The latest on the megastorm heading towards us -

Wherever it hits, the rare behemoth storm inexorably gathering in the eastern U.S. will afflict a third of the country with sheets of rain, high winds and heavy snow, say officials who warned millions in coastal areas to get out of the way.

“We’re looking at impact of greater than 50 to 60 million people,” said Louis Uccellini, head of environmental prediction for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As Hurricane Sandy barreled north from the Caribbean – where it left nearly five dozen dead – to meet two other powerful winter storms, experts said it didn’t matter how strong the storm was when it hit land: The rare hybrid storm that follows will cause havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes.

“This is not a coastal threat alone,” said Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “This is a very large area.”

Sandy weakened briefly to a tropical storm early Saturday but was soon back up to Category 1 strength, packing 75 mph winds about 355 miles southeast of Charleston, S.C., as of 8 p.m. Experts said the storm was most likely to hit the southern New Jersey coastline by late Monday or early Tuesday.

What makes the storm so dangerous and unusual is that it is coming at the tail end of hurricane season and the beginning of winter storm season, “so it’s kind of taking something from both,” said Jeff Masters, director of the private service Weather Underground.

Masters said the storm could be bigger than the worst East Coast storm on record – the 1938 New England hurricane known as the Long Island Express, which killed nearly 800 people. “Part hurricane, part nor’easter – all trouble,” he said. Experts said to expect high winds over 800 miles and up to 2 feet of snow as far inland as West Virginia.

And the storm was so big, and the convergence of the three storms so rare, that “we just can’t pinpoint who is going to get the worst of it,” said Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

It’s looking like this thing is going to hit within a 100 miles of where I live, according to the projections. So, I’m expecting to be without power at some point during the storm. And, if “Irene” can be used as a guide, it will probably be a while until the utilities are restored.

Be safe during the storm. And, feel free to use the comments section for this post to discuss whatever baseball items interest you. Hopefully, I won’t be disconnected for too long.

Today’s baseball history bummer: Sandy Koufax never faced Bob “Hurricane” Hazle.

If San Francico does go out to win a ring this year, where does that leave the 2010-2012 Giants in terms of baseball’s great teams?

I mean, you can count the number of teams who have won 2+ World Series in a three year period without having to use a super computer to keep track…

In the last 50 years, we’re looking at the:

1963-65 Dodgers
1972-74 Athletics
1975-76 Reds
1977-78 Yankees
1992-93 Blue Jays
1996-2000 Yankees

And, that’s it, right?

Via Jon Heyman –

Yankees manager Joe Girardi made a special call to the public address announcer on the press level during a Yankees playoff game to request that Alex Rodriguez not be named when Girardi pinch-hit Eric Chavez for A-Rod, people familiar with the situation said.

So when Chavez went in for A-Rod, only Chavez’s name was announced, not A-Rod’s. Typically the announcement contains the names of both the player who is pinch hitting and the person who is being pinch-hit for.

The call by Girardi from the dugout did occur, confirmed general manager Brian Cashman.

Cashman said he believes it showed the lengths to which Girardi went to protect A-Rod’s feelings. Such a call is very unusual.

Rodriguez was pinch-hit for and benched multiple times during a postseason in which he went 0 for 18 with 12 strikeouts vs. right-handed pitchers. Overall he was 3 for 25.

Cashman said he didn’t believe the decision to protect A-Rod was the brainchild of Chad Bohling, the club’s influential director of mental conditioning, but rather was Girardi’s idea. Bohling, who came to the Yankees late in Joe Torre’s tenure, is extremely well-regarded within the organization, Cashman said.

How sweet.

For those in the path of Sandy, please take care and be safe. This looks like a bad one.

Interesting…

This is a Tigers team who cut through the Yankees in the ALCS like a hot knife through butter.

Since Detroit is the constant here, it begs the question:  Are  the Giants that good, or, were the Yankees that bad?

