Game 66: Crying, Waiting, Hoping

Crying, crying,
Tears keep a-falling,
All night long.
Waiting, waiting,
It seems so useless,
I know its wrong,
To keep on...

...crying, crying,
Waiting, waiting,
Hoping, hoping...

While the weather looks pretty dismal at the moment, the end does appear to be in sight. All indications are that the Yanks are going to try to get this one in. If/When the game goes off, provided that it's still during work hours, we will host a live chat to keep you entertained and kill your productivity at your job.

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A rain delay has to be particularly difficult on a starting pitcher. They spend their professional lives knowing exactly when their next outing is going to take place, down to a matter of minutes. They prepare and work out and sleep and eat in accordance to when they will be taking the mound. They can focus and prepare for when they take the ball and all eyes turn to them. It's a gradual and predictable build up. But not today. Joba Chamberlain and Craig Stammen have to amble about the clubhouse, trying to stay loose, or alert, or ready, knowing that the call could come at any time.

This happened to Joba once already this season and the results weren't especially encouraging. On May 26th in Texas, the game was delayed almost two and a half hours by rain. If you'll recall, this was the outing that Joba was pulled after 4 innings, 4 walks, 4 hits, 84 pitches and 3 runs. His last start against the Mets wasn't a whole lot better (4IP, 2ER, 100 pitches). Since his 8 strong innings in Cleveland he's gone progressively fewer innings (8, 6, 4), while his pitch count has remained about the same (106, 100, 100). The free swinging Nats should help him buck that trend.

Starting for the Nats will be Craig Stammen (not "Stamen", easy there, flower children). As was the case with the other two pitchers Manny Acta has trotted out this year, the Yankees have not faced Stammen yet. He's a 25 year old rookie who has pitched a grand total of 27 1/3 innings in the major leagues and has yet to throw 100 pitches in an outing or see his ERA below 5. Let's test that theory again. He's lasted at least until the fifth inning in each of his starts, but (shockingly!) has yet to come away with one of the Nationals' 17 victories.

If they do get around to playing this thing, Jeter, Posada and Melky will all be out of the line up.

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Come back for the live chat when game time rolls around.

"Henry & Me"

A couple Yankees are contributing to an animated film called "Henry & Me". The title character turns out to be (SPOLIER ALERT!) Lou Gehrig and will be portrayed by Richard Gere.

Since it's a children's book, everyone has predictably altrustic motives. Here is the author of the book the movie is based upon:

"We can give the innocence of the game back to the children," Negron said. "Goodbye steroids, hello grassroots."

Which sounds great, right?

But A-Rod is in the movie. You'd think that if you were really trying to say "goodbye steroids" or whatever, you might not want to include an admitted steroid user in the fucking cast. But then they probably wouldn't get Newsday to write a story about the movie with A-Rod's part as the lede, would they?

It was George Steinbrenner who gave Negron a job as a Yankees batboy in the 1970s, after The Boss caught Negron spray-painting the team logo on the old Yankee Stadium.

"This is a tribute to George Steinbrenner, and his passion for all of the young kids in the country," Negron said.

It's a shame he's not alive to see it.

ABJECT FAILURE !!!1!!!1!

Maybe I'm alone on this one, but I don't think losing to a guy with an ERA of 3.51 with your worst pitcher on the mound is really that bad, regardless of what team the other guy plays for. I made fun of some of the beat writers this morning for proclaiming anything less than a sweep was unacceptable and unfortunately, tonight's game proves my point exactly. An opposing pitcher with an ERA in the threes and is entitled to have a good night once in a while, regardless of how shitty the team he plays for is.

Without question, last night was frustrating on several levels. For one, the offense was lackluster against lefty John Lannan. Only six men reached base. The Yanks had no hits with runners in scoring position, but that was mostly because they only had three chances. The only two runs were scored off John Lannan came via solo home runs by Robinson Cano in the 5th inning and Johnny Damon leading off the ninth. Even after Damon's jack, Lannan had thrown only 103 pitches. He got Nick Swisher to fly out on one pitch, but was pulled after giving up a single to Mark Teixeira.

Representing the tying run, Teix was ran for by Brett Gardner. With one out and trailing 3-2, the speedster was much more likely to score from first and tie the game. It turns out that wasn't the only benefit of making the swap. The Nationals guessed correctly with a pitchout in an 0-1 count after three consecutive pick off attempts, but Gardner swiped second anyway. He then stole third on the very next pitch as Josh Bard failed to handle a ball in the dirt.

