-Yankees head home going 5-1 between Toronto and Cleveland, ready to face a Baltimore team that they've struggled against all year long, to the tune of a 3-6 record. The pitching match-ups are not particularly appealing for the pinstripe crew, either:
Monday: (Chien-Ming Wang vs. Jeremy Guthrie) The Wang/Guthrie pairing nominally might favor the Yanks, yet they've had zero success against Jeremy Guthrie this season: (1-0) 12.1 IP 13 H 4 ER 4 BB 10 Ks. Still, Chien-Ming historically has pitched to an ERA a full run lower at home compared to on the road, and Guthrie's shine has dwindled a bit since the All-Star break, with his ERA post-Midsummer Classic 4.74. However, the Birds' hurler has also yet to lose a road decision yet this season. It will be interesting to see how all these tendencies work themselves out.
Tuesday: (Jeff Karstens vs. Daniel Cabrera) Thanks to the Rocket's suspension, combined with the rotation's dominance of the once-high-powered Tribe offense this weekend, we're treated to Jeff Karstens and his glowing 10.13 ERA on the hill Tuesday evening. All the talk was about 2006 1st round pick Ian Kennedy making his major league debut, but that hinged upon Karstens having to pitch in Cleveland. Since Karstens didn't leave his spot on the bullpen bench all weekend, he fully earns his chance to start on Tuesday in the thick of the pennant race. Of course, his availability allows the Yanks to avoid the headache of squeezing Kennedy onto the 40-man roster simultaneous to his potential call-up, so I'm sure it will have been for the greater good of the organization if and when Karstens gets spanked around and the team squanders a winnable game when every game needs to be won.
Wednesday: (Phil Hughes vs. Erik Bedard) The tastiest tandem of the three-game set in the series' matinée finale. Phil comes off his best start since The Star-Crossed May 1st, but now he's facing a lineup not struggling to figure out which way they're going, once again pitching in The Stadium (where he's been the Mr. Hyde of a 10.00 ERA, compared to the microscopic 0.73 in road grays) and against the league leader in Ks whose dominated the Yankees over the years. This is the most viewer-friendly game of the series in terms of name value as well as sheer talent on the mound. Hughes will have to provide innings, based on the assumption that Karstens most likely won't provide much length on Tuesday night. Overall though, it will be the marquee game of the series. Personally though, every time Hughes appears on the mound it's the marquee game these days. A player providing excitement simply by being the scheduled starter is something that the Yankees have lacked, despite their high-priced, greatly-experienced starters.
These three against Baltimore make for a potentially problematic stretch leading into the weekend's monumentally important series against Detroit. The New York squad taking two out of three doesn't look like an easy prediction based on the scheduled starters, but the Yankees have been too hot of a team to suddenly be wary of a team 8 games under .500. All the conjecture, though, by 7 p.m. tomorrow, will fade away to true hardball results.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
-The last three days, for the Yankees, have featured two games and an off day in dirty Cleveland. The two games were polar opposites, with the staff's ace getting shellacked by the Jays on Wednesday, followed by The Big Phil and Jah-bah shutting down the Tribe. There are tons of interesting newsworthy sprinkles garnishing the team's universe these last few days, so for this post I'll go for a brief rundown:
The suspensions that resulted from Tuesday's shenanigans were inevitable, but they still feel like an exercise in futility. The Jays' bloodthirst should have been quenched on Monday. If the Jays felt as though they still needed revenge because Luis Vizcaino plunked Matt Stairs in the 8th inning of Monday's game, they're a bigger bunch of mindless thugs than they already come across as. The pseudo-fisticuffs Tuesday and Clemens' plunking of Rios spurred a lot of interesting little sidenotes:
1. Josh Towers, of the sparkling career 4.95 ERA, is I'm sure exactly who the Jays want to represent their fine organization by drilling A-Rod after the fact, jawing at he and Tony Pena on the field, and then ripping Tony Pena in the papers for quitting on the Royals. It's like J.P. Ricciardi has scripts prepared during games so his players can carry out his shit-talking bravura act in the press.
2. Brian Butterfield being angry about Shelley Duncan and Johnny Damon's slides probably means there'll be more beanballs the next time these two teams meet, or perhaps this time they'll try to take out Cano or Jeter's legs around 2nd base. Undoubtedly the Jays will still be hovering around .500 and saying they're still in the race, so it will be chalked up to heated competition, instead of overall organizational incompetence combined with frustration due to the horribly volatile personalities of the team, its manager and General Manager.
-More importantly, though, the Yankees got out of the Great White North relatively intact save for Alex's "sore calf" that I'm sure was expertly tended to by a combination of Gene Monahan and the classy dancers at Toronto's finest gentleman's club. Chien-Ming getting spanked was due sooner or later due to his strike-throwing/lack of Ks tendencies.
-The big story, overall, on this Friday evening, is the performance turned in by the two rookies on the mound at Jacobs Field. Dr. Fausto has seen his shine dim slightly as the season has progressed, and despite the #3 and #5 hitters' insistence on trying to hit into double plays as much as possible, the offense gave Franchise Phil enough of a cushion.
