Rain Delay Blues

The Yanks just took the field after a long rain delay…well every rain delay seems like a long time. The Yanks blew a 8-4 lead and now have to exhaust their bullpen and also play on a wet field. I can smell disaster. But then again it wouldn’t be the Yankees if they didn’t make it interesting.

Once again the Yankees are blacked out because they are playing in Baltimore. If someone can find the reason for this, it would be greatly appreciated if you can pass it along, because I intend to do something about it. Last night the Yankees wasted ANOTHER great outing by Rasner. Well…Hawkins did. Our bats were silent again. Hot and cold, heck I would settled for lukewarm right now. Speaking of Hawkins, the Yanks just took the lead and Hawkins has come in to close the game. There goes another lead. And it starts, the first batter singled.

It’s funny had we won some games in a row and yet we were still not able to crack the .500 mark. The Sox have been struggling of late which is great since the Yanks will probably have to try and catch them in order to win the division. Yep, the Orioles tied it up and now have the winning run on 3rd. I am sure that I wasn’t the only one that saw that coming. Hawkins is just mediocre right now.  Did I say close the game?  I meant Hawkins is going to lose the game and that is what he just did.

I am gonna look on the bright side, my team’s season starts tomorrow, let’s hope they play better ball.

Late Inning Comeback Keeps Streak Going

Soft tossing Washburn kept the Yankee bats silent for most of the game.  And then their bullpen came in.  The Yankees got a few lucky breaks, but in the end prevailed 6-5.  A wild throw by the pitcher and a sac fly essentially got the Yankees back in the game in the eigth inning.  Molina had the game winning double off usually reliable Putz that Suzuki could have clearly had.  I think Ichiro lost the ball briefly and it was able to fall in the gap.

Yet again, Matsui sits against a lefty…but Giambi and Damon were in?  I would really like to know their numbers against lefties in their careers.  Let’s find out…

.293 Matsui, .286 Damon, .270 Giambi.  I rest my case.  Girardi needs to stop screwing around with the lineup.

Ramirez was ok again as he walked two and struck out two.  He still sports a 0 ERA.  Can you say Joba of 2008.  I heard he learned a new pitch…a cutter from Rivera maybe?  Rivera came in and was lights out like usual.  Lefties just can’t hit him.  He needs to teach his cutter to every pitcher in the Yankees organization.

Wang didn’t look extremely impressive, which is surprising after his extra day of rest.  His velocity was down but that radar gun could have been off.  At least he was able to get his 6+ innings in as usual.  I guess he did a decent job then.

Well, this was the first game that I have watched in what seems to be over a week.   We are now  at .500 game and need to keep the winning streak alive.   I have working a lot of late and I didn’t realize that they won five games in a row.  That’s more like it.  We also took a page out of the Red Sox book and came back to win the game today.  Nice.

I Stop, We Win

I took a little hiatus for a while and we end up on a winning streak. Of course the game wasn’t on again due to the Saturday afternoon game. That is probably 4-5 games in a row now. Worst $160 ever spent. I am not the most superstitious person but hell, I might have to continue this process if the Yankees continue winning.

The Yankees had five players who had multi-hits today. Now why couldn’t we do this before? It’s nice to see our offense get going, especially the likes of Cano and Giambi.  This could be the start of good things to come. Rasner has been the Aaron Small of the 2008 except that Rasner is a lot better.  ARod had returned and picked off where he left off for the most part.  Joba is getting stretched out so that he can join the rotation soon.  Farnsworth has been crap of late, but that is the least of my worries.

I was surprised to see Girardi get kicked out the other night as he was quite mild mannered throughout the season so far.   Maybe he sparked something and the Yankees are playing like they are capable of playing.  He certainly had a case and it was sure animated.

Anyway, I am pretty happy as the Red Sox lost today, so the Yanks picked up a game.  Also, I will finally get the chance to watch a game tomorrow.

Deprived

So the Yanks are on a two game win streak…games of course I could not view thanks to the blackouts in Baltimore.  Not a happy camper.  More about Girardi’s ejection later.

Brawl Spoils ARod’s Return

Thank goodness the game was blacked out again because I might have pulled out my hair if I was watching.  And I don’t have a lot of hair to spare now a days.  The Yankees lost 12-2 and only gave up four earned runs.  The majority of the unearned runs were scored in the first inning due to Jeter’s error.  I really can’t fault Mussina for that, although they got on base some how. 

