We can only imagine what life is like for the Angels and manager Mike Scioscia at this point in time. It can’t be too bad, given their monstrosity of a lead in the AL West over the Texas Rangers, but security seems to be in short supply in Anaheim. You can feel the doubts starting to come back and the questions floating around a clubhouse and a team that has done nothing but prove its worth this season.
But that is how the Angels are perceived throughout baseball; a strong team that is never a sure thing. But, then again, is any team a sure thing? I ask this question because as the Angels enter a four game series tonight with the Texas Rangers, they have lost 9 of their last 14 games, their pitching has been below average, and mediocre arms are shutting down their supposedly new and improved offense.
In other words, this is not how an American League power is supposed to play. As the sporting world goes, what have you done for me lately? And when the topic is the Angels, not much is the answer. But, look, the club could lose every game for the next two weeks while Texas could win every game for the next two weeks, and the Angels would still be the division leaders.
The fans should not be worried, the papers should not be doubting the depth or questioning whether or not the Angels are going to hit enough. The baseball season is extraordinarily long, and all teams go through highs and lows. It just so happens that the Angels have been on one long high since the season started.
That steady climb in production has allowed them to struggle with the Tampa Bay Rays for the best record in baseball, and makes them the favorite to obtain home field advantage throughout the playoffs. But they couldn’t keep up that level of play for an entire season. The stock market isn’t great every day; some red figures must be endured. The real estate market takes its hits, and then revives itself and its business as usual.
Same thing in baseball. The Angels were due for a streak like this. The thing that needs to be remembered, is that it is better they do this now than a month from now. Yes, they want to be playing good baseball and have momentum heading into the post season. They don’t want to be stumbling in, wondering how they are going to fare in the first series.
But, luckily for the Angels, their players are going to be pushing until the final regular season game is played. Why? Because there are post season decisions to make and a roster to be made. When Joe Saunders only lasted 1 1/3 innings last night, you could see the expression on his face and how much he was bothered by his performance. He wasn’t bothered only because it was a poor outing, but he knows that every start from here to the finish line is an audition for the post season rotation.
The rotation will have John Lackey right at the top, and there is no reason it shouldn’t. Lackey thrives in big games, and I am tired of hearing how he can’t beat Boston or he can’t quite carry the Angels through. I don’t like to discuss baseball on a start-to-start, or even season to season basis when talking about whether or not a guy can or can’t do something.
Lackey’s numbers have been poor against the Red Sox. There is no denying that. But the same people who claimed, “the Red Sox have his number”, were the same ones saying he is poised to beat Boston after his near no-hitter at Fenway Park in July. I don’t buy either argument.
When Lackey was being roughed up by the Red Sox, I never thought that he wasn’t capable of pitching well against them. At the same time, after his gem at Fenway, I didn’t feel like he was any better off. They are independent events, in my opinion. You cannot simply assume a guy cannot perform well against any given team because he had five or six poor games. Teams change, players change, everything changes.
Behind Lackey will probably be Jon Garland, but I don’t necessarily understand that. I am not overlooking Garland’s post season success; he stuck it to the Angels in 2005, and experience certainly accounts for something. But Garland should have to compete for his spot like any other guy. He has not pitched as well as the other three mainstays in the rotation this season. I will take talent over experience any day. Just ask the Tampa Bay Rays.
Ervin Santana has to be in the post season rotation. There are only a handful of guys in all of baseball that can dominate a game like Ervin can over six or seven or eight innings. Sure, his arsenal would be toxic in the seventh and eighth inning. But it’s toxic regardless of the inning, so you might as well run him out there and let him take over a ballgame.
That leaves Saunders and Weaver to compete for the fourth and final spot, and even the fourth guy probably will not get more than two starts, depending on how deep the Angels go in the playoffs. Saunders has the better stuff and is the better pitcher, but Weaver has been picking it up, and Scioscia will go with the hot hand when it comes time to win games. And he should, regardless of whether one guy was an All-Star or not.
The reason why teams try to get out to big leads like this is so that they have the luxury of time. They can rest their starters, making sure they are fresh for October, and they can give lots of innings to guys who don’t usually see the field. Keeping that in mind, it is silly to get too worked up right now about the Angels lack of production at the plate. And here’s why.
Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson have been getting their rest, making sure the aches and pains are minimal when it is time to win a championship. Gary Matthews Jr. has been filling in for Torri Hunter in centerfield, allowing Hunter to rest his legs and his smile for the bright lights ahead. Mark Teixeira has been raking, and Howie Kendrick has been hitting well when he is playing, although now he will get some rest since he is headed to the DL due to a strained hamstring.
So in essence, all of their regulars, or the guys who are going to actually make a difference in a playoff game, are either playing well or getting something productive out of this stretch. Sure, the wins and losses still matter, and nobody wants the losses to pile up. But the way I see it, if the Angels reeled off five wins in a row, it really doesn’t do them any more good than getting the regulars some rest.
So, what, it’s a good sign if the Angels have been winning with Sean Rodriguez and Gary Matthews Jr. and Juan Rivera in the every day lineup? Those guys are going to have a minimal impact on the post season. Their play now is almost irrelevant; of course, Rivera could be a valuable bat off the bench. But other than that, what are we actually seeing from this Angels team right now? Not much, because a third of the team isn’t even going to be on the field when the ALDS rolls around.
I suspect that Scioscia will rest most of the guys until the final ten games or so, and then their playing time should kick up again, in order for them to enter the post season in a regular groove. Frankie Rodriguez is going to be put out there to pursue the single-season saves record, but that is only another eight appearances, if everything goes as planned.
The pitchers are going to get their innings and the hitters will get their at-bats, but the backups are going to be in higher demand in the next three weeks. Of course, losing is still not acceptable, and Scioscia is going to portray some sense of concern if the Angels continue to drop games, but that is his job. The manager must keep that sense of urgency in tact.
But for the fans and media outlets? We bickered and moaned for the Angels to put together a championship team, essentially Teixeira being the final piece of that puzzle. So realize the situation, and what is actually happening right now. The Angels are not embarking on the most historic collapse in baseball history. Don’t get carried away. They are simply preparing for the playoffs, and that happens just as much behind the scenes as it does on the field. Scioscia has a plan, and we will see it come through in October.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Thursday evening notes
* After another pitiful loss to the Washington Nationals 11-2, the Dodgers sent rookie Clayton Kershaw back to the minor leagues. Kershaw has struggled over the span of his last four starts, and as much as I hate to see a talent like this get sent back to Triple-A, it was certainly the right call. The Dodgers recalled lefty Scott Elbert from Double-A, and I think it is time that this kid got his chance. Elbert has been a highly touted prospect in the Dodgers system for a few years, but his arrival has been delayed by arm problems.
Lets face it, the Dodgers are in no position to accept poor outings from their starting pitchers, and Kershaw simply wasn't providing the consistency that is needed in the midst of a playoff race. Plus, the kid is twenty years old, so he was already on a short leash. Kershaw had to go above and beyond anybody's expectations to prove that he was one of the five best starters in the organization in order to be kept with the big club down the stretch.
Nobody likes to see a top prospect get yanked back and forth like this, but there is nothing that can be done about it. This is sports and it is a tough world these players live in. You either perform or you don't. And if you don't, you get shipped out and the club will find someone that can. The decisions are as easy as that. It isn't about fairness, it isn't about deserving, it isn't about signing bonuses. Win ball games, or go find something else to do because we can't use you. As they say, be good or be gone.
That is how it works in any professional sport. Heck, that's how it works in any business. Perform or beat it. The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the business of winning baseball games. Winning puts fans in the stands and money in the owner's pockets. A losing team doesn't draw, doesn't sell merchandise, doesn't get sponsorships, doesn't get as many advertisements, and ultimately the business fails. Of course, not all of this has to do with Clayton Kershaw, but it is the principle that matters.
If I'm the Dodgers, I let Kershaw finish out his season at Triple-A, and when the minor league season is over, I send him home. Have a nice winter and here is your off season conditioning program. Come to spring training ready to go and win a spot in Dodgers starting rotation. That's it. That's all that needs to be said.
He will be back up in September when the rosters expand, but is that really the best thing for him and the Dodgers at this point? The kid has thrown about 138 innings this year between the big leagues and minor leagues. Give him two, three, four more starts, that will take him between probably 150-165 innings, and that's good. There doesn't need to be any Arizona Fall League in his off season program. There doesn't need to be any Dodger post season push. That workload is plenty for a twenty year old kid.
This demotion sounds like a negative, but for Clayton Kershaw, this year can only be looked at as a positive. Nobody expects a kid to get to the big leagues and pitch the way he has pitched at this age. It's unheard of. He is way ahead of schedule in terms of development, and if he goes home this winter and reflects on all of the things that he accomplished this season and hones in on the adjustments he needs to make to become a more consistent major league pitcher, he has a great chance to be a mainstay in a big league rotation at 21 years old. How great is that? There is no negative there.
But for the Dodgers, this season, and the past couple weeks especially, have been one great disappointment, and they need to put guys out there who give them the best chance to win today. Lowe, Maddux, Kuroda, Billingsley, Elbert. Elbert is going to get his shot, and if that doesn't work out, they ought to put Chan Ho Park back into the fifth spot of the rotation. I scoffed at the notion of Park pitching in the Dodgers' rotation earlier in the year, but looking at it now, he is absolutely one of their better arms. That means it is time to get him the ball and give him a chance to help this team win. Unfortunately, there are tons of questions and few answers in Los Angeles right now.
* I watched a lot of the Cubs-Phillies game tonight, and what an exciting ball game it was. Cole Hamels was awesome, pitching seven innings and leaving with a 4-1 lead. It was the Philadelphia bullpen, and the Cubs offense, that ruined his night. But the moment of the night was Aramis Ramirez' at-bat with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Cubs were down 4-2, the crowd was going wild, everybody was on their feet chanting for Ramirez, the Phillies bullpen was imploding, Chad Durbin couldn't come within a cheese steak of the strike zone, and it was beautiful moment if you were a Cubs fan. Durbin was all over the place -- fast balls in, fast balls out, fast balls up, fast balls everywhere. He came closer to hitting the batters than the zone.
Durbin walked Derek Lee on four pitches, bringing up Ramirez. First pitch is a fast ball, wildly inside off the plate, Ramirez backing into the Cubs third base dugout to avoid the heater. The 1-0 pitch is a fast ball... bang. Ramirez took the first fat pitch he saw and clobbered it 400 feet into the Chicago night, pushing the Cubs ahead 6-4, leaving the crowd in an absolute frenzy.
Rarely do we have the opportunity to enjoy such a pure baseball moment like that; it was awesome. The stadium was not cheering, they were roaring. They were dancing. Literally. Thousands of Cubbie Faithful bouncing up and down waving their hands serenading Ramirez with the best love a man or woman, a boy or girl could give.
These are the types of performances we have seen from the Cubs this season. These come from behind, clutch wins to keep some momentum going. The Cubs are 6 games up on the Milwaukee Brewers in the division, and they appear as if they are just about to find their stride. Forget all the curses and the jinxes and the century of losing. There isn't going to be a September collapse, simply because of the attitude with this ball club.
Even with this lead and the expectations of the city weighing on their shoulders, this Cubs team looks as hungry as ever. In many ways, they remind me of the Tampa Bay Rays, except with much more depth to their lineup. But, geez, how good is Aramis Ramirez? Ramirez is hitting .284 with a .383 on base percentage to go along with 23 homers and 95 RBIs. Ramirez has to be one of the most underrated players in all of baseball.
Granted, it is tough to garner any attention when you have Chipper Jones and David Wright playing the same position in the same league. That is without mentioning all of the great hitters that we would talk about before we got to Ramirez. But, seriously, it's time that this guy be put front and center on the big stage, because he may be one of the top ten players in the National League. And nobody ever talks about him. The exciting thing about the playoffs is that we always get to see great stories that haven't caught our attention over the course of the first 162 games. For whatever reason they didn't make the front page. Well, for one, I can't wait to see Aramis Ramirez hitting at Wrigley Field in October.
* See, I knew what I was talking about when I mentioned Josh Beckett the other day. I knew that "tingling" and "numbness" were never good signs, no matter how much the club wants to downplay them. This isn't saying that those symptoms automatically give a guy a career-threatening injury. No. All of this really could just be an inflamed tendon. But I have been around enough baseball and enough broken pitching arms to know that those types of things are always precursors for major injury. The major damage may not be done yet, but it is coming if not taken seriously.
It appears now, serious is exactly how the Boston Red Sox are feeling. Beckett was scheduled to return to the rotation tomorrow, but now he has been scratched from that start and is heading down to Alabama to pay a visit with Dr. James Andrews. It is never a good thing when a ballplayer has to go see Dr. Andrews, but this is most likely an overly cautious gesture on behalf of the Red Sox.
In reality, they should have done this sooner. Beckett should have been on the first plane to 'Bama as soon as he "slept on his arm wrong." Pitching arms are just so valuable, and so easily damaged, that whenever there is a concern regarding a joint or a ligament, it has to be resolved. There are other issues that factor into the timing of it all, sure. A guy may choose to pitch through some bearable pain if his club desperately needs him to make the playoffs.
In essence, that is the Boston Red Sox, but at the same time, they are in a position of luxury, or so it feels like. A little bit. A 2.5 game lead is not a big lead, but I feel like those two and half games are a bigger cushion for the Red Sox than for other teams. Doesn't it feel like they can make a lead hold up better than most clubs? They are going to hit, and God knows they are going to get good starts from Dice-K even when he walks 29 guys a game, and Jon Lester will come up clutch, and the bullpen will hold leads. We know all of this will happen. Paul Byrd might even win a couple games. They will find a way to make it happen.
But this is the Red Sox and they have depth, and that's what matters. They can afford to lose Beckett for two more weeks, as crazy as that sounds, and they will still be in a great position to make the post season. Look, they ain't catching the Rays. They can forget about that. Their goal should be to hold off the loser in the AL Central race, and find any way to get a chance to defend their title. The Red Sox don't need Beckett as much to win the wild card as they do to win the World Series.
Boston can keep the ship afloat for the final month without Beckett. I think. But there is no way they are getting to the World Series without their ace on the mound. There's no way. The logical thing to do is to get Beckett checked out, pray it is nothing serious, and then give him all the time he needs to get ready. If the Red Sox are being gunned down by the Twins or White Sox or, heaven forbid, the Yankees, then his timetable to return will be pushed along at a bit quicker pace. But let him rest up and get ready to be the Josh Beckett we know in October. That is when the Red Sox will need him to win games. With Chicago and Minnesota beating up on each other in September, I think the Red Sox can hold one of them off with Lester and Matsuzaka.
Lets face it, the Dodgers are in no position to accept poor outings from their starting pitchers, and Kershaw simply wasn't providing the consistency that is needed in the midst of a playoff race. Plus, the kid is twenty years old, so he was already on a short leash. Kershaw had to go above and beyond anybody's expectations to prove that he was one of the five best starters in the organization in order to be kept with the big club down the stretch.
Nobody likes to see a top prospect get yanked back and forth like this, but there is nothing that can be done about it. This is sports and it is a tough world these players live in. You either perform or you don't. And if you don't, you get shipped out and the club will find someone that can. The decisions are as easy as that. It isn't about fairness, it isn't about deserving, it isn't about signing bonuses. Win ball games, or go find something else to do because we can't use you. As they say, be good or be gone.
That is how it works in any professional sport. Heck, that's how it works in any business. Perform or beat it. The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the business of winning baseball games. Winning puts fans in the stands and money in the owner's pockets. A losing team doesn't draw, doesn't sell merchandise, doesn't get sponsorships, doesn't get as many advertisements, and ultimately the business fails. Of course, not all of this has to do with Clayton Kershaw, but it is the principle that matters.
If I'm the Dodgers, I let Kershaw finish out his season at Triple-A, and when the minor league season is over, I send him home. Have a nice winter and here is your off season conditioning program. Come to spring training ready to go and win a spot in Dodgers starting rotation. That's it. That's all that needs to be said.
He will be back up in September when the rosters expand, but is that really the best thing for him and the Dodgers at this point? The kid has thrown about 138 innings this year between the big leagues and minor leagues. Give him two, three, four more starts, that will take him between probably 150-165 innings, and that's good. There doesn't need to be any Arizona Fall League in his off season program. There doesn't need to be any Dodger post season push. That workload is plenty for a twenty year old kid.
This demotion sounds like a negative, but for Clayton Kershaw, this year can only be looked at as a positive. Nobody expects a kid to get to the big leagues and pitch the way he has pitched at this age. It's unheard of. He is way ahead of schedule in terms of development, and if he goes home this winter and reflects on all of the things that he accomplished this season and hones in on the adjustments he needs to make to become a more consistent major league pitcher, he has a great chance to be a mainstay in a big league rotation at 21 years old. How great is that? There is no negative there.
But for the Dodgers, this season, and the past couple weeks especially, have been one great disappointment, and they need to put guys out there who give them the best chance to win today. Lowe, Maddux, Kuroda, Billingsley, Elbert. Elbert is going to get his shot, and if that doesn't work out, they ought to put Chan Ho Park back into the fifth spot of the rotation. I scoffed at the notion of Park pitching in the Dodgers' rotation earlier in the year, but looking at it now, he is absolutely one of their better arms. That means it is time to get him the ball and give him a chance to help this team win. Unfortunately, there are tons of questions and few answers in Los Angeles right now.
* I watched a lot of the Cubs-Phillies game tonight, and what an exciting ball game it was. Cole Hamels was awesome, pitching seven innings and leaving with a 4-1 lead. It was the Philadelphia bullpen, and the Cubs offense, that ruined his night. But the moment of the night was Aramis Ramirez' at-bat with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Cubs were down 4-2, the crowd was going wild, everybody was on their feet chanting for Ramirez, the Phillies bullpen was imploding, Chad Durbin couldn't come within a cheese steak of the strike zone, and it was beautiful moment if you were a Cubs fan. Durbin was all over the place -- fast balls in, fast balls out, fast balls up, fast balls everywhere. He came closer to hitting the batters than the zone.
Durbin walked Derek Lee on four pitches, bringing up Ramirez. First pitch is a fast ball, wildly inside off the plate, Ramirez backing into the Cubs third base dugout to avoid the heater. The 1-0 pitch is a fast ball... bang. Ramirez took the first fat pitch he saw and clobbered it 400 feet into the Chicago night, pushing the Cubs ahead 6-4, leaving the crowd in an absolute frenzy.
Rarely do we have the opportunity to enjoy such a pure baseball moment like that; it was awesome. The stadium was not cheering, they were roaring. They were dancing. Literally. Thousands of Cubbie Faithful bouncing up and down waving their hands serenading Ramirez with the best love a man or woman, a boy or girl could give.
These are the types of performances we have seen from the Cubs this season. These come from behind, clutch wins to keep some momentum going. The Cubs are 6 games up on the Milwaukee Brewers in the division, and they appear as if they are just about to find their stride. Forget all the curses and the jinxes and the century of losing. There isn't going to be a September collapse, simply because of the attitude with this ball club.
