s 4.67 CERA. Not significant.
In 2003, Posada’s CERA was .11 higher than the team ERA. I’m not sure why that would be. At the same time, you could look at Jason Varitek’s CERA for 2005. He’s supposed to be one of the best game callers in baseball and his CERA that year was 5.03, much higher than the team ERA of 4.74.
Conclusion: You are not smart if you think it benefits the Yankees to have Molina start over Posada.
He isn’t being rushed. This is what the doctor is saying Stx 99.
Exactly.
If you followed AJ’s career, you would know that games like he has on Saturday are really not that uncommon. He has had that reputation to just ‘lost it’ during the course of a game.
Look at his game logs. Posada wasn’t catching him in previous years.
“I wouldn’t bring A-Rod back until the Al-Star break
Why rush him? We’re not exactly struggling to score runs. I’d rather have A-Rod for October than in May”
ummm…why?…do you want him to help the tampa yankees win a FSL championship?
I think Molina’s doing what he’s supposed to as a back up catcher and all of this game calling business is much ado about nothing. It’s difficult to come up with a system to judge ones game calling ability due to all of the variables so I wont even bother trying. If one exists it’ll be the first I hear about it.
As a back up he has more time on his hands to study the tendencies and weaknesses of opposing hitters and this should carry into the games he plays in. Not saying he’s not doing other things to be ready when the coach calls on him, just that with the extra time off he should be going over opponents line ups and scouting reports so that he can call a good game when he’s in there.
In my opinion he’s just doing his job, and doing it well.
I found a really old BP study (from 2000) that tried to see if there was any truth to “game-calling” ability of a catcher.
The Conclusions:
Though we would colloquially say that game-calling doesn’t exist, it’s more accurate to say that if there is a true game-calling ability, it lies below the threshold of detection. There is no statistical evidence for a large game-calling ability, but that doesn’t preclude that a small ability. For example, a genuine game-calling ability that reduces a pitcher’s ERA by 0.01, resulting in a savings of about 1.6 runs per year for the entire team and could be masked by the statistical variance in the sample size we have to work with. Players would need to play thousands more games than they actually do to have enough data to successfully detect such a skill statistically.
http://www.baseballprospectus......onclusions
SJ44,
You’re making way too much sense, using things like logic and rational thought.
See, the Yankees pitching has stunk for the most part because Jorge Posada has lost his mind, which has led to his game-calling skills slipping.
The logic seemed dizzying to me at first too, but now it all makes perfect sense….
Ohh, wait, it’s a ridiculous theory after all. There were just paint fumes seeping into my office for a minute.
No, we want him back now.
“Let’s say for the sake of argument you are right…..Jorge doesn’t “call good pitches”.
Guess what? AJ can shake him off and throw whatever he wants.”
I absolutely cannot disagree with that.
SJ, since I promised Uncle to stop the discussion for now, if you are around later I will tell you what someone suggested the other night. If there is anything to what the person said, it would easily explain how starters sail along and then suddenly melt down when Posada is calling. Again, it isn’t my theory so I don’t want to get slammed for it. And I will say that after the person brought it up, there were some posters who thought there could be potential to the theory. I wasn’t one, but it did make me stop and think.
I am sure you are going to HATE what the person suggested. I think even people who are questioning Posada at this point would not consider crossing the line over to what was suggested.
But anyway, more of that later if you are interested.
I gotta get some grub!
DT
April 29th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Ok, GB – put on your way back hat.
Wasn’t there a broadcast booth story when some non-catcher (Rizutto, or Murcer maybe?) thought catching was so easy – so the catcher let them call all the pitches from their field position? I think the moral of the story was – It wasn’t as easy as it looked….
————————————————————
That was Mantle and berra. Mantle told Berra that calling a game was easy. Do nothing but tell the pitcher what to throw. Mantle called the game from center field. Ford was the pitcher and knew nothing about it. Ford won the game.
This whole catching topic is entertaining in a comically way…..Jorge is outstanding hitting catcher with above average catching skills….Molina has always been an outstanding catcher since his days in Anahiem who is but a ,220 hitter who will hit the occasional surprise big hit ….Moilna’s role is perfect for the Yanks, a great defensive catcher who can spell Jorge once a week, and his weak bat is compensated due to a deep lineup ( when healthy )…The Yanks have not enjoyed this luxury since the days of Giradi and with Posada as his caddy….To reach October the Yanks must have a healthy and productive Jorge Posada, end of conversation…
“Problem is, he called pitches in the first 5 innings when AJ was rolling along. Did Jorge suddenly forget to call pitches or did AJ simply lose it?”
———————–
Well its the same as when a catcher dogs it late in innings running to first base. Its called dogging it. Forget to call a good game after 5th. Forget to run out a ball. They go hand in hand.
SOLUTION- we need to have a defensive replacement behind the plate after the fifth.
“On a related-side note…I really wish AJ would start throwing the changeup in games. With his stuff you would think the change would be devastating.”
He could be so so much better if he did and games like he had on Saturday would be rare. He is a two pitch pitcher and it’s going to hurt him when he doesn’t have command of his curve.
He is a pretty stubborn guy though, so it’s not surprising that he hasn’t used it more.
Nice find, Tom. The guys at BP are solid.
If this is the ‘Posada intentially threw the game to get Girardi fired theory’, don’t bother.
A Yogi story… I should have figured.
All of Rizutto’s stories had canolis, birthdays, bugs, Eddie Stanky or an Eddie Lucas theme.
DT
April 29th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
A Yogi story… I should have figured.
All of Rizutto’s stories had canolis, birthdays, bugs, Eddie Stanky or an Eddie Lucas theme.
and Cora
no. 27 at 5:55pm
Tom in NJ at 5:56pm
Great posts.
DT
April 29th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
A Yogi story… I should have figured.
All of Rizutto’s stories had canolis, birthdays, bugs, Eddie Stanky or an Eddie Lucas theme.
————————————————————
Mantle always insisted that if Ford had been a better pitcher, Mick would have added 5 years to his career.
Ford said that one night he sat down and looked at Mantle’s career numbers and between the walks and strikeouts, Mantle spent 5 years doing absolutely nothing.
Joba must pitch well today
And here’s why I never got to see Bob Lorenz last night after the game. I had turned to try to bring good luck to the Cleveland Indians! Holy smoke, what an ending to that game!!!!!
The camera panned in on Pukelis in the dugout, looking out at first base with a look of total of frozen horror on his face. I wish I could describe the look better, but it is one that you wouldn’t expect your teammate to sit there and do if you were the pitcher who had just flubbed the catch. I can see why Manny whacked him last year!
Just sayin’
I am a huge AJ Burnett fan – he’s by far my favorite of the new Yanks and one of my favorites period. That said, the truth is the truth. If I’m going to be honest, I’d have to say as good as he was in his first 3 starts (forget whether he dominated or not – he was the stopper we needed), he was that bad in his last few innings in Boston. If he’s not making excuses, then why should we? He’s a big boy – he’s thrown to different catchers before. In fact, he worked well with Jorge in ST. For whatever reason (IMO, he just was extremely emotional about making his first start in Boston in pinstripes – it’s clear from all accounts how into this he was), AJ just lost it. It happens – the pitcher has control and the pitcher needs to throw what he wants to, when he wants to. I still believe in his transformation and we’ll have to see how it plays out. For that one game at least, AJ just didn’t get it done.
Are we having fun yet ???
GB, Mantle went five years where he didn’t hit the ball….More if you consider all the lost time due to injuries….But he did hit all those WS dingers….
Can’t it just be that AJ doesn’t have confidence in his change? It doesn’t always have to be chalked up to stubbornness……If you don’t think you’re going to succeed with something, then you won’t.
Trisha
Munson would make Posada seem like a teddy bear. I think you are making to much of his personalty.
Johnson and Mussina weren’t exactly all warm and fuzzy either but it’s a Posada problem not on them?
You seem to be basing your argument on perseption. Look up Molina on Wikipedia.
He had the starting job for the Angels but was replaced because of his offense. I believe his carrer BA is .257.
Why would the Angels trade him to a rival if he was good enough to start? They got Jeff Kenard in return who they liked so well that he is with the Reds signed as a FA. In the minors.
Are the Angels that bad at evaluating talent? Not from what I’ve seen.
There is nothing wrong if you like Jose. I like him, as a BU catcher and think that was a good move by Cashman to get him. You need role players like him for times like last year, just need to accept that they are role players.
Dear Lord,
Please make Joba throw a gem so our little blog can take a much needed break from the bullpen bound-game calling ability arguments.
Thanks a million.
Jeers
Also, Do K-Rod’s histrionics annoy you as much as the rest of us?
Can’t blame the catcher when Burnett turns into Oliver Perez and loses his composure on the mound.
You might be missing a few chromosomes if…
You ever consider the idea of Jorge Posada not trying his hardest to win any game.
You think its a good idea for Ramiro Pena should start 3 games week AFTER Rodriguez gets back.
You think it benefits the Yankees in any way to have Molina play over Posada when he doesn’t need rest.
You think the Yankees would be better off without Rodriguez.
naw
Pat M
April 29th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
GB, Mantle went five years where he didn’t hit the ball….More if you consider all the lost time due to injuries….But he did hit all those WS dingers….
————————————————————
Yep, and think about what they might have been if he hadn’t missed most of the ’51 and ’61 WS or hadn’t been hurt in ’55 and missed games, or in ’57.
A-Rod back next week against the Sox? Please?
Most important part of that last update was that Garcia was pitching to Arod.
Anyone know how close Garcia (and Heredia for that matter) are to getting back in games.
Bronx Jeers
April 29th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Dear Lord,
Please make Joba throw a gem so our little blog can take a much needed break from the bullpen bound-game calling ability arguments.
Thanks a million.
Jeers
Also, Do K-Rod’s histrionics annoy you as much as the rest of us?
AMEN
Mets Fans Calling for Wright to be traded.
Betsy, I agree with all your points….I campaigned for AJ’s signing as well during the winter, and his problems in mid game in Boston was simply not getting ahaed of the hitters like had earlier….Both he and Beckett were not getting any thing close that day…He lost command,and fell behind and started to serve cookies…Simple as that…Let’s see how he comes back, that’s the real story here…..Not who’s catching him….Baseball is really a simple game, that being said, it’s been made complicated by all the over analysis by the talking heads and the over aggressive stat guys who are trying to out due each other…
Phil Hughes is gonna be on espn 1050 really soon.
So I played golf earlier with a guy that used to caddy for Colin Montgomery back in the late 90′s. We were talking about Wang and he mentioned that Colin Montgomery was once diagnosed with a mild compression fracture of the lisfranc. Apparently, even after it was supposedly rehabbed, Monty’s swing mechanics were completely out of sorts, and he somehow picked up one of the ugliest power fades on tour for close to a year afterwards. Pretty interesting information in light of Wangs recent struggles.
This is a classic case of ‘bad boy appeal’. AJ was a good boy when he was cruising with a 6-run lead. Then he turned into a very bad boy when he coughed it up and some of our blog sisters love him even more. And blame poor Jorge!
“Mets Fans Calling for Wright to be traded.”
—————————————————————
It’s the same thing every April.
“Break up the core” is another popular one.
Really, the Mets blog is worse than this one in terms of negativity. Cynicism to the bone. Even when they’re winning people are predicting a melt down or something.
If you can stomach it, ESPN just teased a “should Joba go back to the bullpen” segment which will include commentary from… wait for it… Steve Philips.
The best part is, as they were teasing the segment and asking whether Joba is needed to “shore up the shaly bullpen” they flashed the image of Mo giving up the homer to Jason Bay.
That’s right, the image of the shaky bullpen was Mo.
Not for the faint of heart!
I’ve gone through my whole life trying to understand the ‘bad boy appeal’.
I even tried being the ‘bad boy’ for a few weeks.
It didnt work.
Wind is blowing left to right, tonight at 13-15 MPH. Good night for the left handed bats? Yanks have 8 left handed bats tonight, including 5 switch jitters.
Zach in Port Jeff
April 29th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I’ve gone through my whole life trying to understand the ‘bad boy appeal’.
I even tried being the ‘bad boy’ for a few weeks.
It didnt work.
Reminds me of when Fraiser “went bad” on Cheers and was hanging out with Viper the biker chick – and “running with scissors”
ah Cheers
including 5 switch jitters.
Switch jitters for Leyland….switch hitters for the Yanks.
Just be thankful that the Yankees don’t have an overrated, Peter Gammons loved catcher with a hockey “C” on his uniform shirt.
Some would say that Frasier didn’t really go bad until he went to ‘Frasier’.
GARCIA SIGHTING
Zach in Port Jeff April 29th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I’ve gone through my whole life trying to understand the ‘bad boy appeal’.
I even tried being the ‘bad boy’ for a few weeks.
It didnt work.
==========================
Bad boys can be lotsa fun. But then after a while things usually downhill.
“Reminds me of when Fraiser “went bad” on Cheers and was hanging out with Viper the biker chick – and “running with scissors”
ah Cheers”
========================
Ellsworth,
Didnt Costanza also take a shot at being the ‘bad boy’…and i think it worked for him too!
Bronx Jeers
Negative comments about other people’s negative comments are much of a muchness.
Last weekend was a horrible spectacle and provoked pain and anxiety amongst Yankee fans.
However, Cashman’s plan is showing a glimmer of life and it is still only April.
If the Yankees can develop Hughes and Kennedy and others and retain the ability to pick up an AA, CC or Tex then they have a crushing model and this is just the early stages while the kinks are beibg worked out.
There is a lot of reason for optimism, not only for this year but many years.
S.A.–It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Calm down.
April 29th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Zach in Port Jeff April 29th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I’ve gone through my whole life trying to understand the ‘bad boy appeal’.
I even tried being the ‘bad boy’ for a few weeks.
It didnt work.
======================
Bad boys can be lotsa fun. But then after a while things usually downhill.
————————————————————
Yeah, I can see where those monthly visits to Folsom Prison can get to be a drag.
things usually downhill=things usually go downhill
Ellsworth,
Didnt Costanza also take a shot at being the ‘bad boy’…and i think it worked for him too!
Yes he did
He had a GTO in the park – a little sketchy on the details
pretty sure it did not work out for him though.
Did anyone one hear Hughes on ESPN last night? Ravitch was asking him about going to places in WB-S that are mentioned in “The Office” He said he’d been to a couple
sit com junky I like it
“Bad boys can be lotsa fun. But then after a while things usually [go]downhill.”
Like AJ with the 6-run lead! That’s what I’m talking about!
bod,
for trenton?
Yeah, I can see where those monthly visits to Folsom Prison can get to be a drag.
===============================
I hear that prison has a lovely museum.
Oh I hate that clip of Bay’s HR.
It’s not even the ball going over the wall as much as it’s Mo’s attempt to body english it back.
That look on his face.
He’s my all-time favorite player and as much as it pains me to see him give up that shot, I think it just pains me more to see him effected by it.
Screw it Mo. Get a new ball and keep on firing.
steve
April 29th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
bod,
for trenton?
============
No, down at Tampa throwing BP to Alex, as per PA’s entry.
He’s stlll building arm strength, not in real games yet. But here’s hoping.
Nick in SF….Just played the Yanks @ – $ 145.00….Yanks are on the move, the start of a 15-5 run….
I’m sorry bronx jeers I loved the look on Mo’s face. Trying to use his powers to will in back in. Loved it.
Bronx Jeers
April 29th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Oh I hate that clip of Bay’s HR.
It’s not even the ball going over the wall as much as it’s Mo’s attempt to body english it back.
That look on his face.
He’s my all-time favorite player and as much as it pains me to see him give up that shot, I think it just pains me more to see him effected by it.
Screw it Mo. Get a new ball and keep on firing.
===========================
Mariano is the Buddha. He is nearly always off location-wise in April.
There is no way I would EVER believe that Jorge Posada would sabotage his team or his manager. NO way. He takes too much pride in his work and in his team and in winning. I will NEVER buy into that argument. EVER. Not to mention, that theory was pretty much shot down by the slightly sore hamstring.
For me the whole thing is, it’s a moot point. Posada’s gonna play a large majority of the games, and offense will always win over defense, unless a guy can’t field his position at all. And that’s not Jorge.
AHHHH….the image of S.A. going to her class reunion….the school where she was voted Most Likely To Succeed, Homecoming Queen and Prom Queen.
All of the sorority sisters run up and say, “S.A., we heard you got married. Where’s that dream at (You’ve been queen…he’s gotta be a dream…right?)
S.A.” He’s right here. Spike, this are my best friends.”
Spike: OK, females, who’s gonna go outside wit me first?”
S.A.: He’s just kidding, girls. He doesn’t get out much. He’s on special furlough from Folsom Prison this weekend.”
This again about Jorge.
