Rocket’s Road To Ruin!
Roger Clemens indicted for lying under oath to Congress

The nightmare began over 2-1/2 years ago. On December 13, 2007 Ex-senator George Mitchell, who had been authorized by Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to look into the severity of the steroid/HGH problem in baseball, filed the report on his findings. It was entitled, “REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER OF BASEBALL OF AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO THE ILLEGAL USE OF STEROIDS AND OTHER PERFORMANCE ENHANCING SUBSTANCES BY PLAYERS IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.”

The report was 409 pages long and it capped an approximate 21-month investigation. Eighty-six players were named in the report. The team with players most often named was the New York Yankees, which led the field with 22 names associated with the club. They were followed by the Baltimore Orioles (18), Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels (16), New York Mets (15), Los Angeles Dodgers (15) and the Texas Rangers (15).

Right smack in the middle of the report, on page 167, appeared the biggest name of all – Roger Clemens.

It all started with the Federal Government’s investigation of convicted steroid peddler Kurt Radomski. In connection with the investigation Federal agents questioned Clemens personal trainer Brian McNamee. McNamee, a former New York police officer, agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office as part of their investigation of Radomski. Additionally, it was agreed to that McNamee would not be charged with any crime if he gave truthful answers. However, any false answers would mean McNamee could and would face charges.

Mitchell piggybacked onto the Federal investigation and was allowed to question McNamee about any involvement he had in distributing performance enhancing drugs to any major league players. McNamee told Mitchell he became professionally involved with Clemens in 1998 and over a three year period from 1998 through 2001 McNamee said he injected Clemens several times with various PEDs.

According to McNamee after the 2001 season Clemens never asked him to inject him with performance enhancing drugs again. However, McNamee stated that he continued as a personal trainer for Clemens as well as picking up Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch. Radomski indicated in the report that when asked how Pettitte or Knoblauch was doing McNamee would indicate, “they are on the program.” Radomski took it to mean they were using PEDs, but admitted McNamee never directly said so.

The Mitchell Report also indicated Clemens remained a source of income through 2007.

On December 23, 2007, after the report was made public, Clemens went on the defensive and made a YouTube video, running a minute and forty-eight seconds, and categorically denying ever having used or being injected with performance enhancing drugs by McNamee or anyone else.

Clemens next stop was the studios of CBS’s “60 Minutes” news program. Clemens was interviewed by veteran report Mike Wallace. The interview was broadcast on Sunday, January 6, 2008. Once again Clemens denied ever using any performance enhancing drugs.

Sunday night, in Harris County District Court in Texas, Clemens filed suit against McNamee listing 15 alleged statements McNamee made to the baseball drug investigator George Mitchell. Clemens stated the statements were "untrue and defamatory."

At the same time it was learned that McNamee called Clemens on the Friday before the 60 Minutes interview and had a 17-minute phone conversation, which began with Clemens inquiring about McNamee’s ailing son.

Later in the conversation the talk turned to the allegations McNamee made. Clemens told McNamee, “I didn’t do it.” McNamee replied, “Tell me what you want me to do. I'll go to jail. I'll do whatever you want." Clemens never told McNamee to recant his allegations and say he was lying. He only said he wanted someone to tell the truth. Afterward, Clemens’ attorney Rusty Hardin told the press he said Clemens could have said more, but didn’t because he had instructed Clemens not to threaten McNamee or make it sound like he was intimidating a potential Federal witness.

As McNamee’s and Clemens’ attorney’s played word war games in the press the United States Congress stepped into the fray and wanted both men, along with Pettitte and Knoblauch to testify before them as to their alleged PED usage and whatever else they knew, which would help the problem of performance enhancing drugs in Baseball.

On February 5, 2008 Clemens told federal investigators he had never taken any form of performing enhancing drugs.

The next day McNamee and his team revealed they had given investigators several needles and gauze with Clemens blood and traces of PEDs on them to prove Clemens had injected illegal substances.

The hearing was set for February 13, 2008 in Washington, DC. It went off as scheduled, but the most important witness in the matter wasn’t even at the hearing.

Andy Pettitte, who was Clemens’ friend and teammate on both the Yankees and later Houston Astros, admitted receiving HGH shots from McNamee in 2002 to help speed up the healing process of tendinitis in his throwing elbow. A condition that landed Pettitte on the disabled list. In his affidavit Pettitte said in 1999 he had a conversation with Clemens while training with him where Clemens admitted to him he had taken Human Growth Hormone. Later Clemens denied using HGH and when Pettitte confronted Clemens about the discrepancy Clemens said he wasn’t talking about his usage, but his wife, Debbie.

In the hearing Clemens told the congressional committee that Pettitte mistaken their conversation.

"I think Andy has misheard. I think he misremembers," Clemens said.

In McNamee’s deposition before the congressional committee a week before the hearing McNamee stated that he had injected Debbie Clemens with HGH to get her to look good for a pose on a Sports Illustrated cover. As had been the cycle throughout the “he said, he said” ordeal the details surrounding this shot were disputed.

Clemens said McNamee told Debbie about the advantages of using HGH and that she injected herself and McNamee claimed he gave Mrs. Clemens the injection in the Clemens’ bedroom in Roger Clemens presence.

In another deposition former major leaguer and ex-teammate of Clemens and Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch, said in his sworn statement that McNamee, while training him when with the New York Yankees, had injected him with HGH 7 to 9 times in 2002.

At the end of the hearing things were not looking good for Clemens. McNamee was apparently truthful in his statements about Pettitte, Knoblauch and Debbie Clemens. How is it that these three witnesses corroborated McNamee’s claims, but Clemens is saying McNamee is lying about him? Clemens veracity was clearly in question.

Late in February, 2008 the congressional committee requested the U.S. Justice Department begin an investigation to determine if Clemens had lied to Congress under oath.

Eleven months later the Federal Grand Jury convened to review testimony and evidence to determine if Clemens should be prosecuted for lying under oath to Congress.

In February of 2009 tests conducted on the items turned over to Federal investigators indicate Clemens’ DNA is in the syringes McNamee claims he use to inject the pitcher with performance enhancing drugs. Approximately one month later investigators discover evidence of performance enhancing drugs on the items provided by McNamee.

On August 28 the Federal court in Houston, Texas dismissed Clemens defamation suit against McNamee. He later lost an appeal to have it reinstated. Meanwhile, McNamee filed his own defamation suit in Brooklyn, New York. Advantage McNamee.

Now comes the indictment against the man who was arguably hailed as the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball. Two World Series rings, seven Cy Young Awards, an MVP, All-star selections, etc. etc. We may be finding out why now. Remember when, in 1997, ex-GM Dan Duquette said Clemens was in the “twilight of his career” and the Boston Red Sox let him go to Toronto? Maybe Duquette had a better sense of Clemens abilities than he was given credit for.

On top of all of this Clemens secret personal life came to light as well. Always depicted as a family man who loved his wife dearly Clemens was discovered to have had many trysts during his career. Everything from an underage ex-country singer to a porn star. Clemens first denied any of it, but later apologized for personal mistakes to his wife and family, but never said what he was apologizing for.

Roger Clemens is up the proverbial “bleep” creek without a paddle. His life as he knew it is crumbling around him. The next few months to years ahead Clemens may be trading in his Yankee pinstripes for another kind of uniform with stripes. No matter what the outcome of any future trial may indicate Clemens will be tried and convicted in the court of public opinion.

Admittedly, each tidbit mentioned here, by themselves, would hardly condemn anyone, but taken in mass and as a whole this chronology of alleged lies and evidence can be quite damning to Clemens, his future and his legacy.

There is no honor, no glory and no Hall of Fame in Clemens future as it appears now. How does he look his kids in their faces or his wife’s and say, “It ain’t so?”

For their sakes and his I hope he’s right.

© 2010 Yankees Talk Shop @ yuku.com.
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Yankees Split For Home

Bombers go disappointing 3-3 on road trip

The old adage is win at home and play .500 on the road and your team will have a good fortune. Well, that formula usually works, but not always.

One week ago the Yankees had just finished a four-game weekend, wrap around series with the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees split that series 2-2 leaving them 1.5 games ahead of the second place Tampa Bay Rays and six games ahead of the BoSox. With a chance to put the Red Sox as many as ten games behind them in the standings the Yankees took their foot off Boston’s throat and allowed them to live to fight another day.

