The Fateful Fifth

Without falling victim to the fallacy of the predetermined outcome, there are is a rational way to look back at a baseball game and wonder what might have been. You have to identify a turning point in the game and restart from right there, assuming nothing going forward. But that method is always going to be unsatisfying because you can't say that that the Yankees would have won if a certain event didn't happen, you can only say that they might not have lost.

There are a lot of points that the Yankees probably wish they could rewind time and start last night's game from. Perhaps they'd like to put Brett Gardner up again with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning. The score was tied, but that was a real chance to break it open. Instead, Gardner settled for an RBI fielder's choice, Francisco Cervelli stayed in - instead of Jorge Posada pinch hitting - and struck out looking against Derek Holland and the Yankees walked away with a scant one run edge.

If they had to choose one spot though, it would likely be the moment before Mark Teixeira's fateful, balls-out sprint to first in the bottom of the fifth. As the ball dribbled up the third baseline, Teix reached for an extra gear that he apparently didn't have in order to beat out the double play and about fifteen feet from first, then reached for his right hamstring, lost his momentum and fell into an inadvertent feet-first slide, narrowly beating out the throw.

[As an aside... Could the hamstring have been weakened by the awkward attempt at tracking down the ball popped just into the stands by Nelson Cruz in the fourth inning? Maybe that at-bat would be a decent place to restart the tape from.]

Teixeira is a defensive wizard and generally a great hitter, but something about the postseason doesn't seem to agree with him. He's always said that one of the reasons he tends to start slow at the beginning of the regular season is that it takes time for both his right and left handed swings to align properly. Perhaps the long layoffs that are inherent to October baseball keep him too off balance to be the kind of devastating hitter he has the ability to be. In any event, it's not inconceivable that his replacement could hit better than he would have, in a small sample, from here on out. The Yankees will surely miss the plays Teix makes in the field (like the 3-6-1 DP he started in the top half of the fifth inning) but it's not impossible that the Yankees could win a World Series without him in their starting line up.

Nonetheless, this was still a soul-crushing moment. You could hear a groan of pure despair emanate from the crowd as he was helped towards the dugout and the feeling was that, even if the Yanks got out of this game with the win, their chances of defending their title just took a big hit. It was all too easy to forget that they were still holding at 3-2 edge, with men on first and second, only one out and had a roughly 75% chance of winning the game, according to WPA.

But A-Rod rapped into a double play, putting an end to what had begun as a two-on, no out potential rally and dropped that WPA down to 63%. That twin killing completed what might have been the worst imaginable outcome of having your 3 & 4 hitters up with two men on base and nobody out: force out (season ending injury), double play.

Still, it wasn't the end of the world. A.J. Burnett had acquitted himself quite nicely over the first five innings and seemed to be about as in control as one could rightfully expect him to be under the circumstances.

Burnett allowed a single to Vlad Guerrero to start the frame but sat down Nelson Cruz on a pivotal fielder's choice. Why is that important? Because Ian Kinsler, the next batter up, ripped a deep fly ball into center field that Curtis Granderson caught just off the warning track. The ball was so deep in fact, that Cruz tagged up from first base and slid safely into second, just ahead of a high throw from Granderson. Would Vlad and his ancient legs have tried to tag up under those circumstances? Highly doubtful.

So by advancing to second, Cruz opened up first base. And with David Murphy due up, Joe Girardi made one of the more controversial decisions of the evening and chose to intentionally walk him based on his history with Burnett, opting to face Bengie Molina with two men on instead of Murphy with just a man on second.

David Murphy is a capable hitter, but if Joe Girardi didn't like the match up, then why didn't he go to his bullpen in an attempt to shuffle the deck instead of putting a guy on base and leaving Burnett in?

What was he going to get out of Burnett, one more inning at most? Burnett was supposed to be on a short leash. Girardi might be the biggest proponent of two out pitching changes in the history of the fucking sport. Joba Chamberlain had been warming up for roughly two hours at that point. WHAT THE FUUUUCCCKKKK!??!?1

Sorry, I lost it for a second there. But for all the talk that there would be a quick hook for Burnett, the decision to walk Murphy (in addition to the one not to pinch hit for Cervelli) simply don't make any sense. Girardi was trying to ride Burnett for as long as possible and he paid dearly for it.

We all know too well what happened next. Molina took the first pitch he saw deep into the left field seats an delivered the running cockpunch from which the Yankees wouldn't recover.

They surely tried, however. With the bases loaded and the Bombers down by four in the eighth inning, Nick Swisher tried to avoid an inside breaking ball that got away from Darren Oliver. Replays showed that it caught Swisher's pant leg and he should have been awarded first base, thereby forcing in a run and putting the go-ahead run at the plate with just one out.

But on a night where almost everything went just about as wrong as possible for the Yanks, Angel Hernandez didn't see the contact and didn't buy Swisher's attempt at selling the fact that he got clipped when was contorted in some sort of yoga position (the dying giraffe?) on the ground.

There are losses and then there are impossibly brutal, heart-stabbing defeats like last night. The Yankees are still technically alive in the series and are a good bet to win tonight behind CC Sabathia, but even if they take the next two games, they'll have to get past Cliff Lee in Game 7. It's not over, but it certainly fucking feels like it is.

Other incredible/horrible moments that didn't make the cut:

• Jeffery Maier Part Douche
  
• Lance Berkman's overturned near homerun, that might have even glanced against the foul pole
  
• Brett Gardner's bat breaking the TBS camera
  
• A near Bartman moment in the top of the 5th

ALCS Game 4: Deja Vu

With the series knotted up, the Yankees took the field for their first home game of the round. They squandered a gutsy two run performance from their southpaw starter before the bullpen let things get out of hand late. It wouldn't have really mattered anyway, because Cliff Lee was that good, dominating the Yankee offense for eight innings, not allowing a single earned run. Now down a game in the series, New York turns to the mercurial A.J. Burnett in attempt to pull things even.

Sound familiar? It could easily be ripped from a recap of last night's game. Except it's not. It's a two-bit synopsis of Game One of last year's World Series, where CC Sabathia yielded just two runs over seven frames before the bullpen let things get out of hand, just as it happened last night. Where Cliff Lee shut the Yankees out for eight innings, just like last night. When Lee walked only one batter, just like last night. When Lee allowed just one Yankee baserunner to advance past first base, just like last night, before a meaningless, unearned run crossed the plate in the last of the ninth.

A.J. Burnett took the ball the very next evening and pulled the series even, turning in one of his finest starts as a Yankee: tossing seven innings of four hit, two walk ball, allowing just one run while fanning nine. Given the circumstances, it was probably the single biggest performance by a Yankee starter in the 2009 post-season.

