Cotto Wins An Interesting Stadium Slugfest

The first boxing match at the New Yankee Stadium was not a marquee pairing. Miguel Cotto was a premier welterweight until a plaster-handed Antonio Margarito knocked him down in the eleventh round and quite possibly broke his will. After easily handling Michael Jennings in a rebound fight and winning a close and debatable decision over Joshua Clottey, he got a shot at Manny Pacquiao because the mega-bout with Floyd Mayweather couldn't be put together. Cotto hung in there against Manny, but it was clear early on that they were on different levels, and he fell victim to a TKO in the 12th round.

Yuri Foreman's career, on the other hand, was still ascending coming into last night's fight. Only two and a half years ago, he fought on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto-Zab Judah bout and coming of a recent win over Daniel Santos to claim the WBA super welterweight chanpionship, finally earned a bout against a name brand fighter. Foreman carried a 28-0 record into the Bronx, but with just eight knockouts, clearly wasn't going to out-slug Cotto, particularly considering that it took Antonio Margarito 11 rounds with illegally hard gloves and Miguel was still standing when Pacquiao won.

This fight was more about the characters and the location, which paired a Jewish fighter who is studying to be a rabbi with a popular Puerto Rican in a baseball stadium in New York City, a city that is home to what are probably the largest populations of both of those ethic groups in the United States.

In the early going Saturday night, Cotto took control. Rolling his shoulders and bouncing on his toes, he kept coming forward and popping the aspiring rabbi with jabs, double jabs and the occassional left hook in the first couple of rounds, pushing him back with each clean shot. As a smooth Cotto stayed in rhythm and on the offensive, Foreman shuffled back and forth on his feet, his elbows suspended awkwardly away from his body, just trying not to get hit too hard.

Midway through the third round, though, Foreman discovered that he could start with his right hand and square up on Cotto's. As the fourth began, Foreman finally landed some solid combinations and hung on to win his first round, although it was around then that his nose started bleeding from both sides.

The fight settled down in the fifth and sixth, with both boxers trading shots, but neither making much of an impact. Had the fight gone the distance, the judges would have likely awarded both to Cotto, but there weren't any standout punches or powerful exchanges in either direction.

The seventh round was what earned Yuri Foreman the respect or the fans in attendance who paid good money to see the fight, with the exception of his wife, who was sitting ringside. About a minute into the round, Foreman's right knee buckled as he tried to plant his foot and he slipped on the canvas. He wears a brace on that joint and it was clear that he was seriously injured. As Yuri hobbled back and forth, referee Arthur Mercante, Jr. offered him the obligatory five minutes to recover but Foreman declined. The announcers seemed sure that Foreman couldn't continue. But he did. And it wasn't just that he stayed in the ring. Without the lateral movement that he relies on so heavily, Foreman stood toe-to-toe with Cotto and traded some powerful blows as the Stadium came to life with the loudest cheers of the night.

With about a minute left in the eighth round, a white towel came flying into the ring from the direction of Foreman's corner, brushed off Cotto's shoulder, and appeared to signal the end of the fight. Trainers, officials and press started flooding the ring, and Cotto even came over to talk to Yuri and congratulate him on a gutsy fight.

However, the fight wasn't over, yet. Mercanti determined that Foreman wanted to continue and he cleared the ring. The PA system in the Stadium announced that the bout was still on, of those still in attendance.

It was only a short reprieve. Foreman lasted into the ninth but was knocked down by a powerful left hook from Cotto less than a minute in. It was inevitable that Cotto was going to win, and it's probably good that Foreman didn't go down after a series of shots to the head.

Although it was immediately apparent that Foreman wasn't in the same class as Cotto, but he showed a lot of heart in the ring. It was the first time he had been beaten and although he took an injury that no one would begrudge him stopping the fight over, he wasn't about to give up. Miguel was the far superior fighter tonight but Yuri undoubtedly won plenty of supporters and respect.

IFs, ANDs & BUTs

• The Stadium was not even half full, with storms in the area probably limiting walk up sales, but over 20,000 people showed up. From the overhead shots that were shown, there were lots of people sitting on the playing field (I think I heard 9,000 at some point leading up to this) but there were a ton of empty seats. This is one of the reasons I'm lukewarm about the Stadium as a multi-purpose facility. Baseball parks just don't translate well to other sports and events.
  
  
• Appropriately, Fack Youk favorite Max Kellerman did the broadcast. A huge fan of both the Yankees and boxing and a native of New York City, this fight was made for him. After the fight, he said:

  It doesn't quite measure up with the great fights in New York history or Yankee Stadium history, but it does do credit to that history. It adds to that history. It was a better than expected fight, it had an odd kind of ending, but it allowed Cotto to show what he still has left. And it allowed Yuri Foreman to show, for the first time, his guts -- he showed that he's a real fighter.

• Roy Jones, Jr. was also in the booth. It was the first time I've heard him in that role and although he certainly wasn't up to Lennox Lewis' level, he wasn't too bad as an analyst.
  
  
• When Foreman hurt his knee, you could hear Mercanti say "Suck it up kid. Walk it off". Between that and restarting the fight, you could tell that Mercanti had a lot of respect for Foreman and wanted to see him go out with as much dignity as possible. However, sending a guy in there who was severely diminished could have been really dangerous and, although I'm not expert in boxing, thought it was inadvisable. Foreman obviously wasn't going to win.
  
  
• I'm pretty sure I saw Bob Simon from 60 Minutes in the crowd, so I'm guessing there is a profile on Foreman upcoming. Not that Cotto isn't interesting, but you could put together a pretty compelling lede about a boxing rabbi.
  
