Those wacky women at Babes Love Baseball have a list of
10 things you can do to make the draft more awesome than it already is.
7. Count Bud Selig’s liver spots.
Sorry, Sooze, but that would take longer than the 3 hours they’ve allotted for the first round.
Heh, it’s nearly 11 a.m., and there’s no recap of last night. D’oh. So, since it’s later in the morning and the draft is rapidly approaching, I’ll keep this short and sweet.
There are three men upon whom I’d like to heap some praise: Chien-Ming Wang, Alex Rodriguez, and Johnny Damon. While nearly everyone played a role in last night’s win, those guys are really stepping up when the Yanks needs wins the most.
How huge of a break was it to not use the bullpen at all last night? Of course, you have 13 guys in there because you plan on using some of them every game, but when you can give the corps the night off, you’ve just done them a great service. Now you can go Proctor-Bruney-Mo tonight if Moose holds up through six. Hell, you could go Britton-Proctor-Bruney-Mo if he only goes five.
Wang pitched the game in his traditional manner, recording 15 groundballs (for 16 outs counting a double play, of which he has had at least one in every game), four strikeouts, allowing five hits and walking just one. The dude is on right now. I know it’s been mentioned in just about every outlet imaginable, but his slider is really working for him this year. And it’s showing in his strikeout totals: 4.16 per nine. That may not be stellar, but it’s an improvement for Wang. He could probably whiff more, too, if he worked his four-seamer and change more often.
You’ll be lucky to see even a handful of balls hit as hard as Alex’s single last night. I’m surprised it didn’t put a baseball-sized hole in the left field wall. Even Alex looked surprised at his own strength, straggling behind a moment (probably because he thought he had jacked it for a salami) before being tagged at second. Officially, he was out. But it was pretty clear that the Yanks got hosed on yet another call at second base. It’s not just me, right? We have been getting hosed on an inordinate number of calls this year.
And then we have Johnny Damon, who doubled in each of his first two at bats. It sucks that Vazquez came back to strike out the next three hitters in the first. But his RBI double in the third started the rally that won it. Both he and the captain have been hitting over the past couple of days, so maybe they won’t be at the bottom of the “Last 7 Days” section yet again.
That’s a wrap, folks. It’s always so much easier to write a recap of a game like this, because it was just a solid win. I always try to pick the three most remarkable aspects of the game to focus on, and when those are pretty straightforward, well, it makes my job a little bit easier.
Moose vs. Contreras tonight. Let’s keep rollin’, boys!
Last 7 Days
Abreu: 476/607/810 — like a snap of the fingers, he’s turned it around
Melky: 409/440/727
Alex: 391/481/739
Posada: 360/370/680
Cano: 333/440/619
Matsui: 292/333/333
Phelps: 273/385/273
Damon: 261/346/391
Jeter: 207/207/379 — Okay, so they’re still at the bottom…
by Mike 6 Comments
Are ya ready for the draft? 2pm EST on ESPN2; Karl Ravech hosts, Peter Gammons and Steve Phillips (erg) will be in the house, RAB fav Keith Law will be on from Bristol via satelitte, as will BA’s Jim Callis from Chicago.
Just like every year, I feel like a kid on Christmas morning, except today the rich kid’s presents may fall due to signability.
…but the Yanks have picked up 4 games on the Red Sox in the past week.
by Mike 2 Comments
So who leads professional baseball in RBIs this year?
A-Rod? Nope…
Magglio Ordonez? Nope…
Prince Fielder? Ha, not even close…
How about former Yankee farmhand Mitch Jones, who’s got 60 RBI in 53 games for Triple-A Las Vegas (Dodgers). This is the same Mitch Jones that struck 602 times over the last 4 years with the Yanks organization, a span of 522 games.
 Funny game, ain’t it?
by Mike 5 Comments
Fabian says Tabata is out with minor bumps and bruises. It seems like every minor injury this year ends up being…well…anything but minor.Â
Triple-A Columbus (7-2 loss to Buffalo)
Alberto Gonzalez: 1 for 4, 1 K
Andy Phillips: 3 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Eric Duncan: 0 for 4, 1 K – 19 K in his first 18 games, only 7Â K in 26 games since…
Shelley Duncan: 1 for 4, 2 K
Bronson Sardinha: 0 for 4 – 7 for his last 36…
Jamal Strong: 2 for 3 – picked off first
Tim Lavigne: 5.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 10-4 GB/FB
Ben Kozlowski: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K – he really deserves a Sept. callup, he’s been a HORSE for Dave Miley…
You need an Insider subscription to read the latest from Law, but I’m going to pick a few bits to discuss as they relate to the Yankees.
Law says that the Tigers, holding the 27th pick, aren’t hot an Matt LaPorta. Teams are stuck on where to take the righty/righty University of Florida first baseman because of injury concerns. I’m guessing he won’t even make it to Detroit’s pick. He’s a senior, so he has no leverage to demand more than slot value. A smaller market team could definitely swipe him. If for some reason he falls to 30, it’d be tough for the Yanks to pass on him.
The White Sox look to be jumping in on Brackman’s impending fall from the top. Mike and I have made no mistake about our adoration for Brackman’s superb potential. Can’t blame the White Sox if they want to assume that risk.
In the same paragraph, he mentions Rick Porcello slipping to the Yanks. With the new rules in place for this year’s draft*, it seems unlikely he’d free-fall through the first round. Still, the possibility is quite exciting.
For some additional (Insider only, unfortunately) reading, check out Law’s article on the 2002 draft, aka the Moneyball draft. Specifically, look at the best high school players taken and the best college players.
* If a team fails to sign a player by August 15, he re-enters the draft next year and the team receives the pick directly after their pick in the current year. For example, if Kansas City drafted Porcello at No. 2 and failed to sign him, they’d get the No. 3 pick in the 2008 draft. This means there is much more incentive to take the top talent rather than take someone on signability.