The Yankees have won a number of 4-3 and 4-2 games this season (eight to be exact), but only once have they come away victorious from a game in which both teams scored fewer than three runs. They did it for a second time last night, despite Mike Mussina working inefficiently and hitting another fifth-inning pot hole.

Thing started unusually with Scott Podsednik reaching on a bunt single to lead off the game only to be thrown out stealing on the first pitch to Tadahito Iguchi. Derek Jeter then launched El Duque’s second pitch in the bottom of the first to the gap in left only to have Aaron Rowand break directly to where the ball was hit and make a full extension catch on a dead run before flopping onto the warning track. Three pitches later, Rowand caught a Robinson Cano drive on the run on the warning track in the right center gap. Hernandez then walked Sheffield on six pitches and Alex Rodriguez hit one where Rowand couldn’t get to it, half-way back in the left field box seats. 2-0 Yankees.

In the top of the second, a pair of White Sox singles back over the mound put runners on first and second with no outs. Mussina then struck out Jermaine Dye and Rowand gave the Yankees their two outs back by grounding into a double play.

The Yankees added to their lead in the bottom of the second. Tino Martinez reached on a one-out seeing eye single past Iguchi. Tony Womack, who has started the last two games because Bernie Williams is nursing a sore shoulder, followed with an opposite field slap double, just his second extra base hit since May 13 and his first double since April 26 (Womack has seven extra base hits on the season, four of them came in April). Tino moved to third on Womack’s double and scored on a groundout by Jeter for the third Yankee run. That would be all the Yankees would get. It would also be all they would need.

Mussina pitched a 1-2-3 third and got three pop-ups around a one-out Pierzynski single in the fourth. Then came the fifth. Jermaine Dye lead off with a clean single in the hole into left. Rowand followed with a double to the left field gap that both Matsui and Womack misplayed. As Dye came home with the first Chicago run, the relay throw veered toward the White Sox dugout. Rowand them moved to third on a Crede groundout to Cano and scored on a Uribe sac fly to Matsui. After having completely imploded in the fifth inning of his last start, Mussina gave up two-thirds of the Yankee lead in the fifth inning of this one, while laboring his way to 91 pitches, finally striking out Podsednik with a full count to end the inning.

Mussina then retired the first two men in the sixth before giving up a bloop single to Konerko and a ground-rule double to Timo Perez, who, testifying to the poor quality of the Chicago bench, started at designated hitter with Jurassic Carl Everett still nursing a groin injury. Mussina then battled Jermaine Dye over eight pitches, getting ahead with strike one, then 1-2, before Dye worked the count full, fouling off a pair of pitches in the process. Finally, Mussina’s 123rd pitch of the night came in over the middle of the plate, just above the knee, and broke inside and down as Dye swung over it for strike three, ending the White Sox threat and Mussina’s night.

After that, the Yankees’ Big Three did their job in style. Sturtze needed eight pitches (seven strikes) to work a 1-2-3 seventh. Gordon needed just eight more tosses to work a perfect eighth. Finally, Mariano Rivera threw seven strikes, not allowing a ball past the infield and blowing away Rowand with a high heater to nail down the 3-2 win, converting his career-best 30th consecutive save opportunity.

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Chicago White Sox

2005 Record: 72-38 (.655)
2005 Pythagorean Record: 66-44 (.600)

Manager: Ozzie Guillen
General Manager: Kenny Williams

Ballpark (2004 park factors): U.S. Cellular Field

Who’s replaced whom?

Scott Podsednik replaced Carlos Lee
Jermaine Dye replaced John Valentin
Tadahito Iguchi replaced Willie Harris (minors)
Carl Everett replaced Magglio Ordonez
A.J. Pierzynski replaced Ben Davis (minors) and Miguel Olivo
Geoff Blum replaced Ross Gload (minors)
Orlando Hernandez replaced Scott Schoeneweis
Dustin Hermanson replaced Billy Koch and a chunk of Jon Adkins
Luis Vizcaino replaced Mike Jackson
Bobby Jenks replaced Shingo Takatsu (released)

Current Roster:

1B – Paul Konerko
2B – Tadahito Iguchi
SS – Juan Uribe
3B – Joe Crede
C – A.J. Pierzynski
RF – Jermaine Dye
CF – Aaron Rowand
LF – Scott Podsednik
DH – Carl Everett

Bench:

S – Geoff Blum (IF)
L – Timo Perez (OF)
R – Pablo Ozuna (IF)
R – Chris Widger (C)

Rotation:

L – Mark Buehrle
R – Jon Garland
R – Orlando Hernandez
R – Jose Contreras
R – Freddy Garcia

Bullpen:

R – Dustin Hermanson
L – Neal Cotts
R – Cliff Politte
L – Damaso Marte
R – Luis Vizcaino
R – Bobby Jenks
R – Jon Adkins

DL: R – Frank Thomas (DH)

Typical Line-up

L – Scott Podsednik (LF)
R – Tadahito Iguchi (2B)
S – Carl Everett (DH)
R – Paul Konerko (1B)
L – A.J. Pierzynski (C)
R – Jermaine Dye (RF)
R – Aaron Rowand (CF)
R – Joe Crede (3B)
R – Juan Uribe (SS)

(more…)

Well, here it is. Stephen Rodrick’s profile on Gary Sheffield for New York Magazine. Truthfully, there is little here that will come of any great surprise: Sheffield has a chip on his shoulder, can be difficult with the press, and has an innate ability to speak his mind and say “controversial” things. You don’t say.

