THIS DATE IN ROCKET HISTORY

On this day in 1986, Roger Clemens struck out 20 Seattle Mariners. Tonight, he is gunning for career victory number 298.

WILLIE MAKES SURE SORI DOESN’T GET A SWELL HEAD

While Alfonso Soriano continues to defy the laws of probability with his battery-operated bat, he has steadily improved with the glove as well. But his mentor, third base coach, Willie Randolph isn’t blowing smoke up lil’ Sori’s ass:

“I still think he’s got a ways to go,” Randolph said. “Being an All-Star is a nice thing, but an All-Star to me is doing it offensively and defensively. When you start talking about the whole package, that’s when you see the confidence get to a new level. That’s when you start saying: ‘I enjoy doing this. I can be an All-Star hitter and an All-Star second baseman, too.’ ”

…From third base, Robin Ventura has noticed the footwork. That is a change from last season, when Soriano led major league second basemen with 23 errors. Ventura said Soriano used to wait for balls to come to him, but now he moves toward them to receive better hops.

“From where I’m at, I see the ball bouncing at him and what kind of hop he’s going to get,” Ventura said. “Last year you could see it happen before it got there. It was like watching a car wreck, watching the hops come at him. He was making it tougher on himself, but he’s got it now. You can tell his confidence just by watching him.”

ICHIRO, GODZILLA IN THE PLACE TO BE

Big happenings in the Bronx tonight as the Mariners come into town for a three-game series, which features Seattle’s star Ichiro, and the Yankees’ left fielder Godzilla.

Mariano Rivera will join the team for the first time this year, and Yankee fans will hold their collective breath until we see him pitch.

There should be a terrific crowd buzzing at the Stadium tonight, and I have a feeling the next week will provide a tense, playoff-like atmosphere in the House that Ruth Built.

Check out this scouting report on the Yankees from Seattle native Shane O’Neill.

Also, don’t sleep on U.S.S. Mariner, for comprehensive blog coverage of the series.

DOGPILE ON THE METSIES

Buster Olney has an article that appeared on the front page of The New York Times this morning about the state of the Mets. As well all know, it isn’t a pretty picture.

They are a bad defensive team. Among the league’s best defensive teams a few years ago, the Mets are tied for second in the major leagues in errors. They strike out constantly, ranking fifth in that category, while compiling one of the major leagues’ lowest on-base percentages.

…A general manager for another team said: “I can’t believe a team that spends that much money is that bad. There’s nobody who really scares you when you look at their lineup, on paper. The only starter who might scare you is Al Leiter. They don’t look real good.”

Mike Lupica, the King of the tabliod columnists in New York, weighs in on the ugliness that is the Mets, and characteristically doesn’t pull any punches:

The Mets have to make some kind of move over the next month or so, or get ready to make some moves, and big ones, moves that even might involve Mike Piazza. If that is the way things work out, if they are falling out of another race and out of another season in June, the first move has to be with Steve Phillips, the general manager. Who can’t be allowed to make any more moves himself at that point.

A LITTLE OF THIS AND A LITTLE OF THAT

The Yankees return home to New York today, where it is a clear, sunny and brilliant spring day. It’s the perfect day to talk a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. The Bombers start a six-game homestand tomorrow, and will face the Mariners and the A’s. (Meanwhile the Red Sox will host the Royals and the Twins at the Fens.) Next week they fly out west to play in Seattle and Oakland. The next two weeks will be a good test of how the Yankees stack up against two of the best teams in the league.

Heavyweight Tom Boswell gives his take on the always-interesting/never-boring New York Yankees in The Washington Post:

They may be truly great this year, but, if you look closely, they’re also old and flawed. They’re admirable individually yet unpalatable collectively. They’re off to the best start in their history. Which just sets ’em up for a big fall. Yes, right now, the Yanks have all their classic themes roiling at once.

