Belated Reaction To Yankees' Second Walkoff Win Of The Season

Photo Credit: New York Daily News

Last night, the Yankees posted their second walk-off win this season, beating the Blue Jays 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th inning.  Having still not fully recovered from their six-game losing streak, and after losing the first game of the Toronto series badly on Monday night, this impressive comeback (they were down 4-1 entering the bottom of the 8th) came at the perfect time.

Given the importance of this win, I thought I would share a few (admittedly belated) thoughts...

Read more>>

Trivia Tuesday: RBIs aplenty

It's a little late in the day, but better late than never to revive one of NYaT's longest traditions...

Going into the 2011 season, the Yankees' lineup seemed old and primed for a dropoff in production, while the Red Sox (having added Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford) were expected to be an offensive juggernaut.  Alas, we have seen a very different story over the last five weeks.  There are 5 Yankees ranked in the Top 20 American League RBI producers (Cano, Martin, A-Rod, Granderson, and Teixeira) while the Red Sox have just one (Gonzalez).

Way back in 1961, Roger Maris led the AL with 142 RBIs.  Who was the next Yankees player to lead the league in RBIs?

Bonus: In what year did he do it, and how many did he drive in?

Bonus No. 2: Who was the most recent Yankee to lead the AL in RBIs?

Put your answers in the comments below and later tonight I'll reveal the correct answers!

Hot Stove Coal: Reviewing Yankees Worst Case Scenarios from 2010

I figured today was a good day to revisit a depressing topic. Last winter we launched into a series looking at the Yankees worst-case scenarios for the 2010 season. I didn't expect it to be as popular as it was but it was copied on Yankees blogs, national baseball blogs and even Red Sox blogs. Our three-part series went into what it would look like if everything went wrong. Well, despite winning the Wild Card and making the American League Championship Series, some of these worst-case scenarios actually came to fruition. Let's look at each of them again and see how close we go to predicting the worst-case scenario, starting with Part 1, "The Starting Lineup":

Jeter smiles but the Cold War was predicted back in February (CBC)

Jorge Posada 
What I said worst-case would look like: "Basically 2008 redux. He played in only 51 games, garnering a measly 195 PAs. The Yankees don't need him to get 545 (a number he reached from 2000-2007) but they need him to hit the mid 400s...Jorgie can't get hurt"

What actually happened: Posada played in 120 games and got 451 PAs which was more than he had logged since 2007. The problem was that he hit like 2008 when he played, putting up a .248/.357/.454 line. He also had injury issues like 2008 with a fractured foot in mid-May and a Baker Cyst behind his knee which kept him from crouching. Worse than his offense was his defense which was so bad the Yankees have informed him he is a designated hitter in 2011. 

Mark Teixeira 
What I said worst-case would look like: "The beginning of [2009]. He can't hit and he's killing the team out there..on May 2nd of [2009], Tex was hitting .182/.354/.338 through 99 PAs"

What actually happened: Well, through 99 PAs in 2010 Tex hit .136/.300/.259 and it took him longer to get out of his slump. He still finished with very good numbers but he didn't come close to hitting his 2009 totals. And an injury during the ALCS ended his playoffs and seemed to deflate the entire Yankees' offense. Teixeira still played great defense and got on base during his slump but it took a while for him to come around while he killed the Yankees from the #3 slot.

Robinson Cano

Read more>>

The Yankee Clipper: Back-and-Forth Game 1 Goes to the Yanks

Deep breath. After two dominant pitching performances to start out the playoff day by Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, the Yankees and Twins played a see-saw, back-and-forth affair last night under the stars at Target Field. But while Francisco Liriano looked early like he'd join Halladay and Lee as number 1 starters who dominated, the Yankees late rally toppled the Twinkies once again. A few notes:

Maybe not "ever" but last night's Tex Message was exciting

1. The Grandy Man Can. Sometimes, you need to throw out the book and Joe Girardi (the man who keeps the book with him at all times) did just that last night starting Curtis Granderson against Liriano. Granderson--who couldn't hit lefties in general for most of the season--came into the game 4 for 22 against the lefty Liriano with 12 strikeouts. And in the second inning, with two on and two out, those struggles reared their ugly heads again when Granderson left the runners stranded. That was the first of 10 consecutive batters that Liriano retired including a Granderson strikeout in the fifth. So with two on and two out and the same Liriano on the mound, some wondered whether Joe Girardi may go to the bench and pinch hit Austin Kearns who has had success in limited time against Liriano. But Girardi stuck with Granderson who hit the ball about as far as you can without hitting it out and his triple was the biggest hit of the game. Granderson deserves a lot of credit for going to Kevin Long and making sure he worked on his swing and the dividends have paid off immensely. Ben Shpigel of the New York Times calls Long the Yankees "Most Valuable Repairman", Brien@IIATMS breaks down the 6th inning, and the New York Post's Joel Sherman said that Granderson went from being a "bad idea" in mid-August to an October hero.
2. Tex Message Received. As LoHud's Chad Jennings wrote, the other place that Girardi went against most people's instinct was when he stuck with Mark Teixeira struggled through the first two months. Every day he wrote his name into the lineup in the number three hole. And last night's majestic shot into the October sky again showed us that despite his slow starts, Teixeira will eventually come around and contribute. An earlier double, though, was just as big as it snapped Liriano's streak of 10-in-a-row retired and set the table for that big 6th inning. Last season, Tex hit a line drive in Game 2 of the ALDS that everyone at Yankee Stadium was yelling "get up, get up" so it would be a home run--and it was. Last night, Tex hit a high fly ball that everyone yelling "stay fair, stay fair" (including Joe Girardi who the cameras caught saying it with the rest of the fans)--and it did. Tex's second game-winning home run against the Twins in two years and off the Jesse Crain which TBS replays right before the home run showed Teixeira hitting a blast earlier this year against at Yankee Stadium. According to ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews, Tex did this all with a cortisone shot in his ailing wrist. Teixeira has played through pain much of the second half of the season and his Tex MSG got the Yankees Game 1 of the series.
3. The Great Mariano.

Read more>>

G-I-D-P Spells Frustration Over Last Night's Ending

At times, I feel like I'm spoiled as a Yankee fan. I don't expect the team to go 162-0, but in the past two years I've seen them launch some improbably comebacks and made opposing bullpens look like mush so often that I feel like they are never out of a game. So when last night the Yankees were down 2-0 or 3-0 in a game, I felt like a comeback was not only imminent, but necessary. The team's bats had failed recently and this was about the time they turned it on and stole a game. And while things were derailed in the 8th inning when Marcus Thames grounded out, I felt that the 9th inning was going to provide promise as well.

GIDP is becoming all too Jeterian at times (MSNBC)

But then came "fun with numbers" as Derek Jeter--El Capitan, Captain Clutch, etc--rapped into a 6-4-3 double play. Game over.

I'm not naive to suggest that the Yankees should come back there. Or that Derek Jeter is the clutchiest clutch hitter that ever lived, but the Yankees could have not swung the bat and won that game. Nor was this all Jeter's fault as Jorge Posada (and to a lesser extent Marcus Thames and Curtis Granderson) were guilty of the same Jeterian mistakes as the Captain himself. And I'm not unappreciative of who Derek Jeter is or what he's done for this team, this franchise and this sport*, but there were some serious problems that I had with yesterday's game**.

