Moshe from TYU offers detailed explanation from a scout of Curtis Granderson's new "handset". Click through for the breakdown and the pictures. I'm guessing this is something Curtis and Kevin Long worked on this offseason.
Yesterday Craig Calcaterra got some interesting information from a source about the allegations of collusion being levied by the Player's Association against the League. Teams are free to request information about a free agent from the league - Tango reproduces an image of that form - but Craig's guy (or gal) tells him that very similar offers are being received almost simultaneously. It's going to be hard to prove that the owners are actually comparing notes, but Craig thinks they Union might actually file a grievance this time around.
It's been one year since Nick Adenhart was killed in a car crash. Craig ponders the hardest part of any loss: the return to normalcy.
The Fightins are not pleased that they used the Rocky music for David Wright's new commercial with The Situation from The Jersey Shore. I see their point but it's a pretty funny montage nonetheless.
Beyond the Box Score dusts off their power rankings for the first time this year. Instead of the typical arbitrary order most major site put them in, BtB bases theirs on the statistics they have compiled thus far this season. That's why the Yanks are in 5th.
And this has nothing to do with baseball, but give the specialguests we have been introducing to our WPA graphs, it's almost kind of relevant. Regardless, it's pretty fucking awesome.
Earlier this year, as the Braves and Yankees met in an interleague series, Jay and I decided to revisit both the 1996 and 1999 World Series between the two clubs, much like we did earlier this week with the 1950 Yanks-PhilsWorld Series. In addition to recaps of each of the six games in the '96 Series, I tacked on an additional entry summarizing my personal memories of that Series.
In short, I was pumped that the Yankees were back in the World Series for the first time since I was a year old. Games One and Two were in New York, and the Yankees dropped them both. Game One was postponed a day by rain, but was a total beat down when played, with Andruw Jones knocking two out of the park. The morning of Game Three I boarded a plane, flew to Washington D.C. for a conference, and spent the remainder of the World Series there. I returned the following Sunday, the day of a potential Game Seven that wasn't be necessary. While in D.C. I didn't get to watch the games as closely as I wanted to, but the Yankees didn't lose again, taking home their first Championship in my lifetime.
I thought of those days quite often this week. The Phillies entered this Series as the defending World Champions, the first NL club to do so since those '96 Braves. They defeated the Yankees convincingly in a rainy Game One, with Chase Utley hitting two home runs. Thankfully Game Two went a little different this time around.
Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to hop on a plane again. I'm heading to Chicago, and I'll remain there until Thursday morning, the day of a potential Game Seven. Thanks to work obligations, I likely will miss the early innings of at least Games Four and Five.
This trip has been scheduled for quite some time. There's no getting out of it. At some point maybe two months ago, I realized that it would be happening smack dab in the middle of the World Series, and that it could have a negative impact on my watching my favorite team in the Series. A few weeks ago I had a sit down with my boss, who is British and does not like baseball at all. I explained my potential conundrum, and thankfully he lent a sympathetic ear. I'm hopeful I'll be given a bit of leeway next week so that I can watch the games in their entirety.
And yet, part of me isn't worried. In an old Simpsons episode, Lisa walks by Bart's room, and overhears him praying for a snowstorm to postpone the test for which he is not prepared. "Prayer," she says to herself, "the last refuge of a scoundrel". I like to think of myself as a bit better than a scoundrel, and I don't believe that the folks who answer prayers are particularly interested in baseball. But the tension of the post-season does have the ability to turn my usually rational self into a bit of a superstitious being.
I've never been in my home state of Connecticut when the Yankees have won the World Series. I was in D.C. in '96 and away at college in '98, '99, in '00. A good part of me can't wait to get on that plane tomorrow; I'm hoping it'll play out like the previous times I've been away from home during Yankee World Series appearances. For strictly superstitious reasons, I'm looking forward to calling Chicago my sweet home for the next five days.
Good morning Fackers. As Jay mentioned late yesterday afternoon, both he and I were too occupied to tend shop and shuttered a little earlier than usual. What he didn't tell you was that we were busy as part of a major emergency investigation undertaken by the Fack Youk Investigative Report Team.
As you may be aware, Fack Youk has been involved in a bit of a blogowar with a certain Angels' blog whom I refuse to name or link to any longer given the sheer amount of garbage they've spewed over the past week. It began when they tried to go all FJM-style on the Bobby Abreu post I authored last week. I don't usually make a habit of reading blogs dedicated to other teams, but when Jay received a Google alert that my post had been linked to there, I went over to defend my viewpoints as rationally and politely as I could. And that in and of itself wasn't too bad. There was a decent discourse in the comments, nothing got too inane, and things remained relatively friendly.