  
• After the fight, Foreman thanked God for keeping both fighters healthy, "more or less". You probably tore a ligament in your knee, man. I don't think the Big Man needs a "thank you" for that one.

Fight Night In The Bronx

In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been only three men with the surname "Foreman" to play the game. None of them played for the Yankees, but Frank Foreman pitched for the Baltimore Orioles in 1901 and 1902. Following the '02 season, the Baltimore franchise relocated to New York, renamed the Highlanders, and a decade later, the Yankees.

There has been but one "Cotto" to play in the Major Leagues, Henry Cotto, pictured to the right. Cotto was born in the Bronx in 1961, but his family returned to their native Puerto Rico when Henry was just three months old. After breaking into the Majors with the Cubs in 1984, Cotto was traded to the Yankees. He spent the next three years shuttling between New York and Columbus, never really distinguishing himself.

After the 1987 season, Cotto was packaged with the highly unpopular Steve Trout and shipped to Seattle in exchange for Lee Guetterman, Clay Parker, and Wade Taylor. Cotto carved out a job for himself in Seattle as a reserve outfielder, base stealing specialist, and Junior Griffey's back up in center field. After washing out with the expansion Marlins in '93, Cotto surface as a replacement player during the '94-'95 strike, has been a coach in the Mariners' system since '96, and was the inspiration for the humorous Henry Cotto's Mustache.

Tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium another Foreman and another Cotto will be on the field. But despite the gloves on their hands, they won't be baseball players. Yuri Foreman and Miguel Cotto will take part in the first night of boxing at Yankee Stadium since September 28, 1976, when Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton had their third and final bout, one of the more controversial in history.

Despite the sweet science's long absence from River Ave, boxing has a rich and storied history at Yankee Stadia, with Gene Tunney, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Jake LaMotta, Sugar Ray Robinson, Floyd Patterson, and others joining Ali and Norton as some of the greats to have stepped in the ring in the House that Ruth Built.

I'm not crazy about the idea of turning Yankee Stadium into a multiuse facility, but with this fight, Army football, and the Pinstripe Bowl, it's clearly the direction in which the organization is leaning. But for tomorrow night at least, it'll be nice to see Yankee Stadium explore a different part of it's illustrious past.

For more on boxing's past at the Stadium, check out these links.

Have You Seen This Man's Puppy?

What are the odds this guy drives a van with no windows in the back? How much candy do you think he keeps in his pockets at all times?

Maybe this fellow is just your average, run-of-the-mill weirdo, but going to a baseball game by yourself, playing with some sort of stuffed animal/puppet and sitting in the last row really screams "Amber Alert". I don't want to get on his bad side, but judging by those headphones I don't think he would know what a blog was if one got separated from its parents at a ballpark and asked him for help.

2 Days Until Spring Training: Derek Jeter

At this time last year, Derek Jeter was in a vastly different spot than he is in today. During the final season at the Old Yankee Stadium, Jeter had put up his worst wOBA in a full season since he became a regular Major Leaguer in 1996. Scouts and defensive metrics alike had identified him as one of the worst defensive shortstops in the league and with his offensive production slipping dangerously close to league average, his overall value looked to be in sharp decline. Ramiro Pena was supposedly right on his heels to take over at short.

When a 34 year old player has a down year, regardless of how skilled they are, it's tough not to interpret that as a sign of an imminent decline. As the years of an athlete's career add up, it becomes increasingly unlikely that they will rebound from a sub par campaign; even a player as good as Jeter was up until that point has to see their skills erode eventually. Foretelling his impending demise was the obvious conclusion to come to, but luckily, what seems obvious isn't always right.

At a point in his career when player's defensive abilities are only supposed to deteriorate, Jeter posted his best and only significantly positive UZR rating since 2002, which is as far back as the data goes. It might have been the finest season as a fielder of his career. Partly due to an offseason conditioning program that was designed to increase his lateral range and partly because of Mick Kelleher's assistance with Jeter's positioning, the Captain enjoyed a late career defensive renaissance that is all but unheard of in baseball.

Joe Girardi's decision to bat Jeter lead-off coincided with a resurgent offensive year as well. Jeter increased his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage by 34, 44 and 57 points, respectively. He hit 18 home runs, his highest total in 5 years. Granted he hit 11 of those over the short porch in right field at the New Yankee Stadium, but we can't really hold that against him since he'll be playing the same amount of regular season games there in 2010 as he did in 2009.

If we learn any lesson from Jeter's rebound in 2009, it should be that trying to divine a player's career trajectory on a season by season basis as they age is a fool's errand. Jeter's status as a historical outlier makes predicting what the future holds even more unreliable. So just as 2008 didn't foreshadow an imminent demise, nor does 2009 promise a run at Pete Rose's record.

While it's true that few shortstops have ever maintained above average offensive production while playing shortstop in the mid-to-late 30's, it's also true that Jeter is fairly like to do so considering that he was historically elite at age 35. But at the same time, Jeter's closest comparable according to Baseball-Reference, Barry Larkin, had a bad year when he was 35, bounced back when he was 36 and was essentially washed up by age 37.

What happens this year will have tremendous implications on Jeter's impending contract negotiations as well. Tyler Kepner of the New York Times wondered if Jeter will aim for a contract that takes him through his age 42 season like the one the Yankees gave to Alex Rodriguez. Even if Jeter continues to produce at an excellent level, a six year deal seems ridiculous and unnecessary and it would be uncharacteristically petty and selfish of Jeter to make such demands.

