Monthly Archives: July 2003

A CHUMP OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

[Note: Nice last post, huh? Holy errors. I think I started my vacation too early. Jeff Weaver gave up one run, and Jason Giambi has 26 homers and 73 RBI.

I watched the All-Star and have to admit, although it was a close game, I wasn’t so into it. I think inter-league play really kills the excitement for me. Anyhow, I was pleased that the AL won, for what it’s worth.]

Here’s another interesting wrinkle in the Yankees season (and the Mets season for that matter): Armando Benitez now wears pinstripes. The long-rumored deal which sent the Mets much-maligned closer to the Bronx finally went down yesterday. The Mets get three prospects in return for Benitez, who will serve as Mariano Rivera’s set-up man.

I must admit, I don’t know how to feel about this one. On one hand the Yankees just got more unlikable. They could start a club called The Moody Latin Mooks, what with Benitez joining Ruben Ruben and Raul Mondesi as card-carrying members. Hey, I know Jose Lima’s stock is soaring right now, how about trading Weaver for him? The club would be complete if the Yanks trade for Juan Gone.

I’ve never cared much for Benitez, especially after he drilled Tino square in the back in ’98. He’s easy not to like. A hulking, sulking fireballer with a million dollar arm and a ten cent head. I watched from a distance as he became public enemy #1 for Mets fans everywhere (with apologies to Roger Cedeno). But I also found myself defending him to Mets fans who treated Benitez like he was Skip Lockwood. He is a talented closer, just not an elite one. But he blew one too many ‘big’ saves for the Mets and they clearly needed to wash their hands of him.

Now, after rooting against him all these years, Yankee fans have to get behind Benitez. As hard as this may seem, we had to get used to Roger Clemens too, and that worked out pretty well. One thing that works in his favor is that he is not going to close, unless something happens to Rivera (in which case, all bets are off). Is Benitez better than what the Yankees have? Yes. Will he make Yankee fans suffer in a close game, late in the season? Yes.

Will the Yankee fans cut him any slack at all? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t count on it. If he can somehow manage to start off on the right foot, it might go a long way in saving him a trip straight to the doghouse. But just wait until he blows a lead against the Sox.

I do know that this is a win-win situation for Mets fans. Whatever happens, they have to feel confident that they will make out on this trade. If Benitez stinks they’ll be happy because the guy they hate is doing just what they expect him to do, plus he’s doing it for the Yanks. And if he wins, then they get to hate him and the Yankees just a little bit more than they already do.

I’m curious to see how the Yankee players respond to the big lug, and of course, how he’ll respond to a golden opportunity. Hey, at least this season hasn’t been dull.

BLUE JAY WAY

The Yanks recovered over the weekend to take two of three in Toronto from the Blue Jays. They finished the first half with their best record at the break since 1998; the Red Sox are just two games back.

Andy Pettitte was shaky on Friday night, but the Bombers’ bats covered for him, and he earned the victory. The bullpen (Hammonds, and welcome back Osuna) fell apart for Mike Mussina—who was out-pitched by “Doc” Halliday—on Saturday, but Jeff Weaver came back on Sunday with perhaps his best performance of the year, as the Yanks beat the Jays, 6-1. Weaver pitched eight innings, didn’t allow a run, struck out seven, and walked none.

The Jays are sliding, but they are a likable team. Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca is a precocious old guy. He can hang with Joe Torre or Pat Corrales any day. He looks like the late Phil Hartman doing an impression of W.C. Fields.

Jason Giambi now has 26 homers and 72 RBI. He also leads the league in walks. Jeter is hitting over .300; Bernie is back. When Nick Johnson returns by the end of the month, the Yankees’ lineup should finally be back on track.

I’m on vacation this week, so blogging will be light to variable as they say.

Hello?

RUMOR MILL

I’ve heard that Pirates pitcher Kris Benson is likely to become a Red Sox. But are the Red Sox willing to move an outfielder to get some pitching? The Globe has an article detailing the latest rumors this morning.

