Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Last fall, fans and media were calling for Joe Torre's head. The Yankees had been eliminated from the ALDS in four games and the season long tension surrounding Alex Rodriguez, which had been rekindled by a back-biting Sports Illustrated article by Tom Verducci for which Torre had been a primary source, had culminated with Torre batting Rodriguez eighth in the elimination game. In response, Brian Cashman fired media relations director Rick Cerrone (well, technically he non-renewed him).
This spring, fans and media have been calling for Joe Torre's head. The Yankees are languishing in last place after a dreadful April performance marked by a near complete collapse of the pitching staff. That collapse was touched off by poor performance by the starters, which lead to an increased strain on the bullpen, and has been perpetuated by a series of injuries to the rotation. Most curiously, three Yankee starting pitchers and Hideki Matsui have hit the disabled list with hamstring strains, the most recent being überprospect Phil Hughes, who went down in the midst of throwing a no-hitter. In response, Brian Cahsman has fired director of performance enhancement Marty Miller.
In both cases, Cashman gave the blood-thirsty hordes a head on a spike without disrupting the core of the team, a surgical strike, if you will, as opposed to a massacre. As for the hordes, blood has been spilled. Move along.
As for tonight's game. Andy Pettitte looks to avoid the mysterious fifth-inning collapse he suffered against the Red Sox on Friday and pick up his long-delayed second win of the season. In his way stands 25-year-old Robinson Tejeda, who has been far and away the Rangers' best starter in the early going.
Incidentally, for those who missed it, the Rangers made a couple of roster moves before yesterday's game, placing Frank Catalanotto on the disabled list and calling up ex-Met Victor Diaz (who was promptly inserted into the clean-up spot and victimized by a monstrous Phil Hughes curve in his first major league at-bat in twelve months), and exchanging righty reliever Scott Feldman for counterpart Mike Wood.
Here is a picture of good ol' Gipson:
http://yankeefan.blogspot.com/gipson.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/24s74b
Retrosheet from the game:
http://tinyurl.com/yw2un4
The implication that the series against Detroit and the slow early start is what people who want him fired are focusing on is just plain wrong.
I have no idea whether Miller deserved to be fired. But I can't believe that in eleven days he could have done something to Hughes that caused, or allowed, an injury. So I do think he's being scapegoated, frankly. But it's probably a good idea anyway.
I posted this in the last thread but it got a bit upstaged by the news of Miller. In any case, I don't know if its possible the way the Toaster is set up, but I think it would be cool/useful/fun to be able to have a user profile, so that we can learn a bit more about our fellow posters here. Many of us don't really know much about each other but have been commenting faithfully for 3 years or so now. Just a little bio section that links from our name when we post or something? Is that possible, and if so, would you be down with that?
I'm not sticking up for Miller, I know nothing about him other than a precious few facts that I've seen online, but I would imagine other factors, like luck and age have something to do with all the Yankee injuries this year.
He needed to go, I would have fired him when the sun came up this morning, but I'm far from convinced that his firing solves anything.
10 Nothing is clear about the players' conditioning. Hughes apparently has had the same routine for months, and didn't change it. Mariano uses Miller's program and is fine. Moose did, too, and isn't. Andy doesn't use it, and is fine.
Shouldn't we have the "best people that money could buy" (we get accused of that with the players, why not the staff) in these positions.
Our coaching staff is also no exception. I think Bowa and Pena have been great additions to the staff, but I'm not so sure about Guidry and Mattingly. I loved them both as players, but it seems like as coaches they are learning on the job and we can't afford that, IMO.
23 Good call on the yoga instructor. I bet this guy has never pulled a hammy:
http://tinyurl.com/2dql8m
Yogi Coudoux
http://tinyurl.com/3duf3s
I always loved him on the show "That's Incredible" back in the 70's when he would get inside that small plexi-glass box:
http://tinyurl.com/398btw
Yogi Laser
http://tinyurl.com/38c6xv
or even Yogi Baird
http://www.yogibaird.com/
Well, maybe not that last one... but you get the point, a little more flexibility might help. ;-)
So......rain, huh?
http://tinyurl.com/2wvsuy
Boo to the rain, no fun at all.
It's 'fun' looking at the Yoga/Yogi pictures, but isn't it obvious these guys never strain/pull muscles? Or course, very few people can do the extreme stuff, and it takes a lot of practice, but even people who practice Yoga casually, claim they are more limber and agile.
ESPECIALLY now that there is weight training, all that bulking needs to be counteracted by stretching.
Anybody have any news on Texas weather?
AT 654 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DESTRUCTIVE WINDS IN EXCESS OF 80 MPH. THESE STORMS WERE LOCATED ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM TROPHY CLUB TO MANSFIELD...AND MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION! SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER! WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE HAS BEEN REPORTED!
