Today in The Journal News
Posted by: Sam Borden - Posted in Misc on Oct 11, 2009 
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Andy Pettitte has been-there, done-that for the Yankees in the postseason and one more win from him today will send the Yankees into the ALCS. Chad Jennings has the story.
Carl Pavano has already spent time on the DL with “sore buttocks” but the Yankees need to avoid the urge to kick him in the … well, you know. Point is, they can’t let their emotions get the best of them, like they have at least once before in a big playoff game.
For more on that, check out my column which includes this priceless quote from Jorge Posada: “I don’t think there was hatred (of Pavano); we just rolled our eyes at him.”
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It may be a football Sunday but we’ve got plenty of baseball talk here all day. “Flash Points” will be up in a few hours and then the game post closer to 3 p.m. with first pitch scheduled for a little after 7 on the East Coast. Keep checking in.
phenomenal coverage, guys!!!
I want the Yankees to close out the Twins today so they can set up their pitching for the next round. They need to be patient with Pavano and sit on his fastball when he gets behind in the count.
I want my Yanks to kick him HARD tonight and finish the series off in minnesota.
ps: can’t wait until the game starts already!!
Make Pavano cry today
Sam, Chad and Josh-Great job! Appreciate all the updates.
Well, I hate Pavano AND roll my eyes at him.
Mike Francesca just spent 10 minutes ranting about the call aqainst the Twins and how badly he feels for them…………he absolutely implied that the Twins lost the game because of that. What a surprise, lol. If the Yankees sweep tonight, expect Mike to rail against the unfairness of it all. If they lose tonight, expect Mike to rail against the unfairness of it all. Either way, he’ll be extremely upset that either the Twins got swept or that they should be up 1-2.
Betsy,
Why do you listen to him when he upsets so much?
I am off to go apple/pumpkin picking for the day. I have been assured that I will be home in time for the first pitch, but if not, there might be hell to pay
I’m so excited to see Andy pitch tonight!
i just hope we can get to lackey,weaver,kazmir
Oh come on, Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan would put the Sox on top? It has nothing to do with the players on the field?
Craw, I wasn’t listening to him. I had the tv on YES when I woke up and when I turned the tv on, there was Mike giving us his thoughts, lol.
I think people are underestimating Pavano as he’s pitched extremely well against the Yankees. I don’t know if the Yankees are trying overly hard against him or if they just don’t match up well with him, but either way I’m expecting the guy to pitch a strong game. Andy has had a lot of rest – I have no idea what to expect from him.
I hope that Yanks sweep today.
It allows them to set up their rotation for ALCS with CC going in game 1.
As I said before, the quality of the blog improved tremendously since Pete left. Given the excellent job Pete did with very frequent updates, I was not sure if it will continue as no other beat writer provided that many updates.
But, Sam, Chad and Josh are providing even more timely updates. Not only that, I love the quality of these updates all related to real baseball…..
Keep up the good work Sam, Chad, Josh.
This will continue to be the best blog out there.
If LaRussa/Duncan are available, the Mets need to jump all over that.
“I think people are underestimating Pavano as he’s pitched extremely well against the Yankees. I don’t know if the Yankees are trying overly hard against him or if they just don’t match up well with him, but either way I’m expecting the guy to pitch a strong game. Andy has had a lot of rest – I have no idea what to expect from him.”
During the regular season there was nothing at stake in those starts by Pavano. Now he must feel tremendous pressure. Also, now the momentum is with the Yanks which matters a lot in baseball.
We will sweep today.
Root for Sox to win the next 2 and have the series go 5.
And extra trip out West for Wednesday’s game 5, and then having to fly back East to play us on Thursday.
Paguano had two solid outings against the Yankees, one pre-Alex’ return and one after.
The first start, in April was six innings and one run.
In the game where he faced Alex he went 7 1/3 and gave up three earned runs (3.68). that’s solid, but hardly outstanding.
I have no idea what to expect from Andy. I still don’t completely trust him. We know he will battle… but his stuff is still such that you can easily see him getting hit around.
We may not hit Pavano. It’s up to Andy to match him and protect any lead we get.
