Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
The Yankees have done exactly what they've needed to thus far in the second half, taking three of four from both the Devil Rays and Blue Jays. Along the way they won five games in a row prior to yesterday's loss, but the only one of those games that was decided by more than two runs (Wednesday's 6-1 win), saw the Yanks trailing 1-0 in the seventh. Perhaps these close games are helping the team maintain its focus and avoid any bad habits that might emerge in garbage time at-bats, but I'd think they could use the emotional respite that a nice blowout win could provide (certainly Luis Vizcaino and Mariano Rivera could use an extra day of rest having pitched in six and five of the last eight games respectively).
The pressure won't ease up until the Yankees either clinch a playoff spot or get eliminated, and it's right back on them tonight. Having taken three of four from the Devil Rays last weekend, they need to do the same this weekend, and with Matt DeSalvo and Kei Igawa getting the starts in a double header tomorrow that's sure also see Wil Nieves get a start behind the plate, there's extra pressure to win tonight behind Mike Mussina, who will be caught by Jorge Posada for the first time since he gave up seven runs in 6 2/3 innings to the Red Sox on May 22. (For the curious, Mussina has posted a 3.40 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP in 11 starts with Nieves behind the plate and a 9.00 ERA and 1.89 WHIP in four starts with Posada behind the plate, one of them being his injury-shortened outing in Minneapolis in April).
As for the Devil Rays, after losing three of four to the Yankees, they took two of three at home from the scuffling Angels by a combined score of 15-8. The Rays have also made a trio of roster moves since the Yankees were in town. Most importantly, they've activated closer Al Reyes from the DL, farming out lefty Jon Switzer in the process. They also just tipped their roster from 11 to 13 pitchers in preparation for the four games they'll play over the next three days in the Bronx. Specifically, they optioned out infielder Jorge Cantu and designated outfielder Dustan Mohr for assignment while calling up righties Jae Kuk Ryu and Scott Dohmann. Word is the Rays will make yet another move to bring up J.P. Howell for a spot start in the second game of Saturday's double header, while Ryu could get the start in the day game if Jason Hammel is needed to eat innings for Edwin Jackson tonight.
They Yankees, have made a roster move of their own, calling up Shelley Duncan and optioning Kevin Thompson back to Scranton, while moving Doug Mientkiewicz to the 60-day DL to make room for Duncan on the 40-man roster. Duncan has been raking at Scranton, hitting .295/.380/.577 with 25 homers and 79 RBIs, but also 88 strikeouts. A big (6'5") outfielder/first baseman who's not particularly adept at either position, he's got the Adam Dunn skill set, but from the right-hand side of the plate. Duncan is no Dunn, however. He's 40 days older than Dunn, was a career .251/.334/.468 hitter prior to this year, and didn't crack triple-A until late last year on the verge of his 27th birthday. Duncan has 128 home runs in his minor league career. Dunn has 224 in his major league career. That Duncan went to college (University of Arizona), but Dunn didn't is not enough to explain even a fraction of that discrepancy. Still, it's worth a shot to see if Duncan can keep his bat hot (he's hitting .367 with four homers since the break) as the Yankee DH, which is where he'll start tonight (Johnny Damon will play center as Melky Cabrera's sitting due to the abdominal strain he suffered in yesterday's game).
Tonight's mound match-up of Mussina and Jackson is a rematch of Sunday's finale in Tampa, which the Yankees won 7-6 after some shoddy work by both bullpens. In that game, Jackson, who sports a season ERA of 7.14, held the Yankees scoreless for four frames before coughing up a four spot in the fifth. He finished after six innings having allowed just those four runs on six hits and two walks while striking out six. Mussina got the better of Jackson by allowing just three runs over six innings, but he also allowed five more hits and struck out none. Jackson has been a significantly better pitcher on the road this year, while Mussina has been a touch worse at home, so tonight is no given for the Yanks. They'll have to keep on fighting.
Poor KT. He's never going to see the light of day, is he?
Oh. Never mind.
YOU WALKED JOHNNY DAMON???
4.2 IP 9 H 7 ER 3 HR 7 K 3 BB
By comparison, he gave up a combined 8 ER in his last 6 outings (5 in one game). It's all good - part of the learning experience. And hopefully it puts to rest this nonsense about him joining the bullpen that Francesa's been pushing.