-Both Phil and Joba experienced their first taste of important performances, and it would seem as though the flavors agreed with both their palettes. There will be bigger games and stickier situations to come for these guys, but the pressure has to begin building somewhere.
-The news that brightened my evening above all, though, is that there is an actual major league team interested in taking the plunge and acquiring Kei Igawa. The San Diego Padres, just dismissing Boomer Bad Back Big Gut Wells, have put a claim in on Kei Igawa, which apparently translates to "Eternally Hittable" from Japanese to English. The Times says the Yankees are trying to make sure they don't get nothing back in a potential deal since they've already lost the $26 million posting fee for Kei's dis-services. Honestly, Brian Cashman could get the proverbial pu-pu platter of the "player to be named later/cash considerations" variety, and it has to be scored as a monumental victory considering the signing was beginning to look like a total albatross around the GM's neck for the years to come.
-So to sum up, this Friday August 10th featured a dominant performance from the two brightest and youngest arms in the Yankees universe, an escape from The Kei Igawa Era before the year 2012, Joe Torre being able to enjoy his suspension accompanied by Mike Fratello and a nice Starbucks iced coffee from the friendly confines of a luxury box, and the offense continuing its steady performance against a pitcher not belittled by having the logo of the teams from K.C., T.B. or Toronto on the front of his jersey.
Plus, Boston lost, thanks to their much-revered bullpen imploding, leaving the AL East deficit at 5 games. And Detroit continues to scuffle. The playoff picture is still extremely cloudy in the Yanks' proverbial crystal ball, but the beginning of this pivotal stretch of the season makes it easier to prognosticate positively going forward.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
-Since historic home run #500 on Saturday, the New York tabloids have been all over the lucky fan that fought off the rabid horde in the left field seats and emerged with the valuable souvenir. The Daily News has been especially enamored with the ball's new owner, Walter "Sonny" Kowalczyk. They've now spent three days covering his apparently impossible dilemma. In fact, they’ve provided intimate inside into the man holding the money-ball. So just in case anyone really wants to get to know an impossibly lucky Yankees fan from Jersey, the News is providing you with the inside scoop, managing to pepper their story with snippets of Mr. Kowalczyk's MySpace.
Apparently, "Sonny" was underwhelmed by the Yankees' attempts at bartering for the ball. So now, he's taken to sitting back and waiting for the person who'll offer him the most cash. Of course, since he’s such a lifelong, die-hard Yankees fan, he’s hoping that it's A-Rod.
In today's edition the News brings you the darker side of falling ass-backwards into a valuable baseball: according to Mr. Kowalczyk's brother, Lucky Sonny is afraid to walk the streets of Trenton (nothing surprising about that), for fear that some ruffian will try to coerce the ball away from him via blunt force trauma. The brother, being a valued member of the Trenton Police force and undoubtedly an upstanding citizen, has promised to use his gun to protect his little brother and his precious baseball.
While the Kowalczyk family battens down the hatches while deciding the ball's fate, they have not shied away from milking their 15 minutes of fame as much as possible. That same Daily News story in today’s edition also reveals the two brothers' longing for the advice (and publicity) of NYC sports talk Gods Mike and the Mad Dog. One hopes that if the two DJs cross paths with either of the Kowalczyk's, they inform them once and for all that nobody really gives a damn about the ball save the guy who caught it and the guy who hit it.
Regardless, though, both myself and the reporters at the Daily News can only quiver with anticipation as this saga continues to unfold. I'm hoping for some bombshell developments today, as I’ll continue to monitor BallGate closely, and of course I'll be ready to report should any deals be struck or any more useless stories be written.
Monday, August 6, 2007
-The Yankees celebrated their Simcoe Day (or is it Colonel By Day, or maybe Natal Day?) with a sweaty one-run victory keyed by a 4-run 6th. The Blue Jays came in on a 5-game winning streak that has J.P. Ricciardi's boys again believing in October baseball north of the border. Today with the Yankees in town, they conveniently overcame their four game-long amnesia regarding Pop-UpGate and decided to congratulate A-Rod on his 500th home run the Blue Jay Way, with a little brushback/throw-behind. It led to some dirty looks from Mr. Torre and some hard slides by A-Rod and Damon, but not much else. Perhaps now this puts an end to all the "notorious Ha! Game" references during every Yanks/Jays telecast.
-This game served as a strong reminder of the importance of two players: Melky Cabrera and Joba Chamberlain. One was supposed to be the 4th outfielder this year, the other wasn't supposed to sniff the majors until next season at the earliest. Yet with Melky thriving while seeing his name in the lineup daily, combined with the quagmire that is the Yankees' middle relief, those two players have superceded their preseason expectations. It's now officially reached the point where those two, along with Phil Hughes, are completely necessary to the team's playoff hopes. Their necessity may seem absolutely ridiculous on face value, judging by their total inexperience as well as their high-priced teammates. Yet it is unmistakable, no matter how long the organization tries to play overly coy when it comes to Joba being promoted, or when it came to Hughes regaining a place in the rotation.
