With the Yankees and Red Sox playing a night game live on YES, I thought I’d do a running commentary on the game, at least until Becky switches over to the new episode of Lost.

The Yanks are hosting the Red Sox at home at Legends Field. As expected, the YES broadcast is non-stop Johnny Damon for the first 15 minutes. Nauseating. The one bit of “relief” is footage of Jorge Posada being hit in the face with a throw from Kelly Stinnett while playing catch during BP before the game (to bad they haven’t started BPTV yet, or whatever it’s called). Posada was distracted by another ball and Stinnett’s throw hit him in the nose, catching a bit of his left eye socket as well, knocking him down and bloodying his face. He was helped off the field in a daze and pulled from the line-up.

During a terrible version of the national anthem, the camera catches non-roster invitee Enrique Wilson in his Red Sox uniform. Hilarious.

Top 1

Here’s the Red Sox’s line-up:

Adam Stern CF
Alex Cora SS
J.T. Snow 1B
Manny Ramirez DH
Mike Lowell 3B
Wily Mo Pena RF
Dustin Mohr LF
Ken Huckaby C
Alejandro Machado 2B

Jonathan Papelbon P

Shawn Chacon is on the hill for the Yanks.

Stern steps in wearing a red jersey, looking like he’s still on team Canada. He singles through the right side on Chacon’s second pitch.

The defensive alignment shows Bernie in center with Damon, who was seen throwing during fielding drills before the game, as DH. Sigh. I imagine it would make Torre’s brain ache to write one of the Kevins in the line-up with the rest of his starters.

Stern takes second on Chacon’s second pitch to Cora, Stinnett’s throw is up and away to Jeter, thankfully missing his nose. Chacon makes Cora look bad on a slow 12-6 curve for the first out.

J.T. Snow is the first of three former Yankee minor leaguers in this line-up. Chacon gets ahead 0-2, wastes one high and away, then gets Snow swinging on a harder curve over the outside corner.

Manny forgot his uniform and is wearing number 95 with no name on the back (the rest of the Sox have their names on their jerseys). Manny’s look this spring is a homeless-man beard and light orange dreads. He works the count full and draws a walk on a fastball just barely low and away.

Mike Lowell, ex-Yankee farmhand #2, is next. Stinnett makes a nice stop on a pitch in the dirt away, 1-1, then again 2-1. Chacon’s fourth pitch to Lowell is popped straight up, Stinnett, who wears a regular cap rather than a helmet or nothing at all under his hockey-style mask, makes the catch with his left foot in the right-handed batter’s box.

Bottom 1

The Yankee line-up, sans Posada:

Damon DH
Jeter SS
Matsui LF
Sheffield RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Williams CF
Cano 2B
Stinnett C

At least Torre bothered to move Stinnett down to ninth rather than just subbing him in Posada’s spot (the original lineup ended Posada-Cano-Williams).

The Sox are wearing caps with red bills and buttons with their red BP jerseys. Whatever. The Yanks are in their blue BP jerseys and pinstriped pants.

Damon shows bunt on Papelbon’s second pitch, fouls off a 2-2 pitch, then takes ball three to go full. He chops the seventh pitch to third, Lowell stops it but doesn’t field it cleanly, but still recovers to get Damon by a half-step.

Jeter falls into a quick 0-2 hole then works it back full. He then hits a half swing chopper to second and is thrown out easily.

Papelbon looks a bit like a younger Mike Timlin from the back. A big country boy (Timlin’s from Texas, Papelbon from Baton Rouge) with a large, square back and skinny legs that taper to the ankle.

Matsui draws a five-pitch walk. Sheffield hits a pitch high and over the plate to center for the final out.

Top 2

Wily Mo (ex-Yankee farmhand #3) sends his bat flying into the stands striking out on another tremendous Chacon curve.

Mohr swings about a half-hour early on a couple of change-ups for Chacon’s fourth strikeout of the game. Makes you think that if Chacon had a strong fastball to go with his curve and change he’d be unhittable. Unfortunately, that’s the one pitch you can’t teach.

Save for Stern’s lead-off single, the Sox have yet to hit the ball fair. As I type that, Huckaby laces a double down the third base line past Rodriguez for a double and makes a Willie Mays Hayes head-first slide into second, nearly stopping short of the bag as Jeter turns to apply the tag. A moment later, the YES camera’s catch Jeter rotating his left shoulder with Huckaby lurking to his left.

A grounder to second and a flip to Chacon ends the inning.

Bottom 2

Rodriguez makes a nice swing on the first pitch he sees, flying out to the warning track in right center. Jim Kaat argues for Ortiz’s 2005 MVP candidacy. Sigh.

Giambi puts a nice swing on a fastball up in his eyes and pops it to center.

Bernie then crushes a ball over the foul pole in left. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen Bernie hit a ball that hard or show that much bat speed. It would be a lot of fun if Bernie proves me wrong this season. 1-0 Yanks.

Cano grounds to second to end the inning.

Top 3

Cano bobbles a nice play to his left but stays with it to retire Stern. Cora pops to Jeter. After 2 2/3 innings, Chacon has thrown 68 percent of 41 pitches for strikes. Solid.

Bernie standing in center is clean shaven, hiding the grey in his beard. Having homered in the previous inning, he looks ten years younger.

Snow works a full-count walk.

Kay and Kaat are talking about how Enrique Wilson and Manny are best friends (though they fail to connect the dot back to their days as youngsters with the Indians—remember when Enrique was considered to have potential? Zoinks!) At any rate, the Sox are apparently dreading telling Manny that Enrique isn’t going to make the team. Pathetic.

Full-count fastball inside corner Ks Manny, who spins out of the way.

Bottom 3

Stinnett doubles. Damon goes 3-0 then singles through the hole into right to put runners on the corners with no outs. A grounder right to the third-base bag by Jeter catches Stinnett taking a step toward home. Lowell chases him down the line and makes the tag himself, holding Damon and Jeter to first and second. Mastui walks on four pitches to load the bases with one out for Sheffield. After 2 1/3, Papelbon has thrown 47 pitches and barely more strikes then balls.

How old is Roger Clemens? One of his closest friends is Al Nipper. Zoinks!

Sheff creams a line-drive foul. Then lifts a rainmaker sac fly to left and all three runners tag and advance, 2-0 Yanks.

Kaat misquotes Yogi: “You can see a lot by observing.” I’ve always enjoyed Kaat, but he’s either too rusty or too old right now.

Papelbon walks Rodriguez to reload the bases. Not a good night for the Sox’s best young pitcher. Giambi tops one to second. If anyone else was running it would have been close, but Giambi looks like he’s running in oatmeal on his way down to first. I may have stolen that simile from Steve Goldman. He can deal, I’m driving him (and Jay Jaffe) to Philly tomorrow (today for those reading this) for our Baseball Prospectus event at the Walnut Street Barnes & Nobel (plug!).

Top 4

Lowell hits one into the right-center gap, Bernie cuts it off, but with his momentum going away from second, his lollipop throw is too late to catch Lowell, who slides in for a double. Question is, we know Damon’s arm is no better, but would his wheels have made the difference there? The play was closer than I would have expected (though not so close that Jeter bothered making a tag).

Wily Mo cracks a two-run homer just as our new puppy pees in the living room. Pardon me for a moment . . .

Okay, 2-2 game, Machado is on with two outs. Stern doubles him home to make it 3-2. Cora grounds out to Giambi to end the inning.

On the penultimate pitch of the inning, Cora lines a hard foul down the right field line that bounces into the Yankee bullpen where Mike Mussina snags it showing off his gold-glove hands. Kaat must not have been looking and as the shot lingers on Mussina joking with catcher Ben Davis, who’s wearing Flaherty’s number 17, he remarks “as we see Mike Mussina holding a ball in the bullpen.” This is just not Kitty’s night.

Bottom 4

Bernie doubles into the RF gap, another nice swing. He shows his age running the bases, however, and makes an ugly slide trying to avoid the throw. He’s lucky he didn’t hurt himself. After all that effort he’s stranded.

Top 5

Brian Cashman joins Kaat and Kay in the booth after they inform us that the result of Posada’s pre-game accident was a fractured nasal passage that was reset at the hospital. Cashman says Posada will avoid the DL and at worst will miss a week. When last Posada’s nose was broken (by an Alfredo Amezaga throw in 2004) Posada missed just four games. Ah, but will it rob him of his power again? Cashman also tells us that Pavano threw 35 pitches in batting practice today and is projected to be activated in late April.

Bottom 5

Jeter leads off bottom of the fifth with a single. Lost comes on. Hey, it’s spring training.

[an hour later]

Top 9

With a 5-3 lead thanks to a two-run Luis Garcia homer (yes, this one), Kyle Farnsworth comes on to shut the door for the Yanks.

