The Most Dangerous Rotation In October May Be The Giants

It's hard to top the Giants right now. From MLBTradeRumors:

The Giants will sign Brad Penny, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com. They'll pay him only the pro-rated portion of the MLB minimum salary, which is only about $75k at this point.

The Giants now have a formindable [sic] rotation. Penny, Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez join Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain to form arguably the best rotation in baseball. The Giants, who are tied for the NL Wild Card lead, expect Randy Johnson to return as a reliever sometime in September.

Um...yeah. That's a ridiculous rotation. And you have to assume Brad Penny will be nasty, healthy, back in the National League, pitching against the Los Angeles Dodgers team he felt disrespected him. Joe Martinez had a 7.52 ERA and a WHIP of 1.937. I think Penny can top that.

And the last time that we saw Randy Johnson out of the bullpen was against the Yankees in the World Series...scary! (I thought at first, it was in Little Big League, but I rechecked my facts...and actually rechecking my facts again, I think he came in for the Yankees in the ALDS a few years back, but that doesn't count because I'm trying to supress his tenure here).

They may only get in as a Wild Card and they have zero hitting besides Pablo Sandoval...but if the Giants get in, you do not want to face that pitching.

Nomar And The Holy Trinity of Personalities

Last week I was reading The Wall Street Journal's very interesting full-page article titled "Whatever Happened to Nomar?"

A decade ago, the talk was all about the "Holy Trinity of Shortstops": Nomar Garciappara, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. Miguel Tejada would soon join that group, but the talk was all about those top three. Who would you want to have on your team? Derek Jeter, the leader of the Yankees who was cool in the clutch and would have 4 World Series rings in his first 5 seasons? Alex Rodriguez, who looked like he was well on his way to being one of the all-time greats as well as challening for the home run crown? Or Nomar Garciappara, "the 1997 American League Rookie of the Year, a six-time All-Star once considered the best right-handed hitter since Joe DiMaggio".

Well in 2001, A-Rod signed a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers and Derek Jeter signed a10-year, $189 million contract with the New York Yankees. In 2003, the Red Sox offered Garciappara a four-year, $60 million extension. He turned it down seeing the money that his fellow peers had received and confident he could make more on the open market. He got injured in 2004, was traded away, the Red Sox got his championship, and Nomar never got the contract he was looking for. He played one more year for the Cubs, then three with the Dodgers and is now a spare part for the Athletics who may or may not be on the move today (maybe to the Phillies?)

But one thing that struck me about this article was describing Garciappara's personality as an introvert:

Ex-teammates Mr. Lewis and Mike Benjamin went so far as to use the word "introverted" when describing Mr. Garciaparra, though each wrapped it in a compliment. "He did his own thing," said Mr. Benjamin. "He didn't try to put on this image that wasn't him." Mr. Lewis described being impressed by the shortstop's "intellect" and "humbleness." Mo Vaughn, Boston's first baseman for Mr. Garciaparra's first three years with the team, says the introvert description is accurate, "but there's nothing wrong with that. I sometimes wish I could have shut up and just gone about doing my job, like he did."

Well, don't we say the same thing about A-rod as a Yankees as Mo Vaughn said about himself? In some ways the Holy Trinity of Shortstops had three distinct personalities as well: Nomar, the introvert who just went about doing his job and didn't try to project an image that wasn't him (except maybe this Sports Illustrated cover I copied on the right) who was married to soccer star, Mia Hamm; Derek Jeter, the consummate bachelor who always says the right things and does the right things and wins championships; and, A-Rod, the man stuck in the middle of the two, the introvert who has tried to change his image and be so many other people, the man who was married with a family but wanted to go out and be Derek Jeter, dating Madonna and now Kate Hudson, still without the championships or the happiness.

But as The Wall Street Journal article suggest, Nomar has seemed to find his happiness in Oakland this year. Derek Jeter, after two down season, is having one of the best seasons of his career and somewhat of a renaissance. And after the whole steroids mess for A-Rod, he vowed to go about doing his job this season and not be a distraction, he's kept to his word and seems to be his most comfortable (physical ailments aside) since he joined the Yankees.

I'm not saying it will happen, but imagine if the Yankees went out and got Nomar today as another veteran bat to throw on the bench for the playoffs. And imagine if the Yankees went on to win the World Series with all of the Holy Trinity on the team. Three shortstops, three great players, three very different personalities.

Yankees Postseason Tickets LESS Than Regular Season

This was a shock to me. From CNBC’s Darren Rovell:

CNBC has seen the final face value prices that the Yankees submitted to Major League Baseball and increases will be much smaller than the jump season ticket holders saw for home games played at the old Yankee Stadium in the 2007 postseason, the last time the Yankees were in the playoffs. In fact, some 2009 postseason seats will cost LESS than this year's regular season prices.

This is mostly due to seat licensing for suites and complex calculations that go along with that but that's good news for Yankees fans. He also said that all but one area of seats seem to be staying the same price. And the jump for the ALCS? Only 27% which is a far crazy from the bump they used to have in the old Stadium.

Will any tickets be left for non-season ticket holders? I doubt it. Maybe they'll leave off a few thousand for the public to buy, but I doubt that number will be very high. But for those who do have the opportunity to purchase and were hoping to grab some tickets for the playoffs without breaking the bank, this is certainly some good news on a Monday morning.

How Sweep It Is

Not a bad weekend for the Yankees, who made up for losing 3 of 4 at the White Sox earlier this season by sweeping them in fantastic fashion at home. The Yankees are unstoppable since the break in their home park which will bode well for them if they can get home field advantage in October (they have a 4 1/2 game lead on the Angels for that). They're also 9.5 games up on the Texas Rangers for a playoff spot.

The Yankees are 4.5 games up on the LA teams for the best record in baseball and are the only team with a .600 winning %. Not bad.

Other sports notes of the weekend:

• It looked weird to see Tiger Woods miss a putt at the end of the tournament like that. Even my grandmother couldn't believe it. The guy does win about 30% of tournaments.
• The San Francisco Giants had a huge weekend capped off by a big Edgar Renteria grand slam. The Giants and Rockies are tied atop the NL Wild Card with the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins 3.5 games back. Even the Cubs (5.5 back are in it). That is going to be a fun stretch run for those 5 teams.
• Rich Harden? Aaron Heilman? Brad Penny? Where will guys end up before the end of the month so they can be eligible for the postseason? Will the Cubs give up on their season? Will Penny affect the National League race?
• Can Jake Peavy, Tim Wakefield or Nate McLouth come back from injuries and help out their teams down the stretch?
  
• Miguel Tejada tipping pitches? Maybe that had something to do with Jason Giambi chewing him out in the 2001 playoffs.
• I had my first fantasy football draft of the season. There's no big injuries so far, but when one goes down, it's going to ruin a lot of people's seasons. Especially if that guy is Adrian Peterson.
• Another American win in the Little League World Series. USA! USA! USA!
  

Yankees Have New Bag Policy

You learn something new every day on Twitter. @leokitty (author of The Girl Who Loved Andy Pettitte), posted this: This is new: yankees have signs up saying "each fan can bring one bag into the stadium." Relaxing the dumb rules?

That would be amazing. The sign reads:

Each guest is permitted to bring one bag into the stadium.

In accordance with Major League Baseball security regulations, bags can be no larger than 16" x 16" x 8" and will be subject to inspection upon entry.

They have an airport-style display to measure that bag as you can see from the picture. This would put New Yankee Stadium on par with Citi Field and Madison Square Garden which both allow bags. No word yet if the laptop ban is still in effect (though from the Yankees website, it seems to be). Also from the Yankees website, a clarification on what types of bags are exactly allowed:

Diaper bags, small backpacks, small purses and bags are permitted. However, in accordance with Major League Baseball security regulations, bags larger than 16 x 16 x 8 inches will not be allowed into the Stadium. Briefcases, large backpacks, large purses and bags, coolers and hard-sided bags and containers are also not permitted. All bags must be thoroughly inspected before they are permitted into the Stadium. Box templates shall be used at inspection points, and bags and their contents must fit without assistance, modification or adjustment. The Yankees reserve the right to inspect any bags, clothing or other articles prior to entry into Yankee Stadium and prohibit entry or require removal of any items the Yankees deem inappropriate or potentially injurious to Yankee Stadium, other patrons or field personnel.

