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.

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For all the sturm und drang over Chien-Ming Wang’s mechanics and the dimensions and dynamics of the new Yankee Stadium, the Yankees just went 4-2 on their first home stand in their new ballpark. Like the rest of the series, yesterday’s game wasn’t pretty, but it ultimately worked out in the Yankees’ favor.

It was cool and rainy in the Bronx yesterday afternoon, and CC Sabathia wasn’t sharp. He opened the second inning by putting the first two men on base via a walk and a single, then giving up just the fourth Oakland home run of the season to Kurt Suzuki. Suzuki’s shot would have been a wall-scraper had a fan in left field not reached over the wall to snare it. Johnny Damon was there to attempt a catch, but the ball was too high for his reach and would have reached the seats had the fan not been there, as the umpires correctly ruled after reviewing the replay.

The Yankees got two of those runs back against A’s rookie left-hander Brett Anderson in the bottom of the second on solo homers by Hideki Matsui (a no-doubter into the right-field bleachers), and Melky Cabrera (a right-handed poke into the visiting bullpen), but the Yankee defense gave one back in the top of the third. With one out, Damon dropped an easy pop up behind third base allowing Jason Giambi to reach second base. Holliday then singled Giambi to third. Cust followed with a chopper back to Sabathia. CC checked Giambi at third, then threw to second to get Holliday. Because Sabathia checked Giambi, Derek Jeter didn’t have time to relay to first for the double play, but Giambi broke for home after Sabathia threw to second, so Jeter fired home only to realize after he made the throw that Giambi was running because no one was covering the plate. Jorge Posada was backing up first base, Cody Ransom had been holding Giambi at third, and Sabathia had to field the ball off the bat. The ball sailed to the backstop, but Cust held at first and Suzuki flied out to end the inning. Nonetheless, the Yankees were down 4-2.

But not for long. Mark Teixeira and Posada led off the bottom of the third with a single and a double to put runners on the corners. Robinson Cano got Teixeira home on a groundout to second and Swisher singled home Posada to tie the game at four. Sabathia then worked a 1-2-3 top of the fourth and Derek Jeter came through with a two-out solo homer into Monument Park that gave the Yankees their first lead of the game at 5-4.

At that point the Yankees appeared to have taken control of the ballgame. Sabathia retired eight straight from the last out of the third to the first out of the sixth, but then things began to fall apart again. Jack Cust walked, moved to second on a ground out, then scored on a Mark Ellis single up the middle that nearly undressed Sabathia. That tied the game at 5-5, but once again the Yankees answered back.

Melky Cabrera drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the sixth to drive Anderson from the game at 97 pitches, but was then thrown out trying to steal second. Undeterred, the Yankees put together two-out rally ignited by a Cody Ransom double. Jeter again came through with a key two-out hit, doubling home Ransom to again put the Yankees ahead 6-5. Damon and Teixeira then added singles, the latter of which plated Jeter to give the Yankees an insurance run and a 7-5 lead.

Again Sabathia couldn’t hold it. The top of the seventh started with a Bobby Crosby single, a Ryan Sweeney walk, and an Orlando Cabrera sac bunt to move both runners into scoring position for the heart of the order. With Sabathia at 110 pitches, Giambi scored Crosby with a groundout to second, that brought righty Matt Holliday, who had singled and walked in three trips to that point, to the plate with the tying run on third base and two outs. Joe Girardi had Jonathan Albaladejo warming in the bullpen, but after visiting the mound, decided to leave Sabathia in the game. It was one batter too many as Holliday singled Sweeney home to tie the game at 7-7.

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It’s overcast and with the odd drop of drizzle here at Yankee Stadium, but the teams are taking batting practice and baseball is a go.

