Game 41: Don't Tell Me Your Troubles

The Yankees are embarking on a road trip tonight, but only by the strictest baseball definition of the term. They'll be sleeping in their own beds this weekend but showing up to play over in Queens against the Metropolitans.

Javy Vazquez again gets a road start in a spacious ballpark, circumstances under which he has posted his two best performances of the year. His seven inning, two run effort against the Tigers was especially encouraging despite the fact that he was tagged with a loss. That part wasn't his fault as the Yankees got shut out by Rick Porcello and two Detroit relievers. In the meantime though, enabled by the fact that he was again skipped in the rotation, he evened things out by picking up a cheap win in relief after facing just one batter in Monday's game against the Red Sox. While he did pick up a victory, he had another extra long layoff. It didn't seem to bother him last time and hopefully that will be the case again tonight.

It seems like every start has been a big one for Vazquez this year, but tonight feels like an important game for the team as well. Given the skid they've found themselves sliding in, the Yanks could really use a win to right the ship.

The trouble the Yankees are having pales in comparison to what the Mets are going through, however. The Yanks might have lost eight of their last twelve but the Mets have dropped nine over that same span and are now two games under .500 and six behind the Phillies.

Rumors are flying about Jerry Manuel after he removed John Maine from last night's game against his will after just five pitches and the feeling is that he could be axed as early as this weekend if things don't go well against the Yankees. The Mets won last night, despite leaning on their bullpen for all nine innings, and just in case the 'pen wasn't depleted enough after that, they are pushing one of the relievers who has done a good job for them this year into starting duty.

Because of the injury to Jon Niese last Sunday, Hisanori Takahashi will be making a spot start tonight. Although he hasn't been stretched out yet, he is apparently good for 100 pitches. Since being acquired in February, the Japanese import has filled the role of long man if necessary, pitching up to three innings at a time, with seven appearances of two innings or longer. He's been effective over that span as well and given up just nine runs in 26 innings (3.12 ERA) while striking out 33. The left hander only throws about 88mph, but employs four pitches (fastball, curve, slider & change) and has a bit of a hitch in his delivery, which hitters say throws off their timing.

Although this is his first start in the Major Leagues Takahashi has actually faced the Yankees before. Back in 2004, he started an exhibition game between the Bombers and Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo, a contest that the Yankees went on to win 6-2.

Both teams are currently going through their own struggles and you can't expect one team to have much sympathy for the other. Thankfully for one the teams, somebody has to win tonight.

Leave me alone,
Go on home,
Tell it to a friend,
I got troubles of my own,
Troubles of my own.

It happens to the best of us,
That's a what they always say,
Take it baby like a man,
Don't throw it away.

[Song Notes: Since you can't tell the title by this video, this is Don't Tell Me Your Troubles by Ronnie Hawkins with Duane Allman sitting in and playing some nasty slide guitar. It's on The Duane Allman Anthology (which is incredibly awesome) but was originally recorded for Hawkins creatively titled album The Hawk.]

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Matt here with the lineups. Kevin Russo gets his first Major League start and it doesn't come at his primary position of second base, his secondary position of third base, or even at shortstop. He'll be in left field tonight, where he's made seven minor league appearances, but just one this year. Upon his demotion just over a week ago the organization said he'd be getting the Jerry Hairston Jr super utility treatment and it appears that's what they're doing. Two things of note: first it'll be interesting to see how the inexperienced Russo handles the spacious Citi Field outfield. And secondly, I would have figured that the start still would have gone to Randy Winn with the versatile and speedy Russo held in reserve as a weapon off the bench in an NL park.

Francisco Cervelli gets his fifth straight start behind the plate. Just for the hell of it, Javier Vazquez is a career .207/.238/.247 hitter in 620 PA, which is halfway decent for a pitcher.

Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Francisco Cervelli C
Kevin Russo LF
Javier Vazquez P

Mets:
If the Yankees are going to win the Subway Series opener on dropped pop up, like they did last year, they're going to have a bit of a tougher go of it this time around. Mets second baseman Luis Castillo, who had the infamous error last year, has been scratched with a sore foot. He's replaced by super-overpaid-but-really-friendly utility guy Alex Cora. During Cora's final season in Boston, he happened to enter the bar I was in, the same night the Red Sox clinched the Wild Card and officially eliminated the Yankees from playoff contention. I found him to be quite obnoxious. But that's a story for another time.

Jose Reyes SS
Alex Cora 2B
Jason Bay LF
Ike Davis 1B
David Wright 3B
Angel Pagan CF
Rod Barajas C
Jeff Francoeur RF
Hisanori Takahashi P

Moore, Manuel, And Making Poor Decisions

Good morning Fackers. I don't know about you, but I'm certainly glad this week is coming to a close. I mean, I'm glad when every week comes to a close, but this one in particular. The Yanks were out on the west coast, meaning late starts and screwed up sleep patterns. Yesterday was another barely bearable off day. And work has completely, totally, and utterly kicked my ass this week.

