Even When They Win He Finds a Way To Screw things Up

Joda clearly wanted to give Mo and his mild muscle strain another day off. Fair enough. But instead of sending in the alternate, Farnsworth, with a 4 run lead (and Farnsworth has been fine with big cushions, Joda leaves a tiring Johnson out there even after he walked the first batter on 4 straight pitches, not one of which would have tempted Vlad Guerrero into swinging. So of course Johnson gives up 2 and Joda has to go with Mo anyway.

One question. When the hell does Mussina's mid season vacation end? They're starting Villone on Sunday. As if the bullpen wasn't stressed enough.

The Return of Status Quo Joe

Torre is apparently unable to try anything new whatsoever with AROD, who just goes from worse to worst. He followed an 0-4 today with a 0-3 tonight. And tonight he was going against a pitcher he has killed. That makes something like one for his last twenty-five, and he is taking some of the worst swings imaginable. Maybe Munson is right and he's injured. If so they should get him out of the line-up and let him heal once Cairo returns. If not they should get him out of the line-up and let him sit once Cairo returns. I myself have been concerned that any overly harsh step might destroy his evidently frail self-esteem, but things cannot go on as they are. He can't keep batting fifth of all places in the lineup when he is hitting like a pitcher. MAybe if you treat him like the scrub he's playing like he'll get mad and start hitting down the road. But if he belongs on the DL, put him there. If this team can win with AROD, they can certainly win without him.

Joe-Blow[s] Another One

Maybe it doesn't matter in the long run, but I just hate to see a game all but won get recklessly thrown away by Bumbles' stupid policies.

Yeah, I get why you want to rest Mo withan 8 1/2 game lead after he saved game one. But why wouldn't you warm him (or someone up) just in case you needed a last out. And while you're resting MO, can someone tell me why you'd go instead with the most overworked pitcher on the team , no, the most overworked pitcher in baseball? Proctor not only lost the game in embarrassing fashion, he threw over 30 pitches and now is presumably shot for tomorrow when we might well need him. Where the hell is Farnsworth; isn't sub-closing his role? And when it became apparent that the inning might get to Granderson, why not warm-up Meyers and let him do the only thing he knows how?

Chowder-threat or no chowder-threat, these games against Detroit are really important for October. If the Yankees swept the series, they would be in great position to not only secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs, but push the tigers out of first and into the Wild card. Wouldn't you rather face Detroit in a best of five series than Minnesota for example, with Santana, Loriano and Radke?

The Yankees were poised to win with only 3 hits. you don't throw away gift wins if you can help it. Plus, it's a shame to waste a really good outing from Wright, who kept them in the game into the seventh despite the anemic bats. He's ben awful lately as we know, but he deserved a win tonight.

Last thing for Now

With the Yankees win today, and Boston's loss (swept in concecutive series by Seattle and Oakland), the Chowderheads fall 10 games back in the loss column. at this point of the season, that means if the Yanks play 500 ball the rest of the way, 16-16, the Sox would have to play nearly 800 ball, 23-6, just to tie them. Oh, it's over alwright, and it's not even September!

For Those of You Who Might Be Wondering,

Torre says Pavano will likely not be pitching at all for the Yankees this season, though he'll continue to do rehab starts in the minors. I have no idea what he could be rehabbing for, but I suspect the players on the big league team simply do not want him and his slacker karma anywhere near them. An team investigation into his latest injury is underway, presumably with an eye to finding the Holy Grail, an excuse to void his contract. So long as he is being paid, however, my feeling is the Yankees should bring him to NY and make him practice on the field before games, as is their right, while suspending stadium rules during that period about throwing things at the players. Since he won't do anything to earn his outlandish salary, he should be treated like Sackerson, the bear baited outside the Globe theater.

Everybody Wang-chung Tonight

As we watch the nightcap, we will be able to rest easy knowing that the Yankees do indeed have an ace at the top of their rotation and by good fortune he happens to be the youngest hurler in it. Not only did Wang tie Halladay for the major league lead in wins today, moving his record to 16-5, he did exactly what you need your stopper, and make no mistake he is the stopper, of your staff to do. Coming off a bad road trip, in which the game he started was the only convincing win they had, in which a badly overworked and somewhat overrated bullpen began to implode, in which they had long strings of uninspired plate appearances, Wang pitched shutout baseball for 7 2/3, with almost no run support, his back to the wall, throughout, and spared Proctor form serious work, the rest of the bullpen from any work, and allowed Mo a routine 1 inning save.

Being a stopper for a contending team is more difficult and nore praiseworthy than being a stopper, a la Halladay, for an also-ran. Once the losing streaks stop meaning anything who really cares if they are stopped. Stopping for the Jays is a low pressure assignment. Wtih that in mind, on wonders why Wang and not Halladay is not invoked as Johan Santana's main competition for the Cy young (now that injuries have stalled Loriano's chances). I have just listened to 3 of ESPN's prime wankers argue of whether Jeter should be running strong in the MVP race, and 2 of them agreed he was only ahead because of the pinstripe effect or the NY effect or both. If that is the case, why doesn't Wang benefit from the NY context, at least to the point he gets the recognition he deserves?

The Jeter gas er gabfest may hold the answer. The 2 idiots who dismissed Jeter as a viable candidate for MVP kept repeating the phrase, he only has 12 homers, 12 homers, only 12 homers, with increasing incredulity, and were completely undeterred in their descent into silliness by the observation that he would have over 100 RBI's out of the 2 hole, let alone the 34o0 BA, the 200+ hits, the 415 OBP, the 26 steals, or another fine fielding season at a key position. The point is they were fixated on the bomb, as if this was a silver slugger award, an MVB (most valuable Bopper), rather than an MVP. This same brace of clowns were until a a week ago were all hot on Ortiz being the MVP, even though the last time I checked he doesn't even play the game of baseball, he just bops--not only does he do nothing but play offense, he doesn't hit for average, can't run the bases etc. All of this leads me to specualte that a widespread disrespect for the non-power game among postion players might translate into a similar phenomenon among pitchers. Given a choice among relatively accomplished pitchers, today's scribes will go for the one that strikes out alot of people. And that clearly is not Wang. In all of this I am not arguing that Wang should win the Cy Young or even that he should be ranked ahead of Papelbon, who also isn't getting alot of discussion owing to the same anti-reliever bias that has cost Mo his chances. But Wang, like Papelbo, should be in the discussion, before Halladay, before Loriano, certainly before Fat Man Bleeding, and before Verlander.


One other thing. If you look at the box score today you will notice that a recently frequent phenomenon occurred yet again. Jeter had a mutiple hit game and was accompanied in theis feat by Robby Cano. so here's my admonition. Slow Joe must find a way of batting these guys next to one anothe rto maximize the value of their production. Cano might bat third with Abreu 4th and Giambi 5th for example, especially since we all agree that AROD should be banished from the heart of the order, a consensus validated once again by his performance at the plate today. If Damon was backed up by Jeter, Cano and Abreu, I think we'd see more runs.

Everybody Wang-chung Tonight

As we watch the nightcap, we will be able to rest easy knowing that the Yankees do indeed have an ace at the top of their rotation and by good fortune he happens to be the youngest hurler in it. Not only did Wang tie Halladay for the major league lead in wins today, moving his record to 16-5, he did exactly what you need your stopper, and make no mistake he is the stopper, of your staff to do. Coming off a bad road trip, in which the game he started was the only convincing win they had, in which a badly overworked and somewhat overrated bullpen began to implode, in which they had long strings of uninspired plate appearances, Wang pitched shutout baseball for 7 2/3, with almost no run support, his back to the wall, throughout, and spared Proctor form serious work, the rest of the bullpen from any work, and allowed Mo a routine 1 inning save.

Being a stopper for a contending team is more difficult and nore praiseworthy than being a stopper, a la Halladay, for an also-ran. Once the losing streaks stop meaning anything who really cares if they are stopped. Stopping for the Jays is a low pressure assignment. Wtih that in mind, on wonders why Wang and not Halladay is not invoked as Johan Santana's main competition for the Cy young (now that injuries have stalled Loriano's chances). I have just listened to 3 of ESPN's prime wankers argue of whether Jeter should be running strong in the MVP race, and 2 of them agreed he was only ahead because of the pinstripe effect or the NY effect or both. If that is the case, why doesn't Wang benefit from the NY context, at least to the point he gets the recognition he deserves?

The Jeter gas er gabfest may hold the answer. The 2 idiots who dismissed Jeter as a viable candidate for MVP kept repeating the phrase, he only has 12 homers, 12 homers, only 12 homers, with increasing incredulity, and were completely undeterred in their descent into silliness by the observation that he would have over 100 RBI's out of the 2 hole, let alone the 34o0 BA, the 200+ hits, the 415 OBP, the 26 steals, or another fine fielding season at a key position. The point is they were fixated on the bomb, as if this was a silver slugger award, an MVB (most valuable Bopper), rather than an MVP. This same brace of clowns were until a a week ago were all hot on Ortiz being the MVP, even though the last time I checked he doesn't even play the game of baseball, he just bops--not only does he do nothing but play offense, he doesn't hit for average, can't run the bases etc. All of this leads me to specualte that a widespread disrespect for the non-power game among postion players might translate into a similar phenomenon among pitchers. Given a choice among relatively accomplished pitchers, today's scribes will go for the one that strikes out alot of people. And that clearly is not Wang. In all of this I am not arguing that Wang should win the Cy Young or even that he should be ranked ahead of Papelbon, who also isn't getting alot of discussion owing to the same anti-reliever bias that has cost Mo his chances. But Wang, like Papelbo, should be in the discussion, before Halladay, before Loriano, certainly before Fat Man Bleeding, and before Verlander.


One other thing. If you look at the box score today you will notice that a recently frequent phenomenon occurred yet again. Jeter had a mutiple hit game and was accompanied in theis feat by Robby Cano. so here's my admonition. Slow Joe must find a way of batting these guys next to one anothe rto maximize the value of their production. Cano might bat third with Abreu 4th and Giambi 5th for example, especially since we all agree that AROD should be banished from the heart of the order, a consensus validated once again by his performance at the plate today. If Damon was backed up by Jeter, Cano and Abreu, I think we'd see more runs.

What to do With AROD?