…Never have George Steinbrenner’s men been so brazenly greedy relative to the rest of the money-strapped sport. The Boss, luxury tax be damned, has topped all past buying frenzies. So his team has never been easier to hate. Feel the injustice of that $164 million payroll, a dozen times Tampa Bay’s size. Let it burn. Doesn’t it feel good? If your heart has a stitch or a seam in it, and you’ve never lived within the five boroughs, you have to root against them.

Yet, in this era, the Yankees define conflicted emotions. They’re the team that’s so exemplary they drag you, kicking, into their camp.

Gordon Edes reports on the Yankees early-season success in The Boston Globe, while Anthony McCarron delineates the power structure of the Yankees front office.

Lastly,John Sickels, ESPN’s minor-league guru, has this to say about Derek Jeter’s temporary replacement, Erick Almonte:

His strikeout rates are high, while his walk rates are all over the place, low at times but not so bad at other times. He is 25 years old, so he doesn’t have a lot of development time left and is close to being as good now as he’ll ever be.

Looking at the minor-league numbers, Almonte projects to hit between .230 and .260 in the major leagues, with touches of power and an erratic on-base percentage. What he’s doing now is about what he should be expected to do, maybe a little better. He has no star potential that I can see, but certainly does enough to be useful as a middle infield reserve.

MONEY-BOSS PLAYER

The hot baseball book of the spring is clearly “Moneyball, The Art of Winning an Unfair Game,” Michael Lewis’ study of Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s. Christian Ruzich, The Cub Reporter and Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus received reviewer’s copies and are enjoying the book immensely, and quite frankly, I can’t wait to get my hands on it too. The New York Times Magazine published an excerpt from the book last month, and Billy Beane comes across as a charming, slick, and danergous operator—like a shark from a David Mamet play. (Kevin Spacey should play him in the movie version).

Joel Sherman has a column on the book today in the New York Post. Needless to say, former Oakland skipper, and current Mets manager Art Howe, who was famously at odds with Beane, is not portrayed in a favorable light. Howe refused to comment on the book, but as Sherman reports:

Yesterday before his team was swept by Arizona while setting a double-header record with 27 strikeouts and committing an error at every position except third base, Howe described this discouraging first month of boos and boots as a “piece of cake compared to what I’ve been through in the past.” When asked later if that meant his time under Beane, Howe would only say, “I had my moments.”

As depicted in “Moneyball,” the A’s would not have been all that different if managed by a cardboard cutout of Howe. Unlike other GMs, Beane dictated (among other things) lineups, bullpen usage and strategy – specifically no steals or sacrifices. Howe would confirm with players who stole on their own that it was indeed their decision, so Beane would be furious with them and not him. Most unflattering of all was that Beane even ordered where and how Howe stood in the dugout – on the top step with his chin raised to project leadership to his players below, though Howe preferred to sit on the bench.

Considering the way the Mets played yesterday, Howe could have used cardboard cutouts of his players which may have at least cut down on all the errors.

TEXAS 2-STEP

I’m happy to report that my girlfriend Emily returned from her recovery-hiatus in the hills of Vermont this past weekend. She was down at my place in the Boogie Down Bronx on Saturday, and it was nothing short of great to be with her again. Em was even excited to watch the Yankee game on Saturday night, even though she was so beat by the time the game started, she didn’t make it past the third inning. She was awake long enough to see her boy Giambi hit a first-inning home run. I had told her that Giambi—her favorite Bronx Bomber, had been slumping, so not to expect much. So naturally he hits a homer.

“Now that I’m back, he’s going to be fine,” said Emily.

David Wells didn’t pitch particularly well, but he did go eight innings. The game irritated the hell out of me, for some reason. You know how there are some games that just drive you nuts? This was one of them. I figured the Yankees were going to be blown out. Boomer whiffed A Rod in his first two at-bats, but then Rodriguez jumped all over a 2-0 fastball his next time up, and tied the game with a solo shot to center. I turned in with the ol’ girl during the seventh inning stretch figuring I had better things to do than dick around watching the game.