I’m in the press box today, so I’ll be liveblogging the action. Here are the lineups. Back with more in a bit:

A’s

L – Ryan Sweeney (CF)
R – Orlando Cabrera (SS)
L – Jason Giambi (DH)
R – Matt Holliday (LF)
L – Jack Cust (RF)
R – Kurt Suzuki (C)
R – Mark Ellis (2B)
S – Landon Powell (1B)
R – Bobby Crosby (3B)

LHP – Brett Anderson

Yankees:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Johnny Damon (LF)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Nick Swisher (RF)
L – Hideki Matsui (DH)
S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
R – Cody Ransom (3B)

LHP – CC Sabathia

Melky is making just his second start in center of the season. Robinson Cano stays in the fifth spot despite the opposing lefty on the mound. He’s hit .301/.347/.431 against lefties on the season thus far. With the rainout on Monday and the off-day tomorrow, Posada is starting the day game after the night game. Save for Melky, this is the same lineup Joe Girardi posted last night.

The A’s are sitting lefties Eric Chavez and Travis Buck against Sabathia.

Big Texan Brett Anderson is emerging as the key player the A’s received from the Diamondbacks in the Dan Haren trade. The 21-year-old rookie lefty got hit around a bit by the Mariners in his major league debut, but turned in a great outing against the Red Sox his last time out (7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K), only to have his bullpen blow the game in the eighth.

Update: There’s a steady drizzle now, but the groundskeepers are tending the field as if it was 70 degrees and sunny. Look below the jump for further updates.

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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.

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Oakland Athletics

2008 Record: 75-86 (.466)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 76-85 (.472)

Manager: Billy Beane
General Manager: Bob Geren

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (93/93)

Who’s Replaced Whom:

• Jason Giambi replaces Daric Barton (minors)
• Matt Holliday replaces Emil Brown and Frank Thomas
• Orlando Cabrera replaces Jack Hannahan (minors)
• Eric Chavez replaces as much of Bobby Crosby as his body will allow
• Travis Buck inherits Carlos Gonzalez’s playing time
• Nomar Garciaparra replaces Donnie Murphy, Cliff Pennington (minors), and Eric Patterson (minors)
• Landon Powell replaces Rob Bowen
• Trevor Cahill replaces Joe Blanton and Rich Harden
• Brett Anderson replaces Greg Smith
• Dallas Braden inherits the starts of Sean Gallagher (bullpen) and Gio Gonzalez (minors)
• Josh Outman is filling in for Justin Duchscherer (DL)
• Russ Springer replaces Huston Street
• Michael Wuertz replaces Chad Gaudin
• Drew Bailey replaces Jerry Blevins (minors) and Andrew Brown
• Sean Gallagher replaces Keith Foulke and Dan Meyer
• Dan Giese is filling in for Joey Devine (DL)

25-man Roster:
1B – Jason Giambi (L)
2B – Mark Elllis (R)
SS – Orlando Cabrera (R)
3B – Eric Chavez (L)
C – Kurt Suzuki (R)
RF – Travis Buck (L)
CF – Ryan Sweeney (L)
LF – Matt Holliday (R)
DH – Jack Cust (L)

Bench:

R – Nomar Garciaparra (IF)
R – Bobby Crosby (IF)
R – Rajai Davis (OF)
S – Landon Powell (C)

Rotation:

L – Dallas Braden
L – Dana Eveland
L – Brett Anderson
L – Josh Outman
R – Trevor Cahill

Bullpen:

R – Brad Ziegler
R – Russ Springer
R – Santiago Casilla
R – Michael Wuertz
R – Drew Bailey
R – Sean Gallagher
R – Dan Giese

15-day DL: RHP – Justin Duchscherer (elbow surgery); OF – Ben Copeland (shoulder sprain)
60-day DL: RHP – Joey Devine (elbow)

Typical Lineup:

L – Ryan Sweeney (CF)
R – Orlando Cabrera (SS)
L – Jason Giambi (1B)
R – Matt Holliday (LF)
L – Jack Cust (DH)
L – Eric Chavez (3B)
R – Kurt Suzuki (C)
L – Travis Buck (RF)
R – Mark Ellis (2B)

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• 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.]

