The man was complicated and disturbed, but the talent was a clear and bright and breathtaking. Here are a few of the highlights via youtube:

And since those are all lip-synced, here’s a live clip of a great song. Sadly, you can see him descended into self-parody as the performance progresses.

The destruction of the vibrant performer in the first four clips was complete soon after.

The last two decades of his life are best forgotten, but the music and the moves from his first 15 years at the top of the pops remain unassailable and a fundamental part of my musical and physical vocabulary. I know there are at least two entire generations that feel the same way.

Today’s news is powered by the King of Pop:

Rest in peace, Michael . . .

Let’s lead off with a dandy trivia question from MLB Network (the Yankees are involved in it):

There are seven currently active MLers who have a chance of playing in four decades (80s,90s,00s,10s).  Can you name them?  Here’s a hint: three of them have played at one time or another for the Bombers.  Answer later.

• Like Tyler Kepner, Buster Olney also wonders what has become of A-Rod:

The question is this: Is Rodriguez, a month from his 34th birthday, much less of a player because he presumably no longer takes performance-enhancing drugs?

It’s a question that can never be answered, but it’s a question that will continue to be asked, probably more within the Yankees organization than anywhere else. And really, if you want, just consider the question in terms of money.

The Yankees are still on the hook for about $250 million in the next eight-plus seasons. The player who will receive that money can never give them quite what they paid for, in a sense, because A-Rod, as a marketing tool, is damaged forever. They would settle for paying him just to hit well, field effectively and run the bases as well as he did for 15 years — doing all the things on the field they needed him to do when they signed him to the highest salary in the game.

But he is not providing any of that, either. Even after delivering a crucial two-run single in the Yankees’ win over Atlanta on Wednesday night, Rodriguez is batting .210 this season; since June 7, his batting average has dropped 45 points. His slugging percentage of .441 is by far the lowest in any season since 1994, when he had a handful of at-bats for the Mariners as a teenager.

“He looks like a record playing at a slower speed,” said one talent evaluator who saw Rodriguez over the past two weeks.

Said another, “He looks old. He’s a first baseman. How many years does he have left on the contract?”

[My take: He looked pretty solid at the plate Thursday night.  Let’s see if he can keep that going, or will he need a rest again soon?]

• He apparently won’t be resting this weekend versus the Mets:

“It’s our home city, and I think our guys enjoy the Subway Series,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Thursday before New York played the Atlanta Braves. “Alex feels good, feels like he’s got a lot of energy in his legs. He feels good, so we’ll let him keep going.”

[My take: Well, they DO have an off-day on Monday, but after that its 13 games in 13 days prior to the ASB.]

• ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick thinks the Yanks might be looking for some bullpen help:

“The Yankees’ bullpen has logged 225 innings, fourth most in the American League, so I can see Brian Cashman trolling around for a veteran reliever. David Robertson, Alfredo Aceves, Phil Coke and Brian Bruney all have solid numbers, but that’s a pretty inexperienced group.

. . . I can see the Yanks being interested if Jose Valverde, Huston Street or someone of that ilk becomes available.

• (more…)

Today’s news is powered by Nat Bailey Stadium’s “Sushi Race”:

• Jose Veras has been traded to the Indians for the ubiquitous “cash considerations”.

[My take: And you thought the Yankees had question marks in THEIR bullpen?]

• The return of Cody Ransom!:

Cody Ransom, who played 15 games for New York before he suffered a severe right quadriceps injury, was reinstated from a rehab assignment at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and rejoined the club at Turner Field.

In a corresponding move, Angel Berroa was designated for assignment.

“This was tough, just because I’d never been on the DL,” Ransom said. “I’d never been hurt. This was something new. Once I started playing games, it was better.”

Ransom struggled as he filled in for Rodriguez, who was coming back from right hip surgery performed on March 9 and would not return to the lineup until early May.

Ransom batted .180 (9-for-50) before he was injured running the bases in an April 24 game at Fenway Park, and later, he revealed that the quadriceps had bothered him since Spring Training.

[My take: DFAing Berroa is definitely “addition by subtraction”, regardless of what Ransom can provide.]

• Brian Cashman showed up in Atlanta:

What Cashman is in Atlanta to achieve is getting the Yankees — losers of nine out of their past 13 — back on track. Too early to seriously engage in the trade market, the GM believes that the answers to their offensive woes are all currently within the clubhouse.

“We’re struggling right now, mostly with the bats,” Cashman said. “It’s not going to last, I promise you that. We’re too good for it to last. The last three weeks of poor play is mostly to do with our offense. We’ve got to get our offense going. We’re pitching real well, but unfortunately, we’re letting that good pitching go to waste.”

(more…)

Hey, the Yankees stopped sucking for a few innings! It was probably because I wasn’t watching. I caught up thanks to the miracle of Tivo, though, and much to my pleasant surprise, saw the Yankees beat the Braves 8-4, behind a solid Joba Chamberlain start and some timely (well, a week or two late, but you know what I mean) second-half hitting.

Despite some hard-hit balls, the Yankees had settled into their comfortable routine of doing nothing against National League pitching – in fact, two Braves pitchers were teaming up for a perfect game through five. Then suddenly, in the sixth inning, the Yanks got some of those run thingies we’ve been hearing so much about. The first one came when… wait, this can’t be right. Francisco Cervelli hit a home run?

Cervelli’s solo shot, his first in the bigs, tied the game at 1-1. Rookies usually try to act all cool and nonchalant in this scenario, but Cervelli was obviously pumped. His homer came immediately after Brett Gardner got picked off first base on a truly lousy call, and Joe Girardi got thrown out for arguing. I don’t necessarily buy that this move “fired up the team,” but hey, can’t hurt to try, right?  Jeter and Damon followed with singles, Teixeira was sorta-intentionally walked, and A-Rod struck… whoops, sorry, force of habit. A-Rod hit a two-run single: 3-1 Yanks.

