Any chance the start time could be moved up to 7 PM to try and beat the rain?

Things would have been different had the Yankees clinched home-field advantage - oh well, no reason to cry over spilled milk.

The Yankees face Paul Byrd and Washburn, they have to get on both these pitchers early and put the halos away for good. RJ needs to have his ugly game face today. One game at a time....one game at a time.

But since we know that MLB bows down to what FOX wants, and not the other way around, get creative. If it looks like the game will only go an inning or two, start Small instead. Don't let Unit even warm up until they're 100% sure a full game will be played.

I hate to potentially lose Small for a long relief job in Game 4, but Chacon has been reliable. Small should be OK to be ready to go in a Monday Game 5, if need be, and Wang should be good to go too.

If Sierra does start because Torre decides to rely on the small sample size of at bats that Ruben's had against Byrd, and doesn't DH Posada, then we'll have another exhibit in the post-mortem Torre prosecution.

Article in today's NY Post hints that Sierra will DH. Sigh... I don't care what his stats are against Byrd. Play Bubba and DH Bernie. Keep Sierra on the bench in his most valuable role - PH.

This hurts the Yanks immensely. It allows the Haloes to drop one at leats one of their next two scheduled starters (Byrd and Washburn) and bring Colon and Lackey back.

It does, however, give Mariano, Gordon and Mussina a little more rest. If Randy goes deep in Game 3 (whenever it is played), we'll have a rested and ready GordMo ready for Games 4 and 5 (if neccessary).

Bob B, they usually have rain out information on the radio. 1050 AM is probably your best bet, but I'm sure the news stations will have info too.

Regarding someone's comment about Giambi taking the left side of the infield for an easy push bunt: Interesting idea. However it seems to me that aside from upping the odds of fielding a ground ball, the idea of a shift is to get into a batter's head. It's kinda like the Green Monster. It looks so close, lefties are tempted to drive one the opposite way and end up turning-over on the inside pitch. Giambi is best off ignoring the defense, working the count and looking for something to drive over the infield.

If it was someone more versatile with the bat, I'd say it could be smart, but then again, someone versatile wouldn't merit a shift.

Can't wait til game time.

Oh, and despite his sloppiness, I love that when Cano is up with men on I'm thinking the guy will come through. What a pleasure to have someone of quality come up through the ranks.

In 2002 with Seattle, Sierra hit a single and a solo homer in 4 PAs aginst Byrd (still a Royal), this time at Safeco, of course not a hitters' park.

Torre's lost it if he DHs Sierra vs Byrd given these 7 measley PAs.

Slight optimism - Unit is a strikeout/groundball pitcher, so hopefully OF defense won't matter too much.

In any case, I don't think there's a shot in hell that Torre gets creative with Small, or that the game gets moved up. So now I'm hoping that it gets called before a pitch is thrown.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/schedules

That better be correct because that is what my TIVO is set to for today.

John Flaherty gets the start tonight behind the plate instead of Jorge Posada. This breaks a streak of 67 post-season starts by Posada.

Still, Flaherty has caught all but one of Johnson's last 22 starts, beginning when the Big Unit tossed seven shutout innings against St. Louis on June11. Johnson has gone 12-2 with a 3.29 ERA in games caught by Flaherty this season, and 5-6 with a 4.55 ERA while working with Posada. That includes a 10-2 loss to Detroit on July 1, the last time the Yanks' longtime catcher has called signals for the veteran ace.
I had a discussion with a friend of mine about this the other day. He didn't see how you could start an offensive millstone like Flaherty in the playoffs. He also thought the sample sizes were too small to be able to discern an actual difference between the ability of the catchers to affect a pitcher.

I disagree. If you believe the difference is caused by Flaherty, then he's saved the Yankees over 25 earned runs in around 21 games. Posada isn't that great a hitter that he's going to produce that much offense over 25 games. Posada created 71 runs in 142 games played, or 1/2 a run per game. For all intents and purposes, we'll give John a 0 for runs created. That means the Yankees are losing 1/2 a run offensively, but gaining over a run defensively with Flaherty behind the plate. That seems like the right trade off to me.