They hit the road for Texas and Kansas City and if you believe in win-loss records the Yankees should be returning home on the heels of a successful, winning road trip.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda.

The Yankees started out their roady with a two-game set against the Texas Rangers in Arlington. In the past New York has had the better of the Rangers. This time, however, Texas was having none of that. With temperatures in triple digits the Yankees and Rangers went hammer and tong for two straight nights.

On Tuesday night A.J. Burnett faced off against C.J. Wilson and it was a pitcher’s duel. Burnett gave up only three runs on six hits in seven innings of work. Wilson was nearly as dominant surrendering only two runs on five hits during a 5.1 inning stint. The difference in the game was the 10th inning appearance by Mariano Rivera who loaded the bases by surrendering two straight singles and an intentional walk. The only out recorded was made by Vladimir Guerrero who grounded out to third. Rivera then gave up a third single to David Murphy plating Michael Young for a 4-3 win.

The following night the Yankees returned the favor coming back from a 6-1 shortfall against lefty ace Cliff Lee. The Bombers scored six runs in the final four innings winning the game 7-6 on Marcus Thames tie-breaking single to score Brett Gardner.

Landing in Kansas City for a four game series against the Royals, and with the top of their rotation ready to go, the Yankees had every expectation of either sweeping or at least taking this series away from K.C.
Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda.

Thursday’s contest pitted C.C. Sabathia against journeyman lefty Bruce Chen. Sabathia wasn’t sharp, but he battled. He went 8.2 innings and gave up just three runs on ten hits, striking out three and walking two. Chen wasn’t terrific either. He allowed three runs on eight hits while fanning two and walking two in five innings of work. Chen did what he needed to do and kept his team in the game.

Sabathia took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth and after getting the first out surrendered two singles before getting the second out. With two on and two out manager Joe Girardi replaced Sabathia with Dave Robertson who gave up a two run double before getting catcher Jason Kendall to strike out to end the game.

Kansas City returned the favor the following night beating Dustin Moseley and the Yankees 4-3.

On Saturday Phil Hughes went up against Sean O’Sullivan and the AWOL Yankees’ offense finally showed up. Led by Alex Rodriguez’s 3-home run night New York knocked out five home runs (Jorge Posada and Curtis Granderson hit the other two) and collected 14 hits on the evening to take the game 8-3, giving Hughes his 14th win on the season.

This afternoon’s game had Burnett facing never before seen right-handed pitcher Bryan Bullington. Bullington, who was baseball’s No. 1 draft pick eight years ago, had an 0-7 lifetime record. He was 0-2 this season losing in his last appearance against the Los Angeles Angels 3-1. Bullington threw six innings and allowed all three runs on five hits. He struck out four and walked one.

Burnett, on the other hand, was also coming off a loss, but had pitched very well against the always tough Rangers. The edge should have been to the Yankees.

Both pitchers dug in early and late, but it was Burnett who surrendered the only run of the day. In the first inning Willie Bloomquist hit a one out single to right, then stole second and later scored on a single to center by Billy Butler. After that Burnett bore down and kept the Royals from scoring another run. Burnett went the distance in a losing effort by striking out six and walking three. The three hits in the first inning was all the offense the Royals produced for the remainder of the game.

As good as Burnett was Bullington was better. He shut down one of the best lineups in baseball for eight innings. Bullington gave up only two hits while striking out five and walking one. Closer Joakim Soria pitched a perfect ninth to preserve the shutout.

The Yankees now head home for a seven game home stand against the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners; two teams who are having plenty of troubles. Both clubs are playing below .500 ball and the Yankees know they should be flying home to face them with a winning road record. Instead, they are landing in New York after splitting their last two series.

Seventeen of the next twenty-three games the Yankees play will be played in the Bronx where they have a .649 winning percentage; best in the American League. This is the time for the Yankees to take advantage of this part of the schedule and put some sustained winning streaks together. September is fast approaching and the Yankees have a brutal schedule facing the Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, the newly improved Baltimore Orioles, Red Sox and Rays. Their final seven games of the season are on the road with four in Tampa and three in Boston.

The Yankees destiny is in their own hands. Win and they go to the playoffs. Lose and face the possibility of not being able to defend their World Series championship in October.

Losing is not an option.

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The one that got away!
Yankees fail to bury Red Sox in 4-game split

There were no winners and no real losers. The Boston Red Sox came into this weekend’s wrap around series at Yankee Stadium trailing the New York Yankees by six games. They left the Bronx after Monday’s game trailing by the same six game margin by virtue of a four game split. The Yankees, on the other hand, fared a little better. Although not able to gain ground on the Red Sox they did pull further ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays are in action tonight against the Detroit Tigers. A win would pull the Rays within a 1-1/2 games of the division leaders and a loss would put them 2-1/2 games behind.

Sox starter Jon Lester was absolutely dominating in the early and middle innings of the contest. He didn’t allow a hit until the bottom of the fifth inning. He went seven innings, surrendering only four hits and no runs while striking out six and walking three. He threw 99 pitches before turning the ball over to reliever Daniel Bard in the eighth inning.

Phil Hughes pitched a doozy himself. Even though he wasn’t quite as dominant as Lester Hughes threw six strong innings and only allowed two runs, all in the second inning, on six hits. He struck out three and walked one in the loss.

The pitchers were the story of the day, but the story of the weekend was the Yankees failure to take advantage of playing this series at home. If the Yankees had won the series or had swept the Sox they could’ve taken a commanding eight to nine game lead in the division race. As it is Boston remained six games behind the Yankees and depending upon what the Rays do are within striking distance of the wild card slot.

The Red Sox took the lead in the game in the second on a throwing error by catcher Jorge Posada. LF Ryan Kadish hit a one out single to right and then stole second to set himself up into scoring position. Posada threw the ball wide of the bag and into the outfield. Kadish popped up and took third. He scored the first run on 2B Bill Hall’s infield hit to shortstop. CF Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a single to shallow center field allowing Hall to go to third. Hall scored on RF J.D. Drew’s grounder to Robinson Cano at second. Hughes got catcher Victor Martinez to ground out to end the inning.

Lester kept the Yankees off balance by mixing his pitches all afternoon. The Bombers best chance came in the bottom of the seventh when Posada led off with a single. DH Marcus Thames doubled to deep right, narrowly missing a game tying home run, but the slow-footed Posada could only make it to third. Lester then hit LF Austin Kearns to load the bases with no one out. Boston manager Terry Francona kept Lester in the game to face CF Curtis Granderson and Lester rewarded Francona by striking Granderson out on three pitches out of the strike zone.

Francona made a pitching change bringing in the hard throwing Daniel Bard to face SS Derek Jeter and RF Nick Swisher. Bard struck both of the Yankee hitters out leaving the bases full of Yankees and nothing to show for it.

The Yankee had one more shot at winning the game in the bottom of the eighth when 1B Mark Teixeira led off with a long solo shot into the second deck in right field off Bard. 3B Alex Rodriguez followed with a single and he was replaced on the bases by the speedy Brett Gardner. Gardner moved to second on a ground out by Cano. Posada walked, but neither runner advanced as pinch hitter Lance Berkman popped out to left. Berkman ran off the field to a chorus of boos.

At this point Francona went to his stopper Jonathan Papelbon to record the final out of the inning. He did so on one pitch as Kearns swung at the first pitch and grounded out to second.

Papelbon returned in the ninth to close out the game. He struck out Granderson, Swisher and Teixeira to put the final stamp on an afternoon of terrific pitching.

"Give them credit because they made the big pitch when they needed to," Teixeira told reporters after the game. "It was kind of a bend but we don't break attitude for them today, and we just couldn't come up with the big hit."

Manager Joe Girardi said the Yankees had their chances to score, but the Sox bullpen kept the Yankees at bay.

"We missed a lot of opportunities in the last three innings," Girardi said to the media. "We had some chances to score some runs. Obviously they have a good back end of the bullpen, but we had our shots."

Hopefully for the Yankees they won’t look back on this series as the season winds down to wonder what if? The next meeting between the two clubs won’t be until September 24, and they might be the most important games of all.

