Wednesday Linktacular

During his recap of last night's game, Hank Waddles of Bronx Banter really did justice to Colin Curtis' first Major League hit, something that we only mentioned in passing because of its limited significance to the game. Money quote:

There are a lot of reasons why I love baseball, but moments like these are high on the list. Basketball players don’t care much about their first basket, and I’m guessing that even quarterbacks forget their first touchdowns, but there seems to be something magical about a player’s first hit. Every once in a while, like Tuesday night in Arizona, we get to share in that moment.

Chad Jennings has more, including some audio from Curtis.

We also neglected to mention Joba Chamberlain's stellar inning last night but Mike from River Ave. Blues picks up that slack. We've seen these standout, stand-alone innings from Joba a few times this year and the hopeful reactions to them but remember that he was pitching with a seven run lead, in unusually warm weather against a team that's prone to striking out. A good inning is a good inning, but Joba has to rip off a bunch of them in a row before we have a legitimate reason to get excited.

Katie Sharp at ESPN's "TMI" Blog (still hate that name) looks a little deeper into Robinson Cano's improvements this year (subs. req'd), confirming what you probably have noticed about his approach at the plate:

One key change for Cano is that he’s finally learned to be patient and swing at more hittable pitches. Last year, he swung at 54% of all pitches and chased 35% of pitches out the zone with runners in scoring position – both of which were well above the major league averages of 46% and 24%, respectively. This year, he’s lowered his overall swing rate to 47.1% and his chase percentage has fallen to 29.1%.

Pending Pinstripes asks whether or not the Yanks should DFA Chan Ho Park. Judging by Joe Girardi's comments, it looks like the Yanks are going to stick with him for the time being. I certainly don't feel comfortable when he enters the game in a high leverage situations but his ability to throw multiple innings means he can still be useful on the roster.

The Yankees are playing better against bad teams than good ones? You've gotta be shitting me!

I don't have anything to link to just yet, but how about that USA soccer victory?!!

A Mickey Mouse sculpture adorned with Red Sox logos prepared for the All-Star Game was vandalized out in LA. Some may assume it was a group of Yankee fans who did it, but my money is on the Crips. Those folks don't take to kindly to people who wear red and display body language which seems to pose the question "What, bitch?"

The Sports Hernia inarguably has the greatest headlines.

Dave Cameron of FanGraphs argues that the only way to shorten the length of the games is to enlarge the strikezone. That or trim down the commercial breaks, but we all know that's not going to happen.

Over at U.S.S. Mariner, Cameron checks on with Lou Pinella's record seven years after he was traded to Tampa Bay along with Antonio Perez for Randy Winn, and hits on what I think is a fundamental truth in baseball:

The fact of the matter is that Piniella, like pretty much every other manager on earth, wins with teams that have talent and loses with teams that don’t. He doesn’t get more out of his players than anyone else. He doesn’t inspire his men to greatness. He doesn’t make brilliant tactical decisions or teach bad players how to become good ones. Right now, in fact, he’s making a debacle of the Cubs catching situation by benching Geovany Soto (who is really good) in favor of Koyie Hill (who is really bad).

Here's a cool interview with the founder of Baseball-Reference, Sean Foreman. It's on the Bleacher Report, but don't worry, it's not stolen from somewhere else or ridden with grammatical errors.

A site called Snippets used Google Maps to look at every baseball field in the MLB. They came up with some interesting facts that you may or may not be aware of and created some sweet graphics. It's a bit like the one Craig Robinson did for his site (Flip Flop Fly Ball) but with way more words.

Speaking of Mr. Robinson, the fine gentlemen of Pitchers & Poets did an excellent podcast with him a while back that I've been meaning to link to. For those familiar with Craig's work, you'll be unsurprised to find that he's an illustrator by trade. The interview runs about a half hour and I assure that it will hold your attention for that whole time.

Mark Teixeira's mom told the world that he started referring to himself as "Kurt Teixeira" after the lead singer of Nirvana killed himself back in 1994. Yeah, that's kind of embarrassing, but on the bright side, maybe he can pick a song other than Twisted Sister now that the cat's out of the bag.

I don't mean to end on a sad note, but death seems to churn up some decidedly poignant writing. First, J.C. Bradbury wrote about what will likely be the last Father's Day he spent with his dad. And secondly, during Monday night's blowout, from over the loudspeakers in Chase Field, Marc Carig was reminded of his sister, six years after the unthinkable happened. Both of those will choke you up a bit, but are well worth reading.

Welcome To The Machine, Cito Culver

With the last pick in the first round this year, just like they said they would, the Yankees went with a high school position player. However, it wasn't any of the multitude of prospects that they had been connected to via mock drafts and countless other forms of internet speculation.

Cito Culver is a switch-hitting high school shortstop out of Irondequoit, New York, which is close to Rochester. On the broadcast last night, they said that he was ranked 168th in Baseball America's Top 200 (which I can't verify since I don't have a subscription) and most of the mock drafts had him being drafted somewhere between the fourth and six round. For a frame of reference, FanGraphs was dropping in descriptions of players to this post after the picks were made, and they had nothing prepared for Culver.

Little CC had committed to play for the University of Maryland but after getting drafted in the first round by the Yankees, you can pretty much throw that out the window. If the Yankees make that kind of reach in the first round, they are going to sign him.

Naturally, Mike from River Ave. Blues has a more complete profile of Culver, but the gist of it is that he's an excellent athlete with a great throwing arm but not a great baseball player just yet. Essentially, he's got the tools that you can't teach and the Yankees are hoping that they can mold him into a solid all-around player. There are also concerns about a troubled family life (his father is in prison), but we learned our lesson with Slade Heathcott last year, and are not going to touch that at all.

Clearly, the Yankees know way more than we do about this kid. All I've seen are second and third hand scouting reports and a very short video clip of him swinging away in batting practice and declining to offer at two pitches in a live game. But from a purely logical perspective, I really hope that the Yankees were sure that he'd get snatched up before they got a chance to pick again at #82, otherwise this doesn't make much sense.

There were two other shortstops taken just behind Culver in the supplemental round - Taylor Lindsey and Matthew Lipka - but the former might have been a bit of a reach as well.

