New York Yankees

Yesterday was supposed to be a day of celebration; the Yankees officially clinched the AL East division title, Joe Girardi's has his first ever playoff birth, and the Yankees achieved their 100th victory. While champagne and beer was sprayed about the Yankess clubhouse after their 4-2 victory over division rival, the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees reality did not set in until today. Nothing has been accomplished when your the Yankees and you have made the playoffs.

Continue reading "The Yankees Clinch the AL EAST...and ..."

The New York Yankees have cruised through the 2009 baseball regular season, destroying teams with their 9 slugger deep line-up that includes not one player having a bad year. While every hitter is having varying degrees of success, not one man in that line-up is performing below their norms (save for mighty A-Rod, who's injury has slowed him down a bit to the tune of only 26 homers and 80+ RBI's). The bullpen has also been stellar, with Mariano Rivera looking as spry as he did in 1996, and with Phil Hughes redefining his 2009 season in the ilk of that very same roie Rivera held in '96- the gutsy set-up man that becomes a dominating extension of the closer. The defense has improved mightily too, especially around the infield, where Derek Jeter has revived his defensive career by extending his lateral range and improving his arm strength. Robinson Cano has looked interested for the first time in the field since his rookie season and Mark Texeira has done wonders for everyone, displaying why he is considered a defensive elite (you can tell Don Mattingly was his favorite player growing up, his range and glove work are superb). 

Continue reading "Joe Girardi- Let the Force Be With You or Else."

For the past couple days, that's a question that baseball fans have been asking throughout the country. And what's the answer? Is there an answer? Is it OK for a baseball team to premeditate a celebration as over-the-top as Milwaukee's earlier this week?

Continue reading "Was Prince Fielder's Celebration OK?"

(Note: originally posted on February 25.)

Each year, prior to the start of the MLB season, I use a unique mathematical system (one that I will not get into, because it's boring) to project the performance of every player and team. This season, in lieu of their significant offseason additions, I expected the Yankees to come out on top. Surprisingly, my expectations were wrong...

Continue reading "MLB Preseason Predictions: Regular ..."

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Love the 1-2-3 on this team, and the rotation of 4/5's should be just fine. 

 1-New York Yankees: C.C. Sabathia, Chien-Ming Wang, A.J. Burnett, Joba Chamberlain, and Andy Pettitte. Wild card: Phil Hughes.

Continue reading "MLB's Top Five Starting Rotations"

He is a valuable defensive backstop, however.

1-New York Yankees: 1B-Mark Teixeira, 2B-Robinson Cano, 3B-Alex Rodriguez, SS-Derek Jeter, and C-Jorge Posada.

Last, but certainly not least. It's tough to argue with A-Rod and Tex at the corners -- that's an intimidating tandem. Jeter remains Steady Eddy at short, and Posada is one of the greatest hitting catchers in the history of the game.

Continue reading "MLB's Top Five Infields"

Unless you are living under a rock, the talk this week outside of the Super Bowl, has been "The Yankee Years" co-authored by Tom Verducci and Joe Torre.

Today's New York Daily News has a couple of good articles that give a glimpse on what to expect from the book. Both John Harper and Mike Lupica gave their take.

Continue reading "Will You Read Joe Torre's "The Yankee Years"?"

Dear readers:

I'd like to begin my blogging on this account by thanking each and every one of you who have taken the time to read my content in the past, and those of you who will do the same in the near future. A special, personal thanks goes out to the readers who have provided me with direct feedback.

Continue reading "Welcome to JFro Sports Journalism"

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

Entrance into the Hall of Fame is the highest individual honour that baseball has to offer. Getting into Cooperstown means that without a doubt you are one of the greatest players of your generation and have earned the right for children to stare at your plaque as parents tell tall-tales of your abilities for years to come.

Continue reading "What makes someone a hall of famer?"

    The Mets have lost two in a row and three out of four, and have watched their lead in the NL East shrink to just a half game over the Phillies.  New York's 13 remaining games include three with the Nationals, three with the Braves, four with the Cubs and three with the Marlins.  You can't put an exact number on how many games the Mets will need to win the rest of the way in order to make the playoffs--one more than the Phillies will suffice.  Mike Pelfrey, Johan Santana and Oliver Perez, the Mets' three most dependable starters, will likely combine for eight starts down the stretch, with Pedro Martinez, Jon Niese and anyone's guess filling out the remaining five.  New York will need strong, deep outings from their big three, and lots of offense in the other five games in order to avoid leaving their playoff hopes in the hands of the bullpen.  Of course, a little help from Philadelphia's opponents couldn't hurt, but the Mets need to be able to take care of their own business.  If they can't win enough games on their own to hold their divisional lead, then they don't deserve to play baseball in October anyway.

Continue reading "Mets Cling To First Place With Lucky 13 Games Left"

Dear God I love the Blue Jays. After all, what’s not to love? Sure, they may blow crucial games in crucial series, 90% of the time they can’t get a hit in extra innings to save their lives, they don’t steal bases and have never been able to beat the Rays (Devil or not), but after that, what else? Oh yeah, they can never seem to beat rookie pitchers, take advantage of bases loaded situations and every pitcher not named Halladay seems to start every at-bat with a ball. But still, every day I try to catch the opening pitch and every night check the standings… What’s wrong with me?