Winning this in a sweep allows us to set up our rotation for the LCS. Otherwise, we have to burn CC for another start, and he’ll start in game 3 of the LCS rather than 1. Want to save as many of those bullets as possible on his arm too…
Nitpicking, those are still very solid starts. I think people are expecting too much from the Yankees based on their hatred of the guy, but whatever. We’ll see……
I can already see that if the Yankees lose, fans will start panicking because we won’t be able to use CC in game 1 of the ALCS…..Expecting or demanding the Yankees to sweep is unfair………
“Mike Francesca just spent 10 minutes ranting about the call aqainst the Twins and how badly he feels for them…………he absolutely implied that the Twins lost the game because of that.”
I’ve asked this before and I’ll ask it again. Are we sure that Francessa is a Yankees fan?
If the Yankees don’t crush Pavano today I will be very surprised.
Nothing to do with hate, and everything to do with he the fact that is not a very good pitcher.
Angels HAVE to finish it off today if they want to win the series. They have Kazmir, who is a Sox killer and probably their best pitcher since they acquired him against Buchholz. Sox win this game, they have a 2nd life. Lester going tomorrow against Joe Saunders, then Josh “Gibson” Beckett in game 5. By that point, Sox would have all the momentum.
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo....._crop.html
Anatomy of a pie……
AJ as ninja, lol……Imagine 25 guys coming at him with 25 pies? It won’t happen because the odds of AJ pitching a complete game are slim (with Mo out there, the odds of anyone pitching one are slim)…..
Angels/Sox play at noon then because of the Dodgers sweep no game until Yanks at 7.
TBS must be rooting for a 18 inning Angels/Sox game now.
You can feel bad for the Twins without implying that it was the reason they lost the game…
Why does anyone care what Francessa says. Aside from pro football he is an uninformed, unqualified buffoon.
He probably still thinks CC and Tex were mistakes and Bronson Arroyo is better than AJ Burnett.
Could we declare this space a Francessa free zone?
Betsy — I wasn’t nitpicking. There were solid starts, just not the “pitching extremely well” you originally claimed.
“Are we sure that Francessa is a Yankees fan?”
Francesa is a Yankee fan but he’s a bigger fan of righteous indignation and stirring the pot.
Tonight, Carl Pavano finally does what he was paid to do and helps the Yankees win the World Series.
No problem with a Francesca-free zone….I just hated that he was throwing cold-water on the win. Oh well, as Laura says – he’s very likely not a Yankee fan.
Good quote from Tex
“In this game, you’ve either been humbled or you’re about to be humbled,” Teixeira said. “If you get too confident, you will get your butt kicked. That’s just the way it is.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/blo.....z0TdhpCa9H
IMO, Francessa is a Yankee fan from the George Steinbrenner years. He talks about those Yankees as if he was more familiar with them at that time. No doubt he was familiar with George and understood the way he ran the organization. Today, it appears to me that he has become emotionally distant from the team, and perhaps, disillusioned with the way management now runs the team more like a corporation rather than by an owner with a win-at-all-cost mentality.
I think he’s now a Yankee fan, but association only. I don’t think he’s no longer a true fan in the sense that he’s fanatical about the team.
27 Rings
October 11th, 2009 at 10:22 am
I have no idea what to expect from Andy. I still don’t completely trust him. We know he will battle… but his stuff is still such that you can easily see him getting hit around.
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guess what, he could care less what you think, go root for the Mets, loser…
Even though Yankees won game 2.When Posada came in to an even game,suddenly they were 2 behind.He pouted his way in the game and Yankees almost lost the game,having to go to within 1 pitcher left in the pen.
So I’m not up for a Posada roll of the eye,I’m still rolling my eyes at his bonehead game call Friday!
If the Yankees can’t bring it to Pavano,that will be the story in the press!
He’s not a CY pitcher,and the Yankees have beaten far better pitchers this year than a fraud,joke,laughingstock,rogue,
like Pavano!!
“They play less than 90 feet apart, and somehow it still seems as if they exist in different orbits. It has been that way from the time Rodriguez got here.
And won’t change.”
“Well, you at least you can say this about the Red Sox: They’ve been in much worse spots”
I wont even link the “genius” who authored those 2 quotes. If you feel compelled to read the rest of that garbage it’s at the Daily News.