Just a suggestion. Every time he comes to the plate with men on base, hit and run, giving him explicit instructions to go with the pitch. Let management decide when he swings and what his approach is to be. Do not let him make any decision (pitch selection, approach etc.) independently. He has only one mandate, to amke contact and to make contact on the pitch we say. Shut his mind down as far as possible, and prevent him, as far as is possible, from trying to slug his way out of this mess. All of this should probably occur, as BGW argues, somewhere down the bottom of the order. Here's how I might try to set things up right now

Damon
Jeter
Abreu
Giambi
Cano
Cabrera
Posada
Williams
AROD

If you are going to put him at the bottom of the order temporarily, why not reduce his number of at bats as far as possible (he doesn't make productive outs anyway), while taking advantage of his speed, should he manage to get on, as a wraparound guy.

How Can they Be So Bad?

When I worried aloud a few days back that the Yankees could easily blow the lead they had built up with their ragged bullpen, bad at bats and free in season vaction for Mussina, I simply failed to grasp how terrible Boston had suddenly become, or rather how terrible Boston became in response to the massacre. Even though that series occurred early enough for them to climb back into the race, they acted as if they were dead and so they seem to be. Before Sunday's games, the yankees were 1-4 on thier trip, with a minor leaguer starting the last game of the west coast swing. Had Boston been able to go 4-1 to that point in their swing (not unreasonable when three of the games were against Seattle) they would have looked likely to pick up 3 of the 5 they lost jusat like that and been back in the hunt. Down 5-0 in the fifth against OAK., it looks like they will now drop 8 games in the loss column to the Yanks, which means if the Yanks play just 500 ball the rest of the way, The sox will have to go 23-8 just to tie things. The key game was saturday night. With the Yanks losing in ther afternoon, the Sox had a 3-2 lead late to cut the lead to 4 1/2. But they let Seattle grind on them the way they have typically ground on other teams, and they lost. Now Manny seems to have gone fishing, Lester is hurt, cutting down their rotation further, and even Ortiz is out of the line-up tonight, in what seems a concessionary move by Francona, who by trhe way was heard cursing Manny's decision not to play again. Wasn't it morning in RedSox nation just a couple of weeks ago, with Ortiz as MVP, Manny as beloved teammate and hitting titan, the young arms looking to October and power pitching? How did they come to lose not only their swagger but their intensity, their interest and their cohesiveness so abruptly? Theo has taken alot of het for not making deadline moves and (here) for complaining his resources were econd to one, but an utter implosion such as the Sox seem to going through speaks to the character of the present team as much as the injuries they've suffered or the additions they let pass. After losing 6 in a row, including the massacre, they have now lost three going on four in a row, 10 of their last 12, and lately they have been scoring so little, getting so few hits, that it seems like they really don't care. I have to say, as upset as I cqan get with the Yankees, who are pretty awful themselves right now, if I were a chowderhead, I'd be going ballistic over this mess.

Well Now it's 8-5

and the moron has succeeded in his master plan to blow the game. Tied 5-5 and you bring in who? Bruney, to be replaced by Dotel, who we can all agree is either not ready yet or already done, and now Myers. I mean this is not even trying.

Down 6-5 (again)

at the moment, and I would just note that AROD is 0 for his last 10, during which streak he has fanned, are you ready, seven times. I think they, along with every one esle , were counting their chickens too soon after the boston series. They should never have sat Mussina past the first game and they should have used their bullpen in the 6-5 loss to Seattle and again last night. My real fear is having dodged the short term repeat of 2004, by completing the massacre, they repeat it over the long term, by giving away the lead.

Torre Throws Another One Away

Early in the season, I remarked that Joe Bumbles costs the Yankees at least 5 games a year as a field tactician. He may now be over his quota this year. Tonight, the Yanks come back to take a 5-4 lead and even though Scott Procter is, as I said a week ago, a 1 inning pitcher at this point, even though he rarely protects a single run lead in his second inning of work, slow Joe insists on sending him out there to give up the tying run, which he accordingly does. The witrh the game tied in the top of the ninth, Posada works a walk, and instead of letting Nick Grene pinch-hit fdor Craig Wilson nd lay down a bunt, he has grene pinch run. Of course Wilson doesn't get the bunt down (is this a surprise) on his first attempt and slow Joe sends not all that fast Grene on a steal, which fails and the Yankees are basically out of the inning. The once Anderson doubles off Meyers (he doesn't get anyone out but Ortiz), Torre brings in Dotel, against whom batters are currently hitting 417 (500 for lefties) which has to be the worst such stat in the majors. If you really can't afford to give up a hit, don't bring it Dotel. Well he immediately gives up a single, which moves the runner to third, and after inducing a pop-up, gives up the sacrifice fly that loses the game (Angels batters hitting .500 against Dotel). Mop didn't pitch the entire Mariners series. Why couldn't he have come in inthe 9th to face the middle of the Angels order? You can always bring in someone else next inning. Perhaps since the top of the order was coming up, they'd be protecting a lead against the bottom of the Angels' order. Mo can be the crucial piece in the late innings without necessarily being the one who saves the game. When failing to show imagination is tantamount to giving up (and that's what the Dotel move was), then it is your responsibility as a manager to do something unorthodox. Status Quo Joe's constitutional inability throw the book away when need be is just one reason he's the worst manager this side of Squidward Tenatacles..err Terry Francona.

Bu any day Curt (Porkpie)Schilling gets rocked by a bad team is a day worth living.

No Rest

All of a sudden, the Yankees are facing another huge series. This is partly their own fault (you can't lose 2 out 0f 3 to Seattle under any circumstances), partly Momma Joe's fault (Mussina should have missed one start not three), and partly the Angels fault (how can a good tema lose 2 consecutive games to a Boston without Manny Ramirez?). But whatever the cause, the Yanks now confront the demons of their own horrible fortunes against LA, while Boston meets a weak Mariners team the Yankees should have had their way with. It seems quite likely that at least one more game of the lead will be sacrificed. And that will be okay. But it is important that no more is trimmed than that. Boston faces Oakland at the end of a long Western swing after that and the Yanks get to go home. The ship could and should be righted at that point. But breaktime is over.

Here's Some Good News

beyond the fact that the Yankees continue to play hard, focussed baseball in the wake of the Boston Massacre. Joe Torre announced today that when Matsui returns, which is seeming more and more likely, he will be slotted in as a DH. This means that Melky continue in left (Wheew!) and Craig Wilson, who as Munson notes, has looked weak on outside breaking pitches, will have to grab some bench.

So, You Say You Want a Rivalry

In light of Theo Epstein's comments about lacking the "resources" to compete effectively with the Yankees, it seems to me that while the Yanks-Sox blood feud is long, a rivalry, which implies a certain degree of parity, has only recently come into existence and may as yet be more myth than fact.

The first and only rule of a rivalry with the Yankees is there's no rebuilding; you have to bring it every year. The Yankees is the only franchise in baseball that has historically put that kind of pressure on its various competitors. That relentless win every year philosophy is what is distinctive about the Yankees. If you are unwilling to meet them on that ground then you are not really engaged in a rivalry with the Yankees in their most essential being. Theo's recent lament suggests to me that he is feeling the pressure of the annual grind the Yankees rivalry demands. His well-publicized plan--to make certain the Sox win 90-95 games ayear, which would keep them in the race deep into the season, keep fenway full, and ultimately keep them on the bubble for the division, which they've still yet to win, and the wild card, which they generally do--is not a plan that will sustain a satisfactory rivalry with the Yankees. It has down years, when 90-95 games isn't enough to make the playoffs, built right into it. For the Yankees, there are no planned down years, no concession ahead of time to the inevitability of occasional failure.
You want a rivalry, well this is what it costs, in terms of money, labor and committment, to be like the Yankees.

If 2004 changed the Yankees Red Sox feud into a prospective rivalry, it also changed the psychic landscape of Chowderhead nation: instead of their baseball dream centering on "just one championship before I die," a dream defined by Red Sox history, their dream now involves the incessant pursuit of a team, NY, incessantly in pursuit of perfection, a dream informed by Yankees history. And now the chowderheads are feeling their losses not as pathetic but as embittering. Red Sox fans never knew what it meant to live and die with a team because they were always just dying and knowing in advance they would do so, like the chorus in a tragedy. They knew resignation, but not anxiety; they knew sorrow but not disappointment. They never really got the taste for competition because they expected to lose in the end. You wanted a rivalry, well this is what it is, psychically and emotionally, to be a Yankees fan.

And for all of chowderheadnation, from the front office to the fans, you damn well better like that competitive edginess, you better be able to find your joy in that competitve edginess, because it never fucking ends. A World Series victory is nothing more than a prelude to the next World Series chase. 2004 is now as dead as 1998, as 1962, as 1936, as 1927. You want a rivalry, a Yankees rivalry, for real?
I didn't think so.

When the Levees Broke

They Had No Place to Stay.

I haven't talked much about more "serious" issues on this blog, partly because there is very little I take as seriously as baseball. But if you get the chance I would urge you to set aside the time to watch Spike Lee's new 2 part, 4 hour HBO movie on the Katrina disaster, When the Levees Broke. As a former New Orleans resident, I can state confidently that he did a marvelous job of capturing the unique sensiibilty of that now endangered city and a no less marvelous job of skewering the government agencies and insurance companies that have helped to endanger it. It's the best work I've seen out of Spike since Do the Right Thing.

It's the Same Old Song

Asked to explain the Red Sox historic collapse against the Yanks last week, Theo Epstein claimed that they just don't have the resources to compete with the Yankees for players like Bobby Abreu. Oh Really? The Red Sox 146 million dollar payroll is not only the 2nd largest in baseball; it's much larger than the Yankees payroll 2 years agao, which was greated throughout baseball as an example of wretched excess. It is almost as much in excess of the Mets current payroll as the Yankees is in excess of the Sox. And the Mets are not only more than competitive with the Red Sox; they are quite competitive with the Yankees. The Red Sox payroll dwarfs the Tigers payroll and Detroit remains the best team in baseball. The Red Sox problem is not a lack of John Henry's money, it is a lack of acumen in evaluating talent and its relative value. Lucchino and boy-Epstein overvalued Crisp and Pena, undervalued Arroyo, undervalued Damon, and yes undervalued Abreu and Lidle, whom they could have had for the right price. To blame their errors on their poverty, when they fill the stadium every night, have an incredible television deal, merchandise like nobody's business throughout New England, well it's the kind of thing you expect to hear from an organization that had to wait 86 years for a championship--and looks to be waiting quite a while for another one.

