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September 30, 2006

The Batting Crown Chase

Now that the Yankees have home-field locked up for the post-season, and there's nothing riding on these last two games, does Torre bat Cano and Jeter one-two in the line-up to help them with the race for the batting crown?

I think Joe will not move Cano up - because it probably helps him not to get a lot of ABs at this point. And, if anything, I bet Torre bats Jeter third now - to try and get him 100 RBI for the season.

And, unless the batting race is close on Sunday, or if Jeter has 99 RBI, I would be shocked to see either of them playing the last game of the season.

All things concerned, including the weather forecast, that's going to be some line-up on the field for Sunday's game.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 09:34 AM | Comments (5)

And, Now, For Some Mets News....

From Newsday:

WASHINGTON - KNOW YOUR PLACE, ROOK!

The hand-scrawled message hung above Lastings Milledge's locker after Friday's 4-3 victory over the Nationals. At the bottom of the two sheets of paper was written, "Your Teammates."

At a time when the Mets should be focusing on the playoffs, it was a disturbing sign.

Milledge, as usual, ate dinner alone seated at his locker, facing inward, as the rest of the Mets crowded the clubhouse cafeteria. Someone had hidden Milledge's street clothes, and one player thought they had been replaced by a dress.

The reason? According to one person familiar with the situation, Milledge - whose reputation is deteriorating quickly - mouthed off to a veteran teammate in Atlanta. Friday's rebuke followed. Apparently, his teammates are becoming more and more annoyed by Milledge's attitude.

"How much does it take to finally wake up?" the person said. "How long before you realize the way you're acting is the opposite of how you should be acting? Fine. Stay asleep, then."

Why the Mets news here? As a "pious, self-righteous Yankee blogger," would you expect any less from me? (Yeah, I know this was four months ago, but, on certain things I have a memory like an elephant.)

Here's hoping that, if the Yankees and Mets face each other this October, Milledge has a "Timo Perez moment."

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 09:15 AM | Comments (3)

September 29, 2006

September 29th vs. The Blue Jays

Is it Tuesday yet?
Is it Tuesday yet?
Is it Tuesday yet?

That's all I can think about now. Gosh, I can only imagine how this is driving the Yankees players crazy too.

Nice to see Moose be sharp - given the Unit news, Mussina better be wicked sharp in the post-season for the Yankees to have a good chance at this point.

The LDS has always been a tricky beast - given that it's the best of five. It's OK to lose one game in the LDS - but, the minute that you lose two games, you're one game away from going home. Therefore, just about every game in the LDS is must win. This all said, if Randy Johnson is going to be a question, it's best to leave the Big Unit off the squad. If David Wells in 2003 and Kevin Brown in 2004 have taught the Yankees anything, it should be that you don't show up at the marina unless you know for sure that your boat can float.

Joe, Cash, here's some advice for you. Better to take your chances with a possible shaky five that Wright and/or Lidle can provide than to run Randy out there on an epidural high and all of a sudden it's the second inning and you're down by six.

Remember, in the LDS, once you lose one, you're next door to losing two. And, once you lose two, you're on life-support.

Right now, there's a big part of me that wants to hear that Unit tried to play catch on Saturday (meaning tomorrow) and had to quit after three throws - and then the Yankees will have no option than to pass on him.

The Big Unit and I are close in age. (I am 9 1/2 months older.) I've never had a herniated disc; but, I've had my back go out on me, every once in a while, over the last few years. As any one with a back issue can tell you, when it goes, you're toast. You probably shouldn't even drive - much less start a playoff game.

Unless the Yankees can find some doctor who is willing to staple Johnson's back together and dab some fake blood on his jersey.......oh, forget it. There's no way getting Johnson out there like this is going to be good for New York.

The Yankees need to look at this Johnson news and say "Two tears in a bucket, mother [bleep] it." Stuff happens, move on. I hope that they take this approach to it.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:16 PM | Comments (6)

Yankees Bloggers Pre-Playoffs Predictions

A couple of days ago, I made the following post-season prediction for the Yankees:

If the Yankees win the ALDS, I can see them going back to the World Series and then winning a ring in six games. This said, the ALDS will be one small step for the Yankees this October, but, one giant leap for their overall chances.

After, that, I was curious as to what other Yankees Bloggers thought. So, I asked. Here's what they had to say:

From Alex Belth of Bronx Banter:

I think if the Yanks make it past the first round they'll go to the World Serious. I wouldn't be shocked if they lost in the first round to either the Tigers or the Twins. Disappointed, yes; surprised, no. But if they get past that, I like their chances to get to the Serious and even win it all. It's been a fun season and this is as likable a Yankee team as there has been in recent years. So long as there is no Subway Series, it'll be fun. Mets-Yanks is just too tense for me to stomach.

From Patrick O'Keefe of YanksBlog.com:

I see no reason for us not to win the World Series, so I'll pick us to win it, naturally. As a team, we're good enough to go up against anyone. We have as much talent and more experience than everyone else, as far as I am concerned. If everyone is with us, the potential of our offense is astounding. Defensively, I think we're fine. Granted, I'm not sure what to expect of Sheff at first, but I know what to expect of the rest and I'm comfortable with it. I think we've got the bullpen, as well. Will they perform? Who knows. Same for everyone. But, they are capable, like anyone else. Starting pitching is the one area I'm a bit concerned about. I'm fine with Wang and Mussina, but Randy and whoever goes 4th are why they made Rolaids. Still, all things considered, I'll take our guys against their guys.

From Peter Abraham of The Journal News LoHud Yankees Blog:

I think the Yankees will win the Series in a walk whoever they play from the NL after nearly losing the ALCS. I'm worried about the starting pitching. But their bullpen is strong and the lineup is a monster. They could average six runs a game in the postseason. It's an impossible bunch to pitch to and they can steal bases.

From Phil Donohue of InsideTheStadium.com:

The Yankees are the closest thing there is to a sure bet for winning the World Series. Their pitching (starting and bullpen) are solid and their offense is out of this world. Additionally, the Yanks are playing with a swagger we haven't seen in years. Joe Torre has had a chance to rest some key guys who will now face opponents with no more than one dominating starter.

From Jim Baumbach of On The Yankees Beat:

Lose in ALCS to Athletics. Why? First reason, I picked the A's in spring training to win the World Series, so I should stay true to that. Secondly, the Yankees' pitching staff is a question mark. You don't know what you're going to get from Randy, and I wonder how Farnsworth and even Proctor will respond to a big spot. The Yankees obviously have a strong enough offense to overcome potential pitching problems, but still, in the end, I see their pitching being their downfall.

From Joe Pawlikowski of The Sporting Brews:

I've been saying for a few days now that they'll win it all--and I haven't made that prediction since the disappointment that was 2002.

The logic is simple: there are no dominant pitching staffs this season. The White Sox had one last year, and that's why they were able to shut down the offense-heavy Red Sox. This year, however, there is no such staff. One could argue a case for the Tigers, but their staff is flawed as well. Justin Verlander is a rookie and already in uncharted innings pitched territory. Kenny Rogers is Kenny Rogers, which means he folds at even the slightest hint of pressure. Nate Robertson is largely unproven. That leaves Jeremy Bonderman, whose near 4.00 ERA doesn't really put him at a dominating level.

There is but one pitcher who can shut down the Yanks: Johan Santana. And who's going to pitch behind him? In order for the Twins to beat the Yanks in the ALDS, Santana has to spin two absolute gems, AND an unproven entity--Bonser, Baker, Garza or Silva--will have to shut down a lineup of unrivaled supremacy. That seems a longshot to me. Then you get to the ALCS, where the Yankees immediately benefit from a longer series. Oakland could be a threat here, but their offense isn't powerful enough and their pitching staff doesn't come close to that of the 2005 White Sox.

Then you get to the World Series. We all had a good laugh at the expense of the National League this year, and the World Series shouldn't be any different, Mets or not. No team has anything resembling a good pitching staff, and the Yankees will simply pummell any NL team into the ground, once again, including the Mets. Even if Pedro is full strength, the Mets aren't strong at all behind him. And, as with Santana, he'll have to be perfect for the Mets to even have a shot.

From Brent Nycz of The Stat Boy of the Empire: B(rent):

It's hard to say. Last year, I had an incredible feeling that the Yankees wouldn't do well, due to their line-up structure and my assumption that Small and Chacon will fail eventually.

However, this year, that gut feeling has turned the opposite. I do predict and hope for big performances out of Wang and Mussina. Mo will be Mo. Proctor's arm will still be attached. Bruney will be fire-balling as usual.

But, most importantly, I believe that the Yankees' bats will show up this year. This line-up can be either one of the most powerful lineups ever to win the World Series or the most powerful lineup ever to lose in the ALDS or ALCS. I hope and believe the former will happen rather than the latter. Yankees in 6 against the Mets.

From "SG" of the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog:

My heart says they should win the World Series, but my head says they're going to get picked off by someone, probably Minnesota. I am very concerned about the starting pitching. Wang's been great, but he's hittable and relies on his defense, which is not a good thing when your defense is that of the Yankees. Moose has really tailed off after a strong start, and Johnson's fighting being 43, a bad back and the loss of a lot of his stuff. Wright and Lidle are a crap shoot. They may be able to power their way past this for a round or two, but to do it for three rounds seems just about impossible.

That being said, I think if they can get past Minnesota they can win it all. No other matchup scares me all that much.

From Benjamin Kabak of Off The Facade:

If the Yankees make it past the ALDS round, then I believe they will win the World Series. Right now, it's clear that this Yankees team is relying heavily on its offense. But which version will show up? The one-hit version or the 16-run version? We never know. In the five game series, the focus shifts from offense to pitching by a long shot. Just look at last year. The Yankees were simply outpitched by the Angels. When you're facing Johan Santana twice in five games, you really need your own pitchers to step up because the games could very well end up 3-2 or 4-3.

If the Yanks can make it to a best-of-seven scenario, I think the offense can take over. The Twins are weak in the back end of their rotation. The Tigers are 36-35 since the All Star break which is hardly a threat. And I think the Yanks can overcome the A's pitching. Once they reach the World Series against the Pedro-less Mets or one of the other AAAA teams, I don't anticipate much of a problem. Of course, we're relying on Randy's back and Mariano's and Kyle's health. But I like our chances this year more than I have in previous seasons.