Jeter got hit on the wrist by surprisingly dominating Cabrera, but he is not known for his control.  The Yankees retaliated by throwing at Scott’s head.  Of course Hawkins couldn’t hit him in two pitches.  But you never like to see a guy get hurt.  The benches cleared but nothing came of it.  Hawkins and GIrardi will probably get suspended.  I like the Yankees sticking up for some of their players, but this is no time to be screwing around anymore.  WIth each passing day, we are losing ground in the AL East race.  And the Sox don’t seem to be stopping any time soon.   

The brawl and the Yankees losing overshadowed ARod’s return to the lineup.  He did hit a HR, but it’s all a moot point.  Horrible effort and just a horrible day.  There is no sign of the Yankees turning anything around.  At least the X-Rays were negative on Jeter’s wrist.  That’s the last thing we would need.    

Instant Replay, Yay or Nay?

During the game yesterday, Carlos Delgado hit a HR that just made it over the left field wall and glanced off the foul pole. The HR was ultimately reversed and the Yankees caught a break. Well, the Yankees couldn’t make anything of that gift, but what really concerns me is all the instant replay talk. Of course today, the media is making a big deal about installing instant replay at all the ballparks so that close calls can be identified correctly and reversed if need be.

First of all, I don’t think the owners will vote in favor of having instant replay. If they don’t want it, then simply there will be no instant replay.

Baseball has probably been the least changed sport in the world. That’s what so great about this game, it is the National Pastime after all. Bad calls and baseball go together like hot dogs at ballparks. It is accepted that each umpire has a different strike zone and so forth. Hitters have to adjust and so do pitchers. That’s what makes great hitters and great pitchers. If you think about it, when has there been a rule change that ultimately can effect the outcome of a baseball game? I believe the last few major changes to baseball have to be the inclusion of the DH in the American League and the winner of the All Star Game gets home field advantage in the World Series. And to be honest, I have mixed feelings about both of them.

An average baseball game is already three hours long. Any longer and a baseball game would be as long as a college football game (I don’t know how you people do it…kudos). I can’t imagine that instant replay would come into play in more than 25% of the games. Maybe 10-15% (that’s generous) But that’s not the point. The point is that baseball would lose it’s integrity and room for human error. Why change it if it ain’t broke? 10-15% does not validate a rule change in baseball. The game of baseball is bigger than it’s players, owners, and management. If there is a change, then the game has taken a back seat to them and the fans will be viewed as less important.

I have noticed that baseball is trying to be somewhat different and innovative, to attract more fans, like other leagues are effectively doing. Creating new drug testing programs and building new ballparks. That’s great and I’m all for it. Baseball has never been bigger. They don’t need to worry about those fans they lost during the 1994 strike. They don’t need to worry about who was on steroids 10 years ago. They have moved on from the Steroids ERA for the most part. I don’t care about that (now I am getting off topic and may be talking gibberish). Heck, even the Red Sox have won 2…(I’ll stop there, thank you). Baseball is in great shape and there is no need for instant replay. I am not really worried about it, if it does happen, I will be long gone.

*In case you missed it and are interested, please view last post: How to fix the Yankees

How I Would Fix the Yankees

Nobody asked me, but then again that is what blogging is all about. So let’s jump right into it. Let’s start with the lineup and see if we can come up with something better, because whatever Joe #2 throws out there is clearly not working.

Jeter ss He sure is swinging at more pitches of late, which is not ideal for a leadoff hitter…but you can’t go wrong, heck he used to be one! He may be approaching mid 30’s but he can still is a good-plus runner.

Abreu rf An OBP machine and rarely quits at the plate. A deceivingly fast runner and makes contact most of the time. What happened to the cannon arm? It might be buried under the new Yankee Stadium.

Rodriguez 3b Jeter and Abreu should set ARod up nicely and the big man can bring him in.

Matsui 1b When ARod does fail, nobody is better at driving in runs than Matsui, especially in a key situation. I might have a Matsui crush. He has to be better than Giambi at first, right? Matsui wouldn’t let me down.

Giambi DH Let’s face it Yankee fans, he is going to play if he is able to. I don’t like him either, but I had to put him somewhere. He still has a keen eye at the plate, but anybody who has more HR than singles is just not getting the job done. And for someone with a good eye, why is he hovering the Mendoza line? It kills me to put him anywhere in the lineup. Enough with the, ” I hit better as a first baseman crap” and just hit at either position, DH or 1B… I really don’t care.

Cano 2b Where have you gone Cano? Well, he is known for his late starts. It just might happen that the season might be over and done with when he finally finds his stroke! Don’t like the three lefties in a row, but Matsui usually hits left handed pitching, so he doesn’t count. Sui, dump that broad.

