Archive for Whimsy
Planning an ejection to fire up the team
Posted by: | CommentsIn the sixth inning last night, Joe Girardi found himself arguing with the first base umpire over an obviously bad call. Brett Gardner, the Yanks’ first man to reach base, was called out on a pick-off attempt at first even though the replays showed him safe. Girardi went out there and argued until he could argue no more.
For the Yanks’ manager, though, it wasn’t your typical argument. He wasn’t fired up, Lou Piniella style, and he didn’t seem to say any of the magic four-letter words that lead to an ejection. Rather, as Tom Rock noted in the Newsday game recap, Girardi wanted to get thrown out. Writes Rock:
First base umpire Bill Welke appeared to ask Girardi if he wanted to be tossed after a long debate that apparently lacked any significant four-letter words. Girardi nodded and was given the hook he searched for. “Yeah, but no comment,” he said of his desire to leave, smiling…
“Maybe it helped a little,” Cervelli said of the ejection that – along with the hitting – seemed to fire up the whole team. It was the first run in 14 innings in Atlanta and by the time Rivera was at bat in the ninth there were plenty of smiles on the top step of the dugout.
Now, I’ve never been one to believe that an ejection can do much to fire up a team. After all, the players are going to go to the plate and attempt to get on base no matter what happens with the manager. It seems more like a convenient excuse for a better performance than it is a real reason for a victory.
Intrigued by the rhetoric though, Richard Iurilli, a RAB regular, ran the numbers. He looked at how the Yanks hit before Girardi was ejected and how they hit after in the four games from which Girardi has been tossed. The numbers please:
| Date | Opp. | W/L | Inning | Before | After |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/22/2008 | BAL | W | 9th | 7-31, 0-1 RISP | 1-1, 1-1 RISP |
| 7/6/2008 | BOS | W | 6th | 1-17, 0-0 RISP | 8-18, 3-6 RISP |
| 5/4/2009 | BOS | L | 5th | 3-17, 0-2 RISP | 6-19, 0-5 RISP |
| 6/24/2009 | ATL | W | 6th | 0-15, 0-0 RISP | 10-20, 2-9 RISP |
| Totals | 3-1 | 11-80 (.138), 0-3 RISP | 25-58 (.431), 6-21 RISP |
There you have it. Irrevocable proof that by getting ejected, Joe Girardi fires up the Yankees. They hit for higher average and with more patience and more power when Girardi finds himself taking an early shower. He should do it more often.
OK, OK. Maybe it’s not that simple. Clearly, these numbers focus on about 14 innings worth of baseball, and we can’t really derive anything from such a small sample. Plenty of other factors play into it as well. For the most part, I can’t really believe that an ejection would have any impact on the team’s hitting. This is one of the clear examples of a correlation that does not imply causation. And there you go.
CC checking out schools; Coke checking out NJ
Posted by: | CommentsWhile Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have long been the darlings of Manhattan, a sizable number of Yankees live in New Jersey. Northern Jersey, in particular, is a short jaunt away from Yankee Stadium, and players find bigger homes in the suburbs than in the city.
To that end, two recent stories about the Yankees and their lifestyles caught my eye. We can learn a lot from them, and perhaps, we can learn nothing from them as well. First up is a Jack Curry Bats post on CC Sabathia’s settling in.
According to The Times scribe and New Jersey resident, Sabathia was chatting him up for info on New Jersey high schools, and Curry takes that as a sign that CC may stick around the Bronx beyond the three-year opt-out currently written into his contract. Ponders Curry:
As I was talking to Sabathia a few days ago about why he decided to live in Bergen County, N.J., he asked some questions that indicated he plans to be with the Yankees for the long haul. Carsten Charles III, C.C.’s son, turns 6 in September, but C.C. quizzed me about which county high schools have the best athletic programs. Little C.C. is only in kindergarten, but his father was already thinking about possible high schools.
If Sabathia was planning to bolt the Yankees in three seasons, would he even be aware of Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J.? Probably not, but Sabathia cited the school’s sports pedigree. Sabathia had done some homework, too, because Don Bosco’s baseball team was undefeated last year. Sabathia will earn $23 million a season from 2012 to 2015 if he does not opt out, which is another reason for him to become an expert on the New Jersey school system.
