11/21/06

I'm very disappointed that Derek Jeter didn't win the MVP this year, although Justin Morneau is certainly a worthy winner, as would have been Joe Mauer, probably even moreso. I just can't help but think that the person happiest for Justin Morneau is Alex Rodriguez. And I'll let you ponder that thought for a moment.

Another thing you might want to ponder is this: When was the last time, during an off-season, by Thanksgiving, that not only had the Yankees not signed a prominent free-agent, but that they weren't even rumored to be going after any of the remaining guys out there? Weird. They certainly need starting pitching, but not sure if anyone out there right now is the answer. Time's have changed. I just really don't want to see the Yankees going into 2007 with roughly the same pitching staff as 2006. Although it is important to mention the wonderful news of Jaret Wright's departure from New York. So, at a minimum, that addition by subtraction will be welcome in 2007. Possibly Humberto Sanchez from the Sheffied deal, possibly Philip Hughes from the minors, possibly Carl Pavano from the dead, and lastly Scott Proctor are all guys that might end up in the rotation come 2007. They all give the Yankees some other options, but I'd sure like to see one other guy in the rotation that is a proven winner, to go along with Wang & Mussina. Just way way too many question marks and old age to make them a serious contender at this point.

10/30/06

Congrats to the St. Louis Cardinals. I can't say I'm disappointed that they took out the Tigers. I tried to keep an open mind, but ultimately I found myself pulling for the Cardinals. Not sure whether it was because all of my family hails from St. Louis, or just sour grapes from the Tigers having taken out the Yankees and the fact that Kenny Rogers didn't deserve another ring. I was thinking about doing some writing about why I felt different about Kenny Rogers vs. Jeff Weaver, but read a blog that perfectly captured my thoughts. You can find it here.

Although I hadn't given it much thought, got into an e-mail exchange earlier today with a fellow Yankee fan. He asked me what was on my wish list for the Yankees for the off-season and here is my response: I only have one "must have" and if they accomplish that, I'll be a happy camper. The "must have" is reliable starting pitching. They've got Wang and nothing else right now. I don't consider Johnson to be reliable if you base it off of 2006 performance. With him coming off back surgery and another year into his 40's, they can't count on him. IMHO, he killed them in 2006 because he got shelled in so many games and was out before the 5th inning, he put so much stress on their bullpen. Since Mussina is a free agent, can't count on him and he'll be a year older too. I like Mussina, but they need to get younger, so signing him to more than a 1 year deal is a bad idea IMHO. I think it would be better to let him go. So, who is left? You've got Wright, with a $7M deal, or a $4M buy-out. To me, I'd buy him out in a second. Addition by subtraction. My reaction when I heard about Cory Lidle was just a sick wish that it had been Wright instead. Then, you have Pavano. Uh, ok. How about Philip Hughes? I'd say if he has a strong spring, let him learn in the majors in 2006. Let him learn on the job while the Yankees score 5-6 runs a game. Anyway, they need young, strong arms, attached to guys that can handle pitching under the pressure of the bronx. If they can trade Sheffield for a pitcher, more power to them, but I'm not counting on that. How much pitching can you get for a 38 year old "attitude" making $13M. It's not as if the other teams are going to give up a ton for that. I don't know much about Matsuzaka, so can't comment there. I thought they were going to bid for him now, but he wouldn't arrive until 2008. So, who is left? Barry Zito? Although I know he's not dominant, I like Zito. He's young, he's durable, he's a lefty. It's Steinbrenner's money, so I'd say go after him. Maybe with Giambi and Damon there, the ex-A's can get him to move East. Who else? Stay away from Jason Schmidt. The last thing they need is another fragile starter on the downside of his career. How about taking a shot on Kerry Wood? That would be interesting. If they can get him cheap with the $$ in incentives if he performs, I'd give him a shot as long as they don't pin their hopes on him. I had Wood in a rotisserie league back when he K'd 20. Anyway, if they can just put together 3 guys that you can rely on to go 6-7 innings, game in and game out and give up 2-3 runs, they can fill in the pieces with the 4 & 5 guys. But, last year they had Wang and Mussina in those roles. You never knew what you were going to get with Johnson, feast or famine. The 4 & 5 holes were a wasteland. So, my wish list is to add 2 solid starters to the rotation. I'll take Zito and Padilla how about? Put Phil Hughes in the 5 hole and let Randy Johnson by the #4 guy if he is healthy. There you have it. As far as I'm concerned, that's all they need. I think with the development of Scott Proctor and what I saw out of Brian Bruney, they've got the arms they need in the bullpen, whether Farnsworth ever puts it together or not. They clearly don't need anything on offense, although I'd be ok with a trade of A-Rod for Joe Crede & Mark Buehrle (your thoughts on that?)

10/13/06

Sad to see what happened to Cory Lidle. It is truly tragic. It is sad to see happen to anyone at such a young age and certainly should make everyone appreciate what they have because it shows you how fleeting life can be. I know it is truly tasteless, but I can't help wishing it had been Jaret Wright in the plane instead of Lidle. If the Yankees don't decline his option for 2007, even though it involves a $4+ million payout, I may have to just stop paying attention to the Yankees on the days he pitches because it is so incredibly painful. Stop the insanity and let Jaret Wright go!!!!!!

The 2006 post-season was over before it even got started for the Yankees. Two years in a row now, the Yankees are knocked out in the 1st round of the playoffs. For some strange reason, it didn't shock me. Watching the first 3 games of the series, it was clear that the Tiger belonged there. Despite what virtually every expert predicted, the Tigers were a strong team and in their series against the Yankees they were the better team, so hats off to them, they deserved to win. Some general observations:

1) Kenny Rogers. WTF??? I mean come on, you can't be serious. I watched the game. The guy pitched his guts out. It was one of the best pitched games I've seen in the post-season. You have no idea how painful it is for me to type those words. For those of us that remember, "the gambler" was a big free-agent acquisition for the Yankees in 1996, at the age of 31, when most big leaguers are in the prime of their careers. What did he do for the Yankees? He went 12-8 in 1996 with a 4.68 ERA, the year after having gone 17-7 with a 3.38 ERA. Yet another prime free agent, signed after a career year, wilting under the pressure of the big apple. But, his 12-8 record that year doesn't even begin to suggest how bad he was. In 179 innings, he walked 83, while striking out only 92. That's roughly a 1-1 ratio of BBs and Ks. Again, going back to the prior year, he pitched 208 innings, with only 76 BBs and 140 Ks. Far more respectable numbers. In the post-season in 1996, things had gotten so bad, the Yankees considered not even putting him on their roster, but ultimately let him pitch with as short a leash as is humanly possible. Ah, but then you go to 1997 when the bottom really dropped out and Kenny went 6-7 with a 5.65 ERA. In only 145 innings that year, he gave up 161 hits, 62 BBs and 78 Ks. But even those atrocious numbers don't tell the whole story. Somehow, despite him, the Yankees managed to win the world series in 1996. I still remember seeing him as part of the World Series parade in 1996 and thinking how that guy just doesn't deserve to be a part of that celebration. Thankfully, the were able to dump him in 1998 for Scott Brosius, who went on to help them win 3 World Series titles in a row, so at least he provided them with that parting gift. But, what pisses me off even more is that immediately upon leaving the Yankees, he mysteriously learns to pitch again and goes 16-8 with a 3.17 ERA for a very bad A's team. WTF Kenny??? So now, in 2006, all of a sudden for him to "prove" that he doesn't wilt under pressure, by performing in the post-season, and doing it against the Yankees is the final straw. Kenny, I hate you and will never forgive you, you freaking bastard!!!! And just to add a final hint of irony, he throws down this great performance, which I fully acknowledge as being great, against Randy Johnson, the 40+ left hander that was supposed to be helping the Yankees win big games. Instead, it is Kenny Rogers who somehow has morphed into that guy, while Randy Johnson is the guy putting up Kenny Rogers numbers circa 1996/1997. I mean, come on, even the radar gun was showing Rogers throwing in the low 90's, hitting 93 every now and then. Kenny Rogers is now throwing roughly as hard as Randy Johnson, yet with far more effectiveness. Has the whole world gone crazy? I need a drink.

2) The Tigers have some frigging great arms (and I'm not talking about Kenny). Jeremy Bonderman, Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya. Did radar guns all of a sudden add 3-4 mph, or are there just more guys that can hit 100 mph these days. Whatever it is, the Tigers may just be a force to reckon with for years to come.

3) Carlos Guillen is a solid player and seems to have found a home in Detroit where he has blossomed into a star, but he's got to get rid of that giant wad of chew in his lip. God, he looks like an idiot with that thing so big it bulges his lip out and his tongue constantly flicking it. Get a clue you idiot.

4) Placido Polanco, despite having a name like an opera singer, seems like he bats 1.000. I don't remember him ever getting out.

5) I know it sounds cliched, but the Tigers just seemed to want it more. Back in August, when the Yankees swept the 5 game series from the Red Sox, the Yankees just did not let up. They kept coming and coming and coming at the Red Sox until the Red Sox were completely and totally defeated. Even in game 4, against Schilling and Papelbon, the Yankees were playing like a team on a mission and the Red Sox seemed to realize that too. But that same fire just didn't seem to be there for the Yankees against the Tigers in the final 3 games. If you can do it in the late innings against Papelbon, I'm sorry, you can put something together against Todd Jones. The guy had a good year and has great control, but he's utterly hittable. Except the Yankees, the team a week ago that every expert was suggesting might have the best hitting lineup...ever, couldn't get the bat on the ball against Todd Jones. For whatever reason, the fire just wasn't there for the Yankees, while the Tigers showed up as the team that wanted it more and they had the talent to put it all down on the field and came away deserving what they got, just as did the Yankees, sadly enough.

9/28/06

What an anticlimatic end to the regular season 2006. Back around the all-star break, I was coming to grips with the possibility that this might be the first year that the Yankees miss the post-season since 1993. Instead, they win it going away, which is ideal for them, allowing Sheffield to get lots of playing time at 1B, Giambi to rest, the big unit to rest, and get ready for the playoffs. That being said, although their offense may be the best they've fielded during their current playoff run, their starting pitching still leaves me worried. To win it all, and they're certainly capable of winning it all, their offense is going to have to bludgeon their opponents while their pitching just needs to keep them in the games. At this point it's not even clear if the Big Unit is going to be healthy to make a post-season start.

