Nah, I’m just joshin’ ya. But man, could you imagine?
There’s still no word on how bad the injury really is, but I’m sure once A-Rod’s status is known, Petey will be the first to let us know. The suspense is killing me…
A-Rod has torn hammy; out for the year
What a difference 52 years makes
Yanks Fan vs. Sox Fan posted some pictures comparing Yankee Stadium circa 1955 to the Yanks’Â current digs. I know Ben is with me on this (not so sure about Joe), but I’d much prefer if they just fixed up the existing Stadium instead of building a whole new one; there’s just too much history to get rid of the place.
In which I don’t mention the A-Rod injury
D’oh. Too late.
Anyway, the boys looked good last night. Even in the innings where they weren’t scoring, they were hammering the ball, racking up 12 hits and a few long fly balls. Hell, the only out Abreu made last night was a fly ball to the wall. No, I will not change my stance on him because of one game. But I sure as hell appreciated that upper deck blast. Cano looked sharp, too, hitting the ball very hard on the only out he made in the game. He drew a walk, too, which is just mind boggling.
The story of the game, though, was Roger. That’s the guy we’re paying $28 million. Eight innings, one run, two hits (both to lead off innings), four strikeouts, one walk. That’s it. The walk, unfortunately, eventually led to the only run of the game, but hey, we’ll take it. He threw 67 of his 97 pitches for strikes, which puts a huge smile on my face. Check out his previous game:
June 9 vs. PIT (W): 108-69 (64%)
June 15 vs. NYM (L): 108-67 (62%)
June 21 @ COL (L): 90-55 (61%)
June 27 @ BAL (L) 93-55 (59%)
July 2 vs. MIN (W) 97-67 (69%)
Does this mean that Clemens will continue to throw a ton of strikes? Well, that’s how he’s advertised himself. Everyone has said that once Rocket finds his pinpoint control, you’ll see the difference. Well, we saw pinpoint control last night, and we saw a difference. Count my as psyched to see him next time out.
And really, there’s not much else to tell. The Yanks left 12 men on base, seven of which were in scoring position with two outs (and four of those were Matsui’s fault). A team like this is going to leave a ton of men on base, so that’s not a huge issue. It is, however, horribly frustrating when they score two runs and leave those 12 men on base.
Carlos Silva vs. CMW tonight. He hasn’t been horrible this season, but he did get hit hard by the Blue Jays last time out. Let’s win this one for Alex!
Karma’s a bitch, A-rod learns the hard way
As I watched A-Rod limp off the field this evening, my thoughts echoed that word written on the back of Cynthia Rodriguez’s shirt and so tastelessly bleeped out by the New York Post. “F—!” I thought with dashes taken up the spaces usually filled by a U, C and K.
And then I blamed C-Rod. You see, baseball karma is a powerful force. She wore a t-shirt to the Stadium that is expressly forbidden by Stadium rules. She, the wife of baseball’s $250 million superstar, flaunted the rules. She tempted Fate, and Fate came back to kick her husband in the ass. Or, as with so many other Yankees this season, the hamstring.
Next, I blamed Justin Morneau. Get out of the way, Justin. First, this guy undeservedly stole the MVP from Derek Jeter. Now, his fielders’ ineptness and his inability to stay out of the way led to an injury to the one guy the Yankees can’t lose.
Then, I sighed resignedly and started praying. The Yanks have announced that Alex Rodriguez has a strained hamstring. They aren’t saying tight or tweaked or anything else that would indicate a less severe injury. They are saying “strain,” and hamstring strains usually lead to DL stints. If the Yanks lost A-Rod, his 28 HR, 80 RBI and .671 SLG for an extended period of time, they would be dead in the water. I don’t need to break out the sabermetrics to show you just how important Alex Rodriguez is to the future success of the Yankees; anyone who watches games on a daily basis already understands that.
So with doom and gloom settling in, we just have to wait. Negative Nancy over here is warning us that the upper part of A-Rod’s hamstring suffered the brunt of the pull. That could be Very Bad. But at the same time, A-Rod is, in the finest sense of a timeless baseball cliché, a competitor. He won’t be content missing games, missing the All Star Game, sitting around like a lump for the Yankees’ most important month of a bad season. He’ll want to come back quickly; he’ll want to DH if possible.
But right now, we just don’t know. We’ll know more tomorrow after an examination. So we wait with fingers crossed and breath baited. The waiting is the hardest part.
Has anyone been paying attention to Marcos Vechionacci lately???
Couple things:Â
- Ian Patrick Kennedy has become a regular on BA’s Hot Sheet, and checks in at #5 this week.
- Steve White was named the International League Pitcher of the Week.
- Alan Horne, Jeff Marquez & Matt Carson will be representing Trenton in the Eastern League All-Star game.
Triple-A Scranton (11-5 win over Ottawa)
Justin Christian: 2 for 6, 1 R, 1 K – 12 for 38 (.316) with 11 runs scored in 9 games with Scranton
Juan Francia: 1 for 3, 3 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 E (fielding)
Kevin Reese: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB – 5 for 12 (.417) with 5 RBI since moving to the 3-hole
Shelley Duncan: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB – hey look, another Shelley Duncan homer wasted in Scranton…
Angel Chavez: 3 for 5, 1 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 1 K
Eric Duncan: 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K – 4 doubles in his last 7 games
Bronson Sardinha: 1 for 5, 1 R, 1 K
Andy Cannizaro: 3 for 5, 2 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 1 E (throwing)
Mighty Matt: 6 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 1 HB
Sean Henn: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Charlie Manning: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
You’ve let me down for the last time son
After going 0 for 5 with 2 K and 7 LOB against the best pitching team in the AL (by a helluva margin I might add), Robbie Cano was dropped from third to ninth in the lineup by Joe “Look, I already told you, I have people skills; what the hell is wrong with you people!!!” Torre. Way to instill a little confidence in the kid Joe; god forbid you give him more than…I dunno…one frickin’ game to prove himself.
If it was calling the shots, I’d have given Robbie at least 2 or 3 more games to show me whether or not he can cut it in the 3-hole. Day-night splits be damned, you don’t hit .340+ over a full season in the major leagues by accident. If Joe’s not going give Robbie a fair shake, then he’s got to do either one of two things: a) move Jeter to the 3-hole full-time, or b) go old school and bump everyone in the lineup up a notch (A-Rod bats 3rd, Posada 4th, Matsui 5th, and so on).
It’s July 2nd and the team’s 11 GB in the division (9 GB in the Wildcard), it’s time to stop fuckin’ around with the lineup and get the best players the most AB’s possible.