Wrapping it up from Camden Yards
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on May 08, 2009 
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So, Nick Swisher, what did you think of A-Rod’s home run?
“Amazing. Perfect. Storybook. Awesome,” he said.
That about summed it up. A.J. Burnett said it was the greatest thing he had seen in baseball.”You’re not supposed to be able to do that,” he said. “(Jeremy Guthrie) threw it 98 and he still it. It tailed back over, but still.”
Rodriguez looked rusty in his last three at-bats. But his presence in the lineup brings balance and gives the opposing pitcher reason to pause. The Yankees look a lot better when Swisher is hitting sixth and not fourth.
A few notes for you:
• A-Rod said he would be in the hotel pool tomorrow morning doing rehab exercises. It’s something he will need to do for the foreseeable future. Dr. Mark Lindsay, the rehab guru, will fly in once every 7-10 days to check on him.
Rodriguez said his hip bothered him for the final two months of last season and left him unable to handle pitches in the mid-90s. He also felt “a lack of fire” in November when he started hitting again and at the start of spring training.
Alex hit .258/.366/.511 over the final two months of last season with 12 home runs, so the numbers bear that out. But why did it take until March for him to get an MRI and have a proper diagnosis? It’s mind-boggling. Either Rodriguez should have said something or the Yankees should have noticed.
• Let’s not anoint Francisco Cervelli the new Johnny Bench quite yet. He caught a terrific game and that throw in the first inning was eye-opening. Keep in mind that this is a player with a career .267 batting average in the minors. He’s likely to get abused once the scouting reports catch up to him. But if he can catch a clean game, that’s all that matters for now.
Brian Cashman told me earlier that he doesn’t envision a trade. The hope is that Jorge Posada and/or Jose Molina is back in three weeks.
• The Orioles drew 36,926 for the Yankees on a Friday night in nice weather. The bad economy kept the Yankee fans back home.
• Mark Teixeira was 0 for 3 with three whiffs. He’s 15 of his last 83 (.181). They boo him here like he’s Robert Irsay.
• Cano was 1 for 23 before that double in the sixth.
• The Yankees are 8 for 52 with RISP the last six games.
• The big lefty had retired 23 out of 24 going into the ninth inning, the last 16 in a row. Then after Baltimore got two singles, he struck out the side on 14 pitches. That roar he let out when Mora whiffed could have been heard at the White House.
You got the feeling watching that game that the real CC will be around now. A-Rod’s Hollywood moment will be the story of the game. But if this game sparks CC to a huge summer, that’s even more important.
Thanks for reading. Check back tomorrow.
Nice crisp win today. Now we need Hughes to take another step forward tomorrow.
Nice Summary Pete – enjoyable read…Thanks!
Nice post Pete.
m: from last thread–
A vasospasm is not a self-causing problem in the way that a broken arm or strained hammy might be.
There needs to be a cause behind it.
My first thought had been a clot of some sort, and I guess an aneurysm (however you spell it) is like a clot of some sort. Anyway, my mind did go to Cone because I remember reading about it in _Birth of a Dynasty_ and it sounded like the same thing.
At least now they know what it is, they can treat it and send him on his merry way.
*****
Pete, did you ask Swisher or Thompson about being picked off at third?
It’s a funny thing in hindsight, but had CC not pitched so well the lost runs there could have been very damaging. So I’m curious…
Great night for CC. This is what the Yanks paid for. Tonight (and tonight alone) I’m more excited for Cervelli. He was absolutely beaming in the clubhouse on the Postgame.
Funny how this place is dead after a well played Yankee win.
Becca,
Thanks. So basically, the spasm was actually fortunate. Otherwise the aneurism would’ve gone unnoticed.
An aneurysm is sort of like a leaky valve stem on a car tire or, in worst cases a blown tire in a weak spot in an artery or a vein (vein aneurysms aren’t common). A blood clot could form and break loose, but, usually, there’s intermal bleeding if a hole develops.
Good Lord…watching the Angels game and they just had an inside the park homer on the worst scoring decision in history. Pop fly by Kendrick to Guillen and he just totally missed catching the thing. It was a 2-1 angel lead, two outs and a runner on 1st base.
In other news, if you can call it that, Camden Yards now plays bigger than Yankee Stadium and is at least twice as loud. I heard louder Yankees chants tonight on YES than for any home game. Unbelievable.
I dont know which is more important, a CC performance that brings out CC for the rest of the season or having arod back. They are both overwhelmingly positive considering CC is our ace and arod is one of the best players in baseball with or without PEDs. That being said, the CC performance could just as easily be quite positive for the rest of the rotation who all certainly have the potential to dominate on any given day and definitely looked like they could easily get into a real nice groove. That is another huge positive that we may be able to take away from this game and look back on a few months from now as the turning point for the pitching staff.