Even with this lead and the expectations of the city weighing on their shoulders, this Cubs team looks as hungry as ever. In many ways, they remind me of the Tampa Bay Rays, except with much more depth to their lineup. But, geez, how good is Aramis Ramirez? Ramirez is hitting .284 with a .383 on base percentage to go along with 23 homers and 95 RBIs. Ramirez has to be one of the most underrated players in all of baseball.
Granted, it is tough to garner any attention when you have Chipper Jones and David Wright playing the same position in the same league. That is without mentioning all of the great hitters that we would talk about before we got to Ramirez. But, seriously, it's time that this guy be put front and center on the big stage, because he may be one of the top ten players in the National League. And nobody ever talks about him. The exciting thing about the playoffs is that we always get to see great stories that haven't caught our attention over the course of the first 162 games. For whatever reason they didn't make the front page. Well, for one, I can't wait to see Aramis Ramirez hitting at Wrigley Field in October.
* See, I knew what I was talking about when I mentioned Josh Beckett the other day. I knew that "tingling" and "numbness" were never good signs, no matter how much the club wants to downplay them. This isn't saying that those symptoms automatically give a guy a career-threatening injury. No. All of this really could just be an inflamed tendon. But I have been around enough baseball and enough broken pitching arms to know that those types of things are always precursors for major injury. The major damage may not be done yet, but it is coming if not taken seriously.
It appears now, serious is exactly how the Boston Red Sox are feeling. Beckett was scheduled to return to the rotation tomorrow, but now he has been scratched from that start and is heading down to Alabama to pay a visit with Dr. James Andrews. It is never a good thing when a ballplayer has to go see Dr. Andrews, but this is most likely an overly cautious gesture on behalf of the Red Sox.
In reality, they should have done this sooner. Beckett should have been on the first plane to 'Bama as soon as he "slept on his arm wrong." Pitching arms are just so valuable, and so easily damaged, that whenever there is a concern regarding a joint or a ligament, it has to be resolved. There are other issues that factor into the timing of it all, sure. A guy may choose to pitch through some bearable pain if his club desperately needs him to make the playoffs.
In essence, that is the Boston Red Sox, but at the same time, they are in a position of luxury, or so it feels like. A little bit. A 2.5 game lead is not a big lead, but I feel like those two and half games are a bigger cushion for the Red Sox than for other teams. Doesn't it feel like they can make a lead hold up better than most clubs? They are going to hit, and God knows they are going to get good starts from Dice-K even when he walks 29 guys a game, and Jon Lester will come up clutch, and the bullpen will hold leads. We know all of this will happen. Paul Byrd might even win a couple games. They will find a way to make it happen.
But this is the Red Sox and they have depth, and that's what matters. They can afford to lose Beckett for two more weeks, as crazy as that sounds, and they will still be in a great position to make the post season. Look, they ain't catching the Rays. They can forget about that. Their goal should be to hold off the loser in the AL Central race, and find any way to get a chance to defend their title. The Red Sox don't need Beckett as much to win the wild card as they do to win the World Series.
Boston can keep the ship afloat for the final month without Beckett. I think. But there is no way they are getting to the World Series without their ace on the mound. There's no way. The logical thing to do is to get Beckett checked out, pray it is nothing serious, and then give him all the time he needs to get ready. If the Red Sox are being gunned down by the Twins or White Sox or, heaven forbid, the Yankees, then his timetable to return will be pushed along at a bit quicker pace. But let him rest up and get ready to be the Josh Beckett we know in October. That is when the Red Sox will need him to win games. With Chicago and Minnesota beating up on each other in September, I think the Red Sox can hold one of them off with Lester and Matsuzaka.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Wednesday evening notes
* You know those times where you know for a fact something is on your mind, you definitely have something to say, but then for the life of you, you can't figure out exactly what you what to say or how to say it? In a weird, twisted kind of way, it is similar to a mother holding her child while smoking a cigarette. What does that have to do with anything? Well that is exactly where the Dodgers have driven me this season. You know there is something wrong with that picture, but you just don't stop to mention it.
I have tried, endlessly, to understand this Dodgers team, only to be mislead and misguided into thinking that they have what it takes to win this division. The Diamondbacks lost again, a day after the Padres pounded Brandon Webb, a guy who never loses. That makes four loses for Arizona in their last five games, certainly their worst stretch of play in some time. The problem is, today marks the fifth straight loss for the Dodgers, failing to take advantage of their best opportunity to gain ground on a division rival that wants them to take the division?
Is there any way that nobody from the NL West goes to the playoffs? Are you sure? There's nothing we can work out? Not even with the devil?
I thought Larry Bowa's comments the other day were rather typical of a veteran coach who had nothing better to say than that the players have been horrible and that they should be embarrassed by their play. That is common during bad stretches; the players are left on an island all by themselves to figure it out.
But, looking back, the basis of Bowa's comments was spot on. The Dodgers should be absolutely embarrassed by the way they are playing and what has transpired in Philadelphia and, now, Washington. The Padres are doing you a favor, Christmas in August, and you go to Washington and lose t he first two games to the Nationals? There is nothing more we can say about that. There is no explaining that.
It's alright if the Dodgers don't won't to go to the playoffs. Shoot, Arizona may not really want to go either. If that's the case, the NL West might as well send the Giants. At least we will have some young, hungry players and some exciting pitching. But the Dodgers need to stop kidding themselves. They need to stop kidding the organization, the fans, the city, anything and everything that they could and will have an impact on. Just stop kidding.
When teams smell the post season, when the team they are chasing is struggling mightily, those teams don't go on the road and lose two crucial games to the Washington Nationals. They just don't. Look, there's a lot to like with the Dodgers, but I just don't know whether or not we should continue to bother to like it. For this season, at least.
Why should we get excited to rush to the ballpark after work or school? For this? Clayton Kerhsaw, Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Russell Martin -- they were all reasons to buy tickets and wear Dodger caps and hate the Diamondbacks. But should we even bother if they can't beat arguably the worst team in baseball at a time when they could be right back at the top of the division? I'm not so sure. In truth, I have no idea what to make of this Los Angeles mess anymore. The only one hundred percent sure thing I can say today is that USC will travel to Virginia on Saturday, and they should at least put up a fight.
* After that venom overload just now, I was tempted to put the Yankees in the same Dead Bin as the Dodgers, but it is a different scenario. Amazingly, the Dodgers still have a real chance to make the playoffs. Chance just took off his pinstripes and hopped on the D Train back to Manhattan if you are the Yankees.
The odds were against them coming into this series, but I still believed they had a shot. I even wrote last week that I actually had a reasonable amount of belief left. But I said they would have to dominate their remaining games with the Red Sox, and they would need the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins to beat up on each other.
The only beating up going on now comes from the big bats of Boston. And if you're A-Rod, but that's another story altogether. The Red Sox romped the Yankees 11-2 on Wednesday night, officially making this thing a laugher. The Yankees had a chance to pull up right behind Boston in the wild card race if they took care of business at home, but instead the Red Sox are did the manhandling, and they are making sure they leave Yankee Stadium for the last time in style.
Things were looking up for the Yankees heading into this series. They had two of their best starters going in Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina, and they weren't going to face Josh Beckett or Daisuke Matsuzaka. But a poor outing by Pettitte and a To Be Expected outing from Sidney Ponson later, and the Yankees are 7 games back of Boston and officially on the outside looking in to the post season.
Sure, they could pull it back to 6 games with a win tomorrow, but what does that really accomplish? In my opinion, they needed to be two games back at the most going into Boston for the final three games of the season in late September. Theoretically, they still could be. But that is doubtful, and now that series is going to be one big laugher, a celebration of the Red Sox going back to defend their championship, and a joke made of the Yankees who haven't missed the playoffs since 1993.
But, of course, it wasn't like all of this snuck up on us. This is what happens when you don' have pitching. The injury bug ruined the Yankees season, but they can't ride into the off season blaming their misfortunes on injuries. Yes, their injuries were plentiful and they may have made it nearly impossible to succeed otherwise, but every team deals with injuries. Plus, I challenge you to find one person in America that is going to feel sorry for the Yankees and their $200+ million payroll missing the post season. You won't find him or her.
In all likelihood, Brian Cashman will be back next season -- he has done a better job than he will get credit for this season -- and the Yankees will be throwing big dollars at CC Sabathia, and probably Mark Teixeira too. Things would have been different if the Yankees had Chien-Ming Wang healthy and Phil Hughes healthy and Joba Chamberlain in the rotation for a full season. But, in hindsight, those are all things that they are going to have to look forward to next year.
2009 is a tricky thing to wrap your mind around right now for the Yankees because they could be substantially better, or they could be just as mediocre. We will have to wait and see. If everyone is healthy, they are already contenders. And I think they will add one of the big name starting pitchers -- namely Sabathia or Ben Sheets. But what may be the most beneficial for the Yankees is all of the old, expiring contracts coming off the books.
Giambi's deal is up, as is Mussina's , Damon's , and Pettitte's. They will have to deal with Bobby Abreu as well. It will be tempting to bring back a lot of those pieces simply because of the name and the reputation they have built. But it will be imperative that Cashman resist the urge and let them walk. They are great players who have had great careers, but they are not what they once were, and that has been the downfall for the Yankees, not just this year, but in the last five years.
They have always seemed to be one step behind a free agent, nabbing him as soon as he is past his productive stage. They have thrown dollars at reputations instead of current, annual evaluations. It would make sense for the Yankees to lock up Abreu at a reasonable price, and either Mussina or Pettitte at a low cost, but only one of them, not both of them. Mussina or Pettitte will be the fifth starter in a rotation consisting of Chamberlain, Hughes, Wang, Free Agent.
Other than that, it is time for this franchise to completely move on and begin creating a new identity. They have to let Damon and Giambi go play elsewhere. The compensation picks they will receive in return are far more valuable than bringing them back for big dollars and getting sub-par play out of them.
Above all, the Yankees simply look old and worn out. They need to be invigorated by young, hungry players. They need more guys like Brett Gardner-- simply ballplayers who grind out games and do anything to win. They still have their superstars, they don't need any more of those. A-Rod, Jeter, Posada, Rivera. That's enough. What they need are ballplayers who have a ton of a talent and even more desire and drive. They need guys to round out the roster that aren't afraid of the spotlight and just want to win. How else are the Angels doing what they are doing? It is time for the Yankees to leave the free-willy spending behind as they enter the new, behemoth Yankee Stadium, and put a real baseball product on the field.
I have tried, endlessly, to understand this Dodgers team, only to be mislead and misguided into thinking that they have what it takes to win this division. The Diamondbacks lost again, a day after the Padres pounded Brandon Webb, a guy who never loses. That makes four loses for Arizona in their last five games, certainly their worst stretch of play in some time. The problem is, today marks the fifth straight loss for the Dodgers, failing to take advantage of their best opportunity to gain ground on a division rival that wants them to take the division?
Is there any way that nobody from the NL West goes to the playoffs? Are you sure? There's nothing we can work out? Not even with the devil?
I thought Larry Bowa's comments the other day were rather typical of a veteran coach who had nothing better to say than that the players have been horrible and that they should be embarrassed by their play. That is common during bad stretches; the players are left on an island all by themselves to figure it out.
But, looking back, the basis of Bowa's comments was spot on. The Dodgers should be absolutely embarrassed by the way they are playing and what has transpired in Philadelphia and, now, Washington. The Padres are doing you a favor, Christmas in August, and you go to Washington and lose t he first two games to the Nationals? There is nothing more we can say about that. There is no explaining that.
It's alright if the Dodgers don't won't to go to the playoffs. Shoot, Arizona may not really want to go either. If that's the case, the NL West might as well send the Giants. At least we will have some young, hungry players and some exciting pitching. But the Dodgers need to stop kidding themselves. They need to stop kidding the organization, the fans, the city, anything and everything that they could and will have an impact on. Just stop kidding.
When teams smell the post season, when the team they are chasing is struggling mightily, those teams don't go on the road and lose two crucial games to the Washington Nationals. They just don't. Look, there's a lot to like with the Dodgers, but I just don't know whether or not we should continue to bother to like it. For this season, at least.
Why should we get excited to rush to the ballpark after work or school? For this? Clayton Kerhsaw, Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Russell Martin -- they were all reasons to buy tickets and wear Dodger caps and hate the Diamondbacks. But should we even bother if they can't beat arguably the worst team in baseball at a time when they could be right back at the top of the division? I'm not so sure. In truth, I have no idea what to make of this Los Angeles mess anymore. The only one hundred percent sure thing I can say today is that USC will travel to Virginia on Saturday, and they should at least put up a fight.
* After that venom overload just now, I was tempted to put the Yankees in the same Dead Bin as the Dodgers, but it is a different scenario. Amazingly, the Dodgers still have a real chance to make the playoffs. Chance just took off his pinstripes and hopped on the D Train back to Manhattan if you are the Yankees.
The odds were against them coming into this series, but I still believed they had a shot. I even wrote last week that I actually had a reasonable amount of belief left. But I said they would have to dominate their remaining games with the Red Sox, and they would need the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins to beat up on each other.
The only beating up going on now comes from the big bats of Boston. And if you're A-Rod, but that's another story altogether. The Red Sox romped the Yankees 11-2 on Wednesday night, officially making this thing a laugher. The Yankees had a chance to pull up right behind Boston in the wild card race if they took care of business at home, but instead the Red Sox are did the manhandling, and they are making sure they leave Yankee Stadium for the last time in style.
Things were looking up for the Yankees heading into this series. They had two of their best starters going in Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina, and they weren't going to face Josh Beckett or Daisuke Matsuzaka. But a poor outing by Pettitte and a To Be Expected outing from Sidney Ponson later, and the Yankees are 7 games back of Boston and officially on the outside looking in to the post season.
Sure, they could pull it back to 6 games with a win tomorrow, but what does that really accomplish? In my opinion, they needed to be two games back at the most going into Boston for the final three games of the season in late September. Theoretically, they still could be. But that is doubtful, and now that series is going to be one big laugher, a celebration of the Red Sox going back to defend their championship, and a joke made of the Yankees who haven't missed the playoffs since 1993.
But, of course, it wasn't like all of this snuck up on us. This is what happens when you don' have pitching. The injury bug ruined the Yankees season, but they can't ride into the off season blaming their misfortunes on injuries. Yes, their injuries were plentiful and they may have made it nearly impossible to succeed otherwise, but every team deals with injuries. Plus, I challenge you to find one person in America that is going to feel sorry for the Yankees and their $200+ million payroll missing the post season. You won't find him or her.
In all likelihood, Brian Cashman will be back next season -- he has done a better job than he will get credit for this season -- and the Yankees will be throwing big dollars at CC Sabathia, and probably Mark Teixeira too. Things would have been different if the Yankees had Chien-Ming Wang healthy and Phil Hughes healthy and Joba Chamberlain in the rotation for a full season. But, in hindsight, those are all things that they are going to have to look forward to next year.
2009 is a tricky thing to wrap your mind around right now for the Yankees because they could be substantially better, or they could be just as mediocre. We will have to wait and see. If everyone is healthy, they are already contenders. And I think they will add one of the big name starting pitchers -- namely Sabathia or Ben Sheets. But what may be the most beneficial for the Yankees is all of the old, expiring contracts coming off the books.
Giambi's deal is up, as is Mussina's , Damon's , and Pettitte's. They will have to deal with Bobby Abreu as well. It will be tempting to bring back a lot of those pieces simply because of the name and the reputation they have built. But it will be imperative that Cashman resist the urge and let them walk. They are great players who have had great careers, but they are not what they once were, and that has been the downfall for the Yankees, not just this year, but in the last five years.
They have always seemed to be one step behind a free agent, nabbing him as soon as he is past his productive stage. They have thrown dollars at reputations instead of current, annual evaluations. It would make sense for the Yankees to lock up Abreu at a reasonable price, and either Mussina or Pettitte at a low cost, but only one of them, not both of them. Mussina or Pettitte will be the fifth starter in a rotation consisting of Chamberlain, Hughes, Wang, Free Agent.
Other than that, it is time for this franchise to completely move on and begin creating a new identity. They have to let Damon and Giambi go play elsewhere. The compensation picks they will receive in return are far more valuable than bringing them back for big dollars and getting sub-par play out of them.
Above all, the Yankees simply look old and worn out. They need to be invigorated by young, hungry players. They need more guys like Brett Gardner-- simply ballplayers who grind out games and do anything to win. They still have their superstars, they don't need any more of those. A-Rod, Jeter, Posada, Rivera. That's enough. What they need are ballplayers who have a ton of a talent and even more desire and drive. They need guys to round out the roster that aren't afraid of the spotlight and just want to win. How else are the Angels doing what they are doing? It is time for the Yankees to leave the free-willy spending behind as they enter the new, behemoth Yankee Stadium, and put a real baseball product on the field.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Sunday morning notes
* Just when the Yankees thought they were going to be giving their playoff hopes to Ian Kennedy or another unproven youngster during the stretch run, the biggest surprise of the year came through. That would be Carl Pavano and his return to the New York Yankees. Pavano last pitched in April of 2007, and has been highly criticized by teammates and the New York media for lacking the guts or guile that it takes to pitch in New York. In short, he just didn't want the ball. That's what they said.
Sure, Pavano gave the Yankees next to nothing in return for the four year, $40 million contract they gave him before the 2005 season, but that is a moot point now. What matters today, is that Pavano returned to the Yanks, and gave up 3 runs over five innings, notching his first win in over a year. This comes at a time when the Yankees are trying to run down the Boston Red Sox in the American League Wild Card race, and starting pitching has been a shortage in pinstripes.
Pavano cannot be counted on to return to the mound in another five days, his track record won't allow it, but believe it or not, the guy who could never show up to pitch has an opportunity to give the Yankees the biggest lift of the season, at a time when they need it most. Pavano has a chance to add another quality arm to help Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte keep this team afloat, and Joba Chamberlain is on his way back to the mound.
Wouldn't that be a story? For all that has gone wrong during these last four years and for all the beatings that Pavano has taken in the papers, he has a chance to leave on his terms and repair his reputation. Somewhat. But you don't think the Yankee fans would cheer him in The Bronx if he were to take the ball from here on out? Are you kidding? They would welcome him with open arms if he pitches well and wins for the last five weeks of the season.
Pavano would be New York's favorite guy if the Yankees squeak into the playoffs and he is at the heart of their resurgence. He can do it. He still has good enough stuff to be a capable big league starter, and he is still in his early thirties. Somebody is going to give him a contract this winter, even if that is only a minor league deal and a chance to win a spot on the major league roster in spring training. But an offer will be there. Why? Because it is apparent how starved clubs are for quality pitching, and any time there is an arm that has a chance to make an impact, at least one team will think it's worth the risk on some level.
But, most importantly, the Yankees picked up a game on the Red Sox yesterday, and are now five games back, with a chance to make up some serious ground on their division foe who have their own issues. When we thought this race couldn't get more appealing, we have a great side plot brewing and a chance for a guy to pick himself out of the dumps and push his team to a post season birth. It doesn't get better than that.
