Today in The Journal News
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Sep 22, 2009 
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Andy Pettitte’s return to the rotation was a positive but the Yankees lost again in Anaheim.
Chad Gaudin has a chance to move up in the rotation as he faces the Angels tonight.
The Yankees have an eye on a Cuban pitcher. This notebook also has updates on Hideki Matsui, Dave Robertson and Xavier Nady.
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If you’re interested, here is the link to a radio interview I did yesterday for WTIC in Hartford with Joe D’Ambrosio. Go over to the right side of the page and it’s under “Sports Talk.”
Joe is the voice of UConn sports and an old friend from way back.
“The Yankees have an eye on a Cuban pitcher”
Hopefully he is a “real” Cuban, not just a Dominican in a Cuban wrapper!
I’m confident the Yankees will wrap up the division and home field advantage, so I’m not heading over to my local bridge. I’m just glad to see Andy pitch a good, pain-free game. He’s extremely important to the Yankees heading into October.
Yankees will win today, we’ll get the division and home field advantage.
Randy,
How does a team back into a division title with 85 + wins???
The Yanks are looking down right now but I am hopeful that it’s just a bit of a slump. We all knew the Yanks couldn’t play at such a high level for the rest of the season, better for the slump to come now than in October.
I’m not worried about the bullpen or about the lineup. When Robertson is healthy the Yanks have Rivera, Hughes, Aceves, Robertson, Coke and sort of Marte that are reliable.
My worry is the pitching rotation. Sabathia has been great but the rest of the rotation are question marks. Burnett has been really good or really bad, Joba is delusional, Pettitte is hurt, Mitre and Gaudin suck.
Burnett has to end the season on a high note, Pettitte has to prove he’s healthy and Joba has to pull his head out of his ass. If 2 out of 3 of those happen I think the Yanks are headed to the world series. If not, they are in deep trouble.
The Yankees would have to play very badly and the Sox very well for the Yankees to lose the division. If the Yankees win 1 game w/ the Angels, 1 w/ the Sox, 2 of 3 w/ Royals and Rays and the Sox only lose 1 other game, Yankees win the division. That seems very do-able for this team. (Coach- check my math, you are good at this)
Randy,
How does a team back into a division title with 85 + wins???
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This should read 95…typos…boo
I remember SJ saying earlier that Chapman would be the story of the winter
Who doesn’t have their eye on this player? This isn’t exactly news to a baseball fan…
Upstate Kate,
If the Sox lose tonight (pitching matchup not in their favor it Magic Number is 7. If we win 1 of the next 2 that puts it at 6. If we win 2 of 3 vs sox, the magic number is now at 2. That means with 6 games to play, any combination of yankee wins and red sox losses gives us the division.
I came across a very disturbing stat that seems to spell another postseason disaster for the yankees… they have NEVER in the history of the franchise won a game vs the angels where they trailed by 1 or more runs after 9 innings. they just dont have the same fight against the angels and its going to cost them somehow………………………………………………………
Pete — Regarding the notebook, don’t forget that the Yanks’ return for letting Abreu go without salary arbitration was having the bucks to get Texeira. And after getting Swisher, it would have been hard to give Abreu playing time without limiting the time and production of Swisher-Damon-Matsui. From everything I’ve heard, Abreu was a good clubhouse guy, but he also had serious problems in the field anytime a ball was hit near a wall.
Especially given the importance of money, I think it’s critical to judge the 2008-09 offseason in the aggregate, because that’s how Cash & co. played the game. First, they cleared salary — no salary arbitration for anyone (Moose, Pettitte, Giambi, Pudge, Abreu). Then they picked up Swisher on the cheap so they didn’t have a hole in the OF-1B. Then they put together a credible rotation (adding AJ and CC). Finally, still having the money to do it, they landed Tex. Ultiumately, they took a much better team onto the field for 2009 than 2008, and it’s played that way as well.
Cheers. Paul.
Jerkface. Wow at that Stat. lol
I bet this will have a dozen or so jumping off the bridges.
The Yankees are due !
With the economy ending up as it did, it is a good thing that the Yankees didn’t offer arbitration to any of those players. Abreu and Giambi both kept saying how much they wanted to stay, it wouldn’t have been a shock that they accepted it.
I thought Abreu would have been OK to keep but the cost would have been in defense.
No way were either of them going to get near their last season’s salary unless they accepted arbitration. Bobby is a bargain this year, but he wouldn’t have signed with the Yankees for that little.
if my memory serves me, the 1998 yankees lost something like 16 of their last 30 games, a bunch of which to the Angels, and still won the world series. no??
tex’s friend, not only did they win the world series, but they dominated.
Maybe A-Rods home run last night can help re-ignite the offense for the last two games.
I thought Pettitte looked a bit rusty in the first inning last night, but overall looked pretty darn good. The offense had the wrong approach to Saunders.
The one gripe I have with the Yankees in their approach to going after some of these pitchers is they don’t seem to modify the approach when it becomes obvious that it isn’t working. They were swinging early in the count last night. They allowed a mediocre pitcher to get real close to a complete game because they kept getting themselves out.
As to the Yankees beating the Angels, as far as this year goes it could just be bad timing. Both times they go to LA they are in a team wide slide. Both times those slides began before the Angels series.
The Angels are a good team, but beatable.
