Daily Archives: September 7, 2007

I felt as sure that the Yankees would win the last two games of the Seattle series, and they did just that, but with the memory of last weekend’s weak-ass showing against the Devil Rays still fresh, I’m on the fence about whether I think the Yankees will win this series against the Royals. It’s the start of a nine-game road trip, the Blue Jays and Red Sox looming. I’m actually feeling that they are going to lose two-of-three, and I’m not trying to be dramatic, either.

I don’t know much about the Royals but I do know that they’ve been competitive. They are throwing three pretty good pitchers at the Yanks this weekend, I know that much. It’s just that I’m not convinced the Yankees can bring their A-game to a so-so team on a regular basis.

Show us you are a playoff team. You know what I’m saying? C’mon already. I know we’re impatient, I know we’re demanding. Just win already and we’ll leave you alone.

With Cliff still away on vacay, I was fortunate enough to get acclaimed sports writer Joe Posnanski–whose wonderful blog, The Soul of Baseball, quickly became a must-read this season–to share his thoughts on the Royals with us. Enjoy.

The KC Royals

By Joe Posnanski.

Since May 12, the Royals have played exactly .500 baseball — they are 51-51. This probably doesn’t seem the kind of record that would prompt a ticker-tape parade, but hey it has been bad around here. The Royals are one win away from clinching a non-100 loss season. When you’ve lost 100 games four out of five years, you take your small victories when you can get them.

The exciting part about the Royals recent solid play is that they are doing it with kids. The Royals one moment of promise in the last 15 or so years happened in 2003 when they got off to the amazing 16-3 start and were in first place most of the season. But they did that mostly with veterans — Mike Sweeney, Raul Ibanez, Carlos Beltran, Brian Anderson, Jose Lima (!), Curt Leskanic, etc. — and any clear-eyed observer would have known that it could not last. Of course, the Royals had been so bad for so long that many of us DID think it would last, then Ibanez signed elsewhere, Beltran was traded, Sweeney got hurt, the others got old, and the Royals lost 210 games the next two seasons.

This time around, at least, it’s the kids sparking the resurgence. It begins with rookie starter Brian Bannister, who came over from the Mets in the Ambiorix Burgos deal. I am so rarely right about anything, but, man, I nailed that deal. I heard from all my New York friends when Burgos showed up at spring training throwing 100 mph, looking great. I said: “Just wait.” Burgos, as predicted, couldn’t throw strikes, couldn’t get anybody out and blew out his arm. Have fun with that guy.

Meanwhile, Bannister has been terrific — to me, he’s the American League rookie of the year right now. You could argue for Dustin Pedroia, I suppose, but at this point I still like Bannister. For so long people were ready to hand the award to Dice-K. Look at their numbers now:

Bannister: 12-7, 3.16 ERA, 151 ERA+, league is hitting .242 against him.
Matsuzaka: 14-11, 4.11 ERA, 111 ERA+, league is hitting .246 against him.

So it starts with Bannister. He will throw this weekend. Then, you throw in rookie closer Joakim Soria, who has been electric all year — the league is hitting .192 against him. Yankees fans will, I think, see similarities between him and Mariano. I’m not comparing the two at all, obviously. I’m saying that Soria obviously idolizes Rivera because he has patterned his setup and delivery after the guy. At times, if you look away from the screen and look back quickly, they look identical. Try it! It’s fun!

Then there are the two rookie hitters — Alex Gordon and Billy Butler. Gordon started off the season horribly — on June 6 he was hitting .173. Since then he’s hitting right at .300 with some power, and it’s clear watching him play that he pattered HIS game after George Brett.

Billy Butler is just a stud. No other way to say it. He’s 21 years old, his power isn’t in place yet, he has no position, but the guy can flat hit. If you took his stats from this year over a full season, you would come up with a .300 average, 40 or so doubles, 12 homers, between 90 and 100 RBIs — and this guy has no idea what he’s doing yet. A scout called me and said he’s the best young right handed hitter he’s seen since Manny Ramirez.

That’s four rookies, all contributing (five if you include shortstop Tony Pena, who really can’t hit and never walks but probably makes more good defensive plays than any other shortstop in the league). There are some other good signs too. Zack Greinke, after a couple of lost years, is back in the rotation and he has not given up a run in this stretch as a starter. Gil Meche, who was everybody’s favorite whipping boy when the Royals gave him $55 million over five years, has been solid (his 7-12 record doesn’t show it; his 3.85 ERA does). Mark Teahen has had an up-and-down year, but he’s a good player who can beat you a few different ways. Joey Gathright’s average had dropped a bit, but he’s beginning to figure out how to use his amazing speed. Longtime Royals icon Mike Sweeney is back with the team and has been hitting the ball hard again.

Point is there are signs of hope in Kansas City. It’s worth noting, however, that these signs of hope did not prevent the Yankees from destroying the Royals in the Bronx.

Ian Kennedy is on the mound tonight, making his second-career start. Gil Meche, winless in his last eight starts, goes for the Royals. Yanks have their work cut out as Meche is due for a turn in luck, but they are still supposed to win these games, yes?

Right. Exactly.

Would be great to see Rodriguez hit his 50th in KC.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

Hey, it’s Neidermeyer!

I have to confess I didn’t come up with this original thought; a baseball card dealer who was appraising my collection made the observation that this memorable Topps card (No. 670) made Ken Holtzman look like the sadistic character in Animal House, the 1978 cult film classic. The "real" Doug Niedermeyer, the evil ROTC leader, was played by talented character actor Mark Metcalf, who achieved lesser fame as "The Maestro" on two Seinfeld episodes and also played the father in the introduction to the video for Twisted Sister’s "We’re Not Going To Take It."