Pat M: Bold! I’m getting -140. I will join you.
GreenBeret7 April 29th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
AHHHH….the image of S.A. going to her class reunion….the school where she was voted Most Likely To Succeed, Homecoming Queen and Prom Queen.
All of the sorority sisters run up and say, “S.A., we heard you got married. Where’s that dream at (You’ve been queen…he’s gotta be a dream…right?)
S.A.” He’s right here. Spike, this are my best friends.”
Spike: OK, females, who’s gonna go outside wit me first?”
S.A.: He’s just kidding, girls. He doesn’t get out much. He’s on special furlough from Folsom Prison this weekend.”
==================================
Ahahahahaha
What are you all expecting from arod when he returns?
As much as I support alex, I’m not expecting him to “save the day” when he returns. I have to temper my enthusiasm because I already got burned thinking wang would be completely healthy to start the season despite the foot injury but that has turned out to be otherwise.
bodhisattva -
Sorry.
I’m running behind in my comments today. Back and forth, you know. Reacting to something I think was alluded to in an earlier comment.
Joba discussion on ESPN now.
Do you think Joba’s tired of all the back and forth? It’s got to be wearying.
And Steve Philips brings exactly zero insight or fresh opinion to the topic. Shocker.
Hey guys, it’s me… good old Ruben Rivera. I just wanted to let you know about a new business venture that I started. Basically, when you go on vacation…I will watch your baseball glove. I promise I won’t sell it.
CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS:
-Derek Jeter
-Cousin’ Mo
And so it starts……..
Hey Mexico, thanks for Salma Hayek.
The swine flu? Not so much.
Joba needs to throw harder.
For those that want to keep track of the Scranton game on gameday.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday.....a_swbaaa_1
Betsy
April 29th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
************************************************
I would agree with what you said here. And he seemed to recognize this in his comments after the game. I figure as long as he learns from it and recognizes when its repeating itself, then it just has to be put down to a growing/learning experience for himself.
Bronx Jeers
Negative comments about other people’s negative comments are much of a muchness.
—————————————————————
I’m not sure exactly what that means but if I was in here on Sat I’m sure I would have been good for at least one good vent of frustration. It probably would have come in the bottom of the 7th when they surrendered the lead for the last time.
I don’t mind the negativity too much. Most are ridiculously inane or shortsighted but some are kind of funny.
Some people come here to vent and there’s nothing seriously wrong with that. It’s just a baseball blog. People complain about that and that’s their right as well but sometimes the complaining is “louder” than the original complaints.
Like last night.
I fear the Yankees facing a new pitcher much more than I fear Posada’s game calling.
Double jeopardy!
Steve Phillips is a schmuck….Still hasn’t recovered from the whuppin from October 2000…..Still harbors resentment to the from The Bronx…And it’s so obvious….
Let’s get some runs right away for Joba.
He’s my all-time favorite player and as much as it pains me to see him give up that shot, I think it just pains me more to see him effected by it.
**********************************************************
Its almost the identical look he had on his face in Game 7 of the 2001 WS.
It’s still as painful to watch, 8 years later.
Ah yes, must wait for the sign from ESPN tv!
Let’s Go Yanks!
Forgive me if this has been mentioned, but the Mets bullpen blew a game for Santana today. Woohoo!
“Let’s get some runs right away for Joba.”
Can Jorge call a game with a lead anymore?
Doreen
April 29th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
bodhisattva –
Sorry.
I’m running behind in my comments today. Back and forth, you know. Reacting to something I think was alluded to in an earlier comment.
====
Doreen,
I’ve been working on a nightmare proposal all day and just poked my head in to see that the Jorge stuff was still going strong. Groan.
For all the complaining that we get here. Immagine being a mets fan. 9-13 and your so called excellent 1-2 stoppers in the bullpen blew a lead for santana. Be thankfull folks.
011100110110110101101011
“Hey Mexico, thanks for Salma Hayek.
The swine flu? Not so much.”
FYI, The swine flu was developed in California, so thanks for that.
As for Salma, I think she just got married last week.
Coco Risp
That was a nice play by the first baseman if you ask me.
“For all the complaining that we get here. Immagine being a mets fan. 9-13 and your so called excellent 1-2 stoppers in the bullpen blew a lead for santana. Be thankfull folks.”
Exactly. There are worse things in life than the Yankees being 10-10. We could be Mets fans.
C’mon Robbi
lets go cano
Here are a few quetions I have with the offense tonight…1) Was the seventh inning the start of the offense getting hot or just a fluke and 2) will we be able to hit with RISP
Jesus great play at first.
Except when it comes to foul popups.
“Can Jorge call a game with a lead anymore?”
Apparently not! Haven’t you looked at the stats? Do I have to do EVERYTHING?????
Miguel Cabrera, DIAF.
RISP RISP RISP ugh.
Not a good at bat there by by Cano. The guy had just walked Matsui. How about looking at some pitches? I think Robbie gets antsy when there are guys on base and starts pressing.
Jeez I thought he was supposed to be fat and immobile. He ain’t makin it look pretty but he’s doing the job.
Shock of the game….Cabrera makes two nice plays at first base….in the same inning.
it starts
Hey, thanks for the info, Killjoy.
You have to give Miguel Cabrera credit on that one.
This kid could be tough. Has good control (just 4 walks in 19 innings). Seems to throw a lot of fastballs.
Laura – Plug it in, change the world!
April 29th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Not a good at bat there by by Cano. The guy had just walked Matsui. How about looking at some pitches? I think Robbie gets antsy when there are guys on base and starts pressing.
————————————————————
He was just robbed of an RBI single.
It’s Joba time!!
Let’s please hope Joba can be more economical.
come on Joba, no ND today.
Radar gun please?
Is it just me or does Joba look like he is limping? Watch when he walks around the mound after getting an out.
54 mph. Just sad.
And Shelley Duncan has a first inning 2 run homer. 2-0 Scranton.
“it starts”
I’d call it unbelievable if I didn’t know better.
Thrilled Da Melk is in center. It plays into one of my greatest desires as a baseball fan – a strong arm in the outfield.
Joba touches 95! Jorge calls a scoreless inning!
Crisis averted!
Great inning.
mlb.com says joba just hit 95
joba threw only fastballs
Fastball from 91-95 MPH. Doesn’t sound like 54 MPH to me.
9 pitch inning for Jobber
Melky must be calling the game from center.
Wow, a 9-pitch inning from Joba. Maybe he’s wearing Phil’s thong.
Joba was throwing TWO SEAM fastballs. 94-95 two-seamers is awesome.
I’d still love to see a 98-99 four-seamer here or there.
Ah life is good and sorry I missed whatever it was. Cleveland has the lead already 1-0. Too bad Sizemore was picked off because it may have been more.
Oops sorry. 2-0.
Gameday had his FB 94 95.
“Joba touches 95! Jorge calls a scoreless inning!
Crisis averted!”
LMAO!! Let’s hope our luck continues for the duration of the game.
Joba touches 95! Jorge calls a scoreless inning!
Crisis averted!
=======================
Crisis averted for now.
LOL Nick.
Meanwhile, BOS trails 2 – 0 early.
Nice first inning for Joba. Tres efficient!
BTW, the left handed acie from Boston not faring as well.
2-nil Indians, bottom 1st, fwiw.
V- they didn’t look like 2-seamers to me
“Melky must be calling the game from center.”
Must be!
I swear sometimes I must look like a geek – giggling at the computer for no apparent reason to anyone passing by.
I get good laughs out of this place sometimes.
Very cynical, Bronx Jeers. Have you considered that Molina is calling the game from the bullpen? Melky is just the facilitator.
Suttcliffe is talking about how Jorge going down last season was the worst loss the Yankees had, I’m not making this up.
WE are gonna wear this kid out.
Good AB for Posada. Now, can he run at all?
I hate yes’s radar gun.
The YES radar gun is complete garbage! Seems like the MLBGamecast speeds are much more accurate/believable.
Am I wrong?
Anyone interested in tickets for Sunday May 10th tickets in Baltimore? Selling them for face.
I don’t like Melky’s chances here.
Austin jackson has a leadoff single in the 2nd inning.
RUN, AUSTIN…RUN!!!!
what ever happened to “patient” Nick Swisher?
continuing sardonic comments about a topic = extreme sensitivity to someone questioning one of your fav players.
Party on boys!!!
jennifer
April 29th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Anyone interested in tickets for Sunday May 10th tickets in Baltimore? Selling them for face.
—————————————–
Out of curiosity what is the face value for them?
Joba
92
92
92
92
92
94
90
95
94
http://brooksbaseball.net/pfx/.....evDate=429
These guys never seem to make a pitcher work, thankfully we are only days away from A-Rod!
Only Posada made the kid work that inning. Detroit has a poor pen. They need to prolong these ABs.
Porcello @ 35 pitches
Swisher swung because Posada was going.
Little Dusty and the Straight & Narrows are losing 2-0.
jennifer
April 29th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Anyone interested in tickets for Sunday May 10th tickets in Baltimore? Selling them for face.
do you have any for may 23rd?
Hit hard, but, Jeter’s gotta flag that one.
Kevin at SHU
45.25 including fees. (each)
Uncle Ellsworth
No sorry I don’t.
“Little Dusty and the Straight & Narrows are losing 2-0.”
I’m so sick of this Joba to the bullpen talk. Wish I had YES out here.
At this point, I want Joba back in the bullpen just to put an end to the discussion.
look at Johnny
Okay not my price range right now unfortunately for me.
How can people be looking at standings on April 29th? Does anyone really think that TOR will win the AL East?
Continuing comments about the nature of comments = hyper-sensitivity about the erosion of an already-weak supposition?
Every time Damon makes a throw my arm hurts.
Dan – where is “out here”?
Ok but did Sutcliffe acknowledge the effect of Molina on Rasner & Ponson? I mean the Yanks would have been a 3rd place team without that.
Molina feeding Melky pitch calls?
P.R. to D.R. and back to P.R.? Talk about discombobulation!
Allentown, PA
weak supposition? talk to Bob Lorenz. He’s probably more interested in your opinion than I am! Plus when it takes you that long to come back, I know you have been gotten!
Party on, Nick!
Benny, your arm, my stomach.
COME ON FAUSTO!!!!!
OMG, I all Jobbered out with this debate. Please lord let it stop
No other takers?
Oh well, they are on stub hub section 74, cheapest tickets on there if anyone wants.
Strike em out throw em out
Joba has nasty stuff today
I=I’m
Hip Hip throws out a runner on a strike out throw out.
Double Play & No Michael Kay!
I loved Laird in Life Goes On. You go, Corky!
Joba’s command much better today
Wow, Posada actually threw out a runner. Now, if we could just get him to call a better game!
Now THAT was a thing of beauty. Carmona had the bases loaded and struck out Ellsbury. (I’m multitasking.)
21 pitches through 2 innings. Nice.
“COME ON FAUSTO!!!!!”
Trisha, it’s April 29th. You are seriously paying that much attention to BOS, are you?
ooh. poor execution by laird, there.
Would Bob Lorenz keep responding to comments and opinions that he’s disinterested in?
BS strike
Jim Joyce agrees w/that call.
3-0 Tribe!
Laura, I always have. My lifelong disdain for them causes me to take delight in their losses and makes me very happy! They are really having trouble so far. Bad pitching, bad fielding.
Bad inning. Take some pitches
way to work that pitch count
well tex is officially at .200
POP-UP flu continues.
Geez, take a few pitches!
“Anyone interested in tickets for Sunday May 10th tickets in Baltimore? Selling them for face.”
Which face? The snooty 2,500$ face or the joyous, pro-rated 1,250$ face.?
“They are really having trouble so far. Bad pitching, bad fielding.”
Good to hear.
Tex is struggling, probably decided to try and take advantage of the first pitch that he thought would be down the middle. Not going to fault him for that one.
carl, you know how we go though. New pitcher = trouble. Hopefully the second time through.
Because of our history with new pitchers, I’d be happy with a bloop and a blast as the total scoring! (Of course we need to shut them out in return.)
trisha – unfortunately we are already in the “second time through”
rish – oops!
bad job by the top of the order. gotta make the kid work a little harder than that.
Leadoff walk, great start
Lead off walks.
Ugh blooper.
I’m busy putting out fires. I see we haven’t started any.
Looks like tonight is the night that Rick Porcello gets to pretend that he’s a Cy Young candidate.
Anyone want to bet the Tigers get both of these runs in?
now Joba needs a K here with 2nd and 3rd.
come on Joba
the ol’ POP UP flu…trumped only by the RISP flu.
granderson with RISP….I get the feeling that is not good
hey, how about throwing strikes?
Ump gave those pitches to Porcello.
Funny how Porcello gets that call
That wasn’t a strike? Give me a break.
BS CALL!
Let’s go Joba!
Be Tough!
Go Yanks!
lol
joba needs to stop pitching like a girl
well this is gonna be ugly.. Joba nibbling as usual.
Time for a DP Jobs
Texeria is starting to press a little…A case of trying too hard…
Uh Oh
Jobber getting jobbed.
Inconsistent Joba reporting for duty.
DP would be nice…
Good now he’s gonna get one of his Houdini DP’s
floating strike zone
throw strikes
Joba needs to start going after these guys and not trying to be so fine. He’s not a finesse pitcher, he needs to stop trying to be one.
Does a day go by where this board isn’t reminded what a huge loser Trisha is? So lame.
cmon joba..
1-0 feels huge with Cy Porcello on the mound.
Why didn’t Cabrera go home?
Walks are going to ruin Joba
“well this is gonna be ugly.. Joba nibbling as usual.”
aka pitching like a girl
Leadoff walks kill you every time. It’s cliche, but there’s a reason for that: Because it’s true.
base on ball comes around to score. Joba isn’t what I thought he was.
lead off walks kill every time.
Inge will come back to normal in a few weeks.
I’m not watching the game, but I am following on gameday. It looks like there have been quite a few strikes that were called balls.. is Gameday’s strike zone off or is Joba getting squeezed a bit out there?
While he should be attacking the zone a little better, he shouldn’t be forced to throw down the middle of the plate to get called strikes.
is it just me or does it look like joba is using too much arm and not enough legs?
PUT HIM BACK IN THE BULLPEN!
Eilan already out to the mound…big situation.
Suddenly Jobber can’t find the zone.
strikes Jobber dear
Jobas gonna end up in the pen again lol
brandon – joba is pitching like he is wearing a skirt.
Not looking too sharp tonight.
Also, Damon wincing everytime he swings the bat.
Shouldn’t Gardner be playing LF tonight in his place.
If you’re not sitting him tonight, when?
No one is swinging at Joba’s pitching hes needs to be more aggressive.
he’s close but they are balls
No the strike zone isn’t bad.. Joba is really missing and getting his pitch counts up as usual.
Putting him back in the bullpen does nothing. If he doesn’t throw strikes in the 3rd why would he in the 8th?
hetter get ordonez, because the next guy will kill us
he is getting squeezed big time
horrid showing by joba.
For the love of Christ, Joba, stop nibbling. This is frustrating as hell to watch.
Game day is awful Joba not even close on his pitches
boobie you see he had a great 1st inning.
rungy isn’t giving joba ANYTHING
he can’t even put 1 over right now
Throw strikes
Ump giving no corners to Joba.
That Willis signing was a huge dud.
Where’s the zip on the fastball?
WTH, should have at least gotten that courtesy call
Grand SLam im callin it.
Oy Vey
two 4 pitch walks in one inning.. i’m getting frustrated already with this same ol crap..Now Miggy up.. god help us!
seriously, joba is making me sick right now, hes thrown no strikes, he doesn’t look like he ll ever get in to the 7th inning of a game in his career the way he is pitching. He doesn’t have the same velocity, the break on his pitches. Lets be honest here people, he needs to be in the bullpen he just isn’t starter material
87!!!!!! Fastball?????
Okay, he’s got him at 2 strikes. GO AFTER HIM.
Now would be a good time for that nast slider…
Joba- why is he so afraid of going after these hitters?
joba’s command isn’t there. don’t matter starting or relieving
This could be the game, Joba needs to stop playing around attack the strike zone, pound the strike zone.
Man the plate is moving around for him…..
0-2 will most likely be 3-2
He’s gassed.
joba wastes way too many pitches after going 0-2, its rediculous
“Putting him back in the bullpen does nothing. If he doesn’t throw strikes in the 3rd why would he in the 8th?”
Mostly because he would be giving max effort in the 8th as opposed to nibbling and conserving.
this at bat is going 3-2 for sure.
If Wang comes back and Hughes stays here then I have no problem with Joba in the pen..
42 pitches for Joba.
he’s been like this since day 1, starter or reliever. He gets 0-2 and almost always works it full 3-2
Finally
Big K there… there is a god!
ITS AN EFFIN MIRACLE
bout time
Good pitch Joba!
