Friday Afternoon Link Party

How convenient, I only sleep with supermodels...

The Steinbrenners aren't the only ones with Yankee affiliations involved with thoroughbred horse racing. Joe Torre owns a horse called Homeboykris (I'm guessing he didn't name it) that has a good chance of running in the Kentucky Derby.

Over at the NYT bats blog, Sean Forman took a look at marathon games that used lots of pitchers (the Mets/Cardinals epic had 19, the second most since 1952).

Tonight, NYY Stadium Insider and Bronx Goblin are putting together a outing at Finnerty's on 2nd Ave between 13th ad 14th for the Yankees game. They've got some excellent specials so if you are in the city tonight and don't have plans, check it out.

Although the series with the A's is over, it's still worth checking out this piece by Jack Curry about Billy Beane and the expectations in Oakland.

Via BBTF, a 12 year old girl from Plant City, Florida threw back to back perfect games in Little League (yes, against the boys). Chelsea Baker primarily relies on her fastball now, but also learned a knuckleball from fellow Plant City resident Joe Niekro before he passed away in 2006. The knuckler could be her ticket to making it to the higher levels of the game, a la Eri Yoshida.

Carson Cistulli previews a host of games scheduled for this weekend at FanGraphs.

In honor of Earth Day yesterday, Steve Slowinski from DRays Bay collected a few ways that you can enjoy baseball more sustainably. My personal suggestion: don't start drinking hard liquor until the third inning.

Remember when the umpires weren't granting hitters time in the Yanks vs. Red Sox series earlier this year? Well they did it to the Rays too and Joe Maddon isn't happy.

Max Marchi ran down platoon splits by pitch type over at the Hardball Times.

The musically-named AAA affiliate of the Brewers - the Nashville Sound - is having Roy Orbison Night tonight. "The first 1.000 fans through the turnstiles will receive free Roy sunglasses and a case of unrequited heartache". (h/t Iracane on GReader)

Another explanation of Bill James disease, this time from the excellent Rogue's Baseball Index.

Late Monday night, Meech from The Fightins put out a call for help, asking if anyone had DVR'd the Phillies game on ESPN. The reason? There was some accidental nudity on the broadcast (obviously NSFW because of the bewbs).

Speaking of the Phils, Roy Halladay is off to an almost identical start to the one that Cliff Lee had for them last year, Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley takes a closer look at Doc.

Dave Allen at FanGraphs looks at how Ben Sheets shifts on the rubber and throws his pitches to right handed and left handed batters from distinctly different spots. There was a Yankee reliever who used this approach in the past couple years but I can't recall who it is now.

Over at the Hardball Times, Pat Andriola did a good job of rounding up some opinions on Bryce Harper's supposed character issues. Dave Cameron, Tom Tango, Rob Neyer and Keith Law all weigh in on Kevin Goldstein's initial take.

This is non-baseball, but the Giants selected pass rushing defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul with the 15th pick of the NFL Draft last night and are apparently not going to be trading Osi Umenyiora. Is Jerry Reese saying this to salvage some trade value for Osi? Is this like the Yankees stocking their farm system with catching prospects or Matt Millen habitually picked wide receivers for the Lions. Obviously somewhere in between, but the Giants now have 5 good defensive ends. It doesn't take a geometer to figure out that's probably a bit excessive.

Hang in there. Only a couple hours left.

Mid-Monday Linkaround

Marty Foster originally called this linkaround out, but lucky for you guys he was overruled.

Just before the Yankees and Tigers got rained out yesterday (washing out yet another of Andy Pettitte's Spring Training tune ups) Robinson Cano hit a ball to deep left-center field. It was already raining pretty steadily and Austin Jackson was in pursuit of the ball heading towards the wall. He couldn't quite make the catch but recovered quickly and hit the relay man. Eduardo Nunez was on first base when the play started and was in between second and third when our old pal Marty Foster raised his hand to signal the catch had been made. Nunez saw this and scurried back to first base, passing Robinson Cano - who was standing on second, very confused - in the process. Nunez would have been out but the umps huddled up, acknowledged Foster's error and determined that Cano would be given first base while Nunez could stay on second. It was a pretty egregious mistake that certainly cost the Yanks a couple of bases and possibly a run but Joe Girardi didn't seem too concerned:

Marty said with the rain he just didn’t see it. I just (said), ‘Whatever, let’s just keep moving.’ It’s a judgment call I believe. I said, ‘You can call them both out as far as I’m concerned.’ Just keep going.

