Ross’s Redemption…

June 1, 2008 by Benjamin Kabak 66 Comments

…and Derek’s too. After another bad start by Chien-Ming Wang — are we allowed to be officially worried after a month of subpar pitching? — the Yanks had to lean heavily on the bullpen, and the arms delivered. Meanwhile, shortly before midnight in New York, with Ross Ohlendorf pitching two good innings, Derek Jeter delivered a huge base hit in his sixth at bat, and Bobby Abreu delivered the go-ahead run. Mr. Automatic needed a whopping 10 pitches to seal the deal, and the Yanks end May on that good note, one huge game above .500.

Rich

I thought the game was over when Ohlendorf came out for the 2nd inning; I wanted Britton to pitch. My bad.
MoBoy

Ross looked good.But the Yankees bullpen besides Rivera just like first base don’t have one singluar person to rely on.

Look Edwar gave up a homerun to tie the game just on the same day as Ross actually played good.

But hey this is our bullpen.Can’t wait till postseason.
- whozat
  
  Yeah, a guy gave up his first run of the season! Shoot him!
  - Rich
    
    I agree. You can’t get down on Edwar.
- steve (different one)
  
  also, isn’t Giambi like 4th in the AL in OPS?
- steve (different one)
  
  But hey this is our bullpen.Can’t wait till postseason.
  
  unfortunately for the Yankees, the postseason starts tomorrow, so they have no time to make any changes in the bullpen.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  I’m willing to the bet that the pen the Yanks go to the playoffs with isn’t the pen they have right now.
whozat

Looking at Wang’s lines, the it’s only been three poor outings. I know he’s been fighting his mechanics for longer than that, but he was still putting up good outings.
A.D.

This always happens to Wang, he just hasn’t made as big a strides. Additionally it’s been 3 subpar starts in a row with tonight, his first 2 May starts were good, so if we get another probably start to wonder, I’m not worried
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.

LoL, I don’t know if this is sexist or what but I couldn’t stop laughing as a female reporter (Kimberly Jones) was interviewing Johnny Damon as Soulja Boy was saying “Superman that Hoe!” as the song was blaring over the speaker.
Will

Excuse me, but why is this thread not dedicated to Manny hitting his 500th home run?
- http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
  
  go troll somewhere else
  - Will
    
    Wasn’t trolling, Pablo–it was a joke. I’d just gotten finished watching a softball game on ESPN and seeing the Bottom Line flash for about fifteen minutes straight.
- http://www.ilikemygirls.com Seven Costanza
  
  because he’s 4 years older than a-rod and accomplished the same feat one calendar year later?
  - Whitey14
    
    Age matters not, 500 HR is still a great accomplishment. However, and this is a big however, it’s nice for both teams to honor these guys appropriately for their milestones, but let’s remember before we get into the whole arod vs. Manny thing, that these guys were both bought by their current teams and a large portion of what they’ve done was done for different teams. It’s not like we’ve been pulling for them since they were in the minors and we’ve watched them grow into superstars for our franchises. I’ll save any limited bragging I might ever do for somebody that’s been wearing the boston uniform since they were a kid. Like Ellsbury…he’s playing the game like his hair is on fire and he runs everything out ;-)
    
    Plus the main reason this thread isn’t about Manny? It’s a yankee site is my best guess.
    - http://yankeesetc.blogspot.com/ Travis G.
      
      the Yanks traded for Arod. the Sawx bought Manny. just fyi.
      - Whitey14
        
        yes in one sense, but they were really the only team that could afford to trade for him, then they bought/retained him this past offseason….semantics I guess…potato/potahto
- LiveFromNewYork
  
  Because Manny won’t be a true ballplayer until he learns to pull up his pants.
- JeffG
  
  Because Manny is a piece of garbage… loved how he walked half way down the first base line. I’m thankful A-Rod doesn’t do crap like that.
  - Whitey14
    
    No, it’s much better to try to and slap the ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s glove, or to shout at a blue jays player (Mcdonald?) when he’s trying to make a play.
    
    To call somebody a piece of garbage is just wrong. If you want to accuse him of playing the game wrong, that’s one thing and you’ll find support for your statement, even in New England. But to call him a piece of garbage is just short sighted and wrong.
    
