May 15th @ The Rays

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 14th @ The Rays

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

Gee, Derek, ya’think?

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

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

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

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

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

May 13th @ The Rays

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

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

May 12th @ The Rays

That’s some bad hat, Harry.

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

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

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

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

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

Really not much difference, is there?

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

May 10th @ The Tigers

Amazing how it’s somewhat easy to win when your starting pitcher gives you six solid innings, huh? (By the way, between Darrell Rasner and Johan Santana, who pitched the better game today? Think Hank is keeping track?)

Just how good can Ranser be for the Yankees this season? Will he be Charlie Hudson circa 1987 good? Or, better, say, like Melido Perez circa 1992 good? Or, something less, like Joe Cowley circa 1985 good?

Whichever of the three it may be…or if it’s somewhere in between…it’s still better than what the Yankees were getting out of Hughes, Kennedy or Igawa. I can’t wait until his next start.

May 10, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | 3 Comments

May 9th @ The Tigers

Well, if we were not sure, at least now we know…it’s May 2008 and not May 1980, and, Shelley Duncan is not Rick Cerone. (Follow the link and see the play-by-play for the 5th and 7th innings if you don’t remember Cerone burning the Tigers, and Sparky Anderson, twice in the same game back in May of 1980.)

You know how Accuweather.com has the “RealFeel Temperature”? To me, this game, heading into the 9th inning (and before the Yankees failed comeback) had a “RealFeel” Score of 15-1…even though the actual score, at that time, was 6-3. Really, until the last frame, even though the score was close, it didn’t feel close at all. Anyone else feel that way too?

And, by the way, listening to Al, Kenny, and Michael do the game on My9…fellas, please, stop playing the “Missing A-Rod and Posada” card so much as an excuse for the Yankees performance. It’s truly starting to get weak. There are still, usually, around six “All-Stars” in the Yankees line-up even without Rodriguez and Posada. That should be enough carry your weight - even against the good teams.

No, I haven’t forgotten about Kei Igawa. Sure, maybe, if Clete Boyer or Graig Nettles were playing third base this evening - and they were in their prime - then, perhaps, Igawa would have been a tad luckier in terms of the final ugly numbers (for him). But, in any event, it sure as heck looked the the same old Kei Igawa on the hill today - right down to the terrible body language once he started to get waxed.

Igawa has got to be the biggest pile of money, at $46 million, that Cashman has ever thrown out the window on pitching. Yeah, Brian tossed $40 million for Carl Pavano, I know…but, at the least, Pavano had a few decent games pitched…whereas Igawa is an absolute human batting tee.

On the bright side, while the Mets were rained out today, there will be a double-header at Shea tomorrow (with the make-up game for today). Imagine having to watch Igawa, and this bummer of a Yankees loss, and also finding out, thanks to the rain in NYC, that you now had to face Johan Santana when the Mets series comes up? See…it could have been worse today in Yankeeland.

May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | 4 Comments

May 8th vs. The Indians

Now that I’m among that 15% of the population that Lee Elia ranted about a quarter of a century ago, I had a chance to watch, live, about 70% of this game.

And, for the last 12 hours or so, I’ve been sitting on what I wanted to write about it - but, in the end, it keeps coming back to the same thing.

Yes, this was a pretty big win for the team. You didn’t want to lose three in a row heading into a road game, in Motown, with Kei Igawa on the mound for you…because that’s how you start knocking on the door of a five-game losing streak. And, it was interesting to see just how much Paul Byrd and Mike Timlin have meant to Jason Giambi’s season this year.

But, at the end of the day, this game comes to down to two things for me. First, the celebration of Clique de los Yanquis in the dugout - meaning Cano, Melky, Abreu, Betemit (and sometimes A-Rod) after Cano’s homerun. And, secondly, the Joba Chamberlain reaction after striking out David Dellucci.

Let’s be honest here. As Yankees fans, if we were playing the Mets, and, during the game, Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, Moises Alou, Ramon Castro and Angel Pagan were carrying on in the dugout - like Cano & Co. were in this game - after Reyes did something on the field, many of us would be seeing red over it. And, again, as Yankees fans, if we were playing the Red Sox, and, during the game, Manny Delcarmen reacted the way Joba did, after striking out some Yankee to end an 8th inning, we’d be on him afterwards like hair on soap.

Therefore, as a Yankees fan, I wish that some of the vets on the team would get the attention of the youngsters (like Joba, Cano, Melky, etc.) and tell them “It’s great to be excited and to have passion - but, there’s a line on displaying it and you guys have crossed it. So, let’s pull back on it…understand?”

O.K., go ahead, now, start telling me that I’m an old man and that “old school baseball” went away a long time ago…

May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | 23 Comments

May 7th vs. The Indians

It would be very easy for me to say I was wrong about Cliff Lee and just write this loss off to his brilliance. But, I can’t do that - at least not 100%.

Let’s face it: The Yankees lost this game because, between Cano, Molina, Duncan, and Ensberg, who were in the line-up today, there’s just too many free outs in those Yankees bats. (Although, this evening, Molina’s arm made up for his lack of bat.)

Really…Wang as not awesome in this one. But, he still deserved to win. In fact, when you look at the back-to-back starts now from Pettitte and Wang, and see that the Yankees lost both games, at home, well…that tells you something about this team.

Thank the heavens for the Seattle Mariners…or else this would be the home-stand from hell.

Watching Cano make the final out of the game, I wondered “If A-Rod was in a ’slump’ like this, he’d be hearing ‘boos’ like mad. How much longer will Yankees fans stay kind to Cano…and Giambi?” It’s an interesting question, to me.

In any event, anyone else think the beat reporters will be peppering Hank’s cell phone after this game tonight?

