Daily Archives: March 6, 2010

Very cool.

With the Oscars coming up on Sunday, the time is just right to bring up some Yankee-related movie news. Historically speaking, the Yankees and Hollywood have had trouble coming together and making good film partners, but that may be changing within the next few years. According to a recent Rush and Molloy article in the New York Daily News, a film called The Trade is in the planning stages. The movie would look at the “life swap” (including wives and children) engineered by Yankee pitchers Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson in 1973, and would feature Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in the lead roles. Now how great would that be?

This revelation does bring me some momentary pause, however. Affleck and Damon are well-known Red Sox fans; I hope that they would not use this vehicle as a way of embarrassing the Yankee franchise. That said, I like both as actors, particularly the multi-dimensional Damon, and have enough confidence that their sincere interest as baseball fans would make them want to deal with this controversial subject matter in a serious and respectful manner.

For those who don’t remember the details of the story, Kekich and Peterson had been close friends since becoming Yankee teammates in 1969, but each man developed an affinity for the other’s wife during the summer of 1972. In the spring of 1973, the news became public that the two pitchers had actually traded wives, along with their children and family dogs. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn reacted to the news with disgust, claiming that he was “appalled” by what Kekich and Peterson had done, but that he was also powerless to do anything about it.

The Yankees reacted more humorously to the announcement, with general manager Lee MacPhail quipping that the Yankees would have to call off “Family Day.” (They actually did decide to cancel the promotion that summer.) Yankee teammates gave Kekich and Peterson their fair share of grief, but never to the point where it caused much dissension in the clubhouse. But the trade seemed to affect the two pitchers, both of whom struggled in 1973 and were subjected to routine booing throughout the American League. Both became ex-Yankees soon after, with Kekich traded in ’73 and Peterson dealt in ’74.

In terms of marriage, the trade produced mixed results. Peterson and Susanne Kekich had four children together and remain married to this day. The relationship between Kekich and Marilyn Peterson did not last. They soon broke up, with Kekich eventually marrying for a third time. To this day, neither man enjoys saying much publicly about The Trade.

It remains to be seen how cooperative Kekich and Peterson will be with the moviemakers. The more pressing question involves Affleck and Damon. Which actor should play which pitcher? Affleck strikes me more as the Peterson type, to the point that I could see some resemblance in their dark physical features. Damon does not look like either pitcher, but he has more comedic talent than Affleck. That might make Damon more appropriate to play the wackier Kekich, who was known as one of the flakiest left-handers of the sixties and seventies.

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The fifth starter battle started with a fizzle on Friday as Phil Hughes underwhelmed and Joba Chamberlain, weakened by the flu, was flat-out awful. Things didn’t get much better after that as the Rays scored in six different innings. The Yankees, meanwhile, haven’t scored prior to the fifth inning in any of their three games this spring, though their subs put together a nice rally in the seventh on Friday. After the smoke cleared, the Rays had won 11-7.

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Curtis Granderson (CF)
R – Mark Teixeira (1B)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Marcus Thames (LF)
R – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
R – Francisco Cervelli (C)

Subs: Juan Miranda (1B), Reegie Corona (2B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Kevin Russo (3B), Jesus Montero (C), Jon Weber (LF), Greg Golson (CF), Reid Gorecki (LF), Jorge Vazquez (DH)

Pitchers (IP): Phil Hughes (2), Joba Chamberlain (1 1/3), Kevin Whelan (4 batters), Kei Igawa (1 2/3), David Robertson (1), Hector Noesi (1), Grant Duff (1), Dustin Moseley (2/3), Jeremy Bleich (1/3)

Big Hits: Robinson Cano (2-for-2) doubled in the fifth and scored on a single by Francisco Cervelli (2-for-2), who “tripled” in his previous at-bat on what looked like a single into the left field gap that was misplayed by Sean Rodriguez.  In the Yankees’ six-run seventh, Eduardo Nuñez, Juan Miranda, Kevin Russo, and Jorge Vazquez each doubled in a run, all were 1-for-2, save Miranda who was 1-for-3. Russo’s double came on a 70 mph changeup from lefty sidearmer R.J. Swindle that he flinched at twice before lacing to the opposite field. Nick Swisher (0-1) drew the Yankees first walk of the spring.

Who Pitched Well: Kei Igawa entered with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth and stranded all three runners, then pitched a perfect fifth. He struck out two along the way. David Robertson threw a perfect sixth striking out one. Jeremy Bleich threw one pitch, but it came with runners on base and resulted in an inning-ending groundout in the ninth.

Who Didn’t: Have a seat. Grab a snack . . .

Phil Hughes gave up just one run on a wind-blown solo homer, but he didn’t strike anyone out, wasn’t locating his breaking stuff, didn’t break 91 mph on the gun, and was generally less impressive than his results. He was still far better than what followed. Joba Chamberlain, having just recovered from a flu which carved eight pounds off his frame, gave up five runs on a double, two triples, and three walks and was pulled two outs short of his intended two innings. He looked awful, but I doubt anyone’s going to hold it against him. The important thing is that he got his throwing in and didn’t fall behind schedule due to his illness.

Two of Chamberlain’s runs scored after he left the game. Kevin Whelan came in with men on first and second, bounced a pitch to move them up, then gave up a single to score them both, though I’d argue that Derek Jeter should scooped up that worm-burner to his left. Whelan then gave up a double and issued a walk and got the hook.

In the eighth, Grant Duff gave up three runs on two walks, a single, and a triple. In the ninth, Dustin Moseley gave up another run on two hits and two walks and was pulled with two outs.

Nice Plays: Derek Jeter made a nice backhanded play on a hotshot to shortstop to start the game. Robinson Cano made ranging, over-the-shoulder running catch in shallow left, then later backed up a bad throw from catcher to first base, spun and threw out the runner at second. In the seventh, Juan Miranda made a nice back-handed grab of a foul ball near the stands and quickly fired back in to hold the runner at second.

Oopsies: On the very next play, Miranda booted a low throw from Eduardo Nuñez. Nuñez got the error. In the third, Nick Swisher fell down after taking too large of a secondary a lead off first base and was doubled off.

Ouchies: Swisher appeared to jam his right wrist on that fall, but stayed in the game. Nick Johnson (back) thinks he can play, but the Yankees are going to give him Saturday off and leave him off the bus trip on Sunday. He should return to game action on Monday.

Other: Thanks to everyone who joined in for my liveblog of the game.