Blog Archives

Here’s some Yankee notes for you…

Triple A pitching coach Dave Eiland has been working with Phil Hughes, who is due for a strong performance. Hughes goes tonight vs the Mariners. Expect to see Joba too.

The Rocket will have a cortisone shot today. According to Buster Olney:

Roger Clemens won’t make a decision about whether to retire, after 24 seasons, and we’ve seen him change his mind in the past. But what friends and associates are saying is that they believe this will be the final year for The Rocket, because at age 45, the grind of pitching is wearing on him differently, and his numbers reflect this: The batting average against him, of .271, is the highest since his first season, in 1984; the slugging percentage of .411 against him is the worst of his career, and his strikeout-per-nine innings ratio of 6.19 is the worst of his career.

I missed this a few days ago, but Jack Curry wrote a good story in the Times about Alex Rodriguez’s half brother, Victor.

Speaking of Rodriguez, x-rays were taken after the game last night on his right ankle. They came back negative. He might sit out tonight. But even if he’s not seriously hurt, I fear that his swing will be thrown out-of-whack. I hope I’m wrong, of course. Hope it’s just me being nervous.

That was some bomb he hit last night, huh?

Yo, I’m itching for Rodriguez to hit 50 dingers. I want him to set the single-season HR mark for third basemen and I just want to see a Yankee to hit 50. Right now, Rodriguez has an OPS+ of 179, which would place him in the top half-dozen great seasons ever by a third baseman.

Rodriguez has already scored 125 runs, his best mark as a Yankee (his career high is 141 in 1996). He has 28 doubles, one shy of his Yankee-best 29. The 46 dingers are just two shy of all-time record for third basemen, a mark Rodriguez already shares with Mike Schmidt and Adrian Beltre. Rodriguez has 131 RBI, his high in New York, and just nine shy of his career best (142 in 2002). Oh, and he’s also swiped 22 bases while getting caught just twice.

Jorge Posada has had a dream season, same for Magglio Ordonez, but right now, the AL MVP is Rodriguez’s to lose.

It was close for awhile. A Dave Winfield-like line drive home run by Jorge Posada and a Dave Kingman-like dinger by Alex Rodriguez–both solo shots–combined with fine pitching from Chien-Ming Wang to keep the Yankees ahead of the Mariners. Lots of ground balls, plenty of handy double plays from Wang tonight. Then, the Bombers blew the doors down and when the smoke cleared it was Yankees 12, Mariners 3. 20 hits for the home team. A typical Yankee win. Close game then the fireworks. The best image of the night was the look on Jeter’s face as Rodriguez returned to the dugout after his upper deck homer. Jeter squinted as if to say, “Are you kidding me?”

Onions.

The Tigers lost a close one to the White Sox, so the Yanks are two ahead of the M’s, three-and-a-half ahead of the Tigers. A Nice Tuesday.

(more…)

…on these New York Yankees. Look, I don’t care what the pitching match-up is tonight, it’s on each and every one of the Yankees to show-up and put forth a winning effort. If the Yanks don’t make the playoffs, they’ve got nobody to blame but themselves.

Get it in gear, fellas, we’ll be rooting you on.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

Mike Mussina via Pete Abe:

“We knew we were not going to play .700 ball from the middle of July until the end of the season. You have to be realistic.

“But we fought our way back, we’re leading the wild card now and we want to stay after it. The last four days we haven’t played very well. We’ve been flat it seems like. We’ve got to get our heads on right and play with some energy.”

Head on right? That’s a nice way of putting it.

Alex Rodriguez drove in the first run of the game yesterday. It was the bottom of the first inning, and the Yanks jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Rodriguez’s 130th RBI of the season. Rodriguez has now tied his 2005 RBI mark and is three dingers away from tying the record he shares (with Mike Schmidt and Adrian Beltre) for most homers in a season by a third baseman. The reason I mention all of this is because it was the only highlight of another misbegotten afternoon for this confounding Yankee team. Everything went downhill from there–double plays in the second and third inning spelled doom for the home team–as the Mariners finally ended their losing streak, beating up on the Yankees, 7-1. Roger Clemens didn’t have much and underwent an MRI on his elbow after the game. Uh-oh. Mike Mussina was better than he’s been (he was certainly throwing harder and with more confidence), but he wasn’t great either, allowing seven hits in just over three innings of work.

If Clemens can’t pitch, Mussina will likely take his turn.

Tonight, the Yankees need to wake up and play a good game.