Continue reading "Why I watch the Jays"

To compete, a baseball team needs pitching and defense. An old adage maybe, but it exists for a reason. A team that continuously gives up runs ends up yanking their starters early in games and taxes their bullpen, lessening their effectiveness over time and thereby compounding the problem over the season. Ironically, trying to keep games close hurts the team in the long run. But with one of the best fielding percentages and team ERA’s in the league, the Toronto Blue Jays are competing.

Continue reading "Why the Jays won't compete: the importance ..."

    With two outs in the top of the eighth inning it looked like the Mets would leave Philadelphia last night with their collective tail between their legs.  Brad Lidge, who still hasn't blown a save all season, was warming up in the Phillies' pen, and the New York offense had only mustered two runs and 12 hits in the previous 16.2 innings, going back to the fifth inning of Tuesday's game.  But Carlos Delgado, who had homered in the sixth to cut Philly's lead to 3-2, sliced a liner over the left field fence to tie the game at three and spark the Mets's offense.  Carlos Beltran followed with an infield hit, and stole second.  With first base open, Brad Lidge walked Ryan Church intentionally, but Daniel Murphy made him pay, doubling down the right field line to bring home Beltran with the go-ahead run.  The hit parade continued with Brian Schneider's flare to left, which put the icing on the cake.  New York's four-run eighth inning clinched a two-game split in Philadelphia, and catapulted the Mets back into first place by a half game.

Continue reading "Delgado's Two Bombs Save The Day"

run at the Wild Card (they're only 2.5 games back) and will surely be in the race until the end.

New York Yankees (70-61), 3rd place in AL East, 3rd place in AL Wild Card:  OUT  Now I'm not one of those people who has wrongfully predicted the Yankees to miss the playoffs each of the last five years--I've always felt that they have a knack for coming through when they need to most.  But even at the beginning of this season I didn't think the Yankees had the team to make the playoffs, and I'll stick by that now.  It just so happens I thought their pitching would have been the weak link, but it has been the offense this season.  In roughly a third of their games the Bronx Bombers have failed to score more than two runs.  They are 9.5 games behind the Rays, which is too big a deficit for the divisional race, and six games behind Boston for the Wild Card.  Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte are showing signs of slowing down, and the back end of the rotation is not solid enough for the Yankees to make a big enough run, even if the offense heats up.  This will likely be the end of a 13-year playoff run in the Bronx.

Continue reading "Seven Runs: Too Little, Too Early"

           I can’t think of an endeavor on this earth more influenced by perception, than that of a major league baseball umpire.

A strike in baseball is a very clearly defined thing. The ball has to pass over the plate at a height between the knees and uniform letters. When a ball passes through that very precise set of parameters, a strike is a fact. The decision that goes up on the scoreboard, however, is based on the umpire’s opinion.

Continue reading "Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees ..."

    Mike Pelfrey has displayed the utmost kindness to Mets fans over his last two starts, sparing us the privilege of seeing the bullpen crumble.  The last time a Mets starter went the distance in back-to-back starts was 2001, when Rick Reed (one of my personal favorites) did so in his first two starts of the season, both against the Braves.  But, he lost the second game 2-0 to Greg Maddux, who allowed just one hit over seven innings.  John Rocker recorded the save.  For the last time a Mets starter won consecutive complete games we have to go back to June of 1995, when Bret Saberhagen beat Atlanta 4-2 and Florida 5-2, before the Mets dealt him to the Rockies at the trade deadline, for Juan Acevedo and, of course, Arnold Gooch.

Continue reading "Eighteen Innings And Counting..."

    The Mets blew leads of 3-0 and 4-3 on Sunday, and Pedro Feliciano gave up two solo bombs in the 10th inning to give New York their second straight loss against the Astros.  Oliver Perez had just one rocky inning, allowing a sacrifice fly to Mark Loretta and a two-run homer to Hunter Pence in the fourth, but Aaron Heilman couldn't hold the one-run lead in the seventh.  He allowed hits to both batters he faced, but was credited with recording an out when Fernando Tatis gunned Geoff Blum out at the plate in the seventh.  The homers Feliciano allowed in the 10th came from two players who had combined for a total of three taters all season until their extra-inning blasts.  You know you don't have your best stuff on a particular day when you give up a go-ahead home run to a defensive replacement (Brad Ausmus).

Continue reading "Feliciano Blows Up In 10th"

’s the top of the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays are holding a slim 2-1 lead over the New York Yankees. Up to bat is Derek Jeter with Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez on deck. Cito Gaston, in order to shut the door on the game and the series gets on the phone and brings in the big gun, Pedro Luis Lazo, winner of two Olympic Gold medals with Cuba and current closer of the Blue Jays. And even if he gives up a run its okay, because leading off the bottom of the ninth for the Jays is Alexei Bell, who hit 30 HR with 100 RBI with Santiago del Cuba last year.

Continue reading "Part Time Jays: How to add a little ..."

    The mystery of how Jerry Manuel will manage the bullpen was put on hold for a day, as Mike Pelfrey pitched his first career complete game Wednesday.  Pelfrey didn't even seem to have his best stuff, but he worked economically throughout the game and kept his pitch count down.  He only struck out three batters, mainly relying on aggressive Braves hitters putting the ball in play early in the count.  The only blemish was the sixth inning, which still could have been much worse.  Atlanta loaded the bases on a bunt single and two walks, but Pelfrey induced a double play grounder from Brian McCann, and he had a chance to escape with only one run allowed.  But he bounced a wild pitch to the next batter and Yunel Escobar scored from third, before Mark Kotsay lined out to left to end the inning.  Pelfrey settled down thereafter and cruised through the next three innings, retiring all nine batters on just 25 pitches.

