Don't Pull The Plug Just Yet

Before I get into a post about last night's game, just a heads up. Make sure you stay tuned to the blog over the next few days/weeks. I'm going to be giving away 5 copies of the Essential Games of Yankees Stadium DVD set through various contests. For those that don't remember what this DVD set is, I posted about it a few months ago. For those too lazy to click the link, basically, it's 6 games played at the Stadium, selected by fan vote, on DVD. Kind of like the 1977 or the 1996-2001 World Series sets. I'll post more info on that later, likely sometime tonight. Make sure to check back. On to the business at hand....

The Yanks won in Anaheim last night, keeping their slim playoff chances alive. And by slim, I mean as close to non-existent as you can get. Is there a term for that? Anyway, they'd have to pull off an unbelievable run of 17 straight wins to close things out to even have a chance. Lose 1 and they're done. Not mathematically, but to me. 94 wins will win the wild card, or at least tie for it. With 77 wins and 17 remaining, they can technically still pull off 94. They won't though. Too tough a schedule. I've been saying this pretty much in every post lately so sorry if I sound like a broken record, but you never know who's reading this for the first time.

Maybe the Yankees would be a little better off if they had chosen to start Alfredo Aceves a ways back, instead of Darrell Rasner. The writing was on the wall long ago about Rasner. No way you could expect him to win consistently. If Aceves continues to pitch like he did yesterday, and like he has in the minors, he would have made for a much better option. I'm surprised Girardi and company didn't see this earlier. But then again, I'm not. One of Girardi's faults is that he gives people way too many chances. Rasner should have been bumped from the rotation a long time ago. Aceves had a pretty solid outing last night. He was never in any real danger. He was economical with his pitches and his control was outstanding, throwing 70% of his pitches for strikes. These other rookies need to take note. Ian Kennedy, I'm talking to you. Speaking of Kennedy, Pete Abraham brought up a good point in one of his posts about Aceves. We shouldn't get too excited about Aceves' outing as Kennedy after all pitched just as well when he got called up at the end of 2007. But he's still a better option than Rasner. Has been for a while.

It was nice of the offense to bust off some runs yesterday. Congrats to Derek on passing the Babe for 2nd place on the Yankees all-time hit list. Next up, the Iron Horse. The Yanks had a pretty nice night at the plate. Too bad they can't do this on a more consistent basis. Who know? Maybe they can find a way to hit like that for the next 17 games. They're certainly capable. But as we've seen all year, capable doesn't often translate into hits and runs. The Yankees offense has been puzzling all season. They're currently on pace to score 784 total runs this year. That's 184 runs less then they scored last year. That's pitiful considering the lineup is pretty much the same, if not, slightly better. The pitching staff is on pace to allow about 30 less runs than they did last year.

Ah, what could have been.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Hey, Ho, Rasner Got To Go

I really hope last night marks the final time we see Darrell Rasner start a game for the Yankees. What a pitiful performance. Thanks for showing up. In my opinion, he shouldn't even have gotten the ball. The Yankees know they need to pretty much win every ball game. If you look at Rasner's recent track record, all the signs are there that suggest he's not going to do well. He hasn't won a game in almost 2 months. The Yankees are 3-6 in his last 9 starts. Since winning his 1st 3 games of the year, he's gone 2-10. Since throwing an 8 inning game against the Royals back on June 6th, Rasner has made it past the 5 inning mark only 4 times in 15 starts. Does it make any sense to let Rasner start when you're faced with winning 20 out of 23? Absolutely not. They're basically signing your own death certificate. Rasner blows. If he gets another start, Girardi needs to go. There are other options that may be equally as sucky when you think about it, but you've got to at least give it a shot. Go with the slightly unknown over what you know is going to be terrible. I wouldn't be surprised if Alfredo Aceves gets a go at it. He can't do any worse.

Nice of the offense to wait until the last possible second to try and start something. It's kind of what they've done many times this year. They fail to do anything early and by the time they get it going, it's too little too late. That's how I'm expecting the season to end. They started out slow. They dug themselves a hole. Now they'll turn it on and the tail end, make a run, and fall short. But with yesterday's loss, they're now looking at having to win 20 of their last 22 if they want to win their way into the wild card. Not going to happen. Not with this pitching staff.

I've mentioned this in the past and I'll mention it again. Somebody needs to lay the smackdown on the schedule makers and the people who set starting times for games. The Yankees pretty much have to make the longest possible trip in the game, going from Tampa to Seattle. How fair is it that they had to play a night game last night? The Yankees always get screwed in these situations. As I understand it, the home teams get to set the starting time. The Yankees are a big draw and they're a bigger draw at night. It makes sense for teams to schedule night games over day games. If that's the case, MLB needs to intervene and either make teams change the start time, or schedule a day off for the travelling team. It doesn't need to be done in every situation. Maybe just when teams fly from one coast to the other. At least they get the benefit of gaining 3 hours with the time zone change. But it's still ridiculous.

The Yanks really need to sweep Seattle if they want to keep their already remote playoff chances alive. Dropping even 1 game to the M's pretty much makes it a done deal. Seattle is the worst team in the AL. Anything less than a sweep would be a failure. Two big question marks are the Yankee starters. Which Andy Pettitte will show up? Can Sidney Ponson pull out the smoke and mirrors and somehow work his way to a win? The team is on life support right now. If they want to come back from the dead, they really need these guys to show up. Andy sets things off. He needs to set the tone.

Hopefully that tone isn't a flat-line.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

You Just Can't Kill The Beast

The Yankees are a weird bunch. They won their 2nd straight against the Rays, the team with the best home record, and overall record, in all of MLB. It was their 3rd straight game with 7 runs or more. Where was all this last week? Why do they wait until the last possible second to show signs of life. It's as if Rowdy Roddy Piper has Hulk Hogan in a sleeper hold, the ref has lifted the Hulkster's arm twice, and on the 3rd and final try, it falls, stops just short of the mat, and then Hulkamania kicks in and it's on. They still have a long way to go, and i still think it's way too much of a hole to climb out of, but they're definitely doing their best to make things interesting. I said right before the Rays series started that the Yanks, just to mess with us, would end up winning 6 straight (sweeping TB and Seattle), giving us all hope, only to tank against the Angels. I'm going to be pretty irked if that actually goes down. The thing the Yankees need to do right now is win and not worry about anyone else. Even with the Red Sox winning 3 straight, I'm still tabbing 95 wins as the magic number for the wild card. I'm not anticipating any great Red Sox collapse. So they have to go 20-3 the rest of the way. Still not liking their chances of doing that.

I didn't see much of the game yesterday. I had it on, but had other things I was devoting my attention to. The bullpen saved the day. 5 innings of 2 hit ball. Nice. They're really going to need to step it up this last month. The team needs all the help it can get and they can't afford to have shoddy performances in tight games. I'm pretty sure they're going to get called on a lot, especially when our starters can't even make it through 5 innings, with a lead no less. Girardi is going to have those guys on a short hook, as he should. I'd rather have any reliever, except for maybe Veras, get the ball over Pavano, Rasner, and especially Ponson. Phil Coke was again impressive. He'll prove to be a good call-up and valuable member of the bullpen/Yankees. I can though live without Michael Kay trying to have fun with his name and throwing out Coca-Cola slogans, like "have a Coke and a smile," or "I'd like to but the world a Coke." Michael Kay. Douche.