I spent almost the entire day yesterday travelling from Vermont back down to the Bronx via Amtrak. The less said about the trip home the better. The same could be said for the Yankees unsightly performance this weekend against the Devil Rays. I got home last night and called a friend who was livid with the Yankees. Not only that but he simply does not believe they have any heart, any business being considered a post-season threat. “They have no killer instinct, they think they can just show up and be good enough. After beating the Sox they get ripped twice by mediocre pitchers on the Devil Rays? What is that?” I didn’t have an answer. “Joe Torre,” he continued, “has to be the worst manager in the game when it comes to pitching moves.” He proceeded to describe yesterday’s events, when Pettitte stayed in the game too long (why didn’t Joba Chamberlain start the seventh?), and by the time Torre made a move it was “four batters too late.” This reminded me of the comparison Met players used to make between Yogi Berra and Gil Hodges. In the third inning, the thinking went, Hodges was thinking about what to do in the sixth inning. In the sixth inning, Yogi was thinking about what he should have done in the third.

My friend believes that since 2001, Joe Torre’s teams have been seriously lacking, and a lot of it can be traced back to the skipper. “Just look at their combined playoff record after they were tied or had a lead in the playoffs.” I said, “Yeah, but look at the Mariners. They’ve lost nine straight. And look at the Tigers.” He wasn’t having it. Whether the Yankees make the playoffs or not, he doesn’t think they’ll make it out of the first round. So I bet him a dinner that when the Yankees make the playoffs they’ll win the first round.

Call it a sucker’s bet or blind faith, but what the heck?

Cliff is away on vacation, so there won’t be a Mariners Preview as per usual. I’m not even going to try and replicate what Cliff does so well. What I do know is that Seattle has lost nine in a row but they also have their ace, Felix Hernandez, going today. That isn’t a good sign for the Yanks, who’ll counter with Rocket Clemens. Something’s got to give. Will we see the same uninspired effort that we saw this past weekend, or something closer to what we saw last week against the Red Sox? If the Yankees have any killer instinct in them, they’ll win two of three here, even sweep. But if they lose this series–and I don’t think anyone would be surprised either way–the book will still be open on this team. Are they pretenders or contenders?

That is the $64,000 question.

It is absolutely gorgeous in New York today, cool and overcast.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

We all know how well Andy Pettitte performs after a Yankee loss. Here’s hoping homeslice can hack it after a Yankee win. With an important series against a reeling Seattle team starting tomorrow (with Felix Hernandez on the hill), this am be a big ‘un to win.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

Just when you think you know something, you get knocked on your ass and realize that you don’t no jack. So much for being the favorites. So much for the odds. The Yanks, coming off three big wins against the Red Sox, were served by the lowly Devil Rays on Friday night in the Bronx by the score of 9-1. Fortunately for New York, the Blue Jays also narrowly edged the Mariners, so the Yanks are still leading the wildcard. And up in Boston, the Orioles lousy bullpen somehow prevailed against a hard-charging Red Sox offense. Both the Red Sox and Mariners had the winning runs on base in the ninth, both hit into game-ending double plays.

Our beloved Bronx Bombers mustered just two hits (a double by Derek Jeter, an RBI single by Alex Rodriguez in the fourth inning) as Phillip Hughes delivered another disappointing performance. After the game, Hughes told The New York Times:

“It was a little bit of everything tonight,” Hughes said. “I had a lot of bad counts, some bad breaks and gave up some home runs. It’s something that I need to fight through. Even when you have a bad start you hope to keep your team in the game. Tonight, I couldn’t do that.”

Joe Torre told the Daily News:

“He shouldn’t be missing the zone like he’s been missing, so I think he was either trying to make too good a pitch or he needs to command his fastball a little bit better,” Joe Torre said. “It got to the point where he was getting behind in the count and he had to throw predictable pitches in predictable counts. That’s the pitcher’s dread, when you’re out there and you really lose the ability to do what you want.”

After the game, Rays stater, Andy Sonnanstine–who pitched a wonderful game–told the Tampa Bay Trib:

Honestly, that’s probably the best start of my life,” said Sonnanstine, whose parents were in town from Ohio to watch him pitch. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”

(more…)

The Yankees shut-out the Red Sox this afternoon, 5-0, completing a timely three-game sweep. New York now trails Boston by five games, and this one got contentious before all was said and done. Chien-Ming Wang took a no-hitter into the seventh inning (thanks, in part to three stellar fielding plays by Jason Giambi), and out-dueled Curt Schilling, who was excellent for Boston. Robinson Cano drilled two solo dingers off Schilling, both to left center field, the only runs allowed by Boston’s starting pitcher.

