Yanks and Rays play the rubber game of their three-game set this afternoon in Tampa. According to Pete Abe, Xavier Nady will need season-ending surgery. No official word yet and there probably won’t be for a minute…
So much for the outfield platoon. This is a tough break for the Yankees, no other way to look at it.
Dag.
A few years ago, Allen Barra wrote an interesting piece about language for Baseball Prospectus:
George Carlin used to do a great routine in which he recounted how the term “shell shock” in World War I evolved to “combat fatigue” in World War II, and, finally, by Vietnam, to “post-traumatic stress disorder.” What, Carlin wanted to know, was wrong with shell shock? It was a perfectly legitimate term–colorful, concise, and descriptive. It grabbed you on first hearing and told you exactly what it meant. That was the whole point. By the time we reached Vietnam the reality of shell shock had become obscured by the very term that was supposed to describe it. It had become something that the average person could no longer understand without an interpreter.
…Cal Ripken Jr. for instance. This weekend while watching the Yankees game, I saw a commercial for his baseball videos. One of them is labeled “Defense,” as in, “Learn to play defense the Cal Ripken way.” When Cal Ripken, Jr., broke into the major leagues, “defense” was called “fielding.” It meant not only catching the ball but throwing to the right base, knowing which bases to cover, backing up the play. They called it “fielding” because unlike other sports, only the defense for the team that had the ball was on the field while they were doing it. In other words, it described a situation peculiar to baseball. (And, by the way, when did players like Cal Ripken, Jr. go from playing the middle infield to playing “key defensive positions”?)
When, exactly, did fielding become defense? For that matter, when did hitting and baserunning get lumped together under the leaden term “offense”? Were “batting” and “hitting” and “baserunning” too quaint for an audience that also watched football and basketball? Did we somehow subconsciously decide that because football and basketball had offense and defense that baseball had to have them, too?
I could not agree more about “fielding,” and ever since have made it a point to use that word instead of “defense.” This ain’t football, after all. Defense? I think it’s okay to use “defense” occasionally, especially when talking about “team defense,” otherwise I just don’t see anything wrong with “fielding.”
Which is not to say that I’m against new jargon. It’s just that in this case, I don’t see why the change was necessary.
And speaking of language, yo, pet peeve #1,637…adding “esque” or “ian” to the end of any person, place or thing. As in “Jeterian,” which Michael Kay whipped-out last night. Man, I think that is just pretentious beyond belief.
We need something to laugh about, something that can deliver some amusement. The first nine days of the new season have brought us too much tragedy, beginning with the senseless death of the Angels’ Nick Adenhart and continuing with Monday’s dual losses of Harry Kalas and Mark “The Bird” Fidrych. So this week’s “Card Corner” is just for fun, as we spin the time machine back to 1976, the year The Bird made baseball childlike and naïve.
A few years ago, Sports Collectors Digest held a contest to determine the funniest sports trading card of all-time. This 1976 Topps card, featuring Kurt Bevacqua, some scary-looking calipers, and one enormous piece of bubble gum, finished second in the periodical’s sweepstakes. (The first-place finisher borders on the X-rated, so I opted not to include that in this article; we need to keep it clean at The Banter.)
In baseball’s more innocent time, players took time to participate in the official Bubble Gum Blowing Championships of 1975. The championships were sponsored by the Bazooka Gum Company and overseen by “gum commissioner” Joe Garagiola, who was NBC’s lead play-by-play broadcaster at the time. Each major league team held an individual contest, with winners advancing to the championships. In fact, almost all of the then-24 major league teams submitted a representative, except for the Pirates and Tigers, whose players apparently had little skill in the field of bubble-blowing. (It’s hard to believe Fidrych didn’t qualify here.) Here’s a look at the complete list of participants, which included three Hall of Famers and a few cool nicknames:
One of my favorite Clash records:
And from Elvis:
The Bird will be missed…
The first year I contributed some freelance work to SI.com I had a bad habit of including the phrase “What a difference a year makes” into virtually every piece I wrote. I didn’t do it on purpose but such is the constant temptation of cliches; they just won’t go away, especially when writing about sports. It got to be something of a joke with my editor, so much so that I’d slip it into a piece just to see if he noticed.
