Game 57: Sunday Street

Any hopes that the Yankees could have kept the momentum going from the Bronx through Toronto and connect the four sets against last place teams on either side of it have been dashed. The Yanks will take the field in Toronto this afternoon just hoping only to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Jays.

So far, the Blue Jays have put the two strengths that have carried them through the season on display in this series: power hitting and solid starting pitching. Jose Bautista, who came into the game tied for the league lead in homer runs, jacked two off A.J. Burnett Friday night and Edwin Encarnacion added a third. Vernon Wells and Alex Gonzalez both took Andy Pettitte deep on Saturday.

On the flip side, Brett Cecil and Rickey Romero each threw eight innings and allowed a combined three runs. Nick Swisher drove one in on a double play against Cecil, Derek Jeter hit a two run homer off of Romero, and that's it.

It depends on how you want to look at it, though. Perhaps Cecil and Romero were dealing. Maybe the Yanks were just terrible offensively. Or both.

On Friday, the Yanks mustered just eight baserunners in nine innings and plated only one of them. Yesterday, they scored two runs in 14 frames and put only 13 men on base. Mark Teixeira has been at the center of this futility, going 1-10 with with seven strikeouts, but is by no means alone in his awfulness. Robinson Cano is 0-10, Jorge Posada 1-9 and Curtis Granderson a combined 0-5 with 2 Ks. Aside from Jeter, Swisher has been the lone other bright spot with a double and four walks in ten plate appearances.

Saturday's game was especially tough since the Yanks had one run-scoring play in 14 innings and wasted a great start by Andy Pettitte (7.2 IP, 2ER) and some very solid work out of the bullpen by Joba Chamberlain, Damaso Marte, David Robertson and Chan Ho Park.

But not Mariano Rivera, because Joe Girardi believed that the choice was between Rivera for two innings or not bringing him in at all. He chose the latter and the Yanks lost the game with their most deadly round still in the chamber. In his defense, he hasn't used Mo for more than three outs all year long and if the Yankees took the lead, Rivera didn't come back to nail it down and the Jays ended up winning, the ensuing media shitstorm would have dwarfed this one.

Today, the Yanks look to Javier Vazquez to salvage something out of this series. Javy obviously had a solid outing against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium, but unlike the O's, who are near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories, the Jays are near the top. They have expanded their lead in home runs this weekend, also have the most doubles and are third in OPS. I'm still concerned about Javy, but much less than I was before his last start. Not that it matters, means anything or least of all, has any predictive value.

The offense will get a crack at Brandon Morrow, who has an enticing ERA of 6.00 but a much less appealing FIP of 3.72. Morrow is striking out over ten batters per nine innings but is also walking more than five. He's had a couple excellent starts, including his last time out against the Rays, but is capable of being both extremely extremely wild and very hittable.

After what was easily their longest and certainly one of their toughest losses of the year, the Yanks look to avoid their first three game sweep of the season. The middle of the order - who have-combined to go two for twenty-four so far this series - step it up would be nice for starters. A solid effort from Vazquez would be a nice bonus. I don't think that's too much to ask.

I'll get a pair of dice that makes me seven all the time,

Gonna be livin' on chicken and wine,

I want caviar, four star and Johnny Walker Black,

Six pretty women in my gold Cadillac,

Gonna move where the livin' is sweet,

From Saturday alley up to Sunday street.

[Song Notes: Vocally, Dave Van Ronk isn't exactly polished (here's cover version for a point of comparison). He gets the job done and has unique delivery of what are some really good lyrics, but the vocal performance certainly isn't what makes this track. That would be the guitar; the elegant, folksy, bluesy fingerpicking arrangement that carries the tune.

Van Ronk, a Greenwich Village native, has a posthumously published memoir called The Mayor of McDougald Street, which my Mom assures me is excellent. The Mayor was quite the character. He was one of Bob Dylan's principal influences, never learned to drive and refused to leave the Village for any stretch of time and used to tote around a vintage stoneware bottle of Tullamore Dew.]

