Apr
18
Game 12: For Those About To Hi-rok
By
(REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine)
Five days ago, Hiroki Kuroda opened the Bronx portion of the Yankees’ schedule with a bang, shutting out the Angels over eight-plus innings. Tonight he gets the much less hyped Twins, who have put up a nice little fight over the first two games of the series. You can’t expect Kuroda to repeat his last start tonight, but gosh darn it, I sure hope he does. Here’s the starting nine…
SS Derek Jeter
CF Curtis Granderson
1B Mark Teixeira
2B Robinson Cano
DH Nick Swisher
RF Raul Ibanez — oh boy
3B Eric Chavez
C Russell Martin
LF Brett Gardner
RHP Hiroki Kuroda
Tonight’s game starts at 7:05pm ET and can be seen on YES. Enjoy.
Update: Brett Gardner is a late scratch will right elbow soreness. Andruw Jones is playing left field
708 Comments»
RAB Info
The Founders
Mike Axisa, Ben Kabak, Joe Pawlikowski
Editor-In-Chief
Mike Axisa Archives | Email
Managing Editors
Ben Kabak Archives | E-mail
Joe Pawlikowski Archives | E-mail
Contributing Editors
Larry Koestler (Archives)
Moshe Mandel (Archives)
Eric Schultz (Archives)
Weekend Writers
Hannah Ehrlich (Archives)
Matthew Warden (Archives)
Special Contributor
J.R. O'Grady (Archives)
Technical Consultant
Jay Gordon
Subscribe to RAB by RSS
Follow @RiverAveBlues
Search RAB
Loading
Yankees News from YESNetwork.com
- Ichiro powers Yankees to Game 1 win
- Jeter takes batting practice in Tampa
- Zoilo Almonte expected to make MLB debut Wednesday night
- Yankees sign draft picks Clarkin, Katoh
- Francisco agrees to terms with San Diego Padres
- Yankees acquire Fernando Martinez from Houston
- Dodgers-Yankees rained out, doubleheader set
- Yankees put 1B Mark Teixeira back on disabled list
- Two Charleston RiverDogs pitchers added to SAL All-Star Game
- Mattingly excited for return to the Bronx
Banner Design By
The Tyler Austin Watch
It’s worth playing Ibanez in right just for the GIFs he will generate. I’m okay with giving up one run if he gives us at least three laughs out there.
Haha totally thinking the same thing. As long as it doesn’t lead to a game changing play for the worse, it’s OK by me.
Anyway, Joe did say he was planning to use Swish heavily in coming weeks, so better a misplayed fly ball by Raul in a blowout against the Twins than a dropped ball in the ninth inning of a tie game in Arlington next week.
HIROK
Chavez!
Please tell me you have enough titles with a play on “Hiroki” for the rest of the season, Mike. Solid gold man.
Hirok me like a hurricane. Let’s roll, you guys.
Hirok hirok hirok hirok hirok’n'roll high school.
FOR THOSE ABOUT TO HI-ROK….
FIRE!!!
JOE SALUTES YOOOU!!!!
Hirok of ages
I know this is off topic, but before the game started I just wanted to mourn the passing of Dick Clark. He’s been an influential American icon over the past decades on American Bandstand and hosting New Year’s Eve in Time Square. After his stroke in 2004, it was remarkable that he fought through and came back to still host on New Year’s, albeit in a limited role. What a wonderful man, and he will be deeply missed by many.
Here’s to ya, Dick.
I do an amazing post-stroke Dick Clark impression. It’s uncanny.
So does Howard Stern.
He was a great man. It is a shame that modern medicine couldn’t save him. The doctors really dropped the ball.
Before the game starts, any Giant fans on here? I was looking at the schedule before and think they could win ten games easily.
Not what that Lincecum fellow in the rotation. I heard on the street that that dude’s a bust
…other Giants.
Easily??
No.
I’m afraid that I’m with the MSM here. That schedule is a freaking massacre waiting to happen.
Yeah. That’s not an easy schedule, whatsoever. Half those teams are perennial playoff teams . . .
And another third is our division schedule. Those games are crapshoots in any sport.
Gardner late scratch. Elbow. Jones in left.
Doubt it’s too serious if they waited right to game time.
What’s Nick Swisher’s walk-up music by the way? Is it that I Feel Like Money song or have I just made that up in my head?
Look if Stewart can have a 3 RBI night the Raul Ibanez can play an errorless RF.
Come on guys I know you’re by the numbers, but lets believe in a little Yankees magic.
So Jones is 9-12 with 5 HRs and they weren’t going to play him? SSS and all, but come on Joe.
hasn’t had an AB against him since ’07 though.
Ya, and Jones is a lesser hitter, but Marquis is a lesser pitcher, and Jones hit a bomb last night. Before the Gardner injury, I would have played Jones in right.
Yup, I commented on that in the Marquis post. All the number are from 2007 and earlier, but still, give him a shot.
By the way, since free agency is apparently not cool anymore, we should be thankful the Yankees worked out their farm system some time ago. Here’s hoping they keep with the strong scouting and the good development program; I pray to the J-man that there are no more Joba-like situations, and Nova’s development hopefully is a good indication of that.
I have no idea what this means. Work out their farm system? You wouldn’t draft Joba again if given the chance? Nova’s development was completely independent of Joba’s.
Worked out their farm system as in: thank God they rebuilt it once Cashman got more control of the team from The Boss.
Some odd fellas at the bottom of that Twins lineup, I’ll tell ya…
Ibanez cant be worse than Marcus Thames was.
And so far Kuroda’s pitches are up. Not a good sign
Montero’s doing pretty well in Seattle, oh well pineda’s eventually gunna be a BAMF. feeling a Teixeira bomb today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5LW07FTJbI
Pitches up.
That’s what I said
One day the Yankees will not give up a first inning run.
Question: Do we need to win these games given or next few weeks, despite it being early.
Is splitting with the Twins here tempting fate?
No.
I mean, sure, they all count equally and losing them is bad. But when you start extrapolating from those losses, you start moving beyond the scope of reason.
Well Kuroda loses all credit from the Angels game for this.
Can only hope the Red Sox stay cold when we face them.
our pitching staff is making the twins look good.. thats awful
No wind excuses tonight. Blowing right to left, 6 mph.
And that, my friends, is why Girardi had Gardner in. Not sure he could’ve gotten there, but he would’ve had a shot.
he would have had it, andruw is simply too slow
Um. Not the start I wanted.
This game is over.
They haven’t even batted yet, relax.
I need a Youtube video of that Animal House clip they put on the screen when the Yankees are down seven runs in the ninth.
Just for situations like this.
Wow Kuroda is getting ROCKED
I think you mean Hi-Rok’d
Well this is less than ideal.
Down, down. Pitches down.
so is Phelps available today?
safe to say I can switch over to hockey in a little bit and not miss much.
Jesus, Hiroki.
What. The. Fuck.
Ugh, come on Hiroki
Wow. This is going to be a fun game . . .
Not we will score a ton tonight
Obviously Morneau is the solution to the Yankees’ DH woes.
And the boo birds make their 1st appearance of the night.
Although I could have hit that pitch to Morneau, it was right down Broadway.
I called a split. Just gotta win tomorrow now.
Look who’s pitching tomorrow . . . I wouldn’t exactly expect a positive outcome.
Waving the white flag kind of early, are we?
Because we don’t have one of the best offenses in the league, a lcokdown pen, and a veteran starter on the mound who could easily turn it on at any moment.
Yep, I think our chances are slim to none.
actually, no. We dont have one of the best offenses in the league… we have a BUNCH of guys struggling.
yet is still 4th in the league in r/g
So you’d rather look at a small 11 game sample than the past 3 to 4 years of productivity for this group?
You’re telling me you wouldn’t be scared to pitch to Cano or A-Rod in a close situation because they’ve hit a bad stretch?
If I’m predicting the game tonight, the way guys have been hitting for the past 2 weeks should have a lot of weight.
Not at all. It’s something to consider, but past performance is a huge factor. These guys didn’t get to MLB by snapping their fingers. They have hit in the past, and you would be crazy to discount that.
” the way guys have been hitting for the past 2 weeks should have a lot of weight.”
4th best in AL and 5th best in MLB this year
last 2 weeks or last few years, they are one of the top offenses no matter how you choose to look at it
You’re completely insane. Or just going by the eye of a fan instead of actual statistics or historical record.
Looks like I don’t have to watch this game. Thanks Kuroda.
Dragon getting killed.
Kuroda loses all respect from the Angels win with this dump
Can only hope the Red Sox are still getting shelled when we go there.
Must beat up the bad teams.
It’s game 12.
Dont care. You have to beat down on the crappy teams and go .500 against good teams. That is baseball logic.
Now they may pick it up later in the year. But we cant skip to that point.
I know its a long season, but we still have to go through every game.
And you have absolutely no idea how those games will play out, so let’s just calm down.
Don’t try and use logic with Greg
That’s not the point.
We just cant simulate this loss (if it is a loss) like in a video game and move on quickly,
We have to live through pain.
Live through the pain? If a (potential) loss on April 18th causes you pain, I suggest finding a new sport.
Any loss causes discomfort. In any sport.
Stop watching sports.
I mean by tomorrow, this will be out of mind. But we cant skip to tomorrow.
You aren’t just living through pain. You’re living through pain and then taking it and assuming it will continue.
Live through pain? This is hardly living through pain. I know you’re still young and all, and I’m not much older, but in degrees of pain, this isn’t even close to painful.
I’m getting laid off in about 9 weeks. That’s going to be much more painful. What happened to Jason Marquis’ daughter is EXTREMELY painful. I mean, come on, man, perspective.
That’s very fair. I meant discomfort, not pain. I apologize.
