Weird Series

What a strange series. On Friday, the Yankees won a game they should have lost. On Saturday, they lost a game that, on paper at least, they should have won. On Saturday they were held at bay by an emergency starter they should have beat up on. On Sunday they hung a career high 9 ER in 3 IP against one of the top starters in the game.

Two innings were key to this afternoon's game. In the bottom of the second, with the game still scoreless, the Yankees had runners on first and third with two outs and #9 hitter Francisco Cervelli at the plate. Cervelli took a 1-2 change-up and dropped a blooper into short right field to plate the first run of the game. Derek Jeter followed with an RBI single, then Johnny Damon singled in both Cevelli and Jeter. The inning may had carried on, but Damon was called out at second for knocking the ball out of SS Alex Cora's glove. Replays showed it to be a borderline call, but it too closely resembled A-Rod in the Series That Shall Not Be Named.

Spotted to a 4-0 lead, A.J. Burnett responded by sandwiching two walks around a single to leave himself with a bases loaded, no out jam. He wriggled out of it, striking Alex Cora out with the benefit of two borderline calls, whiffing Fernando Martinez, and getting a Carlos Beltran liner right to Jeter.

It was all over from there. The Yankees added nine more runs in the third and two in the seventh en route to a 15-0 victory. Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano both hit 2 run homers. Jeter had four hits; Cano and Cervelli three each; Damon and Melky Cabrera two each. Every starter had a hit save for Nick Swisher, who walked twice and scored twice. The game got so good for the Yanks that Angel Berroa was allowed two plate appearances. Ramiro Pena also got into to the game and started a beautiful double play to end the top of the seventh.

Burnett recovered from his rocky third inning to turn in seven shutout innings, allowing four hits, four walks, and striking out eight. The walks are a little higher than you'd like to see, and he still needed 110 pitches (60% strikes) to get through seven, but overall he gave the team just what they needed: length. He was followed by David Robertson and Phil Hughes both of whom struck out two in working a scoreless inning.

It's been a rough week in Yankeedom. They were swept in brutal fashion by the Red Sox to fall to 0-8 against them on the year. They played two lackluster games against the Mets. They got into verbal spats in the papers in near physical spats on the field (more on that tomorrow). They needed a game like this. It'll certainly make tomorrow's off day all the more enjoyable and leave them in a good spot as the lowly Nationals come to town Tuesday.

Game 63: Soul Sacrifice

Before you even tune into the YES broadcast today, you know what the storyline will be shoved down your throat. Hey fans! The Yankees could have traded for Johan Santana!

Get ready for Michael Kay to frame the struggles of Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Melky Cabrera as clear reasons for why the Yankees should have jettisoned these pieces to acquire Johan Santana when they had the chance. It will be interesting to see whether anyone on the broadcast takes a deeper look into the divergent paths of the trade.

I think we can safely assume that if the Yanks had traded the package mentioned above, or at least something similar, to the Twins in exchange for Santana, they would have had to sign him to an almost identical extension that the Mets did. Santana had a no-trade clause and was ready to veto the deal if a contract with the Mets was not negotiated. He signed for $137M over 6 Years, an AAV of $22.8M. That essentially amounts to free agent money and in addition to that, the Mets parted with Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guera.

Instead of trading for Johan, the Yankees opted to wait a season and sign CC Sabathia on the open market, for $161/7, an AAV of $23M and a first round draft pick. Would the Yanks have been in play of CC if they had already signed Johan? I think it's fairly safe to assume not. Locking over $45M into two starting pitchers would be a pretty disproportionate allocation of funds, even with a $200M+ payroll like the Yankees have.

I think Sabathia and Santana are pretty similar pitchers. Both are dominant lefties who register a lot of strike outs without allowing many walks and accumulate a lot of innings. Both have won AL Cy Youngs and we're traded just before reaching free agency. Santana is two years older, but they will both be 35 when their contracts expire. If you go by last year, Santana logged an ERA of 2.53, which is amazing, but CC finished at 2.70 after making 18 starts in the American League and throwing nearly 20 more innings. This year Santana is decidedly better, but has also started 7 games at pitcher-friendly Citi Field whereas CC has started 6 games at what is easily the best home run hitting park in the majors.