-Lineups-

Yankees:

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

Blue Jays:

Fred Lewis LF
Aaron Hill 2B
Adam Lind DH
Vernon Wells CF
Jose Bautista 3B
Alex Gonzalez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Jeremy Reed RF
Jose Molina C

Cotto Wins An Interesting Stadium Slugfest

The first boxing match at the New Yankee Stadium was not a marquee pairing. Miguel Cotto was a premier welterweight until a plaster-handed Antonio Margarito knocked him down in the eleventh round and quite possibly broke his will. After easily handling Michael Jennings in a rebound fight and winning a close and debatable decision over Joshua Clottey, he got a shot at Manny Pacquiao because the mega-bout with Floyd Mayweather couldn't be put together. Cotto hung in there against Manny, but it was clear early on that they were on different levels, and he fell victim to a TKO in the 12th round.

Yuri Foreman's career, on the other hand, was still ascending coming into last night's fight. Only two and a half years ago, he fought on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto-Zab Judah bout and coming of a recent win over Daniel Santos to claim the WBA super welterweight chanpionship, finally earned a bout against a name brand fighter. Foreman carried a 28-0 record into the Bronx, but with just eight knockouts, clearly wasn't going to out-slug Cotto, particularly considering that it took Antonio Margarito 11 rounds with illegally hard gloves and Miguel was still standing when Pacquiao won.

This fight was more about the characters and the location, which paired a Jewish fighter who is studying to be a rabbi with a popular Puerto Rican in a baseball stadium in New York City, a city that is home to what are probably the largest populations of both of those ethic groups in the United States.

In the early going Saturday night, Cotto took control. Rolling his shoulders and bouncing on his toes, he kept coming forward and popping the aspiring rabbi with jabs, double jabs and the occassional left hook in the first couple of rounds, pushing him back with each clean shot. As a smooth Cotto stayed in rhythm and on the offensive, Foreman shuffled back and forth on his feet, his elbows suspended awkwardly away from his body, just trying not to get hit too hard.

Midway through the third round, though, Foreman discovered that he could start with his right hand and square up on Cotto's. As the fourth began, Foreman finally landed some solid combinations and hung on to win his first round, although it was around then that his nose started bleeding from both sides.

The fight settled down in the fifth and sixth, with both boxers trading shots, but neither making much of an impact. Had the fight gone the distance, the judges would have likely awarded both to Cotto, but there weren't any standout punches or powerful exchanges in either direction.

The seventh round was what earned Yuri Foreman the respect or the fans in attendance who paid good money to see the fight, with the exception of his wife, who was sitting ringside. About a minute into the round, Foreman's right knee buckled as he tried to plant his foot and he slipped on the canvas. He wears a brace on that joint and it was clear that he was seriously injured. As Yuri hobbled back and forth, referee Arthur Mercante, Jr. offered him the obligatory five minutes to recover but Foreman declined. The announcers seemed sure that Foreman couldn't continue. But he did. And it wasn't just that he stayed in the ring. Without the lateral movement that he relies on so heavily, Foreman stood toe-to-toe with Cotto and traded some powerful blows as the Stadium came to life with the loudest cheers of the night.

With about a minute left in the eighth round, a white towel came flying into the ring from the direction of Foreman's corner, brushed off Cotto's shoulder, and appeared to signal the end of the fight. Trainers, officials and press started flooding the ring, and Cotto even came over to talk to Yuri and congratulate him on a gutsy fight.

However, the fight wasn't over, yet. Mercanti determined that Foreman wanted to continue and he cleared the ring. The PA system in the Stadium announced that the bout was still on, of those still in attendance.

It was only a short reprieve. Foreman lasted into the ninth but was knocked down by a powerful left hook from Cotto less than a minute in. It was inevitable that Cotto was going to win, and it's probably good that Foreman didn't go down after a series of shots to the head.

Although it was immediately apparent that Foreman wasn't in the same class as Cotto, but he showed a lot of heart in the ring. It was the first time he had been beaten and although he took an injury that no one would begrudge him stopping the fight over, he wasn't about to give up. Miguel was the far superior fighter tonight but Yuri undoubtedly won plenty of supporters and respect.

IFs, ANDs & BUTs

• The Stadium was not even half full, with storms in the area probably limiting walk up sales, but over 20,000 people showed up. From the overhead shots that were shown, there were lots of people sitting on the playing field (I think I heard 9,000 at some point leading up to this) but there were a ton of empty seats. This is one of the reasons I'm lukewarm about the Stadium as a multi-purpose facility. Baseball parks just don't translate well to other sports and events.
  
  
• Appropriately, Fack Youk favorite Max Kellerman did the broadcast. A huge fan of both the Yankees and boxing and a native of New York City, this fight was made for him. After the fight, he said:

  It doesn't quite measure up with the great fights in New York history or Yankee Stadium history, but it does do credit to that history. It adds to that history. It was a better than expected fight, it had an odd kind of ending, but it allowed Cotto to show what he still has left. And it allowed Yuri Foreman to show, for the first time, his guts -- he showed that he's a real fighter.