Continue reading "Pelfrey Goes The Distance"

    The Mets' woes with the bases loaded finally ended Tuesday night when Carlos Delgado doubled off the wall in left to score two and put New York ahead 4-3 in the eighth.  Prior to Delgado's two-bagger, the Mets had just three hits in their last 42 at-bats with the bases loaded.  Then, after an intentional walk to Fernando Tatis, Damion Easley came up with a bases-loaded hit of his own, singling into left center to score two more runs.  Ramon Castro topped the five-run inning off with an RBI double down the line in left, and the Mets completed the comeback from a 3-2 eighth inning deficit.

Continue reading "Delgado, Easley Spark Comeback Against Braves"

Two bits of news from former Seattle players, one surprising, but the other one, not so much.

Easy one first: the Yankees designated Richie Sexson for assignment yesterday, in a roster shakeup that included demoting starting center fielder Melky Cabrera. Sexson had hit .250 in 28 at-bats, with a grand slam and six RBis. Ever the all-or-nothing guy, Sexson had one or two big hits, and a whole lot of hits and weak groundouts. Yankees GM Brian Cashman was gracious about Sexson, saying he was an everyday player, not a bunch guy, and that was the problem.

Continue reading "Ex-Mariner News"

ce, there is one switch-pitcher in the minors:  Pat Venditte of the Staten Island Yankees, the New York Yankees' Single-A affiliate.  Venditte, who switch-pitched for Creigton University from 2005-2008, currently has a 1.14 ERA in 23.2 innings for Staten Island.  In a game against the New York Mets' Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones on June 19, switch-hitter Ralph Henriquez strode to the plate to face Venditte with a runner on first and two outs in the ninth inning.  Henriquez stepped into the right-handed batters' box, and Venditte set up to pitch right-handed.  Henriquez then crossed into the left-handed batters' box to adjust the match-up, but Venditte then switched his glove to his right hand and set up to pitch lefty.  Henriquez crossed again to bat righty, but not to be outdone, Venditte switched back to pitch right-handed.  This cat-and-mouse game caused a seven-minute break in the action as all four umpires convened to determine a ruling and both managers sought clarification, before Henriquez finally just agreed to bat right-handed.  With Venditte pitching righty, Henriquez struck out to end the game, and slammed his bat down in frustration.  The official ruling states that the pitcher must declare which arm he will use to throw, before the at-bat, but apparently the umpires were not used to dealing with controversies of this sort.

Continue reading "Mets Finish Off Sweep in D.C."

  I picked up on this one late; like into the 7th inning, and the Boston Red Sox were down 15-14. 15-14!???!!!. What the heck had I missed? Well, for one thing, a 10-run first inning for the Sox that included two homeruns by Ortiz, an 8-run 5th inning for Texas, followed by a 5-run 6th inning that put them ahead and set the stage for what could easily have been the most embarrasing Red Sox loss of the year. As it turned out, thanks to Kevin Youkilis, it was a 19-16 win that temporarily inched them one-half game closer to the Rays, who were in the process of a minor struggle versus Oakland when the Sox concluded their 4-hour marathon.

Continue reading "Boston Red Sox in an (almost embarrassing) ..."

    Well, it's become quite obvious that the Mets desperately need to find someone else to close in Billy Wagner's absence.  When Wagner had to miss a game against the Phillies three weeks ago with forearm stiffness, Duaner Sanchez dropped the ball.  Since Wagner was placed on the DL last week, Heilman has been awful in two of his four ninth inning chances.  In order to put an end to the bullpen's pattern of implosion, Jerry Manuel offered two other options after yesterday's game:  Eddie Kunz and John Maine.

Continue reading "Mets' Season May Depend on Kunz"

    Since when is a four-run, seventh inning lead against a team 17.5 games out of first place not safe?  Since the Mets' bullpen hit rock bottom.

    The Mets' plan for Monday afternoon's makeup game against the Pirates was to get on top early and send Pittsburgh packing quickly.  When David Wright knocked a three-run home run to right center in the first, and Pedro Martinez allowed only one run through six innings, the game seemed to be following how it was scripted.  But then on came the New York bullpen.

Continue reading "Heilman Heads Up Another Bullpen Meltdown"

The Mariners announced today that Jarrod Washburn has cleared waivers, meaning he can now be freely traded to whatever team wants to take on his massive salary. There's no real surprise here, as it's doubtful any other team would want to take on his bloated $9.85M salary. So the failure of Seattle to deal him before the deadline isn't so awful, except that his value seemed to have peaked at that point for a couple of reasons: (1) he'd pitched really well to that point (4 ER in 19.2 IP in the three starts before the deadline, (2) his value diminishes with each day that passes, since that means less time he can spend with a contending team (e.g., the Yanks) starved for starters, which leads to (3) the team in question being more likely to go in another direction.

Continue reading "Washburn is ready to move"

    When Pedro Martinez allowed a home run to Jody Gerut on the first pitch of the game, it already didn't look good.  Then, when he allowed another one just two batters later, it looked like it was definitely going to be a long day for Pedro and the Mets.  But Pedro settled down beautifully and allowed just two hits the rest of the way in his 6.1 innings pitched Wednesday night.  His curveball and change-up were both working well, forcing San Diego hitters to hit ground balls or pop up, as they were regularly off balance.

Continue reading "Wright's Lapses Contribute to Mets' ..."

