I don't know how many times Joba has pitched in Texas, or anywhere where it is over 100 degrees. I imagine there is a learning curve to maintaining your strength in those conditions. If it is indeed just some muscle 'fatigue', it's about the best news we have had all year.

I remember the first time I was in Texas. I was warned of the heat, but hell, NH gets into the high 90's at times, and I been to islands on the equator. Bull hell (and I mean that literally), Texas was something new. I was there and I still couldn't believe how hot it was!

[insert oliver stone one-liner here]

everything coming out of the organization says that this is minor, but i won't feel at ease until i see him throwing smoke with my own two eyes.

If Joba misses 1 start it won't be the end of the world, particularly if Hughes is ready to return by the end of the the month for the home stretch.

Don't lose hope yet. Don't lose hope.

http://tinyurl.com/5b9bvn

this is a quote from raf's link heralding pavano's start in trenton on thursday:

"Thursday's game is Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Night at Waterfront Park. There will be a health fair on the stadium concourse..."

too perfect.

"St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center is the presenting partner of "2008 Thunder Rehabs". St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center is a 129-bed, fully accredited, not-for-profit, physical rehabilitation hospital in Lawrenceville, NJ. It offers comprehensive rehabilitation services for both inpatients and outpatients, and has been serving the community for over 35 years. As a rehabilitation hospital, St. Lawrence has seen the traumatic effects of injuries and is committed to safety education and injury prevention in our community. The hospital has been a Trenton Thunder partner since 1999 and is proud to work with the Thunder in various safety initiatives."

http://tinyurl.com/5ztlzv

6:34 p.m. UPDATE ON JOBA CHAMBERLAIN

Chamberlain had an MRI today in New York. The Yankees would not reveal what it showed. However, Joba is being sent to Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., for another examination tomorrow.

Girardi did not say who would start on Saturday. The first name he mentioned as a possibility was Darrell Rasner

---------------------------

Yeah, that doesn't sound too good to me. Le sigh.

The lineup's been posted. It's Christian instead of Melky again. And Sexson at 1B.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltoid_muscle

I also believe that the sudden back flop he had to do to avoid I-Rod's throw may have had something to do with the injury. He may have tweaked/jammed something then.

UPDATE, 6:41 p.m.: Just spoke to Brian Cashman. He said the Yankees know what the images showed but until they hear from Andrews, they're not going to reveal what that is.

sigh .... sounds more like a tear then ....

Yes .... strict "rotator cuff" injuries are more of a wear and tear issue. This seemed to be more of a "traumatic" injury. He hadn't been showing any signs of trouble prior to last night (reduced velocity / movement), so I believe he overextended himself on a pitch and/or tweaked something when doing the back flop.

This is not to say it ISN'T "rotator cuff" related, since the deltoid is one of the 6 muscles related to the cuff, but I would have been more concerned cuff-wise if he couldn't raise his arm, or pointed to his shoulder blade.

sorry, how do you make those "tinyurl" links??

this is going to be a long game..isn't it?

There's also a firefox plugin for tinyurl, you just right click on the page and select "Create TinyURL for this page" - if you use firefox.

I don't want Joba using that golden arm for anything like that, at least until Dr. Andrews sees him.

Ouch. Pettitte's up in the zone. Not good.

Of course, it doesn't exactly help to be running out crappy lineups like the one we have today.

nice to see JC shaken up on that steal ... not like everything's not going wrong already

1. Joba/Hughes/IPK will be a year older in 2009 and maybe 2 of 3 of them will be contributors then. Maybe they can stay healthy --- kids get hurt, just ask Leiter and Josh Beckett.

2. If we don't make the playoffs, maybe Hank will say, "fuck it", roll up his sleeves, and go get CC and Tex. Maybe we're experiencing Boston's 2006 and will have a glorious rise from the ashes next season.

3. With every hit Jeter is closer to 3,000; with every homer Arod is closer to 763. In the lean 1980's we had to learn to enjoy individual seasons.

