Posts Tagged ‘Mets’

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Baseball Can Be A Cold Business

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

Yes, it was heartwarming to see Andy Pettitte pitch a scoreless inning, but for Cervelli the game and its aftermath wasn’t much fun. After he hit a homer against the Mets, he was informed that he was being optioned to AAA.

I thought he had the backup catcher job locked up and so, apparently, did he. It seems the job will now go to somebody named Chris Stewart, newly acquired from the Giants for George Kontos.

Photo: Alex Gallardo/AP

Poor Cisco. He’s had – what? – like 10 concussions by now? He hasn’t always been the greatest catcher, no question, but he deserved to stay in the bigs if you ask me, which nobody is.

Oh well.

After tomorrow’s workout at the evil Trop, the season will kick off there against the Rays and all will be right with the world.

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Now That Pettitte Mania Has Subsided…

Sunday, March 18th, 2012

I guess it’s appropriate to wonder what Andy’s return will mean for the rest of the starters – IF he shows he can still pitch after the long absence.

Kuroda has already been penciled in as the #2 starter, and both he and Hughes had their best outings of the spring this past week. Nova hasn’t pitched well yet but he’s earned a job with his past performances. Pineda is still somewhat of an unknown quantity, but the Yankees didn’t trade for him to keep him in the minors. If anyone’s on the bubble, it would probably be Garcia.

Or not.

Would the Yankees send Hughes to the pen? Not unless he gets into that familiar rut where he nibbles and takes forever to get hitters out and racks up high pitch counts by the third inning. He didn’t come to camp in better shape so he could be banished to the pen, I’m sure.

Very confusing situation. But here’s what I hope doesn’t happen: a six-man rotation.

It would be insane to take guys out of their normal routines – especially CC – just to accommodate Pettitte.

And then there’s the upcoming Clemens trial; Andy will have to leave the team to testify. So for the foreseeable future, the issue won’t have to be resolved and everybody can hang on to their current jobs.

Speaking of the Clemens trial, does anybody care at this point? It feels like it should have happened already. I hate that Andy will get dragged into the he said/he said nonsense.

But it could be worse. We could be Mets fans having to watch their owners on trial. I’m old enough to remember when Steinbrenner was kicked out of baseball for being a bad boy, but the Wilpons’ mess is truly gruesome.

 

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“Brett Gardner Just Saved Ramiro Pena’s Bacon”

Sunday, July 3rd, 2011

That was a direct quote from Michael Kay after Gardner made that tremendous throw to nail Duda at home plate (nice tag by Russell Martin too). Unfortunately, no one could save Pena’s bacon or anything else about the kid. It was a bad day at the office for him. For Mo too. He kind of looked like he was phoning it in for some reason. (I hate writing that.)

It’s not the end of the world that the Yankees dropped the series finale to the Mets, but to waste the fine outing by Garcia was frustrating. Also frustrating was our offense; they caught a break when Dickey and his knuckleball left the game but still couldn’t manage the necessary runs.

Still, there’s very good news with Jeter coming back. I’m excited about it. I’ve missed him. And I think the defense of Nunez and Pena made everybody miss him even more.

And Nova? Well, I’d rather have him pitching in Scranton than sitting around in our bullpen. And he’ll be back, no doubt.

For me the question mark is Hughes. Which Hughes will we see on Wednesday? The one with velocity and command or the guy that dithers around on the mound and is gone by the fourth inning? Fingers crossed for the former.

The All-Star selections? Ask me if I care. Of course I wish every Yankee could be picked and it would be cool for Robertson to get his shot, but it’s an exhibition game. It’s about as exciting to me as the WBC. Sorry.

Hope everyone’s enjoying the holiday weekend despite today’s loss. Happy 4th in advance.

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Nunie Gets The Silent Treatment

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

It was very funny the way the Yankees shunned Nunez in the dugout after his homer today, then jumped on him to congratulate him. I hate to keep talking about him, but he’s been absolutely amazing offensively. He told Ken Rosenthal after the game that he’s fine with going back to his utility man role when Jeter takes over, but he’s certainly making sure he gets noticed in the meantime.

Actually, this post should be about Colon. I honestly didn’t expect him to pick right back up where he left off, but he did. He was fabulous. He threw strikes, got ahead in counts, kept the Mets off balance, lasted six innings in his first assignment after the layoff. Wow. Just wow.

At this point, the Yankees have to make a decision about Hughes. I say forget the nonsense about a six-man rotation. Why screw up the rhythm of the other pitchers, who like to pitch on regular rest, just to make room for one guy? Alternate Nova and Hughes. Nova will have an innings limit and Hughes needs to come back gradually, so it makes perfect sense (to me anyway).

