I’m slowly slogging through the Verducci/Torre book for three reasons:

1. I’m a slow reader
2. I try to watch the games at night and that takes me away from reading
3. I’m finding the book depressing

One of the early chapters is called “a desperation to win” and in reading that last weekend, I was struck by the obviousness of it all, now, a decade later. It’s precisely what I don’t sense with the post-2000 teams. Verducci, in his SI.com interview with FOTB Alex Belth:

I think the teams that won generated that same kind of pressure internally, what the book calls “a desperation to win.” It was internal for most of the players, and even for Steinbrenner, who I regard in the book as one of the franchise’s most dynamic assets. It’s very different when that pressure comes externally, especially now when you’re talking about so many current Yankees who have no experience at winning in New York. They’re reading the road map for the first time, and it’s hard to figure out — unlike anywhere else — especially when you hear the constant drumbeat of frustration coming from fans and even the media that cover the team. The Yankees are the only one of 30 teams that write down as a failure any season that ends without a world championship. Individual stats don’t matter with the Yankees. Putting up a “good season” means less with the Yankees than any other franchise. There are only two seasons for the Yankees: world championship ones and everything else.

I watched Mo blow the save Friday night and as painful as it was, I said “it happens”. The Sox have seen this guy so many times, they have gotten used to his cutter and his skill. Just like we can solve Papelbon at times, so too can the Sox solve Mo. It happens. It hurts like hell but it happens. Of course, having bases loaded and coming away with nothing an inning earlier didn’t help. And watching Teix chase the high heat of Papelbon with a man on first and third the next inning sure did stink.

Here’s what bugged me: Saturday’s game. I didn’t watch much of this until the very end as I was out enjoying the nice weather and my sons’ games. It was only when we got to our friends’ house for a BBQ later that I watched the Yanks blow and re-blow the game. I thought I was noticing that desperation to win with the comebacks, but the pitching was just terrible. I’m glad I missed Burnett getting torched. Remember those fancy stats vs. Boston that I was so happy about:

Versus BOS:

• 8 games
• ERA: 2.56
• 56.1 IP, avg 7+ IP/start
• 53 K’s, nearly 1 K/IP
• WHIP of 1.179 (including IBB)

Watching Ellsbury just totally pants the Yanks made this lack of “desperation to win” so evident. Or maybe it’s just that the Sox have that desperation and I’m jealous because I know what it’s like to have it and how utterly wonderful it is, as a fan, to root for a team with that dynamic.

For the Yankees, it was symbolic of a weekend in which they were beaten in the cruelest of ways, three losses that leave you wondering if they are as tough as the Red Sox anymore. Is it possible that years of first-round playoff exits and then an empty October in 2008 have stolen whatever grit remained from the Joe Torre glory years?

The Yanks have played 18 games to a .500 record. It’s not a statistically significant number yet, but it sure gives us a pretty good view of what this team might be…. good, but not special. One of the things I remember from my early stats classes is that you need a sample size of about 30 before you can made conclusions from the data. We’ll be there right about when ARod returns.

I’m not ready to heave Girardi over the edge either just yet, but if this team continues to wander in a fog, I might lose patience sooner than later.

Imagine this: Randy Levine, my favorite Yanks front office official, lashing out about the empty seats at Yankee Stadium. Shocking, I know.

A day after the Major League Soccer commissioner raised the subject, New York Yankees president Randy Levine blasted back.

“Don Garber discussing Yankee attendance must be a joke,” Levine said Friday. “We draw more people in a year than his entire league does in a year. If he ever gets Major League Soccer into the same time zone as the Yankees, we might take him seriously.

“Hey Don, worry about Beckham, not the Yankees. Even he wants out of your league,” he said.

Way to go, Randy. Why not call his wife fat and his kids ugly and dumb? Have you no sense of perspective?

Told of Levine’s comments, Garber explained his remark.

“When I mentioned the New York Yankees yesterday, my comments were part of a larger assertion that all businesses — even the most successful sports entities — are experiencing some impact from the economic downturn,” Garber said through a league spokesman.

