Well the 2007 All Star Game balloting first vote tally's are in and there are some surprises and disappointments involved...









Currently New York Yankees back stop Jorge Posada is number 4 in the AL Catcher category. I don't
have any idea how this could be possible. I know that the All Star Game selection is basically a glorified popular contest and I know that in the past there have been the New York Yankees players who have won these ballots despite the fact the didn't have the numbers to back up the votes.
Maybe this is payback for those All Star Selections in years past.
But I honestly don't see how you can defend Posada being 4th behind on the vote.

I mean if you look at the standings and numbers Jorge is ahead of all the other AL Catchers in batting average. He's almost 50 points higher than number one vote getter Ivan Rodriguez and Posada's .357 average currently leads all AL and all NL players for the best average for any player in the majors.
Posada also leads AL catchers in slugging percentage, total bases, games played, doubles, hits, runs scored, and is second in homers and RBI's.
Posada leads catchers in 6 separate offensive categories...
(click on this or any of the other stat graphs to view and easier to read full size version...)

I might understand if Posada was 2nd in the voting or if it was a close vote --- but what are All Star voters looking at to have him ranked 4th and over 72 thousand votes behind I-Rod?
Now I looked at the rest of the AL vote leaders for 2007 as well and right now Giambi is 2nd in the 1B vote and Cano is first in the 2B vote and honestly neither of them deserves to be ranked that high.

At this moment Morneau is heading towards being 400 thousand votes behind Ortiz in first place and Giambi in 2nd place even though between Ortiz, Giambi, and Hafner they've only played 5 games at first base combined ( zero for Ortiz, 3 for Hafner, and 2 for Giambi.

As much as I don't like Youkilis, he's got the 2nd highest batting average behind Posada in the American League and is only one home run behind Ortiz and just 8 RBI's behind him while having a 39 point lead on Ortiz in batting average. Youkilis also has 8 more total bases, 2 more steals, 14 more hits, and 4 more runs scored.
Then Carlos Pena has one more homer and a .300 batting average.
There are 4 or 5 AL 1B's with a batting average about .300 --- so to have Giambi as the number two vote getter seems wrong.
Especially considering he doesn't play first base anymore.
This is the 1B All Star ballot, not the DH ballot.
I know there isn't a DH category since we are playing in an NL Park in the 2007 ASG...
But that doesn't mean that 1B's don't get to play in the AL and shouldn't be recognized.
Maybe the ASG should be played under AL rules EVERY year no matter if the game is played in an NL or an AL park so that the AL 1B's can get voted on due to 1B merit.
Or maybe in the years that the game is played in an NL park and under NL rules there should be a "Pinch Hitter" category instead of a "Designated Hitter" category?

And lastly, with the AL second baseman vote I think there is a slightly questionable vote going on...

Cano has the lead in the second base voting despite the fact that he has 2 home runs and a .264 batting average. Polanco and Roberts are both worthy selections with a .330 and a .310 batting average respectively. My choice would be Brian Roberts who's hitting .310 with 85 total bases 34 walks, and 19 stolen bases. At this point in the season Roberts is on pace for 60 steals, 110 walks, and a + 300 average with 50 or 60 RBI's and 10-15 homers. That's a lot of speed and production from your 2B.

So I think Jeter, Rodriguez, and Posada deserve to go to the 2007 ASG in San Francisco and perhaps Cano or one of our outfielders will deserve it before the voting is over.
But right now I think Posada is getting screwed and that it's a travesty that Youkilis, Morneau and Roberts are getting screwed out of being AL ASG starters.

Well that's my thoughts on this situation for now.
I know it's early and votes will still be tallied and reported weekly for the next month.
But early returns are disappointing to me and perhaps to you as well.

Any thoughts?

Mike

As we share a space in the AL East cellar with a record of 21 and 29 and tied for last place, I have mulled over a few ideas as to things that we might do to help improve our state of affairs.
Besides simply pitching better and hitting better I attempted to brainstorm potential home improvements that we could make to the team that could help us get back into contention more quickly in the best case or could at least put us in a better starting position going into the off season at worst.
You may not like all of my ideas or you may only like some of them. I'm not fully endorsing all of these ideas, I'm simply brainstorming to get the juices flowing. A few of these I really like and some are more like long shots in terms of practicality as well as function.

But anyway, for your discussion and/or consideration ...
Here are a few ideas for some potential Yankee Home Improvement:


Idea number one:
Do whatever you have to do to get Mark Teixeira from Texas before the 2007 trade deadline.
Regardless of what you think of the Rangers as a team, Tex is a blue chip player.
In his first four full seasons with Texas (2003-2006) he averaged 35 home runs and 112 RBI's with a big season in 2005 in which he hit 43 home runs with 144 RBI's with a batting average of .301.
Tex is a switch hitter who won a golden glove and a silver slugger that season.
So far this season he's hitting 9 homers with 33 RBI's with 59 hits and a .298 average.
He's also only 27 years of age and if he was signed as the Yankees first basemen he could be a productive player for the Bombers for the better part of the next 10 years.
In addition to his hot bat he plays first rate defense and has a career fielding percentage of .995. Signing Tex could help us win right now, but even if he doesn't he could be a staple player for the next several years as he's younger than Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter and yet has veteran experience in the big leagues.

Idea number two:
Seriously consider trading Bobby Abreu and making Melky Cabrera a full time outfielder and an every day player. Bobby Abreu was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies last July and the Yankees agreed to pay the salary remaining on his Phillies contract which amounted to about 4.4 million dollars in 2006, 15 million for this year in 2007, and next season in 2008 we can either pay him 16 million to keep him thru 2008 or pay him 2 million to buy him out and make him a free agent after the last out of the 2007 World Series.
I somehow doubt that the Yankees will end up giving him 16 million to stay and play with the Yankees as a outfielder in the 2008 season.
Especially since we have Melky Cabrera ready to play full time as an outfielder.
And if you don't plan on keeping him and you have somebody to pick up the slack, I would think about moving him back to a team in the National League.
We need bullpen help and maybe another starting pitcher.
I would package together Abreu, some cash, and perhaps Kyle Farnsworth or Scott Proctor to see what we can get for them?

Idea number three:
Consider moving Jason Giambi to another team, buying him out and letting him go to make room on the roster, or turning him into Ruben Sierra.
If you can get Mark Teixeira then I would add Doug Mientkiewicz or Jason Phelps to the trade proposal mentioned in my second idea and have the Yankees keep Farnsworth or Proctor.
If you get Tex then you don't need Giambi, Phelps, AND Mientkiewicz.
You could try and trade Giambi if you could find a team that could use a power hitter and are close to contention.
Especially an AL team.
I would look at the Oakland A's.
We would have to eat most of his salary, but we're going to be on the hook for that no matter what.
Do not believe the hype.
The players union and Giambi's agent will never allow the Yankees to void his contract.
So to me, either you pick up Teixeira and make him the full time first basemen and then deal Mientkiewicz and Giambi to some other team for whatever you can get or you deal both Phelps and Mientkiewicz and make Jason Giambi's this years Ruben Sierra and have him a power bat off of the bench. It could be tough to move Giambi since he's owed 21 million for 2007 and has a 22 million dollar club option for 2009 with a 5 million dollar buy out.
You might be better off keeping him since you are going to be paying for him either way and if you are you are going to be paying him to hit home runs you might as well be paying him to hit home runs for your team instead of some other team.
I know the Rangers hate watching Alex hit the homers that he hits and knowing that since he was traded to the Yankees in 2004 that they have been on the hook for 67 million dollars out of the 179 million remaining on his contract.
The move may be to keep Giambi on the bench and include Mientkiewicz in the deal we could make for Teixeira.
If we succed in prying away Tex it will probably take players as well as money.
Maybe Mientkiewicz, cash, a prospect or two, and Kyle Farnsworth for Tex?
Or maybe Abreu, Farnsworth, and cash and a prospect and use Phelps/Mientkiewicz and money for bullpen help from some team in the NL?

Idea number four:
Use Abreu, Giambi, Phelps, or Mientkiewicz along with cash and a prospect or two to get another starting pitcher.
It was announced on YES tonight during the game that Phil Hughes has a grade 3 ankle sprain and will be out for an additional 4 to 6 weeks.
He's already been out for almost a month as it is.
We need a full five man rotation and if we can maybe get Jon Lieber from the Phillies in exchange for some bullpen help from us in the form of Farnsworth or Proctor and some cash then this might be a move to make.
We could just use him as a patch for the rest of the year as this is a contract year for Lieber and he's owed 7.5 million for the season.
That means if we picked him up at the end of May we'd owe him about 5 million and wouldn't be obligated for 2008 or beyond that.
He could be a stop gap for us as a 5th starter.
I'm not excessively high on Lieber in particular but he's probably available and the Phillies need bullpen help desperately at the moment.
But if not Lieber --- I do think somebody is needed.
Even once we get Clemens back next week.

Idea number five:
Demote one of the players to the minors or place them on waivers if nothing comes in a trade.
I think that the Yankees need some sort of slap in the face as a team and maybe that could come in the form of sending a player down to AAA, trading a player, or putting a player on waivers.
To me, if you intend to pursue on of those avenues, the guys to look at would be Proctor or Farnsworth or Abreu or Giambi.
I know this is an extreme idea that won't be palatable to most people reading this right now.
But sometimes I don't get the feeling that everybody fully understands how bad things are or where they stand in this situation.
Something has to give somewhere in the organization and maybe this is a place to start?
If you send one of the guys down to AA or AAA maybe they could work on their mechanics and fundamentals and get a little mental break from the game at the big league level.
Maybe that would benefit Farnsworth?
I know that Igawa is down on the farm now and only time will tell if that will help him or not.
If you wanted to do anything with Abreu or Giambi you could just put them on waivers and keep them on the big league roster at the same time.
It would be questionable to me whether somebody would be wiling the remainder of Abreu's 2007 salary (roughly about 10 million) but I know that there won't be a GM in baseball willing to shell out the rest of Giambi's 21 million dollar 2007 salary.

Well, those are some of my thoughts on improvements.

Let me know what you think?

Mike

YANKEES 2, BLUE JAYS 3 in the ROGERS CENTRE

Now I know what you might be thinking to yourself...
When Cano, Jeter, Abreu, and A-Rod were a combined 0 for 17, how was it Scott Proctor's fault?
And when the tying run came in a steal of home off of Pettitte and Posada, how was the loss Scott Proctor's fault?
Well, I'll tell you friends and neighbors --- if you'll pull up a chair and listen to what I've got to say...
In the last game of the Anaheim series the Yankees wasted a good outing by Mike Mussina as he departed the game in the 7th inning after giving up just one run on 95 pitches to go along with 6 strike outs.
The Yankees were leading the game 2-1 and it looked like it could be a very satisfying one run victory that could invigorate the team and inspire the fans.
Moose got one out in the 7th inning and then allowed a single to place the tying run on first base with one out.
Sensing that Moose could be getting near the end of his effectiveness and wanting to help get him a win after two shaky outings in his last two starts, and prevent a situation where he could be charged with a loss, Joe Torre went to the bullpen to fetch right handed reliever Scott Proctor.
Scott Proctor promptly allowed a double and that put runners at the corners.
Then just to make sure it was a royal mess he walked a batter to load the bases.
Then he walked another batter to tie the game at two runs apiece.
Then he walked in another batter to give the Angels a 3-2 lead.
Exit Scott Proctor and enter Brian Bruney as he is brought into a bases loaded situation in the 7th.
He gets the final two outs but has to trade a run for one of them and the Yankees leave the inning down by a pair.
Bruney and Farnsworth manage to navigate two scoreless innings and the Yankees manage to score one run against K-Rod in the 9th to end up losing the game 4-3.
Sad...
Very Sad...
Just really very, very sad to have to watch as a fan of the New York Yankees.
Then tonight, with the Yankees playing the Blue Jays, Scott Proctor is called into the game with one out in the 8th with the score tied at 2 runs each for the Yanks and the Jays.
Now, granted --- this was a much dicier situation for Proctor and if he wasn't such a repeat offender with giving up runs and giving up leads --- he would get more rope here.
But the fact remains that he needed to get two outs without giving up the go ahead run.
If he wants to be a big part of this bullpen --- in big spots like this with our season on the brink he needs to get these big outs.
Did he do it?
Oh course not.
He gave it up and the Yankees went down 3-2 and didn't recover.
I think that Proctor is a good person, a good pitcher, a good father, and a likable guy.
Maybe it's our fault that we over used him as we have a tendency to do with all of our relief corps.
I'm really trying to be positive here, but I think that the Yankees need some sort of slap in the face as a team and maybe that could come in the form of sending a player down to AAA, trading a player, or putting a player on waivers.
To me, if you intend to pursue on of those avenues, the guy to look at would be Proctor.
He hasn't been consistently reliable in a season or so and every time he comes into a big game where we need outs I get a lump in my throat.
Proctor, Vizcaino, and Farnsworth all have been very spotty as of late.
Somebody has to take one of the team and right now my choice would be Proctor.
He's been awful.

Thoughts?

Mike

I was out of town for the weekend series in Texas that featured the Rangers against the Red Sox.
I had noticed that for the most part the Rangers have seemed to win more home games than road games in terms of percentages and, for whatever reason, they seem to win more of the games that I attend.
So, maybe just out of superstition --- I attended the Rangers-Red Sox games in Arlington hoping to help cheer the home team to a series win over Boston.
I was hoping, obviously against hope, for a Rangers sweep of the Red Sox and a Yankees sweep of the Angels.
Unfortunately --- it was just the opposite.
And because we got swept and because the Rangers got swept by the Red Sox it was almost as if we got swept by the Red Sox.
As far as the standings were concerned that was the net effect of games this past weekend.
And just while we're talking about it, I would like to encourage the readers of this blog to think about something:


How to behave in an away park:
If you go to see your favorite team play baseball in an opposing team's ballpark --- I think you should consider yourself a guest in that park.
Especially if the team you are going to see is a team in a different state.
I mean, although I've never seen a Subway series game in person, it may be different for those games and I'm sure it's different if you are a Yankees fan going to Fenway or a Red Sox fan going to Yankee stadium...
But if it's a team that has no particular rivalry and it's a team in a different division and it's a different state, I think you should think of yourself as a guest there.
There's no need to be rude to the local fans and make fun of them or their team.
I saw lots of Red Sox fans who seemed to love to talk about their team and talk trash about the local team (the Rangers), the local players, and so on.
Some of them are extremely rude and obnoxious to me and to the other Rangers fans.
It's no fun to feel like, as a season ticket holder, you are going to an away game.
I mean, I don't mind if you buy a ticket and come cheer the opposing team as long as you do it respectfully.
Well, that's not entirely true.
The Red Sox fans managing to comprise 40%-50% of the crowd annoyed me in general.
But it would be hypocritical of me to complain about that because as a Yankees fan --- I do the same thing.
However, I never boo the home team when I go to see the Yankees on the road and I never go out of my way to brag about the Yankees to the opposing team's fans.
I really don't.
And I know a lot of Yankees fans can act like this when they go see the Yanks on the road.
So the point of this, is a plea to any Yankees fans reading this...
Please think about the feelings of the home teams fans when you see them on the road.
Think how you would feel if a large group of Angels fans had bought up 30% or 40% of the tickets to a Yankees - Angels game at Yankee stadium and spent the game bragging how the Angels have a better record and saying that the Yankees ****** and booing each of the Yankees hitters that came up as they entered the batters box.
Please cheer for the Yankees every where you go but please remember when you are in another teams ballpark that you are representing the Yankees and Yankees fans to people in another state and to other fans.
They will look at how you behave and think that is how all Yankees fans are and if you are rude and obnoxious --- they will think that's how all Yankees fans act and how all Yankees fans are.
Now, there may be an exception to this if the opposing park is Shea or Fenway --- but I would really challenge all Yankees fans to try and remain above being petty.
I watched a portion of the Red Sox fans being boorish and rude and I know there are Yankees fans that do the same thing.
We don't have to act rudely.
We can choose to represent the pinstripes with pride AND class.
I know if you asked Joe Torre or Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera how they would like to be represented on the road when both they and we are guests in another team's ballpark --- they would want us to be happy and proud to see the team but also be respectful.
Any way, that's sort of off topic --- but it's been on my mind the last few days.