Something tells me we won't be hearing that again from Girardi anytime soon.

A.J. Burnett looked good against the Tigers on Saturday, throwing 6 2/3 IP, and allowing one run on 3 hits. It took Burnett 91 pitches to get it done and it would appear that he's pretty much ready to go. Just one final tuneup before he faces the Sox next Tuesday.

Chad Gaudin signed with the A's, joining Edwar Ramirez, Brett Tomko and Dan Geise as hurlers who have been cast off by the Yanks only to be picked up by Billy Beane in the last year. Is Oakland the new Pittsburgh? But there's already an Oakland in Pittsburgh. (/head spins, explodes)

Chris from i-Yankees suggests that the Yanks should trade Joba Chamberlain. In a way it would be the perfect time to flip him before his value diminishes as a reliever, but I'm not sure the Yanks could get enough in return to make it worth their while.

Coach thinks player will have a great year. Not exactly an objective take, but Kevin Long has high hopes for Brett Gardner this season.

Speaking of Mr. Long, he sustained an injury during the paintball outing on Friday illustrating exactly why it was a good idea to have the players go to the arcade.

Detailed in several different places this weekend was the fact that opinions within the organization differ widely on Joba Chamberlain's future. Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi, Dave Eiland and Billy Eppler have all had their say in the media in the last week or so and their thoughts on the situation certainly don't all align.

Cliff from Bronx Banter tried to use some Bomber Bucks to buy tickets to a few games this year and was less than pleased the results. Much of the backlash over the economics of the New Stadium has subsided but Cliff ends his post with some strong words about what the Yankees have done at the expense of the average fan. I can't say I disagree, but now that I live 2 1/2 hours away from the Stadium, I care significantly less about the ticket situation than I used to.

Jason added three new authors to the IIATMS brigade and only one of them is a Yankee fan. When you are affiliated with ESPN, you can make those kind of power moves. I'm looking forward to some interesting pieces from Larry, The Common Man and tHeMARksMiTh.

Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com offers up 10 Yankee prospects to keep an eye on this year. The once-highly-regarded Alan Horne is not one of them because he's going to need surgery to repair his torn rotator cuff.

For some reason, TMZ had the scoop that the Yankees would be receiving their rings during their home opener on April 13th.

Greg Fertel put together an excellent prospect profile on Zach McAllister over at Pending Pinstripes. Greg doesn't think we'll see ZMac in the Bronx until the rosters expand, but he's one of the few legitimate starting pitching prospects in the higher ranks of the Yanks' system.

Nick Carfado of Boston.com ranked all 30 of baseball's managers. The list is based more on results than tactical prowess to my eye so don't get too offended when you see Terry Francona five spots higher than Joe Girardi.

Steve Slowinski from DRays Bay expresses some frustration about the fact that Spring Training is dragging on but finds some encouragement before the post is over. Hang in there folks, we are inside of a week now.

And finally, for those Derek Trucks fans out there, the members of his new project with his wife Susan Tedeschi have been announced. There are some familiar faces from the dTb and ABB and they'll be making their debut at the Savannah Music Festival this Thursday.

Recycling A Thirty-Six Year Old Bad Idea

Except this one somehow worked out...

Something referred to as "Brett Tomko" allegedly threw a complete game, 5 hit shutout last night. Against the Rangers. In Texas, knocking the Rangers 4.5 behind the Red Sox in the Wild Card. Multiple sources have confirmed this outlandish tale, however I remain skeptical and will be reviewing the game via MLB.tv shortly for anything suspicious.

