Welcome to Saturday at the Banter!

• Nick Swisher got nailed on the elbow with a pitch Friday night:

X-rays were negative and Swisher is listed as day-to-day, though Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he would be surprised if Swisher took the field Saturday.

“He got hit right behind the elbow, and that can be an extremely tender spot,” Girardi said. “He’s day-to-day. I’d probably be surprised if he can play [Saturday], but we’ll see.”

• As Mark Teixeira faces his ex-Angels teammates for the first time, he reflects on the off-season negotiations:

Teixeira called his Angels tenure “the best 2 1/2 months of my career,” though the ending wasn’t storybook. A team that led the major leagues with 100 wins and was favored to reach the World Series lost to the Red Sox in the first round.

“I sat and cried at my locker after that last game in Boston because I knew that was a special group, I knew how good a chance we had, and we let it slip away,” Teixeira said.

“After the season, my wife and I stayed in L.A. for 10 days. I thought there was a really good chance I’d be back. It would be different if my family or my wife’s family was from the West Coast.”

But Teixeira’s parents live in Baltimore, and his wife’s parents live in Atlanta. Their proximity to New York, combined with the Yankees’ top-dollar offer, persuaded Teixeira.

“I’m a businessman, too, and in the end, the Yankees made the best offer, and it was the best situation for my family,” Teixeira said. ” . . . I get to see my parents every week I’m home, and they get to see their grandkids. That’s pretty special.”

• Johnny Damon would like to be back with the Bombers next year, but sees the writing on the wall:

Damon said the numbers game in the Yankees outfield does not bode well for him. Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner are in center, Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady — who will also be a free agent and is currently on the DL — in right and the team’s top prospect, Austin Jackson, lighting up Triple-A.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman has spoken about making the Yankees younger.

“I know where I want to be next year,” Damon told 1050 ESPN New York. “I want to be here in New York. I also know New York has a lot of young outfielders coming back. Austin Jackson is in the wings. At least, in this situation, I know my chances of coming back could be slim because of the young talent the Yankees do have.”

• Prices for Yankee tickets on the secondary market are falling fast:

The price of New York Yankees tickets on the resale market plummeted this week following the team’s decision to give free extra seats to people who bought the team’s priciest season plans.

Legends Suite seats for Friday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angels that originally sold for $500 could be had for $144 shortly before 5 p.m. on StubHub.com. Legends seats in section 16, row 9, behind the first-base dugout were available for $199, down from their $850 original price.

All the sharp discounting wasn’t just among the Legends seats, which include access to three restaurants and lounges with free food and soft drinks. Field level seats to the plate side of the first-base dugout could be had for $50, down from their $325 price as part of season tickets.

“We’re seeing an unprecedented number of season-ticket holders selling. The market has been flooded. It is a buyer’s market for baseball fans,” said Mike Janes, chief executive officer of FanSnap.com, an Internet search engine that finds tickets on resale sites.

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by a little clip from one of the best “Simpsons” episodes ever:

• Things are going well for Nick Swisher:

The Yankees can’t help but be happy with what they’ve squeezed out of Swisher, who left the spring as a bench player but has stepped up in a big way.

“You wonder where our record would be without him,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “He’s been extremely productive. He played some great defense [Wednesday], diving all over the place. We talked about wanting to have depth and that’s what he’s provided.”

Swisher heads into Thursday’s game against the Angels leading the Yankees in home runs (seven), RBIs (19) and runs scored (19), playing gritty outfield defense and even winning the fans over earlier in the month by volunteering to pitch an inning.

• PeteAbe has the recap of Alex Rodriguez’s appearance in an extended spring training intrasquad game.
• Speaking of Alex, the News has more juicy/gory details from Selena Roberts’ upcoming book on him.
• And speaking of books (I’m riding a “Segue” here . . . ), author Peter Golenbock Peter Golenbock spoke with Baseball Prospectus Radio about his biography of Boss George.
• And speaking of Baseball Prospectus (I’m still riding that “Segue”), Kevin Goldstein has some good news on uber-prospect Jesus Montero (originally published Wednesday):

Tuesday’s stats: 2-for-4, 2 HR (4), 2 R, 2 RBI
It’s rare for a 19-year-old to be able to dominate a High-A league (and a pitcher’s circuit at that), but Montero is doing just that, as last night’s onslaught brought his averages up to .371/.421/.614, which puts him in the league’s top ten in all three categories. The other good news is that reports on his defense are better, which unfortunately upgrades him from complete unacceptable to well below average, and as a 6-foot-4, 230 pound teenager, he’s not going to get any small (sic). First base is his likely destination in the end, but it’s not going to matter, because his bat is downright special.

[My take: Unless they plan on teaching him a corner OF position, it sounds like he’s trade bait in a couple of years.]

(more…)

I was a little nervous about heading to the new Stadium for the first time, especially after checking out Citi Field recently and finding it, while very nice, just unsettlingly different and odd and un-Mets-like. But I’ve got to say that while my bitterness at the new Stadium’s prices and medieval caste system (the good seats actually have a moat around them) and Hard Rock-ness and, really, its very existence remains undiminished… well, I liked it  better than I thought I would. Much more on that below.

Of course tonight’s taut, well-paced game helped a lot, as the Yankees beat the Angels 7-4 . The Angels struck first, the Yankees answered, the Angels took the lead again, the Yankees took it back, the Angels tied it up… A.J. Burnett looks like he’s been reading his How to Have an Off Night Without F*#^ing Imploding textbook. It took him a long time to find any kind of groove, but he “grinded it out” (to use Joe Girardi’s favorite vague post-game term), kept the game under control, and made it through seven innings.