SAY WHAT?

In the wake of Curtis Pride’s emotional home run against Boston last weekend, Bruce Markusen looks at the history of deaf players in his latest Cooperstown Confidential column.

NOTHING SHOCKING

It turns out Pedro Martinez will pitch against the Yanks in their next series after all. Tell me something I don’t know.

CRUMBS

The first fan letter I ever wrote to a ballplayer was to Jason Giambi during his first spring training with the Yankees. I don’t really know why—perhaps I was still smarting from the Game 7 loss in Arizona—but I felt compelled to welcome the big lug to New York. I ended up sending him a 7 page letter, warning him about the boos that would greet him, and the highs and lows New York would have to offer.

Several months later I heard Giambi naively tell one of the newspapers, “You know, fans actually lose sleep in New York when we lose.” No kidding, brother.

Well, count last night’s 3-2, extra-inning loss as one of those nights. Coupled with the fact that the Red Sox completed a three-game sweep of the Jays in Toronto to move two games out of first place, there was a lot of tossing and turning in the BX last night. The Yankees didn’t blow a seven run lead, but it was a game they clearly should have won.

Roger Clemens labored through seven innings, but only gave up two runs. The Yankees offense, which has been slumping for the last week (with the exception of their six-run outburst for Boomer), was asleep at the wheel again. Robin Ventura and Raul Mondesi are in terrible slumps. Mondesi didn’t start last night, and went kvetching to the press about it. Hey, Mondesi doesn’t want to return to the Yanks next year? Who says we want him here in the first place? Try knocking in 100 runs once, just once, and maybe you would feel wanted, papi.

While Jeter is starting to hit well, Alfonso Soriano inexplicably was picked off twice, killing potential rallies.

When Sterling Hitchcock came on in relief to start the top of the tenth, I knew the game would soon be over. Furious, I got on the phone to my friend Javier, and starting bitching and moaning. “Well, who would you rather see in this spot?” he asked.

That shut me up quickly. “Jeff Nelson!” was all I could muster.

The strangest play of the night came early in the game when Milton Bradley—who went hitless in the series—shoulder blocked Jason Giambi on a lazy play at first. So this is the redass special we’ve been hearing about. But late in the game Bradley reached first and appeared to clear the air.

The Yanks now head to Toronto, where the Jays will be waiting to break out a can of whup ass after getting swept by Boston. Meanwhile the Sox coast into the Motor City to play the Tigers.

SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME?

Doug Pappas, who covers baseball economics with clarity and depth, is also a Mets fan. He sees dark days ahead for the Yanks:

The new issue of Sports Weekly ranks the Mets’ farm system as the majors’ second best — that may be a stretch, but the trend is certainly positive.

The same can’t be said for their crosstown rivals, who have gutted their farm system (ranked 30th by Sports Weekly) for short-term fixes. It’s no coincidence that the foundation of the recent Yankee dynasty was laid while George Steinbrenner was under suspension: had he been running the early-90s Yankees the way he ran the mid-80s club, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter would have been traded for middle relievers or 35-year-old DHes while still in AA. Who can forget Willie McGee for Bob Sykes, Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps, Fred McGriff and cash for Dale Murray, or Doug Drabek for Rick Rhoden?

Now Steinbrenner’s growing impatient again. The Yankees have two 40-year-old starting pitchers, no help coming anytime soon from the farm system, and Jason Giambi, Derek Jeter and Mike Mussina due huge raises. By 2005 they’ll be a third-place club.

Aw man, say it ain’t so. But if history is an indicator, this is a very likely scenerio. Especially with Boston and Toronto already building for the future.

DEM’S FIGHTIN’ WOIDS

Are the Yanks and Sox headed for a brawl? If the press has anything to say about it, you betcha. I’m sure if you polled most Yankee and Red Sox fans, they’d be all for it as well. Imagine? The talk radio shows would have enough material to carry them through the second half.

