Why the M's are up against the wall

As I was driving home from the Stadium last night, I frantically began searching for the Indians radio statio at 7 o'clock. It was around 7:30 that I stumbled across WTAM out of Cleveland and as I got closer to Binghamton the Indians broadcast began to overpower the sounds of the Mills Brothers and Patti Page who were transmitted on a rival 1100 AM station. As I rooted for the Mariners to lose and leave the Yanks in sole possession of the Wild Card I began to contemplate the difficulties that the M's face in September when they must play 2 more games than the Yanks.

So much in the modern era of baseball seems to come down to bullpens and to paraphrase Miss Teen South Carolina, I personally believe that M.L. Baseballers are unable to win because, uhmmm, some people out there in the game don't have relief pitchers and uh, I believe that our, I, pitching like such as uh, South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uhhh, our pitching over here in the bigs should help the bigs, uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for our children.

What I'm trying to say is that I think the Wild Card race is going to come down to whose bullpen can hold the most wins for their team. The starters, both pitching and fielding, are in their routines and won't be as affected by playing every day of the month, but the guys in the bullpen need a couple days off every week or two so they don't get burned out.

Let's begin by saying that a bullpen needs two consecutive days off once every two weeks to stay fresh and productive. The only way to get those days off is either by virtue of a great start by one of your pitchers or a day off. Now, let's say the the odds of any team getting a great starting pitching performance on any given day is 40%. So, the odds of having back-to-back great starts to rest your bullpen is 16%. In contrast, a team with an off day would need either the start preceding or proceeding that day off to fully rest their pen. The odds that one of those two starts would be a great start is 64% or, to put it another way, having an off day makes it four times as likely that your bullpen gets the necessary rest it needs than if you have to play every day.

In my mind, that will be the undoing of the 2007 Mariners. Now to make sure we take care of business against Tampa, Toronto and Baltimore.

Moose gone loose?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/nyregion/30cnd-shoot.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

When I first saw the headline "Disgruntled Worker Shoots Three in the Bronx" I immediately assumed it was Mussina and that Clemens and Torre were dead.


Section 39 quote of the day:
"Some U.S. Americans don't have access to maps such as South Africa and the Iraq such as."

Some Questions

1. Do we need to rethink dumping Farnsworth? Is he making his case to stay?

2. Is Ian Kennedy available for a start or two? He's pitched 140+ innings in the minors this season, I believe. Is that a huge workload at his stage of development or is he good to go?

3. Ain't it beautiful when Pettite and Mo turn back the clock and he goes seven innnings and Mo closes it out in the ninth?

4. I know decent closers are easier to find than top-notch starters. But what's more valuable, Joba as a 1 or 2 starter or Joba two or three years from now as a closer with Mo-like invincibility?

Enough With The Joba Rules Says Section 39

Okay, all this talk about the Joba Rules is getting silly. Michael Kay and Al Leiter had a spat on-air with Leiter saying, hey, they're guidelines and anything can happen depending on where the team is at and Kay acting as if Leiter suggested the Yankees were going to start a dogfighting ring -- no, absolutely not, these are the RULES and no one is ever going to break them.

Torre is now adding to the silliness, telling the NY Daily News in response to the questions about one inning = one day off that "I'm not syaing it won't change; I don't know that. That's for somebody else to tell me. I'm not going to make that suggestion, because I don't know as much about the physical aspect of pitching as [Yankees pitching coordinator Nardi] Contreras does. If they choose to make an adjustment, so be it."

Did you catch that? Torre is acting as if his hands are tied by the pitching coordinator -- a position so lowly, most people couldn't name the guy doing it. Section 39 bleacher fans say that is absurd. He's the manager and any suggestions by anyone else are just that -- suggestions. He may choose to stick to those suggestions, but he makes the final call. And I'm sorry, but if it's the last game of the season and a win takes us to the post-season and Joba pitched the day before, Torre will bring him in if necessary. If he doesn't, he's not doing his job. We're not talking about blowing out a guy's arm and ending his career, we're talking about turning guidelines into commandments and pretending that the manager isn't in charge.

NOTE: Steve B, a Yankee fan with a Sunday package, just asked, if the rule is that he rests a day for evey inning he pitches, does that mean Joba only pitches once every 6 or 7 days?

You can call me Snake

I'm getting excited to do my bizarro-world impression of Kurt Russell as I make my Escape To New York for a couple of games against Boscum. A big thank you to Michael and the Nanny for hooking me up with a seat on Wednesday night and a place to crash. I was hoping that we would have trimmed the deficit to 2 or 3 games by the start of this series, but a repeat of last year's massacre will do the trick.