The game stayed close for a few innings, but New York clung to the lead. After Joba lost it a bit in the 7th, Phil Coke, a shaky Brian Bruney, and one Mariano Rivera kept things under control (with Mo striking out all four batters he faced, and lining out to center field, awesomely, amid much fanfare). And the Yankee hitters pursued an exciting new strategy which involved tacking on additional runs in order to give their team a cushion. Yeah, it’s different, but I think they may be on to something.

“Everybody is happy,” said Cervelli after the game, “everybody wants to play baseball. So things happen.”

As a side note, one of my favorite things about interleague play (though not so much this year, thus far) is watching the facial expressions of NL batters who haven’t previously faced Mariano Rivera. Ah. Believe the hype, fellas, even now.

Despite the sarcastic tone of this post, I should say that I don’t think the Yankees are in such a dire position just yet. After all they’re still tied for the Wild Card, it’s still only June, they’re due for a few wins against the Red Sox, and we’ve already seen this year that they’re capable of going on a big run.

They probably shouldn’t wait any longer to do it, though.

From Banterer PJ: “What happened to our friend Will Weiss? I really wish he stop by so the Yankees can start winning again.

No Will Weiss at Banter is unacceptable…”

PJ, you’re absolutely right. It’s unacceptable. As Cliff will tell you, a new daughter and the associated parental duties, plus a new job with some travel thrown in will deregulate the writing schedule and stretch the boundaries of acceptability. At least our fearless proprietor Alex is one of the most understanding people in the business and is unyielding in his support for all of us who contribute. I will say this: my daughter likes watching the Yankees (although there hasn’t been much to watch lately), and she let out a shriek of delight when I told her Jose Veras was designated for assignment.

On to the column…

Since I don’t have to ride a train to work anymore and I don’t own an iPod (gasp!), I have been listening to a lot of sports talk radio. In the mornings, it’s a flip between Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton on WFAN and Mike and Mike on ESPN, and in the afternoons it’s Mike Francesa and Michael Kay/New York Baseball Tonight. (I still haven’t decided if this is a good thing. Now that Matt Pinfield is back, I think I’m going back to music in the morning.)

In the last two weeks, we’ve been bombarded with stories about Jorge Posada’s management (or mismanagement, depending on your perspective), of the pitching staff; Joe Girardi’s management (or mismanagement, depending on your perspective), of well, everything; the defense that went a record 18 games without committing an error has committed at least one error in 14 of the last 19 games; and oh yes, there’s Derek Jeter’s inability to drive in runs in clutch situations. Of these stories, the Posada issue is not new and the Dead Horse Alert is strong in my ear; the defensive woes would not be a story if the team was winning, and Jeter’s malaise is not subject to just him. This is not to give Jeter a free pass, but when you score 15 runs in one game and then proceed to score 12 over the next seven, it doesn’t seem right to single out one player.

Jeter alone is not the reason the team has not won three in a row since May 27-30. A-Rod has one hit in his last 22 at-bats – a span of seven games – and hasn’t had a multi-hit game since going 5-for-5 at Texas on May 25. Mark Teixeira has driven in only four runs in the last 10 games. Plus, there’s the team’s Achilles’ heel: pitchers they’ve never faced before. Even in their championship heyday of the last 15 years, rookie/no-name pitchers look like All-Stars pitching against the Yankees (see Pete Caldera’s recap in the Bergen Record for more details). Most recently, it’s been Fernando Nieve, John Lannan, Craig Stammen, Josh Johnson and Tommy Hanson. Johnson and Hanson will be big-league studs, but to lose four of six to the Nationals and Marlins, teams the Yankees were supposed to beat up on to gain ground on the Red Sox, is a reflection of something deeper.

Which brings me to Girardi. If the manager sets the tone for the team, then his management of A-Rod and CC Sabathia could be leaving the team in a lurch. This from Bob Klapisch:

…There’s more to managing than simply bodysurfing a winning streak. Girardi looked crisp and in control when the Yankees were mauling the AL a month ago, launching all those crazy comebacks. But now they’re struggling — the Red Sox’ domination of the Bombers is nothing short of humiliating — and Girardi’s confidence has turned to a square-jawed form of desperation.

That’s why A-Rod played every day until he couldn’t bring his bat through the strike zone anymore — and, as he’s hinted, his hip is so stiff. It’s the reason why no one comes to Sabathia’s rescue in the seventh or eighth innings.

It’s because Girardi knows his managerial career will be over if he gets fired by the Yankees.

The decision to sit A-Rod due to fatigue came from above Girardi. Sabathia says he’ll pitch Friday, but Cashman is putting on the brakes. Girardi is in the background.

Esiason and Carton posit that Girardi is being made to be the fall guy for the team’s travails. If he is managing for his job, he should stand up for himself the same way he did in Florida. Esiason added that despite Girardi’s championship credentials, he doesn’t believe the players respect Girardi in the same way they did Joe Torre.

Maybe that’s true. Some veterans are describing Girardi as “tight,” as Klapisch also notes in his column. We don’t know what is said in the clubhouse – and it should stay there – but the rash of flat efforts leave much to be desired. I don’t get the sense he’s inspiring confidence in his players. I’d love to hear him say something like, “We’re not overlooking any teams on the schedule. Sure, we’re at a slight disadvantage playing in National League parks, but our lineup should be able to hold up against any pitcher in any park.” Instead, we get the same monotone and the tired lines about how interleague play is a necessary evil and that it’s unfortunate the games count in the standings. Does that get you fired up as a fan? Me neither.

What’s left? Could the Yankees pull the trigger on Girardi mid-season? They haven’t made such a managerial change since Bucky Dent replaced Dallas Green after 121 games in 1989. Granted, this Yankee team isn’t nearly as lost in Mark Knopflerville (aka Dire Straits) as the ’89 squad, but if the team falls further south of Boston in the standings, it may seem that way to the powers that be.

The wheels on the Yankees bus … need air.

