Mike Mussina returns to active duty tonight to take the ball against the Royals. Mussina has now hit the disabled list in the second half of each of the last three seasons. In 2004, Moose missed nearly a month and a half in July and early August with elbow pain. After returning, it took him three starts to get up to speed, after which he dominated in six September starts (3-1, 2.14 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 9.00 K/9, 4.20 K/BB). Last year he missed the first three weeks of September due to more elbow issues, returning in time to make just two final regular season starts, the first good but not great, the second awful, with nearly identical results in his two ALDS starts.

This year it wasn’t his elbow, but a nagging groin injury that pushed Mikey Moose to the DL, and rather than three weeks or a month and a half, he’s missed just the minimum 15 days. The way the schedule pans out, Mussina, who has been stuck at 13 wins since July 30, could make as many as six more regular season starts (ain’t that always the way for Moose). That should be plenty of time for him to pitch himself back into a groove for the postseason, while feeling the benefits of the two-week respite. You see, Moose had a 5.14 ERA in August that was less the result of any gaudy runs-allowed totals than his increasing inability to go deep into ballgames due to both the groin and general inefficiency.

Opposing him tonight will be lefty Jorge de la Rosa, whom the Royals acquired from Milwaukee at the deadline for Tony Graffanino. De la Rosa is a hard thrower who strikes out a fair number of batters, but also walks more than his share and is thus in his fourth organization at the tender age of 25. After being converted to starting while in the Red Sox system in 2002, the Brewers put him back in the pen last year with disastrous results (8.08 BB/9). This year they used him as a swing man, giving him three starts, until the Royals mercifully took him and his 8.60 ERA off their hands. He’s since made six starts for the Royals which have been a total mixed bag, but without much upside. His first AL start–6 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 K vs. Texas–remains his best. Of course he’s pitched on irregular rest almost every time out (though not tonight), which may have something to do with the fact that he was just coming off the DL due to blister problems when the Royals acquired him. Dayton Moore must have gotten one hell of a scouting report on this guy.

Pos on Jetes, Klap on Abreu.

“I tell you, I’ve been here a month and a couple of days, and I’ve seen some crazy things,” said Bobby Abreu, who broke a 5-5 tie with a double to deep center. “This team has come back at any time, no matter what.”
(Tyler Kepner, N.Y. Times)

Well, it was just a matter of time, I guess. The Yankees left runners on base in the first six innings last night in Kansas City and had just one run to show for it. They were retired in order in the seventh and then broke out for ten runs against the Royals’ bullpen in the eighth, turning a 5-1 deficit into an 11-5 lead. The final score on “Star Wars” night in KC: Evil Empire 12, Royals 5. Chien-Ming Wang was not great though he did not pitch poorly either (Wang was victimized by a botched double play and a missed call at the plate in the sixth). Luke Hudson was what they like to call “effectively wild.” His hard change-up was particularly sharp and he struck out ten Yankees. He also brushed a few Yankees back. In the third, Hudson knocked Jeter down with a pitch around the shortstop’s noggin; after shooting Hudson a dirty look, Jeter lined the next pitch right back through the box, into the pitcher’s body. You can only dream about stuff like that.

But KC’s bullpen was awful in the eighth and the Yankees pounced. Forty-four pitches were thrown, ten runs scored, and when all was said and done, the Yanks remained nine ahead of Boston, who beat the White Sox in extra innings last night at Fenway Park. The magic number to clinch the division for the Bombers stands at 17. I wonder if Giambi and Damon partied with any Wookiees after the game.

Mike Mussina returns tonight, while Hideki Matsui will play in Trenton tomorrow.

When the Yankees last played Kansas City, the Royals were a historically bad ballclub. When the team bus pulled up at Yankee Stadium back in late May, the Royals had a .222 winning percentage. Had they kept up that pace, the Royals would have surpassed the 1916 Philadelphia Althetics as the worst team since the arrival of the twentieth century.

Of course, they weren’t really that bad. Their Pythagorean record at the time was .261 and by June 15 they had indeed pulled their actual record up to .262, which would merely have been sixth worst since 1901. Since then, however, Royal baseball has been a whole new ballgame, as the team has played at a comparatively world-beating .466 clip.

So what changed? Well, most obviously, they fired general manager Allard Baird and replaced him with former Atlanta Braves assistant GM Dayton Moore at the end of May. Not that Moore can really be said to have been responsible for having turned the team around on his own. During his first month on the job, Moore reinstated Mark Teahen at third base, acquired Joey Gathright from the Devil Rays, claimed Todd Wellemeyer of waivers from the Marlins, bought Brandon Duckworth from the Pirates, and restored tonight’s starter Luke Hudson to the rotation.

Teahen has been a revelation, hitting .318/.390/.568 with 16 homers, 58 RBIs while being a perfect 8 for 8 on the bases and playing outstanding defense, but the other moves have had minimal impact. Gathright has hit just .234/.319/.291 and been caught in five of his eleven steal attempts. Wellemeyer leads the Royals pen with a 3.98 ERA (ouch), but has walked more than he’s struck out. Duckworth posted a 6.11 ERA before landing on the DL. In fact, the 29-year-old Hudson has been the second most successful of Moore’s initial fixes, going 7-2 since his recall despite a 5.01 ERA.