It's the same old song for AROD as well. It's not that he doesn't produce; it's not even that he doesn't produce when it matters; it's that he doesn't produce when it matters most. Last night his 2-run bomb in the fifth to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead was important as well as majestic. But once they lost that lead he couldn't make that home run really meaningful by delivering in the late innings. Even after the Yanks lost the lead the game was setting up well for them. They had the top of the order up in the ninth and if they could push through a run, a relatively well-rested Mo could take them home. Jeter did his part (of course) with a single to right and the gritty Mr. Gueil wangled a walk, bringing AROD up with 2 outs and a runner in scoring position. AROd not only fails to drive in the run (okay baseball is a game of failure), he doesn't even make contact--he strikes out without even fouling one off, against a relief pitcher with an ERA near 5.00. And suddenly the homer in the fifth just shrinks before the spectacle of AROD succombing once again to the pressure of a decisive, as opposed to just meaningful, situation.

Karstens looked pretty good though. just one out shy of a quality start. He definitely gave the yanks a chance to win, and with a better rested bullpen, he would have earned one himself.

The Antidote

Mike Meyers has struck out Ortiz 6 consecutive times. Wow! he's the anti-Heredia. He occupies the narrowest niche in the history of major league pitching--he's really on the team to get one guy out. And yet it's no small role. The antidote to Poopie.

Poopie's girth, by the way, is twice the size it was in Minnesota and his head has grown right along to Bondsian proportions. I'm not saying he uses HGH, but--okay yeah that's exactly what I'm saying.

Slow Joe's been coming in for some love on the blog lately, for playing small ball in the 8th on Monday, for playing and sticking with the reserves. I'm going to add one more kudo even before I know how it comes out. So long as Mussina was going to miss a turn anyway (there's nothing wrong with his groin, I know, it's momma Joe being Momma Joe, but frankly I think his arm could use the rest), I think it's smart to push Wright back and start the rook tonight. Not just because the Angels pose a much sterner test than the Mariners, but because after a draining 5 game wallopalooza, you need something to juice the subsequent game, and having an unproven kid pitch means that for at least one player on the field, this is a really big game, the biggest of his life. The other players can feed on that anticipation, uncertainty, and hope. Maybe this is the guy to replace Ponson as a spot starter and supplement the kiddie core of Cano, Melky and Wang. The antidote to dog day drag out.

The Captain Speaks

Interviewed immendiately following the sweep, Derek Jeter said characteristically, "But you know, we've still got a long way to go," a version of his classic, "if we don't win tommorow, today's victory won't mean anything." I don't know what AROD had to say. Probably something along the lines of "I'm ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille."

It's a Dark Day in Bristol (when they see the BOSOX Stomped)

How can ESPN be expected cover baseball now? Who will replace Skip Bayless now that he's jumped off a ledge inscribed Exiting Fenway? How can Krukkie be expected keep the appetite necessary to chow down those 4000 calorie meals in homage to Curt (250 pounds and a) Schilling? What will Steve Phillips do now that Red Sox nation, the capital (as Z says) of ressentiment, is too broken to assuage his own ressentiment for never beating the Yankees as the Mets GM? What is left of Karl Ravech's hope to nationalize a franchise whose century-long proclivity for self-inflicted trauma made it one of the great New England Puritan/Irish Catholic, and thus provincial, phenomena in the history of sport?

Is this massacre as meaningful as the 2004 ALCS? No, because that was for an American League pennant, not the division. Pennants are meaningful; division championships exist largely to juice playoff revenues. But in a way the achievement is more remarkable. It involved 5 consecutive wins, not 4. All five wins came in the other guys park (and the Sox have been money in Fenway), instead of only 2 wins coming away. In 2004, both teams needed each and every game the Sox won; in this series, the Yanks stopped needing to win about three games ago, when the Sox started really needing to win. And yet the Yanks kept prevailing. In completing the sweep, moreover, the yankees also won the season series in August, something that just doesn't happen between these 2 anymore.

On the last point, the Yankees are now up not 6 1/2, 7 in the loss column, but 7 1/2, 8 in the loss column. Because there are no half games in the final standings, the Sox now have to finish a game ahead of the Yanks to win the division.

As for the game itself, everybody was pretty clearly exhausted, so while Lidle and Wells both pitched strong games, it was hard to tell whether their stuff was commanding or their adveraries too enervated to compete effectively. Under these conditions I actually thought slow Joe was right (for once) to sit so many of the regulars. Tired starters may not do any better than rested if clearly inferior subs, and there is another game in Seattle tomorrow night. In the midst of the slog, I thought it was to be expected that Jeter would hit the ball, Abreu would hit the ball, Cano would hit the ball and Melky would hit the ball. AROD, with a chance to break things open in the 4th, fast runners on 1b and 2b, nobody out, did what AROD does best, he drove the first pitch, which was a ball, right into the ground for a rally killing DP (his 19th of the season, highest in his career). The Yankees finally won this one because more of their gamers ground it out than Boston's, under conditions whose difficuly had to be worse for the visiting team. That they were able to overcome the obstacle posed by their greatest "star" is that much more impressive.

And thank God, Torre let them grind. When the unlikely Nick Green got the double off a tiring David Wells, (a little less) slow Joe actually had Melky bunt him over to third to get the insurance run (which turned out the winning run). Small ball at just the right time. Has the Joemeister been reading our blog?

It

I'd Like TO Mark This Auspicious Occasion

by conceding to Chris and BGW that AROd's performance last night justified all of the skepticism with which they greeted my recently optimistic and evidently naive comments about his progress toward the exalted state known as being a Yankee. He had 2 of the worst at bats I've seen from him or any other legitimate hitting star: the pop out with one out and runners at the corners, with the Yanks down 4-3, and the strikeout in the 10th after the Giambi homerun and before Cano Got on for Posada to finish things. On the second one he didn't even looking like a big league hitter looking to drive the ball; he looked like a baseball model looking to make sure that the finish of his swing showed off the latest uniform fashion to best effect. He is just too often a handicap to be shouldered and shrugged off rather than a contributor to let alone an engine of success. And for all those pundits, who continue, in BGW's words to treat Yankee fans as besotted rabble for loving Jeter and loathing AROD, ask yourslef this question: bottom of the ninth, down 5-4, two outs, runner on third, Jonathan Papelbon and his 089 ERA throwing 99 MPH cheese at the top of the zone, well, what would AROD do? Muscle one into right to drive in the tying run and continue the massacre? Yeah, right.

I'm going to go watch the finale now, but before going I want to take notice amidst all of the heroism in last night's game (including the monstrous effort of Giambi, whi just out Poppi'd Poppi) of one of the truly great AB's without which we might well not be celebrating a victory. The only person to hit Papelbon's splitter was not G on the sac fly, not Jeter on the game tying hit--they both got fasballs--it was fucking Melky Cabrera on the double to lead-off the ninth inning, which was just raked. I love this kid, who is already more of a "true Yankee" than AROD is. He plays with joy, he plays clutch, he plays beyond himself at key moments. Look at Jeter at 21, in 1995, look at Melky now. That's all I'm saying.

It Couldn't Get Any Sweeter

than to nail the porky Messiah, with his bloody sock stigmata, to the cross tomorrow. It would go a long way toward sending Boston off to cry in their chowder and talk about next year.

But the Yanks are going to have to be smart enough to alter their strategy at the plate. Schilling does know enough to throw strikes early in the count and if you try and be patient with him, you can find yourself having to hit the splitter behind in the count. You have to take strike one away from him. The more lefties the better--better batting avg. (by 13 pts.), better on obp (roughly the same), better slugging %. All in all 35 pt. better OPS. If I were filling out the line-up card, I'd seriously consider DHing Aaron Guil and risking Giambi at first.

What We've Learned So Far

1. The addition of Abreu and hitting 5th behind Giambi combine to make AROD better. Team chemistry can be as much a matter of functional interaction as anything else, and in this regard, chaos theory would seem to apply:infintesmimal changes can have mediated but for that very reason profound effects on larger systems. In this case putting two more 400obp guys in front of AROD creates a critical mass of likely baserunners for him to deliver. It seems that somebody is always on and run-production is always possible. As a result, AROD doesn't have to be as anxious if he doesn't bring someone home on any given occasion. He doesn't have to worry that he's missed his chance. Heis therefor less likely to let a bad at bat--witness the DP he hit into in the 1st--take him out of his game altogether. Owing to the effect on AROD's psyche, more men on more consistently means that he will drive in a higher percentage of them. The effect on the overall Yankee offense is quantum, particularly with Cano staying hot behind him. That's 2 line-up changes (Giambi to 4 and Cano to 6) repeatedly called for by various people on this blog which, finally undertaken by Torre, have had a major positive impact on the offense.

2. The youth movement in BOSOX pitching is as overrated a phenomenon as the South American football at the World Cup. Delcarmen is really bad, perhaps as a result of off-season surgery; Hansen is even worse with less excuse; the American League seems to havew figured out Jon Lester (wait on him, he'll fall behind); and as for Josh Beckett, my favorite smug-faced object of shadenfreud, I think it fair to say the Red Sox now wish he had developed those chronic blisters and gone on the DL (they let him throw 123 pitches today, maybe they're trying to push him there). In sum, the Papelbon stands alone, at least for now. And while many blame the untimely injury to Varitek (look! the fans of Hideki and Sheff are playing the world's most sardonic violin), the truth is everyone of these guys either floundered (delcarmen, hansen) or had begun to flounder(Beckett, Lester) when Varitek was still bringing his 240 batting average to the park everyday. All of the young guns may be good in the future (though I think we know what Beckett is after 5 full seasons), like Bonderman, Robertson, Maroth and Verlander in Detroit. But the myth of the ChowderYouth was that they were so good Boston could win with them now and later, avoiding the rebuilding period that lesser teams (i.e. all teams not the Yankees) need to go through.

Indeed, it has been the contention of the Epstein years that the Red Sox are in a performance sense the Yankees (while retaining of course the moral superiority that only perpetual losing can bring). But having not won the division since I don't know when, more than 15 years?, having not manageds to get past the first round of the playoffs in their championship defense, should the Bosox fail to reach the playoffs this year, they will have not only attested incontrovertibly to the fact that they are not the Yankees in any sense, but will have given string indication that 2004 was, dare we say it, a fluke. We are not there yet by long chalks, but it is what's at stake for the Sox in the remainder of this campaign.

