Wrapping it up from the Bronx … and a return to your regularly-scheduled programming
Posted by: Sam Borden - Posted in Misc on May 24, 2009 
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Well, it wasn’t the best end to a homestand ever but I’d say the Yankees have to be pleased with their 8-2 run here. Should they have won today? I certainly thought they were going to, especially after they rallied off Lidge in the ninth, but Mark Teixeira’s double-play with two on and none out in the 10th was a killer. Here’s what Teixeira said:
“It’s just one of those things. He’s a good sinkerball pitcher and that’s what he was trying to do, he was trying to get me to hit a double play. (He) got to 3-2 and he didn’t give me anything up in the zone to hit and it happens.”
Brett Gardner said he apologized to CC Sabathia for not catching the Jimmy Rollins liner in the third. “I just told him I was sorry I didn’t catch it,” he said. “I probably should have caught the ball or kept it in front of me. … If I didn’t think I could catch it, I wouldn’t have dived for it. As it turned out, it was really the difference in the ballgame.’
Sabathia, though, said he had no problem with Gardner’s decision to dive. “I’d rahter have him out there diving around than letting balls bounce in front of him,” Sabathia said.
Lastly, since I know some of you wanted Johnny Damon to run over Carlos Ruiz at the plate, here’s Damon’s comment on the decision to try to score as well his slide: “Cole Hamels is a good pitcher when you have chances, you have to take them. Ruiz had quite a series. … Back in the day, I might have tried to run into him or something … but my body doens’t cooperate like it used to.”
It’s worth noting that Damon had an ice pack on his shoulder, as he often does, at the time. Having run into a stocky guy wearing armor probably isn’t a good idea.
Anyway, that’s it from the Stadium. Yanks head to Texas and I’m heading to the city for dinner with my wife. Pete will be back from furlough at midnight tonight – I’m sure he’ll post right away since he surely misses you all – and things will return to normal.
Thanks to everyone for participating this week. The mailbag was fun, the comments were fun and we saw some pretty interesting baseball. I hope you enjoyed a slightly different take on the Yankees (as well as celebrating all the holidays with me), and I look forward to hearing from you guys as the season goes forward. Have a great rest of the weekend!
This road trip will tell us a lot
In the past, they let losses after winning streaks turn into slides. Will they trend continue?
Great Job Sam…now back to mediocrity
Thanks for the hard work, Sam – you’re fabulous…and welcome back, Pete Abe!
This road trip will be interesting.
Very interesting.
I think this is a far different team than last year – more overall talent, more together and more confident. What happened last year after their 8 game winning streak was pathetic……and I have no clue what the deal was. All the Yankees can do is take one game at a time……and win series. They are undoubtedly not worried about losing this game and going into a slide, so why should we? One game at a time…….and they are preciseley 1 game back – not a bad spot to be in.
I won’t kill Tex – he’s human. He’s come up with so many clutch hits and enormous defensive plays – it happens, frustrating as it is.
I love how CC completely absolved BG of any blame so the kid doesn’t have to feel really badly about the non-catch…..CC’s a real peach.
Rangers are red hot right now. Can we finally beat a good team? And please release Tomko………..
I don’t think they were worried that losing a game would turn into a slide last year either. Just because they don’t think it, doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
Don’t trust Burnett at all against those Texas bats
Thanks for your great work, Sam. You made it possible to endure the week without our 24/7 poster, Pete.
Missed you, Pete!
I think Hughes will do decently tomorrow
However, a day game after traveling to Texas, I can see the offense staying asleep.
Thanks Sam, good work this week!
Geez Pete, the day you come back they lose their first series since the sweep by Tampa, when you’re gone they go what, 8 and 1? (Not sure when you left)
I prefer Sam.
Yes, I am joking. Welcome back.
For that guy who was trying to make fun of the Red Sox by saying they lost 2\3 in Seattle…
We haven’t won a series in Seattle since 2005, FYI. And we play in Safeco 7 times this year.
Playing on the West Coast is never easy. We have 16 games in the Western Time Zone remaining.
Do we play tomorrow?
Can we finally beat a good team?
———–
Didn’t the Yanks beat the Tigers already this season in Detroit?
That’s a 1st place team and the Yanks beat ‘em without A-Rod and Teixeira at the time couldn’t hit a beach ball and didn’t have any drive because of his wrists bothering him.
And they did so with two kids on the hill – Hughes and Joba.
alright guys, time to win 2 of 3 against texas, lets go!
sox have 4 game series against the twinkies, not exactly easy either!
You hate to waste these gems by Sabathia. You know he is going to have a bad start one of these days, he is human.
Right now, he is the only sure thing in the rotation. Pettitte hasn’t been great. Burnett has like a 7 ERA over the past 6 starts. Hughes is up and down. I suppose Joba has been close to a sure thing too… but he’s still a kid.
James,
We also haven’t won a series in Anaheim since 04.
Thanks a lot Sam for filling in for Pete this week. Enjoyed your work this week and won’t mind to see you post your thoughts on the team in future weeks if Pete allows you to post them.
Boston is not going to have an easy time with the Twins this week, either.
They’ve come on the last few games and they are always tough to beat in the Metrodome.
Boston is 9-12 on the road and the Twins are 16-9 at home.
Sam, thank you so much for your excellent work during Pete’s involuntary absence – you more than made it bearable. Hope you’re the substitute teacher when Pete gets time off for more pleasant reasons (scheduled vacation, big Lotto win, etc.). Enjoy your dinner and thanks again.
Tampa plays in Cleveland, but they miss Lee who pitched today.
They are the team that can make up ground. Quietly, they have played very well as of late. 9-3 in their last 12 I think.
We play them 4 games when we come back from this trip.
Boston plays Toronto next weekend and of course they are going to miss Halladay.
Funny how that works out. The Yanks never miss him and the Red Sox always seem to avoid him.
We won so many of these types of games, we were bound to lose one.
Can’t keep trying to rally and win extra inning/walkoff games. Eventually, the other team will be the one who beats us at our own game, like today.
Not the result we wanted, but that was a great effort all around. Nice of CC to absolve Gardner. Not Brett’s best day in the field, but that was class all the way by CC. It took a killer performance by Ruiz and some good pitching by the WS mvp to beat this plucky bunch.
Looking for Hughes to jump into the DeLorean and travel back in time tomorrow. We just need someone to stop Phil before he rears back for that one particular pitch.
=============================
Sam,
Wanted to thank you for all the work (and fun) you did this week. You did a great job. Don’t be a stranger, there’s always room for another regular.
Jays just got swept in Atlanta… they are back to earth.
Not worried about them at all. That’s why I didn’t consider it this huge accomplishment when we took 2\3 from them. They are a paper tiger and would be exposed eventually. They are a good team, but not a great team that would contend for the division seriously.
Tampa is the team that is coming on strong and need to be watched.
Rangers swept the Astros this weekend. Aside from a slip up in Detroit, they have been playing extremely well.
Not going to be easy. Hughes needs to set the tone tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the Mutts are once again the darlings of SNY.
Darn. Now all the SNY people will talk about are the stupid Mutts.
The team lost today but the 9th inning comeback was once again impressive.
I’m really not sure why Berroa is on this team right now? That Brett Gardner has to hit in a key spot late in the game is pointless. Why is Todd Linden or Juan Miranda not on the team right now? No way Brett Gardner should have a chance to hit late in a game. They shouldn’t be waiting for posada to come back to cut berroa.