Posada and/or molina being back in three weeks would be awesome but I would tend to learn towards no way on molina. I just dont see it. Posada could be back in 3 weeks but what is he’s not? Can cervelli and cash really hold down the fort for a month? I guess only time will tell but i tend to doubt it. Cashman has to be looking at all possible option right now on the trade front. There is no way the team can be satisfied with a starting catcher from double A. He looked great tonight but it was probably more the adrenaline of his first time up than anything else.
As I said earlier and pete said again, arod being back is not just arod in the lineup but it completely changes the look and balance of the lineup. It just looks much scarier to opposing pitchers or at least to me. Tex finally has some protection which if arod goes on a tear, will certainly help him out of this rut. Tex will be back either way. This team only has two issues right now – the pen and the catcher. Tex is not an issue unless he is hitting under 200 come june 9.
Jones certainly looked safe on that steal attempt but we’ll take it after a few calls going the other way in recent games.
CC looked great. The ball was down,down and done all night.
Is it me or does the Yankee training staff looking particularly inept regarding the assessment of injuries over the last 2 seasons. Guys coming back too soon or not properly rehabbed.
Chien Ming’s Hip Atrophy would be a good name for an indie band.
m: Yep.
We think an aneurysm may have been what killed my aunt, and she had no symptoms other than back pain that her family didn’t consider very serious at the time.
Great stuff tonight.
I would note that a .271 ba in the minors isn’t that bad. More important is his .371 OBP–and for reference, while PECOTA puts Jose Molina at a WARP of 0.5 (worth 0.5 wins over replacement INCLUDING defense) over the course of the season, it puts Cervelli at a WARP of 1.0. That is at the 50th percentile, of course.
The crazy part? Posada’s expected WARP is 1.3. Now, that’s partially because PECOTA takes Posada’s injury very seriously, and thus far Jorge has been proving it wrong. But I’m not one to second guess PECOTA only one month into the season.
Oh, and Cervelli comes basically free of charge, which is worth a lot. Names being tossed around as a replacement, like Kevin Cash, are worth NEGATIVE WARP.
eric in queens
May 9th, 2009 at 12:13 am
In other news, if you can call it that, Camden Yards now plays bigger than Yankee Stadium and is at least twice as loud. I heard louder Yankees chants tonight on YES than for any home game. Unbelievable.
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Whatever you say, Queen Erica.
Jones was tagged out because his lead foot was about two feet above the bag.
As I said in the previous thread, Cervelli is known as being a very good defensive catcher. He was ready from a defensive standpoint 2 years ago.
He has the potential to hit for some average in the majors but he’s mostly a gap hitter, not much power at all. He will probably be a valuable backup someday. I could see him taking over as the backup when Molina leaves.
Watching replay just saw crazy lady – wow
first off – awesome win…
second – just saw Star Trek. warp 4.5 outta 5. Few slow spots, but definitely worth the $$$. I’d see it again.
(FYI – @ any trekkies, leave your preconceptions and bible at the door, they burn it with gasoline – but it’s still a great movie)
Within two years, Cervelli will be 4th or 5th in line as a Yankee catcher. Montero, Romine, Higashioka and Jose Gil will be ahead of him.
Stephen Strasburg threw a no-hitter tonight with 17 K’s.
… wow
thanks sunny good to hear
too bad the nationals will get him. He’ll be a Yankee in 8 – 10 years prob after he hits free agency…
GB Cervelli was converted to catcher? What was he before?
Becca,
Sorry about that. Your aunt must’ve been not very old. Did she have children?
my pleasure. Star Trek is definitely a audience broadening movie. It’s not *just* for the hard core masses anymore. But like with all Trek movies, you gotta keep that open mind.
How about we trade for Strausberg after the appropriate time has passed. National’s Payroll for a year + the famous PTBNL.
Cervelli had a breakout season in Tampa in `07, and one thing he does, that scrubs like Molina and Cash don’t do to help a team (other than limit wild pitches and pass balls) is take walks and get on base. He had a .370+ career OBP in the minors. He’s gonna hit better than Molina, even though he got off to a poor start in AA.
Sunny
Abrams said it was made with broad appeal in mind with a lot of nuggets for trekkies sounds like you agree
How did Alex look in the field?
I’ll tell ya tomorrow – going to tonights game with hughes on the mound!!
Sunday could be a good test of Alex’s hip with it being a day game after night game. 3 days on the turf in Toronto should be a good test as well.
Just saw the replay of the HR. The dugout really came to life. Joba, Melky and Robbie acted more excited than Alex.
Sunny
Abrams said it was made with broad appeal in mind with a lot of nuggets for trekkies sounds like you agree
sunny,
Thanks. Make sure you take your clipboard so you blend in with the other scouts.
Alex dove for a ball to his left early (didn’t get to it but looked good trying) and I cringed.