That’s not baseball logic, because it’s unreasonable. No game is a sure win or loss, so you can’t realistically expect a team to beat down the crappy ones and go .500 against the good ones.
It’s easy to think like that, but it’s impractical.
All you have to do is hope for your team to win enough games to make it the playoffs (which the Yankees are generally good at, regardless of which teams they do or do not beat in the regular season) and hope they get hot.
Thankyou. I think people really need to put things into perspective. The Yankees are definitely one of the better teams in the AL, and they’ll improve (probably) once Pineda and Pettitte come back.
I think people would enjoy the game a bit more if they didn’t live and die with every win/loss. If they lose, fine. They’ll play tomorrow and probably win and you’ll get over it.
I have this troubling thought that Kuroda is going to be on and off all season long. He’ll be either be great or horrendous with no middle ground . . .
So do I.
You said that after his first start, then changed your mind after his second.
Do you see the problem here?
Sean Burroughs? Wow the twins really have fallen on hard times. Wasn’t he out of baseball the past couple of seasons?
He resurfaced with Arizona last year.
I didn’t like him when he was in little league.
I was at the game last year when he hit his only homer. I thought about keeping the ticket stub for historical reasons.
12 games and only one good pitching performance…
Cashman just couldn’t keep Colon.
Revisionist history at its finest.
how is it revisionism, I always said it could hurt to bring him back?
if ya gonna put words in my mouth, at least they should be accurate.
He means (I think) that you’re putting on very rosey glasses for Colon.
No this is just another effect from the Yankees not developing quality starting pitching. Do I need to break out the list again?
Please don’t. We all presented reasons your list was faulty and you ignored us. There’s no point.
He’s made 3 starts, all against Seattle, and he was terrible in one of them.
…..
Go look at his games and who he was playing. Then tell us how great he is.
Good Lord.
Oh phelpsie
Maybe kuroda has the flu
Well….better he sucks now rather than in October, right?
Fucking swamp rats.
I blame Girardi, he should have looked deep into Kuroda’s eyes before the game and been able to tell if he could bring it tonight or not. Not bringing Phelps in after the first run is an error according to Earl Weaver.
Though I’m tiring of using this meme without prompting, I laughed at this one.
We win this game. Calling right now.
By the way, since I missed it earlier, I could see the Giants winning anywhere from 6-11 games with their schedule.
What they absolutely HAVE to do is win their division games.
I actually agree with you, but I think they win at least 8, and should win ten. But with how inconsistent they are…I can easily six or 11
The problem is you can’t predict injuries, things like that, which is why I cast such a broad range right now.
Also, he could still settle down and pitch fine the rest of the game. Just gotta hope the offense delivers tonight.
Kuroda (and Martin) need to adjust when teams are hacking early in counts, like TB was.
While it’s good to pound the zone, when teams are hacking as soon as they step into the box maybe you don’t need to pound the zone. He threw 23 pitches to 8 batters.
To be fair the opposing pitcher is Jason Marquis, so this game is still winnable.
Nonsense! We’re DOOMED!
Oh, wait. We’re only down one. Damn.
Yanks offense from last night needs to appear and pick Kuroda up.
That was Aj bad, someone make sure there are no sharp knives near him.
We ain’t dead yet!
Jeter planning to bat .400, hit in 57 straight games.
Wow, I love dead cat bounce Jeter
I think 300 ABs is more than a dead cat bounce.
The Sarcasm is strong with this one.
Indeed.
Three intentional walks and a grand slam?
Other HIroki puns: Hirok and roll ain’t noise pollution, and the cradle will Hirok, I love Hirok and roll, Hirok and roll train, Hirok and roll band, It’s still Hirok and roll to me, Hirok with you, Hirok Lobster, Hirok and Roll music, HIrok and roll fantasy, Hirok of ages, Hirok the boat, Hirok the casbah, Hirokin’ in the free world, We will Hirok you. Just saying.
Must score at least one run this inning, hopefully more
FU John Sterling.
+1
+eleventy hundred
I thought that was gone.
For real? That was a nice drive but it wasn’t close.
Yeah…it sounded gone from sterling.
Even Kay got a little excited.
warning track power (j/k)
Wait, isn’t Cano supposed to be batting third?
No, and it’s good that he’s not. You bat your best hitters 2nd and 4th.
What would Earl Weaver say about that?
Girardi switched it up a couple days ago.
It ain’t over yet but it’ll be an embarrassment if we lose again to these guys at home. You have to neutralize those lefties if you’re going to beat them. Let Phelps take over to keep it at 4 and then bring up a reliever tomorrow to shadow Hughes.
Kuroda is a veteran and deserves a longer leash. If this was a rookie may a different story, but never good to force your pen to go a min of 8 IP.
didn’t even get to the warning track, between the crowd and Kay you’d think it was a no doubter
And Sterling.
Is it just me or is the Yankees flu epidemic of 2012 going woefully underreported? Not that there is much to the story, but the way every bit of minutia gets dissected, I’m surprised there hasn’t been much coverage.
Ha, I was wondering about that! It’s making its stealthy way throughout the clubhouse.
I think it’s been proven 100s of times, somebody shows up with a cold every body catches it.
They went from mid 80s weather everyday to 60s bound to catch a cold
LOL, 18th century science!
It happens every year in every clubhouse. I don’t think the press even bothers anymore.
I love when a player hits a pitch that they have no business hitting.
Go Robbie!! (and Swish too)
Our offense is fun.
RISPWIN!!!!
wtf Swish it’s not the 9th inning and we’re not down 10 or up 10 runs
Oh, wow. And here I thought the game was over before the Yankees ever came to the plate.
I had heard it was…I wonder what happened?
At the moment…
…..
What??
Roller coaster of emotions. I like to frontrun because I’m used to losing with my other teams
I know!!! However, I look forward to your trade Hiroki post tomorrow.
Still down a run… DOOOOMED!!!!!!
Hits with runners in scoring position? Imagine that.
I guess since the game has already been declared over here, those Swisher RBI’s officially count as Garbage Time, amirite?
Agreed. The scorers are debating whether to dock Swish the 2 ribbies and call it a defensive indifference, bc obviously the Twins have the game locked up.
Okay, I nominate this for Post of the Week. That was good stuff.
seconded.
Your logic is sound.
Well that was interesting.
I know Joe wants to rest guys, but I feel like he rarely plays the “A” lineup, basically against boston and then once a week on average. I know they need rest, but cmon.
I recall thinking the exact same thing last season. I believe it’s a patented Joe G. move.
That’s a big reason I was against the idea of the rotating DH. I would rather occasionally give players an actual day off than putting out a sub-optimal lineup almost every night.
The lineup’s doing pretty well tonight, though.
Well, I mean, 13 games in 13 days, with 6 of those on the road in Boston and Texas. Would you rather those guys sit out against those teams?
Betcha Jeter sits tomorrow.
I think part of that is that the first three games were on the turf in Tampa and he played the Old Guys in the field for most of it because we didn’t want to get swept. Now he’s compensating.
Kuroda has a Al offense to pick him up. Him and pineda will learn 3 4 runs down not out of it here.
Damn it! The Yanks are losing, why is Swisher smiling ?!?
Pitch #7 way too close to take
Man…..this is one Hell of a strikezone.
I mean, I love the runs, but JESUS its bad.
This is going to be a long game
Nice at bat by Jones.
Marquis is at 30 pitches already.
Andruw is just making Marquis throwing as many pitches as possible
Sterling should catch a cold more often; he was moderate the other day, now he’s just shouting anytime Jones makes contact.
Well Jones did hit a few absolute bombs foul
Haha, I think this is the second truest thing ever spoken next to Susan’s “Nobody cares what I think” yesterday or Monday.
Now THAT is a walk.
ELIMINATE!
Rangers scored less than a minute in. Nice.
Sweet. Sweating out those last 10 minutes the other night was tough.
Those other Rangers. I was confused for a minute.
Gah, specify hockey or baseball, please.
Russell the black hole martin.
What’s this scout thing that got added to MLB gameday
Random spouts of common sense that pop up every once in a while. They’re always something like “Player B is showing confidence in his fastball, he’s thrown it four straight pitches.”
Nah, my favorites are the “Player B is having trouble locating his fastball” and then the next three pitchers are called strikes.
Son of a bitch!
Worst possible outcome there.
Babiptch
Dag Nabit
Well that was frustrating.
Bah, hit it hard. Marquis is not long for this game.
Neither was Pavano the other day……until he was
Yeah but how often does that happen against the Yankees?
Well, I, for one, saw THAT coming . . .
Seriously, you can’t complain about that. He hit that much harder than Raul hit his but it was just in the wrong spot
I’m not complaining, per se, I just knew the fates would twist in the other direction sooner or later. For some reason I assumed it occur during Chavez’s AB.
Its a 1 run game unclench your panties
Eric Chavez: Rally Killer
At least none of his limbs popped off.
ugly route Curtis
Another bloop.
Poop.
Despite the Chavez DP….
Our offense is kinda good, no?
Kuroda is the anti-AJ… he’s in the zone too much
Hy-rok you will get the burnett treatment if you dont settle in.
NY Rangers score again. Woot.
…That was fast.
Haha, when you said Rangers before I looked at the scoreboard, waiting for the run to show up in the Texas/Boston game.
Yea, just went to change the channel and missed it. Curses!
You’re ruining it. It’s dvring for after this game!!!
Anyone know if there have been any fights in the Flyers/Penguins game yet?
Bah, that’s on Cano.
comon Robbie..
…really, Cano?
Dammit, why couldn’t the umpire have just been like any other umpire and call him out because the throw beat him.
All Cano’s fault there.
John: I call players out and safe, I don’t wait for the umpires.