    The Mets limped home from a disappointing 1-5 road trip with a slew of injuries.  Marlon Anderson and John Maine were put on the DL over the weekend and Billy Wagner joined them today with a strained left forearm.  Ramon Castro is still shaken up from the bizzare home plate collision on Saturday, and is listed as day-to-day with a sore ankle.  Rather than make any external moves, the Mets have turned to their farm system for help.  Although for the time being Jerry Manuel says he will use a bullpen by committee in the ninth inning, Eddie Kunz, the heir apparent to Billy Wagner, is on the major league squad and may get some looks in the closer role over the next two weeks while Wagner is out.  Daniel Murphy, who was a third baseman in the minors but requested some work at second base and the outfield--a smart move, considering David Wright isn't going anywhere anytime soon--is getting the start in left field tonight agains the Padres.  The Mets really love the way he hits, so he could be a fixture at the major league level for the remainder of the season and perhaps into the future.  And rumor has it that the Mets are considering calling up Jon Niese to make a few starts in Maine's stead.

Continue reading "Mets Look to Bounce Back at Home"

Theory of the Week:  Relief Spending

    Every winter the free agent frenzy escalates as contracts rise to astronomical amounts and lengths.  Some MLB executives balk at the dearth of talent and exhorbitant contracts, while others jump at the opportunity to sign what they think are the missing pieces, for whatever the market demands.  Swarming the headlines this past off-season were some of the questionable contracts signed by relief pitchers.

Continue reading "Are Relief Pitchers Worth Their Contracts?"

    Sure enough, just after I wrote about how I’d like to see Jerry Manuel try to stretch Aaron Heilman for some more two-inning relief appearances, Heilman blew a tie game in his second inning of work on Friday night.  After getting through the seventh inning cleanly, Heilman loaded the bases in the eighth and gave up a game-winning grand slam to pinch hitter Mark Loretta.  To add insult to injury (literally, considering the ailing arms of John Maine and Billy Wagner), Heilman was tagged with the loss again on Saturday in another collapse of sorts from the Mets’ bullpen.  This one was a group effort though, with Scott Schoenweis and Billy Wagner contributing to the blown 4-1 lead.  After yet another solid, but insufficiently long, outing from Johan Santana, Schoenweis allowed a solo home run to Kaz Matsui, who has killed the Mets, hitting .438 against his former team over the last three years.  Wagner then gave up a bizzare two-run single to Geoff Blum with the bases loaded in the ninth to blow the save, as both runners crashed into one another and Ramon Castro all at once at the plate.  Then, in the tenth, Heilman put the first two runners on base before handing the ball over to Pedro Feliciano.  Feliciano actually did not pitch poorly, striking out the first batter he faced and then allowing the game-ending sacrifice fly on a weakly hit liner by Darin Erstad.  Fernando Tatis made an excellent catch on Erstad’s sinking flare, but was unable to throw Lance Berkman out at the plate.

Continue reading "Shaky Pen Gets Mets Swept By 'Stros"

    For the third time in a week, the Mets showed some moxie last night in winning convincingly the day after a disconcerting loss.  First, it was John Maine's solid performance against the Phillies the day after the bullpen blew Johan Santana's eight-inning gem.  Then, it was Santana going the distance to conserve the worn out bullpen the day after the five-hour, 14-inning loss to St. Louis.  And last night Oliver Perez fought through six innings, allowing just the one first-inning run, after the bullpen blew an eighth-inning lead on Monday.  David Wright gave the Mets an early lead with an RBI double in the first and Carlos Beltran put New York ahead with a rare two-out RBI single in the sixth.  Carlos Delgado jacked a two-run homer in the eighth for insurance, and Heilman pitched two scoreless innings for the hold, before Billy Wagner tossed a perfect ninth for his 27th save.

Continue reading "Heilman Holds Perez's Lead, Delgado Puts it Away"

    The trade deadline is approaching and the Mets still have some needs to fill.  It's still unknown whether Ryan Church will be able to come back and play everyday, so a corner outfielder is certainly a priority.  On Monday Jerry Manuel named Fernando Tatis the everyday left fielder, but his red-hot month may not, and probably will not, last.  Even if Tatis remains decent as a starter, the uncertainty surrounding Church's health calls for a stronger bench.  Endy Chavez is an excellent defensive replacement outfielder, but when he plays everyday he eventually gets exposed offensively, so he is really more suited to a role as a fourth outfielder.  Casey Blake would have been a good fit because he can play both corner outfield positions as well as first base, but he has already been traded to the Dodgers.

Continue reading "Trade Market: Will The Mets Be Involved?"

    Monday night in Miami was an all-around bad experience for the Mets.  John Maine cruised into the fifth inning with a 2-0 lead, and looked just fine to the naked eye.  But after Maine missed with a 1-0 fastball to John Baker, Jerry Manuel, Dan Warthen and Ray Ramirez, the trainer, jogged out to the mound to consult with Maine.  He appeared to say he was fine, and stayed in the game for the time being.  But after his next pitch to Baker left the yard for a solo home run, and his 1-2 pitch to Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco chased Endy Chavez to the warning track to make the catch, Manuel and Warthen decided they had seen enough, and pulled Maine in favor of Carlos Muniz.  Maine is listed as day-to-day with shoulder stiffness, and Warthen said he was most concerned that Maine might develop further injuries if he tried to compensate in his delivery to protect his shoulder.  In all likelihood Maine will miss a start in order to rest his shoulder, and hopefully pitch again next week.  After the game Manuel was adamant that Maine will not pitch through any pain.