Ian Kennedy Watch is on...

http://www.newsday.com/sports/ny-spyanks0823,0,1579500.story


Moose better pick it up...soon...or not only will have lost any shot of finding meaningful employment next season, but he'll be rather unceremoniously bumped from the rotation in the midst of a pennant race.

Giambi, Damon Thrilled To Be On The Bench?

Okay, I don't mind when the YES network gives the party line. (I don't watch it enough to care, frankly.) But I can't understand why any reporters would fall for it. On Aug 21, the NY Daily News ran an article about Giambi and Damon time-sharing the DH role. It made it sound as if nothing could make them happier. (I couldn't find it online to link to, unfortunately.) Both of them have "taken the situation in stride," Damon offers up that "we're all being professional players," (that's nice, since he's making $14 mil or so), and Giambi says, "Johnny and I have always been team guys. It helps Joe out because he knows he can come and talk to us about it." Okay, who on a baseball team ISN'T a team guy and they should leave immediately. Torre can come and talk to them about why two aging veterans plagued by injuries and out for days or weeks at a time this season aren't jumping right back into an everyday role? How nice of them. But what really got me is that just two weeks ago, Damon was bitching about Torre not even calling and telling him personally when he wasn't in the lineup (which Torre doesn't even do for Jeter) and saying maybe he should be traded. Fine, he's over it and said it was no big deal the next day. But don't pretend two weeks later everything is hunky-dory. The silliest comment came from Torre: "They know if they're not playing, there's somebody out there who is worthy of playing." Yeah, some young healthy kid playing better than them really puts their minds at ease. Please.

By the way, the article pointed out how great it's working out and how important Giambi is, by noting the team is 8-5 since he came back on Tuesday, August 7. (Now the team is 8-6 of course.) What does that prove? The team was 9-4 in the last 13 games before he came back. They're 8-6 now and they were 10-4 when he was out. Sure those were easier teams, but I'm not the one claiming the team did better with Giambi back. That simply isn't true. I'm not placing the blame squarely on his shoulders, but it was a dumb claim given their record the last 13 or 14 games and personally I think we're a better team without him. I don't care what guys saying, having veterans grumbling while they ride the bench is never good for a team.

Have The Yankees Been Patient?

Not wonderfully so, I'd say. Cashman has protected the arms in the minor leagues for a few years now. But from 2002-2006, the Yankees were still throwing around big bucks to sign big players at the deadlines to compete now. This year, they didn't make any massive move at the trade deadline. But it's not like they were rebuilding and looking towards next season. They believed the minor leaguers that everyone wanted could compete TODAY, right now. And darned if Hughes and Joba and Ramirez aren't making a big difference right now. The Yankees didn't resist pulling the trigger to build towards a strong future. They just refused to give away talent they were planning to call up today. How patient have they been this season? I suppose they didn't fire Cashman or Torre after the first half. But a more active Steinbrenner might have done just that, when you combine their performance with last year's post-season meltdown. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad Cashman has done what he's done and not brought in some aging veteran when we've got no room for them. But you gotta laugh at a team being described as patient just because they held off on imploding for a few weeks and didn't trade away pitchers they knew could compete for them right now.

Extra Tix Sat and Sun

I've got an extra ticket for Sat and Sun. If you're interested, let me know.

Why I'm Not Booing Sheffield

Because he loves it. It would bother Sheffield a lot more if Yankee fans just completely ignored him and barely paid attention during his at-bats. That said, it was pretty funny when Section 39 in the bleachers chanted "You're a racist!" and "Yankee reject!" But if we're gonna boo, any other suggestions for what to yell?

A-love

Some Espn love for the wonderful Ale-R

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2976815&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos2

"Run production is what men like A-Rod are paid for. And if he's outproducing the entire population of living baseball players, past and present, he can probably cash his next few paychecks with a clear conscience. Now if he can just get himself proclaimed an official True Yankee … "

The Onion has Recognized

When the Onion finally recognizes your greatness, you know things have turned around:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/fucking_yankees_reports_nation

Also, Mike mentioned the section 39 blog, so I put "section 39 blog" into google and guess who's awesome blog came up first?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=section+39+blog

Trivia, Cheese and Hawai'i

Okay, some odds and ends. First, we've had a handful of non-baseball gatherings by the Lightning squad. Jason, Nannette and I met for chicken wings and trivia at Jason's former place of work in Brooklyn. Despite the fact that Jason stood toe to toe with me in trivia the whole night (when my entire career -- indeed my entire life -- is devoted to pop culture), Jason was not happy when I squeaked out a victory on the final question. He wanted to WIN!

Bruce and Pat and I met at S'Mac, a lower east side establishment on 12th street that specializes in macaroni and cheese. It was in fact very, very, very cheesey. I recommend getting the "small/gnosh" portion and don't forget the bread crumbs on top. And for god's sake, stay away from their bottled soda, which is wired with massive amounts of pure cane sugar. I stayed awake till 5 in the morning with visions of elbow macaroni dancing in my head.

