Tonight's Pitching Matchups

All courtesy of Play Index:

A.J. Burnett against the Mets (sorted by OPS):

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Gary Sheffield     38  30   9  0  0  3   6   7   5  .300  .447  .600   1.047     0   0   0   1   0
 Brian Schneider    23  23   9  3  0  0   2   0   3  .391  .391  .522    .913     0   0   0   0   0
 Daniel Murphy       3   1   0  0  0  0   0   2   0  .000  .667  .000    .667     0   0   0   0   1
 David Wright       18  15   3  1  0  0   4   2   7  .200  .278  .267    .545     0   1   0   0   0
 Ryan Church         9   8   1  0  0  0   0   1   4  .125  .222  .125    .347     0   0   0   0   0
 Luis Castillo      10   8   0  0  0  0   0   2   3  .000  .200  .000    .200     0   0   0   0   0
 Alex Cora          20  19   0  0  0  0   0   1   7  .000  .050  .000    .050     0   0   0   0   0
 Fernando Martinez   3   3   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0
 Jeremy Reed         1   1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   1
 Fernando Tatis      3   3   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Total             128 111  22  4  0  3  12  15  31  .198  .297  .315    .612     0   1   0   1   2

Not bad at all. 128 PA and a .198/.297/.315 with only 7 XBH, 12 RBIs 15 BB and 31 K. Some ones to note. Alex Cora is 0-19 and Luis Castillo is 0-8 against Burnett. David Wright is 3-15 with only one XBH. Sheffield is the only one to homer against Burnett in his career and Brian Schneider has had a good amount of success.

And Tim Redding vs. the Yankees:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Johnny Damon        5   4   3  0  0  0   0   1   0  .750  .800  .750   1.550     0   0   0   0   0
 Mark Teixeira      12   9   4  4  0  0   1   3   1  .444  .583  .889   1.472     0   0   0   0   0
 Alex Rodriguez      2   2   0  0  0  0   1   0   1  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0
 Brett Tomko         3   2   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000    .000     1   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Total              22  17   7  4  0  0   2   4   3  .412  .524  .647   1.171     1   0   0   0   0


Not much of a sample size, but pretty good success, especially since Tomko really doesn't count.

Of course, none of that will matter when they play tonight. Looking forward to it (as long as the weather holds up)

Some Yankees-Mets Game 1 Thoughts

I didn't see the game. The late start and a Friday night dinner kept me from seeing any of the action. So I'm watching Yankees Encore and catching up.

My thoughts:

-First, some awesome info from Jayson Stark:

Loyal reader Tom Mariam noticed something really bizarre about the Yankees and Mets, who will play "Subway Series" No. 2 this weekend: In between their two Subway Series, the Yankees and Mets matched wins and losses every day in which they both played. Take a look:

Tuesday June 16: Yankees (vs. Washington) and Mets (vs. Baltimore) win
Wednesday June 17: Yankees (vs. Washington) and Mets (vs. Baltimore) lose
Thursday June 19: Yankees (vs. Washington) and Mets (vs. Baltimore) lose
Friday June 20: Yankees (vs. Florida) and Mets (vs. Tampa Bay) win
Saturday June 21: Yankees (vs. Florida) and Mets (vs. Tampa Bay) lose
Sunday June 22: Yankees (vs. Florida) and Mets (vs. Tampa Bay) lose
Tuesday June 24: Yankees (vs. Atlanta) and Mets (vs. St. Louis) lose
Wednesday June 25: Yankees (vs. Atlanta) and Mets (vs. St. Louis) win
Thursday June 26: Yankees (vs. Atlanta) and Mets (vs. St. Louis) win

Not sure what that means, exactly. But here's one thing I can safely predict: That streak will not last another day, unless they play to three straight ties this weekend.

-Maybe the most important sequence of the game was when CC Sabathia struck out Omir Santos and Mini Reyes with two men on. This came the same inning that Gary Sheffield hit his homerun. Although the Yankees would pile on later, it was a close game at that point.

