Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Chris Stewart's Yankee debut didn't go s'good last night. He went 0-for-3 at the plate with a strikeout and was repeatedly crossed up by Phil Hughes, resulting in two passed balls. Fortunately, Chad Moeller cleared waivers and has been reinstated on the 25-man roster, forcing Stewart back to Scranton (and off the 40-man via a DFA, though the move hasn't been announced yet). Meanwhile, Chris Britton, who was optioned yesterday, was recalled today following Ross Ohlendorf's 3 1/3-inning outing last night (Alex Rodriguez hitting the DL allows the Yankees to skip the ten-day rule). Of course, Britton could be back on the Scranton shuttle after Ian Kennedy's start tomorrow, as Wilson Betemit is now eligible to come off the DL just in time to fill the hole at his natural position of third base. Chad Jennings reports that Betemit is scheduled to join the Scranton team for a rehab assignment tomorrow.
Andy Pettitte will look to ease the strain on the pen tonight. In his last start he lasted just five innings against the Indians, turning in his worst outing of the year. The Tigers righty-heavy lineup would seem to be a bad match for Pettitte. Indeed, Andy's been hell on lefties in the early going, but righties have been doing well against him. The thing is, that's unusual. On his career, Pettitte has almost no platoon split at all and when he does have one it tends to be a reverse split. Andy pitched a gem in his only outing against Detroit last year (8 IP, 5 H, 1 R). I'd expect some bounce back tonight.
Opposing Andy will be Jeremy Bonderman. Bonderman feels like he's been around forever at this point--as the first-round high school draft pick that steeled Billy Beane's resolve to draft college arms in the "Moneyball" draft, as a key player in the three-team Jeff Weaver/Ted Lilly/Carlos Peña trade, as a 19-game loser on the 113-loss 2003 Tigers team, and as a perennial breakout candidate who still hasn't made that leap--but he's still just 25. Bonderman improved steadily from 2003 to 2006, but last year he fell apart in conjunction with the Tigers' second-half slide that I mentioned in my series preview (first 18 starts: 10-1, 3.53; last ten starts: 1-8 8.23). A sore elbow was the culprit, but he was shut down in early September and expected to make a full recovery over the winter. In the early going, however, he's been maddeningly inconsistent, failing to turn in a single quality start in five outings and pitching inefficiently, with just 58 percent of his pitches going for strikes on the season. Bonderman struck out just ten men in his first four starts (22 2/3 innings) before striking out seven Rangers in 4 2/3 in his last start, but after walking 8 in his first 17 2/3 innings he's now walked 13 in his last 9 2/3. It doesn't bode well for Bonderman that the Yankees drew eight walks of his teammates last night. Also worth noting: while Bonderman has kept his ERA at a respectable 4.28, he has five unearned runs on his ledger already, giving him a 5.93 RA (run average).
Alberto Gonzalez starts in place of Morgan Ensberg at third base tonight. Melky "Got Homers" Cabrera moves up to the sixth spot, ahead of the struggling Robinson Cano, catcher Jose Molina, and Gonzalez.
Update: Stewart was optioned, but not designated for assignment. Rather, to make room for Moeller on the 40-man, Sean Henn, who had been pitching well on rehab assignment with Scranton, was DFAed. Chad Jennings has some reaction to the move.
His arm from waaaaaayyy over at third makes me nervous too.
That said, the Yanks are second in the AL in homers, 4th in doubles, 4th in SLG, 4th in hits . . . but 8th in walks and 8th in OBP (and thus 7th in runs scored). When they stop hacking, and get the OBP up, the offense should be OK. Jeter, Cano, and Abreu are the worst offenders (OBPs: .305, .216, and .321), and Posada wasn't helping either (.333, but with a .303 AVG and only 3 BB vs 11 K). Giambi's OBP is only .330, but his AVG is only .171, so you figure its bound to improve. I hope.
Say what you want about Giambi, but he's got 5 home runs and has more BB (15) then K (11). Even if he hits just .240, if he keeps this up, he'll be A-OK.
Have we really reached that level of bullpen segmentation? Where even the bottom guys on your staff have to be given fixed, specific roles - or else they're being "jerked around," and how can you expect them to function under those conditions?
Phil Hughes changed his number to 34. The last two men to wear number 34? Sean Henn and Jaret Wright.
The number is CURSED.
BRING BACK 65.
Or give him 45.
c'mon guys, BIG inning, right now!
you.
melky.
an actual HIT with RISP ... with 2 outs, no less
How are we doing?
and how about that shitty ass five pitch walk coming in to score. Yankee pitchers consistently rebound from runs with walks.
What kind of hit was it? Was it a good ab?
Robbie and Hideki looked terrible at the plate.
Robby?--so what else is new.
Hideki's an interesting case.
His seemingly endless tappers to second infuriate me, and yet, he's been productive. He's hitting over .300, in fact, no?