The Yankees broke through in the eighth, off of Justin Speier, starting with a single that brought Robinson Cano’s hitting streak up to 17 games. Posada moved him over to third, and newly minted fan favorite Nick Swisher was intentionally walked – an understandable strategy that backfired when Melky Cabrera singled in the go-ahead run. Then Ramiro Pena of all people doubled, and it was 7-4 Yankees. Phil Coke and Mariano Rivera tied up the lose ends.

Many people have noticed that the crowds at the new place were too quiet, and I’ve sensed that from watching on TV too – but it got properly loud tonight, much to my relief. Not Red Sox loud, or playoff loud, but pretty damn loud, and when Jeter got a two-out single in the 4th to give the Yankees a lead, it was the same kind of thick, tangible wave of decibels I remember from so many games across the street. There were still plenty of empty $2500 $1250 seats, and it still hurts to see views like that going to waste, but it didn’t seem to make much of a dent in the cumulative enthusiasm.

(Side note: we’re now entering the stage of Derek Jeter’s career where he passes someone on one all-time franchise list or another basically every time he scratches his balls. Tonight he moved into #9 on the Yankee’s all-time RBI lists, and a few days ago, his 8,103rd at-bat moved him past Micky Mantle for a Yankee record. From now on, I think we can expect milestones of varying degrees of obscurity roughly once a week.)

Getting back to the Stadium: there are certainly flaws, and if you’re reading this you probably don’t need me to tell you what they are; I can’t put it much better than Alex did, when he compared it to being inside a pinball machine. Lots of random noises and flashing lights. The Mohegan Sun restaurant between the bleachers reminds me of the obelisk in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Great Hall is too much, Vegas overkill, and that name sounds like something from Tolkein (one of the scenes you skipped because it was like 12 solid pages of someone singing in Elvish). The whole place is so big, and so heavily branded, that it feels a bit like a theme park – welcome to YankeeWorld™!

As others have noted, the screen in center field is a little overwhelming – talk about larger than life:

Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us... Mr. Stay Puft!

The player’s faces loom like those Easter Island heads.

(more…)

Let’s get to it:

• If the Blue Jays’ hot start has you worried, consider this point from Joe Sheehan:

Finally, there’s the schedule. You can’t hold this against the Jays, who are playing the hand they’ve been dealt, but they have benefited from a schedule that has thus far included none of their three AL East rivals, teams that may be the three best in the league. The Jays have played every team in the AL Central, as well as the A’s and Rangers in the West. They have illustrated a point I think every analyst would agree with: if you put the Jays in any other division, they would be at worst a contender, and often a favorite. The pessimism about their chances this year stems in no small part from their having to play perhaps the toughest schedule in baseball. They haven’t gotten into that yet, and in fact, they won’t see the Red Sox, Yankees, or Rays for another two weeks. They play every AL team other than the Mariners before seeing any of those three, and in fact, the Jays don’t play the Rays at all until June 29. (In a whack-job of a schedule, the Jays play just nine of their first 78 games against the big three, then get them 42 times in their next 71 contests.)

• PeteAbe does his usual wonderful job, this time playing out the “what ifs” of the starting rotation:

. . . let’s say that Wang comes back in early June and Hughes is 4-1, 2.85. What then?

You shake Phil’s hand, thank him for a job well done and send him back to Scranton until he is needed again.

Get this much straight: CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte are pitching every five days if they are healthy. That’s a given. There is not going to be a six-man rotation. Those guys are conditioned to pitch every five days and they’re getting a pile of money to do so.

Joba Chamberlain also needs to pitch. One good start by Hughes in April should not start the “We need Joba in the bullpen” nonsense.  . . .

Here is what some people can’t seem to understand: Joba threw 100 innings last season. He needs to throw 150-plus this season so that in 2010 he can throw 180-plus. Then he can throw 200-plus in 2011 and so on. This is a young man with a great arm, four pitches and the makeup to be an ace. The Yankees would be foolish not to give him every chance to be a starter.

If you send him back to the bullpen, you’re starting the process all over again and increasing the risk of injury by suddenly changing his role. Joba has a 2.43 ERA in 15 starts over the last two seasons. That is really, really, very, very good.

• Pete also has some details on an apparent injury to Ian Kennedy.  And an update:

Ian Kennedy was examined by a specialist in NYC today because of his numb middle finger.

He has a vasospasm that can be treated with medication. He will be evaluated again Monday and will not throw until after that follow-up.

(more…)

Much has been written about the need for the Yanks to get off to a strong start in the highly-competitive AL East.

With last night’s win over the Tigers, the Bombers have a 10-10 record after their first 20 games.  Some would call that disappointing.  Some would call for Joe Girardi’s head on a platter.  Some would step back and say “given all they’ve been through, 10-10 is pretty decent.”  But perhaps a larger question is . . . do the first 20 games of a season make or break your chances for the playoffs?

To attempt to answer this, I’ve analyzed the performances of all 104 playoff teams in the wild card era from 1996-2008 (I excluded 1995 due to the shortened schedule).  I first looked at how those teams did in their first 20 games:

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by …. Post-its!:

EepyBird’s Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

• Christina Kahrl has some thoughts on the construction of the Yankees roster:

The Yankees are supposed to be a good team, but it might be a little hard to see that when, to replace the immortal Cody Ransom at third base, they’ve stopped to… Angel Berroa. Apparently innumerable other bipeds weren’t available, or had already sought other engagements to make themselves unavailable . . .