As fans we didn't get the tantalizing talent that we were hoping for and on a certain level that's disappointing. No high end arm that scouts were projecting towards the front of the rotation and no high school slugger with preposterous power potential. Instead the Yanks did what many small market teams do, which was take a player from their own state who was clearly higher on their list than anyone else's.

Regardless, Culver is a shortstop and that means he's going to have some big shoes to fill if and when he makes it to the big leagues.

Game 53: Mean Old World

When an MRI determined that Jorge Posada had a hairline fracture back on May 19th, the Yankees' catcher wasn't buying the three to four week timetable offered by the Yankees' doctors.

"It's not going to take that long," said Posada, who wore a protective walking boot on his right foot. "They can say whatever they're going to say. I'll be here before that."

I personally rolled my eyes at this a bit, but as it turns out, Jorge was right. Here we are two weeks later and makes his triumphant return to the lineup. We don't yet know who he is replacing on the roster because the Yanks are waiting until after batting practice to make a move. [Update: It's Miranda]

At the present time, Jorge is only fit to DH since getting down in the catcher's crouch could potentially aggravate the stress fracture that put him on the DL in the first place. However, as our buddy Joe Pawlikowski pointed out over at FanGraphs the other day, Jorge is one of the few catchers in the game who is fit to occupy the role of designated hitter. He's appeared in fewer than half of the Yankees' games this year but has the same OPS+ (177) as Robinson Cano does in those 101 plate appearances.

When the Yankees signed Posada to that four year, $52M contract in November of 2007, they surely knew that he was only going to play a limited amount of games behind the plate. However, he's played sparingly in general, not just behind the dish. Jorge missed almost one-third of the 2008 season, played in just 111 games last year and has already missed a good portion of this season with three different injuries, all of which may have stemmed from the same single pitch.

Jeremy Guthrie hit Posada in the knee on April 28th, the lingering effects of which may have caused the calf strain which sidelined him for five days, which may or may not have contributed to this recent stress fracture. When you play through injuries, there could be a tendency to favor that side and put more pressure in places that the body isn't quite used to. Perhaps those hours behind the plate, putting too much weight on one side or the other could have weakened his foot to the point where the impact of a foul ball set off the fracture.

Jorge isn't an old guy in the grand scheme of things, but he certainly is up there when it comes to being a baseball player. He's downright ancient for a catcher.

As we all get older, we notice that we don't recover from the little injuries like we used to. A small tweak from a pick-up basketball game might linger for a couple of days. A run that you used to knock out without a problem now leaves you with aches and pains in places you aren't accustomed to. Hell, sometimes you might just sleep wrong and end up with a stiff back. Luckily for us, we can take a fews days off and be okay. Baseball players often try to work through minor issues and end up making things worse.

It was no secret that the Yankees were a little long in the tooth coming into this season, but I think it would be surprising to even a pessimistic observer just how many nagging injuries they've suffered. However, the world is a cruel place and they aren't getting any younger. It's just good to have Jorge back and put another solid stick in the lineup. It's not quite having Nick Johnson at DH and Posada behind the plate, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.

This is a mean old world, try and live it by yourself.
Can't get the one you love, have to use somebody else.

[Song Notes: I really wanted to use the version of this song that Eric Clapton did with Duane Allman but the embedding on YouTube is disabled by request. This one from the movie Hail Hail Rock & Roll featuring Chuck Berry, Clapton, Keith Richards, Johnnie Johnson, Chuck Leavell and Steve Jordan is plenty good, however. The original version was recorded by Little Walter in 1953.]

-Lineups-

Yankees: As we may have mentioned, Posada is back and DHing. He'll be batting sixth. Mark Teixeira is in the line up after being removed from yesterday's game with a bruised foot.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

Phil Hughes P

Orioles:

Corey Patterson, LF
Miguel Tejada 3B
Nick Markakis RF
Ty Wigginton 1B
Luke Scott DH
Matt Wieters C
Adam Jones CF
Scott Moore 2B
Caesar Izturis SS

About Last Night

Before I pass along a few thoughts from last night's game, let me throw one more thought out about the much-discussed bullpen. Rebecca Glass at Purist Bleeds Pinstripes has a nice post about an impassioned answer delivered by Joe Girardi during last night's post game media session. Girardi bristled at a question suggesting Javier Vazquez was skipped against the Red Sox due to past performance, and emphatically explained that Javy was needed there due to the state of the bullpen last night.

First off, kudos to Girardi for defending Vazquez and painting him in a positive light. Regular readers here know where Jay and I stand on Vazquez, so I'm glad to see that Girardi did all he could to squash the avoiding-the-Red-Sox storyline.

That said, as I explained yesterday, I still have some objections to thought process behind skipping Vazquez. Yes, the bullpen certainly did need a longman last night, with Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson unavailable. But that longman did not need to be Javier Vazquez. If the ineffective Boone Logan, instead of Ivan Nova were optioned out to make room for Chan Ho Park, Nova could have been last night's longman. In fact, if they made that move Sunday, when Park was ready to return, CHP might have pitched Sunday leaving DRob or Joba available last night. Or, if they were so hell bent on getting Nova off of the roster, they could have given him the spot start Sunday, burned him, and sent him back down, thereby allowing Sergio Mitre to return to his longman role. It's all moot now I suppose, but the explanations still don't fully add up in my eyes.

On to happier news. As I mentioned yesterday, my buddy Gripp and I had batter's eye seats last night. When I first went to the Stadium during the exhibition games against the Cubs last year, I immediately singled out those two rows atop the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar as the best seats in the house. Sitting there for the first time last night, that opinion has only grown stronger.


We arrived right when the gates opened and were able to catch the tail end of Yankees batting practice. Unfortunately, Robinson Cano had already finished hitting, so we didn't get any BP home runs hit up there. We did, however, have the pleasure of watching Mariano Rivera shag flies in center field. It's been said that Mo is the best center fielder on the Yankees, and watching him last night didn't disappoint. Just as he does on the mound, he moves gracefully, gliding underneath flyballs. His throwing accuracy isn't just limited to his cutter either. At one point, Mo fielded a one hopper in deep center and spotted Curtis Granderson stretching behind first base. Mo wound up and unleashed a one hopper that caught the unaware Granderson square on the hip.

In addition to stretching, Granderson also took some hacks in the cage, marking the second consecutive day he's taken BP as he works his way back from a pulled groin. He also took some flyballs in center last night, but since gates open an hour later this year than they did last year, we weren't able to catch that.