-Brett Gardner should be starting every day. He was 5-6 today with a 3B, a HR, 2 RBI and a SB (he's only the 8th player in Major League history to have a night like that according to Play Index). He's hitting .303 with a .374 OBP, .441 SLG and 17 SBs. The only players who have those numbers are David Wright and Derek Jeter. If you take away the stolen base number from the equation, there's only 19 other players with at least the .303/.374/.441 line inlcuding Ichiro, Carlos Beltran, Kevin Youkilis, Hanley Ramirez, Justin Upton, Albert Pujols, Evan Longoria, Miguel Cabrera and Justin Morneau. This guy is a good hitter and can fly. He's also the best CF on the team (minus the arm). He's on pace for 41 SB and only 5 CS. Let the guy play.

-If my count is correct, the Yankees have 56 SB and 9 CS. Their SB% is the best in the majors at over 86%. That's really, really good. Only one team since 2000 has had a better mark (The Phillies in 2007 with 88%). Stolen bases are only good when you're successful a large majority of the time. Otherwise they're just outs. Then you do literally run yourself out of innings. David Wright (19 SB, 8 CS), Chone Figgins (23 SB, 7 CS), and Nyjer Morgan (18 SB, 7 CS) need to be more selective. Derek Jeter is 17 for 18.

-Why is Robinson Cano still hitting 5th? He was 0-3 again tonight with RISP. I'm going to keep asking this until there is a change.

-I got a message that A-Rod had crushed a homerun to right-center, deep into the bullpen. I was excited knowing that it takes a lot to get it out there at Citi Field and A-Rod going out to right-center is a huge sign for the Yanks. Then I saw that he hit it off of a meatball from Elmer Dessens. It lessened my excitement somewhat. Still nice to see A-Rod hitting the ball well.

-This park can't be that hard to hit homeruns in if Brett Gardner hit one. (just kidding...I know it was also off the same guy named Elmer)

-For all the ruffled feathers about the lack of tickets the Yankees have been selling near the plate, I want people to know I could have easily gone on Mets.com and gotten seats for any game of this series. Now the New York Times is reporting that some season ticket holders are thinking of not renewing for next season. Ouch.

-Great quote from Jerry Manuel via Ken Davidoff: "We're looking literally at trying to survive this until the break," Jerry Manuel said before the game. "The break is a big blow for us to get there safe.'' With John Maine now also out until the All-Star Break, this is looking like the "tread water until" point. Hopefully for the Mets, they can get healthy at that point and start playing with a full(er) deck. Plus, they signed one of the biggest free agent busts this past summer, accoridng to Tim Marchman.

-The Mets errors early in the game did them in. Not only did it lead to runs that inning, but it led to Mike Pelfrey coming out of the game early, the bullpen being exposed, and the Yankees putting the game out of reach. I know the Mets aren't playing with the full deck, but you need to play fundementally sound baseball to win games. In the top of the 8th, Parnell dropped the ball to balk Cano to second and Santos was slow to pick up a ball in the dirt so Cano went to third. The potential run ended up probably being meaningless because of the lack of offense the Mets had been able to produce, but you can't just give teams the extra inch.

-Lastly, here's a stat you probably won't see anyplace else. The Mets had one of all the extra pitching lines: one IBB, one HBP, one WP, one BK. The Mets have only had 5 other games in their entire history where they've recorded one in each of those columns, according to Play Index.

-Goodnight. Yanks up to 3 in a row. Let's hope they can make it 4 tomorrow.

Uncle Lou Comes To the Rescue, May Be Watching Weeds

You have got to love Lou Pinella. After Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto admitted smoking pot, Sweet Lou came to his defense. Via ESPN Chicago:

"Look, I have smoked dope one time in my life," Piniella said before the Cubs faced the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. "And it didn't do a damn thing for me, and I never tried it again. I'm fortunate because of that. A lot of people do. You can even buy it in California from a pharmacy."

Yes, you can, Lou, sort of. Have you been watching this season of Weeds? Because Silas and Doug are opening up their own "pharmacy" now (or is it a farm-acy if you're selling weed?). It's a really good show if you don't watch it.

Anyways, this is not the only World Baseball Classic violation it seems. Sidney Ponson was caught taking what he says are diet pills, but are being described as a "stimulant". I've seen Sir Sidney before and I'm pretty sure that he's not on diet pills. Not positive. But pretty sure. They're certainly not helping his pitching with the Royals (1-5, 7.27 ERA).