• Roy Jones, Jr. was also in the booth. It was the first time I've heard him in that role and although he certainly wasn't up to Lennox Lewis' level, he wasn't too bad as an analyst.
  
  
• When Foreman hurt his knee, you could hear Mercanti say "Suck it up kid. Walk it off". Between that and restarting the fight, you could tell that Mercanti had a lot of respect for Foreman and wanted to see him go out with as much dignity as possible. However, sending a guy in there who was severely diminished could have been really dangerous and, although I'm not expert in boxing, thought it was inadvisable. Foreman obviously wasn't going to win.
  
  
• I'm pretty sure I saw Bob Simon from 60 Minutes in the crowd, so I'm guessing there is a profile on Foreman upcoming. Not that Cotto isn't interesting, but you could put together a pretty compelling lede about a boxing rabbi.
  
  
• After the fight, Foreman thanked God for keeping both fighters healthy, "more or less". You probably tore a ligament in your knee, man. I don't think the Big Man needs a "thank you" for that one.

Game 56: Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown

Despite the season being more than a third over, this weekend's series between the Yanks and Jays is only the first of six between the division rivals this year. As far the Yankees' schedule is concerned, the Blue Jays are a bird of a different feather when compared to their fellow division rivals the Orioles. Prior to the start of this weekend's series, the Yanks and O's wrapped their third series of the season, and as soon as this weekend trip to Toronto wraps, the Yanks will head to Baltimore for their fourth series against the O's.

But the Yankees' schedule isn't the only indicator of the stark contrast between the AL East's two avian franchises this year. Entering 2010, Baltimore was the trendy pick as a surprise team. Not necessarily one that could compete with the Yanks, Tampa Bay, and Boston, but one that could ride its good young talent in taking a big step forward this year. Instead, a third of the way through the season, Baltimore has the Major's worst record, a fired manager, and several promising young players who are struggling mightily.

Instead, Toronto has been the surprise club in the AL East, hanging virtually even with Boston and within striking distance of both New York and Tampa Bay. It's doubtful that they can make it hold up over the long haul. As noted above, they have 17 games left against the Yankees, and they just dropped two of three to the Rays. But still, the fifty six games they've played is a significant sample, and both losses to the Rays happened only after blowing commanding leads.

So how have the Jays done it thus far? Well for one thing, despite the loss of Roy Halladay, their pitching still has been pretty good. But the biggest reason is likely that Toronto has been swinging some heavy Canadian lumber. Toronto ended their series with Tampa Bay with 91 home runs on the season, easily the top total in the AL. Boston entered play Thursday with 71, and the twenty homer gap between the first and second place teams is as big as the gap between second place Boston and the AL average.

One third of the way through the season the Jays have three players - the rejuvenated Vernon Wells and the out-of-nowhere Alex Gonzalez and Jose Bautista - on pace for 30 home runs. They have five more - including 2009 30 HR guys Adam Lind and Aaron Hill - on pace for 20, and Travis Snider is on pace for just under 20. As a team, they also entered play Thursday leading the AL in slugging, total bases, isolated power, home run percentage, home run per flyball ratio - all of them by fairly healthy margins.

In short, Canada's team has been beating the hell out of the ball and living large on the big flies this year. It's unlikely that they'll be able to keep up that pace. But the longer they can, the longer they'll keep from turning around and sliding down the standings. To that end, Fack Youk's favorite Canadian implores his nation's last remaining Major League club to keep taking opposing pitchers downtown.

Come on baby let's go downtown
Let's go, let's go, let's go downtown
Come on baby let me turn you around
I'll turn you, turn you, turn you around

[Song Notes: While we're clearly riffing on Young's Canadian heritage in linking this tune up with the Jays, the star of this song is really Crazy Horse guitarist and Georgia native Danny Whitten. Whitten is credited as the co-writer of this tune, and it's actually him, not Neil heard on lead vocals here. Whitten was an excellent foil to Young, providing critical guitar and vocal parts to some of Young's greatest work: "Cinnamon Girl", "Down By the River", "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere", "Cowgirl in the Sand", etc.

