It’s a sensitive and stressfull time in Yankeeland these days.

This regular season has been remarkable for the Yankees – as, to date, they have 102 wins on the year. Further, they’ve comeback to win 50 of those games – a mark that leads the big leagues this year and is one more than they managed in 2008. Lastly, New York has crafted 15 thrilling walk-off victories in 2009 – which is the most by the Yanks since they set a club record with 17 in 1943.

But, most importantly, the Yankees have locked up the A.L. East this season – as well as home-field advantage throughout the post-season.

And, this is why Yankeeland is feeling it a bit right now…

The Yankees missed the play-offs last season – for the first time in a full-season since 1993. Before that, since their collapse in the 2004 ALCS, the Yankees were bounced in three straight ALDS match-ups: 2005, 2006 & 2007. But, this is even worse: Going back to Game Four of the 2004 ALCS, the Yankees have now lost 13 of their last 17 post-season games. And, from 2004 through 2007, the last time they saw post-season baseball, the Yankees have lost four of their last six October “elimination games.”

Whether they want to admit it or not, the good citizens of Yankeeland do not want to see something happen in this post-season that comes close to what we’ve seen from the Yankees in October since 2005, as it will ruin the magic of their regular season in 2009. And, I dig that – I really do.

To be candid, I fear it happening. Why? Because, just like most Yankees fans, I don’t want to see this season end like the those previous ones since 2005. (I like to call this time the “Brian Cashman Full Autonomy” era.) I’m sick of seeing the Yankees get their heads handed to them in the post-season. It’s painful. Sure, some like to say it’s all just luck in the post-season. But, if that were true – meaning New York was just experiencing some bad luck in recent Octobers – I think they would have won more than just 4 of their last 17 post-season games. Even with bad luck, you’re going to win more than four of these games, right?

In any event, regardless of how I want to see this post-season end, I will continue to be honest and share anything and everything that comes to my mind (at this blog). And, that includes concerns about the Yankees chances this post-season. As I have written here, many times, WasWatching.com prides itself in being “Yankees-blinders and Pinstripe-Pollyanna” free.

Sure, I realize that I would have more “fans” and readers – and the site would have more visits and page views – if I were to pander to the mob and feed the fanboys all the pablum that they crave…but, that’s not my game. There are more than enough other Yankees-bloggers out there to fill that niche in Yankeeland.

Of course, this leads to some venomous comments left by readers here – in reaction to things I may share that are not in-line with their own personal beliefs and hopes, etc. However, there’s nothing new there. That’s what they invented the internet for…so that “Not My Real Name” could get their rocks off by playing the role of cyber-tough-guy and “go medieval” (with comments) on someone who had the nerve to express an opinion that doesn’t sit well them…right? (Yeah, I’m just kidding here…sorta/kinda.)

It’s the “comments” thing that actually led to this post. For those who do enjoy this blog, but who are also turned off by those “attack” comments, allow me to offer this: Don’t let it get to you – as I don’t allow it to get to me. Like I said, this is a sensitive and stressfull time in Yankeeland these days – and some of that may be spilling over in comments left by readers here. At the least, that’s the way I’m looking at it…but, then again, having that opinion may lead to more “less than kind” reactions…after all, again, this is the internet, etc.

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Josh Thomson Of the Lohud Yankees Blog Wrote:

Both Teixeira and Girardi were a bit short in answering the question, but they said the pitch from David Price was NOT intentional.

If I were Evan Longoria, I’d wear an extra few pads on April 9th, 10th and 11th. Sounds, to me, like they are downplaying it for next year.

- Posted By Corey

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Using the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia, I decided to look at the up-to-date stats this season for all big league teams in terms of their team RSAA. Here’s that list:

Rk	TEAM		RSAA
1	Giants		118
2	Cubs		108
3	Rockies		81
4	Dodgers		76
5	Mariners	73
6	Braves		65
7	White Sox	62
8	Cardinals	60
9	Red Sox		39
10	Marlins		34
10	Rangers		34
12	Tigers		30
13	Diamondbacks	24
14	Phillies	20
14	Twins		20
16	A's		19
17	Yankees		16
18	Rays		14
19	Angels		0
20	Royals		-3
21	Reds		-8
22	Blue Jays	-23
23	Pirates		-48
24	Mets		-63
25	Astros		-83
26	Orioles		-99
27	Padres		-119
28	Indians		-133
29	Brewers		-135
30	Nationals	-136