A-Rod has been an absolute monster in the month of September. I know it's only been 3 games but it's been impressive. 8-13 with 2 HRs, 7 runs scored, 9 RBI, and best of all, no GIDPs! Where was all of that in August? In August's 28 games, A-Rod went 25-103 (.243) with 6 HRs, 23 runs scored, 16 RBI and worst of all, 11 GIDPs. Alex really needs to be the A-Rod we're seeing now and not that of last month if the Yankees are going to win 87% of their remaining games. Put us on your back A-Rodacus and lead us to the promised land.

Tonight's finale in Tampa isn't going tp be a walk in the park. Rasner vs. Kazmir. The Yanks would be smart to get Kazmir's pitch count up quickly. He doesn't usually last very long, and if the Yanks play their game and try to work counts and whatnot, they might be OK. Rasner worries me. Hopefully, the offense keeps doing what they're doing.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The End Is Rapidly Approaching

In my last blog entry, I mentioned that the Yankees could only afford 7 more losses the rest of the way. Make that 6. And if they continue to play the way they're playing, they'll lose those 6 games by the end of next week.

Tonight was another absolutely brutal game. Where's the friggin' offense? It's mind boggling that they could only manage 5 hits off of Paul Byrd. Pathetic. And nice of Alex to rap a few doubles when it really didn't matter. Why couldn't he do that like yesterday? Typical Alex. Failing to come through when it counts. Usually he saves those kind of games for the postseason. Somebody tell him there's still 30 games left.

There's no way the Yankees are going to win 24 of the last 30 with their current rotation. The trio of Rasner, Ponson, and Pavano have about 16-19 starts left between them. Can anyone honestly see those 3 losing only 6 games between them? And that's assuming that Pettitte and Moose win out. Ponson allows way too many baserunners. He allowed 11 tonight in his 4.2 innings. No idea how he only allowed 4 runs. Rasner only has 2 wins in his last 16 starts. He's 2-9 with 5 no decisions. The Yanks are 3-2 in those 5 games. And Carl Pavano? Do I even need to say anything? The Yanks really need to make some serious upgrades to the rotation in the coming days if they want to have any kind of chance. Those 3 won't get it done.

Did anyone else hear Michael Kay say in the 8th inning that the Red Sox were "going to try and hold onto their lead?" Hello? The score was freaking 11-2. Maybe if it were a 1-run game or if they were the 1927 Yankees, I could understand that comment. But come on. A 9-run lead against a piss-poor Yankee offense? They could have trucked out Bobby Doerr to pitch the last 2 innings and the Sox still would have easily won the game. Stupid comment. Typical Michael Kay. I can't stand him.

Tomorrow is a day game. Should be a good one. Moose vs. Lester. I think Moose has 7 starts left. He needs 4 wins to hit the 20-win mark. I think Moose has a good shot but he really needs some help from the offense. The last thing I want to see is Moose pitch a gem and lose some games by scores of 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, etc. He's been getting some run support lately. The Yanks have scored 33 runs in his last 3 starts with 9 runs being their lowest total runs scored.

Man I hope they come through tomorrow.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Win Crazy Game Thanks To Shoddy Angels D

The Yankees got a gift today from the Angels. In fact, they got 4 of them. 4 huge costly errors led to 9 or 10 unearned runs and ultimately a Yankee victory and a series split. But that's baseball. It a win and the standings and I'll take it. They never gave up. They battled back from a 5-run deficit and this has to be a huge confidence boost to a team that's heading out on a road trip and has been mired in a mini-slump. Big win today boys and girls. Big win.

It certainly didn't start out well. Darrell Rasner was absolutely brutal. Prediction: it won't be long before Rasner makes his final start of the season. He was awful today, and he's been awful more than he's been good. It's to the point where starting him is becoming a huge liability. Including today's game, D-Raz has won 2 of his last 12 starts. Houston, we have a problem. Luckily, it's a problem that's not hard to fix. The Yankees have many options they can go with to start in place of Rasner, and they're names we're all familiar with. Ian Kennedy can easily be called up to take the spot. He's allowed 14 hits and 4 runs in his last 4 outings for Scranton. Since being demoted to the minors, IPK has an ERA of 1.99 in 54.1 IPs. Opposing hitters are hitting .179 off Ian. Phil Hughes is on the med and is currently rehabbing in Charleston. He's had only 2 outings but has been outstanding: 6.2 IPs, 3 H, 0 ER. And then there's our favorite sorry excuse for a Yankee, Carl Pavano. He's pretty much on the same rehab schedule as Hughes, and has done alright in his 2 outings: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER. He could throw 5 consecutive no-nos and I wouldn't care. I hope he never dons the Pinstripes this year. He's been a colossal waste of time and money. Bringing him back to the Bronx would definitely disrupt the clubhouse. It's no secret nobody wants him there. I hope Cashman has the smarts to keep him down. I'd like to think eh does. Getting back to Hughes and Kennedy, I'd much prefer to see them get another chance to pitch than to look outside of the organization. Jarrod Washburn is a bum and they shouldn't even bother. At least give the youngsters another shot. They can't do any worse than Rasner that's for sure.

The offense got a nice kick-start today from one of their newest acquisitions. The X-Man, Xavier Nady, coming through in a big way with 4 hits and 6 RBI. Nady is now batting .385 as a Yankee, with 3 HR and 10 RBI in 8 games. Ken Singleton was right when he remarked that Nady was probably the best offensive acquisition any team acquired at the trade deadline. I like Mark Teixeira and all but he hasn't quite performed to Nady's level this year. That Brian Cashman is one smart cookie.

Bobby Abreu on the other hand? What was he thinking trying to run to 3rd on a routine fly ball to left? That has to be one of the biggest boneheaded moves I've seen in a long, long time. Why would you even attempt that when there are 2 outs? The rule of thumb is never make the 1st or 3rd out at 3rd base. No idea what was going through his mind as it wasn't even a close play. It makes no sense to even try to tag from 2nd to 3rd in that situation. What's worse is he ended up costing the Yankees what could have been an all important run. Stupid. Just stupid. He at least atoned for his mistake by going 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored. Bobby's been on a tear lately, hitting .387 (24 for 62) and raising his average 15 points since the All-Star break. He's scored 20 runs and knocked in 17 in those 16 games. Bobby's been awesome lately, so I'll let that horrendous baserunning mistake slide.

It was also nice to see our other deadline acquisition Ivan Rodriguez break out today with 2 hits and a HR. That bat is going to come in handy down the stretch. Unlike Melky Cabrera, who managed to find a way to go oh-for-5, he writes while shaking his head in disgust. Paul O'Neill made a comment during the broadcast that Melky needs to stop trying to murder the ball and concentrate on raising his average. Great observation Mr. O'Neill. Great observation. Melky is playing his way right out of the lineup. Enter Justin Christian. He deserves a chance to start I'd say. He's provided quite the spark to the offense with his blazing speed. Said speed pretty much winning the game today. I loved seeing him take 3rd and scoring on the poor throw. That was heads up right there. I'm inclined to think he has the green light to run whenever he wants to. If it's not the case, it better be. Memo to Joe Girardi: sit Melky, play Justin, win-win. Make it happen. Better yet, let me have a few swings. I can go of-for-5 too.