After Kevin Youkilis reached on a throwing error by Derek Jeter to start the seventh inning, Mike Lowell slapped a single to right for Boston’s first hit of the game. J.D. Drew followed and hit a ground ball to Alex Rodriguez, who lunged to tag Youkilis, before throwing on to first. Drew was called out at first on a close play as Youkilis and Lowell advanced. Rodriguez had missed the tag but soon he, and manager Joe Torre, were arguing that Youkilis had run out of the baseline. (It didn’t look as if he was that far out of the baseline when he passed Rodriguez, but his momentum carried him onto the infield grass a few steps later.) The umpires huddled and the call was overturned. Terry Francona, already having a tough day, came out, argued, and was run from the game.

I was watching the game with a friend who said, “Youkilis got himself out because he looks so awkward.” Wang struck out Jason Varitek, got out of the jam, his day complete.

Joba Chamberlain did not allow a run in the eighth but didn’t look particularly sharp. He could not control the slider. Still, after the Yankees scored three times in the bottom of the inning—two runs scoring on an errand throw by Varitek—Chamberlain, rules be damned, was still pitching. He retired David Ortiz on a fly out and then buzzed two consecutive pitches up and over Youkilis’ head. There was no warning from the umps. Instead, Chamberlain was thrown out of the game. The Red Sox players, notably, Josh Beckett, hollered at Chamberlain as the rookie pitcher walked off the field. “If that young man was trying to get our attention,” Francona said later, “he did a good job of it.”

Edwar Ramirez replaced him and got the final two outs to preserve the shutout.

After the game, Youkilis told reporters:

“You know, two balls going over somebody’s head at 98 mph, I don’t know. I didn’t see any other pitches going that far out of the strike zone. Those balls were pretty close to the head. There were a couple of nods here and there. Who knows what it really meant? Ask him what his intent was. He’s going to probably tell you he didn’t mean to throw those. It’s one of those things where only one person, or maybe a couple people on their team know.

“That’s the second time. Scott Proctor hit me in the head. Coincidence? I don’t know. It doesn’t look good. When two balls go at your head and the guy has a zero ERA and is around the strike zone pretty good, any man is going to think there’s intent to hit him in the head.”

So, the Red Sox are angry about the Youkilis call in the seventh, about Chamberlain throwing at him in the ninth, and most importantly, about getting swept. Boston still has a healthy five game lead, but there is sure to be more theatrics, posturing and general huffing and puffing the next time these two teams meet in Boston in a couple of weeks. (What a cheery thought.) Welcome to the Rivalry, Mr. Chamberlain.

In the meantime, it was the best possible outcome for the Yankees. They defeated Boston’s three best pitchers and swept a series that needed to be swept. Now, here’s hoping they don’t lose site of things this weekend against the Devil Rays.

UpdateThe Mariners rallied to tie the Indians in the top of the 9th but lost the game when Rick White issued a bases loaded walk to Kenny Lofton with two men out in the bottom of the inning. The Yanks are now alone in first place for the wildcard, tied with Seattle in the loss column.

I’m up in Vermont this week, hanging at Em’s folks’ place. It is gorgeous up here, even though it’s been hot during the day. Em’s old man is some kind of gardener, and there is nothing like walking barefoot through the grass, onto the dirt of his garden, and picking fresh tomatoes and basil for a salad.

I don’t know that I could live up here–it’s just too country for me. But the air is clear and crisp, and the open spaces are beautiful. Clean-living, friend, clean living.

So yesterday, I had to stop in at a local supermarket to pick up a few things. I’m wearing a navy-blue t-shirt with a Yankee logo (and Hernandez, 26 on the back). I didn’t walk two feet into the place when a woman in the produce section looks at me and goes, “Ewww, boo-booo.” She drops her melon and makes the sign of a cross with her two fingers and then goes on to mumble something about the Yankees beating the Red Sox on Tuesday night.

“Try and keep it together,” I said cheerfully. “You can get through this, be strong.” It wasn’t so much being booed by a Red Sox fan that got me–heck that’s okay by me. It’s the fact that this lady was dumb enough not to know the standings. Sox got a seven-game lead (now six), lady, stifle, will ya, hah?

Anyhow, the Yanks and Sox finish their three-game series at the Stadium this afternoon. Should be plenty hot as Curt Schilling goes up against Chien-Ming Wang. With the Mariners coming into town for a critical three-game set starting Labor Day, the Yanks can’t fall asleep in this final game, and especially this weekend against the Devil Rays.

But first things first.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

Texas Two-Step

Roger Clemens did not have his famous out-pitch, the split-finger fastball, working tonight. He did not have good control in general, issuing five walks in six innings. His face looked heavy and drawn. You could see him willing his old body through it tonight. How many more innings does he have left with all the wear-and-tear he’s endured through the years? Regardless, in a case of substance over style, Clemens did not allow a hit through the first five innings (he also did not have to deal with Manny Ramirez who sat out with an oblique injury). David Ortiz deposited a flat-splitter high into the upper deck for Boston’s first hit in the sixth.