But I couldn’t get to sleep, so against my better instincts, I got up to check the score about 45 mintues later, just in time to watch Juan Acevado K A Rod on three pitches (all looking), in the 10th inning to give the Yanks a 7-5 win. The Freak Soriano had 3 hits and collected the game-winning RBI off of Ugie Urbina.

Rodriguez, and The Rangers exacted a measure of revenge on Sunday, pounding the Yanks 10-6 to avoid being swept. A Rod went 5-5 and had 6 RBI, including a bases-loaded double that had Joe Torre second-guessing his decision to leave lefty Randy Choate in to face the King of Swing.

Sunday’s game was the ugliest game of the series, but I didn’t mind so much. Sometimes you gotta get spanked, right? Jeff Weaver didn’t have much and when Joe Torre came to get him, he looked like he was trying to suppress a smile. Hey skip, I sucked pretty bad today, huh? The Yanks ended their longest road trip of the year at 8-2, so what’s not to like about that?

I flipped back and forth between the game, and the Hoopskaball playoffs. As badly as the Yankees played, Jason Giambi pinch-hit in the ninth and represented the tying run. Even though the Yanks got smacked around, they still had a chance to win the game.

The Yanks are now 20-5, and the only drag is that the Red Sox are only 4 games back. Boston pulled out a 14-inning win over the Angels last night in Anahiem (incredibly, the Cardinals beat the Marlins in a 20-inning game yesterday too). Naturally, Pedro Martinez didn’t get the win, although he looked fine, striking out ten in seven innings of work and leaving with a 4-2 lead.

I was talking with Ed Cossette of Bambino’s Curse yesterday, and he expressed to me the constant anxiety Red Sox fans live with regarding Pedro’s health. I was thinking about it later, and I have a question for the reader: Who was the last great pitcher who was as vunerable while he was in his prime as Martinez? I don’t think the Koufax analogy works, because according to Jane Leavy’s book, Koufax knew going into the 1965 season that his days were numbered. I don’t get that sense with Pedro at all. Has there ever been as dominant a pitcher who was as frail as Pedro Martinez seems to be?

Inquiring minds want to know. (Like me.)

DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS

The Yankees won the opening game of a three-game series in Arlington last night, beating the Rangers 3-2. Mike Mussina improved to 5-0, struck out nine, and allowed one run in eight innings of work. Mussina seemed to get better, working quickly, as the game went on. After striking out the side in the eighth inning, I was a disapointed that he didn’t return for the ninth. Not only was Mussina spotting his fastball, and using his over-the-top knuckle-cuve effectively, but he added a three-quarter-arm breaking ball which had the mighty Texas bats stumped all night.

Juan Acevado pitched the ninth instead and made things interesting. With one out, Juan Gonzalez swung at a shoulder-high fastball and lofted the ball towards the seats down the third-base line. Robin Ventura followed the high pop fly, and carefully stepped onto the tarp, stood up, leaned over slightly and recorded the second out of the inning, before he fell gently over into the stands. Almost everything about Ventura appears laconic, and this play was no different. It was a sure-footed play, but it seemed as if it was happening in slow motion. YES broadcaster, Ken Singleton commented that Ventura, “Looks like one of those loggers, doesn’t he?”

Carl Everett then reached on what looked like Alfonso Soriano’s first error of the season (a difficult grounder to his left that he booted), and scored on Ruben Seirra’s double to right (Raul Mondesi, showing off his powerful arm, almost nabbed Sierra at second to end the game). The second baseman, Michael Young was next, and he smacked Acevado’s first pitch off the glove of first baseman Nick Johnson. The ball bounced to his right, and lil’ Sori scooped it up and flipped it under-hand to Acevado to end the game. It was a long way to toss a ball under-hand, and Acevado practically snow-coned it in his glove, and they narrowly beat the streaking Young by a half-a-step, to seal the win.

Boy, the Rangers are a strange team. They are a motely crew of muscle-headed sluggers, managed by one straight-laced strategist in Buck Showalter. This is the first time Buck has managed against the Yankees since he left the Bronx in the October of 1995. Orel Hirshiser is his pitching coach, and the two of them look prim and studious.