“I just don’t enjoy the game the way you want me to,” says Sheffield. By “you” he means reporters, for sure, but also many fans. “People say about me, ‘He’s moody,’ but I don’t see them in the same mood every day. Some days I feel like talking, some days I don’t. Some days I don’t feel like looking at you. I’m tired of looking at you. And I’m sure you’re tired of looking at me. They’re trying to catch me in a moment where I’m vulnerable. They’re trying to do damage. I don’t do damage to no one.”

Maybe sometimes to himself, but that’s nothing a two-run home run won’t cure.

Okay, first the bad news. Randy Johnson’s stiff back may force him to miss his start this week. According to Tyler Kepner in The New York Times:

“It’s real tight, so it’s hard to move around,” he said after receiving extensive pregame treatment. “Just the normal aches and pains, but today there’s the back spasm, so there’s a little bit more discomfort.”

Though his back has been a persistent issue this season, it has not caused him to miss a start. That could change this week.

“Let’s put it this way: If he feels the way he does today, he can’t pitch,” Manager Joe Torre said. “He’s been dealing with this issue and other issues. There are a lot of things he has to attend to before he pitches every fifth day. He’s uncomfortable today. Is it going to affect his next start? We need a day or two to know that.”

Meanwhile, Carl Pavano was scratched from his scheduled return on Tuesday. Instead, Pavano will visit Dr. James Andrews and there is talk that his season is over.

(more…)

‘Nuff said.

Randy Johnson allowed six runs in four innings and did not return for the fifth as the Yankees lost 8-5 in Toronto. As a result, the Bombers lose another game in the wildcard standings as the A’s won again, but kept pace with the Sox who fell to the Twins for the second straight day.

Tyler Kepner wonders how much of Johnson’s ineffectiveness has to do with his back. While we don’t know for sure what the status of Johnson’s health is, his performance has been uneven all year:

“There’ve been some games where I’ve gotten roughed up where I felt like, ‘O.K., I made a pitch here, I made a pitch there,’ ” Johnson said. “Today, I didn’t make a pitch all day. I wasn’t effective, for whatever reason. Obviously, if I knew, I would have corrected it. But I threw every pitch that I had.”

If Johnson and Mussina are not able to lead the pitching staff–like our old friends, with the help of one Roy Oswalt, are doing down in Houston–then it is likely that the Yankees will miss the playoffs this year. It’s not terribly complicated: the Yankees desperately need greatness from their top two starters.

We could be in for a long one this afternoon as Curtain Call Al Leiter performs in a matinee. Let’s hope it’s not “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” Stay away from the O’Neill, Al, and you can skip the Arthur Miller while you are at it. Keep it snappy and light like “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” Or some cornball Neil Simon affair.

Break a leg, boys.

Michael Kay and Ken Singleton were discussing Gary Sheffield’s latest comments as Sheffield came to bat in the first inning. No sooner had Kay reported that Sheffield told reporters before the game that his words were taken out of context, the Yankees’ right fielder lined a two-run homer to left. Hey babe, say what you want, just keeping mashing. As far as what he told the press, Sheffield is at his usual upfront (and confounding) best:

“That’s the life of being me,” Sheffield said at Rogers Center on Friday. “It’s tough for me to do interviews. When people have pens, they have motives. It was supposed to be a positive interview.”

…Of all the two people you pick, you pick probably the two guys I trust most in all of baseball,” Sheffield said. “Not just on this team, but in all of baseball. Dearest friends, closest friends, personal relationships. That ain’t even worth commenting on or defending.”

…Of Jeter, he said Friday: “Jeter’s our captain – he’s not the leader, he’s the captain. So that’s a different ballgame. Every team I’ve been on, everybody leads in different ways. So it’s not no shot at one particular person. There’s a lot of leaders in baseball. That’s what it was about.”
(N.Y.Times)

Neither Jeter or Rodriguez seemed to be upset about Sheffield’s comments. Nothing to see here, let’s move along.

After Friday night’s tidy 6-2 win in Toronto, Randy Johnson goes to the hill for the Yanks this afternoon. The Bombers gained a game in the AL East standings.

Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon have given the Yankees five good starts. Johnson and Mussina need to be lights out.

Toronto Blue Jays

2005 Record: 55-52 (.514)
2005 Pythagorean Record: 61-46 (.574)

Manager: John Gibbons
General Manager: J.P. Ricciardi

Ballpark (2004 park factors): Rogers Centre (106/105)

Who’s replaced whom?

