Yankees fans will soon be the first in baseball to buy games streamed on broadband to computers and wireless devices within the team’s local market, according to executives briefed on the pending deal but not authorized to speak publicly about it.

I’ll also agree that there’s a kind of long long doomwatch that is going on around Rivera, as if we ‘protect’ ourselves by seeing the end, or predicting it, at every sign of faltering. He’s going to have mini-slumps which do not necessarily mean The End is Nigh.

He is not going to start featuring an effective change at this point. Can’t see it. That’s something you start working on in off-season, not in 9th innings of pennant race games. Nor has Tampa Bay ‘figured him out’ … like Zobrist and Dillon took some ‘Decode Rivera’ course? This is random good hitting, and Zobrist, in fact, is having a remarkable season. They won’t miss Iwamura, it seems, except insofar as Zobrist was their bench depth.

evidently, at least according to leiter (and his own pitching experience) the grips for the two pitches are not particularily compatible.

I really really really want a win today. They must stop losing to the Rays and Boston.

Good Times today.

i don’t feel like looking this up, but it *seems* like mo hasn’t gotten regular work recently, which often coincides with his rough patches.

also, part of it could be the rays have “adjusted” to him the way it seemed the red sox did a few years ago.
although the notion that mo only has one pitch is exggerated, mo may need to throw the changeup or another pitch a bit more just to have hitters off balance if the cutter has lost a bit of velocity.

one thing that baseball statisticians don’t do enough is discuss wheteher the differences between 2 numbers are statistically significant and then perhaps “baseball” significant – how big of a deal are the drops in mo’s numbers?

As I look at the stats t-mis (cute!) relays, one thing that mildly reassures is the shift in cutter movement, actually. I may be way off here, but that suggests a minor adjustment needed to me, not a grim decline. Speed drop, yes, you get older it drops (eventually). But movement feels to be more a matter of arm slot and release.

I was actually impressed we got the tying run to the plate, though I know that ‘almost’ is still an “L” on the board. We had, as Cliff says, a few gifts yesterday (including a horrific game by Navarro and a dropped pop to 3rd) so we can’t really say we let a deserved win get away.

Today feels important though (for June) as we have a near-ace going and I do agree that HOME is supposed to matter more! It starts to feel as if the new stadium is so new to everyone it slightly nullifies that, makes the Yankees visitors too, a bit.

Both the stats and our eyes tell us Mo is not what he was. But hell, it had to/has to happen sometime. The question is when. Is it now? Or is this just a cool start? Time will tell, but my guess is Mo is showing his age. Next year might be very painful for all of us Mortals who worship and the throne of Mo.

13 years as a top closer..only Hoffman compares, but doesn’t come close..it has to end sometime..

Heading into Saturday’s game, Mariano had a 3.67 FIP, much higher than the 2.08 FIP he had last season and the 2.80 FIP for his career. This can be solely attributed to the 5 HRs he’s already allowed this season, because his K/9, BB/9, and K/BB are all outstanding. In fact, Mariano seems to be walking less hitters as he gets older. Yet, Mariano hasn’t allowed 5 home runs in a SEASON since 2001. His HR/FB is a whopping 26.3% so far.

In addition to the home runs, it seems like batters are hitting Mariano harder in general. Mo’s line drive rate is at 24.5% this season, compared to 14.5% last season and 18.5% in 2007. Groundballs are also coming less often, as his 45.2% rate is less than the 54.7% in 2008 and the 53.0% in 2007.

Is it a velocity issue? According to PITCHf/x, his fastball velocity has gone from 94.1 mph in 2007 to 91.3 mph this season. His cutter has gone from 92.7 mph in 2007 to 91.2 mph now. Also according to PITCHf/x, his cutter appears to be moving less, with 1.8 inches of horizontal movement versus 2.7 inches last season and 3.7 inches in 2007. Less velocity + less movement = getting hit harder? Could be.

We don’t know what’s wrong with Mo, and hopefully this is just the annual Mariano Freak-Out, but as of right now, he seems human.

My answer is that there has to be a recognition on the part of the entire Yankee organization that Mo has probably entered his decline phase. That doesn’t mean that he still isn’t very good, or that I have a problem with Girardi using him in this instance despite how bad he was in tie games last season, but it’s time to begin to integrate some of their high ceiling young arms into the high leverage situation mix, even if it means enduring some transitory growing pains, in order distribute some of the burden, and I would no longer use Mo for two IP.

btw, Mike Harkey looks like a bouncer.

His name is Jim Geary.

http://tinyurl.com/qal35r

You can also follow along on ESPN360.COM

cheers,
t-mis.

I’d start with the pitchers at home. For the most part, they have been lacking in the very place where they are supposed to excel.

Playing at home is supposed to be an advantage, where you perform your best, not a disadvantage, where you perform your worst.