May 17th vs. The Mets

Another loss for the record. And, yes, it came to the Mets. But, you know what was most distressing about this one for me today?

It was a beautiful day for a baseball game. The weather was just perfect. And, the YES broadcast offered some wonderful shots in their early coverage - via both remote cameras in the stands and from the blimp, up above. There was some awesome footage from the blimp of the two stadiums, side-by-side. And, you got some great location views showing you different angles of the park and fan views, etc. About half-way through the game…which I was taping as I knew I would miss the end of the game because we were going to see Iron Man (it was O.K. for me - not as great as some claimed it to be)…anyway, about half-way through the game I was thinking “I’m going to have to burn this one to a DVD when it’s done. It’s a perfect visual to store for years to come because of weather, it’s Yankees-Mets, you get the footage of the soon to be old stadium and the construction site of the new one…there’s no better video capsule of what’s happening right now in the last season of Yankee Stadium…”

But, because of the final score in this one, the whole thing is wasted. There’s no way I want to see this game again - ever. If I burn this one, it will be in a fire and not to a DVD.

Andy Pettitte did his job today - six and three. Sure, he had that funky fourth inning - but, there were some things there that were, indeed, just plain unlucky. And, through six, we had ourselves a ballgame - with the score just 3-2 (in favor of the Mets).

But, then, along came Farnsworth. And, that was basically the game. Once Kyle allowed those three runs in the seventh, the way the Yankees hit (or I should say “don’t”?) with runners in scoring position, it was ‘turn out the lights’ time. Funny, in the YES post-game, Cone, Kay and Leiter said Farnsworth got burned on cutters. But, in his press conference after the game, Joe Girardi said the long-balls from Kyle came on sliders. Maybe we can just spilt the difference and call them “meatballs”?

Great time for Farnsie to have a reverse Mel Rojas moment. It would have been nice to see how this game would have worked out if the score had still been close through seven. Heck, it might have still, then, been DVD worthy.

May 17, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | Leave a Comment

Giving The Mets The Ol’ One-Two

In my opinion, these are the five best regular season games that a Yankees starting pitcher has ever thrown against the Mets:

1. Andy Pettitte - June 30, 2002
2. David Cone - June 18, 1997
3. Chien-Ming Wang - June 17, 2007
4. Roger Clemens - June 28, 2003
5. David Wells - June 17, 1997

The Wells and Cone games were back-to-back starts in 1997. Wouldn’t it be nice if Pettitte and Wang could go back-to-back with stellar starts over the next two days?

I think that Wang is up for the challenge. Andy? Well, we will see in a few hours…stay tuned.

May 17, 2008 | Filed Under Rivalry Snapshots, Yankees History | Leave a Comment

Pettitte Vs. Santana…And The Yanks Kid Pitchers

Did you know that…the only time Andy Pettitte and Johan Santana pitched in the same game - prior to today - was July 30, 2000? That was Santana’s rookie season - when he worked mostly out of the pen…and hardly in a game that counted.

Santana pitched in 30 games for the Twins in 2000. And, their record in games where Johan appeared was 2-28. Yes, the team record in those games was two and twenty-eight.

Santana was 21-years old at the time. Smart move by the Twins - breaking in a kid pitcher by not throwing him out on the front-line where he could be eaten by wolves. That’s how it was done in the old days. I remember the O’s using Scott McGregor out of their pen in 1977 before moving him to the rotation the next year. Ditto the Jays with Jimmy Key - he worked out of the pen in 1984 before becoming a starter in 1985. And, the Angels did it with Chuck Finley - as he worked in the pen from 1986-87.

In fact, Earl Weaver’s Eighth Law was: The best place for a rookie pitcher is in long relief.

Makes you wonder if the Yankees were really doing the right thing by throwing Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy in the starting rotation this season…

May 17, 2008 | Filed Under Trap Door Items | 7 Comments

NHL Game At Stadium Dead?

Via Newsday -

The idea of the Rangers closing down Yankee Stadium in November with an outdoor NHL game isn’t dead, but it isn’t as likely as it once was.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, in a conference call with reporters this week, cited “a variety of issues” with the proposed game at Yankee Stadium, among them the ongoing construction of the new Yankee Stadium and what Bettman called “winterization issues.” Those refer to old pipes that traditionally have gone unused after the end of the baseball season and might not support a sellout crowd for a hockey game in November.

“There are some winterization issues, because it is an older stadium,” Bettman said. “As I sit here today, I don’t know whether or not they can be resolved.”

A Yankees spokesman did not return messages on the subject. The Rangers also had no comment.