Continue reading "Mets Fried By Fish, Maine Leaves Early"

    When the bullpen blew the game after Santana's eight stellar innings on Tuesday, fans and media types alike griped that the ace should have finished the game.  Saturday night's 14-inning marathon necessitated a long outing from Santana, and he answered the call, this time by pitching a complete game six-hitter, to put the exclamation point on the Mets' 9-1 win in the rubber game of the series against St. Louis.  The lone blemish on his masterful performance was Albert Pujols' seventh inning solo home run, but as Aaron Heilman learned early Sunday morning, you sometimes just tip your cap when that man hits one out.

Continue reading "Santana Goes the Distance, Mets Stay Hot"

In what is largely perceived as his final start in a Mariners' uniform, Jarrod Washburn threw his longest and best start of the year, logging 8 innings of one-run ball, giving up just four hits and walking two against two strikeouts. His only blemish was a solo homer to John McDonald, the Toronto shortstop's first of the year.

Continue reading "Washburn's Farewell"

    Neither the good nor the bad version of Oliver Perez showed up on Thursday at Shea--the spectacular version came to play against the Phillies.  Perez struck out 12 batters over 7.2 innings, including six whiffs of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, as he out-dueled Jamie Moyer, who pitched a gem of his own.  Carlos Delgado came through with the big hit, a two-run double off the previously unhittable J.C. Romero, in the eighth, and Billy Wagner nailed down the win in the ninth with his 26th save.  Fittingly, Jimmy Rollins, who did not start because he arrived an hour late to the ballpark, made the final out of the game.  After Tuesday night's ninth inning meltdown, the bullpen tossed 4.1 scoreless innings, including back-to-back saves by Wagner, and the Mets took two of three from Philadelphia, despite losing the first game of the series.  New York is now 9-4 against the Phillies this season.

Continue reading "Mets Continue to Roll Behind Delgado, ..."

As the July 31 deadline approaches, one of the most likely trade candidates mentioned in Seattle-New York trade rumors has been Jarrod Washburn. The Ms would love to shed his massively overpaid salary, while the Yanks need a starter who can eat innings, even if he does it in mediocre, Jarrod-esque fashion. That Wishy-Washburn has been good of late (since a May 21 2IP, 9ER meltdown, he's only given up more than 2 ER in two of his ten starts) makes him seem all the more attractive to the pinstripes.

Continue reading "Washburn to the Yanks?"

    A day after the Mets' bullpen acted out a microcosm of the final 17 games of 2007, Billy Wagner was back on the mound with a three-run lead in the ninth inning on Wednesday, and Mets fans could not be happier.  Wagner's save in the 6-3 victory not only sealed the win and moved the Mets back into a first place tie with the Phillies, but it also put the minds of many a Mets fan at ease, knowing that the true closer is once again available to pitch.  After the game Wagner said he looked better than he felt, but hopefully he continues to feel well enough to pitch 1-2-3 ninth innings.

Continue reading "Billy Wagner Never Looked So Good"

Offensively and defensively, the Yankees have been missing the services of Hideki Matsui since June 27, and Jorge Posada on and off for even longer. Matsui is an integral RBI guy to give ARod and Giambi protection in the five or six hole, and is needed more than ever in left with Johnny Damon's shoulder issues. Posada can hit pretty well, but can't throw, so even when he was in the game, other teams ran rampant--Jose Molina and Chad Moeller are decent defensive replacements, but can't match Jorge's bat.

Continue reading "Two Yankees, Toughing it Out"

    When the Mets traded for and signed Johan Santana in January, tonight's game was exactly what they had in mind.  The ace will take the mound tonight at Shea to face the Phillies, who are tied with the Mets atop the National League East.  Tonight would be a perfect situation for the type of start Mets fans are itching for out of Santana.  Overall, despite his 3.10 ERA, Santana's season has been a disappointment to this point.  His 8-7 record is mediocre, his strikeout rate is down, his batting average against is up, and his solid ERA is also misleading in that it does not reflect the grand slam he allowed to pitcher Felix Hernandez of the Mariners.  Santana has only pitched into the eighth inning once this season, and Duaner Sanchez ultimately blew that game in the ninth.  Tonight is an opportunity for Santana to turn his sub-par season around, and show Mets fans that he is worth his exhorbitant contract

Continue reading "Johan Santana Takes the Hill With ..."

   After splitting the four-game series in Cincinnati, the Mets are back in a first-place tie with the Phillies for the lead in the NL East.  Lately it hasn't only been Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran leading the offense; Carlos Delgado has been on fire recently and came through with the clutch, game-tying hit in the seventh inning on Sunday, and the Mets' bench players have been carrying the torch as well.  The "irregulars," (as Mets television broadcaster Gary Cohen puts it) such as Fernando Tatis, Endy Chavez, Damion Easley and Ramon Castro, have been igniting the Mets' offense for the past three weeks.  But two new players with anything but household names were just as instrumental to the Mets' success in Cincy as anyone getting paid upwards of $12 million per year:  Argenis Reyes and Robinson Cancel.

Continue reading "Makeshift Mets Back In First, But ..."