Cabrera cf I like the fact that he is a switch hitter. I like the fact that he hustles and throws some runners out. What I don’t like is his inconsistency at the plate. He hasn’t been overly impressive, but he has done more than I anticipated. I expect a decline in the near future…oh wait it’s already here. He is not the future center fielder of the New York Yankees. The soon as everyone realizes that, the sooner Brett Gardner can play (oh, he isn’t the future either…but he can steal bases in bunches and makes things happen). We really need a guy like that, especially with a dormant lineup.

Molina c He just might be the worst hitter on the team. He couldn’t miss a pitch if he wanted to in the beginning in the season. I guess that was before he knew Posada was going to be out an extended period of time. This is equivalent of a NL pitcher batting in the eight spot. I still haven’t fully realized the strategy behind that. Why all of sudden NL managers are doing that now and not two years ago? I would start Molina when Petitte, Wang, and Mussina pitch. When Rasner and Kennedy pitch, I would play Moeller. To be honest it really doesn’t matter who bats, they both can’t hit a beach ball wrapped in neon tape and placed on a tee. Let’s trade for Sal Fasano again. Pavano for Fasano straight up.

Damon lf Damon could get on base if need be. He also can hit one out and pitchers know this. He protects Molina and Jeter protects him. Most likely, a leadoff hitter only leads off the game once. This gives the Yanks some pop at the bottom of the order. It’s definitely not a automatic out.

A healthy lineup should look like this:

Jeter, Abreu, Rodriguez, Matsui, Posada, Giambi, Cano, Cabrera, Damon.

Now on to the rotation:

Wang For heaven’s sake, keep the ball down, but over the plate once in a while. Your the ace, act like one.

Rasner That’s a funny face you just made while reading that name. Read and weep, baby. He throws strikes and is able to nibble or attack the strike zone. Believe it or not, but he was a second round pick in 2002.

Mussina He has been pitching his tail off…if he had a tail. He will not shut the offense down completely, but he will keep our team in the game for the most part. That is where our “1000″ run offense comes into play. That might be asking for a lot right now. At least Mussina keeps hitters off balance and he is learning to pitch despite over-powering stuff. Greg Madduxesque.

Pettitte Can you say Clemens? He comes back to the Yanks and he stinks. He is demoted to the fourth spot in the rotation. He has to beat our opponent’s fourth best pitcher, right? The only thing he is good for right now is innings. But when he does come out, we are down by four or five runs. Why all of a sudden do runners run all over him like the road runner? Fix that mechanical flaw.

Kennedy Suck it up and stop your crying and pitch like you are capable of pitching. Take notes from Cliff Lee. He doesn’t have nasty stuff, but he hits his spots and keeps hitters off balance. He will take his lumps and that maybe what the doctor ordered. If it gets out of control the Yanks might have to look in house solutions for the time being.

I am not going to go through the hole bullpen, as I would imagine it is going to stay the same regardless of how they do. Although we might see a minor leaguer here and there along the way. Instead, I will give Girardi a couple of notes:

Do not use Ohlendorf in a tie, one run, two run, and three run game. He is strictly a long man right now and is only there to take the load off sometimes. Keep Hawkins in the sixth and seventh innings and don’t pitch him at home. That might be tough, but his ERA at the stadium justifies the move. Please use Veras more. Only use Joba in key situations so that he used to the constant pressure. He has been through it all, but keep it coming, it can only be good for him. Farnsworth should only be in the game if the Yanks want to retaliate.

I would try and bunt more if I was Girardi. Every MAJOR LEAGUE hitter should be able to bunt. Giambi should bunt every at bat with the shift on. LESTER JUST NO-HIT THE ROYALS…BIG DEAL, IT’S THE ROYALS. ANOTHER ANIBAL SANCHEZ. OK, I MIGHT BE A LITTLE INSENSITIVE. JUST WHEN THINGS COULDN’T GET ANY WORSE. GREAT STORY AND GREAT ACHIEVEMENT. (130 pitches, wow) But I do hope he loses every game the rest of the season. Back to what I was saying…Bunting helps move runners into scoring position…what’s wrong with that. How about a squeeze sometimes too? If perfected (goes back to bunting a baseball, something we learn in little league) it is flawless.

It just boggles the mind that a $200+ team could be under .500. It is just unacceptable and Hank has every right to shoot his mouth off. And the media has every right to ask all the same questions. The good thing is that we were in worse position last year and we have 3/4 of the season to turn it around. WHAT ABOUT THAT JOSH HAMILTON, HUH?