*Side Note: Joe Posanski had a great debate today about Derek Jeter vs. Mariano Rivera on who was more important to the Yankees. I need to get into greater detail in a later post about this, but the answer for me is Mariano Rivera and the reason is because of an Intro to Econ concept called opportunity cost. With the Yankees financial might, they could always sign another shortstop such as Alex Rodriguez  to take over for Derek Jeter and the result would have been pretty damn good if not better. But the opportunity cost of Mariano Rivera is unthinkable (and Rivera is a "rate environment extremophile" according to Tommy Bennett of Baseball Prospectus so you gotta love that). JoePo touched on this but even the best closers in the game never reached the level of consistency or dominance that Mo did. Money can't buy that. That isn't to say that Derek Jeter wasn't more valuable to the Yankees dynasty (he definitely was and any WAR or Win Shares) calculation will back that up, but despite the fact today's closers are vastly overrated, the answer has to go to Jeter in the value column. Though I may have mixed up the two. Undetermined.

Read more>>

The Yankee Clipper: The Infield

Yesterday we looked at the Yankees' outfield at the All-Star Break. Today we'll check out the Yankees infield and see how they've been fairing so far in 2010. We'll leave out the catchers for now, but we'll make sure to get back to them later. We'll also examine any places of weaknesses to see where the Yankees could make some strikes before July 31st:

1. Alex Rodriguez. We'll work our way around the diamond but start first with A-Rod. In what's been his least controversial year (so far), A-Rod's bat hasn't been producing either. His .269/.345/.481 line would all be his worst mark since 1995 and his 27 home run pace would his worst since 1997 (and his first time not hitting 30 since then). The one thing that A-Rod is still doing offensively is driving in runs and his 70 RBI are 3rd in the American League--and puts him on pace for 133 which would be the 4th highest mark of his career. He's also hitting doubles and triples at a high pace and his projected total of 42 non-HR XBH would be his highest since 1997. Now that could mean that he's just had bad luck and some of his flyballs haven't left the park this year--and the numbers support that. Only 11.2% of A-Rod's flyballs have left the park which would be his lowest mark since 1995 and way under his 18.5% career mark and his BABIP of .281 is way under his career mark of .320. So what does this mean for the man who is about to hit 600 home runs? There's probably some sort of correction coming (especially since he's also been battling a bad hip). I would assume he ends the season with higher slash lines and his regular 30+ HR and 100+ RBI power numbers (though his steals have gone down from 24 in 2007 to 18 in 2008 to 14 in 2009 to only 2 so far in 2010). The weirdest part of A-Rod's stats: he hits righties at a much better clip (175 points higher in OPS) than he hits lefties. This mostly seems to be because his inability to hit lefties cutters and it is a small sample size--but it is strange (as was his All-Star Game exclusion). His UZR number is actually his best since 2005 so despite his bad hip, he's still about average defensively. The key for A-Rod is finding a good backup so the Yankees feel comfortable sitting or DH'ing him once every week to 10 days. Right now, I don't think they have confidence in any one of the backups (and we'll get to that later) and need to hope for more A-Bombs from A-Rod. Best Month: May .330/.408/.534 with 5 HR and 27 RBI.
2. Derek Jeter. "El Capitan" had one of the best years of his career last season. This year has been a little rougher on the aging shortstop. A free agent in the off-season, he's at least made the Yankees think twice about giving him too many years. .274/.340/.392 would amazing all be the lowest marks of his entire career. He's on pace for 112 runs, 32 2B, 15 HR, 80 RBI and 17 SB so the production is still there, but he's certainly fallen off of his 2009 mark (and this is all with his HR/FB % the highest of his career). There is still hope for Jeter, though. He's typically a better second half player with his three best months of July, August and September (in ascending order). In many ways this season looks a lot like 2008 when Jeter had a horrible first half but raised his OPS 75 points in the second half. The Yankees need to keep their fingers crossed that Jeter can do the same in 2010 (or they need to move Brett Gardner to the leadoff spot to get a high OBP player in front of Jetes. You also hope that maybe playing for the memory of George Steinbrenner will propel Jeter to greatness in the second half of the season. Here's one big issue: Jeter can't hit righties. He's hitting .323/.372/.504 vs. lefties and an atrocious .248/.323/.332 vs. righties. If Jeter can turn that around, it will go a long way in helping his overall numbers. If not (and RotoGraphs thinks his days of being a .300 hitter may be behind him), the Yankees need to think long and hard about how many years to give an aging shortstop this off-season. Best Month: April .330/.354/.521 with 4 HR, 18 RBI and 3 SB.

Read more>>

Yankees Finding Ways To Utilize Open DH Spot

I don't think the Yankees planned to have Nick Johnson miss time. I don't think they got him thinking "hey, he'll probably get injured and open up the DH slot." But while Nick Johnson's injury isn't a good thing for the Yankees, the vacancy in the DH spot has been a positive point at times for the Yankees. With an older team and injuries to key players, the Yankees have needed to use the DH spot to ease players back in the lineup (as they did last night with Alex Rodriguez). Let's take a look at how the DH spot has gone for the Yankees this season.

The graph below from Baseball-Reference shows all the people that have spent time at DH this season for the Yanks:

	Age	G
Nick Johnson	31	19
Jorge Posada	38	14
Juan Miranda	27	7
Marcus Thames	33	7
Mark Teixeira	30	5
Alex Rodriguez	34	4
Derek Jeter	36	3
Nick Swisher	29	2
Robinson Cano	27	1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/17/2010.

Jorge Posada has played the most games besides Johnson on this list and for good reason. The 38-year-old would have probably spent a good deal of time at DH anyways due the fact that he can't squat for 162 games, but his foot injury kept him from being the Yankees catcher for quite longer than expected. Posada has historically been a better hitter when he catches and 2010 is no different. A caveat though, Posada's time at DH was spent while he was still pretty injured so the results may have also been hindered by the fact he was not always healthy while DH'ing. His .229/.362/.438 splits in 58 PAs out of the DH slot is not bad as it contains 3 HR in his 11 hits. Joe from FanGraphs wrote about catchers who are good enough to DH back on June 1st, and Posada has given the Yankees a great option of using the better defensive player (Francisco Cervelli) at catcher and preserve Jorge's body while DH'ing. Even now that he's returned behind the plate, I expect that quite a few of Jorge's ABs will come with the other half of the day off.

Read more>>

The Yankee Clipper: We're Going Streaking

The Yankees have hit their soft part of their schedule and after taking 3 of 4 against the Indians, the Yankees just finished off a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. After the bats had gone silent for a few weeks, health has come back to the Yankees and so has their Bronx Bomber persona. Those bats mixed with great pitching has allowed the Yankees to take advantage and beat up on bad teams. Let's take a look at how we got here:

