Joe Girardi Done Messed Up, Costs Yankees Game #5

Yeah, I'm all kind of pissed right now. Freaking Joe Girardi. What the heck are you doing my man? His bullpen management cost the Yankees the game tonight! And I don't want to hear from anyone that it's only April, or that it's the 5th game of the season, or that it's only one game or only one loss. Divisions are lost and playoffs are missed because of one loss. Every game matters and every loss counts, regardless of when the game is played. Tonight's loss didn't need to happen. If the Yankees miss the playoffs by one game this will be one of the losses that could have changed their fate.

I'm putting this loss on Girardi's bullpen management because he made a move that shouldn't have been made and it came back to bite him in the ass. Joe never should have opened the 8th inning with Rafael Soriano on the mound. The right play was open with David Robertson and go to Soriano if Robertson gets into trouble. That's how I would have managed it. Here's why: The Yankees were up 4-0. Soriano had just pitched the day before. Freddy Garcia is starting tomorrow and who knows what you'll need from your bullpen. I would have tried to save his arm as much as I could. David Robertson is a quality RP and has the stuff to get hitters out. Girardi should have let him take a shot.

The thing that makes me the most annoyed is how Girardi responded to questions in his post game press conference? When asked why he went to Soriano he responded because Soriano is "our 8th inning guy." Umm, what? Last time I checked every game has an 8th inning. What are you going to do Joe? Use him every game? You've got to be smart and pick your spots. Tonight wasn't the right spot. Many factors need to be taken into account. The biggest factors: What's the lead? (4 runs) When did he pitch last? (yesterday) When will he be needed again? (possibly tomorrow). Add all that up and your answer should be: open the 8th with another pitcher. Girardi also comment that he didn't want to bring Soriano in during the middle of an inning? Why not Joe? Soriano is a closer by nature, not a set-up guy. Everybody knows that closers do better when something is on the line? We've all seen Mariano Rivera falter in non-save situations. Maybe bringing Soriano in with a 4-run lead isn't a good idea. I'm sure he'd do better with a little pressure. Who knows? One last question for Joe: who's your 8th inning guy tomorrow?

Aargh. It's late and my brain is fried. I want to blog a little more but I still have some stuff to do before bed and in addition to being pissed I'm dead tired. Here are the rest of my game thoughts in quick-hit fashion:

• Great outing by CC. He was in mid-season form. He'll only get better. Too bad the pen couldn't hold it. CC deserved the win.


• Mark Teixeira hit another 3-run HR. Doesn't look like he'll struggle this spring. He's locked in.


• Andruw Jones. Welcome to NY. Nice first AB. He hits LHPs rather well. Keep it up.


• I hate lefty specialists. I've said it for years. Boone Logan didn't get it done tonight. He's there to get out Denard Span and Joe Mauer, not issue leadoff walks and singles. Shape up or you're getting shipped out.

After ranting about Girardi, let me add this: I know it's not all his fault. Players still need to execute. It was Rafael Soriano's job to get those guys out, He failed in that. But again, he shouldn't have been in the game to implode like that. Aargh.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Nova And The Bullpen Carry Yankees To 4-3 Win Over The Twins

I'm coming to find that having 3 kids makes it very hard to watch night games. The whole putting to bed process takes roughly 1.5 hours from start to finish, beginning around 7pm and ending around 8:30. It starts with baths, then some TV, followed by books, then bed. It's a tough schedule for a die-hard Yankees fan. I try to sneak in as much of the game as I can. I throw a little PIP action up on the TV during some kids show when the wife isn't looking. When that's not working I've got the audio feed playing on my Droid using the MLB At-Bat App. It's not the most ideal way to follow the games but it works. Kind of. If push came to shove and I could only do one or the other I've got to hang with the kids. I love those guys. But as long as I can pull off some double duty, I'm going to.

Great job by Ivan Nova tonight. 6 strong quality innings for his 2nd career win. Unlike last year he didn't seem to run out of gas at any point during the game. Remember last season? It always seemed like he hit the wall around the 5th inning. Tonight was his 8th career start and only the 2nd time he made it through 6 innings. Overall, great job. Nova has shown signs of being a great pitcher. If he can build on his outing tonight I have no doubt that he will be.