With the tying run 90 feet away, A-Rod worked a walk and passed the buck to the hot hand from last night, Robinson Cano. Ironically, the presence of a runner on first for the Yanks would be their undoing. It's always A-Rod's fault, isn't it? Cano and Mike MacDougal battled for nine pitches, six of them fouls. When Robby finally put on in play, it rolled right to Cristian Guzman who turned an easy game-ending double play.

The reason the Yankees had to play catch up the whole night wasn't Chien Ming Wang. Through four innings, the lone run the Nats scored came from a towering solo blast by Adam Dunn. Wang only lasted 5IP, but it could have easily been more if it wasn't for the raw deal he got in the fifth inning.

Willie Harris reached base on a single to lead off the frame and get the wheels in motion. He got a marginal jump when he took off for second base, and Posada made a great throw, but Ramiro Pena couldn't quite hold on to it. Replays showed that Pena's glove beat Harris to the bag, but it didn't have the ball to go along with it.

One batter later, Cristian Guzman pulled a grounder to A-Rod at third. Alex made a brilliant play and fired across the diamond. Guzman was called safe at first, but slow-mo proved that he was indisputably out. Nick Johnson stepped into the box next and lofted a ball in between Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon in left-center field. Melky made a diving attempt but the ball fell and rolled past him, allowing both runners to score and Johnson to end up on third base. Wang prevented further damage, but 3 runs would prove to be just enough for the Nationals to secure the victory.

When I wrote "Even if Wang turns in by far his best performance of the year, the Yanks could very easily lose" this morning, it was one of those rare times that you'd rather not be right. Tonight sucked, but it's not the end of the world. If they lose tomorrow, then get back to me.

Game 65: Papa's Got A Brand New Bag

Chien-Ming Wang became a father yesterday as he and his wife Chia-Ling Wu welcomed their first child. Justin Jesse Wang checked in yesterday morning at 7 pounds, 12 ounces. Word is he already has the best sinker in the nursery.

In Taiwanese culture, the birth of a child is said to bring good luck to the parents. CMW can certainly use it today. His struggles this year have been well documented. This could be his last chance in the rotation for the foreseeable future.

The good news for Wang is that he'll be facing the lowly Washington Nationals. The bad news for Wang is that, as we detailed yesterday, they feature an above average offense despite being an epically bad team. Further compounding issues for Wang is that the Nats are slightly below league average in groundball to flyball ratio (0.72 vs. 0.79) and in groundouts to airouts (1.04 vs. 1.08). The Nats trend slightly towards being a flyball team, and flyballs in Yankee Stadium often turn into home runs. If Wang's sinker isn't sinking tonight, he could find himself in more trouble than usual.

Wang will be opposed by Washington's default "ace" John Lannan. The young southpaw has not faced the Yankees in his year plus in the Big Leagues (uh oh). He enters his start tonight with an impressive ERA+ of 124, but his peripherals suggest he might be getting lucky. His FIP of 5.06 is far above the league average of 4.35. His K/9 is low (4.4); his BB/9 (3.6) and WHIP (1.42) are somewhat high, and his BABIP of .278 is far below the league average of .301. In short, the numbers suggest he's due to get rocked at some point soon. Let's hope it happens tonight.

As Jay suggested this morning, Derek Jeter and his gimpy ankle will get the night off. According to Pete Abe, Jeter wanted to play (of course) but has been sent for an MRI. Having Ramiro Pena at short to scoop up some groundballs maybe helpful in getting Wanger right. And the poor guy needs all the help he can get right now.

In his two starts since returning from the disabled list, we've selected songs connected to the theme of Wang righting his 2009 season. It hasn't happened so far. Tonight, we try one more time as the new papa looks to start a brand new season for himself. So as CMW tries to break his funk, we turn to the song generally credited as giving birth to funk. Here's hoping the Godfather of Soul can bring some good mojo for tonight's start.

Come here sister
Papa's in the swing
He ain't too hip now
But I can dig that new breed babe
He ain't no drag
He's got a brand new bag

The Bethpage Report

Yesterday, for the second Tuesday in a row, I headed out to Bethpage State Park. This time, however, I wasn't planning on playing 18 and we didn't get rained out. I love to play golf, but couldn't care less about the PGA Tour on a week to week basis. Like many of you, however, if I'm trying to take a nap on a Sunday, golf is the perfect backdrop. It's almost as if the announcers know you are trying to sleep.

That said, I love the US Open. I think I only like the British Open because it's on when you wake up in the morning and I'm not captivated by the Masters or the PGA Championship. But the US Open winds my clock. I love the fact that they take an incredibly challenging course and make it impossibly hard. Having the winning score end up around par every year is also a refreshing change from tour events like last week, when the winning score was -18.

