Game 22: Angels at Yankees
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Apr 30, 2009 
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YANKEES (11-10)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
Posada C
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Pena 3B
Pitching: RHP A.J. Burnett (2-0, 5.47).
Burnett vs. the Los Angeles hitters.
ANGELS (9-11)
Figgins 3B
Izturis DH
Abreu RF
Hunter CF
Morales 1B
Napoli C
Kendrick 2B
Rivera LF
Aybar SS
Pitching: RHP Anthony Ortega (0-1, 7.20).
BACK HOME: The Yankees return from a 2-4 road trip to start an eight-game homestand against the Los Angeles Angels. The Yankees are three games out of first in the AL East while the Angels are three games out in the AL West.
STREAKS AND SUCH: Robinson Cano (16) and Hideki Matsui (9) have hit streaks going. … Mark Teixeira is 1 of his last 16. He’ll be happy to see April in the rear-view mirror. … Phil Coke hasn’t allowed a run in his last five innings.
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the one combined earned run allowed on Tuesday by 22-year-old Phil Hughes (6.0 IP, 0 ER) and on Wednesday by 23-year-old Joba Chamberlain (7.0 IP, 1 ER) marked the first time the Yankees had starters that young allow one earned run or less in consecutive games since 5/29-30/1981, when 22- year-old Dave Righetti (8.0 IP, 1 ER) and 20-year-old Gene Nelson (5.2 IP, 0 ER) accomplished the feat in consecutive wins at Cleveland. (Thanks to the Yankees for that note).
MORE ON A-ROD: Rodriguez faced 33 pitches in the intrasquad game today. He also did his usual worjout and took batting practice after the game. A-Rod is scheduled to DH in an extended spring training game tomorrow against the Pirates in Bradenton.
WELCOME BACK, BOBBY: Bobby Abreu was a Yankee for 372 games from 2006-08. He hit .295, had a .376 OBP and drove in 243 runs. The Yankees declined to retain him as a free agent as they were concerned about his age and declining defensive skills. The Angels picked him up on the cheap and he is at .368/.430/.434 for them.
Hopefully folks give Bobby a nice hand tonight. He was a good, solid player for the Yankees and never caused any trouble.
A.J.’S TURN: After dominant starts by Phil and Joba, A.J. Burnett needs a bounce back after his atrocious performance against the Red Sox on Saturday. He has allowed 11 earned runs in his last 11.1 innings.
DISH ON SWISH: Nick Swisher is hitting .307 and leads the team in homers (seven), RBI (19) and is second in OBP (.416).
Kevin Devaney will take it from here. Enjoy the game.
UPDATE, 6:09 p.m.: Hello all, Kevin Devaney here taking over for Pete. Just got back from the clubhouse. Below are audio of Girardi and GM Brian Cashman from the pregame:
Cashman audio from April 30, 2009
Update, 7:20 p.m.: Not a great first inning for Burnett considering he’s coming off that awful start in Boston. Two other things of note:
1. The Bleacher Creatures did a role call for Bobby Abreu in right. Necessary? I mean, he wasn’t exactly loved the entire time he was here because of his indifferent personality and his fear of outfield walls.
2. Speaking of fear, there’s a reporter in the press box wearing a doctors mask. The swine flu scare is taking over. Just look at the empty seats around the dugouts. People are afraid!
Update, 7:56 p.m.: Nice play in the hole by Jeter finally gives Burnett a scoreless inning. Much-needed for the emotional pitcher, especially against the heart of the Angels order.
Update, 8:00 p.m.: The Old Johnny Damon Half-Swing Home Run. Ortega apparently never got the memo not to throw fastballs on the inner-half to lefties here at the new stadium.
Update, 8:28 p.m.: Derek Jeter brings home two runs (one an error in right) and the Yankees take the lead. It puts him in sole possession of 10th place on the all-time Yankee list. It’s 4-3 Yanks in the bottom of the fourth.
How did the rally start? Oh yeah, Nick Swisher’s single. The guy might not be talented enough to actually lead the Yankees in homers and RBI all season. But he’s going to be in the middle of things a lot.
By the way, Swisher’s collage was completed by tonight’s return to the stadium. He cut out pictures of every teammate and taped them all together on the right side of his locker. Most of the players are in snazzy suits. Very cool for a player to do that. A-Rod should do the same, although he probably couldn’t name 4 or 5 of the guys.
Update, 8:42 p.m.: By the way, I should have noted this earlier, but an email from Tim made a great point: I’ve been to five Yankee home games this season and the roar on Derek Jeter’s hit before was by far the loudest it’s been here. Pete has compared this place to a “church” at times, and I agree. But on that hit, I felt like I was back at the old stadium. Maybe the museum fans are gone and the real folks finally got tickets? Let’s hope so.
Update, 9:08 p.m.: The Angels have now put the leadoff man on base in four of Burnett’s seven innings. The first three scored, including Napoli’s homer. Let’s see if Burnett can finally dance around this.
Update, 9:10 p.m.: Burnett finally makes pitches and gets out of an inning. Double-play ball and a first-pitch pop-out. Good sign.
Update, 9:38 p.m.: That’s a 17-game hitting streak for Robinson Cano. Posada’s ground-rule double puts runners on second and third with one out. Seriously, is there any doubt Nick Swisher’s going to come through here?
Update, 9:39 p.m.: Intentionally walking Swisher was a good move. Never let the MVP candidate beat you in that spot.
Back to baseball. No discussion of tipping etiquette, or restaurants where well endowed women serve hot wings.
NOOOOO JOSE MOLINO WHERE ART THOU MY SWEET PRINCE!?!?
:tup: Melky’s the starting CF now, and Pena’s the 3B til ARod’s out. Glad to see Girardi’s giving at bats to the hot hitters.
same lineup 3 days in a row??
Pete,
Coke hasnt allowed an earned run in his past 6 innings. And he’s gone the past 5 innings without giving up a run of any kind.
The Los Angeles Angels of Aneheim of America always give us trouble. Let’s change that starting tonight.
I have a feeling Melky is going to stay in CF for the remainder of the season.
He’s hitting and he’s doing a good job patrolling out there.
Burnett + Posada = BLAH
Someone tell Tex that tomorrow is May and that he can start hitting now
Country Club:
Correct. He has allowed one hit. Thats what I looked at. Fixed it. Thanks.
Rivera
Bruney
Melancon
Coke
Robertson
Veras
Marte
This should be our BP pecking order. Send down or out Ramierez and Albaldejo once Bruney comes back.
I wonder if this book will lead to a massive expose` on the tipping habits of professional athletes?
I could see it now….
“A Sportscenter Special with “Destiny”, a former dancer at Scores. She talks about how cheap professional athletes are with their tips.
Pedro Gomez has the scoop in this special, 3 part story….Strippers and the Athletes who won’t tip them”.
same lineup 3 days in a row??
two games. didnt posada sit in the second game against detroit?
I have irrefutable evidence that A-rod doesn’t tip strippers during a lap dance. Despicable.
I like this line-up. Seeing Matsui smack a ball up against the left field wall with the bases loaded was a treat. Him running to 3rd was the “gravy”.
Melky is HOT and he should be in the line-up as our CF. Just because Gardner won the job in the spring never meant he could not “lose the job”.
Outside the Lines: Hooters Girl Reveals the Scrooge in Today’s Professional Athlete
I can see it now.
In the last thread SJ and a number of other posters were considering the impact of ARod’s return on the team, so I thought I’d try a rough statistical analysis.
CB does this kind of thing a lot better than I do but here’s my back of the envelope calculation of what not having ARod has meant so far (stats are from Baseball Reference):
In 21 games, Ransom was about 4.4 runs worse than the average hitter, Berroa was .8 runs worse and Pena 1.9 runs worse.
Between them, they were 7.1 runs worse than the average hitter. Maybe Pena and Berroa had a few at bats playing other positions, but not enough to worry about.
Last year, which was far from ARod’s best year, he was 38.1 runs better than the average hitter in 138 games. If ARod had not been hurt and had performed at last year’s rate, he could be expected to have been about 5.72 runs better than the average hitter over that same 21 game period.
That means, looking just at hitting, ARod would have been about 12.82 runs better than the Ransom/Berroa/Pena combination over our first 21 games. That doesn’t include all the runs his defense might have saved over the Ransom/Berroa combo.
At the accepted 10 runs equaling a win, that means last year’s ARod would have been about 1.25 wins better over the first 21 games than Ransom/Berroa/Pena, which translates to about 9.6 wins better over a full season.
9.6 wins is a staggeringly huge number. And that’s using ARod’s sub-par 2008 year. On career numbers, it’s more than that. And that’s not including ARod’s glove versus Ransom’s or Berroa’s.
So, even if ARod comes back not 100%, he is going to make an enormous difference.
Second part of the Pedro’s shocking story, “Amber, a waitress at Hooters in Miami” says the following about Arod….
“He came in and order wings and 2 orders of fries. Extra hot and even wanted more sauce on the side. Had me fill his water glass THREE TIMES!!! The bill came to $20.00.
He left me a $3.00 tip!!! Cheap @#@$#@”!
Pedro: “As you can see, Amber is not a happer camper. Because of Arod’s cheap ways, she has had to put off cosmetology school for another year and has taken on extra shifts at the restaurant to make ends meet.
All because of a $3.00 tip from Arod”.
What is the world coming to?
Why is Mark Teixeira still batting third? Move him down until he proves that he can actually hit a baseball.
WYH, Nice post, agreed 100%.
Just read this on ESPN: Rodriguez said, “I’m not going there,” when asked Thursday to comment on the report in the New York Daily News, which quoted excerpts from an upcoming book, “A-Rod,” on Rodriguez by Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts.
Good I guess? Maybe A-rod will be smart and ignore this nonsense.
One other thing out of Roberts’ new book that I find to be really funny:
Yankees teammates, Roberts writes, nicknamed Rodriguez “B—h T–s” in 2005 because he put on 15 pounds in the offseason that resulted in round pectorals, a condition called gynecomastia that can be caused by anabolic steroids.
ahahah
So i was doing some thinking earlier, whilst procrastinating, and I realized this not so secret fact:
When A-Rod comes back the line up will basically look like
Jeter
Damon
Teixeira
A-Rod
Matsui
Canó
Posada
Swisher
Cabrera
So I’m thinking, any lineup where in Matsui, Posada, or Canó could be hitting seventh, and Swisher hitting 8th and Xavier Nady, when he’s healthy, slotting into 8th also?
That’s one @#$@ of a line up.
If the bullpen gets its act together and Wang figures something out…
Oh man, it’s gonna be an amazing summer.
Stick to yer day job, SJ44.
SJ44
April 30th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I wonder if this book will lead to a massive expose` on the tipping habits of professional athletes?
I could see it now….
“A Sportscenter Special with “Destiny”, a former dancer at Scores. She talks about how cheap professional athletes are with their tips.
Pedro Gomez has the scoop in this special, 3 part story….Strippers and the Athletes who won’t tip them”.
—————————
Sad thing is, Bob Ley is probably working on that story right now.
All I can say is thank God for the MLB Network. I hardly ever even turn on ESPN anymore. It’s great to have a network where you can get actual baseball and not all the off the field TMZ type drama garbage they spew forth anymore.
“Why is Mark Teixeira still batting third? Move him down until he proves that he can actually hit a baseball.”
He still has a super high OBP
ePic
April 30th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Why is Mark Teixeira still batting third? Move him down until he proves that he can actually hit a baseball.
—————————————–
Stop posting until you can prove you actually have a brain.
we get it, a-rod is a jerk. WHo the F cares. Is anyone else really tired of trying to watch a baseball game and hearing about what alex did outside of the stadium? This crap has no business on ESPN. Talk about steroids, fine whatever, but the rest of this crap is just worthless, as is ESPN in general anyway.
Second part of the Pedro’s shocking story, “Amber, a waitress at Hooters in Miami” says the following about Arod….
“He came in and order wings and 2 orders of fries. Extra hot and even wanted more sauce on the side. Had me fill his water glass THREE TIMES!!! The bill came to $20.00.
He left me a $3.00 tip!!! Cheap #$#@”!
Pedro: “As you can see, Amber is not a happer camper. Because of Arod’s cheap ways, she has had to put off cosmetology school for another year and has taken on extra shifts at the restaurant to make ends meet.
All because of a $3.00 tip from Arod”.
What is the world coming to?
============
was she expecting a $100 tip for a bill that came out to be 20 bucks? YEAH RIGHT. 3 bucks tip for a 20 dollar bill? that’s good enough. I also tip the same amount when my bill is the same.
Cowherd was money today talking about A rod
Did someone just ? why Tex continues to bat 3rd? Please have this person escorted out of here and make it fast
Tex is a notorious slow-starter. After 3+ weeks, he has proven that.
Is there a need to worry? I don’t think so. Not yet at least.
anybody hear that joel zumaya says he hates the yankees…via foxsports:
“I think Skip (Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland) wanted me to show the Yankees I still have something in the tank,” Zumaya said. “I wanted to go at ‘em. I can’t stand the Yankees, man.”
funny
Okay everyone I have a confession. I was at an Applebees in Tampa about 3 weeks ago when A-Rod was sitting with another guy having drinks, when they left I couldn’t help but notice that A-Rod had only left a 15 dollar tip for an 80$ tab! Needless to say I was vexed and disappointed in Alex. Anybody know a good publisher I can visit? I’m thinking about writing about this harrowing tale.
When I started reading the posts today I had to check to see if it was LoHud. Started to think it was Comedy Central.
In the previous thread, Trisha wrote:
“Nick, I guess you don’t get that in stating my opinion I am not looking for converts. Those who feel the same way as I do, and you have seen I am sure quite a few, don’t need to be converted. I disagree with the group who prefers Posada, but I don’t feel the need to come up with a juvenile name to call the group, nor to discuss the group and take shots at them ad nauseum when they’re not around, or to keep negative discussion about them going. I’ll leave that to you to do to us.”
And then:
“Have a ball children. Call us whatever you want.”
So you object to being called a name (”Posada Truther”) and your recourse is to call people a name (”children”)? This is in keeping with your lack of desire to win converts, no doubt.
I think what you *do* get is that several people have asked for more substantive reasons to back up your opinion. You don’t have to provide such reasons, of course. And you are within your rights to object to people who mock your position. But you surely understand why people would have fun with your contrarian position especially given that you don’t care to back it up or try to convince anyone that it has any substantive basis?
And now I will accept your invitation to ‘have a ball’ in my patented childish manner:
Should be have seperate game threads for the Posada Truthers and the Posada Deniers?
For whatever reason, people are fascinated by the tips of athletes and celebs. I suppose we want our guys to be generous, but let’s face it — not a very important issue.
I believe this covers two of today’s themes…from last Sunday’s Boston Herald…
“New York Yankees Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada and ex-teammate Bernie Williams hanging at the M Bar at the Mandarin Oriental (hunky Jeeedah tipped the waitress 100 percent, whilst Posada left a more, ah, fiscally conservative 30 percent)”
I suppose the waitress would have preferred they dined with Molina… a ridiculous issue, btw. (You’re better than that Tricia!)
http://www.bostonherald.com/tr.....__more___/
perhaps espn can spend 5 minutes talking about their precious dustin pedroia and his pedophile brother?
no a-rod tipping is way more serious.
rebecca,
our line-up with arod back looks amazing. the bottom of the order isnt a 1-2-3 automatic out like it was for the most part of last year. and we won 89 games last year, remember that
So apparently Gardner’s out of the picture for the time being. How does he get back in?
I guess he’ll have to wait for Melky to fall from grace.
I like Gardner but if Melky’s performing, what can you do. Maybe if they were in better shape record wise or if the offense wasn’t so inconsistent.
Can sombody explain to me what’s wrong with Gardner’s swing?
There’s only one reason to leave a big tip at Hooters, and Alex doesn’t need to take that step like the rest of us schmoes
Just continue saying I’m not addressing MS Roberts book, so if no one has a baseball question I think we are finished. Good day.
ESPN has nothing better to do. A-Rod is indeed a lightning rod. The media is just waiting for him to screw something up so they can turn another “non-story” into a headline.
Do I want his life? I don’t think so!!
Gardner’s swing?
Do you watch the games?
He swings downward under the ball and pops everything up. That, along with melky having the better arm, better average, and some power doesnt leave him in a good position right now other than to pinch run. plus melky plays all three outfield positions while gardner doesnt play right.
All kidding aside, it is kind of sad that a players tipping habits are “proof” of anything. Or, even being a story.
When you step away from it, you just shake your head and say, “geez, what is the world coming to”?
Think about it….
The publishing company, looking to market this book, sends out a release featuring Arod’s “Hooters Habits”.
Its incredible that this is what covering sports, or writing about athletes, has come to these days.
It doesn’t matter if you like Arod or not.
For some of this stuff to be treated as “news” by media outlets really speaks to the sad state of affairs we are in today.
At least while Arod is out, they need Melky’s bat. Maybe when Arod gets back, gardner will be reinserted one way or another.
Either way, it doesn’t matter to me as long as the team wins.
“our line-up with arod back looks amazing. the bottom of the order isnt a 1-2-3 automatic out like it was for the most part of last year. and we won 89 games last year, remember that
”
I know!
It’s amazing, given everything that went WRONG last year, how close we really did come to making the playoffs.
Which means, this season, once all the kinks are worked out…
You know that 12 game win streak Boston had?
We should be good for three or four of those..
(Yes, this post teeters on delusional, I know)
Garnder has earned his way to the bench. Just like he earned the starting spot to begin the season.
We are lucky enough to have 2 CF’s that can be plugged in when needed. How many teams can do the same???
For now Melky will be out there and sooner or later he will struggle, get into a slump and then Gardner will get in there to get some at bats.
The situation is just fine. No need to fine tune this or alter the plan.
“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.”
Hasn’t a “reasonable explanation” been given? The numbers show that Posada’s CERA has been as good or better than the team ERA throughout his career. There is also analysis that says that a catchers ability to call a game is statistically insignificant.
The funny thing is, you haven’t addressed any of the “reasonable explanations”, you just ignore them because they make way more sense than the gut feeling you get or the stats that Bob Lorenz put up with a tiny sample size.
Whats worse is that you start talking about Posada not hustling because he might have a problem with Girardi. Or maybe Posada is calling a bad game on purpose because he wants to get Girardi fired.
“On Patrick’s radio interview, Roberts said that based on the sudden improvement in his bench press (from 100 to 310) in just six months in high school, and “in conjunction with the reporting that I did with [his high school] teammates would make it irrefutable to me, not a ‘may have,’ ” that Rodriguez took performance-enhancing drugs in high school.”
THAT is objective journalism? Seriously? How can anyone stick up for this woman. She is insane.
Bronx Jeers,
i like gardner too, and i believe if arod was in the line up then he would’ve had more of a chance to play it out for at least a month and a half maybe 2 until it was obvious he sucked, but since arod isnt in the line up joe needs to go with the hottest bat which is melky right now.
hopefully the next time brett gets a chance he makes it interesting and starts to hit.
Posada has a family. He’s allowed to tip conservatively (which, by the way 30% is pretty generous).
(Plus, he’s been reading this blog, and he’s afraid he might be in danger of losing his full-time job, doncha know???) Just poking a little fun.
But more importantly, does that mean that Jeter and Posada requested separate checks????? Are they feuding????
Selena Roberts = Nancy Grace
Jeter and Posada doing seperate checks? If I’m the waitress, next time they come in I start a tab and hand the bill to Jeter.
We can all do something about this and not buy this pointless stupid book.
“I think what you do get is that several people have asked for more substantive reasons to back up your opinion. You don’t have to provide such reasons, of course. And you are within your rights to object to people who mock your position. But you surely understand why people would have fun with your contrarian position especially given that you don’t care to back it up or try to convince anyone that it has any substantive basis?”
Nick, don’t you feel even a LITTLE BIT disingenuous to quote everything in my post except for the part where I said we had presented stats but that they had been rejected by the Posada group and that was the end? And it is the end.
So what we are left with is a group of us who still prefer Molina’s defensive catching and believe in the stats that were presented, and feel we have a right to believe the way we do – and who have shown nothing but respect to anyone who feels differently; and then we have a group of bullies on the other side who feel that they need to continue to pummel us I guess until we bow down and accept their position.
My preference is to have both sides understand it’s okay to disagree and that when you reach an impasse it’s best to let it go.
From everything I read today, it isn’t going anywhere from a select group of people who prefer Posada, and those of us who had the nerve to prefer Molina will hear about it and get it shoved in our faces daily.
So be it.
It’s nice to hear when celebs leave huge tips, but it’s not like A-Rod left a ’stingy’ tip, he left a normal tip. I usually tip closer to 20% for good service, but 15% is pretty common. Just because you serve someone who is rich and famous doesn’t entitle you to a 100% tip, especially if the hooters girl was a Marlins fan or something!
Eric -
Do you think she even TRIED to find anyone to refute it?
“Hopefully folks give Bobby a nice hand tonight. He was a good, solid player for the Yankees and never caused any trouble.”
QFT!
would love to see him come back on this homestand and take advantage of our ‘launching pad’ while it still is one.
“teammates would make it irrefutable to me, not a ‘may have,’ ” that Rodriguez took performance-enhancing drugs in high school.””
The fact that this woman got a book published amazes me. I am gonna write a book about a secret alien race of unicorns taking over the Earth, and how the President is head of the unicorn society
Jon Heyman’s questioning her “evidence” too
Rebecca,
yep, you can also add in that a 39 year old moose was our ace for the second half, with razzle and ponsanity rounding out our 3,4.
lol i dont understand how we won all those games last year.
I would give abreu a good ovation. only with us two years but he played everyday, hit .300 and over 100 rbis both years.
you gotta have faith (right porch giveth and the right porch taketh away)
April 30th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Rebecca,
yep, you can also add in that a 39 year old moose was our ace for the second half, with razzle and ponsanity rounding out our 3,4.
lol i dont understand how we won all those games last year.
——————————
Smoke & Mirrors standing in for Aura & Mystique?
yep, you can also add in that a 39 year old moose was our ace for the second half, with razzle and ponsanity rounding out our 3,4.
—-
and the total inability to hit with runners on, or to not hit into double plays.
geez trish, cry more why don’t you?
If you bring weak arguments to the blog you will get challenged. If you don’t want your opinions to be challenged then get better opinions! The reason we have the audacity to question your preference of Molina is because it’s a dumb preference!
I’d bet a weeks pay A rod hasent been to a hooters in at least the last 5-10 years
I am shocked to learn the pro athletes hang out in strip clubs.
Mo Vaughn was a fixture in some well-known adult establishments in Rhode Island.
no. 27, there’s no available response to your CERA numbers since comparative CERA has been questioned as a reliable statistic by Keith Woolner in Baseball Prospectus and others. While I will hardly claim to be an expert on this stuff, and I would guess few of us are, it makes it impossible to respond to what you presented.
http://bb_catchers.tripod.com/catchers/cera1.htm
whouda thunk it that arod, like the economy has bottomed out. nowhere to go but up from here. thanks selena . the yanks will give you credit when we rally around arod and become a monster.
i was pretty shocked the other night when i realized we had 5 switch hitters in the regular line-up late. (i guess i forgot Pena was a SH)
5!
8 or 9 lefties or 6 of 9 righties.
i wonder what the record is for switch hitters in the same line-up…
chambliss-
The Foxy Lady.
Marky Mark Melancon
April 30th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I’d bet a weeks pay A rod hasent been to a hooters in at least the last 5-10 years
—————————
I’ll bet a weeks’ pay that Hooter has an uptick in customers this week!
And they’ll all leave at least 16% tip.
Excellent point about Abreu. He certain deserves a nice round of applause for his time served in The Bronx
saucy -
I didn’t know Pena was a SH, either. Found out last night. But that was so cool, all those SHs!
Bullies? Pummel? Cue the violins. I think Tom Waits said it best: “Come down off the cross. We can use the wood.”
No, I do not feel disingenuous in the least. I haven’t seen you cite any real stats or discuss the ones that have been cited. I’ve seen you give hearsay evidence that Bob Lorenz put something up on YES. You also said you didn’t see it because you were watching something else. I didn’t see it either.
And if you really object to people having fun with positions they think are silly, then you’re in the wrong place.
Also, I think Jose Molina is a better defensive catcher too. I think Jorge Posada is a better player than Jose and the team is better served by having Jorge start as many games as he can while trying to keep him fresh and healthy.
“I saw Arod at the “Juice” bar. ”
badum-tish….. groan………
I prefer whoever gives the Yankess the best chance to win.