—.—.—.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Even though Yankees won game 2.When Posada came in to an even game,suddenly they were 2 behind.He pouted his way in the game and Yankees almost lost the game,having to go to within 1 pitcher left in the pen.
So I’m not up for a Posada roll of the eye,I’m still rolling my eyes at his bonehead game call Friday!
—————————————-
another idiot heard from…
he can throw cold water on the win all he wants because they arent taking the win away from us so he has to turn the page
it was a bad call so he talks about it like everybody else does
its his right
we were lucky to win that game but i will take it & i aint giving it back
francessa is not going to get many callers if he downplays the blown call.. only when he irks yankees/mets fans he can have animated callers and a higher rating… ppl fall into his trap quiet easily…
no point in getting to wrapped up in what might happen because we dont know
what i do know is we are still in it & i would love to win it all
the rest means nothing
Funny thing was Lupica of all people was saying this morning on nESPeeN that while it was a bad call, it doesn’t mean that it made any difference on the outcome of the game. The assumption that the haters are making is that other than that one call everything else would have been played the same.
Lupica is a writer who looks to denigrate anything he can about the Yankees, yet he see it.
I’m looking for good at bats from the Yankees.
Plate discipline,great pitching,and great fielding.They may not hit a lot of runs,but I wish they manufacture enough runs(singles,doubles,bunts,steals etc,)to win. This team has a lot of ways to beat you. They Yankees will get it done.
Remember,supposedly the Twins came in as the hottest team to enter the postseason.
The Yankees cooled that down,and shifted the momentum to the Yankees. Pavano is the last COG in the wheel.
One of them, the captain of the team, is everything the Yankees used to be and want to be again, is having one of his great seasons, is in the conversation for MVP of the American League.
The other, Rodriguez, isn’t discussed as the MVP, he missed too much time this season because of spring hip surgery even if he did manage to get to 30 home runs and 100 RBI. But even though the Yankees spent $180 million on Teixeira so A-Rod didn’t have to be The Man in the middle of the order all by himself, the Yankees really didn’t take off and even Teixeira didn’t take off until Rodriguez came back.
Jeter is the face of the old Yankees. A-Rod is the face of the new Yankees, the poster boy for all the money that has been spent on teams not good enough to win the World Series since they made one of the big trades in Yankee history and got him from Texas.
The Yankees right now look as if they can take on all
comers, but you know they’re rooting for the Red Sox to come all the way back against the Angels.
Or maybe the Yankees are just due to take out the Angels the way the Angels were due to take out the Sox.
David Robertson getting out of bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th should have been a bit more than a sidebar Friday night, but he can blame A-Rod and Teixeira for that.
An out here, an out there, Phil Coke continues to look like a Mike Stanton in training.
this was real negative reporting about the Yankees today, wasn’t it? Some of you need to take some reading comprehension lessons.
“Even Pavano admitted on Saturday that he sees his four years with the Yankees as “a black period” in his career.” sam borden
well, he was definitely in the black to the tune of 40 million dollars with the yankees.
i noticed some quotes that pavano pitching well vindicates cashman .
i think it’s the opposite . i think it shows how bad the yankee conditioning program was during that time pavano was there.
this year after wang went down because of cashman doing nothing-nada- zero to check out wang before starting him off on a normal spring training the yankees really had a remarkable period with no starters going down because of injuries.
having the other 4 starters make almost all their starts was huge. hopefully it’s an improved conditioning program that kept the other starters healthy.
It takes an idiot,to know one!
I’m not sure why the Yankees were lucky. The Twins ran themselves out an inning, they stranded the bases loaded with no one out and their closer blew the game.
Twitter:
PeteAbe Organ at Fenway playing “The Impossible Dream.”
about 1 hour ago from Tweetie
betsy-
i don’t think the twins usually do that. they are pretty sound fundamentally.
so in a way the yankees were lucky the twins made some mistakes they don’t usually make.
on the other hand the yankees earned that win with some great clutch hitting.
Francona appears to be safe in Boston – 3 years/$12M (2009-11), plus 2012, 2013 club options.
Not so sure about Theo Epstein. His contract is up after the season.
Kevin Towers and J.P. Ricciardi are without jobs. There’s a boatload of work needed to be done in Boston in the offseason.