As you can see, the Yankees do not rank well here, in terms of team RSAA, placing 17th overall in the majors and 8th overall in the A.L. (just a tick ahead of 9th). So, how about the pitchers on the Yankees, how do they currently rank in RSAA (through last night’s game)? Via the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia, here are those numbers:

PITCHER	 	RSAA	  IP	 H/9 IP	  ERA     SO/BB
C.C. Sabathia	26	230.0	1.54	  1.10     0.92
Mariano Rivera	19	65.1	2.63	  2.67     3.89
Phil Hughes	13	85.2	2.10	  1.42     1.37
A.J. Burnett	7	202.0	0.96	  0.36     -.02
Alfredo Aceves	7	81.2	1.64	  0.83     2.10
Andy Pettitte	6	190.1	0.40	  0.35     0.02
David Robertson	5	42.2	1.65	  1.09     0.67
Chad Gaudin	4	40.2	0.39	  0.92     -.42
Brian Bruney	2	39.0	0.94	  0.54     -.46
Josh Towers	1	5.1	-0.88	  1.09     -.02
Mark Melancon	1	16.1	2.08	  0.61    -1.02
Ian Kennedy	0	1.0	9.24	  4.46    -1.52
Nick Swisher	0	1.0	0.24	  4.46    -1.02
Michael Dunn	-1	4.0	2.49	 -2.29    -1.02
Phil Coke	-1	59.1	2.57	  -.09     0.38
Brett Tomko	-2	20.2	0.97	  -.76     -.45
Edwar Ramirez	-3	22.0	-0.98	 -1.26     -.80
Jo. Albaladejo	-3	34.1	-1.50	  -.78     -.71
Jose Veras	-4	25.2	1.18	 -1.50     -.74
J.Chamberlain	-7	156.1	-0.37	  -.32     -.29
Damaso Marte	-7	13.1	-0.88	 -4.99     0.14
An. Claggett	-9	2.2	-27.88	-29.29    -1.27
Sergio Mitre	-14	51.2	-3.12	 -2.33     0.44
Chien-Ming Wang	-24	42.0	-4.90	 -5.18     -.50

 Note:
H/9 IP = HITS/9 IP vs. the league average
ERA = ERA vs. the league average
SO/BB = STRIKEOUTS/WALKS vs. the league average

Wow!

CC Sabathia, Mo Rivera and Phil Hughes combine for +58 RSAA – and, yet, as a team, the Yankees only have +16 RSAA on the season.

What does this all tell us? Well, it says that:

• Damaso Marte, Anthony Claggett, Sergio Mitre, and Chien-Ming Wang were terrible this season.
• CC Sabathia, Mariano Rivera and Phil Hughes were great this year.
• And, everyone else on the Yankees pretty much performed, on the whole, like a league average pitcher.

Does that sound like a World Champion pitching staff to you? Or, does it sound like just another typical Brian Cashman built pitching squad?

Note: This entry was posted at 9:32 am ET today. However, since then, I’ve learned that there was an issue with the CBE where players who debuted in 2009 were added to the database three times, which resulted in those players having their stats tripled in the sorting feature. It’s since been corrected and I have now edited this post (at 4:40 pm ET). See the comments section below to see what was changed in addition to the stats.

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What do the 1998 Astros (154 RCAA), 1999 Indians (146 RCAA), 2000 Giants (213 RCAA), 2002 Yankees (143 RCAA), 2003 Braves (208 RCAA), 2006 Yankees (185 RCAA) and 2007 Phillies (144 RCAA) all have in common?

They were all great offensive ballclubs (during the regular season) who saw their hopes go down in flames during a League Division Series.

Now, here’s a fun list via the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia – all the World Champions, from 1995 through 2008, ranked by team RCAA totals:

TEAM	  YEAR	RCAA
Yankees	  1999	170
Yankees	  1998	168
Red Sox	  2004	119
Angels	  2002	89
Red Sox	  2007	61
Marlins	  2003	59
Phillies  2008	46
D'backs	  2001	34
Cardinals 2006	31
Marlins	  1997	15
Yankees	  2000	7
Yankees	  1996	-4
Braves	  1995	-53
White Sox 2005	-59

Interesting, the only teams to win rings since 1995 who had “super offenses” were the 1998-99 Yankees and 2004 Red Sox. But, then again, those teams had pitching as well.