"We know that there's still a lot of baseball and we have to continue to try and win series," Girardi stated. "I'm going to say it again and you probably get tired of hearing it. No one said it was going to be easy."

The Yankees take their show on the road as they fly to Texas to take on the Rangers in a 2-game series in Arlington before moving onto Kansas City to face the Royals in a 4-game set. The Red Sox head to Toronto to play three against the always tough Blue Jays, and then follow the Yankees down to Texas to face the Rangers in a 3-game series.

© 2010 Yankees Talk Shop @ yuku.com.
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Moseley Mows Down Red Sox
Unsung pitcher shuts down Boston bats

What a coming out party for young right-handed pitcher Dustin Moseley. Moseley, who gained the attention of Joe Girardi and company after mopping up a poorly pitched game by Sergio Mitre on July 24 against the Kansas City Royals, entered last night’s game with no other expectations than try and hold the line.

Under the lights at Yankee Stadium and showcasing his stuff on the nationally televised game for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball Moseley did more than that. He completely slammed the door on the Boston Red Sox for nearly seven innings.

Moseley entered Sunday’s game with a 1-1 record. His previous outing was on August 3 against the Toronto Blue Jays and the Jays knocked Moseley around like George Foreman knocked around Joe Frazier. Moseley lasted 7-1/3 innings, but have up 9 hits, including 2 home runs, and 5 earned runs. So against a dangerous team like the Red Sox who are fighting for their playoff lives no one could predict how Moseley would do in a game between the greatest rivals and sports and on national T.V.

Moseley didn’t disappoint.

The Red Sox, currently in 3rd place in the AL East, had their ace facing Moseley and the Yankees. Josh Beckett had just come off the disabled list and pitched a tremendous game against the Cleveland Indians, going 8 innings and just allowing one earned run on 3 hits. That said, observers said they wanted to see how Beckett would fare against an elite team before proclaiming he was all the way back.

If you were taking bets in Las Vegas the smart money would have been on Beckett over Moseley. Apparently, Moseley didn’t read the morning line.

Moseley went right after the Red Sox hitters. In 6-1/3 innings Moseley allowed only 2 earned runs on six hits, while striking out five and walking one batter. He threw 87 pitches, 52 for strikes and only second baseman Bill Hall managed to get more than one hit in the game. He did the most damage against Moseley when he hit a solo home run to open the 5th inning. The home run didn’t dampen Moseley’s spirits as he retired the next three hitters to maintain a 2-1 Yankees’ lead.

The Yankees got on the board first when in the bottom of the second inning, with DH Lance Berkman standing on second, LF Brett Gardner hit a grounder up the middle and to the left of Hall. Hall snagged the ball as Berkman made his way to third, but made a costly error trying to throw out the speedy Gardner at first. Hall threw the ball wide allowing Berkman to score the Yankees first run.

Gardner, doing what he does best stole second base to set up another run scoring opportunity. Shortstop and Yankee captain Derek Jeter as he often does lined a single up the middle scoring Gardner to make it 2-0. That hit was Jeter’s 2,874th to move him past Babe Ruth into 39th place on the career hits list.

After the Red Sox had cut the Yankees lead in half on Hall’s bomb the Yankees went to work on Beckett. First baseman Mark Teixeira, who had never hit a home run in 31 previous at bats against Beckett, led off the bottom of the 5th and hit a 91 mph 2-seam fastball over the right field fence to make the tally 3-1.

Beckett’s nightmare didn’t end there. He walked Alex Rodriguez and hit Robinson Cano with a pitch to put runners on first and second. After striking out Jorge Posada Beckett surrendered a run scoring double to Berkman. With Cano on third and Berkman occupying second Beckett walked Curtis Granderson to load the bases. As Gardner struck out swinging catcher Kevin Cash tried a pickoff throw to third in an attempt to get Cano. The ball bounced off a diving Cano’s helmet and went into left field. Cano scored and both Berkman and Granderson moved up 90 feet. That brought up Jeter.

Jeter drove a 1-1 cutter into the right-center field gap for a double and scored both Berkman and Granderson. That was the end of Beckett’s night. Reliever Manny Del Carmen came on and struck out Nick Swisher to end the inning. The damage was done as the Yankees took a 7-1 lead.

In the meantime Moseley held the line in the 6th. After David Ortiz singled to start the inning Moseley popped out Victor Martinez and got J.D. Drew to ground into an inning ending double play.

In the 7th inning Moseley surrendered a double to Adrian Beltre and, after striking out Ryan Kalish, he gave up a soft ground single to Hall to put runners at first and third. Manager Joe Girardi made a pitching change and brought in the inconsistent Joba Chamberlain. Chamberlain allowed a single to Mike Lowell scoring Beltre and putting runners at first and second. He got OF Jacoby Ellsbury to fly out to left before walking shortstop Marco Scutaro to load the bases and that brought up Ortiz. Girardi had seen enough. He replaced Chamberlain with left specialist Boone Logan who induced Ortiz to ground out to Cano to end the inning and the threat.

The rest of the game went without any drama and Moseley had earned himself a well deserved victory.

The Yankees and Red Sox face off today in the Bronx at 2:05 p.m. to close out their 4-game series. A Yankees win would put the Bombers 8 full games ahead of the Red Sox. A Red Sox victory would allow them to leave New York the same 6 games behind they were when they arrived on Friday.

Today’s starters pits Boston’s Jon Lester (11-7, 3.07) against New York’s Phil Hughes (13-4, 3.96) Lifetime Lester is 4-1 with a 4.01 ERA against the Yankees and Hughes 1-2 with a 6.48 ERA against the Red Sox.

Notes: In four starts against the Yankees this season Josh Beckett has surrendered 24 earned runs in 19-1/3 innings of work. That calculates out to an 11.31 ERA against the Bombers. Alex Rodriguez was removed from the game before the 9th inning due to his sore left shin stiffening up. Before that A-Rod became only the third player in MLB history to record at least 600 home runs and 300 stolen bases. Willie Mays and Barry Bonds are the other two.

© 2010 Yankees Talk Shop @ yuku.com.
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Si, Si, Sabathia Was Terrific!
Lefty throws blanket over Sox in 5-2 win

Other than a hiccup in the second inning of the New York Yankees 5-2 win over the visiting Boston Red Sox Saturday afternoon in the Bronx lefty starter C.C. Sabathia gave a pitching lesson the rest of the Bombers starting rotation should try and emulate. Especially, since the other guy who uses his initials as a first name has been an inconsistent question mark all season long. A.J. Burnett starts Sunday night’s game against the Sox.

Sabathia went eight strong innings, throwing 101 pitches along the way and out-dueled his opposite number, right-handed pitcher, John Lackey to earn his 14th win in 19 decisions. Sabathia struck out four and walked one, and after giving up a solo home run to catcher Victor Martinez and an RBI double to third baseman Adrian Beltre scoring first baseman Mike Lowell in the second, pretty well shut down the Red Sox offense the rest of the way. In fact, three of his four K’s was against Boston’s designated hitter David Ortiz. Ortiz was not a fan of home plate umpire Jerry Layne; questioning Layne on the expanse of his strike zone on a few occasions.

Meanwhile, Lackey, who has had past success while a member of the Los Angeles (Anaheim) Angels, didn’t fare as well. Lackey threw 116 pitches in six innings of work, giving up 5 earned runs on 8 hits, while walking three and striking out seven. Lackey’s downfall came in the 5th inning when the Yankees scored twice to break a 2-2 tie.

With two outs and Yankees at first and third on singles by Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira Robinson Cano singled to right field scoring Swisher. Catcher Jorge Posada followed with a single of his own scoring Cano. Posada stole second to set up a second and third, but DH Lance Berkman hit a weak grounder to Lackey who threw Berkman out at first to end the inning.

The Yankees cashed in another run in the 6th when Curtis Granderson singled to right, stole second and later scored on a one out single by Ramiro Pena to right to make the score 5-2.

Sabathia put up zeroes in the 7th and 8th innings bridging the gap to Mariano Rivera to close out the 9th.