A lot has changed since then. Lee is no longer a Phillie, in Texas after a stop in Seattle. The Yanks head into tonight's game knowing they'll be facing elimination if they lose again, circumstances a bit less manageable than facing a potential 0-2 hole last year. Burnett, who had already displayed his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tendencies during his first season in the Bronx, is coming off a 2010 even rockier than his 2009. He hasn't pitched in eighteen days, hasn't had a decent start in over a month, hasn't been a reliable starting pitcher since Memorial Day, and has been the object of ceaseless whippings from Joel Sherman and all other corners of the tabloid media and Yankee blogosphere.

And yet, he remains the Bombers' best option to start this game. While many would advocate bringing CC Sabathia back on short rest, I'm not sure what good that would do. There's no way Phil Hughes is being brought back on short rest. So best case scenario is that CC opposes the Rangers' worst starter and pulls the Yankees even, but they are still left to start Burnett against Texas' number two in a Game Five that could send them to brink of elimination. Worst case, a short-rested Sabathia can't pull it off, and the club is left to send Burnett to the mound with the season hanging in the balance. I'll take my chances with Burnett tonight, thank you.

Of course, all of that is assuming that Burnett is utterly incapable of doing anything but imploding tonight. And I'm not buying that argument. There's no way to put a positive spin on Burnett's season. From June on, he went 7-15 with a 5.87 ERA over 28 starts. Opponents hit .291/.375/.481 off him over that stretch. It was downright ugly. But who is A.J. Burnett? What kind of pitcher is he? I think many assume that since he pitched very well against the Yankees during his days in Toronto, that since the pitching-desperate Yankees overpaid him in both years and average annual value after their poor 2008 season, that since he was deemed a "number two" as a result of that deal, that Burnett should be a CC-lite. And I think that's an unreasonable expectation. Burnett has always been an up-and-down sort of guy, and this year for the first time, has been more downs than ups. But that doesn't change the fact that Burnett remains a talented pitcher, and a pitcher capable of giving the Yankees the performance they need tonight.

And if that fails, perhaps Tommy Hunter is the cure for what ails the suddenly anemic Yankee offense. As Aaron Gleeman pointed out this morning, and Mike Axisa expounded upon, the Rangers should have some concerns of their own when it comes to their starter for tonight. I suppose it's a lot easier to stomach those questions when you're up 2-1, and when you're a late inning meltdown away from being up 3-0. But at the very least, if Burnett implodes tonight, the Yankees have a puncher's chance to outslug the Rangers anyway.

Three hundred fifty five days after Cliff Lee last put on a pitching clinic in the South Bronx the Yankees find themselves in a similar situation: A.J. Burnett taking the ball the next day in what's essentially the closest a game can be to being "must win" without a loss resulting in elimination. I'm hoping history repeats itself, or as Yogi might say, that it's deja vu all over again.

If I had ever been here before I would probably know just what to do
Don't you?
If I had ever been here before on another time around the wheel
I would probably know just how to deal
With all of you.
And I feel
Like I've been here before
Feel
Like I've been here before
And you know
It makes me wonder
What's going on under the ground

[Song Notes: From their debut album of the same name - at least their first album where Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills, and Nash, this performance of Deja Vu comes from 1991 and is missing the "Y" in CSNY. Side note, I once randomly ran into Graham Nash while walking down Newbury Street in Boston]

-Lineups-

Yankees:
The lineup flips over to the standard vs. RHP format, with Granderson moving up, Swisher moving down, and Berkman replacing Thames. The big news however is that Francisco Cervelli will get the start behind the plate, further fueling the Posada-can't-catch-A.J. myth. Probably not the ideal move for a team whose offense is sputtering at present.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Lance Berkman DH
Brett Gardner LF
Francisco Cervelli C

A.J. Burnett RHP

Rangers:

Tommy Hunter RHP

ALCS Game 1: Friday Night Lights

Being a Yankee fan this week has been a lot like being a football fan. After dispensing with the Twins by completing a three game ALDS sweep last Saturday night, we've been left with an interminable wait for tonight's ALCS Game One. In the interim, the mainstream media - both local and national - and the blogosphere have filled the football-like week long gap between games with football-like coverage. That is, there hasn't been nearly enough legitimate news to cover six news cycles, so every little tidbit of information has been overly dissected.

As the Yankees return to the field tonight after five days off, perhaps the football connections are appropriate. Fall is upon us. And when C.J. Wilson's first pitch kicks off the 2010 American League Championship Series, it'll be on a Friday night, under the lights, in Texas, where Friday night high school football is akin to religion.

Back here in the tri-state area though, baseball is the predominant sports obsession, and we'll get our fix tonight as the Yanks and Rangers play Game One of the ALCS, featuring a pitching rematch from game one of their regular season series. CC got the better of C.J. in that match-up of initialed southpaws, but Mother Nature got the best of them both, as rain stopped the game after six innings, with the Yankees taking home a 5-1 win. Sabathia wouldn't face the Rangers again during the regular season; Wilson would face the Yanks twice more and fail to record a decision in the two Texas victories.

As Moshe pointed out at TYU last night, there's some irrational pessimism plaguing many Yankee fans currently, as many are assuming that Cliff Lee's two starts and A.J. Burnett's one start essentially guarantee three Texas victories. In that line of thinking, it becomes critical that the Yankees win all four remaining games to ensure a series victory. I certainly don't subscribe to those theories, but with their ace on the mound tonight, it is important for the Yankees to get off to a good start.

(By the way, while Lee does appear to be some sort of post-season savant in the way guys like Mo and Pettitte are, it doesn't mean he's untouchable. He went through quite a rough patch following his trade to Texas. The Yankee offense is good enough to put runs on the board against anyone. And Lee is matched up against certified Big Game Pitcher Andy Pettitte. It may be an uphill battle, but it's certainly not insurmountable. As for Burnett, however unlikely, it's not totally out of the realm of possibility that he might actually pitch well. Even if he doesn't, he's matched up against Tommy Hunter, who the Yankees might easily knock around the yard. But what do I know, I'm the same guy who foolishly suggested that the Rangers should part ways with Ron Washington last spring).

So the waiting is nearly over. No more talk of Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira (and Marcus Thames for that matter) returning to Texas as if they've never been back since being traded away. No more talk of the largest payroll disparity in post-season history (funny how people forget that the Yankees and the rest of MLB subsidized the bankrupt Rangers mid-season acquisitions of Bengie Molina, Lee, Jorge Cantu, Christian Guzman, and Jeff Francoeur). No more worrying about Burnett and Lee in later games. Tonight it's just about Game One, and Sabathia and Wilson under the Friday night lights of Texas.

I'll leave you with one final thought: The Minnesota Twins began life as the Washington Senators in 1901. They entered the 2010 ALDS with a nine game post-season losing streak against the Yankees. The Yankees swept them to keep the streak alive. The Texas Rangers began life as the Washington Senators in 1961. They enter the 2010 ALCS with a nine game post-season losing streak against the Yankees. I don't think that means anything, but I hope history repeats itself.