With them now on my radar and the ALCS underway, I checked back occasionally. And that's when the general IQ level started swirling down the tubes. Yesterday, they unearthed the gem that they had "pretty conclusive evidence" that the secret to Mariano Rivera's success over the past decade and a half was that he was throwing spitballs. Nevermind that spitballs either move erratically or down and that Mariano's cutter moves from his right-to-left. Nevermind that Rivera has spent the past 14 full Big League seasons playing in the planet's biggest media market with dozens upon dozens of his games being aired on national television. In one fell swoop, with a little help from a DVR, these witty gumshoes had uncovered the equivalent of the Zapruder Film spliced with video evidence of Big Foot banging the Loch Ness Monster.
Apparently not satisfied that they had their fifteen minutes of fame without becoming the laughingstock of the baseball blogosphere, the site began questioning the expedience with which Rivera was cleared, suggesting that it was a bit fishy and reminding everyone that it took MLB "over a decade" to get to the bottom of steroids, which by the way, everyone who has ever played for the Yankees takes.
Quite a day there for our left coast friends. Not content to sit back and enjoy the likely 50,000 plus page views their responsible and well-thought-out accusations earned them, they came back for an encore yesterday, focusing on three atrocious calls in Game Four, one of which actually benefited the Angels and none of which had any impact on scoring. But see, that's all part of the conspiracy.
What conspiracy you ask? Oh, you poor gullible reader. The joint conspiracy amongst MLB, FOX, and the World Umpires Association to ensure that the Yankees receive favorable calls in order to place the ginormous New York media market in the World Series thereby securing a ratings bonanza. Plus it would keep small-town greater Los Angeles and its tiny metropolitan area of dozens of residents out of the Fall Classic where Bingo Night or a seasonal bobbing for apples contest could single-handedly kill the World Series ratings.
Got all that? Oh, I know what you're going to say: "The umpiring has been horrible all post-season. It's been the single biggest story line all through the playoffs". Well of course it has you nitwit. They couldn't make it obvious; then any moron could have figured it out. They had to disguise it so that only the internet's brightest minds/Angels bloggers could just barely uncover the plot. Look, everyone knew the Yankees were going to get by the Twins, it was when they got to their arch-nemesis, the Angels, who have absolutely pwned the Yanks over the past ten years, that they would need help. So by decree of MLB/FOX/WUA, umpires began intentionally blowing calls throughout the Division Series in order to make it more believable when they started throwing things the Yankees' way in the ALCS. That's why the Angels got the benefit of three blown calls in Game One of the ALDS against the Red Sox; it makes it all the more believable that they're not getting screwed now.
As Yankee fans, of course Jay and I have mixed emotions about corroborating all this shocking news. But the truth will set you free and we want to hold ourselves to a high moral standard rather than be handicapped by blind loyalty to the juiced up cheating Yankees. That's why we took the afternoon off yesterday, to partake in a daring mission to capture the security tapes of the headquarters at said Angels blog. That way we could prove to the world that they did in fact have airtight evidence that all their claims were true. Unfortunately, MLB/FOX/WUA/CIA operatives arrived just as we were about to make our getaway, recapturing the security footage from us in an effort to leave the entirety of the baseball loving public in blissful ignorance.
But we are undeterred. We turned to the Fack Youk Artistic Reconstruction Team, a crack assemblage of disgraced former police sketch artists and art school dropouts and had them reconstruct what we had seen at the Angel blog fortress of solitude. The reconstruction is below. Prepare to have your minds blown:
See how reeediculous all this sounds? So in honor of the folks over at the Blog That Shall Not Be Named, here's a video starring A-Rod's girlfriend's ex-husband:
Good morning Fackers. The Sergio Mitre Show doesn't take to the hill again until tomorrow night, but I'm plum out of ideas for this morning, so we're gonna get after it a day early. It's only been three starts, but it's looking increasingly obvious that Mitre isn't the answer for the fifth starter spot. That the Yankees used yesterday's off day to shuffle their rotation and keep Mitre from facing Boston speaks volumes as to just how tenuous his grasp on the job is.
Brian Cashman has until August 31st to pick up another starter through a waiver deal, but as Joe at RAB has pointed out, there might not be a lot available that way.
So what are the options amongst the currently unemployed? As you might imagine, they're not too appealing. These guys are the unemployed - or as Homer Simpson called them in Mr. Plow episode, the unemployable - for a reason. (Unfortunately I can only find the clip here, and it's in Spanish - jump to the 8:10 mark - and for the record Fack Youk does not condone copyright infringement, even if it is a crappy overdubbed video.) Here's what's out there:
Paul Byrd: In semi-retirement, the former porn addict and HGH enthusiast has not pitched all year. Probably not a good idea. But, he was with the Red Sox last year, so maybe he knows their signs. If nothing else, maybe he could help Godzilla overcome his addiction.
