Today in The Journal News
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Sep 26, 2009 
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The Yankees took another step to the division title as they battered the Red Sox.
Sam Borden writes that Joba Chamberlain deserves a shot at redemption.
CC Sabathia is rested and ready for what is ahead. This notebook also has updates on Jerry Hairston and Dave Robertson along with news on Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman.
Let’s not forget The Forgotten Man, Chien Ming Wang, who also deserves a shot at redemption with the Yankees next year! I hope they give him an opportunity.
CMW should go to the redsox where he will get more respect.
Yeah, the Red Sox are really known for treating their stars with respect.
Total speculation here…but if the Twins make it to the dance, the first game of the ALDS, CC could be going up against the Big Ragu’!
“Face it, we’re all a little spoiled because Pete Abe is the hardest working man in show business.”
No offense to Pete, but I don’t define baseball writers to him. Again, Feinsand was really good when he wrote for mlb.com, but I think the tabloid sportwriting business has negatively affected his writing. Kepner is pretty good, but like someone stated earlier, might not be covering the game like he once did due to more time at home for his children.
Buster Olney gets a lot of abuse from Yankee fans, but he was a very good beatwriter before he joined the four letter network.
From the previous thread:
In today’s Daily News, Feinsand is running with the theory that since Burnett is pitching the last game of the season which is next Sunday, he won’t start a playoff game until the third game while Pettitte pitches the second game.
However, if you look at the two playoff scenarios the Yankees will choose from, Burnett can pitch the last game of the season and still start the second game of the playoffs since the second playoff game is being played on Friday and Burnett will have four full days off plus he won’t pitch more than 4 innings in that last game which is nothing more than a tuneup for the playoffs.
By the way, I think Feinsand was a better writer when he wrote for the mlb.com. Since he’s been with the Daily News, I think he’s taken a step back as a baseball writer. IMO, Tyler Kepner is a much better baseball writer with usually more facts to back up his opinions.
Quote from Varitek:
“No, we know Jeter will run, we know Alex will run. We know some of the guys that will run, so, no,” said Varitek. “The only thing I can do is try to make a good throw. A couple of balls bounced and I had to jump for ball, but I made a good throw on the last one. You just have to try to stay within your game as much as you can.”
Let’s hope as Yankee fans that he continues to stay within his game.
Also, he made a good throw on the last one, I guess 1 out of 7 ain’t bad when conpared to his hitting the last couple of years!
Yanks’ clubhouse attendants will play bartender to Red Sox should they clinch AL wild card
by Matt Gagne
daily news sports writer
Saturday, September 26th 2009, 4:00 AM
Burazin/Getty/Getty Images
The Red Sox may be popping champagne bottles in the Bronx. Related News
Photo
Yankees-Red Sox Game-by-Game
Articles
Sox’s Lester is KO’d by Melky hit
Maine needs speed, Mets beat Marlins
CC doesn’t see himself as guy for Cy
Super Yanks’ steal combined seven bases
Yankees crush Boston, move toward division titile
Pettitte looks the one for Yanks’ No.2 spot
Baseball teams spend half the season on the road, but are always prepared for any situation they may encounter away from their home ballparks.
They travel with extra gloves, extra cleats, extra bats, even their own bags of balls to take batting practice.
But they do rely on their hosts and opponents for one very important thing: putting the celebratory champagne on ice.
So, if the Red Sox wrap up the American League wild card while in the Bronx, which can’t happen today but could occur tomorrow, the Yankee clubhouse attendants will be the ones playing bartender, so to speak.
The Red Sox’s magic number to clinch remained at three as they lost to the Yankees, 9-5, Friday night and Texas beat Tampa Bay, 8-3. Texas is 7-1/2 games behind Boston with nine games left.
“They’ll tell us what they want and it’s up to us to get it,” Lou Cucuzza Jr., who manages the visiting clubhouse at the Stadium, said Friday about champagne.
“It varies, but teams usually get about 12 cases. When their magic number is either a one or a two, we’ll see (what they want and how much) – it’s up to them to convey what they want to do.”
The practice is a long-standing tradition around the league, Cucuzza said, although “it’s not a courtesy thing. The visiting team pays for itself.”
