Game 107: Do not make fun of this man’s last name
ByAs someone with a long Polish last name, I sympathize with Marc Rzepczynski. Any time people see more than eight letters and an ski at the end, it’s an opening for 1) gross mispronunciation, and 2) ridicule, because it’s not a good ol’ ‘Merican name — the “I’d like to buy a vowel” line is already old, at least in my mind. Yet I can’t empathize with him. My name is 100 percent phonetic. If you took the time to look at the letters, you could pronounce it with ease (when I took the GREs, the administrator said anyone who couldn’t pronounce it is an idiot…I liked her). Marc? Not so much. So please, for the sake of your host, let’s lay off the guy, at least on his surname.
And, for reference, it’s Zep-CHIN-Ski.
A 2007 fifth-round pick out of UC Riverside, Rzepczynski shot through the minors. He spent a full year at Class A Lansing last season, posting excellent numbers in 121 innings. The most impressive: just two homers allowed. In fact, in 254.2 minor league innings, spanning back to the New York Penn League in 2007 through his stint in AAA this season, Rzepczynski allowed just five home runs. FIVE. In the majors he’s allowed just one homer through 27.2 innings. His 3.1 percentage of fly balls hit for home runs is far, far below the league average of 7.8 percent. Normally I’d say he’s in line for a statistical correction, but it appears this anomaly is part of Rzepczynski’s skill set.
How does he do this? The double threat of strikeouts and ground outs. Rzepczynski has a 1.94 ground out to air out ratio, well above the league average of 1.07. He also gets 1.09 ground balls for every fly ball, again well above the league average of 0.78. He has also struck out 25.4 percent of all batters he’s faced in the majors, much higher than the league average of 17.8 percent. In fact, it seems the only reason he’s not pitching better right now is that he still has a case of the walks: 14.4 percent of major league batters facing him have walked, far above the league average of 9 percent. This could be a boon for a patient team like the Yankees.
Rzepczynski is mostly a fastball-slider guy, averaging 88 mph with the fastball — with considerable sink, of course. He also has an average curve and an average change, which he uses to mix things up. FanGraphs’ linear weighs for pitch types shows his slider to be his most effective pitch. I’m willing to bet that’s how he gets the bulk of his strikeouts.
On the hill for the Yanks is Sergio Mitre, who has supposedly worked out the kinks which hampered him in his last start. The Yanks aren’t asking the world. Just six innings, three runs. Then hopefully the Yanks can get to this rookie starter.
Oh, and as if you hadn’t already heard, the Yankees have recalled RHP Anthony Claggett. To make room for him on the roster, they’ve designated Cody Ransom for assignment.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, DH
5. Nick Swisher, RF
6. Robinson Cano, 2B
7. Melky Cabrera, CF
8. Jerry Hairston, 3B
9. Jose Molina, C
And on the mound, number forty-five, Sergio Mitre.
317 Comments
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Ransom gone and cats can breathe a little bit easier tonight.
Finally the those beasts will leave those poor kitties alone.
I feel his pain
as a guy with an african name, i feel for you Mike
(thats why people call me Dela G
)
Anyways,
GO YANKS
i don’t think its mike
I’m … not African.
Tacos? I don’t get it.
hahaha i meant marc
…stupid name.
zep-CHIN-ski’s fine, its mark with a ‘c’ thats a bit awkward…
lol nice
Straighten it out, Sergio.
I thought you meant Meat Tray.
meatwad. awesome name.
The season is over. The Red Sox called up Billy Traber.
UNENVIABLE DEPTH
[/gammons’d
Unenviable is the opposite of the word ur lookin for bro. haha.
Yanks signed Russ Ortiz for MiL depth.
i hope he stays there
i watched him give up 9ER? against the cubs on tv last week
yucky.. that guy sucks.. a lot
Oh god. He’s horrific.
I did not know he was still in baseball.
he can’t be…he was on my first fantasy league when i was in college.
we got joked!
Good … maybe he can help Scranton in the IL playoffs. He sure ain’t gonna help the Yankees.