David Robertson was shagging flies in left field, as most pitchers do during BP. Unlike other pitchers though, Robertson was fielding and throwing with his opposite hands, sporting his glove on his right and throwing with his left. Unlike Pat Venditte, Robertson wasn't trained to be a switch thrower, he did it out of necessity. As a high schooler, a bout of right shoulder soreness caused Robertson to learn to throw left handed. He was able to stand on the left field warning track and throw balls to the screen behind second base. As someone who was forced to throw with his opposite arm for a year following elbow surgery, I can assure you that's no small feat.

Alex Rodriguez launched a BP homer off the same Monument Park wall that Jorge Posada hit during Saturday's game. Unfortunately for us, this one didn't carom up into the seats. Fortunately for the people in Monument Park, it hit the retaining wall. Six inches to the left and it would have fallen in the small gap between the wall and the netting that covers the park, right where two girls were having their picture taken at the time.

After BP, I had the chance to meet up with Ben, Mike, and Joe from RAB, as well as Moshe from TYU, who I didn't know was going to be in attendance. It wasn't until this morning that I found out that Mike from Yankeeist was also at the game, otherwise I would have attempted to say hello to him as well. Quite a few us dorky bloggers in the house last night.

As for the game itself, there isn't much I can add that hasn't already been said. Aside from Game Two of the ALDS last year, it was probably the best game I've attended in person. I can't overstate how great the vantage point is from the batter's eye seats. You're right on top of the field, you have a clean view of everything, you get a true track of the ball's flight right off the bat. The latter was particularly valuable last night as homer after homer was hit. If you ever have the opportunity to sit there, I highly, highly recommend it.

Friday Grab Bag

Good morning, Fackers. I hope Brain Hoch is right and the Yankees are in fact picking up their bats when they come back to New York.

Ben Kabak from River Ave. Blues made an appearance on the Bloomberg Sports podcast to talk about the site, along with the minor league system, Austin Jackson, Joba's ceiling and more. It's about 15 minutes long and quite enjoyable. LISTEN TO IT.

Mike from The Yankeeist ties a bow around his trip to Detroit.

Is an article with effusive praise for Phil Hughes enough to get you to read Mike Lupica? Nah, probably not...

But over at the WSJ, Scott Cacciola wrote a nice feature on Hughes and some of the things that have helped him be successful this year. Greg Fertel from Pending Pinstripes gets more specific, looking at Hughes' fantastic fastball.

On the same day that Matt from TYU suggested another way to look at how effective pitchers are (runs per 100 pitches), Beyond the Box Score ranked the best pitchers of all time according to Wins Above Replacement per 200 innings pitched. Can you guess the best starter and reliever? Massive hint: both were in the World Series last year.

When you combine all five teams' records, the AL East is 16 games over .500 this year, best in the league by 7 games. Sean Forman at the Bats Blog looks at how the balance of power has shifted to different divisions in recent years.

Mike Ashmore, who does an excellent job of covering the Trenton Thunder, wrote an excellent piece about Alan Horne beginning to recover from the surgery that sought to repair an 80% tear in his rotator cuff. He's receiving Platelet-Rich Plasma treatments and hopes that they will help him heal more fully. Horne is 27 and no longer a prospect, but there are plenty of guys who don't make their Major League debut until they are in their late 20's or 30's and can still have good careers.

When they weren't totally nicking our hooks, Bronx Banter had two excellent interviews this week - one with Dayn Perry and one with Josh Wilker - about their upcoming books.

What do Jonah Keri and Marlo Stanfield have in common? Their names both ring out in the streets. Except I don't think Jonah had to hand out money for it to happen.

The 193 acre farm that contains the Field of Dreams is up for sale. Here are the particulars of the property.

The Sports Hernia comes up with a worthy sequel to my favorite SH post ever.

Craig Calcaterra doesn't use too many tags, but when he does, they are downright awesome.

I'm with Bengie Molina here and I think it's excellent that athletes can use blogging to defend themselves against other, larger forms of media. This is the first post of Molina's I've read and while he's not quite Morgan Ensberg on the keyboard, he did a great job of making his point and staying on the high road, something that's not easy to do if you feel you've been offended personally.

They ah makin' it hah-dah to pahk you-ah cah around Fenway Pahk. WHAT THE FACK!?1/!

I don't listen to WFAN so I had no idea about former New York Football Giant Brad Bensen's ridiculous radio ads until this post on Deadspin highlighted them.

Can someone tell Will Leitch to cinch up his tie?

Now that his daughters are watching the show religiously, Joe Posnanski breaks out a bunch of obscure facts about Gilligan's Island. The show was obviously way before my time but I used to get up early when I was in grade school and watch the reruns before the bus picked me up. The episodes are all pretty much self-contained and the only thing you have to know going is conveyed to you by the theme song. It's right up there with Scooby Doo and House as the most formulaic television show of all time, but when you're 9 years old that only serves to make it easier to understand and enjoy.

And finally, here is a video of an octopus killing a shark. To be fair, Spiny Dogfish Sharks aren't exactly the kings of the ocean and the Giant Pacific Octopus is rather massive, but it's still pretty crazy to watch. The narrator almost ruins it so I suggest that you mute it and skip to the 1:30 mark.

Super Nova

According to Donnie Collins of the Times-Tribune in Scranton, Ivan Nova has been recalled by the Yankees. No official word yet on the corresponding move, but it's about 99.99% certain that Romulo Sanchez is heading back down.

Sanchez pitched well in his 3.2 shutout innings of relief last night. Perhaps of greater value is that he was the lone pitcher to come out of the Yankee bullpen following A.J. Burnett's four and a third inning start. Sanchez' effort saved the bullpen a day after a rain delay, Alfredo Aceves' back, and Joe Girardi's match ups forced the Yankees to burn through five relievers.

Still, the staff is a bit short with Andy Pettitte still out of play, Aceves likely needing another day off, and Sanchez needing two or three days of rest after his 52 pitch outing last night. And with Sergio Mitre limited to about 75 pitches in spot start duty tonight, and Javy Vazquez, who hasn't completed the sixth inning yet this year, starting tomorrow, the Yankees were in need of another long man.