Well, I suppose this is better than saying the game was on, having 50,000 hockey fans show up, and then tell them 5 minutes before the start of the contest that the game was being called because of the weather.

May 17, 2008 | Filed Under Yankee Stadium | 2 Comments

A Story Werth Telling?

Jayson Werth had a big game for the Phillies tonight: Three big flies and eight ribbies. Why is this news in Yankeeland? Well, it’s not. But, it’s a good excuse to tell a story.

Jayson Werth is the son of Kim Schofield and a former NCAA football star. Kim is also the sister of Dick Schofield - who played a lot of shortstop for the Angels back in the 1980’s. She later married Dennis Werth, the former Yankee, who became Jayson’s step-dad.

Whenever I hear Jayson Werth’s name, I think back to something sorta-cruel that I did around 1980 or 1981. (I think it was 1980, but, I’m not 100% sure.) Back then, I used to have a Yankees road jersey - just like the players wear on the field. You know it - gray with “New York” across the chest (but with no number on the back). Those days, it was a rare thing to own - and, to be honest, I think I had to special order it (or something) to get it.

Back in the day, I would wear ‘the roadie’ to the Stadium when going to games. I would also wear one of those plastic Yankees batting helmets - without the ear flaps, like Bobby Meacham and Tony Pena wear now on the field, and, like Tim Raines wore when playing in New York. In the late ’70’s, it was not uncommon for fans to wear those to the park. (But, you never see them now.)

So, that one day in 1980 or 1981, I’m going to a game and I get there way early - before the Stadium even opens. (I was meeting some friends to go see the game and they were not there yet.) Basically, I’m just walking around the outside of the Stadium, by myself, killing time, and there’s just about no one there.

Suddenly, a few small kids - about three of four of them - come up to me and I guess they were confused by seeing me wearing the road jersey and the batting helmet. They ask me if I play for the Yankees.

Now, keep in mind, I was 18-years old at the time and a bit of a smart-ass. So, I tell them “Yes, I’m Dennis Werth” - knowing that he’s on the team and there’s no way these kids would know what he looked like or whether I was telling the truth.

After I told them that, they got excited and started asking me for my autograph. That line, well, I could not cross. So, I ‘fessed up and told them that I was only kidding around. Know what? They wouldn’t believe me and thought I was trying to get out of signing for them. In the end, I had to ’shoo’ them away - and I made sure that I got out of there too.

I really meant no harm at the time. I was just goofing around. Like I said, I was eighteen then - and a bit of a loon.

It’s a story that I really didn’t think much about from the time I graduated college (1985) until 1997. I just filed it away with the rest of my ‘toys in the attic.’ When I started reading about Jayson Werth, in ‘97, in Baseball America - since he was a 1st round draft pick that year by the Orioles - the memory came out of storage. Seeing the name “Werth” reminded me of my brief imposter moment. Still does…like when I saw it tonight in the news.

Consider this your WasWatching.com “Good Night” story for today. See you in the morning. Sleep tight. Sweet dreams. And, don’t let the bed bugs bite.

May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Trap Door Items | 1 Comment

Rainout Theater

My condolences to the fifty-something-thousand who dragged themselves up to the Bronx tonight, in the rain, only to find out 2 minutes before game-time that the game was being called. Shame on the Yankees for making everyone jump through hoops (like paying for parking, etc.) only to pull the plug at the last minute - when anyone could have told you that today’s weather was not baseball-friendly.

Me? I’m dipping into the DVD collection and am going to treat myself to my own personal “Rainout Theater.” Scanning my options, “The Warriors” caught my attention. Yeah, it will be 30-years old next year; but, it’s still a fun movie for me. A few years ago, there was some talk that Tony Scott was going to do a remake of it. But, I think that’s now in limbo.

What about you? What will you be watching tonight in place of the Subway Series?

May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Rivalry Snapshots | 8 Comments

Now The Mets Are Quoting Hank

Via the Journal News:

These up-and-down Mets are just 20-19. Yes, they’ve been without Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez. But they are underachieving royally again, and they know it.

“The effort is there,” Billy Wagner said. “We’re just not earning our money, as Hank (Steinbrenner) likes to say.

“You look in here at the talent and the track records of all of our guys. You’re going to lose some tough games to some teams you shouldn’t. But it shouldn’t be as many as we continuously do.”

And then Wagner started to get annoyed. Here’s the cleaned-up-for-kids version:

“Will somebody tell me why the closer is being interviewed and I didn’t even play, and they’re over there not getting interviewed?” Wagner said, looking across the clubhouse in the general direction of where the two Carloses’ lockers are located. “I got it. They’re gone.”