This should be a big lift for those who hated leaving their bags at home or checking them at shady shops near the stadium. It is also good for people like me who come to the games from work and don't always want to leave their bags at the office. I always believed it was a ridiculous policy and I'm glad to see the Yankees are finally relaxing it.

Time For Joba Rules III

So much for the recent Joba Rules. From PeteAbe:

Joba Chamberlain will be in the rotation moving forward, meaning he will pitch every five games. They decided he needed to pitch more regularly. The innings limit hasn’t changed. Some starts will be less than five innings.

This does make more sense. It'll keep his innings limit the same, but not have him go on weird rest periods. You have to expect they'll have the shorter outings now so they can build him up past 100 pitches so he's ready to go as their #4 starter in October.

This comes on the heels of Rick Peterson saying the Yankees are doing right by Joba. Baseball Musings pointed out that maybe it wasn't the short rest, but just pitching at Yankee Stadium (where Joba is not good) that has caused his struggles. Steven Goldman is happy (as is Kevin Kernan of the NY Post) as he thinks the Yankees were screwing too much with his schedule.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Joba down the stretch. If he can get back to where he was right after the All-Star break, the Yankees have a very dangerous starting 4 come October.

Diet-Friendly Stadium Food

The New York Times reports on Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium's fruit stands for the more health concious baseball fan.

Next step - make it local!

Angels Close To Acquiring Scott Kazmir

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are close, according to Buster Olney, to getting Scott Kazmir from the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tampa had tried to trade Kazmir before the trade deadline to free up some cash. Now it looks like they may have done so. It seems like odd timing, though with the Rays only 4 back in the Wild Card.

But maybe this is the move they feel they need to make to free up cash for another waiver deal or to be able to keep Carl Crawford in the offseason. Or maybe this was just a waiver claim gone awry where the Rays just said "take him" for the salary relief. Teams have until August 31st to get someone on the roster so that they can be eligible for the playoffs.

The One Thing That Would Get Me To Watch Curb...Maybe

"How are you such a big fan of Seinfeld but don't like Curb Your Enthusiasm?"

I don't know how many times I've been asked the above question. Many people know how much I love Seinfeld and think that naturally I should like Curb too because, well, Larry David. I think that's pretty weird logic. Just because you like show A with someone doesn't mean you'll like show B. Seinfeld and Curb aren't the same show. Do people say "oh...well you liked Friends, so how come you didn't watch Joey?" or "Hey, you liked Kramer on Seinfeld so how come you let The Michael Richards Show get canceled?". In sports terms this would be like saying to someone "You were Johnny Damon's biggest fan on the Red Sox, why don't you root for him on the Yankees now?" No, that's idiotic.

Anyways, so I don't like Curb. It's not that I hate it or even dislike it. It's just not a show I like and watch. People have sat me down and made me watch episodes while laughing hysterically and I've sat going "OK, that's semi-funny, but not my style." Yet they continue to ask me if I saw the one with the "crazy eyed killer" and I continue to have to tell them no, I don't watch the fucking show.

Well finally something happened that will probably get me to watch. My favorite show of all time, Seinfeld (no offense to 24 or LOST who come in 2 and 3, respectively), is having a reunion of sort on the show. Entertainment Weekly has some of the details.

I sent that out to my friends, excited about the Seinfeld reunion, and got back these two responses:

Does this mean i can actually get you to watch Curb?!?!?!

He's gonna have to watch it now! Woo Hoo!

I think I may just boycott if for that reason. Like other people actually have some sort of stake in me watching the show. Do I watch it to see Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer again? Or do I say "screw it" and hold out on principle? Or do I watch it secretly and not tell anyone?

I don't know. But I think it's time for a great Seinfeld sports quote:

Derek Jeter: We won the World Series
George: [scoffs] In 6 games!


A few random, non-Yankee, some only tangentially sports links:

• Sports leagues view people like me (bloggers, not Jews) as a threat and will ban us from certain activity according to The New York Times (H/T Sarah)

• This ESPN The Magazine article on the "mutual fund" of bets is worth a read. Really interesting perspective.

• A minor league club was locked out of their park for failing to pay rent and the mayor parked a tractor on home plate so they wouldn't sneak in and try to play. Seriously.

• The Cubs and Mets are really disappointing in their own way and so are their fans

• The NFL is going to institute a rule change because the Cowboys screwed up their brand news stadium. Unbelievable. The Yankees have short fences and I feel like people are making a bigger deal over the Yankees' new digs than the Cowboys.

• Lenny Dykstra, bankrupt, alleging insurance fraud, and sleeping in his car.

• A really interesting story from The Wall Street Journal on Torii Hunter and his life (and another article from WSJ on the new American dream maybe becoming renting (H/T Sarah))
  

• IIATMS looks at the potential candidates for the next Baseball commisioner
  

• Awful Announcing has a great job by ESPN making fun of themselves over the Favre coverage

• Newsday's columnists all look like sex offenders in their website mug shots as hilariously pointed out by Past A Diving Jeter

• Murray Chass on the death of "Sports of the Times" (sad state of the newspaper business)
  

• If there wasn't enough social networking, now there may be specialized one by teams according to The New York Times. I don't know whether I'm more upset this exists or that I didn't come up with it quicker.

• Lastly, ESPN's Scott Burnside on the potential US Olympic Hockey team. I'm excited for this.
  

On That Mets Sale...

Maybe I wasn’t so off when I posted this yesterday about the Mets being for sale after reading this quote on Mets Police:

“You can quote me," [Erin] Arvedlund [Madoff author] said of a possible sale of the Mets. "It's a matter of when. It could be as soon as next year.”

Very interesting. Could the cost-cutting moves the Mets have been making have been more than just trying to save some money for next season? Could it be about getting the team’s costs down to make it more appealing for a sale? We shall see…

An Israeli King In the NBA

Not exactly King Solomon or King David, but this Israeli King is making his country proud:

As a first-round selection of the Sacramento Kings and the 23rd pick overall, [21-year-old Israeli Omri Casspi], the 6-foot-9 small forward – all grown up now at 21 – has a guaranteed contract and a date for opening night.

"We have had other good players try for NBA, and all were nice guys," said Zvika Sherf, Casspi's former coach with the Israeli national team and Maccabi Tel Aviv. "Maybe too much. They didn't have the elbows. Omri, he has the elbows."

Frankly, in terms of basketball, Israelis are tired of being shoved aside. While soccer is the most popular sport, Israeli Premier League power Maccabi Tel Aviv is the nation's treasure, often mistaken for the national team. The fact that 60 nations have been represented in the NBA before Casspi even attempts his first dunk remains a chronic source of irritation.

"Think about it," said Eran Soroka, basketball writer for the newspaper Ma'ariv. "Iran, one of the countries that wants to eliminate us, has a player in the NBA (Hamed Haddadi, Memphis Grizzlies). Iceland has had a player in the NBA. Latvia, Italy, France, Russia, but no Israel? This is like an insult to us."

Don’t insult the Israelis. If Iran is going to have a player in the NBA, you knew Israel would retaliate.

(A really nice story, worth the read)

The Great Back-and-Forth Between the Red Sox and Yankees

Sometimes the most amazing parts of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry are not the games that take place on the field, but rather the games that take place behind the scenes. These two teams have not only battled in the Bronx and Boston, but also on free agents all over the country, Latin America, Japan, and all over the globe. They fight each other over draft prospects and trade targets. They battled on everyone from Jose Contreras to Mark Teixeira to Roy Halladay to Eric Gagne to Carl Pavano. And I think some of the fascinating things that go on are hardly noticed by fans. Let’s look at this season.

Mark Teixeira was the big free agent acquisition on the market. He would have fit perfectly in the Red Sox lineup and helped them out on the field as well. When it seemed like it was a foregone conclusion he was going there, the Yankees swiped in and bid $10 million more to grab him. The Red Sox decided to take that money and fill holes going the “let’s throw them against the wall and see if they stick” route. They signed Brad Penny, John Smoltz, Takashi Saito and Rocco Baldelli to fill holes on their team with the money they didn’t spend on Teixeira. And it looked like a great move through the first half of the year as the Red Sox went 8-0 against the Yankees and Penny was one of their best pitchers, while David Oritz’s slumping wasn’t hurting them.