From Nick Smith of Baseball's Savior:

The Yankees will win their first World Series since 2000. Armed with the best and deepest lineup in the league, the Yankees will roll through whoever they play despite some spotty pitching. It'll be a subway series with the Yankees going up against the Mets, which the Yankees will win in six games. Alex Rodriguez will get the New York monkey off his bat and win the World Series MVP, leading the way for the Yankees throughout the post season.

There seems to be (for the most part) somewhat of a common thread here: Some concern on the Yankees starting pitching and getting past the ALDS (and the Twins). But, very little concern about losing the World Series, should the Yankees get that far.

Since so many Yankees Bloggers can't be wrong (wink, wink), Yankees fans should listen to what's being said here: Beware the ALDS/Twins and just hope that the Yanks can make it to the Fall Classic. If they can, all should be fine.

Thanks to all my fellow Yankees Bloggers for taking the time to share some thoughts on this topic. Your kindness is very much appreciated.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 12:00 PM | Comments (9)

Flash Gordon: J-Roll Better Than Jeter

From the Post -

Former Yankee Tom Gordon claimed Wednesday that present teammate and Philadelphia star Jimmy Rollins is a better player than Derek Jeter. And while the Bombers were tactful - a sign of respect for Rollins - they counter that Jeter's World Series wins end any comparison between the two.

"They're both great players, but Jeter has the rings. That's the end of the conversation," said third base coach Larry Bowa, who managed Rollins in Philadelphia. "That doesn't mean he's better, but Jeter's been there and done it. Jimmy Rollins is still trying to get there."

For his part, Jeter said he doesn't compare players, and hadn't seen much of the NL star.

"I don't see him; he's in the other league," Jeter said. "He's having a great year, [but] I don't really try to gauge one player against another. You have respect for everybody, but I don't say 'This guy is better than that guy.' "

Gordon - a Yankee in 2004 and last season - had no problem doing that.

"I think J's better than Jete," Gordon said. "Every time the team needed something done, Jete did it. I see the same thing from J-Roll. Like with Jeter, the game just comes to him naturally."

Hmmmm....once in his career, yes, once, Rollins had a season where he had 10+ RCAA. Jeter, on the other hand, has eight seasons to his credit where he's had 20+ RCAA.

With the glove, yes, J-Roll is head and shoulders above Jeter. There's no question there.

But, in terms of hitters, Jimmy Rollins is to Derek Jeter as Jason Kendall is to Jim Edmonds. Add "idiot" next to "choker" from now on, when discussing Tom Gordon.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 08:57 AM | Comments (4)

Tigers or Twins?

Looking at the A.L. Central this morning, and seeing the Twins and Tigers tied at the top - with three games to go - makes me wonder if I will get my wish?

I hope the Yankees have sent their best scouts to cover both of these teams over the last few weeks. Although, since the Tigers play the Royals and the Twins play the White Sox, it looks like the Yankees will get the Twins in the ALDS.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 08:49 AM | Comments (1)

The ALDS Roster Is Just About Set

From the Post -

The Yankees won't finalize their postseason roster until Sunday, but Joe Torre said it will likely contain 14 players and only 11 pitchers. He acknowledged the roster will be unbalanced and top-heavy with outfielders and first basemen after the return of Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui.

Let me guess - the pitchers will be: Wang, Mussina, Johnson, Wright, Lidle, Rivera, Farnsworth, Proctor, Bruney, Villone and Myers.

This means Rasner, Karstens, and Dotel are out - and after last night, it makes sense to keep off Rasner.

The position players will be Posada, Fasano, Giambi, Cano, Jeter, Rodriguez, Cabrera, Damon, Abreu, Williams, Matsui, Sheffield and Cairo - for sure. This leaves one spot open - to be filled from the following: Wilson, Green, Phillips, and Guiel.

Torre will probably take Phillips - based on what you hear. It's a shame - because Guiel is the more useful player.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 08:30 AM | Comments (5)

September 28, 2006

September 28th vs. The Orioles

That was close.

Needless to say, this was a game where you tried to keep yourself busy - in an attempt to ignore what was happening on the field. (Actually, to what was "not happening" - truth be told.)

I went to this one with my friend, Willy G.

How was it going for us? Well, during the game, poor Willy was getting text messages on his phone from his friend and his girl-friend - most along the lines of "Some game you got there." That about summed it up.

Game score be damned, Willy and I chatted through the innings, waiting for that first Yankees hit. And, we also struck up a conversation with two guys who were sitting behind us - one from Clifton (NJ) and his game-mate from Queens (NY).

We four talked about the Yankees, the Mets, the Astros-Cardinals chase, the soggy pretzels at the Stadium, owning and splitting season tickets (since I do it and they do as well), the Yankees policy towards season ticket holders reselling their tickets, whether Giambi or Sheffield should play first, and some other stuff - waiting for that first Yankees hit. The fellas that we met even complimented/teased me for "almost not having" a Staten Island accent (after I shared with them where I grew-up).

Did I mention that we were all waiting for that first Yankees hit?

But, we were somewhat alone. Around 9:30 pm EST, I looked around the Stadium and saw many people leaving the park. I didn't get it - why not wait, with us, for that first Yankees hit?

By the 9th inning, the Stadium was down to about 10,000 fans - like me and Willy, waiting for that first Yankees hit. And, then, just before it was almost too late, Robinson Cano delivered. And, the wait was over.

When I got back to my car, I turned on the post-game and John Sterling was recapping how the fans gave the O's Daniel Cabrera a standing ovation just after he lost the no-hitter in appreciation for his effort. Huh? I don't know about the other 10,000-something fans, but, I was cheering my butt off for Cano - and his sparing me a night without sleep and a life-long memory that was going to be very unpleasant.

One last thing - in the 9th, after Cano singled, Torre had Jeter in the on-deck circle, ready to bat for Giambi - just before Abreu banged into the DP to end the game. Considering the score, the standings, and the fact that the no-hitter was over, why bother with that? That was sort of interesting but also strange - much like this game on the whole.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:32 PM | Comments (6)

91-Year Old Penny-Pincher Talks Smack At Yanks

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press -

[Twins Owner] Pohlad said he has no preference as to which team — the New York Yankees or Oakland A's — his Twins face in the first round of the playoffs next week. Then he paused.

"I'd rather play the Yankees," he said, "because I know we can beat them."

Privately, there is no club Pohlad would rather beat than George Steinbrenner's Yankees.

"That's right," he whispered.

Careful what you wish for there, old-timer. Be very careful.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 01:44 PM | Comments (3)

Gem Of A Keystone Combo

With Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano both aiming to bat better than .340 this season, it made me wonder - has a team ever had a keystone combo both hit .340+ in the same season?

First, I decided to look at any season in which a 2B and a SS both batted over .340 - period - regardless of their team and league. This is what I found:

When you scan this chart, you can see how special it is - just to have a SS and 2B both bat .340+ in a season - when they're playing for anyone. Having them both play on the same team is an incredible feat.

I hope that Jeter and Cano can both finish the season at .340 or better. Having two men playing next to second base, on the same team, and batting like Jeter and Cano are this season, is just something that you don't see in the history of modern baseball.

Update, 9/28/06, 11:37 am ET: Thanks to Lee Sinins for confirming that McKean and Childs were teammates on the 1894 Cleveland Spiders. And, that in 1876, SS John Peters and 2B Ross Barnes both hit .340+ for the Cubs. (I did not go back to 1876 when I did my list.) Other than these two times, keystone teammates have never hit .340+ in the same season.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 10:25 AM | Comments (1)

September 27, 2006

September 27th vs. The Orioles

Can the Yankees play the Mets, right now, please?

O.K., from a Yankees fan perspective, how cool is it, at this moment, watching guys like Matsui, Sheffield, and Giambi come back to start mashing - at the same time seeing Pedro The Mango Tree Sitter and the Mets falling apart - just before the start of the post-season?

Sure, it helps that the Yankees are playing a team that checked out a long time ago, but, they were rockin' and rollin' tonight. (I do think Cano hot-dogged it on his HR a bit though.)

Congrats to Worm Killer Wang on win #19. I look back now at April 26th and June 18th - and all I can think of is how this kid should have had 20 wins this year. So, close, eh?

A ring will make up for it.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:23 PM | Comments (27)

Gotta Have [A Good] L-O-B, If You Wanna Be With Me?

One of the stats that they track over at The Hardball Times is LOB% for pitchers. This is the percentage of baserunners allowed that didn't score a run. Here's this stat for certain Yankees this season:

I thought it was interesting that Mussina and Wright have the same LOB% - and their ERAs are not close. (Wright is almost a run higher.)

This could be something to consider when it comes time to look at bringing Mussina back in 2007.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 03:21 PM | Comments (7)

The First Step Is The Steepest

I've been giving this some thought now and could see the Yankees post-season results this year going down one of the following paths:

1. Their pitching fails and the Yankees get waxed in the ALDS - somewhat like 2002 and 2005.
2. At some point in the post-season, Damon, Jeter, Abreu and Matsui go on fire (as a group) and the Yankees win 8 post-season games in a row - on route to a ring.
3. Each post-season series for New York goes at least up to the next to last game scheduled and via a bunch of breaks and fluke performances, the Yankees win it all.

Now, from the Yankees fan perspective, two of these three outcomes would be fine - as they end up in a ring. But, that doesn't mean it's a 67% chance for a ring this year - in my mind. I would say that it's 50-50. I believe that the odds are equal - and that the Yankees have just as good of a chance to get bounced in the ALDS as they do to go all the way.

Winning, simply put, comes down to run differential. The Yankees pitchers will have to step up in October - meaning that guys like Wang and Mussina will have to continue to pitch well and guys like Johnson, Wright and Lidle will have to have their "A" game going at all times. Or, New York's hitters will have to make the team's pitching performance irrelevant. I have a lot of faith that Damon, Jeter, Abreu and Matsui are going to hit well this October. I believe that each one of them has the ability to bring it to another level in a big spot. But, that's going to be hard - as the Yankees will always face good pitching in the post-season.

Of course, if the Yankees don't pitch and don't hit, it's all going to end fast.

