Tuesday, April 01, 2008

1 Down, About 104 More To Go

Only In NY can a game feature the game's best (Halladay & A-Rod), and other sure fire HOFers like Jeter and Mo, and yet the guy who causes all the flash bulbs to go off is a rookie late inning reliever - I love it.

Good Sign?: During the championship years the biggest difference between the Bombers and the rest was their record in 1 run games. Tonight was a tight one, and they came through - perhaps a sign of things to come.

Last week I said I thought that Wang would win 20 and not win the Cy Young. I'm going to up my estimate and say he's going to win 22 and still not win the Cy Young.

The Yanks play everyday for the next 19 days I'm interested, and hopeful, to see how Girardi is going to be able to manage the bull pen without burning these guys out.

Giambi - Earned his keep today. Great fielding, got on base, worked the count, and made a heads up base running play. Good for him, good for the Yanks.
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Fantasy Update: League has drafted. I think Scooter has the inside track, his first two picks ended up being Albert Pujols, and Prince Fielder (Francisco Liriano is pitching in my home town for the next few weeks and I don't think stats in Rochester count though.).



20 comments:

57 said...

Congratulations to the Yankees in beating a team from Canada...home of social medicine.

The Scooter said...

Any chance Ron Darling comes out of the booth to get the fifth (no wait, the fourth) spot in the Mets' rotation?

Nice to see Wang out-pitch Halladay.

Giambi was pretty impressive.

Cano may win the batting title.

Got Melk?

Anonymous said...

It was good to see the Yankees start out on the right foot. They beat a top guy in Halladay who was really sharp most of the night. Mid you're actually right on this one, pulling out 1 run victories against quality starters will be a big advantage. The last couple of years they have declining in that stat.

I think Girardi is very aware of the schedule. Including that most of those games are in cold weather cities. By only using Joba and Mo, the the bullpen starts off in good shape.

I love the energy Joba brings to the mound every time. When he closes the inning out with a K (like he did against Frank Thomas last night) he gets so jacked up.

57 what the heck happened to Pedro??? He was pitching great in spring, and now that the calender turns he gets lit up for 4 runs and then pulls a hammy after 4 innings. He can't even blame bad/cold weather, he's still in Florida.

57 said...

Crash, I'll be honest here. I think Pedro's 12 pitch at bat in the previous inning hurt him. Rarely do pitchers ever last past 4 or 5 pitches, and he stood in there for 12 pitches. Fouling off bebee after bebee did not help. The swings he took were so akward and extremely upper body only...i think that had a lot to do with it, and no-one is talking about that.

Melky hit a Yankee Stadium home run and not a real home run.

old professor said...

57, Pedro leaving had nothing to do with a 12 pitch at bat, it is actually something called a hamstring and apparently he pulled it. MRI for who's your daddy will be today. Speaking from experience, age does not allow for a quick heal on hamstrings. Oh and too bad Pedro doesn't play for Toronto, because he may need socialized medicine. A thin Muts rotation just got thinner.

Yankee pitching was great. Wang goes 7 followed by Joba and Mo. Let's see what happens now that they will be going with one of the younger pitchers.

Anonymous said...

If by younger you mean a full decade older than I would agree with you.

Moose gets the start tonight.

Anonymous said...

Was it just me, or was Wang's performance not all that good. Girardi said it was the best he's been all year...and it may have been. I thought he was struggling early, he seem to be working into and out of jams, wasn't getting ahead of the hitters, etc. It was a pretty gritty performance, his pitch count was too high for 7 innings, and he only gave up the 2 runs, but I wasn't that impressed. I thought Halladay out pitched him and just gave up the cheap Melky HR. Is it me or did anyone else see it like this???

Middle Relief said...

I thought Joe G. was joking when he said that given that the whole year was 1 official game.

All pitchers seemed a bit off with their control - first hi test post training camp.

All things considered - I'd give Wang and Joba a solid B. Halladay an A- and Mo an A.

57 said...

Dont care if it is the Marlines... Perez looked like a 20 game winner, and the Mets destroyed the fish to win the series, 13-0..my god.

old professor said...

57, when do the mets stop playing a AA schedule and begin playing with the big boys?

Posada sits out last nights game due to injury - how serious??

Mussina did not pitch bad one real bad pitch to Wells. However, he still looks old and not confident.

The Scooter said...