Um.
haha When he said that I was like…really John? I’m dead tired right now and even my slow moving brain realizes how stupid that sounds.
you just know mauer will get a hit
At least Kuroda has settled down after a rough first.
I’d love to know why the yanks middle infielders constantly stand a foot or two in front of the base instead of getting it over the bag.
And in fairness, I started this before kay’s gene Michael mention.
A lot of guys do it, not just Yankees. They probably want to avoid getting spiked or something.
If that’s the case, its hard to blame them.
Its not a pleasant sensation.
As a shortstop myself, I agree with this. In high school I got spiked in the knee while attempting to tag a runner who was stealing and got a wicked gash in my knee. It messed up my senior season.
I understand that but so many guys slide head first now that it lessens that threat. Also, if you’re stradding the bag and get spiked then they’re missing the base and you have a better shot at the out. And no, I’m not saying give up long injury time for one out, but I think the odds of it happening at pretty low in today’s MLB.
Jeter is even worse at it then cano, he’s way in front of the base when catching it.
Robbie owes us a hr now
Nice call!
Is there a reason why it’s a day game on Friday? I much prefer night games.
Because of all the celebration stuff, I’m sure.
I would prefer a night game too as my last exam of the semester is friday afternoon
Wait a second. A lawn products company is sponsoring NHL playoff games?
Am I the only one laughing at this?
I LOLed
I always thought grass companies should market team specific grass. Like, cultivate grass from Yankee Stadium then sell the seed so fans can have the same grass as the stadium.
they already do
http://www.scotts.com/smg/temp.....lb_newyork
Stupid Scotts stealing my idea.
Next you’ll tell me they have already come out with pre-sliced bread.
Girardi should rip cano for that ole shit.
Alright offense, let’s keep it goin.
Somebody wanna give me the Marquis’ kids story? I completely missed it…just broad stroke it though.
She was riding her bike and crashed. She rammed the handlebar into her gut and punctured her liver. I think they said she’s had 4 surgeries.
Fuck…that sounds brutal…
Yeah, they also said she lost something like 3 and half pints of blood, if I’m not mistaken. Poor kid.
Two weeks left in ST, he gets a call that his daughter fell off of her bike and was injured. There was a serious chance that she could have died from loss of blood, but she has recovered. Scary thing, and glad to see that she is doing OK.
Bench Martin, start Stewart! Kiddin
Martin like having the pitcher hit
Except his OBP is considerably higher.
A pitcher with a .400 OBP
A pitcher with a .400+ OBP, sure.
To be fair, it is an incredibly hollow 400 obp.
Also to be fair, it’s the 12th game of the season.
If you told me that our catcher would have an OBP of .400 on the year, I’d take it no matter what his other stats were
True, but I think the majority of us know that Martin is better than a pitcher at the plate.
Agreed.
But pointing to his .400 obp and concluding from that stat that he’s having a good year so far isn’t realy accurate. I could just as easily come back with his 70 OPS+ (down a bit after his AB this game) and say he is having a bad year.
An accurate picture of how he is doing can’t be done with a single number.
Also, it’s game 12.
I agree with all of that. I certainly wasn’t trying to say that he is having a good year so far because I don’t think he is at all. He hasn’t been making good contact nor has he been extremely productive. I just think it’s a bit asinine to compare his hitting to a pitcher.
It’s almost gotten to the point where obp is getting overrated. How many of those walks are going to advance runners multiple bases? How many will drive in runs? How many will put him in scoring position?
It’s like people would take a lineup of guys hitting .100 if they have ok obp’s (and yes, .400 obp is better than ok but it’s also only there because of 3 walks in the second game of the season, since then he’s just over .300 or so).
Stewie has a home now girardi and cash will keep him all season
Burt blyleven is the worst announcer this side of hawk harrelson.
Tim McCarver, Joe Buck, Craig Johnson, Eric Karros, Kevin Millar, the Indians’ play by play guy whose voice I always hear on MLBN, a bunch of others whose names I don’t know are all worse.
Oh, yea, John Smoltz.
Have you listened to blyleven? When an announcer can make u mute the tv and listen to waldman, it’s pretty damn bad. Don’t know if it gets much worse, but grant that you make a compelling list.
What I’ve heard of Blyleven hasn’t bothered me much.
Gah!
I forgot Joe Morgan, Bobby Valentine and Curt Schilling, too.
And the yankee offense goes to sleep for 4 innings
You reeeeelly love blanket statements based off small sample sizes don’t you?
It’s the curse of the first inning runs . . . It always happens.
Were all the balls hit as hard as Sterling lead me to believe? If so I think we’re going to score a bunch more runs.
Jeter’s was smoked.
Jeter’s was a rocket, Ganderson’s was more of a humpback liner.
They are hitting rockets, but if I know sterling he prolly led you to believe at least two were no doubters, but they were not close to going out.
I don’t like this version of Justin Morneau.
Get him out
Please no intentional walk, Joe.
He might end up walking him unintentionally the way this at bat is going
Guys, I want your opinion on something. My friend and I went to a retro video game store today for him to pick up a Gameboy Advanced because he’s on a Nintendo kick, and there was a drop dead gorgeous girl behind the counter. As I was talking to her I called her nerd-bait, and my friend agreed with me. She took it as the joke it was, but disagreed and said she was working there cause she truly likes games. I believe there is no way she’d be working there if she wasn’t as good looking as she is. Agree or disagree?
You would have to quiz her game knowledge, methinks.
She seemed to know her Zelda and Pokemon, which I thought was fairly impressive, but I’m a geek so me talking to her was kind of like Leanord talking to Penny in season 1 of The Big Bang Theory.
I’m sorry, I don’t watch that show so the reference is lost on me.
I’ve always heard that “it’s a show for geeks,” but whenever I see a promo for it I firmly believe that “it’s a show for people who have stereotypes about and like to make fun of ‘geeks.’”
Lol. Kay. Sssssssssssseeee ya!
As a geek/nerd I find it hysterical, plus I think it’s very well written. Very original, great characters, and excellent character development.
I watch Community.
I hear excellent things, and my cousin who was telling me about it also loves Big Bang, I think you should check it out.
Disagree.
Why don’t you ask her out?
Because that takes confidence, and I lack that in the way that AJ Burnett lacks fastball command.
Grow a set. Either she says yes and you’re knocking boots, or she says no and you get practice for next time.
Kuroda has no control tonight. Time to get Phelps up
I will say it again, just as I did for Marquis in the first inning:
This strike zone is terrible.
It really isn’t that bad to be honest.
What the hell is Flaherty talking about?
What a shitty hit.
another awful SP game… when should we worry?
October.
if the SP keeps being like this, we wont play in october
I would probably start worrying if the SP sucked continuously into June.
Everyone’s favorite situational lefty is up while Hiroki allows a RBI to Sean Burroughs. That alone should merit a demotion.
I just read on ESPN.com that Ivan Rodriguez will retire as a Ranger on Monday.
So, now the question. Obviously he is more than worthy of the Hall of Fame, but he has steroid accusations against him, too.
Do you think that he will be elected to the HOF or not?
First ballot
Probably not. The BBWAA likes to prove a point.
I think it will be sorted out by then. Eventually Bonds, Clemens, ect have to be included.
See, that’s why I’m not sure. We’re going to have up to 5 years of Bonds, Clemens, Sosa on the ballot first, so I’m honestly up in the air.
Obviously McGwire and Palmeiro have done terrible in balloting, but there you’ve got an admission and a positive test.
Gotta see what still happens with guys like Jeff Bagwell and Frank Thomas.
Also, those are guys (McGwire, Palmeiro) whose very HOF credentials you’d wonder about without the obvious boost they got got from steroids. Pudge was the best defensive catcher of his time long before he bulked up.
But I’m a permissive guy. I think there’s no way you can honestly sort out the users from the non-users, so exce[t for someone with borderline credentials and no-doubt steroid use, I vote them in.
Honestly, If Barry Bonds, who was a HOF player before the ‘roids isn’t going in than I don’t think Pudge should go in either.
You think there aren’t steroid users in the HOF?
There are PED users and a whole lot worse in the HOF. Ty Cobb stabbed a guy.
The oddest thing in baseball is the misconception that steroid use started with Jose Canseco’s career. If he had played 10 years earlier and written his tell-all, the league would have said that’s when steroids started. If he started his career in 1995, that’s when the steroids epidemic would have started.
Tom House played in the early 1970s and said steroid use was rampant back then. No one pays attention, though, since it ruins the narrative.
I’ve seen Rob Neyer write at least once that players were doing steroids back in the ’70s, but I think the bigger concern then was amphetamine usage.
Well, a guy named Marty Bergen got one vote each in both 1938 and 1939 when you could vote for basically anyone.
Marty Bergen, in 1900, killed his wife and two children with an axe, then killed himself by cutting his throat with a straight razor so badly that he nearly beheaded himself.
So, it could have been worse.
Of course there are, but this generation of players is much more scrutinzed than any other before hand with PEDs
When did Bonds start taking steroids?
Why do people assume he only started taking them when his body changed… that may have just been when he started taking the hardcore anabolic stuff.
We have know idea when Bonds really started taking steroids, all we have is a good idea when he perfected the cocktail
“know”…. yikes that’s good english
I thought Game of Shadows spelled everything out. I don’t know, I haven’t read it, but I think that’s pretty much the basis against Bonds.
It is, I actually just finished reading it today on my plane ride from Florida. I’m doing a history report on the progress and improvements that could be made to MLB’s drug testing system. Bonds essentially started using before 1999. His trainer, Greg Anderson, and BALCO supplied him with undectable PEDs that they had been giving to Olympic athletes. That’s where Giambi and Sheff got them too. There’s a ton of evidence linking Bonds to BALCO, which admittedly sold roids. It’s a really good read, and basically incriminates Bonds as a user.