Josh Beckett, on the other hand, was tougher than his numbers suggest. He used a sharp curve ball to record five of his six strikeouts, and looked decent, despite giving up a career-high thirteen hits. The Yankees scored three runs with two men out in the second—dinky, ground ball, RBI hits by Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon, but otherwise found themselves stymied by Beckett, who got big outs when he needed them most. The Bombers didn’t help themselves either (Alex Rodriguez ran himself into an out after hitting a single to start the third), swinging at too many first pitches with runners on; with two men on, one out, and Beckett on the ropes in the sixth, Robinson Cano skied out to left on the first pitch. Johnny Damon eventually tapped out to first with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Beckett came back in the seventh and quickly retired Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu. He baffled Abreu, throwing him four curve balls in five pitches. But then he left a curve over the plate to Rodriguez—it wasn’t exactly a “hanger,” but it was flat. The Yankee third baseman hooked it, and muscled the ball on a line over the wall in left field, good for his 44th homer of the season. It was an insurance run that had eluded the team inning after inning, and, as it turns out, it would be the difference in the game.

Cut to: Kyle Farnsworth. Do I need to get into it? Doesn’t the name say it all? Well, after retiring Ortiz on a fly ball, Cooter gave up a single to Mike Lowell and then Kevin Youkilis drove the first pitch he saw from Farmadooke into the left field seats (it was a harder version of Rodriguez’s dinger). J.D. Drew struck out next but then Farnsworth walked Jason Varitek and the reliever’s night on the mound was over.

Enter Sandman. Mariano Rivera got Coco Crisp to tap a ground ball back to the mound to finish the eighth. After Mike Timlin retired the Yankees, Rivera threw a strike one fastball to Eric Hinske and then got a generous call on another fastball, this one on the outside corner. Rivera threw the following pitch to the same spot but did not get the call. So he threw it again—not one cutter in the sequence—and Hinske made like Coco and tapped out to Rivera. Julio Lugo hit a 1-0 pitch on one-hop to Rodriguez at third; though it took a tricky hop, A Rod made the play look easy for the second out. Finally, Dustin Pedroia—Only the Angels have Dirty Faces, right?—fell behind 0-2, fouled a pitch off, took a cutter outside for a ball, and then hit a nubber up the third base line. Rivera made the play, Andy Phillips—who replaced Jason Giambi in the sixth—made a nice catch, and Ortiz was left in the on-deck circle. Hot Dog.

Yankees 4, Red Sox 3.

The win moves the Yankees to within six of the Red Sox. More importantly, it ties them with the Mariners for the wildcard lead (though Seattle is still up a game in the loss column). Both starting pitchers were quietly impressive tonight. Neither was great, but they both displayed how tough they are.

Yanks go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon when Chien-Ming Wang faces Curt Schilling.

Wang.

After three straight shaky outings, Chien-Ming Wang threw more than twenty pitches and allowed a run (an RBI single from, guess who, Magglio Ordonez) in the first inning. But his sinker was moving in the right direction and Wang settled in, giving up just one more run over the next seven innings. Wang gave the Yanks length just when they needed it the most (Brian Bruney tossed a scoreless ninth), as New York beat Detroit, 7-2. While the Red Sox bombed The White Sox again, the Rangers beat the Mariners. So the Yanks gain a game in the wild card. They are two behind the M’s, three in the loss column.

The Yanks scored a couple of early runs off Jeremy Bonderman, who also fell into a groove. But Bonderman is not the pitcher he was last year. His fastball is not in the mid-to-upper 90s and eventually, the Yanks got to him. Melky Cabrera hit a triple with the bases loaded in the sixth, Johnny Damon hit a solo dinger and a triple, and Hideki Matsui had three hits and a couple of RBI.

It wasn’t a terribly exciting game, which was just fine with me–my body is still recovering from Friday night. Jorge Posada caught all nine innings so I assume we’ll see Molina this afternoon. Joe Torre talked about giving Alex Rodriguez a rest last week but that hasn’t happened yet (Alex was 1-3 with two walks and a run scored last night). I wonder if Damon gets another start today at DH, or if Giambi will get the nod.

Today is pivotal. Phil Hughes, this is your life, kid. With Mussina-Verlander going tomorrow, this is the game the Bombers need to have.