As is the case with all of golf's majors, the early part of the week leading up to the US Open is reserved for players to play practice rounds, get a feel for the course, and fend of all the annoying autograph hounds. Despite the practice being explicitly forbidden by the tournament, even on practice days, it's still wildly prevalent.

Every time a player goes from a green to the next tee they have to walk past dozens of people sticking out US Open hats, flags, posters, shirts and other memorabilia for them to sign. It's the reason that Tiger sneaks out at 7am and only plays 9 holes. It's probably cool to walk away with a US Open flag with a bunch of signatures on it, but in order to do so, you have to constantly pester the players for them. Not my cup of tea.

My friend Mike got our Trophy Club passes on Craigslist for half of face value including shipping. Why they were $60 to begin with is beyond me, but we got a pretty good deal. We took the LIRR from Penn Station out to the Farmingdale stop. It was $14 a person, with shuttle service right to the course and took a little over an hour both ways. Highly recommended if you are going out to the course from Manhattan. I promise it's faster and less of a hassle than driving.

We checked out the driving range and short game area when we first got there. One thing that was truly amazing is that each player practices with the same kind of balls they play with. As a result, there is a staff of 3-4 volunteers at all times taking the balls off the practice green and sorting them by brand. The entire tournament is staffed by volunteers. It's too bad the USGA doesn't make any money off of this thing or there isn't $7.5M in prize money given away, cause you'd think that these poor schlubs sorting the fucking golf balls might deserve to be compensated for their efforts.

We walked the entire course in reverse, and below you can find some of the better pictures I took. You can check out the entire layout here.

#5 - 478 Yard Par 4

# 6 - 408 Yard Par 4

#10 - 435 Yard Par 4

#17 - 207 Yard Par 3

#4 - 517 Yard Par 5

What's amazing about #4 is that #7 is 525 yards... and it's a Par 4. Even for the pros, that's pretty ridiculous. At a certain point, it's not a two shot hole anymore. There are 3 par 4's over 500 yards at Bethpage. That ain't right.

The total length of the course as the players will take it on this weekend is 7,426 as a Par 70. To give you an idea, that's about 200-400 yards longer than most tour stops and about 1,000 yards or more than the tracks your average Sunday slashers call home. And most of those are par 72's.

I'd be willing to bet two things I noticed yesterday are going to lead to somewhat lower scores this year than when Tiger won the Open here in 2002. #1) It was wet. This might make it more difficult for your average Joe, but wetter conditions allow the pros to hold fairways and greens and they'd gladly trade the distance they lose off their drives to be hitting from the fairway and have their approach shots sit softly on the greens. #2) The rough is graduated. This means that right off the fairways, there won't be the six inch rough that vexed the players last time. The rough is still long, no doubt, but it's not nearly as punitive as it was in past Opens, namely when it was at Winged Foot in '05 the winning score was Geoff Ogilvy at +5.

I doubt I'm going to make it out for any of the actual tournament days, but it's probably for the better. As Malcom Gladwell said in a conversation with Bill Simmons a few years back, golf is probably the sport that has the most to gain by being televised live. You miss a ton when you are on the course but watching on TV, they can omnisciently bring you all of the best action.

Runnin' On Jorge

Entering this season, before everyone was questioning whether or not Jorge Posada could call a game, the biggest concern was whether or not his shoulder would be healthy enough to throw out potential base stealers. Given that Posada is 38 years old, there was no guarantee that his shoulder would make a full recovery from the surgery he underwent to repair a tear in his rotator cuff and damage to his glenoid labrum. It seems that opposing teams still aren't convinced that he is healthy.

Last year, in 241 innings behind the plate, teams attempted 41 steals against Posada. He was run on in 10.3% of the plate appearances where there was s stolen base opportunity, which was second in the the American League only to Toby Hall (11.2%). Kevin Cash (9.3%) was the only other catcher with significant playing time to be tested more that 8.4% of the time. The attempts against Posada were successful 34/41 times, and of the seven times they were caught, five times the runner was picked off before the pitcher delivered the ball. That left Jorge's percentage of actually throwing out runners at a horrific 5.5%.

This year, one of those trends has reversed dramatically. Teams still are running on Posada, in fact, at an even higher percentage than before. They have attempted to steal in 11.2% of stolen base opportunities, far and away the most in the AL. Jason Varitek has been challenged next most often, but at only 8.5% of the time.

Here is the good news. Despite teams running on Jorge at an even higher rate than last year, they are successful far less often. Would-be thieves have been nabbed in 15 out of 47 attempts, 10 by Posada. That's 32% caught stealing and 21% by Jorge himself. It's still early in the season, but judging by this metric, the results of his surgery appear to be pretty incredible.