Hey, you gotta love it, right?

May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Rivalry Snapshots | 6 Comments

Heyman: Cash On Thin Ice With Hank

Via Jon Heyman of SI.com -

According to a person familiar with what’s going on in the upper reaches of the New York Yankees’ hierarchy, new boss Hank Steinbrenner currently “blames Brian Cashman for everything.”

And, the way things are going right now, that’s a lot of things.

Cashman said he “wouldn’t comment on our internal discussions,” but said nothing to suggest Hank is anything but dissatisfied with what’s going on so far.

“I’m OK with everything,” Cashman told SI.com. “The Steinbrenners are custodians of the greatest franchise in sports history. When things don’t go well, there’s an uncomfortableness. And it’s my job is to deal with it.”

But Hank’s most pointed behind-the-scenes complaints are directed toward the big pitching decisions, and specifically the fact that Cashman — with the backing of practically all the Yankees baseball people — successfully argued to keep Hughes and Kennedy rather than trade them for Johan Santana, who pitches tonight for the New York Mets in the opener of a Subway Series that features the two struggling big-market teams. The Yankees are 20-22 and in last place while the Mets aren’t much better at 20-19.

Of Hank and the Santana deal, one Yankees insider said: “He won’t give up on that one.”

May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Off The Field News | 15 Comments

The Drew Lachey Of Yankeeland Speaks

Yesterday, Kat O’Brien decided to work the other side of the Brothers Stein. Here’s some quotes from Prince Hal via Newsday:

[Hal] Steinbrenner said of his team: “I’ve been discouraged at times. We knew with the young pitching that we might go through some growing pains. We knew we would have to be patient there. What’s more disappointing to me is the hitting. The hitting and the injuries, which are nobody’s fault. You can’t win many games if you only score one or two runs.”

“It’s certainly discouraging at times,” Steinbrenner said, “but we’ve got a great team and I believe we’ll be fine. We just need to get a little lucky with the injuries and start hitting again.”

With Rodriguez and Posada still out, Steinbrenner said: “The other guys need to step up.”

“We need to just stay in the hunt,” he said of surviving the injury bug. ” … I absolutely feel we have a great team. I believe we have as good a chance as anybody this year.”

Here’s the thing with continuing to play the injury card…what happens, if, when A-Rod and Posada return, the Yankees continue to play poorly? Let’s not forget that A-Rod was 3 for 23 with RISP before he went on the D.L. And, Posada will have to shake off a month’s worth of rust when he comes back - at the least. It’s not like, when Alex and Jorge come back, all of a sudden the fog will lift like magic and the Yankees will start mashing the ball.

Sure, A-Rod and Posada will be much better than Ensberg and Molina. But, will that still be enough to make up for the other Yankees hitters who are under-performing?

May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Trap Door Items | 1 Comment

Ian Kennedy’s Start Yesterday

Via the Times:

“This is not the Ian Kennedy that we all saw last year, and we need to find a way to get him back there,” said Manager Joe Girardi. “When he made a mistake it was a bad mistake and they didn’t miss. Sometimes those are singles. Today they were homers and doubles.”

“I felt like I had the right mind-set and I was attacking guys, but they’re a very good team,” Kennedy said. “Mentally, I think I’m going in the right direction.”

Know what bothered me the most about Kennedy yesterday? His mound presence.

When Ian hit Ben Zobrist with that pitch in the third, Kennedy had a reaction like “Oh, I give up. Here we go again. Woe is me.” It was like someone sucked the air out of his body. Next, he walked Akinori Iwamura and it got worse. Dave Eiland saw it too - and quickly went out to the mound. Granted, Ian worked out of that jam as best that he could - but, the message was clear…he’s somewhat shell-shocked on the mound. For a guy who needs to be confident in his pitches, as he doesn’t have off-the-charts stuff, that’s never a good thing.

Last season, Kennedy (when he came up) attacked hitters - much like Matt Garza did to the Yankees the other night…doing it with a look on his mug that said “OK, go ahead, try and hit this!”

Yesterday’s start tells me that Ian Kennedy still has the same problem that he had before he went to the minors to figure it out. And, the issue is in his head. He doesn’t trust his stuff and has become fearful of big league hitters. Somehow, the Yankees need to figure out a way to get him back to where he was last year. If it means giving his phone number to Jim Fannin, at this point, could it hurt?