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A STRONG BUILDING AND STAY INSIDE...AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION. SEEK SHELTER NOW INSIDE A STURDY STRUCTURE AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!
Sooooo... maybe its best not to be throwing baseballs.
Re chiropractors:
Until recently most "real" doctors thought of chiropractors as fakes, that chiropractic medicine is not really medicine.
Just kidding, Chiropractors seem to be gaining respect in the medical community. Acupuncture, too.
I can vouch 100% for my chiropractor .... he is not a quack, and has kept my vertebrae "quiet" for many years.
We had a storm like that last night here, delayed the start of the Mudhens - SWB Yankees game by about 1:15. As the tornado sirens had been going off, I elected not to go see the game (that, and Phil Hughes was pitching in Arlington, not Toledo). Going tomorrow and Friday.
Sure, Miller is the sacrificial lamb, but just by his resume I wouldn't have hired him in the first place and am not sorry to see him go. Much prefer someone who knows the particular stresses and conditioning needed for a pitcher to go 9 innings, or stretch to scoop up a low throw to first.
Miller should try his program out first someplace that doesn't matter -- like Kansas City. Don't start your experiments with the Yankees.
Quite frankly, I'd rather they call the game, it usually is cooler after such storms and the last thing we need is another player's hammy seizing up due to cool weather. Just tuck all the relievers in early and get a good night's sleep.
They have Ryan "Islets of" Langerhans playing CF tonight. Ouch.
Who is Carl Pavano?
Then again, with the _ < thoughtful decisions that came about after the run of WS rings came to a sudden halt, this might simply be result of those long ago head-scratchers. There's still debate on how much Cashman had to do with those as opposed to Tampa's usual meddling, but in light of these recent activities, I have to think about it some more.
And just a thought: how many of George's underlings in the organization are still smarting from Cash's power move? Just askin'...
52 Isn't that a brand of head cheese?
As a pitcher, you definitely don't want to have anything in your right arm, so you must shut it down immediately if you feel anything in there. Carl told me that.
Like any profession, the are good/better and bad/worse ones. However, my personal experience over 35 years and maybe 50 visits over that time, is that I go from a state of mild pain/discomfort, or on a few occasions, extreme pain and total lack of mobility (one time I laid down in the back of a station wagon because I could NOT get into the front or back seat), to 90-100% relief, with a 1/2 of treatment, for usually under $50, with no blood, needles or drugs.
No wonder 'Doctors' don't recognize Chiropractors. But ask JD or any of the millions who have experienced it. I have to laugh when people tell me it doesn't work... especially people who have never gone.
However, one time I hurt my back at work, so my Boss sent me to the doctor. Since I wasn't bleeding and nothing was broken, the Dr. didn't have a clue. However, if he had known what to look for, he would have found swelling in the effected area (thus why Chiropractors have you use ice). He tried to sound like a Doctor, gave me a weeks worth of pain killers, and told me to stay in bed for 2 days. I left in pain, and the bill was around $250 for nothing (although I did enjoy the pain killers... recreationally of course).
43 This is not typical and there are back issue that Chiropractor can't 'cure'. Some people, if the are not treated for the initial years there was a problem, can get 'out' very easily. If you hurt yourself, and go for years with your spine 'out of alignment', many times, even after treatments to put your spine 'back in', the body wants to go back to it's 'natural position' of being out. So there are people who need to go weekly or so.
If you get 'out' and DON'T get fixed, your body will still heal in a while. It often compensates for the injury with an 'adjustment' to a diffent part of the body. This is why many older people are badly 'stooped', or people have uneven walks/gaits, or one leg longer then the other, or one shoulder stooped lower then the other.
My 'most fun' experience was one time, at a very good and favorite Chiropractor, I went in with lower back pain (I was around 25 at the time). She ran her hand up and down my spine, identified what was 'out', and then asked if I was constipated. I had never has any of 'those issues', so I was about to say no... except I thought about it and the last 3 or 4 days I was constipated. Anyway, she fixed that too, and that night I had a 'big celebration'.
Is is this garbage that makes it so fifficult to support Torre or Cashman any further.
For God's sake, put Giambi at 1B, Melky in Center and Phelps at DH. Why this isn't obvious is beyond me. Giambi's OBP, AVG, and SLG are all higher when he plays defense. But that is the least of the reasons that Joe and Brian need to wake the fuck up. If I had my way, Nieves would be sent down and Phelps would pick up the 30 or so games that Jorge wont play. For the untlra-conservative Yankees, I know that's crazy talk, but at least do the obvious. It is very difficult to care about a team, which obviously doesn't care whether they put the best team on the field.