Dan Giese was today's unsung hero. His 3 scoreless innings were huge. It gave the Yankees offense the opportunity to claw their was back into the game. That was pretty invaluable right there. He was awesome today. It's too bad he didn't get the win. He deserved it. Thanks Edwar. He picked up the win but definitely didn't deserve it. I'll let it slide though because Edwar has been lights out. It's the 1st game since July 2nd he's allowed a hit. 11.1 hitless/scoreless innings in a 10 game span. I'll forgive this bad outing. But only because the Yanks won. While I'm talking about the bullpen, not sure why Mariano wasn't warming up to pitch the 9th inning? I didn't get to see the post game show so I'm not sure if anything was mentioned about an injury. Hope not. Fingers crossed.

And none of this would have been possible if not for the extremely shoddy Angels' defense. Wow. Talk about a bad game. A dropped fly ball in center....4 runs score in the inning. 2 fielding errors and 1 throwing error....6 runs score in the inning. That's bad baseball right there. They always talk about how the Angels play great fundamental baseball. That certainly wasn't the case today. So we here at the Boogie Down, which is just me (why do I refer to myself as we?), say thanks Angels' defense.

The worst part about today is that both the Sox and Rays won their games so this great win gained us nothing in the standings. I thought for sure we'd pick up a game on the Rays but Kyle Farnsworth apparently had other plans. Even when he's not a Yankee he finds ways to hurt us. He pitched an inning today for the Tigers, blowing the save, giving up 3 earned with 2 longballs. Kyle for Pudge? If you had any doubt before about who won that deal, that doubt should be gone. If his outing wasn't bad enough, the Tigers ended up taking the lead in extras only to blow it again. Thanks for the help. Appreciate it.

So now the boys are off on a 10 game roadie. 4 in Texas, 3 in Anaheim, and 3 in Minnesota. These are going to be some big games that could very well define the rest of the season. The Yanks will no doubt be up to the task. They are after all one of 2 AL teams with winning records away from home. The other of course being the Angels. The win today has to be a huge confidence boost. They came from behind and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against the best baseball had to offer. And hitting John Lackey is no easy task. Just ask the Red Sox. I can't think of a better way to start this roadie. Take it to 'em fellas.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Ooodles And Ooodles Of O's Ya Know, Yanks Drop 3rd Straight

I think it's painfully clear that the back end of the Yankees' rotation is in need of an improvement. Darrell Rasner was again, for the most part, ineffective. The loss tonight puts him at 5-8 on the year, and he's 2-8 in his last 10 decisions. He wasn't as horrible tonight as he's been in recent games, but his performance left a lot to be desired, especially when your in the thick of a pennant race and 3 days away from the non-waiver trade deadline. If there was one game that Rasner needed to be great, it was tonight. A solid outing might have solidified his spot in the rotation and kept Cashman away from exploring a deadline deal. D-Raz is just not getting it done. He allowed 12 baserunners in his 6 innings of work. He didn't really do anything to help himself out either, only striking out 1 batter. But again, it wasn't a bad outing. But it was far from good. It'll be interesting to see if this sparks Cashman into making a move before Thursday's deadline.

Damaso Marte. You're already making me hate owning your jersey, albeit temporally. Thanks again Phil. Appreciate it. Marte's job was to come in and pick up Rasner. Marte allowed successive hits to the 1st 3 batters he faced. LaTroy Hawkins could have done that. I'll let it slide this time.

Justin Christian. Love the speed baby. He's our version of Dave Roberts. If only we could follow it up with a base knock.

The offense put up a fight, but it was a little too little, a little too late. No runs in innings 1-5, 6 runs in innings 6-9, with 5 coming in the last 2 innings. It was nice to see some fight in the dog, but I'd like to see the fight a little earlier on. Again, I'm left wondering what value there is in having Wilson Betemit on the roster. He is absolutely abysmal, going 0-5 tonight and whiffing with the tying run on 2nd. The top of the lineup ended up having a pretty big night. hitters 1 thru 5 went 11-21 with 3 walks. The bottom 4, excluding Nady's ever so productive at-bat, went 2 for 17. But what do you expect when those 4 hitters are made up of Melky, Betemit, Chad Moeller, and Robbie Cano. Cano is the only hitter I have faith in. He didn't put up much of a fight in the 9th, but he'll be OK. I can let Moeller slide too b/c he's basically a 3rd string catcher. But Melky and the aforementioned Betemit? We could do definitely do better. To be completely honest, I wouldn't mind seeing the Yanks take a flyer on Barry Bonds at this point. It hurts to say that because I'm not any kind of Bonds fan, but he'd be a huge upgrade to an offense that struggle more often than it should. Nady in left. Damon in center. Bonds at DH. Could work. It's really a can't miss, assuming Bonds truly would play for the league minimum. It'll never happen though. If it doesn't, no complaints here.

Despite 3 hits, Giambi's struggles at the plate continued. He came up in 2 big spots with RISP and didn't deliver. The highlight of the night though was watching him flip off Brian Roberts. Smooth G. Real smooth. I immediately started laughing. I called my wife in to see it and she thought it was funny, but a little classless considering the kids in the audience. That's a 4th grade teacher for ya. Anyway, still funny.

Mariano. Why can't every game be a save situation? A meaningless HR turned into the game winner. He's still having the best season he's ever had. No worries.

Tomorrow is a hated day game. Hopefully, some of my Wednesday meetings get canceled, otherwise I'll miss most of it. I know. I know. Woe is me, right? Hopefully Joba ends this slide.

I take full responsibility for John Lackey giving up a hit to Dustin Pedroia. I turned it on picture-in-picture and he got the 1st out. With 1 strike on Pedroia, I flipped it to the main screen, and said to my wife, "Now that I'm watching he'll give up a hit." Here come the pitch....base hit. Sorry Angels fans. My bad. But at least you won and continued your domination of the Red Sox. Having Mark Teixiera around won't hurt either. Can't wait until he's in Pinstripes next year.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Make The Look-A-Likes Look-A-Like Chumps

I was worried there for a little while. It was the bottom of the 6th and the Yanks were down 2-1 and only had 2 hits. It had the making of the typical Yankee game. Good pitching, little offense, and headed toward a 1-run win or loss. And then Bobby Abreu stepped to the plate and put the Yanks back on top with a 2-run HR. Next thing I know, the Yanks are sitting on a 6-run lead, the bullpen has the ball, game over.

I'm impressed that the Yankees offense again bounced back after the team fell behind. This is the 4th straight game where the Yankees tied the game or went ahead in the same inning where they lost the lead. Yesterday, the look-alikes knotted the game at 2 in the 2nd and the Yanks scored 4. On Sunday, the A's tied the game in the 6th and the Yanks scored the eventual winning run in the bottom of the inning. On Saturday, the A's scored a run in the 9th to take a 1-run lead and the Yanks tied it up in the bottom of the 9th. Heck, on Friday the A's scored in the 1st inning and the Yanks tied it right up. That's impressive.