To power today’s news, I’m going to visit the “Conjuction Junction”:

• The (decision on Cody) Ransom is due Wednesday:

While he gathered his belongings in the Yankee Stadium clubhouse earlier this month, Ransom revisited his decision to hide the severity of a leg injury that he suffered not that night in Boston, but in the final week of spring training, much earlier than he had previously admitted publicly.As it turned out, the leg ailment would ultimately land him on the 60-day disabled list and throw his future with the Yankees in doubt. Still, Ransom isn’t sure he would have done anything differently. It’s easy to understand why.

“I don’t know that I would have because of the situation that we were in, Alex being out and it was an opportunity for me,” said Ransom, a 33-year-old minor league journeyman. “I was really hoping that could help the team and play well. But obviously I didn’t do that. I don’t regret anything, I don’t regret the way I handled it I don’t think.”

. . . On Wednesday, the Yankees will have to return him to the majors or designate him for assignment.

• Sabathia not planning on a pitching “Sabathical“:

“I feel like I’m going to feel fine tomorrow,” Sabathia said. “So that’s why I keep saying that I’m pitching on Friday.”

Sabathia usually throws 45 pitches in a bullpen session, but he said he would throw no more than 25 on Wednesday. He reiterated that he was not concerned.

“It doesn’t scare me at all,” Sabathia said. “It’s one of those things through the course of the season you do feel on side days. You feel a little achiness in the biceps, and it usually gets out of there. With the rest and two days off of not playing catch or anything, it feels fine. I feel good enough to pitch.”

• The Bombers’ protest of Sunday’s substitution snafu game with the Marlins has been denied:

Working in favor of the Marlins was Rule 3.05, which states:

“If an improper substitution is made for the pitcher, the umpire shall direct the proper pitcher to return to the game until the provisions of this rule are fulfilled. If the improper pitcher is permitted to pitch, any play that results is legal. The improper pitcher becomes the proper pitcher as soon as he makes his first pitch to the batter, or as soon as any runner is put out.”

Additionally, Rule 3.05(c) Comment reads: “If a manager attempts to remove a pitcher in violation of Rule 3.05 (c) the umpire shall notify the manager of the offending club that it cannot be done. If, by chance, the umpire-in-chief has, through oversight, announced the incoming improper pitcher, he should still correct the situation before the improper pitcher pitches. Once the improper pitcher delivers a pitch he becomes the proper pitcher.”

Girardi felt Sunday’s situation was similar to one earlier in the year, when Rays manager Joe Maddon had a mixup with his designated hitter, resulting in Evan Longoria not starting.

(more…)

Atlanta Braves

2009 Record: 33-36 (.478)
2009 Pythagorean Record: 33-36 (.478)

2008 Record: 72-90 (.444)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 79-83 (.488)

Manager: Bobby Cox
General Manager: Frank Wren

Home Ballpark (Park Factors): Turner Field (99/99)

Who’s Replacing Whom:

• Casey Kotchman replaces Mark Teixeira
• Nate McLouth replaces Mark Kotsay
• Garret Anderson replaces most of Gregor Blanco (bench)
• Matt Diaz reclaims playing time from Josh Anderson
• Diory Hernandez is filling in for Omar Infante (DL)
• David Ross replaces Corky Miller, Clint Sammons (minors), and Brayan Peña
• Derek Lowe replaces Tom Glavine and Mike Hampton
• Javier Vazquez replaces Tim Hudson (DL) and Chuck James
• Kenshin Kawakami replaces Jorge Campillo (DL) and James Parr (minors)
• Tommy Hanson replaces Jo-Jo Reyes (DL) and John Smoltz
• Eric O’Flaherty replaces Will Ohman
• Mike Gonzalez reclaims his innings from Vladimir Nuñez
• Rafael Soriano reclaims his innings from Julian Tavarez and Jorge Julio
• Peter Moylan reclaims his innings from Blaine Boyer
• Kris Medlen is filling in for Buddy Carlyle (DL)

25-man Roster:

1B – Casey Kotchman (L)
2B – Kelly Johnson (L)
SS – Yunel Escobar (R)
3B – Chipper Jones (S)
C – Brian McCann (L)
RF – Jeff Francoeur (R)
CF – Nate McLouth (L)
LF – Garret Anderson (L)

Bench:

R – Matt Diaz (LF)
R – Martin Prado (UT)
L – Gregor Blanco (CF)
R -Diory Hernandez (IF)
R – David Ross (C)

Rotation:

R – Derek Lowe
R – Jair Jurrjens
R – Javier Vazquez
R – Tommy Hanson
R – Kenshin Kawakami

Bullpen:

L – Mike Gonzalez
R – Rafael Soriano
R – Jeff Bennett
L – Eric O’Flaherty
R – Peter Moylan
R – Manny Acosta
R – Kris Medlen

15-day DL: PH – Greg Norton (hamstring), UT – Omar Infante (broken hand), LHP – Jo-Jo Reyes (hamstring), RHP – Buddy Carlyle (upper back strain/Type-1 diabetes)

60-day DL: RHP – Tim Hudson (TJ), RHP – Jorge Campillo (shoulder tendonitis)

Typical Lineup:

L – Nate McLouth (CF)
R – Yunel Escobar (SS)
S – Chipper Jones (3B)
L – Brian McCann (C)
L – Garret Anderson (LF)
L – Casey Kotchman (1B)
R – Jeff Francoeur (RF)
L – Kelly Johnson (2B)

(more…)

The first Hall of Fame Classic, played Sunday at Cooperstown’s Doubleday Field, gave me the opportunity to talk to former Yankee pitcher and broadcaster Jim Kaat. During our on-field conversation, I asked Kitty about his decision to return to the broadcast booth, his thoughts on the ’09 Yankees, his new marriage, and his continuing connection to the village of Cooperstown.

Markusen: Jim, first off, I know that I speak for a lot of Yankee fans who are glad that you’re back broadcasting, not on the YES Network [as before], but on the MLB Network. What went into your decision to come back after essentially retiring for three years?

Kaat: Well, my wife, who had been battling cancer for a couple of years, passed away last year. I retired because we wanted to get a little more time together. She was doing pretty well, but her cancer came back. She couldn’t survive that, so a lot of my friends and family said to me, maybe you ought to go back to work. So that’s what I did, starting this year just on a part-time basis. I just reached out to some people, and if they wanted me to do it, I said fine. So MLB hired me to do ten games, I did the World Baseball Classic, and I’ll do a little stuff for XM Radio. So that sort of motivated me to do it.

