Daily Archives: September 14, 2004

Yankees 4, Royals 0

The Yankees got their first look at Zach Greinke tonight, and man, he was impressive. Greinke is a good-looking kid with blond hair. He looks more like a surfer or a skate board kid than a pitcher. (Actually, he reminds me a bit of a young Mark Langston.) A right-hander with a simple, direct motion, the ball comes out of Greinke’s hand easily. He is composed and cool on the mound, keeping his fastball down in the strike zone for the most part; the kid has an effective change up and a very nasty slow breaking ball. In the first inning, Greinke threw Jeter a full-count fastball and Jeter lined out sharply to short. Rodriguez followed and he saw the breaking ball on a full count, got way ahead of it, and popped out to left. The YES cameras showed Jeter in the dugout laughing at his pal. Say what you will about Jeter, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a player of his caliber enjoy himself as much, or laugh and smile as much as he does.

Greinke and Mike Mussina engaged in a pitcher’s duel through the first five innings. They were both in control; Mussina was more efficient (he threw 97 pitches on the night). With two men out in the top of the fifth, Bernie Williams

It’s about 45 minutes before the Yanks and Royals start tonight’s game. I’m at home in the Bronx and there is a distinct chill in the air. The temperature has cooled and it feels like the playoffs, man. You know how you used to associate the smells and sounds of spring with the end of the school year, anxiety about tests, and just wishing you could be outside, back when you were a kid? Well, these days Yankee fans can only think of one thing when the cooler autumn weather rolls around: their team will be in the playoffs. Of course there is a slight chance that they won’t make it this year, but let’s not dwell on the negative. The weather in New York City tonight reminded me of just how fortunate we’ve been

The Good Book

The latest edition of Steven Goldman’s Pinstriped Bible is out this afternoon. Needless to say, it is required reading for any serious Yankee fan.

Do You Remember?

Jim Gerard, a frequent reader of Bronx Banter is writing a book about the Yankees. He’s dedicating one chapter to Yankee lowlights–Dark Days for Yankee fans. If you’ve got any cherce memories, Jim would appreciate an e-mail. (The first thing that comes to mind was when Bobby Meacham hit a homer and then ran past the runner ahead of him on base and was called out…I can’t recall the year, but at some pernt during the mid eighties.) In particular, Jim is looking for Yankee fans to write in and discuss what they feel were the worst, most painful losses in franchise history, and why. For me the most painful loss was the 1981 World Series simply because the Yankees played so well in Game One and Game Two, and so thoroughly lousy in Games Three, Four and Five out in Los Angeles. Also, if anybody has any remembrances of what it was like to be a Yankee fan during the dark CBS days of the mid-60s through the early 70s, they can pass those along, too. You can reach Jim at: jgerard@nyc.rr.com. Thanks.

The Book is The Thing

For those of you who are interested, Buster Olney and Alan Schwarz will be at the Yogi Berra Museum in the near future to talk about their new books. On Saturday, September 18th between 1-2 p.m., Buster will be there to discuss “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty.” Alan Schwarz will be talking about “The Numbers Game” on Saturday, October 16th between 1-2 p.m.

Chivalry Ain’t Dead

Last night I was riding the 7th avenue IRT uptown. A few stops before I was going to get off a woman came on the train and stood in front of me. Without thinking, I asked her if she would like to sit and gave up my seat for her. The woman sitting next to her looked at me incredulously. “Are you from New York?” she asked. “Born and raised,” I said. “Wow.” People always seem suprised to discover that there are nice people in the world. I’m not saying I’m a saint. I don’t always give up my seat for a woman, or an older person, but I do it more often than not. According to an article in the Times today, I’m not alone.

Funny thing is when I got back to the Bronx later in the evening, I jumped on the bus to get home. As I approached the back, which was crowded, I saw a heavy-set bald dude sitting in a seat, with his gym bag in the seat next to him. This kind of casual arrogance annoys me to no end. I said excuse me to him and motioned that I wanted to sit. He made a comment under his breath, but I chose ignore it. He was sitting in a bulldog position, still trying to take up both seats, just looking for a fight. I wasn’t interested, but when I walked off the bus, I looked back and him, smiled and shook my head. As I walked away I caught his eye again and smiled.

So early this morning I’m walking to the subway and I’ve got my earphones on when who should slide next to me but Boris, the killer bald dude. It took me a second to register who he was, and he waited for it to dawn on me. Satisfied that I did remember him, he goes, “What were you smiling at last night?” Now, I’m half-asleep, and not prepared for a confrontation. So I say, “I was smiling because I thought you made a remark.” He goes, “I did. I said there were other seats you could have sat in.” “Yo man, the bus was crowded, what do you want from me? It was a misunderstanding.” And with that he let it drop. I think he was happy enough to sneak up on me and catch me off-guard. Dude was a total bully. Big, thick, tough guy.