It’s a small list -

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Babe Ruth and George Brett are the only guys to do it twice.

Are you kidding me?

Via Paul Lukas -

Quick, name the only three teams in all of North American pro sports whose jerseys have NNOB (that’s “no name on back,” for those of you who don’t speak uni). Right, the Yankees do it for every game, and the Red Sox do it at home. And the third team? The Giants, who’ve been going NNOB at home since 2000.

The day the Yankees start putting names on the back will be a very, very, sad day in Yankees history…

The last contract extension that the Yankees gave Joe Girardi expires after the 2013 season.

This makes General Joe a lame duck manager next season in New York.  And, that’s never a good thing.

Girardi has managed the Yankees for the last five years.  He is a known commodity to the team.  They should know, now, if they want him beyond 2013.

If you were the Yankees, what would you do with Girardi’s contract?

Just in -

The Marlins dismissed manager Ozzie Guillen on Tuesday. They did not name a replacement.

“After careful consideration following the disappointment of the 2012 season, we decided to dismiss Ozzie,” Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest said in the team’s announcement. “Our managerial search begins immediately and our hope is that a new manager, along with roster improvements, will restore a winning culture.”

So much for teams not stealing headlines from the World Series coverage…

Maybe A-Rod can be the Marlins player-manager in 2013?

Brian Cashman and Brian Sabean have both been baseball General Managers with their teams for a long time.

Cashman took over a Yankees team in 1998 that was just coming off a World Series win in 1996 and a post-season berth in 1997, and, Sabean took over a Giants team in 1997 that was coming off a 94-loss season (in 1996).

Therefore, what they inherited with their franchises was different. But, they’ve both had success with their teams since becoming G.M. and both have had their critics as well.

Cashman has more rings than Sabean. But, Cashman thinks very highly of Sabean. See this from 2002:

[...Brian] Sabean has been lauded for believing in the deal and having the guts to make it.

Those who know Sabean say those are qualities he honed during an eight-year stint in the Yankee organization, when he blossomed as a baseball executive.

The man who put together the Giants, the team that is one victory away from a World Series title, has roots in Yankeeland. He was the coach of the University of Tampa’s team in 1984 when then-scouting director Doug Melvin hired Sabean to scout the state of Florida.

Yankee GM Brian Cashman worked for Sabean “doing anything Sabes wanted me to do,” Cashman recalled yesterday. “He’s one of the people I learned the most from, along with Gene Michael.

“He was a tremendous leader. He made everybody feel like a part of things, he got everyone involved. He’s talented not only in evaluation, but in leadership.

“We’d get together away from the park, all of us. Not only was he the boss, but he was one of the guys, too. Despite his abilities and him being the boss, he didn’t have any boundaries.

“That’s important when you have to get after it as hard as you do in this business.”

Sabean, 45, rocketed up the Yankees’ organizational chart, becoming its director of scouting by the time he was 30 and getting a promotion to vice president of player personnel and scouting four years later. He left in 1992 when a promotion to assistant GM with the Giants beckoned.

He got some credit for restocking the Yankee farm system while George Steinbrenner was on suspension and, at one point, was considered the Yanks’ future GM.

“He’s responsible for a lot of guys we’ve got in the big leagues,” Cashman said. “(Andy) Pettitte, (Derek) Jeter, even (Giants first baseman) J.T. Snow, a lot of these guys were on Sabes’ watch.”

Along the way, Sabean met his wife, Barbara, too. She had been Steinbrenner’s secretary for two years and the two kept their romance quiet until they decided to get married. They now have four children.

Sabean has said his time in the Yankee organization helped make him the GM he is now, which is “one of the special GMs,” Cashman said. “If you think about the best in the game, he’s in that top group with John Schuerholz or Billy Beane.”

Which one of these two Brians is the better baseball G.M.?

It seems like Sabean has done more with less whereas Cashman has more trophies to show, overall.

