Daily Archives: June 17, 2008

Rumor has it the Padres were actually on the field at Yankee Stadium last night, but there was little evidence of their presence. Andy Pettitte turned in his second straight dominant outing, tying his season high in strikeouts with nine, and the Bombers stomped on Randy Wolf, cruising to an uncontested 8-0 victory.

Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi got things going with solo homers in the second inning. Giambi then added a two-run shot in the fourth, setting the tone for a five-run inning that was aided by a wild pitch by Wolf and some sloppy play by Craig Stansberry at second base. The Yanks tacked one on in the eight against reliever Carlos Guevara. Meanwhile Jose Veras, Billy Traber (getting an inning ending groundout from Adrian Gonzalez with men on first and second in his return to the team), and Mariano Rivera, who hadn’t pitched since last Thursday and struck out the side in the ninth, nailed down the win.

With the win, the Yankees extended their season-best winning streak to five games. They have scored 29 runs in their last three games and haven’t allowed a run since the seventh inning of Saturday’s game in Houston. Tonight Darrell Rasner faces Jake Peavy, who is making just his second start since returning from an elbow injury. With the way this team is playing, I can’t wait for the first pitch.

San Diego Padres

2007 Record: 89-74 (.549)
2007 Pythagorean Record: 90-75 (.553)

2008 Record: 31-40 (.437)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 29-42 (.408)

Manager: Bud Black
General Manager: Kevin Towers

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Petco Park (91/91)

Who’s Replacing Whom:

Tad Iguchi replaces Marcus Giles
Jody Gerut replaces Jim Edmonds, who replaced Mike Cameron
Edgar Gonzalez replaces Geoff Blum
Paul McAnulty inherits Jose Cruz Jr.’s playing time
Tony Clark replaces Russell Branyan
Justin Huber replaces Terrmel Sledge
Scott Hairston inherits Milton Bradley’s playing time
Michael Barrett is replacing Josh Bard (DL) in the lineup
Luke Carlin is filling in for Barrett on the bench
Edgar Gonzalez is replacing Tad Iguchi (DL) in the lineup
Craig Stansberry is filling in for Gonzalez on the bench
Randy Wolf replaces David Wells and Clay Hensley
Josh Banks replaces Justin Germano, Brett Tomko, and Jack Cassel
Cha Seung Baek is filling in for Chris Young (DL)
Bryan Corey replaces Doug Brocail
Mike Adams replaces Scott Linebrink and Joe Thatcher
Carlos Guevara is filling in for Kevin Cameron (DL)

25-man Roster

1B – Adrian Gonzalez (L)
2B – Edgar Gonzalez (R)
SS – Khalil Greene (R)
3B – Kevin Kouzmanoff (R)
C – Michael Barrett (R)
RF – Brian Giles (L)
CF – Jody Gerut (L)
LF – Paul McAnulty (L)

Bench:

S – Tony Clark (1B)
R – Justin Huber (OF)
R – Scott Hairston (OF)
R – Craig Stansberry (IF)
S – Luke Carlin (C)

Rotation:

R – Jake Peavy
R – Josh Banks
R – Cha Seung Baek
R – Greg Maddux
L – Randy Wolf

Bullpen:

R – Trevor Hoffman
R – Heath Bell
R – Cla Meredith
L – Justin Hampson
R – Bryan Corey
R – Mike Adams
R – Carlos Guevara

15-day DL: R – Tadahito Iguchi (2B), S – Josh Bard (C), R – Chris Young, L – Shawn Estes, R- Kevin Cameron
60-day DL: R – Mark Prior, R – Tim Stauffer

Typical Lineup:

L – Jody Gerut (L)
R – Edgar Gonzalez (2B)
L – Brian Giles (RF)
L – Adrian Gonzalez (1B)
R – Kevin Kouzmanoff (3B)
L – Paul McAnulty (LF)
R – Khalil Greene (SS)
R – Michael Barrett (C)

(more…)

Wait, thunderstorms are in the forecast here in New York…

There’s an old joke.  Uh, two elderly women are at a Catskills mountain resort, and one of ’em says: "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible."  The other one says, "Yeah, I know, and such small portions." Well, that’s essentially how I feel about life.  Full of loneliness and misery and suffering  and unhappiness, and it’s all over much too quickly.