So, in honor of this Friday night in Texas, here is quite possibly the lamest song choice in Fack Youk preview history. It's the theme song from the TV show that stars Derek Jeter's special lady friend:



-Lineups-

Yankees:
It's the standard lineup vs LHP, with Marcus Thames as the DH, Swisher in the two spot and Granderson batting eighth. There was some speculation that Austin Kearns, who has hit Wilson well, might get the nod over Granderson or Gardner, both of whom have not hit Wilson well. But both lefties have been productive of late and Kearns, who was not played in nearly two weeks now, has not.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Marcus Thames DH
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Brett Gardner LF

Rangers:
With C.J. Wilson on the mound for Texas, his usual catcher Matt Treanor gets the nod over Bengie Molina. With CC Sabathia on the mound for the Yanks, righty bats Jorge Cantu and Jeff Francoeur play over lefty swingers Mitch Moreland and David Murphy/Julio Borbon.

Elvis Andrus SS
Michael Young 3B
Josh Hamilton CF
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Nelson Cruz LF
Ian Kinsler 2B
Jeff Francoeur RF
Jorge Cantu 1B
Matt Treanor C

Game 94: Flashing Lights

In the three years my two friends and I had our Yankees Saturday package, we were only in our seats one time when the first pitch was thrown. The trek typically began from my apartment on the Upper West Side and it's tough to get three hungover dudes up, showered, out the door, on the subway, through the turnstiles, up into the upper deck in time for a 1:00pm start. We never left before the game ended, we just had real issues with getting there on time.

But August 4th, 2007, we decided we absolutely had be seated in Section 7, Row M, seats 15-17 before Phil Hughes through his first pitch. We took it somewhat easy the night before, got up early, ate breakfast and hopped on the train by noon. We were milling around outside the stadium at 12:45 and were in line to get beers when the National Anthem came on. It was a balmy summer day, probably near 90, and I remember removing my hat and listening to the recording play as the line momentarily stood still.

Phil Hughes worked a 1-2-3 first inning and after Derek Jeter singled and Bobby Abreu drew a walk, Alex Rodriguez came to the plate looking for his 500th career home run. This was the one and only reason we had been anxious to get there early - the chance that he came to the plate in the first inning.

He had gone eight games since his last homer and each night, what stood out - as it did during Jeter's pursuit of Gehrig - were the countless camera flashes that would go off when he was at the plate. Although the electricity surrounding each at bat - both literally and figuratively - had diminished by that Saturday afternoon, there was still a palpable sense of anticipation in the stands.

It wasn't there for long, because on the first pitch off of Kyle Davies, he launched a high, hooking drive right down the left field line. A-Rod was leaning on his right side, staring at the ball through his sunglasses to see if it would stay fair, but from our perfectly positioned seats, it was already obvious that it was gone.

As Joe Posnanski beautifully detailed earlier today, the milestone home run numbers have lost much of their luster over the past 20 or so years, but it didn't feel like it to us at that point. Just by shear luck, that homer came on a Saturday home game and we had the chance to witness something that, even though it's less rare than it used to be, still doesn't happen very often.

Just under two years, ninety-nine homers and some image-shattering PED revelations later, A-Rod is on the cusp of another big, round number. He hit his first Major League homer against the Royals and his 499th, 500th and 599th against them too. He has three homers in 10 plate appearances (seven ABs) against tonight's starter, Brian Bannister. He will be facing Davies - the man who served up #500 - tomorrow and Anthony "career 2.6HR/9IP" Lerew on Sunday. Perhaps his search for 600 will drag on like the quest for 500 did, but it seems likely that he'll pull it off sometime this weekend. If he does it tonight, you can be sure it will happen under plenty of flashing lights.

As you recall, you know I love to show off,
But you never thought that I would take it this far,
What do you know? Flashing lights, lights,
What do you know? Flashing lights, lights.

Yankee Lineup:

Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Colin Curtis RF

RHP A.J. Burnett

A.J. Burnett RHP

Game 83 Recap

[WE data via FG]

Highlights:

• Brett Gardner makes a nice sliding grab in the first
  
  
• Ramiro Pena knocks in Gardner in the fourth to get the Yanks on the board
  
  
• Jeter singles in a run to keep the 4th inning going
  
  
• Teixeira's three run homer, that capped the rally and put the Yanks up 5-0
  
  
• Swisher's 6th inning home run

Not In The Highlights:

• The Yanks loaded the bases in the first inning with one out but Posada and Thames struck out to end the threat.
  
  
• A-Rod fell down trying to catch a pop up in foul territory

Basically:

• A.J. Burnett build on his last strong outing against the Blue Jays with a seven inning, two run effort last night. He only struck out two batters but induced 11 ground balls and allowed just five hits and two walks.
  
  
• In the fourth inning, despite the fact that Francisco Cervelli erased a leadoff single by Marcus Thames with a double play, the Yanks managed to plate five runs. Ramiro Pena and Derek Jeter both chipped in RBI singles and Mark Teixeira launched a three run homer off of Gio Gonzalez to center field.
  
  
• Stop the presses, Damaso Marte pitched a full fucking inning!
  
  
• Joba Chamberlain allowed a single to lead off the ninth inning but erased it with a double play and escaped without allowing a run.

Up Next:

• The Yanks fly up the coast to Seattle for a four game set with the Mariners which will lead them into the All-Star break.

Game 79: Brighter Days

Quietly - because they have taken and maintained the AL East lead in the process - the Yankees have lost seven of their last fourteen games. Aside from A.J. Burnett, their pitching has performed fairly well; it's the offense that's been the problem. After scoring 5.7 runs per game over their first 64 games of the year, the "Bombers" have managed to plate just 3.9 each time out over their last 14, putting them on the wrong side of the league average.

It's a small sample so it's not exactly cause for concern or reason to do something dumb like call up Jesus Montero (who isn't even hitting particularly well in AAA), but production is down across the board. The Yanks are still averaging about one home run per game and actually striking out somewhat less often that usual, but have collected about two fewer hits and one fewer walk over this more recent span. As a result, their slash line is .232/.302/.376 over the past two weeks, as compared to .280/.366/.448 from the beginning of the season until the can of whoop ass they opened up on Roy Halladay two Tuesdays ago.

While Brett Garnder, Derek Jeter and A-Rod all missed a game or two each over that time, aside from the "rehabbing" Nick Johnson, the lineup was mostly at full strength. What gives, then?

Simply put, the Yanks faced a lot of tough pitching recently. They got lucky to get to Roy Halladay, but Cliff Lee, Johan Santana and Clayton Kershaw are some of the most talented left handers in the game. Jamie Moyer and Hinsanori Takahashi are certainly not, but they both put together solid performances when they faced the Yanks. King Felix and Mike Pelfrey are two of the more overpowering young righties out there and the former most certainly was in his full glory on Wednesday night. Hiroki Kuroda isn't widely though of as a top-of-the-line pitcher, but he has a solid Major League track record.

