The Bombers’ bats continued to batter the Oakland A’s Tuesday night. Phil Hughes improved over his last outing, picking up another win and holding the Athletics to just two runs despite struggling at times. Big hits by Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira gave the Yankees a lead early and at the end of the night they took a 9-3 victory and were a game ahead of Tampa Bay for the top of the AL East.
Brett Gardner got the Yankees started with a lead off single in the bottom of the first. He stole second and Jeter worked a walk. With Teixeira at bat the Yankees pulled off a double steal, but Teixeira got hit by a pitch and the bases were loaded with no outs. Robinson Cano then hit into a double play, scoring Gardner for the first run of the game. Nick Swisher hit the ball to Mark Ellis at second, and was safe at first when Ellis misplayed the ball, scoring Jeter and keeping the inning going. Jorge Posada then connected for his tenth career triple, scoring Swisher and putting the Yankees up 3-0.
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New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays
You have a vested interest in this, the two teams are deadlocked for the division lead, and they’re the best two teams in the majors. Yet, there’s really not a whole lot to get excited about. Boston is nowhere to be seen, and any other Wild Card challengers are four games behind them. Sure, the winning team gets home-field advantage in the ALCS, but I can’t get excited about something that might happen. Otherwise, they’re fighting for the right to play Minnesota or Texas, and those teams are so close that it really doesn’t matter who the team gets, though it’s probably more pleasant to play in Texas than Minnesota in October. So, what’s really up for grabs is division bragging rights, but (quoting Yankee Universe) World Series championships are the only things that matter, right? I imagine that, with two weeks left, both teams will start resting their players anyway with an eye on the playoffs, leaving less to watch. With that in mind, what else is there that you should watch?
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I got this email while on vacation, but I wanted to address it as it touches a few sensitive issues:
You mentioned Steinbrenner’s inclusion in monument park was “strange” on 8/24. That got me thinking about his legacy as a baseball man only. His main accomplishments are, of course, the championships. How could they not be? However, those championships were created in a large part to homegrown players: Jeter, Mo, Pettitte in the ’90′s and Munson (and others) in the 70′s. These players were “grown” during the two periods Steinbrenner was suspended from baseball and he could not (or was not allowed) to be involved. Just wondering your general thoughts on whether his actual baseball knowledge added to the championships and whether that merits his statue.
- Mike Sweeney
First of all, that posting was done by Brien but that’s only housekeeping.
The larger question is: Who deserves a monument and where do you draw the line? This is, of course, and exercise bound to offend the non-Yanks fans among us who view this as overly self-congratulatory. Yogi Berra, one of the best catchers of all time, a 3-time MVP and owner of 10 World Series rings, does not have a monument. Miller Huggins, legendary manager from the early years, does. With all due respect, if we were building Monument Park TODAY from scratch, Huggins would not have a monument. But he was the first one to be given a monument upon his premature death, so he’s there.
There are five monuments dedicated to individuals, plus one in rememberance of the 9/11 attacks and the victims. The five monuments, in order of dedication:
- Miller Huggins, 5/30/32
- Lou Gehrig, 7/6/41
- Babe Ruth, 4/19/49
- Mickey Mantle, 8/25/96 (plaque awarded 6/8/69)
- Joe DiMaggio, 4/25/99 (plaque awarded 6/8/69)
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This isn’t a topic that’s really related to baseball specifically, it’s more of a general look at the sports and baseball media at large. But, I think it’s safe to presume that most of the people reading this site consume a disproportionate amount of baseball related media, and it’s obviously relevant to what we do here.
If you missed it yesterday, Mike Wise of The Washington Post kicked off a controversy when he tweeted that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would have his suspension reduced from 6 games to 5, according to “sources.” After a while of being questioned about his sources, Wise eventually had to admit he made it up, but concocted some story about how it was some elaborate experiment to prove that people on the internet will “print anything.” He specifically singled out Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Florio and Craig at Hardball Talk both have pretty good takes on the situation.
Back in the Bronx, the Yankees wasted little time continuing their winning ways. Despite finding themselves in a deep hole early, the Yankees battled back and pounded the Athletics’ pitching. Behind big hits from Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, Marcus Thames and Robinson Cano, the Yankees took an 11-5 victory over Oakland to start off their homestand.
The first inning saw a lot of action, as Coco Crisp singled to start off the game. Daric Barton singled to left and Kurt Suzuki worked a walk to load the bases with no outs. Jack Cust hit a sac fly to left, scoring Crisp. Kevin Kouzmanoff struck out, but Dustin Moseley walked Mark Ellis to load the bases again. Jeff Larish singled to center, scoring Barton and Suzuki to give the Athletics an quick 3-0 lead.