–Alvy Singer.

Keep your head up, Willie.  The worst is over.  And we still love ya. 

Few things remind me of why I love New York City more than the great game of Double Dutch. 

Ya heard?

People say Tiger Woods is ungodly. I’d say his performance is often flat-out godly. During yesterday’s dramatic playoff at the U.S. Open, one of the TV commentators said that Tiger isn’t used to chasing someone this late in a Major.  The pressure is on Tiger, he said.  A friend, who is an avid golf fan, turned to me and said, "The pressure is always on the other guy because Tiger is relentless."

Today, Joe Posnanski wonders what drives Woods and notices that there aren’t many telling anecdotes about the living legend.  Michael Jordan’s competitiveness is well-documented, but Woods is almost like an android, he’s so contained, so controlled.  But I thought this was revealing. Woods told reporters: 

"This week had a lot of doubt to it, to be honest with you.  I hadn’t walked 18 holes until the first round here since Augusta.  You know, you keep playing.  You just keep going, keep going forward.

All my buddies, when we were working out, used to always say ‘For.’  How many more reps do we have? ‘For.  Forever.’  And that’s the idea.  You just keep going.  There’s no finish line."

I think Woods is simply one of the most focused, disciplined, single-minded champions of all time. He is relentless. That’s why the pressure is always on the other guy. I’m sure he doesn’t let anything get in the way of his game–family, friends, even business. It doesn’t make me want to hang out with him. How could a guy like that be fun to have a conversation with? But it’s hard not to marvel at his drive, nerve, and his continued excellence in the world of golf.

In his blog yesterday, Rob Neyer looks at the Yankees’ pitching options now that Chien-Ming Wang won’t be around for a good, long while:

One thing I’m sure about: the Yankees aren’t punting. Not now.

I don’t believe that Dan McCutchen is ready. He was excellent in nine Double-A starts this spring, but has only five Triple-A starts and generally hasn’t been able to keep the ball out of the air this season. At 25, he’s a prospect but not a savior.

Ian Kennedy? He’s on the DL, but throwing without pain. Kei Igawa has a 3.73 in Triple-A this season, and a 6.75 career ERA in the majors. Jeff Karstens has a 5.65 career ERA in the majors, and a 6.11 ERA in Triple-A this season. Dan Giese? What a story. At 31, he’s finally getting his shot and he’s getting it with the Yankees. If he really could pitch effectively in the majors, you’d think he’d have done it before now. But stranger things have happened.

Right now the Yankees don’t seem to have any attractive options. But the same was true six weeks ago, right? And Darrell Rasner stepped in, and he’s given the Yankees five quality starts (out of seven). Can the Yankees really catch the Red Sox and/or the Rays with a rotation that includes Chamberlain, Darrell Rasner and (for example) Giese? Probably not. But they have to try, and will.

(And the same goes for the Indians, who still have a fighting chance and aren’t trading C.C. Sabathia anytime soon.)

Isn’t this guy looking for work?

Hey, our boy Bouton prolly still has some life in his knuckler…

While you were sleeping…

The Mets beat the Angels in California last night. Then, they fired Willie Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and first-base coach Tom Nieto. Jerry Manuel is the new manager of the Mets.

This was coming. We all knew that. Still, it never ceases to amaze me just how these things are handled. I suppose the Met brass wanted to do this with the team out of town, do it so late in the night that it’d miss the morning papers–as if that really matters these days. I can’t call it. But it just seems like a cockamamie way to handle the situation. Why make Randolph schlep out to California in the first place?