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In the comments to Alex’s post on Chien-Ming Wang below, reader “cult of baseball” brought my attention to this outstanding video analysis by the MLB Network’s Dan Plesac.

According to Plesac, Wang’s balance is all off. When he lifts his left leg to deliver the ball, he’s not lifting the leg nearly as high as he had a year ago, he’s bent at the waist, whereas last year he was standing straight up, and his hands are both lower and farther away from his body. There’s been a lot of talk about Wang not getting on top of his pitches, particularly his signature sinker, thus leaving them up in the zone. Plesac’s analysis shows why that might be the case.

Plesac then takes that a step further and suggests that because Wang is putting all of his weight on the right foot he broke last June when he lifts his left leg, his poor posture in that position could be a sign that the foot isn’t fully healed. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but it could be a bad habit he picked up during his rehab process borne out of a fear of placing too much stress on the foot. If that’s the case, the root of the mechanical flaw is mental, which is another theory that’s been bandied about of late.

Whatever the problem is, the Yankees need to fix it, either by fixing Wang or removing him from the rotation. The Yanks are 7-3 in games Wang hasn’t started, which is a great start, particularly given the injuries to Alex Rodriguez and Xavier Nady (and to a far lesser degree Mark Teixeira), poor performance from Hideki Matsui and Cody Ransom, and the erratic performances of the middle relievers.

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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?]

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It’s another gorgeous day in New York. It’s a balmy 70 degrees and, though it’s hazier than the last two days, that haze might actually benefit the Yankees and Indians as they have a late afternoon start time as FOX’s game of the week.

With each team having taken one game thus far in this four-game set, today’s third game offers a compelling pitching matchup as both teams send their struggling sinkerballer to the mound in the hope of witnessing a breakthrough.

Fausto Carmona enters today’s game with a 9.00 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP after having lost his first two starts, both of which also came on the road. Carmona got 20 fly balls to just 14 grounders in those two games and has walked six against just five strikeouts, but at least he lasted five innings in both starts. Chien-Ming Wang enters today’s game with a whopping 28.93 ERA and 4.50 WHIP after throwing just 4 2/3 innings in his first two starts combined. Wang has a better groundball rate than Carmona thus far, though it’s still tilted the other way with 14 flies to 11 grounders, but he’s also walked six in less than half as many innings and struck out just one batter. In 2007, both of these pitchers won 19 games. Last year, both won just eight due to injury and poor performance.

So who’s going to turn it around today? Wang, who pitching coach Dave Eiland said has looked good in his side sessions but has thus far been unable to bring his good stuff to the game mound, has the advantage of pitching at home for the first time this season and is the first pitcher to make a second start at Yankee Stadium having started against the Cubs in the exhibition game on April 3. Of course, he didn’t pitch particularly well in that game either. Carmona faced the Yankees just once last year, surviving five walks in five innings by inducing 16 ground balls. The Indians won that game in the eighth on a three-run David Dellucci home run off Joba Chamberlain.

Johnny Damon gets a half-day off at DH today as Nick Swisher returns to right field and Melky Cabrera slides over to left. Slick-fielding Ramiro Peña gets the start at third base behind the groundballing Wang. Hideki Matsui, who has fluid in his knees, isn’t starting for the second day in a row.

Meanwhile, Juan Miranda, who was called up before yesterday’s game, has been optioned out for Anthony Claggett, the righty reliever acquired in the Sheffield trade who spent 2008 in Double-A and was dominant in spring training. I’m not sure why the Yankees didn’t just keep David Robertson after his two strong innings on Thursday (he was optioned down for Miranda and thus can’t return for ten days unless the Yankees suffer a pitching injury), but I am glad to see the relief reinforcements Triple-A  getting some early cups of coffee. Robertson and Claggett could prove to be important pieces as the season advances.

Like much of the nation, I first experienced the wonder of Mark “The Bird” Fidrych on a Monday night in June of 1976. Prior to that game, I had seen only snippets of Fidrych’s antics on local sportscasts and read tidbits about him in the New York newspapers. Beyond that, I didn’t know much about the rookie right-hander. There was no ESPN or MLB Network around to provide continuous highlights or in-depth analysis about what this strange-looking character was doing during his whirlwind tour of American League cities.