Unfortunately, Whitten also fell victim to heroin addiction. Whitten's problems with the drug prompted Young to dismiss the entirety of Crazy Horse midway through the recording of After The Gold Rush and to pen the beautiful tune "The Needle and the Damage Done". Whitten's addiction cost him his life in November 1972.

Young lost his friend Bruce Berry to an overdose less than a year later, and the two deaths were the inspiration behind Young's 1975 album Tonight's the Night. It is on that album that song above appeared, though the actual performance took place at New York's Fillmore East in March 1970.

And just for the hell of it, outfielder "Hard Hittin'" Mark Whiten made his Major League debut for the Blue Jays in 1990 and later played briefly for the 1997 Yankees]

-Lineups-

Sorry Fackers, no lineups today. It's another phone-it-in weekend. You know where to find them. It'll be Andy Pettitte and Ricky Romero in an all southpaw pitching match up.

Game 55: Canadian Sunrise

Amazingly, it's already June and tonight will be the first time that the Yankees have played the Blue Jays this season. The Yanks have found the time to complete three series with Boston, three against Baltimore and two more with the Rays and Toronto has played every other team in the division at least twice as well. But for whatever reason, the Yanks and Jays will be seeing much more of each other in the final 2/3 of the season.

Even more incredibly, despite having just dropped two straight to the Rays, the Blue Jays are tied with the Red Sox with a 31-24 record. They trail Minnesota by only a half of a game and would be leading the AL West by two. The two best teams in the NL have only one more win than them. They are actually one game shy of what their run differential projects them to be and have an FIP a half run lower than their ERA. So if they've had luck so far this year, it's been mostly bad.

How have they done it? Let's start with the offense, because that's probably been the most impressive and surprising aspect of their team.

Third baseman Jose Bautista has a mind-blowing and leauge-leading 16 home runs, tying his career high in just 1/3 of a season. Vernon Wells has actually been an even better offensive player according to OPS+, resurrecting his career after most people had pronounced him dead following his terrible 2009. The only everyday players that aren't hitting at an above league average clip are Aaron Hill (who smashed 36 homers last year), their primary DH, Adam Lind and first baseman Lyle Overbay.

On the pitching side, despite losing Roy Halladay, they have the fifth best FIP in the Majors. Shawn Marcum, who missed all of last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery, has an ERA of 2.77 (3.11 FIP) through 12 starts. Rickey Romero has very similar numbers, but reversed, with a 3.14 ERA and 2.77 FIP. Tonight's starter Brett Cecil has had a nice run so far as well, tallying a 3.81 ERA and 4.00 FIP in his first eight starts after being called up from AAA after two starts.

Cecil sits around 90 with both of his fastballs (a four-seamer and a slightly slower two-seamer) and throws three off-speed pitches, a curve, a slider and a change. The Yanks faced the 23 year old left hander last year and tagged him for ten runs in eight innings, all earned.

For the Yanks, A.J. Burnett faces his former team. He started against them three times last year and gave up 10 runs in 20 2/3 innings and was jeered by the crowd in Toronto the first time he returned. This season, after hitting a bit of a skid in starts seven through nine, he's put together back-to-back solid outings. He threw five shutout innings in the rain delayed game in Minnesota and gave up three runs over eight frames against Cleveland, although only one of them was earned.

Coming off a a strong seven game homestand against two poor teams, the Yankees are probably sad to leave the Bronx behind and play a squad that appears to have its shit together for the time being. But they are going to have to beat some good teams eventually and I hear Toronto is lovely this time of year.

A weekend in Canada, a change of scene,
Was the most I bargained for.

[Song Notes: If you listen to the lyrics of this one, it will become immediately apparent that it wasn't written by Sam Cooke. No, it was penned by two white dudes named Norman Gimbel and Eddie Heywood. The most popular version of the song was an instrumental one by Hugo Winterhalter that hit #2 on the Billboard charts in 1956, but a rendition similar to this one with lyrics performed by Andy Williams reached #7 that same year. I went with Sam Cooke's version because it has a thumping bass line that pulls you right in and frankly, Sam Cooke was the fucking man and he did a version of a song, I'm probably going to use it.]

-Lineups-

Both Matt and I are tied up, so you'll have to fend for yourself in that department. Enjoy the game.

Fight Night In The Bronx

In the history of Major League Baseball, there have been only three men with the surname "Foreman" to play the game. None of them played for the Yankees, but Frank Foreman pitched for the Baltimore Orioles in 1901 and 1902. Following the '02 season, the Baltimore franchise relocated to New York, renamed the Highlanders, and a decade later, the Yankees.