No fastball tonight – command OR velocity.
Joba survives. Attaboy
THANK YOU. Why he didn’t do that during the first 6 batters that inning, I’ll never know.
Fran -
If you there, was that you that Bob Lorenz cited in his “Blob?”
too bad porcello is making us look like A-ball
First breaking pitch hes gotten over that inning.
wow….
Whew!
Great pitch.
I love Jobber but there is absolutely nothing intimidating about him as a starter, which is a shame.
good thing Cabrera swung at that because there’s no way in hell Rungy calls that a strike.
Great pitch right there!!!!!
Joba will not see the 5th inning, even with a ton of run support.
joba should just wear a dress on the mound and pitch underhand
Is the only way a pitch is called a strike is if they swing and miss? Geez how many pitches did he miss that inning?
Trying to be too fine again and not trusting his stuff.
It leads to bad counts, walks and trouble.
Stuff is better than the last start. But, he’s making life way too tough on himself.
Great job of pitching to limit the damage.
he’s throwing 95, why are people complaining about his velocity? he just has zero command
what happened to Joba’s pitch speed?
The yankees keep making excuses for joba that it’s too early in the season, it needs to get warmer for him to throw harder and all this BS. The kid just isn’t the same intimidating talent that he was as a bullpen. They need to throw him back in there and clone him to become the next mo
jennifer – not many, unless you bias your opinion with your routing interest
Joba never walked this many before this year. What’s up with his command?
he’s putting too much effort, his deliveries look jerky
If he’s not gonna attack hitters, he’s not gonna be in the rotation for long. I want Joba as a starter. But its almost the same thing every game from him.
If you cannot throw strikes consistantly, don’t expect to get any borderline calls from the ump…..Hughes had that problem early on last night, but once he showed that he can handle the zone, he started to get the in doubt calls….It’s always been that way, always…..Think Maddox….
Whew!
Alright he struggled but only gave up 1.
43 pitches through 3. That’s OK for him.
those 95-94-93 MPH were in the forsy two innings,with his pitch count mounting once again he won’t see 93 MPH again.
He threw 95 in the first inning for a couple of pitches and hes consistently been at 92, and i think even saw a scary 90 mph fastball in there, and it also looks like his arm angle on his slider looks different and u can almost tell its coming
Where does everyone see “95″??
Well, at least he minimized the damage there.
He’s got squeezed on a couple pitches, but nothing like last night.
Wait let me get this right. Joba is on his 4th start. 1st start 1 ER, Molina catching. 2nd start 5 ER, Posada catching. 3rd start, 1 ER, Molina catching.
You’re saying none of this is on Posada? He’s throwing everywhere Posada’s setting up! He was lucky to get out of that.
he may keep a sub 3 ERA as a starter, but he will never get 200+ innings because he rarely gets into the 6th
Wow ump has a tight strike zone.
NYY leadoff walk probably won’t score
i have the espn feed and a lot of those balls looked like strikes to me. he’s throwing too much but he’s getting absolutely no help with the calls… at the very least, he’s not missing by much when he’s missing.
need baserunners.
“Where does everyone see “95”??”
Been on the gun, ranging from 92-95
YES gun just had Porcello’s sinker at 89, which is correct.
YES gun had a straight fastball of Joba’s at 87? Is Joba throwing a cutter? A changeup?
I didn’t think so…
Joba does not look so hot tonight. But I am can’t believe that Posada did not do more to help him through his struggles.
More and more I do not like the game that Posada calls. I don’t think that he provides confidence in the starting pitchers.
watching on game day, when he got in trouble his fast ball velocity dropped to 91-92.
he was likely aiming instead of letting it go.
that also makes him miss his target too.
The ump is a full of sh*t that first pitch changeup strike call was bull there is no way in the world that was a strike, seriously this guy has an agenda
Where the hell was that pitch to Robi???
he just dosen’t look confortable out there every game he pitches
“Where does everyone see “95″?”
Gameday Stadium gun ESPN
That was a strike????
I see the ‘zOMG WHAT’S WRONG WITH JOBA’ peeps are here yet again. Yeah, no effing way am I staying here. Night all.
this strike zone is bull…squeezing the crap out of joba and now its huge for cano.
look how calm and finesse Porcello looks compared to Joba. I don’t think i’ve ever seen that in Joba, maybe in a few of his starts at best
not really getting bad calls. only one was the one on jeter and the first pitch to cano. joba should go find his 97 mile per hour fast ball and stop being a wuss
Can this board get any more annoying during a game? Some people are clueless.
The last pitch cano saw was what was called for the first strike, jesus
Robbie’s squaring it up…
“joba should go find his 97 mile per hour fast ball and stop being a wuss”
lol…..
But I think this umpires zone is ridiculously strict.
From the looks of it, hope the Yankees didn’t shoot their offensive wad last night. Bats look rather lost again.
Joba ATTACK HITTERS
I think Pete’s description of Joba’s pitching as “pedestrian” pretty much sums up what we’ve seen so far this season. He’s not “JOBA” as we have known him. Where did the extraordinary Joba go?
Jobber’s taking a lot of heat here for a guy pitching to a 3.00 era.
Porcello is starting to get behind every hitter, but the Yankees have one hit. Not to mention Rungy’s moving zone between Porcello and Joba.
011100110110110101101011 the era means jack squat if he only lasts 5 innings every start
It does look like he’s aiming when he falls behind….
nice hit and run
Great hit and run. Sac fly at least please.
Need a run here.. Nice job Posada even though it was a weak shot.
good job posada. now lets bring matsui in.
Up to Swish House
OK, two turtles now on the bases…put this one in the gap, Swish!
Why do I suddenly feel like a GIDP is coming? I don’t like feeling negative, but since when does this team get that man on third home? Please surprise me, Nick.
have to capitalize on this.
posada steals lol
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…Nevermind, Jorge Posada is awesome.
Wow, Posada stealing bases. What is the world coming to?
Posada > Brett Gardner.
Gotta go ice my knees after watching Hideki “run”….ouch!!
lol posada turned the burners on
Stolen base, Jorge?
Joba is still sitting at 91-93 but dialing it up occasionally to 94-95. He’s still not at his regular velocity. His breaking stuff looks better but his fastball velocity and command is really weak tonight.
Wheels Posada strikes again.
Jorge’s ears must be burning.
all we need is a sac fly
just get that run in!
Swish this is a big spot for you.. Don’t blow it!
Interesting that the Tigers did not keep an eye on Posada. I am willing to bet that they will regret that later on this inning.
Posada used roller blades to steal second.
Posada just stole a base? Did that really happen?
I won’t make the obvious joke here in the interests of comity over comedy.
JORGE
man the ump is gonna have to say somethin to the tigers, they take like a pep talk break after every pitch for porcello
cmon yanks, make me feel good for sitting porcello in fantasy tonight just because hes facing us
Jorge reading the blog before the game?
How surreal must it be for Porcello, who grew up with posters of late 90 Yankee players on his walls – to be pitching against those guys?
We may see the Tiger pen by the 5th….
David Cone’s Labrum
April 29th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
OK, two turtles now on the bases…put this one in the gap, Swish!
———————————
ROFLMAO!
c’mon swish…contact please, between the lines…
maybe joba needs to go back to AAA to rediscover his starter confidence. is that still an option?
the detroit catcher calls a worse game when posada is at bat than when molina is at bat
swisher 3 run bomb hell yeah
Swish!!!
atta boy!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HR
This is totally unrelated to baseball, but Ken Lewis was ousted as Chairman from Bank of America. That is tremendously good news.
Ok, back to the game.
Relevant to absolutely nothing: I wish we had Hideki Matsui on the Yanks when he was in his mid-to-late 20′s. He can still show flashes w/the bat, but he was obviously a very elite player.
SWISH TOOK HIM DEEEEEEP!!
Swisher!
Swish is warming up again
Swish!!!!!!!!
Nick the Stick.
pedestrian – where have i heard that before?
Jolly old St Nick!
Swisher man crush? Consider it back on
bodhisattva
April 29th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Jorge’s ears must be burning.
———————————————————–
That would amount to a serious 7 alarm fire.
SWISHER BRINGS THE BAILOUT PLAN TO DETROIT!
love it.
Sac fly? Sack this!
Thank you Nick… will gladly eat my words for 3run HR.
How the heck was that a HR? Love that Swisher!! Great signing!!
“the detroit catcher calls a worse game when posada is at bat than when molina is at bat
”
Nice one, that made me laugh
melky golfing
For three! Swish!
Way to go, Swisher!!
Swishy!
Aaaaaand here comes Melky, trying to replicate it. His discipline is just mind boggling sometimes.
“SWISHER BRINGS THE BAILOUT PLAN TO DETROIT!”
lol what
that makes no sense
ight joba the hut pitch to ur potential
Please Swish bring that game back to the Bronx!
LA LECHE!
Milky taking his job back!
Melky
EvoLuTioN I did the same thing when Cliff Lee faced us at the Stadium.
teams should just pitch melky in the dirt all the time, they’d prolly be better off
Patience at the plate has created this inning
Pat M
April 29th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
We may see the Tiger pen by the 5th….
————————————————————
Love to have him pitching for the Yanks in a couple of years, though.
>that makes no sense
Don’t worry, Joba gets it.
trisha- Can’t deny the love for the Yankees, they are more important than fantasy
man even porcello’s velocity has also dramatically dropped
RAMIRO PENA comes thru
I thought they said that Pena kid couldn’t hit. I think he has at least one hit in every game he’s started.
this team would be at least 5 games over .500 if we never did the ransom/gardner experiment
I can just see the Tiger’s forum now:
“Where is Porcello’s velocity?”
“Why is he nibbling? Put a skirt on him!”
“Why the hell am I living in Detroit?”
Of all the things the YES Network does so well its simply amazing that they can not get a properly functioning radar gun. The thing is so messed up. If its wrong they should not put it up there.
Even Pesky Pena getting in on the fun. Porcello clearly tiring.
And the DP King strikes again, but catches a break.
Jeter…So lucky.
sigh jeter
Nice hustling Jeter.
Ha, randy, very good one. Although it betrays an extreme sensitivity towards something or other.
Well, Jeter tried to help them out.
why did he swing at the first pitch with a pitcher on the ropes… make him throw strikes.
Damon!!!
damon’s shoulder looks fine
As much as we love Jeter – he looks awfully impatient sometimes…
the yanks have figured this kid out
“the detroit catcher calls a worse game when posada is at bat than when molina is at bat”
randy – baseball 101. A grand slam trumps a single…
Bring on the ‘pen!
this is great…
opinions not only changing on a game-to-game basis, but inning-to-inning.
by the end of the game, 75% of the people will want Joba in the pen if he throws a 90mph pitch for a ball but 85% will want him to start if he throws a 94mph strike on the next pitch.
cello is a gonner, seems like i made the right decision w00t
chased in the 4th, nice.
Johnny’s shoulder not lookin’ too bad tonight.
kthxbi
Laird must’ve called a bad game.
new pitcher just in time to send tex below the mendoza line.
This game is great.
It’s comforting to see that our team can score some runs. I’d like to see Joba be lights out and throw the ball over the plate. If someone hits a homerun, so what? He shouldn’t be afraid to challenge hitters as a starter.
Pitching without a lead seems to be difficult for him. I suppose he’s not really used to it.
This is totally unrelated to baseball, but Ken Lewis was ousted as Chairman from Bank of America. That is tremendously good news.
and the Yankees are scoring… wow.almost too good to be true.
So we made Porcello look more like the Cy Young that lost 316 games?
(probably not, I bet most of those were complete games)
kleenex on its way to SF!
offense wakes up..
wow – pitching change already…
John Rodrigues has his 4th homer…a 3 run shot. 7-0 scranton. Aceves has a 3 hitter with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts through 4 innings.
Tex 3-Run bomb.
NVM
IBB to a .206 batter while Matsui is batting over .400 in his 8 game hit streak…
what the heck?
Matsui is on fire why pitch to him lol
Walking Tex? To face Matsui? Hopefully Matsui can go godzilla on one.
Walked Tex for Matsui…interesting move there.
tex must have hitters blue balls
so i’m thinking this might be too much time off for Joba
Where are all those people who said Porcello would shut our offense down?
matsui might not have to swing all night
rofl at blue balls
YES!!!
aaaahhh 3 runs score!!!
GODZILLA COMES THROUGH
BASES CLEARING DOUBLE w00t
uhhhhhhhhhh wow
Godziller!
Bases clearing triple!
Thank you Matsui for making them regret that move.
Godzilla is hot!
I hope Joba can settle down and really get some innings. Would hate to see the crew of Veras, Ramirez, Marte
Godzilla strikes again!
…but i’m glad he did haha
Matsui? A Triple? Posada? Stealing? THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!
Matsui has been on FIRE, there was no reason to pitch to him
this is why managers doing “matchups” sometimes overdo it and fail to see the simple stats
Flood gates open…Joba needs to go back out there and chuck octaine for strike 1…..Tiger bullpen has issues…
ha-ha did you see the players, pointing at the plate telling Mark to tag it. they all laughed afterward!
wowee
And there I was weeping bitterly that the Yankees couldn’t score with RISP, thinking the season was over, damning and cursing everyone and everything associated with the Yankees, and look at this!
Oh sorry, that wasn’t me.
good idea leyland. better up your metamucil dosage
HOLY CRAP!!!! Take that RISP!
me thinks the yanks are back
Anyone think we can score 1000 runs this season?
Matsui must be bringing his porn collection on road trips, now.
matty had a triple yesterday, too
too bad they didn’t trade Matsui in a salary dump in the offseason….
Trisha: what?
Look, I would actually consider Joba to the bullpen later this year, around September. If we still have the “six pitcher problem,” and CC, Burnett, Pettite and either Wang or Hughes are doing well, I’m all in favor of moving Joba to the pen. It would be stupid not to. Run him up close to his innings limit, and then move him back to the pen. We’ll see if we still have this luxury in September.
The other factor is how well Joba pitches. If he’s floating around a 5 ERA, then by all means, get him out of there. If he’s fighting, but still doing well, then leave him out there. He’s still got ace potential.
Basically, if we still have this luxury and Joba hasn’t turned into an ace in the next few months (unlikely), then make him and Bruney the bridges to Mo for the playoffs. But again, don’t make it long-term.
By the way, did you hear that Joba had low velocity? I’m watching the Yankees pound Rick Porcello, who I saw play against my team when I was in high school, making me feel old in the process, but all I hear is Steve Phillips talking about Joba’s velocity.
Earth to Joba STRIKE ONE!!
Nice job Sui!
CC is probably thinking “where were these runs when I was pitching?”
Feels good right now!
Does that count as a triple or a double going to third on the throw?
Just heard John Sterling’s home run call for Nick Swisher for the 1st time…
“And that’s why he’s Jolly ole Saint Nick!”
What is his call for Teixeira?
ahhh come on cano
Jon Lester just gave up another HR
5-0 Indians
Lester to the bullpen!!
Oh, no! There goes Tokyo!
Go, Go, Godzilla!!!
everyone is doing something except jeter and cano…..and i have both of them on my fantasy team…sigh
how long was that half?
Now this is sweet. Two monster innings on consecutive nights.
Leland assumed that his lefty could get Matsui out. He apparently didn’t know that at times, Matsui hits lefties as good as righties.
double, third on the throw
Porcello should be in AA.
“Anyone think we can score 1000 runs this season?”
I promise you that it depends on the day you ask!
‘Ken Lewis was ousted as Chairman from Bank of America. That is tremendously good news.”
his CFO called a bad game
“Girardi said the Yankees are considering bringing up an extra position player.”
Miranda or Cervelli are the only 2 choices unless someone is coming off the 40 man.
http://www.nj.com/yankees/inde....._deal.html
Kelly Shoppach, on his birthday, just hit a 2-run jack off of Lester
happy birthday!
Porcello needs to be moved to the bullpen IMMEDIATELY. There’s no way that he’ll ever get to the 5th inning of the game. I think if he could empty the tank and throw mid 90s in the 8th inning, all the Tigers’ problems will be solved. He’s 20 years old and they used a 1st rounder on him as a starter, but clearly he’s a failure as a starter and he’ll just never be intimidating as a starter, and I don’t buy the notion that pitchers develop with experience in the big leagues
Trevor, why? asides from that bad inning he was looking great
“too bad they didn’t trade Matsui in a salary dump in the offseason….”
LOL! Makes you glad that the readers of this blog aren’t the GM.
Is it too early to say “Godzilla is back!”?
Now if only Tex would figure it out….
Harold, too bad he went 7 innings in his last start. Quit trolling
Joba has to be able to hold this lead. Strikes!
Tampa Bay and Kazmir already down 3-0 in the 1st
If they lose, they’re 8-14…
all these people trolling are clearly homers and fail to see the facts
Hopefully, inning 3 was Chamberlain’s bad inning.
