Breaking it down
The All-Star break is here. OK, so the Yankees have three more games before the break, but I’m on my way home for the weekend before I make my way to Pittsburgh on Monday for the All-Star Game.
I’m not going to talk too much about Thursday’s game, as there isn’t too much to say. The Yankees hit well, Randy Johnson pitched very well and New York kept pace with Boston.
Since my first half of the regular season is over, I’m going to dish out my midseason awards. I’ll make my midseason postseason predictions next week.
American League
MVP: David Ortiz, Red Sox — It’s hard to argue with Big Papi’s production. As of Friday, he has 29 homers and 82 RBIs, putting him on pace for another ridiculous season. Last year, he lost out on the MVP to A-Rod, whose fielding helped break the virtual tie. This year, Ortiz has no real equal.
Honorable mention: Jim Thome, White Sox; Derek Jeter, Yankees; Vernon Wells, Blue Jays; Travis Hafner, Indians
Cy Young: Johan Santana, Twins — It’s hard to say that a guy who may not even be the best pitcher on his own staff could win the Cy Young, but Santana has been flat-out nasty. I give him the edge over Roy Halladay for a better ERA and twice as many strikeouts.
Honorable mention: Halladay, Blue Jays; Mike Mussina, Yankees; Scott Kazmir, Devil Rays; Francisco Liriano, Twins
Rookie of the Year: Francisco Liriano, Twins — Red Sox fans are surely going to pounce on me for not picking Jonathan Papelbon, but that’s life. Liriano has been so dominant in a starting role, he has reduced Santana to second-best pitcher in the Twins’ rotation. Liriano was 9-1 with a 1.99 ERA in 21 games, nine of which were starts. In his first 81 innings, he gave up just 59 hits and struck out 94. Nasty.
Honorable mention: Papelbon, Red Sox; Justin Verlander, Tigers; Bobby Jenks, White Sox; Jered Weaver, Angels
Manager of the Year: Jim Leyland, Tigers — How can you not give this award to Leyland, who has turned Detroit from laughingstock to division leaders in less than four months? Not to toot my own horn, but this was my preseason prediction. (Hey, when your other predictions were A-Rod, Rich Harden and Ian Kinsler, you have to hype the one that came through!)
Honorable mention: Joe Torre, Yankees; Ken Macha, A’s; Buck Showalter, Rangers; John Gibbons, Blue Jays
National League
MVP: Albert Pujols, Cardinals — A no-brainer. Pujols has held the Cards in first place while almost every other player on his team has either struggled or been hurt. Pujols himself missed three weeks with an oblique injury, yet his numbers are still the cream of the NL’s crop.
Honorable mention: David Wright, Mets; Carlos Lee, Brewers; Nomar Garciaparra, Dodgers; Ken Griffey Jr., Reds
Cy Young: Brad Penny, Dodgers — Penny has been the Dodgers’ best pitcher, helping Los Angeles contend in the NL West. With 10 wins and a sub-3.00 ERA, he’s as good as any in the NL. Bronson Arroyo gets my close second-place vote; how did the Red Sox trade this guy for Wily Mo Pena?
Honorable mention: Arroyo, Reds; Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks; Jason Schmidt, Giants; Tom Glavine, Mets
Rookie of the Year: Dan Uggla, Marlins — It’s amazing to think that the Marlins have three legitimate ROY candidates on their team, but it’s true. I’ll give it to Uggla, who had 13 homers, 50 RBIs and a .312 average as of Friday. Not bad for a second baseman.
Honorable mention: Josh Johnson, Marlins; Hanley Ramirez, Marlins; Prince Fielder, Brewers; Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals
Manager of the Year: Jerry Narron, Reds — Nobody on earth expected the Reds to challenge for a playoff spot, let alone the NL Central title. Yet there are the Reds, just a couple of games behind the mighty Cardinals. Great job.
Honorable mention: Ned Yost, Brewers; Bruce Bochy, Padres; Grady Little, Dodgers; Clint Hurdle, Rockies
(For the record, my preseason predictions in the NL were Aramis Ramirez, Tim Hudson, Jeremy Hermida and Felipe Alou … what do I know about the National League?)
can’t disagree with much, except schilling should prob also be an honorable mention as much as i hate to say it.
oh yeah and joe girardi for managers, this marlins team was supposed to lose 100 games, now they are almost in 2nd in the nl east
What do you know about the National League, Feinsand? What do you know about anything? Homer! You can give thanks for my appearance today to your blog meister, the perfect straight man. How in the L did you beat out a million other sperm!? And, to jester the fester, who came on the superior blog to call me stupid, one of few two-syllable words “it” (No further insult intended here. It’s just that I don’t know what a “jesser” IS?) possesses in it’s unexpansive vocabulary. Typical inarticulate, unintelligent numbnudtz behavior running rampant over here. Please go play with yourselves everyone, it may be the only thing any of you are good at…and you’re probably the only ones who want to play with YOU!
I just read your email to me in response to my email to you, Mark, and your’s was much kinder to me than mine was to you. I should have checked my mail before I posted. Horse before the cart. I right out here in public among those who despise me already anyway, apologize to you for the “what do you know”, “homer”, then modify the cheap shot to more appropriately read: “I can’t believe Fagan beat out a million other sperm”! I’ve gotten much too personal and I have no justification to question your professionalism. I suppose it will in the future be more preferable for us to let the Red Sox and Yankees’ performances on the field speak for themselves. While many over here haven’t either, that does not excuse me from having been such a poor ambassador for the team I hope will spank Yankee butt for the rest of the century. Signing off sufficiently embarrassed; and, although I disagree with almost every assessment you make regarding virtually everything, nothing in life is as much reality as it is perception, and in important areas of virtue such as class and civility, I have to admit, you’ve been a better man than me. Sorry. I’ll try to rectify that.
ahh, the awesome power that comes from living hundreds, possibly thousands, of miles from the people you’re insulting. you’re as tough as they come, daniel fagan. as tough as they come.
oh. fagan’s apology beat my stinging insult to the punch. now i look like the jerk.
FFFAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!!
No sweat, Kasey, it was well deserved for my first post. No hard feelings, my friend!
I agree with most of the picks. For MVP, I’m torn between Ortiz and Thome. Ortiz has been money, but to be perfectly honest, I don’t even think he’s the MVP of his team. I think Papelbon is. That’s not a knock on Ortiz, it’s just that Papelbon has really saved Boston this year I think.
I’d give the Cy Young to Santana right now, especially since I feel he should have won it last year. Liriano and Holliday would be the next two.
Rookie of the Year, either Liriano or Papelbon. Both for different reasons. I guess if you pushed me I’d say Liriano right now, but I expect one or the other to make the decision for me in the months to come.
Manager of the Year, Leyland is a complete no brainer.
That’s for the AL, I’d have to think about the NL.
Jesser, thanks for the kind words over at our site. Unfortunately Dell took a c.r.a.p on me and I’ve been on the phone for about 2 hours a night trying to get it rectified. Until then, I’m only able to access at work.
Boy, I guess your guys didn’t like Tuesday night’s outcome because the Yanks absolutely SPANKED the Tribe the past 2 nights. I’m a little suprised with how easy you took care of Byrd and Lee, since they’ve been their top 2 guns lately. I mentioned on our site that if you guys go into Tampa and tear Karzmir and Fossom around I’m going to start to wonder who pays their salaries, Tampa or George. It always seems they shut us down and you guys light them up.
It could very realistically be cut down to a 1 game lead by the break. It makes for an VERY interesting 2nd half.
Here’s my assesment as the half winds down.
Starting staff-push: I know you guys have been dogging your staff for a while, but for every bad outing Johnson has, Mussina and Wang pick him up. Wright has been more on than off recently. Chacon doesn’t look good. Our top 3 are cosistent enough to keep the Sox in the game (although Beckett is alergic to homerun free games). Lester looks like the real deal, although it’s only been 5 starts. He has shown he can get out of jams, but on the same token it really raises his pitch count which hurts the pen. We have NO number 5 starter even worth mentioning.
Lineup-Slight edge to us just because of your injuries. Reason being is that we know who is going to be there every night while you guys can attest that you don’t know until an hour before game time.
Closer-push- I know the Mo lovers might tar and feather me on this, but come on, you have to give it to a guy with a .43 ERA. I think we both feel when our closer is in the game, it’s OVER.
Middle relief-I’m not even going to touch this one. Too many sour spots for both sides, although the kids in Sox pen are starting to look pretty good.
Resiliency-Yanks: To have as many injuries and so many questions in the pen and in the starting staff, I have no idea how you are 3 games back. People talk about how much further up the Sox should be since we won 12 in a row, but it’s kind of hard to gain ground when the other team is winning.
On another note, thanks to all for respecting our blog as much as we try to respect yours as well.
Nice to see a new SAM, although I must be honest, I really looked forward to coming on here at night and seeing the action back and forth when he wasn’t so nice.
If I’m not able to get the computer fixed, enjoy the weekend before the break everyone.
whoa, didn’t realize it was that long of a post. sorry.
I hope we can get off to a good start and take this win tonight. Hopefully our bats won’t suddenly dissapear as they’ve been known to do.
Gosoxred, you’ve been too kind. You’re lineup is far better without question. When Nixon batting .300+ and Lowell batting close to .300 are hitting in the 5 and 6 spots you know you have a good team. As you mentioned we were suppose to have something similar when Sheffield and Matsui were in the lineup.
I like your predictions, Mark. I’d be surprised if all of them didn’t come true, judging by the rate all those guys are going.
Regarding the AL RotY, I think it is much more impressive for a rookie starter to be dominant than a rookie closer to be dominant. Starters have to stay out there for 6 or 7 grueling innings, sitting down the same opposing batters over and over again, forcing them to vary their pitches greatly. All a reliever has to do is change speeds to be effective, since the other team has no time to analyze. There just isn’t as much skill involved, in my opinion.
Papelbon has been great, there is no denying that. But you can bet that if he were as effective as a starter as he is as a closer, he would be in the Red Sox rotation. So….why isn’t he? You’d think Francona would give him a shot considering the rotation’s woes this year. And I’m sure Timlin could handle the closing role just fine. But I digress.
Not only are Liriano’s stats great, but pretty much the moment he began pitching in that rotation the Twins went on an absolute tear. RotY is not only based on stats, but on a player’s value to that team, and how much that team’s success is based on that player’s performance. You can bet that Liriano is much more valuable to the Twins than Papelbon is to the Red Sox.
But that’s just my opinion
Swo,
I agree with your statement about Liriano. Papelbon has been too dominant of a closer to be used as a starter. Think about Mariano, he started his career as a starting pitching didn’t he? But somewhere along the way they decided that he would dominate as a closer and he’s done just that. If I were Papelbon I wouldn’t want to be used as a starter. Think about it, its the perfect dream job. You pitch 1 maybe 2 innings in any game your used, you don’t pitch unless games are in save situations, you don’t have to work counts since your expected to throw strikes, and because of the decreased work load you’ll probably be pitching when your in your 40′s, and won’t have as many shoulder and elbow problems after you retire. Plus, the chances of getting injured are far lower than if you were a starting pitcher. I’m not saying that being a closer is easy. A closer needs to have the mental stability to deal with the pressure, needs to have a great (it can’t just be good) strike out pitch, and an ability to work out of jams. Very few people meet the mold, and when you find someone who does you better keep them in that position.
Kasey,
I’m disappointed to see your blog hasn’t been updated for the last couple of days. Could it have anything to do with the yankees winning two, improving their standing against toronto and (gasp) boston, thus rendering your pessimism tank a tad empty??!
Come on, I thought you could still find something negative to say…? We’re relying on you man.
Some people might hate me for saying this, but I think the role of the closer is overrated.
The advent of widespread fantasy baseball and the resulting enormous amount of value given to saves is one of the main reasons closers have become so highly regarded. I say this because you can slide pretty much any solid reliever into the closer’s role. Fernando Rodney, J.J. Putz, and Mike Timlin all adopted the closer’s role at some point in their careers, and have been quite good at it. Shawn Chacon was a closer for a year, and though he wasn’t dominant, he still converted 36 of his chances on the Rockies. Or how about John Smoltz? He was one of the best closers in baseball a few years back after recovering from surgery, but then the Braves realized he was more valuable to the team as a starter. Or, like falejandro said, the only reason Mariano ever even became a closer was because he stunk as a starter.
Closers are undeniably valuable to their teams, but I think they get more credit than they normally deserve. I would attribute the Red Sox success to solid hitting and incredible fielding, not so much to their rookie closer, which many people tend to do.
As an aside…I swear I will put a bullet into my TV screen if I have to hear Joe Morgan prattle on one more time about how “intimidated he is by Papelbon’s intense stare, just by watching the TV screen.”
Some closers, like Mo, Eric Gagne, Dennis Eckersley, and Trevor Hoffman deserve a lot of credit for what they have done throughout their careers, and for the awards they have won. But if given the choice of having a solid starter or solid closer, I think most managers would choose the starter.
Long story short, I am quite clearly still bitter about Huston Street winning the RotY over Robinson Cano, and the last thing I want is for another closer to step in and take the award from someone who deserves it more. This year, that would be Papelbon taking it from Liriano.
Though I suppose that seeing Huston Street with 6 blown saves before the All-Star break while Cano makes the All-Star team is justice in its own right.
Whoa, I never said Mariano stunk as a starter, I just said he started his career as one until someone made the decision to groom him for something else. Otherwise I agree with you overall assessment on closers. But you still have to admit that being a closer is a sweet deal for any pitcher. I mentioned some of the perks in an earlier post, but I completely forgot to include two huge benefits: 1) The huge pay check closers make as free agents, and 2) There always seems to be demand for closers, so they always have job security.
Actually, I just looked at Mariano’s stats as a starter: 10 starts, 5-3 record, 5.51 ERA. I can know agree that he wasn’t too hot as a starter.
My mistake for putting words in your mouth. We agree that he wasn’t too hot, but you never did say that he stunk. Sorry!
I don’t know if I can forgive you Swo, you cut me too deep. I just don’t know if I can trust again.
Mark,
I disagree with your pick for AL MVP; it should never be given to a DH, EVER! The award should go to best all around PLAYER, not just HITTER. I agree that Ortiz is putting up the numbers offensivly, but he gets to watch his team play defense. Put Ortiz in the game on defense and Boston would never have set a record for consecutive errorless games. And the same goes to Jim Thome.
Daniel I must agree with you. Ortiz should win a batting title, not MVP. Until he can play defense, or at least steal bases, I don’t see why he should get it over someone who puts up similar offensive numbers, and does play the field.
Mark, very good evaluations. I agree with most of them. The only one in question is the ROY with Liriano and Papelbon. It’s really hard to say which is harder-a starter or a closer. Both have enormous demands on a rookie and both of course performed very well. I am shocked and upset that AJ was chosen over Liriano for the ASG. As for the NL, nobody seems to know it that well. For CY Young, I think Arroyo deserves it more than Penny though it’s tough to say. The Marlins are a TEAM should earn Rookies of the Year, lol. They’ve been impressive, and thus I think Joe Giraldi without doubt should be at least an H.M. for Manager.
Look forward to last weekend before ASG. I’ll be watching the St. Louis and Houston game with Clemens pitching and then catching Pelfrey making his debut for the Mets. I don’t get it, all the talk on WFAN seem to think the Mets are clinched for the playoffs and they have replaced the Yankees as the kings of NYC. That’s just not true–the Mets have not made the postseason yet and with their rotation, doesn’t look ready to get past the first round, let alone Houston or the AL. It’s still a long season to go.
First of all, I stick by the fact Fagan is an idiot.
Mets fans may be annoying and full of it and jumping the gun thinking they are godly considering they have not won for 20 years, but Don’t shortchange their team.
If Glavine and Pedro continue their seasons (which, besides this minor injury to pedro there is no reason to think they wouldn’t) then a 1-2 punch in the playoffs, at least in the NL is really all you need. (johnson, schilling 2001). Brian Anderson and Miguel Batista were certainly not the reason the D backs beat the Yankees.
Houston does have Oswalt, but Pettite has been subpar and I am not a believer in Clemens saving that team yet again, he faltered in the WS last year and even with this ploy to have him healthy for it this year I don’t think he can shut down AL hitting anymore, just like any other normal dominant NL pitcher.
I have no doubt that unless there is a fiery team like the 2003 Marlins in the playoffs in the NL the mets will make the world series with a pedro glavine punch….and then get pounded in the WS in 6 games or less to the whitesox.
I stick by the fact the yankees will make the playoffs but we continuously talk about the holes in the redsox and yankees teams which leads me to believe it does not really matter who is better because the whitesox simply don’t have holes. They were a world series team last year and they improved this year, I think we all agree the teams on the field right now with the yanks and sox are not as good as last year but who knows what happens when our health returns and the redsox…umm…you know, get even better?
Mark, i agree with most of your picks, except the David Ortiz one. I am one of those who dont believe a DH should be MVP. He’s not an all around player. Must be nice to just have a part time role, uh? He should get an award forbatting, cause who can deny the man is nice! But not MVP. I’d most likely go with Hafner or Thome in that corner.
i’m sorry, i didnt mean to say hafner (he’s a DH too), i meant Wells, not Hafner.
Lola…Ortiz, Thome, and Hafner are all permanent DHs…
Jeter for MVP! Easily on pace for 200+ hits, 100+ runs, and 100+ RBIs, and 40 stolen bases! And let’s not forget his fielding skills! If that isn’t MVP material, then I don’t know what is!
OK, realistically, I give the MVP to Vernon Wells. Having Troy Glaus hit behind him is the best thing that ever happened to his stats.
I meant Wells and Thome. Wells is an outfielder, and Thome’s a 1st base man (although he is used to DH).
I don’t know, I think Giambi is the mvp of our team. The man seems to always hit a timely homerun and Jeter is just being Jeter. Though, then again, DH.
I can’t deny right now Ortiz is the mvp, he continues to hit walkoffs, insurance grand slams, deliver clutch hits and single handedly bail his teams *** out everynight. Without Ortiz in that lineup Redsox are probably 4 or 5 games out even with the yankee injuries. MVP by definition is most valuable player but player is probably the least important aspect of that. Most valuable is more important and I think what ortiz does with the bat right now, makes him fit the bill.
Don’t get me wrong, if soembody that played the field IE: (not giambi, thome, or Hafner) had similar numbers on offense like A rod did, but also stole bases and played solid defense, then by all means ortiz is a DH and should not win it over the other guy, but that is not the case right now. Vernon wells is the best hitter in a 3rd place bluejays lineup filled with other pretty good hitters. He has no walkoffs, and i am not sure of how clutch he is, we never really hear about him.
All i can say is he is a good fantasy player cause i have him on all four teams but does not even compare to ortiz right now, esp when u consider the standings. Yes he plays great center field but how often does wells gun someone down at the plate or make something less of a routine catch and actually WIN a ballgame? Probably less than ortiz having that stupid grin after he just drove someone in to take the lead.
The MVP race should come down to Jeter and Wells. Nothing more to say about that.
Now on to Rookie of the Year…Although Papelbons numbers have been great, he is a closer, another part time player. I too am one of the people that was upset after Huston Street won last year, and not just as a Yankee fan, but as a baseball fan. Also, I will not(or rather can not) say that Liriano win it either, there is a lot of season left. I would rather see him win the ROY because he is a starter though.
Guys, I just figured out what the Yankees are going to do for the trade deadline.
Chacon for Liriano
Wright for Santana
Brilliant!
Jesser,
Quit thinking about the numbers, and the clutch hits. HE GETS PAID TO HIT. If you were a professional bartender, I would expect a great drink, because you have learned the proper way to make them. The same goes for Ortiz, I expect him to hit, as everyone should. Think of Edgar Martinez.
Very Wishful Thinking Falejandro. Would be great though.
Mark,
I do keep up with the NL a bit more than everyone else on this blog seems to (no offense to anyone). All your picks seem great, but if the Marlins and Rockies keep going like they are, then Giraldi and Hurdle will be in the mix.
For Manager of the Year. Sorry.
Jeter’s fielding has saved the Yankees too many times to count this season. He also seems to hit everybody well, even when there are no other hits on the team, Jeter seems to be able to figure out the opposing pitcher.
Jeter should get the MVP over a guy who sits in the dugout eating peanuts during his team’s half.
I could not have said it better, marksman. Lets just hope the sportswriters get it right.
One more reason why DH should not be an MVP: If he was on the field, he would get tired atleast a little bit and the just over the wall home runs are deep fly balls. Also some of the laser line drives will be fieldable. So the numbers will be down.
Yuck. That was ****** grammar.
My argument particularly holds good for Ortiz. Because, after the pitcher and the catcher, 1B is the most tiring position on the field.
If A-Rod were a permanent DH, he would bat .380 with 70 homers and 180 RBIs every year. After all, if all you have to do is bulk up to massive proportions, why bother working on your quickness? All that matters is swinging the bat and being able to jog to second base.
A-Rod won because he was a good player all around. The only argument for Shrek was his 10-20 more clutch RBIs than A-Rod had.
BTW, I can’t help humming Smash Mouth every time I see something about the All-Star game where they mention Ortiz. “Hey now, you’re an All-Star…”
I have that “Sitting on top of the world” song from the all-star commercials stuck in my head.
Let’s see how Chacon does out of the bullpen. He seems to know that he’s fighting for his job, and I thought that would be enough to get him to turn around his starts. Now, he’s fighting to not get sent down to the minors, hopefully that will be the kick in the pants he needs, and he’ll give us some good performances out of the bullpen.
I always think of the Michelin Man…Big and puffy.
Joe Girardi, not Giraldi. Get the L out of there.
Anyhow, I agree with a lot of what was said here and I disagree with a lot. And then I agree with some of you who disagree with some of the other people, but I also disagree with some of you who agree with others. Ob some occasions I disagree with some of you who disagree while I agree with some of you who agree.