4. And in the same vein, if Moose wins 20 games this season (he only needs 6), he'll be up to 270 for a career, will likely return in 2009 and has a damn good shot at getting to 300 wins.

5. And finally, we have other kids like Melancon ready to contribute next year (maybe even Ajax) and thankfully we DIDN'T pick up Washburn. If we're not going to win anyway, who wants Seattle's garbage.

i'd say it's pretty damn remarkable.

I guess the bright side is I am not fermenting with frustration over the fact that the Yankees are being shut down by a raw rookie and that the evidence of Jeter being on the downside continues to mount.

AND I understand that different people measure the success of the team in different ways. For me, success is winning a world series. That's not to say that I despise every season where we haven't won.

I still look back fondly on Donnie Baseball hitting .343 in 1984 and on Murcer driving in all 5 runs against the Orioles 29 years ago tomorrow.

But this season feels a bit "lost" to me.

Duh

I'd like to fucking smack that bastard..and yes...these grapes taste sour.

1. The Rays lose to Detroit on Sunday; and

2. I-Rod doesn't cause Joba to hurt his shoulder diving out of the way (b/c he wouldn't be on the team).

FARNSWORTHLESS!

Now, if Christian will do the same, I'll start to feel a little better, even if he makes an out.

I'm sure the Dodgers would like to be rid of Pierre too, but AFAIC, he's not a CF.

Here's to a comeback - many of the great ones over the years have been against Texas!

Here's to a comeback - many of the great ones over the years have been against Texas!

Otherwise, it sounds like a great plan.

Joba had 116 last year and should've gone to 146 in 2008, but he's at 89 and likely done.

IPK had 165 last year between NYC and the minors and should've gone to 195 in 2008, but is only at 83 so far.

Hughes had 114 last year (including PS) and should've gone to 144, but he's only pitched a lousy 28 innings this season.

My point is that we are looking at 2-3 more years before these three pitchers are ready to pitch 200 innings and only if we're lucky. Wang can probably come back and do that, and maybe either Andy or Moose. But it's pretty obvious to me that we need 7 good starters for next season. So we either got get CC, Sheets or BOTH.

.195/.278/.304

that's just ... well, bad beyond the power of words to describe.

Jones peaked at age 28, declined at age 29, and then fell off at age 30. His decline has been very steep, though.

48 hey cult - doom...as in Candlemass! : )

this is the beginning of the road trip from hell. i was on stage last nite and the Yanks were on the tv screen due to a rainout elsewhere and i saw Joba get hurt. i about fell off my drum throne in the middle of the song! : ~

118 hey, good to see you 'round, thelarmis, rock that bassoon! Yeah, we all lost a couple beats watching Joba depart.

Frankly, Andy is doing about what I expected him to do, give or take. The only pitchers who have greatly disappointed me are Hughes and IPK: I figured they would be at worst league average or a bit worse, but they were far below replacement level. Wang was also a bit of a disappointment before he got hurt.

But Pettitte looks just about right.

boston's winning by the score we're losing. of course, they're threatening to add what we're allergic to -- runs...

robbie w/ a 10-pitch AB resulting in a BB. well, color me impressed!

lovely.

And a stay of execution for Sexson!

did robbie have to hold up or could/should he have scored? i kinda wish he had more speed on the basepaths...

Molina HAS to be lifted here!!! HE HAS TO!!!!

I also don't get the logic that just because the team has been very successful, you shouldn't be dissapointed by a bad season. If that was the case, most people here probably wouldn't waste so much time following the team and posting their pessimistic thoughts.

not nearly as shocking as...holy shit, mike hampton just appeared on my tv screen. had an adventurous 1st at-bat against randy winn, but got an out. that's a lot more than 'The Other White Meat' (Pav) has gotten for us...

And next March we have a right to be optimistic again.

But I'm still pissed with him.

