Baseball Toaster: Bronx Banter : Minnie or Mice?

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J. Chamberlain BR BP BC E
D. Marte (L) BR BP BC E
J. Veras BR BP BC E mi
E. Ramirez BR BP BC E mi
B. Bruney BR BP BC E mi
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H. Sanchez BC mi

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A. Brackman BC

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K. Reese BR BP BC E MLB mi
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J. Sanchez mi PHI

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Minnie or Mice?

2008-05-14 12:56

by Alex Belth

Apropos of nothing, other than something that is true and good...

Will the Yankee offense show up tonight against the Rays' best pitcher?

One never knows...

Comments (145)

Show/Hide Comments 1-50

2008-05-14 14:49:13

1. tommyl

What is this thing you speak of? Off fense? Like a fence? Get off my fence?

2008-05-14 15:09:01

2. horace-clarke-era

Insult to Injury Dept.

Miggy Cairo won today's Seattle game over Texas in the 12th with a gritty, clutch, scrappy, character-veteran single. The sort that separates men from boys, turns a season around, restarts the ol' cliché machine...

More to the point, perhaps, Jay 'Make Them Pay' Payton hit a grand slam with two outs in the 7th to take Baltimore past Boston. That does count as major.

2008-05-14 15:21:14

3. superjoe

is that a photo of Joe Luis "Jose" Brown of the Tampico Stogies in his Caddy?

2008-05-14 15:56:35

4. ms october

3 prolly minnie minoso since that's what alex linked to above the photo - hard to make the person out from the distance in the photo - but similar facial shape to minoso

let's hope the yankee offense is hiding in that caddy

2008-05-14 16:22:21

5. tommyl

Yankees hitting motto this year: 1 2 3

2008-05-14 16:22:28

6. OldYanksFan

GG Giambi!

2008-05-14 16:22:55

7. Yankees Brasil

Giambino with the glove. Crazy!

2008-05-14 16:29:12

8. Yankees Brasil

Just when the Rays' announcers were talking about their great D, they throw the ball away. Nice! Now if only we could get them home.

2008-05-14 16:30:44

9. tommyl

C'mon that's two lucky breaks and we still can't score. Ensberg sucks, a lot.

2008-05-14 16:31:37

10. Yankees Brasil

9 He really does. If only the coaches could see it.

2008-05-14 16:37:09

11. tommyl

I hope everyone is seeing what this team would be like without A-Rod.

2008-05-14 16:39:51

12. tommyl

At least Melky is still playing well. Laser beam.

2008-05-14 16:40:05

13. tommyl

Where is everyone tonight? 12 comments?

2008-05-14 16:40:18

14. Simone

Nice job, Melky.

2008-05-14 16:52:29

15. OldYanksFan

We're here. Just still in shock. Would be nice to pick up a game on the Sox (amd TB too).

2008-05-14 16:53:24

16. cult of basebaal

would be nice to score a couple of goddamned runs ...

i see the offense is still stuck on offal

2008-05-14 16:53:35

17. OldYanksFan

Good Moose tonight?

2008-05-14 16:53:56

18. cult of basebaal

me likey new old moose

2008-05-14 16:59:12

19. nick

damn, I can't refresh fast enough to keep up with our offensive offense...

2008-05-14 17:00:06

20. Alex Belth

Yeah, that is Mr. Minnie Minoso indeed. Random, I know, but what the heck...Dude, I have ZERO confidence in the Yankee offense. Almost as if they are going to have to get lucky to get one win here...but, so far, it is nice to see Moose pitching well.

2008-05-14 17:00:33

21. Alex Belth

For instance, watch how Matsui will be stranded on second presently...

2008-05-14 17:02:59

22. nick

Ensberg should be a platoon player, with Betemit--career splits suggest this would work...have they both been healthy at the same time this year?

Of course, they've both mostly looked like crap.....

2008-05-14 17:04:34

23. Simone

Ha. You were wrong, Alex. Good work, Robbie.

2008-05-14 17:04:42

24. tommyl

21 Good Robbie is back!

2008-05-14 17:05:08

25. Alex Belth

Whoa...happy to be wrong. That's one run!! Yipee! Ration for the night.

2008-05-14 17:05:12

26. Simone

Was that a reverse jinx, Alex? In that case, good job.

2008-05-14 17:05:20

27. tommyl

22 Betemit is hurt, though that was the original plan. Betemit was actually starting to hit well right before he got hurt again.

2008-05-14 17:05:42

28. JL25and3

OK, Moose, there's your run.

2008-05-14 17:07:06

29. tommyl

28 Silly, following suit, Moose will blow the lead right about now.

2008-05-14 17:17:22

30. tommyl

Small ball, actually that was the right move with Molina up.

2008-05-14 17:17:44

31. nick

can we get 7 from Moose? seems unlikely, but--pen looks pretty stretched.....