Tonights lineup is the best possible lineup IMO.
Wow, 8 left handed bats in a row!
Saucy: It’s pretty incredible. Would be fun if we could have 9 switch hitters…eventually the game may get to the point where that is the case.
Nick please stop with your insults, I am feeling very attacked right now!
Matsui leads the team in OBP.
.419 to Swisher’s .416
Matsui also has a 12:9 walk-to-strikeout ratio.
Patrick, because YOU decide something is a weak argument that makes it a weak argument?
Wow you really think you’re something!
I have an idea. Read the way SJ responds to people and then try to mimic when you respond to others. Until then you won’t mind if I ignore you, will you? I didn’t think so.
“Would be fun if we could have 9 switch hitters…”
and Pat Venditte could pitch!
By the way (and this is unrelated to the Persecution of the Posada Truthers discussion), I didn’t notice at the time, but our arch-foes the Boston Red Sox moved into first place by percentage points last night with their win and the Blue Jays’ loss.
While none of us want to see Boston in first place, the flip side to that development is that hopefully that marks the beginning of the return to the natural order and the end of the Blue Jays on top of the division. They are down 8-2 to Kansas City in the 6th inning as I type this. Hopefully after tonight the Red Sox will still be in first place by percentage points only and the Yanks will be a game closer to the top.
So say we all?
Tripped up by a tipper-less stripper. Say that three times fast.
I think I stopped taking the Roberts book seriously when she brought A-Rod’s Wife and children into it. You cannot dog someones personal life and then pretend you are a real journalist who deserves respect.
Selena Roberts is just upset because she can’t get into Arod’s bedroom…
Doreen
Usually you have well thought out posts that make sense.
The comedy routine makes me wonder if it’s the real Doreen or a troll.
j/k
pat: I still can’t get over, how, in baseball america, most teams have columns on the depth chart for rhp and lhp… and then the Yankees have one for rhp/lhp.
Venditte is the man.
Seriously, he’s got some great numbers in low A.
“Patrick, because YOU decide something is a weak argument that makes it a weak argument?”
In this case, yes I am right and you are wrong.
I can only make arguments for myself. If I see something I disagree with, I will post an opposing argument. The fact that you have nothing to back up your stance makes it a WEAK argument.
I’m not alone either. Most of the people on this blog think Posada is better than Molina. The fact that you are in the minority should clue you in a little bit.
Unfortunately it seems you are immune to logical arguments. I am clearly wasting my time responding to your worthless posts.
A-Rod was just making sure he had funds to allocate to his apartment ventures, obviously.
hey, who just muttered ’slumlord’ under their breath?
I like the consistency in the lineup, Godzilla is back
Closet A’s fan (NY): What do you think of Phil Hughes performance last night? Can he keep it up?
SportsNation Keith Law: Looked pretty good, not outstanding, but much improved. The life on the two-seamer addresses one of the concerns I had about him in the past (four-seamer was pretty true). And he pitched out of a jam that I don’t think he would have escaped last year. Plus Detroit has a good lineup. Cautious optimism.
***Phil was more than just pretty good. Hmm…….
you think Bob Holtzman is going to every Hooters in Tampa tonight for ‘research’ on this latest revelation?
“All kidding aside, it is kind of sad that a players tipping habits are “proof” of anything.”
———-
True Red Sox – Manny story.
Manny Ramirez went out with a bunch of the clubhouse guys for drinks after a game. The bill came to a few hundred bucks and Manny just sat there and made the guys who make $7.50/hr pay for it.
I could probably write a book with alot more credible sources on Manny than Selena did on ARod. I know of all sorts of escapades, cheating on his wife countless times, etc. I have first hand accounts.
Maybe I will?
mike and some guy going at it
Mike Fran did not know there is a Bowling Alley near the Stadium. That bowling alley has been there for 40+ years
Oh, and David Ortiz is one of the slowest drivers on the road.
He’ll be in the left lane going 50 at times.
More in the upcoming book that exposes the Red Sox, their tipping habits, driving habits, and how almost every one of them cheats on their wives.
Maybe the waitresses weren’t buff enough? The man has standards.
Trisha,
That link has nothing to do with the numbers I posted. I’m not comparing Posada’s CERA to Molina’s. I’m comparing Posada’s CERA to the team’s ERA over the same period to show that Posada’s game calling has no negative effect on the pitchers that he catches.
Your link does mention this though: “A catcher gains game-calling ability with time.” That sort of goes against your theory of Posada suddenly losing his ability to call a game, doesn’t it?
Maine Yankee –
It’s me. I’m just bored. And tired of the “serious” discussions that won’t die.
Plus some of the stuff going on with regard to Selena’s book is really just laughable.
Ok enough fighting with the Posada Truthers, I’m off to the stadium. Have fun watching the game kiddies
is that all selena’s got? rally around arod man
“Maybe the waitresses weren’t buff enough? The man has standards.”
This made me laugh
“Bullies? Pummel? Cue the violins. I think Tom Waits said it best: “Come down off the cross. We can use the wood.””
That’s pretty offensive. But that’s never bothered you in the way you argue, so forget that.
“No, I do not feel disingenuous in the least. I haven’t seen you cite any real stats or discuss the ones that have been cited. I’ve seen you give hearsay evidence that Bob Lorenz put something up on YES. You also said you didn’t see it because you were watching something else. I didn’t see it either.”
In fact the stats I was referring to were put up the day before and people spun out of control and were ready to have the poster drawn and quartered because they disagreed with the stats – those I did see by the way, since they were all posted on the forum. The fallacy as always is anyone actually believing they corner the truth (which is why I always say I respect anyone’s right to disagree). But some people here believe they do.
“Also, I think Jose Molina is a better defensive catcher too. I think Jorge Posada is a better player than Jose and the team is better served by having Jorge start as many games as he can while trying to keep him fresh and healthy.”
Why do you believe he is a better defensive catcher? Patrick would call you ludicrous and absurd. How can you POSSIBLY believe he is a better defensive catcher? Is there something wrong with you? Do you have eyes? Are you truly that stupid????? Good God that makes you a Posada truther doesn’t it? I want your argument right now or I’ll know you just don’t know what you’re talking about. But that’s not unusual. You’re the leader of the pack when it comes to ideas that have no rational basis!
So there you go. I too happen to think Molina is a better defensive catcher. I too understand how important Posada is to the lineup. But I prefer to have Molina catch more games because I think it might give us either a better chance of winning games when all is said and done or might end up a wash. It’s what I THINK. I can understand others who think differently.
this has got to loosen arod up, the worst is over man, relax!
We are fast approaching needing a 24 hour time out on the Posada debate.
It’s stupid and has made me stop reading comments from some of the people I usually enjoy reading.
Doreen
Keep it up it’s nice to have some humor for a change.
“Manny Ramirez went out with a bunch of the clubhouse guys for drinks after a game. The bill came to a few hundred bucks and Manny just sat there and made the guys who make $7.50/hr pay for it.”
I’ve read this story before somewhere, involving manny having heaps of uncashed pay checks in his locker and ortiz snatching his credit card before the group headed out saying the night was on manny… until it actually came down to it
Who wrote that? I recall it being pretty entertaining
out of total boredom I just typed “bad tipper” into yahoo and it’s sad how many results there are and how many people are listed
Can’t we agree to disagree without mocking people?
Trisha-
If molina catches say 60% to jorge’s 40 i assume you would be dhing jorge the rest of the time. where would that leave matsui?
The most revealing story in the new Sox book is that when Pedroia is too tired to play in a game he has his stunt double Verne Troyer fill in for him.
“So there you go. I too happen to think Molina is a better defensive catcher.”
——-
For me, personally, it’s not hard to accept that Molina is a better defensive catcher and could possibly be better at calling games.
It’s just not something I’m going to accept on blind faith, however. If someone can make a convincing argument to support the claim, fantastic.
I have yet to hear anything remotely convincing though.
That doesn’t make it right to attack people for having that opinion. However, you’re not going to garner much respect around here if you attack the unofficial captain of the team in Posada and his game-calling without having some pretty good evidence of it.
If you want to say Molina is a great game-caller I think you’ll get less offensive responses than saying Posada is a terrible game-caller. Either way, support the argument with some facts or #s.
no. 27. Do you have any answer for why people started to question Pudge’s game-calling skills. You know the guy is going into the HOF? Do they get lazy? Do they not spend as much time as they should figuring out which pitches to call for? Is there something else going on in their lives to distract them? Can we ever figure out all of the variables?
And my answer to you about Molina calling a better game is that there are no statistics that are going to be sufficient. Unless you are willing to accept the comparison CERA. Which seem to come under question. How about if Molina’s CERA ended up being well under the team CERA? What would you think then? That has already been discredited.
The whole discussion was about some of us feeling that Molina calls a better game.
I don’t know what to say beyond that. The whole thing went far afield. I say let’s just live and let live. It’s not hurting anyone here for some people to feel one way and another group to feel another way.
It will be interesting to see haw the Stadium plays today..
Is the Posada debate officially over?
say yes.
I know the Dodgers of the sixties had an all switch hitting infield. Wes Parker, Jim Lefebvre, Maury Williams and Jim “Junior” Gilliam.
Can’t recall any time that a team had five full time starters who were switch hitters.
One of the greatest trivia questions ever is this; can you name the last switch hitter to win the American League MVP?
“If molina catches say 60% to jorge’s 40 i assume you would be dhing jorge the rest of the time. where would that leave matsui?”
I understand the problem. Good question. I don’t have a good answer.
“What girl on her right mind would look at Pete?…..She gotta be on drugs or something.”
cmon now, be nice.
Pete can say “ladies, did you see me on ESPN this morning?”
that’s more than we can say…
Molina may have an advantage over Posada defensively, but it’s overwhelmed by Posada’s bat. We’ve got a solid starting C and an excellent defensive back-up. What’s the problem?
Does anyone else think it would be amusing if Pete turned out to be the impostor troll?
Go ahead, have your fun, Pete.
Uncle Ells, the pope doesn’t pregame, what was funnier is he asked the rest of the guys about the bowling alley and none of them knew either. I once met an out of town friend at the park and he brought a small travel bag with him, encountered the same problem, predictable problem imo, nothing to whine about.
The later caller who tried to pick a fight with him has been the highlight since I’ve had the show on…
Who was Maury Williams? You must mean Maury.
Wills.
Vida Blue
Just looking at the weather map, looks like a real good thing we got out of Detroit last night…
Doesn’t look too good for the weekend.
Molina’s lack of offense loses more games than Posada’s supposed lack of game calling skills.
I got scolded by Pete.
m: mocking positions isn’t the same as mocking people. To many of us, the notion that Jose Molina should catch more games than Jorge Posada is ridiculous (that is, worthy of ridicule). This being a jocular forum, ideas that are worthy of riducle will often be ridiculed. Those who propigate the ideas in question can combat that in a number of ways; complaining about persecution hasn’t shown to be a very effective way thus far, but maybe it will prove to be over time.
Trisha: Tom Waits lyrics are offensive? I’ll put this how you often do: I’m sorry you *feel the need* to be offended. The quote I used had an obvious message: feelings of martyrdom in this case are over the top. I’m sorry if that was somehow unclear.
James
any fan knows you need to check your bags.
I like that the guy called him on “I want Joba to fail” too
“Can’t we agree to disagree without mocking people?”
mel, you of course were able to say what I’ve been trying to by condensing it to one simple sentence.
People didnt “start” to question pudge’s game calling skills, he’s always been accused of calling fastballs to help catch base stealers, and all of that is could just be “hate” too, just look at this year, people are praising him for wandy rodriguez’s improvement. Clemens saying posada was the best catcher he’s every played with goes a long way in my book, and jorge’s bat vs molina is very lopsided
I agree with pat, the Posada-Molina thing is played out.
I think everyone knows where everyone else stands and at this point all of us have plenty of information to draw their own conclusions about who should play. I suspect most of us already have.
It’s fun to try to make someone say “uncle” but it’s a little immature as well.
I’d propose one bright line, though, no questioning of Posada’s desire or hustle. He’s a gamer, and that’s beyond question.
I’m off to the game. Go AJ!
“Sources” have just relvealed that Selena Roberts’s stripper name was Angelina.
I remember a couple of years ago when Posada got everyone shirts that said “Grind it Out” or something to that affect. I think that this year, A-Rod should get everyone shirts that say “I’m not going there”. That way, when the reporters ask them questions about the book, they can just point to the shirt and be done with it.
Reggie Miller
April 30th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
So Arod had man mountains in the locker room. He was probably breast feeding at the time. Leave him alone.
Was this supposed to be at the same time he was posing in Central park?
We should write a book on the great Posada vs. Molina debate. I am willing to be used as an anonymous source.
>Pete Abe being on the road probably has a girl in every port!
Wendy’s
Greetings proletariat Yankee fans,
Do you now feel the class gap has closed with the reduction of price in our seats? Bah! So be it. While you are watching on TV, look for lovey in her new pinstriped mink tonight at the game. She always had a thing for Angels since I bought that Raphael painting from Sotheby’s back in 1986, but tonight, she might join you in despising them.
And what ever will Master Chef Dan Pasqua think of tonight as we relax our tushies in those cushioned seats? Shall we have the kimodo dragon tartar again? Or the pan seared polar bear cheeks served on top of placido polenta with a fava bean side? Or African tree frog sausage served with Bavarian knoblauch (garlic) bread balls?
Ta for now! And remember to save those pennies, as you could one day be like me and go to a game should you decide not to send your kiddies to college!
T. Howell, III
Nick Swisher has been an unlikely catalyst
“swisher sweets”
http://zsmart.blogspot.com/200.....weets.html
joe g on wfan
Girardi on Francesa right now
The question about the record for most switch hitters in one game by one team is easy and recent. It is 6. April 18th, 2009 when the Yankees had Posada, Teixeira, Cabrera, Pena, Swisher, and Anthony Claggett.
Listening to local sports radio. Arod story is giving them lots of calls. Coarse it’s like they haven’t had any players with the same baggage.
They will acknowledge it if the player isn’t on the team now.
One guy called in and said J.D. Drew needs to be careful because a career minor leaguer who played in right, hit a game winning HR last night.
Cashman needs to find guys like that to fill the Yankees bench needs. Oh I guess he’s tried that, Ransom, Berroa.
“I agree with pat, the Posada-Molina thing is played out.
I think everyone knows where everyone else stands and at this point all of us have plenty of information to draw their own conclusions about who should play. I suspect most of us already have.
*It’s fun to try to make someone say “uncle” but it’s a little immature as well.*
I’d propose one bright line, though, no questioning of Posada’s desire or hustle. He’s a gamer, and that’s beyond question.
I’m off to the game. Go AJ!”
Good post Wave. Thanks for that.
“Clemens saying posada was the best catcher he’s every played with goes a long way in my book, and jorge’s bat vs molina is very lopsided”
James, not to try to be tit for tat, but Moose said the same thing about Molina. So that doesn’t take the day for me. About Jorge’s bat. There is no question.
I’m with Wave, and pat. We all know our positions. Thank you to every person on this forum who disagreed with the Molina position but did so with respect. I will continue to appreciate the camraderie of those people and respect their civility. I’ve never thought that “mocking” people or their ideas was a very mature way to communicate.
Thanks mel, as always for your input.
Later all.
Yes, indeed Vida Blue 1971 is the last switch hitter to win the AL MVP.
THE NL has had five such MVPs since. Pete Rose, Willie McGee, Terry Pendleton, Ken Caminiti and Jimmy Rollins.
trisha,
I’m giving you stats and you’re asking me about Pudge Rodriguez. I don’t think that you can really use this idea of catchers getting lazy as a legitimate argument.
Posada has caught a hell of a lot more innings than Molina, so I think the CERA comparison would be more accurate with him. Molina has a much smaller sample size so variance is going to have a bigger affect.
Even so, if we can agree that Posada doesn’t have a negative affect on his pitchers, how much lower would Molina’s CERA have to be compared to his team ERA to make up for Posada having a MUCH MUCH better bat? Much better as in a career OPS 210 points higher than Molina’s?
Bruney starting to throw…….good sign.
Somebody tell Francesa it not YOUS it’s HUGHES.
The theory that’s being laughed at is the ludicrous assertion, presented here yesterday, that Posada has forgotten how to call games.
That’s just silly.
Giving the ole “agree to disagree” isn’t going to cut it.
There’s just no justifiable evidence to support this theory.
Blaming A.J Burnett’s sucktastic performance, essentially saying that Burnett – who is 32 by the way and a veteran pitcher – just threw the ball where Posada wanted him to and that’s why he stunk – is insane.
Then saying that Alby gave up four runs because he just threw it where Posada set up his glove is just nuts. So, he managed to call a good game for Joba, then set up Alby to fail. Riiight.
That’s the type of nonsense that was presented here last night.
As someone so correctly put it, Posada hasn’t lost his ability to call games unless he’s lost his mind.
I’m trying to see if I could win the Yanks Sox tickets from Francesa. Anybody know what Mike artfully described as the 3 Yanke “tidbits” that all casually tossed out during the show? Or is it trivia he’s going to ask? Because if it’s trivia, I have a shot.
Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Tom Waits is on my list of people i like with names that are also complete sentences.
that is all.
rconn23-I agree.
all is Al.
Vida Blew.
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/200.....wn-season/
crazy stuff
Youuuuuuuuuus
Jobber
Tamper
Idear
Francesa has his own language
Ranger fans,
I just saw Mark Messier in a cafe and had absolutley no courage to approach him.
“I’ve never thought that “mocking” people or their ideas was a very mature way to communicate.”
Then don’t do it yourself? Lead by example? Shame the malefactors with better comportment?
Just saying.
I respect trisha. She’s always been respectful to me. I do however completely disagree on the points with Posada and Molina. Molina is a great backup though, and he’s probably the best defensive catcher I’ve ever seen.
i wish i could get email alerts when Thurston Howell made posts
BP did a small follow-up study RE: catchers and game-calling abilities…
“…the conclusion that there is no detectable game-calling ability still stands. Whether you look across all pitcher-catcher combinations (as in the original article), or whether you focus on two catchers who both work with the same pitcher in consecutive years, there is no tendency for a catcher to exert influence over the opposition’s offensive production. While the position of catcher is still physically demanding, and may indeed be a critically important defensive position, we’ll need to look elsewhere to assess the full magnitude of his contribution.”
http://www.baseballprospectus......icleid=436
S.A.–Honk if you hate hobbits: What was the purpose of writing those things?
Trisha has left the building.
Bronx Jeers:
I can’t stand the Rangers, I hate em even more than the Red Sox, but I have tremendous respect for Messier.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the one combined earned run allowed on Tuesday by 22-year-old Phil Hughes (6.0 IP, 0 ER) and on Wednesday by 23-year-old Joba Chamberlain (7.0 IP, 1 ER) marked the first time the Yankees had starters that young allow one earned run or less in consecutive games since 5/29-30/1981, when 22- year-old Dave Righetti (8.0 IP, 1 ER) and 20-year-old Gene Nelson (5.2 IP, 0 ER) accomplished the feat in consecutive wins at Cleveland.
======================================
I believe that children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Teixeiramvp (JobaCyYoung) April 30th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
S.A.—Honk if you hate hobbits: What was the purpose of writing those things?
===================
I was bored
“The whole discussion was about some of us feeling that Molina calls a better game.”
Exactly. This is getting out of hand and people, mainly Trisha, are being attacked and mocked with snark under the guise of “debate” for no reason other than disagreeing with the likes of some on this board.
If Molina could hit like Posada, this wouldn’t even be an issue. WE ALL KNOW THAT POSADA IS THE BETTER PLAYER AND SHOULD BE IN THE LINEUP DAILY. No one is disputing that. Molina is, to some – myself included, the better catcher in defense, game calling. Stats like CERA (I’m not familiar with) & thrown out % help qualtify a catcher’s value but stats alone does not always show how much better Molina can be in comparison to Posada. How can you measure the runners on base that don’t steal because it’s Molina behind the plate? Or potential passed balls that Molina stops. Is there a stat for that? You can’t deny that pitchers feel comfortable with Molina behind the plate, they like his game calling, he puts them at ease. Aren’t pitchers supposedly very “fragile” creatures? If they didn’t need guidance they would just throw whatever pitch at whatever time it’s called for, no? No need for a catcher to call the game.
If we go by stats alone, then Jeter is one of the worst SS out there. Is that true, what does that mean?
Posada hitting is 100x better than Molina’s, Posada is a good catcher therefore he is rightfully the STARTING CATCHER but that alone does not negate the fact that Molina is a better defensive catcher. Defense is half the game, isn’t it?
There is no right or wrong, just opinion.
I wasn’t even going to respond to all the Posada Truthers crap but after seeing all the snark being hurled at Trisha. I couldn’t let her stand alone.I’ve always been polite on this board, too bad I can’t say the same for some others.
Rebecca-That’s a huge comment to make.
Red Sox are my most hated, VERY closely followed by the Mets, and then in distant third the Rangers.
By the way, what happened in game 7? What a collapse!
SJ –
Said Hooters waitress could go on and write a book about the humiliation and trauma of such a $3.00 (standard 15%) tip, go on a book tour, and promote it on Oprah’s book club show. She could claim she secretly felt there was a rivalry with Madonna to further conjure plot, make hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions, and perhaps even try to blackmail Madonna or A-Rod for some extra pocket money.
Selena Roberts would say “see … I told you so”. And then she might roll over, give Jose Canseco a peck on the cheek and say “OK time to get dressed … we have a book promo to go to, Honey.”
Uncle Ellsworth: I admire how you cry ‘uncle’ every time you post and never once complain about it.
Oof, I just did it too.
Scorpio-All right. I know Molina plays better D, but I do think Posada calls a good game, as good as Molina. S.A.: All right, just wasn’t sure if you were trying to say something or something.
By the way, anybody know Sterling’s HR call for Swish? I’m dying to learn.
TeixeiraMVP: I believe it’s something like “JOLLY OL’ ST NICK!”
“I believe that children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way”
Show em all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
These comments going back and forth between my pal Trisha and my comedy mentor Nick reminds me of a Seinfeld episode -
Don’t make me get out this sound byte guys:
http://tinyurl.com/ayclx
“I can’t stand the Rangers, I hate em even more than the Red Sox,”
How is that even possible? Islander fan?
Apparently I also have great respect for Messier. Either that or it’s a serious man-crush that makes me quiver like a little girl cause I practically ran away from him.
“Rebecca-That’s a huge comment to make.
Red Sox are my most hated, VERY closely followed by the Mets, and then in distant third the Rangers.
By the way, what happened in game 7? What a collapse!”
I’m trying not to think about it. I’m still in shock.
The only thing that makes it better is that the Rangers lost, too, and they had a 3 games to 1 lead while we never lead by more than one game and had two (should have been three @$@#$@#$) OT games and a 1-0 game to boot! Our series was much, much closer.
Zak-Thanks. Know anything about the Francesa Yankee tidbits?
teams i hate: red sox and eagles.
used to hate the flyers, but don’t get all that worked up over hockey any more. i dislike some other teams, but hate would be too strong a word for them.
Look I never bought ARod’s “convenient” steroid timeline. Even if he did use (which he probably did) while in a Yankees uniform I am not shocked. Lot’s of guys around the league have been using them but he is a lightening rod for this type of attention. His profile makes him a bigger catch for the media.
Baba O’Riley is playing on Classic Vinyl right now…always makes me think of O’Neill coming up to bat.
It was the best of times, and it was the BEST of times.
Scorpio: see rconn23’s 5:14 post just for starters. If the entire debate/fiasco was simply about whether one might be a better defensive catcher than the other then the discussion would have been quite different. Tom Waits notwithstanding.
Rebecca-Arrgh, I was disappointed, but I was focusing on the Hughes win to get my mind off of it.
One of the best series of all time, you think?
Sorry, TexMVP, I didn’t catch his show today. Been in class most of the day.
Can sombody explain to me what’s wrong with Gardner’s swing?
____________
Yes, he swings with his arms fully extended, which greatly lengthens the time it takes for his bat to go through the hitting zone (larger, longer arc, put simply).
It also makes it harder for him to square anything over the inner half of the plate.
What to see how a guy with his tools SHOULD swing? Watch Ellsbury’s 8th inning last night in Cleveland. Kept his hands in, greatly shortening the time to takes to go through the zone, and last night resulted in a hard ground ball up the middle.
““I can’t stand the Rangers, I hate em even more than the Red Sox,”
How is that even possible? Islander fan?
Apparently I also have great respect for Messier. Either that or it’s a serious man-crush that makes me quiver like a little girl cause I practically ran away from him.”