Joe Pawlikowski at RAB astutely pointed out earlier today that this move was likely. Nova was scheduled to start for Scranton yesterday, but was flipped with Zach McAllister, indicating such a move was possible. Nova's recall leaves Scranton without a starter for tonight, the second time in four days the Yankees have left their AAA affiliate in that situation. Dustin Moseley may start on three days rest, or they may just piece this one together as a bullpen game.

An international free agent signing in 2004, Nova was selected by the Padres in the Rule 5 draft following the 2008 season, but was unable to stick on the Big League roster. Returned to the Yankees, he had a breakout 2009, making 24 starts equally split between AA and AAA and posting a 3.68 ERA. It's worth noting that he fared remarkably better in AA, where the competition is poorer and where Trenton's Waterfront Park offers a pitcher's paradise.

He was added to the Yankees' 40 man roster following last season, and is 2-0 with a 2.43 ERA through his first six starts in 2010. Nova is considered a groundball inducing pitcher, and his GB% for this year sits above 50%, just as it has throughout his career. But it's worth noting that his K rate this year is at a career high and his BB rate has dropped back to its career average after taking a jump up last season.

Here are prospect profiles on Nova from RAB and Pending Pinstripes.

Game 19: Way Down In The Hole

Before play began today, the Orioles had 4 fewer wins than any other team in baseball and that was after pulling out a 10th inning victory in Fenway Park on Sunday. The great Pythagoras believes that they should be 6-13 instead of 3-16 based on their run differential, but that would still leave them with the fewest victories of any team in the MLB.

The O's have had to play the Rays twice and the Red Sox once, but in between those tough match ups, they got swept by the Blue Jays and Mariners, and lost 3 of 4 to the A's. They've managed to shoehorn losing streaks of 5 and 9 into their first 19 games of the year and, not coincidentally, have seen their home attendance reach record lows.

A visit from the Yankees following a 10 game road trip is a sure remedy for thin crowds, but not for the poor play that has plagued the Orioles so far. As Joe Pawlikowski pointed out at FanGraphs yesterday, the 2010 O's hitters have been decimated by a few injuries and a slew of slow starts. Brian Roberts and Felix Pie are both on the DL while Nolan Reimold started the season there and has struggled since returning to the team.

Adam Jones, Garrett Atkins, Luke Scott, Caesar Izturis and Julio Lugo have all played in 13 or more games and have an OPS+ below 80. Nick Markakis, Matt Weiters, Miguel Tejada and surprisingly Ty Wigginton have been the only positive producers and as a team, they are hitting just .244/.304/.383. That line drops to an excruciating .183/.270/.294 with runners in scoring position, which has no doubt contributed to their struggles.

The dismal run support has made life extremely difficult on their starting pitchers. Despite having an ERA of 3.38 and averaging 6 2/3 IP in 4 starts, Kevin Millwood has a record of 0-3. Millwood has allowed as many home runs as he has walks (4) so the Yankees can expect to see a lot of balls in the strike zone.

Interestingly, today has played host to more no-hitters than any other day, one of those being the one that Millwood pitched for the Phillies back in 2003 against the Giants.

Phil Hughes gets the ball for the Yanks tonight and looks to build upon his impressive outing in Oakland last Wednesday during which he carried a no-no into the 8th inning. In 12 1/3 frames so far this year, Hughes has struck out 16 and allowed only 11 baserunners - 4 hits and 7 walks. He's been nothing short of excellent in his two starts since emerging from extended Spring Training and hopefully he can continue rolling against a team that he has struggled against in his time as a starter (5 starts, 7.94 ERA).

The point of the article that Joe wrote over at FanGraphs was to illustrate that the Orioles aren't as bad of as team as their record at this point indicates. That might be true, but they are going to have to start winning some games pretty soon to prove it. Perhaps the O's are due to turn it around but with the Yankees coming into town, this is going to be a tough time to do it. As Yanks' fans, it's tempting to look at Baltimore's record and assume that this should be an easy series, but from the O's perspective it probably seems like they are due for a win. Hopefully the Yanks can do their part to keep the Birds down.

He's got the fire and the fury,

At his command,
Well you don't have to worry,
If you hold on to Jesus hand,
We'll all be safe from Satan,
When the thunder rolls,
Just gotta help me keep the devil,
Way down in the hole.

[Song notes: As many of you probably know, "Way Down In The Hole" is the theme song for The Wire (which is set in Baltimore). Steve Earle has a small but excellent part in the series playing a recovering addict named Walon.]

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Nick Johnson gets another night off to rest his aching back and Nick Swisher takes his place in the DH spot, although he'll be hitting 8th. Randy Winn, who is 0-10 this season but 11 for 18 off of Millwood in his career, gets the start in right field and bats 9th. Brett Gardner, back in left field, occupies the second slot behind Jeter.

Jeter SS
Gardner LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Granderson CF
Swisher DH
Winn RF

Orioles:

Adam Jones CF
Nick Markakis RF
Matt Wieters C
Miguel Tejeda 3B
Luke Scott DH
Ty Wigginton 2B
Rhyne Hughes 1B
Nolan Reimold LF
Cesar Izturis SS

Tuesday Afternoon Link-A-Roo

It's slow going on the Fack Youk factory floor today, as I prepare to be banished to Atlanta for the remainder of the week.

Here are a few links to hold you over until preview time:

Quick - if someone told you that a former Yankee pitcher would issue the first walkoff walk of 2010, who would your guess be? Yeah, mine too.

Over at RAB, Mike Axisa takes a further look at what I touched upon this morning: the under-utilization of David Robertson.

Staying in the bullpen, Mike also examines a minor tweak made by Boone Logan this year that may allow him to be more successful than he's been in the past.

Over at Fangraphs, RAB's Joe Pawlikowski extends upon what Steve Goldman and Rob Neyer have already commented upon: the unsustainability of Austin Jackson's early season success. If you thought AJax's BABIP was off the charts at Scranton last year, take a look at his 2010 numbers so far.

Neyer's ESPN colleague and former Major Leaguer Doug Glanville is transitioning nicely to his role in the media. Glanville reflects back upon his time with the Texas Rangers, and remembers when Mark Teixeira was an emerging third baseman.

So, Jason Bay isn't terrible defensively after all?

Via Bronx Banter, here's a nice look at Bob Sheppard.