Overall it was a pretty good night at the plate, with the exception of the bottom of the order. Melky Melky Melky. Horrible. Just horrible. Melky has really worn out his welcome in my book. I wouldn't mind seeing him dealt but right now his value is in the toilet. I've been suggesting they deal Melky for years now. Every time i bring him up he goes on a tear so maybe I'll have that effect on him again. It's very nice to have Johnny Damon back in the lineup. It makes it so much more formidable. He did a great job tonight of setting the table, picking up 2 walks and a single, scoring twice. Glad to have you back Johnny D. Cano still has the hottest bat in the lineup and it's about time Robbie is consistently stinging the ball. Robbie now has 5 straight multi-hit games and is 12-23 since coming back from the break. I don't think it's a coincidence that the team wins when Robbie hits. His average, up to .263, is now somewhat respectable. It's not quite what we Yankee fans have come to expect from Robbie but if he keeps this up, he'll be at .300 in no time. All in all, a good night at the dish.

Rasner pitched pretty well. Michael Kay called it his best outing of the season. Oh Michael Kay. You're such a tool. He was good, but not that good. He did allow 8 baserunners in 5.2 IPs. He did leave the game on the hook for the loss. His 1st 2 outings of the season were much better than tonight's effort, which again was solid, but not his best. D-Raz did do his job. He only gave up 2 runs, which is right up there with his counterparts in the rotation. Raz has been real shaky lately and his start tonight was encouraging. Let's chalk his success up to Chad Moeller. My research department (Pete Abraham's blog) tells me that opponents have a .675 OPS against D-Raz when Moeller is his battery mate. With Posada it's .933 and with Molina it's 1.014. I think it's safe to say that Chad Moeller needs to be Rasner's personal catcher. If the rotation can keep this going, it'll make Cashman's job a little easier come the trade deadline, and it's going to leave Yankee fans saying Johan who? I think they still need an arm because the roof is eventually going to cave in on Sidney Ponson. He can't keep this up by allowing all these baserunners. A hired gun would be nice, but again, it won't be as necessary if these guys throw like they're throwing.

Again, the bullpen was awesome. 3.1 IPs of 1 hit, 1 walk, 5 K ball. David Robertson picked up a huge out in the 6th, on 1 pitch, and earned his 2nd win of the season, on 1 pitch. Not a bad night's work. Robertson has been extremely impressive since his debut, and who wouldn't be shaky in their major league debut? Since his 1st outing, D-Rob has thrown 9.1 IPs, given up 3 hits, 1 run, 4 walks, and 13 Ks. Coming into tonight, including his 1st outing, opponents are only hitting .184 off him. Joba who? Kyle Farnsworth is no longer Farnsworthless. I'm still in amazement over how well he's thrown lately. K-Farns in his last 10 games, has thrown 9 innings and hasn't given up a hit! K-Farns has technically thrown a no-hitter. Color me dumbfounded. Again, Joba who?

The Rays have lost to the A's and the Yanks are now only 3.5 back of first. They've won 5 straight and they look good. They're pitching extremely well and they're hitting the ball. Imagine how we'd be if Chien-Ming Wang were around? My man Moose is on the hill tomorrow for an afternoon game. Ugh. I have meetings from 1-3 so I'm going to miss 2/3 of the game. I'll get to follow along with the Yahoo gamecast for the first hour but I'll totally miss the 2nd. It's Moose's turn to start this all over again. None of these guys want to be the starter that breaks the streak of solid outings. You can do it Moose. Make me and my fellow Mike Mussina Fan Club members proud.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Wrap Up From Toronto

I was in Toronto for Friday and Saturdays' Yankee games. Friday's game as everyone knows, stunk out loud. The offense couldn't get anything going at all off Roy Halladay. Doc was absolutely cruising. I don't think I ever saw so many ground balls to first and second in any game I've ever watched or played in. It was unreal. I thought the Yankees had a shot at chasing Halladay early as he threw a lot of pitches in the first 2 innings. But then the Yankees went back to being aggressive and it didn't work out too well, much like it hasn't all season. Halladay is one of the best pitchers in the game and the Yankees didn't do themselves any favors by swinging early in counts. It's been one of their downfalls all season. In my opinion, it's the biggest reason why they're not scoring. I think I've mentioned that maybe, 1, 2, or I don't know, a billion times. The Yanks do much better when they show patience at the plate. It definitely ruined a good outing by Joba.

The second game featured a new Yankees lineup and they exploded right out of the box. Jeter set the tone right from the get go when he put the 2nd pitch into the Yankee bullpen for his 200th career HR. No better place to hit a milestone HR than into your own bullpen. The offense jumped all over the Jays. It made the game much more fun. I still have no idea how Rasner escaped with a win and how he settled down, only giving up the 4 first inning runs. It was a solid win all around. The bullpen, as it has been most of the year, was fantastic. That runs my in-person viewing of the Yankees this season to 2-1. Not bad. I've got 6 games to go. I'll take a 6-3 record.

I didn't see a lot of the 3rd game, but it was almost a carbon copy of the first one. A late 9th inning HR by the Giambino accounted for the only run. Not the type of game I wanted to see them have going into the break. I've got high hopes for the 2nd half of the season. They Yanks will be fine if the offense can get it together. Damon should be back soon. Matsui's rehab is progressing. Brian Bruney isn't far off. They've got a run in them. I can feel it.

The fans were absolutely brutal to A-Rod. I've never heard him booed like that when I've seen them play up there. Alex's alleged antics and impending divorce have made him an even bigger media target. I spend a lot of time hanging around the team hotel hoping to get an autograph. This time, those of us that were there hoping to get a signature or two, were joined by about 7 members of the paparazzi, who were there trying to get shots of Alex and his wife/children who were in town. C-Rod walked right by me into a side entrance. She was within arms length. I think I was the only one who recognized her. Anyway, these photo peeps are relentless. On Saturday night, Alex and family left in an Escalade and the paparazzi jumped into traffic snapping photos while they were stopped at a red light. They then all followed Alex wherever he ended up going. It reminded me of the videos I've seen on E! where they're snapping photos of Britney or Lindsey in their rides. It was a little nutty.

On the autograph side of things, I ended up getting David Cone to sign a 1998 World Series ball. The Blue Jays run a promotion called "Flashback Fridays" on every Friday home game. The featured guest signs autographs before the game. Coney was that guest. I also later got him at the hotel after the game. He signed that ball on the sweet spot and included his perfect game date. Coney is one of the nicest guys you can ever run into. He took a lot of time to sign autographs, pose for pictures, and talk to whoever wanted to chat. He signed pretty much every time he came to, or left the hotel. Other than that, I also got Andy Pettitte on the 1998 World Series ball (he and Cone are the only 2 on it for now) when he was getting on the team bus. I also got Andy again during batting practice on his own ball. I could have gotten others but I didn't really want them to be honest with you. The biggest disappointment was that I didn't get Mariano Rivera to sign the back of his jersey. Mo usually signs at the hotel once per trip and that ended up being Sunday this trip. And since I had to leave, I missed out. No worries though. There's always next trip.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Now That's Some Ugly Baseball

That was a tough game to watch. Right from the get-go I knew it would be one of those games. As soon as Jeter grounded into a double play after Melky's leadoff walk, I shook my head. Is it me, or does Jeter ground into a lot of double plays? That's #10 on the year for the Captain. Seems like a lot. Over the 1st 11 years of his career, Jeter averaged 13.6 GIDPs per season. He had a career high 21 last year and he's halfway to that total this year. That's not a good trend. He's got to be better than that, especially as the #2 hitter.

