Daily Archives: March 5, 2009

The Yankees managed just four hits against the pitching-deprived Team Canada. Meanwhile, the first five men in the Canadian order reached base against Joba Chamberlain as Canada scored sixth in the top of the first. There was no scoring after that as Canada won 6-0

Lineup:

S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
S – Nick Swisher (LF)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
L – Hideki Matsui (DH)
R – Xavier Nady (RF)
R – Cody Ransom (SS)
R – Angel Berroa (3B)
S – Ramiro Peña (2B)
R – Kevin Cash (C)

Subs: Juan Miranda (1B), Doug Bernier (2B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Justin Leone (3B), P.J. Pilittere (C), Todd Linden (RF), Austin Jackson (CF), Colin Curtis (LF), Jorge Posada (DH)

Pitchers: Joba Chamberlain, Jonathan Albaladejo, Kei Igawa, Brian Bruney, Christian Garcia, J.B. Cox

Opposition: The big-hitting, weak-pitching Team Canada.

Big Hits:

Xavier Nady (1-for-3) and Doug Bernier (1-for-2) both doubled of reliever T.J. Burton, a Double-A reliever from the Indians’ system. The Yankees had just two other hits, both singles.

Who Pitched Well:

Kei Igawa struck out two while allowing just a single in three scoreless innings. Brian Bruney pitched a perfect sixth striking out two. J.B. Cox pitched a perfect ninth striking out one. Christian Garcia allowed a single and a walk in two scoreless innings, striking out two and getting his other four outs on the ground.

Who Didn’t:

Joba Chamberlain faced five batters. Four of them walked, the other, Russell Martin, singled. With that, Chamberlain was pulled from the game. He told Pete Abe after the game that he felt great and that the problem was purely mechanical, but this comes after he he topped out at 88 miles per hour on the YES gun in his poor first outing.

Battles:

Melky Cabrera went 0-for-3. Cody Ransom drew two walks in three trips. Angel Berroa singled in three at-bats and booted a ball at third base. Fortunately for him, both of his errors have come in exhibitions against WBC teams, so neither will show up on his official spring training stat sheet. Xavier Nady doubled in three trips. Nick Swisher drew two walks in three trips and stole a base. Those two are playing to their strengths to an extreme degree. Neither is getting many hits, but Nady’s are all for extra bases and Swisher is drawing a lot of walks, so that the former’s stat line is all slugging and the latter’s is all on-base percentage. Jonathan Albaladejo gave up a run on three hits (including a Matt Stairs double) and two walks in two innings and didn’t strike anyone out.

Ouchies:

Hideki Matsui made his first appearance in a game this spring and went 0-for-2 as the DH. Mariano Rivera and Edwar Ramirez both threw in the bullpen. Both sessions went well. Oh,and one of the guys named Rodriguez hurt his hip or something, but I can’t seem to find a report on it.

Scratch that surgery thing.

Per Pete Abe, Brian Cashman has said that Alex Rodriguez not only has a cyst on his hip, but a torn labrum in the joint, but instead of having surgery, which would knock him out for four months, he’s going to try to play through it like Chase Utley and Mike Lowell did last year.

The cyst was large and the hope was having it drained will lessen the stiffness Rodriguez felt.

They’re going to cut down on his time in spring training in the hopes he can get through the season.

. . . Cashman refused to say what degree the tear was.

This is actually worse news than the surgery had been. Losing Rodriguez for the first six weeks of the season would have been acceptable had he come back at full strength and hit like he can the rest of the way, and if the Yankees had resisted making an unnecessary move to fill third base for those six weeks and simply given the job to Cody Ransom.

Instead, Rodriguez will be playing the 2009 season at less than full strength. Consider that Lowell, who was the same age last year that Rodriguez will be this year, played in just 34 games in the second half of last season and hit just .225/.286/.357 in those games, while Utley, after a hot start, hit just .273/.363/.472 from May 6 through the end of the season, well below his established level. If Rodriguez can repeat Utley’s line, that will be better than any alternative the Yankees could scare up at this late point, but one wonders how much of that reduced production Rodriguez would give back in the field if his shrinking range is further pinched by his sore hip.

The Yankees could have Rodriguez go under the knife in the hopes of returning around the All-Star break, but he’d be starting from scratch at that point, and a setback in his rehab could wipe out his season. Better to have him play through it, albeit with increased rest. The Yankees can survive this, but it’s not good news, and we’ll still be talking about it next year as he’ll need off-season surgery even if he makes it through the season.

Update: Pete Abe has audio of Cashman briefing the press. Cash says the Yankees noticed an irregularity in Alex’s right hip when Rodriguez had an MRI following his quad pull early last season, but it was not accompanied by any symptoms (pain, lack of motion, etc.). Rodriguez first reported some stiffness, but not pain, in the hip last week, prompting an MRI that detected the cyst, prompting the visit with Dr. Marc Phillipon in Colorado, who diagnosed the torn labrum. Rodriguez has had the cyst, which was caused by the labrum tear, drained and will see if the decreased pressure reduces his symptoms.

The news is in about Alex Rodriguez’s hip injury. And it’s bad news for the Yanks.  According to an ESPN report, Rodriguez’s brother says the Yankee star will have surgery and miss 10 weeks.

So?  Who’ll play third?  Just where is Charlie Hayes when you need him?

