There are twenty games remaining on the Yankees regular season schedule, one more than the Red Sox and two more than the Indians. The Red Sox added a half-game to their division lead yesterday by defeating the Blue Jays in eleven innings thanks to yet another game-winning home run by guess who while the Yankees enjoyed their final off-day of the season. The Yankees will make up that game next Thursday when the Red Sox are idle, thus that frightening extra half-game that will stick to the Red Sox AL East lead over the next week and a half is illusory. The opportunity still exists for the Yankees to match the Sox win-for-win to keep the Boston lead at three games entering the final three games of the season in Boston. Should the Yankees then sweep that series, a single-game playoff between the two teams would be played at Yankee Stadium to decide the division.
The Indians, meanwhile, were shut out by Dan Haren and a quartet of relievers last night, thus dropping their half-game advantage in the Wild Card race. You see, while the Indians still lead the Yankees by a full game, that game is the result of the Indians having won two more games than the Yankees. The two teams are even in the loss column, which, by a certain strain of logic, means they are actually tied. Thus the opportunity still exists for the Yankees to match the Indians win-for-win over the remainder of the season, win the two extra games in their schedule, and finish the season tied with Cleveland. If that happens, a single-game playoff between the two teams would be played at Jacob’s Field to decide the Wild Card.
So, technically, the Yankees are still in control of their own destiny, even if that destiny now includes a one-game playoff win. Merely forcing such a playoff game against either the Indians or Red Sox, however, will be a monumental task for the pinstripers. To begin with, needing to sweep the Red Sox at home over the final three days of the season is a frightening thought, even though the starters for that series currently project to be Aaron Small, Randy Johnson and Shawn Chacon (though Chacon’s start could go to Mike Mussina as I’ll explain in a moment).
What’s more, the Indians have been the hottest team in the American League over the past week. Last night’s loss broke a seven-game winning streak that saw them sweep the Tigers and Twins, including a 4-2 win over Johan Santana this past Friday.
Meanwhile, the Yankees find themselves in Tampa tonight to play their final three games of the season against the Devil Rays team that has, er, bedeviled them all season. At this point it should no longer be necessary for me to recap the Devil Rays’ success against the Yankees this season. And any analysis of the overall success of the Devil Rays’ pitchers against the Yankee hitters is statistically obscured by the two 13-run innings the Yankees have dropped on the D-Rays this season (yes those innings can be factored out, but I lack the time, the patience, and the stomach to do so right now). That said, it is informative to note that the Devil Rays have outscored and flat out-hit the Yankees head-to-head even with those 26 runs in two innings included on the Yankees’ side:
D-Rays: .293/.367/.451 (.278 GPA), 102 R
Yanks: .280/.343/.474 (.273 GPA), 98 R
In addition, consider the fact that the Yankee starter and the two Yankee hitters who have performed best against the Devil Rays this season, Mike Mussina, Tino Martinez and Gary Sheffield, have all been sidelined with injuries of late. The good news is that Sheffield (.322/.349/.678, 6 HR, 22 RBI vs. TB this year) will start tonight at DH. Sheffield missed the entire Boston series with a mysterious muscle pull in his upper leg (it’s been variously reported as a quad, a hamstring, and a groin). As Alex and I were discussing on the phone this afternoon, you know that had to eat Sheffield up inside. The guy played all of last year with a muscle separation in his shoulder and a torn ligament in his thumb and almost won the MVP award. Do you think he would have missed the entire Boston series if that leg injury wasn’t something we should be concerned about? Hells no! Do you think he wasn’t going absolutely crazy having to sit through those last two games in which the Yankee offense produced a total of three runs? You bet your sweet bippy he was!
Having Sheffield at DH could actually be a plus for the Yankees in this series as it opens up right field to the team’s best defensive outfielder, Bubba Crosby, who, to Joe Torre’s credit, will indeed start there tonight, his second consecutive start in right field. Playing on the slick Tropicana Dome turf over the next three games, the Yankees would be well advised to dispatch Bubba Crosby to the outfield in all three games, even against the left-handed Mark Hendrickson tomorrow. Now that we’ve all had a good look at Matt Lawton’s defensive shortcomings, I can’t imagine anyone would disagree that the Yankees cannot afford to run him and Bernie Williams out there on turf against this fast and aggressive Tampa Bay team, and Gary Sheffield, particularly Gary Sheffield with a bum leg, would only be a marginal improvement.
