Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Having taken the opener of their three-game set at Phone Field, the Yanks hope to clinch just their third series win of the season (in eight tries) tonight. Taking the hill for New York will be Mikey Moose, who will be happy not to have to face Manny Ramirez. Moose faced a far weaker White Sox offense at the Cell twice last year, one good, one bad. The third time he faced the Chisox, back in the Bronx, he pretty much split the difference with a solid quality start.
The Sox have moved ex-Yank Javy Vazquez up a day to keep him on normal rest after Monday's off-day. He has faced his old team twice since being traded to Arizona for Randy Johnson. In 2006 he survived six walks and a Jason Giambi homer by striking out eight and holding the Yanks to two runs (both scored on that dinger) over five innings in a slim 5-4 Chicago win. Last year, he struck out seven Yanks in six innings, walked just three, and kept the ball in the park, but gave up four runs and took the loss as his punchless offense conjured up just one run against Chien-Ming Wang, who pitched a complete game. Thus far this season, he's picked up where he left off with his comeback 2007 season, striking out 27 in 25 1/3 innings against just 6 walks and holding his competition homerless.
Joe Girardi has posted the same lineup he ran out there yesterday, which marks the first time all season that he's repeated a lineup exactly. That means Posada's back behind the plate, and Morgan Ensberg's still at third base in place of Alex Rodriguez, who is conveniently resting his sore quad while basking in the arrival of his second daughter. The Sox attempted no steals against Posada last night, in part because they just don't steal. They have three stolen bases in five tries on the season, both marks dead last in the majors. All three successful steals are by Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera singled twice last night with no one on base ahead of him, but did not attempt a steal.
I will miss tonight's game, to go to a concert that features the following:
Third Eye Blind
The Roots
Carbon Leaf
Frontiers (a Journey tribute band)
Hypothesis: Phil Hughes in 10 years = Javy Vazquez. Thoughts?
Anyone else want to see Miranda up to replace Giambi the first time Jason needs to go on the DL? (assuming it happens)
3 Oswalt's #s have been in a steady decline for some years now. he's still good, but decidedly not for a package like that...
48 AB 6 HR 15 RBI 1.006 OPS
hat tip to Michael Kay's radio show
Now if you'll excuse me, the damn kids are on the lawn again.
REO Speedwagon had that hit .... Roll with the Changeups ...
This is true, but the decline is very gradual and somewhat slight. Maybe he is not a Top 10 pitcher anymore, but his numbers are still very good.
He's not a big guy, listed at 285 lbs, so maybe he won't age (as a power pitcher) well. IPK + Tabata + ?(Betances? Marquez?) might be a bit much, but i think he's worth consideration.
Moose with a perfect game through 2 batters. PULL HIM NOW!
I really like JD's ab and approach. I felt like we are seeing a true leadoff hitter reemerge- he just has some kind of confidence suddenly.
Moose looked great- he was dealing that outside corner beautifully.
Got a REAL GOOD FEELING about tonight and the next five or so! Here we go Yankees are back!
Actually, some really good AB's so far...things are looking good - lots of pitches for Javi V.
21 Actually, he is good. The 900+ innings he threw from 2000-2003, his age 23 to 26 seasons, eclipsing 110 pitches in almost half his 130 starts over those years, is likely why he faded so badly after the ASB in 2004 - and continued to pitch poorly in '05 and '06.
SWEET 3-0. Thatta boy, Jorge!
Looks (from your comments) like Moose is pitching well.
And Jerry, here's a tip: pay the ladies in cash.
looks like we can get at least 6 from Mussina tonight
How many K is that for Moose?
Now Mr Francisco Rodriguez making short work of the crimson hose.
Yankee baseball is back!
BB
single
sac
double
BB
homer
HBP
single
BB
HBP
single
double
sac fly
single
fly out
Oh, wait. White Sox. No explanation necessary.
Joba for two now?
Maybe, what, one out of every 10?
That really was a great Moose outing. Makes me a lot more optimistic. Now if Phil can have a really good start, I'll be able to listen to sportstalk radio with a smug grin as the nitwits once again assure the public that Boston will run away with the division. (You should hear the locals slobber over Ellsbury. No, you shouldn't, actually, it's more than a strong man's stomach can take.)
Mike actually pitched a good game and we managed to score 6 runs?
Things are looking up, eh?
75 Let's hope the barrage continues into Cleveland . . .
77 Well, if Hughes really is death vs RHB, tomorrow should be a good night for him.
Let's have that be the goal.
How's Robby looked?
Well, that's it, the Tigers are going to finish their game with 14 hits and 19 runs. I wonder when was the last time a team had five more runs than hits??
Weeping, the really good news is Posada and Damon both thwacking the ball nicely.
And Moose.
Traber time?
Yep, there's Billy.
Good for Damon. Let's hope he can not cause himself major injury and maybe he'll be of some use to us.
I don't like this...
Good.
Why fuck around?
BTW - Should Girardi have started the inning with Defensive replacements? Betemit or Gonzalez at third and Ensberg at first? no?
If only the Yanks would score 5 runs in the top of the 9th so that someone else could come in to pitch the last of the 9th . . .
LaTroy Hawkins should also be on thin ice. He seems to throw the ball right down the middle most of the time. With better arms in the minors, I don't see what his purpose is.
This should not be a game.
LOL
SWEET!
Nice job.
But, as I said, if not Mo, an dif not Joba since he will be a starter (period), then you want a guy like Patterson, who will come in and just throw strikes and, most of the time, get guys out...