“Chamberlain MUSCLED UP to 93 on that one.”
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.
Boston Dave, you sound surprised?
coming back to earth hell yeah!
Boston Dave, I know that the people around here from RSN were talking about their discomfort with both Lester and Beckett at this point. I’m sure this isn’t helping ease their feelings!
Evolution, at least you have those guys. I did a wicked poor job of drafting because I didn’t really understand how to draft (my first time) so I have languished in last place a great deal of the time. However, I have great pitching. And I drafted Joba. So I’m hoping he starts to call his own game and doesn’t allow any more runs!
The Red Sox haven’t been the same since the out-of-town scoreboard in Cleveland showed the Yankees’ game go from 0-0 to 10-0 in one inning. They know what’s coming.
I miss the days when Joba had a 87mph slider lol
ESPN just showed 95 again on, what did YES show?
I’m just trying to point out how ridiculous everyone sounds judging Joba status inning-to-inning, start-to-start, and other starters starts.
seems to be a nice bounce back inning for joba
Just got home and saw the score…SahWEET.
Red Sox losing, too…even bettah!
This is what I want to see from Joba. ATTAAAAAAAAAAAACK!
Montero’s having a bad night. 0-3 with 2 strikeouts, two steals against, one caught and a throwing error.
YES showed 89 mph (no joke).
Joba looks so much more confident this inning. Just watching him he looks more free wheeling in his delivery. Two straight K’s shows that.
OUCH, they issued a 1 game suspension to Dwight Howard? That doesn’t bode well for Orlando.
“Boston Dave, I know that the people around here from RSN were talking about their discomfort with both Lester and Beckett at this point.”
——-
Or Daisuke. Or Penny.
Now if only Tim Wakefield would hurry up and age already they’d be in deep trouble.
Joba is proving the maxim that when you have enough of a lead you can throw your own game as opposed to worry about every pitch.
What a difference when you throw strike one….GB7, I agree Porcello is a natural, great movement, should be in AA ball…
Pete on Swish:
Nick Swisher knows what to do with a high changeup. You crush it someplace. That’s six homers and 18 RBI for Swish.
And they got him for Wilson Betemit.”
—————————————————————
Remember the music they would play at the Stadium for Betemit?
Pearl Jam- “Can’t find a better maaaan”
Sorry Eddie Vedder, we found one.
Joba hit 96, 95 on the last sequence according to Kenny & Cone.
Joba got confused and thought Youk was the hitter.
lol @ the YES gun being caught off guard by Joba’s fastball velocity this inning.
Joba’s back.
joba’s throwing 95-96 this inning is nice to see. having those runs makes it a little easier to let it go. much better.
They said joba’s fast ball has start to hit 95,96.
Nice inning for Chamberlain. Pitch count’s in good shap. Good thing that Molina’s calling this game.
Maybe since the Yanks offense took off that maybe Joba feels he has less pressure on himself. So he can be himself and relax and throw. That’s what i’m seeing watching this game on ESPN.
Joba throwing hard now. His fastball was 95 mph to 96 mph that whole inning. That’s a great sign.
60 pitches for Joba
good ***shape*** . Good thing that Molina’s calling this game.
that inning was absolutely dominant…95 all inning…you could just tell joba was letting it loose…
Nancy Drew out with a sore quad. Man alive what a queen he is!
“Nice inning for Chamberlain. Pitch count’s in good shap. Good thing that Molina’s calling this game.”
——-
and it’s too bad Varitek isn’t calling the game for Lester… who’s throwing another stinker.
as an aside, mlb gameday is hooked up to the f/x system so i assume their mph is accurate.
SWISH!!!!!
Damn Swish !! Can you believe it??
SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH
swisher bomb #2
Swish!!!!!!
Swish! Nothing but seats there!
Trisha, I’m going to ask one more time, I just lile to know what the insult is supposed to mean.
“kleenex on its way to SF!”
What?
Joba bottom of the 4th fastball velocity:
1. Guillen (K)- 90,94,93,94
2. Laird (K)- 96,95,95,95
3. Inge (Fly Out)- 95,94,95,96
YES gun didn’t read any of those fastballs correctly.
Another home run for Swisher…another blowout it seems like.
I HATE SWISHER!
Well, actually I hate myself. Dropped him off my fantasy team. Sure fire way to get players going. I drop them off my fantasy team.
Pat M
April 29th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
What a difference when you throw strike one….GB7, I agree Porcello is a natural, great movement, should be in AA ball…
————————————————————
No kidding. I just hope that Leyland is smarter about handling him than Baker was with Wood and Prior. They jury is still out on the two Cinncy kids, but, not looking good.
According to Gameday, Joba was sitting around 94-96 last inning.
Swisher is on fire!!
OMG>
I like that Swisher.
what is going on?
I thought the offense was terrible without ARod and a slow start from Tex???
Joba and Phil are back
and swisher did it from both sides of the plate
that time off helped joba, im sure he was exhausted by the end of that 3rd
Swisher is Sweet
trisha,
drop Veras immediately!
Pena is from Mexico? Quick, somebody take his temperature!
Swish is apparently amped up to watch the 100th episode of *L* *O* *S* *T* tonight…
Me too, Swish. Me too.
all these switch hitters are really helping
John n Suzyn said at least one pitch was 96mph.
they are looking at the comerica scoreboard
pena working the count..
That a boy Swisher!
Forget Joba, if he continued to slump, we might have been sending him to the bullpen..
zumaya is about to come in and show us real GAS.
too bad he’s hurt so often
“Swish is apparently amped up to watch the 100th episode of L O S T tonight…
Me too, Swish. Me too.”
Thank God the President’s speech was at 8pm EST. I thought it was 8pm CST and also had a nervous breakdown.
Sorry for questioning Joba’s velocity earlier.
I tuned into the game during the 3rd and watched the YES gun.
The Nick Swisher for Wilson Betemit / Jeffrey Marquez deal has paid dividends.
Any questions ?
Let’s try it again:
Thank God the President’s speech was at 8pm EST. I thought it was 8pm CST and I almost had a nervous breakdown.
the captain is 0/4
Yes needs to purchase a new Radar gun!
Anybody here have a “Save the Big Three” t-shirt from River Ave Blues?
Was wearing mine last night during Hughes’ great game…
No L O S T spoilers please; time zone considerations.
the best pick off move i ever saw was a little lefty knuckleball pitcher named danny boone( orioles).
one time he almost picked off a runner and the first base coach told the runner to only take one step off first.
as the runner took the step , danny somehow had the ball there and picked him off.
Well one thing is for certain…The LoHud is the happiest place on earth today….I think the real Joba is emerging, no more defensive pitching….
Aceves is pitching a great game, tonight. 7 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts. 80 pitches with 62 strikes
joba is finally being aggressive, and look at the results
Tex needs to get going…
Big Papi : .244
Tex : .200
This is what Joba Chamberlain looks like.
wow joba is just beasting through the hitters now as if he came out of the bullpen
wow chamberlain is finally in that rhythm..keep it up joba
Yeah, Joba sucks. Send him to the bullpen.
Joba’s curveball looks beautiful. That last one for the strikeout is a real weapon.
randy l.
April 29th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
the best pick off move i ever saw was a little lefty knuckleball pitcher named danny boone( orioles).
one time he almost picked off a runner and the first base coach told the runner to only take one step off first.
as the runner took the step , danny somehow had the ball there and picked him off.
————————————————————
You went to a log cabin school with his pappy back in Kentucky, didn’t you?
hopefully this gives him more confidence about attacking the zone and do it more often in his future starts even without the lead..
Boston Dave – LMAO!!!!!
My pitching really is good. I hope I didn’t do a bad thing but I just went and picked up Swisher again! Dropped Beltre like an idiot, he’s hitting up a storm. But I have to say that since I didn’t really know how to draft, I didn’t end up with a dream team to start off with. I only have good pitching because I believe I drafted pitchers first! DUH!
Nick, sorry with all the posts I don’t always catch everything posted.
I don’t see why you would consider it an insult, any more than I consider your proclivity for goading posts an insult! I figured you were getting edgy that Joba appeared to be losing it when the bases were loaded (seeing Posada was calling the game) so I made a joke and said I was sending you kleenex!
Anyway, an 8-1 lead is a sweet thing. Since Joba is on my fantasy team I certainly want to see him do well – of course also so we win the game.
that’s 5 outta the last 6 K’s and he is working quickly.. Confidence is booming. This is the man I remember.. those runs really boosted Joba.
“No L O S T spoilers please; time zone considerations.”
Not to worry, Nick. I’m watching it after the game.
Apparently, Joba Chamberlain likes to apply a rope-a-dope philosophy to pitching.
man look how fast hes workin, K’in 2 batters an inning, ha look at that nebraskan go
Am I hearing things or did David Cone just say what I think he said?
Joba is pacing himself beautifully tonight.
Again Joba’s back.
“No kidding. I just hope that Leyland is smarter about handling him than Baker was with Wood and Prior. They jury is still out on the two Cinncy kids, but, not looking good.”
pat m-
detroit seems to rush and abuse it’s young pitchers. it’s like they’re always looking for a savior from some kid. it even goes back to the bird.
Joba is feeling it.
the Detroit station radar guns had Joba at 91-92 that innings
what was Gameday at?
72 pitches for Joba
Anyone know how fast Joba is pitching? Just kidding.
I mentioned this earlier today. Hughes performance yesterday would trickle down to Joba today. He sees Hughes attack the hitters yesterday and come away with no damage. It only encourages the young guns. I think it will also motivate Kennedy if and when he pitches again. Not like he needs much of it.
Joba refueled in the dugout
Come on be real. Joba was being to pretty in 2-3rd innings. When he attacks he’s one of the best in the league.
“that’s 5 outta the last 6 K’s and he is working quickly.. Confidence is booming. This is the man I remember.. *those runs really boosted Joba.*
You betcha!
I feel there is no arm strength problems with Joba. Just mental stuff. Confidence and attacking the zone. That slider and breaking ball look nasty now. 5-0 Cleveland as Shoppach takes Lester deep.
“Tex needs to get going…
Big Papi : .244
Tex : .200″
Don’t sweat it. By the time June rolls around, Tex will be hovering at .300 while Big Papi will still be close friends with the Mendoza line.
I’m not sure if anyone else heard this, but I swear I just heard David Cone say that Joba was J**king off.
you know joba is ON when he does that walk off the mound in a half circle back onto the mound. thats his sign
Yeah Joba is performing like he felt a little shown up by Phil Hughes outing last night. It may not be anything that is ever said but he sees how well a guy his own age pitched and the praise he got in the media. Competition breeds success.
Nick in SF April 29th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
No L O S T spoilers please; time zone considerations.
=========================================
Oh that’s right, almost time for LOST
I jerk off sometimes when I am pitching. Catchers are important. Jerking off too much is not good.
“I hope I didn’t do a bad thing but I just went and picked up Swisher again!”
———
after the 2 HR or before?
“I’m not sure if anyone else heard this, but I swear I just heard David Cone say that Joba was J**king off.”
Yes, I heard it too. It was hilarious.
I love how they keep saying that maybe these current Tigers will be on Monument Wall. Hysterical. LOL!
Only 72 pitches for Joba? I see 7 and hand off to the pen.
Zumaya + YES gun @ 94 = 99
99
99
The other worldly Toronto Blue Jay offense has gotten to Zack Greinke in the 1st inning to break up his streak of scoreless (earned runs) innings.
hahahha i loved hearing david cone weigh in on jerking off
If I had to find fault with L O S T, it would be that they made Jack a BOS fan.
Zumaya, when he is on, is PHENOMENAL[
zumaya releasing easy gas
100+
Joba looks fantastic. Someone was reading the blog.
Tex now < .200
this will be a good game to get edwar and veras some work
tex now below .200
Carmona just gave up 2 runs. 5-2 now. all runs with 2 outs.
man everyone in the ball club has shown signs of comin around..except tex, say what u want that hes slow starter or whatever, but its not comforting to see him hitting below 200
“Zumaya, when he is on, is PHENOMENAL”
We could have that if we put teh Jobber in the penn!!!!
zumaya hitting 99-100mph on gameday.
mark is officially riding the interstate…197…..eewwwww!
Look. It’s clear now that Joba needs to be in the pen. Face it, he just doesn’t have the tools to be a starting pitcher. This career 2.78 ERA as a starter crap he’s trying to put over is just unacceptable for a Yankee starter.
Good because I thought I was hearing things.
Look at Zumaya now while you can. Chances are he’ll be injured next week.
Was Cone referring to Joba’s first few innings ???
Tex now looking up at the infamous Mr. Mendoza.
I would insert a crooked mouthed emoticon but don’t know any other than lol
“after the 2 HR or before?
”
Unfortunately, after. Story of my fantasy life…
Hey Pete,
Do you have a list of the 10 guys who have switch-homered? My dad and I came up with:
Swish
Melky
Jorge
Bernie (I think Jorge and Bernie did that in the same game)
Mantle
Horace Clark (?)
Evolution – both edwar and veras pitched yesterday..
>If I had to find fault with L O S T, it would be that they made Jack a BOS fan.
My fault lies with the Yankees for losing the 2004 ALCS and thus giving Ben the opportunity to show Jack the tape of the 2004 World Series.
With credit to:
http://www.minorleagueball.com.....11034/7863
“For reasons never completely revealed, two female fans apparently accused Cone of masturbating in the bullpen– or, as Don Imus cracked when Cone came on his show, “doing in the bullpen what the Mets had been doing on the field all year.” The New York Post gave it the entire back page with a bold headline that read “Weird Sex Act in Bullpen” (to which The Village Voice’s Sebastian Dangerfield replied, “Call me old fashioned, but shouldn’t we have only normal sex acts in the bullpen?”). One wag brought a cardboard sign to the ballpark that read, “Hey, Cone, when did you become a southpaw?”
carmona is so unreliable
What is Joba wearing around his neck (clearly visible on the mlb.com homepage)?
Thank you, Trisha, I appreciate the clarification. I wasn’t nervous, I’m solid on Joba, but it’s good to see him go after it and not nibble. I know nothing as simple as results will change minds around here, sadly.
I went back to the game thread from the night Joba out-dueled Josh Beckett in Fenway last July and found some great quotes about it. I don’t know if SJ44 is around, so I don’t want to re-print in his absence.
(I found a couple funny quotes from you, Trisha, but they’re not Joba-related)
“Unfortunately, after. Story of my fantasy life…”
——–
well, we should set some ground rules. if he hits less than .200 over the next week, you have to drop him.
joba acting sexy
“You went to a log cabin school with his pappy back in Kentucky, didn’t you?”
gb7-
no way , i was a davy crockett kid.
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/davy.htm
i think it’s one of those Phiten necklaces – some sort of magentic whatever thing…there’s a pitcher who wears like 10 of them
Roy, its a bdsm necklace. He likes getting spanked
wow – VERY nice inning
And finally…
With credit to:
http://www.minorleagueball.com.....11034/7863
“I was absolutely mystified by the whole thing,” says Cone. “How it started, why it caught on, all that. I mean, who was it that first started shouting ‘Mas-tur-ba-tion!’? But one thing I had to face up to was the fact that these things kept happening to me, and I was being disingenuous if I thought the irresponsibility of my lifestyle wasn’t contributing to the stories.” Cone responded by refusing to duck the media. He even went on the Imus show and joined in the jokes. “One thing all of that taught me was not to try and hide from the press,” he says. His candor won him friends in the press that he’s never lost.
cano makes it look so easy.
“My fault lies with the Yankees for losing the 2004 ALCS and thus giving Ben the opportunity to show Jack the tape of the 2004 World Series.”
2004? What happened in 2004? I don’t know what you are talking about. I must have blocked it out.
Might Joba go 8???
5 pitch inning. I am gonna sleep peacefully tonight. Two great starts in a row from our young guns.. Gotta love it. Just want the Sox to lose to complete it!!
5 pitch inning hell yea
With starts like these, it’s only a matter of time before the Yanks bullpen ERA plummets.
Had Chamberlain kept control of the 3rd inning, he’d be in shape to go 8, maybe 9 complete. 22 pitches that inning and all stressful
Could it be that the YES gun is accurate, it’s just a matter of taking the reading when the ball is closer to the plate (as opposed to just after release)?
A 5 mph disparity is significant…there has to be some logical explanation.
joba may pitch the 8th inning after all.
francesa will be pleased, i presume.
Joba is BACK. Damn, he looks nice and relaxed and in command now.
Titanium necklace.
Luis Vizcaino was the one who wore a bunch of them.
Let’s hope they put him back in the bullpen after this start. Right? Or am I incorrect in observing that he’s gotten stronger as the game has gone on?