But since, the roles have switched. The Yankees are 6-1 against the Red Sox since that point and have gone from 6.5 behind to as much as 7.5 ahead. The Yankees have gone out and don’t the “let’s throw them against the wall and see if they stick” route with guys like Eric Hinske, Jerry Hairston, Jr, Alfredo Aceves and, to some degree, Nick Swisher (who they traded for Wilson Betemit and/or a bag of balls). The Red Sox moves worked for a while and are not working. Kevin Youkilis is complaining about the media something the Red Sox have started to taking to doing which has gotten the media to fight back. Now the Yankees moves are working (though Oritz is now productive again) and even A-Rod isn’t having a problem with the New York media.

Reviewing the Red Sox “low-risk/low-reward” offseason moves, Boston’s sports flagship WEEI said:

Two of the three are already gone. Smoltz was designated for assignment on August 7 after eight starts, five losses, and an 8.32 ERA. Penny produced what a No. 5 starter should produce– seven wins and an ERA in the mid-to-upper-fours– through his first 19 starts, but since then, Penny has pitched like more of a No. 8ish starter. In his last five starts in a big and tall Red Sox uniform, Penny went 0-4 with a sky-high 9.11 ERA. When he asked for his release yesterday, it’s hard to think Sox GM Theo Epstein teared up.

Saito, on the other hand, has posted an 2.80 ERA that does nothing but reinforce the idea that looking at a reliever’s ERA as a barometer of effectiveness is like looking at Penny as a barometer of athletic builds. From watching the games you can tell that Terry Francona has little-to-no faith in the reliever. Here’s a stat that backs up the notion: In 45 appearances for Saito this season, he has entered only four tie games. Furthermore, he has been called into a one-run game just three times. If that stat can prove how little he is trusted, let this one prove how ineffective he’s been. Saito– remember, the same guy who has a shiny 2.80 ERA– has allowed 67 percent of the runners he has inherited to score

This wasn’t the end of their dealings. With the money the Red Sox saved in the offseason by not signing Teixeira, they went about trying to get guys like Roy Halladay, Adrian Gonzalez, and even Felix Hernandez at the trade deadline before finally getting Victor Martinez. A Teixeira clone he is not, but a valuable piece for the Red Sox he definitely has been. The Red Sox saved about $2.5 million by waiving Smoltz and about $500K by releasing Penny so they felt comfortable taking on $3.3 million for Billy Wagner who may be a valuable member of that bullpen for the next few months injecting himself into the rivlarly (@lenno212: Wagner excited about going to #RedSox. Already told Francona, "I'm not coming to be a cheerleader). Wagner also has a 2010 option which FanGraphs points out could come into play through arbitration even if the Red Sox do decline the option.

Now here’s where the maneuvering gets interesting. The player going to the Mets in that deal? Chris Carter. But the Yankees are going to make that a bit more difficult as Buster Olney explains:

The rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox burns strongly even when it comes to waiver claims.

When the New York Mets and Red Sox worked out a trade for left-handed reliever Billy Wagner earlier this week, Chris Carter, an outfielder-first baseman currently playing for Triple-A Pawtucket, became part of the deal as a player to be named headed to Boston, sources said. In preparation for the deal, the Red Sox placed Carter on waivers, with the intention of moving him on to the Mets.

But the Yankees, sources said, placed a claim on Carter -- perhaps to create some 40-man roster discomfort for the Red Sox. In order to complete the Wagner trade, the Red Sox are now pulling Carter back from waivers, and for the rest of the year they must carry him on their 40-man roster.

And Boston may struggle to squeeze bodies onto its 40-man roster in September. When Paul Byrd was a free agent, he informed teams that as a condition for signing him -- he since has signed a minor-league deal with the Red Sox -- he wanted a guarantee that he would be added to the 40-man roster for the final month of the regular season.

If Boston has made that same concession, the Carter claim by the Yankees might have made that just a little more difficult.

The Yankees may have just made the Red Sox life a little more difficult and/or forced them to designate a player for assignment that they would not have DFA’ed before. The Red Sox are already low on pitchers to the point they had to pitch Nick Green last night.

Even with the lack of Red Sox pitching, Brad Penny was released by the Red Sox and the Yankees have shown interest. But Buster Olney wonders whether some assurances were made that something like the Yankees picking up him would not occur: “You would guess that before he left the Red Sox, he gave Boston assurances he would not wind up with an AL contender, because the Red Sox front office certainly could have kept him in purgatory until after Aug. 31 and prevented him from being eligible for the postseason with another team. Boston did him a favor by cutting him loose with four days remaining before that deadline.” But the Yankees put a claim in on Brad Penny already in August to prevent the Red Sox from trading him and the Red Sox pulled him back. As River Avenue Blues points out, this is a great job by the Yankees for no other reason than “to make life a little harder on your opponent”.

I couldn’t agree more. That’s why the thought of the Red Sox fans cheering for the Yankees this past week has been so deliciously evil. They have to cheer for Mark Teixeira, a guy who they could have had, who could have been the difference maker, who could have brought them the division title instead of a fight for a Wild Card berth.

The two teams have one more series against each other in the regular season and could face each other again in the ALCS. But so much has happened between the two teams leading up to that point. We’ll never know everything going on behind the scene, but from major signings to minor annoyances, these two teams will continue to battle on everything both on and off the field.

Fearing TBA Will Be Better Than Knowing

I saw this matchup for tomorrow: TBA vs. RHP Sergio Mitre (2-1, 6.82) and wondered if it’s better for the Yankees to just put TBA for every Mitre start rather than announcing him. I think the knowing is the problem.

 

Are The Mets For Sale?

I want to just start by saying that this is a totally unconfirmed rumor, but I’ve now been told by two independent people with inside knowledge that the Mets are quietly going about the process of looking to sell the team. Whether that actually does happen is up for debate. But with the Wilpon losses from the Bernie Madoff scandal, it’s not a surprise they’d be looking to sell.

The Key At-Bat In Last Night's Game

Lost amid all the offense from last night was a key at-bat from an unlikely contributor. When Jerry Hairston Jr.’s name came up as the Yankees big trade deadline acquisition, I was a little skeptical. A Boston fan in one of my fantasy baseball leagues renamed his team “JerryHairstonJrAHAHA”. But Hairston has been everything they could have wanted and last night showed why.

Johnny Damon predicted it. Speaking to reporters before the game, he told them (via PeteAbe’s blog): “Johnny Damon said his knee is fine. He attributed the day off to his struggles against Holland on May 27. He went 0 for 3 and struck out twice against Holland despite the Yankees roughing up the young lefty. Damon’s only other career AB against Holland was a strikeout. ‘Hairston would probably do a better job than me,’ Damon said.”

So how did Hairston do in Damon’s absence?

His first at-bat, Hairston saw  7 pitches and walked.

His second at-bat, Hairston saw 7 pitches and homered.

His third at-bat was the key of the game. The Yankees were up 4-2 in the bottom of the 7^th and had Robinson Cano on second base. The count was 2-2 after 4 pitches. Then foul, foul, ball, foul, foul, foul, foul, foul, and finally, ball four. Hairston’s walk knocked Derek Holland out of the game and the Yankees ended up scoring 5 in that inning to seal a 9-2 win.

In total, Hairston saw 34 pitches in 4 plate appearances. That’s 8.5 pitches per plate appearance. With the Yankees, Hairston has a .314/.415/.543 line coming off the bench and filling in for multiple positions. Over his career, Hairston has seen a relatively low 2.76 pitches per plate appearance. With the Yankees, he’s up to 4.17 P/PA.

And he was a big reason they won last night’s game (not taking anything away from Andy Pettitte’s great start).

That’s pretty good for a guy that the Yankees took a flyer on and no one wanted.

I'm Missing a Lot

This is not a sports post. It happens once in a while.

I feel like although I’m up on everything going on in New York City, I miss out on some things. Two examples:

-The New York Post reporting about naked people partying at the hotels windows of the Standard Hotel.

-The New York Post reporting about naked people on the subway

The New York Post knows where the naked people are, why didn’t I?

Others:

-I wrote a post today for my HR blog of a guy who quit after one day without any notice. Just didn’t show up. Hilarious.