The difference really boils down to this: If the Yanks traded for Santana, they would have had him last year, a season in which they really could have used some stabilization at the front of the rotation. However, the Yankees finished six games out of the Wild Card. FanGraphs pegs his Wins Above Replacement last year at 4.8. If the Yanks still didn't make the playoffs, would it really have been worth sacrificing the arbitration eligible years of Hughes, Kennedy and Cabrera? If they had snuck in but lost in the first round, would it have?

The point is that even right now, in hindsight, it's not an obvious move to trade for Santana and Hughes still has years to find his way as a starting pitcher. Melky has been a valuable piece to the club this year, and has had several walk off or game winning hits this year. Kennedy is gone for the year after surgery to remove an aneurysm from his shoulder, but is by no means worthless to the club. And all three as still cheap, controllable (and possibly tradeable) parts moving forward. So when you hear the decision not to trade for Santana referred to as a "mistake", keep those things in mind.

Speaking of "mistakes", A.J. Burnett looks to rebound his last one in Boston today. Burnett has taken on the opposing team's ace three times this year, once against his former teammate, Roy Halladay and twice against Josh Beckett. Twice Burnett has been beaten quite handily and his other start against Beckett in April, he was spotted six runs which he ultimatley gave back, and then some. Here's to hoping that he can buck the trend against Santana, although that might take some drastic measures, with consequences that could echo into the afterlife:

A Frustrating Afternoon

In yesterday's game preview, I theorized that Saturday's game couldn't possibly be sloppier than Friday's. It may not have been worse, but it was just as ugly. And to make matters worse, this time there was no deus ex machina to deliver the Yankees a last minute win.

Andy Pettitte struggled again. Following Joba Chamberlain's lead from the night before, he needed 104 pitches to get through just five innings, including 23 in the first and 31 in the second when Pettitte reportedly had trouble breathing. He exited having surrendered 12 hits and 5 ER.

Equally as frustrating, the offense was unable to get anything going against Fernando Nieve, further fueling the theory that the Yankees struggle against unknown pitchers. True or not, Nieve cruised through 6.2 innings, allowing only six base runners and surrendering just two runs.

Perhaps the only silver lining was Jose Veras' two scoreless innings of mop-up work. He struck out two and even managed not to walk anyone. You have to figure either Veras or Tomko will be DFA'd when Bruney is activated within the next few days. Based on their most recent performances as well as past history, I think Veras should have a leg up.

In the end, it was a bad Saturday. What I thought would be a nice day featured a steady and consistent rain. What I hoped would be a bounce back start for Pettitte turned into the latest in a string of bad ones. What I thought should have been an easily winnable game turned into an exercise in frustration.

We'll back later as the Yankees try for two the hard way in attempting to take the series against Johan Santana.

Game 62: New York, New York

It's a nice Saturday afternoon and we'll see our second New York - New York match-up of 2009. Today's game can't be any sloppier than yesterday's can it?

Fernando Nieve will start for the Mets in place of the recently DL'd John Maine. After a respectable rookie season for the Astros in 2006, Nieve has only pitched 12.2 MLB innings since, beset by both injuries and ineffectiveness. It would be awfully nice if the Yanks would hang a crooked number on him this afternoon.

And they may well need it. In 18 career regular season starts against the Mets, Andy Pettitte is 8-4 with a 3.46 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. But, Pettitte has not been particularly sharp of late. He's been battling a balky back, and has been allowing base runners at an uncomfortble rate. His WHIP currently sits at 1.53 and in his last five starts he's given up 35 H and 16 BB in just 29.2 IP. Still the team has gone 4 and 1 in those games, with Pettitte registering three of the victories. As Joe Girardi likes to say, Andy has a way of bending but not breaking. Hopefully he'll have a little extra room to bend today in opposing a replacement level pitcher.

Two updates courtesy of Pete Abe: Bruney tossed a perfect inning in AA earlier this afternoon. He threw 8 of his 12 pitches for stirkes and hit 94 MPH. Secondly, Damon returns to the line-up today, but it's Nick Swisher, not Brett Gardner, who takes a seat on the bench.