There has been but one "Cotto" to play in the Major Leagues, Henry Cotto, pictured to the right. Cotto was born in the Bronx in 1961, but his family returned to their native Puerto Rico when Henry was just three months old. After breaking into the Majors with the Cubs in 1984, Cotto was traded to the Yankees. He spent the next three years shuttling between New York and Columbus, never really distinguishing himself.

After the 1987 season, Cotto was packaged with the highly unpopular Steve Trout and shipped to Seattle in exchange for Lee Guetterman, Clay Parker, and Wade Taylor. Cotto carved out a job for himself in Seattle as a reserve outfielder, base stealing specialist, and Junior Griffey's back up in center field. After washing out with the expansion Marlins in '93, Cotto surface as a replacement player during the '94-'95 strike, has been a coach in the Mariners' system since '96, and was the inspiration for the humorous Henry Cotto's Mustache.

Tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium another Foreman and another Cotto will be on the field. But despite the gloves on their hands, they won't be baseball players. Yuri Foreman and Miguel Cotto will take part in the first night of boxing at Yankee Stadium since September 28, 1976, when Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton had their third and final bout, one of the more controversial in history.

Despite the sweet science's long absence from River Ave, boxing has a rich and storied history at Yankee Stadia, with Gene Tunney, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Jake LaMotta, Sugar Ray Robinson, Floyd Patterson, and others joining Ali and Norton as some of the greats to have stepped in the ring in the House that Ruth Built.

I'm not crazy about the idea of turning Yankee Stadium into a multiuse facility, but with this fight, Army football, and the Pinstripe Bowl, it's clearly the direction in which the organization is leaning. But for tomorrow night at least, it'll be nice to see Yankee Stadium explore a different part of it's illustrious past.

For more on boxing's past at the Stadium, check out these links.

Trembely's Time?

Rise and shine, Fackers. According to the Baltimore Sun, Dave Trembley is going to be fired before today's game. Or perhaps he was already canned when the team return from New York last night. He was supposedly close to getting axed about a week ago, but that rumor proved to be false. Even if it isn't today, the writing is certainly on the wall.

Directly and indirectly, the Yankees led to Trembley's termination. Their sweep of the O's is likely the last straw and their presence in the AL East - the Yanks were 36-15 against Baltimore in his tenure - made their quest for a respectable season much more difficult.

The O's are obviously having a dismal 2010. Thanks to a couple of blown saves, they got off to a 1-11 start and have only improved upon that marginally since. They are now 15-39, which puts them a whopping 21 games behind the Rays one-third of the way through the season. In theory, they are playing roughly at the pace you would expect a team comprised solely of replacement level players to perform. And their run differential only says that they should be two games better than they are.

You have to imagine - for a marginal team in a division as tough as the AL East - the players knew their season was over before it had even really started. The fans knew it too, because they set a record for the fewest number of people at Camden Yards when the team was just 1-5 and came very close to topping bottoming that twice against the Royals in May.

These guys are professionals, but when it's obvious that your season is completely fucked and the only time people show up to see if is when the Yankees or Red Sox are in town, it's gotta be tough. Tough to grind out at bats as a hitter when you are down by right runs like they were on Wednesday. It has to be demoralizing for a starting pitcher like Brian Matusz who pitched a hell of a game on Tuesday only to get tagged with the loss because of an unforced throwing error. The YES cameras panned to him for a reaction but he had already vanished down the dugout steps.

Of course, only so much of this is Trembley's fault. I don't know how big his family is, but there isn't much he can do to fill the stands. He didn't injure Brian Roberts, Koji Uehara, Felix Pie, Jim Johnson or Mike Gonzalez. He definitely didn't blow all of those saves in the beginning of the year. Perhaps he bears some responsibility for the fact that the Orioles don't appear to be playing to the level they are capable of - that he "lost" the team - but I don't know if there is a manager out there who could have kept this team from spiraling out of control after those tough losses and subsequent brutal start.

While Trembley's 187-282 record during his time with the team isn't impressive, the fact that he got the job in the first place certainly is. When Sam Perlazzo got fired 69 games into the 2007 season, Trembley was promoted from bullpen coach to interim manager. He never played the game professionally and instead comes from a more academic background (he has a masters in Education and did graduate work in Sports Psychology), but Andy MacPhail, who had recently taken over as the president of baseball operations, gave him a chance anyway. The team started off 20-14 under the new skipper, he kept his job until the end of the year and finally lost the "interim" part of his title over the winter.

