And now, on to baseball
Posted by: Sam Borden - Posted in Misc on Feb 07, 2010 
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If you’re anything like me, you’re probably battling a little bit of a stomachache and/or heartburn right now but feeling all the same that it was worth it. I hope everyone had a great time with family/friends/whomever during the game, and congrats to the Saints for pulling off a terrific comeback.
I’m not a huge Sean Payton fan – and he wasn’t exactly gracious to the Colts or Peyton Manning on the victor’s stand after the game was over – but say this for him: He gave a helluva of a halftime speech and he made some gutsy calls in the biggest game of his life. No doubt, the Saints were the better team today and they won.
Anyway, the highlight for me at these things is almost always the food and we pretty much had a clean sweep in terms of quality. The cheesy hash brown chili was fantastic, and the different wings both came out great. Obviously the Carvel football cake 
(pictured at right) was top-notch as well.
More importantly, the end of football season means that the stage is now set for baseball’s return. We’re just over a week away from pitchers and catchers reporting, and soon enough Opening Day will be upon us. The fun stuff is getting ever closer.
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By the way, for those who are interested: In my previous post, I talked about visiting the Ninth Ward on a recent trip to New Orleans and I meant to mention a project that I’ve written about in the past. Brian Bordainick, who is from Rockland County, N.Y., started up a foundation that is raising money for a new athletic stadium built within in the Ninth Ward. They’re getting cloesr to their funding goal but could use all the help they can get. I know Drew Brees and the Saints have pitched in, and if you’re interested, the website to donate is right here.
56 days until the 1st game of the year!!! Can’t wait!!! =)
HERE WE GO YANKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
it was another great Super Bowl, always great when they are close games…..P&C let’s report!
Wow, I can’t believe football is over and spring training is almost upon us again. What am I most excited about this year? I’m very curious how the starting pitching will do, specifically Vazquez and Hughes/Joba. Could be a pretty amazing starting 5.
Tomorrow is Truck Day! I consider tomorrow the prelude to pitchers and catchers. Here comes the 2010 Baseball season, slowly but surely!
That was indeed a great football game. No, Payton wasn’t exactly gracious, but everything that he would’ve said had already been said by the media in the last two weeks.
Thank goodness I won’t have to hear about Dwight Freeney’s ankle anymore (for the record, he performed admirably, but I was sick of hearing his name this week).
Turning the page, baseball will be a welcome sight. Baseball’s so unpredictable, you can’t assume anything. But like Jeter, I’m grateful that the Yankees have once again assembled a great team.
Lots of things to look forward to:
1. 5th starter competition
2. assembling of the bullpen
3. GGBG-can he grab the brass ring?
4. Javy, Javy, Javy
5. NJ
6. Curtis Granderson-always hated his cheerful perkiness when he was with the Tigers. Somehow I don’t think it’s going to be a problem anymore
7. Andy-love watching him battle and being a great leader & mentor
8. Girardi-will he loosen up a bit? Just a little?
9. WWJD? What will Jeter do (in his contract year)?
10. Who grabs the 25th spot?
8 weeks until the Sunday Nite opening pitch in Fenway.
This article is a favorite good read on Cashmans hardball stance with players and their outrageous greed about coming to the Yankees, or staying. ~Cashman: We’re not going to be anybody’s sugar daddy anymore.~
http://www.fanhouse.com/2007/0.....y-anymore/
Looks like he wasn’t playing, evidenced by this postseasons` hardball stance with Damon.
Better link on Cashman not being a Sugar Daddy anymore
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....02311.html
Damon 27- your’re right he’s not playing. I enjoyed the read too!
I don’t know if it’s been recommended before, but with all of the great foods everyone prepares for sporting events, I think it would be cool for us to compile some of these ideas and recipes.
Imagine watching the World Series with the greatest collection of dips and foods known to Yankee fans?!
What do you think?
m
“8. Girardi-will he loosen up a bit? Just a little?”
He actually laughs quite a bit, but his laugh is a snivel.
As for Sean Payton, his decision to open the second half with an onsides kick may have been the gutsiest big game call I have ever seen.
The WaPo article is from 2007. Wasn’t Cash the surrogate sugar daddy to Teix, CC, and AJ? NTTAWWT. Especially with regard to Teix and CC. The Yankees should be in the bidding for every great player if they have a positional need.
lol, Rich. It sounds like a snort/snicker.
