What a bizarre lineup! It's like the manager decided to shake things up a little; who could imagine?

[1] You know, if you switch Pena for A-Rod, and then bat A-Rod either 4th or 5th (Cano taking the other slot), I could live with that lineup very easily.

Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: I want to give him the heat and announce my presence with authority!
Crash Davis: Announce your fucking presence with authority? This guy is a first ball, fast ball hitter!
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: Well he hasn't seen my heat!
Crash Davis: Alright meat, show him your heat.

It was Damon's first time back, it's not surprising that he would soak in the cheers...

I guess Grandy's groin is fine?

The Yankees are on TV here again,which unfortunately--given my track record the last couple of weeks-- means they are likely to lose.

Come on boys, break my jinx!

[1] Just a leetle-tiny bit, Will; Jeter's not leading off while The Gardner State is, MVP-alike in the cleanup spot and The Swisher King becomes the fifth element; Grand Concourse in the 8 hole between Old Man River and Bring Da Peña. Shall you watch?

[6] Let me ask Shaun, he's the only other one talking to me right now...

[2] You would bat Nick at Ninth?

[4] But, it seems as if Pettitte's is not. He is getting an MRI now. If Andy isn't back, everything else might not matter.

Gotta send Jeter here, no?

Damn Tex...the Yankees really needed a big hit there. Double Play is still in order.

[9] Laird's arm is pretty good...I let Cano hit.

11) they won't throw through with Gardner on third.

[12] I think they would.

Yankees have to get a big hit here. They can't keep squandering opportunities. The game could very well be on the line right now.

Mute point. Please, Swish, in the air.

Well this is a promising development.

13) then Gardner would have scored.

[17] Not sure that's a given, but he made it home anyway. Big hit by Swish.

Nice hit by Swish, despite the umpire's effort, calling the high strike...

Yay!

I have to admit that off the bat I assumed that was a doublemplay.

A hit with RISP!

[8] Depends on how the replacements do.

Damn, that was a nice pitch to hit ...

[22] The Yankees don't have a replacement.

Hmmmmm...big score truck or little score truck. Which one arrives?

Epic Fail.

Incredible...this team can't get out of its own way.

25) That would be the little one. :(

[24] Of course they do, they're not going to forfeit the games Pettitte's supposed to start. Some combination of Mitre, Mosely, Gaudin or some guy from the minors will start.

mk came oh so close to saying that "you can't predict baseball" when he was discussing cc and verlander.

I wonder what the wisdom behind batting Thames ahead of the lefty Granderson was?

[29] I hear Sidney Ponson is available. . .

[29] Semantics. Ok fine...they don't have any good replacements.

[31] he hit a big hit off a righty last week or so right - that's the chess master's logic i'm sure

Rays up 3-0 in the first.

[30] Are you sure it wasn't right before Thames' double play?

Why isn't Cervelli playing tonight?

[37] he catches javy and aj, but dear god you don't want him in there do you?

31) he's having a better season than Grandy, including against RHP?

[36] haha, you never know with mk

37) ROTATION!!

[31][34] Girardi probably wanted to alternate L & R batters, not sure why he didn't insert Thames between Posada and Swisher. But at least Pena's batting 9th.

[38] Goodness no...was just kidding.

If the boys cant get AJ Verlander out before the 4th, they could wreak some major havoc on the bullpen and get rolling in the right direction again. Or let him settle in for a solid 7 innings. Whatever.

[39] 2010 aside, Verlander seems to be a terrible matchup for Thames.

[37] Who else would back up @ 3b? :)

grandy!!

That's my boy. Atta boy, Curtis!

NEW SWING!!!

Could have been a Granderson Slam!

DAMN YOU KEVIN LONG!!!

Well that was grand. He's a bum for waiting so long for Long...

[45] I think the logic was that Thames may be able to run into a Verlander fastball

hell even pena got a hit.

Jesus, if Pena can sit on a hanger, Justin's in trouble.

45) I agree, but I can also see where this seasonGirardi might trust Thames more than Grandy, and ultimately who bats seventh or eighth is small potatoes. Sure, it happened to affect that inning, but I'm not sure that was exactly predictable.

What's this, a play?

[56] um, of course it wasn't predictable :}

A bunt!

Madness, I say, madness!

Does anyone know what that was he just did with his bat; what was that?

57) confusing: was that a play or an attempt at a bunt base hit. Either way, my mind is reeling.

Schlereth has 2 completely different eye colors.