Slider to a lefty in Yankee stadium?
Throw it in the dirt or don’t throw it at all…. A get me over slider against lefties in Yankee stadium is not the best gameplan.
Does he?
And get me a piece of those ladies
I remember in the (I think 2003) WS, as players came up to bat, they would give their stat line and also a bit of personal trivia about the player. When Pudge came up, his trivia (trivium?) was that his favorite musical artist was Yanni. Obviously an odd choice, then 5 seconds later, they zoom into Yanni in the crowd.
No matter how much I watch Pudge play, and I was a fan throughout his entire career, that will always be the indelible image in my mind when I think of his career.
Anyway, what were we talking about?
In my opinion, this year’s class is going to determine a lot about where HOF voting is going in the next few years. I have a bad feeling that induction classes are going to be low because of all these writers who think taking steroids is akin to murdering someone. There were many worse things done by players (and HOFers) prior to roids. Also, lots of writers think that everyone should play like in “the good old days”. I’m sorry, but those days are gone. It’s not your father’s game anymore, Peter Gammons.
All those guys should be examined by numbers, not by drug use. McGwire is not a true HOF player based on numbers. Bonds, Clemens, etc. should be. When assembling a muesem of the game’s history, you can’t play God and black out certain parts.
The good old days weren’t.
Phew, keeping it close
If Kuroda can get through this inning but lets up another run in the next I imagine that you have to put in Phelps.
Teixeira went the other way. I thought that guaranteed hits?
So did I
Man, Tex just can’t catch a break
Wow, I thought that was going much further.
So did Kay.
DONTCHA KNOW!
Robbie is so smooth.
I love that bat drop
Griffey.
Joey Votto.
THERE’S a deep fly ball to left field off a righty.
Oh. Anddddd….ROBBIE!
Who is that scrub Cano with the homer? Obviously, looking at what he has done up until that at bat, he should be demoted. No, released! Forced into an early retirement!
To be fair to the ledge-jumpers, they haven’t (mostly) been too worried about Cano.
Wow, Kay just made a Sterling reference.
Why, though?
Good lord the goalies in the Flyers-Pens series are bad. 4-3 Pitt in the first period
Holy crap.
A series of nothing but shitty goaltending and non-stop fighting.
Exactly what the NHL wants its image to be, I’m sure.
Damn… A little ashamed that Marquis hasn’t even breached the 60 pitch mark yet.
They’ve hit him hard. Some of the balls are right at people
We’re scoring runs off him though, you don’t always have to drive a pitch count up to beat a guy.
Mays? Aaron? Robinson?
Wow…that’s big talk..
He’s looking at the trivia question, if you are not being sarcastic.
Men who hit 300+ HRs in 60s besides Killebrew
Haha, my bad I though he was putting Robinson(cano) in the same class as Mays and Aaron.
There have been a lot of Robinsons. I should have specified.
Harmon Killebrew.
So tell me why the “ledge jumpers” and the “it’s all goona be ok” fans are always fighting, and to make it more interesting, does either side truly think they are “better fans”?
Define fan.
Yes.
No. I’m a ledge jumper myself, but there’s nothing intrinsically superior about it. It’s just the way I am.
The fighting is because there is a fundamental difference in ideology. One group thinks the team is going to do well, despite their current short comings, meanwhile the other thinks these short comings are legit problems going forward. So the two groups go back and forth about who is right, and who is wrong.
I’m not even going to touch the second question though. I never call out somebodies fanhood unless I’m trying to provoke a fight.
I don’t think it’s about being “better fans” but I would bet that there is a definite age difference between the two.
Because they have differing views which, in many of their minds, makes the other side not only wrong but unreasonable. Finding a middle ground is all but impossible when both sides think the other is not open to compromise, logic, or contrary evidence.
http://riveraveblues.com/2012/.....nt-4138788
Don’t see you taking the high road either.
How do you have the patience to look up an instance of somebody acting irrationally in some random game thread? I don’t even have to patience to collect information from baseball reference or fan graphs to prove I’m right…
Did I claim to be? Don’t believe so. Certainly not in the linked post.
I’ve made my camp clear in both my opinions and by admitting it. I can be objective. I can also mock people when they contradict themselves from night to night. Hell, I can do both in the same post. Just watch me. =)
There’s also the statistical data I have that debunks the particular anecdote you linked to, but that’s another issue.
They are always fighting because ledge jumpers are, for the most part, people who aren’t as versed in statistics and the it’s gonna be OK fans get annoyed. I know I get pretty annoyed when the world is declared over multiple times a night.
As to the second question, I don’t think either side truly thinks it’s better, just that they are right in their thinking. We are all Yankees fans, and no one can be “better”. It’s not a game.
Who you callin’ unversed?!?
He’s calling you unversed you pessimistic ledge jumper, what of it? huh? Watcha going to do about it? =P completely fucking around.
What am I gonna do? Probably jump.
Please don’t, we need all the passionate fans possible, whether they’re ledge jumpers or not.
It’s sort of Groundhog Day-ish. I jump, but then I come back for the next game.
Fan to me is pulling for the yanks to win. Now, not to be confused with a ledge jumper, who says god dammit we r down 4-0 it’s 2 innings in and we r gonna lose! They still want them to win of course, but are just frustrated. While others think ok, it’s 4-0 but it’s early we can come back. I’m wondering if the ledge jumpers are just high strung intense folks in every part of their personality while the its all gonna be ok are just kinda relaxed and easy going with their personality. I’m guessing I’m fairly close.
No way for us to know over the internet. Few, if any, of us know each other. Most of us will never meet in real life. The few times I have been able to do that kind of study, the results have been interesting. The sample sizes will almost always be incredibly small tho.
It and the groupthink are easily the worst things about this site. It creates and spreads immaturity and sarcasm which has unfortunately taken a bite out of the quality of the discussions and debates. New commentors are basically shunned and even long time commentors get slammed to no end if god forbid they disagree with the groupthink or aren’t extremely optimistic about every aspect of the team.
I think this site is better about those issues than most.
Those are also universal criticisms of basically any message board on any topic on the internet ever.
I agree, to a point. Also, on your last comment, this site is not the commentors, it’s the authors. And I think thats a big difference between here and typical message boards, versus a blog. Here if you disagree with the authors opinion or conclusion it’s almost blasphemy to many commentors who think the authors are and can never be wrong.
“Here if you disagree with the authors opinion or conclusion it’s almost blasphemy to many commentors who think the authors are and can never be wrong.”
I would disagree with this. I think most here have their own opinions. I think many here happen to share the general views of the authors of RAB, which is why they frequent the site. I haven’t seen many (or even any) blindly following an opinion just because one of the authors presented it.
It DOES happen. I’ve noticed a trend with a few commenters who ONLY comment when someone disagrees with the authors. But it certainly isn’t a huge group that does that.
Do you really notice posters patterns? I rarely even read the names.
I only notice it in extreme cases. I read the names now because the few times I haven’t its bitten me in the butt. I debate for a living, so remembering the names and relative positions of people is just something I do on reflex. Frankly, I wish I did less of it on the internet, because it often does a disservice to people whom I will never meet.
Some people are like that. I never feel uncomfortable disagreeing with a conclusion. Mike is the best coverer of the team in terms of getting info out there. He’s a decent analyst too, but I disagree with the conclusions he makes from time to time. I never get too much shit when I do.
The only thing I have a problem with on this site is the worship of Mariano Rivera. It’s annoying. Say he’s a great baseball player, but please leave it at that.
I don’t feel uncomfortable about disagreeing either, but most of the time it’s easier to just post your opinion and go on with your life if you have other things to do or you just don’t want to bother with a fight of 5 other people who will suddenly appear and bombard you with near-insults and sarcasm that does nothing for the debate.
Ehhhh. The fact that people agree with the authors and disagree with you (most of the time) isn’t just groupthink, though that is a part of it. They also just disagree with you.
You have to admit, your annoyance with many of the team’s decisions, especially regarding younger players, goes beyond what most of the commenters here feel. That isn’t just an byproduct of the writers’ opinions, but also the fact that you are far more upset about that kind of thing than the vast majority of Yankee fans.
Actually, people don’t seem to disagree with me most of the time because I think I’m pretty firmly in between the two camps. We’ve just had some debates on a couple particular moves the franchise has made so you’ve based your entire opinion on me based on those debates, which were good discussion and what this site is all about.
No doubt, I may have misjudged you. I’m good at that. But your opinion on the way to integrate young players and the importance of doing so has been pretty extreme, at least the way you’ve presented it. That isn’t a bad thing, its just the impression I’ve gotten every time the situation has come up. And yes, that was what I was referring to in that post, but it isn’t what I’ve based my opinion of you on.
I actually think you’re one of the most reasonable people here, aside from that particular subject. And you’re certainly one of the most interesting.
I actually think you’re one of the most reasonable people here
Thanks.
And you’re certainly one of the most interesting.
Um, I don’t know if that’s in a good way or bad way, but I guess thanks.
Is the two camps idea a thing now?
I think there is kind of a disconnect between groups of people, but I was mostly saying it as that’s how it was presented by the original commentor.
I agree with the authors on most points, but I personally think Mike is dead wrong about Nunez. He hates him and thinks regular ABs will expose him, meanwhile I think regular ABs will show us he can be an everyday player in this league.
As a sarcastic person who uses being sarcastic and factious along with facts to prove my argument, I find this offensive. I also personally do my best to make sure that a person is utterly and completely wrong in my opinion before I rip into them.
What does the completely sarcastic and old meme comments add to the site? I get it, some is fine, it’s an online blog and it should be fun, but it’s taken way overboard on here where if you say anything and then one thing happens different, you get 15 comments about it and it’s just annoying.