Imagine how well he'd hit if he could learn to use the whole field with consistency.
But I won't get on him now, because he's basically productive, his "defense" notwithstanding.
I hate missing Andy's starts.
Have I mentioned he's a golden god?
Still, I like Thames.
Arod and Posada better get healthy fast, because the Yankees are simply not a very good team without them.
What's the score?
i don't know what's pissing me off more ...
mlb.tv has decided to black me out of EVERY game i try to watch (started yesterday)
or ...
the yankees aren't playing well enough to make it worth my while to bother getting the damn service back ...
That being said- where Giambi's fault lies is in never showing he can do anything else BUT hit it there. So I agree with you.
Giambi's average is what 150? Well maybe he's rationalized that since he's only using half of the field it is actually .300.
Meanwhile, Andy's caved for the second straight outing and given up five runs before the seventh, and our offense remains pathetic. Ugh.
Also, I really don't think that Bonds is a difference maker of the sort that would guarantee the Yanks a division title or a World Series anyway. We'd score more runs and win a few more games. But Bonds can't pitch or play catcher, and we have deeper problems than his OBP can fix.
He's not, in a word, recalcitrant like Barry Bonds is.
It just seems that you don't like Barry Bonds. That's fine, but I wouldn't let my dislike of a player prevent me from wanting him to help my team win. That's just how I feel...and respect your right to feel differently.
Can't wait to see how Girardi spins this latest one re Hughes. He's definitely getting a trial by fire in dealing with the media...and failing miserably so far.
I wrote in my first post on the subject that I am biased and do not like Barry Bonds.
By the way, we can debate this or debate that the ocean will turn into chocolate all we want and neither is going to happen.
This is all I got left.
moments of admiration for the other team. how sad.
For the record, Girardi said Hughes was healthy when asked before the game. I guess Hughes got hurt while sitting on the bench.
end quote
So that's it?! Apparently all our players are getting hurt on the bench! Maybe we need to get some lazy boy recliners back there or something.
He ended up being sent to Tampa to rehab his "injury." (Pete Abe reported it that way, with "injury" in quotation marks.)
in the words of the immortal Troy McClure, "ahhhh ... sweet liquor eases the pain"
Best part of the commentary tonight was the debate between Flaherty and Leiter about throwing strikes. Flaherty saying sometimes you need to simplify and just pound the zone. Leiter talking about how you have to be more careful than that. Ah, Senator Al, we miss your 30 minute innings with only one baserunner.
154 yep here too..
147 want to join in but it's morning here..can't even go to bed after another horrible loss!
Pete Abe seems to think Rasner will get the call. I suppose Igawa is a possibility, too. There must be a reason why they've refused to trade him.
And the YES guys suggested yesterday that Ohlendorf might be stretched out and made into a starter. They pointed out that he gave the Yankees 3.1 innings yesterday (vs. 3.2 for Hughes).
The cloak and dagger bs is what the Pats do, right down to the phantom injuries (Tom Brady is questionable this week with _________), and it makes it miserable for everyone. I fail to see the benefit.
Oh well. Tomorrow is a new May.
160 Nothing positive.
158 I'm not sure there's been any solid proof the cloak and dagger bs does work for the Pats. Yes, they've won a lot, but is that because of the talented players and coaching staff, or because Belichik lists 3/4ths of his roster on the injury report and doesn't let his coaching staff talk to the media ever?
Not to alarm you all, but the Yanks need a starter for Sunday, and that's apparently Igawa's regular turn for SWB. Of course, Rasner's regular turn is Friday, so he could fill in too. I hope its Rasner, not Igawa.
I think that harms the team.
And I don't think its a matter of making the writers work harder. Its a matter of bullshitting the writers for no good reason, when they are not idiots. What advantage did the Yanks gain by all of a sudden announcing that Hughes has a strained oblique? That Seattle now has only three and a half days to prepare their hitters to face Rasner/Igawa, instead of four? What is the point?
167 If writers want to rip Girardi, so be it. I don't think it makes a difference in the success or failure of the team.
The point is Hughes was not going on the DL until 6:30. What is the point of announcing to the world (and the Mariners) that Hughes might be hindered a little in his next start? It works both ways. I'd rather the Yankees error on not giving the opposition too much information, even if it means a sportswriter feels violated.
And if you made the decision to invent a fake injury for Phil Hughes, does it really matter if you tell everyone that he got pretend hurt before the game or in the middle of the game? Does Joe Girardi have to tell everyone he's not hurt before the game and then put him on the DL two hours later?
I don't really care about the beat writers. I care about me, the guy that spends all this money on the team. I spend thousands on this team every year. I don't like that I have to play games to get even the simplest little detail out of this team.
petey is reporting that hughes has been diagnosed with a "stress fracture of the 9th rib" and is shut down for at least 4 weeks
pity for alan horne ...
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