Okay, folks, hold on to your hats: it's Duncan Time!
I know everyone's excited.
Duncan is wearing #17. Who wore that last?
UPDATE, 5:22 p.m.: Brian Cashman went to New Britain to see Joba Chamberlain pitch tonight. It's not that much of a stretch because Cash lives in Connecticut. But interesting that they're keeping such a close eye on a AA pitcher.
I wonder if that had something to do with it...
I also saw Damon being worthless again!
wth is he doing in center, did Melky break a leg????
But otherwise how would he know?
Chris Basak this year
Nick Green last year
Years ago...
Mike Easler (1986)
John Flaherty (2003-2005)
Oscar Gamble (1979-1984)
Doc Gooden (2000)
Gene Michael (1968-1971)
And I know that lineups don't matter that much. It's just the principle/logic of the thing.
21 Maybe a teammate clued him in, who knows. I'd like to think the exact opposite outcome would result if that was the case. But he's young. And good. Sh*t happens...
Matsui took ONE step then stopped.
Quite a shot for a slight fellow.
And there it goes! It's going, going, and it is..
..
...
...
...
[why the big paws?]
...
..
..
..
Gone.
[Then he always follows up with why he sucks]
..
..
With this lighting here, it is so tough to see the ball.
[Switching to TOR announcers.]
Scott Podsednik!
Playing against The Office tonight.
[Like I'm one to talk].
And Mosse is sucking and bitching. What else is new?
[How about you shut your fucking trap and pitch?]
[And I love this new bracket style of commenting].
I had to work, and the game I was planning to watch was rained out. So I picked one at random from the MLB.TV "on demand" menu. I've already seen all the regular season Yankee games, so I picked a spring training game.
Also in the pre-game show: the players all gushing about Torre, including A-Rod saying he was a real players' manager, and Jeter saying he expected Torre to still be managing ten years from now.
That's weird - storage costs are so damn cheap and getting cheaper every year.
65 I just remember thinking how weird it was that Moose would have to ask and not that Jorge would just say something.
I was talking to a friend on the phone and I come back to 4-0?
Fuck!
We can't have this!
So who's up for funding my trip back down there? You all do want the Yankees to win don't you? I just need money for the hotel, food, liquor and hookers. Don't be the cause of the Yankees missing the playoffs.
Is Melky hurt or something?
What's going on around here, I'm so confused.
Duncan is going deep tonight, just hope it'll mean something...
Meanwhile, poor Shelly halfway to not being seen again until next year.
Is it only old playoff games that you can watch?
They just linedrive us to death.
Here comes Joe.
Moose is going to be all over Jorgie for being Jorgie and Joe for not starting Nieves.
What a fucking disgrace of a fiasco.
78 Thanks for the support. And I was going from least to most.
Edwar? Here? Now? Oh, please...
I'm tired of seeing every other team execute fundamentally sound swings to beat us.
The guy hasn't pitched in two weeks and now he's supposed to throw striikes.
I feel ill.
See what happens when I leave NO?!
Fuck you, Joe, for totally mishandling this guy.
Nice work, old man.
Are we getting the 2007 Yankees back tonight?
"See, I told you I didn't trust him, he's just a kid."
Can Nieves pitch?
Are we about to go 3-10 again?
This team drives me to drink.
Not to set them up to fail.
To quote from Glengarry Glenross, "You get paid to help us, not fuck us up."
Keep plugging, next time you'll hit'er out!
The rest of these guys are garbage.
I'm in a foul mood, please just indulge me here.
urge.
to.
kill.
rising.
Glory days.
What was that huge comeback we had recently?
Was it last summer or two summers ago? Six runs in the ninth or something like that?
Alex singled, I think, to win the game?
Anyone remember that one?
Thank you Captain Obvious Michael Kay. Not saying it is Torre's BP usage though...
ha ha hah ah a!
Sorta makes ya wonder why it was Moose that had to ask Jorge. Wouldn't that be the kind of thing a catcher should be looking for and advising his pitcher on??