-I need to go see Inglourious Basterds but in the meantime, I’ll check out Time Out New York’s top five moments of Quentin Tarantino (and disagree with most of them)

-If you’re a fan of Mad Men but also a fan of following the law, check out this Halogen Life article to see if the Mad Men office would pass legal muster today (though I doubt it really did in a lot of ways back then, but enforcement was a lot more lax)

-So supposedly Bernie Madoff didn’t tell everything to his wife? Like that mistress he had on the side. The one who is now exposing him as having a small penis (surprise, surprise). My question is how she thinks what she did was in any way ethical if she was directing all of her fund’s money to this guy who she was sleeping with?

-Men Style had an article heading and subheading that caught my eye— HOW INTERNET PORN IS CHANGING TEEN SEX: Forget awkward fumblings in the back of the bus. Junior's thinking more along the lines of reverse-cowgirl anal. Awesome

-Danny Meyer is opening up a new restaurant and according to Grub Street, he’s naming it after himself...well, sort of.

-D’AlCapone AlPacino Morris = best criminal name ever (H/T The Big Lead)

-The Economist has an alternative Big Mac index (sorry, I have a master in international economics so this stuff interests me)

-Lastly, The Consumerist uncovers a KFC sandwich that uses fried chicken as bread with bacon, cheese and sauce in the middle. Ewww. America, this is why you’re fat.

Back to sports again later…

Mets Driving The Point Home

As soon as the last post went up, it was announced that Oliver Perez is out for the rest of the season too. The New York Mets injuries keep on piling up:

@NYPost_Mets: With Oliver Perez now out, the Mets have close to $100 million on the disabled list.

Wow. K-Rod, run! David Wright, hide! It’s a bad time to be a member of the Mets.

Giants and Mets Injuries

One of the things that made me really excited about this Giants season was what I thought was a really deep, talented defensive group. Well, there’s a lot of bodies there, but most of them are now injured.

As The Blue Screen pointed out LB Michael Boley (hip) hasn’t played yet, but he’s the not the only one who is ailing. Here’s the list:

-DT Chris Canty (torn hamstring) is out a while

-DTs Fred Robbins (knee) and Rocky Bernard (hamstring) are still working their way back into shape

-DE Justin Tuck (foot), DE Osi Umenyiora (knee) and DT Barry Cofield (knee) all missed practice time while recovering from their injuries

-CBs Aaron Ross (hamstring) and Corey Webster (hip) each missed more than a week and Ross reinjured that hamstring in the final practice

-LB Danny Clark (chin), S Kenny Phillips (knee) and LB Antonio Pierce (foot) are out.

-WR Mario Manningham (hip pointer) is day-to-day

-And now backup DT and long snapper Jay Alford is done for the season. And after the playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers, Giants fans will not rest easy until a reliable long snapper is found.

Right now it’s a tough time being a Giants fan. Aaron Ross looked like a budding star at CB but as Tom Coughlin said to True Blue, Ross can’t get beyond the hamstring injuries. Chris Canty has yet to play and Tom Coughlin is calling his hamstring injury serious. Poor Lawrence Tynes has had some very tough tasks to show he’s healthy. And Deadspin let me know why the Giants suck (though the article was a little bit ridiculous).

This has all led Coughlin to go off on a conference call:

“We heard for so long that we have so much depth, but I don't know what you are watching”

Ouch.

It can’t be any worse, however, to be a Mets fan. They released Livan Hernandez to save money (he was once their #2 starter). Then they look in their division and see the rival Phillies make a trade for Cliff Lee who is this year’s CC Sabathia. In “The Year of the ‘Feat’”, they came across Eric Bruntlett’s game ending, unassisted triple play right as they were trying to rally to play spoilers against said rivals. Then this weekend happened, most accurately described in Joel Sherman tweets:

@nyp_joelsherman: More sad/ true Mets: from 2006-thru Sun, only Ad.Gonzalez had plyd more Gs since '06 than Francoeur: Iron Man as Brave, injured as Met

@nyp_joelsherman: In end, #Redsox had $$, #Mets needed to move $$. money makes world go round, and makes trades happen

@nyp_joelsherman: On conf call, MInaya said didn't remember Santana's spring elbow injury that nearly cost him O.Day start."That was a long time ago" #ohmygod

@nyp_joelsherman: Minaya's explanation y Santana was allowed to pitch thru elbow discomfort was gibberish tinged with negligence. Let's call it Mets stew

That’s about your Mets season right there. Now Ken Davidoff say the Mets are sending a terrible message to fans by not taking the Wagner draft picks to save some money and Joel Sherman says the Mets and Omar Minaya are sending a horrible message to everyone by how they handled Santana. Ken Rosenthal asks if the Mets are taking care of their players. FanGraphs says there’s still a heckuva lot of money left on the Santana deal if he isn’t 100% going forward (leading Peter Abraham to say the Yankees were wise for staying away for Santana). Ken Davidoff doesn’t even think the Mets would have been contenders had their “Big Four” not gotten hurt.

And the Mets big free agent starting pitching signing, Oliver Perez, has allowed 10 earned runs in his past two starts (5 2/3 innings pitched) and may have a knee injury. Final Destination (the movie) seems to be the story of the Mets season. Try as they must, they cannot escape injury. K-Rod should just hole himself up in a bunker at this point. Didn’t the Mets unbelievably have Swine Flu go through their team earlier this season as well?

It’s not a fun time to be a Giants or Mets fan (tough for Ari, he’s both). But then again, you could be Adrian Beltre and have a slowly healing, still swollen testicle. Ouch!

Yankees Should Look For Off-Speed Pitches Tonight

Although it was in an article saying that his off-speed pitches had improved, this stat is pretty crazy from ESPN’s Inside Edge:

[Derek Holland] has already faced New York twice this season in Texas losses. Yankees hitters teed off on his non-fastballs for a .714 batting average.

The Yankees are a veteran team and should be able to take advantage of this tonight. Holland has won five of his seven starts since the All-Star break, but this is the type of guy who the Yankees should jump all over.

Why Girardi Made a Bad Decision Last Night

The Yankees almost came back last night after a bad start by Joba and a bad relief appearance from Chad Gaudin (I believe another bad move Girardi made last night, but not as bad). The bottom of the 9^th started with the Yankees down 10-5. Johnny Damon singled off of Rangers’ reliever Jason Grilli, then Mark Teixeira walked. In came Texas closer, Frank Francisco out of the bullpen to close it out. But he was shaky. He walked A-Rod to load the bases. Hideki Matsui followed with a single to score Damon and Jorge Posada reached on an infield single to score Teixeira. Then Robby Cano (don’t you know?!) singled to left, scoring two, and putting pinch runner Jerry Hairston Jr. on second. 10-9, no one out, tying run on second, winning run on first for Nick Swisher with Melky Cabrera on deck. Francisco can’t get anyone out and the Yankees are rallying.

Nick Swisher is, for all intents and purposes, a power hitter. He is not a bunter. Before this year, he had laid down 4 sacrifice bunts in 2512 plate appearances, spanning 611 games. This year, for some reason, Joe Girardi had asked Nick Swisher to bunt three times. And he decided last night to try to make it a fourth.

Now let me lay out the layman’s logic here: If Nick Swisher bunts successfully, you have runners on 2^nd and 3^rd and only one out, a flyball tying the game and a base hit possibly winning it. If Swisher is allowed to swing away, he can hit into a double play and the Yankees would be down to their final out. Even if he strikes out, that means that he didn’t move up the runners and there’s one out.

That, my friends, is not sound logic.

Nick Swisher has 196 plate appearances this year with runners on base. In those situations, he has splits of .252/.415/.448. That means he gets on base 41.5% of the time. He’s more than half as likely to strike out (20.4% of the time) than get on base.

This season he’s grounded into 9 double plays, which is roughly 4.5% of the time. So with runners on base, he’s about 10 times more likely to get on base than ground into a double play. Ok, I understand that does account for walks. So let’s throw those out. His batting average on balls in play (BAbip) with men on base is .291. That means, when he puts the ball in play with runners on base, he’s about 6.5 times more likely to get a base hit than ground into a double play and has 51 RBIs with men on base. Not only that, he’s 66% more likely to hit an extra base hit than hit into a double play. An extra base hit in that situation wins the game.
And how about Melky with the proposed best-case scenario of bunting the runners over to 2^nd and 3^rd? He has one RBI this year in that situation. And with his struggles as of late that I documented earlier, he would not be the guy you would want to bunt to get up there.