So diet pills and pot? Sounds like a college campus to me.

Two Really Cool Websites

The first website is Flip Flop Fly Ball which has some amazing graphics on their site (H/T Rob Neyer). The Green Monster one is pretty awesome, but some of the best have little facts.

• If stolen bases were actually stolen, the stolen base leader for 2008, Colorado Rockies' Willy Taveras, would be charged with a Class 4 Felony under Colorado Law for stealing $6,119.32.
• One (discounted) Legends Box seat at the New Yankee Stadium (the most expensive seat in the league) would buy you 312.5 tickets in MLB's cheapest seat, the bleachers at Coors Field (and there would be just as many homeruns).
• Or, if the Yankees continued to retire numbers at their current pace, they would run out of double digit numbers by the year 2220.

So cool and I recommend you check out that site for more of those (hope to get some more on the blog from time to time).

 

The other website is Newseum which has 807 front pages from 71 countries. The one here is from Taiwan and although I don't know what they're saying, I know they're all about Michael Jackson today. The Calgary Sun has one of the more interesting ones today on Jack-O. The Press of Atlantic City (NJ) and the Opelika-Auburn News (AL) were two papers that gave equal footing to MJ and Farrah Fawcett, who has seemed to have gotten lost in all the Michael Jackson hysteria. And BILD, from Berlin, Germany has Michael Jackson AND boobies (obviously NSFW) on the front page. Non-sports related but pretty cool stuff.

Proving People Wrong or Disappointing

Every day we have athletes that prove us wrong or those who disappoint after lofty expectations. Here's a breakdown of some of those people:

 

Proved People Wrong:

• A-Rod - As River Ave Blues pointed out, A-Rod proved Buster Olney wrong. Or at least premature in his obituary. I hope last night was a breaking out for A-Rod rather than him beating up a struggling pitcher. But if A-Rod can pick it up, this offense can start rolling over people. And A-Rod certainly has a lot of people to prove wrong with the steroids allegations hanging over his head.
• Nick Swisher - Nick Swisher isn't going to win a batting title or a Gold Glove. I don't know why people care. He's serviceable in right field except for one huge error against the Red Sox. He'll never be great but he'll hustle after the ball and has a decent arm. But more importantly, he's one of the best hitters on this team as Steven Goldman points out:

Nick Swisher answered yesterday's discussion about him here with another home run, and it's tempting to let that be the final word for now. The guy is second on the Yankees in on-base percentage (to Mark Teixeira), fourth in slugging, but he leads the club in road slugging, road doubles, and road home runs by a wide, wide margin--he and Hideki Matsui are the only hitters on the team that haven't seen their numbers grossly distorted by the House that Ruth Didn't etc. He leads the team in walks, and the only reason that hasn't resulted in a higher number of runs scored by Swisher personally is that he's been buried in the bottom half of the order. There has been an awful lot of Ransom and Molina up behind Swisher.

I've said for a while I think the Yankees are wasting Swisher so far down in the order...but then again, they won't let me manage.

• Joba  - From Steven Goldman again: "Chamberlain's road record is yet another nail in the 'Joba-to-the-bullpen' argument. If this is what he can do in a neutral environment, average six innings a start and allow fewer than three runs--that's more than good enough. Few pitchers can do that"
• San Antonio Spurs - Well I don't think this team is going to be so boring offensively. They went out and got Richard Jefferson and starting him with Ginobili, Parker, Duncan they should be able to keep up offensively with the Bryants and Carmelos and Nowitzkis of the league. The question is how much this hurts the team defensively and in their chemistry. Bruce Bowen and Kurt Thomas were really good pieces on that team. But I think this makes them infinitely better and a favorite in the West. And, as usual they excelled at the draft, getting an A+ from Chad Ford. If DeJaun Blair can come in, be healthy, and be 80% of Kurt Thomas, this team will be tough to beat.
• Orlando Magic - Well this is all about not resting on your laurels. The last time the Magic got to a finals before 2009, they had Shaq. And many expected them to be quiet in this offseason with a team that surprised many and made the finals this year, hoping that another year of development would put them over the top. But they went out and got Vince Carter which gives them a proven offensive player to play alongside Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard. If Turkoglu comes back, this team will be very good. 
• Maric Jaric - I don't know how he does it, but he has the #1 pick in the Hot NBA Wives and Girlfriends draft from The Big Lead
• Antonio Piece and Shaun O'Hara - Both made ESPN's list of most underrated players of the past decade.
• Mariano Rivera - Many said he was done. When he wasn't they said he was on PEDs. So this is what he said in Sunday Conversation (via Peter Abraham):

