Daily Archives: May 7, 2008

I want to let you know that I’ve made mistakes in many columns I’ve written, for which I’m sorry. I’ve apologized to those editors, my family (my harshest editors), and when warranted, you, the reader. Like everyone, I have flaws. I make poor word choices at times, have typos and write grammatically incorrect sentences. I maintain, however, that I’ve never used steroids or Human Growth Hormone to write a Yankee Panky column for this Web site.

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Phew. Now that that’s out of the way, what did we do before the Internet? While away in Italy, with no game highlights to speak of aside from the UEFA Cup and ATP Tennis on CNN International, the only way to get any info on the Yankees was via cyberspace. Since my last post, top stories have ranged from Joe Girardi banning candy from the clubhouse to the extremes of a near automatic win when Chien-Ming Wang starts and a near automatic loss when the now defunct 4-5 combination of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy take the mound.

Now, it appears all the mainstreamers, for on-field matters anyway, are focusing on three key things: 

• How is Melky Cabrera leading the team in home runs? Joel Sherman’s Hardball blog addresses this question by comparing Cabrera’s statistics to those of Bernie Williams at the same stages of their careers. The offensive numbers are strikingly similar. The greatest difference is that at Age 23, Cabrera is a much better all-around ballplayer than Williams was.

• Why is Robinson Cano in the bottom three among qualified batters in average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage? Will he emerge from his slump? Tyler Kepner of the New York Times had a thorough take on the slump, and analysis from teammates, including Derek Jeter. The only thing missing was that Cano, after being called up in 2005, went 2-for his first 23 at-bats.

• The timer is on for Jason Giambi’s release. The Giambino is in a worse funk than Cano, except he doesn’t have youth on his side or an optimistic band of media types rooting for him in print. I noticed an interesting contradiction in reporting, most notably from the same paper. Sherman and George King, in the Post, had different takes. Sherman called Giambi’s continued presence in the lineup a "liability," while King showed the Yankees’ continued faith in the former MVP.

• Perusing YESNetwork.com, David Justice says the Yankees do not appear to be built for a championship. Also, Steven Goldman provides insight on the Hughes-Kennedy demotions as only he can.

OFF-DAY RECAP
Off-days are fun to devour as much information as possible from as many different outlets. You can tell which papers, TV and radio types are on the pulse of things and are dedicated to providing the most information possible. The Times had only one Yankees story, on Cano, while the Daily News had not only the continuing saga of Roger Clemens, but a great bit from former beat man Anthony McCarron on how the Yankees could approach transitioning Joba Chamberlain to the starting rotation. After another subpar eighth–inning performance against the Indians, it would not be surprising to see Big Stein the Younger issue a media manifesto calling for a Chamberlain change. The Post had a wide variety, including a feature on Derek Jeter’s captaincy and climb up the all-time Yankee ranks.

Newsday had an interesting recap of Joe Girardi’s week, which included a contentious Q&A with reporters. Is anyone else waiting for the rash of stories comparing the situation Girardi walked into here in New York to the one he left in Florida?

This week marked Round 1 of Torre vs. Randolph, the all-National League version. What were the odds of features being written about their prior stints with the Yankees, or Torre’s reactions to the rampant booing at Shea recently? Stay tuned for more of the same in three weeks, when the Dodgers come to Shea, with a smattering of Torre praise for Girardi.

YES, IT’S BOBBY MURCER
Friday night was a great night, not only for the Yankees’ victory, but to see and hear Bobby Murcer back in the broadcast booth. The man has endured several bouts of poor health in recent years and rebounded well. Five years ago, he had an emergency appendectomy that kept him out for the last couple of months of the season. Now, he’s back after recovering from a brain tumor and continued rounds of chemotherapy. You would be hard-pressed to find someone in the Yankee organization who is as respected and universally considered with such class and grace as Mr. Murcer.

And David Cone, after the sting of his failed comeback with the Mets wore off, has been a welcome addition to the YES broadcast team.

Until next week …

Yesterday afternoon, Pete Abraham excerpted a portion of Cynthia Rodriguez’s chat with Michael Kay on the new YES program, YESterdays:

“As tough and big as [Alex] seems, he is real wimpy around doctors or any type of medical situation. I don’t know why I thought the birth of our child would be different. In the middle of the night, I realized that I needed to go to the hospital. I wake him up. The first thing that comes out of his mouth, ‘Can we call your mother?’ And I started, ‘No. Let’s wait and make sure that I am in labor, and make sure that, you know, it’s the middle of the night.’ And go to the hospital and everything. And finally, a few hours later, I said, ‘I think you can call my mom now.’

“Uh, and the color came back to his face when I told him he could call my mom. And then forget it. I was like not even having a baby; he was the one. The one nurse had a cold cloth on his head. The other nurse had the blood pressure on his arm. And my mother was like rubbing his back. And he is passed out on a couch. And I am there, in the middle of labor. And really, I am not being paid much attention to besides the doctor and a couple of nurses. And he is there moaning. In between pushing, I am going, ‘Honey, are you OK?’ And are you breathing? Are you OK?'”