Here's something to chew on. Since Robinson Cano came off the DL back on August 8th, he is leading all of Major League baseball in RBIs. That is not a typo, all of MLB, including Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols and any of the other big sluggers that have been getting all the press. Over the course of the 50 games since then, he's batting .369, with 11 home runs and 51 RBIs in 195 ABs. Also during that time he's had 23 Doubles. This guy is something special. Even if he doesn't win the batting title this year, the Yankees have to be feeling pretty darn good about having this 23 year old as the future of this team. Not bad for a #9 hitter.

9/1/06

Not trying to sound like sour grapes here, but the Yankees have played the Tigers 7 games this season. The Yankees have won 5 and the Tigers 2. In the two games the Yankees lost to the Tigers, in both the Yankees took a lead into the 9th inning. In both games, Mariano Rivera was not available to pitch. In the 1st game, Rivera was having back spasms and Kyle Farnsworth tried to close and blew the game. In the 2nd game, Rivera had closed in the front end of the double header and Torre didn't want to use him again so Scott Proctor tried to close and got 2 outs and had a full count on the batter before walking him and then blowing the game on the next pitch home run. Why am I airing this out? Because I'm just pointing out the Tigers don't impress me. How they have the best record in baseball is a mystery to me. Yes, they do have a fantastic rotation and a great bullpen, but I have to wonder how their hitting coach still has a job. They are the polar opposite from the Yankees in terms of patience and plate discipline. I just find it hard to believe that there isn't someone on that team in management trying to emphasize patience at the plate and the obvious benefits of doing so. Perhaps all their winning masked that deficiency on the team earlier in the season, but they're in serious trouble if they make the playoffs, going up against the premier rotations. It would be a collapse of epic proportions if they don't make the post-season, but it wouldn't surprise me, with Chicago and Minnesota so close on their heels.

8/30/06

I'm having a hard time remembering a team that went from solid playoff contender and 1st place to packing the season in so quickly, especially with the wild card. Back on July 21st, just a little over a month ago, Boston was 59-36 and held a 3 1/2 game lead over the Yankees. As recently as July 31st, the Red Sox were still 63-41 and had a 1 game lead over the Yankees. Well, as of this moment, on August 30th, the Yankees are now 78-52, while the Red Sox are 71-61, with the Yankees holding an 8 game lead, and 9 games in the loss column. Yes, if you do your math, you'll see the Red Sox have gone 8-20 in the month of August, the worst in Major League Baseball over that period. And Big Papi is in the hospital and Manny, well, Manny is just being Manny. What happened in such a short period of time? I can only imagine that Red Sox fans are asking that question over and over again as their season has somehow completely come apart. Clearly, the biggest thing that happened was the Yankees 5 game sweep of the Red Sox less than 2 weeks ago, in Boston. But, the groundwork for that was also the Red Sox losing Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield to injuries, while not making any major acquisitions at the July 31st trade deadline. Meanwhile, the Yankees got Bobby Abreu, Cory Lidle and Craig Wilson, with Robinson Cano coming off the DL and scalding the ball. As much as I would stress from day to day when the two teams were battling for the AL East title, I enjoyed the drama and anticipation. All of a sudden, when a month ago I was concerned the Yankees might miss the playoffs for the first time in over 10 years, now they pretty much have the AL East locked up and all that remains is whether they can get their starting rotation set up and healthy for the playoffs and whether Hideki Matsui might be able to contribute. I already miss the drama, but not suggesting I'd trade it for the possibility the Yankees would miss out on the 2006 post season. I'm just glad I'm not a Red Sox fan. I almost feel sorry for them. Almost....

8/28/06

Well, at this point, I imagine whatever audience I might have had is now lost, given my total and complete lack of updates. Oh well, I guess this is more for me than anyone else anyway. I just finished re-reading my most recent posts and it is pretty amazing to see how much has transpired since the June 5th post. Just as I was belaboring the Yankees injuries, shortly thereafter Robinson Cano went down for over a month as well. But since that time there've also been many roster changes. Getting Bobby Abreu was clearly a huge move for the team and also yet another opportunity for Yankee haters to talk about the rich getting richer, since they were probably the only team that could take on Abreu's contract. He's been simply great and is probably the single biggest reason for their surge in the standings. Getting Cory Lidle in the deal was also very important, as the Yankees rotation has been so incredibly inconsistent. All they need is a dependable average starter, yet that has been very hard for them to come by of late. Don't even get me started on Jaret Wright. Yes, he's won some games for them, but I just can't wait for him to be gone. I just don't understand what his problem is, but every game he puts 2-3 guys on base every inning and then trying to wriggle out of trouble over and over again, hoping to give the Yankees 5 innings. Invariably, he gives up a big inning when he puts runners on base so often. Their bullpen is so overworked because of this guy, the wins just don't offset the stress he's placed on the bullpen. Then there's A-Rod. Holy crap he sucks. What the hell? OK, so his defense has been terrible for much of the season, but you'd expect maybe his offense would cover some of that up? Uh, not this year. He's not even hitting .280, may not hit 30 HRs this year and, although his RBI numbers aren't bad, I think that is masked by how many opportunities he has had with runners on base. In the current 3 game series just completed against the Angels, A-Road went 1-15 with 10 strikeouts. I'm not kidding. For the season, he's already struck out 125 times and is on pace to blow away his career high in that category. Moving on (I'm tired of talking about A-Rod and Jaret Wright). Meanwhile, Derek Jeter is putting together possibly the best season of his career. I'd sure love to see him get an MVP this season, which seems very possible if the Red Sox continue to tank. Only David Ortiz seemed a front runner and now with the Red Sox dropping, that may no longer be the case. But somehow, as of today, when the Yankees have their first off day since playing 21 games in 20 days, the Yankees now have a 6 1/2 game lead over the Red Sox in the East. Pretty amazing. They can't take complete credit for having such a large lead, the Red Sox as well have really tanked over the last month, currently at 8-18 in August, the worst record in all of Baseball for this month. Of course, the Yankees sweeping the 5 game series at Fenway the weekend before last, clearly as well had much to do with the standings. But, since that series wrapped up, the Yankees went 2-4 on a West Coast Swing, giving the Red Sox a chance to regain some of the ground lost, but they just got swept by Seattle in Seattle and are in the midst of an identical 2-4 record on their jaunt across the West Coast. Although I know it is not over until mathematically it is over, I just don't see the Red Sox making up that kind of ground over the last month. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

At the same time, I recall hearing a quote the other day about how the biggest misconception in baseball over the summer is how the Yankees are grinding out games despite all of the injuries they've sustained. The basis for that position was that with a $200 M payroll, even without Matsui and Sheffield, their roster is more stacked than virtually every other team and therefore, how can you really call what they are doing grinding when they still send up to the plate Damon, Jeter, Giambi, A-Rod, Cano, Posada. And have a starting rotation paying $16M to Randy Johnson and $20M to Mussina, etc.. You know, the guy's got a good point. But, the bottom line is that they have been grinding out the games and maybe the reason there is that their $200M payroll is heavily underperforming for the money they are being paid. That is probably the better discussion. You think about Randy Johnson and his 5.0 ERA. How is he doing for $16M? Or A-Rod and his 125 Ks. Is he earning his $20+M? You could argue that Jeter and Giambi who are collectively making around $40M are carrying their weight in comparison. What about Jaret Wright and his $8M? Or Carl Pavano and his $10M? How productive has that money been? Even Mike Mussina, as well as he has pitched, has he given them $20M worth of pitching this year? Perhaps, if you compared that to Randy Johnson. But, the guys that have contributed the most to the Yankees success this season other than Jeter, Giambi, Posada & Mussina have been Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera and Chien-Ming Wang, all guys making close to the MLB minimum. So I can certainly see the argument that 95% of all other MLB teams, had they lost two key players like Sheffield and Matsui, would not have had any chance of remaining competitive, but the Yankees can afford some failures and disappointments and have the ability to still pick up the slack. That still would not have been possible without Cano, Cabrera and Wang, all guys that the Yankees were able to find not because of their riches, but through good scouting and the patience not to trade them away for instant gratification.

In the mean time, what else is going on? I'm in the midst of reading several Baseball related biographies. A few weeks back I read Jose Canseco's book "Juiced". It was interesting but overall I had a hard time with his rambling and mega-ego. Regardless, I bet he was more truthful than he was given credit for. Then I read David Wells' book. I really really enjoyed that book, but then I'm biased, I've always loved Boomer. Much of it was reliving his glory with the Yankees and I will never get tired of that. But the way the guy is such an unabashed Yankee fan, how can you not love that? Usually when I read an autobiography of someone I come away liking that individual less than before. It happened with Arnold Palmer. It happened with John McEnroe. The things you learn about people that weren't previously in the headlines and how immensely huge their egos are, typically will take the luster off of someone's image pretty quickly. But David Wells was fairly humble in his book and came across is really just your every day guy that had a gift of a great arm. It's just hard not to appreciate his outspoken manner and that he, in most cases, didn't take crap from anyone. Even though I was pissed off in his last start for the Yankees that he left the game after the 1st inning in game 5 of the 2003 World Series, which I see as the pivotal moment in their loss to the Marlins, I'll always love the guy and root for him. After reading his book, you get a better understanding of the kinds of back injuries he's fought through over the years. Having had some back trouble myself, I truly understand how crippling it can be. It was strange reading the book, then the next thing I know, finding him pitching for the Red Sox, against the Yankees, in the 5th game of their series last weekend. The game had the perfect outcome with Wells pitching great, but the Yankees squeaking out the game. Also strange to read in the book, written in 2002 about how Wells thought he'd be lucky to pitch one or two more years and here he is still pitching well at 43 years old, 4 years later. More power to him. Now I'm reading Game of Shadows, about Barry Bonds and the Steroid era. I'm only about 100 pages in, but so far I'm struggling to enjoy the book. Perhaps it is not to be enjoyed, when Barry Bonds is characterized as such a despicable person, of which I have no doubt he truly is. More to come on that subject once I've completed the book.

