20 Days Until Spring Training: Kevin Youkilis

The fackin' Youkstah. The Youkin' fackstah. Our mortal enemy and constant inspiration. The man with the face that could shatter a thousand mirrors, a beard with a website of its own, and the batting stance so homo-erotic that would have been censored on TV if he played in the 1950's. He's not afraid to flip you the bird or take a walk (unless it's raining).

In the immortal words of Fack Youk Hall of Famer Matt Taibbi:

Youkilis fighting a middle reliever to a nine-pitch walk looks like a rhinoceros trying to fuck a washing machine.

Of course, middle relievers aren't the only pitchers he likes to fight. Fittingly, his fisticuffsmanship was directly responsible for the most visited and commented post in the history of this site and for that we owe him our deepest gratitude. If he wasn't such a dick, tens of thousands of people never would have visited this blog.

In all fairness though, we have respect for the Youkasaurus. He's among the toughest outs in the Majors and if he wasn't such a thorn in the Yankees side, we wouldn't have bothered to name this blog after our hatred of him.

Don't ever change, Youk. This site would be even less popular than it already is if you did.

19 It Is...

(Photos)

CC Sabathia will have to wait until at least next year to finally get his 20 win season. The big man got shelled in a bad way, allowing 9 runs (5 earned) over 2 2/3 IP, raising his season ERA from 3.21 to 3.37. The fact that 4 of the runs don't count against his ERA is nice, but it's also a little misleading since the Yanks committed a grand total of one error behind him and it came with no one out in the first. And although Mark Teixeira was charged with the gaffe, he recovered in time but Sabathia wasn't covering first base. Unfortunately, the 9 run figure does more justice to the performance that the official 5. It was his worst start of the season.

As brilliant as he has been over his last 11 starts, Sabathia was as terrible last night, allowing 14 men to reach base while recording only 8 outs, expending an average of just over 10 pitches to get each out. The Rays slapped 8 hits, drew 5 walks and were hit by a pitch.

Speaking of being hit by pitches, Mark Teixeira was plunked in the left hand by David Price in the first inning, possible retribution for Sabathia breaking two of Carlos Pena's fingers the last time the two teams squared off. Teixeira is currently tied with Pena for the AL lead in home runs and it wouldn't be too much of a stretch that Tampa, with nothing left to pay for, was seeking their pound of flesh from the Yankees' first baseman. Teix was visibly shaken and it might have contributed to his fielding error in the first.

But back to Sabathia. It would have been worse in a way if the bullpen blew the game for him, but it's not exactly the best note on which to head into the postseason. After the game he talked about not being able to command his fastball but also said: "It's definitely disappointing any time you lose. It's tough to go out there and pitch for individual things, so I just wanted to go out and have a good outing and keep it relevant to the playoffs."

It was relevant to his previous playoff performances, all right. Typically a great control pitcher, Sabathia has walked 22 batters in 25 postseason innings and has given up 22 runs. It's one start, but it came in the game where he was probably putting the most pressure on himself that he had in a while. He also walked 5 batters on Opening Day and 5 more at the opening of the New Stadium, when all eyes were seemed to be on him. I don't want to be concerned, but yeah, I'm a little concerned.

It doesn't at all take away from the type of season he's had for the Yanks, especially the second half, but falling short of 20 wins, especially in the fashion that he did, just killed whatever slim chance that he might steal the AL Cy Young from Zack Greinke. It's probably better that way, since Greinke wholly deserves the honor.

The final tally was 13-4. It was an ugly game on all fronts and one that the Yanks will forget about soon enough.

A few other notes: B.J. Upton hit for the first cycle in Devil Rays/Rays history in his first four at bats, going triple, double, homer single, and drove in 6 runs in the process. He drew a walk later in the game as well, making it an even more cyclic cycle. The Yankees almost used an entire 25 man roster tonight, calling on 16 position players and 8 pitchers. Juan Miranda hit his first Major League homer, a 460 ft blast that was declared the longest at Tropicana Field this season which also tied the Yanks' record for most HRs in a season at 242, set in 2004. Phil Hughes also had a bad night, pitching 1/3 of an inning and giving up three hits and a run. The AL Central race got a little more interesting as the Tigers lost and Twins won. Zack Greinke faces the Twinkies tomorrow, however.

Game 160: One More Chance

CC Sabathia will step to the mound tonight in search of his 20th victory of the season. The Big CCheese won 19 along with the AL Cy Young Award in 2007 and coincidentally has the same ERA (3.21) and the same record (19-7) that year as he does with one start to go in 2009. Odds are, one of those three numbers will change tonight, and likely, two of them will fluctuate.

The Tampa Bay Rays, led by David Price will be trying to see to it that the numbers that change are in the "loss" and "ERA" columns. This is not the position the Rays envisioned themselves in when this season began - long since eliminated from the postseason and simply playing out the string. The media darlings were predicted to contend for the AL East crown or at least the Wild Card but instead were pretty much out of the playoff picture when August came around.

