Let me just get this out of the way. At the risk of beating a dead horse: If the Yankees had signed Carlos Beltran, none of this would have ever happened. There, I said it. Enough. There’s no use a-looking at spilt milk. The Yankees didn’t sign Beltran. They were roundly criticized during the off-season all over the Internet. But it was hard not to think about this front office gaffe after reading this morning’s papers.

In an effort to shake the team up, the Yanks are making some position changes: Robinson Cano is being called up from Columbus to play second base; Tony Womack will move to left field; Godziller Matsui shifts from left to center, and Bernie Williams moves from center to the bench/DH. As a result, Steve Karsay has been designated for assignment, and is likely to be picked up off of waivers. In addition, Randy Johnson will miss at least one start with a tender groin, and could be sent to the DL. Andy Phillips will likely be shipped down to Columbus today to make room for Double A starter, Sean Henn.

Matsui is the team’s best option in center field right now. I don’t think anyone can be surprised, or even dismayed to see Bernie finally move into a part-time role. As much as it saddens me to see him toward the end of his career, it’s what is best for the team. The official reason for the move is that the tendinitis in Bernie’s right elbow has effected his fielding. For his part, Williams handled the move with dignity:

“This move is to show everybody that nobody is indispensable,” Williams said. “Everyone is expendable on this team. At least that’s how I see it. You’ve got to prove yourself every day or else you will be replaced. All I have to do right now is make myself available, working hard. Hopefully, they’ll have the confidence to put me back out there.”

Tony Womack is saying all the right things too:

“I guess these guys want to win,” Womack said. “So do I. So, go play and do what you’ve got to do.

“I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. I’m just going to go play, chase the ball and throw it to the guy closest to you.”

I can’t complain about seeing Cano get a chance to play second, but Womack in left field is a problem. The Bombers will get roasted over this one, and I figure, critics will say it serves the team right. However, it’s unlikely that the Yanks won’t end the season with Womack as their everyday left fielder. A trade will be made. With what, your guess is as good as mine. Right now, Bernie, Giambi, and eventually, Sierra will split time at DH.

I can’t imagine anyone has any feelings about this. Yo, you may fire when ready, Grizzly.

“Bad, bad, bad baseball,” Piniella said. “That’s what it is. Bad, bad, bad baseball.” (Tampa Bay Tribune)

The Yanks needed a win in the worst way, and the Devil Rays did everything they could to accomodate them. It was the kind of game that must have tried Lou Piniella’s patience something serious, as the Rays fell to New York, 6-2. Unfortunately for Sweet Lou, it is the kind of performance that he has seen all too often in Tampa Bay. Leading 1-0, Ray Sanchez led off the fifth inning with a routine pop fly to right field. Rookie right fielder Damon Hollins made a curious leap when he got to the ball. He actually let it get behind him and botched the play in the process. Gary Sheffield, who is tearing the cover off the ball, laced a double to right, scoring Sanchez. He then stole third on Scott Kazmir’s first pitch to Alex Rodriguez. With one out, Jorge Posada skied an 0-1 pitch into foul ground along the right field line. Hollins raced over and nearly ran past the play, making that little jump again. He made the catch and Sheffield tagged and scored easily. With a strike out pitcher on the mound, Hollins might have been wise to let the ball go there.

He redeemed himself with a single in his next at bat, and scored when Alex Sanchez hit a two-run dinger off Mike Mussina. It was the only significant mistake that Mussina made all night. Overall, his pitches were sharper than they’ve been all year. He pitched seven solid innings, relieved by Flash Gordon in the eighth, then Rivera, who struck out the side in the ninth.

The Yanks added three more runs in the eighth, thanks in part to a miscommunication in center that allowed Bernie Williams’ bloop to fall in for a single, and a throwing error by pitcher Travis Harper on a sacrifice bunt by Derek Jeter. The Bombers got the win, but the Rays gave them a helping hand. It wasn’t pretty–just ask rookie Andy Phillips, who struck out swining five times–but it was a win.