Regarding Swisher, perhaps it's a delayed benching for his numerous boneheaded plays earlier this week. But if Girardi wouldn't sit him in May when he was slumping horribly, I find it odd that he chooses to now. As for the pinch hitting situation last night, Abe also relays that Girardi's rational was indeed that Swisher has poor numbers against K-Rod, and that he hoped Gardner would get on and steal second. I still say that Swisher's 11 at bats mean very little and that Damon was more likely to reach base and steal second than Gardner. But I digress.

With Johan Santana going for the Mets in Sunday's finale, it'd be nice to put the series away today and be playing with house money tomorrow.

Today's game is on FOX, so it's pick your poison time: Buck, McCarver, and that little weasel Rosenthal on the tube or Sterling and Waldman on the dial. Jeez. I think maybe I'll listen to Howie Rose on the FAN.

The particularly poignant video I wanted to use today can't be embedded. You can view that one here, or view the Letterman performance of the same song below. Or view both. One way or another, enjoy the game.



Love don't play any games with me
anymore like she did before
The world won't wait, so I better shake
that thing right out there through the door
Hell I still love you New York

A Win Is A Win

(Castillo picture from NY Daily News, all others via AP)

Well it wasn't pretty. It wasn't even something you're likely to see again. But a win is a win. And coming off three stomach punch losses against the Sox, an ugly loss to the Mets would have been far worse than a cheap win. The lasting memory of this game will be Luis Castillo dropping A-Rod's would-be game ending pop up. But there was far more to the story than that.

Joba Chamberlain turned in a bad start, no two ways about it. He needed just 31 pitches to get through the first two innings, allowing just one base runner. But, only 16 of those pitches were for strikes. It would foreshadow problems to come.

Chamberlain allowed two runs in the third without allowing a hit: BB, FC, BB, HBP, BB, K, HBP. He threw 43 pitches for the inning, just 23 strikes. In the fourth Chamberlain retired the first two batters, walked the next two, then managed to get out of it. But it cost him 26 more pitches, only half of them strikes. He was done.

Chamberlain has had problems getting deep into games this year, and on a night when the team could have used some length from their starter, he burned through 100 pitches in four innings, just 52 of them for strikes. Not quite Burnett-esque, but certainly not acceptable. After seemingly make a leap forward against Cleveland nearly two weeks ago, this marks two mediocre starts in a row. All that, coupled with the poor bullpen performance the last two nights will only provide ammunition to those who want Chamberlain back in the pen. I can't wait for the impending assault on common sense.

What's worse, Joba's early exit made way for Brett Tomko. Despite his craptasic track record, Tomko entered the game having been fairly effective in 2009. His carriage turned back into a pumpkin tonight. Another major fielding miscue by Nick Swisher, which inexplicably wasn't scored an error, didn't help Tomko, but it certainly wasn't the main cause of his demise. His final line: 0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, highlighted by a mammoth Gary Sheffield home run just inside the left field foul pole. Suddenly Tomko's 2.53 ERA is 5.56. By the time Girardi sent David Robertson in to relieve him, the Yanks were down 6-3.

As often happens at Yankee Stadium, the long ball kept the Yankees in the game. The first four Yankee runs came on a second inning solo shot from Robinson Cano, a two run homer from Mark Teixeira in the third, and a fifth inning solo shot from Derek Jeter. Then in the sixth, Hideki Matsui welcomed just-recalled Jon Switzer back to the Majors by launching his third pitch into the right field mezzanine to give the Yankees a 7-6 lead. Matsui hit a game winning grand slam on his 34th birthday, but the three run shot on his 35th was just as big.

In the seventh, the Yankees conceded the tying run in exchange for a double play. The score was still tied with two outs in the eighth, when Girardi summoned Mariano Rivera to face the formidable duo of Carlos Beltran and David Wright. Rivera issued just his third walk of the season to Beltran, who then scored the go-ahead run on a Wright double.

I don't particularly have a problem with bringing Rivera in here. Given his age and off-season surgery he should be handled carefully, but on principle I have no issue with using him to get one out in the eighth inning when the Mets have their two best hitters coming up. What I do question however is what made Friday's game more important than Thursday's? I can appreciate not wanting to tax Rivera for six outs on Thursday. However, from a leverage standpoint, there was far more on the line Thursday, in a division game, with a one run lead, the bases loaded, no one out, and the number three hitter due. I'd rather use my best reliever in that spot (and have a lesser pitcher go in the ninth if necessary) than in a tied interleague game with the bases empty and two outs. Maybe it's second guessing on my part, but it appears to me to be inconsistent decision making.