However, no argument here: that fagan freak is unarguably a jerk.
Paul,
Are you trying to cinfuse us. Or are you confused urself or both?
*confuse
Actually neither, Vik. But it is just not as funny when you have to explain it.
And I should have said inarguably as opposed to unarguably.
Daniel, I did overlook Girardi, but had Hurdle in my honorable mentions.
Question….if Wright has an outing tonight like he did last time vs the Mets….is he in the same boat as Chacon as far as loosing his starting spot in the rotation?
I cannot imagine it, Sam, absent the team acquiring another starter, since Wright has been consistently good, albeit only for 5-6 innings. That is, excluding the Mets pounding.
Chacon has been consistently bad since he has been injured.
They seemed to be going in different directions.
Sorry, i forgot baseball has nothing to do with numbers and winning games to decide MVP. All i’m saying is besides Jeter, there is nobody you can even throw into the argument. Jeter’s stolen bases and average are his biggest strength, i’m not gonna buy the fielding though i do admit if ortiz put his fat self in the field his offense would prob go down, even though it didn’t in 2003.
Yet everyone is making the argumet that a batting title is deserving of a DH, not an MVP but then what’s the point of the gold glove? Extra icing on the cake? MVP is open for everybody and edgar martinez outside of RBI, never ever put together numbers like this and his teams were never world series esque, even in 95 and in 2001 he wasn’t that great anymore.
Sorry that was confusing, i meant the argument is a dh should win a batting title not an mvp, but then that makes the gold glove lose its value, or there is too much emphasis on fielding, you can’t win everybody award if you are a good hitter and fielder, i feel like gold glove and batting title cancel out, then you have to get down to the numbers at hand. Granted, it is also half the season. Jeter could end up hitting 300 with 7 hrs 80 rbi and 20 sb’s and the yankees out of playoff contention.
Or ortiz can get off the needle and end up with 30 hrs, 100 rbi and the redsox could be out of the hunt, then he would be completely useless.
Thanks Paul…I am just not confident at all in Wright like I wasn’t with Chacon…..Wright is better, but don’t think by that much….
there is a silver slugger award, seems to me to be the hitter’s gold glove
Yeah and just like the silver slugger is all about batting the gold glove is all about fielding, the MVP should be about all around best player.
i’ll post my picks and predictions over on my blog (shameless plug!), but i pretty much agree with mark’s picks.
also, the DH argument is an intriguing one, but when the DH is as good as ortiz is, and as valuable to his team, he deserves the MVP.
it’ll be interesting to see if tampa gives the yankees the same trouble they gave the sox, and if boston can bounce back against the chisox. i think boston will take two of three from chicago, and tampa two of three from new york, with the yanks down four games headed in to the break.
i also hope they rest damon this series.
There is one thing I don’t understand abt the word ‘clutch’. Does it apply only to driving in the runs? How about clutch pitching? Does ‘Mo’ get to be the MVP because he delivers time and again in the clutch. How abt some other player who consistently makes clutch defensive plays? Or how abt people getting on base at clutch times? If you put aside, solo walk off HRs, every other clutch hit has another clutch hit or walk associated with it. When that is the case why is it that only the person that drove in the run gets the credit and not the person who scored. Ortiz has the clutch numbers because Youkilis and Loretta have been clutch too. Baseball is not like basketball where one guy can just take the ball and score in the clutch. People should get on base and somebody else should drive them in. They are both clutch. No one individual can take credit, unless it is a solo walkoff.
Thank you Kasey, for the prediction. I want you to be predicting bad things for the yankees. Honestly. It works well for them.
them meaning Yankees
When the same guy does it day in and day out he can take the credit. Walkoffs arent the only clutch category, thats why they have that stat about clutch rbi’s that caused feuding in the a rod ortiz debate last year. Pitchers can be clutch, that’s why MO has a world series mvp and wetteland did in 96. It is tough for a closer though because his job is to be clutch, plain and simple and he only pitches generally one inning and he is thrown into only clutch situations.
Even if he is clutch all the time like gagne was for that perfect season, chances are he’s taking home a cy young, the pitcher’s version of an mvp, though a pitcher can win an mvp.
Just read on two different places the Yankees might trade Chacon straight up for Seattle’s Joel Piniero??? Anybody know anything more or if they think be a good trade?
‘Even if he is clutch all the time like gagne was for that perfect season, chances are he’s taking home a cy young, the pitcher’s version of an mvp, though a pitcher can win an mvp.’
That’s my whole point. Closer, DH are specialized roles whose purpose is to do just one thing. Just like the closer doesn’t get MVP, the DH shouldn’t. He can get the slugger’s version of MVP, the silver slugger.
The DH and a position player does not have a even playing ground. The position player exerts himself more on a daily basis than a DH. He also is prone to errors which will have a negative impact on his MVP voting. Also, commiting an error can be a -ve impact on batting in the game. He can be tired etc. A DH doesn’t have to worry abt it.
Let me put it this way. A team can never lose because of a sloppy DH. It can lose a game because of sloppy postion play. So, DH is not as mentally and physically demanding as other positions.
sweet merciful god. where did you read that sam? i’ve had the “pleasure” of seeing pineiro pitch for the past couple of years and he’s not an upgrade on chacon. he might (MIGHT) have better stuff, but his attitude is just as terrible (great piece on chacon, by the way, mark. i had no idea the guy was such a *******). he has a tendancy to blame everyone else when he can’t get it together, he’s incredibly inconsistent, he doesn’t stay in games mentally, and when he’s bad, MAN is he bad. he’s got a mid-90′s fastball (tops out at 95) and a NASTY breaking ball, but he’s so inconsistent, that stuff doesn’t matter.
Kasey, read it on the MSN and CNN sportspage where they list the “rumors”.
so far this season, pineiro’s ERA is 5.86 and he’s given up more hits (124) than innings pitched (98.1). opponents are hitting .311 against him. read that again.
there has been talk here in seattle that he may be shipped out or demoted to the ‘pen. now read THAT again. the SEATTLE MARINERS aren’t sure if pineiro is good enough for their rotation.
good lord.
maybe they’ll discuss this during the M’s game tonight. i’ll be listening to it at work, so if they mention anything, i’ll post here. i’m sure mark will too, if anything develops.
Mark,,,you hearing on Chacon for Pineiro trade?
Back to the ortiz debate.
You’re right a team can never lose because of a sloppy dh, but the redsox can lose with a subpar ortiz and that to me is all that is important.
You take Ortiz out of that lineup and i truly believe they are not a playoff team, they may still not be but without him it’s not even close. When a man has that much impact on an offense and granted he does no defense, I don’t know how you disqualify him from being a most valuable player. How is he not most valuable if he has that much impact on a team, albeit solely on offense?
I kind of like Joel Pineiro, don’t ask me why but there is something about him that i saw i think three years ago, i feel like with a change of scenery and proper guidance, maybe he can offer something to a team.
keep in mind the ny post is reporting the trade, which means it may be 100% fiction.
Removing Manny will have the same impact. Manny doesn’t need Ortiz in front of him to get his numbers. He has proven that. But Ortiz is not even close to what he is now without Manny behind him.
I don’t doubt that, but the fact they split their numbers makes ortiz’s offense even more impressive.
Manny didn’t win with the indians, he has won with ortiz in the lineup, clearly there is something special and winning about ortiz’s bat.
the same holds for Ortiz. He did not win with the twins. He is winning now. He did not even have the numbers with them. Manny did with the Indians. The fact that they split the numbers makes Manny’s more impressive than Ortiz’s, because, Ortiz has the first chance and Manny drives home the people Ortiz failed to drive in. In other words, left overs.
Add to it that Ortiz’s numbers are terrible against lefties. Manny is good against anybody. He can hit to any part of the field. Ortiz is not even the MVP of the sox.
Dont be mistaken. I consider Ortiz a very very good DH. But not a MVP.
If you remove a 100 run, 140 rbi bat from any team other than the yankees that team will ****. Remove Konerko or Vlad or Pujols. The team ******* without one player doesn’t make the player better.
I should say I am really enjoying this debate. Thank you Vince. Keep it going.
Joel Alberto Pineiro from Puerto Rico will turn 28 in September, has been only with the Mariners, is 56-49 career with a 4.29 ERA.
He has been primarily a starter but has done some relief work. His last decent year was 2003 when he was 16-11 with a 3.78 ERA. This year he is 6-7 with a 5.86 ERA. Last year with 30 starts he finished at 7-11 with a 5.62 ERA.
He is married, with 2 children, and enjoys long walks on the beach.
Looking at Shawn Chacon’s last 10 games reveals a stark difference.
DATE OPP W L ERA SV IP H ER BB SO
APR 18 @TOR 0 0 8.03 0 1.0 2 1 0 1
APR 22 BAL 1 0 5.59 0 7.0 4 1 3 3
APR 27 TB 1 0 4.56 0 6.1 4 1 2 3
MAY 06 @TEX 1 0 3.94 0 6.1 5 1 4 6
MAY 11 BOS 0 0 3.68 0 4.2 5 1 5 1
MAY 16 TEX 0 0 5.21 0 1.1 6 7 2 0
JUN 11 OAK 0 0 5.23 0 5.0 6 3 3 2
JUN 17 @WSH 0 0 5.89 0 4.1 6 6 3 3
JUN 25 FLA 0 1 5.68 0 5.0 5 2 1 0
JUL 04 @CLE 0 1 6.71 0 1.1 6 7 3 1
Totals 3 2 6.38 0 42.1 49 30 26 20
This blog posting format will not let me line up the columns. This data is available in a much better, or more readable format on his bio page on mlb.com.
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/player.jsp?player_id=276336
Fine, then remove thome, oh wait u still have a world champion whitesox team, the yankees have resiliancy but don’t give them too much credit.
Not to mention where is this ortiz ***** against lefties coming from? Do you have any proof of that because generally when a team had to buy a special reliever just to get out ortiz (IE mike myers) he must be doing something right against lefties.
Ortiz can hit to any part of the field too and he has power there just like manny, just not when he hits on the ground. Not to mention, who cares? Ortiz’s numbers have been better than manny’s so what difference does it make where he hits the ball?
Ortiz didn’t win with the twins because he was a platoon player and not even in his prime yet, thats like saying David Wright ****** two years ago and that’s why the mets didn’t win. Ortiz wasn’t even a starter with the twins and when he got to the sox they gave him a chance.
ortiz is 225 vs lefties, which there are not many of maybe 20% of major league pitching, but he delivers clutch and is a pain in the *** to all pitchers. Manny is 247, not much better.
I just had a breakthrough, why don’t we freaken only pitch lefties against the redsox?
Yes I have proof.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits?playerId=3748
If Ortiz can hit to any part of the field equally well, there wouldn’t be exagerrated shifts. I agree that it doesn’t matter though. But his numbers are not so much better than Manny’s except RBIs. Thats because, Manny gets fewer chances than Ortiz.
Not Thome. Remove Konerko and lets see where the chi sox would be.
Its not giving too much credit to the yankees. It is the fact. We have 4 100RBI bats in ARod, Giambi, Shef and Matsui and 3 80-100 rbi guys in DJ, JD and Posada. Thats what keeps us in the race even when we lose a bat or two. Our production is distributed. Thats another reason having a 120 RBI for yankees is much more impressive than having 140 on the sox. The yankees have to share the opportunities.
Why konerko and not thome? Thome will have 100 rbi this year too. Teams can get along without 100 rbi men, but i agree the yankees are probably the only team in baseball that can hang in there without two of them. Eliminate manny and ortiz and the redsox are in 3rd. Manny is one of the greatest hitters of this generation i have no doubt, but the very fact he doesnt get as many opportunities as ortiz speaks volumes about ortiz’s abilities to end games and situations, he certainly doesnt get the chances because ortiz loses games for them.
Of your AL MVP candidates, I would put Hafner (5.0 WARP) above Ortiz (3.3). Hafner is the more valuable player, albeit the less dramatic one.
The question is why not Konerko? Your argument is there is no other player in the league that would make as much difference to his team as Ortiz would to Boston. If you dont want to remove Konerko, it means you think Konerko is more important to chisox than Ortiz is to Boston. Or atleast as important. Which would still make Konerko better than Ortiz because he plays 1B and let Thome DH. So Ortiz is not the MVP.
I did not say Ortiz is a not a good hitter. He definitely is one of the best hitters in the league. I like him a lot. But he is not MVP. MVP has to be ‘THE PLAYER’. I dont think Ortiz is that.
This inning should have done wonders to Wright’s confidence.
Why isn’t anybody else on the blog. Are we irritating them Vince?
You can remove Konerko this year and the whitesox prob still arent where they are, but thome can play first. I was simply removing thome because if you do it proves my point guaranteed that the whitesox still win because they did last year.
So no, i dont think konerko is more valuable than thome. Ortiz puts up better numbers than both of them and travis hafner is not an mvp because the indians are not even a 500 team and are in 4th right now, there is nothing valuable about that unless he puts up 50+ homeruns and a million rbi like a rod who kept his team from being a laughing stock. H
Hafner doesn’t have to worry about that because the tribe has other guys that can hit too up and down the lineup.
I don’t mind if you dont consider ortiz an mvp but there is no way in **** he is as valuable to the whitesox as ortiz is to the redsox. No hitter in any lineup is as important to their lineup as ortiz now that bonds is finally getting what he deserves.
hahah i have no idea, where is everybody? I might go to the game sunday….i was hoping more people would jump in on this debate now that it has taken new life, but i guess not, maybe everybody is working.
Konerko to the whitesox not ortiz, that didnt make sense, sorry. My typing is an atrocity today
May be. I know three guys that are definitely more important to their lineups than Ortiz is without a question. Pujols for Cards, Lee for Cubs and Manny for Sox. There are a lot others that are as important as Ortiz. Konerko, Hafner, Vald Guererro
Thats ok. I am not mistake free either. But I have a built in excuse. English is not my first language.
I am unable to enjoy the game as much without all the guys here.
hafner w/his 5 granny of the year….6-0 tribe over o’s
lol darn ur built in excuses, I’m just not on a flat surface right now i guess. That, i suppose is where we agree to disagree, though pujols i would entertain into the argument, yet no surprise, he is the mvp of the nl right now if i had to vote. Lee has been injured too long and the cubs are awful, and ive already spoke my justice for manny. There is a reason ortiz bats in front of him.
Konerko i disagree esp now with thome and that team is built more on small ball and pitching anyway, right now i think contreras might be their mvp with his insanity, and hafner and vlad are on crappy teams too and vlad also has an mvp already which only proves my point that people with ortiz like numbers should win mvps
Wright looks good so far, welcome in sam, where the **** is everyone? Is there another blog i don’t know about?
I have not really given a lot of thought as to who the MVP should go to, but if I had to answer right now, I’d say Ortiz. Generally, I think the MVP should go to an actual player, not just a DH. Also, I don’t even think Ortiz’s batting average is that high- something in the .260′s. However- it is the amount of homeruns and RBI’s that he puts up in key clutch situations which makes me feel he deserve the award. Without Ortiz, the sox would prob be in 3rd place behind us and the Blue Jays. That’s just my 2 cents. Have a good night everybody- I’ll be checking in tomorrow before CMWang takes the mound.
LOL, I don’t know. They just said Hafner first player ever to hit 5 granny’s before all star break. This Seo guy is killing us w/his 5.45 ERA LOL……
ortiz is 277 after his go ahead homerun and insurance hitting grandslam last night in the 9th inning.
He won’t catch gehrig’s single season record. Hopefully 2nd or 3rd time through the order we give wright some room, seo is a tough little deliberate asian pitcher
Go ahead runs + insurance runs = MVP
Okay Vince. Tell me if you think Robert Horry is MVP
isn’t the record six grand slams in one season, set by mattingly?
have the yankees faced seo before? if not, that explains the lack of success. every young pitcher seems to make this lineup look inept.
isn’t the record six grand slams in one season, set by mattingly?
have the yankees faced seo before? if not, that explains the lack of success. every young pitcher seems to make this lineup look inept.
No because he didn’t have the numbers to match his clutch shooting….you’re lucky i pay attention in all sports
Kasey i was under the impression him and gehrig both have it but ur prob right and yes its 6…..the better q is if horry had shaq’s numbers and his clutch shooting, would YOU consider him mvp?
Ok. Then your MVP is Kobe. He has the numbers, clutch numbers and he makes a LOT of difference to that team.
Travis Hafner has 5 granny’s before the All Star break, they said that is a record
This Lugo dude is ******* me off
yeah it is, but not for the season sam….Yankee, are u talking about this past season or the dynasties of the lakers? My MVP last year was indeed Kobe but basketball isn’t comparable. I certainly didn’t think nash deserved it, i hate him
Yes. Because, Shaq has both offensive and defensive numbers.
Yankees have faced Seo before and hit him hard.
From the Yankee preview pager on mlb.com by Andrew Bare / MLB.com
Jae Seo, recently acquired from the Dodgers in the Mark Hendrickson deal, has been someone the Yankees have torched over the years. Yankees hitters have a combined 64 at-bats against Seo, and in those face-offs, they’ve hit .406, with a .441 on-base percentage and .625 slugging percentage.
lugo tends to be a pesky yankee and redsox killer.
I think it is Kobe too. But Kobe and Ortiz are not comparable.Kobe plays both O and D.
All b ball players have offense and defense there is no DH thats why it is not comparable. In basketball defense is equally as important as offense, in baseball offense (pitching aside) is more important than fielding….hence why there arent 9 travis lee’s on every team
Nash doesn’t
lol writers wouldnt have voted kobe mvp for his steals per game thats for sure
I agree offense is more important for a normal player. Not for an MVP.
As for the MVP discussion I said what I thought before and was attacked by some nasty woman on here claiming I was not a fan and I was someone else.
No question in my mind that Ortiz is the MVP, and I think he was last season also.
MVP stands for most valuable PLAYER not fielder. If you isolate one player, what does he mean to that team. Pluck him out of the mix and where would that team be?
Without David Ortiz the Sox are a 4th place team at best.
In general in baseball since pitching is it’s own entity hence why they have the cy young, offense is more valuable and important for a player than their fielding or fielding percentage. Having ortiz would be like having a player that scores like jordan and clutch like reggie, that’s an mvp even if he plays Defense like anybody on the knicks
Manny is a better hitter than Ortiz, maybe the best pure hitter in baseball under any circumstance.
However situationally, Ortiz is the MVP. Does not matter if he never picks up a glove. It matters what he delivers to the results of a team.
MVP = who means the most to the results of that team.
See last year i think a rod deserved mvp. Their offense was too similar and a rod was clutch contrary to everybodys beliefs, plus he had 20 sb (some of which in the playoff race were huge) AND he played gold glove defense. Like mark originally said, there is nobody this year that is doing that so ortiz’s time is this year, assuming everything was to stay the same.
I mean he should have both. Look at this way, by not playing first base, Ortiz is not allowing the team to have one more good hitter. They need to play Youkilis at first base whos isn’t a natural.
Did Willis just hit a granny for the Marlins? LOL….Lead Mets 6-0
Game day says on field delay.
Is Jorge there smacking around a few of the Devil Rays?
Sorry, 7-0 Mets………
He wont play 1b in AL to save his life. If Manny cant play left field, he sits. He doesn’t DH because Ortiz is a liability at 1B.
Alright, having a bad night, 7-0 MARLINS
Youk is a good hitter and he plays solid D at first base. That’s like saying by nomar not still playing short hes robbing the dodgers of having another first baseman. Youk is a solid first baseman that puts up solid offense so ortiz isn’t robbing them of everybody, plus at least for half of this year, i don’t care what position or lack thereof ur looking at, i want the best hitter in my lineup, it is a luxery for them to have ortiz at dh not a problem.
ARod had a great year last year, no question, and played excellent defense, except in the playoffs, but that does not mitigate overall value to results of the team.
The Yanks would have made the playoffs without him I think. Without Ortiz the Red Sox would not have come close.
Ortiz played first base before midway 2004 and he played first at interleague, DH is a position just like any other, it just so happens giant gorillas that hit bombs in the clutch are perfect for that spot
Giambi is also an awful 1st baseman. I would not let him even play in Interleague.
They need to find a way to put Nomar in. If Ortiz played 1B, the redsox can have the worst hitter in the lineup replaced by Youkilis.
It is a luxury to have Ortiz in the lineup. But having im at DH is limiting other options for the sox.
thank god we lead. I don’t know i feel like that is too much speculation on a rod not being in the lineup and making the playoffs. Yankees also won the division not wildcard which i think helped a rod’s case. Ortiz struggled hitting in the playoffs so they both did poorly.
I don’t see how, ortiz is the best hitter in that lineup so why would u want somebody else dhing? and Youkilis is a good hitting and fielding first baseman? If ortiz played center field then crisp can dh instead? I don’t know what point that proves. Why would u replace the worst hitter in the lineup with youk, he would need to play their position instead?
Actually I dont care who the MVP is. I think it is all hoopla. If I had to chose one, it will definitely not be a DH. Unless he hits like 70hr and drive in 200 guys.
lol well there we agree to disagree you should not have to reach unreachable expectations just because you don’t play the field. I think the field can help someone be an mvp not hurt someone and keep them from getting it
Vik, Ortiz may drive in 200.
hahahah wright has 7 k, he is so silly sometimes
If Ortiz plays 1B. Youk can play out field (I am sure he can and if my memory serves me right he did in the past). They can have a Trot Nixon (he is always injured) or somebody else like Lowell DH when they are not 100% instead of Willy Harris or somebody else. Every hitter on the team is benched (in favor of a inferior hitter) instead of DHing when they have a small injury that wont let them field but bat.
Having to be a DH to be in the lineup removes all the flexibility the manager has.
Paul:
If he does drive in 200, I may consider. Because that is a production of two guys.