1. Javy Vazquez, Curtis Granderson, and a break in Game 1. ESPN's TMI blog summarized why Javier Vazquez won and it was pretty simple: he threw first pitch strikes (73% of the time), he kept the ball down (set season-highs with 64 pitches down, 9 ground ball outs, and 52.9% of balls in play resulted in ground-balls), and he got swings and misses (27.5%, his second-highest mark this year). I know that this was "only the Orioles", but pitching is really that simple: keep the ball down, throw first pitch strikes and get swings and misses. As Mark Feinsand of The Daily News points out, the one run that Vazquez gave up was on a pitch up to Corey Patterson. The overall numbers are ugly, but since they skipped his start in early May, Vazquez has pitched in 5 games has a 2.77 ERA and has a .202/.270/.348 line against. Granderson is also out to prove people wrong by hitting lefties and he continued that movement in Game 1 by hitting a home run. As LoHud's Chad Jennings pointed out, Joba Chamberlain also bounced back nicely. And a costly error by Miguel Tejada gave the Yankees the extra runs needed to seal a 3-1 win.
2. Phil Hughes, Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher and Granderson in Game 2. I was at this game and wrote about it from there. ESPN's Buster Olney gives us more details about why Hughes won: "He held Orioles hitters to just 1-for-15 after the count got to two strikes, including 0-for-9 against his fastball. Hughes registered five of his seven strikeouts with the fastball on the night. Hughes challenged Orioles hitters with his fastball up in the zone with success. Hughes got four of his five strikeouts on the fastball on pitches in the upper third of the strike zone. Hughes went to three balls on just one hitter and to a 2-0 count on only two hitters."
3. Today was about CC Sabathia returning to form and A-Rod and Brett Gardner getting in on the power game. CC Sabathia wasn't great today, but what he did well was keep runners off base. The Yankees have been getting great pitching from AJ Burnett, Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte but this team really took off last season when the hefty lefty was at his best. As Mike from Yankeeist writes, the Yankees made it a lot more interesting than it needed to be, especially Mariano Rivera in the 9th inning but Jay from Fack Youk points out that despite the fact that the Orioles brought the tying run to the plate it never felt like the sweep was going to get away from the Yankees. The Yankees have to be happy to see Gardner and A-Rod starting to swing the bats well again.

Read more>>

Biggest Fantasy Baseball Surprises: Infielders

As the regular season starts to heat up so to does the fantasy baseball season. A few months removed from draft day decisions we see the errors or our ways or the fruits of our search for super sleepers. Although the fans of some of these teams would not see them as surprises, 5x5 fantasy leagues do so. Going position-by-position, let's look at the biggest fantasy surprises and disappointments so far in the season (data from Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball including the rankings), starting with the infielders

Catcher

Biggest Surprise - Miguel Olivo. He came into the year ranked as the 380th best player in baseball and right now is the top ranked catcher at 124. His .297 average with 18 runs, 8 HR, and 22 RBI have been a pleasant surprise, especially considering many didn't even know if he would be the starting catcher (and he may not be for much longer). 4 stolen bases have helped his cause even further. Amazingly, he's only owned in 67% of fantasy leagues. Honorable Mention - Rod Barajas (#380, 21 runs, 10 HR, 27 RBI) and John Buck (#933, 18 runs, 8 HR, 26 RBI). Picture from the Denver Post

Biggest Disappointment - Victor Martinez. The fact that he's the 6th best catcher is irrelevant since he was supposed to be one of the best players in baseball and was drafted likewise. So far, he's put up an extremely disappointing .258, 6 HR, 20 RBI line--which has actually an improvement from his slow start. For a guy who was picked so early in so many drafts, that's not acceptable, especially considering Martinez was picked as the second catcher in most leagues. His bruised toe suffered this week shouldn't help things much, either. Honorable Mention - Brian McCann (#34, .263, 5 HR, 18 RBI) and Matt Wieters (#105, .253, 11 runs, 4 HR, 15 RBI).

First Base

Biggest Surprise - Paul Konerko. I could have gone with a lot of names here, but Konerko has been the most surprising, even considering his recent slump. His 14 HR is tops at a position where slugging is king after he was only ranked #271 coming into the season. He's the 45th best player in baseball so far and has provided the power numbers for many fantasy teams. And his 14 HR equals of the output of Mark Teixeira and Prince Fielder--combined. Honorable Mention - James Loney (#155, .298, 29 runs, 4 HR, 29 RBI, 6 SB) and Adam LaRoche (#198, .281, 30 runs, 7 HR, 32 RBI) Picture from the Chicago Sun-Times

Biggest Disappointment - Mark Teixeira. For a guy drafted in the first or second round of every draft, these are not the stats you want to see: .210, 25 runs, 7 HR, 30 RBI. While most of the offensive stats actually match up with Albert Pujols', his average is almost 100 points lower. A notoriously slow starter, Tex has gotten off to an extra-slow start this year frustrating both his Yankee fans and his fantasy owners. Him and A-Rod have made the middle of the order quite unproductive. To put it in perspective, former Yankee Eric Hinske is ranked higher on the season than Teixeira despite having only 73 ABs. Definitely can't get worse. Honorable Mention - Derrek Lee (#52, .242, 24 runs, 6 HR, 23 RBI, 1 SB) and Carlos Pena (#85, .189, 23 runs, 8 HR, 28 RBI).

Read more>>

The Yankee Clipper: Another Series Win In Beantown

Even though it feels like the Yankees haven't really gotten hot, they have started at an all-time pace. They won their first give series to match the 1926 squad for the best mark in team history. Coming into the series, they had won eight of their first nine series. The last time they had done that was 2003. Now, after taking two of three in Boston, the Yankees have won nine out of their first ten series. The only two Yankees teams to do that? The 1939 team (11 of 12) and the 1928 team (14 of 15). And at 21-9, the Yankees are off to one of the best 30-game starts in the Derek Jeter Era (in 1998 and 2003, the team went 23-7 to begin both seasons). Last year after 30 games the Yankees were 14-16, 5.5 games out of first, and A-Rod had just returned from the DL the game before. So this team is a little bit ahead of last year's pace. Let's talk a little bit about the series that was in Fenway Park this past weekend:

1. Mark Teixeira and A-Rod started to wake up. It was only a matter of time before the middle of the Yankees lineup got rolling. It was this time last year when A-Rod came off the DL so it's really a year since they were this cold. Now they're heating up. Tex had 3 home runs on Saturday (though the last one was off of an outfielder) and A-Rod had a .556/.615/1.000 mark for the weekend at the plate and seemed to look more comfortable at the plate. A-Rod's home run yesterday was number 586 for his career, tying Frank Robinson on the all-time home run list. ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand says this could signal more A-Bombs ahead. Moshe at TYU says they were getting plenty of consistent offense even without those guys. That was, until Robinson Cano stopped hitting in May.
2. The "Sore Four" expands. The Yankees injuries are starting to pile up. Curtis Granderson is out a month. Chan Ho Park hasn't been seen in a month. Nick Johnson is on the DL. Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera are battling issues. Jorge Posada missed a week. A-Rod missed a few games. Alfredo Aceves left Saturday's game with an injury. Robinson Cano left Friday's game with an injury. The wild card for the Yankees was always their health with a veteran team. They've gotten great contributions from guys like Francisco Cervelli and Sergio Mitre helping to fill in for others. But the Yankees need to work on getting guys healthy ASAP and the Post's Joel Sherman writes that these injuries should give the Yankees pause before committing too many more years to older players this off-season.