Regardless, the score remained tied into the Yankees trailed by one in the bottom of the ninth. Brett Gardner, the number nine hitter led off, leading me to believe that Johnny Damon's assorted ailments would leave him on the bench for the remainder of the night. Gardner popped out, and as Jeter stepped into the box, Damon entered the on-deck circle to hit for Nick Swisher.

This one makes even less sense to me. You're down to three outs and you let the worst hitter in your line-up lead off the inning, then use your pinch hitter on a guy who's OPSing at .930?!?! Look, I know Swisher has made some terrible mistakes both in the field and on the bases the past few days. But if you're going to send him a message, sit him down from the first pitch, don't start when the game is on the line. Michael Kay suggested Swisher's 1 for 11 career numbers against K-Rod, but an 11 at bat sample size shouldn't dictate such a decision. If so, Damon should have been saved for A-Rod, who after the E4 is now 1 for 15 against K-Rod.

In the end, right or wrong, it worked. The Yankees won, and that's a very good thing. Another deflating loss would have been very tough to bear. I certainly didn't want to start my weekend that way. It's nice to be back in the win column. And after getting shut down by MLB's second most obnoxious closer the last two nights, it was nice touch up the reigning champion tonight. Unfortunately for K-Rod, blown saves can't be tagged on a second baseman.

Game 61: Comin' Home

It might be an elitist, corporate bandbox, but the Yankees come home to it tonight after a short but wildly unsuccessful trip to Beantown.

Trying to get the Yanks back on track tonight will be Joba Chamberlain. His ERA has been hovering in the upper 3's since the beginning of May and he enters tonight at 3.79 with a 3-1 record. He's made 11 starts this year, meaning that in 7 of them, he's earned a no decision. Much of that can be attributed to the fact that he doesn't go very deep into games, but he's put up three quality starts in which either the Yanks bullpen has let him down or the offense has picked him up. The momentum from his 8 inning effort in Cleveland was slightly dissipated by his six inning, three run outing against the Rays, but he allowed one baserunner or fewer in each of those outings.

On the offensive side of things, Johnny Damon is out of the line up for assorted reasons, one of which being, wait for it... his eyesight. We just might be back tomorrow with another eye chart. This means that Nick Swisher is starting in RF again, and hopefully he won't be making ridiculous and unnecessary dives into the stands, getting doubled off of second or just straight up missing catchable balls.

The Mets are sporting a somewhat diminished line-up tonight with Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes on the DL, but the DH slot allows them to put Gary Sheffield in the batting order while starting Fernando Martinez in LF.

The Metropolitans send Livan Hernandez to the hill tonight, who has been surprisingly, scratch that, "Amazin'ly" good so far this season. After a rocky first four starts left him with a 6.75ERA, that number has been steadily declining to where it sits now, 3.88. He's given up only 5 runs in his last four outings, averaging over 7 innings per. Never one to shy away from contact, Livan strikes out only 5.3/9IP and is giving up over a hit per inning with a WHIP of 1.369. He doesn't give up a whole lot of long balls either, only 7 in 67 1/3 innings. For a guy who had an ERA of 6.05 in 31 starts last year, he's doing pretty well for himself. That said, if I was a Mets fan, I'd be a little nervous about him pitching in the New Yankee Stadium.

As a quick illustration of the differences between the two teams this year, the Mets have hit only 37 homers this year compared to 95 by the Bombers, but they lead the ERA battle 3.94 to 4.85. This could be the accumulation of park effects, the difference between the leagues, but mostly it boils down to roster construction. The Yanks have gotten more out of their sluggers while the Mets have leaned more on their arms.

It should be interesting to see what wins out tonight, the pitching or the bats. Will the Mets' offense awaken at the New Stadium? Can the Yankees bust out of their terrible RISP slump? Will El Duque's brother be able to borrow some of his brother's Bronx magic? Can Joba take it deep without being taken deep? Tune in to find out, as Robinson Cano might say, "Honly on JES".

Hitchhiking on the turnpike all day long.
Nobody seemed to notice, they just pass me over.
To keep from going crazy, I got to sing my song.
Got a whole lot of loving and baby, thats why
Im comin home to your love.

