11 Hours To Go

Good morning, Fackers. Today is the big day. Well, one of at least four big days, anyway.

When was the last time you were this excited in anticipation of a sporting event? If we're talking strictly about baseball, it's obviously the '03 and '04 ALCSes. Being out Boston at the time, it was engulfing. Professors talked about it in class, everyone with a hat of one team or the other had it on, and you overheard conversations about it where ever you went. I couldn't think about much else during the days when games were played - I just wanted it to be game time.

If we're talking about sports other than baseball, Super Bowl XLII was probably the last event that came close, but no one thought the Giants had much of a chance. Big Willie Style, Sampson and I had celebrated the NFC Championship like it was the Super Bowl, going out to the college bars around 80th and Amsterdam, staying out until three in the morning and handing out spontaneous high fives to complete strangers. Needless to say, we all took that Monday off.

It felt like the Giants had just earned the right to lose to the Patriots in Arizona, but that didn't really matter at the time. We were just happy that the season wasn't over and were celebrating the incredible game they won in arctic temperatures in Green Bay. The Yankees are never going to be the underdogs like the Giants were that season, but after the last six years, it still feels like an accomplishment for the Bombers to have made it this far.

Not everyone shares that sentiment, however.

There was someone conspicuously absent from Sunday night's champange celebration. Reggie Jackson was there. Hal and Jennifer Steinbrenner were there. Hank wasn't there because they don't allow smoking in the clubhouse and you know how he gets when he drinks. But there were probably numerous members of the front office partaking the festivities after Gary Matthews, Jr. went down swinging.

Brain Cashman was nowhere to be found. Some had speculated that it had something to do with his meeting with Aroldlis Chapman. It turns out that wasn't the case:

[Cashman] purposely avoided the scene, saying he simply chose to stay away and leave it to others.

"I'll wait to participate if we have an opportunity to win the whole thing," he said.

Yet another reason I like the cut of Cashman's jib. I realize that this would never happen, but it would be incredibly bad ass if a team didn't go for an over-the-top celebration unless they won a championship. Maybe something when they clinched a playoff berth or won the division but not in the LDS, or LCS. Save the bubbly for the ultimate glory.

Players deserve to enjoy their accomplishments and the champagne lubricates those celebrations in more ways than one - it would be awfully awkward were players just jumping around and hugging each other with dry clothes in a well-lit locker room. But at the same time, wheeling out the carts when they swept the Twins seemed a little contrived. By the time the World Series winner is awarded, we'll have already seen 14 other locker rooms protected by tarps then laden with libations.

Celebrating every step of the way is the one thing that really undermines the "championship or bust" mantra that the Yankees swear they have. If they were the one team that really was only satisfied with winning a World Series, then they shouldn't pop the Perignon until they do so. It would make it a whole lot sweeter when it finally came.

Cashman is the only guy who really thinks this way. He's got no choice. He's gone too long as the General Manager of the team with the highest payroll in baseball without winning a World Series to consider anything else a success. Let's hope he gets to taste the Taittinger soon enough.

Kyle Baked Us A Pie!

Pie for breakfast? Go ahead, Fackers, you know you want to.

Delicious, isn't it? Don't sound so surprised. Don't you remember Kyle's peanut butter cookies? His fiancee (now wife) called him "Betty Crocker" in that Daily News article fluff piece/transparent attempt by his publicist to make people hate him less that was published just before last season, but he really out did himself last night, didn't he?

At 10:11 PM last night, PeteAbe chimed in with this update to his game thread:

Farnsworth in to pitch. Krazy Kyle for my last game. How appropriate. Back in a bit with reaction from the 4-3 victory. Where is Soria?

(Pete answered his own question after the game, noting that Soria converted a 46 pitch save on Sunday against the Twins and wasn't available.)

Moments later, Matt sent me a text that read:

Farnsworhtless?!?! Get the pie ready.

With all due respect to John Sterling, sometimes you can predict baseball.

They've only been tracking blown saves since 2002, but over that span Kyle Farnsworth has converted 24 saves and blown 26. During that same time frame Mariano Rivera has saved 311 and blown 28. Granted, you can blow a save even when you don't have a chance to convert one, which is how Scott Proctor has a lone career save but 14 blown ones.

Still Farnsworth has a mind-numbingly bad save conversion rate considering his ERA is only about a half of a run higher in save situations and his peripherals don't vary significantly based on game situation or leverage. WPA says he's about as clutch as you would expect a late inning reliever with a career ERA just under league average to be.