I also have a-relatively-easy-to-pronounce last name that people screw up. Italian is phonetic as well, but people don’t get it.
my last name has never been spelled correctly on the first try by anyone to whom i was giving it.
its amazingly awkward…its randle.
r-a-n…d-l-e.
they write r-a-n-d-a-l…wait what? d-a-l-e?
candle. but with an r.
c-a-n-d-a-l-e?
ffs…
i used to use handle, but sure enough, one lady says ‘oh, like the composer, and write r-a-n-d-e-l. sigh…
My last name is ridiculously easy to pronounce…but people still find ways to fuck up my first name
Optimist prime is pretty hard there…
How can you screw up Rebecca?
she said her last name
oh wait, nevermind, i’m wrong
No, it’s impossible to screw up ‘glass’ if you’re an English speaker.
They screw up Rebecca. Even my great aunt used to send me birthday cards “Rebekah”
Rebekah – very Biblical …
Rebekiah?
David Cone did!
A friend of my dad’s got me a baseball signed by him. It reads:
To Rebbeca
my best
David Cone
7.18.99
A-Mazing.
Joe,
How do you feel about the old Onion article “Clinton Deploys Vowels to Bosnia”, then?
Didn’t Onion mean Bosnia & Herzegovina?
…i was one of those vowels
So we have an open thread, and all of a sudden ‘Russell NY’ has nothing to say.
Maddening.
Rzepczynski … 23-year-old rookie southpaw, rapid rise through the minors, .192 BAA in five starts with Toronto, 30 K in 27.2 IP, and – as you say – a tendency to NOT allow home runs.
Pretty good stats for a kid without a blazing fastball. Let’s see how the Yanks handle him tonight.
For the Spanish speakers here, if I wanted to say “I can’t wait for you to be a major leaguer”, should I use ser or estar? I keep thinking ser, but I don’t want to mess it up…
i’m pretty sure its ser, i wouldn’t guarantee it though. who are you gonna say that to, jesus montero?
Yep.
“Esperamos que siente mejor muy pronto y no esperamos para ud. ser un Yankee de Nueva York”
I know I could probably get away with the tú form, but he is a stranger and alll…
“Esperamos que se sienta mejor muy pronto y no podemos esperar para que usted sea un Yankee de Nueva York.”
Spanish speaker here, thought I’d correct that for you
He’s on the DL for the rest of the year with a fractured thumb.
Hence the card.
Ahhhhh gotcha.
i know, you’re point??
you are point?
i no machine, but you are point?
I would tell you, but I’m a lazy Dominican.
my guess is ser, because “major leaguer” would be his profession?
Thanks
Got the fan umps tonight.
They get on my nerves and how many times have they “umpired” our games? Also, they are blatant homers for the Blue Jays, even when they were at the Stadium. Seriously, if you
are going to all this trouble to fan umpire, why be unfair to one team?
Oh, wait, I forgot they’re pretending to be real umpires
and they’re Canadian.
It was funny to me at first, but now it’s just wiggidy wiggidy wack.
You know, if they can give Russ Ortiz a minor league deal, they should be able to give one to El Duque. http://tiny.cc/BepcE
That never gets old to me.
+1
I have a difficult to pronounce last name, it’s that of a small town in southern Sicily.
But it has its advantages. Telemarketers always screw it up, so if I hear someone call me who can’t pronounce my name, I just say “Nobody here by that name” and hang up.
What do you get telemarketers for? Put your number on the Do-Not-Call list.
Ditto, except my name is Calabrese and based on a noun.
Should I draw a doodle in my Jesus Montero get well soon card?
It’d just be a stick figure hitting a home run, since I can’t draw anything more advanced than that….
We’re still waiting for ya Big PaP.E.D.
If this was A-rod, he’d murdered literally by the media by now.
icudt with the big papi, i don’t know what happened to your second sentence
I cannot WAIT to see what the NYC Crowd will do to him man
Hey Salty
email me at delag26 at gmail dot com, it concerns gameday
yeah and theo has to stop calling his courageous and facing this head on
Rzepczynski with the defense (did I spell it right?)
RT @mlbCozMets on Niese – MRI revealed complete tear of the right upper hamstring tendon – out for the remainder of the season.
OW.