Kay is talking nonsense. The Yankees have destroyed first time pitchers since 2000, according to The Captain's Blog :)

Two nice ABs by Jeter. Hey, it's a start.

[62] he is a cat!

[64] The mind boggles.

Not sure if anyone else is thinking it, but since he came back from his leave, Tex has gone cold. He had been scorching before that.

And now Teix is swinging early in the count...

Fives outs so far: two by Teix, two by Thames, and a sort of sacrifice bunt by Gardner.

I wonder if they're talking about Doral Arrowood or Westchester Country Club. May be the former than the latter, if Fox execs were there.

Three runs doesn't seem like enough when you consider how poorly Verlander has pitched.

damn could have really opened it up there.

C'mon big fella!

Nice-'n-easy.

Dear Jete,

Please let those be the only type of DPs you specialize in for at least the rest of the season, please?

Sincerely,
Bronx Banter

Three steals for Jorge over the past week or so.

You can't coach speed.

(spits coffee out of mouth, though not drinking coffee)

Posada, stolen base. Didn't even draw a throw. My mind is further boggled

[77] Oh my God! :)

that daredevil po - the students in his baserunning academy are going to be hearing about that one for a while!

Three stolen bases matches his career high. Impressive.

76) Does it xount as a steal if the runner forgets how many outs there are and the count, and runs (thinking it's two outs, 3-2), and the defense is so stunned that he reaches second? You know, sort of like defensive indifference (runner confusion)?

I figure that's what is going on with Jorge.

[81] I honestly would pay good money for a DVD of all of his base running exploits. Call it The Misadventures of Jorge Posada or something.

[83] i don't think that was what happened on that one. since jorge is foolishly aggressive and doesn't know he is slow as all shit, i think he saw that no one was paying attention to him and figured he could make it - and lo and behold he did!

Well, we've seen a lot so far; a Jorge steal, a Gardner bunt, a Grandioserson display of power, Jeter not ground into a dp... what's next? A Joba 1-2-3 save?

[84] haha, yeah - that would be a helluva dvd.

Damon is right...why did Cashman choose to make him the exception?

[84] Jorge of the Bungle?

Anyone else experiencing technical difficulties repeatedly throughout this game?

[90] yes. i am - the audio keeps messing up as if the cable were out.

[88] Good question, Damon signed for a year less and a million more than was offered.

[91] Salzberg must be playing with the wires.

[90.91]

Me too ... :-(

[90] Yeah, I keep thinking the Yanks actually put on a play at some point...

[90] On My9? Things are fine over here. O'Neill, Kay and Flaherty talking about everything under the sun.

If Peralta was on the Jersey Shore he would be known as
J-Honey.

it is clear that mk has lost all interest in baseball right now - good lord he has been prattling on about everything but this game.

98) i'm getting the tigers tv feed here in canada tonight. Their announcers are not particulalry good, but on the other hand there is no Kay.

CC's experiencing technical difficulties...

[100] Fixed!

Boy, Leyland's still pissed about that pitch to Swisher.

[99]

"Every schtik begins with Kay" ...

[92] There was still a chance to revisit him late in the game, even after blowing similar money on Winn and Nick Johnson.

He looked out.

Close, but likely out ...

Kay is a clown sometimes. Jeter did the same thing a few weeks ago and he wasn't critical of it.

I have to say, I am enjoying reading the complaints about Kay and trying to work backwards from what is written to what he said. The advantage, I don't have to listen to him.

It reminds me of the analogy of the shadows in the cave. Or something.

[104] No need to as the roster was full, and IIRC, Damon had no intention of DH'ing.

[107] Sometimes?

The Pettitte news is bad.

[109] They could have made room for Damon, and I don't recall ever seeing Damon say he wouldn't DH.

[108] He criticized the Tigers infielder for throwing the ball around on the Gardner steal.

Nasty innning. If MK says CC strikes out the side, but doesn't say it was in order, did it really happen? ; )

[110] One might even call it demoralizing.

111) Cashman obviously thought that NJ would survive the year. Yes, that was a foolish gamble, but that's what he thought. So, operating from that assumption, there was no room for Damon on the roster except as the fourth OF/BUDH. They were not going to pay him what he ended up getting to be backup.

Seriously, why they didn't sign him is fairly straightforward.

CC Rider to the rescue again..I really love that big lug!

Chyll, it's baking hot here again..tell us some more pizza stories..I want to torture myself...