Vik, Ortiz is the most dangerous hitter in the American League with men on base, I think.
Lowell plays gold glove d why wouldnt he play third? Youk moving from first to the outfield is a liability in its own right and they have wily mo for that reason. Nixon has not been injured this year and hits 328 and has a solid arm so i dont see any spot on that sox team where they would willingly want him to dh that day. It is more beneficial to have a man like ortiz only concentrate on hitting then put a banged up guy in the dh spot to probably underachieve cause hes banged up.
Paul:
I think I agree. Has to be him or Manny. But I think it is a mental thing for the pitchers.
PS: That doesn’t make him the mvp though.
DH can mean something different to numerous diff managers but the ones that use it to give people half aday of rest tend to just not have a good hitter to dh. Hence why the yankees don’t put banged up guys there anymore, cause giambi has adopted the role.
Gees we are struggling bad against this Seo guy. Love to have anohter bat…….
Yes it does make him the MVP. You admit it! Give up.
I win.
heh heh
Exactly Jesser (is it Vince?).
Giambi should be the permanent DH as long as he is able. A banged up player should rest.
Holding my breath, Wright is in the 5th inning
Ortiz HR…2-0 Red Sox
Vik, we just disagree on the importance of the DH role. In the AL I think it is as important as any other position.
It is ok to disagree on this.
The position is important. But 100 rbi by a positional player doesn’t equate to 100 rbi by DH.
Who is that Yankee pitcher with 9 strikeouts?
Really holding my breath, Wright will pitch the 6th LOL…
Last 2 times, Jeter swings at 1st pitch and gets an out UGH
The 6th is not stretch. I want to see him in the 8th.
Yankees are horrible against this guy, what is the matter? His ERA is horrible and Yanks can’t muster anything…..jet lag? UGH
However the Yankee hitting is not good.
They have 3 hits. This is not a new pitcher. They usually pound him.
I agree Paul…jet lag LOL
The chisox are hitting .318 with risp as a team. How can anybody be more clutch than them?
thats an entire team. Yes paul it is vince.
and ortiz isnt another 100 rbi guy, hes a 45+ hr 140+ rbi and a lot of it in the clutch guy
you think mark feels like god where he just posts his opinion and gets litterally hundreds of responses?
in addition, who would be the halfway point mvp of this blog thats what i wanna know
UGH, if we get 1 run off this guy, Kazmir will have a perfect game against us…this is bad guys…….Wright pitched his butt off tonight
has to be Sam or Kasey
7 innings, 1 run and 3 hits……
vik never thought of it but u may be right about sam, depends the definition of valuable i guess….i may have to just give him the most improved player award instead though
Wright threw 91 pitches. Why is he not out there?
Proctor in for Wright…….great game Wright….clap, clap, clap….fingers crossed for Proctor
I said this earlier and I will say it again. The blog is not as fun without Sam/Kasey
VILLONE WARMING, TORRE HAS FAITH!
Yankee, I am here
I see ya Sam
Wright has 10Ks today
Wow Proctor threw a lot of pitches. But he survived.
that was VERY encouraging vintage proctor
The rays did a good job of fouling away pitches today
That was the best I have seen Jaret Wright pitch….ever.
Who expected a pitcher’s duel with Wright and Seo?
lol hopefully that is not the case sunday (which i might go to) cause then we may score 4 runs this series
though if i know anything about the yankees this year, they will destroy kazmir tomorrow and itll be like 7-1
btw did anybody elses mlbtv just lose all its sound?
Yeah it’s generally the scrub pitchers who give them a hard time. Remember, guys like Zito, Colon, etc got torched by the Yankees earlier this season.
and beckett, can’t forget beckett. Schilling did once too.
Is it just me or everybody thinks shifts are more harm than good
Wish Giambi could hit it away from shift sometimes LOL
Paul, break out the Pepto…Farnsy in
Jermaine dye bases loaded no out sac fly 2-2 in the 3rd. Welcome to the al lester
People say Crisp has a better arm than JD. huh.
Crosby and Cairo for Ortiz and Lester
Sam I have a keg of Pepto™.
crisp has a terrible arm…lester got out of it dp to lowell…lucky ****
Pinch me. Two good outings in a row for Farnsy.
Farnsy w/a good inning……..
umm, farnsworth, proctor perfect? Wright 6 innings no runs, 14 straight retired by yankee pitching? Did they, umm, what happened?
Varitek the redsox captain….243 average 9 hrs 40 rbi…320 OBP, what a loser
and he cant even catch (Wakefield)
where is my baby lola?
He has to wear a ‘C’ on his jersey. Because, there is no other way you can tell he is a captain.
today is a friday. May be there are all out partying.
*they
gees, 9 innings, 3 hits, 1 run…Indians benched Boone tonight…winning 9-0 LOL…….COME ON MO
****, i forgot what partying means ever since may. Yeah that C is gaudy like pitcher’s numbers when they face him
I forgot partying even since I got married
hahahaahh
Kidding. I get to party very often and the best part is, it is somebody else’s tab.
wow 18 in a row to end it
Only 3 hits, but it is a shutout win.
Great game!
That was a nive win. Now its guaranteed that Kasey’s prediction that we are going to be 6 back by the break is wrong.
The, The, The Yankees win. Yes…….great game guys!!
come on mo! 2.50am here in sunny england, that feels good! papelbon my ****!!
now switching over to watch boston ****, hopefully.
can’t believe it – even a.r.s.e gets censored.
don’t they know good old anglo saxon when they see it??
hahah sam carries the torch with no jorge or lola.
well kasey is certainly putting a lot of hope into casey fossum to think tampa will take two of three
Thanks for staying up with the Yankees Dan.
night guys. Later.
Fossum is a lefty the Yanks sometimes hit and sometimes cannot hit at all.
im pretty sure he will get smacked around to rebalance the universe after seo tonight
Geesh, what a blowout, not even close LOL
redsox up 4-2….they’re taking turns borrowing ortiz’s needles
except varitek, apparently wakefield threw him one in the clubhouse and it went off his hands
Btw ortiz 2-2 hr single 2 runs scored against a premiere lefty in mark buerhle. The 2nd run scored is the go ahead at the moment
I just have to say NIce win yankees!mAybe Jaret wright is better then I thought.
yankeeindian: no need to come over and throw rudeness, I’m always very polite to the Yankee fans when I’m here. Have a good night.
jesser come on back over to the sox blog, you were pretty nice about the sox there, nothing about needles in that post.
Can somebody please explain to me how is it rude to say my opinion that ESPN ***** up to New England based teams?
Whether they **** up or not is an opinion. Isn’t it?
1. ESPN l-o-v-e-s the red sox. they make no secret about it. they’re giving away the chance to watch a sox game from inside the green monster as part of their v foundation auction. they adore the red sox.
2. the red sox CRUSHED the defending champs tonight. they’ll take two of three, at the least, from chicago.
3. i expect kazmir to beat wang tomorrow and then wilson’s game is a wildcard. i still think tampa takes two of three, meaning they’ll win the next two.
4. great outing from wright tonight. man. i’d love to see more of that in the second half.
5. pineiro pitched 7 2/3 innings against the tigers tonight, gave up six runs on ten hits. he had given up three runs on six hits through the seventh. the eighth inning killed him. i kind of hope they make that trade. seems like he and chacon are equally bad, but both could use a change of scenery. there was no mention of the trade during the broadcast.
On the other hand, the numbers support your Cy Young pick.
Kasey,
I am glad you predicted the yankees will lose. Just out of curiosity, do you make your predictions to make it work for yankees, you know by reverse jinxing. Or do you really believe in your predictions.
Dye w/a HR….White Sox 1-0…..can’t believe I am working on a Saturday LOL
Dye is a pimp. He is also on my fantasy team.
Newsday’s Jim Baumbach provided an interesting stat.
We often talk about how badly the Yankees fare against rookie pitchers. Here is the summary against rookie pitchers so far this season.
Not so bad at all.
Record 2-3
ERA 4.92
IP 56 2/3
H 68
ER 31
BB 24
SO 32
yankee_indian,
i don’t believe in jinxes or reverse jinxes.
i said this when he played in seattle, and i’ll say it again: freddy garcia is one of the absolute LAST guys i’d want on the mound in a big game situation.
Kasey, they said Garcia was 3-0 w/2.30 ERA all on road in playoffs last year w/Chicago….and, does any Boston Red Sox player know what a shower looks like? Just curious……
garcia pitched well in the playoffs last year, but i still wouldn’t trust him. just me.
youkilis: .300
loretta: .304
ortiz: .281
ramirez: .312
nixon: .324
lowell: .302
crisp: .263
mirabelli: .171
cora: .298
i thought their lineup was supposed to be worse this year?!
I never thought Boston’s line up was worst than last year……they are very good if you ask me
people just talked, at the beginning of the season, about how boston’s offense would be a bit weaker than the last few years, but their defense would be better. looks like they got it half right.
the white sox are battling though. ozzie ought to pull garcia.
good to see david riske kill the perception that he can’t pitch in important situations. oh, wait…
from abraham’s blog. bad news.
“Cano had an impressive batting practice, driving several balls into the seats in right center. But when he tried to run the bases, he made only three trips between first and second before shutting it down.
After talking it over with Torre for a minute, Cano walked back to the dugout and angrily flung his cap.
Not sure what that means but I’ll report back later when we get a chance to talk to Cano and Torre.”
Doesn’t seem that bad to me, more like he thought he was farther along than he was and felt uncomfortable running, it is a bit early to 100% after a hammy strain
It was reported in the Times today that Cano’s injury is healing slower than expected…i.e. he will not be back in time for the white sox series after the all star break.
so, the white sox bullpen is, um, less than formidable.
apparently they managed to let this game get a little out of control right quick like.
They are rallying… If that Thome-Konerko-Dye part of the lineup can’t pull something, I’d say they’re done.
although one could aslo wonder why Beckett is still pitching
well, thome couldn’t. so they’re 1/3 of the way done.
and konerko couldn’t come through either. yet the red sox have a ton of two-out base hits tonight.
bases loaded, nobody out, the white sox get nada.
Wow are you kidding me? They’re ******* done. Bases loaded with no outs, 3 best hitters coming up, and no runs? Good game. Jesus Christ.
meanwhile, the red sox have two out RBI from kevin youkilis, DOUG MIRABELLI, and ALEX CORA.
don’t worry, though. the white sox will bounce back against the yankees. for some reason, it always works that way.
and vise versa, tampa continuously homered on redsox pitching and we sent 18 of them down in a row last night
Sox had the bases loaded with no outs. Somehow I knew things were going to turn out differently.
9-5 and more to come.
yah **** it papi
wow. boston absolutely manhandled chicago. for the second straight game. they’ll finish off the sweep tomorrow and with two yankee losses coming, be five up by the break. which is what i’ve been saying all along.
Kasey,
I remember you said (when the road trip started) they will be 6 up before the break. Then (after the Cleveland series) you changed it to 4 up. Now you say they’ll be 5 up.
Which one of the three is all along.
Kasey,
I’ve always liked your predictions, so here’s a question: Who will win the all-star game, and will Arod be faced with a groundball that “takes a bad hop?”
You know, I’m surprised the Fox commentators haven’t proposed to the whole Red Sox team yet with the way they’ve been fawning over them.
i think the AL will win the all-star game. i don’t think alex will make an error, but, after the fox guys spend the first third of the broadcast detailing his struggles in new york, they’ll then fawn over the red sox and how they just took the defending champs to the woodshed. also, during the home run derby, look for the ESPN guys to pile on the chapstick, and perform a marathon session on big papi and francona.
I hope cabrera wins the homerun derby, it would continue the trend of florida and the south winning EVERYTHING lately.
kasey said 5+ games at the break and if the yankees lose the next two (which i think they split and the redsox lose tomorrow) then he would stick by his 5+ games at the break. Just the way he predicted it has been completely off so far because every series he says the yankees either lose 2 of 3 or 3 of 4 and it hasnt happened yet.
obviously my prediction is 3 games at the break. Like it has been this entire time as well.
In case you were wondering about my southern and florida comment.
NCAA: championship: UF
NBA championship: Miami Heat (vs dallas)
MLB: 2003 Marlins (hey, that’s still recent isn’t it?)
NFL: Tampa Bay bucs (recent enough)
NHL: Carolina Hurricanes
Before that NHL: Tampa Bay Lightening (why are southern teams good at hockey?)
College Football:
University of Texas
I think i mentioned this before but it’s starting to become rather bothersome, i wish it were 1994
Hi everyone. Game time! Here we go. Excited to see what Kazmir has to offer. Haven’t seen much of him.
Ooooh. He’s pretty.
So my hope that kazmir would roll over and give up dingers left and right didn’t materialize. dang
I miss Mark. As a resource without Mark mlb.com is basically paltry. Under transactions the last listed transactions are 7/6 Mat Smith to Columbus.
Apparently Kevin Thompson was called up since he is playing.
However mlb.com is keeping the roster move a secret.
Hey Frank. No Wang is the pretty one. Have a good game all.
Shh, paul. Don’t tell anyone or they’ll have to kill you.
If Lugo steals second things cud get ugly…hopefully a double play comes soon
Here we go again with obnoxious and biased commentators on mlbTV.
boy, it is really good to see the yankees swinging so early in the count. god forbid they make kazmir work for it.
Beam was sent down. Are they short a pitcher now?
Or were they seriously thinking of letting Chacon relieve?
Great throw, Posada
chacon needs to go…hopefully the trade for joel piniero can work… Joel’s not exactly an ace but hes a much better 4 starter than chacon
Go Jorge!!
pineiro and chacon’s numbers and attitudes are almost identical. pineiro’s stuff is a bit better. if the deal happens, and i doubt it will, it’ll be a pretty even exchange.
Hey Kasey, who do you think they can realistically get to replace Chacon??
I really hope philip hughes can be our scott kazmir in a year or two.
I hope Hughes can be our Liriano.
boy, it’s a good thing jorge swung at the second pitch he saw. what with kazmir having thrown 17 pitches so far (11 of which have been balls), he might have accidentally worked himself into a hitter’s count or, god forbig, drawn a walk there. we can’t have that.
i think somebody like pineiro will work. they’re not going to go out and get a front of the rotation guy, because there aren’t any available. i just say the pineiro trade won’t happen because the new york post has a history of reporting bogus trades. remember when the yankees were going to deal sheffield for cameron? that didn’t happen either.
man. kazmir has a plan out there. he doesn’t want to touch a-rod or bernie. he’ll just eat everyone else up. not a bad idea, actually.
Yeah that Sheffield for Cameron trade would have been one of the most uneven trades in recent years
Kasey, I hear ya but its hard for me to be mad at jorge after that throwout but it would be pretty awesome to have bases loaded with 3 straight walks and no outs and a young pitcher on the mound.
THROW FIRST PITCH STRIKES
Not quite as uneven as Heathcliff Slocumb for Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe though
I think the Sheff thing was a real deal but he went nuts and threatened the acquirer that he might be a tad recalcitrant.
most players will not swing so why not just get ahead 0-1
navvick, being a pitcher myself it’s not quite that simple
another yankee error. which means another unearned run is on its way.
I used to pitch and I understand its hard but I just get frustrated when I realize how helpful it can be. I guess its a case of you know what you need to do to pitch well such as keep ball down…..throw strikes….change speeds..but it is easier said than done
it’s got to be great to be a groundball pitcher with an atrocious defense behind you. poor wang.
I wonder if wang likes strippers
Yeah and especially for Wang because his pitches move so much he probably doesnp;t even know where it’s going sometimes
So how long do you guys think till phil hughes is in the rotation.
doesnp;t = doesn’t
Probably 2007 or 2008
So maybe next year we have
Randy Johnson
Barry Zito
Philip Hughes
Chien-Ming Wang
Carl Pavano
No Moose?
How old was Mark Fidyrich when he came up?
I think it would be unwise to sign moose for more than another year and he is probably gonna want about 3 years
Pavano will die in a mysterious elevator accident. He will never pitch for the Yankees.
I’d give Moose a 2 year deal for somewhere around 14 million
Paul I think if Pavano does ever come back and pitches well then you owe him a pizza
He can get more elsewhere for prolly 3-4 years with 9-12 million a year. Especially if he gets about 20 wins this year
Alex he owes me. But I would consider one of those Mama Celeste frozen pizzas wehen it is on sale for 77¢.
Those are on sale for 63 cents at Albertson’s
I used to eat those like they were going out of style…which it turns out they were.
nothing like a couple of strikeouts with men on to make an already inconsistent offense look positively laughable.
Those Mama Celeste pizzas are basically the same tasting whether you remove them from the box or not.
wang typically has one inning where he absolutely comes unglued and gives up 2-5 runs. when do you think that will come tonight? my money’s on the fourth or fifth.
Pretty much…I tried Ellio’s but it made me sick
I don’t buy any frozen pizza.
Kasey, by unglued, do you mean with men on base, or are you predicting he will start shooting people in the stands?
That happens at soccer matches I think.
you’ve seen “the last boyscout”, right paul? something along those lines.
frozen pizza is disgusting.
kazmir has five Ks through four innings. he is making the yankees look comically bad tonight.
he does that a lot, though.
Hmm so wang will be unglued the yankee offense is terrible (cleveland must have not existed)and Kazmir is a bad pitcher that we can’t take advantage of, or at least thats the implications kasey is giving off so far today.
Oh yeah and a bunch of unearned runs already scored today.
calm down
No, never saw it, Kasey.
He seems to be turning into the former Sam.
Okay Kasey here it comes!!!!
you think jorge is cheering for jorge right now with jorge right behind the plate?
LOL
Someone write that down so we can ask him when he comes back.
well either jorge and jorge were really happy or jorge and jorge were really sad
LOL Vince.
“kazmir has five Ks through four innings. he is making the yankees look comically bad tonight.
he does that a lot, though.”
i posted that at 8:12. not sure where you’d get “kazmir is a bad pitcher” from that, jesser. two words: reading comprehension.
haha ahh fun with hispanic names. Anyway, wang unglued in the 4th as advertised…err speaking of pessimism, (sort of) where is sam?
He was making fun of your sarcasm.
lol yes, two words: sarcasm comprehension
you’ve never seen “the last boyscout”? it’s one of the best bad movies of all time. it’s terrible. and so enjoyable. damon wayans, bruce willis, written by shane black (lethal weapon, kiss kiss, bang bang).
*pessimism, not sarcasm
And all is well with Wang.
was kiss kiss bang bang a good movie? I’ve only heard of it through myth and random movie trivia.
Well Kasey he made it out of the fourth, but there is still the fifth!! What will you give if he makes it throught the fifth?????
hey, not to deviate too far from yankee talk here, but has anyone else noticed that kansas city is giving the blue jays all they can handle? they’ve taken the first two games of that series and currently trail 4-3 in the third game.
and the overall reason for me saying u were implying kazmir was a bad pitcher was because you were complaining about the yankee offense making it seem like they should have blown the door of kazmir like he is some sort of mediocre pitcher.
kansas city has been on fire since father’s day…i think they will be 13-5 if they win this game
KC now leads 5-4
no, i was complaining about the yankee offense swinging early in the count and not making him work.
the one time i said he was making them look bad, i added that he does that a lot.
again, reading comprehension.
a few notes around the league….josh johnson is nasty. Sowers getting handled by oriole offense, is the alex gonzalez on san diego the same alex gonzalez from the cubs that i was under the impression had retired?
Oh and Liriano has given up a hit already, he obviously is terrible giving up a hit in the first two innings.
Good to see Thompson hitting.
lol my fantasy team with the exception of Freddy Garcia is pitching well today (Wang, Chris Young, and Erik Bedard).
how many alex gonzalezes can there be? red sox, padres, former cub? shouldn’t there be a limit? i’d say two guys can have the same name. after that, you have to wait in the minors until one gets sent down or retires.
agreed, i was going to post that it’s nice to see thompson 2-2.
Anyone else think that Thompson is better than Bubba? Looking at the lineup and seeing that we’re missing Cano, JD, Sheff and Matsui, I’m shocked we’re only 3-4 games back, as our lineup is lacking. I predict Wang will go until at least the 7th inning, giving up no more than 2-3 runs, i.e. a “quality start” jesser =)
New National League rule requires each team to have at least one Alex Gonzalez.
I don’t really mind multiple instances of the same name. Now what bothers me is people with names like Coco Crisp, Jhonny Peralta (what were they thinking?), and Justin Duscherererererererererer.
Why would you ever name your kid Coco if your last name was Crisp?
He has a brother called Cookie Crisp.
Coco is a nickname. Can’t remeber what his real name is.
Holy **** Melky!
Covelli I think. Nice pseudo-DJ falling into the stands catch by Melky.
Are you sure it’s a nickname because I remember some commentator on CSN say something about Coco being the name his grandmother gave him and that it is his real name.
i’m off to work. enjoy the rest of the game. i predicted wang would give up runs in the fourth or fifth. it’s the fifth now…
Would the Rays notice if Torre sent Kevin Thompson up to bat each inning?
night Kasey
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6983
covelli loyce crisp
No but I’m sure they’d notice when there were 2 Kevin Thompsons on the basepaths with another one at the plate.
no his real name is covelli as im sure paul will soon show us, his grandma dubbed that his nickname which he has gone by his entire life, yeah i think this will be a quality start too and somewhat anticipate seeing if contreras can conquer his biggest problem so far tomorrow.
These announcers should be hammered
Full Name: Covelli Loyce Crisp
Born: 11/01/1979
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Height: 6’0″ Weight: 180
Bats: Switch
Throws: Right
College: Pierce JC, CA
MLB Debut: 08/15/2002
likes long walks on the beach…
They are trying to claim a fan could have put the ball in cabrera’s glove because they were all yankee fans in that area. They also were being completely sarcastic about the catch after he made it.