Aaron Hill has replaced John McDonald (Tigers)
Scott Downs has replaced Roy Halladay (DL)
Dustin McGowan has replaced Ted Lilly (DL)
Brandon League has replaced Matt Whiteside (minors)

Current Roster:

1B – Eric Hinske
2B – Orlando Hudson
SS – Russ Adams
3B – Corey Koskie
C – Gregg Zaun
RF – Alexis Rios
CF – Vernon Wells
LF – Frank Catalanotto
DH – Shea Hillenbrand

Bench:

R – Reed Johnson (OF)
R – Aaron Hill (IF)
R – Frank Menechino (IF)
R – Ken Huckaby (C)

Rotation:

L – Gustavo Chacin
L – Scott Downs
R – Josh Towers
R – David Bush
R – Dustin McGowan

Bullpen:

R – Miguel Batista
R – Justin Speier
L – Scott Schoeneweis
R – Jason Frasor
R – Vinnie Chulk
R – Pete Walker
R – Brandon League

DL:

R – Roy Halladay
L – Ted Lilly

Typical Line-up

L – Russ Adams (SS)
L – Frank Catalanotto (LF)
R – Vernon Wells (CF)
R – Shea Hillenbrand (DH)
L – Corey Koskie (3B)
S – Gregg Zaun (C)
L – Eric Hinske (1B)
R – Alexis Rios (RF)
S – Orlando Hudson (2B)

(more…)

With the 231st street station closed for repairs this summer, the fastest way for me to get to my apartment is by getting off on 238th street and walking. About seven blocks from the station is a mountain of a steps. There are eight levels, each comprised of sixteen steps. After you make it past the first four flights, there is a rest area where you can catch your breath or puke your guts out, whichever comes first. Since the station at 231 has been closed for a few months now, I no longer suck wind by the time I get to the top of the stairs. Still, at the end of the day–particularly in these dog days of summer–the schlepp isn’t exactly something to look forward to.

As I approached the stairs last night, I took my head out of my book and saw an old man in shorts ahead of me. Carrying two plastic shopping bags, he was walking oddly, almost hopping, as if he wanted to jog but just didn’t have it in him to move any faster than he was already going. I caught up to him at the bottom of the steps and said hello. “Two-at-a-time,” he announced in a thick Bronx accent. Well, if he was up for it, so was I. We started chatting–I told he reminded me of Art Carney. The conservation kind of died so I asked if he was a baseball fan. He said he was.

“Yankee fan?”

Nope. I figured it was a stretch that he’d be a Dodger fan so far north, so I said, “Giants?”

(more…)

The batboy that the Cleveland Indians provide to visiting ballclubs at Jacobs field is a portly, Asian, Ohio State student who keeps the cleanest dugout in the major leagues. According to the YES broadcasters, the Yankees have absolutely fallen in love with this bulbous batboy who actually sweeps the visiting dugout when the team is in the field. Their fondness for the kid was on display in the bottom of the sixth inning last night when, as he swept his way past Randy Johnson, the Big Unit stood up and took over for him, sweeping sunflower seed shells and such into a neat pile, then going to grab a dust pan.

Johnson didn’t actually pitch last night, but thanks in part to the old reverse jinx, he was the only player on either side of last night’s contest with a broom in his hand as the Yankees fended off the Cleveland sweep with a surprising ninth-inning rally, winning the final game of the series 4-3 (curiously the same score my softball team–which almost never triumphs–won by on Wednesday night, also overcoming a 3-2 deficit in our last at-bat).

As the final score might indicate, the game was something of a pitcher’s duel, at least through the first six innings. Kevin Millwood was fantastic, needing just 94 pitches, 76 percent of them strikes, to get through eight innings (8 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 8 K). Shawn Chacon was less efficient, needing 104 pitches (a hair under 60 percent of them strikes) to get through six plus a batter.

Still, perhaps due to my low expectations, I was impressed by Chacon’s performance. Despite working deep into counts, Chacon–who wears his uniform baggy and his hat slightly to the side with the brim almost flat in the style of the younger generation of African-American ballplayers such as the Marlins’ Dontrelle Willis and Juan Pierre, the Indians’ C.C. Sabathia and Coco Crisp, and the Mets’ Mike Cameron–was working close to the strike zone and making hitters miss with a very effective curve ball. The extra-wide (but consistent) strike zone of home plate umpire Bob Davison surely helped, as Chacon walked just two men while striking out four (three of them looking at pitches on or off the corners) but, although it was technically earned, the only run that scored on his watch was entirely the fault of his defense.

(more…)

With starting pitchers Al Leiter and Mike Mussina having handed over the first two games of the Yankees’ series at the Jake, is there anyone out there who has confidence that Shawn Chacon won’t do the same tonight?

Remember, Chacon is 0-15 with a 6.89 ERA for his career after July 31. MLB.com adds the fact that Chacon has “a 2-20 record since the 2003 All-Star break,” and “will still be seeking only his third win since June 23, 2003.”

