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Tonight’s game thread is up early today–and my apologies for the malfunction last night.  Man, the season is slowly getting away from our Bombers.  They’ll need to salvage a split in Texas to stay afloat.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

Will Carroll gives his initial take on Joba today over at BP:

The early word is that his muscle tightened up due to a combination of the blistering heat (I sat in that heat the night before, and yeah, it’s a huge factor) and fatigue. It’s the latter that’s most worrisome given Chamberlain’s switch of roles. While he built up his arm strength, no one has any idea how the fatigue will be affected by the shape of his season. He’s headed back to New York for tests, so we’ll know more soon, but early reports and sources tell me that things look relatively positive, based both on the pain’s location, and on his reaction. Expect the Yanks to be ultra-conservative, and for Chamberlain to miss a start at least.

Nuthin to do but wait. Must be a fun time for Brian Cashman, huh?

Yanks got a bad case of the blues this morning.  Nothing to do but hope for the best while we wait to hear word on Joba Chamberlain’s shoulder.  And iffin it gets real dark fuh ya, make like Jimmie and bust a yodel.

Once again, it wasn’t pretty, but it worked.

Hard to imagine the Angels booting their way out of a victory, but there you go. Justin Christian played a key role for the Yanks and so did Xavier Nady with his six RBI. Pudge Rodriguez homered and had another big base hit as well. Bobby Abreu made glaring mistake on the bases but made up for it at the plate. Man, hard to figure Edwar Ramirez getting the win when all he did was give up a grand slam.

Hey…We’ll take it.

14-9.  Thrills and spills in the Bronx as the Yanks out-Angel the Angels.

Meanwhile…FARMADOOOKE!

John Lackey is a hump. Just a tough guy to deal with. On the field that is. Dude is as competitive as he is ugly too. He goes against the Yankees today as New York strives to split the four-game series against the Angels. A split would be a wonderful way to end the weekend. But Lackey is a hump, man. Darrell Rasner, who pitched well in his last outing, goes for the Yanks.

It’s a beautiful, sunny day in the Bronx.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

It poured this morning at 10:30.  It stopped but an hour later it came down again, harder this time.  But it stopped again and the old timer’s got to play for a couple of minutes before the Fox Game of the Week began.  It was an impressive Old Timer’s Day with seventy-two former players on hand, including first time guys like Rock Raines, Rickey Henderson, Don Baylor and Boomer Wells.  Joe Pepitone was in the piece.  Moose Skowron and Oscar Gambler were there.  Even Willie showed-up.  The only one who was missing was Bernie (when are they going to patch things up already?).  

I covered the event for SI.com.  Here is the story.   

The sun was beaming when Jared Weaver struck out the first four men he faced in the real game.  The Yankees botched a double play that led to two quick runs, and it looked like another Halo Beat Down.  But Xavier Nady reached base with a two-out single in the second and Wilson Betemit homered to tie the game.  Yes, that Wilson Betemit.  Weaver gave up three more dingers–solo shots to Bobby Abreu, Jose Molina and Alex Rodriguez.  It was 8-2 Yankees when all was said and done.

Mike Mussina was brilliant allowing just a couple of hits and a couple of walks over seven innings of work.  He retired the last sixteen men he faced.  Good enough for his 14th win of what is fast becoming one of his finest seasons. 

In all, a near perfect day in the Bronx for the Yanks.

Happy Old Timer’s Day everyone.

Xavier Nady has an interesting face–square jaw and a long, pointy nose.  There’s a call on him, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.  This is best I can come up with so far:

Nady also has an interesting family history.  Dig this 2006 piece from Ben Shpigel in the Times.

According to SI.com, Manny Ramirez has been traded to the Dodgers in a three-way deal that also moves Jason Bay to Boston.  According to Ken Rosenthal:

The Pirates will receive Andy LaRoche and right-hander Bryan Morris from the Dodgers and outfielder Brandon Moss and releiver Craig Hansen from the Red Sox.

My first impression is that Boston did well for themselves.  Bay is a very good hitter who is likely to be even better with the Red Sox.  He might not be as great as Ramirez but he’s a lot younger.  He’s also cheaper–a lot cheaper.  I don’t think the drop-off is that drastic to be honest.  Looks like a solid move by a team in a tough spot. 

Still, no Manny in Boston leaves an emptiness in the Yankee-Sox rivalry. 

Couple of new guns will be at Stadium tonight–the Angels have a new first baseman, the Yanks have a new catcher.  Be interesting to see how that impacts the Halos Annual Bomber Beatdown.  In the meantime, this afternoon is about the trade deadline.

So?  Will Manny Ramirez still be a Red Sox come this evening?