Rivera threw an 8 pitch inning getting catcher Victor Martinez to ground out to Teixeira at first, Beltre to fly out to right and Lowell to fly out to Granderson in center to earn his 23rd save of the season.

After the game several Yankees spoke to the press about Sabathia’s performance.

Said manager Joe Girardi referring to Sabathia’s dominating outing, “Tremendous,” Girardi said, “It was what we needed.” Specifically, because the Yankees dropped 2-of-3 to the Toronto Blue Jays before dropping the first game of the four game set against the Red Sox during the Yankees seven game home stand.

Sabathia’s battery mate Posada put it this way. “You have your horse on the mound and you want to win when he's on the mound. It's important."

Sabathia played for two milestones in this game. On Thursday he and his wife welcomed their fourth child, Carter Child, into the family and Sabathia’s victory was the 150th win of his career. In a twist of irony for the Yankees Sabathia notched his 14th win of the season tying him for the American League lead in victories with David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays and you won’t believe it, Carl Pavano of the Minnesota Twins.

Yeah, THAT Pavano who couldn't find his way to a Yankees mound for 4 years and $40 million dollars.

Another couple of statistics about Sabathia is that he hasn’t lost in his last 18 starts at Yankee Stadium and is 13-0 over that span. Additionally, Sabathia is 3-0 with a .091 ERA against the Sox in his last four starts.

Sunday’s contest between the Yankees and Red Sox pits the beleaguered Burnett against Josh Beckett. Burnett’s record over the past 10 starts would indicate he has been erratic. In those starts Burnett has allowed no runs in three and over six in four others, including his last start against the Toronto Blue Jays where he allowed eight earned runs.

On the other hand, Beckett since coming off the disabled list on July 23 has seemingly bounced back. In his last start against the Cleveland Indians Beckett allowed only one run and three hits in eight innings of work. However, in his 2010 starts against the Yankees he is 0-1 with a 10.43 ERA.

Miracle or mirage?

Sunday night’s contest, broadcast nationally on ESPN, should answer a lot of questions. Is Burnett the pitcher the Yankees paid $82.5 million over 5 years and is Beckett all the way back from a string of seemingly endless injuries?

Stay tuned.

Notes: New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was injured during Saturday’s batting practice when Lance Berkman lined a ball at Rodriguez, which stuck him on the left shin sending him to the ground in pain. A-Rod walked off the field under his own power and initial x-rays proved negative for an extensive injury. Rodriguez has been listed as day-to-day.

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Another Boston Massacre in the Making?
Yanks need to bury long time rivals this weekend in the Bronx

By virtue of a day off and a late rally by the Minnesota Twins yesterday down in Tampa Bay the Yankees, find themselves atop of the AL Eastern Division today by a slim ½ game over the Tampa Bay Rays. They also lead the Boston Red Sox by 6 games going into this weekend’s wrap around series against the boys from Beantown.

The Yankees need to make the most of their opportunity in the next four days and make a statement, because, quite frankly, other than their head-to-head record against the Baltimore Orioles the Bombers fortunes against their AL East opponents aren’t all that great.

So far this season the Yankees are 5-6 against the Rays, 5-3 against the Red Sox and 4-5 against the fourth place Blue Jays. That gives them a 14-14 record facing teams not named the Orioles. That, too, may change, because the New Yorkers have six more games down the road against the O’s and they’re going to face them with a new manager in the dugout by the name of Buck Showalter.

Just ask the Angels how they fared against the Orioles these past 3 days. Under Showalter the Orioles are 3-0 and all three victories came at the expense of the Halos who were swept out of Baltimore, basically ending any realistic run they may have had to the playoffs. They trail the Texas Rangers by 10 games.

The Yankees can do the same to the Red Sox by winning this weekend’s series. The Sox just found out they lost another key piece to their team as Kevin Youkilis was placed on the disabled list with a torn right thumb requiring season ending surgery. They are still without Dustin Pedroia, Mike Cameron and their emotional leader Jason Varitek. That said, the Red Sox have played all year without various players in their clubhouse. At some point in time they have had to do without the services of Jacoby Ellsbury, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to name a few. Despite all the setbacks the Sox refuse to go away.

If the Yankees aren’t careful they just may give Boston the idea they can supplant the Bombers for one of the coveted playoff slots. They are like a very dangerous, wounded animal. You can’t let them get too close.

Both the Red Sox and Yankees have scheduling problems as well. Starting tonight they face each other for four games. Then Boston goes on the road to play three in Toronto, followed by three in Texas before returning home to face the Angels, Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners. Then they hit the road again to face Tampa Bay (3 games) and Baltimore (3 games). September-October is going to be tough as they face Chicago White Sox (3-home, 4-away), Tampa Bay (3-home), Oakland Athletics (3-away), Seattle (3-away), Toronto (3-home) and the Yankees (3-away, 3-home). Those six teams have a combined winning average .535.

The Yankees remaining August games pits them against the Red Sox (4-home), Rangers (2-away, Kansas City Royals (4-away), Detroit Tigers (4-home), Mariners (3-home), Blue Jays (3-home), White Sox (3-away) and Oakland (4-home).

Their September-October schedule gets brutal after that. The Yankees face the Blue Jays (3-home, 3-away), Orioles (3-home, 3-away), Rangers (3-away), Rays (3-away, 4-home) and Red Sox (3-home, 3-away).

Throw out Baltimore and the Yankees are playing the teams with the second, third, fourth, and sixth best records in the American League in the last month of the season. Those four teams are a combined 506-185 for a .732 winning percentage. With the Orioles it’s still .523 YIKES!

The team with, arguably, the easiest road to the playoffs is the Rays. For the remainder of August they face Blue Jays (3-away, 3-home), Tigers (3-away), Orioles (3-home), Rangers (3-home), Athletics (4-away), Angels (3-away) and Red Sox (3-home). In September-October the Rays get it on with the Orioles (3-away, 3-home), Red Sox (3-away), Blue Jays (3-away), Angels (3-home), Yankees (3-home, 4-away), Mariners (3-home) and the Royals (4-away). Those teams combine for a .474 winning percentage.

The Rays are going to be watching this weekend’s series between Boston and New York with keen interest. They have to take on the Blue Jays on the road, and they have to watch out and not stub their toes in Toronto. Even if the Rays sweep the Jays the Yankees can eliminate one of their competitors by taking at least 3-of-4 from Boston. Lose the series or split it and the Red Sox are still in business with a number of their walking wounded returning for the final weeks of the season.

Make no mistake this weekend’s series is important to both teams. However, it’s probably more important to Boston, because their season is going to live or die by how they do this weekend in the Bronx.

Do the Yankees have another Boston Massacre in their bag of tricks? They better hope so.

© 2010 Yankees Talk Shop @ yuku.comRedistribution, rewriting, rebroadcast, or republication of this story without the prior written consent of Yankees Talk Shop, Pride in the Pinstripes or its affiliates is strictly prohibited

DAMON DISSES YANKEES
Damon tells Detroit press Tigers always his No. 1 choice

Boy, if anyone could’ve used a teleprompter yesterday while speaking in front of the press it was Johnny Damon. After signing a 1-year, $8 million contract to play baseall in the Motor City for the 2010 season Damon told those present that playing in Detroit was always his goal.

"This is where I wanted to be from Day 1," he told reporters at his coming out news conference. "I'm sorry it took so long."

Damon sounded like playing in New York for the past four seasons was just a hiccup in his journey from Boston to Detroit.

Apparently, Damon’s speech writer isn’t aware of the economic climate assailing this country nowadays. Damon complained that he was offered a pay cut by the Yankees after having what anyone would call a great season.

"We're coming off a great year and you're told you've gotta take a pay cut," Damon said to the media present. "You're kind of like, 'A pay cut? What the heck?' It's a little humbling.”

"You're like, 'Wow, is that what they really think of me? Or what I do for the ballclub?' I did a lot for the ballclub. I even recruited (free agents) for those guys. I did everything."

Talk about losing touch with reality. Does Damon realize there are people who have been out of work for years, losing their homes, businesses and having trouble putting food on the table or in their stomachs? How anyone could complain about being offered $14 million for two years, playing what in essence is a kid’s game, is ridiculous.

Gee, Johnny what were the Yankees thinking?

