Remy Returns To Red Sox Booth

As the Yanks head into Boston for a big weekend series, here's a little follow-up on an item we posted last week. With the Yanks on the west coast with 10 PM start times for the past week, I've been keeping tabs on the Red Sox games during the earlier evening hours. During last night's telecast they announced that Jerry Remy will return to the NESN booth for this weekend's series.

Remy's return will be on a part-time basis, so with Fox and ESPN grabbing the Saturday and Sunday games respectively, Remy will have a good series to ease himself back into things. While I'm glad he's back, I hope the Yankees make his return a game to forget.

In unrelated announcer news, Michael Kay's vacation during the west coast trip, combined with the two off days, and the two national telecasts this weekend, mean that he'll call just one Yankee game in a twelve day stretch. I'm not going to complain about that at all. I don't think my liver (or my ears) can take much more than that.

Remembering The Mick and Scooter

August is a tough month. As a kid, August always represented the summer dying - vacation dwindling down, school supplies creeping into stores, the grass burning from green to brown, maybe even the first leaves falling from the trees.

As a fan of both baseball and music, August seems to be a tough month as well. We talked about the anniversaries of the deaths of Thurman Munson and Jerry Garcia earlier this month. Today came the news that guitar legend Les Paul passed away. Later this month the anniversaries of Allen Woody and Stevie Ray Vaughan's deaths will pass as well.

Today marks the 14th anniversary of Mickey Mantle's death. Maybe it was because he had high profile celebrities like Billy Crystal and Bob Costas who worshipped the ground he walked on and romanticized every bit of his legend, but Mantle's death struck me as being just as much as the end of a cultural phenomenon as it was the passing of a baseball legend.

For a generation of American males, Mickey Mantle was an icon. I suppose his death in 1995, as that generation moved into middle age, was not only the passing of their boyhood idol, but also the severing of one of the last remaining connections to their youth. I guess each generation of fans faces this at some stage, but that's not something I even want to consider right now.

Like many of that generation, my father's favorite player from his childhood years was Mantle. The Mick was winding down his career as my father began following the game, but he still had some of his former magic. A yellowed cover of The Daily News from when Mantle hit his 500th homerun still hangs in my parents' basement.

I grew up down the street from a golf course that used to host celebrity tournaments. When I was an infant, Mantle was playing in a tournament there. Mom convinced Dad to take a ride up the hill, and sure enough, there was The Mick. Awestruck, my father was rendered speechless for the entirety of the encounter. My mother was unimpressed enough to get a picture.
Though seperated for a number of years, Mickey and his wife Merlyn never divorced, and she was at his side at the time of his passing. Eerily, she passed away Monday.

Today is also the second anniversary of Phil Rizzuto's passing. Phil Rizzuto Day was the first Major League game I ever attended. It didn't dawn on me until today that Rizzuto and Mantle died on the same date. Oddly, Mantle's death in some way contributed to Rizzuto finally leaving the broadcast booth. WPIX decided that Bobby Murcer, another close friend of Mantle's, would represent the network at Mantle's funeral, forcing the Scooter to stay in Boston to call the Yanks game. The decision upset Rizzuto greatly, causing him to leave the booth mid-game, and announce his retirement shortly thereafter. He was persuaded to return for one final season in 1996. After I mentioned Jerry Remy's return to the Sox booth last night, I guess it's in some way appropriate that today we also remember a beloved Yankee announcer.

Now For Something Different

After yesterday's fracas, let's do something a little bit different today and say something remotely nice about the Red Sox - who I know I said I wouldn't address until next week's series - but this warrants mentioning.

As my friend Art and I returned from the game yesterday, we stopped at a local bar to grab some dinner. The Sox game was on, and I was very happy to see that longtime Red Sox announcer Jerry Remy was in the broadcast booth, visiting for an inning.

Remy has missed the majority of this season recovering from lung cancer. While his absence has allowed for the Dennis Eckersley experience, the Sox booth won't be right until Remy returns - even if he is the President of Red Sox Nation.

The relationship that broadcasters - particularly in baseball - can forge with a fanbase is one of the most unique things in sports. While someone of us are stuck with windbags, self-serving blow hards, or nails-on-a-chalkboard announcers, Sox fans are lucky in that they have an announcer who enjoys calling games for them as much as they enjoy listening to him.

Get well soon Remy.

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.