Robbie with a 16 game hit streak
why did he stop at 1st though?
16 for Robbie.. sweet!
5 pitch inning.
Meanwhile, the Joba-to-the-pen crowd screams in collective agony.
Joba @ 77 pitches
Roy White hit HRs from both sides of plate in one game
The clock seems to have struck midnight for the Rays.
ah k, better safe than sorry robbie good job being alert
Tom Tresh several hone runs from both sides of the plate……Suddenly the much maligned Yankee pitching staff has allowed 5 runs in the past 2.5 games, against a very good hitting Tiger lineup
I think Joba can go 8 if he has a quick 7th.
Boston Dave it wont have a chance to plummet if our starters don’t leave any innings to throw
Trisha – if swish has a bad ab here, we’ll know who to blame
randy l.
April 29th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
“You went to a log cabin school with his pappy back in Kentucky, didn’t you?”
gb7-
no way , i was a davy crockett kid.
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/davy.htm
————————————————————
I was the proud owner of a coon-skin cap. I didn’t realize that you were supposed to actually skin one first. Damned thing kept stealing my food.
I’ll take Dave O’Brien and Sutcliffe over Miller and Morgan anyday on ESPN. Sutcliffe knows his stuff.
I think the runs helped Joba as well. Having some runs as a cushion can ground a pitcher and make him dig in. Well, everyone except AJ, who doesn’t like it when he gets a 6 run lead.
Just kidding, Betsy wherever you are!
the curse of Trisha!
Nick, sometimes as a fan you have to go with your eyes above all else, and also factor in what you know from having used your eyes in the past. I can say that I have never worried about Joba. (Not to beat a dead horse but I was more worried about Posada potentially throwing off Joba than Joba not being able to pitch like Mars!) You know, it’s like Potter Stewart’s definition of obscenity. And so it goes with Joba, at least for me!
if our offense continues to click the return of Arod will be that much easier
No homer from Swish? The guy is slacking off!
“He has a vasospasm that can be treated with medication. He will be evaluated again Monday and will not throw until after that follow-up.”
“IIRC ‘vaso’ is a term usually used when referred to fainting?”
Thats funny because I thought the same thing. Even though it can be treated thats got to make you a little nervous that your blood flow cut off. Thank got he got treatment before it got worse. I wish IPK a speedy recovery.
“the curse of Trisha!”
Okay, okay, I’ll go drop him. I’m never going to get out of 10th place anyway!
EvoLuTioN
April 29th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Robbie with a 16 game hit streak
why did he stop at 1st though?
————————————————————
Because he thought he might have missed first base.
“IIRC ‘vaso’ is a term usually used when referred to fainting?”
vaso in this case would be referring to vessels.. lol
Does anyone know how many pitches Joba is up to? Just curious, he seems to be pretty economical this game.
lol @ the people that were writing Matsui off, good calls
Trisha, I go with my eyes too, and I haven’t been worried about Posada in the slightest. My eyes have seen him do way too much to worry.
someone above said Joba is at 77 pitches
77 pitches through 6
maybe jobber should go on a lawrence taylor special diet between innings??
Vince
April 29th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Joba will not see the 5th inning, even with a ton of run support.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yes, I’ll be happy to eat crow. With a good BBQ sauce please.
Gameday is accurate as far as velocity. They’re linked with the fx system.
Check out this website if you haven’t already.
hthttp://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfx/tp://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfx/
Idiot fans, he was bunting he got in the way!
Here we go…
“No homer from Swish? The guy is slacking off!”
Hey, that’s almost like what Cone said!
Coney once gave himself vasospasm in the booth.
Laird doesn’t look THAT much like Youk! WTH!
Joba getting wild. Might be pen time with this giant lead.
gb7 in his coon skin hat:
http://www.cartoonstock.com/ne.....n1372l.jpg
why the heck are you bunting down 7 runs? that’s what you get.
Aceves is finished for the night. 8 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts. 91 pitches, 69 strikes.
Did it even hit him?
Why leave Joba in to the start the inning?
Yankees are up 8-1….
TAKE HIM OUT JOE
regardless what happens this inning you let joba get his 100 pitches in.
Baseball should change that rules that if you try to bunt and you get hit, it should be a strike
Joba starting to lose it. That hit kinda rattled him.
Joba has to learn how to get out of this.
Mark- I agree. while that pitch was inside, if he wasn’t bunting he would have been able to get out of the way.
Nice catch Swish A’Sweet.. that sounds good..lol
The best thing to happen to Jobba was Phil’s outing last night
oops that was me
here’s gb7:
http://images.google.com/hoste.....G%26um%3D1
“Trisha, I go with my eyes too, and I haven’t been worried about Posada in the slightest. My eyes have seen him do way too much to worry.”
Nick, I knew I was setting myself up when I said that but didn’t have the energy to rearrange the post.
Since my brand of worry isn’t anything that keeps me up, I am going to continue for a while longer with Posada. It is possible at some point I can give it up altogether!
Come on Joba!! Lets finish strong!! Cant have consecutive days of Joba in the pen talks.
Joba and Phil back to back great efforts? Now THIS is what the Yanks have been waiting for. It doesn’t matter that it was only one start for Phil – his stuff is back (LOVE hearing that he’s using his legs more), he’s got more pitches, he’s confident and he’s got great makeup. He’s 22 – he’ll get hit around again, but he’ll also learn from his failures. I’m so thrilled that Joba has found his groove. I doubt that it’s because of Phil,although I do agree that competition is good (for him and for any other pitcher). Sometimes the light just clicks on – maybe that’s happened for Joba here. In any case, it’s really great news – for the present and the future. The Yankees farm is alive and well………..
There you go joba…one more batter…
randy l.
April 29th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
gb7 in his coon skin hat:
http://www.cartoonstock.com/ne.....n1372l.jpg
————————————————————
It does go well with my bell-bottomed pants, wide patent leather white belt and platformed shoes.
1 more Jobber
Last out and last batter for Joba tonight.. here is is.. nice
joba at 87 pitches. is he done? or do you bring him back out?
papi k’s to kill the rally
sox are down 5-2 in the 8th now
“Clapping”… nice job Joba. Headed for bed. long day at work tomorrow.. sleep peacefully fellow Yank friends.
I think we should change Joba’s name to Jobber. An ode to Mike F.
How do you know Ter’? 88 pitches? He can go one more.
Here’s the headline: JOBA OK
The K’s are back and so is the ‘swagger’. I wonder what storyline the writers will go with next.
I hope they cut the apron strings and let Joba pitch in the 8th.
Joba has to come back out…he will pitch through 100 pitches, and see how it goes…he has been very economical at times tonight.
When do you stick a fork in Ortiz? End of May?
Glad Joba got out of that. I was worried the Yankees run differential would sink to -10 again.
I never lost faith in Nick even during his slump. Slumps happen to everyone – and settling in at his usual average is not a bad thing as long as he takes pitches, walks and comes up with some clutch hits. The man has been unbelievable – how many big hits has he had for us? He’s been terrific on AND off the field; I love how he hasn’t lost his sense of humor during this slide……He always has a positive, uplifting attitude – hard not to love that.
Why didn’t Cano take second on the ball to the wall?
If the Yankeees win this series they are 4-2-1 in series this year.
Everything considered you gotta be happy about that.
pena is really impressing, even that out was hit hard
Pena should stay in the Majors.
Ramiro is slapping that ball hard
I would bring him back out.
“Why didn’t Cano take second on the ball to the wall?”
missed first.
pena looks like a ball player. very natural and smooth.
he missed the bag
Who does Giradi bring in to finish it up….Pen is well rested…Sounds nice…Well rested bullpen
David- LOL, Any bets he take a leave from the team for personal reasons, goes back to the DR. And drinks some of those magic shakes?
Wait, now people *don’t* want Joba to pitch in the 8th inning??? Make up your minds!
i think you bring him back out but have someone getting ready – it’s the top of the line up again and you want him to end on a high note
why not bat cano after tex?
I would like to see Jobber go back out, but you can’t forget his innings limits. Why waste them in a 7 run game?
GZA, Cano missed touching the bag & had to go back. He was hustling, just one of those things…
Nick – I was waiting for him to come out in the eighth and say “problem solved – now the ‘Joba as starter’ and ‘Joba to pitch the 8th’ people are all happy”
Laura, that crack about AJ was totally uncalled for. I shall never forgive you for saying anything bad about my man…………What happens if he’s reading this blog and gets his feelings hurt because of you? lol
Is Tex just not getting pitches to hit?
Are they pitching around him?
Matsui is hot. He can clean up.
Pena looks better at the plate then Ransom did.
“why not bat cano after tex?”
he’s not there yet, he is hitting the ball, but he doesn’t realize how he is threat yet.
“I would like to see Jobber go back out, but you can’t forget his innings limits. Why waste them in a 7 run game?”
Because some members of our bullpen suck.
David Ortiz is Andruw Jones part deux without a doubt
however jones is seemingly turning things around in Texas
Beautiful thing about Tex is that he still draws walks during a bad slump.
Fundamentally sound!
“Pena looks better at the plate then Ransom did.”
I’ve said it since ST
Maybe if Molina was catching Joba doesn’t have such a stressful third inning.
It’s all Posada’s fault.
Pena’s minor league career OBP is about .315 so don’t get too excited.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised and happily wrong about Pena’s defense and batting so far. Nothing he’d done in the minors showed this.
John Sterling says he tripped than grimaced. Live it looks like that may have happened. But he continued to say that after he watched the replay. I saw he missed the bag, made a face than went back to touch it.
Does John even watch the game? or look at replays?
“Laura, that crack about AJ was totally uncalled for. I shall never forgive you for saying anything bad about my man…………What happens if he’s reading this blog and gets his feelings hurt because of you? lol”
AJ looks man enough to take it. Any guy with that many tats can take a little ribbing.
David Arias
April 29th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
“Now that I’m not on the juice anymore, I’m going back to my name when I was skinny and my head was a lot smaller and my “career” was a waste with the Twins, prejuicing.”
I didn’t think Arod ever played for the Twins???
Could it be our boys are starting to wake from their slumber?
Let’s give it a few more games, but I like this! This is more like it! Keep it coming!
If this keeps up, I might even welcome back Arod.
Uhhhh…maybe not.
jennifer: I would think that the innings limit is a little flexible bases on what kind of innings some of them are. Joba had one high-stress inning but a bunch of easy, low-pitch ones.
Plus I want to see how much he would dial it up in the 8th.
raymagnetic
I agree, it is Jorge’s fault they scored a run! Shame on Jorge, what a bum!
Matsui is hot. He can clean up.
Wow, someone actually said something nice about Godzilla. He was all but dead and buried last week.
lol @ Jobber. Is that a Francesa-ism?
Bases loaded for cano??
nick- Makes sense.
cano up with bases juiced
I’ve been taking a shot every time Cone says, “Singy”.
I’m PLOWED.
Jim Beam hangovers are no fun.
At this point I’m rooting for Perry. I am thinking we have enough runs, and I am all for validating players.
“Maybe if Molina was catching Joba doesn’t have such a stressful third inning.”
raymagnetic-
it just came to me. this will solve all perceived catching problems.
have molina call the games posada catches from the bench.
David Cone- No he really isn’t getting much to hit. This pitcher is all over the place.
Angel- Yep he can’t say Joba, he calls him Jobber.
O’s lost. Red sox losing, rays losing, jays tied. I see the perfect storm coming tonight. GAINING GROUND ON EVERYONE!!
How do you get 2 outs and then walk 3 to load the bases?
Im not too worried about Tex. His OBP is actually decent due to the high amount of walks recently. I believe 10 in the last 3 games. Maybe? I’ll take that any day of the week. Just wait until he gets the bat on the ball. Arod behind him in the order will guarantee him so better pitches to hit…go yanks!
I guess Joba was able to withstand Posada’s declining game-calling skills. Funny how that happened.
David Arias,
He’s a delusional hypocritical ex-juicer who is seeing his career slip away at an exponential rate
Laura, AJ just looks tough – he’s really a softie at heart, lol.
At this point I’m rooting for Perry. I am thinking we have enough runs, and I am all for validating players.
***********************************************
Unless they play for the Red Sox.
The notion that Joba was motivated by Hughes is pretty off. Innings 1-3 Joba looked like he has in starts 1-3 this year. After the Yankees got the big inning and gave him a 6 run lead, that was the real catalyst. He just looked more comfortable and let loose knowing he had the big lead. Whether it was a mental or mechanical catalyst, hopefully KJ finds out for us on the postgame, but we’re not gonna hear that Joba got motivated in the 4th inning (but not 1,2, and 3) because of the way Hughes pitched last night.
“Maybe if Molina was catching Joba doesn’t have such a stressful third inning.”
Yeah, I think you are onto something with that….maybe Jorge should focus on the printouts more.
am I crazy or would cano be 3-2 if he didn’t foul some of those off
Good for you Perry.
I guess Joba was able to withstand Posada’s declining game-calling skills. Funny how that happened.
Funny, Joba decided got better after a 7 run lead…funny how games go.
Jeez. Cano is absolutely grinding this year.
Not throwing away ANY at-bats.
Kid is already scary and gonna get scarier.
I guess we’ll have to wait till the next inning to see if Swish can hit 3 in one game.
I’ve never been less worried about a player than I am about Tex. I have zero concerns about him.
joba looks like he’s done
They took him out.
They took him out.
They took him out.
Keep Jobber in lol
Joba’s night is done
7 strong, 88 pitches
great job
benny , did they take him out.
Cano really looks comfortable at the plate. He’s seeing a ton of pitches and still hitting nearly everything hard. Maybe Long needs to work with a couple of other Yanks for a few weeks.
Nice outing by Joba. He seemed to get better as the game went on, even before he had a big cushion.
Betsy,
I completely agree. The way he handles himself is just contagious. He has the worker mentality, which never lets up. If he isn’t helping the team by hitting, he makes sure he helps on defense and taking walks. If his walk rate isn’t superb, he is making sure that those hits are big ones.
I really can’t wait for A-Rod to get back now. We are around .500 w/o him, we can be .750+ with him no doubt.
I think we need to start selling an official LoHud “Jobber” tshirt.
It would be a hit.
Good job Joba! As far as medical diagnosis, Google is the way to go. House would not be a TV show if they just used Google. Seriously give it a shot. My wife knows what they “medical mystery” is 5 minutes into that show thanks to Google.
“Unless they play for the Red Sox.
”
Angel, INDUBITABLY!!!!!
lol Dusty baker leaving volquez in for the 9th with a 106 pitch count…. they are up 2-0
cano is feelin it
Swish maine!!
i mean swisher lol woops
I’m really happy to see Robbie’s hard work in the off-season paying off for him, so far.
The best companion to natural ability is hard work.
Only Nick Swisher rolls around on the friggin’ ground with an 8-1 lead in the 8th inning.
what the hell?
Everybody run for cover!!!
Good job tonight Joba
What in the world? Bye Pete.
What the hell?
Comerica being evacuated.
Fire in the house???
WTF ?
I guess Marte was warming up in the pen.
Awww, no more Joba. But good to see Phil Coke.
Um, fire alarm? Evacuation? Swine fly outbreak?
“Funny, Joba decided got better after a 7 run lead…funny how games go.”
wtf is goin on
Whats with everyone attacking Posada lately. The guy has been on the team since the 90′s, hes a leader. You’d think he’d have more respect from everyone. I agree Molina may be a better defensive catcher right now but, Posada has better at bats (with the exception of Molina’s grand slam). Of course he is not what he used to be but, where is all this “its Posada’s fault” crap coming from?
what the heck is happening?
fire drill .
What in the world it going on???
Um Kenny and David, don’t you think you should leave?
Wow very odd, whats going on?
That announcement was creepy
If it were up to me Jorgie should manage.
Swisher’s beastness has set off the warning signal. His level of awesomeness was too great for the system to handle.
Was that a joke?
Bizarro.
“Swine fly outbreak?”
Ha, I meant swine *flu* outbreak. The swine *fly* outbreak will be when Joba goes back into the bullpen.
Fat Man In An Orange Coat…did anyone see that guy? He lipped the words “False Alarm” lol.
someone is getting arrested tonight
What the hell is that about. Idiot.
It’s attack of the Swine Flu.
Someone said there was a Youk sighting heading toward the Yankee clubhouse!
Who is the player of the game? Joba or Swish? I have to go with the Swish miester.
That announcement sounded like something from Resident Evil.
The fans saw Marte in the bullpen and got scared lol
lol Someone pulled the fire alarm.
I spent a little time with Phil Coke at Fantasy Camp last year.
What a great kid. He spent alot of time hanging around the campers, responding to questions, etc.
I was not surprised to see how tight Phil seemed to be with Gil Patterson, who was also there. Gil likely worked with Phil for years…
Anyway, just letting you all know what a great guy Phil is…he’s earned this opportunity.