May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Possible Bad News | 5 Comments

Giambi - Now & Later

Franz Lidz looks at Jason Giambi at Portfolio.com. (Not a BALCO mention to be seen.) Hat tip to BaseballThinkFactory.org. Two snips:

“I’m a year older than Mickey Mantle was in his final game,” [Giambi] says. “My teammates used to call me the Modern-day Mick because I could play all day and party all night. Now I’m more of a family guy. I drive an Escalade to the ballpark.”

What’s the name of that family, the Sopranos?

Giambi doesn’t plan to hang up his cleats just yet, but he’s not exactly ruing the day he does. “After A-Rod retires, he wants to be a real estate mogul, the next Donald Trump,” Giambi says. “I could care less. As long as I can have a fast boat and a margarita machine and can light my hair on fire, I’ll be just fine.”

I’ve never played in one, but, I’ve heard about these “Death Pool” games that people play. If I understand it right, you get more points for picking someone who passes at an early age. Based on what we have seen and heard about Giambi, he could be a ’sleeper’ pick in a lot of these pools once he retires. Between the stuff he’s put in his body, the partying, the fast cars, fast boats, and motorcycles, he’s a five-tool player in that game, in some respects.

May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Trap Door Items | Leave a Comment

May 15th @ The Rays

If you wanted to pick one game, and use it to depict the Yankees season to date, this would not be a bad choice.

New York’s kid starting pitcher allows one run for every inning pitched.
Bomber batters, for the most part, fail with runners in scoring position.
Weak and shallow Yankees bench exposed.
Yet, no name relief pitchers do surprisingly well.
The Yankees lose.

Be truthful here - the Yankees, in this set, just missed getting swept in a four game series by the Tampa Bay Rays. In fact, the Yankees are darned lucky that they won last night - via a bloop hit and gift DP liner - or else they would have been spanked in four straight.

At this point, I’m almost hoping that the Mets do something stupid against the Yankees this weekend - like tick them off with some taunting or by hitting some batters…anything - that will maybe give this team a chance to show that they can be sparked to life.

Right now…the Yankees play is just flat-out depressing.

May 15, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | 20 Comments

Hank: I’m Going To Clean Up On 5 Years Of Mistakes

I would be remiss if I didn’t link to the latest Hank Stein quotes via Bill Madden. Here’s the big one for me:

This is what the new “Hammerin’ Hank” had to say to me Wednesday when I reached him in Tampa with the greeting: “How ’bout those Rays!”:

“They’re a great story down here right now,” he said, “although it’s terrible that they’re only drawing only 16,000 a game. They’re playing a lot better than us, that’s for sure. I know we’re gonna come on at some point in this season, but right now, other than (Chien-Ming) Wang, (Mariano) Rivera, (Derek) Jeter, (Hideki) Matsui, (Johnny) Damon and (Mike) Mussina, after I got on him a little, we’re not doing jack (bleep).

“What bothers me is that these guys are all working for me and my brother and they’re all making more money than we are. That’s what makes me mad. But while I’m confident they’ll come around, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens this year. And if they don’t come around then changes will have to be made. I’ve just got to clean up the mistakes of the last five years and make us what we should be.”

Hank has got to be kidding with the “they’re all making more money than we are” line. Please, dude, stop…really.

In any event, what do you think of that last line: “I’ve just got to clean up the mistakes of the last five years and make us what we should be.”

As a Yankees fan, do you agree that the team has made mistakes since 2003? If so, what were those mistakes? Tony Womack? Jeff Weaver? Miguel Cairo? Esteban Loaiza? Enrique Wilson? Kevin Brown? Wil Nieves? Randy Johnson? Bubba Crosby? Jaret Wright? Doug Mientkiewicz? Javier Vazquez?

Heck, they’re all gone already. What’s to clean-up? Kei Igawa? Carl Pavano? Jason Giambi?

Well, agreed, these are current problems. But, the should be done soon too.

Or, is Hank just saying, here, that the last five years have been, somewhat, wasted time in that the Yankees have been getting fooled with the Pavanos, Igawas, Weavers, etc.? And, now, it’s time to stop making bad decisions and time to start making smart ones?

What do you think?

May 15, 2008 | Filed Under Hankie Says | 10 Comments

Booth Envy

Have you heard the story about the Mets TV announcers selling T-Shirts for charity? If not, click here for the details.

In my opinion, this is one area where SNY has a leg up on YES. By going with three primary guys in the booth for most games, you do build something among the team of announcers and with the audience. It’s like the days when Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, and Frank Messer covered the Yankees games on TV. They knew each other, had fun, you got to know them, and you had fun with them as well.

