Yankees Run Season High Win Streak To 8 With 7-5 Win Over Jays

Let the good times roll, right? The Yankees have won 8 straight and are rapidly moving toward officially clinching a playoff spot. With the win today and the Red Sox loss (nice!) the magic number to clinch is 18. Running that down to zero is just a formality. The Red Sox are 9 back in the loss column with 26 to play (could possibly be 10 back by end of night). If the Yankees slump and play .500 the rest of the way (13-13) the Red Sox would have to go 23-4. Excuse me a moment. I have to call 911 because I think I just busted my gut. No chance the Red Sox go 23-4 the rest of the way. I think at best the Red Sox could go 18-9 and that's being very generous. Assuming they do, the wheels would totally have to fall off and the Yankees would have to finish 9-17. Sorry, need another moment. This time I think I split my side. Ouch.

The last 2 Yankee wins have been pretty similar. Mainly because neither starter could make it through 5 (both lasted 4.2) and the bullpen had to step up to lock the win down. And boy did they step it up. Friday the pen combined to pitch 4.1 hitless/scoreless innings. Logan to Robertson to Wood to Rivera. Game over. Today the pen pitched 4.1 IP, allowing 2 inherited runners to score on 3 total hits. Moseley to Logan to Chamberlain to Wood to Rivera. Game over. The runs allowed today could have been avoided if Joe Girardi didn't mishandle the last out of the 5th. With the lefty Lyle Overbay up the correct move would have been to go to Boone Logan as opposed to Dustin Moseley. What made the move even more puzzling is that Girardi used Logan immediately after Moseley. Logan should have been in to face Overbay. Joe's lucky the team picked him up.

The Kerry Wood trade looks like a winner, eh? He's now appeared in 14 games as a Yankee. He's thrown 16 innings, allowing only 1 run on 10 hits. The run he allowed came in his 2nd appearance. Since then he's been lights out. Except for the walks. Girardi has used him as the 8th inning guy two games in a row in games that featured both Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson. Pretty obvious that Wood is the chosen one for the 8th inning. I've got no problem with that choice.

I didn't get to see any of Friday's game. I tried to listen to it on the radio while at work but it didn't go so well. I didn't catch much of Nova's start. I saw all of Vazquez's outing and it wasn't hard to tell that he didn't have anything. It's amazing he lasted as long as he did. I'll give him credit for battling through it and only giving up 3 runs. The big question with Javy is what's up with his velocity, or better yet, lack thereof? He was topping out just below 90 and was averaging around 87. That'll work if you can locate your pitches and have good control and offspeed stuff, a la Mike Mussina. But when you don't, like Javy, you're treading water. I read that he's staying in the rotation so hopefully they can figure out what's wrong before his next turn comes up.

Marcus Thames had the big hit today with what turned out to be a 2-run game winning HR. MT's average has dipped a little but he's got a nice power stroke. He's gone deep in 6 of his last 10 games. He's been quite the surprise this year. Didn't expect him to step up the way he has. Another thing I didn't expect was Brett Gardner to play so well. Honestly, I never saw Gardner as more than a 4th OF. Same as Melky Cabrera. I think I need to re-think that position. I'm most impressed by BG's ability to get on base. He was rocking a .390 OBP coming into today's game and reached another 3 times. He tied a Yankees record by picking up a walk in his 9th straight game (tying Jason Giambi). OBP + speed = a dangerous combination.

Both the Rays and Sox are currently losing their games. Tonight could be a good good night.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Offense Backs Up A Dominant Phil Hughes In 12-3 Drubbing Of White Sox

Phil Hughes kicked some major butt today and picked up his 3rd win of the season. And you know what that means? Time for a Hughes call: Huuughes! Wondering what that is? Allow me to explain. I'm a big Mike Mussina fan. I'm a card carrying member of his fan club and also run a fan site called Elect Mike Mussina (hasn't been updated in a while but still has some solid info). During Moose's last season, every time he picked up a W, I shouted Moose, and added an extra O for every win. So the final Moose call went a little something like this: "Moooooooooooooooooooose!" Take my word for it. There are 20 Os. I'm also a big Hughes guy so who better than to carry forward the tradition than him. Sao say it loud and say it proud, "Huuughes!" I'm still bummed that there aren't 4 Us in there (thanks a lot Yankee bullpen) but that's for an older blog.

So, anybody still think Joba should be the 5th starter? Didn't think so. I've always maintained that Hughes is the better pitcher. He always was and he always will be. Joba is a decent pitcher but I think his meteoric rise to fame hurt his ability to pitch as effectively as he did in his debut season. I mean, how many players with 1-2 months of major league service time under their belt have t-shirts bearing their name and number sold in a Dick's Sporting Goods along side the likes of Jeter and A-Rod? Oooh ooh oooh Mr. Boogie, I can answer this one. Yes Horseshack? None. Bingo.

It's great to see Philly boy finally coming into his own. And he isn't just coming into his own. He is pitching like he's one of the best in the game. I mean, look at these numbers through his 1st 4 starts: 25 IP, 10 hits, 12 walks, 24 K, and 4 ER. 10 hits in 25 innings? Are you freaking kidding me? Un-fricking-real. The walks are a little on the high side but when you don't give up many hits, they usually don't impact you that much. With his 7 scoreless IP today, his ERA dropped to 1.44 and his WHIP dipped to 0.88. Again, are you freaking kidding me? Sorry, I have to bust out another one. Huuughes! I know it's early. I know it's only 4 starts. But how can you not be this excited?