The one sour note today was Meat Tray. As someone said on Twitter, he belongs in the deli not on the mound.

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Nunie!

Friday, July 1st, 2011

Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images North America

He’s hardly my idea of a perfect ballplayer and I wince every time he makes a throw from shortstop, but can he ever hit. He was even one of tonight’s defensive stars (after yet another shaky throw in the first inning) and I have to admit I’ll miss his bat and his speed when Jeter comes back.

That said, there were plenty of other heroes in tonight’s series opener with the Mets – from Nova and Martin working together to escape tough situations to Tex picking up a couple of A-Rod’s errant throws. And how about those bunts by Nova and Logan?

The Yankees caught a break on the ump’s blown call on Reyes at third (nice fake, A-Rod), but so it goes. Our bullpen is a thing of beauty right now and I can’t believe I was in such a panic about it. When Michael Kay mentioned that Soriano was throwing again and could be ready to join the team after the All-Star break, I said, “Who’s Soriano?”

I hope Swisher’s okay after fouling that ball off his foot. Granderson did the same thing the other night. I wish they’d stop it already.

That high wall at Citi Field is ridiculous. A-Rod’s ball would have gone out in any other ballpark. I’m not saying every stadium should be a bandbox, but if I were the Mets I’d give their hitters a break. Who would want to play there other than a pitcher?

Anyhow, the Yanks must be enjoying Interleague, which is another way of saying that the AL East is a bear.

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CC Is Big

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

Photo: Seth Wenig/AP

I had to swipe the above photo off LoHud’s blog just because it reminded me of CC’s size, which was pretty much all I thought about while I watched him pitch today. He loomed large against the Brewers, didn’t he? I actually said out loud, staring at his gut, “How does he move around with that thing?”

He moves just fine. Better than fine. He dominated today with all those strikeouts and, except for Braun, the Brewers looked helpless against him.

Congrats to Tex on the 300 homers. Congrats to Boone Logan for getting lefties out these days. Congrats to the Yankees for the win (especially given that we were missing some regulars). Congrats to the team for the series sweep. Congrats to me for suffering through the Brewers’ TV feed, which is all we got here in good old Santa Barbara, CA. And congrats to me again for managing to work and watch at the same time.

And now it’s on to CitiField tomorrow night. Given how many runs the Mets have scored lately, this series could be fun. Or not. We’ll see.

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A Game Of Two Emoticons

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011

For the first six innings of today’s Yankees-Mets finale, I was wearing this face.

Nova was pitching in and out of trouble and, aside from Granderson’s latest display of brute force, the offense was in sleep mode. I feared another sloppy game.

But then came the seventh inning and this face emerged.

Oh, boy. Who says all the Yankees can do is swat homers? A bunch of dunkers, rollers, nubbers, plus a walk here and a hit batsman there, and suddenly we had sent Pelfrey to the showers and blown the thing open.

Maybe I need to revisit my initial opinion of Ayala, by the way. He has quietly gotten the job done lately. And look at Jeter inching closer to the magic #3,000. Good to see.

On the negative side (well, I don’t need to dwell on this, but I do need to mention it), Posada has the base-running instincts of, say, a crocodile.

Why did Girardi have Granderson, our hottest hitter, bunt? Oh, who knows. Maybe his binder told him it was the way to go.

The important thing is the Evil Homer Syndrome was replaced by the Small Ball Phenomenon, and the Yankees won the game.

And now a word about our next opponent, the Jays, and this person.

(courtesy: torontosportsauthority.com)

Bautista will require special handling. So I ask our pitchers to watch video of him, study Joe’s charts and graphs and whatever else he’s got, or just keep the ball away from him. But do not let him beat us. Please and thank you.

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Now That Was Better, Boys!

Saturday, May 21st, 2011

Nice win tonight after a shaky start.

When AJ loaded the bases right from the get go and gave up a couple of runs, I heaved a sigh and hoped we wouldn’t see a repeat of his last outing. We didn’t. In fact, he went on to deliver a good performance for six-plus innings. He’ll always be an adventure , but as long as he can keep the Yankees in ballgames I’ll be grateful. (Ouww. I just felt a pang of longing for Pettitte as I typed that sentence. Don’t ask me why. It was a moment. Sniff.)

Anyhow, about all the homers. The Yankees have hit SEVENTY of them – and it’s only MAY. Grandy’s on a tear this season, Martin is surprising a lot of people, Tex is really heating up (when he’s not popping up) and A-Rod’s hip sure looks okay to me. I know we’re not supposed to depend on the home run ball, but I’m beginning to think it’s just how this team rolls.