They also spent about 15 minutes (not an exaggeration) arguing how crawford should be in the all star game.
Posada mr automatic
Posada got another one
Night Kasey!
posada has become better at throwing out runners because he spent 2 hrs for 3 days with tony pena working on his throwing motion and mechanics. I read it in one of the new york magazines as the pitchers also worked with him on holding runners.
Two caught stealing tonight.
Jorge should buy Tony Pena a pizza.
Pena is a great coach in many respects.
I don’t know who is worse. The ESPN commentators or the Fox commentators. Both make me equally furious when I hear them speak. The MASN announcers are also unashamedly biased against the Yankees.
when sheffield and matsui are back this year…what happens with melky crosby williams and thompson..
next year i doubt they keep shef,and bernie prob retires but they will have matsui cabrera damon thompson and crosby….anybody else want to trade crosby for a reliever next year?
Although Giambi is SO slow, im shocked they took him out.
i also don’t think he should have come out yet. Posada is officially better than varitek
YAAAY!
I’m sure Jorge is cheering for Jorge right now.
well i guess thats why torre manages and i criticize him on blogs.
Announcers summary of the play:
“damon scores on an ugly looking hit and rocco a bad throw, esp by his standards”
Varitek is awful. The ESPN guys love love love Varitek.
Kazmir is breaking down.
I watch other networks and they are so biased againt the yankees but when I watch YES or WWOR it does not seem like those announcers are overly favoring the yankees. Maybe I’m just biased.
Yeah they were like “Varitek, the captain steps in, the C on his chest denoting that he is the captain. What a great player this guy is.”
look posada is a better base runner, as or more clutch, has more grand slams, throws out more runners, bats for a higher average and hits as many or more hrs.
And they call him the captain, maybe MAYBE the only thing tek does better is works with the pitchers, but he works with 4 of them and i doubt he tells schilling anything, so that leaves beckett, lester and jason johnson, he should prob stop advising johnson.
Giambi may not have been able to score on that play. But I wonder if Johnny can swing the bat.
The YES guys do not overly favor the Yankees.
Varitek is also an *******.
no even redsox fans on the other blog say the yankee announcers are not very biased in favor of the yankees and are pretty objective IE Kay says see ya for both teams, and when the other team makes a nice catch (see melky cabrera) kay gets excited about that too.
Though i hand it to the sox besides ******* off papi and papi, their announcers are pretty objective too.
I think Michael Kay/AL Leiter/ Ken Singleton etc. are all appropriate.
murcer too….waldman likes to say stupid **** all the time, but i mean they’re all pretty objective…crawford just burned the field with that speed
of course now this triple lead to the announcers talking about how wonderful and godly crawford is.
ohhh u gotta love jeter
Props to CMW as well. Pitching a shut out so far through 6.
I love Jeter, but I also love Wang.
The A’s announcers are ridiuclous. Jeter made like an amazing defensive play that no player on the A’s roster could even dream of and the announcers were like “Jeter gets the putout.” Next inning, an A’s player fielded a routine ball and made an easy throw that Mark Fiensand could prolly make with his eyes closed and the announcers were like “THAT SHOULD BE UP FOR PLAY OF THE YEAR, BILLY BEANE DOES IT AGAIN. THATS A’S BASEBALL!!” I was like ***
wow, nice finish to the inning
btw i was talking about last year…not today’s game.
What did the announcers say about Wang getting out of the jam?
“That CMW is lucky he has that defense behind him”
Wang is showing increasing poise.
Wang is showing increasing poise.
Proxy error…..I guess that means it posts it twice.
That was worth a double post cuz wang is that poisefilled
Proxy error…..I guess that means it posts it twice.
Question:
Will Damon be coming up to bat?
Night Kasey!
They should just send up Kevin Thompson next.
I think damon will bat and reach on another error by rocco baldelli.
Walking Jeter to get to Damon?
Make him pay, Johnny!
…an error that the announcers will call a lucky hit and run by Damon.
does kazmir realize damon is next to impossible to double up.
HECK YEA
LOL good job walking Jeter. Props to Kazmir.
Players who i love:
1)CMW
2)Johnny Damon
Nice! I hope he did not injure anything doing that, but nice!
Yeah so I don’t think anybody is worried about Damon’s injury anymore.
Why does A-Rod almost always swing and miss at the first pitch he sees?
Yes Johnny Damon is a bust and ***** cause he is not hitting .310 from last year. He’s always injured too…the yankees are the worst team he ever went too. He is too slow and is in the downside of his career. Of our 3 runs against a top pitcher, he scored one and drove in the other 2. He *****. Trade him for Brian Giles.
I was opposed to getting Johnny; I wanted Bubba as the CF.
I was so wrong. Johnny has been so much more than I ever expected.
His ability, his attitude, his work ethic, his team leadership….he is truly a great player.
Nice at bat for Bernie. Wish he knocked one in. But good effort.
Rays 5-9 hitters are 0-9 againstt wang. thats called gettin it done.
haha you forgot that damon isn’t clutch and never did anything for the sox last year, my roomate told me that when i laughed at him for 25 minutes about signing damon. Yeah i got the whole he is in the twlight of his career speech too, and since he played centerfield in hs, he figured he knew more than me.
Wang is pretty freaken unglued tonight and unfortunately it looks like the yankees are going to lose tonight and tomorrow, 2 out of 3, just as advertised….i also think the redsox are guaranteed to beat a changed contreras winner of 17 straight because the whitesox simply cannot beat the redsox.
If Wang keeps this up then Mark will be able to use his favourite pun (Wang Fun Tonight) again!! Go Wang!!!:-)
announcers after they showed a replay of crawford stealing home on an inept redsox catcher named varitek
“looks like he steals home as easy as he hits triples”
Don’t remember how they reacted to tampa failing to get the run in, they seemed to sympathize for crawford because he was off on contact, other than that i blocked them out.
I think we still have a chance to lose last night’s game too cause of our terrible rotation and untimely lineup. I personally think wang is gonna allow a grandslam to the next batter. That’s right. When you are the yankees, you dont need to load the bases to allow a grandslam. We are done. As are johnson, pavano, rivera, farnsworth, well i think i should just paste a link to our roster page to make this shorter.
well it’s completely logical that with our best pitcher and us being in 2nd place we lose two of three to the last place team and the redsox in 1st by 3 games sweeps the defending champions.
Hopefully pavano is done
is todd kallas harry’s son? If so its ironic that i hate tampa and philly announcers.
Gee I’m gonna be really sad when we go into the all-star break 6-10 games back of the godly red sox with papelgreatness and Captainvaritek.:(
one thing i like a lot about the florida sports network, it shows helpful stats like runners left on base as part of the boxscore where you would normally see runs hits and errors…they also have a lot of fun head to head facts at all times….and when the ball is in play it goes to a 2nd screen in the corner that shows the runner in progress
yankees batters didn’t have good at bats. They should have been shut out on 1 hit like the redsox did with their unreal lineup
This is exactly what we need in our lineup. Kevin Thompson, no joke. I’m not being sarcastic. A successful bunt can often win a game.
Vince you are so lucky!! All I got is gameday. And I am grateful for that>
Go Melky!!!
I am watching GameDay also.
haha yeah i know, thank god, it had been a solid week since i saw a televised yankee game here in palm beach county, i can’t wait till im back at qu and i get all redsox and yankee games
Go Jeter!! Jeter for MVP!!
mm can’t wait to write in my blog when this one’s over
arod’s time…
I wonder just how bad that groin pull is affecting him?
i doubt it is nothing an all star break can’t fix
It’s a pity Kasey had to go to work, he would have loved this!!
c’mon posada
Smack it out, Jorge, so then Wang can finish the game pitching underhand.
it’s true, poor kasey. Where is lola, sam, ann, jen etc?
btw posada is 2-2 vs switzer in his career
lol i feel like i’m being stood up on a date or something.
THink ARod should bow out – a la Manny?
Wang threw 77 pitches—Joe should let him finish it.
maybe if he is a ****** like manny
are u serious only 77? Wang is my boyyy
D’OH
But I bet you look real pretty Vince in your winning Yankee outfit!!
Prospects are rated 20-80 in each sector of pitch ingtalent and then given and overall number from 20-80. Wang was a 62. Hughes is a 76. Thats scary.
I understand the pluses, but – there are 80 games to go… a healthy Arod, I think, is better than a hurtin one and one that played in the AS game?
Wang is still in…
77 pitches and counting!! Go Wang!!
two batters/outs later, three pitches
If a rod is feeling it i think he will bow out so mike lowell or perhaps joe crede (those are the only two teams with players in the asg it seems) can play instead.
I do look pretty sexy in my yankee winning outfit…..hughes might actually turn out to be god…what if he was like a starting papelbon? I would salivate.
I wonder if Papelbon will fold once the playoffs roll around? Any thoughts?
ew
Come on Wang, you gotta pitch your first career shutout.
His era will def rise but he will prob still be dominant, he was a starter in the minors so despite the season being twice the length i doubt his arm gets tired. As for delcarmen hansen lester and taverez, i would almost promise at least one will melt down. taverez moreso.
Personally, a closer is by definition put into high pressure situations, so barring his arm falling off, I wouldn’t think so. He seems to be made of some pretty stern stuff. Believe it or not, Palpabon has blown a save – and came right back and whiffed the team the next game.
I live in California and I have a friend who was on Phillip Hughes varsity team. Too bad he was just a backup infielder but he said Hughes is just ridiculous and doesnt even talk to others on his pitching day. He said hughes has unbelievable control and can throw mid 90′s without having a mature body yet.
youk might actually feel it the most playing twice the season at first base and being just as ugly as the rest of the team. I’m pretty sure if i used his head as an antenna I would get all the yankee games here
Youkilis has to be one of the ugliest players on the face of the planet.
dont go ewwing me sunny, jeez.
91 pitches and 8 innings for Wang….that’s about how many Leiter would throw in 3 innings
think Torre will keep him in? Still at 91 pitches…
I predict 107 total pitches for the shutout.
i think torre keeps him in too, esp with wildcard wilson in tomorrow…haah b tide anytime u can make a leiter joke its worth it.
Youkilis is taverz and otis nixon territory for ugliest players ever
Sorry Jesser. My 3 month old is teething and all I see is saliva lately so I’m trying to cut back.
Well at least our entire bullpen will be ready tomorrow in case Kris Wilson turns out to be Tim Redding or Darrel May in disguise.
Seriously though Vince there was one game last year where Leiter threw 125 pitches in 5 innings….haha don’t get me wrong I like the guy but that’s a bit ridiculous
haha that’s ok sunny, i didn’t say i’d salivate on….you. Now the announcers have talked about bubba’s name for about 15 minutes.
They also have made the joke “last night wright and now wang stuff” on two seperate occasions. Followed by “there is what’s wang and there is wright”
It’s too bad they can’t just outright Chacon to AAA where he could start every 5 days and get back into a rhythm and find his confidence again. I think that comebacker did a lot more than bruise his leg.
lol no i know, leiter threw enough pitches to make livan hernandez rub his arm
Go Wang!!
You know, folks, if Wright continues close to his style last night with his rediscovered slider, the Yanks have a formidable rotation.
****
Whoa I can say that word now? What happened to the filter?
Still can do a douple play… do your sinker stuff Wang
wang, mussina, i’m assuming a 2nd half johnson and a 6 inning quality start wright…with an undiscovered 5 starter? I can see it
Oh geez…let me go get the Pepto
NOOOOOOOOOOO TORRE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
D’OH – here comes Farnsworth
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Poor Wang!!
What is Joe thinking
Our 5th starter will be Carl Pavano!
Pitch count – OR – he sees a tired Wang (something I can’t see on Gameday)
Why Farns? Why not Mo? Why not Villone? Why not Chacon?
Oops just shoot me.
RJ and Moose forgot to teach Wang the patented wave-back move.
saving them for tomorrow is my guess – assuming Wilson is a flop (to borrow a Sam-ism)
Farns hasn’t pitched in a while I don’t think.
**** **** **** ****
dammit i liked the idea of tampa not scoring in the series…Where is kasey to not say we have outplayed tampa and they manhandled the redsox? Rather to say we ran into luck or something else?
He pitched last night marksman
saving them for tomorrow is my guess – assuming Wilson is a flop (to borrow a Sam-ism)
GameDay mentions defensive indifference…is tht as opposed to a stolen base?
not the dreaded double post…it wasn’t my fault this time
It means – no throw
and stolen base.
farnsy 3 good outings in a row, he is having a 2nd half that started actually at the 2nd half and not the break
NICE
yes paul as opposed to sb. It comes when the other team can care less if you steal and your run means nothing
Egad I only needed one bottle of Pepto and 45 Tums.
And the YANKEES WIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s for Lola and Jorge!!
Sunny no stolen base was credited
can’t tell you how much air just came out of my lungs… didn’t realize I was holding my breath. As good as he is- Farnsy still scares me. But good out. I’m out too.
Sorry Wang lost the shutout. He pitched another great game.
to top it off as soon as game ends
“AND TAMPA AVOIDS THE SHUTOUT IN THE 9TH INNING…but they lose 5-1 tonight”
Good night all, I’m off to do some gardening with a big smile on my face!! Great win for Wang and I am so sorry he didn’t get the shutiut, he earned it.
my dad woke out of a sound sleep when the game ended and said “these are the worst announcers ever”
Luckily he never watched the nationals games with me
Yeah – it’s too bad they lost the shutout. That would’ve been great. Two in a row.
shutiut=shutout
I think Wang could have gotten out of that…next time he needs to use the Wave-Back® move
true, oh well it’s comforting to know we could be on a 5 game winning streak by the break….this, old, beat up, offensively inconsistant, weak pitching, bad bullpen, fading closer, team can win 5 in a row at the break.
So the Yankees top 3 starters are a combined 29-14 with a 4.10 ERA…not too shabby
well, wang didn’t melt down tonight. not once. he was nasty.
and, even if they lose and boston wins tomorrow, the yankees will be four games back at the all-star break, which is one under my prediction of “at least five”. so, i was wrong about that, too.
Wang was amazing last night. I think Torre should make the starting rotation:
1)Mussina
2)Wang
3)RJ
4)Wright
5)Um…ideally someone who they will trade for soon..or maybe this Wilson guy.
Now that Randy has admitted he is an old man, I think he should accept being the #3 starter.
I think him admitting to that is a good thing, now he knows he has to reinvent himself, plus he can still pump 95 in hot weather
a rod like clockwork.
I’m not saying that torre should take johnson out of the rotation, but in a key game, im more comfortable with moose or wang as they can go til the 8th or 9th inning and give up only limited runs. with johnson, we now see he can’t really go beyond the 6th.
i think johnson is fully capable of going at least 7 but hes 43 and mussina and wang will do it a lot more often, i agree johnson is our 3 starter and if u asked him based on performance and not ego i think he would agree.
The probalem with Johnson being in the 3 spot is you then have two guys in a row who will not give you legnth in a game, in Johnson and Wright. I think the 2nd half should open, Moose, Unit, Wang and Wright. The 5 hole is whoever sticks.
good point gabe. Who is this wilson guy (i know who he is) he has some good stuff
Yeah the ball kinds jumps out of his hand… looks like she has some life on all his pitches.
that fastball he struck wilson out with reminds me of what maddux used to throw in the mid 90′s
crawford, wilson struck out crawford.
arod and giambi have been momentum killers this series, i think they will break out of it in the at-bats to come
At least giambi advanced the runner
true but still getting an out can rlly kill the mo as it did in the first inning
Nice pitch on 3-2!!!
I think any team with a Norton in the lineup should also have a player named Kramdan.
The only problem with Wilson is he is throwing a ton of pitches… but hey if he goes 5 and gives up a run or two, I think the Yankees will take it.
Has anyone ever seen Kris Wilson and Aaron Small together in the same room?
I wonder….
i like this kid’s stuff
They need to start touching up Fossum a little bit.
You know a pitcher is amazing when he tries to pick off Kelly Stinett.
twice.
also when you walk kelly stinnett, your career is pretty much over. Kinda like if your a hitter and you do not get on base against tanyon sturtze.
Is Derek ok?
bases loaded without a hit… let’s score some runs
I’m on gameday, can someone tell me where jeter was hit..thx. and if it looked intentional or with malice.
yes he stayed in, i hope and think it was just a stinger
Derek got hit on the shin by a slider, he limped down the line and is staying in the game… I am sure it hurt more than injured.
He was hit on the shin of his back leg. It did not look intentional.
GRAND SLAM!
Giambino! GRAND SLAM!!!
Stinnet had 41 stolen bases when he was with the Royals.
(But them made him return the delivery truck with the bases in it.)
told ya so
Thanks for the Derek info
I know I am getting way ahead of myself… but Man wouldn’t it be nice if Boston lost today and the yanks were 2 out?
Andy cannot buy a hit; he gets on base on errors.
I think other teams are jealous we get to end the half by facing casey fossum. He’s almost as good as brad halsey or byung kim.
Remember the Devil Rays pummelled the Red Sox 2 out of 3. Despite that, some were ready to give up the season and give the title to the Red Sox.
good effort alex
Paul, that “some” you are talking about is one person who posts here all the time, Mr. Negativity, Kasey. Sure he posts decent arguments (I hardly agree with them, but they are based in reality) and he always admits when he is wrong. But Kasey, c’mon you always seem tp pick against the Yanks.
So after watching posada owning some runners yesterday, do you guys think that hamstring tear thing is behind him or it is still a great hindrance?
btw, I just saw Derek limp by on that A-rod play… I wouldn’t be surprised to see him come out in the next inning or two. Doesn’t look serious, but it looks like he is limping around.
Actually, I like Kasey. I was thinking of the Red Sox posters.
I have no problems with Kasey, I just would give his arguments more credence if he picked the Yanks every once in a while.
tampa took 3 of 4 not 2 of 3
Looks like out old friend Contreras is having problems again with the Red Sox.
i know he admitted he was wrong but it would be sweet if not only did we not lose 2 out of 3 to tampa but swept them, and if the whitesox won today (he was so sure after yesterday redsox would win again today) AND we were only 2 out not 5 or more.
****. You could feel that coming after he walked Baldelli… And it’s a ballgame again.
i still think wilson is gonna be good for us if we keep him
who homered im also watching the world cup…was it huff?….in my video game tampa after the 06 season picked up derrek lee and lance berkman, now imagine that lineup with those two in it.
Im relieved they are having Villone warm up as opposed to Chacon.
huff homered.
The slipper just fell off cinderella… gotta get out of this inning with lead. And there goes Wilson.
Joe’s out. As is Wilson. Enter Villone.
wow, well, i guess thats why he hasnt pitched since 03
What was everyone’s thoughts on Wilson?
I don’t see fossum in much longer, i’ll take a 2 run lead and bullpen head to head with tampa
I like his stuff still, he just hung everything and needs to trust his stuff more
Wilson was crusing right along until he walked Baldelli… Not sure what to make of that, other than he tried to over throw or tried to pitch tot he scoreboard. Give him another start.
Kay just said that torre announced his rotation for the 2nd half. Johnson, Mussina, Wright and Wang. Did not mention a 5th.
Inherited runners-scored: Villone 2-0.
Villone has been a rock of dependability.
interesting, torre must feel johnson will have a 2nd half like last year, i tend to believe the same.
I hope that’s the case, too.
jeet is fine he just beat a tough out in the infield
ok im off to my cousins to watch the world cup, ill talk to u all later
1-1 in case you were interested at halftime
have fun Vince
wow, not good
Hope the Yanks did not already pack their bats for vacation.
Oh well 50-36 going into the All-Star Break is pretty solid.
You’re right marksman.
If we can mirror that in the second half we’ll have 100 wins. I will gladly take another hundred win season. And it looks like we’ll be going into the break 4 games back on Boston. Lots of time to make that up.
Papelbon blows a save!
Get Smith back up. Use Smith more and Proctor less. Proctor had a 1.84 ERA on May 20th and it is now 4.58. So you can figure out how bad he has been since May 20th. Now to watch the Futures game.
How fitting that Contreras and Vasquez spit the bit today agains the Red Sox.
Trot, 0 for 7, with 3 K’s. Of all times to leave him in to face a lefty with Kapler on the bench…sheesh.
so, after boston pulls out the win in chicago, the yankees will be four back. a far cry from my predicted five back, right? oh, wait.
if i’m not mistaken, a-rod GIDP and K’d with men in scoring position today. don’t look now, but he’s “slumping” again. what a huge surprise.
enjoy the all-star break, everyone.
Kasey:
First of all the sox are not 4 up yet. Secondly, you said they will six up at the beginning of the road trip. You changed it to 5 after the Cleveland (or the Tampa series for the sox) series. So you are off by one game per series. If you are off by one game per series, you will be like 40 to 50 off for the season.
Wow I had no idea the Sox game was still going on.
Wow I had no idea the Sox game was still going on.
And the proxy error has gotten me.
what a shock, Kasey comes back with a post of doom and gloom without a flicker of hope… is it just me or after the 2004 ALCS some Yankee fans started acting like Red Sox fans. Instead of expecting to win and shrugging off the bad, these fans are expecting to lose, just like Sox fans used to. It’s just an observation…
3 back… I’ll take it!
Ill take it too but the Yanks should’ve had this game
White Sox won; Red Sox lost.
Three back. Not bad.
Yanks should not have lost today’s game.
It should be only 2 GB. Yanks definitely got robbed today. At least the White Sox held the Red Sox in place so we can dominate them next week.
sox got robbed too, it should be 3, like i predicted.
COULD have won today. when you’ve got a team like tampa down 5-0 and you don’t win that game, you don’t deserve to win. SHOULD suggests they somehow earned it but had it taken away. hardly the case.
killer instinct. that’s what separates past yankees teams from this one. that and pitching. and an offense. other than that stuff, they’re identical. nooooo reason they can’t win the division, right? riiiiiiiiight.
that sox-sox game must have been brutal to play in, watch, cover, whatever.
anyone read ball four, by jim bouton?