If the Yankees are serious about having a budget going forward, they can't afford to commit huge amounts of money to Jeter over the long term, regardless of what they are paying Rodriguez. They should be more concerned with what other teams might be willing to give Jeter. Contracts signed in the past are sunk costs and although there are personalities and egos involved, the bottom line is that money spent on Jeter is money that can't be spent on talent to surround him.

Additionally, the market for aging free agents is changing and Brain Cashman seems well aware of that fact:

The industry the last two free agent markets seems to be going downward and the player's ages are going upward. It makes more sense to be patient. My attitude is if this is the place you want to be, you will make it happen. Johnny Damon professed his love for the Yankees, wanted to be here and was given every chance to be here. He's not here anymore and I don't feel that is the Yankees' fault. They have to reconcile why they are not here, not me.

The comment was aimed at Johnny Damon (and by extension, Scott Boras) but I think it tells you something about the tack he will take with Jeter. Cashman understands the free agent market as well as anyone and although the Yanks might give Jeter more than he's worth on the field, it won't be by much.

The media will surely take Jeter's side regardless of how much he wants from the Yankees but the reality is that he has the power to make the negotiations easy or make them difficult. Ask for 6 year deal and a raise in terms of annual value and it will get ugly. Take 3 years at $20M, the deal is done overnight and the Yanks have more money to use towards building a team that can win World Series, which has always been Jeter's singular focus. But let's not put the cart ahead of the horse. There will be plenty of time to watch this topic get senselessly beaten into the ground over the course of the season.

We've been incredibly lucky to watch Jeter's career unfold and we've been even luckier to watch him continue his excellent production into his mid-30's. Let's hope he goes the way of Honus Wagner or Luke Appling and plays shortstop into his 40's, but even if he doesn't, the Yanks have had their best stretch at the shortstop position in the history of the franchise and one of the very best in baseball. Although it will hurt terribly when Jeter is gone, the Yankees are essentially playing with house money at this point. With any luck, though, we'll be able to see this image a few more times before he goes.

Could Pacquaio & Mayweather Fight At Yankee Stadium?

On the heels of Manny Pacquiao's 12th round TKO against Miguel Cotto that took place in the wee hours of this past Sunday morning, the New York Times wonders if the first boxing match in the New Yankee Stadium could be the biggest fight boxing has seen in quite some time:

With the undefeated Mayweather and an international superstar in Pacquiao, the biggest draws in boxing, Greenburg said the bout would deserve a “Super Bowl-type stage.” That presents an enticing option, as early as next May — Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees are interested in hosting a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight next spring, according to a person in baseball who spoke on the condition of anonymity. There have been no formal discussions, and there will not be before an agreement is reached between the fighters, but high-ranking Yankees employees have told boxing officials of their interest.

Of course, in order for this to happen, Mayweather and Pacquiao actually have to agree to fight, something that should be a foregone conclusion but isn't. One thing that promises to make these discussions difficult is the relationship between Floyd Mayweather and Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter. Floyd used to be a client of Arum's at Top Rank but bought out his contract in 2006 for Golden Boy.

Since then, lawsuits have been filed, insults heaved and Mayweather has gone so as to say that he wouldn't fight Pacquiao if Bob Arum was involved. At the press conference for the Pacquaio vs. Cotto fight that took place at Yankee Stadium, Arum was confident that Yankee Stadium would host a big fight this year but pessimistic that it would be this one.

One obvious advantage that Yankee Stadium has over anywhere in Las Vegas is seating capacity. The arena in the MGM Grand seats about 17,000 people while a fight in Yankee Stadium with the field being utilized for seating would comfortably hold over 60,000. However, the 45,000 or so marginal seats that would be gained by moving the fight to Yankee Stadium would probably average say, $75 a pop, equating to just a rounding error in comparison to where the bread will really be buttered: Pay Per View buys.

Early estimates place that number for Saturday's Pacquiao vs. Cotto fight at about 1.3 to 1.4 million (at $55 each) and should the mega fight come to fruition, it would easily surpass those numbers. Floyd makes his home in Vegas and might use the location as a bargaining chip in what are sure to be contentious fight negotiations.

Each participant would be guaranteed tens of millions of dollars. The public clearly wants to see a match up between the two best pound-for-pound boxers on the planet. Each can make the case that they are the best fighter of this generation but neither will be validated until they beat the other.

It would be cool to have such a huge event take place at Yankee Stadium, but the most important thing is that it actually does happen. When push comes to shove, I think it will. Arum and Mayweather should be able to put their personal distaste for each other aside for the sake of the almighty dollar. We all know Floyd's a fan of that.

[Update: There is a similar story about the Cowboys' new stadium, for what it's worth. The venue itself would be much more conducive to hosting a huge fight but I wonder how many tickets they could sell in Dallas, which isn't the best boxing market.]

Checking In With Our Friend Gino

You guys remember Gino Castignoli, don't you?

He's the construction worker who thought he cursed the Yankees by burying a David Ortiz jersey in the New Stadium? How'd that work out for you?

Game 159: Next Time You See Me

It's hard to believe that tonight will be the last regular season home game for the Yankees. It seems like just yesterday when the Stadium was the New Stadium; an overpriced, empty, band box that didn't have the atmosphere or memories or the history of the place across the street and never would.

Some of those things are still true, but the Yanks have certainly come up with more than a typical season's worth of wins (57), late inning magic (15 walk offs) and special moments (Jeter passing Gehrig) there so far.

As linked earlier today, the homers have settled down. The Peter Max gallery is gone. The urinals in the upper deck still don't have dividers, but the prices of the most expensive Legends Seats have been cut in half and holders of the other seats in that area have been compensated with extra games. Those two things have eliminated most of the conspicuously empty seats behind the plate, which mattered far more to 99.99% of Yankees fans than the fact that the tickets were overpriced to begin with.