I’m rooting for him.
I think Mariano needs to use that announcement as his entrance music from now on.
Are swine flies the midges only natural enemy?
Indians are choking.
getting tense in Cleveland. Bases loaded, one out, 5-3 in the bottom of the 8th (thanks to shoddy D by Cleveland).
Funny, Joba decided got better after a 7 run lead…funny how games go.
————–
I seem to recall Burnett unable to hold a six-run lead over the weekend.
make that top of the 8th…
Weird
The heat comin off the arms of the Yankees pitchers was too hot for Comerica Park
Joba isn’t pitching the 8th and a state of emergency is declared in Detroit.
Zach in Port Jeff April 29th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
I think Mariano needs to use that announcement as his entrance music from now on.
Attention Fans, please leave the game, mo’s level of dominance is far too great for any mortal to handle.
now that was a first.
the closest thing i can think of is the 7th inning in LA when everyone leaves to beat the traffic.
Pete-
Spill the beans and let us if any beat guys or announcers or anyone panicked? I know its not funny, but since it was a false alarm it is funny.
indians garbage pen is about to blow it to the red sox
FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
lmao Matt
That was a nice inning by Coke.
haha pat that is hilarious
“The fans saw Marte in the bullpen and got scared lol”
LMAO
ESPN BREAKING NEWS: Buster Olney has reported that he did indeed crap his pants during that alarm.
Why does Nick Swisher always look like he’s about to crack up?
By the way, is he Steve Swisher’s son? If he is, he looks nothing like his daddy. Must have got his dark hair and looks from his momma.
When I was going back into the game thread from the night Joba out-dueled Beckett at Fenway last year, I was reminded that the trade that got Nady and Marte went down during that game. At the time, Phil Coke was supposed to be part of the trade.
There were some comments about him that look funny in hindsight too.
“I think Mariano needs to use that announcement as his entrance music from now on.”
lol
“I think Mariano needs to use that announcement as his entrance music from now on.”
lol
Its amazing how much better the MLB Network is than Baseball Tonight.
How pissed do you think Ortiz is now that he cant do steroids anymore?
C’mon Jensen Lewis.
Nancy pinch hitting despite her sore quad. A little dicey in Cleveland. I think a collective moment where we all think bad thoughts about the Sox is in order!
Phil Coke is on my fantasy team also. So is Melancon.
That makes me so happy. I have Mo, Burnett, Joba, and Brian Bruney also. Unfortunately you need decent position players also.
Damn it.
Pepitone April 29th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Why does Nick Swisher always look like he’s about to crack up?
By the way, is he Steve Swisher’s son? If he is, he looks nothing like his daddy. Must have got his dark hair and looks from his momma.
He is indeed Steve’s son.
Doris from Rego Park April 29th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Its amazing how much better the MLB Network is than Baseball Tonight.
How pissed do you think Ortiz is now that he cant do steroids anymore?
He probably did Steroids like Mo Vaughan used to eat McDonalds after the game.
“I’d like 3000 Big Macs, some fries, and a diet coke. I’m watching my weight.”
UNFLIPPINBELIEVABLE!
Well the best revenge would be for the Sox to have battled all the way back and lose it in the bottom of the 9th again.
Drat.
Are the Indians always this NON clutch?
Indians. wow. just wow.
all tied up in cleveland..5-5, jensen lewis chokes and gives up a pair of runs
It’s 5-5 in the Indians gave failed us
Would anyone like to hear about my visit to Dr. Stuart Hershon?
Wow. The Cleveland bullpen preventing the sweep from the very first game of the Boston series.
Good. Sit down hobbit.
Rogaine grounds out.
Doris, once these games are over, sure.
Indians stink, nice error by 3B man
“He is indeed Steves son.”
Thanks, Matt K.
Well, at least the bullpen arms have been practicin their yoga poses the last couple days. Way to give them some time off after that dreadful weekend
Nice job Alby. You have a 7 run lead and you walk the first hitter? Um throw it down the middle, make him hit it.
Would you trade Cano and Phil for Roy Halliday?
Except mel DaRosa made a really costly error in that inning or the pen might have been out of it.
No.
I’d trade Ramiro Pena and Phil for Halladay though.
“Would anyone like to hear about my visit to Dr. Stuart Hershon?”
Not unless he’s a proctologist.
I mean this is just frustrating.
In some good news. Toronto is down 4-2.
Joe should go out and tell him if he doesn’t throw strikes he is taking the Scranton shuttle.
Where is Robertson? I would have used him. He hasn’t pitched in a while.
jennifer,
It’s unbelievable. Can any of our relievers throw strikes except Bruney/Melancon/MO?
Would you trade Cano and Phil for Roy Halliday?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
If Roy was 24-25yrs old maybe
FWIW, that ball was exactly where Jorge called for it.
come on Alba
melancon is some kind of talent..he’s got pop and a southern style slider..next joba?
If the Yanks can play to their potential, what Boston does or doesn’t do is going to be irrelevant.
MELANCON MELANCON MELANCON
Hit the emergency MELANCON button —
Get Albadejo outta there!!!!
Doris from Rego Park April 29th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Would you trade Cano and Phil for Roy Halliday?
Nop, why have Halladay at 31, when you can have a promising young second baseman who’s one of the top 10 in the league and a pitcher that can actually become something. Halladay’s almost 32 and in 4 years he’ll be a 3 starter at best. In those same 4 years you can have a good pitcher at 25 and one of the better young second basemen
So if Kennedy gets promoted is it Generation Tres Part Dos?
photo of nick and his father :
http://tinyurl.com/cpcqdf
there goes my espn’s beat the steak… i had 9 runs or under. why can’t i get past 3 wins in a row??
also like that free advertising out in center supporting good ole hard working americans and american made detroit diesel..gotta respect the tiger’s owner
Robertson needs to work. He’ll be good if he can get some innings. He needs to work keeping the ball down, but who doesn’t.
albalaterrible
Nice Job, bring in Robertson.
Not sure if this is good thing or a bad thing:
Joba’s been looking pretty pedestrian so far this season, as Pete has said. His fastball’s usually about 5 mph slower than expected, his command/control may be merely decent but something’s not quite there.
We’re sitting here wondering if he’s holding back because of his shoulder going pop last summer. Wondering if it’s for mental of physical reasons.
But his ERA so far this season is only 3.13 … gave up 1 run on 3 hits (6K/3BB) thru 7 innings tonight. Didn’t look great, but didn’t look bad.
Could he just be pacing himself a little for the long haul? He cranked it up a couple ticks late there. If so, the Jobber’s going to be a monster. Where he’s at right now is still a mystery though. Let’s see what he does against Boston next time around, and maybe that starts to give us an indication.
BTW … glad to see Matsui starting to hit like himself again. He needs his legs under him to hit. All winter I expected him to contribute at the plate once they felt better, but I realize him returning to the field as a regular or even a 4th OF is a bit more iffy.
Wouldn’t it be an odd twist though, if it turns out that Matsui plays more OF than expected in the 2nd half? Like, if, let’s say his knees improve beyond expectations, Damon stays hurt and Gardner’s hitting doesn’t improve? Hey, whoda thunk the guy would leg out a triple already this year?
I don’t think the Yanks are going to be overly worried about the long term health of his knees (though maybe a little on a moral level) because he’s not expected to return next year. He’d only have an outside shot to return if he has a “pre-wrist injury” year on offense (.300, 25, 100+) AND (later on) also show he can play a little defense occasionally. And if he takes a big pay cut in a 1-year extension. And if Posada shows no signs of needing to be limited to DH duties in ’10. And if there are no ‘upgrade’ acquisitions or trades made before next season. AJax and probably Holliday will be in the OF in a year. Matsui’s only hope at returning to NY is as DH and rare occasion OF. I always liked him playing here, but it’s unlikely.
Albaladejo isn’t that good. The Nationals let him go. He’s okay but no one to get really excited over.
Albaledejo bored or something ?
get alba out of there. geeezzzzzzzzzzz
Derosa is about to go yard.
Albaladejo has such a funky delivery, I wonder how he even throws as many strikes as he does.
What a BUM! Send him down, give him a bus ticket back to Scranton.
Tiger fan taunting Melky???
That’s just uncalled for.
The Ghost April 29th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
So if Kennedy gets promoted is it Generation Tres Part Dos?
Michael Kay’s head is already “bubbly and hot” just thinking about it.
With Delcarmen and the bum It will be very hard for the Indians to score. We may one Papelbum but other teams don’t and Alby cut it out man what you are doing in Not COOL!!!!
“If the Yanks can play to their potential, what Boston does or doesn’t do is going to be irrelevant.”
Not a question. And I fully expect that to happen.
That said, I LOVE to watch Boston when they lose games!
This is crazy that we cannot close this game out…Without using the pen….
Alba… it’s still 8-3, not 12-0. Couple more baserunners and we need to burn Mariano.
Sutcliffe, rightly so, is fuming over how Alba is not getting over that first strike.
If Suttcliffe is telling the truth, does that mean Beckett is in the clubhouse watching our game and not his game????
josh beckett watching the yankees game when his team is tied in the 8th??
the sad thing is the bullpen era might still go down.
Yo Joe bring in Robertson.
Bye Alby nice knowing ya, NOT.
send him to scranton jesus.
He had to have been bored.
Embarrassing
Send Alby down
Not cool, Alby. Everyone wants to go home.
BTW, stumbled onto the Tigers broadcast.
The guy said that Leyland spoke at a Detroit (economics) lunch and he said if he were starting a team, he’d start with the closer. He mentioned how Mariano hasn’t just been the best pitcher of the last 10 years, but the best player. What he’s done for the Yankees in the regular and post-season.
Was a nice story.
TRISHA SHUT UP!
3.13? 2.85? Whatever it is … still the same point.
Please get rid of this guy.
you are the weakest link…good bye
I knew from the first pitch that was going to be a terrible outing out of him. Oh well.
Really Joshy is watching the Yankee game instead of cheering on his teammates.
“Funny, Joba decided got better after a 7 run lead…funny how games go.”
Oh, you’re one of the “Posada truthers” too. Nice to see it’s a full moon out. Watch much baseball, do ya?
Randy,
I think Molina actually started calling the pitches from the 4th inning on. Which is why Joba looked better from that point.
3.13 this season… 2.85 career as starter
Even Veras and Edwar can put up 0s in blowouts.
No excuse at all. He’s had 3 days off. Not like he’s been in the pen for a week.
josh beckett watching the yankees game when his team is tied in the 8th??
Huh?
And we have to bring Mo in.
Well Alby that was horrible.
By the way, did you know that Albaladejo means Farnsworth in Spanish?
JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!
Uh…what?
Really, Mo?!
REALLY!?!?
these team just wow full of fail.
What the heck!
Alba could have done that
Absolutely pathetic
wow M!! Luckily we are still up by 2. Joe looks like you have to be kidding me.
What the hell?
Thanks Albaladejo
Are they really bored ? I mean WTF ?
I can’t believe that Mariano has to come in this game.
for real?
Last 2 pitches that Mo has thrown were HR’s?
home runs kill rallys . game over.
Hmmm. She we start worrying about Mo?
wtf seriously wtf
No one on base, one out to go. A win is a win is a win.
WTF?
Send Alba to Scranton please. God!
Does Joe have something against Robertson? He’s been warming alot longer then MO.
If we blow a 7 run lead in the 9th inning, I will quit watching baseball
Pathetic Mo was not ready to come in.
I don’t know what everyone is so hysterical about. Rivera goes through this nearly every April. Joe probably just wanted him to get some work.
Is Mariano starting to lose it? He is almost 40, it could be the beginning of the end.
Hope not, but that’s two in a row in which he gave up a home run.
wow, I almost got nervous
Meaningless HR.
Okay. A win is a win is a win.
He knows mo only likes save situations.
Mo planned it all along. He wanted the save.
Just my opinion, of course, but when you realize that Alby put up zeroes in 6 of 8 games before tonight, you might want to stop sounded like hyenas waiting for a carcas.
My embarrassment is not with our players but more with our bloggers!
That would have been one ugly loss.
A-Jo needs to be sent down immediately. You don’t give up a lead off walk with a 7 run lead. And yes I am trademarking the A-Jo nickname.
MO hasn’t worked in 4 days either
Good move bringing him in. Don’t want him to get rusty.
Uhhhhhhhhhh…
Did Girardi just call Ramiro Pena “Enchilada”???
Please tell me he did.
Bases loaded for Sizemore…
Joe ignored Alby. Interesting
Pepitone
April 29th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Is Mariano starting to lose it? He is almost 40, it could be the beginning of the end.
Hope not, but that’s two in a row in which he gave up a home run.
===============================
And this is said every year about this time too.
Take the win and run
wow this win makes ya wonder.
Now Beckett is going to watch some high-brow reality show on the Discovery Channel. Unless he has LOST dvr’d;)
I meant I couldn’t believe that Mo was in the game, words can change your meaning. Mo is scaring me a little.
mr.albadejo? your shuttle to scranton awaits
Joe Girardi seems like the kind of guy who would call his daughter fat to her face
A-Jo (yes the trade mark is yours) was muttering to himself as he left the mound – probably will go down when BBrnuey comes back
I am always shocked when Mo gives up a bomb. I don’t care what situation it is.
Nick, no spoilers, but tonight’s LOST kicks major butt!
Damn
I thought Sizemore had that.
“Joe ignored Alby. Interesting”
I would too. What he did was inexcusable.
west coast
April 29th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
MO hasn’t worked in 4 days either
Good move bringing him in. Don’t want him to get rusty.
===================================
Exactly. Good move. Not like JoeT, who would let him sit and sit.
What’s up with the hysterics?
Seriously.
Pretty piss poor job by Alby, unable to close the door with a big league. Bad job by Joe bringing MO in – I’m not worried about him at all because Mo always has his April struggles. I don’t feel as good as I did about a half hour ago
Pretty piss poor job by Alby, unable to close the door with a big league. Bad job by Joe bringing MO in – I’m not worried about him at all because Mo always has his April struggles. I don’t feel as good as I did about a half hour ago
mo was surprised to come in…
and for my comment earlier, sutcliffe couldn’t remember giving up 6 grand slams. he later got a text message from josh beckett about it.
Beckett is watching a “Dog Whisperer” marathon right now. He just loves that Cesar Milan.
Scorpio
April 29th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I am always shocked when Mo gives up a bomb. I don’t care what situation it is.
====
Save the shock for when he has his pinpoint command back and gives one up.
Why would Joe ignore him when he’s been pretty good for the most part this year though?
That doesn’t make sense at all.
MO hasn’t worked in 4 days
Nothing wrong with it
Too bad about Alby. It seems like he had turned the corner in that game where he got out of a bases loaded jam (can’t remember which game specifically). Oh well.
A win is a win is a win. Except for a few minutes in the 9th inning, there was a lot of good in this game. Which they won.
Laura: I can’t wait!
Josh Beckett is now watching Lincecum pitch.
Baseball Tonight is speculating Rivera is injured (their theories: groin or leg is affecting his velocity).
Wait are You guys really questioning the great Mariano Rivera after two bad outings in April. I mean seriously people, some of you make me sick.
I want to Apologize Mo for the idiots on this blog who are questioning your greatness in April.
Angel, have you ever seen Joe Girardi ignore anyone? I think we have people seeing things that aren’t there and any hysterics will always be compliments of the usual suspects.
Cripes.
Bay down swinging
Steve Phillips just said that Joba is an “ordinary starter”, but a “special reliever”, and when Wang comes back, there will be a big question as to whether or not he stays in the rotation, or helps out in the pen.
Steve Phillips, once again proving why he failed as a GM. Generally, you like the people in your front office to know something about baseball. Steve Phillips, clearly, does not.
Alby came into an 8-1 game. He had a bad outing. It happens. He’s not going anywhere. Girardi was just annoyed. Thats it.
Mo loafing another fat pitch to make it interesting. Albaladejo probably would have done no worse if Giradi stuck him till the end. A win is still a win, but this kind of bullpen ineffectiveness has left a bad taste in my mouth since the Boston series.
That 9th inning took all the good will out of this win for me.
On BBTN on ESPN (or I should say NESN) Kruk I believe it was thought Mo’s groin was bothering him – maybe that is why Bay hits that HR and he gives up one tonight – maybe there is something to that but Phillips still thinks Joba should move to the pen when Wang gets back
“A win is a win is a win.”
I don’t think so. I just saw Steve Phillips on Baseball Tonight and apparently Joba did not throw a high enough percentage of his pitches over 95 mph. So officially, I think this game will be considered a tie.
Update: Beckett has switched to a “Maude” retrospective on Nick at Nite.
Ryan
April 29th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Baseball Tonight is speculating Rivera is injured (their theories: groin or leg is affecting his velocity).
