Game 36: Out On The Weekend

Think I'll pack it in and buy a pick-up,
Take it down to L.A.,
Find a place to call my own, and try to fix up,
Start a brand new day.

See the lonely boy, out on the weekend,
Trying to make it pay.
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and,
Can't begin to say.

A Special Guest Apology

/Barry White voice

Melky, I'm sorry baby. I never should have given up on you like I did. The thing was... well, you just... you hurt me so bad. All of last season, Melky, the pop ups, the strike outs. I couldn't handle 'em. They were drivin' me mad. We didn't make the playoffs, and you know that the lack of production from CF was a major reason for that. I know you know that. 

I never should have written that post after that walk off homer you hit against the A's where I said that you still shouldn't be starting. I shoulda looked at Brett Gardner's numbers, because they were no where near as good as yours, Melky. I guess sometimes we let our judgements get clouded by emotion, and we can't see the forest through the trees. 

And now I'm torn, ya know? Because both of y'all did some amazing things last night and I don't know who to choose. Your numbers are almost exactly in line with your 2007 season, and back then you were a servicable Major League player. But now we're two years older and the road ahead don't look the same, ya dig? 

But part of me is sayin' that it's too good to be true; that these numbers ain't gonna last. I'm worried are gonna do me wrong, just like you have in the past. You're gonna get all free swingin' and wild, causin' your on-base to drop to .300 like it was last year and then your gonna leave me high and dry. Please prove me wrong, Melky. I'm beggin' you.

But no matter what happens between us, I'mma aaaallllways remember last night:

Feel Good Story Of The Morning

From the Post (of all places). Meet the only person in the world who thought Brett Gardner would hit a home run last night:

"I met with several different children, probably 15 or 20, and one little girl, she gave me a bracelet," Gardner said of his pregame trip to Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital at New York Presbyterian yesterday, before he went out and played a huge role -- including delivering an inside the park home run -- in the Yanks' 5-4 win over the Twins. "I asked what it was for and she said it was for me and she told me that if I kept it I would hit a home run and she said I'd hit a home run tonight."

He kept the gift in his locker. He hit a home run. He did lots more. He met so many kids, he doesn't remember the little girl's name -- but he remembers her face. And he'll always remember last night.

This girl clearly does not have access to Baseball-Reference in her room. It took Gardner 222 Major League plate appearances to hit his first home run and two games later, when he wasn't even in the starting line-up, he rips around the bases for an inside-the-parker, which single-handedly brought the crowd back into the game. What are the odds?

I don't think anyone thought it was a good thing when Johnny Damon got ejected, but stepping into the #2 spot, Gardner singled in the fifth, hit the inside the park home run in the seventh and tripled to lead off the ninth. Not a bad night to catch a game in the Bronx. 

Game 35: YESSSSSSS

I never meant to call you a turdburger, Melky. I take it all back.

Game 35: #3

Don't worry, Phil. They're not booing you, they are just saying
"Huuuuuuuuuughes"...

Game 35: #2

Greetings from Section 214a

Game 35: #1

A smattering of boos, but a largely positive reception for A-Rod.

Game 35: This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)

Tonight begins the longest homestand for the Yankees this year. They enter at .500 and play four against the Twins, and three apiece against the Orioles and Phillies without a day off. It seems like a decent time for the Yanks to start racking up some wins because none of these teams are playing particularly well. 

Game number thirty five game pits two young pitchers who not too long ago were absolutely untouchable within their respective organizations. In 2006, Francisco Liriano burst on the scene, pitching 121 innings to a 2.16 ERA and striking out 144 with a WHIP of exactly 1.000. He was seen as the heir apparent to Johan Santana's throne in Minnesota, but was sidelined with Tommy John surgery, missed the entire 2007 season and only pitched 76 innings in 2008. 

He started off this year with four consecutive losses, and was sporting an ERA of 7.06. Two of his last three starts have been solid and he's managed to drop that number down to 5.75. Although he's yet to find stride this year, he's got the potential to be dominant as he showed by striking out 9 in 7 1/3 innings against the Tigers on May 4th. 

When Liriano was setting the MLB on fire in 2006, Phil Hughes was still in the minors, but considered the best pitching prospect in the Yankees system and near the very top in all of baseball. Coincidentally, Hughes' best outing this year came against Edwin Jackson and the Tigers as well, just one turn in the rotation before Liriano's. 

Hughes has had neither the sustained major league dominance nor severity of injuries that Liriano has, but tonight they find themselves in the same place. 