Kevin Millwood, meanwhile, boasts a 3.18 ERA and has turned in quality starts in his last four outings and in six of his last seven outings. Another scary thought for the Yankees, the Indians may finally activate Travis Hafner tonight (incidentally, it was Ramon Vazquez whom the Indians called up to fill the 25th spot on their roster).

The Red Sox and A’s have already won today (with Matt Clement and Barry Zito both earning their eleventh wins, the former thanks to an eight-run fourth inning turned in by the Boston offense) and the Yankees enter tonight’s game just a half game up on the Indians in the Wild Card hunt.

Break out those voodoo dolls, the Yanks are gonna need ’em tonight.

Book Excerpt

Chapter 17 from “Juicing the Game.”

By Howard Bryant

(Part Two. For Part One click here.)

At the beginning of the 2000 season, Barry Bonds was in a place familiar to most thirty-five-year-old athletes. It looked as if his body was beginning to crumble. The 1999 season had been particularly rough on him. He reported to spring training and immediately began suffering from back spasms. Before the first month of the season was over, Bonds was in a cast, scheduled to miss two and a half months rehabilitating from elbow surgery. He suffered through his worst season in San Francisco. His power numbers were good, 34 home runs and a .617 slugging percentage, yet he hit just .262 and saw his on-base percentage dip below .400 for the first time since the eighties. More than any other statistic, Barry Bonds not being on the field was the most telling. He had played in a mere 102 games, his lowest since 1989, when he was in his fourth season, still batting lead-off for Pittsburgh, and had yet to become the feared Barry Bonds. He had been durable throughout his career, playing in 888 of 908 possible games as a member of the Giants before undergoing knee and wrist surgery in 1999. In six seasons with the Giants, Bonds had never been on the disabled list, and yet was shelved twice in 1999. Bonds rebounded in 2000 to play in 143 games and hit a career-high 49 home runs.

During those two seasons, there was something about Bonds that was remarkably different. He was gigantic. During the first day of spring training in 1999, Charlie Hayes walked by Bonds and did a double take. Hayes strolled past a group of reporters and said, “Did you see my man? He was huge.” Bonds said he feared what age would do to his body, and began a weight-training program to stay fit. For a player who was always muscular but never massive, the Bonds transformation was consistent with the era. Mark McGwire in 1999 dwarfed his Oakland self. In Chicago, the Sammy Sosa who was lean and strong and could run and had an arm like Clemente had disappeared, replaced by a thick, blocky slugger. He looked like a different person.

(more…)

The Yankees were leading 4-0 last night when Derek Jeter walked to lead-off the top of the fifth. Mike Mussina was crusing (he struck out six through four innings of work) and the offense was looking alive (back-to-back doubles by Matsui and Giambi followed by a two-run dinger by Posada). Then something happened and the course of the game changed for the worse.

Inexplicably, Robinson Cano was called on to bunt Jeter to second. On the YES broadcast, Michael Kay questioned such a move while the Yankees held a decent lead. Cano took two strikes right over the plate, making half-hearted attempts to actually connect with the ball, which is to say that he squared to bunt but then tentatively pulled his bat back. He compounded the problem when did lay a bunt down on the next pitch. It rolled foul and he was retired on strikes. Third base coach Luis Sojo threw his arms up and turned his back to the plate, and when Cano reached the dugout he went straight to principal Joe Torre’s office. All I could think about was when Reggie Jackson tried to show Billy Martin by bunting with two strikes, but I doubt whether this was an intentionally defiant act on Cano’s part. It was just the wrong time for a rookie mistake.

The Yankees did not score a run in the inning and then Mussina simply lost it (he walked four). While he wasn’t getting the calls he would have liked from the home plate umpire Rob Drake, Mussina’s pitches–fastballs, change-ups and breaking balls alike–all missed their spots, hanging up over the plate instead. The Indians pounced and scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth, chasing Mussina from the game. Everything had been looking up for the Yanks. Suddenly, they were sunk, and they went listlessly in the second-half of the game. Cleveland picked up the win (and the series), 7-4. After the game, Mussina told The New York Times:

“I tried everything I had, and I thought I had good stuff,” Mussina said. “I just couldn’t get it right. For 10 hitters, I couldn’t get it right. When you have a 4-0 lead and things are going well for the club and that stuff happens, it’s frustrating, disappointing. It’s been a long time since something got away from me like that.”

Joe Torre added:

“It looked like he had knockout stuff…Then it got ugly. It got away from him; it got away from us.”

It was as discouraging a loss as the Yanks have had in a while. There were many long faces in the Yankee dugout, none more grave than Joe Torre’s–heck, I wasn’t feeling too chipper at home either. They didn’t lose any ground in the wildcard race as the A’s finally lost, but the Bombers did lose another game to the Red Sox who won their seventh straight last night in Boston.

Oy and veh.