He Mark Teixeira! Thanks for finally showing up! What is it about the month of April that makes Tex suck so bad. The calendar has turned and so has Teixeira. I know 2 games isn't a huge sample but I'm taking it as a sign of what's to come. He's now 6-9 this month with 3 RBI. His batting average has jumped 53 percentage points. Welcome to the party Mark. Good to see ya.

The bulk of the Yankees offense ripped it today. Brett Gardner went deep. Cano hit his 9th HR and picked up 3 RBI. (MVP! MVP! MVP!) Swisher went 3-4 with his 4th HR, and 2nd in 2 days. Even Nick Johnson had a hit and 2 RBI. 7 guys had hits. 8 guys scored runs. 6 guys picked up at least 1 RBI. Any day you score 12 runs on 16 hits is a good day.

Swisher's HR added another $37 to the Swish's Wishes fundraiser. According to the tally in the upper left section of the blog, we're now up to $188 pledged to Swish's Wishes. If you want to get on board, drop me a line. No amount is too small and the more the merrier.

Rumors are swirling that A-Rod is hurt with a bum knee. The Yankees are flat out denying it. Cashman, Girardi, and Alex have all said it's nothing other than a little stiffness. I can't imagine for the life of me why the Yankees would lie about Alex's condition. There's really no reason to. They'd look pretty stupid of they made those comments and then he took a trip to the DL or sat out a few games. Girardi even went as far as to say A-Rod would be in Monday's lineup. Makes no sense to believe the reports out there that it's anything more than a minor inconvenience.

Next up on the schedule: the Orioles, who are fresh off a 3 game sweep of the Red Sox. Insert gut-busting laughter here. If I had more time I expand a little on how bad the Red Sox are but nobody needs me to point out the incredibly obvious. Burn. CC Sabathia vs. Jeremy Guthrie. First pitch = 7:05. Hopefully I'll be in front of my TV at some point with the game turned on. Wish me luck.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Robinson Cano Powers Yankees To 6-2 Win

Thanks to Mike D, I got to see the last 2 innings of tonight's Yankees/Angels game. He tipped me off to a website that was carrying the MLB.TV feed so I tuned in for the last 2 innings. I'm really hoping the website has the future My9 games on its site. I really thought the issue of the My9 games not being on TV here in Buffalo would have resolved itself by now, but no luck. Not for me anyway. DirectTV and TWC customers apparently get the games now. We FIOS customers are still out in the cold. So I didn't see much.

I'm especially ticked because I was really looking forward to seeing Phil Hughes pitch. From the little I gathered about his outing online (people's tweets during game), it wasn't the prettiest of outings. I can kind of tell that by looking at the box score. Phil threw 109 pitches in 5 innings of work. Not very economical. He walked 5 but had a decent strike-to-ball ratio (60.6%). He whiffed 6 so he got a lot of swings and misses. Allowing 3 hits and 2 earned in 5 innings of work isn't all that bad. But it sounds like his overall outing should be met with mixed reviews. I'm assuming there was some good and some bad. If anybody wants to share their opinion I'm all ears. I'm going to bring back a little something-something I did for Mike Mussina during his 20-win season. When Moose picked up the W, I busted out a Moose call, adding an extra "o" for every victory. So after his 20th it looked like "Moooooooooooooooooooose!" I'm going to do the same for Phil and break out with a "Hughes call" with 1 instance of the letter "u" per win. So today it's kind of lame since it's win #1: Hughes! I hope to add at least 19 more of those.

Didn't see any of the runs scored by the Yankees so can't say much about the offense. Robinson Cano is still on fire. He had 2 more pops today and knocked on 3. Just remember when he wins the 2010 AL MVP award that I predicted it before the season started. Can't imagine too many people did that. Here's a fun fact for you: Robbie has as many HRs (4) as David Ortiz has hits. That makes me laugh. Interesting Ortiz story: he's apparently getting sued by Jay-Z. As the story goes, Ortiz opened up a nightclub in the DR called it the "Forty/Forty Club." Jay-Z has a club in NYC called the "40/40 Club." Bam! Lawsuit! The rivalry runs deep.

I see Derek Jeter went deep for his 2nd HR of the season. I checked out the play-by-play and I'm not surprised that it was hit to RF. I don't think anybody in baseball has a sweeter "inside-out" swing than the Captain. It works rather well in the new Stadium.

Big up to Joba and Mo for picking up my fantasy team a hold and a save. Joba scares me a little. He lets too many guys on base (1.69 WHIP). Thank God the greatest closer in the history of baseball is not too far away. I know it's not Joba's fault the game turned into a save situation as DJ probably should have made that play, but still, bring that WHIP down my man.

The win tonight puts the Yanks record at 6-3. They've won each of the first 3 series and when you consider the opponents, it's impressive. The Rangers are up next and they're no slouch either. One could argue that the Red Sox, Rays, Angels, and Rangers are 4 of the best teams in the AL. If the Yankees can take at least 2 of 3 from Texas it should be obvious to everyone, not just us Yankee fans, that the Yankees are the team to beat.

To be the man, you've got to beat the man.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Hammer The Red Sox

Seeing that the game wasn't broadcast in my area I don't have much to say about it. I checked in periodically on MLB.com's gamecast. I saw some highlights on ESPN's Baseball Tonight. A great win for the Yanks. They hammered the Sox. It wasn't pretty.

I checked out the box score. Not impressed with Joba's outing. Way too many walks. I'm not sure how he got by giving up only 4 runs. His outing was definitely a recipe for disaster. The offense broke out in a big way. That 4th inning must have been awesome. I was following along with that online as it happened. I heard that Michael Kay called it an "offensive orgy." Umm, ok. I guess that's one way of describing it. I couldn't help but bust a gut when I saw Billy Traber was pitching after Smoltz. I can't believe someone gave him a job. He's absolutely terrible. You can almost say the same for John Smoltz. He's having a terrible year. It would kind of suck if Smoltz and Glavine call it quits after this year. Talk about going out on a low note. It makes Mike Mussina's decision to go out on top look that much better. It's better to go out on your own terms than it is to have the game force you out because you no longer have the skills to pay the bills. That Moose is a smart cookie. I'm sure if he stuck around he'd be having a decent year. The Yanks could certainly use him right about now.

