POLL RESULTS ARE IN

When I asked the question, “Which Yankee would you most like to eat dinner with” last week I knew I should have not included the coaches, but I did anyway. Don Zimmer was the big winner, followed by Torre, Willie Randolph, Mel Stotlemyre and even Boss George. As for the players, Jeter got a vote, and so did Mariano, Ventura, and Giambi. Personally, I like the fantasy of going out to eat with Bernie, cause he’s my favorite Yankee, but in reality I think that Ventura, or even Todd Zeile are probably the nicest guys. They could probably hold a good conversation as well. Rivera might be cool too.

Here are a few of the responses I got:

“Sushi with Soriano and Matsui (anyone else play or coach in Japan?? bring ’em along).”

“Being a quick eater, I guess I’d choose Rick Down because it would be to go…”

“Willie Randolph- Has seen it all or at least a lot of it. A lot of history and he was there for some crazy times.

Alternate- Mariano Rivera.

Not current Team-

Oscar Gamble
Jay Johnstone
Joe Pepitone”

Amen to Oscar Gamble. What about Claudell Washington while we’re at it?

TIDBITS

Before I forget, Joel Sherman had a column on Sunday which delineated the potential problems the Yankees will face over the next several seasons.

Also, Jack Curry, wrote the Baseball Notes section in yesterday’s Times. This is usually Murray Chass’ domain, and although I don’t normally care for Curry, I thought he did a good job, especially the piece on the Toronto Blue Jays.

And how about that Nomar Garciappara? Dude has 12 triples this season. 12?! Mercy.

BACK IN BUSINESS

The weather finally broke in New York this weekend, and so may have the Yankees slumping ways, as they swept the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.

Let’s start on Friday night. I had time to go home changed my clothes, and grab some dinner before heading back out to the game. I live about 70 blocks north and several miles west of Yankee Stadium. It takes about 30-40 minutes for me to get there via subway, but I have to take three different trains. It was gray and rainning lightly and I prepared for a long, soggy night.

I met several groupings of Cardinals fans on the subway and they were all eager and upbeat. For many of them, it was their visit to The Stadium, and I welcomed them accordingly. I warned them not to take any taunting too seriously, and apologized in advance for any drunken louts they may encounter.

I was surprised at how much congestion there was getting into the park. It was like a playoff game, and I enjoyed catching glimpses of conversations as we all huddled together like cattle, waiting to get inside. At one point I got close to two older gentlemen—a tall one with a crisp-looking Cubs hat, and his partner, who was a dead-ringer for Carl Reiner. They had been to two of the three games in Boston, and were going to attend two games in New York over the weekend. Ron, was a Cubs fan, and Dick was a Cards fan. We finally made it inside, and as it turned out, they had tickets way up in the upper tier, just like me. (I was in row U, for Utica.)

I had a great time chatting with my baseball elders as we schlepped upstate New York to our seats. The good thing about sitting in row U is that we were covered from the rain, and considering that it came down steadily all night, it was a beautiful thing. The place was sold out though there were a couple of thousand no-shows because of the weather; lots of red shirts in the house.

The first order of business was Clemens notching his 4,000th strike out. Rocket didn’t waste much time, striking out the side in the first. The after giving up a solo home run to Jim Edmonds and a double to Scott Rolen, Clemens faced Edgar Renteria while ex-Yank Tino Martinez waited on deck. It was a strange moment. There was a huge part of the crowd that was at the game to give Tino a welcome-home ovation. What if he faced Clemens as the potential 4,000th strikeout? That would have been bizzare. Fortunately, it didn’t come to pass. With the flashbulbs flickering throughout the Stadium with each two-strike pitch, the crowd was on their feet, and Clemens struck out Renteria to become the third pitcher in history to reach 4,000 K’s.

Then Tino geeked. Before the Yankees could flash Rocket’s milestone on the scoreboard, Martinez was at the plate ready to go. It’s understandable that he was nervous and that he wanted to get the moment over as quickly as possible, but Tino inadvertantly stepped on Rocket’s applause. He should have waited on deck for a moment, or 30 seconds, allowed Clemens his due, and then walked to plate to get his. Instead, the Rocket’s ovation morphed into cheers for Tino himself. It was awkward, but the fans didn’t seem to mind. Clemens struck out Martinez.

It was a good, close game, and the Yanks held a 3-2 lead in the middle innings, thanks to homers by Ruben Ruben and Godzilla Matsui. Clemens got through the sixth, one-two-three which was huge, because his pitch count was starting to get high. Rocket got the first two men out in the 7th, and had thrown 120 pitches, when Joe Torre came to get him. Before Torre reached the mound, Chris Hammond was jogging in from left field and the crowd started to boo intensely. Cries of outrage could be heard all around us, but it seemed like the right move from where I was sitting. This wasn’t Acevedo in the sixth in Chicago. Miguel Cairo, the last batter Clemens would face, fouled off several pitches, and with a one-run lead, I thought the Yankees were better off with the Bugs Bunny slow pitch against the likes of JD Drew, Pujols and Edmonds.

Clemens received a standing ovation as he left the field and Torre was booed loudly again. I wonder if he’s ever been booed like that at Yankee Stadium? Cardinals fans must have been scratching their heads. So this is what they talk about when they talk about New York fans. JD Drew reached on a bunt, and Pujols muscled a single through the right side before Edmonds weakly grounded out to Soriano.

Raul Mondesi added a two-run home run, and when Mariano came on in the ninth, the Yankees were in the drivers seat. Rivera shut the Cards down in order, and Clemens finally had his 300th win. Rocket came back out on the field, and got the royal treatment for the fans. His boys scampered to the mound and collected some dirt. All of the Cardinals fans I saw were standing clapping.

Unfortunately, the game ended on a sour note for me. Leaving the Stadium was even worse than getting in. There was bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way down, and it took at least 25 mintues to get out of there. Pedestrian traffic is a nightmare for a New Yorker, and between all of the out-of-towners and suburban Yankee fans, it was an ugly scene. Too many drunks, too close together.

Of course, we filed out hearing the usual chants: “Cardinals suck, Cardinals suck.” Now I know that even when the Sox are in town, most of these seemingly mean-spirited taunts are meant in good fun. But I just can’t get with it. Why chant that somebody sucks? Why not say, “We’re great!” instead? Anyhow, it’s par for the course, and groups of drunken Yankee fans jumped all over any wearing Cardinals gear. The lowest was, “Cardinals take it up the ass, do-dah, do-dah.” It’s bad enough that this kind of thing goes, on but when you can’t escape these mooks, there is an edge, a mob-like intensity to the scene which makes for a particularly uncomfortable experience.

I was so unimpressed.

Not only that, I was personally embarrased to be a Yankee fan. And this is how we act when the Yanks win. Can you imagine if we had lost? (I can only imagine how ugly it got by Sunday afternoon.) I was also ashamed as a New Yorker, but you know what? Although there are plenty of obnoxious Yankee fans from New York, most of the morons are distinctly suburban—dudes from Long Island, Jersey and Westchester.

I felt so badly about it, that when I finally made it to the subway, I apologized to the first St. Louis fan I could find. The kid I spoke with didn’t seem to think the abuse was all that bad, or at least nothing that wasn’t expected, so perhaps I’m just sensitive to that kind of thing. Still, Yankee fans could learn a thing or three from Cardinals fans about class and respect, that’s for sure.

It was still sloppy in New York on Saturday, and the game was delayed for over an hour in the first inning, just long enough for the Yanks to run Cards ace Matt Morris from the game. Jason Giambi hit two homers and so did Tino Martinez, as the Yanks bombed St. Louis 13-4 on the Fox game of the week. Joe Torre didn’t get to bask in the glow of Rocket’s big win as the tabliod machine kept rolling.

According to Lee Sinins:

According to the Newark Star Ledger, “George Steinbrenner recently told some associates he’s seriously considering firing Joe Torre because of the Yankees’ uneven play and for what the owner claimed to view as belligerent behavior on the part of his manager.

“According to multiple Yankees executives, Steinbrenner told confidants that Torre has been refusing to return his phone calls or participate in organizational strategy sessions for weeks and that he suspects Torre is intentionally creating the opposite impression — that it is Steinbrenner who is ignoring and excluding him — as a way of making him look bad publicly.

