Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
With Joe Torre having finally figured out that he needs to go to his big guns in tie games on the road, the Yankees are set up for a quick two-game sweep of the Devil Rays with Randy Johnson taking on Doug Waechter tonight. The only question is which Unit will show up tonight, the one that has done this in two games against the Blue Jays:
8 1/3 IP, 15 H, 13 R, 2 HR, 6 BB, 4 K
Or the one that has done this in four starts against everyone else:
28 IP, 19 H, 6 R, 2 HR, 1 BB, 21 K
I know one thing for sure. He's happy that Eduardo Perez has moved to the central division.
For his part, Waechter has made just four starts thus far, failing to make it through four innings in two of them. Does anyone still remember when a 22-year-old Waechter shut out the last good Mariners team in his first major league start in 2003, pitched five solid innings to beat the Yankees in Tampa two starts later, and then lost a tough 2-1 game in the Bronx in his next turn? He seemed like the next big thing back then, the Tampa rotation's answer to Aubrey Huff, who had what remains his best season that year. Waechter's still just 25, but that exciting start seems like a lifetime ago. I still root for him to make good, but it seems increasingly unlikely. Here's hoping if he ever does break through he won't start tonight.
Johnny Damon DH
Derek Jeter SS
Jason Giambi 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Hideki Matsui LF
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Bernie Williams RF
Bubba Crosby CF
I refuse to accept that we can gleam anything from a total of 28 ABs over the course of 1+ month (notice how Bernie will have had almost that many after tonight in a week!), but if Joe and many people on this board insist on using that to determine that Andy is terrible, can't hit, is obviously flawed since it took him this long etc, and are willing to give up on him, lets at least do it in order that one of the many many better options than Bernie can take over, and Andy can get a fresh "start" elsewhere.
Not to beat a dead horse...
i get the same melancholy feeling every time.
What's Edgar Martinez's average at Tropicana?
i have his autograph when he played for the then oneonta yankees in 19... 86? 87?
i was about nine or so.
And besides, just because Bernie had three hits yesterday doesn't mean he still doesn't suck. If we spend all season saying that Bernie earned his starts due to a twice a month multi-hit game, then we will do just that, spend all season suffering through Bernie. It goes back to the "we know what Bernie will give us, but MAYBE Andy/someone else can give us more, given a legit chance." I, for one, would take the latter given what we know Bernie will give...
FWIW, I wouldn't mind seeing more of Andy. I'd just rather see Posada in the 7th innning, with men on, and the game on the line.
As for Bernie...the Trop is good to him. That's all I meant. Doesn't mean I want to see him out there every night.
On another note, here's the log of Hughes so far, if anyone cares:
* Michael Bourn singles on a ground ball to shortstop JT Stotts.
* With Carlos Leon batting, Michael Bourn steals (12) 2nd base.
* Carlos Leon singles on a ground ball to pitcher Philip Hughes.
* John Castellano grounds into a force out, shortstop JT Stotts to second baseman Gabe Lopez. Michael Bourn to 3rd. Carlos Leon out at 2nd. John Castellano to 1st.
* With Jim Rushford batting, wild pitch by Philip Hughes, Michael Bourn scores. John Castellano to 2nd.
* Jim Rushford flies out to right fielder Bronson Sardinha.
* Jason Jaramillo walks.
* Peter Bergeron strikes out swinging.
Reading Top 2nd
* Jesus Merchan reaches on fielding error by shortstop JT Stotts.
* Bryan Hansen strikes out swinging.
* Tim Moss grounds into double play, second baseman Gabe Lopez to first baseman Shelley Duncan. Jesus Merchan out at 2nd.
I am still trying to find answers as to why mlb.tv won't give us the YES feed, the best I have gotten was the YES video with radio audio, which isn't really a good thing...I am sick sick sick of the other team's announcers!
MK: I don't understand why, if Crawford missed so badly on that slider low and away, he didn't bounce that next pitch.
AL: BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT ROBOTS!
MK: Well, Randy's been having those location problems all day.
AL: Yes, that's why you give up runs and hits.
* Michael Bourn singles on a ground ball to right fielder Bronson Sardinha.
* Carlos Leon strikes out swinging.
* John Castellano singles on a line drive to right fielder Bronson Sardinha. Michael Bourn to 3rd.
* Jim Rushford flies into sacrifice double play, center fielder Justin Christian to first baseman Shelley Duncan to second baseman Gabe Lopez. Michael Bourn scores. John Castellano out at 2nd.
If anyone knows more about him, the announcers said something about Hughes throws a fastball, curve and change up..with a very occassional slider. That is only because the Yankees didn't allow him to throw the slider yet correct?