The Angels swept us and then last night we got beaten by the Blue Jays to continue their four game losing steak by losing to the Red Sox by a score of 7 to 2 as the Toronto Blue Jays tallied up 7 runs on 10 hits and won the game.
I really wasn't able to post while I was in Dallas and when I got back I was so disappointed with having to sit thru a Red Sox sweep of the Rangers and endure a sweep of the Yankees by the Angels and didn't feel like recapping the misery.

Tonight the boys will try to do some damage against the Blue Jays
Tonight the boys will try to take out their sticks and do some damage against the Blue Jays and we will have one our old friends on the hill in the form of the big Texas left hander Andy Pettitte.
Andy Pettitte.
Andy Pettitte comes into the game with a sparkling 2.66 ERA and a record of 3 and 3 for the season.
He could easily be 6 and 3 or even 7 and 3 if our bullpen and our offense had performed better in his starts where he got a loss or a no decision.
In his last start he tossed seven innings against Boston and gave up only one run in a game that the Yankees won and a game in which he earned a victory.
Fellow Yankee Doug Mientkiewicz was quoted as saying that in his opinion Andy Pettitte probably could have seven or eight wins to his credit by now.
In an interesting side note, Andy Pettitte is 10-3 with in 15 career games (14 starts) when he pitches in games on the road against Toronto.
Opposing Pettitte will be Shaun Marcum, a right hander from Kansas City, Missouri who owns a record of 2 and 2 with an ERA of 4.33.
 He has been sharp since joining the Blue Jays pitching rotation.
In three starts, the right-hander is 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA while striking out 15 and walking six over 10 innings.
This past Thursday, Marcum earned a no-decision after giving up four runs on six hits with two strikeouts and two walks in seven innings of work versus the Orioles.
Three of those runs came on one swing by shortstop Miguel Tejada, who belted a sinker outside the strike zone for a home run.
Shaun Marcum has a record of 1 win and 1 loss with a 7.23 ERA in six career games against the Yankees.

It's been said over and over and over again...
But tonight is the night that we really need to pick it up and get things going in the right direction.
Time is running out....

Here are the starting line ups for the game tonight...

LETS GO YANKEES

Mike

The New York Yankees get set to start a three game set tonight against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at home at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York.
The Yankees come into this series at 3 games below the .500 mark with 21 wins balanced against 24 losses and in second place in the AL East (9.5 games behind the first place Boston Red Sox).
The Angels come into this series 8 games above .500 with a record of 28 and 20 and the Angels are in first place in the AL West (4 full games ahead of the Oakland Athletics who sit in at 2nd place in the West).
The pitching match ups will feature Jered Weaver, RHP (3-3, 3.46) for the Angels squaring off against Tyler Clippard, RHP (1-0, 1.50) for the Yankees on Friday, Kelvim Escobar, RHP (5-2, 2.82) for the Angels against Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (3-3, 4.28) for the Yankees on Saturday, and John Lackey, RHP (7-3, 2.38) for the Angels against Mike Mussina, RHP (2-3, 6.52) for the Yankees on Sunday.
Game one is tonight at 7:05 PM EST and is available on MY9 as well as being featured on the radio in the New York area on WCBS radio (also available on the radio in Spanish on WQBU 92.7).
The pitching match up in tonight's series opener will feature Jered Weaver, RHP (3-3, 3.46) for the Angels squaring off against Tyler Clippard, RHP (1-0, 1.50) for the Yankees.
Jered Weaver, the 6'7" product of Long Beach State University seems to to have found his good stuff again after coming off biceps tendinitis.
The twenty four year old ace has only surrendered seven earned runs in his last 31 1/3 innings (which leads to a very tidy 2.01 ERA in that span).
Jered did pitch against the Yankees last season at the stadium in a game in which he got a win and gave up only one earned run in six innings.
The batter for the Yankees fans to keep their eyes on, as always, is the obquitous Vlad Guerrero who has a .309 batting average against the Yankees with with six home runs and 34 RBIs.
The Angels second baseman, Howie Kendrick, is another one to keep your eyes on as in the last 10 games he has batted .344 eith 11 hits in 32 at bats and has been making solid contact.
And, it goes with out saying, that K-Rod looms in their bullpen ready to make it an 8 inning game.
Tyler Clippard will get the start for the Yankees and he had a tremendous start this past weekend against the New York Mets when he went 6 strong innings as he gave up only 3 hits and 1 run with 6 strike outs balanced against 3 walks.
He looked mature beyond his years and saved the Yankees from a Subway sweep at the hands of the Mets.
As a matter of fact the moment he took the mound it seemed as if the momentum might be beginning to change for the Bronx Bombers.
The lone run he gave up was a home run to Mets third baseman David Wright who seems to finally be turning up the heat on major league pitchers as he has hit 5 home runs in his last 10 games.

Players to watch for the Yankees continue to be Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada who are both hitting .367 and are tied for first amoungst AL batters.
These two guys have been the bedrock on which this team has been built over the past two or three weeks and as bad as things may have seemed, I shudder to think where we would have been as a team if these two had not done what they have done.

Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon have also picked up the pace in the last 10 games as Damon is batting .326 in his last 10 games and Matsui is batting .333 in his last 10 games.
I'll be back really late tonight to post something about how tonight's game went as well as to give a peek at tomorrows game.

I won't be able to see tonight's game live as I am going to the Texas Rangers game.
I've got tickets to all three of the Rangers/Red Sox games and I feel as if it's my duty to attend the Red Sox games in person to root against them.
I've noticed that, for some reason, the Rangers win more of the games that I go to in person than the games I watch on television at home --- So, I'm making the trek out to Arlington to root on my home town Rangers against the Red Sox.
The pitching match up in that game will be Daisuke Matsuzaka against Brandon McCarthy.
Both pitchers pitched well in their last 3 games and I'm hoping that the Rangers bats get hot tonight as they try to best the AL East leading Boston Red Sox.

That's all for you....
Thanks for reading !


Mike

The Yankees and the Red Sox have finished their third three game set of the 2007 season and the Yankees take this series by winning 2 out of three against the Boston Red Sox at home at Yankee stadium in the Bronx, New York.
You can't exactly call this series a "must win" for the Yankees --- but dropping two out of three or losing all three would have been an enormous blow to the psyche of the team and the fans.
I had kept my fingers crossed for a three game sweep and while that didn't quite happen, I am very grateful for a series win and for the way the team played hard throughout all three baseball games.

To quickly recap:

GAME 1: MONDAY 05/21/07
YANKEES 6, RED SOX 2
WP: WANG, LP: WAKEFIELD

This was a good ballgame for the Yankees as the offense woke up early in the ballgame and spotted Chien Ming Wang with two runs in the first and two more on the second.
The two first inning runs came off of A-Rod's 18th home run of the season off of Tim Wakefield) and one of the two runs in the second inning came off of Jason Giambi's 6th home run off the season (also off of Tim Wakefield).
The Yankees ended up scoring 6 runs off of 9 hits and the Red Sox scored 2 runs off of 7 hits.
Johnny Damon had a good day at the ballpark as he went 3 for 4 with 2 stolen bases, a walk, and a run scored.
Damon has been a notoriously slow starter and it looks as if he might be able to start getting his groove back.
Chien Ming Wang tried to change up the way that he'd been pitching slightly after working with Ron Guidry to work more soft breaking pitches and sliders and to not go to his trademark heavy sinker as much.
Since the Red Sox have seen him several times already Guidry and Wang thought that adapting his style a little bit could help keep the Red Sox off balance a little and it seemed to work as he was pretty solid and got the win.
At times he seemed to have to gut it out and didn't seem to have his best stuff in the ballgame but managed to make the big pitches when he needed to and he took advantage of any breaks he got in the game.
Overall Wang pitched 6 and a third innings and gave up 2 runs on 7 hits while striking out 5 and walking 3.
He improved his season record to 3 and 3 and his ERA stands in at 4.28.
Tim Wakefield absorbed the loss for the Red Sox as he went 5 innings and gave up 6 runs on 9 hits while striking out 2 and walking 5.
Wakefield's record is now 4 and 5 and his ERA stands in at 3.14.

GAME 2: TUESDAY 05/22/07
YANKEES 3, RED SOX 7
WP: TAVAREZ, LP: MUSSINA



Mike Mussina was pitching on six days rest and he seemed a little off right out of the gate.
for some reason Moose seems to have a more difficult time in games where his not in his set regular routine and today proved to be no different as he got roughed up early by putting on two base runners and then giving up a long three run home run to Manny Ramirez.
I've always admired Manny as a hitter and as a ball player but I also have always hated how he seems to sit and admire his handiwork after he jacks a ball into the seats.
He seemed to really take his time watching this home run tonight and I thought that Moose should have either beaned him or thrown behind him on his next trip to the plate.
This has never been Moose's style though and he's not even really good at pitching inside within the context of a regular at bat.
He pitched poorly in his last outing against the White Sox when he was also off of his regular rest.
It's been a disappointing season so far for Mike Mussina and with a noticeable drop in the velocity of his fast ball, I'm wondering how much he has left in the tank.
Julian Tavarez, on the other hand, was pitched decently for the streaking Red Sox as he went 5 and a third innings and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits while striking out 2.
Javier Lopez gets credit for a hold for Boston.

GAME 3: WEDNESDAY 05/23/07
YANKEES 8, RED SOX 3
WP: PETTITTE, LP: SCHILLING

This was a really good game for the Yankees for several reasons.
The first and foremost good thing about tonight's game is that we got a win and that gave us a small boost in the AL East standings and it also ensured as a series win over the Red Sox.
Secondly, Andy Pettitte picked up a well deserved win and didn't see his "W" snatched away by a poor bullpen performance and/or a poor offensive performance.
We were able to score runs and we were able to keep the win for Andy.
Thirdly, after giving up a double to Wily Mo Pena to lead off the 9th inning--- Mariano Rivera settled down to strike out the following three Red Sox in order to win the game for the Yankees.
It wasn't a save situation at that point as the Yankees had an 8 to 3 lead on the score board but Rivera needed to get some work in because we hadn't been in that many close games as of late.
His stuff looked electric tonight and it looks like the light at the end of the tunnel for our legendary closer as he looks down the road to bigger saves ahead.
Fourthly, the offense again did some damage tonight as he put up 8 runs on 16 hits in the ballgame.
Derek Jeter went 3 for 5 with a triple and 2 RBI's and Hideki Matsui went 2 for 4 with a home run and 3 RBI's.
With his 2nd hit off the ballgame Derek Jeter extended his current hitting streak to 18 games and picked up his 2,215th base hit as a New York Yankee.
With that base hit he now has passed Joe DiMaggio for sole possession of 5th place for all time New York Yankees hit leaders.
Johnny Damon and Doug Mientkiewicz also hit well tonight against Red Sox pitching as Damon went 3 for 5 with an RBI and Mientkiewicz went 3 for 4 with a solo home run and an RBI.
So it was a good win and a somewhat historic night for the 'Bombers as they win game three and take the series.
The Yankees go back to 9 and half games back and back to second place in the AL East with their win tonight.
Things seem to have been clicking more for the team since the late innings of their loss to the Mets Saturday afternoon and hopefully we can keep this momentum going.
In other news Roger Clemens had a somewhat shaky start for the double A Trenton Thunder in his second minor league start as he threw 102 pitches over 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits.
The encouraging sign was that he was able to go deep into the ball game without seeming overly fatigued.
The bad news is that he walked 4 batters, which is very un-Clemens-esque.
It was thought that he might pitch for the Yankees against next week in Toronto --- but now a start against the Red Sox at Fenway Park next weekend seems more likely.
It may even end up being the next series that the Yankees play at home after that which would be an interleague game against the Pirates.
Michael Kay and some of the other Yankees broadcasters seemed to favor that return date so that Clemens could avoid the circus like atmosphere that would certainly surround his return to Fenway Park to face his former team in his first game back playing again for the New York Yankees.

Well, that's it for the Yankees in a nut shell...
Sorry for being AWOL over the last few days.
Things have been crazy here.
The next series for the Yankees will have them facing the AL West leading Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this weekend in New York after an off day on Thursday.
The Yankees and the Red Sox are both idle this Thursday as the Red Sox will pack their bags and head to Texas to play the Texas Rangers in my back yard.
I've got tickets for all three Red Sox - Rangers games and I'll be there cheering on my home town Texas Rangers as I'm hoping for a sweep of Boston in the Lone Star state.
It has happened before and I'll have my fingers crossed !

Until Next time,
Mike

The first pitch is just moments away as the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are set to resume their 100 year feud tonight in the first game of a three game set in the Bronx New York.
The Yankees come into this contest tonight having lost 7 out of their last 10 games and the Red Sox come into this game having won 7 out of their last 10.
Chien-Ming Wang faces the Red Sox, who at present hold a 10 1/2-game AL East lead over the sputtering Yankees.
Wang has had a couple of very good starts and one bad one since his return from the disabled list last month and looks to get his season on track tonight against Tim Wakefield who is having a fine season on his own.
As it has been the last couple of days Hideki Matsui will be starting in the number three hole and Abreu batting sixth in the line up.
Now that Abreu has been swinging the bat a little bit better in the last 2 or 3 games this could really energize the bottom of the line up if he can get something going tonight.
This could be one of the biggest series of the 2007 season for the New York Yankees because they need to win the series.
If they lose the series --- or even worse get swept in this series it might be time to start thinking about the wild card as opposed to holding out much hope for over taking the Red Sox in the AL East pennant race.
However, if they are able to somehow sweep the Boston Red Sox in this series at home they lead in the AL East by Boston would go from 10 and a half games down to 7 and a half games and could get the Yankees back into it.
No matter how you slice it, you cannot underestimate the importance of this series for the Yanks.
I've posted the starting line ups for the teams and as I am tying this Wang just started out his game with a four pitch strike out of Red Sox short stop Julio Lugo and a ground out of Kevin Youkilis.

LETS GO YANKEES !