On June 28, ABC chose to broadcast the Tigers-Yankees matchup as its featured game on “Monday Night Baseball.” With the old Tiger Stadium providing the backdrop, Fidrych put on a show like few fans had ever seen. He “manicured” the mound by combing over the dirt with his hands, fixing cleat marks along the way. When one of his infielders made a great defensive play behind him, Fidrych applauded loudly, congratulating his teammate. After recording the third out of each inning, Fidrych didn’t walk off the mound, but ran as if he were in the midst of a 40-yard dash, usually engaging in a full sprint before coming to a sudden halt at the Tigers’ dugout. There was also an element of superstition in his running. On the way back to the dugout, he jumped over the chalk baselines so as to avoid stepping on the lines. The way this big, gangly right-hander acted, it was little wonder that they called him The Bird.

And, oh by the way, Fidrych talked to the baseball. He felt that by conversing with the ball he could better control the pitch and make it move in the way that he wanted. Fidrych felt every baseball possessed a kind of karma. Once a batter reached safely with a hit, Fidrych asked the umpire to throw out the ball and give him another. He felt the old ball still had hits in it and needed to mix with other baseballs so that it would “right itself.”

Prior to Fidrych’s arrival on the major league scene in 1976, pitchers usually showed little emotion on the mound. They restrained themselves from exhibiting much body language, instead approaching the job of pitching in a businesslike manner. Clearly, Fidrych had a different way of doing things. And the country loved every minute of it.

As a Yankee fan, I didn’t like the fact that Fidrych beat my team, 5-1, that night in Detroit. Granted, the Yankees didn’t field a vintage lineup that night. Thurman Munson and Lou Piniella sat out the game, Jim Mason played shortstop, and Reggie Jackson had not yet arrived. But as a baseball fan, I could appreciate Fidrych as a developing sensation. Fidrych had talent, too. He threw a 93-mile-per-hour fastball with great sinking action. Intentionally or not, he pitched to the strength of his defense. In 1976, the Tigers had a decent defensive infield, but their outfield defense was somewhere between adventurous and atrocious, with Alex Johnson in left, Ron LeFlore in center, and Rusty Staub in right field. In retrospect, some critics of Fidrych (like Bill James) have pointed to his inability to collect strikeouts, but I can’t remember a single person mentioning that in 1976. No one cared. All Fidrych did was collect outs—and fans—while entertaining the hell out of the entire nation.

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The Yankees had a beautiful day for the opening of their new stadium yesterday. Unfortunately the game turned out to be their ugliest loss of the season thus far. Today the weather is even better (just as sunny, but warmer), and the Yanks hope their fortunes will respond in kind.

Joba Chamberlain makes his second start of the season. His first start, on Sunday in Kansas City, was a good one (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K), but the bullpen (specifically Phil Coke) blew the game. The Indians counter with former Cardinals prospect, and fellow flat-brimmer, Anthony Reyes, who didn’t pitch as well against the Blue Jays on Sunday (6 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 2 K), but benefited from eight runs of support to earn the win.

Over parts of four seasons, Reyes posted a 5.38 ERA in 220 2/3 innings for the Cardinals, in part because of the 37 home runs he allowed. The Indians picked up Reyes at last year’s trading deadline for minor league righty reliever Luis Perdomo (last seen being claimed off waivers from the Padres by the Giants last week). The early returns on Reyes were excellent (five strong starts, a 1.83 ERA, and just two taters), but Reyes’s sixth start ended early due to elbow pain, an echo of the arm problems that plagued him at USC. Reyes butted heads with Dave Duncan in St. Louis because Duncan responded to his gopheritis by trying to get him to become a sinkerballer. Reyes got his way by getting out of Dodge, but he’s now 27 and has yet to have any sustained success in the majors (his five starts for the Tribe in September were undermined by a severe dip in his strikeout rate).