Showalter and Orel each have their own, sleek little table-stand in the dugout. Hirshiser dilligently charted each pitch thrown by his staff. He has just the kind of business-like efficiency that makes him a perfect fit with Buck.

YES broadcaster Michael Kay said that he had asked A Rod before the game how he liked Showalter, and A Rod looked at him in the eye and said, “I love him. You know wanna know why? Because I crave discipline and he provides it.”

It’s not often that you hear your superstar saying he craves more order, and structure and accountability. Kay reported that Showalter compared Rodriguez with Mattingly, in terms of his love for the game and his work ethic. According to Kay, that is not a comparison Buck throws around lightly.

But the Rangers roster isn’t just weird, it feels perverse. They have some youth of course, even though Mark Teixeira didn’t play. The kid Hank Blalock did, and boy is he milk-fed, bro. “Good-looking ballplayer,” as Buck O’Neil would say. He looks like a ballplayer. Or he looks like a jock, California-style, ala Shane Spencer. I would find it hard not to call him “meat.” Mussina duped him into grounding into a weak ground out his first time out by throwing him an offspeed pitch on a full count; the next time up, he wacked a hanging curve ball up the middle for an RBI single; the last two times up, Mussina set him down on three pitches.

It was good to see Mr. Universe himself, Alex Rodriguez, and although I’ve never cared for him too tough, it was nice to see the smooth fielding, sweet-swinging future Hall-of-Famer Rafie Palmero too. But in the second inning, when Mussina faced Juan Gonzalez, Carl Everett and Ruben Seirra, I felt like I was watching a bad reality-TV show where they get a group of former celebrities and force them to live together. Or some ill espisode of the Rikki Lake show.

What a collection of Bone-heads, man.

My favorite Martian, Alfonso Soriano had a mutliple hit game again. As Steve Goldman noted in his Pinstriped Bible column this week, Nick Johnson is serving as a terrific counter-point to Sori. He is as patient as Sori is aggresive. Johnson collected a base on balls for the tenth consectuctive game. He flew out deep to left in his first at-bat, and hit a two-run homer to left in the sixth.

Jason Giambi put together a solid at-bat in the third, and drove a full count pitch up the middle to drive in the Yankees first run. Colby Lewis started for Texas, and he pitched well, mixing a good curve ball in with mid-90s gas.

LE FREAK, C’EST CHIC

I’m not the only one calling Alfonso Soriano “The Freak,” these days. Aaron Gleeman simply prefers “Freak of Nature,” which is the same difference, really (Initially, I started calling Sori “Superfreak,” but he’s still too young for that title, which I think fits Vlad Guerrero better at this stage of the game). Gleeman, who has a real gift for statistical analysis, covers lil’ Sori, and his freaky-ass self in his column today:

I will admit to being one of the people who thought that there was just no way Soriano could continue to hit like he did last season while never walking and striking out in bunches. And while I will gladly admit I am wrong, I do so while still in complete and utter disbelief of what he is doing.

…Since Soriano will basically swing at and hit anything that is thrown close to the strike zone (and by “close” I mean within 5 feet on either side and from the tops of his shoes to his helmet), many people have wondered “why pitchers ever throw him strikes.” I have also wondered this, particularly after seeing this stat last season…

Alfonso Soriano putting the first pitch of an at bat in play in 2002:
97 at bats
45 hits
.464 batting average
.825 slugging %
6 homers
15 doubles

Those are just about the freakiest freak numbers that ever freaked the earth.

Freakin A, bro.

BIBLE THUMPING

Here are the last two installments of Steve Goldman’s excellent Pinstriped Bible column over the YES website (I’m sorry I forgot to link last week’s piece). Goldman offers objective analysis of the current Yankee team, while providing a thorough, and detailed historical context to measure their accomplishments by. It makes his weekly column a must-read for all Yankee fans.

This week, Goldman compares the 2003 Yanks with four other Yankee teams who got off to similar starts (1928, ’39, ’49, and ’58—yeah, all those teams went on to win the World Serious).