Devils. Hardcore Devils fan. My brother likes the Devils as much as I like the Yankees, and the Devils, for me, aren’t really that far behind.
There aren’t a lot of teams that are run much better.
Nick in SF
April 30th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Uncle Ellsworth: I admire how you cry ‘uncle’ every time you post and never once complain about it.
Oof, I just did it too.
Ha.
TO ALL:
So can there be a truce on the Posada/Molina debate?
Seems everyone has made their points – more than once. And its just getting repetitive. And no one is going to be swayed.
AJ seven STRONG!
A.J. 7 strong innings. Now that is something I can support!
A-Rod doesn’t deserve this. What has he really done that makes us hate him? Cheated at a baseball game? I know he’s done other things, but the reason people supposedly hate him is the cheating. Get over it. It’s just a game, and for Selena Roberts to put every bit of hearsay and specualtion in her book for the sole purpose of money, regardless of the pain she puts on A-Rod’s life is sickening.
I think the more disturbing news is that Kevin Brown was walking around the Yankee clubhouse with HGH.
He should definitely ask his dealer for a refund, because it obviously didnt work.
By the way, anybody know Sterling’s HR call for Swish? I’m dying to learn.
=========================
I think it’s something along the lines of Jolly Old St. Nick
Zak-That’s all right. I’d like to figure it out, though.
we play today, we win today. das it.
DT
April 30th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
These comments going back and forth between my pal Trisha and my comedy mentor Nick reminds me of a Seinfeld episode –
Don’t make me get out this sound byte guys:
http://tinyurl.com/ayclx
ClassiC!!!!!!!!
closure?
Amen to that, Doris. They need to get the mentality back into the clubhouse.
I think if the homers continue to fly out of the new yankee stadium, there is something that can be done to try to alleviate the problem this season that doesnt involve construction work and that is the humidor for the baseballs. I mean that did work in coors didnt it? Why wouldnt it work here? It may not solve the problem but it could curb it if it gets out of hand.
As for Ms. Roberts how convenient to have news of her “book” coming out as arod begins his ascent back to the majors. Selena is just a nightmare to yankees fans right now holding a black cloud over arods head and our heads as well. She can mess up arods play as he tries to return via his confidence level, the media can take the story and run with it (as im sure they will) once again making arod the focus of every ounce of negative attention which will end up overshading any yankee accomplishments/the entire team’s play in general except this time it will be during the actual season and/or she can really dig deep and this book can mess with the clubhouse atmosphere impacting the play of the entire team and transforming a great moment like the return of the best hitter in sports to our lineup into a friday the 13th like movie not seen since the off-season and the debacle of 2008.
Pete is right in that nothing selena said has proved to be false but the information was most certainly attained by illegal actions on one or multiple people’s parts and not only has no one tries to investigate how she got this information but perhaps even more importantly, not a single other name has been uncovered from that “anonymous” list of players showing a complete lack of interest in uncovering cheaters in baseball on selena and the rest of the media’s part and far more interest in destroying arods career and reputation and the yanks season right along with it.
If the media is doing this in an attempt to rectify their complete ignorance of the roids situation in the 90s, I dont think using arod for target practice is nearly as effective as actually uncovering the rest of the cheaters. I know that the media has to sell papers and get ratings but it would be nice to throw a little morality in there every now and again.
DT: knowing your track record, I’m going to assume that sound byte is something both amusing and trenchant. However, I don’t want to download it as a file onto my laptop, which is what I’m asked to do when I click on it.
Word of caution: any exhibit of friendliness towards me can sometimes lead to unpleasant remarks.
The best way to get back at horrible people like Selena is just to put up the middle finger and win this division, with A-Rod tearing it up.
Nick did you watch LOST last night?
No spoilers-just wondering good or bad.
I thought it was great!
Can sombody explain to me what’s wrong with Gardner’s swing?
__
Yes, he swings with his arms fully extended, which greatly lengthens the time it takes for his bat to go through the hitting zone (larger, longer arc, put simply).
It also makes it harder for him to square anything over the inner half of the plate.
————————————————————
Thanks for that.
Since when was Ellsbury a Yankee killer by the way?
Truefax, TexMVP. I believe in karma; Selena can try and make A-Rod’s life a living hell. But hopefully at the end of the season, it was all worth it.. A-Rod holds up the World Series trophy and is named World Series MVP. He doesn’t deserve all of this.
just wondering good or bad=just wondering if you thought it was good or bad
Nick in SF
no need to save it to your computer
http://www.geocities.com/Telev.....inlove.mp3
Selena Roberts is one of my most hated people on the planet.
S.A.: yes, I did watch it and it was very entertaining and I was seriously not expecting what happened at the end. I hope it doesn’t end up meaning what it looks like it meant, but everything that happened in the episode previously suggests that it does.
But I don’t know if we needed to see the goo goo eyes camera shots back and forth between Jack and Kate and Sawyer and Juliet. Love quadrangle = booooooring.
Did you see Matthew Fox on Letterman a couple nights ago?
how many home runs will be hit tonight?
take a wild guess and see if you were accurate or not.
i’d like to predict that Tex will go yard tonight and so will Matsui
I’m saying 0. They’re due for a no HR game at home.
I’ll say 4 home runs.. 3 by Yankees: Cano, Tex and .. hmm.. Damon.
And then the Angel? Good ol’ returning Bobby Abreu.
HRS?
Jeter and Cano and one for them. (3)
“Selena Roberts is one of my most hated people on the planet.”
——-
You should hate the people who support that type of journalism by buying the book just as much.
If she makes money off the book because there is a market for it, who is to blame?
“There aren’t a lot of teams that are run much better.”
Can’t argue with that. Lou Lamoriello? Possibly the best executive in pro sport.
Boston Dave-That’s no excuse for writing it. Your point is well taken, but all that means is despite the fact that she knows he’s going to get hell from people who are going to buy the book she writes it anyway because she wants money.
Bronx Jeers-Agreed.
Re: HR’s tonight I say 3:
torri hunter off burnett (bad ave vs him, but 2 HR’s and he’s hitting well of late)
rookie angels pitcher, either lights out or lit up, his numbers in the minors were not amazing
http://www.thebaseballcube.com.....tega.shtml
so, Swisher and Jorge go yard
that’s my guess
saucY: thanks for trying, but when I click on that it just says ‘Buffering…’ but nothing happens. Maybe this is a metaphor for me being the real problem.
It’s odd that SI.com is making a big deal out of the “Pitch tipping” side to this story.
Tom Verducci even asked Selig if “giving pitches to an opposing team would subject a player to possible disciplinary action for striking at the integrity of the game and violating a contractual obligation to the “high standards of fair play,”
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....d/?eref=T1
“But I don’t know if we needed to see the goo goo eyes camera shots back and forth between Jack and Kate and Sawyer and Juliet. Love quadrangle = booooooring.”
I think that I’m the only one who enjoys the love quadrangle. I read the LOST message boards and everyone else hates it. Maybe I’m just a silly romantic. And for the record, I want Sawyer with Kate.
As for the episode, it was up there with some of the best of the entire series. Eloise Hawking will not be winning any Mother of the Year awards, that’s for sure.
““There aren’t a lot of teams that are run much better.”
Can’t argue with that. Lou Lamoriello? Possibly the best executive in pro sport.”
He is possibly a bigger cult figure among Devils fans than Marty Brodeur, and that says something.
Did you see Matthew Fox on Letterman a couple nights ago?
==========================
No. I missed seeing Foxie on Letterman.
I too was surprised by what happened at the end of that episode. I’ve been trying to stay spoiler free with this show.
Such a good episode!
“It’s odd that SI.com is making a big deal out of the “Pitch tipping” side to this story.
Tom Verducci even asked Selig if “giving pitches to an opposing team would subject a player to possible disciplinary action for striking at the integrity of the game and violating a contractual obligation to the “high standards of fair play,”
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....d/?eref=T1”
How exactly do you prove that?
Laura: Sawyer with Kate? What, you don’t like Sawyer?
Who do you want Jack to end up with? His beard?
I’ve got to chime in regarding Lost. Why the #(@)#@ would they want Farraday to undo the plane crash? It makes no sense; they all wanted to go back to the island, and now they just don’t all of a sudden?
Sorry in advance, people, but if I don’t respond to Nick in SF’s question, he’ll ask me about it again.
Nick,
I think Scorpio best said what I was trying to say. Nobody’s trying to push Posada out the door and some of what has been said has merit, just not statistical backup. So what?
It just got crazy and out of hand. Some of us tried to nip it in the bud by backing off, and others just refused to let it die. Instead they wanted to make themselves feel better by mocking, snarking, and misrepresenting a small population of the board.
This is place is cool because there seems to be some mutual respect. When that’s disturbed, it’s not such a cool place.
And nothing I said was even remotely directed at you. Even when you mock, you always do it respectfully.
S.A.: Foxie on Letterman was pretty dull (Letterman has no clue about the show, it’s always more entertaining when Lost people are on Jimmy Kimmel; he did a lot about the show last night) but he basically said that the season finale was going to be outstanding and the cliffhanger will be very intense and fans will love it but also be frustrated because there will be such a long wait until the final season.
m-Yeah, I agree. I never really had a problem with trisha anyway.
And, Chamberlain said it all in his interview. Basically, “I was getting behind in the third inning and I just needed a kick in the rear.” Nice to see that he knows that he was overdue for that. His and Hughes next starts will be very interesting.
Joba surprised me last night. His velocity was around 95. If he wants to be a power pitcher, then as a starter he needs to throw that hard on a consistent basis.
No other way around the situation.
m: awww, I sometimes mock disrespectfully too, I just don’t disrespect you.
In this case I will respectfully disagree again while respecting your feelings. I don’t think the discussion got crazy or out of hand, but only one person really went after me in particular while Those With A Contrary Position could feel that they were being ganged up upon. I think the ration of people commenting on both sides is appropriate to the quality of the respective arguments, however.
I will also say that not every person in the Those With A Contrary Position camp have endorsed all of the same statements, ideas, and concepts. So people mocking what person A said might have also included persons B and C in the mockery.
Anyway, I don’t think the phrase “Posada Truthers” is vicious or hateful or comes close to crossing some line of propriety, plus it flat out made me laugh out loud. Some other words that were used (”stupid”, “ludicrous”, etc.) might not have the same wit, but I don’t think they were used with hate in mind, at least not by the regulars who used them.
So when you said that there was a lot of hate in here, I didn’t see the hate but I can see how you might feel it. And now, bowing to popular will, I will attempt to refrain from commenting on the Posada Problem for the rest of the evening unless someone has something particular they want to say to me about it.
Rebecca-Optimist Prime
April 30th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
“It’s odd that SI.com is making a big deal out of the “Pitch tipping” side to this story.
Tom Verducci even asked Selig if “giving pitches to an opposing team would subject a player to possible disciplinary action for striking at the integrity of the game and violating a contractual obligation to the “high standards of fair play,”
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....eref=T1”;
How exactly do you prove that?
————————————————————
I’d call BS on that. Michael Young, who said that Rodriguez was his favorite teammate, would have noticed it as much as anybody, besides the main guy. Buck Showalter would have picked up on that in a second, and, as much as he disliked Rodriguez never hinted at that as an issue.
Posada will be a great manager one day. So will Molina.
All catchers would make good managers.
I meant ratio, not ration.
Meanwhile, while LoHud fiddled, the Blue Jays burned; we can’t lose ground to them, at least.
The Red Sox never lose now.
Scorpio,
I’m not attacking anyone personally on this board, you Trisha or anyone else.
You really need to look back at prior threads to see how the argument devolved from “Molina is a better defensive catcher and possibly calls a better game” to “Posada has lost the ability to call games” and is the reason the pitching has stunk.
It was inferred that A.J. Burnett melted down and Alby almost coughed the game away last night was because they threw it where Posada told them to throw it.
Now, honestly, do you really believe that?
Part of the reason that Texas pitchers were hit hard were because of Rodriguez….Ivan Rodriguez, who had a penchent for calling for fastballs when runners were on base, regardless of the batter or the situation. Pitchers weren’t always pleased by that. The other ptoblem with Texas pitchers is that they were lousy to begin with.
right center gap in NY
April 30th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Joba surprised me last night. His velocity was around 95. If he wants to be a power pitcher, then as a starter he needs to throw that hard on a consistent basis.
No other way around the situation.
————————————————————
He needs to throw that hard when the situation calls for a 95-97 MPH fastball.
The decrepit Derek Jeter (34)
and the Vibrant Jose Reyes (25)
have similar stats at the end of April.
Including the ALL IMPORTANT GDIP (2)
grist for the mill
rconn23, Nick in SF:
Thanks, I will look back at the older threads. I was just surprised by how feisty this Molina/Po thing got.
And no, I do not think that Po has lost his game calling ability or caused any sort of meltdown.
Now, let’s all just get along and bring home a WIN.
KC turned 6 ground balls into DPs. Damned…you’d think Jeter was playing for them.
Not very often do you see a catcher have two triples in one game like John Buck did for KC.
“Can sombody explain to me what’s wrong with Gardner’s swing?”
__
“Yes, he swings with his arms fully extended, which greatly lengthens the time it takes for his bat to go through the hitting zone (larger, longer arc, put simply).”
in a baseball swing or a golf swing, the moment the arms extend the swing speed slows down. on the ideal swing ,the arms reach maximum extension on impact. if a player reaches extension too soon no power and slow swing speed.
releasing the wrists at the last possible split second is the key. bonds was the best at it. it takes a lot of strength to hold the angle and not release the swing( which is where the steroids come in).
when michael jordan was with the white sox minor league system in the early days of his trying baseball, he couldn’t even reach the warning track in bp even though he’s huge.
he gave up his wrist cock early and released early which made a long swing with his arms extended. he never really learned how to release late.
garder’s swing is so stiff and so bad , i don’t even know where to begin with what’s wrong with it. the biggest thing wrong is it’s stiff and mechanical and slow. i’m actually amazed he does as well as he does with it.
he doesn’t know how to crack the whip. that’s like when you snap a towel. the wrists don’t so much move the bat as they hold it back until release. easy to show , but hard to explain. when swinging, the wrists want to let go because of the momentum of the swing. holding the release until the last possible millisecond creates amazing power.
it’s clear gardner doesn’t hold the angle. you can see how hard it is to hold the angle when a hitter tries to check his swing. the momentum of the bat makes the wrists release. on a good swing keeping the bat back and cocked when the body has turned and the belly button is facing the pitcher is the goal. arod , cano. teixeira are all excellent at doing it. as i said bonds is the best.
I came up with Posada Truthers, because I was trying to be funny (maybe I did a poor job:)) It’s a debate about Jorge Posada’s game-calling skills. It’s not life or death.
This isn’t global politics we’re discussing here folks. It will be OK. Get a thicker skin.
them = Toronto
This crap about catchers is getting ridiculous!! Posada is by far a better catcher than Molina! Sure Molina has a defensive advantage perhaps, but a catcher is more than just that. Last time I checked, they still had to bat unless perhaps you want CC to bat for himself and let Matsui bat for Molina.
The reason a pitcher has a preference of one catcher over another usually has nothing to do with calling pitches, but does have to do with the target they provide. Some pitchers like a small target and a catcher with soft hands. A sinkerball pitcher likes a catcher that blocks pitches in the dirt well. All pitchers are in control of their pitch selection. They have a game plan even before the game of what pitches and when. It is a process of getting to know each other. One of Girardi’s strengths is that he understands that interface of Pitcher & Catcher. Sometimes Coaches even call the pitches. Some pitchers pitch what they want even though a catcher call a certain pitch. LOL! This discussion of catchers is a discussion by people who seem to know little about baseball. (I have it from a good source, that someone knew that someone else knew more about this!!) So here is my 15% tip, if you want to discuss the best catcher for NY, then lets find the best defensive catcher in baseball and DH for him and let our pitchers bat. I have seen some tremendous catchers defensively that is over the years, including the Tiger’s Inge’s father, who were incredible but couldn’t hit. The same thing goes with SS. But guess what? They aren’t playing in the majors unless they hit too!
If Trisha would leave this site, oh my god, that would be the greatest thing ever. Is there a more incompetent, cheesy homer? UGH! I despise her. She’s too mentally ill to actually leave, but I applaud anyone here who is calling her out on her sad, bizarre psychosis. Good work.
This whole Alex mess is growing tiresome….As for tipping pitchers, there’s no way he or any middle inf could get away with this….As for all the steroid accusations, Ms. Roberts seemingly has the Freedom of the press amendment shield that will deflect the alledged two party source’s….Not certain what Alex ever did to her, but she has an agenda…..Sorry Pete, I understand she’s a member of your fraterity, but this is taking it too far…..Nick in SF……Bulls laying the 3 maybe the best pick of the NBA Postseason to date……
The Red Sox never lose now.
—————–
I think I might actually like to see the Sox beat up on the Rays some this weekend.
I don’t believe in the Jays, and everyone else in the league looks fairly ordinary, so its probably going to come down to the Top 2 in the East and the leaders in the other two divisions.
In other words, its in the Yankees interest to have the team struggling dig the hole a littler deeper for themselves I think, rather than to even things out among the projected three best teams.
Maybe if the hole gets big enough, the Rays could be this year’s Tigers, which I sort of anticipated might happen anyway.
YES interviewed Rodriguez about Roberts and it’s book. Rodriguez’ response, “I’m not going there. I’m just happy to be playing, again.”.
“Can sombody explain to me what’s wrong with Gardner’s swing?”
__
“Yes, he swings with his arms fully extended, which greatly lengthens the time it takes for his bat to go through the hitting zone (larger, longer arc, put simply).”
in a baseball swing or a golf swing, the moment the arms extend the swing speed slows down. on the ideal swing ,the arms reach maximum extension on impact. if a player reaches extension too soon no power and slow swing speed.
releasing the wrists at the last possible split second is the key. bonds was the best at it. it takes a lot of strength to hold the angle and not release the swing( which is where the steroids come in).
when michael jordan was with the white sox minor league system in the early days of his trying baseball, he couldn’t even reach the warning track in bp even though he’s huge.
he reeased his wrists early which made a long swing with his arms extended. he never really learned how to release late.
garder’s swing is so stiff and so bad , i don’t even know where to begin with what’s wrong with it. the biggest thing wrong is it’s stiff and mechanical and slow. i’m actually amazed he does as well as he does with it.
he doesn’t know how to crack the whip. that’s like when you snap a towel. the wrists don’t so much move the bat as they hold it back until release. easy to show , but hard to explain. when swinging, the wrists want to let go because of the momentum of the swing. holding the release until the last possible millisecond creates amazing power.
it’s clear gardner doesn’t hold the angle. you can see how hard it is to hold the angle when a hitter tries to check his swing. the momentum of the bat makes the wrists release. keeping the bat back with wrists unreleased when the body has turned and the belly button is facing the pitcher is the goal on a good swing. arod , cano. teixeira are all excellent at doing it. as i said bonds is the best.
it is possible to break a bat by holding the angle too long. when you start the swing and hold the angle if your wrists don’t break the bat handle can. don’t try that at home
http://www.nj.com/yankees/inde.....22_th.html
Interesting comments from Tex……
First baseman Mark Teixeira told a group of visiting Angels writers that he loved his time in Anaheim and said his time spent with the Angels last season was “the best two-and-a-half months of my career,” to which a New York writer had to ask, “including your one month with the Yankees?”
Teixeira avoided that question. He told the Angels’ writers he signed with the Yankees as a free agent over the winter, he said, because he wanted to be back on the East Coast, near his parents in Maryland. He also admitted had the Angels offered more money, he might have been convinced to stay.
WELCOME TO BIZZARO LOHUD
randy1
it always seemed to me that Tino had something weird looking with his swing. like he didn’t turn his wrists- not that it was a problem for him
Gardner’s approach to hitting is the exact opposite of his ST approach. Whatever possessed him to change back to his Jul-Aug 2008 approach is beyond me.
Reggie Miller = T. Howell III’s stupid alter-ego.
If Gardner really has reverted back to his old swing, should’nt he go back to AAA to see if he can refind it? I’d like to see him used as a weapon off the bench in late innings, but that does not seem to be happening. Perhaps Shelly or another more potent bat would be better for the bench. I will say, I am really enjoying the Leche rebound.
Somebody help me out –
I went to work today (I’m still dependent on the paycheck), and IT has blocked my getting the blog, so I’m just scanning posts now.
Do I have this right – Roberts’ new book on ARod investigates – how much he tips waitresses?
Uncle Ellsworth
April 30th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
randy1
it always seemed to me that Tino had something weird looking with his swing. like he didn’t turn his wrists- not that it was a problem for him
————————————————————
Martinez was also animal strong. He had something else that goes unnoticed…..slopping, rounded shoulders. Ever notice that is a common trait with most of the best of the high average hitters. Williams, DiMaggio, Musial, Mantle, Mattingly, Aaron and Ruth. First chance you get, look at pix of them. The rounded shoulders allow the arms to hang lower and into more of a hitting position.
“it always seemed to me that Tino had something weird looking with his swing. like he didn’t turn his wrists- not that it was a problem for him
uncle ellsworth
you can still release the wrists without rolling them. now that you mention that, i can see that in tino’s swing.
“I went to work today (I’m still dependent on the paycheck), and IT has blocked my getting the blog, so I’m just scanning posts now.”
joe in long island-
man, talk about a bad day at work.
That should be ***sloping*** shoulders. Slopping would be mass writings by Roberts.
GB, one of the things I remember being said about Donnie Baseball when I was much younger (unfortunately,. lol) was that he had sloping shoulders like Musial. For some reason, that has stuck with me for all these years.
randy – Don’t rub it in.
Thanks
GB, Randy
rounded shoulders I’ll look for it.
Tino just looked different to me.
Betsy
April 30th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
GB, one of the things I remember being said about Donnie Baseball when I was much younger (unfortunately,. lol) was that he had sloping shoulders like Musial. For some reason, that has stuck with me for all these years.
————————————————————
They had almost the exact same swing and batting stance, right down to the corkscrew swing that helped them generate their power.
On Kim Jones’ blog someone asked her if Pete Abraham ever sleeps… her response… He blogs in his sleep.
Burnett is going to spin a gem tonight.
I’m predicting a Matsui HR and multiple hits for doncha know Robbie Cano.
Anybody find it surprising that the Red Sox shut down John Smoltz for at least the next week? Suddenly, their prized pickups of Baldelli, Smoltz and Penny aren’t looking too good at all
Gardner’s approach to hitting is the exact opposite of his ST approach. Whatever possessed him to change back to his Jul-Aug 2008 approach is beyond me.
__________
Can’t say I saw many of his ST ABs but I’ll take your word his swing wasn’t always just way and he just ran into some inferior pitches, but the answer to your question is probably the common reason many slumps happen.
As Randy well explained, hitting a baseball is almost like a game of chicken. You have to have the confidence (and strength to justify it) to allow the pitch to get closer to you for that extra couple 100ths of a second, and then explode on it.
When your priority is making contact, you start “feeling” for the ball, which pragmatically is starting your swing too early and lengthening it because your brain tricks you into thinking that’s the best way to get the bat on it.
I think Gardner pressed when the regular season started, subconsciously prioritizing making contact … any contact, and he started feeling for the ball.
Matt Holliday must have thought he was back in Colorado. He hit his first AL home run….in Texas. Now hitting .240.
Now, just get Jeter and Teixeira turned around.
does anyone know who the poster here is that played with Wang in Staten Island?
Okay I will try to make this brief, I promise.
I have to say that I enjoy and respect the vast majority of people who post here, even when we disagree with each other vehemently. I have tried my best to treat the “few others” with respect. I really have tried. But I’ve come to the conclusion that with those others I have so little respect for what they represent that from this point on I will just act as if they are not here.
I will always be happy to respond to people who treat me with respect. I continue to use SJ as the model of person who will disagree with nothing but respect. So for future reference if I post something with which someone disagrees and it happens to be a member of the outlier group I will not respond to the person at all. The only time you might see me say anything is if I find that any of those people have forum coffe clatches and use me as their punching bag. Short of that, they are no longer part of my forum vocabulary.
If you ask me a question over and over and I don’t respond it’s intentional. If you don’t understand, I will merely say “don’t bother” and then you’ll understand.
Thanks, and GO YANKEES!!!!!
I promise I will continue to try to treat everyone and their ideas with respect. If you feel that I am not doing it, let me know. I don’t want to be that kind of person because it diminishes not just you but also me.