That makes my arm not hurt so much.
thats horrible- didnt they have him throw a practice pitch after they helped him up?
Yea, he threw one pitch and fell down.
He hurt himself on the practice pitch. He hurt his other leg/knee on a play at first.
oh alright, didnt see just heard about it
Yep.
Are all these injuries really possible? It’s simply amazing.
That whole training staff. DFA’d.
I don’t know why, but to me, Tex looks totally different batting right handed.
Damon got locked the fuck up by that bender.
I’m watching the Sox-Rays games on ESPN and I can’t help noticing that David Price is also 90-92 in this first inning, much like Joba.
Wonder why there’s no talk of him in the bullpen from the media? He hasn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire. Homer-prone, and walking the ballpark.
I remember just a little bit of discussion, nothing Joba like. But ya, there was just a wee bit there.
Hey, at least his last name wasn’t as bad as Coach-K.
People have screwed up my first name a few times.
Mitre, time to do your groundball goodness.
People screw up “evan”?
At least Rebecca has spelling variants…
Spelling my name hasn’t been a problem (except for the time I got a notice asking for “Evans”). Pronunciation has been an occasional issue though it’s usually with people who aren’t native English people.
I’m not surprised. I’ve had people ask how to spell “Ed”. Never had anyone question “Edward”, but more than a few had no clue how to spell “Ed”. Some of them didn’t seem to believe me when I told them.
2 groundout, 1 K, 0 HRS…so far, he’s exactly what Joe said.
Mitre, if you walk Scutaro . . .
Thanks for your compliance.
doesnt scutaro have a OBP over .380?
Yeah. He’s had great plate discipline all year.
.389, also 4th in the AL in walks (Bay, Pena, Swisher are 1-2-3).
Woot!
That pitch had great movement.
His fastball has crazy movement when he throws it right, it seems.
Spent the day putting large pieces of wood through an industrial wood chipper. Man that shit is awesome.
…is that a euphemism for something illegal in alabama?
hahah nah everything is literal.
For work, or for nefarious purposes?
its illegal no matter WHY you do it…
Workedy work, I wish it was for nefarious purposes, you could comfortably put a family of 4 in one of those things and they’d be gone in about three seconds.
“pieces”????
52 MPH Strikeout?
Thanks YES GUN
He has that change working tonight.
YEZZUR
He has two pitches, a sinker and knee-buckling Eephus pitch.
Damn Sergio.
So far so good.
Damn, Mitre’s got his control and secondary pitches working today so far
That was a hanger.
I still have some confidence in Serg. I love me some sinkers.
Damn, that one was just bad luck.
If we’re on grass, that’s the third out.
Dang Robbie gotta stop that ball.
Damn, just slipped by cano
ah damn, get out of this Surge
one more strike
Worse idea:
mixing Mitre and turf or ammonia and bleach?
They go together like lamb and tuna fish.
Grrrr
shit
and the floodgates….
the floodgates have been destroyed since his first start.
Same shit as last time out. Two quick outs, bam, rally.
This is a bad flashback to last week–two quick outs from Mitre, then it all goes downhill.
its going to be a long game
damn, good start but not finishing off hitter after getting to 2 strikes on the past 3
this is chicago all over again
No, its not.
Yo, Mota is a Bitch.
Like seriously, u can’t hit guys and run away.
ha he got thrown out of the game. Prince is a big baby, you hit Manny, expect to get hit back.
exactly. Mota is going to meet Fielder at the plate? If Fielder had a problme you take care of it right there like every other player does, you dont try to get into the opposing clubhouse. dude’s a freakin hot head
oh god
Ugh, a bunch of crap.
come on get out of the inning
If Serg didn’t have bad luck he’d have no luck at all.
Cmon Surge, get out of this.
How about just forfeiting every time Mitre is scheduled to start so at least nobody gets injured and the bullpen gets a day off.
Relax boss.
He’s not Wang
No one expects him to be Wang.
This is what a guy like Mitre is going to do, he’s not going to be great.
The point is Wang sucks and we forfeited every game he started b
My fault b, I’m all jacked up on Mountain Dew.
Im straight since I dont expect to win anytime Mitre pitches I dont get mad or frustrated when he sucks. Kinda like Ponson and Rasner last year.
arent Yankees 2-1 in his starts so far?