Well, that's all I got. I just took a gander at the schedule and it looks like there are 7 more My9 games. That's 7 too many if you ask me. I really wish they could somehow figure that out so they're shown in the western New York area. A.J. vs. Beckett tonight. Can't wait.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Moose With Mike Francesa

Hat tip to Sam Borden, who is holding down the fort at Pete Abraham's blog, for pointing out that Mike did a radio interview yesterday with WFAN's Mike Francesa. I didn't have time to check out the interview this morning but it's definitely on my list of things to do tonight. I'm sure the focal point of the interview will be about the comments Moose made about Mariano Rivera in Joe Torre and Tom Verducci's book, The Yankee Years. As I discussed a few entries ago, I don't think Moose was bashing Mo, which many people thought he was doing. It'll be interesting to hear what Moose has to say and I'll be back with my thoughts on the interview once I've given it a listen. If anyone has checked it out, I'd love to know your thoughts.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Moose Bashes Mo? Say It Ain't So

I was at work this morning, sifting through the comments on Jason's (from Heartland Pinstripes) guest blog at Pete Abraham's blog and a particular comment caught my eye. It mentioned Mike Mussina and it referenced comments he made about Mariano Rivera. It basically said that Moose said Mo isn't as good as he used to be. Unfortunately, some work came up so I didn't get to scour the net or the rest of the comments to find where that came from.

It was posted in an article at the NY Daily News. The article had to do with what else, Joe Torre and his book. Surprise surprise. The article was written by Mike Lupica, who I've never really liked. Moose comes into the story on page 2 of the article. I'm guessing the book talks about the collapse to the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS and it quotes Mussina:

"We were up 3-0 and Mo (Rivera) came in again with the lead and lost it. He lost it again. As great as he is, and it's amazing what he does, if you start the evaluation again since I got here, he has accomplished nothing in comparison to what he accomplished in the four years before. He blew the World Series in '01. He lost the Boston series. He didn't lose it himself but we had a chance to win in the ninth and sweep them, and he doesn't do it there. I know you look at everything (Rivera's) done and it's been awesome. I'll admit that. But it hadn't been the same in those couple of years. That's what I remember about the '04 series."

Let's break that quote down, my comments are bolded.

• We were up 3-0 and Mo (Rivera) came in again with the lead and lost it. He lost it again. True.
• As great as he is, and it's amazing what he does, if you start the evaluation again since I got here, he has accomplished nothing in comparison to what he accomplished in the four years before. Hard to argue with that considering the Yankees haven't won the World Series since 2000. Mo was invincible in that run and as Moose points out in the next part of the quote, Mo wasn't as invincible since Moose joined the team.
• He blew the World Series in '01. He lost the Boston series. He didn't lose it himself but we had a chance to win in the ninth and sweep them, and he doesn't do it there. It's hard to argue with that. I know it's a team game but when Mo came in during the World Series run, the game was over. Mo did blow the lead in 2001, something he had never done. Mo also blew it in 2004.
• I know you look at everything (Rivera's) done and it's been awesome. I'll admit that. But it hadn't been the same in those couple of years. That's what I remember about the '04 series. Again, it's hard to find fault with that statement. Mo was and still is awesome. But in 2001 and again in 2004, he wasn't the Mo from before Moose made it to NYC.

I know some people think I'm biased to Moose. But come on. If anyone out there really thinks Mike was bashing Mo with his comments, I'd like to know why. I definitely don't read it that way. All Moose is saying is Mo was automatic before the 2001 World Series and he hasn't been since. I don't think he's bashing Mo. He's merely stating his opinion, which I find to be deeply rooted in fact. Mo hasn't been as automatic since 2001. He did blow the 2001 World Series. He did blow game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. Pre-2001 Mo wouldn't have done that. That's all Moose was saying.

So, Moose bashes Mo? It ain't so.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Pics Of Mussina Dinner Swag

Here are some pictures of the things I picked up on Saturday at Mike Mussina's fan club dinner. To read a recap of the dinner, check out my previous entry.

A 2009 magnet schedule

A Nike water bottle, napsack, and some sports bands

The table's centerpiece, a piggy bank full of candy

The bank's booty

The logo on the fleece pullover given to all fan club members

2 signed baseballs

The new gem of my collection, can't wait to have him add his induction year

The thank you note attached to the centerpiece.

No Mike. Thank you. It was truly a pleasure watching you pitch and I look forward to seeing you in Cooperstown.

J-Boogie

Dinner With Moose

I'm back from my road trip to Williamsport, PA, where I attended the 16th and final Mike Mussina Fan Club Appreciation Dinner. Like last year, which was my first time attending, I had an absolute blast. A good time was had by all.

The day kicked off at 9am when I left Buffalo with my friends Dan and Joe. According to Yahoo Maps, we had about a 4-hour drive ahead of us. We made great time as we rolled into Williamsport at about 12:30. The doors to the dinner didn't open until 4pm, so we decided to go to our hotel to see if we could check in early. As we approached the hotel, I saw one of the most beautiful sites I had ever seen sitting in our hotel's parking lot, a Sheetz gas station. Aw yeah. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of visiting a Sheetz, it is one of the greatest places on Earth, solely because it has the best food on the planet. Anytime I pass one, I have to stop and grab something to eat. There is one in Scranton, PA and anytime I travel to the Bronx for a Yankee game, I stop there on the way down and on the way back. I love the food that much. So of course, we popped into Sheetz before checking in. I ordered a bag of fryz and a burger cordon bleu on a pretzel roll. It was absolute heaven. After finishing that glorious meal, I quickly began thinking about eating there again after Moose's dinner.