On that note, I’m not sure what function Gardner is playing on this team either. He’s been one of the single worst offensive players in the AL this year. His defense hasn’t been all world. That decision he made today to dive for the ball cost them at least a run.
On the whole the team looks very good. Winning 1 run games isn’t something you can hang your hat on however. There’s just too much random variation in the outcome.
They sliped in Detroit. We beat Detroit. In theory, Texas is beatable.
Let’s go guys!
What channel are the Cavs on?
“On the whole the team looks very good. Winning 1 run games isn’t something you can hang your hat on however. There’s just too much random variation in the outcome.”
agree 100%
The bench is complete mess, so is the bullpen.
What purpose do Berroa, Cash, Pena, Gardner, etc. serve? None of them can hit.
If Miranda, John Rodriquez, Linden etc. won’t get called up now when we need some firepower on the bench, when will they be called up?
Poor roster management by Cashman. Gardner should never be hitting in a big spot.
Awesome work this week, Sam. The blog didn’t miss a beat.
Sam – you did a heck of a job. Please don’t take offense, but I miss Pete. Good luck to you, Sam, in your writing.
CB – some of us are wondering the same thing about Berroa and Brett. Pete mentioned once that he saw Berroa warming up pitchers, and speculated that he was the emergency catcher. Maybe that accounts for it. As for Brett, maybe Girardi appreciates having him around for pinch running. I don’t know what else could be the factor. He doesn’t get on base enough to justify being on the roster, otherwise. As you said, a game like this really highlights the deficiency and the handicap the Yanks are working under.
There must be something that us outsiders aren’t aware of.
The bullpen configuration is very puzzling
Wang is a “long man” and maybe a starter
Aceves needs 3 days off
Coke seemingly is unavailable every other day
Bruney has pain in his elbow
Tomko should not be on a ML roster
*Sam it was refreshing to read your threads,* Come back anytime.
Holla – Think for a minute.
Pena can play all three infield positions well. Plus, he’s a pretty good baserunner. That accounts for something. If you don’t have Cash, who else do you have to catch? Unless you have a plan for somebody else, he’s elected.
I’d love for Miranda or Linden to step up provide firepower, but there’s no guarantee, except that the first bad AB they have the hyenas will be calling for their hides.
CB – 100% correct. The bench is a joke
“As for Brett, maybe Girardi appreciates having him around for pinch running. ”
If he was used as a pinch runner that would be fine but that’s not as he’s being used, unfortunately.
The conundrum is what to do given that Swisher has been so awful? They need nady to come back and be able to play in the field.
Remarkable stat – Brett Gardner’s OPS is .727 (has gone up a lot since he’s been playing selectively). Jacoby Ellsbury’s OPS – .700.
All speed no power rarely do well in the bigs. No one is going to walk them.
They have beaten good teams.
It’s not college football. All that matters is that you win enough games to make the playoffs.
It’s amusing how some of you discount any win and overreact to every loss.
An 8-2 homestand and they are a game out of first going into Memorial Day.
I don’t see that as a bad place right now.
They get Posada back in a week. That will lengthen the lineup.
Things are looking better. Still some roster tweaks needed.
Overall though, they are in a better than most would have thought just a few short weeks ago.
I would’ve liked to see a double steal by Jeter & Damon at the bottom of the 10th. It could’ve been a game-changer.
Just need to get it back tomorrow.
gardner really serves no purpose
he is the worst offensive player in the league and isin’t even that good defensively
him and berroa are wasted roster spots
As long as he still has twice as many homers as Big Papi, Brett Gardner has a place on my roster.
CB,
It’s why I believe an OF and not a bullpen arm should be the priority on the trade market.
Swisher and Gardner give them very little offensively and defensively.
Matsui and Nady can’t play the OF due to injuries.
They really are short an everyday OF.
I have to believe that will be addressed at some point in the season.
The key is not letting this turn into a slump.
You’re allowed to have a bad series. However, lose the series in Texas and splitting with Cleveland, suddenly you 4-6 in your last 10, and have to play Tampa/Boston/Mets the next 10 after that.
Melky is a better CFer than Gardner despite the speed differential.
And here’s a silver lining: the wild blog conspiracy theory that the brain trust was deliberately monkeying with Wang’s release point was further discredited today. Cause for optimism, as I see it.
we had a few chances & could of won,should of won maybe.
1st & 2nd,no outs.it happens.
what i like is this team is in it until the last out & they make teams pay for their mistakes,unlike last year.
posada is just about back.if we can get nady,bruney,burnett on track we should be fine.
i did not like the burnett signing but we own him so he needs to get on track.
i had 4 fantasy pitchers going today.no losses,one win.wakefield gave me a win,cueto,sabathia,jurjens all pitched great & gave me points but not ten points for a win.
Swisher is not cutting it as an everyday player and we all know Gardner was never an everyday player
Nady would help us much more as a RF than a DH, but with the way Matsui is hot and cold, having him as a RH DH will help us.
Still need a bat in the OF though
SJ44
May 24th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
They have beaten good teams.
It’s not college football. All that matters is that you win enough games to make the playoffs.
It’s amusing how some of you discount any win and overreact to every loss.
An 8-2 homestand and they are a game out of first going into Memorial Day.
I don’t see that as a bad place right now.
They get Posada back in a week. That will lengthen the lineup.
Things are looking better. Still some roster tweaks needed.
Overall though, they are in a better than most would have thought just a few short weeks ago.
——————————-
Its a bad thing for those who think anything less than being in first place from start to finish is failure.
“It’s why I believe an OF and not a bullpen arm should be the priority on the trade market.”
It’s a tough situation because you don’t know what you can get from Nady. Very tough. I suppose the working assumption should be that he can’t play the field.
IMO Gardner is not a 4th outfielder – especially on a team with Johnny Damon as one of your starting 3. Gardner would be fine as a 5th OF/ pinch runner but I don’t think they have that kind of roster luxury.
They need a legit 4th OF. But that’ll be difficult if they have to carry both Matsui and Nady and Nady is unable to play the field.
On the bull pen I think they have 3 of the 7 spots set in Mo, Coke and Aceves. Bruney should be the 4th but who knows with his elbow. That leaves 3-4 spots to settle on.
They are very, very lucky that Melky is playing so well.
You did good, Sammy.
Sure it was a tough loss today particularly since they rallied in the 9th…
But think about the heart this team has shown over the last couple of weeks…
It’s the kind of heart that makes you believe they can go all the way this season…
Let’s Go Yanks!!!!!
is there any outfielders in the minors that they can call up.
they need to get rid of berroa,gardner.pena should be the backup infielder,molina the backup catcher once he comes back.
they should try to trade for an outfielder & a bullpen arm & should of signed another pen arm instead of marte.
it would be a crime if they signed tex,sabathia,burnett,swisher & the pen,bench do them in.
Sam, great job filling in for Pete.
thanks for filling in–you did a heck of a job
Thanks for everything Sam. Great job this week.
New series starts, let’s win it.
yeesh…its crazy how many people hate gardner…hes not on the team as a star…hes a back up outfielder/pinch runner…those guys usually are not the best players…it would be nice to have a healthy nady around but the fact is they dont…having gardner on this team is not “killing” the yankees…
Sam thank for the fill in for Pete.
boo pete yay sam
Nick in SF in Larkspur
And here’s a silver lining: the wild blog conspiracy theory that the brain trust was deliberately monkeying with Wang’s release point was further discredited today. Cause for optimism, as I see it.
__
I missed that. Can you flesh it out?