Read more>>

The Yankee Clipper: The Disappointing Five

On Monday we looked a five April surprises. Today, we'll look at five early-season disappointments. Now for a team that's off to as hot a start as the Yankees, there are few of them. And coming off of another series win, complaining may look petty. But there are some not-so-bright spots and it's worth our while to point them out. First, let's talk about another big series win with the big 3 of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte picking up big wins (and then Andy's injury), Joba getting two saves, and everyone chipping in for big hits. This was a team that was without Jorge Posada, without Mariano Rivera, without Curtis Granderson, and didn't have Joba at their disposal on Wednesday afternoon--and they still were able to sweep an Orioles team that had just swept the Red Sox, themselves. So impressive wins all around and hopefully some momentum coming into Boston this weekend. Without further ado, let's get to the 5 disappointments so far this season:

1. Nick Johnson - The #2 hitter hasn't exactly been "Nick the Stick" so far this season. His .171 average and .314 slugging are pretty putrid. But his OBP is amazingly .396 thanks to 24 walks (2nd in the AL) and leaves his wOBA at a manageable .339. So instead of "Nick the Stick" he's been more like Johnny Walker's motto of "Keep on Walking". Nick is also 3rd in the AL with 4.40 pitches per plate appearance. The problem for Johnson is that while his walks are really high--and he's walking exactly 25% of the time so far this season--his strikeout percentage is the highest of his career at 31.4%. Chris at TYU writes that Johnson may be facing a bit of bad luck and his current BAbip of .217 (his career mark is .309) seems to suggest that's the case. Since he's started growing his mustache, Johnson has hit a bit better. But the struggles don't stop at the Yankees' #2 hitter.
2. Mark Teixeira - Maybe we should get used to slow starts from Tex, but it still doesn't make it any less disappointing. He's hitting a cold .178/.325/.297 with a .295 wOBA, 2 HR (and only 8 XBH total for the guy who tied for the AL home run title last year). His one saving grace is his good defense, which, according to FanGraphs, helps to even out his WAR at ZERO. Yes, zero. His one saving grace on offense has been his 20 walks and his 4.32 pitches per plate appearance (which is a career-high pace and good for 8th in the AL). But if he doesn't start hitting soon, I doubt many will be offering him free passes in front of A-Rod. Speaking of the #4 hitter...
3. Alex Rodriguez - It's amazing that this team could be playing so well with the heart of their lineup at 2, 3 and 4 doing so poorly. Last year, with Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira and A-Rod having huge second halves, that part of the lineup carried the team. A-Rod didn't come back until about this time last year, so in some ways, it's just like 2009. A-Rod's done very little so far. He's actually played good defense according to UZR (1.1 but small sample size, of course) and his .253/.345/.414 line is not horrific...but he's not doing much of anything else. He has 2 HR, his ISO is at a career-low .162 and he has 1 stolen base to his name (he's averaged 20 SB a year with the Yankees). A-Rod has actually struck out at a lower rate than any other time in his career (15.2%) and part of his problems may be bad luck as well (.274 BAbip compared to a career mark of .321). But even with those facts, it's hard to ignore that the hardest hits that A-Rod has had have come from Dallas Braden. 

Read more>>

The Yankee Clipper: A-Rod Disses Dallas

Not exactly Debbie Does Dallas, but because A-Rod is involved, there's just as much controversy. The Yankees take their 5th series to start a season matching the 1926 squad and two wins in Los Angeles this week would set a new franchise record. Before we get there, let's look at the series that was:

1. A-Rod vs. Dallas Braden. Here's my quick opinion: Dallas Braden was wrong and A-Rod was wrong in how he responded to it. As far as A-Rod's controversies go, this ranks pretty low on the list. Everyone weighed in: The New York Times' Ben Shpigel (picture to the right from that article), ESPN's Wallace Matthews, LoHud's Sam Borden, HarballTalk's Craig Calcaterra, River Ave Blues' Mike Axisa, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal (with a quote from Tim McCarver), Mark Feinsand of the Daily News, TonyBlogs, the Posts's Joel Sherman (who made an unfunny joke), and Jay from Fack Youk (who weighed in on everyone weighing in). Twitter users oh_gee_en and LadyBlueICU came up with funny pictures. 'Duk from Big League Stew summed it up nicely: "You can read more of [what Braden and A-Rod said] at MLB.com or listen to his interview at the LoHud Yankees Blog....On one hand, it's nice for A's fans to see that one of their young guns won't cede any ground or be intimidated by one of the best players on the defending world champs...But on the other, there's something to be said for knowing your spot in the game and earning enough capital to call out a perennial All-Star over something so petty." ESPN's Rob Neyer adds another layer to it: "There's something odd about this, though: The inning was over. Braden wasn't on the mound anymore. It wasn't his mound."
2. Oh, by the way, the Yankees turned a triple play yesterday (no, not that triple play or that triple play). According to John and Suzyn, it was the first triple play turned by the Yankees in a long time. According to the broadcast team, the last one was June 3rd, 1968: Dooley Womack to Bobby Cox to Mickey Mantle ("yes that Bobby Cox and yes that Mickey Mantle"). More than 6600 games ago. I saw one in person last year (unassisted) when the Mets had one turned on them in Citi Field (DJ AM threw out the first pitch that game, sadly enough). It's a really cool feat. Too bad they couldn't follow it up with a win. Quick side note: I also got to hear Suzyn say during the broadcast: "Isn't texting just the best thing in the world." Ummm...

Read more>>

The Yankee Clipper: The Quest for 108 (and 28)

I didn't pick 108 just because it's a LOST number. I picked it because it would be the win total if the Yankees continue to win 2 out of every 3 games this season. 108-54. Now while I don't think the Yankees will win every series for the rest of the year (nor is every series 3 games) and while I don't put a lot of stock into games that occur before Memorial Day, it is big to take series in April against the Angels, Red Sox, and Rays who may be the top 3 teams besides the Yankees in the American League (definitely up for debate, but arguable). Wins now help out when the inevitable slumps happen later. By the aforementioned Memorial Day, the Yankees will have probably played every single contender in the American League--and some more than once. So while I don't put a lot of stock into early season success propelling a team to the playoffs, this is one case where early season failures could definitely keep the Yankees out. Good start so far. Now to the list on the week the Yankees got their rings (picture to the right from the Daily News article)

1. Stop booing Javy...for now. It's been two series since we've done a Yankee Clipper and in that time, we've seen only two losses, both by Javier Vazquez. During the last one (in Yankee Stadium), Vazquez was mercilessly booed. While I'm a big supporter of "you paid for your ticket, you can boo who you want" (I did it to A-Rod at times), I think this is quite unwarranted and, maybe a little classless. We just won a World Series, people. Vazquez has been back for only a few months. Vazquez's first stint in the Bronx featured him having a great first half and then getting injured. Instead of "pulling a Carl Pavano", he pitched through it. The results weren't pretty (and we can argue about whether he's just as guilty for pitching through the pain) and his part in the Game 7 collapse leaves a scar on a lot of us. But give the guy a break. Booing him this early into his 2nd Yankee go-around won't help the cause at all. I felt this with Jose Contreras, Jeff Weaver and some of the other fragile personalities who got booed in the Bronx--just cheer the heck out of the guy for a few months and see what that does. Especially if you're going to give a standing ovation to Hideki Matsui after he hits a home run. I appreciate what the guy did in Pinstripes, but I reserve my standing Os for those wearing Pinstripes--or at least those who spent more than 6 years here. Let's not confuse this guy for Don Mattingly.
2. I was never a fan of the move, but I think that Robinson Cano may fit fine into the 5th slot in the lineup. As Paul mentioned to me today, this is a turn around from my previous stance on Cano. There are some guys that can't hack it with runners on base and there are some that just seem like they can't hack it because of bad luck. I was worried that Cano fell into the latter category and his unusually low BAbip made me feel that maybe last year's failures were a fluke. I'm still not convinced, but with Jorge Posada the only other viable option, I'm OK with Robby. As Chad Jennings writes, he's been terrific in that spot. He's batting .395 with a 1.216 OPS. But here's my reason to be concerned: Robinson is not a patient hitter by any means. Although he's shown a slight uptick in pitches per PA (up to 3.43 this season), he has a grand total of one walk. There may be times where we'll miss Hideki Matsui or Jorge Posada in that spot when we need a grind-it-out RBI AB, but I think overall Cano may be fine. Though I want to reserve judgment until he's played a bit more
   