This story will do nothing but gain momentum over the next couple of weeks. The Yanks and Sox next meet for a three game set in Boston, July 25-27th. According to the Globe, Pedro Martinez may not start in the series. You know the Yankees will hope to avoid starting the volatile Rocket Clemens as well.

Boss George avoided a war of words with Pedro for the time being, but that could always change. Martinez took exception to Steinbrenner’s comments that he intentionally tried to hit Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter on Monday. But George has a long history of crying when a Yankee gets hit.

In the last week of the 1981 season, Reggie Jackson, who suffered through a rough and tumble fianl season with the Yankees principal owner, got into it with pitcher John Denny of the Cleveland Indians. I vividly remember the encounter (I was ten years old). According to Dick Schaap’s book, “Steinbrenner!:”

Knocked down by John Denny…Jackson got up and headed toward the mound, seting off a free-for-all tha emptied the Yankees’ bench. Jackson and Denny both survived the scuffle, and the next time Reggie came up, he drove one of Denny’s pitches into the right field stands. When he finished his home run trot, Jackson and Denny charged each other again, and a fresh battle erupted. Teammates had to pull Reggie away, and as they did, he clapped his hands. He was having great fun, for one of the few times all season. Steinbrenner, from his Tampa base, joined in the fun. He threatened legal action against pichers who knocked down his players. “I will not tolerate our hitters being assaulted with a deadly weapon,” Steinbrenner said. “The Yankees are knee-deep in lawyers, and we will use them to protect our players.”

At the very least, perhaps the Sox want to retain legal counsel, just in case.

BERNIE’S BACK

Man, what a sight for sore eyes. Bernie Williams returned to the Yankee line up last night in Cleveland and went 1-4 with 2 RBI. Soriano and Jeter and Moni were back too, and the Yanks beat the Indians, 6-2. Jeter had four hits. C.C. Sabathia walked six (a career high), but wasn’t terrible. I hadn’t seen him pitch all year, and I’d forgotten just how big he is. I knew he was hefty, but at 6’5, the guy is a mountain. Funny, but he rocks his cap slightly to the side, just to stay cool I guess. Boomer Wells recovered from the beating he took on the 4th, and shut down the Indians in his favorite home-away-from-home.

The Yanks didn’t get any help from the Blue Jays, who blew a lead to the Sox and fell, 8-7. Doh! I caught the end of the game on ESPN2, and got all wrapped up in the game. Boy, it’s great to hate a team. It adds so much tension and excitement to the season. Trailing by a run, Frankie Catalanotto lead off the ninth with a doulbe, his fifth hit of the game. But then, the Sox closer, Mr. Kim struck out the heart of the order to end the game.

ESPN ran a graphic which stated that the Sox have won twelve games in their last at-bat, and lost twelve games in their last at-bat. I was hoping for lucky number thirteen, but it wasn’t to be, and Boston remains three games behind New York. The Jays are now eight games back. The Yanks and Jays square off this weekend, while the Sox play the Tigers. Grrrrr.

THE EGGMAN OR THE WALRUS?

Earlier today, I was wondering just who Kevin Millar thinks he is. I expect whinning and carrying on from the likes of Clemens and Boss George and Prince Pedro, but Millar? I look at him as a good ballplayer who should be thanking his lucky stars he isn’t on the other side of the world right now. Fortunately, Ed Cossette gave me the skinny:

Millar, if you believe the reports coming from the beat writers, is the guy most responsible for changing the climate of the clubhouse. Since the stars, Ramirez, Nomar, Martinez, shun the leadership role, Millar has more or less stepped in as the default captain/leader of the team.

Some have even gone so far as to say that Manny’s good mood (and even the occasional comment to the media despite his vow of silence) is the result of Millar’s antics; evidently he really ribs the hell out of Manny and Manny, a kid at heart, loves it.

