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- How’s the knee, Hideki?:
(Hideki) Matsui had not played in New York’s past three games after having his troublesome knee drained on Sunday during the club’s series in Seattle, but he said that the stiffness and lack of motion has subsided.
“There never was any pain,” Matsui said through an interpreter. “That’s not really an issue. There’s the difficulty of movement when there’s fluid in there, and it’s harder to move the knee. It just feels like there’s all this pressure there. Right now it feels very light and easy to move.”
Knee difficulties have become a fact of life for Matsui, part of the price he has had to pay for a lengthy consecutive games streak that spanned 1,250 contests in Japan before setting a big league record with 518 straight games played to open his Yankees career.
- No Haranguing with the Reds:
The Yankees inquired about Reds right-handers Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo, but backed off when the Reds said they would not include any money in a deal. While the Yankees remain active in their pursuit of a starter, they likely will stand pat and await the benefit of the roster expansions on Sept. 1.
- Gardner on the mend:
Brett Gardner, out since July 26 with a broken thumb, is scheduled to see a doctor on Wednesday. If cleared, he will start a rehab assignment soon after. According to Joe Girardi, Gardner should return quickly.
“He’ll need some at-bats, but it shouldn’t be too long,” the manager said.
- Jeter the best-hitting shortstop of all-time?
- Are the Yankees trying to hit more flyballs in the Stadium?
The new Yankee Stadium has turned out to play like a bandbox, and the Yankee players may not just be taking advantage of it serendipitously. Below are some of your 2009 New York Yankees, accompanied by their 2009 FB%, their 2008 FB%, and where this season’s FB% ranks along with how many seasons the data has been available for.
Mark Teixeira: 45.1%, 36.5%, 1/7
Derek Jeter: 26%, 23.8%, 2/8
Jorge Posada: 43.2%, 39.7%, 1/8
Johnny Damon: 44.6%, 34.2% , 1/8
Hideki Matsui: 42%, 34.5%, 2/7
Nick Swisher: 44.8%, 44.5%, 4/6
Jose Molina: 41%, 33%, 1/8There are a lot of things you can take away from this, and by no means does one of the things have to be that the Yankees have a conscious effort to try and hit more fly balls in hopes of getting more homers.
- Happy 74th birthday to long-time Yankee 2B, and five-time Gold Glove winner, Bobby Richardson.
- On this date in 2000, the Yankees beat the Angels, 9-1, hitting a ML record-tying three sacrifice flies in the 3rd inning.
Yesterday, Rob Neyer said that Jeter is probably the third best hitting ss of all time, behind Vaughn and Wagner. I didn't know he jumped ahead of Yount or Ripken, or A Rod for that matter. Wowsers.
He may not add a whole lot of expected wins, but it will be a good feeling to see Gritner back on the team.
[1] Career wOBA, OPS+:
Yount: .344, 115
Ripken: .345, 112
Jeter: .375, 121
I assume that A-Rod is no longer considered a SS for comparison purposes, otherwise he wins going away (.411, 147). Although those stats are for the entirety of each player's career, not just their time at SS.
[2] He will also help keep Melky fresh because until last night, his offense has been in freefall (August: .185 .229 .338 .567)
[3]
.... and those were most of A-Rod's prime years (at least from the typical "peak age" standpoint)
I'd be interested to see Bill James' evaluation of the all-time SS.
[3] neyer basically said that alex *will* end up with more abs as a non-shortstop, so he is no longer considering him a ss
[4] as an add-on to that it will allow girardi to ride the hot hand - something i think girardi has actually done fairly well with those 2
[7] I'll have to check and confirm, but I think Girardi has been using the two in something of a hybrid/modified platoon. But another side benefit is that Damon can be rested as well
[8] yeah mostly a modified platoon, with increased plate apperances when one was doing particularly well.
yes, the rest for damon or the lidr value is nice as well.
as hard as damon tried to outdo scott hairston last night, i think ole scott had him beat .
[1} On Michael Kay's radio show Monday, he and Don had a pretty good discussion about whether Jeter was the best SS (all around) of all time. A lot of good talk about his hitting, and his not-spectacular-but-steady defense. The phrase "familiary breeds contempt" seemed to elude Kay, but he got the message across anyway - that people who watch Jeter every day can take for granted what he brings to a team. We tend to concentrate on the "past-a-diving" stuff to the point of overlooking the rest. Well at least some fans and media do, based on what is written in papers and blogs.