    Does that mean any player that does something arrogant and that shows up another player is a piece of garbage? If so I can think of a hundred or so major leaguers who would qualify.
    - JeffG
      
      A-Rod trying to win wouldn’t bother me as much as the half assing BS that Manny does. Great hitter but I think he is a rag tag pice of garbage and thats just how it is.
      Sure lots of players could be considered garbage but Manny would be at the top of the heap.
      - Whitey14
        
        Ahh…the fundamental difference…you saw those actions as trying to win…I saw them as trying to cheat.
        
        I don’t appreciate Manny’s “half assing BS” either, but it by no means makes him a piece of garbage. I’ll reserve that term for murderers, rapists, child molesters etc. To use it on a baseball player because you don’t like him and he plays for your rival just sounds like you take this stuff too serious. Have a beer, enjoy today’s game, no hard feelings.
        
        http://yankeesetc.blogspot.com/ Travis G.
        
        so naturally you would have to say pedroia was trying to cheat also when he slapped at the ball during last year’s ALCS, right?
        
        Whitey14
        
        I don’t recall the play specifically, but if it’s as you recall, then yes. It doesn’t matter what uniform they wear, the calls have to be the same. And cheating is cheating no matter the player.
xkevinx

I disagree with the assessments of Ohlendorf. I think that he was lucky more than anything – he consistently missed his spots, hung at least 6 curveballs above the waist, one of which missed losing the game by inches. Molina consistently set up in one location, and Ohlie missed badly. He seems to get credit for getting out of the Jam in the 10th, but he created the jam, putting 2 on without getting an out. I’ll take the win, but if Ohlendorf is going to play a big role in the bullpen, Yanks are in trouble.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Confidence baby. This outing has to help with his confidence, and that’s big.
- whozat
  
  Not really. If he’s not getting it done, someone else will get a shot. Cox, Patterson. Horne perhaps. Melancon or Robertson come July.
  
  And I think you’re overstating. Yes, he almost lost the game. But, he also showed some nasty stuff. If they’d use him like a normal bullpen guy, he won’t have 5 days off between some outings and 2 days off between others, and maybe he’ll be more consistent with his delivery.
  
  There’s certainly reason to believe that’ll happen. It’s pretty common with relievers that they’re not sharp when tehy have too much down time.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.

Rosters have been posted for the Yankees DSL 1 and DSL 2 teams (Thanks to NY_GOLDENARMS at nyyfans.com).

Harold Garce is on DSL 1 and DSL 2 contains 1B prospect Raymond Nunez (although it’s spelled Reymond on the roster sheet I believe that’s the same guy).

It seems doe to the Commenter Guidelines I can’t post the direct link to MiLB.com so I will post the link to the page that has said direct links.

http://forums.nyyfans.com/showthread.php?t=110135&page=3
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Looks like I get to type the name “Jahdiel Santamaria” into DotF this summer. Sweet.
- dan
  
  You’re allowed to post a link to the roster… Guideline #3 is meant to stop people from posting illegal youtube videos here (like some grainy home video of a pitcher, taken from the stands).
- dan
  
  Who is Garce anyway? He’s 22.
  
  Look at the managers of the DSL-2 team. Ages 19, 18, 22, 40–Where do us soon-to-be college kids sign up?
  - http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
    
    Garce is an extremely raw 22-year-old with a fastball that tops out at 95 but needs secondary pitches. His frame is pretty much filled out. He’ll be a slow riser.
    
    I particularly like to prospects on DSL2: Reymond Nunez and Juan Heredia. Nunez is 17 and 6’4″, 210, so there should be a heck of a lot of power potential there. Heredia, 19, is too slim for his own good and should add a lot of juice to his fastball as his frame fills out (maybe another 40-45 lbs), not to mention his secondary pitches.
    - http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
      
      I don’t even concern myself with those kids down there. 80% of them won’t even play baseball in the States when it’s all said and done.
LiveFromNewYork

When Girardi says he’s not worried about Wang does that mean HOLY SH$TH THE HOUSE IS BURNING DOWN. When Girardi says it was good to see battle on nights when he doesn’t have his best stuff does that mean I HOPE HE DOESN’T START GIVING UP 12 RUNS PER INNING!!!

With the Yankees there is this “yeah, well, okay” attitude that goes back a long way. WTF is with them and their doh dee doh dee doh bs answers.

