IP(A-O)K
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Triple-A Scranton (4-0 win over Charlotte)
Brett Gardner, Justin Christian, Jason Lane & Nick Green: all 1 for 4 – Gardner scored a run, drove one in & K’ed … Christian drove in a run & K’ed … Lane doubled & K’ed … Green scored a run
Matt Carson: 1 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 CS
Greg Porter: 1 for 2, 1 RBI, 1 BB
IPK: 7.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 1 HB, 5-9 GB/FB – 58 of 89 pitches were strikes (65.2%) … Chad Jennings said in an email that he fell behind 2-0 to only two batters (came back to K the first guy, gave up the lone hit to the other), and gave up only 2 hard hit balls all night – zeroes are nice, but those last two stats do a much better job of telling the story … here’s CJ’s wrap of the game … and to think some called him a failed prospect
Heath Phillips: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 4-1 GB/FB – 14 of 20 pitches were strikes (70%)
Game 34: The glorious return of Wilson Betemit
By · CommentsWilson Betemit has finally recovered from the world’s worst case of conjunctivitis. Twenty-two days after landing on the DL due to a bad bout of pink eye, Betemit has been activated, and he draws the start at third base tonight.
Prior to his stint on the DL, Betemit had been swinging like a blind man. On the season, he is 2 for 13 with 1 RBI and 7 strike outs. He will assume backup infield duties, splitting time with Morgan Ensberg at third while A-Rod is out and potentially Alberto Gonzalez if the Former Attorney General isn’t sent down. Gonzalez, the Yanks’ young defensive whiz, has been sent back to Scranton.
I have to believe that the Yanks may try to move Betemit at some point this season. They could get back some pretty decent returns and seem to have better fielding options in the system. If Betemit hits, he is a valuable asset to the team; if he doesn, his value comes via a trade.
On the pitching front, Andy Pettitte takes the mound in search of a win. His last two starts have been rather uninspiring. He’s thrown 11 innings, surrendering nine earned runs on 15 hits — four of which were of the home run variety — while striking out six and walking four. A strong start would do the Yankee rotation wonders, and with a rested bullpen, Pettitte really just needs to get through five or six today.
The Yankees will face Fausto Carmona for the first time since the ALDS when Carmona thoroughly shut down the Yanks. On the surface, Carmona has pretty good numbers; he’s 3-1 with a 2.60 ERA. But — and this is a big but — he’s allowed 34 hits and 26 walks while striking out just 13 in 34.2 innings. A pitcher cannot succeed for long with a 1.73 WHIP. Will the hot Yankee offense finally break Carmona?
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Matsui DH
Giambi 1B
Cabrera CF
Cano 2B
Betemit 3B
Molina C
Pettitte P
Game Notes: Get ready for some more A-Rod fun. It seems that like most human males, A-Rod couldn’t stomach watching his wife give birth and has thus earned the nickname Faint-Rod. The AP — the nation’s most respected newswire service — determined that this story was somehow news. What a disgrace.
ByText messaging can be an awesome thing. it’s how Chad Jennings has kept up on Alan Horne’s rehab. The latest word is that he’s set to throw from a mound tomorrow and then again on Saturday. If all goes well, he’ll face live hitters a week from today, probably in extended spring training. He could join the Scranton rotation shortly after that, but we can’t be certain. It appears for now, though, that he’s on the road back. · (1) ·
ByWhile Kevin Long and Robinson Cano continue to work through Cano’s slump, all eyes are on Melky’s stellar start. Last night, Tyler Kepner posted a piece on the Bats blog about how A-Rod influences Melky’s routine. “I have followed the advice of Alex Rodriguez. I’m eating right and working really hard,” Melky said. Sounds good to me. · (5) ·
Where have you gone, Larry Bowa?
By · CommentsThis is the first in the guest column series. It is written by Dan Forti. You can check him out at Boulevard NYC, “an ongoing collaborative effort that strives to bring anyone with a creative vision together.”
Having been a die-hard Yankees fan since 1996, not too much surprised me during the 2007 off-season. Posada, Rivera, and A-Rod all threatening to leave, but then re-sign? It didn’t catch me off guard. I was even prepared for Joe Torre’s surprise departure, feeling that it was time for an amicable end to the great Torre Dynasty. However, the one move that I am still surprised about, and upset over, is the loss of our former third base coach, Larry Bowa.
Before his stint with the Yankees, the average fan knew Bowa as the eccentric manager of the Philadelphia Phillies from 2001-04. While his teams had strong players such as Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, Jim Thome, and Jimmy Rollins, each year they underperformed. Bowa’s fiery personality and in-your-face style of coaching wore down many of his players halfway through each season, and in 2004 Bowa was let go.