Rasner didn't do anyone any favors tonight. He was just awful, and quite frankly he has been for a while now. That's his 5th loss in his last 6 starts. Granted, he's been the victim of a lack of run support, but he's been inconsistent. Without Wang in the rotation, the Yankees can't really afford to have these poor outings from D-Raz. He's got to win his share of ball games. I'm not sure if D-Raz could have avoided it tonight. The Pittsburgh hitters were locked in. There wasn't much good happening on the mound tonight for the Yankees. LaTroy Hawkins was again beyond bad. He's another guy that needs to be more consistent. His last 5 outings were all on the plus side. Tonight, not so much. It was bad, just bad.

The Yanks definitely had their chances tonight. The only good thing was Robinson Cano. He's done this before though. He'll crank out a few multi-hit games and next thing you know he's oh-fer 10 or something. When Robbie cracks .250, I'll get excited.

Did anybody catch the hilarity that happened when Jeter lead off the 7th with a double? Jeter hits the ball over 1st base and the ball kicks over to the stands. You see this teenager in a red jersey reach over the rail and interfere with the ball. Automatic double for Jeter. Anyway, the ball goes in and out of the kid's glove and goes back out onto the field, where it's retrieved by the ball boy and he takes off with it. They show the kid in red calling for the ball as the ball boy runs away and when he realizes he's not getting the ball, you can clearly see him mouth the words, "you ***hole." I had to rewind it a few times just to make sure. I couldn't help myself. I bursted out laughing. Here's this teenager who 1)brings a glove to game, 2)interferes with a ball in play, 3)has the ball go in and out of his glove (which shouldn't happen when you have a glove), 4)doesn't get the ball and 5)calls the ball boy an a-hole for not giving him the ball. I don't know, but if you ask me, he's the a-hole, or better yet douchebag. I'm pretty sure I even said after I stopped laughing, "what a douchebag." Ken Singleton was kind of cracking on him to. I'm pretty sure he was hoping the kid would get bounced. I was too. Hopefully, he did.

After tonight's whooping, I can only hope tomorrow kicks off another slingshot. For those not familiar with the slingshot and want to know more, scroll up to the top of the page and in the Google search bar on the right, run a search for "slingshot." Make sure you click the button with the URL listed. For those of you that are lazy and don't want to search, here's a high level breakdown: get your butt kicked and then go on a nice winning streak. It's been known to happen. And it all starts tomorrow with Joba. Go get 'em Justin!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A Few Quickies

Again, many thanks to Jason from Heartland Pinstripes for filling in yesterday. we go back a ways to our MLBlogs days. Thank God they're over. Our blogs are much better now that they're in new homes. And again, if you're not checking out his blog, you should be. Quality stuff. He often opens up a "digital living room" where fans can go and comment on the game as it's happening good stuff. I need to stop in more often.

I was able to catch more of the game yesterday than I normally do due to the rain delay. I still missed a lot here and there because of other things I had to take care of. I caught the beginning of the game on the radio. I had the good fortune to hear Wilson Betemit butcher what sounded like an easy grounder. As I've discussed before, Wilson is a huge defensive liability, more so than Giambi. As you all probably know, I'm not a big Betemit guy. He had a decent night at the plate last night but my perception of WB is that those good nights are few and far between. I think the Yanks could field a better backup. I would not be sad to see Wilson go.

Rasner looked like he battled his way to that win yesterday. D-Raz hasn't exactly been the beacon of hope we thought he'd be after his 3-0 start. Don't get me wrong, he's filling in admirably. I just think his better outings are behind them. I'll take him as a 5th starter, but I'm not expecting big things from him.

The Yanks are winning and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that they've gotten back to their style of baseball. That style being, working counts, taking pitches, getting on base, etc, etc, etc. They chased the reigning NL Cy Young award winner last night after only 4 innings. In 4 IPs, Peavy threw 93 pitches. The Yanks weren't showing kind of plate discipline when they were struggling earlier in the year, swinging early and often, usually failing to deliver. They've gotten back to their game and we're now seeing them get on base, get timely hits, and most importantly score runs. I think it's safe to say that the offensive woes are over.

The National League again is demonstrating how inferior they are when matching up against the American League. They're just pathetic. The Yanks have benefited by being scheduled against the inferior of the inferior. So far, so good. 5 straight wins. 10 to go. This team isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

I think Yankee fans everywhere are wondering the same thing right now. Why Sidney Ponson? Good question. I think Cashman might be thinking Ponson is low risk and has potential for a high reward. If he blows, which he probably will, it doesn't cost much. If it works out, all the better. I think he's also stockpiling arms to take over that 5th spot in the rotation. I'm sure he has a list of candidates to fill in while Wang is out. If these guys fail to perform, I imagine there will be a quick hook and on to the next guy. Makes sense. But Ponson??

With today being an afternoon game, I'll likely miss a lot of the action. I have back-to-back meetings scheduled from 2-3 so I'm going to miss a bulk of the game. Joba gets the ball and his pitch limit is now over 100. He's basically good to go to throw a full outing. With the injury to Wang, his move to the rotation couldn't have come at a better time.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Fall Back To 500 (Again).

Why do I do this to myself? I'm running on fumes and I find myself awake at 1:00am, having watched the entire game. I wanted to go to bed after it was 6-1 but I couldn't make myself hit the sheets. What an ugly game. D-Raz struggled. He's now lost 4 straight. He hasn't exactly been given a lot of run support. Tonight was really no different. For all intents and purposes the Yanks have scored 1 run in each of Rasner's last 4 outings. I know they scored 4 tonight but it was way too little, way too late.

I guess the silver lining tonight is the performance of the bullpen. Too bad they don't pitch that well in close games. I loved Ohlendorf's 'stache. He didn't pull it off. Worth a shot though.

A-Rod stunk it up tonight. Giambi is a hitting machine. Never thought he'd stay hot. I love the 'stache.

So here we are again, back at .500, not able to get over that hump. What an average team. They just can't put it together. Kind of like me and blogging after being up all day and getting little sleep. I'm outta here.

J-Boogie

Yanks Win In Extras To Get Above .500 But Quickly Drop Back To Even With 5-1 Loss

I apologize for not blogging about last night's game earlier. I was going to do it last night but it went to extra innings and I didn't feel like it after it ended. I had the full intention of doing it this morning. I rolled out of bed at 1130am and the missus advised she had to run out and I was in charge of the little man. She got back around 130 which is the same time that Cooper's same-aged cousin Vaughn came over for a play-date and I couldn't ignore the fam. So here I am, trying to catch up with a two-fer. I apologize for what I'm assuming will be a long one. I'll probably lump the games into 2 when I talk about the offense.