In both the New York Post and his Hardball blog, Joel Sherman takes a look at the continued acrimony between Joe Torre and the Yankees' organization. I really, really hope they all bury the hatchet at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Via BBTF, comes a very worthwhile read from Faith and Fear in Flushing. If I am ever so unfortunate as to meet an untimely end, someone is going to have a lot of old baseball cards to sort through.

Late last week, the NCAA officially approved The New Era Pinstripe Bowl, issuing it a four year license rather than the customary three years.

Unfortunately, the existence of the Pinstripe Bowl comes at the expense of another potential bowl game, one dedicated to a cause far more worthy than wringing more money out of Yankee Stadium and printing more cash for the NCAA.

Meanwhile, as we mentioned last year, the existence of the Pinstripe Bowl all but assures that the inevitable New York-based NHL Winter Classic will not take place at Yankee Stadium.

Back with the preview in a bit.

[UPDATE 4:00 PM: Friend of the blog Matt on Earth weighs in with his thoughts on Curt Schilling's comments on Javy Vazquez.]

Last Night à La Mode

On Tuesday, one of our longtime commenters, Mode (who does some writing himself), mentioned that he was going to be attending last night's game. He said:

I got great seats right behind the Yankee dugout for tomorrow night's game (a bargain at $175 a pop). Hopefully the weather doesn't mess things up since I am loooking forward to watching Hughes pitch.

Look for me behind the dugout sporting my vintage (and well worn) Columbus Clippers hat.

Further down in the comments, he and Matt discussed which version of the Clippers' logo his hat had and Matt let him know that we'd be looking for him during the came.

As Hughes mowed down the A's last night in dominating fashion, made a run at a no-hitter and set a career high in strikeouts, Matt and I chatted on GMail and both kept and eye out for a blue hat with a red "C" and a sailboat on it. As the camera pulled away from a shot of Phil Hughes' parents and former Yankee, Angel, Giant & Red Sock J.T. Snow in the top of the 4th, Matt thought he might have caught a glimpse of a Clippers hat behind the visitor's dugout. But upon further review, it was not.

However, after the game concluded, Ken Singleton kicked it down to Kim Jones so she could interview Hughes' parents, and look who was standing right behind Phil's mom, Dori:

The MLB.tv broadcast cut out about three seconds after they switched to his camera angle so this is the best screengrab I could get, but on the live telecast the interview lasted for a couple of minutes and Mode was just kickin' it in the background, prompting this praise from Ben Kabak of River Ave. Blues:

A+, indeed and $175 well spent, sir.

Mode lives about an hour away from the Coliseum and last night is about as good as it gets for an displaced fan of any club: your favorite team stops by, a young pitcher has a an awesome start, your guys hit back-to-back triples and win a close contest in exciting fashion.

If you live within a reasonable commute of Yankee Stadium chances are that you take for granted the option to go to as many games as you can fit into your schedule and afford - I know I did when I lived on the Upper West Side and still do to some extent now that I'm Upstate. But if you live out of town - even if you're lucky enough to live in a city that the Yanks visit - you are at the whim of their schedule and have to hope it works out in one of the few times you have a chance to go. In true California fashion, Mode caught this wave right when it was cresting and rode it for all it was worth. I'm sure he'll have more in the comments at some point.

Thursday Afternoon Linkaround

Over at the NYT Bats Blog, Benjamin Hoffman talks about the other numbers Jackie Robinson wore playing football at UCLA, in the Negro Leagues and at the Dodger's AAA team, then located in Montreal.

This article from Mental Floss talks about Robinson's MiLB debut and is the source of the picture to the left.

On a day when most are descussing Robinson's legacy, Joe Posnanski talks about the way he played the game.

Curtis Granderson is looking forward to honoring Robinson in the city where Jackie played his home games.

Ross from NYYSI notes that yesterday was the second lowest attendance that the New Stadium has played host to and explains why we might be in for some more low turnouts in the near future. He also created a comprehensive list of the changes that have been made to the Stadium since last year, most of which have to do with the concessions.

Mike from River Ave. Blues has an excellent post about waiting for Mark Teixeira to start hitting and suggests that the Yanks might want to drop him down in the lineup until he finds his swing(s). Couldn't hurt at this point.

Not to keeping harping on the Vazquez thing, but this morning Joel Sherman said:

But this idea that the media is feeding this beast is silly. Does anyone really think Vazquez would not incur boos if no one wrote or talked about 2004?

Really? The media doesn't influence fan perception? Not when another tabloid is saying that Vazquez "can't handle wearing those pinstripes" after two fucking starts? So why does The Post bother writing about the Yankees so much? Obviously because a lot of people read and have their opinions shaped by it.

Booing is contagious and there might be a some people who would do it of their own volition but the stoking of the fire by the Post and Daily News in particular most definitely had contributed to the scope of the boos. I'm not saying they shouldn't write the things they do, but it's ridiculous to pretend that what they put into print has no affect on people whatsoever.

Amidst all the negativity, there were some good deeds going on at the Stadium yesterday as well. An Iraq war veteran saved a rabbi's wife from choking during the game.

Even though they are staunchly anti-Vazquez, props to IIH,IIF,IIc for capturing this gem from Sarah Silverman.

For those of you who have always wanted the option of burning the Yankee logo into your toast, here you go.

Lar from Wezen-Ball searches for the best name in baseball. Unfortunately for Cannonball Titcomb, Jack Glasscock and Buzz McWeeny, it's not that kind of search.

David Pinto notes that if David Ortiz keeps striking out at the rate he's going right now, it's going to be incredibly difficult for him to be productive at the plate. Speaking of Papi, he's riding the pine tonight.

Diane Firstman at Bronx Banter looks back at some notable Yankee strikeout streaks.

Over a Baseball Analysts, Jeremy Greenhouse used batted ball data to create some visuals explaining where guys tend to hit the ball in the outfield. The one to the right compares Jeter and Jesus Flores and there is plenty of other interesting stuff if you click through.

I'm not sure how many of you listen to FanGraphs audio with contributor/occasional destroyer Carson Cistulli, but I highly recommend it, nof only for the "white hot analysis" but for the sly humor that Carson kicks in. Here is the latest version wherein they discuss the current state of PitchFX and here is an episode with an appearance by our friend Joe from RAB.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy says that chewing tobacco makes his in-game decision making sharper. That's called an addiction, folks. (h/t Sam Miller)

And finally, appropos of nothing, here is some badass acoustic guitaring via Boing Boing.