To that end, having Sheffield at DH also keeps Jason Giambi in the field, where his bat has heated back up, producing two of the three runs the Yankees scored in the final two games of their weekend series against the Red Sox. Giambi has spent all of September in the field thus far thanks to the rib cage injury which has kept Tino Martinez out of the line-up for the entire month. According to Torre’s pre-game press conference, Tino could return to game action this week, which is actually an item of some concern as anything that pushes Jason Giambi to DH is a blow to the Yankee offense. Thankfully Sheffield will block him for the time being. I for one could deal with seeing the likes of Bubba Crosby, Matt Lawton or Ruben Sierra in the line-up in place of Tino as long as it kept Giambi in the field.
As for Mussina, the last of the Yankees’ injury brigade, he threw 45 pitches in the bullpen today and, though he’s still not 100 percent, will take another bullpen turn later in the week, and could eventually slot into Chacon’s spot in the rotation if the latter continues to struggle. That would make Mussina, not Chacon, the starter for the final game of the season in Boston. Myself, I’m nervous about a potential Mussina return, as the Yankees can’t afford to sacrifice a single game to get the rust off of him, even if it would make their rotation stronger over whatever portion of the season remained.
As for the Devil Rays themselves, their roster is unchanged from last week and they’ll be sending Doug Waechter to the mound to face Jaret Wright tonight. Waechter has a 3.38 ERA in three starts against the Yankees (21 1/3 IP, 20 H, 3 HR, 3 BB, 11 K), while Wright, eliminating his April start against Tampa as I believe he was less than healthy during that part of the season, has posted the following line in two starts against the Rays since returning from the DL:
14 IP, 12 H, 6 R, 1 HR, 5 BB, 4 K, 1.21 WHIP, 3.86 ERA
That’s good but not great. Still, it accounts for two of the Yankees five wins against the Rays this year.
Given some of their comments after Sunday’s remarkable 1-0 win over the Red Sox, it seems the Yankees are finally ready to not only take this Devil Rays team seriously, but approach this series as if it were against the Red Sox themselves. It’s about time, as there’s no margin for error and no room for a let down follwing the Boston series.
1. No prisoners tonight! Let's go Yanks!
2. Good start, Jete!
3. GIAMBI!
Torre's new lineup is already paying off.
4. That's what I'm talkin' about! The Giambeeeeeno! 3-run blast.
5. I feel good with Sheff in the line-up, hope he has a good nite Holy sheet-Giambino lauches one!
6. Sweet Jesus! They really needed that.
These guys mean business this time. No mercy.
7. Was hopin' that when I saw A-Rod in the 2 spot...
8. Oh, yeah — everybody hits!
9. 'bout time, isn't it?
10. Shit, sheff must be a cripple on that leg.
11. Cliff, so far your headline is on the MONEY, lad!
12. This bodes well.
I'll extend the movie metaphor made in the the title and suggest "JASON... Jason... jason... KILL... Kill... kill..." for the wrapup blog post after the (here's hoping) win.
13. Happy birthday, Bernie!!!
But jeez, Sheff looks really gimpy.
14. Damn, is Giambi back on the juice?
15. We're slappin' Waechter around like he owes us money. I'm lovin' it! I hope everyone is invited to the party...
16. How big a lead do the Yankees need to take Sheff out?
17. Cy Waechter is off his game.
18. Yeah, orange juice.
19. KJC Clam up.
20. I wish I was watching the game. Bizarre stuff already. Maybe I'll pay for the last month of MLB TV but I didn't like it that much, I preferred to listen to Sterling and watch if it's on ESPN.