Mike

Well the New York Yankees got a fantastic performance out of their 22 year rookie right hander Tyler Clippard as he was able go six strong innings and only give up one run on three hits against 3 walks and 6 strike outs.
The one run came on a home run in the 2nd inning from Mets third basemen David Wright.
It was Wright's 3rd home run off of Yankee pitching in the past two days and his 7th home run of the season over all.
It was really a great pitching performance by the young rookie and he also looked at home with a bat in his hand as his successful sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning helped contribute to their four run inning and he later took a 3-2 pitch out to center field for a double as the Yankees were playing under national league rules against the Mets in Shea Stadium.
That must have been quite a night for Clippard.
His first major league start.
His first inter league game.
His first Subway Series.
His first strike out of a major league hitter as a major league pitcher.
His first major league at bat.
His first hit (and his first double).
And his first big league win.
Quite a night for the youngster and his enthusiasm seemed to rub off on his team mates and maybe this was the boost of adrenaline that the team has been needing for the past week and a half because they have almost looked like a different team over the past 12 innings than they looked in the 5 or 6 games prior to the end of yesterdays game.
It seems as if the offense might be coming out of it's funk.
The Yankee offense that had lain somewhat dormant over the past week shook off the dull-drums yesterday in the 7th inning to score 5 runs in the last three frames and then came alive again to tonight to plate 6 runs.
In the past 12 innings the Yankees have scored 11 runs and have hit 5 home runs (two from Posada, one from Jeter, and two from A-Rod).
Jeter and Posada have stayed hot as Jeter went 3 for his last 9 at bats with a home run and 3 RBI's while Posada has went 5 for his last 9 at bats with a walk, a home run, and with 3 RBI's.
Damon also got a 2 RBI double that put the Yankees ahead for the first time in the game and maybe his engine is about to get started a little too.
Alex Rodriguez seems to be finding his power stroke a little as well as he hit a home run in yesterdays game and also in tonights game.
It was a fun game to watch again and that's something I haven't been able to post in a while.
I'll post something about my thoughts on the pitching match ups for the third Red Sox - Yankees series of the season tomorrow.
Right now I'm just happy we'll have our main three guys going for the three game set in Wang, Moose, and Pettitte and that there will be no rookies making their first big league start.
Although if they would pitch like Tyler Clippard did tonight, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing?

Until Tomorrow...

LETS GO YANKEES !
NEVER QUIT and NEVER SAY DIE !

Mike

P.S.

According to a report in the New York Daily News, Giambi's admission in Friday's USA Today could lead to the Yankees trying again to void his contract if it is ultimately determined that he used illegal drugs after signing him to the deal.

The commissioner's office is investigating Giambi's comments and is expected to summon him to a meeting to discuss them. According to the Daily News, the outcome of that meeting will determine in part how the Yankees proceed."


At some point somebody might explain to me why we are supposed to be so angry at Jason Giambi for the statements that he made in the USA Today article.
Now, granted, it was lousy timing for something like this.
This is something, that if he wanted to get it off of his chest that could have and should have, waited until the off season.
With the problems that this New York Yankees ball club has been having ON the field, the last thing that we really needed was yet another distraction OFF of the field.
As much as I do like Jason Giambi and as much as I do enjoy watching him play --- he really should have known that his coach and his team mates really actually didn't need this distraction right now with their 2007 season going the way that it has been going thus far...
However --- having said all of that --- this thing were Cashman and others are miffed and offended at the implication that they knew anything is just stupid.
At least to me.
I don't like it when people that I respect and admire and have always thought to be stand up people stand up and try to shine me on like Cash seems to be doing right about now...

This is the quote from Cashman:

"There's an implication that there was a lot of people that were involved that would know that, what was going on, and I can tell you that's false," Cashman said. "We've spoken to that in the past, so I do have a problem with that, without a doubt, because I can tell you -- I can speak from being right there, too -- that whatever goes on individually with these guys is really on them."

Really ?
What exactly does that mean anyway?
What do you mean that they didn't know?
I'm sort of tired of that over and over again.
Did Jason Giambi use steroids?
Yes.
Was it wrong?
Yes.
Did other people (GM's, owners, trainers, coaches, players, managers, reporters, and etc.,) know that players were using?
Of course they did.
Having them continue to come out over and over and over and say we never did know anything about anything and we had no idea that players (including some on our watch) used anything like that is just insulting to listen to.
I understand their being reluctant to talk about it and their being annoyed that Jason said anything.
I also understand them trying to protect their assets as best as they can.
Just don't make me try and believe that they never were aware of anything and didn't know anything at the time when this "stuff" was at it's apex from 1997 thru 2001.
Just don't try and sell me that "stuff" because I'm not buying that "stuff".
And Joe Morgan was on Costas Now on HBO along with Tim McCarver last year where he and the others talked about these things and now tonight on ESPN he's playing dumb and echoing what Cashman said and saying how nobody knew anything.
Jason is one of the only people that ever admitted anything and I agree that a lot of people have some apologizing to do, either for their direct involvement or the tacit approval of what happened.
No GM or owner was complaining when Giambi and Sosa and Big Mac were belting tape measure blasts from 1997 thru 2001 and helping bring fans back to the game after the strike.
But now that the dust has settled and the fans are back and now that Giambi is older and they don't rely on him for anything they're ready to throw him under the bus.
If you want any open and honest conversation about the remainder of the steroid problem or you want a frank discussion with the people who were directly involved in it so that you can try to learn from the mistakes that were made and go forward to make things better two things need to happen:

First:
Everybody needs to 'fess up.
The players that did the drugs, the trainers and coaches that knew about it (and in some cases assited with it), and the owners and the GM's that knew what was going on and turned a a blind eye because those players who were hitting 40-60 homers were helping their team win ball games.
Then Major League Baseball needs to acknowledge their role in this thing.
It's almost like they are Vietnam war veterans who came back home and were vilified.
Nobody in the commissioners office cared how the home run hitters of the steroid era hit their tape measure blasts.
They just cared that the numbers were up after the strike and fans were coming back.
Surely some of them knew what was going on.
They aren't stupid people.
But nobody wanted to upset the apple cart or risk strangling the goose that was laying these golden eggs.
Now that these guys aren't needed anymore and baseball, as a business is thriving, it's time to play dumb and act like that they never knew anything with one hand while we throw these same players that we tacitly encouraged before under the bus with the other hand.

Second:
What good does it do a player like Giambi to even try to be a little more honest or forthright if he's immediately pounced on if he does?
The stories in all the major news affiliates now is that the Yankees are going to (again) try to void out whatever is left on his contract.

I'm not saying that either side is totally right or totally wrong here.
Just that it's complicated and that they need a frank and open discourse that's not going to happen while 99% of the people that knew what's going on clam up whenever anybody else breaks the silence even a little bit.

I'm quoting this from the Bleacher Report website:

"Maybe it's just me, but this one seems to set an awfully hypocritical standard in a baseball world so intent on getting down to the truth on the steroid issue.
Think of it like this: If copping to bad behavior is going to get you fired, only a fool would come clean on his past.
Think Barry Bonds is paying attention?"

Yesterday the Yankees played their first game against their cross town rival New York Mets in Queens and they lost that game by a score of 3-2.
I would have recapped the game here --- but I’m getting weary of starting out a blog post with a subject line that includes something like “The Yankees lose a close game to so and so after a good pitching performance by Yankees starting pitcher such and such…”
Yesterday Andy Pettitte got tagged with the loss when the Mets scratched across a run at the beginning of the game and then we exchanged two run home runs and that was all of the offense by either team.
Depressing yet again.
Then today Darrell Rasner got knocked out of a game when on the 9th pitch of the first inning he was hit by a come backer towards the pitching mound and suffered a broken finger.
I mean --- How much worse can our luck get?

The Yankees sent in Mike Myers in the first inning with nobody out and runners at the corners.
He lasted two innings and gave up 6 runs.
Four of them were charged to him and the other 2 were charged to Rasner.
Then we sent out Vizcaino to give up a pair of runs and eventually used Bruney, Villone, and Farnsworth.
Amazingly enough we scored some runs.
We got homers by Posada and Rodriguez.
We actually put up 7 runs today.
The bad thing was that the Mets scored 10.
Including four hits by Endy Chavez and two home runs by David Wright (each of them with a runner on base).
This seems to be the trend here over the past 7 days.

If the other team scores 3 --- the Yankees score 2.
If the other team scores 2 --- the Yankees score 1.
If the other team scores 10 --- the Yankees score 7 or 8.
If we’d didn’t have bad luck --- we’d have no luck at all.

I’m trying to look at the bright side and not leave each entry on a down note --- so here are a few positive things:

Positive factoid numero uno:
The Red Sox lost their game tonight.
I know it’s not much because I think they won their last million before that, but they did finally lose a game.
And they lost it 14-0.
And while it doesn’t matter how many runs they won or lost by in regards to the AL East standings, it makes me feel just a little bit better to see them get creamed for once this season.
And tomorrow the Red Sox are sending out Kason Gabbard against Tim Hudson and that pitching match up heavily favors the Braves.
The way that Huddy is pitching these days he could be an early favorite for the NL Cy Young.

Positive factoid numero dos:
Jorge Posada is keeping up his ultra torrid pace with his white hot hitting.
He went 4 for 5 today with 2 RBI's and a home run and brought his season average up to an astounding .386.
He is obviously our hottest hitter right now and the most consistent position player on the squad.
And he's doing a great job as the team catcher and the rock that they can count on.
A-Rod was the man in April and now he's just a man.
Posada continues to be rock solid and rock steady day after day after day.

Positive factoid numero tres:
A-Rod had two hits today and his first home run since May the 8th.
He was unstoppable in the first 20 days of April but since that time has been fairly tepid at the plate.
But with two hits and a solo home run --- perhaps he's starting to get his grove back?

Positive factoid numero quatro:
O.K., The rally fell disappointingly short and we lost.
That’s not just a little bad.
It's a lot bad.
I know that.
But we actually scored more than 2 runs.
We'd been scoring 3 runs or less per game in about the last 452 games prior to this one so at least we saw that our offense hasn't totally atrophied.
If we can get a pitching performance like the ones we'd gotten in the past few days and scored 7 runs we would have had a win.

Positive factoid numero cinco:
Because of the rainouts and the injuries and so fourth --- we will actually have our 3 most reliable (for the most part) pitchers lined up for next weeks Red Sox series.
It will be Mussina on Monday, then Wang on Tuesday, and then Pettitte on Wednesday.
That's important because we need to win that series badly.
I know this might not count as super positive news as much as some things.
But would you rather have Tyler Clippard and Chase Wright against the Red Sox or Wang and Pettitte?
I know which pair I'd pick...


Anyway, we have one more Subway series game this weekend in Queens and it will feature the rookie right-hander Tyler Clippard.
The 22 year old Lexington, Kentucky native was taken out of his game with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday for after just one inning, in which he struck out three and walked one.
Clippard has a record of 3-2 with a 2.72 ERA in 8 minor league starts for AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Clippard will square off against righty John Maine who is 5-1 on the seasonw with a very tidy 2.15 ERA.
Despite a somewhat sub par outing for him in his last start for the Mets against the Cubs last week he has had a very fine first quarter of the season.
This will be the first Inter League start for Maine so far in his career tomorrow. Maine has faced the Yankees once before when he pitched for the Orioles and got lit up as he allowed six earned runs in a one-inning start.Game time tomorrow is at 8:05 PM EST and will be available on television nationally on ESPN and will be on the radio in the New York area on WCBS radio.
In the New York area the game will also be available on the radio in Spanish on 92.7 WQBU.
Maybe we'll get lucky and get a really positive pitching performance from Clippard and the offense will catch fire and we'll avoid a Subway Sweep.
I know that we have time left in the season but if we are going to make any serious run at the division title rather than hoping for the Wild Card... we need to start making our stand NOW !

LETS GO YANKEES !!!
NEVER SAY DIE !!!

Mike

O.K., Since I myself asked for some positive thinkinghere it goes…


(If you frequent this blog and the other fine Yankees blogs out there like Baseball & The Boogie Down Bronx, Bombers Beat, and Heartland Pinstripes --- you may have already seen me espouse some of these ideas. If you haven't I suggest you go to the left hand side of my blog and scroll down to the links that I have to other blogs and check out some of these other really interesting Yankees blogs that are really worth checking out...)

While it remains that I myself am not feeling extraordinarily positive right now the fact remains that it is still May.
There are still 120 games or so on the schedule and so there is time.
And right the Red Sox are on a ridiculous hot streak and we seem to have our head up our collective rear ends.
It looks pretty dire and it looks pretty hopeless.
But I would again remind people about the AL East pennant race just last season.
I mean, think about it…
If I would have told most Red Sox fans (or most totally impartial fans) last season when Boston was ahead of us by one or two games in the standings that not only would the Yankees overtake them in the standings but that the Red Sox would fall to 11 and a half games back at the end of the season, finish in 3rd place to the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East, and not make the play offs at all --- most of them would not have believed me.
The Red Sox went from 3 games up to 11 and half back.
That’s a total of 14 and half games.
So anything is possible.
There are more examples of this sort of thing, but this pertains to these two teams and it happened just last season.
Another example was the 2002 Oakland A’s.
In 2002 the A's started their season just like the 2007 New York Yankees, at 18-21.
They were nine games behind a 27-12 (.692) Mariners team that had won about a 116 games the year before.
The A's started to play better baseball and started to win more consistently in late May (isn’t it late May now as well?) and then in August took things up even further, rolling off a 20-game winning streak.
They completed their schedule with an 85-38 (.691) record over their remaining games and stole the AL West from Seattle.
In 2005 the New York Yankees were 17 and 19 on May 13, the 2005.
(Remember this was the team when we uprooted Tony Womack and sent him out into the outfield?)
At almost exactly that moment, the Yankees started winning consistently, going 78-48 (.619) over the rest of the season and tying the Red Sox for first place.
There are possible parallels for this season.
Roger Clemens and Phil Hughes could give the pitching staff some depth. Alex Rodriguez, Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, and Cano should start hitting
Then last season there was the Minnesota Twins.
Remember how dominant the Detroit Tigers were for the first 75% of the season and how they fizzled a little bit at the end and actually lost the division to the Minnesota Twins?
Last year's the Minnesota Twins reached went into game 39 with a record of 17-22.
They were 8 1/2 games behind the defending champion White Sox, who were 25-13 (.658).
But then the Twins finished at 96-66 and not only beat out the White Sox (who finished the season with a record of 90-72) but also edged out the Tigers by one game.
Things look pretty bleak right now and I can’t guarantee anything to anyone.
Nobody can.
But I don’t think the Red Sox will stay this hot all season.
I mean, they may do that and they could go on and win 125 games or more.
But history tells me that the most likely thing is that the Red Sox and the Yankees will both have good months and bad months and both will have hot streaks and cold streaks.
And whenever one team is having a hit streak and the other is going thru a cold spell --- the fans of the team in the cold slump starts saying the season is over.
Once Clemens and Hughes get into the rotation with Wang and Pettitte and Moose we’ll look a little better.
If we can just get our hitting to straighten out a little.
When the weather gets warmer and another month or so has gone by if we’re still playing baseball that’s a game or two up or down from the .500 mark and we’re still over 8 games away from the Red Sox it will be a little more of a time to panic.
Right now I’m concerned.
You can’t sugar coat the way things or going.
But it seems like each year since 2004 we’ve been behind in the division for the majority of the season and pull it out.
Wasn’t it in 2005 that we were only in first place for two or three days in the whole year?
It doesn’t matter who’s in first on May the 2nd.
It only matters who’s in first on October the 2nd, right?
Nothing is 100% but if we pull this out, it won’t be unprecedented and it is possible.
I know it isn’t something that seems 100% likely --- but I’m a fan and I’ll support this team anyway.

I still believe in my heart that we still can do it.


Mike


O.K.,  There is literally no reason for this photo --- but she has a blog and seeing her in a Yankees jersey somehow makes me smile a little this afternoon...

I saw this article on Yahoo! Sports just now and since this blog is named for Mariano Rivera I thought it would be somewhat appropriate to share.
Mariano Rivera is not only a legendary figure that casts an amazing shadow over the field of Major League Baseball --- but he's also a first class human being and truly a remarkable gentleman.