Related TopicsSports
American League (Baseball)
Boston Red Sox
Major League Baseball
AL East Division
Baseball
Professional Baseball
Lou Cucuzza
Texas
Tampa Bay
The Bronx
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Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....z0SDm7t2P9
man – so sorry – didn’t realize so much had “copied”
“man – so sorry – didn’t realize so much had “copied””
And I thought you were sending those Ferrari F430 prices for my benefit.
Mark – when I hit the lottery, remember to cash in
Absolutely!
Jeter and Cano have an excellent chance of being the first SS and 2nd base combo in MLB history to get 200 hits each at their respective positions. Jeter has a few of his hits at DH so he needs to get maybe 5 more hits as a SS to get his 200 while Cano is only 2 hits shy of 200.
That’s 200 hits in the same season as SS and 2nd baseman.
so I’m watching the Encore – does Michael Kay really not know that Lester is almost two years older than Joba?
They’d have cheered at Fenway if a yanks pitcher had gone down like that. I hope you call them out for what they are, Pete.
anyone watching the replay of the game this morning on YES? Right before Melky hit Lester’s knee they were showing Swisher’s strikeout and Kay described the strike as “right at the kneecap”. For a second there I thought Nostradamus was doing the play by play because literally half a second after he said that Melky hit one off of Lester’s knee.
Baseball teams spend half the season on the road, but are always prepared for any situation they may encounter away from their home ballparks.
They travel with extra gloves, extra cleats, extra bats, even their own bags of balls to take batting practice.
But they do rely on their hosts and opponents for one very important thing: putting the celebratory champagne on ice.
=============================================
I understand there’s some vintage 1986 champagne still on ice in Queens waiting for the ‘Roid Sox.
So, here’s my dilemma – I’ve got tickets to Monday night’s game against KC. Do I root for a Red Sox win this weekend so I can see the clincher in person Monday night, or do I root for a sweep against Boston so we can win it against them? Ah, decisions, decisions….
The NESN guys were questioning the sox diagnosis of a quad bruise as well. From where it looked like it hit, there had to be at least somewhat of a bone bruise in addition to the muscle.
Never root for the Saux. Never.
Crush their spirits, let them go limping home without clinching, while knowing the Yankees are popping the corks for the division and best record.
Lester really brings that front leg up to his chest so if it’s a bruise it’s going to be a while before he regains the range of motion. I don’t expect he’ll pitch again until the playoffs.
“so I’m watching the Encore – does Michael Kay really not know that Lester is almost two years older than Joba?”?
The real point Kay should be making is not about the age, but the amount of innings, Lester has pitched as a professional over what Joba has done since being drafted in 2006. Joba with only 88 innings in the minors just didn’t have the time necessary to develop his skills as a ML starting pitcher while Lester almost logged 500 innings in the minors.
I had thought up until a couple of weeks ago that the umpiring this year was decent. Not great, there will always be mistakes and missed calls, but decent. But recently, it has been dreadful. Tim? Welke last night was awful. Both ways as well. I could only see the game on the NESN broadcast, and even they were saying that Lester got some pitches that weren’t even close. Then he threw a pitch right down the middle on 3-2, and it was called a ball. There is no excuse for missing obvious calls like that.
In a related topic, I do hope that YES gets some kind of K-Zone graphic next year like every other broadcast network seems to have.
The ML Baseball channel was questioning the Lester injury too and suggesting the ball hit some bone.
Why is Giambi worthy of an update? Do we get updates on other ex-Yankees? I don’t get the fascination with this guy…….and he used steroids. What makes him different than Alex?
Abda…Yeah, that’s my feeling as well, even though I lose out on seeing a celebration up close. Ah, the sacrifices a fan must make.
crawdaddy
September 26th, 2009 at 10:23 am
“so I’m watching the Encore – does Michael Kay really not know that Lester is almost two years older than Joba?”?
The real point Kay should be making is not about the age, but the amount of innings, Lester has pitched as a professional over what Joba has done since being drafted in 2006. Joba with only 88 innings in the minors just didn’t have the time necessary to develop his skills as a ML starting pitcher while Lester almost logged 500 innings in the minors.
——————-
Heck – i got the age thing by clicking on their names in gameday…it wasn’t hard. I imagine it would be more difficult to get innings pitched, but it *is* something he would have at his fingertips!
When does pitching to a 4.50ERA in a game get to be considered redemption?