Today, YES has seven guys that they use in the TV booth and you never know, coming into a series, which ones you’ll get - or, how many. Sometimes it’s a two-man booth and sometimes it’s three. Just like a ballclub, it’s hard to build on something when you keep moving the parts around in different combinations, etc.

In any event, it’s cool what the Mets announcers are doing with these shirts. It’s too bad that we can’t see something like this happening on the Yankees side too. And, (no pun intended) yes, as a Yankees fan, it hurts me to have to admit this…

May 15, 2008 | Filed Under Rivalry Snapshots | 8 Comments

May 2008 Survey Question #1

Please consider taking the following poll:

How Important Is It That The Yankees Play Well Against The Mets This Weekend?

Thanks in advance. And, please feel free to add comments on your opinion in the comments section below.

May 15, 2008 | Filed Under Surveys | 4 Comments

Looking Ahead To The Subway Series

Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog and I take a look at what the Yankees and Mets will need to do in order to win the upcoming subway series at Yankee Stadium.

Click here to see what we have to say.

Feel free to comment on our thoughts in the comment section below.

May 15, 2008 | Filed Under Rivalry Snapshots | Leave a Comment

Cashman Responds To Hank

Via Tyler Kepner -

The top baseball operations executive under Hank and Hal Steinbrenner in the Yankees’ hierarchy is General Manager Brian Cashman, whose contract expires after the season. The more the Yankees lose, and the more impatient Hank Steinbrenner becomes, the more speculation Cashman faces on his future.

“Concerning my situation, I am completely focused on getting this team where it needs to be,” Cashman said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “It’s as simple as that, both on the 25-man roster and beyond.”

In an interview published Tuesday, Steinbrenner might have made a cryptic reference to Cashman’s future when he said, “If it’s not turned around this year, then it will be turned around next year, by force if we have to.”

Asked how he interpreted that, Cashman did not answer directly. His response to Steinbrenner’s latest broadside, which included questioning the attitude and energy of the team, was tempered agreement.

“All I know is, I agree that we’re not performing up to our ability for this period of time, and we are better than this,” Cashman said. “Every day we take the field, I believe it’s the day we’re going to be closer to getting back on track. Right now, I believe this is just a bad stretch. We’re a good team playing poorly right now, nothing more.”

Forty games is a “bad stretch”? It seems more like 25% of the season, to me.

So, if the Yankees are still dancing around the .500 mark at the end of May, is it still, then, just a “bad stretch”? At what point, Cash, does a “stretch” become something more than that?

May 14, 2008 | Filed Under Trap Door Items | 10 Comments

May 14th @ The Rays

Derek Jeter, after the game, on YES (with Kim Jones): “We needed this one.”

Gee, Derek, ya’think?

Not exactly a great game for the Yankees fan with onychophagia. Actually, for any Yankees fan, this one was probably as tense as a game in May could be…well, at the least, I was pretty nervous over the outcome of this one.

Mike “Money Drive” Mussina now has an ERA of 2.76 over his last 5 starts…and he deserves a ton of credit (and then some) for the “W” on this one. I am truly amazed at how good Moose was tonight - and has been over the last month or so.

Still, there were some things in this game that tell me the Yankees are not out of the woods yet. Abreu’s bloop double in the 5th and that that liner-DP to Jeter in the 7th were big plays in this contest and could be classified as lucky (in terms of placement). If either one of those doesn’t happen, then the Yankees may not win this game. (And, that Melky throw to third in the 2nd was close too.)

I still want to see how the Yankees show up tomorrow before we can start to think about them turning a corner.

May 14, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | 10 Comments

The 5th Inning Is Killing The Yankees

As of this morning, here’s the Yankees 2008 W-L record break-down based on the score of their game after 5 innings:

When the Yankees lead after five innings: New York is 14-1.
When the Yanks trail or are tied after five innings: New York is 5-20.

Further, here’s the Yankees runs scored (RS) and runs allowed (RA) so far this season by innings:

Inning	RS	RA	DIFF
1	20	16	  4
2	12	12	  0
3	18	35        -17
4	28	22	  6
5	20	34        -14
6	22	20	  2
7	19	14	  5
8	17	16	  1
9	13	 3	 10
10	 0	 0	  0
11	 0	 1	 -1

Pretty interesting huh? As bad as the Yankees offense has been this season, outside of two innings in the game, they’ve been able to match up with their pitcher’s work, somewhat well, this season. And, those two innings are the 3rd and 5th inning.

