Game 119: Tears Of Rage

The Yankees' West Coast road trip continues tonight, with the first of three 10PM starts. Three of the games in the last series in Seattle had late starts as well, which kind of sucks for us back here on the East Coast, but apparently not for the team, as those were the three games the Yankees won against the Mariners.

After dropping Sunday's matinee with Joba Chamberlain on the hill, the Yanks look to reload with A.J. Burnett taking the ball this evening. Burnett's last start against the Blue Jays, which Matt and I witnessed from the upper deck, was technically a quality start, but only by the slimmest of margins. He went six innings and allowed three runs, but was lucky to do so as the Jays tallied up 10 hits and two walks while Burnett was charged with three (albeit questionable) wild pitches. He ultimately coughed up the lead in his last inning and received a no-decision.

Opposing the Yankees will be an artist with a vendetta. When the Yankees DFA'd Brett Tomko earlier this year, he voiced his displeasure with not being given enough opportunities to succeed with the Big League club:

I don't think I got a fair shot. I pitched great in spring training and didn't make the team. I pitched great in the minors, got called up and didn't get much of a chance. I understand other guys are pitching great. But it could have been different. I can't see the point in coming back.

This is amusing because Tomko had a 5.23 ERA in 20 2/3 MLB innings this year, tallied a K/BB ratio of less than 2:1 and gave up 5 HRs. Sure, his numbers in 14 innings at AAA were very good, but that should be expected from a 36 year old journeyman who has years if not a decade of experience on his competition at that level. The A's picked him up off the scrapheap for whatever reason and are trotting him out tonight even after his three appearances in Sacramento for them consisted of 5 2/3 IP, 9 hits and 5 earned runs.

The Yankees have a chance to prove Tomko is not deserving of a starting pitching gig in the Major Leagues when they face him tonight. Hopefully they give him something to really cry about.

We pointed you the way to go,
And scratched your name in sand,
Though you just thought it was nothing more,
Than a place for you to stand.

I want you to know that while we watched,
You discovered no one would be true,
And I myself was among,
The ones who thought,
It was just a childish thing to do.

Only Cody Ransom...

For those who don't have Google Reader (you should really set one up), this is what individual posts look like, regardless of what blog they come from. You can subscribe to all your favorite blogs, Google Alerts, newspaper topics (i.e. Star-Ledger Yankees) and so forth. It keeps them all in one place and lets you know how many unread items you have, keeps stats on your reading habits and allows you to save posts by starring them. It's probably not as many as some people, but it lets me read over 5,000 posts a month, a number which is probably higher than most everyone who doesn't have an RSS reader of some sort. It will change the way you read things on the internet forever, in a good way, especially since you can use it with an iPhone.

The program also has this function that pretty much no one uses by which you can indicate if you "liked" a post. This one happens to be from MLB Trade Rumors, a feed which has over 3,000 subscribers (we have 89 at last count, woot!) and it was the first post on that feed I can remember seeing that anyone has "liked".

I don't really know what it is about Cody Ransom that made him a Twitter cult legend and a Yankee blog favorite (or anti-favorite?). At the age of 33, he's obviously by no means a prospect and Maybe it was the four homers he hit in 43 at bats last year. More likely it was his ridiculous YouTube jumping video. Either way, Cody Ransom is one of those fringe players that hardcore fans find interesting for whatever reason but the casual observer might not recognize by number.

Something tells me this isn't the last we see of the utility man. If the Mets don't claim him off waivers, he'll be back around soon enough.