Comments on: Give That Man A Contract

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:04:18 +0000

[18] I did.

[21] Wow. I’ll admit, I didn’t not remember that, I never knew it.

By: Raf

Raf — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:23:01 +0000

Candelaria was a good, if not underrated pickup. I remember him having knee problems. Wasn’t he traded for Mike Blowers?

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:42:56 +0000

[14] Yep…thanks…the Candy Man was most certainly not on the great 1998 team.

By: rbj

rbj — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:34:34 +0000

[17] Thanks, I must have missed that. All the more reason to bring Andy back.

And if there’s anyone on that list to get rid of, I would make AJ the #1 candidate.

By: mrm1970

mrm1970 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:10:22 +0000

You meant Lefty Gomez, not Lefty Grove.

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:58:36 +0000

Wang isn’t supposed to be ready until midseason at the earliest.

By: rbj

rbj — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:49:38 +0000

I’d love to see Pettitte stick around.
CC
Andy
Joba
AJ
Phil Hughes?
Wang?
Pretty full rotation.

By: weeping for brunnhilde

weeping for brunnhilde — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:59:19 +0000

I love Andy Pettitte. Period.

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:56:00 +0000

[7] Good stuff, william. Though you, of course, meant ’88 for Candelaria.

By: joejoejoe

joejoejoe — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:25:01 +0000

I believe Game 5 of the ’96 WS was what Joe Torre was referring to when he said Pettitte had a “belly full of guts”.

By: Sliced Bread

Sliced Bread — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:55:00 +0000

[10] yeah, you wouldn’t expect anything less from the manager, or Hairston’s teammates but it was still touching to see.

I called my dad right before the error to make sure he was watching the game (yeah, it was my fault). We watched Hairston boot the ball together. He called me back a few minutes later to mention how the Yankees picked up Hairston in the dugout. We definitley felt worse for him than Andy who still had a long way to go toward perfection.

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:41:52 +0000

[8] Then I hope he re-ups at the same terms.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:40:12 +0000

My favorite part came after the seventh, when Hairston went back into the dugout and several of his teammates patted him on the back. Joe Girardi went up to him, placed his finger under Hairston’s chin and moved on. Keep your chin up. It was a small but nice gesture. Liked it.

By: Sliced Bread

Sliced Bread — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:24:01 +0000

Excellent re-cap, Cliff.

ARod’s pretty good at the barehanded catch/throw, so I’d say there was about a 75% chance Alex would have gunned down Wieters in the 6th. But imagine if it was ARod who blew the perfecto. There would have been a 48 hour blackout, the rivers would flood, and every citizen would required sedation.

Thank you, Jerry Hairston Jr., for saving the city.

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:13:06 +0000

One more Andy note. Many people scratched their head when Pettitte opted for a lower base salary with incentives, but barring an injury, Pettitte should meet all but one bonus level (210 innings, which is still a possibility). As a result, he looks like a lock to earn at least $11.25mn, which is more than the $10mn base salary that was floated earlier in the offseason. Nice decision by Andy.

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:12:49 +0000

When you factor in the opponent and the stakes, Game 5 of the 1996 WS (game score of 74) was probably Andy’s greatest game, but he actually had a few post season game scores that were higher. His Game 1 start in 2001 ALCS rated 78; his game 2 start in the 2003 WS rated 76; and his game 2 start in the 1998 ALDS rated 75.

The highest game score in Yankee post season was not Don Larsen’s perfect game (94), but Roger Clemens game 4 domination (98) of the Mariners in the 2000 ALCS. That ranks up there among the best games I’ve ever seen pitched. Interestingly, the Rocket, who was once thought to be a less than prime post season performer, also has the 6th best game score in Yankee post season history: 87 in game 2 of the 2000 World Series against the Mets (his next game after the Mariners).

In the regular season, Andy’s best game score was 87 against the Mets on June 30, 2002. Since 1954, the highest Yankee regular season game score was tallied by Whitey Ford against the Senators in 1959 (106). The next three are Mussina’s near perfecto and Wells’ and Cone’s immortality in the Bronx (98 and 97, respectively).

One unlikely name among the best game scores since 1954 is John Candelaria, who spun a 96 and 95 (same as Gator’s 18K game) during the 1998 season.

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:08:56 +0000

[1] That’s the first thing I though too. Without Hairston’s play on Weiters, the error wouldn’t have been as significant. Also mitigating against too much disappointment is that the error occurred in the 7th inning and a hit and run followed soon thereafter. I also thought Kenny Singleton made a great point. Before Mora hit the HR, he said that he wasn’t going to get too excited about the Perfecto until Mora had batted because he had seen Pettitte many times and would likely bear down in that AB. No sooner did the words leave his mouth than Mora went deep.

By: unmoderated

unmoderated — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:42:05 +0000

Cliff, that’s my game as well. I was born in 1977, too young for the Zoo. I had always watched the Yanks growing up, I had no idea it could be like that.

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:19:22 +0000

I hope Pettitte (and his teammates) can keep it up until they win the last baseball game played in 2009.

By: Eddie Lee Whitson KO

Eddie Lee Whitson KO — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:05:01 +0000

Cliff, so glad you recalled game5, 96. What a game. And you are right, Andy looked perfect tonight. This was no (Door) Matt Young or Andy Hawkins job. Feel bad for JHJ, he’s been a great pickup. He picking a forgiving guy to do it to!

Onward and Upward bombers!!