Read more>>

Yankees Over/Under: Starting 9 Hitters

I thought it would be fun to do Over/Under for the Yankees to see where people predict people will end up by the end of the year. So I'll put out a list of over/under numbers and you'll put your predictions in the comments below. Let's start out with the Yankee starting 9 hitters:

1. Curtis Granderson - 30 HR (his career high set last year)
2. Jorge Posada - 111 games (the amount he played in last season)
3. Mark Teixeira - 35 HR, 114 RBI (his career average)
4. Robinson Cano - .365 OBP (career high set in 2006)
5. Derek Jeter - 200 hits (a benchmark we seem to have for him every season)
6. Alex Rodriguez - 30 HR and 100 RBI (numbers he's hit every year since 1998)
7. Nick Swisher - 8 HR at home (his odd number from last season)
8. Brett Gardner - 39 SB (his career SB total)
9. Nick Johnson - 438 PAs (his average plate appearances since he left New York)

And now a few non-stat related ones:

10. Nick Johnson - 1.5 trips to the disabled list
11. Kate Hudson - 0.5 times on TV at a Yankee game this season rooting on A-Rod
12. Derek Jeter - 0.5 pies in the face after game-winning hit (he had none last year)
13. Jorge Posada - 25 games caught for his buddy, A.J. Burnett
14. Derek Jeter - 0.5 engagements
15. Nick Swisher - 2 hairstyles 

So what do you think? Put your answers in the comments below and pick an over/under for whichever ones you want. The next group we'll go with are the pitchers so stay tuned.

Picture from the New York Daily News

Three Bothersome Things and a Few Takeaways

It's weird to feel nervous about this World Series. The Yankees are up 3-2 and coming back to the Bronx. The Yankees have lost two games in a row at home only twice since A-Rod returned to the lineup at the beginning of May. Amazingly, those two times were to the Nationals and the Orioles. So there's reason to have faith that the team with the best record in baseball and the best record at home should be able to win one of two back in the friendly confines of Yankee Stadium.

It also may be unreasonable to think the Yankees should have won all three games in Philly. The last team to sweep the middle three games of the series on the road were the 1996 Yankees who swept the Braves in Atlanta to win the 1996 World Series. But it doesn't mean that last night's game isn't bothersome. Here's four reasons why:

• Joe Girardi starting A.J. Burnett on 3 days rest and going with Molina over Posada. I was a big fan of going with A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia on 3 days rest. I still think it was the right decision to do so. It just didn't work out. Burnett was awful last night and the Yankees were forced to use their bullpen for a lot of pitches. That bodes poorly when you consider the Yankees have Pettitte on short rest coming up next. The one thing I have a problem with was keeping Jose Molina in the lineup over Jorge Posada. I can at least tolerate it in an American League park with the DH, but with Gardner, Molina and Burnett at the bottom of the Yankees lineup last  night against Cliff Lee, they were already playing from behind. And Molina's game calling hasn't stopped A.J. from having bad first innings in Game 5 of the past two series. So that move was a total failure.

• Phil Coke's two home runs. One big takeaway from last night was how well the Yankees bullpen pitched--except for Phil Coke. The rest of the bullpen (David Robertson, Alfredo Aceves and Phil Hughes) pitched 5.1 innings, giving up only 3 hits, 0 BB, and 4 K. Although they were mostly low-pressure situations, it was good to see some reliable arms emerge from the bullpen. Phil Coke, on the other hand, was downright awful. With Damaso Marte having worked a lot this series and coming off arm troubles this season, it was up to the other lefty in the Yankees 'pen to get the job done. Instead, Coke gave up two home runs to two lefties and those two runs were the insurance the Phillies needed as that was the difference in the game. Add Phil Coke to Brian Bruney on the list of pitchers who should never see the pitching mound again this season.

• Derek Jeter's GIDP and Mark Teixeira's K. The last bothersome thing is that the Yankees had a chance to come back, but fell just short. Derek Jeter grounded into a huge double play in the 9th inning. With runners on first and third and nobody out, Jeter had a chance to really put the pressure on the Phils. Jeter let a fastball go right down the middle then turned over on another fastball for an easy GIDP. Derek Jeter has hit into 14 postseason double plays, including 3 costly ones in the 2007 ALDS. None were more costly, however, than last night's. Johnny Damon reached after Jeter (another great AB by Damon) and Mark Teixeira represented the tying run. But Ryan Madson made Tex look silly and struck him out looking. The gameplan for the Phils facing Teixeira seem to be fastballs away and breaking balls down and it has been working. Teixeira now has struckout 7 times so far in the World Series after 8 Ks in the ALCS. He has only two hits in 19 ABs (although one was a HR and the other a 2B). Mark Teixiera's first playoffs in pinstripes is looking a lot like Tino Martinez's first playoffs for the Yankees in 1996, especially the World Series. Tino was only 1-11 in that series and had to be replaced by Cecil Fielder, but was an offensive force in his next 4 World Series with the Bronx Bombers. Teixeira still has a chance to be a hero both because of his defense and because he had 24 HR, 71 RBI and an OPS of 1.013 at home during the regular season. He also had 30 of his 39 HR and 91 of his 122 RBIs as a lefty this season and he will switch around to that side for Pedro Martinez, the pitcher he went deep off of in Game 2. That's little consolation for the Yankees comeback last night, however.
  

A few Twitter reactions when I posed the question about what bothered people the most this morning:

• @Lumpy231: how bout the decision to throw the whole staff on 3 days rest
• @yankeechick78: I was just talking about the goats of the game. and I named all three that you did. Cokes bothers me the most.
• @YankeeClipper09: Coke's HRs and Jeter's GIDP.  But, I love the fight in this team.  They made the Phillies, and their fans, nervous in the 9th
• @darry2385: coke's HRs.  turned out to be the difference in the game, despite AJ's no-show
• @Milfhunters: the gidp was the game killer, but tex's weak outs are really troubling
• @jonathan_meola: AJ put us in the hole 2 begin with.  Coke's HRs was just the frosting on the cake
• @5States: I'd say AJ's start, because without that, the other stuff really doesn't happen.
  

One good thing for the Yankees is that Pettitte has been really good for the Yanks on short rest. Here's what he's done in the postseason on 3-days rest via Baseball-Reference:

Date          Series G Tm   Opp GmReslt App,Dec    IP   H  R ER BB SO HR Pit Str GmSc BF AB 2B ERA
-------------+------+-+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+
1996-10-13    ALCS   5 NYY @BAL W  6-4  GS-8  ,W   8    3  2  2  1  3  2 100  60   70 28 27  0  2.25 
1996-10-24    WS     5 NYY @ATL W  1-0  GS-9  ,W   8.1  5  0  0  3  4  0  96  59   74 31 28  1  0.00 
1997-10-06    ALDS   5 NYY @CLE L  3-4  GS-7  ,L   6.2  6  4  4  0  2  0  97  68   48 26 23  2  5.40 
2000-10-08    ALDS   5 NYY @OAK W  7-5  GS-4       3.2 10  5  5  2  4  0  88  55   23 23 19  1  12.27 
2003-10-19    WS     2 NYY  FLA W  6-1  GS-9  ,W   8.2  6  1  0  1  7  0 111  70   76 32 31  0  0.00 

That's really only one bad start in there. I know Pettitte is a bit older, but if you look at the World Series success he has in the past on short rest, there's a reason to be optimistic

Here's another few reasons to be optimistic: the Yankees never give up, the Phillies bullpen is shaky at best, and the Yankees are still up 3-2 in this series. This is how the ALCS was won as well and keeping with my original prediction, I see the Yankees bringing it back to the Bronx and wrapping it up in 6. This team never gives up in a game and I think it would be apropos of the themes of the 2009 season if the Yankees won it at home tomorrow night with Pettitte starting, Rivera closing and a comeback win for the Yankees in the Bronx.