“Steinbrenner has also told confidants he believes Torre is behaving this way so the owner will fire him and he can collect the more than $7 million remaining on his contract, which expires after next season. That possibility is complicating Steinbrenner’s decision-making. Steinbrenner told at least one associate that he would prefer that Torre resign and forfeit the money, but that he doesn’t believe it will happen soon enough for his desires.”

I’m still convinced that if the Yankees win the World Series, Torre is going to say he’s done enough and will step down and if they don’t, he’s going to be fired.

The Times reported:

“I don’t think our relationship has changed one bit,” Torre said. “Comfortable, I have never been, because I think that’s something you reserve for your time out of the game and not working anymore. I’m secure, that’s a better word. I don’t feel any less secure than I did before. You deal with what you have to deal with, but you know that you’re constantly on the hot seat.”

The hot seat cooled down just a little bit on Sunday as the Yanks completed the three-game sweep beating Woody Williams and St. Louis, 5-2. Mike Mussina pitched eight strong innings, Woody Williams walked six, and Robin Ventura and Hideki Matsui led the Yankees offense.

The ninth inning gave Yankee fans some confidence that they still root for a formidable team. Mariano Rivera came on to face the great Albert Pujols, and plunked the Cardinals young star on the first pitch. It was an inside heater that got away from Rivera, and it knicked Pujols’ uniform. Not the worst thing that could happen in that situation, especially with Tino Martinez on deck. Martinez swung at Rivera’s first offering and weakly grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Jim Edmonds pinch hit next, and hit the first pitch to second, where Alfonso Soriano made a nifty play to end the game.

To their credit, the Yankees defense actually made some nice plays on Sunday (Matsui deftly tracked down a fly ball in the 7th). Jeter makes routine plays look harder than they are, but when the Yankees defense is helping the pitching out, things are good in the Bronx.

And not for nothing, but it’s always good to beat up on a team managed by Tony LaRussa. I still remember how arrogant his Oakland teams were in the early ’90s and how they used to stick it to the Yankees. The Cards have a likable team, but I don’t have any sympathy for their skipper.

The Red Sox kept pace with the Yanks, sweeping the Astros in Boston. More exciting games for Red Sox Nation, as their bullpen stepped it up big time yesterday and rookie Freddy Sanchez dazzled Fenway with the leather on Saturday.

It should be interesting to see if the Yankees can continue to build some momentum over the next few weeks as their schedule gets considerably lighter.

BRONX BANTER POLL

Here is something dopey to think about. Jay Jaffe and I were mulling it over a few weeks back.

If you could go out to dinner with any member of the current Yankee team (coaches included), who would it be?

Send your answers to me at alexbelth@aol.com.

Inquiring minds want to know. (Like me.)

WHO’LL STOP THE RAIN?

The rain is finally coming down here in New York, and if they get the game in tonight, it could be a long, sloppy affair. My friend Mindy got me a ticket for the game on the count of Tino Martinez is returning to the Stadium for the first time and all. I always liked Tino fine, but I didn’t pine after him like many Yankee fans did. I don’t know whether he’ll play or not, but I assume if he can walk, LaRussa will let him DH, so he can get his cheers. I will certainly give him a big hand when he’s introduced, and then I’ll root for Roger to strike him out each time he comes to bat. Even if Clemens doesn’t get his 300th victory tonight, he should notch strikeout # 4,000.

I wonder who will hurt the Yankees more? Drew or Edmonds. (Answer: Albert.)

I’ll be sure and give you my take on the game, but it may have to wait until Monday. In the meantime, check out some of the great work happening out there in the blogging universe:

Mike C has another meticulously researched article on his site. This one deals with the history of the strike zone.

Jay Jaffe has a characteristically solid write up of the Yankees-Astros series over at Futility Infielder.

And don’t forget to drop in on the latest installment of the C & C Baseball Factory over at The Cub Reporter.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

AAAHHH

Ah, me of little faith. Shows you what I know. The Yankees rallied for runs in the seventh and eighth innings yesterday and nipped the Astros 6-5. It was the first time they came from behind when trailing after six innings. They took the series from Houston and are back in first place after the Red Sox lost a crusher in Boston last night (another wild one). As bad as the no-hitter was for the Yanks, they did win the series. Meanwhile, the Red Sox lost two agonizing games vs. St. Louis. Which just goes to show you, it could always be worse.

I hope Ed Cossette got some sleep. (Ed has a link to an excellent interview with Bill James today…don’t snooze, youse.)

Speaking of the Nation, here is a terrific piece from a blog called Red Sox Nation on the nature of Boston fans. I couldn’t find the perma-link, so scroll down to the article titled:

A little polemic in honor of the Sox/Cards series

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

It should be required reading.

The fellas over at Red Bird Nation, have wonderful coverage of the Sox-Cards series too. Be sure to check in with them over the weekend for their take on the Cards visit to the Bronx.

Say what you like about the Yankees; they are rarely dull. They may not be the same team that won 4 championships in 6 years, but they still are the biggest show in town. Ask the Reds or the Cubs if they’ll remember their games against the Yankees. Same goes for the Astros. Even though they lost the series, do you think they’ll foget the no-hitter anytime soon? (Not including Jeff Kent.)

George Steinbrenner visited with manager Joe Torre before the game, and apparently Joe did most of the venting. According to Bill Madden:

“You wonder what you could have done, what you could do or what you have not done,” Torre said in reference not just to the Wednesday night no-hit debacle but the general Yankees malaise that was most characterized by the 0-24 record in games in which they trailed after seven innings before yesterday. “You feel responsible. It’s my job to prepare these guys and when something is as ugly as (Wednesday night) you’re wondering what your missing.”

Then, reiterating his anger over the performance the night before – the most anger he’s ever had in baseball – Torre said: “It was not the no-hitter I was angry about. I didn’t like the process. I care about these guys and I want them to play hard. It’s a blow to your ego that goes beyond losing.”

…”There’s nothing George can say to me that could make me feel any worse than I felt. I’m probably tougher on myself than George could ever be.”

Jack Curry reports in The Times:

Joe Torre called himself the caretaker of the Yankees after the darkest and bleakest game they have played for him, a warm, gentle way to describe what he does as the manager…It was an interesting and revealing word for Torre to hang on himself. He was in the midst of verbally annihilating his sluggish team for being no-hit by the Houston Astros on Wednesday night when he slipped it in to stress that he has also performed poorly. The caretaker has been praised when the Yankees have rumbled down the highway without braking, so he must be chastised when they stall.

…”It’s more than just a job to me,” Torre said. “It’s always been. I think if it was just a job, I would have been tired of it a long time ago.”

It is clear that Torre is searching for answers. Todd Zeile conceded:

“We better find out here in the short term who we are…It’s important for us to start putting some of these wins together, because it helps our confidence.

“That’s one thing I’ve noticed that’s been different from the Yankee teams I remember facing. In the last six or seven years, no matter what, there was a confidence, almost an arrogance, when they walked on the field. I think we have to sort of earn that.”

You ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie, friend.

Godzilla Matsui had two more hits yesterday (he also had a mental lapse in the field that lead to a run in the first inning). He’s starting to come around a bit. Matsui is expertly profiled by Aaron Gleeman over at Baseball Primer.

HERE WE GO AGAIN…

The Yanks trail the Astros by the score of 5-4 after six full in the Bronx. The Yanks are 0-21 this year when they are behind after six innings. Do you feel lucky? I don’t, but what the hell: Let’s Go Yan-kees!

Remember how Bronx Banter reader Adam said it couldn’t get any worse than last night? He amended that statement when he saw who was batting clean-up today for New York.

It still hasn’t rained. I have tickets to tomorrow night’s game. Looks like the rain will wait until we jam the Stadium to watch Roger tomorrow night.

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM

Lee Sinins is reporting that the Mets have called a 4 pm press conference. They haven’t announced why, but it looks as if Steve Phillips will finally get kicked to the curb.

Meanwhile, after 4 innings the Yanks have a 3-2 lead on the Astros.