Maybe Damon should have spoken to Andy Pettitte before turning down the Yankees offer or making these insensitive statements.

In 2009, Pettitte took a sizable reduction in pay when the Yankees offered him a 1-year, $5 million contract to stay in the Bronx. Pettitte’s salary in 2008? $16 million.

However, Pettitte had to weigh out what was most important to him. Turn down the offer and move on or accept it and remain in pinstripes. Pettitte chose the latter.

“I had to eat a lot of pride,’’ Pettitte said in an interview this past Friday in the New York Post. “But they gave me a chance to make $5 million more in incentives.’’

Pettitte responded by having one of his better seasons over the past four seasons. After going 14-8 with a 4.16 ERA and 4-0 with a 3.58 ERA in the playoffs the Yankees rewarded Andy with a 1-year, $11.75 million contract to stay in New York.

After turning down the Yankees initial offer Damon remained on the market while the Yankees went looking elsewhere. After trading for Curtis Granderson (Detroit Tigers), resigning Pettitte, signing Nick Johnson (Florida Marlins) and trading for Javier Vazquez (Atlanta Braves) there wasn’t enough money to interest Damon.

“I was in the same position and I could see it coming,’’ Pettitte said about the smaller pot of money. “That’s where I was last year. You need to be careful in that situation.’’
Damon and his agent Scott Boras overplayed their hand with the Yankees and got burned. If Detroit hadn’t offered this one-year deal what then? Damon would probably still be sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring.

After the season was completed, the playoffs and World Series over Damon made it clear where he wanted to play.

On November 23 Damon was contacted by the New York Daily News and was quoted as saying,

"I want to continue to be on a team that can win and to play in front of great fans - and we know that the Yankees fill both of those," Damon said. "I think everyone knows my desire to come back. Still, every time I've been a free agent, I've ended up switching teams. It's the nature of the beast. If people are interested, I'm going to listen."

In another interview with Andrew Marchand of ESPN 1050 Radio in New York Damon told him, “I know where I want to be next year. I want to be here in New York.”

If Damon would’ve stepped back and looked at the big picture instead of having a myopic view he would probably be a Yankee today.

Perhaps, Yankees’ General Manager Brian Cashman summed it up best.

"When we signed him (for four years, $52 million), he was playing center field, a premium position, and the market was high. Now he's a left fielder, he's 36, in a collapsed market. Why would he not expect to take a pay cut?"

Hopefully, for Damon his ego didn’t get the best of him, because he is going to have to go through all of this again next year. The Tigers, in addition to Damon, got highly touted prospect Austin Jackson from the Yankees in the Granderson trade. Jackson will get a year in the Tiger organization and will be ready to go in 2011. Damon will be 37, and probably looking for a new employer. For the difference of $2 million ($8 million x 2) Damon let the Yankees slip through his fingers.

Damon will be missed, but he is not irreplaceable. If the new guys in pinstripes can play and hit up to their projected potentials Damon’s departure will be a distant memory.

In the end Johnny Damon will again wear the number 18 on his back, but he’ll wish he was playing for the number 28 in October.

© 2010 Yankees Talk Shop @ yuku.com

Redistribution, rewriting, rebroadcast, or republication of this story without the prior written consent of Yankees Talk Shop, Pride in the Pinstripes or its affiliates is strictly prohibited

TIME TO GO TO WORK
With off season moves completed Yankees focus on 2010

The “Hot Stove” has officially been turned off as pitchers and catchers officially reported to the New York Yankees’ spring training facilities in Tampa, Florida. Barring any last minute additions or trades the 2010 Yankees’ squad has been set. Gone are Johnny Damon (free agent – signed Detroit Tigers), Chien-Ming Wang (not resigned – signed by Washington Nationals), Melky Cabrera (traded to Atlanta Braves) and Hideki Matsui (not resigned – signed by Los Angeles Angels) from the 2009 championship squad. In the off season the Yankees traded for OF Curtis Granderson (Detroit Tigers), signed DH/1B Nick Johnson (Florida Marlins), traded for SP Javier Vazquez (Atlanta Braves) and signed OF Randy Winn (San Francisco Giants).

Adding Granderson to the outfield corps was an instant boost in defense, but he’ll also be judged at the plate where Johnny Damon excelled batting either in front of or behind Derek Jeter. Last year Damon hit behind Jeter and delivered. His numbers were .282/82/24 for average, RBI and home runs. He also had .365 on base percentage. Damon was also very instrumental in the Yankees winning their first World Series championship in nine years, as he batted .364 and had an on base percentage of .440.

Damon also had the single highlight moment in the World Series. In Game 4, with the score tied 4-4 in the top of the ninth inning and Philadelphia Phillies closer Brad Lidge on the mound Damon stole second, popped up and outran 3B Pedro Feliz (who was covering second on a defensive shift put on for batter Mark Teixeira) to an unprotected third base. The move seemed to unhinge Lidge who hit Teixeira allowing Alex Rodriguez to come to the plate. A-Rod delivered a 2-out double to left field scoring Damon and putting Teixeira at third. Catcher Jorge Posada smacked a 2-run single to left, which doomed the Phillies to their fate. Instead of possibly tying the Series at 2 games apiece the Yankees took a commanding 3-1 lead, and ultimately the Series in six games.

On Granderson’s side of the ledger he is only 28 (Damon is 36) and he is defensively head and shoulders above Damon in this stretch of Damon’s career. Granderson hits for power. Last season he knocked out 30 home runs and drove in 71. Of concern is his .327 OBP, which was lower than Damon’s. His batting average was 33 points lower as well. However, throw out Granderson’s overall numbers for last year and he is offensively on par with Damon in all the pertinent categories.

The one move that has everyone scratching their heads is not resigning World Series MVP Hideki Matsui to a one-year contract. Matsui wanted to come back to the Yankees, and it was reported he would’ve taken a one-year deal, around $7 million to make it happen. Nonetheless, the Yankees jettisoned the man affectionately known as “Godzilla” and signed ex-Yankee Nick Johnson to a one-year deal for nearly the same money.

In the six years Matsui played in New York he averaged a .292 BA. He averaged 23.3 HR per year, and that’s including an injury shortened 2008 season when he only hit nine round trippers. Matsui also nearly averaged 100 RBI per year. That’s a lot of firepower to let walk away. The liability with Matsui is his knees, which have both been surgically repaired. The injuries have basically relegated Matsui to a DH role.

Johnson, on the other hand, can play first base where he has a career .992 fielding percentage. Johnson also has a better on base percentage than Matsui, and a comparable slugging percentage. Where Johnson lags is in the power numbers. He has played two more seasons than Matsui and has 51 less home runs. He has also plated 218 less runs. It will be interesting to see where manager Joe Girardi places Johnson in the Yankee lineup in order to effectively use him.

Next on the list is Javier Vazquez, who returns to the Bronx after being traded away following the 2004 season. Vazquez was part of a three team trade, which sent OF Melky Cabrera to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Vazquez.

Vazquez had a mixed season in his one and only year with the Yankees. In the first half of the campaign Vazquez went 9-5 with an ERA of 3.42 (as of June 29). Vazquez’s performance earned him his first and only all-star appearance. After July 1 Vazquez developed shoulder problems and his ERA averaged 6.78 for the remainder of the year.

In the 2004 playoffs Vazquez was a mess. He gave up 12 earned runs in 11.1 innings earning Vazquez a one-way ticket out of town via trade.

Vazquez enters the 2010 season hoping to build upon the best overall season of his career. Last year Vazquez pitched to a 15-10 record. He attained career bests in win percentage (.600) and ERA (2.87). Over the past three seasons he has struck out 200 or more batters and has pitched 200+ innings in nine of the last ten seasons. The ability to eat up innings at the back of the rotation made Vazquez very attractive to New York.

The Yankees are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle and hope the pitcher they saw in the first half of 2004 and all of last year in Atlanta is the guy they traded for.

Lastly, the Yankees signed free agent Randy Winn to a one-year deal to play outfield. Winn comes to New York by way of San Francisco. His career numbers are very good. Touting a lifetime average of .286 Winn plated 50 or more runs in each of the past 4 seasons. He will probably share playing time with Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner.