Really, what I meant is that he’s so wound up in the dugout. He needs to unclench. And he needs to let go of the book a bit. Which I expect he will. After all, he’s only entering his 4th year as a manager!
Paul,
That’d be a lot of anonymous contributors in the cookbook!
Cash’s “sugar daddy” comment is from last spring, which is humorous, considering he had just signed CC, AJ, Marte, and Tex, as well trading for Swish.
To trade a player with as much talent and box-office pizzazz as Curtis Granderson means something dramatic had to have happened in 2009.
It did. And it was not only because the Tigers got hit with a monsoon season of red ink that has spurred at least a couple of goodbye parties for some key Tigers players.
Granderson fell from grace.
That’s the only way to say it.
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He hit .249 this past season. He batted .183 against left-handers and became so overmatched by them that manager Jim Leyland sometimes sat him, or more often dropped him deep into his batting order.
You could feel the tension building inside Comerica Park’s clubhouse. Granderson, even as he hit 30 home runs, came to embody the Tigers’ sputtering, sprint-and-slip offense. The supposed ignition switch often became a drag on a batting order that seemed to deflate or inflate based on what Granderson was doing.
If it were just a matter of having an off season, the Tigers might have lived with it. But it goes deeper than that. Granderson has been spread too thin in Detroit. In that respect, his charm is also his curse.
He’s involved in everything. He has a difficult time saying no. He loves community work. He’s here for this event, there for that gathering, and almost always available for a kid who needs him at a hospital.
Wonderful, and praiseworthy. And also of likely consequence to his fundamental assignment: playing baseball.
One must be careful about making criticisms here. But this feeling has been deep for a very long time, mostly because Granderson, for all his decency, on too many days appeared to be putting in more of a work shift than concentrating adequately on a game that must be played with consummate passion and attention.
I’ve had discussions with Granderson on this very subject and his testimony has been compelling. He acknowledged last summer that he probably was over-scheduled during past seasons. But not in 2009. In fact, he had trimmed his schedule — a lot, to hear him detail.
That’s no doubt true.
But being Granderson is different from being another baseball player. He’s literally an ambassador to Major League Baseball, complete with overseas tours of duty and the whole package.
Baseball at-large reveres Granderson almost to the same degree as Tigers fans who have made him unquestionably the team’s most popular player.
To underscore that point, in all its dizzying context, it was necessary last summer to listen to the crowd at Comerica Park as Granderson came to the plate. It never mattered what he had done the previous at-bat, or the previous week.
The crowd would go nuts for him. Always. Cheers, long, deep and extended, were Granderson’s theme song.
It was almost comical. There was no way the customers were going to slam him; no way they were going to suggest for a moment that he was at least partly accountable for a team’s serious offensive hang-ups.
The Tigers, though, I’ve come to believe had a different evaluation. I think they decided to cut ties with Granderson now. They had seen 2009 and didn’t like it — a bit. The 30 home runs were fine. The eight triples, the 23 doubles — many fewer than during some previous seasons — and the 141 strikeouts, headed by that .183 funk against left-handers, made him expendable when his market value and cachet remained high.
The Tigers will forever be grateful to Curtis Granderson. He came to personify Detroit’s baseball renaissance during this decade. He was indeed the face — a very captivating face — of Tigers baseball.
But this game is neither a face, nor a charity appearance. Baseball must be played with passion between the white lines. And while Granderson was good, he was not as good as he had been. And with his complicated, ever-demanding life tugging at him from all directions, the Tigers perhaps correctly decided his primary vocation would always share space with too many other facets of his rich and fascinating career.
Don’t be surprised if playing in Yankees pinstripes re-invigorates him. Neither can I blame the Tigers for seeing with insight into a player who in 2009 didn’t measure up to his gaudy reputation.d
Sugar daddy was in reference to Abreu, Damon et al, not the holes that Tex, AJ, and CC needed to fill. He won’t be a sucker for old aging talent.
Sugar daddy’s refers to acquiring AGING Players. When a woman has a Sugar daddy, he’s old with mucho bucks!
Cashman isn’t going for the old Veterans anylore and locking up valuable resources on them! AJ aTex, CC, and are young assets.
