Is it just me, or, are a bunch of good movies coming out over the next six months?

X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, Terminator Salvation, The Taking of Pelham 123, Whatever Works, Public Enemies, Brüno, Funny People, Inglourious Basterds, The Boat That Rocked, Surrogates, Shutter Island, Couples Retreat, Where the Wild Things Are, Amelia, and Youth in Revolt all look good to me.

How about you? What upcoming movie are you most looking forward to?

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For the past day, I’ve been thinking about what Kat O’Brien recently reported in regard to Brian Cashman’s role in the Yankees acquistion of Mark Teixeira. For those who missed it, here are the highlights from Kat’s report:

Up and down the Yankees’ organization, from Johnny Damon and Jorge Posada to Joe Girardi and Hal Steinbrenner, the sentiment on Mark Teixeira early in the offseason was that he would be playing elsewhere in 2009.

Steinbrenner, the last word in ownership, had the power to change that if he wanted to sign Teixeira. But the Yankees were locked in on pitching, to the point that Teixeira was not on the agenda.

Still, general manager Brian Cashman considered Teixeira a perfect fit for the Yankees, and he became even more convinced after meeting with Teixeira in early December.

“Teixeira never was really an option,” Cashman said. “It was something I kept pushing, but it was not really being accepted by above me . . . I guess persistence paid off. I knocked on that door, I guess, just enough that someone finally answered. Hal really gave me the OK to pursue it over a few-day period. And at that point, I still thought the Red Sox were getting him.”

…once the Yankees got Sabathia and Burnett, followed by an apparent breakdown of negotiations between the Red Sox and Teixeira’s camp, Cashman sold the Steinbrenners on getting the first baseman.

Perhaps one argument that swayed them was these words from Cashman about the Red Sox: “I know you’re not interested, but they’re going to get this guy. He’s going to fall in their lap, and he’s so perfect for us.”

In the end, though, Cashman was so impressed with Teixeira that he couldn’t let ownership pass.

“A lot of times you run into players that are tremendously gifted, but that’s it,” Cashman said. “He’s like a David Cone. David Cone was a gifted athlete, but he was also smart at the same time. He got everything . . . and that’s the way Tex is.

“I remember telling ownership this is a guy that is the all-around, All-American- type boy that he is talented but he will never make a mistake with the media with a soundbite. He’ll always represent himself and the organization in the right way. If you could take them all like that, that’s the way you would want them.”

In summary, what Cashman is saying here is: Teixeira was not on the Steinbrenner radar this off-season – and the Yankees had no skin in this game (of acquiring Teixeira). And, it was he, meaning Cashman, who was the lynchpin in securing this deal (of getting Teixeira signed with the Yankees) after persistent pushing, and using the Red Sox potential acquistion of Teixeira as a carrot on a stick, to get the Brothers Stein to perk up and focus on signing the switch-hitting slugging first baseman.

O.K., fine.

I see no reason to debate the veracity of this scenario shared by Cashman. It’s very easy to see it going down this way.

But, what I find odd about this whole thing, and what I’ve been trying to get my arms around for the last 24 hours, is “why” Cashman is telling us this now?

I keep going back to that line that Michael Kay once reported that Buck Showalter shared with him: “If you do something good for someone, and more than you and them know about it, it’s fair to question why you did it in the first place.”

So, Cashman did “good” for “someone” – the Yankees. He knew it and so did the Yankees. Why the need now to make sure the world knows that it was something “he did”?

What’s going on in Cashman’s mind and/or the Yankees front office that’s bringing cause for the Yankees G.M. to suddenly want to run up and down the street, with his report card, screaming to anyone who will listen that he got an “A” in “Signing a first baseman to an 8-year, $180 million contract”? Could it be a way to mask those other flunking grades on his record? Or, something else?

Remember that episode of Cheers “Veggie-Boyd”? In that one, Cliff Clavin gets down because the bar gets new trivia napkins – and now he’s no longer the gang’s source of useless information. At one point, Clavin attempts to sneak in a homemade trivia napkin, from him, into the fun. However, the trivia item is a dud and those in the bar quickly discover that the napkin is a fake from Clavin. At this point, Frazier Crane, upon examination of the napkin, offers: “This isn’t a cocktail napkin, it’s a cry for help.”

This whole Cashman-Teixeira report rings along those lines for me. It’s Cashman trying to get attention/credit, for some reason, to remind people that he’s in the room. And, if I’m correct on this, the next question is: Why does Cashman feel the need to do this? This leads back to that question of “What’s going on [here] in Cashman’s mind and/or the Yankees front office?”

