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Let me take this opportunity to piggy-back Steve Lombardi’s post today about Ceclia Tan’s new book, “The 50 Greatest Yankee Games.” Tan is an eclectic author who has written extensively about the Yankees for some time now; she was able to interview Yankee greats like Yogi Berra, Jerry Coleman, Roy White, Reggie Jackson and Don Mattingly and Paul O’Neill for her book (if you want a complete listing of Tan’s interviews, including ones with Elliott Maddux and Jim Kaat, click here). This book is choice beach/bathroom/bedtime reading material for the die-hard Yankee fan. Lots of fun. And just to be balanced for you Yankee haters out there, may I suggest “Yankees Suck!” by Jim Gerard. This one should be right up your alley. The title says it all.

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Some baseball fans have been predicting, and anticipating the Yankees’ fall for four or five years now. The critics have been louder than ever this spring considering the team’s mediocre start. The years 1965 and 1982 have been invoked as reminders of what could happen to the current team. Yesterday, veteran New York scribe, Vic Zeigel wrote a piece in the Daily News, making the 1965 comparison:

The Nothing Lasts Forever Club, the Bronx chapter, is about to meet for the first time since 1965. Warning: the last meeting came a year too late and was no help at all.

…The Yankees keep telling us it’s early, way early. That there’s plenty of time, plenty. (“Just you wait, ‘Enry ‘Iggins, just you wait.”) But what if these April problems aren’t solved? October doesn’t come with a guarantee. Early can get late, and time isn’t always on your side. Could it be that this team has the disease of 1965?

When George Steinbrenner hired a motivational coach last week, memories of the 1982 team came rushing back. That was the year Steinbrenner made the mistake of trying to build a team around speed. (The local press eventually dubbed the team “The Bronx Burners.”) After the Yankees lost the 1981 World Serious to the Dodgers, and the Boss apologized to the fans on behalf of his team, he allowed Reggie Jackson to walk away as a free agent. Steinbrenner ostensibly replaced Jackson’s power with Ken Griffey in right, and Oscar Gamble at DH. Davey Collins was signed as a free agent, and Jerry Mumphrey, Lou Piniella, and Bobby Murcer, all competed for playing time in the outfield (Dave Winfield, of course, was the left fielder).

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Carl Pavano earned his first win as a Yankee last night, as the Bombers breezed past Ted Lilly and the Jays, 11-2. Pavano worked quickly and pitched efficiently. In an e-mail exchange this morning, Cliff and I talked about how Pavano reminds us of Andy Pettitte. For me, it’s a physical thing. Pavano is a big boy like Pettitte, with a big ass and strong legs. Curiously, he has narrow shoulders and his uniform top hangs in a funny, schlubby way. He’s also got strong facial features, a sturdy chin, and a fine Roman nose. Pavano would look just fine in a toga. Cliff noted that he is a good, but not great pitcher, who has fine control and who may share Pettitte’s ability to pitch well when the team really needs a win. We aren’t alone in making the comparision–which to be honest, isn’t such a stretch. Steve Lombardi, who has just launched his own Yankee blog, “Was Watching” is on to it too:

Carl Pavano is starting to remind me of a right-handed version of Andy Pettitte. Both of them have that Betty Davis eyes thing going at times. Both of them are big body pitchers that you would expect to throw harder than they really do chuck. Their uni numbers are close – 45 now for Carl, 46 then for Andy. And, it seems like they be alike in the sense that they’re capable of throwing a great game or a hosting Tee-ball session. I know many were down on the signing of Pavano based on the “one-year wonder” theory. But, I think I’m going to like him–as I did Pettitte.

Lombardi’s site should prove to be a must-read for Yankee fans as the season unfolds. I especially like how he came up with the name of his blog:

Talking about some long-term baseball announcer, someone once said (and I think it was Bob Costas but I could be wrong) that the announcer’s voice was the male voice that was most heard in their house after his father. Listening to Phil for nearly a quarter-century, it was something like that for myself as well.

Phil was always entertaining to me. And, one of the items (with respect to his coverage) that always stayed with me was his habit of scrawling “WW” on his scorecard for plate appearances where he “wasn’t watching.”

As a result, when I decided to start a Yankees-focused Weblog, almost out of the chute, I thought that WasWatching.com would be an appropriate handle. After all, my intent for this blog is to provide running commentary, personal musings, and the like, on the Yankees. In order to do this, I will have to do the opposite of “WW”–-meaning that I have to watch what is going on.