People, don’t lose sleep thinking Gardner’s misplay in the third inning cost them the game.
If Gardner makes that play, then it’s a tie game in the 9th inning and the Yanks don’t see Lidge. Considering he’s about the only Philly reliever they’ve been able to score on all series, the outcome would have probably been the same.
I’m not nearly as concerned about the bench as CB because it’s about to get a whole lot better with Nady, Posada, and Molina returning within the next week or two.
Richie: if you read one of Sam’s updates from the game thread, you’ll see what I’m talking about. I can tell you more if you have questions after reading it.
It seems that the real issue here, in regards to the OF, is that Matsui is playing worse than predicted. And not just his hitting slump. He’s not played the field, and it hurts just watching him run. It sounds that the expectation is that Nady will also be a DH type, albeit one who can run better.
Between the two of them, it seems like a waste of a roster spot. And the reason it’s an issue is the injury to Nady’s elbow, something impossible to predict, in my opinion. But you have to deal with it.
To deal for another OF, it would seem like one of the two will have to leave the roster. Maybe SJ or CB have another take on it.
SJ, the game thread was a nightmare. The team just won 9 in a row and went 8-2 on the homestand. They also gained several games in the standings – that’s crucial. You’d think the Yanks went in the tank against the Phillies – they lost to a good team. Under most circumstances, a hot Tex gets the job done. Today he didn’t…….it happens. It just boggles the mind that when the Yankees didn’t make comebacks the last couple of years, fans called them chokers. When we do, the wins aren’t good enough – we resort to calling it luck and weak opposition. This team doesn’t have quit in it – it’s flawed, but so is every other team. Given that, I’ll take this team with it’s heart every day.
They do have an odd offense – there are times they seem to take innings off at a time (not saying they don’t try) and they end up in close games. It really would be nice to have a few blowouts here and there. Bruney is also a real concern – they need to DL him and do something (I don’t know what).
Overall, I am very, very happy with where the Yankees are now. They just need to take this one game at a time and not allow losing 2/3 games to set them back. This is as good a time as any to see that famous chemistry/camraderie in action in the sense that they now embark on a tough stretch. Good teams rise up to the challenge, so let’s see the Yanks do that. A winning road trip will be fine…..
And VP Cheney is from Wyoming.
For the record, the new Stadium won’t be such a homer happy place if the pitchers do what they’re supposed to do.
Only one dinger hit today with two good pitchers on the mound.
Sabathia has made five starts at the new yard and has surrendered just one homer.
Execute your pitches and you won’t get burned very often.
I still think Swisher ill be fine, if perhaps up and down. The pen is in shambles and Bruney’s mysterious injury doesn’t help. I really don’t know what can be done. Even if Robertson and Melancon were lights out in AAA, I don’t trust them……and who’s going to trade the Yankees a quality reliever?
Some good things have emerged from the injury situation – Cervelli is a promising catcher (maybe our backup next year) and Pena can play – he may be our future utility infielder.
Here is the loony thought for the evening.
How about Eric Duncan?
I know I am about to get crucified, but here goes. He plays first and third. He gets rid of Berroa no question. He has been playing the outfield. So we get a guy that can at least fill in a bit in the outfield.
He started off the year on a torrid pace and then went 0 for 30 or 40 something.
However, of late he has started hitting the ball. Chad at SWB as a small tidbit on him. He has some pop as well.
It is time to see if he can pan out.
The other options:
Miranda – primarily a first baseman and not versatile enough with Tex starting all the time (Swisher can play there in an emergency).
Jackson – Not yet. Get back to me in a few months. Although he is really hitting well – three more hits so far today. Too many strikeouts.
Duncan – Pulverizes AAA can he ever bring it enough to MLB.
Rodriguez – probably deserves a shot as well.
Case for Duncan – former no 1, provides positional flexibility, can get Berroa off the team, is back hitting well.
Case against Duncan – he hasn’t shown he can hit AAA pitching consistently for long periods of time.
Just got back a while ago from a BBQ and read the game threads from the 10th inning and on. Didn’t see the end of the game, but someone at the BBQ told us the final score.
First, Sam, thanks for pinch-hitting. I always enjoy your writing. And I enjoyed your using the holiday theme as jumping off points for your blog entries.
Now, I haven’t read any posts in this thread yet. But I wanted to say, about the game, hey, it happens. They played the Phillies well. If Tex flies out or even strikes out, I think they end up winning in that inning. But taking the bat out of Alex’s hand was what did them in.
However, it was exciting getting into extras. This team is truly never done and even though they ended the homestand on a slightly sour note, I think they can definitely take their successes on the road with them This is an exciting team.
Now, back to leisurely reading the previous 69 posts!
Matsui has been a very streaky hitter the last couple of years.
He’ll look like he’s completely overmatched for a week or two and then he’ll go on a rampage and drive the ball all over the yard.
Swisher needed that day off today and has been considerably better on the road. Hopefully, he can gets on a streak.
Posada coming back will make a huge difference too.
Oh, one other thing. How can anyone be overly upset about losing the final game of a homestand where they only lost 2? And the two they lost were close games. This homestand established a personality for this team, and it established a true “home” feeling for the new stadium. Gotta take the positive energy forward!!
I think matsui needs to get his knees drained.
Giuseppe Franco -
Do you get the feeling that maybe Matsui’s not-so-hot streaks are getting longer than his hot streaks?
Doreen,
No one’s really upset. It was just a good opportunity for people to take their frustrations out on one particular player.
Doreen, that’s true. I don’t think YS sounds like a church anymore, do you? The team definitely has a personality – I really love how they are like terriers in that they won’t let go of a game (even if they’ve played badly or simply not hit for most of it).
wow Ajax is 4 for 5 today with a double…up to .354 now
Small m: who, Brett Gardner, Hideki Matsui, or Brett Tomko?
M, you should have seen the game thread. People were very upset and angry with this team – it was really something (and not in a good way).
Giuseppe Franco –
Do you get the feeling that maybe Matsui’s not-so-hot streaks are getting longer than his hot streaks?
————-
That’s going to happen anyways because even a .300 hitter is going to fail 7 out of 10 times.
Matsui is clearly slowing down and his knees are going to remain a concern but the guy is still a good hitter and he will get red hot again soon enough as long as he’s healthy.
When he’s in one of his streaks, he’s one of the toughest clutch hitters on the team because he drives the ball to all fields.
He’ll be okay as long as those knees hold up.
Thanks Nick, I now recall randy’s comments about Neil Allen, not with regard to a conspiracy, but merely about the importance of Wang’s release point.
Richie: no problem. Randy has been adamant in recent days that the change had been deliberately forced on Wang. I think he backed off a bit today.
You can’t win them all. I don’t see how one can complain about them after winning 8 of their last 10 games.
Lets see how they do during these two series away from home. Maybe Swisher will be able to heat up since he appears to be a better offensive hitter away from Yankee Stadium.
I don’t think people should be mad at Tomko or Gardner, but it’s reasonable to be frustrated with a thought process that has Gardner in CF over Melky, or that has Tomko on the ML roster when Robertson and/or Melancon haven’t been given full opportunities.
Austin Jackson is doing very well in AAA. Only thing holding him back is his K’s and pitch recognition. Otherwise he would probably get an early call up.
Oh well, see him in September.
I think the idea was to give Swisher a day off, not have Gardner in CF over Melky. Would you have had Melky in center and Gardner in right?
Do any of you go to AAA games?