The Devil Rays team the Yankees will face over the next four nights in Tampa has changed slightly from the one they faced two weeks ago at the Stadium.

To begin with, the Yankees themselves knocked Rob Bell out of the Tampa rotation when they scored ten runs off him in one and one-third innings on April 18. He’s been replaced by 24-year-old Doug Waechter, who was once an exciting up-and-comer for the Rays, but in two starts has looked more like the Old Mussina than the prospect of 2003. Waechter was in the pen two weeks ago, where he pitched much better than Bell has since switching places with him.

When Bell made that ill-fated start against the Yankees, he was moved up a day to do so to fill in for the injured Mark Hendrickson, who has since enjoyed a 15-day stint on the DL and is now back in action, having performed modestly in one start since being activated. Hendrickson will start Thursday against Chien-Ming Wang. Waechter starts tomorrow against Kevin Brown.

Overall, the Devil Rays’ pitching has been awful. They have a 6.21 team ERA and only set-up man Travis Harper has a WHIP below 1.50 (0.83, but a 6.32 ERA). Conversely, only closer Danys Baez has an ERA below 4.00, but he has an equal number of saves and blow saves (one of each), and identical walk and strikeout rates of 4.91 per 9 IP. Recognizing that quantity does not guarantee quality (something the Yankees have yet to figure out), the Rays have slimmed down to eleven pitchers, as I mentioned in my previous post. They did this by demoting another once-exciting young prospect, 24-year-old Seth McClung, who returned to Durham with a 12.19 ERA and a 2.13 WHIP after nine appearances with the big club.

The Rays have replaced McClung on the other side of the ball by calling up yet another 24-year-old prospect, outfielder Jonny Gomes. Gomes got two cups of Turkish Coffee (too small and too overwhelming) in the past two years, but finally seems to be clicking, forcing his way into the lineup, primarily in left field, forcing Carl Crawford to center and Alex Sanchez to the bench (good news for Rays fans).

Throughout the line-up, the Rays are hitting so poorly that Lou Piniella is desperately shifting playing time around to get his hottest hitters in the line-up. Gomes (corner outfield), Nick Green (3B/2B), and Eduardo Perez (1B, and sure to start against Randy Johnson on Wednesday), are the only members of the Devil Rays’ 25-man roster with OPSs above .800. One wonders how long it will take Lou to snap and exile Chris Singleton (.250/.294/.250, .195 GPA) in favor of Joey Gathright (who hit for a .309 GPA in his six games with the club during Alex Sanchez’s suspension), giving the Rays the outfield they should have installed at the beginning of the season of Crawford, Gathright and Gomes.

In the infield, the underachieving Alex Gonzalez, Josh Phelps, and Travis Lee are finding themselves having to fight for playing time, while Aubrey Huff is once again being bounced around between right field, first base and DH, playing a different position in each of his last three games. Julio Lugo isn’t hitting either, but Gonzalez is the only other man who can play shortstop (donde esta B.J. Upton?) and he’s been even worse, opening up third base to Nick Green’s advances.

All of this adds up to the Devil Ray’s having the third-worst record in baseball (above only the Rockies and Royals). The Yankees, by the way, have the fifth-worst record in the majors, only the equally-disappointing Indians falling in-between tonight’s two opponents. Speaking of tonight, the Yanks send the Old Moose up against the Rays’ Young and Spritely ace Scott Kazmir. The Devil Rays enter this series on a seven-game losing streak and Kazmir has yet to win a game this year, despite hurling seven innings of one-run ball against the Red Sox two starts ago (the only one of his starts his team won, but Baez vultured the win). Pessimists start your engines!

Tanyon Sturtze, who is eligible to come off the disabled list tomorrow, will work two or three innings in an extended spring training game in Tampa today and rejoin the team at the Tropicana Dome tomorrow. This means a roster move is imminent, but looking at the Yankees’ pen, exactly what that move will be is not obvious.