* If you talk about the Yankees, you have to touch on the Red Sox. Hey, I didn't make the rules. I wrote last week about Josh Beckett's sudden "tingling" in his fingers and how the Red Sox didn't think it was a serious thing and that it most likely is from him sleeping on his right arm. Then I added that it may be minor, but these types of symptoms should never be taken lightly when it comes to pitchers, and especially a guy like Beckett who is so crucial to the future of the Red Sox.
Now we are seeing why this news is never subtle happenings. Beckett was penciled in to pitch against the Yankees on Tuesday, but now he has been scratched from that start, and there is no timetable on his return. The Red Sox aren't sure what his diagnosis is, and I'm sure they will be working diligently to come up with an answer in the coming week. But what we do know is that Beckett is still feeling some tingling in his arm and now the Red Sox have revealed he has some inflammation in his elbow.
Now, inflammation could be a number of things. What pitcher doesn't have some inflammation at this time of year? On the other hand, inflammation is the first step towards serious arm trouble. We aren't suggesting that the Boston ace may be heading for Tommy John surgery just yet, but I'm telling you that it is not uncommon for things to start out like this, and all of the sudden when the discomfort doesn't subside, it is revealed that serious damage has occurred. That is simply baseball and part of pitching. Hopefully for Beckett and the Red Sox, all of this really is just a little inflammation and he won't be out too long.
But this a big blow for Boston. The White Sox are right on their heels in the wild card race, the Tampa Bay Rays have built themselves a 5.5 game cushion in the AL East, and the Yankees are beginning to lick their chops in hope for a September push to October. Without Beckett, the pressure of an entire city falls on the shoulders of Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka, and that may be a little too much to handle for those guys. If there were ever a time for Paul Byrd to prove his veteran worth, this would be it. They need him. Quickly.
* It was only a short time ago that the youthful Marlins took two out of three from Philadelphia and then headed to New York for a weekend series with the Mets that I dubbed as a series to watch because it would most likely tell us a lot about what we didn't know about the Marlins and the reality of their season. Meaning, do they really, actually have a chance to keep up in the NL East race with the Phillies and Mets?
As it turns out, the fairy tale season of Florida is dwindling, and the youth is catching up to them in the thick summer heat that engulfs every late August and early September. The Marlins fell to the Diamondbacks on Saturday, dropping them six games back of the Mets in the division, a long shot at making any kind of run. Florida simply isn't as deep as the Mets are, and they fall extremely short in experience.
But, hey, this isn't a negative. Who expected the Marlins to be two games over .500 on August 24? Nobody. After they dealt away Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera to Detroit, and their highest paid player is closer Kevin Gregg, and A-Rod makes more by himself in one season than the entire Florida roster combined, this was surely going to be the first season of a long recovery plan. But amidst all the home run balls from Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla and Mike Jacobs, the Marlins made a name for themselves and kept themselves in the race.
And then their young pitching began to come around, but now it is just too late. Florida has overachieved this season by all standards. There is a lot to be excited about in that franchise for the years to come. That is, if they can keep Uggla and Jacobs and Willingham in uniform. They have a stable of young pitchers that should allow them to build a contender for the next few seasons. Chris Volstad and Josh Johnson and Scott Olsen and Ricky Nolasco and Andrew Miller are all good arms that can win ball games next season.
The problems run deep in that franchise, though, and with a fragile fan base and a makeshift ballpark, the Marlins are constantly in a contend-demolish cycle. The baseball fans of South Florida need to realize there is some talent on the Marlins club. The club needs to get out of Pro Player Stadium and into some new digs, and then they will be able to start building a foundation for a successful franchise. But the pieces are there, and this season should give all of the young kids invaluable experience.
* Many people within the baseball industry believe that the Dodgers are going to come out of the NL West, but with five weeks left to go, we are sitting here waiting for that to happen. Sure, there is no question that Manny Ramirez has energized that club and that city like nobody else could. But the fact is, the Dodgers are 11-10 since acquiring the slugger and they cannot afford inconsistent play if they want to chase down Arizona.
The Dodgers are three games out of the division and still have a great chance because they play Arizona head to head another six times before the season is over. On top of that, the Dodgers play the San Diego Padres another nine times, they have three games against the Washington Nationals next week, they have three games against the Colorado Rockies, and four games against the Pittsburgh Pirates remaining. If the Dodgers truly deserve playoff spot, they will roll through that soft portion of the schedule and can put the pressure on the D'backs to keep up.
More so, the Dodgers play San Francisco six more times, but those game will not be patsies, if for nothing more than the fact that they will probably face Tim Lincecum twice, and the Los Angeles-San Francisco rivalry is always fierce. The opportunities are there for the Dodgers to make what they want out of their season, but they can ill afford to ride an inconsistent wave of pitching and hitting from here on out.
Sure, Pavano gave the Yankees next to nothing in return for the four year, $40 million contract they gave him before the 2005 season, but that is a moot point now. What matters today, is that Pavano returned to the Yanks, and gave up 3 runs over five innings, notching his first win in over a year. This comes at a time when the Yankees are trying to run down the Boston Red Sox in the American League Wild Card race, and starting pitching has been a shortage in pinstripes.
Pavano cannot be counted on to return to the mound in another five days, his track record won't allow it, but believe it or not, the guy who could never show up to pitch has an opportunity to give the Yankees the biggest lift of the season, at a time when they need it most. Pavano has a chance to add another quality arm to help Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte keep this team afloat, and Joba Chamberlain is on his way back to the mound.
Wouldn't that be a story? For all that has gone wrong during these last four years and for all the beatings that Pavano has taken in the papers, he has a chance to leave on his terms and repair his reputation. Somewhat. But you don't think the Yankee fans would cheer him in The Bronx if he were to take the ball from here on out? Are you kidding? They would welcome him with open arms if he pitches well and wins for the last five weeks of the season.
Pavano would be New York's favorite guy if the Yankees squeak into the playoffs and he is at the heart of their resurgence. He can do it. He still has good enough stuff to be a capable big league starter, and he is still in his early thirties. Somebody is going to give him a contract this winter, even if that is only a minor league deal and a chance to win a spot on the major league roster in spring training. But an offer will be there. Why? Because it is apparent how starved clubs are for quality pitching, and any time there is an arm that has a chance to make an impact, at least one team will think it's worth the risk on some level.
But, most importantly, the Yankees picked up a game on the Red Sox yesterday, and are now five games back, with a chance to make up some serious ground on their division foe who have their own issues. When we thought this race couldn't get more appealing, we have a great side plot brewing and a chance for a guy to pick himself out of the dumps and push his team to a post season birth. It doesn't get better than that.
* If you talk about the Yankees, you have to touch on the Red Sox. Hey, I didn't make the rules. I wrote last week about Josh Beckett's sudden "tingling" in his fingers and how the Red Sox didn't think it was a serious thing and that it most likely is from him sleeping on his right arm. Then I added that it may be minor, but these types of symptoms should never be taken lightly when it comes to pitchers, and especially a guy like Beckett who is so crucial to the future of the Red Sox.
Now we are seeing why this news is never subtle happenings. Beckett was penciled in to pitch against the Yankees on Tuesday, but now he has been scratched from that start, and there is no timetable on his return. The Red Sox aren't sure what his diagnosis is, and I'm sure they will be working diligently to come up with an answer in the coming week. But what we do know is that Beckett is still feeling some tingling in his arm and now the Red Sox have revealed he has some inflammation in his elbow.
Now, inflammation could be a number of things. What pitcher doesn't have some inflammation at this time of year? On the other hand, inflammation is the first step towards serious arm trouble. We aren't suggesting that the Boston ace may be heading for Tommy John surgery just yet, but I'm telling you that it is not uncommon for things to start out like this, and all of the sudden when the discomfort doesn't subside, it is revealed that serious damage has occurred. That is simply baseball and part of pitching. Hopefully for Beckett and the Red Sox, all of this really is just a little inflammation and he won't be out too long.
But this a big blow for Boston. The White Sox are right on their heels in the wild card race, the Tampa Bay Rays have built themselves a 5.5 game cushion in the AL East, and the Yankees are beginning to lick their chops in hope for a September push to October. Without Beckett, the pressure of an entire city falls on the shoulders of Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka, and that may be a little too much to handle for those guys. If there were ever a time for Paul Byrd to prove his veteran worth, this would be it. They need him. Quickly.
* It was only a short time ago that the youthful Marlins took two out of three from Philadelphia and then headed to New York for a weekend series with the Mets that I dubbed as a series to watch because it would most likely tell us a lot about what we didn't know about the Marlins and the reality of their season. Meaning, do they really, actually have a chance to keep up in the NL East race with the Phillies and Mets?
As it turns out, the fairy tale season of Florida is dwindling, and the youth is catching up to them in the thick summer heat that engulfs every late August and early September. The Marlins fell to the Diamondbacks on Saturday, dropping them six games back of the Mets in the division, a long shot at making any kind of run. Florida simply isn't as deep as the Mets are, and they fall extremely short in experience.
But, hey, this isn't a negative. Who expected the Marlins to be two games over .500 on August 24? Nobody. After they dealt away Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera to Detroit, and their highest paid player is closer Kevin Gregg, and A-Rod makes more by himself in one season than the entire Florida roster combined, this was surely going to be the first season of a long recovery plan. But amidst all the home run balls from Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla and Mike Jacobs, the Marlins made a name for themselves and kept themselves in the race.
And then their young pitching began to come around, but now it is just too late. Florida has overachieved this season by all standards. There is a lot to be excited about in that franchise for the years to come. That is, if they can keep Uggla and Jacobs and Willingham in uniform. They have a stable of young pitchers that should allow them to build a contender for the next few seasons. Chris Volstad and Josh Johnson and Scott Olsen and Ricky Nolasco and Andrew Miller are all good arms that can win ball games next season.
The problems run deep in that franchise, though, and with a fragile fan base and a makeshift ballpark, the Marlins are constantly in a contend-demolish cycle. The baseball fans of South Florida need to realize there is some talent on the Marlins club. The club needs to get out of Pro Player Stadium and into some new digs, and then they will be able to start building a foundation for a successful franchise. But the pieces are there, and this season should give all of the young kids invaluable experience.
* Many people within the baseball industry believe that the Dodgers are going to come out of the NL West, but with five weeks left to go, we are sitting here waiting for that to happen. Sure, there is no question that Manny Ramirez has energized that club and that city like nobody else could. But the fact is, the Dodgers are 11-10 since acquiring the slugger and they cannot afford inconsistent play if they want to chase down Arizona.
The Dodgers are three games out of the division and still have a great chance because they play Arizona head to head another six times before the season is over. On top of that, the Dodgers play the San Diego Padres another nine times, they have three games against the Washington Nationals next week, they have three games against the Colorado Rockies, and four games against the Pittsburgh Pirates remaining. If the Dodgers truly deserve playoff spot, they will roll through that soft portion of the schedule and can put the pressure on the D'backs to keep up.
More so, the Dodgers play San Francisco six more times, but those game will not be patsies, if for nothing more than the fact that they will probably face Tim Lincecum twice, and the Los Angeles-San Francisco rivalry is always fierce. The opportunities are there for the Dodgers to make what they want out of their season, but they can ill afford to ride an inconsistent wave of pitching and hitting from here on out.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The Final Season it is, The End it isn't
**NOTE- Part two of Ballpark Banter's NYC trip.
There is a place in New York where you don't need to be told what rests there. The address is a piece of history, a destination for the greats. It is a mixed bag of emotions, one that can bring you up and knock you down, equally. There have been many euphoric nights, and plenty of desperate afternoons, but all of it plays a part in what will be remembered.
161st Street and River Avenue.
That is where the Bleacher Bums of Section 39 make their home, verbally dismantling the enemy, as well as members of their own. There isn't any room for mediocrity here. When visitors wait over an hour to take a five minute stroll through 100 feet of dedication beyond the left center field wall, there is no time for struggling ballplayers and sinking organizations. The fans won't allow it.
Yankee Stadium has been not only a significant symbol in baseball history, but an everlasting icon in American sports. It is arguably the grandest sports venue in the country, and not many would dispute that. There are more retired numbers than jerseys who fill out the starting lineup. The ballpark was designed in part for one guy, the guy who would take this franchise and make it the alpha dog of the sport, Babe Ruth. Magic happens here; failed dreams do not.
The grandiose facade lines the inner perimeter of the park deep behind center field, stretching to the left and right, as visible as the ivy at Wrigley. All great parks have something that is unique to them, a factor or trait that sets it apart from the rest. There is no shortage of that here. Too many parks today are built for keeping the attention of the younger fans; I thought that was what the game is for?
Here, the stadium levels stack on top of each other like a perfectly manicured wedding cake, creating an arena where the eyes funnel down to the playing field. Talk about a spotlight. You don't come here to peer at the sky and fill your time with wonderment. There are too many impatient supporters, men and women who love you today and despise you tomorrow. Get a hit and you are the man, a guy worthy of wearing the Yankee Pinstripes. Strike out, and see you in them minor leagues, you bum.
Nobody said life in the big city was fair, so harsh it will be. As any one of the Section 39 regulars will tell you, they don't come to the games to watch $200 million drift away in the cellar of the American League East. This franchise has been more than that, it has done too much to go home early in the last year of this Yankee Stadium. But, sometimes, there is only so much you can do in this game, I say. Baseball will humble the best of them, and that is the problem with greater than life expectations. It leaves you among the incapable of handling adversity.
I walked into Yankee Stadium, this one, for the final time, thinking that it would be the last time that I would ever see anything like it again. It would be the last time that I feel the ghosts or Ruth and Gehrig, the final games before all the lore packs up and heads corporate. This would be the last time that I could envision all of the championships and thrilling post season nights that came to epic climaxes on this field, chills racing down your spine as you stare at the television, thousands of miles displaced from it all.
I figured the new ball park would have more of a Manhattan feel, big money and bright lights overtaking the real reason why these fans have come to The Stadium for all these years. I was forcing myself to grow accustomed to watching just another money guzzling entertainment entity find new ways to prosper. After all, this is a business and all businesses are in it for the bucks, so why is this such a big deal?
There would never be the feeling of David Cone or David Wells throwing no-hitters and 55,000 strong up in a roar, knowing they just witnessed the next great chapter. At the new place, it would just be useful background noise to all of the millionaire business executives. That's not baseball.
At the new place, heroic home runs deep into dark, October nights would be launching pads for stock and advertisements; it certainly wouldn't be the moment that defines a good year or a bad year for the people of The Bronx. Aaron Boone would be a nice name for an invester; it would not be the unlikely man behind one of the Stadium's biggest home runs. Post season magic reminding us that big dreams sometimes meet big realities.
The new digs, I thought, would be a nice shiny amusement park for all -- even the opposing team could pay their fare and ride unlimited. There would be no intimidating aura pouring out of the rafters, the type of intensity that actually makes you feel a bit unsafe. The Bronx isn't supposed to be home sweet home.
That was what I thought before I sat down for two long days at the ballpark and soaked in the remaining hours of the building that has provided my greatest childhood memory, bar none. That's when my mind changed. I got to the ballpark two or two and half hours before first pitch -- and it was packed. How are there lines two and a half hours before game time? I don't know, but there are. Big ones.
Thousands of fans dip into the street side bars before walking through the gates, all of them in their seats or wandering around for batting practice. Where else do you see that? Batting practice feels like a rock concert here, fans roaming around trying to get the best glimpse at the favorite stars. At least in this city, the baseball players are the main attraction.
There are loud fans, rude fans, obnoxious fans, subtle fans, conservative fans, happy fans, mad fans, down right angry fans. But they are all fans and, more importantly, they are all there. Never have I been to a place that breaks down a game pitch by pitch like Yankee Stadium. I tried to put my finger on what creates the atmosphere, and I couldn't come up with something that complex, because in the end, it really isn't.
The difference between the average baseball city and this city, is that the game and the team and the outcome means everything to them. Not a little bit, not a lot. Everything. They wait out the work week to come to Yankee Stadium to yell at opposing players, yell at their players, yell at opposing fans, yell at their own fans. I'm sure some of them ridicule their mothers from time to time. It's just the way it is. It's nothing personal, it's business.
The energy is still there, and the mystique is still there. It is hard to get a great feel for one of the more mesmerizing venues when playoff contention is a long shot, but that almost made the environment that much more interesting. That unveiled whether or not these fans come out for the good times and pack it in for the bad. As we found out, they are there regardless.
When it's good, it's great, and when it's bad, it's absolutely horrible. But the passion remains, the hatred for anything non-Yankees is the strongest emotion in the park, and the great thing about it all is that the community is bonded by the New York Yankees. Other teams have large fan bases, but the Yankees have villages. The game doesn't begin with the first pitch and end with the last out for these guys. They wear out the bars over Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner. And don't get them started on Carl Pavano.
Sure, we are less than 20 games away from closing down the most storied stadium our country has ever seen. But, after getting a first hand look, the new park is going to be better than this one. I believe that. It certainly is time for a new stadium, a fresh venue that can be broken in with big home runs and championship banners. Every generation passes along something. It just happens to be that the greatest generation I have seen in my lifetime is going to pass along legends, and myths, and passion, and All American venom.
We don't know how the new Yankee Stadium is going to feel at its outset, but I can guarantee that there will still be lines 3 hours before the game, the streets are still going to be blocked with Jeter jerseys, and the logo is still going to shine like Broadway. Better get there early; the ghosts have a much shorter walk than you do.
There is a place in New York where you don't need to be told what rests there. The address is a piece of history, a destination for the greats. It is a mixed bag of emotions, one that can bring you up and knock you down, equally. There have been many euphoric nights, and plenty of desperate afternoons, but all of it plays a part in what will be remembered.
161st Street and River Avenue.
That is where the Bleacher Bums of Section 39 make their home, verbally dismantling the enemy, as well as members of their own. There isn't any room for mediocrity here. When visitors wait over an hour to take a five minute stroll through 100 feet of dedication beyond the left center field wall, there is no time for struggling ballplayers and sinking organizations. The fans won't allow it.
Yankee Stadium has been not only a significant symbol in baseball history, but an everlasting icon in American sports. It is arguably the grandest sports venue in the country, and not many would dispute that. There are more retired numbers than jerseys who fill out the starting lineup. The ballpark was designed in part for one guy, the guy who would take this franchise and make it the alpha dog of the sport, Babe Ruth. Magic happens here; failed dreams do not.
The grandiose facade lines the inner perimeter of the park deep behind center field, stretching to the left and right, as visible as the ivy at Wrigley. All great parks have something that is unique to them, a factor or trait that sets it apart from the rest. There is no shortage of that here. Too many parks today are built for keeping the attention of the younger fans; I thought that was what the game is for?
Here, the stadium levels stack on top of each other like a perfectly manicured wedding cake, creating an arena where the eyes funnel down to the playing field. Talk about a spotlight. You don't come here to peer at the sky and fill your time with wonderment. There are too many impatient supporters, men and women who love you today and despise you tomorrow. Get a hit and you are the man, a guy worthy of wearing the Yankee Pinstripes. Strike out, and see you in them minor leagues, you bum.