So what happened? Nick Swisher popped up the bunt and Melky Cabrera hit into a double play to end it.

Jack Curry reviews this situation for the New York Times. LoHud has more details on that costly failure. River Ave Blues has some more details about the bunt that drove us all crazy. Subway Squawkers says that it was a rotten way to end the game. Fack Youk writes a little Fuck You letter to Joe Girardi. Scott Proctor’s Arm says this is why he hates the bunt.

The key to baseball is not to give up outs on either side of the baseball. That includes bunting and squashing rallies by making unnecessary outs. But yet Joe Girardi decided it was a good idea to give up an out last night and it cost his team the game. He’s not the only manager who would choose to do this, but that does not make it the right move. Let’s just hope he doesn’t do the same in October.

The Many Seasons Of Melky Cabrera

What to make of Melky Cabrera’s season? He’s been up and he’s been down, he’s been good and he’s been bad. But, in the end, I’m not sure he’s an everyday player.  Playing centerfield every day in Brett Gardner’s absence, Melky has struggled again. Let’s look at how his season has gone:

-April 9^th – May 5^th : 24 games (13-11 team record), 15 starts, 71 PA, .344/.408/.563, 13 runs, 22 hits, 2 2B, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 7 BB, 10 K

-May 6^th – June 18^th: 36 games (21-15 team record), 34 starts, 135 PA, .256/.303/.364, 13 runs, 31 hits, 7 2B, 2 HR, 17 RBI, 9 BB, 18 K

-June 19^th – Aug 2^nd: 39 games (26-13 team record), 31 starts, 129 PA, .301/.380/.513, 18 runs, 34 hits, 10 2B, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 15 BB, 11 K

-Aug 4^th – Present: 19 games (15-4 team record), 19 starts, 83 PA, .169/.217/.234, 9 runs, 13 hits, 2 2B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 4 BB, 9 K

I put the team record there to show that he hasn’t hurt the Yankees by playing poorly. But when he’s played every day, he struggles. When he’s not starting every day, he’s been great. That suggests to me that Melky may not be an everyday player.

Since he hit a huge home run to help beat Boston for the first time this season, he has no home runs and only two extra base hits in 16 games. In those 70 plate appearances, he’s batting .172/.229/.203. And those numbers are actually skewed up by a 4-6 game he had against the Red Sox when the Yankees scored 20 as a team.

Melky still brings the Yankees some speed in centerfield and OK defense (he’s their only serviceable outfielder, though Nick Swisher has been more solid lately). He’s also topping mostly all of his offensive career highs (except for BA and OBP). And he brings an energy to the team as well at times. But the man looks gassed out there playing every day, and he’s killing them with the bat. When he gets a base hit, he celebrates every time. That’s not a good sign. It seems like a long time since he was hitting walkoff after walkoff for the Yankees.

Here are Melky’s splits for the season now: .267/.328/.416

Including 2009 here are Melky’s career splits: .268/.329/.383

I think this is one of those cases where we know what we’re getting at this point, even if he is only 24. My thought all along was that the Yankees should try Austin Jackson every day in CF. With the lead the Yankees have, they can afford a few rookie mistakes.

Or maybe we should just start praying for Brett Gardner to recover a little quicker.

BREAKING NEWS: Derek Jeter is really, really good

Have you heard? Derek Jeter is really, really good. Not just New York, over-hyped, overrated really, really good. Like actually really, really good. Peter Abraham pointed out today that Captain Clutch is moving up the Yankees’ career list for games, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, walks, and stolen bases. When his career is finished, he’ll probably be atop all those lists with the exception of home runs (will probably finish 6^th), triples (won’t even come close), and walks (only about a 1000 behind Babe Ruth). He’s also 5^th in batting average and total bases. Not bad.

Here’s the line that Derek Jeter is on pace for: .332/.394/.476, 219 hits, 114 runs, 30 2B, 21 HR, 75 RBI, and 28 SB (to 5 CS). He currently has an OPS+ of 127 and a WAR of 5.6 for the best team in baseball. On the recent road trip—one that could help seal the Yankees return to the postseason after Jeter’s first season without October baseball last season—Derek Jeter hit .500.

And it seems like he’s going to lose the MVP race to a Twins player once again.

Mike Lupica says that the Yankees Captain is having a season for the ages at 35 (picture from Daily News article). Baseball-Reference points out how great he really is among the other Yankees’ greats. B-R also points out that he’s on pace for his 7^th 200 hit season which will probably keep him two behind active leader Ichiro (who, as the Wall Street Journal points out, maybe a little bit more smoke and mirrors than greatness). The major league leader in 200 hit seasons is Pete Rose at 10. Gritty and Cluch says that although the Yankees will pay Jeter $20 million this season, he’s projected to be worth over $31 million (and probably more at this point since this was done last week). Lastly, Ken Rosenthal has some good notes on Derek Jeter’s work ethic:

After the 2007 season, Jeter decided that he needed to work harder to combat the effects of age. He began training with Jason Riley, the director of athlete performance at the Saddlebrook training center in Tampa.

The leaner, more tapered Jeter has been notably healthier this season, not that he ever admits to injuries. His improved conditioning — with an emphasis on lateral movement and first-step quickness — has led to improved defensive performance.

And from new teammate and 12-year veteran Jerry Hairston, Jr.:

"He plays like every day like he's got something to prove, and yet he doesn't have anything to prove. I really admire that about him.”

He’s pretty great, that Derek Jeter.

After All That Hoopla, Wagner Goes to the Red Sox

@SI_JonHeyman: SNY says mets get 2 players to be named for wagner

@HackswithHaggs: Billy Wagner's agent, Bean Stringfellow, emailed me...Wagner waived his no-trade. Stringfellow: "He changed his mind last minute." #redsox

10 minutes before the deadline, the Red Sox got their man: Billy Wagner is going from the New York Mets to the Boston Red Sox for two players to be named later. The Red Sox are picking up the entire contract and agreeing to decline the option. That means they’ll be playing him more than 2 million dollars for 5 weeks. But they retain the rights to offer him salary arbitration which could net them some draft picks.

Wagner could be a very, very dangerous weapons for the Red Sox down the stretch and in October if he’s healthy. The bullpen has not been good as of late and Daniel Bard has struggled in his ascension to the Hall of Fame. Wagner has not been good in October but maybe in a role as a set-up man, he’ll thrive. The Red Sox have two VERY dangerous lefties out of the ‘pen now with Hideki Okajima and Wagner. This is definitely not a team I want to face in October.

This was also a far cry from earlier reports. First there was the back-and-forth tiff between Papelbon and Wagner. The Wagnerian drama continued to play out yesterday. Then Wagner said he’d only approve a deal if his 2010 option was picked up. Then the Red Sox were gifted a win despite a poor pitching effort. Then reports came out today that Wagner blocked the deal because of health concerns.

And now he’s on the Red Sox despite having only pitched twice this season, a $2+ million salary, health concerns, a tiff with a teammate who compared him to super-bust Eric Gagne, and the fact he hasn’t been good in October (8.71 ERA). And yet, for some reason, as a Yankee fan, I’m not all that thrilled.

 

(picture from MLB.com)

Reviewing This Past Weekend's Top Series

On Friday, I looked at the top 5 series for the weekend. Let’s see how they ended up:

-San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies. Rockies took 3 out of 4 and they look to be on a streak like they went on in 2007 which propelled them to the World Series. The best pitching matchup of the weekend was Sunday, but Ubaldo Jimenez outdueled Tim Lincecum to win a big one for the Rockies. The Rockies were 15.5 back of the LA Dodgers on June 3^rd  and were 12 games under .500 and they’re now 17 games over .500 and 3 back of LA. They also now have a 4 game lead over the Giants  for the Wild Card. I listed Carlos Gonzalez as the key player for the Rockies which was probably the ultimate jinx as he’s now going to miss a week because of a knife snafu. They didn’t need him as Ryan Spilborghs hit a 14^th inning grand slam last night to grab a huge win in the game and in the series for the Rockies. Meanwhile, on the Giants side, Tim Lincecum is winless in his last 4 starts. Huge series for the Rockies and now they face the Dodgers who they’re 2-10 against and have been outscored by 31 runs so far this season. These two teams then go at it again in San Francisco next weekend which could be the Giants’ last chance to make a run at the playoffs. Buster Olney goes further into another great Colorado run.