May 7, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | Leave a Comment

May 6th vs. The Indians

When you see the way that Ian Kennedy pitched in his game today (down at Triple-A) and the way that Joba Chamberlain pitched in this game, you start to wonder if there was some sort of Freaky Friday/Vice Versa/Like Father Like Son/18 Again body-swapping mix-up between the two before Kennedy headed out to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre…

Seriously, tough one tonight. Pettitte pitched his heart out. Farnsworth actually did well. The Yankees aren’t supposed to lose these games. Or, at the least, they cannot afford to lose these games.

With this game, the Yankees have now batted in the 7th and 8th innings 34 times this season. And, in 25 of those 34 seventh innings they have scored zero runs. Ditto the 8th inning - they’ve posted zero runs in 25 of those 34 too. Gone are the days where the Yankees used to beat up on other team’s middle relievers.

May 6, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | 4 Comments

May 4th vs. The Mariners

Jeter and Abreu are starting to heat up.

Jeter is batting .410 (16-for-39) in his last nine games. Abreu is batting .563 (9-for-16) in his last four games. Add those two to the other Yankees bats who have been doing well (Damon, Matsui, and Cabrera) and all of a sudden you have an offense that’s capable of a big inning. (Did you see that note on YES - that the 3rd inning today was the first time this season that the Yankees have scored 5+ runs in one inning?)

Darrell Rasner made some friends today. Six innings. Didn’t hurt himself: 3.3 pitches per batter, 65% for strikes, and zero walks alllowed. You can’t ask for anything more than that from a guy in the back end of your rotation. In his big league career, Rasner now has a WHIP of 1.23 in 58.3 IP. He really hasn’t killed himself in the majors yet in terms of allowing baserunners.

By the way, is it just me, or could Rasner pass for Brian Austin Green after a long night out on the town?

May 4, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | 1 Comment

May 3rd vs. The Mariners

This, is why, you should never bet on baseball. (Well, this, and, the fact that it could screw you out of getting into Cooperstown, even if you have 4,256 career big league hits.)

Coming into this game, who would have thought that the Yankees would have 15 runners reach base against “King” Felix Hernandez in less than six innings? Granted, it was mostly the guys who have been doing it all season long so far for New York - Damon, Melky, and Matsui - yet, still, that’s not something that you would normally predict to happen in a match-up like this one.

And, how about Mike Mussina? To be honest, Moose has made seven starts now this season and the only ones that were “bad” were the two against the Red Sox. Outside of those two Boston games, he’s been quite good.

Could this be shades of 2006 - the last time Mussina was very good (and also in the walk-year of his contract)? Hey, if it takes a carrot on a stick to make it happen, given the state of Yankees starting pitching this season, who cares what the root cause is…as long as Mussina keeps stringing together starts like this one today?

Lastly, another bad day at the plate for both Giambi and Cano. I have to wonder: Has there ever been a baseball team, all-time, who has had the entire right-side of their infield batting less than .160 - thirty-two games into the season (where both guys were full-time players)? I have no idea on the answer to that one. But, if it’s not the first time, I can’t imagine it’s happened too many other times.

May 3, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | 4 Comments

May 2nd vs. The Mariners

I said it last August, but, it bears repeating again:

Wednesday may be Sundae at Carvel, but, in Yankeeland, Worm Killer Wang day is winner day.

Only three earned runs for the Yankees offense today. And, Wanger made it hold up - with some help from the pen. And, I’ll confess, heading into the 8th inning, I was somewhat nervous about this one - given the way things have been going lately in Yankeeland.

But, maybe today’s a sign of better days to come? Bobby Murcer returned to the Stadium. Kyle Farnsworth actually looked impressive…hey, you know me, always looking for the half of the glass that’s full. [wink]

By the way, that Seattle reliever who allowed the Yankees to open up their lead in the 8th, Ryan Rowland-Smith, well, did you know that he’s the first player in big league history to have a hyphenated last name? Maybe that means nothing to some. But, to me, that’s pretty noteworthy. Then again, I’m still somewhat bothered by the fact that more people don’t remember that Charlie O’Brien was the first catcher to wear the hockey-style catcher’s mask that so many use today.

Speaking of pen men….Joba and Mo…man, they’re like Bacardi and Cola - they get the job done.

Lastly, speaking of booze commercials stuck in your head, anyone else have the hook from this one sticking in their head like an Ear-Worm from Perdition?

May 2, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | Leave a Comment

May 1st vs. The Tigers

Ian Kennedy.
Jonathan Albaladejo. Chris Britton.

A Not Ready For Prime-Time Player and Two Tons of Fun.

Actually, I can see where some may say that Ian Kennedy was not helped by Bobby Abreu on that Cabrera triple in the third. But, at the end of the day, Ian threw too many pitches and did not complete enough innings.

I’m starting to think that Kennedy is on the Ryan Bradley train. (Bradley was a 1997 first-rounder signed by New York. In 1998, he was rushed from Single-A, to Double-A, to Triple-A, and then to the majors to work in the Yankees pen. After five games in the majors, he was toast. Four years later, at the age of 26, he was out of baseball.)

Maybe it’s time to send Kennedy down to Triple-A to log more innings at that level? If you have to replace him with Kei Igawa, could Igawa do any worse than Ian’s been doing?

Lastly, to that picture on the right. Yes, that’s Claude Rains as the Yankees offense. Invisible.

Watching this team play tonight, well, it was like watching the 1988 Yankees play. Seriously, the team has that type of feel to it. (And, for the record, Dave Eiland and Bobby Meacham were on the ‘88 Yanks, so, maybe that has something to do with it?)

And, General Joe? He must feel like he’s playing wet nurse to a last-place, dead-to-the-neck-up ball club, and choking to death. And, if not, he should.

May 1, 2008 | Filed Under Game Commentary 05/08 | 5 Comments