6/5/06

I know, I know, one column a month, what is up with that? Trust me, I'm just as engaged in this current baseball season as I've been with any season of the past, but I'm just not going to "throw down" with my thoughts here unless I'm really "feeling it". Lots of other stuff going on in my life right now that, for whatever reason, have kept me from fully "feeling it" as often as I might otherwise. Perhaps I'll expound on that other stuff one of these days. As far as the Yankees are concerned, and where they are at this point in the season, I'm actually pretty pleased with where things stand. They've been just absolutely hammered with injuries and yet still find themselves only 1/2 game back of 1st as they go into a 4 game series with the Red Sox at home this evening. So, they've got Matsui out potentially for the entire season. Sheffield is out, also possibly for the entire season, but that one is still not clear. On top of that, in the past week we've seen Jorge Posada go down with some knee issues that are most likely going to hamper him for the remainder of the season, Damon with a bum foot that also may hamper him the remainder of the season, then A-Rod with a stomach ailment and then Giambi with a stomach ailment, Jeter with a sore hand and lastly Mo gets back spasms from tying his shoes, which probably costs them at least one game. Man, when you put it all down in print it really hammers home how lucky they are to be so close to 1st place and continuing to win games throughout it all (they've won 9 of their last 12). But, there are some advantages to all of this, as hard as you may have to look for it. The Yankees are probably the hardest team in the bigs to break into from the farm system because they continuously sign big name free agents or trade prospects for top players. So, how do the Yankees ever give their top prospects a shot? What if Jeter had never gotten the chance? Or Mo? Last year, Robinson Cano got a shot and looks to be a mainstay at 2B for years to come (with 210 ABs this season, he now has 732 ABs in his big league career. Over that span, the 23 year old now has a career batting average of .301, while playing solid defense and even a little pop with 16 HRs). And to continue to stay competitive, they've got to have some homegrown talent, especially as their original core of homegrown guys, Jeter, Mo, Bernie & Posada are all in their 30's now. So, with all the guys going down, the Yankees have given a shot to their top outfield prospect Melky Cabrera. Only 21 years of age, he got a brief shot last year, but it was only 19 ABs and not enough to get comfortable, especially when you're 20 years old and playing on the biggest stage in the game. Well, with another year under his belt and getting regular playing time, he's been in 23 games, has 83 ABs and has impressed virtually everyone with his plate patience, batting .301 and an OBP of .389. Andy Phillips is getting some solid playing time at 1B, batting .291 and also playing solid defense. Now they've just called up Kevin Thompson as another backup outfielder. So, instead of paying a few mil to guys like Tino Martinez to play backup, they're giving a shot to guys from their farm system and not trading away their key prospects. I expect to see Melky Cabrera as a key Yankee outfielder for years to come. Meanwhile, on the pitching front, Mike Mussina continues to impress (I hope I don't jinx him since he's pitching tonight about the Red Sox). He's the only guy in the bigs with a quality start in every outing, and he's leading the AL in ERA. Great stuff, I hope he can keep it up. And in his last couple of outings, the big unit appears to possibly have found his groove; 13.1 innings, 5 hits, 4 earned runs, 6 BBs and 12 Ks. Not overpowering stats, but very strong. Compared to his two previous starts; 10 innings, 17 hits, 11 earned runs, 5 BBs and 13 Ks. Quite an improvement. We'll get a chance to see if this trend is for real in his next start against the Red Sox later this week. I can only hope. Shawn Chacon should be back in a few days and the Yankees really need him, as Aaron Small as a 5th starter is just not getting it done. Once Chacon is back, the next hole that needs attention is the bullpen. Kyle Farnsworth is just not getting the job done. Mo has been fine, Mike Myers has been very good and Ron Villone has been very good. Nobody expected much out of Scott Proctor, so, although he has struggled of late, that's not a huge surprise. The big dissappointment is Farnsworth, although it is not uncharacteristic for his career, Yankee fans just all hoped he'd find some consistency in the Bronx. So, we look to the return of Octavio Dotel in a few weeks and hopefully that will balance out the workload and allow everyone to perform at a higher level. But, with all the problems, they've just completed a stretch where they beat Boston 2 out of 3, KC 2 out of 3, Detroit 3 out of 4 and then Baltimore 2 out of 3. And 2 of the 3 losses were blown saves by Farnsworth.

And what of the rest of the bigs? Sad to see Albert Pujols go down. Listening to XM today, sounds like it is pretty serious. As a baseball fan, I hope he comes back soon. I would love to see him wipe Barry Bonds from the record books. And, to see a guy making history every day, you hate to see anything derail that, since, at the moment, it feels like only his health could keep him from his appointed date with "best player ever" status conversations. But, he still needs another 5-7 years before those conversations can truly begin and not feel too silly.

5/8/06

So, what the heck is going on that the season started over a month ago and not a single entry from me? Good question me. Very strange. Of course, I've been just as focused on baseball as ever over the course of the first month, but since I'm new to this blogging thing, I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself. New for 2006, me carrying on a conversation with myself. Can you feel the love? I appreciate those few but precious that have actually inquired as to whether I was already washed up or not. You know who you are, with regards to that precious comment. Anyway, my more direct answer to my question is that, through a tremendous amount of self-reflection, I've come to the conclusion that the first month of the season is too soon to have any serious thoughts. In the first month of the season, you're re-acquanting yourself to Baseball and your team. You're figuring out how all the pieces fit together, who the competition is, who the surprise teams are, everything is new and there's a lot to take in. So, my thoughts are pretty scattered (as you can see from this rambling entry) and nothing specific really stands out. As far as the Yankees are concerned, I'm pleasantly surprised at their start out of the gate. Some of the question marks have been answered, around whether or not Jason Giambi would pick up where he left off, or fall back to his 2004/early 2005 form. Overall, the offense has been great and should keep it up throughout the season. As for the pitching, early on, Mike Mussina has been extremely impressive, arguably the best pitcher in baseball over the 1st month of the season, pitching great in each and every start thus far. Will that continue in 2006? Not likely, since he relies so much on command of his pitches, he's going to have his off days, but the fact that he has consistently performed in every start thus far is a great sign. Shawn Chacon also has demonstrated that last season after the Yankees picked him up wasn't an anomaly. On the flip side, Randy Johnson has been incredibly mediocre, which is even a stretch. That the Yankees gave him a 3 year contract extension at age 41 is pretty ridiculous, as much as I wanted to believe he'd reward them with his performance, but what he did last year in the playoffs against the Angels and what he has done thus far in 2006 might indicate that in 2007, his $16.5 Million salary may go down as one of the biggest rip-offs of all time. And, just to throw some stats around, here's one that caught my eye. 3-4 starts ago, against the Blue Jays, the Yankees scored 4 runs in the top of the 1st inning. With Randy Johnson pitching, and up to that point in the season, he'd been pretty good, you thought the game was pretty much over. Then, the Blue Jays scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st, another 3 in the 2nd and another 1 or 2 in the 3rd to chase Johnson. Here's the stat. In his career, up to that point, when given a 4-0 lead, he'd gone 145-0 with 14 no decisions. 145-0!!!!! Well, now he's 145-1. Sure, at 42, going on 43, the streak had to end at some point, but you think that might be a sign of something? I believe, of late, he's been throwing right around 90 mph tops on his fastball. I'll try and be optimistic and think it's just a dead arm period and he'll pick up a few mphs, but right now he's throwing like a #5 starter. Meanwhile, the Yankees bullpen, with many new arms has been very mediocre as well, Mariano Rivera included. But, Rivera has not received any kind of consistent action at all, so I'll throw him some slack. In the Yankees wins, most often they seem to be of the 9-1 variety, so he doesn't get that many save opportunities. Kyle Farnsworth has been hot & cold, Mike Myers has been mostly good, other than the dinger he gave up to David Ortiz. On the bright side, Scott Proctor has been great, so perhaps he has harnessed his great arm in a way that hitters are no longer able to tee off on his straight 95 mph fastball. In the end, I expect the bullpen will work itself out and become a strength of the team, particularly when Octavio Dotel returns. The area of greatest concern to me is the bench. With Bernie Williams the key guy coming off the bench, they just don't have any depth, particularly with a relatively old team. At some point, I expect Brian Cashman to come up with a deal to bring them an experienced bench players with a decent bat. Although it may sound ridiculous, whatever happened to Matt Lawton anyway? If Jason Giambi can turn around his Steroid controversy, wouldn't a guy like Matt Lawton be a good guy to come off the bench? Just a thought, lots of other guys to choose from I'm sure.

As far as the rest of the baseball universe, yes, I'm aware it exists. I'm sad to see Barry Bonds still playing and about to catch Babe Ruth. I was hoping he'd just slither away quietly, but he hasn't. Still a lot to play out in that situation. I'm excited to see the Cincinnati Reds and their resurgence, as well as the Detroit Tigers. It's always great for baseball when a team with a great baseball tradition, but that has been down for many years turns things around. The fans deserve it and it creates a lot of excitement for everyone. Let's put the spotlight on Adam Dunn and his monstrous home runs. Let's get Ken Griffey Jr. back on the field and watch his graceful swing and enthusiasm. What about Bronson Arroyo and the way he has anchored that pitching staff (and hit home runs in his first two starts)? What about Aaron Harang, who I recall having a brief stint here with the A's? What about the resurgence of Tom Glavine and Gred Maddux? You've gotta love it. Lots of great stories and I'm looking forward to seeing them all play out on the field this year. Could the NL Central be hotter? What about the Colorado Rockies for crying out loud? Can anyone name one player on that team other than Todd Helton? $20 to anyone that can name 10 guys on that team off the top of their head without cheating. When everything is said and done, will Albert Pujols be the greatest player of all time? It sure looks like it, but he's got a long way to go. Where the heck did this guy come from anyway? It seemed like he showed up and just started hitting from day 1 (because he did), without any advance hype. I hope the guy that scouted him got the reward he deserved.