O.K., enough, here's the final prediction for this post-season: If the Yankees win the ALDS, I can see them going back to the World Series and then winning a ring in six games. This said, the ALDS will be one small step for the Yankees this October, but, one giant leap for their overall chances.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:08 AM | Comments (7)

September 26, 2006

September 26th vs. The Orioles

Maybe Cory Lidle '06 can be Jim Beattie '78?

According to Yankees.com -

Abreu's blast gave the Yankees 200 home runs for the seventh consecutive season, tying them with the White Sox for the longest such streak in Major League Baseball history. Both are active streaks.

Hmmm...... 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, and 2000. Something happened in a lot of those years - yeah, that's right - no rings.

I'd be more impressed to see the Yankees put together seven years in a row where the team AB/SO ratio for batters was 5.7 or higher.

In any event, totally unrelated to this game, what's going on with the Cardinals and Astros? More so, check out Andy Pettitte since the All-Star break. Wouldn't Andy look good back in the Bronx next year? Pettitte's been in the bigs now for a dozen seasons and has only one year on his bubble-gum card with a negative-RSAA total. I don't think it's a cowinky-dink that the last time the Yankees were in the World Series was when Pettitte was on the team.

If Houston can work a miracle and get back to the Fall Classic, and the Yankees do as well, it's going to be painful to watch Pettitte face off on New York.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:09 PM | Comments (8)

Two Things Needed This Post-Season

The more I think about it, the more I want to say that the Yankees are going to need two things to happen in this post-season for the team to win.

First, Torre is going to have to manage like it's 1996 in a series where the Yankees are in a hole. By this, I mean, he's going to have to bench some people in spots where the lesser name is the better option. Joe was willing to sit Tino and Boggs in 1996. He should be willing to bench someone like Giambi against a very tough left-hander this year - if the situation calls for it.

I know Torre will no longer do this - can you see him pinch-hitting for A-Rod, late in a game, with Guiel, in a contest where a flame-throwing RH-RP comes into a tie-game with a runner on 3rd and one out? But, if he wants to win, as badly as he did in 1996, Torre needs to put the team in front of the egos.

Secondly, someone on the Yankees staff is going to have to pull a "Jim Beattie 1978" - meaning someone who has not been a huge factor this season, for the most part, is going to have to step up in the post-season and make big pitching contributions in at least two games.

Maybe it's Jaret Wright? Maybe it's Cory Lidle? Maybe it's Darrell Rasner or Jeff Karstens? But, given the situation with Randy Johnson, the Yankees are going to need someone outside of Wang and Mussina to hold down the wins for them.

If these things don't happen, this year could just be another dead stone in the string of 2002-2005 post-season letdowns.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 03:42 PM | Comments (5)

Will Larry & Theo Be Watching The NL Playoffs?

If the Dodgers win the N.L. Wildcard this year, and somehow L.A. and the Mets go on to play in the NLCS, and the Yankees win the A.L., how much fun will it be for Boston Red Sox fans to watch Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Lowe, and Grady Little battle Pedro Martinez for the rights to face the Yankees in the World Series?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 02:21 PM | Comments (5)

Anchors Away!

Now that Randy Johnson's 2006 regular season seems to be a closed book, I decided to use the CBE to try and find a modern day Yankees pitcher who best equates to what the Big Unit did for the Yankees this year - in sabermetric terms. This is what I found:

Yes, the man who Dallas Green once called the (Yankees) "anchor of the staff," Andy Hawkins, was the best match. This is the level of pitching quality that Randy Johnson provided in 2006 - an "Andy Hawkins circa 1989" effort.

This confirms what I thought three weeks ago - it's time for Randy to retire.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 01:56 PM | Comments (2)

Yanks Cannot Count On Unit

From the S.I. Advance -

His back "locked up," Randy Johnson will skip his final regular-season start for the Yankees and be pushed back to Game 3 of the AL Division Series.

Johnson had allowed five runs in each of his past three starts, with a 7.64 ERA over that time. He had been scheduled to pitch Thursday and then in Game 1 or 2 of the Division Series. Now, he will have 12 days between starts.

Manager Joe Torre revealed the Johnson issue after last night's 16-1 pounding of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field.

"It's a crapshoot," Torre said of scratching Johnson. "But we feel that the rest probably is going to do more for him than just the fact that he can stay on schedule and pitch regularly. We'll take a chance not pitching him in hopes that he'll feel good. I'd rather have him when he feels at his best."

Johnson, who turned 43 earlier this month, said he has been suffering back spasms, getting progressively worse since the start of the month. He also has been dealing with "upslip," in which his right (landing) leg gets pushed into his hip, causing the pelvic bone to tilt and affecting his back.

"It's a little tighter," he said. "I'll get it taken care of.

I think Yankees fans all over the place are having flashbacks to David Wells and the 2003 World Series this morning. And, it's not pretty.

I'm going to the game on the 28th (at the Stadium). So, it would have been fun to see Johnson pitch. But, given this news, I'll be happy to see someone else - and give Unit the rest.

But, more importantly, I think this situation brings cause for having someone like Darrell Rasner on the post-season roster now. If Johnson does pull a "Wells" and has to exit a game early, you need someone who can come in from the pen and offer you some length - and still be a quality pitcher.

Since there's no news at all on Cory Lidle, I have to assume that he's out of the picture these days. This leaves Darrell Rasner and Jeff Karstens as people who can pitch 5+ innings out of the pen in a game. Rasner seems to be more seasoned at this point. So, I would give the nod to him.

And, the Yankees should look for another SP for next year.

Wang can take one slot in 2007. And, hopefully Mussina can come back for another year too. Either Rasner or Karstens can be a third starter. Ideally, the Yankees can pick-up another quality starter next season to allow them to count on Johnson or Pavano for the 5th slot. If the Yankees assume that they can could on Johnson to be one of their "Big Three" starters next year, that's a mistake.

Yes, right now, given his overall performance this season, his age, and his recent history of injuries, Randy Johnson is in the "Carl Pavano" class of reliability. That may be cruel - but, it's the truth. It's time to stop counting on him. You wouldn't want to have to count on a Mark Redman or Casey Fossum in the Yankees rotation next year - and that's the level that Johnson is pitching to now - and he's a lot older than those guys.

Back to this post-season, it now looks like the Yankees are back to:

"Wang and Mussina and a precipitation novena."

How those two go, so will the Yankees this October.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 09:54 AM | Comments (16)

September 25, 2006

September 25th @ The Devil Rays

Well, that's more like it, huh?

I know that both Randy Johnson and Jaret Wright have some lucky wins this year. But, with his 11th victory this evening, Wright has given the Yankees 4 starters with 11+ wins on the season.

The last time the Yankees had 4 starters with 11+ wins each was 2003 - also the last time they made it to the World Series.

There were a lot of good things to see in the game. But, for me, the highlight was watching Andy Cannizaro be interviewed by Kim Jones in the YES post-game.

Let's not kid ourselves - Cannizaro is not a prospect. Andy is 27-years old. And, he's been in the minor leagues for six seasons now - basically, he's this decade's Andy Stankiewicz (just an inch taller).

Nonetheless, anyone who saw that post-game interview with Cannizaro has to come away from it just loving the guy. What a great personality. I have no idea what his baseball future holds for him - but, I'm now an Andy Cannizaro fan and will be rooting for this guy.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:15 PM | Comments (5)

Questions, Questions, Questions......

Via the Baseball Musings Day By Day Database, I was just looking at the stats of some key Yankees hitters since the big series up at Fenway:

Some random thoughts (in the form of questions) looking at these numbers:

- Is there any question that Jeter is the MVP of this team?

- Maybe there is some sense to starting Matsui in LF over Melky in the post-season?

- Has the league caught on to Abreu?

- Should Bernie not be on the bench in the post-season - and should Williams be the Yankees October DH?

- Can Cano and Posada keep this up in the playoffs?

- Where's Johnny been the last month?

Am I the only one (?) who thinks the answers here are:

No. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. I hope so. And, I dunno.

If not, do these answers bother you (outside of the Jeter one) as much as me?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 02:09 PM | Comments (5)

Two 13's and a 10

I was just looking at Alex Rodriguez' career Yankees stats, to date, and I noticed something. For a guy who hits a lot of a lot of homers, it seemed like he doesn't hit a lot of doubles or triples.

O.K., yeah, triples are rare anyway. But, the doubles thing still had my attention. So, I pulled out the CBE and asked it to tell me, since 1961, for guys with (around) the same number of Yankees career PA (as A-Rod, to date) who has hit the fewest doubles? This is what I got:

This is interesting. In the last 46 years, for guys who had about 2,000 PA in their Yankees career, Jim Leyritz, Alex Rodriguez, and Rick Cerone have hit the fewest doubles.

Now, Leyritz and Cerone were slow catchers. They have an excuse. But, Rodriguez has a ton more homers to his credit than those two. So, A-Rod is still trotting around the bases a lot.

There's nothing really here, to say, in terms of the three of these players being at the top of this list as a group.

If anything, what this data tells us is, if someone were to ask you "What's he going to do?" when Alex Rodriguez steps to the plate, your answer should be one of the following:

1. Make an out.
2. Hit a single.
3. Get a walk.
4. Hit a homer.

You should probably never say "Hit a triple" and if you say "Hit a double" then you're working against the odds.

And, if A-Rod should hit for the cycle someday, that would be something - given these stats.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:23 AM | Comments (5)

September 24, 2006

The Twins It Will Be.......?

According to the folks at CoolStandings.com the odds say that the Yankees will face the Twins in the 2006 ALDS.

The Yankees beat the Twins, 3-1, in the ALDS in 2003 and 2004. Will this be the year that Minny gets payback?

I think the Yankees should be able to score 4-5 runs per game against the Twins, on average, if everyone in the line-up does their normal thing. So, it should come down to pitching.

Mussina owns the Twins, or, at least he has in the past. That's good. And, if the Yankees can give Wang his starts at home, that should help.

Put it this way - the Yankees should win this match-up.

But, then again, this Yankees squad (meaning the main guys on the team) has lost 7 of their last 9 post-season games. So, nothing in the post-season should be considered a lock.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 10:48 PM | Comments (3)

September 24th @ The Devil Rays

I missed this game. Or, should I say that I was spared this game?

We took the kids to see "Everyone's Hero" this afternoon. Review to follow herein.

The Yankees are now 18-14 since that big series up at Fenway. Not exactly building some momentum here, huh? There are seven games left to the season. It would be nice for New York to start showing some more life soon.