I expected you to actually be happy that you were wrong about your prediction, Kasey. Yeah, the Yankees could have been 2 back, but they’re still half as many games behind as you initially predicted. I’d say that is pretty good considering some tiny little factors that nobody considered at the beginning of the year:
1. Red Sox offense (Youkilis, Lowell, Loretta, Nixon) was not supposed to be THIS good
2. Yankees offense (Matsui, Sheffield, Cano, and past day-to-day ailments from Jeter, Giambi, Damon, and Posada) was not supposed to be THIS eviscerated.
The Yankees deserve this All-Star break, especially the outfielders and role-players. With Damon recovered somewhat from 4 of the 17 injuries he’s compiled but played through over the past 3 months, and with Cano’s (likely) return, this team might look more and more like the team we expected it to be in the beginning of the year.
And look at it this way: in about a month, we’re probably getting Matsui back. And his clutch bat is always good to have down the stretch.
The Yankees have always been a late-season force, so I look forward to yet another playoff appearance, division title or not!
Why is Kenny Rogers starting the ASG for the AL? In all fairness, I truly think Roy Halladay is a better pitcher and he should start the game.
right on Swolansky!
It seems like Ozzie Guillen is tipping his cap to the old veteran who’s having a great start in the twilight of his career. Halladay and Santana ARE better pitchers, but they’ve got a while to go until they’re Kenny’s age.
I dunno why Ozzie chose him either, but that’s the only reason I can see.
Both starters I feel are going to give up at least one run in their outing. So then by your standards Kasey, the redsox didn’t deserve to win either, they had a lead over a team they have pelted the last two nights and they blew it, twice.
I’m actually very impressed at how close we’ve kept it in the division. I think the addition of Dotel, Matsui, Sheffield, yes even Pavano (provided he doesn’t scrape his knee and miss the remainder of the season) will get the momentum swinging in our favor for the remainder of the season. Also, since the Yankees are late season performers I think we’ll see even bigger performances from everybody than in the first half.
Heh, I take that back. Ozzie wasn’t being classy, he was just being practical. Halladay, Santana, and Contreras ALL pitched yesterday, and Kazmir pitched 2 days ago, thus leaving Guillen with limited options (Rogers, who pitched Wednesday, and Buehrle and Zito who pitched on Friday). Mark Redman doesn’t count as a viable starting option, but Ozzie, along with the rest of the world, knew that already.
What are you talking about Swo, Redman’s the greatest pitcher Kansas City has ever seen.
Sad but true…
It’s a shame Zack Greinke is such a head case, otherwise KC might have actually had a legitimate All-Star to send to Pittsburgh. But life was so much simpler when they could just send Mike Sweeney year after year……
Kasey, you are so predictable =).
Anyway, so glad chicago won that epic. geez, dramatic much?
Good afternoon all…was out of town a couple of days. Great pitching by Wang on Saturday…but a VERY disappointing loss yesterday. Up 5-0, in my opinion, shouldn’t get beat by Tampa Bay, ESPCIALLY with the pitcher Tampa had. Anywond know the status of Cano? Doesn’t sound like he will be ready by Friday? I have said all along that I didn’t think the Yankees will be a playoff team this year, even before their injuries. This three game series with the White Sox will be the sign of where the Yankees are at, as they will face three top notch pitchers. However, I do have to admit, being only three games out w/all the injuries this team has, is a credit to them. I just watched Boston and Chicago this weekend, and in my opinion, the Yanks are not the quality teams Boston and Chicago are this year. I think next year when this team is healthy, if we sign a quality starter, and quality big bat in the outfield, this will be a better team next year.
I agree with Sam that as of right now, the Yankees don’t seem to be the quality teams that Boston, Chicago and Detroit are, mainly due to all the injuries and lack of a 5th pitcher. However, to quote Terry Francona when the Sox has just lost the 3 games to the yanks in the 04 alcs “WE ARE NOT THROUGH YET”- sorry if i have ruined anyone’s day by bringing up memories of that series. My point being, I’d bet I’m more pessimistic about the Yankees than anyone in this blog, including Kasey. But, we (the yankees) are not over yet. There are still over 70 games to be played, and we don’t know what will happen. Maybe cashman will deal for a quality starter and/or corner outfielder. If both Matsui and Sheff got hurt, who’s to say that Manny or big papi or papelbon wont get hurt? Even will all my negativity, I still think it is too soon to be saying the Yankees are over and done with for the season. If someone had told me in april that the yanks would have to play without sheff, matsui, dotel, pavano et al, i would have assumed they’d be in last place behind the Drays, not just 3 games in back of Boston.
jesser,
having a 5-0 lead over TAMPA BAY and having a two-run lead over the white sox are two entirely different things.
so, maybe you should read more carefully before you tell me what my standards are.
is it reading comprehension really that hard? it doesn’s seem hard. i nailed it in fourth or fifth grade, i think.
keep trying.
by the way, to everyone welcoming matsui back in mid-august: that’s great and all, but considering that it will probably take him a week or two to get his timing back, having matsui back in the lineup and having an EFFECTIVE matsui back in the lineup are two entirely different things.
sam,
i agree. maybe next year. if they let sheffield go, fill that void with a decent/dependable bat, and pick up a quality starter. if they make those moves, and everyone stays healthy, they should be in decent shape next year.
but not this year.
“GLAUS! DYE! CABRERA! IT’S THE HOME RUN DERBY ONLY ON ESPN!!”
yawn.
by the way, big and rich, i don’t want any bang in my yin yang. ever.
“GLAUS! DYE! CABRERA! IT’S THE HOME RUN DERBY ONLY ON ESPN!!”
yawn.
by the way, big and rich, i don’t want any bang in my yin yang. ever.
just so we’re all clear, they don’t give out playoff spots to teams who battle through injuries to pull within three games of the pennant. you have to WIN the division or WIN the wildcard. it’s not a sympathy contest.
we all know that, right?
just wanted to make sure.
all of this talk about how they “should” be in last place is cute and uplifting, but it won’t win a pennant.
Thanks for clearing that up Kasey, even though I had to read it two or three times because I skipped 5th grade when they taught reading comprehension. By all means, Kasey keep predicting gloom and doom and then patting yourself on the back when the Yankees lose. Me? I rather be wrong and have fun in a season when the Yankees are underdogs for a change. Clearly the Yankees aren’t the best team and to quote Johnny Damon they aren’t the best in their division simply because of all the injuries. All I know if the point of being a fan is the roller coaster ride of ups and downs and this team is poised for another entertaining second half. Between the trade watch and watching them trying to patch it together using rookies and role players I am going to get my money’s worth this year.
Wow ESPN fawn over Ortiz more.
are you that insecure in your middle age to constantly try to make reading comprehension jokes? Let’s see, so far, you have been wrong about the all star break, you were wrong about the last three or four series the yankees played and for a pitcher with a 0.43 era to blow a lead against a team they beat twice and you expected to get swept by the redsox, then to blow a 2 run lead later on, yeah that is a game they should have won, but by your standards they did not deserve to.
I don’t know where you come from, but I learned how to comprehend reading well before 4th or 5th grade, what are you, from Mississippi?
So in 2005 when they were what, four games out at the break and had injuries, were you crying about the same things about how bad this team is?
I don’t think any of us realistically expect a title this year but to make up three games on a team that has not run into any true adversity (and with the Redsox franchise I don’t know a year that ever went smoothly) and be a team that has run into the most in major league baseball (The Yankees), is it such harm for someone to predict they can overcome this and make the playoffs? Especially since all terrible luck aside, the Yankees can only improve and get healthier?
these broadcasters could not want to get into papi’s pants anymore, its not even possible. Every other comment is about him in the clutch or how he hits bombs, i’m glad he’s out. Even after he was out they still made a “clutch” comment about him
howarddddd i predicted he would win, but by beating ortiz in the finals, not wright. That was prob my favorite derby minus the ortiz love fest. Howard hitting the sign to end it was absolutely priceless
1. who said i’m not enjoying the season or the games? just because i don’t think they’ll win the division doesn’t mean i don’t enjoy seeing them win. i’ve only explained the difference between wanting something to happen and thinking something will happen 300 times, i guess i could try again for you.
2. jesser, you should go back to whichever grade you learned reading comprehension at because i’ve now said for the tenth time that, last year, they were a relatively healthy offensive team who were not playing up to their what they were capable of. this year, they won’t have sheffield or matsui to help make that climb. it’s. a. different. year.
3. i never said there was any harm in predicting that they’ll win the division. just as there’s no harm in predicting they won’t.
it’s really not that hard a concept to grasp. if you can’t get it, stop corresponding with me here. i’d be better of not having to re-explain myself every third day.
“to their what they were capable of”…the “their” should not be in there.
i guess reading comprehension would be easier if i could type a correct sentence.
anyway, no sense in bickering. we all WANT the yankees to win. you guys think they will, i don’t. what’s the big deal? why is it so terrible to think that maybe this isn’t their year?
being a fan doesn’t mean being a sunshiney cheerleader all of the time. people can be a fan any number of ways. this is how i do it. get the **** off my case about it.
don’t forget that of should be off, but either way, you do repeatedly say last year’s team was underachieving and then played to their full potential and was relatively healthy. I disagree about the health but I do not think this team is poor enough not to be capable of making a 2nd half run and I don’t think the redsox team is good enough to repeat the same first half they had. Come on, is Ortiz really gonna hit 59 hrs and win another 8 games by himself? They have to slow down sometime.
of should indeed be off. good catch.
no, ortiz probably won’t hit 59 homers, but he and manny will probably each hit 40+. and he’s been winning games by himself since october 2004, what makes you think he’ll stop now? that’s what he does.
i don’t see why they have to slow down. they’ve got a huge hole in their rotation, but so do the yankees. boston’s offense is better, boston’s bullpen is easily as good as new york’s, if not better, boston’s ace is better, boston’s closer is as good. there’s not an area of the game where they’re worse off than the yankees, and there are several areas where they’re better off. i don’t see how they’re not in a position to win the division. they’re in the drivers’ seat right now.
and, they have slowed down. they’ve dropped four of their last seven. how many games have the yankees made up in that span? one. boston’s not going to win nine out of every ten, but you can bet they’re not going to drop four out of every seven, either.
i think, at this point, boston’s as good a team as detroit or chicago. chicago’s rotation is better, but their bullpen is slightly unstable. detroit’s rotation may drop off in the second half, but their bullpen is phenomenal. boston’s got a decent rotation (with a great front end), a decent bullpen (with a dominant closer), an excellent defense and an excellent offense. do i think they’ll win the world series? probably not this year, no. but i think they’re a lock in the AL east. it’s just my opinion, and it’s not like yours is invalid. we’re just looking at things two different ways.
Does anyone remember how last year the Orioles were in first place in the division in June? The Tigers are going to have a dropoff like the O’s did last year, though not as severe. They’ve been massively overachieving the entire year. Adding a veteran to the rotation and an incredibly shaky veteran closer can only take them so far…and I think we will see Verlander finish strong but not as strong as his first half, and Zumaya will come down to earth soon, along with the rest of the bullpen, with Jones and Rodney already paving the way. The Twins are going to take second place in the division, while keeping the Wildcard not just limited to the AL Central.
I’m not saying the Yankees need the Wildcard to make the playoffs…in fact, NOT having it might make them play even harder down the stretch. But having it gives them an insurance policy, just in case Boston doesn’t have the lousy stretch they usually have at the end of the season.
Kasey,
Its okay to think the yankees will not win and it is ok to not be a yankee cheer leader. But it is not ok to be a redsox cheerleader on the yankee blog. You claim your assessments to be facts but they are not. How can a pitcher that has higher era and allowed more home runs and has the same record as Mussina be better than Mussina? May be some of us here need reading comprehension classes. But your assessments and comments make me believe you need logic or common sense classes.
Even more ridiculous is you putting Redsox and White sox in the same class. By your own argument (comparing individual aspects of game to decide which team is better), the whitesox or as good as or better than redsox in every aspect of the game, except may be infield defense. If you argue the redsox are better because they beat the whitesox recently, the D Rays are better than the redsox by the same argument. And we are better than the redsox by transitivity.
Finally, we are not here to hear your “honest assessments” abt who’s gonna win. We can go to several places to get that. We are here to hear a few good things abt the yankees and hope the best things for them.
I read somewhere that Torre is going to start platooning Aaron Guiel and Bernie Williams in right field, with Guiel batting against right-handers and Bernie facing lefties.
Although Bernie has been decent against righties this year, he has absolutely crushed lefties. So this is a pretty good decision on paper. But we’ll see what happens with Guiel. At the worst, he does poorly and gets designated for assignment, with Bernie the switch-hitter picking up full-time right field duties, at least until Matsui gets back and pushes Melky to right field. And at best, Guiel is a solid fielder and a decent bat to have in the lineup to boot.
Last year when our pitching staff was ravaged, some unsung heroes emerged to save the Yankees. With our batters ailing this year, so far Melky has stepped it up. Maybe Guiel will make a difference too. You never know!
I agree with Yankee Indian so I am not going to repeat the sentiments. But, I will say this. The White Sox are clearly the best team top to bottom in baseball. And to say the Red Sox are on the same level as them is something only Red Sox fans agree with. Go 1-5 in starters and through the bullpen and the White Sox are better in every aspect than the Red Sox. And with Thome, Konerko, and Dye they can mash with anyone, even Manny and David “The Greatest Hitter Whoever Lived Who Not Only Wins Every Other Game For His Team But Saves The Lives of New Born Babies” Ortiz. Yeah there is some sarcasm in my post, but you get the point. The White Sox are the best in the AL, followed by the Tigers. Then you have the Red Sox and Yankees about even (and the Yankees would be up by 3 or 4, if Matsui and Sheff had not gotten hurt) then the Twins, then the A’s.
Time to get technical…
According to ESPN, the Yankees have a lower ERA (4.30) than both Boston (4.54) and Chicago (4.44). They also have fewer runs, both earned and unearned, scored against them (by a small margin) and a lower opponents’ batting average (also by a small margin).
I’m going to give Chicago the edge in starting pitching over Boston, despite the struggles of Jon Garland and Javier Vazquez, but I think we’re all forgetting that Yankees pitching hasn’t been this good for a while. If only Randy would keep pitching the way he was supposed to, we would be near the top (or bottom, if you look at it that way) in team ERA. Considering that in the beginning of the season everyone thought our team was supposed to get by with our bats, our current status, pitching-wise and overall, is pretty darn good.
This has been the most exciting season I’ve seen in a long time…and even if we don’t make the playoffs, I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that our Yanks put up one heck of a fight…and that’s something to be proud of.
yankee_indian,
let me get this straight. this blog is a place to “hear a few good things about the yankees”? so any negativity, anything knocking the team, shouldn’t be allowed? enjoy that. i’d be bored to tears if all anyone did here was say positive things.
“they’re three games back, and it’s GRRREEEAAAATTT!!!”
“hey, guys, they’re really trying hard out there!!!”
“they ALMOST won that game!!!!”
good god.
i’ve never said beckett was better than mussina. i’ve said schilling is better than johnson, beckett and mussina are about even (with an edge going to moose), wang is better than wakefield, and the 4-5 guys on both teams are about even.
it’s funny that you chose to ignore the other arguments (bullpen, offense, defense) in lieu of a fictitious one. that’s awfully convenient.
just stop conversing with me on this blog. please. now. i’m tired of explaining myself. if you can’t understand my position, i don’t care. if you don’t like my position, i still don’t care. there are plenty of people here for you to cheer along with. so steer clear of me. thanks.
gabe and swolansky,
the white sox bullpen is a little shaky, and their rotation has been up and down, but i still think they’ll win the world series (as i posted on my blog).
i don’t know what good it does to keep saying, “if they had sheffield and matsui…” they don’t. i think we all know how good the yankees COULD have been. but that’s irrelevant at this point.
i also think detroit’s going to come down to earth, bu if you consider that chicago will probably win that division, detroit has about eight games between them and the next wildcard contender. that’s a nice cushion.
if the angels add a bat, and colon gets on track, they could be scary, too. but right now, nobody in the west bowls me over.
i do think that when beckett’s on, his stuff is better than mussina’s. but when he’s off, he’s terrible. moose can usually do damage control. i’d say they’re about even. i HAVE said they’re about even. about a dozen times now.
i actually think the twins are the third best team in baseball right now, they’re just stuck in a division with the other two best teams.
santana and liriano are filthy. i really like their team. they’re a little thin, offensively, and that bullpen’s not great, but they’re a good team.
All I know is that I never hear the end of it from my little brother, who took a risk by trading Jose Vidro for Justin Morneau after Derrek Lee got injured. And then, to replace Vidro, he picked up the unknown-at-the-time Dan Uggla. Boy, did that all work out or what?
Nobody knew Morneau would be this good…heck, most people didn’t even know he existed! Now Canada can lay claim to having produced yet another solid hitter in the MLB. I think he’ll have a dropoff after the Break, but the Twins are still going to be a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the season.
All i’m saying to Kasey is I think you’re looking at our rotation the wrong way. Johnson was SUPPOSED so be our ace, but he is clearly right now our number 3 man. So I give him an edge over wakefield. Let’s go over their top three starters, since i agree four and five are pretty even.
3 starters: Tim wakefield and Randy Johnson.
Background: Wakefield has been one of the most steady pitchers in baseball and his era reflects that, prone to the homerun ball like johnson and if his knuckler doesn’t dance, he loses. Johnson having his worst half aseason ever, but people compare him to his steller career, while he is not 35 anymore he is only one year older than last year when he had a remarkable 2nd half, which i believe he will do again, right now they stand like this.
Johnson: 10-7 5.13 era Less than a hit an inning and 17 hrs.
Wakefield: 7-8 4.05 era less than a hit an inning 14 hrs.
Important to note that both teams have hit the other pitcher hard this year and wake notoriously gets no run support because he works so slow, by johnsons record and my belief of a great 2nd half i give johnson the edge.
Beckett and Wang:
Beckett has been hit or miss all season with all teams including the yankees. He was blown apart for his worst start ever by them and he also dominated them in the beginning of the year. His one pattern: he has been dominated on the road and dominates at home. Wang has been great for the yankees this year and april aside has been REALLY REALLY great. Voted by yankee fans are the mvp of june. Both pitchers are hit or miss against their opposing rival. Beckett is prone to injury whereas wang’s last year seems isolated, beckett also has ws experience but it was three years ago and even this year has not pitched to that form since. It was also for the marlins in the NL as opposed to the redsox in the al east.
Beckett: 11-4 4.75 era less than a hit an inning, 26 hrs given up.
Wang: 9-4 4.00 era more than a hit an inning but just 7 hrs given up. Even if you want to ignore the almost run more per game beckett has if you want to point to the sox put up more runs or i ignored it with johnson, this is still pretty much a push, wang had two wins become no decisions, big deal, their numbers are virtually even, wang gives up hits beckett gives up hrs plain and simple.
The aces of the two teams are veterans that somewhat struggled last year (both injured) but have recovered this year to lead both their teams. Schilling is a power pitcher who is not in his best form but still good and mussina is an intelligent pitcher who is in his best form. I see no reason for either not to repeat their 2nd halfs.
Mussina: 10-3 3.24 era Less than a hit an inning (almost a whip under 1) and 24 hrs given up. He suffers from beckett syndrome but can pitch well at home or on the road.
Schilling: 10-3 3.60 era about a hit per inning and 19 hrs given up. These numers are a dead lock with mussina having the slight edge. We all know what schilling is capable of in the playoffs but right now moose has the slight edge.
As i said 4 and 5 are pretty even we both have no 5 to compare and wright has been steady and lester has been great but has had 1 al start. I don’t believe Pavano will return nor do i believe clement or wells will return for boston, or at least any of them effectively. I do believe both will make a move in the next three weeks however, and for a 5 starter, there doesn’t need to be much talent out there.
Enough. There are people that are negative and people who choose to be negative and rub it on others.
I’m interested to know if the All Star Game is a big deal to the fans over there (clearly it is to the media). No-one on here seems too bothered to post much about it, and not having an equivalent in any European sports, I was wondering if you all get into it?
Offense I will be honest, right now, the redsox have a more consistant one. Youk has emerged, Lowell has been great, ortiz has been even better, manny is manny, nixon is batting over 300, and the middle infield has been wonderful. Crisp and varitek ****.
Yankee offense has been plagued by injuries, with cabrera emerging and appearing here to stay, he has been pesky, a rod has been streaky but is still putting up good numbers, jeter is having a career year in average and rbi’s which to me cancel out his hrs. Everybody is doing what they can right now and damon has been more than i expected, so has posada.
Here is my belief and naysayers like kasey can believe me or disagree. I am pessimistic about matsui or shef helping us GET to the playoffs, i believe if we made the playoffs they would be all the way back but I think kasey is right with the too late aspect of too little too late.
I don’t see this offense getting worse, only better the more they hit with each other in the lineup, this is a more balanced lineup and as soon as they consistantly hit with runners in scoring position which comes when they are in late season form and gel better as a team, the yankees will put up significant runs. As it is, they are still amongst the best in scoring runs.
The redsox have overachieved with offense in the first half and I DO see a reason for them to stop. Crisp I think will be better, ill start off by saying that. He has been downright awful in the first half offensively. Lowell will prob repeat his first half (292 11 hrs 46 rbi). There is no way alex gonzalez hits this well for a whole season, he is a defensive gem, but no hitter, and if melvin mora cant put up 2nd half offensive stats, no way this clown can. 284 5 hrs 27 rbi, try 260. The rest will remain the same probably. Nixon has been injured for many years, I think his numbers suffer a little especially now with wily mo being a bust so far and no real reliable bat or glove to replace him and give him rest…except willy harris which i would gladly accept. 311 6 hrs 43 rbi. More like 280-290 and prob 80 rbi.