UPDATE, 8:58 p.m.: I fully understand he hasn't pitched for a while. But Edwar Ramiez had been throwing bullpens. There is no excuse for four walks and a grand slam.
Minor-league stats are fairly meaningless when it comes to projecting how a player will fare in the majors. Too many people, fans and media alike, see good numbers and assume a guy can play. There was a reason the Yankees waited so long to bring up Ramirez.
It's too bad. Ramirez seems like a nice kid and obviously he got screwed by the lack of work. But there does come up a time when you have to suck it up and throw a strike.
19-6???
This team?
What team has he been watching?
Sure, it's possible that we'll sweep someone, but man, I need to see it happen.
We can't make up ground losing back to back games.
We can't afford it anymore.
Terrible swing.
I'm sorry, I just can't take this.
At least have a good ab.
Jorgie still cares.
Maybe - just maybe - Torre and Guidry and Kerrigan actually know a thing or two. And maybe - just maybe - after working with Ramirez for a couple of weeks, this is what they knew.
This isn't a case I'd go to the mats with, but in the general riot of Torre-knows-nothing, it might be worth a thought.
It sure doesn't feel like it right now, though, does it?
Their conduct on the field belies the case.
Tonight, fine, whatever.
But that's why you have to win yesterday's game.
Losing that game (and such games) are is what kills us.
Why did he swing so hard there?
Any reasonable GM would see this team is just poorly constructed and try to sell off any of the many crappy parts we have.
A team with Andy Phillips and Shelly Duncan and a virtual cadavre playing centerfield just has no chance to compete.
What makes this disgusting loss to this garbage team and scrub pitcher even worse is how the Red Sox are winning their game.
With a runner on first, Ozzie $#%% for brains Guillien decided to put a shift on for Eric Hinske, who sucks and is literally not even hitting his weight. (.194).
So Hinske bunts down the third base line and gets an easy base hit. Lugo bunts to get the runners over and Contreras botched the throw to first. Crisp three run double.
What a horrible call to put a shift on for someone like Hinske. Inexplicable.
But hey, Mussina pitched like garbage and our "offense" is getting shut down by Edwin &^%%$ Jackson. What the hell is happening?
I just hope Mussina does the world a favor and retires because he is absolutely shot. Truly has no value anymore.
It's time to throw in the towel, folks. The optimum thing to do would be to pitch Hughes, Joba and Kennedy and let them get their feet wet with an occasional start.
Sorry for the long post. I'm sure I'm stating what has already been said but I really needed to vent. This team is so damn frustrating.
*M*ichael *V*ick's *P*itbulls, that is.
Or is it too early to joke about that atrocity?
Please God, let us not lose the doubleheader.
Fuck, they should have won yesterday.
Goddamnit.
I made this same argument in May. But would add that they should also get Andy Phillips and Shelley Duncan (or any other likely AAAA player) as many Abs as reasonably possible. Will they flop? Most likely, but then again they might get lucky and find a hidden gem. I'd rather watch them bat than Damon or Cairo.
Nice play by Matsui there.
re staring a four game losing streak in the face. So much for that run.
But Mussina needs a head check.
;)
Did you see that swing?
Disgusting.
A little.
That swing nauseated me.
(I'm not advocating a personnel move so much as expressing my abhorrence of such swings.)
194 "I'm not advocating a personnel move..."
He's not really my concern.
But come on, have you ever seen a more repellent swing than that?
It's cause for concern, is all I'm saying.
All I know is that that wasn't a major league swing.
That was the swing of a little-league meathead.
It honestly didn't make you wince?
All right, fair enough.
Me, I can't stand watching that kind of baseball. It makes me physicall ill.
Here's hoping things turn out better tomorrow.
That's exactly what he looked like.
Maybe the comments section of this blog should be retitled, "Pet Issue du Jour vis a vis the Yankees."
I guess I just feel like, however good they might be trying to pull those outside pitches, they'd be all the better not trying to do so.
In tennis you watch players return the ball and they seem to have different swings depending on where they are in relation to the ball.
There just seems to be less focus on putting the right swing on the right pitch in baseball than I believe there should be.
It's just fundamental. How many times do I have to watch people tap a weak groundball to second base before I can suggest that perhaps there's a mechancial flaw in their swing?
That's what the game is to me, hitting.