In comparison, Bowa’s playing career was very successful: He won two Gold Gloves, led the NL in fielding percentages in six different seasons, and shared the left side of the infield with Hall of Famer Mike Schdmit. Every person who played with Bowa respected him for his passion for the game, as well as his dedication to his craft.
During the 2005 season, Bowa’s knowledge for the game became apparent through his daily TV appearances on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight. Bowa always provided objective and concise analysis, while adding a little bit of his own flare to each show. When Bowa jumped from BBTN to the Bronx, many wondered how his personality would fit in with Torre’s calm regime.
I could never have imagined the impact that Bowa would have on this team. He was the best third base coach the Yankees ever had during the Torre Dynasty. Fans who are watching on television usually have a good idea of whether a runner at third should be sent home (various camera angles and instant scouting reports help). During Bowa’s stay at third, there was not one play that I disagreed with his decision (compare that to Luis Sojo’s miserable performance in the same capacity). He helped the Yankees get those extra runs, which we’ve always needed with our unreliable pitching.
Bowa’s impact could not only be seen during each game, but also during the course of the entire season. Within days of being hired by the Yankees, Bowa reached out to the team’s young second baseman, offering to be a mentor of sorts and to help him reach his untapped potential and abilities. Three weeks later, at 7:30 AM on a Tuesday morning, Bowa was hitting ground balls to Robinson Cano on an infield in the Tampa Complex. Each morning, for over an hour, Bowa would have one-on-one sessions with Cano, working on fielding groundballs, turning double plays, and mastering footwork. Bowa saw the player Cano could be, and recognized that a little of his ‘tough love’ could work wonders for the Dominican kid.
Two years later, Cano has evolved into an All-Star. He is one of the top hitting second basemen in the league, and is an underrated fielder (few others can turn a DP like Cano). Some critics believe that Cano’s early-season slump is so bad because Bowa isn’t there to keep the second baseman’s head straight. Early in his career, Yankee fans have noticed that Cano is prone to mental lapses. But Bowa found a great young man in Cano, and I am confident that the two are constantly on the phone, discussing game situations and methods to endure the mental wear of a 162 game season.
Although Bobby Meachem seems to be an adequate replacement as third base coach, I’m confident that the Yankees miss Bowa’s presence in the clubhouse. Joe Girardi has more intensity than Torre, but will always play second fiddle to Bowa and his ability to fire up a team. His coaching style may never be conducive to be a manager, but the Los Angeles Dodgers have one of the best coaches in baseball.
Photo by Al Lerner
In less than 11 months, fans will be streaming through these gates. (Photo by flickr user BenYankee. For more of my stadium photos, check out this flickr set)
You know me; I love writing about the new stadium. How could I possibly let an off-day go by without mentioning something — anything — about the House that A-Rod Built? Well, I can’t, and MLB.com happened to provide me with one of the more in-depth pieces on the stadium we’ve seen in a long time.
Let’s just jump right into Barry Bloom’s latest on the stadium. First off, we hear that the new stadium has reached its apex, and construction is right on schedule:
They topped off the last bit of white steel, high above what will be the wrap-around scoreboard and gigundo video screen at the new Yankee Stadium this past Thursday.
And around the construction site, many of the upbeat workers are wearing dark blue buttons with the name of the famous ballpark in white capital letters set above this date: Feb. 17, 2009, less than two months before Opening Day.
“That’s when we’re turning the stadium over to the Yankees,” said Harry Olsen, the project manager for the company that’s overseeing the construction and site.
As we already know, the new stadium design is heavily influenced by pre-renovation Yankee Stadium. “This new stadium is different,” Yankees President Randy Levine said, comparing the stadium in progress to the one we know and love. “There may never be another one like it.”
Writes Bloom:
Yankees officials dug up those first Yankee Stadium architectural plans, and from it, they are remaking the famous curved and striped “frieze” that hovers high above the bleachers in the renovated ballpark, putting it where it once was: running around the stadium below the lights on the fringe of the upper-deck overhang, from left field all the way around to right.
Secondly, they replicated the monumental Gate 4 entrance, cast in limestone with each letter of the words “YANKEE STADIUM” set between stone emblems and chiseled in gold leaf. The limestone façade gives it a decidedly old-time texture and runs most of the way around the new ballpark.
“And it’s built to last for the next 50 years or more,” Olsen said.
But the real meat of the article — the devil, if you will — is in the details. We finally have the field configuration information; according to Bloom, the field dimensions will be exactly the same to those in current Yankee Stadium. Bloom says that the field will be “318 feet down the left-field line; 314 feet down the right-field line; 408 feet in dead center; 399 feet in left-center, and 385 in right-center.” All of the Yankee fans worried about a boring symmetrical outfield can breathe easy.
