Yankees vs. TB 4/15 (Live Chat)

Hate the Rays?

So do we! Do you want to talk about it?

We are debuting a new live chat feature, so stop by around 4PM and see if it actually works.

[ Ed. note: Guess what...it didn't work too well, so please just leave comments on the game in the post below for now. In related news: Coming Soon to Fack Youk, Live Chatting!]

Game 9: Stop That Train

The rubber match in this series pits Andy vs. Andy, Pettitte vs. Sonnanstine, Veteran vs. (Somewhat) Young Gun, Lefty vs. Righty. You get the idea...

Pettitte was brilliant in his first performance (7IP, 1ER, 6K) while Sonnanstine was less so (4.2IP, 5ER, 8H).

It's also a classic getaway game, with the Yanks wrapping up the 9 game road trip with which they began their season. Sitting at 4-4 right now, in the middle of an upside down-looking division, this game determines whether they enter their new digs with a winning or losing record.

Also, if you are stranded at work, be sure to check out the [Update:] comment thread to fill up on some good natured John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman fun-poking, along with up-to-the-moment overreactions to whatever happens.

Yeah, this game brings another Marley song, but it's a live version of one you that you might not have heard. I promise not to use more than one per series.

So I got to say,
Stop that train, I'm leavin' (oh, baby now!)
Stop that train, I'm leavin' (don't care what you say!)
Stop that train, I'm leavin' (and I said)
It won't be too long, whether I'm right or wrong,
Said, it wont be too long, whether I'm right or wrong

[Update: Apparently, there is some sort of crazy power-related delay going on...]

Right On Time

Via MLBTR, The Post has quotes from Omar Minaya and Jeff Wilpon indicating that the Mets could expand their payroll:

GM Omar Minaya confirmed to The Post yesterday that he has permission from ownership to increase the payroll.

"We've been told that whatever we need to do to get to help us win, we're going to try to do it," Minaya said. "[The payroll is] not unlimited. But there is the ability to increase if we need areas that need to be addressed."

COO Jeff Wilpon also said yesterday, "Omar has the flexibility to do what he has to do to give us a winning team."

Now they are willing to take on salary? Where was all this cash when Derek Lowe and Adam Dunn were still available? Instead of signing players in the best free agent market in recent history, they are going to shed prospects to take on guys with overvalued contracts?

Orlando Hudson for $4M and give nothing up? Hell no! Part with minor league talent for the right to take on another team's terrible contract? Absolutely! Have fun with that.

Hate To Break It To You, But There Is No Santa Claus Either

[Jinx is Magic Hat's Scotch Ale]

As A.J. Burnett walked off the mound in the bottom of the fourth inning last night, John Sterling mentioned that he was carrying a no-hitter. I couldn't see the box score, and I cringed for a second, knowing that there are scores of people out there who actually think that mentioning a no-hitter or perfect game in progress "jinxes" it. Apparently Michael Kay said it on the YES broadcast as well.

Friends, we live in an age of science and reason. How, exactly, does what an announcer says into a microphone in a box 50 feet above the field impact what happens when a pitch crosses home plate? You think that's the only thing stopping a pitcher from throwing a no-no every time he takes the mound? Where do you draw the line? What if a fan in the stands mentions it? What about you at home? What if I type it? ZOMG JINX!!!1!one1!!exclamationpoint!!

No-hitters are extremely rare, there have only been 256 in the history of the MLB, or about two per year. You know what keeps them from happening? Probability. Why doesn't this apply for the cycle? There are just about as uncommon, and when a batter comes up to the plate with a 1B, 2B and a HR, you hear the announcer say "Just a triple short of the cycle" every single time and no one says a peep.

I think it's cool that the players leave the pitcher alone in the dugout. It's a great old-timey baseball tradition/superstition, and it could actually directly affect the pitcher. If a person says something odd to a pitcher that gets in his head, it might put him in the wrong frame of mind when he goes back out to the hill. I get that.

What I don't get are the morons who are going to call into the Michael Kay Show today and bitch about the fact that Kay mentioned it on the air. If John Sterling took calls during the pregame, he'd have to deal with these Druids too. Until Sterling mentioned it, I didn't know Burnett hadn't given up a hit yet. If he had never brought it up, who knows how many in the radio audience would not have realized what was taking place. It's called broadcasting. You are supposed to inform your audience of what is going on. It made the game a whole lot more interesting for the listeners.

If you are outraged that broadcasters mention no-hitters on the air, please go to Thesaurus.com and look at the antonyms for superstition:

Antonyms: fact, reality, truth

Game 8: Get A Hold

After last night, I don't know if the significance of the title of this song necessitates much of an explanation. Things got a little out of hand, and now A.J. Burnett needs to put up a quality start, or at least stay out there for more than, you know, one inning. After getting 7 innings out of the bullpen (and one from the Nick Swisher) yesterday, the Yanks can ill afford to go to the well early.