21. I freakin' hate those juice comments.
22. Best way for Sheff to score.
23. Waechter pitches 0.0 innings. Nice.
24. Now they need to run ration...get as many as you need tonight...and save the rest for tomorrow ;)
25. If i'm a major league hitter and I see Dewon Brazleton ambling towards the hill, i lick my proverbial chops.
26. You'd think with such a thrashing by the Yanks, you'd be in a better mood...
27. All right, Sheff can walk home and wait for his next at-bat to put weight on his leg. I imagine if we're up 6 or 7 they'll pull em immediately
28. Don't smear Giambi without evidence, dude.
29. I'd like to see the Yanks wear out the Devil Ray bullpen tonight if they can. Gives them an advantage over the next two games.
30. What was Brazleton suspended for? Juice?
31. Don't feed the Red Sox trolls, please.
32. I hope they see everyone in the bullpen.
Three pitch at bats aren't going to make that happen, Cano.
33. Great point, Cliff, but hopefully we won't see Baez tonight — which would probably mean a tight game where Flash or Mo has to work, too... here's hopin' Jared is Wright.
34. Happy Birthday Bernie!
35. They badly need one more hit
36. Brazelton looks tough, good thing we scored.
37. Come on Jete, keep em movin.
38. or not.
39. Well, at least Jeter worked the count full. Now that they're up by 5, maybe they'll relax and have a little more patience at the plate. Make 'em throw a lot of pitches.
40. Hey, here is where the rubber meets the road, it's Wright's to lose or win. Can't ask for much more than this as a pitcher.
If history is a predictor, if we score 8 or 9 tonight, we'll score 2 tomorrow, lets go Jaret!
41. Ok, this game is too important, I'm going to settle in to watch and/or listen . . . have fun guys, positive energy all around, Lets Go Yankees!
42. If I heard correctly earlier, these bastards have overcome leads 6 times against us this year. Five ain't enough, we need to work counts, move runners and keep the heat on!
43. I hope we get out of the 1st with a lead
44. I'm still not confident in Wright.
45. Is it me, or does Johnny Gomes look like he just finished a quarter ounce in his headshot on Gameday?
Why'd you walk him, Wright? The dude's obviously stoned out of his mind!
46. JeremyM
Five run lead and he still can't throw strikes, I can't imagine why.
47. Toronto draws first blood against Boston.
48. Worst thing that could have happened.
49. I suppose Wright is hurt again. Well, we know who the odd man out is if Mussina comes back, if there's any justice, and if Aaron Small's carriage doesn't revert back to a pumpkin.
50. Fuck you Jaret, 100% your own fault. It's the triangular shaped object directly in front of the hitter.
Strikes, take that tough guy caw out of your mouth, stop worrying about how cool you look and throw a Goddam strike, Jesus!
51. We need more runs.
52. Srrrrike 3
53. Don't give up on Wright yet. He was shaky in the first inning last time, too, but settled down.
54. That inning made Kevin Brown look like Cy Young.
55. That's true randym77. Hope he settles down.
56. Toronto 5, Boston 0 after 2.
57. No, that was a Kevin Brown inning, except he forgot to throw a wild pitch and plunk a batter.
58. I can handle giving up runs if I don't see 2-0, 2-0, 3-1. He better settle down. I'm just a purist, if you can't throw strikes, and you aint Pedro, or Johan, or Chris or Randy, you aint got business in this game.
59. JeremyM,
How dare you! You left out telling Mel, "I am keeping the ball down, aint you watching!"
60. Actually, it did remind of Kevin Brown, if only because Brown always has one really awful inning. Even when he's pitching well, there's one inning where he sucks.
61. If Torre takes Giambi off 1B when Tino comes back he should be shot.
62. OBP
63. Ok Ken Rosenthal, Giambi doing ok today? Yea, you go ahead and give that award to Mark Ellis.
64. Sheff gives new meaning to the phrase "clogging the bases."
65. Rich,
You see Giambi's numbers as DH vs. 1B? I could not agree with you more, although shot, hmm, how bout something a little slower than that?
66. We could force him to watch every St. Louis Cardinals loss while he was manager there, consecutively, a la A Clockwork Orange style.
67. walk in a run bitch
68. Jeez, the score is going to look like a Bucs/Giants game if this keeps up.
69. I'm fine with anything that would remove Torre's decision-making authority.
70. Rich,
The Irony Is, He's Not all that Much Slower Now than He is Normally.