3. A pitcher doesn't reach the Hall of Fame without calling at different points in his career on a considerable reserve of intestinal fortitude. And he never needs that fortitude quite as much as when he is nearly done. Randy Johnson is nearly done; he can't even strike people a=out anymore and he gives up homers at an alarming rate for an ace. But what separates him from Sidney Ponson is his tenacity. To go out after he stunk the joint out in the fourth inning and essentially shut down an offensive powrerhouse for another three innings was really impressive, not just as a matter of athletics but as amatter of character.

4. In the second game last night Melky Cabrera reached base all 5 times he came to the plate (3-3, 2 walks). He must be the best no. 9 hitter in baseball. He may be the best 21 yr. old hitter in baseball. If Hideki comes back, he must DH or Melky must DH, but you can't take him out of the line-up. Which means the W&W boys (M&M upside down, isn't that fitting) will have to get their backsides used to the texture of pine in the autumn: it feels like victory to me.

5. What David Ortiz is to late inning executions, Johnny Damon is to revenge killings.

Nostalgia

In 1976, the Yankees won their first pennant in my memory, but steeped since the age 3 in the glories of the world's one unsinkable, unexceptionable empire, I said to my father, "the natural order has been restored." I wouldn't render such a judgement now, but I have the same feeling anyway as I did in the late seventies and evidently I'm not alone. Peter Gammons has sufficienly recovered fron his brain aneurism to attend Fenway today, but with the post traumatic effects and the state of play, he thought it was 1978, Bernie was Reggie, Fasano was Munson, and the "massacre" was on.

I know, I know. We're not there yet. We have to get at least one more win to achieve massacre status. But at this point the Yankees have gotten more than they needed, and the Sox failed to get what they had to have out of a five gamer in their well-defended house-- a series win. Because of their lead going in, the Yankees would only suffer a disaster if they were swept--otherwise the worst they could do is leave down 1 in the loss column with the easier schedule the rest of the way. for the Sox, losing 4 is a disaster, because they would leave down 5 in the loss column with the tougher schedule the rest of the way. Even the best they can now do, leave down 3 in the loss column puts them in a difficult position, but one they can still battle back from.

Before the series both Torre and Jeter indicated that it was somewhat overplayed, that it mattered more how they both play against the rest of the league. That is true of course, but there is even in statistical terms a surplus value to the head to head. The Yanks now lead the series 8-5. If they can win just two games out of the remaining 6 they win the season series and in the division race, that is as good as a whole other game. So if for example the Yankees won that 10th game to take a 4 game lead, they would in reality have a 5 game lead since the tie is theirs. I disagree with the 76% of those polled on espn.com, who said the Sox are already done, but if the Yanks win 1 of the next 2, they will have definitely pushed chowdernation to the precipice. And the natural order will be restored.

So Far This Series

the Sox have out-Yankee'd the Yankees. They've set records for LOBs, they've fielded poorly, especially for them, and their bullpen's as shaky as Sean Hannity's grasp on reality. The Yankees were able to overcome their own fielding woes in the night cap, largely because a)they put their home run swings in storage and looked for contact with men on and b) they got surprisinglyt good performances out of their own relievers.

Today the approach should be dictated entirely by what the starters do. They are the only meaningful players on the field who are not dragged out at this point. If Johnson outpitches Beckett, then I think you move heaven and earth to win this game, because this is the last potential mismatch you have on the mound. Mo for 2 innings if necessary; Fahrnsworth for sure, whatever Momma Joe's delicacy about bumps and bruises.

The Yanks are playing Williams in center--it turns out Torre is Bernie's bitch--and Giambi at first. I guess the thinking, and I use that term in the loosest possible sense, is that Johnson doesn't need good defense the way Wang does. But since Williams doesn't typically hit hard throwing righties very well, this move has to be written off as another one of Joda's follies. Boston is not starting Crisp, a huge concession to the disappointment he's become, nor Gonzalez, so they are weaker defensively as well. Javy Lopez is batting 5th, which is the worst protection Manny's received all year. Manny himself is not all that good against left-handed pitching for some reason, so maybe Francona doesn't much care if we pitch araound him.

The Yankees have already done what they absolutely needed to do in this series, and perhaps all they could be expected to do in Fenway, win 2. Best of all, when the night was done, Derek Jeter proclaimed, "this won't mean anything if we don't continue to play well." But at least now they are playing with house money.

Even this Game

was won in the field. I know the Yankees scored 12 on monster games from Damon and Abreu, solid games from Jeter, Giambi and AROD and a key contribution from Cano. But the turning points in this game featured Yankee gloves. BGW noted beforehand that Wang had to keep his pitch count down if the Yanks were to prevail. And he did. But this wasn't a particularly masterful effort by the sinkerballer, who allowed too many extra base hits and too many fly balls. Still he battled, he didn't dissolve as he has in the past at Fenway. And that is because on those occasions when he did get rattled and looked to go south, his defense picked him up. One such occasion was when Melky misplayed the monster and allowed a double out of what shopuld have been a long fly out. You could see Wang sag after that one, and the next batter ripped the ball between third and short, where AROD, credit where credit is due, made a wonderful diving catch. When he has no time to think, he can be something. The other play came in the inning after Manny rattled Wang with the homer down the RF line. In a big jam and clinging to a 4-2 lead with men on 2nd and 3rd, Wang allowed a screaming line-fly into the gap in left-center. Damon's running, sliding catch preserved one run and the lead and Wang fought his way through the inning.

There was so much to like about this game: the patient, situational hiting--setting aside AROD's first at bat , which was awful. AROD refusing to collapse after a bad early start to the game. He came back and contributed. Damon finally looking comfortable taking it to the Sox in Boston, finally, it seemed, relishing the chowderhead's hatred. Abreu cominng into the rivalry where so many have floundered, even in the midst of good years, and putting up a game to remember in his first outing.

If there was one person who didn't have a particularly good game (what else is new), it was the butt of my blog, slow Joe. and he really was slow Joe today, refusing to let his team run in the early innings to capitalize on the one chink in the Sox defensive armor. Before today, no runner attempting to steal on Jason Johnson this season, whether with the Indians or the Sox, has ever been thrown out. Coming into this game, Javy Lopez had thrown out 4 of 28 runners trying to steal on him--he was 0-2 today, so now he's 4 for 30, down around 12% or so. Damon, Jeter, Abreu, AROD and Cano can all steal bases and yet repeated ly in running situations, here Johnson's slow delivery opened the door, noone was sent through it. One such circumstance was really obvious. Arod was on with a single, noone out, Abreu had the inning before exposed the haplessness of the Sox battery, and the score was 1-0 Yanks. If Arod runs he swipes easily and the bouncer Cano hit would be a productive out, sending AROD to third with 1 down. and Posada did hit a relatively deep fly ball. Instead Cano's grounder was a close DP, taking the Yankees out of the inning with the Sox power guys up next. In a close game, slow Joe's failure to pull the trigger, as we were all screaming for him to do at the time, could have been decisive.

The other stupid thing Joe did was after establishing that they were not going to pitch to Manny (who sports a lifetime 667 avg, against Wang), they did so anyway with 2 out and nonne on, up 4-1. Manny of course hits one out and there is a world of difference between a 4-1 and 4-2 lead in the middle innings. Jeez, go with the plan and make Youkillis beat you. He hadn't shown any sign of figuring Wang out to that point. Plus he's got to go extra bases in center or right--not likely for him--to get Manny home.

But for now, it's all good. The very worst the Yankees can do at this point is walk away from this Fenway gauntlet down 1 in the loss column. But one more out of the next 4, or out of the last 3 anyway, seems not improbable. If you had told n=me going in they were only going to get 3 or 4 off Johnson, I would have predicted we'd be in more trouble than we turned out to be. What's more, the bullpen advantage the Sox enjoyed, as a result of their day off and Joe Bumble's mismangement, has now all but been erased. They are down to 3 rested--Hansen, timlin and Papelbon--and the Yankees are down to 2 rested, Fahrnsworth and Rivera, and one available, Villon.

If the Yankees are going to win tonight, and I don't think they are, they will not only need a decent outing from Ponson (very unlikely), they will need to be extremely patient with Lester (more doable). He's been throwing alot of pitches early against teams less disciplined than the Yankees. Even if the Sox are to win this game, you want to see them blow their bullpen wad to do so. You want them, at the least, to require 4+ innings from their remaining troika. there's three more games and the Yankees offensive strategy is always to force you into your pen. It would be a great help if the cupboard were bare.

One Question Before We Start

As the game gets underway, I have a query. given that both Ortiz and Ramirez are so much weaker against lefties, given the attendant iportance of having lefties fresh in the bullpen, why did Joe Bumbles let Villone and Meyers pitch 2 plus innings in a lost cause yesterday? Why not just put the new guy (Lidle's temp) out there and let him pitch until the game ends--12-2, 20-2, 25-2 who cares?

Simple

The Yankees have to win the first game of the doubleheader tomorrow. For one thing, everybody in the league has hit Jason Johnson, including the Yanks. For another everybody in the league can and will hit Ponson, including the Sox. The Yankees will not be winning the nightcap tomorrow. but if they can win the opener, they only need one of the remaining 3 games to come through the series retaining their lead and in good shape (after this series, the Sox have less home games than road games and less home games than the Yankees). Johnson's pitching better than Beckett these days and he has usually been good against Boston; Mussina/Schilling is a pick em game, and Wells and Lidle are about equally vulnerable (though I'd give Lidle a slight advantage). I think the odds are with the Yanks to get 2 out of 5 if they win the opener and 3 out of 5 is certainly feasible. I don't like the momentum if they lose though, becasue a sweep of the doubleheader will put Boston in first and give them the confidence to win four of 5 and leave the series 1 up in the loss column. Losing 4 of 5 will also put the Yankees in bad shape in the wild card. Of course all of this is predicated on the Yankees returning to form after this lost series with the O's. If they play like they did these last 2 games, they'll be swept and the season will be all but over.