The alternative would be that this organization, the same proud organization that struggled to come up with a first baseman better than Miguel Cairo in 2007, learned nothing about the value of adequate replacements from that particular lineup atrocity, and was blowing another week of their season on some new A-Rod substitute at third base that almost no other team in the league might consider. Sure, when Alex Rodriguez returns next week, this might prove a minor matter, but blowing the last few roster spots—let alone lineup cards, not to mention forgoing a decision to simply try to stock their minor league affiliates with useful journeymen—has cost this team in the past, and costs them to this day. It’s as if Clay Bellinger wasn’t a happy accident, but a choice informed by what we hope must be an appallingly parochial and ideally uninfectious local sense of taste.

[My take: OUCH! (but she’s right) . . . for a $200+ million team, the Yankee teams of the last few years have been increasingly “bipolar” in terms of their roster construction.  “Stars and Scrubs” might work in Roto . . . but it doesn’t work in real life.]

• Hurricane Alex is now scheduled to hit NY a bit earlier:

Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees have moved up A-Rod’s target date and are now shooting for a return to the team sometime in the first week of May, sources say.

Rodriguez and the Yankees were originally calling May 15 the target date for his return, and that is still the publicly stated goal. However, Rodriguez’s progress has been so good, both he and the team are hopeful he can return more than a week earlier than first expected.

• Ken Rosenthal allays any “Joba (back) to the ‘pen” fears.
• The Bombers have sort of seen the error of their economic ways, and are reducing prices on some of their top tier seats.  Here are some of the reductions:

• Tickets in the first row of sections 15A, 15B, 24B and 25 will be reduced, from $2,500 to $1,250, per regular-season game.

• The first row of sections 11, 12, 13, 27B, 28 and 29 will drop, from $1,000 to $650, per regular-season game.

• All fans who purchased full-season, $2,500 Legends Suite seats in the first row of sections 16-24A will receive an equal number of complimentary Legends Suite seats in the first row of the same sections for each of the remaining regular-season games this season.

• Fans who purchased full-season, $1,250 Legends Suite seats will receive an equal number of complimentary Legends Suite seats in the same price category for 24 games during the season, as selected by the Yankees. . . .

In addition, the Yankees are adopting a program affecting a few hundred seats in Field Level sections 115-125.

From now on, fans purchasing on a full-season basis three full regular-season ticket plans priced at $325 in those sections will receive a fourth ticket free.

[My take: Wonder if the Mets will follow suit . . .]

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by some REALLY bad cartoon featuring the Tampa Bay Rays:

• Here are the rehab updates on Alex Rodriguez and Chien-Ming Wang:

Rodriguez, who had surgery on his right hip March 9, could take live batting practice for the first time Tuesday. He might start playing in minor league games later this week and the Yankees expect him to rejoin the team by May 15. . . .

The three-time AL MVP ran the bases for the third time in five days, and added situational drills when taking grounders at third. He hit 13 homers on 89 swings in regular batting practice. . . .

“We need to see him slide,” Girardi said. “He hasn’t done that yet unless he went out on a Slip And Slide in his yard.”

Wang threw in the outfield for 10 minutes and did sprints as part of a rehab program. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with weakness in his hips. . . .

“He’s doing great,” Yankees vice president Billy Connors said. “There is no discomfort. We did some drills that will help bring his velocity back to where it’s got to be.”

(more…)

Today’s new is powered by a cute baseball-related bit from “Whose Line (Drive?) is it Anyway?”

• Brian Bruney blames himself for ending up on the DL:

Brian Bruney blamed himself for straining the flexor muscle in his right elbow, an injury that forced him into a stint on the disabled list.

“I have thrown quite a bit,” Bruney said in reference to tossing on his own. “It’s my fault and I have to make corrections.”

[My take: Pitchers determine their own throwing schedule?  Besides starters, don’t relievers have specific schedules for throwing (assuming they haven’t been used in a few days?)  Also, how much throwing on his own would he have to do? Undoubtedly, he’s been warmed up in the pen on days he hasn’t actually appeared in a game.]

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by “how a baseball bat is made”:

• Brian Cashman references a peripheral, Sabermetric stat!:

For instance, in the decision to acquire Nick Swisher despite a .219 average for the White Sox last year, stats like line-drive percentage and pitches taken were used. “The only stat that was different was batting average when he put the ball in play,” Cashman said, “so we concluded it must have been an unlucky year.”

[My take: Pass the smelling salts . . . a GM quoting BABIP, and interpreting it correctly!  Don’t let Joe Morgan know about this!]

• Chien-Ming Wang goes on the DL:

The Yankees placed Chien-Ming Wang on the 15-day disabled list on Friday after the struggling right-hander was diagnosed with weakness in the adductor muscles of both hips. . . .

The weakness is a kinetic effect of Wang’s right foot injury — a Lisfranc fracture suffered last June 15 — and may be directly responsible for the 34.50 ERA Wang posted in three big league starts this year.

Cashman said that Wang will remain in Tampa to undergo a week to 10 days of physical therapy on his hips to help build the lacking power. Asked when the Yankees might see Wang at the big league level again, Cashman responded, “I don’t know.”

“I know it’s a minimum of 10 days to two weeks of physical therapy on the hips, and the fact that he’s a pitcher, after that, who knows?” Cashman said. “He’ll be able to throw to some degree, I believe, while that’s going on. The main issue is to get those hips taken care of and get him back on line, because they’ve gotten off line.”