Nobody said life in the big city was fair, so harsh it will be. As any one of the Section 39 regulars will tell you, they don't come to the games to watch $200 million drift away in the cellar of the American League East. This franchise has been more than that, it has done too much to go home early in the last year of this Yankee Stadium. But, sometimes, there is only so much you can do in this game, I say. Baseball will humble the best of them, and that is the problem with greater than life expectations. It leaves you among the incapable of handling adversity.
I walked into Yankee Stadium, this one, for the final time, thinking that it would be the last time that I would ever see anything like it again. It would be the last time that I feel the ghosts or Ruth and Gehrig, the final games before all the lore packs up and heads corporate. This would be the last time that I could envision all of the championships and thrilling post season nights that came to epic climaxes on this field, chills racing down your spine as you stare at the television, thousands of miles displaced from it all.
I figured the new ball park would have more of a Manhattan feel, big money and bright lights overtaking the real reason why these fans have come to The Stadium for all these years. I was forcing myself to grow accustomed to watching just another money guzzling entertainment entity find new ways to prosper. After all, this is a business and all businesses are in it for the bucks, so why is this such a big deal?
There would never be the feeling of David Cone or David Wells throwing no-hitters and 55,000 strong up in a roar, knowing they just witnessed the next great chapter. At the new place, it would just be useful background noise to all of the millionaire business executives. That's not baseball.
At the new place, heroic home runs deep into dark, October nights would be launching pads for stock and advertisements; it certainly wouldn't be the moment that defines a good year or a bad year for the people of The Bronx. Aaron Boone would be a nice name for an invester; it would not be the unlikely man behind one of the Stadium's biggest home runs. Post season magic reminding us that big dreams sometimes meet big realities.
The new digs, I thought, would be a nice shiny amusement park for all -- even the opposing team could pay their fare and ride unlimited. There would be no intimidating aura pouring out of the rafters, the type of intensity that actually makes you feel a bit unsafe. The Bronx isn't supposed to be home sweet home.
That was what I thought before I sat down for two long days at the ballpark and soaked in the remaining hours of the building that has provided my greatest childhood memory, bar none. That's when my mind changed. I got to the ballpark two or two and half hours before first pitch -- and it was packed. How are there lines two and a half hours before game time? I don't know, but there are. Big ones.
Thousands of fans dip into the street side bars before walking through the gates, all of them in their seats or wandering around for batting practice. Where else do you see that? Batting practice feels like a rock concert here, fans roaming around trying to get the best glimpse at the favorite stars. At least in this city, the baseball players are the main attraction.
There are loud fans, rude fans, obnoxious fans, subtle fans, conservative fans, happy fans, mad fans, down right angry fans. But they are all fans and, more importantly, they are all there. Never have I been to a place that breaks down a game pitch by pitch like Yankee Stadium. I tried to put my finger on what creates the atmosphere, and I couldn't come up with something that complex, because in the end, it really isn't.
The difference between the average baseball city and this city, is that the game and the team and the outcome means everything to them. Not a little bit, not a lot. Everything. They wait out the work week to come to Yankee Stadium to yell at opposing players, yell at their players, yell at opposing fans, yell at their own fans. I'm sure some of them ridicule their mothers from time to time. It's just the way it is. It's nothing personal, it's business.
The energy is still there, and the mystique is still there. It is hard to get a great feel for one of the more mesmerizing venues when playoff contention is a long shot, but that almost made the environment that much more interesting. That unveiled whether or not these fans come out for the good times and pack it in for the bad. As we found out, they are there regardless.
When it's good, it's great, and when it's bad, it's absolutely horrible. But the passion remains, the hatred for anything non-Yankees is the strongest emotion in the park, and the great thing about it all is that the community is bonded by the New York Yankees. Other teams have large fan bases, but the Yankees have villages. The game doesn't begin with the first pitch and end with the last out for these guys. They wear out the bars over Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner. And don't get them started on Carl Pavano.
Sure, we are less than 20 games away from closing down the most storied stadium our country has ever seen. But, after getting a first hand look, the new park is going to be better than this one. I believe that. It certainly is time for a new stadium, a fresh venue that can be broken in with big home runs and championship banners. Every generation passes along something. It just happens to be that the greatest generation I have seen in my lifetime is going to pass along legends, and myths, and passion, and All American venom.
We don't know how the new Yankee Stadium is going to feel at its outset, but I can guarantee that there will still be lines 3 hours before the game, the streets are still going to be blocked with Jeter jerseys, and the logo is still going to shine like Broadway. Better get there early; the ghosts have a much shorter walk than you do.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wednesday morning notes
* You hear some good things on sports radio, and then you hear some things that are absolutely baffling. Yesterday, a sports show talk host out of Cleveland, trying to be bold and come up with the Prediction Of The Year, told America that the Rays are not going to make the playoffs. The host said that they would slip out of it at the end and the Red Sox would take the division.
All of that is fine; opinions are just that, and everybody is entitled to their own. What was baffling was that this host claimed that the Red Sox are a better team, therefore they would win the AL East, and the Yankees would take the wild card because, "right now... the Yankees have a better team than the Rays." What?
Now this isn't meant to bash this radio host, not at all. This is simply to introduce the topic of the Tampa Bay Rays and how they are perceived throughout baseball. I find it a little ironic that the Rays are playing the Angels right now in Florida, simply because the Rays are in the same position the Angels were in a few weeks ago. The Rays are good. Very good. They just don't get any respect because of their history of losing.
The Angels have been a great team this entire season, but it took the Mark Teixeira trade for many people to open up and consider them among the best teams in baseball, if not the best. That is the concept to me that is absurd. We don't even have to mention that the Rays took the first two games of the three game series this week, to claim the talent of this ball club. These two teams have the best records in the American League, and could possibly match up in October.
The loss of Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria to the Rays are big injuries; those are two of the premier offensive threats in that lineup. But this is how baseball works, fellas: When you have pitching, you have a chance. And Tampa Bay has an abundance of pitching. They have a rotation full of guys that are capable of shutting down an offense on any given night, and keeping the team in the game on most nights. They will get Longoria back in September, but it is the pitching that is going to carry them to the post season.
I'm not convinced that the Rays are going to win the division, because I feel like Boston has another run left in them, but they very well could and it wouldn't be surprising at this point. But the Rays will make the playoffs, simply because they pitch better than any team not named the Angels, and that may be a tie. Injuries are part of baseball, but I would rather lose some hitters than lose arms. Pitching wins.
* Some discomforting news out of Boston this week. Josh Beckett is being pushed back a start due to some "tingling and numbness" in his right arm. The first evaluation suggested that it was nothing serious and that it could have been from simply sleeping wrongly on his arm. Lets hope that is the case for the Red Sox, because if they lose Beckett to any serious injury, they are near finished. Due to their lead and the rest of their team, they may still hang on to the Wild Card, but that would be about it. Without Beckett, they don't have the pitching to win a seven game series.
Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lester would have to be unbeatable to give them a chance, and that just may be asking too much. Paul Byrd would be required to come up with some big games, and although he is capable, that is not a sure bet either. And Clay Buchholz has spent the better part of the last month just trying to find himself as a major league starting pitcher again.
It will be interesting to see who wins the AL Central, because the loser may make a case for the Wild Card, and that is what would haunt the Red Sox if Beckett goes down. Both the White Sox and Twins have proven that they are playoff worthy, and both teams are going to be gunning for October.
* We know how good CC Sabathia has been since being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. The man is a complete game waiting to happen. There has been a little noise made over the Brewer's decision to keep Sabathia in the game in his last start, a game where Sabathia ended up pitching all nine innings in a 9-2 ball game, throwing 130 pitches in the process.
I'm not overly sensitive about pitch counts and using pitchers and all of that; in fact, I think starters are on too short a leash. But sometimes you just have to wonder the reasoning behind some decisions. I understand the Brewers thinking regarding Sabathia. They are only going to have him for a few months since it is apparent that they won't be able to pay him the dollars in free agency required to keep him in town, and it appears as if they are just going to ride him to the playoffs and hopefully a World Series.
It is a bit selfish, using him knowing that you won't be dealing with him at the end of the season, and Sabathia's health is his problem, and the team he signs with, problem. What we know is that the mess will not be in a Brewer uniform. As fishy as that may be from an ethical standpoint, that is the business. But where I am confused is, where do these types of decisions have an impact on the Brewers this season?
They are supposed to keep Sabathia healthy so they can make a run in October, right? If that is the case, you would think that the Brewers would reduce the risk of injury or breakdown by preventing him from pitching meaningless innings until they get to the playoffs. The last couple innings in a 9-2 game against the Astros are meaningless. If it's against the Cubs? Ehh, a little more sense. Barely.
But we all saw Sabathia break down in the post season last year after a huge workload, and that was the single biggest reason why the Cleveland Indians did not make it to the World Series. Sabathia will surpass the 200-innings bench mark in his next start, and at this rate, the big southpaw could pitch somewhere around 250 innings before we even get to post season play. Of course, this may be no indication at all of rough outings come October, but given his history, why would you risk it? Maybe Sabathia will continue to get stronger. Who knows? But it will certainly be interesting to see how this plays out and if this excessive use will have any serious ramifications on not only the Brewers, but Sabathia as well.
* The Dodgers have to be ecstatic that they have Greg Maddux back in town, a reliable guy to fill the fifth spot of the rotation for the stretch run. Maddux doesn't have stellar numbers, but his sub-4 ERA is encouraging, and Maddux can probably do more with less than any other guy in the big leagues. He will not shut teams down or pitching 8 innings, but Maddux can give 6 or 7 good innings relying on great movement and command.
This transaction has plenty of positives for the Dodgers. Not only does this lessen the burden of losing Brad Penny for probably the remainder of the season, but there is no way to quantify what kind of effect Maddux has on the rest of the pitching staff. Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsley benefited greatly from sitting with Maddux in the dugout in between their starts, and now they have a chance to continue to do that.
What is the most exciting is that finally, Maddux has a chance to bring a long a phenom in Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw may have the best pure stuff of anyone on the entire Dodgers roster, and that talent is starting to show as he is getting more consistent by the start. With Maddux as a mentor, Kershaw's development will undoubtedly surge at a rapid pace, and if the Dodgers can make the playoffs, Kershaw may end up being one of their most dominant starters. But more likely, he will be put in the bullpen to give them another power arm in the middle to late innings. It is hard to imagine Joe Torre not going with Maddux, Derek Lowe, and Chad Billingsley in the playoff rotation. If they need a fourth, it is possible that Torre goes with Kershaw over Kuroda, but not likely.
All of that is fine; opinions are just that, and everybody is entitled to their own. What was baffling was that this host claimed that the Red Sox are a better team, therefore they would win the AL East, and the Yankees would take the wild card because, "right now... the Yankees have a better team than the Rays." What?
Now this isn't meant to bash this radio host, not at all. This is simply to introduce the topic of the Tampa Bay Rays and how they are perceived throughout baseball. I find it a little ironic that the Rays are playing the Angels right now in Florida, simply because the Rays are in the same position the Angels were in a few weeks ago. The Rays are good. Very good. They just don't get any respect because of their history of losing.
The Angels have been a great team this entire season, but it took the Mark Teixeira trade for many people to open up and consider them among the best teams in baseball, if not the best. That is the concept to me that is absurd. We don't even have to mention that the Rays took the first two games of the three game series this week, to claim the talent of this ball club. These two teams have the best records in the American League, and could possibly match up in October.
The loss of Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria to the Rays are big injuries; those are two of the premier offensive threats in that lineup. But this is how baseball works, fellas: When you have pitching, you have a chance. And Tampa Bay has an abundance of pitching. They have a rotation full of guys that are capable of shutting down an offense on any given night, and keeping the team in the game on most nights. They will get Longoria back in September, but it is the pitching that is going to carry them to the post season.
I'm not convinced that the Rays are going to win the division, because I feel like Boston has another run left in them, but they very well could and it wouldn't be surprising at this point. But the Rays will make the playoffs, simply because they pitch better than any team not named the Angels, and that may be a tie. Injuries are part of baseball, but I would rather lose some hitters than lose arms. Pitching wins.
* Some discomforting news out of Boston this week. Josh Beckett is being pushed back a start due to some "tingling and numbness" in his right arm. The first evaluation suggested that it was nothing serious and that it could have been from simply sleeping wrongly on his arm. Lets hope that is the case for the Red Sox, because if they lose Beckett to any serious injury, they are near finished. Due to their lead and the rest of their team, they may still hang on to the Wild Card, but that would be about it. Without Beckett, they don't have the pitching to win a seven game series.
Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lester would have to be unbeatable to give them a chance, and that just may be asking too much. Paul Byrd would be required to come up with some big games, and although he is capable, that is not a sure bet either. And Clay Buchholz has spent the better part of the last month just trying to find himself as a major league starting pitcher again.
It will be interesting to see who wins the AL Central, because the loser may make a case for the Wild Card, and that is what would haunt the Red Sox if Beckett goes down. Both the White Sox and Twins have proven that they are playoff worthy, and both teams are going to be gunning for October.
* We know how good CC Sabathia has been since being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. The man is a complete game waiting to happen. There has been a little noise made over the Brewer's decision to keep Sabathia in the game in his last start, a game where Sabathia ended up pitching all nine innings in a 9-2 ball game, throwing 130 pitches in the process.
I'm not overly sensitive about pitch counts and using pitchers and all of that; in fact, I think starters are on too short a leash. But sometimes you just have to wonder the reasoning behind some decisions. I understand the Brewers thinking regarding Sabathia. They are only going to have him for a few months since it is apparent that they won't be able to pay him the dollars in free agency required to keep him in town, and it appears as if they are just going to ride him to the playoffs and hopefully a World Series.
It is a bit selfish, using him knowing that you won't be dealing with him at the end of the season, and Sabathia's health is his problem, and the team he signs with, problem. What we know is that the mess will not be in a Brewer uniform. As fishy as that may be from an ethical standpoint, that is the business. But where I am confused is, where do these types of decisions have an impact on the Brewers this season?
They are supposed to keep Sabathia healthy so they can make a run in October, right? If that is the case, you would think that the Brewers would reduce the risk of injury or breakdown by preventing him from pitching meaningless innings until they get to the playoffs. The last couple innings in a 9-2 game against the Astros are meaningless. If it's against the Cubs? Ehh, a little more sense. Barely.
But we all saw Sabathia break down in the post season last year after a huge workload, and that was the single biggest reason why the Cleveland Indians did not make it to the World Series. Sabathia will surpass the 200-innings bench mark in his next start, and at this rate, the big southpaw could pitch somewhere around 250 innings before we even get to post season play. Of course, this may be no indication at all of rough outings come October, but given his history, why would you risk it? Maybe Sabathia will continue to get stronger. Who knows? But it will certainly be interesting to see how this plays out and if this excessive use will have any serious ramifications on not only the Brewers, but Sabathia as well.
* The Dodgers have to be ecstatic that they have Greg Maddux back in town, a reliable guy to fill the fifth spot of the rotation for the stretch run. Maddux doesn't have stellar numbers, but his sub-4 ERA is encouraging, and Maddux can probably do more with less than any other guy in the big leagues. He will not shut teams down or pitching 8 innings, but Maddux can give 6 or 7 good innings relying on great movement and command.
This transaction has plenty of positives for the Dodgers. Not only does this lessen the burden of losing Brad Penny for probably the remainder of the season, but there is no way to quantify what kind of effect Maddux has on the rest of the pitching staff. Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsley benefited greatly from sitting with Maddux in the dugout in between their starts, and now they have a chance to continue to do that.
What is the most exciting is that finally, Maddux has a chance to bring a long a phenom in Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw may have the best pure stuff of anyone on the entire Dodgers roster, and that talent is starting to show as he is getting more consistent by the start. With Maddux as a mentor, Kershaw's development will undoubtedly surge at a rapid pace, and if the Dodgers can make the playoffs, Kershaw may end up being one of their most dominant starters. But more likely, he will be put in the bullpen to give them another power arm in the middle to late innings. It is hard to imagine Joe Torre not going with Maddux, Derek Lowe, and Chad Billingsley in the playoff rotation. If they need a fourth, it is possible that Torre goes with Kershaw over Kuroda, but not likely.
Monday, August 18, 2008
No news to spread, New York City's beat simply goes on
**NOTE- This is part one of a two-part segment for Ballpark Banter's weekend trip to the Big Apple.
It was late, and the sun had been long gone over the skyscrapers, nestling to the West for the night. What was to be expected, nobody knew. Not you, not me, not the cab driver, not the airline pilot. What would the feeling of New York City be like nine years later, given the events of 9/11 and the years since? Would it be hostile? Would it be closer? Would it be paranoid? Or, maybe it would just be the same?
As it turns out, it was a little bit of all of those, the final product being a wonderful place to live, work, and call home. Was Central Park still massive and engulfing? Check. Did the Empire State building still mark Uptown Manhattan like cauliflower ears mark a boxer? Check. Did the Statue Of Liberty still stand upright, its flame acting like the one finger a champion would raise in victory? Check.
On all typical first glances, there was more similarity than expected. The city still bustles like never before. Times Square is a gridlock of taxi cabs and meat trucks, all with a destination in mind and no clear path in sight. Downtown Manhattan and the Financial District still reek of money and prosperity, with business men and women keeping a discernible tempo while moving along the streets. These people have places to go and things to do.
The subway system has been well kept despite the inevitable wear and tear due to its age. It is not a difficult city to navigate given the metro system and a map. A car is utterly useless, unless you reside well outside of the city and relying solely on the subway for transportation isn't reasonable. Other than that, first-time visitors will have it down in a day.
Construction is never-ending in New York, the city and its people always looking to expand, always looking to improve. Scaffolding and construction workers hammered away on nearly every street corner, but that is probably a constant for a city with 50,000 people per square mile. There is maintenance that needs to be done to keep up with the use the metropolis gets and the beating it takes due to its millions of guests on a daily basis. New York City without construction is like Los Angeles without a freeway system. Unimaginable, to say the least.
If anything, over the last nine years you may have expected the citizens of the city to grow a little more wary and a little more cautious and possibly a little more closed off in an attempt to protect themselves. If that turned out to be the case, how could you blame them? But that wasn't at all the case upon arrival and that won't be the lasting impression of Round Two in what we can officially call one of the best cities in the world, from first hand experience.
Sure, it is not a love-fest, and you still need to be careful, but that's how it is in any major city around the world. Large amounts of people attract crime and corruption. It has always been like that and always be that way. But that's a given, not an unique trait. There are slight lingering effects in Downtown Manhattan, near Ground Zero, but they are very, very minimal. Walking down Wall Street, only a couple blocks from where the World Trade Center stood, I caught a few people anxiously looking to the sky as the rumbling of an airplane above overtook the block for a handful of seconds.
Coincidence? Maybe. But not likely. The people are not paranoid to the point where any noise in the sky causes an immediate panic down below, but you can bet the memory of that day is still extremely fresh in the minds of those who were performing their usual morning routine -- bagel, coffee, newspaper, office -- in the early morning hours, only to have the biggest boom of the city's history dropped on them without warning.