The Cards choked right?
So does that mean the Twins choked?
crickets and tumbleweed @Pete’s new gig.
this may be the “oddly named lohud blog”, but at least the joint is always jumping.
once the Sox are eliminated, that blog will literally become a ghost town.
Betsy
October 11th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I’m not sure why the Yankees were lucky. The Twins ran themselves out an inning, they stranded the bases loaded with no one out and their closer blew the game.
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the yankees were lucky because they won,got out of a bases loaded no out situation & a call went in their favor
if we lost how can we be lucky??
luck is part of it
Randy, that’s very true. I like that the Yankees took advantage of the Twins’ mistakes – that is what their most successful teams always did. They would make their opponent pay for any mistakes they made – a team would have to play nearly perfect ball to beat the Yankees.
PatM/Nick
5-star
OVER 37.5 Wash/CAR
Happy Sunday to the regulars.
Later,
-dennis
Winning championships usually involves good pitching and defense, timely hitting and a dose of lucky somewhere along the way.
Kids soccer and lacrosse game for me this afternoon. Root for the Sox for me.
Hope the series goes back to Anaheim.
dennis, thank you. I just opened my eyes and remembered that I should check here for your 5-star. I entered a few plays last night and that was one of them — precognition of your pick? But I will now play it as a 5-star.
I also have the Redsocks today, because I think they’ll win and to hedge against my LAofAA series bet.
i see the angels beating up on clay
too much to ask of him
dice comes in early if he made the roster
Lifetime Pinstriper
October 11th, 2009 at 11:21 am
One of them, the captain of the team, is everything the Yankees used to be and want to be again, is having one of his great seasons, is in the conversation for MVP of the American League.
The other, Rodriguez, isn’t discussed as the MVP, he missed too much time this season because of spring hip surgery even if he did manage to get to 30 home runs and 100 RBI. But even though the Yankees spent $180 million on Teixeira so A-Rod didn’t have to be The Man in the middle of the order all by himself, the Yankees really didn’t take off and even Teixeira didn’t take off until Rodriguez
————————————————————
The lack of games that Rodriguez had won’t have as much to do with his MVP support. Mantle won the MVP in 1962 while playing in 122 games and had just 377 official at bats. Joe Mauer has only played in 138 games this year….109 as a catcher. He also PH in five of those games. Lack of games isn’t the reason Rodriguez won’t win. As good as his numbers were, there were a few others with better.
randy l -
You know I appreciate your input on the conditioning program, such as it exists.
But I REALLY disagree with regard to Pavano. The butt injury? The car accident? The case can be made for Wang. It can be made for all the hammie injuries 2 springs ago. But NOT Carl Pavano.
ARod was not going to get the MVP in season in which it was revealed he used PEDs regardless of whether he’s stopped.
The umpire’s call was not the reason the Yankees WON the game; it may have been a reason that they didn’t LOSE the game.
As you can tell, I’m catching up backwards. Gotta go out for now. Since I’m hoping the other series goes 5, I guess I want the Sox to show up today. Can’t say I’m rooting for them – rooting for 5 games!
CATCHING THE BOUQUET
Burnett isn’t the only one instigating fun. After every walk-off win, the player who scores the game-winning run throws his helmet in the air and a half-dozen guys sky for the jump ball.
“It’s just bragging rights, kind of like getting the big rebound or something,” says Jerry Hairston Jr., who ended up with Teixeira’s helmet Friday night. “He can throw it to the right, to the left, real high or whatever, and guys are boxing each other out trying to get it.”
Adds Swisher: “It’s like a bouquet, it’s just fun.”
Burnett’s take? “They’re more worried about catching the helmet than high-fiving the guy. It just started happening and it’s just grown men having fun, that’s all it is.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....z0Tdwum4I1
==================================================
This explains the picture from Hoch’s blog. They all cared more about catching the helmet than greeting Tex!
Doreen
October 11th, 2009 at 11:53 am
The umpire’s call was not the reason the Yankees WON the game; it may have been a reason that they didn’t LOSE the game.