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With the Yankees providing no much joy in Mudville these days, I’ve had to find pleasure in other places. Fortunately, the spring is in full bloom here in New York. (Today, it’s plain hot.) Some trees are sporting great big flowers, others already have little green leaves begining to sprout. The ladies are wearing skirts, strutting (or even strolling now) with purpose, while the guys are cranking their necks around to catch a look. Hey, things are beautiful in New York.

When I entered the subway station on 50th street and Broadway last night, I saw two young Spanish police officers comparing batting stances. I don’t know if they were copying their favorite player or giving each other tips, but they looked just like Sweet Lou did on Monday night in the middle of the game, holding his hands up as if he was holding a bat, talking with one of his coaches about hitting, as his team was getting pounded. I spoke with the token booth clerk, a big Yankee fan, for a couple of minutes before the train rumbled into the station.

At 86th street, a group of kids buffaloed their way on the train, full of laughter. I had my earphones on so I didn’t catch what they were up to, but when I saw several seated passengers smile, I stopped my music to see what was going on. The kids must have been in junior high, maybe freshmen in high school. There were six of them, and they were scattered around the car. They weren’t rowdy or aggresive. There was nothing cutting or harsh about them. One boy laughed so innocently that I was actually taken aback. It was a pure, high-pitched giggle, very clean, and genuine. What is cracking them up, man? Well, it turns out one of them had a whoopee cushion. Need I say more? It’s funny, cause I was thinking about whoopee cushions a few weeks ago, remembering how honest and inexpensive a laugh they can provide.

I wish I would have had one to keep me entertained later in the evening.

Oh, and one last thing that I think is good is the Red Sox signing Tim Wakefield to an extension. He’s been a great Red Sox, and it’s cool to see them show him some appreciation.

If George hollars…well, as Joel Sherman suggests, playing the Devil Rays sure can help a slumping team too. As for the early-season slump, Mike Mussina tells Sherman:

“This team right now is the same as a veteran player starting slowly and people not sure if he is off to a slow start or he has lost his skills,” Mussina said. “If a 38-year-old starts badly, the tendency is to think he is done. If a 28-year-old starts poorly, the tendency is to say he is off to a bad start. We are an older team, so there are doubts.”

John Harper elaborates:

Usually the easiest way to dismiss a Steinbrenner rant about his team, especially an April rant, is to find an American League scout at the ballpark and listen to him tick off the reasons why the Yankees will win 100 games with their eyes closed.

Last night, however, one such scout didn’t offer the usual roll of the eyes at the mention of Steinbrenner’s headline-making criticism. Instead he raised his eyebrows and said he wonders if maybe, just maybe, the Yankees’ sluggish play so far is not merely an early-season aberration.

The scout then listed those potential problems, in what he considered the order of priority, from the “geezer bullpen” to the offensive inconsistency, to the age and lack of depth in the starting rotation.

Last night was a good start. Let’s hope Randy Johnson gets his ya ya’s out tonight.

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This weekend, the Daily News reported that the Yankees’ plan for a new stadium is coming along nicely. The new park will be a few blocks away from where the stadium is now. If all goes according to plan, the new stadium could open in 2009.

Hey, so long as they stay in the Bronx…

Coming Sunday to a New York newspaper near you: How the Yankees stink, let us count the ways. Meet the Mets, folks, the boys out in Queens are exciting, and vibrant, while the Yanks are old, flat and dull. Or words to that effect. You know the routine.

Yo, Saturday’s game was truly awful. It was the first time all year that I’ve been truly upset. I mean, it didn’t last too long, I didn’t let it ruin my evening (it is still April), but when Flash Gordon gave up the three-run dinger to Roberts, man, it felt like getting punched in the gut.

The Indians and White Sox played an entire game in the time it took the Yanks and O’s to get through four innings. To be honest, even if the Yanks had pulled it out, the game would have been a chore to sit through. But losing the way that they did was just depressing.

There are a lot of things that don’t look good about them right about now.

Kevin Brown makes his season debut tomorrow. Sorry if I’m not feeling overcome with confidence. But hey, we’ve got to hang with ’em when they are down. Let’s hope they can salvage a “w” and move on. No use lookin after spilt milk now, is there?