But, if the Giants win another World Series this year under Sabean, that would give him three World Series appearances and two rings in the last 11 years – compared to two World Series appearances and just one ring for Cashman in the same 11 years. So, in terms of more recent history, maybe Sabean is better than Cashman.

It should be a fun 2012 World Series. Who are you rooting for?

I think that I have to root for the Giants. Brian Sabean, Dick Tidrow, Fred Stanley, Joe Lefebvre, Dave Righetti, Hensley Meulens and Roberto Kelly all work for San Francisco and have Yankees roots. So, I wouldn’t mind seeing them get a ring this year.

Cardinals fans must be feeling pretty lousy today.

So, what’s worse, losing an LCS the way the Yankees did this year, or, the way the Cardinals did?

Maybe…think about it.

This year was the first time that baseball had two, winner-take-all, sudden-death, wildcard playoff games.

And, this season was the first time in baseball history that all four Division Series went down to a Game 5, winner-take-all, sudden-death, scenario.

And, now, the N.L.C.S. is going down, tonight, to a Game 7, winner-take-all, sudden-death, contest.

Imagine if the World Series now goes seven games too! That would mean that the only post-season series this year that didn’t go to a final game would be the A.L.C.S. where the Yankees tucked-tail, rolled over and played dead, and allowed the Tigers to romp over them in a four game sweep.

Stupid Yankees.

For the record: Since the Division Series era began in 1995, this marks the first time that five of the six series leading up to the World Series went the distance. The most prior to this October was four in 2003, when two Division Series went to five and both LCS matchups went to seven.

I am still way too down after the Yankees ALCS showing to talk about baseball or the Bombers. Right now, as far as baseball goes, if it’s not my 8-year old’s travel team, I don’t care…

But, I will talk about something else now.

This morning, I ran a 5K race.

For a lot of people, that’s not a big deal. But, for me, it’s somewhat interesting. And, here’s why:

I never, ever, in my life, was a “runner.” It was just not my thing and I had no interest in it.

But, once I got myself into very good shape, back in 2007 when I was 44-years old, I decided to give it a try.

Back then, people were always telling me “Oh, you must be a runner” (based on the way that I looked).  And, it didn’t stop…as I kept hearing it for a few years.

It started getting annoying to keep saying “no,” and, that drove me to hit the road and give running a try.

It was in January of 2011 that I started the “The Couch-to-5K ® Running Plan.”  At that time, I was 48-years old.

It was hard for me – but, again, I was running for the first time in my life at age forty-eight.

I finished the “C25K” program in March of 2011.  Afterwards, I started running my own personal 5K’s – until I decided to run my first “real” race in November of that year (when I was 49-years old).

Counting that first race, and the one today, I have now run seven 5K races in the last eleven months.  And, I usually finish well within the “Top 30%” of overall finishers and my average time in the races is 25 minutes and 24 seconds.

I’ll turn fifty next month and I plan on continuing to run 5K races.  (I’m scheduled to run two more before I turn fifty.)  My goal is to get faster.  But, again, for a guy who never ran for 48 years, and who just started, I think I am doing pretty good.

My kids asked me today “Why do you run?”  And, my answer to them was the obvious one: I want to improve on my cardiovascular health – just as I am always looking to improve my nutrition and strength, watching what I eat and going to the gym.

What’s the point of sharing all this? Hey, if I can do it, starting at a pretty late age, anyone can do it. And, I offer that with the hope that it helps you – in case you were thinking about getting out there and starting running too.

Taking a break from the Yankees and baseball right now…

I am in the process of reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story.”

The women in my life are giving me a lot of grief over my decision to read it. But, that’s not stopping me. And, I’m more than 40% into it as a write this post.

I have to share that I am loving this book, so far. Of course, I consider myself an Arnold fan. (Yeah, I know…he used PEDs and cheated on his wife. But, what bodybuilder wasn’t juiced in the 1970′s when drugs, in general, were liberally used. And, how many other politicians have been caught having affairs?)