71. Beimel's warming now. Instead of counting pitches, we can count pitchers. ;-)
72. Pickin up bones
Pickin up bones
I'm Gary
Just pickin up bones
73. Mat with a gapper.
74. A gappa! Sheff did clog 'em up!
75. Godzilla!
76. Bernie Baseball!
77. Bernie singles...
78. Happy birthday, dear Bernie...
79. Sheffield stops at third, holy Christ, I'm literally rolling on the ground with laughter.
Pickin up bones
Pickin up Bones
Hey there, I'm Gary
Just pickin up bones
Pickin up bones
You really want to see me loaf?
Just pickin up bones
80. Holy crap!
And still no outs.
81. Kaye said Posada loafs to second, is he confused?
82. I want to see a consistent offensive attack during the entire series, not just a spike on a graph.
83. We're on a pace for about 40 runs tonight... maybe we give Tanyon-Flash-Mo the night off. Or maybe not
84. Mo maybe. Tanyon will probably pitch two innings.
85. come on Lou, throw a shit fit and bring Baez in until his arm falls off
86. Are they letting Crosby use an aluminum bat?
87. Holy Moley! That was inches from a slam for Bubba!
88. Wow, Crosby almost did it.
And the damn Bosox came back, I see.
89. "I want to see a consistent offensive attack during the entire series"
I want Waechter and Brazelton to pitch during the entire series.
90. Shefield on First, here comes Giambi.
Its a hard hit ball to Center,
its back,
back,
back,
that ball is gone,
See Ya!
What's this, Gary Sheffield is asking the second base umpire if he can skip running the bases--
"Can you do that Kenny?"
"I've never seen that before Michael, it's a little befuddling, I guess he really doesn't want to run the bases."
The Umpire is irate, Gary Sheffield and the Umpire at posturing, it's ugly out there folks--
"I've never seen anything like it Michael."
"Me either Kenny."
"That's not going to make Yankeeography."
I don't believe it!
91. What's the record for the most at-bats in one game?
92. Ohhh, for a second there I thought...
93. Here's a site with records, but:
http://baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_atba1.shtml
94. They're chanting steroids in Tampa/St. Pete, I've been to Tampa, they should be chanting . . .
WIC Check! WIC Check! WIC Check!
Oy Oy Oy . . .
Pabst on tap!
Oy Oy Oy . . .
. . .
Or as Homer would say . . . "Dental Plan . . Dental Plan . . .Dental Plan . . ."
95. Just throw strikes.
96. good thing I was looking at MLB Game Day and saw Giambi made out before I heard Sterling screaming :There it goes to deep right, is is high it is caught
97. Ok Jaret, is this enough?
Please say yes.
98. "Just throw strikes."
Just get outs.
99. Sterlimg is something else. . ."It's going, It's a hard hit ball, there it goes, oh no, it's snagged by the shortstop."
100. i am really tired of sterling referring to Gathright as a "little lefty hitter." seems condecending and oddly racist, but i may be oversensitive.
101. OK. Let's get 5 more!
102. I truly think that Sterling is going blind.
103. 2005 is indeed a new year. It's 10-2 and I am afraid to turn in off.
eats time.
have fun!
Go yankees.
104. Wright seems to have settled in.
But now we have Sheff batting first.
105. blue,
He keeps telling him after the game, "Hey, there is an extra 5 in it for ya if you get me my car back quick, ok Alfalfa."
"Oh your a ball player, who would a thought it."
106. Hmm. USA Today was showing the Red Sox with 5 runs, but they took it back. Must have been a mistake.
Cleveland is losing, too, if their score is accurate.
Take Sheff out already. He can hardly walk.
107. I'm worried...
108. 5-1 Toronto, bottom 5...
109. WTF is Wright nibbling for???
110. Jeez, he walked him with an 8 run lead. :(
111. Love it.
112. The dead arm lives!!!!! Great throw, Bernie!
113. Tsk. Bernie may be old, but he ain't dead!
114. What torment does Lou have ready for Crawford back in the bullpen after he gets thrown out on a stupid stretching attempt with an 8 run deficit
115. Toronto's up 6-1 now.
116. What happened in the A's/Indians game? It says:
"Delayed: Power" on Gameday.
