There is a line that has been crossed here, folks. Throughout the history of professional American sports -- especially baseball -- players' personal lives have been off limits. Unless a player found himself in legal trouble, their off-the-field actions were private and never reported on. Can you imagine what the Yankees would have been like had Mantle's off the field transgressions been plastered all over the local papers?

What The Post did today is beyond the pale. And I think it just might have made up Arod's mind on whether he will agree to any trade that Cashman (of whoever acts as GM for the rest of this season) brings to him. This was the straw that broke the camel's back for Arod and he is GONE, GONE, GONE as soon as he chooses to make the move.

I am so disgusted right now.

The idea of watching the Yanks for baseball's sake has also been somewhat foreign to me since I started college. Recently, that's what Extra Innings and the other 29 teams are there for- the fun matchups, hot rookies, etc. I'm not ready to write the season off quite yet, but this 2007 edition seems to be quite snakebitten, and what tempers some of my eternal optimism is that it's not been just any one thing- it's everything.

I'm not fully on board with Jeter's "any season w/o a title is a failure," but this year is going to be a massive diasppointment unless they do one of two things:
1) Make the playoffs. If this were to happen, then we are looking at an awfully fun June-Sept.
2) Miss the playoffs but lay the groundwork for a successful next 3-5 years. IMO, this means keeping Cash, jettisoning Torre, and continuing to make the roster younger, payroll more flexible, and the team less dependent on needing to add that one last bat/arm. I've got a million more thoughts on this subject but will hold my tongue until the rebuild/reload phase is truly upon us...

Personally, I'm more disgusted with Arod than the Post. It's also nice to know that while I spent my Sunday replaying Scott Proctor's performance in my head, Arod was out on the town.

I've been one of his biggest supporters, but have no excuses for his behavior. Incredibly, the Yankee season has a new low.

I guarantee there will be repercussions in that clubhouse for the Post.

As for the Yankee Doodle Randy, it's most likely some big misunderstanding. The blonde is probably a literary agent. She and Arod were just discussing children's books. And the Brass Rail, well, they serve the best chicken wings in Canada. It was a simple business meeting. What's so juicy about that, NY Post?

But in all seriousness, you gotta love that the Mets finally make the back cover. But the Yanks make the front!

To me the really pathetic thing about watching the Yanks right now is that they look like they've given up. They look like they expect to lose, and when it happens they're not surprised. I can't tell you how much I wanted Torre to come out of the dugout and get thrown out of the game after that preposterous check-swing call on Minky in the 2nd.

Somebody show me some fire...a good 'ole Paulie water cooler incident would be welcome about now.

Runs scored and runs allowed are a very useful way to predict future winning percentage as past RS/RA are better correlated with future wins than past W/L. From the RS/RA data of this season, it is a reasonable bet that they will win more often over the remaining 110 games.

That said, I think it a bit too easy an answer to say the Yankees have just been unlucky. The won what they won and lost what they lost, and two 10 run victories don't cancel out 6 1-run losses. We've watched these games and we know that they aren't playing well, especially when the game is on the line.

They're playing bad baseball, with poor fundamentals in the field and at the plate. It has been years since I was this pessimistic about their chances in a close game -- I'm no longer expecting them to play well. In the past, I knew they might lose but I expected good at bats in an attempted comeback. We're not even seeing those.

I've been a Torre supporter for years, cringing whenever it was mentioned he should be fired. I thought his ability to create a winning environment amidst the chaos of New York was a rare skill of incalculable value to the team. But I think that he's done, no longer effective in that role. Furthermore, his in game tactics seem worse than ever, though perhaps they're just as bad as ever. I think the team needs a new manager, as it is bad baseball, not bad luck, that has led to their swoon.

Seriously, I keep thinking of a combination of 2000 and 2005. The Yanks have had so many almost death knells, it's hard for me to rule them out. What would be sweeter than them roaring back to take the wild card, breezing through the first round, then rolling into the "mighty" Boston team?

Hey, I can dream, right?

Seriously - does Torre make it through the weekend? We keep asking that question, but then they keep sucking more and more after a brief respite.