============================================================
a runner on 2nd,no outs is not a pretty situation
no force plays
“The umpire’s call was not the reason the Yankees WON the game; it may have been a reason that they didn’t LOSE the game”
You are right. The Twins had bases loaded and nobody out and did not score. Plus, Gardenhire should have pinch ran for Mauer when he was on second. The Twins hit a single and he did not score-he only made it to 3rd. If a faster runner-Alexi Casilla?- is on 2nd the Twins most likely take the lead there…
I’m not in any way supporting Pavano, but, right after the accident in which he fractured his ribs, he made 2 rehab starts and threw two 5 innings starts and allowed 1 run. When it was discovered that the ribs were fractured and it was too painful to pitch, they shut him down.
One of the regulars linked this last night:
http://bombersbeat.mlblogs.com/
Totally, O/T. But Pavano was being interviewed last night and I had forgotten what a nice looking guy he is. But just saw his photo next to Pettittes at yankees.com, and he’s not so handsome anymore. My brain has a totally irrational reaction to Carl in a baseball cap.
Is it messed up for me to wish Pavano gets a line drive off his gludious maximus. Coaches run in, decide he needs a cart to haul him off and the cart runs over his foot. They place him in the cart then he accidently falls off it. Something to that degree.
Getting back to that game we were playing in here.
Pedroia = E.T.
What was the bigger blunder…
Cuzzi missing the call?
or
the Twins not scoring with the bases loaded and no outs?
Oops. That last link was a picture of the guys at the plate. They’re looking up for the “rebound”, not at Tex.
As for the game that’s about to start? I want whomever wins to have to do it in five. So, go … can’t do it. I just want Bucky to get rocked, extra innings optional.
So boston is on the brink of elimination today despite the fact that john kruk said their team was completely bullet proof and had nothing to worry about coming into the playoffs? Is this correct?
Betsy October 11th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Mike Francesca just spent 10 minutes ranting about the call aqainst the Twins and how badly he feels for them…………he absolutely implied that the Twins lost the game because of that. What a surprise, lol. If the Yankees sweep tonight, expect Mike to rail against the unfairness of it all. If they lose tonight, expect Mike to rail against the unfairness of it all. Either way, he’ll be extremely upset that either the Twins got swept or that they should be up 1-2.
*****
I heard that this morning! Was he crying this much about the Tigers getting jobbed? Ump ruled the hitter wasn’t hit by a pitch (which would have directly led to a run), and he clearly was.
“CATCHING THE BOUQUET”
A-Rod started catching it because he didn’t go in the pile with the hip. Then Cabrera, Cano and him started boxing each other out to get it. Now a bunch of guys go for the helmet and save the hugs for after the pile at the plate.
Like a wedding bouquet, it may be good luck for who catches it to get the next walk-off.
“But just saw his photo next to Pettittes at yankees.com, and he’s not so handsome anymore. My brain has a totally irrational reaction to Carl in a baseball cap.”
LOL. Lots of guys suffer when put in comparison to Andy.
Don’t feel bad. Alyssa Milano must’ve dated him for a reason – I somehow doubt that his mental toughness had much to do with it.
i think the angels match up very well against the rs
the rs do not have the killer lineup they once did
ells & pedroia are good but little power,orti is not as good,terrible defensive catchers,do you play lowell ??
lester & becket are still good but very beatable
ss is a weak spot
if they can get a pitcher like halladay,a catcher,sign bay or another good lf,get a good ss they are right back in it
we sign cc,tex,burnett & look what it has done
Pete was exposed big time on his blog.It seems he has scrubbed
the LoHud blog of any negative things he said about Socks players.
One poster went to goolge’s cache pages and posted all the originals,where he called Pedroia keebler,elfin magic et al,because told them he only did it once.The poster called him an unprofessional liar and provided proof.
He slammed Pete as a dictator,it was brutal.
Thank goodness there are so few who read his threads as of yet.I get the impression the poster has a beef to settle with Pete!He posted links to back up his claim.
too many easier outs in the rs lineup
hardwired7
October 11th, 2009 at 11:30 am
crickets and tumbleweed @Pete’s new gig.
*********************************************
He hasn’t even been there a week. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was this blog. Some of you clearly weren’t around when this blog started. I remember were about as many comment as that for the first six months or so. Half of them were Pete giving us individual answers.