On A-Rod

I generally don't care terribly much about the off-field craziness that surrounds Alex Rodriguez, which is why I don't write about it very often. I wanted, however, to share a few thoughts and links regarding the whirlwind unleashed by the New York Daily News when they shared details from a leaked copy of Selena Roberts' forthcoming book.

First, it seems pretty apparent that the book is long on innuendo and short on verifiable facts. Assuming the Daily News' is representing the book fairly (an assumption that Ms. Roberts has confirmed), the allegations of current steroid use come from observations made by anonymous Yankee staff and players of how Rodriguez's body changed in 2005. Setting aside the question of how much credence should be given to the diagnostic talents of anonymous individuals without any medical training, these changes, as Paul Kix quite rightly notes over at ESPN, could just as easily be the result of withdrawal from steroids.

More problematic, perhaps, is the accusation that, while with the Rangers, Rodriguez would tip pitches in blowouts to friends on the opposing team so they could pad their stats, and that they would do the same for him. As YES Network's Steven Goldman notes these kind of shenanigans happened quite often in baseball's earlier eras, though it's unclear how they're viewed inside baseball today. Further compounding the confusion is the fact that, as a shortstop, Rodriguez could very well have been tipping pitches to his teammates, letting the rest of the infield know what might be coming. Without knowing more about Roberts' sources on the matter, it's hard to tell what to believe. It does strike me as a little odd, that no mention is made of who Rodriguez was allegedly exchanging tipped pitches with.

Ultimately, though, I think everything Roberts writes has to be taken with a grain of salt. Over at NBC Sports, Craig Calcaterra points out that Roberts' past reporting on Rodriguez has shown a penchant for trying to twist facts into the kind of sensationalist narrative that sells books, and her reporting on the infamous Duke Lacrosse case was even worse.

I'm not trying to defend anything Rodriguez did, nor am I trying to tell you which of these many allegations are true. All I am saying is that I don't find anything in these reports helpful in determining the truth, and I don't think they should change anyone's feelings on the man. If you loved him before, you should continue to do so, and if you hated him, you should do the same. As for me, I'll continue to be ambivalent towards him as a person while cheering him as a Yankee.

Most Valuable Facial Hair

Over the past week we have finally seen the Yankees become the team they were supposed to be this season; a team whose inconsistent pitching would be bailed out by a punishing offense. After weeks of offensive struggles, the team averaged just over 7 runs a game, while going 5-1. A lot of credit for this turnaround has been given to Alex Rodriguez, and deservedly so. Since returning to the team on Tuesday, A-Rod has scored a run and gotten a hit in all but one game, and his presence as the only big power threat from the right side seems to have boosted the lineup as a whole.

However, I'm surprised by the lack of attention being paid to the team's newest member, as he's been just as hot as A-Rod. I'll admit, I was surprised to see Fridriech Nietzsch playing first base, but I guess he really is an Ubermensch.

In all seriousness, though, Jason Giambi's moustache has done a heck of a job, hitting .526/.625/.947 on the week, and with any luck it'll continue to follow in Don Mattingly's moustache's footsteps.

What a difference a day makes

On Tuesday night the Yankees played about as badly as a team possibly can. First, their defense let them down, with Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon commiting costly errors. Then their pitching collapsed, as Mike Mussina was unable to recover after Jeter's error and failed to make it out of the first inning. Finally, their offense was completely stymied by Daniel Cabrera and Lance Cormier, who only allowed seven Yankees to reach base in the game.

Twenty four hours later, they looked like a completely different team. Every starter managed to reach base at least once, and only two (Melky Cabrera and Bobby Abreu) failed to either score or knock in a run. Meanwhile, Darrell Rasner absolutely sparkled, holding the Orioles to just five hits, one walk, and no runs while striking out six over seven innings.

The only constant over the two games was Alex Rodriguez, back from injury in style, as he knocked three long home runs into nearly the same spot in right center field (though one was erroneously ruled a double). The past couple of days have shown that the Yankees aren't as bad as they've shown so far, but they're also not as good as they ought to be. If anyone can elevate them to that level, though, it's A-Rod.

