Such debased behavior.

Eiland is working with him,give him time.

There was buzz after a recent series in Boston that Posada might be having issues with righthander A.J. Burnett, who is in his first season as a Yankee. Burnett, lit up for nine runs in a 14-1 Red Sox pounding on Aug. 22, seemed at odds with Posada throughout the game. But back in New York the following week, Burnett put the blame solely on himself, and said he and his catcher are fine.

“A lot of it is blown out of proportion. Guys miss signs all the time. Guys cross guys up all the time. It doesn’t mean your catcher’s bad,” said Burnett. “It just means I wasn’t right.”

When Posada is asked about Burnett, he shrugs off any suggestion of a budding back page controversy. “You’re going to have good games and bad games,” Posada says. “When you have good games, everything is fine. When you have bad games… But you know what? It’s part of it. Part of learning, getting the best out of everybody. Not every day is going to be 12 strikeouts, 1-0 shutout. When we lose, I take a lot of pride, it’s my fault. When we win, it’s their game. That’s the way you’ve got to think about it.”

That kind of approach is what impresses Posada’s teammates.

“No doubt he’s a leader. He’s been here for a long time. Guys go to him when they have questions. He’s very even-keeled. He doesn’t get too high, he doesn’t get too low,” says Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeria, who as a Ranger once leveled Posada at the plate during a 2006 game, a collision that has not generated any lingering ill will. “He’s been through enough around here to realize what it takes to win. When you talk about Jorge, he’s one of the best catchers of our generation. I put his career up against anyone’s the last 15 years.”

Hard to believe that the road to the present – where Posada was batting .288 with 20 home runs and 70 RBI entering Friday night’s game in Toronto – began with a young Posada learning the baseball ropes as an infielder growing up in Puerto Rico under his father Jorge Sr.’s tutelage. When the Yankees selected Posada in the 24th round of the 1990 draft, he began his professional career as a second baseman and shortstop.

Mark Newman, the Yankees’ senior vice president of baseball operations who is in his 21st season with the organization, remembers a 20-year-old Posada who possessed “good hands and a good arm” but lacked other essential tools to excel in the field.

“His range was just so-so. The profile on Jorge was a switch-hitter with power who threw the ball with outstanding technique. He didn’t have agility on the bases, which is no secret now,” says Newman with a laugh. “He thought he should be an infielder, but we saw him as a future catcher. That’s our job as coaches – what he couldn’t see, we could see.”

The conversion was anything but smooth. At one point, after a particularly brutal instructional league game behind the plate, Posada had had enough.

“I was learning at the beginning. It was ugly. I told Mark Newman after one game, ‘I don’t want to catch anymore. Do whatever you want to do with me,’” says Posada. “He convinced me to go back out there. I don’t think I would have been in the big leagues as a middle infielder. Who knows? But I don’t think I would have been up here.”

Newman says he thinks that exchange was a seminal moment in Posada’s career, “surrounded by a lot of follow-up conversations,” that Newman says encouraged Posada to hone his catching craft.

“I think we met from instructional ball, I think it was around ‘91,” says Rivera, the Hall of Fame-bound Yankees closer. “He wasn’t a catcher then. I think they were working to switch him. Everybody knew that he could hit, but I think the big concern was the fielding issues. But I have seen Jorge develop, as a catcher, to be one of the best catchers in the big leagues.”

Posada also credits his parents, particularly his strict upbringing, with providing the foundation for his focus, dedication and maturity as a player. Jorge Sr. fled Cuba and Castro in 1968, stowing away on a ship bound for Greece. The elder Posada eventually went to Puerto Rico, reuniting with his parents, and lives there today with his wife Tamara, who is Dominican.

I also love Matt Thornton of CWS. After the Betemit-Swisher deal last year, maybe Cash can pull the wool over Kenny Williams’ eyes again and give him Ransom and/or Hinske for Thornton!

Hughes was terrible against the O’s on May 9th. He allowed 8 ER in that start in less than two innings.

But Hughes’ ERA was roughly 3.50 in his other six starts combined. So one really bad outing skewed his overall numbers tremendously.

Hughes was pitching well before he went back to the pen. Cashman and Girardi put him in the pen BECAUSE he was pitching well and they knew he could help the team in that capacity.

Maybe Pov should try watching what’s going on for once. He might learn something.
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Guiseppe, that will never happen, it’s too easy to be a moron and never learn anything. Anyone who knows baseball understands the value of starting pitching and also knows Hughes will be in the rotation next year. Mark Feinsand is a good guy who believes Hughes should be Mo’s replacement but has lately acknowledged that Hughes will more likely be a starter next year.

http://img529.imageshack.us/im.....ammons.jpg

http://img529.imageshack.us/im…..ammons.jpg
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Niiiice.

Gammons could use a little studio makeup in this shot. He’s looking a little lifeless.

Hughes was terrible against the O’s on May 9th. He allowed 8 ER in that start in less than two innings.

But Hughes’ ERA was roughly 3.50 in his other six starts combined. So one really bad outing skewed his overall numbers tremendously.

Hughes was pitching well before he went back to the pen. Cashman and Girardi put him in the pen BECAUSE he was pitching well and they knew he could help the team in that capacity.

Maybe Pov should try watching what’s going on for once. He might learn something.

Pretty funny quote Joba and so ironic. Hughes in the toliet as a starter goes to the pen and is lights out. Your pretty great yourself as a reliever and now are in the toliet as a starter. The big difference is that he throws strikes, doesn’t walk people and has control over his pitches.