I'll be up at the Stadium this evening, either picture posting from my iPhone or Twittericizing. It's Friday, so chances are at some point I'm going to Stop Making Sense. 

Home - is where I want to be,
But I guess I'm already there,
I come home - she lifted up her wings,
Guess that this must be the place,
I can't tell one from another,
Did I find you, or you find me?
There was a time Before we were born,
If someone asks, this is where I'll be.

A-Rod Is... (Dramatic Pause)

"Keep focusing on my magical three run home run while I proceed to go 2 for 20"

Could you imagine the media vultures circling over his head if he didn't hit that homer back in Baltimore? The stories in the tabolids would be telling us how he came back too early from his hip surgery, or he wasn't mentally ready to deal with the media attention. Instead, with one swing, he bought himself a free pass good for at least six games without intense scrutiny of his performance. 

Tonight is a different story. I'll be at the Stadium and it will be interesting to see how he is received. I didn't boo Chien Ming Wang when he got shellacked and I'm not going to boo A-Rod either. Do you think other people are going to? The Twins are in town, so it's not like they are going to have an overwhelming fan presence. I'm guessing there will be a mostly positive reception in his first at bat and from then on it will be solely based on his performance. If he goes 0-5 like he did last night, they'll be booing him by the 4th at bat. 

Eeeeey, Gino Castignoli...

...You're a friggin' Mush...



Remember Gino? Well, he is the jerkoff who buried David Ortiz's jersey in the New Stadium last April. 

How did that work out for you, guy? It did fetch $175,100 for the Jimmy Fund, but I'm pretty sure that's not what you had in mind. 

It's not to say that the New Stadium has been all cupcakes and ponies to this point, but after yesterday afternoon's performance it looks like Ortiz's jersey being buried in cement is quite the apt metaphor. In 12 innings against the Angels, he went 0-7 with 3 K's and left 12 men on base in a game they lost by one run. He's hitting .220/.333/.317 (67 OPS+) on the season and has fewer homers and a lower slugging percentage than Brett Gardner.

Sorry if I triple un-jinx him by writing this, but we might as well enjoy it while we can.  

By A Thread

Is it possible for a one run game to have been closer than the score indicated? Neither team scored more than one run in an inning, nor did they lead by more than one. It wasn't a protracted, tense affair but there were close breaks in either direction and this one could have easily gone either way. The starting pitchers both turned in solid performances, the difference was that by going eight innings, Sabathia only had to turn the ball over to Mariano Rivera, while Brian Tallet was pulled after allowing a walk and a single in the 7th.

The Jays' starter had only thrown 91 pitches and was in line for the win, but Jason Frasor blew the save and Jesse Carlson was tagged with the "L". Tallet gets an A for effort and a M+ for an excellent 'stashe piece. It looked like someone travelled back into 1986, plucked him out of a truck stop in Decatur and said, "Hey pal, can you throw a fastball?" 

Come on, if someone told you that Brain Tallet had driven some truck is his day, would you be that surprised?

Our own formerly mustachioed lefty ran into a scary moment in the first when Aaron Hill ripped a line drive right back up the middle towards him. Maybe it's just because he is such a large individual, but it seems as though this has happened to Sabathia more than his fair share of times this year. Helped out by an instinctual reaction, CC's glove ended up right in the path of the ball, narrowly missing his pitching hand and elbow.
 

He had it for a second, dropped it, but still made the throw to first in time.  

Sabathia wasn't exactly sharp, issuing 4 walks, but did a good job of limiting the damage. He allowed a HR to Yankee-killer Alex Rios in the fourth inning, and then ran into some trouble in the fifth. With one out, Sabathia had already walked Scott Rolen, who was doubled home by Rod Barajas. The next batter, John McDonald, hit a bouncing single up the middle, which figured to score a run. Gardner fielded and fired to the plate where Francisco Cervelli made a lunging ass-tag (pictured up top) on the slow-footed Barajas for the second out of the inning.

The play at the plate is one of the most exciting events in baseball. Only if an outfielder robs a hitter of a multi-run homer is there more at directly stake. There was both a run and an out on the line which would have been more than enough to alter the outcome of this game. Sabathia got Marco Scutaro to ground out an end the inning, diffusing the threat and keeping the score at 2-1. 

The Yankees tied it up in the 7th inning on a little squib to right field by Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui hit a home run over a giant picture of Brain Tallet in right center, which would prove the be the game-deciding run. 