We checked into the hotel, an Econolodge, at about 1:15 or so. Dan hung out in the hotel lobby and took advantage of the free wi-fi. Joe hung out in his room. I hung out in mine and Dan's, watching reruns of iCarly, killing time until about 2:45, when we left for the Genetti Hotel, where the event was being held.

We got to the Genetti at about 3pm, an hour or so before we could even get in. There were already 4 or 5 people ahead of us. Seating at the dinner is first-come first serve, and the best way to ensure you get to sit up close to moose is to get there early. At about 3:15, there were about 40 or so people in line so we made it there at just the right time. We spent the hour chatting with an older couple that was in line just front of us. What's weird is that it was the exact same couple that was right in front of us last year. We remembered them. They remembered us. That made the time go a little faster.

4pm rolled around before we knew it and we quickly went inside and grabbed a table right up front, a little to the right of the head table. When you first walk in you get your first treat of the night, a little gift bag of sorts. This year's bag had in it a 2009 Yankees magnet schedule (with Moose and Molina on it), a Nike napsack, some Nike sports band, a Nike water bottle, and a picture of Moose, which is kind of like a custom 8x10 that they created. The head table was adorned with all sorts of Moose memorabilia. He had a ball from each one of his wins last year. He had the glove he used in each one of his wins. He had the ball from his last pitch ever in Fenway. He had the ball from his last strikeout. He had Jose Molina's glove, which was signed by Jose. He had a signed ball/glove that Jamie Moyer sent him in response to Hank Steinbrenner's comments about Moose after the 2007 season. For those that don't remember, Hank said Moose needed to learn how to pitch like Jamie Moyer. He also had his first ever glove used in the majors, the first jersey he ever wore as an Oriole, the jersey from his last home start in Yankee Stadium, as well as his Yankee Stadium clubhouse chair. The coolest stuff though were some of the t-shirts that Moose wore under his jersey throughout the years. My favorites were a Sanford & Son t-shirt, as well as a Captain America t-shirt, which Moose said he busted out for all big games. It was all very cool.

At 5pm, the event started, and it was kicked off by an introduction from Mike's brother Mark. Before he talked about Moose's season and his career, they showed a 3-minute clip of photos from Moose's career set to the song "My Way" by Frank Sinatra. The video was created by Shelley, who runs a Moose fan site/discussion board called the Moose Lodge. Shelley and Doris (a poster at the Moose Lodge), then presented Mike with a gift, a framed Wheaties box with Moose's photo on it and something else I couldn't make out. Moose was grateful and in return gave each one of his game-issued gloves. They were floored to say the least. His brother Mark then made his opening comments, then the mic got passed to Moose for a Q&A. Moose did a Q&A for about 45 minutes to an hour. Prior to the start of the Q&A, they asked a trivia question, where the winner would get a signed Mike Mussina bat. The question was: name all of the players Moose played with in both Baltimore and New York. People had until after dinner to submit their answers. I totally blanked and knew none. But more on that later.

The Q&A was pretty interesting. People asked all sorts of questions. Unfortunately, I don't really remember many of them. My friend Dan asked about what the conversation on the mound was like after he got hit by the line drive in his 19th win. Moose said he had to convince Gene Monahan to leave him in the game by letting him throw 2 pitches. The rest of course is history. Joe, a Moose dinner virgin if you will, asked what Moose's favorite road city was and why. Moose answered Chicago, but only after commenting that he seems to get that question every year. Some other answers that I recall are, he didn't take the flagpole, he's not really missing the game, and I kind of get the feeling that if he gets inducted into the HOF, he'd prefer to go in as a Yankee. At least that's what I took away from it.

The Q&A ended at about 6pm and it was time for dinner. Dinner was a nice healthy portion of chicken parm. It was good, but it was no Sheetz. As I mentioned earlier, they asked a trivia question to see who could name all of the players that played with Moose in both Baltimore and New York. People had until after dinner to submit their answers. Dan had put together a nice list of about 10 or so, but unfortunately had 1 wrong, and finished 1 behind a kid from our table who had 10. Lucky jerk. There were 11 players in total and they were: David Dellucci, Al Reyes, Karim Garcia, Sidney Ponson, Scott Erickson, David Wells, Buddy Groom, Armando Benitez, Jesse Orosco, Todd Zeile, and Kevin Brown. Dan didn't have Reyes and Groom on his last, but had Luis Polonia, which was incorrect. I thought he had it for sure and was a little irked we missed out.

Once that piece of business was out of the way, they raffled off a bunch of stuff. The raffle started with about 35 signed Moose baseball cards. We didn't win. After that, he raffled off about a dozen or so signed baseballs (all signed by Moose, all were Yankee BP balls. We again didn't win. They then raffled off a signed team ball, a signed ball by Reggie Jackson, and a signed ball by Mariano Rivera. We struck out there also. Lastly, they raffled off about 5 signed Moose bats. Swing a miss. For the second year in a row we came up losers. Last year, people at our table won a signed bat and also tickets to the home opener. This year, our table won 2 signed cards, the Reggie Jackson ball, and the trivia contest. 4 people at our table didn't win anything, 3 of which were us. Bummer. I did win the table's centerpiece. Every table has a centerpiece and they give it away every year. The winner this year was the person whose birthday was closest to Moose's 20th win. Last year, it was whose birthday was closest to Mike's. I won that also. This year's prize was a baseball bank that is about the size of a basketball. In the bank was about 24 different candy items. My pregnant wife was happy to hear that.

