Daily Archives: April 22, 2009

It’s overcast and with the odd drop of drizzle here at Yankee Stadium, but the teams are taking batting practice and baseball is a go.

I’m in the press box today, so I’ll be liveblogging the action. Here are the lineups. Back with more in a bit:

A’s

L – Ryan Sweeney (CF)
R – Orlando Cabrera (SS)
L – Jason Giambi (DH)
R – Matt Holliday (LF)
L – Jack Cust (RF)
R – Kurt Suzuki (C)
R – Mark Ellis (2B)
S – Landon Powell (1B)
R – Bobby Crosby (3B)

LHP – Brett Anderson

Yankees:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Johnny Damon (LF)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
L – Hideki Matsui (DH)
S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
R – Cody Ransom (3B)

LHP – CC Sabathia

Melky is making just his second start in center of the season. Robinson Cano stays in the fifth spot despite the opposing lefty on the mound. He’s hit .301/.347/.431 against lefties on the season thus far. With the rainout on Monday and the off-day tomorrow, Posada is starting the day game after the night game. Save for Melky, this is the same lineup Joe Girardi posted last night.

The A’s are sitting lefties Eric Chavez and Travis Buck against Sabathia.

Big Texan Brett Anderson is emerging as the key player the A’s received from the Diamondbacks in the Dan Haren trade. The 21-year-old rookie lefty got hit around a bit by the Mariners in his major league debut, but turned in a great outing against the Red Sox his last time out (7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K), only to have his bullpen blow the game in the eighth.

Update: There’s a steady drizzle now, but the groundskeepers are tending the field as if it was 70 degrees and sunny. Look below the jump for further updates.

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Off we go . . .

• Xavier Nady has been formally diagnosed with a partially torn elbow ligament:

The Yankees feared originally Nady could be lost for the season with a completely torn ligament, but a review of multiple X-rays revealed that the ligament is only partially torn. He will likely need to rehab the injury for a period of weeks, perhaps a month.

• Chien-Ming Wang will be putting himself back together down in Tampa:

Chien-Ming Wang will pitch an extended spring training game Thursday in Tampa, a move the Yankees hope will finally give them some answers as to what is troubling their former ace.

Wang, who will remain on the Yankees active roster, is scheduled to throw 100 pitches in front of Yankees Tampa-based officials Mark Newman and Nardi Contreras.

This way, Joe Girardi explained, Wang can attempt to figure out what’s wrong pitching in game conditions as opposed to more bullpen sessions. Part of the problem has been that Wang has looked good in the bullpen between starts and before games, but has struggled in games.

• Ken Belson of the Times has an article on the troubles the metro NY teams are having selling their premium seats:

. . . the Mets and the Yankees face a public relations nightmare and possibly millions of dollars in lost revenue after failing to sell about 5,000 tickets — including some of the priciest seats — to each of their first few games after last week’s openers.

The empty seats are a fresh sign that the teams might have miscalculated how much fans and corporations were willing to spend, particularly during a deep recession. Whatever the reason, the teams are scrambling to comb over their $295- to $2,625-a-seat bald spots.

“I’m sure they’re thinking, ‘It’s just April,’ ” Jon Greenberg, executive editor of the Team Marketing Report, said of the lack of sellouts. “But it’s lost revenue they anticipated getting. This is the worst possible time to debut a stadium.”

But the slow start in New York is striking considering how much the teams here spent to build and promote their parks. Like airlines that break even on economy tickets and rely on first-class travelers to turn a profit, the teams need to sell their most exclusive seats to help repay the hundreds of millions of dollars of tax-free bonds they issued to finance their new parks.

The unfilled seats in New York are even more glaring compared with how robust sales have been for previous stadium openings. The Baltimore Orioles sold out 67 of their 80 home dates in 1992, when Camden Yards opened. The Cleveland Indians sold out 36 games in the strike-shortened season in 1994, and were filled to capacity 455 consecutive games from 1995 to 2001.

[My take: Actually, this is just the right time to open a new stadium, as those who might not spend disposable income on a ballgame will want to see the new facility . . . unless your average ticket price is $72 . . . and you have a huge restaurant in center field that blocks the view of more than 1,000 fans . . . and your Stadium rules and regulations feel like they were written by the Gestapo.]

• Baseball America has an update on prospect Andrew Brackman:

After a rough start against Rome on Opening Day—which included six runs on five hits in five innings—Brackman’s peripherals have all been trending in the right direction. His walks have dipped from three to two to zero, while his strikeouts have climbed from five on April 9 to eight last night in a strong start at Savannah.

“Last night he had big-time command of the breaking ball,” (Brackman’s manager Torre) Tyson said. “When you have that 60 breaking ball (on the 20-80 scouting scale) to go along with 95 (mph velocity), it’s almost unhittable because you have to cheat to get to the fastball.

Brackman has made strides in repeating his delivery, Tyson said, but it will continue to be an issue because of his immense size. “He’s always trying to tinker a little bit with his delivery, week in and week out.”

Tyson reported that the righthander’s stuff was crisp, with his velocities ranging form 92-95 on the fastball, 74-78 on the curve and 84-88 on the changeup—much as they did last fall in the HWB. The skipper noted something else, too. Brackman found success in cutting the ball, giving him a quality hard pitch with running action that complements his tailing two-seamer.

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The massive center field scoreboard area that dominates the visual attention at the new Yankee Stadium comes to life at night. While it can never be truly ignored, even during the afternoon, it is a living, breathing presence at night.

Showtime.

As Yankee fans gather at their new cathedral and take in the experience, walking along the wide concourses, cramming into the Stadium store–which has been packed each time I’ve gone through–there is some sense of carry-over from the old place. Roll call from the bleacher creatures. They are more a part of show than ever because the creatures’ roll call was originally a spontaneous act of their own imagination and collective spirit.  It was not drawn up in a board room. 

The tradition is alive and well in the new place. And the players seem to love it. When Johnny Damon was called he made an elaborate gesture, a comic, rock star pose, pointing to the bleachers. Nick Swisher, spun around and did a nifty move, designed to work the fans up, as well.

The creatures had gone through the outfielders when the A’s lead-off hitter reached first. They chanted Mark Teixeria’s name, and the first baseman, holding the runner on, interrupted his concentration to wave. All part of the show.

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Earlier, when I walked into the stadium, I saw a group of kids in their early twenties, decked in Yankee gear. “Who’s pitchin?” said one of them. “Yo, we’ve got to cheer for Giambi tonight, man,” said another, smoking a Newport. They nodded their heads.  “Yeah, let’s root for Giambi.”

Giambi was accorded a gracious, though not overly effusive hand when he came to bat in the first inning (those are reserved for players who’ve won titles).  He cracked a line drive to straight away center field. The sound of the ball hitting the bat rang out, that lovely sound that never grows old. Brett Gardner sprinted after the ball–and perhaps because it was right over him he took a funny-looking route–and after eleven steps, he jumped up and snagged it. I thought he had a bead on it, at the last moment I expected him to make the play. Still, it was an impressive catch, and soup to nuts, from Giambi to Gardner, it was one of those moments that bring you to the game, and reminds you that no matter how many bells and whistles, no matter how many distractions, the game is the real show.

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