Tuesday Links

Like Kevin Youkilis last night, these links probably contain at least one error, even if it wasn't scored that way.

Apparently Marcus Thames wasn't starting last night just because the Yankees were in Fenway. Brian Hoch reports that the righty is a "near-lock" to see time against lefties. So Thames track record matters when it comes to facing lefties, but Curtis Granderson's doesn't? And Gardner doesn't even get a fair shake? Got that? No? Me neither.

Over at Pending Pinstripes, Matt was one of eight writers who answered a bunch of questions on Yankees prospects. Here are parts One, Two, Three and Four of the octagonal table.

Greg from PP also gathered up the links to his top 30 Yankee prospect profiles.

More from the farm: here is Mike from RAB's Minor League Primer, wherein he posts and discusses the rosters for each level of the minors.

Ross from NYY Stadium Insider did an excellent two part series analyzing the resale market for Yankees tickets this year. Well worth checking out if you are planning on picking up tickets online.

Want to hear some Sawx fans whining about the umpiring last night? Probably not, but here's the link anyway.

The Yankees are checking in at 3-1 to win the World Series right now with the Sox and Phillies next best at 6-1. Any takers?

It turns out that Joba really admires John Smoltz. The former dominant starter and reliever told the youngin' to treat everything like a one inning game, regardless of his role.

Via Craig at NBC, here is evidence that people have been complaining about the pace of play at baseball games since at least 1905. The only thing is, back then, 2:20 was apparently too slow.

Write something misguided about the Tampa Bay Rays and Jonah Keri just might write 4,000 words telling you how wrong you are. You've been warned.

Do you think if we told Joe Morgan that Hal McCoy was listening to the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast, he would stop talking?

Sky Andrecheck over at Baseball Analysts looked a how experts make predictions about baseball and developed a model that explains how it might be rational for people to pick teams that aren't actually the favorites. It was similar to what I started talking about here, except it goes about 10 times deeper.

Over at the Hardball Times, Geoff Young did something right up our alley by combining music and baseball. He watched the Yanks/Sox game last night on mute with Radiohead's OK Computer playing instead of the announcers. The results can be found here.

Walkoff Walk compiled a guide to the stadium grub that is new for the '10 season. Nothing new at Yankee Stadium but plenty to check out around the league.

Balls too slippery? Rub some mud on 'em.

Here is a professional poker player talking about how Major League Baseball is "complete garbage" and "totally, and insanely boring to me". He adds:

Teams like Tampa Bay occasionally have a miracle year with a cast of young players, but guess what happens when their contracts are up? They end up in Boston or New York.

Exactly. Like, you know... that awesome player who went from Tampa to the Yankees that one time. Cleveland would have probably been a better example.

Daniel Negraneau is fantastic card player and he makes some fair points, but I don't really care about what someone who is admittedly not a fan of the game thinks about what is wrong with it.

That's it for now. We'll be back with the preview for tonight's game in a little bit.

Humpday Linkaround

This links came up a little short, kind of like Nick Johnson trying to leg out a double last night:

Ben from River Ave. Blues joined Cliff and Alex from Bronx Banter to do a video preview of the 2009 season. The first part (about pitching) is here, the second one (focusing on the offense) is here and the final installment (concerning the competition) is here.

Two of the characters from that series (Cliff and Ben) join Steve Lombardi from Was Watching and Justin Sablich of the New York Times for part one of a written preview over on their dot com.

Good news: Mark Teixeira is scheduled to take batting practice today.

Mike over at The Yankeeist has rounded up the Spring Training stats for both hitters and pitchers. Nothing to get worked up about - we'll have plenty of time to make a big deal out of small sample sizes when the regular season starts - just something interesting to scan over.

Joe from River Ave. Blues cranked out some excellent pieces yesterday including this one on the delicate balance the front office has to find between winning now, winning later and appeasing the media and this one that looks at the back up plans for each position.

The Yanks are set to spend 16 times more than the Blue Jays on their starting rotation this year. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but that's like, a lot.

I should have done this a while ago, but if you'd like to thank Tom Tango for the excellent sabermetric work he's done over the years, head over here and fill out a playing time forecast for the Yanks. Somehow, they are pretty underrepresented at this point and it doesn't take long to do. If you feel like you are familiar enough with another team, do one for them too.

Add Mike Cameron to the list of Red Sox who is inahguably nawt appreciated for his true talents. When will the rest of the country finally acknowledge the players in Boston for their incredible production and work ethic? It's borderline criminal!

Joe Posnanski is asking for help in selecting players for the Bad Baseball Hall of Fame and the nominations are rolling in. The cut offs are 462 1/3 IP for pitchers and 843 PAs for hitters. Any Yankees come to mind?

Ross from NYY Stadium Insider has the scoop on an iPhone app called Venuing that will have features specially designed for sporting event and concert experiences. It will be live in Yankee Stadium, Fenway, Citi Field and Citizens Bank Park when each of them opens this season.

Time Warner is now offering a package that will allow you to watch all of the 127 games that YES carries on your computer, provided you are in the Yanks' market. I'm sure there are some select circumstances where this would be convenient (you don't have cable, but do have high speed internet, etc), but for most of us it doesn't apply. It does, however, illustrate why MLB.tv is blacked out within local areas - because cable companies want the opportunity to charge people themselves. If there was one price people could pay to watch any game, anywhere, these subscription services would be a lot more popular. Not that I'm going to hold my breath for it...

Will Leitch did an excellent review of the movie Fantasyland for New York Magazine's website. I hadn't heard much about the movie before but I definitely want to see it now.

Man, the Mariners have some good advertising and promohshonz.

Finally, I'm not sure if this guy is still taking emails, but if you left a briefcase with $78,383 on the Lower East Side the other day, you might want to claim that.

Maybe you could use some of it to buy a piece of Yankees/television memorabilia.

That's it for now. Our AL East Q&A's roll on at noon.

Life Or Death

Forget competing for a spot in the rotation, according to the New York Post, Joba Chamberlain was apparently pitching for his life yesterday in Tampa. That or they felt the need to remark on the fact that he - like roughly 6 billion other people on this planet - is still in existence.

In the biggest start in the history of anything, Joba was spellbinding. With his entire pitching career hanging in the balance, he summoned a thoroughly gutsy performance, throwing three innings of one run ball in a fucking exhibition game. Hold your applause, please.