On PEDs: “The reason why I’m laughing is because I don’t even drink coffee. And if I don’t drink coffee, I would never put in my mind or think to put that in my body. If the talent that God has given me is not enough, well, I’ll have to quit. When I leave this game I know deep in my mind, deep in my heart that I was clean.”

And those who disappointed:

• Marlon Byrd - Working with Victor Conte to provide you "supplements" and admitting such, as Shysterball reports, is pretty f'ing dumb. Even if it's totally legit, it's really dumb. Like incredibly boneheaded.
• John Smoltz - Baseball Tonight and Ken Rosenthal thinks that this start was good? To me it looks like Chien-Ming Wang.
• Dice-K - Daisuke Matsuzaka isn't exactly living up to that $103 million contract. Rob Neyer calls him "Boston's $103 million man-bust". Oliver Perez and Wang at least had real injuries when they were put on the DL. Dice-K is just looking like another disappointing import from abroad. He had been an OK pitcher in the past, but this year according to Neyer:

This year ... Well, you know about this year.

In retrospect, investing $103 million in a pitcher who'd never pitched against most of the best hitters in the world seems at least a little bit risky, right? Particularly a pitcher who had, by all accounts, thrown an immense number of pitches before reaching physical maturity? Oh, and do you remember when Matsuzaka was held up as a shining example of why young pitchers should not be babied?

• Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte - It's not his fault, but Nady may be done. Marte hasn't pitched in a long time and may not for the rest of the season. And the Yankees have Marte for two more seasons after this one. That trade is looking worse and worse by the day. They should have insisted on Jason Bay.
• Sammy Sosa - First came the failed steroids test last week and now this week CNBC's Darren Rovell is reporting that former slugger Sammy Sosa actually altered his jersey to make his arms look bigger. Between the corked bat, this revelation about the sleeves, Sosa's walking out on the Cubs, and the PED use, it is shown that was always about Sammy and his image. Sad downfall for a guy who was so beloved in 1998.
• Andy Pettitte - According to Play Index, there are only three lefties in Major League history who have won 190 games and have a better winning percentage than Pettitte's .631: Whitey Ford, Lefty Grove, and Randy Johnson. That's better than Tom Glavine, Warren Spahn, or Steve Carlton. But after failing down the stretch last year, Pettitte is looking like he may be finished. Some of his problems at home I can understand, but he had an 8-1 lead yesterday and couldn't get out of the 4th inning. Some of that had to do with bad defense, but he was pretty brutal also. The Yankees need him to get back to pitching well, though you have to wonder whether this it for Andy being Dandy. Remember when he thought he was worth $16 million?
• Matt Holliday - This guy may be close to untradeable according to MLBTradeRumors: who is going to pay $13.5 million to take on a guy who is only hitting .197 in his last 17 games, with an OPS under .600 (his second big slump of the season)? And, moreover, who would give up any type of prospects for this guy? This move and the ditching of the movie makes this a bad month for Moneyball and Billy Beane.
• Minnesota Timberwolves - Nice job moving up in the draft and getting Ricky Rubio, but how many point guards does one team need? There has to be another trade coming? Right? And then what was the point of trading up in the first place?
• Florian Busch - ESPN reports about this German hockey player who was banned for two years for refusing to take a drug test for a few hours while he was chilling with his girlfriend. That's rough. But after this quote, you wonder what he was doing during the doping test: Germany coach Uwe Krupp said Busch was sharing "a private moment" with his girlfriend when the testing team arrived.

Ejecting The Organist

Love running through Baseball-Reference's "On This Date In Baseball History". Here's an awesome nugget for today:

• 1985 - In Clearwater (Florida State League), after a disputed call at first base, Phillies organist Wilbur Snapp is ejected by the first base umpire for playing "Three Blind Mice" following a close call against Clearwater.