“The Yankees are one of the world’s strongest sports brands and the context of my comments about a few empty seats at Yankee Stadium was to illustrate the economic challenges we are all facing,” he said.

I love little fantasies like this: What if the ARod trade to the Sox really happened? Well naturally, if it’s written by a Boston writer, ARod becomes a hero and beloved, clutch when it counts.

The Yankees, blindsided by the season-ending knee injury third baseman Aaron Boone suffered while playing basketball in his driveway, never recovered. The Red Sox, their offense scoring over 1,000 runs, won the division going away, then ran the table in the postseason, winning their first World Series in 86 years. A-Rod was named MVP. Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, appalled that his team had missed out on both Schilling and A-Rod, fired GM Brian Cashman, who could have had Schilling but didn’t want to trade Nick Johnson.
[...]
It came as a shock this spring when Selena Roberts reported that A-Rod had used steroids while in Texas, but after the press conference in which A-Rod tearfully spoke of how sorry he was and vowed that for every home run he would hit, he would make a donation to the Taylor Hooton fund, Red Sox fans gave him a standing ovation on opening day.

Back to reality!

Though, there is a really good T/F “quiz” at the bottom of this article that is pretty cool, such as:

• Alex Rodriguez was willing to send cash back to Texas owner Tom Hicks to make the deal to the Red Sox happen.

  True. But good luck ever getting anyone to admit it.

I still like Sir Petey, even with his notorious Sox bent. Now, I don’t listen to ESPN as much as I used to and I tend to find myself enjoying the MLB Network more than BBTN lately, so maybe he’s still as present as ever… but his last article was 3 weeks ago. Three weeks. In otherwords, before the season even started.

What’s going on? Did I miss something?

I’ve been ranting about this for some time now, insisting that MLB ban the use of maple bats until they have a reasonable solution. Good to read that there are others in the MSM who are joining the charge:

it’s no mystery why so many bats are splintering on contact: Some 55 percent of players prefer maple bats popularized by Barry Bonds. Maple bats tend to snap when broken. A broken bat made of ash, on the other hand, usually cracks.

The distinction is important. A snapped maple bat can deposit debris that travels as far as 100 feet, in any direction. A cracked ash bat almost always remains in one piece.

Although research at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell has proven that maple provides no extra power, old habits – unlike maple bats – are hard to break. So those players who prefer maple will continue to use maple. it’s legal, isn’t it?

The author, John McGrath proposes an interesting alternative to a flat-out ban on maple:

Here’s a better idea: Allow hitters the freedom to swing a maple bat, with handles as thin as they want. But if the bat snaps and any piece of it lands on the field, the hitter is ruled out on batter’s interference.

Creative. Not sure how I feel about it, but I sure like hearing some alternatives.

Other related posts on this bat issue:

• Enough already: Ban the maple!
• Dunn switches to ash from maple
• Seriously, can we do SOMETHING about these bats already?
• Maple bats and minus 3.5
• A solution to broken bats, aluminum bats
• It’s about the wood, stupid

Of course it’s still incredibly early in the season (not yet 10% of the way thru), but it’s always fun to see which team panics first. Aside from Boston being in a 2-10 hole, watching the Mets and their ever-pessimistic fans gag first is just damn fun stuff.

Commish Selig tries to make a fair point about the Yanks (and Mets) seating “issues”:

“They’re off to a very good attendance start. One team is averaging 44,000 — the Yankees are at 44 — and the Metsies are averaging 37,000,” he said. “So it would be hard if I went to Pittsburgh or somewhere today and tell them, gee, you know, those two New York clubs are really struggling.”

In a vacuum, 44K fans on average is indeed very good. Some teams would KILL for that sorta attendance number. Hell, Fenway doesn’t even hold that many (max capacity: 37.4k). Except this is a brand new stadium in New York, capable of holding 52,325 easy-going, mild-mannered fans. Not packing the Stadium more than 84% is flat out embarrassing. A shame. This tribute to excess should be sold out. Given the demand for seats last year, the last season in the Old Stadium, this season appears to be a sharp contrast.