In completely unrelated news, this year has been a good one for bad baseball. Entering play yesterday, six teams had winning percentages under .425, the most since 2004 (7), and nine teams had winning percentages under .450, again the most since 2004 (11).

The Nationals, despite a fairly recent eight game winning streak, are playing baseball that has bordered on historically bad. Their winning percentage entering yesterday would be the worst since the 2005 Royals. They've also endured botching the firing of their manager, as well as the resignations of their General Manager and his top assistant as a result of an illegal scheme skimming Latin American signing bonuses.

The Pirates are 12 losses away from ensuring their 17th consecutive losing season. Currently in year 10 of a 5 year rebuilding program, they've traded every saleable arbitration eligible player on their roster with the exception of Zach Duke and Ryan Doumit.

But with all the bad baseball going, no two teams have hit the trifecta of poor on field play, incompetent front office management, and public relations disasters quite like the Royals and Mets.

We've already had a little fun at both their expense when they both pulled off poor trades within hours of each other last month. This week they decided to go head-to-head in the public relations arena.

On Tuesday, the Royals optioned Alex Gordon to AAA Omaha. The second overall pick in the 2005 draft, Gordon made his Major League debut after breaking camp with Royals to start the 2007. Earlier this season, Gordon required the same labrum repair surgery that A-Rod had during spring training. He suffered the injury against the Yankees on April 11th, played through April 15th, and underwent surgery on April 17th. He began a rehab assignment in early July, but rather than taking the full 30 days, the Royals activated him after just 13 games and 53 plate appearances. In the month after his activation until his demotion, Gordon hit just .227/.310/.333. Maybe he could have used the full rehab assignment after all.

Where the impropriety comes in is in that by optioning him down for at least 20 days, the Royals ensure that Gordon will end the season without three full years of Major League service time, pushing his free agency clock back a year. While this isn't all that different from what Tampa has done with Mrs. Tony Parker and David Price or what Baltimore has done with Matt Wieters, all in an effort to keep them from Super Two arbitration status, Gordon's case seems somewhat seedier in that it's happening after he's been established as a Major Leaguer rather than before he was ever brought up.

It may well be a smart move by Dayton Moore and the Royals. But, they were the ones who decided to break camp with Gordon in 2007 after he had just one year and 576 PA of AA ball. They started this clock when they did. While Gordon certainly has struggled this season, the Royals elected to activate him after only half of his allowable rehab time expired. They made these decisions; they have to deal with the criticism that comes with this latest one.

Meanwhile, over in Flushing, the circus continues. In the wake of David Wright's sickening beaning Saturday, the Atlanta Braves just happened to be coming into town. As you may recall, the Braves are the team to which the Mets traded Ryan Church last month. As you may further recall, Ryan Church had a couple nasty concussions last year that the Mets medical staff handled very, very poorly. You may also recall that Jerry Manuel facking hates Ryan Church. Hmmm. I wonder what possibly could have happened next?

When giving his pre-game press conference Sunday, less the 24 hours after Wright has hit, and so soon after Wright was discharged from the hospital that he likely hadn't yet cut the bracelet from his wrist, Manuel had this to say (h/t Neyer):

You have to be careful into stereotyping individuals. David is a different animal, so to speak. How he is made up is a little different than, say, Ryan Church, in my opinion. That's not to say that one is better than the other, but they're different. With Ryan, there was always something thrown from leftfield - 'We need to check that.' That made it somewhat difficult to evaluate that particular situation.

Translation from jive talk: David Wright's a tough guy; Ryan Church is a pussy.

Let's back up the train a second here Jerry. Just because you elicit memories of the "Doctor of Style" Slick, doesn't mean that you are a doctor of neurology. Church, of course, knows this, and took exception. What a mess the Mets are. Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and now Daid Wright - their four best offensive players - are on all the DL and all likely out for the year. Meanwhile, the men in high profile leadership roles: Manuel, Omar Minaya, and until recently Tony Bernazard, continue to heap insult on top of the injuries.

So I suppose I could have had a worse week. I mean, I got it better than Moore or Manuel. And I haven't been concussed as badly as Church or Wright. Plus we have Yanks-Sox to look forward to tonight. Either way, I'll still feel a helluva lot better when that five o'clock whistle blows.

Bad Trade Friday

Good morning Fackers. Monday mornings are never fun, especially after a brutal three game sweep. But look on the bright side. It could be worse; you could be a fan of the Mets or the Royals, both of whom made awful, awful trades on Friday.

Friday morning, we touched on some the troubles around the Royals. Things only got worse for them that afternoon, as they traded two minor league pitchers, including their third best prospect, to the Mariners for shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt. Joe Posnanski already detailed how bad this trade is. Simply put, Betancourt is bad ballplayer. He's bad in the field at a premium defensive position, he's bad on the bases, and he's awful at the plate. His career high in OPS+ is 93, his career average is 84, and this year he's at a career low 63.

