Daily Archives: March 31, 2009

The Yankees are down to just 26 players in camp and are using non-prospects as late-game subs. They’re also cruising through their spring schedule, having won seven in a row and 16 of their last 18, including today’s 6-3 win over the Reds. They are very much ready to come north.

Lineup:

L – Brett Gardner (CF)
S – Nick Swisher (LF)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Xavier Nady (DH)
S – Melky Cabrera (RF)
R – Cody Ransom (3B)
R – Angel Berroa (SS)
S – Ramiro Peña (2B)

Subs: Chris Malec (1B), Mitch Hilligoss (3B), Kevin Cash (C), Dan Brewer (RF), Taylor Grote (CF), Eric Fryer (LF), Francisco Cervelli (DH)

Pitchers: Joba Chamberlain, Brian Bruney, Edwar Ramirez, Phil Coke, Dan Giese

Opponent: The Reds’ starters

Big Hits:

Doubles by Melky Cabrera (1-for-2), Mark Teixeira (1-for-2), and Angel Berroa (2-for-4). Brett Gardner went 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot.

Who Pitched Well:

Phil Coke and Dan Giese each struck out two in a perfect inning. Brian Bruney retired the only two men he faced, striking out one of them. Joba Chamberlain allwed two runs on five hits (four of them singles) and three walks in 5 1/3 innings, but also struck out six and two of those three walks, and one of those runs came as he was running out of gas in the sixth. He’ll pitch in a minor league intrasquad game in Tampa on Sunday before joining the rest of the team in Baltimore on Monday.

Roster News:

With Xavier Nady and Brett Gardner officially declared the staring right and center fielders, the Yankees have finalized their Opening Day bullpen by reassigning Brett Tomko and optioning Alfredo Aceves and Dan Giese to Triple-A. That leaves Jonathan Albaladejo as the last man in the Opening Day pen which will look like this:

R – Mariano Rivera
R – Brian Bruney
L – Damaso Marte
R – Jose Veras
L – Phil Coke
R – Edwar Ramirez
R – Jonathan Albaladejo

I still want David Robertson in there, but he’ll likely be the first man up if any of the above struggles (though only Coke, Ramirez, and Albaladejo have options left).

The Yankees also reassigned Kevin Cash, guaranteeing that they won’t cary an extra catcher.

With Alex Rodriguez headed for the 15-day disabled list, the last spot on the roster is down to Angel Berroa and Ramiro Peña, and the Yankees will have to open a spot on the 40-man roster to make room for the winner, with Giese and Juan Miranda the top candidates to be dropped from the 40-man to make room. It seems likely that both players will travel north with the team for this weekend’s two-game preseason series against the Cubs, and the loser will then head over to Scranton to be the starting shortstop.

Meanwhile, the Scranton rotation will be Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Alfredo Aceves, Kei Igawa, and Jason Johnson. Tomko will pitch out of the pen, but to his displeasure, though he doesn’t have an out in his contract until June 1. More importantly, why on earth are the Yankees wasting Triple-A starts on Johnson when George Kontos has nothing left to prove in Double-A?

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Prior to Bucky Dent’s 1978 home run against the Red Sox, I have to confess I wasn’t the man’s biggest fan. Although Dent was reliable defensively, he had ordinary range and rarely made spectacular plays. He also seemed to regress as a hitter each year, to the point that former WPIX sportscaster Jerry Girard came up with one of the best lines I’ve ever heard delivered on the nightly news. As Girard narrated Yankee highlights one night, he blurted: “There’s Bucky Dent, with another line drive to the catcher.” My father and I chuckled over that crack for days.

For most of the latter half of the 1970s, I wanted the Yankees to replace Bucky Dent with one man: Toby Harrah. I think George Steinbrenner shared that same dream, because every summer we Yankee fans in Westchester heard rumors that the Yankees were working on a deal for Harrah, the starting shortstop for the Rangers. One summer day, while we were eating lunch at Badger Camp—yes, I spent summers at a place called Badger Camp, and I’m embarrassed to admit it—we exchanged some conversation on a particularly hot Harrah rumor. I can’t remember the exact names, but I think the deal would have sent Dent and one of the lesser starting pitchers (Dick Tidrow?) to Texas for Harrah. Heck, it sounded good to me, since the pitcher wasn’t named Guidry, Figueroa, or Hunter.

I didn’t much care that some people regarded Toby Harrah as a subpar defensive shortstop. I preferred to obsess about another fact: the man could hit. He reached the 20-home run mark three times with the Rangers, usually hit .260 or better, annually achieved double figures in stole bases, and drew a ton of walks (though I didn’t know that much about on-base percentage at the time). Even though the Rangers moved Harrah from shortstop to third base in 1977, largely because of knocks against his range and reliability, I figured he could make the switch back. As long as Harrah could play shortstop reasonably well—you know, better than Bobby Murcer once did—I was going to be satisfied. So I kept dreaming that Steinbrenner and the Yankees’ GM at the time (Gabe Paul, followed by Al Rosen) would do whatever they could to get that deal done.