This was my dad’s spot.  He went to Elaine’s when she first opened her restaurant uptown in the Sixties, and later hung out at a place called Herb Evans, which was on the corner of 64th street and Broadway.  Then, he and his gang settled on The Ginger Man, which was just down the block from Herb Evans.   The Ginger Man opened in the mid-Sixties and became the place to be around Lincoln Center.

According to everyone that I’ve spoken with who was there back in those days, The Ginger Man made the best hamburgers in New York.  My old man spent many afternoons at the bar in the early-to-mid Seventies, telling stories and getting drunk instead of working.  He was an operator and a dreamer.  At one point, he had his own phone at the bar, the only guy to pull off that stunt. 

Years later, when I was ten, eleven years old, the old man would take my brother and me to the bar.  My twin sister must have come too, but I don’t remember her being there.   It never occured to me that there was anything suspect about a man bringing his kids to a bar.  It wasn’t a seedy place.  It felt sophisticated. 

The place smelled grown up, salty, of olives and alcohol.  The bartenders were all nice and happy to see us–one taught us how to twist a lime around the rim of our glasses.  My brother and I would “get drunk” on Coca Cola.   We ate the salted peanuts at the bar, and, occasionally, warm potato chips that came straight from the kitchen.  We wore Ginger Man t-shirts and felt grown up being there.

My old man remained friendly with Mike O’Neal, who along with his brother, the late actor Patrick O’Neal, ran the place.  Dad got sober in 1983 and lost touch with Mike.  The Ginger Man eventually closed, and the old man later rekindled a relationship with Mike before O’Neal re-opened the spot as O’Neals.    They remained close over the last five or six years of my dad’s life.  

I went to visit Mike last month.  We met on a Saturday afternoon after the matinee rush and spoke for several hours.  I learned much of his story and the history of the joint.   (The brothers also owned O’Neals Ballon, which was directly across the street from Lincoln Center; the last scene in “Annie Hall,” where Woody tells the joke about needing the eggs, was filmed in O’Neals, as was the pick-up scenes in “Sea of Love”).  He was happy to talk about my old man who he misses.  His affection for my dad was genuine. 

When we were finished, Mike walked me to the door.  He uses a cane now.  As I went out into the cold, I looked inside and saw Mike turn around.  A couple moved past me, through the front door, and I heard the man say, “This used to be The Ginger Man.”

There was a piece on Mike and his family–and their wonderful apartment (which is in one of my all-time favorite buildings) yesterday in The Times. 

Dig it.

Today’s news is powered by “Will it Blend?”

• MLB.com is reporting that Rivera will have his first bullpen session Thursday.  PeteAbe says Rivera will be throwing from the “Carl Pavano Memorial Half Mound”.

[My take: Pete can get a-hold of one every once in a while … ]

• PeteAbe also got some news from Hughes (Phil) on his newly-improved curve:

Hughes explained that he’s throwing his curve with the same arm speed as his fastball. So instead of a big loop (picture Mike Mussina’s curve), it goes to the plate on a straighter plane but still has some action as it gets there. It’s how A.J. Burnett throws his curve.

Hughes devoted a lot of time in the Arizona Fall League to working on that particular pitch. “It’s hard to change because you get used to throwing a pitch a certain way,” he said. “In games, you tend to go back to what is comfortable. But they’ve been staying on me to throw the power curve more. I have to trust it and I do.” …

Hughes also has changed the grip on his change-up. He throws it like a splitter.

(more…)

Playing not only without their WBC participants, but without Mark Teixeira and without a DH, the Yankees fell to the Braves 3-2, dropping their spring record to 2-5-1 (including their “unofficial” loss to Team USA).

Lineup:

L – Johnny Damon (LF)
L – Brett Gardner (CF)
R – Xavier Nady (RF)
L – Juan Miranda (1B)
R – Angel Berroa (2B)
R – Jose Molina (C)
R – Kevin Russo (3B)
S – Ramiro Peña (SS)
R – Ian Kennedy (P)

Subs: Doug Bernier (2B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Justin Leone (3B), Austin Romine (C), Todd Linden (RF), Austin Jackson (CF), John Rodriguez (LF), Jesus Montero (PH)

Pitchers: Ian Kennedy, Dan Giese, Andrew Brackman, Mark Melancon

Opposition: The Braves’ non-WBC starters.

Big Hits:

Triples by Johnny Damon (1-for-2, BB) and Xavier Nady (1-for-3), a double by Eduardo Nuñez in his only at-bat, and a single by pitcher Dan Giese (1-for-2), whose last hit was in 2007.

Who Pitched Well:

Andrew Brackman pitched a perfect seventh inning. Mark Melancon pitched around a double in the eighth. Dan Giese gave up a run on two hits and a walk in three innings, but also struck out three.

Who Didn’t:

Ian Kennedy gave up two runs on three doubles and a walk in his three innings, failed to strike anyone out, and said after the game that he didn’t have command of his curveball, which is the pitch he had made so much progress on in Puerto Rico this winter.

Battles:

Xavier Nady‘s triple was just his second hit of the spring, though both have gone for extra bases. He has yet to draw a walk. Brett Gardner went 0-for-2, but drew a walk. Angel Berroa went 1-for-3 and was caught stealing. Dan Giese‘s outing was among the better performances by the aspiring long-relievers. He’s now pitched thrice, while Alfredo Aceves has only pitched once, and poorly at that. Mark Melancon has yet to allow an earned run in three spring innings.

More:

Pete Abe had a couple of posts from earlier this week that are worth checking out if you missed them. First this on Phil Hughes. Then this random thoughts post full of behind-the-scenes observations.