It doesn't work out perfectly, so the Yanks beat some of the better pitchers (Dan Haren) they faced and lost a few of the marginal ones (Rodrigo Lopez), but those are the kind of things that pile up to form a slump. However, even if they break out of that funk in a big way today, a lot still depends on whether their starting pitcher can recover from five consecutive terrible starts.

A.J. Burnett looks to finally steer out of the month-long rough patch he's been in against his former team. Now that Dave Eiland has returned to the team and used his unparalleled expertise and rapport with A.J. to discover the problem that plagues pretty much every pitcher when they aren't throwing the ball well, perhaps it will finally come together for him.

Today will be the second of four consecutive day games for the Yankees, the longest such streak so far this season. So while they literally find themselves in the middle of some games where the sun is expected to be shining, hopefully things will get a bit brighter for Burnett and the Bombers' bats.

If I live till I die, will I be justly rewarded
If I sleep till I wake, will I remember the dream
If I lie to myself, will I have something to believe in
If I face my fears, will I know what they mean

-Lineups-

Yankees: In roster news, Dustin Moseley has been called up from Scranton, lest the Yankees allow him to opt for free agency. He'll likely take Boone Logan's place, but the move isn't official yet.

Francisco Cervelli catches Burnett today, which should probably provide A.J. a little more leeway to find his curveball and probably save him a wild pitch/passed ball or two. A-Rod returns to third base and opens up the DH slot for Posada, who will bat 6th. Brett Gardner is back in the order for the second day in a row, the contusion on his wrist apparently a thing of the past.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

Blue Jays:

Fred Lewis LF
Alex Gonzalez SS
Jose Bautista RF
Vernon Wells CF
Adam Lind DH
Aaron Hill 2B
Lyle Overbay 1B
John Buck C

Game 76: Nearly Lost You

The Yankees return home for the first time since Father's Day, opening a six game homestand with a three game set against the Seattle Mariners. The M's were the darlings of the off-season, unloading the onerous contracts of Carlos Silva and Kenji Johjima, signing spark plug Chone Figgins away from their division rivals, and making a series of lesser low risk, high reward moves. But far and away, the biggest coup for GM Jack Zduriencik was sending a package of prospects to Philly for Cliff Lee.

Everything seemingly has gone wrong for the M's since then. Franchise legend Ken Griffey Jr's continued decline and possible narcolepsy culminated in an uncomfortable retirement and a possibly fractured clubhouse. Off-season signing Ryan Garko didn't even make it to Opening Day, while fellow signee Eric Byrnes lasted a mere month before riding his bicycle off to the California keg leagues. Their offense has been abyssmal, with Figgins taking a nose dive, Milton Bradley providing plenty of problems but little pop, and virtually everyone but Ichiro and Franklin Gutierrez failing to hit at an acceptable level. All of which leaves Seattle entering the series with baseball's sixth poorest record and the AL's worst offense by a long shot.

As such, Cliff Lee and his expiring contract have become the hottest commodity on the market with the trade deadline 32 days away. There has been no shortage of rumors about whether the M's will hang on to him in an attempt to turn it around, or if they'd prefer the two draft picks his Type A status will net, or where he'd land if he were to be traded. There's been a ton of contradictory information out there, but the latest seems to be that the M's are quietly prepared to make a move.

As when any big name player hits the market, the Yankees have been rumored as a potential landing spot, with reports that Seattle has scouted the Yankees system. Yet even though a vocal segment of Yankee fans have been loudly clamoring for Lee since before Spring Training even began, a deal to the Bronx is unlikely. Despite A.J. Burnett's recent struggles, the Yankee rotation has been a strength for the team this year. As we saw with Javier Vazquez earlier this season, good pitchers may struggle for stretches, but they won't struggle forever. And with pitching coach Dave Eiland returning to the club tonight, perhaps Burnett's turnaround is coming soon. There just isn't the need nor the room for another front line starter.

Even if there were, there is no recent precedent for the Yankees making such a move. Following the 2007 season, the Yankees passed on an opportunity to acquire Johan Santana, who had a full year remaining on his contract. In his refusal to make the deal, Brian Cashman made his position clear: he is reluctant to pay twice - in both prospects and contract extensions - to acquire a player. He held fast to that philosophy the following summer, when in desperate need of pitching, he refused to deal for CC Sabathia and his expiring contract, content to gamble that the big lefty would be there for the taking on the free agent market after the season. He was, and after last season's World Series, Cashman appeared to be quite shrewd for biding his time.

If that's not enough to quell those covetous of Lee as he takes the Yankee Stadium mound tonight, then the pitcher in the other half innings should be. Phil Hughes was the centerpiece of the package the Yankees would have shipped to Minnesota had they pulled the trigger on the Santana deal, and had the Yankees pursued a Sabathia trade the asking price would have begun with Hughes as well. Instead Cashman chose to hang on to his top pitching prospect. After suffering through an injury plagued 2008, the organization was rewarded with a breakout 2009 from Hughes the set up man and is now enjoying a 2010 in which Phil Hughes is one of the top starters in the American League.

It's very possible that one of the two starting pitchers tonight will throw the first pitch of the All-Star Game in Anaheim two weeks from tonight. While it's tempting to think of Cliff Lee in Yankee pinstripes, that temptation isn't enough for me to feel comfortable sacrificing potential future All-Stars in Jesus Montero or Austin Romine or Manny Banuelos or Andrew Brackman or any number of other good Yankee prospects Seattle would want in exchange for Lee. The Yankees nearly lost Hughes two and a half years ago. I'm not prepared to lose the next Hughes in exchange for three months of Cliff Lee. Cashman runs the risk of losing Lee to another club now, but as the Sabathia situation taught us two years ago, sometimes a little patience leaves you with the best possible deal.

Did you hear the distant cry
Calling me back to my sin
Like the one you knew before
Calling me back once again

I nearly, I nearly lost you there
And it's taking us somewhere
I nearly lost you there
Let's try to see now

[Song Notes: Any series against the Mariners always has me thinking of the Seattle bands of the early nineties. Rather than going with one of the name brand grunge bands, tonight we'll go with the Screaming Trees. Though lesser known than Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, they had a few good tunes to their credit, this being one of them. Just goes to show that you don't always need to go shopping on the top shelf to find what you're looking for.]

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Brett Gardner's sore wrist keeps him out of the lineup tonight, but he is reportedly available for defense and pinch running duties. With a lefty on the mound Chad Huffman gets the start in left. There's a likely a roster move coming as well, as it's widely speculated that Dustin Moseley will be added to the bullpen in advance of him exercising his opt out clause today.[UPDATE 6:45 PM: No Moseley tonight, as he's still with Scranton.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Chad Huffman LF
Francisco Cervelli C

RHP Phil Hughes

Mariners:

Ichiro Suzuki RF
Chone Figgins 2B
Russell Branyan 1B
Milton Bradley DH
Jose Lopez 3B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Jack Wilson SS
Rob Johnson C
Michael Saunders LF

LHP Cliff Lee

Game 74: Hollywood Nights

A.J. Burnett and Hiroki Kuroda square off on Derek Jeter's birthday. Burnett has been amazingly shittastic of late while Kuroda has given up just two runs in his last 19 innings (over three starts).