I actually agree that Mussina didn't pitch all that poorly, Prof.

He gave you what you would like to see from a fourth or fifth starter. When he has to match up against the other teams #1 or #2, the Yankees will have problems, but hopefully they can find away to slot him back at the back end of the rotation once Andy comes back.

Did anyone see that the Orioles had less than 10,000 in attendance at Camden Yards, last night? The AA team I go see (The New Britain Rock Cats) draw more than that regularly.

57, when do the Mets break camp and start the real season?

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure you guys were watching the Yankees game last night, because Mussina didn't pitch well at all. Scooter I disagree completely, he didn't even come close to pitching like a #4 or #5 starter. That's the kind of performance you hope to get from your #6 or #7 starter after your rotation has been decimated by injuries. He gave up 8 hits, 2 walks, and a hit batter in less than 6 innings. That's way too many base runners. And of course his pitch count was high because he wants to nibble. He's lucky he got a couple ground ball DP early or it's a lot worse. He gets 1 maybe 2 more starts before Girardi gives someone else a chance in the rotation.

Maybe it just looked worse than it really was because Burnett shut down the offense.

Hughes vs McGowan is a good pitching match up tonight.

I think the Mets get a day off from their extended spring training schedule.

Anonymous said...

Mussina didn't pitch that poorly??????

What is this a delayed April fools day joke?

He is awful. The body language of the team is so bad when that guy is on the mound and it took all of 8 minutes into the game before I started saying "Mussina Sucks".

Hate to sound like a broken record here, but they should have never re-signed him, they should have sent him down to the minors or cut him.

The Yanks are guarenteed to lose 1 out of every 5 games with him in the rotation.

Anonymous said...

At least the bull pen has held its own - 5 1/3 and one earned.

57 said...

I will send each of you 5 bucks if the Yankees win a game by 13 runs this year. It won't happen.

old professor said...

Mid, you actually do sound like a broken record. Mussina could pitch a shutout and you would still find some problem with him. Mussina allowed eight hits four runs. Three of the runs were earned (and to no one's surprise, the error was by Giambi). Take out the home run which was a bad pitch and we are down to one earned run.

Had the Yankee offense (which is supposed to score 1,000 runs this year) produced what they are supposed to average, it would have come out a win.

Mussina was not intended to be slotted as the number 2 starter for the season - that was supposed to be Pettitte. All during Spring Training the issue was whether he would be number 4 or 5. At either of those slots, he is better than what most teams can field against him.

The Yankees will lose around 65 games this year. Let's see what Moose's final record is before throwing him on the garbage heap.

Anonymous said...

How many times must the sun rise before you agree that the sun rises in the East?
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If this had happened, if this had happened, if if if if if if, we don't pay people for ifs, we pay for results and wins and Moose has not provided any of that the last two plus seasons.

The Scooter said...

Mid and Crash, you guys have to keep an open mind (OK, not exactly one of your strengths). The only ball that was crushed off of Mussina last night was the Wells HR. The other hits were seeing eye grounders and bloops.

As Prof so eloquently points out, without Giambi's error (a tough error by the way, as Moose didn't exactly bust it to the bag) and the one mistake pitch, he actually looked pretty good to me.

Mid, any way you can save 57's last comment and permanently post it on the front page or something? I believe what is said in a blog constitutes a "legal contract" and I'm going to want my five bucks when the Yankees beat up on the Mets 18-5 during one of their inter-league games.

Anonymous said...

I don't think we will need to wait that long. The Yankees are playing the Rays next week. They have a history of hanging double digits on them. I mean just last year they beat them 17-5 and 21-4 on back to back nights, they also hung 16 a couple times (Royals and White Sox???).

No where heading into this season was Mussina ever labeled a #5 starter. The #4 and 5 spots were always for Hughes and Kennedy. Moose was the #3 guy. The Yankees will get more production from Carl Pavano this year than they will from Mike Mussina.

This is why I love the NFL contracts, Mussina would have been cut within minutes of that performance and the Yankees wouldn't have to worry about the remaining $11M. I like what Baltimore did with Gibbons. He was pathetic so they cut him and eat the remaining $17M or whatever it was. MLBPA will never let that happen, but it would be nice.

The Scooter said...

Completely off topic, but a great Vid just the same.

JoePa at 81 years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp0H62QrWSs

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