Also via the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia – it’s all the World Champions, from 1995 through 2008, ranked by team RSAA totals:

TEAM	 YEAR	RSAA
Red Sox	  2007	163
White Sox 2005	143
Braves	  1995	134
D'backs	  2001	122
Red Sox	  2004	118
Yankees	  1998	102
Angels	  2002	100
Phillies  2008	87
Yankees	  1996	60
Yankees	  2000	54
Marlins	  1997	40
Yankees	  1999	40
Marlins	  2003	-10
Cardinals 2006	-23

All these teams could pitch, huh? Sans, of course, the 2003 Marlins and 2006 Cardinals – but, both those teams had pitchers get hot in the post-season.

What does all this suggest? If the Yankees don’t pitch well this post-season, even with their great offense, they’re going to have a hard time getting that ring.

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Andre Robertson, Nick Johnson and Jose Molina.

And, while that answer is technically correct, these three have something else in common: Starting a game at D.H. for the New York Yankees, while batting 9th.

Andre Robertson was the first ever to do it – on June 19, 1982…a game that the Yankees won in 16 innings.

Nick Johnson did it 27 times while he was with the Yankees – which, by the way, is the major league record for most times appearing in a starting line-up, as a D.H., while batting 9th.

And, Jose Molina was the most recent Yankee to turn this trick – doing it on October 2, 2009.

Here are all the Yankees to have this honor, before Molina joined the club this season:

                   Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
 Nick Johnson         27 Ind. Games
 Shelley Duncan        5 Ind. Games
 Bernie Williams       4 Ind. Games
 Todd Zeile            3 Ind. Games
 Rondell White         3 Ind. Games
 Bubba Trammell        3 Ind. Games
 John Vander Wal       1 Ind. Games
 Shane Spencer         1 Ind. Games
 Andre Robertson       1 Ind. Games
 Robert Perez          1 Ind. Games
 Kenny Lofton          1 Ind. Games

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Well, September is now behind us and I see that CC Sabathia has already rounded into October form…

And, if not for the magic of Juan Miranda’s lumber, this one would be another recent poor offensive showing by the Yankees bats…

Yeah, of course, it could have been worse…at least it appears that Mark Teixeira’s going to survive the payback HBP in the first inning…considering where that pitch was, and that it ended up hitting his hand, it could have been very ugly…as you don’t want to lose Tex now, of course.

By the way, just for the fun of it, these are the other games where Jose Molina has appeared as a D.H. (besides this one):

(more…)

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Via the AP –

The Yankees are adding seats to their new ballpark for the playoffs.

The team said Friday it will install 60 cafe seats on the field level and sell 200 standing room places on the field and main levels during the post-season.

The cafe seats will cost US$81 for the division series and $131 for the league championship series, and standing places will go for $30 and $25 in the first round and $64 and $48 in the second round.

New York will put a limited amount of regular seats plus the new areas on sale Monday on its website. Buyers are limited to two tickets for one game of one series, and they must print their own tickets for the first two division series games.

The Yankees generally did not sell these areas during the season, although they experimented during a game against Boston.

During the ALDS, for an extra $100, if you purchase one of the field level “cafe seats,” Joba Chamberlain will also fold your towels for you.

And, for an extra $200 bucks, you can get a lap dance from Jonathan Albaladejo, Hank Steinbrenner or Ronan Tynan – with the one caveat that Tynan is not available during the 7th inning.

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Via the Greeley Tribune -

Greeley native and former major league pitcher Shawn Chacon is wanted on a warrant for allegedly failing to pay $150,000 in gambling markers, the Las Vegas Sun is reporting today.

Chacon faces a felony charge of writing three bad checks for $50,000 each to Caesars Palace in March, according to the Sun’s report.

The high school baseball standout from Greeley Central High School signed a minor league deal with the Oakland Athletics in June. He formerly pitched for the Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros. He also was voted to the Major League All-Star team in 2003.

Well, I guess not every year can be as magic as 2005…

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In case you missed it – “IIATMS” has some big news about their Yankees blog. Great to hear…well deserved…and I know they’ll do great.

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Oh, my, has it really been 31 years…

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Via Bill Madden today -

There’s an old saying in baseball – “you can’t scout desire” – and most general managers will tell you the same applies to “makeup.” And when you’re the GM of the Yankees, you have to add yet another uncertainty to those intangibles and that is the “New York factor.”

Such was Brian Cashman’s double challenge when he went about trying to restructure a Yankee team that had finished out of the playoff money for the first time in 15 years. Even though he had the financial flexibility to secure most any free agent he wanted, he knew he couldn’t afford to make another mistake on the intangibles. He couldn’t afford another Carl Pavano. Heck, he couldn’t even afford another Jason Giambi.

