I was really touched to see the warmth extended towards Ponch last night. He had to feel like utter crap after getting tagged out on such an ill-conceived play, and to see not only the fans give him a standing ovation as he trucked back towards the dugout, but also Jeter give him several attaboys had to make his year. It made my night.

Raf: by saying he can hit, I meant to say that it is possible, by no means implied that it would be habit.

Wil apparently gets along VERY well with the pitchers. And he obviously gets smiles out of the dugout. I’ll take a great catcher, bad hitter over a mediocre catcher/hitter any day.

~~~That’s all we get?~~~

I was going to go with the “File this game under: Firing on all cylinders.’” theme – great starting pitcher effort, nice plays on “D,” etc. Also, the fact that the Rangers stink. etc. But, that all just seemed like a repeat from yesterday….

Really, the last two games have been carbon copies of each other. How much can you say about this game that wasn’t said about the one before it?

The steady abuse heaped on Ponch on other Yankee sites (and I’m thinking of the banter nitwits) by those “fans” who think it takes an all-star at each position to win (even back-up catcher???!!!!).
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No, you don’t need an all star at every position. A competent backup backstop will do. From what I’ve seen over @ BB it has to do with Cashman not finding a decent BUC, when the Pirates & Phils (to name a couple of organizations) have more catching than they know what to do with. He’s going to get burned with catching like he did with CF if he isn’t careful

snowball003: That’s the thing, he can’t hit. I am glad he’s getting a shot, and I’d rather see him get an opportunity than a retread like Sal Fasano or Kelly Stinnett, or Todd Pratt, or Ben Davis.

I’m with you, christopher. I really like Wil Nieves. I’ve been rooting for him all season (All 6 or so weeks of it) to get a hit. If they were losing and there were 2 outs, I don’t think that he would have tried to stretch it to a double.

Chances are, now that he knows he can hit, he’ll keep hitting. You don’t need a home-run hitter at every backup position. And he was surprisingly fast for a catcher!

Good for you, Wil!

Very funny! Every team needs a guy like Wil. He has a great attitude and does a nice job behind the plate. Cashman has said that the pitchers love throwing to him.

//The heart of the warrior to go for the extra base (He’s fast!) combines foolishly with the misplaced aggressiveness of the rookie.//

Is he still considered a rookie? He played 28 games with San Diego in 2002.

I like Wil too. He seems to handle the pitchers well. He can lay down a bunt when needed too.

I haven’t been keeping up with the comments on other sites, so I’m not aware of the Ponch abuse. But I never got that vibe at the Stadium. I never heard any boos or anything and the cheers yesterday were sincere. Same thing when Cairo got his first hit the other day.

So Steve, “Torre being Torre” put out a pretty good lineup there yesterday. Looks like it worked….but that’s Torre being Torre.

It takes all types to make a championship team and the outpouring of sheer love and delight by the Yankee bench following Ponch’s first hit was thrilling. It is quite obvious the lad has been adopted and for good reason. The heart of the warrior to go for the extra base (He’s fast!) combines foolishly with the misplaced aggressiveness of the rookie.

You could see the delight in Jeter watching the hit, then the oh-no-hope-he-makes-it-no-way laughter. Be it Abreu or Damon, the super talented deal with slumps and probably with less even temperament than Ponch who works his ass off each day for a chance every five to get in the game and play. They need to be on the same team.

Jeter, his batting coach for that day said, “OK Tomorrow it’s baserunning…”

Happy you featured him today because next to the steadily improving Moose, that was the story of last night’s game. The steady abuse heaped on Ponch on other Yankee sites (and I’m thinking of the banter nitwits) by those “fans” who think it takes an all-star at each position to win (even back-up catcher???!!!!). Now that Minky is batting .429 for the month, I wonder if he is ever going to catch a break.

If our pitching does our job and the offense does what it is supposed to, we can carry Nieves’ non-bat. If we keep playing behind, like we were in the past and have to pinch hit Posada in the 7th inning to catch up, we’re going to burn out Jorge.