Bigger saves ahead

By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports

May 17, 2007

CHICAGO– In baseball's offseason, Mariano Rivera delivers trucks full of bicycles and toy cars and dolls to children in the upper reaches of Panama's Cordillera Central mountain range. Some recognize him, only because Rivera is among the most well-known people in his country. More recognize his generosity before his celebrity.

"We know that toys are only temporary because they're just material," Rivera said. "Bringing them a sense of hope – that is eternal."

Here in the United States, where he wears a New York Yankees jersey, Rivera has never been about hope. He has been the Yankees' Gibraltar, their talisman of assurance, their infallible piece amid the game's – and team's – changes. It is the dual existence he leads, pillar of certainty in one place and beacon of what can be in another, and, Rivera admits, it is what will eventually pull him away from baseball once and for all.

With poverty levels exceeding 40 percent throughout Panama and as high as 90 percent in some indigenous areas, the idea of returning home for good – to work with first lady Vivian Torrijos building churches and schools, as he has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to do, and trying to lessen the canyon-sized divide between the country's rich and poor – does tug at Rivera.

"Baseball is what I do," Rivera said, "but it's not who I am. After baseball, there's life. And what am I going to do? What God wants me to do."

While Rivera refuses to put a timetable on his retirement, he will turn 38 in November, he is in the final year of his contract and has struggled as much in this season's first six weeks as any time in his 13-year career. The 10 earned runs he has yielded are almost as many as he does in an average season. The pitch he throws almost exclusively – a 95-mph cut fastball that has sawed off more pieces of maple than a lumberjack – has lacked the bite of seasons past.

And, hey, it's not an April in New York if tabloid editors haven't tossed around the idea of burying Rivera on a back page with a NO MO headline.

"The highest compliment you can pay him is that when a couple saves get away from him, people say, 'What's wrong with him?' " Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "It's irritating, but it shows the standard he has set."

Truth is, Rivera said "there's plenty" left in his right arm, and six scoreless outings among his last seven – a tie-breaking home run that led to a loss the ugly blemish – do nothing to dispel that. Torre, and the Yankees by proxy, listen to Rivera's words as if they were canons.

Rivera's passion toward the game, he said, will influence the longevity of his career as much as any factor, and its presence remains.

"It's amazing the feeling I still get putting on this uniform," Rivera said. "It makes me proud."

Just as Rivera has done it proud. The last player to wear Jackie Robinson's No. 42, Rivera has earned himself a place in the record books with 34 postseason saves, in Yankees lore with 416 more in the regular season, plus four World Series rings, and in the Baseball Hall of Fame with the combination of it all.

"I'll keep handing him the ball," Torre said, "until he walks out the door."

Almost eight years ago, Rivera believed he would long have stepped through it by now. In the winter following the Yankees' third championship in four years, Rivera told The New York Times he planned on playing four more seasons, then retiring to minister to his Pentecostal church.

Reminded of his pledge, Rivera laughed and shook his head, as if to say, "Ah, youthful indiscretions." His sentiment, though noble, clashed with his drive.

So it's easy to wonder whether the specter of Rivera retiring really is just that: a mirage, an illusion, something that will vanish if he rips off a streak of 20 consecutive scoreless innings, of which he's still more than capable.

Twelve months of his dedication could mean infinitely more to Panama than the 100 days that comprise his offseason.

"I'm in the position where I have to give all I can," Rivera said. "I can't be stingy. Selfishness leads to an unforgiving end. There are a lot of people that need, and if you've been blessed and do nothing, you're not getting the job done.

"I love to help. This is something I'm supposed to be doing. I want to do this. I want to be able to put a smile on some kid's face."

No one in the Yankees organization wants to acknowledge that day will come. For so long they've been insulated from the helter-skelter world of a shaky ninth inning. Oh, they remember Sandy Alomar's home run in 1997, Rivera's first year as closer, that knocked the Yankees from the playoffs, and Luis Gonzalez's hit that ended the 2001 World Series, and Dave Roberts' stolen base that ruined their sheen of invincibility.

Though Rivera sports a few flaws, nobody does what he does. Not Trevor Hoffman, the San Diego Padres' maestro and baseball's all-time saves leader, who freely admits Rivera is peerless in the most literal sense. Not Jonathan Papelbon, the Boston Red Sox closer who matches Rivera's fastball velocity and comes with an equally filthy splitter. Not Dennis Eckersley, whose excellence rivaled Rivera's but whose longevity lagged, nor Gosse Gossage, whose longevity exceeded Rivera's but whose prime years couldn't match up.

There is only one Mariano Rivera, and soon enough, when his work here is done, he will return home for a far greater mission.

"While I want to be a good closer here," Rivera said, "I want to be the best closer in the kingdom of God."

YANKEES DROP GAME AND SERIES TO CHI SOX

Here we go again.
More blown opportunities with runners in scoring position.
More wasted chances to get ahead in a game.
Another day when the Red Sox find a way to win a close game and the Yankees find a way to lose a close game.
Another day when Jorge and Jeter gets hits and extend their hitting streaks and the rest of the team just seems listless.
Where is the fire?
Where is the passion?
Where is the hitting?
I know that Jon Garland is a very good pitcher…
But right now we are making every pitcher in the American League look like Johan Santana.
We managed to fire up our offense for an inning or two yesterday but for the most part the offense has been flat for over a week.
With Giambi, Jeter, Damon, Posada, Rodriguez, Matsui, Abreu, and Cano in this line up on a daily basis there shouldn’t be more than one or two pitchers in the league good enough to hold them down consistently.
And speaking of consistently --- can somebody other than Derek and Posada hit even slightly consistently?
It’s just depressing to watch.
Matsui is a favorite of mine and is normally as clutch of an RBI man as you can find --- but today he just didn’t get anything going.
Jermaine Dye drove in 4 runs just like Matsui did yesterday.
And Matsui had a chance to drive in about 4 today and did zilch.
Nothing.
Nada.
I’m tired of giving the pitchers credit for our lack of getting hits.
We have, on paper at least, one of the most dangerous line ups in the league and so we should be getting at least 3 runs a game even against good pitchers.
Garland, Danks, and Contreras are good pitchers --- but this line up should have put up more of a fight.
Now, with the Red Sox winning their day game, we are officially 9 games back.
Remember that worst case scenario I mentioned the other day?
Now we have to wait and hope that Chad Durbin can out duel Curt Schilling in the night cap or we’ll be 9 and a half games behind.
This is now almost time to be in actual panic mode.
Almost.
These guys need to wake up soon and I as much as I support Joe Torre and want him as the manager it might be the right time for him to get some fire into this thing.
I watched the post game show after the loss in the first game of the double header yesterday and he was calm and cool and didn’t seem very upset.
Maybe he needs to be more upset.
I know that I was most certainly upset.
Most Yankees fans should be upset if they weren’t.
Maybe it’s time he lets people see that anger and that fire.
I don’t know if he shows that side to the team in private --- but if he doesn’t that might contribute to the malaise we seem to be going thru.
I know he doesn’t want to make the team feel more frustrated than they already are but he acts like this way that the team is playing right now is alright.
And that it’s acceptable and we’ll get ‘em tomorrow.
It’s not alright and it’s not acceptable.
And if we keep playing this way the tomorrows for us --- at least in terms of the post season in 2007--- won’t be coming this season.
If anybody out there has anything positive to say, I'd welcome the comments.

Mike

At one of the games that I went to some fan kept pointing out to me how "young" the Red Sox rotation is and how old the Yankees rotation was.

So, just for fun I did this little comparison:

Chien-Ming Wang 27
Andy Pettitte 34
Roger Clemens 44
Mike Mussina 39
Phil Hughes 20

Average age per starter: 33

Curt Schilling 40
Josh Beckett 27
Daisuke Matsuzaka 27
Tim Wakefield 40
Julian Tavarez 34

Average age per starter: 34

And the conversation that I mentioned happened prior to the Clemens signing when we were still counting on either Igawa or Pavano.
If we slide one of those two in instead of Clemens the average Yankees starter age drops to 29.
That doesn't seem that old to me?

After all the fuss and all of the commotion the Yankees are right back where they started from.
And that's a full eight games back behind the Red Sox.
The Red Sox, by the way, saw their game get rained out today as the Yankees split their series at a one game apiece with the Chicago White Sox.
In the night cap the Yankees defeated the Chi Sox in a game that ended up getting started about an hour late due to rain in the South Side of Chicago by a score of 8 to 1.
Chien-Ming Wang was really great as he threw between 85 and 90 pitches to get thru 7 innings.
In those 7 innings he limited the White Sox to one run on six hits while striking out three.
It was vintage Wang as he had a low pitch count and got most of his outs via ground balls and erased several White Sox batters on ground ball double plays.
The offense that had been struggling mightily for the Yanks came around late in the game when they scored 2 runs in the seventh inning and 4 more in the 9th.
The Yankee hitters didn't do much off of White Sox starter Jose Contreras thru the first 6 and two thirds innings as he gave up 2 earned runs and struck out 6 hitters while allowing five base hits.
The Yankees struck first in the game when in the 3rd inning Hideki Matsui hit a two-out, two-run double when Chicago center fielder Darin Erstad apparently had trouble reading the ball and couldn't retreat fast enough as it sailed over his head.

The White Sox got one run back in sixth inning when Rob Mackowiak delivered an RBI single to score Darin Erstad.
That would be all of the offense for the White Sox, however, and the Yankees turned up the juice late to turn the close game into a rout.
Matsui went 3-4 with 4 RBI's and both Melky Cabrera and Jorge Posada had solo homers.
After a disappointing first game the night cap was much more satisfying.
Now we wrap up the series with the rubber match tomorrow night with Matt DeSalvo taking the mound against Jon Garland.
Hopefully we will take the game and the series then.

In other points of interest, it now looks like Wang will get the Sunday start against the Mets and that has the Mets series looking like this:

Friday: Andy Pettitte, LHP (2-2, 2.68) vs. Oliver Perez, LHP (4-3, 3.00)
Saturday: Darrell Rasner, RHP (1-2, 3.28) vs. Tom Glavine, LHP (4-1, 3.31)
Sunday: Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (2-3, 4.54) vs. John Maine, RHP (5-1, 2.15)

And if that holds up then this is what the Red Sox series could look like:

Monday: Mike Mussina, RHP (2-2, 5.64) vs. Julian Tavarez, RHP (1-4, 6.60)
Tuesday: Matt DeSalvo, RHP (1-0, 1.98) Curt Schilling, RHP (4-1, 3.63)
Wednesday: Andy Pettitte, LHP (2-2, 2.68) vs. ?

I think that this set up works more favorabely for the Yankees in the Red Sox series.
I know we won't face Matsuzaka because he would have to start on short rest.
It may be Beckett depending on how his finger blisters are healing.
If not Daisuke or Wakefield or Beckett, it could be one of their B list starters.It depends on how tomorrow's double header affects their pitching rotation.
In any event, things could be looking up...

Provided, that is, that we win tomorrow and have a good series against the cross town Mets.

Until tomorrow night...

Mike

YANKEES LOSE GAME ONE OF THE DOUBLE HEADER 5-3

I am starting to get pretty **** pessimistic about this team this year.
They had several chances to get ahead in the early going but didn’t capitalize on their opportunities.
It seems like I’ve been saying that to myself for four or five games now.
Even in the games that we’ve won --- the offense will spring to life for about an inning or an inning and a half then go back into the refrigerator for the remainder of the game.
And I don’t know if Joe or Donnie or anybody can get Alex or Abreu or Cano or Damon to do anything with a bat in their hands right now --- but something needs to be done.
I guess I shouldn’t count Abreu so quickly because he did have two hits, a home run, and one RBI in the first game today so maybe, just maybe, he’s starting to come out of it.
But right now if your last name isn’t Jeter or Posada --- You need to hit the ball much better than you’ve been hitting it.
And what is this thing we seem to be doing of not taking any pitches and just swinging at anything that gets thrown our way?
John Danks wants to throw strikes and work quickly and come right at hitters.
That’s a great approach to have and it’s going to make him very successful in the big leagues.
But why do we have to help him?
This line up used to be famous for taking pitches, getting deep into counts, and drawing walks.
Now we look like a drunk man chasing his hat in a storm up there --- just flailing away at anything that comes even close to the plate.
Where is the patience?
Even if he throws mostly strikes so it’s harder to get into long counts --- step out of the box or ask for time.
Anything to slow down the at bats.
And as much as I love Moose --- he cannot let them score in every inning.
He and the bullpen have got to be able to throw some zeros up there.
Every time we actually manage to scratch across one run then we have to watch the pitching staff go out there and immediately give it right back.
The White Sox --- who haven’t been able to score to save their lives --- scored in the fourth and then in the fifth and then put up a three spot in the sixth which just sank our ship.
Phelps tacked on a solo shot in the 8th to bring us within two --- but did anybody out there actually think that our anemic offense could get two more off of the White Sox bullpen in the 9th inning off of Bobby Jenks or whoever else the White Sox haul out there?
I sure as **** didn’t.
I really questioned as to whether or not we could keep the White Sox off of the scoreboard in the bottom of the 8th.
I don’t necessarily think that it’s time to panic yet, but it’s time for a very high amount of concern.
We are a better team than this and A-Rod, Matsui, Abreu, Cano, Damon, and Giambi SHOULD be better hitters than this.
The Red Sox finally lost a game last night and right now it seems like the only hope that we have to get anything going in the standings is to hope that the Red Sox go on some sort of losing streak.
I know that right now I’m a bigger Tigers fan than I ever have been before.
This is ridiculous and I now I just saw on the Yankees website that when Hughes strained left hamstring in Texas a few weeks ago that the Yankees initially estimated that he could return in four to six weeks --- but that now they are thinking that the low end of that estimate does not appear likely.
So that's just wonderful.
I'm trying to remain positive but if they don't do something to show some real spark or fire in the next 7 to 10 games and put together some type of small winning streak I will begin to actually start to get really concerned.
It's getting too late into the season to keep talking about tomorrow and how there are X number of games left on the schedule.
That is the sort of mentality that has us where we are right now.
I'm tired if saying how we ran into a good pitcher and he pitched well and so fourth.
We've got the White Sox and the Mets and the Red Sox and the Angels all coming up.
There are going to be a lot of good pitchers.
If we can't figure out some way to get some hits anyway, this season is all but over and so is our streak of AL East division titles.
Hopefully the night game will be better and maybe we'll get lucky and win tonight and the Red Sox will lose to the Tigers.
That means we would have went into the day 8 games back and leave it 7 and a half games back.
That's the best case scenario.
Worst case we lose both of these and the Red Sox win and we end up 9 and half back.
If we go into the Red Sox series next week 10 or 11 games back I think we are in SERIOUS trouble...

Disgustedly,

Mike

Tonight's scheduled contest in Chicago between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White on Tuesday is being postponed by rain and will be made up Tomorrow as part of a day-night doubleheader.

The game was called about an hour and 40 minutes after it was supposed to start tonight.
The field was still covered by the tarp as a steady rain fell, but scheduled Yankees starter Mike Mussina had gone out in the conditions to play catch in the outfield.



Wednesday's first game will begin at 2:05 PM ESTand will feature Mike Mussina (RHP (2-1, 4.76)) for the Yankees set against John Danks (LHP (1-4, 4.33)) for the White Sox.
The second game is scheduled to start at 8:11 PM EST and that game will feature Chien-Ming Wang of the Yankees (RHP (1-3, 5.40)) against Jose Contreras (RHP (3-3, 3.79)) for the White Sox.