Perhaps we’ll find out more on this as the 2009 season moves forward…

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I know that this wild thought may be seen as a bit of a cold one. But, could there ever be a better time than now to offer Ian Kennedy to the Los Angeles Angles in exchange for outfield prospect Clay Fuller? Kennedy is a SoCal guy. The Angels need starting pitching. Kennedy looked good in his first Triple-A start. Fuller is a switch-hitting outfield prospect who would fit nicely into the Yankees system. Hey, again, yeah, maybe this is not the time for these types of wild thoughts. And, sorry if it comes across as insensitive. But, in baseball, sometimes, timing is eveything…

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To this Yankees fan – meaning me – there aren’t many more things that I enjoy greater than watching Andy Pettitte throw a gem – like he did today. He’s just so workman like – yet professional too. Watching him, be “on” like he was today, is just a pure joy.

This game was the 84th time that Pettitte threw a regular season beauty for the Yankees – thereabouts. And, I wish I had each and everyone one of them on DVD. I’d keep them forever.

Oh, and that Mo Rivera guy is pretty good as well. Don’t know if I ever mentioned this…but…watching Mariano today close it out made me ponder: When was the last time that Rivera threw from the full wind-up? Man, just for kicks, in his very last game, on his very last pitch, if he has a chance…Mo should throw from the full wind-up. How funny would that be?

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Via the New York Post -

Q: You will be there for the opening of the new Yankee Stadium. Do you think it was the right decision for the Yankees to move into a new ballpark?

A: We all mistake change with a lack respect for tradition, but I loved the old place and thought of it as the cathedral of baseball. I always looked at stadiums from the clubhouse, the dugout, the coaches’ room, and the old Yankee Stadium was such a functional place. Now Shea Stadium, it was time to blow that place up. I understand that there’s not enough luxury suites [at the old Stadium] and the economics of it. It was probably time . . . but I have such great memories of that stadium and New York.I’ve come to grips with it and I trust the people that made the decision.

Q: You sound hesitant to let the old Stadium go?

A: Well, I always thought in New York that it was the fans and the players who made the game. They come out to see you win, not to see the venue. That’s what separates New York. They’ll see the stadium and everything, but they are there to watch the Yankees win and you better be able to deliver on that.

I have to confess that I wanted the new Stadium. I wanted the bigger concourses and restrooms. I wanted seats that all faced home plate. And, for the players, I wanted a bigger clubhouse and better training facilitates.

But, now that it’s here, based on the one game that I went to (on April 4th) and all the feedback that I’m seeing from others who have been to the new Stadium so far, I’m not loving the new Yankee Stadium. At this point, I’m willing to suggest that the Yankees screwed this one up.

Yes, the concourses are bigger. But, when there are 5,000+ people walking in them, it’s chaos. The old ones were cramped – but at least there was a defined flow of traffic as a result of those close quarters. The seats may all face home plate, but they’re narrower, more expensive, and some of them have blocked views. The players have a bigger clubhouse – but it’s too big. Instead of 25 players and 25 cabs being a problem, the Yankees now have lockers so far apart that their problem could be 25 players with what seems like 25 different clubhouses.

And, then, there’s all that other stuff – like the PA being too loud, the video screens being too distracting, the food being too expensive, the serfs and the lords seating arrangements, the hiding of Monument Park and the flagpole, etc. I dunno…I just expected it to be better.

Maybe some of this will improve in time? Or, maybe I’ll just get used to it? Perhaps it will be some combination of the two? In the meantime, I now find myself wondering if Buck Showalter is right…and, in New York, it was the fans and the players who made the game, and not the ballpark – and perhaps new is not improved?

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Please consider taking the following poll:

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

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Via David Letterman’s Late Show Site:

Top Ten Features of the New Yankee Stadium

10. Due to a recession, only has two bases.
Richard V., Avondale, PA

9. Restroom floors are pre-soaked in urine for your convenience.
Marty H., Jackson, KY

8. Pitcher’s mound is now made of delicious Hershey’s chocolate.
Paul F., Barrie, Ontario

7. Battery dispenser in the outfield bleachers.
Stephen P., King City, CA

6. In addition to runs and hits, digital scoreboard keeps track of stabbings.
John S., Sacramento, CA

5. It’s known as the “House That A-Rod’s Cousin Built.”
Bob U., Bethel, CT

4. In-seat urinals — no wait, that was old Yankee Stadium.
Allan B., Toronto, Canada

3. 24-hour steroid kiosks.
Donald R., Freehold, NJ

2. No corporate seats in the upper deck to prevent executives from jumping.
Cameron D., Ho Ho Kus, NJ

1. Three locker rooms: Yankees, visiting team, and Madonna.
Harold F., Pittsburgh, PA

Who says A-Rod doesn’t have an impact on this team? Three of the top ten have a connection to him.
Unfortunately, four of the remaining seven are a reference to poor fan behavior at the Stadium.