A few routine plays. No problem. Arm looked good.
He didn’t need to do any real baserunning.
Alex was fine in the field, he dove for one and missed in the first, then made every other play with good throws.
Thanks, Bronx.
Alex raving about the rehab doc. (he usually raves about all his coaches, etc.) But in this case, Alex says that the good doc shaved a month off of his rehab time.
they just need ceravelli to hit 220 to 250 if he can field.
the kid is 22 or 23, they have not had a developed young catcher play period in years. we have seen moeller, rodriguez, molina, flaherty, stinnett, and others for years.
this guy at least has some upside, will he reach it, who the heck knows that is the fun part….
Just a great victory tonight…you feel like you got back two key players:
CC the way he’s supposed to pitch…the way we remember him pitching for Milwaukee last year…
And of course A-Rod…
Especially after a 5 game losing streak, you couldn’t have asked for a better game…
Cervelli’s throw in the first was a laser.
“Alex hit .258/.366/.511 over the final two months of last season with 12 home runs, so the numbers bear that out. But why did it take until March for him to get an MRI and have a proper diagnosis? It’s mind-boggling. Either Rodriguez should have said something or the Yankees should have noticed.”
Right. I made this point last night on this board, in a different context. I was referring to Mo, Marte, and Wang.
They should have noticed.
They didn’t.
If the Yankees do not take a serious look at the job their trainers/doctors are (or, more accurate, are NOT) doing, they are fools.
For some reason I thought a vasospasm had to do with fainting? Was I off. They’re very lucky that they caught this sooner rather than later before anything serious happened. You never want to see someone hurt especially that young. I wonder what caused all this to begin with.
“But in this case, Alex says that the good doc shaved a month off of his rehab time.”
It is almost 2 months to the day to his surgery. Modern medicine is amazing.
The rehab doctor is the same guy who is working with Wang in Tampa so let’s hope Alex isn’t exagerating this time.
Uncle Ellsworth
May 9th, 2009 at 12:26 am
GB Cervelli was converted to catcher? What was he before?
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No, at least since he’s been a pro, he’s never played anywhere but catcher. My biggest arguement is that he neither scores or drives in many runs and as strictly a singles hitter, strikes out too much. On defense, just too many passed balls.
it will be a week or two before a -rod goes all out and that is fine as long as he doesnt get hurt again first.
when is the last time jeter dove for a ball up the middle?
“Thanks. So basically, the spasm was actually fortunate. Otherwise the aneurism would’ve gone unnoticed.”
Technically yes he is very fortunate. its odd that it took this long to figure out but, they caught it in time. Just for them to miss that I’d be shaken up.
oh ok GB I probably mis read a post or the post was wrong. As far as filling in till PO and MOlina get back We SHOULD have enough offense to get by.
I hope today is a turning point
Tony Pena must be giving some great advice to Cervelli during this process.
pat,
Only 2 months? Losing all these games taking a toll on me. Feels like 6 months.
You know 24 doubles in 88 games in Tampa in 2007 doesn’t strike me as lack of power, the more important is a 384 OBP. As they say power comes last. This relegating him to number 4 or 5 behind catching challenged peospects seems a little extreme. Granted Higashioka has a very good rep but he hasn’t made low A yet, the other three are not exactly taking the world by storm defensively Montero and Romine had good years offensively but putting Gil in there is a little sad, he’s really been offensively challenged in his career. Obviously we don’t know what will develop but defense and game calling skills are more important than power.
I don’t know but the first thing that came into my head when I heard of IPK’s numb fingers were “David Cone” and ” aneurysm”.
Scary stuff indeed.
Uncle Ellsworth
May 9th, 2009 at 12:48 am
oh ok GB I probably mis read a post or the post was wrong. As far as filling in till PO and MOlina get back We SHOULD have enough offense to get by.
I hope today is a turning point
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I remember somebody saying he was converted, too, but, there’s no indication that he’s been anything but a catcher. I said earlier that if he can get afew hits and walks a week and play defense as close to what he did tonight, he’ll have done his job. Was just looking and saw that tonight was his 6th pro sac bunt in about 750 plate appearances. He got the job done, but, it was a bit hard, but, I’ll take it. That would really boost his offense if he can do that a lot.
You know what they say about people who wear berets…
Alex described the game perfectly, “One swing and the rest was CC”.
m
I know. Surgery was March 9th so 2 months to the day. Time must drag without distractions …..and wins.
It was so great to see CC finally put it all together. Looking forward to many more outings like this.
Easily the Yankees best game of the season. But that was also because CC pitched a complete game and we weren’t forced to use anyone out of our bullpen. Our lineup should be pretty good with A-Rod back, and think about if Tex ever gets going. They are a sick 3-4 combo when playing at their full potential.
Amazing game for the Yanks, really hoping it gets them going. Storybook at bat for A-Rod.