You know it occured to me that for all the ranting and raving I’ve done about the Yankees offense last night, the Astros do deserve a good deal of credit for their accomplishment. They are no zhlubs, and that is one Grade A bullpen they’ve got.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?

Here is an e-mail I got today from Adam, a Yankee fan who saw the Yanks get no-hit in person:

I was at the game last night – it was even worst in person. Besides Posada swinging 3-0, and the obvious no-hitter, here are some other things that helped cause a sleepless night.
1. Other than Soriano’s sinking liner and a fly out to the warning track by Giambi, there wasn’t really anything close to a hit by the Yankees all night. The Yankees are flailing, and usually missing, at everything. Four strike outs in one inning, seven in a row at one point, thirteen for the game.

2. Jeter looked completely overmatched. He struck out three times, and, while it’s tough not to look bad while doing that, he looked like a rookie flailing away in his first at bat. Twelve strike outs in nineteen at bats, me thinks Mr. Jeter needs to do some help.

3. Soriano forgetting to cover first on the bunt. This is simply inexcusable, I’m not sure if this is a result of poor coaching or Sori’s spaciness, either way it was painful to watch.

4. Weaver stinks. He got booed and rightly so. He wasn’t fooling anyone on Houston, every hit was hard and usually in the gap.

5. More bouncers up the middle. It’s amazing how many singles up the middle the Yankees give up because neither Jeter nor Soriano can get to them.

6. Al Reyes – meet Acevedo Part Duex.

7. Pinch hitting Bubba Trammel for Ventura. Nothing like taking a guy who hasn’t played in about a month and asking him to break up a no-hitter.

8. Todd Zeile. Maybe it’s me but it seems like he’s in the hole 0-2 as soon as he steps in the batters box.

9. Juan Rivera is completely overmatched.
This is as low as it gets, I hope.

I hate to sound like a downer, but I think it get definitely get lower. Fortunately, it can also get a heck of a lot better too. Adam sent me another e-mail (which I inadvertantly erased) and added two more gaffes—Jeter’s throwing error, and the you-got-I-got-it-nobody-got-it dropped-fly ball between Juan Rivera and Hideki Matsui.
Here is another note regarding the game. According to Lee Sinins in his ATM report today:

None of the 6 pitchers the Astros used gave up a hit.

It was the first time the Astros didn’t give up a hit since Darryl Kile, on September 8, 1993.

It was the first time the Yankees didn’t get a hit since Melido Perez did it on July 12, 1990. It’s been inaccurately reported everywhere that the
last time was by Hoyt Wilhelm, on September 20, 1958. However, although the game only lasted 6 innings, let’s look at that game. Perez pitched all of the innings. He got credit for a complete game, he got credit for a shutout. He also didn’t get any hits added to his season total. If that’s not a no hitter, then no game in baseball history could qualify a no hitter.

Also, don’t forget to check out the Replacement Level Yankee Blog for an hilarious and insightful take on the Bronx Zoo.

BERNIE, MY DEAR

With his first full lenth album set to drop in a couple of weeks, Bernie Williams has just signed a deal with Paul McCartney’s company MPL Communications. McCartney’s company will market Bernie’s music for commericals and movies and anything else they can think of.

JOE BLASTS BOMBERS

There have been rumblings for over a month now that what these Yankees need is some tough love from their manager Joe Torre.

Yesterday, Joel Sherman wrote:

Torre has come under greater scrutiny – and not just by Steinbrenner.

If nothing else, this season is exemplifying just how much quality players and a self-policing clubhouse could elevate a manager. No knock on Torre, whose serene demeanor and dignity ideally uplifted the Yankee roster for years. But it sure is easier to push the right buttons when nearly every button offers a good option, and when the clubhouse core motivates and regulates itself.

Torre may still be right, that his reassuring manner will evoke the most from a talented team again. However, this group looks often like it needs a kick, not a hug.

Well, Yankee fans, the media, and even George got their wish, as Torre lit into his hapless team after being no-hit by six, count em, six Houston pitchers:

“Whatever kind of history it was, it was terrible,” he said sharply. “It was one of the worst games I’ve ever been involved in. I have no explanation. Usually I do, but I can’t find a reason for what happened. The whole game stunk.”

…”We didn’t play baseball,” Torre said harshly. “I don’t know what we were playing.”

Today Joel Sherman opined:

This 8-0 Houston humiliation even left the perpetually find-the-positive Joe Torre totally negative. He lambasted his team beyond closed doors, perhaps in the strongest way of his tenure, and called this the worst effort of his Yankee stint. He normally does not pin out players publicly, but said Jorge Posada missed a take sign when he grounded out with a 3-0 count and the bases loaded in the third, ending the Yanks’ one offensive glimmer. And he finally acknowledged that at least on this night his mentally adrift team was mentally adrift.

In describing this as “a total, inexcusable performance,” Torre’s anger seemed directed as much to his Boss as his 25 players. George Steinbrenner has wanted his manager sterner. You have to wonder if Torre’s fury will be enough now to satiate Steinbrenner. Especially since Torre had said he liked the team’s tenor in the last week, which meant the manager was either blind-sided last night or simply does not know his club anymore.

Mike Lupica added:

The door to the Yankee clubhouse stayed closed a long time. It turns out there had been a team meeting. When someone asked Torre who had spoken, he raised a hand like a kid in class. “Just me,” he said.

He would be asked later if he was hot addressing his team.

“I’m unhappy,” Torre said. “Whatever hot is.”

“I can’t find a reason for what happened tonight,” Torre said.

“It was a total, inexcusable performance,” he said.

“We can’t hide from this, or use any excuses,” Torre said. “We’re all responsible, starting with me.”

…He talked about Jorge Posada missing a sign and swinging at a 3-0 pitch.

“We weren’t thinking well tonight,” Torre said. “Once things started snowballing, we lost our composure.”

…Torre talked until he was talked out. His phone kept ringing. He ignored it. He was asked about the owner and said, “There’s really nothing he could tell me now – or do – that would make this worse than it is.”

It is fitting that the Yanks were no-hit. Considering how they’ve been playing it should not come as a surprise, as Rob Neyer noted in his column today. Neyer tells it like it is, especially regarding the declining play of Derek Jeter:

Jeter’s production has been falling steadily since 1999, when he might have deserved the MVP Award (which went to Ivan Rodriguez instead).

It’s tempting to assume that Jeter’s not fully recovered form his shoulder separation, and that he’ll start hitting either this season or, at worst, next season after he’s had a winter to recover.

Maybe. But the best evidence suggests that the power he showed in 1999 was something of a fluke, and also that his 2002 numbers were the rule rather than the exception. And if that’s the case, the Yankees’ fortunes this season could have a real impact on Jeter’s image. To this point, a lot of people don’t have any idea that Jeter has gone from being a truly great player to a merely good one, because he still has that postseason glow about him. But if Jeter finishes this season with another sub-.800 OPS and the Yankees don’t play in October, then what kind of case will his defenders make?

“Chemistry” is a great argument when you’re winning … but when the winning ends, you have to fall back on the actual performance. And when the performance looks like this, it’s pretty hard to justify $16.5 million.

Steve Keane asked me what was worse, the Yankees getting no-hit or Posada swinging 3-0 with the bases loaded. I think Posada swinging 3-0 felt worse to me, especially when I learned that he missed a sign. Posada may be the best hitting catcher in the game, but for someone who blasted his teammates after the Yanks lost to the Angels in the playoffs last year, for a guy who is a veteran of championship teams, Posada plays with his head in his ass more often than not.

The Yanks can save some face this afternoon if they come away with a victory, but the damage has been done. The wheels are in motion in George’s universe and the fallout is going to be dramatic. After weeks of cool weather and rain, it is suddenly hot and humid like August in New York. It’s like soup out there and it still hasn’t rained. The game today will probably get washed out. Either way, Hurricaine George is on it’s way. Right on the heels of Joe Torre’s rainstorm.

Yankee-haters rejoice!