-New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox. I live blogged on Friday and Sunday and the Yankees won. I didn’t on Saturday and they got murdered. Coincidence? I think not. Some links post series: Behind The Moat has a roundup of what we learned. Mark Feinsand writes that after taking care of business, the Yankees are eyeing home-field advantage. Tyler Kepner says it’s a good time to be a Yankees fan. Baseball Musings pointed out that Red Sox pitching has been struggling mightily lately. Tyler Kepner also writes that Girardi came to the defense of his catcher after a ridiculous controversy arose. Steven Goldman points out—among other things—that if the Yankees play to their current pace the rest of the season, the Red Sox would have to go 33-6 to pass them (and 28-11 if the Yanks go .500, a 116-win pace).

-Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Rays. Texas lost 2 of 3 in Tampa…but didn’t lose any ground in the Wild Card race. The Rays gained some ground in the Wild Card race and now sit 3 back of the Red Sox. Tampa took the first two games and the Rangers were able to hold off a sweep behind Scott Feldman (13-4) who now has a 9-1 record on the road for them this season. Feldman was a 30^th round draft pick and barely stayed in the majors the past two season with a 5.77 and 5.29 ERA, respectively. But he’s been one of the best pitchers in the American League all season. How did the key players perform? Ben Zobrist has a .400/.500/.960 line in the last 7 days, Matt Garza still hasn’t won in over a month, Andruw Jones reached base once in the last week, and Ivan Rodriguez loves being a Ranger again with a .500/.538/.700 line over the last week. The Rangers head to the Bronx for a big 3-game series starting tonight.

-Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers. The Cubs lost 2 out of 3 to the Dodgers and may be watching October from home. They sit 8 games back in the division and 7.5 back in the Wild Card. Barring a miracle finish, they’re sitting at home once the playoffs start. The Los Angeles Dodgers have spent 134 days in first and their biggest division lead was at 9.5 games on June 3^rd. They are 18-19 in the second-half and 10-12 in August. They need to turn it around, and fast. This is a Joe Torre managed team, though, and that usually means they’re going to go through a tough stretch but pull it out in the end. Manny Ramirez is a better hitter than he’s been showing so once he starts mashing again, the Giants and Rockies are in big trouble.

-Florida Marlins at Atlanta Braves. Atlanta won 2 out of 3. Derek Lowe leads the Braves in wins, Jair Jurrjens leads the team in ERA, Javier Vazquez leads the team in strikeouts, and Tommy Hanson (9-2, 3.12 ERA) has a chance to become the first Braves pitcher to win the National League Rookie of the Year award. That’s a balanced pitching attack right there. Hanson was huge again for the Braves, and they are suddenly a very dangerous team. They won’t catch the Phillies in the division (7 games), but they’re 4.5 back of Colorado and 8 games over .500 for the first time all season. Atlanta’s schedule is very favorable to them as well playing San Diego, Cincinnati, Houston, the Mets (twice), and Washington (twice). Hanley Ramirez continues to be amazing for the Fish but I don’t think he’s going to be able to propel them into the playoffs, despite the fact he leads the league in hits, average, doubles, and has a .996 OPS.

Trivia Tuesday: Part IV

We’re at Part IV of our epic Trivia Tuesday contest, finding the best of the best among NYaT readers. Below are this week’s questions. Post your answers below in the comments. No cheating! If you’re reading this on someplace other than http://www.noyoureatowel.net/, go there to answer the questions. I will post the correct answers tonight.

7. Which three Major League pitchers later served in the United States Congress?

8. Which four players won a batting title in a season in which they played for more than one team?

Good luck!

 

Addition of the Yankees Magic Number

Jay inspired me. We're putting up the Yankees magic number widget up on the blog. It's to the right. I felt like we should start the countdown after the Yankees took two out of three. So it's a little gift from me to you.

Speaking of gifts, the Red Sox got one tonight. This was what I remember of Jose Contreras. He was staked to a 4-1 lead and in the bottom of the inning there was a runner on first with two outs. Here's what followed: walk, hit batter, error by Contreras, walk (to walk home a run), wild pitch (run scored), 3-run home run. 2 2/3 innings, 3 walks, 2 wild pitches, a hit batter, and 7 runs...yet only one earned.

I believe, that's a rule that needs to be changed. The pitcher commits an error that leads to all those runs and gets zero earned runs charged to him. We can call it the Jose Contreras rule.

Patience Is A Virtue, Except When It isn't

Derek Jeter walked in 4 straight games from July 25^th- July 28^th. Jeter, the leadoff hitter for the Yankees, hasn’t walked since. That’s 34 games and more than 110 ABs. So should the Yankees panic? The team went 17-7 over the stretch and Jeter’s OBP is still .394.

The Yankees as a team rank third in pitches per plate appearance, second in walks and first in pitches seen. All season they would take pitches earlier in an at-bat to try to work the count in their favor.

Then last night they decided to ditch all that.

Why?

Because Josh Beckett knew they were going to do that.

Baseball is a constant chess match and the Yankees were trying to be one step ahead of the Red Sox. Josh Beckett knew that the Yankees liked to take the first pitch, so he started them out with a strike. Advantage Josh Beckett. He had thrown 13 shutout innings in his past two starts against the Yankees.

Last night, the Yankees swung early and often at that first strike.

From PeteAbe: “Five at-bats were over in one pitch. Four lasted two pitches and seven were over in three pitches. In all, 16 of their 33 plate appearances against Beckett were over in three pitches or less. They drew no walks for only the fifth time this season.”

From Buster Olney: “Why Beckett lost, from Trevor Ebaugh of ESPN Stats & Information: The Yankees' home run data from Sunday night showed a definite trend in how to approach Beckett -- look for a first-pitch fastball, then curveball with two strikes. Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui's leadoff homers in the first and second innings were both off fastballs. Robinson Cano and A-Rod later followed with homers off two-strike curveballs. This proved to be a great approach: Beckett threw 25 of 33 first-pitch fastballs (76 percent versus 59 percent overall). Beckett threw curveballs in eight of 18 of at-bats that reached two-strike counts (44 percent versus 25 percent overall).”

According to B-R’s Play Index, only one other pitcher had ever (or at least since 1954) pitched 8+ innings, given up 5+ HR and 8+ ER: Pat Hentgen in 1997. The Yankees obviously had something going last night and now they have a 7.5 game lead in the division.

Patience is usually a virtue for this team, but a deviation from them helped them win last night.

Be Careful What You Wish For, Especially If They're Playing You

I’ve heard from multiple people this morning that the Yankees should lose on purpose against Texas tomorrow. The thinking is that the Rangers sweep of the Yankees would give them a great chance of catching the Boston Red Sox for the Wild Card. Then the Yankees would play the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs and have an easier time of advancing.

No! No! A thousand times no!

First of all, the Yankees haven’t been good “wishing” to face a team in the playoffs. In 2007, the Yankees wanted to play the Indians instead of the Angels and they got beat. In 2006, people were jolly over the fact they drew the Tigers in the first round and the Tigers went to the World Series. In 2003, the Yankees wanted the young Marlins in the World Series instead of the veteran Cubs and the Yanks got beat. In 2002, the Yankees got their wish when they played the Angels in the first round and the Angels won the World Series. In 1997, the Yankees got to face the Indians in the first round instead of the Mariners and instead of getting a break, they got sent home early. Wishing to face a team like the Rangers has not worked out for the Yankees in the past.

You also can’t throw games now if you think you’re going to face a team later on. The worst thing you can give a young, upstart team like the Rangers is confidence. They’ve been seemingly overachieving, much like the Tampa Bay Rays last season but the best thing that happened to the Rays was that they gained confidence by beating the best in the AL all season long. If the Yankees were to get beat in three games in the Bronx this week, why would the Rangers fear coming to the Bronx for three games in October?

Also, who would fear the Yankees if they played sub-.500 ball the last month? The biggest thing going for the Yankees is their hot play and the momentum they have going forward. Why break that by losing now?

But the most important reason you can’t lose on purpose is that the Yankees cannot afford to lose games now. Do you remember the 2008 Mets? Do you remember the 2007 Mets? Having a division lead in August does not guarantee you’ll play in October. Especially when a team like the Red Sox, with 3 games left against the Yankees and extremely dangerous in their home ballpark, is still alive.