A group of kids can clearly be heard chanting “Let’s-Go-Red-Sox.”

Machado hits a grounder to Phillips, who flipips to Farnsworth for the first out (yes, I’ll be using that joke all year).

Adam Stern creams a hanger over the right field wall to make it 5-4. If Alex is watching this he’s cursing a blue streak over Farnsworth throwing junk with a two-run lead and no-one on. For what it’s worth, his fastball is coming in at 93 miles per hour. Now 95.

A comebacker hops right into Farnsworth’s glove for the second out.

Ian Bladergroen walks. The last out is a fly out to center. Yankees win, 5-4.

Subs: Andy Phillips 1B, Miguel Cairo 2B, Russ Johnson 3B, Omir Santos C, Luis Garcia RF, Bubba Crosby CF, Kevin Thompson LF, Kevin Reese DH, Felix Escalona PR

Pitchers: Shawn Chacon, Mariano Rivera, Mike Myers, Tanyon Sturtze, Kyle Farnsworth

From “The Last Nine Innings”

by Charles Euchner

Chapter Four: Inside the Diamond

Whenever I’m teaching younger players, what I ask is, ‘Can you dance?'” Matt Williams, the Diamondbacks’ veteran third baseman who came to the big leagues as a shortstop in 1987, is ruminating about the art of defensive play in the four infield positions. Williams has become a philosopher of the game as he struggles to cool down his intensity and combine his God-given athleticism with his growing knowledge of the game.

Dancing—an activity that brings together focus and relaxation, grace and quickness, initiative and cooperation—provides Williams with the concept he needs to play his position. Dancing helps him understand when and how to stay loose but also when to move quickly. Keep light on the feet like a dancer, then you can attack and parry, as the play requires.

“That’s all it is—you’re just dancing through the ball. When your feet stop, when your feet get lead[en], your hand gets hard, when you don’t adjust to a bounce, that’s when you make mistakes.”

• • •

Leading off for the Diamondbacks in the home half of the second inning, Steve Finley hits a 1–0 fastball up the middle. Shortstop Derek Jeter hesitates briefly before playing the ball to his side. Jeter fields the ball, a hard one-hopper, cleanly. Reaching down with his six-foot-three body, Jeter flips it hard to first in one motion.

“You play short there’s going to be a lot of plays that you’re off-balance,” Jeter says. “You just work at it, practice it, get better with time. Some may be kind of difficult because of how tall I am as opposed to a shorter guy. But that just comes with experience.”

• • •

Derek Jeter’s fielding poses a dilemma. Depending on whom you debate, Jeter is either one of the best fielding shortstops in the game—or he is absolutely, positively the worst. The question is whether to believe your eyes when watching him.

Part of the difficulty in judging Jeter is that he is the winningest shortstop in an era of great shortstops. Players like Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra, Omar Vizquel, Orlando Cabrera, and Edgar Renteria do not have the luxury of playing for consistently great teams. They seem to do more at their positions than Jeter. But Jeter is a winner. He has been on four World Series champions in five years, and now he’s playing for a fifth title. He must be doing something right.

When baseball people gather to watch Jeter, they smile. They watch him charge balls in the middle of the diamond, range to the outfield and right-field line to gather pop flies, communicate with pitchers and infielders. They love his hustle, his willingness to risk his body to make a play; whether it’s diving three rows into the stands or facing down a base runner barreling into second base. They watch the way he captains not only the infield but the outfield, too. They like the messages he gives other players. Years before, as a youngster, he confronted the Rubenesque pitcher David Wells when Wells had a hissy fit on the mound after an error. Jeter barked back on behalf of his teammates and they appreciated it.

Broadcaster Tim McCarver acknowledges that Jeter sometimes has a hard time picking up sharp hops. “I’m sure there are five or six shortstops who read a ground ball, a hop, better,” says McCarver, a Jeter fan. “It’s not one of his strong suits. He comes over and up on the ball. Sometimes he charges when he should stay back and stays back when he should charge.”

McCarver pauses, looking for context: “But it’s almost crazy to talk about that, he does so many things well.”

(more…)

As good as Mike Mussina was in his last start, he was that bad yesterday, resulting in a 15-2 Yankee loss to the Tigers on the road.

Lineup:

Johnny Damon DH
Derek Jeter SS
Bernie Williams RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada C
Andy Phillips 1B
Kevin Reese CF
Kevin Thompson LF
Miguel Cairo 2B

Subs: Felix Escalona SS, Russ Johnson 3B, Wil Nieves C, L. A. Garcia (?) RF, Andy Cannizaro DH

Pitchers: Mike Mussina, Dusty Bergman, Mark Corey, Scott Proctor, Ron Villone

Big Hits: A solo homer by Cairo (1 for 3), Damon and Jeter were both 2 for 3, Phillips was 2 for 4. On the flip side, Bernie went 0 for 4, grounded into two double plays and left seven men on base.

Who Pitched Well: Scott Proctor walked one and struck out two in two hitless innings, Mark Corey retired the only batter he faced.

Who Didn’t: Villone gave up two runs on four hits in one inning. Bergman gave up three runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning. Mussina, however, takes the cake, giving up ten runs on a walk and twelve hits, including a pair of doubles and four home runs (by Dmitri Young, Brandon Inge, Magglio Ordonez and Alexis Gomez) in just four innings.

Ouchies: Jaret Wright’s back spasms will cause him to miss his scheduled start on Thursday (curiously it appears the Yanks has planned to skip Wang’s turn which falls on today’s off day, though I’ve not read any explaination as to why, I assume he’ll now take Wright’s turn on Thursday), but the Yankees are cautiously optimistic beyond that and have yet to determine if he’ll even miss a full turn or just have his start pushed back. Scott Erickson also suffered back spasms over the weekend, yet another in a series of fortuitous Yankee injuries dating back to last April. Carl Pavano, meanwhile, is now not expected to be ready by April 15, the day that the Yankees will need a fifth starter. Pavano is scheduled to throw batting practice Wednesday, then again on Saturday and should make his first game start a week from Wednesday or Thursday. That would give him time to make three starts before the 15th, but the Yankees think he’ll need 30 to 35 innings to be ready. Same old story. Don’t hold your breath for Meat’s return. Anyone still curious as to why the Yankees were unable to trade this guy this past winter?

So who will be making that April 15 start? Well, if his back holds up it will be Jaret Wright, who is still supposedly fighting for a rotation spot (a battle Pavano may make moot). If not, there’s a chance that Aaron Small could be back from his hamstring injury by then. Failing that, Matt DeSalvo just might get his shot earlier than expected. Indeed, to the delight of many, Joe Torre has said he has no intention of using Scott Erickson as a starter, back spasms or not. From MLB.com:

Torre nixed the idea of using Erickson as a starter, however, even if the rotation has a hole to fill because of injury.

“We’re looking for Erickson in the middle of a game, because he could probably give you two, three or four innings,” Torre said. “If he’s in the mix, that’s probably what his role would be.”

“If he’s in the mix,” music to my ears.

There aren’t many games I’d like to read about less than Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. Already the framework for Buster Olney’s book about the Yankees’ most recent championship run, the game itself is probably one of the single most painful moments of my Yankee life. I’m not asking anyone to cry for me–in the middle of the night after the Diamondbacks won, restless from a lack of sleep, I was able to get some much-need perspective when I realized that the team had in fact just won the three previous titles. Brother, I thought, it could be a lot worse. Still, three outs away? With Marinao on the mound? Man, you’d have to take that everytime, right? After the eighth inning an old friend of mine–a Mets/Red Sox fan–called up and said, “Well, that’s about that, huh?” I nearly broke the phone slamming it down. You never make that call, bro. Especially, after those Murphy’s Law-defying games at the Stadium.

The 2001 Serious was far more difficult for me to stomach than the 2004 playoff collapse to the Red Sox. Yet the way in which they lost to Arizona was somehow fitting. Here were the Yankees getting spanked around all Series long and if it weren’t for two nights of Miracles, there would never have even been a Game 7. But there was, and in the end the Yankees simply got out-Yankeed.

I know my emotions were heightened in the aftermath of 9.11, and there were a lot of people out there pulling for the Yankees (not everyone, cause you’d have been hard-pressed to find a Red Sox or Met fan not cheering for joy once the D-Backs won). In all, they played spirited ball during those playoffs, knocking off superior teams from Oakland and spoiling what could have been a truly historic season in Seattle. What’s the old cliche? You can have anything you want, you just can’t have everything. Well, the Yankees gave its fans and baseball fans in general an amazing run in ’01–exactly what we needed. But they just couldn’t do everything, they couldn’t get the final three outs.