What Kills Me

is the complacency. After a truly inexcusable loss against a bad team and a bad pitcher, The yankees were full of self-satisfaction last night. Torre talked about how much he liked where the team was. Damon spoke of how well they played and how they'd been unlucky. No, I'm sorry, you should be pissed off at losing such a game. that way you come out playing harder adn hopefully better the next day. Now they are in the midst of getting blown out by the O's and losing a home series to this bullshit team--and right before going to Fenway. at the very moment they seem so damn happy with themselves, and in part because of their happiness, their season is in real jeopardy. We all know Joda is not much of a field tactician, but it is in this regard we can see his rep as a leader, motivator and all-around wise man is similarly overblown. When the Tigers lost a get-awy game early this season, showing little effort o concentration, Leyland let them know in no uns=certain terms that professionals don't play that way, ever. Joda thinks his veterans are above such reprimands, and maybe they are, but that only means he has to find other means of communicating the same basic point. No loss is satisfactory; no bad loss is the least bit acceptable. The only appropriate response to a bad loss is renewed determination that it damn well won't happen again. we can call this the "What would Paulie think, what would Paulie say, what would Paulie do" rule. One invokes it once the Jeter doctrine--no win matters if you lose the next day--has been seriously breached.

Ten strikeouts against one of the league's very worst pitchers; two errors (AROD's making errors at such a clip, they have to charge his to Jeter), and numerous free passes issued by Jared Wright (at one point he walked them around the bases and then threw a wild pitch to give up another one). A spectacularly ugly effort over 2 days that let's Boston right back in without them doing anything in particular.

Not All Losses Are Created Equal

and this one really sucked. When you get a quality start form the back of your rotation, against a bad team whose starter has an era over 6, you just have to win. The tying run was in scoring position in 3 consecutive innings (6-8) and in the last of those there was nobody out, and still they couldn't score. Every time I forget how flawed this team is, and how correspondingly fragile their success, they pull one of these and remind me.

When you are in the middle of a pennant race against a team you are going to be playing 5 times at their house in the next week, you have got to make sure you win everything beforehand, and that means putting your best team on the field. Giambi should be starting, whether at first or Dh, in every game for the remainder of the season. There is simply no reason to do otherwise. If you think Damon needs a rest or you want to get Bernie's right-handed bat in the line-up, then sit Craig Wilson. He was a role player in Pittsburgh, perhaps the worst team in baseball, his starting position can't be sacrosanct in NY. Losing by one run, you have to wonder, what might have happened in those missing Giambi at-bats. The guy leads the team in homers, RBIs, and on base %, how can you not play him in an important game? As a DH, he doesn't need the rest. I know it was a lefthander and all, but Giambi suffers no particular disadvantage against lefties. When you have already decided to play Fasano, a necessary move, I agree, despite his 167 BA, you can't dilute the line-up any further. I mean I know Baltimore is bad and all, but you've yet to sweep them this year. At least give it your best shot. Now tomorrow is more or less must-win. you don't want to go into Boston up only 2 in the loss column. A sweep would have allowed the Yanks to go in up 4 in the loss column and really would have put the pressure on them. (You, you, you: looking back on this paragraph, I realize I have not mentioned Joe-Bumbles once. Either I am consigning him to the nonentity status he richly deserves or I am imitating George failing to remember his name.)

Note: Jeter has an ungodly high BA and OBP against lefties this season, but this is the second straight o-for he's had against the unimpressive Mr. Lowethn and, not coincidentally, the second straight time the Yankees have lost to him (I think he only has 3 wins overall). With their line-up, Jeter just has to hit lefties if they are to beat them.

Mooose?

In his report from the Stadium, Bgw noted, not for the first time this year, how happy he has been with Mussina for refusing to sulk and swoon, as he has in the past, when he is the recipient of bad luck, bad calls, or bad play behind him. I agree completely. But I would myself note (not for the first time) that he is compensating for his new found self-restraint in the aftergame interviews. Check out yankees.com for last night's veiled blasting of AROD for his continued inability to field when Moose is on the mound (7 errors so far) and the team at large for not getting any runs until after he left the game. While Moose's complaints are masked they are unmistakable and pretty strong. I have to say, AROD to one side, he's not really coming off as a team guy.

Bern, Baby, Bern

Evidently Bernie is burned up about his lack of playing time since the Abreu and Wilson deal. Ove the past three years, he said, it seems the Yanks are always looking for a solution that doesn''t involve him. Maybe that's because his fielding, his throwing, and his weakness from the left side are so much a part of the problem they sometimes seem like the problem itself. Now he has asked Torre to clarify his role and sentimental Joe asked for time to get the lay of the land. What lay of the land? Come on, now's the time to be Walkaway Joe. You're not going to play him instead of any one of your starting OFs, all of whom are better than him in every single phase of the game. Craig wilson is currently hitting 295 and spares you Giambi's defense, so you're not going to play Williaams instead of him with any regularity. Certainly giambi must be in there every night: he's probably the single most valuable bat in the line-up. Williams' present role--benchwarmer, pinchhitter, occasional DH and, laughably, "defensive replacement"--corresponds precisely tothe meager salary they were willing to pay him, after dallying with the idea of letting him go altogether. Yes, he's hit better than anyone expected given his state of decrepitude. And yes I believe he should DH, with giambi playing first, against LH starters, because he is a good right-handed batter, significantly better, I think, than Wilson. But what is with the entitlement act? You are a fan favorite and all that, Bernie, but truthfully, muddle-headed journalists interested in making a case for the unfair treatnment AROD receives would be on far more solid ground using you as a point of comparison rather than Derek Jeter.

In other news, just about a week after the Bronx oracle indicated that Pavano would likely return, but Dotel would not, the yankees have, after a 4 scoreless inning rehab by Pavano, activated Dotel. What does it mean? I don't know. I think when it comes to injuries, they're just fucking with us.

Finally, after one of Willy Mo Pena's monster shots, John Kruk,card carrying member of RedSox Nation and founder of the Fat-FOCS (Friends Of Curt Schilling), cackled gleefully that the Sox had gotten a real upgrade over Trot Nixon in right. Unfortunately he wasn't on the air last night (and I mean it in every sense: is there anyone on earth more boring than Anal Hersheybar) to comment on the little pop fly Pena dropped to cost the Sox their second straight against the amazingly resilient Tigers. Once again, defence matters people: one dropped fly in the 9th in a one run game is worth at least 3 mid-game homers.

It was the kind of win

you fear the Yankees won't get. They fall 3 runs behind, thanks in part to yet another error by AROD. Their first attempt to close the gap falls signifantly short, with the bases left loaded, thanks to a great play by AROD's counterpart, Melvin Mora. They tie the game in the following inning but their chances of going ahead seem dashed by AROD's inability to manage a productive out with less than 2 down. But the promotion of Cano to 6th pays off and, one has to admit, Scott Procter has his 3rd or 4th decent outing in a row (I must defer to Chris on this one) and they win at home the way Boston wins (or used to win) at Fenway. Damon's triple after his homer represents the kind of hitting I had expected from him. Maybe we'll get it more consistently down the stretch. All in all very satisfying.

In case you didn't know, one of the more amazing stats for the Yankees this year is runs against. Sinc ehte pitching and the bullpen often seem so shaky, it might interest you to know that the Yanks have given up over 50 runs less than the Sox. More surprisingly, they have given up only 10 runs more than the Twins, and since they've played 2 more games, that's a virtual push. They've given up only 15 more runs than the A's, and since they've played 3 more games, that's a virtual push as well. The only AL team with any advantage in per games runs allowed is the Tigers. Our sense that the Yanks leave too many on and go into an offensive shell too easily is in fact borne out by the fact that their runs against numbers are much more impressive than their runs scored (per game), in which they trail Boston, Chicago, and Texas.

I have a suggestion which slow Joe is sure to eschew. Instead of pitching Ponson on Friday in Boston, pitch him against Baltimore on Thursday, where the revenge factor might play in his decision and the Yanks could win even if he does his usual stinking job. Save Wright for Friday. He's been on a roll and should be confident enough to score a win against Jason Johnson. If they copme into Boston with the lead they should (3 1/2) securing 2 of 5 becomes the overriding priority. Make sure you get the win versus Johnson and the win versus Wells. If Beckett blows up all the better.

Another Answer

BGW is off to the Stadium tonight for the game, so I thought I'd really try and find the answer he'd been seeking on Bubba Crosby. that way he could browbeat anyone he chose in his section. He wanted to know what the designation for assignment meant in the gradn scheme of things. Was Crosby always and forever finished as a Yankee now that he cleared waivers and accepted (as he had to) assignment to Columbus. Could we see bubba back, BGW asked, when the rosters expand come September. The definitve answer is we could see him back, but we probably won't. In order for the Yankees to call Bubba up in September, or indeed at any point in the future, they will need to designate someone else on their active roster for assignment. It is not, as I understand it, merely eneough to remove someone fron=m the active roster by way of the DL, for example, or by being optioned back to the minors. They must themselves be designated. So having been pronounced a "luxury" ("He could pinch run. you could put him in center field.") by a man, slow Joe, without a grasp on the necessity late inning defense, among other things, we have probably seen the last of Bubba, almost certainly for this year.

The Answer

is two. That's how many tools AROD can presently boast. He still hits for power and he still runs pretty well, but noone who hovers between the 270s and 280s can be said to hit for average, his fielding is atrocius and his arm is well nigh pathological. So he's now a 2 tool player. For the kind of 2=tool player he is, please see BGW's comment on my last post. He has discovered incredibly telling statistical evidence to bear out our sense that AROD regularly founders in the clutch and fails the small ball test miserably.

Everyone wondered when Boston acquired Josh Beckett whether he could really pitch a full season, given that he'd never reached 200 innings before. The good news for the chowderheads is that he can pitch late in the season; the bad news is that he can't pitch at all well. He's hit some sort of rookie wall it looks like.

One More Thing

Let the record show that the Yankees took the late inning lead in this most important of games by playing the kind of small ball we have been begging them to play all season. Damon blooped a single, Jeter bunted for a hit, Abreu sacrificed them to 2nd and 3rd, and AROD hit a sac fly. It is teams that can manufacture like that in the late innings that reach and win in the playoffs. Waiting around for the homer, as the Yanks did each of the last two seasons, will leave you waiting around for next year.

And So He Was

Could Randy Johnson be the new, old Roger Clemens. Clemens hasn't completed a game in memory and Johnson likely will never finish a game again, but in his last two outings anyway, RJ has done what Clemens has been doing for the last 3 years, dominating into the middle innings knowing he's going to need help at the end. Johnspn's fastball velocity has been in the mid rather than the low nineties in the last two games (at least into the 6th-7th) and his slider has shown real verticality. A mechanical adjustment? A mental adjustment, i.e. working on the Jared Wright plan? I don't know, but with 9 starts left in the season, and if hew can pitch this well most of the time, he'll have no problem equaling last year's total of 17, and 19 seems a reasonable possibility.