Despite what Joe Torre might have said (and I’m still not sure he wasn’t kidding) the Yankees are not going to reduce their bench to three men in order to carry 13 pitchers. On the other hand, Sturtze’s return in and of itself does not force the team to scale back to eleven (as the Devil Rays have recently done, as we’ll see later today). That said, now might be a good time to package two relievers in a trade to both clear room for Sturtze and get down to six men in the pen in one foul swoop. If that were the case, Mike Stanton would be staying, because he has a no trade clause, though he could still be bought out and released.

This is a popular topic in the press, as well it should be, though no one seems to have anything resembling a clue as to who’s on the way out. Tom Gordon and Buddy Groom, who can’t be returned to Columbus without passing through waivers, appear to be safe, and obviously Mo isn’t going anywhere, but there are mixed reports on Stanton and the remaining three–Steve Karsay, Paul Quantrill, and Felix Rodriguez–are anybody’s guess.

Check the stats here and let us know in comments who you think should go. I’ll chime in later.

“It’s tough, I don’t care how good you are or how good you’re supposed to be,” [Manager, Joe] Torre said. “Until you can start going out there and winning with regularity, you know, basically your confidence is not where you want it to be, and that’s just the human part of this game.”

“It was the worst loss of the year for me because we beat ourselves,” General Manager Brian Cashman said.
(N.Y.Times)

So I got all my chores done and cleared my afternoon to do nothing but lay on the couch and enjoy the ball game. The skies had cleared. After a lousy Saturday, the sun was shinning, and the stadium looked great for “Bat Day.” More than three-and-a-half trying hours later, I tried to come up with the word that best described the game, as well as the 2005 Yankees so far. “Exasperating,” was the best I could do. Even worse, I came seem to shake the sensation that this team hasn’t hit rock bottom yet. After three straight well-pitched games by the Bronx Bombers, Carl Pavano and the bullpen allowed eight runs on sixteen hits, turning a 6-3 fifth inning lead, into an 8-6 loss. Oy veh.

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Yesterday afternoon, in his major league debut, 25-year-old righty Chien-Ming Wang (pronounced “Chin-Ming Wong”) retired the first ten batters he faced on 24 pitches and shut out the Blue Jays through his first four innings. In the fifth he gave up a pair of runs on a single, a full-count walk, a pair of groundouts that moved the runners up, and an infield single. In the sixth he worked out of a two-on, no-outs jam on eight pitches, and in the seventh the only hit he allowed was a one-out wet-grass bunt by Russ Adams, who was then stranded at first base.

Throughout Wang appeared unflappable, lulling the Blue Jays to sleep with his easy motion. Wang takes two pauses in his wind up, one when he brings his hands over his head, and another when he lifts his leg. He then appears to soft toss the ball to home, but in reality he whips his right arm producing mid-nineties heat. Over the course of his seven innings of work, he broke countless bats and produced ground balls by a nearly 3:1 ratio. His final line was 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 0 K, 67 percent of a mere 81 pitches for strikes.

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A fine day for Chien-Ming Wang’s major league debut, eh? It’s been raining steadily in New York all morning. I wonder if they’ll just call this one and play two tomorrow instead.

I don’t care that the Yankees lost last night’s game 2-0, or that the loss established just their second three-game streak of any kind this year (both losing streaks, the other a four-gamer two weeks ago). Last night’s game was a classic. Randy Johnson and Roy Halladay both pitched complete games, baffling the opposing hitters with high heat and wicked sliders (in Johnson’s case) and sharp curves and changing speeds (in Halladay’s).

Both starters also benefited from excellent defense. Bernie Williams made a key running grab at the wall in the right field gap in the first inning. Johnson himself stabbed a pair of comebackers with his back to the plate, one with his glove and one barehanded, and Tino Martinez made a series of less flashy but equally excellent plays at first, from the throw that nailed Alexis Rios at second on a pick-off play, to the pop-up he caught while running over the pitchers mound, to a series of scoops and tags at first to convert questionable throws into easy outs. For the Blue Jays it was their middle infielders who were putting on the show, particularly Orlando Hudson’s Jeter-style stretch to his right jump and throw move and John McDonald’s tremendous leap to stab a line drive well over his head, which was followed by a stylish roll.

