With the RAB redesign, a few people have noted that some posts on the site’s main page are formatted differently. We had this feature on the old design but the differences weren’t as obvious. So briefly: These smaller. offset posts with smaller headlines, less meta information (date, category) and a different styling for the byline and comments are Asides. These are smaller posts for when we have a link to show you or a small point to make that doesn’t warrant its own post. Same great content as before, but now they look a little more distinctive than our other posts.
The umpires are complete fools
To offer up a counterpoint to Mike, I don’t think Joba was trying to hit Kevin Youkilis intentionally. I don’t know what happened with those pitches; I don’t know what was going through Joba’s head. But it doesn’t make sense.
That is, however, besides the point. I want to direct your attention instead to a quotation from umpire crew chief Derryl Cousins in this Jack Curry article:
“Those were two pretty nasty pitches the young man threw,” Cousins said. “Up here, you need to be a little better throwing strikes, and we just had to put a lid on it.”
Now, in my opinion, the 9th inning was handled badly by everyone today. Torre’s decision to stick with Joba in the 9th is indefensible when Chamberlain is limited in how often he can pitch. Furthermore, Angel Hernandez, the umpire who ejected Chamberlain, was out of control. Chamberlain threw two bad pitches, and no warning during the course of this entire series was issued. So why not warn the 21-year-old and let the game continue? No one wants to see Angel Hernandez flailing around like a power-hungry fool. They do, however, want to see Joba Chamberlain.
Then, when the game ends, Derryl Cousins has the nerve to refer to the 2004 fight between A-Rod and Jason Varitek as the supposed history between these two teams. He then starts talking condescendingly about “up here, you need to be a little better [at] throwing strikes.” So the umpires decided to “put a lid on it.”
Last I checked, most relief pitches don’t get ejected when they can’t find the strike zone. Did Edwar Ramirez get ejected when he threw 19 of 20 pitches out of the strike zone last month? He certainly wasn’t too good about throwing strikes “up here.” Last I checked, pitching coaches are the ones who determine when to “put a lid on it” when their young pitchers aren’t near the plate. I didn’t realize Angel Hernandez was actually helping the Yankees by removing a wild pitcher from a game. I guess we should thank him then.
So who knows what happened? Who knows why Joba was throwing over Kevin Youkilis’ head. If he did it on purpose, more power to him. If he didn’t, then oops, and everyone’s blowing this out of propotion. But there is no doubt in my mind that Angel Hernandez first and Derryl Cousins second have handled this situation so poorly. Their actions and words cast more of a negative shadow on the game and the sport than two of Joba’s errant pitches did today.
Division Title for SWB
D’oh: Made a bit of a boo-boo: I left the comment “93 K is the most in organization in the non-A-Rod category” for Juan Miranda, and that statement’s just wrong. First off, Miranda has 104 K on the year, which is behind guys like Tim Battle (145 K) & Austin Jackson (106 K) for the most in the organization. What I meant to write was “93 RBI is the most in organization in the non-A-Rod category.” There, doesn’t that sound better? My bad, sorry.
For the record, I think Joba threw at Youkilis on purpose. I dunno why he did it, but I don’t have a problem with it (those pitches were way over his head, not at it). The Sawx have been taking target practice at Jeter, A-Rod, Posada et al for years now, and the only guy that was ever man enough to throw back at them is currently being run into the ground by someone other than Joe Torre.
And because I’m sure someone will ask, I think Nardi will give the it the okay to use Joba on Saturday. After all, he only threw what, 6 pitches in the 9th?
Oh, and pardon my French, but fuck Josh Beckett, Kevin Youkilis and all those idiot Red Sox fans who are bitching about it. Grow up and learn to take what you dish out you pansies.
Update: Forgot to mention this before, but Jimmy Brower was released from Triple-A Scranton today, and The Beast Known As Scott Patterson was called up from Double-A Trenton to replace him. Brower’s release frees up a 40-man roster spot for IPK.
Triple-A Scranton (6-3 win over Syracuse) with the win, Scranton clinched the Northern Division title
Brett Gardner: 1 for 5, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 3 SB
Jose Cruz Jr.: 0 for 3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K – had been 11 for his previous 25 with 4 doubles & a homer
Babe Mink: 2 for 3, 1 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 BB – .393-.452-.679-1.130 with 7 XBH, 4 walks & only 2 K in 9 rehab games
Bronson Sardinha: 0 for 4, 1 K – threw a runner out at home
Alberto Gonzalez: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 K – 1 for his last 13 after 10 for his previous 22
Eric Duncan: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 K
Ben Kozlowski: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 6-3 GB/FB – 43 of 65 pitches were strikes (66.2%)
Ross Ohlendorf: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K – 24 of 36 pitches were strikes (66.7%)
TJ Beam: 0.2 IP, zeroes
The Robbie and Kim show
Anyone else think that Robinson Cano is totally sleeping with Kim Jones? That post-game interview today pretty much sealed the deal for me.