Score one for Theo/James who went after Millar with a vengeance even though none of the rest of us had any clue why.

ANGRY YOUNG MAN

Alan Schwarz has a long, compassionate article on Milton Bradley over at ESPN. I didn’t realize that Bradley was such a nut job, but then again I haven’t been paying too close attention. The article is worth reading, and Bradley is worth keeping tabs of, simply to see who he incites next.

KICKED OUT THE HOUSE

Allen Barra , who I recently interviewed for Baseball Prospectus, will not be returning to The New York Times. According to Sridhar Pappu in The New York Observer:

The New York Times has quietly cut bait on its experiment with sports columnist Allen Barra, who was brought in just this March to write a weekly column called “Against the Grain,” in the hope of giving the Sunday Sports section an anchor column similar to culture czar Frank Rich’s in Arts and Leisure.

It was a seemingly harmless hire-and yet, during former executive editor Howell Raines’ months in office, perhaps no appointment roused the ire of an entire department more than the hiring of the former Wall Street Journal and Observer sports columnist. A Birmingham, Ala., native who described Mr. Raines as “so cool” in a March interview with Off the Record, Mr. Barra, according to several sources, became a lightning rod for a group still smarting over the decision by the Raines regime to kill off two columns disagreeing with the paper’s editorial-board stance on the Augusta National Golf Club in December 2002.Further, sources said, Mr. Barra’s statistically driven pieces were not appreciated by a department still without writers on three major beats-New York Giants football, the Olympics and the N.B.A.-or the non-Strat-O-Matic-playing public.

The decision, sources said, was based on the editors’ satisfaction with Mr. Barra’s work. But some wondered: Had Mr. Raines not left The Times newsroom June 5, would Mr. Barra still be crunching O.B.P. and VORP on Sundays?”If Howell was still here, maybe Barra would be,” one Times source said. “Without him, there was one less roadblock.”

Mr. Barra and Times sports editor Tom Jolly did not return calls seeking comment, and a Times spokesperson declined to comment. In the meantime, Mr. Barra has resumed writing for The Journal in an occasional column called “In the Fray.”

And I thought The Times was finally getting its act together. Here is Barra’s latest piece for The Journal.

THE OUT OF TOWNER

Sox fan Ben Jacobs was in town over the weekend and caught Sunday and Monday’s games (ah, bum luck strikes again). He survived the obnoxious louts and even met some nice fans too. His account of the Mussina-Pedro game is terrific.

DANG YANKEES

There is a good profile on Bill James (“The Professor of Baseball”) by Ben McGrath in the latest issue of The New Yorker. It appears that James was the perfect man for the Boston job in more ways than one. Not only is he one of the brightest minds in his field, but he has an inherent dislike of the Yankees too. The man who reads Douglass Wallop’s 1954 novel, “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant,” (upon which the musical “Damn Yankees” was based) to his kids every year, tells McGrath, “Kansas City hates New York more than Boston does.”

According to James:

“All of the dreams I have in which we are successful are dreams in which we succeed in reducing the Yankees to a more appropriate stature in life.”

Now, that’s a good line. But that’s not all James is up to:

“What I’m trying to do is to create ways to think about the real problems of baseball front offices in an organized way. I’ve actually had some really interesting insights into the game and developed some very interesting methods for the Red Sox, and it’s very frustrating not to be able to discuss them with the public.”

McGrath writes that “One goal that James and company are working toward involves identifying worrisome physiological and stylistic traits among pitchers that lead predictably to injury.” This is something that Rob Neyer intimated might happen early this spring.

But of course, James is still a writer at heart:

“I think about writing as much as I think about baseball. The issues of why people believe what they believe and how you persuade them to see things your way are extremely interesting and extremely critical to me.”