Regarding the movie, I'll let my kids be the guide.

My 2-year old son was into it for the first 30 minutes. After that, he was more interested in playing the "Hey, Dad, want to see what it's like to wrestle a live alligator?" game. We did that for about 45 minutes. And, he was totally bored and wanted out of the theater by the time there was about 10-15 minutes left of the movie.

My 4-year old daughter was more into it. In fact, during some of the scenes where there was some tension she said (during the movie) that she was "scared." After the flick, she said that she "liked the movie." I asked her what was her favorite part and she said "The talking baseball."

As Mom had the girl and Dad had the boy, I missed some parts of the movie. But, I will say that some of the scenes, up on the big scene, were beautiful - at least to me.

If your kids are 4-and-older, and like baseball, it's probably not a bad movie to go check out. Put it this way, it's probably a thousand-percent better time than watching a game like the Yankees played today.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 07:36 PM | Comments (7)

Nice Young Company

Only two Yankees, in the entire history of the New York franchise, have hit .340 or better in a season (where they qualified for the batting title) at the age of 23 or younger:

Joe DiMaggio in 1937 (.346) and Don Mattingly in 1984 (.343).

Robinson Cano can become the third one this year. Impressive.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 01:54 PM | Comments (2)

September 23, 2006

September 23rd @ The Devil Rays

Well, Torre wanted a "squeeze" play, and, tonight, he got one.

Personally, this game reminded me of another old song.

Looks like it's now an 8-game season to see who gets the best record in the American League.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:15 PM | Comments (8)

Pssssst! Buddy! Wanna Buy A.........?

From the Daily News (with a hat tip to BaseballThinkFactory.org) -

Furious that fans are reselling their tickets online, the Yankees have started revoking the contracts of season-ticket holders and banning them from buying playoff seats this year.

The team has fired off at least eight letters to season-ticket holders who resold their ducats on the popular StubHub.com Web site and several others who used eBay.com - the two largest ticket resellers in the country.

Their days with decent seats at the House That Ruth Built could be over forever.

"Please be advised that you will be neither invoiced nor entitled to any tickets to the 2006 post-season," Yankees associate general counsel Alan Chang said in a letter to one season-ticket holder. "And you will not be offered a license for the 2007 baseball season and beyond."

The letter, obtained by the Daily News, doesn't accuse the ticket-holder of doing anything illegal when he sold the ducats to games on May 28 and June 9. But according to the note, the sale, resale or transfer of tickets at any price is a violation of the license agreement.

StubHub officials said they were told by customers that they had received the letters in the last 45 days or so. They said the license revocation was a competitive strike intended to put fear in Yankees' ticket-holders.

Most of the ticket-holders who got caught were nabbed after forwarding e-tickets through yankees.com to StubHub, a source told The News.

So, the lesson here is clear. If you're going to sell your tickets, better to do it in a dark back-alley somewhere rather than through a nice, clean, safe and secure on-line mechanism.

Then again, from the Yankees-side, it's their tickets and they can decide who they want to sell them to, going forward, at any time. It's their right.

In any event, it's things like this that make me wish that the Yankees only drew 20,000 fans a game and were lucky to sell out a big game. The ticket business, from the fans angle, was much nicer in those days.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 03:00 PM | Comments (5)

September 22, 2006

September 22nd @ The Devil Rays

This kid Wang looks like he might be a keeper, eh?

O.K., on to the serious stuff from tonight:

1. Gary Sheffield is a ten times better 1B than Bernie Williams is a CF (at this point). That Perez single that Bernie played into a "double" in this game was obscene. And, then, just to show his range (in terms of badness), Williams allowed a catchable Young drive to go over his head for another "double." It's so sad to see Bernie in CF now. Shame on Torre for doing this at this stage of Williams career.

2. Speaking of Torre stupidity, you have the A.L. MVP on third, late in a meaningless game where you're winning, and you send him home on a suicide squeeze? If Jeter had got hurt on that play, Torre should have been fired before he left the dugout at the end of this game.

3. Watching that shot that Posada took in the 9th was frightful. I think it's time for Jorge to start using the Charlie O'Brien hockey-catcher's mask. It just offers more protection.

4. Please tell me there's a way that Aaron Guiel makes the post-season roster.

5. Yankees fans around the world should hit their pillows tonight and hope that they wake up tomorrow and hear that Mo Rivera feels great. He looked pretty good tonight. But, as Kay and Murcer said on YES, how he feels tomorrow is the bigger story. Cross your fingers, toes, and anything else that you can, for good news on Saturday.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:18 PM | Comments (10)

Torre Lays It Out For Pavano

From the Times:

To the Yankees, getting in shape is the least Pavano can do. Torre made it clear that he expected nothing less.

“I’m not accusing him of anything, but baseball has got to be his life,” Torre said. “He’s got to live his life that way and come to spring training and be ready from day one.”

Just about 5 months until "Day 1" 2007. I don't think Pavano can make it.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:05 PM | Comments (3)

Oh, Baby!

Sweet!

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 04:18 PM | Comments (14)

Too Close To Home

This one came from the Pearls Before Swine crew last week.

Ouch.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 02:19 PM | Comments (4)

2006 A.L. Playoff Team Report Card

If I had to assign grades to the teams in the 2006 A.L. post-season, I would do so as follows:

Of course, this assumes that Mariano Rivera is fine for the post-season.

Looking this over, as a Yankees fan, I want to play the A's, at some point in this post-season. The Yankees match up favorably with them.

The Tigers can't hit - but they can pitch and field.

The Twins are probably a notch below the Tigers, overall, but, they've been a super-hot team lately. That concerns me. Plus, they have a huge home-field advantage.

It appears that the Yankees - unless they tank the rest of the year - are going to get the Wildcard team in the ALDS.

This all said, I think Yankees fans should root for the Twins to win the A.L. Central. This way, New York can face Detroit in the ALDS - and allow the Twins and A's to beat up on each other in their ALDS.

And, if this happens, as stated before herein, Yankees fans should root for the A's to beat the Twins.

If the Twins do not win the A.L. Central, then the Yankees would have to face them, and Johan Santana, in a best of five. That's not in the Yankees best interests.

So, root, root, root, for the Twins until the end of the season. And, once the playoffs start, root for the Yankees (of course) and cross your fingers that the Twins start to lose.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 01:44 PM | Comments (13)

The Story Behind Bruney's Ink

From the NY Times:

Bruney has a thick, black tattoo of a Maltese cross on his left forearm, which he said symbolized strength, honor and integrity. In Arizona, he said he tried to follow the off-field example of the veteran first baseman Tony Clark, who is considered one of baseball’s classiest players.

“Bru is an outstanding young man,” Clark said in an e-mail message. “It’s been exciting for me to see him doing so well. I was disappointed to see him go, but knew the possibility of him settling in and having a great deal of success was definitely within reach.”

Somebody should tell Tyler Kepner that this is an "Iron Cross" and not a "Maltese Cross" -

But, other than that, it was nice to see this question finally addressed.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 08:49 AM | Comments (6)

September 21, 2006

Giambi's Wrist Has Ligament Tear

From the Times -

For nearly a month, Jason Giambi has dismissed the idea that he might need surgery for his injured left wrist. Now, the Yankees say surgery could be an option this off-season.

Giambi, who has not homered since Aug. 20 and has six hits in his last 48 at-bats, underwent his second magnetic resonance imaging exam in New York yesterday. The Yankees said the tests showed nothing different from his previous M.R.I., on Aug. 31, but this time they announced the existence of a small ligament tear.

The Yankees also said arthroscopic surgery could be necessary if the pain continued. Giambi will miss this weekend’s series at Tampa Bay but the team said he should be available to play next week.

“It’s a problem,” General Manager Brian Cashman said before hearing the doctor’s report. “Clearly, he can’t be Jason Giambi with what he’s experiencing right now. We have to hopefully get a feel for whether a week off or something like that will allow him to get the pain out of there so he can swing freely.”

With Giambi out, the Yankees plan to audition Gary Sheffield at first base this weekend. Manager Joe Torre would rather use Sheffield than Giambi at first base for the playoffs, even though Sheffield has never played the position.

The team said Giambi had an injection in the wrist yesterday, without specifying what kind of injection. He has already had two cortisone shots in the past three weeks. If Giambi is not ready for October, the Yankees could use Hideki Matsui at designated hitter and Melky Cabrera in left field.

I know zero about hockey. But, I can tell you that my research tonight on small ligament tears in the wrist found that Eric Lindros, in mid-December 2005, suffered a minor ligament tear in his right wrist. He was out for over two months with it, tried to comeback without surgery, and then made it worse - and then had to eventually get it repaired under the knife.

Also, in doing my search, I found this from Jume of 1988 on Willie Randolph:

Willie Randolph, whose season has been troubled by a ligament tear in his left wrist, said today that he received two cortisone shots in the wrist Thursday in New York and that he had temporarily put off the possibility of season-ending surgery.

Willie Randolph, whose season has been troubled by a ligament tear in his left wrist, said today that he received two cortisone shots in the wrist Thursday in New York and that he had temporarily put off the possibility of season-ending surgery.

''We'll see if it takes to the point where I can get my strength back in the wrist and play better than I have the last month and a half,'' said Randolph, who is batting .198. ''If I can make a contribution to the team, then I'll deal with the pain. But if the wrist doesn't respond to the shots, then I'm going to have to seriously consider surgery.''

For the record, Randolph was useless at the bat in 1988 - probably because of the wrist.

If Giambi's situation is like that of Lindros and Randolph, he's not going to help the team by trying to play with a bad wrist. If it's a situation where surgery is the best option, Jason should shut it down now and allow the Yankees to play someone who can hit in his place.

If it's Sheffield, and Gary can play, that's great. But, if it has to be Aaron Guiel and Craig Wilson in a platoon (if Sheffield cannot play), then I would rather see those two, sound, take their hacks against the pitchers that they can hit, than see Giambi try and play with one wing.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:17 PM | Comments (30)

Stein: "I Have Relinquished Pretty Much All Control"

From the AP via SI -

Steinbrenner spends most of his time in Tampa, and has slowly been giving up control of the operation to his family members, including son-in-law Steve Swindal, 50, and his sons Hank, 47, and Hal, 36. Steinbrenner has designated Swindal as his successor.