It was nice to finally see this team get over the hump. The feeling I had about the Yanks winning that game turned out to be right, though not for the reasons I thought. Chien-Ming Wang didn't have his ace or #1 stuff. The Wanger has been struggling as of late. He's winless in his last 5 decisions, posting an ERA over that span of about 5.67. He's pitched well enough to win a few of those games and last night's game was no exception. Typically the offense does him in but this time it was the bullpen. I'm not sure what's going on with Wang. I read on Pete Abraham's blog that he's fine physically, but feels the problems are caused by inconsistency with his arm slot. I'd like to think that's an easy problem to fix but I have no idea. If there's one thing I know, Wang will figure it out and be throwing like we know he can real soon. I don't see Chien-Ming struggling long term.


Edwar Ramirez's magical run of not allowing an earned run came to an end last night when Michael Cuddyer hit a game-tying HR off him in the 7th. The HR blew the win for Wang but what can you do? Nobody can be perfect all of the time. I still like Edwar for the setup role over Kyle Farnsworth, who I'll admit, looked alright last night. But he's looked alright before,a nd at the drop of a dime, blows chunks.


I was surprised that Ross Ohlendorf pitched as well as he did. He came up big a few times in his 2 innings. I thought the Yanks were done for in the 11th. 2 on no out and Morneau and Cuddyer coming up. Getting through that had to be a huge confidence boost for Ross. Build on that Ross. I've got faith in his ability to get the job done. I just think he's a year or two away from putting it all together.


And then there's Mariano. Again perfect. He has been absolutely lights out. 15 for 15 in save chances. 1 earned run in 25 innings. Man what a difference a year makes. Shame on you baseball fans out there that thought he was done. Resigning him to all the cheddar was definitely worth it.


I read a lot of comments out in the blogosphere likening Darrell Rasner to Aaron Small. Small if you remember was a minor league call-up who went a perfect 10-0 for the Yankees a few years back. After Rasner was 3-0 I read a lot of things comparing the 2. And now that he's lost 2 straight, I guess that turned out to be a little premature now wouldn't you say? Don't get me wrong, I really like D-Raz. He pitched a great game when he got tagged with a loss against Baltimore. He wasn't as sharp today as he's been in his last few outings but still pitched alright. I don't expect perfection from the starters. I expect them to keep the team in the game and give the offense the opportunity to do its thing. Rasner has done that every time. He may have lost 2 straight, but he's A-OK in my book.


I wasn't overly impressed with Scott Patterson. But he's not any worse than anything else I've seen this year. First game jitters maybe. I'll reserve judgement until he gets another outing or two under his belt. And I'm not sure why they don't use Chris Britton more. He seems to be the preferred guy they call up, but he seldom pitches. I've liked what I've seen from CB over the last several years. I wish they'd use him more often. Definitely in place of Luis Vizcaino, err I mean Latroy Hakwins. Guy is garbage.


As for the offense.....


I think it's safe to say that the offense has turned a corner. They've been swinging the bats real well lately and I expect it to continue. The hits are coming more regularly. The runs scored are starting to pile up. Going back to the win against Baltimore on 5/21, they've scored 5 or more runs 7 times, a span of 11 games. They had only done that 12 times in their first 45 games. Definite improvement. The only ones I'm worried about right now are Robbie Cano and Derek Jeter. Cano has been cold most of the year and Jeter is in a nasty slump. He had a decent game today but 1 game convince me the slump is over. Both Jeter and Cano are good with the stick so I'm sure they'll break out of it. Abreu has put together a nice string of games. Damon has also. They may have only scored 1 run today on the Jeter homer but they all hit the ball except for Matsui and Betemit. Matsui has arguable been the league's best hitter to date. He'll be fine. Betemit on the other hand. Why is he on the roster? We can't find anyone better? The Yankees have a very weak bench right now. Ensberg was just sent packing. Good. Shelley Duncan. Don't get me started. And Betemit? Terrible. Wilson hasn't hit since he was traded from the Braves to the Dodgers. He hit .241 with the Dodgers in '06. .231 with them in '07 before he was traded to the Yankees for Scott Proctor. He hit .226 for us last year and with today;s o-fer he's hitting .237. His combined average now with LA and NYY, in 452 at bats, is .235. I thought he had some power too. As a Yankee, he's gone deep 5 times in 122 at bats. I was expecting more. He needs to perform or they need to find someone that can. The bench is cutting it.


And all of that rolls up into a 2 game split and an overall record of 28-28. .500. Ugh. I'm getting so sick of that percentage. To quote the legendary George Clinton from the song Bop Gun (Endangered Species): We got to get over the hump. Andy Pettitte looks to do that tomorrow int eh final game of this 4 game wrap around series with the look-alikes. The Twins are sending out Livan Hernandez. The Yankees have owned Livan throughout his career. I'd like to say that gives me confidence but the Yankees don't often do what they're supposed to. I feel good about things, but we'll see. Don't want to jinx it like I almost did to the Wanger.


Peace, love and Pinstripes,


J-Boogie

Can't Hit, Can't Score, What Do You Do?

If you can't hit and can't score, you can only do one thing.....lose. The offense, with the exception of Hideki Matsui, gets the blame for this loss. Darrell Rasner again had a superb outing and showed everyone again that he is more than deserving of a spot in the rotation. D-Raz pitched well enough to win but the offense failed him. That's happened more times this year than I'd like to count. The offense was just non-existent today. I thought they would have fared a little better against Olson, especially considering how well they did against him less than a week ago. It would have been real nice to get on the positive side of .500, but what can you do?

J-Boogie

Back In The Win Column, Yanks Win 8-0, Joba's Headed For The Rotation

I was not impressed with anything I saw tonight. Allow me to explain. Tonight was the start of bar league softball. We usually draw the 7:10pm start which means I don't see much Yankees baseball on Wednesday nights. By the time our game ended tonight, the score in the Yankees game was 6-0 and the 5th inning had just ended. My drive home is about 45 minutes and by the time I get home and take a shower, the game is just about over. I caught the tail end of the game. And since i missed all the action, I can't be impressed with what I didn't see.

If you didn't watch the game on YES then you missed some big news after the game. Joe Girardi was the on-the-field post-game interview. Joe mentioned that tonight marked the beginning of getting Joba ready for the rotation. They let him go 2 innings to stretch him out a little bit. I wonder if this directive is being handed down from above. You know Hank can't be happy with the current state of the Yankees. He's made his feelings about Joba becoming a starter known to everyone. It looks like Big Bank Hank is getting his wish a lot earlier than everyone expected. How cool would it be to be in the Yankees inner circle? I picture Hank chewing out Cashman and Girardi like his dad did with Billy Martin when he wanted Reggie Jackson to bat 4th. I think moving Joba to the rotation this early is a panic move. Personally, I'd rather see the Yankees wait until next season. Keep his innings down. We've all heard time and time again that youngsters who throw over a certain amount of innings are more likely to develop issues. If Joba is as good as everyone thinks he is, don't rush it. Assuming he slides into the rotation next month, I guess that leaves Ian Kennedy on the outs? You'd have to assume with Darrell Rasner pitching the way he is that Ike is the odd man out. I'm fine with that. He's not ready yet.