The Yankees were in Tampa last night for the Rays’ home opener and, dag, but what a difference a year makes! Guess that’s what winning the pennant will do for you. Hell, the Rays fans were louder than the Yankees fans. Wait, maybe this was just like last year’s Rays. Rough, rugged and raw.
Unfortunately for New York, Chien Ming Wang’s stuff was still up in the strike zone. And for a sinker baller, this is not welcome news. Wang’s sinker was flat and waist high and the Rays jumped on him early. He threw 42 pitches in the first, allowing four runs to score. The Rays hit him hard and they ran even harder, testing Jorge Posada’s arm. Wang loaded the bases in the second and walked Longoria in a ten-pitch at bat. Another run scored and Wang was done. But his ERA got fatter when his replacement, Jonathan Albaledejo served up a grand slam to Carlos Pena.
3 outs. 9 runs=a long night for the Yankees.
Scott Kazmir pitched well for the Rays and BJ Upton made a beautiful basket catch robbing Xavier Nady of at least a double in the second inning. What made the catch memorable was just how smoothly Upton tracked the ball. He was almost casual but he had it all the way. Impressive. In the sixth inning, Carl Crawford got turned around but snatched an extra base hit away from Nick Swisher, who had already homered.
As Swisher rounded second and saw that Crawford had caught the ball, he took off his helmet and extended his right arm as he looked in the other direction. Hats off to you, Mr. Crawford.
And hats off to Swisher, who pitched a scoreless inning of relief himself (Is there anything he can’t do?).
“We know we didn’t play very well today, but we had to find something to laugh about in that moment and I just happened to be the guy everyone was laughing at,” Swisher said. “If that’s what it takes to get us back together and get rockin’, then I’m all for it.”
…”Nobody was laughing,” Jorge Posada said. “Today was embarrassing; just one of those days where everything went for them and nothing went for us. We didn’t pitch or do the things we were supposed to do. Nobody was laughing.”
(Mark Feinsand, N.Y. Daily News)
Long-time Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas collapsed and died this afternoon, in the midst of preparing for the airing of the Phils/Nats contest from Washington, D.C. He was 73 years old.
“We lost Harry. I’ve been 39 years with the Phillies and 39 years with Harry and, as I said in this clubhouse, we lost our voice today,” said team president and CEO David Montgomery at about 1:50 p.m. outside the team’s clubhouse. “He has loved our game and made just a tremendous contribution to our sport and certainly to our organization.”
Besides being the voice of the Phillies for over 30 years, football fans know him for his voiceover work with NFL Films. While no one could match the late John Facenda’s timbre, intonations and phrasing, Kalas came darn close.
I personally had Kalas in my top tier of active baseball announcers, along with Bob Uecker, Vin Scully, Jerry Coleman, Gary Cohen and Tom Hamilton.
Rest in peace Harry.
Here’s a sampling of some old Coming Attractions to chew on.
My dad’s old friend Bill Tinker said this movie was “Heavy on the unbearable, light on the being.” I didn’t get the movie at all when I first saw it at 16 but later on, I got it. The two female leads are devastating and Daniel Day sports a hellacious head of hair.
I love the early New York City scenes in this movie.
My favorite Robin Williams’ perfomance.
I remember watching this one as a kid on a Sunday afternoon with my old man when he was living in Weehawken, New Jersey.
Dag, this movie still creeps the hell out of me. It has to be one of the most unsettling action movies ever made.
The wife just called from the Twin Cities. She’s on her way home from Albeturkey, New Mexico, waiting for a connecting flight. It is bright and sunny and cold in New York today, Easter Sunday. I’ve got the windows open, soup is on the stove. Time to warm up the day-old baguette, fix a salad and have some lunch.
Joba makes his season debut this afternoon in KC as the Yanks go for the sweep. Good day for a feast, eh? House money. Step on ’em, boys. Let’s Go Yankees.
In keeping with the long-playing jazz record theme here’s a classic from one of the true masters–Lee Morgan.