All of those things seemed like a big deal at the time, but now the New Stadium doesn't feel so new. I think that's what most of the hand-wringing surrounding the opening of the place back in April was really about. It was a house without the familiarity of a home. The place wasn't yet ours. It was never going to be anyone else's, but the team and the fans hadn't yet formed any common bonds by way of the Stadium.

Now we have them. We have Melky's walk-offs, Luis Castillo's drop, A-Rod's solo shot in the 15th inning of a 0-0 game against the fackin' Sawx, the back to back 8th inning homers against Daniel Bard two nights later, the fight against the Blue Jays, and the blown save by Farsnworth last night. We even have the 22-4 game against the Indians, and the one where Mariano some how gave up back to back home runs. The last two a pretty painful, but all those things make the Stadium incrementally more ours.

What Joba Chamberlain does tonight on his small leg of the Yankees' victory lap will be forgotten soon enough. The Bombers have won 71% of their home games so far this year which can be considered a success by any measure. But all the good juju accrued over the 81 regular season contests at the New Stadium will be put on the table October 7th, 9th and possibly 14th. If all goes well then, it will be doubled down. And with any luck, the stakes will be raised again.

So enjoy the relatively inconsequential nature of tonight's game. Because they next time the Yanks take in the vistas of their palace in the Bronx, things most certainly won't be the same.

Next time you see me things, won't be the same,
Next time you see me things, won't be the same,
If it hurts you my darling, you only got yourself to blame.

Well, it's true, true saying, all that shines is not gold.
Well, it's true, true saying, all that shines is not gold.
Like the good book says, you gotta reap just what you sow.

Getting The Links Out

It's been a surprisingly lively day in terms of baseball talk on these here internets. Let's take a look around at what's going on.

Here is the best visual you will see explaining how the Red Sox got into the playoffs.

Big Legue Stew gives the Yankees their postseason entrance exam which is proctored by Rob Iracane of Walkoff Walk. It's worth the read just to see which of th ESPN talking heads picked them to finish third in the AL East.

You might have heard Michael Kay state matter-of-factly that the Twins were upset with the rain out on Monday night because it forced a double header. Conventional baseball wisdom says that it's harder to sweep a double header than it is to take two games from a team, but is that really true. MGL from The Book doesn't think so but the primates at BBTF think he should probably have looked at the numbers first. Somewhere in that thread (68 comments and counting) you'll find the truth.

Is Derek Jeter a thief or a liar? The Shyster wants answers. The best part of that post is the dunces on the comment thread who tell Craig to "get a real job" because they take offense to him daring to question the Captain's integrity. [Sidenote: By the URL, you can tell that the original title of that post was vintage Calcaterra ("Great Moments In Gift Giving"), but odds are an editor changed it to the more inflammatory current one. They got their desired reaction all right.]

Teddy Atlas breaks down a fight that broke out in the concourses at Yankee Stadium. It may be the cutest fight ever.

Shocker: According to Hal Steinbrenner, Joe Girardi doesn't have to win a title to return as manager.

The numbers are almost in, and it turns out that Yankee Stadium isn't quite the bandbox it was originally portrayed as. After averaging 3.78 HRs/game in April and May, the Stadium has given up 2.56 per game since then and only 2.46 since the All-Star Break.

Shelley Duncan's suspension for his role in the Posada-Carlson brawl was rescinded by the MLB. Matt thought Shelley might get off when he initially appealed it and it turns out he was right. Apparently you can kick all the ass you want, just as long as the camera's can't clearly see you and you don't start the fight.

The Indians fired Eric Wedge and his staff. Well, not really because they still have to coach the last six games of the season. This would be the rare occasion when "lame duck" actually applies.

PETCOA's run of amazingly accurate preseason predictions has come to a screeching halt. Well, maybe if Nate Silver wasn't so damn busy becoming rich and famous by predicting the results of the Presidential Election, he might have had more time to spend on his baseball simulations. Talk about misplaced priorities!

Well be back to make fun of the Royals in the preview shortly.

Godzilla Against Southpaws

Good morning, Fackers. Thanks largely Hideki Matsui's continued success against lefthanded pitchers, the Yankees celebrated yet another walk off victory last night. They needed it to stay 6.5 games up on the Red Sox who had some heroics of their own, scoring two in both the bottom of the 8th and 9th, en route to beating the Angels 9-8. However, the Angels' loss means that they Yanks are now 7 games up on the Halos for homefield advantage.

Back to the Yanks, though. Sure, Chad Gaudin put together a solid effort and Frankie Cervelli got the pie, but had Joe Girardi chose to sit Matsui like he did his other power hitting lefty, Johnny Damon, the Yanks might not have been within striking distance when the bottom of the ninth came around.

Hideki started early, as he drove in a run off of lefthanded starter Brian Tallet with a single to put the Yanks up 2-0 in the first inning. He also chipped in late, during cruch time, with the biggest hit of the game in terms of WPA, a game-tying, two run homer in the eighth inning off of lefty reliever Scott Downs.

Amazingly, 12 of Matsui's 25 home runs this season have come against southpaws despite having less than 1/3 of his plate appearances against them. He's averaging a home run in every 11.6 PAs against lefties (which would be good for 51 HRs/600PA) but only every 26.1 PAs against righties (23/600). Matsui has a pretty even platoon split over his career (including HR/PA), but this year, what he lacks in BA and OBP against lefties, he's making up for with long balls, now slugging a truly Godzillian .610.