Subway Series Linkaround

I know some of you probably care deeply about the Subway Series. It's probably because you have annoying friends that are Mets fans who can't wait to rub it in your face when the Yankees lose. I just can't bring myself to get worked up over the intra-city rivalry. I'm not against interleague play, and I think Yanks and Mets should play every year, but trumping it up as a big rivalry is lost to me. There isn't really a whole lot of history to it. If the Dodgers or Giants were still in New York, sure, but the Mets aren't either of those teams, regardless of how much they try to be.

Since interleague play began in 1997, the Yankees lead the all-time match-up 37-29 (not including the 2000 World Series). The Yankees swept the series 6-0 in 2003, but since 2004, the Mets have the advantage 17-15. Maybe it's just this time around, since we are coming off a huge letdown against our actual rivals, but this upcoming series doesn't seem as big.

Well for those of you who do care about the Subway Series, here are some links to get you into the swing of things.

• Neil Best and David Lennon of Newsday star in a video blog talking about the rivalry this time around. They comment on the significance of the match-up and the role that they new parks are playing in it this time around.
  
  
• It's Subway Squakers' time to shine.
  
  
• River Ave. Blues has a thorough preview of the series and goes position by position through the two teams. Click through to see who comes out on top.
  
  
• There is always Mets Blog.
  
  
• Jorge Says No! comes up with some options for the two teams to shore up their bullpen.
  
  
• The 'Ropolitans have the scoop on who is going to to start in place of John Maine on Saturday.
  
  
• Amazin' Avenue sounds about as excited as we are.
  
  
• Mets Merized wonders if geographic rivalries should be cut to three games.
  
  
• There is a LoHud Mets Blog too??!?

"the MT curse?"

John Henry came up with a new one on Twitter last night...

the MT curse?

Oh, I get it, you sniveling douche... It's the curse of Mark Teixeira!

#1 - Why is John Henry on Twitter? Doesn't he have a comely lass with luminescent locks colored like the deepest of night to tend to? The fact that he has a Twitter account (with a fucking caricature for an image, no less) really speaks to the kind of ego this guy has. "Draw ME a picture of ME. No, make the eyes more beady! Exxxcellent! Now I can pair this with an endless amount of personal updates about where I am eating dinner, whine about pitchers hitting MY players, or dispel rumors about what things I plan to buy with MY untold fortunes!"

#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 tha Youkstah. Stop acting like jilted lovers, you guys dated for like a week.

A Sinking Feeling

We're a bit late to the party on this one, as it's already appeared on both RAB and Deadspin amongst other places I'm sure. ESPN's excitable, squeeky-voiced Tim Kurkjian has an article on the senior thesis of former Yankee pitcher Ross Ohlendorf, which examined the return on investment Major League clubs realized on the signing bonuses they issued. With the amateur draft concluding yesterday it's an interesting and timely read. Ohlie is Princeton educated, so this ain't no joke. Given his excitability and love of numbers, I'm surprised Kurjian's head didn't explode putting the article together.

I liked Ohlendorf and thought he would carve out a decent little career with the Yanks. I felt they misused him last year, as he became the de facto long man when they opened the season without one. Once he was demoted to Scranton and put back in the rotation, you knew they were showcasing him as tradebait. Sure enough he was a key cog in the deal that brought Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte.

There's been much talk of late of Alfredo Aceves as the new Ramiro Mendoza, and in a way I can see it. Alf's versatility is very valuable in much the same way it was for Mendoza. Both could spot start, serve as a long man, or get you out of a jam. Last night's hiccup nothwithstanding, Alf has been very good this year and there are no Yankee relievers not named "Mo" who I trust more at present.

But Mendoza had another weapon that made him valuable as a reliever: his bowling ball sinker. Mendoza could be brought into a mid-inning jam, and if he was on, he was one pitch, one groundball, and one double play away from getting out of it. Over his career Mendoza got 1.67 groundouts per air outs, compared to the league average of 1.08 over that time (Aceves checks in slightly below league average in his brief career). El Brujo induced 83 GiDPs in his career, 44 of them out of the pen, and seven of those against the first batter he faced. I thought Ohlendorf could have similar success, but it never materialized.

