Daily Archives: April 23, 2003

HURTIN’

This morning I sent Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus an e-mail asking him what we should make of the Steve Karsay situation. Yesterday, the Times reported that he would likely miss the remainder of the season, but after his visit with Dr. James Andrews, the reports today are that he’ll be okay….when we don’t know. I’m not the swiftest cat on the block when it comes to sports medicine so I asked Will why Karsay would need two cortisone shots.

He replied:

[Karsay] needed relief in two distinct areas. NEVER a good sign and one that they’re already thinking he’s at significant risk. Still, it’s just inflammation and not something surgical so there’s still a chance he’ll come back. Give him a week’s rest and he can pick up his rehab again. Chance of recurrence? 100%.

Meanwhile, things are sure looking bleak over at Shea these days. David Cone left last night’s game vs. the Astros after two innings with a gimpy hip, and to make matters worse, Jeromy Burnitz suffered a broken hand late in the game when he was nailed by a 97mph Billy Wagner pitch. Naturally, Burnitz had been the hottest hitter on the team.

I caught some of the game on TV last night, and after Cone was yanked, Mex Hernandez was talking about how it’s probably time for Cone to hang it up. The announcers didn’t know why Cone had been pulled from the game at that point, so I don’t know if Mex changed his tune when he learned that Cone had been hurt. But I would doubt it.

Cone, one of the all-time stand-up guys, spoke with the media following the game:

“I don’t think I can answer all the questions tonight,” Cone said in reference to inquiries about a possible trip to the disabled list. “All I can say is I’m not ready to give up. It certainly was disappointing tonight. I know everybody is wondering if I can go on – or what I have left. Those are all legitimate questions. I certainly think about those things myself. But I showed enough in spring training, threw the ball well in my first start. And I know something is still there. I still believe I can help the team. I still believe I can win games. But tonight was a big setback. It’s something I’m going to have to think long and hard about.”

The Wilpons (Jeff and his father Fred) are going to have to think long and hard about the future of their team. I thought that Steve Phillips should have been kicked to curb along with Bobby V last year, and if anything good comes out of another misbegotten season at Shea, it will be the firing of the GM. Steve Keane, who runs The Eddie Kranpool Society, has been harping about Phillips for weeks now. For the skinny on the sorry sons of bitches from Queens, be sure and check out Steve’s blog, pronto.

JETER RE-INJURED

Yeah, my heart skipped a beat too, when I recieved an e-mail carrying this subject-heading yesterday. I should have known better when I saw that it was from my ol’ pal, Greg G, winner of the most obnoxious Yankee fan west of the Mississippi contest (and that’s saying something). Fortunately for the Anahiem faithful, Greg G will not be attending the Yankee-Angels series this week.

After I was finished cursing him out for fooling me with his phoney headline, I must say, his e-mail made me smile:

Did you hear about Jetes? He reinjured his shoulder diving headfirst into a supermodels thighs. He said he would retest his shoulder tomorrow, by diving headfirst into Miss America's buttocks.

AFTERMATH

Jose Contreras had a bullpen session for the Yankee brass in Tampa yesterday and is scheduled to pitch a simulated game on Thursday. If all goes well, Contreras will start next Tuesday night for the Columbus Clippers. While George Steinbrenner has remained mum about the subject, Joe Torre has put his beef with George behind him:

“That’s as far as this is going,” he said. “Yesterday was our farewell swan song for that.”

Mike Lupica spoke with former Yankee manager Dallas Green, who clashed plenty with George during his stint at the helm of the Bombers in 1989. Here is Green’s take on the Torre-George affair:

I feel as if I know JoeTorre pretty well, and it must have taken a hell of a lot for him to take whatever beef he has with Steinbrenner this far. Particularly because he’s been the one guy in all of history who’s been able to work hand in hand with George, or at least the job George wants done with the Yankees.”

“One more thing,” Dallas Green, now a senior adviser with the Phillies, says. “Joe Torre is not an easygoing guy, even if he comes across that way. He is a tough guy. A tough, quiet, tough guy. If he thinks he’s right and you’re wrong, he’s not going to let go. It’s why I believe that eventually he’ll have a face-to-face with George and get this straightened out, at least for the time being. After the season? I don’t know.

“I keep hearing he won’t ever walk away from his contract. I have a feeling Joe’s got enough by now. And after this season, he might have reached the point where he feels as if he’s done enough. And as if he’s had enough.”

We will be hearing that this is Joe’s last year for the next six months, so we had better get used to it. Still, Green hit the nail on the head when he said:

…”Maybe it was as simple as him sending a message to his players at the same time he was sending one to George,” Green says. “There’s always the understanding, in every single clubhouse, that the clubhouse is for or against the manager. I’d assume that clubhouse is stronger than ever now for Mr. Torre.”

At 17-3: mission accomplished, thus far.

YANKS BOMB WORLD CHAMPS

Since I get up at six a.m. during the week, there is no way I’m going to catch any of the Yankees-Angels series. I can’t just catch the first few innings, because no matter what’s happening, I’ll get too worked up to fall asleep. Traditionally, west coast swings have been murder for the Bronx Bombers, so I have no qualms about holding out until the morning, and discovering the results on the backpage of the tabloids on my way to the subway.

Having said that, you can imagine the spring in my step this morning when I read that the Yanks rolled over the World Champs, 8-3 last night in California. Last week, a reporter asked Joe Torre if he looked at this series as a rematch of last year’s playoffs. Torre said, “Let me ask you a question: If we sweep them, do we get their World Series rings?”

Still, the Yankees manager admitted:

“It’s not just another series,” Torre said. “You’re playing the world champions. These guys manhandled us.”

Bernie Williams had two hits and two RBI, “the freak” Soriano had two hits again (and so did Giambi), and Jorge Posada added a home run to keep the conga-line moving along. Jeff Weaver wasn’t sharp, but he pitched well enough to earn the victory. Yankee starters are now 15-0.

Antonio Osuna left the game in the 8th inning with a leg injury. The morning papers didn’t know the seriousness of the injury. In related news, the Times reports:

Reliever Steve Karsay, who cut short a bullpen session on Monday, saw Dr. James Andrews on Tuesday in Birmingham, Ala., and received two cortisone shots in his right shoulder. Andrews found no damage to the rotator cuff, and Karsay will resume his throwing program after resting for five days. “You couldn’t ask for better news, considering how long we’ve gone with this thing,” Manager Joe Torre said. “It was worrisome.”

I will put in a call to the injury guru Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus and see what he makes of the latest news on Karsay.