Yup believe so, but I still dont expect them to win when he starts.
thank god
the ball bounces to someone
.205 average ftw!
Mitre sucks. How those mechanics??
I’ll guess you know as much about mechanics as you do about pitching in general.
So they r good?? Guess his crap pre start was just that. Crap
Jason Bay with an A-Rod like home run. 2nd inning?
and bay just hred, start a bad night
Oh my Mo, relax people. 2nd freakin’ inning.
Sergio, please don’t kill our bullpen before the Red Sox come to NY for a four game series. Begging you man. Please don’t.
That’s why Claggett’s up.
Hopefully this will be Mitre’s last start.
How much BS does this Lend America thing smell like?
Um, the game did just start right? I think Mitre was just doing his best Roy Halladay impression, Eiland told him to follow his example and he took it literally.
haha Dick Pole
Rusty Kuntz
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/9522/dickbyq.jpg
OK, Surge just shut em down from here and give us 6 solid
wow I want what he’s on
it will not matter if the Yankees don’t score any runs
It’s impossible for me to look at his name and not try and pronounce the R.
Oh good, the fake umpires are back. That novelty didn’t wear off after the first inning we saw them or anything.
Definitely still a fresh act.
They were featured on Sportscenter last night.
I hate them with a passion.
Some of the actual umpires this year have been more of a joke than those two.
I know their overall value has been well-defined by a lot of people here, but am I crazy or do Wells and Rios tend to rake against the Yanks? I know the numbers bear it out for Rios, I’m not sure about Wells though.
Note: this post was not an indication that I’d want either one of those contracts!
Ya, Rios rakes against the Yanks. My buddy who’s not an avid baseball fan, more of a football guy. Every time Yanks play Toronto, he always brings up how Alex Rios pwns them.
Every team has 1 or 2 guys that seem to do that. I guess that makes sense when you think about it, but I find myself yelling at the TV at least twice a night, “God, that guy kills the Yankees!” I know it’s partly just being a biased fan, but oh well.
Guys like Kendrick come to mind…
Ya. Garret Anderson and Kevin Millar are others.
ah, good call.
Mitre was not only NOT bad that inning, he was actually pretty good. He’s a sinkerballer, so (just like Wang) when he gets a ground ball he’s done his job. If they find holes, you have to live w/it. The Rios AB was a broken bat blooper that found a hole, that can happen to anyone.
I liked what I saw, and if he keeps it up he’ll be fine. Just some bad luck that inning.
I’m with you on that.
Oh god. What’s it take to be bad? 5 runs?
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/200.....blue-jays/
How does that answer his legitimate question?
Because its not, its knee-jerk typical fan garbage. If I just wanted to look at the score and nothing else, I could listen to Mike Francesa all day, and Baseball would be much less interesting if I did.
I agree his response was knee-jerk, but so was just posting a link to another blog instead of explaining there is more to the story than just runs scored.
I did so in my first post. Had he addressed anything I said with something tangible and/or cogent, I’d be happy to debate him.
No you didn’t address his question on runs. I believe he was questioning you to how runs play a role. If a pitcher allows 6 groundball singles that find holes and 2 bloopers and allows 5 runs in an inning can he still be considered effective?
I agree that there is more to a pitching effort than just runs allowed. But at some point people will question if a lot of runs allowed indicates a bad inning no matter what the hits are like.
thats the cool part abt being a GB pitcher.. u only need to produce the GB.. where it goes they dont care… i wonder if that holds for a flyballer… i only produce them flies.. if Yankee stadium has a jet stream how am i at fault… LOL
that’s his good inning? yikes…
I agree.
I agree. And he’s kinda had a lot of bad luck in the 1st start too.
I completely agree. Two hits were on pretty good pitches. If he keeps making those same pitches, the Yanks will be okay with Mitre as the #5 starter.
amen…and some good first pitch strikes
Well put Artist
attaboy swishahouse!
Great swing, Swish.
nice Swisher…now DO NOT GIDP Robbie
can we bring back tomko. lol.
Joe Inglett is still in baseball? Good for him.