    Aside from Billy Wagner, who picked up his 23rd save with a perfect ninth, the Mets' pitching was bad all around last night in Cincinnati.  Johan Santana's velocity was alarmingly low, and he was battered around, pitching through bases loaded trouble in the second inning before giving up five runs in the fourth, his final inning of the night.  Aaron Heilman lost his command after getting two outs in the seventh, and Scott Schoenweis allowed the big blow, a bases clearing double by Javier Valentin.  But the offense continued to roll, as Carlos Delgado, Fernando Tatis and David Wright each hit two-run homers, and the Mets pounded out 10 runs, including four in the ninth off closer Francisco Cordero.  Wright's bomb tied the game with one out, and Delgado followed three batters later with the go-ahead RBI single.  The victory moves the Mets into a first place tie with the Phillies at 52-44.

Continue reading "David Wright Bails Out Poor Pitching, ..."

As I expected, Richie Sexson was signed by the one team in major league baseball who signs every single castoff, just in case he might turn it around in pinstripes: the Yankees. The temptation of that short porch in Yankee Stadium right field, combined with Sexson’s power potential, was too tempting to the team that claimed Jose Canseco off waivers in 2000, just to be sure he didn’t go to a division rival.

Continue reading "Sexson a Yankee; LaHair a Mariner"

    The Mets are riding their longest winning streak since 2000 heading into the second half tonight in Cincinnati, and they will have their ace on the hill to try to extend it.  Johan Santana is a disappointing 8-7 so far this season but still boasts a fantastic 2.84 ERA, good enough for fourth in the National League.  Despite a relatively lousy second half last year (5-7, 4.04 ERA), Santana has excellent career numbers after the All-Star break.  He is 50-17 in 108 starts, with a 2.79 ERA and 642 strikeouts in 606.1 innings.  The Mets hope that their improved play of late will only help Santana reach those lofty second half expectations, and lead the team through a pennant race.  Santana gets the start tonight against the Reds and rookie starter Johnny Cueto.

Continue reading "Johan Looks to Start Second Half Strong Tonight"

It’s the annual midpoint of the baseball season, and for the brief span that is the All-Star break, all eyes are upon the Bronx. As everyone is well aware of, this campaign is the last go around for the world’s most famous, largest, and most prominent ballpark, Yankee Stadium. It seems hard to believe, and even more sacrilegious that this living legend’s days are numbered. Built in 1923 and christened by the greatest ballplayer to ever live, Babe Ruth, the cathedral of baseball will never truly be replaced. Although the Bombers will move a block to Yankee Stadium’s heir, the Mecca of America’s Pastime will still live on in our hearts. Whether you’re a diehard Yankee fan, or Yankee-hater, you still can respect the history and awe that the stadium brings. So when the All-Stars take the field Tuesday night, sit back on your couch, crack open a cold one and soak up the history of Yankee Stadium, as its final chapter is unveiled to all of us.

Continue reading "National League Looks to End Rut"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

Amongst a busy week in the life of The Moneyball- I did have to comment on this topic.

Favre leaving the Packers to me is like Derek Jeter leaving the Yankees, Magic Johnson leaving the Lakers, or Cal Ripken Jr. leaving the Orioles.

Continue reading "Brett Favre Leaving Green Bay"

    This time last week the Mets were 4.5 games behind Philadelphia entering their pivotal four-game series with the division leaders.  After Johan Santana gave up a 2-0 lead and Duaner Sanchez allowed the winning run in the ninth, the horizon looked bleak for the orange and blue.  However, since that devastating defeat, New York has racked up six straight wins and the Mets now find themselves just 1.5 games back of the Phillies in the NL East.  During the winning streak the Mets have scored an average of seven runs per game while yielding only three per contest, including back-to-back shutouts of the Giants on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Continue reading "Mets Go For Seven Straight Tonight at Shea"

    Another day brought another win for the Mets this afternoon, as they ran their season-high winning streak to six straight.  Fernando Tatis snapped a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning with his fourth home run of the year, and his second go-ahead shot in the last five days.  The bullpen was lights out for the third straight day and hasn't allowed a run since almost giving back a 10-1 lead on Monday in Philadelphia.  The sweep of the Giants was the Mets' first such feat since they took three straight from Washington from April 15-17, unless you count the three-game series at Yankee Stadium that was started in May and finished in June.  The Phillies rebounded from a 2-0 loss in St. Louis on Tuesday to beat the Cardinals in two straight, so the Mets are currently 1.5 games out of first place heading into a three-game series against Colorado this weekend.

Continue reading "Dust Off Your Brooms, Tatis Comes Through Again"

           Hey, Sox Fans, how’s it been goin’? Been a while. . .

            I’ll be honest with you, following the Red Sox on a daily basis can turn into a full-time job, and this doesn’t even include the other teams you tend to watch as they jockey with the Sox for position. Just got out of the habit of writing about them.

Continue reading "The Boston Red Sox at mid-season ..."

s.  Fifteen of his 24 home runs last year came in the second half.

3)  Derek Jeter, SS, New York Yankees:  He's had a disappointing first half, but the All-Star game at Yankee Stadium might revitalize him for the second half.  The Yankee offense has not performed up to expectations, but with everyone healthy they could become more explosive as a unit.  Even with the slow start Jeter has a shot at scoring 100 runs, and that number will only increase if the middle of the batting order produces better.

Continue reading "Pelfrey and the Mets Finally Make It Easy"

"It's not a game, it's an arms race" - Kanye West and Fallout Boy belt this hook over and over again on a recent hit with that same title. In that context, Kanye and the Fallout Boy guys are referring to the battle of musical artists not only surviving in a competitive worldwide market, but one with hindrances around every music sharing online ripping program. While that's an issue for another day and another blogsite, it's relevance is crucial when talking about the current state of Major League baseball and the National Basketball Association.