Kuroda is in his third season in the MLB at age 35 and so far it has been his best one yet. He's got an ERA of 3.06 backed up with an FIP and xFIP in the mid-3.00s. He's a fastball and slider guy with the former coming in in the low 90's and the latter in the mid-80's. His heater has a bit of sink on it too, as his ground ball rate is at a strong 50%.

Recent performances would indicate that this match up is leaning heavily towards the Dodgers, but perhaps a trip to California will do Burnett good.

He'd headed west 'cause he felt that a change would do him good,
See some old friends, good for the soul,
She had been born with a face that would let her get her way,
He saw that face and he lost all control,
He had lost all control.

And those Hollywood nights,
In those Hollywood hills,
It was looking so right,
It was giving him chills,
In those big city nights,
In those high rolling hills,
Above all the lights,
With a passion that kills.

[Song Notes: There was one summer during college when my buddies and I would ironically listen to this tune when we were partying and, well, that's probably as much detail as I should go into about that summer.]

-Lineups-

Maybe?

Game 70 Recap

[WE data via FanGraphs]

You know it's bad when the Yankees have such a slim chance of winning, so early in the game that I have to chop down the font for their name in the chart to 14 point just to fit it in.

It was already late and I was already tired, so when A.J. Burnett gave up three home runs in the first fucking inning after he retired the first two batters he faced and sank the Yanks into a 5-0 hole, I took the out I was given and just went to bed. I'm glad I did, because aside from Nick Swisher's triple in the third and a few more garbage time runs, the Yankees hardly got to Rodrigo "I give up a shitload of home runs and am not a very good pitcher" Lopez.

As I sarcastically implied in the chart above, let's hear it for A.J. Burnett folks! He gave up seven runs in four innings, all of which came with two outs. That was his fourth straight loss and he adds Lopez to the list of Brett Cecil, Jake Arietta (making his rookie debut) and Jamie Moyer (doing whatever the opposite of that would be) to the list of pitchers who have beaten him over the stretch of death.

The offense hasn't provided a whole lot of support for Burnett as he's been struggling, but over these last four games, he's 21 runs in 20 innings, so he's setting the bar pretty damn high for them. Add those three longballs he gave up last night to the tally and that's nine of them over this dismal span - very nearly one every other inning. Yes, the Diamondbacks hit a lot of home runs, especially at home, but Burnett hasn't seemed to be able to keep the ball in the park against anyone lately.

This location chart from Brooks Baseball pretty much sums the way he's been pitching over his past few outings. Lots of stuff way off the plate that no one aside from maybe Vlad Guerrero is ever going to offer at, lots of it right down the middle and not much around the edges of the zone. That's pretty much exactly what you don't want to do as a pitcher.

I'm not sure how you'd find this out, but I'm guessing last night was one of the lowest rated games of the year, if not the very lowest. It was a Monday night tilt that started at 10PM and the game was all but over by 10:30. It takes a dedicated fan (who didn't go to three Phish shows over the weekend) and/or someone who lives west of the Mississippi to hang in there until the bitter end last night.

Hey, at least tonight's game starts a half hour earlier - at 9:40 - and Burnett isn't pitching! Andy Pettitte will be taking on Dan Haren.

Game 70: Cursed Diamond

Good evening Fackers. Sorry, once again, for the lack of content of late. We were planning on getting back into the swing of things today until other obligations got in the way.

The Yankees roll into Arizona, papers in hand, for a three game series at Chase Field against the struggling Diamondbacks. Moving to an N.L. park, the Yankees figure to be cautious this week in doling out playing time to their banged up veterans Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada.

A.J. Burnett takes the mound for the Yankees, his foot, bruised by a comebacker in his last start, having passed the test of a bullpen session Saturday. He'll be opposed by Rodrigo Lopez. The Yankees faced Lopez numerous times during his years with the Orioles, and beat him around to the tune of a 5.90 ERA over 126.2 innings. This will be the first time they've faced him since 2007.

2007 was also the last time the Yankees and Diamondbacks faced each other. Overall, this will be the fourth interleague series between the two clubs, and the first in Arizona since 2004. The Yankees are 7-2 against the Snakes in interleague play, and went 2-1 during their series six years ago at what was then Bank One Ballpark.

Of course no one has much of a memory of that 2004 series. For any Yankee fan, the first thought that springs to mind at the mention of the Diamondbacks is the 2001 World Series, when the Yanks went 0-4 at the BoB, failing in two chances to clinch on enemy soil in Games Six and Seven. Looking back on it now, it's still hard to believe: certified Big Game Pitcher Andy Pettitte tipping his pitches and getting absolutely slaughtered in Game Six, and the great Mariano squandering a ninth inning lead in Game Seven.

It was enough to prompt Buster Olney to declare it The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty. I have mixed feelings about that, as the Yankees won five consecutive division titles following that season and made another World Series appearance just two years later, but certainly the end of that 2001 season was the start of a process that saw the stalwarts of the 1996 through 2001 teams move on.

As enjoyable as many parts of that 2001 World Series were, with the Yankees heading back to Chase Field to face the Diamondbacks, it's hard to think of the place as anything but a Diamond Cursed.

I want to shine for you
I want to sparkle too
Just like a diamond cursed
Well you know it don't get worse
You know that I'll save you time
Your trouble now is mine

[Song Notes: Yes, I'm still on a Black Crowes kick, and this is one of my favorites. When I went to see them on their reunion run at the Hammerstein Ballroom five years ago they opened with this one. This video is an acoustic performance, featuring the brothers Robinson as well as guitarist Marc Ford, who is unfortunately no longer with the band.]

-Lineups-

We'll add these later on. Tonight's game starts at 10:10 EDT, the remaining games of the series start at 9:40 EDT. All three are on YES, and nationally, tonight's is on ESPN.

Yankees:
Chad Jennings reports that the Yankees have called up Colin Curtis from Scranton. Curtis had a good Arizona Fall League last year, a strong spring, and was off to a good start in AAA before missing a month with a high ankle sprain. Since coming off the DL he's been seeing a lot of time in center field, which in retrospect may have been an indicator that they were preparing him for this. Brian Cashman said earlier in the year that Curtis would have been under consideration for a promotion if not for his ankle injury. Curtis was not on the 40 man roster, so there may be multiple moves taking place.