Charles Euchner’s new book, “The Last Nine Innings,” tells the story of baseball through the prism of Game Seven. He explores fielding (infield and, in an illuminating chapter on Steve Finley, outfield), baserunning, hitting, pitching, relief pitching, training, and managing. There are good interviews with Matt Williams and Mark Grace, Curt Schilling and surprisingly, Shane Spencer. What distinguishes Euchner’s book is that it has an “insider’s” feel written from an “outsider’s” persepctive. While “The Last Nine Innings” refers to the events surrounding that post-season, the author sticks mainly to the nuts-and-bolts aspect of the game, both in the training room and on the field.

The results are satisfying and surprising, and the book is accesible for the novice fan while absorbing for the die-hard nut too. I had a few minor quibbles–in characterizing Bernie Williams as a guy who is over-looked, I think Euchner himself over-looks him–but I was most taken with Euchner’s even-handed writing style. The prose isn’t fancy, but clear and to the point. Euchner’s book is balanced, fair and informative. It’s well worth checking out, even for those Yankee fans who may still be licking their wounds.

(more…)

The Yankees shutout the Indians at home yesterday 2-0 behind a fantastic outing by Randy Johnson with all five of the returned WBC players seeing action, but before we get to the usual game-in-a-box summary, I want to address the flurry of cuts the Yankees made yesterday. Here are the players optioned or reassigned to the minors yesterday:

1B – Eric Duncan, 3B – Marcos Vechionacci, SS – Ramiro Pena, C – David Parrish, OFs – Melky Cabrera and Mitch Jones, SP – Sean Henn, RPs – J. Brent Cox, T.J. Beam, Frank Brooks.

Duncan, Vechionacci, Pena, Cabrera and Cox are potential future stars who impressed Torre and his coaching staff this spring, but need further seasoning in the minors. Cox, who will be 22 in June, is the oldest of that bunch. Jones also impressed at the plate but remains a poor defender with high strikeout rates, who, at age 28, has yet to show that he’s outgrown triple-A. Sean Henn had an awful spring (9.45 ERA, 6 2/3 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 7 BB, 4 K) and will return to triple-A where he’ll slip behind DeSalvo and Rasner on the depth chart. Beam is 25, has never pitched above high-A ball, barely pitched this spring (3 IP) and didn’t do well in that limited exposure (6 H, 3 R, despite a solid 4:1 K/BB). Brooks threw just two uneventful innings this spring and will spend the season as a triple-A roster filler. Parrish sucks and proved it by going 0 for 8 this spring.

In addition to those cuts, Senator Al Lieter officially announced his retirement before coming into yesterday’s game to get one last out (a groundout by Eduardo Perez). With those eleven men out of the picture for the moment, one can break the remaining campers into four groups: those that have made the 25-man roster, extra catchers, those rehabbing from injuries, and those battling for one of the final spots on the 25-man freed up by one of those injuries. Here’s how they break down:

Made the roster (22):

1B – Jason Giambi (L)
2B – Robinson Cano (L)
SS – Derek Jeter (R)
3B – Alex Rodriguez (R)
C – Jorge Posada (S)
RF – Gary Sheffield (R)
CF – Johnny Damon (L)
LF – Hideki Matsui (L)
DH – Bernie Williams (S)

R – Andy Phillips (1B/3B)
R – Miguel Cairo (IF)
R – Kelly Stinnett (C)

L – Randy Johnson
R – Mike Mussina
R – Chien-Ming Wang
R – Shawn Chacon

R – Mariano Rivera
R – Kyle Farnsworth
R – Tanyon Sturtze
L – Mike Myers
L – Ron Villone
R – Jaret Wright

Extra catchers (3):

R – Wil Nieves
S – Ben Davis
R – Omir Santos

Injured or rehabbing (4):

R – Carl Pavano (mangina)
R – Octavio Dotel (elbow)
R – Aaron Small (hamstring)
R – Colter Bean (knee)

Batting for a spot (14):

OF – Bubba Crosby (L)
OF – Kevin Reese (L)
OF – Kevin Thompson (R)
IF – Felix Escalona (R)
IF – Russ Johnson (R)
IF – Kevin Howard (IF)

R – Ramiro Mendoza
R – Scott Erickson
L – Matt Smith
R – Scott Proctor
R – Matt Childers
L – Dusty Bergman
R – Mark Corey
R – Jose Veras

Taking the second part first, Bergman, Corey and Veras have pitched just five innings combined and Bergman and Veras have pitched poorly at that. I can only assume they’re still here just to eat innings. Here are the spring lines of the other five:

(more…)

Playing in the same Jupiter, Florida ballpark in which they lost to the Cardinals the day before, the Yankees took an easy one from Joe Girardi’s baby Marlins yesterday 8-3

Lineup:

Kevin Reese CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Hideki Matsui LF
Gary Sheffield RF
Jason Giambi DH
Andy Phillips 1B
Wil Nieves C
Marcos Vechionacci 3B
Felix Escalona SS

Subs: Miguel Cairo 1B, Kevin Howard 2B, Ramiro Pena SS, Eric Duncan 3B, David Parish C, Mitch Jones RF, Melky Cabrera LF, Russ Johnson DH

Pitchers: Jaret Wright, Dusty Bergman, Ramiro Mendoza, Mike Myers, J. Brent Cox, Ron Villone

Big Hits: A three-run homer in the third by Hideki Matsui (1 for 3, 4 RBIs), a bases-loaded triple by Kevin Howard (2 for 4, 4 RBIs), and what Ken Singleton described as “a ringing double” by Mitch Jones (1 for 2). Kevin Reese was 2 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Who Pitched Well: Mike Myers worked a perfect seventh, striking out one, Ramiro Mendoza allowed one hit while striking out one in a scoreless sixth, but the big story was Wright, who allowed just one run in four innings on three hits and no walks while striking out four. After the game, Wright credited his effectiveness to a new grip on one of his pitches taught to him by Mike Mussina. Which pitch that is, however, seems to be the subject of some debate, as MLB.com reports it’s his curve, while our pal Peter Abraham reports it’s his slider.

Oopsies: Felix Escalona, Ramiro Pena and Mitch Jones each committed a fielding error.

Ouchies: Robinson Cano got beaned in the left temple by a throw from third baseman Miguel Cabrera while trying to beat out an infield single in the first. Cano was safe, but was removed from the game as a precaution (yielding to Kevin Howard’s fantastic day). Cano appears to be fine. Scott Erickson was scheduled to pitch, but instead returned to Tampa with back spasms while Ramiro Mendoza, who I believe to be his primary challenger for Aaron Small’s spot in the bullpen, pitched a pretty sixth inning. Jorge Posada (flu) took batting practice and is expected to be in the line-up tomorrow when the team returns to Tampa, as should be returning WBCers Jeter, Rodriguez and Williams (though not Damon, due to his shoulder tendinitis). Bubba Crosby (hamstring) is also expected to return to action tomorrow.

The Yanks lost another snoozer on the road, this one 5-2 to the Cardinals.

Lineup:

Miguel Cairo SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Jason Giambi 1B
Gary Sheffield DH
Hideki Matsui LF
Kelly Stinnett C
Melky Cabrera CF
Russ Johnson 3B
Kevin Thompson RF

Subs: Eric Duncan 1B, Felix Escalona 2B, Ramiro Pena SS, Marcos Vechionacci 3B, Wil Nieves C, Kevin Reese LF, Andy Phillips DH

Pitchers: Shawn Chacon, Frank Brooks, Scott Proctor, Ron Villone, Jose Veras, Matt Smith

Big Hits: Doubles by Jason Giambi (1 for 3), Russ Johnson (1 for 3), Miguel Cairo (2 for 4), Kelly Stinnett was 2 for 3 and Kevin Thompson went 2 for 3.

Who Pitched Well: Scott Proctor walked one in two hitless innings. Ron Villone struck out two in a hitless inning, though he walked one.

Who Didn’t: Jose Veras gave up four runs (three earned) on three hits without getting an out, though one suspects that Matt Smith, who struck out two and was not charged with a run, but followed Veras by allowing a hit, walking one and uncorking a wild pitch, had something to do with that.

Oopsies: A throwing error by Chacon and a fielding error by Felix Escalona.