Is this a product of the New Yankee Stadium? Eight of his 12 dingers off lefties have come at home and all of them have gone out to right or right-centerfield. His BB/K ratio against lefties is down at home, meaning he might be trying to swing for the fences more often.

He also has an even home/road split, which means that only 5 of his longballs against righties have come at TNYS. This seems to be a symptom of the rare but deadly Reverse Inverted Nick Swisheritis.

Is there some luck involved? It's baseball, isn't there always? Sixteen of his 21 doubles have come against righties and you would expect the doubles and home runs to even out on each side of the platoon split over time. His BABIP is lower against lefties too (.242/.291), but that's partially as a result of all the homers.

It seems a foregone conclusion that the Yankees will let Matsui walk at the end of the season and it's almost impossible to argue with that. They aren't going to plug up the DH spot with a guy who can no longer play the outfield. But perhaps a team like the Royals who have the lowest production out of their cleanup hitter in the majors by a staggering margin could use his help. Or perhaps he'll go back to Japan and continue to mash over there. Or maybe he'll just hang up his cleats for good.

Regardless, it's nice to see Matsui during his last our of duty make a graceful exit from the Bronx. He's been nothing short of dignified in his tenure here and it would have been terrible to see him exit with a bunch of strikeouts and errors. Credit goes to Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman who saved his knees by not letting him play the field, but most of all to Matsui who has played a crucial role in the Yankees resurgent offense this year.

The New Yankee Stadium Of Golf

[Photo]

Since Matt brought the topic up before, here is an interesting (albeit pretty one-sided) article I saw about the course they played the Barclays' Championship at, Liberty National:

If you haven't heard about Liberty National, it's the world's most expensive grassy view lot -- a former oil tank farm that had all the visual appeal of a collapsing tenement building, even the rats avoided it. But it was located just across the water from the southern tip of Manhattan, roughly 1,000 yards from the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

So a rich guy bought it and built a private golf course that has generated more conversation, commentary and criticism than a penal U.S. Open track. As one player sarcastically pointed out, it's probably no accident Lady Liberty faces the other direction.

What follows is a bunch of tour pros trashing the place, similar to what we heard from some players about the New Yankee Stadium. Similarly, Liberty National cost far more than other courses to construct ($250M) and demands a $500,000 membership initiation fee before annual dues are factored in, which I'm going to blindly guess are north of $50,000. However, it's only a short private shuttle-boat ride from downtown Manhattan which offers a level convenience which is unmatched in NYC area golf.

The owner, Paul Fireman freely admits that the course as a poor investment, and the designer Tom Kite readily acknowledges that due to the way the course was constructed, nothing is natural about it. For 30 years, they played the tournament at historic Westchester Country Club and no such kvetching was heard. Sound familiar?

Sure, most of the bitching from the players was unwarranted. And all of it was unnecessary, if you ask Vijay Singh:

"One who doesn't worry about what the golf course is, and just plays one shot at a time," Singh said. "You go out there and start criticizing the golf course, then you might as well not show up."

The great thing about golf, like baseball, is that everyone plays under the same conditions. So when it all shakes out, regardless of the difficulty or quirkiness of the place you are competing, the playing field is level.

Damon Stayin'?

To be honest, I hated the fact that the Yankees signed Johnny Damon when it first happened. It didn't have much to do with the fact that he was 32 years old and was already declining pretty steeply as a defensive center fielder. It wasn't just that the Yanks passed on Carlos Beltran the year before, who, with respect to the five tools, was better than Damon in every way. I couldn't wrap my head around being forced to root for a play that I had spent so much time deeply despising.

There was his impossibly weak throwing arm that make me wonder if he was actually right handed but never figured it out. It was so easy to hate his faux-Jesusy look, the "Idiots" and "Cowboy Up" bullshit and the goofy speech impediment he used to talk about it all. Above all, the grand slam he hit off Javier Vasquez in the 2004 ALCS was far too painful for me to acknowledge the possibility of ever actively rooting for him at the time.

I certainly never thought I would be in favor of the Yankees offering him another contract at the end of this year. However, nearly four years later, Damon has been one of the most durable players on the Yankees and has continued to pull his weight offensively, even after being shifted to left field.

Tyler Kepner talked to Damon yesterday and Johnny had this to say about his impending free agency:

I don’t know where else I would want to go to. Obviously, that’s not the right thing to say when you’re about ready to approach free agency, but I’m very happy with playing in New York, and my family’s happy I play for New York. There’s no bigger place to go. If you play well here, you’re going to get paid. New York has the resources.

It's important to note that Scott Boras is still his agent and if Damon is anything like the other capitalist robots manufactured by the Boras Corporation, you can take that quote with a grain of salt. In fact, if Damon is anything like the 2005 version of himself, we probably shouldn't put too much stock in his stated intentions, either (h/t NoMaas):

There's no way I can go play for the Yankees, but I know they are going to come after me hard. It's definitely not the most important thing to go out there for the top dollar, which the Yankees are going to offer me. It's not what I need.

As with any contractual negotiation, I'd be in favor of bringing back Damon at the right price. UZR doesn't think too highly of his defense this year, but I'm not ready to relegate Damon solely to DH status. Just last year his UZR/150 was 11.6 and this year it's -9.6. Has he really fallen of that sharply? Even with his below average defensive, Johnny has been so good with the bat that he projects to be worth $14.8M over the course of the season, comfortably more than the $13M he's making.

Damon's already knocked 22 homers this year, just two off his career high. True, 15 of those have come at home and every one has been to right field, but that's not an inherently bad thing. If the Yanks sign him again next year he'll be playing half of his games in the same park.