Stuckey
April 30th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Gardner’s approach to hitting is the exact opposite of his ST approach. Whatever possessed him to change back to his Jul-Aug 2008 approach is beyond me.
Can’t say I saw many of his ST ABs but I’ll take your word his swing wasn’t always just way and he just ran into some inferior pitches, but the answer to your question is probably the common reason many slumps happen.
————————————————————
Late last year and this spring, he actually had a baseball swing. The swing he has now is more suited for softball.
“Do I have this right – Roberts’ new book on ARod investigates – how much he tips waitresses?”
No, it’s about how he was tipping 15% of pitches as a Ranger.
Kevin,
Thanks for the audio.
BTW, we’re not all crazy. Some of us are just crazed.
joe in long island-
you might have to get a blackberry or iphone.
you could call me and i could read it to you, but i’m starting to get into my busy season so that won’t work.
i know what to do, call gb7.
he’s retired and has all the time in the world. plus he doesn’t do anything. he’ll be happy to hear from you.
the only problem is that the language might be a little different without pete’s filter getting in the way.
Can think of Matttinly’s swing without thinking about the 2 or 3 times a year he’s fly out to left field for 4 to 7 days at a time.
It was like the game you saw his drop the bat head and fly out to left 2 or 3 times, you KNEW he was going to fight that for about another week.
Which brings us to Gardner. Gardner didn’t change his approach, not consciously/purosely I mean.
Great athelete’s are as much and probably more about whats upstairs than physical tools.
Go Yanks!
did anyone else just see AJ rip that rosin/resin bag out of the kids hand like a d-bag?
Randi I.
Thanks for the analysis on Gardner’s swing. Good stuff
randy l.
April 30th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
joe in long island-
you might have to get a blackberry or iphone.
you could call me and i could read it to you, but i’m starting to get into my busy season so that won’t work.
i know what to do, call gb7.
he’s retired and has all the time in the world. plus he doesn’t do anything. he’ll be happy to hear from you.
the only problem is that the language might be a little different without pete’s filter getting in the way.
————————————————————
You bet, Randy. You can call me at any time…phone number is 1-UKISSMYASZ.
Listening now. Someone (female?) asked about the swine flu. Girardi gave a good answer, finishing with “Of course I worry about my children, and of course my wife.”
Then the person asked about where the children are. And Girardi said, “I’d rather not talk about their school, but yeah, they’re doing good.”
I wouldn’t want anyone asking about my family on the record either.
Empty seats! Empty seats!
“He felt like he had good stuff but just didn’t make the right pitches at the right time.” I think that’s the thing some of us questioned.
Is it okay that I said that?
Badly played by Damon. Stupid, actually.
Great start there by Burnett
Figgins hasn’t been hitting his weight, and he leads off with a 2 strike triple
I hate figgins.
Doesn’t matter who’s pitching…if they’re wearing pinstripes, Chone Figgins turns into Ty Cobb…
How do you get this guy out? Seriously, is there anyone besides Manny that hits the Yankees as well as Figgins?
Anybody else with a DVR, please take a look at Jeter’s no-throw to third base and tell me that he couldn’t have easily thrown out Figgins.
God, those expensive seats are still empty. I know it shouldn’t bother me, but I can’t help it. I’m not used to watching Yankee home games with so few fans in the background.
carl, here’s something that I don’t understand. I went on both stubhub and Ebay looking to see if anyone was hawking front row seats. I couldn’t find one (just looking not that I could have gone.) Then where are the people or the tickets? I don’t get it.
Jay, I noticed it, too.
Great start here by the Yankees.
Think Jeter is tipping pitches? lol
I hope Bobby doesn’t kill the Yankees in this series
Why didn’t we resign him? Lord. Abreu has been a beast so far this year.
That pop up was almost out of there
That pop up was almost out of there
Donnie he wouldn’t have done it with us.
I miss Bobby Abreu.
I’m still in mourning over him.
I suspect the only reason he didn’t throw to third is because his view of Figgins was obstructed by Burnett (who was pointing to third to tell Jeter to throw there).
“I think Gardner pressed when the regular season started, subconsciously prioritizing making contact … any contact, and he started feeling for the ball.”
stuckey-
that makes sense. when i gave the example of michael jordan , i should have mentioned he almost always made contact, but with no power at all. good point about worring about making contact at the extent of power.
Here we go again with the shrinking strike zone.
trisha,
Will you still mourn him when he refuses to go for any fly ball within 10ft of the wall?
AJ is reverting back to trying to blow everybody away instead of pitching.
He’s throwing too many fastballs. That’s getting him into trouble.
I don’t miss Abreau, he wouldn’t stand 5 feet within a wall but suddenly he’s giving 100% for the Angels, he’ll break down physically soon, good move by Cashman
derek I loved everything about him. I think his offense was awesome, he was really consistent, he was a great teammate, he loved playing for the Yankees, he had a good arm, and I was in the minority I guess of people who didn’t think his defense was terrible.
Why are we playing in Pirates stadium?
Jeter’s back to hitting everything on the ground. Take the Odor Eaters out of your shoes and you’ll start hitting the middle of the ball.
One thing about the Angel Organization, they teach all their pitchers to pitch down in the zone…
we couldn’t possibly keep Abreu with an already crowded outfield. Unless you believe that we shouldn’t have gotten swish.
“I was in the minority I guess of people who didn’t think his defense was terrible.”
Rabble rouser!
When you think about it, on any given night there are up to 64 major league umpires out there. I don’t know if I know the names of 64 umpires! Do they rotate through both leagues or do they stick to one league?
Anyway, Angel Hernandez is one name I wish I didn’t know!
I can’t help but remember Abreu for his non-play in that No-hitter or perfect game that someone (Wang, I think) was pitching. The ball hit the wall right next to him because he was terrified of ever hitting the wall. That was when I officially came to dislike Abreu.
An unusual flub for Torii
“Who do you want Jack to end up with? His beard?”
Jack can have Juliet, Nick.
Matsui is on fiya
Tex with a double.
Trade away all of our youth before the swine flu kills us all!
Nice job Matsui
Matsui is really running well the last 6-7 days.
“Rabble rouser!”
Ain’t it!
that Matsui guy sure is washed up
I just got in the house. What kind of reception did Abreu get?
“You bet, Randy. You can call me at any time…phone number is 1-UKISSMYASZ.”
gb7-
gee, i was just trying to help out joe from long island
If Matsui keeps up with these extra-base hits they’re going to have to attach those buckets they put on maple trees to those old knees of his.
Did anyone catch AJ snatching the rosin bag from the bat boy? What was up with that. He wasn’t laughing either.
Laura:
Abreau got a decent hand from all 6 fans.
Liz, it wasn’t just Swisher. We already had a crowded outfield when Cashman announced that he was going to be using Sui primarily to DH to start off the season. They also said that they wanted to try to give Damon time at DH. So that meant we already had Nady, Melky/Brett/someone else? and Damon in the field, with the potential of Sui going back at some point. So we were unfortunately crowded without Swisher.
peters old joke
Speaking of fear, there’s a reporter in the press box wearing a doctors mask. The swine flu scare is taking over. Just look at the seats around the dugouts. People are afraid
matsui’s clutch hitting is what I’ll miss most when they let go of him at the end of his contract..
Jenn,
I saw it, too. It looked like kind of a d–k move
“1. The Bleacher Creatures did a role call for Bobby Abreu in right. Necessary? I mean, he wasn’t exactly loved the entire time when he was here because of his indifferent personality and fear of outfield walls.”
Forget the supposed fear of the wall. If you look at what he did offensively, he deserved a nice ovation.
Um what the heck AJ?
Mike Napoli? Really, AJ?
Burnett has nothing on his fastball nothing…
randy l.
April 30th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
“You bet, Randy. You can call me at any time…phone number is 1-UKISSMYASZ.”
gb7-
gee, i was just trying to help out joe from long island
————————————————————
LMAO. Joe’s more than welcome to call that number, too.
well waddaya know, a HR
“Abreau got a decent hand from all 6 fans.”
LOL!
Yankee Stadium = launching pad.
what is going on with AJ -
Nap crushed that.
Wow. AJ’s just lost it. Just all over the place.
Too many fastballs and guys are just sitting on them.
Either change the pitching pattern or he is going to continue to get pounded.
Donnie
April 30th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Mike Napoli? Really, AJ?
————————————————————
Check out Napoli’s home run numbers. He’s no surprise.
trisha, that’s true. that’s why I don’t think they can keep Abreu even if he did well (which could also be questionable) for us — at least for the offense
I hope tonight is not a bullpen in the 3rd inning night..
“The Bleacher Creatures did a role call for Bobby Abreu in right.”
Awww I missed that.
god michael kay why did you bring up posada vs. molina
That home run unnerved him.
“Mike Napoli? Really, AJ?”
he does hit a lot of homeruns for a catcher
“Burnett has nothing on his fastball nothing…”
95, 96 all night…
Trisha – have you been texting Kay again?
so much for the momentum generated the last 2 games by the “young guns”…….
I’m starting to think that these guys visit this blog. They were just discussing the Posada/Molina for AJ debate that we’ve been having for days now.
posada is killing this team
Every time we play the angels we look like crap.
Great job, Posada.
“what is going on with AJ -”
I promised not to talk about it…
ok – with the base-stealing As in town why do you not put Molina in? not a posada-molina comparison, i think this is standard
napoli’s swing didn’t even look complete, looked like he checked it and bombed one lol
SJ-
What do you think the feasability of that Arod interview up on SI now about him tipping pitches?
Actually, now that I’m thinking about it with the level of low-level advantages players pine for, I couldn’t care less
Burnett really needs to throw strikes and stop walking people, especially today because the Angels will run so a walk is as good as a double
“Trisha – have you been texting Kay again? ”
Now why would I want to do that? I’m just a stupid ludicrous silly moron worthy of mocking. Anyway, just like everyone else with eyes, he didn’t need me to point out the obvious to him!
make sure no one steals home here
If I hear the phrase “launching pad” one more time, I am going to inhale a jar of swine flu.
That HR by Napoli would have been out of any stadium.
That one hardly adds to the theory of the park being a “launching pad”.
GOOD FOR SWISH!
Abreu wouldn’t have gotten that ball…
Here is what is going on at the Angels blog:
Geez Napoli just half swinged that out of the yard.
by Chzburger Jones on Apr 30, 2009 4:30 PM PDT reply reply actions actions 0 recs
LOL. at angels stadium that is a routine pop up
by dmoney2741 on Apr 30, 2009 4:30 PM PDT reply reply actions actions 0 recs
Posada behind the plate against the Angels is just brutal. Steal 2nd, 3rd they might even try stealing home also.
On the reply it looked like Napoli hit the homer off the end of bat.
Now a broken bat to the warning track.
Yankee pitcher’s are gonna miss Detroit.
That ball went way too far on a shattered bat.
1) That Bleacher Creature roll call for Abreu is totally sacrelige IMO. It’s one thing for Giambi, but Abreu is soft and lazy and brought those qualities with him into the clubhouse.
2) AJ, pls make an adjustment. The HR to Napoli isnt crazy, he does have power….but still, cmon. We need to run up Ortega’s pitch count too. The Angels bullpen is no longer what it once was.
Wow the bat completely shattered and the ball still made it to the warning track lol.
That last run was manufactured. We’re going to need to stop letting the Angels steal bases.
[Comment From DASSIT]
Does Pete Abraham ever sleep?
6:56
He blogs in his sleep.
From Kim jones live chat.
So much for my prediction of AJ pitching a gem.
I should keep these proclaimations to myself from now on.
At least he got out of that inning.
Why does it seem like the ball on carries for the Opposing team?
TRISHA – SHUT YOUR STUPID MOUTH! YOU ARE AN INCOMPETENT WATERHEAD. NOBODY HERE LIKES YOU. PETE LAUGHS AT HOW STUPID YOU ARE. EVERYONE THINKS YOU’RE A FOOL AND A LOSER.
A broken bat, and the ball goes that far wow!
“That ball went way too far on a shattered bat.”
Yep
“Geez Napoli just half swinged that out of the yard.”
That ball was absolutely crushed!! Fastball right down broadway, that is a homerun anywhere.
It’s pretty clear Burnett and Posada aren’t on thecsame page tonight.
Girardi is going to have to get these guys on the same page.
The answer isn’t giving him a personal catcher. It’s working out whatever issues these guys may have with each other.
AJ is a better pitcher than the guy that has now given up 11 runs in his last 3 innings of work.
Someone should go sneeze on the guy with a mask. Hypochondriac.
burnett had a 6.07 era last year during april.
he also had a 5.06 era in june.
i think streakiness is part of the deal with AJ.
Come on Posada take a pitch.
Evolution, that Angel fan doesnt know what he is talking about. Los Anaheim fans are just about the most ignorant in baseball, every time I watch games there everyone is cheering pop ups as if theyre HR’s. If they cant tell the difference at the Stadium, then why could they on TV?
Still, I cant wait for the offseason when they can do something to make the new park a little bit less hitter friendly.
SJ agree. At least you notice there are issues to be worked out!
bdog375
April 30th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Someone should go sneeze on the guy with a mask. Hypochondriac.
germophobe
I actually miss Abreu when it comes to his aproach at the plate. You never heard “one pitch, one out” when he was batting.
Selena Roberts will report that the reason why the Angles are smacking AJ around is because A-Rod is calling the signs in to the Angels from Fla.
Captains corner, you’re the only that feels it was absolutely crushed. It only made it to the 2nd row in the right porch, thats hardly “crushed”
Let’s see if they can get some runs this inning.
Okay Posada-1 pitch, 1 out. Not a part of the plan
Now this guy is looking like Ben sheets.
Come on. Work some counts here. They’re letting this guy off easy.
Let’s go melky.
Napoli crushed that pitch. That’s a HR anywhere.
The Arod tipping pitches is BS.
Show me the proof. Unnamed source gossip is not proof.
THAT’S MY DA MELK!!!!
This is terrible, why is no one taking any pitches?
here’s hoping posada went straight to try to find a solution to the pitching part of the game…
I don’t want to go overboard about the new stadium being a “launching pad” (sorry leblanc), but if the HR rate keeps up throughout the duration of a season or two, nullifying the several hundred million dollar investment in pitching, do the Yankees dare move the fences out?
Do they become slaves to tradition and keep the fences @ old Yankee Stadium measurements even if it does waste such an investment?
Has anyone else experienced difficulty with the yesnetwork website media player recently? It hasnt been working for me, very frustrating.
Melky should try to steal here. It’s frustrating that the Yankees hardly ever run. Abreu isn’t faster than Melky, Jeter, Damon, etc. but he already has 9 SB because the Angels are much more aggressive.
Flats picked it up immediately tonight.
Predictable pitching patterns. It happens.
Gotta make adjustments.
Look at those b**** t*** bouncin.
max, I’ve never tried that but is it the same as using MLB.com?
Melky run!! If your out then your out. All of a sudden Abreu at 35 can steal bases.
From the independent league to Cy young
Only against the Yanks
melky steals lol
Thank you..For once we run against the bunny rabbits.
I know where were all those steals for Bobby when he was here.
Hurry back Arod…
MELKY!!!!!
See here’s what I really love and respect about Girardi and really didn’t like about Torre. Girardi will let you try to play your way into the game. With Torre, he had favorites, and if you weren’t one of those guys, he’d put you out there with a .123 BA and say it was just a matter of time.
Jennifer he was batting in front of A-Rod.
Randy, you beat me to it. I was just gonna post that..
I remember Bobby stealing bases. I don’t think it’s just my blind loyalty, but I will look it up to be sure!
I have a feeling the second time thru the order will have better results.
Yanks are relying on the big inning lately. Next inning – runs runs runs.
I love Posada but what the heck are they going to do with him behind the plate? Teams like the the Angels and Rays must salivate when they know he is catching. This is going to be a real problem.
i’m not sure, Trisha. I love it (when it works). It plays all the post game interviews and sometimes pre/batting practice interviews. Theres been a Robinson Cano interview Kim Jones can’t stop raving about (on her blog) and ive been dying to watch it. Ive never used the MLB one, what content do they have on it?
Hopefully a nice quick inning for AJ here
It’s funny, Angel Berroa looks like he’s 50 and Ramiro Pena looks like he’s 15.
hm i cant see my posts lol
EvoLuTioN
April 30th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Captains corner, you’re the only that feels it was absolutely crushed. It only made it to the 2nd row in the right porch, thats hardly “crushed”
You lose all credibility with nonsense posts like this. Do you watch baseball? Napoli hit that ball square. he knew it was gone right after he hit it. This isn’t really up for debate if you watch baseball and saw the play.
Quoting comments from an Angels blog doesn’t do anything to help support your ridiculous claim.
i just thought about this, torre outed nearly everything in his book, you don’t think he would have wrote about that “B___ T___” if it was true?
Burnett is not happy.
Do you want to know why Bobby didnt steal at an alarming rate? He was hitting in front of Arod. You don’t take a chance to steal in many situations with a power hitter up, because it one, is distracting, two, not a smart play. If you are out, and he hits one out, your two run shot just became a solo.
RS
April 30th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Melky should try to steal here. It’s frustrating that the Yankees hardly ever run. Abreu isn’t faster than Melky, Jeter, Damon, etc. but he already has 9 SB because the Angels are much more aggressive.
————————————————————
For a team that hardly ever runs, they seem to be doing ok. 17 steals and 2 caught. angels are 23-3. NYY is 4th in the league. Want to talk about runs scored and homers, next?
Callin those low strikes.
okay miggs, did you see how far that shattered bat hit traveled? Napoli connected off the end of his bat.
I find it incredibly frustrating to be down 3-1 right now with this pitching matchup. very, very frustrating.
“The Arod tipping pitches is BS.”
who makes up this stuff ?
let me get this straight. two middle infielders on opposing teams have signals that they will give each other in blowout games ?
okeydokey.
when writers start thinking up stuff like this it’s probably a sign that it’s time for them to go into fiction.
lol posada throws it over Burnett’s head
Evolution- Selena Roberts is just pissed that Arod stole her nickname
randy l., did you also know that Arod only tips 15% at hooters? rofl
Oh max, you’re using it for that. I’m pretty sure that it’s the only place you can find the Yanks pre and post games. And not to make it worse for you but I saw that Cano interview when she did it and you don’t want to miss it.
Most times I’m passive on in-game threads but tonight I’m going to call out all the garbage.
Know what you’re talking about or don’t post.
Please.
Nice inning for AJ
great inning!
Go back to being passive miggs.
kthx
Hey aj that is more like it!
Tipping pitches, from Steven Goldman:
“I suppose that the news that Rodriguez sometimes tipped pitches to pals will get more play at this point, but I wonder if it will be merited. There is an old tradition, going back to the game’s earliest days, of sometimes giving a friend a gift in a game that’s already been decided. You can find countless anecdotes about this kind of thing in baseball history books.”
http://pinstripedbible.mlblogs.....tents.html
let’s go boys!
wow- there are people behind home plate all of a sudden
randy l.
April 30th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
“The Arod tipping pitches is BS.”
who makes up this stuff ?
let me get this straight. two middle infielders on opposing teams have signals that they will give each other in blowout games ?
okeydokey.
when writers start thinking up stuff like this it’s probably a sign that it’s time for them to go into fiction.
————————————————————
Two people would have picked up on that. Michael Young and Buck Showalter.
She has the wrong Rodriguez. Besides Texas having the worst pitching staffs in baseball annually, Ivan Rodriguez preferred fastballs in running situations and everybody knew it.
I still can’t understand why the Angels called up their #1 power prospect only to leave him on the bench for 2 weeks. DHing Maicer Izturis..
Why is that girls that work at Hooters always seem to be called Amber? lol
Hooters is overpriced the food isn’t that good at all, even their much-vaunted wings.
anyone have an audio link the wtsnam1270 isn’t showing the game
Better pitching pattern that inning.
I suspect Girardi talked to both guys. Good adjustments made that inning.
people have talked about posada’s pitch calling. i’m neutral on the subject, but he just throw the ball over beunett’s head. that’s a real no no. some pitchers want the ball the same spee in the smae place everytime on the throw back to the pitcher. a catcher can really tick off a pitcher if he’s all over the place throwing the ball back to the pitcher.
i’m not saying posada is. i’m just pointing out that throwing the ball back is something you don’t ever hear about , but it does matter.
Doris, 50% will do that
50% off i meant
for some reason this game is really grinding my gears
Is that CY YOUNG Pitching a against us
Johnny DAMON!!
Damon!!!
its now grinding my gears slightly less
Positively demonic!
haha thanks trisha! i guess i’ll just wait for them to hopefully put it on their you tube channel.
haha
I also heard the shirtless swisher interview was a good one
now THAT was absolutely bombed
back to back here
Nice job, Damon. That ball was actually crushed.
Gb, I’m sure, if one were so inclined, one could look at the video of the alleged tipping to see if Alex did anything out of the ordinary…
Damon!
Doris-
Either they are the people who show up late, or they moved people.
I think it is they just show up late. Lots of suits back there.
I’m thinking Arod breaks the HR record by August 2011.
And Trisha I’m usually supportive of what you write but this Posada/ Molina debate is not only getting quite old, but I agree with Patrick and others that you can’t continue to beat a dead horse with this issue unless you provide some sort of facts or stats to back up your claim.
Now you’ve been on this issue for days and frankly no one is getting anywhere with it. I’m not going to give my opinion because its really not relavent. But you’ve actually written long posts detailing why you won’t respond to certain posters and what you feel is wrong with their responses.
I admire the fact that you won’t back down and I hope you don’t take offense to this but you gotta let it go, ok?
I also heard Arod kicks puppies…
godzilla is just the guy we want
That low pitch was a strike for AJ – it’s nice to be a veteran pitcher sometimes.
I also heard the shirtless swisher interview was a good one haha
Swish said “Awesome” like 10 times
matsui on wheels
I don’t even want to think about all of the fluid that is probably building up in Matsui’s knees right now. Ugh!
I think this ump is blind he has no consistent strike zone
i cant remember the last time i saw matsui smile, or look somewhat happy.
Tom in N.J.
April 30th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Gb, I’m sure, if one were so inclined, one could look at the video of the alleged tipping to see if Alex did anything out of the ordinary…
————————————————————
Goldman’s an idiot, anyway. He’s got Rodriguez qupted as saying the steroid use was from 2003-2005. He’s the twin brother of another noted Rodriguez hater who shall remain nameless.
Burnett has to be able to beat Ortega. Come on, Yanks.
miggs, I have my reasons and agreed with others’ reasons but some people like to poke and prod and pretend you didn’t say things. As I said, I’m through with the AH’s here, few though they may be. You haven’t been around for all of the discussion. The main PITA was the one who tried to keep stirring the crap, which he does quite well and continually.
That said, I don’t have to say a word tonight because there are enough guys who have already mentioned Posada behind the plate. I notice Tom from N.J. has been extremely silent about it. I guess it’s easier to call out someone smaller than you are…
Rodriguez ***quoted*** as
Godzilla beating out a DP.
Love it.
Hey Evolution, why don’t you check out the Angels blog and see what they’re saying about that Damon HR?
That way you can better formulate your own opinion based on others, instead of using your eyes and common sense.
Two bad at bats tonight for Jeter and Cano.
miggs, go back into your shell. Just because your homerism can’t come to reality doesn’t mean it isn’t true
cano hasn’t had his swing sofar
Why do you guys care what people are saying about an inadament object? Who cares if people think the new stadium is a launching pad? Why take it personally?
Uncle Ellsworth April 30th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
I also heard the shirtless swisher interview was a good one haha
Swish said “Awesome” like 10 times
————————————
Loved when he yelled shirtless interview over here.
children, put down the knives
I asked yesterday but had no takers. I’ll try again. I have tickets to next Sunday’s game in Baltimore. Anyone interested. Just looking for face.
First of all, nice to see that umps squeeze pitchers that don’t wear pinstripes. It was kind of fun watching those low strikes called on Bobby.
Second, how does Johnny Damon get balls out of the park (any park) without driving the ball?
Third, anyone else laugh when they saw video of Alex running in Tampa today? I swear I saw some bouncing under his shirt.
SJ,
Selena has never lied yet (that we know of) so obviously everything from here on out that she says should be taken as fact without any question I mean who are we to question the methods of a reporter with this kind of moral integrity and obvious care for the game far more than furthering her career. Temples she be erected in selena’s honor…
Evolution like I said, sometimes the stupidity on this blog pisses me off. Unfortunately for you, you happen to head that list tonight.
I’m far from a “homer”. I know baseball. From what I’m reading tonight, I can’t say the same thing about you.