Otherwise the Yanks finally got their grind on in the 8th inning, after having left another 14 on base through the first seven (a staggering 18 overall). AROD committed a doozy of a running blunder, getting doubled off on his way to third, essentially because he didn't really bother to hustle. But he did drive in the go-ahead run in the seventh in the most unlikely fashion for him--a productive out. All in all the Yankees did cut down on the strikeouts dramatically (only 4 by 3 batters, who went a combined 6 for 13, so you can't complain). A huge win that triggers the Jeter precept: if we don't win tomorrow, this win doesn't matter. And since tomorrow is against the lowly Orioles, it's especially true. Grinding is at a premium against the Orioles, because they'll make errors and hand over gifts, but you have to keep the pressure on to extract them.

Torre didn't make the major line-up shifts that some of us recommended topnight, but he did make two moves he could have seen urged on this blog. One was to put Giambi back in 4th and drop AROD to 5th, the way it used to be. As I said before, this is the way it should be; giambi is the RBI guy on this team: he is averaging over 9 ribbies for every 11 games, which puts him on pace for 135. I've complained about him clogging the bases after taking all those walks, but ther truth is he's the closest thing we have to David Ortiz this season (not all that close I know). When the table-setters do their job, you want Giambi to have a crack at delivering them. And he's more likely to get the chance hitting fourth. The other move was to drop Posada to 7th and promote Cano to 6th, which on this night anyway seemed to a more tonic effect on Posada than anyone else.

Meanwhile Boston not only lost, which naturally gives one pleasure as a Yankee fan. But Josh Beckett got lit up again, a happenstance that is for whatever reason, one of my top three sources of Shadenfreude in all of baseball.The other 2 at the moment: Jason Varitek's batting average and Kevin Millar losing his job on the O's of all teams.

Today's quiz: just last year, AROD was reckoned the best player in the game becuse he was a true 5-tool player. How many tools does AROD have left? Check tomorrow for the answer.

If You Want to be the Man,

be the Man. Since coming to NY, Randy has planned on being the staff ace and even with all his troubles and the rather surprising level of success enjoyed by both Moose and Chien (there's an animal nickname oun in there), Johnson still is supposed to be the staff ace. Well coming off a great outing that alone saved the yankees from a five game losing streak, Johnson has the chane tonight to level his win total with everyone on the staff, and almost everyone in baseball, while doing the kind of thing aces do: winning games that their teams simply must have, against opponents their team has had trouble with. If the Yankees win tonight, and then take care of business against Baltimore, it's just all good at fenway. either they dramatically lengthen their lead on the Sox, they dramatically shrink their deficit with Detroit (if the Tigers get swept in Boston to extend their losing skein to 8, they're done), or a little bit of both. But they have to win at least 3 of the upcoming 4 games, which means they really need the first 2 (Johnson and Mussina). For its value in itself, for how it sets the Yanks up for a must win series against the O's, for the way it sets them up to play La again in 2 weeks, for the path it sets toward Fenway later this week, and because of how they've played recently, tonighht's game is, in my view, the biggest of the season so far. Aces win, or give their teams the chance to win, games like this. We've been waiting all year for RJ to prove himself still an ace. Tonight's the night we find out, one way or the other.

Take a Look at the Schedule

and you will see that it really is crunch time for the Yankees. The rest of August is tough--5 at Fenway, another series against the Angels, in LA, a series at home against Detroit--but once September comes things get as easy as you can resonablyhope: a series with KC, 4 with Boston but at home a series with the Twins, also at home (neither boston nor Minnesota are especially good road teams)many games with Baltimore and Tampa, 2 series with toronto at the very end, when they will be entirely out of it and finishing up a disappointing season. If the Yankees can hang with Boston in the division and whoever is leading the wild card through the end of this month, they should be able to squeeze into the playoffs.

For this reason, I think Torre, who had alot of meetings early in the year, should have one now, paired with the line-up changes we've been discussing. Because the Yankees have been going loss-win-loss-win-loss win, they might be less than fully aware how badly they need to step up their game if they are not to start sliding down the standings. Their pitching woes this year have been well-documented, and that is a part of the game that is very difficult to fix in the short term. but the truth is they started winning once their pitching improved and it has stayed improved, more or less, through this recent unhappy stretch. It is the fielding and the situational hitting that are killing them now, and there is really no excuse for that.

If you don't consider Johnny Damon a disappointment,

please consider the following: as a professional lead-off hitter, Damon's stock in trade is on-base percentage. you want him getting on 1st base and then stealing, taking the extra base etc, all in the service of scoring runs on rallies. He should be the very motor of the small ball strategy. But his OBP is less than Jeter's by a long way, less than Giambi's by a long way, less than Abreu's by a long way, significantly less than AROD's, who I'm sure we can all agree doesn't get on as much as he should, or as much as he used to. Damon's OBP is even less than Posada's, which I think is just plain shocking. It is roughly the same as that odf Cano, the freest swinger in the Yankee line-up, and just slightly better than Melky, who, as an 8-9 hitter, is not given many free passes. Today Damon not only went hitless, he struck out 3 times,which is just plain unacceptable for a lead-off man.

And he did set the tone. The team k'd 11 times, 8 of which came by the first 4 men in the line-up. In my last post, I noted that the Yanks only left 8 on base becaue they only put 8 on base. That # is even worse when you consider that 3 of those on base appearances were by one man,Jeter, who was also the only one, outside of the solo homers, to reach 2nd.

After the game, Joda said he liked Jared Weaver's approach and his control of his pitches. Well isn't that nice? I'm glad he didn't let his duties as manager detract from his pleasure as spectator and fan (of the other team).

Crisis

The Yankees are at the crossroads or maybe they're on the precipice. But with everybody assuming they would reach the playoffs once again, via their 9th consecitve division crown, it has suddenly become all too easy to imagine them suffering the fate to which everyone consigned them earlier this season. But it's not because of those dreaded injuries. It's because they've reverted to the form they displayed before the injuries happened. Today they scored 3 runs, all on solo homers. they didn't leave alot of men on base, becuase they didn't put that many on (8), but they didn't bring a single one of them home. The grinding style that kept them in the race during June and July, to many people's surprise, has been replaced by the less dependable style of homerspotting that brought them a disappointing April and May. All the runs over the last two games have come via the home run. They are no doing anything in the way of building rallies. Meanwhile, back in the friendly confines of Fenway, the Sox are beating the O's brains out (10 runs and counting today, without Ortiz in the line-up). The lead is down to 2 in the loss column with another game against the Angels tomorrow. What to do?

1. Drop Posada to ninth in the lineup. He is just horrible right now; he strikes out more than he makes contact and he never gets on base. Torre is just asking to have potential rallies die by putting Posada in the middle of the line-up. Thirty-Five year old catchers wear out as the season drags on. Simple as that.

2. Bat Abreu lead-off, as BGW suggests. Abreu is all aboput getting on base and he's an adept base-stealer. Jeter is a better hitter when he is allowed to make productive outs.

3. Bat Cano third. He's the best hitter on the team right now.

4. Bat Giambi 4th, not 5th. He's the RBI machine on this club, not AROD.

5. Bat Melky 6th. Look at the reord. He responds better to meaningful pressure at- bats than most people on this team.

6. Recognize that after AROD, the biggest problem on this team is Johnny Damon. He's not hitting for the average they need out of their lead-off hitter. He doesn't get on base enough. He's not fouling off pitches the way he did at Fenway. He's too in love twith the short porch, exacerbating ther Yankees infatuation with the long ball. Bat him seventh and ask George to let him know he's not giving value for money, not by long chalks. He seems to me to be taking the ups and downs of the season far too casually. I think the Yankee fans should start AROD-ing him. He's a tough guy, he'll respond. For now bat him 7th, as an expression of disapproval.

7 DH Bernie Williams against left-handed pitching and bat him 8th.

8. most importantly, as I said recently, status quo Joe has to communicate a sense of urgency and do it through an insistence on grinding it out at the plate. Contact, contact, contact has to be the mantrra. Almost everyone on this team, including Cano, Cabrera and Jeter, as well as the obvious, AROD, Wilson, Posada, STRIKE OUT TOO DAMN MUCH. That is one reason the LOB statistics are so preposterously high.

Final Grim Note:

SI recently did a piece suggesting that Wang had already pitched more innings this year than he ever has in his life, and that would ptrobably spell trouble down the stretch. If you look at his last start in Chi-town and today's against LA, you might surmise that the trouble has already begun. If you go on to consider how central his amazing effort was to the Yankees hanging in during June and July with the multiple depletions, an undependable Wang in Aug.-Sept. could be the end of them.

Assessing the Situation

The Yanks needed a win in the worst way today and they did indeed win in the worst way: all their runs ame in the second; they left 14 runners on base (that's 52 in the last three games); and yes senor sloppy made yet another error (that's 20 in all, only 6 to go to tie Knoblach and there's just under a third of the season left to go). But they did prevail and although he can't seem to get out of the 6th inning (though today it was AROD's fault), Wright did win for the 5th time in his last 7 starts, making him for the moment a pretty decent no. 5. As BGW has insisted, however, Torre just has to change this lineup around. Posada is justy terrible at the plate right now and needs to be dropped in favor of both Cano and Cabrera. In case anyone has missed it, Jeter is in the midst of a nasty little slump right now, and I think it would help him to focus just on gettiung to first any way possible. Bat him leadoff, especially since Damon, with his 16 homers and 288 batting average is doing something other than classic lead-off work anyway. And the rule should be that once Procter reaches the dugout, whether he's pitched a full inning or 1/3, he's done. On the positive side, Fahrnsworth and Mo not only had 1-2-3 innings, they only used 10 pitches apiece, so they should be fine for tomorrow.

I sadi Boston would sweep Balt., but I had no idea how bad the O's would have to be to make that happen. Not only did they give up a 4 run lead, not once but twice, after the game was tied in the ninth, they ran themselves out of a scoring opportunity and then allowed the winning run to score on an error. Jeez, they stink. Mazzone has found a pitching staff immune to his magic and Perlozza is the worst manager in baseball. The Yanks damn well better sweep them at the stadium.