Mike Mussina has another important start tonight in Cleveland, but who am I kidding? Every start for him is going to be important down the stretch here. Let’s hope the Yanks go batty and bounce back from yesterday’s loss. With the A’s and the Sox streaking, it behooves the Bombers to win four of their next five. That’s a whole lot of B’s, baby. Am I right or am I right?

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

Book Excerpt

It wasn’t easy to select an excerpt from Howard Bryant’s new book “Juicing the Game,” because so many of them are excellent. But I think that one of the most insightful and powerful sections focuses on Barry Bonds, the greatest player and most controversial figure of his era. So for your summertime reading pleasure, please enjoy Chapter 17 from “Juicing the Game.”

By Howard Bryant

(Part One of Two)

The problem was Barry Bonds. The BALCO testimonies combined with the commotion and compromise that led to a strengthened drug policy, one baseball executive thought, provided baseball with a special opportunity. The sport could start fresh and begin a new era of enforceable drug testing while allowing the suspicion and doubt that plagued the previous decade to slowly recede into history. Bonds, however, would not allow baseball such a clean break from the steroid era.

The problem was that he was too good. To the discomfort of some baseball officials, Bonds would soar so high above anyone who ever played the game that no one would ever be allowed to forget this difficult decade, for he was no longer one of many great players, but arguably the best ever. Bonds already owned the single-season home run record and was set to break Hank Aaron’s career record in 2005 or 2006. In addition, between 2001 and 2004 he hit for four of the top twelve slugging percentages of all time, breaking Babe Ruth’s eighty-one-year-old record in 2001, and, over the same four seasons, recorded four of the top eleven on-base percentages of all-time, breaking Ted Williams’s single season record in 2002 and then demolishing his own record by becoming the first man to reach base more than 60 percent of the time over a full season in 2004.

The result was a bitter irony to that spoke to the odd and unprecedented state of baseball: Instead of celebrating the greatest player the sport had ever produced, numerous baseball officials entered 2005 lamenting the notion that they were being handcuffed by him. Bonds stood as the symbol of the tainted era, of its bitter contradictions and great consequences. Jason Giambi’s was a more open scandal, but Bonds was more emblematic of the larger complexities. If baseball suffered from the conflict of reaping the benefits of high attendance and unprecedented mass appeal while its players individually fought the taint of illegitimacy, then Bonds’ continued ascension, first past his peers and then past every iconic standard in the game’s history, served as an eternal reminder of all the sport did not do to protect its integrity when it had the opportunity. By shattering Mays, eclipsing Ruth, outdistancing Aaron, and putting the single-season home run record even further out of reach, Bonds and the era in which he played would always be present.

Thus, the enormous specter of Barry Bonds loomed, not because of his guilt or his innocence, but precisely because of the impossible question of how much of his phenomenal achievement (and by extension the feats of his peers) was real, how much was due to his use of anabolic substances, and how no one, for or against, friend or foe, could ever discuss the greatest player of his generation or the greatest records in the sport without in turn discussing the drugs that contributed to them. Not only would the decade from 1994 to 2004 be forever associated with steroids, but so, too, would the record books. There would be no escape, either for Barry Bonds or the sport that made him famous.

(more…)

Despite droping the opening game of their series in Cleveland 6-5, the Yankees should feel good about the way they played last night. Everyone but Al Leiter that is.

Leiter was up to his usual tricks, but to a disastrous degree. He threw 21 pitches in the first inning, allowing a run on a Jhonny Peralta double that wedged in between the warning track and the padding of the left field wall and a Victor Martinez RBI single. He then threw 34 pitches in the second, walking Aaron Boone with one out, then walking ninth-place hitter Jason Dubois (who, along with first baseman Jose Hernandez, got the start with the left-handed Leiter on the mound). That brought up lead-off man Grady Sizemore who singled Boone home to make it 2-0 Indians.

The Yankees got one back when Cleveland starter Scott Elarton floated a 2-0 breaking ball to Tino Martinez to start the third and Tino deposited it in the right field stands.

Then came the bottom of the third. Having thrown 55 pitches through the first two innings, Leiter started the third with three balls to lead-off hitter Jhonny Peralta, then proceeded to walk the bases loaded, finishing the job with a four-pitch walk to Hernandez. He then got ahead of Ronnie Belliard (who’s a dead ringer for a younger, smaller Manny Ramirez, by the way) 0-2 only because Belliard fouled off three balls before taking a fourth. Leiter’s fifth pitch to Belliard was high and over the inside part of the plate and Belliard tatooedit into left for a a bases-clearing double to make it 5-1 Indians and drive Leiter from the game.

Leiter’s final line was a hideous 2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 2 K, 5 BB with just 53 percent of his 78 pitches going for strikes. After the game, Leiter talked about his lack of confidence in his fastball (though not in those words, saying instead “I don’t have an overpowering fastball” then apparently tring to convince himself that that was okay) and his refusal to “give in” to the hitter, the plate and the umpire. Throughout his conversation with YES’s Kim Jones, Leiter seemed to be trying to convince himself that he still had something left to offer, but appeared unable to do so.