Don’t like me tearing apart your posts? Make better ones.
the truth of the tipping scandal will come to light.
Arod dropped a thirteen dollar tip on that $20 dinner.
Cousin Yuri picked up the ten on the way out when A-rod wasn’t looking!
Tampa up 4-0. However, right now I feel that I can’t be optimistic about a Red Sox loss unless they’re down 10 runs in the 9th inning.
Jesse Barfield.
“Loved when he yelled shirtless interview over here”
did he really? missed that part
3-2 Halos, to be honest I was expecting worse. 3-2 in this park is a tie game everywhere else
uncle I think that is what he said. I’ll go back and watch it again.
So I turn to Tampa Bay and what do I hear? May I never get to speak again about Molina being superior if I am lying!
The ball carrying at Yankee Stadium. The Sox broadcasters are talking about how Wedge told them the balls were flying out of there.
TAMPA LEADING 4-0, bottom of the 3rd. Beckett on the mound.
Oh yeah.
What is so “unfortunate” about it for me. Like I care what a homer thinks
it’s what he said – I was watching
jennifer, what section?
Trisha are you referring to the undisputed funniest guy on the blog? I don’t want to call him out by name.
I haven’t read through all the old posts so I’m only guessing here. But he’s pretty friendly and hardly confrontational. What happened?
Please dont let this SB bite us in the rear…
great throw posada, with that kind of movement on his fastball he should be coming out of the bullpen for us.
lol jk
they cannot give a run back here
not the greatest throw
Can’t find it on line.
Burnett’s pitches are really moving. Appears hard to catch, tonight.
…and I repeat myself…
now he steals 3rd. angels are running all over posada
Kendrick looked out…
Can’t see game but has Posada come close to throwing anyone out?
they are abusing posada now…
they are abusing posada now…
EvoLuTioN
section 74 row JJ
are they going to let this guy steal home? gmab, get it together!
Yeah, thats right Kendrick. Sit down.
Thank goodness Pena is playing 3rd and not Berroa.
AJ @ 66 pitches
That last one was a wild pitch…not a steal.
No Miggs, I am not referring to him. I am referring to someone who has shown himself to be a hypocrite, a fraud, and a viper and who has trashed me for sport many times in the past, often when I am not around to defend myself. So it’s ovah. Email me sometime and I will give you the details. I will not respond at all if the person shows up and calls me on this.
I do have to say though for all the mouth some of these guys had when I was the only one around trying to fend them off (I didn’t bring the topic up today) I notice they are relatively silent tonight in terms of calling out men who have talked about Posada behind the plate.
Tough guys!
What happened with AJ and the bat boy?
Gotta say I’m disappointed with AJ tonight, though I can’t say I’m surprised. He seems to give up a lot of HRs and it doesn’t take that much to hit one out of YS. He and Jorge worked fine together in ST – I can’t imagine that Jorge is having that bad of an effect on him. It’s up to AJ to make the pitches. I hope that Saturday’s game didn’t throw him off- he has to be better than that.
Posada’s looking silly at the plate and behind the plate.
Ok so I’m a “homer” because I said a HR by an ANGELS player was hit well and not a product of the Stadium.
That doesn’t even make any sense. But judging by the rest of the nonsense you’re spewing I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Here’s a newsflash. I’ve been posting here a long time and my opinion is respected (by most) in almost everything I say.
Can’t say the same about you. In fact the more and more you post, the bigger joke I think you are.
So keep the gems coming. I could use a good laugh.
Tampa losing to boston 4-0
jennifer, either i’m blind or i can’t find 74 on the seating chart lol
Come on, offense, this isn’t John Lackey.
tampa’s winning oops
Swishaaaah
Interesting stat on Swish about all his road homeruns. I never noticed that he hadn’t hit one at home yet (how could he not?)
Swish full count. Quick, everybody drink!
Betsy- He was waiting off the mound for the rosin bag, and when the bat boy brought it he swiped it out of his hands. I expected to see him laughing or smiling, but he had a look of disgust.
can swish steal? do we even know?
rs- The Yankees haven’t played at home.
EvoLuTioN
Are you looking in Baltimore? I thought I said that.
lol miggs, resorting to the “I’m a old well-respected member” line.
Here’s a newsflash, its an internet blog
jennifer, oooooooooooooooooooooh
lol woops!
Trish I’ll email you later.
If this person is going out of their way to trash you and its not fair then you should email Pete. I’m sure he could take care of it.
Can we sign La Russa to a minor league deal
4-0 Tampa, Beckett looking sharp again.
Wow, I see Matt Garza is bending the Sux over his knee and calling them Suzy yet again. Good times
Meanwhile in Yankeeland, why is it that everytime we get a RISP Pena comes to the plate?
I just got in and heard Kay say that this Ortega kid came up from AAA with a 9+ERA….and we only have 2 runs? Geez.
great job pena!
Nice speed pena
Evolution you’re such a tool you didn’t even realize it wasn’t a home game.
You’re such a freaking joke. Keep the wisdom coming.
Okay can Jeter finally hit the ball? No MORE GROUND BALLS!!
I love our Yankees!
Jeter ground ball out im callin it.
Ramiro Pena > me
lets go captain, show them who’s boss
Wow i was wrong lol at abreu.
Thanks Bobby.
Miggs,
Yes I’m such a tool because I don’t have the Yankees schedule memorized.
You just sound desperate now
YEAHHH!!!
thats why he’s the captain
YES!!!! Love the Captain.
Pena scores from third on what should be ruled a single. Now I remember why we let Abreu go, haha.
Hey BBB the idiots are raising my blood pressure tonight.
Time to break out my “herbal medicine”.
And Abreu showing why he wasn’t resigned.
What an awful defensive play.
Abreu! Gracias hombre.
So far I’m liking Thomson at 3rd. Aggressive when he needs to be.
“There is an old tradition, going back to the game’s earliest days, of sometimes giving a friend a gift in a game that’s already been decided. You can find countless anecdotes about this kind of thing in baseball history books. ” steven goldman
so give us an example if there are countless anecdotes.
i’ll bet that he’s talking about catchers or a player one time saying a pitch is coming.
i did that once in a semi pro game when the red sox cut their triple a second baseman gary miller-jones and he was playing on the opposing team while waiting to get picked up by someone.
he had been in the minors for seven years and i knew he could hit the fastball of any pitcher we had , so i called for nothing but slop all day. he was 0-4 when he came up in the last inning when we were well ahead with the game out of reach.
as he got in the batter’s box and i told him fast ball. he didn’t swing, and a fast ball down the middle came. he gave me a dirty look. i said fastball again. same thing. fastball down the middle, no swing. he looked at me quizzically and i said fast ball coming.
this time, he hit the3rd fastball off the centerfield fence. i just felt it was a courtesy to a pro player who didn’t deserve any more ugly pitches.
but that’s not tipping pitches the way goldman is talking about it. i think there’d be lots of one time tipping. especially from catchers.
but an ongoing thing? i don’t see it.
the captain!
bobby being bobby
nice job Jetes
Abreu still helping out the Yanks
ok, Burnett, puh-lease keep it together
I read elswhere (missed the game as I had some business to attend to) that AJ was cursing on the mound…….any truth to that? If so, I think he’s got to cut that out. I like that he’s emotional – I wouldn’t want him to lose that – but if he’s going to let his temper get the best of him, he’s just not going to succeed here……or anywhere.
Bobby kept looking up. Um Why you pick up the ball and than see where to throw it to.
Thank you Jeter and Bobby A.
Evolution, do you want to know why Nick will do well tonight? And AJ will keep it together? Because I had them both sitting on the bench and went and moved them into game position but forgot to submit the lineup. So you know what that means? Neither one is officially playing in my lineup tonight!
Back to you AJ, settle down, make it hold up.
ah miggs, you’re a stoner.
All the questions are now answered
Jen, thanks. Sounds like AJ was in a nasty mood tonight – poor bat boy.
Jennifer :
Bobby Meacham would have held Ramiro Pena up.
Tampa Bay attempting to beat the punk right out of Josh Beckett. Personally, I don’t think it’s possible.
trisha,
I know the feeling
Seems like everyone I pickup for a game ends their hot streak that night
STUPID BOB LORENZ!
And finally Michael Kay acknowledges the jinx!
Woo hoo Rays. 6-0
Everyone has been talking about the red sox streak but there has got to be some concern there with the pitching. Beckett is out of the game already, Penny is 2 – 0 with like 8.46 ERA that is going ot catch up to them sooner or later
“By the way, Swisher’s collage was completed by tonight’s return to the stadium. He cut out pictures of every teammate and taped them all together on the right side of his locker. Most of the players are in snazzy suits. Very cool for a player to do that. A-Rod should do the same, although he probably couldn’t name 4 or 5 of the guys.”
i do like that guy
Give a Yankee starter a lead…they will give it right back.
now he needs to strike out the side
Come on AJ settle down.
It’s like they don’t want to win the game today
AJ!!!!!!!!!!! WTF – outs are your friend
Evolution,
First of all, anyone who has any knowledge of Yankee Stadium knows there’s no “section 74″ They’re all in the hundreds.
Also, the game is next weekend, its not like its 2 months away. Considering they’re on an 8 game homestand until next Thursday common sense (yup there’s that phrase again) would tell you the game isn’t at home.
Has nothing to do with having the schedule memorized. It has to do with putting 2+2 together and knowing basic facts about the team you supposedly root for.
09 yankees: get the lead, give it right back.
Miggs: LOL, I hear dat. If you’re anywhere near the Stadium, you can always get some from Abreu, looks like he twisted one up between innings on that last play there!
Perhaps he’s referring to the Pete Alexander/Rogers Hornsby incident when ST. Louis was going to cut Hornsby for not hitting during his rookie year and Alexander grooved one for him, or, when players hated Cobb so bad, that pitchers grooved pitches to Lajoie so he’d win the batting title. Or maybe when Denny McLain had win number 30 in hand and told Freehan he wanted to lay one in to see how far Mantle could hit one. Mantle was McLain’s hero.
:sigh:…..
Great…
This always happens against the Angels damn!
jesus thats a terrible job by AJ
Thata boy A.J. The king of holding leads.
We could gain on Toronto and maybe Boston today. We need this win.
Dang it.
Single that turns into a double because of Damon’s arm and AJ can’t settle down.
Poor job by AJ.
Gotta get him out there before he melts down again.
Another poor start.
Beckett 95 pitches through 4
ouch
ugh
AJ is a freaking hot mess – I expect walks, but all this?
finally picked a runner off
sick play by jeter
damon’s defense has really hurt them this game…but he did hit a homerun…
miggs,
Am I suppose to have the seating chart memorized as well?
Finally they got somebody it was getting ridiculous out there
nice to hear about swishers collage- what is he- a tweenage girl??? lame
Terrible job by AJ – there’s nothing else to say. It’s too early to take him out, though…….
Good pitchout call by jorge there. I think these speedy players are making him rush his throws. I hope we beat these scrubs tonight
Again Evolution proving your stupidity.
It just never ends. Obviously you have no clue what I’m referring to, which doesn’t surprise me.
Just keep digging yourself a bigger and bigger hole.
Uniform #34 is cursed?
Hughes had to change #s to realize his potential…
Now AJ has it. Get him a new #.
lol was that Andy’s son?
They should have AJ throw to Molina his next start just for kicks.
Miggs- chill out already. jeez.
“Or maybe when Denny McLain had win number 30 in hand and told Freehan he wanted to lay one in to see how far Mantle could hit one. Mantle was McLain’s hero.”
gb7-
that’s exactly the kind of thing i mean. i think if goldman gave any examples they would be like the one to mantle from mclain .
maclain was something huh. waht a character.
BBB you crack me up. So funny re: Abreu.
What a sad display in RF…
Beckett seems to be getting bombed tonight, also, but I don’t think anyone on this board wouldn’t want Josh Beckett on his team.
AJ has to work tonight. It happens. As SJ said, above, he needs to get it together and not melt down again.
Great pitch by burnett
One thing we are seeing this early in the season.
The pitching doesn’t yet match the hype.
Guys are really struggling and the consistency is missing.
Eiland, Girardi, the pitchers and both catchers have to get on the same page.
These guys have to be better than this.
Whats AJ’s pitchcount now? maybe we can still squeeze 7 out of him…
Garza is clowning on the red sox
Finally Burnett go a call there
AJ’s at 83 pitches
Thats right Abreu, sit the f down. If you didnt hit AJ when we needed you to then you sure as hell aint hitting him now.
Sorry to any fans of his, but my inner Bobby Abreu hater is coming out after 2.5 years of putting it aside to root for the laundry lol.
ONE PITCH OUT!
Tex, how weak. Tomorrow is May you can start playing like 180 mil now.
Way to work Ortega’s count and get to the pen Tex. Productive at bat
Good point, SJ. Both CC and AJ are major disappointments thus far.
Loving to see Garza’s 4 perfect innings so far.
The Rays always play the Sox hard, I like that. Way to go Garza. But you never know, those Sox seem to always mount a comeback somehow.
Angels are going to exploit every percieved Yankee defensive liability…..Jorge & Damon’s arm….AJ has been so-so but he’s not getting hit hard other than Napoli’s dinger…..At least he’s battling…The issue is that Ortega is making his first start, and the Yanks are having trouble squaring him up…..
that was not a good ab by texeria
Miggs and Evolution – I say this only because I really like you both. Can’t you shake hands and start again?
Hope you don’t mind my saying that.
Thanks
I hope not, Laura. AJ has to learn to throw to Posada – can we really blame tonight on Posada anyway?
Beckett has been looking mediocre for a while now
ZMAn – I think you’re forgetting those games where AJ followed Wang and was lights out.
would the yankees trade wang for garza ?
it would get wang reunited with neil allen who coaches for the rays.
at this point the rays wouldn’t do it even up.
the yankees would have to add a player or two.
trisha,
I’m done
“The Rays always play the Sox hard, I like that. Way to go Garza. But you never know, those Sox seem to always mount a comeback somehow.”
Not tonight. That’s a promise Scorpio! And thanks for your support earlier. I really appreciated it.
wow are you serious? wtf did I just watch?
“would the yankees trade wang for garza ?
it would get wang reunited with neil allen who coaches for the rays.
at this point the rays wouldn’t do it even up.
the yankees would have to add a player or two.”
why in the world would the Rays do that? Wang on turf wouldn’t be a good mix. And this is when he was the real Wang
Well at least Burnett can’t give up the lead here
This is gonna be one of those games that will be decided at the end.
I agree that the Angels will exploit every weakness they can find. Posada’s defnse, Damon’s arm, AJs psyche. They’ll use everything they can.
That’s why Scoiscia is considered the best manager in the game. Down 3 starting pitchers and Guererro and they’re still a tough tough out.
Matt Garza
has a perfect game going through 5 against the Red Sox.
68 pitches so far
Uhh, Joe, I don’t recall AJ ever being lights out in April. He was decent twice, but far from lights out.
Hopefully the rays don’t even have to use their failpen tonight
I hope Matt gets it
No problem, Trisha. Couldn’t let you bear it all alone. =)
The Angels are doing what they need to do with their shorthanded lineup to win games.
Gotta respect that.
It’s up to the Yankees to do the same.
“would the yankees trade wang for garza ?”
I wish
boston dave-
garza’s dealing. did you see that 3-2 breaking ball that froze bay?
“I hope not, Laura. AJ has to learn to throw to Posada – can we really blame tonight on Posada anyway?”
I was being obnoxious, Betsy.
yo that curt schilling twitter is hilarious!! haha 38 doughnuts
randy l – I wouldn’t trade Wang for Garza from the Yankees point of view, because I think the perceptions of each pitcher are such that the Yankees would have to throw in too good of an extra player. And it isn’t worth it if it’s a position player to get a pitcher when we already have so many of our own young ones.
The Rays really struck gold in the Garza deal. One of the few trades the Twins were ever on the wrong end of.
So, say this is still tied/within a run after 7, who gets the 8th? Melancon? (ps call me a noob but I nevr heard his name pronounced til last week and I still cant get used to it
)
THANK you john flaherty for once again correcting michael kkk. Honestly I don’t know how he became our main broadcaster
that curt schilling twitter is hysterical
Umpire is blind..
“why in the world would the Rays do that? Wang on turf wouldn’t be a good mix. And this is when he was the real Wang”
do you realize you’re talking about a guy who won 19 two years in a row ?
it’s amazing how far wang’s stock has fallen even in the mind of yankee fans.
all these two out baserunners are dangerous
Melancon, before I heard it pronounced, I called him “Melon Cone” haha…
ok, AJ is pretty not good tonight, ugh.
randy l.
April 30th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
“Or maybe when Denny McLain had win number 30 in hand and told Freehan he wanted to lay one in to see how far Mantle could hit one. Mantle was McLain’s hero.”
gb7-
that’s exactly the kind of thing i mean. i think if goldman gave any examples they would be like the one to mantle from mclain .
maclain was something huh. waht a character.
————————————————————
Yeah, McLain had a lot of faults, but, he had a sense of history. That homer put Mantle into 2nd place all time, passing Jimmy Foxx at that time.
Ford did the same thing. In NY, he had like a 14-0 lead on KC, right after the Yanks had traded Billy Martin and Ford grooved one for him to hit a homer.
Just got home. Everyone good tonight?
Haha Swish. Complete opposite of Abreu.
Well, nice try
Coming to the Yankees is a BIG challenge for a guy like AJ.
It’s one thing to talk it but, it’s another thing to walk it.
He is going to have to push himself more than he ever has in his career.
If he does, he will be very good.
If not, this won’t work out.
I respect that he is looking to challenge himself. He now has to get the job done.
Randy: Tampa’s GM is smart enough to realize wins dont matter
great effort by nick
AAAAA Swish almost had it!! That would’ve been a money out. Not missing Bobby Abreu on that play
Wow, great effort by Swish there. Thats my man.
ZMan –
4/9, @Baltimore – 5.1 7 2 2 1 6 – won 11-2
4/14, @Tampa Bay – 8.0 3 2 2 1 9 – won 7-2
I guess we have different standards.
Angels are a gritty grind it out ballclub…..There defense has been poor so far this season….Unusual for them…
nice throw by posada, even better catch/tag by posada
CANO!
Niiiiiiiiiice posada
Nice one Jorge! Maybe that’ll slow em down
Holy crap they’re stealing every chance they get. So aggressive. The Angels don’t play games.
If Jorge keeps gunning them down that’ll stop.
Geez, they’ll run anyone, even Napoli. Not sure that one made sense.
wang at tropicana field last three years:
2.66 era
40 innings
4-1 record
100 pitches through 6, does AJ come back out
As long as the pitchers make more than a half hearted attempt at keeping runners close, Posada will throw them out, as would 90% of other catchers. He had no such chance on the first three.
Pat M: Abreu has infected the whole team’s gloves!
Awww Jason Bay just looked like the man in Grant Wood’s American Gothic, trying to catch the ball with a pitchfork rather than a glove, and dancing it all over the field!
Joe — I’ll definitely give you the TB performance.
SJ, think it’s possible that the Boston game really threw him for a loop? AJ seemed mentally tough in his first few starts, but the last two – not so much.
randy,
nice. Surprise for a ground ball pitcher
posada, man – take a freaking pitch
LOL at the Toyota text poll. How could they even ask that?
And if they were gonna ask such a ridiculous question, why was Molina not a choice?
apparently, jorge thinks this is the inning where 1 pitch equals 3 strikes.
Hunter Jones in to pitch for Beckett – who’s Hunter Jones?
Beckett 2-1 7.22 era…OUCH!
josh beckett 6ER
SJ, I thought the biggest challenge for AJ was getting over the implosion from Saturday….That would indicate heart and determination…So far his line is good..He’s been dinked around tonight, but he’s hanging tough…..So far I say he’s passing the test….
ZMAn – at least we can agree on that.
Rishi,
Hunter Jones went 1-2-3 against the Yanks
Hopefully that Jones character gets a quick out so Garza doesn’t sit too long.
Rish -
A guy who unfortunately made us look like monkeys. He must be up from PAWtucket.
“Tampa’s GM is smart enough to realize wins dont matter”
jerkface-
19 wins two years in a row probably include some numbers even a jerkface could appreciate.
so do i imply you are of the school that doesn’t belive wang is that good?
Pat M,
You know what I like about the Angels?
They are a no excuses team. Injuries, player changes, even tragedy, doesn’t change the way they attack teams.
That’s the way you have to play this game.
oh well, the Rays appear to have enough runs
did Michael Kay just say that swisher has some speed??? What the hell is he talking about swisher has 7 SB in his CAREER
randy,
I saw that. nasty stuff.
I’ve only caught pieces of the game but he’s been locating well.
We need to grind out a win.
Well the offense looking very yankee-like.
One interesting thing I noticed about the Red Sox these last couple days. They’re not afraid to leave their starters in.
Yesterday Lester had given up 5 runs in 5 innings and was up to 95 pitches, but he was back out there pitching the sixth inning.
Today Beckett was left in until he had 113 pitches, despite the fact he gave up 7 runs.
Normally managers will yank out a starter when his pitch count is up AND he’s not pitching well at all.
I wonder if the Red Sox have a different philosophy, or if this is just a coincidence. It doesn’t surprise me about Beckett, but Lester is one of those young starters who apparently is at “high risk” because of his innings load last year. You’d think the Sox would take him out at 100 pitches when the team is trailing by 5 runs.
Girardi and team responding to the arod stuff:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/articl.....Id=rss_nyy
Penny/Beckett 7+ ERA
Lester is at 5.40
lol
Does Beckett just mail it in until the post-season now? Given his uber-legendary October status.
Pat M, that was my worry as well with AJ. He took last Saturday’s performance hard……
nice job by the yankee offense working counts against a kid making his second start. 95 pitches through 6 innings.
COME ON AJ!!!!!
What AJ really needs to do is start “J**king” off on the mound.
i mean really – enough with the hits
Nick – Didn’t work out too well for him this past Oct. if that was the case. As I recall the Rays were all over him then, too.
“He took last Saturday’s performance hard……”
As well he should
“They are a no excuses team. Injuries, player changes, even tragedy, doesn’t change the way they attack teams.”
i like the way they have a theme of always applying pressure. whether it works or not they just keep coming.
Garza perfect through 6. TB up 7-0
Garza perfect through 6. 76 pitches
Big double play as I sit down to watch.
BBB: maybe he thinks he has to save it up now? Either way, I like it. I wonder how long it will take until the word “blister” makes an appearance. Or are those days gone for good?
nice dp
Give credit to AJ – he’s getting it done as his own “relief pitcher”.
ZMann, no question…….
No excuses either tonight – just didn’t have it.
These base runners for Anaheim seem more aggressive than the Rays. They’re half way down to second with their leads.
People won’t like this following statement, but I think Girardi should use Veras for the 8th.
His stuff when he threw those 3 innings was nastier than I’ve ever seen it and I’ve got a feeling he’ll throw well tonight.
Using Coke again wouldn’t be a good idea. We can’t just use him every game.
i wold say AJ’s done now…can we get a run or two here, please
This is semi Yankee related, but I watch these games via MLB Gameday, and is anyone else pissed that you have to pay now for services that they used to offer for free (video highlights)?? As if the MLB doesn’t make enough money as it is, I’ve already had to pay for the iPod/iPhone app version of Gameday, but now they want another $20 for the “premium-but used to be free” full version of Gameday??
AJ didn’t have his best outing, but he battled
He wasn’t great, but nice job by Burnett to battle through and go 7 innings.
Let’s pick up a run or two, turn it over to Melancon and Rivera, and everyone drive home safely.
Betsy, AJ surrendered 2, 2, and 3 ER in his starts with Molina. Not so with Posada. SJ has suggested that he and Posada are not on the same page and have to find a way to get there. Maybe this isn’t all on Burnett and so maybe you shouldn’t dump it all there.
I hate the Angels, ally, but after the tragedy with Nick Adenhart, I can’t get upset at them anymore – except when they play the Yankees. They’re an admirable team.
Good strong final two innings by Burnett to finsh the night.
Frankly, it’s sickening that Boston has won so often given how poorly Beckett and Lester have pitched. Hopefully, the law of averages will catch up with Wakefield soon too.
Garza is becoming one of the best big game pitchers. He was the Rays best pitcher in the post season last year and he has owned the sox the past two seasons. Considering he is still developing he might be the pitcher in their organization.