As for being sarcastic, that’s just my personality. I never mean for it to seriously offend anybody, but I understand that frustration, but part of that is a large number of people might think you’re wrong in your opinion on something, then when it’s proven wrong they all go to tell you so you get 5 comments immediately about it, none of them realizing 4 other people are doing the same thing.
The optimists get slammed too, as do the people who preach patience. Its not as often, but it happens a lot.
Also, if you don’t like something, fix it. The site is the commenters.
Is this one of those “be the change you want to happen” comments?
I suppose it is.
I think of it more in terms of the anti-gang cops that would come to my middle school and drop the catch phrase “don’t hate, participate.”
haha I remember those. They made me want to go out and be a bad kid just out of pure annoyance of the cheesiness.
It’s called Operation Shutdown. Where meme usage and attacking people were to be reduced. If you saw a Bo comment instead of 15 comments attacking the person who might genuinely believe that way it was simply ignored or countered rationally. That was ignored within a month.
Its amazing to me that the Giants of the 60s did not win a WS. McCovey, Mays, Marichal, Gaylord Perry…
They came oh so close in 1962.
Yep, but they didnt even sniff it the rest of the decade
It’s so weird, because they averaged over 90 wins a year, it’s just that there was always someone better, and it was usually either the Dodgers or Cardinals.
No playoffs back then.
Ugh, Jeter is SMOKING the ball today
Those’ll drop. If not tonight, then tomorrow or this weekend.
The important thing is that he’s still hitting, just having BABIP fail. Its encouraging.
Yeah, it would be way worse if he was doing that three-groundouts-per-night thing.
How the hell was that a strike?
Damn, I really thought we were going to break it open this past inning
Its been a pattern so far. Both teams have scored in the odd innings.Lets see if it continues
Strikezone fail. Its been terrible for both pitchers.
And Granderson strikes out………on ball four
Damn. Just noticed where Granderson’s average was sitting at . . . I know it’s early, but I thought he was doing better than THAT.
Not AGAIN.
The Pattern continues
This is super annoying. I thought this guy was done.
It’s bad enough he stole Jeter’s MVP in 1996.
2006 I meant.
Wow…um I think he’s healthy.
This dude is crushing us.
Hiroki you suck.
Morneau is treating them like pedroia did for the first part of last year. Not hitting anyone else but destroying the yanks.
Its early.
For him I mean. I’ve been expecting his resurgence, and I really hope it happens. It’d be good for the game.
shitty day for kuroda…damn he shuts down the angels but can’t handle the putrid twins and rays offenses…there’s hope yet for hughes!
Rapada?? We want Phelps!!!!
I think Phelps is being saved to be used as Hughes’ and Garcia’s caddy.
Which, frankly, isn’t a horrible strategy.
Agree and disagree. You want your long man for your pitchers you feel aren’t going to go deep into the game, BUT you also should pitch him when another pitcher isn’t giving you quality innings.
Eh, I stick with Rapada, or go to Logan, there. You’re alreday into the 6th inning and it’s close. You just get to the 7th/8th and you can use your better guys. I think you keep Phelps free now for Hughes, almost likely at this point, blowup or for someone to get knocked out early this weekend at Fenway. One or 2 innings isn’t a very quality way to use your long reliever who was a starter.
Let me re-word that last part, it could be quality, but it’s not an efficient use of him or the staff as a whole.
I wasn’t talking about tonight in specific, just as a general rule. If this was a primarily right handed line up maybe I disagree about tonight. Plus I’m as optimistic as anybody, but I didn’t see Rapada giving us two great innings out of the pen.
Well obviously we have Kuroda’s narrative. If he pitches good, he’s a good pitcher. If he pitches bad, it’s because he’s another shitty NL pitcher who can’t adapt to the AL.
The thing is though, he’s probably pitched more often against the Angels than any other AL team because of the rivalry. So even that game against the Angels must be taken with a bit of grain of salt
But that assumes…..
Sigh. Not worth it.
Obviously it’s not good to have a pitcher struggle in his first 2 out of 3 starts, but let’s be reasonable. It’s still April. Let’s give him time to kinda adjust and get into a groove before we start declaring him a bust or anything like that.
Wow. Did Kuroda look as bad as Gameday makes it appear? This pitching staff is a coin flip, it seems.
Went out to the back yard to cut down a medium-sized Eucalyptus tree. Good to see Robbie’s getting fired up
But…but..teh shift?!
I dont think they shifted
Sterling made it sound like they did, but I’m not watching, so I don’t know.
If it was, it wasn’t an extreme shift. Nobody was in that region of the outfield that suggests that.
Getting Pavano’d by Marquis… what an offense.
No. They’ve hit Marquis hard. BaBip has killed them. They didnt hit Pavano at all after the first inning. So you are wrong
Really?
FIRE ALL THE UMPS
btw, absolutely safe… but we have to have shitty umpires
Still, it’d be nice if Cano could hit some HR.
Hope they can get a split. Ball seems to be jumping off the bat.
What looks to be 6 innings from Marquis . . . Not what most of us expected, eh?
I dunno…..a lot of us give credence to the “we haven’t seen him before. We’re screwed,” narrative.
I think that applies more to Rookie/”Rookie” left-handers.
Perhaps, but not for me. Any pitcher we haven’t seen much/any of, I’m instantly cautious. I believe in our O, so I’m rarely concerned, but I’m definitely not surprised if Random Pitcher X crushes us.
yeah, that’s more the left-handed-soft-tossing young guys…I personally think we hit Marquis well, most of the liners just happened to find gloves tonight.
Oh, we definitely did.
lol nice job blue. Maybe the “chalk” on his jacket got in his eyes.
I know everyone on this site likes to say oh its April 18th its fine we can chill, but we really shouldnt be splitting 4 game series to the twins. no matter what time of year. with a brutal stretch coming up its time we start saying lets win some games instead of oh its just april. sure we have some breathing room, but losing games to AAA teams like the twins doesnt help at all. no matter what month. and im personally feed up with us losing. I know we have time but as a die hard yankee fan whose been told the culture is win win win, this really is some shit.
Haha now I’m all fired up.
And if an AAA team had an offense with some of the guys the Twins had, I’d personally give a medal to the scouting director.
So you already have this game in the loss column down 2 in the 6th?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....#038;h=315
Sick Hockey Goal…Diversion.
For all of you ledge jumpers out there, maybe you should hold your discussion on the DOTF thread because obviously the Yankees have no chance here and rebuilding mode is only a few losses away.
You aren’t helping.
hehe, talk about good timing…
I’m not a ledge jumper. I am just sick of seeing this team live down to the potential this early in the season. I am not conceding that we wont make the playoffs or start playing good baseball. It just looks like we are too similar to last year’s ALDS. We cant get timely hits and our pitching is sporadic. I dont need some fucking saber metrics high tech analysis from Einstein to see that. Sure, for any other team I would say wait we have a good lineup and everything on paper. But this is the f’in yankees. we have been told the culture is win win and win. Thus, my personal expectations are higher then losing games to the twins at home, even in April. I know it sounds like I am ignorant for wanting to win all the time, but for as much investment I have in this team, I always say i have an addiction, I want to see some more W’s. Like not going after balls in left field is some bs. It is just disappointing to us losing games like this, no matter what time of year.
Athenian said (above) that “This pitching staff is a coin flip, it seems.” More true, so far in the season, than not. This is not the kind of staff–again, so far–that’s going to scare Texas. I think a lot’s going to turn on how well Pettitte and Pineda do. Freddy and Hughes aren’t reliable, and who knows about Kuroda.
So far it’s a staff that needs consistent power output from the offense, and that includes Cano, Tex, and, especially, ARod.
You’re right, both in your conclusions and in your inclusion of “so far.” They’ve been a disappointment, but they’ve also so badly underperformed their potential that its hard to see them continuing this all season.
Lol Mauer over Adrian Peterson.
Most important sports figure in Minnisota right now?
Yes. AP has been the best RB in the league for years now and he’s immensely popular. Mauer’s kinda been getting boos for predictably and understandably not performing to his contract.
Haha, I agree with you. When Mauer’s healthy he’s a beast. But he hasn’t been over the past few years. Peterson is just a nasty and incredible running back. I’d take him on the Giants in a heart beat, hell I’d trade our entire draft plus Bradshaw for him.
Yeah I’ll take AP in a cocaine heartbeat. We’ll be like the Texans when they didn’t rely on a 3 string QB. But that’s a dream and a half.
Hopefully with the draft coming up we get a good RB.
Nah, I think Bradshaw is just fine. What I really think we need is some inside linebackers, and maybe a wide out to replace Manningham.
Bradshaw is good it’s just that he’s not healthy to do it himself. I would like an ILB but we never use them anyways.
And I will bet you 5 million dollars the Giants pick Alshon Jeffrey next Thursday. It will also end the Victor Cruz era so I would completely hate the pick.
I don’t know nearly enough about the incoming crop of players to agree or disagree with you. I didn’t follow college ball at all this past season.
Man. Rapada doing his thing.
The bloops are falling, but the liners are being caught. I hate games like this.
How did Nunez get in the game? I have neither radio nor TV, and Gamecast on ESPN isn’t telling me.
He’s pinch hitting for Chavez
PH for Chavez. Gotta save A-rod for when there’s nobody on base.
A rod “putting on a show” in batting practice, but let’s pinch hit shitty defense Nunez for Chavez. Giardi rules
Sigh.
Like
Black Hole Martin. I like that nickname. Watch . . . I just jinxed his shitty bat!
J/K!
I laughed
once again the offense goes to sleep after the first.. shitty game
I like the cut of your jib sir
I don’t think anyone can be surprised by this. It honestly seems to happen 90% of the time. Score big right off the bat then put the wood to slumber. Perhaps this is a result of selective memory, but I can recall many similar narratives from the past few seasons.