[UPDATE 7:20 PM] Chad Moeller isn't listed on the lineup card, so he's likely the departing player. This makes it a clean transaction, as Moeller will be outrighted or DFA'd, opening spots for Curtis on both the 25 and 40 man rosters. The organization will likely look for a way to keep Moeller; he was willing to stick around through two different DFA's in 2008. This is also likely good news about Jorge Posada's ability to catch moving forward, as the the club wouldn't have bid goodbye to Moeller if they weren't confident in Posada's ability to catch on a semi regular basis.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Brett Gardner LF
A.J. Burnett RHP

Diamondbacks:

New AJ, Same As The Old AJ

Back on April 30th, A.J. Burnett was sporting a nifty 2.43 ERA and had picked up three wins in his first five starts. After a dominant outing against the Orioles he talked about learning to pitch to contact, so we asked if he had altered his approach:

Traditionally a guy with a propensity to both strikeout and walk a lot of batters, A.J. has seen both of those rates drop to roughly 2/3 of their career norms. At the same time, he's given up more hits, is throwing slightly more strikes and is getting more outs on the ground.

About 3/4 of the pitches Burnett has thrown in 2010 have been fastballs, a proportion that he hasn't approached since his days with the Marlins.

Despite discovering his curveball somewhere along the way and tossing 7 1/3 strong innings his next time out, in his nine starts since then, Burnett's ERA is 5.50 and his record is 3-5. He's had four starts in which he's surrendered more than six runs, while in his first five outings the most he allowed in any outing was four.

A.J.'s still throwing over 70% fastballs, about 60% of all his pitches for strikes, inducing ground balls and allowing line drives at roughly the same rates (just under 50% and around 17%, respectively). So what has the difference been? Let's take a look at his rate stats:

Burnett's strikeout and walk rates have unsurprisingly returned close to his career norms and a slightly higher BABIP has led to an increase in hits per nine. But even all of those things in conjunction shouldn't cause his ERA to more than double. The real culprits (highlighted in red on the chart) are his home run and strand rates.

In 31 1/3 innings at the beginning of the season, Burnett had allowed just one long ball. In the 54 innings he's pitched since then, he's given up nine of them. To put it another way, he gave up home runs almost six times more often during his last nine starts than he did in his first five.

The league average stand rate is 72%. Burnett was very fortunate in that department early in the season but has been rather unlucky since. Of course, the fact that runners have stolen 19 bases off him and only been caught three times certainly isn't helping in that department.

Clearly, Burnett hasn't pitched as well since the beginning of May as he did before that. Home runs involve a certain amount of luck but a six-fold increase tells us that Burnett has been leaving plenty more balls out over the plate and hitters have been capitalizing on his mistakes. His strand rate has also been dragged down by all those long balls as well.

At the risk of stating the obvious, Burnett caught a lot of breaks early in April and saw his luck even out in a major way in the past month and a half. His home run rate won't stay as high as it has been and his strand rate will regress towards league average as the season continues. If you look at his expected FIP (based on batted ball types allowed) on FanGraphs, it's just about the same during his great stretch as it is throughout his awful one.

It's boring to say, and again this is pretty self-evident, but the true A.J. Burnett lies somewhere between the Cy Young candidate that showed up in April and the replacement level scrub that has been serving up 'tater salad since then. If he can lean just a little towards the former from here on in, he and the Yankees will be just fine.

Game 65 Recap

[WE data via FanGraphs]

This game was pretty much the inverse of last night's. The biggest hit was an second inning triple by the center fielder and the losing pitcher gave up six runs before being yanked. Each game was close for about two-thirds of a second later on but was pretty much decided by the end of the third. The difference was that last night A.J. Burnett wasn't getting unlucky, and unlike Roy Halladay, had to be pulled from the game in the fourth.

There's no sugar coating it, Burnett was terrible last night. Just about half of his pitches were out of the strike zone - 39 of them in 3 1/3 innings, to be exact. He allowed more men to reach base (11) than he retired (10) and gave up a triple and two homers. He couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with his curveball.

A.J. dug his own grave in the second inning as he walked two guys and gave up two singles before running the count to 3-1 on Shane Victorino. Since Burnett's aforementioned Uncle Charlie didn't show up, he ended up and feeding Victorino a meatball smack dab in the middle of the plate, about dinner table-height. All that was missing was a fork, some spaghetti and some spicy tomato oil and some bread to mop up after it.

The coupe de grace came during the fourth inning when Chase Utley smoked a ball down the first base line that Mark Teixeira fielded and got ready to toss to first - except Burnett wasn't there to cover the bag. The crowd erupted in a loud chorus of boos and Burnett was yanked before he had a chance to face another batter.

There were some good pitching performances last night as well. The only baserunner Boone Logan allowed in his 2 2/3 innings was an intentional walk to Jayson Werth, which was a direct result of him having to clean up A.J. Burnett's mess. Chad Gaudin was just as good, pitching perfect 7th, 8th and 9th innings.

Of course, Jamie Moyer was excellent as well. He gave up only three hits and a single walk in eight innings, but two of the hits were solo homers by Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada, so it doesn't look quite as dominant in the box score as it actually was. The Yanks brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth against Brad Lidge but Posada struck out on a slider to end the game.

Andy Pettitte faces Kyle Kendrick tonight as the Yanks try to salvage a series victory and forget about the turd A.J. Burnett just laid.

Game 65: Slow Train Coming

I'm not sure what's more mindboggling, the fact that Jamie Moyer is still pitching in the Major Leagues at age 47 or that, ever since they've been tracking with PitchFX, his fastball has been clocked at speeds roughly between A.J. Burnett's curveball and slider.

In a lot of ways, Moyer is the inverse of what Burnett used to be. When he was with the Marlins, Burnett used to throw hard for the sake of throwing hard and lighting up the radar gun, strike a lot of guys out but also walk a ton of them too. He was a young, tall, menacing presence on the mound for a team in Southern Florida. Meanwhile, Moyer was already well over a decade into his MLB career, an average-sized and easy-going type, pitching in the opposite corner of the country, left handed, throwing in the low 80's and just trying to hit his spots.

Still, their level of performance was pretty similar. From 1999-2005, Burnett had an ERA+ of 111. Moyer? 110. They both struck out about twice as many as they walked, but Burnett was giving out four free passes per nine innings while Moyer was allowing just 2.2. Their WHIPs during that span were a very similar 1.284 and 1.258.

Before last Friday, Moyer and Burnett each had six wins and ERAs under 4.00 on the season. However, Moyer got absolutely hammered in Fenway, allowing nine runs in 1+ IP and raising his ERA a full run in the process.

Burnett hasn't exactly had a smooth go of it as of late, either. He's given up 13 runs in his past three starts against Cleveland, Toronto and Baltimore and hasn't turned in a so-called quality outing in over a month (the five shutout innings he threw in the rain-delayed affair against the Twins not withstading). After sporting an ERA under 2.00 through his first six starts, Burnett has tallied a 5.61 mark over his next seven, raising his overall tally to a much-higher-but-still-respectable 3.86. The lefty-heavy Phillies lineup - as anemic as it has been lately - isn't likely to provide much of a relief for A.J.