Here is what Goldman has to say about Nick “Godzookie” Johnson, since Joe Torre moved him to the 2-hole in the batting order:

Nick Johnson is now displaying the great eye at the plate that made him such a prized prospect. Credit Johnson and the Yankees brain trust for mental flexibility: Johnson’s minor league success came from crowding the plate within an inch of its life. He tried it last year, and other than earning him 12 free bases/bruises on HBPs, it didn’t work. This season Johnson has backed off — he hasn’t been hit once — and he’s found that not only can he still control the strike zone, but he can control it better. The mechanical issue resolved, the man’s natural ability has taken over. At this writing, Johnson is carrying a .982 OPS and there’s every reason to expect more of the same.

When Jeter returns, Torre is going to face a tough decision as to how to reorder his lineup. Respect for Jeter’s previous accomplishments dictates a return to the top of the order, but Johnson is doing things in the two-hole that aren’t in Jeter’s bag of tricks — Johnson is likely to draw twice as many walks as Jeter takes in a typical year. Jeter does many things well, and he could bat anywhere, and should be encouraged to do so. Johnson’s confident, he’s hot, and should be a fixture at the top of the order from now on.

GREAT GOOGLIE MOOGLIE

Just how good are the 2003 Yankees? Jayson Stark has a column at ESPN that says, well, they are damn good, perhaps great. Of course, it is way too early to be talking about great anything (the mere suggestion makes my Spidey Sense tingle), but considering that they’ve been without Rivera and Jeter (and a productive Jason Giambi), the Bronx Bombers have done a good job of living up to their moniker, for sure:

“Sometimes in baseball,” [Elias historian and analyst Steve] Hirdt said, “you’ll see something so overwhelming that you regard it as a special measure of a special talent. Like Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout game. Nobody has a game that good unless they’re something special. And these Yankees have had 3

PEOPLES IS PEOPLES

Steve Keane, sole owner and proprietor of The Eddie Kranepool Society, writes:

Alex,

Great work as usual on the Olney interview. I was struck by a few things Buster said.

About Tom Lasorda, My wife and I were going to the theater about two winters ago when we ducked into the Marriot Marquis on Time Square to warm up. There was a sportswriters dinner going on and I happened to see Lasorda standing near by. I went over to say hello and the guy looked at me like I asked him for a loan. What a phony bastard.

I go to Cape Cod every summer for vacation. Peter Gammons is a year round resident of the Cape and I got to know him a few years back seeing him at Cape Cod baseball games. He is a true gentleman. Not only is he baseball guru but his knowledge of rock n roll music is unmatched.

You would think just by accident some player would ask a beat writer about his family or where he went to school or any kind of personal small talk. I mean you see these guys the whole season. I guess the players are as self centered as we believe they are.

As a whole, I think athletes are self-centered, but not any more so than your run-of-the-mill actor, musician, or artiste. As a side note, Steve mentions today that it may be time for the ancient mariner of the Mets radio broadcast booth, Bob Murphy to step down. Personally, the less coherent Murphy becomes, the more I enjoy listening to him. His voice, garbled, and slurred, sounds like Schlitz Beer, if Schlitz Beer could talk.

“Eeeeeee Strugg ‘im out.”

BOMBED

I got an e-mail from Ed Cossette yesterday as the Sox were getting their tits lit in Texas, and he told me, “I guess I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.” Derek Lowe continues to be inconsistent, and manager Grady Little told the Boston Globe:

”Right now,” he said, ”the biggest thing I’m looking forward to is getting the hell out of Texas.”

Trouble is already brewing between the Sox and the Boston press, according to the Boston Globe. Pedro Martinez is not talking to reporters, and now Grady Little has issued a mandate that his players only talk to the media about baseball related issues, after a definite-type-of-situation went down earlier this week.

