May
16
Open Thread: So it goes
By
Photo Credit: Seth Wenig, AP
Well, games like that happen every so often. No one likes seeing Mariano Rivera blow a lead, but it happens two or three times a year, and we move on. Nothing you can do about it. Just come back to the park tomorrow and beat Boston.
Here’s tonight’s open thread. The Phillies and Brewers (Cole Hamels vs. Dave Bush) are you ESPN Sunday Night game, plus you’ve got NHL playoff action as well. Talk about whatever you want, just be cool.
132 Comments»
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I hate being reminded of Mariano’s mortality. Bah, I say, bah!
It’s all by design. He does it to trick people into thinking he’s human. These games mean nothing. It’s all part of the process.
+42
So, the Rays and Yankees meet for two in a few days. Right now, the Rays are two games up in the standings (26-11 vs. 24-13), and have the Indians coming in for two while the Sox are coming in for two against the Yankees.
Which leads to the question: After May 20, who will be in 1st place in the AL East?
Obviously, it’s still too early for this to really mean all that much (the Yankees didn’t take over 1st place for good ’till July 21 last year), but isn’t this question part of the point of an open thread?
Bruney designated for assignment: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/.....nment.html
Gaudin and Edwar too, I think we should bring them all back!
Mets could use Gaudin right around now. Niese is supposed to miss his next start, and Ollie’s already out of the rotation.
A sweep would have been nice but there’s not much to complain about when the Yanks win the series but just get beat by good players in one game. This week we shall dine on division rivals by putting our best pitchers out there to face them. It will be delicious.
But in non-Yankee news–how about Jeff Francis? 7 7 1 2 6 is none too shabby for his first start in the majors since 2008.
All of this, including the Jeff Francis part. Plus, the loss is due to something that will likely happen one or two more times at the most this season.
If I was a member of the media and you part of the Yankee organization my article description tomorrow would be, “Yankees expect even more Grand Slams from Rivera in 2010 season.”
I sure do. In interleague play, that is.
Does anybody know why Giradi pulled Mitre so early?
As far as the above question, of course the Rays will soon be in second place, possibly to stay. And when the Yankees some day field a healthy Major League team they’ll be unstoppable. Unless Joba and Mo start to make a habit out of spectacularly blowing saves.
He was on a pitch count.
Yep, 80-85 pitches. It was good that Mitre went as far as he did.
I’d guess that it was simply because Mitre isn’t stretched out to throw more than the 80 pitches or so he threw.
Wow, all the avatars over at the Yankees MLB board are blocked. There is a troll there who constantly posts with a pornographic avatar, so they had to block everyone, that sucks.
“Today, a man shot two people on the uptown bus. The he got a transfer and shot 3 more on the downtown bus. To prevent this from happening in the future, local officials are discontinuing the transfer system”
-George Carlin
Who gives a fuck. It’s one game. We won the series. We have the 2nd best record in baseball… And we’re gonna kick some Red Sox ass tomorrow.
Does anyone know if Beckett is a go for Tuesday’s game?
http://www.boston.com/sports/b.....t_yankees/
As long as he isn’t hit by a car first.
/Manuel’d
He hasn’t pitched since that 9-run beat down we gave him a while back.
I was just looking at Joe Girardi’s playing stats to kill time for some reason and holy lord, I do not remember him being THAT awful. (late ’90s nostalgia, likely.)
He was, in a word, gritty.
did he ever dive into 1B on a ball that was obviously foul? Since Friday night, that’s my Grit Meter. You don’t do that, you’re not gritty enough.
I think he looked pretty good compared to nokes at the time, then posada started hitting and the rest is history. and cervelli’s defense might make him a keeper, he seems like he has the potential to be that guy again once the noise dies down and his BA comes down to earth. and now with romine and montero coming up the yankees find themselves with another embarassment of riches
fun fact: girardi wore #45 (previously worn by danny tartabull) and then switched to #25 in 1996 when the yankees acquired cecil fielder #45. this number was worn next by chili davis, carl pavano and now sergio mitre
Yeesh, seriously. That triple off Maddux outweighed any memories of his crappiness–ten year olds have very selective memories
Yep. I was so young when he was on the Yankees, and those teams were so good, and my most vivid memory of him is that triple, so I figured “Well he had to be league average with the Yankees.” Ummm guess not??? (he did have a 96 wRC+ in 1996……)
Also, when they play that Yankees Classic that’s Opening Day 1996 in the snow, Kay and Sterling have this whole discussion about how Leyritz is Pettitte’s personal catcher and how they’re worried Girardi and Pettitte don’t get along. In retrospect, this is obviously pretty hilarious.
speaking of personal catchers, my favorite snapshot i took from 2009 ALCS game 2:
http://i43.tinypic.com/xor3pi.jpg
also, Girardi’s postseason OPS: .463!!!! SSS and all, but seriously!!!