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This is an interestig article by Aaron Gleeman at Hardball Talk, and I encourage you to read the whole thing, as well as the reporting by the St. Louis Dispatch underlying it. The gist is that Tony LaRussa and St. Louis centerfielder Colby Rasmus appear to be feuding, that Rasmus isn’t playing even though he says he’s healthy and the Cardinals have to play catch-up to win a playoff berth, and that respected beat writers in St. Louis are speculating matter-of-factly that either LaRussa or Rasmus will leave town before next season.
Obviously, if this is true, it’s a very big deal for the Cardinals. And if either Rasmus or LaRussa really do have to go after this season, the Cardinals are out of their minds if it takes more than 10 seconds to make that decision. Rasmus is a 23 year old who plays plus defense in CF and has a career .258/.326/.447 line, though this season he’s hitting .268/.352/.501. This is the sort of guy the Cardinals are going to have to have in the lineup as much as possible if they expect to make the playoffs and, organizationally, he’s an important building block for the team going forward. Whatever you think of Tony LaRussa as a manager, there’s no way he’s more valuable to a baseball team than Colby Rasmus.
I am finally back from vacation. While it always feels great to return home, no matter how great the trip was, being in San Diego for that long was a blast. At least the weather here in NY is perfect, too, this week. You have no interest in seeing the family photo albums, but I’d like to share a bit about our trip to Petco. We were there this past Wednesday and were treated to a typical NL smallball game in a pitcher’s park affair an AL-style slugfest, mostly by the home team. The game was only part of the fun. Actually, the fun started well before first pitch.
Petco Park, as an attraction, was done the right way. It’s so kid- and family-friendly. The sightlines in the park are very good and the staff in and around the park are as nice as you will find in any town anywhere.
We got to the park a little later than we expected due to (what else?) traffic. We intended to get to the field around 5pm to watch the Padres’ batting practice and the D’Backs’ BP, but we missed the Padres’ turn at the plate. Nevertheless, we entered the stadium and went right out to left-center field where they have a great seating/viewing area. First of all, it’s a giant sandbox and the outfield wall is simple chain-link fence. What creates is a you’re-almost-on-the-field atmosphere and a prime spot to land batted souvenirs and autographs. The picture to the right shows Rodrigo Lopez and Juan Gutierrez talking to some friends, while my wife (Sharpie in hand) and older son wait for autographs. Other players would walk by, say hello but my Spanish is very rusty so I couldn’t dicipher much more than that.
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Last week I predicted that the financial statements leaked by deadspin.com – confidential financial statements covering two years of operations for the Pirates, Rays, Marlins, Angels, Mariners and Rangers – would result in the death of baseball’s revenue sharing system in its current form. The leaked data shows that the revenue sharing system is not working: it permits teams to use most of their revenue sharing money to pad their profits, instead of applying those moneys to improve the team’s performance on the field.
There’s another reason why baseball’s revenue sharing system will not survive in its current form: it is built around secrecy, and lies.
Before we turn to the lies, let’s focus on the secrets. The data revealed by deadspin.com is confidential. Baseball does not disclose the amount of money paid and received under revenue sharing. There is no disclosure of how teams use their revenue sharing money. This information is kept secret from the fans who fund revenue sharing by buying tickets and merchandise, paying for advanced MLB subscriptions and following the sport on radio and TV.
Now it turns out that we weren’t the only people being kept in the dark.
Jayson Stark at ESPN.com reports that these numbers are also kept secret from other baseball teams. This news would be hard to believe if it didn’t come from a source as trustworthy as Jayson Stark. Of course, every baseball team knows the amount it pays or receives under revenue sharing. But it turns out that no team is told by Bud Selig and the brass at Major League Baseball how much is being paid or received by any other team. “We knew these teams were getting millions,” an official of one club told Stark. “But we thought that ‘millions’ means maybe $40 million. But not close to $50 million. We knew it was a lot. Just not to this extent.”
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The Yankees left Toronto with a series loss and promptly lost the first game they played in Chicago. They bounced back with a high scoring win against the White Sox on Saturday night and looked to youngster Ivan Nova for a series win Sunday afternoon. A couple early runs were all the Pinstripes needed as they took the 2-1 victory before heading back to the Bronx.