If you are a true and passionate baseball fan and you don't have XM Radio, you're missing out. When my office used to be in San Francisco, I had a standard radio that received AM stations, and allowed me to listen to KNBR and catch Giants games. Although not a Giants fan, just hearing baseball as background noise was wonderful, particularly with the Giants broadcast team of Jon Miller, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow. Anyway, when I moved offices to Pleasanton, my new office building could not get any radio reception at all. So, I decided to make a last ditch effort and get XM Radio, even though my office is in the center of the building and doesn't have a direct window to the outside. Surprisingly, I am able to get reception, although not 100% clean. So, for the last year, I've been able to enjoy XM Radio, which comes standard with literally every baseball game broadcast, hearing the home team's broadcast crew. Now, in addition to the Giants, I can get the Yankees broadcasts, as well as baseball talk throughout the year and lots of other music and programs that I rarely if ever actually tune into. So, this spring I invested in a portable XM Radio, so that I can use it in my office and take it with me for the car or at home. It is awesome and well worth the investment.

3/8/06

It finally happened. Something got me going enough to raise me out of my winter hibernation. Barry Bonds. Well, that's not entirely accurate. Moreso, the idiots that call in on radio shows to defend Bonds or try to deflect the topic. Living in the San Francisco area, it's everywhere. For anyone that pays attention to Baseball across the country, it's in your face. What I'm going to try to do here is to simplify things. There's so much hyperbole going around right now, this thing is as overblown as Brokeback Mountain. I just came across a great article by a local reporter that does a good job at simplifying things, but I'll try and add on. Here you can find Ray Ratto "breaking it down". OK, here goes:

1. Does any of this new information surprise anyone? If it does, where have you been? No duh Bonds took Steroids. Hello? To anyone that, as a result of the book, they all of a sudden now realize Bonds did Steroids, you have disqualified yourself from having the minimum level of intelligence to read my rants, and that's saying something. Please go away.

2. To anyone that still doesn't believe Bonds did Steroids, or believes there's some conspiracy afoot, please take your meds, as you've lost complete and total touch with reality. Also, please stay away from my family. Now, go away! Usually, the defense of people that have taken this position is that "Bonds has never tested positive for Steroids" and/or that "Steroids weren't banned from baseball during the period at which Bonds was taking them". So, as far as that first defense, it is true, Bonds has never tested positive for Steroids, that I'll give you. But, to use that one fact as a shield to then ignore all the other overwhelming evidence is called one thing and one thing only DENIAL. Please see a therapist, they can get you into a 12 step program for that. Moving on. As to the 2nd excuse, that one really gets me going. You see, whether or not they were banned from baseball is what you would call irrelevant. Taking steroids without a perscription is illegal, as determined by the federal government of the United States. Last time I checked, federal government laws supercede the rules of Major League Baseball. If you can't get your feeble mind around that one, try this example. Say you learned from stacks and stacks and stacks of evidence that your children's school teacher was regularly taking acid or cocaine or some other illegal substance while on the job, how would you feel about that? Sure, your child never got harmed, they might have even had some fun watching the teacher "trip", but is that ok with you? I suspect you would call for the firing of that teacher and make sure your child never again attended a class that the teacher taught. What kind of behavior is that teacher modeling for your children? What kind of behavior is Barry Bonds modeling for young ballplayers trying to make the big leagues? Now, what if the teacher used the excuse that they never tested positive at the school because the school didn't have a drug testing program. Or what if the teacher said the school didn't have an explicit policy about using drugs on the job, would that be a reasonable excuse? Would you then allow your child back into that teacher's classroom? I didn't think so. Contrary to what some may think, winning isn't everything.

3. To anyone that responds to all of this with questions about "why is the book coming out now?" or "what was the motivation of the authors, was it money?" or "why isn't the book about McGwire or Sosa or Palmeiro?" go away. Come on, for crying out loud. You get $1 for trying to exercise your deflection skills. I'll make it easy for you, here's the answer to all of those questions...WHO CARES!!!!! Why is the book coming out now? Because it's the perfect time to release the book now idiots! Do you think that books get released when the book is ready to be released? Wrong!! Books get released based upon what the publisher thinks is the optimal timing to maximize sales. Duh! What was the motivation of the authors, was it money? Duh again. Sure, it'd be nice to think that they spent countless hours of their life just to try and restore the integrity to the game, but, um, not sure how to break this to you, but, that kind of stuff just doesn't happen in the real world. People that have that kind of altruism are utilizing it for things that really matter, like poverty and disease. Guys that follow baseball for a living are not likely to go pro bono on you. It's about money, and fame, and ego and all those types of things. But we're not talking about the National Enquirer here. Just because they are doing it for money and fame doesn't mean it's not true. Why isn't the book about someone other than Bonds that did Steroids? Uh, I can't believe people are asking these kinds of questions, but they're all over the airwaves. Come on people!!!! First of all, Bonds is the man, he's knocking on the door of one of the, if not THE, most hallowed sports record ever, the all time Home Run record. He's just done something that statistically is considered impossible and nobody, I mean nobody that has allegedly done Steroids has done. What is that you ask? At an age when literally every historically great athlete's performance has deteriorated, he's turned it up not just one notch, but several and then sustained it over a 5 year period. Nobody, I mean nobody in the history of the game has ever done that. Hello? Even McGwire ultimately fell away at about the same age when Bonds starting turning it up. Sosa? Um, same age when Bonds started turning it up, Sosa can't even get "respect" in the form of a guaranteed contract. For the love of god everyone, wake up!!!

4. So, this is where I'm left. Everyone that has not been disqualified to read this far, just come out and say it. Either you don't care what Bonds did, everyone else was doing it anyway, Bonds just did it with better results, and you're glad he played for the team you were rooting for you. Or: He's a disgrace, a cheat and should be banned from the game. There's some room for alterations on those positions, but in general that's it. Bonds took steroids, he cheated, at this point, that's just the way it is, so accept it and determine whether you care or you don't care, but stop arguing whether he actually did it or not, and stop trying to deflect to Rafael Palmeiro, or Alex Sanchez, or the White Supremacist Movement and move on. Let's hope Bonds retires and all of this fades away, allowing the rest of us to concentrate on the game that we know and love.

12/21/05

So, to the one person that actually has checked this website since the end of the regular season, surprise surprise, I hadn't been here to make any updates. But, I'd been thinking about it. Between work life that got turned upside, home life that is keeping me busy, and a disappointing end to the 2005 season, nothing had happened yet to get me motivated. Two days ago, the checker at Safeway struck up a conversation with me when he noticed my Yankees t-shirt, informing me that the Dodgers had signed Nomar. Must have been a sign. It got the juices flowing, just talking baseball again. Eventually, the checker had to call security to remove me from his aisle, as the other customers were getting impatient and all of my frozen foods had begun to thaw, but who cares, I was talking baseball for crying out loud. My thoughts at the time? I'm glad you asked. Although I'd hoped the Yankees might have been able to trade for Juan Pierre, nothing else really jumped out at me. But, anyone familiar with the Yankees knew they didn't have much/if anything to trade. Would I have been happy to get Juan Pierre at the cost of Chien-Ming Wang and/or Robinson Cano? Not necessarily. Not overly happy about the Red Sox getting Josh Beckett, but given the dismantling that is going on there, I don't think that's going to make much of a difference (foreshadowing). Primarily, I was glad for the moves the Yankees had not made. None of the Jaret Wright or Carl Pavano type, sign the guy to a big contract after they've had one good year, preceded by several mediocre or even bad ones. Sometimes, the best move you can make is the one you don't make. I know I've read that or heard that somewhere. As I'd said previously, the Yankees didn't need a lot. They just needed a center fielder, preferably that could hit leadoff, and serious bullpen help, primarily 2 lefty specialists. So, let's see, as of the time I left the office last night, they'd signed Mike Myers and Ron Villone, two lefty specialists. So, clearly, Brian Cashman is listening to me, which pleases me. They'd also signed Kyle Farnsworth and let Tom Gordon go, also which pleased me. As strong as Tom Gordon's stats were the past two years, Joe Torre relied on him way way way too much, tired him out by the end of the season, and ultimately, Gordon was a primary contributor to the Yankees failures the last two years in the post season. I was glad they'd resigned Hideki Matsui, that was also very important. And, the contracts of Kevin Brown (good riddance) and Bernie Williams expired, thereby freeing up around $30M in payroll. The latest rumor last night was that the Yankees were the front-runners to sign Octavio Dotel, who was a huge failure here in Oakland as a closer, but has a great live arm, when healthy and was very successful in the set up role for past teams. So, I thought that would be another good move, to have him join those other new guys in the bull-pen, giving the Yankees a very deep and hard throwing bullpen to compliment Mo and not be overly reliant on Farnsworth as their righty set-up guy. As anyone that has watched Farnsworth knows, he's got a great arm, but is inconsisent, so having another Righty that can set-up is an important thing when Farnsworth is not "on". Overall, I was pretty happy with the way things were going, but then I hit ESPN.Com this morning when I show up for work and what do I see? The Yankees confirm the Dotel signing and then the bombshell, they get Johnny Damon to sign a 4 year deal. OK, YES!!!!!!! But, I know, I know, totally typical of the Yankees and their history of excess. Signing a 32 year old that may be on the downside of his career, but at least it was only for 4 years and not the 5,6 or 7 they were looking for. But at the moment, I don't care. Holy Shiet, once again, this team is a juggernaut...on paper. It remains to be seen how they gel as a team on the field, but give me the day just to sit back and consider the possibilities. OH My!!!!! And, just to provide further perspective, all of this comes on the same day the Cardinals sign Sidney Ponson. See, that would have been a perfect example of the kind of move that would have made me sick to my stomach, kind of how I felt last year when I heard about the Jaret Wright signing. Thank you Cardinals for signing Ponson. Thank you Dodgers for signing Nomar. If the Yankees were serious about signing Nomar, WTF were they thinking? I don't really care, just glad they didn't.

So, at some point during the hot stove league season, you've got to go through this exercise. Usually it is when spring training is approaching, but why not now? Seems like a great time for it. Here goes, 2006 Yankees staring lineup/batting order:

CF - Damon

SS - Jeter

RF - Sheffield

3B - A-Rod

1B - Giambi

LF - Matsui

C - Posada

DH - Bernie Williams/Andy Phillips

2B - Cano

Starting pitchers, to choose from Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Shawn Chacon, Carl Pavano, Chieng Min Wang, Jaret Wright and Aaron Small - not the best rotation around, and certainly not the youngest, but a deep one that, with that lineup, should keep the Yankees in the game and ultimately win a lot of games.