It also explains why catchers are not known for their hitting. Catchers can have a huge defensive impact on the game, and that's often worth more than the best offense.

I'd also like to note that this is nothing new. Torre often started Girardi in the post season in 1998 and 1999, even though Posada was clearly the superior offensive player. I trust Torre's recognition of defensive talent behind the plate, and he made the right moves in each case.

It helps that we're talking about a pitcher who has the potential to throw a perfect game any time he takes the mound. If Flaherty helped shave a run and a half off of, say, Hideo Nomo's ERA it wouldn't really mean much because he'd still be giving up runs by the boatload.

ESPN seems move accomdating to me, but I doubt they would want the game moved, either.

And nice post from Dave Pinto - has me feeling a lot better about Flash playing tonight.

I hope the games are canceled are early, but knowing the Yanks they'll wait till the very last minute.

http://www.hightimes.com/ht/events/content.php?bid=724&aid=24
Texas Ranger (and former New York Yankee) pitcher Steve Karsay also was seen in the VIP section

Of course if I was Torre, I would be starting Posada at C.

Is Posada the DH?

Scattered showers are moving through northern New Jersey...and western Fairfield County in Connecticut. These showers are becoming larger in areal coverage and in intensity. These showers are moving to the north northeast at around 20 mph. Some of these showers have rain rates between two to four tenths of an inch of rain per hour. Accumulations of rain should be approximately a tenth to two tenths of an inch of rain with the passage of the more intense showers through 1:45 PM.

Flood Watch in effect from 8 PM EDT this evening through late Saturday night...

I just think Flaherty is more likely to aquiesce to Randy's prima donna status than Posada.

According to this link, Torre seems to be leaning towards Sierra as DH.

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051006&content_id=1240837&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

The reasoning Torre uses is puzzling, to say the least. He seems to be saying that he prefers Sierra over, say, Posada and Bernie because Sierra is a switch-hitter with lots of experience.

I haven't sat down trying to prove it, but it sure seems that these days Torre prefers better fielders against tough pitchers. Note, however, that on Wednesday night, he opted for Martinez at first, Williams in center and Giambi as the DH on a night when the Yankees played their biggest groundball pitcher. I was impressed.

We know that when Giambi plays first base, he hits better, right? But are we looking at that question the wrong way? When his health was poor at the beginning of the season, he wasn't playing in the field. As soon as he started to feel better, Torre began to use him in the field. Maybe Giambi hits better when he plays the field because he hits better when he's in better shape. How old is this pattern, and how meaningful is it (i.e., does Giambi DH on days where he "needs a rest" or when he feels sore, and would thereby be less likely to be at his best)?

Meanwhile, I think what Flaherty does for Johnson is keeps an eye on his mechanics and makes in-game corrections that keep him from getting all fouled up. From what I've seen, Flaherty usually goes out to the mound to chat with Randy after a pitch gets away from him, which implies that he's working on mechanics with him. I believe Johnson has said as much in post-game interviews, that Flats stays on him about his delivery.

Bill, your point is extremely valid, but I would counter by saying that at 42 years old, Johnson's tweaky knee and bad back might force his delivery out of wack more than they used to, thus necessitating Flaherty's constant mechanical corrections.

Ultimately, though, I'm sure it is just a case of Johnson's personality clashing with Jorge's. That said, Pinto's stats show that the team can endure it.

Meanwhile, because this trend has been consistant throughout his entire career and has been backed up by my own observation, I think it's legitimate and not due to injury concerns. I remember when the Yankees first signed Giambi and he was rhobust MVP candidate, they wanted him to DH so Nick Johnson could play 1B, but noted that his hitting really dropped off when he did so.

As for Johnson and Posada, I agree: it's a personality conflict. When that starts to hurt the team, I'd like to think that grownups can put personality conflicts aside, but the real world doesn't work that way.