So, other than to fill space, why do I bring this all up now? Because as I mentioned yesterday, I'm at a total loss about what to do with Chien-Ming Wang. The team has already announced that he will make another start Wednesday. I'm not suggesting that he should be made a reliever now. I don't know what to do with him. But I wonder if his sinker could aid in him being an asset out of the pen. Of course, if he wasn't having problems with keeping his sinker down right now I wouldn't even be pondering this.

Ohlie's thesis essentially says that on average, teams realize a 60% return on their investment in a drafted player. I can't even fathom what kind of performance the Nationals would have to get out of Stephen Strasburg to get that kind of return on the dollar amounts Scott Boras is tossing around.

Sneakin' Out The Beacon

In case you hadn't noticed, both Jay and I are pretty big music enthusiasts. One band we are both really big on is the Allman Brothers Band and I think the first exchange Jay and I had here on Fack Youk was regarding the annual Beacon run of this past March.

So as the city prepares for the year's first Subway Series, today we report news (h/t jambands.com) about something that is as much a part of New York City to me as the Yankees or Mets. Says founding ABB member Butch Trucks:

"...we won't be at the Beacon anymore. They just announced that Cirque du Soleil is moving in there, sad to say. We'll still do a multi-show thing in New York, but we're looking for another venue. With things the way they are, there's a lot of empty theaters on Broadway."

That's some sad stuff right there, and it's gone relatively unnoticed. After years of freakin' and peakin' at The Beacon, now the ABB is sneakin' out The Beacon. I've gone to at least one show every Beacon Run since 2001. It's every bit as much a right of spring to me as "pitchers and catchers report" and Opening Day. Yet I can't say I'm surprised.

The Beacon came under the control of Cablevision in November 2006. As you may know, everything Cablevision touches - the Knicks, the Rangers, my buddy Art's cable installation - turns to shit. From the time they seized control of The Beacon I suspected this day was coming. Planned renovations nearly derailed the 2008 run, until a last minute deal was reached. In the end, a flare up of Gregg Allman's hepatitis cancelled the 2008 run. Now it's done for good. For Cirque du fucking Soleil. /vomits

Expected or not, it's the end of an era. The Allmans first played The Beacon on September 27, 1989, as part of their 20th Anniversary Reunion Tour. They would play there three more times that month and add 184 more Beacon shows through multishow runs in 1992, 1994, 1996-2007, and 2009. As it stands now, the last ABBeacon show ever was March 28, 2009 - a show I attended - but that's no consolation to the end of this tradition.

The Beacon Run was quintessential ABB. Guests came out of the woodwork to play there. Through the years I've seen Chuck Leavell, Gary Rossington, Peter Frampton, Hubert Sumlin, Bela Fleck, Luther Dickinson, Larry McCray, Dick Griffin, Robert Randolph, Susan Tedeschi, Roy Haynes, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and others. You may not recognize any, or all, of the names, but it was an atmosphere that couldn't be recereated elsewhere.

If 2009 was in fact the final Beacon Run, they went out with a bang. It was the band's 40th Anniversary celebration, and a tribute to the memory of founder Duane Allman. All manner of guests joined in to honor his memory and the history of the band, amongst them: Bonnie Bramlett, the aforementioned Weir and Lesh, John Hammond, Taj Mahal, Levon Helm, Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy, Trey Anastasio, Boz Scaggs, Jimmy Herring, and for the first time ever, Eric Clapton.

This won't be the first time the run moves from the Beacon. 1995 saw a six show run at Radio City Music Hall in place of the Beacon. Radio City is also Cablevision controlled, so I doubt that's where they'll go now. Butch mentioned a potential "Broadway Theater", but my guess would be the United Palace Theater up in Washington Heights. It's becoming the new "it" theater in the city, and was the rumored back-up destination had The Beacon fallen through in 2008.

But it won't be the same. Aside from the atmosphere, and the beautiful, classic venue, I'll miss the neighborhood. Brother Jimmy's, Blondie's, the since relocated P&G, the Gin Mill, the Westside Brewing Co. Amsterdam Ale House. And I'll miss the memories; some of the best music I've ever witnessed in person was at The Beacon, and making that annual pilgrimage with lifelong friends was something I looked forward to every year.