April is the Cruelest Month

The first month of the baseball season is over and the Yankees find themselves in third place with a losing record. While this is certainly an improvement over last season, I don't think it's what any of us expected. Baseball, however, is all about the unexpected and a lot of what has gone wrong for the Yankees are things that no one could have seen coming, let alone do anything about:

• A schedule which started by playing twenty games straight without an off day.


• Miserably cold and/or rainy conditions in the first thirteen of those games.


• A Papal visit to Yankee Stadium which created a schedule where the team would play a Major League record 18 road games in April, with only two days at home between 8 and 10 day trips.


• Injuries which caused Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez, three of the most valuable and durable players in the game, to miss significant time.


• Injuries to the backups for Jeter and Posada, with Jose Molina only able to catch sporadically as he worked through a hamstring strain and Wilson Betemit unable to play at all thanks to corneal ulcers.


• The freakish coincidence of A-Rod going pulling his quad the night before his wife gave birth. This kept him from getting an MRI, something which might have kept him from aggravating the injury.


• Pneumonia which hospitalized Joba Chamberlain's father and caused the pitcher to leave the team in order to be with his family.


• A torn Lisfranc ligament in Brian Bruney's foot which may cause him to miss the rest of the season

Looking at that list, I have to say that it's something of a minor miracle that the team is only one game under .500. This isn't to say that the team shouldn't be doing better. While you can't really blame anyone for the above mishaps, you can question how Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi and the rest of the Yankees' staff have reacted to them, and I'll be doing that tomorrow.

Everything Can Change

Johnny Carson once said that a New York Minute was the time between a traffic light turning greeen and the cabbie behind you honking his horn. Tonight, however, a New York Minute is the time it takes for Alex Rodriguez to negotiate a ten year, $275 million contract with the Yankees. This is a deal that's shocking on many levels.

Let's start with the fact that A-Rod and the Yankees were actually talking. A-Rod, after all, had rebuffed calls from Brian Cashman, the Steinbrenners three, and a number of his former teammates both before and after deciding to opt out of his contract. Meanwhile, the Yankees had repeatedly and emphatically stated that there would be absolutely no negotiations with Alex Rodriguez as a free agent.

Then there's the fact that the negotiations were made between the Yankees and A-Rod. For whatever reason, Rodriguez decided to bypass Scott Boras and sit down with the Yankees on his own (or, more accurately, with only his wife by his side).

Plus, let's not forget about the size of the contract. Reports have the total ranging from $275 to $290 million, but whatever it ends up being it won't be very different from what he makes now, and it's a lot less than the $350 million that Boras was looking for.

I'm honestly not sure whether or not I like this deal. This is partly because my head has been spinning too much for me to form a coherent opinion, but it's mostly because, since the deal isn't official yet, we don't know what the fine print says. A-Rod's last contract, after all, showed us that the devil's in the details.

Our long national nightmare is over

After all that waiting, the news is starting to come fast. Right on the heels of the news that Alex Rodriguez is a narcissitic idiot comes word that the Yankees have decided to hire Joe Girardi as manager. Technically they're still negotiating, but I doubt it'll take long to finalize the deal. After all, Girardi is going to have to get right to work and find himself some coaches. Don Mattingly, who is disappointed at not getting the job, has already announced that he won't be returning next season. Meanwhile, Larry Bowa has been offered a job as the third base coach in Seattle, and Ron Guidry will likely be getting the axe soon. This would leave Girardi with a staff that consists of first base coach Tony Pena, hitting coach Kevin Long and bullpen coach Joe Kerrigan. Right now, the only candidate whose name I've heard bandied about is Dave Eiland, the pitching coach for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees who helped Phil Hughes so much in September. Other than that, I think the field's wide open.

As for Girardi himself, I think it's a good decision by Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenners. I've certainly written about his qualifications enough, but that's not what really impressed me about their choice. For the past few seasons, Don Mattingly has been the presumed heir to Joe Torre's throne. There really was no question that the Yankees were grooming him for the role, and when Torre left it really seemed like it was Mattingly's job to lose. However, the Yankees sat down with their candidates and allowed themselves to be impressed by Girardi, who was reportedly fantastic in his interview. As I said, it seemed like the job was Mattingly's to lose, but Girardi went ahead and won it anyway. The reason he was able to wasn't because Mattingly did anything wrong, but because the Yankee brass kept their minds open, and you have to give them a lot of credit for that.