I’m not a James fanatic by any stretch, but I do admit to having some James-envy now that he’s working for the Sox. I didn’t grow up reading his books. In fact, I only started reading his Abstracts a few years ago when my cousin was getting rid of all his copies. But I quickly discovered why he was so popular. It’s not so much his theories that I responded to—although I appreciate them as well, but his writing style. The insight, the quick wit, and the built-in bullshit detector. It’s good to see that even though he’s working for the big boys now, he’s still a writer first and foremost.

YOU TALKIN’ LOUD BUT YOU AIN’T SAYIN’ NUTHIN

In the aftermath of Monday’s Sox-Yanks finale, there is still plenty of moaning going on. The participants? Boss George, Rocket Clemens, Prince Pedro and Kevin Millar. Kevin Millar? Damn. Is he still yappin? Not much of a story here—until the Yanks and Sox meet up again in a couple of weeks—just the usual bruised-ego, tough-talk you’d expect from big-walking, tough-talking guys.

Oh, Gertrude. I guess the Times has it right today; crying has become more acceptable in professional sports. Hey George, got a kleenex?

TRIPPED UP

A funny thing happened to the Yankees on their way to the All Star break. They were one-hit by former Met prospect Billy Traber in Cleveland last night, and lost the game 4-0. Meanwhile the Blue Jays wasted another brilliant effort from Roy Halladay, as the Red Sox knocked them off in extra innings, 2-1. The Yankees lead over Boston is now down to three games.

After the Yanks were no-hit by the Astros earlier this year, Rob Neyer noted that the Bombers have just the kind of team that is prone to be getting shut down:

…It’s not really that surprising, what happened Wednesday night.
Why? Because if you’re trying to predict which team’s going to be no-hit, there’s really only one thing worth looking at: team batting average.

If you want to know if they’re going to be no-hit, you need to look at batting average … and the Yankees don’t have much of a batting average.

Heading into last night’s action, the Yankees were 10th in the American League with a .265 team batting average. So while it’s tempting to think that the Yankees just shouldn’t be the victims of a no-hitter, the fact is that we shouldn’t be all that surprised when a .265-hitting team gets no-hit, even if its ancestors have won 26 World Series.

Instead of Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter at the top of the line up, the Yanks fielded Enrique Wilson (.200) and Todd Zeile (.198) last night. Ouch.

But manager Joe Torre gave credit where credit was due:

“I’m glad the question was not asked: ‘Was it his pitching, or lack of hitting?’ Or, ‘Did you guys have a letdown after the Red Sox?’ ” Yankees Manager Joe Torre said at the end of his session with reporters. “None of that stuff happened. It was all him, no question. He was terrific tonight.”

Jeff Weaver got into a jam in the first inning, giving up two runs, but then pitched well after that. Weaver looked so pissed in the first that I thought he was going to implode. It looked as if he wasn’t even breathing, just seething, like a kettle ready to boil. It’s clear that he’s talented, but his head is in the toilet. He is a model of self-loathing.

Weaver needs to turn that frown upside down. Perhaps a little patience would help. Speaking of which, Bernie Williams will make his return to the Yankees tonight. And not a moment too soon.

WHO?

The boys over at Elephants in Oakland are running a good series covering the A’s prospects. Pitching phenom Rich Harden has been stealing the headlines all season, but a kid by the name of Justin Duchscherer looks mighty impressive too. I wonder if Beane will dangle Harden, while Duchscherer is his guy all along. Hmmm.

AIN’T NO HALF STEPPIN

Who is the most underrated player in baseball? According to Aaron Gleeman, it’s Seattle center fielder Mike Cameron.

FAT BEATS

There is an excellent new blog out there called Rich’s Weekend Baseball BEAT. The writing is succint and thought-provoking, certainly a welcome addition to the world of baseball blogs. Check out the latest article on the merits of the Triple Crown. My old pal John Perricone, who appears to be back with a vengence, adds to the discussion over at Only Baseball Matters. Great to see you off the dl, John.