When you look at all these stats, it shows you that the Yankees bugaboo this season has been games where they’ve fallen behind by the 5th inning - as they do not have the fire power to come back in those games and these situations have become auto-losses for the team.

May 14, 2008 | Filed Under Math Class | 6 Comments

Big Test For Yankees Today

You’ve probably heard Michael Kay tell the story. I know that I’ve heard him say it twice on two different Yankees broadcasts this season. It goes like this…

At the end of April, Kay had Cleveland Indians G.M. Mark Shapiro on his ESPN Radio Show (in NYC). And, Shapiro brought up that Yankees-Tribe game from 2007 where A-Rod won it in the bottom of the 9th with a two-out, three-run, homer off Joe Borowski. It was a killer loss for the Indians - as they had a 4-run lead, in the 9th, with two outs when the Yankees started to rally back.

According to Kay, Shapiro claimed that game was an important point in the Indians season last year - because he wanted to see how the team would bounce back from such a defeat. Reportedly, he realized that they could have tucked tail after that and went into an ugly skid.

But, the next day, the Indians won a close one - with a run in their 9th inning against the (then Devil) Rays - and Borowski got the save. Including that win, the Tribe went on to .600 ball the rest of the season and came within one win of reaching the World Series.

I’m going to pull a Mark Shapiro here and mark last night’s Yankees loss as a game like that Indians loss last season. And, it will be important to watch how the Yankees come out to play today after that game last night. Will they rebound? Or, will they act like a scared dog?

The end result just may be a good clue as to what we can expect from this Yankees team over the rest of this season.

May 14, 2008 | Filed Under Trap Door Items | 1 Comment

Hank: Yanks Fat Cat Strut Act Needs To Go

Via Kevin Kernan -

HANK Steinbrenner had a message yesterday for his Yankees: Gentlemen, it’s time to get your act together.

“We’ve got to forget about all the injuries and start playing our butts off,” Steinbrenner told The Post. The Yankees were buried by the Rays on Monday. These are difficult days for Joe Girardi’s club.

“The bottom line is that the team is not playing the way it is capable of playing,” Steinbrenner said. “These players are being paid a lot of money and they had better decide for themselves to earn that money.”

“We have good professional hitters and I have a lot of faith in them,” Steinbrenner said from Tampa. As for the team in general, he noted, “I’m not saying they are not giving the effort, but they need to be playing harder.”

He then paid the much-improved Rays a compliment, saying, the Yankees have “got to start playing the way the Rays are playing. (The Yankees) need to start treating it like when they were younger players and going after that big contract, like they’re in (Triple-A) and trying to make the majors. That’s the kind of attitude and fire the players have to have.

“There’s no question we need to turn it around and we have the talent to turn it around. We’ve got the team in place, and now they just have to go out and do it.

“This is going to get turned around,” Steinbrenner said. “If it’s not turned around this year, then it will be turned around next year, by force if we have too.”

…I’m not saying they are not giving the effort, but they need to be playing harder…

…need to start treating it like when they were younger players and going after that big contract, like they’re in (Triple-A) and trying to make the majors. That’s the kind of attitude and fire the players have to have…

What’s that line about this game of baseball being only one-half skill?

May 14, 2008 | Filed Under Hankie Says | 11 Comments

May 13th @ The Rays

Go ahead. Flip it. After a game like this one, it deserves it.

May 13, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | 14 Comments

Only Godzilla, Damon, Wang & Mo Shine For Yanks

Since we’re one game away from the one-quarter mark of the season, I thought this would be a good time to look at the Yankees, via the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia, in terms of their individual player’s Runs Created and Saved Above Average totals.

May 13, 2008 | Filed Under Math Class | 5 Comments

Danimal McCutchen Update

Via the S.I. Advance…

As the Yankees search within the organization for pitching help following the early-season struggles of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, they might look no further than the Trenton Thunder’s Daniel McCutchen.

Unlike Hughes, McCutchen is no kid. The 6-2, 195-pound right-hander is two years removed from the University of Oklahoma and will be 26 in September. He made his pro debut with the Staten Island Yankees in 2006, opening the season here and making two starts before being promoted to Charleston.

Unlike Kennedy, he doesn’t nibble. He goes right after hitters, and has 43 strikeouts in 46 innings this season to prove it.

But is he ready for the big leagues?

Trenton manager Tony Franklin says McCutchen can definitely pitch at a higher level. Tino Martinez, a special assistant for the Yankees, says he could skip Triple A and get big-league hitters out right now.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is intrigued, but not yet ready to say he’s the organization’s next Joba Chamberlain.