The difference in the game was a seventh-inning slider from Johnson to Eric Hinske that didn’t slide far enough and landed in the right field seats for a two-run home run (Gregg Zaun preceded Hinske with a walk), just the 22nd home run hit by a lefty off Johnson in his 18 seasons in the majors.

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Good pitching match up in the Bronx tonight as Randy Johnson goes against Doc Halladay. Whatta ya think? Will we see two good starts in a row from the Big Unit? The Yankees offense, dormant for the past two games, have their work cut out for them against Halladay, that’s for sure.

Go get ’em, boys.

Toronto Blue Jays

2004 Record: 67-94 (.415)
2004 Pythagorean Record: 71-90 (.441)

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

Ballpark (2004 park factors):

Who’s replacing whom?

Corey Koskie replaces Carlos Delgado
Shea Hillenbrand replaces Josh Phelps, Gabe Gross (minors) and Dave Berg
Russ Adams inherits playing time from Chris Gomez and Chris Woodward
John McDonald replaces Howie Clark
Ken Huckaby replaces Kevin Cash
Gustavo Chacin inherits Justin Miller’s starts and takes Miguel Batista’s place in the rotation as Batista becomes the full-time closer
David Bush inherits Pat Hentgen’s starts
Scott Schoeneweis replaces Kerry Lightenberg
Pete Walker replaces Terry Adams
Matt Whiteside and staff replace last year’s assortment of expendable relievers

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 – Frank Menechino (IF)
R – John McDonald (IF)
R – Ken Huckaby (C)

Rotation:

R – Roy Halladay
R – David Bush
L – Ted Lilly
L – Gustavo Chacin
R – Josh Towers

Bullpen:

R – Miguel Batista
R – Justin Speier
L – Scott Schoeneweis
R – Jason Frasor
R – Vinnie Chulk
R – Pete Walker
R – Matt Whiteside

Typical Line-up

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

The Blue Jays enter this weekend’s three game series with the Yankees one game above .500, a record their run differential (+3) supports, but one they are unlikely to maintain. After starting the season a blazing 6-2, the Jays are 6-9 in their last 15 games. Prior to their just-concluded three-game sweep of the Devil Rays, they were on a 3-9 run that included a five-game losing streak wich started when the Yanekes traveled to the newly renamed Rogers Centre last week.

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Prior to last night’s game against the Angels, Kevin Brown threw his normal bullpen warm-up, then took a seat in the pen for a few minutes and did it all over again. The idea was to allow Brown to work out his first inning struggles in the pen rather than the game mound. It worked.

Despite a groundball single through to right by Chone Figgins and a four-pitch walk to Vladimir Guerrero, Brown pitched a scoreless first inning. He then pitched around a one-out double by Dallas McPherson to record a scoreless second. Brown did give up two runs in the third (due in large part to Chone Figgins’ baserunning) and one in the fourth, but then settled down to retire the last eleven batters he faced.

Altogether it was not just Brown’s best outing of the year, but the sort of performance most Yankee fans would happily take from Brown every fifth day:

7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 5 K, 63 percent strikes

The problem was that the Yankee offense essentially repeated it’s performance from the night before and the Yanks lost 3-1.

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Well? Think ol’ Brownie can make it out of the second inning without giving up five runs?

Jay Jaffe was at Tuesday night’s game, screaming his head off as Alex Rodriguez smacked three dingers and drove in 10 of the Yankees 12 runs in their 12-4 win over Bartolo Colon and the Angels. Me? I was there last night, when the Yanks managed just one lousy run off of Jarrod Washburn (the elusive solo homer that would have made Rodriguez’s Tuesday night performance the greatest in American League history).

It wasn’t all for nothing, however. Last night I and two of my colleagues brought my 67-year-old boss, a man who has lived in New York City for nearly 40 years, to his first game at Yankee Stadium.