I think it's safe to say D-Raz has earned a spot in the rotation. I wonder if his intent tonight was to send a message to Girardi: I'll show you to skip my spot in the rotation. I caught some of the game on the radio during my drive home and was impressed with what I heard. Who wouldn't be impressed with 7 shutout innings? He picked up his 3rd win, dropped his ERA to 1.89, and most importantly gave the Yankee bullpen a much needed night off. Last night the pen throws 8+. Tonight, Joba goes 2 after a 3 day layoff. No harm done. Way to go D-Raz. Taking care of business.

The offense finally had a good night. 8 runs on 13 hits. I'd love to be able to declare that the offense is back but it's waaaay to early to even think that they have. I think it's safe to say that A-Rod is back. 3-for-4 with another HR, his 2nd in 2 games. I saw the replay of what should have been his 3rd HR. It looked pretty obvious to me on the replay. Not sure how that was missed. MLB and the owners definitely need to look into instant replay. I'm only in favor of IR in the case of reviewing a HR. That's the only time it should be used. It's such a big play int he game how can it not be? We've now seen 2 blown HR calls in 3 games at the Stadium. i hope they take a hard look at it. It was nice to see Cano chime in with a multi-hit game. It was a good time for me to take him out of my fantasy lineup. I'll take one for the team and leave him out for the time being. Abreu and Damon also came through with 2 hits a-piece. This team definitely fares a lot better when Johnny Damon does well at the plate. He's definitely a catalyst. All in all not a bad night offensively. I can't get too excited because this is what they should be doing on a regular basis. We've seen them put up a good game quite a few times, only to put together a string of horrendous performances. I'll get excited if they can score 5 runs or more for 4 straight games and more importantly, winning.

Not a bad post for someone who didn't see much of the action. Ian Kennedy is on the mound tomorrow. That's always an adventure. Not a bad night for Rasner to go 7. If Kennedy pulls off one of his "typical" outings, we'll need fresh arms in the bullpen. A 2 game winning streak would be nice right about now.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

ps- Joe Girardi is saying in his post-game interview that the plan all along was to get Joba ready for the rotation at this time in the season. Yeah, I'm not buying it. It's a panic move. This wouldn't be happening if the Yankees' fortunes were a little better.

A Beautiful Saturday in Detroit, Yanks Win 5-2 And Mo Hooks Me Up

I was up and out of bed Saturday morning at 4:45, eager with anticipation about the day that lay ahead. My friend Dan and I had tickets to yesterday's Tigers/Yankees game. It would be my first live game of the season. A game I had been waiting for since the season started. When we first checked for tickets on the Tigers website a few months ago there weren't any available. Here's a tip for anyone who tries to get tickets to a sold out game: keep checking back. A few weeks after we first checked we checked again and there were some for sale. I even checked a few weeks after we bought the tickets to see if any were available and there were but they were standing room only. I checked again Friday morning just for fun and there were tickets available down the 1st base line about 18 rows up from the field. It looks like additional tickets get released to the public as the event draws closer. I'm not saying it happens every time, but I've seen it many times before. Most notably for some postseason games at Yankee Stadium a few years ago. Just a little tip from me to you.

I got to Dan's house at about 20 after 5 and we left for the D. Our options were to stay stateside (a 5.5 hour drive per Yahoo Maps), drive through Canada and get back into the US in Northern Michigan (about a 4:30 minute drive per Yahoo), or drive through Canada and get back into the US right in Detroit (about 4:30 per Yahoo). As much as we hate dealing with customs agents at border crossings and driving through a foreign country, we opted to cut through Canada and get back into the US in Northern Michigan. We figured the bridge traffic would be much lighter there than right in Detroit. Our drive went by rather quickly. We made great time. We ended up reaching Comerica Park around 9:45 and that's with spending 30 minutes at the Canada/Michigan border. We picked the line that had a trainee customs agent in it. It took 3 times as long as the other lines. That's Murphy's Law for you.

So we got to the park around 9:45. Game time was 3:40. Some of you might be wondering why we got there so early. Those of you that have frequented this blog for some time know I like to collect autographed baseball stuff, primarily signed baseballs. I've been collecting for almost 4 years now and I've got about 150 signed balls give or take. We figured that if the game started at 3:40 then people might start showing up starting around 10am. I've been to Comerica once before a few years ago when the wife and I were on a ballpark trip. There is an indoor parking lot that the players/coaches park in which is accessible to fans. It's right across the street from the park. Basically, you see the guy drive in, get out of his car, call him over and hope that he comes, and then hand him something to sign through the metal bars, and then he walks to the park through an underground entrance. It's pretty accessible. Probably the 2nd most accessible lot I've seen next to Cleveland's.

We ended up getting to their lot right at 10am. There were 3 other guys there waiting already. We weren't there any more than 2 minutes when Jim Leyland arrived and ended up signing a few things. I already have his so I didn't try again and my friend Dan was a little slow on the draw and he just missed out. We stood there for the next two hours and a couple people from the Tigers signed, most notably Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Robertson and Curtis Granderson. I didn't care to get autos from the 2 pitchers but I did get one from Granderson. Since I asked him to sign the sweet spot he elected to personalize the ball. I'd prefer that it wasn't personalized but I don't sell my stuff so it's OK. He inscribed the ball "Best Wishes Jay" and signed his name though it looks nothing like it. Here's a picture. Apparently, that's how Curtis signs his name.The lot is also across the street from the entrance to the executive offices. This is where players who take cabs to the park get dropped off and enter the park. When I was there a few years ago we saw Curt Schilling and Manny Ramirez get dropped off and enter through there. Yesterday we saw Jose Molina, Wilson Betemit and some coach I didn't recognize get dropped off and enter without signing, more so because no one went over for them. The Yankees' team bus arrived right before noon and it pulls into a fenced off outdoor parking lot connected to the player's garage. Usually the guys don't sign getting off the bus but occasionally one does, usually Johnny Damon. Yesterday was not one of those occasions. Not everyone takes the bus but enough took it that day for us to abandon the area rigth after the bus emptied. We didn't see Jeter on the bus (he rarely takes it from what I've seen in Toronto) and rather than wait for him to show up in a cab, Dan and I bolted at about 12:30 and decided to go wait for the gates to open at 2pm.