“It’s too early to say that. But he’s certainly throwing very well at Double A right now,” Cashman said. “He opened our eyes in the spring, too. He works fast; he’s got some power stuff that goes with it. He’s got a great mentality. All he’s done is win since he’s been in the pros.”

Though he’s been primarily a starter since his senior year at Oklahoma, the Yankees are already confident McCutchen can help them in the bullpen. But then again, the Yankees crave starters.

No matter how he is used, Franklin is confident McCutchen will succeed as much because of his talent as his steely makeup.

“I played with Joaquin Andujar for four years in the minors, and people said he was a nut,” Franklin said. “But he was quite the competitor. If you beat him, then you beat a pretty good pitcher. I get the same sense from Cutch. He never backs off, and his stuff is certainly good enough to pitch at a higher level.”

If the plan is to use him in the pen, what are the Yankees waiting for? Get him up now, let him start working in the 6th and 7th innings…and see if he can work his way up to 8th inning duty. And, if he can cover that well, then you can start to look at Joba the starter. Although, the way both Mussina and Rasner are pitching, if you make Chamberlain a starter, it’s going to make for an interesting mix on the fight for that fifth spot in the rotation between Joba, Kennedy and Hughes.

May 13, 2008 | Filed Under Trap Door Items | 8 Comments

Stories Without Wings

Via the AP:

A die-hard Red Sox fan from Gloucester, Mass., is going to have to pay up big time after a Yankees fan punched him, and hurt his hand in the process.

Bay Stater David Sanborn, 40, was ordered by a California jury to pay Yankees fan Mario Melendez $25,297 because Melendez hurt his hand when he punched Sanborn in the mouth during a bar brawl in Carlsbad, Calif., two years ago, the Boston Herald reported.

Sanborn said the two men were watching games on TVs in the restaurant when Melendez started cheering for the Yankees and Sanborn told him to sit down. A fight quickly ensued and Melendez said he punched Sanborn in the mouth in self-defense, breaking some of Sanborn’s teeth.

The bongo player said he realized how much his hand hurt later and went to the doctor, later suing because he needs his hands to make a living. The jury awarded him $15,297 for medical costs and $10,000 in punitive damages last week, the Herald reported.

Anyone else getting completely tired of hearing these Yanks-Sox fan battle stories? Someone should tell the media that the horse is dead and the shark has been jumped.

May 13, 2008 | Filed Under The Airing of Grievances | 1 Comment

Yeah, The Yankees Really Miss A-Rod

The Yankees record this season when A-Rod was in the line-up: 12-12
The Yankees record this season, so far, when A-Rod does not play: 7-8

Just think, if A-Rod had never got hurt, the Yankees would now be a .500-team!

May 13, 2008 | Filed Under The Airing of Grievances | 19 Comments

May 12th @ The Rays

That’s some bad hat, Harry.

Tonight was a Bones/House night at our home. (By the way, if you’re a fan of House, and you missed it today, well, you missed a great one.)

I was relegated to checking the game during commerical breaks from 8 pm ET until 10 pm ET. And, every time I flipped to YES, I either saw bad things happening against the Yankees or nothing positive happening for the Yankees.

By the time I got to the game full-bore, Veras was pitching to Upton in the bottom of the eighth.

Seeing the post-game, I now know that everything I saw in flashes, from eight to ten, was pretty much the story of the game - meaning it’s not a great night in Yankeeland.

So, the Yankees are now 19-20 on the season. Last year, at this time, New York was 18-21.

Really not much difference, is there?

May 12, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | 4 Comments

Kennedy Thursday, Rasner Friday

Leaving the gym this afternoon, I turned on Mike and The Mad Dog [pictured, right] on WFAN and heard Sweeny Murti reporting that the Yankees will throw Ian Kennedy for one inning (in Triple-A) today and then have him start on Thursday for the Yankees versus the Tampa Bay Rays. And, related, Darrell Rasner will now start on Friday for the Yanks against the Mets.

Obviously, the Yankees didn’t ask me for an opinion.

Think this has anything to do with Johan Santana being pushed back to start game one of the subway series for the Mets? Betcha it does.

Murti also said that Igawa will be moved to the pen, for now, and remains on the big league roster. Maybe they’re thinking he’s a back-up if Kennedy gets knocked out early on Thursday?

All I can say, now, is that the Yankees better win at least two of those first three games against the Rays. You don’t want to spilt, or lose, a series, in Stein’s backyard, coming off a split series (and a losing one before that) and heading into a Mets series. Winning some of the early games in the Rays series will take some pressure off Kennedy.