The evening concluded with an autograph session. Moose pretty much sat at his table and signed 2 autographs for each person there. So he probably signed about 500 or so autos. I think that alone took almost 2 hours. My friend Dan was only looking to get a ball signed so he used his 2nd ticket on a 3rd thing of mine. I ended up having Moose sign a Rawlings Gold Glove baseball (inscribed with 7x--which is the # of GGs he won), a Yankee final season baseball (inscribed with his career record of 270-153 and his record from last season which was 20-9). My third item, which has instantly become the gem of my collection, was a signed Yankees home jersey. He signed his name on the "5" and also inscribe some stats for me on other parts of the jersey number. It looks awesome. I'll post pictures of that and everything else I got from the event later. That reminds me. Every fan club member was also given a fleece sweatshirt, which was had a little something-something embroidered on the left breast. It was a pretty nice parting gift if I must say.

After we left, which was about 9pm, the three of us went into the hotel lounge and had some adult beverages. We hung out there for a few hours and then went back to our hotel. When we got back, Dan and I dropped our stuff off in our room and headed to Sheetz. Joe skipped Sheetz and went to his room. We took the Sheetz to go (I had a 6-inch steak sub and onion ringz) and when we got back, Joe was standing outside his room with the front desk clerk. Apparently, his door wouldn't open with his key or the master key. It was about 5 degrees outside so it wasn't the best night to get locked out of your room. The lock to the door had apparently frozen shut. The maintenance guy got it open by taking a blow torch to it for about 2 minutes. The hotel ended up refunding Joe the room cost. At least they made things right.

We left Williamsport at about 10am, stopping of course at Sheetz for breakfast. God, I love that place. This time I went with 2 breakfast burritos. They were so good. And that ladies and gentleman was my trip. It was definitely a great time. Much fun was had by all. If you made it thru this rather lengthy post, I applaud you. I'll post some pictures later of all the stuff. Feel free to check back. It should be up later tonight or possibly tomorrow.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

On The Road Again

Greetings from the road everyone. This post comes courtesy of my friend Dan's Blackberry, so forgive me if it's all whacked out.

Right now we're in a car travelling south to Williamsport, PA, headed to Mike Mussina's annual fan club dinner. Every year Moose invites his fan club members to his hometown for dinner, a Q&A, and an autograph session. Last year was my first time attending and it was a blast. I've been waiting all winter for today and am excited it's finally here! I'll be back tomorrow with a full recap so check back if you're interested.

Blogging on a Blackberry is tough. For some reason it's hurting my shoulders? Weird.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Happy Arbitration Day

Teams have until midnight tonight to offer their free agents arbitration. The arbitration eligible Yankees are Bobby Abreu, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, Ivan Rodriguez, Carl Pavano, and Jason Giambi.

If the player accepts the team's offer, welcome back to the Yankees. If they reject the offer, the Yankees will get compensation picks in this year's amateur draft if the player signs with another team. The # of picks the team receives is based on if the player is a type A or type B free agent. If the team doesn't offer arbitration, then the player remains the free agent that he is.

This is kind of an interesting process. A lot of teams offer arbitration to guys they don't really want back, thinking that the player will sign somewhere else and they'll get the compensation picks. It's kind of like an educated gamble. There has been no official word as to who, if anyone, the Yankees will offer arbitration to. If I'm Brian Cashman, here's what I do:

1. Bobby Abreu - offer arbitration. Bobby is looking for a multi-year deal and the Yanks don't really want to give him one. Odds are says he'll reject the offer, but if he comes back, he's not a bad guy to have. I wouldn't mind him being back in Pinstripes.
2. Mike Mussina - offer arbitration. With Moose retiring a few weeks ago, there's no chance he accepts.
3. Andy Pettitte- offer arbitration and hope he accepts. Yanks could use AP especially if CC, A.J., and Lowe go elsewhere
4. Ivan Rodriguez - don't offer arbitration. The plan is for Posada to catch and he should be ready for Opening Day. Don't risk Pudge accepting and then being stuck with him and his high salary.
5. Jason Giambi - don't offer arbitration. There really is no room for the Big G. A good OBP guy but the time has come to part ways.
6. Carl Pavano - don't offer arbitration. Do I even have to say why?

The deadline to offer arbitration is a little less than 10 hours from now. We should know more about the Yankees plans sooner than later. Any players offered arbitration have until the 7th to accept. Offering to Mussina is a given. Anything after that is up in the air.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Who's The Better Pitcher - Part 2

The other day I listed the respective stats for 2 unnamed pitchers, asking the question who people thought was the better one based on their stats. The stats were based on their career stats and were for a 162 game average. I took them from their respective pages at baseball-reference.com. Here again are the stats. Their identities are listed below.

Pitcher A:
W-L = 15-10
GS = 34
CG = 2
SHO = 1
IP = 220
H = 214
HR = 17
BB = 74
K = 129
ERA = 3.54 (.62 below the league average for his career)
WHIP = 1.314

Pitcher B:
W-L = 17-9
GS = 33
CG = 3
SHO = 1
IP = 225.7
H = 219
BB = 49
K = 178
ERA = 3.68 (.83 below the league average for his career)
WHIP = 1.192

Pitcher B has Pitcher A beat in pretty much every statistical category when you look at it. Pitcher A is Tom Glavine, who is a virtual lock for the HOF. Pitcher B is Mike Mussina, who many people feel isn't worthy of being inducted into the Hall. Surprised?