Mark Teixeira is back in the line-up, but Johnny Damon is out with the flu, which buys yet another day for Joe Girardi to tell Xavier Nady that he lost his starting job to The Swish.

Aside from the title, the words to the song aren't all that relevant to the game, but Q-Tip does drop right in with a baseball metaphor:

Drifting, drifting, drifting, drifting, drifting...
The deadly venom, let me start from the beginning,
We always hittin, so yo, there'll be no extra innings,
As I send the mic out the park like Reggie Jackson,
You be the minor leaguer who sees no action.

It's The Rule Of The Iron Mike

Next week, a documentary is coming out about the life and times of Mike Tyson. I had the opportunity to see a preview screening last night and I have to say it was excellent. I will tell you that I have always been and still am a fan of Mike Tyson. He trained in Upstate New York and was frequently around the Albany area (5 Fack Youk contributors are from the Capital District) during the beginning and the height of his career.

I even met him in the mall when I was like 7, I don't remember this but my parents told me I did. Another nice story of Mike in Albany was when he was arrest for going 120 mph down Central Ave (that is the exact location and the speed limit is 30 mph) in his Lamborghini. What I am getting at is that a lot of people here like Tyson and even though he has done some shit in his day, we selectively remember the times when he was great.

I won't get too into it for those of you who want to see it, but it does a great job of capturing Mike's unique insight into his own life. I know Tyson is viewed as crazy by most of the world, and rightfully so, but this movie gave me a better understanding of why. It also makes you feel sorry for him because he got a raw deal in many respects and overcame a lot of shit to get to the top of the boxing world.

For those of you that don't really give a shit about Mike Tyson I would still recommend watching it. It's a good documentary from a cinematography standpoint and there is enough unintentional humor in him making up his own words (I think I caught a "sluggentry" in there) and contradicting his own statements in consecutive sentences for everyones' enjoyment.

Just In Case You Didn't Already Love Nick Swisher...

...Here is a screen grab of him striking out Gabe Kapler in the bottom of the 8th inning last night.

After Swish got Carlos Pena to pop up for the 2nd out, and they panned over to Tony Pena and Joe Girardi on the bench trying to hide their chuckles behind the dugout railing, and David Cone said, "This is one of those nights where you have to laugh to keep from crying". It was 15-5 Tampa, and Swisher was taking one for the team, as the options in the bullpen were almost totally exhausted.

In stark contrast to Chien Ming Wang who looked distraught and overwhelmed while surrendering five runs in the first inning and three more before after pulled in the 2nd, Swish was lobbing 75mph "fastballs" and laughing all the way to a scoreless frame. He gave up a walk and a hit to start it off, but retired the next three batters he faced. He was working quickly and changing his arm angle, reminiscent of Cone's playing days.

I sat on the couch last night, flipping back forth between the Yanks and Mets game, thinking about how often baseball frames your life. How many times have you had a sort of strange and shitty day, only to come home and have your team play the same? Then once in a while, something happens in a game that makes those two things intertwine. Yesterday was one of those occurrences, because by the time I watched Swisher leave the mound, his big smile obscured by the even bigger lipper he was packing, I didn't think the day was so bad.

I Think We Know Whose Fault This Is

Do you think that A-Rod knew Wang would be shown on TV and therefore moved over so as to insert himself into the shot? The guy does love to be the center of attention...

58 pitches... 3 outs. That's not gonna do it.

The line above is actually not accurate.

After that Carlos Pena grand slam served up by Albaladejo, it's 8 ER in 1+IP.

-----

It's 10-0 as of now (8:40), so if you hang in there and watch the rest of the game, you are a better fan than I tonight.

Game 7: Kashmir

As the Yankees send their groundball machine Chien Ming Wang to the mound tonight to avenge his horrible showing in Baltimore, the Tampa Bay (Nothing Ungodly-Sounding) Rays counter with lefty strikeout tallier Scott Kazmir.

Scott's dad co-owned a company with Adam Dunn's father in Houston and despite being 5 years apart, used to play wiffle ball together growing up. Kazmir was quarterback of his football team in high school, but found that his talents on the pitcher's mound far exceed those under center. Kazmir threw two no-hitters as a sophomore and then four consecutive no-hitters his junior year. As a senior, he broke Josh Beckett's strikeout record for the state of Texas by punching out 175 in 72 innings and was named Baseball America's High School Player Of The Year.

The Mets were surprised when he fell to them at the 15th pick in the draft and signed him for $2.15M, the largest bonus the team had ever given out (guess who his agent was). Kazmir continued his dominance on his rise through the minor leagues, but was traded when he was still in Double A. He was moved to the (at the time Devil) Rays for Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato at the behest of pitching coach Rick Peterson who thought he saw a fixable flaw in Zambrano's mechanics. Although Steve Phillips is commonly assumed to have made the trade in hindsight (since it was retarded), it actually occured Jim Duquette's watch.