The Royals felt they needed a shortstop, because thus far they've sent out Mike Aviles (22 OPS+), Tony Pena Jr. (-35, that's minus 35), Willie Bloomquist (90, with a UZR/150 of -22.9) and Luis Hernandez (19). So, they went out and got Betancourt with his 63 OPS+ and and -18.0 UZR/150. Brilliant work Mr. Moore. This one has sparked headscratching and outrage from all corners of the Royals universe.

Meanwhile, Omar Minaya made a boneheaded move of his own. It's no secret that the Braves were dying to unload Jeff Francouer, who at long last lost his starting job. After an impressive debut in 2005, Frenchy has been on a downward spiral. His OPS+ since that rookie year: 87, 103, 72, 68. His walk rate is currently under 4%. He was demoted to AA last summer. He's an absolute mess.

So Minaya went and traded for him, sending Ryan Church to Atlanta. Church was also a rookie in 2005, posting OPS+ of 118, 131, 114 in his first three seasons, before concussion problems - that were mishandled by the Mets' medical team - dropped him to 106 in limited duty last year. This year, he's only at 88, which by they way is 20 points better than the guy the Mets got in exchange for him.

Of course, Jerry Manuel openly despised Church, so such a move was inevitable, even if Church was the Mets CFer with Carlos Beltran and Fernando Martinez on the DL. I just can't see this one working out well for the Mets. But, umm, at least Frenchy plays a lot of games.

Just for good measure, the Mets signed our old friend Angel Berroa to a minor league deal on Saturday. It was bang up weekend for Minaya.

As July 31st approaches, as we all cringe at another bad appearance from Joba Chamberlain or Andy Pettitte or Brian Bruney, as we salivate over the latest Roy Halladay rumor, pray that Brian Cashman doesn't make a trade like either of the two above.

Game 64: U.S. Blues

Washington: First in war, first in peace, last in the American League.

That was the old line about the first and second MLB franchises to call our nation's capital home. The Washington Senators v1.0 (1901-1960) and v2.0 (1961-1971) were a perrenial second division team. In 60 years, the first version managed just three pennants and a single World Championship, despite playing in an eight team league. After the original Senators skipped town to become the Minnesota Twins, the expansion Senators finished last four times and second-to-last three times as they compiled ten losing records in eleven seasons before becoming the Texas Rangers.

Other than the league, not much has changed since the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals in 2005. The Nats finished at .500 in 2005, good for their best record thus far, but also good for last place in the NL East that year. Since then, they've posted records of 71-91, 73-89, and 59-102, rising as high as fourth place in 2007.

Tonight, they enter their series with the Yankees at 16-45, playing .262 ball and nearly matching the historically bad pace set by the 1962 New York Mets (40-120, .250). At their current pace, they would have the sixth worst winning percentage since the dawn of the twentieth century.

The franchise is in total disarray. In March, Jim Bowden, General Manager and former Yankee front office employee, resigned in disgrace amid allegations of illegally skimming the signing bonuses of Latin American prospects. The most remarkable part of his four year reign of terror was that he acquired a lot of players he used to have in Cincinnati. Good for you Jim.

In the dugout, manager Manny Acta is day-to-day. Not as in injured, as in employed. Various reports are circulating that it's a matter of when, not if, he'll be fired. It may well come during this series, and Acta may well just stay in New York. I agree with Pete Abe that Acta will be the Mets' manager by the start of next year at the latest. Jerry Manuel's act, like K-Rod's, is getting tired. Acta was a coach with the Mets before taking the Nats' job, and he is still thought highly of wthin the organization.

On the field, the Nats are actually swinging the bats well. As a team, they're hitting .259/.344/.410 and all three marks are above the NL averages of .257/.333/.405. On the mound however, it's another story. The Nats are last in the NL in runs per game, ERA, WHIP, H/9, BB/9, and K/BB, and by a significant margin in most of those categories. Opponents are hitting .279/.362/.451 against them, dead last in BA and OBP against, and second to last in SLG, trailing Philly's bandbox staff by just 0.004.

The fire sale will start soon. Everyone save for Ryan Zimmerman is available. There's not much to pick at on the pitching staff: Ron Villone may be a good LOOGY for someone; John Lannan is too young and left-handed to come cheaply. They do have some bats to deal: Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham, Elijah Dukes, and former Yankee farm hands Christian Guzman and Nick Johnson. Rumors say Nick the Stick could find himself back in New York with the Mets or back in the AL East with Boston. Regardless of whatever haul the Nats pull for these parts, it's going to be a years-long road back to respectability, even if Stephen Strasburg proves to be everything Scott Boras says he is.

So with ace CC Sabathia taking the mound tonight against Shairon Martis and his career 84 ERA+, this should be a slam dunk. Which is exactly why I'm worried, particularly with CMW slated to go tomorrow. They need to beat up on the pitcher with a lady's name tonight.

Brian Bruney will be activated for tonight's game. If Tomko is DFA'd I'll be overjoyed; if Veras is I'll be satisfied. But if David Robertson finds his way back to Scranton I'm going to lose it.

Enjoy the game, and the vintage video below.



Back-to-back chicken shack
Son of gun better change your act
We're all confused. What's to lose?
You can call this song the United States Blues