Frankie Cervelli gets run on 7.4% of the time (7th among the 21 AL catchers with 200+ SBOs) but has thrown out 31%, and sports a total CS% of 38. Here are the top 10 by Run %.

Theoretically, caught stealing percentage and run percentage would have an inverse relationship because in aggregate, managers should be less likely to test the catchers most likely to throw out the runner (obviously). But a lot of managers still rely on their gut or other instincts as opposed to hard numbers, so the list doesn't really bear that out.

It would seem that opposing managers and speedsters are underestimating Posada pretty drastically. Since a pitcher picking a runner off in the process of trying to steal a base has little to do with who is behind the plate, the best way to determine who gets the least respect for throwing out runners would be to juxtapose Run % with the Catcher's Caught Stealing % (CS% by C above).

Using this method, here are the three most disrespected catchers in the AL, sorted by the differential between the two rankings:

Kenji Johjima has the highest caught stealing and caught stealing by catcher, yet he ranks in the top half in Run % (8th). Talk about No Respect... Kenji is a very low key player, stashed away up in Seattle which must work to his advantage because this is one of the cases where flying under the radar does you a lot of good.

Figure this one out: A.J. Pierzynski only gets run on 5.5% of the time (18th out the 21), but has only thrown out one runner this season. Attention AL Skippers... you might want to start running on A.J. Pierzynski. Navarro and Suzuki are far less egregious cases, but it should be noted that they haven't quite earned the respect they have been given.

These Aren't The Washington Generals

The Nationals are a bad team. I think we can all agree on that. Being 30 games under .500 at this point in the season puts them on pace to lose roughly 120 games. That is mind-bogginglingly awful. But it doesn't mean that anything less than a sweep against them is a disgrace.

Beat writers don't play the "sweep or die" card very often, but they have in spades for this series.

Ken Davidoff:

Big-picture usually dominates this column. No game, or series, exists in a vacuum - at least, before September. But this week at Yankee Stadium, we're tossing the big picture in the garbage.

The Nationals are so horrible that a Yankees loss to them is virtually inexcusable.

Joel Sherman:

I try hard never to talk about must wins unless games truly are must wins or to apply weighty proportions to games in June. However, I will say this: The Yankees can't just win a series against Washington starting tomorrow. Anything less than a sweep is abject failure.

Pete Abe:

It’s tough to say the Yankees need to sweep. The Nats do figure to show up, after all. But winning two out of three won’t be satisfactory against this team.

In 21 series this year, the Nationals have "only" been swept seven times. Not doing something that only one out of three teams that has faced them this year have been able to do would be an "abject failure"? Remember when the Pirates top prospects lost to Manatee Community College? It's still baseball, guys. I understand the temptation to demand a sweep, but as last night goes to show, it only takes one bad pitch (especially in the New Yankee Stadium) to turn a game around.

After last night's loss, the Nationals' record is 16-46. A wining percentage of .258 is a lot closer to .333 (1-2) than it is to .000 (0-3). As you might expect is the case with any historically terrible team, their Pythagorean record (23-39, .370) indicates that they have been somewhat unlucky in their run distribution, meaning that their current wining percentage sells them a little short.

Tonight the Nats send their best pitcher, lefty John Lannan to face Chien Ming Wang. Even if Wang turns in by far his best performance of the year, the Yanks could very easily lose.

If the Yankees won two out of every three games, they would finish with 108 wins. Taking two out of three in this series is not a failure... it would improve their winning percentage on the year. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. As CC said after the he notched his sixth win of the season last night, "This is the big leagues, you can't take anyone lightly."

Nice Try Kyle

You remember Kyle Farnsworth, don't you? Farnsworthless. Relief pitcher. Never really offered much relief. Makes the late Jose Veras seem reliable. Inspiration for the "Anyone But Farnsworth" t-shirt. Guy that often showed up his teammates and/or manager. That guy.

Perhaps you'd remember him if you saw his name as it's usually posted in the box score: Farnsworth, BS

Well, Kyle is now in Kansas City and up to his old tricks. Namely being an extremely frustrating pitcher to watch. Joe Posnarski had a spot-on piece on Farnsworth last week.

But the latest news on Farnsworth is that he required four stitches in his non pitching hand yesterday after getting bit while breaking up a fight between his dogs. That sounds like the punch line to a Jeff Foxworthy joke. Farnsworth bites and his dogs do too.

