Daily Archives: April 14, 2009

A.J. Burnett’s first Yankee start saw him halt a two-game losing streak with 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball against the Orioles last Thursday. Today, the Yankees will ask Burnett not only to halt a two-game losing streak, but to go a little deeper into the game. Tonight is the seventh in a streak fifteen straight days on which the Yankees have a game.

Chien-Ming Wang’s disastrous start last night forced Joe Girardi to burn default long man Jonathan Albaladejo for 60 pitches over three innings last night as well as Edwar Ramirez for 51 pitches over two innings. Phil Coke threw 38 pitches last night after pitching the day before as well. That leaves Girardi with a four-man bullpen for tonight. Fortunately, the four available men are the top four in the pen: Mariano Rivera, Brian Bruney, Damaso Marte, and Jose Veras. Still, Girardi won’t be able to play matchups in the late-innings if Burnett doesn’t go deep into the game.

Much to my surprise, the Yankees have not optioned Albaladejo or Coke in exchange for a fresh bullpen arm. Last April 17, Albaladejo threw 48 pitches in a three-inning relief outing following an early Mike Mussina exit and was optioned out the next day for the fresh arm of Edwar Ramirez, who then pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings that night.

More to the point, the Yankees are 3-4 on the season and would like to return home with a winning record. That would require them to win tonight and tomorrow behind Burnett and Andy Pettitte.

Johnny Damon is out with the flu. Nick Swisher takes his place in left field as Mark Teixeira returns to the lineup against the righty-throwing Matt Garza. Brett Gardner moves to the leadoff spot, pushing Derek Jeter back down to number two. Swisher bats cleanup as Hideki Matsui gets the day off, Jorge Posada serves as DH after catching all but the final half inning of last night’s 3 1/2 hour disaster. Jose Molina is behind the plate just as he was for Burnett’s last start. Ramiro Peña starts at third in place of the struggling Cody Ransom, who is 2-for-24 with a pair of walks and eight strikeouts on the young season and had a miserable night in the field last night, due in part to the baseball-colored Tropicana Field roof.

The Rays run out the same lineup save for Ben Zobrist getting the start in left field. Matt Garza dominated the Red Sox in his last start, allowing just one run on four hits and three walks in seven full innings. The ALCS MVP pitched similarly against the Yankees last April, but had a tougher time with the Bombers in two September starts, posting this combined line in two Rays losses: 10 IP, 11 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 2 HR. Xavier Nady hit one of the two home runs (Wilson Betemit hit the other).

It’s worth noting that the Yankees went 11-7 against the eventual pennant winning Rays last year.

One of my favorite Clash records:

And from Elvis:

The Bird will be missed…

Today’s news is powered by the late, great voice of the Phillies, Mr. Harry Kalas:

• Tyler Kepner reports that Alex Rodriguez is now rehabilitating in Tampa:

Alex Rodriguez was back on a baseball field Monday, working out for 48 minutes at the Yankees’ minor league complex here. With the trainer Gene Monahan beside him, Rodriguez took 40 grounders at third base, made about 75 total swings (some off a tee, some on balls flipped from a coach) and did some light running.

• Is A-Rod turning over an old leaf?  Rodriguez claims he’s going to be more like the ’07 version upon his return:

Alex Rodriguez says his headline grabbing days of drama are over – and that during the time he spent in Colorado recovering from hip surgery he figured out that he needs to put his team first and “focus on things on the field with the Yankees.”

“I’m gonna go back to what I did in ’07,” Rodriguez, who won his third MVP Award that year, said after his workout at the Yankees’ minor league complex Monday. “Cut some of the fat out and really focus on playing baseball and focus on what I do best – and that’s playing baseball.”

[My take: If there was such a thing as “Publicity-seekers Anonymous”, I think Alex would be looking for a sponsor.]

• Potty-time at the new Stadium:

The new Yankee Stadium, with a capacity of 52,325, needed a minimum of 358 women’s toilets and 176 men’s fixtures, of which no more than half could be urinals, according to the city Department of Buildings.

Generally, once the minimum requirements are reached, the mix of toilets can be tailored to the building’s needs. Studies show that baseball crowds lean slightly male. Stadium builders tend to meet the requirements and add a bunch of urinals.

The Yankees and their architects, Populous (formerly HOK Sport Venue Event, which also designed Citi Field), gave Yankee Stadium 369 women’s toilets, and 98 toilets and 298 urinals for men, according to the buildings department. Another 78 fixtures are in unisex bathrooms, designed for families or in luxury suites.

[My take: No truth to the rumor that those in the Legends seats can have someone go for them.]

(more…)

The first year I contributed some freelance work to SI.com I had a bad habit of including the phrase “What a difference a year makes” into virtually every piece I wrote.  I didn’t do it on purpose but such is the constant temptation of cliches; they just won’t go away, especially when writing about sports.  It got to be something of a joke with my editor, so much so that I’d slip it into a piece just to see if he noticed.  

The Yankees were in Tampa last night for the Rays’ home opener and, dag, but what a difference a year makes!  Guess that’s what winning the pennant will do for you.  Hell, the Rays fans were louder than the Yankees fans.  Wait, maybe this was just like last year’s Rays.  Rough, rugged and raw.

Unfortunately for New York, Chien Ming Wang’s stuff was still up in the strike zone.  And for a sinker baller, this is not welcome news.  Wang’s sinker was flat and waist high and the Rays jumped on him early.   He threw 42 pitches in the first, allowing four runs to score.  The Rays hit him hard and they ran even harder, testing Jorge Posada’s arm.  Wang loaded the bases in the second and walked Longoria in a ten-pitch at bat.  Another run scored and Wang was done.  But his ERA got fatter when his replacement, Jonathan Albaledejo served up a grand slam to Carlos Pena.

3 outs.  9 runs=a long night for the Yankees. 

Scott Kazmir pitched well for the Rays and BJ Upton made a beautiful basket catch robbing Xavier Nady of at least a double in the second inning.  What made the catch memorable was just how smoothly Upton tracked the ball.  He was almost casual but he had it all the way.  Impressive.  In the sixth inning, Carl Crawford got turned around but snatched an extra base hit away from Nick Swisher, who had already homered.

As Swisher rounded second and saw that Crawford had caught the ball, he took off his helmet and extended his right arm as he looked in the other direction.  Hats off to you, Mr. Crawford. 

And hats off to Swisher, who pitched a scoreless inning of relief himself (Is there anything he can’t do?).

“We know we didn’t play very well today, but we had to find something to laugh about in that moment and I just happened to be the guy everyone was laughing at,” Swisher said. “If that’s what it takes to get us back together and get rockin’, then I’m all for it.”

…”Nobody was laughing,” Jorge Posada said. “Today was embarrassing; just one of those days where everything went for them and nothing went for us. We didn’t pitch or do the things we were supposed to do. Nobody was laughing.”
(Mark Feinsand, N.Y. Daily News)