I love hearing him interviewed about that triple in 1996, though. He almost cries every time they do, and he talks about wanting to go back in time and just pause the game and listen to the stadium going crazy. It’s very touching.
If you check all the players from those years most of their postseason OPS are way below their regular season OPS minus Jeter and Bernie.
In the 2001 World Series, the entire team collectively hit .183/.240/.288/.528
and they still had Mo on the mound to close it out
That .183 is the lowest BA of any team in a 5+ game series, I believe. Makes sense, I guess – usually teams that hit that poorly lose a lot earlier.
In the 1996 World Series, the Yankees had a lower BA, OBP, SLG, and OPS than the Braves, and a higher ERA (and worse peripherals). I guess that’s what happens when you lose the first two games by a combined 16-1 and then win the next four 17-10…
1960 Pirates:
.256/.301/.355/.656, 7.11 ERA, 1.758 WHIP
1960 Yankees:
.338/.383/.528/.911, 3.54 ERA, 1.180 WHIP
Pirates win in 7
The Yankees outhit the Marlins pretty good in the 2003 WS I believe too.
Huh – they did. I actually had no idea.
Yankees pitching had a 2.13 ERA in that series, damn.
Andy Pettitte, 2003 WS: 1-1, 0.57 ERA
Andy Pettitte, 2009 WS: 2-0, 5.40 ERA
I give Andy a lot of credit for what he did in last year’s WS (shocking from me, I know), Game 3 was actually awesome in its way even if the line score might not look that pretty, but DAMN.
Marlins’ runs by game:
3, 1, 1, 4, 6, 2
I do not remember their pitching being that good
The 03 team was the best pitching staff we’ve had since then, and was a nudge better than last year’s WS group.
Yeah, the Yanks shelled them in all of their wins and lost by 1 or 2 in the other 4 games:
Gm 1, 6-4 pit
Gm 2, 16-3 nyy
Gm 3, 10-0 nyy
Gm 4, 3-2 pit
Gm 5, 5-2 pit
Gm 6, 12- 0 nyy
Gm 7, 10-9 pit
Game 7 must’ve been entertaining as hell..too bad we lost
actually mo blew the lead in the bottom of the 9th in game 7 that year
the heartbreaker of heartbreakers
I wanted to make some snarky comment about this but then I realized I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about…
referring to the comment above about mo closing the 2001 ws out…
They still had him on the mound to close it out. That he wasn’t able to doesn’t change that
pardon my french, JGS
Tino Martinez, postseason (NYY only)–.228/.315/.349/.665
Brosius, postseason–.245/.278/.418/.696
Girardi (NYY only)–.205/.271/.250/.521
and for what it’s worth,
Giambi (NYY only)–.279/.409/.510/.919
I’m aware of Tino’s postseason numbers, but they’re still pretty shocking every time I see them.
Giambi doesn’t get enough credit. Wasn’t even close to my favorite Yankee, was obviously terrible in the field and declined, but people act like he was out-and-out horrible. He was not.
143 OPS+ for the duration of the contract, and only two seasons of under 128. The defense was bad, and the contract was probably two years too long, but he definitely gets a bad rap
You shouldve listed Soriano’s stats in the postseason. Im pretty sure those were pretty pathetic as well.
NYY only–.233/.287/.336/.622 (with a 29% K-rate)
I didn’t list him because he doesn’t have a reputation as a big time performer
Slider, low and away.
overall: .213/.263/.299/.562
with NYY only: .276/.333/.379/.713
Can’t think of Soriano without thinking of, among other things, that HR in the top of the eighth in G7 2001… ;_;
I messed up the with NYY only stats, I only went up through the 2001 Series. JGS’ are right.
I usually think of this game
that one too – great game. I’d love to see the ALCS from 2001 all over again (minus the game we lost boo.)
“I guarantee you we will be back here for Game 6.”
-Lou Piniella, after Game 2
Game 5 was probably one of the most fun games I ever went to–it was 8-0 by the 6th inning and from then on the whole crowd was just chanting “overrated” at Ichiro and Hip Hip Jorge and the like
I wasn’t there (my dad COULD have gone, he actually had tickets, but he turned them down. And didn’t give them to me/my mom. AM I REALLY RELATED TO HIM???????), but I remember the NO GAME 6! chants.
With Rollins due to come off the DL tomorrow, should I drop Brignac or LaPorta?
LaPorta
Hughes vs Dice-BB tomorrow, can you smell an easy win?
because you said that Dice-K will have a CG SHO
He’ll walk twelve batters, however.
I don’t want to live in a world where Daisuke strings together two straight quality starts. Advantage: Hughes.