Hats off to the bullpen. It's apparent that Joba Chamberlain is Joe Girardi's lead-in to the Soriano and Mo show. I'm not 100% sold on that. Joba makes me nervous. Whenever he pitches it's as if I have to watch the game through my fingers. I rarely feel comfortable watching JC pitch late in games when the Yankees have a 1-2 run lead. Apparently, Girardi has confidence in him. I don't not yet anyway. I do feel confident about Rafael Soriano and Mo finishing off games. That level of confidence is off the charts. Odds are if the Yankees take a lead into the 8th the game is over. Soriano came up huge today, Retiring both Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau is no easy task. Soriano did it no problem. I really like that signing. Not a fan of the contract but love the player. Mariano Rivera = game over. 'Nuff said.

The Yankees have been living off the long ball this season. Two more slam-a-lama-ding-dongs today. Posada hit his 3rd and A-Rod his 2nd. As I wrote yesterday, being a full-time DH is going to be huge for Posada. He's always had a good bat. Without the added wear-and-tear on the legs it could be great. So far it's looking like it will be. Alex is locked in and is poised to have a MONSTER year. He's healthy and it's showing. He was my pre-season MVP pick and I'm feeling really good about it.

It seems like every post I write has a "Russell Martin is awesome" section in it. It seems that way because it's true. He had another one of those nights tonight. Who knew he had that much speed? In 4 games he has 2 stolen bases. I didn't think at any point in the season Russell Russ would be among the league leader in SBs. I don't expect him to keep it up but that doesn't mean it can't be fun while it lasts. A catcher with speed. I dig it.

The Yankees are currently 3-1 and their 1-2 hitters aren't hitting. Gardner and Jeter are a combined 4 for 29 (.138). If you told me after 4 games that those two would be hitting so poorly I wouldn't have guessed the team would be 3-1. That .750 winning percentage won't last for long if those 2 don't start setting the table. I'm not overly concerned. It has been a very small sample size. It's just painful to see them both doing so poorly at the same time. I don't think Brett the Jet will do as well as he did last year. I'm still not 100% sold on him being an everyday OF. Don't get me wrong, I really like BG and think he deserves the starts. I'm just not feeling him all the time. Most of the time? Yes. All of the time? Nope. It'll be nice if those two can get it going by the weekend.

CC back on the bump tomorrow. I always feel good when he's on the hill. Hopefully, if I'm lucky, I can pull off seeing most of his start. I need to find a way to get my kids to bed by 7:05 every night. Suggestions anyone?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Pitching To Blame In 10-7 Loss To Tigers

Well, you can't win them all. Today's loss was all about the pitching. When you score 7 runs, rack up 12 hits and 3 walks, and hit 4 HRs, you should win. The trio of Yankee pitchers today did not do anyone any favors. Whenever the Yankees would score a few runs the pitchers would give them right back. It was so frustrating to watch them go from down 2-0, to tied 2-2, to down 5-2, to down 5-4, to down 7-4, to down 7-6, to down 9-6, to down 9-7, to finishing down 10-7. Every time the Yankees scored they gave the runs right back. That won't win you games.

Phil Hughes was not terribly impressive today. He wasn't even close to impressive. His velocity was down and he had no out pitch. I don't have the exact count on how many batters he got 2 strikes on but he just couldn't put anybody away. He finished the game with only one strikeout. There wasn't a lot of swinging and missing with Phil's pitches. His decreased velocity didn't help any. I think he topped out at 91 MPH and was regularly hitting 89-90. A few extra miles on the fastball and his pitching line might have been drastically different. I didn't pay a lot of attention to Spring Training. Apparently, Phil's velocity has been down all spring. Last year he was steady rocking at 93-94 MPH. I would have thought he'd be at that level at this point. Not sure why he's not there and it doesn't sound like anyone knows. At this point all one can do is play the waiting game. I expect that he'll get those MPHs back in the next few starts. If he doesn't, time to worry.

Bartolo Colon made his regular season debut today and like Hughes he wasn't terribly impressive. Unlike Phil's outing, Bartolo was impressive at times. It was like I was watching A.J. Burnett pitch an entire season in a matter of 4 innings. Bartolo was either lights out or God awful. No idea what to make of his outing. It's early and you can't put a lot of stock into one bad outing, especially when it's the first outing of the year. I don't see Bartolo pitching when the Yankees have a lead so I'm not as concerned with how he did (yet). Then again, if he pitched a little better today the Yankees might have won. I hope he figure out how to consistently pitch well. I'm not sure he will.