Ouchies: The fates are trying to give Joe Torre a message as Bubba Crosby, who missed the first week of spring after being hit on the index finger during a bunting drill, missed yesterday’s game due to what is alternately being called a tight groin and a tight hamstring. Doesn’t sound like Torre’s getting the message, however:

“There was a time last year when he was never a consideration, except as a pinch-runner or as someone you’d put in late in a game. But after Donnie worked with him, I saw a different hitter. He once was a dead pull hitter — hit the ball in the air and swing and miss. Donnie got him waiting on the ball. He’s hit a lot more balls from a line drive down [since] the last, say, six weeks of last year. He’s a much better player now.” (MLB.com)

Upcoming Schedule: Settle in for a long day of baseball on the tube today as the Yankees play the Fish on YES at 1:00 and the two WBC semifinals air on ESPN at 3:00 and 10:00. A little break in the middle there for dinner, otherwise, baseball all day. Best of all, Becky and I have a brand new puppy to curl up on the couch and watch the games with us. Man, life is good!

The Yankees dropped a pair of split-squad games to the Tigers and Astros yesterday.

A-Game

Wednesday the Yankees visited Houston and put the smack down. Yesterday, the Astros returned the favor 10-5.

Lineup:

Miguel Cairo 3B
Melky Cabrera CF
Jason Giambi 1B
Gary Sheffield DH
Hideki Matsui LF
Kelly Stinnett C
Kevin Howard 2B
Ramiro Pena SS
Kevin Reese RF

Subs: Eric Duncan 1B, Russ Johnson 3B-2B, Hector Made 3B, Wil Nieves C, Bronson Sardinha RF, Rudy Guillen LF, Ben Davis DH

Pitchers: Chien-Ming Wang, Mariano Rivera, Kyle Farnsworth, Tanyon Sturtze, Mike Myers, T.J. Beam

Big Hits: Solo homers by Matsui (1 for 2) and Russ Johnson (2 for 2), a pair of doubles by Stinnett (2 for 3) and a triple by Melky Cabrera (2 for 4)

Who Pitched Well: Wang allowed five hits and no walks in four innings and getting ten of his twelve outs on ground balls, but was betrayed by his defense resulting in a pair of unearned runs in the first. Rivera and Myers both walked one in a hitless inning, though Rivera also hit a batter.

Who Didn’t: Sturtze and Beam combined to allow seven runs on six hits a pair of walks and a homer (Luke Scott off Beam) in two innings pitched. Sturtze also plunked two Astros. Ugly.

Oopsies: A fielding error by Cano and a throwing error by Ramiro Pena.

Ouchies: Jason Giambi played the field for the first time since before his calf injury. Jorge Posada has a fever, unfortunately an increase in cowbell has not caused the illness to abate. He’ll skip the Yankees’ two-game roadtrip to Jupiter this weekend.

B-Game

Joe Torre actually joined his B-squad on the road (Mattingly managed the home game) as it enabled him to have dinner with his old Cardinal teammate Bob Gibson and Gibson’s even older teammate Stan Musial. How much would you pay to join that trio for a long, story-filled meal? I’m sure dinner was better than the Yankees 4-3 loss to the Tigers, which was so incredibly dull that the subhead of the game wrap on the Yankees’ official site reads: “Rolls, Escalona, Vechionacci drive in runs for New York.” Wow, thrilling.

Lineup:

Bubba Crosby CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Andy Phillips 1B
Mitch Jones DH
Damian Rolls LF
Felix Escalona SS
Omir Santos C
Marcos Vechionacci 3B
Kevin Thompson RF

Subs: David Parrish C, Jose Tabata RF

Pitchers: Matt DeSalvo, Jeffrey Karstens, Scott Erickson, Sean Henn

Big Hits: None. Not one Yankee had an extra base hit or a multi-hit day.

Who Pitched Well: Really no one, though both Jeff Karstens and Scott Erickson allowed just one baserunner in two innings a piece, both baserunners came on solo homers. Matt DeSalvo allowed just one run on another solo homer in three innings while striking out three, but also walked three and allowed two other hits, and the homer was by Omar Infante.

Who Didn’t: No one really stunk up the joint like Sturtze or Beam in the A-Game. Sean Henn got the loss by giving up another run in 1 2/3 innings on two walks and two hits, the second hit being a game-ending RBI single by Nook Logan, though Henn also struck out two.

Oopsies: The Yankees played error-free ball, but the Tigers made four errors behind groundballer Nate Robertson (11 of 15 outs on the ground) and company, giving them a staggering 26 on the spring.

WBC: The USA managed just three hits against Mexico, losing 2-1 and thus losing a tie-breaker to Japan, who will advance to play Korea in the second semi-final on Saturday, the third match-up between the two teams in the tournament and a game I don’t plan to miss. That means the Yankees will be back at full force possibly as soon as Sunday’s return to Tampa. Bernie Williams is already back in Tampa, where he will work out at the minor league complex while the Yankees are on their two-day road trip. For the record, Derek Jeter went 0 for 4 in last night’s game and finished the WBC with a .450/.522/.550 line with a triple and no strikeouts in 23 plate appearances over six games. Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 2 with two walks last night finishing with a .333/.391/.381 line with a double and seven strikeouts in the same number of opportunities. Johnny Damon did indeed pinch run last night, but did not come to bat, finishing the tournament 1 for 7 with a triple and two walks. Al Leiter made just one appearance in the tournament giving up two runs on three hits and a walk in just 2/3 of an inning.

Third Cut: After pitching in the B-game, Matt DeSalvo and Jeffrey Karstens were optioned to Columbus (a.k.a. minor league camp). With that, the Yankees have relocated all of the starters who aren’t either going to make the 40-man roster or be considered for work out of the bullpen, which is to say that I believe that the Yankees are currently trying to figure out what Sean Henn might be able to offer in a relief roll. DeSalvo has thus far fulfilled expectations by departing camp as the pitcher most likely to pull a Chien-Ming Wang this season. His final spring line: 8 IP, 4H, 1 R, 1 HR, 6 BB, 5 K, 1-0, 1.13.

The Yankees were exceedingly unkind to ol’ pal Andy Pettitte and the Astros yesterday, whooping them 11-1 on their own field.

Lineup:

Bubba Crosby CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Jason Giambi DH
Jorge Posada C
Andy Phillips 1B
Mitch Jones RF
Russ Johnson 3B
Kevin Thompson LF
Miguel Cairo SS

Subs: Eric Duncan 1B, Felix Escalona 2B, Ramiro Pena SS, Omir Santos C, Kevin Reese CF, Kevin Howard DH

Pitchers: Mike Mussina, Ron Villone, Scott Erickson, Ramiro Mendoza, Frank Brooks

Big Hits: Mitch Jones (2 for 5) went deep twice for the second time in three days, Kevin Thompson cracked a pair of doubles in the process of going 4 for 5, Robinson Cano (3 for 4) and Miguel Cairo (1 for 3) also doubled, as did Russ Johnson (1 for 4), who’s two-bagger was his first hit of the spring (though he’s walked five times and scored four runs), Eric Duncan, who is now slugging .875 this spring, tripled in his only at-bat, Andy Phillips also had a big day going 3 for 4 with a pair of RBIs.

Who Pitched Well: Mike Mussina threw 77 percent of 78 pitches for strikes while allowing just one run on three hits and a walk and striking out eight over five innings. After the game he said, “I did everything I wanted to do, anything I wanted to do, in any count.” Scott Erickson worked a perfect seventh. Ron Villone and Ramiro Mendoza each threw a hitless inning walking one each.

Ouchies:

The verdict on Johnny Damon’s shoulder is tendinitis. The Yankees are taking that as good news and Damon will be limited to pinch-running and pinch-hitting duties for at least the next week be it in the WBC or Yankee camp. The main objective is to keep Damon from throwing, though I tend to wonder if a head-first slide or diving back to first on a pick-off attempt could do just as much damage.

Despite claiming to refuse comment on the fact that Damon’s shoulder flare up happened in the WBC, Cashman did say that it was something “that sprung up because he pushed himself.” With Korea’s stirring 2-1 victory over Japan, the US can advance to the semifinals of the WBC with a victory tonight over Mexico. As WBC rosters can be altered between rounds, here’s hoping the US sends Damon back to Tampa if that should happen. Regardless, the Yankees expect Damon to be ready for opening day.

Meanwhile, the big injury news from yesterday is that Aaron Small strained his right hamstring while doing his running on Tuesday and will likely start the season on the disabled list. With Small and Pavano, who threw 45 pitches in the bullpen yesterday, ticketed for the DL there are now two open roster spots for the season’s first 15 days.

As I said before, I expect Pavano’s spot to be filled by an extra position player much like Andy Phillips did for Kevin Brown last year. The favorite for that spot at the moment is Kevin Thompson, who is hitting .469/.514/.656 this spring, though by all rights Thompson should be given Bubba Crosby’s spot on the roster with, say, Felix Escalona (.296/.321/.519) getting the extra spot. Of course, bearing in mind the uselessness of spring training stats, I’d rather see Kevin Reese take the outfield spot as there are still some doubts about Thompson that even his electric spring can’t quiet. Either way, don’t fret too much about the spot created by Pavano as the last man on the bench won’t see a lick of action before the Yankees’ need for a fifth starter boots him back to Columbus on April 15.