May 12, 2008 | Filed Under Trap Door Items | 3 Comments

Yanks GM Ringless Streaks

Since 1947, there have only truly been five men to be G.M. of the Yankees for an extended period of time. These five are:

George Weiss - from 1947 through 1961.
Lee MacPhail - from 1967 through 1973.
Gabe Paul - from 1974 through 1977.
Gene Michael - from 1991 through 1995.
Brian Cashman - from 1998 through 2008.

Seeing this, I wondered: “What’s the longest streak that these guys ever went without winning a ring?”

For Weiss, it was just 2 years (twice): 1954-55 and 1959-60.
For MacPhail, it was all 7 years that he was in charge.
For Paul, it was 3 years: 1974-76.
For Michael, it was all 5 years that he was in charge.

For Brian Cashman, coming into this season, it’s been a 7-year run without a ring (2001-07).

So, if the Yankees do not win a ring this season, Brian Cashman will set a New York Yankees record: Most seasons in a row (8) as Yankees G.M. without winning a World Series ring during that streak - since 1947.

Of course, yes, the Yankees won rings in 1998, 1999 and 2000 - when Cashman was the G.M.

However, a case can be made that Gene Michael and Bob Watson built the cadre of that three-peat team and it fell into Cashman’s lap when he took over in 1998. And, that group was pretty much done around 2001 (when Cashman’s ring-less streak began).

In any event, it’s an interesting fact, this ring-dry-spell streak, that Cashman has fashioned. And, in terms of Yankees history, if there’s no ring for Cash this year, it’s about to become an unparalleled feat.

May 12, 2008 | Filed Under Yankees History | 42 Comments

Catching Up With Eddie Lee Whitson

Via the Columbus Dispatch:

The Dublin Jerome pitching coach was animated as he broke down a young player’s windup and delivery in the bullpen more than two hours before a game.

It wasn’t just a workout. It was a classroom on dirt.

Ed Whitson, who once was the highest-paid pitcher in the major leagues when he made the then-outrageous sum of $800,000 with the New York Yankees in the mid-1980s, was comfortable in a high school uniform.

In this case, Jerome coach Chris Huesman isn’t trying to buy success or big time anyone. Whitson, whose son Drew is a sophomore left-hander on the team, is volunteering his time.

“Two years ago, Ed came over and introduced himself,” Huesman said. “I’m thinking, ‘He has 17, 18 years experience in the big leagues and he has been working with Drew anyway.’ So I’m thinking, ‘Why not ask if he’ll be our pitching coach?’ Ed has so much knowledge. As a kid, I remember his Topps baseball card.”

Whitson met his wife, the former Kathleen Mulholland of Columbus, when he pitched for the Clippers in 1977 while in the Pirates organization.

The family moved back to Columbus after an arm injury ended Whitson’s playing career in 1991.

There have been offers to become a pitching coach at the minor league level, but Whitson, 53, has refused them to remain with Drew.

“I really enjoy working with the kids,” Whitson said. “You can pick up flaws, but you still have to be able to show it to them. That’s what I enjoy the most. I could be on the West Coast as a pitching coach, but I’m staying with Drew. I don’t want to miss him growing up. You never get these years back.”

Whitson was an interesting story. After 11 years in the big leagues, he finally learned how to pitch - at age thirty-four. But, then he was cooked by his 36th birthday.

In his major league career, he faced 9,479 batters and allowed the following BA/OBP/SLG line: .261/.316/.391. But, you have to remember, at that time, a mark of .259/.325/.389 was the league average.

Pitching for the Yankees, at Yankee Stadium, Whitson faced 391 batters and went .316/.351/.486 - allowing 10 homers in 19 games. Fourteen times he made starts for the Yankees at the Stadium. In his last start there during 1985 he went 2 innings. And, in his first two starts there during 1986 he went two-and-two-thirds innings and just two-thirds of an inning. That second start of 1986 would be the last time he started a game for the Yankees.

Here’s a fun fact for you. The last time Whitson faced a batter, as a member of the Yankees, was during the 9th inning of a game on July 2, 1986. He struck out the only batter he faced - pinch-hitter Johnny Grubb.

I used to know something interesting about Johnny Grubb, I think? He was the answer to some baseball trivia question, or, there was something that I once saw on the back of his bubble-gum card that once stuck with me. I can’t remember it now.

But, I remember Ed Whitson. And, I think most who were Yankees fans back in the mid-’80’s remember him as well.

May 12, 2008 | Filed Under Yankees History | 2 Comments

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