Cold Chillin
Mark Teixeira was a late scratch on Saturday night night, and is listed as day-to-day with a sore left wrist.* But the Yankees didn’t miss him as Nick Swisher played first instead and had another great game. He walked twice, hit a triple (belly-flopping into third), and a home run. Picked up three more RBI. Swisher also made a nice pick on short-armed throw by Sabathia to end the seventh inning. He’s been Mr. Everything for the Yankees this week–a likeable, loose personality on a hot streak. I can see him being a good New York player, can’t you? Like Dykstra. Or Lerityz. Or Kevin Millar, who would have done well here in his prime.
Swisher has gotten good press this spring as a fun clubhouse presence. He gives the Yankees some physical swagger without any trace of menace. Swisher’s a got a Cheshire Cat grin and a round, cartoonish face. Steve Lombardi compared him to Jack Black and that’s not a bad call, but it’s not perfect either. There’s something more there. I’m not sure what the call is, but I do know that Swisher has got tremendous hair, almost a retro-Donnie Baseball look.
Swisher seems perpetually cheery, hyper-active, effusive; a more Golly Gee-earnest Jason Giambi. After the game tonight he told Kim Jones that he had three Red Bull in him and he was just looking forward to going to the clubhouse to try and relax. He may be amped, but Swisher also shows patience at the plate. And he’s got pop in his bat. The homer he hit from the right side was crushed.
The Yankees scored six runs in all, including a two-run double by Jorge Posada, more than enough for Sabathia, who delivered the goods in his second start. He wasn’t dominant but Sabathia was able to work out of trouble, getting some big strikeouts, and a couple of inning-ending double plays. He pitched shutout ball through seven-and-two-thirds. Struck out six and didn’t walk a batter. 6-1 was the final as the Bombers won their third straight.
Tonight CC stands for Clean Crib. As in the Mrs is returning from a week at her sisters’ in New Mexico tomorrow. And you know I’m a have this place lookin respectable by the time she comes through the door. So I’m doing laundry, and I’m cooking Ratatouille and I can’t wait to watch CC Sabathia pitch tonight.
I don’t know about you, but I love Saturday night games. I know I’m showing my age. I don’t go out on Saturday night. We go to sleep when people are headed out. Pretty soon I’m going to be playing Bridge. But I like getting stuff done during the day and then getting to chill out to a game at night. It’s a small, good treat.
The Royals had a rough time against the lefty Andy Pettitte yesterday. I hope that Sabathia can build on that. KC does not not have an imposing line-up. Let’s see if the big fella shook the nerves out of his system in Baltimore and…
Let’s Go Yan-Kees.
I’ve often bemoaned the disappearance of creative and original nicknames from today’s major league scene. “Jeet” for Derek Jeter, or “A-Rod” for Alex Rodriguez are not real nicknames; they’re merely abbreviations that tell us nothing about a player’s personality, his history, or his style of play. A similar fate has befallen nicknames given to teams of specific years or eras. Outside of the detestable “Idiots” nickname given the 2004 Red Sox or the “Moneyball” appellation given to the A’s (more of a reflection of philosophy than team), I can think of few recent instances where teams have earned colorful side names for something other than commercial purposes.
In contrast, baseball history is chock-a-block with inspired and colorful nicknames for some memorable teams. Here is a list of some of the best ever, including two incarnations of some great Yankees teams.
“Murderers’ Row:” 1927-1928 New York Yankees: No team nickname has matched the fame of “Murderers’ Row,” which actually originated as a 19th century reference to an isolated row of prison cells featuring some of the worst criminals of the infamous Tombs prison. The baseball version of Murderers’ Row included four future Hall of Famers—Earle Combs (batting leadoff), Babe Ruth (batting third), Lou Gehrig (in the cleanup spot), and the often overlooked Tony Lazzeri (batting sixth). The ’27 Yankees didn’t receive much punch from the bottom of the order, where weak links like third baseman Jumping Joe Dugan and catcher Pat Collins resided, but the top six batters in the lineup almost always did the damage of nine full men.
“The Gas House Gang:” 1934-1939 St. Louis Cardinals: This name originated with a neighborhood on the lower east side of Manhattan, where a violent group of young men tormented citizens and came to call themselves the “Gashouse Gang.” The Cardinals’ version of the “Gang” wasn’t quite as vicious as the street thugs, but they did feature a number of ruffians, including infielders Leo Durocher and Pepper Martin, outfielder Joe “Ducky” Medwick, and ace pitcher Dizzy Dean. The Cardinals of that era played a hard-nosed brand of ball, sliding hard into bases, knocking over opposing defenders, and rarely backing away from on-field brawls. Off the field, they were often just as wild, as they laid waste to hotels and restaurants with a series of pranks and practical jokes.