A-Rod has not been a paragon of good judgement and his contract alone is cause celebrie in many circles to focus on athletes with enormous contracts and equate that with either absolute good or absolute evil, particularly in the journal trade. There appears to be an absolute disconnect between the writers and their subjects, though it's certainly debateable whether what was written is the cause or effect of what was done. The Post reflects journalism as an irresponsible grab for attention and dollars, along with an agenda of destruction of peoples' lives surreptitiously or blatantly. However, the item is newsworthy in a society that places an aggressive interest in celebrity life. The way A-Rod handles this would be indicative of the type of person he is, not the measure of his skill as an athlete.

Unfortunately, if the implications are indeed true, there's nowhere to run. E@#% will televise it around the world and that will be that. A-Rod is a target, but he should very well know that. However, if he exercises poor judgement, that's not the paper's fault. Like my brother says, "There's no sense in calling a snake a snake when you're standing in a snakepit."

All we can do right now is just wait and see. If the implications are false, then it will bear out and A-Rod can take comfort in the fact that he handled this like a man. If it's true and he confesses, same thing. But if it festers and he either ignores or waffles on it when directly addressed, and then we see things around him solidifying implications as fact (wife moves out, legal seperation or files for divorce, etc.), then you decide whether it's worth him being here to the team, which at this moment has little to do with it. If he leaves because of the Post, then why would you want to keep him in the first place? He'll have proven his critics right.

That said, I don't trust a paper with an obvious agenda, whether they uncover facts or make them up. They've lost credibility over much lesser issues. This could either be a tempest in a teapot or a full-blown scandal, but as far as I'm concerned, it's more crap to pile on a crappy season by a crappy media source, and ultimately doesn't concern me nearly as much as living on $28 a week in food stamps, if I ever had to go that route. Move along, nothing to see here.

It's in the best interest of Yankee management to stick a fork in the 2007 season. Get value for ARod before the ASB. He is gone no matter how the season and the Post article plays out.

I have to amplify this point:

"But baseball is great even if the Yankees aren't, and if you pay attention, something interesting is happening in every game, even a grotesquerie like tonight's."

Eloquently said.

The trick now is for management to give us a team that gives us something to watch besides contention.

Let the kids play!

Which kids, you ask?

I don't know, but now would be a good time to work some kids into the mix rather than just deferring until next year.

If we cut our losses now, this could actually prove to be a very interesting year.

Any top prospects we could get for an Arod, if need be?

We could really use a catcher, e.g.

I, for one, would love to watch some more players develop.

Dunno if this was mentioned in the game thread last night, but why didn't the Yankees protest when Glasses ran straight into Phelps -- he was clearly outside the runner's alley and while he may have beaten the throw, Phelps could have kept the ball in front of him and thus kept Hill from advancing to third and then stealing home.

But here's the deal, a few years ago, I came up with an over simplification called the "5 Run Theory." The Yankees it seemed to me were built on a spectacular offense, and mediocre pitching. There for I reasoned that as long as they had league average pitching or even a little worse than league average, they'd win a lot of games because they would more often than not score 5 runs a game. Their winning percentage in games in which they scored 5 runs or more was over 80%, their winning percentage in games in which they scored less than 5 runs was in the 40s if I recall correctly.

This season, they have scored fewer than 5 runs in 50% of their games, so at best, I'd project them to be a .500 ball club at best, given the absolute disaster of a pitching staff they had in April.

The biggest problem though is that the offense seems to be getting dramaticlly worse as the season goes on. If they don't start scoring runs again, this season could turn into an absolute disaster.

17 Torre said in the post-game that he didn't think there was interference from where he was sitting. He felt Phelps was sprawled out to get the ball.

16 I'm with you on wanting to see the kids. The old guys aren't performing, so might as well give their seats to the young ones and see if they can do better.

And about your point in the previous thread about Jeter bunting: yes, players seem to assign a larger value to bunting than they should. Jeter's doing it may be revealing of the larger desperation the team feels: just do anything to get on the board, as if doing so would somehow get the monkey off their back.

http://i.cnn.net/si/pr/subs/swimsuit/images/04_arodriguez_01.jpg

No, I think the Yanks are stuck with who they have, unless they make a trade. I'm still thinking Cashman should call the Royals and ask about Huber and LaRue, but that's just me.

My best case these days is Clippard shows he belongs until Hughes returns.