But then, it’s not fair to judge Moore on his short-term results. The Royals are such a bankrupt organization that there’s very little anyone could have done with them mid-season. Rather, Moore has been the early beneficiary of a few lucky breaks, such as the 24-year-old Teahen exceeding the expectations he’d previously failed to live up to, and David DeJesus and Mike Sweeney getting healthy. That said, he does deserve credit for bringing in first baseman Ryan Shealy from the Rockies, who has since hit .312/.363/.456. With Shealy and DeJesus replacing injured underperforming vets Doug Mientkiewicz and Reggie Sanders, Sweeney replacing the underutilized Matt Stairs, and Teahen replacing miscast utility man Tony Graffanino, the Royals have shown signs of life on the field, sweeping the Red Sox in early August and going 4-2 over their last six games against Wild Card contenders Chicago and Minnesota. In Kansas City such signs of life are a major accomplishment.

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While a distinct autumn chill has been felt in New York for much of the past week, Sunday was a reminder that summer isn’t quite over yet. It was a brilliant afternoon, sunny but not hot, and Yankee fans were treated to a 10-1 romp in the park over the Twins. Combined with a Red Sox loss, the Bombers now lead the AL East by nine games. The only Twins run came when Torii Hunter blasted a 3-0 fastball off starter Darrell Rasner in the second inning. Otherwise, Rasner, who has pitched well in the minors this season, had a fine outing in just his second big league start (and his first in pinstripes), allowing just four hits over six innings.

As for the offense, Robbie Cano, Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez and Bobby Abreu all had three hits. Rodriguez crushed two home runs–one into the black–and added an RBI single. The Twins’ centerfielder thinks Rodriguez is pretty okay. According to Larry Brooks in the Post:

“They showed every bit of why they got A-Rod. The way he hit the ball today was not even right,” Hunter said after Rodriguez had pounded a solo shot in the fifth to the right-center bleachers and then a three-run blow in the seventh into the black. “It’s not even human. He’s not human.

“Why dwell on the negative? You know what he can do. Why even dwell on what he did? He’s not human, but he’s going to have his slumps. He is one of the best hitters and might be the best hitter on the team.

“If y’all don’t want him, we’ll take him. How about that? If you don’t want A-Rod, we’ll take him. Well, we can’t afford him. Give him to us, and y’all pay the salary.”

Abreu tied a career-high by hitting three doubles. The most impressive came when Abreu led-off the bottom of the seventh and fouled the third pitch of the sequence off his lower leg. Abreu hobbled around the plate and eventually, Joe Torre and trainer, Gene Monahan came out to look him over. Abreu stayed in the game, and after taking ball two, slapped a ball into the gap in right center field. The ball was not that deep but Abreu turned-on-the-jets and beat the throw to second. He slid into the base head first and had to hang on to the base so as not to come off the bag entirely. It reminded me just a little bit of Paul O’Neill’s desperate double in Game 5 of the ALDS back in 1997. The fans appreciated his hustle and gave Abreu a nice ovation as he came out of the game for a pinch-runner. After the game, Torre hoped that Abreu would be fine, adding, “He looked pretty good going from home to second.”

Just about everything the Yankees did yesterday looked pretty good. They even had promising news to report about Hideki Matsui, who will play a rehab game this Wednesday in Trenton. We could see the return of Godzilla as soon as sometime next week. Bam.

The Yanks lost a rain-shortened contest 6-1 yesterday afternoon, despite the best efforts of rookie Jeffrey Karstens, who allowed just two runs, one on a solo Torii Hunter home run, in seven innings. Today the Yankees throw another rookie to the wolves in Darrell Rasner. Because I’m on my way to the game and on my way out the door, here’s what I wrote about Rasner when it was announced he’d start today.

Rasner looked sharp in a lone relief appearance for the Yankees back in that first loss to the Tigers in May, utilizing a nasty curve. He then landed on the 60-day DL with a sore pitching shoulder. After a brief rehab stint in A-ball in which the threw 13 innings across four starts, he was activated and optioned down to Columbus where he started this past Monday, allowing three runs on seven hits over six innings, striking out five and walking none.

Rasner made his only other major league start for the Nationals last year in his major league debut. He ran into trouble in the third inning of that game and got an early hook, but then followed that appearance with 4 2/3 scoreless innings out of the pen in which he allowed just one hit and walked none. Of course that’s all tiny sample stuff, but in the minors, the 25-year-old Rasner has shown mid-rotation potential, displaying good control, a solid strikeout rate, and a knack for keeping the ball in the park. A good outing on Sunday could put him in the conversation for next year’s rotation.

Opposing Rasner will be 22-year-old Twins rookie Matt Garza, who was drafted out of Frezno State in the first round (25th overall) just last year. Garza has steadily improved across his four big-league starts, though his competition has also been progressively weaker in each one.