Ejecting the organist? Amazing! It reminds me of this story from the New York Times obituary of Eddie Layton, the longtime Yankees' organist (though the best quote may have been Layton saying, ''I thought that a sacrifice fly had something to do with killing an insect''):

Layton was not supposed to play during the baseball action, but he told National Public Radio how once ''I just got lost in the moment'' with the Yankees' Reggie Jackson at bat.

''I kept playing and playing and playing and playing,'' he remembered. ''And Reggie looked up at the booth, and the umpires looked up at the booth. Reggie threw down the bat and he started dancing at home plate.''

I would have loved to see that one. Great moments in Baseball Organist History.

A Few Sports Thoughts Before Bed

-Derek Jeter just turned 35. I feel old. I was in 5th grade when he made his major league debut. Happy birthday to the Captain. No active player has earned more rings or had more beautiful women than Jetes has had.

-Jorge Posada's wife is hot (another picture on the right)! Nice job, Jorgie! You really juiced that one!

-Our poll is now closed. 60% wanted Chien-Ming Wang in the starting rotation, 30% wanted him out and 10% said one more start. The only good news for him is that Citi Field is cavernous.

-Jeff Bennett = Kevin Brown.
-Geovany Soto = Michael Phelps

-I'm sorry I didn't mention the U.S. Soccer win over Spain earlier, but the truth is that I don't care that much about soccer. It's never really caught on in my life. I watched the World Cup once when my family first got High Definition television and saw the infamous headbutt. After that, I haven't cared much at all. But, regardless, this win was awesome. The New York Times declares it "Miracle On Grass".

-On the Knicks roster: Darko Milicic, Jordan Hill and Toney Douglas
-Not on the Knicks roster: Quentin Richardson, Stephen Curry and Ricky Rubio
-Not happy with the Knicks draftday: Knicks fans (I, personally, don't care. It's all about next summer)

-I knew Juan Pierre wasn't that good. From Fangraphs:

April 8 - May 28: 133 PA, .407/.470/.542 May 29 - June 24: 107 PA, .232/.276/.283

Joe Torre and the Dodgers should be glad Manny is coming back soon.

-Which MJ was greater in the '80s and '90s? Michael Jackson or Michael Jordan? And who had the weirder career move: Jordan to baseball or Jackson to Lisa-Marie?

That Was More Painful Than It Needed To Be

The first four in the Yankees lineup saw 98 pitches. The position player who saw the least pitches? Nick Swisher who leads the Yankees and is second in the American League. A-Rod has 3 hits, 4 RBIs and a home run. Derek Jeter got on base 6 times. Even Cody Ransom had 2 runs, 2 hits and 2 RBIs. The Yankees were up 8-1.

So of course they needed to empty out the bullpen before bringing in Mariano Rivera to save it.

The offense was good. The pitching...not so much. Andy Pettitte was awful and now has only three quality starts in his last 11 starts. And while Alfredo Aceves and Phil Coke were very good, David Robertson needed to be bailed out by Mo in the end (of course, after I praised Robertson today).

A win is a win. But it was painful at times. A lot more than it needed to be.

And some bad news after the game from Mark Feinsand from the New York Daily News via Twitter: @BloggingBombers Nady pulled himself from Triple-A game after five innings. Doesn't sound good. Cashman said it could be the "worst-case scenario"

RIP Michael & Farrah

The world lost two icons today - thought we should take a moment to acknowledge them both.
We hope the media lets both families grieve in peace

First - A Little Thriller:



And the Classic Ms. Fawcett:

Braves Fans Stating the Obvious

Check out the top left corner of the picture. The Braves fans wanted to make sure the whole world knew that Alex Rodriguez cheats and so they taped it to the stairs so it would be on TV (it has since been taken down).

But we already knew he cheated on his wife so I don't know why this is anything new...maybe he's cheated on Kate Hudson and she sent an operative to post the sign.



Ohhhh.....they mean he takes steroids? I get it!

Well I guess that it's working as he's having a big game along with the rest of the Yankees offense. This offensive outburst is what the Yankees desperately needed. Now they can come back for the Subway Series Part Deux and feel comfortable about their offense.

Well, until they try to hit homeruns in Citi Field...