• Yahoo!Sports’ Gordon Edes plays out what might have happened had Alex Rodriguez been able to join the Red Sox back in ’04:

And then came the 24 hours that shocked the baseball world: Epstein secretly slipping away from the winter meetings in New Orleans for a hush-hush meeting at the Four Seasons in New York with Rodriguez, who at 1:30 a.m. answered the door of his suite impeccably dressed in a suit, his hair freshly moussed. Before dawn Rodriguez agreed, in exchange for a couple of player options inserted in his contract, to give up millions to escape the purgatory of the Texas Rangers. Rodriguez even pledged to send some under-the-table money back to Rangers owner Tom Hicks to make the deal work.

That morning, after some hard bargaining, players’ union lawyer Gene Orza signed off on the deal, and a day later at a hastily called press conference in the .406 club at Fenway Park, Epstein announced that the club had acquired Rodriguez for outfielder Manny Ramirez, who had worn out the club with his trade demands, and a left-handed pitching prospect named Jon Lester.

Then Epstein leaned into the microphone to announce the second part of his bombshell: Nomar Garciaparra, the incumbent shortstop who had interrupted his honeymoon to call a Boston sports-talk show and complain about the A-Rod rumors, had been traded to the White Sox for outfielder Magglio Ordonez and a pitching prospect Brandon McCarthy.

A-Rod was fretting about how Nomar would handle him being on the same team until Epstein told him about the trade for Ordonez. A-Rod’s eyes got as big as silver dollars. Ordonez was one of his best friends. “You don’t understand,” he’d told Epstein. “Magglio and I are tight. We work out all winter together. I taught him how to hit.”

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by a video tribute to Bob Sheppard:

• Tyler Kepner previews this weekend’s match-up with the BoSox:

They will meet on Friday at Fenway Park the way they always seem to be: dead even in the standings. The Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, never far from each other’s consciousness, have identical 9-6 records. The Yankees have won six of their last eight. The Red Sox are on a seven-game winning streak.

It is almost immaterial that the Toronto Blue Jays, of all teams, are atop the American League East, and that the Tampa Bay Rays are the reigning division champions. In the insular world of 4 Yawkey Way, nobody else will matter.

• What does Bud Selig think about the pricing of those premium seats?:

Bud Selig has noticed those empty seats at the new ballparks in New York, too. Should the Yankees and Mets lower their tickets prices? The commissioner said that’s up to them. . . .

Speaking to the Associated Press Sports Editors, Selig said it was not an issue for Major League Baseball to decide, and added he wouldn’t make any recommendation.

“They’re going to discuss it, and whatever adjustments they want to make, they should make,” Selig said. “I wouldn’t be presumptuous talking about what they should or shouldn’t do.”. . .

Yankees spokeswoman Alice McGillion wouldn’t discuss Selig’s remarks, saying: “We’re still not talking about ticket prices.”

Selig said too much is being made in the media of the top-priced seats. “They’re off to a very good attendance start. One team is averaging 44,000 — the Yankees are at 44 — and the Metsies are averaging 37,000,” he said. “So it would be hard if I went to Pittsburgh or somewhere today and tell them, gee, you know, those two New York clubs are really struggling.”

• PeteAbe has the rundown on Chien-Ming Wang’s day down in Tampa:

“He doesn’t have the arm strength he had last year,” (minor league pitching instructor Nardi) Contreras said. “But he hasn’t pitched in eight months prior to this spring training. What I saw today, he had the best slider I’ve seen since I’ve known Chien-Ming. The slider has improved and the changeup is very good. His offspeed pitches are coming in really well.”

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by “Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine” (jump to the 1:30 mark):

Richard Cheese on Fox News Channel

• Matt Holliday a Yankee come 2010 (or late-2009)?:

There are certain requirements that come with this job, and one is this: Whenever you’re interviewing a big-name, impending free agent, you must ask him whether he would consider playing in New York.

“Yeah, I would play here,” Matt Holliday told Midweek Insider Tuesday night, before his A’s 5-3 loss to the Yankees. “I’d have no problem playing here.” . . .

When this winter arrives, Holliday will have at least one good adviser, in addition to Boras. Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is also a Boras client, and the two men became friendly while they were teammates on Team USA in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

“I consider (Teixeira) a good enough friend to talk about decisions,” Holliday said. “His situation obviously is similar to mine. He’s a year ahead of me in all of the things that have kind of happened. He’s definitely a good resource.”

• If you are “flush” with cash, you can “flush” in private at the Stadium, reports PeteAbe:

How far does the class warfare extend in Yankee Stadium? All the way to the men’s room.

According to the charmingly titled Fack Youk blog, there are dividers between the urinals in the field level bathrooms but not in the bathrooms elsewhere in the stadium.

• Is there NOTHING Nick Swisher can’t do?:

Nick Swisher will ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange (Friday) at 9:30 a.m. according to the Yankees.

The market has to go up, right? Either that or Swish will try to talk to every trader, they’ll forget their jobs and the we’ll all be lining up for government cheese in a week.

• The A.P. (as reported in the Boston Herald) has some pretty depressing seating figures from the first homestand:

A count by The Associated Press totaled 1,895 seats in the Legends Suite, of which 146 were in the front row from dugout to dugout, costing $2,500 as season tickets and $2,625 individually.

