He really is a clown. His agent is probably furious with him!

From “Source?” What is this, The Matrix?

I know one of Cabrera’s errors was the costly throwing error last weekend. Not sure about the other.
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PRU –
Mclouth
180 chances, 0 errors, 5 assists – some people were on the blog yesterday saying gardner and melky were better than mclouth…

Well said.

Mariano expresses true humility – not the false “aw shucks” kind – in his humility lies his strength; he knows all he has comes from Source and he never loses sight of that.

Do you remember when we lost in 2001 and Rivera said

..but we had to lose. Everything happens for a reason. Had we won (Enrico Wilson) would have stayed for the celebration party, and would have been on that doomed flight to the DR from Queens.

I’m paraphrasing, of course.

I always thought that throw was so errant that he made to 2B….higher power speaking through him?

I know people don’t want to hear that, because that loss was heart-breaking….but Rivera is hardly a flaky new age drone; he knows what matters most, and that’s why in his humility, he is indomitable.

I don’t know why this notion persists, because Cashman has refuted it often enough. There was NEVER an intention to use Swisher as a CF, outside of an emergency spot once in a blue moon:

http://yankees.lhblogs.com/200.....sher-deal/

What happened was every poster on earth was screaming for Swisher to play the position if it came down to Swisher vs. Melky.

This is why I put no stock into many people’s opinions regarding outfield defense. For some reason, there are a good number of people floating around out there in the blogosphere and forums who have entirely the wrong notions about outfield defense.

In fact, they are emphatic about their misguided notions. Particularly, some think you can swap in a corner outfielder to play CF and he won’t miss a beat. Swisher, of course, would d-r-o-w-n in centerfield. He would drown.

The conclusion, I think, that he could actually play there competently, fed off another entirely false notion, nurtured by neophytes in the media and blogosphere – for people assume if you have a blog or a byline you must know what you’re talking about.

That false notion is that Melky has no range, gets bad jumps, and has only an arm to offer. I am personally done addressing this because it’s useless to explain what either you can or cannot see with your own eyes.

Yankees
June 26th, 2009 at 9:19 amThe Gardner over Melky thing in CF is puzzling. Defensively Melky is better
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You are right, but you will never persuade people who think blazing speed trumps instinct.

I also think that the Yankees and we fans are SO starved for speed and “athleticism” that Gardner has become a symbol of what we have lacked.

Indeed, when he gets on base, he provides a weapon we just haven’t had. It’s assumed that his outfield defense is as efficient as his baserunning, however, and that is just not true.

Even the Yankees have conceded this: he’s no longer playing shallow, because they know that his speed is tremendous going coast to coast, but doesn’t really lend a plus dimension going back to the wall – which is what a true plus CF can do; Gardner can’t really cheat going back – only coming in.

I know one of Cabrera’s errors was the costly throwing error last weekend. Not sure about the other.

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Cabrera has had subpar accuracy this year throwing the ball, but a bigger part of the reason for his low assist total is the immense respect his arm receives by opposing runners. No one takes an extra base on him anymore. They really should formulate a stat on how many times a runner decides it’s not worth it to risk the extra base in a 50/50 situation. I guarantee you that no runner this year has stopped in their tracks on Gardner or Damon’s arms. That alone is worth something.

I’ve heard that as well, and I’m not doubting his competitive spirit. However, I don’t think many people realize how difficult it is to rehab from a torn labrum in your shoulder.

I’ve had the surgery myself, and while I’m not John Smoltz, I can attest to the fact that no matter how much you strengthen and rehab it, it’s never quite the same after you have that surgery.

Additionally, this isn’t the first time he’s had surgery as well. Bottom line, he’s not going to be a difference maker for them, IMO