I think that the Yankees should call up a starter from the minors for the fifth spot in the rotation. He can’t be any worse than Kennedy right now. And if that doesn’t work, call up another one and so forth. They can’t all struggle. Hitters don’t like to see new pitchers. And when Kennedy make hitters look stupid for about a month in the minors, then he should get called up.

Teams just don’t fear us anymore like they used to. They come right after us, which is one of the reasons why our walks are severely down. We need to work the pitchers like in the good ole’ days and then take it out on their bullpen. We need to stop swinging at first pitch strikes and also need to stop letting strike two go by. We are at a disadvantage if two strikes are on the hitter…so why do we do it? I can understand a knee-buckler, but watching a fastball go by…unacceptable. Matsui is to blame too.

Sorry for the long post as it must be painful to read the whole damn thing. Heck, I am not even going to proofread it. I just think I needed to talk about some issues and maybe just vent for a while. The funny thing is that I didn’t even touch on half the things that should be fixed. I know I got more in that noggin of mine, but I think I’m drained for the night. So have any thoughts, agree or disagree?

Santana Beats Yanks But Not Impressive…yet still enough

MLB Extra Innings Package did not carry the Yankees today, as is the case on most Saturdays. Booo! Maybe it was a good thing, because I can imagine the Yankee fans doing a role call for Johan Santana. I was watching the gameday on my computer, but I could only do that for so long. Fast-foward a couple hours later and the Yankees were down 6-2. The final score was 7-4. My first glance at the box score, Santana didn’t dominate like he should have and Pettitte must have pitched a decent ball game.

Hang on the highlights are now on ESPN….

Damon was safe…Pettitte should have picked up the ball…Jeter needs to slide to the bag…Giambi wearing a thong to break out of his slump? How come Gonzalez (prolly the best fielder on the Yanks), can’t catch a pop up. I can’t believe Delgado and Giambi had two hits.

It really comes down to the fact that we just are not manufacturing runs. I don’t care if Santana is on the mound. It’s nice to see that we hit three HR, but we only had four runs. Something is wrong here. Things could be worse I guess, the whole team could be hurt and our AAA lineup would play…wait they might actually score more than two runs.

The rainout didn’t help us as we thought it would. We were able to skip Rasner and allow a big game pitcher to pitch. It just didn’t work out. Well at least the game will be on TV tomorrow night.

I wonder what Hank will say after he watched Santana beat his Yanks?

Who Looks Stupid Now?

Well, that winning streak didn’t last very long.  Like I said before, I expected that this would be a tough game for the Yanks and that their bats would probably get silenced yet again.  It sure was and they sure did. 

After one start in the minors, Ian Kennedy might as well proclaimed himself the next Nolan Ryan.  I think he needed at least 4-5 starts in the minors before the Yanks even consdered bringing him back up.  Confidence goes a long way, but one game…seriously?  That was soon shattered by Iwamura and his leadoff HR.  Later in the the game, the Rays backup catcher put the nail in the coffin with a HR of his own.     

Why is Matsui not playing?  He clearly is the best hitter the Yanks have at the current time and as far as I am concerned, he can hit left handed pitching.  He NEEDS to be in the lineup.  That is not an acceptable move by Joe #2.  Also, why isn’t Hawkins being used more?  I would rather have him in the 7-8th inning than Ohlendorf.  The Yanks pay him to pitch those innings and he can get the job done more times than not (I can’t believe I just said that).  Maybe I am still amazed by his inning yesterday (struck out side). 

Now we have the Mets, they are playing some bad baseball as well.  That might be just what the doctor ordered.  But we do face the pitcher that should have been in pinstripes…Santana, Perez, and Maine.  I am not very confident in this series, but it will fun to watch.   

Hank’s Man Mussina, Gets Job Done

Well I better blog before this afternoon’s game.  The Yankees were only able to muster two runs last night and to be honest I expected less.  Mussina threw a gem and the Yankees were able to get just enough hits.  I hope Cano was able to get out of his slump with his four hits. 

ARod and Posada really need to get back soon because Ensberg, Molina, Moeller, and Gonzalez are just not cutting it.  That is probably at least two automatic outs in our lineup.  And like Michael Kay stated, having them combined with Cano and Giambi who are also not hitting, makes four automatic outs in the lineup.  That is not acceptable.

I am glad the Yankees played a fairly decent game yesterday.  Maybe they were paying attention to Hankenstein.   Next up, Kazmir…I expect more of the same.