Many observers think the Yankees are making these short term deals in order to make a run at Tampa Bay’s Carl Crawford who becomes a free agent after this season.

As for the rest of the squad there are question marks as well. Posada is 37 years old entering the new season. He has been the full time catcher since 2000. In 2008 Posada, after signing a big 4-year contract, made two trips to the disabled list for the first time in his career. He had surgery on his throwing shoulder, and only played in 51 games. Last year Girardi rested his catcher often in order for Posada to make it to the finish line. He responded positively by hitting .285 with 22 home runs and 81 RBI. One has to believe that Girardi will continue to rest Posada as often as he can so he can have his bat late in the season.

A-Rod is expected to have a monster year this year. He had the first significant injury of his career when it was discovered he had a torn labrum in his right hip. Rodriguez had corrective surgery and after missing the first 31 games of the season came back to hit 30 home runs and knock in 100 RBI. In his last game of the 2009 regular season A-Rod hit two home runs and drove in 7 runs in one inning to reach the 30/100 plateau for the 12th season in a row. He finally broke out of his playoff slump by hitting .378 while driving in 18 runs and hitting 6 home runs in 15 playoff games.

The biggest, potential, distraction to the upcoming season will come from Yankee captain Derek Jeter. Jeter has been the face of the Yankees ever since he came up to the big club for good in 1996. Jeter is coming off one of his best seasons, hitting a team high .334, while belting 18 home runs and driving in 66 runs all from the lead off position in the lineup. He also scored 107 runs and came in third in the MVP balloting last year.

Jeter is entering the last year of his ten-year, $189 million contract and if he has another year close to last year the Yankees will be put between the proverbial rock and hard spot. Last season Jeter earned his fourth Gold Glove award as well as the Silver Slugger award for being the best hitter at the shortstop position. He also broke Lou Gehrig’s Yankees hit record and is only 253 hits from reaching the 3,000 hit mark to become the only Yankee in history to do so.

The list of accomplishments goes on an on. Jeter is a 10 time all star, was the 1996 Rookie of the Year. He was the 2000 ALCS and World Series MVP and he has had 7 seasons of 200 or more hits. Without a doubt when Jeter hangs up his spikes he can punch his ticket into Cooperstown as a first ballot hall of famer.

The quandary for the Yankees is what to do with Jeter after this year. He will turn 36 on June 26. He is at an age where playing shortstop becomes more and more difficult. The Yankees have to determine how much longer can he play there and how long of a contract they will give him. Jeter has stood by and watched Mariano Rivera, Posada and A-Rod receive huge pay raises. In a climate of economic strife will Jeter get the money he deserves or will he be offered less because of the market?

The Steinbrenners and Brian Cashman better have a big bottle of aspirin ready. They’re going to need it.

Lastly, the pitching looks to be solid again this year. With CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Andy Pettitte anchoring the top and middle of the rotation Vazquez’s presence should improve it as well. Fighting it out for the fifth spot will be Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. Both have struggled as starters and pitched well as relievers. It should be a terrific duel during spring training.

The bullpen will also add concrete support. Alfredo Aceves, Damaso Marte, David Robertson, either Hughes or Chamberlain handing the ball to Rivera should all have good seasons.

The 2010 squad appears poised to defend their title going into the new decade. The road will not be easy. They play in the toughest division in baseball. Boston, Baltimore, Toronto and Tampa Bay have added depth to their teams and all have their sights set on the Yankees. Other teams looking to knock off the Yankees are the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Angels, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners.

Fasten your seatbelts it’s going to be a bumpy and exciting ride to the finish line.

© 2010 Yankees Talk Shop @ yuku.com

Redistribution, rewriting, rebroadcast, or republication of this story without the prior written consent of Yankees Talk Shop, Pride in the Pinstripes or its affiliates is strictly prohibited

Repeating is hard to do
Yankees quest for No. 28 will be an uphill battle

New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi stepped to the podium to address the crowd of some 2 million fans that invaded Manhattan to watch his team take a ride down the Canyon of Heroes to celebrate the Yankees latest World Series victory. He told the adoring crowd he had spoken on the telephone to “the Boss,” George Steinbrenner.

“I want to tell you, I got a call from The Boss today. He told me this morning, 'The only thing greater than this celebration, is doing it two years in a row.' So he asked me to remind everyone - pitchers and catchers report in 96 days. Be ready to defend it."

Nice sentiment indeed, but in reality a very difficult task to accomplish. Just ask the Philadelphia Phillies who, before falling to the Yankees 4-2 in the 2009 World Series, were the defending world champions. The Phillies were attempting to become the first National League team since the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds to achieve that feat. That is 33 years without an NL repeat winner.

In the American League the history isn’t so far removed. The last team to defend their world title was the Yankees, who not only defended it once, but defended it twice after winning it (1998-2000). They almost made it three defenses and four-in-a-row in 2001, but fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 7 games.

Between 2000 and 2009 there have been eight different World Series winners. The only repeats were the Yankees (2000, 2009) and the Boston Red Sox (2004, 2007). The other one-time winners were the Diamondbacks (2001), Anaheim (Los Angeles) Angels (2002), Florida Marlins 2003), Chicago White Sox (2005) and the Phillies (2008).

Not helping matters will be the lie of the land in the off season. The Yankees as do other teams have a number of free agents who will be looking for multi-year contracts worth millions of dollars. Depending on how long and how much will determine whom the Yankees will retain and whom they will cut loose.

At the top of the list are left fielder Johnny Damon and Designated Hitter Hideki Matsui. Damon just concluded the season playing out a four-year, $52 million contract and already his caustic, yet effective agent, Scott Boras is making noises that Damon is the indestructible man and worthy of signing a contract in the area of what Derek Jeter is being paid ($18.9 million average per year). Boras is also looking at, a minimum, another four-year contract for his client. According to Boras potential suitors shouldn’t look at Damon’s chronological age (36), but his biological makeup. Damon has played an average of 140 games over the past four years.

Here’s the fly in the ointment. Most sideline watchers are saying that the Yankees don’t want to offer Damon more than a 2-year contract, and that with their goal to cut payroll any raise Damon might receive will be well below what Boras is shooting for. Using another of his clients, Mark Teixeira, as a lightening rod Boras told the media the Yankees are known for paying players their “fair market value.” The problem is whose gauge for what is “fair market value” is correct? Unfortunately for Damon, the Yankees may be unwilling to meet Boras lofty expectations. So now the ball will be Damon’s court. Will he be willing to take a shorter duration contract to stay with the Yankees and a great shot at repeating a world title or will he listen to his agent and look for a more lucrative payday? Secondly, who else has got the kind of money the Yankees do who would be willing to part with that big a chunk for one player?

Ah, the joys of being a general manager.

Hideki Matsui is somewhat of a more complex situation. First off, this guy, in Game 6 of the World Series, completely dismantled the Phillies to earn himself the series MVP trophy. He single-handedly kicked in the door to the Yankees’ 27th world championship. If the Yankees were to release Matsui he would be the first reigning World Series MVP not to return to his team since Jack Morris won the award with the 1991 Minnesota Twins and was on the Toronto Blue Jays roster for the ‘92 season.

Matsui came to the Yankees from the Yomiuri Giants in December of 2002 when he signed a 3-year deal to play left field for New York. He quickly became a fan favorite and forever etched his name in Yankee lore when he became the first Yankee to hit a grand slam in his first game at Yankee Stadium. That same year Matsui came in second to Angel Berroa in the “Rookie of the Year” balloting. Many felt that the voters for the award didn’t vote for Matsui, because they felt he wasn’t a true rookie having played professional ball in Japan.

Matsui also became the first Japanese player to hit a home run in the World Series when he did it in Game 2 of the 2003 series against the Florida Marlins. In his first 3 seasons Matsui played in every game while hitting an average of .397 with an average of 110 RBI (106, 108, 116) and 23.3 home runs (16, 31, 23). Those numbers earned Matsui a new four-year, $52 million contract.

In May of 2006 Matsui fractured his wrist while attempting make a sliding catch in the first inning of a game against the Boston Red Sox. The injury severely limited Matsui’s playing time and he ended the year playing in only 51 games.
Matsui rebounded in 2007 with 25 home runs and 103 RBI to help the Yankees make the playoffs for the 13th consecutive time as the wild card entry.