Just to recap so far, crisp improves, a gon and nixon suffer.
Kevin youkilis is a rookie, putting up solid numbers but has already started to suffer batting less than 200 in june. He is a rookie and in the minors u play half a season as the majors. First base is demanding, even for someone as ugly as youk and I think his offensive numbers go down and for a guy batting leadoff and with ortiz and manny up soon after, that could spell disaster for the redsox. Loretta is a good player, i loved him in san diego and i think he repeats his first half but more consistanly the same numbers rather then on fire one month and terrible the next.
Ortiz is the best hitter in the AL and with reason, he doesn’t play the field. He will continue not to play the field so injury and fatigue (hence why i was so mad when they said he played 19 innings in the hr derby last night, yeah he batted 7 or 8 times big deal he has no reason to be tired) will skip him. He has had a career first half already putting up full season numbers for a good player, but i dont think its humanly possible for him to continue like this. I refuse to believe he its the 59 hrs hes projected to or drives in 160. I think 52 hrs 150 rbi is more realistic (think juan gonzalez for texas when he had 101 rbi at the break)Even so this guy is gonna put up huge numbers, but he does every year so this is nothing different. Manny, same as every year, but the redsox even with both of them in the lineup have not won a division for three seasons. Varitek is struggling even with every 5th day off and there is no reason to believe a catcher that is aging (my belief is steroids but thats completely biased) and catching will put up miracle numbers in the 2nd half. I can see him reaching 275 tops (absolute best case scenario, he is batting 232 right now) with 17 hrs and 80 rbi (9 hrs 40 rbi right now). Nothing special, especially for a guy batting 5th or 6th. If he continues like this, and someone gets ortiz out, i walk manny and just face him or nixon.
Recap: Crisp better, nixon gonzalez, youkilis worse, varitek remains sub par. That folks covers the offense, rught now redsox have advantage, i see the 2nd half being a push….in clutch, in runs, in consistancy, in everything. Lets not forget the yankees could and probably should have 5 guys hit 300 by the end of the year (posada, a rod, jeter cano and damon). You can’t go wrong with that in the lineup and guys like giambi adding 40 hrs and 100+ rbi. To me, the mindset is shef and matsui were gravy, not the main course.
Defense, advantage Redsox plain and simple, they have the best D in baseball. Honestly, how many games do the yankees lose solely because of their defense? it is not a terrible defense, it is adaquate i would say. I don’t see their fielding percentage as a reason for winning the division.
Not to change the subject, but can someone explain to me why ESPN loves loves LOVES the red sox?
ashley, I would love to answer that question almost as much as ESPN loves the Red Sox. But I don’t think that’s possible
Up until 2004, the Red Sox were the consummate underdogs. They would constantly lose to that overpowering team, the Yankees. Everyone who likes baseball and isn’t a Yankees fan tends to hate the Yankees because of all the success they’ve had during the team’s existence. Now, what team/fans have reason to hate the Yankees the most?
The Red Sox, of course. So kowtowing to the Red Sox is a way for those ESPN writers to ensure that they will always be popular among most of the baseball-viewing nation. That’s because they follow this simple formula:
Loving the Red Sox = Hating the Yankees.
ESPN writers and announcers figured that out long ago. Since most people hate the Yankees…it only makes sense for those people to say the things they say about the Red Sox. Because in doing so, they are actually DISSING the Yankees, thus satisfying most of their audience.
Now, what’s weird is that it continues even though the Red Sox won it all. Up until 2004, I would have said that ESPN was just favoring the underdogs, and that’s relatively understandable. But now it’s clear that they really are just playing on everyone’s hatred of the Yankees by fawning over the Red Sox.
Kind of sad, isn’t it?
Who cares. They will look stupid when the Red Sox lose the division.
Bullpen is an interesting issue. They have papelbon, with what appears to be hanson setting up (sometimes Timlin) delcarmen seanez and javier lopez.
Don’t know much about lopez except hes a former whitesox player, he doesn’t seem like a real important piece and in 6.2 innings, his era is 5.40 and he struggles throwing strikes sometimes. Who cares?
Seanez has been bad. 4.86 era (6 over the past month) he hasn’t pitched since june 30th and he gives up more than a hit AND half a walk per inning. He doesn’t get out lefties or righties (both near or over 300) and his era is in the 5′s at home and high 4.26 on the road. He is still not a main part of the equation, but that is two bad relievers so far.
Next up, Julian Tavarez. Looked like freddy crougar, throws like jeff weaver for the yankees.
a hit an inning and half walks, same as seanez, with a 4.56 era and has given up 7 hrs in 46 innings. This guy is as unclutch as they come, and has a history of that in the playoffs. He also doesn’t K enough guys (20) to get out of big jams. Basically, all the non setup or late inning pitchers are terrible for the redsox.
Manny Delcarmen gives up a hit an inning and k’s a batter per inning, he has a 3.52 era. He is also a rookie 23 of his 32 innings have come this season Every 2.5 innings he gives up a run, you decide. I personally think it is too early to tell if and when the sox use him in big situations down a playoff stretch.
Mike Timlin has been consistantly good for the redsox since he came and this year is no different 2.59 and a hit per inning, not many walks, not many k’s. He has been used for 31 innings so he is still fresh, he’s good, not gonna save the year, but he’s good.
Craig Hansen is another “rookie” he pitched a little last year but this is his coming out party from what i gather. A hit an inning a K an inning a 4.62 era so he hasn’t exactly been dazzling but thats only been 12 innings. I would stick with timlin as the setup man because redsox nation seems to think this guy has a ton of potential, but it hasn’t shown yet except for getting out of that whitesox jam. Too early to tell but so far nothing special.
Finally Jonathan Papelbon. He is no liability, he is great, he is young but his era is not staying 0.59. If it is not in the 1′s by the end of this year I would be shocked and while an era in the 1′s is amazing, considering it would double, it is not, this guy blew 2 saves in the first half and i expect at least 3 in the second half. He is a young guy and the more hitters see him the less chance he has to remain dominant. I do not think he is going to hurt, but overall help the redsox though, best closer numbers in the league.
Yankee bullpen i dont need to explain as much. TJ beam has gotten out of some clutch spots but he has also been blown up at times. 14 innings, era almost matches that at 10. more than a hit an inning, but just one walk. I don’t think he matters much, don’t even know if he will be there in september.
matt smith has given up 4 hits in 12 innings, no runs 9 k and 8 walks. He can lose the zone but it hasnt bit him yet. I wish they would give him the ball in a big spot just so i can see if he can be good. He did get out ortiz and manny in big spots so who knows? I like him but I don’t even know if he will be there down the stretch either.
We know scott proctor will be there and we know hes capable of beign dominant, but overuse and a 4.58 era dont reflect that. His era has been 9.00 in his last 10 appearences. 55 innings ALREADY a hit an inning 23 walks and almost a k an inning. He can be great for us if we can find a way to attach his arm back together for the stretch run.
I would like to see villone in the 7th inning, not proctor at least for now. 2.27 era. Less than a hit an inning, too many walks but almost a K per inning. Just 2 hrs in 43.2 innings. If proctor took the long relief role since he used to be a starter i wouldnt mind, he would pitch maybe once a week or not at all and can return to form. Villone is as good as timlin.
Mike myers is something the redsox dont have, a lefty specialist. He is an ortiz neutralizer and despite giving up that 3 run homer to him, has also struck him out twice. I believe myers is 3/5 against ortiz. The other hit being an infield single. 1.62 era, less than a base runner an inning and about a k an inning. He only faces lefties and he gets the job done.
MLB.com has chacon back in the starters role, i don’t know the deal, whatever, wilson hasn’t been good neither has chacon.
Farnsworth is a flame throwing setup man with a 4.31 era which does not reflect how great his stuff is. the main reason? in 39.2 innings he has given up 39 hits and 21 bb. 42 K and just 2 hrs. I see this guy turning it around. he is young, talented and has gotten through some HUGE spots this year.
Need proof? his era is 3.00 in his last 10 appearences and 0.00 in his last 6. That to me, is a guy putting it together.
Mariano rivera is mariano rivera as much as manny is manny. The guy is no liability and unlike papelbon has been there before, all the way there. 1.76 era, less than a base runner per inning (k’s a little down under an inning). His last 10 starts an era of 1.59 and 0.00 in his last NINE appearences. That is a sign of a setup man and closer becoming a dominant duo albeit its only been 10 appearences.
If anything the redsox have more options right now as hansen delcarmen papelbon and timlin can all have the potential to be dependable. Three of those guys are young and inexperienced so it should be interesting. I believe and believe i have proben that villone farnsworth and rivera from now on can be dependable and who knows what happens when dotel comes back shortly, he can’t hurt the pen thats for sure. We also don’t quite know what we have in matt smith, but i wouldnt depend on him just like i wouldnt depend on both delcarmen and hansen being great for the sox. Too many ?’s with the sox age and the yankees health in the pen right now but there is no way i give the advantage to the redsox.
Recap: yankee starting, slightly better, offense: a push, defense: redsox, bullpen: yankees slightly.
How are the redsox better in every way again?
man, that was a lot of fun, i had to save that soi remember my feelings on the rest of this season
I like those assessments. Yeah, you definitely gotta save that. That way you can wave it in everybody’s face at the end of the season and say “I told you so.”
danbarnett – I can’t speak for everyone in this country, but I know a lot of people seize this opportunity to throw parties and just have fun in a grudge match between the two leagues. It’s not nearly as intense as the playoffs or any other tournament, so some people accuse it of being boring. But if you like seeing the biggest stars of both leagues duke it out in a fun game, you’ll see a lot of baseball fans watching the All-Star game. It’s also fun to gloat about how much better your team’s league is than the other.
Of course, they say that “it counts” since the winning league of the All-Star game gets home-field advantage in the World Series (for those new to the sport, in the World Series, 2 games are at home, 3 games are away, and 2 games are at home, for a total of 4 home games and 3 away games…hence, home-field advantage). But most of us know that the fun atmosphere of the game still persists.
swolansky- thank you for the ESPN analysis. It’s funny, I never watch that station, but I recorded the home run derby because i had some bets going on with that. So I was watching it this AM, and couldnt believe that every single commentator spent nearly all 3 hours talking about David Ortiz. Seriously, he is not THAT good, he didnt even make it to the final round! Plus, 3 of the 4 ppl they interviewed were sox. As much as I hate AJ Pierzinski (sp?), I was overjoyed to see him just to catch a breath of fresh air from all the Sox chatter. That network should be sued.
you’re telling me the offenses are a push because you EXPECT the yankees offense to get better and EXPECT the red sox offense to get worse. well, in that case, the A’s are as good as the white sox because i EXPECT the A’s to get hot and the white sox to cool down. come on.
check out farnsworth’s career numbers. he’s not going to magically put it together and start pitching better than he ever has. what he’s done through the first half of the season is what he does. he walks too many batters.
there’s a reason ron villone’s been on about 15 different clubs in his big league career and never really been much more than a mop-up guy.
the red sox have a lefty specialist. they traded riske to the white sox for vazszquezsz. about a month ago or more.
so, wait, catching will take its toll on varitek, but not posada? jorge’s not going to hit .300 this year. damon’s numbers traditionall drop after the all-star break. any time a-rod gets near .300 he goes into a two-week slump and ends up back around .275-.280.
some of your points are great and valid, but i disagree with a lot of what you said.
i agree that, with a lot of boston’s rookies, it’s hard to predict how their second half will be. but papelbon has been dominant thus far, so i have no reason to believe he won’t continue to be dominant.
the yankees have been playing decent ball, but the red sox went on the kind of run that most contending teams do when they separate themselves from the pack. they’re more stable than the yankees, they’re deeper offensively, and so far, i have seen no reason to think they’ll play any worse than they have so far this season.
“the red sox went on the kind of run that most contending teams do when they separate themselves from the pack”
But they did not seperate themselves from the pack. They are just 3 games up.
These are the links to hitting and pitching statistics of NYY and Sox for the season thus far. Can somebody expalin to me how one is better than the other. The fielding doesn’t matter because the runs scored/saved on errors are inclusive in the pitching stats (runs).
I am hoping people agree that both the teams are having identical seasons thus far as evidenced by the statistics. Futher more the Yankees can only be better if and when the big guns return. The sox have no room for improvement. Even if Sheff and/or Matsui dont return for the year, we are still matching Boston in production as the statistics indicate. Remember, A Rod will play a lot better in the second half, atleast to the extent that it will compensate for any drop in production from Melky/Cairo duo.
I am also confident that the yankees have a better chance of doing something big at the trade deadline than the redsox, even though I do not want that to happen at the risk of losing prospects. I can easily digest not making the playoffs than seeeing our prospects do well for some other team or worse yet against us.
sry guys. Forgot …
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/Statistics/Team/playerstats?team=nyy&seasonYear=2006&seasonType=2&type=reg&pagetype=batting
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/Statistics/Team/playerstats?team=bos&seasonYear=2006&seasonType=2&type=reg&pagetype=batting
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/Statistics/Team/playerstats?team=nyy&pagetype=pitching&seasonYear=2006
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/Statistics/Team/playerstats?team=bos&pagetype=pitching&seasonYear=2006
They are too long. You may have to copy/paste the links.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/Statistics/Team/playerstats?team=nyy&seasonYear=2006
&seasonType=2&type=reg&pagetype=batting
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/Statistics/Team/playerstats?team=bos&seasonYear=2006
&seasonType=2&type=reg&pagetype=batting
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/Statistics/Team/playerstats?team=nyy&pagetype=pitching&
seasonYear=2006
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/Statistics/Team/playerstats?team=bos&pagetype=pitching&
seasonYear=2006
Yeah i do expect and it’s not like it was a gut feeling, i backed it with logic and fact. Damon has a short porch in right and is in a lefties park as opposed to a righty I think that alone is reason why his numbers will be better than years past. My expectations are based on repeated years of history over and over and over again, sometimes expectations are legitimate just like you EXPECTED the redsox to pull away and be 6 up at the break, the difference is ur expectations have already been proven wrong.
I also expect the A’s to get hot and the A’s, twins, tigers, whitesox all had playoff team runs but they aren’t all gonna make it. So because the sox win 12 in a row they are bonafied playoff team cause the yankees havent made that run yet? Are the Marlins gonnna be a playoff team? They won 10 in a row, isn’t that a playoff caliber push? What is to say the sox 12 game winning streak (against all nl teams) wasn’t a fluke, or just that, against all nl teams? Where is there run against their own league, the league they will need to defeat to make the playoffs?
Farnsworth does walk too many batters but his career numbers are 4.33 era with a k per inning.
in the last four years (seeing as he is now 30, prime pitching years are entering now) he has had era’s of 3.30, 4.73, 1.98 and 2.72…is there such a thing as stat comprehension? before that he was younger than 26 yrs old and still “growing”. His last two years alone an era of around 2.40 not bad for a setup man. He also pitched in the sandbox of wrigley all but his last two years.
I’m glad the sox got a lefty specialist, too bad i went over his stats and u chose to ignore them. He has bad stats albeit less than 7 innings so far, myers is a bonafied career successful lefty specialist. Yet im sure you EXPECT vazquez to do well for them, right?
If you look deeper into villones stats ull see he has been on ****** teams nearly his entire career. Oddly enough his worst years and the reason he has a career era of 4.64 have come in the national league in parks like colorado (6.36) houston (5.56, 4.13) cinncinatti (4.23, 5.43) Pittsburgh (5.81) and florida (6.85). Can’t explain florida but the other parks are all hitters parks when they had no chance at making the playoffs…I would have little motivation too.
In the AL villone has had seasons with seattle (his 2nd season era in the 7′s…..his 2ND season) cleveland 6.00 (still the late 90′s) and the mariners twice more in the last four years (4.08) and most recently last year 2.45. Oh and btw three of those years passed were starter numbers, not in the pen. The truth is villone can be plugged into many spots so his innings and numbers are all over the place. Nevertheless hes putting up numbers that he had last year and three of the last four years (minus that florida season) (houston 2003 4.13) Seattle 2004 and 2005 4.08 and 2.45. To say he has been nothing more than a mop up guy is misleading, he has put up good and sometimes great numbers particularly since 2003, call it what u want but his numbers don’t lie.
And even if you want to say both catchers fall off, posada is still batting about 50 pts higher than tek right now with as much power and more production so he would still outhit him. Why is it so easy for you to say posada’s numbers will suffer but A rod’s wont go up? He is a career 306 hitter, you think he will be streaky all year? I am pretty sure last year he proved he can hit here, mvp’s generally do that to someone.
It is not that your disagreement and pessimism is what annoys people, i have been pessmistic in my analysis about certain things too, it is that often times you completely choose to ignore logical things about the yankees and praise questionable current successes of the redsox. And i know you are far too intelligent in terms of baseball to be a “what have u done for me lately”? type of fan because you brought up villone damon and farnsworth’s pasts, so obviously you pay attention to numbers, you just appear to pick and choose the ones that make the yankees look bad and the redsox look good without addressing the whole situation. You take ortiz and manny out of the lineup and the yankees out hit the redsox in four of the final 6, possibly five out of the final 6 positions on the field with cano and loretta putting up idential numbers. Yes manny and ortiz are a huge void to overlook but they cannot carry a team for an entire season, only postseason.
i guess since both teams are completely identical, they must be tied in the standings, right?
oh, wait…
Kasey, check the strength of schedule… I am not 100% sure but pretty sure that the Red Sox have had the eaiser schedule and in the second hlaf the Yankees play more than half their games against sub .500 teams. Then tell me if 3 games back with 80 to play is that big of a moutain to climb.
Kasey, check the strength of schedule… I am not 100% sure but pretty sure that the Red Sox have had the eaiser schedule and in the second hlaf the Yankees play more than half their games against sub .500 teams. Then tell me if 3 games back with 80 to play is that big of a moutain to climb.
Good afternoon all. Been reading the mounds of stats and comments on the blog and I have a headache LOL….The 2nd half of the season in my opinion is simple…The wild card coming out of AL Central. That means last playoff spot will be up for grabs between Boston and NY. Boston has better hitting than NY. Boston pitching in my opinion is the same or a little better. Boston’s closer and MO, I will call a draw. Bullpen’s I will call a draw. I think RJ will be RJ in 2nd half, avg at best. Mussina will drop a little, Wang stays the same, Wright avg, and our 5th starter horrible. Sheff not back to Sept, Matsui not back to August. So we will playing 5 games in Boston w/Cario, Crosby, Guiel, Phillips, and Melky. Whatever line up we use, won’t be as potent as Boston’s. We will face Schill, Beckett, Lester, and Wake and their 5th starter. I say we go 1-4 in Boston at that point and we will be at least 5 games back by then. I just don’t see our line up and pitching matching Boston’s in the 2nd half, regardless of what stats thrown around. With all that I said, again, these guys deserve credit for playing their hearts out in the first half and only 3 back, but I honestly don’t think it will carry over to the 2nd half. Right now, in the AL, I believe the Yankees are the 4th best team behind Chicago, Boston, and Detroit.
Regardless of which team has an easier next half, I think the division title will come down to the 9 games in aug/sept when the yanks and sox face each other.
it just doesn’t make sense to say “well, youkilis, papelbon, et al. are rookies, so we don’t know what we’re going to get” and then turn around and say, “melky’s coming along, phillips will be consistent…” how are the scenarios any different? youkilis, at his best, has been better than phillips and melky. even if he drops off a bit, he’s still a better hitter.
the red sox are currently out-hitting the yankees in right field, at third base, at first base at DH and in left field. so, if you take manny and ortiz out of the equation, that leaves the yankees with better hitting in CF, at catcher, and at SS, and the red sox better at the aforementioned positions, with cano and loretta basically a push. here’s the thing, though. you don’t get to take manny and ortiz out, because they actually let all nine guys hit in the AL. so the sox have a slight advantage at DH and a huge advantage in left. and, with boston’s offense, manny and ortiz don’t have to carry the team every game. that’s kind of the point in saying boston has a deep and consistent offense. manny and ortiz are still the big boppers, but lowell, loretta, youkilis are all doubles hitters in a ballpark tailor-made for doubles hitters. and you expect crisp to improve, which will lengthen their lineup. personally, i think crisp is going to end up hitting .280 this year and having a disappointing season, and then bounce back next year. the injury and infection set him back a great deal.
you said that i choose to ignore certain statistics, but you just posted that farnsworth’s CAREER ERA is 4.33. and you expect him to be a stellar set-up guy for mo? seriously? a reliever with a career ERA of 4+ inspires confidence? explain that to me.
a-rod himself said he hasn’t felt a rhythm all season. he’s generally a very hot starter, but his april was sub-par. so this season is already an anomally for him. do i expect him to finish the year at .275? no. but i don’t think he’s going to find a great groove this year. he doesn’t have the protection behind him and he’s trying to do too much at the plate. that’s not going to change, so why should his numbers change drastically?
here are the ERAs you listed for villone, as both starter and reliever:
6.36
5.56
4.13
4.23
5.43
5.81
6.85
6.00
4.08
2.45
and an ERA in the 7s in his second season
and somehow, those inspire confidence? i watched the dude pitch in seattle, man. there’s a reason he’s well-traveled, and there’s a reason he hasn’t typically been used in big spots. he wants the ball, has a rubber arm, and has decent stuff, but he is NOT a great relief pitcher. he’s not even an especially good relief pitcher, and the career era backs me up on that.
two years with a 5+ ERA, two years with a 6+ ERA, one year with a 7+ ERA, a few more with a 4+ ERA, a career ERA of 4+, and you want villone pitching in the 7th. but i’m ignoring the statistics?
i don’t expect lopez (that’s who the red sox picked up, not vazquez, sorry) to be as good as meyers, otherwise i would have said so. but he is the red sox lefty specialist, which you said they didn’t have. that’s all.
i understand your arguments, and they’re good ones, but they’re easily as flawed as mine. we’re both conveniently overlooking some statistics, and we’re both counting on a different outcome. that’s kind of the fun of being a sports fan, isn’t it? neither one of us actually knows how the season is going to end, but we both hope it ends up the same way.
and that’s the thing i keep saying. i HOPE i’m wrong about this team. but i don’t think i will be. just as you HOPE you’re right about the team, and probably think you will be.
i don’t really see what the problem is with that. i don’t understand why that’s so hard for people to comprehend.
sam,
the yankees don’t play the red sox until aug 18. they may well have matsui back by then, and they’ll probably have somebody else in right. they’ll also (hopefully) have cano back long before then, so you can remove cairo from the equation as well.
all-star game predictions:
- ortiz homers. a five-minute silence ensues as the broadcasters vacate the booth to change pants after the collective ****** they have.