"I have relinquished pretty much all control of the Yankees," Steinbrenner said. "I had to make room for the young people. You can't hold them back."

Then again, George once said:

"We plan absentee ownership as far as running the Yankees is concerned. We're not going to pretend to be something we aren't. I'll stick to building ships."

But, I do believe him this time. There is little question in my mind that Stein is an old tiger sensing his end.

I still hope he gets into Cooperstown someday.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 04:49 PM | Comments (6)

Yanks Vs. Mets - The Sticks

Two days ago, I used the CBE to compare the Yankees and Mets pitching staffs. The findings there were:

... the Yankees have a better front end of the rotation and the Mets have a deeper bullpen in terms of effectiveness.

At that time, I also promised to compare the hitters for these two teams once the Yankees clinched. So, here are the 2006 stats, through last night's game:

As you can see, the Yankees "Big Four" is the top of their line-up: Damon, Jeter, Abreu and Giambi. And, for the Mets, it's Reyes, Beltran, Wright and Delgado. (I'm not sure if those are the first four hitters in the Mets line-up, like the Yankees, but, they should be - based on their performance.)

And, the Damon-Jeter-Abreu-Giambi team matches up with the Reyes-Beltran-Wright-Delgado group. In fact, the Yankees probably have a slight edge here - around 10%.

But, after that, the Yankees have some nice advantages over the Mets.

The Yankees, after the "Big Four" throw A-Rod, Posada, Cano, and two from the Cabrera-Matsui-Sheffield cluster out there - whereas the Mets counter with Jose Valentin, Endy Chavez, Shawn Green, Paul LoDuca and Cliff Floyd. Here's the Yankees advantage is probably tenfold.

Lastly, in terms of pinch-hitters, the Yankees will have Bernie Williams and one from the Cabrera-Matsui-Sheffield cluster on the bench. The Mets counter this with Chris Woodward and Julio Franco. As a Yankees fan, I'll take that match-up everyday of the week.

In summary, the Yankees have a much deeper offensive team than the Mets. When it comes to offense, the advantage here is clearly "Yankees."

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 10:38 AM | Comments (5)

September 20, 2006

September 20th @ The Blue Jays

Shockingly, this was a game that the Yankees could have won - at the end of the day (despite Henn starting, etc.) But, in the end, it does not matter with respect to clinching - due to the Red Sox loss this evening.

Leiter nailed it in the YES post-game. This is not "backing in." When your magic number is three, and you lose three in a row, and need someone else to beat the team under you, day after day, to clinch, that's "backing in." The Yankees have been winning games at a regular clip. Thus, this was not a situation where they needed someone to hand it to them.

Some post-game on YES, huh? Big Unit was on the hunt for Kim Jones. Speaking of Kim, she was a trooper tonight - working the clubhouse alone and getting abused pretty good.

Watching the celebration coverage, all I could think of was "How cool must it feel to be T.J. Beam, Nick Green, Andy Phillips, Aaron Guiel and those types of guys tonight?"

For some of them, this might be the only time they get to experience something like this event.

It was nice to see some of the vets in the clubhouse, during the interviews, give praise to the job that Melky Cabrera did this season. The players do always know where credit is due.

Jeter is the league MVP. Abreu was the player who pushed them over the top at the end. Damon helped in so many ways. Mo was Mo. Posada and Mussina had seasons that could not have been expected. Cano took it to a higher level. Giambi and A-Rod had their moments.

But, without Wang, Proctor and Cabrera, nothing else would have mattered. All those other things could have still happened - and without Wang, Proctor and Cabrera there would have been holes too big to overcome this year.

And, of those three, Cabrera was the one who came from nowhere to become someone. I'm glad he was having fun in the clubhouse tonight - he earned it, and then some.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:32 PM | Comments (22)

Bottom Line A-Rod Numbers

This year, Alex Rodriguez, even with his slumps, etc., is the best offensive third baseman in the American League and mostly likely the 6th best offensive 3B in all of baseball (behind Cabrera, Atkins, Jones, Wright and Rolen).

Further, this season, offensively, A-Rod (again, in terms of the total package) has put up numbers that are probably the 7th best season ever (with the bat) for a Yankee at the hot corner (behind Red Rolfe in 1936 and 1939, Wade Boggs in 1994, Gil McDougald in 1951, and, of course, A-Rod in 2004 and 2005).

In terms of right-handed batters in Yankees history, Rodriguez' 2006 season (on the whole) is around the 50th best all-time (with the stick). Think "Alfonso Soriano 2003" if you need a "comp" here.

I wanted to go on record with these facts to be clear to anyone and everyone as to what type of season Alex Rodriguez is having this year (as a hitter).

Granted, these facts do not address his consistency this year - or his clutch play. And, it does not reflect his defensive play this season.

But, without question, when the books are final this year, and Yankees fans, fifty years from now, look at A-Rod's 2006, what they should see is:

Best hitting 3B in the AL. Seventh best offensive season (at that point) ever by a Yankees 3B. One of the twenty-best seasons with the bat by a Yankees RH-batter in the Long Ball Era.

It's a shame, for everyone involved, that the bottom line numbers do not stand as the only reflection of Alex Rodriguez' 2006 season. That's a problem - for A-Rod, the Yankees, and many Yankees fans.

As to what is the root cause behind that problem, I'm sure that each camp has their own theories.

There's a reason why so many see something else besides the overall numbers when it comes to Rodriguez' 2006 performance results. And, as is the case in most situations where there are many theories, each camp's belief probably has some part of the overall true reason as part of their offering.

Personally, for the record, this is the last time that I will detail A-Rod's on the field, regular season, performance. It's been discussed so much that there's really nothing else to say.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 03:23 PM | Comments (12)

ESPN`s The Bronx is Burning News

I still hear that song every time this topic comes up........

From the UPI -

New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner will be played by Oliver Platt and John Turturro plays Billy Martin in ESPN`s miniseries, 'The Bronx is Burning.'

The eight-part series adapted from Jonathan Mahler`s bestseller 'Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning,' takes place during the volatile summer of 1977 that included the Son of Sam killings, a citywide blackout and a Yankees World Series championship led by manager Martin.

Joining Platt and Turturro will be Daniel Sunjata of 'Rescue Me' as Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, Zap2it.com reported.

Oliver Platt to play Big Stein? What, was Dr. Timothy Johnson not available?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 01:46 PM | Comments (4)

Looking Back At The 2004 ALDS

Lots of traffic (again) today on the Garden State Parkway this morning. It took me 125 minutes to travel 45 miles. But, it gave me a chance to listen to quite a bit of the "Mike & Mike Show" on ESPN Radio as well.

Of course, one of the big topics on the show was the S.I. feature on A-Rod. And, just as the question came up yesterday afternoon on the Michael Kay radio show, it was asked: If Alex Rodriguez has a "Joe Carter" type moment in the post-season, will it "make all this go away" for him?

And, the answer was the same on both radio shows (Kay and the Mike's): No. A-Rod "single-handedly carried the Yankees to victory in the 2004 ALDS" and no one wants to remember that.

Thinking about this, I have to disagree. No, not with the notion that a huge post-season moment will not change things for Alex. More so, I do not agree with this belief that Rodriguez carried the Yankees against the Twins in 2004.

Yes, A-Rod had the big hit in the bottom of the 12th in Game 2. And, in the 11th inning of Game 4, Rodriguez doubled, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch.

But, Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui also tore the cover off the ball for that entire series. And, believe it or not, Kevin Brown pitched a gem in Game 3 (when the series was tied 1-1). And, of course, Mo was Mo, as usual, in that series.

Also, it was Ruben Sierra who hit that clutch 3-run HR with one out in the 8th to tie Game 4 at five. If Big Rube does not get that hit, it's a tied series going into a "winner-take-all" Game 5 situation.

This is not to say that A-Rod did not have a fine 2004 ALDS - because he did. But, to claim that "he carried the Yankees" in this post-season series is a joke.

He got a big hit in the 12th to help set up the great comeback win in Game 2. And, he hit a double to help set up the tie-breaking game-winning-run in the 11th inning of Game 4. But, a lot of other Yankees did big things at the plate and on the mound to win Game 3, and, it was Ruben Sierra who "carried" the team in Game 4 - not A-Rod.

This all said, I do believe that a huge "true" moment for A-Rod in the post-season for the Yankees - or a series where he truly is a "one-man" wrecking crew - will "make this all go away for him." I know that I would use such an occurrence as something to point to - anytime someone wants to claim that he's never come up big under pressure.

Now, it's just up to Alex to give us that "something."

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 10:04 AM | Comments (27)

September 19, 2006

September 19th @ The Blue Jays

If tonight was a World Series game, and Damon makes that catch under the same in-game conditions, and the Yankees go on to win the game, they would be talking about that grab for the next half-century (and probably longer).

So, here's the deal: The magic number is one. Tomorrow, it's Henn verus Halladay. What are the odds of the Yankees winning that game? Sure, Boston can lose tomorrow and the Yanks would then clinch. But, isn't it more fun to clinch on a day where you win? Does this mean Yankees fans should root for the Sox to win tomorrow and on Thursday - and then Wang has a chance to bring home the clincher in Tampa on Friday?

Or, should Yankees fans root for the Sox to win tomorrow, and lose on Thursday, so the team can then have a party in private (somewhere in Tampa) away from the media? From a fan perspective, that would be a letdown, no?

Of course, if Henn beats Halladay tomorrow, then it's all great. But, again, the chances of that happening are about the same as Sports Illustrated doing a potentially team-distracting cover story on Albert Pujols, just two weeks before the Cardinals enter the post-season, detailing how none of the Cardinals players will offer him words of support when he's slumping, right?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 10:45 PM | Comments (9)

Verducci On A-Rod

Alex at Bronx Banter points to a long feature that Tom Verducci just did at SI on A-Rod.

It's an interesting read. I liked the parts where Giambi plays the role of the tough guy, working with Torre, to get A-Rod to "man-up." But, this quote, in the feature, from Rodriquez was telling as well:

"Mussina doesn't get hammered at all," he said. "He's making a boatload of money. Giambi's making [$20.4 million], which is fine and dandy, but it seems those guys get a pass. When people write [bad things] about me, I don't know if it's [because] I'm good-looking, I'm biracial, I make the most money, I play on the most popular team...."

