Oy is right.

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That was about as many wasted opportunities as I have ever seen in one game.

It's statements like that that make me trust Torre far more than his day-to-day moves. The Yanks are only 1 game out in the loss column and have the best pythagorean record in the majors at 13-6. If the Yanks continue to hit and pitch as they have been and have the bad luck to finish 10 games below their pythagorean record they will still win 100 games. The pythagorean #s call for a .680 winning percentage. There are a lot of positives so far. Damon is solid, Moose is back, and Jeter and Giambi are having MVP caliber seasons. Sure it's puzzling that Miguel Cairo is projected to have 350 ABs but it's if he continues to hit .313/.389/.500 nobody will care. All is well.

Heh heh heh heh ....

It's funny, but sorta sad, too. Pavano will have to to 10-7 this year to match KB's two year totals with the Yanks. Geez.

Enough negativity. Let's hope the Yankees got the crap out of their system last night and will return the pod players back to their pods and will have the A-Team on the field next week in Fenway.

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Gotta forgive me. My eyes are still a little blurry from all the gouging last night.

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Yankeeography: Jose Canseco
Yankeeography: Denny Neagle

Also, if true, I wonder how much better Cano's home hitting is.

2005 at home: .252/.274/.378, 238 ABs
2005 on road: .335/.358/.525, 284 ABs

Cairo at Yankee stadium, career: .312/.361/.429, 282 ABs

And, just because I think you'd have to stretch to get a whole paragraph out of this one -

Yankeeography: Kevin Mmahat

In all seriousness, has there been a Rickey Yankeeography yet, and if not, why the hell not?

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Shaun P
15 Luis Polonia's is only going to be marketed to 15 y.o. girls.

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According to NY Post, Bernie is expected to start tonight, position to be determined. I'm guessing they'll DH Matsui against the lefty Hendrickson, with Bernie in left.
The way Mats has been slumping (and exhibiting frustration) I'd rather see Phillps DH, and Hideki get 99% of the night off, with a late pinch hit at-bat to keep the streak going.
Just take the damn series, Yanks.

By the way, how about Damon (in NY Daily News) saying he'd "love" to DH about once a week? Good idea. I like how Joe's been using DH as a revolving rest stop.

How about a joint Yankeeography: Ken Phelps and Jay Buhner? (Buhner played a handfull of games in pinstripes in '87 and '88.) I bet they could get Jerry Stiller to narrate it instead of Sterling. That would be pretty hilarious.

20, 22 - you can get complete career and complete year-by-year splits from Retrosheet, just use the handy RS links in the sidebar. For current year splits, I use ESPN.

http://tinyurl.com/l6rbh

Wow, talk about thinking outside the box. That's the kind of progressive thinking and use of information the Yanks ought to employ more.

Any strategy that gets Ortiz to think bunt is worth considering.

I think I'd hold A-Rod at third for the bunt, and position Jeter according to the groundball/fly ball tendencies of the pitcher.

Chass is probably right though, too radical for the conservative Yanks.

LHP Kevin Mmahat 0-2 7.7 IP 12.91 ERA.

Mmahat was a cat on the mound with a career fielding percentage of .500. If you are googling yourself Mr. Mmahat - congrats on making the bigs! I've always had to pay to get into Yankee Stadium. You did not.

To add insult to injury, Extra Innings cut away from the game in the midst of Jeter's AB in the 10th. 11:00pm sharp and the green grass is replaced by"this channel is not available". In retrospect, probably for the better, as I probably would have thrown something at the TV.

Yankeeography: Danny Tartabull (complete with Seinfeld guest spots!)

Yankeeography: Michael Kay

Yankeeography: Susan Waldman!!! Yikes!

Yankeeography: Brian Dayette

Yankeeography: Kenny Lofton

Oh, and he also had a mouthful of chew, droplets of which dribbled down his chin.

I jerked awake and ended up sleeping with the lights on the rest of the night.

Yankeeography: Henry Rodriguez.

Dynasty's Bookends.

19 My god, first I have to root for Damon. Now, I have to root for him once a week as DH? In year 1 of that contract?

Why, so in year three (of four) we can justify the 'speedy' guy getting AB's even though he can't: a) play CF anymore; b) hit for power anymore; or c) can't run so fast anymore? Didn't we already live through this enough with GOB? Why not just bat the pitcher at the DH slot?

I'd be all for the rotating DH/OF if we had something on the bench worth having play 4 days a week. The rest of the time you have your back-up 1B in the field and Giambi at DH. Unfortuntely, it's not looking so good.

Watched the Phillies play last night. Dave Delucci comes in to hit for the pitcher and gets a hit. How is it that someone like that isn't on this team? The only guy I feel coming off the bench can do something in a situation is Cairo! That's scary and says something.

33 Didn't we try that one already? And Pena's not exactly tearing up AAA at .617 OPS (21 AB's).

Next guy you try is Russ Johnson. .368.436 .676 (68 AB's).

All that said, the run differential is a great 5 predictor of things to come if everyone stays healthy.

But how about Yankeeography: Kevin Maas? Would it be be a commercial break between Mel Hall and Balboni?

I banged that DeLucci drum last year when he was kicking ass with Texas. Apparently, his OBP isn't high enough for this team - because we need more guys who can take the occasional walk

Anyhow, my point being is that part (coming up with a clever title) always seems to be what takes me the longest to think about, do you guys have that problem sometimes? Where you know the content, but you are looking for something catchy to attract your readers. I was looking at what Cliff posted yesterday (Everybody Wang-McClung Tonight) and though it's simple, it's pretty catchy and funny. I was looking through last night's comments too and somebody wrote that they really like this one from last year: If this is Wong, I don't want to be Wright. Those are really good and clever and I'm far from a good writer, but I do appreciate good writing when I see it. One of the beauties of this internet revolution....I suppose.

