Rosters for the 2009 Futures Game were announced today, with Jesus Montero and Manny Banuelos elected to represent the Yanks. Montero played in the game last year, as did Ramiro Pena, who was a late add following an injury. You can see the World roster here, and the USA roster here. The game is scheduled for July 12th in St. Louis, the Sunday before the All Star Game.
Girardi gets the dreaded vote of confidence
To the lay person, a vote of confidence might sound like a positive. You always want the confidence of your boss, so when a general manager says he has confidence in his manager, well, that sounds like the best possible thing. Right? Not to the sports fan. We’ve seen this song and dance plenty of times. Team is struggling. General manager or owner steps up and says he has complete confidence in the manager. Team slips a bit further. Manager gets fired.
In this way, Joe Girardi couldn’t have felt well after hearing Brian Cashman’s most recent comments. The supremely talented team, assembled by Cashman and helmed by Girardi, has been slipping of late, and more than a few fans have called for the manager’s head. That doesn’t seem to be in the immediate plans, but if we’re to believe that a vote of confidence puts the manager on the hot seat, Joe’s job may be on the line.
Sweeny Murti has Cashman’s gushing words about Girardi:
“I think Joe’s done an exceptional job,” Cashman said. “We’re scuffling right now for three weeks, but he’s not humped over, slumped over, he’s not down and out and woe is me or depressed or on edge or tight. He’s keeping his guys up, he’s keeping them positive.”
“He’s doing everything he needs to do,” Cashman concluded.
Translation: win or else. For his part, Girardi understands the implication. “I know the drill here,” he said. “You win or you go home.” Indeed. It’s a foregone conclusion that if the Yankees fail to make the playoffs for a second straight year, Girardi will spend the off-season tidying his resume.
Murti notes the lack of attractive in-house options should the Yanks can Girardi before the season ends. Realistically, if they so chose that path it would have to be Tony Pena. The 2003 AL Manager of the Year has been with the Yankees for a few years now. Not only would he be the leading option for a mid-season managerial change, but he’d have to be high on the list should Girardi not make it to 2010.
This isn’t the first time Girardi has received a vote of confidence from the Yankees brass. Back in September Hank Steinbrenner noted that “Joe will be back.” Yes, that sounds like a good thing, but again, the translation was, “Joe will be back, and if he loses again he’s out.” Yes, we like reading far, far into these statements given to the media.
Thankfully, the Yanks turned around a few weeks of poor hitting last night in their 8-4 win over the Braves. A win tonight would put the thought of firing Girardi further back in our minds.
A wild and not-so-wild night for Mariano
I think it’s time for a Mariano Rivera Appreciation Thread.
In a way, it’s been a rough month for Mo. In Boston, he didn’t pitch because Joe Girardi opted for lesser relievers late in a close game. In New York a few days earlier, he gave up the game while battling what sounded like a very bad stomach flu. Then against the Mets, he almost drew a loss but walked away with a win when Luis Castillo forgot how to use two hands. After that, he threw an inning against the Nationals on the 16th and well, sat for eight days.
So last night, the Yankees called upon Mariano in the 8th. Tony Peña, taking a page from my playback but no the accepted MLB Managerial Handbook of Relief Pitching, called upon Rivera with the Yanks up by just two runs in the 8th. Rivera recorded the third out of the inning via the K, and then a funny thing happened on the way to the 9th: Rivera actually had to come to the plate.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Mariano Rivera was due for just his second plate appearance of his career. His last time up was June 20, 2006 against the Phillies. It had been a while, to say the least.
Rivera was, of course, unprepared. According to Bryan Hoch, he had to use Cody Ransom’s bat and Alfredo Aceves’ helmet. Melky offered Mo the use of his batting gloves, and his coaches told him not to swing.
Rivera ignored those instructions. He swung at a fastball and lined it to Nate McClouth in center. It could have been a two-run single. After the game, Rivera was apologetic. “I’ve got to take a swing,” Rivera said. “I apologized to my pitching coach and manager, but I had to do it.”
The players were laughing about it, and Joe Girardi was fairly amused. “It’s not what you really want to see, but he had quite a swing,” Girardi said. “When he hit it, I thought we were going to get a few more runs on the board.” If only.
Meanwhile, Rivera went back out for the 9th and promptly ended the game. He threw 15 pitches in the 9th, and just four of them were out of the strike zone. No one managed to put the ball in play against the Braves, and Matt Diaz, Nate McLouth and Yunel Escobar all struck out. For Rivera, it was just another night in the park: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 4 K, 15 of 19 pitches for strikes. Game over. Order restored. Yanks win. And that is Mariano for you. What we will do without him in a few years, I do not know.
Yanks hit well, pitch well, beat Braves
Correlation does not imply causation, so it wouldn’t be accurate to say that Joe Girardi’s ejection is what fired up the Yankees. However, the correlation grows a bit stronger. During the very at bat in which first base umpire Bill Welke tossed Girardi in the sixth, Francisco Cervelli knocked his first big league home run, tying the game at one. More importantly, though, it was the Yanks’ first run in 14 innings. They would go on to score in every subsequent inning, tallying a “big” win over the Braves.