Anyone else think A-Rod and Mussina don't exchange greeting cards at holiday time?

Giambi gets a pass? Just 16 months ago, people wanted Giambi sent to the minors because he was stinking so bad.

In any event, is anyone else tried of hearing A-Rod, and his apologists, play the "good-looking," "racial" and "most money" cards?

Carl Pavano is a white-guy. He's not pretty. And, relatively speaking, he's not high paid - at least he's not the highest paid pitcher in baseball.

And, he gets (to use A-Rod's term) "hammered."

The fans and media in New York are believers in Equal Opportunity. If you're slumping, you're going to hear it - whether you're pretty, rich, whatever.

Winners make commitments. Losers make excuses. I wish Alex would do the former and not the latter.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 04:39 PM | Comments (32)

Those Merry Mets

Today, in his MetsBlog, Matthew Cerrone said:

There have been roughly a dozen phone calls in to WFAN this morning, most likely from Yankees fans, goofing on the Mets for having such an elaborate post-game celebration in honor of their division championship last night.

Isn't that for the Mets to decide?

I mean, if the Yankees are bored with winning, so much so that they no longer know how to have fun, how exactly does that impact how the Mets and their fans choose to celebrate.

It doesn't.

And it shouldn’t.

Why were these so-called Yankees fans watching the Mets anyways?

Pinstripes, mind your business – and if you want to watch the Mets so bad, you'll hopefully get plenty of opportunities at the end of October.

Enjoy.

O.K., I have to confess - when I saw the images of the Mets "celebration" upon clinching, my first thoughts were:

1. Man, having seen it now twice (2004 and 2006) there's nothing more fruity looking than Pedro Martinez floating, flapping and prancing around ball field during a clinch-celebration, is there?

2. Do the Mets realize that they did not just win the World Series? Sure, a division crown is awesome. But, sort of along the lines of "excessive end zone dancing" and "acting like you've been there before," winning the division is something that many teams do - but, it's not like you just won it all.

But, thinking about it more, I realize that it's been 18 years since the Mets finished in first place. That's huge. And, most of the players on the Mets (like Pedro, Beltran, Green, Delgado, LoDuca, Wagner, Glavine, Floyd, etc.) were brought over as hired-gun types with the intent to get into the playoffs. So, to them, achieving this goal in such a short period of time (after the Mets purchased them) is a big deal. And, of course, you also have young guys on the Mets like Wright and Reyes who have no idea how to act in such a situation - other than to jump around like Little Leaguers. So, the total reaction of the Mets (here) makes perfect sense.

When I think of it this way, I can't find fault in the way that the Mets chose to celebrate finishing in first. It's just their way of doing things. And, to each, their own, and all that jazz.

I look forward to seeing how the Mets do in the post-season now that they've made it. It should be fun. Maybe not as much fun as the Mets players had last night - but, then again, maybe that's another reason why it's good that they got that in while they could?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 02:31 PM | Comments (11)

The (Local) Kid's All Left

Today, Pete Abraham blogged the following on Ron Villone:

It has somehow gotten worse for Ron Villone. Here is his line since Aug. 17: 13.2 innings, 27 hits, 25 earned runs, 17 walks, 17 strikeouts. 0-2, 16.46. Joe Torre has been supportive in his public comments. But if this keeps up for two more weeks, can they keep him on the roster for the division series?

I would say that Villone should be on the roster - as a left-handed specialist only. This goes back to what I said last December:

Villone does not do an excellent job against RH batters. In fact, I do not believe that you want him pitching to a righty with the game on the line - at least not on a regular basis.

Still, it's more than safe to say that Villone can get lefties out.

Further, check the stats for this season on Villone, to date:

Overall:

vs. LHB - 103 AB, .184/.295/350 (BA/OBA/SLG) allowed
vs. RHB - 184 AB, .272/.387/.408

But, of course, we know that Villone before/after August 1st seems to be two different pitchers, right? Maybe not - see the following:

This season before August 1st:

vs. LHB - 66 AB, .167/.257/.288
vs. RHB - 118 AB, .220/.324/.305

To date, since August 1st:

vs. LHB - 37 AB, .216/.356/.459
vs. RHB - 66 AB, .364/.494/.591

As you can see, LH-batters still have a hard time hitting the ball consistently against Villone - even during his "bad" time.

And, what basically has happened with Villone is that his numbers against RH-batters are just finding their normal level. He was over-achieving against RHB earlier this year. And, the last seven weeks have just been righties catching up to that freak performance.

This all said, Villone can be useful in the post-season - if Torre does not let him pitch to RH-batters.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 01:25 PM | Comments (7)

Yankees Forfeit To Boston!

From WCSH6.com -

Yankees Among Companies And Individuals On Unclaimed Property List

Web Editor: Rhonda Erskine, Online Content Producer
Updated: 9/18/2006 11:07:04 PM

It appears Massachusetts is holding unclaimed money for the Evil Empire. State Treasurer Tim Cahill says the New York Yankees are on the state's list of abandoned property.

The team has just over $1,100 in unclaimed cash.

Under state law, financial assets that have been inactive for more than three years are deemed "abandoned" and turned over to the state.

Gotcha!

Look at Big Stein - leaving money on the table in Beantown. Who would have thunk it?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 12:15 PM | Comments (3)

Yanks Vs. Mets - The Hurlers

Now that the Mets have clinched the N.L. East, I thought this would be a good time to compare the pitching staffs of the Yankees and Mets. Here are their stats, via the CBE, as of today:

Trachsel and Johnson line-up nicely - two guys who are lucky to have as many wins as they do this season.

I like the match-up of Pedro and Glavine against Wang and Mussina. The Yankees have an edge there. The fourth and fifth starters on each team are a push.

Wagner and Rivera line-up nicely as well. Ditto on Heilman and Proctor.

To be honest, I was surprised to see Bradford, Feliciano, and Oliver show up better than Farnsworth, Villone and Myers.

The rest of the pen men for each team are somewhat like the fourth and fifth starters here - someone could surprise, but, on the whole, it's a push.

So, the Yankees have a better front end of the rotation and the Mets have a deeper bullpen in terms of effectiveness.

If these two teams face each other in the World Series, this could be an issue for the Yankees since their plan of attack is to get to a team's middle men as soon as possible. And, the Mets middle relievers are, statistically, a solid group.

Once the Yankees clinch, I'll compare the hitters on both teams in the same manner.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 10:39 AM | Comments (9)

Rasner & Veras' One Of A Kind Effort

Fun stuff about last night's game via Elias -

The Yankees got a win and a save from rookie pitchers Monday -- starter Darrell Rasner went six innings for the win; Jose Veras got the last out of the game to record the save. It was only the Yankees' third game since saves were first recorded in 1969 that one rookie got a win and another got a save. Ron Davis and Mike Griffin did it in 1979; Jose Rijo and Clay Christiansen did it in 1984. Davis and Rijo won those games in relief, so this was the first Yankees game in which a rookie starting pitcher got a win and another rookie got the save.

No rookie had even recorded a save for the Yankees since Dave Pavlas recorded the only save of his career on Aug. 24, 1996.

Any time something happens for the first time in Yankees history, that's saying something.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 09:57 AM | Comments (1)

September 18, 2006

September 18th @ The Blue Jays

When Rasner loaded the bases in the first today, he was so red in the face that it looked like he was going to have a stroke. Give the man credit - he did not melt - and, he gave a nice effort today on 3 days rest.

It's just a shame that the Yankees had to use four pitchers to get the last three outs in a game where they took a 4-run lead into the ninth inning.

Just to repeat what I said four days ago: How about Darrell Rasner on the post-season roster instead of Dotel?

If Cashman and Torre do not consider this option, then they're watching these games with their eyes closed.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:30 PM | Comments (15)

Gotta Love Those Crazy Hazy Days

From the Yankees site -

Seven rookies took part in this year's festivities, as they returned from the field to find their regular clothes gone, replaced by a costume to wear on the trip to Toronto.

In recent years, the costumes have ranged from Hooters girls (Nick Johnson and Alfonso Soriano) to pimps (Jose Contreras and Hideki Matsui) to Elvis Presley (Andy Phillips and Scott Proctor). Last year, Chien-Ming Wang and Robinson Cano were outfitted in cheerleader uniforms, complete with their names on the back of the shirt.

This year's winner? George Steinbrenner.

The seven players -- Beam, Melky Cabrera, Jose Veras, Sean Henn, Andy Cannizaro, Jeff Karstens and Kevin Thompson -- were dressed in blue blazers, white turtleneck shirts and gray dress slacks. The outfits were topped off by gray-haired wigs and aviator sunglasses.

Last year was funny.

If I can find any pictures from this year, I will post them.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 04:43 PM | Comments (4)

Remembering Sheffield

From Ken Rosenthal today -

Melky Cabrera hits with less power than Hideki Matsui, but his range in left field upgrades the Yankees' defense. Center fielder Johnny Damon must cover more ground when Matsui is in left. The presence of Cabrera elevates Damon's defense from average to above-average, one Yankees official says.

Thus, the return of Gary Sheffield would muddle the equation for the Yankees, even if Matsui is cleared to play the outfield coming off his broken left wrist. With Bobby Abreu in right, Sheffield could get at-bats at DH and first base. But the Yankees would suffer defensively if he were in the field.

A Sheffield-Jason Giambi platoon at first is not without appeal — Giambi is batting only .210 against left-handers. Then again, it's difficult to imagine the Yankees trusting Sheffield at first, a position he has never played, in the post-season.

Sheffield, not surprisingly, is pressing the issue — he wants to prove he has recovered from surgery on his left wrist. A strong finish could persuade the Yankees to exercise his $13 million option or increase his value to other clubs as a free agent.

This got me thinking. What if Sheffield shows, over the last week of the season that he can play a decent 1B and can still swing the bat?

Sure, then you keep him on the post-season roster. But, what if he does get to play in some of the series and is a post-season hero for the Yankees?

Yes, that would make for some interesting debate on how to handle his contract situation - for sure. But, regardless, how would that impact his "Yankees legacy?" We know that Sheffield was a force for the Yankees in 2004 and 2005. What if he delivers a ring in 2006 by coming off his "Yankees-career-death-bed" and gets some huge hits in this post-season? What if he only has one AB in a series but it's a "1988 Kirk Gibson" moment?