Nonetheless, injuries continued to plague Matsui as he eventually underwent surgeries on both his knees. In 2007 Matsui had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee after the season ended, because the knee limited his playing time in the field and he was used more prominently as a designated hitter in the latter stages of the season.

The following season Matsui’s arthritic left knee became a problem. The knee had bothered Matsui throughout his playing days in Japan where he played on artificial turf for 10 years. In September of 2008 Matsui had surgery on the knee to help reduce the swelling and the pain caused by the constant stress of playing on it.

The plan for Matsui during the 2009 season was to use Matsui strictly as a designated hitter, at least until the middle of the season. However, Matsui’s approach and value to the DH position made it impossible for the Yankees to move him out of the role and put him in the field. Matsui had another productive year by hitting .274 with 28 homers and 90 RBI.

The situation for the Yankees is this. In 2006 Matsui signed a four-year deal with the Yankees who projected him as their long term left fielder. Unfortunately, the injuries and surgeries to Matsui’s knees have relegated him to a full time DH. How much value do you assign to a productive designated hitter versus a productive full time position player? And, at 35, how long do you sign Matsui for? These are the questions the Yankees, Matsui and his agent Arn Tellem have to answer during the off-season.

More questions for the Yankees will also determine the direction they go in the off season. In addition to Damon and Matsui the Yankees also have to contend with Andy Pettitte, Jose Molina, Xavier Nady, Eric Hinske and Jerry Hairston Jr.

Nady, Hinske and Molina are probably the easiest players to deal with. Nady who was slated to be the everyday right fielder when the 2009 underwent “Tommy John” surgery on his throwing elbow and missed the majority of the season. Nick Swisher, who was contracted from the White Sox in the off season, took over and performed admirably, earning the everyday slot.

Molina is a great defensive catcher, but not much to write home about offensively. Francisco Cervelli, who spent time with the club during the season, and was on the post season roster has proven he is great behind the dish, handles pitchers well and can hit major league pitching. He is ready for the big time, full time. The enthusiasm he brought to the team was a big boost in the dugout. Figure Molina and Nady will be playing elsewhere next season.

The same may be said for Hinske. Hinske began his career with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2002 where he hit 24 home runs while knocking in 84 runs. That effort earned Hinske the “Rookie of the Year” award for that season and it showed the promise of a productive career.

Sadly, Hinske never lived up to that promise. He only reached the 20 home run plateau one other time and that was when he played for the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. He hit 20 round trippers and plated 60 runs.

In eight seasons Hinske has hit a pedestrian .254 while generating a .334 lifetime OBP and .438 SLG%.

However, in the post season Hinske has shined when given a chance. He has played in 3 World Series (2007-2009), winning with Boston and New York. In his limited appearances Hinske has hit .333 with a .500 OBP and a 1.333 SLG%.

Hinske can also play first and third bases as well as the corner outfield positions. The Yankees may want to keep Hinske around as a multi-positional utility player.

Whether or not Andy Pettitte comes back will be up to Pettitte. If he wants to return for another season the Yankees will do their best to accommodate him, because of all what Pettitte means and has meant to the franchise.

Hairston is in the Hinske camp. He is a multi-positional player who can spell the big boys a game here and a game there. He was an important pickup during the season and performed well in limited action.

Hairston is two years older than Hinske and with similar numbers and less playoff experience may be the odd man out.

Other factors loom for the Yankees as well as their in house players. Other free agents from other clubs could help the Yankees in winning their 28th championship. Chief among those players is RHP John Lackey who will most likely garner the most attention. Depending on which other teams are interested in Lackey services the Yankees may or may not be motivated to make a move for him.

The Yankees also have to look beyond next year. The biggest name the Yankees will have to contend with is Derek Jeter. Jeter will be completing a 10-year, $189 million contract at the end of next season and will be looking for a significant pay increase.

As the captain of the team, a five time World Series champion, a ten time all star, a World Series and all star MVP, a Rookie of the Year award winner, and as the face of the franchise the Yankees of the will be hard pressed to cry poverty when it comes to dealing with Jeter.

In addition, Jeter is the Yankees all time hits leader passing Lou Gehrig this season for the top spot in history. He will undoubtedly become the franchise’s first 3,000 hit player, which will be the ultimate accomplishment on a team that has had the names of Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra playing on it.

In the top seven offensive categories for the Yankees Jeter ranks in the top 10 in six of them. He is 5th all time in batting average, 10th in home runs, 10th in RBI, 4th in runs scored, 1st in total hits, 4th in doubles, and 7th in extra-base hits.

It will be a delicate balancing act for the Yankees. On the one hand Jeter will be 37 when his current deal runs out. How much longer can he play shortstop? Even one of the all time premier shortstops in major league history, Cal Ripken, Jr., switched to third base in 1996 at the age of 35. The only other option open to the Yankees is the outfield, because Alex Rodriguez is holding down third base and Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira are much younger than Jeter and play a solid second and first base respectively.

Over the past two seasons Jeter has seen the Yankees dole out obscene contracts to A-Rod, Teixeira, CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. None of those players mentioned is even close to owning the resume Jeter brings to the negotiating table. As arguably the most popular Yankee in franchise history Jeter will swing a heavy hammer to get a deal done with Yankees.

Lastly, since the Yankees have once again ascended to the top of the mountain every other team in baseball will be just that much more motivated to knock them off. It is the same with every team who calls themselves “world champions.” Every other team from the Red Sox to the Angels to the Tampa Bay Rays will be looking to dethrone the champs.

This has forever been the law of the jungle. It is always, always harder to defend a championship than to win it.

28.

© 2009 Yankees Talk Shop @ yuku.com

Redistribution, rewriting, rebroadcast, or republication of this story without the prior written consent of Yankees Talk Shop, Pride in the Pinstripes or its affiliates is strictly prohibited

Girardi needs a new number!
Yankee manager wore 27 as a goal to another championship

It’s been nearly two years since ex-Yankee manager Joe Torre packed his bags and headed west, and it’s been nearly two years since current Yankee manager Joe Girardi sat down with the Steinbrenner family and convinced them he was the guy who could lead this team to its next World Series championship. Torre won four in his 12 years in New York and the Yankees went to the playoffs every year under Torre’s leadership. Girardi had some big shoes to fill.

No two guys were more different than Torre and Girardi. Torre was a player’s manager. He was a media darling who always measured his words and always seemed to say the right things. He had this aura about him that seemed to have a calming effect in the clubhouse. He looked like your dad, or granddad or uncle Joe.

Girardi, on the other hand, looked like a recruiting poster for the United States Marine Corps. Intense is a word that comes to mind when describing Girardi. Girardi came into the Yankees clubhouse with just one year’s experience under his belt. That year was spent managing the Florida Marlins in 2006. Girardi did a fantastic job in the sunshine state; so much so that it earned him the National League Manager of the Year Award.

He was also the first manager to earn that award and then get fired in the same season. The incident that caused his dismissal came in August during a game when he and owner Jeffrey Loria got into an argument over Loria’s heckling home plate umpire Larry Vanover. When Vanover complained to Girardi he and his bench coach Gary Tuck told Loria to stop. Loria apparently didn’t like being told what to do and wanted to fire Girardi on the spot. He said that Girardi swore at him, but people who know Girardi know he’s a devout Christian and doesn’t use profanity to get his point across. Loria bided his time and got his pound of flesh at the end of the season when he sent Girardi packing.

Of course, Girardi was no stranger to the Yankees. He spent four years in pinstripes (1996-1999), winning 3 rings along the way. He was their everyday catcher, but gave way to another Yankee staple; Jorge Posada. After his playing days ended Girardi was hired by the Steinbrenner owned YES Network as a commentator. He spent the 2004 season as a broadcaster and as the host of YES’ “Kids on Deck.”

That lasted one year, at which time Girardi decided to pursue a coaching career. He moved out of the broadcast booth and went into the Yankees dugout as Torre’s bench coach for the 2005 season. He continued to host “Kids on Deck.” When the season ended Girardi went south and became the Marlins manager.