Markusen: Did it take a lot of convincing?

Kaat: Not a lot. There was a period of time there where I didn’t know if I wanted to do that [come back], but toward the end of the year in December, I thought, yeah, it might be a good idea for me to do that.

Markusen: Jim, do you still keep close tabs on the Yankees, a team that you followed so closely for so long? Do you still follow them on a regular basis?

Kaat: Oh, very much so. Two of the three games I’ve done so far have been the Yankees. I did the home opener, and I did the Yankee-Red Sox game on June 11. I keep up with all of the teams, and I’ll have another Yankee game—the Yankees and White Sox—at the end of July, so that gives me good reason to keep up with them. I have a Mets-Dodgers game coming up, too. I still follow the Yankees through the newspapers, the box scores, and of course, nowadays on television you can get about all the highlights you want.

Markusen: It’s been a very uneven year for the Yankees. A very poor April, a lot of injuries early, then they had that nine-game winning streak, and now they seem to be struggling a little bit. As you look at the team, what do you think has been the problem?

Kaat: Well, I still think, and I think that with any team, you really need to have quality guys in the seventh and eighth innings to set up whoever your closer is, in this case Mariano. And I always think that’s a determining factor. I mean, hitting comes and goes, guys will go into slumps. The Yankees have played well in the field, in the infield—I don’t know about their range—but they aren’t making any errors. But I’ve always liked teams, as Tampa Bay did last year and the Red Sox this year, that have good guys down in the pen at the end of the game. You know, when Bruney’s been healthy, Aceves has been in and out of the [late-inning] role, Coke, the lefty, has done pretty well, but they haven’t been able to find that solid seventh and eighth-inning guy.

Of course, Brian Cashman knows, and I always chide him about it, I think Chamberlain should be in the bullpen. I think he’d be a perfect eighth-inning guy, but that’s not my decision. But I think that [the bullpen] will determine how well they do.

Markusen: When you look at the intangibles and more subtle areas with this team, you sometimes hear criticism that they play a little too tense, maybe they don’t have a killer instinct, and they continue to struggle with runners in scoring position. Do you give a lot of merit to any of that?

Kaat: Well, the runners in scoring position I do, because the more years go by, the more we’re aware of how great the 1998 team was and the teams in that era, the team that had Tino Martinez and Paul O’Neill, Knoblauch, Jeter was a younger player, Bernie Williams, Girardi was still playing, guys that made contact, advanced runners, manufactured runs. And they had a great bullpen. I think their offense this year is the kind of explosive offense—they’re like a team of really DHs—they can crush mediocre pitching, but until they do those kinds of things against good pitching like the teams in the late nineties, that’s probably where they’re lacking.

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by some cute stop-motion animation from “Sesame Street”:

• And on the seventh day, A-Rod will rest:

Alex Rodriguez, who did not start on Friday and Saturday due to fatigue six weeks after returning from surgery on his right hip, will get one day of rest each week through next month’s All-Star break.

The Yankees will follow a plan created by Dr. Marc Philippon, the surgeon who operated on A-Rod’s hip in March.

“That sounds like a good plan,” Rodriguez said on Sunday. “From what I understand, that comes from Vail (Colo.) and Dr. Philippon. We’ll follow his instructions and regroup in a month. The idea is that I’ll get stronger each month.”

Rodriguez started 38 consecutive games after returning to action on May 8. He is batting .153 (9-for-59) with two homers and 11 RBIs in June. He singled in the third inning of Sunday’s 6-5 loss to the Marlins to end a 0-for-16 slide. Overall, he is batting .213 with nine homers and 28 RBIs in 40 games.

Manager Joe Girardi said he plans to schedule A-Rod’s off days. He’ll get two days off in weeks when the Yankees have an off day.

[My take: Ummm . . . wasn’t the plan coming out of surgery to only play him five or six days a week anyway?  Where did THAT plan go in the last five weeks?]

• The folks at Baseball Prospectus analyze the troubles of Rodriguez since his return:

His .250 Isolated Power (or ISO, slugging percentage minus batting average) is 22 points below his career mark, but about the same distance above two of his five full seasons in pinstripes. It surpasses all but 24 batting-title qualifiers, not that A-Rod himself has enough plate appearances to qualify.

He’s homered in 5.4 percent of his PA, which would rank ninth among qualifiers, though it would be the fifth-lowest mark of his career. The 33-year-old superstar’s real problem is that the hits aren’t falling in for him.

Prior to his benching, Rodriguez’s batting average on balls in play was .192, 128 points below his career mark, and 10 points below the next-lowest qualifier, Jay Bruce. Upon closer inspection, he’s hit line drives—which result in hits far more frequently than any other type—on just 14.8 percent of his balls in play, well below last year’s 18.1 percent. Meanwhile, his ground-ball rate has risen significantly.

A-Rod is one of several star players to recently have a procedure known as femoral-acetabular impingement labroplasty. . . . The problem is that while many skiers have recovered successfully from this operation, there’s almost nothing beyond these very few names to go on as to how this will affect a baseball player.

While the Yankees were ultra-conservative with Rodriguez during rehab, they suddenly forgot the schedule of offdays that Rodriguez’s doctors had set up. Sources tell me that Rodriguez’s hip still shows a small strength and range deficit, one that’s become worse with fatigue. A more regular schedule of rest would appear to be necessary, and it should help get Rodriguez back on track physically.

(more…)

Today’s news is powered by . . . animals interrupting sporting events:

• CC Sabathia exited yesterday’s game in the 2nd inning with tightness in his bicep.  He’s day-to-day.
• A.J. Burnett regrets how he left the Marlins:

It’s easy to remember the bad, the way his career ended here in 2005. The Marlins had just lost 5-3 to Atlanta with a week left in the season when Burnett lambasted his manager, Jack McKeon, the coaches and his teammates, saying, “We played scared. We managed scared. We coached scared.” . . .