Ugh. Joba Chamberlain. Here we go again. Are we going to do this again this year? Good outing, bad outing, good outing, bad outing. Get your act together please.

The Yankees offense had another big day and did everything they could to win this game. Stupid pitching. They took Tigers' pitchers deep 4 times. The Bronx Bombers are living up to that moniker. Through 3 games they've hit 9 HRs, which is a franchise record. Mark Teixeira stayed hot with his 3rd HR of the season. All signs point to no April slump for Teix. That would be a welcomed sight. Teix hitting will make the lineup a heck of a lot better.

How about Jorge Posada going deep twice? I don't know about you but I really think Jorge is going to have a great season at the plate. I think being a full-time DH is going to be the best thing to happen to Jorge. He swings a good stick and I think the wear and tear of catching had an impact on Jorge reaching peak performance. Now that he's not catching I think we'll see a significant uptick in Jorge's typical production. I think you can take that to the bank.

I continue to be impressed with the play of Russell Martin. Right now he's doing it all. I know it's early but me likey. Me likey a lot.

So the first series of the season is in the books. The Tigers are thought to be a pretty good team and you can't be unhappy about the Yankees taking two of three from them. If you are, well, I don't know what to tell you. You should always be happy with a series win. You win enough of those and you're golden. Next up they've got a 4 game set with the Twins. The Twins are another AL Central favorite. It shouldn't be an easy series but winning three of four is doable. I'm very interested to see the next two games. Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia will be making their 1st starts. I hope they bring it.

I'm so glad baseball is back.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yankees Offense Explodes In 10-6 Win Over Tigers

Are you like me? Did you breathe a huge sigh of relief after A.J. Burnett's start? The last thing I wanted to see today was Burnett implode and pick up where he left off last year. A.J. wasn't lights out today but for my money it was a great start. He had exceptional control, throwing 2/3 of his pitches for strikes. I'm cautiously optimistic about how he's going to do this year. I'm not putting a lot of stock in this start but it was definitely a step in the right direction. I caution everyone not to think all is good with Burnett. His first start in 2010 was almost identical to his start today. Check out these game lines:

• 2011 - 5 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, ERA = 5.40, win


• 2010 - 5 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, ERA = 5.40, no decision

So don't get too excited. Last season for A.J. was one we all want to forget. I think I saw a stat flash during the broadcast that A.J. was the 1st Yankee pitcher ever to lose 15 games and have an ERA over 5. Or it was something to that effect. To quote Charles Barkley, he was turrible. He got off on the right foot today. Hopefully, it continues.

Speaking of getting off on the right foot and hoping it continues, how about that Mark Teixeira? Everyone knows that Teixeira underperforms in April. It's no secret. I'll take a .286 average with 2 HR and 6 RBI after 2 games. It's pretty safe to assume that Teix would take it too. So far he looks like he's in mid-season form. Hopefully, it continues.

How about the start A-Rod is off to? His hot spring is carrying right over to the regular season. Alex is 3-5 (.600) with 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 BB and 2 RBI. Alex is locked and loaded. You can tell too just by watching him. When he hits the ball to the opposite field with power, he's on his game. I'm feeling very good about my pre-season AL MVP prediction right now. Hopefully, it continues.

I didn't see Russell Martin getting off to such an exciting start. He was a spark plug on Opening Day with his stolen base and run scored on a shallow sac fly to CF. Today he went deep to LF for a 3-run HR. Wow. I wish I didn't drop him in a fantasy league I'm in. I drafted him late but cut him to make room for a backup I needed at another position. Ooops. Same thing kind of happened last year with Teixeira. I had him in a sim league and he was terrible up until the moment I traded him. I'm happy to take one for the team if it means real-life performance improves once I'm done with them. Keeping with the running theme of this post, I hope Russell Russ's hot start continues.

Pretty good day all around for the offense. With the exception of Nick Swisher every Yankee starter had at least one base hit. But Swish knocked in a run with a sac fly so it's all good.