I'll just add this. The two Jeter highlights that will follow him into Cooperstown are defensive plays - the flip throw and the dive-into-the-stands. And sure - the Mr November home run will be added as well - and maybe the Jeffrey Maier moment (which - let's be honest - was more about the fan than the hitter), but by and large the highlight reel will focus on those moments as "career defining".
I just thought it was kind of ironic that for a guy who doesn't get a lot of love for his defense will probably be remembered more for a couple defensive web gems than for all the "jeterian" hits to right field.
Why does the "benefit of roster expansions" sound like Kei Igawa?
Is he still off the 40 man? Please say yes.
The phrase "familiary breeds contempt" seemed to elude Kay, but he got the message across anyway - that people who watch Jeter every day can take for granted what he brings to a team.
On the flip side, people who don't watch him everyday wonder why Jeter can seemingly do no wrong in a Yankees uniform.
[10] I'm just somewhat impressed that they do keep tabs on the blogsphere; they mentioned a "Michael Kay Drinking Game" that apparently has been organized over at Scott Proctor's Arm. I expect one day the Kay will have a full-on rant about the shytstorms he causes around here in the future, but he may incur the wrath of not-just-us if he goes off on Fearless Leader >;)
[10] Don't forget the 'what the heck was he doing THERE?? play at the plate" play.
[10] sorry unless that's what you meant by the flip throw. I'd assumed you meant his patented moving right/back into the hole, jump/spin/throw to 1st just in time thing.
[11] I think Igawa was taken off the 40 man roster after the Nady/Marte trade
[16] Point being that he's off the 40 man roster, and seeing as they'd rather run Ponson, Mitre, Gaudin, Towers, etc, etc, etc out there instead of giving him another shot, I'd say Eiland or Harkey have a better chance of starting for the Yanks than Igawa will.
Kei Igawa is not on the 40 man roster. Breathe easy, Banterers.
[18] I can never truly breathe easily, because I'm sure there's still a mind bogglingly stupid move they can make, but hopefully the Igawa well continues to be empty.
[1] [3] [6] And Neyer did say he was considering the time guys spent at SS only, so that's why Yount (CF) and the team-stealer who I will not name (3B) didn't qualify either.
[19] I imagine "benefit of roster expansions" involves some of the kid relievers, nothing more. Igawa will never go on the 40-man roster again.
[20] "team-stealer"?
[19] Don't give them a challenge. There's gotta be a decent arm out there who's cleared waivers. And Ponson ain't it.
Yes, a team-stealer. Note I am not rational about this, but passion does not always need to be rational. I miss the Blue Sox.
[22] The Dodgers are supposedly going after Padilla, so that takes that one off the list.
speaking of FB% - if the players are consciously hitting more balls in the air at the Stadium, Swish would be well-advised to up his current rate. if he could get hot at home, it'd be quite nice!
as far as tonight is concerned:
GO DAN !!! : )
[23] I had no idea. Thanks for advancing the meme.
[21] Ripken & Co bought the Utica Blue Sox, and moved them to Aberdeen, renamed them the Ironbirds and built them a shiny new stadium.
An edict came down from MLB(?) that MiL clubs had to upgrade their facilities to a certain standard, and Utica didn't or couldn't.
Albany lost their team around the same time (A-C Yankees), which became the Norwich Navigators, who are now known as the Connecticut Defenders and are now a Giants affiliate. The Yankees moved operations from Norwich to Trenton.
[27] Oh believe me, I am well aware of the reality of the situation - including, as Bruce M. could discuss probably far better than I, that - stadium issues aside, and there were plenty - the Blue Sox ownership didn't have the funds to keep operating the team, and that fans were NOT turning out in any appreciate numbers at all; little ticket sales = little profit. I saw this play out much earlier, when the "beloved" (by a few at least) Utica Devils left town to become the Albany Devils nee River Rats.
But I say again - I am NOT rational about it.
That the team-stealer and his brother swindled the people of Aberdeen into giving them a publicly funded stadium and all the money it makes, a stadium that is an albatross for the county, and all the controversy surrounding that, makes me both angry and quietly pleased, in a way that is very out of character for me.
I'll say it again - I am not rational when it comes to what happened to the Blue Sox.
I haven't been to Utica in years.