Nice try Kyle, but just because David Cone suffered a bite from his mother's Jack Russell Terrier on his way to a twenty win season in 1998 doesn't mean that this will make you any less of a crappy pitcher. A dalmation can't change his spots and an inflammable relief pitcher can't help but blow saves.

Given his recent use and reading between the lines of manager Trey Hillman's quotes in the dog bite article gives me the impression that Krazy Kyle may have already worn out his welcome in KC. Which is too bad since, despite his track record, Farnsworth signed a two year, $9.25M contract this past off-season. $4M+ per year for a relief pitcher. A relief pitcher who isn't the closer. A relief pitcher who is Kyle Farnsworth.

Next time you hear some KC fan bellyaching about how they can't compete financially with the Yankees, point to Kyle Farnsworth's contract (or Jose Guillen's for that matter). Having limited resources is one thing, deploying them in an idiotic manner is quite another. As friend of Foxworthy Bill Engvall Ron White is given to say: you can't fix stupid.

CC & Cano Carry

(Photos)

For the first four innings of last night's game, everything went accoring to plan. The Yankees pushed across a run via a Melky Cabrera sacrifice fly in the second inning and another on a single by Robinson Cano in the third. CC Sabathia mowed through the Nationals' line-up, who collectively looked like they'd much rather be somewhere else. It only took 46 pitches to get through the four frames and CC never used up more than 5 pitches on any single at bat. He gave up three hits, but his efficency and dominance made the outcome of the game seem like a forgone conclusion.

Anyone who bought into this notion was in for a rude awakening in the fifth inning, however. Former Yankees Alberto Gonzalez and Wil Nieves got on via back to back one out singles, the latter the result of a tough 9 pitch at bat, setting the table for the legendary Anderson Hernandez.

Owner of a .309 career slugging percentage and one home run in 356 plate appearances, Hernandez was clearly not cause for much concern. But down 1-2, he reversed a floated change up into the most unlikely of home runs, just of the the reach of Johnny Damon in the left field corner. A shocked crowd at the Stadium watched in relative silence as Hernandez rounded the bases and the Nationals pulled ahead 3-2.

The circumstances were similar to the three run homer Sabathia gave up to Willy Aybar in his last start against the Rays. In the sixth inning of that game, Sabathia looked dominant aside from a hiccup the inning before, but allowed two quick baserunners, and in a flash, Aybar turned the game on it's head with a three-run homer to left.

Not to fear, because another Yankee castoff would factor into the decision. Good old Ron Villone (or should I say bad old Ron Villone) entered the game with a 0.96 ERA for the Nationals on the season, allowing just two runs in 18 2/3 innings pitched. Memories of Villone's 120 or so innings with a 4.90 ERA for the Yankees foreshadowed what was about to happen next.

In the top of the 7th Villone came into to replace Sharion Martis, who had allowed only one earned run despite walking 5, giving even more creedence to the rookie starter conspiracy. Ronny V promptly served up a single to Johnny Damon and a towering double off the wall in left center to Mark Teixeira to tie the game at 3. A-Rod struck out to a chorus of boos, but the player of the night, Robinson Cano stepped in finish the deal.

Robby laced a line drive over the head of Elijah Dukes in centerfield who made two mistakes on the play. His first was misjudging the ball off the ball, which allowed it to fly over his head and roll back to the wall. The second was casually flipping the ball to the relay man, which Cano read as a green light to try and take third. The second and third legs of the relay were much more efficient and Cano was busted trying to stretch. The damage was done however, and the Yanks never looked back.

Sabathia forged ahead into the top of the 8th and had retired the last ten batters before Nick Johnson stepped into the box. With two outs, he walked on 10 pitches, and that was it for the big fella. Joe Girardi, working an incredibly sort leash, came out to get Sabathia in favor of the recently activated Brian Bruney, taking him off the disabled list and throwing him directly into the fire. The move worked as Bruney got Ryan Zimmerman to ground out to second base. Touching 96 with his fastball, it looked like Bruney hadn't missed a beat. Funny how having effective releivers can make a manager look smart.

The Yanks put up another run in the bottom half of the frame and Mo did what Mo does in the top of the 9th.

Sabathia and Cano were the two centerpieces to this victory. The walk to Johnson was the only one Sabathia allowed in his 7 2/3 IP, to go along with 6 hits. He only struck out two, but that could be chalked up to the fact that most of the guys on the Nationals came up hacking. Being on a last place team doesn't provide a whole lot of incentive to be patient at the plate. Cano went 4-4, factoring in three of the team's runs by driving in two and scoring another.