One last thing. the Yankees are now just 5 games back in the loss column from Detroit. That's right the conventional wisdom about the Tigers being "for real" may have been, like most CI, premature. The Tigers have one more in Chicago and three in Boston. By the end of that stretch they mioght be as little as 2 gasmes clear of the wild card leader with a month a a half to play and a young tired untried pitchiong staff. The playoffs might just look more like last year (Chi, Bos, NY, LA) than anyone thought.

Thirty Eight Left on Base

in just the last 2 games. That's right 38 or,if you like an average of 2.11 runners every single inning. Every inning. Over 2 games. How is that possible? And why isn't slow Joe all over them about it? Yankees like Damon and AROd were just kicking back after the game and talking about how impressed they were with the Angels rookie pitcher, Saunders, who spent most of the night wiggling out of trouble. Look in the mirror fellows. He wasn't that good. Like last night, you were that bad. Every single Yankee hitter left runners on base tonight except the pinchhitters, Posada and Cano, both of whom struck out. If the Yankees want to make the playoffs they better get back on the grinder train, pronto.

And that starts with Joda playing his everyday players (Posada aside) everyday. There was no reason for Cano to be sitting and resting, especially with Cairo unavailable and a double A reject as the only replacement. In case he hasn't checked lately, Cano is the best hitter on the team not named Derek Jeter and Nick Greene isn't within slingshot distance of the mendoza line. If Torre wants these guys to be serious, he has to be less casual about who walks on the field. And they'd better get serious, cause the Sox will sweep Baltimore and that lead could well be gone by the time we head to Fenway for 5, at which point we'd feel lucky leaving down only one. The Yankees can't just accept the fact that they have trouble with the Angels, with new pitchers (like Jared Weaver) etc. the time is now to play the kind of stubborn ball they did 2 weeks ago. Every time they'd win a playoff or World Series game during the dynasty, Jeter would always say the same thing. It doesn't matter if we don't win tomorrow too. Well they played heroically when they were really undermanned, but the captain should make it clear to them that they will have wasted that effort if they don't start winning again immediately. Boston, let's not forget has the highest % of home games left of any contender and the highest winning % at home of any contender. All the Yanks have done so far is put themselves in a position where they can win the division; they haven't even started doing so yet, and slow Joe best get off the tranquilizers and communicate the urgency if they are going to start. This team has guys who either are gamers (Jeter, Cabrera, Cano, Fasano), can be gamers (Posada, Williams, Giambi), would like to be gamers (AROD, Abreu) or used to be great gamers (Damon), guys who properly motivated and mobilized are capable of playing over long stretches with a refuse to lose attitude, but in my view, Torre's torpid serenity works as an impediment to the kind of mind set necessary to a small ball grind it out approach. So every time the Yanks start to win a little bit, and Torre's complacency seems to be vindicated, they tend to revert to their old sit around and wait for the home run posture. and then of course they start losing.

The Problem with AROD

is that he embodies and exacerbates the weaknesses that the Yankees already exhibit instead of acting as a bulwark against them, the sort of role one might expect a so-called superstar to perform. The yankees are prone to little league type errors. So what does AROD do? He commits the kind of error you won't see in a Little League game until the coach is forced to play that dufus benchwarmer because the game is supposed to be "fun" for everyone. The Yankees have trouble leaving men on base. So what does AROD do? he fails to make contact with men on second and third with one out. It is this context that allows us to understand why yankee fans, myself included, have turned on this guy so forcefully. It's not that he never produces. It's certainly not the money--like anyone cares if a guy makes 25,000,000 per annum instead of only 19,000,000. It's not his slick persona: if there is any athlete slicker in his public face than Jeter, I've yet to see him or her. No, it's the fact that he is a supposed superstar who is nevertheless the face of this team at its worst, much as Jeter is the face of this team at its best. Jeter is the face of Robby Cano spraying doubles down the line, because DJ does that sort of thing in a superstar register. AROD is the face of Bernie throwing badly or Wilson striking out with men on base, because AROD does that sort of thing, with regularity, in a superstar register. AROD functions, I am suggesting, as a symbol in Coleridge's sense of the term. He stands for something, unreliability at bat and in the field, of which he is himself a leading part. When the Yankee fans execrate AROD, they are execrating a larger pattern of disappointing tendencies on the team. And they do so with justice because he, as a putative superstar,sets the pace for these very tendencies.

Today the Yankees would lead the Sox by 5 in the loss column had AROD not thrown away a sure DP and allowed all those runs to score last night. How many games would the Yankees be leading by had AROD bought into the small ball concept, stopped taking so many damn strikes waiting for a HR pitch, stopped striking out so much as a result, started getting productive outs and raising his lowly batting average in the process, and fielded his position with just average proficiency? I don't know, but the ghost of those lost games cannot be exorcised, as the pundits seem to believe, by the endless citation of AROD's impressive lifetime stats.


THE SOLUTION FOR AROD?

For now I think the Yankees might want to think about trolling the waiver wires for a 3b with some pop (where is Vinny Castillo these days) so that they can make AROD the world's most overhyped DH. Giambi has never hurt them as badly, as consistently at 1b as AROD is at 3rd. In the year Knoblach blew up at 2nd, he made 26 errors. AROD is currently on a pace for 28 errors. And while third definitely a tougher position to play, the errors AROD is making are on the easiest plays. If Knoobby is too harsh a comparison, the later Steve Sax seems apt, and his career foundered on these same shoals.


PAVANO SIGHTING

After alot of buzz, from slow Joe among others, about how impressive baby Carl's stuff has been in workouts, Class A batters begged to disagree last night, when Pavano finally showed up to pitch in public, verifying the authenticity of his identity by giving up 3 runs, all earned, and five hits in just 2 2/3 innings. all you ERA and WHIP afficianados can do the math yourselves, but I think we can all agree (and hope) we won't be seeing this albatross on the big club anytime soon. Which I guess means we won't be seeing Dotel at all.

Too bad the Yankees (by which I mean Err-Rod) not only wasted a gutty performance by Mussina last night but a nice relief stint by Proctor as well. BGW notes that Mussina seems to have gotten overt the sulks when thib=ngs go badly. I agree. Instead he's gotten into the habit of callin out AROD after the game ("We can't be giving these guys four and five outs"). Good for him! No word of support for AROD from Jeter either. Good for him too!

They're Back,

the boys of June. The yankees are back to losing games on poor fielding, untimely hitting, and a general waste of their considerable talent. But at least they seem to be playing hard and refusing to roll over.

Of all Err-Rod's 19 miscues this season, tonight's was perhaps the most costly (it lost them the game) and the most unaccountable. It would be charitable to call the play routine; it was actually easier than that. And it would be charitable to call his throw errant--he missed Cano by a zip code and a half. And it is impossible to chalk the error up to AROD's propensity for wilting under pressure. He made the throw in the 2nd inning of a 0-0 game. It was the most Knoblachian air mail (to go Sterlingesque) I have yet seen form Rodriguez, i.e. it left you thinking he must have some sort of Tourette's of the throwing arm.

No less mind-boggling however was the Yanks inability to bring runners home. They left 9 men on base in the first four innings. I mean how can you leave over 2 men on base for that span of time. And they have returned to the bad old days when they could only score by the home run. Part of this could be ameliorated with some line-up shifts. They played their best offensively when Giambi hit 4th and AROD fifth. I don't know why torre changed it around, but you want Giambi to have the 2 out at bats with a man on, not AROD, who has become a 280 hitter with decent but not overwhelming power. Tonight he struck out with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out, the worst situation to fan in). More importantly, Cano should not stay buried in the 7 hole. He had 2 doubles tonight, a double and 2 singles the game I went to see, and on both occasion had noone to bring him in. Additionally, Posada should be dropped from 6th to 8th. While his defense has never been better than it is right now, his offense is showing the effects of a long season behind the plate. I think he went about 1 for 16 in the series and left alot of men on. Finally Melky should not be buried in the 9 hole. He is simply too good and too clutch a hitter for that. Frankly I think he is tougher at the plate than Damon, who seems to have left some of his patience and tenacity at Fenway. I used to fear him in the nintrh with men on base, but now when he comes up in that situatio, as he did tonight, he doesn't give you much cause for hope.

I guess you can't complain about the season series against chicago, 4-2, or the fact that the Yankees actually gained ground against Boston while the latter played the Royals. But you can be apprehensive that recent success has lulled the Yankees into believing they are that team that started the season with the expectation that AROD, Giambi, Sheffield and Matsui would be recreating the Bombers of old. They are not, and in some sense never were, that team, not only because of the missing parts but because AROD bears no resemblance to Dimaggio, Gehrig, Muesel or even Earl Coombs, let alone the great one. This team needs to be centered on the speed and contact players: Jeter, Cano, Abreu, Melky and Damon, with Giambi providing the one source of consistent power (he's on pace for 125 RBIs). AROD played so well the game I went to, I really thought he was turning it around, but after tonight,I must defer to what his therapist is doubtless telling him: "you'll be a head case for a good long while yet."

Boston and Bernie

A couple of issues have emerged in the commentary. Is Boston done? Since Bernie is so clearly done as a centerfielder, why does Joda keep sending him out there?

I have no opinion on the first question, beyond a maybe. I do have a sense of why they are having trouble though, other than the obvious, injuries and a mediocre rotation. Timlin and Papelbon have started to unravel lately, costing Boston what had been the key to their success so far this season, the bullpen. My guess is their tired, and this is not so much the result of the shaky starters, though that's part of it, but also the diminished offense that boston has featured by comparison to both 2004 and last year. With Varitek hitting, Mueller still on the team, Todd Walker hitting for power at 2nd, and of course Manny and Ortiz, Boston blew alot of people away in 2004-5, giving their bullpen ample rest. All the focus on the late innings heroics of Ortiz et al this year signifies how much more consistently Boston is involved in close contests that require their set-up man and closer to show up for work. Remember neither Timlin nor Papelbon is in the prime of his athletic life: Timlin is an old man and Papelbon is not only very young but has never weathered the rigors of a full MLB season (see Cano last year). So long as neither had to pitch too regularly, this wouldn't have posed a problem. But I hardly think it a coincidence that just as the dog days are kicking in, Timlin and Papelbon are scuffling. Something to watch for.