In any event, if you’re a fan of Schwarzenegger because of his bodybuilding and/or movie career, you will want to check out his book. It’s an amazing life and he’s a great storyteller:

Here they are:

“I’m not going to turn myself into the Bronx Bunters because all of a sudden we didn’t hit for this week in October. That’s not our DNA. That’s not what makes us successful. And that’s certainly not what’s getting us into the postseason every year.” (Source.)

“I don’t care if it’s old; I care if it’s good. There’s some old guys that are good. Andy Pettitte is good. Raul Ibanez turned out to be really good. He’s old. But at the end of the day, these guys are really competitive, they’re good at what they do, they’re great professionals and if you compare that to the remaining choices, despite their ages, they look really good. Hiroki Kuroda is an older player. Ichiro Suzuki is an older player, and these guys contributed to that win column despite their age. And why? Because they were better than any of the younger guys we had choices for. So I’m not going to apologize for it. We go there, and we are old. If you’re old and still good, then it’s not an issue.” (Source.)

Of course, older players breakdown easier and need more days off. And, we’ve seen what happens to all or nothing sluggers in the post-season. But, that’s not stopping Brian, the best G.M. in baseball!

First, some perspective via ESPN -

The Yankees never led in the [ALCS], only the second time in their history that they’ve been beaten in that fashion (the other was in the 1963 World Series) and had some of their weaknesses exposed in October.

The Yankees were swept in a postseason series for the first time since the 1980 ALCS (against the Kansas City Royals), and swept in a best-of-7 for the first time since the 1976 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

Lowest BA in Single Postseason
MLB History

	BA
2012 Yankees	.188
1965 Twins	.195
1956 Dodgers	.195
1974 Athletics	.198
1962 Yankees	.199
1920 Dodgers	.205
1921 Yankees	.207
>>minimum 7 games

The Yankees had played 36 straight postseason series without being swept. The Elias Sports Bureau notes that is the longest such streak in major-league history.

The Yankees .188 batting average in the 2012 postseason is the lowest in MLB postseason history by any team that played at least seven games.

They scored just 22 runs in nine games, for an average of 2.4 runs per game. That’s the fourth-fewest runs per game in a single postseason by any team that played at least seven games.

How ugly was the final game?

The 8-1 loss matched the team’s worst in any postseason elimination game. They lost 9-2 to the Dodgers in Game 6 of the 1981 World Series and they lost 10-3 to the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS.

The Yankees offense disappeared in the postseason. The combination of Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, and Robinson Cano went a combined 14-for-125 with one home run.

Clearly, some – if not most – of this falls on the Yankees batters, themselves. They were the ones in the box with the stick in their hand.

But, should they be the only ones held accountable here? How about Yankees batting coach Kevin Long? Is he somewhat culpable as well for failure of his star players? Also, what about Yankees G.M. Brian Cashman? He’s the one who put together the starting position players for the Yankees? Should he not also be charged for assembling a team without the skill set to produce in the post-season?

What do you think?  And, what should be the course of action regarding those responsible for this epic failure?

I know that it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Yankees were going to lose the 2012 ALCS.  And, I know that the Yankees bats were MIA in Game 4 – as they were for much of the post-season.  Also, I know that the Yankees defense in Game 4, yesterday, didn’t exactly help their guy on the mound.

Still, that all said, it was a “must win” game – by every possible definition – and the Yankees had their “ace” on the bump in the form of CC Sabathia.

The result?

The big man faces 25 batters and allows 11 hits and 3 walks.  He doesn’t get out of the fourth inning and allows 6 runs, 5 earned, to cross the plate.

That sort of smells of Kevin Brown in Game 7 back in 2004, doesn’t it?  And, shouldn’t Sabathia be more of a topic of conversation in Yankeeland today than he is?