The same could be said for the Yankee hitters in relation to Moyer. The Bombers tagged Roy Halladay for three homers and six runs last night but are going to be seeing a wildly different look from the crafty lefty on the hill this evening. Look out boys, the slow (and slower) train is coming.

They say loose your inhibitions, follow your own ambitions
They talk about a life of brotherly love,

show me someone who knows how to live it,
There's slow, slow train coming up around the bend.

[Song Notes: Matt here with the song notes. "Slow Train Coming" is a Bob Dylan song, and was the title track to his controversial 1979 album of the same name. The album was Dylan's first release since announcing his conversion as a Born Again Christian, and most of the songs on the album have some element of spirituality to them. The above performance comes from the North Mississippi Allstars at the 2007 Newport Folk Festival.

As Jay detailed last year, it was at Newport where Dylan became embroiled in the first major controversy of his career, as he played his notorious first electric set at the 1965 Festival. The 2007 Festival was also distinctively un-folk, as the NMA set was sandwiched after the John Butler Trio, and before Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers Band. Perhaps as a nod to the non-traditional line up that year, but certainly as a nod to Dylan, NMA wove a mini-Dylan set into their performance that day, playing Dylan's "Masters of War", "Oxford Town", and "Slow Train Coming"

I was at that show, and if I recall correctly, I was standing just to the right of the guy filming it (and no, I am not of the shirtless hippy dancers in the video). This was the second of seven NMA shows I saw in a ten day period that summer, and it was a very cool trip. Newport was great - right on the water, excellent views, a great line up. That was also the day Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th career HR.]

-Lineups-

Yankees: A-Rod comin', yo. After five games out of the lineup, A-Rod's groin or thigh or whatever injury has apparently healed up enough for him to return. He'll be eased back into action with an appearance at DH as Jorge Posada tries catching after being removed a bit early from Sunday's game. Kevin Russo is playing third base and hitting eighth but this is the closest the Yanks line up has been to Opening Day form in quite some time.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Kevin Russo 3B
Brett Gardner LF

Phillies:

Victorino CF
Polanco 3B
Utley 2B
Howard 1B
Werth RF
Ibanez LF

Dobbs, DH
Schneider C
Valdez SS

Game 60 Recap

[WE data via FanGraphs]

Like they did the night before, the Yankees fell behind the Orioles 2-0 early and fought their way back to take a 3-2 lead. However, the A.J. Burnett couldn't hold the O's there and the offense couldn't come up with a timely hit as the innings wore on.

It probably didn't help that Alex Rodriguez was pulled from the game before he even had a chance to come to the plate. Eariler, Alex felt a cramp and/or some stiffness in his groin - the same thing that sidelined him last weekend against Toronto - but thought he could work through it in warm ups. During the bottom of the first, Adam Jones hit a two out ground ball that A-Rod said he should have fielded "10 times out of 10", but his groin "locked up" on him and the ball rolled past and into left field, allowing Miguel Tejada to score the O's second run.

Alex had warned Ramiro Pena prior to the start of the game that he wasn't feeling 100% and told him to be ready to come in. Nino got his chance in the top of the second and led off the frame batting clean up.

The Yankees offensive problems extended well beyond Pena batting in the heart of the order, though. The line up already had Chad Moeller and Marcus Thames in it and they were facing a good, young pitcher with whom they were unfamiliar. As I mentioned in yesterday's preview, Jake Arrieta has been all but unhittable in the minors so far this year. He brought that ability with him in his Major League debut, holding the Yanks to just 4 hits over six innings. He did walk four but two of them were distributed intentionally in the crucial sixth inning.

During the bottom of the fifth, the Orioles tied the game on a homer by Scott Moore, but Mark Teixiera brought the Yanks right back by leading off the sixth with a double. Ramiro Pena came to the plate and executed what Ken Singleton (whose birthday it was) pointed out on the broadcast was probably the first sacrifice executed out of the clean up slot all year for the Yanks. Juan Samuel had Arrieta put Cano on base, creating the potential for a double play with Jorge Posada coming up. The O's didn't get the DP they wanted but Jorge flew out to shallow center, not deep enough to bring in the run.

Although he obviously wasn't going to go on the play, Mark Teixeira executed a good enough fake to draw the throw. When Adam Jones unloaded the ball, Robinson Cano took off for second. On his way there, Ty Wigginton made a great play to cut off the throw and fired to second base. It looked like Cano might have been out, but he was ruled safe, making an intentional walk of the lefty Curtis Granderson to bring up the righty Marcus Thames the obvious move. Arrieta struck him out on four pitches, three of which were breaking balls down and away.

In the bottom half of the six, Luke Scott "tripled" on high fly ball that brought Nick Swisher all the way back to the scoreboard in left. Swish tracked it, made a leaping effort and thought he made the catch but didn't and momentarily lost track of the ball when it landed. Adam Jones struck again in the next at bat, slashing a double to right center, adding his second RBI of the game and giving the Orioles the lead.

The Yanks worked three walks in the last three innings, but that was it. Their 10 game winning streak over the Orioles came to an end and A.J. Burnett took the first loss of his career at Camden Yards. The Yanks still won the series, however and head home to face Houston tonight as Andy Pettitte squares off against Brett Meyers.

Game 55: Canadian Sunrise

Amazingly, it's already June and tonight will be the first time that the Yankees have played the Blue Jays this season. The Yanks have found the time to complete three series with Boston, three against Baltimore and two more with the Rays and Toronto has played every other team in the division at least twice as well. But for whatever reason, the Yanks and Jays will be seeing much more of each other in the final 2/3 of the season.

Even more incredibly, despite having just dropped two straight to the Rays, the Blue Jays are tied with the Red Sox with a 31-24 record. They trail Minnesota by only a half of a game and would be leading the AL West by two. The two best teams in the NL have only one more win than them. They are actually one game shy of what their run differential projects them to be and have an FIP a half run lower than their ERA. So if they've had luck so far this year, it's been mostly bad.

How have they done it? Let's start with the offense, because that's probably been the most impressive and surprising aspect of their team.

Third baseman Jose Bautista has a mind-blowing and leauge-leading 16 home runs, tying his career high in just 1/3 of a season. Vernon Wells has actually been an even better offensive player according to OPS+, resurrecting his career after most people had pronounced him dead following his terrible 2009. The only everyday players that aren't hitting at an above league average clip are Aaron Hill (who smashed 36 homers last year), their primary DH, Adam Lind and first baseman Lyle Overbay.

On the pitching side, despite losing Roy Halladay, they have the fifth best FIP in the Majors. Shawn Marcum, who missed all of last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery, has an ERA of 2.77 (3.11 FIP) through 12 starts. Rickey Romero has very similar numbers, but reversed, with a 3.14 ERA and 2.77 FIP. Tonight's starter Brett Cecil has had a nice run so far as well, tallying a 3.81 ERA and 4.00 FIP in his first eight starts after being called up from AAA after two starts.