I can’t even watch child birth on TV, so I can only imagine how I’d fare up close. Still, this story reminded me of another, more upsetting reality for baseball wives. From Pat Jordan’s classic profile of Steve and Cyndi Garvey, “Trouble in Paradise”:

The other day my daughter fell out of a tree and broke her wrist.  My husband and I rushed her to the hospital.  While she was in the operating room I had to fill out a questionaire for a nurse.  When I said my husband’s occupation was ‘baseball player,’ she asked, for what team?  I told her.  Then she asked, what position?  I got so pissed off, I shoved the paper at my husband and told him to deal with her, she was obviously more interested in him than our daughter.  Now there’s another woman who’s gonna think I’m just a stuck-up wife of a star.

 

Anyway, just before they set my daughter’s wrist, my husband had to leave to go to the stadium.  He couldn’t wait.  That’s the clearest vision of when the game comes first.  Before anything.  It’s so cut-and-dried with him.  I got furious.  It’s always been like that.  Another time I had a baby while he was playing in the World Series.  When they wheeled me back from the delivery room–I’m just coming out of the anesthesia–the nurse is putting on the TV.  ‘I thought you’d like to watch your husband playing in the World Series,’ she says.  I screamed at her to shut it off.  Hell, he didn’t come to watch me.  I could have died in childbirth and my man wouldn’t have been there.  The burden is always on the wife’s shoulders.  Her man is never there.

For a candid and revealing portrait of what is like to be the wife of a ball player, consider Home Games: Two Baseball Wives Speak Out, written by Bobbie Bouton and Nancy Marshall. Both women are divorced their husbands, Jim Bouton and Mike Marshall.

"You gotta attack all the time," [Joba Chamberlain] said in a contrite tone. "You can’t take a pitch off. You never think you’re doing that, but you should attack more with the fastball. I didn’t attack the zone as much as I should have." (John Harper, N.Y. Daily News)

Joba Chamberlain’s face was puffy and sweaty, his eyes glassy and red-rimmed.  His head had just been in his hands, his fists balled, grabbing at his cropped hair.  A white towel hung over his head and his large chin jutted up.  Sitting on the bench, it looked as if he was going to burst out bawling and for the first time her truly looked like Joba the Hutt.  I thought about Chamberlain’s father, Harlan, who has been ill this spring.  I thought about how he had just shook his catcher off several times.  Then I thought, dag, this has never happened to the kid before.  

"Everybody gets tested in this game," said David Cone on the YES broadcast.  "Nobody is invincible.  We knew this would happen sooner or later.  The real test is in how he’ll react next time out."   

Pinch-hitter Dave Dellucci turned around a 96 mph fastball from Chamberlain and yanked it into the seats in right field, dealing Chamberlain his first ego-crushing blow in the big leagues.  Not his first lost, but the first big blast.  There were no midges this time.  Everything was set up according to plan.  Pettitte kept the team in the game, Farnsworth got two big outs in the seventh and Chamberlain came on in the eighth with a one-run lead.  As Cone noted, Chamberlain didn’t necessarily make a bad pitch, it’s just that Dellucci guessed right and beat him to the spot like a basketball player running to a place on the floor, setting his body and picking up an offensive foul. 

It was reminiscent of George Brett turning around the Goose’s high heat though not as dramatic.  Dellucci, who was briefly a Yankee, and who still uses the theme from "The Godfather" as his intro music, smiled broadly as he was greeted by his teammates.  If I could sit on my ass all night, then come off then bench and turn around Kid Dynamite’s heater like that, hell, I’d be grinning too.

Chamberlian’s outing started poorly when he walked Grady Sizemore on a 3-2 slider.  Joba shook off his catcher Jose Molina twice to get to his breaking pitch.  With one out, he issued another walk, this time to Jhonny Peralta.  But, Cone added, it was an "unintentional intentional walk," as the Yankees were not going to go after Peralta, who had homered earlier against Andy Pettitte.  Molina came out to the mound several times, there was also a meeting with the pitching coach, and Chamerlain threw more curve balls than usual. 

It was a humbling moment for the dynamic young Chamberlain but one where Cone, who is starting to find a rhythm as a color man, rose to the occasion.  Cone’s voice is raspy but not deep or commanding.  At first, it is flat and indistinguishable from that of John Flaherty or Al Leiter.  Cone seemed ill-at-ease initially, unpolished.  But I’ve found his insights to be sharp and compelling–he was all over Pettitte in Cleveland for telegraphing a change up that was rocked for a home run.  Not in a critical beatdown way, just as an observation.  I think Michael Kay deserves some credit for guiding Cone and breaking him in.

When Kay reported Ian Kennedy’s impressive line from his triple A start, Cone said that IPK got the message.  That turned out to be the best news on a night where the Yanks lost, 5-3.  Again, it was a game that appeared to be drawn up perfectly.  Only this time, Joba stumbled and so did the Yanks.