I'm sure if I were to have asked the question who's the better pitcher, Tom Glavine or Mike Mussina, most people, if not all, would have answered Glavine. Yet if you look at their career stats, Moose has the better numbers and in my estimation is the better pitcher, especially when you consider Moose pitched in the AL his whole career while Glavine pitched in the NL. Yet the road to Cooperstown for Mike could be a bumpy ride. He's 30 wins shy of 300. Glavine by the way was 38 wins shy after his first 18 seasons and had also started 34 more games than Mike up to that point in his career. Moose never won a ring, but very well could have had the greatest closer of all time not blown a save in game 7 of the 2001 World Series. Glavine won 1 ring in 5 trips to series. The two have identical postseason ERAs. Glavine though did win 2 Cy Young Awards to Moose's zero, which to me is more of a by-product of who pitched in your league. If you go back and look at the voting records, the AL had more guys you would consider top-of-the-line compared to the NL. At least that's how I see it.

Now that I've broken it down a little bit more, I'll ask the question again, who's the better pitcher? Tom Glavine or Mike Mussina? I'm curious to know what people would say now.

It's things like this that I'll be blogging about from time to time at my 2nd blog, Elect Mike Mussina. Please feel free to check it out.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

J-Boogie

Elect Moose 2.0

I just updated the "Elect Moose" post I wrote back in early August and posted it over at my second site, Elect Mike Mussina. I also posted something about what Pete Abe just wrote about Moose and why he's going to vote for him come election time. Feel free to check it out.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Elect Mike Mussina

Joel Sherman at the NY Post posted another "is Mike Mussina a HOFer" article on his Hardball blog. At this time, Sherman sees Mussina "slightly on the wrong side of the Hall borderline," lying in a "gulf between greatness and immortality." He mentions that "when you are a voter, you are essentially always judging the line where greatness ends and immortality begins."

I respectfully disagree with Joel. As I've mentioned many times, for my money, Mike Mussina is a Hall of Famer. And that is why I've created a new blog called Elect Mike Mussina. It's in the very early stages, but hey, I've got until 2014 before Moose gets on the ballot. Five years should be plenty of time to try and help people see that Mike belongs on the right side of the Hall borderline. Like I said, it's in the very early stages and it will be interesting to see what I/we can make of it.

I'm hoping it becomes a site that will hopefully change some minds and sway some voters. It's a call to arms of sorts. Let's rally the troops and help Moose. Five years should be plenty of time to get the word out and do some campaigning. There are a lot of us out there. Fox Sports has a poll up, asking if Moose is a HOFer. 64,815 people have voted thus far and 71% of the voters believe he is. It takes 75% to gain induction. We've got some work to do.

If any of my blog friends can hook the site up with a link on their blog, I'd appreciate it. Your links are already there. If you could let me know that you added it to your site, I'd appreciate it. My plan is to e-mail everyone I currently link with in the coming days and ask for an add. I'll skip you if I know you did it. Also, please feel free to give the site a plug. the more readers the better. If anyone else is interested in linking up, give me a shout. There's contact info on that blog. The site's address is electmoose.com.

It may take me a few days to update the site as I get everything in order. Again, 2014 is a ways off so I've got plenty of time to get it up and running at full steam. Thanks and I hope to see you there.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Various Mike Mussina Articles

I thought I'd put together a list of recent articles I've come across about Mike Mussina and his retirement. Feel free to give them a look and by all means, please share any you know of that I don't have listed.

Joe Posnanski at SI.com

Tyler Kepner at NY Times

John Donovan at SI.com

Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports

Pete Abraham

Mark Feinsand at NY Daily News

Joel Sherman at NY Post

Moose Makes It Official

Mike Mussina confirmed today what everyone reported yesterday, he has officially retired. Sigh. Here's a copy of a press release from the Yankees, courtesy of Pete Abe's blog. It's a great release and in my mind, just solidifies what I already knew: Moose is a Hall Of Famer.

Five-time All-Star Mike Mussina today announced his retirement from Baseball. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Mussina becomes the first pitcher to retire immediately following a 20-win season since Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax exited the game following his 27-9 campaign in 1966.

Mussina, 39, was a member of the Yankees pitching staff from 2001-08, compiling a record of 123-72 with a 3.88 ERA. Since signing with the Yankees as a free agent prior to the 2001 season, no other American League pitcher recorded more wins than Mussina. He struck out 1,278 batters in pinstripes, ranking sixth on the club’s all-time list. His 72 wins at Yankee Stadium were the third-most since 1976 when the facility was remodeled, behind Ron Guidry (99) and Andy Pettitte (95).

With a 123-72 record, he finished 51 games over .500 with the Yankees while going 66 games over .500 with Baltimore (147-81). According to Elias, he joins Randy Johnson as the only pitchers since 1900 to own a career record of at least 50 games over .500 with two different teams (Johnson was 130-74 with Seattle, 56 games over, and 118-62 with Arizona, 56 games over).

Mussina reached the 20-win plateau for the first time in his career in 2008, going 20-9 with a 3.37 ERA in 34 starts for the Yankees. At age 39, he became the oldest pitcher in Baseball history to record 20 wins in a season for the first time in his career, passing Jamie Moyer (20 wins in 2001 at age 38). He also became the Yankees’ first 20-game winner with an ERA lower than 3.40 since Ron Guidry went 22-6 with a 3.27 ERA in 1985.
In addition, Mussina earned his seventh career Rawlings Gold Glove Award in 2008 (also 1996-99, 2001 and 2003).

Mussina pitched 18 years in the Majors from 1991-2008, making 536 combined starts (537 appearances) with the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles and posting a 270-153 record with a 3.68 ERA and 2,813 strikeouts. Only three pitchers recorded more wins than Mussina during his time in the Major Leagues. He reached 15 wins in a season 11 times, including a career-high 20 victories in 2008, and placed in the top five in Cy Young Award voting six times in his career.

