"Wings manager Stan Cliburn said Ruiz 'overreacted' and was 'more scared than anything.'

Ruiz agreed.

'The pitch was up and in, but he didn't do it on purpose,' Ruiz said. 'It was an instinct.'"

Man, even God/Mother Nature doesn't want Pavano pitching for the Yankees.

I'll just chalk up last night's game to being "one of those games" where you don't have pitching or offense.

Damn that Chris Britton...only 5 Ks in 3 scoreless innings? What a slacker. If he can't give a better effort maybe he needs to spend another two seasons toiling in the minors.

Now that Nady is on board, the need for a DH is lessened (unless you were willing to play Damon in CF), so Posada's best role would be as a catcher...a role he can't perform without surgery.

I think that's what the Yankees were thinking.

Sliced is already convinced, but one more consideration: Nady is RH. The Yankees clearly were still concerned about their LH/RH imbalance, especially when Damon came back (which would displace any Gardner-Christian platoon).

As a switch hitter and presumably full time DH, Po' would offset the LH imbalance of Damon + Giambi (w/ some Sexson).

Now with Nady and (in theory Sexson), there is much less need for another RH bat, which removes some of the pressure of keeping Po' in the lineup as a DH. Heck, they even kept Christian around as the BUOF/PR, and he's RH.

Grrr...

Am I the only one that thinks Pavano isn't going to be useless? He'll be pitching for next year's contract....Look, he got four years and (almost!) forty million, and now all he has to do is put together 10 or 12 starts and he gets to argue he "deserves" a couple/few million next year from some sucker. If he makes the starts, someone will pay.

I still feel good about this team, but this time last year I was convinced we would make the playoffs (and had the pythagoreans to back me up). This year, not so convinced. We must win games like last night's game.

From the SWB Yankees blog;
"Bottom fifth: Brian Bruney threw one pitch, hit Rochester clean-up hitter Randy Ruiz in the back of the head, and got ejected. So much for taking another step forward in his rehab. Bruney clearly didn't mean to hit Ruiz, but Ruiz got all puffed up and started toward the mound before catcher Chris Stewart jumped in front of him. Bruney, as you'd expect, got pretty pissed when Ruiz started acting like an idiot, and both pitcher and batter were ejected. Bruney didn't do anything over the top and must have said a magic word."

That was an ugly incident.

damon LF
hacky CF
nady RF
abreu DH

Reminds me of a query I had earlier, after the insanely wide k-zone for Joba and Beckett last weekend: we all know umps have wider and narrower (or higher/lower) zones. Is there a chart, a site, that indicates this? Is it just gossip and anecdote? I would, for example, be mindful of a tight ump and a nibble pitcher like Moose now, or Kenny Rogers, or Moyer, if I were managing and had some flexibility.

I thought the Posado surgery would follow immediately on Nady. I'm not sure what puzzles anyone about it, but the answers have been pretty clear up this thread. NO need for an extra DH now at all, and we DO want JoPo by March.

What remains interesting is ... what happens with Hideki if he DOES manage to rehab? Agreed these are GOOD problems, but at-bats are hard to find and there is general agreement that players do better playing regularly, short of getting fatigued. My BET is he'll not make and get surgery too, but ...