One odd/end: In the sixth inning, after hitting a soft grounder to third, Derek Jeter was noticably limping down the line to first. He was removed from the game with "stiffness in his left ankle" or something vague to that affect and he is listed as day to day. You never know with Jeter, but one would assume by how gingerly he was treating it, he is going to get at the very least a day off.

Game 64: U.S. Blues

Washington: First in war, first in peace, last in the American League.

That was the old line about the first and second MLB franchises to call our nation's capital home. The Washington Senators v1.0 (1901-1960) and v2.0 (1961-1971) were a perrenial second division team. In 60 years, the first version managed just three pennants and a single World Championship, despite playing in an eight team league. After the original Senators skipped town to become the Minnesota Twins, the expansion Senators finished last four times and second-to-last three times as they compiled ten losing records in eleven seasons before becoming the Texas Rangers.

Other than the league, not much has changed since the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals in 2005. The Nats finished at .500 in 2005, good for their best record thus far, but also good for last place in the NL East that year. Since then, they've posted records of 71-91, 73-89, and 59-102, rising as high as fourth place in 2007.

Tonight, they enter their series with the Yankees at 16-45, playing .262 ball and nearly matching the historically bad pace set by the 1962 New York Mets (40-120, .250). At their current pace, they would have the sixth worst winning percentage since the dawn of the twentieth century.

The franchise is in total disarray. In March, Jim Bowden, General Manager and former Yankee front office employee, resigned in disgrace amid allegations of illegally skimming the signing bonuses of Latin American prospects. The most remarkable part of his four year reign of terror was that he acquired a lot of players he used to have in Cincinnati. Good for you Jim.

In the dugout, manager Manny Acta is day-to-day. Not as in injured, as in employed. Various reports are circulating that it's a matter of when, not if, he'll be fired. It may well come during this series, and Acta may well just stay in New York. I agree with Pete Abe that Acta will be the Mets' manager by the start of next year at the latest. Jerry Manuel's act, like K-Rod's, is getting tired. Acta was a coach with the Mets before taking the Nats' job, and he is still thought highly of wthin the organization.

On the field, the Nats are actually swinging the bats well. As a team, they're hitting .259/.344/.410 and all three marks are above the NL averages of .257/.333/.405. On the mound however, it's another story. The Nats are last in the NL in runs per game, ERA, WHIP, H/9, BB/9, and K/BB, and by a significant margin in most of those categories. Opponents are hitting .279/.362/.451 against them, dead last in BA and OBP against, and second to last in SLG, trailing Philly's bandbox staff by just 0.004.

The fire sale will start soon. Everyone save for Ryan Zimmerman is available. There's not much to pick at on the pitching staff: Ron Villone may be a good LOOGY for someone; John Lannan is too young and left-handed to come cheaply. They do have some bats to deal: Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham, Elijah Dukes, and former Yankee farm hands Christian Guzman and Nick Johnson. Rumors say Nick the Stick could find himself back in New York with the Mets or back in the AL East with Boston. Regardless of whatever haul the Nats pull for these parts, it's going to be a years-long road back to respectability, even if Stephen Strasburg proves to be everything Scott Boras says he is.

So with ace CC Sabathia taking the mound tonight against Shairon Martis and his career 84 ERA+, this should be a slam dunk. Which is exactly why I'm worried, particularly with CMW slated to go tomorrow. They need to beat up on the pitcher with a lady's name tonight.

Brian Bruney will be activated for tonight's game. If Tomko is DFA'd I'll be overjoyed; if Veras is I'll be satisfied. But if David Robertson finds his way back to Scranton I'm going to lose it.

Enjoy the game, and the vintage video below.



Back-to-back chicken shack
Son of gun better change your act
We're all confused. What's to lose?
You can call this song the United States Blues

The Pitchers And Posada

As Joba Chamberlain has a way of doing, his disagreements with Jorge Posada during their last outing sparked a lot of debate as to whether he should be listening to the veteran backstop. This in turn caused some writers to question whether pitchers in general like throwing to Posada and look into how the staff as a whole performs with him behind the plate.

Here's what some local scribes have to say:

Joel Sherman:

Now, I have long been a huge supporter of Posada the catcher, including defending him in his own clubhouse. Over the years, I have heard plenty of off-the-record snipes from pitchers who did not particularly like Posada's game-calling intellect or the lack of soft hands and finesse that enables a catcher to frame pitches well and steal strikes.

>8

The theory on Posada always has been that he so often had such a huge offensive edge over his catching counterpart that whatever he gave away on defense was more than offset by his bat. But I sense that separation is narrowing. Besides, the Yanks have other bats now to honor better defense behind the plate, especially because the Yankees invested so heavily in their rotation to try to become more of a pitching/defense team.