Bullpen already discussed.

Holy Shiet!!!!

And then you have the Red Sox, now with Damon gone, Renteria gone, Mueller gone, Millar gone, and that pitching staff another year older (Schilling, Wells, et al.). Wow. Me likey!

10/18/05

Watched Fever Pitch on Saturday night with the wife. Yes, a little painful to relive the 2004 Yankees/Red Sox playoffs, but fortunately, that was not the focal point of the movie, just the ending. Not a great movie, but certainly worth a rental. The reason I bring it up though, is I found it funny how the story revolved around a baseball fanatic, and how he changed between the offseason and the baseball season. They called him "winter guy" and "summer guy". How true that is for those of us that truly have a passion for Baseball and one team we swear allegiance to. Now that the Yankees season is over, as I mentioned a few days back, I find my days so much more relaxed, as I no longer worry about each and every game and how that game relates to the Yankees' rivals games. It's exhausting investing so much mental and emotional energy in a game that you have no control over. But, like any other addiction, when spring is nearing next year, I'll be just as avid and just as optimistic when Pitchers and Catchers report in mid-February.

In my wish list I made back on the 10th, I mentioned that Jason Giambi should be made the full-time DH. But, if they do that, they'll need a full-time 1B. I don't anticipate that Tino Martinez is that guy, nor do I expect Tino back next year, although that is certainly a possiblity. So, although not my "wish", here's my prediction with respect to 1B in 2006 and the Yankees. Jim Thome. That's right. Why do I predict that? Well, the Phillies clearly don't want him any more. They've got Ryan Howard to play 1B, and Thome is making a fortune, and clearly he's lost a step. So, they'll be trying to peddle him in the offseason. Who can afford Thome's salary? If Thome is healthy, what stadium with a short right field porch would be perfect for him? Anyway, it all adds up. He's mediocre defensively, so I'm not ecstatic about the idea, having him and Giambi on the same team, but if he's healthy, I can't say I'd hate the idea either. You heard it here first.

Lastly, for today, I picked up a copy of Buster Olney's book, the Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty", which chronicles the Yankees ascent to success from the early 90's through the 2001 season, with the last night referring to game 7 of the 2001 World Series against the Diamondbacks. So far, so good, I'll provide my full review once I've completed it. Always interesting though to get the insiders "scoop" on what goes on inside the clubhouse, particulary of your favorite team.

10/14/05

Were you starting to think that since the Yankees season was over, I'd just go away now? It would certainly be easy. Amazing how, once the Yankees season ends, all of a sudden I remember that there is more to life than wins and losses. I definitely was able to "move on" from this season more easily than 2004. The loss to the Red Sox was obviously very painful, between losing to your arch nemesis and blowing a 3-0 lead in the series. This year, I just didn't expect much from the Yankees in the post season after their painful start and inconsistent performance throughout. Looking back, it is hard to believe they actually won 95 games and won their division, which for most teams would be considering a very good season.

And yes, I still watch the playoffs. I'm a baseball fan at heart and love to watch good baseball being played. I caught the end of the game 2 between the White Sox and the Angels and what an ending that was. Total hats off to Mike Scoscia for how classy he handled that situation. Within 10-15 minutes of the game ending, he finds himself in a press conference and one of the first things he says is that he doesn't want to focus on that one play, and that the Angels didn't play well enough to win. Damn, talk about class. Very impressive. Hats off as well to Mark Buehrle and his performance in game 2. What Randy Johnson was supposed to have done, but didn't. Just shows that if you throw 95 mph, but don't hit your spots, it is not as effective as throwing 88-90 mph and hitting your spots. Greg Maddux made a hall of fame career out of proving that point.

So, I'm pulling for a Cardinals/White Sox world series. Those were the two best teams in baseball in the regular season and I'd like to see the best of the best match up against each other. The Astros just don't have much/if any of an offense, and I don't think they'd be much fun to watch in the World Series. Yes, they've got the vaunted pitching, but people also need to remember, they have a 3 man starting rotation. In a best of 7 series, you've got to have 4 starters, and they don't. I just don't think that is going to cut it against the Cardinals lineup, which has already taken out one of the games started by the Astros big 3, beating Andy Pettitte in game 1. Now, the White Sox are very similar to the Astros, with great pitching and a mediocre offense, but their pitching goes DEEEEEP. They've got 4 very very good starters and a deep deep bullpen. The Angels, although a very good team, just don't get my vote. Their bullpen is their strength and that's just not exciting to me. If Guerrero gets hot, things could change, but for the moment, without him contributing much, I have a hard time getting excited about watching that team. It really makes me wonder about Guerrero. As great of a hitter as he is, his plate discipline is something that, at least thus far, has shown how easy it is to pitch to him. If he was patient like Barry Bonds, or Jason Giambi, he'd walk 150 times and have a .500 on base percentage. But, instead, he'll swing at literally anything he can reach, no matter where it is. Clearly, you can pitch to a guy like that, if you have good control, and so far, the various playoff pitchers have shown that. He'll make pitchers pay for mistakes, but the best pitchers don't make a lot of mistakes and those are the guys he is now facing in the playoffs.

10/10/05 PM

So, the 2005 Yankees season comes to an end. Some thoughts:

1) David Ortiz for MVP. Could A-Rod have come up less clutch in this series? A microcosm in the 9th inning of game 5, down by 2 runs, the season in the balance, Jeter leads off with a single, A-Rod comes up, has a chance to tie the game up with one swing. What does he do? He grounds into a double play. Of course, then the Yankees get consecutive singles after that to put two more runners on with 2 outs, but it's too little too late. I still feel the guy deserves MVP, but man, he sucked so bad in the playoffs, if they counted towards the MVP vote, my vote would change to David Ortiz.

2) Gotta give credit to the Angels, they were the better team. If defense and pitching win championships, they clearly had the advantage in both areas. The Angels seem to have a factory churning out great arms from their farm system. Scott Shields, John Lackey and K-Rod, then you see Ervin Santana throwing the same low to mid 90's heater, sliders and great curve balls, all with very good control. In game 5, Angels score 2 runs in the 2nd, to take the lead 3-2, on a play most center fielders make relatively easily. Had the Yankees caught that ball, inning over, they lead 2-1. Big difference. Mussina wasn't throwing bad at all. But, instead, it's 3-2 and next inning, only one hard hit ball, but the defense lets them down again and the Angels score two more runs. Couple of bloops, at least one of which, a better right fielder would have had a good shot at catching with a dive. Then Giambi throws home on a play that only a frigging idiot would throw home on, giving up the easy out at 1st. Ughhh! Angels didn't make those same mistakes and deserved to win.

And before long, I'll start stoking the hot stove league fires. Of course, Yankee fans always enjoy the hot stove league more than most, given how active every year the Yankees are. 2005 was easily the most difficult season the Yankees have had since 1995, when they had to win right around 30 of their last 35 games to make the post season. Until close to the end of the regular season, it still was in question whether the Yankees would even make it to the playoffs. So, I shouldn't have expected them to make it very far. If not for Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small, their season would have been over a week ago. Hopefully, with the disarray that may occur in the front office, with GM Brian Cashman rumored not to be back, they'll still be able to make some good decisions in the off-season. Off the top of my head, here's my wish list. I've been a good boy Mr. Steinbrenner, please fill my stocking with the following:

a) Jason Giambi full time DH - please don't let him play defense any longer! b) A center fielder that plays gold glove defense and can hit lead off. Juan Pierre perhaps? c) Some bullpen help for Mariano Rivera, particularly a legitimate left handed specialist, not a retread like Alan Embree or Mike Stanton d) Some clutch hitting lessons for A-Rod

With Kevin Brown now just a bad memory and his $15M salary shorn from the payroll, as well as Bernie Williams' $15M salary shorn from the payroll, the Yankees can certainly add some big guns without increasing their already bloated Payroll. 2006 should certainly at least provide a much more optimistic outlook for the starting rotation. With returning starters Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Chien-Min Wong, Shawn Chacon, and then Carl Pavano (I don't want to also mention Jaret Wright because I hope he'll just disappear and everyone will forget about him) and even Aaron Small (is he a free agent?), you have to think that starting 2006 with all of those guys is certainly reason for optimism. Will they re-sign Hideki Matsui, their only free-agent of note? That remains to be seen, but I bet they do. Not even sure who the big name free agents are this off-season. Anyway, moving on....

10/9/05 PM

Game 3, which is now a distant (bad) memory after game 4, was clearly not what I had anticipated. Turn the TV on, see the big unit got the first two batters of the game out, then Vlad hits a pitch nobody else on the planet would even swing at, for a single, then the really weird stuff started happening. With 2 strikes, Bengie Molina, who just freaking kills the Yankees, gets a 94/95 mph fastball at the shoulders and smacks it for a single. We always hear about those high fastballs in the mid/high 90's and how "you can't catch up with that pitch". Well, Molina just did, and it was only the beginning. Next batter, Garett Anderson. And here is the beginning of a painful lesson on why statistics are only statistics and truly cannot dictate what to expect when the players are "inside the lines". The stats were in the range of something like, lefties hit .075 against Johnson in his last 8 starts. Seriously, under .100. And of course, Anderson, the 1st lefty in the lineup smacks a low inside fastball for a 3 run homer in the top of the first. Oh shiet! Clearly, things were not about to go according to form. David vs. Goliath, Paul Byrd aka Fraiser against the Big Unit. Before the Unit was done after 3 innings, he'd given up 5 runs. Most amazingly, lefties had just gone 4-5 against him. 4-5, or an .800 batting average. What happened to that .075 thingy anyway? But, the Yankees scrapped back, and by the 5th inning, they were back on top, 6-5. But, the Angels had them right where they wanted them. In a battle of bullpens. And with Scott Shields, Kelvim Escobar and K-Rod, I'm sorry, Aaron Small, Al Leiter and Tom Gordon just don't stack up. But again, the same guys just kill the Yankees. Beyond Bengie Molina, critical moment in the bottom of the 4th, Yankees down 5-4, 2 outs and runners on 1st and 3rd, Sheffield absolutely scorches a line drive to center. Wouldn't you know it, here comes Chone, don't call me Sean/Shawn Figgins, diving straight forward and catching the ball lying flat on the ground. If he doesn't catch that, easily 2 runs score and Sheffield is at least on 2nd and the inning continues. That guy, moving from 3rd base, where he made a game saving play in game 2, does the same thing, again, at a crucial moment in the game, in game 3. Amazing and hats off to that guy. It's hard enough to excel at defense at one position, but to do it at multiple positions, and be a great leadoff hitter to boot is just amazing and a huge plus for the Angels.