Hey but at least the day off means that Beltran wont be running on wet grass....oh that's right. Well at least El Duque can make a spot start for us out of the bullpen...oh that's right.
It's still open, if you're absolutely delusional.
I wish they'd let Phelps try catching a game.
At first I thought, well, you know, another day off for the team is a good thing. But a doubleheader? Ugh.
And Beltran and Duque? Seriously, Duque is (way) past his prime and belongs in a pitchers park in the NL. And Beltran wasn't needed for more than his defense at the time.
There's a lot of negativity towards the bit players on this team because it "kills" the offense. But with an offense like ours it really shouldn't hurt so much to take out one or two guys. Damon was out last night and the yanks soared.
Holy Sh*t on a shingle, I can't even say I can't believe it. There are just no words.
"At that time." Exactly my point about shortsightedness.
And there isn't a pitcher in our bullpen less Mo that is any better than ElDuque now, then, or next year. Not to mention he would have been about as expensive as an old pair of shoes.
Phelps throws like Mike Piazza? Well thank God for that! At least he doesn't throw like Will Nieves. Again, catcher shortsighedness. When things are going well we dont look at mistakes so closely, but now that they are not. It is fair to question things.
Our offense "shouldn't" need the help from out bit players. That's true. But a manager also shouldn't put a team on the field that isn't as good as it could be. Phelps may be garbage, but we'll never find out if Torre keeps running Minky out there. And not either Dh'ing Giambi and putting Phelpls at 1B, or the reverse, is just plain bad managing. Keeping Nieves is also bad General Managing. Not using one reliever longer in games we are losing badly and resting the other guys is also bad managing. All studies have found that relievers are better when they pitch 3 innings in 3 or 4 days, rather than pitching 1 inning every day. So if Torre really is managing by the book, as many claim, he obviously cannot read. The magnifying glass is looked through more closely whilst things are bad, and that shouldn't surprise Torre or anyone else.
Sorry the Warriors choked on a chicken bone last night with two minutes to go. Hopefully they can win the next one at home. Nine point lead with two and a half minutes to go, yuck! They had their feet on the Maverick's neck and they let them up. I hope it doesn't come back to bite them.
I don't know what that means.
Wil Nieves is a fine defensive catcher.
And as for Beltran, what he would bring now is offense, and the Yanks don't need it. He was a defensive upgrade over Bernie, and would be over Damon, but we needed a leadoff guy, not an RBI guy.
Giambi doesn't play the field because it is an injury risk, not a strategic move.
Top catching prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia made his big league debut with the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday evening.
He is widely considered to be the best catching prospect in the minor leagues. He was called up due to the injury to Brian McCann.
At 14 letters, he has the longest last name in MLB history.
How about Washington's use of Mahay the last game when they were down 9 runs to the Yankees? Joe should just go to Henn for 3 or 4, or Proctor for 2 or 3. You dont use guys every day. There are plenty of managers who do it. In fact, more do it than don't, especially when they are down big, or the bullpen is being used heavily.
For one example.
Is that why Cashman signed a guy with a lower OBP and AVG than a man we have playing SS?
I am not trying to be argumentative. But we could have had a CF for 10 years, rather than a player who wont make it through 3.
And Jeter was a fine leadoff guy, but is a better number 2 hitter. Maybe the best in baseball. Leadoff was unnatural. Truth is, Jeter can bat anywhere in the lineup, but is best in the 2 hole. Damon fills a key role and helps jeter fill his own.
http://tinyurl.com/3xxs8l
Also, is this the same Jeter?
http://tinyurl.com/2qd6a3
I agree with you insofar as the batting order is concerned. I just thought at the time that the move was a stop-gap. Now we will be forced to overpay an aging Jones, if he is even willing to come to NY. Damon has to be converted to 1B soon. He cannot even hit the cutoff man anymore for crying out loud.
Gene Michael thought that Melky would be a great CF'er for a long time. I don't know if that factored in. But when you have a chance to sign a guy like Beltran, you do it. Defense and post-season play are enough reason.
No reason to cry over spilt milk I suppose. If we miss the playoffs, this will all be moot anyway.
As for Giambi. I know the excuse that the team uses. But just like basketball coaches ask guys to play more minutes in the playoffs, when you have no pitching you have to put your best team on the field, and a lineup which has Minky, Melky and Nieves isn't that lineup. Could Joe at least use Phelps and Giambi when Nieves starts?
Schuerholz is good at knowing when to trade guys
How could anyone who trades for Kwame Brown and refuses to open up the vault and sign even one, (ONE!!!!!!!!) top tier player to help Kobe keep his job?
How was he in Japan? Is he the real deal? The YES announcers said the only reason the Sox signed him was so Matsuzaka would have someone to talk to.
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