- AL wins. again.
- liriano strikes out at least one batter.
- papelbon strikes out one batter.
- carl pavano cuts his finger opening a beer and shuts himself down for the year.
enjoy the game, everyone. i’m looking forward to the second half.
(oh, by the way, the strength of schedule is about equal for both teams in the second half.)
Kasey, even with a healthy Cano and Matsui and someone in right, by Aug 18th, will be too late in my opinion and our pitching won’t be as good as Boston as well
hahaha for once i agree with you about the all star game, i think ortiz will def homer because it’s in the cards. I didn’t ignore farnsworth stats i only said its not fair to look at when he was 24 and 25 and have it have as much merit as his most recent stats while hes entering the prime of his career. You saw villone pitch for seattle and you think he was subpar with a 2.45 era last year? I think he is the 7 inning guy until one of three things happen: 1. proctor gets enough rest to be effective, or 2. dotel comes back, or 3, both.
A rod’s numbers prob wont change much becuae i dont think going up 25 pts in average is asking much from a 2 time mvp. I think with him you probably see 35-40 hrs 100+ rbi and a 300 average much like in 2004.
I also dont ever recall even bringing phillips into this, i am not a strong believer in him at all, and when i said melky has emerged i mean he is staying in the majors, not that he is carrying this team on offense. Do you honestly, HONESTLY think mike lowell will have a better offensive season than alex rodriguez? I think you would have to be insane, right now his numbers are not even that much better.
A rod: 282 19 hrs 65 rbi 9 sb
Lowell: .307 11 hrs 46 rbi 1 sb….
A rod out hitting him now and will out hit him moreso in the 2nd half based on the fact compared to last year lowell is already overachieving and a rod is underachieving. How exactly are the sox outhitting at third base? Right field is my gamble, Nixon drops well below 300 and bernie shef cabrera whoever outhits in that position, right field from the yankees gets more production than right field from the redsox. Far fetched?
Trot Nixon: 311 6 hr 43 rbi
Bernie williams alone: 282 6 hrs 35 rbi
Cabrera: 275 3 hrs 28 rbi…and he has not been there the whole year, either way I think the yankees end up outhitting nixon. Which granted, is based on the fact I think nixon falls off.
I know you don’t take manny or ortiz out that is why i mentioned them, i agree left field huge advantage redsox, but this magical redsox lineup to support them is not as good as the rest of the yankee lineup, that is what im saying along with the fact the redsox lineup will weaken 2nd half and yankee lineup strengthen based on stats ive already given.
You think of farnsworth as a 4.00 era pitcher I think of him as a 3 possibly mid 2′s type of guy, hence why i went through the trouble of going through all of his stats and dissecting, not just believing the big number that includes wrigley pitching and from when he was 24.
Villone im asking to be a temporary solution and based on his last year and a half (remember sturtze for that half a season despite his career era in the 8′s or whatever?) I believe he can pull through.
how is the red sox lineup not as good as the rest of the yankee lineup? i’m missing your point there. and i’m not trying to be sarcastic. i’m totally missing your point.
i think a-rod will end up with a better year than lowell, obviously. you’ll get no argument there.
villone as a temporary situation until dotel is up or proctor is rested will work fine. we’ll have to agree to disagree on farnsworth. i think what we’ve seen from him thus far is what we’ll see all year. sometimes great, sometimes erratic, sometimes wild. never consistently dominant, never consistently terrible.
i think the yankees have too many holes. they desperately need a bat, as their offense has been terribly inconsistent. they need a fifth starter (as does boston), and they need innings from wright, to say nothing of needing consistency from johnson and continued consistency (and health) from moose.
bottom line, the yankees’ hopes are contingent upon a lot of things having to come together, where boston’s are contingent upon things which have already come together staying together.
is it just me, or is phil garner’s lineup insane? beltran’s batting second while both renteria and utley are down in the lineup?
ozzie’s lineup looks a lot better. when vernon wells is your seven hole hitter, you’re in good shape.
i also think cano’s injury is going to keep him out a lot longer than expected. he’s never really been injured in his career, so he has no idea how to treat it or how to react. and he’s a stubborn kid. it’s a dangerous injury for him.
also, if farnsworth is better than his numbers, and you can’t judge by what he did when he was young, what does that say about papelbon? by the time he’s 29, will his ERA be 0.02?
Kasey, I totally agree w/your last assessment about Boston and NY and things “contingent of many factors coming together”. Yanks have few more holes than the Sox to win the division this year. Honestly, I know A Rod’s numbers will be good, but I can’t explain it, I just don’t ever feel excited when he is up w/runners on, I don’t know why, but A Rod doesn’t do it for me like last year. And his defense has gone Aaron Boone on us so far this year…13 errors and counting
as much as i loved jack buck, that’s how much i hate joe buck. get your smug, oversized face off of my television, buck!!
brad penny was just described by buck and mccarver as having a “heavy, boring fastball”. i kind of think all of penny’s pitches are boring.
ZING!
i HATE kenny rogers. hate.
“and after being dominated for the last few years, has the national league finally found their LUCKY PENNY?”
who wants to lay odds that buck makes that statement, or some variation thereof, next inning?
penny is throwing fire, i agree with you on the contingent aspects but the agree to disagree is i don’t think the redsox will keep it as nicely together and i do think the yankees will pull it together. I think ozzie is taking this game a lot more seriously and what i meant by yankee lineup being better than rest of redsox lineup:
It goes back to our conversation on besides manny and ortiz, i think besides those two positions yankees are better, you disagree, that’s what i meant.
Jeter, get that bad swing out of your system for 2nd half….whiffed on a 96mph fastball at his eyes….LOL
Oh here we go. I knew Halladay should have started.
Doesn’t Ichiro have a last name? Or does he only go by his first name, like Madonna? I dont get it…Marksman, i think halladay is warming up. I hope the AL takes the lead at some point so Mo can come in. who knew the NL pitchers were actually decent?
sam, the nervous feeling you get when a-rod comes to bad with RISP is like the feeling i get when farnsworth enters the game.
any chance we can get soriano back?
ichiro suzuki.
give phil garner the “happy to be here” award right now.
“WOW what a play!”
“phil, one of your guys was just thrown out at the plate.”
“i LIVE for this!!!! WHEEEEEEEATTABABE!!!!”
gunned down by vernon, my favorite non yankee
Gees, A Rod just scars me defensively sometimes……..
As we all predicted, A-Rod almost had an error on him due to a ball “taking a bad hop”
Jeter and A Rod need a two day rest LOL… “bad hop” right LOL…….
This game is boring. I want to see some slugging!
i predicted 7-5 al
they better beat up on closers not named rivera
Who said the AL was dominating LOL……
It’s up to Michael Young.
YES MICHAEL YOUNG I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.
MO IS COMING IN BABY!
hahahahahahah this could be the greatest all star game ending to match the greatest homerun derby ending ever
i only day that because mo is the closer, hasn’t there been a walkoff in a as game before?
say*
MO FOR MVP…..The,,,the….the Yankees win…….the Yankees win……YES MO…..sit down Hoffman…….MO MO MO MVP……Was hat A Rod or Boone at 3rd there?
LOL. AL just took it away from them.
MO FOR MVP, MVP, MVP….MVP….MO MOWED THEM DOWN……GREAT JOB MO…BEST CLOSER OF ALL TIME……..
THE YANKEES WIN AGAIN IN THE ALL STAR GAME…..
3rd base was Lopez but it looked like A-Rod after that error LOL.
I love Mo.
MO MO MO, ALL STAND UP AND CHEER FOR OUR GUY….
do the other yankees watch the all star game from home?
I would assume so unless they made the trip on their own.
Well I think it’s safe to say that Game 7 of the World Series if there is one, will be at Yankee Stadium.
Michael Young MVP..>WHAT, it is fixed I tell ya……Mo should have been DANG IT
Well it usually is an offensive player who gets the MVP, not a pitcher. And in Young’s case, he put the AL up by 1 from a deficit so he gets it.
Boo Young…MO MO MO…..anybody but me thinks that A Rod should never bat 4th? LOL
MO ties the record for ALL Star saves…..MVP darn it
as much as i love MO, he would never have even gotten the chance to be in the game if it weren’t for michael young. i think young deserves it.
all i could think of was how the different writers will cover this game. mark’s story will certainly mention mo’s save, and possibly jeter’s 2 Ks and a-rod’s near error? or maybe just mo’s save.
the seattle-area stories will likely mention that lopez scored the tying run.
and then the padres stories…good lord. poor hoffman. i blame garner. i’d have used gordon in the closer spot. but, then again, i never managed a world series team, so what do i know?
Well Hoffman does have the second most career saves in history so I probably would have gone with him.
yeah, but he’s not an especially dominant closer NOW. i understand what he’s done in the game and all, but i would have handed the ball to gordon.
outside of that, phil garner just generally got his *** handed to him tonight. unless rolen, andruw jones and nomar are all injured. if not, there’s no reason those guys should still be sitting on the bench when the game ended.
and by the way, i know that hoffman has been effective this season. but he hasn’t been dominant. those AL hitters were just sitting on that change and waiting to hammer it.
i’m just sayin’…
sad to see, though. hoffman seems like a class act.
Ortiz and Loretta went hitless and Papelbon didn’t even pitch. Good thing the “best slugger in the Majors” pulled his weight…
I guess you were wrong again, Kasey
marksman said:
“Well I think it’s safe to say that Game 7 of the World Series if there is one, will be at Yankee Stadium.”
That’s overly optimistic. Unfortunately, the Yankees will have to win it at Shea after the subway series sweep is completed in game 4
My friend and I were discussing the Yankees the other day, and somehow it came up that some of the Yankees would make really good brawlers.
So I pose the question to people on this blog: If you could choose just one, which current Yankee would you want on your side in a bar fight?
Carl Pavano.
Before anyone would take a swing he would bleed all over them and they would drown.
I think former Yankee, David Wells, hires himself out for bar fights in the off season.
You only need to pay him in drinks.
Why can’t I think of current Yankees? Another tough guy is Tanyon Sturtze, but he is not on the roster.
Farnsworth is a fighter from his Cubs days but not sure he won the fights.
Thinking of current Yankees, some would claim ARod is one of the best ever in the history of bar fights and would remind that he won Bar Fighter of the Month in May even though he fumbled his drink, cried and ran in every fight in June.
I guess day in and day out the one you would want by your side is Derek Jeter. He can throw a chair, give a knee to the midsection, or deliver a roundhouse punch to any three guys while still watching your back.
I’d want Randy Johnson or Gary Sheffield- minus the injury.
Yankees’ outfield options are running out:
“Houston Astros acquired outfielder Aubrey Huff and cash considerations from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for minor league pitcher Mitch Talbot and minor league infielder Ben Zobrist”
- according to ESPN.com
By the way, I would choose Kelly Stinnett. You look at the guy and think that he can probably keep standing after a chair is broken over his back, and I’m sure he’s busted his share of pool cues over people’s heads. Farns (go to youtube.com and type “Kyle Farnsworth” in the search field), Ron Villone (a very Stinnett-esque guy), and Shef are honorable mentions.
I don’t see anything for Farns but man that video of Randy Johnson hitting the bird still gets me.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=rogers_phil&id=2516340
Tell me that isn’t biased.
“Oh my God I want to marry Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon who are clearly the best pitchers on the face of the planet. I’m not even going to mention the fact that Boston’s 3-5 starters are terrible not to mention the fact that they can’t pull away from the Yankees who have had nothing but injuries and injuries thrown at them all season long.”
Phil Rogers is an idiot. And is anyone else actually convinced by the Blue Jays?
I would have to take my main man Jorge Posada. He looks like he’s rolled up on a few guys in his days.
You know something Marksman, I’m not that impressed by the Blue Jays because of their pitching, but they have stayed right over our shoulder all season long.
The team I’m really not impressed by is the White Sox. I’ll go as far as to say that the entire American League Central is over hyped. The supposed best team in baseball takes one game from the Red Sox and it takes them 19 innings to do it. They have a great team, but I’m not impressed.
And it seems that everyone has forgotten that the Tigers lost 3/4 to the Yankees earlier this season.
Mark steps away for a few days and we turn this into Fantasy Yankee Barroom Brawling™.
That said, I think Thurmon Munson would have been the last man standing in any barroom scuffle.
Then I think Don Mattingly was another tough customer along with C Ed Herrmann and maybe Cecil Fielder.
I think the ESPN writers have their hands over their ears, yelling “I CAN’T HEAR YOU! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!”
They drool over the first opportunity to speculate about the Wildcard not being in the AL East (in other words, that the Yankees won’t make the playoffs), so they try to promote these AL Central teams to no end. Surely the Tigers and White Sox deserve credit, but the Yankees and Red Sox have taken them both out back, respectively, and whipped their AL Central butts.
But it’s common knowledge by now that ESPN has next to zero supporters of the Yankees, despite their proclamation a month or two ago that the Yankees were the true underdogs this year. Boy, did they turn on a dime with that one or what?
At the beginning of the year, we had Proctor, Farnsworth, and Sturtze all in the bullpen. I feel sorry for any team that would have to face those guys charging out of the bullpen. Think Graeme Lloyd times three.
There used to be a video on youtube.com of Kyle Farnsworth tackling Reds pitcher Paul Wilson to the ground. The poor guy never stood a chance. Farns charged like a bull, lifted him up, threw him to the ground, and fists began to fly. Good stuff.
also important to note we should have swept the tigers but mo was “tired” and farnsworth blew it in the 9th. Whitesox are the truth whether you want to believe it or not. It would be the tigers to meltdown but i agree no media person wants to suggest that because they have had such a dramatic turnaround, its a media field day.
Everyone talks about beckett and burnett but they both have been injured every year and even if they dont, well burnett already did, they have both struggled era wise since joining the al, beckett 4.75 and im not sure of burnett. Either way, they have not dominated like their name suggests yet.
1) Espn is in Bristol, CT…so it’s near the heart of Red Sox Nation…maybe that explains the bias. 2) Someone asked about All-Star Game walkoff Hrs….I can think of two. 1941…Ted Williams at Tiger Stadium. 1964…Johnny Callison at Shea Stadium.
Mark, can you help me out here? Who’s starting on friday is it Mussina or Johnson?
I’ve brought this topic earlier. ESPN is biased to all New England teams. Not just the sox. Also a lot of their writers (Gammons, Simmons, Sean Mc Adam, Caple (not sure) etc)are also NE based. Which makes me think it is a home town bias. But in case of base baseball even the ex players (with the exception of Tino) on espn or biased because teir *****.e.s are still sore from the whupping yankees gave them when they were playing.
teir = their
Moose is starting Friday
Hey Guys,
I am ready for tommorrow.I am now convinced this is more of a race then I thought it would be maybe the yankees do have a chance.Jaret Wright has been pitching better.And chacon is in the bullpen so the yankees are still in it.
Later,
-kaylee
From what I am reading of rumors, hints, scuttlebutt, prognostication, et al, there may be a very large trade brewing with Philly.
The following is a guess on my part, purely a guess. No announcements anywhere other than Philly wants to dump payroll and these are 3 of the biggest contracts.
Philly trades: Bobby Abreu, Tom Gordon, Jon Lieber, and a minor league AAA catcher
for:
Yankees: Kyle Farnsworth, Scott Proctor, Bubba Crosby, Shawn Chacon, Gary Sheffield, and cash to pay the remainder of Sheffield’s salary.
I don’t think that’s going to happen and I’m not sure I’d like to see Jon Lieber back in pinstripes. The only players that would realistically help the Yankees from Philly are Bobby Abreu and Pat Burrell who I have heard mentioned several times in trade speculations.
On the topic of outfielders, I hope Manny breaks his leg and is forced to make friends with Carl Pavano on the global DL.
Doesn’t Sheff have a no trade claus?
Sheff does not have a no trade, as far as I know. He made a lot of noise last year when there were trade rumors.
According to a Daily News article, Abreu is due $20 million next year and $16 million in 2008 but there is a $2 million buy out clause.
Lieber is due $7 million next year, but he thrived in September and in the playoffs for the Yanks and otherwise fills a 5th spot in the rotation.
Gordon was interviewed at the All Star Game and was asked how he would feel if he were traded back to the Yanks. He responded positively.
Hey Guys,
I am confused on this trade talk because rumor had it abreu was coming to the red sox for trot nixon have you guys heard this?
-kaylee
I am pretty sure that Paul, that Phillies would pass on that deal. No way you get all three in the same deal unless you include Hughes. They have more value going to separate teams. Also, I am not 100% on this, but I believe you cannot trade a player who is on the DL. But een if you could, who would take Sheff, he might not even play this year. I would offer Beam, Duncan, and Crosby to the Phillies for Abreu and Gordon. You’ll have to extend Abreu to get him to wave his no trade clause. And he is your right feilder for the next two and a half years. Gordon is also signed for 2 more years. Sure you have to give up some young guys, but imgine a bullpen with Farnsworth (less pressure in the 6th), Dotel (7th coming off surgery), Gordon (lights out in the 8th) and Mo (Hall of Famer) at the end. All of a sudden you could careless if RJ and Wright onlu go 6.
I also read too Abreu to Sox for Nixon…….Mark, shed us some light LOL
i think espn was pretty much just summed up on that preview of sportscenter
first segment: “what would october be like without the yankees and why this year we will find out”
directly after:
“Teddy bruschi of the patriots, the man with the heart of a lion helps someone make a wish”
yup. not biased.
Being a Pats fan I have to love Bruschi but yeah ESPN was saying all the same stuff last year and I know this isn’t last year about the Yankees but it’s still a similar situation. We’ll see who looks silly at the end of the season.
“According to FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal, the Red Sox talked to the Phillies about outfielder Bobby Abreu, but those talked apparently did not go very far. One unidentified general manager told Rosenthal that Boston’s interest in Abreu was “very strong.” Abreu, who is hitting .293 with eight homers, 59 RBIs, and 18 stolen bases, is making $13 million this season and is under contract for $15 million next year. According to Rosenthal, Abreu, who has a no-trade clause, would also likely require any team that acquires him to exercise a $16 million option for 2008.”
if the red sox get abreu…good god.
Here’s the lyrics to a little ditty I just wrote for yeez. Put your own melody to it:
THE WHITE SOX IS A COMIN’ TO TOWN
THE WHITE SOX IS A COMIN’ TO TOWN
THE WHITE SOX IS A COMIN’ TO TOWN
GONNA SLAP YOU ALL AROUND, GONNA SLAP YOU ALL AROUND.
everybody now!!!…..
WHITE SOX IS A COMIN’ TO YOUR TOWN
WHITE SOX IS A COMIN TO YOUR TOWN
WHITE SOX IS A COMIN’ TO YOUR TOWN
GONNA STOMP YEEZ IN THE GROUND
GONNA STOMP YEEZ IN THE GROUND
UH HUH! OH YEAH! ONE MORE TIME NOW…..
WHITE SOX IS A……
AND YEEZ CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDDD, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BEEN GONE A FEW DAYS AND HAVE JUST NOW BEGUN CATCHING UP WITH THE POSTS ON THE SUPERIOR BLOG WHILE I WAS GONE. SO FAR, I’VE DETECTED QUITE A FEW BIRD DROPPINGS THAT YOU DEPOSITED OVER THERE, JESSER, YOU LITTLE FART CHASING NIMCOMPOOP. I DON’T HAVE THE TIME RIGHT NOW TO CORRECT ALL YOUR ERRORS. IT’S JUST SOMETHING YOU’LL HAVE TO WAIT FOR AND NERVOUSLY ANTICIPATE. IF YOUR IQ DROPS ANY LOWER, SON, SOMEONE IS GOING TO MISTAKE YOU FOR A TURNIP…AND START WATERING YOU TWICE A DAY. IF YOUR IQ EVER GETS UP AS HIGH AS 70, KID, SELL!!!!!!!!!
boy, with words like “yeez” and typing in all cap locks, you’d think my iq could suffer even more if I have any interaction with you fagan.
YOUR IQ COULDN’T SUFFER ANY MORE, JESSER, IF YOU HELD YOUR HEAD UNDER WATER FOR 20 MINUTES. AS I SAID, BUSY, KID, NO TIME TO MESS WITH YOU ANY FURTHER TODAY. MAYBE TOMORROW.