Via John Harper -

If anything, it showed a rather startling team-wide lack of mental toughness. You can blame some of that on the loss of Derek Jeter to a broken ankle in Game 1, but that’s no excuse for the complete lack of fight with the season on the line.

And while A-Rod blamed two weeks of postseason futility at the plate, saying it “sucked the energy out of us,” another player privately made a far more indicting observation: that the ballclub was affected by the hostility from the fans at Yankee Stadium last weekend.

“I really think the booing spooked a lot of guys,” the player said. “A lot of guys hadn’t been booed before, and they couldn’t believe how nasty it got in the stands.”

Obviously Nick Swisher admitted to being sensitive to such treatment after Game 2, but the player said Swisher was far from alone in his reaction.

“A lot of guys were talking about it in the clubhouse,” he said. “I was surprised by how much it bothered them. I really don’t think they ever recovered.”

If that’s true, well, so much for the big, bad Yankees.

And, in any case, it’s time that GM Brian Cashman considers how poorly this team has played in October, other than 2009, when he starts making decisions about next season and beyond.

Something has to explain how the Yankees seemed a half-step slower than the Tigers in everything they did on Thursday. For that matter, when Mark Teixeira was doing a Jason Giambi impression with his glove at first base, you had to think that neither their hearts nor heads were really in this game.

Afterward Rodriguez basically said not to blame him.

“You can take one guy,’’ A-Rod said, referring to himself, “and say, ‘Let’s blame him, let’s get him, put the coffin on him, knock his ass out.’ But at the end of the way I felt the wind was sucked out of us the last two weeks.”

Rodriguez is probably right about how heavily the overall offensive struggles weighed on this team. Yet there’s no avoiding the obvious here: the last few days made it look and feel as if a divorce with A-Rod should be imminent.

Booing at home  the problem this post-season? Oh, Em, Gee.  Grow a pair, will ya?

Blaming the fans…that is soooo weak.  Ugh.

Via the AP -

The Yankees failed to win a game in a postseason series for only the fifth time. They hadn’t been swept since a best-of-five ALCS against Kansas City in 1980. The last team to sweep four straight against them had been Cincinnati in the 1976 World Series.

Detroit also beat New York in the division series in 2006 and last year. The Tigers became the first team to win three straight postseason series against the Yankees, according to STATS LLC.

New York never led in this series — the only other time that’s happened to the Yankees was when they were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1963 World Series. The only other team to sweep an LCS without trailing at any point was the 1984 Tigers, who won three straight against Kansas City, STATS said.

New York scored seven runs at Baltimore in the division series opener, then was held to four or fewer in the next eight games. The Yankees’ longest previous stretch like that in postseason play came in 2001, when they were held to four or fewer runs in all seven games of the World Series by Arizona.

Ouch. Man, that stings. And, it’s gotta leave a mark on somebody’s resume, no?

Prior to the Yankees, today, in Game 4 of the 2012 ALCS, here are the other teams to get 2 hits or less in a post-season series ending game:

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Feel free to use this entry as a place for you to share your opinions, observations, complaints, rooting, and other sundry comments with fellow fans during the playing of the Yankees game this afternoon.

If the Tigers do beat the Yankees in this ALCS, it will be the 12th time in their franchise history that they reached the World Series.  Here’s the 11 times before this year:

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Here’s two great reasons:

Via Jerry Crasnick: From @ESPNStatsInfo: In 20 postseason games since 2009, A-Rod is hitting .164 with no HRs and .459 OPS.

And, via Buster Olney: From ESPN Stats/Info: Alex Rodriguez ranks 170th among 173 major-leaguers in OPS (.458) vs. right-handers since coming off the DL Sept. 3.

Pretty sure General Joe has this data in his binder too…

What if this is the end of Alex Rodriguez’ Yankees career? A-Rod spent nine years in New York. And, that begs the question: Was it worth it (having A-Rod play for the Yankees)?