/end sarcasm

I know the Post is in the business of making things seem more important than they are, but the notion that Joba's destiny as a starting pitcher hinges on one fucking scrimmage is pretty laughable.

As our friend Joe Pawlikowski pointed out yesterday, almost everyone in the race to be 5th starter (sorry Chad Gaudin) has "led" the competition at one point or another.

First it was Sergio Mitre.

If, as the Yankees insist, there is a genuine competition for the No. 5 spot in Joe Girardi's rotation, then Sergio Mitre is atop the early leader board.

Then Alfredo Aceves.

Whatever approach Aceves is trying this spring with the Yankees, it appears to be working. Considered an unlikely contender for the fifth spot in the rotation, the right-hander has arguably outpitched the competition so far.

Then Phil Hughes.

Hughes has worked eight and two-thirds innings in spring training, allowing seven hits, two runs and two walks, with four strikeouts. If Hughes was the leader for the fifth spot coming into camp, he’s done nothing to lose that standing.

Now Joba is back into the mix. OR IS HE HEADED TO THE BULLPEN?

Some believe Chamberlain and Hughes in the bullpen make the Yankees a stronger team. But Chamberlain had pitched so poorly in the last game that the option of sending him to Triple-A was in the air before the game.

"We will discuss that [Triple-A], but he has had a lot of success out of the bullpen," Girardi said. "We put him back there in the playoffs and he did a good job."

And he apparently will get another chance to help the Yankees where he has been the best - in the bullpen.

Wha-wha-what?

I'm sorry, George A. King III, but I'm going to have to ask you to back up your logic train for inspection.

1. Some people think the Yankees would be better off with both Hughes and Joba in the bullpen. I don't know who these people are, but apparently G.A.K.III does.
   
   
2. Joba was pitching poorly, so the Yanks thought about sending him to AAA.
   
   
3. But the minors are no longer a possibility because of three innings that he pitched against the what was left of the Phillies' lineup in a Spring Training game.
   
   
4. Joe Girardi admitted that AAA is an option but also thinks that Joba was good out of the bullpen in the playoffs, which is, um, debatable.
   
   
5. JOBA WILL BE PITCHING OUT OF THE BULLPEN THIS SEASON.

I don't know who I feel worse for, King, for having to feed the beast and write this drivel or the poor schlub riding a subway somewhere, reading the Post, who actually takes this shit at face value.

17 more days until things actually start to matter. God help us until then.

Asking For Some Feedback From You

One of the things I struggle with most about creating a stream of content for a blog is one of the most basic principles taught in any writing class: writing for the appropriate audience. Well, part of the reason for that is in academia, who you're writing for is much simpler to define - it's your teacher unless otherwise stated. With a blog, the audience is incredibly diverse, with people of all ages, in a variety of locations, with incredibly disparate reading habits, each looking for something unique.

Every reader that comes to the site brings a slightly different perspective with them. You folks come from all over the country and the world (in the last month we've had visits from 109 countries spread out on every continent except Antarctica). You folks all have a different daily rotation of blogs that you read and you emerse yourself in them to varying extents. How can we cater to those who read tons of Yankee and other baseball blogs at the same time as we take care of those who read relatively few? The answer is that you really can't. You have to try to find some sort of a happy medium.

One of the most important distinctions there is among the readership of any blog is the way that the site is consumed, either through the website or via RSS. When we weren't posting last week, someone who primarily visits the homepage probably checked back a few times before the week was over to see if there was a new post, only to come up empty. However, those who read via RSS probably didn't care or even notice our impromptu hiatus - they are automatically notified when one of our posts goes up and don't spend much time worrying about when the next one will come. Essentially, there is a significant portion of our readership who isn't concerned with how often we post, and another, larger section to whom the volume of content is extremely important.

This is how I imagine the dichotomy looks:

For instance, a blog like Wezen-Ball is best enjoyed through an RSS feed because although Larry doesn't post very often, when he does, it's extremely good. MLB Trade Rumors, on the other hand, is updated often enough for people to be able to check back every few hours and find some new things to read.

In general, people who visit the homepage get drawn back more often by a large number of posts but will get out of the habit of checking the homepage it it's not updated frequently enough. On the other hand, those who read via RSS are more likely to be annoyed by an unwieldy volume of them since they have probably already subscribed to about as many (or likely more) blogs than they can comfortably keep up with. But, they can also tolerate a very low volume of posts.

There is a theoretical sweet spot where those lines two meet, but given the standards we hold ourself to here, it's probably not possible for us to post that much quality content that often.

I think we usually manage find a pretty good balance between quantity and quality, but March is probably the worst time of year for our style of blogging. We don't do a lot of straight reporting of the news around here and because of that, it turns out to be much more difficult for us to find content during Spring Training than it is from November to mid-February. There are only so many stupid posts about Youk we can put out and so many hacky columns in the New York papers that we can make fun of.

This time of year there is a constant supply of news emanating from Florida, but it's the type of stuff that is not worth analyzing. We all know that what happens in Spring Training isn't to be taken too seriously, and since we try to do more than just blockquote a beat writer and state the obvious, there simply isn't that much to say. Not all of us can be like the dudes from River Ave. Blues and continually come up with interesting topics out of thin air without so much as a meaningful baseball game to draw upon.

With a few exceptions, you folks don't tend to comment a whole lot. We normally don't solicit comments either, but we could certainly use some feedback on this.

A few starting points:

• What do you expect from a baseball blog in general?
  
  
• What have you come to expect from us in particular?
  
  
• How often do you check the site and are there specific times during the day and week that you do so?
  
  
• How much do you value quality over quantity (or vice versa)?
  
  What kind of posts (linkarounds, historically-slanted pieces, FJM-style, straight news, etc) would you like to see more or less of?
  
  
• We might have to ask again when the regular season rolls around, but what would you like to see from a blog when in comes to game-to-game coverage?
  
  
• Do you enjoy our signature game previews wherein we choose a different song for every one?
  
  
• Is it worth putting together a full recap for every game, or would you like to see something more streamlined like bullet points and/or some graphical data?

We'd certainly appreciate if you could take some time and leave your thoughts - even if it's something quick about just one of those questions - in the comments. You aren't going to hurt our feelings by telling us you don't like something. We're not simply fishing for compliments, so feel free to be honest. If you enjoy the blog here's a good chance to tell us why. If you have some criticisms, now would be a good time to voice those as well.