In other Yankees news, Roger Clemens could make his first start of 2007 for the New York Yankees as early as May the 28th against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto.
"I think anything is possible," said Clemens, who's expected to make the first of two minor league starts Friday. "If I come out of the first two decent, they'll pull me aside, and we'll all visit about that for sure. I don't think it's out of the question."
Just two starts in the minors would pit the 44-year-old against the Blue Jays on May 28 or 29. The next time through the rotation would have Clemens pitching at AL East-leading Boston on June the second or June third.
On Tuesday, Clemens threw 71 pitches during his first bullpen session at the Yankees' minor league complex. He'll likely throw 45-to-60 pitches Friday during his first minor league start for Class-A Tampa. He also will work in the bullpen afterward to get his pitch count up to around 90.
"I think I'm right where I need to be to get this under way on Friday," Clemens said. "Endurance and conditioning, I think I'm very close. I've got to get in a game as quick as possible, and I'll have a good telltale sign of what happens on Saturday morning."

Mike

Tonight the 17-19 New York Yankees will take on the 18-16 Chicago White Sox at US Cellular Field in Chicago and fans will get to see Mike Mussina square off against former Texas Rangers farm hand John Danks.
The 6’1” left hander is an Austin,Texas native who graduated from Round Rock High School in 2003 and was selected as the Gatorade Texas High School Player of the Year and a Second-Team High School All-American by Baseball America magazine during his senior year of high school after going 10-3 with a 1.61 ERA and 173 strikeouts.

Danks split the season between Class AA Frisco and Class AAA Oklahoma, combining to go 9-9 with a 4.24 ERA (66 ER/140.0 IP) and 154 strikeouts in 27 games (26 starts) and also led all Rangers minor leaguers in strikeouts and was tied for eighth in ERA while in the Rangers minor league system.
His father, John, was a four-year basketball letterman at the University of Texas (1977-80) and his brother, Jordan, was selected by the White Sox in the 19th round of the 2005 First-Year Player draft, but did not sign.
On December 23rd of last year Danks was traded from the Texas Rangers along with fellow prospects Nick Masset and Jacob Rasner to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for pitcher Brandon McCarthy and outfielder David Paisano.
Danks is 1-4 so far this season with an ERA of 4.23.
John Danks could be rough on the Yankees' predominantly left-handed lineup as the 22-year-old rookie has limited lefties to a .167 average, compared to .272 for righties in his brief big-league career.
On the other side of the hill Mike Mussina turned in his second quality start in a row since returning to the Yankees rotation from the DL.
Both performances in the past two weeks have come against the Texas Rangers (one in Texas and one in New York).
Moose will be looking to surpass Yankees Hall of Famer Herb Pennock for sole possession of 50th place on the all-time wins list with his 242nd career victory.
In his most recent outing, this past Wednesday against the Rangers in
New York, Moose tossed six innings of three-hit ball.
He gave up a homer and two runs while striking out two in his second win of the season.
He is now 13-1 in his past 19 starts in May.
One White Sox hitter to keep an eye on in this game tonight will be Jermaine Dye.
Dye has struggled at the plate and has been batting around .200 so far in the first part of the 2007 season but in the past he has hit extremely well against Mike Mussina.
The White Sox outfielder is batting .404 (19-for-47) with two home runs and eight RBIs against Mussina for his career.
Players from the Yankees to watch are the red hot Derek Jeter and the equally as hot Jorge Posada.
The Yankee captain is batting .375 on the season and is batting .447 in the past 10 games and the Yankee catcher is batting .365 on the season and .432 in the last 10 games.
The first step top catching up with Boston is a win tonight and a win in this series against the Chicago South Siders and 2005 World Series Champions.
More tonight after the game and after what I hope is a nice Yankee win.

Mike

THE ROCKET RE-LAUNCHED AND THE REST OF THE WORLD WHINES
I, for one, am tired of all of the belly aching that I keep hearing from sportscasters, baseball writers, and fans of other teams about the Clemens signing.
It seems particularly hypocritical concerning the Red Sox fans.
I get the fact that some of them might not like the fact that Clemens choose to sign with the Yankees instead of signing with the Red Sox or retiring.
But there was reportedly an offer on the table at some point in the last few months from the Boston Red Sox to the Hendricks brothers and Roger Clemens for an 18 million dollar prorated contract for the second half of the 2007 season.
The Red Sox had also offered to run a 6 man rotation to help accommodate Clemens’s schedule and also to let Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch in a 6 man rotation which could make him feel more comfortable.
Once Clemens announced that he had made his decision to sign with the New York Yankees some of the Red Sox fans and supporters began to chirp about the Yankees signing an over the hill pitcher and spending too much money on him when they were perfectly ready to do the same thing if Clemens would have chosen them or --- more accurately --- if the Yankees had not offered him an extra 10 million dollars.
It wasn’t just the Red Sox fans, I heard the Texas Rangers broadcasters complain about it during their game broadcasts when the Rangers played the Yankees in Yankee stadium and that seemed hollow to me as well.
Texas was another team that had offered him a large prorated salary to try and lure him to Arlington.
But as soon as it became clear that Clemens had decided to go back to New York --- the Rangers broadcasters couldn’t wait to start to start deriding Clemens and the Yankees as it pertained to the deal.
What I want to know is why it is despicable or dishonorable for Clemens to sign with the Yankees but poetic or heroic if he had signed with Texas or the Red Sox.
I get tired of hearing all the negativity about the deal.
Yes, I agree --- the Yankees paid too much to get him --- but which of these deals is the worst for the money?

A.) 39.95 million for Carl Pavano
B.) 50 million for Kei Igawa (roughly, including contract + posting system fee)
C.) 18.7 million Roger Clemens (approximately what Clemens will be paid – 28 million prorated for the rest of the 2007 season)

Why weren’t some people in the sports and news media, the Boston Red Sox organization, and a portion of their fans crying foul when Cashman and the New York Yankees paid around 50 million for Kei Igawa?
Why wasn’t that something that required boundless criticism from the peanut gallery?
Why didn't Curt Schilling dedicate a blog to announce that he and the rest of the Red Sox didn't care about the Yankees signing Igawa and why didn't he opine back in the off season that the Red Sox did not need Igawa?
Why didn't Schill compain about the fact the Yankees spent almost 50 million for Igawa and that they are spending too much money then?
And in regards to Schill's blog about Clemens and how the Red Sox didn't need him and they didn't care about him....
If they didn't care about where he signed and they didn't need him and didn't want him, why offer him and his agent a prorated 18 million dollar deal?
They did want him and when he didn't go to the Red Sox then Schilling decided that he didn't want him and didn't need him.
That's always nice to hear from Schilling.
Is there anybody else in the MLB who has ever cheated on his wife that he can talk trash about now that the Clemens issue has been resolved?
Maybe he can find somebody else who cheated on their taxes to whine about?
And I agree with Mike Francesa, on Mike and The Mad Dog, when he said that when Curt Schilling stood before congress and when they asked him about the statements he made about players and teammates taking steroids in a Sports Illustrated article he clammed up.
He told congress in the steroid hearings that they shouldn't take these statements he makes in the media seriously.
So why should we take him seriously now about steroids, Barry Bonds, adultery, tax fraud, Roger Clemens, the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, or any of the other million and a half things he seems to have an opinion on these days?
The Igawa signing wasn’t roundly pounced upon because it wasn’t looked at as a move that would sincerely benefit the team or the pitching staff.
When the New York Yankees pour good money on bad investments nobody cares or criticizes it.
But when they actually spend money on a player who can roundly help the team and the pitching staff it is frowned upon.
Because when we get Clemens integrated into the pitching staff he can have a positive and demonstrative effect on the entire roster.
The first and foremost positive impact will be to help stabilize the rotation.
The second positive impact will be the improved sense of fire and purpose he can instill into the team and the fan base.
Clemens has an infectious sense of confidence and drive to win that seems to be lacking in our team as of late.

Thirdly, Roger Clemens can help Phil Hughes immeasurably in his progression in his journey into being a successful and respected big league pitcher for the Yankees.
Hughes has been favorably compared to Roger Clemens and how helpful will it be for his development if he had the actual Roger Clemens to mentor him?
That mentorship started today in Tampa when Clemens soft tossed with Phil Hughes, who is on the 15-day disabled list with a hamstring injury, for about 10 minutes.
The tall righty showcased his coaching ability by spending just under 30 minutes instructing Hughes on the proper leg lift and kick from the stretch and the correct follow-through and arm slot.
Following the coaching lesson, Clemens took ground balls on the mound and practiced throwing to first base and second base with Hughes covering each base.
Also, at the time this deal came together the Yankees had at least considered trading cash, prospects, and some combination of Melky Cabrera, Kyle Farnsworth, and/or Scott Proctor to get Jon Lieber from the Phillies or Paul Byrd from the Indians.
Is Roger Clemens at least comparable to Byrd or Lieber?
If the answer to that question is yes --- then we get a pitcher to insert into our rotation without having to give up anybody.
It's a risk worth taking with our current win/loss record and the current status of our pitching staff.
And I don't think there's another team in the league that wouldn't do the same in our shoes.

THE YANKEES AND THE SOX AND THE STATE OF THE RAT RACE
So far in the first 36 games of the season the Boston Red Sox are 25-11 with a win percentage of .694 while the Yankees are 17-19 with a .492 win percentage and a full 8 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East standings.
The Red Sox went 16-24 in the month of April with a win percentage of .667 and 9-12 so far in the month of May for a win percentage of .750.
The biggest problem for the Yankees in the standings is how we’ve performed against teams in our own division.
The Red Sox have won 11 out of 19 games against AL East opponents with a win percentage against divisional opponents of roughly .579.
The New York Yankees on the other hand have only won 3 out of 15 games against other teams in the AL East and that translates into an anemic .200 win percentage.
Overall in the month of April the Yankees had a win percentage of about .428, but so far in the month of May it's about .615.
That's much better in the past 12 or 13 games and if we can keep that up the rest of the season that could possibly result in about 96 or 97 wins for the season as a whole.
Depending on what the Red Sox do and depending on how we do against the Red Sox in the rest of the series that we play against them --- that could be enough to win the division.
If we’d won at least one more game against the Red Sox and done a little better against Tampa
or Baltimore we might be about 5 games out instead of a full 8.
To keep up that pace for May we need to win 9 or 10 out of the remaining 15 games.
We need to do well in all of our remaining games but we really need to kick it up a notch against the Red Sox and the rest of our AL East opponents.
If we win 10 out of the last 15 in May then we'd be sitting at 28 and 25 at the end of the month.
That would be 3 games over .500 and closer to first that we are now.
That's what I'm hoping for.
We keep going up and down by the .500 mark due to our sloppy play in April.
If we can get a few games over .500 by the end of May and then in June have Clemens and Hughes back in the rotation and maybe play the same kind of ball and get a few more wins --- I think we can be in league for the division or at worst for the Wild Card.
Anyway, that's how I see it...

Mike

SEATTLE MARINERS 2 - NEW YORK YANKEES 1
BOSTON RED SOX 6 - BALTIMORE ORIOLES 5 (Baltimore surrenders 6 runs in the 9th)

I can't believe the games today.
Boston is down 5-0 in the 9th inning after Jeremy Guthrie had pitched his way into the 9th inning and had gotten one out.
Thus far Guthrie had only allowed 3 hits and no runs to the Red Sox and had been in control.
If the mediocre Baltimore bullpen could somehow get 2 outs without allowing 5 runs to score they could win the game.
Well the succeeded in not allowing 5 runs to score before they got 2 outs.
They allowed 6 runs to score and never got the third out.
That was one of the worst implosions I've seen from a bullpen in a long time.
And while the Red Sox have been on this ridiculous hot streak that they've been on it seems like everything that can go their way does.
And for the Yankees it's just the opposite.
And I --- for one --- am getting annoyed with hearing about A-Rod's amazing April over and over again as we head to the middle of May.
It's not April anymore and since we're behind in the standings and slipping a few inches more every day I don't care what A-Rod did in April.
It's not April anymore.
A-Rod hit 14 home runs and 34 RBI's in the first three weeks of the season or so but in the last three weeks of the season he's hit one home run and five RBI's.
And his average was over .400 and now it's down to .329.
Listen, I didn't expect him to hit .400 and anything over .300 is a very good average but he's lost about 90 points on his average in a little over 3 weeks.
This 2007 model is starting to look a lot more like the 2006 model and Abreu and Damon seem dead set on joining him in mediocrity.
And I can't get Alex's errant throw out of my head either.
That likely cost us a run and in a 2-1 ballgame that could have been the difference in losing or wining.
It's almost if Jeter and Jorge are the only two position players who want to play all nine innings in each game these days.
I still think that we are turning this around, but today was an ugly day for Yankees fans in my opinion.
It was also a shame to watch Andy Pettitte have yet another quality start wasted by lack of fielding support and lack of run support.
He pitched 7 and a third gutsy innings and gave up 2 earned runs, but I think only one of those should have been charged to him.
He pitched like a winner but we turned him into a loser.
I wonder if some days he regrets coming back to New York and maybe if he'd known that this would be what was waiting for him that maybe he would not have come back at all.
I do know that I'm glad to not be playing Seattle again for a few months.
We don't seem to match up well against them and we seem to have the worst luck on calls when we play the Mariners.
Well, We need to try and wash that out of our collective systems and focus on the next series that will take us to the South Side of Chicago, Illinois as the Bronx Bombers will travel from Safeco field in Seattle to US Cellular Field in Chicago to take on the White Sox in a three game set.
We have tomorrow off and then we play in Chicago on Tuesday night (8:10 PM EST), Wednesday night (8:10 PM EST), and Thursday afternoon (2:05  PM EST).
Mike Mussina gets the start this Tuesday against John Danks, Chien Ming Wang faces off against former Yankee Jose Contreras on Wednesday, and the finale will feature Matt DeSalvo against Jon Garland.
I like these match ups for us in the White Sox series and if the rotation holds to form I am guessing that the weekend series with the Mets at Shea will feature both Pettitte and Moose in the series.
This still makes me nervous about the home series against Boston in the Bronx early next week because unless Clemens gets the go ahead to play in one of those games we are going to have both Rasner and DeSalvo in that series and I would like to have at least two veteran pitchers in that very important home series.
Right now there are slated to start Beckett, Daisuke, and Wakefield --- barring any rotation changes and if Beckett doesn't have to miss a start due to the finger blisters that cut his day short today.
I am not excited about a series right now that would feature these match ups:
Darrell Rasner vs. Josh Beckett on Monday
Matt DeSalvo vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka on Tuesday
Mike Mussina vs. Tim Wakefield on Wednesday
I know that you don't want to re-arrange your entire rotation for one series, but this is a BIG series and we need to win it and cannot afford to get swept.
To really help our cause we really need to win all three games if we possibly can.
Hopefully we can win this upcoming series in Chicago and having a day off will benefit the whole team.
Then we really need to win this series with Boston badly.
I have a good feeling about the start that Moose will likely make and maybe DeSalvo can continue his winning ways against the Red Sox and stay hot.
I hope that Abreu, Damon, and A-Rod can find some life for their bats though --- because one thing that I know for certain is unless we get absolutely SPECTACULAR starts from our pitching staff and equally stunning work from our beleaguered bullpen, we are going to need some significant run support to win these games. I just hope the bats wake up in the Chicago series because some of the hitting from this team in the past 3 or 4 games has been absolutely unacceptable for a line up with this much talent fire power.