Now, given Randy Johnsons performance in game 3, it brought to mind many thoughts regarding "big game pitchers". The Yankees have seen their share, with David Wells and El Duque, as I'd mentioned in previous references. Not to mention Mariano Rivera and at times, David Cone and Andy Pettitte. If the Braves had pulled out game 4 today, we would have seen Pettitte against John Smoltz in a game 5, which was the matchup back in game 5 of the 1996 World Series between the Yankees and Braves, with the games tied 2-2. That game went 1-0 in favor of the Yankees. If I recall correctly, the one run scored was due to a "triple" that Joe Girardi had, which really was more of a misplay by the Braves outfields, letting the ball drop between them (Andruw Jones & Marquis Grissom perhaps?). Regardless, it was a great game and obviously one of the best pitched games in World Series history. But, Andy Pettitte and John Smoltz, for all their post season success, have had their moments of failure as well. They're not perfect. I can recall off the top of my head at least twice where Andy Pettitte got absolutely shelacked on the mound in the World Series (game 1 of 1996 and game 6 of 2001). What I can't recall is David Wells or El Duque ever getting shelacked in the World Series, or any other playoff game for that matter. Whether they had their best stuff or not, they always found a way to keep their teams in the game, and in most cases, win. But the big unit, for all his "aura" and his vaunted slider and fastball and dominance over lefties, couldn't find a way to keep his team in the game on Friday night. Very disappointing. Then, when you look at his career record in league division series' (I think it was 1-7 with an ERA over 4), clearly, he is not one of his generations best big game pitchers. Of course, the one win in the 1-7 was back in 1995, against the Yankees, after the Yankees had gone up 2 game to none. And, you can't overlook the success the Big Unit has had in the LCS and even moreso in the World Series in 2001, also against the Yankees, but if he can't step up in every round of the playoffs, sorry, you don't get my vote. Second tier Big Unit, step aside! Same with you, Roger Clemens. Sure, you deserve credit for the way you came in today against the Braves and shut them down for 3 innings to give the Astros the chance they needed to win the game, but what about back in 1999, that matchup against Pedro Martinez in the ALCS? That was supposed to be the matchup of the century. What was the final score? Something like 14-1. Nope Rocket, you lose. Anyway, thinking further, how do some of these guys find the way to step up under the biggest pressure the game has to offer and do it consistently? Of course, as much as I hate him, Curt Schilling clearly falls into this category. Sure, he got smacked around last year by the Yankees in game 1 of the LCS, but clearly, that was attributable to his ankle and hard to hold against his post season dominance. So, Schilling, Wells, El Duque. Those are the guys I want on the mound when everything is one the line. If I had to pick one of them, I'd have to go with Wells, if I know his back isn't going to go out on him. The guy just knows how to pitch, how to win, and is nails under pressure. That, and there's no way I could possibly pick Schilling, no matter what.

10/7/05

Just listened to the last out of the Red Sox-White Sox series. I don't think anybody could have anticipated the Red Sox being swept. Hats off to the White Sox, they're showing why they won the most games in the American League. What a moment, bottom of the 6th inning, Red Sox down by a run, bases loaded and no outs, and they bring in El Duque. Being a Yankee fan, I know all too well what El Duque is capable of under pressure, especially in the playoffs, but to come in like that and keep the Red Sox off the board not just in that inning, but go on to pitch the 7th and 8th scoreless, to get the ball to the White Sox closer, unbelievable. I always loved El Duque, like David Wells, and wish him all the best.

So tonight, in game 3 of the Yankees-the Los Angeles Angels of Southern California, Anaheim, Orange County, Whateva, we have Randy Johnson going for the Yankees at Yankee stadium, against Paul Byrd. Wait a minute, Paul Byrd? Do you mean Fraiser from Cheers? OK, never mind, not the point I was trying to make. Obviously, although not a deciding game of the series, this is the kind of game that the Yankees got Randy Johnson for. Just as the game in Boston last weekend was a critical one for the Yankees to win, and Johnson stepped up (as did their offense), now, he has another chance to prove his worth.

So, the vaunted Astros rotation has a chink in the armor right about now with Clemens not displaying how he had a sub 2.00 ERA in the regular season. Which is a great segue to my rant for today. As a die hard Yankee fan, I just never warmed up to Clemens during his time with the Yankees. First of all, in the two years prior to pitching for the Yankees, while with the Blue Jays, he won consecutive Cy Young awards, with absolutely dominating seasons. First, 21-7, 2.05 ERA, 264 innings, 204 hits and 292 Ks. Pretty awesome stuff. Then, with 20-6, 2.65 ERA, 234 innings, 169 hits, 271 Ks. Again, awesome year. Then, he goes to the Yankees. In his first year there, 14-10, 4.60 ERA, 187 innings, 185 hits, 163 Ks. WTF??? OK, so at this point, he's 37 years old, maybe his best years are behind him. His next season is somewhat better, 13-8, 3.70 ERA, 204 innings, 184 hits, 188 Ks. But clearly, it almost seems like two totally different pitchers. So, in 2001, he bounces back further, going 20-3 with a 3.51 ERA, 220 innings, 205 hits and 213 Ks and wins the Cy Young award. As excellent numbers as those are, they aren't even remotely close to the numbers he put up in Toronto. And then, the slide resumed, where he went 13-6 and 17-9 his final two seasons with the Yankees, with a 4.35 ERA and then 3.91 ERA respectively. Both very good, not great seasons. So, what's my beef? Well, again, if you want to say, well, he's just 40 now and not the pitcher he was back with Toronto and Boston, I'll buy that argument...except...that he then retires....then he unretires and goes to Houston, where somehow, he finds the fountain of youth, and returns to that pre-Yankee form where then turns in seasons of 18-4, 2.98 ERA, 214 innings, 169 hits, 218 Ks and then this past year, 13-8, 1.87 ERA, 211 innings, 151 hits, 185 Ks. So, my beef and subsequent question is, how do you explain how he pitched for Toronto and Houston, with dominating, overpowering statistics, and the 5 middle years with New York, where he was a good, not great, not dominating starter, that was generally good for 6 innings and 2 or 3 runs per outing. Anyway, that's my beef and part of why I never really warmed up to Clemens. As a Yankee, I never really got a chance to see the dominating guy that I was expecting. I did see him once though. In a playoff game, I believe in 2000 or 2001, against the Mariners, I believe in the year that the Mariners won 116 games, when I believe Clemens struck out around 16 hitters and only gave up 1 hit the entire game. Now that's what I'm talking about!

Now, let me turn my attention to David Wells. Funny how the playoffs this year are littered with Yankees starting pitchers past and present, most of whom are the aces of their respective staffs now. You've got Clemens, Wells, Jose Contreras, El Duque, Andy Pettitte. Anyway, I always loved David Wells when he was with the Yankees, unlike the rocket. He was a big game pitcher, didn't throw broken bats at Mike Piazza, and didn't give a damn what other people thought of him. My kind of guy. But, what irks me about him, is that back in the 2003 World Series, with the Yankees and Marlins tied 2 games to 2, Wells starting for the Yankees, and I believe the Yankees were up 1-0 or 2-0 after the first inning, all of a sudden, Wells doesn't come out for the 2nd inning to pitch. He'd kept the Marlins from scoring in the 1st, but his back was barking at him and he said he couldn't pitch any further in the game. So, the Yankees bring in Jose Contreras back when he couldn't pitch, and the Marlins went on to win that game and ultimately the series in 6 games. At the moment that Wells left the game, the Yankees were in the drivers seat. If Wells had been healthy, the Yankees would have had the advantage, being up in the game, and with a big game pitcher on the mound. The Yankees also had the advantage in the pitching matchups going into a potential game 7 scenario, with Mike Mussina, who was on top of his game, slated to go against Carl Pavano, the Marlins #3 or 4 starter. But, it never made it to a game 7 because of that, and Josh Beckett being a total stud in game 6. Having had back problems of my own, I know they are unpredictable and totally and completely debilitating when they occur, so it's not as if I think David Wells was jaking it. I'm just bitter that I never had a chance to see that series unfold as it should have. I still recall, after Wells came out of the game, and Contreras in, with runners on and a 0-2 count to Brad Penny, the Marlins pitcher, Contreras grooved a fastball down the middle to Penny, who spanked it for a base hit to knock in the go ahead runs. I was walking on our treadmill at the time (back when I used to pretend to exercise), and pounded the control panel with my fist, pissed off at giving a juicy pitch on 0-2 to the opposing pitcher for crying out loud, but really more pissed off that it was Jose Contreras pitching and not David Wells. I cut my hand, probably damaged the treadmill (it hasn't worked right ever since) and most disappointing, the Yankees were on their way to losing the series. I know all you non-Yankees fans are shedding a tear for me right now as you read this.