Even more enticing is Bloom’s descriptions of the seating confirguration:
It will seat 53,000, but somehow, as MLB.com learned on a recent tour that traversed almost every nook and cranny of the new facility, every one of those seats has an unencumbered view of home plate, even though the new stadium reaches about the same height as the existing one.
Most are much closer to the field than the current stadium, where the catcher squats about 70 feet from the backstop. In the new park, that distance will be about 50 feet. The grade, which seems nearly flat at 35 percent in the current lower deck, has been changed to a much steeper 45 percent. That’s akin to a pitcher peering down from a mound 10 feet above the ground, as opposed to a mound that’s about six feet high. There are also many fewer rows in each deck.
Every time I go to a game this year — and my trip this Wednesday will be my fifth of the season — I look across 161th St. with a mixture of wonder and trepidation. I don’t want to see Yankee Stadium, one of the few places in New York City that’s been a constant for my entire life, to meet the fate of Polo Grounds or Ebbets Field. I don’t want to see the Yankees leave their hallowed grounds and knock down the ghosts of the Babe, the Mick and Joe D. With the echoes of 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 still reverberating through the stadium, it will be hard to leave for that final time in September or October.
But at the same time, New Yankee Stadium looks every bit as beautiful as a $1.3 billion baseball temple should be. I’m excited to see the new stadium and explore a new home ballpark. It will be historical, intimate and brand new at the same time. It’s easy to pacify uneasy fans with the promise of a new toy, and that’s just what this new Yankee Stadium is. I just wish we didn’t have to say good bye to the old Yankee Stadium at the same time.
Triple-A Scranton (5-0 loss to Charlotte)
Wilson Betemit, Nick Green & Greg Porter: all 1 for 4 – Betemit drew a free pass … Porter doubled
Brett Gardner, Cody Ransom, Chris Stewart: all 0 for 4 – Gardner walked & K’ed twice … Ransom & Stewart each K’ed three times
Jason Lane: 2 for 3, 1 BB
Eric Duncan: 0 for 3, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 E (throwing)
Matt Carson: 2 for 4 – 6 for 10 since the promotion
Dan Giese: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 1 HB – picked a runner off first … 52 of 78 pitches were strikes, exactly 2 out of 3
David Robertson: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 Er, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 WP – one off the walks was intentional … 24 of 42 pitches were strikes (57.1%)
Steven Jackson: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K – stranded both inherited runners
Open Thread: A cup of Joe
By · CommentsToday one’s of those — whaddyacallit — off days for the Yanks. It’s a rare occurrence indeed this season, and obviously, we won’t have a game thread. So let’s try an open thread instead.
With 33 games down, the Yanks have seen 20 percent of the season fade into the rear view mirror. They’ve once again had their early-season struggles. The offense hasn’t clicked yet; the young pitchers haven’t lived up to expectations. But when all is said and done, they’re 17-16, three games out of first. Last year, they were 16-17 and a whopping seven games out of first place. Things are downright rosy for the 2008 Yankees through the lens of 2007.
For Yankee fans and the New York media, two groups who demand perfection at every turn in the Big Apple, 2008 is also a year of monumental change in the Bronx. We’ve got a new Joe in town. Joe Torre fled for LA after a fairly bitter divorce, and Joe Girardi took the reins.
Girardi’s tenure has been a little shaky through April. He didn’t have the smoothest of relationships with a media used to the mannerisms of Joe Torre. The Yankee propaganda machine has obscured injuries and roster moves, and press coverage in turn has been far from favorable.
On the field, Girardi has shown a tendency to keep some of his relievers out there for too long, but I think his bullpen management has been fair. He’s done a far better job at balancing the relief load than Joe Torre ever did, and he continues to trot out the young kids, such as Ross Ohlendorf, far more often than Torre would.
So here’s my question to you, loyal RAB readers, on this off day: How do you rate Joe Girardi’s first 33 games in New York? Do you like the job he’s doing? Do you pine for Joe Torre? How would you hope to see Girardi improve over his next 33 games and beyond?
ByFrom the “It’s Never Too Early for the Hot Stove League” department comes this gem from Boston Herald columnist Tony Massarotti: The Yanks could push hard for Derek Lowe’s services when the durable righty becomes a free agent this season. The Yankee fan in me would rather stab myself in the face than watch Derek Lowe pitch every five days, and I’d much rather see Yanks push hard for C.C. Sabathia. However, outside of his last year in Boston, Lowe has put up pretty good career numbers and has a six-season streak of 32 starts or more. The Yanks could do far worse in the short term if C.C. stays in Cleveland, but with Joba, Wang, Pettitte, Hughes and Kennedy right now projecting to start in 2009, it seems that the Yankee rotation is full. (HT to MLBTR) · (37) ·