Britton should of course be in the bullpen. And I'm very intrigued by Ed Ramirez - who's sporting 43 K against 10 BB in 23 IP - that's unreal but the only knock is that's it's so far beyond anything he's shown in his career.

And the guys you'd like to move (Dorf, Jackson, White, Smith, etc) just aren't that valuable.

Rasner and Karstens would be, but that will have to wait until the off-season.

27 Same here. Vizcaino and Farnsworth, here are your replacements! (If only.)

http://tinyurl.com/25hgec

Interesting no?

(but I didn't get to read it! :-( )

On the other guys: they're not that valuable or they're hurt. The pitching injury woes extend to the minors.

Don't get me wrong - I agree with the idea but that's what killed me with the Unit deal - that was the chance for a decent position player. The spare parts they got instead don't add up to much.

In this case, though, I think the conditions were completely wrong. If Damon had been on second rather than first; if Jeter had been bunting for a hit; if the pitcher had been Burnett or Halladay; or if Jeter had been mired in a slump - then the bunt would have had more merit. As it was, all it did was kill one of the two reliable hitters. And it didn't look like aggressive play, it looked like desperation. That's not a good way to rally a team.

However, Joe could - and probably should - have called a hit-and-run. Jeter is a good bet to make contact, and in the worst case, Damon is a good bet to steal against that battery. That would have been a more aggressive play with at least as good a result.

If you add Bettances to your list of blue chips, I think there is even enough in the top tier to shop one around.

By the way...who is Alan Horne? He has some very nice numbers in Trenton.

Can't be any worse than what's going on at the moment.

4 That said, A-Rod has to know better than anyone what they're like, and that he's a target -- sports writers will, in fact, ignore this stuff, but the paper itself certainly won't. Just ask Paul Lo Duca, who is considerably less famous, but got the same treatment last year... all in the game, as they say on The Wire.

http://i15.tinypic.com/631nbee.jpg
http://i19.tinypic.com/4p1bxhw.jpg
http://i12.tinypic.com/4z416r8.jpg
http://i11.tinypic.com/676xgn5.jpg

After watching it again, it looks like Phillips was not inside the running lane and it looks like Phelps was not in the baseline. IMO, Phillips had a clear line to the bag and the collision was not necessary. Also, the extra push that is shown in the last two pictures could have also been called (imagine if A-Rod had done that).

Even though the play could have gone either way (similar to A-Rod/Pedroia and the Phelps collision), my biggest problem was that once again Joe didn't even bother to argue the call.

44 But right now Horne can't be considered much better than a Smith, White - all third tier because of their histories.

Sure if the Yanks were willing to move three of those guys, with Dorf or Jackson, maybe they could get a top, but struggling, position talent like a Loney or Aybar. But I just can't see Cashman doing it - not after this past off-season.

Do you think Phillips was somehow taking revenge for Phelps' homeplate collision a few weeks ago? Is he buddies with Johjima?

Makes you wonder.

Zimmer would have been out there all over the ump.

Haven't posted this year yet - that's what a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old will do to ya....

Very frustrating year for me so far - it started with the worry about not getting the MLB package on my cable and went downhill from there! I even took down my Yankee flag from the garage this weekend (hey, it was a good time to raise Ol' Glory)

Many things frustrate me this season, all have been written about in great length on this site, but ... where is the plate patience this season ? Why do Cano and Abreau just lunge at the first pitch ? Does this drive anyone else crazy ???

It used to star Mike Mussina.

The Sox rotation was announced for the weekend - Wakefield, Schilling, Beckett.

Yanks miss Tavarez!

We have good players to watch. And unlike, say, Pirates fans, we don't have to worry that the Yankees will steal them away.

As for the A-Rod thing...must be a slow news day. The Post has always reported on his private life, but it's usually on page 6, not the front page.

I can explain the Yankees offensive woes.

Someone has shipped the Yankees a huge number of ass-bats. The sooner the Yankees exorcise those ass-bats from the clubhouse, the better.

It's time to embrace the horror. :)

Watch Jeter and Posada fight the good fight. Watch Clippard, DeSalvo and (eventualy) Hughes try to become major league pitchers. Watch Cano, 'cause he's much better than this, and he'll be here a long time. Hope for more Melky. Hope they call up Britton.

And, if by some miracle they do come roaring back, enjoy the heck out of it.