"I Was There"

"I was there." That's the difference between watching sports in the comfort of your living room or a bar and watching it live. I'll remember the back-to-back years with Yankees' perfect games, but I'll never forget being at Jim Abbott's no-hitter. I saw Mariano Rivera close out many games over the years, but I'll always tell people I was at Rivera's 400th and 500th saves. Friday night in the Bronx is one of those nights that I'll always be able to say "I was there."

The first playoff game I ever went to was Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals in the NHL Playoffs. A big Ranger fan at the time, I was pumped up to head to New Jersey and the Continental Airlines Arena to see the swing game in the series. My dad and I were pumped to go into enemy territory and see if the Rangers could steal one from their budding interstate rivals. The game was tied 2-2 at the end of regulation, it was tied 2-2 at the end of one overtime. And then, in the second overtime, Stephane Matteau ended it with a game winning, double-overtime goal. Many hockey fans will look at that and be confused, saying, "you must mean game 7."

Game 3 was the forgotten game of that series. It was one of 3 to end in double overtime (Game 1 went to the Devils). But as the Rangers did so often that playoff run, they found a way to win that night in New Jersey. As my dad and I headed back through the Meadowlands tunnel to our car, we were surrounded by dejected Devils fans and Rangers fans who, at the top of their lungs chanted "Let's go Rangers, clap, clap, clapclapclap". Over and over and over again. They banged the sides of the tunnel, they high-fived each other. And my dad and I joined in on the action.

The second playoff game I went to was the next year. My dad and I waited on line (and I put a space in there on purpose because in the pre-internet days, they used to line up people wrapped around the stadium to get playoff tickets) to get tickets to the American League Division Series to see the first-ever-wild-card-winning Yankees take on the Seattle Mariners in Game 2 of the ALDS. We had some of the worst seats in the house but we felt the stadium literally shake as Don Mattingly hit a majestic shot into the October night. It was the Yankee captain's first taste of October as well as mine. I loved every second of it. Jim Leyritz would end that game in extra innings on a walk-off home run.

Let's fast forward to Friday night. I'll post some of the pictures from that night here but I'll make some of the others available as well.

I went with my dad, which, as I've said before and I've told about earlier in this post, just feels natural for a game like this. Like our first baseball playoff game together, we had some of the worst seats in the house, but we were just happy to be there. There was a buzz in the air on Friday night that I hadn't felt before in the New Yankee Stadium. Every time Burnett had two strikes, people cheered. Every time he had two strikes and two outs, everyone rose and cheered.

The crowd also recognized how ridiculous it was that we couldn't get any hits off of Nick Blackburn. This is a guy who led the league in hits given up. And we couldn't touch him through four for as many as one hit. Jorge Posada's biggest fear had come true: the whole line-up was hitting like Jose Molina, especially Mark Teixiera whose jersey I was wearing.

The Yankees caught a break early on that made me feel like it may be their night. A.J. Burnett had one of his wild streaks, hitting two batters, and then gave up a base hit to right. The Yankees looked like they were about to fall behind, but got lucky when Carlos Gomez overran second, Nick Swisher alertly threw behind him, and the Yankees got the out without the run scoring. This was a play that I think got lost in the postgame analysis.

The two worst thing to happen to the Yankees in this game? Two outs and Matt Tolbert's olblique strain. The Yankees allowed a TON of baserunners with two outs to the point that my dad called two outs "poisonous" for us. And Matt Tolbert's olbique strain meant that Brendan Harris entered the game and had two big hits (including a triple that should have been caught but Damon plays the outfield field like Henry Rowengartner at the beginning of Rookie of the Year") and a huge defensive play at third. The first of his two hits put the Twins on the board and quieted the Yankee crowd for a bit.

But then A-Rod continued his hot October with a two-out RBI single which produced my tweets of "I think A-Rod should share Kate Hudson with Tex...he needs her if she's this much of a playoff slumpbuster" and "Maybe Kate Hudson should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize because she brings A-Rod--and therefore Yankees fans--peace" and "A-Rod really needs to play the Twins every playoffs."

Side Note: I wrote these tweets from my Blackberry during breaks in the game. My dad asked me who was e-mailing me. I just told him "no one". I didn't know how to explain that I was tweeting at the game...and I really didn't know how to explain Twitter to him, either.

The Twins would break the tie off the Yankees previously infallible pair of Hughes and Rivera. And then came the 9th. The crowd was waiting for something--anything--to cheer about. All we needed was a baserunner and we knew the Yankees were in business because they had the middle of their lineup up. We also knew that Joe Nathan had blown a game back in May in Yankee Stadium and despite being one of the top 3 closers in the American League, he could be prone to the yips every once in a while.

Mark Teixeira started it off with a single which was big for him because he had been hitless in the playoffs and seemed like he was pressing with 3 very high pop-ups to start off the game. Then A-Rod came up against Nathan. He hit a long fly ball to right. The whole stadium held it's breath as it soared and soared. I grabbed my dad's arm. He wasn't so sure it was out. And then...IT WAS GONE!

The place erupted, the stands shook, and A-Rod got a curtain call. I high-fived the people sitting next to me, the twins sitting in front of me, the couple next to me, the guy behind me who yelled out "TURTLE!" every time Jason Kubel came to the plate (the resemblance is really uncanny, but I didn't need that yelled out every time), everyone. We went nuts. The whole crowd, maybe anticipating a tough loss, was shocked. We never should have been considering this team has been coming back all year. But A-Rod? In the playoffs? In a huge spot? Wow.

"A-Rod needs to play the Twins every playoff series," I tweeted. It's true. He was great against the Twins in 2004 and hadn't hit well in the playoffs again until he played the Twins again. Amazing.

In the bottom of the 10th, I looked up at the scoreboard and saw the Twins had Mauer, Kubel and Cuddyer coming up and the Yankees had Damaso Marte warming up in the bullpen. I felt like they needed to score there or else they may lose this one after a dramatic comeback. Jorge Posada started it off with a broken bat single. Brett Gardner replaced him to pinch run and stole second. An errant throw by Nathan put him on third. Jeter walked and there was runners on 1st and 3rd with one out and Johnny Damon coming to the plate. A deep fly ball wins it. And what does Damon do? Line one that is caught and then thrown to third to double off Gardner. "Fuck," I said to my dad, "that was not good." The crowd went silent.

Side Note: Some people call Garnder's running on the play a "blunder". It wasn't. You HAVE to send Garnder on contact there. He saw contact and ran. If that ball is a ground ball, he needs to be able to score. If it's a line drive, that's what happens. It happens. It wasn't a "blunder".

Marte would allow his two hitters to single and then Robertson came on. He gave up another single which loaded the bases. No outs. The crowd is dead. There isn't a peep. Infield is in. First batter: line out. One away. Cano and Jeets go back to double play depth. Next pitch is a chopper to the infield, they come home to get the force. Two away. The crowd is getting excited now. Next batter hits a fly ball to center. As Gardner catches the ball, the crowd goes wild. We got out of it. Tex, A-Rod, Matsui coming up. "It's pie time," I declare to the section.

