Game 31: Jackson

Hey Fans! Guess which storyline is going to be beaten into your head by a certain large craniumed play-by-play man over the next four games. Did you know that Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson is currently on the DL? Did you know that Yankees number two hitter Nick Johnson is perpetually injured and will be out for several weeks? Of course you did.

But as the Yankees begin a four game series in Detroit, did you know that Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson is a former Yankee prospect and was the centerpiece of the trade that brought Granderson to New York? And did you further know that Tigers left fielder Johnny Damon was the Yankees number two hitter last year, and that he so desperately wanted to return to New York for a handsome salary?

And did you know that while Granderson and Johnson, both of whom slumped in their limited playing time thus far, languish on the DL, Jackson is hitting .371/.420/.508 and Damon is hitting .294/.409/.431? Well if you didn't know by now, you will by the time this series is over, because it's the single easiest storyline around which to frame this series.

But there's another storyline that will come into play, at least over the first two games, and it's far more important to the Yankees right now. Mother Nature and Father Time have conspired to leave the Yankee pitching staff in a bit of bind. Saturday's rain delay ended CC Sabathia's outing after just four and two thirds. Alfredo Aceves' sitff back and Joe Girardi's match ups forced the Yankees to run through five relievers to finish that contest. Elder statesman Andy Pettitte's stiff elbow leaves the pitching staff a man short. Romulo Sanchez did yeoman's work in his 3.2 IP of shutout relief last night, saving the rest of the pen, and thanks to today's roster move, the Yankees aren't short a long man tonight. But with Sergio Mitre spot starting tonight and limited to about 75 pitches, and Javier Vazquez, who has not yet completed the sixth inning this year, starting tomorrow, the Yankee bullpen may be further taxed over the next two games.

But hey, Austin Jackson has a magical .511 BABIP (despite a 28.0% K rate) and Johnny Damon, according to his agent at least, has magical DNA. So it's much easier to ignore more pressing issues and just declare Brian Cashman's off-season moves a bust a mere five weeks into the season. Because if 2009 taught us anything, it's that the way things are on May 10th, is exactly how they will be at season's end.

This will be Sergio Mitre's first start of 2010 and his first career appearance against the Tigers. Mitre has pitched well enough in limited relief/mop-up duty this year. In nine starts in 2009, he posted a 7.16 ERA and 1.75 WHIP over 44 IP. He'll was slated to oppose his former Florida Marlins teammate, Dontrelle Willis, but Willis is a late scratch with 102 degree fever. If the Tigers were the Royals, Willis would be pitching.

In Willis' stead, long reliever Brad Thomas will get the start. Alright, spot starts all around! Thomas is an Australian southpaw who, despite making his Major League debut just short of nine years ago, has logged only 40.1 IP in his career. Before surfacing with Detroit this season he hadn't pitched in the Majors since a three game cup of coffee with the Twins in 2004. In fact, he's only pitched one season in the states since then, spending 34 games at Seattle's AAA affiliate in 2007. His seven appearances this year have already set a new career high. This will mark the second time this year Thomas makes an emergency spot start for Willis. The results were not pretty the first time.

After a long off-season of negotiating, Johnny got his cash and Austin Jackson is playing hotter than a pepper sprout. As former Yankee products, I wish them both the best of luck over the course of the season, except of course when they're playing the Yankees. Depleted or not, Yankee pitching will spend the next four games looking to put their fire out.

We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout
We've been talking 'bout Jackson, ever since the fire went out
I'm going to Jackson, I'm gonna mess around
Yeah I'm going to Jackson, look out Jackson town

[Song Notes: Little known fact - Johnny Cash absolutely did not want to wear the shirt he's sporting in this performance. But, the previous night he had gone to dinner with some friends, and his buddy's new girlfriend, a bit of a low-talker, muttered something unintelligible. Trying to be polite, the Man in Black just nodded in agreement. Little did he know he'd agreed to wear a puffy shirt on national TV]

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Jorge Posada is behind the dish for the first time in a week. With a lefty on the mound, Marcus Thames is in the lineup, though after his misadventures in left field last night, he's mercifully the DH.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Marcus Thames DH
Brett Gardner CF
Randy Winn LF

Tigers:

Austin Jackson CF
Johnny Damon DH
Magglio Ordonez RF
Miguel Cabrera 1B
Brennan Boesch LF
Brandon Inge 3B
Scott Sizemore 2B
Gerald Laird C
Adam Everett SS

World Series Game 3: Ghost Riders In The Sky

Although both teams took the train to Philly yesterday, the World Series officially shifts to the City of Brotherly Love tonight. After dropping the Game 1 to Cliff Lee, the Yankees are lucky to be tied at this point and will need to take at least one of the games at Citizen's Bank Park to bring the Series back to the Bronx. Take all three and they won't need their last two home games.

With a struggling Cole Hamels on the mound, the Yankees are in good position to take the game tonight. After throwing 227 innings to a 3.09 ERA and winning both the NCLS and World Series MVPs last year, Hamels has returned to Earth in 2009. Perhaps the fact that, including the postseason, the pitched 262 innings - almost 80 more than in 2008 - has taken a bit of a toll on Hamels' arm.