Joe –
Under no circumstances root for a Red Sox win. If they do win 1 game and only 1 game; then your Monday night consolation prize is if the Yanks clinch. On the other hand — you can be happy seeing the Yanks win number 101 on Monday if they do beat Sox twice. Can you imagine if the Yanks win 6 of 8 they’ll get to 104 wins. I say 105 wins or bust! So no losses — losses only lead to other losses.
“Heck – i got the age thing by clicking on their names in gameday…it wasn’t hard. I imagine it would be more difficult to get innings pitched, but it *is* something he would have at his fingertips!”
Actually, I don’t see a big difference in their ages, but the difference in the amount of their professional baseball experience is quite large.
“Crush their spirits, let them go limping home without clinching,”
Well said, but I think these famous quotes apply very well to our feelings about this rivalry:
“The greatest happiness is to scatter your enemy, to drive him before you, to see his cities reduced to ashes, to see those who love him shrouded in tears, and to gather into your bosom his wives and daughters.”
“I am the punishment of God…If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you”
“Why is Giambi worthy of an update? Do we get updates on other ex-Yankees? I don’t get the fascination with this guy…….and he used steroids. What makes him different than Alex?”
Take it easy Rocketbooster as Pete will be leaving in a couple of days so you won’t be hearing much about one of his favorite players.
Even if the ball only bruised muscle, that type of hit can shake you up. He was really hurting, and he is a tough kid.
It will be pretty amazing if that only resulted in a bruised quad. It looked like it hit right on the top of the knee. In any case, it wasn’t in a meaty part of the leg, very little cushion, more chance for damage.
The Boston Herald had two stories about last night’s game.
One was the beat reporter’s game coverage the other was a column.
Neither piece even mentioned the seven stolen bases the yankees had against Varitek. Not even the game summary story.
It’s as if it never happened.
The media construction of Varitek into some kind of pitcher-handling defensive genius who is irreplaceable to the sox becase the staff is so dependent on him has for a long time been a complete farce.
Even this year when Varitek is having one of the worst defensive and offensive years for any starting catcher in baseball the boston media kept talking about how dependent Josh Beckett was on Varitek’s game calling.
When Martinez first came over and wound up catching Beckett for a start or two they actually started comparing Beckett’s “catchers era” with Varitek vs. with martinez/other catchers in order to hang on to the silly idea that Varitek is some kind of uber catcher. This was when Beckett was still throwing well.
The idea that a guy as talented as Beckett – a guy many have anointed as one of the most “clutch” pitchers in baseball history is highly dependent on his catcher creates no cognative dissonance.
When teams stole 7-8 bases off the sox it was always the pitchers fault – especially Brad Penny. Amazing how teams still
It’s the whole notion of how important “intangibles” are taken to the most absurd direction.
That’s why you have to be careful about what you read.
Kay was going off earlier on how the Sox should not celebrate clinching their wild card berth while still mathematically alive for the division.
Just more pointless blather from the master.
crawdaddy
September 26th, 2009 at 10:28 am
“Heck – i got the age thing by clicking on their names in gameday…it wasn’t hard. I imagine it would be more difficult to get innings pitched, but it *is* something he would have at his fingertips!”
Actually, I don’t see a big difference in their ages, but the difference in the amount of their professional baseball experience is quite large.
——————————
I only looked it up because he mentioned it – I agree experience is more of an indicator than age
CB September 26th, 2009 at 10:30 am
The Boston Herald had two stories about last night’s game.
One was the beat reporter’s game coverage the other was a column.
Neither piece even mentioned the seven stolen bases the yankees had against Varitek. Not even the game summary story.
It’s as if it never happened.
============================================
It was even worse on Baseball Tonight. They mentioned the steals only casually, then they went out of their way to absolve Tek and specifically blamed the relief pitchers.
Well, Jeter DID wait about .2 nanoseconds before taking off for 2nd in the 1st inning so……
“It was even worse on Baseball Tonight. They mentioned the steals only casually, then they went out of their way to absolve Tek and specifically blamed the relief pitchers.”
The ML baseball channel sure mentioned it. I love that channel as it’s my savior from watching BBTN.
Craw, I’m not upset – it just has always puzzled me. However, good point……still wish Pete were staying, though.
The Red Sox are a beloved team, by their own sportswriters and by everyone else; you can be sure they will be everyone’s selection to move on to the WS (not that there aren’t any reasons to choose them). The Yankees have a lot to prove in the post-season given their recent failures, but then so do the Sox. It’s just funny now how the mediots have completely turned against the Yankees as far as their chances in the post-season, when just a few weeks ago they were practically a near-unanimous pick.