=========
Were he hurt, he wouldn’t have been brought into a game we were leading 8-3.
Back to the doghouse for Albaladejo
Then back to Scranton when Bruney is back
Good job by Jensen Lewis. Now hopefully the Sox pen blows it in the bottom of the 9th.
Or actually I wouldn’t mind seeing them have to go extra extra extra extra innings, as long as the Tribe wins it of course!
If Jackson is Scranton’s CF, he made an awesome catch running hard towards the infield back on Monday night to save a run. And as for Shelley, he’s never hit this well in any level of the minors before. I’d be surprised if the Yanks don’t recall him to the Bronx before Memorial Day.
Weird, weird game.
two wins in a row. Maybe the sky isn’t falling after all!
OT – Youk is sitting out tonight with a bad back. I might have to spring for a Papelbon voo doll next….
“And this is said every year about this time too.”
True, but he wasn’t knocking on the door of 40 back then either. I have also heard, from more than one source, that he has lost some speed off his pitches. Sutcliffe mentioned it on air tonight.
Nothing can be done about it one way or the other, he’s our closer for better or for worse.
But, if he is on the way to being washed up, then you can kiss the playoffs this year goodbye.
“Baseball Tonight is speculating Rivera is injured (their theories: groin or leg is affecting his velocity).”
That’d be easy enough to check in Gameday, no? He sits 92, almost constantly, normally.
Looked like his cutter didn’t cut.
Because Robertson doesn’t necessarily have good control.
If he walked a guy or gave up a hit, then MO would have been brought in anyway and this time he would have had the tying runs on base.
Might as well shut the door now. Joe did the right thing.
To everyone who just saw Steve Philips speculate on Joba on BT, what he said was virtually identical to what he said in a segment right *before* the game.
Which means, the special performance we just witnessed from Joba has absolutely nothing to do with Philips’ appraisal that Joba hasn’t looked like a ‘special’ pitcher.
Too inconsistent is the bullpen….I understand that there’s an A group and then a B group in the bulpen…But hell the B group is erratic as all hell….
“Phillips still thinks Joba should move to the pen when Wang gets back”
Obviously, because you just can’t get people out with anything less than a 95+. I’ve always found the reliever/starter controversy to be rather contrived, but their focus on his velocity after he threw 7 innings of one-run ball against one of the game’s premiere offensive teams (while only throwing 88 pitches) is utterly ridiculous.
“Alby came into an 8-1 game. He had a bad outing. It happens. He’s not going anywhere.”
Thanks Zach. Nothing like having to state the obvious though.
According to ESPN:
Joba can’t be A starter
Penny is as good as A.J. if not better
after 7 good innings, (N)ESPN is still pushing Joba to the pen…..did they just watch the game and the potential he has?
BBTN is ridiculous. Mo goes through this EVERY April – If Joe ignored Alby, that’s just immature. What is he, 5 years old? Ok, he’s pissed that Alby did a bad job, but sheesh – be professional. ThatS IF he ignored him on purpose…….which I doubt.
“Baseball Tonight is speculating Rivera is injured (their theories: groin or leg is affecting his velocity”
Mo had shoulder surgery in the off season so they speculate on an injury and pick groin or leg? Idiots.
“On BBTN on ESPN (or I should say NESN) Kruk I believe it was thought Mo’s groin was bothering him – maybe that is why Bay hits that HR and he gives up one tonight – maybe there is something to that but Phillips still thinks Joba should move to the pen when Wang gets back”
That’s great, just like his trade Hughes for what was that Reds BP guy’s name ?
I really hope this isin’t the end for MO.
He has given up atleast 1 hit in every outing this season and his last 2 outings have been HRs.
He has to get himself figured out.
“I might have to spring for a Papelbon voo doll next….”
They’re 2-for-1 on the Riverdance website.
mo has some april woes. he’ll be back to normal.
Phillips also conveniently used the Yes gun speeds of tonights game…91,92 ( versus espn gun at 95 )
To make his point that Jobas velocity was down…against a clip from 2008…when Joba was hitting 98.
Joba did look alot bigger though…in that 2008 clip.
“Penny is as good as A.J. if not better”
Earth to the idiots on BBT, MO goes through this every SINGLE year at the beginning of the year. Go back and look at the statistics nothing new!
EVERY April. Wind your watch to it.
What did you want Girardi to do? Shake Albaladejo’s hand and tell him everything would be all right and it’s no big deal?
This isin’t pre-school. This is a million dollar business.
Agreed. Anytime Mo gives up a homer, its a shock to the system. However, Mo was probably rusty and we need him to get some work in before this weekend. This season sorta reminds me of the 2007 season. We win by a large margin or lose. Not many close wins.
Joe was probably trying to get Mo to pitch in a game with runners on base.
Hope the Sox lose in the bottom of the 17th inning.
What exactly do you guys mean Joe ignored Alby? What happened?
Well if Steve Phillips thinks that Joba should go to the pen, then there’s no more argument, Joba remains a starter. My rule of thumb when it comes to baseball ask yourself what would Steve Phillips do? Then do the opposite!!!
“the special performance we just witnessed from Joba”
Special performance?? I have trouble believing that. I was watching the radar gun the entire time and it sure didn’t look too special. Don’t worry though, he may light it up again one of these days.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
“I might have to spring for a Papelbon voo doll next….”
=====
He is a voodoo doll. Just abduct him and stick pins in him.
Colin Curtis needs to be promoted to AAA
True it is every April but sooner or later – it is the velocity and groin issue – otherwise ESPN is just a NESN extra outlet
Vince
April 29th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
What exactly do you guys mean Joe ignored Alby? What happened?
======
I missed it, but interpreting facial expressions is a regular hobby on here. Guys who smile don’t care if we’re losing, etc.
Bengie Molina just hit a triple! He looked like a runaway freight train. I hope Josh Beckett was watching, that was great!
DT
It was either your voodoo doll or the fastball that hit him last night.
I’m hoping it was the doll because the possibilities are endless.
I have a hypothetical question for you baseball people. If a pitcher is throwing where the catcher is setting up and the pitcher keeps getting hit, who is it on, the pitcher or the catcher? Or is it that pitcher’s velocity could be off and the hitters are just catching up to the pitcher? Or a possible combination?
The reason I ask is because Alby, for the most part, seemed to be hitting the glove where Posada set it up.
2007
April 15
April 20
back to back blown saves
2006
April 15 blown save
april 26 took loss
2005
April 5- blown save- win
April 6- blown save
Is my point made?
I’m glad the Yanks/A’s game was rained out. That means one extra game for A-Rod.
Actually we were winning close games and getting blown out in losses (Wang factor and BP mismanagement).
Why is Colin Curtis still in AA when he spent the whole year there last year. Odd
I too, got annoyed at Albie for not putting this thing away, but not as annoyed as at that knucklehead Steve Phillips after the game for trying to stir that whole Joba bullpen flap. Jesus Christ. Shut the F up. The bottom line is Joba pitched well, we knocked enough runs in to withstand a lapse and won for the second day in a row.
Isn’t it funny how that unhittable, All-Star, Hall of Fame bullpen that ran through the Yankee lineup in the playoffs a few years ago…..now is not even ordinary, just plain bad.
Joba pitched well and that moron is talking Jobber to the pen? Now really give me a break.
Did Mo have enough time to warm up?
Anyway, lots of positives – Swish and the rest of the offense heating up, Coke did well, Pena is a nice addition and obviously Joba………Hughes and Joba back to back, nice!
So that’s what Steve Phillips took out of this game?
Just when you thought ESPN’s analysis couldn’t get any lower…
R*d S*x won.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....pid=453298
Last yr. Colin wasn’t ready but this season he’s hitting the crap out of the ball.
Extras in Cleveland
Mike Harky is in charge of warming guys up in the bullpen
Here are the two stats that tell me Mo is absolutely fine. 11 k’s in 9 innings
0 walks.
The homeruns and the velocity blah blah as others have said he does this EVERY APRIL, and every April people continue to suggest this may be the end. It’s not.
“It was either your voodoo doll or the fastball that hit him last night.
I’m hoping it was the doll because the possibilities are endless.”
yeah, I broke down and read the instructions. They said overuse could Pavanoize a player for the year. I don’t want that on my conscience.
Are people watching Baseball Tonight because you can’t get MLB Network or just gluttons for punishment?
“R*d S*x won.”
Lying sack of crap, no offense!
Just back from tonight’s game. Pete was right… Albie was awful. 17 pitches, 11 of them balls. Ugh!
My colleague and I didn’t arrive until the top of the 4th – Yanks were then down 1-0… whoops! That was a great inning, much better than yesterdays’ from an offensive standpoint.
Great job, Swish! Loved seeing him hit three hr’s in two games!
Joba may not have been sharp at the beginning, but he dominated the four innings we saw him pitch. His FB was 95-96, and his slider was on, and his change was also working. Very happy for him.
The alarm thing was bizarre. No one where we were sitting, way up in foul territory near the LF foul pole, had a clue. My colleague and I left & went down to the field level by the foul pole for the last two innings.
Very pleased for the Yanks on this leg of the road trip. If Phil & Joba can have a little competition, that’s a good thing!!!
“Did Mo have enough time to warm up?”
nope infact he was rushed to the mound, they wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.
That’s the point, Philips didn’t take anything from the game. He said exactly the same thing before the game as he did after.
Maybe Josh Beckett should have done the post-game analysis for BT, at least we know he was actually watching.
John Van Every? Are you kidding me???
That was a BOMB. merde.
6-5 Sox, top of 10th.
trisha- don’t be, he comes on here all the time and makes up garbage.
“Is my point made?”
Yeah, Jennifer, you’re a good historian, but we are not talking about past history, we’re talking about 2009!
One of these days his Aprils will continue on through September, the guy will lose it one day. All were saying is; is it beginning now?
Wow, did Jensen ever just throw a bad pitch.
Jon Van Every? Seriously? jeeeez
joba is complementing Jorgie on the game he called
Trisha =
They just interviewed Joba on the post=game and he credited Jorge with calling a good game, said they were on the same page, AND said he was glad he had Jorge back there.
(Maybe he WAS reading the blog today!
)
Van who?
Just got caught up on the posts from today and Pete, amazing work today, great writing. Thank you for this blog!!
MO’s velocity is down
Can’t get away with same pitches throwing 88-90 that he could throwing 93-94.
Even minor leaguers can hit 88 MPH down the middle… throwing that to all-stars like Bay and Granderson isin’t going to work.
“joba is complementing Jorgie on the game he called”
he has to
Trisha,
It really depends. It COULD be the catcher picking a bad spot. But the movement on a pitcher’s stuff is, often times, what determines his success.
Looks look at a fastball, for instance. If a pitcher is throwing a straight fastball, it’s hittable. So he could throw it right to the catcher’s glove, and it might still get hit. However, that could be avoided if he started the pitch a little off where the glove was set up, and allowed the pitch’s movement to carry it in to the glove. He’s hitting his spot, but in a more deceptive way, which can result in fooling the batter to look at a strike, or cause a swing and a miss.
The same could be said for a breaking pitch. Some guys throw a curveball that curves just a little, and some have drastic “12-6 curveballs”. The guy throwing the one that curves just a little is going to work on throwing it just barely off the glove, so that when it breaks, it lands in the glove. Meanwhile, the guy with the 12-6 is going to want it higher, so that when it breaks, it breaks, again, right down in to the glove.
I guess the answer to your question is that sometimes the catcher picks a bad spot and the batter is looking for it and hammers it, and other times the pitcher’s stuff just isn’t moving the way he wants it to, kind of like when Mo’s stuff doesn’t cut.
The Posada truthers are out, beware.
Yes’s gun was off.
Knicks,
Joba was gushing about Jorge. He doesn’t have to do that.
Pretty soon Joba will be complimenting Jesus Monteto for the game he called
I forgot that Mo hadn’t pitched since Friday and that Joe did use Coke tonight and Melancon, Veras and Edwar yesterday. I was starting to get nervous there for a few moments…….Ok, I guess I can’t be annoyed at Joe.
I don’t know why I read the comments…I should just read, “[Joba] is 4-1 with a 2.85 ERA as a starter. By all means, let’s return him to the bullpen”, nod my head, and move on.
But I don’t. I come to the comment section and read nonsensical garbage, post after post.
Hughes is 22? And Joba’s 23, right? Just checkin’. Because that 3.13 ERA and 93-96 average FB doesn’t seem to be enough to convince the “fans” that this guy is the real deal.
{sigh}…only Yankee fans.
Come on people…quit reinforcing the “Yankees are spoiled” mantra. I wonder if Jeter, Pettite, Posada ,and Mo had the same treatment coming up.
Celebrate youth in this game. Celebrate even more when that youth succeeds. Never take it for granted.
Yankees fans should know this more than anyone.
Sincerely,
Kevin Brown
Did anyone else hear Joba say on the postgame “Jorge and I were on the same page today, I was glad he was back there and Pete, can you tell Trisha she’s wrong?”
‘Posada truthers’, ha!
Jorge Posada’s game-calling has never melted steel.
That young Hawks team is good
Hey guys lets hear more about how Joba should be in the pen! ahahahah
Is anyone else out there concerned about Mo? Isn’t that two homers in two appearances? If it were 5-1, the Yanks would’ve lost…
“Knicks,
Joba was gushing about Jorge. He doesn’t have to do that.”
Melkyyy,
Trust me he does. BTW what do you think of the Nets extending Lawrence Frank
Doreen, I would guess he had to mean from the 3rd inning on since Joba was very shaky until then. And that was coincidental with all of the runs scoring, as I remember.
I was already told that pitchers say that about catchers all the time so I can’t get too excited.
Also, I figured that since pitchers are competitive with each other so are catchers and maybe Posada would want to try to duplicate what Molina did the night before.
I don’t expect Posada to be as good behind the dish as Molina because I believe Molina is the better defensive catcher, just as many on this blog do. I believe Jorge is definitely the better offensive catcher.
As long as he manages to help pitchers win, or in the least not to hurt them, it’s all good.
No need to try to sell me on Posada. I’ve read each of your posts standing up for him, so I know where you stand. I can respect that.
I hope you can respect that I and others don’t necessarily feel the same way.
Now I really need to turn my attention to something more important, and that would be trying to help Cleveland win!
But was I wrong?
Jerzz
April 29th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
MO’s velocity is down
Can’t get away with same pitches throwing 88-90 that he could throwing 93-94.
Oh, no, didn’t you hear? This happens every April, so we can all relax, nothing to worry about. Just Mo being Mo. Who cares what the facts are, he will be fine, like always.
Yet when the guy really does lose it, and this could be the year, these same people will be wringing their hands and saying, “Wha hoppend!”
Betsy -
That’s the price we pay for the starters going deep into games lol. The guys in the pen won’t get as much work and might be rusty rather than overused.
Brandon, if that’s the case, that’s inexcusable. It’s inexcusable with any pitcher and it’s even more so with Mo……
I’ll give MO 1 more outing
If he blows a save this weekend, them it may be time to let Bruney become the closer and MO can work in long relief to get his velocity back up.
He simply cannot get outs throwing in the upper 80s.
jen, do you think we can get him banned? Pete seems to be willing to disappear people who are just here to try to make trouble and be a nuisance.
(No sarcastic comments necessary, ahem!)
LOL Swisher is awesome
“He simply cannot get outs throwing in the upper 80s.”
It’s April
and he went 92 mph tonight. Geez he gives up a HR and people get all/… oh no !
Even mo can’t be perfect every time out. you guys are like little old ladies worrying about nothing.
SWISH: “Shirtless interview!!!” He is so the man!!!!
“Shirtless interview!!!”
Is Nick Swisher ever mad?
Brandon If Melancon doesn’t K the first batter he’s a bust “I LOVE ME SOME ME !”
April 29th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
“Knicks,
Joba was gushing about Jorge. He doesn’t have to do that.”
Melkyyy,
Trust me he does. BTW what do you think of the Nets extending Lawrence Frank
=========
Lol. Not him. Though I know the Dude.
What do I know about the Nets. I’m a hockey fan. You can’t watch both hockey and basketball.
BTW. Missing you in the prospects thread
swish is all bubbly on the post game wrap up
ahahah you people worrying about Mo and wanting to move him out of the closer role if he continues to struggle when bruney comes back are a riot!
Some people just never learn, or havn’t been paying attention as he does this every year. As for his velocity, well lets see he’s coming off a shoulder surgery, lets give him some time to build his arm strength up. If it’s still 90 mph in August then there may be reason for concern. Although Rivera at 90mph is just fine as long as hes locating his pitches.
Papelbum about to save it. If we wanna beat the Sux we gotta do it ourselves!
I hate the Red Sox with the white hot passion of a thousand suns, but those guys just never, ever, ever quit.