10/5/05 PM

So, obviously I'm disappointed the Yankees lost tonight, but am glad they got out of Anaheim with one win. Wang pitched a great game, but their defense let him down (which he contributed to), and their offense couldn't cash in, although they had many chances. Hats off to the Angels though, in this win. Couple of things I wanted to comment on. 1) Chone Figgins, although I have a hard time typing that name, knowing his parents couldn't figure out how to spell Sean or Shawn or something that came close to actually spelling his name the way it sounds, but I guess I just need to get over that. Don't even get me started on "The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim". WTF????? But, anyway, back to Figgins. That guy made a couple of great plays on defense at 3B. I'm just amazed at the kind of D that guy can play, when he plays so many different positions. He easily saved at least 1 run, if not more in this game, while the Yankees defense was giving runs away in return. 2) Kelvim Escobar. I'd never really watched this guy pitch before. I've read and heard analysts talk about the great stuff the guy has, but that's about it. Anyway, now I know what they are talking about. After throwing a 97 mph fastball, and a very tight slider, he throws down a devastating 85 mph change up that got Giambi and at least one other Yankee slugger way out in front, as it is designed to do. The guy definitely has great stuff and appeared very composed out there. OK, last comment on the game. 7th inning, A-Rod leads off with a walk. Giambi is at the plate, no outs, tie game. The Angels, as all other teams do, put on the shift for Giambi to pull, nobody is near third base. Why am I the only person thinking Giambi should frigging bunt???? Critical situation, tie game, play for the go ahead run. Right? Sheffield then Matsui coming up. The Yankees know every team plays a shift on Giambi. Why wouldn't they have him practice bunting to be prepared for just that right moment? My god, it was there for the taking. If he could get done a mediocre bunt, worst case scenario, A-Rod is in scoring position and 1 out with the Yankees two best hitters with runners in scoring position coming up. If he gets down a good bunt, it's a pretty easy single and the Yankees have 1st & 2nd and no outs. Help me out here, am I missing something? Joe Torre is a smart guy, I find it hard to believe this isn't something he's considered. When would there be a better time to try something like that? Anyone have an answer to that one, please let me know. Now I'm going to watch tonight's episode of Lost. If you don't watch that show, I highly recommend you check out the 1st season on DVD.

10/5/05

So, I'll get to yesterday's games, but first, something that has been on my mind ever since Mike Mussina first came onto the scene back in the early 90's with Baltimore. First, I recall on ESPN, they always had the goofiest picture they showed of him whenever they had a story for him. Like one of those drivers license pictures that you hammed it up for and then were stuck with for 5 years and wondered why you ever did that. I always thought he looked just like "Billy" from Melrose Place. Remember that show? Talk about a guilty pleasure. But I digress. The main point of this reference is that, ever since that first picture of Mussina, I've noticed that he has the most distinct lines under his eyes of anyone I've ever seen. It's as if he gets no sleep at all....ever. And it's not just from that first picture. He looks that way all the time. What's up with that? Saw a few minutes of the post game press conference last night, and there he was, with those freaking lines under his eyes, talking away. Am I the only one that notices this kind of stuff or am I just the only one that actually brings it up? The other thing I noticed last night, watching that press conference is that he has a slight lisp. You know how it is, you see a guy in sports for years, but never actually hear them talk. You have a concept of what their voice sounds like in your head. More likely you have this concept with respect to a Centerfold or some other "actress" you've seen pictures of but never heard. Then, all of a sudden they speak and it isn't anything like what you thought. That was kind of the experience I had last night. No, not with an "actress", with Mussina. Just not at all like I expected his voice to sound, particularly with that lisp. Anyway, that's enough of that. If I don't stop now, this paragraph may completely digress from anything baseball related...which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. I guess I can save that for the off season.

In honor of his post season start today, I thought I'd take a look at Mark Buehrle's career stats. It seems like he's been around for a while, so I was wondering just how old the guy is. Turns out he's only 26 years old (BD 3/23/79), which really surprised me. Although he came up in 2000, he burst on the scene in 2001, when he was only 22 years old, going 16-8 with a 3.29 ERA. Pretty strong stats. Since then, he's wracked up an 85-53 record with a 3.63 ERA. In the American League, that's pretty damn strong. So, he's averaged over 16 wins per year in his 5 years as a starter. Although his name comes up as one of the best starters around, it doesn't come up as one of the best YOUNG starters in the game. Compare to CC Sabathia, who I've often heard talked about with respect to how many wins he achieved by 25 (which he is right now, BD 7/21/80) and the significance of that stat. He's only a little more than a year younger than Buehrle. His record is 69-45 in exactly the same 5 year span as Buehrle, with a 4.10 ERA. Hmmm, not too hard to figure out which guy has put together better numbers over that same span. Why has Sabathia gotten so much more press as one of the "Young Guns"? Is it just because he's 25 instead of 26? Maybe because he throws in the high 90's instead of the low 90's? Anyway, both guys, if they stay healthy, have strong potential for ultimately hall of fame careers. If Buehrle has a successful post season, he may finally start getting some of the national attention that he deserves. The guy is a flat out stud and has a chance to make everyone know it on the national stage this month.

OK, I'll make some mention to yesterday's games. Let's see. First of all, Chris Carpenter certainly came out and proved me wrong. I fully expected to see him blow up against the Padres, like he had in his last 5 starts of the regular season. Instead, he shut them down, while the Padres ace blew up instead, and then it was announced that he had a mysterious cracked rib injury. So, the Padres are done, and the Cardinals are now looking formidable once again, with Carpenter anchoring their rotation. They nearly let the Padres back into the game in the 9th inning. Certainly makes you wonder if Jason Isringhausen is a guy that can put out the fire against a Red Sox, Angels or Yankees team with the game on the line. We'll see. Meanwhile, Matt Clement stayed true to form from his regular season finish, blowing up against the White Sox, while Jose Contreras continued to shine against the tough Red Sox lineup. Yeah yeah, I could go into a while column on "why didn't Contreras pitch like that for the Yankees", but that kind of stuff is exactly what the "whateva" in the column title applies to. If Buehrle can step up against the Red Sox lineup tonight, as I expect he will, the Sox could be staring at the potential of a sweep a year after winning it all. But, they showed last year what they can do when their backs are up against the wall, so I wouldn't count them out until the last out is made. And obviously, I'm glad that Mike "no I'm not tired" Mussina proved me wrong last night. He came out and was sharp from the start, which was great to see. The Angels, although they may ultimately prove me wrong, just don't appear that formidable. Back in 2002, they had Troy Glaus at 3B, and he had a monster season and playoffs. Garrett Anderson was an MVP candidate that year, they had Tim Salmon still hitting, and Darren Erstad was a much more dangerous hitter back then. They also had Troy Percival in the pen, along with K-Rod et al. Now, of course, they have Vlad, and Bartolo Colon (who the Yankees don't generally have too much trouble against), but Vlad can be pitched around, and he doesn't have a whole heck of a lot around him to make that option appear too scary. So, only one game in the books thus far, but the 2005 version of the Angels just don't give off that same fear factor that the 2002 lineup put out there 1-9. I still remember how that team just grinded out every at bat and drove the Yankees pitchers crazy. The one guy that does seem to drive the Yankees pitchers crazy is Bengie Molina. He doesn't look like too formidable of a hitter up there, but it seems like every time he swings the bat, the ball goes about 400 feet. I'm looking for Chien-Min Wang to pitch a great game tonight. He's been tough his last several starts, just having one bad inning each time. If the Yankees can keep him away from that bad inning, I like their chances. John Lackey has been a stud the last few months and I'm sure he'll pitch a good game too, so it should be a tight, low scoring game. Should be fun.

10/3/05

So, Yankes and Sox are in. No big surprise there. Both teams are on the road. Who would you rather play, the White Sox or the Angels? I don't know, the White Sox just don't inspire fear in me, but the Angels have handled the Yankees well in past years. Kind of feels like the Red Sox got the better end of the bargain, being the Wild Card. We'll see. Gotta hand it to the White Sox though, even though there was no tangible benefit to them winning any games in the 3 game series against the Indians, they played their hearts out, and broke the hearts of many Cleveland fans, by sweeping the Tribe. Look out though, that Indians team looks to be fearsome for years to come. Put me down right now as picking them to win the AL Central in 06. Surprised that Mussina is the Yankees game 1 starter against the Angels. Hard to understand, a guy who is coming off an injury, only had 2 starts, the last of which he didn't get out of the 2nd inning, and now he is lined up to be the game 1 and potentially game 5 starter. I would have put Shawn Chacon game 1, Wang game 2, the big unit game 3 and then Mussina game 4 (or Aaron Small), but then, I'm not the manager. Torre obviously puts trust in guys that have been there before as a huge factor in his decisions. I'll have to trust Torre that he has seen something to give him that kind of confidence to put Mussina in that role, but I'm sure he'll have a short hook, with Small waiting in the wings, if Mussina doesn't look right.

So, with the regular season over, and therefore, performances that impact the major awards over, here are my picks:

AL MVP: A-Rod - the homer vote perhaps. But, his numbers are just flat out better than Ortiz's and with the defense A-Rod plays, as well as not having Manny Ramirez batting behind him, I give it to A-Rod. I'm not one of those people that says a DH shouldn't win MVP. Ortiz is absolutely deserving and you could toss a coin here. One thing that has always bothered me though is Ortiz and his career progression, in the Steroid era. Sound like Sour grapes? Maybe. Ortiz kills the Yankees, and pretty much everyone else he plays too. There's no denying that. But, just as I have been vocal about Barry Bonds, and how it just is pretty much flat out impossible that someone gets that much better in his career as he turns 38, then 39, then 40, too, it is hard to believe that something "extra" hasn't aided Ortiz's ascent to stardom. At age 26, he'd had a career at bat total of 1,477 and had a total of 58 home runs, or an average of around 1 HR every 25 at bats. Then, the Twins release him. They don't have anyone that wants to trade for him or anything, they just release him. Not a good glove, not enough power is the evaluation and also injury prone. The Red Sox pick him up (for nothing)and the past 3 seasons he's hit 119 home runs in 1,631 at bats. Basically, he's just about doubled his home run output, playing in a ball park that caters to right handed hitters. So, his physique certainly wouldn't suggest muscle building supplements, but his statistics certainly suggest something going on there. Now, let me just make sure, to the Yankees haters out there, that I also acknowledge that obviously Giambi and Sheffield were and possibly still are on some kind of "juice" as well. I'm not being a hypocrite, anyone that cheats deserves to be punished as far as I'm concerned, Yankee or not. My favorite guys have always been Jeter and Bernie and the guys that have been with the Yankees for years and are old school in that way.

AL Cy Young: - I want Mariano Rivera to win it, and think he has a chance, so he's my pick - hey what do you know, another homer vote. But, I don't think he will win it. Bartolo Colon I think will win, and again, I wouldn't knock that vote, I think he is deserving as well.

NL MVP: Andruw Jones. With his defense and how he stepped up with Chipper Jones out and nobody around him in the lineup to really protect him, I just think he deserves this over Albert Pujols. Pujols is amazing and just seems to be the bridesmaid year after year, but he'll get his year, I think he's only like 25 or something, which is crazy for how much he's already accomplished.