Melky has a better arm which is why I’d rather see him in RF. Plus Brett covers more ground so I’d think hes better suited for center.
When a team knows they’re not done even if they’ve not had a particularly prodigious game early, it’s a wonderful thing. It’s almost as if the energy builds in the later innings, as opposed to last season when if they were losing anytime after the 5th inning it was like the energy was literally sucked out of the team.
And this is without Posada, with a hobbled Matsui, a slumping Swisher and a shaky bullpen.
I do think it’s going to be somewhat problematic to have to carry both Nady and Matsui, especially during interleague, neither of whom will be able to play the outfield. Now, if we could somehow merge the two – Nady’s legs, Matsui’s arms – they’d have one healthy outfielder.
This team appears to believe in itself. And I think this game is = what does Yogi say, 99% mental or something like that? Well, he’s right. If you believe it, you can be it.
The only move I would have done differently if I were Joe Girardi today is I would have pinch hit Swisher for Matsui and then have Cervelli in the game for another inning. Cervelli can handle the bat. Matsui’s been cold (although, so has Swisher) and Cervelli is the better catcher anyway. But I have no issue with running for Cano. You play to win or tie right there. And if Tex doesn’t hit into the DP, it all probably works out.
Nick and Christina,
I would have Melky in CF because he reads flyballs better than Gardner, which enables him to get a better jump on the ball, thereby reducing the degree to which speed matters. So in that sense, Gardner really doesn’t cover more ground, at least effectively.
An arm is a nice tool to have, but it is probably the least important OF tool, and it’s not like Gardner’s arm is awful, so he can play RF.
Melancon didn’t do that well……Robertson, to be honest, I don’t recall. However, I don’t think Robertson is pitching that well in AAA, so you couldn’t possibly bring him up now. What we need are reliable arms……there are none to be had.
Sam, many thanks for a job well done! I’m sure we’ll “talk” to you soon.
Gardner should’ve spelled a game for Swisher against Meyer or yesterday’s starter.
I was surprised they pinch hit for Cervelli. I would’ve pinch-hit Swisher for Gardner.
And of course, I would’ve called for the double steal in the 10th and not pitched around Utley. Walks will kill you.
But, it’s just one game. And let’s hope that the Jays continue their slide.
Doreen – nice summation, for someone who says she didn’t see the game.
You’re right, I think, that if Tex does almost anything other than GIDP, then it works out despite everything.
Like Tex indicated in his postgame interview, this time Condrey the pitcher won the battle. It’s a long season, with about 120 games to go.
We’ll get’em tomorrow.
Thanks Sam for steering the ship this week. Mulligan Day was good but topping pancakes for the table would have been hard to do.
How much did Pete miss us? A new post from the Blogfather at 12:01 am would tell us how much.
Robertson is pitching well at Scranton:
14.2 IP 10 H 3 ER 0 HR 6 BB 25 SO AVG. 196 ERA 1.84
He needs to be given more of a chance. He was pretty good last year. Had that one bad game against the Orioles and his ERA shot up.
Command isn’t the best but it’s no where near as bad as say Veras’s.
Joe from LI -
The game was on – I mostly listened and ran in to look. I did miss the last inning entirely. But I was “tuned in” through the 10th.
Yeah, DPs really ARE a pitcher’s best friend.
Wow, 1/4 of the season gone already?
Hey, there’s a Springsteen concert on our tv right now (Palladia??) from 2000. It’s 3 and a half hours long. Do you think it’s the entire show?
Unless Springsteen is playing at the iPod Center again tonight, 12:01 would be a minute too late. I expect a new Pete post at midnight sharp.
You were great Sam!
Doreen , What channel is Springsteen on
Sam, good luck in all future endeavors.
Does anyone know what Marte’s injury is? I am just curious because no one ever talks about him and the other day Girardi said he is a long ways away from coming back.. Obviously it isn’t tendinitis like I thought they said it was.
I hope that some how this team can get the bullpen figured out. I think the team is something special with the rotation and lineup but they desperately need more good bullpen options. Cash will obviously try to trade for someone but I don’t know how much quality will be available. I don’t know how much longer they can go with just Coke and Mo in the bullpen.
Pat M -
On Comcast, it is the Palladia network – PLDHD, channel 209 in Central NJ.
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Pat M
On Comcast, it is the Palladia network – PLDHD, channel 209 in Central NJ.—–
It’s on channel 785 for the HD NJ Cablevision folk.
Nick in SF
can you pls explain this to me
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/200.....t-yankees/
The problem, according to Eiland, is that the “tap-tap” is coming a little later and Wang’s lower body has already started to push forward toward the plate.
http://bronxbanter.baseballtoa.....21305.html
“Wang worked with pitching coach Dave Eiland to tweak his mechanics, incorporating a double tap in his glove just before separating his hands.Apparently the problem in his previous outing was that he was overstriding and thus leaving his pitches up”
So over Matsui,he’s in decline.
Yankees are on right track trying to get younger.
AJ is a choker now that he’s on the team.
You’re a 10, Sam… thanks for your very good writing….
Thanks for the great job you and others did filling in for Pete.
Good job, Sam, thank you. It was a fun week.
Welcome back, Pete.
i think it depends on whether blogfather was “vacationed” for 7 days or for 168 hours
so, either 12:01am or 9:01am are equally valid times.
actually, we could start our own blog poll on what time HE first posts lol.
what this team should do is send beroa down,bring a player up & keep alternating them until one sticks.ajax,duncan,miranda,etc…
same with the relievers.will it kill us to send beroa down & try eric duncan or someone else for a while????
send tomko down & bring robertson up also.
The problem with the bullpen is the lack of durability and lack of roles.
Bruney’s injury is off and on. He is hurting right now and probably shouldn’t be counted upon anytime soon, if at all. Why is he on the 25 man if he has a bum elbow?
Coke seems to be unavailable every other day. Doesn’t seem to be able to handle a big workload.
Aceves doesn’t really even have a role. He shouldn’t be a “jack of all trades” guy. He should be a late innings guy until proven otherwise. He is one of our most effective relievers. Why would we want to use him for 3 innings in a blowout game and not have him for the next 3 days? His best role IS a jack of all trades guy, but at the moment, we need him to be a late innings guy and protect leads for us. Ride the hot hand.
Tomko shouldn’t even be on the team. Even if he is, it should be exclusively as a long/mop up man. The guy is 36 yrs old and has been on 12 teams in 12 years. He isin’t suddenly going to become an effective short reliever.
And Wang in the bullpen was one of the biggest blunders of all. He doesn’t even have a role. He was warming up today in the 9th. He pitched 3 innings for Burnett. We’re basically using a roster spot on a rehab project.
They need to reconfigure it. All it is doing is hindering the manager. He basically has 2 long men (one starting pitcher), one mop up man (Tomko), one injured guy, Veras and MO.
Matsui looks completely washed up and the funny thing is he’s actually younger than Damon. Matsui turns 35 in June. Damon turns 36 in November. Unsettling isn’t it?
No reason to have Tomko up here instead of Robertson
bret- Do you really believe Matsui is 35? Also don’t forget that he played all those games in a row on turf. That is a huge part if not the only reason for his messed up knees.
Those years on the turf in Japan probably are catching up to him
He is pretty much finished. He was a great Yankee, but he is toast now. He’ll have his hot streak for a couple of weeks, but it will be sandwiched between 2 months where he is terrible.
You had Phillies/Yankees, Mets/Red Sox, Angels/Dodgers… and ESPN chose to show us Twins/Brewers?