With Hideki Matsui likely moving on after this season, the Yanks won't have someone plugging up the DH slot who can't play another position. The Yanks have stated that they want to keep that position open to be able to rest other position players, which keeps the line up flexible, but Damon is still a somewhat competent left fielder, even if he doesn't rebound next year. His bat more than makes up for his defensive short-comings.

From his comments in Kepner's story, it's safe to say that Damon will be looking for at least 2 years. Should the Yanks bring him back for 2 years/$20M? Would that be enough? Who is going to give him more than that? Given the way the New Stadium plays, it seems that he would be worth more to the Yanks than anyone else. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Cash & Co. cut ties with Damon, but if they keep him around, I wouldn't be surprised to see him lift another twenty-something homers over the short porch in right field next year, either.

Back To Back To Business

It wasn't Joba Chamberlain's night tonight, and for the second of his starts in a row, it didn't really have to be. The offense came alive in the first inning with 3 straight hits to lead off the game and took a 2-0 lead out of the box. Robinson Cano scored on a sac fly in the 2nd and Joba was staked to a comfortable early lead. Or so it seemed.

Chamberlain hit the skids in the third inning when he loaded the bases with two outs via a walk, a single and another walk. Lyle Overbay continued his solid series with a bases clearing double to tie the score. The Jays tacked on another run with a solo shot by Bronx native Randy Ruiz in the 4th. Joba made it to the 6th without allowing any further damage and finished with five strikeouts and two walks.

The scored remained at stuck at 4-3 until the bottom of the eighth. Cito Gaston brought in lefty Jesse Carlson to face Hideki Matsui, which is amusing because Matsui is slugging .122 higher against lefties this year and the batter behind him, Jorge Posada has been better against southpaws this year as well. Matsui hit a prodigious blast past the second deck in right and Posada followed it with one that necessitated instant reply and barely evaded Joe Inglett's leaping try. The place went bonkers and the Yanks were up for good. Although Mariano Rivera gave up a home run to Edwin Encarnacion, he still converted teh save and the Bombers previaled 7-5.

This homestand has stirred the New Stadium to levels of noise and euphoria that haven't been experienced since the place across the street was still open. Some people thought the new building was to blame for the lack of enthusiasm early in the season, but it turns out that fans just needed something to get legimately excited about. After the slow start, the Yankees steadily picked up steam but didn't full hit their stride until the series against the Sox. Lately they've have the feel of one of the vintage Yankee teams who was never out of a game and the crowd is responding to it. It's a good time to be pulling for the Pinstripes.

Game 109: Shakedown Street

While the Yankees were shaking down the Sox last night, the new Yankee Stadium had a watershed moment for itself. Not only did the ballpark have its highest attendance (49,005) in its brief history, but it came alive for the first time.

The Stadium has been justifiably panned for a number of reasons: the insane ticket prices, the obstructed view bleacher seats, the decreased capacity compared to the old joint, the institutionalized caste system, the cold and sterile nature of the place, Monument Cave, etc. I'm not sure it's quite as bad as it's been made out to be, but it certainly has it flaws.

My biggest problem with it has been the lack of atmosphere. Part of that may be structural, with the upper deck recessed much further back from the field than across the street. Part of that can be attributed to the best seats being empty on a nightly basis. Part of that can be chalked up to the place being a mall with a baseball field in the middle. How can fans create an atmosphere if they're off at the farmer's market, or the art gallery, or the butcher shop?

Last night though was a lot different, and I couldn't be happier. There was a buzz all day long. The Yanks were rolling, the Sox were struggling, and the Yanks were overdue for some head-to-head wins. On the interwebs, on talk radio, in the tabloids, amongst the fans - the energy was building back to the way it should be.

Once I hit the Major Deegan on my way to the game, I knew this one would be different. The gridlock from the Mosholu down past Van Cortland Park, Fordham, and the GW, all the way to the Harlem River lots was a good indication the people were coming out for this one.

River Ave was buzzing, once again the Bronx's version of Shakedown Street at a Dead show. T-shirt vendors on the sidewalk. A fully packed Stan's. Roy White doing an autograph signing at one of the memorablia shops.

The Stadium itself didn't disappoint. It was fairly electric from the first pitch, and stayed that way even through some early bumps for the Yanks and a sloppy strikezone from Derryl Cousins. The atmosphere in the eight-run fourth inning is how Yankee Stadium is supposed to be, Sounds like our pal Joe at RAB got what he wanted.

I'm hoping for much of the same tonight. Big ptiching match-up with Burnett vs. Beckett for the third time this year. It'll be interesting to see if Beckett, never one to shy away from pitching inside, goes after anyone in the wake of Pedroia's plunking last night. A.J.'s first two against the Sox were ugly, but he's been on an absolute tear since then - Saturday's start notwithstanding. As a team the Yankees cashed in on being overdue against the Sox last night - let's hope A.J. get his tonight and that the Stadium is rocking again.

Grateful Dead - Shakedown Street


Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart
When I can hear it beat out loud!

Nothing shaking on Shakedown Street
Used to be the heart of the town
Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart
You just gotta poke around

Saturday At The Stadium

It was a fairly quiet weekend around these parts, because as Matt mentioned yesterday, he's in SoCal and I had the esteemed pleasure of filling up a 14' U-Haul truck with the contents of a 5th floor apartment only accessible by a very narrow staircase. You never realize all the shit you've accumulated until you have to drag it down the 5 flights of stairs one trip at a time.