I can only imagine what must have been running through a Minnesota Twins fans’ mind last night as they watched Alex Rodriguez hit two homers and a bases loaded RBI single–“This is the guy who is supposed to stink?” Now batting .282 with 29 dingers and 99 RBI, Rodriguez, according to my pal out west, Rich Lederer, “is having one of the best seasons for a bum in recent memory.” Rodriguez had that good look back last night–even when he grounded into a double play his second time up, his frustration inspired confidence, instead of a “here we go again” feeling. Lee Jenkins reports in The New York Times:

“He looks more comfortable,” Manager Joe Torre said. “I’m pleased and everybody else is pleased, too, because he makes a huge difference.”

After Rodriguez’s first home run, the fans at Yankee Stadium begged him for a curtain call, but he did not respond. After his second, in the seventh inning, they begged again. Only when Torre told Rodriguez to acknowledge the cheers did he walk to the top step of the dugout and wave his helmet.

“Unless Joe tells me to go, it’s not in my nature,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t feel comfortable doing that.”

The Yankee third baseman was not the only offensive star–Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu had three hits apeice too, as the Bombers rolled over the Twins, 8-1 on a rainy night in the Bronx. Corey Lidle got ahead of hitters consistently and tossed six shutout innings. Meanwhile, the Twins committed three errors and played a sloppy game.

The rain held off enough for them to get the game in. The swirling winds made virtually every fly ball to the outfield an adventure. Late in the game, Jorge Posada hit a line drive to center field. On the crack of the bat, Torii Hunter turned and ran to the spot where he thought the ball would land (Charles Euchner has a fascinating chapter about how outfielders track fly balls in his book, “The Last Nine Innings”). When he looked up, he discovered that the ball had dropped in behind him by a good 20-30 feet. “Wow,” was all he could say.

It’s actually not raining right now, but the winds are fierce. Not exactly an ideal day for playing ball, forget about sitting in the stands. Both Cliff and I will be at the park tomorrow. Hopefully, the weather will improve some by then.

Jason Giambi was back in the line-up but Mariano Rivera was unavailable and, as Kevin Kernan reports in the Post, the Yankees are holding their breath that their star closer will be okay come October. However, it is possible that both Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield could return before all is said and done. A dizzing proposition, for sure.

After starting the season 17-24, the Twins moved 22-year-old lefty über-prospect Francisco Liriano from the bullpen into the rotation on May 19. They then played .500 ball over their next twenty games before catching fire in mid-June, winning 18 of 19 games, 15 of which came against National League teams, specifically the Dodgers and the four weakest teams in the NL Central. After dropping a pair of series to the Royals and Rangers, they again went on a tear after the All-Star Break, winning 12 of their first 14 games of the second half, a stretch that concluded with a three-game sweep of the White Sox.

Those streaks obviously weren’t all Liriano’s doing, but the decision to move Liriano into the rotation was a lynchpin for the team, which started the season with Tony Batista at third, Juan Castro at shortstop and with plans to carry Ruben Sierra. Not long after Twins got wise on Liriano, they dumped Batista (.236/.303/.388), Castro (.231/.258/.308), Sierra (5 for 28 with one extra base hit and four walks) and Kyle Lohse (7.07 ERA), replacing them with Nick Punto (a surprising .307/.383/.405), Jason Bartlett (finally living up to his minor league track record with a .342/.409/.447 line), Jason Tyner (ditto, hitting .314/.343/.346 in place of the injured Shannon Stewart’s .293/.347/.368 in left field), and, of course, Liriano (12-3, 2.19 ERA, 10.74 K/9). Add in a tremendous two months from Justin Morneau (.387/.415/.719 with 18 homers in June and July) and you get a Twins team that went 42-17 (.712) from May 19 until July 28.

It was that later date when Liriano suffered a hard luck loss against the Tigers after which he complained of pain in his pitching elbow. He’s made just one abbreviated start since then and the Twins have gone 18-13 in his absence. That’s a .580 record, an almost exact match with the team’s overall record, but a considerable drop from the dominant two months in which Liriano took the hill every fifth day, and not enough to push them past the White Sox, who currently sport a .586 winning percentage.

Once again, Liriano has been the lynchpin as the team has started to regress without him. Brad Radke, who has said he will retire after this season, has been pitching with a torn labrum and a shredded rotator cuff, figuring there’s no reason to save his arm. It worked in August, when he posted a 2.48 ERA, but his shoulder is deteriorating faster than expected and didn’t respond to his latest cortisone shot. As a result, Radke won’t start Saturday, and could be done for the season, and thus his career. That’s bad news for a rotation that’s still without Liriano and is still carrying tonight’s starter Carlos Silva, who has a 6.50 ERA on the year. While rookies Boof Bonser and Sunday’s starter Matt Garza appear to be rounding into shape, Scott Baker, who will take Radke’s turn tomorrow, has been on the Richmond express all year and sports a 6.93 ERA in 12 starts.