GULP

Billy Wagner is on to pitch the ninth, the Astros sixth pitcher. Posada leads off. The count evens at 2-2, and Posada, batting from the right hand side, fouls a fastball off. Another fastball in on the hands, fouled off to right side. And another fastball, outside, fouled off. Fastball on the outside corner, swung on and missed, strike three. The Astros have struck out seven Yankees in a row.

The Yankees haven’t been no-hit since Hoyt Wilhelm did it to ’em September 20 1958. It is the longest streak in history.

Bubba Trammell is up to pinch hit. Lucky him. Curveball called strike. Slider, swung on and missed, 0-2. Fastball, 102 mph just outside, 1-2. Slider, grounded foul. Fastball outside, swung on and missed. Eight in a row.

Here comes Godzilla. The fans are standing and chanting. The sound system plays “Get Back,” and Matsui swings at the first pitch and grounds weakly to Jeff Bagwell at first, who flips to Wagner for the out.

No hitter! Wow. Six pitchers=1 no hitter. Now, there is something you don’t see…ever.

It’s hot and muggy in New York. The weather man said we’d get thundershowers tonight. It hasn’t rained yet, but in Yankee land it’s about to pour.

GOING DOWN?

After eight innings, the Yankees are being no-hit by the Astros. You knew it was going to be a tough night with Roy Oswalt going, but the ace of the Houston staff left in the 2nd, and five pitchers have combined to no-hit the Yanks. Octavio Dotel struck out the side, plus one in the 8th. Soriano reached first on a swinging strike three that went for a wild pitch, so Dotel struck out Jeter and Giambi to end the inning.

The Astros are leading 6-0. Oh dip, make that 8-0. Jeff Weaver wasn’t great, and the Yankees kicked the ball all over the field once again. Jeter made a throwing error. Oh, and my pre-series question was answered. Berkman hit a homer in the upper deck before hitting one in the bleachers (he still has time to do that too). He also made a good diving catch to rob Soriano in the following inning.

Early in the game, Jorge Posada was up with the bases loaded. He got the green light on a 3-0 pitch and grounded out to first. Boy, was that ever the sign of bad things to come.

If the Yanks actually get no-hit, you can bet hitting coach Rick Down will be the first coaching casualty of the year.

JETER ISN’T YANKS’ 11TH CAPTAIN

Here is an curious yet informative article that I obtained by a writer named Howard W. Rosenberg regarding the history of Yankee captains. Rosenberg has an odd penchant for referring to himself in the third person, but the article is interesting all the same.

The “Uncorked 11:” Yankees Bungle their Past; Snub, Among Others, Hall of Famers Clark Griffith and Frank Chance in Detailing Just 11 Captains Including Derek Jeter; Lou Gehrig Takes a Hit Too

Don Mattingly was definitely not the tenth captain of the New York Yankees, a decade of media reporting on Yankee baseball notwithstanding, and the newly named Derek Jeter is therefore not the 11th. The grand total of Yankee captains to date seems like 15, says Howard W. Rosenberg, biographer of Cap Anson, the 19th-century Hall of Famer and longtime captain-manager whose nickname derived from the word “captain.”

When Jeter was named captain on June 3, the Yankees issued a news release that could be read on the Yankees’ Web site on mlb.com (and was still there as of June 9). The precise ring exuded by the release may help explain why media outlets did not bother attributing the data to the Yankees. The Yankees supplied full start and end dates (month, day and year) for many of the captaincies, starting with Babe Ruth’s in 1922.

Yet the Yankees bungled Lou Gehrig’s start date as April 21, 1935, and apparently have been doing so since at least 1991 (when the error appeared that way in the New York Times). That date should be April 12, 1935, as validated by the Times of April 13, 1935. Rosenberg surmises that today, while hardly anyone is sentimental that the Yankees overlooked perhaps four of their captains (whose names are not of the likes of DiMaggio or Mantle), an error on Gehrig’s milestone will be deemed a sacrilege.

A back-to-back view of the Yankees’ “uncorked 11” and Rosenberg’s “gang of 15” captains chronologies appears at the bottom of this analysis.

Rosenberg does appreciate that the Yankees addressed an historical subject that hardly any baseball media (let alone fans) know anything about. He would welcome the opportunity to tell Yankee officials and players all about captains, captain-managers and bench managers in the old days (or if they want, they can read his July 2003 release: Cap Anson 1: When Captaining a Team Meant Something: Leadership in Baseball’s Early Years). Rosenberg adds, “As penance, I invite those hoodwinked New York and national media not overly tied to ratings points or perceived focus-group sensibilities to serve up a few features that relate the first decades of U.S. team sport to today. As captain-manager of Chicago for 19 years, 3,000-hitsman Anson won several pennants, and his relations with famous Hall of Fame club presidents William Hulbert and Albert Spalding would make for an insightful comparison to George Steinbrenner-Joe Torre-Derek Jeter relations on the Yankees today.”

Rosenberg continues: “Anson was great friends with the Yankees’ first captain, Clark Griffith, who had been his star pitcher in Chicago in the 1890s. Also relevant to New York, Anson had the stomach to withstand criticism (especially about his advanced age; he was playing at age 45). He was the first professional ball player to have star billing in a vaudeville play (playwright Charles Hoyt’s 1895 `A Runaway Colt’), and it had a run in New York City. By the way, it was out of the storied Chicago tradition of funny coverage (with Anson a major target) that baseball humorist Ring Lardner blossomed in the early 20th century. In the mid-1910s, Lardner wrote vaudeville material for Anson.”

Jeter’s elevation as captain will appear in the Anson 1 foreword, which is written by Clark C. Griffith, great-nephew of the Yankees’ first captain and Hall of Famer Clark Griffith. The foreword writer is a former chairman of Major League Properties, former part-owner of the Minnesota Twins and current chairman of the sports law forum of the American Bar Association Section on Entertainment and Sports Law.

With the help of online databases, plus hands-on knowledge of the captain’s historic role in baseball, Rosenberg has dissected the Yankees’ June 3 press release. He estimates at 14 the number of Yankees captains prior to Jeter who served at least a month (a captain being a player on the active roster, and he did not necessarily have to play much). Rosenberg’s “gang of 15” list, which assumes that Jeter will last at least a month, additionally contains Hall of Famer Griffith (1903 to 1905), Kid Elberfeld (1906 to 1909), Hall of Famer Frank Chance (1913) and a mystery sleeper: Roy Hartzell, on the team from 1911 to 1916. On Dec. 27, 1916, the New York Times stated that the following person had signed a minor league contract: “Roy Hartzell, former Captain of the New York Americans.” Rosenberg could not tell, from a basic search, when Hartzell may have been captain. Perhaps to reward readers who find missing captains, the New York Daily News, which printed splendid pictures of the “uncorked 11,” can offer a meal or rap session with noted columnist Mike Lupica.

The Daily News was the only major newspaper printing the names of the “uncorked 11” that Rosenberg has seen; the others are Newsday, the New York Post, the Bergen County [N.J.] Record, the Hartford Courant, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and several papers associated with the Scripps Howard News Service. Not readily apparent is whether any of the above noted the Yankees as the source of the information; the Daily News spread (pretty enough to post on a wall) apparently did not attribute the data.

ESPN, before one of Jeter’s three strikeouts during last night’s Yankees-Cubs game, posted the “uncorked 11” on the screen.

In handling the “uncorked 11,” the New York Times, under fire in recent weeks, deserves just a mild censure: it was one of the few New York-area papers with big sports sections not to print it, limiting its error to calling Jeter the 11th captain.

Rosenberg has seen mentions of Jeter as the 11th captain in dozens of newspapers online and several major wire services extending as far as abroad to the Voice of America. In no case has he seen an attribution to the Yankees as the source for Jeter as the 11th captain.

Unlike most subjects that gain wide airing in today’s sports media, captains may seem obscure and lend themselves to large historical blunders. While the Yankees’ list seems to reflect a reasonable mastery of the subject since the 1920s (having a captain evolved into a matter of taste), it snubs early decades of that century when having a captain was a necessity (as the rule books singled out a captain who was an active player, and not the manager, as the one with the right to argue with the umpire).