Curry acknowledges that this discussion could mean nothing, and I’m inclined to avoid reading much into it. Sabathia, after all, isn’t going to be playing now with an eye toward escaping from New York in three years. He is the type of player who will pour his heart and soul into pitching now and doing the best he can do now.
A lot can change over the course of three years. The economy, the baseball landscape, the needs of other teams and pitcher’s physical health are all factors that will come into play in 2011 when the opt-out comes due. For now, though, I’m sure we’ll scan CC’s every word for a sign of his intentions, but until he waives that clause, everything remains on the table.
In other Yankee residential news, the Daily News reports that Phil Coke is renting in Edgewater. Coke took out a six-month lease on an apartment at The Peninsula. While CC’s musings mean little, Coke seems to be confident that he will be sticking around the Bronx these days. Rumor has it that Kevin Cash and Brett Tomko are eying the Peninsula as well. If I were those two, I wouldn’t sign anything longer than a one-month sublet right now.
Putting up the target for Johnny
Posted by: | Comments
Yeah, it’s a bit hackneyed, but it’s still a damn good idea from the folks at New Stadium Insider. There’s a lot of complaining going on in Yankeeland right now, which makes sense because there’s a lot to complain about. One exception is Johnny Damon, who is not only turning in a solid season to date, but is doing it in a timely fashion, knocking in runners that no one else can pick up. We might as well celebrate the guy who’s doing everything in his power to overcome the team’s futility of late. Plus, Johnny’s been taking advantage of the short porch more than ever this season, knocking six of his seven homers at home.
The only issue at this point is of how to print out these puppies. Anyone work in the printing business?
How do you spend a $51.1 million posting fee?
Posted by: | CommentsWhen the Red Sox landed themselves the rights to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka, they had to pay over $50 million to the Seibu Lions. In today’s Times, David Waldstein traveled to Saitama, Japan, to check out how the team spent the money. The answer? More bathrooms with electronically warmed toilet seats. The team also used some of the money to resurface their playing field, install a video scoreboard and add more concession stands and seating to the Seibu Dome. The bathrooms, though, are apparently quite an honor.
Saturday night politics: The New York City Council
Posted by: | CommentsThis isn’t your typical politics post. We’re taking sides here, but it the side of the Yanks. In a rather amusing look at the world of New York politics, Times reporter Fernanda Santos canvassed the New York City Council this week. She found that Mets fans out-poll Yankee fans by an 18-13 margin. Seven members of the Council took the politically prudent path of endorsing both, or more pessimistically, neither of the two teams, and Brooklyn’s Bill de Balsio professed his love of the Red Sox. What a traitor.
On another note, feel free to use this thread as the Open Thread. Oliver Perez and the Mets lost to the Phillies on a walk-off walk in the 10th inning, and the Bulls and Celtics are slugging it out in Game 7 of their epic playoff series.
Foley’s opens Irish Hall of Fame voting up to the fans
Posted by: | CommentsLast year, Foley’s, the excellent sports bar with a huge autographed baseball collection on 33rd St. between 5th and 6th Aves., unveiled its Irish Baseball Hall of Fame. While Yankee great announcer John Flaherty earned an induction into the first class, the bar fielded numerous complaints from fans who wanted to get involved. Today, Foley’s introduced fan voting for the 2009 inductee. Adam Dunn, Al Leiter, Paul O’Neill, Joe McEwing and Nolan Ryan make up the field. I voted for Paul O’Neill. All of those fans who got so defensive over LaTroy Hawkins’ number flap last year should do the same.
Anticipating a homecoming of sorts
Posted by: | CommentsLater this afternoon, the Yankees and their fans will welcome back a former member of the Yankee Brotherhood. This player, a Yankee for four years, had many memorable moments on the team. First, there was the time he hurt his buttocks; then, he crashed his car and never told the team; then, he somehow wrangled an Opening Day start out of the team only to go down with a season-ending arm injury two starts later.
That’s right; Carl Pavano is making his return to Yankee Stadium. It is a glorious day in Yankeeland and just what the team and its fans need after yesterday’s 22-4 loss.