Also, the Yankees need to shore up home field advantage. The Angels are 3 games behind the Yankees for home field advantage throughout the American League playoffs. The Yankees are 41-18 at home and the teams that they could play in the playoffs are not great on the road (the Angels are 38-26 but the Red Sox are 31-33, the Rangers are 28-30, the Rays are 25-35, the Tigers are 25-38, the Mariners are 31-34, the White Sox are 27-31, and the Twins are 28-36). The Yankees are 37-28 on the road having won 10 of their last 13, but they would be better at home within the friendly confines of the New Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

There’s one thing the Yankees need to do against the Rangers this week: Just win, baby.

Crazy Baseball Video

I have no clue if this is real or some nice video editing...but it's nuts. Check it out (H/T Paul).



So what do you think? Real or nice video editing? If it's real, that's awesome.

Leaving Boston: Thoughts on Matsui, CC and Mariano

What a series. Three crazy games. Some thoughts:

• The Yankees will miss Hideki Matsui next year. They're not going to bring him back but he's been really great for them. With 4 HR in this series, he now has 23 for the year. He could possibly hit 30 this year. The only other time he did that was in 2004. He also hasn't slugged over .500 other than 2004 and he's at .510 this year
  

• CC Sabathia now leads the league in wins. I think he had a really good game tonight and has been very good against Boston in his last few starts this season. He won his 5th straight start. He's 20-2 in August since 2005. CC may have played himself in the Cy Young discussion.
  

• Another person in the Cy Young discussion? Mariano Rivera. He's been great. I know names like Grienke, Halladay and Verlander will also be involved in the discussion, but can you really count out Mariano? He's simply been great this season. 32 consecutive saves, highest K/9 rate since he's become a closer, only 9 walks and 1.87 ERA
  

• Jeter has also simply been great. MVP? Maybe

• The Yankees improved to 16-4 in their last 20 games and won their 10th series out of 11 since the All-Star break
  

Last Dance In Boston

YANKEES (77-46)

1. Jeter SS
2. Damon LF
3. Teixeira 1B
4. Rodriguez 3B
5. Matsui DH
6. Swisher RF
7. Cano 2B
8. Cabrera CF
9. Molina C

Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia (14-7, 3.58). 6-1 Since the All-Star break.

RED SOX (70-52)
1. Ellsbury CF
2. Pedroia 2B
3. Martinez 1B
4. Youkilis RF
5. Bay LF
6. Lowell DH
7. Baldelli RF
8. Varitek C
9. Gonzalez SS

Pitching: RHP Josh Beckett (14-4, 3.38). 8-0 at home this season

Notes:

-Derek Jeter has 6 3-hit games this season and is one hit away from 2,700 career hits
-According to Peter Gammons on Baseball Tonight, only two hitters have a higher OPS than Victor Martinez from the 3 hole
-From PeteAbe: Sabathia is 4-0 with a 2.35 ERA in his last four starts. Over 30.2 innings, he has allowed 20 hits and five walks while striking out 31. Sabathia is 1-1, 2.45 against the Red Sox this season

More later...

Update 7:43 PM: Some great stuff from ESPN's Inside Edge on the pitching match-up:

Josh Beckett and CC Sabathia, tied atop the American League with 14 wins apiece, match up for the first time when the Yankees play the Red Sox on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (8 p.m. ET). Right-hander Beckett features a devastating curveball while lefty Sabathia's arsenal contains two quality off-speed pitches, a slider and a changeup. Although they bring different toolboxes to the mound, both accomplish all the things that create opportunities for wins. Like many pitchers, they do most of their work on the outside part of the plate, where the league batting average is .241 compared to .280 on the inner half. However, Beckett (.209 BAA outside) and Sabathia (.213) are more effective than most. They discourage hitters from leaning across the plate by coming up and in more often and much harder than average pitchers do:

Fastballs up and in (2009)

	Beckett	Sabathia	League avg.
Percentage of fastballs	12.1	12.4	11.3
Average velocity (mph)	93.7	93.7	90.8

By keeping the ball down, Beckett and Sabathia reduce the chances for extra-base hits when they make a mistake on the middle of the plate:

Pitches on middle of plate (2009)

	Beckett	Sabathia	League avg.
Percentage down	52.4	53.1	48.2
Slugging percentage	.479	.503	.553

Both pitchers capably command the low outside strike:

Pitches down and away (2009)

	Beckett	Sabathia	League avg.
Strike percentage	53.9	64.2	51.6
Batting average against	.179	.171	.197

Beckett and Sabathia each use their off-speed stuff on pitchers' counts to make hitters miss or make weak contact:

Off-speed pitches when ahead in count (2009)

	Beckett	Sabathia	League avg.
Swing-and-miss percentage	32.6	32.7	29.2
Well-hit average	.099	.101	.119

Other things to watch on Sunday night: • The Yankees' power bats have been quiet so far this season against Beckett. Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada have hit a combined .273 (6-for-22) off Beckett in 2009, but with zero extra-base hits. Only two of their 41 swings produced well-hit balls. • Beckett seems to let down after making it through the heart of the Yankees' order, though. Second baseman Robinson Cano has hit Beckett harder than any other Yankees hitter this season, with a .364 well-hit average. Cano has been all over his pitches in the lower half of the zone, going 4-for-9 (.444) against them. Beckett has allowed Cano to escape on pitchers' counts -- Cano is 2-for-3 with a double when behind in the count against Beckett this year. • Dustin Pedroia has battled Sabathia. Boston's second baseman has made him work, averaging 6.3 pitches in his seven plate appearances this year opposite Sabathia, but he has only one walk and no hits to show for it. Pedroia struck out swinging twice on inside pitches, and in another at-bat Sabathia shaved the outside corner with a 3-2 fastball for a called strikeout. • David Ortiz hit a home run off Sabathia in June, one of 17 allowed by Sabathia this season. He grooved a first-pitch fastball in the middle of the zone that Ortiz hammered. Sabathia made a similar mistake in his last outing that the A's Kurt Suzuki clubbed for a homer.

Good stuff there.

Update 7:55 PM: It was against the Padres, but John Smoltz had 7 straight Ks today (Cardinals record) and 9 in total. Not exactly what he did for the Sox.

Update 7:58 PM: Via Twitter:

@Fletch788: Fun with batter vs. pitcher: Damon and Cano each have 5 2B, 2 HR and 9 RBI against Josh Beckett.

Nice stat from Scott Proctor's Arm

Update 7:59 PM: John Kruk since that the bench should call pitches for Posada when A.J. Burnett is pitching. If this is the Yankees' biggest problem, so be it.

By the way, it is Molina for "ZZ" (how John Santana pronounces it at least)

Update 8:06 PM: Three links for now:

• Baseball-Reference says that A.J. Burnett is in some rare company with his wildness calling him a wild child
  
• MLBTradeRumors reports on some more drama on that Wagner claim
• Buster Olney thinks that Jim Rice should apologize to Derek Jeter. I have to agree. Claiming he was misquoted is just ridiculous.

Baseball Tonight just said that Cano hits Beckett and Pedroia is 0-9 in his career against ZZ...so that probably means the opposite will happen

Update 8:08 PM: Jeter is 25 for 49 in his last 12 games. Not bad. Let's see if his heat can continue.

Since May 1st, Josh Beckett has started 19 times and is 12-2 with a 2.56 ERA. Not bad. Since 2006, he's beaten the Yankees 9 times.

Update 8:11 PM: Here's the Yankees hitters vs. Beckett via Play Index:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
 Robinson Cano      45  41  14  5  0  2   9   4   4  .341  .400  .610   1.010     0   0   1   0   0
 Nick Swisher       21  17   5  0  0  1   2   4   6  .294  .429  .471    .900     0   0   0   0   2
 Johnny Damon       48  44  12  5  0  2   9   3  11  .273  .319  .523    .842     1   0   0   0   1
 Melky Cabrera      41  36  12  3  0  0   4   3

   8  .333  .390  .417    .807     0   1   0   1   1
 Alex Rodriguez     44  39  11  3  0  1   7   5   9  .282  .364  .436    .800     0   0   0   0   3
 Jorge Posada       33  31  10  1  0  0   3   2  10  .323  .364  .355    .719     0   0   0   0   0
 Derek Jeter        50  47  14  1  0  1   3   2   3  .298  .327  .383    .710     1   0   0   0   1
 Hideki Matsui      24  23   6  0  1  0   0   1   3  .261  .292  .348    .640     0   0   0   0   1
 Eric Hinske        20  20   5  2  0  0   1   0   5  .250  .250  .350    .600     0   0   0   0   0
 Jerry Hairston      7   7   2  0  0  0   3   0   1  .286  .286  .286    .572     0   0   0   0   0
 Mark Teixeira      21  16   2  0  0  0   0   5   6  .125  .333  .125    .458     0   0   0   0   0
 Jose Molina        13  13   2  0  0  0   0   0   4  .154  .154  .154    .308     0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
Total             369 336  96 20  1  7  41  29  70  .286  .343  .414    .757     2   1   1   1   9

Update 8:13 PM: Man is that Derek Jeter hot. Leadoff home run on the first pitch.