Mike

A was really busy the last couple of days and since I've missed a day or so of my blogging, let me do some quick hits and get caught up on what's going down:

YANKEES DROP GAME ONE OF SEATTLE SERIES 0-3
It's the first game of a three game series against the Seattle Mariners in Seattle and we get blanked by Jarrod Washburn.
And I don't know how anybody else feels --- but to me it's rapidly looking like Jarrod Washburn is becoming something of an unlikely Yankee killer.
I remember him having some solid starts against us in the ALDS back in 2002 when he pitched for the Angels.
He started 2 games in that 5 game series and went 1-0 with a 3.75 ERA over 12 innings pitched.
The Angels always played us tough over the past 5 years and I remember him pitching some good games against us.
Now in the first couple of starts he's had with Seattle this season against us he's again proving to be a very tough pitcher for us to go up over.
Rasner pitched a very nice game and if not for the Kenji Johjima home to deep left in the fourth inning that scored himself and Adrian Beltre it would have been a 0-1 loss.
It would have been a loss no matter how you slice it since we didn't get any runs on the board at all.
I'm just saying that Rasner pitched well again in this game and he's looked like the pitcher I heard about him being in Spring Training for the past two seasons.
If he pitches like that every time out --- he's going to get some big league wins and he'll get them sooner than later.
It's always rough dropping a series opener, but sometimes when a good pitcher is pitching a good game you just have to tip your hat to them and keep going.
Not a totally disappointing loss.
The team tried hard and didn't give it away.
Just a tough pitching throwing a great game.
It happens from time to time.
It was much more palatable to me than the stink bomb this past Thursday against the Rangers at home.


BOBBY ABREU IS ENDURING A SLUMP THAT IS A REAL RAIN CLOUD IN OUR LINEUP:
Right now it's sort of looking like Bobby Abreu couldn't hit water if he feel out of a boat.
I don't know what the hitch in his giddy up is, but he seems to be pressing in every at bat.
It's almost as if when he sees five pitches in a particular at bat that he's trying to get five base hits in one AB and solve all his problems at one time. That's not the thing that made Bobby Abreu such an effective number three hitter and it's what has caused Joe Torre to hit him 2nd or 7th in the last several games. He really needs to trust what he can do and stick to what got him this far and that's to start trusting his instincts again and to start taking pitches again. This biggest difference I see right now with his swing and his at bats is that he's not getting into as many deep counts and he's not drawing walks. For the most part that's the skill that allows hitters like Abreu and Jason Giambi to be productive in the line up even when they are not hitting particularly well. They still have a good eye and still have a very respectable OBP based on their ability to work the count, cause the pitcher to throw extra pitches, and draw walks. A-Rod was hitting very well in April and I don't think that it's a coincidence that A-Rod hasn't been hitting the ball as well since the end of April. That's about the same time that Abreu went into the tank and I think Abreu's struggles have had a spillover effect on Rodriguez. I say this because one of the reasons that I think A-Rod was hitting so well is that he had Abreu hitting in front of him. Abreu would typically see 4-6 pitches per at bat and sometimes he'd have this 8,9, or 10 pitch at bats. This allowed A-Rod to see everything in that pitchers arsenal while he was waiting and watching from the on deck circle. Sometimes I think with a few of the pitchers, especially the more mediocre middle relief pitchers, actually got mentally worn down from pitching to Abreu and were then more likely to throw a bad pitch to A-Rod out of frustration. Now that Abreu isn't hitting and isn't even really taking any pitches --- I think that has had a demonstrative effect on A-Rod's ability to get good pitches and track the pitcher before he comes to the plate. It helps having Giambi back, but for me --- Giambi needs to bat before A-Rod so that he can start working pitchers and getting into deep counts like Abreu used to. For that system to work Jeter needs to go back to the number two hole, Giambi needs to bat third, and A-Rod needs to bat clean up. I'd drop Bobby to 7th again while Giambi's in the game. At least until he gets his groove back. Thoughts?

TOMORROW'S GAME FEATURES PETTITTE FACING OFF AGAINST RAMIREZ:
Andy Pettitte, LHP (2-1, 2.72) is set to take the hill tomorrow for the New York Yankees against Horacio Ramirez, LHP (2-2, 7.62). It's an afternoon game tomorrow (May the 13th) at Yankee stadium in the Bronx with a start time of  4:05 PM EST.
The game will be avalialble on television on the YES Netork and on the radio on WCBS (and will be available on the radio in Spanish on 92.7 WQBU).
For the New York Yankees Andy Pettitte was pitched better than his record suggests as between his first and second victory of the 2007 season he left three games with leads and watched the bullpen blow it for him.
The 34-year-old left-hander battled out of jams early and overcame early difficulty spotting his fastball, which rode in the high 80s for much of his seven-inning, one-run performance. Pettitte is 1-3 with a 4.94 ERA in four career starts at Safeco Field.
For the Seattle Mariners Horacio Ramirez is coming off some fairly bad outings for the Mariners as his ERA is somewhat inflated --- however he returns to Safeco Field in this start, where he has a career record of 1-0 and 1.46 ERA. The key to his success is moving the ball around and keeping it off the middle of the plate. He didn't issue any walks in a recent outing  against the Tigers, but he left too many pitches over the plate and got hammered. The Yankees and the Mariners have played each other 6 times so far this season with each ball club winning three and losing three.

Tomorrow is that rubber match of this current 3 game series and if the Yankees win, they will go back to .500 again and bring their record to 18-18.

O.K., That's it for now. Sorry I've been AWOL the last few days...

Mike



P.S.
I just did two posts in a row.
So, if you haven't been here in a few days, there's another new one right under this one.
More tomorrow evening after the game...

 

Matt DeSalvo was really strong tonight as he had another great quality start tonight in Seattle and picked up his first major league win.
And this time since there was no Roger Clemens announcement to upstage it, maybe it will get the attention that it deserves.
He pitched six and two thirds innings where he gave up 7 hits and 2 runs and left the game in the 7th inning with a 7-2 lead.
He also helped turn in a couple of very athletic double plays in the ball game and seemed very nimble on his feet.
DeSalvo pitched into the seventh inning, but was relieved by Mike Myerswith two outs and two on, having surrendered a double to Jose Vidro on his 87th and final pitch.
Myers induced a ground ball to end the inning, and Kyle Farnsworth and Mariano Rivera preserved DeSalvo's victory by recording the final six Mariners outs.
I know that it's only two starts but he's starting to look like a quality pitcher and that his initial good outing this past Sunday against the Mariners wasn't a fluke.
It was really cool to see Joe Torre give him the line up card from the game and see Mariano Rivera give him the game ball.
Speaking of Mariano Rivera, he pitched a scoreless 9th inning tonight to get some work in and looked pretty good.
It was a little dicey for a few minutes, but he got out of it and is starting to look a little more like the old Mo we all know and love.
The Yankee hitters also did their job as Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui, and Jorge Posada all went 3 for 5 in tonight's game.
Jeter and Posada also climbed to the top of the list of highest AL Batting Averages as Jeter has the highest average in the American League at .376 and Jorge is right behind him at .369.
Truly remarkable as Derek seems content to pick up right where he left off last year when he just missed winning the AL Batting Crown.
Doug Mintkiewicz seems to be coming around in the last few weeks.
Since the last week of April he's been hitting over .360 and in the last 10 games he's hitting .417.
His overall average is still just .235 but it wasn't long ago that it was around .150 --- so he's making some strides offensively and tonight he was 1 for 3 (.300) with an RBI base hit.
He's never going to be Babe Ruth or anything --- but if he can get his average up to about .275 or .280 and drive in some runs here and there it will be a huge boost to compliment his gold glove defense.
I feel bad about knocking the guy before.
He's really starting to come around and I'm sure it was never for lack of trying.
In other relevant game news, they announced in the game tonight that Scott Proctor will serve his four game suspension starting tonight and going into the third game of the Seattle series tomorrow afternoon and then the first two games of the upcoming White Sox series.
With this being the situation Joe Torre will place Darrell Rasner in the bullpen while Proctor is serving his suspension and Matt DeSalvo will get the start against the Chicago White Sox this coming Thursday that was initially slated for Rasner.
Mike Mussina will get the Tuesday start against Chicago and Wang will start Thursday.
I'm going to guess that would set up Rasner, and then Pettitte, and then Moose for this coming weekend's series with the Mets at Shea Stadium. I'm unsure about Rasner and they could possibly bump Pettitte up to Friday because of the off day on Monday --- but I don't think they want to start Moose or Wang on short rest so I am pretty sure Moose starts Sunday and Wang gets the start on Monday against the Red Sox at Yankee stadium.
The only thing that I don't like about this is that would line up Wang, DeSalvo, and Rasner as the three starters against the Red Sox and I'm sure Joe Torre and company would like Moose or Pettitte in that series somehow.
Well, We'll see how it goes.
Anyway, it was a great game tonight and DeSalvo looked fantastic.
Maybe he can tame the Red Sox hitters next week?
All I know is that we need to win that series badly.
If we can win that series and then win the series with the Red Sox in Fenway in a few weeks we can pick up a few games in the standings and get back into this thing a little more.
And that's the name of the game....

Until Next Time:

LETS GO YANKEES !!!

Mike

RANGERS 14 - YANKEES 2
Our ace Chien Ming Wang managed to find himself in an outing against an utterly beatable team looking utterly less than perfect.
Don't worry, I'm not going to pour criticism and negativity onto our Taiwanese golden boy's shoulders.
He's been far too effective and far too valuable in the past two seasons for me to jump up and down on him now after a rare sub par performance.
But sub par, per Wang's usual standards, it was as in 6 and a third innings pitched he gave up 11 hits and 7 runs.
And if not for a double play or two it may have been much worse.

Our bullpen really didn't help much either in this game as Vizacaino gives up 3 hits and 3 runs and then Sean Henn enters the ballgame just in time to give up 4 hits and 4 runs including a grand slam to Victor Diaz.
Considering we only scored 2 runs in the game, the game was back in the top of the 5th and the 10 runs that the Rangers scored in the 7th and the 8th were just extra icing...
But still....
The Rangers removed Hank Blalock and put in weak hitting Victor Diaz (.211 avg.) to pinch hit since they were already up by 8 runs and had the bases loaded in the 8th inning.
So that should have been a gift.
Instead it was a grand slam to extend their lead to 12.
I mean, there are ways to lose games and then there are ways to just win in grand style and that's what we did today in the Bronx.
The only real bright spot was the solo home run by Melky Cabrera in the bottom of the 3rd inning off of Rangers starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy (who I really hate --- by the way).
Now, We did win 7 out of last 10 and we did win this series so there's not too much to whine about.
I just don't like slipping down below .500 again.
We had a chance to go one game over .500 and I sort of expected to be one game over .500 by 5 o'clock today. I mean, you can never guarantee a win, but we've handled the Texas Rangers pretty well over the last few years and I with our ace on the mound I thought we'd take this game at home...
Oh well...
We all know that we can't win 'em all and I'd rather be 7 out of our last 10 than 0 out of our last 7 like we were about three weeks ago.




Now we go on to Seattle and Safeco field where we have the following pitching match ups to look forward to:

Darrell Rasner, RHP (1-1, 2.75) vs. Jarrod Washburn, LHP (2-3, 3.18)
Matt DeSalvo, RHP (0-0, 1.29) vs. Miguel Batista, RHP (3-2, 5.70)
Andy Pettitte, LHP (2-1, 2.72) vs. Horacio Ramirez, LHP (2-2, 7.62)

All three games will take place in Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington and will be televised on the YES Network.
The Friday and Saturday night games will both have start times of 10:05 PM EST and the Sunday day game will start at 4:05 PM EST.

Until 10:05 PM EST tomorrow night....

LETS GO YANKEES !

Mike

The Yankees win the game 6-2 tonight against the Texas Rangers in New York and bring their win/loss percentage back to .500 as we sit on 16 wins and 16 losses.
The time of tonight's game was approximately 3 hours and 2 minutes and the total attendance was approximately 47,930.
We've also gotten quality starts in 8 out of last 9 games and Moose looked very sharp.
He pitched 6 strong innings and gave up only 3 hits and 1 walk with two strike outs.
He gave up two earned runs and one of them was a third inning home run to Brad Wilkerson with nobody on and nobody out.
The Rangers went on score one more run in that inning but that was it for the scoring by Texas.
Proctor is starting to really hit his stride and he had electric stuff
The score board had him at 100 mph on one of his pitches and the rest of the bullpen looked good as well.
Bobby Mercer thought this is the best he's seen Proctor look.
Farnsworth looked good too and Mo came in and got three outs without allowing a run to score in a non-save situation.
Jeter went 2 for 3 with a walk and a really clutch two out, two RBI single in the fourth to turn a 2 run lead into a four run lead.
Also Wil Nieves went 1 for 4 and got his first hit of the year for the New York Yankees as their back up catcher and brings his season average from .000 to .042.
He over ran second base trying to stretch his single into a double and got thrown out, but he still got a standing ovation from the Yankee stadium crowd.
Speaking of getting a crowd reaction, some crazed fan hopped onto the field in the top of the 9th with Mo on the mound and a 0-2 count to Sosa and got thrown out of the stadium.
They didn't show the fan on television, but in case anybody is curious I have a picture of him from Yahoo! photos.
So, all in all, it was a good game and we have taken another step forward as a team as we get into second place and now we get to .500.
We also guaranteed a series win over the Rangers after taking the first two of the three game series.
Now we need to concentrate on winning each series and playing good baseball and we are on the way to turning a page on what was a very lackluster season thus far.
It's only a matter of time though.
We all know that.
With Clemens and Hughes coming back and Mo pitching better we are going to add wins to the win column and move up past the .500 mark and make a climb in the standings.
And we still have 100+ games left on the schedule.

Tomorrow's game (Thursday, May 10) will again take place at historic Yankee stadium  will have a start time of 1:05 PM ET at Yankee Stadium the Bronx, New York and will feature Brandon McCarthy, RHP (2-4, 7.96) pitching for the Texas Rangers (13-18) against Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (1-2, 3.98) for the Yankees.
Brandon McCarthy snapped a three-game losing streak with a 7-1 victory over the Blue Jays this past Friday, allowing one run on two hits in six innings. He is 0-3 with a 9.69 ERA in four games, including three starts on the road.
And what can you say about Wang?
In his last start against Seattle he was perfect for 7 1/3 innings.
He then gave up a homer to Ben Broussard with 2 outs into the 8th inning that ended the bid for the perfecto against the Mariners but still got the win 8-1 striking out four without walking a batter.

We're looking for him to go deep into the game and hoping for another sweep of the Rangers.

Until tomorrow....

LETS GO YANKEES !

Mike

Last night the New York Yankees routed the Texas Rangersby a score of 8-2 and at several points during the game it looked like it was going to be even more lopsided.

Andy Pettitte pitched well again and got a well deserved win as he went seven strong innings and allowed only one to score.
Both Jeter and Posada stayed hot and both went 2-5 in the ballgame and now both sit at .354 batting averages for the season.

To me though, the offensive play of the game was in the third inning when Matsui came to the plate with Jeter at second base and A-Rod on first base.
Hideki hit a ball into center field that gets misplayed by Jerry Hariston and both Jeter and A-Rod come into score and Matsui end up at third with a three base error.
It was a 1-1 game at that point with Jeter doubling in a run earlier in that inning and if Hariston catches that ball it's the 3rd out of the 3rd and the Yankees settle for tying the score instead of taking a two run lead and forcing Wood to pitch to another batter.
The Yankees end up scoring 5 more runs in the next two innings and turn the game into a rout, but I think that was the moment that turned the momentum in favor of the Yankees for the remainder of the game and seemed to take some of the air out of the Texas players. Just my thoughts on that.