I went out to Brooklyn last night after work to watch the game and cook dinner with my old friend Anthony Pick, aka Piccalini, aka Tony Pickles. Anthony and I went to school together and have made many a delicious meal together over the years. Well, we had another good one last night (heirloom tomato salad, basil and tomato sausage ring, home fried potatoes, corn on the cobb and a peach crumble with mint) but no game, as it was pouring in the Motor City. I left Brooklyn after 10:30 and didn’t get home until just after midnight. Before hitting the sack I figured I check the scores. That’s when I found out the Yanks and Tigers were actually playing. Top of the fifth, Tigers 6 Yanks 3. Yup, they waited four hours to start the game. Impressively, there was still a good-sized crowd, one that didn’t leave until the final out.

I settled in, watched the Yanks quickly tie the score, and then waited up until 3:30 a.m. when Carlos Guillen ended it in extra innings with a three-run home run against Sean Henn. Final: Tigers 9, Yanks 6. With the Red Sox sweeping a double-header and the Mariners winning again, this will surely go down as one of the heartbreaking losses of the year. The only reason I wasn’t more upset when it finally ended was because I was too tired, and, after all, Sean Henn was pitching.

“Whether I’m on the mound or not, going that many innings, till 4 in the morning, it’s tough,” said Henn, who also lost in extra innings on Monday in Anaheim. “But it’s that much tougher to swallow when I’m the one walking off the mound and they’re celebrating at home.”
(N.Y. Times)

Alex Rodriguez homered but Magglio Ordonez, the other only viable candidate for AL MVP, also went deep and had four hits. The final one, against Henn, was a check-swing, excuse-me single, which helps explain why dude is hitting just about .360. Andy Phillips made a wonderful, reaching catch to save the game while Mariano Rivera was pitching in the 10th; Bobby Abreu, who entered the game late as a pinch-hitter, smacked the ball hard twice with nothing to show for it. Most notably, Jorge Posada was run by home plate umpire Bob Davidson for arguing balls and strikes. Davidson was calling strikes on pitches six inches off the outside corner all night. He did a lousy job, though to be fair, he was equally lousy for both sides (before Ordonez’s check swing hit against Henn, Mags was barking at Davidson too). “His strike zone was a mystery – on both sides,” Joe Torre said after the game. Posada added, “He should be answering the questions, not me.”

Probably not a lot of good rest for these Yankees last night as this was a bitter pill to swallow. But they have to pick themselves off the mat and show some fortitude tonight by winning and not letting this thing spiral out of control.

Gary Sheffield aggrivated a shoulder injury on Tuesday and is out indefinitely. I don’t think any of the Yankee pitchers will bark about not having to face Sheff.

Meanwhile, is Mike Mussina done? Is he finished, kaput? Anthony McCarron examines this question in the Daily News:

A major league scout familiar with Mussina’s work said yesterday that velocity “is his problem.” Mussina has never been a power pitcher, nor has he needed to throw that hard to win. But his hard stuff was clocked mostly around 86 mph Tuesday night in Anaheim, which the scout says hinders Mussina’s arsenal of off-speed and breaking pitches.

“You have to have separation,” the scout said. “There has to be some change of speeds with the fastball. If the changeup or the breaking balls are too close, they lose their effectiveness.”

The scout also noted the difference in Mussina’s starts against good teams and bad ones. Mussina is 2-4 with a 6.65 ERA in eight starts against teams that had winning records entering yesterday’s play. Against teams that were below .500 entering yesterday, he was 6-5 with a 4.34 ERA.

“Which is typical when you start to lose your stuff,” the scout said. “You’re still smart enough to get the inferior hitters out, but you have problems when you pitch against the better-hitting teams because there are fewer inferior hitters.”

Mussina is a number five pitcher now. The Yanks still have some weak teams to play in October. He still has a chance to contribute. The question is, does he have enough stuff left? Color me skeptical.

* I bit the headline from one of the comments the other night.

What to say, what to say? We’ve bitched and moaned for two days now as the Angels have once again handed the Bombers their bacon. Lots of humble pie round these parts, dag nabit. The Yanks put Andy Pettitte on the spot to come up with another huge performance tonight, hoping they end their losing skid at two. It’d sure be nice to see ’em leave Southern California with a victory. Unfortunately, they’ve got to deal with the tough John Lackey, but hey, playoff teams beat good pitchers, and if the Yanks think of themselves as a playoff team, well, they’ll have to face the likes of Lackey, Escobar, Beckett and Matsuzaka somewhere along the line. So never mind the bollocks, Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

It’s cold and rainy in New York today as we Yankee fans moan about last night’s game. At least, the Yankee fans I’ve spoken to have been whinning (and none louder than me). Here’s a couple of links to break the mood. Okay, first, Steven Goldman ‘splains why Scioscia-Ball works more than it should; Mark Lamster writes that sometimes nice guys finish last, Hank Waddles interviews Jayson Stark and Baseball-Reference’s Stat of the Day blog notes that Jorge Posada is on his way to having the best season ever for a 35-year old catcher. And for something completely different, check out this series of recordings by former Yankee organist Eddie Layton. Ed Alstrom, the regular weekend organist at the Stadium these days (who is also a Bronx Banter regular), posted the Layton recordings, which are from the 1950s. Don’t sleep, peep.