Can someone explain “#8″ to me? Must be some form of Ontario humor that I’m not getting…

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Since the day that the Yankees acquired him, Nick Swisher reminded me of somebody. Part of it was the whole reported high-energy and unusual thought patterns thing that Swisher was packing. But, part of it was also a physical resemblance thing as well.

But, the connection wasn’t coming clear to me. Much of the reason behind that was due to the fact that I never truly closed out all my other thoughts and devoted myself to “get this done.” However, today, since it seems to be “Nick Swisher Day” in Yankeeland, I decided to “get it done.” And, after some concentrated thought, it came to me:

Anyone else see it?

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Nick Swisher had 5 RBI for the Yankees today. How many times, since 1954, has a Yankees batter had 5+ RBI in one game within the first three games of a season? Here’s the list, via Baseball-Reference.com, of those who did it before Swisher today:

  Cnt Player            Date      Tm   Opp GmReslt  PA AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO
+----+--------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--
    1 Alex Rodriguez   2006-04-03 NYY @OAK W 15-2   6  5  2  3  0  0  1   5  1   0  0
    2 Jorge Posada     2004-03-31 NYY @TBD W 12-1   5  5  2  2  0  0  2   6  0   0  0
    3 Tino Martinez    1997-04-02 NYY @SEA W 16-2   7  6  5  4  0  0  3   7  1   0  1
    4 Roberto Kelly    1991-04-11 NYY @DET L  5-11  5  4  1  2  1  0  1   5  0   0  1
    5 Frank Fernandez  1969-04-10 NYY @WSA L  6-9   4  3  2  2  0  0  2   5  1   0  1
    6 Bill Skowron     1959-04-14 NYY @BAL W 13-3   6  5  2  3  1  0  1   5  1   0  1
    7 Yogi Berra       1956-04-17 NYY @WSH W 10-4   5  4  1  4  1  0  1   5  1   0  0

Interesting – each of these games happened on the road – including Swisher’s effort today. 

I’m still not sold on Swisher.  But, if he continues to play the way he played today, obviously, he’ll prove me wrong.  And, I’ll gladly take those lumps if it means the Yankees will have someone in their line-up who is helping them win games.  Me being correct takes a huge back-seat to the Yankees doing well.

For me, my mood is always better when the Yankees win.  And, that more than trumps having to eat some crow in the process.

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Via the Long Island Herald

Early last year, 22-year-old Oceanside resident John Frascella was presented with a choice – either accept an internship at New York City-based Sterling and Ross publishing company, with the opportunity to contribute a few chapters to a book, or take a contract the publisher offered to write his own book about Theo Epstein, who at the age of 27 became the youngest general manager in baseball history. The challenge: no one had yet written a book on Epstein, who didn’t want to be interviewed.

It wasn’t too difficult for Frascella to decide to write the book. Frascella’s book, “Theology: How a Boy Wonder Led the Boston Red Sox to the Promised Land,” was released on April 1, after the publisher spent two years searching for someone to write the book about Epstein, who has been the general manager of the Boston Red Sox for the past eight years.

“Even before [the Red Sox] had really solidified their place in Major League Baseball history, we had always wanted to profile Theo Epstein because he’s such an interesting character,” said Rachel Trusheim, an executive editor at Sterling and Ross publishers who was in charge of the project. “Some people think [Epstein is] an absolute genius and others think he’s an idiot savant. Which one is it?”

Epstein is notorious for being very private, which Frascella said made it difficult for him to write the book.

“I spoke to a bunch of people on the inside, even though I received a call from the Red Sox early on in the process saying that they weren’t going to be cooperating, that people in their front office weren’t going to be helping me,” Frascella said. “So they just let me know I was on my own.”

Compounding the difficulty was the fact that Frascella only received the contract in the beginning of the summer of 2008, and the publishers wanted the book finished in case the Red Sox won the World Series that year.

“So I got the book contract in the summer and finished it in the summer,” said Frascella of the 208-page book. “It literally took me less than two months to complete the entire thing. It was tough.” Luckily for Frascella — an avid sports fan who grew up rooting for New York’s hometown baseball teams — during his studies at the University of Connecticut, he didn’t have access to televised Mets or Yankees games and began following the Red Sox, whose games were aired in the area. After he graduated in the spring with a degree in journalism, he had to cancel all of his usual summer plans to work on the book.

“Normally in the summer, I work with the kids,” he said. Typically Frascella teaches at East Coast Sports in Oceanside during the summer and umpires at games throughout Nassau County. ” I had to clean my entire schedule out so I could work on the book every day.” Frascella began working right away, making calls, researching and doing interviews all day, every day.