Erik Bedard is getting another MRI on his shoulder.
http://skepticalteacher.files......epalm1.jpg
damn, hit on the screws.
that was easy for the blue jays outfielders….
ok enough of this bullshit. Offense needs to bury this guy next inning. Now if only Sergio “don’t call me a BP pitcher” Mitre can hold Toronto to no runs this inning, we will be in good shape.
http://www.wlos.com/shared/new....._856.shtml
now thats a catch
Looks like a trap.
http://www.dayofthejedi.com/ar...../b/037.jpg
Infuckingcredible.
the interet is a wonderful place.
I laughed at this.
They planned it.
it’s not often you see 4 fielders in on the same play, excluding popups in the mound area.
this should be a very easy text poll
Damn, I always get Rod Barajas and Gerald Laird confused for some reason.
Didn’t they platoon in texas at one point?
Anyone see that guy Jon Niese’s injury today it looked painful
Joe Inglett? Really Mitre? Really?
that kinda sucked there with that no name no 9 hitter
I know my memory and eyes and ears are selective and probably wrong, but it seems/sounds like everything hit against Mitre is just ripped.
maybe, but if i counted right he has only given up 4 XBH this year
Interesting. But, he does have a LD% of around 25% so…
True, maybe its just ‘luck’ that they go right at the OFers, or maybe its luck that they bounce right before them, etc.
DP time!!!!!
Gameday has Mitre at 92 consistently with his fastball. Not bad.
Except for all the, you know, hits.
Did Singleton just say “Brahaha” ?
i laughed at that
I’m going to say “Brahaha” from now on, thank you Kenny!
pena baby
2-1! Destroy Penny and exhaust the pen some more !!!
Is it just me or does Mitre look vaguely like Fez from That 70’s Show?
He is no Mila Kunis.
Do you have what it takes to represent your hood?
Only on this show, Yo Mama!
Yo mama so fat, she whistles bass.
Can someone explain this to me? I want to be able to use it.
Yo mama so stupid, she went to Applebees and got stung.
But why dos she whistle bass?
Hey, guys, sorry I’m late.
Yo mama so fat, her panty size is “Bitch, lose some weight!”
Base = base for auto equipment. It’s a deep sound.
Carlos Pena just hit a HR off Penny that hasnt landed yet.
I approve.
Me too, but we want Tampa to lose as well. Tampa-Red Sox leaves me a bit conflicted either way.
I always want the Sox to lose as my first natural instinct.
Boston’s the more immediate threat, therefore we root for them to lose.
Ideal situation is that they beat each other up and use up their bullpens; then fight it out all season and have Texas end up as the wild card
That.
No matter what happens tonight is both good and bad for us, so the best scenario is an absolute barnburner of exhaustion. I’m hoping for a 23-inning 19-17 win by someone.
And Papeldouche has to pitch 2 tough innings.
that was a HUUUUUUGE longball
mitre takes FOREVER to throw to someone on a base
Mitre just can’t stay in this rotation. He’s just too hittable to survive in the AL East. And I don’t why people downplay the significance of the yanks’ fifth starter. They’ll need every good start from every member of their rotation to win this division and hughes/aceves/anyone else gives them a much better chance at doing that. Mitre just sucks. Period. End of story.
*don’t know why
I hate these types of comments.
We all know there are better option(s) than Mitre in the pen with Hughes or Aceves. The Yankees say Hughes isn’t moving out of the pen. Yes, a dumb move because we all want him to be more value in the rotation and reach his innings. They think him in the pen makes them a better team.
Mitre has had 3 starts, 3! Not 10, not 11. Maybe Cash is looking at waivers as we speak, trying to work out a deal. We don’t know. If Mitre continues to be shit, and is starting his 8th or 9th game, then let’s bitch more.
Right now, he is what he is.
i’m sure cash is looking at waiver options, though its upsetting they won’t move hughes to the rotation. And every start counts, so every one with mitre pitching hurts the yanks’ chances. And he’s probably not getting any better, he’s 28, has essentially sucked his whole career, and now he’s pitching in a brutal division
So let it be written, so let it be done.
Charlie has spoken, and the debate is over.
Period. End of story.