Any chance the Minor League team names can be made into links to the current team stats on milb.com? Just makes it that much easier to see the guys not listed or to check to see if anyone's hot or not.

Even still I wasn't necessarily saying him (though he could work, as could Juan Rivera) - someone like him.

Fact is, I repeat headlines--not too often, but often enough. Coming up with headlines might just be one of those things like doing crossword puzzles--either you've got a certain knack for it or you don't. I can't do crosswords for the life of me, I'm okay at the headlines, but again, I don't struggle over them too long. I'll pick a dull one and move on instead of spending too much time on it. But I have been known to change a headline two or three times after initially posting something...just cause I can.

http://tinyurl.com/kpexn

Short story: In a blow-out against the White Sox, Kenjii (Seattle C) tests the reliability of the scouting reports by calling for pitches where he 'shouldn't'.

To me, this is the clearest evidence possible that the Yanks' offense is 100% absolutely without a doubt A-OK.

PS - Yankeeography: Charles Hudson

http://tinyurl.com/njyw7

As much as a combo of Papsmear and Hansen would be scary, I think the Red Sox are looking ahead. I'll put money on it that they think Wells is done and are planning for Papsmear to move back in the rotation and moving Foulke back to the closing spot with Hansen as insurance.

Yankeeography: Bobby Meachem

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i am also guessing cliff and alex's seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of pop music lends itself way to clever titles.

and as a part of this week's new series, Steinbrenner's Blunders:

Yankeeography - Rick Rhoden

Thus begins "Yankeeography: Witasick, Wohlers, & Weaver." Woof.

Yankeeography: Felix Heredia, the Run Fairy.
Yankeeography: Matt Lawton, Why's nobody probing me?
Yankeeography: Enrique Wilson, No Value Whatsoever
Yankeeography: Karim Garcia, Terror in the Bullpen
Yankeeography: John Olerud, Protocol Droid

Fun thread. Anything to take the mind off of last night's debacle.

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"Due to his far from adqueate defensive skills, he has been referred to as 'The Juggler' because he would struggle to hold on to a ball when he did catch one..

He, suffered from an intense condition of arachnophobia. On one occasion this Yankee great sustained cuts and scrapes on his feet, knees and arm during a violent nightmare about spiders. He popped out of bed, bumped into a glass table and plunged down a staircase, all occurring when he was asleep. Woefully, he ended up being place on the 15 day disabled list. "

Yankeeography: Glenllen Hill

(tidbits courtesy of the amazing www.wikipedia.org)

Man...kind of think of it, that sounds like a promo for the next episode Centerstage.

Oh god, I can hear the Michael Kay chuckle in the background...

Yankeeography: Charles Gipson. The pinch runner who kept getting picked off.

39 I was thinking the same thing last night -- this is a tight, weird game. Keep Farnsworth in for another inning since he looked so dominant in the eighth.

And without further ado I present the "Yankeeography: From Hell" complete roster...

1B – Steve Balboni (R)
2B – Tony Womack (L)
SS – Bobby Meachem (S)
3B – Ken Phelps (L)
C – John Flaherty (R)
RF – Mel Hall (L)
CF – Luis Polonia
LF – Jose Canseco (R)
DH – Henry Rodriguez (L)

Bench:

L – Kevin Maas (IF)
R – Brian Dayett (OF)
R – Raul Mondesi (OF)
L - Kenny Lofton (OF)
L - Johnny Oates (C)

Rotation:

R – Kevin Brown
R – Rick Rhoden
L – Denny Neagle
R – Jeff Weaver
L – Brien Taylor

Bullpen:

R – Mark Wohlers
R – Jay Witasek
L – Kevin Mmahat
R – Charles Hudson
L - Rick Honeycutt
R - Ed Whitson

Inactive (trade pending): Jay Buhner (OF/1B)
General Manager: John Sterling
Manager: Michael Kay
Bench Coach: Suzyn Waldman

Some of these players I remember as fondly (Meacham, Hall, Maas) some not (Brown, Neagle) and some not at all (Mmahat). Remember this post and look at it when you get too down about this year's ballclub. It's not as bad as you think.

I nominate Gary Ward or Dion James instead.

I did editorialize a bit by placing Lofton and Mondesi on the bench where they could be sour and disruptive but the rest of the roster was just listing the players mentioned above.

38 You know Russ Johnson is always a member of my "best of what we got" bench. And I argued for the Yanks keeping Delooch (who I loved even though he didn't hit a lick in pinstripes) as a fourth OF, but no luck. 42 Dellucci was actually part of what the Yanks got from the DBacks in return for Mondesi (along with Bret Prinz, who has since been flipped for Wil Nieves. Raul Mondesi: the gift that keeps on giving).

43 Good idea. I've long meant to link the mL team's official sites. Those two additions/changes to the side bar will go to the top of my list.

Finally, with regards to headlines, Murphy 50 does know me well, but I wasn't eyeing that matchup in advance (though I do keep my eye on potential Chacon-Chacin games), it was just kinda obvious to my twisted mind. Some of them just come out like that and go up before I even start writing, othertimes I got nothin' and just force something after finishing the post. One of the first rules of writing, though, is don't allow yourself to get hung up on a title or a lede. If you can't figure out how to start, just write the middle, you'll eventually figure out how you need to set the stage for what you've just written.

Meanwhile, I'm amazed no one has suggested Yankeeography: Alvaro Espinoza. I'd actually watch that one. I loved that guy, even if he made Miguel Cairo look like Albert Pujols.

God, that's funny sh*t.

As for the all-time W-team, how about Rondell White? I believe that his single-season VORP was the worst ever for a Yankee left fielder (even worse than Womack).