At the end of the 2006 season Girardi was unemployed, but after losing out for the managing job with the Chicago Cubs and turning down a shot at the Washington Nationals Girardi went back to the YES Network where he was hired as an analyst. He worked approximately 60 games in 2007. In June of that year Girardi interviewed for the Baltimore Orioles manager’s position, but ultimately turned it down when offered.

As one door closed another door opened. At the end of the 2007 Torre and the Yankees management had a parting of the ways. Torre headed for Los Angeles and the Yankees went looking for a new manager. They found him in the broadcast booth.

Girardi was apparently just the guy the Yankees were looking for. He was a no nonsense type of personality. Many of the Yankees coming into Spring Training for 2008 admitted they were not in the best of shape when they reported to camp in 2007. They knew Girardi wouldn’t put up with any lack of preparation, because he would probably be in as good as or better shape than his entire squad. They were right.

The first thing Girardi did was take the number 27 to signify he was going to lead the Yankees to their 27th title. However, 2008 wasn’t the year. The Yankees plagued by injuries, clubhouse in-fighting and other issues missed the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. They ended up in 3rd place in the AL East behind the surprising Tampa Bay Rays (division winner) and Boston Red Sox (wild card). It was a huge disappointment for an organization whose sole purpose is to win the World Series every year. Anything less is considered a complete failure.

In the off season the Yankees made some drastic changes. Gone were Mike Mussina, Jason Giambi, Carl Pavano and Bobby Abreu. General Manager Brian Cashman went out and secured three premium replacements in CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Mark Teixeira. He also landed some role type guys, the most notable being Nick Swisher. Swisher would proved to be invaluable during the course of the season. They also resigned Chien-Ming Wang, Brian Bruney, Melky Cabrera and Xavier Nady.

Early in April Nady, who was slated to be the everyday right fielder reinjured his right elbow requiring a second “Tommy John” surgery on it. That ended his 2009 season and Swisher was inserted into the everyday lineup. Swisher responded by hitting 29 homers and driving in 82 runs.

Wang was another key element the Yankees were hoping to rely on to get them into the post season. Wang was coming off a serious foot injury he suffered in a game against the Houston Astros in June of ’08. Wang had previously won 19 games in ’06 and ’07 and had compiled an 8-2 record before the injury.

However, the Wang the Yankees saw wasn’t the one they saw before the foot injury. A guy possessed with a power sinker that batters described like hitting an anchor suddenly was very hittable and he was giving up a lot of fly balls. After amassing an 0-3 start and an ERA of 34.50 the Yankees removed Wang from the starting rotation and sent him down to Tampa to work on mechanics. He returned in May and was inserted into the bullpen, and eventually the rotation, but the results weren’t any better.

After Wang recorded a 1-6 record the Yankees put him back on the disabled list and on July 30 he had season ending shoulder surgery and is expected to miss up to a year.

Two other pieces of the Yankees puzzle were Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera. Both returned after having shoulder surgery. Posada had the more severe injury requiring a season ending procedure to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. Rivera had minor surgery to clean up his throwing shoulder. Both responded very well. Posada ended the season with 22 home runs and 81 RBI. Rivera saved 44 games in 46 chances this season, which is the most he has saved since saving 53 games in 2004.

Alex Rodriguez continued to struggle both on and off the field. In spring training he admitted to using performance enhancing drugs for 2001-2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers. He was also linked to a notorious New York madam and Madonna, as he divorced from his wife Cynthia. Then the biggest blow came when A-Rod had to have surgery performed on his right hip to remove a cyst and repair the labrum. He was expected to sit out up to 10 weeks.

While A-Rod was gone Teixeira struggled at the plate in April and the Yankees looked to be performing a death spiral. In their first 28 games the Yankees were 13-15. Somehow, Girardi managed to hold things together and managed to hold onto his job. For once nothing was coming out of the front office intimating that a managerial change was imminent.

On May 8 Rodriguez returned to the lineup and that was the day the Yankees took off. The Yankees were a completely different team. After going 0-8 against the Red Sox the Yankees went 9-1 against them in the final 10 games to split the season series 9-9. They also held their own against the always tough Los Angeles Angels by winning three of the final four games against them and also splitting the season series 5 apiece.

The Yankees were the only team to win more than 100 games as they ended the season with a 103-59 mark, eight games in front of the second place Red Sox.

Nonetheless, winning 100+ games meant nothing in the playoffs. The last team to win that many games and then go on to win the World Series was the 1998 New York Yankees when they won 114 games.

After failing to even make the playoffs in ’08 Girardi knew he had his work cut out for him.

The Yankees didn’t disappoint. In the divisional series the Bombers overtook the Minnesota Twins in each game to sweep them 3-0 to advance to the Championship Series. They ended up facing the Angels.

As we all know, the Angels had met the Yankees in two previous divisional series and beat them both times.

It wasn’t an easy series even though the Yankees vanquished the Halos in six games. In the two games the Yankees lost Girardi was scalded for questionable pitching and personnel moves. As always playing or managing in New York puts a permanent bulls eye on your back.

This journey brought the Yankees back to the stage they had not set foot on since losing to the Florida Marlins in 2003 and had not won since 2000. It wasn’t going to be any easier for them, because they were facing a team that had everything the Yankees had. Pitching, hitting, defense and power. The Philadelphia Phillies were the defending champions and they were trying to be the first National League team to repeat as World Series champions since the Cincinnati Reds did it in 1975-76.

The brightest spot for the Phillies in the World Series was lefty Cliff Lee. Lee was as dominant a pitcher as you could find in Game 1, and the Yankees offense was completely shut down. Sabathia was very good as well, but not as good as Lee. Sabathia gave up two homeruns to Chase Utley and the Phillies eventually won the game 6-1. The one run the Yankees scored was unearned, but it helped them avoid not scoring in a World Series Game 1 for the first time in franchise history.

Another piece of history not favoring New York was the fact that in the last six World Series the team losing Game 1 went on to lose the Series.

Fortunately, this edition of the Yankees was no ordinary team. They came back and took Game 2 and then went into Philadelphia and won the first two games giving the Yankees a 3-1 series lead. Girardi seemed to be pushing all the right buttons.

In Game 5 New York went up against Lee again. Although not as dominant as in Game 1 Lee had more than enough to stifle the Yankees’ bats. Philadelphia insured the Series went back to New York trailing the Yankees 3-2.

Last night Girardi went to his game hardened warrior. Pettitte has pitched in more post season games than nearly all of the pitching staff combined. Going on 3 days rest Pettitte gave the Yankees all he had, but with two outs in the 6th inning Andy’s 37 year old body was tired. Girardi went and got his veteran and turned the ball over to Joba Chamberlain, Damaso Marte and the incomparable Mariano Rivera who kept the Phillies off the scoreboard.

The last batter of the Series, Shane Victorino, grounded out to 2B Robinson Cano to end the game. Once Teixeira secured the ball in his glove to record the last out the wild celebration began. Number 27 was no longer a goal, it was a reality.

Lest anyone forgets this Series was dedicated by the team to its ailing owner George Steinbrenner.

”This is what the Steinbrenner family has strived for, year after year -- to deliver to the city of New York," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said to reporters following the game. "To be able to deliver this to the Boss, the stadium that he created and the atmosphere around here, it's very gratifying to all of us."

For the core four, Jeter, Posada, Pettitte and Rivera, it was their fifth time in the winner’s circle, and it took nine years to get there.

"You realize how difficult it is to get here," Jeter told the media. "I never lost sight of the fact that it's very difficult to get to the World Series, let alone to win one. You realize and remember how hard it is."

For all the guys who had never tasted World Series champagne it was a special night indeed.

World Series MVP Hideki Matsui put it this way. "My first and foremost goal when I joined the Yankees was to win the world championship," Matsui said. "Certainly, it's been a long road and a very difficult journey. I'm just happy that after all these years, we were able to win and reach the goal that I had come here for."

To be sure the man who pulled all the strings was Girardi. In two short years he took the Yankees from the outhouse to the penthouse. Now he’ll have another type of target on his back. Since Girardi has finally guided this team to a world title he will be expected to do it again.

In order to accomplish that, however, he’ll need to trade in his number 27 for a 28. Where is Shelley Duncan anyway?

© 2009 Yankees Talk Shop @ yuku.com

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