Trembley more than paid his dues, managing for 20 years in the minor leagues before joining the Big League club, so that was one of the reasons that Andy McPhail thought it would be good idea to allow him to oversee a couple of rebuilding seasons. It didn't quite go as planned and in a year when the O's were supposed to take a big step forward and possibly flirt with .500, they took an even bigger one backwards and are on pace for one of the worst seasons in a very long time.

Perhaps third base coach Juan Samuel - who did play in the Majors for 16 seasons - or whoever else takes over the team when Trembley is ultimately whacked will have better results. But it will probably be because some of those five guys on the DL come back from injuries, Matt Wieters, Adam Jones and Miguel Tejada start hitting and Matusz and Brad Bergensen start pitching to their potential.

Given how his tenure with the O's went, it's tough to see Trembley landing another Major League managerial gig, but at least he can say he got a shot and made the most out of it. From a distance, he seems like a stand up baseball man and hopefully he lands on his feet somewhere.

Game 54 Recap

Despite the fact that the Orioles brought the tying run to the plate in the 9th inning, the Yankees' sweep never seemed to be in danger. Unlike last night, their Win Expectancy never cracked 50%.

The O's managed just six baserunners this afternoon but unfortunately for CC Sabathia's ERA, half of them scored on home runs he allowed. It doesn't seem right, but Sabathia has allowed 12 dingers already, two more than Javy Vazquez. Adam Jones and Luke Scott both caught with with poorly placed fastballs from the Big Fella today, but that wasn't enough to keep pace with the Yankee bats.

With the help of a goofy mistake by Kevin Millwood, the Yanks jumped out to an early lead. Jeter and Swisher hit back to back singles in the first inning and Jeter stole third with Mark Texeira at the plate. Getting nailed at third with no one out is a great way to kill a rally but Jeter pulled it off and apparently got into Millwood's head when he got there.

With the count 2-2 to Mark Teixeira, Millwood lost his balance and attempted to deliver a "pitch" anyway. I wish PitchFX had clocked it because it went about thirty miles an hour and forty feet in the air, thereby distilling the Orioles futility this season into a couple blissful seconds. The umps ruled it a balk, the Yankees took a 1-0 lead and never looked back.

The rest of the Yankee runs came in more traditional fashion. Robinson Cano continued his hot hitting, driving in a run in that first inning. A-Rod hit a two run shot in the third, Curtis Granderson chipped in an RBI single later in that frame and Brett Gardner lofted a home run just barely into the short porch in right in the seventh.

After Sabathia left the game, Joba Chamberlain worked a perfect eight inning and Mariano Rivera put two men on base in the ninth via a hit and hit by pitch but didn't allow either to score. They nailed down the win for CC, his first since he started against Baltimore a month ago.

The Yanks just wrapped a 6-1 homestand and they'll be heading up to lovely Toronto for a weekend set with the Jays. Tomorrow night's game is at 7:00.

Game 54: Alabama Getaway

The Yanks look to bust out the brooms this afternoon and go for a sweep of the lowly O's. It'll be a match up of former teammates on the Cleveland Indians, as CC Sabathia and Kevin Millwood face off.

Millwood was arguably the better of the two pitchers on that 2005 club, posting a 2.86 ERA and despite a 9-11 record, finishing sixth in the AL Cy Young voting. Millwood was worth 3.9 WAR that year, third on the Cleveland staff to Sabathia's 4.1 WAR.

Millwood hasn't been quite as unlucky this year, but he certainly has deserved a better fate than what he's received so far. He enters today 0-5, despite a 3.89 ERA (110 ERA+) and a 3.99 xFIP. The woeful O's offense just hasn't given him any run support.

On the flip side, CC Sabathia hasn't pitched all that well of late. He enters today at 4-3, despite a 4.16 ERA (98 ERA+) and a 4.11 xFIP. His last win came one month ago today, and in his five starts since he's gone 0-2 with a 6.28 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, and a .291/.346/.538 batting line against. He'll look to get away from that sort of performance this afternoon.

The conclusion of today's game marks the end of the first third of the season. It also marks the end of the Yankees' seven game homestand. A win today would give them six wins on the homestand, five in a row, and put them on pace for 102 wins on the year. For Alabama native David Robertson and the rest of the Yankees, it's getaway day in the Bronx, as they look to make it three in row against the O's.