If you told me in February (before all the drama and injuries) — we’d be one length back at roughly the quarter-mile post, I’d be OK with that.
If you told me everything that would happen between then and now - and we’d *still* be one game out, I’d think no one in the division would be over .500.
Everything what it is, not a bad place at all to be right now, huh?
Tomorrow the Yanks open a road trip in Texas. It’s also the day we turn our thoughts to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our great nation. And a perfect time to reflect on the following:
God, and the soldier we adore
In time of danger, not before
The danger past, and all things righted
God is forgotten, and the soldier slighted
— Rudyard Kipling
If you’re fortunate enough to get together with family and friends tomorrow to enjoy food, drink and camaraderie — please don’t let the day pass without giving a moment to the men and women who helped give you that liberty.
They’re the real heroes. After that, its ‘Let’s Go Yanks’! Streaks are nice, but let’s win series after series after series. Texas is a great place to start!
Enjoy and be safe, all…
I think Matsui is 35 (in June). If he lied about his age we’d know by now.
Kevlar May 24th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Those years on the turf in Japan probably are catching up to him
He is pretty much finished. He was a great Yankee, but he is toast now. He’ll have his hot streak for a couple of weeks, but it will be sandwiched between 2 months where he is terrible.
—————–
We’ve heard this a lot in recent years about Matsui yet he’s still been a very productive player for this team.
Matsui is in a slump. It’s nothing more than that. Stop overreacting.
Next 17 games are
@ Texas 3
@ Cleveland 4
vs. Tampa 4
@ Boston 3
vs. Mets 3
I’ll sign up for 8-9 during that stretch. 3-4 on this road trip, split with Tampa, Go 3-3 vs. the Mets and Sox. That means 9-11 from the start of the Phillies series until the end of the 1st Mets series.
We would have only lost 2 games playing a tough portion of our schedule and will have the Nationals, Braves, Marlins to beat up on to gain some ground again.
gates you don’t think tomko is good but wan’t him to mop up & be the longman???
we needed aceves to pitch those innings because joba got hurt & it allowed us to win a huge game.
he is our longman & should be for the time being.
wang had to go to the pen also because we are shorthanded.
we will see what his role is going forward.
listen aceves,mo,coke are the only guys we can trust not including injured players like bruney,marte,etc…
with wang i think the yankees are waiting for one more bad outing from hughes.if hughes pitches well wang stays in the pen for a bit.maybe they switch roles.
the yankees are letting this play out.
injuries are killing us,there is nobody in the minore that we know of yet & nobody is going to help us unless we pull off a suprise move like trading swisher for a bullpen arm wich we should consider.
You forgot Texas at home THEN Tampa at home.
There are no guaranteed bullpen arms out there. Certainly none that are worth a trade of anyone. I think they need to work with what they have, move some people around. And pray.
“And here’s a silver lining: the wild blog conspiracy theory that the brain trust was deliberately monkeying with Wang’s release point was further discredited today. Cause for optimism, as I see it.”
nick in sf-
you dunce. the “wild conspiracy theory” reached eiland in less than a few days and we got an answer to whether he was consciously raising the release point or not.
that was the point of taking the extreme position. it worked
the next step is figuring how to get eiland to get wang to shorten his stride which is absolutely essential to the sinker.
stay tuned.
randy l -
Does the timing of the ‘tap-tap’ that Eiland was talking about have to do with the stride?
Randy I, Nick in SF, Richie ,CB
Can any of you explain this to me
quote from Sam from last entry
The problem, according to Eiland, is that the “tap-tap” is coming a little later and Wang’s lower body has already started to push forward toward the plate.
while Cliff Corcoran write this in his blog dated 2008-03-11
“Wang worked with pitching coach Dave Eiland to tweak his mechanics, incorporating a double tap in his glove just before separating his hands.Apparently the problem in his previous outing was that he was overstriding and thus leaving his pitches up”
I agree that the Yankees need to reconfigure their bullpen. Aside from Joba and his freak injury, our starters have consistently gone 6+ innings for a good 10 games now. Yet it seems like every day half our relievers are unavailable.
Bruney, Aceves, Wang, and probably Coke couldn’t pitch today. Mo was only allowed to go 1 inning. That meant Veras and Tomko were responsible for almost all the outs CC didn’t get. We can’t have those two be our only options against the Phillies in a 1-run game.
Bru, if Nady can play right field, I agree with looking into possibly trading Swisher for a power reliever. Then DH is still open for Matsui, Posada, Arod, Jeter and Damon. I think resting those guys will be crucial to our long term success so we need to keep DH open if possible. The key is Nady’s throwing arm though. It’s a big question mark. But if he can stay healthy then Swisher is definitely a valuable trade chip. He’s a K-machine but so is Adam Dunn and patient power hitters always have value. Swisher is signed to a reasonable contract and there are several NL teams starving for offense right now.
Who is going to trade a power reliever to the NY Yankees at all, much less for a not-so-hot-right-now Nick Swisher?
Not to mention that Swisher, as much as he’s cooled off, and as iffy as his defense has been, is an able-bodied outfielder, which the Yankees are short of. He should heat up a bit, and I’d be willing to bet he’ll be much better after the rest today and the day off later this week.
But Nady’s not going to be able to be counted on to play OF for a while.
Rachel, Marte does have tendonitis – but he’s apparently very weak and needs to rehab quite a bit. It’s interesting that the Yankees put him on the DL, but they didn’t put Tex on it…….Too bad they couldn’t figure out that he needed more time in ST as they apparently rushed him back (he only missed a few days). I still don’t get why Bruney isn’t being put on the DL…….and unfortunately it does appear as if Coke is a bit fragile. The pen is a mess.
Sam – a spell check never hurt anyone.
When Posada comes back it would be nice a couple of times a week to see him as the DH and Cervelli catching. It does 2 things, it improves the defense and would also keep Posada healthy. It helps Girardi to not have to use Matsui against lefties. I think for the most part he will be ok a couple of times a week, but not everyday. It seems like it is 2 good weeks, then 2 bad weeks with him.
Doreen, I think you’d be surprised how teams value a player like Swisher because of his high on-base-percentage and slugging. He works pitchers and wears them down. He makes fewer outs than most other players. He hits HR’s and he’s an able-bodied outfielder. I can think of one team in particular that could use him – the Atlanta Braves. They’re 12th in the NL in runs and they have 2 guys in their bullpen who can close and both are in their contract year. Not to mention the Braves pursued Swisher in the offseason coming off a year he hit .219. The interest is there I’d imagine but again I’d like to see Nady throw first. I guess they could call up Austin Jackson to play CF and move Melky Cabrera to RF. The trade deadline is July 31st. Will Jackson be ready to play CF at the major league level by August 1st? I don’t know, but he’s hitting .354 in his first year in AAA.
Swisher for Rafael Soriano?
I don’t want to see Tomko in a big spot again.
Bret -
I think until they Yankees know what they’re going to get from Nady, Swisher has value to them as a player for them. I suppose if by the trade deadline Nady is a-ok, then, Swisher could become a valuable trade piece.
I really, really hope the Yankees resist the urge to bring Jackson up until September. His numbers sure are impressive and he seems to have made some great strides (I guess that’s an understatement). But from what I understand, he’s still k-ing too much, among other things.
I feel like they’re going to probably have to make do for most of this season with what they have.
“Swisher for Rafael Soriano?”
Maybe. Soriano’s a strikeout pitcher, who has AL experience. If Nady comes back and can play some right, I would pull the trigger.
