Randy Johnson P

Mike Mussina

One of these days I'll figure out how to use cut and paste...

Mike Mussina WTFB (Watching from the Bench) or

Mike Mussina GCLIC (Getting Cory Lidle's Ice Cream) or

Mike Mussina RAFP (Resting Arm For Playoffs) or

Mike Mussina SSTJ (Sunflower Seed Tossing Judge)

And I was planning on sending in my resume tonight.

Would you play Tony Womack at DH? Of course not.

Then why, sir, do you play Bernie Williams at DH against a RHP? To date, Bernie is 'hitting' RHP at a rate of .260/.303/.392 - in other words, positively Womackian (career .273/.317/.356).

Please do not expose us Yankee fans to this kind of madness in any games that take place in October.

Kind regards

/rant off

How abour mixing in a start for Wil Nieves too....

with the day off tomorrow it would have been a nice two day break for the walking wounded...

Matsui is a ringer for the Thunder tonight as they open the playoffs...nice pickup for them...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14689919/

Looks like the Abreu trade is the best kind of trade: one that both sides are happy with. Since giving up on the season and trading Abreu, the Phillies have gone 23-14 (a better record than the Yanks have managed since the trade). They are now a contender again, and used some of the cash they saved by dumping Abreu to buy some rent-a-players for the stretch.

"Aaron Guiel, a late-May call-up, has shown power from the lead-off spot and has the highest OPS after Sweeney in their current line-up."

[6,7, er, 8] Shaun P, I love Bernie as much as anybody, but I laughed at your open letter to Joe, partialy because I agree with you re: Bernie, but mostly because the word 'Womack' still strikes me as funny.

Funny thing about Bernie this season though, just when I'm thinking he's cooked, what's Joe thinking,etc. good ol Bernie comes up big, and yes, from either side of the plate.

Considering these could possibly be his final weeks, I like seeing Bernie's name in the lineup, and for some reason I feel good about him in there tonight. Go Bernie!

As for next month, here's hoping the Trenton Thunder's ringer/DH can be our primary DH in the playoffs.

I'd rather see GOB try it right handed. But Matsu will be here soon so this may be one of the last few times we see this. Maybe we should just sit back and savor the memories.

I like that. Can we get "The Execrable Hernandez" instituted as his official nickname? Kinda like Losing Pitcher Mulcahy?

Cy Young winners: 10 starts, 3-3, 4.85 ERA, 47.5 average Game Score
Cy Young votes: 21 starts, 6-12, 5.05 ERA, 47.3 average Game Score
Rookies: 23 starts, 7-8, 5.69 ERA, 43.4 average Game Score
Other: 83 starts, 23-40, 5.79 ERA, 42.8 average Game Score

Journeymen are defined here as non-rookies who have never received a Cy Young vote; it's hard to come up with an objective definition - is A.J. Burnett a journeyman? Josh Beckett?

Rookies include ROY candidates and unknowns. If someone wants to break down the list below into 2 groups, I can provide the data.

Pitcher list:
Cy Young winners: B. Colon, Glavine, Halladay (2), Martinez, J. Santana, Smoltz, Zito (3)
Cy Young votes: Buehrle, Garcia (2), Garland, T. Hudson, Lee (2), Millwood (2), Radke, Schilling (4), Wakefield (3), Washburn (2), Wells, Willis
Rookies: Baek, Corcoran, Garza, Hamels, Hills, Koronka, Lester, Loewen (3), Marcum (2), O'Connor, Pauley, Rheinecker, Sanchez, Saunders (2), Shields, Soler, Sowers, Verlander, Weaver
Other: Affeldt (2), Baker (2), Bautista, Beckett (3), Bedard, Benson (2), Bonderman (2), Burnett (2), Byrd (2), Cabrera, Chacin (2), Chen (2), Clement, R. Colon, Contreras, De La Rosa, Eaton, Elarton, Escobar (2), Fossum (2), Gonzalez, Halsey, Harden, Haren (3), Hendrickson, F. Hernandez, O. Hernandez, L. Hudson, Johnson (2), Kazmir (2), Lackey (2), Ledezma, Lidle, Lilly (3), Loe (2), Lopez (3), Mays, McClung, Meche, Moehler, Myers, Ortiz, Padilla (2), Pineiro, Ramirez, Robertson (2), Saarloos, E. Santana (2), Seo (2), Silva, Tejeda, Towers, Trachsel, Vazquez, Waechter, Westbrook

Why oh why didn't he do that for the Yanks?

If Sheffsui is so worthless, why did Boston average approximately 0.35 runs/game while Ortiz and Manny were on the shelf? Then again, what do I know? I guess 50+ HR and 200+ RBI aren't that important...

Let's go Yan-kees!

if not for a non existant offense, it would look a lot better!