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When Derek Jeter was thrown out at home in the first inning last night, trying to score from first on a double, I had a bad feeling about how the game was going to unfold for the Yanks. Garret Anderson made a great throw, and Jeter came up limping after colliding with Jose Molina. Sure, it was only the first inning, but sometimes, you just get a feeling. (Luis Sojo’s aggresiveness has backfired twice in the past week.) Jared Washburn had the Yankee hitters off-balance all evening, and benefitted from three double plays. Dag. Meanwhile, Mike Mussina continues to struggle. He made several mistakes–to Vlad, Anderson and Finely, and paid the price as the Angels beat the Bombers, 5-1. Jeter, Sheffield and Rodriguez were the only Yankees to swing the bat well in defeat.

Hidden behing the excitement of Alex Rodriguez’s 10-RBI night and the Yankees 12-4 victory over the Angels last night was another strong seven innings from Carl “Meat” Pavano. Tossing out his two starts against the Orioles–the first in which he was beaned with a comebacker and the second in which he imploded in the sixth after five strong innings–Pavano has posted a 2.53 ERA in three starts, averaging seven innings in each and allowing a total of just three walks and one home run. His K/BB ratio in those three starts is 4:1 and his K/BB ratio over the season, his two Oriole starts included, is better than 3:1.

Meanwhile, Randy Johnson, in five starts as a Yankee, has a 0.96 WHIP, a .211 opponent’s batting average, 8.91 K/9, 1.57 BB/9 and 5 2/3 times as may strikeouts as walks. Amazingly, all of those season stats are worse than his final numbers from 2004. In his last three starts he has a staggering 8:1 K/BB ratio. He’s just getting up to speed.

With Meat and the Big Unit forming an impressive top two in the Yankee rotation, it sure would be nice to get something Mussina-like out of Moose tonight against the Angels. That may be wishful thinking–a vintage Mussina performance is increasingly looking about as likely as a vintage Bernie Williams performance–but if he can at the very least replicate what Pavano’s dishing out (one hit per inning, excellent control, going deep into games), the Yankee rotation could really begin to take shape. Replacing Jaret Wright with Tiger Wang could also be a big part of that as a strong performance from Wang could force Wright and Brown to battle for the fifth spot.

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According to the Associated Press, Curt Schilling, who recently exchanged some cherce words with Lou Piniella, is joining David Wells on the 15-day disabled list.

The first home run was satisfying, a waist high fastball punished over the fence in left center field. It was a poor pitch and Rodriguez teed off on the sucker. You could hear it through the TV; it just sounded great. And the Bombers had an early 3-0 lead. The second shot was impressive because the pitch looked inside and Rodriguez was able to just turn on it; this one went into the vistor’s bullpen. Really quick hands there, and it gave Pavano back the two runs he gave away via the walk in the top of the inning.

I got really anxious during Rodriguez’s third at bat. It was clear that Colon was just about done. How could you not be aware that Rodriguez had a chance to have a special night? Colon fell behind 2-0 and then Rodriguez took a huge cut on a fastball and got that Gary Sheffield/Fat Joe “Lean Back” on his follow-through. Another ball and then Colon reared back and gunned a fastball up around Rodriguez’s shoulders. It’s the toughest pitch for Rodriguez–and most righties, for that matter, to lay off; you can’t hit it, but it’s tough to resist. Swing and a miss, full count. Nuts, I thought. That was ball four. Then Rodriguez got a good swing on a fastball and fouled it off before he crushed the next pitch over the wall in straight-away center. Third dinger (and according to Jay Jaffe, who was at the game and later called in, during the commerical break Rodriguez took a second curtain call).

Hot Dog. Rich Lederer, 3,000 miles away, was listening to the game on the radio. He called me from his car phone and I gave him the recap. Rodriguez’s next at bat was impressive too, when he lined an 0-2 pitch into center field for an RBI single. Again, he took a page out of Sheff’s book, and didn’t try to do too much with the pitch, down 0-2. In his final at bat, Rodriguez roped a line drive to center. It was caught, but he hit it well. With one monster night, Rodriguez is now tied for the league lead in home runs and RBI (and oh, he’s second in the league in runs scored).