That changed around 1930 (when the rules for some time singled out the captain or the manager as being able to argue). The decline in the captain’s importance can be seen after 1925 in the “uncorked 11” and “gang of 15” dueling chronologies at the bottom of this note, when there is a gap between Yankee captains until Lou Gehrig in 1935.

Today, the rules let the manager hand off to a coach or player the role of top arguer in each game; a hypothetical question, incidentally, is what would happen if a manager who was not in uniform tried to come on the field and act as designated arguer. The rules today state that to be on the field, coaches must be in uniform. They do not address whether a bench manager must be as well to come on the field and argue with the umpire.

In researching Anson 1, Rosenberg posed that question to Tom Lepperd, director of umpire administration of Major League Baseball (and the following is taken from Anson 1). When given the hypothetical of a manager not in uniform coming out on the field and arguing, Lepperd replied that such a practice “is archaic in that all modern-day professional leagues implicitly require the manager to be in uniform.”

Starting with 1903, the first season of the New York AL club, here is a chronological look at years of Yankee captains Rosenberg found to expand the “uncorked 11” to a “gang of 15:”

A. Clark Griffith (1903 to 1905)

According to New York Times contemporaneous reporting (which the Times in effect has undercut over two decades by accepting modern-day chronologies presumably always supplied by the Yankees), Griffith was the first captain (when the club had prior nicknames, especially the Highlanders):

1. The New York Times of Dec. 10, 1902, states, “Clark Griffith will be the Manager-Captain of the New York American League team. . .”

2. On the eve of opening day of the club’s first season, on April 20, 1903, when New York was in Washington, the Washington Evening Star stated, “The New York aggregation is made up of several stars, among whom are Keeler, Fultz and Pitchers Tannehill, Chesbro and Griffith, the latter acting as captain-manager.”

Griffith’s reign as captain continued into 1904, and probably into 1905. The New York Times of Oct. 16, 1904, reviewed the season of the New York NL and AL clubs and ran individual pictures of everyone, including larger elegant ones of John McGraw of the Giants and Griffith of the AL club, with the caption “Manager and Captain” under each.

B. Kid Elberfeld (1906 to 1909)

Proof that Elberfeld was a Yankees captain can be found in the Times of May 15, 1906, which called him manager “Griffith’s first assistant in directing the team on the field.” If that sounds like a reference to Elberfeld as captain, it probably is, as on August 19, 1906, the Times referred to him as “Elberfeld, Captain of the Greater New Yorks.”

On Oct. 10, 1907, the Washington Post said that if Washington acquired Elberfeld from New York, he would undoubtedly be named captain. Elberfeld played with the Yankees through 1909, and he likely remained captain throughout.

C. Hal Chase (1910 to 1911, in addition to 1912)

On April 3, 1910, the Times said, “With Hal Chase as Captain, and with more confidence than has been exhibited in several seasons, the New York Americans show more promise than last season.” Times coverage in 1911 also points to Chase as captain (on Feb. 18 and April 29).

D. Frank Chance (1913)

After casting Chase as captain in 1912 only, the “uncorked 11” list jumps to Roger Peckinpaugh, for 1914-21. For 1913, Rosenberg opines that Chance was circumstantially the Yankee captain (news reports show Chance in uniform on the coaching lines into late in the season, playing in a few games. They also show him arguing with the umpire over captain-like issues including the legality of the pitcher’s motion).

The “uncorked 11” contains a large gap from 1926 to 1935 and in case you are now understandably suspicious, the Times and the Associated Press, contemporaneously, validated at least some of the gap. In their 1935 coverage, both news outlets pointed wrongly to Babe Ruth as the last captain before 1935 (Ruth was captain briefly in 1922, while Everett Scott was captain from 1922 to 1925). However, Scott does appear among the “uncorked 11,” so the Yankees can be praised for helping reporters improve on coverage from 68 years ago. The Times of April 13, 1935, does allude to Scott’s tenure in stating, “Not for ten years has the Yankee club had a captain;” however, it then gives an explanation that makes it sound like Ruth was captain until 1925. In reality, any suppressing of the title by the Yankees was done not after Ruth’s tenure (which was in 1922) but after Scott’s (which according to the Yankees ended with 1925).

It is unfair to single out the Times for erroneous claims because it is one of the few newspapers available for full-text searching on a computer. With that in mind, the oldest report Rosenberg found in the Times of a long, bogus chain of Yankee captains was on Jan. 31, 1982. A Times column stated, “In their history, the Yankees have had only six captains (dash symbol appears here) Roger Peckinpaugh, Babe Ruth (for six days in 1922 before he was defrocked by American League President Ban Johnson and suspended after a fight with a fan) [sic, meaning that’s what’s in the 1982 report], Everett Scott, Lou Gehrig, Thurman Munson and now Graig Nettles.”

That 1982 list is interesting (as far as figuring out the chain of custody of erroneous lineage) because Peckinpaugh was a captain only in seasons when Yankees was the official nickname. It became the nickname in 1913, and Peckinpaugh was captain from 1914 to 1921. Perhaps the original list was compiled with an eye toward years in which Yankees was the official nickname; however, even by that score, the Yankees had to have had a captain in 1913 (even if the title was not bandied about explicitly), and he is most likely the strong-willed Frank Chance (of Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance poetic fame) known in 1913 as “P. L.” or the Peerless Leader; Hal Chase, the 1910-12 captain, was traded in June 1913. In 1986, a Times article noting the then-naming of co-captains Ron Guidry and Willie Randolph similarly named Peckinpaugh as the first Yankee captain.

It may seem amazing that for two decades, uncorrected lists have been published about the names of Yankee captains, given the club’s treasured history (and seemingly plentiful male fans of an advanced age in the highly intelligent New York area). Maybe it was earlier manifestations of the Jayson Blair phenomenon, where members of the public often did not complain because they had no expectation that corrections would be made.

For reference, here is the Yankees’ “uncorked 11”:

Hal Chase 1912

Roger Peckinpaugh 1914-1921

Babe Ruth 5/20/22-5/25/22

Everett Scott 1922-1925

Lou Gehrig 4/21/35-6/2/41

Thurman Munson 4/17/76-8/2/79

Graig Nettles 1/29/82-3/30/84

Ron Guidry 3/4/86-7/12/89

Willie Randolph 3/4/86-7/12/89

Don Mattingly 2/28/91-1995

Derek Jeter 6/3/03-

Here is the “gang of 15” based on additional research by Cap Anson biographer Howard W. Rosenberg:

Clark Griffith 1903-05 (first addition)

Kid Elberfeld 1906-09 (second addition)

Hal Chase 1910-12 (two years added)

(Roy Hartzell, somewhere within 1911-16) (third addition)

Frank Chance 1913 (fourth addition)

Roger Peckinpaugh 1914-1921

Babe Ruth 5/20/22-5/25/22

Everett Scott 5/30/22 or later-1925 (the 5/30 date being taken from a Times article that day noting that manager Miller Huggins was expected to name Scott in the future)

Lou Gehrig 4/12/35-6/2/41 (note the correction to Gehrig’s date of naming)

Thurman Munson 4/17/76-8/2/79

Graig Nettles 1/29/82-3/30/84

Ron Guidry 3/4/86-7/12/89

Willie Randolph 3/4/86-7/12/89

Don Mattingly 2/28/91-1995

Derek Jeter 6/3/03-

Howard Rosenberg has written a book on Cap Anson that is due to be released later this year. For more information, and to contact Howard, go to www.capanson.com.

WITH A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK…

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, and the Yanks were a little bit of both last night as they took the opening game from Houston, 5-3. Mike Mussina and Wade Miller looked sharp for the first four innings, but were hit hard in the fifth. (Derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano predictably turned a few tough outs into hits.) Jeff Kent couldn’t turn a double play on a sharply hit grounder off the bat of Derek Jeter in the bottom of the inning, which led three Yankee runs–an RBI single by Giambi, followed by a two-run dinger from Jorge Posada. The Astros stormed back against Mussia in the top of the sixth, rapping four consecutive hits, including a two-run homer which hit off the top of the left field fence, by Craig Biggio.