As for who will replace Small in the pen, you can scratch Colter Bean from your wishlist due to the fact that he’s rehabbing from ACL surgery and still hasn’t seen game action this spring. You can also cross off the three Columbus starters on deck, DeSalvo, Henn and Rasner (the last of whom has already been reassigned), as they’d be much better off starting in Columbus in preparation for the all-but-guaranteed injury-induced opening in the rotation than languishing in the major league pen. I’m wishcasting for Matt Smith, who despite giving up one monster solo homer has looked sharp to me. The problem there is he’s only pitched 2 1/3 innings this spring. More likely we’ll be subjected to watching “proven veterans” Ramiro Mendoza and, yes, Scott Erickson battle it out for Small’s long relief spot.

Startlingly, Erickson has pitched more innings this spring than any Yankee hurler other than Johnson and Mussina. Gulp. Here are the spring lines of these two old hands:

Erickson: 8 1/3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 1 HR, 3 BB, 8 K, 0-2, 2.16
Mendoza: 6 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 HR, 4 BB, 7 K, 1-0, 2.84

If forced to chose between these two, I’d take Mendoza in a heartbeat. My reasons are these:

• Save for the high walk total, Mendoza has outpitched Erickson this spring
• Erickson last posted an ERA below 6.00 in 2004 in eight starts with triple-A Norfolk. His mark there was 4.50. Mendoza posted a 1.50 ERA in 11 appearances from Rookie ball through the majors while rehabbing last year, striking out 19 in 18 innings (most of those innings coming in triple-A) and walking just two. Mendoza also posted a 3.52 ERA in 30 2/3 innings with the Red Sox in 2004. The last time Erickson had a single-season major league ERA that low was 1992 (though in fairness, Erickson is a starter and did post a 3.69 mark in 1997). Erickson’s lowest single-season major league ERA this decade was 5.55 in 2002.
• Mendoza is more than four years younger than Erickson.

Prodigal Son: With their 3-2 loss to Cuba, Puerto Rico has been eliminated from the WBC, which means Bernie Williams is on his way back to Yankee camp. Bernie was 2 for 4 with a walk and a lead-off home run in the loss and hit .250/.280/.542 with a double and two homers but just one walk in 25 plate appearances as PR’s DH and lead-off man in all six games.

WBC: There are just four games left in the WBC, miraculously all will be shown live on ESPN (all times EST):

Thu 3/16: USA @ MEX (Angel Stadium) 7:30
Sat 3/18: CUB @ DR (Petco Park) 3:00 – semi-final 1
Sat 3/18: TBD @ KOR (Petco Park) 10:00 – semi-final 2
Mon 3/20: Winner 1 @ Winner 2 (Petco Park) 9:00 – Championship Game

Korea remains the only undefeated team in the tournament and looks to have the upper hand given their pitching strength and the fact that the final two rounds will take place at the pitching-friendly Petco Park. Indeed, if the US beats Mexico tonight and advances to face Korea in Saturday’s second semi-final, I’d expect an easy win for Korea given the USA’s inferior outfield defense (Ken Griffey Jr. in center is a nice thought, but an outdated one to say the least) and the fact that Korea already beat them once by a score of 7-3 in a game in which Korea was leading 7-1 after eight innings. Filtered back through Yankee glasses, this means the issue of Damon playing in any future WBC games is a minor one at worst and that Damon, Jeter and Rodriguez (but hopefully not Leiter) will all be back in camp by Monday.

The Yankees lost a close, well-pitched game to the Cardinals who, disturbingly, wore their red home caps on the road. Final score 4-3.

Lineup:

Bubba Crosby CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Jason Giambi DH
Gary Sheffield RF
Hideki Matsui LF
Andy Phillips 1B
Kelly Stinnett C
Felix Escalona SS
Miguel Cairo 3B

Subs: Eric Duncan 1B, Kevin Howard 2B, Ramiro Pena SS, Marcos Vechionacci 3B, Wil Nieves C, Kevin Thompson RF, Kevin Reese CF, Melky Cabrera LF, Mitch Jones DH, Ben Davis PH, Shelley Duncan PH

Pitchers: Randy Johnson, Mariano Rivera, Kyle Farnsworth, Tanyon Sturtze, Mike Myers

Big Hits: Just a solo homer by Robinson Cano (2 for 4). Cano was the only Yankee with more than one hit.

Who Pitched Well: Mariano Rivera struck out two in a scorless sixth. Randy Johnson allowed just one hit through 4 1/3, retiring eleven in a row and needing just 36 pitches through his first four innings. He then gave up two runs on a walk and four more hits (including a homer by St. Louis pitching coach Dave Duncan’s son Chris) over his final 2/3 inning. He struck out four on the day throwing 73 percent of 67 pitches for strikes. Johnson will make three more starts this spring.

Oopsies: A throwing error by Kelly Stinnett.

Ouchies: Jason Giambi returned to game action going 0 for 2 with a sac fly, but the big news was Johnny Damon’s tired throwing shoulder. Damon hurt his left shoulder diving for a ball early last August, but the reoccurence of soreness has been attributed to typical spring training fatigue. However, because Damon is playing in the WBC and no one in Tampa–specifically Torre, Cashman, or any of the Yankee doctors or trainers–has spoken to him, everyone is overreacting to the lack of information. The fact of the matter is that Damon is resting the shoulder by not playing–he last started on Friday and had a single pinch-hit at-bat on Sunday–just as he would if he were in camp with the Yankees, and could be taken off the US roster and returned to the Yankees if the team advances to the semifinals (which it might not). Damon has a dreadful throwing arm to begin with (Steven Goldman recently wrote that the Orioles’ Daniel Cabrera could throw a dead octopus through a brick wall. Damon, like Bernie before him, couldn’t throw a brick through a dead octopus.) So as long as the bum wing (which could be fine given the rest) doesn’t effect his swing, there’s not much cause for concern here. Just be thankful that the Yankees have two of the best cuttoff men in the business in Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano. The more things change . . .

Even five homers by a road-game B-squad couldn’t overcome a nightmare start for Jaret Wright as the Yanks fell to the Pirates 9-8

Lineup:

Bubba Crosby CF
Miguel Cairo 2B
Jose Posada C
Andy Phillips 1B
Kevin Thompson CF
Mitch Jones LF
Melky Cabrera RF
Marcos Vechionacci 3B
Ramiro Pena SS

Subs: Eric Duncan 1B, Kevin Howard 2B, Wil Nieves C, Kevin Reese PH

Pitchers: Jaret Wright, Scott Proctor, Ron Villone, Matt Childers, Ramiro Mendoza

Big Hits: A lead-off homer by Bubba Crosby (1 for 3), a pair of dingers by Mitch Jones (3 for 5, the third hit being a double), and a pair of ninth-inning taters by Eric Duncan (2 for 2, the first hit being a double) and Kevin Thompson (1 for 2). Miguel Cairo (1 for 3) and Melky Cabrera (1 for 4) doubled.

Who Pitched Well: Ron Villone plunked a batter in a hitless, walkless sixth; Ramiro Mendoza threw a hitless eighth, striking out two and walking one; Matt Childers pitched around one hit for a scoreless seventh.

Who Didn’t: Jaret Wright was flat out throwing batting practice. His line says it all: 3 IP, 11 H, 8 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 0 K

Oopsies: A throwing error by Ramiro Pena and a passed ball by Jorge Posada.

Ouchies: Robinson Cano skipped the game due to a root canal. Joe Torre, in reporting that Tanyon Sturtze felt fine following his return to game action on Sunday, told the media that Sturtze wasn’t honest with the team about his shoulder problems last year.

WBC: Bernie went 0 for 3 leading of for Puerto Rico in their first loss of the tournament. In the US’s loss to the still undefeated Korea, Derek Jeter went 3 for 4, Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 5 with seven men left on base, and Johnny Damon rode pine behind Matt Holliday and Randy Winn.

Book Excerpt

Dayn Perry is one of the more genuine and easy-going guys you are ever likely to meet. The fact that he’s also a gifted writer and analyst makes his personal charm even more appealing. I’ve met Dayn on several occasions and while he’s exceeingly bright, he isn’t a show-off or interested in making you look dumb. In addition to his work for Fox and Baseball Prospectus, Dayn’s first book, “Winners: How Good Baseball Teams Become Great Ones (And It’s Not the Way You Think)” has just hit the shelves. Perry looks at all of the playoff teams between 1980 and 2003 and examines what makes for success and failure. Combining traditional storytelling–there are absorbing stories about Pedro Guerrero and Cesar Cedeno, for instance–with statistical analysis, Perry’s book is a page-turner.