The only sore spot of today's game was the performance of the underbelly of the bullpen. Neither Boone Logan or Luis Ayala were terribly effective. Not worrying too much about it. I don't see Ayala pitching in big spots and Logan, well, I have a feeling we won't see him much either. Call it a hunch but I don't see him staying a Yankee for the entire season. Gut feeling. The only benefit of their suckiness was that it gave Mariano Rivera the chance to pick up a cheap save. As expected, he did. 3 pitches, game over. Mo = G.O.A.T.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's game. I've always been a big Phil Hughes guy. I didn't see him in action at all during Spring Training so tomorrow will be the first time I see him this year. I'm expecting big things from Phil this year. I'm hoping to kick off the Hughes call. After each PH win I do a Hughes call. I did the same for Mike Mussina with a Moose call. Basically, I add a "u" for every win. So last year's Hughes call looked like this w/18 Us: Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughes! Go get 'em Phil.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Curtis Granderson's Bat And Glove Propel Yankees To Opening Day Win

Happy Opening Day Yankees fans! I'm sure I can speak for all of us when I say that today was a truly awesome day. Baseball is back. The Yankees won. All is right with the world.

As I do every year I took time off from work to watch the opener. I got together with a couple of buddies at a local watering hole for the game. You can't go wrong with beer, burgers and baseball.

The Yankees didn't play their best baseball today and quite frankly I didn't expect them to. I was pleased with what I saw and what I saw was good enough for the win. CC Sabathia was far from mid-season form but he was effective. Things could have got real bad real fast there in the 2nd inning when CC loaded the bases with no outs. But like a good pitcher does he got out of the jam with little damage. Overall a very solid 1st outing for CC. The big man usually gets better as the weather gets better. If that holds true, based on today's start he's going to have one heck of a year.

Great job by the Yankee bullpen. I guess we know now how Girardi is going to play it. It looks like the blueprint is Joba or David Robertson in the 6th/7th, Soriano in the 8th, and the great one to bring it home. My buddies and I were a little nervous when Joba took the mound. He kind of looks like a fat Sergio Mitre, doesn't he? Am I the only one who thinks that? Anyway, he had a solid inning. Half of us were expecting a meltdown. Joba has a lot of work to do to earn back our faith in him. Today was a step in that direction. I think Rafael Soriano is going to have a lights out year. He looked pretty sharp today. He could represent the most solid bridge to Mariano Rivera that we've seen in awhile. Speaking of the great one he's still the man. As if there was any doubt. I can't think of a better way to end the home opener than with Mo picking up the save.

It was good to see Mark Teixeira get off to a good start. Hopefully he can keep it up. I'm cautiously optimistic that he can. Pretty good day for A-Rod. On base 3 of 4 times and he came a few feet from going to deep. You know things are working for Alex when he hits the ball with power to right CF. I thought for sure that ball was gone and on a better day weather-wise it probably would have been. My only criticism of A-Rod is that he should have been busting it out of the box on that shot. He should have been standing on 3rd.

I think the biggest surprise today was the play of Russell Martin. I was shocked when he stole 3rd. I was more shocked when he scored from 3rd on a shallow sac fly. Who knew the dude had such wheels? He was quite the catalyst today.

Player of the game honors goes to Curtis Granderson. He came through with the big swing and picked up $20 for his charity. Allow me to explain: like I did last year with Nick Swisher's charity, I'm donating $ to Granderson's Grand Kids Foundation every time he goes deep. $15 per HR. Others have joined in to donate as well. You can check our progress in the upper left and if you want to chip in you're more than welcome. CG was also pretty slick in the field too. I thought there was no way that he was getting that ball that was hit over his head. He definitely had the best day in my opinion. Looks like his oblique is fine. Thank God and knock on wood.

Overall a great day. A great win. 1 down, 161 to go. I really wish there was a game tomorrow. I'm kind of bummed there's not. Oh well. There's a lot more baseball left to be played. Giggedy giggedy giggedy.

Did I just write my 3rd post in 3 days? Yeah, I think I did. Wow.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Opening Day Is Finally Here

Hey hey what do you say? I'm so happy it's Opening Day! It's been a long offseason. Made even longer because I didn't pay much attention to the offseason, or to Spring Training for that matter. I don't know why but I just couldn't get into it. I think I saw or listened to about 2 games worth of baseball. I feel so far removed from the Yankees right now. Starting the season is just what the doctor ordered. Or so I hope. Having 3 kids at home all under the age of 4 makes paying attention to anything hard.