When you also factor in that preserving Posada's body and bat are most critical now, I think it becomes obvious that, overall, the team is better with him DHing more and catching less.

Pete Abe:

Enough of this nonsense. The Yankees won three World Series championships with Jorge Posada as their regular catcher and made the playoffs every year with him catching. Then what happened last season? Posada barely played and the Yankees went home in October.

Was that why? I can’t prove that. No more so than anybody can prove that Posada is the reason A.J. Burnett can’t throw strikes.

The idea that a catcher can regularly steal strikes by framing a pitch is largely a myth according to Molina. “Maybe once or twice a game,” he said. “Depends on the umpire.”

According to Molina, the umpires are judging where the ball crosses the plate, not where the catcher’s glove is.

Tyler Kepner:

One unsettling fact for the Yankees is the difference when Jorge Posada catches. With Posada behind the plate, the Yankees’ pitchers have a 6.31 E.R.A. The combined E.R.A. with Francisco Cervelli, Jose Molina and Kevin Cash is 3.81.

Posada has caught four starts by Chien-Ming Wang, whose job status is now evaluated on a game-by-game basis. Even removing those starts, the staff’s E.R.A. with Posada is still high, at 5.47.

When he lost a six-run lead in Boston in April, Burnett questioned the pitch selection, though he blamed himself, not Posada. Asked Sunday about the difference in pitching to the rookie Cervelli, Burnett gave a careful but revealing answer.

“I think it’s just a matter of — I don’t know if it’s the catcher — but we threw curveballs in fastball counts, we had them looking for something and they had no idea what was coming, I don’t think,” Burnett said. “That’s huge.”

The difference between a 5.47 and 3.81 ERA is also huge. Bigger than Posada could hope to make up when he's in the batter's box over the long run. Catcher's ERA isn't a perfect measure and when most of CC Sabathia's and Joba Chamberlain's starts are caught by guys other than Jorge, that starts to explain the difference. We don't deal in alternate realities, so it's impossible to compare how a pitcher would have waded through identical line-ups on the same day with different catchers. But 1.66 runs is a wide margin.

My sense watching the Yanks is that Molina especially, is a much better game caller than Posada. He seems to get shaken off less often and the Yankees' pitchers have a 2.80 K/BB ratio when he is behind the plate this year as opposed to Posada's 1.42. tOPS for the staff is 82 for Molina, 91 for Cervelli and 114 for Posada, meaning that hitters are producing well below their averages when the first two are catching and significantly above when Posada is back there.

I agree with Sherman in that the advantage created by Jorge's offense is narrowing. Is he still a better option than the other two catchers to take behind the plate? If he makes the staff's ERA even one full run higher, you'd have a hard time making that case.

This isn't to say that Jorge isn't still far better than most catchers in the league. Even with Molina on the DL and the risk that Cervelli could turn into a pumpkin at any second, the Yankees are lucky to have three above average catchers with very diverse skill sets.

Pete Abe, wrap it up for us, would you?

I will say this: When Molina comes off the DL, the Yankees should seriously consider keeping Cervelli around as a third catcher. That would enable Posada to DH more often. Cervelli is also fast enough to be used a pinch runner on occasion. I can’t imagine how Cervelli would not be more useful than Angel Berroa.

Revisting Centerfield

On April 27th, during the 19th game of the season, Melky Cabrera wrested the starting centerfield job away from Brett Gardner. Despite the early juncture in the season, it was a justifiable and needed change. At that point in time, Gardner was hitting just .220/.254/.271 through 65 PA compared to .303/.378/.667 for Melky in 37 PA. The sample sizes were small, but the difference was stark enough to warrant the move.

Melky would go on to start 20 of the next 27 games in center, his run ended by the shoulder injury suffered in Texas on May 26th. Of the seven starts Brett Gardner made during that time, six of them saw Cabrera in either right or left, subbing for Swisher or Damon.

I think the perception of the centerfield situation right now is that Melky is head and shoulders above Gardner, the thought buoyed by the slew of big hits Melky has had already this year. And we can't be anything but happy with the season Melky has compiled thus far.

But, a look at the numbers may surprise you. Melky has swooned a bit of late, though not nearly as badly as he did after his hot start in 2008. Meanwhile, Gardner seems to have figured things out somewhat. Since his famed visit to Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital on May 15th, Gardner has hit .346/.424/.462.