I found a good, Yankee-related excerpt in the chapter:

The Deadline Game (or, Why It’s Hard to Win a Pennant in Two Months)

Each year, Major League Baseball circumscribes—or perhaps hurries along—its clubs with a pair of trade deadlines. The first, which occurs on the afternoon of July 31, marks the end of the period in which teams can trade players without first passing them through revocable waivers. The second, on August 31, marks the deadline for teams to acquire players and still be able to place them on postseason rosters. In that block of calendar from July 1 to August 31, some of the most memorable (or forgettable, depending upon your partisanships) trades have unfolded. It’s a frenzied time for fans, execs, and league organ grinders alike. Rumors scamper about like astonished cockroaches, and saturation-level media coverage causes deep-vein thrombosis in many a fan.

If it’s not a tacit requirement that a playoff team make an acquisition at the trade deadlines, then it’s certainly de rigueur; of the 124 teams I’ve looked at, 108 (87.1 percent) made a trade at or around those annual deadlines for a player or players who saw action for the team at the major league level that same season. However, for all the deadline activity we’ve witnessed over the years, these deals, by and large, aren’t all that important in terms of winning ball games during the regular season in question.

However, of course, there are exceptions, as the Yankees discovered back in 1995:

From “Winners: How Good Baseball Teams Become Great Ones (And It’s Not the Way You Think)”

By Dayn Perry

Coming into the 1995 season, the Yankees hadn’t made the postseason in 14 years—the longest such drought for baseball’s most dynastic franchise since Babe Ruth was acquired. What made it all the more rankling for Yankee fans is that, in the unfinished 1994 season, they had a comfortable 61/2-game lead in the AL East at the time of the players’ strike and were on pace for 100 wins. Needless to say, the run-up to the 1995 campaign brought with it the usual Yankee mishmash of haughty optimism tempered by trickle-down urgency with the organization. It was time for the Yankees to get back to being the Yankees.

In 1994, staff ace Jimmy Key had gone 17–4 with a 3.27 ERA and paced the AL in wins and starts. Obviously, he was critical to Yankee fortunes in ’95. However, Key, barely a month into the ’95 season, went on the DL with tendonitis after making two straight painful starts. That case of tendonitis turned out to be a torn rotator cuff, and by the All-Star break he had undergone season-ending shoulder surgery. It also didn’t help that Scott Kamieniecki, the Yanks’ highly capable fifth man from the year before, regressed badly in 1995. A trade that December with the White Sox brought Jack McDowell into the fold, and he was effective, if not of ace quality. (Of course, McDowell’s contributions were not without some standard-issue Yankee Sturm und Drang. Following a particularly rough home outing in July that season, “Blackjack” responded to the booing throngs by extending his middle finger to the already profoundly displeased Yankee Stadium crowd. Not to mention the unblinking eyes of the camera. The following winter, McDowell, a free agent, would opt for the more staid shores of Cleveland.)

At the close of play on July 28, the Yankees were 41–42, in third place in the AL East, and 51/2 games behind the division-leading Red Sox. Most assuredly, it was time for action. (In recent seasons, participants in the “Sons of Sam Horn” online Red Sox forum have taken to lampooning the Yankees’ countless afterthought personnel additions and manifest weakness for conspicuous consumption by calling those players, as a group, “Raul Whitecock,” a derisive amalgam of Raul Mondesi, Rondell White, and Sterling Hitchcock, three notable and largely fruitless recent acquisitions by the Yanks.)

On that same day, GM Gene Michael pulled the trigger on a pair of deals. First, he sent a troika of utter forgettables (Marty Janzen, Jason Jarvis, and Mike Gordon, who would combine for 27 games in the majors—all courtesy of Janzen) to the Blue Jays for David Cone. Toronto GM Gord Ash originally angled for a deal that would have sent Cone to the Yanks for Bob Wickman, Matt Drews, and a promising minor league hurler named Mariano Rivera. Michael passed and wound up getting Cone for an infinitely lower cost. As Don Mattingly said of the Cone deal, “We got him for nothing. I don’t even know the other three guys.”

A native of Kansas City, Cone came up with his hometown Royals alongside other talented young hurlers such as Mark Gubicza and Danny Jackson. Rather than let the pitching bottleneck sort itself out (a blissful quandary if ever there were one), the club made what owner Ewing Kauffman would later call “the worst trade in Royals’ history.” Certainly it was also the worst trade in then-Royals GM John Schuerholz’s personal history. That trade in the spring of 1987 sent the 24year-old Cone and outfielder Chris Jelic to the Mets for catcher Ed Hearn, who would go on to play 13 games for Kansas City; righthander Rick Anderson, who would go on to post a 4.75 ERA in 96 2/3 career innings; and reliever Mauro Gozzo, who would never appear in a game for the Royals.

Cone, meanwhile, blossomed into an ace in New York. In 1988 he went 20–3 with a 2.22 ERA and finished third in the NL Cy Young balloting. He also became only the fifth pitcher in Mets history to win 20 in a single season, and he tied Preacher Roe’s 1951 NL record for fewest losses by a 20-game winner. Cone had worked assiduously to develop command of six pitches and was famous for varying his arm angles and release points as situations warranted. To opposing batters, no matter how many times they’d seen him, it seemed as though Cone pitched with the randomness of lightning. Beginning in 1990, he led the majors in strikeouts for three straight seasons—the first pitcher since Nolan Ryan (1972–1974) to do so—and in ’91 even fanned 19 Phillies in a single game (which tied the NL record until Kerry Wood whiffed 20 Astros in 1998).

Over the years, Cone fashioned a reputation as a bit of an eccentric. He would leave game tickets for Wheel of Fortune geisha Vanna White (never to be used) and Elvis Presley (also never to be used). He once held the ball and argued with the home plate umpire over a call while a pair of opposing base runners rounded the diamond and scored. However, as the Mets’ fortunes began to decline in the early ’90s, Cone’s reputation took a harrowing turn. Cone faced two rape allegations within five months. The first involved a woman (whose claims were later dismissed by police) allegedly assaulted by Cone the night before his record-tying performance against the Phillies in 1991. The second linked his name to a teamwide scandal involving Darryl Boston, Vince Coleman, and Dwight Gooden. Cone was not charged in either case, but he also endured a sexual harassment lawsuit from three women who claimed he exposed himself to them from the Shea Stadium bullpen in 1989. The suit was eventually dismissed.

Between 1992 and 1995 Cone would pitch for four different teams. In late August of ’92 the Mets dispatched him to Toronto for Ryan Thompson and second baseman Jeff Kent. Cone was thrown into the midst of a heated pennant race. Since the Jays acquired him well after the first trade deadline, he had time to compile only 53 innings. However, he made the most of those innings, posting a 2.55 ERA after the deal. Cone went on to throw a gem in the decisive game six of the World Series against the Braves, allowing only one run in six innings of work.

His combined numbers between New York and Toronto in 1992 (249 2/3 innings, 2.81 ERA, 17 wins) made him one of the winter’s most hotly sought-after free agents. Cone wound up signing with his hometown Royals. He would pitch well in ’93, but lackluster run support cost him win upon win. In strike-blighted 1994, however, great pitching intersected with good fortune, and Cone wound up winning the AL Cy Young. With Cone’s value, perceived and otherwise, at its highest, the Royals that off-season traded him for a second time, in this instance back to Toronto for infielder Chris Stynes and two minor leaguers—David Sinnes and Tony Medrano—who would forever remain two minor leaguers.

Although he pitched well during his second Canadian tour of duty, Cone didn’t last even four months before he was traded again, this time to the Yankees. As mentioned, the 1995 season was shortened to 144 games. Even so, as a Yankee, Cone that season put up a VORP of 27.9, which ranks as the third-best post deadline VORP for any pitcher I’ve studied. Prorate his VORP to a full season, and it comes to 31.0, which is still good for third among pitchers, but, lumping hitters and hurlers together, makes Cone the fourth-most-valuable deadline acquisition since 1980. In 99 innings as a Yankee in ’95, Cone posted a 3.82 ERA, but what endeared him to New York fans and media alike is that he went 9–2 down the stretch (partially a function of good run support) in an AL wild-card race that turned out to be decided by a single game. Without Cone, the Yankees very likely would have failed in their bid to fend off the Angels and thus claim the final AL playoff berth.

You can buy Dayn’s book here and here.