This also marks the end of an era for the ABB. Founding members Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, and fellow CT resident Jaimoe are getting old. Guitar slingers Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks both have their own bands, which they have to neglect for large portions of the year while touring with the ABB. Outside of the NYC run next year and perhaps a summer festival or two, it doesn't appear that the band will be touring any more. And that's real sad. I strongly, strongly suggest you get out this summer and catch the ABB - preferably while they're on the road with Widespread Panic.

All good things must come to an end. And it appears that 2009 will mark the end of The Beacon Run and the ABB summer tour. Like Yankeee Stadium closing last year, it's sad. Something that means a lot to me won't be around anymore. But I look forward to what 2010 and beyond holds for Gov't Mule, the Derek Trucks Band, Soul Stew Revival, and whatever Oteil Burbridge is cooking up.

This is, afterall, a baseball blog. So lest we get chastised again, I'll end on a baseball note. Guitarist Derek Trucks is a big baseball fan and is the nephew of drummer Butch Trucks. Butch is the nephew of former Major League pitcher Virgil Trucks. Virgil is one of four men (Nolan Ryan, Johnny Vander Meer, and former Yankee Allie Reynolds) to throw two no hitters in the same season. He finished his 17 year Big League career in 1958 with the World Champion New York Yankees.

See, it all comes back to baseball....

Crazy Eights

Jay is sick, literally. I'm tired. And I think all of us (the Yankee fans at least) are sick and tired of the way things have played out between the Yankees and Red Sox in 2009. Tonight marks eight losses in eight games this year. That's crazy. Three of the losses have been by one run. In five of the losses the Yankees held the lead at some point. And the Yankees were in every game with the exception of Tuesday's series opening clunker.

There's an inordinate amount of attention placed on these games, so the losses end up seeming worse than they are, as if they count extra in the standings. We could break it down. We could complain about Melky trying to bunt again. In the second inning. Again. We could debate the merits of leaving CC in for the eighth. Or bemoan the performance of the bullpen. Or wonder what role the weather played. Or contemplate just what the hell Swisher was thinking getting doubled off again. Or make fun of Johnny Damon for dropping a fly a ball. Or wonder if Brett Gardner was doing his Johnny Damon impersonation on his eighth inning throw. Or discuss the merits of A-Rod getting plunked and the subsequent warning. Or wonder how much Brad Penny's trade value increased tonight. Or ponder if David Ortiz will be given a curtain call for every home run he hits this year.

But I'm just not in the mood for it tonight. The Yanks took a beating the past three nights. On the field and in the psyche. Or at least the psyche of the fan base. But last I checked, you couldn't win the World Series or the division in June. These things will happen over the course of a season. The Yanks are still only two games back, and hold a six game edge in non head-to-head records. Maybe that's me just looking for a silver lining, but I'll remain hopeful that things will be different come August when they meet again. Let's not dwell on this. We'll just move on.

2009's first Subway Series starts tomorrow night. I hate interleague play. It's such a contrived gimmick. Games against the Mets mean nothing extra to me, and they really shouldn't mean anything at all. But perhaps this once, the tabloid hoopla surrounding this series will be a welcome distraction for both teams. The Yanks just got swept by the Sox and the Mets lost two of three to the Phightins to fall four games back. Come Sunday, one of these teams will leave the Stadium with a series win and feeling better about themselves than they do right now. Let's hope that team is the Yanks.

Game 60: Start All Over Again

If there's one person who bears no blame for the Yankees' inepitutde against the Red Sox this year, it's C.C. Sabathia. Joba and Burnett have made two starts against the Sox, along with one each for Hughes, Wang and Pettitte and all have been unsucessful.

Sabathia's numbers against the Red Sox are pretty good, but at Fenway, they are excellent. He has a 3.92ERA in 48.1IP against Boston, but on his 3 vists to Landsdowne St., he's gone 23IP with a 2.35 mark. These are certainly small sample sizes, and Burnett's fine numbers against the Sox didn't do a whole lot for him on Tuesday night, so take them for what they are worth. Which would be a Yankees blogger trying to find ways to cope with the fact that his team has gawtten fackin' dawnimated by the Sawx so fahh this yee-ah. His new career stats against Boston start accumulating tonight.