It has been about four years since I was in the front seat of a buddies car when he rear ended the car ahead of us; the crunching noise and the jerk forward is still burned into my memory. Luckily, the person ahead of us was our friend and it was only a fender bender, but I'm still scarred, and for that exact reason am always in a position to brake when in close traffic. And that was a small little accident. Multiply that by 1,000,000 and we might begin to realize how the usual Wall Street goers feel today.
But that was about where the signs of the effects begin and end, and that is a testament to the faith and perseverance of New Yorkers. What the terrorist attacks did to this city, amazingly, was bring it all together and unify the workers, the tourists, the cab drivers, the waiters, the mail men, the police officers, everybody. There is a warmth present throughout the city today that wasn't quite as tangible before.
I remember the city before being almost a larger than life phenomenon. The lights were brighter, the horns were angrier, the shouts were louder, everything was magnified. It was an abundance of emotions on steroids. You felt as if you were just a tiny little part of something so much bigger than one person, almost as if the city treated you like a visitor who would be in and out in no time.
Looking back today, we are all certainly a small part of a large community that is more important, but that is not how you necessarily feel. People were friendlier; they went out of their way to help a stranger, without being asked. "Pleases" and " thank you's" are more sincere now than they ever were before, or so it seems.
The octane of the New York is still crippling because it fills your lungs and doesn't allow itself to escape, but that is what makes you feel at home in a place where you normally would feel lost. The city is "manageable", with a sense of being and purpose in place to help you around. Not once did I feel like I didn't know what I was doing in a city that is known for its toughness and vigor.
The overriding thoughts around town are simply life as usual. The clock keeps ticking and the people keep on living. In retrospect, there is nothing else that can be done, but sometimes amidst national tragedies, it seems as if "carrying on" is an insurmountable task. It isn't wrong to wonder sometimes, "how are we going to overcome this?" That is a natural feeling that I'm sure crossed every New Yorkers mind in the fall of 2001, but if you looked at them today, hopping along their city streets, always having somewhere to get to, you would think the city is better than ever. At some point, you get over the feeling of wonder and the belief to tear through obstacles instead of fear them comes through. This place has done that and then some.
There is still work to do, undoubtedly. NYC will take on a completely new life in 2012, the estimated year that the construction of the "Freedom Tower", the building, or buildings, put in the place of the nonexistent WTC will be complete. That will give this city a brand new energy, and fresh baptism to kick off the following years of life as the East Coast knows it. The hole in today's sky will be filled with tomorrow's sense of hope and triumph, and the neighborhood of greatness will carry on in grand fashion.
You can't ignore the big elephant in the room; the skyline is incomplete to this day, and there is no denying that. The space will not be filled for another four years, and even when it is filled with what will be the tallest building in New York City, it will symbolize growth and strength, but it will not replace what was previously there. Nothing can repair what was done and there is nothing that erase the pain of the memories and the vivid terror that captures the square block where acts of evil took place.
But what we need to take away from this experience is the peace that comes with knowing that the city is stronger, the country is stronger, and we are all stronger due to the events that took place. Do we wish it never happened? Obviously. But life follows its unabridged path and we can struggle upstream, or we can ride the current and direct ourselves to the next goal, the next dream. That is what the city and people of New York have done. The city doesn't feel sorry for itself; it simply picked up the pieces and continues to welcome the newcomers into an aura of richness and an environment of gratitude. Believe me when I tell you that the Big Apple is better now than it has ever been.
It was late, and the sun had been long gone over the skyscrapers, nestling to the West for the night. What was to be expected, nobody knew. Not you, not me, not the cab driver, not the airline pilot. What would the feeling of New York City be like nine years later, given the events of 9/11 and the years since? Would it be hostile? Would it be closer? Would it be paranoid? Or, maybe it would just be the same?
As it turns out, it was a little bit of all of those, the final product being a wonderful place to live, work, and call home. Was Central Park still massive and engulfing? Check. Did the Empire State building still mark Uptown Manhattan like cauliflower ears mark a boxer? Check. Did the Statue Of Liberty still stand upright, its flame acting like the one finger a champion would raise in victory? Check.
On all typical first glances, there was more similarity than expected. The city still bustles like never before. Times Square is a gridlock of taxi cabs and meat trucks, all with a destination in mind and no clear path in sight. Downtown Manhattan and the Financial District still reek of money and prosperity, with business men and women keeping a discernible tempo while moving along the streets. These people have places to go and things to do.
The subway system has been well kept despite the inevitable wear and tear due to its age. It is not a difficult city to navigate given the metro system and a map. A car is utterly useless, unless you reside well outside of the city and relying solely on the subway for transportation isn't reasonable. Other than that, first-time visitors will have it down in a day.
Construction is never-ending in New York, the city and its people always looking to expand, always looking to improve. Scaffolding and construction workers hammered away on nearly every street corner, but that is probably a constant for a city with 50,000 people per square mile. There is maintenance that needs to be done to keep up with the use the metropolis gets and the beating it takes due to its millions of guests on a daily basis. New York City without construction is like Los Angeles without a freeway system. Unimaginable, to say the least.
If anything, over the last nine years you may have expected the citizens of the city to grow a little more wary and a little more cautious and possibly a little more closed off in an attempt to protect themselves. If that turned out to be the case, how could you blame them? But that wasn't at all the case upon arrival and that won't be the lasting impression of Round Two in what we can officially call one of the best cities in the world, from first hand experience.
Sure, it is not a love-fest, and you still need to be careful, but that's how it is in any major city around the world. Large amounts of people attract crime and corruption. It has always been like that and always be that way. But that's a given, not an unique trait. There are slight lingering effects in Downtown Manhattan, near Ground Zero, but they are very, very minimal. Walking down Wall Street, only a couple blocks from where the World Trade Center stood, I caught a few people anxiously looking to the sky as the rumbling of an airplane above overtook the block for a handful of seconds.
Coincidence? Maybe. But not likely. The people are not paranoid to the point where any noise in the sky causes an immediate panic down below, but you can bet the memory of that day is still extremely fresh in the minds of those who were performing their usual morning routine -- bagel, coffee, newspaper, office -- in the early morning hours, only to have the biggest boom of the city's history dropped on them without warning.
It has been about four years since I was in the front seat of a buddies car when he rear ended the car ahead of us; the crunching noise and the jerk forward is still burned into my memory. Luckily, the person ahead of us was our friend and it was only a fender bender, but I'm still scarred, and for that exact reason am always in a position to brake when in close traffic. And that was a small little accident. Multiply that by 1,000,000 and we might begin to realize how the usual Wall Street goers feel today.
But that was about where the signs of the effects begin and end, and that is a testament to the faith and perseverance of New Yorkers. What the terrorist attacks did to this city, amazingly, was bring it all together and unify the workers, the tourists, the cab drivers, the waiters, the mail men, the police officers, everybody. There is a warmth present throughout the city today that wasn't quite as tangible before.
I remember the city before being almost a larger than life phenomenon. The lights were brighter, the horns were angrier, the shouts were louder, everything was magnified. It was an abundance of emotions on steroids. You felt as if you were just a tiny little part of something so much bigger than one person, almost as if the city treated you like a visitor who would be in and out in no time.
Looking back today, we are all certainly a small part of a large community that is more important, but that is not how you necessarily feel. People were friendlier; they went out of their way to help a stranger, without being asked. "Pleases" and " thank you's" are more sincere now than they ever were before, or so it seems.
The octane of the New York is still crippling because it fills your lungs and doesn't allow itself to escape, but that is what makes you feel at home in a place where you normally would feel lost. The city is "manageable", with a sense of being and purpose in place to help you around. Not once did I feel like I didn't know what I was doing in a city that is known for its toughness and vigor.
The overriding thoughts around town are simply life as usual. The clock keeps ticking and the people keep on living. In retrospect, there is nothing else that can be done, but sometimes amidst national tragedies, it seems as if "carrying on" is an insurmountable task. It isn't wrong to wonder sometimes, "how are we going to overcome this?" That is a natural feeling that I'm sure crossed every New Yorkers mind in the fall of 2001, but if you looked at them today, hopping along their city streets, always having somewhere to get to, you would think the city is better than ever. At some point, you get over the feeling of wonder and the belief to tear through obstacles instead of fear them comes through. This place has done that and then some.
There is still work to do, undoubtedly. NYC will take on a completely new life in 2012, the estimated year that the construction of the "Freedom Tower", the building, or buildings, put in the place of the nonexistent WTC will be complete. That will give this city a brand new energy, and fresh baptism to kick off the following years of life as the East Coast knows it. The hole in today's sky will be filled with tomorrow's sense of hope and triumph, and the neighborhood of greatness will carry on in grand fashion.
You can't ignore the big elephant in the room; the skyline is incomplete to this day, and there is no denying that. The space will not be filled for another four years, and even when it is filled with what will be the tallest building in New York City, it will symbolize growth and strength, but it will not replace what was previously there. Nothing can repair what was done and there is nothing that erase the pain of the memories and the vivid terror that captures the square block where acts of evil took place.
But what we need to take away from this experience is the peace that comes with knowing that the city is stronger, the country is stronger, and we are all stronger due to the events that took place. Do we wish it never happened? Obviously. But life follows its unabridged path and we can struggle upstream, or we can ride the current and direct ourselves to the next goal, the next dream. That is what the city and people of New York have done. The city doesn't feel sorry for itself; it simply picked up the pieces and continues to welcome the newcomers into an aura of richness and an environment of gratitude. Believe me when I tell you that the Big Apple is better now than it has ever been.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Rain delays can't damper return to The Bronx
Expeditions make the news, mainly because journals are written by courageous explorers, justifying their undying desire to discover. Family road trips are remembered, and at times reenacted, largely in part due to the pictures, video, sound bites; a true blitzkrieg of memories. Packing the bags isn’t necessarily about the destination, more so about the journey, the path to be had.
We aren’t talking about moving to a foreign country, leaving for college, or following a job opportunity away from what is referred to as “home.” Those all have their benefits and spotlights, but baseball trips are better. Excuse us at Ballpark Banter if we are a bit giddy in the coming days.
There will be a shortage of notes and columns from the home front, but only because The Banter will be coming to you live from New York City and Yankee Stadium. There will be baseball talk, there will be hardball stories, thick chalk lines of this ever so addicting mantra that we have come to learn and practice. We are heading to the Big Apple to see what has transpired over the last nine years – or seasons, to some of us – and to examine and relish in the beauty of The House That Ruth Built one last time. A reunion, of sorts.
Of course, as this is being composed from the air, soaring somewhere above a relentless mass of chocolate, jagged terrain that we call the United States, there is only so much we can do. No headlines to pursue, no story lines to follow, no statistics to calculate and ponder. But maybe that is the beauty of this? Those are superficial measures that provide some clarity and coverage of baseball, but they do not completely connect us to the game. Why?
Because numbers, gossip, “breaking news” – none of it connects with the soul. Calloused hands, bruised ribs, discolored barrels due to utter obliteration of baseballs – now that is what we are talking about. I would imagine all of these things are worked out during rain delays. That is the idle time that we have to dispute repeated sentiments and pledge for our stories, our teams, our players, our guys.
Idle time is certainly what we have had on our hands so far today. Due to poor weather in the New York area, our scheduled flight was delayed over three hours and we are now on pace to touch down at JFK Airport sometime between now and Thanksgiving, the wee hours of the sleepless city well upon us at that point. The novelties of travel.
It is only natural to complain to the heavens when you have wasted hours and hours in a humid terminal, no boarding luck in sight, only to taxi to the runway and be furthered delayed. I can’t blame my fellow passengers for the animosity; it's human. But then I got to thinking, we don’t have this in baseball.
Oh sure, there are rain delays, and there are the days where clubs wait on the darkness of clouds only to be told four hours later that the game isn’t going to be played. And just for kicks, batting practice is at 10 tomorrow morning because have a twin bill to play.
But rain delays are filled with card games, jokes, stories, and childish pranks. The fact that our game is decided by the players, not a bundle of chips and wires that portrays a countdown of empty digits, allows us to appreciate even these slows times. Where else would we see players stuffing pillows inside their jerseys, doing their best impersonations of Babe Ruth, only to run around the bases and entail a splash landing at home plate. There is a time to keep the game moving, and there is a time to appreciate the way that it handles adversity and inconvenience.
But that was a side note to the delay; everyone in the terminal – from the security guard, to the loud hulk of a woman breaking down the shortcomings of airline service, to the Muslim matron, placed at the right of my highly convenient corner seat, fulfilling her daily prayers on her religious rug – was wondering something of the sort.
So a slight negative it was, but this is an attempt to make a positive out of one of the more tedious rituals, or so it seems. This weekend is in conjuncture with the last trip, at least in terms of the memories and getting back to the place where a love for baseball was showered with cool water and sunned by rays of infectiousness. At nine years old, there was a lot that flew by and didn’t attract more than a glimpse. New York City was sprawling, incapable of being contained by the imagination of a youngster.
Yankee Stadium was a cathedral that you knew about even though you were born 3,000 miles away, with no Jeter, Rivera, Williams, or Cone to juxtapose your hometown baseball experience with the rest of the country. That was the magnitude of the arena, and still remains that way today. But, of course, we do not sit in the same place as we did nine years ago.
Times have changed, baseball has changed, and, on a larger scale, life has changed, at least as we know it. Judgments will be reserved until after witnessing the change first hand, at a time when the dots have been connected and I can really say that what I remember is real. That will come. But the vivid assortment of recollections will always remain, because there is only one first.
There will never be another “first” for me when it comes to walking through the concourse of Yankee Stadium and placing those innocent pupils of adolescence on the field where legends, that I only know because of record books and charcoal photos, played. But there will always be “another.” That, I can assure you.
Naturally, every experience is a different one, but that is the beauty. Our ability to compartmentalize allows us to store the nostalgia for a later date, trim the excess shards of misplaced memories, and bottle up an adventure that cannot be altered, only enriched and expanded.
I remember driving into the city for the first time, a cool, crisp, October evening, the sky coated with a soft gray, and the skyline fit like a jigsaw puzzle. There were no clouds to cramp the electricity that be, but at the same time, there was a cap to the atmosphere, a bottling of the world that you were entering. It was a secure feeling, one that let you knew you were in the middle of “it.” What was “it”? Heck, I didn’t know at the time, and still may not.
But the city is different than anything else. You know the feeling you get when you sit out underneath a high, starlit sky in the desert, wondering about the surroundings? This was the exact opposite. There is a feeling of closure when you enter the bright lights. Broadway may make stars, Wall Street may house millionaires, but Manhattan itself is what makes this feeling of unity.
Of course, this wasn’t any day in New York, either. It was the eve of Game Four of the 1999 World Series, so you can imagine the hype and scent of baseball’s best in the air. Honking horns? Sure. The crack of the bat? A bit better.
There are only so many people that could have crammed into Yankee Stadium on that night, but there was no limit to the number of eyes and ears that would be open to the events. New York didn’t make the World Series, it didn’t make the Yankees. It was completely the opposite, at that point in time. The buzz was palpable, unforgettable to the last fading mind. There wasn’t anything you could do about it. You were trapped and forced to embrace. This was enduring a labor of love, sans the labor.
There is a reason why Lady Liberty is among the most popular postcard photos, and the World Trade Center used to be a symbol for the strength and global power of everything American. That feeling, I’m sure has not left. If anything, I expect to experience a greater sense of passion amidst the buzz of this country’s most bustling miles. Overwhelming, it may be.
Ballpark Banter will be taking a close look at what has changed since the last trip to The Bronx. Hey, this is a different time for the Yankees. We know that going in. The inaugural trip was filled with postseason dominance and the hanging of championship banner No. 25. Jeter was a pup, A-Rod was in Seattle, the Braves possessed what we may look back at and call the best starting rotation in baseball history, and there were no such talks about court dates and steroid scandals.
There would be one more World Series championship to follow for the Yankees, that being their whooping of the cross-town rival New York Mets in the 2000 Fall Classic, and then the franchise would endure a few years of ring-less contention. No, we don’t feel sorry for them, but it hasn’t been the same since we were there.
Today, it appears as if the Yankees are not going to qualify for post season play in what is the final season in Yankee Stadium, as the injuries have mounted and the pitching depth is beyond exposed. We aren’t talking shallow pools of ignorance here. This is the Niagara Falls, and we ain’t lying about that.
At the same time, my calendar reads August 14, which means there is still six weeks left to play and the Bombers are within shouting distance of the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card race. They will have to dominate the head to head match-ups with Boston from here on out, but it is nothing that isn’t doable. This is baseball, mind you.
Time and space aren’t plentiful enough to fully chronicle Round One, but the building blocks for a sequel are in place. Round Two kicks off in a couple hours, and what it will entail, only Ruth and the Mick know. But what is rest assured, is The Lady will stand at attention, the skyline will shine bright despite its loss, and The House That Ruth Built will beckon. A different trip? Absolutely. But a better weekend? Unheard of.
We aren’t talking about moving to a foreign country, leaving for college, or following a job opportunity away from what is referred to as “home.” Those all have their benefits and spotlights, but baseball trips are better. Excuse us at Ballpark Banter if we are a bit giddy in the coming days.
There will be a shortage of notes and columns from the home front, but only because The Banter will be coming to you live from New York City and Yankee Stadium. There will be baseball talk, there will be hardball stories, thick chalk lines of this ever so addicting mantra that we have come to learn and practice. We are heading to the Big Apple to see what has transpired over the last nine years – or seasons, to some of us – and to examine and relish in the beauty of The House That Ruth Built one last time. A reunion, of sorts.
Of course, as this is being composed from the air, soaring somewhere above a relentless mass of chocolate, jagged terrain that we call the United States, there is only so much we can do. No headlines to pursue, no story lines to follow, no statistics to calculate and ponder. But maybe that is the beauty of this? Those are superficial measures that provide some clarity and coverage of baseball, but they do not completely connect us to the game. Why?
Because numbers, gossip, “breaking news” – none of it connects with the soul. Calloused hands, bruised ribs, discolored barrels due to utter obliteration of baseballs – now that is what we are talking about. I would imagine all of these things are worked out during rain delays. That is the idle time that we have to dispute repeated sentiments and pledge for our stories, our teams, our players, our guys.
Idle time is certainly what we have had on our hands so far today. Due to poor weather in the New York area, our scheduled flight was delayed over three hours and we are now on pace to touch down at JFK Airport sometime between now and Thanksgiving, the wee hours of the sleepless city well upon us at that point. The novelties of travel.
It is only natural to complain to the heavens when you have wasted hours and hours in a humid terminal, no boarding luck in sight, only to taxi to the runway and be furthered delayed. I can’t blame my fellow passengers for the animosity; it's human. But then I got to thinking, we don’t have this in baseball.
Oh sure, there are rain delays, and there are the days where clubs wait on the darkness of clouds only to be told four hours later that the game isn’t going to be played. And just for kicks, batting practice is at 10 tomorrow morning because have a twin bill to play.