Update by Joe: Don’t worry. Once Robbie signs a seven-figure deal, he won’t have to sleep with the Kim Jones’s of the world.
If you want to see for yourself, here’s the link. Stupid YES won’t let you embed their YouTube videos.
Game 134: Gunning for a sweep
I feel like last night’s game just ended. Do you?
We’ve got an afternoon special for everyone stuck at work with only Gameday, MLB.tv (if you’re out of market) or Gameday Audio as your company. Wang against the hated Curt Schilling.
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF
And I’m going to Ian Kennedy’s debut this Saturday. Hopefully, I’ll take pictures but my seats are in the Tier Reserve, Section 18.
Update (1:16 p.m.): Joe’s enjoying this game from Section 39 today. So hopefully, he can bring us some good luck in the Stadium.
Update (2:45 p.m.): Joe is not enjoying this game from Section 39. Joe is back at home, because it took him two hours to make the 30-minute drive to the Stadium. It was there he met the worst gridlock he’s ever seen, so he turned around and went home, deathly afraid to see the roads parking lot after the game.
Update (3:59 p.m.): Chris Britton has been with the Yanks for three days now. He’s managed to make no appearances. Meanwhile, it’s 5-0 Yanks in the bottom of the 9th against the Red Sox and Edwar Ramirez is coming on. Why not Britton? Seriously, what did he do to Joe Torre?
Update (4:01 p.m.): So I spoke too soon. Not only is Joe Torre in a mortal fight with Chris Britton but apparently his brain froze too. The Yanks are using their relief ace for a second inning in a 5-0 game. That means he can’t pitch again until Sunday. With Ian Kennedy coming up, I would think Torre would want Chamberlain available as soon as possible. But then again, I’m probably thinking more than Torre is at this point.
Update (4:10 p.m.): For those of you watching on Gameday, Joba was ejected because the umpires are buffoons. He threw two pitches over the head of Youkilis, and Angel Hernandez, the home plate umpire, didn’t warn Joba. He simply threw him out. It’s inexplicable. No one wants to see Angel Hernandez eject someone. They want to see Joba pitch, and he’s certainly not intentionally hitting someone with a 5-run lead in the top of the 9th. Plus, with Joba’s control, if he was going to hit him, he would have hit him. It’s idiotic.
Please give credit where credit is due
A copy editor at the Daily News apparently reads RAB. Check out a headline from today:
Ian Kennedy’s shaping up as Yanks’ mini-Mussina
How long has Mike been calling him Mini-Moose? Yeah, thanks for stealing, Mr. Copy Editor. We can’t wait until the media starts calling him IPK.
SportsNation doubts the Yankees
Well, it is officially on. As you can see by the lovely ESPN map reproduced above — and if you want a better view, just click on it — the rest of the country doubts the Yankees. In state after state, from Maine to Alaska, the only people who think the Yanks will make the playoffs are those of us who live in New York and New Jersey.
It’s time to show the everyone else. It’s time to show to the 80 percent of delusional Red Sox fans who don’t think the Yankees will make the playoffs that they are flat-out wrong. Roger Clemens, who had a no-hitter going until David Ortiz met the Upper Deck, did his part tonight while Kyle Farnsworth made us all wish that the Joba Rules, which shouldn’t be lifted, weren’t in place.
Alex Rodriguez, on his march toward a showdown with the Yanks over his contract, did his job. He delivered a home run off Josh Beckett that cleared the fence and gave the Yanks the breathing room they needed. Mariano Rivera did his job plus one more out, bailing out Kyle Farnsworth for the umpteeth time. He made the Red Sox look bad. Three of the four outs were dribblers that didn’t even make it past the mound. The other out was a routine groundball to A-Rod.
So now the Yanks are six not-insurmountable games out against the Red Sox. But the Sox play the Tampa Bay Bad News Bears a few times too many this month while the Yanks play the Orioles, their 2007 bugaboo who have yet to win with Dave Trombley in as their permanent manager.
The nation doubts us even the Wild Card of which we share in the lead right now. They doubt us a playoff spot in October. They doubt the hottest team since June and the best franchise of all time. We’ll show them.
And hey, we can always take solace in the graph below the nifty new more tag (Hint: It doesn’t load a new page) the jump (We disabled the problematic More tag for now). We Yankee fans may be the most obnoxious, but the Red Sox are quickly gaining ground. To vote, head to this terrible Jim Caple column, but don’t read it. It’s really bad.