Cecil sits around 90 with both of his fastballs (a four-seamer and a slightly slower two-seamer) and throws three off-speed pitches, a curve, a slider and a change. The Yanks faced the 23 year old left hander last year and tagged him for ten runs in eight innings, all earned.

For the Yanks, A.J. Burnett faces his former team. He started against them three times last year and gave up 10 runs in 20 2/3 innings and was jeered by the crowd in Toronto the first time he returned. This season, after hitting a bit of a skid in starts seven through nine, he's put together back-to-back solid outings. He threw five shutout innings in the rain delayed game in Minnesota and gave up three runs over eight frames against Cleveland, although only one of them was earned.

Coming off a a strong seven game homestand against two poor teams, the Yankees are probably sad to leave the Bronx behind and play a squad that appears to have its shit together for the time being. But they are going to have to beat some good teams eventually and I hear Toronto is lovely this time of year.

A weekend in Canada, a change of scene,
Was the most I bargained for.

[Song Notes: If you listen to the lyrics of this one, it will become immediately apparent that it wasn't written by Sam Cooke. No, it was penned by two white dudes named Norman Gimbel and Eddie Heywood. The most popular version of the song was an instrumental one by Hugo Winterhalter that hit #2 on the Billboard charts in 1956, but a rendition similar to this one with lyrics performed by Andy Williams reached #7 that same year. I went with Sam Cooke's version because it has a thumping bass line that pulls you right in and frankly, Sam Cooke was the fucking man and he did a version of a song, I'm probably going to use it.]

-Lineups-

Both Matt and I are tied up, so you'll have to fend for yourself in that department. Enjoy the game.

Game 44.5 Recap

[The suspension did some funky stuff with FanGraphs and they don't have the WPA data from the resumption of the game, hence the hacky photoshopping. Here's the first part of the recap.]

A.J. Burnett got his wish. Derek Jeter was the second batter when play resumed and after Kevin Russo struck out swinging, he smashed a home run into the Twins bullpen in left field. That was the only run of the 2:39 minute contest that lasted more like 23 hours. The win didn't come easy, however, as the Yanks' bullpen had to struggle to keep that one run lead.

David Robertson (not Sergio Mitre or one of the left handers as was widely speculated) was the pitcher that began the game for the Yanks. The first batter he faced was Joe Mauer and the Minnesota catcher hit a line drive off of Robertson's back that deflected to A-Rod in the air for the out.

D-Rob was apparently okay as he stayed in the game and ran the count full to Justin Morneau before walking him. Michael Cuddyer followed with a pop up to Robinson Cano for the second out of the inning but Jason Kubel slashed a double down the right field line that looked like it was going to score Morneau from first, however but he was held up by the third base coach. With the go-ahead runner on first, Delmon Young hit a hard grounder into the hole but Jeter performed a spectacular rendition his patented jump throw and got the out at first, saving the run and preserving the lead.

Robertson retired the first two batters in the seventh but was pulled after giving up a single to Denard Span. Joba Chamberlain was called on to get out of the jam and he got Orlando Hudson to ground out and end the inning.

Joba pitched around a hit and a walk in the eighth inning and passed the ball to Mariano Rivera in the 9th. Mo provided a real scare when J.J. Hardy led off the inning and blasted a ball into deep left center that looked like a certain home run, but Kevin Russo settled under on the warning track. He then walked Jim Thome but induced a game-ending double play from Denard Span. It was far from conventional, but the Yanks got the win and so did A.J. Burnett.

Wednesday Linkage

Did the Twins beat reporter actually devote a story on MLB.com to the squirrel that ran on the field last night? Yes she did. Watch the clip embedded on that page and hear one of the Twins' announcers rip a squirrel he supposedly saw at Yankee Stadium 15 years ago. Not kidding.

When last night's game resumes at 5:00 today, it will be on YES.

Old Hoss Radbourn can't believe it was suspended in the first place.

Over at Big League Stew, Curtis Granderson fielded some questions from fans about his conditioning during the offseason, life in New York, what he thought of the Yankees as a player for another team and his opinions on some of the more advanced stats being used today.

Granderson's rehab stint rolled on last night in Scranton as he went 0-3 with a strikeout. So far he's 4-14 (all singles) with one walk. He's going to take tomorrow off, play one last AAA game on Thursday and then join up with the Big League team on Friday back in New York.

Javy Vazquez's finger felt fine during his bullpen session yesterday and as of now, he's scheduled to make his start on Thursday.

Alfredo Aceves' rehab is not going as smoothly. He suffered a setback while throwing off flat ground yesterday and will be flying back to New York to be evaluated by team doctors.

A.J. Burnett is into acupuncture? According to Marc Carig, Burnett thinks it's helped him stay healthy and part of the process of him signing with the Yankees involved Brian Cashman hiring an acupuncture specialist to work for the team.

Hideki Irabu's downward spiral continues. Two years ago he drank 20 beers and assaulted a bartender when his credit card got rejected this time he got a DUI after he nearly hit a parked car.

The WSJ talked to Yanks' VP of Operations, Mark Newman about the state of the farm system.

The Red Sox have taken the first two games of their series against Tampa, the one last night by shutout, allowing just one hit (but 6 walks). The good news is that it brings Tampa back down to earth a bit, but the bad news is that the Sawx are creeping up on the Yanks, now just a game and a half back.

Larry from Wezen-Ball has had his eye on David Ortiz's glacial home run trots all year long and one of Papi's leisurely strolls around the bases finally broke the unprecedented 30 second barrier. By comparison, Adam Rosales, owner of the fastest trot of the season had already gotten back to home plate in the time that it took Ortiz to get to second. Rays players were questioned about the amazing anti-feat but no word on whether or not Papi knows how historically slow he is.

The New York Times cited a study about pairs of brothers that played in the Majors and found that 90% of the time, the younger one tried to steal more bases.

Loyal commenter Matt on Earth conducted a mock interview with Michael Kay.

At Baseball Analysts Jeremy Greenhouse examined the differences between a 90mph fastball and a 95mph one. According to Jeremy's findings, David Robertson actually has one of the very best 90mph heaters in the game, even if it hasn't helped him pitch respectably this year.

The Fightins comes through with some prime Youkenfreude.

Remember how U2 made Major League Baseball juggle their schedule because apparently it takes 10 fucking days to set up their stage? Oh, well Bono's having back surgery so it was all for naught. This makes me like U2 even less (if that's possible).

The Super Bowl is officially coming to New York in 2014. It took the full four ballots for the Meadowlands to secure the vote over Miami and Tampa Bay, which pretty much never happens. Joe Posnanski calls it a "Real Super Bowl" while Matt Ufford from Kissing Suzy Kolber gives the pussies who are complaining about the weather a stern talkin' to. I hope it snows two feet.