As for Bernie (and refraining for once from my Bubba-lament), when Damon came out last night, torre put Abreu in center and Wilson in right, only to change things, much for the worse, in the later innings. Bernie as defensive replacement, now that's the kind of joke that can only be greeted, as James Joyce said, "with the derision of the desparate." What I would like to know is first, why isn't Abreu Torre's first choice for defensive replacement in center and second, where, if anyone knows, is the NY media in all this. I mean it is obvious to all of us and so I am sure obvious to most yankee observers, that williams cannon play CF a lick anymore. Do reporters ask Joda at these press conferences, why Bernie is trotted out there to his own embarassment and the Yankees peril? Does anyone bother to ask, "Joe, we can all see that williams is no longer competent to play center, why can't you?" and if not, why not?

Where Have You gone, Bubba Crosby, Yanks Nation Turns Its Lonely Eyes to You, ooh, ooh, ooh

A few posts ago I conjured up the nightmare scenario should Johnny Damon go down inor near the playoffs, now that Bubba has been sent packing. Well for those of us who got the opportunity to watch the Yankees "scary win" (Z's phrase) tonight, we got a vivid foreshadowing (as my students like to say) After Fahrnsworth contrived to squander 4 runs of a five run lead, and to do so with 2 outs and noone on base, Mo came in to finish off the Sox and preserve the win. After plunking Anderson (on an 0-2 count no less) and putting two men down, Mo pitched to Taguchi with a man on first. Now Damon had been removed in the 4th inning and Bernie was manning (or girling) center field. Taguchi hits one of those bloop flies that Rivera is prone to allow and Bernie tiptoes ever so gingerly toward the descending sphere. He has plenty of time to get there, even moving as slowly as Torre thinks, but he doesn't really take a direct route. He sort of surrounds the fly, uncertain whether his aging legs will carry him to a place where he can field it. At the last minute, it becomes apparent to him that his mincing approach means that he will have to stretch to catch the ball in the air. Stretch mind you, not dive. Still he decides it's not worth the risk, or the effort, and he pulls up short and plays it on the bounce. His throw to Cano is weak enough that the runner had a mind to try and score from first to knot the score, and subsequent replays showed he probably would have made it. He returned to third however and Mo retired the last batter on a nifty play by Cano.

What was obvious to any knowledgeable baseball observer this side of Joe Torre was that Bernie Williams is one of a very few players permitted to roam a major league outfield, and probably the only player given the keys to centerfield who doesn't catch that ball. Bubba not only makes the play, he makes it in such a routine fashion that none of us watching it would have imagined it could be the source of much trouble. This is how designating Bubba could come back to haunt us. I for one am already haunted by the possibility.

last night's game

Tough to decide whether a tight loss is harder to take when your team plays well and deserves the win or whent hey play badly and give it away. Last night the Yankees did something unusual for them. They played quite well and lost anyway. And whenI say they played quite well, I mean in all phases of the game. Posada gunned down all 4 men attempting to steal, while the Yankees stole 2 or 3 of their own without losing a runner. AROD went 3 for 3, hustled out an infield hit, hit in the clutch with 2 strikes on him, and made a number of nice plays in the field. Cano came back and got three hits, all in the late innings. Abreu had a couple of hits and a walk. They survived a lackluster outing form Wang to take the lead in the 8th and they looked likely to win when Mo took the mound in the 9th with a one run lead. But they were bitten by the LOB bug, just once but it was crucial. In the 8th they loaded the bases with one out and Cotts plunked Giambi to force in the go-ahead run. Now was tht time, with Jorge coming up, to break the game open or at least get an insurance run.But he hit into the DP and the Chicagom fans seemed to know, with the middle of their line-up coming to bat in the ninth, that they were still in the game.

Once Konerko tied it, oone sensed the Yanks were going to lose. the game had set up for them to win it in classic fashion, with a late inning run and the call to Rivera. Once that opporutunity slips away, its tough to recoup, especially against a good team like chicago. Everyone in their lineup from the 3 to the 8 hitter was batting over three hundred. they have 4 players with 25 or more home runs and each of them has 80 or so RBI's. If they straighten their pitching out, even a little bit, they are still the best team in the AL.

One of the reasons it was tough to come back was that torre had used his entire bullpen, in brief stints, on the way to Rivera. wang was done (100 pitches) after 5. Villone gave them a real good inning. Veras was okay, Meyers was used, then Fahrnsworth, who gave them a perfect 8th, and then Mo. I can't blame Torre; he played the percentages and he played them right. since Mo got hit a bit even after Konerko, there was no reason to bring him out for the 10th. and that left Scott Proctor, who as Chris has insisted is overused. Proctor was the best pitcher they threw out all night in the 10th, when he struck out all 3 batters he faced. but he lost it in the 11th, understandably given his work load. What are you going to do though, pitch Ponson? It was one of those games that remind you that the Yankees entire approach depends upon rivera being for all intents perfect. When he's not, you can only be thankful that he usually is.

On the bright side, Boston manged to lose to KC, and with one of their 3 decent starters going, while Toronto was losing to the Orioles. Safe to say the Yankees didn't have the worst night in the division. It'll be interesting to see how Lidle fairs tonight against a quality line-up.

Defending Theo

With the Red Sox losing 5 and half games to the Yanks since the All-Star break, The boy genius has been taking alot of heat for taking no significant action at the trade deadline. the Red Sox of course have been known for "winning" the deadline, though never the division, in recent years, and the chowderheads are understandably miffed that the one small victory they have come to count on has been taken away from them. And don't look for Javy Lopez to brighten any days in Boston. The best catchers are toast at 35 and Lopez was never among the best, or even the good, catchers in baseball defensively and he hasn't been an offensive threat for two years. It is at just these times that Master Epstein could typically rely upon Peter Gammons to bring an inexplicably acquired Hall of Fame cred to bear on behalf of his fledging yet high flying reputation. With Gammons silenced, I thought I might give it a whirl just for kicks.

Boy Epstein rather infamously said that he could have made deals, but that it would have been "short-sighted" to diverge from their "plan" and part with any of the pitching prospects that he had raised from pups. Fans and foes alike wondered if they were really listening to the GM of the Sox or the Gm of the Royals or Pirates. The latter franchises of course are all about long term plans and cultivated prospects, while Boston, being locked in mortal rivalry with the greatest franchise in the history of organized sport, must look to win today and tomorrow and every day thereafter. How then could baseball's own Jimmy Neutron refuse to do what it takes to ensure victory this year when he is, as conventional wisdom has it, simply awash in valuable young arms?

The answer I would propose is that he really isn't suffering all that great an embarrassment of pitching riches and the trade market apprised him of that fact. Obviously Papelbon is no longer a prospect; he's a legitimate star and there is no reason in the world the Sox would part with him at this point, any more than the Yanks would part with Wang. But that leaves the Sox with Lester, and Lester alone, who occupies the same place in their projections (and other teams' calculations) as Phillip Hughes does for the Yanks. He, like Hughes, is the person everyone the Sox approached wanted to talk about, and inasmuch as he is, for the moment, the future of starting pitching in Boston, the whole future perhaps, he is also the one person Theo doesn't want to discuss. It is like Cashman and Hughes only in some sense worse. All the injuries and disappointments the Sox have suffered on their staff (Wells, Clement, Wakefield, Foulke, Di Nardo,Taveras, Seanez, Johnson, and lately Timlin) has meant that Lester needs to be much of their present as well as their future. But those same injuries and disappointments have caused a still deeper problem. They have forced the Red Sox to move Hansen and Delcarmen from the minors, where they figured as crucial examples of the youthful abundance of future pitching the Sox possessed, to the majors, where they figured as instances of the present underachievement that haunts the Sox staff. Neither Hansen and DelCarmen have done particularly well in their maiden season, and so have not attested to the promise they seemed to hold just last year. Their value on the trade market plummeted accordingly. The boy-genius did not take either of these "gems" off the table in deference to some long range scheme (that scenario was only true of Lester); he refused to part with them in light of how little they would presently bring in return, and on the hope that their past promise might be resuscitated by future performance. And really what else could he do? People who complain that Epstein failed to cash in the chips that would improve the Red Sox dramatically this season are clinging to the hype that the ERA of messrs Hansen and DelCarmen has largely dispelled. Epstein would have loved to sustain that hype long enough to realize positive gain on one or both, but being a well-known sabrematician, he was not really in a position to pull off that bit of salesmanship. Epstein was a victim of contingencies that made the stats less meaningful than they might otherwise be. But when your signature lie is that the numbers don't lie, it's hard to convince people they do.

I'm off to Cingular tomorrow to catch the Yanks live against the White Sox. I'll report the following day.

Today's Win

was big, and not just because the Sox were continuing their struggles with the Rays and with their own pitching. Has anyone noticed that Mike Timlin has simply collapsed of late. A sign of age perhaps--he's near 40--but in any event a trend as trouble some for Boston as their starting pitching. Without a reliable Timlin, their inability to lock down in the 6th and 7th is extended into the 8th. POapelbon is out there on an island. But I digress. A Yankees win at the bottom of the rotation, with series against Chicago and LA coming up gives both momentum and a cushion as Boston looks to take three easy ones against the Royals. This is the most important pass of the season. If the Yanks can remain in 1st place after the next 2 series, the pressure on Boston to win the 2 head to head series remaining will grow considerably. One piece of good news: Contreras won't be available since he pitched today. One piece of bad news: the Yanks won't face the imploding Mark Buerhle, because he pitches a make-up game tomorrow vs. the Angels.

IT Was Fun

watching the Boston Boomer get rocked for the second straight time in his comeback. The boys on Baseball Tonight blamed his lack of rehab starts. How about his difficulty in getting his pitching arm past the prodigous garbage receptacle he calls a gut. I mean he's cartoon character fat at this point. He's as fat as the Boston rotation is thin.

Speaking of Baseball Tonight, its"analysts," like Steve Phillips have switiched to predicting the Yankees will win the AL East. I think that's called the kiss of death. But really they are just so reactive, always finding structural reasons why the hot team of the day will be able to extend its success into the future. Kruk is the only one who takes a position, based to be sure on irrational predisposition and the vagaries of his own enormous diet, and then sticks with it despite its manifest stupidity. You have to respect his commitment to crapulence.

Hmmmm

The Yankees designate Bubba and immedieately get one hit by a nonentity. Causal relationship? No. Karmic relationship? you be the judge.