Marcus Thames, who had two homers Saturday, continued to mash against the White Sox. His solo shot to lead off the second inning was the first run of the game. Francisco Cervelli started his Sunday with a big lead-off double in the third. A single by Brett Gardner scored Cervelli, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
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After A.J. Burnett turned in another shoddy outing on Friday night, Marc Carig passed along that, if he doesn’t shape up, AJ might lose his spot in the rotation.
Could this happen? Well it wouldn’t be unwarranted. Put bluntly; A.J. is having one of the worst seasons of his career this year. In 151.1 innings, he’s pitching to a 5.17 ERA and 4.77 FIP. His walk rate is actually down from last year’s at 3.75, but so are his strikeouts. His K/9 currently stands at 6.72, compared to a career average of 8.23. What’s more, he’s gone through stretches where he’s just be unspeakably awful start after start. There was, of course, his sure to be infamously horrible June where he posted an eye-popping 11.35 ERA, 6.65 BB/9, 3.52 HR/9, .362 BABIP, and 2.26 WHIP. Put simply, it was the worst stretch of pitching I can remember ever watching. This month hasn’t been quite that bad, but that just says more about how awful he was in June.
Of course, the flip-side to being inconsistent is that, while you may be very bad at times, you can be very good at times as well, and that’s very much true of Burnett. Yes, June and August were abysmal stretches for him, but the other months weren’t too bad. Even July, sandwiched right between those two awful months, was pretty darn good. And that’s why, ultimately, I think Burnett will probably keep getting the ball every 5th day. This isn’t like Javier Vazquez dealing with arm issues, this is just A.J. being A.J., and as long as his arm is healthy, there’s still the possibility that you’ll get Good A.J. in any given outing. Unless we start seeing Burnett go back to June-like awfulness over his next couple of starts, I’ll take that potential over more starts for Sergio Mitre.
In any event, it is hard to believe that not that long ago it looked like the Yankees were sitting pretty with their starting rotation, isn’t it?
So earlier this week, after Stephen Strasburg left the game early Saturday night with what ultimately turned out to be a significant elbow injury, Nationals broadcaster and all-around neanderthal Rob Dibble had some “advice” for Strasburg, namely that he was a baby who needed to learn to pitch through pain. Specifically, Dibble said Strasburg couldn’t “call in the cavalry” (the trainer every time he had a sore elbow. So yeah, that didn’t work out very well. Fear not though, even though what Dibble was originally calling soreness turns out to be a significant injury that requires major surgery and a 12-18 month recovery time, Dibble bases his analysis on facts, unlike us silly bloggers. Those facts may only exist in his head, but, hey, Rob Dibble played the game. For a little while. Until he got hurt and washed out because he wouldn’t let the injury heal.
Today, Dibble had more to say about Strasburg, and it fits his pattern of backing down from his knuckle-dragging statements quite when challenged quite well:
So some guy in Washington tore up his elbow a little bit and is going to need Tommy John surgery. Even though Washington is going nowhere, this is apparently the biggest baseball news since ever. Silly East coast bias.
Seriously though, it really sucks that Stephen Strasburg in probably going to miss all of next season with this injury. Say whatever you want about him, he was fun to watch, and even more fun to imagine what he might accomplish in his career. And he still is. Tommy John surgery isn’t a death sentence, especially for young pitchers with the ability to heal up and recover over a longer period of time. In fact, most young pitchers go through arm issues, you just don’t see them because they happen in the minor leagues. Looking at the Yankees, Phil Hughes had arm trouble, and he’s still developing into a very good pitcher at the minor league level. Andrew Brackman had Tommy John, and Dellin Betances had reconstructive surgery on his elbow now. Both of those guys are now pitching in AA, and KLaw says both will crack his Top 100 Prospects next year. Strasburg has gotten more attention because he’s already in the majors, and because he’s gotten a lot of hype from the national media since he was drafted. It’s not “no big deal,” per se, but it’s not the end of the world for Strasburg or the Nationals either.
Coming off a series loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yankees roll into Chicago for a three-game set against the White Sox. The Yankees last faced Chicago in early May, winning two of the three games in the series. Needless to say, the teams have changed quite a bit over that time and with rumors surrounding Manny Ramirez there could be more changes in Chicago, but as of now we will ignore Mannywood and the circus it brings. The White Sox are in a fight for a playoff spot, as they are just 3.5 games behind the Twins and nine games out of the wild card race.
Pitching Matchups:
August 27: A.J. Burnett (9-11, 4.80) vs. Freddy Garcia (10-5, 5.08)
August 28: CC Sabathia (17-5, 3.02) vs. John Danks (12-8, 3.31)
August 29: Ivan Nova (0-0, 2.16) vs. Gavin Floyd (9-10, 3.91)
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