“He basically took it like he was going to work every day,” said his mother, Pauline Frascella. “He worked on the book and researched and did everything during the day while the house was quiet and everyone was out of the house. So when we came home, he was pretty much done for the day because he wanted to work in quiet.”

Frascella didn’t speak to Epstein — who refused to be interviewed — but he spoke to people in the business who know Epstein best. Frascella interviewed Kevin [T]owers, the general manager of the San Diego Padres. Epstein had worked with the Padres in baseball operations for five years before he took the job with the Red Sox. During the interview process Frascella also spoke to a former assistant general manager of the Red Sox, Bill LaJoie.

“Now he’s 74 years old,” Frascella said. “But when he worked with Theo, he was Theo’s assistant general manager when Theo took over [the Red Sox]. So he was really working closely with him.

“So these people I was able to get,” he added, “they knew about as much as anyone could know about Theo.”

Me? I’m still waiting for someone to write the soup-to-nuts, end-all-be-all, fully researched and thoroughly referenced, statistically enhanced, tell-all book on Brian Cashman.

Maybe that’s something a writer like Tom Verducci, Joel Sherman or Buster Olney will do someday? Then again, it probably makes sense to wait on that book – because we don’t know yet, how the ending should be written…yet.

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Chien-Ming Wang got roughed up in his first start of the 2009 season.

Now, in the past, the key for Worm Killer Wang has been to keep the ball on the ground (and that didn’t happen tonight in Baltimore). Check out these career stats, through last season, for Wanger (via Baseball-Reference.com) in terms of how he does when he keeps the grounders coming (or not):

           Split  G   PA   AB  R   H 2B 3B HR   BA   OBP  SLG  BAbip
    Ground Balls 97 1274 1274 85 260 16  1  0  .204 .204 .218  .204
       Fly Balls 95  435  423 76  97 35  3 29  .229 .223 .532  .167
     Line Drives 93  391  391 88 263 66  6  5  .673 .673 .910  .668
           Bunts 25   32   24  0  14  0  0  0  .583 .583 .583  .583

As you can see, when Wang makes batters hit it on the ground, they don’t reach base. And, when they hit flyballs against him that stay in the park, he’s pretty darn good too. However, when a batter squares him up and hits a liner, Wang is in big trouble.

O.K., here comes the bad part, it’s Wang’s career stats (via FanGraphs.com) also throuh 2008, in terms of what type of batted balls he has allowed through the last four seasons:

Season	GB/FB	LD%	GB%	FB%
2005	2.91	14.1	63.9	22.0
2006	3.09	16.9	62.8	20.3
2007	2.51	18.3	58.4	23.3
2008	2.41	22.1	55.0	22.8

Note that Wang’s FB% is pretty consistent each season. However, his GB/FB and GB% have gone down for three years in a row whereas his LD% has gone up the last three years in a row.

Does this mean that Wang is throwing less grounders and allowing more liners? Yup. And, we know what happens when Wang throws less grounders and allows more liners (thanks to that first set of career stats shown herein) – batters, as a whole, have a lot more success against him.

Clearly, this is a trend that the Yankees, and their fans, would like to see Wang reverse. Sadly, it didn’t happen in his first start this season. Hopefully, it will start to happen in his next.

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Chien-Ming Wang’s lifetime post-season ERA is 7.58 and C.C. Sabathia’s lifetime post-season ERA is 7.92. Therefore, it’s obvious what’s been happening in the last two games for the Yankees: Their starting pitcher must think it’s October.

Yes, I’m kidding – not about the stats, but, with the theory.

The last time that the Yankees have lost their first two games of a season was 1998. And, things worked out pretty well for them that season – in the end. (And, the last time it happened before that was 1985 – when Phil Niekro and Ed Whitson got hammered in the Yankees first two games of the season against the Red Sox.)

At least New York showed some fight at the end of this one. And, now, they get to come back to play a day-game on Thursday.

When was the last time the Yankees lost their first three games of the season? That was also 1998 (and 1985 before that) – for the record. Based on who the O’s are starting on the mound tomorrow, I like New York’s chances to get a “W” and leave 1998 (and 1985) as the last time they started out oh’fer three.

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Via the YES Network Site -

The YES Network, the most-watched regional sports network in the country for the past six years, and Verizon, the only major provider that delivers all-digital TV service over an advanced all-fiber network straight to customers’ homes, have reached a multiyear video-on-demand agreement.

The agreement will provide Verizon’s FiOS TV digital subscribers throughout New York state and in north and central New Jersey access for the first time to telecasts of New York Yankees games and other YES programming on demand. The YES on-demand programming will be available beginning Wednesday (April 8). This makes Verizon the first distributor to offer Yankees games on demand.