(more…)

I heard you missed me, I’m baaaaack. I brought my pencil. Hey, gimme something to write on, man.

For those who didn’t notice, I’ve been away for the last ten days. I visited some friends down Fairfax Station, Virginia, took in a painfully boring 14-inning game between the Astros and Nationals at RFK, spent a day at the museums in DC, then spent six days on the island of Chincoteague. There Becky and I saw the annual pony swim and auction, relaxed on the beach, toured wetlands on Assateague Island by foot, car, bicycle and boat, rocked the mini golf, air hockey and go-karts, ate our yearly allowance of sea food, and gorged on the world-class ice cream at Muller’s. Then, on the way back up we made a stop in Philadelphia to meet the day-old daughter of one of our closest friends. All together not a bad ten days, save Becky’s frightening sunburn and the misery of driving through Delaware the long way.

While I was away I paid only marginal attention to the fates of the home nine through my friends’ internet connection, the ESPN ticker, and the surprisingly strong signal of WCBS 880 AM. From such casual observation, it seemed the Yanks were holding their own while filling their basket with every burned-out, cast-off hurler they could find on the MLB scrap heap.

Having since brought myself up-to-date via the box scores, transaction wire, and this blog (props to Alex for picking up my slack and reminding me why I so loved Bronx Banter when I was just a reader), it seems I had it about right. In the ten days I was away, the Yanks went 5-3, and in their last three series against the Twins and Angels (twice) they went 5-5. Not bad when facing such elite competition. They finished July with a 17-9 record (just their second winning month of the season and a half-game better than their 17-10 May), are 10-7 since the All-Star break and have thus far gone 13-8 through the first half of the punishingly difficult portion of their schedule. Entering tonight’s game they are comfortably in second place in both the AL East (2.5 games behind the Red Sox and 3.5 games ahead of the Blue Jays, whom they’ll face in Toronto this weekend), and the Wild Card race (2 games behind the still surging A’s and 2.5 games ahead of tonight’s opponent, the Cleveland Indians).

As for their recent spate of transactions, signing Hideo Nomo to a minor league deal was something of a no-brainer. Nomo, who turns 37 at the end of the month, may indeed be finished as a major league starter, but with four starters on the DL, three more having failed miserably in spot starts, and Aaron Small now a regular part of the rotation, the Yankees could use an insurance policy such as Nomo, who has six quality start on the season, one of which beat Randy Johnson at the Stadium back in April.

I didn’t know about the Shaw Chacon trade until I found myself listening to Chacon’s first Yankee start on the radio while on my way to pick up some lunch following a mosquito-plagued bike ride through the wetlands. Frightened that the Yankees might have given up something valuable to get him, I picked up a copy of the New York Times at the local gas station (one of two on the island from what I could tell) but the story on Chacon’s arrival mentioned only that he was acquired for two minor league pitchers, failing to print their names. It wasn’t until Sunday night that I learned that those pitchers were Ramon Ramirez and Edwardo Sierra.

Back in spring training I had listed Ramirez just below Chien-Ming Wang on the Yankees’ organizational depth chart based largely on his K/BB ratios and the fact that he had cracked the Clippers roster in each of the last two seasons. The Yankees were clearly less impressed (perhaps due to the shoulder tendonitis that interrupted his 2004 campaign, or perhaps due to his unimpressive showing in two spring training appearances), sending him back to double-A Trenton where he pitched reasonably well only to struggle again with the Clippers.

As for Sierra, originally acquired from Oakland in the Chris Hammond trade, he was once thought to be a potential successor to Mariano Rivera due to a blazing fastball and corresponding strike-out rates, but his wildness, which was once a minor concern, got out of control at single-A Tampa last year where he walked 8.32 men per nine innings. That, combined with the acquisition of James Cox in this year’s amateur draft (supposedly an only slighly lesser version of Hudson Street and his understudy at the University of Texas) made Sierra plenty expendable. Both men are 23 years old and have been assigned to the Rockies double-A club in Tulsa where they’ve thus far been knocked around.

As for Chacon himself, obviously his start on Saturday was encouraging, but I still don’t expect much out of him. While with the Rockies this year, Chacon walked more men than he struck out outside of Coors field. Over the previous four seasons he has posted a 5.21 road ERA and walked 5.03 men per nine innings outside of Denver. For those who think he could get bumped into the bullpen when/if Pavano and company return (Pavano is now expected to start on Monday, I’m no longer holding my breath), Chacon was a disaster as the Rockies closer in 2004, walking as many as he struck out, blowing nine opportunities, and posting a 7.11 ERA (6.19 on the road). Best of all, the reason Chacon was sent to the bullpen to begin with is that his stamina over the course of the season makes Paul LoDuca look like Lance Armstrong. He’s 0-15 with a 6.89 ERA for his career after July 31. I’m willing to withold judgement for a few starts, but I would be surprised to see Chacon, who is still in his arbitration years, still with the team in 2006.