117. They said that on YES, too. I assume the power's out.
118. They've always had the ability to throttle the D-Rays. The 13 run innings prove it. They just chose not to show up for 11 games.
119. 2-zip Oakland. 2 out, top of the 6th...
120. I flipped over to the Boston Game day for a second and surprise surprise Ortiz just hit a blast making it Toronto 6-2 now over the Sox in 6th. Iguess Toronto still has a chance to hold on. Oy, Manny just got a base hit. I'll come back to them later. No point in souring a pleasant Yankee game
121. Don't get me wrong: I am pulling for the Yankees 100% to win it all.
But if the A's won, I'd be OK with it. They have had an insanely weird year.
122. Still no power in Cleveland. Jeez, yesterday half of the LA was dark, tonight it's Cleveland.
123. Power outage @ Jacobs, looks like just two light towers are out... starting to come back on now...
124. Yo Torre, take Sheff out.
125. That power outage was a scam.
126. Play has resumed in Cleveland.
Yeah, definitely take Sheff out. We've got an 8-run lead. Make him sit his butt down already.
127. It's 6-3 Toronto now.
128. I fear after a 10 (+?) run game, our next two games will have a grand total of 4 runs.
But, that shouldn't stop us from beat the tar out of Tampa tonight. Come on, I want 20!
129. Sox are getting too close.
130. yep. And you can put money on their most mediocre pitcher pitching to Ortiz.
Hell, I don't know why Scott Downs did it. There's a reason you're Scott Downs and he's David Ortiz. Maybe you should consider it.
131. When will teams start throwing at Ortiz? I don't get it.
132. Holy crap! Bernie's playing like the Bernie of old.
133. Bernie would have caught that.
134. Hey, who's this Williams kid in CF?
135. I genuinely believe its out of stubborness. they firmly believe that they can get the man out with just the pitcher and his good looks, and they refuse to admit they cant.
136. As much as I hate losing to the DRays, its hard to hate them.
They are a bunch of guys that play hard and aggresive baseball vs. the Yankees.
My countryman Cantu is having an amazing season, I hope a good team picks him up.
137. Let's see three more guys from the bullpen, Yanks. Hendrickson going to be tough tomorrow.
138. Another valid point regarding Ortiz is that Manny scares the hell out of people (and rightfully so) The best thing would be to hit ortiz, walk Manny and take your chances on whomever's next (especially good news if its Millar)
139. Hey Cliff, who is that pitching?
140. Cano's back.
141. So, is it because Sierra's back? Or is Bellhorn pushing him? Or just the end of a bad slump?
142. Cano always hits better on the road.
143. He hit like .500 on the last homestand.
144. I think its the best thing that the Bellhorn pick up brought. It lit a fire under his butt.
145. I think he just ended a slump. Maybe he made an adjustment to the opposition pitching him inside more as well.
146. Who said this lineup would deprive Arod of RBI opportunities.
147. The pitches weren't even close to the plate.
148. Haha, I'm sure this has been said before, but Tim Corcoran's pitching.
149. Cleveland just tied the game with Oakland
150. Save some runs for the rest of the series.
151. Giambi could have 90 RBI by the end of the game . . . no Joe.
152. C'mon Cliff's relative get it together!!
153. Pinch run please.
154. 7-3 Toronto, with a man on 3rd.
155. Toronto's up 7-3
156. Cleveland tied it? Jesus, lets go Oak-town, "Just Win Baby!"
157. Mat singles.
158. If anyone is in the mood to watch Keith Foulke disintegrate, turn to the Jays/Sox game.
159. Matsui's out, Lawton's in.
160. That gives Giambino 79 RBI? Holy Cow Phil!
He has an outside shot at 100, if that isn't Comeback Player of the Year, they will literaly have to dig up babe Ruth and send him out there to accept the award, now that would be a comeback!