A Rod hit the ball hard in his ground out too. Yanks should be a-scorin' some runs tonight wouldn't ya say?

that is what I am hoping for as well...they are a fraud and the young arms are gassed

0-2, strikeout, lineout, IBB

Top 7 - Trenton 1, Portland 1

0 for his last 19 (.000)
5 for his last 38 (.132)

.132/.313/.211 in that 38 AB span.

6 IP
5 hits
1 BB
13 Ks
1.50 ERA
1.000 WHIP
19.5 K/9
13.00 K/BB

I think it's Lord Theo now - the new Sith Apprentice.

Yup, I'm a dork. Good times!

The announcers are funny, they're trying to dance around the word.

Since returning from his scare...

0-6 with 3 Ks

Oh...wait....uh....sorry Theo.

And somewhere, that holocaust denier Kay is weeping.

And the Cap'n leads the league in hitting!

I shudder to think about that parallel universe with Hughes and Tabata to Florida and Willis in the Bronx in 2006.

I shudder to think about that parallel universe with Hughes and Tabata to Florida and Willis in the Bronx in 2006.

http://tinyurl.com/gq9nh

"When you get hurt and see a little bit of recovery, to me, I was amazed," he said. "It proved to me that there can be fun in rehab as well."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2576702

Get back on track bro.

Are you sure that quote was not from Sheff..

If you really want to stretch and add another plus Yankee moment from today. Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched 7 shutout innings on 70 pitches, striking out 9, including 6 straight swinging in a 1-2-3 5th and 6th innings. Yankees scout Shoichi Kida was in attendance in the VIP section.

(Who thinks they can challenge Mr. Johnson)

0-7, 3 Ks

How much are you hearing as a posting fee for your boy?

Any word if the Yanks just throw a ridiculous number out there?

A little shocking.

http://tinyurl.com/ph4ol

If there is such a thing as karma, Proctor and Villone have already flown ahead to Baltimore.

The Yankees may do something nuts if they really want him. I would, but a budget is still a budget. The Mariners, Orioles, and Ranngers are desperate and the Yankees aren't. The Orioles and Rangers have been known to throw stupid, absolutely outrageous, money at guys when they are back against the wall.

Yanks could go $35 million and maybe be safe. Tough to justify that kind of money, but I'm biased. I happened to think DM is going to pitch like Pedro.

PLEASE be an error...

Wow, I can't see any other team throwing out 90 mil ($35 mil + $55 mil/5 yrs.)

Abreu looks like it is a prank photo and he is doing the "cross-eyed trick", it almost looks like he could wear a monocle instead of normal eyeglasses

That would be a stupid thing to do, but technically speaking it could happen.

I think the Yanks would be safe at $35 million, plus 4 years at 9 or 10 per. It's a ton of money, but I think it's beyond worth it compared to every other free agent option out there. He'll pay for himself in Japanese marketing. They call him "Japan's Ace" over here.

they need to tell Wilson to get his catchers mitt out of the closet for next year as we need a backup catcher and this guy is versatile and an obvious upgrade over
Sal "two slices extra cheese" Fasano....

It's a very common thing to say for those who haven't seen too much Japanese baseball actually, singledd.

There has never been a Major League pitcher from Japan who has been among the top pitchers of his generation. Nomo was already VERY damaged goods by the time he came to the Dodgers with surgery and poor control plagueing him at the end of his Japan tenure.

The best pitchers in Japan over the last 15-20 years have never left Japan, save the Olympics and WBC. Matsuzaka is Pedro Martinez to the rest of Japan's crop. His numbers and skill level is that high. If you look at guys like Kaz Ishii, Irabu, Nomo, and so on....you're looking at Bartolo Colon, Jeff Suppan, and so forth.

I watch him every week yankz and I'm guaranteeing you that he's be better than anyone we've had at the front of our rotation since Clemens.

How about we don't need Proctor in an 8-0 game?

They cannot bring him in, that is insane. What is wrong with Beam, Dotel, Veras, etc...it is the Royals lineup and they need 6 outs...

Proctor and Villone need a week off

I'm not trying to pump myself up. It's not my writing that I care about y'all reading, it's the results and analysis. I write for Yankee fans, but all the major players in the Daisuke Sweepstakes have been linking to me and commenting on my content.

I've even caught the major spots media outlets pirating my info. I wasn't sure until I made a mistake in caluclating some stats, and found the mistakes in 3 or 4 places around the Big Boys articles.

I've corrected them, but it was kind of flattering to see my mistakes all over, used as "original" content.

He has a forkball, a nice change, and a Mariano-esque easy delivery.

He's listed at 6'0" and 187.

I think the Yanks need to setup an apparent Pavano - Wright murder suicide and collect the insurance and sign this guy and his 93 mph wasabi slider

Just quick Q: what about the high pitch counts for Matsuzaka, will that cause a problem?