"Way to get a piece Robby...hang in there!", or "Good eye, Jason! Walk's as good as a hit!"

I love it - maybe I'll start rooting that way too... could make things fun again this season.

"c'mon bobby, whuddya saaaaay?"

i'm doing it tonight.

If this is a perfectly clean play, then why don't runners take an inside route to first and plow over pitchers who are covering first? I understand that collisions occur when a fielder gets in the baseline since the runner has a right to the base, however if the fielder is not in the baseline and is trying to field the ball the runner should be charged with interference (ironically, that is what they could have called against Phelps in that collision with Johjima).

Maybe that's what the Yankees need to start doing - acting like little leaguers again, enjoy the game (or act like you are).

JL I think your sister may have started something here...I think I'll hop on the bandwagon tonight too.

I'm still cracking up at that...

Beyond that, I've reached the limit of my understanding. To me, it looked like a play that no ump would ever call, but that's just me.

Maybe I'll start ragging on the opposition if needed.

OMG - what I would give to see Jete's reaction once he caught on. :-D

All this umpiring stuff is beyond me as well. I had a buddy back in college who was actually a huge fan of umpires and referees (both pro and college). He could tell you their names and he knew most of their strikeout calls (he would imitate their calls like some people imitate batting stances). He was the kind of guy who you knew would become an umpire someday (he was always ump'ing and ref'ing our intramural games). He knew ever obscure rule there was and he loved to quiz people on the rules. Mostly he would get on everyone's nerves with that kind of stuff, but times like this I wouldn't mind having him around...

the "taking them to dairy queen" after the game comment was hilarious.

do we sign him? yay or nay?

i say yay.

how awesome would it be to see damon getting the windmill going as he sends someone home? ofcourse that all depends on whether damon can stand or not...and if we can get another hit with RISP.

(sigh)

>

I figure those seats should be going for a huge discount come August. Heck, we might even get Guiliani's spot if they're that far out of first...

I Do. I do.

Yanks win 6-4.

But my main reason for commenting is to say that I'm going to be looking for Emma's work a lot more. I hope she becomes even more regular here.

Wait, that didn't come out quite right. But you know what I mean.

We want a single, just a little single S-I-N G-L-E single, single SINGLE!

We want a double, just a little double D-O-U B-L-E double, double, DOUBLE!

We want a triple, just a little triple T-R-I P-L-E triple, triple TRIPLE!

H-O, H-O-M, H-O-M-E-R-U-N

Home-run

Kel-ly (well the batter's name..duh)

Hit One

Then Run

::start over::

/end singing.

http://www.joesportsfan.com/column.php?storyid=521

I didn't do Little League, but if I did, I'd probably have been #9.

Awesome, you guys.

99Heh... Thanks?

Miniwheat... wheat... wheat...
It's high in fiber, you can't go wrong...

Come on Yankee Clippard!

For some reason this rally gives me very little joy.

Hits going the other way, aggressive baserunning - a display to warm the cockles of weepingforbrunnhilde's heart.

Repeat after me:

Hughes is not Mark Prior
Hughes is not Mark Prior
Hughes is not Mark Prior...

I just finished up a lovely dinner in my backyard of some very, very garlicky delicious pesto I made and come inside to see the following:

NYY: 5 Tor: 0

Imagine my surprise!

Is it Christmas?

What gives?

And a ten pitch inning for the Yankee Clippard! Relax ladies and gentlemen - we have our 5th.

131 I got all but the last two. P___ Pitcher?

I don't really see how the philosophy applies to a guy who's already brought it to the major league level. Of course anyone can get hurt at any time. So then should it be TINSTAAP? There is no such thing as a superstar either: he could get hurt!

in this case though, the injuries aren't directly threatening his arm so i'm not overly concerned ... as long as the yankees are cautious about not rushing him back ... i don't think this season is going to be worth risking a cascading injury

on the downside ... it does push back his development time and although it limits his innings this year, if he pitches a full year next year he'll likely have a rather large spike (rather than a gradual increase) in setting a new high for innings pitched ...

Heybatterbatter, swingbatterbatter...

1995.

Made the playoffs in the shortened season. But also the first year of the wildcard.

