River Avenue Blues

River Ave. Blues ยป Ron Villone

Villone out of ALDS; Ohlendorf, Veras in

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It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Time for the unveiling of the post-season roster.

As you may have guessed, Ron Villone is not on the roster. The gods are rejoicing. The Yanks, however, are going with no lefties in the pen. Filling the last spots are Jose Veras and, more impressively, Ross Ohlendorf. Torre really liked what he saw from Ohlendorf down the stretch. I did too. I see big things for this kid next year.

Meanwhile, as we noted yesterday, Bronson Sardinha is on the roster, but Chris Britton, contrary to what The Post reported, is not.

Here’s your Game 1 roster and line up courtesy of Peter Abraham. All of you Melky lovers will be happy to see he’s playing. Shelley Duncan, however, is on the bench and not in the lineup against a tough left. I wish Torre had gone with Duncan:

Johnny Damon LF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B – MVP! MVP!
Jorge Posada C
Hideki Matsui DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Melky Cabrera CF
Doug Mientkiewicz 1B

Chien-Ming Wang P

The Bench
Wilson Betemit
Jason Giambi – Most expensive bench player ever.
Shelley Duncan – He’s gotta come up big at some point this October, right?
Jose Molina – .318/.333/.439 in 71 Bronx PAs. Remember Wil Nieves?
Bronson Sardinha

Starting Pitchers
Andy Pettitte – Only lefty on the ALDS roster
Roger Clemens
Mike Mussina
Phil Hughes – Should be starting game 4. No word on that yet.

Bullpen
Mariano Rivera
Joba Chamberlain
Luis Vizcaino
Kyle Farnsworth
Ross Ohlendorf
Jose Veras

Villone likely on postseason roster

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In what basically amounts to a throwaway column, Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record implies that Ron Villone will make the playoff squad. Can’t say I’m surprised, considering the Yanks will carry at least 11 pitchers. I’m not happy, though, since we know a Villone implosion is always one pitch away. Says Villone of his probable role as lefty specialist:

“It’s not my ideal role, but I’ll do whatever’s needed.”

Ron is correct. His ideal role is warming various seats in the bullpen. Unlike many lefty relievers, he doesn’t even have favorable stats against lefty hitters. I will be quite white-knuckled should he make an appearance in a tight game.

Bruney up as Villone DL’d

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Roster changes abound before the Yanks face the Tigers this weekend. Brian Bruney’s exile to Scranton ended today as the Yanks recalled the righty. Bruney managed to give up 4 runs in 6 IP in AAA. In a corresponding move, the Yanks put Ron Villone on the DL with what Peter Abraham reports as a “lower back strain.” I prefer to call that a “You suck, but Joe Torre won’t let us release you” injury. Meanwhile, the Yanks’ best relief option continues to toil away at AAA while Bruney gets another chance to prove that he has no control.

Villone may be a professional, but he still sucks

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With that home run, Ron Villone has now given up 5 runs over his last 6.1 IP. He’s allowed all of the runners he’s inherited since then to score as well. Tell me again why he’s on the big league roster while Chris Britton wastes away at AAA. Oh right, he is, in th words of Michael Kay, a “consummate professional.” Glad we cleared that one up.

Henn down; Villone up

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Sean Henn, over his last five appearances, has given up 7 earned runs in 2 2/3 innings (with 4 of those runs coming in one outing). So the Yankees shipped Henn to Scranton and called up Ron Villone on the last day before he could exercise his opt-out clause in his contract. Villone, who has already thrown 23 innings at AAA while giving up 21 hits but few runs, will now be used every day by Joe “Autopilot” Torre until his arm falls off or his ERA climbs above 10.00.

For those of you wondering, Luis Vizcaino, who in his last five performances has given up just 6 earned runs in 5 IP (10.80 ERA), is still with the team. Barf.

Cramps, strain, what’s the difference?

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We must be the last Yankee outlet to mention this, but yeah, Johnny Damon’s reported cramps from Monday are, uh, it’s a bit worse. Word now is a strain. Damon’s scheduled downgrade to “slight tear” is sometime around noon tomorrow.

Also mentioned in the article is the return of Ron Villone. He inked a minor league deal today, leaving us fans to wonder if we’re ever going to get rid of this guy.