To make matters worse, the offense is experiencing some correction, with MVP candidates Morneau and Joe Mauer cooling off and Punto coming back to earth. It doesn’t help matters that Luis Castillo sprained his ankle and could miss the entire series this weekend. Thus, despite the continued excellence of Johan Santana and the bullpen (which has added dominant rookie Pat Neshek to the Big Three of Nathan, Rincon and LOOGY Dennys Reyes), the recent surge of surprise clean-up hitter Michael Cuddyer (.311/.398/.594 in August), and last night’s addition of Phil Nevin (who will replace the Rondell White’s miserable .215/.242/.308 at DH), I’m just not convinced that this team can overtake the White Sox, despite the two teams being tied in the loss column, without getting Liriano back, and soon.

The latest report from Will Carroll is that Liriano is throwing “sneaker sessions” (meaning he’s throwing off a mound, but in sneakers rather than cleats, the unproven theory being that the reduced traction also reduces effort and strain on the arm) and could return mid-month. Unless Bonser and Garza maintain their improvements and Nevin hits like he did in Chicago rather than the way he didn’t in Texas, that might not be soon enough

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The Yankees defeated the Tigers handily yesterday behind Randy Johnson’s second strong outing in as many tries against Detroit. Johnson, whose ERA was just shy of six before he threw six scoreless innings in Detroit back on May 29, dominated for eight innings, holding the Tigers to two runs on three hits and no walks while striking out eight. Of course, two of those three hits were solo homers by Magglio Ordoñez and Omar Infante (!). Not that it mattered much. The Yankees touched up Jeremy Bonderman for four runs in just over five innings, and for the first time since his home run in Seattle a week ago, Alex Rodriguez was in the middle of the action.

After popping out in his first at-bat, Rodriguez came to the plate in the third with two outs and Bobby Abreu on second via a double. He took two balls, then delivered just his second hit since that Seattle home run 21 at-bats earlier, a two-out RBI single into left center to tie the Tigers, who had taken an early lead on Ordoñez’s solo homer. After Abreu singled home a pair of runs in the fourth, also with two outs, Rodriguez led off the fifth by doubling on a 3-1 count and then scored on a Bernie Williams single. Rodriguez again lead off an inning in his next at-bat, again getting ahead early, then blasting a 2-1 pitch off lefty reliever Jamie Walker for a solo home run to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead. Rodriguez finished the day 3 for 4 with two RBIs, two runs scored, seven total bases and one stolen base. Robbie Cano and Bernie Williams added another run after Alex’s homer via a double and a single respectively and the Yanks took a 6-2 lead into the ninth.

Entering the ninth inning having thrown 94 pitches, Johnson walked Craig Monroe on four more, then fell behind Marcus Thames, whose first major league hit was a homer of Johnson in the Bronx when Thames was a Yankee and Randy was a Diamondback. Johnson took the gimme strike, then Thames fouled off three pitches before taking the Unit deep yet again to bring the Tigers within two. That sent Johnson to the showers and brought in Mariano Rivera, who started out by giving up a ringing double to Ordoñez, but then set the next three men down in order to preserve the 6-4 win.

The Yankees finish the year with a 5-2 record against the team with the American League’s best record, both loses coming in games in which the Yankees held a ninth-inning lead, but were unable to use Rivera to nail down the win (the first loss came in Detroit after Mo strained his back putting on his spikes two days after pitching three innings to earn a win). Not too shabby. Unfortunately, there’s little chance of these two teams matching up in the ALDS.

As it stands, the Yankees are a pretty good bet to be the first-round host of the central division team that wins the Wild Card. The Tigers, even if they finish with the best record, can’t play a team in their own division in the ALDS, which would pass the Wild Card team on to the team with the second best record. Thus, the Yankees would play the Wild Card if they finished with either the first or second best record in the league. Only if they fell to third-best, or if the A’s rose to the top of the heap (they’re currently 5 1/2 games behind the Tigers and 2 1/2 behind the Yankees), or if the Tigers fell into the Wild Cart spot (their 4.5 game division lead is the smallest of the three in the AL) would we get a Yankees-Tigers ALDS match-up.

Got all that? Good, because there’s a glut of news to report:

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At least it’ll just have to do, won’t it? The Yankees were set to swipe the second game last night but an enervated Scott Proctor walked two men and then hung a slider to Craig Monroe who belted a three-run dinger which propelled the Tigers a 5-3 win. The Bombers only managed to get three hits in the entire game. Down 2-0 in the sixth, Sal Fassano was hit by a pitch and he moved to third on a double to the left-center field gap by Melky Cabrera. Derek Jeter followed and doubled them both in. Then he stole third. Jason Giambi was intentionally walked and Alex Rodriguez–who had another rough go of it offensively, though he seems to have steadied himself in the field–tapped a slow grounder to third. Brandon Inge threw Rodriguez out but the go-ahead run scored and that’s how things stood until the ninth.

Having pitched earlier in the day, Mariano Rivera was unavailable, and Kyle Farnsworth’s creaky back prevented Torre from using him as well. Enter Proctor, who also appeared in the first game. Nefi Perez grounded out to start the ninth, but then Proctor walked Inge, and with two men out, he could not put Curtis Granderson–leading the majors in whiffs–away. With a full count, Granderson fouled off two fastballs before Proctor let another heater sail high-and-wide for ball four. Monroe crunched Proctor’s first pitch, a hanging breaking ball, for a homer and Todd Jones retired the Yankees in order in the ninth.