What happened to him? When he was with the Bucs, the general consensus was that he was going to get a multi-year deal for 2-6 million a year when he became a free agent. But he's really struggled since leaving Pittsburgh.

1) Giambi's 1st AB: HIT IN THE AIR TO DEEP RIGHT...pause...no it's not. Rios makes the catch.

2) Susan Waldman shares a riveting story about her appearance on a Toronto radio show.

3) Sterling and Waldman do an Abbott and Costello routine centered around Phil Hughes injury.

Solo homes runs are acceptable, 3-run bombs are not.

For those who are advocating ditching all the veterans in favor of kids: expect more of this. I' not saying it's a bad idea, just that this is what it will look like.

I'm not saying he's going to be the next Rocket, but cut him some slack already.

His ERA on the season?

4.83

I'm still optimistic that he'll be an ok 5.

Thoughts?

They've been very aggressive on the bases, though. I like that.

185 Nice!

i suppose it could be worse i.e. getting lit up by A leaguers at $9 mil per year ;)

...

Credit to John Flaherty - he had that at-bat read perfectly.

Or better yet, since we're probably nto gonna need him for another 7 games or so, just let Mo pitch 2 inning

Wow, Frasor is smokin'.

Hey, Robbie! En fuego. I wasn't ever worried about him. Really.

Have I mentioned I hate Kyle Farsnworth? Its gotten to the point where I have to restrain myself from unnecessarily marking down a poor student of mine with the misfortune of sharing the same last name as him...

Mo is warming, no worries.

I want Kyle traded ASAP, but every appearance lowers his value....

265 Bottom of the eighth. Now I'll check it out.

197 Seriously.

And what's this? Arod said "I got!"?

I love it!

Great play A-Rod.

I wanna see the hidden ball trick in the 9th.

If A-Rod did do it, and got away with it, wow - that's the first time an ump has made a call for the Yanks this year, no?

Uh. Jorgie's personal best tonight! (Steals.)

Oh, man. Yep, our luck has turned.

296 {sniff}

http://tinyurl.com/33ll3f

Boy does Arod court controversy. I'm sure he'll take heat for it, but if he did call for the ball, I think it's a great idea. This idea that you shouldn't do EVERYTHING within the rules to win is absurd. I was really hoping that situation would escalate into a brawl to perhaps give the season a rallying moment.

And good for him.

Also glad to see a win. YES. YES. YES. (And no, I don't look much like Meg Ryan.)

ok, sorry, terrible Deadspin style joke....it's the beer, and the victory, talking--

"he intentionally interferes with a thrown ball; or hinders a fielder attempting to make a play on a batted ball;"

Maybe yelling is hindering. But I kind of doubt it.

329 and agreed! (even the meg ryan part)

Nice win, Yanks.

Start Phelps and win. What a concept.

344 Ugh. I don't like that fact at all.

Hey, maybe we need Emma to do the Game Thread postings until further notice?

Make mine a Mo-cha >;)

I expect this play to be covered on Derek Zumsteg's blog at some point.

http://www.cheatersguidetobaseball.com/

"BLUE JAYS, BLUE JAYS, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYBLUEJAYS!!!"

::throws hat in air::

I'll have an Oreo Blizzard please.

Ugh, feel free to revoke my Blizzard. ;-)

I caught the first two innings at Bryant Park with my son, we saw The Rocket say a few words to the crowd. -- A fun game overall.

It's nice to see the mood lighten a bit in here.

How 'bout that Arod, eh?

Ha aha ha ahaa!!!

Did you all see the look on his face? That cat that ate the canary look?

My God, he's something else.

Terribly bush, of course, but I agree with william: if it's legal, do it. If it's not legal, don't get caught.

Other random notes...

I grew up chanting "We want a pitcher, not a belly-itcher" too.

One of the kids took to saying: "We want a pitcher, not a glass of water."

Pitcher...water. Eh? Get it?

Maybe Arod actually said, "Yo, man, watch out for the HOLE!"

350 353 et. al.: Agreed, let's petition management to 86 the Game Threads until further notice. And just to be safe, Emma's gotta do the non-game thread game-threads.

I kind of went in and out on the game, checking out a bit of the Mets and then the Sopranos, so I don't have much in the way of observations.

But I do wonder what we all think about that final hit of "Vlad" Cano's. Ball four over his head that he smacked into the gap. (Excellent, aggressive hustle, btw.)