I am so sick of Giambi I wanna puke. The guy is really getting on my nerves.
Wtf is that?
Did Jenks have some oatmeal before he came out of the pen? He still has some on his chin...
Wow, really?
4-5?
Go Jorgie!
Jorgie hasn't really missed a stride.
Jesus.
139 I figured as much, but never heard that about Luis, how fitting! "I swear, I thought it was 18!"
Wow!
They're scared of Jason!
Guillen is an idiot, that's the explanation.
136 Ozzie trusts no one else in his bullpen and wants to try to keep it close?
I hope to God he'll learn to be consistent, of course, but at least we know he'll hit the fucking cover off the ball eventually.
Giambi, on the other hand...
But now, even though they did keep us off the board, Jenks has to be very questionable for tomorrow, no? He threw 22 pitches. (Well, four of them were for the IBB, so maybe really 18.)
A-Rod sure makes it look easy, don't he?
Morgan "just ate a pufferfish" Ensburg!
This should go quickly . . .
I'm glad we're going to get close to 200 comments. It was awfully damn quiet here tonight.
Thanks for asking, was a rough weekend and missed flying home for passover too...
Mo and Jorgie.
Phil + strikes = sweep.
God. Pitching is just so freaking easy. I don't know why our other guys can't just do that. Duh.
Very nice to see Moose pitch a very good game and silence his eager critics for at least another start.
Zack, sorry about the dog.
201 It sure looks easy when he does it. You think it's not?
Another bizarre play: Melky advanced from second to third on Johnny Damon's double.
Just saw it again and maybe that accounts for it.
200 Traber is, so far, worst on the team in preventing inherited runners from scoring. So, if you figure his job is to come in and prevent a lefty from knocking in the guys on base, he's not doing his job. However, he keeps having these non-LOOGY appearances, so it's a little hard to tell for sure.
Small sample, but he's 4th on the team in WXRL. He's also 4th in terms of leverage appearances, at .80. tommyl was right in 126 - Girardi's pen usage is excellent. Here are how the Yanks relievers break down by leverage score:
Mo - 1.81(!)
Joba - 1.35
Bruney - 1.09
Traber - 0.80
Ohlendorf - 0.60
Hawkins - 0.53
Farnsworth - 0.52
Albaladejo - 0.31
Edwar - 0.07
That list is basically perfect. The two worst relievers in the pen, Kyle and Hawkins, pitch the lowest leverage innings. The two guys who have been up just to be innings sponges - Albaladejo and Edwar - have done that.
Giambi should have has own special rule: no throwing the baseball.
Ever.
It he finds himself in possession of a baseball that needs to be transferred to another place on the field, he may toss it underhand to the nearest fielder so that he may attempt the necessary throw.
Otherwise, Giambi may return the ball to the pitcher, no questions asked.
The Dodgers' leverage numbers are about right - Saito with a LEV of 1.89 (though the worst WXRL in their pen), Broxton next at 1.15, then EDSP and Beimel (their LOOGY) both at 0.91. EDSP also has a negative WXRL.
216 That list is amazing, really. Couldn't ask for anything more
Coney said he had problems with Jorgie at first too and that Jorgie took it personally.
216 Maybe selective memory is kicking in with me. I thought I recalled Traber always allowing the LH to get a hit, but I looked at his game logs, and in 9 appearances only a couple appear to have been total failures. I don't have the energy to look more closely at all the games/batters/results. I guess it's just the last couple of times where he failed to get the LH out, and tonight this appears to have been Giambi-aided.
Saito (their closer) has but 6 IP.
Broxton (setup guy) has 8.1.
EDSP has 8.1
Beimel (the LOOGY) has 7.
Loaiza has 12.7 relief innings - he must be the long man?
Or is that Park, who has 11 IP, all in relief?
So maybe Torre is spreading the work around?
He also reported that Jorgie told Joe, "He's got nothing" which is why Joe started to summon help from the pen.
"I heard him plain as day, he said, 'He's got nothing.' That's why it looked like it did. Something was lost in translation, I guess, because he meant to say it, it just came out wrong. I don't think he was playing a joke."
Damn if that man doesn't actually understand how to use a pen.
Sterling and Waldman were talking about David Cone's perfect game against the Montreal Expos. The Expos' pitcher was Javy Vazquez. The reason why he was starting? The original starter was scratched with an injury. Said original starter?
Carl Pavano.
Wow, you can't make that stuff up. That is hilarious.
Its hard to believe that Pavano was once the centerpiece of the Sox's trade for Pedro. He and Tony Armas, Jr. I wonder sometimes how important Armas Jr was to that deal happening; he was a PTBNL so he couldn't have been that imporant. Still, Armas Jr was once a Yankees prospect, dealt to Boston in '97 to get Mike Stanley back. Wouldn't it have been something if the Sox never got Pedro because they didn't have Tony Armas Jr?
Or, more likely given events of the last few years, that Pavano tripped over his own shadow and broke something before the trade went down?
He's never been able to stay healthy long enough. but there were prefectly legitimate reasons to belive that he could be a good pitcher .
As for the Dodger pen, Loaiza started as the 5th starter with Park / Kuo being the long man. then they flipped Kuo and Loaiza after Loaiza pitched like himself and they realize Kuo's a lefty with good stuff and not old.
EDSP's been horrible so far. at this rate he'd be off the team pretty soon.
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