2008-05-14 17:18:51

32. nick

27 yeah, I remember when he got hurt--I still think it was a good deal getting him for Proctor but I may be the only one...

2008-05-14 17:21:04

33. tommyl

What is this new number....2? What is that?

2008-05-14 17:22:14

34. cult of basebaal

32 i'm still in that camp, proctor is pretty damn fungible and right-handed relief pitchers are something we've got plenty of, with more on the way

betemit is still an unknown, partly because of his streakiness and partly because of his "injuries" (hammy, yes ... "pink eye", no) but i'd still rather have his possibility than proctor's reality

2008-05-14 17:22:39

35. nick

Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one

2008-05-14 17:24:18

36. nick

"Proctor's Reality!"--sounds like a jam band.....

2008-05-14 17:24:53

37. 3rd gen yankee fan

Damn what's gotten into the team? It feels like baseball again! Cool!

2008-05-14 17:25:44

38. nick

I find this two-out hits with RISP very strange....there's a word for a hit in this sort of situation, isn't there? an adjective of some sort? one that can be applied to either the hitter or the hit in question?

2008-05-14 17:26:24

39. RIYank

The Rays' scoreboard is defective. We're supposed to have circles in all the innings except one, I'm pretty sure.

2008-05-14 17:27:49

40. RIYank

38 It's an obscure and arcane word, almost obsolete. One rarely has a use for it, though, so don't worry about it.

2008-05-14 17:33:22

41. Mr OK Jazz TOKYO

35 nice one Jeremiah, bring that mighty fine wine tonight?

Japanese announcers are great with understatement: "Yankees offense is not at full production so far this season..."

2008-05-14 17:33:58

42. Yankees Brasil

Giambi is killing them... with his GLOVE!

2008-05-14 17:34:19

43. Just fair

Hey, a lead. Sweet. Will that be the play that puts Giambi on the DL? I just got home so I missed his nice play earler.

2008-05-14 17:36:35

44. tommyl

Ah, Robbie, welcome back. Not a moment too soon.

2008-05-14 17:37:17

45. RIYank

Huh. Was there a dugout conference: "Let's try to jump on him early in the count"?

2008-05-14 17:37:18

46. Just fair

Can you smell what the Cano is cooking?

2008-05-14 17:37:36

47. Shaun P

I think Firefox is buggy - every time I refresh the score, it clearly shows a "2" under runs for the Yanks.

OK, now I KNOW its buggy - it says Cano is 3 for 3 and is hitting .200. Maybe I should switch to IE?

2008-05-14 17:37:48

48. Yankees Brasil

Somebody, please take a pitch every now and then.

2008-05-14 17:38:20

49. tommyl

Can Robbie and Melky ever be going at the same time or is there some rule against it?

2008-05-14 17:39:08

50. tommyl

47 I think its some virus that Hank wrote and released on the interweb. Don't worry, those series of tubes will be cleared up soon enough. Now get off my lawn.

Show/Hide Comments 51-100

2008-05-14 17:40:10

51. ChrisS

49 No.

But, with that hit, Robbie is now hitting .200.

2008-05-14 17:40:12

52. Just fair

By the way, have I mentioned lately that I have serious disdain for Manny Ramirez. He makes a wonderful over the shoulder catch running towards the wall, scales it a la Ken Griffey Jr. to high five a Sox fan in the first row, and then lands to throw to the cut off man. BLEH.

2008-05-14 17:40:17

53. Yankees Brasil

When Melky learns to hit breaking pitches from the left side he's going to be great.

2008-05-14 17:41:53

54. RIYank

Just out of curiosity, when was the last time the Yankees had a clean-up hitter batting .188 in May?

2008-05-14 17:44:26

55. Just fair

I am willing to bet that Moose has his own personal rosin bag that his ACME written on it.

2008-05-14 17:44:56

56. cult of basebaal

who is this space alien and what has he done with our moose???

2008-05-14 17:46:50

57. nick

mooooose!

2008-05-14 17:47:37

58. OldYanksFan

Is Moose... an Ace?

2008-05-14 17:47:51

59. Yankees Brasil

How many pitches for Moose?

2008-05-14 17:50:03

60. kylepetterson

Can someone please get Moose a Cy Young?

2008-05-14 17:51:56

61. tommyl

Who are these Yankees? executing? playing aggresively? crisp defense? Lets start dropping some foul pop ups or something.

2008-05-14 17:52:15

62. nick

ensberg felt our distain--he's reached safely two consecutive times!

2008-05-14 17:52:22

63. tommyl

Ohhhh....soooo close!

2008-05-14 17:54:13

64. Shaun P

49 The last time Cano had his batting average over .200 was Opening Day - or, if you want to get really technical, until his 2nd PA in the 2nd game of the year.

Six weeks under .200 is a long time.