Swisher may be a good clubhouse presence, but how long can you play a guy who can’t hit?
There is nobody who can be traded for that will fix the pen
Chad Qualls or Russ Springer are not coming to NY and stabilizing the pen.
And I doubt Cashman has the ammunition to go out and grab a closer like Heath Bell, Ziegler, Francisco Cordero, Rafael Soriano etc.
For better or for worse, this is our pen moving forward with whatever is on the farm + Marte’s return
Here is article by Wallace Matthews, and I didn’t want to throw up after reading it.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/.....636.column
Betsy, I guess but his shoulder must be very weak. He has been on the DL for a month already and still not close to coming back. The Bruney situation really makes no sense. If he has pain and he said he has had it all season obviously something is wrong. I can’t think that pitching threw it is going to work out well for him or the team. He needs to be on the DL until they know what the problem is.
If you can get Rafael Soriano for Swisher, you do that in a heartbeat
But why would Atlanta take on Swisher’s contract? He makes almost $20 million over the next 3 years.
Rafy Soriano is the only name that would entice me.
him or Manny Acosta
If he tries to pitch through his elbow pain, chances are, he will be one step closer to surgery.
Nothing good comes from pitching through real pain. There is a difference between soreness and pain. Bruney says he is in pain and that is not good.
As David Cone said on the pregame… if Bruney if feeling pain while soft tossing, how bad will it feel when he is throwing max. effort in a game?
Are Cashman and the Medical staff trying to end his career?
We don’t have much to complain about. Yes it would have been really nice to win today, and we probably should have won. But we were 8-2 on a 10 game home stand. I don’t care who you were playing, it is still very very good.
The Yankees have nothing to hang their heads about.
Tomorrow is a new day, to start a new win streak.
“Swisher for Rafael Soriano?”
That would be great. Tough sell though.
If they were trying to end his career, they wouldn’t have sent him for 3 mri, and would have let him pitch today.
Wasn’t the sticking point in the Swisher to Atlanta deal over the winter the fact that the Braves wanted us to pick up some salary?
If you pay some of his contract, you might be able to pry away Soriano.
Time to get back on track in Texas
Don’t want to lose back to back series following the 9 game win streak
Teix should not have hit into a double play there, because Jeter and Damon should not have been sitting on first and second. Why not double steal there? Worst case, Jeter gets thrown out at third and you still have the winning run at 2nd base. If they push it a little there, they could have men on 2nd and 3rd, or maybe even a bad throw on the steal gets someone home.
Also, why PH for Cervelli? The guy is hitting about .310 over the last week, Swisher is hitting about .150 over the same stretch. Bad enough move in and of itself, but then it also left the deciding AB with Kevin Cash. Why is he on the Yankees? Couldn’t some young catcher benefit from a few big league ABs? The guy is a career .180 hitter, helping the Yankees to the tune of .059! They really don’t have a prospect who could beat .059?
If Swisher didn’t have the great personality that he does, I would get rid of him in a heartbeat
But he is such a great guy, it will be hard to get rid of him. However, if he can get us a legit. reliever to fix the pen, I’d do it.
You have to give something to get something
Nobody is giving us a 8th inning man for Shelly Duncan and Igawa
Who are we giving up to get a good reliever? I can’t think of a good reliever who will be a salary dump. Kerry Wood maybe.. but he has a 7 ERA in Cleveland.
Most of the good relief pitchers are fairly young or cheap and will cost a lot. We don’t need washed up veterans like Russ Springer or Kevin Gregg.
Rockks- Don’t you think it’s a tad too early to be ready to ship out Swisher? It wasn’t even a month ago that everyone was praising his existence. We all knew he wasn’t going to hit like he was from the start, but give him a chance to heat up. It is only May.
“Does the timing of the ‘tap-tap’ that Eiland was talking about have to do with the stride?’
doreen -
the best way i can explain what i think of what eiland is doing is to describe how wang got to the sinker in the first place.
he was a decent minor league pitcher, but no hughes. he had a four seam fastball that touched 96, a slider, and a change up.
if he would have stayed with those pitches he may have been a fourth or fifth starter and had some success in the majors.
he had a long natural stride. this is important because a long stride helps with velocity.
i once watched koufax spend an hour showing the texas rangers pitchers in spring training how to stride further to get more velocity. koufax had a ridiculously long stride. (kevin brown was the only one who refused to cooperate)
so here we have wang with a long stride with a 96-97 mph fast ball and some secondary pitches.
in 1994, neil allen looked at wang and had the epiphany that wang had the perfect arm slot for the sinker he used to throw.
so allen showed wang the grip, and made the one big mechanical change to wang. he told him he had to shorten his stride to make the sinker sink.
this shortened stride took a few mph off the 96-97 fastball that wang had.
what resulted was a 93-94 mph nasty sinker. in less than a week wang was unhittable.
notice there was no long development getting the lower and upper body in sync. no tapping. just wang where he was at with a sinker grip and a shorter stride.
that was it.
so now how do we get back to that. the first thing is to have wang get back to 96 mph with the long stride. he’s probably using the long stride without realizing it anyway.
once he’s back to 96mph, do the same thing that neil allen did- shorten his stride and have him throw the sinker.
eiland appears to not understand how allen converted wang in the first place. if wang can’t throw 96mph with his long stride, how’s he going to go with a short stride and still be 93-94 with the sinker.
wang needs that velocity to get the nasty sinker.
so it appears to me eiland realizes something is off with wang’s syncing of his upper and lower body , but he doesn’tseem to understand how the shorter stride was the key alteration that made the ball sink.
wang would call allen all the time after games and almost always he’d instruct wang to shorten his stride. eiland doesn’t talk about this at all,so i don’t think he knows about it.
wang himself obviously has trouble feeling the shorter stride because he had to call allen so many times to be reminded over and over to keep the stride short to create the sink.
bottom line is eiland is getting warmer , but he’s not close to figuring it out.
i have no doubt allen could have wang fixed within a week after he got him back up to 96mph.
that’s a key. wang’s not ready for the sinker until he’s at full strength and he’s not there yet. he’s at about 93-94 with the long stride. close , but still not there.
you have to understand that wang doesn’t always do hat he’s told either. he wasn’t supposed to be calling allen was he? this is complex on one level, but it doesn’t have to be.
wang just needs to get his health and velocity back and then go back to what allen showed him.
the complexity is that eiland doesn’t seem to understand the simplicity of what allen showed wang.
Use Wang as a reliever until the ASB, then bring up Melancon when he is ready and trade Wang.
Pretty Simple
ted-
i hope the above answers your question.
Swisher loosens up this team so much I’d be pissed giving him up, I want him to start hitting again b/c srsly the locker room needs Nick Swisher.
Not Rockks, but Christina— if he can get you bullpen help, you might need to.
It’s not like we’re overloaded with trade chips and the bullpen is a major weakness. I don’t think you can rely on Bruney. Elbows are very tricky. Coke seems to be kind of brittle too.
I’m not saying I would trade Swisher but I’d be open to it if he could net us somebody good for the pen.
The locker room needs Swisher?
Oh boy.
The clubhouse needs an 8th inning man a hell of a lot more than it needs a .230 hitting outfielder
David,
I agree that the Yankees could have been more aggressive with the baserunning. I remember when the Mets recently won the 3 first games of their series w/SF they did so by breaking some franchise SB records, and that was without Reyes in the lineup. They even had Sheffield stealing bases in crucial late innings. The whole point was to put pressure on the defense and rattle the pitcher.
