Daily Archives: March 28, 2007

Darrell Rasner tried to give back the fifth starter’s spot, but forgot that there’s no one around to give it to . . . or is there?

Lineup:

L – Johnny Damon (CF)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Bobby Abreu (RF)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L – Jason Giambi (DH)
L – Hideki Matsui (LF)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
L – Doug Mientkiewicz (1B)

Pitchers: Darrell Rasner, Ron Villone, Sean Henn, Brian Bruney, Kyle Farnsworth, Luis Vizcaino

Subs: Miguel Cairo (2B), Chris Basak (SS), Carlos Mendoza (3B), Eduardo Nuñez (3B), Wil Nieves (PR/C), Kevin Thompson (RF), Kevin Reese (CF), Josh Phelps (DH)

Opposition: The Astros B-squad.

Big Hits: Doubles by Derek Jeter (1 for 4) and Jason Giambi (1 for 3). Bobby Abreu was 2 for 3 and drove in Jeter in the bottom of the first.

Who Pitched Well?: Kyle Farnsworth and Luis Vizcaino each threw perfect innings, though Farnsworth had the only strikeout between them.

Who Didn’t?: Brian Bruney allowed two runs on three hits in his lone inning of work, though he didn’t walk anybody. The big story though was the disaster outings by Darrell Rasner and Ron Villone. Villone faced three men, registered just one strike and gave up a four-pitch walk, a single, and a two-run triple, the last to an A-ball shortstop named Tommy Manzella. Darrell Rasner, meanwhile, gave up a whopping seven runs on nine hits, five of them for extra-bases, and two walks in 4 2/3 innings (Villone was supposed to get that last third, but, fittingly, passed the buck to Sean Henn, who allowed Manzella to score before getting that final out of the fifth). Among the hits allowed by Rasner were three doubles, a triple, and a home run, though all came off the bats of men who will head West with the major league team.

Oopsies: Hideki Matsui flubbed a ball in left.

Ouchies: Andy Pettitte threw 31 pitches in the bullpen yesterday, getting up to full speed and mixing in all of his pitches. He’ll throw a minor league game or a simulated game in Tampa today. Jeff Karstens will throw a bullpen today and says he doesn’t feel any discomfort in his elbow. The big injury news, however, took place outside of camp. Peter Abraham reports that J.B. Cox, who missed spring training because he broke his pitching hand in a fight, had a ligament in his pitching elbow repaired by Dr. James Andrews earlier this week. He could return to action at the end of the season, but any hope of him serving as a late-season reinforcement in the pen is gone. Abraham also reports that 2006 draftee Mark Melancon, a right-handed reliever out of the University of Arizona, had full-blown Tommy John surgery this winter.

Battles: Given Rasner’s poor outing, Jeff Karstens could still break camp with the team as the fifth starter if his bullpen work goes well. The team won’t need a fifth starter until a week from Sunday and could give Karstens an inning or two out of the pen early next week as part of his rehab. Meanwhile, Ron Villone remains in play despite all evidence to the contrary. After the game, Joe Torre said that Villone looks exactly like he did a year ago at the end of spring: “If he wasn’t here last year, then it would be tough to even consider him, but with what we know about him and know about his makeup and all that stuff, I think you still have to make a decision with that infumation being a part of it.” Brian Bruney had a bad outing. Wil Nieves went 0 for 2 with a strikeout. Josh Phelps made out in his only at-bat.

Notes: Mike Mussina will pitch in a minor league game today. The Yankees have called up Steven Jackson and Chase Wright to pitch the major league games in place of Mussina and Pettitte today and tomorrow.

By Emma Span

The day before I left New York to cover spring training, my editor at the Village Voice was abruptly fired. When I got back, I met the new editor for the first time… at which point he abruptly fired me, for reasons he declined to explain, other than that I wasn’t his “taste”. Ah, the thrilling world of print media! I knew I should’ve gone to law school.