Sir Sidney Ponson: By now I'm sure you've heard that the Round Mound of Throwdown has been DFA'd by the Royals. Look, if you can't pitch for the Royals, then you can't pitch (I'm looking at you Tomko). This would be Ponson's third stint with the Yankees. That would be like a Hollywood studio making one really shitty movie, then making another really shitty sequel to it, then inexplicably making a third movie in that series. In an unrelated story, Fast and Furious was released on DVD last Tuesday. I bet Jared Remy is totally jacked up about that.
Daniel Cabrera: Nevermind. The D-backs signed him yesterday. Probably a good thing it was them and not the Yanks. Although, he would probably knock A.J. Burnett out of the AL lead for BBs. That reminds me, Victor Zambrano is also out there, and there have been rumors that TB was shopping Scott Kazmir. Maybe lightning will strike twice.
Elmer Dessens: He's not really a starter anymore. The Mets DFA'd him last week. Much like the Royals, if you're getting DFA'd by the Mets, you may want to consider another line of work.
Brett Tomko: Oh if only poor Brett wasn't treated so badly during his two and a half months of drawing a Major League paycheck from the Yankees in exchange for pitching like garbage. If only. He could easily fill this fifth starter void, but there's no way he'll come back after the indignities he suffered. Who's laughing now Yankees? Maybe you'll be nicer to the next mediocre journeyman pitcher on your roster. At the very least it might have gotten you in good with Mrs. Tomko.
Julian Tavarez: DFA's by the Nats. Ugh. Worse than KC, worse than the Mets. Would significantly increase the crazy quotient in the clubhouse though.
I sure hope something halfway decent creeps across the waiver wire.
A few news items as we head towards tonight's preview:
It's official: Xavier Nady will have the second Tommy John surgery of his career.
Jose Molina begins his rehab assignment in Rhode Island tonight. He'll suit up for Scranton against the hated Pawtucket Red Sox.
There is no news on Damaso Marte, the only other Yankee on the DL. I presume he's fallen down the same rabbit hole that swallowed Ozzie Smith on The Simpsons.
Eric Hinske arrived in the Bronx yesterday, was added to the roster, and issued #14. A-Rod got a half night off as the DH, but with lefty Jarrod Washburn on the mound, Cody Ransom got the start at third.
Many in the blogosphere have pointed out the Hinske has played just 132 innings at third over the past five seasons, and has not been particularly graceful at the hot corner. Still, I'd expect to see him see time there soon, particularly when the Yanks get to the turf in Minnesota next week. All he has to do is run into one at the plate to make up for a few errors.
As expected, Ramiro Pena was optioned out to make room for Hinske. The plan is for Pena to learn to play CF at Scranton, increasing his versatility. RAB has a nice look at the situation. But I wonder, don't the Yankees already have an option like this at Scranton with the offensively-superior Kevin Russo? Either way, I think consistent playing time and regular PAs will help Pena.
Today marks the start of the international signing period, which means a bunch of Latin American 16 year-olds are about to become very rich in deals that may or may not be ethical and above board. The Yankees have completed their long-rumored deal with Gary Sanchez, adding to the organization's tremendous depth at catcher. They are reportedly closing in on a pitcher and shortstop as well. Pete Abe has some good comments on all this.
In bigger international news, Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman has defected. Chapman was impressive in the WBC and figures to start a bidding war once he establishes asylum, likley in the Dominican Republic or Nicaragua. If he's more El Duque than Jose Contreras, I say go for it.
#2 - How does this necessitate a curse, exactly? Every player who ever turned down more money than the Red Sox were offering (which, oh by the way, almost never happens) means the team they sign with is cursed? How about the Curse of Johnny Damon or the Curse of A-Rod? It's all bullshit, but at least those two make some sort of sense.
It's funny to me that there is still all this whining coming out of Boston about not getting Teixeira despite the fact that Youkilis is having an outstanding season, the Sox are 8-0 against the Yanks and are in first place by two games. Imagine if they were floundering and Youk was hitting like Papi?
The fact remains that the reason Boston didn't offer as much for Teix is because they didn't need him as badly. They have a great first baseman in thaYoukstah. Stop acting like jilted lovers, you guys dated for like a week.
Joe West says these links are "pathetic and embarassing", but Mariano Rivera thinks they are fine they way they are:
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