“It’s depressing around here,” he said at the time. “It’s like they expect us to mess up. And when we do, they chew us out. There is no positive, nothing, around here for anybody.”

The next day he was suspended for the rest of the season. Instead of letting him make his last start, the Marlins called up a rookie to make his major-league debut: Josh Johnson. Before Burnett left, he told the rookie pitcher to “give ’em hell,” Johnson remembers.

More than three years later, Burnett and Johnson found themselves back in the storyline, as they faced each other at Land Shark Stadium, Burnett now with the Yankees, pitching here for the first time since he set fire to every bridge on the way out – an ending he now regrets.

“I shouldn’t have said what I said,” Burnett said after taking the loss in Saturday’s 2-1 game. “I don’t think about the ending. I remember that they gave me my start. . . . I was young and I’ve grown up a lot since then.”

• Burnett’s suspension is reduced by 17%!:

Yankees pitcher A.J. Burnett’s suspension for throwing high and tight to Texas’ Nelson Cruz has been reduced to five games from six.

Manager Joe Girardi said Sunday before New York played the Florida Marlins that the suspension began immediately and will push back the right-hander’s next start to Saturday against the Mets.

(more…)

Here’s last night’s game in a nutshell: Both starting pitchers were excellent, both gave up an run following a defensive miscue, but A.J. Burnett also allowed a solo homer; Fish win 2-1.

A.J. Burnett struck out eight men in 6 1/2 innings, but he also grooved a fastball to Dan Uggla in the bottom of the second, and Uggla hit it over the center field fence. Burnett didn’t walk a man until the sixth, when he issued a four-pitch pass to speedy out-maker Emilio Bonifacio to start the inning. Given a reprieve when Jorge Posada threw Bonifacio out trying to steal, Burnett walked Hanley Ramirez. A.J. then hung a slider to Jorge Cantu. Cantu hit it to the gap in left, but Johnny Damon lined it up . . . then missed it. The ball just barely hit the pinkie of Damon’s glove then appeared to nick his foot as Damon tripped over his own leg and tumbled to the turf. Ramirez motored around and scored. That was the ballgame.

The Yankees scored in the next half inning after the Marlins failed to convert a one-out double play ball. Prior to the seventh, Josh Johnson had allowed just two baserunners: a walk to Damon in the top of the first, and a bloop single into no man’s land behind first base by Burnett in the third. After Damon grounded out to start the seventh, Johnson walked Mark Teixeira, who was replaced by Posada on the botched double-play. Robinson Cano then picked up the Yankees second hit, singling Posada to third, and Nick Swisher singled Jorge home with the first and only Yankee run, but Johnson struck out Melky Cabrera on three pitches to end the inning and his night.

In the eighth, Joe Girardi sent Hideki Matsui up to hit for Angel Berroa against Leo Nuñez. Matsui singled. Brett Gardner then ran for Matsui and stole second. Alex Rodriguez hit for the pitcher and walked, putting the go-ahead run on base with no outs for Derek Jeter, but Jeter couldn’t get the bunt down and wound up grounding into a rally-killing double play. Dan Meyer then came on to strikeout Damon. Facing closer Matt Lindstrom, Mark Teixeira led off the ninth with a single off first base, but Jorge Posada popped out and Robinson Cano, for the second time in four games, ground into a game-ending double play.

Damon fell on his sword after the game, and Burnett blamed himself for allowing the homer to Uggla, but the Yankees should win games in which they only allow two runs. Josh Johnson was simply too good and the Yankees blew the one real opportunity they had against the Marlins’ bullpen in the eighth.

Adding valor to victory after the game, Johnson absolved Joe Girardi of the infamous rain-delay incident I mentioned in my pre-game post. Per Pete Abe:

Johnson absolved Girardi, saying his elbow was tight before that and that he was determined to stay in the game. Girardi, he said, was not to blame.

“It’s something that just happened,” he said. “I was hiding from Joe, there’s no way he was taking me out of that game.”

Josh Johnson, who starts for the Marlins tonight, had an impressive rookie season under then-Marlins manager Joe Girardi in 2006. After working out of the bullpen in April, Johnson moved to the rotation in May and went 11-5 with a 3.14 ERA in his first 23 starts. Then, on September 12 of that year, Johnson’s start against the Mets was interrupted by an 82-minute rain delay, after which Girardi left the then-22-year-old right-hander in the game. Soon after, he developed elbow soreness. Johnson didn’t pitch for the Marlins again until mid-June of 2007, but after four starts, he was back on the DL and headed for Tommy John surgery.

Johnson finally returned to the Florida rotation last July and went 7-1 with a 3.61 ERA over the remainder of the season. Now 25, he enters tonight’s game against Girardi’s Yankees with a 6-1 record and 2.76 ERA on the season. The forecast calls for rain.

Johnson has been flat-out awesome this season. All but two of his starts have been quality starts. The Marlins are 11-3 when he takes the mound. His only two hiccups this season were a six-run outing against the Nationals back on April 18 and a four-inning outing against the Brewers on May 19 in which he held Milwaukee to two earned runs on three hits but walked five and left early due to a twinge in his pitching shoulder. Since then, he’s turned in six quality starts in six tries and completed at least seven innings in each of his last five starts, going the distance for the win over Toronto his last time out.

The Yankees counter with former Marlin A.J. Burnett, who was briefly a teammate of Johnson’s in 2005 (in fact, Johnson and Jeremy Hermida are the only remaining Marlins from that 2005 team and both were September call-ups that year). Burnett rebounded nicely from his failure in Boston his last time out, holding the Mets scoreless over seven innings while striking out eight. That was his seventh quality start in 13 tries for the Yankees. Burnett has put up consecutive quality starts just twice this season, once doing so by facing the same team, the Texas Rangers, in consecutive starts. A.J. has never faced the Marlins before, but he does have a career 3.20 ERA in Mrs. Arrllssberg Stadium.