Side note: The seats I had were good enough to see the whole field...except for the foul ground down the left field line. So I didn't see Mauer's ball/the blown call. Here's the one thing I have to say, though. Mauer still got on base. The Twins still loaded the bases. They left 17 men on base in the game. That's not the umpire's fault. Let's give some more credit to the Yankees for winning and less to the umpires for "blowing it"

The rest is a blur. I saw Teixeira hit the ball down the line. I thought it was a double. I saw it hit off the wall and I thought it would carom back onto the field. Except it didn't. I saw Teixiera raise his hand to the sky. I saw the Yankees celebrating. So I celebrated as well. Unlike A-Rod's home run, we didn't have the anticipation of that one up in the air. According to Tyler Kepner, the ball went out of the park in 2.88 seconds at a speed of 110 miles per hour. It was over in an instant.

But we celebrated. And celebrated. We all sang "New York, New York" at the top of our lungs. We waited for and cheered the pie. We all didn't want to leave.

I will remember this photo of Teixeira who seemed to look around to try to soak up the entire experience.


I will remember A.J. Burnett, as was his custom, to come up with a pie for Teixiera and deliver it on cue.


I will remember this scoreboard, the enormous scoreboard, that I cared only for what it said at the very bottom: Yankees 4 - Twins 3.



But, mostly, I'll remember that it was my dad and I who had yet another chance to say "I was there" together. It took forever to leave because everyone stuck around to cheer. When the line stopped moving, I suggested we walk by the field. I told my dad I wanted one more picture to remember this by. So we asked the security guard to snap one and got this shot of our elated faces.

And then we left like we left the Meadowlands 15 years earlier: to the sound of fellow fans chanting in the walkway. The video below was only a short part of a long "Let's Go Yankees" chant that carried us out of the stadium:

Like my first playoff game in the Old Yankee Stadium, my first playoff game in the New Yankee Stadium ended with a walk-off home run. I lost my voice on Friday night but I didn't care. This was certainly one of those nights I'll always remember being there. One which, when people talk about this game 15 years from now, I can say "I was there".

HUGHes Save #1

Phil Hughes just got his first major league save to close out Sabathia's 10th win. The Yankees got this game in before 1 AM, somehow. Big blast by Teixeira, a nice job getting to New Jersey-native Vin Mazzaro after a slow start, and a pretty solid outing from CC.

But the talk will be for Phil Hughes who pitched two perfect innings to run his scoreless inning streak to 19.2 innings. He is now tied for second on the Yankees with Phil Coke and Alfredo Aceves in saves. Good to know that Girardi has options he feels comfortable going to when Rivera can't go.

It seems like a long time ago that Joel Sherman wrote this about Hughes in the off-season:

"It is not just that two of his four starts in the Arizona Fall League have been poor, including Friday night's Rising Stars showcase game. But scouts who have watched him in the AFL say Hughes' delivery, command and array of stuff have not been impressive."

Well he's impressing now. I still think he's a starter in the long run. But he's been everything and more as a reliever. And now save #1. 7 in a row. 21 games over .500 and 2.5 up on the BoSox. Keep it up!

Things I Learned Today While Listening To John and Suzyn

I'm not much for Old Timer's Day anymore. It was a nice tradition and I like it as a child, but as I've gotten older, seeing some of these guys play isn't the thrill it used to be.

I am a big fan of the beach. Always have and always will be. So instead of heading to the Stadium today to see the game, I decided to head out to the beach. But I decided to listen in on an old Sony Walkman after Old Timer's Day to hear the Yankees take on the Tigers.

Although there are many haters out there for WCBS 880 AM's team of John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, I fall into the indifferent category with them. Sometimes it's impossible to figure out what is going on in the game, they drone on, they are Yankee homers, and sometimes John screws up...but I like to hear them talk about the Yankees. Sterling has a sort of grandfather-ish charm: you know the thought process ain't what it used to be but he has a familiar voice, brings you good news, and makes you laugh once in a while (even if you are laughing at him).

Although there are a lot of games where I'll be on long car rides and listen to John and Suzyn, I don't think there has been many, if any, I've listened to the Yankees radio broadcast from start to finish for in a long time.

Until today. Some things I learned from John and Suzyn (with the amount of mentions that I can guesstimate in parentheses):

• (35 times) That Edwin Jackson-for-Matt Joyce deal was really bad for the Rays and really good for the Tigers. The Rays were idiots because Matt Joyce wasn't even a good minor league hitter. Matt Joyce is "just an outfielder" so why would you trade a pitcher for him? Edwin Jackson is still really young despite being a prospect for the Dodgers and then the Devil Rays/Rays. Edwin Jackson has a 2.50 ERA which is really good...and a lot better than anything Matt Joyce has done. The Rays made out like bandits in the Garza-Young swap two years ago and they allowed themselves to get hoodwinked this past off-season so now it's even.
  
• (27 times) Edwin Jackson now has amazing control and doesn't get riled up after things don't go OK. Side Note: This was classic John Sterling/Suzyn Waldman reverse jinxing. Nice work John and Suzyn! 5 walks and a hit batter for Jackson. After Jackson gave up a home run in the 4th to A-Rod, Jackson walked the next two hitters. After Jackson gave up a home run to Mark Teixeira in the 6th, he gave up two hits. This was some of John and Suzyn's best work to date
• (24 times) You cannot walk the leadoff batter and expect to win. Side Note: While this is usually very true, today it wasn't all. Joba and Jackson both walked the leadoff batter in the 2nd and 3rd innings and no runs came around. Jackson also hit a batter to lead off an inning and he was stranded
• (22 times) Swisharoo Side Note: Huh?
• (18 times) Placido Polanco is a great contact hitter. Side Note: This is where "contact" is overrated. This guy is making contact too much. His OPS is the second worst among qualifying Major League second basemen. Who is worse? David Eckstein (who actually beats Polanco on average and OBP. So at a position that is not an offensive position, Polanco is the worst the AL and the second-worst in the Majors. That's a "great contact hitter"?
• (15 times) It's amazing this team may only be one game out of first place after having lost 8 games to Boston. Even the players think so.
• (10 times) Phil Hughes ERA is 0.89. And any ERA that starts with a "zero" is amazing.
  
• (8 times) Even though Joe Girardi got booed for coming to take out Joba Chamberlain after striking out two guys in the 7th, he was right because Joe has to manage to win the game, not please the fans and bringing in Coke is the right move. Girardi wanted to get Coke into the game because it's his birthday. Side Note: I could go either way if it was the right move. I think that it has burned Girardi a lot this season, but Coke got it done on one pitch today. But the fact that John was explaining that the fans don't know what they're talking about was laughable. We've all watched this team in 2009 and saw this move come back to bite them. Joba had dialed it up to get his two Ks; taking him out wasn't so cut and dry. The funniest suggestion was that maybe Girardi brought in Coke because it was his birthday.
  