Dear Bruce,
You’ll never pitch another big league game like the one you threw tonight.
Soak it in and enjoy it. You done good.
Yours truly,
Bitter Belth in the Bronx

The Red Sox beat the Yanks in another wild one at the Fens. I thought Randy Johnson looked decent, in spite of giving up three dingers (Payton, Renteria, and Varitek). But it was not one of his best performances. Bronson Arroyo wasn’t as sharp and the Yankees squandered more than their fair share of scoring opportunities. In the ninth inning, representing the tying run, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi both fouled back two pitches that they just missed. So close and yet…bubkus. Rodriguez had a bloop RBI single, but otherwise had a poor night at the plate. What Johnson and Arroyo (and both teams) had in common were their feelings about home plate umpire Greg Gibson’s strike zone. Gibson had an erratic night calling balls and strikes, but he was equally bad for both teams. Johnson glared in at him on several occasions while Ron Jackson and Terry Francona both got tossed arguing with Gibson.

With the game tied at five, Tom Gordon gave up the lead in the eighth inning. The Sox scored three times and survived a shaky ninth-inning performance from Keith Foulke to secure the victory. But the most talked-about play of the game came in the bottom of the eighth when Jason Varitek’s triple skipped along the right field warning track. Gary Sheffield went to field the ball and was inadvertantly slapped in the face by a fan. It appeared as if the fan was going for the ball, although he didn’t bend down nearly low enough to grab it. It certainly didn’t look as if the fan was intentionally trying to hit Sheffield. He only grazed the Yankee right fielder, but, caught by surprise, Sheffield immediately extended his glove hand into the fan’s face, throwing a punch with his right hand into his mitt. He held himself back after that. Sheffield didn’t jump into the stands. Later on, he said that he immediately thought about the infamous Pacers-Pistons brawl, and that’s exactly what came to my mind as well. As a matter of fact, when that basketball fight went down last fall, all I could think about was that this kind of thing is so ripe to happen at a Yankee-Sox game.

Fortunately, it didn’t escalate. I don’t blame Sheffield for reacting, though he will most likely be fined for lunging at the fan. I can understand that too. (For what it’s worth, the Red Sox thought Sheffield showed restraint.) Again, I don’t think the fan was trying to hit Sheffield. However, he was in the field of play, interrupting a play, and there is no question in my mind that the fan was in the wrong. The incident will overshadow the rest of the game, which is too bad.

I think the Yankees and Red Sox have brought out the best in each other on the field (with a few notable exceptions) during the past two seasons. However, the rivalry has also brought out the worst in Red Sox and Yankee fans. After watching highlights of the soccer match in Italy last week, I just hope that something tragic doesn’t happen one of these days.

Was Bernie Williams was of the most unlikely clean up hitters in Yankee history? He sure didn’t seem born for the part even though he was the Bomber’s best hitter from 1996-01. Now, that he’s well past his prime, is he one of the most over-qualified ninth-place hitters in team history? Maybe. But he handled batting last in stride on Wednesday night, going 3-4. He didn’t give his manager any trouble about the “demotion” either. According to the Times:

“Bernie is unlike any player I have ever met,” Torre said after the Yankees’ 5-2 victory Wednesday night. “He never changes. I’ve been here 10 years now and he’s the same person, personality-wise and respect-wise. It’s refreshing. You hurt for him because you know he’s struggling and he has his pride and is taking a beating. But he keeps coming back and that’s what makes him special.”

…”I’m not making this up – it doesn’t really matter to me,” Williams said before the game. “You have to wait a little longer. But it’s kind of an advantage, because you see the guy pitch to everyone. Other than that, it doesn’t matter.”

Some guys would take the high road just to save face. But I take Bernie at his word. Regardless of how this year pans out for him, Torre’s quote reminded me why Bernie is one of my all-time favorites.

Like most Yankee fans, I have a special feeling for the Joe Torre teams of 96-01. But I’m not one to constantly compare every subsequent Yankee team to those squads. It just doesn’t interest me. However, I was reminded of how winning they were when I wandered across Roger Angell’s 1996 piece, “One for the Good Guys,” last night:

The burden of [the] relentless and irrelevant P.R. during the Yankees’ long struggles to regain their October form can at last be thrown aside–what a load it was!–and we are free to celebrate the new champions not for what they represented but for what they were: a competent though far from overpowering amalgam of engaging young stars and gritty hired guns who absolutely enjoyed themselves and each other during a succession of hairbreadth escapes in the late going, and were almost as entranced as the rest of us when they won. The Yankees–who’d have thought it–had become lovable.