Terrific night for Rodriguez and the Yanks, as they roll over the Angels, 12-4. Andy Phillips started at first again, barely missed hitting a homer off a flat slider in his first time up, then later tanked a double into the deepest part of the ball park. And Colter Bean, he off the wide arse, and the frisbee sidearm breaking ball, pitched the final two innings.

If anyone believed that Alex Rodriguez was still looking for his defining game as a Yankee, I think we’ve found it.

This is a lot of fun.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

2004 Record: 92-70 (.568)
2004 Pythagorean Record: 91-71 (.562)

Manager: Mike Scioscia
General Manager: Bill Stoneman

Ballpark (2004 park factors): Angel Stadium (99/99)

Who’s replacing whom?

Steve Finley replaces Jose Guillen
Orlando Cabrera replaces David Eckstein
Dallas McPherson replaces Troy Glaus
Juan Rivera replaces Tim Salmon (injured)
Lou Merloni replaces Casey Kotchman (minors)
Maicer Izturis replaces Shane Halter and Alfredo Amezaga
Paul Byrd replaces Aaron Sele
Esteban Yan replaces Troy Percival
Jake Woods replaces Ramon Ortiz

Current Roster:

1B – Darin Erstad
2B – Chone Figgins
SS – Orlando Cabrera
3B – Dallas McPherson
C – Jose Molina
RF – Vladimir Guerrero
CF – Steve Finley
LF – Garret Anderson
DH – Jeff DaVanon

Bench:

R – Juan Rivera (OF)
S – Maicer Izturis (IF)
R – Robb Quinlan (IF)
R – Lou Merloni (IF)
R – Josh Paul (C)

Rotation:

R – Kelvim Escobar
R – Bartolo Colon
L – Jarrod Washburn
R – John Lackey
R – Paul Byrd

Bullpen:

R – Francisco Rodriguez
R – Brendan Donnelly
R – Scot Shields
R – Kevin Gregg
R – Esteban Yan
L – Jake Woods

DL:

R – Tim Salmon (OF) (60-day)
L – Adam Kennedy (2B)
R – Bengie Molina (C)
R – Matt Hensley
R – Bret Prinz

Typical Line-up

L – Darin Erstad (1B)
S – Jeff DaVanon (DH)
R – Vladimir Guerrero (RF)
L – Garret Anderson (LF)
L – Steve Finley (CF)
R – Orlando Cabrera (SS)
L – Dallas McPherson (3B)
R – Jose Molina (C)
S – Chone Figgins (2B)

A curious observation about current trends in roster construction: as I continue to rail against the Yankees carrying too many pitchers (though I must admit, I haven’t figured out whom they should get rid of), the Angels are the first team the Yankees will play this year that is not carrying twelve pitchers. Every team in the AL East as well as the departing Rangers are carting around 12 hurlers and a four-man bench.

Anyway, Vlad is as Vlad does, but other than a solid performance from Orlando Cabrera and a hot streak from Bengie Molina before he landed on the DL with a quadricep injury, no one is hitting. Things are looking much better on the other side of the ball, however, where Kelvim Escobar returned from the DL (sprained elbow) with six scoreless innings on Sunday and the bullpen has posted a 2.30 ERA. Bartolo Colon, who goes tonight against Carl Pavano, has earned his ace tag thus far with a 2.60 ERA, dominating in his last two starts. It seems likely that Meat will have to keep those Halo bats silent to keep the Yankees in the game tonight, while the Bombers would be well advised to get on the board early.

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Tyler Kepner notes today that the Yankees in the same position they were last year: 8-11 with the Angels coming into town. General manager Brian Cashman tells Kepner:

“For some reason, it feels worse this year. But it keeps it in perspective to know that we got off to the exact same start and won 101 games. We’re in one of those we’re-never-as-bad-as-we-look-right-now schemes. It doesn’t mean there aren’t problems. But we’ll address them.”

Kepner goes on to profile Chien Ming Wang. According to a minor league scout:

“Wang is an average major league prospect with a ceiling, a good sinker-slider guy who throws strikes. I think Phillips could start on a second-division club. But the tough thing with the Yankees is there’s such a small window of opportunity for a guy to prove himself.”

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