Verlander is starting to deal now, too.

Man, he made Robbie look silly.

(New Haven's own Frank Pepe's!)

Run, Po, run!!

[114] Given all the incentive clauses in his contract, I think Cashman thought that he may not make it through the entire year. Don't think he expected to get 98 AB's from him, though.

[114] Why they should have signed him seems even more straight forward to me, but alas, we're stuck with the result.

120) sure. I imagine he was aiming at something like 400 ABs.

By the time Damon signed with Detroit in late February, the Yankees had already signed Thames and, I think, Winn. There was never realisticaly a spot on the roster for johnny once NJ was signed.

Ugly scoreboard tonight.

On a tie like that there should be a quick rock, paper, scissor game. Best of 1.

CC got away with one there.

That sounded pretty good off the bat.

He is one strong motherfucker.

[124] Heheheheh,

121) I disagree. It was the correct move not to sign Damon as the DH, or at least an explicable move. He's on the wrong side of 35, he can't play defense. Even this year he is hitting < .800 OPS, 110 ops+. he was asking for too much money.

No, the mistake that Cashman made was deciding to replace Johnny with NJ. And even here this boils down to him expecting NJ to get more than 100 ABs this season, because any objective individual would have figured NJ to outproduce Johnny if healthy.

"Half an hour to get over one of those stupid questions Michael asked you."

A double.

Hey, Ms. O,
I meant Scherzer earlier. Check out the "cat like eyes." wild.

http://tinyurl.com/2f86gcv

Gardner is a very strange offensive player. You can't coach broken bat doubles!!

Nice 2b by Gardy

[130] I LOL'ed when he said that.

[133] Can't predict 'em, either.

Derek just looks horrible up there.

Yay!

But he got a legitimate base hit!

Well hell's bells. A two out ribeye.

A non ground ball by Jeter!

Very nice game by the Captain tonight.

[129] I'd take his 110 OPS+ in a heart beat. Damon was good for this team and an ideal fit for Yankee Stadium. Also, if Nick Johnson was healthy, he wouldn't be Nick Johnson.

You guys all owe Jeter hugs, kisses and apologies after last night's abominable comments..the Captain was not amused!

"Fuck you all."

Derek Jeter to Bronxbanter, August 16, 2010.

Jeter is closing in on Rickey's team record.

Wow, well that's pretty cool. According to Tigers announcers it was like 7.3 seconds from contact to Gardner sliding into second. The 1st to 2nd speed was ridiculous. Nice to get Jeter off and give CC a little breathing room.

Hope they keep up the running the rest of the season.

Uh, WTF was *that* strike call???

That's NEVER called a strike. Give me a fucking break.

141) Dead horse territory, but NJ had 400+ PAs in six of nine seasons. He was a good bet to stay healthy enough at DH. It didn't work out.

Letting Damon go bothered me not at all, and it still doesn't.

Everybody else see this story?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/aug/17/lou-gehrig-disease-baseball-death

Gehrig, who built a heroic reputation for playing on despite injuries - he played 2,130 games over 14 years - is not named in the study. But Dr Ann McKee, the director of the neuropathology laboratory for the New England Veterans Administration Medical Centers, and the lead neuropathologist on the study, said that the implication is that he may well have died not from the disease named after him but from the repeated concussions he received on the baseball field as well as when he played American football in school and at university.

[149] You are very stubborn to be defending NJ at this point! How many career trips to the DL for Mr. Glass??

[149] Dead horse territory??? That puir horse was pummled into glue several months ago ...

=)

reposted because it got caught behind the page flip.

Everybody else see this story?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/aug/17/lou-gehrig-disease-baseball-death

Gehrig, who built a heroic reputation for playing on despite injuries – he played 2,130 games over 14 years – is not named in the study. But Dr Ann McKee, the director of the neuropathology laboratory for the New England Veterans Administration Medical Centers, and the lead neuropathologist on the study, said that the implication is that he may well have died not from the disease named after him but from the repeated concussions he received on the baseball field as well as when he played American football in school and at university.

151) I thought it waw a good gamble at the time, and I'm not going to back down from that. But it sure blew up in Cashman's face, no doubt about ot. In any case, what I am really defending is the team's decision not to keeo JD as the DH. That decision made perfect sense even if the corresponding move to sign Nj was a mistake (expected or otherwise).

154...thought it was...

Come on CC, get this last out.