But rain delays are filled with card games, jokes, stories, and childish pranks. The fact that our game is decided by the players, not a bundle of chips and wires that portrays a countdown of empty digits, allows us to appreciate even these slows times. Where else would we see players stuffing pillows inside their jerseys, doing their best impersonations of Babe Ruth, only to run around the bases and entail a splash landing at home plate. There is a time to keep the game moving, and there is a time to appreciate the way that it handles adversity and inconvenience.
But that was a side note to the delay; everyone in the terminal – from the security guard, to the loud hulk of a woman breaking down the shortcomings of airline service, to the Muslim matron, placed at the right of my highly convenient corner seat, fulfilling her daily prayers on her religious rug – was wondering something of the sort.
So a slight negative it was, but this is an attempt to make a positive out of one of the more tedious rituals, or so it seems. This weekend is in conjuncture with the last trip, at least in terms of the memories and getting back to the place where a love for baseball was showered with cool water and sunned by rays of infectiousness. At nine years old, there was a lot that flew by and didn’t attract more than a glimpse. New York City was sprawling, incapable of being contained by the imagination of a youngster.
Yankee Stadium was a cathedral that you knew about even though you were born 3,000 miles away, with no Jeter, Rivera, Williams, or Cone to juxtapose your hometown baseball experience with the rest of the country. That was the magnitude of the arena, and still remains that way today. But, of course, we do not sit in the same place as we did nine years ago.
Times have changed, baseball has changed, and, on a larger scale, life has changed, at least as we know it. Judgments will be reserved until after witnessing the change first hand, at a time when the dots have been connected and I can really say that what I remember is real. That will come. But the vivid assortment of recollections will always remain, because there is only one first.
There will never be another “first” for me when it comes to walking through the concourse of Yankee Stadium and placing those innocent pupils of adolescence on the field where legends, that I only know because of record books and charcoal photos, played. But there will always be “another.” That, I can assure you.
Naturally, every experience is a different one, but that is the beauty. Our ability to compartmentalize allows us to store the nostalgia for a later date, trim the excess shards of misplaced memories, and bottle up an adventure that cannot be altered, only enriched and expanded.
I remember driving into the city for the first time, a cool, crisp, October evening, the sky coated with a soft gray, and the skyline fit like a jigsaw puzzle. There were no clouds to cramp the electricity that be, but at the same time, there was a cap to the atmosphere, a bottling of the world that you were entering. It was a secure feeling, one that let you knew you were in the middle of “it.” What was “it”? Heck, I didn’t know at the time, and still may not.
But the city is different than anything else. You know the feeling you get when you sit out underneath a high, starlit sky in the desert, wondering about the surroundings? This was the exact opposite. There is a feeling of closure when you enter the bright lights. Broadway may make stars, Wall Street may house millionaires, but Manhattan itself is what makes this feeling of unity.
Of course, this wasn’t any day in New York, either. It was the eve of Game Four of the 1999 World Series, so you can imagine the hype and scent of baseball’s best in the air. Honking horns? Sure. The crack of the bat? A bit better.
There are only so many people that could have crammed into Yankee Stadium on that night, but there was no limit to the number of eyes and ears that would be open to the events. New York didn’t make the World Series, it didn’t make the Yankees. It was completely the opposite, at that point in time. The buzz was palpable, unforgettable to the last fading mind. There wasn’t anything you could do about it. You were trapped and forced to embrace. This was enduring a labor of love, sans the labor.
There is a reason why Lady Liberty is among the most popular postcard photos, and the World Trade Center used to be a symbol for the strength and global power of everything American. That feeling, I’m sure has not left. If anything, I expect to experience a greater sense of passion amidst the buzz of this country’s most bustling miles. Overwhelming, it may be.
Ballpark Banter will be taking a close look at what has changed since the last trip to The Bronx. Hey, this is a different time for the Yankees. We know that going in. The inaugural trip was filled with postseason dominance and the hanging of championship banner No. 25. Jeter was a pup, A-Rod was in Seattle, the Braves possessed what we may look back at and call the best starting rotation in baseball history, and there were no such talks about court dates and steroid scandals.
There would be one more World Series championship to follow for the Yankees, that being their whooping of the cross-town rival New York Mets in the 2000 Fall Classic, and then the franchise would endure a few years of ring-less contention. No, we don’t feel sorry for them, but it hasn’t been the same since we were there.
Today, it appears as if the Yankees are not going to qualify for post season play in what is the final season in Yankee Stadium, as the injuries have mounted and the pitching depth is beyond exposed. We aren’t talking shallow pools of ignorance here. This is the Niagara Falls, and we ain’t lying about that.
At the same time, my calendar reads August 14, which means there is still six weeks left to play and the Bombers are within shouting distance of the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card race. They will have to dominate the head to head match-ups with Boston from here on out, but it is nothing that isn’t doable. This is baseball, mind you.
Time and space aren’t plentiful enough to fully chronicle Round One, but the building blocks for a sequel are in place. Round Two kicks off in a couple hours, and what it will entail, only Ruth and the Mick know. But what is rest assured, is The Lady will stand at attention, the skyline will shine bright despite its loss, and The House That Ruth Built will beckon. A different trip? Absolutely. But a better weekend? Unheard of.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Wednesday morning notes
* When word first broke regarding the slugfest between the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers last night, I simply shook my head and laughed because it seems like 19-17 ball games are the types of thing that happen when you play in Arlington, Texas. But then to find out that this game wasn't in Texas, it was at Fenway Park in Boston, made this game even more intriguing. Why? Well. for a few reasons.
There has been recent word about David Ortiz having a little concern regarding his left wrist, the wrist that caused him to sit out more than a month's worth of games due to a torn sheath. I made it a point to keep a close eye on Ortiz's production because that would be a huge determining factor in deciding if the Red Sox can really make a strong push for the division title and put some pressure on the Tamp Bay Rays.
I think Boston is still in position to make a run at it in September, but not if Ortiz can't hit like we expect him to. Even with Jason Bay in that lineup, it isn't the same as it was with Manny Ramirez, therefore making it all the more important that Ortiz carry the slack of the run production. On Tuesday, Ortiz was 3-for-4 with 4 runs scored, 6 RBIs, and two home runs. Both of his home runs were 3-run shots, and both of them came in Boston's 10-run first inning. Guess that wrist is feeling fine, after all.
A good story took the mound for the Red Sox Tuesday, as 28-year-old knuckleballer Charlie Zink made his big league debut. It's tough to be a knuckle ball pitcher in the major leagues, and I would imagine that it is even tougher being one coming through Boston's system, simply because on of the best knuckle ball pitchers in history, Tim Wakefield, has called Fenway Park his home for some years now and has won some big games for the Red Sox.
Well Zink got pounded on a night that it didn't pay to be a pitcher at Fenway Park, and Zink was yanked after giving up 8 runs in 4 1/3 innings. Zink was optioned back to Triple-A Pawtucket after the game, making room for the newly acquired Paul Byrd.
Wakefield's injury and the lack of true, big league ready pitching in the minor leagues, made the Byrd pick up a great one for Boston. Here is a guy that can fill in and take the ball every fifth day, and you know approximately what type of performance you are going to get. You aren't going to get the games that you may get from Beckett or Lester -- the utterly dominant ones -- but you also aren't likely to get the stinkers that rookie Clay Buchholz has been putting out lately.
Byrd will stabilize the rotation, minimizing the damage until Wakefield returns from the DL. Byrd also provides a backup option in the post season, or a fourth starter in case manager Terry Francona decides he wants to go with a 4-man rotation instead of a 3-man rotation come playoff time. For a player to be named later or cash considerations, picking up Byrd is a great safety net for the Red Sox.
* The Yankees can't catch a break, at a time when they are trying to find themselves quickly enough to make a push for the wild card. Derek Jeter fouled a ball off of the instep of his foot last night in Minnesota and had to leave the game, and he is questionable for today's game. If Jeter can't play, that would be the fourth impact piece New York is missing from their lineup.
But, really, if you are the Yankees, the problem is simple. Their lack of depth in the starting rotation has been brutally exposed this year, and there really is nothing they can do at this point besides continue to run the guys that they have out there and hope they come up with some big performances. They don't have anyone to bring up from the minor leagues, and there is nobody on the waiver wire that really could make an impact.
The Jarrod Washburn ship has sailed, and it would be pointless for the Yankees to give out a prospect and/or pay the remaining dollars left of the left hander's contract when the guys they have now are going to have to step up if they are going to contend for anything in September. But, hey, the Yanks won Tuesday, so lets see if they can't get a run going here.
* Speaking of The Bronx, Hank Steinbrenner told us all we need to know about the state of the Yankees yesterday when he came out talking about "how good the Yankees are going to NEXT year" and that "we are really going to be dangerous NEXT year" and that "we will do whatever it takes... if that means add a veteran starting pitcher for NEXT year." I don't think I have ever seen that kind of talk coming out of Yankee Stadium on August 12 in any year of my lifetime.
It is apparent that Hank sees where this ship is heading and that he figures he might as well beat the team to the destination. I'm not too sure what to make of all of this, but it is clear that the Yankees are on the verge of simply embarrassing themselves, if they aren't doing that already. For a team and franchise that is supposed to be all about winning, don't you think talking about "next year" when you are five games out of the wild card with more than forty games to play is a bit hypocritical?
The Yankees have a shot, but only if their pitchers go on a streak here where they carry the team. Is that likely? No. So, Hank, round up your dollars and put together a package for CC Sabathia, because that will be the only way to secure some sort of winning future for the Yankees.
There has been recent word about David Ortiz having a little concern regarding his left wrist, the wrist that caused him to sit out more than a month's worth of games due to a torn sheath. I made it a point to keep a close eye on Ortiz's production because that would be a huge determining factor in deciding if the Red Sox can really make a strong push for the division title and put some pressure on the Tamp Bay Rays.
I think Boston is still in position to make a run at it in September, but not if Ortiz can't hit like we expect him to. Even with Jason Bay in that lineup, it isn't the same as it was with Manny Ramirez, therefore making it all the more important that Ortiz carry the slack of the run production. On Tuesday, Ortiz was 3-for-4 with 4 runs scored, 6 RBIs, and two home runs. Both of his home runs were 3-run shots, and both of them came in Boston's 10-run first inning. Guess that wrist is feeling fine, after all.
A good story took the mound for the Red Sox Tuesday, as 28-year-old knuckleballer Charlie Zink made his big league debut. It's tough to be a knuckle ball pitcher in the major leagues, and I would imagine that it is even tougher being one coming through Boston's system, simply because on of the best knuckle ball pitchers in history, Tim Wakefield, has called Fenway Park his home for some years now and has won some big games for the Red Sox.
Well Zink got pounded on a night that it didn't pay to be a pitcher at Fenway Park, and Zink was yanked after giving up 8 runs in 4 1/3 innings. Zink was optioned back to Triple-A Pawtucket after the game, making room for the newly acquired Paul Byrd.
Wakefield's injury and the lack of true, big league ready pitching in the minor leagues, made the Byrd pick up a great one for Boston. Here is a guy that can fill in and take the ball every fifth day, and you know approximately what type of performance you are going to get. You aren't going to get the games that you may get from Beckett or Lester -- the utterly dominant ones -- but you also aren't likely to get the stinkers that rookie Clay Buchholz has been putting out lately.
Byrd will stabilize the rotation, minimizing the damage until Wakefield returns from the DL. Byrd also provides a backup option in the post season, or a fourth starter in case manager Terry Francona decides he wants to go with a 4-man rotation instead of a 3-man rotation come playoff time. For a player to be named later or cash considerations, picking up Byrd is a great safety net for the Red Sox.
* The Yankees can't catch a break, at a time when they are trying to find themselves quickly enough to make a push for the wild card. Derek Jeter fouled a ball off of the instep of his foot last night in Minnesota and had to leave the game, and he is questionable for today's game. If Jeter can't play, that would be the fourth impact piece New York is missing from their lineup.
But, really, if you are the Yankees, the problem is simple. Their lack of depth in the starting rotation has been brutally exposed this year, and there really is nothing they can do at this point besides continue to run the guys that they have out there and hope they come up with some big performances. They don't have anyone to bring up from the minor leagues, and there is nobody on the waiver wire that really could make an impact.
The Jarrod Washburn ship has sailed, and it would be pointless for the Yankees to give out a prospect and/or pay the remaining dollars left of the left hander's contract when the guys they have now are going to have to step up if they are going to contend for anything in September. But, hey, the Yanks won Tuesday, so lets see if they can't get a run going here.
* Speaking of The Bronx, Hank Steinbrenner told us all we need to know about the state of the Yankees yesterday when he came out talking about "how good the Yankees are going to NEXT year" and that "we are really going to be dangerous NEXT year" and that "we will do whatever it takes... if that means add a veteran starting pitcher for NEXT year." I don't think I have ever seen that kind of talk coming out of Yankee Stadium on August 12 in any year of my lifetime.
It is apparent that Hank sees where this ship is heading and that he figures he might as well beat the team to the destination. I'm not too sure what to make of all of this, but it is clear that the Yankees are on the verge of simply embarrassing themselves, if they aren't doing that already. For a team and franchise that is supposed to be all about winning, don't you think talking about "next year" when you are five games out of the wild card with more than forty games to play is a bit hypocritical?
The Yankees have a shot, but only if their pitchers go on a streak here where they carry the team. Is that likely? No. So, Hank, round up your dollars and put together a package for CC Sabathia, because that will be the only way to secure some sort of winning future for the Yankees.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tampa Bay X-Rays about to be tested
Nobody thought it was going to be easy, did they? For beginners, did any of us think the Tampa Bay Rays would have a 4 game lead over the Boston Red Sox and a 9 game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East as we sit here, on August 12, and ponder the stretch run? We couldn't have, so the latest news out of Tampa Bay shouldn't be a surprise to any of us, really. The young, ebullient ball club that has taken the American League by a fury of long balls and power arms is about to face their first big hurdle of the 2008 season.
Carl Crawford and rookie Evan Longoria have been dynamic pieces amongst a Tampa Bay club that refuses to play down to its history, but rather looks forward to challenging the reigning powers that be in the greater East. As we approach the middle of August, the baseball season setting up for its September sprint to post season play, the Rays are going to be without Longoria and Crawford for at least the next three weeks. Crawford went down with a hand injury after being hit by a pitch, and there are rumors that it could entail season-ending surgery if rehab doesn't come along as planned.
Longoria -- team leader in home runs (22) and RBIs (71) -- suffered a fracture in his wrist after being drilled by a pitch from Seattle's JJ Putz. Longoria was placed on the 15-day DL Monday, and it seems like three weeks for a broken wrist is nothing less than wishful thinking, but we shall wait and see. Crawford has had a sub-par season by his standards, but he was tied with B.J. Upton for the team lead in runs scored (69) before he went down. Crawford is such an athletic player that we have been waiting and waiting for him to explode into the superstar that he is capable of becoming. We have to remember, though, that he is only 26. It seems like he is much older because he was rushed to the big leagues when the franchise was in dire need of any sort of young talent.
At the worst, Crawford plays a good left field and him and Upton could arguably be the fastest tandem in any major league outfield. But the last thing to do is sit here and feel sorry for the Rays, because that is not going to help them win any ball games, much less win the division and advance to post season play for the first time in team history.
Certainly, none of their division rivals are going to send get well cards down to Florida, as every one is experiencing their share of casualties, and nobody has it worse at this point in time than the New York Yankees. The Yankees have been without ace Chien-Ming Wang for the majority of the season, and their new gun, Joba Chamberlain, found his way to the DL last week with "rotator cuff tendinitis." Add that with the loss of catcher Jorge Posada, and the Yankees have problems of Times Square proportions to worry about.
The Red Sox are trying to get by without Tim Wakefield, who was tied for second on the team in innings pitched before he went down, and a turbulent relief corps outside of closer Jonathan Papelbon. Couple those issues with the loss of Manny Ramirez in the lineup and the futile bat of catcher Jason Varitek, and the defending champion Red Sox are not as invincible as they seemed to be at the outset of the season.
The Rays have already set a franchise record in wins -- winning their 71st on Sunday -- and they still have 45 games to play. So, what to do now is the question? That will be for manager Joe Maddon to decide, and it will also be of his utmost importance to plug the holes with sufficient stopgaps in order to keep this club chugging along, hopefully, until they can get their presence back in the middle of the order that will come with the return of Longoria.
The Rays were reluctant to go and get a bat at the trade deadline, mainly because they didn't feel like the asking price -- i.e. any of their stable of top prospects -- was worth bringing in an average rental. They were right on that front. Of course, I'm sure General Manager Andrew Friedman didn't expect to lose two of his better hitters a couple of weeks after the deadline. It is possible that the Rays acquire a bat via the waiver wire, but that is unlikely.
It is reported that Willy Aybar will take over as the regular third baseman in Longoria's absence, and newly recalled outfielder Justin Ruggiano will split time in left field with Eric Hinske and Gabe Gross. It is imperative that Hinske and Carlos Pena step up and be the much needed runs producers during this stretch run, and any contribution from the severely struggling Jonny Gomes would help.
Tampa Bay does have oft-injured Rocco Baldelli back with the big club, and his return to the big leagues is a great story all in its own. Baldelli, who is still only 26, was one of those great, promising prospects coming up about the same time as Crawford, after he was taken by Tampba Bay with the 6th pick in the 2000 MLB Draft -- one year after Crawford was selected. But a back, a hammy, and slew of mysterious afflictions later, and Baldelli hasn't been able to stay on the field for any extended period of time.
The tools that made Baldelli a can't miss, five-tool prospect should still be there, but the question that remains is whether or not all the time off from baseball has hurt his instincts? I have to say that they shouldn't have diminished too much -- if at all -- and that Baldelli could turn out to the player in 2008 that the Rays were hoping to get in 2004. What a blessing in disguise that would be at a time when this franchise has a chance to write the first indelible chapters in its history books.
Maddon has been a master at challenging this young club and getting them to respond to what he puts on the table, and that may be what's needed even more now than before. With a ball club that appears to be as hungry as this group is, a little more sugar and spice to the attitude may make them forget that they should be crumpling this time of year, especially with a couple of their stars not on the field to help them fight off the Red Sox. Maybe Maddon will play the "chip on the shoulder" angle, telling his players that nobody expects them to hang on to this lead and that the baseball world is waiting for them to begin acting like the Tampa Bay team we have come to know over the past decade. That should fire them up, shouldn't it?
But the way I see it, this is merely an opportunity for the Rays to once again prove that the old baseball adage is true: Good pitching beats good hitting. And, fortunately for the Rays, good pitching is not in short supply at The Trop. This next three or four weeks could be nary a hiccup in their march to October baseball relevance, thanks in large part to a group of power arms that have carried this club until now.
Scott Kazmir and James Shields don't shy away from the spotlight, and every time we see them pitch we come away with the impression that they relish the spotlight and the opportunity to go muzzle to muzzle with the alpha dogs of the American League. That is a presence that surely should remain constant, and that is before we get to the young arms of Matt Garza, Edwin Jackson, and Andy Sonnastine.
What's more, as scary as this sounds for opposing teams, the best arm in the Tampa Bay franchise hasn't even found his way to Tampa Bay yet. That would be left handed phenom David Price, the 2007 first overall pick who is blowing away hitters in Double-A. Price surely will be a September call up, but in my humble opinion, should be called up now. There is no time to waste and no seemingly appropriate reason to wait.
Price is so good that he may force Sonnastine to the bullpen, simply because he could be a front line starting pitcher in the big leagues right now. If they put him in the bullpen to limit his innings, that's fine; he will be a major impact in the late innings, much like what the Cubs are doing right now with Jeff Samardzija. But with a big gun like that, why not run him out there every five days and form a five-man rotation that doesn't allow one day for an opponent to breath?
If you are Joe Maddon, turn the circumstances into a positive and make your pitching staff believe that they are in a position of strength -- which they are -- and that they have an opportunity to carry the team by stepping on the throat of the rest of the American League East and making every New Englander ever so giddy to say "wild card." Old Man River, aka Troy Percival, is back and healthy at the back end of Tampa's bullpen. Let's not forget who the big man was fist pumping on the mound in 2002 when Darin Erstad nestled the final out of the World Series into his glove in right center field, giving the Anaheim Angels (name at the time) their first championship in club history. That would be our guy Percy.
These are definitely unfortunate circumstances for a young team that is on the cusp of doing some great things. Great things for baseball, and great things for their city. There is no denying that fact -- hey, it stinks to loser players like a Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria with six weeks left to go in the regular season. But this is Experience Test Number 1, and we are going to find out how they handle it. They can dwell, or they can pitch. They can complain, or they can compete. Is Maddon's club of relentless ballplayers tough enough for big league drama? I'd have to say I believe so.
Carl Crawford and rookie Evan Longoria have been dynamic pieces amongst a Tampa Bay club that refuses to play down to its history, but rather looks forward to challenging the reigning powers that be in the greater East. As we approach the middle of August, the baseball season setting up for its September sprint to post season play, the Rays are going to be without Longoria and Crawford for at least the next three weeks. Crawford went down with a hand injury after being hit by a pitch, and there are rumors that it could entail season-ending surgery if rehab doesn't come along as planned.
Longoria -- team leader in home runs (22) and RBIs (71) -- suffered a fracture in his wrist after being drilled by a pitch from Seattle's JJ Putz. Longoria was placed on the 15-day DL Monday, and it seems like three weeks for a broken wrist is nothing less than wishful thinking, but we shall wait and see. Crawford has had a sub-par season by his standards, but he was tied with B.J. Upton for the team lead in runs scored (69) before he went down. Crawford is such an athletic player that we have been waiting and waiting for him to explode into the superstar that he is capable of becoming. We have to remember, though, that he is only 26. It seems like he is much older because he was rushed to the big leagues when the franchise was in dire need of any sort of young talent.
At the worst, Crawford plays a good left field and him and Upton could arguably be the fastest tandem in any major league outfield. But the last thing to do is sit here and feel sorry for the Rays, because that is not going to help them win any ball games, much less win the division and advance to post season play for the first time in team history.
Certainly, none of their division rivals are going to send get well cards down to Florida, as every one is experiencing their share of casualties, and nobody has it worse at this point in time than the New York Yankees. The Yankees have been without ace Chien-Ming Wang for the majority of the season, and their new gun, Joba Chamberlain, found his way to the DL last week with "rotator cuff tendinitis." Add that with the loss of catcher Jorge Posada, and the Yankees have problems of Times Square proportions to worry about.
The Red Sox are trying to get by without Tim Wakefield, who was tied for second on the team in innings pitched before he went down, and a turbulent relief corps outside of closer Jonathan Papelbon. Couple those issues with the loss of Manny Ramirez in the lineup and the futile bat of catcher Jason Varitek, and the defending champion Red Sox are not as invincible as they seemed to be at the outset of the season.
The Rays have already set a franchise record in wins -- winning their 71st on Sunday -- and they still have 45 games to play. So, what to do now is the question? That will be for manager Joe Maddon to decide, and it will also be of his utmost importance to plug the holes with sufficient stopgaps in order to keep this club chugging along, hopefully, until they can get their presence back in the middle of the order that will come with the return of Longoria.
The Rays were reluctant to go and get a bat at the trade deadline, mainly because they didn't feel like the asking price -- i.e. any of their stable of top prospects -- was worth bringing in an average rental. They were right on that front. Of course, I'm sure General Manager Andrew Friedman didn't expect to lose two of his better hitters a couple of weeks after the deadline. It is possible that the Rays acquire a bat via the waiver wire, but that is unlikely.
It is reported that Willy Aybar will take over as the regular third baseman in Longoria's absence, and newly recalled outfielder Justin Ruggiano will split time in left field with Eric Hinske and Gabe Gross. It is imperative that Hinske and Carlos Pena step up and be the much needed runs producers during this stretch run, and any contribution from the severely struggling Jonny Gomes would help.
Tampa Bay does have oft-injured Rocco Baldelli back with the big club, and his return to the big leagues is a great story all in its own. Baldelli, who is still only 26, was one of those great, promising prospects coming up about the same time as Crawford, after he was taken by Tampba Bay with the 6th pick in the 2000 MLB Draft -- one year after Crawford was selected. But a back, a hammy, and slew of mysterious afflictions later, and Baldelli hasn't been able to stay on the field for any extended period of time.
The tools that made Baldelli a can't miss, five-tool prospect should still be there, but the question that remains is whether or not all the time off from baseball has hurt his instincts? I have to say that they shouldn't have diminished too much -- if at all -- and that Baldelli could turn out to the player in 2008 that the Rays were hoping to get in 2004. What a blessing in disguise that would be at a time when this franchise has a chance to write the first indelible chapters in its history books.
Maddon has been a master at challenging this young club and getting them to respond to what he puts on the table, and that may be what's needed even more now than before. With a ball club that appears to be as hungry as this group is, a little more sugar and spice to the attitude may make them forget that they should be crumpling this time of year, especially with a couple of their stars not on the field to help them fight off the Red Sox. Maybe Maddon will play the "chip on the shoulder" angle, telling his players that nobody expects them to hang on to this lead and that the baseball world is waiting for them to begin acting like the Tampa Bay team we have come to know over the past decade. That should fire them up, shouldn't it?
But the way I see it, this is merely an opportunity for the Rays to once again prove that the old baseball adage is true: Good pitching beats good hitting. And, fortunately for the Rays, good pitching is not in short supply at The Trop. This next three or four weeks could be nary a hiccup in their march to October baseball relevance, thanks in large part to a group of power arms that have carried this club until now.
Scott Kazmir and James Shields don't shy away from the spotlight, and every time we see them pitch we come away with the impression that they relish the spotlight and the opportunity to go muzzle to muzzle with the alpha dogs of the American League. That is a presence that surely should remain constant, and that is before we get to the young arms of Matt Garza, Edwin Jackson, and Andy Sonnastine.
What's more, as scary as this sounds for opposing teams, the best arm in the Tampa Bay franchise hasn't even found his way to Tampa Bay yet. That would be left handed phenom David Price, the 2007 first overall pick who is blowing away hitters in Double-A. Price surely will be a September call up, but in my humble opinion, should be called up now. There is no time to waste and no seemingly appropriate reason to wait.
Price is so good that he may force Sonnastine to the bullpen, simply because he could be a front line starting pitcher in the big leagues right now. If they put him in the bullpen to limit his innings, that's fine; he will be a major impact in the late innings, much like what the Cubs are doing right now with Jeff Samardzija. But with a big gun like that, why not run him out there every five days and form a five-man rotation that doesn't allow one day for an opponent to breath?
If you are Joe Maddon, turn the circumstances into a positive and make your pitching staff believe that they are in a position of strength -- which they are -- and that they have an opportunity to carry the team by stepping on the throat of the rest of the American League East and making every New Englander ever so giddy to say "wild card." Old Man River, aka Troy Percival, is back and healthy at the back end of Tampa's bullpen. Let's not forget who the big man was fist pumping on the mound in 2002 when Darin Erstad nestled the final out of the World Series into his glove in right center field, giving the Anaheim Angels (name at the time) their first championship in club history. That would be our guy Percy.
These are definitely unfortunate circumstances for a young team that is on the cusp of doing some great things. Great things for baseball, and great things for their city. There is no denying that fact -- hey, it stinks to loser players like a Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria with six weeks left to go in the regular season. But this is Experience Test Number 1, and we are going to find out how they handle it. They can dwell, or they can pitch. They can complain, or they can compete. Is Maddon's club of relentless ballplayers tough enough for big league drama? I'd have to say I believe so.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Monday morning notes
* Brandon Webb pitched his way to his MLB-best 17th win on Sunday in the Diamondback's 6-1 over the Atlanta Braves, making the Dodgers' habitual collapses that much more painful. Arizona stretched its lead over the Dodgers to 1.5 games in the National League West after the Dodgers bullpen couldn't hold on to a win for the second straight game.
The Dodgers had every chance to sweep the weekend series at San Francisco and had every reason to be first in the division as they come home tonight to open up a series with the Philadelphia Phillies. Saturday's lead dissipated in the ninth inning amongst Jonathan Broxton's wayward fast balls and sluggish breaking balls. Late inning heroics disguised in orange and black clad produced a walk-off win for the Giants Saturday, and then we came back to see more of the same on Sunday afternoon.
Manny Ramirez put the Dodgers ahead with 2-run double in the eighth inning, making it 4-3, and Joe Torre brought on Hong-Chih Kuo to pitch the final two innings. Kuo survived the 8th but then was brought back out for the ninth to record a two-inning save. Torre was reluctant to use Broxton on Sunday after he labored in the ninth on Saturday evening. Long story short and some shaky defense later, and the Giants were celebrating on the field once again.
These are the things that make us question the Dodgers. The common occurrences of squandering leads and sending off division leads in the mail. The Dodgers have the talent, the ability, and the veteran presence to beat out Arizona for the NL West crown, but will they do it? That is a question nobody can answer at this point, and is the reason we shake our heads in bewilderment and look towards tomorrow without surprise. I would not be shocked if the Dodgers surge to the finish line and take the division title, nor would I be surprised if they reenact their 2007 collapse and hand the playoff birth to the D'backs.
We can't make much sense out of these games, as the inconsistencies are too overwhelming. But one question that I am forced to ponder after witnessing these divisional games is simple: Is the current playoff format best for baseball?
I like the whole idea of division rivals and one extra team playing for the wild card spot. But what I like even more are the best teams in baseball getting into the post season and getting a chance to play for the World Series. The Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals, Mets, Marlins, and Phillies all deserve to be in the playoffs more so than the Diamondbacks or Dodgers at this point, and yet three of those teams will not get in. How can this be right?
This is not a black and white problem; there are drawbacks to any and all decisions, consequences for all actions. As I would love to see the four top teams -- i.e. the ones with the best records -- get into the post season, I would hate to lose these great, spirited September ball games between division rivals. Therefore, I am not exactly proposing that baseball change the playoff format, but it is something that is quite amusing and is worth mulling over. What would you rather have?
* If there is one positive to take away from this weekend for the Dodgers, it is the assurance that Los Angeles will finally have their best team on the field, or so it seems. Joe Torre said Sunday that Andre Ethier would receive greater amounts of playing time, and heading down the stretch, it will be Ethier, Matt Kemp, and Manny Ramirez in the outfield. We have been pushing for this for some time, and I'm sure hundreds, if not thousands, of Dodgers fans across Los Angeles have been befuddled by the regulatory omission of Ethier in the everyday lineup. Hey, this isn't about liking Ethier or disliking Andruw Jones or Juan Pierre. From a strictly baseball standpoint, this makes the most sense because lineups ought to be constructed with the best players on any given roster.
* What a great series it was in Chicago this weekend -- the one at Wrigley we mean in this space. The Cubs took two-of-three from the Cardinals and stretched their lead over St. Louis to 7 games in the NL Central. With Milwaukee sweeping Washington at home, the Brewers sit 4 games back of the Cubs.
The weekend at the Friendly Confines had some great stories and some not so great, but all of it wrapped up a great baseball weekend. We had Jim Edmonds smacking two home runs against his former club on Friday afternoon, giving him 15 on the year. After Edmonds' start in San Diego, did anyone think he would have this kind of impact with the Cubs? Not me, certainly, but credit to Chicago's front office for seeing an opportunity worth the low risk.
Edmonds has stabilized the Cubs' lineup with a left handed bat, one capable of driving in runs behind Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, and he has filled the void in center field, a position that he still plays so elegantly despite the decrease in speed. Throw in Alfonso Soriano, Geovany Soto, and Kosuke Fukudome, and the Cubs have guys that can get on base and drive the ball. All of this is without mentioning DeRosa or Theriot, two professional hitters that would fit well into any lineup.
St. Louis took Saturday's game by pounding Chicago ace Carlos Zambrano, setting up Sunday's nationally televised rubber match. Ryan Dempster came up big again, something Wrigleyville is getting used to this season, and pitched the Cubs to a 6-2 victory, his 13th win of the season. Amidst the ball game was the departure of Chris Carpenter. Reported as a triceps strain, Carpenter has struggled through a long road of recovery after undergoing Tommy John Surgery last July, and to lose him so quickly after his return would be a heartbreaker for the Cardinals. It shouldn't be anything too serious, so hopefully Carpenter can be back out there for his next start, or the one after that. I would love to see a healthy Carpenter and Wainwright back with St. Louis for the stretch run, making this NL Central race all the more intriguing.
* The Angels completed a sweep of the New York Yankees on Sunday by way of a seeing-eye single. Nobody thought the ground ball that came off of Chone Figgins' bat was going to slip through the infield, but Robinson Cano and Wilson Betemit couldn't come up with it. Manager Joe Girardi and even the Angels' bench were surprised that little effort was made to stop the ball from squeaking through the infield and effectively allowing the winning run to score.
Not only does this sweep bury the Yankees in the AL East, as it drops them to 8.5 games behind the Rays, but it puts them 4 games out of the wild card and there is serious chance that the post season could be Yankee-less for the first time in Derek Jeter's career. New York players expressed a real sense of urgency following Sunday's loss, with Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte among the guys saying that time is certainly running out and the Yankees need to put it together or realize they will be going home once the final regular season game is played at Yankee Stadium.
Nobody knows what really happened on that play that got through the infield to end the game, and only Robinson Cano knows what kind of effort he gave, so we cannot question the guy. But Torii Hunter was among the players in the opposing dugout utterly surprised that Cano didn't attempt a dive to at least knock the ball down and prevent the run from scoring. That is not a good sign if you are the Yankees, when the other team is beginning to question the effort on the field. If that really was the case -- and we don't know for sure -- than the Yankees are done. A lackluster attitude doesn't mix well with a substantial deficit in the standings.
The Dodgers had every chance to sweep the weekend series at San Francisco and had every reason to be first in the division as they come home tonight to open up a series with the Philadelphia Phillies. Saturday's lead dissipated in the ninth inning amongst Jonathan Broxton's wayward fast balls and sluggish breaking balls. Late inning heroics disguised in orange and black clad produced a walk-off win for the Giants Saturday, and then we came back to see more of the same on Sunday afternoon.
Manny Ramirez put the Dodgers ahead with 2-run double in the eighth inning, making it 4-3, and Joe Torre brought on Hong-Chih Kuo to pitch the final two innings. Kuo survived the 8th but then was brought back out for the ninth to record a two-inning save. Torre was reluctant to use Broxton on Sunday after he labored in the ninth on Saturday evening. Long story short and some shaky defense later, and the Giants were celebrating on the field once again.
These are the things that make us question the Dodgers. The common occurrences of squandering leads and sending off division leads in the mail. The Dodgers have the talent, the ability, and the veteran presence to beat out Arizona for the NL West crown, but will they do it? That is a question nobody can answer at this point, and is the reason we shake our heads in bewilderment and look towards tomorrow without surprise. I would not be shocked if the Dodgers surge to the finish line and take the division title, nor would I be surprised if they reenact their 2007 collapse and hand the playoff birth to the D'backs.
We can't make much sense out of these games, as the inconsistencies are too overwhelming. But one question that I am forced to ponder after witnessing these divisional games is simple: Is the current playoff format best for baseball?
I like the whole idea of division rivals and one extra team playing for the wild card spot. But what I like even more are the best teams in baseball getting into the post season and getting a chance to play for the World Series. The Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals, Mets, Marlins, and Phillies all deserve to be in the playoffs more so than the Diamondbacks or Dodgers at this point, and yet three of those teams will not get in. How can this be right?
This is not a black and white problem; there are drawbacks to any and all decisions, consequences for all actions. As I would love to see the four top teams -- i.e. the ones with the best records -- get into the post season, I would hate to lose these great, spirited September ball games between division rivals. Therefore, I am not exactly proposing that baseball change the playoff format, but it is something that is quite amusing and is worth mulling over. What would you rather have?
* If there is one positive to take away from this weekend for the Dodgers, it is the assurance that Los Angeles will finally have their best team on the field, or so it seems. Joe Torre said Sunday that Andre Ethier would receive greater amounts of playing time, and heading down the stretch, it will be Ethier, Matt Kemp, and Manny Ramirez in the outfield. We have been pushing for this for some time, and I'm sure hundreds, if not thousands, of Dodgers fans across Los Angeles have been befuddled by the regulatory omission of Ethier in the everyday lineup. Hey, this isn't about liking Ethier or disliking Andruw Jones or Juan Pierre. From a strictly baseball standpoint, this makes the most sense because lineups ought to be constructed with the best players on any given roster.
* What a great series it was in Chicago this weekend -- the one at Wrigley we mean in this space. The Cubs took two-of-three from the Cardinals and stretched their lead over St. Louis to 7 games in the NL Central. With Milwaukee sweeping Washington at home, the Brewers sit 4 games back of the Cubs.
The weekend at the Friendly Confines had some great stories and some not so great, but all of it wrapped up a great baseball weekend. We had Jim Edmonds smacking two home runs against his former club on Friday afternoon, giving him 15 on the year. After Edmonds' start in San Diego, did anyone think he would have this kind of impact with the Cubs? Not me, certainly, but credit to Chicago's front office for seeing an opportunity worth the low risk.
Edmonds has stabilized the Cubs' lineup with a left handed bat, one capable of driving in runs behind Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, and he has filled the void in center field, a position that he still plays so elegantly despite the decrease in speed. Throw in Alfonso Soriano, Geovany Soto, and Kosuke Fukudome, and the Cubs have guys that can get on base and drive the ball. All of this is without mentioning DeRosa or Theriot, two professional hitters that would fit well into any lineup.
St. Louis took Saturday's game by pounding Chicago ace Carlos Zambrano, setting up Sunday's nationally televised rubber match. Ryan Dempster came up big again, something Wrigleyville is getting used to this season, and pitched the Cubs to a 6-2 victory, his 13th win of the season. Amidst the ball game was the departure of Chris Carpenter. Reported as a triceps strain, Carpenter has struggled through a long road of recovery after undergoing Tommy John Surgery last July, and to lose him so quickly after his return would be a heartbreaker for the Cardinals. It shouldn't be anything too serious, so hopefully Carpenter can be back out there for his next start, or the one after that. I would love to see a healthy Carpenter and Wainwright back with St. Louis for the stretch run, making this NL Central race all the more intriguing.