Cashman knew he had to bring in players who were not just talented but who could also make the quick adjustment to New York and also change the clubhouse chemistry. In that respect, I have to believe even Cashman could never have envisioned the grand slam he’s hit with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher – especially since there were questions about each of them being able to handle the fishbowl existence of being a Yankee.

Between Sabathia’s and Burnett’s influence with the pitchers, Teixeira’s subtle leadership and Swisher’s clubhouse effervescence, Cashman wound up going 4-for-4 in the makeup and chemistry department. Undoubtedly, if the Yankees go all the way this year, there are those critics who will scoff that Cashman bought himself a World Series. In fact, they already are doing so, as evidenced by Toronto Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi’s bitter assessment of the AL East the other day in which he said, “The Yankees could take their payroll to $300 million if they want to.”

Yeah, but look what $200 million bought them last year. Cashman took his deserved share of criticism for that, as well as for the Pavano, Kei Igawa and Kyle Farnsworth signings in recent years. Which just goes to show it’s not how much money you spend. It’s how you spend it.

Yes, let’s build a statue of Brian Cashman for the job he’s done this season – bringing in Sabathia, Burnett, Teixeira and Swisher – because that’s the reason why the Yankees are playing so well this season…and let’s place the statue in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium…

Pull-ease.

Yeah, let’s forget why Brian Cashman had to go out and spend a half-billion dollars to acquire Sabathia, Burnett and Teixeira…

Let’s forget that it was Cashman’s failure to develop any talent to place in his starting rotation and first base…and that he didn’t have the chips and/or smarts to trade for players to fill a need…like when Gene Michael and Bob Watson traded for David Cone and Tino Martinez…that brought cause for the need to dip into the Steinbrenner Brothers change purse for a cool half-billion bucks…

Giving credit to Brian Cashman for bringing in Sabathia, Burnett, Teixeira and Swisher this season is like giving Harry Truman credit for establishing the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission…after he dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The only good thing Cashman has done in the last 12 months is take out the Steinbrenner Family Checkbook and spend more money than any other team in baseball was capable of spending in one off-season…to acquire the best talent on the free agent market…and plug the holes on his team that were the result of his own inability to produce or acquire quality players (outside of spending hundreds of millions to get it done).

They don’t really build statues for spending money, do they?

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Via the Daily News -

Alex Rodriguez may be getting the best October surprise he’s ever had: Rumors have been swirling that his gal pal Kate Hudson is pregnant.

The Hollywood blond was photographed looking a teensy bit plump earlier this week, feeding the rumor mill that she’s up the duff. At the time she was snapped, Hudson was house-hunting with her Yankee lover of four months in Malibu.

But alas, Hudson’s rep, Brad Cafarelli, denies his client is expecting, which means she probably just ate a couple of extra nachos at Yankee Stadium. Apparently, A-Rod – who has two daughters with ex-wife Cynthia – didn’t score a home run this time.

Looks like Yuri Sucart just dodged the diaper duty bullet.

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I was just looking at the Yankees “Runs Scored Distribution” to date this season. Here it is:

 Runs Games Wins Loss  W-L%
+----+-----+----+----+-----+
    0    5    0    5   .000
    1    5    0    5   .000
    2   14    4   10   .286
    3   16    7    9   .438
    4   27   14   13   .519
    5   25   18    7   .720
    6   14   11    3   .786
    7    9    8    1   .889
    8   13   11    2   .846
    9    9    8    1   .889
   10    8    8    0  1.000
   11    9    8    1   .889
   12    1    1    0  1.000
   13    2    2    0  1.000
   15    1    1    0  1.000
   20    1    1    0  1.000
+----+-----+----+----+-----+

What does this mean? It means the 2009 Yankees, so far this season, are 25-42 when they score 4 runs or less in a game. On the other side, they are 77-15 when they score 5 runs or more in the game. Taking it a bit further, look at this:

W-L record when the Yankees score 2 runs or less: 4-20
W-L record when the Yankees score 3-4 runs: 21-22
W-L record when the Yankees score 5+ runs: 77-15

So, in summary, when the Yankees score 2 runs or less, they almost always lose. When they score 5 or more, they almost always win. And, when they score 3 or 4 runs in the game, it’s a coin flip on whether they win or lose.

Let’s hope the Yankees score 5+ runs a game this October.

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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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Wasn’t it just like yesterday where the big crisis among many Yankees fans was the fact was that Chris Britton and/or Kevin Thompson were “stuck” at AAA – and the big league team wouldn’t call them up?

It all seems silly now, eh?

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