In addition to YES’ Yankees telecasts, FiOS TV customers will have access to other YES programming such as the network’s Emmy Award-winning Yankees post-game shows and “Yankees On Deck” series, the Emmy-nominated “CenterStage” interview show, “The Joe Girardi Show” and “Yankees Magazine.”

Sweet…makes those 13 hours now worth it.

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Via Anthony McCarron -

The Yankees insist CC Sabathia is healthy, but the heating pad, a dip in velocity and his awful results on Opening Day are causing some knowledgeable baseball observers to wonder what was happening when the lefty got rocked by the Orioles.

“When I’m watching him pitch and see the heat pad and then see him throwing 88-89 (miles per hour), it’s almost like he’s protecting something and pitching at 70%,” said ex-catcher John Flaherty, who played in the majors for 14 seasons and is now a YES Network analyst. “But everybody says he’s feeling fine, so obviously that wasn’t the issue.”

Still, Flaherty thought it odd “to see a day when (Sabathia) can’t control his fastball and his velocity is down. When I’ve seen guys amped up, they’re throwing gas and they’re all over the place. But it was like he never really got going.”

Sabathia lasted only 4-1/3 innings and allowed six runs and eight hits. He walked five and had no strikeouts, only the fifth time in his career in which he started and failed to whiff anyone.

Television cameras showed him in the dugout with a heating pad on his side while the Yankees were hitting, but he insisted he was using it only to keep warm. The game-time temperature was 56 degrees, and it had rained much of the afternoon leading up to the first pitch.

Sabathia has had two abdominal strains, both serious enough to warrant time on the disabled list, so he was using the heating pad as a preventative measure, Brian Cashman said. With Cleveland, Sabathia was on the disabled list with a right oblique strain from March 25-April 15, 2005 and again from April 3-May 2, 2006 with the same injury.

“I can understand why people would ask the question,” Cashman said. “But he has a history of early oblique strains and it (the heating pad) is a preventative thing, nothing more than that. It’s a program they developed to combat that.

“I can honestly tell you there is nothing bothering him, other than maybe the way he pitched. There is no health issue that we’re hiding. If there was something that was troublesome, we’d do something about it tucked away where no one would see anything. He wouldn’t be doing it in the dugout.”

Cashman said Sabathia will make his next start, scheduled for Saturday in Kansas City.

“We have no one missing starts at this stage,” Cashman said.

Heating pad? What…Steve Donohue’s hottest possible liniment rub is no longer available?

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Today’s wild thought comes via an e-mail suggestion from Lisa Swan:

Here’s a wild thought for you for today – while I haven’t been to Yankee Stadium yet, I’ve heard a lot of not-so-great reports on it from Yankee fans. Is it possible Citi Field, which I have been to, might be better done? Certainly the security appears to be a lot nicer, and the food better.

Hey, it’s possible. I do think we need to give both new ballparks some time. There’s a chance that the Yankees might learn from the recent feedback and make some improvements to their new Stadium. I’m not counting on it. But, the possibility does exist.

To be candid, I haven’t seen much of the feedback on the Mets new park (from this past weekend). Why? I figure the chances of me going there are very remote. I went to Shea in 1974 and 1975 to see the Yankees play there. And, besides that, the only other times I went were: One time, as a favor to a friend, to accompany him to a game, in the mid-90′s. And, two times for a work function – once in 1999 and once in 2000. Therefore, since 1962, I’ve been to three Mets games in my life. And, that’s more than enough. Unless the Yankees were there to play them, I see no reason why I would want to go see the Mets play at home. But, then again, I’m a Yankees fan.

So, I can’t say if the Citi Field experience, to date, is better than the new Yankee Stadium experience. But, it’s a good wild thought. (Thanks Lisa.) If anyone has an opinion on this, please share it in the comments section below.

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I recently had a chance to do a quick Q&A with Yankees beat reporter Pete Abraham of The Journal News.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, and without an internet connection, Pete is the Grand Poobah of the Loyal Order of Yankees Beat Writer Bloggers. Without Abraham’s blogging efforts, paving the way for other media members to blog, we in Yankeeland would have a lot less information coming at us on a near-real-time basis. And, that’s why he’s the Duke of Yankees Bloggers, A-Number-1. Here’s our exchange:

WW: According to the numbers/reports that I’ve seen, “The LoHud Yankees Blog” is the most popular Yankees-related blog on the internet. As its author, why do you think it’s so popular? Is it the secret sauce?

Pete Abraham: I wish I knew the exact formula because I would market it to others. I am blessed to cover a team that has a large, rabid fan base that hungers for information. I also started my blog in 2006, just when the demand for information via the internet or other mobile platforms was taking off. That was fortunate timing. I do try and update as often as possible as even small nuggets of information seem to generate interest. I think to some degree my writing style is a good fit for the internet. But I had no idea of that at the time I started.