Also, Doug Mientkiewicz went 2 for 3 and raised his season average to .230.
Interestingly enough Doug Mientkiewicz is hitting .300 with a home run, 4 hits, and 4 RBI's against Texas in the 3 games he's played in against the Rangers this season and is batting .209 with 13 hits, 6 RBI's, and 2 home runs in the other 27 games that he's appeared in.
And it's not just in Texas or against a particular pitcher.
If it was just in Texas then I might think that it was just the fact that he hits well in that ballpark.
But it was in the game last night in New York and also in the first two games of the series in Texas off of different Rangers pitchers.
He also has played some of his best defense in these games.

If I was Joe Torre --- I would make sure that Minky was in the line up tonight and tomorrow afternoon as well.
Also, as other bloggers predicted, Bobby Abreu was dropped in the line up and Giambi was moved up.
I think that his was a good move because Giambi has been seeing the ball well right now and has been hitting over .300 since the latter part of April.

Bobby Abreu, on the other hand has been batting under .250 while occupying the number three hole in that span.
Giambi has been moved from 5th to 3rd and Abreu form 3rd to 7th.
Giambi had been protected A-Rod in the line up as Alex has been batting clean up --- but now they've put Posada at the number 5 slot and he should allow just as much protection as with Jason because he's been on a real roll so far this season as I mentioned earlier.
The only problem that I can see with this line up is that we are perhaps a little too left handed towards the back end --- but that's just a problem we'll have to deal with anyway because our line up is kind of right hander hitter deficient in the first place.

In any event, I think that it's a more productive line up and it paid dividends last night as the offense was clicking on all cylinders and A-Rod produced his first home run since April 23rd.

Unfortunately , I heard on WFAN's Mike and the Mad Dog today that Giambi has a bone spur in one of his heels and probably won't be in the line up tonight.
They said it probably won't need surgery and that he can play thru it, but I hate to see this when he's been doing so well.
I wonder how this will effect the line up when he doesn't play and if Abreu will be back in the number 3 spot?
I assume either Matsui or Damon will get a half day off at DH and Melky will get a start in the outfield?

Now tonight we have another chance tonight to bring our season back to the .500 mark for the first time since April 21st as we take on the Texas Rangers at the big ballpark in the Bronx at 7:05 PM EST.

Taking the mound for the Yankees will be Mike Mussina, RHP (1-1, 5.73) who will oppose Robinson Tejeda, RHP (3-2, 3.89) for the Texas Rangers.

Tejada has been the Rangers most consistent pitcher who has given

Texas quality starts in all but one of the six games that he has started, despite having only 3 wins to show for it.
Tejeda was originally scheduled to start last night against the Yankees but the Rangers decided to move him back one day to give him some extra rest due to his left hamstring has been a concern.
Wow.
Imagine that?
Another pitcher with hamstring concerns.

What's the deal with all the hamstring concerns?

They just don't make hammys like they used to, I suppose...

Maybe it's all the maple bats?
Anyway, in second game of the double header against the Yankees last Thursday in Texas Tejeda was the losing pitcher despite allowing just three runs in 61/3 innings and is 0-2 with an 8.68 ERA in two career starts against the 'Bombers.
In addition it is worth nothing that Tejada is 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA in two starts on the road and that left-handed hitters are batting .300 off him while right-handers are hitting .197.
Being as that we are so lefty dominant in the line up, that could work to our advantage.

And again, the last game Moose pitched was opposite this same team and against this same pitcher and he also got a win last time out just like Andy did.

It was also a game in which Yankees fans finally saw the Moose they're used to.

It was the first time Moose had pitched since April 11 vs. the Twins, when manager Joe Torre had to replace him after just two innings because of a hamstring injury.
Moose picked up the win in his return start, giving up four hits and one run in five innings.
He was 2-0 with a 3.15 ERA in three starts against Texas last season.
I'm hopeful that we can make it back to .500 tonight and that's the name of the game.

You want to win the World Series and that's the ultimate goal, but between April the 8th and October the 8th --- there are a lot of small steps we have to take.

Right now we are in second place, 6 games out of first, and one game below .500.
The first thing was to get out of last place and we did that and are in second place in the AL East.
Then the next thing that we need to try and do is get to .500.
No team with a season win percentage of below .500 has won the World Series or even made the play offs (at least not in recent memory, though the Padres and the Cards came close).
So tonight we try again to get to .500.
Then you win the next couple of series and get a few games over .500 and hopefully trim the lead in the division to 4.5 or 5 games out of first.

Then you just play good baseball and try to win the next series against the Red Sox in early June and trim the lead by maybe another game or game and a half and then you are right there in it.

So I'll see you guys and gals tonight and until then....

LETS GO YANKEES !

Mike

Tonight the Yankees start a three game home seriesagainst the Texas Rangers in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

The Rangers come into this ballgame 3-4 in their last 7 ballgames and 13-18 in the season while the Yankees come into tonight's action 4-3 and 14-16 for the season.
It could have easily been 15-15 for the Yanks if not for an awful call on a stolen base last night in the 8th inning against Seattle and a home run hit off of Mariano Rivera in the 9th to give the Mariners a 3-2 win in regulation and spilt of their four game set with the 'Bombers...

But in some ways the last few innings of that ballgame was like a microcosm of the 2007 season thus far.

A piece of bad luck and one bad pitch by our legendary closer.

If not for that same formula we probably would have won the series in Oakland last month and won at least one of the games in Fenway and would be sitting here right now at a couple of games over .500.
But there isn't any use crying over spilled milk right now because we still have over 130 games left in the season and we've been playing very good baseball as a ball club over the last 7 games and we swept the Rangers in Texas and since we are sending out Pettitte, Moose, and Wang at home against that self same team over the course 72 hours or so --- I think we will fare pretty well.
The hottest Yankee hitters right now are Jorge Posada and Jason Giambi.

Giambi has the best average with RISP right now and Posada is just on fire at the plate.
After a torrid April Alex Rodriguez has came back to earth and if not for a 3 RBI game on May the 4th against Seattle he wouldn't have any RBI's in the past 10 games. And in that Seattle game there was absolutely no pitching to speak of and the ball boy could have probably gotten at least one RBI (both teams combined for 36 hits and 26 runs in 9 innings).

For the Rangers, Michael Young is starting to turn things around in the last three games against Toronto as he had 8 hits, 2 home runs, and 6 RBI's (where the Rangers swept the Blue Jays).
When the Yankees played the Rangers in Texas last week the Ranger's short stop was hitting around .190 with 2 home runs and about 14 RBI's. 
In the past 3 games he is hitting .615 with a sky high slugging percentage to go along with 8 RBI's and 2 homers in 13 at bats. Pitch to him at your peril.

Mark Teixeira was also 6-12 in the sweep of Toronto by Texas and so the middle of the batting order for the Rangers seems to be finally coming around to be more what the Rangers fans had been expecting them to be this season.

Anyway, Without further delay, lets get to the match ups --- shall we?
In tonight's pitching match up the Yankees will send out veteran left hander Andy Pettitte (1-1, 3.00) to face Mike Wood (0-0, 3.12) (the newly minted right handed starter for Texas).

Mike Wood gets the chance to start again and continue to appear in the rotation due to Kevin Millwood being placed on the DL due to left hamstring issues (what is it this year with pitchers and hamstring issues anyway?).
The 27 year old West Palm Beach, Florida native made his first start this season for Texas last week in the first game against Andy Pettitte in Texas in the first game of Thursday's double header.
Considering he was making his first start of the year and it was opposite Andy Pettitte and against the Yankees line up, I think he did pretty well.
Really well actually. He allowed three runs, just two of them earned, in 6 and one third innings of work. He'll probably get a few more starts and will fill in for the Rangers until Kevin Millwood is ready to return to their rotation. Wood is 5-16 with a 5.79 ERA in 36 career Major League starts. That last game that Wood pitched in was also Pettitte's last start as well where he pitched pretty well and showed a lot of grit in six innings of five-hit ball. He did give up two runs and labored heavily in the first two innings and running his pitch count dangerous high. In the end he struck out 5 and threw 107 pitches and left the game with the lead and watched from the dugout bench as the bullpen surrendered the lead as is their custom in games that Pettitte starts in 2007. But we did win the ball game and I do feel more comfortable with Pettitte on the mound that almost anyone else right now.

And for all the recognition Clemens will likely get for being a "warrior" with his return engagement with the team, Andy to me is the true warrior.

He pitches well and he digs deep and he doesn't complain when the bullpen lets him down.

He pitches relief appearances between starts on his side session days to help keep us in ball games.

I don't know if he'll be the winning pitcher and/or if we'll win the game tonight --- but I do know that my confidence level, as a fan, rises when Pettitte takes the hill.

Then on Wednesday the Yankees will send out Mike Mussina, RHP (1-1, 5.73) to face off against Robinson Tejeda, RHP (3-2, 3.89) and on Thursday it will be

Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (1-2, 3.98) for the Yankees and Brandon McCarthy, RHP (2-4, 7.96) for the Rangers.

More on those match ups along with my reaction to tonight's game later tonight....




Mike

The Yankees don't win....
The Yankees don't win....
The Yankees lose the game 3-2 and drop a one run heart breaker to the Seattle Mariners in Seattle as Kyle Farnsworth gives up the tying run in the 8th and Mariano Rivera gives up a go ahead run in the 9th in the form of a solo home run to Adrian Beltre (his fourth of the year).
Well, that game was going so well until the brought in Kyle Farnsworth in the 8th and he allowed Bloomquist to steal 2nd and then gives up an RBI single to Johjima.
Of course getting 9 hits and then only having 2 runs to show for it because you stranded 9 baserunners over 8 innings doesn't really help your cause much at all.
It's a real shame too because Matt DeSalvo pitched brilliantly in his very first major league start as he pitched seven strong innings and only gave up 1 run and 3 hits and left the game with the lead and a shiny 1.29 ERA.
Unfortunately our bullpen let this very winnable game slip through our fingers and with it our chance to get back to .500 baseball.
We're now 14-16 on the season and will fall to six full games behind Boston. Well, since Tampa, Boston, and Toronto did not play today and since Baltimore did play and lost --- we're still in second place and are ahead of Tampa Bay by a half a game.
I shouldn't be down about this game considering how well Matt DeSalvo did. But this just is a bummer for me because it's yet another game we were set up to win and should have won but just let slip away. And it just hurts more that Mariano is the pitcher that surrendered what turned out to be the game winning solo home run and will be tagged with the loss tonight.
I just think on a day when it was announced that Kei Igawa was demoted to the minors to make room for DeSalvo on the roster that it's about time that we seriously consider trading or demoting Farnsworth.
The loss tonight wasn't his fault as the Yankees got hosed on the Bloomquist steal.
Bloomquist was clearly out.
But that didn't score the tying run.
Farnsworth allowing the base hit to Johjima did that.
And you can sugar coat it as much as you want to, But for my money Farnsworth is almost the bullpen qualivent of Igawa.
Good inning in one game.
Bad inning in the next.
He is not somebody that I have any real trust in and keeping him does us no good in my opinion.
I mean, lets say we make the post season again this year.
Pretend it's the bottom of the 8th with a runner on first in game 7 of the ALCS against Boston.
Do you want Farnsworth on the mound?
Are you sure?
Me neither.
Oh well, tomorrow is another day and hopefully we can play to our full potential against Texas.

Until then....

Mike




P.S.
Tomorrow afternoon I'll post a pregame and preseries breakdown of the Rangers - Yankees series.
Check back for that tomorrow after lunch...

P.P.S.
Oh and before I forget to mention it...
Yankees reliever Scott Proctor was suspended for four games and manager Joe Torre was suspended for one game because of an incident in Sunday's game, Major League Baseball announced Monday. Scott Proctor was tossed in the seventh inning of yesterday's game against the M's when he intentionally threw at the Mariners' Yuniesky Betancourt. Because of prior events in the game that prompted home-plate umpire Mike Everitt to warn both benches, Torre was also ejected from the contest. Joe Torre served his suspension on Monday, with bench coach Don Mattingly serving as the Yankees' manager. Proctor, who also got a $1,500 fine, has decided to appeal the suspension. I just wish that the Yankees would turn around and suspend both Proctor and Farnsworth for the infraction of giving up leads and generally stinking up the joint.

That's the M and M boys as in Matt and Miguel...

Because tonight the Yankees will play their 19th game of the season against the M's with M and M both pitching !
And a win would put the Yankees at the .500 mark with 15 wins and 15 losses.
That's what they should be shooting for.
For three or four hours forget all about Roger Clemens and the Red Sox and the injuries and the media and focus on the game.
These are all steps on the ladder that we have to take one at a time. The first step is getting back to .500. Then after that you need to win each series and slowly go one game over .500 and then two.
Then after you've navigated the next few series then you can turn your eyes to the standings and at that point --- hopefully --- we'll still be in second place and only 3.5 or 4 games behind Boston and we just take it one game at a time. We've been behind the Red Sox in the AL East standings last year and the year before that and we can do it again this year too...
Just tune out what many of the members of the media are saying.
It's their job to sell magazines and newspapers and get you to tune in to their broadcasts and it's more newsworthy when the Yankees fail than when they succeed.
Anyway, now that that is out of the way, the game tonight is at 6:05 PM EST and can be seen on television live on the YES Network and also will be televised nationally on ESPN.
In the New York are the game is available on the radio on WCBS.
The pitching match up tonight features right handed rookie Matt DeSalvo (0-0, 0.00)taking the hill for the New York Yankees and he will be opposed by Miguel Batitsta (3-2, 6.30) for the Seattle Mariners. DeSalvo had a solid spring training and impressed Brian Cashman and Joe Torre enough to make the minor league roster. The 27 right hander from New Castle, PA is 3-0 with a sparkling ERA of 1.05 in five starts for the Yankees triple A affiliate at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre where his allowed 15 hits, walked 13, and struck out 23 in 25 and two thirds innings there. The Yankees are looking for another quality start from DeSalvo which would string together three quality starts in a row for Yankees pitching. If the Yanks win tonight in addition to climbing back to .500 the Yankees would have won the 4 game series with the Mariners 3 games to 1 and would have 6 wins out of their last 7 games.
Going opposite DeSalvo tonight is the veteran right hander Miguel Batista.
The Mariners starter from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic is 3 and 2 on the season and has had two back to back wins and two back to back quality starts.
Hopefully our bats will stay hot and we can take this series.
Bobby Abreu seems to be coming out of his slump and Matsui is starting to heat up.
Hopefully the Yankees bats will bust out tonight and give DeSalvo an early lead so he can pitch with confidence.
That's all for now...
I'll recap the game later and break down the upcoming Texas series in New York.

GO YANKEES !

Mike

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to fellow YANKEES Blogger Lola Belle who turns the big 24 today !

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!
Don't do anything that I wouldn't do, and to quote a friend, if you do --- I want pictures !
LOL...


Check out her YANKEES MLBlog at : http://yankeeslo.mlblogs.com

Many happy returns 'Lo...

Mike

There are several things to talk about this evening as it's been a busy, busy day in Yankees land...
Let's start with this just to sort of get it out there...