Rain delayed Friday night’s game for just over an hour, and for the rest of the night, the field was swarmed by moths. I don’t recall ever seeing that at The Stadium before. Time was called when a moth flew into Jorge Posada’s eye, otherwise, they didn’t interfere with the game.

I had a good feeling about the Yanks last night, didn’t you? Soup to nuts, it just felt like a game the Bombers would win. I wasn’t the only one feeling good–the crowd at the Stadium was intense, the atmosphere like that of a playoff game. Yankee fans know how important these games are, and remember the sting of losing to the Tigers last October.

After watching Mike Mussina flirt with the edges of the strike zone the night before, it was immediately comforting to see Andy Pettitte pound the strike zone, early and often. As a Yankee, Pettitte was 66-32 in starts after a Yankee loss coming into the game. When it was all said and done, the Bombers rolled to a 6-1 win.

The Yanks got the breaks. Down 1-0 in the third, the Yanks had runners of first and second with two out when Bobby Abreu’s seemingly routine ground ball to short hit the lip of the infield grass and hopped over Carlos Guillen’s glove, allowing the tying run to score. Alex Rodriguez hooked Nate Robertson’s next pitch to left. On TV, I thought it might have gotten enough of it to poke it over the seats for a home run. But the ball hit off the end of Rodriguez’s bat and didn’t have the distance. However it landed just fair before bouncing over the fence for a double.

The Yanks never looked back. Andy Phillips, who has not been hitting at all recently, had three hits and two RBI. Jason Giambi hit a couple of long home runs. The second dinger went a-way up in the upper deck, a truly monstrous shot. Pettitte pitched eight innings and Joba Chamberlian cleaned-up the game in the ninth (he allowed a single to Magglio Ordonez and struck out Pudge Rodriguez with a slider to end the game).

Gary Sheffield was booed each time he came to bat. He was revered when he played in New York, in spite of what some fans thought about his mouth. And I think he would have been received much differently now if he hadn’t blasted Torre in public.

Another thing that I’ve been meaning to mention, only because there haven’t been any screaming headlines about it in these parts. In a contract year, Mariano Rivera is having the worst season of his career. I’ve been avoiding calling it like it is for a while now, but the numbers don’t lie, do they?

Welcome Back to the Five-and-Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Finally, on a personal note, Cliff and I would like to echo Emma’s recent comments about Bronx Banterite Jim Dean who passed away last month. Jim was watching the Yankee game, hanging in the Bronx Banter comments section when his heart gave in. Neither Cliff nor I were on-line at the time. Jim knew his baseball and loved to provoke conversation and arguments. I didn’t know Jim personally, but my dad died earlier this year, so I’m familiar with the feelings that surround death these days.

I want to send our deepest sympathies to Jim’s family. It is humbling to discover that one of our own has passed, especially in our midst, so to speak. It could happen to me or you anytime. The fact that he died while hanging with us on the Banter chokes me up. I don’t know how to honor the moment exactly, but in a strange way–and I don’t mean to sound trite–it feels like an honor that he would be with us during his last moments. His spirit remains with us. Next time Torre makes a lousy bullpen move, we’ll be thinking of you, J.D. and how you won’t be resting easy about it. We’ll make sure to give ’em hell on your behalf.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

By Will Weiss

I’ll begin with a note on the Phil Rizzuto coverage. All outlets did a good job, but I thought the Daily News hit every angle yesterday. Even the normally crusty Bob Raissman provided a touching eulogy in his column. On the radio broadcast, beat man Mark Feinsand told a story about how he went to grade school with Rizzuto’s granddaughter, and when he’d come for Grandparents Day, he’d sign autographs and talk with every kid in the class. Great information all around.

***

For anyone who believes athletes when they say they don’t read the papers or they don’t check the standings or the scoreboards, Curt Schilling has burst your bubble. A compliment from 38pitches.com:

“The Yankees have begun playing like we knew they would, which makes how well we played and the cushion we built a nice thing to see. I expect that team, managed by that guy, to maintain that pace the rest of the year.