After the sour notes of the departures of Joe Torre and Alex Rodriguez, it's truly refreshing to have good news coming out of Tampa and I'm hoping to hear more soon. Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte all said that Joe Torre's departure would impact their decisions. I hope that the arrival of the catcher who helped them so much in their younger days will also make an impact.

A-Rod opts out

Regular readers of this blog know that I'm a big fan of A-Rod the player, and I still am. My opinion of Alex Rodriguez the man has gone down considerably tonight. For those who weren't watching the World Series, Scott Boras announced that Alex Rodriguez is opting out of his contract. According to Boras, the decision was made because he didn't know if Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte were coming back, and he didn't want to make any decisions before seeing what happened.

Alex, I can respect your decision to become a free agent. What I can't respect is the ridiculous lie your agent just spouted. You had ten days before you had to make your decision. That's ten days you had to at least talk to the Yankees. That's ten days for you to wait and see what was going to happen with your teammates. Don't tell me that you don't read the papers, that you didn't know the team was ready to make offers to you, Posada, Pettitte and Rivera in the next week. The truth is that you always intended to become a free agent, and saying anything else is just insulting.

No news is just boring

Well, so much for all the rumor and innuendo that said a decision on the new manager would be announced yesterday. According to Peter Abraham over at The Journal News, the decision's probably been made, but the announcement won't be made until after the World Series. Normally, I'd be in favor of such a decision, as it's better for baseball as a whole for the Yankees to let the World Series have the public's full attention. That, however, is because normally that delay wouldn't affect the rest of the Yankees' agenda. Unfortunately, this is not a normal offseason.

You have to figure that the identity of next year's manager will end up factoring into A-Rod's decision making process, so every day that goes by without an announcement is one less day the Yankees' have to negotiate. Again, this normally wouldn't be a problem since there's usually plenty of time to negotiate with players who can become free agents, but according to his contract A-Rod has only ten days after the World Series ends to decide whether or not to opt out of his contract and effectively become a free agent. That's an awfully small amount of time to negotiate what could be the largest contract in history.

Live Blogging 10/05

Here we go with my first attempt at blogging while watching the game. Today's lineups are, according to mlb.com, as follows:

Yankees
1. Johnny Damon, LF
2. Derek Jeter, SS
3. Bobby Abreu, RF
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Robinson Cano 2B
8. Melky Cabrera CF
9. Doug Mientkiewicz 1B
Pitcher - Andy Pettitte

Indians
1. Grady Sizemore CF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera 2B
3. Travis Hafner DH
4. Victor Martinez C
5. Ryan Garko 1B
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Kenny Lofton LF
8. Jason Michaels RF
9. Casey Blake 3B
Pitcher - Fausto Carmona

These lineups are almost identical to last night's. The only changes are that Joe Torre has flip flopped Matsui and Posada, and Eric Wedge has benched Franklin Gutierrez in favor of Michaels in right field. I'm a little surprised Wedge didn't bench Lofton against the lefty, but I guess his big game last night was too much to ignore.

Update 4:50PM: Bob Sheppard will not make it to the stadium for Sunday's game due to bronchitis. This will be the first time he has missed a playoff game in his 57 year long career. Thankfully, its not serious, and I think all Yankee fans wish him the best. Peter Abraham has the full story.

Update 5:21PM: That was some efficient work from tonight's starters. I have to say that I'm a little afraid of Fausto Carmona, who is looking a lot like Chien-Ming Wang on a good night.

Update 5:28PM: Now that's more like it. Hideki Matsui took a page out of the Indian's playbook from last night and works a walk by making Carmona earn that low strike. The fact is that his sinker nearly unhittable when its at the knees, so you may as well lay off it and hope he misses the zone.

Update 5:40PM: You know, I was really hoping that TBS' coverage would be an improvement over Fox's. I understand that baseball's pace lends itself to some meandering conversations (I did, after all, enjoy Phil Rizzuto's broadcasts), but I'd like to hear tangents about baseball, not Queen Latifah's wardrobe.

