Thunderstorms, says the weatherman. Hopefully, they’ll get the game in…
Let’s Go Yan-Kees.
Meanwhile, according to the intrepid Pete Abe:
UPDATE, 4:30 p.m.: Wang starts tomorrow. More to come later. Hughes to bullpen.
UPDATE, 4:49 p.m.: Hughes is a temporary bullpen fix, Cashman said. He’ll be a starter long term.
New York, New York Big City of Dreams (and everything in New York ain’t always what it seems)…
IRT Station, Inwood
I’ve got a good one for you. Dig this boss site, New York City Walk. Dude from New Mexico came to New York and walked every street in Manhattan. Took him two years. And he kept a blog. It’s fascinating. Here’s a neighborhood-by-neighborhood breakdown.
There’s just no end to the cool people in this world, is there?
I saw the actor/director Tim Blake Nelson (pictured above with George Clooney) on the IRT this morning. He was with his son, taking the kid to school. I met Nelson when I worked for the Coen brothers and later adored him in their movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? He was a friendly, unassuming guy.
Though I was sitting just two feet away from where they were standing, I chose not say hello. I went back to my book, and looked up at them occasionally, not wanting to invade their privacy. Nelson was warm and loving with his son.
Talented actor and director. Good man.
An apology to Star-Ledger Yankees beat reporter Marc Carig is in order.
On Monday, I wrote:
STAR LEDGER: Marc Carig copied off Erik Boland’s paper in that he had individual stories on Gardner and Wang/Hughes, But he had a couple of other tidbits: 1) His recap was short and had additional bulletpointed notes. I thought this was an interesting format. It reminded me of an anchor calling highlights and then reading key notes off the scoreboard graphic. 2) He had a full feature on Phil Coke and his blaming the umpire’s call on the 3-2 pitch to Trevor Crowe. Check out the last paragraph. Looks like he copied off Pete Abe’s paper, too.
I realize that the above block can be construed as an accusation of plagiarism, but it is not. The “copied off his paper” lines were meant to be tongue-in-cheek, to demonstrate that there is information overlap, and in some cases, quote and word overlap, in deadline situations. The fact that Marc Carig’s stories in the Star-Ledger were similar to the ones in Newsday and the Journal News was a coincidence.
These coincidences occur daily if you follow all of the media. For example, late last week, Michael Kay interviewed Mets GM Omar Minaya on his radio show in the afternoon and asked him, in a different order, nearly the same exact questions Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason did on WFAN in the morning. Michael may or may not have listened to the FAN show, but in analysis, I could have written, “It sounded like Michael Kay ripped his questions off the morning team at WFAN. Wouldn’t that add to the WFAN-ESPN rivalry?”
To Marc, I am sorry for the loaded nature of the statements above and for any fallout or criticism it has caused you in the past few days. I know the seriousness of that accusation and wouldn’t wish it upon myself or anyone else. Moving forward, I will do a better job of reading between the lines as I proof these pieces to make sure the words I choose are the right ones.
Thank you.
Let’s get right to it . . .
Joba Chamberlain is a fantastic starting pitcher. He’s the team’s second-best starter right now, and there’s a chance that he’ll be the best starter by 2010. His SNLVAR of 1.3 is just a fraction behind Andy Pettitte‘s mark of 1.4 for second on the team, a gap that would likely not exist had Chamberlain not been knocked out of his May 21 start against the Orioles by a line drive. Used exclusively as a starter this year, Chamberlain has a 3.71 ERA in 53 1/3 innings. Last night was his fifth quality start in ten, with one of the others being that injury-shortened outing. Durability is an issue, but it’s as much a created one-the Yankees continue to be hypercautious with Chamberlain-as it is a weakness in his game.
In his career, Chamberlain now has a 3.19 ERA in 22 starts, averaging a little more than 5 1/3 innings pitched per. He has 125 strikeouts, more than one per inning, and a K/BB of 2.6. There’s never been a team in MLB history that could afford to move that guy to the bullpen. Even if you were to say that Chamberlain is a six-inning pitcher, something that isn’t clear yet, getting 192 innings of 3.19 ERA ball in a season would make him a top 40 starter in baseball every season, a six-win pitcher in line to make tens of millions of dollars a year.
The conversation on whether to move a starter to the bullpen begins with whether the pitcher can be a successful starter in the majors. Chamberlain has proved that he can prevent runs with the best of them, so that’s not a problem. While he’s suffered nagging injuries on occasion, he hasn’t had the kind of durability problems that, say, Rich Harden has. By pitching standards, Chamberlain has a good health record, and the kind of record that doesn’t warrant a role change.
Through Monday, he was hitting .349, third in the International League, with 11 stolen bases in 11 tries.
A 22-year-old center fielder, Jackson is still developing in his first season at Class AAA. As well as he has played, including a .436 average with runners in scoring position, he has not hit a home run all season. . . .
“There’s nothing about Austin — defense, arm, base running, nothing — that gives me any doubts that he’s going to be a good player one day,” said the Class AAA hitting coach Butch Wynegar. “I just hope nothing happens at the big-league level where they yank him out of here premature. I’d love to see him stay here all year, see what kind of year he has and go from there. Because he’s not there yet.”
The Yankees’ gleaming new ballpark opened this spring to mixed reviews, with criticism for sky-high ticket prices, obstructed views and the ease with which batters hit home runs there. But the difficulty in getting autographs at the new stadium has particularly chafed many fans, who routinely add three or more hours to their game outings for the chance at personal interaction with a player.
The situation is little better inside the stadium, where visitors continue to be restricted from the prime autograph areas — near the dugouts — during batting practice, unless they have tickets in those sections. The best of those tickets now go for $1,250, which reflects the Yankees’ recent 50 percent discount. The team had an even more restrictive policy, but eased it last month; fans can now watch batting practice from the field-level box seats in the outfield.
The loss of these traditional access points has fans complaining of the further widening of the already huge gulf between those who make millions playing the game and the fans who support the team with their hearts, time and money.