“i mean really – enough with the hits”
AJ went 7 innings, 8 hits, and just 1 walk
not exactly terrible
one of the 3 extra base hits should have been a single too
SJ, The Angel Organization ( as do the Twins ) teach that brand of baseball all the way down to low A ball….It’s a club philosphy , just as the pitchers believe they own the plate, and teach the low zone…..Very strong on fundamentals…..As I mentioned aerlier, their defense has been spotty this season and it’s cost them a few games…..Third time thru the lineup I thought the Yanks would take this kid out….
When Michael Kay said Nick Swisher had speed, I was ready to call a Narc.
lets hope the yanks can get burnett some more runs so hes in line for the win
AJ wasn’t awful tonight, Betsy. He’s just inconsistent.
“Considering he is still developing he might be the pitcher in their organization.”
——–
Tampa Bay is going to have a few aces soon enough.
They’ll be in the race for a while with that core of young guys.
bdog, theres nothing surprising there. Garza has the best stuff of the rays rotation and thats widely known
It’s sad that we have no one on the bench to pinch hit.
sickening is penny being 2-0 with a 7+ era
Terry removing players, I guess trying to change his luck. Can’t play it straight can he?
lets hope we don’t help scot shields here, he’s been terrible for the angels thus far
And the Hunter just became the hunted!
8-0 Rays, compliments of Longoria.
Yeow-
Trish, there’s no bigger AJ fan than me, but I just can’t blame the catcher for the pitcher’s problems. If SJ is right, then yes – AJ and Jorge both need to work together to fix this. They worked fine in ST – so I don’t see what else could have changed. It doesn’t matter – AJ and the other pitchers are just going to have to find a way to make it work. They should be better than this.
This is what AJ is
That’s why he had a 4.07 ERA last year and a 3.81 career ERA and is only 10 games over .500.
He is an inconsistent pitcher. All the stuff in the world, mediocre results. You can do a hell of a lot worse for your #3 starter though. But don’t expect him to be an ace.
Tampa plays the same ball as the Angels…Joe Madden had been the bench coach and long time Angel organizational guy for decades….
Nice that Evan is on my fantasy team.
I still can’t believe the Twins traded Garza for Delmon Young. I cant believe how overhyped Young turned out to be. If Swisher sees the most pitches in baseball, he has to see the fewest.
c’mon damon – let’s do this
You have to admire the Angels. They, along with the Red Sox are teams who we should try to emulate.
Nat,
luck is on the red sox side thus far
Ex-Yankee and now Tampa catcher Michel Hernandez has his first ML homer against Boston
Betsy nothing will be better than for them to both get on the same page.
I didn’t remember them from ST but yes I agree then, if they had it going in ST they should have it going now.
I know you weren’t here for the beginning of the game but Kay was mentioning the difference in BA with Molina and Posada catching AJ and I think it was like 226 v. 376. Something like that.
wow shields has walked a lot of men o.o
I didn’t know the rays/sox game was on mlb network.
BBB, delmon young is still ONLY 23 years old, don’t be so quick to judge him.
Twins should be playing him everyday but they aren’t
Burnett has always had a rep. of being a hot head and being too emotional. The cursing on the mound/bat boy incident are just more examples as was his inability to hold a 6-0 lead last week because he got too amped up.
Emotion is only good if you can channel it properly. Otherwise, it is more of a detriment.
“wow shields has walked a lot of men o.o”
Jeter had that base stolen.
ZMann, I know that’s been his MO for his career. I’m going to keep the faith with AJ until he gives me good reason not to. Maybe I’m naive – but I buy into what he’s been talking about. It’s early and his first three starts were good….We’ll see.
attaboy scot
Shelly Duncan on Twitter: http://twitter.com/shelldunc
cmon Tex – it’s almost May – change the calendar man.
way to kill the rally tex
c’mon TEX
Tex getting booed. Looking like jeter.
Mark getting his first tastes of boos.
Tomorrow is May right? right?
so are they booing tex yet?
the boo-birds are out for tex. May can’t come fast enough.
Tex continues his struggles
To AJ’s credit, he dug deep tonight.
This a step forward for him. He didn’t cave.
He and Jorge just need to get on the same page.
Tex is starting to press. That ain’t good.
Yankee Bullpen time.
O-Dawg, yeah I missed it, but the grab of the rosin bag and the cursing are not good signs at all.
aw tex man
“Tomorrow is May right? right?”
actually 2 hours and 36 minutes… but who’s counting except Tex. (and me)
jen, I went to set my lineup and rotation for tonight because I had Swish and AJ on the bench, and after I did it I forgot to submit it. So according to my team, neither are playing tonight.
wow..Tex couldn’t be any worse right now! He shouldn’t even be this high in the batting order.. Cano should be wher Tex is.. Sure he walks alot, but damn he is brutal right now!! Rally kill right there
wow, man. seriously?
All spring I kept reminding myself Tex is a career .260 hitter in April, don’t expect too much from him….what I wouldnt give for him to hit .260 right now!
Are they booing Teix because he said he would have gone to Anahiem if they made him a similar offer?
Austin Jackson is 1-2 with his 6th steal. Shelley Duncan has a 2 run homer. PJ Pilittere has a solo shot.
Why not nm
Thanks for the info on game on mlb network.
Teixieria is NOT worth $180 million.
Should have signed Manny for 1\3rd the price. Atleast you knew he would hit and hit in big spots regardless of baggage.
He also doesn’t know the meaning of the words “pressing” or “pressure”.
SJ, how do a pitcher and catcher go about doing that? Do you think that this is just a matter of AJ and Jorge simply being unfamilar with each other and going through a feeling out sort of process?
If Figgins played just against the Yankees he would be in the Hall of Fame.
How is Figgins only a .247 hitter? He only hits the Yanks?
By the end of the weekend he’ll be over .300
2 more Coke
Yeah because we had a spot for him in the outfield. You know this isn’t like playstation or fantasy baseball.
I agree SJ, he hung in there tonight and he left with his team in postion to win…..The Twins traded Garza, but Tampa traded away Edwin Jackson…..
I can’t believe that is how he lost it!! WOW.
No hitter broken up.
No hitter broken up.
Pat M
April 30th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
SJ, The Angel Organization ( as do the Twins ) teach that brand of baseball all the way down to low A ball….It’s a club philosphy , just as the pitchers believe they own the plate, and teach the low zone…..Very strong on fundamentals…..As I mentioned aerlier, their defense has been spotty this season and it’s cost them a few games…..Third time thru the lineup I thought the Yanks would take this kid out….
————————————–
When you fellas talk about teaching these things, how do they teach. I mean, I’m sure it’s not just a matter of “telling” a young pitcher they own the plate, etc. How do they make sure they learn this?
And if an organization is not teaching fundamentals, which I thought is what the minor leagues are all about, what are they teaching? Would they be more “individualized” in their teaching? Looking at a particular player’s skill set and working within that, rather than “forcing” (for lack of a better word) a player to do it the organization’s way?
And then, do they cut players who cannot learn these fundamentals? And then do they end up with a kind of spin on the natural selection process?
I’m curious.
(And Teixeira isn’t just starting slow, he’s almost going backwards!)
Is Brackman pitching tonight?
perfect game no hitter is over
perfect game over
Ellsbury single
there went the no hitter
Slow start
Injuries
Shakey bullpen
High priced FA acquisitions disappointing out of the gate
Lack of clutch hitting
Ownage by the Angels
Some things never change. A leopard can’t change it’s spots.
didn’t see the hit – should Bartlett have gotten him
garza gave up a hit to jacoby
a really crappy infield single
Tex will be fine – I’m not worried.
It was a perfect game.
How sweet would that have been. Stunk it was on a soft hit up the middle.
why in the world is Albaladejo warming up? omg…
Bummer for Garza. Ellsbury yet again!
It’s a cliche, but I love how Tex still does it with the glove through his rough patch at the plate. Only the International Date Line is holding him back now.
Muh lan Sin
If anything I kind of wish the Yankees traded Matsui while he still had value so signing Manny would have actually been an option….but then I have visions of Matsui hustling down the line to beat out a grounder, busted knee and all…and Manny starts to seem a bit less attractive.
Maybe he opts out this fall and becomes a FA when we have a DH spot open though, you never know…
what in the world is glowmen?
“Tampa plays the same ball as the Angels…Joe Madden had been the bench coach and long time Angel organizational guy for decades….”
pat m-
good point . what’s interesting is that the rays have these wall street statistical analysis guys owning and running the team, but they play old schol baseball. i was down at their minor league complex last spring training, and they were doing bunting drills i hadn’t seen before.
they obviously believe in giving up outs to score one run- just like the angels do.very un- moneyball.
Hey! it’s already May in Asia and Europe…
infield single too for ellsbury, could have been in out; let’s go Yanks!
Terry out there arguing, why are they letting him argue so long? Toss him out.
coke was pumped!
jen, did you hear Michael Kay just blame Bob Lorenz for breaking it up? That’s a riot seeing it’s his big mouth that usually is responsible. Tonight Lorenz announced it early and Michael Kay said he had just jinxed it.
At least Kay is finally getting it!
Every time they say, “Ortega” I start Jonesing for a taco.
Jackson now 2-3 and hitting .371.
damn, Garza lost it. Ellsbury likes little boys!!
Ouch, Kay, “He goes!” too close to “He gone!” for comfort.
Hell yeah coke.
Youk 0-2 tonight and pulled from lineup.
that voodoo doll is gold Jerry. Gold.
Forget Joba in the ‘pen. It’s Coke and Melancon.
hardwired I hear ya, everytime they say Coke I start jonesing for…heh, nevermind.
Well done Coke
SJ44, I agree with you Coke is just OK, but man am I hoping he just become pretty good. We need any bullpen arm we can find.
I would feel much better, if they put up a run and it went to Mo, than it were still tied after 8 and it went to Albaladejo
ok how about a couple of runs here before the monsoon hits
Betsy,
It’s all about communication.
Talk out game situations, what to throw to certain hitters, how to minimize damage, etc.
It’s about building trust and comfort with each other.
Often, that takes longer than just ST.
Scorp, it was just a lazy little come backer that went over the mound. The good thing is that an 8-0 score allows Garza a little distraction time without doing a lot of harm.
Selena Roberts on Twitter.
http://www.twitter.com/selenaroberts
Al,
Those comments were kind of funny. A punch in the gut to the Yankee fans who thought Teix always dreamed of being a Yankee…..
Austin Romine has a solo homer….Montero is 0-3 with a walk. Montero also caught 1 stealing and has a passed ball.
I’m actually not confident in MO right now
If the game is still tied in the 9th, go to Bruney.
“Youk 0-2 tonight and pulled from lineup.
that voodoo doll is gold Jerry. Gold.”
wow – people are having a lot of fun with Twitter!
“what in the world is glowmen?”
Plural of ‘glow man’? I think Kay is getting paranoid.
DT: I never did get to hear that clip you posted, can you give me a clue? I’m pretty well-versed in my Seinfeld references.
trisha -
did anyone visit the mound right after the hit? To help him get a breather?
phew, cano continues the streak
GJ CANO!
Killa Cali, I don’t think they have time to activate Bruney before the next inning.
“Robbie’s batting streak is on the line….”
WHAM
hehe
phew..cano extends the streak
ok posada – let’s do something here
Brackman got knocked around in Charleston, Angelini has no errors, Ray Kruml has two more hits.
Twitter: I’m on the toilet taking a dump
Bobby Abreu went to the Dane Cook school of acting.
Doreen, try just about all of them. It was so nice to see. They all went and gave him a pat.
Ahhh are you serious!?!?!?
Angels just got SO lucky….
posada ground rule double
damn
Not trying to be facetious, but maybe the new guys and Jorge should go out together……..In ST, they didn’t even work full time as battery mates because the Yankees had to be cautious with Jorge. Pitchers are always having to get used to new catchers – it really shouldn’t be too difficult to get them on the same page.
SOMEONE BETTER COME UP WITH A SAC FLY RIGHT NOW!
Just sayin
Come on swishAAAh
is melancon warming?
ok, Swisher…something – anything here…sac fly, whatever
damn why couldnt that wall be just a bit higher lol
intentionally walking swisher lol
Nick – it was the episode where Elaine and Jerry were fighting. Kramer walks in and yells – stop it, stop it now. Can’t you two see you are in love with each other?
wow, bad break for us. Still, lets get em here!!!
oh come on !
I’m calling this now. Grand Slam by Melky.
Cmon Melky make em pay…I’m calling bases clearing double
lets go LA LECHE
melky please get a run in..please
Melk man lets get it
Rconn,
Used smartly, Coke can contribute. I just don’t want folks overrating him.
That said, he’s better than just about everybody else out there.
Abreu showing why he is an Ex-Yankee. Just an awful defensive player at this point in his career.
Bad break there. Ball needed to hit the fence.
Big spot for Melky here. Need to score in this inning.
i feel so nervous now. I WANT THIS GAME!
i feel so nervous now. I WANT THIS GAME!
ack, IBB. Why don’t we have Juan Miranda on our bench again?
Come on Milkman
MELKY COMES THROUGH HELL YEAH
Melky – you get this run in and you get to play center tomorrow…
yes!!!
Melky.
With the bases loaded.
Good lord, why?
Don’t get me wrong, Melky’s been MUCH better lately…but he ALWAYS presses in these spots.
nice job melky!!!!!!!!!
the melkman
Teix is kind of like A-Rod in that regard, Tank.
He tries to say something to please everyone, not realizing that he may alienate his own team by complimenting someone. There is a reason all the beat writers thought he was too perfect and maybe disingenuous.
Though in this case, he was being honest. Even Heyman (the Boras mole) said that he would have preferred to stay in Anaheim, but everyone dismissed it. Now they hard it from the horse’s mouth…
But forget that… his hitting has been awful. Under .200 to start the year.
Melky!!!
Okay, nevermind. Way to go, Melky!
TRISHA HEARTS MELKY!!!!!
Rats! only one! Mo to close it out now
omg, selena roberts admitting what she is
Leche ain’t looking back now!
Melky has a recent history of helping with the run line, just one there???
I think we’re getting more.
melky!!!!
yay melky!! you get to play tomorrow!!!
Melky!
http://www.twitter.com/selenaroberts
Some people forget that Melky is younger than Gardner. He may be starting to get it.
here come the melky hat….i mean fans
Enchilaaada!
Pena!!!!!!!!!!!!
YEH RAMIRO !
A-Rod who?
Pena who?
I really like the kid…
PENA!!!!!!!!!
LMAO never thought I’d say that…
YEA PENA!!!!
Pena is getting better.
The little sweetheart Pena!!!!!
Pena is doin good for himself!
Again, why did the Yankees say that Pena couldn’t hit?
yeah… gardner is better than melky!!
OK, Who throws the 9th now ?????
There is the big inning I was expecting!
That was big for Pena. Great confidence builder. (not being ph for)
PENA!!!! Yeah boyyyy!
wow, amazing
who says the yanks need arod back?!
That’s why Pena needs to stay here when Arod comes back. He can play.
big rbi’s from them, aww the poor wittle angels are lacking against us, about time!
so Melky and Pena feel a whole lot more clutch than Tex
pena!!!!!
Pena has to stay.
DT: thanks, I know it well. Alas, in think in this case my love is unrequited.
pena>ransom
dont start the we dont need a -rod back crap again, but pena looks pretty good.
“A-Rod who?”
umm no I wouldn’t say that
Great job by Melky. And how about the all-glove, no bat Pena coming through. Good stuff.
Coke is kind of like Luis Vizcaino was in 07 for us
Not very good, but the best of a weak bunch. Therefore, he will get the chance to pitch a lot.
tommyfusco -
Also, competition brings out the best in Melky. I’m proud of the kid. And Pena should have been playing the whole time instead of Ransom!
good job there by Pena, who needs A-Rod
“Update, 9:39 p.m.: Intentionally walking Swisher was a good move. Never let the MVP candidate beat you in that spot.”
Not a good move when the melk is fresh
The Senior Citizen would have hit a grand slam.
I see that the Yanks have been able to remove one of their center fielders’ picture from the
melk carton…..errrr….milk carton.
Michel Hernandez just had the first 3-hit game of his career!
Awww. Nice.
every Yankee has at least 1 hit
Pena stays, Berroa goes to Scranton – you can never have enough back up players (grinning)
Am I the only one who is getting really frustrated with this positive RISP hitting? What are we going to complain about?
Now Jeter needs to drive in these two – like Pete says, you have to step on the Angels’ neck.
Jala Pena
“Also, competition brings out the best in Melky.”
BBB, couldn’t agree with you more.
this is about to no longer be a save situation
I would love to see Damon hit a granny. Or Tex even.
Pena! Man, this kid is doing some kind of job. I don’t know if he can keep it up with the bat, but he can really pick it at 3rd……I want this game so badly, I can taste it, lol
melky is taking his job back.
What do the yankees think they are doing getting hits in big spots like that. I am appalled.
“Am I the only one who is getting really frustrated with this positive RISP hitting? What are we going to complain about?”
Don’t worry, someone will find something to complain about on this board. You should know better.
So what was the purpose of using Scott Shields for 2 batters but not letting him pitch the 8th too?
Shields has owned us, we own Spier.
“Coke is kind of like Luis Vizcaino was in 07 for us
Not very good, but the best of a weak bunch. Therefore, he will get the chance to pitch a lot.”
why do people think coke isnt good…he has pretty good stuff..its just a matter of consistency
cmon Damon, grand slam here, really bury these guys…
LET’S GO YANKEES!
GRAND SLAM JOHNNY!
Just want to say that before the game I said about Pena “I like this kid. Can’t hit, but he’s a great fielder.” Great job, Pena!
“Am I the only one who is getting really frustrated with this positive RISP hitting? What are we going to complain about?”
Hey wait. I have an idea. How about whether Molina is a better defensive catcher than Jorge?
nice that Pena is playing well: takes the pressure off ARod having to come charging in; now he can ease in slowly.
Trisha – I have to say I’d just about lost faith in the Melkster and never thought he’d get mad and come storming back like this. I thought he’d just get replaced and not put up a fight at all. I’m really proud of him.
DT we can probably complain about not seeing Mariano Rivera in this game if we end up getting a few more runs.
JOhnny will got 04 game 7 alcs on him watch.
Feisty crowd. No way do the Yankees send down Pena. Alex comes back you dfa Angel. No one will pick him up.
Let’s make the cushion bigger
coke era down to 3.72
coke era down to 3.72
Coke is good. Our bullpen, which will contain Coke, Melancon, Bruney, Mo, and Albaladejo (who has shown he could pitch) is starting to get hot, I hope.
Our bullpen was really bad, but I’m hoping Melancon’s the turning point.
Nm jonny = Fail. Tex better come through or the boos will kill him.
Well Tex here you go
I’ve been concentrating between our game and TB, but I just caught something about Coke.
I think Coke is the real thing. Really. He has great stuff and great control.
Bring back Gardner, please.
Damon giving Teix the chance to be the hero
Tex grand slam in the rain?
it’d be sweet if tex crushed one
Pena BA 269.
Let’s send a Tex message.
This series is ours.
Shields had a 9.20 ERA coming into the game. Whether he has pitched well against the Yanks or not in the past, Scoscia has him on a short leash.
Trisha -
Thanks for that info. I was hoping somebody did. Nice it was a group.
Good for Pena (and Melky, of course).
Hey does anyone have the video link of Swisher reading the line-up for the FOX game of the week??
oo mg tex
Tex you had to swing!!!!!
Tex needs a time out
Bad game for Tex, but can’t blame him there. Great pitch.
geez
OK tomorrow is May, no more suck plz Teix!
Well May starts tomorrow.
Looks like Tex was guessing fast ball. He’s in a funk.
its only april…Teix is a slow starter….its only april…..Teix is a slow starter……sending some vibes out there to stem the tide
BBB, I know just what you’re saying. I never stopped believing that he had the stuff but I didn’t know if we were going to see him fight for that position. I am so happy he did. He is definitely rewarding our faith in him.
And THANK YOU GOD FOR AT LEAST ONE STRONG ARM IN THE OUTFIELD!
It makes me crazy to see people run on Johnny.
Ugh Damon……..terrible at bat. Tex – oy vey.
Tex needs a confidence boost. Might be pressing a bit, feeling frustrated; why else would he take that last pitch. Getting Alex hitting behind him next week will be good medicine.
Man what a waste of money
We got ourselves another A-Rod (except with 1\2 the talent)
DT: Tex is saving that for a down-by-3 situation.
And of course the Celtics-Bulls goes to OT. How could it not?
Wow, Celtics/Bulls going into OT yet again.
i know tex will get hitting soon and his defense is amazing, but im pretty sure another very slow starting giambi is better offensively right now…
My fantasy teams weeps for The Artist Formerly Known as Mark Teixeira.
I’m so glad this month is over. Maybe he starts hitting tomorrow.
Only split he threw for a strike the entire AB.
Tex was sitting rightly sitting fastball there.
Just a case where the pitcher won the battle on that AB.
I was thinking the same thing, BBB. Tomorrow is May, he has to start hitting.
celts-bulls in OT again
4-5-6 hitters for Mo…keep the ball in the yard, please
“When you fellas talk about teaching these things, how do they teach. I mean, I’m sure it’s not just a matter of “telling” a young pitcher they own the plate, etc. How do they make sure they learn this?”
doreen -
i’m good friends with the twins triple a manager and the pitching coach there the last three years.
they are old school guys who teach fundamentals. i was at a game that garza pitched when he was with them and he had attitude dripping all over him. stan cliburn had a talk with him in mid summer that garza gave cliburn credit for turning aroung his season. he basically told garza he wasn’t respecting himself or the game with all the whining about not being in the majors.
the twins are a no nonsense kind of team. they teach fundamentals , but they also push character. that was why garza was traded. they just didn’t feel like he fit in with his attitude.maybe they were wrong. he’s very good now and was then.
it’s not rocket science. it’s coaches who have been around the game their whole life and part of a consistent coaching team throughout the system. they teach pitchers to throw strikes and use their fielders. they teach everyone to bunt, hit and run, move runners over, and to field their positions.
it sounds basic , but you’d be surprised how simple the game is even at the triple a level.
there are not all kinds of teaching assistents running around. there’s a manager who coaches third base, a pitching coach, and a hitting coach who coaches first base.
if the yankees really wanted to do something different they’d put as many coaches at the triple a level as they have at the major league level.
Wow. Tex struck out. What a shocker. Why is a man hitting .200 batting third for the New York Yankees? A total waste.
Joe-That was a joke, right?
Mo is not his old self this season. Hope it’s just a slow start and not age.
w00t rondo looks done
They need to change something up for Texeria, maybe move him down in the order for a couple of games see if that gets him going. Swisher could bat 3rd for a couple of games
Rivera still throwing 90 mph flat fastball cookies…
Michael Kay was able to drop ‘gloamin’ in yet again. I’m sure he’s very satisfied w/himself.
Flaherty probably wants to drop kick him.
Come on mo..
Another cutter that didn’t cut.
It’s a struggle for Mo right now.
Gotta grind thru it.
That YES gun is so off.
Could you imagine how many more games the Yanks would have won if Tex just batted .275?…lol No excuses for him.. If this game was tied, he would have been crucified there!
Is the YES radar gun off? Is Mariano really throwing 87 MPH fastballs?
sorry my comment got jumbled in with the Teix strike out comments lol
Does anyone have a link for the video of Swisher reading the line-up for that fox game??
Come on Mo.
Lets do this Mo!
92 according to stadium gun, 85 on YES. No way he gets away w/ 85 – 86
mo is throwing 90-93
Holy cow. You people are outrageously stupid. Look at Mattingly’s career splits by month. Imagine if he’d had to deal with idiotic teenaged blog posters.
Kim Jones has her first postgame interview question already written out:
“Mark, I’m sure you heard the Yankee crowd booing you each time you struck out tonight. Did that have any effect on you?”
“Flaherty probably wants to drop kick him.”
Why should he be any different?
come on mo one more!!!
Teixeiramvp (JobaCyYoung)
April 30th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Joe-That was a joke, right?
Mo is not his old self this season. Hope it’s just a slow start and not age.
————————————————————
Jesus, give it a rest.
Really does Mo need to be here pitching in this situation? Especially after last nights debacle.. Couldn’t he be saved for tomorrows game. Now he won’t be available.
Mo looking for like Mo every minute.\
Ballgame
Mo notches it.
All is right!
theeeeeeeee yankees win!
nice one!
Terry from NH-No excuses now, but you need to count the amount of wins that we will get when Tex hits 400 from June on.
Mo is good.
w00t!!! Nice win! AJ and Mo gutted it out, and a great showing for the bottom of the order.
yeah the YES radar seems to be way off all the time this year
nice win
Rivera will do what Rivera has done for 14 years when he struggles….adjust.