A sort of symbol of the Rays struggles, Price has has a disappointing season as well. in 121 1/3 IP, he's stuck out 97, walked 52 and racked up a 4.60 ERA. When he was unveiled during last year's playoff run as a reliever, the general consensus was that he would be a force to be reckoned with one transitioned to the starting rotation. However, much like Joba Chamberlain, he's thrown too many pitches and walked too many batters. He's been better as of late though, carrying a 3.86 ERA over his last seven starts, including six innings of two run ball against the Yanks about three weeks ago.

Like Mr. Sabathia, Mike Mussina made a charge towards 20 wins last season notching victories in each of his last three starts including the last one against a division rival (the Red Sox) on the road, in a meaningless game (although meaningless for entirely different reasons). Paradoxically, Mussina did it with a higher ERA on a team with at least 13 fewer victories.

Should he complete the feat, Sabathia will have gone 10-0 in his last 12 starts to get 20 victories. CC will be the man of the night, whether he wants to acknowledge it or not:

Right now, to be honest, 20 wins is the last thing on my mind. I'm just trying to get ready to pitch on Wednesday. It would be great to be able to look back one day and say I won 20 games one year, but it's not a crazy goal.

He's not the type of guy who is going to make a big deal out of it, but I'm sure he's thinking about getting to the big 2-0. If you work the whole season and are within reach of that milestone for the first time in your career and you're going to want it pretty badly. He'll probably be putting a little more pressure on himself than usual, so it will be more interesting than your average playoff tune-up.

Big Poppa's only got one chance to do it. This year anyway.

Lyrically, I'm supposed to represent,
I'm not only the client, I'm the player president.

One more chance,
Biggie give me one more chance,
All I need is one more chance.

[Sidenote: The song choices have been a bit of a struggle lately, since we've ripped through 160 of them now, but this one might have been the easiest of the year. Sometimes they just fall into place.]

Number of Days Until Spring Training: #20 (Jorge Posada)

Jorge Posada's glenoid labrum might have been the biggest reason the Yankees didn't make the playoffs last year. He was placed on the DL July 21st and in his place, Jose Molina, Chad Moeller and Pudge Rodriguez cobbled together offensive statistics barely above replacement level.

Two years ago, as a 35 year old catcher, Posada's slash stats (1st PP) were .338/.426/.543, good for a 154OPS+. Yes, AS A CATCHER (the toughest position in the league to find offensive production at). His studly woodwork earned him a Silver Slugger Award, a start in the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium and 6th place in the MVP voting.

Coming off what was easily his best offensive season of his career in 2007, Posada signed a four year, $52M contract, far and away the most money ever committed to a catcher at such a late point in his career. The Yankees had no choice if they wanted to retain him. The Mets, among others, were hot on his trail and even offered him a four year deal at similar money. Brian Cashman probably knew that it was a bad investment overall, but as is the case in almost every other offseason, the options on the free agent market at catcher were threadbare.

Posada was going to come down to earth last year, even if he didn't get injured. He has always been a solid offensive force for a catcher, but 2007 was a complete and total anomaly. His highest previous batting average was .287 and his slugging percentage was .16 higher than his previous best. Guess what stat I'm going to link to next! That's right, Batting Average On Balls In Play!!!

BABIP explains almost every single seemingly inexplicable fluctuation in batting average from year to year. It keeps track of how many balls a player puts into the field of play that become hits (or outs). A typical BABIP is between .290 and .300, meaning that only 3/10 times, a ball redirected into play becomes a base hit.

Last year, Posada's BABIP was a stratospheric .386, when his highest previous was .303. Where the ball goes after it makes contact with the bat, it in almost entirely luck. Hence, if someone has an incredible spike in BA (or drop, ehem, CANO) from year to year, it's mostly dictated by the Baseball Gods. Yes, a hitter can direct the ball to one side of the field or another to some extent, but as far as finding a hole, it's a crapshoot.

I'll bet either of you two people who read this blog $50 that Posada doesn't bat over .300 again for the rest of his career (The first person to take the bet in the comments is in. We can iron out details later). If I lose, it will be the best $50 I've ever spent.

Hip Hip Jorge has been said to be the take-charge type of guy that Derek Jeter isn't, getting in guy's faces and not taking any shit. Maybe Robinson Cano wouldn't have needed to get benched by Joe Girardi to realize he wasn't that much more valuable than Jason Varitek last season.

Posada's attempts to right the universe aren't confined to the clubhouse. His son, Jorge Jr. who is 10 years old, suffers from a rare disease called craniosynostosis which inhibits brain growth in infants. His foundation "provides support to families whose child is affected by Craniosynostosis, a congenital or birth defect that causes an abnormally shaped skull." You can donate here.

Get well Jorge, we need you. The Yankees team that's going to win the World Series this year has you behind the plate.

Yeah, that one deserves some color.