It’s hard to get too steamed about the loss, yet it was regrettable all the same, particularly considering how well Jaret Wright pitched.

“I’m not real happy with it,” Proctor said. “I’ve got to attack guys like I have all year. It’s embarrassing, the two walks. The home run, you’re not happy about, but you can’t walk guys. I’m better than that.”
(Anthony McCarron, N.Y. Daily News)

It is overcast and chilly in New York this morning. Though I’m sure we haven’t seen the very last of warm weather, it feels like October around here today. The Big Unit goes against Jeremy Bonderman in a matinee at the Stadium. Should be a good one.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

The Yankees won the first game of today’s double header with ease, thanks to yet another stellar pitching performance by the Big Easy himself, Chien-Ming Wang. Wang didn’t allow a man past first base in his first seven innings, scattering just four baserunners. Carlos Guillen walked in the second and was thrown out stealing thanks to yet another perfect throw from Jorge Posada. Brandon Inge and Alexis Gomes singled in the third and sixth respectively, both on groundballs just beyond Alex Rodriguez’s reach at third (Alex also made a couple of nice stops, one to his left, one to his right). Finally, Sean Casey reached on an error in the fifth when a sinking throw from Derek Jeter skipped through Craig Wilson’s legs at first (Jeter got the error).

With Wang dominating, the Yankees got all they needed in the bottom of the fifth when Wilson, making up for the play on Casey, drilled a 1-0 pitch from lefty Nate Robertson deep into the left field box seats to start the inning. Johnny Damon then drew a seven-pitch walk (the only one Robertson issued all day), Jeter singled him to third, and Jason Giambi plated him with a sac fly to make it 2-0.

And that’s how it ended. On to start the eighth inning having already thrown 97 pitches, Wang got Casey to ground out on his first pitch, the 13th Tiger groundout of the day. He then walked Neifi! Perez on five pitches and nearly threw away a 0-1 pitch to Inge (nice backhand stop by Posada) before getting him to fly out to Damon. Curtis Granderson followed by getting the first fly ball hit of the game, a double that split Damon and Cabrera in the left field gap and pushed Neifi! to third. Joe Torre then called on Scott Proctor who got pinch-hitter Magglio Ordoñez to fly out on his first pitch to end the inning. Mariano Rivera worked around a two-out single by righty-hitting switch-hitter Carlos Guillen for a 14-pitch ninth and that was that.

The Yankees now have an 8 game lead in the AL East (nine in the loss column) and are just two games behind Detroit for the Major Leagues’ best record. Wang, meanwhile, won his 16th game, tying him for the major league lead, and has been dominant in his last two outings despite now having thrown thirty more innings than his previous career high.

What’s more, the Yankee bullpen remains rested for tonight’s nightcap. After two days off thanks to last night’s rain out, Scott Proctor has thrown one pitch and Mariano Rivera has thrown 14. No one else even warmed up during this afternoon’s game. Mo won’t be available, but Torre has everyone else ready to go for tonight’s game, which pits Jaret Wright against Wilfredo Ledezma.

Wright has been terrible in his last two starts, but they were separated by eight days and two relief appearances. That is to say, the most recent could be excused due to rust, while the one prior to that was a scheduled disaster after three straight wins in which he allowed just one run per game. Not that I expect much from him tonight.

Ledezma, meanwhile, is a busted starting prospect who has finally put it together out of the bullpen at age 25. Ledezma has made just one other start this year, holding the powerful Indians offense scoreless on a pair of walks and six hits over 5 2/3 innings earlier in the month. In his most recent appearance, five days ago, he held the defending World Champion White Sox scoreless in four innings of relief, thus stealing the rotation spot of that day’s starting pitcher, Zach Miner (1 1/3 IP, 6 R in that game). Ledezma also posted a 2.52 ERA in twelve starts with triple-A Toledo with a 2.87 K/BB ratio. Could be he’s not a busted prospect, but merely a delayed one. Lord help the AL if the Tigers come up with yet another dominant young pitcher.

Incidentally, Ledezma is no URP (Unfamiliar Rookie Pitcher). The Yanks tagged him for seven runs in four innings in the Bronx last May. In that game, both Posada and Rodriguez took Ledezma deep, Rodriguez twice. Of course, Ledezma appears to have been a different pitcher last year, when he struggled both in the majors and at triple-A, than this year, when he’s dominated both.

The Yankees were rained-out last night and will play a two games today–Chien-Ming Wang will start this afternoon, while Jaret Wright goes this evening (the Big Unit will start tomorrow). The Bombers gained a half-a-game on the Red Sox, who lost 2-1 in Oakland last night (now, Beckett starts to pitch well, right?). It was the fifth straight loss for Boston and the 11th in their last 13 games. Manny Ramirez and Willy Mo Pena returned to the east coast to undergo medical testing while David Ortiz will be carefully monitored at Mass General. I hope that Ortiz will pull through and be able to resume his career. The Yankees are thinking about him as well:

“It’s never comforting to know a player has a physical problem, even if we are competing with them for the East,” Joe Torre said. “Certainly I like the fact that he’s not playing but I don’t like the fact that he’s not playing for that reason.”