I watch, I respond.
A beautiful swing moves me deeply and a poor one agitates me.
It's just how I see the game.
As to how many times--I don't know, but I suggest more than one or three ABs.
11-1. You have to be fucking kidding me!!!!
1) Matsui's play in LF
2) How badly a 'healthy' JD is playing.
I would rate Matsui as a slighly below average OFer with a slightly below average arm. If we DONT pick up a 1Bman by 2008, I'd rather have JD in LF and Mats at 1st, rather then the other way around.
What can I say, if I could turn it off, I would, but it's hard.
It's like hearing discordant music--it just sounds wrong. It's not about reason, it's about aesthetics.
All I'm saying is that seeing such poor swings cuts me to the soul. I like to see good swings.
If I were to somehow wind up in the batter's box for the Yankees, I'd hope watching me attempt to hit the baseball would make you cry, as it would make baby Jesus cry. :)
Some things just look wrong to me.
I don't know what to say, I just feel this stuff on a visceral level, is all.
; )
That's funny.
:)
OK, that was funny stuff by Damon.
Years ago, when Kay was still on the radio, he mentioned that he'd had a dream where he had an entire major league career as a journeyman.
It was a nice dream, and the fact that he shared it endeared me to Kay.
I once dreamed I conducted a Bruckner symphony despite the fact that I can't read music.
That was a nice dream.
Ok, not really. But maybe tonight!
; )
Got all that?
He still shoulda just let the pitcher bat last inning.
all those OBVIOUSLY OUTSIDE pitches that outrage us, as we sit in our living rooms wondering why the batter in question didn't put a smooth opposite-field swing on them?
those pitches, when one is positioned not on one's sofa but in the BATTER'S BOX, are, shall we say, not QUIIIIIIIIITE so obviously outside. and, from that position, it's not QUIIIIIIIITE so obvious what sort of swing is needed.
end of rant.
yeah, we're all a little frustrated round here...
Why is Cano smiling?
Why isn't Abreu calling him off?
Abreu has zero range in RF.
Some players seem pretty adept at going the other way, and maybe it's because they see the ball better, but maybe it's because they're actually thinking middle of the field, the way Jorgie claims he is.
I do think there's something to be said for mechanically sound baseball and I'm really not convinced that all these people who won't go the other simply don't see the ball well.
I really think it's more a question of approach. They're thinking pull, rather than thinking middle.
I could be totally wrong, I understand, but honestly, that's what it looks like to me.
[And I'm shocked, shocked I say, that I'm the first one making this lame joke.]
It often looks to me as if players really only have one swing which they try to employ regardless of the count.
To me, a quality player has developed a defensive swing (like Jeter) that's still pretty good, that leaves you with a fighting chance.
Some players just seem like it never occurred to them to try something like that out, or that it's beneath them or something.
I don't know, it's just what it looks like to me from watching the games.
Oh well, that was all pretty stinky. I'll be back tomorrow for more abuse.
Impressions:
Duncan, I missed his basehit (left already). His first K was bad. His second, he missed a HR by a few feet on the second strike. He crushed that ball. He's going to K a lot (long swing), but he could mash. Good potential power threat.
Edwar, yikes. I think that was the first time in my life I've actually felt bad for a major league baseball player. I mean, really, really bad. I found myself scrunching down in my seat as the crowd turned on him (and man, did they turn on him). From where I was sitting it was hard to tell how much he was missing by, but he was clearly very, very rusty. I blame most of this on Joe, but I think he threw about 2 or 3 strikes, and one of them was hit about 400 ft. Its too bad, but I think we won't see him again, at least not until the 40 man gets called up. Its sort of the pitching equivalent of Andy Phillips 5K night against Kazmir (stupid D-Rays).
That entire game from the second inning on, was sheer torture. Jackson was made to look like Pedro Martinez, and awful, awful fundamentals from our side. I'm actually depressed from being there right now.
At least at home you can just change the channel. At the book, the game is the whole reason you drove there, and if you're at the stadium, you just spent some serious clams to be there, plus the time and the travel. Thank God the Yankees have won every time I have seen them in person. If I paid to see them turn in a performance like tonight's, I think I'd demand a refund...lol
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