Props to the New York Times for the work they’ve been doing with the Bats blog.  Last year, Bats was functional but uninspired.  This season, however, they’ve not only been updating the blog frequently, but they’ve included some terrific posts, like this one on the history of the Eephus pitch.  Absolutely monstrous post.

One of the funniest things I recall seeing in recent years came in the late summer of 2002. It was an afternoon game at Yankee Stadium, the Rangers were in town, and it was brutally hot.

El Duque had been tinkering with the old lob ball for a few games when he uncorked one to Alex Rodriguez in the first inning of an afternoon game. Rodriguez was caught off guard, and so was the ump: the pitch looked like a strike, but was called high. Rodriguez stepped out of the box, and smiled.  Duque tried it again on the very next batter, Raffie Palmerio. The pitch was in the dirt and it skipped away from Jorge Posada.

The second time Rodriguez came up, Duque threw him another floater, again for a ball. Not willing to let well enough alone, Duque thought he would fool Rodriguez by trying it again in the same at-bat (chutzpah is not something Hernandez ever lacked). So he floated another one to the plate, arching his back in an exaggerated manner that gave away his intention. Rodriguez waited, then pounced, popping the ball over the left field fence.

Joe Torre shook his head and grumbled. It was the last Eephus of the day for Hernandez, who gave up a homer in the next at-bat to Palmerio (fastball). Those were the only two times Texas scored all day, Duque settled down and pitched wonderfully and the Yanks won the game.

Of course, who can forget Dave LaRoche, throwing a true Eephus to Gorman Thomas at the Stadium back in the Eighties?

I’ve always enjoyed rooting against Pudge Rodriguez.  He makes a good villain.  It starts with the eyebrows, arched in a comically sinister fashion.  Pudge is both good-looking and almost grotesque, he’s like a Warner Bros. cartoon come to life–a bona fide Taz Devil. On the field,  he’s a "winner," a guy who helped the Marlins win a World Series and later, helped put the Tigers back on the map.  He’s a Hall of Fame catcher, not just a great fielding catcher in his day, but a legendary one.  He’s also a guy who likely took performance-enhancing drugs when he was with the Rangers.  He’s never been busted, but you have to figure he just turned out to be one of the lucky ones.

Still, he’s an entertaining player to watch.  He might not be as strong defensively as Jose Molina, but he’s still a presence out there.  Plus, he’s charismatic.  I don’t think any of us would be surprised to see him collect some big hits in August and September. 

So, I’m pleased to see him on the team, warts and all.  And while I’m not sorry to see Kyle Farnsworth’s time with the Yankees come to an end, I was moved by his show of emotion yesterday.  I felt for the big lug, which is basically how GM Brian Cashman portrayed him–as a good guy.  I’ve always been so frustrated by his performance that I never paid much attention to his personality.  He wasn’t effusive with the press so it was really hard to tell if he had one.  

Now, he’s gone.  One big, bad guy out, another bad guy in. 

Hot dog.   

Has Manny gone too far? The rumor mill is hot with talk about Ramirez tonight, and here is what Manny told ESPN earlier today:

"The Red Sox don’t deserve a player like me," Ramirez said. "During my years here, I’ve seen how they [the Red Sox] have mistreated other great players when they didn’t want them to try to turn the fans against them.

"The Red Sox did the same with guys like Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, and now they do the same with me. Their goal is to paint me as the bad guy," Ramirez added. "I love Boston fans, but the Red Sox don’t deserve me. I’m not talking about money. Mental peace has no price, and I don’t have peace here."

…"There are still many hours left before the trading deadline, but I doubt that they will trade me."

The Red Sox pride themselves on not being emotional when it comes to making roster moves. But Manny is really pushing the envelope, he’s really putting them on the spot, baiting them, insulting them.

Think their relationship is beyond the point of no return?  This is starting to get ugly.  Ramirez is right about one thing, though–there are an awful lot of Red Sox star players (Fisk, Lynn, Tiant, Vaughn) whose time in Boston ended on a sour note.  It’s only fitting that it end badly for Manny in Boston too. 

It was a fine afternoon in the Bronx for the home team.  We’ll have the re-cap a bit later.  But here’s something to chew on…ESPN’s Buster Olney reports that the Yankees have traded for Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez.  Whoa.  Lo-Hud says the Tigers get Kyle Farnsworth in exchange. 

Yowza. 

C’mon, Meat.  Keep your wits about you and John Blaze your way through the O’s.

Time for a win.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

Dig Syreeta Wright’s version of "She’s Leaving Home." The lyrics really have a different emotional kick with a female vocal.  Syreeta is Stevie Wonder’s ex-wife; he produced the track.

Even when he falters, Mariano Rivera’s greatness remains untarnished.  Rivera gave up a home run last night, but still reached another milestone.