On one had, you have two MVP seasons – albeit that the last one was self-serving – and a World Series ring (in 2009). But, on the other hand, you have all that A-Rod baggage/drama, the PED issue, what is forming to be one of the ugliest baseball-divorces south of Manny’s exit from Boston, and what’s appearing to be a $100 million cost to have him finish his career with some other team.

Does one side, the good or the bad, out-weigh the other in terms of the Yankees “A-Rod experience”?  Or, is it all just a “push”?

Related, if A-Rod does ever get elected to Cooperstown, does this impact what cap should be on his plaque and how he should be remembered in terms of Yankees history?

You tell me…

Via John Harper today -

[Yankees G.M. Brian] Cashman on Wednesday said he remains committed to patience and power at the plate, especially lefthanded power — the approach the Yanks have lived by forever.

“I believe in this philosophy,” Cashman said. “I was taught by (former GM) Gene Michael and we are still executing the Gene Michael playbook, which is predominantly lefthanded hitters that take walks. They’re typically big, hairy monsters, as I describe them, that hit the ball over the fence and are selective at the plate.

“What you are seeing right now is not a reflection of that. These guys are better than this. We have a lot of guys that got cold at the wrong time, and it looks bad, but this is not a reflection of who they are.”

Somebody help me out. Where are the Yankees starting players who are “predominantly lefthanded hitters that take walks”?

Tex? Cano? Granderson? Swisher? Last time I checked, Granderson and Cano don’t walk a lot, or, as much as they should…

Maybe Granderson does walk some…but, it doesn’t change the fact that his OBA this season was .319.

O.K., that leaves Teixeira and Swisher. And, that’s not a whole lot, is it?

Interesting stuff via Bill Madden -

Was Alex Rodriguez in the Yankees’ original lineup for Game 4 of the ALCS?

It depends on who you talk to.

According to Tigers manager Jim Leyland, he received two different Yankee lineups in the late afternoon, the first one listing A-Rod hitting sixth and playing third base. But then, a courier from the Yankee clubhouse brought a second lineup to Leyland’s office – the one that was officially released which omitted both A-Rod and Curtis Granderson and had Eric Chavez at third base, hitting sixth, Brett Gardner in center field and Nick Swisher back in right field after being benched the night before.

“Is something else going on over there with A-Rod?” Leyland asked the Daily News before the game was postponed by rain Wednesday. “I got two lineups from them, one with him in it and the second one with him out.”

Joe Girardi explained the two-lineup mystery as a mistake on his part and not a last-minute decision to bench A-Rod again.

“We talked about some different lineups during the day,” Girardi said, “and when I handed the lineup to (third base coach Robbie Thompson), I didn’t realize which one it was. It was actually a mistake on my part. We had people in different spots. So I called over there (to Leyland) and told them we gave them the wrong one.”

Here’s a wild thought: How about…Girardi had A-Rod in the starting line-up for Game 4, and, when Alex saw that, Rodirguez said to Girardi “Play your boys, Chavez and Ibanez, because, obviously, you like them more than me”? Or, maybe, if A-Rod was benched in Game 3 for throwing pick-up baseballs at bikini models back in New York, Alex was pissed over that and told Joe “Not today. I’m not playing”?

You have to remember, when it comes to the Yankees – especially when it comes to Cashman, A-Rod and Girardi – there’s always a difference between the “truth” you see and are being told and the “truth” which is actually “the truth.” So, it’s always possible that maybe there’s a chance that A-Rod was in the line-up for Game 4 and then took himself out of it.

If this did happen, eventually, we’ll find out. That’s the beauty of the truth. Three things that cannot be long hidden are the sun, the moon, and the truth. In time, the true story will come out.

What a shame it would be if Raúl Ibañez 2012 ALDS Game 3 and ALCS Game 1 homerun heroics end up in the Jim Leyrtz, Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius and Aaron Boone bin of great Yankees post-season long ball moments that came in a post-season where it ended in a loss.  But, it looks that way now…