Finally, it was obvious that the Yankees would pick up Alan Embree if the Red Sox were unable to trade him during the ten-day DFA period and thus were forced to release him. Indeed they did, as well they should have. Though I have to question the wisdom of subsequently dumping Buddy Groom (who was designated for assignment then traded to the Diamondbacks for a player to be named or cash, which is about as close to a bag of balls as you’re gonna get), a move which creates a roster spot not for Embree, but for for Wayne Franklin.

To me the Groom deal was a lesser version of the decision to trade Robin Ventura after the deadline acquisition of Aaron Boone in 2003, but with less justification. In 2003, the Yankees had both Ventura and Todd Zeile on the roster when the acquired Boone for Brandon Claussen. It seemed obvious that Zeile (a righty like Boone and a lesser player than the left-handed Ventura in every way) should have been the player dumped to make room for Boone. I still believe that Ventura could have made a key difference as a pinch-hitter in the postseason that year, while Zeile was released just 17 days later, ultimately to make room for Juan Rivera to platoon with Karim Garcia in right.

The difference then was that Ventura actually had some trade value as evidenced by the fact that two years later, both players acquired in that trade, Bubba Crosby and Scott Proctor, are on the Yankees 25-man roster. Groom clearly had no trade value, which makes it all the more perplexing as to why he was sent packing. The only clues we have as to why the Yankees would prefer the mystery meat of Franklin and Alex Graman to Groom are Buddy’s parting shots at Joe Torre, which echo many of my comments over the years about Joe Torre’s tenuous trust in his relievers, resulting in the division of his bullpen into “his guys” and the rest, the latter of whom pitch about once a week when the Yankees are winning, if they’re lucky.

As for Embree’s value, he claims that his early season struggles were the result of a mechanical flaw that he’s since corrected, though it’s difficult to find much proof of that in his numbers which steadily worsened over the first three months of the season and didn’t show a marked improvement in July. Still, if that’s indeed the case, he could be an essential part of the Yankee bullpen as he was for the Red Sox in 2003, 2004 and the second half of 2002. Even better, the Red Sox are paying all but $100,000 of his $3 million contract, which will only make it sweeter if he helps to neutralize David Ortiz and Trot Nixon down the stretch. If not, well, had the Yankees not dumped Groom, there would have been no risk involved. Not that Buddy Groom was any great shakes, looking at their season stats, the only real difference between Groom and Embree thus far this season is Embree’s inflated ERA, which could be the result of the pitchers who have followed him into games allowing his runners to score. And, of course, Embree’s seen a lot more action (21 more appearances to be exact).

That just about brings us up to date (I’ll save my comments on Aaron Small, the centerfield situation, and Joe Torre’s use of Andy Phillips for when they’re more obviously relevant). So, with the Yankees and I both having enjoyed yesterday’s off-day, we swing back into action tonight with a three-game series in Cleveland against:

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Slow news day, huh?

After two tense, come-from-behind wins, there isn’t much in the way of Yankee news this morning as the team prepares to start August in Cleveland (before heading for Toronto this weekend). Hideo Nomo was fuhideous in a Triple A start last night, and Shawn Chacon is happy to be away from Coors Field. No suprises there.

I read something the other day that said that Carl Pavano has been a disappointment on-and-off the field this year. I’m vaguely aware of talk that he hasn’t been communicative with the coaching staff, but Steve Lombardi has a link to a story that appeared in Newsday which suggests Pavano would rather be somewhere else than New York…like Detroit. Hmm. Now how often do you hear that?

Yesterday, Will Carroll–who did a first-rate job on the Palmeiro story–had this health report on the Yankees:

The Yankees were left with nothing at the break, smartly grabbing what was available (Shawn Chacon and various waiver detritus) before the deadline. The waiver wire figures to produce few trade options in August, so help, if it’s coming, will have to come from within. Carl Pavano is close and now Jaret Wright is showing positive progress. Wright made his first rehab start at high-A Tampa, going 65 pitches in 2 1/3 innings. Normally, that’s not positive. Wright’s control, never good, is still on the DL. He’s facing at least three more rehab starts and will have to find that control before he’ll be able to think about coming back to the Bronx. We’ll know more after his next start, but at this stage, he’s not likely to help the club in August.

Hey, anyone notice how well Andy Pettitte and Brad Halsey have been pitching lately? I’m not trying to be a smart-ass, I was in favor of letting Pettitte walk and moving Halsey in the Johnson trade. I’m just saying, man, they’ve been hot. (As has Emily’s boy Tony Clark.) Good for them.

The Bottom Line

One thing that was reinforced by the recent Manny Ramirez hoopla is that all anyone really cares about is the bottom line: production. It’s not about how you play the game, or playing the game the right way, or setting a good example for kids, it is about what you produce while you are on the field. Some people might not like the way a player like Ramirez approaches the game, but so long as Manny is Manny most fans will put up with Manny being Manny. If you are a great player–and I don’t think Ramirez is a great player, he’s a great hitter and just like Ted Williams, that is enough–you can essentially get away with anything you want–within reason, of course. The moment Ramirez’s production begins to fade I assume people will turn on him as quickly as fans turned on Sammy Sosa in Chicago. For now, he remains the Gangster of Love and the best right-handed hitter in the American League.