Friday night is Hawai'ian Shirt Night in the bleachers per the Section 39 blog. Dress accordingly.

Finally, a sensitive topic. I thought the Yankees were wrong when they decided to sport a black armband all this season after the tragic plane crash that took the life of Cory Lidle last year. It's not that Lidle doesn't deserve this tribute, it just seemed extreme for a player that had just joined the team and that most fans had barely heard of. Half-mast flags when they heard, properly inviting his wife and children to Opening Day where he would be properly honored, this all seemed in proportion and classy. But I worried that wearing a black armband all season was too much, like weeping and wailing at the funeral of an distant uncle you barely knew. What would you do when an iconic Yankee died? Wear a black armband for two seasons?

Now my very fears are met with the passing of Scooter. The players will sport a #10 on their sleeves right above the black armband for Lidle. I hope it doesn't take anything away from Lidle to say that the armband for him makes the tribute to Scooter seem less impressive. Obviously, we don't want to rate every passing Yankee and say this guy deserves a two month salute and that guy's numbers mean he deserves a four month salute and so on. Just use common sense and deceny -- a brand new Yankee like Lidle that we barely knew deserved an appropriate tribute at the time and on Opening Day since the sason was over. Scooter -- a Yankee icon -- deserved the season-long tribute. A sense of proportion, please.

Goodbye To Scooter

Thanks again to Nannette and David for helping Five O'Clock Lightning "scoop" the New York Times and the New York Daily News by posting the news about Phil Rizutto's death before they did.

Perhaps the team was too saddened to put up much of a fight when the Orioles trounced us 12-0. At the beginning of the game, the Bleacher Creatures did the usual rol call, but finaled with "Phil Rizutto! Phil Rizutto!" Nice. Believe me, it was all downhill from there.

Yankee Great Phil Rizzuto Dead At 89

He's gone to the great Money Store in the sky. (Nanette was the first to tell me. The NYTimes and the NY Daily News didn't have it on their website as of this posting, but my old paper the NY Post had a two-line obit and a banner notice on the front page.) What are your favorite memories of Scooter? Personally, I saw those ads for the Money Store growing up and hadn't a clue he was a Yankee -- I couldn't figure out why anyone would take a loan from something as shady as "the Money Store" or why they would trust this guy. Later of course, I grew to love his rambling commentary during games and shout outs for the birthdays of elderly fans. Gotta wear black to the Stadium tonight.

Joba! Joba!

Crazy game tonight. Except for Mo blowing the save, it was a lot of fun. Wang had a so-so outing, settling down after his awful first. And of course when we took the lead right back from them, it was comforting. Everyone's talking about the youth movement and of course on the post below I talked about the massive savings we could have next year by not resigning or trading Abreu, Giambi, and Clemens (and Mussina?). (Plus the A-Rod issue.) Like everyone else, I think a team of All Stars is a recipe for flatness. And I haven't expected the Yankees to win the World Series at any time in the past seven years (icluding '01 when they almost did). But putting chemistry aside, it's just more FUN to cheer for a team filled with veterans, rising stars like Cano and Melky (who the geniuses in the front office had riding the bench at the begnning of the season) and young guys getting a taste of the show, guys like Joba and Hughes and Duncan and Betemit and my boy Phillips. They're likable and easy to root for, just like the Dynasty of the nineties that even our enemies admired.

At the game tonight, fans wen batcrazy when Joba took the mound at Yankee Stadium for the first time. And when he notched his final out with a strike out, the noise was post-season intense. Huge enthusiasm for Duncan too, just like they used to go wacky for Bubba -- not because we think the guy is the second coming but because it's FUN and maybe the kid could hit another home run and let's see how long his streak lasts and darned if Hughes and Joba ain't the real thing. Fun. Home-grown fun at that.

Can You Taste It?

Mmmmm, post-season. I like post-season.

But just to annoy people, I've been fantasizing about next year. I won't be upset, so much, if they keep A-Rod. but if he opted out, he would cost us $30 mil. Imagine if A-Rod didn't come back, they didn't take the option on Abreu ($16 mil) (I don't think he gets along with Melky -- neither does Matsui so much either but he's never gonna let it interfere), Jason Giambi got traded because he was sick of riding the bench and lots of teams would take a cheater who can pound them out of the park at $20 mil for one year, obviously we wouldn't bring back Clemens. You had Damon for one year platooning with a kid from the minors in right. (Take your pick.) Our only hole would be at third base and our payroll would be $66 million less than it would be otherwise, mostly by getting rid of people who have no everyday role and that we don't need. How awesome would it be to be the best team, one of the youngest and be smart enough NOT to have to have the biggest payroll in baseball? (Get rid of the injury prone Damon and you're looking at $80+ mil in savings -- more than most teams. I'm assuming Mussina will be gone so won't count that as a savings) and a group of mostly home grown guys that include Jeter, Posada (who needs some kid to mentor), Pettitte (?), Rivera, Hughes, Kennedy, Chamberlain, Wong, Cano, Melky, Matsui, Phillips, with Duncan maybe on the bench along with some other savvy pickups of vets who can role play. I'm all tingly.