…”He’s very important in that clubhouse,” said Mike Myers, who also came over from the Sox during the offseason. “You can’t ignore his numbers and all he does for the team. And within the clubhouse when I was there . . . he was one of the best personalities to have.”
(Roger Rubin, N.Y. Daily News)

The Red Sox, however, may be looking toward next year already; according to the Boston Globe, they are reportedly listening to offers for Boomer Wells. Injuries and lousy pitching have simply devastated the Sox.

Meanwhile, while the New York papers continue to harp on the Carl Pavano story, Hideki Matsui will take live batting practice today in the indoor batting cage at Yankee Stadium:

Matsui said he is generally pleased with how he’s progressing. “In terms of being pain-free, that’s something I definitely feel good about,” he said before last night’s Yankee game with Detroit was rained out. “I’m very satisfied.

“I’m still working on my mechanics and little things. That’s kind of where I’m at right now. I’m definitely still being conscious about the wrist when I swing. Eventually I’ll really move on to working on my mechanics thoroughly.”

Matsui said the actual mechanics of his swing aren’t that bad, but he needs to improve his timing.
(Michael Morrissey, N.Y. Post)

Matsui will likely be relegated to DHing when he returns but it now seems as if we’ll see the return of Godzilla before all is said and done this year.

Yesterday’s off day signaled the approaching end of the toughest stretch of the Yankees’ 2006 schedule. Their marathon of 18 games in 17 days is now history and just six home games against a pair of potential playoff opponents from the AL Central remain of a brutal 27-game stretch that began three weeks ago in Chicago.

That 18-game stretch was a success, but only because of the Yankees’ five-game sweep of the Red Sox which inflated their lead in the AL East to the current 6.5 games. While that sweep was a singular accomplishment that can and should not be diminished, it was also the only of the five series over that stretch that the Yankees won, as they went 5-8 against the Angels, Orioles, and Mariners. Prior to that, they had dropped two out of three to the White Sox and even with the Boston series included, they’re just one game over .500 since the White Sox series. In fact, one could argue that the Yankees’ 6.5 game lead in the east has far more to do with the Red Sox collapse (Boston is 8-18 in August) than anything the Yankees have done, other than take advantage of that collapse head-to-head.

Now they have six games against the Tigers and Twins. The good news is that the Twins have a losing record on the road and, while the Tigers still have the best record in the major leagues, their star has faded to the point that the Yankees could tie them with a three-game sweep. The Tigers are currently suffering through a losing August, having gone 12-14 thus far this month including a 3-7 performance against Wild Card hopefuls Minnesota and Chicago. This past weekend they dropped two of three to a revitalized Indians club.

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The Red Sox were blanked in Oakland last night and now trail the Yankees by seven games in the AL East. Meanwhile in the Big Apple, as the Yankees prepare for a difficult week, the back page of the tabloids read, “Crash Test Dummy.” Ah, yes, the continuing saga of Carl Pavano. Oh, and there is still more on the struggling Alex Rodriguez, if you still have the stomach for that sort of thing. Cliff will have a preview of the Tigers series later in the day. It should be an exciting week.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

Hey, yo. Our apologies for not getting a post up earlier. We may not be the Iron Horse, but we’re steady enough. Every once in a while, life gets in the way. As you all know, with the Yankees on the west coast last week, Cliff held things down lovely. Meanwhile, I was up in Vermont at Emilys’ folks’ place for a long weekend and had little to no Internet access. Spotted to an early 8-0 lead, the Yanks had to fend off those unbelievably pesky Halos all the same. Final Score: Yanks 11, Angels 8. The two signature everyday players of the Joe Torre Era, Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter, led the way. Robbie Cano had a nice afternoon as well, and the slumping Alex Rodriguez got a hit as well (though he whiffed three more times). After the Sox fell to the Mariners again, New York’s lead in the AL East is back to six-and-a-half games, exactly where it was when the Bombers left for the west coast a week ago. 2-4, just like BP’s Joe Sheehan predicted.

Boston plays Oakland tonight while the Yanks return home for what promises to be two exciting match-ups this week in the BX: the Tigers followed by the Twinkies.

Meanwhile, can Carl Pavano be anymore snakebit than he’s already been? I can’t tell if he’s legtimately brittle or if he’s a chump. (Could be a little bit of both, no?) Maybe his latest injury won’t prevent him from rejoining the team, but this has developed a life of its own, man. I mean, dag.

Yo, lemme tell you something. Vermont is dope. Mad beautiful and all. But it’s good to be home. Missed you guys.

A pair of rookies face off in Anaheim this afternoon as the Yankees try to salvage the final game of their final west coast swing of the year and avoid being swept by those raggm fraggm Angels.

In his first major league start in Seattle earlier this week, 23-year-old Jeffrey Karstens, who looks like an uglier cross between Gilbert Godfried and Humphrey Bogart (or maybe the old Warner Bros. cartoon characature of Bogey), stayed in the strike zone (66 percent strikes, just two walks) and got 12 of his 15 outs in the air. He also surrendered a pair of home runs, including a moon shot by Richie Sexson. That fly ball tendency could spell disaster against the free-swinging Angels, who had nine extra base hits in yesterday’s game.