Twenty-third Psalm Majordomo
reserve me a table for three
in the Valley of the Shadow
just you, Alabama and me

Alabama getaway
Alabama getaway
Only way to please me
turn around and leave
and walk away

[Song Notes: It's a good day for some Grateful Dead. This tune is the lead track from their 1980 album Go To Heaven, the first to feature keyboardist Brent Mydland. Keyboardist for the Dead has been the real life equivalent of drummer for Spinal Tap, as Mydland was the fourth in a line of five keyboardists in Dead history, all of whom have now in fact gone to heaven. This performance comes from their appearance on Saturday Night Live on April 5, 1980, three weeks before the album was released.]

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Nothing to report here. Same deal as yesterday.

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

Orioles:

Julio Lugo SS
Miguel Tejada 3B
Nick Markakis RF
Ty Wigginton 3B
Luke Scott LF
Garrett Atkins 1B
Adam Jones CF
Craig Tatum C
Cesar Izturis SS

Minor League Notes

A couple minor league notes as we steam on towards game time:

Last year's first round pick, Slade Heathcott, was promoted from Extended Spring Training to low-A Charleston. He made his 2010 debut last night, going one for five with a single. He made his lone hit count though, singling with the bases loaded in the tenth to give the RiverDogs a walkoff 5-4 win. Heathcott played center field, and batted leadoff.

This is similar to the plan the Yankees have used with last year's second round pick JR Murphy. Murphy was sent to Charleston in mid-May and has been splitting time between catcher and DH. The organization has said they wanted Murphy to get some experience playing in minor league stadiums and under lights before sending him to Staten Island when the short season NY-Penn League starts up this summer. Heathcott is likely getting the same treatment.

Elsewhere in the minors yesterday, 2007 first round pick Andrew Brackman continued his recent hot streak. He went five scoreless innings last night, giving up just three hits and a walk while striking out seven. Over his last five starts, he's posted a 1.65 ERA over 27.1 IP, allowed 22 hits and 5 walks, and struck out 26.

It Really Is A Mean Old World

Good morning Fackers. In Tuesday's preview, Jay lamented the state of Javy Vazquez' 2010 season, only to see the maligned pitcher take the hill and spin a gem over seven innings. Last night, Jay's choice of Chuck Berry's "Mean Old World" proved slightly more prophetic, but its meaning went far, far beyond the nagging injuries and vagaries of age that have impacted the Yankees at different points this season.

Vladimir Guerrero, enjoying a late career renaissance in his first season in Texas, took one of his own batted balls to the eye during batting practice, resulting in a trip to the hospital. Like half the Yankees' roster, he's day to day. And that doesn't even begin to tell to the terrible tales from last night around the Bigs.

Shortly after the Yankees' game got underway, Ken Griffey Jr announced his retirement, cutting short his 22nd Big League season hitting just .184/.250/.204 with only two extra base hits (both doubles) in 98 at bats. He suffered through his nap-gate controversy earlier this season, had been benched in recent weeks, and despite his statement to the contrary, was almost assuredly nudged towards the door.

I've had mixed feelings about Griffey over the course of his career, and I have mixed feelings about Griffey's retirement. It's near tragic to see him go out like this. At the same time, I suppose it's good that he didn't force Seattle to release the most iconic player in franchise history. And it's good that he didn't hang on longer to further tarnish his reputation. But I can't help but think he wouldn't have been better off just hanging them up after last year. Here's the farewell post we ran for Griffey eleven months ago. It was premature then; it's overdue now.

And yet the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Griffey's exit from the game don't even remotely approach what happened in Detroit last night. One out from an unprecedented third perfect game in the first third of the season, and second in four nights, Armando Galarraga coaxed a grounder to first. He raced to the bag, received the throw from Miguel Cabrera, and recorded what should have been the final out of the game. Instead first base umpire Jim Joyce called Jason Donald safe.

Armando Galarraga must feel terrible. Jim Joyce must feel even worse. And while the men in blue haven't been at all popular of late, and while many have made poor decisions that actively inserted themselves into the fabric of the game, Jim Joyce doesn't deserve what he has coming his way. It was a bang-bang play, not terribly close, but pretty close. And he made the wrong call. He didn't do it to make himself part of the storyline. He didn't do it to flex his muscles. He did it because he thought it was the right call. And he was wrong. And he's going to have to live with it for the rest of his life. And despite a 24 year career as a Major League umpire, a career that has been otherwise respectable if not commendable, Jim Joyce will forever be remembered for one mistake.