Frankie Cervelli makes his sixth start behind the plate with CC on the mound tonight. The first one was the complete game shut-out the big fella threw down in Baltimore on May 8th. The only game since then Sabathia hasn't been caught by Cervelli was against the Indians on May 30th.

If you were only judging by won-lost records, CC Sabathia (5-3) wouldn't seem to be having as good of a season as Brad Penny (5-3). But upon further inspection you would find that Penny's ERA is 2.2 runs higher, and despite pitching 26 more innings, CC has allowed 7 fewer hits, just to scratch the surface. The Yankees haven't faced Penny this year, and in fact, the starting line-up only has a grand total of 15 career plate appearances against him. Who knows what that will mean.

As anyone who is familiar with the basic principles of economics could tell you that you shouldn't make decisions based on sunk costs. The seven games in the loss column against the Sox are long gone. There is virtually no chance the Yanks will even tie the season series, but that doesn't really matter. A win tonight and the Yankees walk out of Fenway with a share of the lead in the AL East, and we are back to square one.

The video below was shot at a concert at the new House of Blues in Boston, which happens to occupy the space where Avalon used to be on Landsdowne Street. What are the karmic implications of using a song by a Boston band performed in the shadow of Fenway Park for a game post on an interwebstation devoted to the Yankees? Only time will tell, Fackers.

I've had some good times,
Good times before,
You're love hung me up once baby,
It can't happen, anymore,
I'm gonna start, all over, over again.

I've been through these times before,
I'll go through these time some more,

Gonna start, all over, over again.

As Good As It Gets

The photo of Chien Ming Wang above was taken on June 15th , 2008, just before he stepped into the batter's box against Roy Oswalt in the fifth inning. With men on first and second, Wang squared to bunt and laid it on the ground in front of Oswalt, who threw Jorge Posada out at third base for the second out of the inning. Wang took his place on first after the unsuccessful sacrifice.

Comfortably the best pitcher in the Yankees' starting rotation to that point, Wang had cruised through the Astros line-up that Sunday afternoon, having not allowed a run in 5 innings and the Yanks sat atop a comfortable 3-0 lead. The win they would notch later in the day would bring them to 4 games over .500, their high water mark on the season at the time.

Next up was Johnny Damon who hit a grounder towards Miguel Tejada at short. Wang, not the fastest of runners, would have been out comfortably at second, but Tejada mishandled the ball and everyone was safe. This in turn brought up Derek Jeter, who hit what might have been the costliest three run single in Yankee history. Cano scored easily on the play, but as he rounded third base, Wang came up limping and the rest was history. They were tack-on runs in what turned out to be a 13-0 blowout and it probably wouldn't have happened if Miguel Tejada had fielded Damon's ball cleanly.

The Lisfranc injury sustained by the sinkerballer not only struck a huge blow to the Yankees chances of making the playoffs in 2008, but has seemingly since submarined his career.

When I look at the picture above, I think about the scene they have in a lot of movies, where things reach an obvious high point and the characters are blissfully unaware of the demise that is sure to follow. Like in Casino where Ace and Ginger are cutting the cake at their wedding. Everything is wonderful until Ginger sneaks out during the reception to call her old pimp of a boyfriend, Lester Diamond, from a pay phone in the hallway. Similar to Blow where they buy the house in Mexico and everyone jumps in the pool right before George gets knocked for the first time. Or during the The Beach when they take a photo of everyone jumping in the air at the same time to symbolize how perfect and in-sync everything is. Of course when the three Swedish guys get attacked by sharks shortly thereafter, their little utopia dissolves quite quickly.

I'm not trying to say that Wang's wife is going to drive her Mercedes up on the lawn and steal the key to the safe deposit box. He won't serve any prison time. I don't think the Yankees are going to make him stand guard on the edge of the island waiting for the tourists who he gave a copy of the map to, only to watch them gunned down by marijuana farmers protecting their crops.

I do however, think that picture represents a freezeframe of the high water mark of Wang's career and that makes me really sad. The guy was an extremely valuable and inexpensive part of the Yankees for parts of 4 seasons and over 600 innings pitched. He has the support of an entire country. Now he's a guy with no clear role and a 14.34 ERA who can't catch a break.

Baseball can be a cruel game sometimes, can't it? Damn you Miguel Tejada!