Reyes has never faced the Yankees before, though Nick Swisher did go 0-for-3 against him in an interleague game in 2007. This will be Chamberlain’s first start against the Indians, though he’s faced them seven times in relief, most famously in the “midge” game in the 2007 ALDS.

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 . .

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Cleveland Indians

2008 Record: 81-81 (.500)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 85-77 (.525)

Manager: Eric Wedge
General Manager: Mark Shapiro

Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Progressive Field (103/102)

Who’s Replaced Whom:

• Mark DeRosa replaces Casey Blake and some of Jamey Carroll (DL)
• Shin-Soo Choo and Travis Hafner inherit playing time from Franklin Gutierrez
• Victor Martinez reclaims playing time from Kelly Shoppach and Ryan Garko
• Trevor Crowe is filling in for David Dellucci (DL)
• Tony Graffanino is filling in for Jamey Carroll (DL)
• Anthony Reyes replaces Paul Byrd
• Carl Pavano replaces CC Sabathia, Jake Westbrook (DL), and Matt Ginter
• Aaron Laffey is filling in for Scott Lewis (DL) who replaces Jeremy Sowers (minors)
• Fausto Carmona and Lewis take over starts from Laffey
• Kerry Wood replaces Edward Mujica and Juan Rincon and takes over the save opportunities given to Jensen Lewis, Rafael Betancourt, Rafael Perez, Masa Kobayashi, and Joe Borowski
• Joe Smith and Vinnie Chulk replace Tom Mastny, Jorge Julio, Joe Borowski, and assorted others
• Vinnie Chulk is filling Josh Barfield’s roster spot; Barfield replaces Andy Marte

25-man Roster:

1B – Ryan Garko (R)
2B – Asdrubal Cabrera (S)
SS – Jhonny Peralta (R)
3B – Mark DeRosa (R)
C – Victor Martinez (S)
RF – Shin-Soo Choo (L)
CF – Grady Sizemore (L)
LF – Ben Francisco (R)
DH – Travis Hafner (L)

Bench:

R – Kelly Shoppach (C)
S – Trevor Crowe (OF)
R – Tony Graffanino (IF)

Rotation:

L – Cliff Lee
R – Anthony Reyes
R – Fausto Carmona
R – Carl Pavano
L – Aaron Laffey

Bullpen:

R – Kerry Wood
R – Rafael Betancourt
L – Rafael Perez
R – Jensen Lewis
R – Masahide Kobayashi
R – Joe Smith
R – Vinnie Chulk
L – Zach Jackson

15-day DL: LHP – Scott Lewis (elbow strain), OF – David Dellucci (strained calf), IF – Jamey Carroll (broken hand)
60-day DL: RHP – Jake Westbrook (TJ)

Typical Lineup:

L – Grady Sizemore (CF)
R – Mark DeRosa (3B)
S – Victor Martinez (C)
L – Travis Hafner (DH)
R – Jhonny Peralta (SS)
L – Shin-Soo Choo (RF)
R – Ryan Garko (1B)
R – Ben Francisco (LF)
S – Asdrubal Cabrera (2B)

Note: Trevor Crowe is sharing left field with Ben Francisco. Otherwise, the most common lineup variation sees Martinez shift to first with Kelly Shoppach taking his place behind the plate and Garko’s spot in the lineup.

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When I went to the Yankees’ workout day at the new Yankee Stadium back on April 2, a reporter from The Bronx Beat followed me around with a camera to capture my initial impressions of the new ballpark. The result is this piece, which also uses my photography of the park’s construction from the previous two seasons.

All of the still photographs in that piece are mine. Many of the photographs I took that day can be found in my photo essay on the new stadium. My other writing on the new ballpark can be found here, while my posts on the closing of the old Stadium can be found here.

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.