Like I do every year I took half the day off from work. This is going to post at 10:30 so roughly t-minus 1.5 hours before I'm out of here. (Hey boss - if you're reading this I wrote it on Wednesday with a scheduled post time of Thursday. I would never blog on the clock.) I can't wait to get together with a few buddies and watch the game at a local watering hole. I'm really jealous of everyone in NYC right now. Attending a Yankees home opener is definitely on my bucket list. I envy you all.

As I mentioned above I paid very little attention to spring training. I caught a little bit here and there, read some stories and/or blogs every now and then, so I know a little of what's going on and how people are doing. Is it enough to write a pre-season blog post on, not even close. Here's all I'll say: I'm very pleased with this year's team. I like how the scrap heap pitchers have performed. I think A-Rod is going to have a MONSTER year. I think Teixeira won't slump in April. I think the Captain will bounce back. I'm glad they dealt Sergio Mitre. I miss Andy Pettitte. I think we'll see good A.J. much more than bad A.J.. Mo is, was, and will always be God on the field. Nice summary? I think so.

So there you have it everyone. My "the season is starting" blog post. I give it a C-, C at best. I'm a little rusty. I need to go through a few "minor league starts" to shake it off. It's my full intent to be an active blogger this season. I make no promises as it's tough to with 3 little ones taking up so much time but I'm sure as hell going to try.

I hope everyone had a great offseason and is ready for what I think will be a season for the ages. It's almost go-time. The march to #28 is officially underway. Make us proud boys.

Enjoy the opener.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

2011 Predictions & 2010 Predictions Revisited

It's that time of year again. Time to make some predictions for the upcoming season. I'm not really sure why I make these. I'm never right. First, let's take a look back at last year's predictions: I predicted that the Yankees, White Sox, Rangers, Phillies, Cardinals and Dodgers would win their respective divisions with the Red Sox and Braves winning the wild card. I hit on 3 of the 8 and correctly picked 4 of the 8 playoff teams. I also predicted each team's win/loss record. I got exactly none right. Of the 30 teams I correctly placed the Tigers, Indians, Royals, Rangers, Brewers, Astros, and the entire NL East. 11 out of 30. That's bad. I correctly put the Yankees and Rangers in the ALCS though I had the Yankees winning that series as well as the World Series. I didn't pick any of the major award winners either. I think the best prediction I made was that Robinson Cano would win the AL MVP. So close. So as you can see my success rate with these predictions isn't that good. But who cares, right? Why let that stop me? So here goes, minus the win/loss records. AL East:

1. Boston Red Sox*


2. New York Yankees**


3. Toronto Blue Jays


4. Tampa Bay Rays


5. Baltimore Orioles

AL Central

1. Detroit Tigers


2. Minnesota Twins


3. Chicago White Sox


4. Kansas City Royals


5. Cleveland Indians

AL West

1. Oakland A's


2. LA Angels


3. Texas Rangers


4. Seattle Mariners

NL East

1. Philadelphia Phillies*


2. Atlanta Braves**


3. Florida Marlins


4. New York Mets


5. Washington Nationals

NL Central

1. Cincinnati Reds


2. Milwaukee Brewers


3. St. Louis Cardinals


4. Chicago Cubs


5. Houston Astros


6. Pittsburgh Pirates

NL West

1. San Francisco Giants


2. Colorado Rockies


3. Los Angeles Dodgers


4. San Diego Padres


5. Arizona Diamondbacks

* = best record

** = wild card

Playoffs

1. ALDS: Yankees over Tigers, A's over Red Sox


2. NLDS: Braves over Giants, Phillies over Reds


3. ALCS: Yankees over A's


4. NLCS: Braves over Phillies


5. World Series: do you have to ask?

Awards

1. AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez


2. NL MVP: Albert Pujols


3. AL Cy Young: Jon Lester


4. NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay


5. AL ROY: Mike Moustakas


6. NL ROY: Freddy Freeman


7. AL Manager of Year: Bob Geren


8. NL Manager of Year: Fredi Gonzalez

There you go. Maybe this year I'll have a better success rate with these. As long as I'm right on the World Series winner, I'm happy.