We're all ears...

Let The (Spring Training) Games Begin

Good morning, Fackers. Today we take the next baby step along the path to actual, meaningful baseball. After two full weeks in camp for most pitchers and one week for the majority of the position players, the team is now ready to play some live baseball against a real opponent. Well, real might be stretching it considering that said opponent is the Pirates, but you know what I'm trying to get at here.

Of course, the action today is going to be significantly different than a regular season game. In addition to the fact that pitchers are scheduled to pitch in predetermined blocks of a few innings, they won't be throwing a their full array of pitches - most notably their breaking stuff. The lineups are bound to have a few players that aren't going to be on the roster come Opening Day, and that number will steadily increase as the game wears on. It's an just exhibition or scrimmage or dress rehearsal, but after a long winter with very little in the way of live baseball action, it's a welcome reprieve to see your guys on the field.

Last night, Joe from River Ave. Blues cautioned us not to pay attention to the stats from Spring Training but simultaneously reminded us to enjoy the games for what they are:

I encourage everyone to watch spring training baseball for the pure enjoyment of the game. I do not, however, encourage anyone to draw insights from what they see in these games. The pitchers and hitters are still working back into their grooves. A.J. Burnett, for example, will not throw his curveball in his first few spring starts. I’m sure the hitters will all be focusing on what they’ve worked on with Kevin Long and figuring out what works. How can we judge these players if they’re not playing the same way they will when the season starts?

Similarly, our buddy Craig isn't going to bother with his hilariously-titled morning round up, And That Happened until the regular season rolls around:

Yes, it's baseball, but it's a decidedly different beast than the game we know and love. Things happen in spring training like, say, a team benching all of its regulars at the last minute because it rained three hours earlier. Veterans don't make road trips very often and play golf while their teammates sweat. Pitchers go two or three innings max until at least the end of the month. What happens in those games may be interesting, but the games as a whole are not meaningful. They're certainly not the sort of thing that makes a guy want to dig down and analyze the heck out of a box score, ya know?

By the time Opening Day arrives, we are going to be sick of watching Spring Training games. We'll be able to hear the regular season knocking on the door and will be more than willing to leave the meaningless scrimmages and drills of Florida in the dust. However, today around 1:00 will be a great time to embrace the sights and sounds of the game without having to care too much about what happens on the field.

Note: Our friends over at Bronx Baseball Daily are hosting a live chat for the game, and it should be a good chance to yak it up with some like-minded folk. Stop on by.

An Ode To Edwar

At 6' 3" and 150 lbs, sporting Rec Specs and a change-up that's really more like a screwball, Edwar Ramirez always seemed as if he were created by a video game. His lanky frame and his signature pitch are similarly farfetched. Joe Torre compared his physique to that of a thermometer when he first came up and his change has been referred to as a "Bugs Bunny" pitch because it looked like batters could swing at it and miss a few times before it got to the plate.

That change-up really is a thing of beauty, rolling out of his hand a little under 80mph, just about 10mph slower than his riding 2-seam fastball and floating down and in to right handed hitters. It's all but unhittable if the batter has to protect against a legitimate fastball, but the problem is that if they are paying attention, they really don't have to. He threw the change so much that it caused a bench-clearing brawl in Double-A. He had to pare that down to 37% when he got to the Majors, but it doesn't take much game theory to figure out that 1/3 of the time is too often to throw a sweeping, 79mph pitch whose real value is in it's deception.

Mistakes on off-speed pitches are particularly deadly. Unfortunately for Edwar and the Yanks, Major League scouts and players keyed in on his reliance on that pitch, which led to the inflated home run rates that ultimately made him expendable to the Yankees, hence the ejection from the 40 man to make room for Chan Ho Park.

Rob Neyer doesn't expect Edwar to pass through waivers and end up back in Scranton and even if he does, Joe From River Ave. Blues doesn't think that he'll make it back to the Bronx again. It would be great if no team claims him in the next 8 days and he finds a way to improve his fastball and/or slider and defies the odds. But if not, he'll still be one of those interesting and memorable minor characters in recent Yankee history.

The Angels signed Ramirez in 2001 and he racked up a 4.66 ERA in 56 innings of Rookie Ball. Granted, that was in the run-friendly Pioneer League, but it wasn't a very good start to his professional career. He made it to High-A next season but struggled once he got there and was released by the Halos. Out of a job and unwilling to give up on baseball, he kept working on his craft with a friend at a field near his home in Miami. That's where he first experimented with the grip for his signature change up.

It took him a while to harness it - the Angels cut him again after Spring Training in 2006 - but he eventually caught on with Pensacola Pelicans of the Central Independent League. After striking out 93 batters in 56 innings and compiling an ERA of 1.12, he moved up to the Edinburgh Coyotes of the United League in 2007. He struck out 46 more in 25 frames as their closer before the Yankees finally scooped him up.

His ascent through the Yanks system was similarly meteoric. He pitched only 86 1/3 innings and just 40 in AAA before getting called up to the Big Leagues. He stuck out over 15 batters per 9 innings during that time, had an ERA under 1.00 and won the MiLB Minor League Reliever of the Award in '07. He struck out the side in his Major League debut and whiffed 13 per 9 IP for the remainder of the season but was saddled with a 8.14 ERA primarily because he allowed 6 home runs in 31 innings.

He was actually pretty effective in 2008, throwing 55 innings of 3.90 ERA and cutting his HR and walk rates in half from the previous season. However, in 2009, he returned to '07 form, walking too many, giving up too many hits and too many long balls.

Edwar was essentially the inverse of Shelly Duncan. Edwar was the quiet, skinny guy with glasses while Shelley was the outgoing, powerfully-built ox. Both made their Major League debuts in '07 and were let go this offseason. Both were more or less one trick ponies, Edwar with the devastating change up and the gaudy strike out totals and Shelly with the huge, looping swing and home run power. While those are the best tricks you can perform as a pitcher and hitter respectively, when they were exposed to Major League competition, Edwar's tragic flaw was his HR rate and Duncan was victimized by the K. But both guys were the sort of indelible characters that will be remembered more vividly than their contributions on the field would warrant. Best of luck to you, Edwar.