Thank you for your humbling support
. . . . . . .
MITRE WITH THE BACKDOOR!
Care to rephrase that?
maybe…
Nice bounceback inning.
that was i like to se mr mitre.
there ya go Surge
Looking at the Pena HR celebration in the dugout, how the hell do all these players come up with these elaborate handshakes with all these twists and turns?
oh shit celebrations? bean them!
I have 32 handshakes, one for each of my students. Most of them are pretty basic, but some of them are MLB quality (mostly from the big, sport-crazy boys in class). Parents are amazed that I remember them, but I think it’s just ingrained in my dna.
Damn, that’s pretty sick. I can hardly remember 3 or 4.
Working out w/Brady Anderson? Uh oh…
Lol at training with Brady Anderson
Steroid Freak if there wasn’t one
Who knew Hairston can OBP?
Keep Brady away from everyone
similar to the stories that Matt Holliday and others were training with Mark McGwire this offseason
You know what’s funny about that? Holliday scrapped the stuff mcgwire taught him and has been on a tear ever since.
He’s back to the leg kick
With that walk you can tell Hairston is proud of his eyes.
/flash’d
IETC, flaherty is a complete moron
Hey hey hey, be nice. God knows Flaherty and the rest of the YES crew read this blog.
As much as people are down on Mitre, his pitches just seem too good sometimes to give up just yet. His sinker is 92-93 and you just saw on his last pitch he has a nice looking curve. I haven’t fangraph’d him yet as far as pitch values, but they’re probably not any good because of his limited poor performance. However, from what I can recall he has a FIP around 4.00, which for a number 5 is good in the AL.
I want to believe his performance so far is bad luck based, but that’s because he shows flashes of something good and he’s light years better than Sidney Ponson and Russ Ortiz and the like. Or I want to hope so at least.
even ponson had a good start once in a while..
he just got back from TJ surgery
i think he will be good next year
I want to believe that too, but the contact he gives up is just too hard; like I’ve said, his tRA is 5.65 (85 tRA+, same as ERA+) and he’s given up a 25% line drive rate. Dudes hit the ball very hard off of him.
How is Saltalamacchia hard to pronounce?
It sounds exactly like it’s spelled.
teh armpitz!!!
Can I SELL a vowel?
IETC.
Yikes, that could have been ugly.
Hairston: Can run the bases, too.
Thanks Hairston for running well there
good job
I wonder how everyone would’ve reacted if Swisher did what Hairston did.
ZOMG HE SUCKS WHAT A LOSER SHOULDA KEPT ABREAU!!!
to be fair we should have kept Abreau, ya know.
Jeterian
great base running by hairston
That was “good effort”.
Tim McCarver rolls his eyes.
Inglett is lucky he didn’t break himself on that play. That was ugly.
you know who would have made that play?
Damon would have made that play
we can hit groundballs too.
Wow that was AWESOME baserunning by jeter there
2-1 blue jays
Every time Jeter slides into third at the Rogers Centre, my heart skips a beat.
And with Jeter’s hit, my Beat the Streak stays alive! It’s now up to…two. Or three, I can’t remember!
That was all grit!!!!!!!!!!!
DAMON!!! cmon tex no DP
i think damon’s about to go on a big hot streak like he did in april/may. possibly a-rod too
Hustle Tex. Nice.
Mark Teixeira’s hustle is underrated
MARKY T WITH THA HUSTLE!
2-2 TIE GAME!
YES!!!
Nice hustle by Tex!
The action on Tex’s cheeks while he runs makes me laugh every single time.
He has the mean high-stepping run, too.
That’s twice Encarnacion hasn’t been able to get the ball out of his glove this series.
Thank you very much, Walt Jocketty.
I didn’t think I’d like Tex very much aside from him putting up good numbers but I friggin love this guy. Such an awesome all around ballplayer, I think we’re really lucky to have him.
Y wouldn’t u like Tex in the first place.
Tex is that dude.
no way thats a strike
damn i didnt think that was a strike 3 to alex
tough night so far for Arod.
tough night so far for Arod.
A-Rod has guessed wrong on two two strike pitches tonight.
well tie game…cmon Surge