Opposing Karstens will be 25-year-old lefty Joe Saunders, who has done well in five of his six starts this year including holding the Yankees to three runs on a six hits and a pair of walks over six innings when last these two teams met.

One things’ for sure, tomorrow’s off day couldn’t come soon enough, and whether the Yankees are up by ten or down by twenty, Mariano Rivera should finally see some action today, if for no other reason than he’s the most rested man in an exhausted bullpen that finally collapsed in yesterday’s ugly loss.

Speaking of exhausted, Jason Giambi, who left yesterday’s game due to “body-wide cramps” and dehydration, and Melky Cabrera, who has played every game since late May (!), get the day off, and Robinson Cano gets a day at DH. Nick Green and Bernie Williams, the good one that hits lefties, play the field. Bernie starts in left field for just the fifth time this season. Alex Rodriguez is back in the clean-up spot and Craig Wilson starts at first base against the lefty. Just win this one, boys, and you can go home and rest.

Man, oh man, do the Halos have the Yankees number or what? Every team has a nemesis, for Pete’s sake. I shifted back-and-forth from resignation to frustration yesterday afternoon, as the Angels beat the Yankees again, this time 12-7, in a contentious game out in California. About the only redeeming thing that occured was that last night, Boston dropped their second straight game to the Mariners. The Yanks’ lead in the AL East holds at five-and-a-half. However, the Red Sox now trail the Twins by five-and-a-half in the wildcard race (the White Sox are a game-and-a-half behind Minnie).

Actually, the Ray Milland Achievement Award goes to Alex Rodriguez who went 0-5 again yesterday, whiffing three more times, after having struck out four times on Friday night. He looks completely lost at the plate, as if he’s mentally gotten himself out before he even steps into the batter’s box. It has been nothing short of painful to watch. The same can be said for the entire game as well.

According to the Times:

“What can you do?” Torre said. “You don’t remake Alex Rodriguez. With the history of what he’s done, certainly there’s not a need for that. Human beings play this game, and certain things you can’t explain, other than to say he’s human.

“It’s just changing the furniture around. It may give him a little feel of, ‘Let’s start something here,’ because that’s what we need. We need him not only in the lineup. We need him to produce.”

Torre said he did not know where Rodriguez would hit Sunday, although he doubted he would give him the day off. Still, Rodriguez’s frustration has become obvious — he flung his bat after a strikeout on a check swing in the sixth — and his struggles have made an impact.

“They’re hurting him and they’re hurting us,” Torre said. “But we know what’s there and we know he needs to break out, just basically for his own confidence. And if he gets that back, we benefit from it.”

Ah nertz, no use moaning about it. Today is another day, and you’ve got to believe that this is the day the Yanks will come out and find a way to beat the Angels.

I know I used the first half of that headline the last time Cory Lidle pitched, but Lidle did go out and throw six scoreless innings against the Red Sox in the final game of the massacre that day, so forgive me for going back to the well as the Yankees look to even their series with the Angels at one game a piece.

Save for the one time he took the mound with a stomach virus, Lidle has tossed three quality starts in his four Yankee appearances, considering the fact that he was acquired to fill a spot in the rotation that hadn’t received a quality start since May 6, the Yankees can’t have asked for much more. The curious footnote to that is that that one poor outing, though it did come while he was sick, also came against the Angels.

Ervin Santana takes the hill for the Angels. He last faced the Yankees in his season debut back on April 8 and held a very different team to one run on two hits and a walk in 5 2/3 innings. Since then, the 23-year-old Santana has developed a Chien-Ming Wang like home/road split, which is troubling for both Santana and the Yankees. In Anaheim this year, Santana is 7-2 with a 2.83 ERA a 1.08 WHIP and a .218 batting average against. He’s also been mighty stingy with the long ball, allowing just five home runs in 89 innings at home (that’s 0.51 per nine innings). In fact, Santana’s had just one poor outing at home all year, that coming against the White Sox back on April 30 when he lasted seven innings, walked one, and struck out four, but also allowed five runs on eight hits.

I’ll make a bold prediction: there’s no way the Yankees will be able to win today without a contribution from Mariano Rivera.

Jaret Wright was awful last night, needing 91 pitches to get through just 3 2/3 innings and leaving at that point with runners on the corners and his team in a 3-0 hole. Ron Villone struck out Garret Anderson to end that threat, but worked himself into a bases-loaded jam in the fifth. Still, Villone managed to escape that inning having allowed just one run and the Yankees, with a two-spot in the fourth and sixth, climbed out of their early hole.