Feel free to share your own predictions. If you offer up some criticism all I ask is you bring something other than telling me I'm stupid. Put some thought into it.

14.5 hours til the 1st pitch of 2011!! Let's do this.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Doing It For The "Grand Kids"

Hey everyone. We're less than 2 days away from the start of the 2011 MLB season. I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday the 2010 season ended. Time certainly does fly. Thank God for that. I must again apologize for my long absence. I'm finding it very tough to find the time to blog with 3 little ones at home. It's very tough. Now that the season is starting I hope to ramp it up a little more. Which brings me to this.....


Some of you may remember from last year that I tried to organize a Yankee fan fundraiser to benefit Nick Swisher's charity, Swishes Wishes. In short, every time Nick hit a home run, we added money to his total. 12 of us combined to donate $41 for every HR, with a little extra thrown in. If everyone lived up to their pledge and sent in their donation (it was on the honor system) then his charity received $1249. Not too shabby. I want to do the same thing this year for Curtis Granderson's Grand Kids Foundation.


Per the site, donations to the Grand Kids Foundation will go towards grants to schools nationwide to help fund educational field trips, art initiatives, science initiatives and the increasing need for foreign language software. The foundation also supports inner city baseball programs through equipment donations. Seems like a great cause.


If you want to contribute, please let me know. I'm going to again track the overall amount on the blog and I'd love to add all pledge amounts to the total (see upper left of blog). I encourage you to participate as it's for a good cause, but no one should feel as if they have to. the more the merrier. I also have no part in collecting any money. It's on the honor system. I am just spreading the word and drumming up support.


My pledge is this: For every HR Curtis hits I will donate $15 to his charity.


I'm looking to donate about $300-400 to his charity. He hit 24 bombs last year so that would have resulted in a $360 donation. Nobody should feel they have to match me. Last year we had people pledge $3 per HR. No amount is too small. If anyone wants to make a pledge, which again you'll be responsible for sending in, please let me know. Just drop me a comment, a tweet, or shoot me an e-mail (see upper left). Again, the more the merrier and no amount is too small.


Thanks in advance. I appreciate it.


Peace, love & Pinstripes,


J-Boogie

Thank You #46

I wrote a post yesterday about Andy Pettitte's retirement. In the post I talked a lot about how I thought it affected the Yankees. I also added some commentary about Andy himself and I wanted to repost that part as I'm afraid it got lost within the rest of the post as it was at the bottom. If you read that post, much of this will be the same. If you haven't, I hope you enjoy it. But first......

I'm sure by now you've all either seen today's retirement press conference, or you've read quotes from it, or you've seen the highlights. I got to catch the first part of it on a break at work and I finished it up this evening. The whole time I was watching the PC I was thinking to myself that, wow, I really am going to miss Andy Pettitte. I thought he came off as incredibly genuine in the PC and what we saw today is exactly why Andy Pettitte is so highly thought of by Yankee fans. He's just a good guy. I had the pleasure of "meeting" Andy a few times and he was always gracious, polite and treated everyone with respect. (Definition of meeting: getting his autograph 5-6 times while in Toronto) He was always nice and didn't mind exchanging pleasantries with everyone. There are a lot of guys who I've encountered who would never say word to you. Andy was one of the good ones. I was really hoping I'd get to see him in person a few more times. Had I really thought he'd retire I would have probably told him thanks in person. Since I didn't get the opportunity to do that I'm going to use this blog to serve that purpose.

I'll always remember his trademark stare to the plate.
I'll always remember 2009, when he pitched the 3 clinchers.
I'll always remember that slick pickoff move.
I'll always remember the home opener in 1996 against the Royals when Andy took the mound while it was snowing.
I'll never forget the several times I got his autograph in Toronto. He was always so nice.
I'll never forget how crappy I felt when he left in 2004 and how great I felt when he came back in 2007.
I'll never forget when he beat John Smoltz in game 5 of the 1996 World Series.
I'll never forget the 19 postseason wins and the 5 World Series titles he helped win.
I'll never forget how he would say the word "y'all."
I'll never forget and I'll always remember Andy Pettitte.