He famously blew a save against the White Sox by serving up a three run homer to Jim Thome on Opening Day in his first appearance as a Royal. After two scoreless innings, he was tagged with the loss in back to back games and his ERA sat at 18.90. Then he went 17 games and 17 2/3 IP without giving up a run to bring his ERA down to 3.00 but over that span was inserted to the game with a lead only 4 times, and in those games the average margin was six runs. Then, in his very next outing Trey Hillman brought him into a tie game in the bottom of the tenth and he lost the game before recording an out.

Before last night, The Farns had given up only one run in his last ten games. But lo and behold as soon as he was placed in to save situation, shit hit the fan. it wasn't really his fault though. He gave up real one base hit; the other two never even left the infield. But thanks to a throwing error by his catcher and some otherwise terrible luck, Krazy Kyle was the goat once again.

I hated him as much as the next guy when he was on the Yankees, but when they traded him for Pudge Rodriguez and he openly cried in the locker room, I have to admit, my first reaction wasn't to mock him, it was to feel sorry for the guy. It's not like he wanted to blow all of those games, and you would probably cry too if you boss came into your office and informed you that you had to pack up your things and more to fucking Detroit.

A while back, Joe Posnanski put together a few Kyle Farnsworth facts, which are similar to Chuck Norris facts, except exactly opposite:

• Every dog has his day … except Kyle Farnsworth.
• When Kyle Farnsworth gets 21, it’s not blackjack.
• A rolling stone gathers no moss … it’s all on Kyle Farnsworth.
• A broken clock is right twice a day … which is more than Kyle Farnsworth.
• When Kyle Farnsworth lands on Free Parking in Monopoly, he has to pay.
• Two wrongs don’t make a right. They make a Kyle Farnsworth inning.
• There’s no crying in baseball, except when Kyle Farnsworth comes in.

Yours in the comments.

Remembering The Captain

We'll take a brief respite from the trade dealine madness to remember what is likely the most tragic day in Yankee history. Sunday marks the thirty year anniversary of the death of Thurman Munson.

As we counted down to Spring Training, Jay had a great look back at Munson. That was before my time at Fack Youk, and as we approach this sad anniversary I wanted to offer my own remembrance. Despite his passing more than thirteen months before I was born, Munson has long been one of my favorite Yankees. I suppose it stems from my father; with the possible exception of Mickey Mantle, Munson is his all-time favorite.

As I grew interested in baseball, it was of course my father who taught me about baseball history and about Yankee history, and of course, there was the obligatory Munson lesson. At some point in my youth I inherited the #15 Yankee t-shirt my father had outgrown. Age and wear and tear eventually rendered that shirt unwearable, but a Munson shirt I purchased in Cooperstown some years ago remains my shirt of choice when venturing to the Bronx.

One of the first games I can recall going to was shortly after the tenth anniversary of Munson's death. I can recall visiting his plaque in Monument Park that day, as well as receiving the commemorative issue of Yankees Magazine that I read until it fell apart. A few years later I came upon Munson's autobiography, co-authored by Marty Appel, and read that one over and over. I recently completed Appel's comprehensive Munson biography. I have mixed feelings about the book - and may well review it here at some point - but by default it has to be considered the definitive work on Munson and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about him.

What is it about Munson that makes him so beloved thirty years after he last played? Certainly his untimely demise plays into it, as his does his role as the face of the Yankees during the most colorful period of their history. A Rookie of the Year award, MVP award, three Gold Gloves awards, three pennants, and two World Championships certainly help too, as does serving as the first Yankee Captain since Lou Gehrig.

But more than that, I think there was something inherently likeable about Munson. Despite his midwestern roots and sensibilities, his personality was also sarcastic and confident enough to endear him to New York fans. His squatty, unathletic-looking build made him appear as a scrappy over-achiever, despite his natural talents. He perpetually played hurt, and despite the madness of the Bronx Zoo years, Munson usually managed to stay above the fray. He was the face of the franchise as they emerged from the worst stretch of their post-deadball history back to being a championship club.

But those are just my impressions looking back on a player I wasn't lucky enough to see. So what do you say Fackers? For those of you who saw him play, what are your memories of The Captain?