Anyway, as the Bronx gears up to welcome Carl Pavano back to the stadium as only the Bronx can, Pavano’s former squeeze Alyssa Milano had some choice words for the Indians’ right-hander. Millano, a noted baseball fan, was at CitiField on Saturday for the Mets’ victory over the Brewers and chatted with Brendan Prunty of The Star-Ledger.
But later on she was asked about a former flame (or it is flame-thrower?), Cleveland Indians pitcher Carl Pavano. The two dated briefly around 2004, and when told that he was going to be pitching Saturday afternoon against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, she said: “That’s not going to be pretty.”
While she spoke highly of Pavano’s work ethic and dedication to baseball, she did make some rather candid statements about the former Yankees pitcher.
“He’s got a lot of talent,” Milano said. “But I think it’s become a head game for him. If I were him, I would’ve stayed out of the American League.”
So there you have it. Even Alyssa Milano thinks that Carl Pavano is a headcase who shouldn’t be pitching in the AL. Hopefully, as she said, this won’t be pretty.
Now pitching for the Yankees: Francisco Liriano
Posted by: | Comments
(click image for a larger view)
Rumor has it the Yanks only had to give up Melky Cabrera and Ian Kennedy, but were willing to throw in Kei Igawa if the Twins included Joe Nathan in the deal. (h/t JasperJohn for the email)
Update (5:45pm): Okay okay okay, enough people complained, I changed the post title.
How Nick got here
Posted by: | CommentsAs Nick Swisher is, in five games, taking the Yankees by storm, Times beat writer Tyler Kepner played a fun little game with Nick. While we know Swisher arrived on the Yanks through a trade with the White Sox that saw Wilson Betemit, Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez end up in Chicago, Swisher’s path to the Yanks actually started nearly twenty years ago. As Kepner details in The Evolution of a Trade, when the Yanks signed Ruben Rivera out of Panama in 1990, they set the wheels in motion that would eventually land them Swisher. It’s baseball’s own version of the Kevin Bacon game.
Breaking: Selig issues A-Rod 50-game suspension
Posted by: | CommentsWhile the Yankees knew they would be without their starting third baseman until mid May, the team received a bombshell just minutes ago when baseball commissioner Bud Selig announced a 50-game suspension for A-Rod this morning.
Citing his power to protect the best interests of baseball, Selig took the unprecedented step of suspending a player for failing a drug test before punishment measures were in place. The MLB Players Association plans to appeal the ruling.
“These players who use performance-enhancing substances offend all of us who care for the game, and I will not tolerate their actions,” Selig said during an early-morning conference call with reporters. “What Alex did was wrong and he will have to live with the damage he has done to his name and reputation. There is no valid excuse for using such substances, and those who use them have shamed the game.”
Selig’s decision came after nearly two months of soul searching and investigation. In February, Sports Illustrated’s Selena Roberts broke the news that A-Rod was one of 104 players on a supposedly anonymous list from 2003 of those who failed a drug test. A-Rod, who a year ago had denied ever taking PEDs, came clean in a series of interviews with Peter Gammons and Michael Kay and in a press conference in Tampa.
Meanwhile, a few weeks later, as the steroid fallout dissipated, another A-Rod story popped up. The Yanks’ clean-up hitter had to go under the knife for a torn labrum and was originally set to miss the first six weeks of the schedule. During A-Rod’s rehab in Colorado, though, Selig decided enough was enough. He didn’t want to hear about the “loosey-goosey” steroid era anymore and determined that a 50-game suspension for A-Rod would send a message to those still trying to evade drug tests.
While Gene Orza and his team at the Players Association are busy trying to figure out how to overturn this suspension, baseball insiders are worried about the labor unrest this move may generate. While popular with a media long critical of steroid uses, the PA believes that Bud Selig has overstepped his bounds as commission and has violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Meanwhile, the Yankees are left with Cody Ransom at third base until seemingly the end of June now. Ransom, 33, has never gotten more than 78 plate appearances in a single big league season and remains untested. While the Yanks were prepared to use him until May to fill a hole, the reality of a half of season without A-Rod may force them to package Melky Cabrera and Ian Kennedy in a deal for a third baseman.