The Yankees brought their starters on the road for a change, but still lost to the Indians 7-5 thanks to the arrival of the real Scott Erickson.
Lineup:

Bubba Crosby CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Gary Sheffield DH
Hideki Matsui LF
Andy Phillips 1B
Kelly Stinnett C
Russ Johnson 3B
Kevin Reese RF
Felix Escalona SS

Subs: Eric Duncan 1B, Kevin Howard 2B, Ramiro Pena SS, Omir Santos C, Kevin Thompson LF, Melky Cabrera DH, Mitch Jones PH

Pitchers: Shawn Chacon, Sean Henn, Jose Veras, Tanyon Sturtze, Mike Myers, Scott Erickson

Bit Hits: Just a double by Melky Cabrera (1 for 1), Felix Escalona (2 for 3) was the only Yankee with a multi-hit day.

Who Pitched Well: Jose Veras pitched a perfect fifth inning striking out one, Tanyon Sturtze needed just eight pitches in his first game action of the spring, pitching around one hit for a scoreless sixth.

Who Didn’t: Sean Henn gave up four runs on four hits and four walks in a single inning, Scott Erickson blew the game by giving up three runs (two earned) on a walk and three hits including a homer by Todd Donovan. Shawn Chacon struck out three in three scoreless innings, but walked four, hit one and allowed two hits in the process. Joe Torre hinted before the game that Chacon has made the rotation, leaving Wang and Wright to battle it out for the fourth spot, with Pavano lined-up to claim the fifth spot which won’t be required until April 15.

Ouchies: Tanyon Sturtze made his spring debut. Jason Giambi (calf) started running on Friday and participated in full workouts over the weekend, but won’t return to game action until Tuesday because there will not be a DH in today’s road game against the Pirates. Carl Pavano threw 40 pitches, all from the rubber in his fourth bullpen session of the spring.

Second Cut, Part Two: Danny Garcia and Darrell Rasner were also reassigned to minor league camp before Saturday’s game. Garcia was an afterthought in the infield picture, but Rasner, who pitched well in two appearances (4 1/3 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 HR, 0 BB, 4 K), should be on the short list of call-ups should injuries create room on the pitching staff. Rasner was on Jaret Wright’s schedule in the spring rotation.

WBC: Alex Rodriguez (2 for 5) came through with a bases-loaded single with two out in the bottom of the ninth to drop Japan 4-3. Jeter was 1 for 3, Damon struck out in a pinch-hit at-bat.

Chien-Ming Wang did indeed make up for his rocky first outing as the Yankees beat a split-squad Braves B-team 7-3.

Lineup:

Miguel Cairo SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Gary Sheffield RF
Hideki Matsui DH
Jorge Posada C
Andy Phillips 1B
Mitch Jones LF
Melky Cabrera CF
Marcos Vechionacci 3B

Subs: Eric Duncan 1B, Felix Escalona 2B, Ramiro Pena SS, Wil Nieves C, Bubba Crosby RF, Kevin Thompson DH

Pitchers: Chien-Ming Wang, Aaron Small, Matt Smith, Mariano Rivera, Kyle Farnsworth, Ron Villone

Big Hits: A three-run homer by Jorge Posada, doubles by Mitch Jones, Robinson Cano and Bubba Crosby.

Who Pitched Well: Wang was razor sharp in his three innings, allowing just one baserunner, a single in the third which he erased on a 3-6-1 double play. The exact opposite of his first start, Wang kept the ball down with impressive velocity, making many (admittedly minor league) batters swing and miss and striking out four. Mariano Rivera and Ron Villone each pitched 1-2-3 innings. Kyle Farnsworth pitched around a hit for a scoreless eighth.

Ouchies: Bubba Crosby played in his first game since getting hit on the index finger during bunting practice a week ago. Jason Giambi (calf) sat out again. Scott Proctor is away from camp due to the birth of his second child.

Second Cut: Philip Hughes, Chris Prieto and Jason Brown were reassigned to minor league camp before the game. According to Peter Abraham, Hughes was on Mike Mussina’s schudule and with Mussina scheduled to go five innings in his next start there are simply no innings left for Hughes in big league camp. Hughes didn’t pitch particularly well this spring (3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 2 K), but that’s of little concern. Rather, it’s impressive that, having never pitched above the Sally League, he got to pitch as much as he did. Jason Brown, meanwhile, got into just one game with a split-squad B-team. A 31-year-old double-A lifer, Brown should have been given the opportunity to play in an A-game, merely as a reward for having stuck around so long. Odds are the only major leaguers he’ll share the field with in the future will be on injury rehab assignments. Prieto never should have been in camp in the first place.

The Yankees left their starters at home and fell to the Reds 5-4

Lineup:

Kevin Reese LF
Miguel Cairo 2B
Kelly Stinnett C
Mitch Jones DH
Melky Cabrera CF
Eric Duncan 1B
Russ Johnson 3B
Felix Escalona SS
Kevin Thompson RF

Subs: Danny Garcia 2B, Ramiro Pena SS, Marcos Vechionacci 3B, Omir Santos C, Rudy Guillen RF, Damian Rolls LF

Pitchers: Mike Mussina, J. Brent Cox, Philip Hughes, Scott Erickson

Big Hits: A double and a solo homer by Felix Escalona (2 for 3), doubles by Cairo (1 for 3) and Guillen (1 for 1)

Who Pitched Well: Mike Mussina pitched three hitless innings before giving up three runs (two earned) on two walks and three hits in the fourth. Moose wasn’t impressed:

“The first three innings weren’t as good as it looked. I threw the ball right down the middle, and they hit some balls hard right at people. For the most part, though, I feel pretty good and I’m getting most of my pitches over the plate or just off, so I’m not complaining.” (Yahoo!)

J. Brent Cox struck out one in a 1-2-3 fifth. Scott Erickson kept his ERA at 0.00 despite giving up the game winning run on one hit in 1 1/3 innings of work (see Oopsies). Hughes was less impressive, giving up a run on a walk and three hits in two innings despite striking out two.

Oopsies: Rudy Guillen misplayed a single in the ninth allowing the winning run to score from second. Mekly Cabrera and, for the second day in a row, Danny Garcia also committed errors.

Ouchies: Carl Pavano threw 37 pitches (or 35, depending on the source) in a bullpen session mixing fastballs, sliders and changeups all from the rubber. Octavio Dotel also threw from the rubber in his bullpen session.

WBC: In the United States’ brutal five-inning 17-0 pasting of South Africa, Damon went 0 for 3 with a walk and a run scored, Jeter went 3 for 3 with a triple, a walk, an RBI and four runs scored, Rodriguez went 3 for 4 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored. In Puerto Rico’s 12-2 victory over Cuba, Bernie Williams went 1 for 4, his lone hit being a two-run homer.

Ask and ye shall receive. Having enjoyed Peter Abraham’s on-the-scene blogging for the Journal News, I thought he just might be the man to answer my Colter Bean conundrum. Indeed, an e-mail was all it took. Abraham spoke to Bean this morning and learned that Colter had surgery in October to repair a torn ACL in his right knee. As a result, Bean has been limited to bullpen work thus far this spring, but hopes to get in a game before the spring is over. Abraham promises more on Bean tomorrow.

PS: Don’t forget I’ll be appearing at Coliseum Books in Manhattan tomorrow at 6pm along with Steven Goldman and Christina Kahrl of Baseball Prospectus.

In the first of two split-squad contests, the Yankees’ A-squad got two-hit by ex-Yank Kenny Rogers and a trio of relievers, including fellow ex-Ranger Colby Lewis, while Randy Johnson and Mariano Rivera combined to yield six runs in a 6-1 loss to the Tigers.

Lineup:

Miguel Cairo SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Gary Sheffield RF
Hideki Matsui DH
Jorge Posada C
Andy Phillips 1B
Mitch Jones LF
Felix Escalona 3B
Kevin Thompson CF

Subs: Damian Rolls 1B, Kevin Howard 2B, Eduardo Nunez SS, Omir Santos C, Rudy Guillen RF, Russ Johnson DH

Pitchers: Randy Johnson, Mariano Rivera, Kyle Farnsworth, Ron Villone, T.J. Beam

Big Hits: Felix Escalona (1 for 3) doubled in the third and scored on an out by Miguel Cairo. A Kevin Thompson single was the only other Yankee hit (Thompson was also 1 for 3).

Who Pitched Well: Farnsworth and Villone pitched scoreless innings but gave up a walk and two singles respectively. T.J. Beam made his spring debut by striking out two in two scoreless innings, but gave up three hits in the process. Meanwhile, ex-Yankee Marcus Thames ruined Rivera’s one inning of work, in which the Yankee closer struck out the side, with a solo homer, and Randy Johnson gave up five runs (but only two earned due to an ugly Kevin Thompson fielding error in the third) on a walk and seven hits, including a two-run Chris Shelton homer in the first, while striking out three in four innings. The good news: Unit lasted four innings and got his fastball into the mid-90s.