As it stands now for 2009:

Gardner: 149 PA - .276/.354/.386 - 96 OPS+ - 26 R - 15 BB - 19 K - 11 of 13 SB

Cabrera: 198 PA - .294/.344/.444 - 107 OPS+ - 26 R - 14 BB - 27 K - 4 of 6 SB

That's much closer than I thought it would be. Melky holds a large edge in SLG as you would expect. But, Gardner's recent hot streak and Melky's four walks in the last month have swung the OBP pendulum in Gardner's favor. Also surprising (to me at least) is the edge Melky has in UZR/150, 10.0 to 7.0.

I'm not suggesting that any change be made, but I was surprised in looking at the numbers. Seeing as the CF will be batting ninth in the usual Yankee line-up, you could argue that Gardner's OBP and speed combination offers a more compelling option.

Regardless, both are outplaying the average AL centerfielder, which currently has a collective line of .259/.327/.399. Gardner's recent play may warrant more frequent starts. If he could sustain his performance at something close to his current levels, it could be a good way to keep an aging and banged-up Johnny Damon fresh as the season progresses.

Weekend Pissing Match Round Up

The 2009 Yankees have taken to passing around a replica WWE Championship Belt to the player of the game after each victory, and the wrasslin' mentality seems to be taking hold. In a week that saw the Yankees face the two teams that the media loves to portray as their biggest rivals, we saw three separate "feuds" play out through the media.

First up is Joe Girardi and Brad Penny. Penny started the series finale on Thursday. A-Rod came to the plate in the first inning with two outs and Derek Jeter on third base. Penny came way inside on the first pitch, came back with a strike, then plunked A-Rod on the third pitch. I thought it was intentional and I didn't have a problem with it. There have been plenty of plunked batters between these teams in recent years. Joba has drawn the ire of the Sox in much the same way that Pedro used to with the Yankees. I figured this was coming.

Back at the Stadium on Friday, Joe Girardi was asked if he thought Penny hit A-Rod on purpose, He responded in the affirmative. Penny fired back on Saturday saying he could "give two f---s" what Girardi thinks and criticized Girardi for waiting to get back to New York to say anything about it. Chances are Brad Penny isn't even with the Sox by the time these teams meet next in August, but I'm sure we'll see a few more guys wind up in the dirt.

Also coming out of the Yanks-Sox rivlary is Twittergate, in which John Henry intimated that the Yankees are cursed by Mark Teixeira spurning the Sox and signing with the Yanks. This apparently pissed Teixeira off and he spouted off to the media about it a bit. For the record, Twitter is stupid; I see no point to it at all. Oh, and be sure to follow Fack Youk on Twitter.

I peg Teix as the prototypical Boras client. He's like roboballplayer. He plays well; he wears a constant look of intense focus; speaks to the media entirely in cliches and platitudes; and of course, took the contract with the greatest dollar amount. So I find it somewhat surprising that Teix rocked the boat twice last week, with Henry and in confronting noted drunk Rick Sutclife regarding an accusation he made about Teix and A-Rod tipping pitches. I can see him taking issue with the Sutcliffe thing because in that he has a former player accusing him of impropriety between the lines. But Henry? Just let it go Mark. Why give him the satisfaction?

I guess I had Teix figured wrong. Last week's incidents come on the heels of his outbursts earlier this season directed at Carlos Gomez and Vicente Padilla. Teix is getting booed in Baltimore for not signing there; he's booed in Boston for not signing there; and he'll likely be booed in Atlanta and Anaheim later this year. I suppose he should be thankful that the Nationals' series is at home. Keep booing him people; we'll probably see Teix tear off someone's arms and beat him to death with them before the season's over.

Last but not least is the well-documented Brian Bruney/K-Rod flap that nearly resulted in a good-old-fashioned donnybrook during BP Sunday. I completely agree with everything Brian Bruney said. K-Rod is an asshole who celebrates every save as if he just closed out the seventh game of the World Series by striking out the clean-up hitter with the tying run on third. He needs to tone his act down or have it toned down for him.

That said, Bruney was out of line. He offered up his opinion completely unprovoked after his rehab appearance in Trenton. Right or wrong, there was no need for him to say it. By the time he made it back to the Stadium, it was a big story, as it proceeded from Mike Ashmore to Pete Abraham and mushroomed from there. K-Rod claimed he didn't even know who Bruney was. The media got more fodder from both post-game. Then, K-Rod, who must have figured out who Bruney was overnight, had some choice in-your-face words for him during batting practice Sunday. Which in turn, kind of proved Bruney's point that K-Rod's a bit of a hot-headed prima donna.

Got all that? Let's hope this week is a little more uneventful. With any luck, the guys didn't spend their off night watching Monday Night Raw and coming up with ideas for this week's battles.