For what it’s worth, I’m sure Ed will feel just a wee-bit better when he wakes up this morning and finds out that the Yankees finally lost a game. Andy Pettitte didn’t have much of anything last night, and the Angels jumped on him for six runs; the Yankee bats for once, were unable to rally, and the Yanks are no longer the best team in baseball. The best team would be your Kansas City Royals, baby. Don’t throw rocks at the throne, playa.

Not for nothing, but I caught the tail end of Mike Lupica’s diatribe against the Bronx Bombers last night on ESPN’s the Sports Reporters II. Ostensibly, Lupica echoed what my friend John alluded to yesterday, and that is that watching the Royals win is much sweeter than the watching U.S. Steel win. I understand his point. If you are an average fan, what’s not to love about the Royals winning? It’s a great story. But the Yankee fan in me says, “Speak for yourself, papi.” Lupica finds the Yankees to be obnoxious and joyless, which is fair enough. But that’s not going to stop me from enjoying their success, no matter how high their payroll climbs. (Do I ever feel guilty about it? Sure. But it’s all part of being a Yankee fan.) If you can’t find any joy in watching Soriano or Bernie hit, then it’s your loss, not mine. But hell, Lupica has to sell papers, I just get to root for my team.

STARTIN’ SOMETHING?

Things may not look promising for the Mets this year, but at least they are only 3 games out of first place. This doesn’t feel like a team that go out and win 20 of 25 games, but at least Cliff Floyd and Robbie Alomar are starting to get hot. Floyd has been pounding the ball this week, and cursing the ill winds at Shea too, as he has had several balls knocked down short of the wall, and land safely in the gloves of the opposing team. Alomar had two doubles last night and now has nine on the season (he had 24 last year). What’s more impressive is that he’s driving the ball in the gaps like the Robbie of old.

Last night, Pedro Astacio made him first start of the year and Mets beat the Astros, 7-4.

GETTING DEFENSIVE

David Pinto has a nice exchange with Steve Bonner regarding the Yankees defense over at Baseball Musings. Pinto opines:

Yes, the defense and bullpen is weak. But the offense and starting pitching is so strong, those weaknesses are easily covered up. Sure, they can hurt them in the post-season; in a short series weaknesses can be easily magnified. But I would expect the Yankees to address the bullpen if it continues to be an issue, and I think the offense is good enough (especially if Jeter returns and Giambi starts to hit) to cover the weak defense.

END OF THE LINE…

The Mets placed David Cone on the DL yesterday, and though nobody said it, his career could be over.

According to the New York Times:

Cone seemed surprised when asked if he would pitch again.

“I would hope so,” he said yesterday. “I’m not willing to give up at this point. I’m also very much a realist. I also understand physically I need to be able to go out there and give more than I’ve shown so far, be more reliable and show I can hold up every five days and pitch more than five innings.”

At the same time, Cone admitted:

“I’ve had a long, very good career,” Cone said. “At this point, it’d be in bad taste to complain about anything. I’ve had so much good fortune in my career. This was kind of an experiment at first. It turned into a pretty darned good story and now it’s questionable. I understand that.

“I knew that coming in that this would be tough, that there was going be a chance I couldn’t do this physically. I still haven’t conceded anything at this point.”

DEAR JOHN

Here is an e-mail I got this morning from an old friend of mine, John Burdick, one of my creative writing professors when I was in college, who also happens to be a long-time Yankee fan:

Alex,

From the AP:

“New York has outhomered opponents 43-5 — hitting the most in the major leagues and allowing the fewest. The Yankees have as many homers as Detroit has runs.”
Detroit is the new or posterboy for revenue sharing, now that KC is winning games and Montreal is not so bad at all.

In last night’s romp, the Yankees left 27 men on base!

Now, you know I have my reservations about all of this. My team, right or wrong, of course, but I just don’t enjoy it as much when they’re payroll is 30M higher than the next closest, and when the only acceptable outcome is a championship, and even that is more a cause for relief than jubilation. Honestly, I wish I were a Royals fan right now. That would be fun. So I take to following individuals more than the team. Soriano looks to be rectifying the problem that kept him from winning the MVP last year, which is to say he didn’t lead the league in *every* major offensive category. He looks a little bulkier to me this year, just a little.