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“They won…For the respect of baseball and for the respect of the Red Sox organization, you’ve got to be there. After 86 years, I think they deserved to win one. And why not celebrate it as (much) as they could? That’s okay. I have no problem with that.” Mariano Rivera (N.Y.Daily News)

As good as Opening Day in the Bronx felt for Yankee fans, yesterday’s home opener at Fenway Park was even sweeter for Red Sox Nation. The Sox received their World Serious rings before the game and then proceeded to knock the stuffing out of the Yanks. Mike Mussina was not sharp, Alex Rodriguez made a key error, and Tim Wakefield baffled New York once again.

For their part, the Yankees watched the pre-game ceremonies from their dugout, applauding at times. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by the Red Sox. The Bombers clapped when Johnny Pesky was given a ring. According to Mike Lupica:

The Yankees were all class yesterday, led by their classy manager, right there on the top step for every minute of the ring ceremony yesterday, and the raising of the flag. When Terry Francona came out first to get his ring, he stood near first base and the first thing he did was point across the field at the Yankees. “We were curious,” Torre said. And maybe, just maybe, for this one day, everybody on the field, both sides of it, both uniforms, knew what Pesky has known his baseball life, long before the sides were even, about why this rivalry has always mattered the way it has.

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Today is the Red Sox home opener. Yankee-killer Tim Wakefield goes against Mike Mussina. Red Sox Nation will be loud and proud this afternoon (Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi should get the worst of it). They deserve to feel good about themselves. While there is nothing the Yankees can do to ruin the ring ceremony, hopefully they can spoil the rest of the day and pull out a win.

It was a gorgeous spring weekend here in New York, and my girlfriend Emily and I watched portions of all three Yankee games. She is very happy that baseball is back in our lives. As the season moves along, I will occasionally quote my sweetheart, who couldn’t have cared less about the game before we started going out three years ago. Now, all on her own, and without any coercion on my part, she’s a bonafide fan. What I enjoy about following the game with her is watching what she reacts to, what is important to her. Often, the final score doesn’t bother her one way or the other. The worst part of a Yankee loss is how it will bother me. She doesn’t get emotionally involved when they don’t win. So long as are trying the best that they can, she’s satisfied. Her biggest pet peeve right now is when fans stick their hands out and attempt to snatch a double down the right or left field line. “They should be thrown out for ruining the play,” she opines.

Em’s favorite part of the game are the first couple of innings. She gets upset in the late innings because it means the game is almost over. I’ve never really understood this, because I’m generally impatient during the early innings. But she explained herself to me on Saturday afternoon. “The first four innings are great. They are like the feeling you get on Friday night. The week is over and you’ve got the entire weekend ahead of you. Then, like the fifth and sixth innings are like Saturday, and so that’s still pretty good. But when the eigth inning comes around, it’s like Sunday night, and it gets tense, cause you are thinking about the week coming up.”

“What about when the game goes into extra innings?”

“That’s like Sunday night when you’ve got a test the next day…one that you didn’t study for.”

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Carlos Lugo interviewed the great Juan Marichal earlier this week over at Baseball Prospectus. Here’s one bit that may be of some interest to Yankee fans:

If you’re a starter, try to study or learn about the opposing hitters and follow your preparation routines between starts almost religiously. The same thing for the relief pitchers, although they must be prepared to do this on an everyday basis. If you have a good fastball, try to learn and develop a second effective pitch. It is almost impossible to be successful in the big leagues with just one pitch. Maybe a Mariano Rivera or a guy like him. I’ll tell you something, one of the most effective pitches in baseball is the change-up, and the changeup is one of the easiest pitches to learn. You don’t need to have a Pedro Martinez or Eric Gagne changeup to be effective. Sometimes an average change, combined with a good fastball and other average pitch, could mean a big difference in a pitcher’s performance. Also, dedicate your time to learning the art of pitching. When you can throw ninety-six or ninety-eight miles per hour, but are not able to make outs consistently, what’s the velocity good for? You need to have common sense and say to yourself, I’m going to learn to pitch.

I’m going to tell you a story. A few years ago I was in San Francisco and Orlando Cepeda and I were talking with Felix Rodriguez. I remember that Orlando told him, “Felix, when you return to the Dominican, look for Juan and he’s going to help you to learn another pitch. You’ll see that with your fastball you’re going to be one of the better closers in baseball.” Well, even though he promised to call me, I never heard from Felix or saw him again during the winter. That young man, with another good pitch, would be a phenomenon as a closer. But sometimes I guess they don’t have enough time to learn a little bit, or are not proud enough.

Or perhaps too proud. Or maybe just too stubborn.

Speaking of stubborn, ex-Yankee Hideki “Boo-Boo” Irabu is calling it a career. Irabu always cracked me up. He seemed so out-of-place on those Yankee teams. He was a genuine screw-up, but I always liked him.