I don’t want to live in a world where Daisuke strings together two straight quality starts.It doesn’t matter who they send up there because right now Hughes is the best pitcher in baseball. Advantage: Hughes.FTFY
Dice-K’s career #s have actually been pretty good against the Yanks, and Hughes’ #s have been mediocre against the Sox. But Hughes is white-hot right now, and the Yanks should be a bad match up for a pitcher with crappy control. Have to like Hughes.
5.49 ERA and 1.561 WHIP with a 33/26 K/BB is good?
My bad, I was looking at his YS3 numbers and it’s just one start.
It was a beautiful day at the stadium today… Up until the 8th inning.
Everyone around me was pissed at Girardi for sending Swish up only to take him out. I tried explaining to them that he can’t really swing lefty right now.. So it goes.
The Daily News called that grand slam off of Mariano “the Javy curse.”
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm right!
also wow, Morgan/Miller/Hershiser are very nicely coordinated tonight.
They’re ALL making no sense?
haha yes. But they were also wearing like nicely coordinated ties/shirts.
Que?
So, I am taking my first trip to Yankee Stadium tomorrow for the Sox game. I was wondering what is a must do – Monument Park, BP, etc. The gates don’t open until 5 PM, but I was hoping to go in a bit earlier so I could avoid as much incoming subway traffic as possible. Is it a worth it?
Feel free to suggest anything you like.
walk around the entire stadium at least once and just enjoy the view.
If you have the time and are of-age, go up a little early and hang out and have a beer at Stan’s, on River Avenue, and check out the other bars on River Ave. as well as the stores there. When they open the Stadium go in and check out Monument Park and the Yankees Museum on the second level, then just walk around the whole place (hit the different levels, not just where you’re sitting) and check it out.
Have fun.
The Museum, 2nd floor right above Gate 6 by the Hard Rock.
Hector Noesi, proud member of BMTA, was promoted to Trenton!
Or, well, was.
How is his last name pronounced?
“NO=zee?”
“NO-essy?”
“NO-sea?”
“no-ZEE?”
i always thought it was neh-see
As a Spanish name I imagine it’s Noh-es-ee
Rivera on his performance: “Home run, anything can happen. But walking in a run is unacceptable. You can not go in there and do that.”
love when pitchers say that..reminds me of Jim Palmer
wasn’t Jim Palmer the one who never gave up a career grand slam, and later admitted he’d rather walk in a run than give up a slam?
Love Mo.
Jim Palmer, bases loaded, career: 13 walks, 0 home runs
wow
(forgot the most important part)–213 PA
Jim Palmer was like good at pitching and stuff. He is also not good at broadcasting and stuff. Also, the fact that his BB-Ref page is sponsored by some underwear company amuses me.
I believe he used to do commercials for an underwear company during his playing days.
I checked Wikipedia and it is true. That’s funny.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com.....c075ea.jpg
Eesh, if you Google Image Search Palmer, there are a ton of pictures like that. (scurries off to find pictures of Andy to clear out the Palmer images)
http://images2.cafepress.com/n.....-White.jpg
Hey Bexy, when’s your birthday?
I’ve never actually seen that before, ha ha!
It’s in December.
Like three hours later, I realize why you were asking me when my birthday was. It wasn’t an actual question. Durrrrrr
you said… “did he ever dive into 1B on a ball that was obviously foul? Since Friday night, that’s my Grit Meter”
I didn’t catch Friday’s game — who’s that referring to?
Nick Punto hit a bunt that kicked foul, but he was running down the line and dove into 1B even though it was obvious no one was going after the ball because it was, again, obviously drifting foul.
Punto, Mathis, Eckstein…is an OPS+ of <90 also a prereq for grittiness? Other than Youk and Pedroia, I can't think of an actual good hitter who is also a master of grit
I never heard Mathis called gritty. On the other hand, Erstad. =P (OPS+ of 93)
But yeah, if you want to be called gritty, be a white guy who isn’t all that good at baseball but who always runs hard (like, uh, every baseball player 99.9% of the time).
Hmm…I may have been imagining the Mathis gritty part, but in terms of the ALCS last year–whiteness + doubles machine = grit
Mathis is a white dude that plays for the Angels. How can he NOT be gritty. Oh and don’t forget Reggie Willits.
Willits, a charter member of the Reggie Cleveland All-Star. his name kinda makes it seem like he was a 70′s buddy cop sitcom star.
Teh Gritster himself?
what defines grit anyway?
disclaimer: Not trying to be racist with the “have to be white” comment, just stating an observation
to me they have to:
A) Be white
B) Not play for the Yankees
C) Not be very good at baseball
D) Makes unnecessary dives
E) Slide head first into first base, for no reason
F) Always have their uniform dity
G) Have above average speed
Did i miss anything?
H) Wears eyeblack.