Coming into the series, if the Yankees were offered a deal that would have allowed them to take two out of three, I think they would have gladly accepted. It was a respectable (if predictable) showing. They got undressed by Roy Halladay, then rocked Scott Richmond and finally got a solid performance from their ace. They return home tonight to begin a ten game homestand. Their mini-Divisional road trip ended up at 4-2, so I guess that all is well that ends well. 

Game 34: Acadian Driftwood

It's not everyday you see a match-up of 6' 7" left-handed pitchers.

This will be the sixth start of the season for 31 year old Brain Tallet. In his three previous seasons as a Blue Jay, Tallet only only made one other start and you'd have to go all the way back to his time with Cleveland in 2003 to find another. He's been solid as a reliever for the Jays, especially last year, when he threw 56.1 innings to a 2.88 ERA, but the injuries to their staff this season forced him into the rotation on April 18th. For the time being, it looks like he's there to stay:

"They (management) do have to make a decision and it's tough to take him out of the rotation now," Jays manager Cito Gaston said of Tallet. "I'd like to have another lefty in the bullpen, but if he continues to pitch the way he has, there's no reason to take him out of the rotation."

His ERA sits at 4.95, but that is severely inflated by one hellacious outing against Kansas City during which he gave up 10 ER in 4 innings. Since then, he's lasted 7 innings in each of his two starts and allowed only 10 baserunners combined.

Of course, jumping the bump for the Yanks tonight will be CC Sabathia. When last seen, Sabathia was letting out a primal scream in Baltimore after throwing a complete game shutout to stop the Yankees' five game skid. They are 2-2 and since then. His second complete game of the year (the first in a losing effort) brought his ERA under 4.00 but CC's won-lost record is still 2-3. After issuing 14 walks in his first four starts, he has given up only 2 in his past three. It seems as though the Hefty Lefty (we can use that for him now that Jared Lorenzen is gone from the Giants, yes?) is starting to hit his stride. 

-----

As the Yanks head out of Canada and back to New York tonight, I thought it would be appropriate to bust out Acadian Driftwood by The Band. As is the case with some of their other songs, this one is based on historical events, even though the lyrics take some liberties at times. 

Acadia was a French Colony in Canada founded in 1604 which consisted of the modern-day Maritime Provinces, Eastern Quebec, and parts of New England. The colony changed hands numerous times, going from France to The Netherlands to England, back to France. In 1755, at the beginning of the Seven Years War, if Acadians did not swear allegiance to the English crown, they were forcefully deported throughout the American colonies. 

Robbie Robertson (a Toronto native) was the one who wrote the lyrics and did so from a first person historical narrative, similar to The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (except, unlike "Virgil Kane", the narrator is never named). The It's a pretty long song, but this article provides a thorough breakdown of the background behind it and an assessment of the historical validity of it line by line. 

Everlasting summer filled with ill-content,

This government had us walkin' in chains,
This isn't my turf,
This ain't my season,
Can't think of one good reason to remain.

[...]

Acadian driftwood,
Gypsy tail wind,
They call my home the land of snow,
Canadian cold front movin' in,
What a way to ride,
Ah, what a way to go.

OPS w/RISP

Over at Circling the Bases, Matthew Pouliot's stat of the day yesterday was team's OPS with runners in scoring position. Overall, the Yankees ranked 18th, but in realtion to the total OPS, they had the third largest lag in the league with .53, behind only the Diamondbacks and the Nationals (those numbers have obviously changed as of today).

I think as fans, we have all at a certain point been frustrated with the Yankees' recent inabilty to get "clutch" hits and drive runners home, so I decided to try and get some historical perspective on this. 

Using Baseball-Reference, I took it all the way back to 1989 and charted the team's OPS, OPS w/runners in scoring position and winning percentage.

Here are a few things that jumped out:

• Between 1989 and 2007, there were only three years in which the team's OPS w/RISP was lower than the team's overall OPS. However, that was the case last year and is so far this season as well. Is this more than a small sample size fluke? Is it a trend developing? 
  
  
• Total OPS has a fairly strong correlation to winning percentage, with the expection of this year. 
  
  
• Take a look at the increase in total OPS from 89-94. Sure, the team was getting better winning percentage-wise, but can you think of another thing that was starting to happen throughout baseball at that time?  
  
  
• Interestingly, the 2009 Yanks have almost the exact same OPS as the 1998 team (.817 to .818), however in '98 that number with runners in scoring position was .860 compared with .793 this year.
  
  
• That .860 figure is not the highest on the list. That would be the .862 belonging to the 2002 Yankees, who scored almost 100 fewer runs that the '99 team due to a lower total OPS. 

Any other observations?