If Sheffield can help the Yankees in this post-season, in a big way, I think that will earn him a place in the hearts of Yankees fans for a long time.

Then again, on the flip-side, if he hurts the Yankees in any way this post-season, 2004 and 2005 will be forgotten in a heartbeat.

There's a lot riding on this post-season for Sheffield, again, in terms of how he will be remembered in New York.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 10:00 AM | Comments (11)

Giambi A Coin Flip Of Reliability?

In 2002, Jason Giambi put up one of the best seasons by a Yankees LH-batter since 1937. And, in the post-season that year, Giambi was just as good in the ALDS - if not better.

But, since 2002, Giambi has been a disappointment for the Yankees in some key spots - mostly because of his health and his inability to play in games.

In 2003, it was the famous "barking" knee. In 2004, it was a tumor on his pituitary gland.

By my rough estimations, the knee in 2003 cost Giambi 6 At Bats over the 6 games in the 2003 World Series. And, in 2004, Giambi did not play at all during the ALCS.

Last year, it looked like Giambi beat this trend - he was good for most of the season and very good in the ALDS.

But, now, for the last month, this season, it's been his wrist (that's the health concern). While he says it's now 100%, the production is not there.

Will this carry into the post-season like it did in 2003 and 2004?

This is not about Giambi being a choker. In fact, in 36 career post-season games, Jason's OBA is .432 and his SLG% is .496. When he plays, he produces. More so, this is about Giambi's ability to stay away from injury when the team needs him the most.

Right now, based on his history in New York, it appears to be a 50-50 deal in terms of being able to count on him to be ready to play.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 08:25 AM | Comments (5)

September 17, 2006

September 17th vs. The Red Sox - Game 2

If you would have told me that the Yankees would lose three of four to the Red Sox this weekend, but, Torre would rest the bullpen in the process, I would have been O.K. with that result.

But, the fact of the matter is that the Yankees dropped three of the four games, and, over the two days where the four games were played, they pitched:

Proctor, Villone and Farnsworth each on both days - with Proctor throwing three innings (whereas Villone goes 2.3 and Farnsworth throws 2 IP). And, Bruney goes twice in one day, on Saturday while Myers also goes twice in one day, on Sunday.

Some rest, huh?

Torre using his pen like this in four games, over two days, where three of the contests were losses, is as disgusting as watching Bernie Williams, standing 50 feet behind second base, try and throw a runner out at home plate.

Now, sure, much of the losses had to do with how the Yankees pen threw this weekend. And, maybe if these guys pitched better then New York would have won more games here. But, then again, maybe these guys are burnt - and that's why they pitched the way they did - and that's just more proof that they needed the rest this weekend?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:57 PM | Comments (25)

September 17th vs. The Red Sox - Game 1

Shoot, it would have been nice to party in front of the Red Sox. With the Jays win, and this game, it's just not in the stars.

Hey, at least the Mets have failed to clinch for three days in a row. How cool will it be, in terms of bragging rights, if the Yankees clinch before the Mets do?

Good effort from Wright this afternoon. And, nice catch by Melky today. Not so nice pitching from Villone. Actually, if you look at that bad inning for Villone today, and see who did the damage, it goes back to what I said last December - you do not want Villone facing RH-batters with the game on the line. I hope Torre gets a handle on this fact soon.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 07:57 PM | Comments (0)

September 16th vs. The Red Sox - Game 2

Farnsworth now has 5 saves on the season. The last time that a pitcher "Not Named Mariano Rivera" had 5 or move saves in a season for the Yankees was 2003. And, who was that pitcher?

Juan Acevedo.

Just reading the name gives me the chills.

Proctor threw 26 pitches in this game - so, I guess he's only available for 12 innings between the two games tomorrow.

If the Yankees sweep tomorrow, er, I mean later today, they get to party on their home turf - albeit briefly, before they have to travel to Toronto.

Torre should stack the hitters in the first game on Sunday - to help Wright. And, then play all the glove men in the nightcap - to back-up Mussina. That might position the Yankees to get it done.

Is it really possible that the Yankees starters in the Toronto series are going to be Rasner, Karstens, and (most likely) Henn? And, the Jays will have their three best starters going against them?

If the Yankees don't lock it down tomorrow, my (one time) prediction of September 22nd (to clinch) might come true.

Lastly, when the Red Sox got a man on in the 9th tonight, and the tying run was at the plate, why didn't the man who says he's the league MVP come on to pinch hit? The Big Papi was the Big Piney in the big spot in this game. What gives Tito?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 12:20 AM | Comments (15)

September 16, 2006

September 16th vs. The Red Sox - Game 1

O.K., the loss in this game means nothing to the Yankees. Sure, it kills Wang's shot at 20 wins. But, that's an individual thing - and a ring will make up for that.

I should preface what comes next with a declaration that I'm a Derek Jeter fan - and I think Jeter should be the A.L. MVP this year. But, to be honest, I do believe that, if the Yankees had a "World-Class" fielding SS in the game today, it's a lot closer game this afternoon.

And, I'm not even talking about the muff by Jeter in the 4th on the ball hit by Hinske. More so, it was the "hit" that followed by Mirabelli. That was a grounder located not that far to Jeter's left. Personally, I think someone like Adam Everett grabs that ball, turns two, and the inning is over - and the Yankees then leave the 4th with a 2-0 lead.

But, then again, Adam Everett couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat.

And, of course, if Johnny Damon doesn't bang into a DP in the 2nd, and gets a hit instead, maybe Beckett is done.

Lots of chances in this game for New York. They just didn't get it done. Still, as stated in the opening, no biggie - the loss means nothing.

Lastly, very classy of the guys on FOX to give Kaat a couple of innings today. Very classy, indeed. Nice to see that.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 07:57 PM | Comments (5)

September 15, 2006

Kitty Caught In The Rain

Thanks to the rain, Jim Kaat lost his chance to call one final game.

I think the YES Network should invite Kaat back to do one game in 2007. What's the harm in doing that and giving the guy one last chance to go out in style?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:35 PM | Comments (8)

Punt Joe, Punt!

With today's rain-out, the Yankees will now play the Red Sox four times in a span of 31 hours. What's the Vegas odds on Everyday Scottie Proctor pitching three times (or more) in those 31 hours?

This weekend could lay some damage on the Yankees bullpen. It would be much better for Torre to throw the pen scrubs out there and take a beating over the next two days - than to burden the useful guys in the pen.

Better to lose one small meaningless battle to ensure victory in the war.

Let Beam, Henn, and Veras pitch in all four games, if you have to, Joe, rather than continue to kill Proctor, Villone and Bruney. Dotel better be pitching in at least two of these games as well.

There's still plenty of time to wrap up the title after this weekend - but, first you have to survive the weekend.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 07:40 PM | Comments (3)

Looks Like One Time In 88 Years Is Not The Trick

Jonathan Carlson of The Tufts Observer details the madness of being a Red Sox fan:

Throughout the past month or so, beginning with a five game thrashing by the rival New York Yankees, Boston has put on a staggering display of ineptitude, inefficiency, and, above all, tremendous misfortune.

At long last, some classic Red Sox baseball. Finally, Red Sox fans will again have something to gripe about at the water coolers. No more of this winning nonsense. Time to get back to basics. Time to get back to calling into radio talk shows to complain about the management, the players, and everything in between. Time to get angry again. It’s been too long.

Why do Boston fans act this way? What possesses them to take on this almost obsessive behavior when it comes to following baseball (not to mention football, basketball, and, to some extent, hockey)? While I have no definitive answer for you, I can certainly offer up a couple of theories that might shed some metaphoric light on the situation.

To begin with, Boston is a relatively small city, so its residents feel compelled to take a proportionally large amount of pride in any and all of its accomplishments.

You could almost say that it’s a kind of inferiority complex. Because the city isn’t as big or as powerful as New York, and because it doesn’t seem to possess the tourist appeal of the west coast cities, it has to be that much better at sports. If it isn’t, its citizens become incredibly agitated. Rather than giving up interest, however, they become even more focused upon every movement their team makes. As a result, the only times that a Boston team can ever escape its fans’ hyperactive attention are those times when the team is actually doing well.

Pain is the driving force behind Boston’s passion. A bleak truth, perhaps, but true nevertheless. Think about it. This region was born out of the Puritanical notion that suffering builds character. It’s no good if everything comes to you gift-wrapped with a pretty bow on top. You need to earn success, and even if you get it, that’s no excuse for acting happy all the time. Happy people become complacent without the fear of failure to drive them forward.

Yeah, it looks like 2004 is washing away pretty quick in Beantown.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 04:39 PM | Comments (3)

Will The Carlapalooza Tour Stop Here?

From the Daily News:

Yankee pitcher Carl Pavano had a secret passenger during his secret car crash in Florida: a sexy model from Queens, the Daily News has learned.

A friend of Pavano's whisked away gorgeous Gia Allemand following the Aug. 15 smashup, which the oft-injured hurler didn't tell his ballclub about for 11 days.

That's according to Ernest DeLaura, who was sitting in the cab of his 18-wheeler when Pavano's Porsche plowed into him on a rain-slicked West Palm Beach road.

"When he hit me, it blew the passenger window right out of his car," DeLaura said. "I really thought she was hurt. She kept rubbing her arm and saying she was okay....

"And he was on the other side and he had two broken ribs, so I'm sure she got hurt."

He said that a male friend of Pavano's arrived and drove Allemand away - but not before DeLaura's boss at the Solid Waste Authority of West Palm Beach took down her name for an internal company report.

But she was gone by the time police arrived and her name did not appear on the police report.

Pavano did not mention her last month during the conference call with reporters in which he discussed the accident.

Neither Pavano or Allemand - who has been a Miss Italia, Miss South Beach and Miss American Teen - were reachable for comment yesterday.

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman would not comment, though the team has been conducting its own probe into the incident, which occurred when Pavano was in Florida working his way back from various injuries.

Boy, the "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" story from Pavano just keeps getting better and better, huh?

Is this King Carl on Gia's MySpace Page?

You have to wonder about why Pavano wanted her out of there before the police showed up.

Could she have been doing something with her arm (that was injured in the crash) that helped Carl lose control of the car? Hey, stranger things have happened, right?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 10:47 AM | Comments (15)

Goodbye Columbus

From The Columbus Dispatch -

The New York Yankees announced today that they will not renew their deal with the Columbus Clippers baseball team, which ended with the Clippers' regular season Sept. 4.