But then, Lady Luck stepped in again. According to Tyler Kepner in The Times:

As Mike Mussina finished his follow-through, he saw and heard Richard Hidalgo hammer a line drive toward third base, and he crouched while he awaited the outcome. If the smash found a hole, the Houston Astros would grab the lead. If the liner settled in someone’s glove, the Yankees would still be ahead by a run and Mussina could exhale.

Robin Ventura slid a step to his left to spear Hidalgo’s shot and whipped the ball to first for a double play that ended a sticky sixth inning. Mussina was still crouching after the Yankees saved him. Perhaps Mussina decided to sneak in a prayer of thanks since his knees were already close to the grass. It would have been appropriate.

The funniest play of the night for the Bombers came in the bottom of the sixth. Godzilla led off the frame with a double to right and then moved to third on Ruben Sierra’s ground out to first (Joe Torre was up of the bench to congradulate Ruben Ruben for advancing the runner). Raul Mondesi then smacked a grounder sharply to the third baseman Morgan Ensberg, who stepped to his right to tag Matsui. David Pinto says that Matsui looks like Moe, Steve Keane says he looks like Shemp, but Godzilla did his impression of the Curly Shuffle to avoid the tag. Ensberg then threw to first to complete the strange double play. But wait, it appeared that he missed the tag, and Matsui scampered home with an extra run. Matsui continues to hit well, and he had three hits last night. He is going with the pitch a lot better and the balls he had been weakly dribbling to second base are now solid singles to left.

The Yanks would need all the insurance they could get because after seven innings, Mussina was relieved by Antonio Osuna, who did his best Juan ‘Gone’ Acevedo by giving up a bomb on his very first pitch. After recording a hard-hit out, Chris Hammonds came in and got out of the inning, striking out Lance Berkman with his inimitable Bugs Bunny change up. Mariano Rivera worked a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out two.

One thing I’ve noticed about Rivera this year is that when he comes set, he taps his left foot repeatedly, and gingerly as if he’s trying to find his footing. I don’t think I’ve seen him do this in previous years. It almost looks like when a cat is about to step on a ledge, and it feels the new surface for a minute before it makes a move. I don’t know if Mariano is just trying to get comfortable or if it is a new timing mechanism.

It was a satisfying win for the Yankees, who have squandered a good deal of games like this during the first part of this season. The Cardinals tipped the Sox 9-7 in Boston last night, so the Bombers move back into first.

Be sure and check out Redbird Nation and Bambino’s Curse for all the lowdown on the historic serious at the Fens. Redbird Nation has a particularly interesting post on Red Sox fans. Just scroll down and peep the article on Clemens vs. Pedro.

Weather permitting, the Yanks get Houston’s ace, Roy Oswalt tonight. Jeff Weaver gets another shot for the Yanks.

EEWWW

The New York Post has been reporting for several days that the Yankees are very interested in the Texas Rangers’ closer, Ugie Urbina. He’s expensive, he’s a headcase, and he’s a showboat—the ideal Yankee. But at least he’s better than Juan Acevedo, right George? Hey, what’s one more gavone at this point?

Here is what Bronx Banter reader Will thinks:

Depending on what we give up, this transaction could be a trade that will add more bloat to the roster without adding any quality, and if Brandon Claussen is the one being sent to Texas, John Hart needs to be arrested for commiting sodomy on the Yankees front office without proper lubrication. Promoting Al Reyes and Jason Anderson is a step in the right direction, but it seems a futile move since Manager Joe wil only use a relief pitcher only if he has been in the majors for ten years, quality and effectiveness be damned. I guess like all managers, he is more worried about winning now than about building a foundation for the short-term or long-term future. And you feel more comfortable with someone who has had experience in the “Big Spot.” But if I’m not mistaken, Urbina was placed in that “Big Spot” position last year with the Red Sox and managed to help his team lose two of three to the Yanks at the Stadium and eventually the AL East when he walked Posada in with the bases loaded walk. I will not and can’t ever understand the allure a veteran player holds for a manager. Urbina is not the answer, but youngsters like Anderson and Claussen can definitely be part of a bright future. This patchwork approach has never worked in the past and chasing this line of strategy will eventually bring them full circle back to the Dallas Green/Bucky Dent/Stump Merrill days.

According to his secondary sources, Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus reports:

I am hearing a lot more Urbina news – he may not want to go to NY due to last year’s bad blood and his desire to get saves in a contract year. The Pirates may be
listening to offers for Mike Williams and the Yanks might be getting serious about grabbing Mike Lowell back in a deal that could include Braden Looper and everyone’s favorite, Drew Henson.

Mike Lowell, Brian Giles, Carlos Beltran. The Yankee wish list is starting to grow. It’s that time of year again, folks. Why just not throw in Vlad Guerrero and Miggy Tejada in there too? Just cause you can.

WINDS OF CHANGE

George Steinbrenner held meetings yesterday with his round table of merry men, once again to discuss the state of his slumping team. Juan Acevedo and Charles Gipson still have jobs, but that may not last long. Without naming them directly general manager Brian Cashman told the Times:

“If you can’t perform at a high level consistently, you’re not going to be here too long. Anybody that falls into that category needs to step up.

“Over all, there are a lot of things right now that are not clicking. You definitely wouldn’t want to blame it on one or two individual players. But generally, that’s one thing I can say. I know people put forth their best effort, but you’re judged at a high standard here. It’s my job to decide when it’s time to make a change and to move someone on. That’s not a warning, just a general fact of life as a Yankee.”

…Cashman has been exploring deals for relievers, with no success. He is, he said, content to wait.

“There’s always pressure,” Cashman said. “But if we make a move, we want to make a move that makes sense right now. We don’t want to burn a prospect and make the wrong move. The players being offered to me now don’t significantly improve us.”

However, Newsday is reporting that the Yankees will cut Acevedo today, and place Jose Contreras on the 15-day dl with “an ailing right shoulder.” They will apparently call up pitchers Al Reyes and Jason Anderson. I will put in a call to Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus to see what’s what with the Contreras injury.

Meanwhile, the first-place Houston Astros—the team most likely to be mistaken for a State Troopers convention—come to town tonight to start a three-game series. Gordon Edes had a good piece on the Astros manager Jimy Williams in the Globe on Sunday. Williams’ no-nonsense approach seems to be working well with the veteran Houston team:

Astros star first baseman Jeff Bagwell, like Ausmus a Sox fan who grew up in Connecticut, heard about all the controversy that swirled around Williams during his tenure in Boston, especially his battles with Carl Everett and deposed GM Dan Duquette. Did he have any reservations upon hearing that Williams was coming to Houston?

”No,” Bagwell said, ”because I’m cognizant of what Boston is about. I know how the media can be, and I know Jimy is a no-nonsense guy. There were some things that went on, I think, in Boston that would upset him. I know the Carl Everett thing obviously was a big thing up there.

”Jimy is about playing baseball — what goes on out on the field and his team. That’s all he cares about. The other stuff he does because he has to do it. Boston is a tough town. They’re going to get in there and ask questions, the tough ones. I remember Ellis Burks when I was up there, when I was a kid. He was a great thing, but they called him the `MVP that never was.’ They buried him. I felt bad but I understand that’s the way it is.

”So you have to give somebody the benefit of the doubt about that. That’s why it didn’t come into my mind.”

Is Williams, then, a good fit for the Astros?

”Great,” Bagwell said. ”He treats you like a man. He expects you to play hard, he expects you to be on time, and that’s it. He backs you 100 percent, but if you’re not doing the right things, he’s going to tell you.

”He’s going to treat you like a man, and sometimes guys don’t want to be treated like a man. They want to be coddled. Jimy is going to tell you you’re not playing because of this or that. To me, that’s fair, you know where you stand all the time. Some people can’t handle that.”

The Yankee players got a real charge out of playing in Chicago this past weekend, and the Astros are equally juiced up about coming to the Bronx.

“This is going to be great for us,” [Billy] Wagner said. “You always grow up wanting to beat the Yankees in the World Series. That’s the ultimate. It’s a great environment to see because we might face them in the World Series.”

Wagner has played in two All-Star Games and has a franchise record 200 saves, but he admits it will be special if he gets an opportunity to collect a save at the home of one of the most respected closers in baseball.