— On Tuesday night, only 64 of the 146 seats at the top price level were occupied in the bottom of the second inning. The outermost Legends Suite sections, which each contain 90 seats, were entirely empty until two fans finally emerged to sit in them during the late innings.

— On Wednesday, in the third inning, just 37 of the highest-priced, front-row seats were occupied, although it was impossible to know if some fans had taken shelter in stadium restaurants.

Yet another sign of how the best seats have been overpriced is their resale level.

Legends Suite seats in section 27B, row 2, down the left-field line that originally sold for $500 were available for $225 early Wednesday on the online ticket broker StubHub.com. Tickets in section 23, row 7, behind the visitors’ dugout could be had for $263, down from their $850 original price.

(more…)

Off we go . . .

• Xavier Nady has been formally diagnosed with a partially torn elbow ligament:

The Yankees feared originally Nady could be lost for the season with a completely torn ligament, but a review of multiple X-rays revealed that the ligament is only partially torn. He will likely need to rehab the injury for a period of weeks, perhaps a month.

• Chien-Ming Wang will be putting himself back together down in Tampa:

Chien-Ming Wang will pitch an extended spring training game Thursday in Tampa, a move the Yankees hope will finally give them some answers as to what is troubling their former ace.

Wang, who will remain on the Yankees active roster, is scheduled to throw 100 pitches in front of Yankees Tampa-based officials Mark Newman and Nardi Contreras.

This way, Joe Girardi explained, Wang can attempt to figure out what’s wrong pitching in game conditions as opposed to more bullpen sessions. Part of the problem has been that Wang has looked good in the bullpen between starts and before games, but has struggled in games.

• Ken Belson of the Times has an article on the troubles the metro NY teams are having selling their premium seats:

. . . the Mets and the Yankees face a public relations nightmare and possibly millions of dollars in lost revenue after failing to sell about 5,000 tickets — including some of the priciest seats — to each of their first few games after last week’s openers.

The empty seats are a fresh sign that the teams might have miscalculated how much fans and corporations were willing to spend, particularly during a deep recession. Whatever the reason, the teams are scrambling to comb over their $295- to $2,625-a-seat bald spots.

“I’m sure they’re thinking, ‘It’s just April,’ ” Jon Greenberg, executive editor of the Team Marketing Report, said of the lack of sellouts. “But it’s lost revenue they anticipated getting. This is the worst possible time to debut a stadium.”

But the slow start in New York is striking considering how much the teams here spent to build and promote their parks. Like airlines that break even on economy tickets and rely on first-class travelers to turn a profit, the teams need to sell their most exclusive seats to help repay the hundreds of millions of dollars of tax-free bonds they issued to finance their new parks.

The unfilled seats in New York are even more glaring compared with how robust sales have been for previous stadium openings. The Baltimore Orioles sold out 67 of their 80 home dates in 1992, when Camden Yards opened. The Cleveland Indians sold out 36 games in the strike-shortened season in 1994, and were filled to capacity 455 consecutive games from 1995 to 2001.

[My take: Actually, this is just the right time to open a new stadium, as those who might not spend disposable income on a ballgame will want to see the new facility . . . unless your average ticket price is $72 . . . and you have a huge restaurant in center field that blocks the view of more than 1,000 fans . . . and your Stadium rules and regulations feel like they were written by the Gestapo.]

• Baseball America has an update on prospect Andrew Brackman:

After a rough start against Rome on Opening Day—which included six runs on five hits in five innings—Brackman’s peripherals have all been trending in the right direction. His walks have dipped from three to two to zero, while his strikeouts have climbed from five on April 9 to eight last night in a strong start at Savannah.

“Last night he had big-time command of the breaking ball,” (Brackman’s manager Torre) Tyson said. “When you have that 60 breaking ball (on the 20-80 scouting scale) to go along with 95 (mph velocity), it’s almost unhittable because you have to cheat to get to the fastball.

Brackman has made strides in repeating his delivery, Tyson said, but it will continue to be an issue because of his immense size. “He’s always trying to tinker a little bit with his delivery, week in and week out.”

Tyson reported that the righthander’s stuff was crisp, with his velocities ranging form 92-95 on the fastball, 74-78 on the curve and 84-88 on the changeup—much as they did last fall in the HWB. The skipper noted something else, too. Brackman found success in cutting the ball, giving him a quality hard pitch with running action that complements his tailing two-seamer.

(more…)

• Given the gloomy weather of late, today’s news is powered by some impromptu rain delay entertainment:

• Is the new Yankee Stadium the old Coors Field?:

Twenty (homers) were hit in the first four games alone as New York and Cleveland split the opening series that ended Sunday. That’s easily the high for the first four games at a major league park, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, topping the 18 when Cincinnati started the 2003 season at Great American Ball Park.

“There are a couple ballparks out there that the ball just travels well. This might be one of them,” New York’s Mark Teixeira, who hit two of those home runs, said after Monday night’s game against Oakland was rained out.

Fourteen of the home runs have been hit to right field, raising concern that there might be a wind tunnel in the $1.5 billion ballpark, which has wide, open concourses, as opposed to the narrow hallways in the original Yankee Stadium on the south side of 161st Street, which remains standing.

• In a similar vein, our man Alex Belth points us to this analysis:

Although the field dimensions of the new stadium are exactly that of the old stadium, the shell of the new stadium is shaped differently.

AccuWeather.com meteorologists also estimate that the angle of the seating in the new stadium could have an effect on wind speed across the field.