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The Yankees are only team in the majors not to have played a home game this season and enter their home opener this afternoon coming off the longest season-opening road trip in team history. Here are some quick impressions from that just-complete trip:

Record: 5-4
Record in Series: 2-1
Runs scored per game: 5.67 (7th best in MLB)
Runs allowed per game: 5.22 (8th worst in MLB)
Runs allowed per game minus Monday’s blowout: 4.00

AL East Standings:

TOR –
BAL .5
NYY 1.5
TBR 2.5
BOS 3.5

• The Yankees were without Alex Rodriguez. Mark Teixeira missed three games due to a wrist injury. Hideki Matsui and Cody Ransom went a combined 6-for-49 (.122) with five walks. Yet the Yankees scored four or more runs in every game and averaged 5 2/3 runs per game on the trip.
• A great deal of the credit for that goes to Nick Swisher, who drove in or scored 18 of the Yankees’ 51 runs (35 percent) on the trip.
• The trip ended with the news that Xavier Nady will likely miss most or all of the season with a tear in his right elbow, but Nady was hitting a very Nady-like .286/.310/.429 and will be replaced in right field by Swisher. That’s an upgrade. Swisher will surely cool off, but he should have been the starting right fielder over Nady anyway. Where the Yankees will miss Nady is on the bench, as Matsui and Johnny Damon will need days off. Nady might be a very ordinary hitter, he’s still more productive than Melky Cabrera.
• In the comeback department, Matsui and Chien-Ming Wang have been awful, but Robinson Cano has been terrific, hitting .382/.447/.618 with four unintentional walks, and Jorge Posada has looked good both at the plate, driving in nine runs (second on the team to Swisher’s 11) with five of his seven hits going for extra bases, and behind the plate.
• Despite the solid offensive attack, the Yankees come home just a game over .500 at 5-4. Three of those losses were directly attributable to poor staring pitching performances (by CC Sabathia on Opening Day and by Chien-Ming Wang in both of his starts).
• Sabathia was not only better, but dominant in his second start. A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte both pitched well twice, and Joba Chamberlain turned in a solid outing in his only start thus far. That leaves only Wang as an issue in the rotation. Dave Eiland is on the case and working hard to get Wang back on track.
• Since the duds by Sabathia and Wang to open the season, the Yankees have gone 5-2. After dropping the opening series in Baltimore, they won their next two series, most significantly taking two of three from the Rays at the Trop.
• In their five wins, the Yankees have allowed just nine runs, or 1.8 per victory.

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Andy Pettitte takes the hill this afternoon looking to send the Yankees home with a win. Pettitte was fantastic against the Royals on Friday (7 IP, 1 R, 6 K, just four baserunners). In his last start against the Rays, last July, he was even better (8 IP, 0 R, 5 K, four baserunners), though that came at home and his results in three previous starts against the Rays were more mixed.

Johnny Damon, who missed yesterday’s game due to the flu, returns to the lineup this afternoon, bumping Derek Jeter back into the leadoff spot and Brett Gardner down to the seven hole. Damon takes the place of the ailing Xavier Nady who is out indefinitely due to a tear in his right elbow (more specific news is still pending as Nady waits to see the team doctors). The rest of the lineup is the same as last night’s with Jorge Posada at DH and Ramiro Peña at third base.

That lineup will face 26-year-old righty Andy Sonnanstine, who had a rough outing against the Orioles last week (4 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 2 K) and last faced the Yankees a year and one day ago, also at the Trop, and was even worse (3 1/3 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 3 HR). Of the three Yankees who homered of him in that game, only Damon is in today’s lineup (Alex Rodriguez and Morgan Ensberg were the other two).

Everyone’s wearing number 42 today in recognition of Jackie Robinson day. Whereas wearing the number was elective in past years, this year it’s manditory for everyone.

We need something to laugh about, something that can deliver some amusement. The first nine days of the new season have brought us too much tragedy, beginning with the senseless death of the Angels’ Nick Adenhart and continuing with Monday’s dual losses of Harry Kalas and Mark “The Bird” Fidrych. So this week’s “Card Corner” is just for fun, as we spin the time machine back to 1976, the year The Bird made baseball childlike and naïve.