Thank you Andy. It was an honor and a pleasure to follow your career every step of the way. Thank you for everything you've done for the Yankees, for the game of baseball, and for me as a fan. I wish you the best of luck and I hope we'll see you again soon. I look forward to seeing you pitch at an Old Timer's day. I look forward to seeing the Yankees rightfully retire your number. With a little luck, I hope to see you in Cooperstown.

Thanks #46. Thanks for everything.

Peace, love and thank you Andy,

J-Boogie

Goodbye Andy Pettitte, Hello Officially Crappy Offseason

Ladies and gentleman, the dookie has hit the fan. I didn't think this day was coming but it has and I am totally bummed out. Andy Pettitte, aka one of the greatest Yankee pitchers ever, aka one of the greatest Yankees ever, aka one of the Core Four, aka one of if not the best big game pitchers EVER, is hanging up his spikes and calling it a career. And now a moment of silence.....





As I tweeted earlier today this sucks balls. I thought for sure Andy was coming back for one more tour of duty. When I heard he was working out I was further convinced. When the news broke today I felt I got punched in the head, slugged in the stomach and kicked in the balls all at the same time. It was not a good feeling and it hurts on many different levels.

For starters, it pretty much makes this a terrible offseason. I had blogged after Cliff Lee signed with the Phillies that it wasn't a big deal that the Yankees didn't land him. I stated that the real key to the offseason was the return of Andy Pettitte. Had Andy returned the Yankees would have pretty much had the same team as last year. A team that won 95 games and made it to the ALCS. They would have gone into 2011 with the same squad and same chance for success in my opinion. Pettitte's retirement coupled with the offseason moves by the Yankees, or better yet lack of offseason moves, might make for a pretty rocky 2011. The starting rotation right now is the biggest weakness. After Sabathia and Hughes there are a lot of question marks. Which A.J. Burnett will show up? Who will fill out the back end of the rotation and will they be serviceable? Right now none of the candidates (Sergio Mitre, Ivan Nova, Mark Prior, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and possibly Joba Chamberlain) instill a lot of confidence. I saw a tweet today that read, "CC and Hughes and then we lose." Confidence levels aren't high on starters 3-5 that's for sure.

I think the Yankees will still be competitive. Their offense is stacked. The bullpen is rock solid. They will win their fair share of games. Hopefully they'll win enough. Hopefully Brian Cashman has a trick or two up his sleeve and can bring in a starter via trade before the season starts. The Yankees do have a highly thought-of farm system that can certainly be used to land a top-flight starter. Fingers are crossed because I'm not liking what they've got after Burnett. I don't though think it will be as bad as "CC, Hughes and then we lose." Burnett will bounce back in my opinion. I don't think it's all doom and gloom. At least I hope it's not.

I'm really going to miss watching Andy Pettitte pitch. I was fortunate enough to see him pitch several times in person in Toronto. It was always a treat, whether it was in-person or on TV. I have a lot of fond memories.

I'll always remember his trademark stare to the plate. I'll always remember 2009, when he pitched the clinchers. I'll always remember the home opener in 1996 against the Royals when Andy took the mound while it was snowing. I'll never forget the several times I got his autograph in Toronto. He was always so nice. I'll never forget how crappy I felt when he left in 2004 and how great I felt when he came back in 2007. I'll never forget when he beat John Smoltz in game 5 of the 1996 World Series. I'll never forget the 19 postseason wins and the 5 World Series titles he helped win. I'll never forget how he would say the word "y'all." I'll always remember Andy Pettitte.

There is a press conference scheduled tomorrow for 10:30am, which I believe is going to be broadcast on both the YES Network and the MLB Network. I have the DVR set up to tape both channels. I would love nothing more to have Pettitte pull a fast one on everybody and say something like, "I'm here to announce that I'm retiring from baseball........after this season. Let me sign the contract." Doubt it will happen but I'm holding out hope. I also wouldn't mind if he at some point pulls a Brett Favre and unretires. There's no doubt in my mind he could still pitch at a high level.

I'll miss you Andy Pettitte. Hopefully I'll see you (thought I doubt I will) see you in Cooperstown. Take care and best of luck to you. Thanks for everything.

Peace, love and thank you Andy,

J-Boogie