Continue reading "From the NBA to MLB, the Arms Race Has Begun"

    This season Mets fans have come to realize that win or lose, life is excruciating.  For this team there is no such thing as a laugher--in either direction.  It seems that every Mets loss includes a blown lead, and every Mets win includes an attempt at the same.

Continue reading "Despite best efforts, Wagner and ..."

 The country's favorite rivalry of all sports is entering Game 4 tonight, with the Red Sox having taken 2 of the 3 first games in Yankee Stadium. What used to be national news is a mere afterthought at the moment, and the question is why?

Continue reading "Yanks-Sox Rivalry...Just missing something."

It's that time of year again when every other commercial on television promotes the All-Star Game, and ballparks around the majors are stocked with ballots. So keeping with the theme, I’ve decided to name players to my inaugural All–Star team and I’ll start with the National League. So far there have been the usual suspects putting up solid first halves, and also some surprises that have shocked everyone with success.  So far in 2008, the season seems almost as a Bizarro season to steal Sports Illustrated’s mantra. The Rays and the Cubs have been pace setters, and the defending National League Pennant winners are at the rear of field, lost somewhere in the ice cold Rockies.  So keeping with the spirit, here are my National League All-Stars with a few surprises and few old schoolers.

Continue reading "Mic's National League All-Star Team"

After yesterday’s game, the Yankees held a closed-door meeting among coaches and players—reportedly, manager Joe Girardi spoke, followed by Johnny Damon and captain Derek Jeter. In a postgame news conference, Girardi repeatedly (and sometimes heatedly) refused to reveal what was said in the meeting, although the gist of the discussion was obvious: the can’t-lose Yankees have been losing.

Continue reading "More Bad Yankee Luck"

The Yankees and Red Sox are rivals in many ways—traditional and league rivals for years, they now regularly battle for free agents, as they might do with Indians trade bait C.C. Sabathia. And now both teams have some pretty crazy pitchers in their minor league systems, both of whom have a good shot at making the bigs in the next few years.

Continue reading "Two Kooky Pitchers"

The dominoes continue to fall in Seattle, as John McLaren was handed his walking papers yesterday, three days after GM Bavasi tried on his own pink slip. In some ways, this was handled better than the Mets’ embarrassing and insulting firing of Willie Randolph. At least McLaren wasn’t dangled for weeks before a midnight assassination, and there were suitably kind words for McLaren upon his dismissal, with new GM Lee Pelekoudas obviously distressed about having to fire his longtime friend and colleague.

Continue reading "Down Goes McLaren"

As I remarked in my blog when he was released, Sidney Ponson has brought his teams little but grief to go with his occasionally adequate pitching. When the Rangers released him, I’d hoped that would be the last of Sir Sidney.

Continue reading "Sidney "Poison" Ponson"

OK, that title was irresistible, but in fact I'm going to say that Chien-Ming Wang's foot injury should force the Yanks hand in a trade, especially when combined with other injuries this season. Funny how little things can combine to lead to something even larger, accumulating momentum gradually until it becomes irresistible, as it has with the murmurs about a trade for C.C. Sabathia, which is really more the point of this blog.

Continue reading "Off On the Wang Foot"

When a guy gets named "Moose," you generally figure it's because he's a knucklehead or looks like he should be one. Bill Skowron had the lumpy face of a prizefighter, but he was generally known as a gentle giant with a smooth, opposite-field stroke. His nickname came from his Polish grandfather, who thought his haircut at one point reminded him of dictator Benito Mussolini. But Skowron wasn't any sort of dictator, just a good guy who could drive ball into the gaps.

Continue reading "Around The Horn With The '61 Yankees: 1B"

The Yankees have had many World Series champs, and many more All-Star players and all-time lineups. The 1927 Yankees pretty much set the bar for everyone else to follow, but there were some other memorable ones, too. The '36 Yanks, the first year of Joltin' Joe, and the last great one from Lou Gehrig, along with typically solid contributions by Bill Dickey, Tony Lazzeri and the usual cast of star Yankees.

Continue reading "The Unsung Heroes of the 1961 Yankees"

I've been a Yankees fan since the early nineties, pre-Showalter, pre-Torre, pre-post-seventies-World-Series-victories days, and it seems to me they're as vulnerable as they've ever been. I like Girardi, I like the New Steinbrenner regime that doesn't look to scour out every single prospect for the possibility of Winning Right Now--but I think they are (dare I say?) approaching those dreaded Rebuilding Years.

Continue reading "Rebuilding the Yankees--A Good Thing?"

Mussina is on the hill today for the Yanks and, while I admire him and think he's a very good pitcher and a modest, intelligent, generally good fellow, I wonder about his Hall of Fame credentials. Dave Niehaus, the mellow-toned broadcaster, has repeatedly called him a shoo-in or a lock for the Hall during the game today, and it's made me wonder. To me, a player in the HOF represents someone who was genuinely and consistently feared (on the field, not off) during his career, the kind of pitcher that batters hated to face (and vice versa). And not for one year, but for several; you can be Sandy Koufax and be unhittable for four or five seasons (and merely outstanding for a handful more) or Nolan Ryan and be unhittable for twenty years.

Continue reading "Mike Mussina for the HOF?"