I dislike Buster Olney intensely now…….he used to be very good when he was with the Times, but that was a long time ago.
CB
If you read the coments section on some of the RS sites the fans can see the reality.
By the way, Harold Reynolds was giving Cano kudos last night and clearly stated Cano is underrated by the media and fans, when he is clearly one of the best 2nd basemen in MLB.
Varitek is not a good defensive catcher, and has not been for quite a while. Not much offensively either. He has gotten by the last 3 or 4 years on some mythic status as a great “staff handler”, which sounds about right, I guess.
It was great to see him looking forlorn and helpless last night the way the Yanks were running, but to be honest, he didn’t have a chance on most of the SBs. His pitchers were not hardly paying any attention to the baserunners for the most part.
Betsy September 26th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Why is Giambi worthy of an update? Do we get updates on other ex-Yankees? I don’t get the fascination with this guy…….and he used steroids. What makes him different than Alex?
==============================================
Giambi has always been friendly with the press. While Alex has usually been less the cooperative.
that’s the way it works. remember the night before Jeter tied Gehrig’s hit record he struck out three times and declined to meet with reporters after the game, they were angry and let it be known.
crawdaddy
September 26th, 2009 at 10:37 am
By the way, Harold Reynolds was giving Cano kudos last night and clearly stated Cano is underrated by the media and fans, when he is clearly one of the best 2nd basemen in MLB.
———————————————-
Eck. gave Cano the nod over Pedroia. He said the Yanks offense was better than the RS overall.
“The Red Sox are a beloved team, by their own sportswriters and by everyone else; you can be sure they will be everyone’s selection to move on to the WS (not that there aren’t any reasons to choose them). The Yankees have a lot to prove in the post-season given their recent failures, but then so do the Sox. It’s just funny now how the mediots have completely turned against the Yankees as far as their chances in the post-season, when just a few weeks ago they were practically a near-unanimous pick.”
Deep down inside, I think the mediots in general dislike the Yankees so much that they won’t give them full credit until the actually win the WS and even then will harp about their payroll. It’s a no win situation for the Yankee Universe do forget about them and just go out and win the whole thing so the Yankee Universe can celebrate while everybody else stews in their sour grapes.
“Giambi has always been friendly with the press. While Alex has usually been less the cooperative.
that’s the way it works. remember the night before Jeter tied Gehrig’s hit record he struck out three times and declined to meet with reporters after the game, they were angry and let it be known.”
Yet their anger with Jeter didn’t linger long because for the most part they respect Jeter even if they don’t like him.
Mark in Tampa September 26th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Varitek is not a good defensive catcher, and has not been for quite a while. Not much offensively either. He has gotten by the last 3 or 4 years on some mythic status as a great “staff handler”, which sounds about right, I guess.
=================================================
The Boston lovin media has a massive man-crush for Varitek. I guess he’s a good lookin guy, after all he had a well known affair with a female beat writer.
Explain how Phil Coke has a 2.00 ERA at night but almost a 9.00 ERA in the day! At least all playoff games are at night.
just read harold reynolds’ name mentioned above. i can’t get enough of his videos when i find them on the web. he is for me one of the most intelligent, knowledgeable and listenable sports broadcasters i have seen to date.
Look, everyone likes an Underdog. And that ain’t the Yankees. Tim Brown has had Yanks #1 in the Power Rankings for a long time now.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....;type=lgns
Are you saying all the media are idiots or just certain ones that disagree with you?
CB
It seems to me that when Joba followed the game plan and threw what was called he was fine. Pitching to contact.
When he got in trouble it seemed he was trying to strike everyone out and back to shaking Posada off.
If we win today there is no chance of the soxs celebrating in our stadium. I don’t want them spraying champagne in our stadium, the thought of that makes me ill.
So Alrodis Chapman is now a FA
“When teams stole 7-8 bases off the sox it was always the pitchers fault – especially Brad Penny.”
That was Mitch Williams and Harold Reynolds take on the steals last night on MLB Network. The bases were stolen on Lester, not Varitek.
Even went into a whole demo on the diference between stealing on first move or stealing on first motion. The Yankees did both last night.
“Girardi trusted his veteran players to lead the team, he gave his coaches more input and he was far more candid with the media.”