Pitching his entire career in the American League East Division, Mussina finished tied with Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes for 32nd place on Baseball’s all-time wins list after surpassing Jack Morris (254), Jim McCormick (265), Gus Weyhing (265), as well as Hall of Famers Bob Gibson (251), Carl Hubbell (253), Red Faber (254), Ted Lyons (260), Bob Feller (266), Eppa Rixey (266) and Jim Palmer (268) in the 2008 season.

Mussina’s .638 career winning percentage is sixth-best all-time among Major Leaguers with at least 500 career starts and ranked second among active pitchers (Randy Johnson-.648), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. His 2,813 strikeouts rank 19th on Baseball’s all-time list.
A native of Montoursville, Pa., Mussina retired as one of just 18 pitchers in Major League history to own a career record of at least 115 games over .500 (270-153). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, twelve of those pitchers are currently in the Hall of Fame, five are not eligible yet (Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez and Mussina) and one only pitched in nine seasons (Bob Caruthers).

He is the only American League pitcher to record 17 consecutive seasons of 10-or-more wins (1992-2008) and only Walter Johnson (18) has more total seasons of double-digits wins than Mussina all-time among AL hurlers. According to Elias, only five other Major League pitchers have compiled a stretch of 17 straight seasons with at least 10 wins – Greg Maddux (20 yrs., 1988-2007), Cy Young (19, 1891-1909), Steve Carlton (18, 1967-84), Don Sutton (17, 1966-82) and Warren Spahn (17, 1947-63). Also according to Elias, Mussina is the only pitcher in AL history to make at least 24 starts in 17 consecutive seasons (1992-2008).

A master of control, Mussina walked only 785 batters in 3,562.2 career innings, averaging 1.98 walks/9.0IP. According to Elias, he is one of just three pitchers in AL history to toss at least 3,000.0 innings while holding opponents to fewer than 2.0 walks/9.0IP, joining Jack Quinn (1.96) and Cy Young (1.11).

Though he never won a World Series title, Mussina pitched in 23 playoff games (21 starts), going 7-8 with a 3.42 ERA. He twice appeared in the Fall Classic—both with the Yankees—in 2001 vs. Arizona and 2003 vs. Florida.

Originally drafted by Baltimore in the first round (20th overall) of the 1990 First-Year Player Draft, Mussina ranks second all-time among Orioles’ pitchers in strikeouts (1,535) and winning percentage (.645, 147-81), third in wins (147), fifth in games started (288) and sixth in innings pitched (2,009.2). His 218 strikeouts in 1997 established a new club record that was later broken by Erik Bedard in 2007 (221).

Great Moose Article

Woke up a little early this morning and came across this article on SI.com by John Donovan. It's a great article about Mike Mussina and his tenure in pinstripes. If you're a Moose fan, or are a baseball fan that doubts just how good Moose really is/was (hey it's still not official), I suggest you check it out. It's a good read.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Moose Is Hanging 'Em Up

I was at my brother-in law's new house tonight getting ready to munch on some pizza when I felt a vibration in my pocket. I pulled the celly and saw I had a text message. Without looking, I knew who it was from, friend and reader of my blog, Danny Mac. He forwards me the text alerts he gets from ESPN that pertain to the Yankees. I was hoping when I flipped it open to read something along the lines of "CC Sabathia signs with the Yankees." Unfortunately it read, "Fox Sports: Yankees P Mike Mussina will announce his retirement later this week." Ugh.

I kind of knew deep down all along that Moose was going to call it a career. I was still hoping though that he wasn't quite ready and was going to announce his intentions to play. I thought that since he hadn't announced it yet that he was still mulling it over, which I took as a sign that he still had a little gas left in the tank. According to Ken Rosenthal's article on Fox Sports, Moose waited until after all the post season awards were doled out to make his announcement. Yeah, I totally didn't think of that.

As I thought about this over the last few hours, I've made my peace with it. It makes a lot of sense that Moose would hang it up. He's going out as a 20 game winner and that's what people are going to remember. that alone will make a lot of people forget about his lackluster 2007 season. And what more does he really have to prove? Sure he could stick around for 3 more years and in all likelihood would win 30 more games giving him 300 for his career. But then people will call him a "compiler" and cite that he only won 300 because he pitched so long. For my money, Moose is a slam dunk for the HOF. But I know there are a lot of people out there who don't agree with me. Fox Sports is doing a poll, asking if Moose is a HOFer. 69% of the 20,630 voters say yes. I wrote a post back in August called "Elect Moose." I suggest giving it a look if you're interested in seeing some arguments in favor of inducting him into the Hall. I'm hoping to start another website in the coming weeks that will focus on Moose's career and doing what I can to help him turn that 69% into 100%. A grass roots campaign kind of thing. Stay tuned for more info. It's still in the planning stages.

Finally, I want to wish Moose the best in his retirement. I hope to see him in a few months at his annual fan club dinner, which is something I hope he continues even though he's not playing. So take care Mike. You are and will always be one of my favorite pitchers. It was a pleasure to watch you pitch. Hopefully, I'll see you in Cooperstown in 5 years.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Still Waiting.....

I'll bet based on the title of this post that I'm referring to CC Sabathia. While true, I am waiting for him to accept the Yankees mega-offer, I'm more interested to know what's going on with my man Mike Mussina. I thought for sure this was something Mike would have decided and made public long ago. Quite honestly, I would have thought had he wanted to retire, he would have done so already. Considering that he's yet to decide, I'm starting to think that the odds of Moose pitching in 2009 are increasing with each passing day.