Edit anylore= anymore
Hi Sam and Chad – can you guys report on who is at ST now? It seems like there are a few guys there already and more drifting in this week. I guess I would gauge their early arrival as an indication of their seriousness to excel in the upcoming season.
Wonder if we will see Damon down in Tampa holding a “will work for 6 million dollars sign”
good one Blake…as long as he isn’t signed you never know
Couple thoughts on that Granderson post:
1) Spreading oneself too thin can be a problem, but one I’m sure the Yankees are prepared to address. IIRC, they had to discuss a similar issue with Chamberlain a year or two back.
2) Mentioned this the other day, but I think Granderson set a standard in his 2007 season that is likely the exception rather than the rule. If the press in Detroit was holding him to that standard, they were bound to be disappointed. He’s much more a .280 hitter with a .490 slugging percentage than he is a .300 hitter with a .550 slugging percentage. Some guys have their career season early in their career. It’s probably true of Granderson.
Good morning.
For those curious, I am in fact still bitter about being 4 yards away from winning $5,000
Erica
Who’da thought we’d be let down by Peyton Manning, of all people?????
oh Erica, I don’t blame you…you could have bought Johnny D! Your dip recipe was delicious. I have a similar one that uses sour cream, but the cream cheese made it much smoother and creamier.
“For those curious, I am in fact still bitter about being 4 yards away from winning $5,000″
That does suck.
Have to give the Colts credit, they were gracious losers.
No matter what Granderson turns out to be here, I think a major reason for the trade was that the Yankees feared that Austin Jackson’s ceiling may be similar to Granderson in a bad year.
Personally, I think Granderson should focus more on making good contact and less on hitting HR. If you consistently make good contact, the HR will come.
He’s going to be good, Rich. I don’t think he ever gets a sniff of 2007 numbers again, but his normal season of .275-.280, 65 extra basehits, .830-.840 OPS, is a really good season.
10 more days until pitchers and catchers have their 1st workouts.
“Who’da thought we’d be let down by Peyton Manning, of all people?????”
In fairness, it was Manning who made Erica’s shot at the money possible by throwing that interception, as that put the Saints number at 1. Had the Colts gone on to score on that drive, chances of the Saints kicking a late FG are probably a lot greater than them scoring a late TD.
So I guess you could say Manning giveth and Manning taketh away.
Rick
February 8th, 2010 at 8:37 am
10 more days until pitchers and catchers have their 1st workouts.
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This is very good news, considering I’m not in the best mood today after the Colts lost
Historically the Yanks have been very good at helping their players say “NO” during the regular season and encouraging them to do more things in the off-season.
Granderson will probably benefit from that example and seeing how Derek, Alex and others manage their time off the field so that they are ready when they get on the field.
I’m of the belief that he will have a huge year. I see him hitting ahead of Tex and behind Jeter vs RHP and batting in the lower third (possibly No. 9 ahead of Jeter?) against LHP.
Plus, he no longer has to be the face of the franchise… the Yankees have that well taken care of and that will allow him to relax and not feel he has to be “on” all the time.
2007 may have in deed been a Career year for Granderson and we may never see those numbers again but let’s not forget thag he’s moving from one of the worst hitters parks to one of the best for left handed hitters and a lineup with much more protection than he had in Detroit.
Its possible that those factors bring his baseline closer to the 2007 numbers than it would have been in Detroit.
upstate kate
February 8th, 2010 at 8:28 am
oh Erica, I don’t blame you…you could have bought Johnny D! Your dip recipe was delicious. I have a similar one that uses sour cream, but the cream cheese made it much smoother and creamier.
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I am really glad everyone liked it. The cream cheese melts very nicely in the microwave and the cheese on top makes it nice and gooey
Frank -
Yes.
And, well, Manning tried. I guess he was let down by his receivers.
But you gotta blame someone, right?
Once the Saints scored their TD off the interception, and realized there was enough time in the game for the Colts to score, I got excited about my pre-game guess, as well. I didn’t have boxes; I had guessed the score outright to win a $50 gift certificate to a favorite restaurant of ours. So, I didn’t “lose” as much as Erica, but I had a stake (steak?) in the outcome.
I blame myself. Had I remained aloof, and had my quick math skills eluded me, I wouldn’t have gotten greedy. LOL
Erica -
You’re going to have to re-post your recipe. I missed it and it sounds like something I’d love to make.