Ohhhh good one!
We came up with this list last year. I forget it all though…
1. White
2. Short
3. Balding
4. Dives into first
5. Plays the game the right way
6. Weak throwing arm
7. Eye back
8. Runs to first on a walk
We had 13 total, I wish I could remember them all. It was our “13 Rules Of Grit,” and a player needed at least seven of them to qualify as gritty.
oh, even though his stats say otherwise, i could’ve sworn it was the other way around.
I asked this on Twitter, but I figured I’d ask here too: when did they start calling Jeter and Mo surefire HOFers? Jeter, I’d guess around either:
a. 2003, when he was named captain
b. 2004, when he dove into the stands
c. 2006, because he’d been in the league 10 years and had a fantastic season (and was hosed for MVP)
But Mo? It’s hard for a RP to get that kind of treatment, even the best RP of all time.
I’d say around the 2003 ALCS. When that ended, he had just pitched three shutout innings in one of the best games of all time–driving home just how much better he was than any other reliever–and had a postseason record of 7-1 with a 0.78 ERA and 0.761 WHIP in 92 innings
i’d say ’06 simply because of the “surefire” qualifier. he was probably given the “if he keeps this up…” preface in the prior years
as for Mo, i’d say after 2005, b/c he had his best year to date (at least according to ERA+) and was top-3 in Cy Young voting for the second straight year. In terms of the postseason, by that point, he had only had a WHIP of 1.0 or higher in 8 out of 24 series, so his dominance was well-documented and expected, in spite of some memorable failures.
nevermind, Mo’s has to be earlier simply bc of the postseason dominance. I agree with JGS: after that performance, there was no doubt about it.
Hey guys, I’m doing a radio appearance tonight behind enemy lines.
http://www.theyankeeu.com/2010.....west-17889
Not sure if I’ll make it out alive, but a have a few of my ‘Jack Bauer’ moves handy if things get too tricky.
Now, it could very well be true or make sense, but Joe Morgan just offered absolutely no defense of his “5-4 games are harder to win than 1-0 games” theorem, yet it was readily accepted.
They’re harder to win because:
A.) It’s harder to score 5 runs than 1 run
B.) It’s harder to overcome a 4 run deficit than a 0 run deficit
C.) You have to be more cosistent to win a 5-4 game, and cosistency is the most important thing in baseball
well done. KT would be proud
I have a pair of tickets to tomorrow’s Yankees/ Sox game and can’t make it b/c of work. Tickets are in grandstand outfield and I just want to trade them for another pair of tickets to a game- possibly Wed. vs. the Rays. Will consider a pair to ANY game.
email me at joeziemer (at) gmail dot com
More knob slobbing over complete games. So tired of this.
Not sure why, but I was just thinking who would be the best player of all time in all of the different divisions. Keeping in mind current alignment, not at the time of the players in question.
Examples-
AL East: Ruth?
AL Central: Cobb?
AL West: Ryan?
NL East: Aaron?
NL Central: Gibson? Banks? Soriano?!
NL West: Mays?
Using Rally’s WAR:
AL East: Ruth
AL Central: Cobb
AL West: not sure if Eddie Collins played long enough in the division so…Ricky
NL East: Aaron
NL Central: Musial
NL West: Bonds
How dare I forget about Rickey! I think they should rename all of the divisions after its greatest player. The Bonds Division probably wouldn’t work though.
I’d go Musial for the NL Central.
Musial over Wagner?
Joe Morgan?
AL East: Ruth?
AL Central: Cobb?
AL West:
Ryan?Eddie Collins of the AthleticsNL East: Aaron?
NL Central:
Gibson? Banks? Soriano?!Honus WagnerNL West:
Mays?BondsRyan is the worst one on your list, by far. The Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland A’s have probably a half-dozen players better than him.
Also, loving the Vonnegut reference.
Ya, I blanked. JGS said Rickey and I tend to agree with that.
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-.....id=5193409
The fuck?
it’s ESPN NY. Take it with a grain of salt.
I’ve seen too many people flip out over this. All Girardi said was that Javy was available in relief if needed. Mitre’s a no go for a few days, and Nova will presumably be sent down for CHoP tomorrow. They have no long reliever, and since Javy’s start is the farthest away, he’ll be that guy in an emergency.
That’s all it means. No big deal.
That’s what I meant. Unless I’m missing something, I don’t see how anything in Girardi’s quotes equals “Vazquez to relieve vs. Red Sox”.
Question:
Since Dice-K is a righty, that means Swisher can play right?
What happens if the Red Sox put in Okajima later in the game? Are they really going to take out Swisher? Or would he bat lefty? I mean it’s likely Okajima only goes one inning, and their only other lefty is Schoeneweis.
Dice-K is a righty, so Swisher can’t hit