Whatever happened to “One of them’s convicted and the other is a liar.”? Those were the days.
- Mike P
  
  Rant?
- JeffG
  
  Wang has a pretty good track record… I’m not worried either and that is the truth. Players, pitchers included go through slumps. As far as the comments about Wang batteling I think you look at what happens to a lot of other pitchers when they don’t have their good stuff – out by the second or third inning. That just doesn’t happen to Wang. He’s great and he’ll be fine – I agree with Giardi. What would you have the manager say? Our best pitcher stinks? Now that would be stupid BS.
  - LiveFromNewYork
    
    It’s not that I don’t agree with him but I never know what they’re really thinking. I think they just throw out politically correct bs lines to avoid a NY press feeding frenzy. Like Hughes is healthy.
    - JeffG
      
      Thats why we love Duncan – I think we hear him from his heart but a manager has to be a thinker and if I were Giardi I’d be saying the same thing in the same situation. I do understand what you’re saying about the cooki cutter answwers but that’s with all sports and it does alieve us from a lot of headaches. The media is crazy – in all forms.
      And yes Manny does need to pull his pants up.
BillyBalla

It’s time for roster moves. Listen, I know last night was a big win and it got us 1 game over .500 but this team is soo aggravating to watch. First of all between the lackluster defense and base running the last 2 games, I’m surprised we won. Here is what I think the Yankees should do ASAP.

(according to MLB Rumors)

Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times writes of “mounting speculation” about Richie Sexson’s situation with the Mariners and “a growing call among fans” for Seattle to acquire recently DFA’d Scott Hatteberg from the Reds to replace him. The Mets are reportedly also in the mix for Hatteberg, who was designated on May 27. Hatteberg is 38 and hitting .173. He did, however, hit .310 last year. Pick up this guy Sexson in a trade:

Sexson, though only 33, is struggling to clear the Mendoza line at present, a struggle that began last year when he hit .205 in 121 games. However, of his 31 hits this year, nine have been homers. It’s also worth noting that his average has been much better (.333) against lefties, though of course, it’s a piteously small sample size (36 plate appearances). He’s in the last year of his contract, he’s not fragile, and yet I can’t think of a single team who would sign him if Seattle does release him. Possibly the Indians? Possibly the Rangers? Any other ideas? YES, just one idea!

Trade Betemit, Britton, and Marquez for Sexson and there left relief pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith. Sexson is righthanded and he is an above avg. defensive 1st baseman whom I believe won a gold glove. Platoon him with Giambi and bring him in for late inning defense. Now we improved our defense and added RH depth to the lineup. Ryan Rowland-Smith is a young left handed relief pitcher whom has posted good numbers the last 2 years. Now we have improved our bullpen. Seattle looks as if they want to get rid of Sexson and Betemit would add pop off the bench for them.

Than drop Ensburg and bring up Alberto Gonzalez again. Give Posada a week or 2 before dropping Moeller and bring up Gardner. Now our bench will be better defensively and we will have more balance. Sexson can platoon with Giambi. Gonzalez can spell Cano, Jeter, and A-Rod. Duncan can spell Abreu and this keeps him away from 1stbase. He is not bad in RF. Now our bench will look like Sexson, Gardner (our only lefty who can be late inning defensive replacement plus speed factor on bases), Gonzalez, Duncan, Molina. This adds another dimension to our team, DEFENSE. Plus Balance in our lineup against those lefty pitchers we ben struggling against. Our bull pen would be improved as well as we trade Britton whom Girardi never uses and get a quality lefty. Eventually we let Latroy Hawkins walk and replace him with Cox or Melancon. The team is now ready to make a legit run!
- Jorge Steinbrenner
  
  WIN NOW! WIN NOW! WIN NOW!
  
  this post is aggravating to read. PS3-type trades, callups of guys who’ve never pitched an inning in the bigs, and an intolerance of long-term planning.
  
  i don’t know how you got through the 80’s and early 90’s with this team.
- JeffG
  
  First, Sexton is not really a bench player, and to be honest I don’t want that strike out master on our team. Even when Giambi is not going he gets on base.
  Second if gardner came up we’d be carrying 5 outfielders (actually 6 if you count Duncan). His speed would be a nice dimension but that would come at the cost of losing Melky. I’m sure the Yankees internals are keeping an eye on that idea.
  I do agree that Ensburg is a wast of space… I never like the signing.
  I also agree that the bullpen could use a little tweaking with the loss of Chamberlain. With Karsteins comming up to shadow Joba if he proves effective maybe we can alter ODorf’s role and get him doing the one inning thing regularly to give him the consistency. He’s raw but good – they just have to figure out how to use him.
  I give Hawk a couple more weeks of his shit and he may be gone or better be improved. I’ve always been excited about Cox and even more excited about Sanchez. Maybe they will take his spot. I’d love Cash to make a trade and bring in a good lefty but we’ll probably have to wait until later in the season.
  For now I think we’re we’re going well and we’re going to make the push by the All-star break. I like our look lately.
- steve (different one)
  