While Cervelli’s homer came as a huge relief, it wasn’t the only highlight of the sixth. With none on and two outs, the Yanks mounted a rally. Jeter singled. Damon singled. Teixeira walked. So up strolled Alex Rodriguez, mired in a horrible slump, with the bases loaded and the game tied. Under normal circumstances, this probably wouldn’t be considered a big spot. But the Yankees have been hurting. There’s no need to detail the frustration of the past two weeks, but suffice it to say that the Yankees needed that hit right there.
Allow me to be bratty for a moment, won’t you? See, I’m told all the time — by friends, by family, in the comments — that Alex Rodriguez is worthless. People have told me as recently as today that he puts up fantasy baseball numbers, and that everything he does is for the sake of his baseball card. When a situation like this comes up, one in which he can make a difference in the game, he invariably fails. So when the ball he hit touched down in right center, I had to pinch myself, throw some water on my face. I’ll give the following sentence its own paragraph, because it’s that important:
Alex Rodriguez came through when his team really needed him.
Of course, it’s not the first time this year. There was the two-run, game-tying jack off Brad Lidge. There was the walk-off homer against the Twins. And then there was the two-run double against the Red Sox which the team subsequently squandered. Unfortunately, the myth that he never comes through in the clutch will never go away. Some of us, though, can see where he’s come through, and we appreciate it.
The rally might not have been possible had it not been for a fine pitching performance by Joba Chamberlain. Through six innings his only blunder was a hanging breaking ball to Jeff Francoeur. Understandably, it felt like the game was over at that point. The Yanks hadn’t a hit in the game, and hadn’t a run in 14 innings at that point. But then the Yanks put up their sixth-inning rally, and Joba set down the Braves in the sixth — which included a strikeout of Brian McCann, who had been causing the Yanks fits in the series.
Things got a bit dicey for Joba in the seventh. After allowing a leadoff single, he got an out, and then looked to have another freebie after Kelly Johnson bunted. But Joba threw it away, drawing Mark Teixeira off the bag. Pinch hitter Martin Prado singled in the next at bat, plating the second Braves run and chasing Chamberlain from the game. A second run scored when Nate McLouth hit a deep fly to right, on which Nick Swisher made a nice play. That saddled Joba with three runs, two earned, but his performance looked a bit better than that.
Not only did Joba pitch well — he walked none, a good sign — but he faced another challenge in his development. Starters need to learn to pitch when tired. Joba was wearing down in the seventh; his final pitch to Prado was up, and that’s usually a sign of fatigue. So while the scenario didn’t go so well, you can’t learn to do something without actually doing it. As many have noted, Joba’s learning the hard way. Hopefully he picked up a pointer or two last night. Hopefully we get a chance soon to see him try it again.
Some random concluding notes:
- Even though the Yanks scored eight runs, they were still 2 for 9 with RISP. One of those was Mo’s valiant effort in the ninth, one was Cano’s fielder’s choice in the eighth, and one was Swisher’s fielder’s choice. Though Cano’s was incredibly lucky.
- Tough inning for Bruney. He hadn’t pitched since Friday, so there might have been some rust. And he’s not going to set ’em down 1-2-3 every time. It’s just…bad timing, I suppose. I’m sure most of us were pretty on edge in the eighth.
- Francisco Cervelli is one goofy dude, in a good way. It’s easy to see why people like him so much.
Yanks have a chance to take the series tomorrow, with Andy Pettitte taking on Derek Lowe. No getaway day for the Yanks, as this one will start at seven.
Nady doubles in first rehab game
Update (12:02am): Chad Jennings notes that Casey Fossum used an out in his contract and has become a free agent. No word on who will replace him in the rotation, but Chad mentions that Double-A Trenton’s scheduled starter for Saturday (Fossum’s next turn) is now listed as TBA. Who was originally scheduled for that start? The molten hot Ivan Nova. Interesting…
Two years ago today on DotF, Mike Dunn struck out eight and allowed just one hit over seven shutout innings against Rome.
Timmy Battle was finally released. Six years, 594 games, 726 strikeouts.
Triple-A Scranton (5-3 loss to Syracuse)
Kevin Russo: 2 for 5, 1 SB
Austin Jackson: 1 for 5
Xavier Nady: 1 for 3, 1 2B – played RF for 7 innings, then was lifted
Shelley Duncan, Justin Leone & Colin Curtis: all 1 for 4 – Shelley scored a run … Leone doubled, drove in a run & K’ed thrice … Curits K’ed & committed a throwing error
Juan Miranda: 2 for 3, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Chris Stewart & Doug Bernier: both 0 for 3 – Stewart drew a walk & K’ed … Bernier drove in a run
Sergio Mitre: 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HB, 9-1 GB/FB – 58 of 87 pitches were strikes (66.7%) … sinker’s working
Edwar Ramirez: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1-0 GB/FB – 19 of 29 pitches were strikes (65.5%)
Jon Albaladejo: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 2-2 GB/FB – 15 of 25 pitches were strikes (60%)
Game 71 Spillover Thread II
Enter Sandman.
Game 71 Spillover Thread
Sorry it’s late.