“Whiz Kids:” 1950 Philadelphia Phillies: Coming out of nowhere to win the National League pennant, Eddie Sawyer’s “Kids” featured a day-to-day lineup of players almost exclusively under the age of 30. The oldest regular was 30-year-old first baseman Eddie Waitkus, but the stars were 23-year-old Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn and the 25-year-old Del Ennis. The starting rotation was also headlined by two youngsters, Robin Roberts and Curt Simmons, whose combined total of wins (37) nearly matched their collective age (44).
“Big Red Machine:” 1969-1976 Cincinnati Reds: Some newspapers and magazines began to refer to Cincinnati’s dynamic offensive team as the “Big Red Machine” as early as 1969 and ’70, but the name really caught on when the franchise steamrolled the rest of the majors in winning the ’75 and ’76 World Championships. That mid-1970s run included a four-game annihilation of the Yankees, a series that too often seemed like Thurman Munson battling alone against Cincinnati’s entire 25-man roster. The Machine’s cast of characters changed significantly from 1969 to 1976, with Lee May, Tommy Helms, and Bobby Tolan eventually giving way to George Foster, Joe Morgan, and Ken Griffey Sr. The constants were Hall of Fame talents Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, and Pete Rose, though both Perez and Rose switched positions in mid-stream; Perez moved from third base to first, and Rose, the Hall of Fame exile, went from right field to left field to third base. Combining power and speed, few teams in history have matched the offensive potency of “The Machine.”
“Pittsburgh Lumber Company:” 1970-1976 Pittsburgh Pirates: The Lumber Company name didn’t really take hold until the mid-1970s, but in retrospect, the 1971 world championship team should be included. Using a free-swinging approach that might not have been fully appreciated by some Sabermetricians, the Pirates pummeled their way to five division titles, one pennant, and a World Championship during the first half of the decade. Other than Willie Stargell and Bob Robertson, the “Lumber Company” didn’t like to take walks, which they generally regarded as unmanly. Instead, Roberto Clemente, Al Oliver, Manny Sanguillen, and Rennie Stennett preferred to swing the bat early and often, and they did it well, banging a parade of singles and doubles in a constant barrage against opposing pitching staffs. When you can hit as well as those guys did, the swing-first philosophy does work.
Stinky, funky Saturday fromage.
First up, the Wood Man:
So, who remembered that Shelley Long was once fetching? I’ll never forget how funny Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton were.
How about this showdown with the scene-stealing Forest Whitaker?
Or how about this misbegotten cheapness?
Keeping it in the Eighties, let’s all cool out to this:
Kansas City Royals
2008 Record: 75-87 (.463)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 72-90 (.444)
Manager: Trey Hillman
General Manager: Dayton Moore
Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Kauffman Stadium (97/98)
Who’s Replaced Whom:
25-man Roster:
1B – Mike Jacobs (L)
2B – Alberto Callaspo (S)
SS – Mike Aviles (R)
3B – Alex Gordon (L)
C – Miguel Olivo (R)
RF – Mark Teahen (L)
CF – Coco Crisp (S)
LF – David DeJesus (L)
DH – Billy Butler (R)
Bench:
R – Willie Bloomquist (UT)
R – John Buck (C)
R – Tony Peña Jr. (SS)
S – Brayan Peña (C)
Rotation:
R – Gil Meche
R – Zack Greinke
R – Kyle Davies
R – Sidney Ponson
L – Horacio Ramirez
Bullpen:
R – Joakim Soria
R – Juan Cruz
R – Kyle Farnsworth
L – Ron Mahay
R – Robinson Tejeda
R – Doug Waechter
R – Jamey Wright
15-day DL: RF – Jose Guillen (groin), LHP – John Bale (thyroid surgery)
Projected Lineup:
S – Coco Crisp (CF)
S – Alberto Callaspo (2B)
L – David DeJesus (LF)
L – Mark Teahen (2B)
L – Mike Jacobs (1B)
R – Billy Butler (DH)
L – Alex Gordon (3B)
R – Miguel Olivo (C)
R – Mike Aviles (SS)
In the wake of the Wall Street Journal article highlighting the hard times for baseball beat writers, I’m in the process of getting comments from former colleagues and current and former beat writers on the baseball beat, and other beats, to get their takes.