They should have lost, Cleveland had them beat, but……….
Francona has a lot to do with that.
Donnie -
thanks.
Tampa Bay is 8-14
Boston is running away and hiding though
Looks like Nick Swisher’s got 2 tickets to the gun show.
At least Cleveland is making it interesting
Nick Swisher has an angel tatoo on his L upper arm. Kind of takes the cool away from him.
Does Beckett have a clubhouse guy tip him off to switch the TV to the Sox game when it’s over so it’s on when the other players get there?
Pepitone,
I’ve just stopped becoming angry. I’ve come to accept it that the Sox are filled with good karma and mental toughness and prepare myself like they are going to win every game. They have determination and the other team just fears them and force the other team into mistakes.
Makes it much less painful when they win games like today and like they did against us.
LOL
Swish : “Shirtless interview!”
We keep getting length our BP will be in ship shape for Sox.
mel, I guess we have to take what we can out of the fact that Cleveland COULD HAVE had a sweep…
People on Kim Jones’ blog commented they are tired of seeing Damon and his shirtless interviews in the postgame and it was time for her to interview someone else.
Shirtless Swisher = someone else
Is anyone else getting incredibly sick of teams rolling over and dying for Boston?
Boston, whatever, at least Cleveland covered the run line.
We gained in the division leaders tonight. Blue Jays down 11-2.
http://kimberlyjones.mlblogs.c.....ughes.html
Speaking of Hughes: He is (still) just 22 and appears to have bounced back beautifully from a disappointing 2008. Between 3:30-6:30 p.m., he did some running, chatted easily with reporters, signed autographs, interacted with fans and smiled. Smiled a lot. I always feel good for players who face adversity, don’t sulk, pick themselves up and have great attitudes. Put Cano in that category, too.
**Good to see Phil smiling and relaxed – it’s been a frustrating two years for him, but he still has kept that great attitude, working hard and now being rewarded for that hard work. He doesn’t blog much anymore, but he’s always been good to his fans – it’s nice to see from a young kid.
“I’ve just stopped becoming angry. I’ve come to accept it that the Sox are filled with good karma and mental toughness and prepare myself like they are going to win every game. They have determination and the other team just fears them and force the other team into mistakes.
Makes it much less painful when they win games like today and like they did against us.”
troll alert! troll alert!
Oh lord Nick, don’t ever change, now I expect Georgy to call him a clown and give him a mean look.
http://i41.tinypic.com/2j4wocn.jpg
“We gained in the division leaders tonight. Blue Jays down 11-2.”
YOWZA!
I feel fine about us. It just gives me joy when Boston loses. I don’t fear them though.
Good that the line was covered though (whatever that means!)
I’ve always hated Papelbon with the heat of a thousand suns, but the Cleveland announcers had a story I wasn’t familiar with:
after the 2005 season, Papelbon worked in a Budweiser factory hauling cases of beer.
As much as it pains me to write it, he may not be that bad of a guy…
AzTravos
April 29th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Pepitone,
I’ve just stopped becoming angry. I’ve come to accept it that the Sox are filled with good karma and mental toughness and prepare myself like they are going to win every game. They have determination and the other team just fears them and force the other team into mistakes.
…………………………
I hear ya bro. The Yankees used to be like that not too long ago, sure wish it would return. The Red Sox do scare other teams, including the Yanks. I have been a Yankee fan since 1964, and I never thought I would see the day when the Yankees showed fear in their eyes when they played the Red Sox. I saw it for the first time on Sunday – when the camera turned into the Yankee dugout – I saw the look of fear and defeat in the eyes of those players. Sad indeed.
You can spin it any way you like, but Rivera coming in and throwin another flat 90 mph homerun is unsettling….
Is Dave Eiland the problem?
What’s really aggravating isn’t so much that the Yankees are giving up a ton of runs, it’s that they are giving them up in bunches. It’s as if our pitchers develop a glitch, the effect of which snowballs into one or more big innings — without ever being corrected. Is anyone else getting the same feeling?
It’s early still but something special could be brewing in San Fran tonight with the Freak on the mound.
How is Boston running away and hiding? LOL I think they are 3 or 4 games ahead of us…….and they’re playing about as well as they can play.
How is Boston running away and hiding? LOL I think they are 3 or 4 games ahead of us…….and they’re playing about as well as they can play.
(off topic)
Chelsea Handler is very salty. I am very surprised that her significant other is the head of the E Network. I don’t know why.
“You can spin it any way you like, but Rivera coming in and throwin another flat 90 mph homerun is unsettling….”
Agree. I hope it is just a blemish
Yeah, Mo is about as done as Matsui was 19 daya ago…
Pat M, oh boy – don’t go getting me all nervous now; you’re usuallly so optimistic.
Homer April 29th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
I’ll give MO 1 more outing
If he blows a save this weekend, them it may be time to let Bruney become the closer and MO can work in long relief to get his velocity back up.
He simply cannot get outs throwing in the upper 80s.
You should be sterilized immediately
“It’s early still but something special could be brewing in San Fran tonight with the Freak on the mound.”
Thanks for the heads up. Think I’ll head there.
Night all.
Has MO always had this low velocity in late April?
That’s the most concerning part.
The last guy I worry about on this team is Mo.
He will be fine.
>As much as it pains me to write it, he may not be that bad of a guy…
GTFO
“west coast
April 29th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Tampa Bay is 8-14
Boston is running away and hiding though
”
Surprised Tampa has played so bad, maybe it’s repeat of Colorado a few years ago, they do have a 4 game series against the Sox starting tommorow in Florida…that series will either get them back into the mix or the Sox will bury them early
About MO, don’t worry, it was cold, maybe he wasn’t warmed up enough and mentally you know he didn’t think he would be coming in the game tonight after the 8th…
Mo had surgery on his pitching shoulder. I’m just thankful he’s able to still go out there. The results will come in time, but give the guy a break!
If he blows a save this weekend, them it may be time to let Bruney become the closer and MO can work in long relief to get his velocity back up.
——-
Oh, please. Don’t be an idiot.
Besides, Bruney is still on the DL and will remain there for at least another 10 days.
There is nothing to worry about with Mo.
I know, I know, Pel. He is the anitchrist, but he worked at a brewery. Points have to be given for that.
“Has MO always had this low velocity in late April?
That’s the most concerning part.”
Yes, we have this discussion every year.
Abe/s Odd World
April 29th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Is anyone else out there concerned about Mo? Isn’t that two homers in two appearances? If it were 5-1, the Yanks would’ve lost…
————————————————————
Your 3rd grade teacher just called and said that if anybody saw you on the LoHud board to remind you that you have an arithmetic test first thing tomorrow, before recess.
5>1+3.
It happens every spring – I think that was the name of a baseball movie, but it could easily be Mo’s theme. Every year we go through this – and ESPN, etc……just loves to rile everyone up with the “he’s done’ headlines.
>Points have to be given for that.
0100011101101111001000000110000101101000011001010110000101100100001000000110000101101110011001000010000001100111011010010111011001100101001000000110100001101001011011010010000001110000011011110110100101101110011101000111001100100000011001100110111101110010001000000111010001101000011000010111010000101110000011010000101000001101000010100101010001010010010000010100100101010100010011110101001000100001
I found out the hard way that comments do not wrap.
Can this blog’s commenting form get any worse?!
why wouldn’t the yanks hire Kerrigan as the fulltime pitching coach? Because Eiland worked with IPK, Hughes, and Joba?
Some of you are just down right stupid, it’s April and you guys are panicking about Mo. Mo does this EVERY APRIL, ill be worried if this happening in May and when he doesn’t have a 9 to 0 strike-out to walk ratio
yeah, Pel, it would’ve just been easier to write ‘traitor’.
hangs head in shame
I’ve never been called stupid when it came the baseball…All I said was that he’s throwing flat hittable 90 mph fastballs…..
Another pathetic showing from many of you. The Yankees won.
Is anyone here going to the Stadium tomorrow? Weather.com has a 50% chance of precipitation at gametime.
>hangs head in shame
shakes fist angrily
“Surprised Tampa has played so bad, maybe it’s repeat of Colorado a few years ago”
———-
except Tampa has excellent young pitching
The Rays will be much better than this but their bullpen hasn’t been able to repeat their amazing performance of last year so far. Adding Price to the mix will be a pretty big boost. Perhaps it will be Sonnanstine who loses his spot and not Niemann.
It doesn’t help them that they can’t sneak up on anybody this year either.
Great job by Molina calling Joba’s game tonight? why do they keep that Posada guy around…..
ellen
April 29th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Is anyone here going to the Stadium tomorrow? Weather.com has a 50% chance of precipitation at gametime.
===============
I’m gg. I heard 30% chance in the Bronx.
Been telling my friends who are mostly Rays fans at best they are a 3rd place team this year, like the tigers and there run to the WS the young arms were worn out and not good the next year and so on
They traded away 14 game winner Edwin Jackson, who will improve upon his 14 games from last season…..17-9 maybe
Betsy
April 29th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
***It Happens Every Spring*** – I think that was the name of a baseball movie, but it could easily be Mo’s theme. Every year we go through this – and ESPN, etc……just loves to rile everyone up with the “he’s done’ headlines
————————————————————
Yes it was. Fun movie about a St Louis college professor that discovers a wood repelling substance and decides to change his name to King Kelley and help the Cards win the WS. Ray Milland, Jean Peters, Paul Douglas (original “Angels In The Outfield) and Alan Hale, Jr. The only actors that ever made Ray Milland look more like a baseball player were Tony Perkins and Gary Cooper.
who gives a flying fvck what Boston does? the Yanks have found that Melancon is the real deal, after all. Hughes was as good as he can possibly be, and Joba toyed w/a powerful Tigers lineup tonight.
getting hung up on what Boston does is a colossal waste of time. you worry about your own, and let the chowdas worry about theirs.
I’ll tell you how little I’m concerned about Mo…I didn’t even mention the hr he gave up tonight in my blog post…
Why? Because as others have stated above, we’ve gone through this before…
Mo will be just fine…
On other matters…I want to see this team win a series from the Angels…
Let’s Go Yanks!
bodhisattva
April 29th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
ellen
April 29th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Is anyone here going to the Stadium tomorrow? Weather.com has a 50% chance of precipitation at gametime.
===========
I’m gg. I heard 30% chance in the Bronx.
————————————————————
I’m predicting an 80% chance.
Of a win.
Pat M
April 29th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
I’ve never been called stupid when it came the baseball…All I said was that he’s throwing flat hittable 90 mph fastballs…..
…………………
Didn’t you know, Pat, our resident Einsteins are infallible when it comes to predicting the future of Mo’s pitching. Of course, if their little prognostication goes sour, they will be the first to deny they ever said any such thing.
I’m going to be at the stadium tomorrow, it’s not going to rain. Going to be a bit chilly and overcast but not suposed to rain until much later.
Pepitone, If you read my post you understand what I was trying to convey….He’s now in his 14th season, coming off minor surgery, and he’s serving up dingers on a flat 90 mph fastball….I do expect him to regain his form…However it may take a little more time and he may not be as automatic as once before….It happens to the greatest of all ballplayers….He may be slowing down some…But to call me stupid because I’m not in denial is an insult….
“GreenBeret7 April 29th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Abe/s Odd World
April 29th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Is anyone else out there concerned about Mo? Isn’t that two homers in two appearances? If it were 5-1, the Yanks would’ve lost…
——————————————————————————————
Your 3rd grade teacher just called and said that if anybody saw you on the LoHud board to remind you that you have an arithmetic test first thing tomorrow, before recess.
5>1+3.”
Lol.
2 years ago when mo served up that dinger to marco scutaro to lose a game in oakland, was everybody screaming from the rooftops that mariano rivera was cooked and beginning to lose it?
GB, sounds like a fun movie – maybe I’ll rent the DVD; I think I’d like it. There was an old-time basball player in real life named King Kelly (no E)…….
Pat M
April 29th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Pepitone, If you read my post you understand what I was trying to convey
………………………..
I did, and I agree totally with what you said. Moreover,what you said makes total sense, and is in no way shape or form a shot at Rivera, the Yankees, or Yankee fans in general. But, ou know, the Yankee Thought Police who roam this blog with their night sticks slapping their palms will have none of this blasphemy while they’re on duty.
I predict a 4 game sweep for the Yanks.
Angels just aren’t the same without Vlad, Lackey, Escobar, and K-Rod.
As long as Hughes can keep them in the game against Saunders, they’ll be all set.
Betsy
April 30th, 2009 at 12:02 am
GB, sounds like a fun movie – maybe I’ll rent the DVD; I think I’d like it. There was an old-time basball player in real life named King Kelly (no E)…….
————————————————————
Yeah, there was. A HOF catcher outfielder with Chicago in the 1880s-’90s, I believe. He was THE STAR during that time.
“the Yankee Thought Police who roam this blog with their night sticks”
You always say this term. What the hell does it mean?? What is a thought police?
Like, is it supposed to be a joke? Is it supposed to be funny? Its so unbelieveably corny and it makes me twitch and gives me heartburn.
I think you can come up with something a little more clever than “The Yankee Thought Police.”
I mean, c’mon.
Chris
April 30th, 2009 at 12:00 am
2 years ago when mo served up that dinger to marco scutaro to lose a game in oakland, was everybody screaming from the rooftops that mariano rivera was cooked and beginning to lose it?
………………………
So what if they did! Does that make them any less of a Yankee fan? Does that make their opinion any less valid as yours, with 2 year old hindsight to cover your butt?
I get tired of some of you people acting like you can only be a “true” Yankee fan if you never, ever criticize a player, a coach, a manager, or an owner. And if a Yankee fan dares to make a prediction that doesn’t square with the Yankee Thought Police, then he/she is an idiot, stupid, or worse. For what? Disagreeing with another Yankee fans opinion!!!
Look, I’ve been a Yankee fan longer than most of you have been alive and have seen it all. And if I want to criticize the Yankees, I will criticize the Yankees. If it makes you feel superior to call me a name, then have at it sport. But, you will not stop me from commenting on what I believe is happening. My opinion is no better, nor worse than yours – just different. I thought it was OK to be different.
I think YES is off by few miles when yankees are pitching. I think someone doing it deliberately
Chris, I was at that Oakland game when he was surprised like everyone who was at the park that night…..What I’m trying to convey is that his pitches lack movement, as well as velocity….He maybe slipping a notch…He’s still the best unless this occurs more often…..
Boston Dave
April 30th, 2009 at 12:09 am
I predict a 4 game sweep for the Yanks.
Angels just aren’t the same without Vlad, Lackey, Escobar, and K-Rod.
As long as Hughes can keep them in the game against Saunders, they’ll be all set.
————————————————————
As long as they can control the first four in the lineup (Figgins, Kenrick, Abreu and Hunter) they have a chance. All rookie pitchers starting except for Weaver. First time in years that NYY actually has an advantage.
You always say this term. What the hell does it mean?? What is a thought police?
…………………………
OK, pal, here you go –
“Some of you are just down right stupid, it’s April and you guys are panicking about Mo.”
“Oh, please. Don’t be an idiot.”
“I come to the comment section and read nonsensical garbage, post after post.”
“You should be sterilized immediately.”
“TRISHA SHUT UP!”
and the inevitable –
“jen, do you think we can get him banned?”
Need any more examples, I’ve got plenty! Pat M knows baseball, and for him to be called “stupid” because he made a comment about Mariano’s fastball is way, way over the top.
So, if any of these gentlemen, or ladies, feels it is within their rights to call me or some other Yankee fan who happens to disagree with their opinion, “stupid,” or “jerk,” then I will feel free to call them Yankee Thought Police. Got it?
Oh, and one other thing. The following comment by you will get you whacked by the Thought Police in the future, you can count on it:
“Dr. Cox
April 29th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Hmmm. She we start worrying about Mo?”
Pepitone …Thanks for the backup….We’ve moved over to the next thread
Homer
April 29th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
I’ll give MO 1 more outing
If he blows a save this weekend, them it may be time to let Bruney become the closer and MO can work in long relief to get his velocity back up.
He simply cannot get outs throwing in the upper 80s.
One of the dumbest suggestions ive ever heard in my entire life. Yes lets replace our Hall of Fame closer…….
EVERYONE IS GETTING WAYYYYYY TOO UP IN ARMS ABOUT VELOCITY LOOK AT JOBA’S CAREER RECRD AND ERA, LOOOKS PRETTY DNG GOOD TO ME. ASK JAMIE MOYER ABOUT PITCHING WITHOUT A PLUS FASTBALL LAST TIME I CHECKED HE WAS DOING A PRETTY GOOD JOB FOR THE PHILLIES. GOOD LORD YOU PEOPLE MAKE ME WANNA PUNCH SOMETHING WITH ALL THE NEGATIVITY