I think the only problem for the Yankees was that Teixeria fell into an 0-2 hole, and they probably didn’t want to risk the strikeout/throw out DP.
The talk of trading Swisher for a reliever is pretty comical
What team in their right mind would give up a good relief pitcher for an outfielder who hit .219 last year, is hitting .230 this year, and makes $20 million over the next 3 years? In this economy no less.
Rafael Soriano has a 1.45 ERA this year and a 2.81 career ERA. Atlanta isin’t trading him for Swisher.
Sam – Thanks for filling in. You did an awesome job!
I bet Melky is a huge trade chip right now. At least 20 teams could use a cheap, 24-year old centerfielder who plays good defense and has a .330 BA.
But of course, I wouldn’t want to get rid of the Melkman.
Trading Swisher would weaken the bench. He’s obviously not an everyday player. But when Nady is able the play the field Swisher goes back to the bench.
Also keep next year in mind too. If Nady is let go (he’s a FA) and you trade Swisher no Matsui (he’s a FA too) what is your bench?
Pena Gardner Cervelli? Nah better off holding on to Swisher.
Also Swisher’s offense has come on the road. He’s been dreadful at YS. Wouldn’t surprise me if he starts to hit on this road trip.
randy l -
Gotcha. They are basically starting from scratch with Wang, but Neil Allen’s not there with the last ingredient, and Wang isn’t really conversant enough, or comfortable enough (cultural?) to tell Eiland what was done in the first place.
So Wang actually first needs the luxury of time to get his velocity back, which only comes with health and work, I guess. And then either Wang has to remember about shortening his stride, or if he remembers, tell someone about that, especially if he and Allen were the only ones who were around.
Was there anyone else around besides Allen who should know, maybe the catcher, or are they all gone???
Until he proves that he is back to his Oakland form, nobody is trading for Swish and his horrible contract.
Melky is more of a trade chip than Swish is.
But I doubt Cashman tries to trade for a reliever.
Id Nady can play the field, that would help immensely. Swisher would deepen the bench
Randy, that was a fine tale. But I thought you went “all in” the past couple of nights…?
I think we’re being a little fast and loose with stating what Eiland does and doesn’t know.
Why isin’t Robertson up here?
Melancon could probably use some more seasoning in AAA, but no way should Tomko be up here over Robertson.
i don’t understand how you are going to get a decent reliever for Swisher. Like who would you have in mind?
And please don’t make it one of those “i’ll give you 5 crappy guys for Roy Halladay” trades that I see some of you make. You cant trade crappy guys for a decent guy. And I would assume you are going to at least want a somewhat decent reliever in this trade.
Teix should not have hit into a double play there, because Jeter and Damon should not have been sitting on first and second. Why not double steal there? Worst case, Jeter gets thrown out at third and you still have the winning run at 2nd base. If they push it a little there, they could have men on 2nd and 3rd, or maybe even a bad throw on the steal gets someone home.
———–
That’s taking a gamble and wouldn’t really help the situation much if Jeter gets thrown out at 3B.
Yeah, Damon is at 2B but what if Teixeira then makes an out?
Then you’re in the same situation (2 out and RISP with A-Rod up) and the Phils would still have elected to walk A-Rod with first base open and deal with Pena instead.
Nothing would have really changed under your worst case scenario.
Teixeira has been their hottest hitter and they didn’t want to take the bat out of his hands. Can’t fault them for that.
Francesa with a bowl of American flags and something else on Mike’d up?
If someone could outline or provide a Cliff Notes version of the randy l back and forth on Wang, I’d really appreciate it.
And don’t be surprised if the Yankees don’t disclose everything they’re doing with Wang.
With the economy the way it is no team will trade for Swish and his contract. The Yanks also wouldn’t trade Swish and pay some of the money. The only way the Yanks are getting a reliever is by trading a some what decent prospect. Or if there is a reliever that makes decent money and a team wants to get rid of the contract.
97 Yank May 24th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
The clubhouse needs an 8th inning man a hell of a lot more than it needs a .230 hitting outfielder
—————-
Considering he’s still their starting right fielder – they need him a lot.
Matsui can’t play the outfield and Nady won’t be able to play the outfield for awhile either.
Randy
Thanks for your explanation.
I wonder could it be Wang has shorten his stride after the foot injury, and now the extra tap-tap become a redundant movement that slow his upper body’s movement and causing the sync. problem
Nick is an everyday player IMO – I’m not about to decide he’s merely a bench player because he had one terrible year and is in the middle of a terrible slump. Good players have bad years sometimes and every player goes through slumps. I like Nady, but when did he become some savior? He started out hot when he arrived here from Pitt and then fizzled down the stretch. When Swish is hot, he’s great, but when he’s slumping we jump off the cliff? I guess let everyone else do that – I won’t.
randy doreen all this Wang stuff reminds me of the da Vinci code who is the missing piece?
Nobody is taking Swisher’s contract for a bag of balls, let alone giving us a stud reliever in return.
People need to put themselves in another GMs shoes. Not everyone is out to help the Yankees
When Nady returns, he’ll strictly be a DH for a while. The hardest thing for him to do right now is throw, but Girardi hinted that they could use his bat during interleague, so they’ll bring him up before his arm is 100%, and just not make him field.
So when we get Posada and Nady back our bench should look like Cervelli, Gardner, Nady/Matsui, Pena, and Berroa (ugh). That’s at least much better than what we have now.
I refuse to put it on Mike’d up. He’s going to gush over the Mutts and the Sox (he always does the latter even if they lose) and he’ll rip apart the Yankees for losing to the Phils. He could barely muster up any enthusiasm during their winning streak. No thanks…..
“The clubhouse needs an 8th inning man a hell of a lot more than it needs a .230 hitting outfielder”
I understand that but the problem here is this team didn’t loosen up until he arrived, it’s Swisher, AJ and Damon’s personality that this team is taking on. The Mets had the same thing happen to them when they lost X, you got to make sure moves like that don’t collapse a mindset.
And believe it or not Swish would improve our bench immensely, at one point this season this guy was .330 + as a hitter, his deal is he’s not an every day player.
Doris in Rego Park
This one’s for you.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05.....170803.htm
“Was there anyone else around besides Allen who should know, maybe the catcher, or are they all gone???”
doreen -
sal fasano was the catcher at triple a when allen showed wang the sinker and was instrumental in helping wang’s transition.
he’s at triple a with the rockies. cash for fasano?
i’m puzzled with wang himself. he doesn’t seem to be very aware of what makes him tick.
you’d think he could remember something as simple as a short stride. he probably thinks he striding shorter, but isn’t. sometimes you think you are doing something, but you aren’t
it’s also possibe allen is a sore subject with eiland because he was always been behind neil as both a mlb pitcher and also behind as a pitching coach in the yankee organization when allen was there.
i don’t know their relationship though they obviously know each other. there could be some politics here that eiland doesn’t want to do what allen taught. this is total speculation on my part. it’s possible though, so wang may not want to bring up what allen taught him to eiland.
Nady “slumping” hit .260
Swisher “slumping” hits .100
Neither are everyday players, The best way to utilize them is to play the hot hand.
Girardi named Nady the starter out of ST for a reason.
He felt he could help the team as a starter more than Swisher. The coaches, as usual, knew more than the armchair managers.
“Francesa with a bowl of American flags and something else on Mike’d up?”
Luckily the Yankees play an afternoon game so I won’t be tempted to hear what he has to say.