WW: You are great at maintaining a frequent posting pattern at the blog. How do you manage to keep that up without it starting to feel like a blogging ball and chain?

Pete Abraham: Two of the things I enjoy are writing and baseball. Blogging doesn’t seem like work to me. I’m also motivated by the passion that the readers have for the team. It’s more fun when you cover a team that people really care about. I also have a selfish motive. As journalism turns toward a digital future, I’d like to have a skill that makes me employable in the field I enjoy. Having the ability to produce a product people want on line is hopefully something that will keep me gainfully employed. I look at the work I’m doing now as investing in my future.

WW: Seeing your success to date, and the way e-journalism is evolving, can I invest in your future too? (Just kidding, kinda/sorta.) While, one the whole, reaction to your blog has been favorable, you have also managed to develop a pocket of critics out there who are fairly harsh with their comments on your work. Does this bother you and why?

Pete Abraham: Criticism doesn’t bother me. I criticize the Yankees, so feel free to criticize what I write. What is troublesome — and this is the case throughout the internet — is how anonymous critics will make it personal and attack you. But that says more about them than it does about me.

WW: Amen on that – and then some. Since you’ve brought it up…when you’ve been critical of someone in the Yankees organization, albeit at your blog or elsewhere, has that party ever come back to you on that? Is that a difficult position to be in? How do you, or how would you, handle that?

Pete Abraham: It’s never happened beyond a joking stage. The players and team executives understand that criticism is part of the terrain, especially in New York. If it did occur, I’ll happily defend anything that I write and if I’m wrong, I’ll correct it.

WW: How do you think the new clubhouse, etc., in the Bronx will impact dealing with players now? Do you expect them to be more accessible or are you expecting a lot of them to find places to hide? Or, does it all depend on how the team is doing?

Pete Abraham: At this point, I’ve covered one exhibition game there, so I have no idea. But the Yankees are a generally accountable group and media relations director Jason Zillo does a great job of stressing that to them and getting them for interviews. He has built a lot of bridges that didn’t exist before. If a guy wants to duck out, he can duck out anywhere. The only player who can be difficult to pin down for a postgame interview is — you guessed it — Alex Rodriguez. Everybody else is accessible and friendly. Some guys, Jeter especially, make it a point to be accessible. They consider it part of their job.

WW: That’s good to hear. And, it makes sense. I know that the media around the Yankees has a rep. But, through the years, it’s been proven, if you’re a stand-up and cooperative person, it will be rare for the media to make you look bad without a legitimate reason. Getting back to you, what can we expect to see next from Peter Abraham? Will you be doing a book someday on the Yankees or something else? Should we expect to see you working with the YES Network someday? Or, after a while, would you be looking to do something radical, like becoming a professional Red Bull taste-tester?

Pete Abraham: Wow, good question and I have no good answer. I am not one to change jobs without reason and/or a lot of thought. I covered the UConn basketball team for a small paper in Connecticut for 13 seasons and left only because they made me the sports editor against my will and I hated that side of the business. I’ve been at The Journal News since 1999 and have no desire to leave. They have treated me well and my bosses, particularly executive editor Henry Freeman and sports editor Susie Arth, have been extraordinarily supportive. But newspapers are falling apart financially and I love covering sports, so I need to be open to change and whatever opportunities are out there. I’m not a writer whose style is particularly conducive to writing a book, although I would like to tackle another book project in the future. For now, I’m going to do what I’m doing and hope that as newspapers change, I still have a place with them. If not, it’ll be dealing blackjack at Mohegan Sun or being a limo driver. If there is one thing I know how to do, it’s get to the airport.

That’s it. My thanks to Pete for granting this Q&A and for all his time and attention towards my questions!

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Photo via Tom Kaminski/Chopper 880/WCBS NEWSRADIO 880

Thanks to Roxanne Geyer, WCBS Newsradio 880’s Web Producer, for the heads-up on Tom Kaminski’s latest shots of the old Yankee Stadium. Click here to see more of the work being done to take the ol’ place down.

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Via a Tax Foundation Media Release with a hat tip to Sean McNally:

New York City has tapped into taxpayer funds by shifting the financing for the construction of a new ball park for the New York Yankees through different layers of local government, while wrongfully claiming that the stadium will pay for itself, according to a new Tax Foundation study released on Major League Baseball’s opening week.

In Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact No. 167, Tax Foundation law clerk Travis Greaves and tax counsel Joseph Henchman analyze the subsidization of the new stadium’s construction costs in the form of $942 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by New York City. Seeking tax-free status for the bonds to ensure a lower interest rate, New York structured the deal to ensure it didn’t break a federal tax code provision which requires that such bonds not be “private activity bonds.” This serves as a huge benefit to both New York City and the Yankees organization because the bonds are exempt from city, state, and federal taxes, and have an interest rate about 25 percent below that of taxable bonds. Greaves and Henchman explain why the financing scheme seems “foul.”

“The new Yankee Stadium will be city-owned and thus exempt from property taxes. Meanwhile its primary tenant, the Yankees, will pay no rent,” Greaves and Henchman say. “This clearly brings up the issue of whether such tax-exempt bonds should have been issued at all, and especially when the city is so far in the red.”

To pay off the bonds over time, New York City will receive “payments in lieu of taxes” (PILOTs) that are theoretically equivalent to the property taxes that Yankee Stadium would otherwise pay. In reality, these payments are inflated by overvaluing the stadium property by three times that of comparable property.

“By inflating the payments in lieu of taxes, New York City can say to taxpayers that the Yankees are paying a significant part of the stadium’s cost, while telling the IRS that the City is paying for almost all of it,” Greaves and Henchman argue.

While the IRS signed off on the deal, it subsequently approved a regulation prohibiting such shell games in the future. The regulation applies only to bonds sold on or after October 24, 2008, grandfathering in the previously issued bonds for the new stadium and newly issued bonds to pay for cost overruns.

“If there are justifiable uses for PILOTs, the Yankee Stadium project does not appear to be one of them,” Greaves and Henchman explain. “When taxpayers elsewhere hear that any project is being funded by PILOTs, they should remember the cautionary tale of the Yankee PILOTs and insist on strict transparency and accountability so that their taxpayers do not end up subsidizing private uses with public funds.”

Fiscal Fact No. 167 can be found at http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/24561.html.

The Tax Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that has monitored fiscal policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937.

I think I get it.

Here, New York City is George Brett. The new Yankee Stadium is a bat with pine tar. The IRS is Lee McPhail. The Tax Foundation is Billy Martin. And, the tax-payers are Goose Gossage. Does that work? If not, I really don’t care…’cause without a baseball analogy that works, it’s not fun for me. It’s just big “bidnez.” And, what can you do against that?

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Via the Post on Sunday -

The Mets have handed the Bronx Bombers their first loss of the season.

In the Subway Series of sustenance between the Big Apple’s two brand-new ballparks, the Amazin’s spanked the crosstown rival Yankees, offering better food and more variety, according to Food Network darling Sandra Lee.

Lee — a Westchester resident who stars on her own show and has authored 16 cookbooks — joined The Post at both Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium during exhibition games Friday night, sampling everything from french fries to fried pickles in an unofficial tasting.

In the end, the Mets homered with their game-day grub, while the Yankees struck out.

“I really hate to say it, but it’s no contest,” said Lee, a Yankee fan. “I think Yankee Stadium is a warmer venue. But I am really, really disappointed in the food.”

The most obvious difference was between the hamburgers — Lee tried a $5.75 cheeseburger at Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack at Citi Field and a $9 Johnny Rockets burger at Yankee Stadium.

“That is better than an In-N-Out burger, and that’s tough to do,” Lee said as she munched on the Shake Shack offering. “The ground beef is lovely. It’s juicy and tender. The lettuce is crisp. The bun is warm and toasted. The small, little tomatoes are a miss, but it’s very good.”

The Johnny Rockets burger didn’t score as high. “The beef is dry,” she said. “Look at it. It crumbles. The cheese is barely melted. It’s not even hot. Not good.”

A $10 pulled-pork sandwich from Brother Jimmy’s BBQ at Yankee Stadium got slightly better reviews, although Lee said, “It’s pretty dry. And the pork is not pulled. It’s just shredded.” A side of $8 fried pickles didn’t help the restaurant’s case. “Horrible,” she said. “These were cold and had a strange taste.”

…cold and had a strange taste…

Isn’t that what A-Rod said after he kissed himself in the mirror?

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Via the AP -

The New York Mets are employing a unique method of selling remaining tickets for the first official game at Citi Field — by auction.

Tickets are being auctioned through 5 p.m. Wednesday for the April 13 game against the San Diego Padres. Fans can bid for two or four tickets for the 7:10 p.m. game. Multiple bids are not allowed.

Mets spokeswoman Danielle Parillo said Monday that 100 tickets were available in the online auction for the 42,000-seat ballpark. Tickets have a list price of $525 (Delta Club Gold), $315 (Delta Club Silver), $280 (Ebbets Club) and $210 (Metropolitan Box), and 11 locations were listed.

As of 10:30 p.m. Monday, the minimum bids for each section were $610, $510, $340 and $310. The Mets are waiving delivery and Ticketmaster service charge fees.