No Clothes for Justin

Here's an interesting anecdote about my son, shopping patterns in North Jersey, and why I hate the Red Sox.

Like many of the good wives of Yankee fans in October of 2004, Janet did her part to divert my attention from the postseason that never should have existed. Subsequently, we then began expecting the arrival of a future Yankee fan in July of 2005.

Justin's due date of July 8th came and passed. A week passed and we started getting nervous. The Yanks and Sox were locked into another battle for AL supremecy and began a 4 game series in Fenway on Thursday the 14th. On Friday night we tuned in to watch rookie Tim Redding take on old man David Wells. It was ugly from the start with the Sox scoring 3 in the first and 5 in the second on their way to a 17-1 drubbing. It was literally enough to send a pregnant woman into labor.

Upon arriving to the hospital we found that this scenario was not uncommon in North Jersey as a bumper crop of young Yankee fans were brought into the world that fateful weekend. Rooms were so scarce that after the c-section to deliver Justin, Janet was placed in a supply closet/office for recovery. When the office needed to be used in the morning she was moved to a larger room in which two other ladies were in the process of giving birth! Thankfully the Yankees took 3 out of 4 that weekend and effectively closed the door on the Sox. I thought that was the end of this nightmarish scenario which the Red Sox hoisted upon the Yankee Universe.

However, in a particularly evil twist, I have come to realize that the events of October 2004 did not end at the hospital in the summer of 2005. Each season, as we attempt to buy new clothes for Justin back in Jersey, there is one size which is ALWAYS short on supply. The spike in births due to the most painful October in memory has made it nearly impossible to clothe my son in anything other than cheap, Wal-Mart rags. It is a realization which only increases my bitterness with time and that is why I hate the Red Sox with every fiber of my being.

Scott Boras Is Right

It doesn't happen often, so I might as well speak up when he is. I definitely agree Boras is the devil and doesn't really have the best interests of his clients at heart. All he sees is a paycheck, not what team can get to the post-season, what manager will be a good fit with my player, what town would he want to live in -- nope, it's all about the biggest possible paycheck and who cares if it means going to Texas and crippling the team so your guy (a-Rod) is miserable and out of the spotlight and losing out on endorsement deals because no one sees him playing every day in a major market. I also definitely have less respect for any player who chooses Boras as an agent.

Anyway, Boras said A-Rod's home run totals have been consistent since the day he arrived in the majors so A-Rod should not have the cloud of steroids hanging over him. I agree. His totals blipped up in Texas -- which is designed for righties -- and blipped down again at Yankee Stadium. But he does not have any season or era in which his nunbers just exploded the way say Barry Bonds did in his late 30s no less! My friend Jason tried to tell me I should have to consider whether Jeter also juiced since Jeter is so massive today compared to the scrawny kid he was in the beginning. Well, 18 years old isn't 32. And most every ballplayer is a huge workout nut. But there seems to be a big difference between big and Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade big like Giambi and Bonds. Jason gets to see the players up close in the locker room, which gives him a better perspective.

But let me be clear. ANY player who cheated and used steroids would automatically be off my list of favorite players and that includes Jeter. And Andy Petitte who worked out with Clemens and mimicked his workout routine just like Sheffield did with Bonds. Petitte is my greatest fear at this point since I believe Clemens might very well have juiced too. And that would break my heart. But no excuses for anyone, even my favorites.

Match Game FOL

Kudos to Cashman for stockpiling pitching prospects in the farm system. I think we're all extremely excited to see how each prospect turns out at the big league level. That leads me right into Match Game FOL:

Match the current group of pitching prospects to their 1993-94 counterpart:

Yankees of Tomorrow:
Joba Chamberlain
Tyler Clippard
Matt DeSalvo
Sean Henn
Phil Hughes
Jeff Karstens
Ian Kennedy
Ross Ohlendorf
Darrell Rasner
Humberto Sanchez
Chase Wright

Yankees of Tomorrow (circa 93-94):
Matt Dunbar
Dave Eiland
Sterling Hitchcock
Mark Hutton
Domingo Jean
Scott Kamieniecki
Sam Militello
Bobby Munoz
Andy Pettitte
Mariano Rivera
Brien Taylor