“I want to go out there and get a save in Mariano Rivera’s backyard,” Wagner said. “It won’t be easy, but it will be awesome.”

Mike Mussina will face off against Wade Miler tonight. This should prove to be another exciting game. It should be interesting to see which Mussina shows up.

One question: Will Lance Berkman park one in the upper deck before he hits one in the bleachers?

Let’s hope that Matsui and Giambi can stay hot, baby.

THE BOSS

Guest Columnist

It’s easy to lose perspective on the antics of George Steinbrenner as a Yankee fan, but Christian Ruzich, The Cub Reporter has a clear view of Steinbrenner’s strengths, as he details in this article customed-fit for Bronx Banter.

I wish George Steinbrenner owned the Cubs.
Over the last few months, baseball fans have seen what appears to be a throwback to the old days of George Steinbrenner, back when he was Boss George, the firin’est owner in baseball. When I was a kid, it seemed like Steinbrenner was in the news almost every day. There he was hiring a guy to dig up dirt on Dave Winfield; there he was firing Billy Martin, and hiring him again, and re-firing him; there he was in a Miller Lite commercial with Billy, making fun of the situation; there’s he was, feuding with Jerry Reinsdorf (“How do you know when Steinbrenner is lying? His lips are moving”). Steinbrenner had been a constant presence in the New York tabloids for years. During the Joe Torre era, he seemed to recede a bit — maybe winning shuts him up — but recently he’s come out with both barrels blazing. So now we get to hear that he isn’t happy about the way Katy Feeney drew up the interleague schedule, and that he wants Jose Contreras in the starting rotation instead of Jeff Weaver, and that he thinks Derek Jeter spends too much time partying and not enough time concentrating on baseball but still thinks he’d make a good captain.
You know what? Good. I wish that stuff was showing up on the back page of the Chicago Sun-Times instead of the New York Post. I look at the Yankees and I see what the Cubs could have been: a team whose owner has deep pockets and isn’t afraid to spend that money on the team, who actually gets excited about the team, and who does things that he thinks will make them better. He’s not always right, but he’s always trying, which is a lot more than can be said for Cubs ownership for the last, oh, seventy years.
A few years ago, George Castle wrote a book called The Million-to-One Team: Why the Chicago Cubs Haven’t Won a Pennant Since 1945. Obviously, there’s no one reason why the Cubs are pushing a century without a World Championship, but Castle posited that one of the main reasons was that ownership that didn’t care. When Bill Wrigley died in 1932, his son P.K. promised him he would never sell the team. But, that didn’t mean he wanted to run it. He was much more concerned about the gum company, and saw the Cubs as a good way to advertise his gum. Still, he ran the team from 1934 until his death in 1977. During those 43 years, he:
* Dragged his feet on setting up a farm system
* Waited until six years after Jackie Robinson’s debut to integrate
* Turned down numerous offers to sell the team, including at least one attempt by Bill Veeck, son of Bill Wrigley’s long-time friend, citing his deathbed promise to his father.
* Came up with the College of Coaches “innovation”
* OK’ed the trade of Lou Brock to the Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, et. al.
He did do a couple of things right over the years — in the ’50s, he encouraged radio and television broadcasts of games at a time when most owners were fighting them, and in 1966 he hired Leo Durocher, who promptly put an end to 20 straight losing seasons. But I would ascribe those successes to the “blind squirrel” theory rather than to any sort of baseball acumen. Besides, Leo didn’t actually win anything, proving that just because nice guys finish last doesn’t mean that bad guys finish first. By the time P.K. died the Cubs had gone 31 years without a pennant. Four years later, his son, unhampered by any sort of deathbed promise, sold the team to The Tribune Company.
The Cubs were not the first team to be owned by a large corporation (even the Yankees spent some time owned by CBS before Steinbrenner rescued them), but their purchase by TribCo certainly foreshadowed the current wave of corporate ownership. Tribune looked at the Cubs as cheap content for their WGN TV station, which was showing up on cable systems all over the country. They talked up the team on WGN Radio and in the pages of the Chicago Tribune. With the exception of the hiring of Dallas Green, however, they did very little to improve the team.
They did lots of things to improve the amount of money the team brought in, though, like installing lights and skyboxes. After the ’84 division title, they ended the decades-old practice of selling bleacher seats on the day of the game. This was how I became a Cubs fan, by the way; back in the ’70s, when the Cubs sucked, the adults in my life would head downtown about 2 o’clock, pick up a $5 bleacher ticket, and we would spend the rest of the afternoon happily watching the Cubs lose under the sun at the Friendly Confines. Now, in order to get a bleacher seat, you have to hang out on Waveland and buy one from a scalper for five times face value. Recently, they’ve done such charming things as putting up screens to block the view from the rooftops across the street and setting up a shell company to scalp their own tickets and pocket the proceeds.
And yet, not much of this extra money ended up on the field. Or, when it did, it went to people like Larry Bowa and Dave Smith, and (famously) not to people like Greg Maddux. Yes, they signed Andre Dawson, but only after he presented them with a blank check which they filled out for less than he had made the year before. They were pretty quiet on the free agent front through the ’80s and ’90s, and with the exception of Maddux, they weren’t cranking out many prospects, either. Net result for the Trib Era: Two division championships, one wildcard, five winning seasons. It wasn’t until lifelong baseball man Andy MacPhail came on the scene, and TribCo actually threw some money at the scouting and farm systems, that the Cubs started acting like what they are: one of the most popular franchises in baseball, playing in one of the most revered stadiums in sports, owned by one of the largest media conglomerates in the world.
Steinbrenner, on the other hand, has spent the last thirty years dishing out money like he was Montgomery Brewster. Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage, Rickey, Dave Winfield — Steinbrenner opened his wallet for all of them. Later years saw the arrival of Wade Boggs, Paul O’Neill, David Cone, David Wells, Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina, and Jason Giambi. Plus, they were able to outbid everyone else for Orlando Hernandez, Alfonso Soriano and Hideki Matsui from the far-flung countries of the East (Hideki Irabu and Jose Contreras too, of course, but we’re accentuating the positive here). But at the same time, they developed homegrown players like Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada. Net result for the Steinbrenner Era: six World Championships, three AL pennants, and only five losing seasons.
All of this spending and winning has made the Yankees the poster children for What Is Wrong With Baseball, of course. According to Bud Selig, the Yankees are why there is no competitive balance in baseball. The fact that George Steinbrenner has all this money, and isn’t afraid to spend it, is held up by the nattering nabobs as proof that baseball is broken, and can’t be fixed without revenue sharing/luxury tax/the Yankees giving Mariano Rivera to the Brewers. I don’t buy it for a second. Yes, Steinbrenner has a lot of money. TribCo has as much money as Steinbrenner, if not more. So does Fox, and Peter Angelos, and look how well their teams have done. Steinbrenner not only has the money, he isn’t afraid to spend it, and he is smart enough to hire smart people to run his team. For some reason, those last two things get lost when The End of Baseball As We Know It gets discussed.
Steinbrenner wants to win, and he does what it takes to do so. Plus, he brings all the excitement of a loaded pistol with a hair trigger being passed around by a bunch of speed freaks. Admit it, Yankee fans: weren’t you just a little bit pleased when he started showing up in the papers again? I know I was, although my pleasure was dampened by a sense that I may never see this sort of stuff in Chicago (and maybe, with writers like Jay Mariotti and Rick Telander around, that’s a good thing). But I’d gladly deal with all that uncertainty and day-to-day craziness if it meant I have the privilege of following a team that gave itself every opportunity to win.

WICK, WICK WACK

The Yankees looked better this weekend against the Cubs than they did against the Reds of the Tigers, but they couldn’t outplay their mistakes and they dropped two of three in Chicago. In what proved to be a memorable series, the most egregious error came on Saturday afternoon when Joe Torre lifted Roger Clemens in the 7th inning of a 1-0 game, and replaced him with Juan Acevado, who promptly served up a three-run dinger to Eric Karros. Clemens bid for 300 was lost again, and although the Yankees had their chances late, they couldn’t mount a rally to win.