How good were D-Rob and Joba. Ayala too. Maybe we don’t need Soriano after all?

One final note. My friend on Twitter, @YankeeFanPat, forwarded me this item that appeared in the book publishing trade-zine, Publisher’s Marketplace. Hold onto your caps, people:

Luis “Squeegee” Castillo’s CLUBHOUSE CONFIDENTIAL: A Yankee Bat Boy’ s Inside Tale of Wild Nights, Gambling, and Good Times with Modern Baseball’ s Greatest Team has sold to St. Martin’s Press. The author worked for the Yankees during their heyday from 1998 to 2005, and was the last bat boy hired who was not required to sign a confidentiality agreement. He writes about working with Derek Jeter, A-Rod, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Joe Girardi, Bernie Williams, Roger Clemens, Joe Torre, and many other modern day Yankee greats. Luis saw and heard what really happened in the privacy of the clubhouse, at parties, and in hotel rooms – from bar fights to secret meetings from Miami to St. Louis, from Detroit to Arizona, and from Boston to New York. He vacationed with some players and got to know them like family, discovering their pitching and hitting secrets, joining them in all-nighters, and learning their often hilarious methods of meeting girls and having fun on the road.

The Yankees, as most people know, weren’t crazy about my She-Fan book when it was published, so I can only imagine how pleased they’ll be when this one hits the stores. If I were Luis “Squeegee” Castillo, I might want to hire a few of these.


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Knuckling Under

Friday, May 20th, 2011

(courtesy: stungunsupply.com)

I don’t know much about the current Mets except that David Wright and Jason Bay are on the DL, among others. The only players in tonight’s game that I recognized were Reyes, Beltran and K-Rod. What I’m saying is that their starter, Dickey, was an unknown quantity to me, but when I heard he was a knuckleballer I thought, Uh-oh.

In his heyday, Tim Wakefield used to make the Yankees look ridiculous at the plate, Aaron Boone notwithstanding. Our boys just don’t like trying to hit junk. Dickey, unfortunately, continued in the Wakefield tradition and our offense, so mighty just 24 hours earlier in Baltimore, went missing.

It was painful watching them strand runners yet again.

It was painful watching them waste Garcia’s fine performance.

It was painful watching them not be able to score even after Dickey left the game.

And it was painful watching K-Rod, the clown, dancing on the mound as if he’d just won the World Series.

(courtesy: animationplayhouse.com)

Anyhow, as I said yesterday, this game didn’t carry the weight of the world for me. While it was disappointing that we lost, I’m more concerned about how we lost than to whom. Cano continued his sloppy defense. Martin let some Garcia pitches slip past him. We just aren’t playing clean, crisp baseball and I’d really, really, really like that to change.

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Nice Blowout!

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

Photo: Getty Images/stylelist.com

Thirteen runs. My kind of game. Especially when we’re shutting out the opposition, which is what CC did tonight. Unlike his previous appearances, this one against the Orioles was truly dominating. It was so dominating I allowed myself to enjoy my dinner for a change. No need for this whatsoever.

Poor Amaury Sanit. He couldn’t maintain the shutout. I thought Girardi would pop a vein in his neck watching Sanit bumble his way through the ninth. But mercifully, it all ended with a three-game winning streak heading back to New York.

Wasn’t it fun watching Swisher and Posada, in particular, have such positive results offensively, given their struggles?

Didn’t it thrill you to see a zillion triples and doubles along with garden-variety singles and homers?

How about Posada playing first and, later, Martin taking over at third? So what if they looked about as comfortable out there as I look on an ice skating rink.

Photo: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

The only real drama in this one came early when Bergesen plunked Cano. Again, no one knows what’s really in a pitcher’s head, but in this case it seemed to be retaliation for Cano’s game-winning hit the night before. And so, like the ace he is, CC took care of business and plunked Markakis, their best hitter. Problem solved and everybody moved on.

Looking ahead to the weekend, Marc Carig, beat writer for the Star-Ledger, asked everybody on Twitter: “How much importance do you place on the Yankees-Mets series?”

Some tweeted back that the series was huge to them. Me? I wrote this: “About as much importance as if the Yankees played the Pirates.”

Maybe it’s because I don’t live in New York anymore. Maybe it’s because I don’t consider the Mets a real rival. Maybe it’s because I’m not a fan of interleague play. To me, the weekend’s games are just that: games. I’d like the Yankees to win them all, but there’s nothing new about that.

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