In some ways, though admittedly not most, this is actually a bit of a relief: I could already feel, after only seven months on the job, some of the joy being sucked out of the game. Baseball writing is a grind, with few off days and very little time to relax, and sportswriters are quick to admit they’re not fans. (This Joel Sherman post is one of the more recent and, I think, honest examples, but almost any beat writer will echo these sentiments). Nor should they be: they’re supposed to be objective, and as Sherman says, his allegiance is to his column. But when you’re neutral, a baseball game becomes an exercise in aesthetics and plot points. It can still be a pleasure to watch, but it lacks the visceral emotional pull that draws many of us to sports in the first place.

Seeing the players off the field humanizes them – watching Mariano Rivera examine a pair of new sneakers, or Endy Chavez trying and failing to tie a tie, or Farnsworth, Bruney, and Proctor feeding the waterfowl. But the fact is that half the fun of rooting for baseball teams lies with the larger-than-life personalities and storylines. With a game every day, you need heroes and villains, not regular people (incredibly fit and staggeringly wealthy regular people, but you know what I mean) with their mundane complement of merits and flaws.

In many ways I was less disillusioned by the players than I expected to be – our culture takes a dim view of professional athletes these days, but almost everyone I talked to was at the very least polite (even when clearly sick of answering questions), and more than a few came across as intelligent and pleasant. But that’s not the point. The point is that if you’re going to spend three or four hours of your life watching a ball game, you want to cheer for your heroes – not the actual human beings, but your idea of them. Melky Cabrera the person seems like a good kid. I got to interview him through a translator this spring, and he spent most of the time smiling warmly and thanking God and Joe Torre – roughly an equal number of times, which I suppose is probably about right. But I still prefer the Melky of the popular imagination who sprang into the city’s collective consciousness last year.

Sometimes the real world is kind enough to give your imagination what it wants. One of the knocks against the Yankees in recent years has been that they don’t appear to be having much fun. Not a few pundits actually blamed the 2004 ALCS loss on this, though I’d argue that was due more to the Red Sox’s pitching, David Ortiz’s hitting, and Dave Roberts’ legs than any kind of magical positive attitude (FORP – Fun Over Replacement Player?). But as a fan, purely as regards entertainment value, it is generally more enjoyable to watch a group of guys who are having a good time themselves. I wouldn’t say that “fun-loving” is the precise word to describe those 1990s teams, but they did appear to genuinely like each other.

Last year, the Mets often seemed to have the Yankees beat by miles in that regard, but in Tampa this spring the Bombers looked as if they were catching up. I think partly that’s due to the youth influx – Cano and Cabrera together are an exuberant presence, even though (or maybe because) I usually can’t understand what they’re saying. But it’s also a deliberate effort: Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi, in particular, are making loosening up a priority.

“It’s been a slow turn but we’re definitely getting it,” said Giambi of the lightening clubhouse atmosphere. “When I first came over here it was just a different core of guys, they weren’t like that. They were more businesslike, which was great because it was successful for them, as far as winning four world championships… I mean they had fun, but they were a little more businesslike. Whereas Johnny and I are a little more-” he paused to find the right word, and succeeded – “slapdick.”

In the end, playing good baseball will make almost any group likeable. But as both juicy column material, and fodder for cheerfully irrational fandom, I say the more outsized personalities the better — the kind of personalities who can make an impression from a distance. Cano and Cabrera did this last year, and I believe Giambi can do it again, regardless of what kind of artificial help he may have had in the past. Matsui does it without the benefit of speaking English. And hell, Johnny Damon is the master. We’re down to the last vestiges of those 90s teams, if you’ll forgive me for referring to one of the greatest closers of all time as a vestige, and the Yankees need to forge a new identity for themselves. I just want it to be an engaging one — whether I end up watching this season from the press box, the stands, or the futon.

Emma Span is now a freelance writer, apparently, and lives in Brooklyn. She blogs about New York baseball at Eephus Pitch.