2008-05-14 17:54:24

65. RIYank

59 I think he's at 75.

2008-05-14 17:54:47

66. ChrisS

Wow... that Longoria is really really good.

2008-05-14 17:56:04

67. ms october

i swear damon breaks his bat every game - not sure if it is those maple bats or how he's swinging or both

2008-05-14 17:56:28

68. Shaun P

Where is william? I wanted to ask him what he thought of Girardi's changed around lineup.

I would have put Giambi 8th and bumped everyone else one space, but hey, 2 runs is 2 runs!

2008-05-14 17:57:23

69. RIYank

Shields sure has a lot of pitches. I mean, he's thrown a lot, but I was thinking: fastball, cutter, slider, curve, change.

2008-05-14 17:59:41

70. Yankees Brasil

Back to good ol' sucking. Damon had a 3-1 FB down the pipe and didn't even swing. Abreu had a good 2-0 FB to hit too, and didn't even try. It's really nice to be patient and all, but when you get to 2-0 and 3-1, and you get a fat pitch, why not swing?

2008-05-14 18:00:09

71. tommyl

Ohlendorf is still on the team? When did he last pitch?

2008-05-14 18:01:17

72. Mattpat11

71 Thursday

2008-05-14 18:02:03

73. tommyl

72 Ah, right, thanks. Been awhile. I love watching Moose K someone on a 61mph pitch.

2008-05-14 18:02:28

74. nick

uncle charlie! (ok, cheering along to the radio is kinda lame, but...)

2008-05-14 18:03:08

75. Mattpat11

73 Not like I remembered it off the top of my head. :) God bless baseball reference.

2008-05-14 18:03:11

76. rsmith51

Who is this pitcher for the Yanks? He looks like Mussina, and has Mussina's number, but is pitching a scoreless game into the 7th.

2008-05-14 18:05:13

77. nick

86 pitches--the hook?

2008-05-14 18:06:03

78. RIYank

77 Yep.
But Girardi figures this is a good night for high SAT scores.

2008-05-14 18:07:14

79. OldYanksFan

Moose comes up big! I mean really BIG!

2008-05-14 18:07:43

80. Shaun P

By my count, there have been 27 called strikes legitimately in the zone (or damn close to it), and 16 called strikes out of the zone (some way out).

11 of those 16 way out called strikes were against the Yanks.

And here comes Ohlendorf.

2008-05-14 18:09:41

81. nick

Navaro up--ok if I smell doom?

2008-05-14 18:10:47

82. Alex Belth

Jesuz Olendorf!!!!

2008-05-14 18:10:57

83. Simone

Horrible.

2008-05-14 18:11:18

84. tommyl

Nuts

2008-05-14 18:11:29

85. RIYank

I miss Moose.

2008-05-14 18:11:46

86. ChrisS

Ohlendorf having bad luck.

He comes on and gets his two ground balls to close the inning and instead gives up a run.

2008-05-14 18:13:02

87. tommyl

Well, um, that's one way. Guess that makes up for them getting hits on piddling little groundballs.

2008-05-14 18:13:36

88. RIYank

That could have been worse.

2008-05-14 18:14:24

89. Just fair

Thanks for playing, Ohlie. See ya next game. Wow. I don't remember seeing Moose ever smiling and clapping in the dugout.

2008-05-14 18:16:30

90. RIYank

Dammit, we need base runners for Cano! Or at least one.

2008-05-14 18:17:19

91. RIYank

That'll do.

2008-05-14 18:21:56

92. Shaun P

That won't!

2008-05-14 18:22:04

93. RIYank

Dammit.
Why no pinch runner for Giambi?

2008-05-14 18:22:12

94. Shaun P

Joba coming in?

2008-05-14 18:23:26

95. Shaun P

93 Girardi didn't want to burn Gonzalez?

2008-05-14 18:23:50

96. Shaun P

95 Though I suppose he could have shifted Ensberg to 1B and Gonzalez to 3B . . .

2008-05-14 18:25:20

97. RIYank

Ahhhhhh.

2008-05-14 18:28:21

98. RIYank

It must be difficult to hit against Joba having adjusted to Moose.
Oh, man. Tough call on ball four.

2008-05-14 18:28:21

99. nick

bad walk by Joba there....

2008-05-14 18:31:20

100. Shaun P

98 Considering the 2nd pitch to Iwamura, though called a strike, was outside (says Gameday) . . .

The 2nd pitch to Crawford was also outside. Joba is getting some calls Moose did not.

Show/Hide Comments 101-150

2008-05-14 18:31:58

101. RIYank

100 I think Shields was getting those calls, though.

2008-05-14 18:32:23

102. Shaun P

Am I wrong to want to see a curveball in here somewhere?

2008-05-14 18:34:09

103. ChrisS

Even money that Joba doesn't sniff being a starter this year.

2008-05-14 18:34:09