After missing the first month of the 2008 season, Kazmir signed an extension last May with TB that locked him up through 2011 with team option for '12. He made 27 starts last year and had a 3.49 ERA, but averaged only 5 2/3 innings per start (5.8 for his career). As is the case with many strikeout pitchers, Kazmir has trouble keeping his pitch count down. In his first start this season he went six innings and gave up one run, but needed 111 pitches to do so.

I know Mets fans pine for Kazmir like an old girlfriend who got away, but he's not a guy that I particularly wish was on the Yanks. Don't get me wrong, if Scott Kazmir is your second or third best pitcher, you've probably got a great staff. But he doesn't seem like a true top of the line starter to me because he puts too much pressure on the bullpen. And I hate guys who throw too many pitches.

Don't go proving me wrong now, Scott.


[I know, the spelling isn't the same, but it's close enough]

Bait & Switch?

This morning I got an email from the Yankees, informing me of the possibility of $5 tickets to the Oakland series in selected areas of the Grandstand, Terrace and Bleachers. They can't all be obstructed view, one would assume, so I decided to check it out.


I clicked through and was taken to a page with the following on it:


I selected the 4/21 game against Oakland.


Here's the problem, though:

There is no option for $5 seats anywhere. I tried to get regular bleacher seats and they were entirely sold out. They didn't offer any promotional code to enter either. I think you just can't buy them online, which is perfect, considering they are advertising their availability via electronic mail.

Not one to just give up on a bargain, I bit the bullet and called the Ticketmaster phone number listed above. You have to listen to a computerized woman's voice count down every price range "Two, thousand... six, hundred and twenty, five... dollars, to... six, hundred... and, twenty, five, dollars" and obviously the $5 seats were at the very bottom. Unfortunately, me shouting "representative" or "operator" did not get me on the phone with an actual person.

Every step in the process was a giant pain in the ass, including having to verbally spell out my first and last name and billing address. I did get the tickets, though, and they are in Section 306, where presumably myself and whoever I go with will be straddling the foul pole.

Not to fear, it's only $5 a pop, and we'll probably just chill near the Bleachers Cafe or see what other sections we can finagle ourselves into. The $5 tickets are a pretty awesome deal, but you'd think that if they really wanted to sell them, they'd make them easier to buy. The shitty part is that the fact that something involving tickets and the New Stadium was annoying and poorly organized just isn't surprising anymore.

I Think We Can Drop The "Maybe"

It turns out it's not only Yankee fans that aren't huge fans of Dustin Pedrioa. He made some disparaging remarks about his hometown of Woodland, California in a Boston Magazine article, which not only resulted in this awkwardly configured but still hilarious sign, but something a lot more serious:

The Woodland Democrat reported that 47-year-old Kenneth Samuels allegedly made multiple phone calls to the Pedroia family business and threatened to shoot and kill the men of the Pedroia family. Those calls were traced and Samuels was subsequently arrested. The reason why Samuels allegedly threatened the Pedroias was not stated by the Woodland police.

Well at least he only threatened the men, right? Wow.

Some friendly advice: If you are going to insult a town/city, go for a bigger one where people won't take it so personally. Observe: FUCK BOSTON! In addition, you'll be less likely to offend a gun owning whack-job who is going to threaten to kill your family.

The Jackson Report: 4/13

The Weekly Austin "Action" Jackson Report

Not a bad first week in Scranton for the CF of the Future:

Games: 4
AB: 17
Hits: 8
Average: .471
OBP: .524
SLG: .588
OPS: 1.112
Runs: 3
HR: 0
RBI: 5
Triples: 1
SO: 5
BB: 3

Watch out Brett Gardner...

Game 6: Change Of The Guard

Today, Joba Chamberlain takes the hill while the Yankees look to sweep the Royals in Kansas City.

Not too long ago it seemed that Phil Hughes was the one in the Yankees system who was destined for the top of the rotation. As Hughes was regressing, Joba made the transition from electrifying reliever to a major league starter which culminated with a sparkling performance under the lights at Fenway during which he struck out 9, and gave up only 4 baserunners in 7 innings.

Of course, two starts later in Texas he left the mound clutching his shoulder and took any remaining hope that the Yanks would sneak it to the postseason with him.

I'd love to think that Joba can handle the workload of a starting pitcher for a full Major League season, but it's one of those things you can't believe until you see it. Will Joba be just another tantalizing tease so fantastically talented that he just can't stay healthy, or will the Yankees have two bona fide aces in him and Sabathia?

Only time will tell, but I can tell you what I'm hoping today's start represents:

If you listen you can hear it,
It's the laughter in the street,
It's the motion in the music,
And the fire beneath your feet,
All the signs are right this time,
You don't have to try so very hard,
If you live in this world,
You're feelin' the change of the guard.