Daily Archives: March 7, 2006

The Yankees evened their spring record yesterday by shutting out the grieving Twins 5-0.

Lineup:

Kevin Thompson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Hideki Matsui DH
Jorge Posada C
Andy Phillips 1B
Melky Cabrera RF
Russ Johnson 3B
Felix Escalona SS
Chris Prieto LF

Subs: Eric Duncan 1B, Ramiro Pena SS, Kevin Howard 3B, Omir Santos C, Mitch Jones DH

Pitchers: Shawn Chacon, Sean Henn, Mariano Rivera, Kyle Farnsworth, Ron Villone, Matt Smith

Big Hits: A two-run, two-out, first-inning homer by Jorge Posada (2 for 3) off Brad Radke, doubles by Matsui (2 for 3, his third two-bagger of the spring, Matsui made his first out of the spring today) and Kevin Howard (1 for 2).

Who Pitched Well: Everybody. Aggregate line: 9 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K. Chacon went three innings giving up a triple to Torii Hunter, a single and striking out two. Mariano Rivera needed just six pitches to get three outs in his spring debut and still managed to ring up a strikeout.

Ouchies: As expected Giambi (calf) and Sheffield (hamstring) did not play. Sheffield took batting practice and said he could have played. Giambi didn’t take BP, but stretched with the team and worked out in the weight room. Both are day-to-day. Bubba Crosby (finger) will take BP today and is hoping to return to action by Friday. Russ Johnson left the game early due to a back problem.

WBC: Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez–batting first, second and fourth respectively–all went 1 for 3 for the US. Damon’s hit was a triple. Jeter made a throwing error. Bernie Williams went 2 for 3 from the leadoff spot for Puerto Rico by doubling then driving in the winning run with a single.

By now, most of you have heard about the revelations about Barry Bond’s steroid use published in Sports Illustrated. Those come courtesy of an excerpt from Game of Shadows by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, the two San Francisco Chronicle reporters who chased down the BALCO story beginning in the fall of 2003.

Once you get your full of Bonds’ juicing regime, might I recommend you turn to Howard Bryant’s Juicing the Game, which puts Bonds, BALCO, and Williams and Fainaru-Wada into context by telling the entire history of steroid use in baseball and the resulting scandal. Juicing the Game, which I edited, is now available in paperback with a new epilogue covering the 2005 season and the Palmeiro revelations. If you need further convincing, check out Alex’s objective review of the hardcover.

Since I’m on the topic of books I helped bring into existence, I will be appearing at Coliseum Books this Saturday at 6pm with Steven Goldman and Christina Kahrl to promote Baseball Prospectus 2006, to which I contributed the chapter on the Cleveland Indians.

Later that same night I’ll be switching gears to attend the book release party for the US edition of Simon Reynolds’ Rip It Up and Start Again, a history of postpunk music which I edited. The party may fill up, but it’s ostensibly open to the public, so come on out and boogie to some death disco

Finally, don’t forget to pre-order Alex’s biography of Curt Flood, Stepping Up, which is scheduled for release in two weeks.

While I’m at it, I should thank each and every one of you for your support of this site, which has made our participation in the above projects (Alex’s book and my BP chapter in particular) possible.

I was upset to hear the news about Kirby Puckett yesterday. Man, 45 is just too young. I was 13-years old when he broke in with the Twins and remember him vividly as an energetic and enthusiastic player. In recent years, a darker, more disturbing side of Puckett was revealed, which underscores not only how human athletes are, but how different they can be from their public persona, and how difficult it is for many of them to adjust to life after the game. Puckett’s post-baseball life was evidentally a struggle filled with pain. It got me to thinking, “What if a guy like Derek Jeter ended up in a similar fashion?” It’s almost impossible to believe right now–and I say almost, because, really, there isn’t much left to shock us these days–but anything can happen right?

Ultimately, I think that Puckett will be best remembered for what he did on the field. I hope the same can be said for the Yankee Captain, who was the subject of a puff piece by Don Amore this morning, but you never know:

“You’re talking to a huge Jeter fan,” said J.P. Ricciardi, GM of the Blue Jays. “If you throw out the numbers of everything he’s done, he plays the game the right way. We tell our young players, `Watch the way Jeter plays and try to be like him.’ He doesn’t talk a lot of crap. He’s the kind of guy, if he were playing in Yankee Stadium and there was nobody in the ballpark, he would still play hard.”

Joe Dimaggio never understoood or appreciated the reference Simon and Garfunkel made to him in “Mrs. Robinson.” It’s okay that he didn’t get it, because so many other people did recognize that Dimaggio stood for something, a sensibility, a period of time. Jeter is someone who could wind up in a song like that one day too, don’t you think?

Pete Abraham, the Yankee beat writer for the Journal News recently launched a Yankee-blog of his own. It’s quickly become a daily stop for me, as Abraham offers some insider tidbits and observations that most of us bloggers just aren’t privy to. If you haven’t already, consider making The LoHud Yankees Blog part of your regular Yankee rotation–and feel free to drop Abraham a line and let him know what you’d like to see from his blog as the season unfolds.