The expulsion of Proctor and Myers places the writing the firmest it's been on the wall all season. In fact, it's basically now in permanent ink, at least as it pertains to Joba's role in the bullpen:
"We need Joba Chamberlain to be better than those guys, in fact, we passed on Eric Gagne because we think Joba provides us the same thing without sacrificing Melky and Ian Kennedy to the altar of the 2-Month Rental Gods."
Watching Jim Brower tip-toe through two batters without completely imploding made me think of Brian Cashman, tightly crossing his fingers and hoping to catch some of that Aaron Small Mojo in the form of a retread middle reliever. He knows the perils of putting his 200 million-dollar team on the backs of such unproven performers, yet his new approach has made it an unavoidable occurrence.
Brian's wishful thinking re: Brower will soon fade, though, after an underwhelming outing or two. He will be faced with the ramifications of his own decisions, which as it pertains to hording young talent, have been good ones. The fact remains, though, that this is a sea change in comparison to the playoff pushes of years past, one that both he and Yankees fans might not be ready for. Where in the past, the weight of New York expectations fell upon the shoulders of seasoned, high-paid vets, this summer, no matter how much lip service is paid to the importance of the team's veterans returning to their past performance levels, it will be the contributions of Joba, Melky and Phil Hughes that determine how the season ends.
Part of me sees this fact as a complete affirmation of the legitimacy of Brian's Plan, since in years past guys like Melky and Hughes and Joba would have been traded to the Rangers or drafted by the A's via the compensation picks.
Another part of me, for the first time in a long time, is genuinely excited to see the notoriously high-spending gluttons that I call my team injected with some bona fide high-end talented young players (Melky not projecting as high-end, but nonetheless a talented youngster.)
And then there is that third part of me: the part that acknowledges how it's an extremely dicey proposition to have a team's hopes live or die by two young, unproven, untested arms. That may be the justification of Rocket Redux, Andy Again, and Multi-Moose: to keep it like a secret that Phil Hughes is the Most Important SP down the stretch, and that Joba is K-Rod circa 2002 in Pinstripes, but it doesn't fool me.
The only chance this team has of being anything but another Division Series casualty is for these two young pitchers to be more than just small contributors in August and September. It's a heaping helping of great expectations for two guys who deserve the chance to carve out their niche naturally, as opposed to being thrust into a pennat race. What they deserve and what they're actually getting are two different things, and as a fan it's my pleasure to see which direction the youngsters go. I feel compelled by some unknown force to root for them even harder now, with my mind on what success this year could mean for the future. That would be a future with no ceiling for two 21-year-old arms, or perhaps a future where it takes a little while for the 21-year-olds to figure it out. Regardless, though, we're going to find out one way or another before this season's over. That in itself might be the unfriendly reality the Yankees are faced with this season: the future is unavoidably now.
This is not the ideal date to launch a blog focused on baseball. Five months removed from the bubbling anticipation of April 1st’s level playing field and identical records, early August is a weird point in the season. The pennant race hasn’t quite reached that fully frenzied point yet, with hungry teams charging towards an October berth. However, the magnitude of the solitary game exponentially increases from now through September, so perhaps I am getting started on the cusp of the final rise towards the season’s ultimate climax.
Regardless of the timing, I want to lay out what exactly it is I’ll be writing about. I can not claim that this will be anything but a vehicle for me to write passionately, analytically and logically about the New York Yankees. I am a lifelong fan, but my goal is to present a kind of writing that transcends pointless and uninteresting fan-blather full of emotional outbursts, insults, etc. I’m trying to ride the season’s rollercoaster and formulate fresh observations, instead of whining when my team loses or flaming a particularly loathsome performer.
Seeing that I consider myself decently informed on what’s happening in the rest of the league, I also aspire to discuss interesting and important developments on other teams in other cities. I’m nowhere near as immersed in the baseball cultures elsewhere as I am in New York, or am I anywhere near as interested in them, so I can’t christen this an all-encompassing “baseball blog”.
The sources I will draw upon for links, talking points, etc. will mostly be major news outlets in New York as well as online. I don’t frequent any team-specific or baseball-specific websites, message boards, blogs, etc., so I don’t really know what the blueprint is or if there even is a blueprint for doing this kind of thing.
With that said, at this point, I have no idea what the content appearing here will look like, or what this page will read like. My hope is to post new writing daily. That writing will most likely contain links to news stories about the Yankees’ game or some other pertinent game or story, perhaps links to a player’s statistics, and things of that nature. If I get truly adventurous there might even be a picture or two once in a while. My technical acumen when it comes to web design and layout is virtually non-existent, so I don’t foresee anything flashy.
In the end, my basic hope is that this becomes my permanent mouthpiece for what crosses my mind as I watch games and then read about them afterwards. I’ve always been a little reticent to put my thoughts about games millions of people watch for themselves out there as if they mean something, but maybe this is the right way to do it. Only time will tell.
A real baseball post will follow this evening, sometime after the conclusion of this unorthodox Monday matinee in Toronto. For a slight laugh, it might be worth checking out the Rockwellian official MLB photo of Jesse Litsch. Also worth noting in Mr. Listch’s player card are the numbers of his only start prior against the Yankees.