What is he doing in this game? Is there any rational explanation?

"These guys are athletes and they played all over as kids."

it is sick that this guy is pitching...why not Veras, Dotel, Beam ,etc....

I doubt either Wilson or Guiel would be played in CF if the game were close.

Thompson is still not with the team, but once he is, he'll probably be the CF backup.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YAwmW2S-xX4

ridiculous stuff

Irabu posted a hideous 1.88 K/BB rate and a 1.300ish WHIP in Japan. He isn't even a Top 10 pitcher in his own generation. In fact, he may not even be Top 15.

The sample of Japanese players to come to the US in their prime is almost zero. Players are protected by their Japanese clubs from bolting to the Majors because they don't want to lose their business to the US. If all the best homegrown players leave, NPB will collapse, so they require 9 years of major league service before a guy can leave. By that time most guys are in their early 30's and declining. They can get better money in Japan at that point, because MLB teams don't want to take the risk on an unproven aging guy. They can sign a kid from the Dominican for less money and get the upside.

The Japanese pro resigns himself to playing out his days in Japan for about 3 million a year. Matsuzaka is 25 years old. He has 8 years of service after this season because he started in the pros at 18 after winning the high school championship game on a no-hitter. He's real.

If you can..work up a case in Japanese for Pavano and see if you can create some interest in Osaka for our boy Carl to get a fresh start

I agree BUT can understand after the pyschological damage of 2004 ACLS how people are not the same....me being one of those people....

I would not care if he had a month off....give the guy (and Villone) a break and pass the ball around to the others. maybe he will dust off Mo for the 9th as it is only a strain

Farns keeping his own pitch count low, nice grab.

247, et al: Mike, keep up the good work on Matsuzaka (at some point I'll learn how to spell his name without cheating). Because I think like a cynic too much, I couldn't help but think that perhaps your zeal for him might actually drive the price for him up! Seriously though, I can understand people's hesitation on Japanese players, but this is truly a special situation. While some might have expected tons of power from Hideki Matsui, the cooler heads would have expected exactly what happened- a very solid pure hitter. With Matsuzaka, one has to watch his highlights as one watches Hughes' highlights-- he's going to miss bats in the majors just as he is in Japan. I really hope he's doing that for the Yankees.

Ah, Bernie in CF--that's the old Torre we know.

Sterling: "Proctor pitching tonight because he hasn't worked in a while." No comment needed.

You know if the posting fee counts against their revenue sharing?

If not it's more tolerable, esp. since Moose and Unit are off the books in each of the next two years AND they're paying the minimum for two of their starters (Wang and Hughes).

If Clippard works out, that could be three with only Pavano make serious dough in 2008. They could have a 25 mil rotation between Matsuzaka, Pavano, Hughes, Wang, and Clippard. Not too shabby.

Guiel was sent down to the minors, then DFA'd.

268 No argument there, but I can't see KC crowds doing that regardless. May it's because they've had little to be fired up in 30 years...

He throws top level Major League speed and he locates it effortlessly. Everything he throws has movement. That's the formula that breaks the level of competition argument. If you have those tools, they translate. Straight fastball guys like Irabu, for example, could K 10 guys per 9 in Japan because of the level difference, but sported a 1.9 K/BB. Nomo too. The combination of power and control is rare...even in the bigs. Look at the list of K/BB leaders.

From baseball-reference:

"June 3, 1993: Drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1993 amateur draft. Player signed August 30, 1993."

"October 30, 2000: Granted Free Agency"

"joe...my the feeling in my arm is starting to come back...let me in the game"

So it's a good day.

Fun stuff. Glad I could take in a Yankee game with you. Always a pleasure.

Go browse Matsuzaka Watch for 30-45 minutes and check the August archives for some metrics. I think I have a video clip of his 14 K performance against Hanshin in there somwhere. It might be in July, but you'll see it if you scroll through the archives. You Tube feed in the middle of the Game Recap.

Cheers.

The question is not if there is talent in Japan. The question is how to evaluate talent in other leagues, and thus determine how much a given star is worth (or more accurately, how much money a team should should gamble to sign a star out of the Japanese league, for example, since all signings are basically gambles).

Not here, but to my wife at home. And I think she might have been asleep at the time anyway.

The reality is that the game is played rather differently in Japan, and that needs to be taken into account (somehow--I don't know the answer), when eveluating Japanese leagues talent and determining reasonable contracts.

Oh that's good stuff.

Hughes struck out 13 PortSawx in the EL playoff game tonight in 6 innings.

Hopefully a prelude to his domination of the senior Sawx for many years to come.

And Godzilla went 1 for 3, driving in 1 of Trenton's 3 runs, and walked once.

Trenton won.