Jorge Posada will catch Burnett tonight. Angel Berroa’s back at third base as the lineup repeats last night’s. Emilio Bonafacio is back at third for the Fish and hitting second.

Florida Marlins

2009 Record: 33-35 (.485)
2009 Pythagorean Record: 31-37 (.456)

2008 Record: 84-77 (.522)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 81-80 (.503)

Manager: Fredi Gonzalez
General Manager: Michael Hill

Home Ballpark (Park Factors): Dolphin Stadium (99/99)

Who’s Replacing Whom:

• Emilio Bonifacio replaces Mike Jacobs
• Chris Coughlan replaces Josh Willingham
• Ross Gload and Brett Carroll replace Luis Gonzalez
• Ronny Paulino replaces Matt Treanor
• Alejandro De Aza is filling in for Alfredo Amezaga (DL)
• Josh Johnson and Chris Volstad inherit the starts of Scott Olsen
• Sean West is filling in for Anibal Sanchez (DL), who inherits the starts of Mark Hendrickson
• Leo Nuñez replaces Kevin Gregg
• Dan Meyer, Kiko Calero, and Brian Sanches replace Doug Waechter, Joe Nelson, and Logan Kensing
• Cristhian Martinez is filling in for Renyel Pinto (DL)

25-man Roster:

1B – Jorge Cantu (R)
2B – Dan Uggla (R)
SS – Hanley Ramirez (R)
3B – Emilio Bonifacio (S)
C – John Baker (L)
RF – Jeremy Hermida (L)
CF – Cody Ross (R)
LF – Chris Coughlan (L)

Bench:

L – Ross Gload (1B)
R – Wes Helms (3B)
L – Alejadro De Aza (OF)
R – Ronny Paulino (C)
R – Brett Carroll (OF)

Rotation:

R – Josh Johnson
R – Chris Volstad
L – Andrew Miller
R – Ricky Nolasco
L – Sean West

Bullpen:

R – Matthew Lindstrom
R – Leo Nuñez
L – Dan Meyer
R – Kiko Calero
R – Burke Badenhop
R – Brian Sanches
R – Cristhian Martinez

15-day DL: CF/UT – Alfredo Amezaga (knee contusion); RHP – Anibal Sanchez (shoulder sprain), LHP Renyel Pinto (elbow inflammation)

60-day DL: RHP – Scott Proctor (Joe Torre surgery), LHP – Dave Davidson (shoulder)

Typical Lineup:

L – Chris Coghlan (LF)
S – Emilio Bonifacio (3B)
R – Hanley Ramirez (SS)
R – Jorge Cantu (1B)
L – Jeremy Hermida (RF)
R – Dan Uggla (2B)
L – John Baker (C)
R – Cody Ross (CF)

(more…)

It’s time to take the gloves off.

The Yankees should feel thoroughly humiliated after losing two of three games to the worst team in baseball. It is unfathomable that the Yankees could muster a mere seven runs in three games against the poorest pitching staff in the major leagues and arguably the worst bullpen that has ever been assembled in the history of the game.

If this atrocity of a series against the Nationals, who had a won a total of six road games prior to this week, had been an isolated development, I would have been willing to cast it aside as a blip on the screen. But it is not an isolated occurrence. When attached to a lackluster series against the Mets, another sweep at the hands of the Red Sox, an embarrassing 0-8 record against Boston, mediocre play against the Orioles, and another abominable April, it becomes a symptom of a larger disease.

So what exactly is wrong with the Yankees? Having followed them closely through their first 66 games, I’m not convinced that the real problem is a lack of talent. Oh sure, their bullpen and bench could use upgrading and the absence of overall depth remains a concern, but those are problems that can be fixed relatively quickly from within. I’m afraid that the Yankees’ malaise has roots in other areas, principally a low baseball IQ, a lack of toughness, and a general complacency that can happen when too many players have multi-year contracts and no fear of losing their status on the team. (more…)

Today’s news is powered by . . . Goofy!

• What is it with the Yanks and unknown pitchers?:

In three of the last four games, the Yankees have been squelched by starters who they had never faced. John Lannan allowed two runs in eight and a third innings in powering the Washington Nationals to a 3-2 victory on Wednesday. Shairon Martis permitted one run in six innings as the Yankees halted Washington, 4-3, on Tuesday. And, on Saturday, Fernando Nieve surrendered two runs in six and two-third innings to help the Mets stop the Yankees, 6-2.

The only time that the Yankees opposed a familiar pitcher in the last four games, they destroyed Johan Santana for a career-worst nine runs. So how can the Yankees batter Santana and get baffled by pitchers with lesser pedigrees?

“I don’t really have any concrete theories,” Girardi said. “We talk about it as a staff. I think everyone loves to see something that they’ve seen before because they’re used to it, in a sense, no matter what walk of life you’re in.”

• Leaving Wang where he is:

After review, Joe Girardi’s ruling from the field stands. Chien-Ming Wang will remain in the Yankees rotation.

Girardi caught a television re-broadcast of the right-hander’s start following his five-inning outing on Wednesday, confirming what the manager believed he had witnessed from his vantage point in New York’s dugout.

“I thought he threw some really good sinkers,” Girardi said. “His slider was really good last night. He mixed his pitches well. I thought he threw the ball pretty well. I just wanted to watch it on video to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing.”

[My take: Having been at the game, I’m left to wonder if Wang’s extremely slow pace leaves his defense a bit “back on their heels”.  If Wang pitched as quickly as his opponent that night (John Lannan), maybe his defense might be a bit more alert.]

• Slumping A-Rod bothered by hip?:

Rodriguez has seen his average dip to .219 with nine home runs and 26 RBIs, and he has looked progressively worse during the past few weeks. He has clearly been favoring his hip while running the bases and playing third base lately, and he has been seen limping around the clubhouse after games.

Rodriguez has not had more than one hit in a game since May 25, when he went 5-for-5 in Texas. Since then, he is 13-for-70 (.186) with two homers and nine RBIs.

“I’m seeing the ball well. The big issue is the body and responding,” Rodriguez said on Wednesday. “I can hit. I’m always going to be able to hit, I know that. … There are some days where your body’s just not bouncing back the way I like it to.”