Angels will never win the world series with fuentes closing. he got smacked around AGAIN. Swisher’s hit was a bomb that would have left that park on most days.
No way they let him close in the playoffs.
Since Saunders has come off the DL, he is 5-0 with a 1.97 ERA. He has been far from mediocre for the past 6 starts.
you’re thinking of 2000, tex’s friend. Lost 15 of 18 (?) down the stretch AND lost the first 2 games in division series to Oakland.
sorry, was wrong about the division series in ’00, were up 2-1, got trounced in game 4, then won gm 5 at the Stadium.
I got the ’00 and ’01 div. series’ mixed up.
1. In the postseason it’s all about the pitching, and right now our starting rotation is full of question marks.
2. Girardi losing us a few with his wobbly managerial decisions has not been too serious a handicap over the long haul of the regular season with the team that we have but, once in the postseason, each and every game is huge, and we can’t afford for him to lose us any.
From here, those look like the two big concerns going into October.
Our rotation is fine. Its playing in Anahiem that’s the problem.
I don’t think that the games are being lost because of failure to manage.
It’s failure to execute.
First, and foremost, the offense.
And AJ and Joba have both killed us with one big inning in the last week or so. Otherwise, those games were more than winnable.
I’m not going to kill Girardi for a bullpen move in a game that we were losing. If we had been winning? Then there would be far more scrutiny. No David Robertson (when is he back?)gives Girardi less flexibility. And you’re going to see a pitcher you wouldn’t otherwise see.
Sometimes it “appears” that the offense perks up in the 8th or 9th. I know that’s some kind of illusion, but it’d be nice to get advantage of the early inning rallies, too.
Edit button:
Otherwise, the other games were more than winnable.
Nice view from up here on the ledge…
*waving down at all the Optimists*
Something is wrong. Wrong.
I think the most important game of this series will be the Wednesday/AJ game.
1) Day game-getaway. Do the Yankees play like all they want to do is scurry out of town? Or do they make a statement; “We have more wins than you. We can and will beat you.”
2) Almost AJ’s last proving ground. If we as fans don’t have confidence in him when he starts, how do the guys who play behind him feel? That’s some unnecessary and unneeded pressure… knowing they have to score 8+ runs when Burnett is on the mound to be eligible for a win.
3) Going home to face Boston after being swept or getting beat 2 of 3 by LAA means the Yankees could lose the division lead this weekend.
How can anyone NOT be worried?
Not that it will make folks feel any better but this reminds me of the last time the Yanks won the world series. They had a huge lead over the second place team and ended up limping into the postseason. The thing I remember most vividly is that we ended up winning the division based on a loss by the second-place team! That world series wasn’t as seamless as the 1998 world series, but the Yankees nevertheless won it.
Why do things happen the way they do? Who knows. But I still see the Yanks in line to take it all.
m,
Managers certainly aren’t responsible for their players’ non-execution, but good managers put their teams into a position to win. Girardi didn’t do that last night — for whatever reasons he had, and I’m sure he had plenty of them. He always does. That game was very much win-able last night when Bruney was inserted.
Joey’s Poodle — as always, great post.
Yankee fans need to prepare themselves. If we win the division and LAA beats BOS, we will lose the ALCS. If we are the WildCard team and have to play LAA, we will lose the ALDS. Sorry, folks. We are not beating LAA. Consider them our Kryptonite.
HAHAHAHAHA,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
you people need a grip
How can anyone NOT be worried?
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We’re in the playoffs and our pitching is going to go undefeated through said playoffs.
Jerkface, I want to believe that. I really do. But where’s the proof?
CC + Playoff starts = 2 and 3
AJ + Playoff starts = 0
Joba + Playoff starts = 4.91 ERA (which is only slightly worse than his regular season ERA)
Can Andy pitch every game?
lets take 1 game/day at a time.
Lee23:
Here is the proof. Kenny Rogers 2006 , Jeff Weaver 2006, Joe Blanton 2008, Jose Contreras 2005
The postseason makes absolutely no sense. All you can do is get there and hope for the best. We have 3 excellent pitchers, 1 with a great mix of natural ability and pitching smarts, 1 with wiley veteran pitching smarts, and 1 guy with electric stuff. Our 4th starter is either an up and coming phenom or a journey man with great stuff.
I’m tired of everyone crying about our pitching. They could be kicking absolute ass right now and if we went 3 and out in the ALDS what would anyone say to that?
There are no guarantees.
Just enjoy the ride.
How can anyone not be worried?
Perhaps we have more faith, and more experience watching pennant races than those who panic at the drop of a hat.
I just hope those who live to panic aren’t around here for the post-season.
When the playoffs start, please don’t come here and post how much you “believe” in the team.
If this is creating panic, how in the world will some of you be able to watch the post-season?
SJ – agree. Postseason is not for the faint of heart. And for those who worry about the Sux, they are not immune to losing. Check out last night’s game.
Also, SJ, this will be a scary place is the Yanks have the audacity to lose games in the postseason. Can you imagine what it would have been like in here in 1996?????
Don’t get too caught up in the game last night. Pettittes start was solid and pain free. The bats went to sleep aside from Matsui’s … as usually seems the case as of late. He held the potent Angels lineup to 4 runs in 6 innings. Should snag a game today in the division if we can win. The Sox are facing Greinke.