About Granderson, it’s also worth noting that he has no established charities (yet) in the NY area, so perhaps most (all?) of his charitable work during the season will be limited to those that the Yankees set up, as they did last season for their players.
Granderson, himself, though, said that last season he actually cut down on those things, and that he did not do anything on game days.
Frankly, I think Detroit is just looking for an excuse to not be so sorry he’s gone. To make it easier to deal with. Like, say, losing my $50 restaurant gift certificate last night – I make myself feel better by saying, well, I probably couldn’t have gotten someone to stay with my daughter, anyway.
It’s really impossible to say how Granderson will respond to putting on the Pinstripes.
Hopefully, the change of scenery will bring out the best in him again.
And K. Long can help him become more productive.
His speed and defense should be positives. CG and GGBG should be able to cover a lot of ground.
He certainly has the “right stuff” as far as makeup goes.
So here’s to hoping for a big year from the Grandyman. Welcome.
Quickly perusing Granderson’s splits, he was about as bad v. LHP in 2007 as he was in 2009. If he could ever be merely not terrible v. LHP, his aggregate stats would be really good.
Doreen – Ain’t it Just “Grand”?
February 8th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Erica -
You’re going to have to re-post your recipe. I missed it and it sounds like something I’d love to make.
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Sure. Its so easy and everyone loves it!!!
Start with a 9×13 glass casserole dish and layer in a can of refried beans. Then cover it with a few tablespoons of salsa so its all covered. Take a softened stick of cream cheese, and cut it in thin squares covering the salsa. Top it all off with a bag of some sort of mexican cheese blend. Microwave for 7 minutes.
I have never had leftovers of this.
General question (off topic):
Does anyone else think that we should carry one more bench player and one less RP due to the depth of our starting staff ?
Erica -
Thanks!
Erica-
You are “persona Non-grata” at the next Amnerican Heart Association meeting.
Meant “American”. sorry.
Erica -
Did you ever use the low-fat varieties of the cream cheese and mexican cheese blend?
(I have used the low fat cream cheese in other recipes with no one being able to guess.)
Doreen – Ain’t it Just “Grand”?
February 8th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Erica -
Did you ever use the low-fat varieties of the cream cheese and mexican cheese blend?
(I have used the low fat cream cheese in other recipes with no one being able to guess.)
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You could, but I usually use the full fat in this receipe. I hardly ever make it and lower fat doesn’t always melt well. The trick is to not eat the whole thing by yourself
Low-fat cream cheese is fine… no-fat cream cheese is paste
Who cares about the American Heart Association? You gotta die of something, might as well be with a smile!
MTU — I have always been opposed to a 12-man pitching staff and have written that on this blog many times.
With four starters who combined for well over 800 innings each of the last two seasons it makes little to no sense to carry 12 for this team.
I understand how folks get worried about Granderson and his hitting issues. But since folks here desire stats so much I thougt I’d like to discuss some.
(1) The difference between Granderson being a .300 hitter & a .252 hitter is 1 hit a week. If he had 1 more hit every week he would have batted .300.
(2) If CG had the 1 extra hit a week, then he would have had an OBP of .372 which isn’t too bad.
Batting 2nd, in front of Tex & ARod he’d see more fastballs and 1 extra hit a week is not too much to ask. Also, Detroit had CG batting 1st with Clete Thomas or Ordonez batting 3rd, neither of which scares anyone.
Looking at FanGraph’s new splits section:
Granderson’s 2009 BABIP v. LHP was .228, v. RHP it was .296. For his career it’s .263 v. LHP and .341 v. RHP.
Granderson’s 2009 LD% v. LHP was 21.2 %, v. RHP it was 21.2 %. For his career it’s 18.6 % v. LHP and 21.3 % v. RHP.
86-
“Gotta die of something”. And with your boots on in the Horizontal plane.
Thanks for the input on the pitching. I think they should at least start the season that way and adjust if needed.
New Post- Pinch hitting: Jesse Ghiorzi
MTU, yes, as long as everyone in the rotation is healthy I think the additional bench player would be more beneficial.
Grandersom seems made for the big stage to me. That doesn’t mean he actually will be but all the signs point in that direction by my estimation. I’m excited to see what he brings to the table in 2010.
You can get used to low fat cream cheese but it takes a while, about fifty years.
Let’s go Yankees!