Update 5:44PM: Wow. Maybe it's because I watch Melky so much, but I saw that coming a mile away. I'm not really sure what Indians' third base coach Joel Skinner could have been thinking when he sent Peralta (assuming that Peralta didn't just go on his own). It's not like Cabrera hasn't been doing this for the past year and a half.

Update 5:52PM: That, my friends, is how you break out of a slump. That's also an appropriate way for Melky to celebrate the two month anniversary of his last home run, which came against Kansas City on August 5th.

Update 6:07PM: The story of the day before the game was "Andy Pettitte: Big Game Pitcher," but it's been the defenders behind him that've been coming through in the clutch so far. First Melky, and now Mientkiewicz have saved Pettitte's bacon so far by stopping runs that the Indians should have scored.

Update 6:27PM: I guess Pettitte's been reading this, because he went ahead and saved his own bacon this time. Actually, he did it twice, first getting a double play ball after allowing a leadoff single, and then stranding a runner on second after the double play opportunity was missed. Granted, he was the one who missed the opportunity by deflecting that double play ball away from Robinson Cano, but it's still an impressive performance.

Update 6:40PM: Another note about TBS' coverage. The graphic showing the size of the baserunner's lead at first is a good idea, but those red and green zones are just silly. I mean a safe lead for Jeter or A-Rod is completely different from one for Posada or Matsui. Just give us a distance and let the announcers give the context. That's pretty much what they're there for, after all.

Update 7:07PM: This is starting to get ridiculous. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Pettitte were to allow a leadoff home run in the seventh and still not give up a run. Its almost enough to make you feel sorry for the Indians. Almost.

Update 7:55PM: Good lord. What was a cute little side story a half hour ago has turned serious, as this swarm of gnats seems to actually be bothering Joba Chamberlain's control. You really can't blame him either, as the cameras cut to a shot of his neck with a dozen of the little buggers perched on him and plenty more buzzing around. This is after the Yankees' trainer has doused him in repellant twice.

Update 7:58PM: This is crazy. Chalk that run up to the bugs, and there's a decent argument to be made at this point for the umpires to stop the game so they can spray the field.

Update 8:12PM: According the TBS on field reporter, the bugs that are causing these problems are "Canadian soldiers," which is another name for mayflies. Should the Indians win, they might well be the MVPs.

Update 8:23PM: A huge missed opportunity for A-Rod right here, and a huge opportunity given to the A-Rod haters. Before they get started, let me just say that that was a great battle against a pitcher who is having a huge night and who has stymied the entire Yankee lineup, including Captain Clutch himself.

Update 8:49PM: He's being overlooked by the TV crew, but big props to Doug Mientkiewicz for being able to keep that ball from heading to the outfield, which might've allowed Sizemore to make it to second.

Update 9:10PM: Here's when we should really start to worry. The Indians' bullpen is much deeper than the Yankees'. At least the Viz gets the bottom of the order this time around, but the top of the order will get their chance no matter what the Yankees do.

Update 9:32PM: And that's all she wrote. Goodnight folks.

Just Do It

We're less than six hours from the start of the Division Series, and Joe Torre has announced a roster that, surprisingly, contains three rookies who didn't join the team until after September callups; Jose Veras, Ross Ohlendorf and Bronson Sardinha. Normally, in order to be eligible for the playoff roster, a player has to have been either on the active roster or the disabled list on August 31st, which means that Ohlendorf and Sardinha wouldn't have been eligible (Veras was on the DL at the time). However, a team can substitute any player from their forty-man roster for any eligible player of the same position that's on the DL when the playoffs start (this is the rule that allowed Francisco Rodriguez to get five postseason wins for the Angels in 2002). Thus, Ohlendorf and Sardinha step in for Carl Pavano and Andy Phillips. Should Ohlendorf actually contribute I think it'll be most value the Yankees have gotten out of the Pavano contract.

Anyway, this leaves the Yankees with a pitching staff that features only one lefthander (Andy Pettitte), and a bullpen whose slowest fastball is in the 92-94mph range (Jose Vizcaino). It's safe to say that the Yankees have decided to go with talent over diversity and experience. It's a gutsy call, but it's also in line with the decisions that have brought the team back from their horrible start.