Riches To Rags

Yesterday we looked back at Andy Hawkins' no-hitter that wasn't. As promised, today we'll look back on a more pleasant no-no. Saturday marks the twentysixth anniversary of Dave Righetti's Indepence Day no-hitter against the Red Sox. Since we'll all be off enjoying the holiday weekend on the actual anniversary, we'll revisit the game today.

Righetti was acquired in November of 1978 as part of a ten player trade that saw the Yankees send their former closer, Sparky Lyle, to the Texas Rangers. Rags made his Major League debut as a September call-up in 1979, spent all of 1980 back in AAA, then returned in 1981 to capture the Rookie of the Year award, going 8-4 with a 1.07 WHIP and leading the league in ERA, ERA+, H/9, HR/9, and K/9. In 1982 he fell back to earth a bit, serving a brief stint in the minors and going 11-10 with an ERA just better than league average (105 ERA+). He once again led the AL in K/9, but also led the league in BB.

The July 4, 1983 game fell on a Monday, a blistering 94 degree day, the final day of play before the All-Star break. Righetti would later admit he was steamed at not being selected, and he had a good candidacy, entering his start that day at 9-3 with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP while holding opponents to a .248/.294/.340 batting line.

Righetti fanned Jerry Remy and Wade Boggs to begin the game, then promptly lost the perfecto by walking Jim Rice. He completed the first by whiffing Tony Armas. Rags was perfect in the second, third, and fourth, striking out two in both the second and third. He broke his string of eleven straight batters retired by issuing a one out walk to Reid Nichols in the fifth, but then promptly picked him off attempting to steal.

The Yankees supplied Righetti with some offense in the bottom of the fifth, as an Andre Robertson single scored Steve Kemp for the game's first run. Rags worked a perfect sixth, walked Rice for a second time with one out in the seventh, the erased him on a 6-4-3 double play.

After a 1-2-3 eighth, Righetti walked light-hitting catcher Jeff Newman to lead off the ninth. Newman was replaced by Glenn Hoffman on a fielder's choice, narrowly avoiding a double play. A Remy groundout moved Hoffman to second. With just one out to go, Wade Boggs stepped to the plate. Boggs entered play that day hitting .361, the same mark as his end of season average, which would win the Major League batting crown by a whopping twentytwo points. Righetti caught him looking in the first, then coaxed flyouts to center in the fourth and seventh. After peppering Boggs with fastballs to the run the count to 2-2, Rags came back with a slider. Fooled, Boggs flailed feebly at it, giving Righetti his ninth K and the first Yankee no-hitter since Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

Righetti finished 1983 at 14-8 with 1.20 WHIP and 3.44 ERA (112 ERA+). Not yet 25 at season's end, Righetti was 33-23 with 117 ERA+ in his young career, projecting as a solid number two starter if not a future ace. But incumbent Yankee closer Goose Gossage departed the team after that 1983 season, and 1984 saw Righetti as the new closer. He would never start another game for the Yankees.

He spent the next seven seasons at the back of the Yankee bullpen, never saving less than 25 games in a season, including a then Major League record 46 in 1986. While Righetti was a good closer, he was never quite great. Because of things like small sample sizes and inherited runners, I prefer to use Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) to evaluate relievers. In three of his first four years as Yankee closer ('84, '85, '87), Righetti was bettered or equaled FIP by other Yankee relievers (Jay Howell, Brian Fisher, and Tim Stoddard respectively).

Meanwhile, the Yankee teams of those years were perpetual bridesmaids and notoriously short on starting pitching. In 1985, the Yankees finished in second place, just two games behind the Blue Jays. Despite posting an ERA better than league average, Yankee starters' FIP was far worse than league average. Righetti on the other hand was 1.25 runs better than the league in FIP. His numbers may have suffered somewhat from the additional exposure of pitching in the rotation, but he assuredly would have performed better than starters like Ed Whitson. We'll never know if his presence in the rotation could have made up those two games.

In 1988, the Yankees finished 3.5 games out of first. Once again, Yankee starters were worse than the league average while Righetti out performed the league by two thirds of a run. Again, there's no telling if Righetti in the rotation would have been enough to make up the 3.5 games and four teams between the Yankees and the division crown, but he certainly would have been a better option than Rick Rhoden, Rich Dotson, or 45 year-old Tommy John.

This weekend you're sure to hear about Righetti's no-hitter. You're also likely to hear the old Joba-to-the-bullpen argument or the newer and now more-popular Hughes to the eighth inning argument. When you do, think back to what it may have cost the Yankees the last time they relegated a potential front end starter to the back end of the pen.