Daily Archives: June 4, 2003

PUT A CORK IN IT

For the lowdown on the Sammy Sosa situation, look no further than Christain Ruzich’s great blog, The Cub Reporter.

YOUR AVERAGE JOE

David Pinto, over at Baseball Musings has some interesting comments about Yankee manager Joe Torre:

I remember a few years ago asking a fan who they thought was the best manager in the game. They said Joe Torre. (At the time, Davey Johnson was still in the game.) I asked why, and this fan said because he had won big with the Yankees. I then asked if he thought this before Torre was with the Yankees, and the answer was no. And I think that’s the right answer.

Joe Torre has managerial skills that work great when he has talented, intelligent, self motivated players. In that case, all he has to manage is their personalities. But when he has players who actually need to be coached, who need strategy laid out for them, who need a field general, he’s not very good. So Steinbrenner is calling him on it. Good for Steinbrenner for not being fooled by the reasons for success. As usual, George isn’t going about it very nicely and he’s going to alienate all the Torre fans, but in the end, Torre has to keep the Yankees winning to keep his job. He’s lasted longer than anyone else, but it very well might be time for a change.

Torre sure looked like a better manager when he had guys Paul O’Neill, Rock Raines, Chili Davis and Mike Stanton running his clubhouse, that’s for sure. Who is running the Kangaroo court for the Yanks these days anyhow? Captain Jeter? Robin Ventura? Giambi? How much money in fines have Lil’ Sori and Mondesi forked over lately?

CORKY

Sammy Sosa’s bat split in the first inning of the Cubs-D-Rays game last night, and it turns out the bat was corked. Let the scandal begin. I don’t have much of a negative reaction to this sort of thing. In fact, my first instinct is to feel badly that Sosa’s reputation will take a a big hit here, even if it’s deserved. I have one question: Is a batter corking a bat any worse than a pitcher scuffing a baseball? I have already read that Sosa corking his bat is worse than when Graig Nettles or Albert Belle corked theirs, because he is a greater player. But have Gaylord Perry or Whitey Ford’s reputations been sullied significantly by the fact that they threw illegal pitches? And will this hurt Sosa more because he is a Black Latin player?

BIG CRUD MACHINE

Derek Jeter was named the 11th captain in Yankees history before the game last night. Jeter who is famous for his heady play, is looking a lot dumber these days because of the sloppy play of his teammates.

Watching the Yankees play another careless game last night, it occured to me that they simply aren’t a very smart team right now. Baseball smart that is. It doesn’t mean they aren’t likable, or that they aren’t talented—or that they won’t eventaully be able to cover their mistakes—it just means they don’t play smart, sound baseball. The Reds were less than bright as well, but they had enough to notch another 9th inning victory, beating the Yanks 4-3. Anotonio Osuna-or-later took the loss.

The game is what Whitey Herzog would call horseshit baseball, and there was plenty to go around. Both teams made mistakes on the bases and in the field. Felipe Lopez couldn’t lay down a sacrifice bunt, and then down 0-2 took 3 straight balls before swinging and missing at ball 4; Junior Griffey forgot to advance a base on a wild pitch. The Reds scored their first run because Alfonso Soriano could not turn a double play; they tied the game with two more runs due to two wild pitches and a throwing error from Andy Pettitte, who otherwise pitched a good game.

The most frustrating inning for the Yankees was the 6th. After Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada walked to open the inning, Robin Ventura swung at a 3-0 pitch and popped out to the catcher. Horseshit. Raul Mondesi followed with a single to center, scoring Giambi. Juan Rivera was walked to load the bases for Andy Pettite, who remarkably slapped a breaking pitch into shallow center for a single. Posada scored, but Mondesi inexplicably over ran third base and was picked off for the second out (he had his head down all the way and didn’t even look at third base coach Willie Randolph). Horseshit. Derek Jeter grounded out to end the frame. Pettitte gave both runs back in the bottom of the inning.

Yankee fans have been spoiled by a series of championship teams who always seemed to do ‘the little things.’ It was the other teams that made stupid mistakes, and it was the Yankees who made them pay for it. This is not the same Yankee team. They are more talented—and they may even be more likable, depending on your taste—but they are dumber too. No wonder Boss George is pulling out all the PR stunts he can muster to make the Yankees still look like their old selves. If they don’t smarten up soon, the bellowing from the Boss could threaten to sap out all the fun from the 2003 Yankee season.

The best part of watching the game last night was getting to hear part-time YES announcer Paul O’Neill bust Michael Kay’s chops all night. Keep em coming Paul.