While we were waiting we weighed our options on where to go for batting practice. Stand next to the dugout and hope to land someone after they're done with BP, or go further down the line into the outfield in hopes of getting a pitcher to sign after they're done throwing. Dan was interested in getting Joba and i wanted to get Mariano on a 99 World Series ball so we decided to go down the line. BP started without much action. The guys were out loosening up their arms playing a little catch. Joba was right near us and flirted with the crowd but continued to get his work in. When a guy does sign it's usually when the work is out of the way. I had noticed Mariano saunter over to the wall a little further down the line. I grabbed my ball and wiggled my way through the crowd down to where he was. He was talking to a guy in the crowd that he must have known. The guy had his little son with him and Mariano was making a little chit-chat with him. He ended up signing a ball for his little one and then continued his convo with the guy for a few more minutes. While he talked, he signed a handful of things for some of the people standing around the guy. Having just dropped about 50 pounds it was easy for me to wiggle my way right to where I needed to be. Mo only signed about 7 things and my 99 World Series ball ended up being the last thing he signed. Score! Here's a picture:

As BP went on not much happened. The only position player I really wanted to get was Jeter and the only time he ever signs (which is rare) is after he takes infield during the 2nd wave of BP. So I made my way to the corner of the dugout and watched him jog off the field and into the clubhouse after he was done fielding grounders. Typical Jeter. After that I decided to go back to where Mo had signed before in case he came back to that spot for another convo after BP. Mo will a lot of times sign after the hitters are done. That wasn't the case today. He jogged off with the rest of the team after BP.

After BP, I made my way back down the line to wear Dan was and as it turns out there was 1 guy still on the field. Joba was down in the RF corner signing autographs. I again wiggled my way close to where the action was. I had prime real estate to get an auto be he stopped signing and ran off before he got to me. I would say I was about 4 people away from getting one. I got Joba's last year when he pitched in Erie, PA while with Trenton so I wasn't too shook up about it. I probably would have given it to Dan as he missed out also.

We headed for our seats out in LF and when we got there we realized that they weren't the best seats in the house. They weren't bad, but by no means were they any good. but they were only $15 and we paid face value so no real complaints. We sat in a "riser pavilion" right under the big scoreboard in LF. Basically it's a standard bleacher setup but there are fold down seats instead of hard metal. We were in the 1st row of that section which was good, but there was a handicap section right in front of us which was bad as it blocked our view of the field. It also ended up being a popular thoroughfare for people walking to the sections next to us. It reminded me of my seats in Fenway but without the ever-present smell of urine. Anyway, it's amazing to me how many people can't find their seats. It's not that complicated of a process. Everything is numbered and easy to see. Open your eyes and use your brains and you'll make the ballpark a better place. To the Tigers credit, once the game started they put up barriers and a lot of the foot traffic stopped but it was still hard to see a lot of the game with the people in the handicapped seats right in front of us. It didn't help that my direct line of sight was the pitcher throwing to home plate. Lucky for me, the seat next to me was vacant all game so I did a lot of leaning. The fans in the section were all right. They kept booing this one guy in our section who kept walking by what seemed like once an inning. They were either booing him because he was wearing a Yankees road jersey or because it looked like he gelled up his hair a la "There's Something About Mary." The guy next to me asked me if that's how the hair is worn in New York to which I replied "not where I'm from." The guy looked pretty goofy.

As for the game itself, what more could you ask for? D-Razmataz was great. He gave up a 1st inning bomb and that was pretty much it. He pitched a great game giving up only 4 hits in 6 innings. He's done a fantastic job in his 2 starts. Hopefully Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes take notes because that's what they need to do. Don't be afraid. Attack attack attack. I could tell from my crappy vantage point that Kyle Farnsworth looked like crap. He relieved Rasner and quickly got into trouble before settling down and getting out of the jam he created. Joba came in after K-Farns and got a quick 1-2-3. Mo followed and was again awesome as he notched his 9th save. The DP of Cabrera was huge. Anytime you can take in a live Yankee game and get to see Mo close it out is a good Yankee game. Offensively the team wasn't bad but they could have done so much more. They could have chased Bonderman right off the bat but Cano let him off the hook grounding into a DP. It was good though to see Giambi and Cano each get another hit. Watching those 2 battle it out for the worst average is kind of funny. I don't think of Cano when i think of worst average on the team. They're both starting to hit though. Hopefully they keep it up and continue to do so once A-Rod returns to the lineup. The team really needs the offense to fire on all cylinders.

We were pretty tired after the game and decided just to get out of Dodge. I made it back to my house right at midnight. I was dog tired but I couldn't complain at all. A beautiful day. A Yankee win. And autographs from 2 great players. I went to bed a happy camper.

I set the DVR up to record today's game because we were going to Mother's Day brunch at noon. I got back around 2:45 and much to my dismay the game was washed out. I was so looking forward to the pink bats. Maybe they'll use them tomorrow when the team takes on Tampa. Tampa's pitching has been great of late so I just hope they use whatever bats pick the team up some runs. It looks like it'll be Pettitte v. Garza. Works for me. Go get 'em Andy.

J-Boogie

D-Raz Does What The Kids Couldn't Do, Yanks Sweep M's

D-Raz-a-ma-taz. Welcome back to the Bronx. Congrats on getting the job done. I was a little nervous after he gave up the 1st inning dinger to Beltre, but after that it was pretty much smooth sailing. Not bad for a season debut. 6 innings, 5 hits 4 K and NO WALKS and on 76 PITCHES! Phil and Ian: TAKE NOTES! That's how you do it. That's what we need. He looked pretty good from what I saw. I had to leave after the 4th and missed the last half of the game. But after looking at the box score it doesn't look like I missed much. Hopefully Rasner can continue his hot start and give the team solid outings like he did today. I think he will. Kei Igawa? I'm not so sure about. He's rumored to be coming up this weekend. I'm going to Detroit for the Saturday afternoon game and lucky me will probably get to see him pitch. Yay, can't wait. Insert sarcasm here.

The offense, well most of it, was again clicking today. Coincidentally, it stopped clicking once I left the house and had the game off. I'm glad I got to see the whole shebang. They rocked Silva bringing the sinkerballer back down to Earth. I can't get overjoyed because all of the offense came from the same old same old with the exception of a solo shot by Cano. Jeter seems to have broken out of whatever funk he was in. I'm glad I put him back in my fantasy lineup. Matsui remains hot, extending his hitting streak to 14 games. Melky hit his team-leading 6th HR. Yeah, that's not a type-o. It's crazy to say that Melky is our best longball threat. Abreu had 3 base hits and the table continues to be set by a hot Johnny Damon. I think JD is the key to this whole thing. When he's on, the team seems to do pretty well. And then of course the same old same old show their struggles, but did find a way to chip on. Giambi knocked in a run on a sac fly the opposite way. I thought for a split second that it might get by Ibanez but he made a great play on it. And Robinson Cano hit a much needed HR, but it was his only hit. I'm hoping he kicks it in to gear soon. He's too great a hitter. He has to break out of this slump. With Jorge and Alex on the shelf, the team needs all engines firing.

Finally we're treated to a much deserved off day. It feels like forever since the boys have had a day off. It's coming at the right time. I only hope the momentum of a series sweep is not going to take a hit by a day of rest. The bats are finally starting to show signs of life. The arms had a great week. I kind of wish we had some Yankees baseball tomorrow. The Tribe are coming to town and the Yanks draw two of their best pitchers in Fausto Carmona and Cliff Lee. It won't be easy but I think they can handle it.

17-16, 3 games back of first. Not a bad place to be. Not a bad place at all.

J-Boogie