The injury may have affected the Yankees’ strategy in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Nationals. Rodriguez was on first with one out when second baseman Robinson Cano bounced into a game-ending double play. It seemed that it might have made sense for Rodriguez to try to steal second in that situation to try to stay out of the twin-killing.

• The Star-Ledger’s Steve Politi didn’t appreciate the playing of Thursday’s game after an all-day rain:

Despite a forecast that showed no signs of letting up during the afternoon, the team kept its fans waiting. At least they could say they were almost part of something historic: The delay apparently was the second longest in baseball history, behind only the 5 hours, 47 minutes on Oct 3, 1999, for a Reds-Brewers game.

That was the final game of the season to force a one-game playoff for the National League wild card. This was a mid-June interleague game that has absolutely no significance, and the Yankees fell back on the excuse that the two teams did not have mutual off days the rest of the year.

• The Yanks will be watching Pedro Martinez:

The Cubs and Rays are not the only teams in contact with free-agent right-hander Pedro Martinez.

Those clubs, plus the Yankees and Angels, will watch Martinez throw on Friday in the Dominican Republic, according to major-league sources.

. . . (however) The Yankees, too, would benefit more from the addition of a reliever. They believe Chien-Ming Wang made progress in his start against the Nationals on Wednesday night, and currently have an extra starter, righty Phil Hughes, pitching out of the bullpen.

(more…)

How embarraskin’.

The Nationals arrived in the Bronx having won just 16 games all season, in large part because they were allowing 5.81 runs per game. Over the past two nights, the Nats increased their win total by 12.5 percent by holding the Yankees to a total of two runs over two games. That the Yankees and their fans had to wait through a nearly five-and-a-half-hour rain delay for the capper on that embarrassment only made it all the more painful.

Despite switching catchers, Joba Chamberlain wasn’t sharp again last night, but he wasn’t awful. Despite four walks, he escaped with a quality start (6 IP, 3 R) and six Ks. Alfredo Aceves, Phil Coke, and David Robertson each added a scoreless inning. Unfortunately the offense failed to show up.

Perhaps showing their frustration from the long delay, the Yankees came up hacking against rookie righty Craig Stammen. Stammen needed just 82 pitches to get into the seventh inning, didn’t issue a single walk, and just one of the six hits he allowed went for extra bases, that being the last he allowed, a double by Nick Swisher with one out in the seventh. Swisher’s double also gave the Yankees two men on base at the same time for the first time in the game as it followed a Robinson Cano single and drove Stammen from the game.

Manny Acta brought in ex-Yank Ron Villone to face Hideki Matsui with one out and two men in scoring position. Needing only a productive out to get the Yankees on the board, Matsui struck out. Joe Girardi sent Jorge Posada up to hit for Francisco Cervelli; Villone stayed away from Jorge and walked him on five pitches. Girardi then sent up Derek Jeter, who hadn’t played since the opening game of the series, to hit for Ramiro Peña. Acta countered with Julian Tavarez. On the 1-1 pitch to Jeter, Tavarez pulled a full Luis Tiant, turning his back on Jeter in his delivery. Jeter was badly fooled on the ensuing pitch, but managed to foul it and the next one off before grounding to short to end the inning.

If there was a turning point in the game, that was it. The Yanks got the leadoff man on in the eighth and ninth, but failed to advance him either time, going down meekly by a final score of 3-0.

Blame the offense. The pitching and defense did their jobs, even if Chamberlain’s outing wasn’t pretty. The organization also came through for the fans who stuck out the third-longest rain delay in major league history by opening up the rattle-your-jewelry seats to those who remained in the park after the top of the first and giving all ticket holders a rain check for another game later this season or next. Good on them for that. Waiting five and a half hours to see the home nine get shut out by a historically bad team has to rank among the worst fan experiences of all time.

(more…)

The Yankees are going to try to get today’s game in despite the rain. I don’t much like their chances, but just in case, here’s a quick look at the pitching matchup.

The Nats are starting Craig Stammen, a 25-year-old rookie righty out of the University of Dayton. He’s nothing special. Though he posted a 1.80 ERA across seven triple-A starts before being called up a few weeks ago, he was doing it with a 3.2 K/9. He’s made five major league starts since and has yet to turn in a quility start (though he’s not had any real disasters either, lasting a minimum of five innings each time and never allowing more than five runs). His best outing was his last, 5 1/3 innings, 3 runs (2 earned) and a whopping five strikeouts against Tampa Bay.

The Yankees counter with Joba Chamberlain, who has been frustratingly inconsistent since leaving his May 21 start after being hit with a comebacker. Joba walked four and lasted just four innings his next time out, then dominated the Indians over eight innings the turn after that. He followed that with a quality start against the Rays, but his last time out he again lasted just four innings and walked five Mets while struggling to get in rhythm and in synch with Jorge Posada.

Chamberlain will throw to Francisco Cervelli if they play today. That’s a day-game-after-night-game thing, and also a protect-the-fragile-veteran-in-bad-weather thing, but given the meme about Posada’s game calling and Cervelli’s success with A.J. Burnett the last time out, it will only feed the fire if Joba has a good game this afternoon. Of course, the flip side to that is a series loss to the historically awful Nationals. Sometimes you just can’t win.

Speaking of protecting fragile veterans, Derek Jeter (ankle) will sit again in favor of Ramiro Peña at shortstop. Brett Gardner gets the draw in center and leads off in Jeter’s place.

Nearly 30 retired major leaguers will congregate at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown on Sunday for the first Hall of Fame Classic. The list of ex-Yankees who will participate includes Mike Pagliarulo, Kevin Maas, Phil Niekro, Jim Kaat, and Lee Smith. In the latest installment of “Card Corner,” we take a closer look at the man known as “Knucksie.”

Like fellow Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew, Brooks Robinson and Billy Williams, Phil Niekro exudes gentlemanly class. Frankly, Leo “The Lip” Durocher was wrong when he said, “Nice guys finish last.” Some guys, like Niekro, might have played for a lot of last-place teams, but 318 career wins and a permanent residence in Cooperstown hardly qualify as “finishing last.”