I’ll take a 12-10 April !
16 road games.
No A-Rod.
Bad Wang.
Pressing Tex.
Great job tonight by AJ – giving the team innings.
Mo is God
GreenBeret7-Give it a rest? Now I’m annoyed.
I made ONE comment on Mo, who is 39 years old blew a save to the Sox and gave up a 3 run HR yesterday. I’m not making this up.
I’m not giving it a rest. Why can’t I bring up the subject?
Great job by Mo – once he gets through his usual April dead arm period, he’s going to be fine. Every April this happens – as sure as death and taxes
Why was the YES gun showing Mo throwing in the mid 80’s? That wasn’t correct, was it?
Rivera bore down and improved on every pitch…..I’m gladly eating crow…..Thou shalt never question The Great Rivera….
Great job today though.
Save mo for tomorrow night? Thats idiotic. We have a save situation tonight. You use him
MO isin’t going to be very effective if he continues to throw flat 89 MPH cutters….
Certainly something to bear watching.
How can you guarantee that Tex will hit .400 from here on? Some new Yankee players never adjust to being a Yankee. Hope i’m wrong (esp.since he is being paid 160 mil), but it does happen.
Well Milky has taken his job back from GGBG
Flaherty picked up that Mo was leading too much with his left shoulder, and that Posada was motioning to him to “throw through me” – whatever Jorge told him, it seemed to work, as Mo was demonstrably better after that.
Thanks to Teixeira, we had to use MO in the rain a night after we wasted him because Albaladejo imploded.
15 road games… my bad.
TEX would be a problem currently but his glove has been sick… He will come around at worst he hits as good as giambi with 10 x the glove
I think Teixeira is going to struggle against the Angels because he wanted to badly to stay there, so he is pressing against his favorite team…
3 straight.
GreenBeret7-I’m not saying you won’t be right. You probably will be. But Mo can’t go forever, and there’s nothing that was done yet this year to convince me Mo had it under control.
Harold, Dont’ ever say i’m Idiotic. 3 runs up tonight. Tomorrow could be tied or a 1 run game.. Harold go find Kumar now!!
Shelley Duncan has his 2nd homer tonight and 9th on the season. Jackson has walked again…always a good sign from him.
Teixmvp – The same thing happened 2 Aprils ago, and everyone said the same thing you’re saying now except it was ‘he’s 37′ instead of 39. It’s not that youre being illogical to worry, but he’s Mo and has defied age so far, and has built up an entire continent of collateral and benefit of the doubt that he’ll continue to do so. 39 indeed….going on 29!
Mariano had a grimace on his face after a pitch. Hes battling through an injury, but he wont say it
How was the crowd today?
“Holy cow. You people are outrageously stupid. Look at Mattingly’s career splits by month. Imagine if he’d had to deal with idiotic teenaged blog posters.”
The problem isn’t that Tex sucks in April. It’s the fact that he’s batting third. He’s hitting .200 yet he’s still batting third. It makes absolutely no sense. If he sucks in April, why in the hell do you let him bat third?
Terry from NH-History tells us he’ll pick it up intensely.
Seeing Robbie in the post game interview makes me think of “Sugar”. Great movie about a young pitcher coming out of the Dominican Republic trying to make the big leagues.
Make sure to check this movie out if it’s in your neighborhood:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1463354137/
You think guys like Robbie, Soriano, and Ortiz went to check this film out?
anywho, you guys will think this is blasphemy but the Celtics better win, I freaking hate the Bulls.
Yesssss! It’s nice to play the Angels when they’re slumping for once. Hopefully we take the series.
“Well Milky has taken his job back from GGBG”
He took it from him about a week ago. It’ll go back to Gardner WHEN Melky begins to struggle. Its not an if with Melky, its a when. It will go back and forth all season
Nice game, Yankee fans.
BBB-Right…so when Mo is struggling at the age of 39 we could gurantee that he’ll work through it.
Sorry, but I can’t gurantee that a 39 year old pitcher can keep up Mo’s fantastic stats forever.
Sorry Pat M, but I love Big Baby!
“How was the crowd today?”
It looked bad.. the upper deck too.
What is it about new Yankees first basemen struggling? Tino, Giambi, and Tex all getting the boo birds during April of their debut seasons
randy l -
It does sound simple. The only further question I have is how do you teach someone to throw strikes? Throw through a box placed at a particular spot? (I am serious).
For instance, Kei Igawa – he had such trouble keeping his pitches down in the zone, right? When they sent him down to the minor leagues, what might they do?
And, are you saying the Twins and Angels are teams that continue instruction even past the instructional league and that other teams do not do this?
I just find this very fascinating. Guys play baseball all their lives. You’d think it would be more fine tuning once they reach the minor league level. And what about college baseball? Is it geared more toward winning championships than teaching players?
And feel free to take this discussion to a new day. I realize I should be paying attention to the game, but I can’t watch Mo pitch.
Almost never can.
Uh, Trisha, we didn’t do anything.
Yes, but in Tex past history he wasn’t a Yankee! SO much $$, so much pressure!! He was never paid this much either. I hope he comes around because it is early, but damn he sucks right now.. Arod is sorely needed!
“Mariano had a grimace on his face after a pitch. Hes battling through an injury, but he wont say it”
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too
Eric Duncan with an RBI single and now hitting .309. Scranton leads 9-6 bottom of the 7th.
12-0 Tampa Bay.
Terry from NH-Why worry about something when history tells us it won’t happen? Tex MIGHT not pick it up. The Yankees also MIGHT win 75 games, but I don’t believe it because of certain evidence that tells me otherwise, like with Tex.
Teixeria, better start hitting or else the booing is going to get much much worse.
The stadium isin’t even 1\2 full and you can hear the boos. Imagine when the fans finally start showing up..,
All I know is that Mariano outings were wasted last night and tonight. Sure they won, but 8-3 and 7-4 games he was brought in.. Now they have to count on Marte and scrubs tomorrow.. Could be a momentum killer!!
Teixeiramvp (JobaCyYoung) – Yea hes 39 but he’s yet to walk a batter, has more strikeouts then innings pitched and has a history of starting slow in april. That is why you shouldn’t be worried.
What is this stuff about Mariano battling an injury? Please dont scare me like that for no reason, it hasn’t been long enough since I quit smoking!
Maybe he was grimacing after a pitch because he didnt like the location?
But, did anyone else notice this?
Jonathan Van Every doing his Swish imitation.
“How was the crowd today?”
“It looked bad.. the upper deck too.”
What are you talking about? The upper deck was full of glow men. They need to start buying Legends seats, though.
Double OT in Chicago
RL84-I have no problem with you telling me this. It’s just that I brin up the subject and GB7 immediately jumps down my throat.
I hope you’re right, but the fact of the matter is it will happen eventually, making Melancon critically important to the team’s future.
I hate the Bulls and Celtics, so luckily one of them is going to lose.
Hernandez now has a 4-hit game! 13-0
Terry from NH-
What if they don’t need Mariano tomorrow? You use him when you need to close out a win. You take the win and deal with tomorrow, tomorrow
“What is this stuff about Mariano battling an injury? Please dont scare me like that for no reason, it hasn’t been long enough since I quit smoking!
Maybe he was grimacing after a pitch because he didnt like the location?
But, did anyone else notice this?”
I know the grimace he made, and it was a “that hurt” grimace. Buster Olney noticed it too. Its not good.
I don’t think it’s imminent by any means, but one day Mo will slow down. Savor every pitch, because I doubt we see anyone like him again for a long, long while.
You know what they always say, when Boston and Chicago play, don’t bother watching until the second OT.
Teixeiramvp (JobaCyYoung) – Yes ofcourse it will happen eventually. I think we’ve got a couple more years til we have to worry about that. But Melancon is very important now and for the future.
javier lopez playing right field for the red sox and someposition player pitching.
sox are getting the beat down tonight
I thought the ballpark was pretty loud and crowded.
I thought the crowd seemed pretty loud today compared to the first homestand. I dunno if YES turned up the crowd or it was actually louder, but the crowd seemed more into it tonight
RL84-I understand that, I just don’t see why I can’t bring up the subject.
Sox out hit tonite 18-1.
RDG – it is a bit like Saddam vs Osama, but to me the Bulls are way worse. I’ve never seen such a bunch of crybabies in professional sports as the Bulls teams of the past few years.
I love how YES isin’t even mentioning the A-Rod story
It’s the biggest story in baseball and they just sweep is under the rug
“Maybe he was grimacing after a pitch because he didnt like the location?
But, did anyone else notice this?”
Yes, I noticed it too…let’s hope it’s nothing to worry about…
Go Yanks!
Hopefully LeBron James beats the Bulls or Celtics, wins a championship, then comes to NY in 2010.
Dr. J-Good. It has nothing to do with the Yankees, it has to do with one player, and they’re not his personal autobiography crew or something.
I’m glad they’re not talking about A-rod v. Selena on YES
Personally, I don’t care if A-Rod is still taking steroids. As long as he comes back and hits 40 HRs.
wow – van every in to pitch for boston…good for them
Burnett needs to stop cursing on the mound
“And, are you saying the Twins and Angels are teams that continue instruction even past the instructional league and that other teams do not do this?”
doreen-
i suspect all teams pretty much look the same as far as the way they teach, but it’s like anything- some people are better at what they do than others.
ask sj or pat m. there is a remarkable difference between a triple a staff and a major league staff. think if girard was coaching thrd base for the yankees in addition to managing. don’t you think that alone would be keeping him kind of busy during a game. well that’s what they do at the triple a level.
and the pitcher is going to RF…weird
lol at Van Every, what a Swisher wannabe. Lame!
Does Joe sound subdued or is it me?
The stadium seemed pretty loud to me tonight. At least that’s how it came across on tv.
Let’s go Bulls. 44 sec left
Teixeria needs to get over the fact that LAA didn’t make him a good offer and he couldn’t play where he wanted to. And he needs to start hitting
Uh, so Van Every, a RF was pitching for the Sox and Nick Swisher did SO much better.
Oh, and Lester played RF.
Roberts talks about Alex pitch tipping.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....index.html
Whatcha think randyl?
YES hasn’t mentioned anything about a Mo injury. Given the number of reporters that follow the Yanks and are in that clubhouse, I would think that if there was a story, it would get out. Not a 100% guarantee, but somewhat comforting.
If MO is hurt, he needs to be upfront about it.
Sutcliffe, Phillips, and Olney all mentioned that he looks like something is up with his groin.
His velocity is way down
Why do you all assume he likes LA more than NY?
He said himself that all three offers were very close, he was even on all of them and decided on the Yanks becuase of his wife.
It’s a slow start, he does that. We’ll all get over that come June.
I’m not going to spend time worrying over an injury that may not even exist.
Nino and Leche
Anaheim is closer to Fullerton than LA.
TeixMVP,
He said it himself this evening in the Star Ledger. But Heyman mentioned this months ago
who is 39 years old blew a save to the Sox and gave up a 3 run HR yesterday. I’m not making this up.
—————–
He came in with 2 men on base and gave up a homerun while protecting a 5 run lead.
People can justify it all you want, but questioning Rivera to THIS degree is lacking in perspective.
He blew a tough save to Boston, which he’s done in his prime (on homers) and in the playoffs.
He might not be clicking on all cylinders right now (also nothing new), but what makes it doubly ridiculous is the panicked assumption that if and when Rivera’s velocity does drop a little, that he won’t be able to make an adjustment and still be effective.
Good pitchers ADJUST (see Mussina, Mike). The odds that Rivera IS losing is stuff AND he won’t be able to make adjustments is a double assumption based on little to nothing.
LOL AJ – Kim asked him if it’s a sign of maturity that he wasn’t out after 4 or 5 innings given his struggled and he sort of smiled and replied “if you say so”…I don’t think he was too happy with his performance…….and he suggested that the media go speak with Pena, lol
LOL AJ – Kim asked him if it’s a sign of maturity that he wasn’t out after 4 or 5 innings given his struggled and he sort of smiled and replied “if you say so”…I don’t think he was too happy with his performance…….and he suggested that the media go speak with Pena, lol
that Pena is so “little boy” cute
Teixeiramvp (JobaCyYoung)
April 30th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
RL84-I have no problem with you telling me this. It’s just that I brin up the subject and GB7 immediately jumps down my throat.
I hope you’re right, but the fact of the matter is it will happen eventually, making Melancon critically important to the team’s future.
————————————————————
Every time Rivera has a bad game, you start questioning his agem his health or whether he’s wearing his jock strap too tight. How about still gaining strength and he historically has his bad month in April, although most closers would kill to have his bad months.
You do the same thing with every pitcher and every hitter.
Romero good for you kid
Pena looks like a bat boy.
Pena looks like a little kid.
For all intents and purposes, he is
Forntoso-He and it? And what exactly were the words, if you do mean Tex?
Thanks, Randy l.
Boy, Pena looks about 16! So happy for him.
Rebecca, what? Lester was in RF?
Well, that’s it for me. Got to get up in the morning.
Good night, all.
GreenBeret7-Right, like I’m defending Tex right now.
Stop avoiding it. So he historically has a bad April. That doesn’t change the fact that he MIGHT (proabbly not) be declining at his age. That’s what ballplayers nearly in their forties do. I’m not apologizing or taking it back.
Great win again tonight. Nice to keep the chicken littles and doom sayers away for another day.
AJ shouldn’t be happy with himself. 2nd game in a row he blew a lead.
We are paying him $82 million. He must pitch better.
why in world wouldnt chicago foul?
Pena does look like a kid – good for him. He’ll always have this moment no matter what else happens in his career….
Mo is beyond human temporal concerns.
Pena looks like he’s 15 years old..lol
Pena looks like he should be looking for a date for the prom. Such a baby face.
About to go into triple OT in Chicago
And like I always, before yesterday’s start, defended Joba as a starter, even in his bad starts.
I don not jump down pitchers and hitters throats when they struggle, and this is the first time I’ve mentioned Mo’s struggles.
At least not all the time.
“Whatcha think randyl?”
i think a reporter can make anything she wants if she uses unnamed sources. she’s got access to video of every major league game he’s played in. show us the proof.
i think she’s just an opportunistic reporter who’s making up “news”.
I say keep young Pena and trade Arod. Arod is a cancer plain and simple. It doesn’t take a book to conclude that he will disrupt the team chemistry. The team is gelling and now 9 more years of misery.
This Celtics/Bulls series has been fantastic.
What these teams beating each other’s brains out tells me is that the Celts don’t have a chance against the Cavs.
will pena stay when ransom comes of dl and arod returns?
Gellinf…like getting swept by the Red Sox…
Pena did a good job, but he can’t hit.
I say keep young Pena and trade Arod.
__________
There isn’t a team in the league that trade for him…
g, not f at end of gelling.
I don’t think there is anyone happier on earth tonight than Ramiro Pena.
I LOVE Adam Schein
You know what they always say, when Boston and Chicago play, don’t bother watching until the -second- third OT.
Trading A-Rod is ridiculous, we’re hurting badly w/o him.
One good game from Pena and A-Rod’s disposable?
I hope Mo is just going threw his usual April struggles. But his location is bad, velocity is down and the ball hasn’t been cutting like usual. Hopefully he gets it together because I don’t trust him right now in a 1 run game.
GB7, What I was alluding to last night and earlier this evening about Rivers was yes the past few years he has some off nights in the early season…..Those problems was his sharpness in locating his cutter…What I have noticed as of late was the lack of movement ( no real cut action ) plus the loss of velocity….It’s different than years past…Even tonight as he blew thru the last three hitters, his pitches did not cut much and his speed is still down somewhat….He did improve on each pitch it seemed tonight….He’s still the greatest 1 inning reliever ever…
The Bulls were 12-3 to end the season. They’re an up and coming team and are playing very well.
Without Garnett, the Cavs would be pretty big favorites if the two teams even play each other… but I wouldn’t say the Celts have no chance.
Schein’s entertaining, but stupid.
Tantron Willoughby detests Arlen Specter
does anyone care what you think about a politician ?
randyl
Agree with your diagnosis but guess I should have been more clear.
Is this anything you’ve ever heard about anyone doing or is it even plausible there would be enough time for a SS to get the sign, signal it to a batter, give the infield signs and get set to field a ball in the time between sign and pitch?
NOAHHHHHHHHHH!
“I say keep young Pena and trade Arod.
There isn’t a team in the league that trade for him…”
You can’t be serious??????
Riveras cutters looked like they had good movement to me tonight. His velocity was 90-91 on gameday. Thats not what we’re used to but not abnormal when you factor in that hes coming off a shoulder surgery and doesn’t get a lot of work in spring training. I have a feeling that as the weather heats up and his arm strength is built up you’ll see his normal velocity return.
“Trading A-Rod is ridiculous, we’re hurting badly w/o him.
One good game from Pena and A-Rod’s disposable?”
We’re well under .500 w/o him. Any fan that thinks we are better off w/o him has to be insane in the brain. I like Ramiro Pena too but not as a longterm, he most likely is Jete’s replacement that battles w/ Eduardo Nunez to become the successor.
Who on earth would prefer to root for A-Rod over Ramiro Pena? Somebody, do something. Keep him away, permanently. I’ll take good feelings over sleaze every day of the week, thanks.
Well I’d say Kevin filled in nicely for Pete, he hit the 3 typical gameday jokes…1)One about Arod 2) One about the lack of fans in the front rows 3)And the ball carrying to right field.
Well done!
I’d trade A-Rod for Jared Weaver, Jose Arredondo, and Dallas McPherson.
If he is at all anywhere legit Pena can be a better Rey Ordonez, and a hell of a better fielder than Jetes is.
What on earth is Eddie House the cold-blooded Pac-10 sharpshooter doing shooting that inside the arc??
Only in the Yankee universe would a pitcher who notched a save on 14 pitches (10 of them strikes), giving up a single, two Ks and a weak groundout to the mound be cause to be concerned.
I’ll take this old, ineffective closer over pretty everyone else in the game, and twice on doubleheaders.
Nick, Eddie House & Ray Allen are really pissing me off here
Pat M
April 30th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
GB7, What I was alluding to last night and earlier this evening about Rivers was yes the past few years he has some off nights in the early season…..Those problems was his sharpness in locating his cutter…What I have noticed as of late was the lack of movement ( no real cut action ) plus the loss of velocity….It’s different than years past…Even tonight as he blew thru the last three hitters, his pitches did not cut much and his speed is still down somewhat….He did improve on each pitch it seemed tonight….He’s still the greatest 1 inning reliever ever…
————————————————————
Yeah, I understand the lack of movement, but, I’d tend to think that the off and on cold, damp weather after the surgery has as much to do with it as anything. If it’s still like this by mid may/June, I’ll start to be concerned. He’ll do as always…make a minor adjustment in the pen and go back to driving batters crazy. I’d love for him to break out that changeup that he used on Ryan Howard in ST last uear. Howard never had a chance. Cutter and two straight knee buckling changeups. He said then that when it’s perfected, he’ll use it in a game.
pat-
well for one thing , the hitter would have to be looking at the shortstop fairly continuously waiting for the sign. you’ve watched hitters looking at the third baseman. it’s kind of obvious.
it just seems like the kind of stuff that someone who’s never played would make up. she’s saying there was a whole network of players that all knew the signs alex was giving. she needs to name souurces if she’s going to play this game.
until she does, i don’t take it seriously.
Y M C A
It’s fun to stay the the
Y M C A
Hold onto this lead Chicago.
1 point game 23.7 secs left
whatever
How many good feelings did you have when they got swept in Boston last weekend?
The good feeling you have is called RBI induced glee and who has a better chance of supplying that, Alex or Ramiro?
the the = at the
StuckeyHe’s a cause for concern not for today, but for yesterday and vs. Boston.
GB7-I guess you ignoring me is better for all concerned.
Night everybody.
DAmn you Heinrich !
Brandon, I once saw Eddie House torch the Cal Bears for 65 points. Or was it 66? It was brutal. That guy seriously has ice water in his veins.
Boston Dave, the Bulls have been a young up and coming team since 2005. I’ll believe the hype when they legitimately win a series by being the better team instead of just getting lucky facing a banged up squad of defending champs, as with the Heat in 07 and Celtics now.
The Yankees have a better shot at selling out the $2500 seats than another team taking on A-Rod’s contract.
He isn’t going anywhere.
Mo is going through dead arm. He didn’t throw all winter and started throwing later in spring. Every year he goes through dead arm. People freak and then he’s fine.
“Only in the Yankee universe would a pitcher who notched a save on 14 pitches (10 of them strikes), giving up a single, two Ks and a weak groundout to the mound be cause to be concerned.
I’ll take this old, ineffective closer over pretty everyone else in the game, and twice on doubleheaders.” -Stuckey
———————————————————
Hahah it is amazing isn’t it
Thanks randy.
Somehow I’m picturing a batter looking at the SS instead of the pitcher as strike one goes bye.
why take that foul there ?
Why would you be concerned about Mo? Jesus come on relax. The homerun yesterday was really meaningless, he clearly wasn’t warm yet because Mo never misses his spot by as much as he did on that pitch to Granderson. And that wasn’t the first game he’s ever blown against Boston. I swear people look for things to worry about.
“you’ve watched hitters looking at the third baseman.”
make that “the third base coach”
I LOVE YA DERRICK ROSE !!!!
Rose!
And Hienrich misses the layup…Didn’t like that chump when he played for Kansas….Now that’s a choke….I’m cooked
i’ll give it up for Rose, he’s a baller, but the rest of the Bulls are weaksauce.
Bottom line – Jobber should be groomed to be Mariano’s successor.
He has a closer mentality and is just much more dominant as a reliever.
Whew!
Game 7 here we come
dammit you and that FT line !
Soul
April 30th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I’d trade A-Rod for Jared Weaver, Jose Arredondo, and Dallas McPherson.
————————————————————
Nice to see that you really keep up on things. McPherson is in the Giants system.
Both of these teams are a mere appetizer for King James anyway
Rondo? Rondo takes the shot?
Rondo is no Tyus Edney.
“He has a closer mentality and is just much more dominant as a reliever.”
That will be Melancon genius.
“Bottom line – Jobber should be groomed to be Mariano’s successor.
He has a closer mentality and is just much more dominant as a reliever”
——————————————
Uhh did you watch Joba pitch yesterday? Have you heard of Mark Melancon?
I think the guy was being sarcastic boys, I mean he even called him Jobber…..
When will the Knicks start to play exciting games like this in late April?
Kenny April 30th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Bottom line – Jobber should be groomed to be Mariano’s successor.
He has a closer mentality and is just much more dominant as a reliever.
===============================
http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2008/03/06/CYanfkah.jpg
Game 7 baby. Heinrich is a punk and the Bulls will soon be manhandled like the little girls they are.
Now onto Portland getting clowned by Houston. Darius Miles says karma’s a beyotch; once the Jailblazers, always the Jailblazers!
Never can tell these days. I appologize if he was being sarcastic.
Heilman has a 0.82 ERA this year
good night all, nice win today, GO YANKEES!
I can’t stand the Bulls.
I can’t believe I have actually been rooting for a Boston team all these days
Jesus….Who are these pathetic Marlins announcers?
“And, it’s a hit. Crack-a-lack”.
anyone else see the sox get spanked tonight? van every has nothing on swisher when it comes to pitching. he looked furious haha
Pat – We lost the first two games in Boston because our pitching didn’t come through, not because A-Rod wasn’t there. We’re 5th in the league in runs and 4th in BA and Tex hasn’t even started hitting yet. Of our 10 losses you can only pin two on lack of hitting. And, still, we need A-Rod? Why? Because too many Yankee fans, and the organization, are stuck on the so-called sure thing. Meantime, it’s role playing, team-first guys like Pena that have been missing from the mix for so long now. Too bad we can’t turn the page.
How was the rest of the game? I left after the 5th.
I meant the Yankees game, not the Sox blowout.
Garza was perfect through 6 or something?
That Derek Rose is something. What a game, what a series.
“When will the Knicks start to play exciting games like this in late April? ”
When they actually get ball players that play both sides of the ball and listen to a defensive coach. I have to admit never did I think Vinny Del Negro would take the Bulls to where they are but what an underrated coach IMO. The 2 tri-state coachs are a joke LF has pics of Rod Thorn & O-Phoni is just what he is all offense, jokes no real system to win a championship there.
For the record, Josh Beckett now sports a 7.22 ERA, 2.11 WHIP after getting lit up for his second straight start.
Pete. I think your best friend GGBG will be relegated to permanent pinch-runner with the way Melky is playing. The Gardner experiment is over, and he should be our version of Dave Roberts come playoff time.