Since picked up by the A's, The Artist has gone 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA in 6 starts with only one poor outing, striking out 22 while walking 6. I guess he had a right to be all bitchy about not being "given a fair shot".

It was his 100th career win, which might be somewhat impressive if he didn't have 102 losses.

Just to review, Tomko gave up 12 earned runs in 20.2 innings (5.23 ERA) with the Yankees, mostly in relief, which is theoretically easier than starting and had a tiny BABIP of .230. But since moving to Oakland and pitching solely in the rotation, 36 year old Brett Tomko, owner of a 92 career ERA+ has also given up 12 runs, but in 36.2 IP for an ERA two and a quarter runs lower. He's won 4 games for a team that has gone 13-13 over that time. Damn you Billy Beane!

If I was John Sterling, I'd say "I'll tell you what, that's why you just can't predict baseball!!11!" but instead I'll just pose the rhetorical question, "What the fuck?".

Off Night Links: Monday, Monday

Here we are on another off night, the first in 17 days. There will be another 16 games before another break for the Yanks and at least as far as the starting rotation is concerned, this one is a welcome relief.

While Joba Chamberlain was originally supposed to start tomorrow night against Roy Halladay, he will now be pushed back to Thursday for the first game against the Red Sox and oppose John Smoltz. This means Andy Pettitte and Sergio Mitre will pitch against the Blue Jays and Mitre will be the only starter the Sox don't get to see, which is obviously the best case scenario. The extra two days will also help to keep Chamberlain's innings total down, a factor that will make for some tough decisions as the season wears on.

Meanwhile, here are a batch of links to keep you busy on this relatively quiet night in the MLB. See you tomorrow morning. Enjoy.

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Oh, you thought the price for Roy Halladay was high? Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times says that the Red Sox offered the Mariners 5 of the following seven players for Felix Hernandez and they turned the offer down: RHPs Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard, Justin Masterson & Michael Bowden, LHPs Nick Hagadone & Felix Doubront, OF Josh Reddick or SS Yamaico Navarro. As Matt said earlier over GChat, "That means the Yankees would have had to exhume Ruth and Mantle for King Felix". Click through to see the alternate 3 team deal that almost happened including the Padres and Adrian Gonzalez.

This guy? Steroids? GTFO! The man to the left, son of Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy, was one of two former security guards fired by the Red Sox for connections with steroids. Remy and Alex Cyr (a part time assistant of Manny Ramirez) had connections with a paid employee of David Ortiz and openly discussed steroid use with him. Once again, how about a round of applause for George Mitchell, ladies and gentlemen? Boston had it's own Kirk Radomski and Brain McNamee right under their noses and mysteriously had no idea. But then again, who would have ever thought the man pictured in a fucking Gold's Gym man-tank, looking like a body builder might have been taking steroids?

Well, bully for Youk. It appears that the our anti-namesake had himself quite the weekend down in Baltimore and has emerged from a two month long slump that saw his OPS drop as low as .952, but is now back over 1.000.

Here is a raffle for a good cause. The prize is 10 seats atop the Green Monstah for the August 20th game between the Yanks and Sawx. It benefits the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation, started in honor of a former BC Hockey player and NHL Assistant who was killed aboard Flight 175 on 9/11. Tickets are $2 and there is a minimum purchase of 5. If you win, don't forget who told you about it.

This is a pretty sad sight. (h/t NSI, who alternatively called today "Moldy Monday")

Will Leitch makes the case for Billy Beane as the next GM of the Mets over at New York Magazine. My favorite quote:

If every general manager in baseball thought like Minaya, Beane would still be in top form; as it is, he had to forage for newer, more elusive inefficiencies.

John Heyman also weighs in with his thoughts on GM candidates from around the league.

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In New York Football Giants news, it appears that Antionio Pierce will not be indicted by the Grand Jury for his involvement in the Plaxico Burress fiasco. Perhaps this fucking mess will finally start to go away?

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If you've got anything else, leave it in the comments.