Five baserunners and two runs in the last four innings.
2? Is my Gameday on delay?
Errr, one run.
I think we should do our best to keep players healthy over the course of the season, but I think Girardi is micromanaging it at this point of the season. Lets be real here, if you can’t play every day, or almost everyday, over the first month of the season, there’s a problem with your conditioning not your age or ability.
So the problem is A-Rod’s lack of conditioning and not his age and injury history?
No, the problem is Girardi’s over-cautiousness. I’m sorry my post was horribly worded. I just think he should let the players play a little bit more.
The conditioning was more pointed towards our pitchers. Joba two years ago, Hughes last year, CC’s reacurring supposed wieght problems…this is more frustration that these balls aren’t falling for hits at this point.
I guess the leaving A-Rod on the bench move falls under the “losing the battle to win the war” stuff that Girardi loves so much.
I’ve got no problem with keeping Alex alive and hitting for as long as possible. I’d like him to reach 3000 and get the home run record in pinstripes.
Logan increases my drinking when he comes in.
Usually me too but he seems very solid this year. We get to see Soriano next inning so the game should be out of reach then, he really makes my liver hurt!
That was a satisfying strikeout.
BOONE TO THE STARTING ROTATION!
Running out of innings.
Heh. Valentine getting booed when making a pitching change.
C’mon, Rangers! (NY Rangers that is)
Dare I say, Logan has looked good the last couple of appearances
Holy crap does Boston’s bullpen suck.
They sent down Melancon.
Addition by subtraction?
Still ZERO homeruns from Teixera. That’s got to give sooner or later . . .
Didn’t hit one in ST or the Postseason either, so he’s gone since the last day of last season (when he hit 2) without one. Before that his last was Sept. 12, before that Sept. 5, before that Aug. 24. “Only” 14 homers in the second half last year.
Between him talking about messing with his swing and his changes and now the last of any power, you have to wonder where his head is right now. I always ignored it, but you almost wonder if there may be something to the Ken Singleton thing about wanting to hit one in ST just to prove you can still do it.
Why does Kay sound like a hyper chipmunk all of a sudden?
Was it Havok that said the other day to read the Over the Monster game thread? Well, today’s one is getting good. Franklin Morales just allowed three; bases loaded TEX with one out; 6-2 TEX.
Have they started talking about lynching Bobby yet?
Yep, it was me. And while I haven’t looked at tonight’s, its usually worth it. Those guys are a hoot. I just make sure never, ever to comment.
I may or may not have gotten banned on the last night of the season last year for posting this: http://www.nesn.com/2011/01/20.....story.html after they lost..
https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTa6R8AAz7YFU1TLASRqKRDxQhxfx4Xn-5BxcYSb_wNd_EXlh7NPw
totally sfw
Heh. I just watched the movie Oliver! the other day.
Hah, I was actually Oliver as a child in a play. According to the person from the Twin-Boro who wrote a review on it, because there’s nothing better for our local town paper to cover, I was a revelation and should attempt a career in acting. Then my voice changed and my teenage awkwardness kicked in. 12 years later, I look back and laugh.
This guy in the booth with John and Susan is about to talk about Jeter’s intangibles. Yup.
and yelling at grandy’s ball to drop lol I like it.
Bob Costas has done a pretty good job of convincing me that Jeter has special fielding instincts that few others have. (And I mean this sincerely, as he does.) Jeter has a Spidey-sense or something. That’s not the same as being able to move and react quickly, because the metrics show that he’s not very good at that; it’s just that he has extraordinary fielding instincts. Costas was, of course, waxing eloquent about the flip.
I guess that’s why he can look flashy while the evidence suggests he’s not that great.
Part of that is knowing where he needs to be in order to make the highest-probability play on the ball, which is something he definitely has. Even when he’s been gimpy and slow, the guy has managed to be in position for the ball to be hit to him a lot more than most guys seem to manage.
That’s purely anecdotal though.
It’s definitely anecdotal, but I don’t know of any fielding stat that can precisely define that kind of behavior that Costas calls “instinct” (maybe there is one, I don’t know). I’m sure in 100 years everything going on in a game will be measured, and everything will have a little amazing stat behind it, but until then all we have is our eyes.
http://www.sportvision.com/base-fieldfx.html
If you are talking about positioning, it would be reflected positively or negatively in fielding metrics. The ball is either a hit, an error, or an out. It’s not as ethereal as you make it seem.
I still think Jeter will be able to break 3500 by the time he’s done. Which will hopefully put him 5th all time.
Yes.
I’d trade for Napoli JUST so he could play in Fenway. He’s playing like a man possessed right now. Also, I’d take him because there’s a former star that’s collapsing under his own gravity occupying the catcher’s position right now. Ladies and gentlemen . . . Black Hole Martin.
Its one of those games where the big hits dont fall for us
So the Titanic was born and died before Fenway was born?
To be fair, that’s a pretty slim window to have one without the other.
Tex should just hit right handed always.
I’d like to know if there was a hitter who started out left- or right-handed and then became a switch-hitter midway through his career, and if he became a better hitter because of it.
Dropping switch-hitting is usually a last resort, which is why it never really works. The only player I can think of that dropped it late in their career was Bobby Kielty, and he was so bad he ended up giving pitching a shot.
But what about the converse? Has anybody become a switch-hitter half-way into their career? I can’t think of anybod…
When do you think Culver will drop switch hitting?
Curious…while there is still a lot of the “Tex sucks” and “Tex contract sucks” this year, nobody is talking about his historic and almost annual Slow Starts…
Shhhh… don’t ruin the narrative…
I don’t even know how that makes sense.
Yeah, I despise that line.
It is annual. Everyone knows it’s gonna happen. He can usually rebound to be a .400 wOBA player but the past couple years have seen a steep decline.
Which is worrisome considering he didn’t pass the prime of his career yet.
It’s almost expected now so it doesn’t get talked about as much. Similar to CC, I guess $20+ million doesn’t count for April.
There it is again, but let see if Swisher does it
Twins bullpen is garbage
fuck…running out of outs.
It’s still within a bloop and a blast range.
If the pen holds, I still the Yankees have a decent shot at this one.
still *think*
I have a feeling we are in for Bonus Cantos tonight.
Once again…
Good news is that Boston has gotten pummeled and we avoid Lester and Beckett in that series
I don’t know if that will matter. Pavane Marquis, and even Oriole pitchers have not been pushovers. Might be June before this team gets going.
I’m not that pessimistic.
I am living through austerity measures in Greece. What the fuck is there to be positive about?
Well, you did get all those years of the government living far beyond its means. Those were good times, right?
Seriously? Your the definition of a malakia!
I’ve got family in Athens that’s thinking of leaving the country after about two years of this. Bad times. A couple of cousins got laid off of government jobs.
Tell them to stick it out. As soon as they get the bad advice from Goldman Sach taken care of it will pick up.
They’ve got some farmland south of Athens, out in the Feriza/Annavisos region. I think they’re considering going out there and trying out a more rural lifestyle.
At least it’s nice out there. A couple years ago we just set out walking in a random direction and before long we came to some random ruins hidden by trees and bushes. It looked like a very small temple or shrine; there were just a few columns standing. I would totally move out there when I reach retirement.
Small sample size guys he makes it up in the playoffs my excel sheet says so.
Think that was their chance. Can twain for the Real Yankees to show up. Joe get that geritol or one a day going.
Usually I enjoy ripping announcers as much as anyone but Leiter has been on point tonight.
Leiter is easily my favorite color guy right now.
Leiter is awesome. The pitcher/catcher dynamic with him and Flash makes for some interesting conversation, and I can’t stand Flash.
Why must we always be the rebound team? The team that others thirst for . . . The team that breaks the misfortune of others and opens the gates to winning? Argh!
lol
That’s really all I’ve got here. I really did laugh and move on.
Haha. I laughed out loud too. But . . . only because you’re a douche bag. I find your breed quite hysterical.
Agreed, you just know the Yanks will go into Fenway and wake up the Sox
Pretty sure we’ve heard that before ever Yanks-Sox series over the last two years or so. One of these days it will come true!
You mean like last year when they where 0 and 6 then took 2 out of 3 from the yanks. Or like last year when they were under 500 and came to yankee stadium and swept the Yankees?
And went on to miss the playoffs for the second straight year? Yep, really woke them up!
What about last year when the Sox won their first 2 against the Yankees in a 3-game set? *Can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.
Point is yanks have a knack for playing shitty against shitty teams. All the snippy comments made doesn’t change that.
Yeah, I’ve made that comment before . . . They constantly play to the level of their opponent. I seem to recall getting swept (or close to it) by the Nationals a couple years back . . . But hey, it could’ve been 2009, I don’t know.
The Sox won 2/3 against the Yanks then immediately got swept by Tampa. I don’t think that qualifies as waking them up.
Alright where is Boone Logan and what have you done with his body?
wtf Jones
That will win over the crowd.
Boone’s struck out more batters than Dave has so far this season.
He’s struck out a ton, that’s for sure. He and Rapada had great nights.
Good to get the two lefties going well before facing Ortiz and Gonzalez.
A-Rod will pinch hit here if anybody gets on
Nice job by our LOOGYs today. 2 innings, 2 runs. We can do this!
Is anyone else surprised Ibanez is batting .267 on the season after watching all the games?
Yeah, when did all those hits (aside from the really big ones) happen?
Exactly. I mean, I’m always happy when they do, because I expected him to do better than many feared, but sitting here now, I’m surprised he’s had that many.
BOOOOOO. Red Sox attempting a comeback in the 9th against Nathan.
Attempting being the operative word
So now we can’t beat the last place Twins????