How does Girardi’s handling of the media with candidness/deception affect his team’s performance in a positive/negative manner?
Bill Belichick misleads the media all the time, and his team for the better part of 9 years, has been better for it. While listening to NESN postgame last night, Dennis Eckersley suggested that the Red Sox might be hiding the extent of Jon Lester’s injury. IMHO, the media is a tool that should be used to better your team or give your team an advantage, and misleading them is one effective way of doing so.
Steve, the media got angry because for once Jeter didn’t bow down to them and give them what they wanted? I have so little respect for the media………Your point about Giambi being well-liked as the reason why we get updates about him is probably true, but it’s hypocritical. Forget the steroids thing, I am just wondering why Giambi is treated differently than any other ex-Yankee? It’s not a big deal, I was just wondering about it as I read the blog threads this morning.
“Bill Belichick misleads the media all the time, and his team for the better part of 9 years, has been better for it.”
Just because his teams have won, it doesn’t mean how he handled the media contributed to that effort.
Betsy September 26th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Why is Giambi worthy of an update? Do we get updates on other ex-Yankees? I don’t get the fascination with this guy…….and he used steroids. What makes him different than Alex?
=============================
Because Giambi is a fun-loving, everyone seems to love him, guy. It’s all about who likes you.
Pretty much, it’s high school like.
Craw, that’s true. I think with the Sox/Yanks it works this way. The media is waiting for the Yankees to fail, but they are waiting for the Sox to succeed. It probably kills the media to have to credit the Yankees for anything and did the same to have to blame the Sox. I used to care about what these clowns had to say, but now when I comment, it’s with a sense of detachment. I no longer get angry or annoyed with this stuff – it’s frankly somewhat amusing.
According to the media, Lester was walking without a limp last night after the game.
It couldn’t be that severe if he wasn’t even limping, although we’ll have to see how it feels after he sleeps on it.
Mike Ashmore (Thunder beat writer) has a good interview with Phil Hughes:
http://thunderbaseball.wordpre.....il-hughes/
Which media reported the no limp?
S.A., lol………….I was never that into my high school years, so maybe that’s why I don’t get the Giambi love. I was very glad to be rid of that albatross around his neck and I haven’t thought of him once. I’m not rooting for him nor am I rooting against him….I just don’t care at all about Giambi.
Yet you keep talking about Giambi. If you didn’t bring him up this morning, he might not have been mentioned here much.
As much as I dislike having to listen to Eckersley, he was willing to give alot of credit to how good the Yankees were last night.
It was funny after Cano stole 2nd. He commented that it was only his 5th steal. Then he said they must know something.
crawdaddy September 26th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Which media reported the no limp?
———
I think it was on Boston.com or something. Not positive, though.
They may cover the team but I don’t think they’d lie about his condition.
Betsy, Giambi signed with the Yankees before the 2002 season. During the dynasty years, the Yankees were considered business-like & corporate. I think the media was attracted to the frat boy attitude that Giambi brought with him.
“It seems to me that when Joba followed the game plan and threw what was called he was fine. Pitching to contact.”
He looked great for the first 5 innings. He was working very quickly, catching the ball and throwing it. And that’s what he needs to do. No more overthinking on the mound.
To me the issues isn’t so much him trying/not trying to strike people out vs. pitching to contact (he still had 5Ks last night…)
The issue is him being aggressive with his fastball and maintaining his mechanics.
If he does that then he not only makes quality pitches, but does them in sequences which either lead to swing and misses or the inability of hitters to consistently square up his pitches.
Tom, thanks for posting the interview. I’m so glad Phil stayed healthy this year, though the year did not go as I anticipated. No question that people gave up on him, but not the only ones that counted (the Yankees and himself). I’m anxious to see him get back to the rotation………….I assume he’ll go to winter ball this year
I don’t think Hughes is going to Winter Ball.
Yankees may be better off avoiding Chapman and all the question marks, who will likely cost $25 to $30 million, and save the dough for Halladay when he comes on the market, a year from now.
Halladay would be a great instant replacement for Andy in 2011.
Phil has thrown over 100 innings this year. He’ll get more as they play out the regular season and in the playoffs.
I don’t think he’s going to Winter Ball.
Will Phil find his fair princess at the Winter Ball?
Stay tuned!
Nick.
My noon pick is the MI/IN Over 53.
-dennis
Yes and her name will be Betsy.