During my tenure as a full-time employee at the Hall of Fame, I had the privilege of engaging Phil Niekro in several casual conversations and a few formal interviews. Whether Phil was in front of a microphone or not, he always behaved the same way. He didn’t like talking about himself—I never heard him brag about anything—but preferred steering credit in other directions.

On a Saturday night in Cooperstown in 2006, I watched Niekro behave in his typically dignified fashion. Along with several other retired ballplayers, Niekro was taking part in a roundtable discussion about the game in the Hall of Fame’s Grandstand Theater. As he sat next to his beloved brother Joe, who would pass away unexpectedly only three weeks later, Phil expressed only words of fond praise for his two-time teammate with the Braves and Yankees. “To get to play with your best friend, that’s an experience,” Phil said that evening. “I wish all brothers would get a chance to have that experience.”

(more…)

Away we go . . .

• Bruney up, Veras DFAed:

Brian Bruney rejoined the Yankees’ bullpen mix after being activated from the disabled list on Tuesday, and the right-hander isn’t looking for any adjustment period in working his way back in. . . .

“I feel really good; ready to go,” Bruney said. “I don’t envision him taking it easy on me. I think if there’s a situation where we need to get some outs, I expect him to call on me.”

In a corresponding roster move, the Yankees designated right-hander Jose Veras for assignment. Veras was 3-1 with a 5.96 ERA in 25 appearances, allowing 23 hits and 17 earned runs in 25 2/3 innings. He walked 14 and struck out 18.

• A.J. Burnett has had a very tough road to hoe thus far in 2009:

A.J. Burnett was supposed to avoid being a victim of Yankee Stadium v2.0, but that was before he stopped inducing significantly more grounders than fly balls. This year has seen Burnett’s G/F drop to its lowest point since 2002, and to go along with that he has also stopped getting hitters to pop up on fly balls. Sure, it doesn’t help that he’s faced the stiffest competition in the league according to this stat report (composite of batters he has faced have the highest OPS in the majors), but at the same time, Burnett’s not doing himself any favors by handing out free passes to 4.6 hitters per nine. Combine that with the homer rate, and it’s easy to see why Burnett hasn’t had an easy time of it for his new team. I’m not so sure Burnett is going to have a serious rebound during this season, as he’s fooling fewer hitters—his strikeouts have dropped by over one full K per nine, and opponents are swinging at fewer pitches out of the zone while making more contact. Getting his walk rates back under control would be a good first step, but as it is he has actually been a little lucky, as his FIP is over a half-run higher than his ERA; improvement would move him from the level of a 5.00 ERA pitcher down to his current level.

• Would Matsui go back to play in Japan next season?:

Comments made by an unnamed member of the Hanshin Tigers front office about the possibility of Hanshin going after Hideki Matsui this offseason are making the rounds in the Japanese media. Here’s what was said in Sponichi:

“There’s a feeling that if he comes back to Japan, it will be with Hanshin. He’s had knee issues, and if he’s going to play in Japan the natural grass at Koshien would be good.”

(more…)

Washington Nationals

2009 Record: 16-45 (.262)
2009 Pythagorean Record: 23-38 (.377)

2008 Record: 59-102 (.366)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 62-99 (.385)

Manager: Manny Acta (for now)
General Manager: Mike Rizzo (acting GM)

Home Ballpark (Park Factors): Nationals Park (101/102)

Who’s Replacing Whom:

• Adam Dunn replaces Lastings Milledge (minors)
• Corey Patterson is filling in for Josh Willingham (bereavement list), who replaces Wily Mo Peña
• Nick Johnson reclaims his playing time from Aaron Boone
• Josh Bard is filling in for Jesus Flores (DL)
• Anderson Hernandez replaces Felipe Lopez
• Alberto Gonzalez replaces Emilio Bonifacio
• Jordan Zimmermann replcaes Tim Redding
• Shairon Martis replaces Odalis Perez
• Ross Detwiler replaces Shawn Hill and Collin Balester (minors)
• Craig Stammen is filling in for Scott Olsen (DL), who replaces Jason Bergmann (minors) and Matt Chico (DL)
• Joe Beimel, Ron Villone, Kip Wells, Julian Tavarez, and Mike MacDougal replace Jon Rauch, Luis Ayala, Saul Rivera (minors), Garrett Mock (minors), Steven Shell, and Charlie Manning

25-man Roster:

1B – Nick Johnson (L)
2B – Anderson Hernandez (S)
SS – Cristian Guzman (S)
3B – Ryan Zimmerman (R)
C – Josh Bard (S)
RF – Austin Kearns (R)
CF – Elijah Dukes (R)
LF – Adam Dunn (L)

Bench:

L – Willie Harris (UT)
R – Ron Belliard (IF)
R – Alberto Gonzalez (IF)
R – Wil Nieves (C)
L – Corey Patterson (OF)

Rotation:

L – John Lannan
R – Craig Stammen
R – Jordan Zimmermann
L – Ross Detwiler
R – Shairon Martis

Bullpen:

R – Joel Hanrahan
L – Joe Beimel
R – Julian Tavarez
L – Ron Villone
R – Jesus Colome
R – Kip Wells
R – Mike MacDougal

Bereavement List: OF – Josh Willingham (R)

15-day DL:

LHP – Scott Olsen (shoulder tendonitis)
RHP – Kip Wells (strained adductor)
C – Jesus Flores (fractured shoulder)
1B – Dmitri Young (back)
OF – Rogearvin Bernadina (broken ankle)

60-day DL:

LHP – Matt Chico (elbow soreness)
RHP – Terrell Young (shoulder inflammation)

Typical Lineup:

S – Cristian Guzman (SS)
L – Nick Johnson (1B)
R – Ryan Zimmerman (3B)
L – Adam Dunn (LF)
R – Elijah Dukes (CF)
R – Austin Kearns (RF)
S – Josh Bard (C)
S – Anderson Hernandez (2B)

(more…)