I'm not usually one to quote ads, but Nike's 80 foot tall billboard by Penn Station pretty much sums things up:

Sunday Notes

In the past five games, Alex Rodriguez has:

• Hit seven home runs.
  
• Hit two home runs in an inning
  
• Broken his own record for most home runs by a righthanded Yankee with 49.
  
• Passed Mel Ott, Eddie Murray and Ernie Banks on the all-time home run list with 513.
  
• Broken Mike Schmidt's record for most home runs by a third baseman in a season with 49.
  
• Joined Babe Ruth, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, as the only Yankees to ever hit 50 home runs.
  
• Saved Western California from sinking into the ocean by turning back time and stopping the missiles unleashed by Lex Luthor.

Actually, that last one might be Superman. Its hard to tell them apart sometimes. Regardless, he curently stands at 52 home runs on the season, 15 more than the next guy in the league, and 516 for his career, good enough for 17th on the all-time list.

As much fun as it is to be playing the "how great is A-Rod?" game, he's actually not the best story of the week. That honor belongs to Harlan Chamberlain, Joba Chamberlain's father. By now, most of you probably know the Yankeeography-ready story of the Chamberlain family, and if you don't Peter Abraham wrote a nice feature last month for our sister paper, the Journal News.

With the Yankees traveling to Kansas City, the closest Major League team to his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, the elder Chamberlain had his first opportunity to see his son in pinstripes, along with a boatload of friends, family and fans from the University of Nebraska. It was a little corny and manipulative, but I couldn't help getting a little misty eyed watching Harlan, with tears in his eyes, pumped his fist in celebration as Joba struck Ross Gload out on a nasty slider.

In less heartwarming news, Derek Jeter didn't play today after leaving last night's game with a sore knee. The official diagnosis is patellar tendinitis, which is a weakening of the tendons in the knee. He's expected to be ready for Tuesday's game in Toronto, though he may be used as a DH to keep him off the astroturf. It doesn't sound major at the moment, but tendinitis is a chronic condition, so it's worth keeping an eye on.

Anyway, with today's win and Detroit's loss to Seattle, the Yankees hold a four game lead in the wild card and the magic number shrinks to 16.

Play it again, Alex

Last night's game was almost a repeat of the night before. They were both pitcher's duels early, until the Yankee offense, led by a player with two homeruns, explodes in the later innings while the Yankee pitching keeps dominating. The funny thing is that while the results were much the same, the players weren't.

Joe Torre shuffled his lineup, resting Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu. Surprisingly, Alex Rodriguez was able to talk himself into the lineup after rolling his ankle the night before, though he was limited to DH duty. It turned out to be a pretty good decision, as Rodriguez hit his 47th and 48th homeruns in the 8th inning (yes, he hit both in the same inning), tying his own record for most homeruns hit by a righthanded Yankee.

Last night's two homerun star, Jorge Posada, was replaced by Jose Molina, though Posada did come in as a pinch hitter in the 7th. Molina filled Posada's large cleats well, knocking in the Yankees' first run in the 3rd with a solo shot that just snuck by the left field foul pole.

The most important performance, though, belonged to Philip Hughes. It was Hughes' first start since Dave Eiland, his pitching coach in Triple-A came up to New York to see him. I'm not sure what, if anything, Eiland did, but Philip Hughes: Ace of the Future was back last night. Jose Molina barely had to move his glove as Hughes was in complete command of his fastball, curve and change. He had a little trouble with his slider, which kept diving in the dirt, but three strong pitches were all that he needed to stymie the Mariners. With Roger Clemens' elbow woes and Mike Mussina's sudden inneffectiveness, the hope that Hughes can be a dependable starter down the stretch and into the playoffs is a welcome one indeed.

A couple of random notes:

• Wilson Betemit earned my eternal respect when he walked to the plate to the strains of Pearl Jam's "Better Man". Its almost as good as Hideki Matsui using Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song".
  