That is what is up with Randy Johnson. Maybe this will cut off the money tap on 35+ players.
how can they get away with sooooo much crap about how Winnington is a winner and Perez is a great hitter and an overall superb glove and talk about Rays' pitching as one of the best in the league. Its just sickening to anybody in their right mind.
MUTE!!!
He has historically gotten better as the season goes on, and in no way am I worried about him or down on him, its more, like I said, that I just don't get him...
Then why didn't they offer him arbitration during the offseason?
Why would he take arbitration when he could retire, come back, and make the same amount of money for less than 1 year of work?
Well, nearly 1/2. The report is that the Astros will pay 18 mil. pro-rated plus incentives that could be worth more than 20 mil. That would mean the other suitors would have to offer near 15 mil. to snatch him from that cushy no travel deal he had with Houston. It aint going to happen. George won't give him that kind of money and neither will Boston. It's not 1997, the 15+ mil. days are gone, well, unless you're RJ of course. But that will be the end of that for George.
The only team I see making that kind of push is oddly, the New York Mets.
firejoemorgan.blogspot.com
The guy cuts and pastes ESPN chats of Joe Morgan and interjects his commentary into it as well. They've had me rolling the past few days.
2 pitchouts? C'mon...
Obviously Houston ownership's accontants reported to those morons how much $$ he made for that club last year. Hence the offer.
But now that I look back at it, maybe it was because they didn't want to wait for him to make a decision before moving foward with their offseason plans?
It can't be over, not having started yet.
He looks like he is suffering from Kevin Brown "the ball was down" disease. "I aint changing for no one."
96 I was just thinking how much better Wright was last night than Johnson is tonight. Who'd have guessed?
Proctor, yes. Small, yes. If we could still have Smith up, yes!
If Johnson has proven anything this year and last, it's that when he doesn't have it, he doesn't have it!
107 Cleveland won on a lay-up at the buzzer by LeBron
Lots of big hits that didn't quite go out tonight. Posada had one that bounced off the foul pole. It's been that kind of night.
Johnny Damon with another two-out single. Cap's up.
Any updates on Hughes? I was listening, but had to head to the dinner table.
6 IP 7 H 2 BB 3 SO 4 ER
So he had 7 hits, 2 of which were infield singles, 1 was a double, and 1 was a triple.
He currently has an ERA of 6.00. Not exactly the dominant Hughes we have grown accustomed to seeing, but all in all, not a terrible start.
And Sheffield is in right field...Bernie in center. I hate that our defensive replacement is now on the bench.
I would consider...though probably never do it...with a 1 run lead in the 9th moving Damon to CF and just losing the DH.
Worst case: Rays tie it, man on 2nd, Sturtze in.
Torre lucked out, but he so clueless it's obscene.
To be fair to Tanyon, his pitches weren't that bad tonight.
I love when guys follow IBBs with homers. It's the ultimate bad-ass move.
They said Miceli was injured. That might explain his weird inability to intentionally walk Sheff.
I've had Directv for 6 years now. The whole time I've had it, ESPN has been showing alternative MLB games on their extra channels -- 210 and 211.
Worked like this, for Mon, and Wed night games, they always had an alternative matchup, I guess in case the first one got rained out, or maybe they had split regional coverage or something.
So anyway, you always got double the games. Which worked out great, cause often even if the Yanks were playing a crappy team like the D-rays, they were the alternative game.
This year? Nada. Zip. No alternative games on 210 and 211.
Anyone know what gives? Did they just cut back their MLB budget or something?
For a long man and inning eater he is as good as you can hope for, he throws very hard with his 4-seamer and now have a decent 2-seam to boot with a nice curve, if he can develop a bit more he actually have a pretty bright career... for the moment he is still giving far more bang for the buck than Sturtze anyway.
btw, How do you link to other posts?
218 and Johnson have the highest ERA amoung the front 4 too... ack... let's hope he is slow warming.. if he is busting then he is a much greater concern than Wang or anyone else on the staff for that matter.
Also, those 3 games weren't exactly all his faults, the Oakland game he was thrown into a major jam after just rejoining the team tending his daughter (heart surgery for crying out loud) the Os game Wang didn't exactly pitch great and there was a horrible call by the umps anyway. the Jays game.. it's not like they were going to win anyway with Doc Halladay pitching againts them.
But I think it's fair to say at the moment he is at least earning his due, watch him for at least half a season more before jumping to conclusion is nice, I think at the moment he is showing good signs and some worrying signs also, we shall see how it plays out in the end.
"In his last four starts, Johnson has given up 19 runs and 25 hits in 23 innings with nine walks and 11 strikeouts." — (Newsday) http://tinyurl.com/fozb6
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