Columbus Baseball Team Inc. is set to begin negotiations with available Major League Baseball teams Saturday and has until Sept. 30 to sign with another major-league club. Major league teams currently without triple-A affiliations include the New York Mets, Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles.

"I can guarantee there will be baseball in Columbus next season," Clippers president Ken Schnacke said.

It is believed that Yankees general manager Brian Cashman wants his triple-A team closer to New York. Scranton, Pa., approximately 120 miles west of New York City, is available since the Philadelphia Phillies allowed their contract to lapse. The team currently known as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barrons will play in Allentown in 2008, and Philadelphia is rumored to be planning to play its top minor-league team in Ottawa for the 2007 season.

Well, the folks in PA are saying it's a done deal, for what it's worth.

I can just see Cashman, in his best Edith Bunker voice, saying: "We're not going to Disney World, or any other world - we're going to Scranton!" (You probably have to watch a lot of All-In-The-Family to get this one.)

When I was a kid, the Yankees played their Triple-A games in Syracuse. So, it's not heart-breaking to me that they'll no longer be in Columbus - as I've known it to be different already.

From the report in PA:

Reportedly, one of the demands that Scranton/Wilkes-Barre plans to make is that they keep the Red Barons as its nickname—and the Yankees concur.

What, and not the "Red Baron Von Steingrabbers?"

(Yeah, I know it's "General Von Steingrabber." I'm just having a little fun here.)

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 08:50 AM | Comments (8)

September 14, 2006

Now, That's Stepping Up!

On August 12th of this season, I wrote:

Robinson Cano hits like Tony Womack when it comes to driving in runners. That's not good. This seems odd - since I'm sure, in the minds of most Yankees fans, when they think "Cano" they think "line drives all over the field." Guess what? With runners on base, it ain't happening. When you consider how many times Cano has batted 6th or 7th for the Yankees this season, and probably will in those slots going forward, Robbie has to do better than "Womack-like" in terms of driving home base runners.

And, now, tonight, I saw this report:

2B Robinson Cano (2-for-4) batted third in the order for the first time in his career [tonight] ...drove in three runs and now has 40 RBI in 36 games since being reinstated from the disabled list on 8/8, the most RBI in the Majors over that span.

OK, I'll "sing" it:

Act like you know, Rico
I know what Bo don't know
Touch them up and go, uh-oh!
Ch-ch-chang chang
Here comes the high-stepper......Robbie Cano.

(Yeah, I know it should be "hotstepper." But, since I wrote on August 8th that Cano "Need(s) To Start Stepping Up For The Yankees This Season" it seemed like a lyric change was in order.)

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:15 PM | Comments (2)

September 14th vs. The Devil Rays

Here's a wild idea - how about Darrell Rasner on the post-season roster instead of Dotel?

OK, you pull a bunch of guys because of the rain. Not a terrible idea. But, you leave in Giambi, to play the field (no less!), with his bad wrist? I just don't get Torre sometimes. Strike that - make it a lot of times.

Jim Kaat mentioned this several times on YES tonight, but, A-Rod is having one heckuva September. His OPS for the month, to date, is in the thirteen hundreds.

Part of me is bothered by this development.

Sure, I want to see him do well - because that helps the Yankees. But, on the flip side, seeing him mash (off the charts) like this now makes me worry about what happens in October.

If Alex Rodriguez bombs in the post-season this year, the case against him will be set up perfectly: He was great in May. He struggled badly when the team needed him in June. Once the season was locked up, he hit like Babe Ruth in September. And, once the games "counted" again in October, he failed.

The only way around this is for A-Rod to play well in the post-season. He doesn't need to have an OPS around 1300 - but, something in the range of 890 would make the case "for him" much easier.

Lastly, good for Jeter, Cano and Matsui tonight. Let's hope that Posada is O.K. - and, thanks for nothing Baltimore.

On the bright side, if the Yankees take 3 of 4 from Boston this weekend, it's officially over in the A.L. East. And, it would give New York 13 games to play around with until the post-season. That's one nice cushion - almost too big. But, it beats playing it down until the last weekend (like last year).

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 10:40 PM | Comments (8)

Philip Hughes Nickname

Pete Abraham suggests that Philip Hughes needs a nickname.

Since I gave the world "Worm Killer" Wang - I'm feeling a little bit of pressure here to come up with something for Hughes too.

I almost wanted to say "The Spruce Goose" (playing off "Hughes") - but, while it sounds cool, the actual Spruce Goose was not a success.

Philip Hughes is from Santa Ana, CA - the most populous city in the famed "O.C." (as it's become known). Playing off that, I want to suggest:

Philip "Orange Crush" Hughes

It's a shame that the Santa Ana Freeway is not the "Santa Ana Expressway" - because "The Santa Ana Express" would have been a great nickname for Hughes.

I know that the Denver Broncos use "The Orange Crush" too - but, Roger Clemens uses "Rocket" and the NBA team in Houston never whines about it. I'd like to think that Denver could live with "Orange Crush" Hughes too.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 03:23 PM | Comments (11)

Am I A Bad Person?

This morning, I heard a lot on the radio about the Twins' Francisco Liriano and his possible need for Tommy John surgery. My first reaction was: "What a shame. He's so young and so talented. And, now, he might not be able to pitch again until 2008."

But, there was also a small part of me that thought: "This is good news for the Yankees in they face the Twins in the play-offs this year."

Does that make me a bad person, or just a good fan?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 12:52 PM | Comments (9)

Just Rubbing It In

If the Yankees go 5-13 in their remaining 18 games, then the Boston Red Sox would have to go 17-0 in their remaining games (this year) to win the A.L. East.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 12:37 PM | Comments (5)

Sssssh! Chemists At Work.

Via Pete Abraham's Blog -

The Yankees, based on what I heard and read, were 25 one-man corporations.

But adding Johnny Damon and Mike Myers to the mix helped change the chemistry. Johnny is Johnny, every bit a flake but a gamer. Myers is like the guy at your office who runs the NCAA tournament pool. I mean that literally, he ran the pool for the Yankees. He's always got something going on that everybody gets involved in.

Larry Bowa - who breaks everybody's chops - was a big addition as was Tony Pena and his energy. Jason Giambi came back out of his shell after a trying 2005. He loves having Damon around.

Cano and Cabrera are a Dominican Batman and Robin, always together. Their youth added some spark.

Hey, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel once said that "Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion." So, it's a good thing, in my opinion, that the Yankees are having fun while they "work."

If Bowa and Pena are as good, in this area, as reported, I hope they both stick around for a few years.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:44 AM | Comments (1)

Marty Should Have Known Better Than To Ask

Via Contact Music with a hat tip to BaseballThinkFactory.org -

Lifelong New York Yankees fan JACK NICHOLSON refused to wear a baseball cap sporting the badge of his team's rivals for his role as a Boston, Massachusetts, gangster in new movie THE DEPARTED. Director MARTIN SCORSESE suggested the movie legend wear a Boston Red Sox cap for one pivotal scene, but backed down when New Yorker Nicholson insisted he wouldn't wear the head gear out of loyalty to the Yankees. Instead, the CHINATOWN star dons a Yankees cap in the scene, according to magazine Sports Illustrated.

Attaboy Jack.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:27 AM | Comments (3)

Bruney's Ink

Lots of rain and traffic today in New Jersey. It took me 2 hours to drive 45 miles (to get to work this morning). You do the math on the average MPH for the trip. It was not a fun ride.

For a good part of the "run," I was behind a black Ford Escape that had an "iron cross" decal on the back window.

Seeing this, it reminded me of some comments that I saw over at Bronx Banter last week - regarding an iron cross tattoo on Brian Bruney's forearm.

Because I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I was able to get a good look at the decal on the car. In the iron cross, it said "Live Life, Clean And Sober." A quick google search once I got to work helped me find an image of what this looked like (on the SUV rear window).

Could this be what's on Bruney's arm? And, could this be a clue as to why the Diamondbacks were so willing to just let Bruney walk away for free this year? Did, perhaps, Bruney have a battle with some sort of substance abuse in the past that Arizona found concerning?

I'm not saying this is a fact - it's just a wild guess. And, to be honest, as long as Bruney is a good citizen in Yankeeland, what he's done in the past is moot.

But, if this is a clue that perhaps Bruney had an issue in the past, I would hope that the Yankees provide him with all the support needed to ensure that he continues to live life free of any demons.

Then again, Bruney's ink could mean anything. From Wikipedia -

The Iron Cross has also been appropriated by several American subcultures after WWII. In particular, motorcycle clubs, surfing and skateboarding culture, fans of heavy metal music, neo-Nazis, and the hot rod and custom car cultures use the symbol in various forms.

Maybe Bruney is just a metal-head biker? If so, it's fitting that he's wearing # 33 in New York, no?

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 10:49 AM | Comments (24)

September 13, 2006

September 13th vs. The Devil Rays

Maybe Mad Dog Russo was right?

Cory Lidle has now made 8 starts for the Yankees:

3 very good, 4 not good at all, and one that was OK.

I thought that Lidle would have performed better than this - and, now, the Yankees 4th starter in the post-season is not a sure thing. It could be Wright or Lidle.

The next three starts, in terms of performance, for both Wright and Lidle will probably be the deal breaker.

On a positive note, the magic number is now seven - with 18 games to go. This date, last year, the Yankees were two back in the loss column with 19 to play. What a difference a year makes, huh?

Lastly, a riddle (of sorts) for you - What does David Ortiz have to do these days to watch the Yankees? The answer: Look up!

It's a bird!
It's a plane!
It's a frog!

A frog?

No Papi.

Not bird, not plane, not even frog, it's just the Yankees, a.k.a. the top dog.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 11:20 PM | Comments (4)

New York Yankees, Etc.

There's a relatively new Yankees blog on the scene: New York Yankees, etc.

If you stop by, tell them that WasWatching.com sent ya!

Posted by Steve Lombardi at 02:49 PM | Comments (0)

The Final Spots For The 2006 Post-Season Roster

We know that these Yankees will make the post-season cut:

Posada, Fasano, Giambi, Cano, Jeter, Rodriguez, Cabrera, Damon, Abreu, Williams, Cairo, Wang, Mussina, Johnson, Lidle,