Simply Jeterian!

Jeter's second leadoff HR of the season; 21st leadoff homer of his career, tied with Soriano for No. 2 in franchise history.

Some serious audio issues for ESPN. They got the media box's a udio for Derek Jeter's home run call and we can't here Joe Morgan. Not a good start for them.

Update 8:17 PM: The Red Sox vs. CC from Play Index:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
 David Ortiz        25  23   7  1  0  2   4   2   4  .304  .360  .609    .969     0   0   0   0   1
 Kevin Youkilis     13  12   4  0  0  0   0   1   2  .333  .385  .333    .718     0   0   0   0   0
 Jacoby Ellsbury     3   3   1  0  0  0   0   0   1  .333  .333  .333    .666     0   0   0   0   0
 Rocco Baldelli     24  22   5  2  0  0   1   2   6  .227  .292  .318    .610     0   0   2   0   0
 Jason Varitek      15  13   1  0  0  1   3   1   3  .077  .200  .308    .508     0   0   0   1   0
 J.D. Drew          10  10   2  1  0  0   1   0   5  .200  .200  .300    .500     0   0   0   0   0
 Victor Martinez     7   6   1  0  0  0   0   1   1  .167  .286  .167    .453     0   0   0   0   0
 Mike Lowell        13  13   2  0  0  0   1   0   5  .154  .154  .154    .308     0   0   0   0   1
 Casey Kotchman      7   7   1  0  0  0   1   0   3  .143  .143  .143    .286     0   0   0   0   0
 Nick Green          9   8   1  0  0  0   0   0   3  .125  .125  .125    .250     1   0   0   0   1
 Dustin Pedroia     10   9   0  0  0  0   0   1   3  .000  .100  .000    .100     0   0   0   0   0
 Jason Bay           6   6   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0
 Alex Gonzalez       6   6   0  0  0  0   0   0   2  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   1
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
Total             148 138  25  4  0  3  11   8  38  .181  .231  .275    .506     1   0   2   1   4

Update 8:19 PM: Cano is way too casual with his defense and it cost him there. Cannot turn that out into a very dangerous baserunner. Awful

Update 8:25 PM: CC bailed out Cano there with a really nice pickoff move. Didn't know he had that in his repertoire.

Jeter with a jump throw to end it. Joe Morgan says that he does that better than anyone. Maybe 10 years ago, Joe.

Do you think Yogi Berra watches Sunday Night Baseball and goes "huh?" when Joe Morgan speaks or do you think he understands because it sounds like the same ridiculous comments he makes?

BTW...Joe Morgan is a moron

Update 8:29 PM: Hideki Matsui leads off the 2nd with a blast to the same spot as Jeter. Two leadoff home runs, both on the first pitch.

A Thrilla from Godzilla! 2-0 Yankees.

Update 8:31 PM: Matsui likes hitting in Fenway Park. Career he came into the game .327/.400/.530 with 6 HR and 30 RBI. He also killed them in Fenway in the 2004 playoffs. We will miss him next year.

Update 8:48 PM: 2-2 after the Red Sox continue their two out thunder. The Red Sox lead the league in 2 out runs scored. Pretty amazing how good they are in that situation.

Derek Jeter just singled on the first pitch. 2,701 hits. Lou Gehrig is within sight. Amazing that he's doing so well without walking recently. He's gone over 100 ABs since a BB but he's been crushing the ball.

Next up on the all-time list is Doc Cramer at 2,705 for 53rd place.

Update 8:57 PM: 3-2 Yankees as Tex gets a big base hit to right.

Tex takes second on some nice baserunning. If I had a dime for every time an announcer has said "a heads up baserunning play by Mark Teixeira"...well, I'd have a few dollars by now

"If you're not first, you're last" - Ricky Bobby and Yankees fans according to the ESPN broadcast

Update 8:59 PM: And A-Rod gets an RBI 4-2 Yanks. I feel like we're in for a long one. I don't think it's staying 4-2 as a final.

Update 9:29 PM: Cano goes deep and it's 5-2 Yankees.

A Ribby from Robby!

Cano has such a nice, sweet, quick swing when he's on.

Great stat: @jaysonst: Beckett had allowed 0 HR in 47 2/3 IP before Carlos Guillen's HR in the 5th inning Aug. 12. He's given up 8 HR since -- in 11 innings!

By the way, I understand that they're paying Joe Morgan so they should let him speak once in a while, but why do they let Joe Morgan conduct interviews? Joe Morgan wanted to know if Jorge Posada is sitting because there's some sort of controversy. Seriously? Oy

Update 9:41 PM: Johnny Damon doing his best Spiderman impression to the right.

Horrible job by Cano there calling of Teixeira and dropping the ball. Cano has been better at bat but looks lost in the field. Two errors today and an unearned run for the Red Sox.

Doing his best Luis Castillo impression.

Not only the run, but now ZZ has to throw more pitches.

Update 9:45 PM: ZZ gets out of it, but the damage was done with the unearned run. Sabathia has thrown a lot of pitches. I think tonight we're definitely getting Hughes and Rivera if things stay the same.

Update 9:56 PM: A bomb there for A-Rod. I mean that ball was rocketed out of there. Way to get off the schnide.

An A-Bomb, from A-Rod!

The Yankees are smashing the ball off of Beckett. Wonder if he's injured how he's been pitching
his last two outings.

Update 10:02 PM: Wow, just wow:

@PeteAbe: Beckett has allowed at least one run in 10 consecutive innings, 14 runs at all.

Larry Vanover is getting jawed at by the Red Sox players. I think it's only a matter of time before Francona gets run.

Update 10:22 PM: Awful defense for the Yankees has cost CC another inning in this game and two runs. The Yankees defense has been much better this season, but they have had lapses and tonight has been one, big defensive lapse.

Update 10:36 PM: I think CC pitched great. He got killed by two Cano errors and a dropped ball in the outfield. He come out of the game after 6 2/3 and Phil Hughes comes out of the bullpen.

No lefties coming up so I think it's just Hughes and then Rivera for the Yankees (hopefully)

Update 10:52 PM: Another Matsui homerun!

A Thrilla from Godzilla!

I don't know whether he just likes the dimensions or the porn is good in the hotel, but Matsui LOVES to hit in Boston

Ben: wow...they r gonna miss him next year

Yes they are. Someone will sign him. He's far from done.

Update 11:04: Great job-a by Phil Hughes

There's a thought out there, which Steve Phillips sort of eluded to, that the Red Sox would get Billy Wagner this year and bring him back next year as their closer so that they can trade Papelbon (who is about to get pretty expensive) and bridge the gap for a year until Daniel Bard is ready to take the reins.

Ken Rosenthal says that the Red Sox chances of getting Wagner is seriously in doubt. One of those reasons, as The New York Times writes is the dialogue between Wagner and Papelbon. Wagner has a no-trade clause and I doubt he'll waive it to set up for two years and go to a team where the closer talks shit about him before he even gets there.

Update 11:15 PM: Just call him Luke Hughes:

@PeteAbe: The force is strong in young Hughes. Last 35.1 innings: 5 ER, 22 H, 45 K.

The Great Mariano Rivera in for the 9th in a non-save opportunity. Hope that isn't a problem

Update 11:16 PM: And he walks J.D. Drew on 4 pitches. Oy. Now it's a "save situation"

Update 11:26 PM: Mo just needed to get it to be a save situation. Nice finish for him with a couple of classic Mariano Ks

Yankees win. Nice way to finish their 7-3 road trip. 7.5 games up.

I think the division may/should be over. Thanks for following along to those who did tonight.