. . . The new Yankee stadium’s tiers are less stacked, making a less sharp slope from the top of the stadium to the field. This shape could enable winds to blow across the field with less restriction. In addition, the slope of the seating would also lead to a “downslope” effect in the field which, depending on wind direction, would tend to cause air to lift up in the right field. Fly balls going into right field during a gusty west wind would be given more of a lift thus carrying the ball farther out into right field.

If the stadium seating tier shape is indeed the issue, games will only be affected during times with the winds are from a westerly direction and above 10 mph. This typically occurs during the spring and the middle to late fall. The calmer weather during the summer should lead to a smaller number of home runs. In the meantime, the home run derby may continue.

[My take: The “calmer” weather in the summer is also when the temperatures increase, which seems to correlate with longer distances on flyballs.  So, there might NOT be a respite from the launching pad effect.]

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by “The Bangin’ Pots Man (Freddy Sez)” at the old Yankee Stadium:

• Chien-Ming Wang isn’t sure what’s wrong with his pitches:

The soft-spoken 29-year-old from Taiwan said he has compared video of his performances from this season to last year, when was 8-2 with a 4.07 ERA in 15 starts before injuring his right foot June 15, and doesn’t see a difference.

“Everything is the same as last season,” Wang said. “Nothing’s wrong. Just keep working.”

But Girardi also watched video with his staff and thinks there are several things Wang can work on.

“We looked at his hands, height of his leg kick, where his head is — if it’s out of line — the angle of his arm. We looked at everything.” Girardi said. “We had some healthy stuff that we saw. We understand that we need to make some adjustments.”

[My take: Since the Yanks don’t have a “long man”, would they want to (could they afford to) move Wang into that slot for a little while, rather than sending him to Triple-A?]

• Not-so-fun fact: Chien-Ming Wang is only the second starting pitcher since 1954 to give up seven or more earned runs in each of his first three starts in a season.
• From our friends over at Was Watching (with an assist from the Hit Tracker website), it appears the new Stadium is  more conducive to homers:

I created this by using actual prints from the new stadium, and by using high resolution satellite photos for the old stadium. You may have heard that the dimensions at the new park are the same as the old park, but that is not strictly true. In certain spots the distances are the same or similar, but there are significant differences in the fence line. As you can see in the diagram, most of right field is shorter in the new park, by as much as 9 feet, but more typically by 4-5 feet (the blue dotted lines in the corners are scale markings that are 4 feet apart.) In center field, the new park is actually a bit deeper, and in left field, the parks are very similar. From some analysis I’ve done on home runs, these differences would tend to increase home runs overall, and particularly in middle-to-lower power hitters.

The fence distances are not the only difference: in a few places, the fence is shorter (particularly the right field corner). A typical conversion factor for fence height to distance is that lowering a fence by 1 foot is roughly equal to moving it 0.84 feet closer to home plate. So, with the right field fence being a couple feet shorter in the new park, this is like moving it in a foot and a half or so. Minor, but I thought I’d mention it.

• Buster Olney has noticed the homer-happy wind patterns at the Stadium:

“With the way the wind has been the last couple of days, right field is a joke,” one official said. “I would say at least three or four home runs in this series would be routine outs in nearly every park.” . . .

The new Yankee Stadium is just across the street from the old park, but it’s not aligned quite the same way as the old Yankee Stadium. In the late-afternoon shadows in the old park, the sun was in the eyes of the left fielder. Now the sun sets into the eyes of the center field and right fielder. Whether or not that’s a factor is not known, and it’s also possible that the number of home runs hit is directly related to the poor pitching of the likes of Chien-Ming Wang.

But already there have been a number of fly balls that seemed to be routine outs, before almost leaping out of the park. Mark Teixeira lifted a pop to right field off the end of his bat in the first inning Saturday, and players on both teams appeared to be completely surprised when it carried over the wall.

Even if the Yankees wanted to make an adjustment, there is nothing they could do structurally to alter the park this season. They would have to petition for a change going into the next offseason, before doing any reconstruction.

[My take: Coors Field humidor perhaps?]

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by “Instant Rimshot“.  Now you know where to go when you need a rimshot.  Here’s what is going on in Yankeeland:

• Will Carroll weighs in on Xavier Nady’s prognosis:

Several pitchers have come back from a redo of Tommy John surgery. The replaced ligament breaks, much in the same way, and for much the same reason, as it did in the first place. As far as I can tell, no position player has needed a redo, largely because few players put the same kind of repetitive stress on their arms that a pitcher does. Nady looks to be the first, a unique spot I’m sure he didn’t want to be in. He’s headed for at least one more opinion before surgery, but multiple sources report that he’s telling teammates that’s where he’s headed. He’ll be done for 2009, but there’s a small chance he could play late in the season, and no reason to think he won’t be 100 percent by 2010.

• PeteAbe has further updates on the health of Nady and Mark Teixeira.
• MLB.com offers a photo gallery from yesterday’s home opener.
• The Times has their own photo slideshow from the opener.
• Boss George was touched by the fans’ response to the mention of his name:

When George Steinbrenner was introduced before the first game at the new Yankee Stadium, he received a nice ovation. Steinbrenner, who was sitting in the owner’s box with his wife Joan, cried in response.

[My take: For all his bluster and heavy-handedness, could you imagine where the Yankees franchise might have ended up had he not taken over in the early ’70s?  A $1.5 billion dollar stadium?  Its own broadcast network?]