And me being a nice guy, I spent the rest of the morning upset at myself for not being present enough to tell the guy off. Not to get in a fight, but to simply say, “It’s a public bus.” And just walk away. To stand up for myself instead of blurting out that it was a misunderstanding. I hope to be more prepared for the next time. Man, sometimes I’m just too damn sensitive. Even for a New Yorker. Ahh, what are you gunna do?

I checked in with the baseball journalist Pat Jordan yesterday. Pat lives in Florida with his wife and their dogs. I wondered how theyíve been holding up under all the brutal weather. Pat replied, “Susie and I and the dogs drank a our way through Frances and are going to drink our way through Ivan. The shutters have been up for two weeks now and it’s like living in a cage. Still, a small price to pay for Paradise.” Jordan is a huge fan of Miami football and is still riding high since the Caines beat Florida State last weekend. I can hardly relate since Iím not a college football guy. Instead, I pressed him for his take on whatís wrong with Javier Vazquez. As usual, Pat, a former pitching prospect for Braves, pulled no punches.

Pat Jordan: Vazquez is throwing across his body, like many left-handers do. He’s following through towards third base and not first base. When a righty follows through, his left leg and left shoulder should be pulling toward a left-handed batter, which generates power with his right arm. When a righty follows through towards a right-handed batter, all his power is spent and he’s just flinging the ball with his arm.

BB: Three starts ago Jim Kaat spoke about balance on the broadcast. He said one simple exercise for a pitcher is for him to look at himself in the mirror and balance himself on his back leg for as long as possible. YES then showed a replay of Vazquez who looked like he was leaning about a foot forward off the mound. Are these kind of mechanical problems a result of anything mental? For instance, is Vazquez trying too hard and therefore rushing himself?

Jordan: Kaat is absolutely right. If a pitcher has proper balance he can stand in that one-legged Flamingo pose all day. Vazquez, can’t because his body is already leaning toward third base or a right handed batter, and he’s rushing to throw the ball before he falls to his right. It took me months when I was coming back to pitch at 56 to be able to stand on one leg without wobbling. Your weight has to be perpendicular, going down from head to toe. If your weight is off, like Vazquezís is, leaning to his right, you can’t sustain your motion and you rush your pitch. These problems are not mental, simple to correct. I’ve done it with l4 year old kids. It’s not a case of trying to hard it’s just bad mechanics obvious to anyone except the Yankee brain trust.

BB: Also, I’ve noticed that Vazquez just can’t put guys away. It seems that he gets hurt–especially with the long ball–when he’s ahead on the count, 0-2, 1-2. Is that a case of him trying to make a perfect pitch or what?

Jordan: The reason Vazquez gets hurt 0-2 is cause he can’t generate best stuff by pulling his upper body to his left, where his shoulder, not arm, generates speed. It’s the shoulder where the power comes from. No one throws hard who uses only the arm. Go look at old photos of Koufax in his motion. As a let, his right shoulder is pulled far to his right and almost touching the ground, which, in turn, elevates his left arm and gives it speed. But what the fuck do I know? I’m only a half-ass writer.

BB: How much influence does Mel Stottlemyre have on his pitching staff? As much of a Yankee icon as Stottlemyre is, heís been criticized for not getting the most out of his pitchers.

Jordan: There, my diagnosis. I could do a better job than Stottlemeyre. If he’s such a great pitching coach why do the Yankees send their troubled pitchers to Tampa to work with Billy Connors? The only reason Bill Connors is not the Yanks pitching coach is because he’s too fat, not the proper Yankee image. Iíve forgotten more about pitching that Stottlemeyre will ever know. I was the one who wanted to raise Weaver’s arm motion about 30 degrees so his fastball would sink more to lefties. The Dodgers did it and he’s having a good year. Why didn’t the Yankees do it? Cause they’re lazy. They buy guys and let them play. The have no concept of teaching or refining talent. They’re stagnating. Torre could let the Paul OíNeill guys just play because they were smart and corrected their flaws themselves. These guys are clueless, and need help. But again, what the fuck do I know?

“I’m a positive person, but after a while it was hard to be positive. We were beating ourselves, basically.” Joe Torre (N.Y. Daily News)

The Yankees were smoked by the Royals in Kansas City last night by the tune of 17-8. The offense hit the ball hard but could not capitalize early on. Then the Royals–a bunch of hackers who were swinging from their heels starting in the first inning–scored ten runs in the fifth against Brad Halsey, Taynon Sturtze (wild pitch, balk, walk, dinger) and Brett Prinz. If that wasn’t bad enough, Paul Quantrill and Felix Heredia–pitchers the Yankees will actually need come October–were rocked two innings later for five runs. Who were those imposters wearing Yankee uniforms last night?

This one felt worse than the 22-0 loss to the Indians. The Yankees weren’t just flat, they were pathetic. I’m sure I’m overreacting, but it was a disconcerting game to watch. And for some reason I sat through the whole thing, which makes me either incredibly loyal, amazingly stupid, or positively masochistic. The Yankees are now three games up on the Red Sox–who were idle–but just two ahead in the loss column.