[149] Right, but in 2007 and 2008 he had 147 PAs combined. Even as a minor leaguer, Nick Johnson was injury prone. It was a bad gamble, IMHO. Now back to the game, which is getting a little sweaty.

Roll on, Big Fella!

[153] I saw that. Not sure what to think of it as far as Gehrig goes. Concussions are really a scary thing. Some people think they had a lot to do with the deal where the wrestler killed his family as well.

I have tix for tomorrow's game .... nosebleed seats .... sec 434a ... anyone wanna join me?

[150] I saw it. It's an interesting thought, but if he isn't named in the study how strong can the implication be?

Rocket Robbie! MVP!

Well struck, Robbie.

[154] Quite a few reasonable moves have blown up in Cashman's face.

[160] Aww, thanks for the offer, Diane. I was in Brooklyn the last couple of weeks and were I still there, I'd take you up on it!

Alas.

153) i read the article...something strikes me as bogus. I mean, no one doubts that Lou Gehrig's Disease exists, right? And he was diagnosed with the disease (not yet called by that name of course) at the time by doctors, and the disease followed the predictable course with Gehrig, and there is anecdotal evidence that fits ALS.

It sounds like they are simply using shocking but entirely speculative implication---Gehrig may not have died from ALS but from bean balls!!!---to generate buzz for their paper, which may indeed have real scholarly merit otherwise.

[166] He wasn't only diagnosed by doctors...but some of the best in the country at the time. Definitely sounds like a way to get publicity.

164) yep. Such is the life of an MLB GM. That, and the fact that you can't predict baseball.

The Yankees have been on a strike out tear in August.

K'ing on 3 pitches without swinging is impressive.

Leyland is a bit of a chessmaster himself this evening.

so, Thames has been working with Gardner, I see?

Jeez, Inge had more time to make that play and throw to second, since Swish had to hold up.

Sac fly, we'll take it!

We'll take it.

And now...the Eighth Inning.

Ball down the middle, Cabrera flies out, slider off the plate last night, finds its way to the seats.

[167] Well, the theory is that the symptoms are such that they are only just now recognizing the difference, so even the best doctors could not tell the difference until now. The way I read it is that the end result (the symptoms) are the same, but it can be caused either through brain/spinal trauma or through ALS.

Did Gehrig really suffer from that many concussions though? He played football during the leather helmet era if I'm not mistaken, which many feel was safer than playing in pads and so forth. I suppose he could've been hit on the head by a pitch a few times, and I do seem to recall a pretty bad incident that nearly ended the streak.

177) there's a famous saying that really sums up that sort of thing. Now, how does it go? That guy who announces Yankees games says it all the time, but I just can't remember it exactly.

The Angels are 20-28 vs. Boston since 2000. I would have guessed closer to 4-44

[180] That's only at Fenway.

I wonder if the Yanks have to get a referral from their PCPs in order to get an MRI. :-p

The Tigers announcers are talking about Mo, which got me thinking...I wonder if Mo is driven at all to get the all time saves record. At this stage in his career, he would probably have to play two seasons after Hoffman retires to catch him.

Mo.

hey just fair - saw the pic, that is freaky - he could definitely see him hissing at us.

Damn. Just missed it.
[185] No doubt. : )

AGGGGGHHH!

Damn, thought Jeter had that. Mistimed his jump.

hahhahahahah!!!

This shit just never gets old.

Did you see that?

yep, that goodness for cc.

189) ???

[183] Gods don't keep records..

[178] That definitely makes sense, but it doesn't seem as if the study examined any of Gehrig's medical records, if they still exists, so it make no sense to make a broad guess.

All rise. Whoo-hooo.
CC's The Man. Mo is Mo.

nice to get back in the win column - good overall performance

Mariano Rivera, ladies and gentlemen.

(You know, it's getting to where I feel like crying every time I see the guy work--both in ever deepening appreciation for his greatness and the horrific thought that one day he'll be gone.)

[191] (Oh, just that one pitch little dinky roller Mo got. Just so sweet.)

[180] That's amazing. Sure seemed to me like the Angels might as well crawl in backwards when they enter Fenway.

In fact, I refuse to acknowledge those stats.

My brain insists that no one rolls over like the Angels do for the Red Sox. It's one of the reasons I refuse to believe their manager is anything special. He's had ten years plus to figure it out, and they still are the Red Sox' lackeys. 20-28? Really???

197) ah.

[143] I insist that our comments inspired Jeter...

also, his game last night was still awe-inducing in its awfulness