Now, if you subtract the salaries of Jeter, Rivera, and Karsay, maybe their payroll looks more like the Mets’. Aw hell, subtract Giambi’s too, as he’s hardly been better than Rey Sanchez thus far. So no doubt, they are hot, *globally* hot, and it’s not just money. But be still. It’s a long season. Starters will slump and go down with injuries. The bullpen is suspect, but that doesn’t show when the starters are going late and the offense is simply blowing everyone away.

The luxury is that just about the time Ventura, Posada, Matsui, and Mondesi start to decline, Giambi will be himself again and Jeter will be back. Bernie and Sori are the only others who need to be themselves all year all the time.

And correct me if I’m wrong, Alex, but isn’t Bernie a traditionally slow starter, like a terribly slow starter? If so, damn, maybe this is HIS MVP year. Truthfully, I always thought he had an MVP in him, if he could stay healthy and play 145+ games.

BTW, I suppose you saw that my Orangemen won the national title? Nothing, no Yankee collapse or Laker triumph, can take the smile off my face this year. This was the most unlikely and most pleasant surprise of this fan’s life.

Here is another e-mail I received today; this one is from reader, Steve Bonner:

Alex, First of all thanks for the great site and keep up the good work. I think the below quote, attributed to Rick Reed in Jim Caple’s column this morning, sums up the Yankees perfectly:

“I’d like to give you my glove and and you go out there and try to pitch to that lineup,” Reed told reporters after the game. “I’m thanking God we’re in the Central and not the East. That’s unbelievable. Un-be-lieveable.”

Steve

I want to thank all the readers who have sent me comments on the Buster Olney interview, and I especially want to thank my fellow bloggers (and Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus) for all the plugs and kind words. All of your support is more than somewhat appreciated.

ESPN has several good pieces on the Yankees today. Darren Rovell writes about the marketing of Godzilla Matsui, and Bob Klapisch reports on the Bombers hot start.

Jason Giambi, one of the few Yankees who is not on fire these days, told Klap:

“I can’t even count how many times I’ve taken a walk with runners on first and second, just to load up the bases for Bernie,” Giambi said. “To me, being disciplined at the plate, getting on base, scoring a lot of runs, it’s the most important thing.”

…”As soon as some of the other guys get cold, I’m going to get hot. And then Jeter is going to be back,” Giambi said. “That’s what a machine does — it never stops. That’s us. This could go on all year.”

ROMPER STOMPER

“The Freak,” Alfonso Soriano has hit a home run to lead off a game three times this year—all in support of Roger Clemens, who earned his 297th career victory last night in the Yankees 9-2 win over the defending World Champs. Raul Mondesi added a homer of his own, and Bernie Williams had a couple of hits and a couple of RBI (he now leads the team with 22). At the rate lil’ Sori and the Yankees offense is going, how long will it be before the Yankees get in their first brawl? If they don’t slow down soon, it’s hard to believe that the rest of the league is going to sit back and watch them roll over everyone without getting a bit nasty with them.

Soriano’s brilliance is unsettling in this regard: just how long can he keep this up? Both John Sickels and Rob Neyer confirmed his status as a freak of nature last year. So the question remains: Is Soriano a great player, or the next Juan Samuel? The great Sandy Koufax spoke with Joe Torre before yesterday’s game and told the Yankee manager:

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody with quicker hands than Soriano.”

There is something about Soriano’s blinding talent that makes me question whether it will last over five, ten years. Still, it won’t stop me from appreciating every moment that little freak gives us in the meantime.

The Bombers dominating offense and sterling starting pitching has masked the team’s mediocre bullpen, which is starting to look like a M*A*S*H unit. Antonio Osuna joined Mariano Rivera and Steve Karsay on the DL yesterday with a strained groin. In his place, the Yankees have called up right-hander Al Reyes, who they picked up after the Pirates released him this spring. According to the Daily News:

Reyes, a 33-year-old righty, has eight years of experience in the major leagues. His career record is 15-8 with three saves and a 4.12 ERA. In eight relief appearances at Columbus, Reyes had one save and a 1.04 ERA. He struck out 10 in 8-2/3 innings.