  
• One of the downsides of rosters expanding in September, at least for fans, is the sheer number of pitching changes a manager can make. While the Yankees were scoring eight runs in the seventh, Seattle manager John McLaren seemed to change pitchers with every swing of the bat. Every time I looked at the bullpen to see who was coming in, it seemed like there were a dozen guys left there. All told, Seattle made seven pitching changes, painfully extending the game.
  
  
• Before he was a coach, Eiland was a reliever for the Yankees, Padres and Devil Rays. He holds the distinction of being the only player in major league history to give up a home run to the first batter he faced and to hit a home run in his first at-bat.
  
  
• The Yankees' magic number for the wild card is now 20. I'll try to put up some kind of counter in the coming days.

Wang to the rescue

Monday was just a terrible day for the Yankees. First came the news that Andy Phillips' wrist was fractured when he was hit by a pitch on Sunday, and will miss 4-6 weeks, which is essentially the rest of the season. If it wasn't for bad luck, Philips wouldn't have no luck at all.

Then, Roger Clemens left last night's game after allowing five runs over four innings in order to get an MRI on his elbow, which was "tightening up," according to Joe Torre. All that's known right now is that Clemens will definitely miss his next start, but he insists he'll pitch again this season. Of course Clemens is the kind of guy who'd say that if his hair was on fire, so I think I'll wait and see what happens after he heads back to Houston to see his doctors and get a cortisone treatment.

Finally, after Clemens left the game, the Yankees went on to lose the game 7-1, allowing the Mariners to narrow the Yankees' lead in the Wild Card race to just one game.

All of this meant just one thing; it was time for the Taiwan Kid to ride to the rescue. Chien-Ming Wang pitched a classically Wangesque game, throwing the sinker low in the zone and watching the opposition hit it right into the ground. The first seven batters he faced all hit ground balls, only one of which snuck through the infield for a hit, and out of the 26 batters he faced a ludicrous 17 of them were retired on ground balls. Supporting Wang's dominance were Jorge Posada, Bobby Abreu and Robinson Cano, who had four hits each, including two homeruns by Jorge, leading the Yanks to 12 runs.

As big of a blowout as it was, though, there were a couple of scary moments in the game. In the bottom of the seventh, Alex Rodriguez turned his ankle sliding into third base, and in the top of the eighth, Wang had to leave after retiring the first batter (on, of course, a ground ball) due to tightness in his lower back. Thankfully, the word is that they're both fine, though A-Rod may need a day or two off and Wang will probably get an extra day of rest before his next start (which shouldn't be a big deal with the off day on Thursday).

A-Rod's injury, by the way, led to the first major league at-bat for our former Attorney General, who seems to have found a new job rather quickly. Or maybe that's Alberto Gonzalez with a "z".

Anyway, tomorrow's rubber match pits the struggling Philip Hughes against Jarrod Washburn, who's been tough on the Yankees in the past. I'll be in Tier Box 635, Row F if anyone wants to say hello. Once again, just look for the shiny, shiny head.

Lets just skip the introductions, shall we?

Its a big night for debuts, as I write my first post following Joba Chamberlain's first game as a New York Yankee. It seems somewhat appropriate, considering that we both have unusual four letter names.

Anyway, Joba the Hutt had a fine couple of innings, striking out two while giving up a hit and two walks. His fastball was as advertised, sitting comfortably at 96mph, and touching 98, but the real eye opener was an absolutely filthy slider. The one problem seemed to be in hitting the left side of the strike zone, which is where those two walks came from. Given his sterling minor league track record (just 27 walks in 88.1 innings this year), I think we can chalk it up to nerves.

Of course, the big story of the game was Josh Towers' plunking A-Rod in the third, which led to the benches being cleared twice, Roger Clemens retaliating by hitting Alexis Rios in the seventh, and the subsequent ejections of Clemens and Joe Torre. Looking at the replay, I really don't think that Towers meant to hit him, but after being hit yesterday, I can understand why A-Rod might've thought so. What I can't understand is why after the initial bench clearing, after everyone was set to get back to the game, Towers couldn't keep his big mouth shut. Not that it really mattered, as Clemens was going to retaliate no matter what. This is, after all, a guy who once threw at his own son at an exhibition game.

Tomorrow brings us a showdown of aces between Doc Holliday and the Taiwan Kid. Should be a good one, folks.