The bottom line is the ball’s in our court, we have a 6 game lead so for us to not be Division Champions will rest squarely on us. As a player I don’t think you can ask for anything more. If we win it’s our fault, and if we lose it it’s our fault as well. No relying on someone to beat someone for it to work out for us. Now we spend the off day in Baltimore and go up against a team playing very well right now. We don’t need any one thing to get where we are going, we just need to play better as a team, which we will.”

That post was from last Thursday, the 9th, and since then the Yankees have nearly cut that six-game lead in half. Counting Monday’s victory over the Orioles, the Yankees are 30-13 since July 1, playing a remarkable stretch of .698 ball to vault over seven teams into the Wild Card lead, and to our delight and the New Englanders’ dismay, within striking distance of the Red Sox. In only one week have the Yankees lost three games – that was July 26, 27 and 28, when they lost the last of a four-game set in Kansas City and the first two games of a three-game weekender at Camden Yards.

(more…)

“We’ve been on the balls of our feet lately,” Torre said. “We’re not waiting for something to happen.” Joe Torre
(Hartford Courant)

For most of the first half of the season it felt like the Yankees were always losing by three runs, even when the score was tied. Just one of those seasons, man. But now, as they are playing their best ball of the season, the Yankees are finding ways to win games, even when their ace pitcher does give up three runs in the first inning. And so it went last night in the Bronx as the Yanks won a nail-biter in the bottom of the ninth inning, 7-6. Mariano Rivera blew his first save since April 20th, but Derek Jeter’s infield single drove home the winning run as the Yanks remain tied with the Mariners for the wildcard and just four games behind the Red Sox in the AL East.

I expect the Yankees to win these days, but I’m not that brave. I kept thinking they were going to find a way to lose last night, especially since Chien-Ming Wang was far from sharp for a second straight outing. They tacked-on runs after taking a 4-3 lead on Wilson Betemit’s two-run homer in the second inning, but left runners on second and third twice with two out. They just could not seem to pull away, and the Orioles have been more than pesky against New York this year.

A two-out wild pitch with a runner on third and two men out by Ron Villone in the seventh inning shaved the Yankee lead to 6-5. Then came Joba Chamberlain in his Yankee Stadium debut. He fell behind Miguel Tejada 3-1 but came back to strike the slugger out on a wicked slider. Joba got ahead of Kevin Millar who grounded out sharply to Alex Rodriguez. Joba ended the inning by striking out Aubrey Huff with another nasty slider. Joba was pumped, the Stadium was rockin.

Onto the ninth, and here is where I really started to squirm, knowing that Rivera was not sharp on Sunday in Cleveland. Mo generally has a bad spell right around this time of year, so it’s not as if I’m alarmed. Still, there was a ballgame to win. Melvin Mora singled and moved to second when Ramon Hernandez grounded out weakly in front of the plate. With all three outfielders playing in, Tike Redman–what a name!—blooped a single to center. Melky Cabrera charged the ball and fired a strike home where Mora was nailed for the second out of the inning.

“They were playing very shallow and I think it was a really poor decision by me,” [O’s third base coach, Juan] Samuel said. “That was my decision that cost us the ballgame. Yes, we tied, but you can’t predict what’s going to happen next. You have to make your decision on that particular play, and that was a bad one by me.”
(The Baltimore Sun)

Redman moved to second on the throw, and Jorge Posada overthrew the bag trying to get him. Fortunately, Melky was there to back the play up. Unfortunately, that little gnat of a Yankee-Killer, Brian Roberts was up next. Right on cue, he fisted a little fly ball into shallow right. Abreu fielded the ball on a hop and fired home. The throw was in plenty of time but it was high. Posada had to jump to catch it and Redman slide in safely with the tying run.

But with one out in the ninth, Chad Bradford hit Melky in the back. Jason Giambi pinch-hit for Shelley Duncan (who had pinch-hit for Johnny Damon in the sixth) and singled between first and second. Cabrera took third, Jeter at the plate. Would the Yankees try a squeeze? Perhaps if Jeter could push a bunt towards second. Well, that is essentially what happened. Jeter swung and tapped a dinky ground ball past Bradford. Roberts charged and fielded the ball, but it was too late. Cabrera, who doubled earlier in the game to extend his career-high hitting streak to 18 games, crossed the plate and the Yankees had themselves another win.

We’ll take it.

“I feel like we’re the team, you know?” Pettitte said Sunday. “It doesn’t surprise me. I’d be extremely disappointed if this team didn’t get to the playoffs. That’s just kind of the way I feel.”
(Tyler Kepner, N.Y. Times)

I was flipping around the channels one night last week when I landed on a dicey situation. The Mets had a one-run lead against the Braves, who had loaded the bases in the top of the ninth inning against New York’s closer, Billy Wagner. There was nobody out and I thought, “Man, am I lucky this isn’t a Yankee game. I’d be so stressed, I would’t know what I’d do with myself.” As fate would have it, Wagner got two ground balls to get out of the inning, earn the save, and save Met fans everywhere from a sleepless night.