Unreal
Tampa Bay: 3-0 vs. Yanks, 2-6 vs. others
Twins: 2-1 vs. Yanks, 2-7 vs. others
Angels (kind of in between in performance): 1-2 vs. Yanks, 3-5 vs. others
O’s (opposite): 0-3 vs. Yanks, 7-1 vs. others
Nothing this team does right now is surprising. Made Tampa and Minny look much better than they are (or at least than they are playing right now), even made Baltimore look better as the games were closer than the rosters would make you think. The Angels were the outlier, though it helped that they missed their top two, got to face Williams, and Kuroda actually had a good game.
Overall, very unimpressive thus far in the season. It’s a long season, but too much of this can make it difficult to really make hay later on. Luckily, neither the Red Sox or Rays have distinguished themselves overall either.
I think your post does more to outline how little the record means so far. Look at the standings for God’s sake, its nuts.
Wins and losses mean the same thing the first series of the year as they do the last series of the year, so the combination of the two, the records, also means as much.
Though I should’ve included in the Twins thing that it’s if they close it out, it is pretty sad how bad the Yanks have played against several teams that are also playing terribly right now.
Well they better split because losing a series to the Twins at home could come back to haunt them later in the year if they lose the division by a game or two
It’s Mike’s fault. Plain and simple. He guaranteed wins!
That’s another good one we hear every year. “They’ll regret this loss if they lose the division by one game!”
Well you said they would not win 62 game this year. That pace increases with a series win. I also remember somebody saying that they should take 3 of 4
Axisa said on Monday that it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a sweep against this Twins team!
So, unless there’s a 9th inning miracle, that hard-hit Chavez ball in the first becoming a DP turned out to be decisive.
agreed. when the ball settled in the first baseman’s glove the air went out of the offense
The 2012 Yankees pitching staff looks like the ones the Red Sox had in the late ’90s-early ’00s: An ace (Pedro for those Boston teams) followed by a sea of #4s, #5s, and #6s (#6s being guys who have no place being in the rotation.) The problem with the current rotation is it has two #6s in Garcia and Hughes and two starters who aren’t pitching yet in Pettitte and Pineda.
The 2011 Yankees got lucky with Nova, Garcia, and Colon. The 2012 Yankees may not be so lucky. Kuroda looks like the classic NL starting pitcher who can’t hack it in the AL and the third disappointing or bad former Japanese League pitcher for the Yanks after Irabu (disappointing) and Igawa (bad.) Garcia looks like his 2011 was a fluke. Hughes looks like he did in 2011 only healthy with a fastball, only he can’t harness his fastball and doesn’t have a put-away pitch and if he has one it’s not putting away anyone with it. Nova looks like he’s picking up right where he left off last year, but who knows how long he will be good? He’s long overdue to hit the wall. Pineda is overweight and still rehabbing. Pettitte is having his spring training now and it is not 100% guaranteed he will be 2010 good or better if/when (probably when) he returns. He’s 39 and didn’t pitch all of last year. Phelps is doing a great job as a long man and while I’d love it if the Yanks gave him a looksee as a starter if Garcia or Hughes keep sucking before Pettitte or Pineda returns, he is an unknown quantity as all he’s done for the Yanks so far is be a reliever. Can his stuff translate into starts?
The only solution I see for this rotation problem is for the Yanks to trade for Felix Hernandez. Yes I know he’s signed through 2014 thus there is no urgency whatsoever for Seattle to trade for him, but I think the Yanks have the four-starter package in Nova, Hughes, Banuelos, and Betances to land him and Seattle would take it. Cashman could even grow a pair and tell Seattle they won’t be offered a better package than this for Hernandez, if they say oh yeah, then the Yanks could say (to themselves) let them keep su cking and we’ll get him for less than what we offered or just sign him. BTW ever think Hernandez might say he’s sick and tired of the losing and wants out? If he does that, they will trade him before his contract is up as they don’t want a malcontent who could do what Mussina did in his walk year with the Orioles: refuse to sign with who he’s traded to unless he goes to a team he’d want to stay with, and he’d never tip his hand to his new team.
Seattle will have no AL suitors for Hernandez besides the Yanks. Kansas City, Minnesota, Cleveland, Chicago, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and Toronto can’t afford to take on his salary AND keep him, and none of them are trading away the farm for two months of him before he signs elsewhere. And do you honestly see Hernandez wanting to lock himself up with them when those teams collectively have one exactly ONE World Series after 1993 (2005 Chi-Sox)??? I don’t. The last American team among those teams that won a World Series before the ’05 Chi-Sox was the Twins (’87 and ’91), before that the ’85 Royals and ’83 Orioles. Take away the Blue Jays and Twins and that’s exactly TWO World Series wins by the above teams after ’82. Boston is tied up with Crawford and Hernandez and they’ll need to keep Lester and Beckett their only reasons for living / not being an overpriced Orioles. Detroit is tied up with Cabrera and Fielder and they’ll need to lock up Scherzer and Porcello one day, Verlander whenever if he’s still great at contract’s end. The Mariners are not trading Hernandez to a division rival, so that eliminates Oakland, Texas, and Los Angeles. Even if they wanted to trade Hernandez to a division rival none of them would trade for him. Oakland couldn’t afford him. Texas wouldn’t re-sign Wilson, you think they’re locking up Hernandez for Sabathia’s initial contract with the Yanks Hernandez will command? I don’t. Los Angeles isn’t paying for another monster contract after Pujols and Wilson signings and the Weaver extension, plus they’re stuck with an overpriced fading Torii Hunter and need to keep Haren and Santana.
The Yanks are the only AL team the Ms could realistically trade Hernandez to where the taker is able to keep him. “What about an NL team?” If the Yanks couldn’t get him, I would LOVE for Seattle to trade him to an NL team – he’d be out of the league and one less headache for the Yanks to put up with.
Bash me for my trade idea for Hernandez all you want, but have the balls to come up with a better one or someone else the Yanks could get. Forget the best guys on the Angels, Tigers, and certainly Red Sox. Forget Hamels cuz why trade for him when he could be signed in the offseason? Forget Halladay or Lee, especially if the Phillies lose Hamels. Forget Johnson – Miami isn’t trading him, their ace, in their inaugural season. Forget Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, and Vogelsong.
What starting pitcher other than Felix Hernandez could the Yanks get who could be the #2 behind Sabathia AND keep either by control, extension, or re-signing after 2012? They’re not winning the 2012 World Series with the rotation after Sabathia or winning the 2013 World Series with Sabathia/Pineda/Nova/Any two from Hughes, Banuelos, Betances, Phelps Mitchell, Warren, and a veteran scrapheap pickup or two.
To conclude, if the Yanks got Felix Hernandez they should see how he does the rest of 2012 and 2013 and if he’s still King Felix, they should offer him a record 7 year $162M extension after 2014 (basically Sabathia’s initial contract plus a mil) he’d take in a heartbeat. Sabathia and Teixiera would be off the books after 2016, Rodriguez after 2017, so the Yanks could do this. You have to give up something to get something.
wow, longest post ever?
Seriously, can this just be posted at some point tomorrow as a regular post or something instead…
way too long especialliy when we are losing
We don’t have Montero. They literally need to give them the top 6 or 7 prospects to get Felix. And the Mariner’s don’t want to trade Felix at all. There’s no chance we’ll get Felix. The reason why Cash had to settle for Pineda is because Felix was unavailable just like every other ace in the league.
They should’ve gotten Halladay if the plan was trade Montero for an ace. I can see not wanting to overpay for Lee or Haren in their situations but with the use of hindsight Halladay would have been wonderful.
And props to the long post and I will feel sorry when people bash you for saying the f word.
I read all of that, and I think the following two things:
a) Felix has said on multiple occasions he wants to stay with Seattle. He keeps repeating it, and he seems sincere.
b) I think it’s insane to give up that much for one pitcher. I think you’re giving up more than you’re getting back.
BTW ever think Hernandez might say he’s sick and tired of the losing and wants out?
I’ve heard people in Seattle wonder about this. It’s become an ever-louder persistent murmur there.
He could absolutely come out and say that in the future, but from what I hear, for some reason—I don’t know why—he seems absolutely intent to stay there and has actively said that he does not want to leave.
Sure, they murmur it because they worry about it. Not because anything he’s said or done indicates that that is the case.
So… gut the farm to trade for Felix after a rocky first 11 games? Sounds about right.
sorry what did you say
All I’m going to say is that 1) the Mariners have no interest in trading Felix. Period. And 2) Felix prefers to remain in Seattle and there’s no guarantee we’d resign him at the end.
Rentals aren’t worth the risk when they’re that expensive. I thought the same with Lee when the situation came up in 2010.
I think War and Peace is a faster read than this post.
Rangers finally set Boston down. Saltalamacchia (or however it’s spelled) GIDP. [Insert inevitable joke about the letters on the back of his jersey weighing him down here.]
He lined into a DP, not grounded.
LIDP!
Didn’t we just see that exact play last inning?
deja vu all over again
Axisa’s pissed. They are IBB’ing Morneau
He only really hates it when it moves a runner on the third base, at least that’s my understanding. Slow your roll.
When it loads the bases or when it puts the tying/go-ahead run on base, that’s when IBB’s really get me.
IBBs are only bad when they don’t work. They’re good when they do work. I’ve heard that’s how the logic runs.
You could PH A-Rod for Martin and bring Stewart into the game. But I dont think they are going to do that.
And they do it
Last licks baby.
Somebody called the pinch-hitting Arod with the bases empty, kudos.
I don’t understand this, you pinch hit Nunie earlier in the game with runners on, but you use Alex to lead off in the 9th.
It was too early then. If they had gotten a runner on last inning, they would have used A-Rod then.