In the days following the excavation of the "cursed" Ortiz jersey from the fresh concrete at "Yankee Stadium--The Sequel" we've seen Jorge Posada go on the DL for the first time in his long career, and ARod join him for the first time since donning pinstripes.

Continue reading "Yankee Injuries = Ortiz Curse?"

Two weeks into the 2008 season and the Boston Red Sox must be pleased with how the season has gone thus far. Granted they are only two games over .500 at 8 and 6 and have split their last 10 games, but things could be much, much worse. When the Yankees went to Japan to open the season, they proceeded to go 11-19 in the first month of the season before finally snapping out of it and going on to win the division. Boston is only half a game out of first place in the tightly packed American League East which is currently lead by the surprising Baltimore Orioles who do not figure to hang around much longer.

Continue reading "Red Sox Should Feel Good About The Season So Far"

Remember what I said in my last post about not getting too excited that the Boston Red Sox opened the season with a 3-1 winning series against the Oakland As? Well, they demonstrated why, over the weekend in Toronto, where they dropped all three games, essentialy limping home for the home opener on Tuesday.

Continue reading "The Boston Red Sox; faltering in ..."

Hard to know what to make of the flurry of predictions regarding the fortunes of the Boston Red Sox and all of the other teams which make up Major League Baseball. The predictions right here on this site are sort of mixed. You get a self-proclaimed Boston hater (all sports) predicting that the Sox won't even make the playoffs, which even on the face of it seems a little ridiculous. Even I wouldn't count the Yankees out. This guy figures the Yankees to win it all, beating the Indians, Mariners and then the D-Backs. Yeah, well good luck with that.

Continue reading "Prognostications, the Boston Red ..."

te-type the Boston views him as, they will be sorry they didn’t do more to acquire Santana.

New York Yankees

Will the Yankees be able to find enough quality innings from their pitchers?

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: American Leauge East"

Caught my first Boston Red Sox spring training game today on MLB.TV and truth be told, it was a yawner. Ended up 8-4, Yanks; a score that was on the board by the bottom of the fourth inning, rendering the remainder of the broadcast something of an exercise for the announcers, Michael O'Kay and John O'Flaherty (it being St. Patrick's Day, they both added "O"s to the front of their last names.). Having lived in New York for the last 15 years or so, I heard and saw a lot of these two (Flaherty, less. Kay is usually teamed with Paul O'Neill or Al Leiter). Every time the Sox and Yankees got together, I'd be listening to them instead of Joe Castglione and Jerry Remy. Kay and Flaherty are Yankee partisans, of course, but they're also professionals and Michael Kay, in particular, is a first class announcer. He used to do 'color' with John Sterling on New York radio. Sterling is more of an obvious Yankee fan than Kay, with an annoying habit of making routine plays into headline news with phony rhymes. Matsui hits a home run and we hear "A Thrilla from Godzilla." Alex Rodriguez hits a home run and we get "An A-Bomb from A-Rod." And when the Yankees win, he has this annoying habit of saying "The -ah-ah-ah-ah-ah Yankees win."

Continue reading "And so it begins. . .Boston Red Sox ..."

The New York Yankees try to carry themselves with the belief that they are the classiest team in baseball. Earlier this week manager Joe Girardi took a stance that was not supported by many others in baseball when he harshly criticized a home plate collision in a game earlier this week, calling it dirty and something that you don’t do in Spring Training. If a young player trying to get noticed by his manager his coming into home and the plate is completely blocked, he has every right to barrel over the catcher. If Girardi doesn’t want such a thing to happen, he should tell his catcher not to block the plate in Spring Training. Nonetheless, I can understand Yankees pitcher Heath Phillips throwing at Evan Longoria in retaliation the next time the two teams met, that at least sends a statement to your teammates that you’ve got their backs. However, when Shelley Duncan slid into second base with his spikes high, that is just plain dirty and something that is unacceptable at anytime in the season. The home plate collision was a young kid trying to make a play, done with no malicious intent. Sliding into a base with your spikes in the air can only be seen as trying to injure another player.

Continue reading "Yankees Playing Dirty . . . And Other ..."

I am thoroughly looking forward to the Hank Steinbrenner Era. It seems he is hell-bent on replacing his father as the most obnoxious loudmouth, know-nothing owner in baseball. After watching the display he put on this winter in the Johan Santana Sweepstakes and his recent comments about the existence of Red Sox Nation, I don’t believe there is a bigger blowhard in sports today. All we need is for him to revive the Billy Martin routine with Joe Girardi, a possibility that may not be that farfetched as it appears Girardi not necessarily that easy to get along with. Little Stein seems to be unpredictable and impatient and not only expects the team to win now, but to do so in spectacular fashion. Earlier this year, Hank implied that general manager Brian Cashman would be on the hot seat if the plan to hold on to their young pitching instead of going all in for Santana didn’t pan out. If Steinbrenner allows his arrogance and impetuousness to take over the organization, I envision a return of the Yankees to the "glory" years of the 1980's when George was the show.

Continue reading "Looking Forward to the Hank Steinbrenner ..."

For the past decade the order of finish in the American League East has practically been predetermined from day one. The Red Sox and Yankees would battle for first place, Toronto Blue Jays would finish in the middle of the pack, the Orioles would be afterthoughts and the only question with Tampa Bay was whether they would lose more than 100 games or not. This seasons looks like it could be entirely different and the division is experiencing more depth than it has since the mid 1990's when Boston, New York and Baltimore were all contenders.

Continue reading "American League East is a Beast of a Division"