  Sexson? are you serious?
  
  you want to trade for what is probably the worst starting player in MLB?
  
  what a terrible, terrible idea.
Mark B

The Yankees with whom you say are “so aggravating to watch” just climbed above .500 for the first time in a month and have won 8 of 10, still do not have all of the opening day line-up and you’re saying “It’s time for roster moves” and your grand plan is Richie Sexson, a player who seems to have hit a wall, has never met a pitch he doesn’t like and plays a position where we already have a guy in Giambi who is playing well???

I think there is another team in Flushing that you should change allegiances to and may not be as aggravating to watch!
Jorge Steinbrenner

there are supposedly better pitchers than Wang having worse seasons out there. we’ve also seen him go through rough stretches before. he’ll be close to 19 wins by the time the season’s done, and will continue to be a joy to watch.
The Sky Is Falling

Its time to DFA Jeter call up Alberto Gonzalez, Gonzo needs a chance and its obvious that Jeter does not have the ability to play anymore.
Time to DFA Cano, because its been two months now and he has obviously proved that he was a three-year fluke. They can convert Brett Gardner to second base, therein bringing up they greatest prospect that we have ever had. He will give the shot in the arm the offense has needed, (I figure .350 with 125 sb’s) Next we should DFA Giambi, he struck out last night, obviously he cant play anymore. We can finally give Shelley the opportunity to show what he can do (.350 75 hrs).
Next DFA Chien-Ming Wang. Its Been a MONTH. He has proven that he is a terrible pitcher. They should immediatly move Chris Britton to a starter’s role where he can finally showcase his talent (23-3 1.23 era), hw would probably be a great pinch hitter also (.350 14 hrs).
Next we should DFA Jorge Posada, he has proven that he constantly injured, shouldn’t we at least give Dante Giardi a chance to prove himself. He is just wasting his talent in post-game scrimmages. His youthful enthusiasm should reinvigorate this lackadaisical offense (.350 19 hrs, 35 sbs).
That’s all I have for now, ther are more suggestions like DFAing Arod and calling up Mitch Holligoss, but those will have to wait for later.
- LiveFromNewYork
  
  That’s hilarious. Can’t wait to DFA Arod. :)
Simon

I’d say that we should just give the team time. Like Mark says, the Yanks just won 8/10, and the first two against the Twins. Joba makes his start on Tuesday, and if that’s a success, which would basically mean that he doesn’t give up many more than 2 runs over 5 innings, then we’ve partially solved some rotation problems. Then, Girardi says that Jorge returns on Thursday, assuming all goes well in his two consecutive extended spring training games. His presence in the lineup is a definite plus. Like Arod’s return, Jorge will probably bring back some much needed mid-lineup offense and a big amount of overall morale to the entire team.

Then, look at the teams we’re playing in June. Perhaps the beginning teams of the Jays and A’s will be a bit of a challenge (although neither of them are surging beyond belief), but we play the Royals who seem to be dropping further and further, and interleague is looking good. All but two of our National League opponents this June are below .500. These two teams are the Astros, who are 3 games over, and the Mets, who are even at .500 right now.

Now look at the teams the Rays, who somehow lead the division with flying colors, face this June. All but one of the teams they face in the entire month of June are above .500. They play a game against every current division leader except for the D-backs and themselves, obviously. They do play a series against the 2nd place sox and start a series against them at the end of this month, although i don’t know if i’d be routing against the rays in those serieses.

So just watch out for the Yanks this month, because this is the month that they can win a lot of games.
Manimal

He is very bad at setting up his slider and typically doesn’t throw it in the right spot to be effective, I hope Posada picks up on that.
http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos

Patterson called up:

http://thunderbaseball.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/patterson-called-up/
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.
  