I can understand why he filed for free agency. It only makes sense that he's keeping his options open. It also makes a little sense that Mike would want to wait to see what kind of interest there is in teams taking on his services. But still, the fact that he hasn't officially retired yet makes me think he's not going to. I sent his agent, Arn Tellem, an e-mail on Saturday night asking for an update (figured why not) and have yet to (and probably won't) receive a reply. In short, I asked what's Moose doing and have any teams expressed interest in him. Hey, it never hurts to ask.

I'm thinking that we'll hear something from Moose sometime this week. I haven't seen anything about this but I'd have to think the Yankees have had some contact with him. I get the sense that BC would like Moose back in Pinstripes. They pretty much have a slam dunk in Andy Pettitte and could have signed him prior to 11/14 but they didn't. That makes me think they're looking at other options. Then again, they always could have signed Moose by 11/14 if he was interested in pitching. Who knows? Right now, we can only speculate and there isn't much to go on. I, for one, want to see Moose back in Pinstripes. Hopefully, something comes out on his plans soon.

Who knows? Maybe his agent will respond to my inquiry and I'll be able to break the news. How cool would that be?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Shopping Season Starts Tomorrow

Greetings everyone. Hope you've been well. Sorry for my prolonged absence by life hasn't been on my good side lately. By no means are things bad. It's just that free time is fleeting. I woke up Monday with a fever and a bad case of the runs. Not sure if it was related to my recent digestive problems but it wasn't fun to say the least. Tuesday I had my abdominal CT scan and I had to drink some gross concoction (barium I think) which gave me the runs. Work has been hectic. But all things considered, I can't complain. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to get the results of my CT scan. I'm pretty sure they're going to tell me I have diverticulitis. They called me on Wednesday and told me to finish my pills and come in for my follow-up. And that's where I am with things. But enough about me. Let's talk Yankees. I've got some catching up to do.

• As expected the Yankees cut ties with Jason Giambi and Carl Pavano. No complaints from me. No one in their right mind wants Pavano back. Giambi could provide some value but only at a drastically reduced salary and only after other options are explored. If things don't work out with Mark Teixeira, I can see looking to bring back the Big G. But I'm sure he'll command a better salary from other teams. I say leave him be and only consider it as a last resort.
• Andy Pettitte remains unsigned and filed for free agency. I don't think he's the top pitching priority for the Yankees. They would have signed him already if they wanted to commit a spot in the rotation to him. I don't think they want him back. Spots 1 and 2 go to Wang and Joba. Spots 3 and 4 are going to go to in all likelihood 2 free agents. Spot 5 is up in the air and I don't think AP is the first choice. I don't see Andy improving on his sub-par 2008. Save the money and spend it elsewhere. Like with Giambi, leave him be and only bring him back as a last resort.
• Mike Mussina remains unsigned and filed for free agency. I'm not surprised that Moose hasn't retired yet. It only makes sense to see what offers are out there. Mike recently said that he's "still up in the air" about coming back. I think he'll wait to see how the 1st few days of the free agent season goes before he officially makes his decision. Personally, I think he'll pitch and I think he'll be locked up by mid next-week. Where is the only question. Please be New York.
• Damaso Marte signed a 3 year deal which is good for me b/c I can now continue to sport my Damaso Marte batting jersey for the next 3 years. Yippee! It was a smart signing. It was about par for the lefty market and he's definitely more than capable of satisfying the role. I don't think Phil Coke is the answer and isn't he a starter anyway? Let him develop as such in the minors and when the time comes to limit his innings, add him to the pen. Pretty much what they did last year.
• Congrats to Mariano Rivera and Mike Mussina for picking up some Cy Young votes. Both had solid years and the recognition was well-deserved.
• Tomorrow marks the official opening of free agent season. Teams are free to negotiate with anyone and this should be quite an interesting time for the Yankees. I've been waiting for this day all offseason because it's when the hot stove really gets going. My wish list is CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira. I'm up in the air about what other SP I'd like to see them go after. I'm not a fan of AJ Burnett or Derek Lowe. I'd guess I'd prefer AJ, but again, not a fan. Joel Sherman of the NY Post is reporting that the Yanks won't wait long to blow CC away with an offer. I don't really see the Yankees not getting CC. I think signing him is a must and if that means making him the highest paid pitcher in baseball than they need to do that. It all starts tomorrow and I don't think the Yankees will wait long to strike.

really hope my life gets a little less hectic so I can get back to blogging on a regular basis. I've missed doing it and quite honestly it's at times therapeutic. I hope everyone is enjoying the offseason and is ready for the real fun to begin when the clock strikes 12:01.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Golden Moose

I had to hop on to offer up congrats to my man Moooooooooooooooooooose on winning his 7th career Gold Glove Award, which ranks him 2nd for all AL pitchers, trailing only Jim Kaat, who has 14. I think Moose could pull that off if he continues to pitch. And that's the big question. Will he or won't he? As of right now, I'm sad to say I think he won't be. And if he does, I'm thinking it won't be for the Yankees. It sounds as if the team wants to bring back Andy Pettitte and if that happens, I can't see them even making a play for Mike. The only way they would bring back both is if they bust out on all other free agent options. Hey, ya never know.

Again, congrats to Moose on picking up the honor. It's well deserved and not a bad way to cap off one of his better seasons. The annual MMFC dinner should be pretty fun this year.

J-Boogie health update: feeling better but still a little blah. Got a CT scan on the abdominal region scheduled for Tuesday afternoon and should no more when that's done. But by and large I'm feeling well. Tomorrow is shaping up to be a light day at work so I'm hoping to catch up on some Yankee blogging.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie