A spit decision
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Oct 20, 2009 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Apparently, Mariano Rivera was labeled as a cheater for a few hours today.
If you haven’t seen the video, check out YouTube for the “evidence” that Rivera spit on a baseball in last night’s game against the Angels. The video caused quite the uproar among Angels fans and Yankees fans alike.
The New York Post, though, is reporting that Major League Baseball has looked into the incident and ruled that Rivera did not actually spit on the ball. He clearly spit near the ball, but not on it. The video clip that has circulated through the Internet comes from a camera angle that makes it tough to tell where the spit was directed and/or landed — and it doesn’t help that the video cuts away just as Rivera spits — but it looks to me as if Rivera is spitting to the right of the baseball.
The amount that he spit — if that landed on the ball, the ball would have stuck to his hand.
Its all Aybar’s fault……I hate him
Here’s mine:
SS Jeter
LF Damon
1B Tex
3B Arod
C Posada
DH Matsui
CF Cabrera
2B Cano
RF Swisher
can someone tell me what’s wrong with spitting on the ball?
Much ado about nothing other than to remind us that the average IQ of sportswriters (present company excluded) is in the mid-seventies
Repost from last thread:
Erica,
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Arod 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Melky CF
Boring, yes, the same lineup as all but the Molina games, but if Joe sits Swisher or some of the other things people are asking for, that will be an unnecessary panic move, IMO. The others besides Arod and Jeter do need to start doing something, though.
Still unhappy about Girardi’s decision to lift Robertson last night. Here’s Bill Madden’s column on the subject:
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....tcher.html
Some excellent points made.
I’ll get in the game with this one…
SS Jeter
LF Damon
1B Tex
3B Arod
C Posada
DH Matsui
2B Cano
RF Swisher
CF Cabrera
I realize I posted this already, but some medicine to counter the non-story
The legend of Mariano Rivera
http://www.puristbleedspinstri.....ivera.html
Kevin
October 20th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
can someone tell me what’s wrong with spitting on the ball?
****
It promotes the spread of germs and swine flu
Here is in so far for today’s Guess the Line Up.
Reminder: post players AND positions
Submissions until the line up gets leaked or 4:30 (whichever comes first). NO late entries today
Vin, Fran, Upstate Kate, Andrew GTLU Bronze Medalist, Christina, Blackaccord, Shawn, Ed H, Laura, NYY626, Mark in Tampa(same)
Iiicollies
Trevor
Tex’s Friend
Adam
Bronx Bombers Girl
Frank from Chatham, Hokiehill (same)
86w183
Peter Rabbit
Yankee in ND
Erica – always OPPC
October 20th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Kevin
October 20th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
can someone tell me what’s wrong with spitting on the ball?
****
It promotes the spread of germs and swine flu
*******
hahahahaha….I love it
so does spitting on your hands…
SS Jeter
LF Damon
1B Tex
3B Arod
DH Matsui
C Posada
2B Cano
CF Cabrera
RF Hairston
his body language (glancing around to see if anyone is looking, looking at the ball, etc) sure makes it seem like he spit on the ball…it looked like he was aiming where that spit was going….not like i really care either way, however
ss jete
lf damon
1b tex
3b arod
dh matsui
c posada
2b cano
rf swish
cf melk
Erica, I’m, not going to todays game…I am scheduled for Thursday’s Pennant clincher at Anahiem…Then next week to Game 1 of the World Series at The Stadium…..That’s the plan & I’m sticking by it !!!!!! Shower before the game, no swimming or pool side shower rinse this time….
Erica,
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Pat M.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Erica, I’m, not going to todays game…I am scheduled for Thursday’s Pennant clincher at Anahiem…Then next week to Game 1 of the World Series at The Stadium…..That’s the plan & I’m sticking by it !!!!!! Shower before the game, no swimming or pool side shower rinse this time….
****
I am glad you learned your lesson. A pool and a shower are not equal
erica heres my lineup – gracias
1. jeter ss
2. damon lf
3. texira 1b
4. arod 3b
5. matsui dh
6. posada c
7. cano 2b
8. melky rf
9. gardner cf
Hensley Muellens Blast Pal
October 20th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
****
I haven’t seen this name in ages. How are you?
Melky, Swish, Cano, and Tex better produce tonight. I am sick of their pathetic approach at the plate. They need to have respectable at bats.
What a disgrace after the job Mo did last night to even have to hear about this garbage.
This is why NY’ers LOATHE Boston fans. They have nothing better to do.
If NYC ever declared war on Boston, I have no doubt NY’ers would be dropping everything and enlisting with the little wooden Yankee bats you can buy at the gift shop.
mo looks around like that all the time, he’s checking his infielders. you dont throw a spitball by spitting on the ball. you spit on your hand, rub dirt in it or something else sticky, and then rub it into the ball. you don’t spit on it on the mound in the playoffs on national television.
I am playing the lineup game today because when I have played this postseason, it has been good luck.
Jeter – SS
Damon – LF
Teixiera – 1B
Al – 3B
Posada – C (assume he moves ahead of Matsui since he will bat righty)
Matsui – DH
Swisher – RF (assume he moves ahead of robbie for same reason as Cano……although neither righties nort lefties can hit pitches that bounce on the plate alll that well)
Cano – 2B – swisher wont get on in front of him so he should have a few shots to hit with the bases empty
Melky – CF – hopefully he brings his bat with him
IMO, the spitball/doctored ball thing is a mental exercise. The amount of scuffing/substance that you must put on a ball to change the aerodynamics significantly enough to make the ball move cannot be done without being seen on the mound. Gaylord Perry was successful not because he doctored baseballs, but because the other team always thought he was doing it. Other pitchers who swear their pitch moved because of what they did to it were only seeing what they wanted to see, IMO, but they may get a mental edge from thinking they are doing something.
Still struggling with digesting the outcome yesterday.
Up 3-0, this was one we had to have.
Makes you feel like Yanks are down, 1-2, instead of being up 2-1.
RHs need to do some damage against Kazmir tonight.
SS
LF
1B
3B
DH
C
2B
RF
CF
SS Jeter
LF Damon
1B Texiera
3B Rodriguez
DH Matsui
C Posada
2B Cano
RF Swisher
CF Cabrera
It’s worked before, and, as Girardi would say, he “likes the match-ups better”.
I meant to say Swisher bats ahead of Cano for same reason i listed about posada moving ahead of matsui.
It was an angel fan site that started that rumor
And I don’t want to see Girardi bring in Joba in a big situation late in the game. Go to Robertson, Hughes, and Rivera.
Wow Dodger season rest in the hands of Vicente Padilla. Ouch!
Repost since I failed to notice two new posts
—————
Jennifer and M and whoever else respoded to my post.
Dorry it tool me so long to respond. On the road and trying to keep up while on my phone.
First, yes, the initial video was posted on Youtube, picked up by the Halo blog and fanned from there.
Second, yes, there is more video from the fox feed. What that video shows is anyones guess. My point is that it’s highly suspect that the clip was edited to show a tight shot of the dugout for the final moments. Why not just let it play out, or end it there? It’s always easier to not edit than to edit.
Disgusting innuenedo. I can’t believe MLB or anyone would believe that about Mo.
With six of the likely starters hitting under .200 against Kazmir, the Yankees need Teixiera to hit today. Otherwise, it will be hard to score much. While AROD has bad numbers against him too, I think we all know the Angels are not going to allow AROD to beat them unless they have no choice. Teixiera needs to give them no choice by being on first. I would move Posada who has okay numbers against Kazmir to fifth.
I’m surprised at so many Gardner suggestions for the lineup today, facing a lefty, when Melky has good numbers against Kazmir to boot…
Jeter ss
Damon LF
Tex 1B
Arod 3B
Posada C
Matsui DH
Swisher RF
Cano 2B
Melky CF
Figured I’d take a shot at a lineup that gives Arod some protection against a lefty and splits the lefties with Swish between Matsui and Cano. Not a panic move just a lineup that gives you a left right option all the way through and still lefties 5-9 against their RH relievers later in the game.
When Girardi was asked about switching his line up last night he said he was sticking w/ the guys who got him there.
And I don’t want to see Girardi bring in Joba in a big situation late in the game. Go to Robertson, Hughes, and Rivera.
__
Dont expect Hughes tonight. pitched 2+ yesterday.
Deadspin posted a debunking of the spitball.
http://deadspin.com/5385945/sp.....s/gallery/
I’m surprised at so many Gardner suggestions for the lineup today, facing a lefty, when Melky has good numbers against Kazmir to boot
__
a lot of the garder suggestions dealt with replacing nick swisher and less with melky.
I’m down on Melky, but you can’t start Gardner today. Melky actually has good numbers vs. Kazmir.
You also can’t take a switch hitting Swisher out of the lineup against a lefty.
Hopefully, Swisher gets a fastball he can hit and does something with it tonight.
i like posada 5th here.
I saw the Rivera spitball video in the Boston Globe, The LA papers had nothing about it…..
I’m sure someone has mentioned this before, but it was reported that Jeter and Alex are battling the flu. Great. The only two guys producing and they are sick. That’s just great.
They caught Mariano. They caught The Tater. Jeez already.
I don’t think moving Jorge behind A-Rod is a bad idea at all. No offense to Matsui, but he has scuffled a bit. Then again, so did much of the lineup yesterday. God love Swish, but he chased nearly every bad breaking ball possible. Watching him yesterday was painful. It was as if he couldn’t help himself.
Hitting better than 0-8 with RISP would help the team, clearly.
Girardi has to bat Posada 5th today. Arod needs right handed protection behind him. Matsui hasn’t been swinging the bat well like most of the guys but Posada has looked very good. Tex has very good numbers against Kazmir and they need him to be the real Tex today.
Its all Aybar’s fault……I hate him
====================
Yeah, I dont like him either, but he’s a good little player. I think I’d actually take Aybar over Jose Reyes at this point.
Laura, that is not encouraging news. Hopefully they can play their butts off, and well, for today then get tomorrow off to rest. I thought Jeter’s eyes looked a bit puffy during the game. He saw well enough to nail Abreu, however.
Laura – Don’t call him A-Rod. His new nickname is “Alex the late”!
October 20th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
I’m sure someone has mentioned this before, but it was reported that Jeter and Alex are battling the flu. Great. The only two guys producing and they are sick. That’s just great.
****
Ugh- that was NOT reported. Not good
I bet A-Rod got it from Jeter last night, when he grabbed his tushie like he owned it
Someone from the Halos website wrote the New York writers, here’s one response:
FWIW, reply from Post columnist Mike Vaccaro I emailed a few reporters/columnists a few hours ago. Got this back from the Post’s Mike Vaccaro:
Funny, this is everywhere this morning. It’s hard to doubt what the eyes see, no?
Very interesting …
Mike
Mike Vaccaro
Sports Columnist
New York Post
=========================
http://www.halosheaven.com/
Wow Dodger season rest in the hands of Vicente Padilla. Ouch!
————————————————————–
Have you seen him pitch recently?
He’s been on fire.
Everbody seems to be focused on CC and 3 days rest, but what about Kazmir on 8 days rest? He has never had real good command, and he seems to lose the feel for his slider easily. Have 4 extra rest days will not help either of those. He was also Tampa’s shakiest starter in the PS last year. He may pitch well tonight, but I would have more doubts about him than CC.
I dont know if anybody mentioned this yet, I’m sure somebody did…but this whole spitting thing is reminding me of a famous Seinfeld episode…one of the best episodes ever!
Hughes threw 1+ yesterday and he threw less than 20 pitches. He can go tonight.
This is why most NY fans think most Cali fans are complete idiots.
Because they are.
spitting next to a ball isnt quite the same as squirting ketchup on a sock.
Mariano has never had a spitball in his arsenal of pitches. His signature cutter, and a 3 seam fastball does it. He’s fooled around with a changeup but doesn’t rely on it.
Somebody stirring the pot.
*sigh* I hope some Yankee Haters out there know that a “spitball” typically is not thrown with actual spit. Crafty pitchers of yore usually hid some KY or other water soluble gel, or pine tar, on their uniform, often under the bill of their cap (Hello Kenny Rogers). The altered spin from unequal weight distribution would produce downward break. Then the catcher would lick his hand and wipe the stuff off in case someone wanted to look at the ball. It is true that historically, spitballers would spit on the ball, but I’m pretty sure that hasn’t been tried anytime since the advent of national TV broadcasts.
If Mo threw anything other than a cutter or a four seam fastball, that would be news. This is really reaching.
He won’t need much command if Yankee hitters continue to swing at pitches in the dirt.
Plate discipline is gone right now and that has to change.
If not, this series won’t end pretty for the Yankees.
As far as the bullpen lineup, Girardi has to feature Robertson more and Chamberlain and Aceves less.
Hughes only threw 19 pitches yesterday. He can pitch an inning today.
Its time for guys to start being smarter at the plate.
If they can’t do it, then the manager needs to make lineup changes for Game 5.
SJ44-
Were you on during the game thread last night?
Good point about Kazmir and the long rest, Mark in Tampa. I’d love to see him rusty.
Plate discipline must return. Too much chasing garbage lately.
new thread
DO NOT POST ANY MORE LINE UPS HERE
Dont expect Hughes tonight
—————
Hughes only threw 20 pitches and this is the play offs, he is defintiely available for 1 inning tonight. Believe me when Girardi starts getting up tight in the late innings everyone is available.
I hope great pitching from CC spells disaster for the Angels and their famous fan Pat Sajack tonight !
Erica,
No, I was coming home from Boston.
I won’t be on the game thread tonight either.
I skimmed them earlier in the post-season and they were too crazy for me.
With the odd bench that has been compiled for this series, Girardi is limited in what he can do to change the lineup. Other than putting Gardner in, what other options does he have?
Well, nobody actually thought that the Angels would rollover for us did they? They had to fight tooth and nail for that win last night and somehow managed to squeak it out despite the Yanks getting a couple momentum shifters.
To change the luck, I washed my Yankees sweater I’ve been wearing since Day 1 of the Playoffs.
The bottom of the lineup needs to step it up (Cano,Swisher,Melky) they have all been horrible this postseason. Melky has really good numbers of Kazmir so hopefully he will start hitting.
And Teixeira needs to start hitting. If he doesn’t get on base they are just going to walk and pitch around A-Rod for the rest of the series.
Jeter 6
Damon DH
Teixeira 3
Rodriguez 6
Posada 2
Hairston 4
Swisher 9
Cabrera 7
Gardner 8
“If they can’t do it, then the manager needs to make lineup changes for Game 5.”
@SJ
That worries me, I have to say. I can imagine Girardi being stubborn and saying “nothing is wrong with our 7-9 hitters” and sticking with them.
The same goes for Joba and Ace.
Laura
Paper said they were battling flu-like symptoms yesterday and they seemed to play ok.
The IV pole could slow them down on the basepaths but they’ll both be in there.
People are overreacting a little to Joba he has been pretty good from the bullpen this postseason. He hasn’t been lights out. But in game 2 he came in the 7th and got out of a bases loaded jam against there the angels number 3 and 4 hitters. Yesterday was the first game he came in where he got hit hard.
Let’s hope our boys wake up and use yesterdays awful loss and this silly spitting incident as motivation and take tonight’s game! God bless the Yankees!