Oopsies: Kevin Thompson’s error came on a flyball (it has been alternately described as wind-blown and a ball Thompson lost in the sun) with two out and two on in the third. Both baserunners and the batter, Kody Kirkland, scored on the play.

Game 2

In the B-squad game, a line-up that included just two members of the 40-man roster and had David Parrish at DH (he went 0 for 5) exploded for 17 hits against Brett Myers and the Phillies, winning 8-3.

Lineup:

Kevin Reese LF
Danny Garcia 2B
Melky Cabrera CF
Eric Duncan 1B
Wil Nieves C
David Parrish DH
Marcos Vechionacci 3B
Ramiro Pena SS
Bronson Sardinha RF

Subs: Selley Duncan 1B, Gabe Lopez 2B, C.J. Henry SS, Jason Brown C, Austin Jackson CF, Jose Tabata LF

Pitchers: Matt DeSalvo, Jeffrey Karstens, Mike Myers, Mark Corey, Jose Veras

Big Hits: The biggest was a first-inning grand slam by Eric Duncan (2 for 4) that gave the Yankees enough runs to win before a single Phillie hitter had come to the plate. Shelley Duncan (no relation, 2 for 2) capped the Yankee scoring with a solo shot in the ninth. In between Kevin Reese (1 for 3), Ramiro Pena (2 for 3), Marco Vechionacci (curiously listed as 0 for 2), and Gabe Lopez (1 for 2) delivered doubles. Danny Garcia went 3 for 3 with an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base, Austin Jackson did the same minus the RBI.

Who Pitched Well: Matt DeSalvo started and allowed just two baserunners (a walk and a hit) while striking out two in three innings. Mike Myers, who also pitched on Wednesday, went 2 1/3 innings allowing just two hits and no runs, Jose Veras struck out two in a hitless ninth, Mark Corey pitched around a hit for a scoreless eighth.

Oopsies: Danny Garcia, in his spring debut, made an error to compensate for his excellent day at the plate and on the bases.

Ouchies: Jason Giambi (calf) took batting practice but was not allowed to run the bases, he’s hoping to return to action over the weekend. Bubba Crosby (finger) threw for the first time since the injury. Russ Johnson (back) returned to action as a DH in the A-game. Tanyon Sturtze threw a bullpen session and is schedule to pitch in Sunday’s game.

Meanwhile, with four of their starters absent due to the WBC, a lot of new names popped up in yesterday’s split squad action. As a supplement to my pre-spring training breakdown of the Yankee campers, here are quick descriptions of the players who participated in yesterday’s games were not on that initial list.

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“Outstanding,” manager Joe Torre said Wednesday after watching Pavano throw a third time off the mound. “Even though he’s a little behind [the other pitchers], I think we’re way ahead of where we were last year.”

Carl Pavano is making progress while Al Leiter is one step closer to the end of his career. Leiter and Dontrelle Willis were pounded yesterday as the USA fell to Canada. The Americans are now just one loss away from making the Boss sleep just a wee bit better at night.

In their third-straight home game, the Yankees picked up their fourth-straight win, 8-3 over a split-squad Pirates team.

Lineup:

Miguel Cairo SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Gary Sheffield DH
Hideki Matsui LF
Jorge Posada C
Andy Phillips 1B
Mitch Jones RF
Marcos Vechionacci 3B
Kevin Reese CF

Subs: Eric Duncan 1B, Felix Escalona 2B, Ramiro Pena SS, Wil Nieves C, Kevin Thompson LF, Kevin Howard DH

Pitchers: Jaret Wright, Darrell Rasner, Scott Erickson, Mike Myers, Matt Childers

Big Hits: Doubles by Jorge Posada (1 for 1 with a walk), Andy Phillips (2 for 3, RBI, 2 runs scored, stolen base), Wil Nieves (1 for 2) and a pair by Kevin Reese (2 for 4), triples by Robinson Cano (1 for 4) and Kevin Howard (1 for 1 with a walk). Jorge and Andy smoked their doubles, Andy’s bounding over the center field wall for a ground rule jobby, Reese got his first double by hustling on a ball that fell just fair behind third but ricocheted right to the left fielder.

Who Pitched Well: Distressingly, Scott Erickson once again, walking one and striking out three in two hitless innings. Mike Myers and Matt Childers each threw one scoreless inning allowing a hit each, Childers struck out two. Darrell Rasner struck out three and walked none in 2 1/3 innings, but gave up four hits including a monster home run by Ryan Doumit. Jaret Wright retired the first eight men he faced, then gave up two runs on two walks and three hits and was pulled before ever getting another out.

Nice Play: Marcos Vechionacci put on a show at third making nice plays to both his left and right, including a diving stab of a hot shot on the foul line after which he scrambled to his feet and nailed the runner with a strong throw.

Oopsies: There were no errors in the game, but balls were dropping in all over the outfield as if it was hard for the fielders to see. The YES announcers (Kay and Murcer), however, said that the sky was clear and black.

Ouchies: Gary Sheffield (hamstring) returned to action as the DH going 1 for 2 with an RBI and a run scored (though he didn’t run all-out when going first to home on Posada’s double off the wall), Jason Giambi (calf) sat out again saying he’s improving and might play Saturday, Bubba Crosby (finger) took BP but didn’t play, Carl Pavano threw 35 pitches in the bullpen.

Roster news: Torre confirmed that the Yankees plan to break camp without Pavano. Much like they did last year, when they left Kevin Brown behind, the Yankees will use a four-man rotation for as long as the schedule will allow and hope that Pavano will be ready once a fifth starter is required. Looking at the schedule, that should give Pavano until April 15 to get in game shape:

4/3 – Randy Johnson @ Oakland
4/4 – Mike Mussina @ Oakland
4/5 – Chien-Ming Wang @ Oakland
4/6 – travel day
4/7 – Shawn Chacon @ Angels
4/8 – Johnson @ Angels
4/9 – Mussina @ Angels
4/10 – travel day
4/11 – Wang v Royals (home opener)
4/12 – Chacon v Royals
4/13 – Johnson v Royals
4/14 – Mussina v Twins
4/15 – fifth starter needed v Twins

In the mean time, I expect they’ll fill Pavano’s roster spot with an extra position player, again like they did last year when they let Andy Phillips sit on the bench until Brown came back. That extra position player will most likely be someone already on the 40-man roster, Kevin Thompson and Kevin Reese (lot of Kevins in camp this year) being the leading candidates. Torre has clearly been impressed with some of these minor leaguers and, according to Peter Abraham, joked after today’s game that the four players who left for the WBC would have to earn their way back into the lineup. If only he meant it regarding Bernie. Speaking of which . . .

WBC: Bernie went 1 for 5 with an RBI leading off for Puerto Rico. In the USA’s embarrassing loss to Canana, Jeter went 1 for 3 batting second, Rodriguez went 1 for 2 as a mid-game replacement for Chipper Jones, Johnny Damon walked in a pinch-hit at-bat for Matt Holliday (still wondering why the US lost?) and Al Leiter (there you go!) got beat up in 2/3 of an inning, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk.

The Yankees evened their spring record yesterday by shutting out the grieving Twins 5-0.

Lineup:

Kevin Thompson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Hideki Matsui DH
Jorge Posada C
Andy Phillips 1B
Melky Cabrera RF
Russ Johnson 3B
Felix Escalona SS
Chris Prieto LF

Subs: Eric Duncan 1B, Ramiro Pena SS, Kevin Howard 3B, Omir Santos C, Mitch Jones DH

Pitchers: Shawn Chacon, Sean Henn, Mariano Rivera, Kyle Farnsworth, Ron Villone, Matt Smith

Big Hits: A two-run, two-out, first-inning homer by Jorge Posada (2 for 3) off Brad Radke, doubles by Matsui (2 for 3, his third two-bagger of the spring, Matsui made his first out of the spring today) and Kevin Howard (1 for 2).

Who Pitched Well: Everybody. Aggregate line: 9 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K. Chacon went three innings giving up a triple to Torii Hunter, a single and striking out two. Mariano Rivera needed just six pitches to get three outs in his spring debut and still managed to ring up a strikeout.

Ouchies: As expected Giambi (calf) and Sheffield (hamstring) did not play. Sheffield took batting practice and said he could have played. Giambi didn’t take BP, but stretched with the team and worked out in the weight room. Both are day-to-day. Bubba Crosby (finger) will take BP today and is hoping to return to action by Friday. Russ Johnson left the game early due to a back problem.

WBC: Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez–batting first, second and fourth respectively–all went 1 for 3 for the US. Damon’s hit was a triple. Jeter made a throwing error. Bernie Williams went 2 for 3 from the leadoff spot for Puerto Rico by doubling then driving in the winning run with a single.