The Yanks held a 5-2 on Sunday afternoon when Mariano Rivera was called into the game with two runners on base and two men out in the eighth inning. First thing Mo does? He hits a guy on the elbow to load the bases. But Jhonny Peralta grounded into a 4-6 force to end the inning. The drama was not over, however, as Rivera allowed back-to-back singles and then a double to start the ninth. Cleveland’s offense had been D.O.A. all weekend long, but suddenly, they were back in the game, down 5-3, with the tying runs in scoring position and nobody out.

The number nine hitter, Asdurbal Cabrera, who, thanks to a misplay by Johnny Damon the night before, had his first career hit, struck out. Back to the top-of-the-order where Grady Sizemore got the Good Morning-Good Afternoon-and-Goodnight (called strike three on the outside corner) strikeout experience. Two out, and Rivera gets Casey Blake to loft an easy fly ball to right for Abreu to end the game.

Exhale. Yanks 5, Tribe 3.

It wasn’t easy, but it was an enormous win for the Yanks, who keep pace with the Mariners in the wildcard, and gain a game on Boston, who lost in extra innings to the Orioles. Bombers are now just four behind the Red Sox. (Shhhhhh.)

Jason Giambi hit a two-run, line drive home run off Cleveland starter Jake Westbrook, and once again it was most entertaining watching Shelley D wait his turn to bash forearms with Giambi in the dugout. Robby Cano had three more hits (his average is up to .315) and a RBI, DJ had a RBI single, and Melky Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 17-games with a solo homer.

Andy Pettitte pitched a good game. His only real trouble came late, when, in the seventh inning he allowed a couple of singles before walking Peralta to load the bases. The Yanks were leading 4-0 at this point. And before you knew it, Pettitte picked Peralta off first. My initial reaction was that the Indians were putting on that old Billy Martin play when the runner on first acts a decoy while the runner on third scoots home. No such luck, if you are an Indians fan. Peralta simply fell asleep. The Indians did score a run on a sacrifice fly, but that was it, just one run and Pettitte escaped his biggest jam of the afternoon.

Yanks come home and begin a three-game set vs. the Birds tonight, followed by four against the Tigers. Keep grinding boys, the next couple of weeks could make or break the season.

Each time Mike Mussina takes the mound I think, “Okay, he’s going to get ripped tonight.” That’s just the way it goes with aging control pitchers (just ask Paul Byrd). Much to my delight, Mussina delivered his best outing since beating the Diamondbacks in mid-June, holding the Indians to just two runs in 7.2 innings. It was his fourth good start in-a-row as the Yankees bombed the Tribe, 11-2. Hot fun in the summertime. For Mussina, it was victory #100 with the Yankees, who are now 22-8 since the All-Star break. Boston still has a five game lead in the AL East, and New York trail the Mariners by the slimmest of margins for first place in the wild card standings.

The Yanks drained any tension from the game in the second innings, scoring seven runs off Byrd. Cleveland’s offense was jumpy, swinging early in the count all night long, a dream for Mussina. Really, the most entertaining moments of the evening was watching Shelley Duncan’s eyes pop out of his head with excitement as he prepared to smash forearms with Alex Rodriguez and, later, Jason Giambi after they hit home runs. Giambi’s pinch-hit dinger in the ninth was a rainmaker, an absolute blast. As he returned to the dugout, Joe Torre looked up at his slugger, headcocked to the side, with a perfectly deadpan as if to say, “Are you kidding me?” Meanwhile, Duncan was in the background, shaking like Beavis on a sugar high, ready to pop his forearm into one of the big sluggers who might actually like that sort of thing.

Jose Molina had the first four-hit game of his career (they were all to right center field), Derek Jeter added three hits of his own, and Robby Cano and Bobby Abreu are still rolling. Oh yeah, Rodriguez hit two home runs, giving him 39 for the year, along with 114 RBI. The first one looked like a line drive double to straight-away center–the ball was in on his fists some. But dude is so strong he simply muscled it over the fence. In the YES booth, Paul O’Neill mentioned how envious he was of Rodriguez. The ball just comes off his bat in a way that it doesn’t for other players, even other star players.

Onions.

Yanks go for the sweep this afternoon then return home to face the Orioles and Tigers. Ian Kennedy could start in the BX on Tuesday.

Winning another series is a beautiful thing but a series sweep would make for a wunnerful Sunday, wouldn’t ya say?