As foreshadowed in Saturday's preview, Big Willie Style and I were in attendance during that day's game. We went up to the Stadium with the intention of scalping some cheap seats. We got there during the second inning and were looking to get in the Stadium as cheaply as possible. The best we could do were two separate $40 tickets in the 200 level. We kept searching and but ended up gave up our quest for the cheapies before settling for two seats in Sec 103 for $50 each. It was more than we wanted to spend, but the seats were pretty sweet; just underneath the right side of the bleachers and next to the home bullpen. Unlike our old Saturday package seats in Section 7 of the Old Stadium, these were subject to the full wrath of the sun. It was in the low 80's but felt much hotter.

During the 7th inning meltdown, Will and I met up with our pal Jason from IIATM,S for the first time in person. It was his first trip to the Stadium (which he chronicled beautifully over here) and it will likely be our last for a little while, so it was cool that our paths crossed as such. It's funny getting to know people over these here global webernets. You can exchange countless emails with someone, but you don't feel like you actually know them until you see them in person. We didn't talk to Jason's son, who was also at the game with him, but since Will and I were double-fisting Bud Heavys out of our souvenir cups, it was probably better that way. We're not great role models.

Anyhow, there was some saving grace after Aceves left that 0-2 pitch out over the plate to Landon Powell. After meeting up with Jason, we went back to our seats and drowned our sorrows while watching Mark Melancon warm up in the pen. Sec 103 is in pretty prime HR territory, so it was certainly in the back of our minds that one could come our way. Lo and behold, the illustrious Derek Sanderson Jeter ripped a two run shot into the first few rows of our section in the top of the 8th.

That would be us, circled in red. We had no chance of catching it, but there's nothing cooler than watching a ball travel and quickly figuring out that it's coming right towards you. Especially when said ball is coming off the bat of a player from your own team and you are sitting in home run territory.

As a cool side benefit, after Jeter hit that HR, Mo started warming up in the bullpen. Nearly everyone who was still there and within 15 seats or so started working their way over to catch a glimpse of the man in action. After a few minutes, the usher came down and started clearing the aisle and was met with a chorus of "Awww..."s, to which she replied "Hey, I don't make the rules." I go, "Right, you just selectively enforce them".

The Yanks threatened again in the 9th after starting off with back to back walks to bring the winning run to the plate but Jorge Posada hit into a rally-killing double play and that was that. We sat in the stands, a little stunned that it was already over in under three hours despite the long 7th and 8th innings.

The last bright spot was this character to the right, dwelling outside of the Stadium, presumably with the intention of luring unsuspecting children away from their parents. Yes, friends, that would be a grown man in a Spiderman costume playing the saxophone. What else could posess an adult to thrown on a full body costume on a hot summer day and play an instrument outside of a sporting venue?

So, all in all it was it was a good time, despite the final score. We were okay with attending the only loss of homestand. We're team players like that.

It's Linktastic!

So, I don't have anything specific in mind to write about at the moment, probably because winning breeds apathy. Unless of course you are a Red Sox fan (who doesn't read this blog), in which case it breeds douchebaggery. In any event, here it's what's becoming a daily cop out for me: A collection of links to a bunch of things which are interesting but not worth an entire post devoted to them for differing reasons. Enjoy!

-----

Mike from RAB thinks the Yanks should deal for a starter. It doesn't seem like one is necessary at the moment, but by the time the need arises, it might be too late. [Update: Joe looks at the bullpen as well]

I take no pleasure in seeing the Mets fail, but I can't say the same about this. At least God still loves them.

Joel Sherman takes the Mets to task for the lack of order within their organization. He compares it to the earlier versions of the Yankees, when there wasn't a designated power structure and almost anyone could have The Boss's ear, "It might be the GM, a scout, a friend, a cab driver". He sees the recent issues with Tony Bernazard as a manifestation of such structural issues. Don't plan on listening to Joel on 1050 ESPN Radio anytime soon, though. He got streeted yesterday (by no fault of his own).

This is terrible for Donnie Baseball. Upshot? I bet you didn't know the term "Battery By Bodily Waste" existed...

Craig from Shysterball doesn't get the Red Sox number retirement policy. I do, it goes a little something like "Well, he's gawtta be in the HoF, ten yeahs with the Sawx, but nawt if left us fwah the fackin' Yanks..."

Is Jesus untouchable? (Montero that is...)

Who was the last pitcher to throw 300 innings in a single season? The man started 38 games that year, went 24-9, and was part of a World Series winning team. The season included 13 CGs and only 4 starts shorter than 7 innings. And he was 35 years old when he did it. The answer can be found in the tags (or by clicking that link).

1.98/game to 3.25/game. Yes, it would seem that homers are easier to come by in the New Stadium.

And totally off-topic, but how awesome is this?

Here's the original, and a shot for shot comparison.

“This is not just a stadium for baseball”

That's what Lonn Trost thinks of the New Yankee Stadium:

"This is not just a stadium for baseball," Yankees COO Lonn Trost said. "It's a stadium for college and university football."

To refresh, this is Lonn Trost, the man whose fingerprints are all over the New Stadium and who was more responsible than anyone else for designing it. Got it? Now take a look at this:

See how well the football field fits into the dimensions of the baseball configurat... wait, I'm sorry, what's that? It doesn't fit at all and the dugouts might have to be filled-in during these games just to accomodate the corners of the endzones? Just look at how the stands unnecessarily jut away from from the 50 yard lines! I like what you did there, Lonn. There's hardly a good seat in the house!

You'd think that if someone with Mr. Trost's "appreciation of the history" of the Old Yankee Stadium might have thought of this beforehand, if they truly had wanted to play college football games there. Perhaps the need popped up after the Yankees' revenue projections fell short for this year and they are taking steps to cover their behinds just in case the economic conditions don't improve.

