Daily Archives: April 12, 2004

Just some quick thoughts here:

–Just how aesthetically appealing is the idea of watching G. Anderson and my man, Vlad Guerrero hit back-to-back? Anderson’s swing is smooth like butter, while Vlad looks like he’s trying to chop down a redwood with each hack. I love the contrast. Angel fans will love the results.

–I caught the highlight of Albert Pujols’ home run off of Randy Johnson yesterday. How many guys can catch up to a fastball that high over the plate? It reminded me of a couple of the shots George Brett hit off Goose Gossage back in the day.

–I saw Cliff Floyd strain his right quad running to first base yesterday. What a shame. The guy can’t seem to stay healthy. My girlfriend Emily likes his name but says it has too many “f’s” in it. She pronounces it, “Cli’ Fffloyd.” And how about Piazza getting run over at first base? That was fugly.

–My man Richie Allen chimes in from the other side of the Atlantic with an interesting look at the troubled, but talented slugger, Dick Allen. Stop by and give it a look.

–Former Yankee pitcher Andy Pettitte was placed on the 15-day DL on Saturday. Accoring to Lee Sinins:

Pettitte suffered a strained left elbow while checking his swing in his Astros debut. There had been rumors that the Yankees were concerned about his elbow. Pettitte seems to deny that the Yankees were concerned, stating that “They offered me $40 million over three years. If they thought I had that bad of an elbow, why would they offer me that?” On the other hand, Pettitte claimed he received multiple offers and the Yankees were by far the lowest. So, if he is to be believed, what would appear to be a big offer would in fact be a lowball one.

—William Rhoden had a nice piece on Barry Bonds and his godfather, the King of Cool, Willie Mays on Saturday. Worth a peek.

—Rich Lederer takes a close look at Scott Rolen’s Hall of Fame chances this week at Rich’s Weekend Baseball BEAT. Rolen may not be Mike Schmidt, but he’s no slouch either.

–Not for nothing, but it’s painful to see Hideki Matsui batting in front of Jorge Posada. It’s tough seeing him hit any higher than seventh in the order for that matter.

Day off for the Yanks today, then two games at the stadium vs. the Rays in the middle of the week. Tampa will face Kevin Brown for the third time this season. Then it is on to Boston. I wonder if Rodriguez will break out of his early season slump then?

It was a chilly, overcast Easter Sunday in New York. I was at my mom’s for the holiday, and when I turned the game on, the White Sox had just scored their third run of the first inning. It’s going to be another long day, I shrugged. But Mike Mussina settled down, allowing just one more run after the first, and he pitched well enough to finally earn his 200th career victory. He wasn’t brilliant, but yesterday’s performance was an improvement over his first two starts.

The Yankee offense showed some signs of life as Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield each collected two hits, but the story of the day was rookie Bubba Crosby who made a pair of nice “Pete Reiser” catches at the wall in center (thank goodness for the padding, huh?), and hit a big three-run homer. The home run knocked off the facade of the upper deck in right field, and Crosby knew it was gone once it left the bat. He even held his right arm out, frozen for just a moment, after he swung, to style the homer properly.

A folk hero is born in the Bronx. Kenny Lofton has to deal with this? Good luck, Kenny. Crosby may find himself on the Columbus Express this summer, but he’s already got a following at the Stadium and in the press.

It was good to see Sheffield get a couple of hits. He doubled home the winning run. He also smacked a single to center that was hit so hard that the center fielder had to make a diving stop as if he were an infielder. Yikes.

The Red Sox won in extra innings yesterday on David Ortiz’s solo blast over the Green Monster. Curt Schilling made his Fenway Park debut as a Red Sox. Boston played several exciting games last week, picking up where the 2003 team left off.

The drama continues this coming weekend when the Yankees play four in Boston. I talk about the rivalry again this week over at The Hardball Times with Ben Jacobs, filling in for Larry Mahnken, who will return next week just in time for all the juicy stuff.