* The Angels completed a sweep of the New York Yankees on Sunday by way of a seeing-eye single. Nobody thought the ground ball that came off of Chone Figgins' bat was going to slip through the infield, but Robinson Cano and Wilson Betemit couldn't come up with it. Manager Joe Girardi and even the Angels' bench were surprised that little effort was made to stop the ball from squeaking through the infield and effectively allowing the winning run to score.
Not only does this sweep bury the Yankees in the AL East, as it drops them to 8.5 games behind the Rays, but it puts them 4 games out of the wild card and there is serious chance that the post season could be Yankee-less for the first time in Derek Jeter's career. New York players expressed a real sense of urgency following Sunday's loss, with Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte among the guys saying that time is certainly running out and the Yankees need to put it together or realize they will be going home once the final regular season game is played at Yankee Stadium.
Nobody knows what really happened on that play that got through the infield to end the game, and only Robinson Cano knows what kind of effort he gave, so we cannot question the guy. But Torii Hunter was among the players in the opposing dugout utterly surprised that Cano didn't attempt a dive to at least knock the ball down and prevent the run from scoring. That is not a good sign if you are the Yankees, when the other team is beginning to question the effort on the field. If that really was the case -- and we don't know for sure -- than the Yankees are done. A lackluster attitude doesn't mix well with a substantial deficit in the standings.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Angels batter and bruise Yankees, expose their wounds
When Ian Kennedy arrived at Angel Stadium Friday afternoon to prepare for his return to the big leagues, I'm sure the former Southern California Trojan didn't have this type of homecoming in mind. The rookie probably played and replayed in his mind what his outing would be like in the stadium close to the home where he grew up, and none of those reruns ended like the real thing on Friday evening. But in some twisted, ironic way, that is just about how this whole season has gone down for the Yankees.
Kennedy, called upon to give the Yankees a lift in the absence of Joba Chamberlain, lasted two-plus innings, surrendering five earned runs on nine hits, as the Angels enjoyed a second helping of batting practice en route to a 10-5 whooping of the New York Yankees. The loss for New York came at an inopportune time, as a Boston loss to the Chicago White Sox presented an opportunity to pull one game closer to the Red Sox in the wild card race. You only get so many chances.
The Angels came out firing from the beginning, with Torii Hunter and Howie Kendrick providing banner nights in a game where stand out performances almost went unnoticed due to an entire team effort -- every Angels' starter except for leadoff man Chone Figgins had at least one hit Friday evening.
Hunter did his best in clearing up the base paths, going 4-for-5 with a home run, 4 RBIs, and a triple short of the cycle. Hunter merely continued his torrid second half -- the center fielder has hit .355 over the last four weeks -- and is providing the knock out punch of a gauntlet that consists of Vladimir Guerrero and Mark Teixeira in the middle of the Angels' lineup.
Kendrick added four hits and an RBI from the seventh spot in the order, raising his season average to .331. With the acquisition of Teixeira, who is hitting slightly over .300 since coming to Los Angeles, the Angels have taken depth and offensive balance to different levels. Kendrick is one of the best kept secrets in the major leagues, and he has quietly become a star at second base with the Angels, mainly because there is Guerrero, Teixeira, and Hunter to shine the spotlight on.
Jered Weaver struggled against the Yanks on this night, but this was one of those games where the pitcher is picked up by his offense and carried to a win. Weaver gave up 5 runs over 6 innings, a byproduct of his lack of command against a great hitting lineup. You didn't have to ask Weaver after the game whether or not he had his best stuff or if he was happy with his performance -- there was plenty of visual evidence on display from the seats, mainly after every Yankee that crossed the plate.
But this game was only partly about the Angels. The Angels have enough cumulative points that they already know they don't have to attend the final exam at the end of the semester. These next two months are about grinding out the rest of the season, trying to get healthy and enter October baseball with rhythm and confidence.
What makes the Angels a great ball club was visible in the first game of this three game series, but it wasn't the most obvious thing that struck Angel Stadium during the ball game. The Yankees inability to send consistent pitching to the mound was like the gigantic Coors Light billboard that stalks the center field batter's eye -- no matter where you sit in the ball park, the view is relatively the same. They are both right in your face, relentlessly reminding you of the product.
Joe Girardi probably could have used a couple cold brews after enduring the latest slaughtering of Yankee arms not named Rivera, Chamberlain, or Mussina. No amount of Darrel Rasner or Dan Geise is going to save the New York Yankees this season; that is the cold, hard reality of the situation in The Bronx. The Yankees' downfall is certainly not a lineup that still remains one of the deepest in all of baseball, threatening on its worst nights, purely terrifying on most other evenings.
When you have Jeter, Rodriguez, Abreu, Giambi, Nady, Cano, Damon et al., you still have a chance until there are no more games left on the schedule. Problem is, the docket is shrinking quickly, and it may be too late when Chamberlain and possibly Chien-Ming Wang get back. The Tampa Bay Rays may be out of sight in the division and the Red Sox could have the wild card wrapped up when we are chugging down the final weeks of September. That is going to be a tough sunflower seed for the Yankee brass to swallow, but at the very least, it shows them how much work they need to do in the off season to get this club back to a serious level of contention.
The Yankees have done a great job of proving one thing over the last eight seasons; good, young pitching wins championships, not old pitchers who used to be good or an array of highly-popular, hardly-productive aging veteran hitters. If there were a stock on Wall street labeled 'NYY', the morning work bell would never ring; that bell is reserved for corporations who have a chance of being in green figures at the end any given day.
Gone are the days of a young Andy Pettitte, a dominating Roger Clemens, and a bullish David Cone. I don't see any of the same attitude with this New York club that those guys possessed when summer turned to autumn and rings were fitted. The aura has left the Yankees, and left through that sixty foot, six inch escape route in a hurry. Say what you want about David Wells, but he had guile and attitude and he spewed venom when he took the mound. Do you see any of that today, or am I the only one blinded by the inept?
Mariano is the rock of the entire staff, but there is this neat, little trick about closers -- you have to get them the ball with a lead for them to be meaningful. More times than not, the Yankees can't do that, and that is why they continue to struggle against all of these young, hungry teams who are fighting to make a name for themselves. Nobody fears playing the Yankees anymore. Nobody. Heck, the Angels can't wait to play the Yankees.
The Yankees used to go on the road, and they were feared. They would come into other people's homes and tell them what's for dinner and what time to go to bed. What's it like today? Lets just say the real New York Yankees are on timeout, and they have been there for the last five years -- i.e. ever since Josh Beckett put them there in October 2003. During their championship years, you could forget about going into The House That Ruth Built and seriously frightening that ball club. The sheer mystique of the ball park and the electricity and vigor of the fans was too much for most clubs to handle.
All of that has dissipated in the past decade, and the reason was in the box score Friday. It read: Kennedy, Rasner, Bruney. This is no knock on Ian Kennedy. He is a rookie who hasn't had much time to adjust to the big league and big league hitters, and he needs to be given a couple seasons to really show what he can do. Of course, New York is the last place to get that time to settle in and find a groove.
Rasner is a sixth starter -- remember Aaron Small? -- who will be searching for a new club to play for by next season. Or at least that's how it should be if Hank Steinbrenner is serious about returning the Yankees to playoff prominence. Rasner has a chance to make a great living in the big leagues and win some games -- just not in Yankee pinstripes. He needs to go to a small market in the National League and feast on weak lineups. The San Diego Padres and spacious Petco Park would be great for him.
What restores aura, dominance, and that ever so important mental edge on the opponent? Enforcers on the mound. The Yankees need to gather a stable of power arms and then they will be on their way to living up to the history of the storied franchise. Constructing a winning club and creating an undeniable swagger begins on the mound. The Joba-Wang duo is a good place to start, but that can only be the beginning for the Yankees.
If Brian Cashman is serious about bringing championships back to New York, and he has to be since his job is evaluated annually based on winning, then he will do anything it takes to bring CC Sabathia to the Yankees and have the big, burly left hander throw the first pitch in the new Yankee Stadium on Opening Day 2009. The Yankees should forget about throwing out tons of dollars for Teixeira or Manny Ramirez; they have the bats. The sole reason why they are being treated like the American League's step child rather than the legal guardian they claim to be, is because they don't have the horses to power the buggy.
For every Clydesdale the Angels run out to the mound, the Yankees offer two pretty ponies. For every pertinacious bulldog the Tampa Bay Rays hand the ball to, New York spoon feeds a doggy treat to their cute poodles. If you are the New York Yankees, and the loyal fans of the Bronx Bombers, enough is enough. Memo To Hefty Hank: It is evident that big arms coupled with big confidence win at any point of the season, and apparently you don't have enough of them.
I wish every Little Leaguer could have been at the ball park Friday to watch the Angels play baseball. Think of how many kids would have gotten a first hand look at how to run the bases? The only thing worse than the Yankees irrationally thinking they can contend this season, or any season in the future, by giving the ball to Rasner, Geise, Ponson, or another hurler of the same ilk, is witnessing how many Yankee fans respond to any sort of heckling with the same, stale "How many rings does your team have? That's what I thought." comeback that should be outlawed by now. The Yankees haven't won a championship in eight years, and they certainly haven't gotten any closer to reaching the summit of baseball, either, since then. What the Yankees did when Ruth and Berra were patrolling the clubhouse has no bearing on winning baseball games today. Foolishness in action, I say.
Come to think of it, maybe that is the exact problem with the Yankees. The organization, from top to bottom, is living off of the past and their previous reputation. Reputation has credibility for some time, but at some point, those same reputations need to be reinforced or else they merely become distant memories, supplanted by the newfound actuality. The New York Yankees that I knew when they were actually dominating teams and winning championships is as distant as any memory can be in my mental baseball warehouse.
The Angels have a great club that keeps pushing towards tomorrow after fulfilling today. But better than that, they give themselves a chance tomorrow by assembling great pitching today. The Yankees need to stop using "We Are The Yankees" as a crutch, and start building their organization around winning principles. Hate to break it to you, fellas, but Principle Numero Uno stands sixty feet, six inches away from home plate. If the flat fast balls and hanging breaking balls weren't enough to separate the Angels and Yankees on this night, maybe the Halo Fun Run was enough to startle the New York front office just a bit. And there I was, ignorant me, all along thinking 'Big Bang Friday' was in regards to the post game fireworks show. Live and learn. The Yankees could now benefit from some of the latter.
Kennedy, called upon to give the Yankees a lift in the absence of Joba Chamberlain, lasted two-plus innings, surrendering five earned runs on nine hits, as the Angels enjoyed a second helping of batting practice en route to a 10-5 whooping of the New York Yankees. The loss for New York came at an inopportune time, as a Boston loss to the Chicago White Sox presented an opportunity to pull one game closer to the Red Sox in the wild card race. You only get so many chances.
The Angels came out firing from the beginning, with Torii Hunter and Howie Kendrick providing banner nights in a game where stand out performances almost went unnoticed due to an entire team effort -- every Angels' starter except for leadoff man Chone Figgins had at least one hit Friday evening.
Hunter did his best in clearing up the base paths, going 4-for-5 with a home run, 4 RBIs, and a triple short of the cycle. Hunter merely continued his torrid second half -- the center fielder has hit .355 over the last four weeks -- and is providing the knock out punch of a gauntlet that consists of Vladimir Guerrero and Mark Teixeira in the middle of the Angels' lineup.
Kendrick added four hits and an RBI from the seventh spot in the order, raising his season average to .331. With the acquisition of Teixeira, who is hitting slightly over .300 since coming to Los Angeles, the Angels have taken depth and offensive balance to different levels. Kendrick is one of the best kept secrets in the major leagues, and he has quietly become a star at second base with the Angels, mainly because there is Guerrero, Teixeira, and Hunter to shine the spotlight on.
Jered Weaver struggled against the Yanks on this night, but this was one of those games where the pitcher is picked up by his offense and carried to a win. Weaver gave up 5 runs over 6 innings, a byproduct of his lack of command against a great hitting lineup. You didn't have to ask Weaver after the game whether or not he had his best stuff or if he was happy with his performance -- there was plenty of visual evidence on display from the seats, mainly after every Yankee that crossed the plate.
But this game was only partly about the Angels. The Angels have enough cumulative points that they already know they don't have to attend the final exam at the end of the semester. These next two months are about grinding out the rest of the season, trying to get healthy and enter October baseball with rhythm and confidence.
What makes the Angels a great ball club was visible in the first game of this three game series, but it wasn't the most obvious thing that struck Angel Stadium during the ball game. The Yankees inability to send consistent pitching to the mound was like the gigantic Coors Light billboard that stalks the center field batter's eye -- no matter where you sit in the ball park, the view is relatively the same. They are both right in your face, relentlessly reminding you of the product.
Joe Girardi probably could have used a couple cold brews after enduring the latest slaughtering of Yankee arms not named Rivera, Chamberlain, or Mussina. No amount of Darrel Rasner or Dan Geise is going to save the New York Yankees this season; that is the cold, hard reality of the situation in The Bronx. The Yankees' downfall is certainly not a lineup that still remains one of the deepest in all of baseball, threatening on its worst nights, purely terrifying on most other evenings.
When you have Jeter, Rodriguez, Abreu, Giambi, Nady, Cano, Damon et al., you still have a chance until there are no more games left on the schedule. Problem is, the docket is shrinking quickly, and it may be too late when Chamberlain and possibly Chien-Ming Wang get back. The Tampa Bay Rays may be out of sight in the division and the Red Sox could have the wild card wrapped up when we are chugging down the final weeks of September. That is going to be a tough sunflower seed for the Yankee brass to swallow, but at the very least, it shows them how much work they need to do in the off season to get this club back to a serious level of contention.
The Yankees have done a great job of proving one thing over the last eight seasons; good, young pitching wins championships, not old pitchers who used to be good or an array of highly-popular, hardly-productive aging veteran hitters. If there were a stock on Wall street labeled 'NYY', the morning work bell would never ring; that bell is reserved for corporations who have a chance of being in green figures at the end any given day.
Gone are the days of a young Andy Pettitte, a dominating Roger Clemens, and a bullish David Cone. I don't see any of the same attitude with this New York club that those guys possessed when summer turned to autumn and rings were fitted. The aura has left the Yankees, and left through that sixty foot, six inch escape route in a hurry. Say what you want about David Wells, but he had guile and attitude and he spewed venom when he took the mound. Do you see any of that today, or am I the only one blinded by the inept?
Mariano is the rock of the entire staff, but there is this neat, little trick about closers -- you have to get them the ball with a lead for them to be meaningful. More times than not, the Yankees can't do that, and that is why they continue to struggle against all of these young, hungry teams who are fighting to make a name for themselves. Nobody fears playing the Yankees anymore. Nobody. Heck, the Angels can't wait to play the Yankees.
The Yankees used to go on the road, and they were feared. They would come into other people's homes and tell them what's for dinner and what time to go to bed. What's it like today? Lets just say the real New York Yankees are on timeout, and they have been there for the last five years -- i.e. ever since Josh Beckett put them there in October 2003. During their championship years, you could forget about going into The House That Ruth Built and seriously frightening that ball club. The sheer mystique of the ball park and the electricity and vigor of the fans was too much for most clubs to handle.
All of that has dissipated in the past decade, and the reason was in the box score Friday. It read: Kennedy, Rasner, Bruney. This is no knock on Ian Kennedy. He is a rookie who hasn't had much time to adjust to the big league and big league hitters, and he needs to be given a couple seasons to really show what he can do. Of course, New York is the last place to get that time to settle in and find a groove.
Rasner is a sixth starter -- remember Aaron Small? -- who will be searching for a new club to play for by next season. Or at least that's how it should be if Hank Steinbrenner is serious about returning the Yankees to playoff prominence. Rasner has a chance to make a great living in the big leagues and win some games -- just not in Yankee pinstripes. He needs to go to a small market in the National League and feast on weak lineups. The San Diego Padres and spacious Petco Park would be great for him.
What restores aura, dominance, and that ever so important mental edge on the opponent? Enforcers on the mound. The Yankees need to gather a stable of power arms and then they will be on their way to living up to the history of the storied franchise. Constructing a winning club and creating an undeniable swagger begins on the mound. The Joba-Wang duo is a good place to start, but that can only be the beginning for the Yankees.
If Brian Cashman is serious about bringing championships back to New York, and he has to be since his job is evaluated annually based on winning, then he will do anything it takes to bring CC Sabathia to the Yankees and have the big, burly left hander throw the first pitch in the new Yankee Stadium on Opening Day 2009. The Yankees should forget about throwing out tons of dollars for Teixeira or Manny Ramirez; they have the bats. The sole reason why they are being treated like the American League's step child rather than the legal guardian they claim to be, is because they don't have the horses to power the buggy.
For every Clydesdale the Angels run out to the mound, the Yankees offer two pretty ponies. For every pertinacious bulldog the Tampa Bay Rays hand the ball to, New York spoon feeds a doggy treat to their cute poodles. If you are the New York Yankees, and the loyal fans of the Bronx Bombers, enough is enough. Memo To Hefty Hank: It is evident that big arms coupled with big confidence win at any point of the season, and apparently you don't have enough of them.
I wish every Little Leaguer could have been at the ball park Friday to watch the Angels play baseball. Think of how many kids would have gotten a first hand look at how to run the bases? The only thing worse than the Yankees irrationally thinking they can contend this season, or any season in the future, by giving the ball to Rasner, Geise, Ponson, or another hurler of the same ilk, is witnessing how many Yankee fans respond to any sort of heckling with the same, stale "How many rings does your team have? That's what I thought." comeback that should be outlawed by now. The Yankees haven't won a championship in eight years, and they certainly haven't gotten any closer to reaching the summit of baseball, either, since then. What the Yankees did when Ruth and Berra were patrolling the clubhouse has no bearing on winning baseball games today. Foolishness in action, I say.
Come to think of it, maybe that is the exact problem with the Yankees. The organization, from top to bottom, is living off of the past and their previous reputation. Reputation has credibility for some time, but at some point, those same reputations need to be reinforced or else they merely become distant memories, supplanted by the newfound actuality. The New York Yankees that I knew when they were actually dominating teams and winning championships is as distant as any memory can be in my mental baseball warehouse.
The Angels have a great club that keeps pushing towards tomorrow after fulfilling today. But better than that, they give themselves a chance tomorrow by assembling great pitching today. The Yankees need to stop using "We Are The Yankees" as a crutch, and start building their organization around winning principles. Hate to break it to you, fellas, but Principle Numero Uno stands sixty feet, six inches away from home plate. If the flat fast balls and hanging breaking balls weren't enough to separate the Angels and Yankees on this night, maybe the Halo Fun Run was enough to startle the New York front office just a bit. And there I was, ignorant me, all along thinking 'Big Bang Friday' was in regards to the post game fireworks show. Live and learn. The Yankees could now benefit from some of the latter.
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