(I know I'm breaking our black and white image policy,

but I love the orange catcher's gear)

Joba Attending The Ian Kennedy School Of Media Relations

Yes, I just made fun of Ken Davidoff's column, but if you can get past the "OMG" in the first sentence, he's making a good overarching point. Here's what Joba said after his performance last night (emphasis mine):

"It's a win at the end of the day," Chamberlain told reporters. "I didn't throw well at all, but at the end of the day, 10 to 8, the Yankees win. There's really not much to be mad about.

>8

"I did a good job today [of attacking hitters], I felt like," he said. "They're great hitters. I threw good pitches and they put good swings on it. They've been doing it all year. They're going to continue to do it.

(Until Alfredo Aceves comes into the game, of course...)


Yes, a win is always the bottom line, but there's "not much" to be mad about? How about your shitty performance coming the day after a 12 inning game which had obviously taxed the bullpen? What about being staked to a 4-0 lead and pissing it away? Perhaps the fact that you needed 86 pitches to get 11 outs? No one else on the Yankees has anything to be mad about because they put together a heroic effort to save your ass after you were already in the showers. But you? You should be a little ticked off.


Now here's what Ian Kennedy said last August 8th after getting blasted by the Angels two days before he was optioned back to AAA:

"I felt like I made some good pitches," he said. "I'm not too upset about it. What was it, a bunch of singles and three doubles? I'm just not real upset about it. I'm just going to move on and I've already done that."

As fans, we are disappointed when a starting pitcher has a poor outing, so the natural inclination would be to want the players to be unhappy with themselves as well. We want them to take responsibility for their mistakes or at least acknowledge that they messed up. There's no sign of any of that in either of these snippets.

Mariano Rivera is constantly lauded for his "short memory" and how he doesn't let one bad performance negatively impact his next one. The difference is that Rivera faces the media after a blown save or a loss and owns up to his poorer efforts.

Is it Joba's attitude that's keeping him from turning in quality starts? Is it like a 12-Step Program where you first have to admit that you have a problem before you can address it? I don't know, but his quotes certainly aren't good signs.

I still don't think he's boring to watch. But frustrating? You better believe it.

Like, No, SRSLY!1!!!

WTF?

Game 50: You Don't Know Me

Who is Carl Pavano?

I pose this pseudo-existential question because he was on the Yankees for four years and I don't feel like I actually know anything about the guy. I'm aware that he at one time drove a Porsche, dated Alyssa Milano, and at various points injured his ass, elbow, shoulder, neck, back, ribs, collarbone, big toe, inner ear, heel, scalp and gall bladder.

All of his defining moments for the Yankees came in The Post. After a while, even his teammates supposedly despised him. If the Yankees had dated Carl Pavano, they would have vast sums of money on him ($40M) and had sex roughly once every two months (26 starts in 4 years). And only a handful of those times (8 wins) would have been any good. Please see the Sports Hernia's heartfelt adieu for some more poignant thoughts on the matter.

After spending so much time on the DL and becoming a complete pariah to the team, he wasn't even allowed to have a personality. If he seemed happy or outgoing, everyone in the clubhouse probably would have wanted to punch him in the face. He was openly maligned by the media, the fans and became such a punchline that if he did avoid pitching towards the end of his contract, I would almost understand it. Almost.

It's okay though, because now were on to bigger and better things. Carl and the Indians look like they are happy together as they have won five of their last six starts. If you are of the vindictive ilk, perhaps you will take solace in the reality that the Indians are destined to suck this year and even if Pavano has a good season, it won't really "count" for shit. 

Opposing the face of all that went wrong with mid-to-late-2000's Yankees baseball will be Phil Hughes, who has already had his fair share of injury issues as well. Since being summoned from Scranton this year, Hughes has been great at times, decent at times and downright terrible once. Here are his earned run totals in order of appearance: 0... 3... 8... 3... 3... 0. Predict the next number in that secquence there Fibonacci. Even with two short shutouts, Hughes' ERA still sits at 5.16 due to that 8 run blow up against the Orioles and the fact he's averaging just under 5 innings per start.

Our understanding of Phil Hughes is still pretty fuzzy, but the anecdotes that the beat writers dig up always frame him as a pretty cool kid who seems to "get it". We don't know you yet either, Phil, but hopefully that will change over the decade or so.  

I wanna ask, you,
Do, you, ever sit and wonder,
It's so, strange,
That we could be together, for,
So, long, and never know, never care,
What goes on in the other one's head?