With the game knotted at 4-4 in bottom of the sixth, Joe Torre turned to Scott Proctor, who set down the heart of the Angel order on nine pitches. Craig Wilson, pinch-hitting for starter Aaron Guiel, creamed a one-out double off John Lackey in the top of the seventh, driving the Angel starter from the game. Scot Shields came on and walked Melky Cabrera on four pitches. Johnny Damon the pushed Wilson to third via a fielder’s choice that retired Cabrera and stole second. With a 2-2 count on Derek Jeter, Shields threw a 50-foot pitch that bounced clean over catcher Jose Molina’s head. Wilson broke for home as the ball ricocheted hard off the backstop back to Molina, who then flipped to Sheilds covering home, but Sheilds’ tag was a hair late and a bit too high to get the sliding Wilson, giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead. Derek Jeter struck out on the next pitch to end the inning.

Unfortunately, the Angles came right back against Proctor, with Howie Kendrick leading off the seventh with a double, moving to third on an Adam Kennedy single and scoring on a pinch-hit sac fly off the bat of Orlando Cabrera.

With score tied again at 5-5, Shields, Kyle Farnsworth and Francisco Rodriguez exchanged scoreless frames, and, with lefty Garret Anderson leading off the ninth, Joe Torre brought in Mike Myers. Anderson had reached base against Myers just once in 18 previous attempts, striking out four times, but those stats aside, Torre made the wrong move.

On Tuesday the Yankees lost to the Mariners in the bottom of the ninth when Torre stuck with a winded Ron Villone instead of turning to Mariano Rivera in a sudden death situation. The logic then was that Rivera had been declared unavailable before the game because of the 30 pitches he had thrown two days before in Boston. I was skeptical then–as that outing had been preceded by a day off, an easy 14-pitch outing, and two more days off–but coming off the Boston sweep, there was no reason for Torre to make Rivera pitch if there was any concern about fatigue.

Last night, however, Rivera still hadn’t pitched since that outing in Boston. That added up to four days off and just two appearances over the last nine games. Why then, did Torre go to Myers and not Rivera with the game on the line? Mo has dominated Anderson nearly as much as Myers, holding him to two hits and a walk in 14 confrontations. What’s more, Anderson was 0 for 4 coming into that at-bat and was leading off an inning. Why not bring in Rivera there to face Anderson, the hot-hitting Juan Rivera and Howie Kendrick, who was 2 for 4 with that key double in his last trip?

There are only two possible answers to that question. 1) Something is wrong with Rivera that we don’t know about, or 2) Jeff Weaver Syndrome.

Of course, Anderson doubled of Myers, just his second career hit off the LOOGY. So with the winning run in scoring position in the person of pinch-runner Reggie Willits, Joe Torre went back to his pen and called on . . . Octavio Dotel? Maybe something really is wrong with Rivera.

Juan Rivera hit Dotel’s first pitch into left for a single, pushing Willits to third. Dotel’s next four tosses intentionally walked Kendrick to load the bases and set up the force at home. Bases loaded, no outs, tie game, bottom of the ninth. To Dotel’s credit, with the infield playing in on the lip of the grass to try to cut Willits down at home, he got Adam Kennedy to pop out to shortstop for the first out, setting up a possible inning-ending double play. He then got ahead of Mike Napoli 1-2 and threw what looked like strike three to the top outside corner of the zone only to have home plate ump Bill Welke call it ball two. Napoli then battled the count full and flew out to left, just deep enough to score Willits with the winning run.

Peter Abraham reports that the Yankees insist that nothing’s wrong with Mariano Rivera. If that’s the case, then there’s definitely something wrong with Joe Torre.

The Yankees can break even on their current west coast swing and their season series against the Angels by taking two out of three in Anaheim this weekend. Not that it’s going to be easy. All three pitching matchups favor the Halos and the Angels always play the Yankees hard with or without that up-front advantage.

Tonight the Yankees sent Jaret Wright to face John Lackey. In the finale of their series two weeks ago in the Bronx, the Yankees put 15 men on base against Lackey in seven innings, but managed just three runs before finally breaking through against Brendan Donnelly in the eighth. Two days before that, Wright held the Angels to one run on just two hits but four walks in his usual 5 1/3 innings. Wright hasn’t started in eight days, but has pitched a pair of innings out of the pen in that span with mixed results. Lackey’s turn has come up just once since that outing in New York, in that start he was roughed up by the Mariners for five runs on twelve hits in 4 2/3 innings despite an excellent 7:1 K/BB.

The Angles have only made two roster changes since we last saw them, swapping out righty reliever Chris Bootcheck for another in Greg Jones and replacing Curtis Pride, who landed on the disabled list, with switch-hitting rookie outfielder Reggie Willits. They have however shuffled their line-up somewhat, with Robb Quinlan finally getting the majority of the starts at first base, Howie Kendrick platooning at second base with Adam Kennedy, and Mike Napoli getting the bulk of the starts behind the plate.

For the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez returns to the line-up and third base, while Aaron Guiel gets his first career start at first. Guiel had never played first base in the majors before joining the Yankees, though he has appeared their three times already for the Bombers. The Guiel move is very encouraging, as it is the left-handed Guiel, not switch-hitter-in-name-only Bernie Williams, who should be platooning with the struggling Craig Wilson (.258/.290/.394 as a Yankee). Here’s hoping Guiel is solid in the field and comes up with a big hit or two, rewarding Torre for his creativity.