“Teix should not have hit into a double play there, because Jeter and Damon should not have been sitting on first and second. Why not double steal there?”
It would make sense if it worked but terrible move if it doesn’t. Lidge has a slow delivery but Ruiz’s 1st move would be to throw to 3rd because he knows Jeter is the slower runner. Also lets not forget Jeter has almost ZERO speed now. He doesn’t beat out any balls at 1st base like he used to. He most likely would of been out.
“Nady “slumping” hit .260
Swisher “slumping” hits .100
Neither are everyday players, The best way to utilize them is to play the hot hand.”
Definitely in some way they need to compete for thier jobs, it seems like Swish cooled off after he found out X was nearly out for the season, he needs a competitor to push him.
Who said Nady was a savior?
He provides us with depth, so we don’t have to force out guys who are clearly slumping.
Our best team platoons Swisher/Nady and rides the hot hand. For the past month, we wouldn’t have had to live with Swisher hitting .100.
“Uncle Ellsworth (Curse/Blessing of the Gehrig/Mattingly bat/weathervane)”
it is a bit of a puzzle isn’t it.
wang is unusual in that he was given a secret move and became instantly way better.
there was no gradual improvement. it was like whammo, instant star.
i don’t think eiland knows the secret move.
he’s searching for it, and the answer is right here on the blog.
the question is how do we lowly bloggers get this info to eiland.
eiland is trying to reinvent wang without knowing what made wang tick in the first place.
i think he’s just teaching wang how to be the pitcher he was before allen converted him.
we really don’t want that.
Matsui is a shell of his former self. He may be only 34, but his knees are 50.
If Nady can play the field eventually, he will get his job back.
I also bet after what he has seen from Swisher, is probably not penciling him into the starting spot next year in right.
Swish certainly put up solid numbers in Oakland playing everyday…..I guess people take batting average very seriously, over almost every other stat. He’s had very solid RBI and HR totals consistently (the RBIs were down in 2008, granted) and obviously the walks. I don’t see how he’s not an everyday player……..
Matsui needs to be traded to the NL somewhere
His knees are shot and he clogs up the DH. His hot streaks are few and far between
*Cashman is not
that’s it for me tonight.
the yankees have become an interesting team again.
if they can get wang back they are going to be very good.
Tom, I want Nady back as well…….I’m just wondering why Nady is considered an everyday player and Swisher a bench player (based on his bad slump, which happens to every player).
Swisher hasn’t resembled the Oakland Swisher in 1.5 years.
You can never use career stats when talking about this moneyball players. They always seem to fizzle out
“Also lets not forget Jeter has almost ZERO speed now. He doesn’t beat out any balls at 1st base like he used to. He most likely would of been out.”
False
Nady and Swisher are good bench players. One of them should be here next year for bench duties. Don’t know about both though.
“Matsui needs to be traded to the NL somewhere. His knees are shot and he clogs up the DH.”
He wouldn’t clog up the DH in the NL, that’s for sure.
What NL team is going to take Matsui when he can’t even play in the field?
lets go to texas and at least win the series! they have been hot but so are we, should be another good series.
He can hit .230 in the nothingness of Oakland and nobody will care.
He can’t do that in NY on a championship contending club where he is under a microscope every day.
His best role here is a super sub off the bench.
Furloughs is almost over. t- minus 5 minutes.
randy l -
There’s a lot of possibilties, I guess.
But I will say one thing. It sure stinks that these kinds of things that coaches do with the players aren’t documented and filed for future reference. Especially with the way personnel changes among coaches happens so frequently.
I imagine that most players will be able to remember or convey what the steps were that they took to get where they are (were), but Wang does not speak English and he is not American. I believe there are some things that get in the way simply because of an inability to fully grasp the language and a reluctance on Wang’s part to take his own part over his superior (coach). That’s part of why this is not simple.
Perhaps Eiland is as frustrated as you are.
And remember, they showed Wang the video earlier in the season, and he said he couldn’t tell any differences.
I swear they should not let any of their pitchers run the bases during interleague play. I don’t care if they have to kill rallies. Every pitcher should swing through 3 pitches in a row.
I don’t thing Wang is going to be “fixed” until after the AS break. But maybe if the Yankees offense is going on all cylinders he can be just effective enough until then.
I want an Abe-Bomb from Pete-Abe in 3 minutes. This place needs shaking up.
Double steal with zero outs in a tie game at home is worth the risk IMO. The chance of getting two outs with a double steal (0%) is less than that of getting two outs with a double play (100%).
Bill X May 24th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Matsui needs to be traded to the NL somewhere
His knees are shot and he clogs up the DH. His hot streaks are few and far between
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Yeah, that’s brilliant stuff.
Matsui’s knees are shot and can’t be an everyday DH but an NL team with no DH is going to trade for him.
Maybe you should try golf.
Neither Nady nor Swisher are “every day players”.
However, Nady is a better every day player for a team like us. He is a .280 career hitter with pop. Right now, we need RBIs more than OBP.
Jeter is 3rd among shortstops in stolen bases with 9.
Doreen: I would caution you from drinking all of randy’s kool-aid on this issue. Which is not to say that he isn’t very knowledgable on this subject. But 24 hours ago he was “all in” on his theory that the arm-slot change was a deliberate Eiland edict.
m May 24th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Double steal with zero outs in a tie game at home is worth the risk IMO. The chance of getting two outs with a double steal (0%) is less than that of getting two outs with a double play (100%).
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But if Jeter gets thrown out, then it’s a big gamble that wasn’t worth it.
And Ruiz had pretty a pretty good weekend throwing the ball when Lidge wasn’t on the mound.
With Teixeira batting lefty – Ruiz had a clear shot at third to throw out Jeter.
Damon would be on second with 1 out. If Teixeira then makes an out you’re in the same situation as if Teixeria didn’t ground into the DP.
“Matsui’s knees are shot and can’t be an everyday DH but an NL team with no DH is going to trade for him.
Maybe you should try golf.”
Maybe Matsui could use the Casey Martin precedent.
Also, teams can not keep players just based solely on their personality. Swish can be a very valuable player even coming off the bench so it wouldn’t be the case with him, but it’s hardly productive to have comedians with no skills on the roster. No one is a bigger AJ fan than I am and I love his pie routine (no, I adore it), but it’s not good that he’s known more for his pie throwing than his pitching. I don’t think he should quit pieing people because if he’s doing that then it means the Yankees are winning, but the Yankees need him to be good (whether he gets the wins or not). David Cone mentioned something interesting on Friday’s post-game show. He talked about AJ being a leader in the clubhouse and how liked and respected he is………..so much so that a performance like Friday’s comes as a shock to the team (forget what fans think, it only matters what the Yankee players think of AJ’s performances). At some point, you wonder when players start questioning (privately at least) the performance of some of their signings (Tex was very bad for over a month, for instance, and CC was blah until his recent spate of very good to dominant starts)……..of course, they might also need to look in the mirror themselves. Point is, eventually productivity has to count for much more than personality.
oooh, Pete is back ——->
Nick in SF in Larkspur -
I find what he has to say about this pretty interesting. But I also realize that the Yankees and Eiland have other information and are not likely to give that away.
if damon is not willing to run over the catcher then he shouldn’t be running home on that play today especially if the ball is not that far in the outfield…if he stayed at third the next batter would have a chance to get him in thats two times in one series same thing ….as for gardner better to be safe than sorry stop diving for balls unless they are right in front of you and you know you can def. catch them