It’s not surprising that everyone and his uncle has a theory about Mariano Rivera and his struggles against the Red Sox, is it? After all, sportswriters get paid for thier opinions, and sports editors must have a story. Tyler Kepner asked Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers what he makes of Boston’s success vs. Rivera:

“Every ballplayer has a certain ballpark or a certain team they have a problem with,” said Fingers, the first pitcher to save 300 games. “Mine was the Minnesota Twins and Metropolitan Stadium. When I pitched in Boston against the Red Sox, I had good luck against them. Same with the Yankees. That’s just the way baseball is sometimes.”

…”He gave up five runs [on Wednesday], but four of them were unearned,” Fingers said. “If they make the play at third base, he’s in the clubhouse with a save. I don’t think anybody should have any reason to worry about Mariano Rivera. He’s 35 years old – he’s in his prime. Just because a guy has a couple of blown games, you can’t discount the other 300 or so he’s saved.”

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Yes, Mariano Rivera did hear the boo birds as he walked off the mound yesterday in the ninth inning. But as Cliff already noted, TV cameras showed many fans standing and clapping too (and no, they weren’t all from Boston).

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It’s another beautiful day in New York, even warmer than yesterday. Some kind of day to be at the ballpark. Mike Mussina will pitch for the Yankees, and Tim Wakefield goes for the Sox. Mussina has a history of pitching well against Boston (especially when Pedro was involved), and Wakefield has vexed the Bombers for years. I’m not going to be able to catch the game. Anyone watching, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

After an Opening Day blowout, today offered something more like what we’re used to seeing from the Yankees and Red Sox: a close game, decided in the final at-bat. Yankee-killer David Ortiz hit a home run (for a change), as did Red Sox-killer, Godzilla Matsui–who had three more hits today. Mariano Rivera blew a save opportunity in the ninth inning when Boston’s captain Jason Variteck slapped a line-drive homer off of a cutter that just didn’t cut (Rivera wasn’t terrible, but the Red Sox hitters are extremley comfortable in the box against him; Jim Kaat suggested a little intentional wildness could go a long way…the pitch Varitek hit was straight-as-a-string). Derek Jeter, the Yankee captain, led off the bottom of the inning and returned the favor, belting a full-count fastball over the right center field fence to win it for the New Yorkers.

Matt Clement didn’t pitch particularly well for Boston, but man, he’s got a live arm. His pitches move a lot. In addition, the ball kind of whips out of his hand at the last moment, which must be brutal for right-handed hitters to pick up. He doesn’t look like he’s fun to bat against at all. As Joe Sheehan noted over at Baseball Prospectus, Clement has the same kind of sinking fastball that has made Kevin Brown a lot of money over the years. But his control was suspect and he never quite looked comfortable. The Yankees didn’t help themselves by leaving a bunch of men on base; not surprisingly, Bernie Williams’ timing is all out-of-whack.

Clement looks very much like one of those great line drawings by David Levine. He’s got a pointy chin and a wide jaw, and has a certain birdlike quality to him. He reminds me of one of those kids that were a pain in the ass to play pick-up football with as a kid. It’s not so much that was hard to tackle because of his speed or weight, but because he’s all knees and elbow. Clement also looks very much like a boy, somewhere in the developmental ages between 8-14. He’s sporting a goatee, but I get the sense that he doesn’t know what his true style is yet. I was talking to Alex Ciepley this evening, and he said that Clement is one of the most uncomfortable players he’s ever seen.

Pavano, on the other hand, is a complete load. I keep forgetting how big the guy is. With blunt, dark features, he has a deliberate move to the plate, and a long, bulky motion. I know Bobby Valentine nicknamed him “The Italian Stallion” over the winter, but the only name I can think of when I see Pavano, is “Meat.”

Anyhow, it was a warm and sunny day in New York, the best day of the spring thus far. The final score made it even nicer.

Today marks the American League debut’s of both Carl Pavano and Matt Clement, as the Yanks and Sox play this afternoon at the stadium. It is hazy but bright and sunny this morning and it looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day here in New York.

Both Cliff and I felt the Yankees made an error in not signing Clement. He may be gargoyle-ugly, but he’s got “nasty stuff” as they like to say. He could very well be the key to the Red Sox season. Numbers aside, I don’t know so much from Pavano. He’s seems appealing enough, but I don’t know how effective a pitcher he is going to be for the Yanks.

Which pitcher would you rather have?