Daily Archives: February 27, 2009

You are divine.

The Yankees took their first loss of the spring this afternoon in the first game in which they faced an opponent’s major league starters. Twins win, 5-4.

Lineup:

L – Brett Gardner (CF)
R – Cody Ransom (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (1B)
S – Jorge Posada (DH)
R – Xavier Nady (RF)
S – Melky Cabrera (LF)
R – Angel Berroa (SS)
R – Justin Leone (3B)
R – Francisco Cervelli (C)

Subs: Juan Miranda (1B), Ramiro Peña (2B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Doug Bernier (3B), Austin Romine (C), Todd Linden (RF), Austin Jackson (CF), Kevin Russo (LF), John Rodriguez (DH)

Pitchers: Ian Kennedy, Eric Hacker, Anthony Claggett, Andrew Brackman, George Kontos, Wilkin De La Rosa, Steven Jackson

Opposition: The Twins’ starters minus Joe Mauer.

Big Hits:

Justin Leone (1-for-3) homered off Twins’ starter Scott Baker. Brett Gardner (2 for 2, BB, 2 SB) singled and doubled off Baker. Jorge Posada and Nick Swisher were both 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.

Who Pitched Well:

Ian Kennedy struck out three in his two scoreless innings while allowing just two baserunners on a walk and a single. Anthony Claggett pitched two scoreless innings of his own, stranding two inherited runners in the fourth and allowing just one of his own on a single.

Who Didn’t:

Eric Hacker failed to get an out in the fourth, giving up a run on three hits before getting pulled in favor of Claggett. He also walked two men in the third. George Kontos blew the save in the seventh by allowing a run on three hits. Wilkin De La Rosa gave up two runs on two walks and two singles in the eighth before Steven Jackson was brought in to get the last out.

Battles:

In a game they both started Brett Gardner (who got the nod in center) went 2-for-2 with a double, a walk, and two stolen bases, while Melky Cabrera (starting in left) went 0 for 3 and stranded three runners. Gardner led off the game with a single, stole second, and scored on a Cody Ransom single. That after homering leading off the first game of the schedule. Who does he think he is, Rickey Henderson? Nick Swisher went 2-for-3.

Alex and Diane have both been kind enough to mention this already, but I just wanted to post a reminder that I will be appearing at the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center this Sunday at 2pm along with Steven Goldman, Kevin Goldstein, Christina Kahrl, Jay Jaffe, and Neil deMause. This is ostensibly to promote Baseball Prospectus 2009, which we all contributed to (Banter readers note that the Yankees team essay was among my contributions), but for you it’s $6 (or free if you buy a book) to see Yogi’s museum and pepper some of the best baseball minds on the net with questions for two hours.

If you can’t make it on Sunday, I’ll also be at the 18th St. Barnes & Nobel in Manhattan on Thursday March 12 and the Rutgers University Bookstore in New Brunswick, NJ on Thursday March 26.

As I’ve gotten older I have become less embarrassed by what I don’t know, what I haven’t read, where I haven’t been.  Still, there are some places in New York that I haven’t visited, and I usually keep it to myself.   “I got my pride,” as Ralph Kramden once said.

Ellis Island, for starters.  Oy.  Never been.  I’ve also never taken a ride on the Staten Island Ferry.  Dude, never been to the Museum of the Moving Image out in Astoria.  The shame!  But for me, the greatest sin, is that I’ve never been to the Frick Collection.  Seeing as how I’m into fine art and all, this is almost unfathomable, not to mention, inexcusable.

Nevermind all that.  I’m going to the Frick tomorrow morning with my uncle, who is a painter.

What famous NYC landmarks have you never been to?  You know, the ones you feel bad about.  C’mon, fess up.

Alex Rodriguez’s performance at last week’s press conference was all anyone could talk about on the airwaves here in New York for days. Driving around as I did for much of the weekend, it didn’t matter if I turned on 1050 or WFAN, it was “Let’s skewer A-Rod,” followed by “What the hell is Jerry Manuel doing with the lineups,” “Fire Renney,” and “The Knicks play in New York, too, so we have to talk about them.”

On the written side of things, there was more diversity in the Yankee coverage, ranging from the requisite holier-than-thou columns on A-Rod to the investigative journalism unearthing the details of A-Rod’s PED story. The muckraking that ensued was to be expected, but with all this information being brought to light now, shouldn’t investigative reporting at this level been done proactively in the beginning of the decade, instead of reactively now? Of course, there has been a great amount of what we’ve all been waiting for: actual baseball stories from camp: roster projections, players to watch, the ongoing discussion regarding what to do with Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher, Joe Girardi’s personality, and the questions regarding ticket prices as Opening Day approaches.

Of all those articles, I was particularly drawn to one that added even more perspective to the steroid investigation. It was a blog entry posted Wednesday on the Daily News Web site by investigative reporter Michael O’Keeffe (not the Michael O’Keefe who played Danny Noonan in “Caddyshack” and was married to Bonnie Raitt), and it profiled a sports activist, Charles S. Farrell, who moved to the Dominican Republic to help open a sports and education academy. Farrell, a former director of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Sports, commented on the prevalence of steroids, the legality of them and the ease by which they can be obtained in a recent newsletter.

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Today’s news is powered by the brainpower of Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman of “Mythbusters” (with special guest Roger Clemens):

• Cliff has the recap of the Yanks 5-1 win over the Rays yesterday.
• Here’s a link to something to make Banterites less nervous …. Georgie juices one.  (sorry … couldn’t resist)
• Tyler Kepner writes of Posada’s progress to date.
• The Bombers will be wearing a new cap to commemorate their inaugural season in their new stadium.
• George Vecsey notes the number of major leaguers that have lost a bit of weight in the off-season, including Brian Bruney.
• Those obstructed-view bleacher seats will now go for $5, rather than the original $12.
• The Bombers and Bank of America have ended their long, drawn out negotiations for a major sponsorship deal.
• Lonn Trost, however, states that the economy has not affected the Yankees’ sponsorship deals “one iota”.  Furthermore, with regard to those obstructed-view bleacher seats:

“Those seats are being sold at $5, not $12,” he said. “I think some seats may have gone out improperly invoiced. Those are going to be corrected, but those 600 seats are going to be $5.” …

“When we built the sports bar we knew architecturally there is an architectural shadow,” he said. “And that means there are a group of seats that are in the bleachers that if you are sitting very close to either the rightfield or leftfield side of the sports bar, you may not see the opposite side.

“We knew that going in, and to that extent we pre-prepared to put televisions in the wall, as well as that big screen so you don’t miss anything.”

[My take: You put televisions in the food courts so people don’t miss the action.  You shouldn’t have to put them in the actual seating area.  Whatever.]

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