And Another Thing

I only caught a portion of Peter Gammons’ Hall of Fame speech on Sunday, but ESPN has a complete transcript if you are interested. Also, Stephen Borelli, author of “How About That! The Life of Mel Allen,” had a nice piece on Jerry Coleman for the USA Today over the weekend too. Oh, and in case you missed it, Jonathan Mahler had an interesting feature on Omar Minaya and the Mets in The New York Times magazine the other day. It’s well-worth checking out (as is–and forgive me from digressing from baseball for a second–a terrific article by Roger Rubin about the Emmett Till case).

That is all.

Howard Bryant became a sports writer so that he could write a book about racism and Boston sports, specifically as it pertained to the Red Sox. “Shut Out” featured fine reporting but the writing was surprisingly repetitive and weak in spots. However, it remains an extremely useful book in spite of its flaws because the subject is so rich. I always felt as if Bryant did not have a strong editor to help make his narrative shine. That is not the case with Bryant’s second effort, “Juicing the Game,” a story that is much larger in scope but one that is also told with great precision and focus. Bryant’s reporting continues to be top-notch (and this book certainly could not have been written if Bryant was not established inside the game), but it is his writing that has grown by leaps and bounds. If “Juicing the Game” is not a truly great book–and it might just be–it certainly is an exceedingly good one. It is the story of the Bud Selig Era and will go down as the logical successor and ideal companion to John Helyar’s “Lords of the Realm.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what the book was about when I first heard about it. I assumed it was an expose about steroids, a subject that doesn’t exactly captivate me. But “Juicing the Game” is really an insider’s history of the professional game since Fay Vincent was commissioner. It features a huge cast of characters and explores how and why the current Offensive Age, the Steroids Era came to be. Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the book is that Bryant does not attempt to simplify a complicated situation. The bottom line may not be complex (mo money, mo problems), but Bryant doesn’t lay the blame on one thing in particular-—instead, the entire game is complicit:

To Glenn Stout, the crumbling of the 1998 monument resembled nothing less than a classic morality tale. It wasn’t just the players, and it wasn’t just drug use, Stout thought, but the entire baseball institution that was under indictment. Baseball needed to recover from the strike, and found itself seduced by a culture of uncontrolled accumulation. Every segment of the game was culpable. It was the players who used whatever substances were available to maximize their achievements, and in turn their earnings, at the expense of their credibility. It was the fans who did not care that the game was being made less legitimate as long as they were treated to a more exciting product. It was the press and the broadcast media that chose to reap the added profits and increased exposure that came during the boom time instead of employing the stamina and scrutiny required to confront a spiraling baseball culture. Finally, Stout thought, it was the owners that profited from drug use and ran from the responsibility until there was nowhere else to go.

And this:

Tony Gwynn did not believe baseball was in crisis, but thought the decade of offense had to some degree been engineered by design. The strike had forced the game’s hand, Gwynn believed. Piece by piece, from the gradual institution of a tighter strike zone, to the manipulation of the baseball, to the construction of home run-friendly parks, and ultimately to allowing player’s growth in size to go unchecked and largely unquestioned, baseball had manipulated its product toward greater offensive production. It was a stunning consideration.

“Take into account us trying to regain and recapture the American public’s imagination and the hitter’s realizing that if he got bigger and stronger he could hit the ball out the other way,” Tony Gwynn said. “And it all manifested itself into a product people liked. And now it’s too late to go back. It’s too late and you can’t go back.”

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It looked good early on for the Yankees today; Randy Johnson was throwing the ball well again. And after five straight fastballs, Derek Jeter slapped a breaking ball from Chris Bootcheck into right field in the bottom of the first. I just had a feeling that the Yankees would have a good day. They wiykd hit the ball hard off of Bootcheck, but couldn’t get a big, clutch hit off of him. Chone Figgins made a wonderful diving catch in the bottom of the second to rob Bernie Williams of an RBI extra-base hit, Hideki Matsui was also robbed of an RBI single in the fourth by Orlando Cabrera, and Garet Andreson made a nice running catch to snag a double from Alex Rodriguez (who scorched the ball) in the sixth.

Meanwhile, Johnson wasn’t really as sharp as he had been against the Twins. He labored in the fourth inning, distracted by Cabrera who had singled and stolen his second base of the afternoon. Johnson fanned both Vlad Guerrero and Anderson but then walked Juan Rivera and fell behind Benji Molina 2-0. Molina fouled two pitches off, getting good hacks at both of them, before Johnson left a fastball over the plate. Molina deposited it over the left field wall for a three-run homer. Jose Molina led-off the fifth with a solo dinger of his own (flat slider) and the Yanks were behind the Angels yet again.

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