Unlike the Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Giants were good at baseball. Unlike the Dodgers, they weren’t the heart and soul of a borough struggling to carve out an identity for itself during times of change. Unlike Brooklyn Dodger fans, old New York Giants fans don’t carry fifty-year-old grudges on their sleeves. And while Ebbets Field is often represented as the ideal embodiment of sepia-tinged nostalgia, the Polo Grounds don’t evoke the same feel of history in New York sports culture. Today, Richard Sandomir catches up with a few old Giants fans who still pine for the team of their youth. It’s a fun read of an oft-neglected part of New York baseball histroy.
Moeller up; Molina likely to hit the DL
Chad Jennings notes that career journeyman catcher Chad Moeller was called up from Triple-A Scranton today to help ease the catching burden. There is no word on any accompanying roster moves, but it’s likely that M(VP)olina will hit the 15-day to clear a spot on the 25-man roster, and either Frankie Cervelli or Humberto Sanchez could be placed on the 60-day DL to clear up a 40-man spot.
I was just thinking about this whole catching mess, and I had an idea so ridiculous, so crazy it just might work. Why not sign sign this readily available free agent to not only catch a few days a week, but to provide a little offense? Not a bad idea, no?
A Foxian blunder or a business decision
As we all know, Fox dropped the ball on Saturday night. With the Yankees-Red Sox game rapidly nearing a conclusion, Fox bounced baseball to FX, its cable entertainment network, so that a NASCAR race could start.
The transition was far from seamless, and fans were none too thrilled with the News Corp. network. From the AP:
The teams didn’t begin playing again until 8:30 after a delay of more than two hours. Announcer Joe Buck repeated several times that the game was being simulcast on cable channel FX and Fox would have to switch to the race at 8:53.
It appeared the network might be able to show both events in their entirety, but with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth, the Yankees’ Robinson Cano fouled off several pitches. At 8:55, Fox switched to the race in the middle of Cano’s at-bat.
The final two pitches of the 4-3 Red Sox win were shown only on FX, which is available in about three-quarters of the nation’s homes with televisions.
Bell said Fox hoped to show all of Cano’s at-bat instead of switching to the race earlier so the change would occur between hitters. “It wasn’t the smoothest transition, but our intentions were to try to finish on the network,” Bell said.
For Fox, this move was a simple business decision. NASCAR races receives ratings well above those for mid-afternoon baseball games. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that the network cut away from a one-run game with one out remaining. Fox apologized, but it rings a little false.
So Phil had another bad start
Every time he does, I’m going to look at this stat sheet.
Harlan Chamberlain in critical condition
Joba has left the team to tend to his father, who collapsed last night and is in critical condition at St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Joba, Harlan, and the whole Chamberlain family.
Panic! at the Disco
It doesn’t take much digging to find out why development plans and Yankee fans don’t mesh. Take a look through the comments on our Game Thread Overflow post, and you will be greeted with a lot of Yankee fans who are ready to throw in the towel on the 2008 season.
Of course, we’re only 13 games into the season, and the bats haven’t come alive yet. There’s really no need to panic, but such are Yankee fans. The FAN — while not bemoaning the Mets’ crappy start tomorrow — will be a-twitter with Yankee fans ready to throw themselves off of the Willis Ave. Bridge. While some people are already calling for one of Darrell Rasner, Steven White, Jeffrey Marquez, Kei Igawa, Jeff Karstens, Whitey Ford, Ed Figueroa or Dick Tidrow to replace Phil Hughes in the rotation, in reality, the Yanks are better off with their 21-year-old stud pitching in the bigs. You can take that to the bank.
Tonight’s problem for Phil was of course location. His stuff was as electric as it’s been, but he couldn’t buy a strike. A 40-pitch first inning was a harbinger of things to come, and he couldn’t make it off the third inning. Maybe it was the cold; Daisuke Matsuzaka couldn’t locate many of his 116 pitches tonight either. In fact, he barely managed to throw more than half for strikes. So we’ll see how Hughes fares in five days. In the meantime, we can’t expect a 21-year-old with great stuff to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders.
If we’re going to nitpick this game, it’s the same old, same old for the Yankees. It’s watching Joe Girardi, a Joe Torre disciple, making the same mistakes that his mentor used to make. The idea that Joba Chamberlain can’t pitch while the Yankees are losing a close game is one that should be thrown out the window along with Kyle Farnsworth. The idea that Johnny Damon shouldn’t be bunting with two on and no out late in the game should go out the window too.
At some point, the bats will come alive; the Yanks would pound out 10 runs; and everyone will calm down. For now, it’s just 13 games. They’re 6-7, a whopping two games out of first place. Nothing is ruined.
Nothing, that is, except for Jose Molina’s hamstring. This is in fact worse news than anything we saw on the field tonight. Molina’s been a God-send so far this year. He’s hitting .364 with seven doubles and has more than adequately filled in for Jorge Posada behind the plate. But now he’s out for a few weeks, and the Yanks’ catching situation just grew dire.
As we saw tonight, Jorge cannot throw yet, and his eventual replacement tomorrow night — Chad Moeller — has a careeer OPS+ of 60. He was filling a roster spot in Scranton; now he has to catch at the Big League level and fill in a lineup spot, something for which he is ill-equipped.
The beginning of the season is a tough time for Yankee fans. We tend to find the cloud in every silver lining, but at 6-7, two games out, the Yanks may be down, but they’re far from out. Give them a chance. We’re all fans after all; let’s cheer for our team instead of killing ourselves over them. Save that for August and September.
Game Thread Continued
For overflow comments only.