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Gary Sheffield was released by the Tigers today.  He is one home run shy of 500.  Sheffield has had a great career.  I think he’s a Hall of Famer, but he’s also burned more than a few bridges in his time. 

Think anyone will pick him up?

A few days ago a friend asked me what I had learned on my recent trip to Belgium and I told him that I discovered just how good my family is at keeping secrets.  But does this make my family special?  Doesn’t every family have more than its share of secrets?

And really, some of the things that I found out for the first time–stories of alcoholism, violence–both physical and emotional, infidelity–are these kinds of secrets necessarily bad?  After all, there are reasons to keep secrets and sometimes it is to protect people from being hurt.

Still, I keep thinking about this word: secrets, and how it struck me as the major theme of my trip.  I now realize that just by using that term, I was holding on to a fantasy about my family, in particular, my parents’ marriage.  I wanted to believe that there was a Garden of Eden period for them, a time, no matter how brief, when my parents were happy and truly in love. 

I don’t believe that time ever really existed.  But clearly, it was important for me, on a subconscious level, to hold on to that myth.  (I’ve spoken to my brother and sister some during the past few months and my impression is that they see my parents far more clearly than I do.)   The more I delve into my family history, the more sadness I find.  But I am not afraid to look at it now.  And the most important word–or theme–for me has nothing at all to do with secrets. 

Instead, it is about something more complicated and difficult:  compassion.

Today’s news is powered by a great speech by the Captain …

• Brett Gardner talked to Tyler Kepner about an a batting adjustment that seems to have made a big difference for him:

. . . he (Gardner) explained that his improvement at the plate began last September when Kevin Long suggested he eliminate his stride. Gardner won’t become another Molitor, to be sure, but the approach has worked.

“It did two things: I’m out front less, and I’m able to stay back and see the ball deeper,” Gardner said. “I feel like my head’s moving a lot less, and I’m able to see the ball batter. That helps you judge the strike zone and helps your timing. I feel like I’ve been squaring more balls up since last September than I ever had before. It’s something promising for me.”

• Could 23-year-old SS Ramiro Pena make the Opening Day roster?:

. . . Then, with Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano playing in the World Baseball Classic and Alex Rodriguez out after hip surgery, Peña found himself with an elevated role in spring training as a big-time infield replacement. And he played way above expectations while filling in.

In fact, he played so well that he is neck and neck with Angel Berroa for the utility infielder’s job — not in Triple-A but on the Yankees.

When Peña first realized he was being considered for a spot on the major-league club last week, his wide eyes gave away his surprise. He had thought he was in major-league camp mainly to fill in for the missing trio. That may have been the original idea, but the Yankees saw how much he had progressed.

“To me, his at-bats have really gotten better and better as the spring has gone on,” manager Joe Girardi said.

[My take: Do I hear “late inning Jeter defensive replacement” in the distance?  Girardi could pass it off as just giving the aging Jeter an inning or two more rest during the season, though if Girardi does it in 1-run games, it might raise more eyebrows.]

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Andy Pettitte was fantastic in his last full spring start as the Yankees beat the Blue Jays 3-1. He’ll pitch the second-half of Saturday’s game against the Cubs at the new stadium, and will then start the fourth game of the season against the Royals in Kansas City.

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Johnny Damon (LF)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
L – Hideki Matsui (DH)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
R – Cody Ransom (3B)
R – Jose Molina (C)
L – Brett Gardner (CF)

Subs: Eric Duncan (1B), Justin Snyder (2B), Ramiro Peña (SS), Angel Berroa (3B), Kyle Anson (C), Jack Rye (RF), Melky Cabrera (LF-CF), James Cooper (LF)

Pitchers: Andy Pettitte, Damaso Marte, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez

Opponent: The Jays’ starters

Big Hits:

Moonlighting minor leaguer Justin Snyder tripled in his only at-bat. Mark Teixeira (2-for-3, BB), Derek Jeter (1-for-2, BB, SB), and Angel Berroa (1-for-1) doubled.

Cody Ransom went 0-for-2 with a walk, but was both caught stealing and picked off first base (I assume he reached on a fielder’s choice at some point). He made up for that with a great play in the second when Scott Rolen tried to go from first to third on a single to center. Brett Gardner’s throw was strong, but way high. Ransom lept in the air and, in the process of making a half spin, caught the ball and reached across his body to apply a blind tag right at the bag that nabbed Rolen. Good stuff.

Who Pitched Well:

Andy Pettitte allowed just one run on five hits (four of them singles) and no walks in 6 2/3 innings while striking out seven. Edwar Ramirez pitched a perfect ninth inning. Jose Veras pitched around a double for a scoreless eighth.

Who Didn’t:

Damaso Marte faced two batters. One of them (Adam Lind) doubled, the other flew out.

Battles:

Ramiro Peña went 0-for-2 with a strikeout, leaving two men on base. Angel Berroa delivered an RBI double in his only at-bat.