You can’t be in the majors and bat .200. Unless your Mark Teixeira.
“I can’t stand the Bulls.
I can’t believe I have actually been rooting for a Boston team all these days”
There is no chance in hell I would root for a Boston team. The Bulls aren’t the Jordan Bulls anymore, they have players that have NY ties or are just that rootable.
Joakim Noah
John Salmons
Ben Gordon
yes believe it or not Tyrus Thomas
and it all runs on Derrick Rose’s leadership.
GB7, I like your open minded approach to Rivera…The change could add 2 more years as a most effective closer….
Franco. Beckett can play as bad as he wants in the regular season. But come playoff time, that man is money and I would trade any of our pitchers to have him, and I’m sure you would too. But it is very enjoyable to see him crash and burn this season
I think the Bulls could beat the Cavs
Bad matchup for CLE.
Who is Kare…. the Melk Man? back on track! Another good night for the team
The Knicks will be good if, and only if, they strike gold in 2010.
That’s pretty much their only hope. If they don’t get anyone, then the futility may continue for a while. The problem is that they are good enough to win 30 games, hence a #5-7 pick. They’re mirrored in the cycle of mediocrity. I don’t see that changing.
Pat M
April 30th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
GB7, I like your open minded approach to Rivera…The change could add 2 more years as a most effective closer….
————————————————————
I was in Tampa that day when Rivera broke it out. Last pitches of the game. Howard stood there looking at Rivera with a “What the Hell was that” look. He just shook his head and walked off taking to himself. You know he was thinking that was a dirty trick to pull. Funny scence. Rivera had a smirk on his face and you could almost see him chuckle.
Franco. Beckett can play as bad as he wants in the regular season. But come playoff time, that man is money and I would trade any of our pitchers to have him, and I’m sure you would too. But it is very enjoyable to see him crash and burn this season
———
I’ll take Roy Halliday over Beckett.
But it goes to show you just how a few big games in the postseason can elevate someone’s reputation to a level that he never matched in the regular season.
Case in point, both Sabathia and Halliday have had better career numbers than Beckett. His only truly great regular season was in 2007.
You still have to get to the postseason though and I think Beckett is at best the third best pitcher in the AL East.
“it’s role playing, team-first guys like Pena that have been missing from the mix for so long now. Too bad we can’t turn the page.”
Oh please, do you even know what the hell you are talking about ? so lets get this straight the 3B position hasn’t produce anything we’re under .500 w/o him, yes the pitching has been very spotty, mostly Wang and a start here and by CC and the BP’s ocassional problem, but you think one hit is going to make anyone agree w/ this ? I love Ramiro he’s better use off the bench, Matsui’s leg isn’t guaranteed to hold up, your going to lose Nady soon, Robi is going to go through a cold streak sooner or later, Teix alone is not going to do it, Georgy isn’t exactly a clean bill of health and minimizing games he calls is actually a good thing. If anything when Alex returns he’s going to play 3B and ocassionally DH, when he DH’s Ramiro can play 3B, also Ramiro would give a guy like Jeter who’s defense in the late innings is near putrid and also sub in for a guy like Robi whenever he needs rest.
Yes role players are good when you use them right not on an everyday basis.
Yet will the Boston papers wonder what’s wrong with Joshie? Will ESPN? Somehow I doubt it. I love it, lol, though I think he’s going to be lights out against the Yankees
Funny ****scene*** . Rivera had a smirk on his face and you could almost see him chuckle.
Man, Oden is hopeless.
Man, Oden is hopeless.
M, I didn’t get to start watching the game until the 5th inning. I think I saw a better half than you did.
On the other hand, you got to be on LoHud for more fireworks.
AJ must stop cursing and the bad boy incident. His mound temperament really isin’t good.
Some guys just can’t channel emotion in a positive way.
“minimizing games he calls is actually a good thing.”
right on par with the trade a-rod outbursts
“Franco. Beckett can play as bad as he wants in the regular season. But come playoff time, that man is money and I would trade any of our pitchers to have him, and I’m sure you would too. But it is very enjoyable to see him crash and burn this season”
:rofl:
Small sample sizes, d00d. I’d take him over Pettitte, but that’s it.
Something’s up with Beckett. With the exception of his first outing, he’s been bad. Something about his fastball.
Some interesting stats from BBTN (under Numbers to Know). This was posted before tonight’s game:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/notebook?page=bbtn
There’s nothing to be worried about with Beckett. He has a track record. He is also the best current postseason pitcher in baseball.
Sox are still 6 games over .500, and thats with Penny and Beckett having 7 ERAs, Dice-K on the DL, Lester with a 5+ ERA etc.
and for the record whatever would you reject Carlos Beltran for Melky too, last I checked Carlos ain’t clutch but any fan would make that deal if they could and Minaya would clearly be on drugs… so if you’d do that my minds starts to wonder how some stupidity can spew from your mouth to a keyboard about doing away w/ Alex Rodriguez for Ramiro Pena..yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah ! that makes sense.
“Yet will the Boston papers wonder what’s wrong with Joshie? Will ESPN?”
Dice is on the DL – Beckett is getting racked – have no fear – that’s why they signed Penny and Smoltz. The best signings since Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
“right on par with the trade a-rod outbursts”
Georgy’s not a good game caller everyone knows that.
Would Smoltz say that he wanted to stay in Atlanta if they paid him?
Dumb comment by Tex.
Girardi needs to play the Sr. citizen tomorrow
Nick,
Never a dull moment in the LoHud.
Well, I don’t know why I feel so good about the Boston beat down. Soxenfreude?
Did you guys see a big deal being made out of Torre’s batting the pitcher 8th yesterday?
And did Georgie get mad at Van Every for having fun on the mound?
If Rivera isn’t available tomorrow night, who closes? Veras or Melancon?
Can someone fill me in on what happened with Burnett and the bat buy today?
I heard bits and pieces but not the full story.
Thanks.
pat,
Are you still around? I read your Roberts link, and I just don’t think it makes sense purely from a logic standpoint.
First, she says that “Ranger sources” noticed this, I think she implied Ranger officials, but never confronted ARod about it. I have a hard time believing that if a team official thinks something like that is going on, they don’t talk to ARod about it.
Second, she asserts that there was a quid pro quo going on. How could she possibly know this, if the info came from the Rangers? Now, maybe she’s trying to obscure her source, who was someone who participated in this deal. But unless she talked to someone who was part of the agreement, I don’t see how she can know that there were players who agreed to tip ARod in return. And if she did speak to such a person, she’s lying about her source, and the person ratting now is a complete hypocrite.
She never claims to have any information from any party to the arrangement, or anyone who claims that ARod admitted to it, she just claims that people noticed ARod (but not any other player) tipping pitches. If that’s the case, the rest of the story is, on it’s face, pure speculation.
I’d let Marte close tomorrow
Su Man, I posted Tex’ comments earlier – I think they are really stupid. No Yankee fan needs to hear that he may have gone back to CA if they had upped their offer. I know Lost in Texas (I think that’s his/her name) said that Tex always wanted to be a Yankee, but it’s obvious from his comments that any old East Coast team would have done. I never thought so until today because the Yankees/Sox offers were very comparable (ony about $1.5 million less from the Sox per year), but now I think that Tex definitely would have gone to the Sox if they had outbid the Yankees (even if just by a little). I’m wondering just how media savy Tex is.
“If Rivera isn’t available tomorrow night, who closes? Veras or Melancon?”
Anyone but flaco, he cracks vs the Angels. I’d say if it’s to that point Melancon the stage is set.
I’m a registered melky fan (small fee) and perhaps he’s just hot and bound to come back earth, but I think he’s capable of hitting 280 year in and out with a +arm, and until A jackson is ready, I like that. He came up very young, had a pretty darn good rookie year, a passable second and a down turn, but what he’s showing with competition in house has to be given some kudos I think. I’m happy for him, at the least, the more he produces the more trade value he can bring, even if it is minimal. I’m off, g-night lohuders, great win!
In most professions destroying the life and reputation of another fellow humanbeing as either considered illegal or at the very least met with harsh criticism. Yet, being a reporter must be great, because not only are you praised for something like that but you become rich and famous while you continue to make another person suffer.
Arod was wrong. He was stupid and he is a cheater. He rarely says the right thing and seems to be a very strange and certainly a very arrogant person. But the fact is arod is not a bad guy and he is one of the best in the world at what he does which would make almost anyone appear arrogant. He does not deserve to have to go through this again after having major surgery and rehabbing following a painful and traumatic off-season in which his reputation was left in tatters. And while some may believe selena is doing this just as any other reporter would do, I wholeheartedly disagree. I think she is willing to destroy a great player and a decent person in order to further her career and reap the benefits of massive book sales. If you cant see the breach of morals in that, well i just dont know what to tell you.
And really the worst part about all this is that selena has not only not yet been criticized by her peers for completely destroying arods life and becoming rich and famous in the process but on the other hand, she has been praised as an excellent journalist. Well, i guess you dont need any sort of ethics or morals to be a great journalist anymore if that is the case. And the fact that neither selena nor any other reporter has even attempted to try to uncover the other names on that list so that arod doesnt continue to be the scapegoat for the steroids era is just beyond ridiculous. We all know the list is out there and if this reporting is truly to make up for the media’s obvious ignorance in the 90s, why not do it the proper way and try to oust all of the past users that you possibly can.
Why continue to let the blame for decades of steroids abuse and public/media indifference fall on arods shoulders? This situation is getting despicable already and as I predicted over the summer, i think that this book will not only shine more light on arods flaws but will also reveal selena’s misguided intentions as she is about to look very cruel to the publics eye as well. I think most people believe arod has suffered enough as has the game of baseball and the yankee organization so it is time now to either start working to uncover other players names or just put the whole thing behind us. Continuing to harp on arod’s story achieves nothing for baseball but a small fortune for roberts most likely.
“I’d let Marte close tomorrow”
Why ?
DT
April 30th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
“Yet will the Boston papers wonder what’s wrong with Joshie? Will ESPN?”
Dice is on the DL – Beckett is getting racked – have no fear – that’s why they signed Penny and Smoltz. ***The best signings since Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation*** .
————————————————————
I wpuld have expected better than that. Gotta make ‘em think a little. ***The best signing since Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller***
miggs,
prior to the first pitch, but after warmups, the YES cameras showed Burnett waiting with his hand out – and then rather forcefully grabbing the rosin bag from someone’s hand (I don’t think the batboy was fully in the picture).
My take was that he might have been annoyed that the bag was not already out – or that it was delaying the start of the game. But obviously that’s just a guess, and it might have been nothing at all.
Still waiting for a single example of how our record would be any different right now with A-Rod.
Must be all those great month’s of April he led us to in the past. Wait. There weren’t any.
Must be all the personality he adds to the clubhouse. Wait, he is at best tolerated, at worst, widely despised.
Must be what he brings to the postseason.
A-Rod is nothing more than a grossly overpaid monument to artificially inflated statistics. Any serviceable, team-oriented 3B would be preferable.
Are we voting? Mo’s out for certain?
Melancon.
Just reading the recap of the boston game. Tito pulled Van Every to pitch after Lopez gave up two doubles. Wow. Of course espn will be all over that. Such a great manager sending a message to his pitcher.
I ***would***
Betsy -
It’s ALWAYS about the money. Teix is a Boras client, so that is even more true. We did outbid Boston by $10 million, that’s why he came here. And the Angels were not even in the conversation.
I know we want to all believe that the player wanted to always be a Yankee, but it is rarely the case. I wish it were because it would connect the fan to the player more, but we can’t be naive enough to think it is.
oops. Pulled Van Every out of RF!
Just got back from the game a few minutes ago (takes awhile to drive back to jersey).. A few observations:
- Burnett wasn’t great but he fought through the game and had 7 innings of decent pitching. After reading through the posts it was funny how many of you want into panic mode when he gave up a run. The dude is a pro, let him work out of it! Girardi showed trust in him and he came through!
- The place was pretty packed tonight. Most of the sections were 80-100% full. One thing that is deceptive – the areas behind the seats are so big there are a lot of fans standing and watching the game.
- It was pretty hilarious reading through the comments and seeing one specific person who shall remain nameless try to come up with arguments about why Posada stunk tonight and how much better Molino would have been.
- The crowd was loud tonight, I didn’t notice any noise difference from the games I was at last year.
The new stadium is great, after my first game there I love it. I’m just hoping that it doesn’t play too much like a hitter’s park as the season continues.
“Still waiting for a single example of how our record would be any different right now with A-Rod.”
Anyone want to do the honors ? Really this is too easy for me.
“A-Rod is nothing more than a grossly overpaid monument to artificially inflated statistics. Any serviceable, team-oriented 3B would be preferable.”
Did he bang your wife, gf or someone you chased another time ?
AJ shunned the Braves (who offered the same amount of $$) to come here.
But if the Braves had offered $85-86 mil, he prob. would have gone there.
And we all knew CC had to be dragged here
Nice to see the Bleacher Creatures’ gratitude for Abreu.
Obviously, they understand why Yankees fans appreciated Abreu while he was here far more than Kevin Devaney did.
Maybe, Kevin, you should spend more time with real fans and less time with the fear-mongering, mask-wearing, Selena-loving apologists– the Creatures might explain precisely why Abreu merited the roll call.
To be fair to all involved – I ran the Posada vs. Molina catching fight via my computer simulation program.
It wasn’t even close.
Posada started off strong and was in an offensive mode. He really came out swinging. Left and Righty power.
Jose quickly went into a defensive posture. Fans were booing the obvious rope a dope.
Molina had the crowd on their feet when he went to the tag team approach and brought in Yadier and Bengie.
Ahead on all cards at the time, poor Jorge didn’t know what hit him.
Crossword champion and part time referee Mike Mussina stopped the fight in the 5th round.
dave-
I agree with most of what you said, and what I wanna know is why other names on that positive test list haven’t been revealed? I think Roberts said when she decided to come forward with the Arod positive test, she went back and confirmed it with 2 or 3 sources. So she talked to multiple people with firsthand knowledge of that list, yet A-rod is the only name to come out? Wouldn’t doing her job entail finding out as many names as possible, which clearly she had the sources to. I think its pretty clear that she wants to destroy A-rod for the betterment of her career, and she chose A-rod because hes the biggest fish in the sea and he’s the one who would get her the most attention and most money. That to me is what is beyond pathetic in all this.
Sox are still 6 games over .500, and thats with Penny and Beckett having 7 ERAs, Dice-K on the DL, Lester with a 5+ ERA etc.
—————–
And if Mo keeps Bay in the park, (or if Yanks drive in a run with the bases loaded and no outs) the Yanks and Sox have the same record, despite Boston enjoying 5 more home games than the Yanks.
A pitch separates these two teams.
That’s how perception swings wildly in April.
“I would have expected better than that. Gotta make ‘em think a little. The best signing since Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller”
Nice. I guess I’m getting tired.
I need to work on endurance if I want to outdo a Green Beret. Damn those naps of yours.
“Must be all those great month’s of April he led us to in the past. Wait. There weren’t any. ”
=============================
please see A-rod’s April stats for 2007.
Teixeria has a little A-Rod in him… always trying to please everyone. Those comments today were meant to appease to the LA players/fans/media.
Just like Baltimore on opening day when he said he dreamed of playing in BAL and would have in a perfect world.
Then when we went to Boston, he talked about how great Theo is and thats why the Sox are the great organization they are.
He tries to be TOO nice and diplomatic. That’s his problem. The only people he should try and appease are the Yankees, not other teams/organizations.
“Still waiting for a single example of how our record would be any different right now with A-Rod.
Must be all those great month’s of April he led us to in the past. Wait. There weren’t any. ”
April of ‘07 he had like 30+ RBI and more than a couple walk-offs. You’re an idiot
Betsy – I don’t think Teix would have gone to Boston for comparable money, mostly because of the way their management screwed him over when he first enteted the draft after HS, telling other teams he had a strong committment to a college so he’d drop and they could pick him.
As far as I know, Boston never had a chance to match the Yankees’ final offer. A lot of people think that was just Boras letting the Yanks have the last word, but I think it’s just as logical that Teix told Boras not to let Boston counter.
His comments about how he’d have stayed in Anaheim are a little uncouth, and not very believable since it was obvious he wanted to play on the East coast. But he’s never played in a big media market before so I’m willing to give him a couple passes on this media foibles thing. Jeter needs to give him lessons stat, though.
I’d like to see NYY sign Mike McDougal, who was just released by the White sox. Send him to scranton and try to straighten him out. When he has his control, he’s nearly impossible to hit with that 95-97 MPH fastball.
“By the way, Swisher’s collage was completed by tonight’s return to the stadium. He cut out pictures of every teammate and taped them all together on the right side of his locker. Most of the players are in snazzy suits. Very cool for a player to do that. A-Rod should do the same, although he probably couldn’t name 4 or 5 of the guys.”
That’s a long way to find something to give Rodriguez a hard time about. Why should Rodriguez do that? Why would he need to know any of his teammates names to do that? There’s enough going on with A-Rod that if you want to rip on him you can at least be clever about it.
Eric, I don’t have a problem with that – hey, if any of us were offered great jobs and we had to decide, it very likely would come down to $$$. I just think Tex’ comments were rather silly …….I’m sorry he said them even if that is reality.
Thank you Clare.
Sounds like AJ was just focused on the game and was ready to throw the first pitch. I’d be upset too if the rosin bag was missing. Guys have their routines and most get really psyched up before the game.
Hey, Roger Clemens used to have scorching hot balm rubbed on his testicles before each start. Apparently he used to stand there in the trainer’s room and snort like a bull. Sorry for the details, that story cracks me up everytime.
My point is I’m sure Clemens would have been pretty pissed if the rosin bag wasn’t there when he went out to pitch.
I gotta give AJ a pass on that one. Everything I’ve heard he’s a great teammate and treats everyone with respect.
And i think the people in this country are always so ready and willing to place the blame for any major catastrophe that occurs here at the hands of a single person. It just seems easier and cleaner. There is less of a mess to clean up no matter how big the original disaster if only one or a handful of people are responsible. Unfortunately, like most other disasters, there is in fact many people who are responsible and while the media is expected to pin it all on one or a few people based on whatever shred of evidence they scoop up from wherever, the public should be smart enough to know better that that.
Whatever,
Your ignorance is astounding. At first i thought your post was a joke but then, i realized you were actually serious. I cant imagine that you need an answer to your question without realizing the blatantly obvious.
How about this … does two mvps in the last four years in pinstripes ring any bells? How about three mvps in the last six years? If that doesnt do it for you, how about the 2007 season when arod single handedly carried the yanks into the playoffs with his bat? yA KNOW 156 rbis, 143 runs and 54 homers and only probably one of the best five seasons in all of baseball history by a player. I know 2007 was ages ago and you may have not even known the yanks then judging by your comments but try to read up on it ok? If arods presence on the club can serve to get the yanks into the PLAYOFFS one season, how in the world could you think that his presence wouldnt make a difference in a few wins in single games?
Blog sucked tonight.
BOOOOO!
We want pete! We want pete!
April 2007? We were 9-14.
Next?
DT
April 30th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
“I would have expected better than that. Gotta make ‘em think a little. The best signing since Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller”
Nice. I guess I’m getting tired.
I need to work on endurance if I want to outdo a Green Beret. Damn those naps of yours.
————————————————————
It’s not the naps. It’s what I do before the naps that does the trick.
Don’t care about AJ being a jerk to the batboy.
Don’t care about Tex’s comments to the LA press.
And I really don’t care about A-rod’s distractions.
DAAAAA YAAAAANKKKKEEEESSS WOOOOONNNN!!!
Winning record in April. Just need to tack on some more in the homestand.
kill schill – maybe you can explain the Bleacher Creatures’ appreciation for Abreu to me then, cause I don’t get it either! I’ve watched the guy play in 2 cities now and from where I’m sitting, he’s hurt just about every team he’s been on with selfishness, laziness, refusal to make adjustments to help the team, coming to camp out of shape, and so on.
Am I really the only one who was thrilled to finally see the back of him? I know this is cliche but I just don’t think he’s a winning type guy, at all. Had I been at the game tonight, I’d have been more likely to give Juan Rivera a hand than him. Well, ok maybe thats goin too far. Definitely never liked Abreu though & didn’t get the love tonight.
Doug Mientkiewicz has ARod’s back, saying they were together all the time in HS and he never saw any signs ARod was on steroids. I miss Dougie.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/.....2022.story
dave,
Please stop with the MVP’s. They don’t mean much. Look at the company he keeps. Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi. Maybe Big Papi should be happy he never won an MVP.
“If you’re going to have the [guts] to come out and say something like that, of that magnitude, whether it’s a high school teammate or some of the Yankee teammates that have said something, be a man and put your name on it,” Mientkiewicz said. “Don’t give me the anonymous source . . . Be a man. Be a man and say who you are. That way there’s no questioning whether it’s real or not.”
====================================
Word
West Side, I agree.
BBB, remember also that Tex just said that he wanted to play on the East Coast so he could be near his parents. Yankee fans don’t want to hear that he might have chosen LA or that he wanted any place on the East Coast. You’re right – he needs to take lessons from Jeter. I like the guy, but I’m not as gung ho on him as I was a few hours ago.
West Side, I agree.
BBB, remember also that Tex just said that he wanted to play on the East Coast so he could be near his parents. Yankee fans don’t want to hear that he might have chosen LA or that he wanted any place on the East Coast. You’re right – he needs to take lessons from Jeter. I like the guy, but I’m not as gung ho on him as I was a few hours ago.
link of the day Clare, great find
“Hey, Roger Clemens used to have scorching hot balm rubbed on his testicles before each start. Apparently he used to stand there in the trainer’s room and snort like a bull. Sorry for the details, that story cracks me up everytime.”
That story is easily the funniest thing in Torre’s book. Why in God’s name did Clemens have a trainer do it? Couldn’t he apply the scorching hot balm to his own balls? Hahaha so absurd
And while we’re talking about 2007, that was the last injury-free year, wasn’t it, before the effects of years of apparent steroid abuse started to catch up with him. He missed the better part of a month last year and the better part of two months this year. We are looking at a player on the downside, bad news all around.
Here’s more on your hero, for your reading pleasure:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....ref=sircrc
BBB,
Bobby was a good enough guy and clutch with the bat, but I get what you mean. There was something about him.
But yeah, I definitely don’t miss his glove. I kind of felt sorry for him on that gaffe. To come back to Yankee stadium and do that?! Oi.
Thanks Clare great article
I think I missed something. How did Selena Roberts completely ruin Arod’s life? Has he been arrested for something? Contract voided? Repo men come calling? What?
BBB I was just watching the highlights of the game on BBTN.
Its amazing how terrible Abreu is in the field. The misplayed ball that got by him and the low line drive where he just slowed down and let it dink in….. he’s SO BAD.
He’s a very good hitter and I admit at the time I was hoping they would have brought him back. But upon further review I actually think his bad defense outweighs his offense. Or rather, his bad defense definitely NEGATES his offense for sure.
And his heart was always in question. Did he really care at all? He did hit well in the clutch, which makes you wonder.
That story is easily the funniest thing in Torre’s book. Why in God’s name did Clemens have a trainer do it? Couldn’t he apply the scorching hot balm to his own balls? Hahaha so absurd
———————————————————
You gotta be kidding, the trainer applied the balm for him, what a diva!
If I were at the game I would have stood up and applauded for Bobby as well. How quickly everyone forgets what he did for this team. Except for the wall issue, he played hard, never was in any trouble, produced for this team and was very good in the community.
I guess you have to be a saint with some of you to garner appreciation.
Whatever-
How can he have missed two months of this season if the season started April 4th?
Harold,
I agree but what i think is the most pathetic about all this is that her peers or the various other media outlets that interview her and talk about her have nothing but praise for her pretty much stating that nothing that is happening is wrong in any way, shape or form. Forget that someone broke the law to give her a name from an anonymous survery and forget that no one ever cared to follow up on the list of almost 100 other names that im sure could have been leaked similar to the way arods name was. So selena is lauded and rewarded for destroying arods life, doing nothing to follow up on the list and reaping the rewards in terms of huge sums of cash. And lets not forget that no other media source has taken up the cause of trying to find out just who these other cheaters are but they would rather chastise arod and write ten stories about him a day using 5 reporters from each major media outlet.
Couldnt one of the thousand or so reporters following arod around salivating for some cheap story to sell a paper, do some actual investigating and get another name or two. And I really fail to see how in the world any of this possibly helps the game of ba