So far this October, Hamels has made three starts, given up 11 earned runs and failed to make it out of the 6th inning in any of them. He's only walked two batters but has allowed 20 hits - six of which were home runs - in 14 2/3 innings. The fact that 6 of the 32 flyballs he's allowed have left the yard is a bit fluky but there isn't a whole of of time for a regression to the mean. And with the game time weather in Philly projected to be in the high sixties with high winds, the balls should be flying off the bats a bit farther than they were in Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees turn to Andy Pettitte tonight in hopes that he can tune out the raucous Philadelphia phaithful and keep the explosive Phillies offense at bay. In each his three starts this postseason, Pettitte has pitched 6 1/3 innings. Joe Girardi has been quick with the hook as the games have worn on but Andy has given up only 4 ER in those 19 innings (2.37 ERA). Dominant isn't a word typically ascribed to Pettitte but in two of those starts, he's allowed one run and walked away with the win. He will of course have the added benefit of having a pitcher in the opposing line up tonight.

Citizen's Bank Park has the reputation of being a bandbox, but the Phillies actually hit more home runs on the road this year (116) then at home (108). Although the middle of their line up is heavy with lefties Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez, the Phillies hit righties and lefties with equal

With Cliff Lee waiting in Game 5, it's important that the Yankees win tonight. Their offense has been waiting to explode and Hamels has not been pitching well. He could easily come up with a big start as he did in the World Series twice last year, but it would be a missed opportunity for the Yanks should they stuggle at the plate again in Game 3.

We got our Halloween partying out of the way last night, so tonight I will be dressing up as a baseball fan and sitting in front of the TV. This song choice is about as festive as we're gonna get around here.

Go Yanks.

Their faces gaunt, their eyes were blurred, their shirts all soaked with sweat,
He's riding hard to catch that herd, but he ain't caught 'em yet,
'Cause they've got to ride forever on that range up in the sky,
On horses snorting fire, as they ride on hear their cry.

As the riders loped on by him he heard one call his name,
If you want to save your soul from Hell a-riding on our range,
Then cowboy change your ways today or with us you will ride,
Trying to catch the Devil's herd, across these endless skies.

Game 38: Glen Carl Perkins' Cadillac

The Yankees try to extend their season-high win streak to six tonight and go for the four game sweep against the Twins. It'll be an all southpaw match-up as Andy Pettitte goes to the bump for the Yankees and opposes Glen Perkins of the Twins.

I'll be at the game tonight. The Yanks stand at 1-3 this year in non-exhibition games with me in the house. So if the streak ends tonight you know who to blame. As Jay said yesterday, I'll just take a win - no walk-offs necessary.

Perkins has given up at least 4 ER in each of his last four starts. He went 12-4 in 26 starts last year despite having an ERA+ of 92 and a WHIP of nearly 1.50. Born and bred in St. Paul, he attended the University of Minnesota and now he plays for his hometown team. That's gotta be pretty cool, but not as cool as Carl Perkins.

So, apropos of nothing but a surname, here's the Drive-By Truckers with "Carl Perkins' Cadillac", a song about the early days of Sun Records, its mastermind Sam Phillips, his Million Dollar Quartet, and how if it hadn't been for an ill-fated car accident, it might be Carl Perkins' face on postage stamps and tacky velvet artwork.

Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad

[Ed. Note: I flipped the format here a little bit so you can listen to the song and read the post at the same time.]

A few of you actually inquired as to how I made it back to New York yesterday, so just to tie up the loose ends and acknowledge those who helped me overcome my absent-minded idiocy, here is a picture recap/synopsis of how it went down.

I was packed up and ready to leave Boston Bren's place at about 9:00am when I was unable to locate my keys. I searched for about forty five minutes myself, canvassing every obvious place, emptying my bag and backpack and cursing under my breath non-stop. The car was unlocked, so I was able to check and see if they were in there, or if there was a spare key kicking around. No dice. I woke Brendan up, he woke his roommates up, and after another hour or so of intense searching, we were at quite the impasse.

Believe it or not, Googling "Hotwire 1999 Mercury Sable" doesn't really turn up anything useful. It was Sunday, so the service department at Clark & White wasn't open. I called AAA, but the girl literally laughed at me when I asked if there was anything they could do. Thanks.

The only two sets of spare keys were at my mom's house upstate. My sister was headed down to the city because she was flying from JFK to Turks & Caicos the next morning. As a result, the wheels started turning, and by saving the train fare from Albany to NYC, there was actually a mild incentive for them to meet me halfway down the Mass Pike. I have family in the Boston area, and my cousin Brendan and his girlfriend were cool enough to drive me the other half.

To add insult to injury there was a pretty serious storm moving through covering the Berkshires in snow and Boston in rain.

We met in Wilbraham, which happens to be the home to the headquarters of Friendly's. There is one right off the exit and we chose that as a rendezvous point. Since this was apparently a flagship location of sorts, they had some interesting wall hangings.

There were a bunch of pictures of their HQ and the top one says "Public Safety Complex".

What really stole the show, however, were the pictures with items that you can order at a Friendly's inserted into them.

It is obscured by the lighting, but that appears to be a coffee flavored ice cream sundae ambling down a path towards the beach. There were others including a similar one with the sundae next to a lighthouse and one with a Ruben peeking around the corner of a barn. Dazzling. If they weren't gigantic and glued to the wall I would have tried to take one.

From there we went back to Brendan's house, spare keys in hand, and picked up the car. We got on the road at about 4 and headed back to NYC. There was a healthy wintry mix until about New Haven but it didn't really slow the process down too much.

So... we made it back to the city at about 8:00PM, and in a somewhat ironic twist of "too little, too late" I got a parking spot right on my street, about 50 feet from my building.

The point of this wasn't to bore you with the details of my shitty day, but rather to point out that I'm pretty lucky to have six different people who didn't mind ruining their day to bail me out. Thanks guys, I owe you one.