Also, a catcher named "Pudge," of all things, sent in to pinch run?

Only in America.

But why not have Pudge hit? He's better against lefties and righties than Melky.

Why not PR Melky and PH Betemit for Christian? Or better yet, just let Pudge hit for Christian?

Hey, we're crawling back into this one!

Well struck, Derek.

Damn it.

I take your point, but it seems to me that pitch was just too perfect to take.

I love it.

Bad, bad Jeter. Bad Yankees. And Bad Bobby Meacham, too.

This really has been the most entertaining game in a while.

You don't have a lot of time to swing up there and your body generally has to be trained to react to a pitch you know you can drive. He did that and because of the invisible rules of BABIP he lost that time. Maybe next time it's 2 runs.

185 He has had it all season. My fear earlier in the season was that it was a concession to dimishing skill. It seems like that might be the case.

186 Feel free to look on the bright side, but looking at the sun too much has been known to cause blindness.

In any case, I do not contest your point because it is not relevant to my post. We need to look at the bright side of things during this dark season. For some, happiness seems to take the form of bitching about specific. For me, it used to be Miguel Cairo. for others, it's Derek Jeter.

So, weep not at that missed opportunity, because for every Yankees failure someone is made darkly happy.

If he'd taken the pitch and gone to 3-2, he may well have been forced to swing at something not quite in his wheelhouse.

Anyway, I think we understand one another, we just disagree in this case.

What happened with Andy? I saw the first inning only.

Okay, this game is really over now. :-P

Bollocks.

I think if you do the math, Jeters odds of NOT making an out are higher if he takes that 3-1 pitch.

I'm sick now. G'night all.

Night everyone, I'm going to go stare at the setting sun that is our season.

Now 6.5 out of first and 3.5 from the WC

In about a month we'll all wish we were that close!

On the other hand, far more great players age better because they have farther to fall (though of course this is not always the case).

The real trick is to find the players most like Jeter and see how they aged. So, what other career 850 OPS, 120 OPS+ SS have there been?

Anyway, we're all frustrated, granted.

Have a good night.

just read the Jonah Keri MVP snubs article. looks like Alex missed out on a solid 3 or 4 trophies...

c'mon X-Man!

I would have a lot more respect for this position if once--just once--someone typed comments like that. Instead, all we get is after-the-fact bitching about "approach" when the result is not what we want. This tends, just a tad, to undermine the credibility of the position, at least in from my perspective.

My point is that if one truly believes that a hitter should pass up on a cookie down the middle on 3-1, then that same person believes essentially that hitters should never swing. I do not share that opinion.

But Jeter made out, so the evidence is on the other side...I guess...

Holy fuck!!!!

I was just about to remark that Sexson is too tall to be able to hit and would you look at that!!!!1

HA!

coupla more runs, fellas...

218 Yes. Given that the pitcher had only thrown 4 strikes but had thrown 13 balls (counting the one Melky swung at) since coming in, with many of the balls being wild, with the Yankees down and with big hitters right behind you. It's really time to work the walk. This is not just any walk, mind you, it's that super precious and rare walk, a RUN SCORING WALK.

I'm not buying the position of the opposition here.

Again, you and I will have to agree to disagree on that starting assumption.

When the pitcher is competent, you use the 3-1 to zone a pitch. When the pitcher has shown that he is pretty much incapable of throwing anything but a fastball down the middle for a strike, you make him throw two in a row, especially when you are trailing by three runs late in the ball game.

Too often, the context of the situation is completely ignored. You can't divroce Jeter's decision from the fact that CJ Wilson was pitching...that component is essential to the equation.

down 2 now, we can DO this!

c'mon pudge!

That'd be entertaining.

Damn...I thought that one was gone.

Especially the passion.

I love that we all care so much about this team and about the game.

It makes me happy.

Figuratively, I think it's pretty easy to see that statement was a hypothetical. I clearly followed it upby saying that when you have 3 balls, you should take two stikes.