Now, most of those empty, hyper-expensive seats have been paid for. Not all, but most. So the empties will only really impact the Yanks in terms of lost concessions and parking revenues. The unsold seats, on the other hand, will sting a bit more.

I don’t think this is a “house of cards” scenario, where a big decline in gate revenues will hurt the team’s ability to pay for the on-field talent resulting in a major collapse. After all, this recession/depression will, at some point, be behind us. And then, the big-wigs and movers-and-shakers will back, clamoring to be seen up front. Fox will stuff those seats with “stars” they want to promote who have no business otherwise being there. Politicians will wear the interlocking NY to curry favor. All will be right in the Yanks world.

And Randy Levine will be somewhere in the park, likely in the deep recesses sitting in a huge leather chair with a dozen monitors at his fingertips, rubbing his hands with an evil grin, chortling under his breath “I told you so, you mindless sheep. I told you everyone would be back“. Bwaaaaa-haaaa-haaaaa!

I can’t imagine what this kid must have felt like, only to get in the game wearing someone else’s jersey!

Trying to sneak this one in…

Forbes latest MLB franchise valuations (click to enlarge):

Cardinals #8 overall, especially in revenue, was a bit of a surprise.

How good/smart do the Marlins and Rays look?

Yanks “value” increased 15%. Guess they don’t mind the Stadium’s empty seats!

Nats, or really “the Nots”, lost 12% in franchise value. The euphoria of getting a franchise sure waned pretty quickly, eh?

The Operating Income column can be misleading, but only the Yanks and Detroit LOST money….and look how much money the Nots and Marlins made!!!

I discussed this and it got A LOT of traction yesterday, but the rich and the suits are “embarrassed” or just flat out scared to be seen in the best seats in the park.

It’s starting to pile on, the coverage is gaining momentum. Today, the NY Times weighs in:

Howard Bryant, the incredibly talented author and frequent writer on ESPN, shreds the Angels:

The 2002 Angels, for example, are the legitimate champions of an illegitimate time, just as Bonds is the legitimate home run champion of a discredited era. Despite Angels manager Mike Scioscia’s adamant public stand against drugs, people around the game point privately to that club as one of the premier steroid-fueled teams thanks in part to a bullpen rife with career minor leaguers who suddenly began throwing in the mid-90s after their 30th birthdays.

Glaus was the MVP of that 2002 World Series, which is looking more and more like the definitive Steroid Series. Glaus, Brendan Donnelly and Schoeneweis, all of whom have been implicated, played for the Angels that season. On the Giants, there were Bonds, Benito Santiago, Marvin Benard, David Bell and Rich Aurilia. And that doesn’t include the players who were suspect.

Is anyone shocked, though? Didn’t think so.

What on Earth is MLB waiting for, a serious injury? Death? We narrowly escaped it last night when Kerwin Danley got knocked on the noggin with a shattered bat.

With one out in the sixth, Rangers designated hitter Hank Blalock’s bat broke on an infield pop. A large piece flew back and hit Danley on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground.

“It was a high and inside fastball, a cutter that broke my bat,” Blalock said. “I heard something happen behind the plate and I figured the barrel hit somebody. As soon as the out was made I turned around and Kerwin was lying down. I felt bad, it was an accident.”

If nothing else, ban the maple until a solution is found.

EDIT/UPDATE: Thanks to reader Dre and further looking on my part, Blalock was indeed using an ash bat. I unfortunately assumed that given the way the bat shattered, it HAD to be maple. Thanks for keeping me honest!

Blalock uses an ash bat, which shatter differently than maple bats and are generally considered to be less risky. Ash bats tend to crack lengthwise while maple bats usually explode into several fragments and travel further.

It still doesn’t change my ever-repetitive refrain about banning maple until a solution is found. In case you haven’t been paying attention, my thoughts on the maple bat “situation”:

• Dunn switches to ash from maple
• Seriously, can we do SOMETHING about these bats already?
• Maple bats and minus 3.5
• A solution to broken bats, aluminum bats
• It’s about the wood, stupid