A few years ago, Sports Collectors Digest held a contest to determine the funniest sports trading card of all-time. This 1976 Topps card, featuring Kurt Bevacqua, some scary-looking calipers, and one enormous piece of bubble gum, finished second in the periodical’s sweepstakes. (The first-place finisher borders on the X-rated, so I opted not to include that in this article; we need to keep it clean at The Banter.)

In baseball’s more innocent time, players took time to participate in the official Bubble Gum Blowing Championships of 1975. The championships were sponsored by the Bazooka Gum Company and overseen by “gum commissioner” Joe Garagiola, who was NBC’s lead play-by-play broadcaster at the time. Each major league team held an individual contest, with winners advancing to the championships. In fact, almost all of the then-24 major league teams submitted a representative, except for the Pirates and Tigers, whose players apparently had little skill in the field of bubble-blowing. (It’s hard to believe Fidrych didn’t qualify here.) Here’s a look at the complete list of participants, which included three Hall of Famers and a few cool nicknames:

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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.

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Disregard that 7-2 final score; last night’s game at Tropicana Field was a tense pitchers’ duel that saw both teams execute late-game rallies, leaving the result in doubt until the ninth inning.

The Yankees got off to a good start by loading the bases against Matt Garza without recording an out in the top of the first. Singles by Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter and a walk to Mark Teixeira brought up the team’s hottest hitter in Nick Swisher. Swisher worked a seven-pitch full count, but Garza struck out Swisher on a nasty curveball. Jorge Posada got one run home with a sacrifice fly to deep left, but Robinson Cano hit a looping liner to strand the remaning runners.

For a while it seemed that one run was all the Yankees would need as A.J. Burnett burned through the Rays order, issuing only a walk to Pat Burrell the first time through.

When Swisher led of the fourth, Garza sent a 1-1 fastball right at Nick’s noggin, likely retribution for Swisher’s jovial mound appearance (and souvenir strikeout ball) from the night before. Swisher ducked out of the way, took a close strike on the outside corner, then dumped Garza’s next pitch in the right-centerfield stands to make the Yankee lead 2-0.

Burnett, set the Rays down in order the second time through the Tampa lineup to bring a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Burnett wound up allowing just three hits in his eight innings of work, unfortunately, they all came in a row to start the seventh as Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, and Carlos Peña singled to make it 2-1 and Burrell lifted a sac fly to right to tie the game at 2-2.

Undeterred, the Yankees took the lead right back in the eight. With Garza’s night having ended after seven frames, nine Ks, and 112 pitches, Joe Maddon brought in lefty J.P. Howell to face Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira, whose aching wrist is most bothersome when he hits right-handed. Gardner led off by lifting a fly-ball double over a drawn-in Crawford in left field. Jeter then singled to put runners on the corners, and the aching Teixeira, who had gone 0-for-2 with a walk from the left side, worked a full count, then lifted a sac fly to the warning track to plate Gardner with the go-ahead run.

After one last perfect inning from Burnett in the eight, the Yankees added some insurance against Dan Wheeler in the ninth. Robinson Cano led off with a first-pitch single. Melky Cabrera, who had entered as a defensive replacement for Xavier Nady in the eighth, hit a ground-ball single through the right side. Then, after Ramiro Peña, who started for Cody Ransom and went 0-for-3 with a walk) failed to get down a bunt and Jose Molina (0-for-4) struck out, Gardner bounced a ground-rule double off the warning track in straight-away center and Jeter completed the scoring with a three-run homer to right center. Brian Bruney the capped the night off by striking out the top three men in the Rays’ order on ten pitches, five of them, including all three pitches to Evan Longoria, swinging strikes.

Burnett did exactly what the Yankees needed him to do, and exactly what he set out to do, not only delivering a win, but eating up eight innings in the process. He needed just 103 pitches, struck out nine, and allowed just four baserunners (the Burrell walk and the three straight singles in the seventh).

The Yankees can now wrap up a winning road trip with a win behind Andy Pettitte this afternoon.

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