I watched the game with my girlfriend Emily, and after Acevado gave up the dinger, it was as if someone had punched us in the stomach. (We were already quesy after the freak injury sustained by Cubbie first baseman Hee Seo Choi.) I’m not big on second-guessing, but it was unavoidable here. Joe Torre and Mel Stottlemyre gave a lot of lip service to a respitory infection that Clemens struggling with, but as far as I’m concerned Clemens was still effective, and Rocket at 65%-70% is prefereable to Acevado at 110%.

According to the Times:

“Roger never wants to come out of a game, but when you see him every time he pitches, you pretty much make an evaluation on what you see,” Torre said.

Torre saw a pitcher who was wavering. The walk to Alou was Clemens’s first of the game, but Torre said, “It just looked like he was forcing it.” So Torre pulled him for Acevedo, a pitcher whose 7.83 earned run average was about to get worse.

Clemens did not speak to reporters after the game, issuing a brief statement that said: “Everything considered, I felt good. I went long and hard the whole way. It just didn’t work out.”

Some of the Cubs were surprised to see Clemens leave. “I was,” third baseman Lenny Harris said, “especially for a guy who was going for 300 and shutting us down the way he was. He got it past Sammy at 98, and his breaking ball was great. He just dominated us.”

Em and I were dumbstuck, and we weren’t alone. Here is an e-mail I received from Harley, a loyal Bronx Banter reader:

I don’t get it. Given that every Yankee fan in the known universe knew that Acevedo was going to give it up — maybe not that quickly, or that definitively — how did this escape Joe Torre’s attention? Clemens hadn’t even hit 85 pitches yet, he’s throwing 94 mph fastballs, and the rookie umpire might’ve cost him the walk….and Acevedo is the best option? (Conspiracy theory: Joe sends a message to Steinbrenner for dropping Jason Anderson in order to stick Sierra on the bench.) Why not Weaver? Why not Hammond? (Despite Buck’s inane suggestion that the Yanks don’t have a match-up lefty who can pitch to right handers like Remlinger.) Or — and Bill James just threw his
beer at the TV set — why not break with inexplicable tradition and bring in your best reliever when it matters most (that would be Rivera, and I know no one does that, but if there was ever a situation that made James’ argument, that was it).

Medical alert: Yes, Clemens was coughing, and he’s been sick, and maybe he asked out — this would be the second infamous ‘ask-out’ for Roger — but I just don’t buy it.

Oh well. At least when Steinbrenner fires Joe, we’ll know why.

Cheers in anger….HARLEY

Acevado was the goat again last night, as he made a throwing error which lead to two Cub runs—Alfonso Soriano made an error on the play as well–and hurt the Yankees come-from-behind charge. If you told me that the Yanks were going to score seven runs in a game which Mark Prior started, I would think they would have a good chance at coming away with a “w.” Pinch runner Chales Gipson—representing the tying run—was picked off of first to end the game, and the Yankees lost 8-7. The Bombers are now 0-20 when trailing after six innings, and they ended the nine-game road trip 4-5. The Yanks were a half a game out of first when the trip began, and they trail the Red Sox by a half a game this morning.

It doesn’t get easier this week, as the Yanks host the first-place Astros (and get Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller), and then the St. Louis Cardinals at the Stadium. My friend Mindy is taking me to Friday night’s game, as part of a birthday present. We are going to honor the return of Tino Martinez, but if everything goes according to plan, Clemens is scheduled to start that night, which could be a treat indeed. Rocket needs four strikeouts to reach 4,000 for his career.

Boss Steinbrenner will be in the house. Expect Charles Gipson and Juan Acevado to be relieved of their pinstripes sometimes soon.

David Wells pitched a good game on Friday afternoon, and Mariano Rivera escaped a ninth inning jam to give the Yanks a 5-3 win. Jason Giambi continued his hot hitting over the weekend, though Derek Jeter struggled.

Excuse me if I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but the Yankees have simply not been able to out-run their weakness: the bullpen and their defense.

BONZAI!

Joe Torre bumped his struggling slugger, Hideki Matsui to the seventh spot in the batting order, and Godzilla responded, going 4-5, with three doubles as well as a monstrous home run to straight away center. Guess Godzilla took his meds yesterday. The Yankees other big import, Jose Contreras somehow averted early disaster—escaping a first inning, bases-loaded, no-out jam without letting in a run–and pitched well enough to get the win. He was erratic, but the free-swinging Reds helped him out plenty.

The Yanks broke out the whooping stick, stomped on the Reds, 10-2, and there was much rejoicing in Yankee land as they avoided getting swept in Cincy. Joe Torre added to the pleasure, by getting tossed by the home plate umpire after arguing a called strike three on Jason Giambi. It was a bad call, and since the game was in hand at that point, it was great to see Torre let off a little steam. Robin Ventura added 3 RBI, and Lil’ Sori had 3 hits, including a homer. (It’s a good thing Sori is such a marvel as a hitter, because he continues to regress defensively.)

The Red Sox and the Pirates, who faced off in the first World Serious back in 1903, wore throw-back uniforms last night, and the Pirates nipped the Sox, 5-4. The Yanks go into the weekend series at Wrigley Field a half a game up on Boston. The first game will be played this afternoon at 3, followed by the Rocket Clemens-Kerry Woods Game-of-the-Week tomorrow afternoon, and then the finale, which will be televised on Sunday Night baseball.

There could be a ruling on Sammy Sosa today, but I would doubt that MLB will make him miss the marquee match up this weekend.

According to the tabloids former Yankee Ruben Sierra will be joining the Yankees in Chicago. The Yanks will apparently send minor league outfielder Marcus Thames to Texas. Does this move have George written all over it, or what? This was the same Sierra who had some parting shots for Joe Torre when he was traded for Big Daddy Fielder in the middle of the 1996 season:

“All they care about is winning.” The next spring in Plant City, Fla., as a member of the Reds, Sierra said, “Joe Torre [bleeped] up my career.”

Torre was critical of Sierra in a book following the ’96 season, but Sierra later apologized to the Yankee manager. Torre has admitted he admires how Sierra has rebuilt his career after stints in Mexico and Atlantic City.

The 38-year old Sierra makes the Yanks more muscular, that’s for sure. I always liked Ruben, Ruben because he was such an ass. But the Yanks are maxin out on the ass cap here. At least Raul Mondesi has another buddy. Perhaps he’ll be a good bat off the bench, but this is another move that makes the Yanks look more like the Rangers and less like the old Yanks (currently being played by the Seattle Mariners).

Hey, maybe King Leyritz is available too.

FALLOUT

Rob Neyer has a great column on the Sammy Sosa fiasco. Neyer doesn’t think the corked bat incident should change the way we look at Sosa as a ballplayer:

With that out of the way, should this change our opinion of Sammy Sosa, the man? Well, sure. Maybe a little. After all, he did cheat. So if anybody out there thought that Sammy Sosa was perfect, now they know better. But do we think Graig Nettles was a bad guy because he put rubber balls in his bat? No, we don’t. Do we think Billy Hatcher was a bad guy because he put cork in his bat? No, we don’t. Do we think Albert Belle was a bad guy because he put cork in his bat? No, we don’t (we think Albert Belle was a bad guy for a lot of other reasons).

Nobody’s perfect, and a significant percentage of players would cheat if they thought they could get away with it. In fact, there’s a famous saying in baseball, “It ain’t cheatin’ if you don’t get caught.” Which reminds me, what’s with the double standard in baseball? Gaylord Perry, who was famous for throwing a greaseball, sailed into the Hall of Fame. Mike Scott won the Cy Young Award in 1986, even though everybody knew he was scuffing the ball. In the later years of his career, Whitey Ford knew every trick in the book and he used all of them.

When pitchers cheat, it’s “colorful.” When hitters cheat, it’s “cheating.”

To me, it’s all cheating. But let’s not hold Sammy Sosa to a different standard than we hold Gaylord Perry and Whitey Ford.

In my mind, Sammy Sosa’s still a Hall of Famer. And as for what kind of man he is, I can’t say I know much more today than I did yesterday.

Amen to that.

Players around the league had mixed reactions to the incident, but most of them seemed supportive of Sosa. Heck, even Manny Ramirez broke his code of silence to speak up for Sammy.