There were some great comments here at the Banter, so if you have any questions you’d like to submit, e-mail me here.
There was one kid on my high school team who took baseball very seriously. It almost hurt to see how much he cared. Birdie was one of the two best players on the team and he desperately wanted to play professionally. His father was a constant, critical presence, sitting in a lawn chair by himself up the first base line. Brooding, silent. When Birdie struck out, tears welled in his eyes.
He went to Vanderbilt and then transferred to a smaller school in Southern California so that he could play ball. Birdie became a relief pitcher. He was wild, a red ass. He grew a beard, put on weight and his claim to fame was that one season he led his league in appearences and hit batsman.
Birdie is in his late Thirties now but he still pitches, still plays in the summer leagues. He called me from Florida last night where he spent the past week vacationing with his wife and small son. I told him that the Yankees won their first game and that AJ Burnett pitched okay.
“You know I love that guy,” Birdie said. “He’s just my kind of pitcher. Great stuff, but horsesh** erratic.”
Burnett didn’t throw a gem but he pitched okay. His fastball was in the 91-94 range, not 95+, but his breaking ball–what I’m guessing is a hard slider–was impressive and he featured it almost every time he got two strikes on a batter. Burnett worked out of a bases loaded jam in the third, allowing just one run to score in the process, and he pumped his fist (something he did several times) when he struck out Aubrey Huff on a full count slider.
“That takes some guts,” Teixeira said of the pitch selection. “If he doesn’t get the right feel on the ball, that’s ball four and who knows what can happen. He threw a great pitch.”
(Mark Feinsand, N.Y. Daily News)
It’s funny how time works in baseball. Mark Teixeira hit a home run on the second pitch he saw in the top of the fourth inning and quickly rounded the bases, tying the score at one (Luke Scott later hit a solo shot off Burnett to left center field in almost the same spot). Three batters later, Nick Swisher was badly fooled on the first pitch, a change up in the dirt, and put forth a half-hearted swing. He smiled and nodded his head and then looked at the next four pitches before swinging again and fouling off a 3-2 fastball. In the meantime, the pitcher Alfredo Simon threw over to first to check on Robinson Cano a few times, and also met with his catcher. The at-bat must have lasted a good five minutes. It was almost boring as a spectator but it made me appreciate the level of focus and concentration that is required of the pitcher, batter, fielder and umpire on each at-bat during a game. Swisher ended the showdown when he popped a fly ball just over the fence in right for a two-run homer that gave the Yanks the lead for good.
Swisher ended the day with three hits and five RBI, while Cano had three hits, a walk and scored four runs. Cano has drawn three walks in three games. Go figure that now.
In the end, it was a blow-out, 11-2 win. Burnett threw 98 pitches and was removed with one out in the sixth. A quartet of Yankee relievers–Coke, Veras, Bruney and Rivera–kept the O’s scoreless the rest of the way and the Bombers secured their first “w” of the season.
Ramiro Pena singled in his first major league at bat in the ninth inning. He was batting from the left side but is a switch hitter. Before I got off the phone with Birdie he asked me if I could name any left-handed hitting shortstops. Not switch hitters but strictly left-handed hitters. For the life of me, I couldn’t.
Little help?
The Orioles have made short work of both CC Sabathia and Chien Ming Wang, so it is up to AJ Burnett to have a good start this afternoon. The Yankees are looking for their first win of the season, and Burnett is looking to make a good first impression. I say he comes through and the Yanks get off the schneid.
C’mon fellas, whatta ya hear, whatta ya say?
Let’s Go Yan-Kees.
Just an awful story out of Los Angeles this morning. Nick Adenhart, a young pitcher for the Angels was killed in a car accident early this morning. Here is a piece that Rich Lederer wrote about Adenhart. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and the Angels organization.