• Here’s your (partial) list of new Stadium “firsts”.
• Jim Caple of ESPN gives us a video tour of the Stadium.
• Jayson Stark’s “Useless Info” blog column has a quirky list of Yankee non-pitchers taking to the mound:

Swing and a swish: Nick Swisher headed for the old pitcher’s mound in Tampa Bay on Monday wearing a Yankees uniform — and actually struck out Gabe Kapler. . . .

Wade Boggs: Aug. 19, 1997: K’d Todd Greene.

Rick Cerone: July 19, 1987: Fanned an AL pitcher, Bobby Witt, who was actually pinch hitting in a 20-3 game.

Rocky Colavito: Aug. 25, 1968: Punched out Dick Tracewski — in the sixth inning, in a game in which Colavito wound up as the winning pitcher.

Gene Michael: Aug. 26, 1968: In the second game of back-to-back doubleheaders, Michael wound up pitching the last three innings, facing 16 hitters and whiffing three of them . .

(more…)

And we’re off . . .

• Richard Sandomir of the Times has an interesting article on the history of the unique frieze atop Yankee Stadium:

. . . Marty Appel, the Yankees’ assistant public relations director in the early ’70s, said that Michael Burke, who ran the Yankees for CBS and served briefly under Steinbrenner, “got huffy” when he saw there was no frieze in the renovation plans but knew the new upper deck could not accommodate it. So it went into the outfield.

“The design was in place by the time George bought the team,” Appel said.

As if to atone for past sins, the Yankees have recreated the look of the original frieze in their $1.5 billion stadium that is meant to evoke the ’23 design. The first was made of copper — although the Osborn blueprint calls it Toncan metal, which suggests a copper-iron alloy — but the new one is steel coated with zinc to protect it from rusting and two layers of white paint. . . .

The new version looks very much like the old one, although its details are less intricately drawn than Osborn’s original. It is made of 38 connected panels, all 11 feet deep, 12 feet high and most of them 40 feet long. With the columns between each panel, the frieze weighs 315 tons.

• Mr. Sandomir also pens an article on how the protective netting in back of the plate may interfere with your TV viewing pleasure:

The problem at the new Yankee Stadium is that for all the team’s rigid devotion to recreating the old ballpark’s dimensions, it reduced by 20 feet the distance from home plate to the backstop, to 52 feet 4 inches. . . . By pushing the seating outward, it caused the protective netting to be taller and wider than it was at the old stadium.

(But) the Yankee Stadium angle is the most nettlesome one, which may force YES (or ESPN or Fox) to minimize their use of the camera position, no matter how important.

During the exhibition game at the stadium against the Cubs on April 4, the supporting wires and netting formed a fishnet shroud over the camera shot. It’s not as bad a view as the one spectators will get from the bleacher seats flanking the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar and bleacher cafe, but it is nonetheless a jolting shift from the unimpeded shot in the old stadium.

• The Times’ Joe LaPointe profiles Yogi Berra, and his clout at the park:

On his visits to the old Yankee Stadium last season, Yogi Berra brought along a little jar to collect peculiar souvenirs.

“I’ve got the dirt,” Berra said of his soil samples from the basepaths and the pitching mound. But he is still seeking a larger prize. “I told them I’d like to have the home plate,” Berra said. “They said, ‘Well, maybe.’ ”

Berra will throw out the ceremonial first pitch Thursday afternoon to open the new Yankee Stadium. Randy Levine, the team president, was asked if Berra could have one of the old plates, behind which he worked so well for so long.

“Absolutely,” Levine said Wednesday. “We try and accommodate Yogi. Whatever Yogi wants, we try and give to Yogi. This is the first I’m hearing about it. But we’ll do everything we can. Yogi’s so important to the Yankees.”

• Tyler Kepner has all the minutiae on the Opening Day events at the stadium:

The team also announced that Kelly Clarkson will sing the national anthem, a selection that should be popular with Derek Jeter, a confessed “American Idol” addict. Pre-game ceremonies will begin at 12:10 p.m. with the West Point Marching Band performing John Philip Sousa’s “Washington Post March” and “Stars and Stripes Forever”. Those choices are meaningful: before the original Yankee Stadium’s opener on April 18, 1923, Sousa performed on field with the Seventh Regiment Band.

The home plate and pitching rubber to be used Thursday is the same set that closed out the old Yankee Stadium last September. When the game is over, the plate and the rubber will be moved to the Yankees Museum, located in the ballpark.

(more…)

Let’s get right to it …

• Joel Sherman expresses some concern over Chien-Ming Wang:

Still, the Yanks had envisioned Wang returning from his 2008 foot injury to be what he was the previous two seasons, which was a 19-win innings eater. Instead, he has logged just a total of 4 2-3 innings in two starts and his 28.93 ERA is the worst in the majors for anyone who has made a start in 2009 not named (sorry Yankee fans) Carl Pavano.

Wang . . . is essentially weapon-less when he does not have the sink on his fastball. You could find plenty of statistical analysts who had projected long-term problems for Wang because righties who strike out as few batters as Wang do not typically have extended success.

Right now, the Yanks are saying that Wang’s delivery is messed up and that is preventing him from driving his sinker down in the strike zone. And when that sinker is up in the zone, Wang simply becomes glorified batting practice. But one apprehension with Wang has always been what happens as AL hitters become more familiar with Wang and don’t chase that sinker early in the count and simply wait and wait until Wang comes up in the zone.

[My take: Is that one of the reasons why the Yanks have not offered Wang a long-term deal?]