Holtzman’s 1972 Topps card, which was his first with the A’s, featured Oakland’s airbrushed green and gold colors over the cap and jersey of the Chicago Cubs. During the winter, the Cubs had traded the left-hander to the Bay, but Topps apparently did not have any updated photographs of Holtzman wearing an A’s uniform at the time of the card’s release. For Holtzman, the offseason trade turned out to the best of all possible career moves. The Cubs’ decision to trade him for outfielder Rick Monday freed Holtzman from the clutches of Chicago’s anti-Semitic manager, Leo Durocher; placed him in the pitcher-friendly environs of the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum; and allowed him to join a team on the verge of winning three consecutive World Championships. Holtzman certainly played a large role in Oakland’s championship run; as the No. 3 starter behind Jim "Catfish" Hunter and Vida Blue, Holtzman won a combined 59 games during his first three seasons in the Bay Area.

Of all the factors affecting Holtzman in Chicago, his relationship with Durocher seemed like the most detrimental. Though a serviceable pitcher with the Cubs, Holtzman sometimes struggled under the brutal management style of Durocher, whose antiquated way of dealing with players undermined the thoughtful left-hander’s performance. According to at least one writer, Durocher repeatedly made anti-Semitic slurs toward Holtzman, even calling him a "kike." Such bigotry didn’t completely end for Holtzman after his trade from Chicago; Billy Martin reportedly expressed anti-Semitic views toward Holtzman when both toiled for the Yankees in 1976 and ’77.

Holtzman thrived pitching for Dick Williams and Alvin Dark during his Oakland says, but he and Martin did not mesh well in New York. While the actual existence and level of Martin’s anti-Semitism remains debatable, there is no debate over the fact that the manager buried the veteran left-hander. After the Yankees acquired Holtzman from the Orioles as part of a ten-man blockbuster in the middle of the 1976 season, he struggled in pinstripes to the tune of a 4.14 ERA, the highest since his Chicago days. Martin lost confidence in Holtzman quickly. In 1977, Martin called on Holtzman only 18 times, and only seven times as a starter. Martin refused to use him down the stretch in critical games. Despite being only 31 years old and only two seasons removed from status as an elite American League left-hander, Martin had about as much confidence in Holtzman as he did in Ken Clay. Or about as much as Yankee fans today have in Kyle Farnsworth.

Now it may not have been Martin working alone. According to some Yankee observers, George Steinbrenner was just as upset by Holtzman’s spotty performance in New York. Disappointed in his 1976 mid-season acquisition, Steinbrenner wanted to trade Holtzman, but there was the little matter of a "no-trade" clause. Holtzman refused to waive the no-trade, drawing the further wrath of The Boss. That decision, coupled with Holtzman’s status as the Yankees’ player rep, may have sent Steinbrenner to the stove. According to some, Steinbrenner ordered Martin to keep Holtzman chained to the bullpen. In contrast to requests to bat Reggie Jackson clean up, Martin was only too willing to acquiesce to Steinbrenner on the matter of burying Holtzman.

Essentially, Martin and Steinbrenner treated Holtzman as "worthless and weak," to borrow Neidermeyer’s favorite catch phrase in addressing his pathetic Animal House recruits. Unfortunately, Holtzman never recovered from the mistreatment. In June of 1978, the Yankees traded him to the Cubs for Ron Davis (now that was a good deal), but the left-hander didn’t come close to resembling his former Chicago self. By the end of the 1979 season, Holtzman was out of baseball, done at the age of 33.

Of course, it’s certainly possible that Holtzman’s early pitching demise resulted from a heavy workload. From 1968 to 1976, Holtzman pitched at least 215 innings per season, with the exception of one. And some of his innings pitched totals were astounding: 266, 287, and 297. I’m not doubting those numbers were a factor in his career decline, but I have to believe that Martin’s handling of Holtzman played a role, too. That kind of emotional damage—whether it’s inflicted by Niedermeyer or the bigots of the world—can be just as destructive as pitch counts and workloads in bringing a career to a premature halt.

Bruce Markusen writes "Cooperstown Confidential" for MLB.com and has authored eight books on baseball, including the upcoming release, Out of Left Field. He can be reached at bmark@telenet.net.

Where does Alex Rodriguez’s season rank amongst the greatest single seasons ever by a Yankee hitter? Well, according to OPS+, if the season ended today, he’d rank #25. Rodriguez currently sports an OPS+ of 183 (he had an OPS+ of 167 in his last MVP season, 2005). If he drops to 180, he’ll be in 30th place. Nothing but a bunch of guys name Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle and DiMaggio ahead of him on the list. But check out Bobby Murcer’s 1971 season, and Paulio O’s strike-shortened 1994 season, making to top 30.

(more…)

Joba Chamberlian’s father, Harlan, will be travelling from his home in Lincoln, Nebraska to Kansas City this weekend to see his son. According to the New York Post:

Harlan always believed in his son but even he is surprised by Joba’s meteoric rise in the Yankee bullpen. “It’s more astonishing than anything,” he said. “It’s beyond my wildest imagination. And as a father, I just want to reach out to my son and touch him.

“I just want to hold him for a few minutes. I’m more anxious to see my son right now than anything else. If he pitches, that’s frosting on the cake.”

Harlan has lived with polio since he was nine-years old.