NL Cy Young: - Gotta give it to Dontrelle. His numbers are just better than Carpenters. Although he didn't win yesterday (nor did he lose), he pitched a great game and other than his 2nd to last start, really finished the season strong. I'm still confused that none of the so called experts are saying anything about Carpenter's stumble to the finish line. Last night, Harold Reynolds on Baseball Tonight was making his picks in the playoffs and talked about the Cardinals being the favorite because of how Carpenter has stepped up. What??? How can his finish not even merit a comment there?

And, lastly, for the moment, Gene Coffey passes on the critics raves about my new web log.

"Our next Cosell. He tells it like it is!" --Jeremy Schap

"Makes me actually enjoy reading about the Yankees!" --Peter Gammons

"A fan who eschews the columns of the elites and the talk shows of blowhards like me? It's about time!" --Tony Kornheiser

"Oh boy, I think I have a competitor." --Ray Ratto

"Gonzo meets Roger Angel--a masterpiece!" --Tom Boswell

"Where has this guy been?!" --Mike Lupica

"Delay's indictment could mean Democratic Senate!" --Maureen Dowd

"If only Mickey Mantle could have read this column." --Bob Costas

"My days of writing about the Yankees are over. Who will read me now?" --Buster Olney

9/29/05

So, the guy's that did step up yesterday were the Yankees pitching staff, Shawn Chacon, Tom Gordon and Mo. I finally heard someone on the radio mention something that I thought was noteworthy from the start, that Chacon's ERA when he came over to the Yankees was just a shade over 4 (4.09). That's coming from Colorado and nothing to sneeze at. So what if he had a 1-7 record too, Colorado stinks and doesn't win many games. So, although his performance since coming to the Yankees nobody could say they expected (7-3 2.76 ERA), it's not as unlikely as his 1-7 record may have indicated. With the Yankees shelling out around $70M in contracts to Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano (who have combined for a total of 9 wins for the entire season as well as 10 losses)at the start of this season in the hopes of getting younger and healthier on the pitching staff, Chacon is the one that has helped the Yankees achieve this objective. He's 27 years old and I'm hoping at this point he'll become a fixture in the Yankees rotation for many years. Talk about resurrecting a career in a hurry. Then you add Chien-Ming Wang at 25 years old and having the 2nd best stuff on the staff after the Big Unit, the Yankees do look to be getting younger in the rotation for the future, but not the way they initially expected.

It's funny and sad too how, during the baseball season, especially when you're team is in the hunt, everything tastes a little better, everything smells a little sweeter and basically, just life is good, when your team wins, and especially when they win and their closest competition loses. Trust me, I'm old enough now to know that is not a particularly healthy outlook, to allow a game that you have no control over, to control your whole outlook on life in that manner. So, last night, of course, with the Yankees winning and both the Red Sox and Indians losing, I was Mr. happy go lucky. The night before, with the Yankees getting slammed by the Orioles, I was Mr. Moody, until I learned both the Red Sox and Indians lost, then things brightened up a little. So, clearly, I need therapy, but that's a sign of a hard core baseball fan, and you know who you are if you can relate to this. For better or worse.

Will someone that wants to win the National League Cy Young award please stand up instead of puking all over yourself. WTF??? It was a great debate about 2-3 weeks ago, between Chris Carpenter, who was the front runner, Dontrelle Willis, who was having an amazing season, and Roger Clemens just for the fun of it. Now, after having something like 20 consecutive exceptional starts, Carpenter, in his last 4 starts, has given up 22 earned runs in only 21/23 innings. Uh, that's not very good, ok. So, he's now 21-5 with a 2.83 ERA. Prior to that stretch, his ERA was awfully close to 2.00. Meanwhile, Willis, who I think could most likely have locked up the Cy Young if he'd had a good last start, instead gave up 5 earned runs in 4 innings. Anyone? But, that being said, prior to that start, his previous 5 starts, he had gone 39 innings, or close to an average of 8 per start, and had only given up 7 runs, so an ERA over that stretch of around 2. And Clemens just fell out of the conversation by starting to behave like a 43 year old and breaking down. Could Roy Oswalt (19-12 2.86) all of a sudden enter the picture? Probably too late for him, but at least he's pitching strong down the stretch. Still Willis is 22-10 with a 2.59 ERA, so he's my front runner right now.

And for you Giants fans, here's my response to the uncomparable Greg Hayes' statement: "Just as long as there is content about how bad Alou sucks as a manager, I'll keep going back." Come on Greg, look at that freaking roster. Until the Giants get some real ballplayers to man the positions on the field (excepting Omar Vizquel, who is THE MAN) and Moises Alou, who can still play at 39, the Giants have a pathetic lineup and Barry Bonds is finally starting to act his age. They've got a sweet young group of young pitchers, but that will only get them so far in the future, even in the pathetic division they play in, until they get some real ballplayers on the field. I think many of their problems stem from JT Snow. How does that guy still pull a paycheck on that team???? With all the good hitting 1st basemen around baseball, how in the world have the Giants continued to keep him around? I've been saying this for years, but now that I have a pulpit, I gotta keep it up. You can't blame things on Felipe. You can only do so much with that team. Just the fact that they somehow were still playing for something the last week of the season, you ought to be pretty freaking happy for that, with how pathetic that lineup is. And of course, the two guys I mentioned, Alou and Vizquel are both pushing 40. The Giants better develop some young players and fast and start spending some money on the free agent market. I hope they now realize they made a big mistake not signing Vlad Guerrero. I still don't understand how that didn't happen. I had thought the whole reason they signed Felipe Alou as manager was in preparation to lure Guerrero there as a free agent. What in the world were they thinking?

9/28/05

With Mike Mussina's less than stellar start yesterday, I'm wondering how comfortable the Yankees are with the prospect of Mussina being their Sunday starter against the Red Sox. Odds are decent that winning that game could determine whether or not the Yankees make the post season. So, if Mussina's performance yesterday was as a result of health, what options do the Yankees have? Feels a little too much like game 7 of last year's ALCS. There was nobody the Yankees had to start that they wanted out there and ended up throwing Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez to the Red Sox wolves. Meanwhile, Schilling, the Red Sox starter for Sunday had a relatively poor outing yesterday too, but nothing on the level of how poor Mussina's was. Schilling still struck out 8 in 6 innings, which shows his stuff wasn't terrible, but at the same time, Toronto took it to him (thanks Toronto!). So, getting back to who starts for the Yankees on Sunday, if Mussina is not right. Hmmm. Well, you've got Chacon going today, Small tomorrow, Wang Friday, and the Big Unit Saturday. So, you could go with Jaret Wright (oh my god, did I just say that???) I'll dedicate a whole column to how bad of an idea it was to sign him later on. Who else? Chacon on 3 days rest? Al Leiter, who had some success against the Red Sox at Fenway earlier this year. I think you'd have to go with Leiter. Gotta keep Chacon in the event of a playoff on Monday, which is a distinct possibility. I've gotta think between now and Sunday, Torre, Cashman et al. will lose some sleep over the Sunday starter issue. Let us hope that they can somehow pull away prior to Sunday such that at a minimum, a berth in the postseason is not dependent on a win on that day.

By the way, I'm getting pissed that most of the ESPN.Com baseball content now requires a subscription. Frigging communists. Anyway, why is it that I haven't seen any articles mentioning concern over the terrible past few starts for Chris Carpenter? Shades of last season. Going into the playoffs, the Cardinals were a juggernaut last season and this. But, remove a true #1 starter from their rotation and all of a sudden, they don't look so imposing anymore. Well, his start today will go a long way towards seeing whether there is something truly wrong with him, or if he just had a little slump. As dominating as he had been over the past several months, it's got to be worrying the Cardinals how poor he has pitched his last 3 starts.

Am I the only one wondering why there aren't more pitchers throwing a knuckle ball? With the success Tim Wakefield is having this season, it makes me think back in high school when it finally became apparent (to me) that I wasn't going to make it as a professional baseball player, I should have sought out some coaching on how to throw a knuckle ball. Hell, why not? Having a guy like that is so valuable on a team, the Red Sox can use him in so many different roles, without worry of arm troubles, it just seems odd that so few others ever make it to the big leagues throwing one. Anyway, just a thought.

So, a general observation as I leave the office with the Yankees down 1-0 and the Red Sox losing 5-1, that now, with 5 games left in the season, would be a good time for one of the Yankees sluggers, if not two or three to get hot. Sheffield had an amazing game yesterday, but unfortunately, not overly helpful when your pitching staff gives up 17 runs. But, assuming the rest of the way, the pitching will keep the Yankees in the game, if Sheffield, A-Rod, Matsui and/or Giambi could pick it up, it would be nice to see. With A-Rod in the midst of the MVP race, with making the playoffs a requirement for him to get that call, the last few games he has definitely not been looking confident at the plate, getting called out on strikes and not making contact when he needed to. Giambi hasn't been hitting the ball at all, although he keeps getting walks at a rapid pace. Either something's not right with him, or he's been on steroids again and is currently taking a break. Hmmm? 5 games left guys, time to step it up if you want to have more than 5 games to play in the 2005 season.

9/27/05

Listening to the game on XM radio. You could just sense right from the beginning of this game, that Mussina just didn't have it. Every at bat, if the hitter didn't hit the ball hard for a base hit, Mussina just couldn't put them away, which is a clear sign that his stuff isn't that good. If Mussina's stuff is on, which primarily is around location, he has no trouble putting guys away. Anyway, with that in mind, somebody want to explain to me how Mussina, a pitcher historically with great control, in the bottom of the 2nd inning and 2 outs walks the #9 hitter? WTF?? You've got to be kidding me. Of course, the Orioles went on to get 4 consecutive hits after that, knocking Mussina out of the game. Please, someone explain to me how that happens? How does a pitcher with great control walk the #9 hitter? Anyway, while I'm at it, can someone also explain how Chris Gomez, a career middle infielder with absolutely no bat at all end up playing 1st base for the Orioles on a regular basis? 1st base??? You've got to be kidding me. Are you trying to tell me they have nobody better in the farm system that they want to give a shot to either at 1st, or in the outfield? (moving Jay Gibbons from OF to 1b).