But the fact remains that it IS a Stadium just for baseball, which explains what it was explicity fucking designed for it without taking any other events into consideration. You can try to shoehorn a football grid into it or put a stage for a concert in centerfield, but it's going to be completely awkward because baseball parks aren't meant for anything else. Just like football stadiums weren't meant to house baseball games. Again, historically, this was done out of necessity. Now it's being done out of nostalgia and greed and I'm not sure which of those is worse.

The Undoucheification Of The New Stadium Has Begun

Via our pal Ross from New Stadium Insider, who was at the game last night, comes the news that the Peter Max Art Gallery has been removed from the Field Level of the New Yankee Stadium in favor of a New York Yankees Women's Team Store. Soooo, people don't buy art work when they go to baseball games? Could a store that caters to the ladies with enough disposable income to be sitting in seats that cost hundreds of dollars might be a little more profitable? Shocking!

I wrote a post earlier on in the season about the divide between the Field Level and the rest of the Stadium and dropped a photo of the Peter Max gallery to illustrate how far over the top it the Yanks have gone.

It's good news that they've responded so quickly to their obvious misstep and hopefully they'll be willing to change some other unpopular things that don't have such a direct connection to the bottom line.

Game 92: Sing Me Back Home

The Yanks have a chance to stretch their current winning streak to 4 and their season series record against the Orioles to 7-3 tonight. Jose Molina is behind the plate, Eric Hinske is in right and Melky is in center with the rest of the defensive alignment in their prime offensive configuration.

Taking the mound for O's will be David Hernandez, a rookie who the Yankees have never seen. Perhaps it's just the attention that has been focused on these types of games, but it seems like the Yanks have faced more than their fair share of fresh meat so far this season. Hernandez is a big 24 year old righty, at 6'3", 215, and has a 4.30 ERA and a 2-2 record in 5 starts this year. He hasn't been dominant, striking out only 13 in 29 1/3 innings and walking 12 in the process.

For the Yanks, Andy Pettitte will be pitching on 9 days rest. His career numbers are slightly better on six or more days rest, which is a good sign, but his stats at the New Yankee Stadium leave much to be desired. Pettitte has been fairly vocal about his poor performances at the new digs. He's blamed his lack of success on his tendency to give up more home runs in the Bronx and a resulting reluctance to challenge hitters, leading to more walks. Here's what he said after his last start at home against the Blue Jays:

"It's very discouraging because I felt like I might've had my best stuff," said Pettitte, who surrendered five walks and five hits, including Alex Rios' three-run, third-inning blow to left. "I feel like a broken record saying I need to keep the walks down, especially here, where you just can't walk guys like that.

"I'm really scratching my head figuring out how I walked so many."

Pettitte's K/BB ratio is actually identical at home and on the road at 1.63, and his walk rate is slightly higher away from TNYS (3.52/9 to 4.13/9). He goes deeper into games on the road as well. True, his home run totals are dramatically different with 12 of them coming in the Bronx against only 3 on the road but that gap is narrowed a bit by the fact that he's thrown 15 more innings at home. To boot, 8 of the ones at home have gone out to left field, which by most accounts isn't that much easier to reach than it was in the old ballpark.

What I'm getting at is that I think much of Pettitte's struggles are in his head. Perhaps it's a product of bad luck. His BABIP is .054 higher at home which you would assume to be even higher, given all the home runs that are taken out of the equation. Bad luck doesn't change what happened in the past, but it does help to more accurately predict the future. In his career, Pettitte's ERA is nearly a half run lower at home and I'm guessing that New Stadium will be kinder to Pettitte in the second half of the '09 season, which very well could be the last of his career. Hopefully tonight will be a step in that direction for him.

Sing me back home with a song I used to hear,
Make my old memories come alive,
Take me away and turn back the years,
Sing me back home before I die.

College Football Closer To Reality At New Stadium

Back in May, we ran a post about Notre Dame expressing interest in playing at Yankee Stadium. Today, that looks closer to being a reality.

According to the Times Herald-Record, Army and Notre Dame will play their 2010 game at the Stadium. The Black Knights will also reportedly play a game there in 2011, 2012, and 2013 against opponents yet to be determined.

I agree with ESPN's Graham Watson in thinking that having the annual Army-Navy game there would be great, but the locations for that game are already booked for years to come.

While I can appreciate the novelty and the nostalgia of hosting football at the new Stadium, I'm not sure it's the best idea in the world. The Yankees have invested billions of tax payer dollars in building a new baseball stadium. Why jeopardize the quality of the turf by subjecting it to a football game?

As Jay noted last week, multi-purpose ballparks are dying off. In recent years Veterans Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, Riverfront Stadium, Candlestick Park and Qualcomm Park, all former two sport venues, have been replaced. The Metrodome will join them at season's end. Of the remaining dual sport MLB parks - Network Associates Coliseum and Landshark Stadium - are considered the worst venues in baseball. Why would the Yankees want to jump back to the multipsort mindset of 20 and 30 years ago?

Brian Bruney Is A Renegade

No, I'm talking talking about the tattoo.

Brian Bruney is back from the DL, he's got a bad ass motherfuckin' mustache and he doesn't give a shit about that damn patch commemorating the first season at the New Stadium the fuckin' MAN is tryin' to get him to wear.

Brian Bruney does what Brain Bruney wants, thank you very much.

(Below: Where the patch should be, as displayed

by upright citizen Joba Chamberlain)

(And by the way, yes, we would have nabbed a shot of Mo batting if Jason didn't beat us to it.)