I could see having an auction with the minimum bids being under face value…but, over it? Man, if I were a fan of the Mets, I’d be a little ticked at this one. Basically, the Mets are scalping their own tickets here, no?

In any event, would the Yankees ever try something like this? Well, since the Yankees can’t even sell all their tickets at face value this season, I doubt it. But, it would be nice to see them offer an auction with the minimum bids being under face value. And, it just may be their best shot at unloading some of those high-priced and unsold tickets.

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Looking back at how the Yankees starting pitching has done, over the first two games of the season, prior to this year, since 2004, shows us the following:

Starter		Date     Opp	W/L IP	 H  R	ER  Pit

Mike Mussina	4/2/2008 TOR	L   5.2	 8  4	3   88
Chien-Ming Wang	4/1/2008 TOR	W   7.0	 6  2	2   92

Andy Pettitte	4/5/2007 TBD	L   4.0	 6  4	2   79
Carl Pavano	4/2/2007 TBD	W   4.1	 6  5	4   73

Mike Mussina	4/4/2006 @OAK	L   7.0	 5  3	3  102
Randy Johnson	4/3/2006 @OAK	W   7.0	 5  1	1  106

Carl Pavano	4/5/2005 BOS	W   6.1	 8  2	2   87
Randy Johnson	4/3/2005 BOS	W   6.0	 5  1	1   95

Kevin Brown	3/31/2004 @TBD	W   7.0	 6  1	1   77
Mike Mussina	3/30/2004 @TBD	L   5.0	 10  5	5   81

So, the Yankees have lost the second game of the season in the last three years prior to this one. Let’s hope they break that streak in 2009.

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Since 1954, only three Yankees non-pitchers, who were age 25 or younger, had both a hit and a sac-bunt on Opening Day:

Brett Gardner, today.
Robinson Cano in 2006.
And, Willie Randolph in 1977.

This information and roughly $409,000 will get you a 2009 Maybach 62 Sedan.

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So, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia didn’t have the greatest of ‘first day as a Yankee’ days today…

…is it just me, or, is it easier to say “A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk” than it is to say that thought on CC and Tex?

Moving right along…you probably know the ol’ baseball truism: Each season, every big league team is going to win 60 games, no matter what, and, every big league team is going lose 60 games, no matter what – and it’s what they do in the other 42 games that will define their overall record.

Well, today was one of those 42 games for New York. And, while I give the Yankees credit for coming back, after being down 6-1 after five, I have to say this is one that the Yankees let get away. (Shame, too. After that Matsui homer in the 7th, I really thought the Yankees were going to pull this one out.) Two things that killed New York today:

1. After that clutch, pinch-hit, lead-off double by Nick “It wouldn’t kill me to lose 25 pounds” Swisher and the sac-bunt by Brett Gardner that immediately followed in the 8th, when the score was 6-5, Baltimore, Derek Jeter has to get the runner home from third (with less than two out). But, the Captain failed when it counted the most today.

2. The Yankees bullpen in the 8th inning was atrocious. First, Phil Coke allows the Mott Street tater to Cesar Izturis. Then, Brian Bruney reminds us why he’s someone who you cannot count on to do well more times than not. And, finally Damaso Marte puts the kernel on top of this steaming turd sundae of an inning when he allows the double to Aubrey Huff. And, before Michael Kay could say “Co-Brun-Mar,” this game was packed, wrapped and shipped to the O’s win column.

And, now, with this being a day game, tomorrow being an off-day, and Wednesday’s game being a night game, everyone in Yankeeland has to think about this game for the 48-hour period that follows it…until the next Yankees game. What a way to tee-off the season…

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As I write this, the first pitch of the Yankees 2009 season is minutes away. How cool is that?

We had Yankees baseball in 2008. Then came 189 days of no “official” Yankees baseball. And, now we have Yankees baseball again in 2009.

It’s the Yankees baseball Oreo cookie. You get the hard and crunchy stuff (from the actual season) that bookends the soft and sugary stuff (that constitutes the offseason). And, whether you elect to digest this cookie as a whole, or separate it out into its distinct sections and attack it that way, it’s all good.

Me? Back in the day when I used to eat Oreos, I liked to dunk them in milk.

Sure, Oreos alone – while full of stuff that’s not very healthy for you – are a tasty treat. But, when you soak them in milk…well…it’s just that much better, at least to me.

So, where’s the milk for me in this Yankees baseball Oreo cookie story? Actually, it’s being able to share Yankees baseball with family, friends and acquaintances. And, that includes the readers of WasWatching.com.

Thanks to you all for being a part of what’s been happening at this blog – and for the good times I hope we can share here, this season. Here we go!

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