HERE’S SOME ADVICE FOR YOU THOUGH, KID. I GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL TWO MONTHS SHY OF MY SEVENTEENTH BIRTHDAY;SO, AT NINETEEN, I’M ASSUMING YOU ALREADY HAVE YOUR DIPLOMA, BUT I WORRY A LOT ABOUT YOU. FROM YOUR LACK OF ANY DEGREE OF ABILITY TO PROCESS INFORMATION, ALONG WITH YOUR LACK OF MATHEMATICAL SKILLS, I’M THINKING MAYBE YOU WERE HELD BACK A COUPLE OF YEARS. THAT BEING THE CASE, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO FOCUS ON GRADUATING BEFORE YOU REACH DRINKING AGE, BECAUSE I HEAR IT’S L HAVING TO GET UP SO EARLY TO ATTEND CLASSES AND CONCENTRATE WITH A HANGOVER. IF YOU’RE IN SUMMER SCHOOL, GO TO BED NOW, KID! I’LL TALK TO YOU LATER.
way back about 500 posts ago about the MVP. Most Valuable Player, not best all-around player. Even though Jeter is one of the best clutch hitters and best defenders in the game, 10 homers and 80 rbi isn’t deserving of an MVP. you can’t make a valid argument for any non-DH as of right now (if you can i wanna know cause i can’t think of one. Ortiz and Thome are both on pace for around 60 homers and 160 rbis)
Since when does drinking age stop college students from drinking? As i have stated numerous times before, I am in college so I obviously received a diploma. Now, whether or not I have to defend myself against a “grown adult” up at 2:28 in the morning that types in all capital letters on a computer is a whole seperate issue. Point out where my math skills are off, I would love to see it, and if there is an error I doubt it is anything substantial, sorry I would like to advance my life further than picking on teenagers in a yankee blog during my mid-life in the wee hours of the morning, I do not necessarily have time to bust out the calculator.
I don’t even know what “I heard its L having to get up so early” even means. Its L? Now if you’re implying i’m still in high school you are a ***** whom kasey probably has issues with since he really dislikes people who lack reading comprehension, since I have stated numerous times that I go to Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.
If you are implying that you fear I do not graduate from college by the time I am 21 you would be correct in that assumption because unless I graduate college in three total years, I will be 21 when i get out, just like a small majority of the nation, whereas everybody else will get out at the age of 22.
Are you really that dense? Mark has already warned you about personally attacking people to begin with, and the fact you pick me is just a mental mistake on your part, because 1. That’s a cheap fight and 2. I will verbally rip you a new ******* so it is not even worth it to begin with.
I’m happy you were able to graduate from clown school at 16, congratulations. So then I suppose you graduated from college at 20 at the latest? Though you have yet to ever mention a college to me so perhaps you meant “dropped out” instead of “graduated
high school.
I’m pretty confident your little jingle that you wrote speaks enough volumes about your personal IQ so I am not even going to approach that underachieving subject.
In other news The ex is visiting me for the next five days so I’m afraid I will have to cut down on watching yankee games with you all, so until tuesday have fun, think of me, i’ll miss you and go yankees!
Saw a good take on the Abreu rumor from a Phili paper:
http://www.greatsportsnews.com/mlb/mlbsrch.php?q=Boston+Red+Sox
It WON’T happen.. keep dreaming Fenway
Since mlb.com will apparently do nothing to block continued harassment from that fagan putz, apparently the only cause of action we have is to ignore its constant personal attacks.
It seeks attention and any reaction. Taking that away, it has nothing and no reason to post here.
I think the upcoming series against the White Sox hinges on whether Robinson Cano can make it back from the DL. Having just one more effective, consistent bat in a lineup where many are either inconsistent or just plain missing can go a long way.
With Proctor rested up and Octavio Dotel pretty much waiting in the wings (either Wilson or Thompson will be sent to Columbus), this bullpen should look to be the bridge that it was supposed to be in the beginning of the year.
I fearlessly predict that Jose Contreras is going to have his winning streak cut short tomorrow. Moose is going to pitch one of his better games, although I’m guessing Thome will hit a homer at some point. Jose Contreras has been struggling lately, recording more no-decisions than wins since his injury…Moose will shut down that offense which has consistently bailed Contreras out, and he will get his 11th win, by a score of 6-4.
Fagan writes in caps lock because it is easier for him to read that way. I also believe schools for the mentally challenged do graduate their scholars at the age of 16.
I also predict the yankees win tomorrrow night. It is just too ironic for them to break contreras streak. However, i predict a 4-2 score and paul Konerko hitting a homerun.
Oh, I see Randy Johnson is now the starter. I still predict the same score, but like Jesser I also think it’ll be Konerko the righty hitting that homer. Thome the lefty? Probably not.
cano won’t be ready for the chicago series. that was made clear when he cut his workout short in tampa.
i’m not even going to bother making a prediction on this one. this series will show everyone exactly where the yankees are at this point.
So then Kasey if the Yankees win 2 of 3 like boston did, does that prove to you where the yankees are at this point?
Or is it a one way street? Yankees do badly you look brilliant and continue to try to argue that they are mediocre, but if they do well then do you say “it was luck” more or less, or do you concede they are playoff caliber?
“The Newark Star-Ledger reports New York Yankees 2B Robinson Cano, who is recovering from a strained left hamstring, will go to Tampa to continue rehabilitation following All-Star Game festivities. He could begin a minor-league assignment Friday, July 14.”
He’s eligible to come off the DL any day now, and he’s probably only going to play in one rehab game. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t back by the last game of the Chicago series.
if they can take two of three from the sox, they’ll prove that they can hang with quite possibly the best team in baseball. it’s not a one-way street.
one series doesn’t make the yankees mediocre, and it doesn’t make them playoff caliber. the last month of .500 baseball makes them mediocre.
cano COULD begin a rehab assignment.
they were saying the same thing before he cut his workout short. he’s not playing in the chicago series.
All right, all right, Cano isn’t coming back for the Chicago series! Sheesh…you’re like that kid everyone knew in kindergarten who went around saying that Santa Claus doesn’t exist, just to watch everyone cry.
What is this about Santa????
i agree, no cano this series. I figured going 5-5 with the sox and 3-1 against the tigers so far proved that already but i suppose 2 of 3 from the whitesox would further cement that theory.
15-9 a month to the day as of now. Hardly 500. the month before that, also shef and matsui-less
15-13….they have actually improved.
Now, eliminate the NL from both teams schedules since May 13th (two months to the day, and i say two months because june mostly was NL)since that’s who we play against from now on and the yankees stand like this.
Yankees: 20-15
Redsox: 16-17
Now who’s 500?
Talk about padding the stats against the NL
btw in case anybody was interested and since im sure ill get a “yeah but you can’t eliminate the NL” from naysayers, even though the entire nl thing is now over for the rest of the season and we sit 3 games out and in striking distance:
Redsox: 16-2
Yankees: 10-8
There you go, 6 games in the standings by playing another league which will not be seen for the remainder of the regular season. Otherwise, Yankees have the better record and both have successfully handled powers of the AL, and split against each other.
since the “melky catch” game, the yankees have played .500 ball.
check the red sox record over that same span.
as for overall records:
sox: 53-33
yanks: 50-36
so, if they’re playing so much better than the sox, why have they gone from 1.5 games up to 3 games down since melky’s catch?
throw out the NL if you want, but it doesn’t change that the red sox are in first place.
at the end of the season, they aren’t going to throw out the interleague record and award the division to the team with the best record against AL clubs.
and the respective records against the NL prove one thing: the red sox dispatched of weaker teams, the yankees couldn’t. i don’t see how that bodes well for the yankees.
buster olney wrote the other day that “the red sox just keep getting better, and the yankees are slowly leaking”. i don’t necessarily agree with that, but i do think that the red sox are going to win the division.
like i’ve said numerous times, for the yankees to win the division, a lot of things have to come together. all the red sox have to do is keep things together. which one sounds more difficult. the yankees have to play better to win, the red sox just have to keep playing the way they’ve been playing.
yankees need:
- a bat (matsui will need a week or more after he’s back in the lineup to get his timing back, sheffield will, too)
- starting pitching (at least one more starter)
- bullpen help (farnsworth’s not going to get any better. his career numbers back that statement)
red sox need:
- a starter
- MAYBE a bullpen arm (if hansen and delcarmen drop off a bit)
that’s it. which list is longer? which team is likely to fill all of their needs?
“Right-hander Sidney Ponson, who became a free agent when he was released by the St. Louis Cardinals, has reached agreement on a deal with the New York Yankees, ESPN.com has learned.
Ponson, 4-4 with a 5.24 ERA in 14 appearances with St. Louis this season, lost his spot in the rotation when the Cardinals signed Jeff Weaver. Since Ponson cleared waivers Wednesday, the Yankees will be responsible for the pro-rated portion of the minimum salary for the rest of this season. St. Louis will pay the rest of Ponson’s $1 million salary.
Ponson helps fill a void at the back end of Joe Torre’s rotation. Mike Mussina, 10-3 with a 3.24 ERA, is the only New York starter with an ERA under 4.00.”
ponson and guiel? these are cashman’s moves? wow. maybe giving him more control wasn’t actually a great idea.
Are you kidding me? I remember when Ponson was with the Orioles and he was quite possibly the most horrible pitcher I had ever seen.
Well it looks like the lightning in a bottle attempts have started now. Let’s hope for the best.
ponson eats a lot and drinks even more. he’s a poor man’s david wells.
minus the talent.
Well according to Cashman, it was worth it because “he has made changes to his life”. Let’s not forget he went like 4-0 for St. Louis at one point this season. Not saying he will be amazing but one can hope.
Ponson? He was awful in Baltimore, awful in St Louis, and I wouldn’t go driving with him.
Still, it is better than seeing them give up prospects for someone they will rent for a few months.
He can’t be any worse than what we’ve had go through that number 5 spot either.
since his 4-0 start, he’s 0-4. his era is 5+. this is what happens when brian cashman gets more power.
no, ponson shouldn’t be too much worse than chacon or wilson, but he won’t be any better.
the thing is, without giving up top prospects, this is what cashman’s going to get: castoffs and bottom-feeders. which is fine. i’d rather he not mortgage the future, hang on to the prospects, just bite the bullet and miss the playoffs this year. after all, is it really any worse than another first-round exit?
so why not just take it on the chin? why pick up other teams’ garbage under the guise of trying to “improve the team”?
not cashman’s finest hour.
Though I would have to give Ponson the edge in a bar fight.
can someone sedate fagan please? on every news channel, sports channel, and newspaper, all the headlines are “THE YANKEES ARE GOING TO MISS THE PLAYOFFS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 12 YEARS!” i certainly think it will be a stretch, but it is only july! yankees-haters are salivating over the thought of this. If the yankees don’t make it, will joe torre be fired?
…(Ponson) lost his spot in the rotation when the Cardinals signed Jeff Weaver.
Jeff Weaver!
Tells you all you need to know.
There was one point when Ponson was considered one of the better pitchers when he was with Baltimore, but that all changed.
It was not a good sign he was released from St Louis to make room for Jeff Weaver.
In terms of the bar fight: Don Zimmer would be my first choice, purely beause he had the audacity to (attempt to) attack Pedro. Then Sheff, because if he considered punching someone in the stands “holding his compusure”, I’d hate to see what he is like when he lets loose.
From ESPN.com:
The Question:
With only one team likely to advance to the postseason from the AL East,
will the Red Sox or Yankees be the one standing when October arrives?
sorry, forgot the link:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2515242
Few thoughts…I really hate to sound pessimistic, but I heard today that Boston has 12 more home games in 2nd half than Yanks,,play KC 6-9 times. Yanks have that monster 11 game road trip in August. Matsui and Sheff won’t be back by then. If Yanks don’t get a quality at bat, no way they win the division. I predict next 7 games, Yanks go 3-4……
If the yankees go under .500 for the next 7-10 days, i would think they would get a bat before that august road trip. i think the yankees also play KC as well in sept.
As I said the other week, i think the 9 games the yanks and boston play against each other will be the determining factor.
I also think they play something like 12 or 13 games against Baltimore. Now if you remember back to last year, the Yankees manhandled the Orioles at the end of the season, greatly aiding their comeback against the Sox.
Anyone else thing Jon Lester looks like a prairie dog?
the yanks kill baltimore.
marksman- Jon Lester, like most of the red sox, is really unattractive.
No I didn’t mean Lester was hideous. Kevin Youkilis is enough for that. I have never seen anyone as ugly as him; he looks like a baby that was living in an alcohol infested fetus then was stepped on and dropped on his head shortly after birth.
from mark’s recent piece on the ponson signing.
Injury updates: Cashman said that Johnny Damon’s strained abdominal muscle didn’t appear to be anything major after the center fielder was able to play off the bench during last weekend’s series against Tampa Bay.
“The four-day break was needed not just for him, but many of our guys,” Cashman said. “Hopefully, that is behind us when the season picks up [Friday].”
While Damon is expected to play on Friday, Robinson Cano (hamstring) will not be with the Yankees. Cano said during the All-Star break that he would likely miss another 10-14 days, putting him on track to return sometime during next week’s road trip.
Cano returned to Tampa to continue his rehab, running the bases and taking part in infield agility drills on Thursday. Cashman said he didn’t anticipate Cano playing in Minor League rehab games until next week.
Right-handed reliever Octavio Dotel could be back in rehab games by the weekend after throwing a bullpen session on Wednesday. Dotel is hoping to pitch in two or three Minor League games before joining the Yankees’ bullpen in the next seven to 10 days.
Who the heck is Sidney Ponson?
The Royals are beating detroit 4-0, who knew?
Didn’t A’s sweep us at home? Interesting
yes, they did. but just because boston is beating them doesnt mean boston will win the pennant!
in a stunning turn of events, the red sox are winning.
here’s an honest question, and i’m not trying to be sarcastic: everyone on ESPN’s page (olney, neyer, stark, etc.) says the red sox are going to end up winning the division and are the third best team in the AL. now, not all of these guys are from mass or conn. in fact, olney covered the yankees for years, and wrote a book about the team (the last night of the yankee dynasty). so how is it that all of these guys, to a man, think boston’s better, but you guys (mark included) maintain the yankees will be fine. now, it’s not just the espn guys, as it has been noted that pretty much every sporting publication is taking the stance that the yankees will make the playoffs. now, mark is no more or less an “expert” than any of these guys, and yet, he thinks the yankees will win the division. what are all of you guys seeing that the REST OF THE COUNTRY is not?
felejandro- i couldnt tell if you were being sarcastic or not. in the event that you were being serious, sidney ponson is a sort of c.rappy pitcher with a drinking problem who was released by st. louis to make room for JEFF WEAVER. *sigh*
Like I said, Yankees would be three games in 1st if not for the interleague games, and there is no more interleague therefore the Yankees have actually outplayed boston against the AL this year, even after the injuries. I do not know what is so hard to understand about that. I would rather play better against good teams than put away bad ones, I don’t know about you but when push comes to shove that ends up being more important.
Every point you just made was based on interleague. record since the melky catch, record by the sox in the same span, Why they dropped in the standings. At the end of the year, like I already said, the interleague games will not be thrown out, but there are no more remaining, and even if you want to repeat the last two months of performance against AL only teams, Yankees would still tie the redsox for first place in the AL east by september 13th. And that has been during the stretch where you claim the Yankees have not yet pulled it together and the Redsox need to keep it together.
I don’t agree with getting a bullpen arm, I do not think thats a pressing issue, with dotel back and finding out what our youth has to offer and this all star rest and hopefully johnson going deeper into games I do not think a bullpen arm is a serious issue, and if it is then the redsox definitely need one as well, and not only if delcarmen or hanson fall off.
Yankees need a corner outfielder as insurance to me, nothing else and the ponson trading will be a disaster, they need someone better than that. To me the corner outfield is the only thing the yankees need more than the redsox right now.
And why Kasey, do you not use the “well the bluejays are behind the yankees right now, obviously they are not pulling it together” method for them? Why is it doom and gloom for the yankees and the bluejays will surely pass them and the Yankees are the third best team in the east like “the rest of the country” is saying
by the way, if anyone’s looking for a team who has been decimated by injuries the way the yankees have, the A’s are your team. their offense has not been healthy all year, they lost harden, they can’t score consistently, they can’t find a groove. they were supposed to win their division, but probably won’t (unless they get it together).
jesser,
your points are valid but, like i said, you don’t get to just throw out certain games to help make your case. over the last six weeks or so, the red sox have been the better team. every game counts.
hahah “in a stunning turn of events” LOL. personally, do i think the yankees will make it to the playoffs? no. not this year. but, with 70+ games to go, being 3 games back, am i going to treat the yankees like they are kansas city and just give up hope and throw in the towel? no.
what? i said the rest of the country thinks the red sox will be the third best team in the AMERICAN LEAGUE.
i did not mention the blue jays. here’s the sentence again:
“everyone on ESPN’s page (olney, neyer, stark, etc.) says the red sox are going to end up winning the division and are the third best team in the AL”
AL. the word EAST is not in there. nor are the words BLUE JAYS. the country seems to think that, behind the tigers and white sox, the red sox ARE THE THIRD BEST TEAM IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE.
try reading what i write before you post. it might help you.
the A’s will not win the west, even though “the rest of the country” seems to think so. texas is my sleeper pick.
my mistake. Either way, when it is an entirely different league and EVERY SINGLE team does not play you for the season, I think it is safe to throw out the performances against those teams, not the outcome or where it put you, but the performance. Yankees have played better against what is left to play in the season.
in reading my post again, jesser, i can see where you got confused.
oh, wait. no i can’t.
so, do the red sox get to throw out the games where they’ve struggled?
you’re making an interesting and valid point about the interleague games, and no one could argue that that’s where the red sox made their push, but, if they finish ahead of the yanks in the standings, it won’t matter how or where they picked up those games, it will just matter that they did.
i hate kevin youkilis. have i mentioned that?
I think the A’s are worse than the Yankees at getting key hits.
haha no the redsox do not get to throw out games they struggled against AL teams cause they have to PLAY THEM for the rest of the year. All im saying is based on your argument, Yankees have outplayed sox in the AL, the only league that matters from now on. Yes, I agree Redsox gained ground and if they finish ahead in the standings by a small margin we can thank interleague. But if we copied the performance of each team against the AL for the remainder of this season, by september 13th Yankees will be tied again.
I hate everything about Youkilis. His name, his face, his bald head, his facial expression when he’s batting, his teeth, the way he sticks his butt out when he bats, and the little patch above his chin.
hah, is there anyone who actually likes youkilis?
i also wonder if cashman will be fired
the boston fans love him.
i agree, marksman. he’s one of my least favorite players to watch. right up there with…sidney ponson.
if the yankees fail to make the playoffs
Cashman’s not going anywhere, nor should he
Come to think of it there is really nobody on the Red Sox who can compare to A-Rod/Jeter in the looks department.
1. Youkilis- see aforementioned post
2. Loretta- no facial expression
3. Ortiz- he’s ok, just a big teddy bear and a nice guy
4. Manny- has worms growing out of his head
5. Nixon- same as Loretta
6. Varitek- can’t think of something wrong with him except he punched A-Rod
7. Lowell- can’t think of anything
8. Crisp- hate the name and his stone-face
Jesser,
Don’t forget that Boston has 44 home games during the 2nd half, NY has 38. The Redsox have a 3 game lead after playing the most road games in the league. You can’t really overlook that.
Future Hall of Famer John Lester is having control issues but the A’s have absolutley no offense
Liariano from Twins getting punked
Good. That means my Cleveland fantasy offense is doing something.
How did he make the All Star team? LOL
Wow, the A’s really are terrible. They could have reserved this terribleness for the series they played with us.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2515242 That’s an interesting article comparing the Yanks and Sox. Read it if you’re bored
There are 4 Red Sox players that I absolutely HATE…in order:
1. Curt Schilling- He’s a crybaby and the whole bloody sock incident was such an exaggeration that I want to puke.
2. Jason Varitek- I hate his whole demeanor. The fact that he went after ARod with his mask on is a joke. Also I hate how he always sprints to the dugout after he gets embarrassed by striking out on a ball above his head.
3. Kevin Youkilis- we have covered it already
4. Trot Nixon- I HATE how he puts pine tar all over his helmet and the fact that he dives for balls that any normal player would have caught on the run.
The other players on the team I respect, but I am starting to hate Beckett. But it’s kinda hard to do that now because he blows against us…haha
Beckett is turning into a mini-Schilling…I don’t like either of them
Looks like the Rangers will move into full possession of first place after tonight unless the A’s possibly discover that the piece of wood that you hold while you stand in the batter’s box is used to hit the ball.
A’s have tied it up.
Is it me, or would you rather have Papi up or A Rod, tie game, late innings? Espically this season, I don’t get excited any time A Rod is up, I rather have Papi………
The A’s win! 5-4 in 11…Yanks inch closer….2.5 out (for the moment)
based on today, i’d rather have A rod
I’d go with Papi because of the resumé
Ha Ha, Ortiz-Flop and Manny-Flop! Maybe the fairy-tale is over for Boston… It’d be nicer if they thought they were still in it for another week or so though, so they can trade away their prospects for overpriced veteren help and THEN collapse .
Adamdewhodewhat?, your response awaits your feeble mind over there…over there..
Well I didn’t see the result until now. That’s 2 extra inning losses in a row for Boston; can’t be good for their morale. Let’s hope they keep losing and we start winning.
bluedaugg,
good call on the red sox home schedule. they did play a ton of road games, and, last i checked, they play pretty well in fenway.
however, the schedule was almost identical last year. the red sox had a home-heavy second half.
but, as i keep saying, this isn’t last year.
at any rate, decent point.
i think we’re going to see francona try and narrow his bullpen down to hansen, delcarmen, timlin, papelbon and, sometimes, lopez. i don’t think we’ll be seeing much of tavarez or seanez for the rest of the season. then again, if lester and johnson keep giving him the jaret wright treatment, he won’t have much choice. the red sox rotation is almost identical to the yankees’ now. three quality starters, one decent starter who can’t go more than five or six, tops, and a black hole in the fifth spot.
unfortunately, boston’s offense will win more games for them than the yankees’ will. at least with the lineups both teams are currently running out there.
and, if ponson and guiel are cashman’s ideas of filling the gaps, he’s lost his mind. i think he’s a good GM, and i respect his unwillingness to part with prospects, but those two guys aren’t going to get it done.