I thought that was through for sure.

How do you feel when WE are in the field, THEY have the bases loaded, and our pitcher is at 3-1? Do you want their batter to swing or force (at least) 2 more strikes?

Instead of making comparisons, I just prefer to say that Jeter facing Rupe with a 3-1 count (after seeing 12 of 17 pitches be balls, including the bad pitches Melky swung at) and the bases loaded should have taken a second strike.

Whew.

No? Wow, Eddie sure reacted that way.

Maybe. I think a more nuanced question is: what approach has the highest run expectancy?

But even going with your question, I am still not convinced that a batter stands a better chance of not making an out by taking a called strike 2 on 3-1, than he does by swinging at the most hittable pitch in the sequence.

Well, I think we are in the midst of the beginning of the end. Waiver deals are still in play until August 31. Hopefully Cashman is starting to see if he can pass a few players through.

2. Arod was safe -- that was a horseshit call.

How is it his numbers are so good and yet he never seems to just take charge of things the way Manny does?

Sigh.

Yeah, probably. But thanks for being optimistic this season as long as you could!

;-)

Well, the situation in the seventh was fairly high leverage, and Girardi chooses someone that's been rushed from an injury, and that's worked the previous day (not to mention the weakest pitcher in the pen), over a rested and better pitcher?

Conventional or not, it just seems odd.

Here's to hoping that the news on Joba doesn't make the performance of this team seem like the bright side.

I feel very, very lucky if our pitcher grooves one and their batter stands there looking at it.

I was at the game on Saturday, I was far more concerned that Edwar would give up a grand slam or a double to Texeira than I was afraid that he would walk him.

Night all, tomorrow's a new day.

That said, I do agree with William that his handling of position players/lineup has been mystifying. This was masked when the bench was s short and he had no moves to make. But now that he has a few toys to pay with, he makes you scratch your head.

I agree that the position player handling has been really head-scratching.

* signing team protected status notwithstanding

That said, I don't know why he held Edwar out.

Mark Melancon, of course, was outstanding. That should be the last time Dave Miley and Rafael Chaves are forced to bring Melancon in to start an inning, and it will be interesting to see how he handles entering a game with runners on base. But immediately after an infield single tonight, Melancon quickly got a 6-4-3 double play. He then struck out the side in the ninth, ending it with a big, bending curveball. The guy covering for Pawtucket said the PawSox players were talking about Melancon in the clubhouse after the game.

In any case, they could call up Melancon (or whoever) and option someone else--or DFA someone. He could help cover some innings while they ride out Joba's injury and/or Edwar's suspension.

I think that Joba is going on the DL; that's no secret. But IPK will get the call, so another player will have to moved for there to be room for Melancon.

"For the first time this season, you got the sense in the clubhouse that the Yankees realize they're in trouble."

Only now they're realizing it??!!

Pete doesn't understand the Melky-Pudge thing, either.

Then Cashman goes out and gets I-Rod, and the Yankees respond by losing the first two to the Angels, and now the first two to the Rangers.

Not exactly the way to respond to the GM busting his backside to improve the team.

I've been on Cashman's case all year, but over the last two weeks, he's done a good job. The players haven't. This is all on them right now.

Can the whole team be sent to a clutch-hitting clinic? They are mind-boggingly bad with men on base. Four double plays to end innings in tonight's debacle, which pretty much canceled out the eight walks they drew. Maybe they should do what the Twins do and actually replicate game situations with men on base during batting practice.

===

Andy Pettitte was so uncomfortable pitching to Pudge Rodriguez in his previous start that he asked Yankees manager Joe Girardi to use Jose Molina in last night's game against the Texas Rangers.

Girardi granted the request and passed the move off as giving Rodriguez a rest in the Texas heat - never mind that he spent 12 seasons with the Rangers and isn't scheduled to catch Mike Mussina tomorrow night.

===