Clearing Out the Baseball Cache

Have a bunch of articles to post (before I head to the Stadium tonight for my first game in the bleachers of the New Yankee Stadium) so here it goes:

• Mark Feinsand for the New York Daily News says that Chien-Ming Wang's win on Sunday was even bigger than Mariano Rivera's 500th save, and in some ways I agree with him. Mo has never been about the records and no one doubts he's the best closer of all time. But if the Yankees can get Wang to pitch 85% of what he was before the injury, they have a very, very dangerous rotation.
• Speaking of Mo, Rob Neyer echoes Peter Abraham and says that you can't root against him. You just can't. Unless you're a Red Sox fan.
• Joel Sherman breaks down the Yankees acquisition of Eric Hinske. Why the Yankees needed $400K covered is beyond me. They nickel and dime at the weirdest times (like in Chien-Ming Wang's arbitration). I do like that fact that Hinske has seen 4.05 pitcher per plate appearance this year and 3.95 P/PA over his career as that fits right into the Yankees game. I'm not sure how good Hinske plays third, but this does make more sense than Shelly Duncan at this point, though I think the need for a right-handed bat was greater than a left-handed bat. I wonder if they wouldn't have been better off trying to get Ty Wigginton, in an off year, from Baltimore (if the O's would trade with them).
• I have to disagree with Joel Sherman on one point: I don't think A-Rod's increased walk numbers are a good sign at all. I think he's just been scared to swing at times because he's lost up there.
• Speaking of Eric Hinske's former team (the Pirates), they were not done dealing. They sent Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett to the Nationals for Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan. I guess they're hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with Milledge (remember when that guy was untouchable), but I figured they could get more than a failed prospect and a failed closer for Morgan and Burnett.
• Remember when Joe Girardi was on the hot seat?
• How good is Tim Lincecum? Well through his first 74 games, he has 39 starts with 8+ strikeouts. According to Baseball-Reference, that's the top mark of any pitcher (since 1954). The scary part for Lincecum and the Giants? A lot of the other names on that list have had injury histories after that: Doc Gooden, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Cole Hamels, Ramon Martinez, Scott Kazmir, A.J. Burnett, and of course, Oliver Perez.  
• Speaking of Ollie Perez, Rob Neyer has some ideas of how to fix the Mets.
• If Adrian Gonzalez was a Yankee, he'd probably win the MVP.
• 51 runs and 58 hits? Sounds like a Red Sox/Yankees game! Amazingly, they finished the 51-run game in 4 hours and 10 minutes according to the New York Times. On April 24 and 25, the Yankees actually played longer games against the Red Sox. That was after playing a 4:57 game against the A's on April 22nd.
• Didn't get a chance to talk about the passing of Billy Mays on NYaT but we pass along our condolences. Loved the ESPN360 commercials. Here's CNBC's Darren Rovell on the man "who left the world knowing he sold it".
• Is Jacoby Ellsbury the new Juan Pierre? Hopefully not for the Red Sox (though I wouldn't be so sad), but Rob Neyer asks it anyways. I think that's it too soon to feel that way about Ellsbury, but we shall see...
• Behind the Moat thinks that the Yankees Broadband Package is for idiots. I think it's just way overpriced. I'd take it for free, though :)
• Slate with a great article on the horrible camera angle used to determine balls and strikes for the TV-watching fans (H/T Rob Neyer)
• Lastly, since I promised Jay I would provide proof there is a Joba debate, here is Bryan Hoch from MLB.com and River Ave Blues on the Joba-to-the-'pen debate.

Also: Deadspin on the U.S. soccer gulf (and Soccer Jews, too!) and ESPN's Chris Sheridan on the Knicks interest in Ricky Rubio