Plus Nunez has hit the ball well so far this year
I love Nunie…but that was a mistake on Girardi’s part.
No it wasn’t. If Nunez had been a cold hitter, then it would have been a mistake.
Cue a comment from Mike A to attempt to make you feel like an idiot for asking a great question
On Twitter he agreed.
That’s the 6th inning, I agreed with not using him because you’re basically undoing the point of trying to get him the day off, and Nunez has actually out-hit A-Rod in the sample of this season so far. If there was a better situation last inning he would’ve hit for Nunez, but there wasn’t.
I was also questioning his usage here in my head at first, but then I remembered that Martin is 9th tonight and there are no other places to use him, so might as well try one AB for a terrible hitter and see what happens.
I get it, I just wanted to win this game because even though it’s early in the season and blah blah blah, if for whatever reason we loose the division for one game these are the games I look at and think..if only..if only
SO do I. But I blame Kuroda, not the offense
Same. But we had a chance and didn’t come through, that’s what makes it tougher.
I’m not a ledge jumper. I am just sick of seeing this team live down to their potential this early in the season. I am not conceding that we wont make the playoffs or start playing good baseball. It just looks like we are too similar to last year’s ALDS. We cant get timely hits and our pitching is sporadic. I dont need some fucking saber metrics high tech analysis from Einstein to see that. Sure, for any other team I would say wait we have a good lineup and everything on paper. But this is the f’in yankees. we have been told the culture is win win and win. Thus, my personal expectations are higher then losing games to the twins at home, even in April. I know it sounds like I am ignorant for wanting to win all the time, but for as much investment I have in this team, I always say i have an addiction, I want to see some more W’s. Like not going after balls in left field is some bs. It is just disappointing to us losing games like this, no matter what time of year.
Have you watched this team in April before?
Not enough homeruns by the Yankees on this homestand. Whatever happened to “TOO MANY HOMERS!”?
Oh how I miss those days.
But… but… the batting practice homeruns!!!!!11!
Tough game. That pinch hitting made little sense.
fuck god damn rangers
They are the only team I thought was clearly better than the Yankees going into the season.
FUCK YEAH JEETS!!!!!!!!!!!
Good Lord DJ.
So this is what it was like when Jeter was Jeter?
Pretty much, yeah.
Fun ain’t it?
……….wow, just wow
Derek Jeter making this contract look better the last three months.
Horrible swing on that second pitch to Granderson.
Wow. Worst AB of the season? That’s was awful.
Horrible at bat by Granderson* There I fixed that for you.
Beat you to it. Ugly game. Big first followed by hibernation. Seems that how the Yankees like to lose this season. Give you hope then pull the rug right out from under you.
He just needs to get on
Well he isn’t just mashing lefties anymore…
I don’t know if Tex needs redemption but if he does it’s gonna come here
Tex homers here.
Or pops out to the track, ya know either way.
If you were watching over Gamecast, that ball was gone or foul. Then, inexplicably, the game ended.
I hate you Gamecast.
El Capitan, huh? Insane.
Grandy has been taking first pitch get me over offspeed strikes all damn year.
Makes me sick.
If Teixera homers here all will be forgiven.
Granderson hasn’t gone consecutive starts without striking out since mid-August. I get it, for the most part strikeouts are basically just another out, but geez, make some damn contact!
Tex you’re such a tease
Boy, for a second there…
Damnit Tex. Just got under it a little bit.
Move Jeter to cleanup.
John Sterling is the WORST!
John Sterling is the ABSOLUTE WORST.
Just couldnt get over the hump. In danger of losing a series to the Twins
Would like to see a win tomorrow to have a little momentum going into the weekend.
Bleh…need Hughes to step it up tomorrow.
I love you John!
Cant blame the offense. Kuroda put them in a bad hole
Pretty much. Frustrating to watch a guy not be able to contain the damage and give his team a chance to win. Even with that…..they almost pulled it off.
There will be losses like this. There will be series like this. What can i say. Go for the split tomorrow and move on.
lmfao what did sterling do? Call it way before as usual
He hits a LONG DRIVE! AND THAT IS…a foul ball. No, I’m sorry, it’s been caught. Game over, Twins win. FU Sterling.
That’s what Gamecast did too. It was insane.
Wow, he was that bad on it? That’s pretty inexcusable. I mean the camera angle made it look gone, but it clearly wasn’t foul.
so when the twins were good they couldn’t buy a win in NY only baseball
So did Ibanez have any anti-web gems today?
I honestly don’t even remember him having to make a play tonight. I guess that’s a good thing.
In Sterling’s defense I had the same thought process in my head it went from “It’s gone, no wait foul, no caught. damn.”
Did anyone else hear Michael Kay say that Jeter was batting a ‘lusty 377′???
Everything is lusty when you have calm eyes.
Maybe he mashed up ‘lofty’ and ‘robust’?
Buy a dictionary. Lusty means “full of vigor, robust.” It doesn’t mean full of sexual desire.
Have you ever used lusty in a non-sexual sense?
Lustful does not equal lusty. They’re two different words.
You really know how to suck the humor out of Michael Kay calling Derek Jeter lusty.
Only someone who didn’t know the meaning of the word lusty would find what Kay said funny. He used the word correctly to highlight Derek’s unexpected power revival this season. However I do find your intractability on this issue very amusing.
Funky like a monkey!
I stand corrected, you clearly know how to tickle the funny bone.
It totally does mean full of lust, by the way. It means healthy, too.
Adjective
lusty (comparative lustier, superlative lustiest)
1. Strong, healthy and vigorous.
2. hearty and enthusiastic.
3. (informal, proscribed) Given to experiencing lust; enjoying physical sensations.
Proscribed: banned or prohibited, illegal.
Meaning it is not a legitimate use of the word even though some “informally” use it that way. You’re digging a deeper hole for yourself.
Rangers lose in OT, yanks lose again to the sucky twins. FU Wednesday
Sucks to play 500 ball
Geez. WTF is up with our division? Really looks like the Rangers and Tigers are the teams to beat this year. Unless our pitching makes a significant turn-around and the offense wakes up a bit, I just can’t see them getting to the World Series. Rangers are scary.
So far the standings in the AL are showing two dominant teams (Detroit and Texas) and then a bunch of average and mediocre teams
I’m sure I’ll get crucified for even hinting at such a thought . . . But are the Yankees STILL dominant? I won’t go as far and say they’re “mediocre” but I surely have not been impressed yet by what I’ve seen. I like Detroit, Texas, and Tampa . . . and, well, because I’m a Yankee fan, I’ll never, ever discount the lowly Red Sox. Yankees will be good, I’m sure, but I’m not yet convinced they’re in the same stratosphere as those big two and Tampa. (Tampa’s pitching, to me, is just filthy)
Their hitting will be very good, not great.
Their pitching is more of a question mark, but if it comes together as expected, they should be among the elite teams in the AL.
The problem is that the league is pretty good at this point.
Yeah. I’m not TOO concerned about the pitching. I think the staff will be good on most days, but, like you said . . . The hitting . . . There’s much left to be desired. Clearly I could be wrong, but does this pinstriped crew NOT sport the streaking lineup of hitters in baseball? It’s like they’re ALL capable of being great, but a large portion of them suffer from inconsistency. I always advocated keeping Montero. I thought that was the dumbest move possible. And while signing Prince would’ve been a dream, I’m not sure if it was ever a realistic possibility. The point I’m trying to make is that the biggest, gaping hole of last year’s team was the offense. I know not too many would agree with that assessment, but because of the inconsistency of our aging All-Stars, having that reliable threat in the batting order would’ve been a GIANT upgrade. Not to mention… they have pitchers down on the farm. They sign a few 3s, 4s, and 5s, and just rely on CC and company to keep steady the course. Offense. It’s what this team is missing. Sounds crazy, I know, but had they maintained Jesus and acquired Prince, there’s no question about whether this team is elite or not.
*Streakiest* lineup
I think Texas is a better all around team, but I think that Detroit is slight overrated and playing a little over their heads. I don’t think much of their bullpen or their rotation past Verlander. Tampa is an enigma, you would think they cant score enough to keep up with power houses but they always do, I don’t get it.
TB has great defense, good hitting, and great pitching. What’s not to get?
I think their offense is average at best.
They’ve clearly upgraded from last year (Pena, Scott, Moore) If you want to say their hitting is average, I would probably disagree, but they are still an elite team with average hitting.
I guess you could look at, I don’t know, the million other times this team’s been at about .500 in April and turned out just fine….
real awesome yanks playing 22.5 million for carlos pena
This.
I don’t understand this at all…
Yeah really, I mean at least Carlos Pena can hit some homers…
It’s Teddy. Move on.
Frustrating to watch Kuroda lack command after being so lights out last time. With time will come consistency, I guess, but not being able to stop the bleeding after that rough first inning was tough. Even with that, the team came close.
You know what the trolls will say, but those of us who’ve watched this team for a long time have been through plenty of .500 Aprils and seen things turn out just fine.
If Gardner’s on the DL, for God’s sake, give us Dickerson once the bullpen is rested enough that Eppley can go back down.
Won’t Dickerson have to be added to the 40 man then go through waivers to get sent down again in 2 weeks?
If he was out for longer, I would be all for it, but I’d rather have him in reserve.
Actually I don’t care either way. Okay, I’m officially rambling now.
You’re right. Forgot he was DFAd.
Melky Mesa’s still on the 40-man? Only OF options on the 40 man are him and Zoilo. I sincerely doubt either of those is happening.
Hmmm.
Is there no game tomorrow?
There is a game (unless I missed something just now). The frown could be that it’s a Hughes start though, depending on your outlook.
Oh they made it sound like the series against Boston starts on Friday.
It does. They play the Twins again tomorrow.