Now, is it possible that the man simply can't be trained to lay off that pitch and the best we can hope for is that he remains aggressive?

Reyes certainly learned plate discipline, so much so that he scarcely resembles the player he was.

Anyone know how he managed to do that and what the factors are governing success in such an effort?

Reyes proves hitters can develop, can learn, so I wonder what Cano's excuse would be.

Anyway, good game. Let's kick Boston's ass this weekend, eh?

For old time's sake.

Or at the very least, please let us kick Schilling's ass.

God, how I despise that smirking smug pigfucker.

Nice to see, nice to see, especially considering I hardly recognized the man when first they showed him warming up.

I knew I'd seen him somewhere before, but couldn't quite place him, you know?

2005: 3.1
2006: 3.2
2007: 3.5

I think some of his struggles are tied to his attempts to change his approach.

Do you think the rise in pitches seen comes from taking more first pitch fastballs in an effort to be patient, but just results in being forced to swing at more nasty breaking balls and generally poor pitches?

Man, all I ahve to say is, if Clark is stupid enough to fall for A-Rod yelling mine, shame on him. I don't understand this whole "bush league" concept. If it helps you win, what's wrong? It seems to me that the line between "bush league" and "dirt dog" seems to be quite fuzzy...

Schilling bitched and moaned about how it wasn't fair and insinuated it wasn't masculine.

Reminded me of Piazza, another of my favorites, when he called an emergency press conference to assure the public that the "vicious" rumors about his sexuality were completely unfounded and that his blood ran as red as the next guy's.

Anyway, I thought it was fine for that guy to bunt because, last I checked, the opposition's goal is to win the baseball game and not to cooperate in the opposing team's efforts to keep them from scoring.

God I hate that man.

Only, Mattingly, bless his soul, never struck out.

35 times in 603 at-bats, was it, in 1984?

Something like 44 times in 652 ab the following season?

He was the real thing.

A steal of home one night, Arod's antics the next.

Emma's so right, you never know what you'll see in this our game of baseball:

"But baseball is great even if the Yankees aren't, and if you pay attention, something interesting is happening in every game, even a grotesquerie like tonight's. For example, in addition to the steal of home, we had Jason Giambi beating out an infield single (thanks to the shift of course), then stealing second base, then moving to third on a throwing error. This is not something we are likely to see again in our lifetimes. "Speed kills," observed John Flaherty, wryly. The games can still be entertaining, though admittedly this season's been more Oresteia than Star Wars."

Joe says, re: Arod, "Nah, he just made a noise."

He made a noise just like a pitcher was just trying to, you know, "make a pitch" after they throw at someone's head.

Like when what's his name on the Mets finally threw at Clemens for the Piazza incident on national television and missed!

Remember that?

That was funny.

I think that was the same series when Shane Spencer had that mysterious injury in left where he twisted something. He was finally starting to really hit and he had that freak accident.

Or maybe it was another series, can't remember, but it was against the Mets.

375 Know why I hate Schilling? Besides the sock drama and the blowhardiness? Cause he looks like Danny Carey from tool, who is an awesome, awesome drummer, plus a nice guy. So everytime I see Schilling's photo I think, "cool, it's Danny!" (out of context of course) then I get the letdown that it's Schilling.

Such classy yankee fans.

Ha ha ha aha ha haa!!

Too, too funny.

Well, I was just saying that at least if we're to be a sideshow this year, we should incorporate some antics into the act to spice up the losing.

I'll take antics in the service of winning, though, too.

Good stuff.

I think he'll slowly get more walks, those forcing the issue is probably just make things worse.

Who are you gonna believe: me, or your own eyes?

Also, DMZ (at Cheater's Guide to Baseball) does have a note on A-Rod's calling for the pop-up, but there's no real content. And in the posting he had on a similar play in a college, DMZ and the commenters seem unclear on whether it's illegal (DMZ says it depends on the league).

For the heck of it, I checked the two "rules/funny situations" books I have, written by Dom Forker (a rules guru) in the early 90s. Neither mentions the situation.

I'm curious to see what Mike Carminati, the Toaster's resident rules-guy, says about it (if anything).

That last hit came off a pitch that was over the man's head, or damned near.