• (2 times) An A-Bomb, from A-Rod. A Tex message to right field; you're on the Mark Teixeira. Side Note: I love Sterling's home run calls. I wish he would come up with calls for other situations. "He got the Job-a done". "CC gets a GIDP which is A-OK by M-E". "Coke is the choice of the people once again". These two may be his most famous this year. The A-Bomb one was offensive to Japanese people before he tried to substitute in Matsui's name by accident. And Tex message was his newest invention which has gotten mixed reviews. I love it.
• (1 time) And it's caught down the right field line. Nope, I think it was a foul ball. We can't see that corner from our vantage point. The umpire signaled it was foul but I thought that just meant that it was caught in foul territory. We cannot see that part of the field from our booth. I wonder if a fan got in the way. Side Note: Classic Sterling call right there. No clue what was going on. I thought the ball was going fair down the line and was going to be a double for the Yankees. Then I thought it was caught. Nope...it was foul.
• (1 time) That is one of the greatest double plays that you will ever see Side Note: It's the radio, John. So I can't say it was one of the greatest double plays that I'll ever see, because, well, I'm not watching the game.
  
• (1 time) Thhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win! Side Note: Just awesome. Very high warble level to boot.
  

There were some thing never mentioned. Roy Halladay to the Yankees (though Tyler Kepner scored a nice interview with Brian Cashman). Robinson Cano had his typically bad Robinson Cano game: 3 ABs, 8 pitches, 1 inning-ending GIDP, 0-2 with runners in scoring position, 5 men left on base, left 3 runners in scoring position with 2 outs, ended 3 different innings and swung at the first pitch after Jackson had walked the previous two men. Melky Cabrera must have had dinner plans with Robbie: 3 ABs, 6 pitches.

Overall, I give the broadcast an A. Nice job. Kept me interested on a beautiful beach day. And the Yankees swept the first-place Tigers behind Joba, The Phils, and Mo and are now within one game of the Red Sox with the Orioles coming into town. Hopefully they can continue the magic. I'll make sure to be listening to John and Suzyn to find out more.

Hal Steinbrenner, Phil Hughes, Jack-O and Other Yankees Links

• Peter Abraham on Hal Steinbrenner: "The Yankees once had the most outspoken owner in sports. Now they have one of the quietest. Widely respected within the organization, Steinbrenner emerged as his family’s leader and the caretaker of an empire."
• Joel Sherman on Hal Steinbrenner: "Obviously, winning is the strongest inducement for fans. But part of that four million going through the turnstiles annually was about George Steinbrenner's penchant for making his organization must watch."
• Rob Neyer and Marc Craig both agree that Phil Hughes has been brilliant as a reliever but should ultimately be a starter. And Neyer says something I've been harping: "With all due respect to all the fine and wondrous relievers out there in Baseball Land, isn't Hughes yet another nail in their coffin, value-wise? Good relief pitchers are merely failed starters"
• According to Buster Olney the Yankees have the fourth hardest road to the playoffs in the American League. The good part? The Red Sox have a harder schedule. The bad part? The Rays have an easier schedule. The hardest part: "The Yankees actually have two West Coast trips remaining, including one more visit to their own private hell in Anaheim."
• Chop-n-Change has an interview with Jack-O of Bill Simmon's B.S. Report fame. Heeeerrrrre's Johnny! "The attention I've received from appearing on the BS Report has been kind of surreal, but very, very fun. As Bill and I have commented to each other, the conversations that we have are ones that we would have anyway (although there would probably be more swearing and political incorrectness) so it's funny that people seem to enjoy listening in."
• Erik Boland of Newsday says that despite injuries and inconsistencies, the Yankees are actually in good shape. "For a team that has suffered significant injuries to the lineup (Alex Rodriguez), the rotation (Chien-Ming Wang) and the bullpen (Brian Bruney) and a horrendous early-season slump of one of its three prize free agents (Mark Teixeira), the Yankees enter the second half with the second-best record (51-37) in the American League and lead the wild-card race. Really, that's the bottom line."
• Jon Heyman doesn't think that the Yankees are going to get Roy Halladay because the Blue Jays won't trade within the division. Even if they did, Heyman doesn't think the Yankees want to clear out their farm system of the best prospects: " and/or The Yankees are reluctant to "gut their system,'' according to one rival executive. The Yankees could easily form a nice trade package by including one of two young talented right-handers -- Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes -- plus catching prospect Jesus Montero and outfield prospect Austin Jackson."

Breaking the MT Curse

It seems that Red Sox owner John Henry created a bit of controversy when he blamed the Yankees' losses against the Red Sox on the "MT Curse" meaning the curse of Mark Teixeira. Well Tex took exception to it before the game, proved during the game that he's not the reason this team is losing games, and then actually won it for the Yankees.

Let's for a second throw out the fact that Castillo should have caught that ball (did it get caught in the famed "wind tunnel"?). Throw out the fact that Girardi made a horrible decision bringing in Mariano Rivera in the 8th inning (Coke had gotten two easy outs and not only is Rivera bad getting 4 outs, he's even worse in tie games).

Let's throw out the fact that Joba allowed one hit but only lasted 4 innings (I'm still a huge supporter of him in the rotation, but I'll make no excuses for him. He refused to go after batters and he paid for it. Bad job by him), that the bullpen is tired, and that they're going to need a complete game from Pettitte tomorrow because the entire pitching staff is now gassed.

Let's forget that the Yankees were again bad with RISP (2-9) and that Robinson Cano, who inexplicably is still batting 5th, is now 0 for his last 13 ABs and 0 for his last 9 games with runners in scoring position (let me repeat that: the #5 batter in the Yankees lineup has not gotten one hit his last 9 games or 13 times up with runners in scoring position).

Let's also, for a second, forget that A-Rod should have lost the Yankees that game (will get back to that).

Let's give Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter credit. They ran their asses off with two outs. They didn't stop running. And that's why the Yankees won. He scored from first base on a pop up. The Yankees aren't losing games because of Tex. He works hard, he plays great defense, he hits homeruns and he always, always runs the ball out. That cannot be understated.

It also cannot be understated that the Mets walked Tex to get to A-Rod and that A-Rod should have failed. Michael Kay idiotically called A-Rod a hero but he was anything but. He struck out in a horrible at-bat against Sean Green, striking out, and he got ahead against K-Rod and then popped up a very hittable ball. A-Rod should have been the goat. He was anything but a hero. The Mets walked Tex to get to him. So he decides to show his pride by popping out.

And for some reason A-Rod also decided it was a good idea to run to second (watch it again...it made no sense...the Yankee first base coach was going beserk). Imagine if he had been tagged out and the run hadn't scored. I have no clue why Castillo threw it to second (I think he was just panicing) but even stupider was A-Rod RUNNING towards second. What a dumbass.

Amazingly, I was about to storm out of the room and the station was about to be changed when I saw the ball pop out. If we were playing at Citi Field, I could see the exact same thing happening to Robinson Cano with how the Yankees have been playing. But the Mets are having just as bad luck and it came back to bite them in the worst way in this one.

Gotta give the rest of the Mets credit, especially David Wright who should have had the game winning hit in a big spot. I still have no clue why Wright and his league-leading OBP is hitting BEHIND Carlos Beltran (you can't make this stupidity up), but he came up huge in that situation for the Mets--a situation that he had failed in the past.

I feel for Mets fans there. Ari wrote to me: "And the Mets announce Luis Castillo has been traded to the Yankees whom it was determined he was playing for all along". While I laughed at that, I have to feel bad. I know what it's like to be there. These are two teams who don't want to seem to want to make it easy for themselves or their fans.

But I also feel good for Mark Teixeira who showed John Henry that the Yankees aren't doomed to fail under the "MT Curse".

Update: forgot to post Dave Pinto of Baseball Musing's recap, but well worth reading. A lot more clear a concise just in case you aren't by a TV