At least Griffey will be remembered for his peak, not his nadir. Jim Joyce won't ever be so lucky. It sure as hell can be a mean old world. Let's hope it's a little nicer today.

Game 53 Recap

(WPA data from Fangraphs)

Well that is one pretty looking chart for the Yankees. At only one point in the game did the Orioles have a better than 50% chance of emerging victorious, as Luke Scott's one out double in the second inning pushed the O's WE to a whopping 51.7%.

That speaks volumes as to how well the Yankees played last night. Phil Hughes was brilliant yet again, going seven strong, allowing six hits, one run, a walk, and fanning seven. He threw 72 of his 101 pitches for strikes.

On the offensive side, the Yankees continued to feast on the teams they should be roughing up, and once again, Robinson Cano led the charge. He went 3 for 4, with three runs scored and two RBI. He blasted his team-leading 12th home run of the season into the right field bleachers, extended his hitting streak to 16 games, and boosted his line for 2010 to .373/.412/.632. He now leads the AL in batting, is fourth in OBP, and third in SLG. His 12 HRs is tied for sixth.

Cano wasn't alone on offense though. Curtis Granderson continued his hot post-DL hitting, going 3 for 4 with a big two run double in the second to open the scoring. Nick Swisher chipped in three hits of his own, one of them also a two run double in the second inning. Alex Rodriguez had two hits and two runs scored, Brett Gardner doubled and scored twice, and Jorge Posada singled and walked in his return from the DL.

The end of the game saw Chad Gaudin finish off two scoreless innings, with subs Ramiro Pena, Kevin Russo, and Marcus Thames behind him in the field as the Yankees cruised 9-1. You can't draw it up any better than that. They'll go for the sweep behind CC Sabathia this afternoon at 1 PM.

Game 53: Mean Old World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Lineups-

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

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

Phil Hughes P

Orioles:

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

90% Of The Game Is Half Mental

[What follows is a review of Emma Span's book, 90% Of The Game Is Half Mental written by a good friend who wishes to be referred to simply as "Jack". In addition to being a stalwart Mets fan and supporter of the Rays, he makes an annual pilgrimage to Spring Training in Florida and is an aficionado of minor league ball, particularly here in the northeast.

Emma, who occasionally writes for Bronx Banter and her own site when she has time, sent me a review copy of the book. I'm going to read the book and do a review at some point, but when Jack heard about Emma's work, he asked if he could get the first crack at it.]

I recently finished reading Emma Span's 90% Of The Game Is Half Mental and the short of is that it's a very good read. While you can't go wrong with a Yogiism for the title, I think the sub-title, "And Other Tales from the Edge of Baseball Fandom" more accuately portrays her baseball experiences, from her New Jersey childhood to working odd summer jobs while attending Yale, to her brief gig as the Village Voice baseball writer and beyond. Baseball, especially New York baseball, isn't something you would expect to be a consuming interest of a funny, sarcastic, literate, New York-centric, admittedly neurotic, female insomniac, but Emma clearly loves the game.

Chapters related to the job with the Voice and the trip to Taiwan (not Japan?) are often hilarious in their observations. Locker room scene descriptions and commentary on the New York press corps highlight her awkwardness, but despite being a bit of a nerd, she seems to be pretty self-confident.

Emma obviously knows her inside baseball. Her blog was once called Eephus Pitch and the book discusses the arguments of stathead sabermetrics vs. old school scouting. She gets into some detailed modern history of Yankees' and Mets' postseason appearances and touches upon male/female baseball perspectives, Yankees/Mets fandom, New York/non-New York fandom, and baseball movies (she hates "The Natural", I love it).

I was surprised that she never mentions any great baseball books or their writers (i.e. Halberstam, Kahn), but I was glad to read that she shares my criticism of some elements of The Great American Pastime. For instance:

• Loud amplified needless cheering nonsense at games (between innings, between batters, sometimes between pitches) when normal converstion becomes impossible

• The distraction caused by the gigantic TV screen in the new Yankee Stadium

• Joe Morgan's television commentary

With 160 pages, an easy and conversational tone, an occasional F-bomb for emphasis, and some really laugh-out-loud passages, it's a quick, entertaining, and confessional autobiography that will especially appeal to New York baseball fans.

I strongly encourage you and your readers to give it a rip.