The young Jason Anderson now moves into Osuna’s set-up role, and the Yankees better pray that their bats keep clicking with Seattle, Oakland, and Boston on the horizon.

Rivera, who was supposed to throw yesterday, pushed his outing back one day due to some general soreness and will pitch this afternoon instead. He will likely join the team next week in New York when the Yankees face Seattle and then Oakland.

Meanwhile, Billy Conners is busy working on fundamentals and mechanics with Jose Contreras in Tampa:

“This guy has very good stuff, but he’s a little messed up here,” said Connors, the club’s minor league instructor, motioning toward his head. “He has too much pressure to perform. What everyone is hoping is that we can get him to relax a little, get some success and self-confidence and quickly get him back with the team.”

Contreras is scheduled to pitch for Triple A Columbus next Tuesday.

HURTIN’

This morning I sent Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus an e-mail asking him what we should make of the Steve Karsay situation. Yesterday, the Times reported that he would likely miss the remainder of the season, but after his visit with Dr. James Andrews, the reports today are that he’ll be okay….when we don’t know. I’m not the swiftest cat on the block when it comes to sports medicine so I asked Will why Karsay would need two cortisone shots.

He replied:

[Karsay] needed relief in two distinct areas. NEVER a good sign and one that they’re already thinking he’s at significant risk. Still, it’s just inflammation and not something surgical so there’s still a chance he’ll come back. Give him a week’s rest and he can pick up his rehab again. Chance of recurrence? 100%.

Meanwhile, things are sure looking bleak over at Shea these days. David Cone left last night’s game vs. the Astros after two innings with a gimpy hip, and to make matters worse, Jeromy Burnitz suffered a broken hand late in the game when he was nailed by a 97mph Billy Wagner pitch. Naturally, Burnitz had been the hottest hitter on the team.

I caught some of the game on TV last night, and after Cone was yanked, Mex Hernandez was talking about how it’s probably time for Cone to hang it up. The announcers didn’t know why Cone had been pulled from the game at that point, so I don’t know if Mex changed his tune when he learned that Cone had been hurt. But I would doubt it.

Cone, one of the all-time stand-up guys, spoke with the media following the game:

“I don’t think I can answer all the questions tonight,” Cone said in reference to inquiries about a possible trip to the disabled list. “All I can say is I’m not ready to give up. It certainly was disappointing tonight. I know everybody is wondering if I can go on – or what I have left. Those are all legitimate questions. I certainly think about those things myself. But I showed enough in spring training, threw the ball well in my first start. And I know something is still there. I still believe I can help the team. I still believe I can win games. But tonight was a big setback. It’s something I’m going to have to think long and hard about.”

The Wilpons (Jeff and his father Fred) are going to have to think long and hard about the future of their team. I thought that Steve Phillips should have been kicked to curb along with Bobby V last year, and if anything good comes out of another misbegotten season at Shea, it will be the firing of the GM. Steve Keane, who runs The Eddie Kranpool Society, has been harping about Phillips for weeks now. For the skinny on the sorry sons of bitches from Queens, be sure and check out Steve’s blog, pronto.

JETER RE-INJURED

Yeah, my heart skipped a beat too, when I recieved an e-mail carrying this subject-heading yesterday. I should have known better when I saw that it was from my ol’ pal, Greg G, winner of the most obnoxious Yankee fan west of the Mississippi contest (and that’s saying something). Fortunately for the Anahiem faithful, Greg G will not be attending the Yankee-Angels series this week.

After I was finished cursing him out for fooling me with his phoney headline, I must say, his e-mail made me smile:

Did you hear about Jetes? He reinjured his shoulder diving headfirst into a supermodels thighs. He said he would retest his shoulder tomorrow, by diving headfirst into Miss America's buttocks.