Clemens has made his return to the Bronx:
This was something that a lot of Yankees fans may have seen coming. Or at least some of the ones that I had spoken with said that they did. I, for one, wasn't so sure. I thought that the allure of being so close to his home and his whole family might be a tough allure to resist for the soon to be 45 year old right hander who, as of May 6th, sits on 348 career wins against just 178 losses.
I think that many baseball fans rightly wonder just how much the 7 time Cy Young award winner has left in his tank and how much success he will have in returning to the American League East after spending 3 years playing with the Houston Astros in the National League Central division.
For my money, the question to ask yourself is who will he be as good as?
I heard rumors of attempts to acquire Paul Byrd or Jon Lieber in a trade that would have included Kyle Farnsworth and maybe Proctor or Cabrera.
So to me the question is Roger Clemens as good as Jon Lieber or Paul Byrd?
Is he better than Kei Igawa or Chase Wright?
If the answers to those questions are yes then it's a good move for our rotation despite the chirping from the media critics. And you also can't discount the effect his rejoining the team will have on the positive development of rookie hurlers like Phil Hughes. It was too much money to spend, but you knew that was coming and I think the fans of other teams that threw around 150 million to 300+ million this off season have a lot of nerve to question this move. I think this will help our wounded rotation and I'm glad to welcome the Rocket back to the fold. Could it turn out to not be a coincidence that we had both Pettitte and Clemens on the roster the last time we played in a World Series?
Time will tell...


Is Kei Igawa the Japanese version of Jose Contreras:
(Two steps forward and two steps back...?)
I don't know what to make of Kei Igawa at this point.
In his Yankee debut he has a downright awful start as he gives up 8 hits and 7 runs in 5 innings against the Orioles and leaves the game with the team behind on the scoreboard and fans groaning in their seats. Then in his second game on April the 13th he fares better at the stadium against the Oakland A's as he gives up 3 hits and 2 runs over 5 and a third innings of work for the Yankees.
He follows that up five days later on April the 18th against Cleveland with another pretty solid start as he pitches 6 innings and gives up 2 runs on 5 hits.
But then he has a disastrous game against the Devil Rays in his 4th start of the season on April the 23rd where he gives up 8 hits and 7 runs on four and a third.
The coaching staff has seen enough and Kei gets demoted to the bullpen.
Then in a freak accident starting pitcher Jeff Karstens gets hit by a come backer in the first inning of the Red Sox game in Fenway on April 28th and breaks his fibula.
The Yanks summon in Igawa from the bullpen with two on and nobody out in the first inning and he goes on to pitch 6 scoreless innings and strikes out 6 batters to earn the win.
They put him back into the rotation and he is called upon to pitch a home game against the Seattle Mariners this past Friday, May the 5th, at home.
The Yankees jump out to a 5 to nothing lead in the first inning.
How does Igawa do in the next three innings?
He gives up 9 hits, 3 home runs, and 8 earned runs and the Yankees lose the game 15-11.
So now with Clemens coming back and Phil Hughes only out 3-5 weeks we need to start thinking about Kei's future.
He sort of reminds me of how things happened with Jose Contreras a few years ago.
You knew that he had talent and had good stuff because you see it every other game or so.
The problem was consistency and stringing together 3 or 4 quality starts in a row (whether he was the winning pitcher or not).
Kei has this same problem and while I know he can pitch and while I know he has talent, how much longer can we live with this Yo-Yo routine of his? I don't know how much Joe Torre and Brian Cashman are prepared to keep going and I think he's destined for the bullpen once either Clemens or Hughes is ready to pitch. Maybe even sooner. What do you think?


Semi - Tough, the Misbegotten Tale Of Carl the Fragile Yankee:
Now it seems that Carl Pavano may be headed down south to see the renowned orthopedic surgeon Doctor James Andrews in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. Andrews is well known for performing orthopedic surgery on many high profile athletes such as former Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smitt, New York Jets QB Chad Pennington, and world champion professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. Andrews is a highly respected master of his profession and is known world wide. If anyone can fix Carl --- Dr.Andrews could be that man. The only problem is if he has the surgery that he will likely have at the hands of Dr.Andrews he may need 13-18 months to recover. Therefore he might be able to make a start for the Yankees somewhere in the last few weeks of August of the regular season of 2008.
Oh and his contract is set to expire a month or so after that.
So, it's my opinion that if he opts for the surgery that we'll never see him in a Yankees game as a starting pitcher again because he won't recover in time and the Yankees would be out of their minds to give him any sort of extension.
They should sue him to get the 39 million that they have already wasted on him.
He's been a colossal disappointment and has not guts and no heart.
He defiantly is not a "warrior" in the mode of a Paul O'Neill or a Roger Clemens.
My opinion?
Let him go and forget about him.
We may never get our money back but don't spend one more minute worrying about him or waste one more cent working with him.
Give him his unconditional release and wash our hands of this guy.


Rasner Rises and the game gets U-G-L-Y for a moment:
Darrell Rasner shined in his 5 and two thirds innings for the Yankees today allowing no runs on 3 hits and 2 walks while fanning five. The two walks came in the final two at bats as he appeared to tire a little and lose his location. If he had gone an inning or two more without allowing a run, I would have considered it a great start. It was still a nice outing for the 26 year old who got his first win of the year and had a decidedly better start than Kei Igawa did two days before. If he can keep this kind of work going he'll end up being quite an asset for the Yankees as they wait for the return of Roger Clemens a few weeks down the road. The struggling Bobby Abreu also had a good game as he had 2 hits and 2 RBI's in the Yankees 5-0 win today over the Seattle Mariners. Jeter, Matsui, and Cario also had 2 hit games and Matsui collected his 2000th Carree hit in the ballgame. This hit allowed him to earn admission to Meikyukai, a Japanese "Golden Players Club" based upon statistical plateaus. Hideki Matsui's sixth-inning hit originally was scored an error on left fielder Raul Ibanez, who allowed the fly ball to drop on the sunny afternoon, but later was changed to a double. It gave Matsui has 1,390 hits in Japan's Central League and 610 more with the Yankees, gaining him entry to the Golden Players Club for Japanese players with 200 wins, 250 saves or 2,000 hits.                  

That was the good....
Now for the bad and the ugly...
In the bottom of the 5th inning Josh Phelps came in to score the first run of the ballgame (for either team) from first on a single by Derek Jeter and when he slid in at home he slammed hard into Seattle's catcher Kenji Johjima and threw an arm into him.
It seemed unnecessarily rough to me and to the Mariners and then in the 6th inning when Phelps came up to bat he was promptly hit by a pitch by Seattle starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn. A warning was issued to both benches by the officials and the inning continued as Phelps walked down to first without complaint.
This was actually the second time in this series that both benches were warned as Kei Igawa hit Ichiro in the Friday night game.
After the warning Scott Proctor drilled Yuniesky Betancourt with an inside pitch with two outs and nobody on in the top of the 7th inning. Proctor got tossed after watching Betancourt point his bat at him and Nieves restrained him. Both benches emptied but no punches were thrown and after order was restored to the situation both Proctor and manager Joe Torre were ejected from the ballgame. 
Torre got thrown out because anytime both benches are warned the manager and the offending pitcher are ejected together after another violation.
I understand that there have been times in recent years where Alex or Jeter have been hit with pitches and most of the time we don't retaliate.
And most of the time they are unintentional.
And I do respect the code and I know that if your guy gets hit you have to stand up for him.
But to me, Phelps started this mess today with a way too hard slide when he rammed into Johjima.
Johjima wasn't on the bag and wasn't receiving the throw from Ichiro and so a simple slide was all that Phelps needed to do.
He messed up and went too far and the HBP he received in the next inning was his receipt for it.
That's all.
That should have been it.
Proctor shouldn't have thrown at their guy and this thing got out of hand when it didn't need to be that way.
I hope things don't go like that in game four tomorrow as we look to win 3 out of 4 against the M's at home and then get set to receive the visiting Texas Rangers on Tuesday for a rematch of last weeks series in Texas.

I'll preview the game tomorrow and look ahead to the Texas series in New York tomorrow !
Thanks for reading and WELCOME BACK ROCKET !

Mike

I got up and got myself a drink and I heard the crowd roar and I thought maybe somebody hit a home run and when I ran back into the room I found out the news...
And that was that during the game today on YES they put it up on the scoreboard that Clemens is coming back to pitch this year for the Yankees.
Then they showed him in the booth wearing the Yankees cap !
They are talking to him in the booth and he says that he may pitch his first start for the Yankees in 2007 by the end of the month or the beginning of next month !
More news to come and a game recap of the wild game today later this afternoon !

CLEMENS IS BACK !!!

Mike

Well, I have to admit I've been a little lax with the posts.
I was in Dallas until very early in the morning this morning and I crashed most of the day --- other than watching Wang throw his near perfecto.
Yesterday we lost to the Seatlle 15-11 and today we won 8-1.
What will tomorrow bring when Rasner takes on Washburn?
Washburn has had a pretty solid season so far as the left-hander has pitched in five games for the M's this season so far and is 2-2 with a very respectable 2.88 ERA.
Washburn has put in at least six innings of work in all of his starts, surrendering two or fewer runs in four of the starts. Afterpitching a complete-game shutout against the Athletics in his final April start, Washburn started May by holding the White Sox to two runs (on two solo homers) over seven innings. He's now surrendered just four homers this season. I remember him giving us fits when he pitched for the Angels in the past and he can be rough on Yankee hitters.

We are recalling Darrell Rasner from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to pitch for us in light of injuries to both Phil Hughes and Carl Pavano (who appears to be constructed out of paper mache).
Rasner was decent in his 3 games with the big league club this season going 0-1 with an ERA of 3.86. The 26 year old Carson City native has pitched 14 innings in 2007 for the Yankees and has given up 17 hits, nine runs (six of them earned), 3 walks, 3 home runs, and struck out 6.
Not too shabby and he looked good in spring training.
And after watching Igawa give away what seemed like 30 runs on 40 hits two days ago --- somebody that can hold a team to 2-4 runs a game will seem like Nolan Ryan.
Well, that's all for now.
Now that I'm back home and almost caught up on my rest you can expect to see more regular and more detailed blogs again.

Oh, and by the way, I just added a new photo album to this blog that has about 105 photos from the Texas series from this past week.

Check it out if you'd like....

More to come tomorrow !
Until then....
LETS GO YANKEES !

Mike

Man, those two games yesterday were totally awesome.
Millwood didn't make his predicted start in game one and Pettitte faced Mike Wood.
Wood did fairly well and limited the Yankee offense to just 2 earned runs in his 6 innings pitched, but it was enough as the Yankees took this game 4 to 3 due to Matsui's clutch RBI doouble in the 8th. We won, Mariano pitched a scoreless 9th inning and got the save and all was well. The only thing that disappointed me a little was that Andy Pettitte left the game with a 3-2 lead and the light home run hitting Jerry Hariston Junior hits a home run off of Vizcaino to tie the game and eliminate Pettitte's chance for a win. I hated that. Andy deserved better. But we won and it was a well played game and so I can't complain too loudly.
Giambi also had a booming home run to deep center early in the game that really got the crowd onto their feet.
Even though it was a Rangers home game --- there were so many Yankees fans there it felt like a Yankees home game.
Then right after Mo got the last out in game one it started raining and hailing.
We had roughly two hours between games one and two of the double header and it rained all that time and quit just about 15 minutes before the start of game two and game two got started about 7:45 PM CST.
It really felt like somebody up there was looking out for us to get these games in.
Then Moose pitched game two of the double header and out dueled Tejeda for another Yankees win.
He was on a 75 pitch limit coming off the DL and departed after 64 pitched after the end of the 5th inning.
I didn't know about the pitch limit at the time and was frantic that he hurt himself because he left the game after just 64 pitches while he was pitching well.
But he was fine and we got another win due to some clutch hitting by Derek Jeter and took this game 5-2. Mariano picked up wis seccond scorless 9th inning save and the Yankees fans went home happy.
I'll post lots more about this series when I'm at my home computer and not the Arlington Public Library CPU.
I took about 200 pictures so I'll have a huge photo album of them downloaded tonight or tomorrow morning.
Check back tomorrow for more details and a ton of pictures.
Thanks for reading !

Mike

I was at the game last night and I don't know how much they showed of it last night but the rains were absolutely torrential in nature.
Absolute worst weather ever for a ball game that I have been too.
They evacuated all of us to the tunnels at about 7:00 CST for precautionary reasons due to tornado alerts and severe thunderstorms.
I really thought they would actually play and just start around 8:45 or 9:00 PM CST, But they called it and we have a double header at 2:30 and then game 2 will be at 7:05.
So for all the east coast fans that will be at 1:30 and 6:05.
I'm hoping that they get them both in today because this is the only scheduled trip that the Yankees are making to Texas this year.
Both of today's Yankees/Rangers games will be available on both YES and MLB.TV.
It was supposed to be Pettitte against Tejada last night but now it will Pettitte against Millwood in game one and Moose against Tejada in game two.
Kevin Millwood has been complaining about an aggravated left hamstring on Wednesday andwill be evaluated Thursday morning, with right-handed long reliever Mike Wood prepared to step in if needed. Millwood is 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA in his past three starts.
Also left-handers are hitting .346 off him which is good since the Yankees are very left handed. Look to see Damon in the line up.
Millwood is 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA in two starts at home and he's 1-4 with a 4.82 ERA in six career starts against the Yankees.
Well, gotta run....
I'll post more when I can...

LETS GO YANKEES and hopefully we sweep the double header and the series !

Mike

Hey fellow Yankees fans, I'm reporting from the Arlington Public Library here about 20 miles from the beautiful ballpark in Arlington, Texas.
I had 5th row seats behind third base last night and have those same seats tonight and tomorrow night.
Man, what a game last night !
The ballpark was rockin' and there were a ton of Yankees fans there.
Normally Yankees games average 50 thousand or so here in Texas and a lot of the time it's standing room only but because of the thunderstorms that had been raging almost the whole day the game only managed to have about 32 thousand spectators.
But those who did attend got to see Phil Hughes pitch a dandy where he struck out 6 over 6 and a third scoreless innings and if not for the fluke injury I think he might have went the distance. His pitch count was only about 78 or so at the time and he'd cruised through the first 4 innings on just 42 pitches.
I know that it's no fun to see him hurt his hamstring and it's very frustrating --- but the good news is we now know without a doubt that he can live up to the hype and while he may be out a month or so, he'll be back and when he does we have a legitimate home grown starting pitcher.
Nothing makes me happier than to know that we have Hughes and Wang as young home grown pitchers to make up 40% of our rotation.
And what about our offense?


Cano went 4-5 with two doubles and 3 RBI's...
Posada went 3-4 with 2 doubles, a walk, and 2 RBI's...
Matsui  had a double and 2 RBI's...
Alex Rodriguez went 3-4 with a walk...

It was an offensive explosion by the Yanks !

Hopefully it will be the same tonight !
I'll download the pictures that I took last n night when I get home Friday and I'll try and come out and post more following the game tonight and the finale on Thursday !

Until tomorrow ...

LETS GO YANKEES !

Mike

I'm just getting ready to leave for the Yankees games in Arlington.
And this morning it was coming down like cats and dogs and there was loads of thunder.
I called the ticket office and the lady didn't think there would be a rain out tonight but if there was one there could likely be a double header on tomorrow or the next day being as that the Yankees are only coming to town once this year.
Keep your fingers crossed that we get all the games in because

I'm really jazzed about this series and the pitchers projected to start for the Yankees.

Like I said before, I may not be able to get online until I get back Friday night --- so this might be my only post for a few days.
See you when I get back and ...
before I forget ....

LETS GO YANKEES !

(Sorry this is so short, I'm running late and I gotta get going !)

Mike