• Yanks pitching coach Dave Eiland speaks about Wang:

Up until Chien-Ming Wang’s first batter on Monday, the pitching coach Dave Eiland expected a good game. In two bullpen sessions, one last weekend and one before the game, Wang had corrected a flaw in his mechanics.

“Starting in Baltimore, his arm was late, he wasn’t on time, he wasn’t getting on top of the ball to throw the ball downhill and get his signature sink,” Eiland said. “He made the adjustment in his side work, he warmed up tremendously, and then in the game, he was back to where he was in Baltimore. He just didn’t take it out there with him.”

• PeteAbe didn’t have a problem with Nick Swisher enjoying himself on the mound Monday night:

. . . It was 15-5 and they asked a guy to pitch who hadn’t pitched since his freshman year of high school. . . . These things happen sometimes.

The best part was when he shook Jose Molina off, even through there were no signs. When he struck Gabe Kapler out, Swish rolled the ball into the dugout for a souvenir. Hilarious.

His best line was that this game is like an Etch-A-Sketch, you need to shake it and start over again.

• Pete also isn’t getting too worried about Wang:

Wang seemed stunned. He said the issue was where he released the ball, which was off to the side instead of over the top. A sinkerball pitcher wants to stand tall on the mound and throw the ball on a downward plane. Otherwise the ball floats over the strike zone and you see what happens.

Try and remember, Wang was 46-15, 3.74 from 2006-08. There are only a handful of starters who have been better. He’s also coming off a ninth-long stretch when he didn’t pitch in a regular-season game.

Have a little faith that the guy didn’t suddenly lose his ability. This stuff happens sometimes.

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by the late, great voice of the Phillies, Mr. Harry Kalas:

• Tyler Kepner reports that Alex Rodriguez is now rehabilitating in Tampa:

Alex Rodriguez was back on a baseball field Monday, working out for 48 minutes at the Yankees’ minor league complex here. With the trainer Gene Monahan beside him, Rodriguez took 40 grounders at third base, made about 75 total swings (some off a tee, some on balls flipped from a coach) and did some light running.

• Is A-Rod turning over an old leaf?  Rodriguez claims he’s going to be more like the ’07 version upon his return:

Alex Rodriguez says his headline grabbing days of drama are over – and that during the time he spent in Colorado recovering from hip surgery he figured out that he needs to put his team first and “focus on things on the field with the Yankees.”

“I’m gonna go back to what I did in ’07,” Rodriguez, who won his third MVP Award that year, said after his workout at the Yankees’ minor league complex Monday. “Cut some of the fat out and really focus on playing baseball and focus on what I do best – and that’s playing baseball.”

[My take: If there was such a thing as “Publicity-seekers Anonymous”, I think Alex would be looking for a sponsor.]

• Potty-time at the new Stadium:

The new Yankee Stadium, with a capacity of 52,325, needed a minimum of 358 women’s toilets and 176 men’s fixtures, of which no more than half could be urinals, according to the city Department of Buildings.

Generally, once the minimum requirements are reached, the mix of toilets can be tailored to the building’s needs. Studies show that baseball crowds lean slightly male. Stadium builders tend to meet the requirements and add a bunch of urinals.

The Yankees and their architects, Populous (formerly HOK Sport Venue Event, which also designed Citi Field), gave Yankee Stadium 369 women’s toilets, and 98 toilets and 298 urinals for men, according to the buildings department. Another 78 fixtures are in unisex bathrooms, designed for families or in luxury suites.

[My take: No truth to the rumor that those in the Legends seats can have someone go for them.]

(more…)

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.

Today’s news is powered by new music from DEVO! (Yeah yeah, I know . . . they’re not cool like Stevie or Miles, but hey . . .)

“DON’T SHOOT” – DEVO from DEVO Channel on Vimeo.

• Tyler Kepner applies something akin to “six degrees of separation” to get us from having Ruben Rivera on the roster to acquiring Nick Swisher.
• Sticking with Swisher, MLB.com profiles the hot-hitting Yankee:

“I’m absolutely loving it,” Swisher said. “It’s like I almost don’t want to wake up. I don’t want to soak it in right now. I want to keep that fire, keep that passion and keep that attitude going right now.

“When I come to the ballpark, I feel confident. I know in this game, you’re going to go through ups and downs, but right now, things seem to be going pretty well.”. . .

“He’s playing well, he really is,” Girardi said. “He’s swinging the bat well, played a nice first base [Saturday] and had some tough throws that he had to dig out. Left-handed or right-handed, he’s always a tough at-bat.”

• The Times’ Vincent Mazzolli wonders how one could better spend the $10,600 it costs for four of the best seats at the new Stadium:

Autograph collectors like me can take $10,600 and buy a dozen baseballs signed by Alex Rodriguez (about $350 per ball), a dozen signed by Derek Jeter (about $300 a ball), and still have enough cash to get every other player on the 25-man roster to autograph an individual ball.

Last month, I really let the wrong pitch go by. Rather than invest $10,600 in three hours of baseball, I could have bought 10,600 shares of Citigroup stock on March 6. The share price has tripled.

There are a great many other ways to spend $10,600. You can spring for 14 Frederic Fekkai haircuts at $750 a pop, or treat yourself and 85 of your closest friends to orchestra tickets for “The Lion King” on Broadway ($121.50 per ticket on Broadway.com).

Maybe one day, someone will make a movie about the skyrocketing costs of raising a baseball family, especially in Ruth’s old neighborhood. They could call it “The Bronx Is Burning a Hole in Our Wallets.”

(more…)