  Thanks man, great to hear. Is he able to go more than two innings in an outing? I guess it doesn’t matter seeing as how Chris Britton can give you two innings so in conjunction with Patterson they would make the shadow appearance on Tuesday.
  - http://yankeesfuture.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
    
    Britton can give you 3, and he’s on the roster–why isn’t he the long man?!?!?
    - whozat
      
      He can’t really give you three, unless they’re 10-15 pitch innings. You want a long man to be able to wiggle through the order twice, ideally. Britton doesn’t have enough pitches to do that. He can get you six outs over 9 or 10 batters, probably. If Joba goes 5, that’s ok. What if he only goes three-plus? Then you really want a Giese or someone to go 3-4 innings and save the rest of your pen instead of burning two pitchers to do the same thing.
    - steve (different one)
      
      Britton is the squat man. i don’t think “long” is a good adjective to describe him.
LiveFromNewYork

I am THRILLED that Patterson is being called up.
- Manimal
  
  Same, to be honest I felt bad for him when he was denied a roster spot, he was perfect in spring training and he was really heartbroken when Girardi told him he wouldn’t make the team.
  - steve (different one)
    
    he was good in spring training, but so was Bruney. and Bruney had the higher upside. it looked like a good move when Bruney was pitching well before he got hurt.
    
    then, when he got hurt, Patterson was not doing well in AAA.
    
    so, kudos to him for pitching his way back into a callup. he’s earned it, and that’s what you want to see.
BillyBalla

I get a kick out of these posts. To sit here on say that our bench is ok for now since we are beating up on teams like the twins and mariners to get back to .500 is shortsighted. Our team defense costs us way too many runs and being that our lineup is up and down game to game we cannot afford to give away runs. If you want a team built to last and go far in the playoffs you need a stronger defense, more versatile bench, and I know it’s easier said than done, but a consistent bullpen. I think our bullpen is better than the other 2 parts (defense,bench) and that is not saying much. It’s time to get rid of ensberg, and betemit. Get a platoon system established at 1st base, get some more RH balance off the bench, and get more speed in the lineup. By the way Sexson is hitting .333 off of lefty hitters and whatever he gives you with the bat he is sure to be an upgrade defensively over betemit and duncan. Lets start thinking about the things that make us a championship team again fellas.
- steve (different one)
  
  no, you’re right. we should trade for Richie Sexson.
  
  holy crap, just stop. you are embarrassing yourself.
- Jon
  
  In 2006 Sexson hit .204 off lefties.
  
  In 2007 Sexson hit .238 off lefties.
  
  I think you should find another solution. For serious. Especially since the guy you want to take bats away from is someone who is actually producing…
  - steve (different one)
    
    no, but he’s hitting .333 in a whopping 33 ABs in 2008. we should trade 3 players for him AND pick up the $8M he’s still owed.
mustang

“Chien-Ming Wang — are we allowed to be officially worried after a month of subpar pitching? ”
NO.
Are you kidding after that Apirl with Hughes and IPK now that’s funny.
Pingback: River Ave. Blues | Game 56: Morgan Ensberg, we hardly knew ye
billyballa

hey stevie be different! Sexson would be a better fit Defensively, plus he bats RH. The whole concept is he is better Defensively. Do you get it. I’m trying to upgrade the position with a RH bat but mostly for Defense. Dammm you are stupid.
- Whitey14
  
  Excellent, I as a Sox fan, would love to see the yankees pick up another overpriced, underperforming veteran like Sexson and veer away from their strategy of building from within via youthful talented prospects, because seriously, having a slightly better defensive firstbaseman would fix all of the yankees problems.
  
  Also, you may want to read “RAB Commenter Guidelines”. It’s not appreciated to call other posters stupid. Especially somebody with a track record of decency like Steve’s.
billyballa

Hey whitey, just to refresh you as stevie B boyfriend, why don’t you review what he wrote regarding my posts and than stick up for him, lol. Is it alright to say crap? Or how bout holy crap? Calm your self, Sexson is in the last year of his contract and the Yanks would not be giving up any youth for him and he is not blocking the youth from coming up. As a Sux fan you should do more research loverboy. Forget Sexson, lets just improve the defense some how. Betemit, Giambi, and Duncan are not the answer for late inning replacements.
- Whitey14
  
  All he said was “holy crap, just stop, you’re embarrassing yourself”, which you continue to do. I don’t know Steve personally but he’s left many knowledgable posts here, backed up with facts and statistics, which is more than I can say for you.
  
  By the way, in your rush to attack me personally, you left a post that is grammatically incorrect in several ways.
  
  Also, it’s nice that your first line of defense is to assume that Steve and I are gay, but your handle suggests that your are balling somebody named Billy. Enjoy!