161. Yet another hit for Bernie.
162. Now this seems more like the Yanks typical September, with our B team out there. Good times.
163. I am always in the mood to watch Foulke disintegrate!
164. Memo to Torre: this is when you use Wayne Franklin. And get Mendoza some work.
And in what kind of bizarro world does Sierra pinch-run for anybody? I guess a world where the Rays beat the pants off of the Yankees all season.
165. 8-3 Toronto, and they got out of the inning without any more damage.
166. This is fucking beautiful.
167. Birthday Boy (Bernie): 3-5, RBI, R. Nice.
168. Jorgie! He's hitting well all of a sudden.
169. Seems so simple, Jeremy.
170. No let up, Yanks! Keep pounding these F's.
171. Ramiro! We hardly Knew Ye!
172. disintigrating Foulke is lovely
173. Memo to Torre: you should never use Wayne Franklin, its always too dangerous...
174. Man, this just seems cruel. Can they invoke the mercy rule? ;-)
175. Have the Yankees ever scored 30 in a regular season game?
176. randym77
Shut it!
177. Wayne Franklin is sleeping in Torre's garage.
178. What a bizarre stadium. When cano hit that foul I was listening to the Tampa feed on XM for a second and they said that's going by the B-ring and now the C-ring and foul.
179. Disintigrating Foulke is like a warm Spring morning, birds chirping, water rolling.
180. Marc,
The only worse than the inside of that place, is the outside, I get chills just thinking about it.
Are we sure they didn't bring that team in, in the dead of night, where was I?
Why is Wright still in, Joe can Juuuuuuuust about get there, but seems incapable of doing the obvious.
181. Now if Mike Timlin can just take a liner to the head, we'd be there. With our luck they'd bring up their version of Frankie Rodriguez.
A Mike Vento Sighting!
182. Most runs in a game: 25
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/nyy/history/single_game_records.jsp
183. I think that was probably the last we'll see of Wright tonight. F-Rod is warming. He'll probably pull Posada out, too. Everyone else is out except Cano.
184. Rich.
We should get 26 tonight, seriously, something else to make these guys feel like they did something together, as silly as that may sound.
185. 9-3 Jays, bottom 8
186. Please please please tell me they can score tomorrow, please please!
187. Please please please tell me they can score tomorrow, please please!
188. Oakland and Cleveland still tied.
189. Boston one out away from losing.
190. Jeez, Wright is still in. Though Jorgie's done for the night.
191. I just realized Womack is still on this team. My God did he fall off the map.
192. Bosox lost, 9-3.
193. So we are 3.5 out right now, correct? That doesn't seem right, but that's what MLB.com is saying. I could have sworn it was 4.
194. Cleveland, 3 run shot!
195. We're 2.5 out if we hold this lead...
196. We should be 2 1/2 out. Cleveland up 5-3 on ANOTHER homer by Big Ben.
197. Not to be a party pooper, but in case anybody needed reminding:
April 19: Yanks 19, D-Rays 8
Response: Tampa wins 5 of next 6 games, and scores 11 runs two different times
June 21: Yanks 20, D-Rays 11
Response: Tampa wins 5 of next 6 games, with no less than FOUR Yankee bullpen meltdowns, including two from Mo.
198. Oakland is useless
199. Who will be the first jerk on SportsCenter tonight to make a football reference to the score?
200. Hopefully, they won't be useless when they play Boston next.
201. Bklyn,
Ok that makes more sense. I thought it was either 3 or 4, but knew we had played one less game.
This may sound odd, but I actually think we have a better chance of catching Boston than we do of winning the Wild Card, anyone agree?
With Cleveland at KC and a waining White Sox club, the loser (second place) of the East could miss the playoffs.
202. Max — this is September, with a re-focused Yankee team. I wouldn't bet on that pattern holding...
203. Is Vento a junkie or something?
204. Sterling is cracking me up. First he says it's about as quiet as a library then he notes how pathetic the 14,000+ crowd is, and imagine what they'd draw if it wasn't the Yankees.
205. Bklyn,
Ill make you a bet, I bet Stuart Scott from the Suburbs will make a reference intimating he hangs with Hip Hop Stars and they can actually stand him, my rattling off some lyrics from Jay Z about Bernie or Sheffield first, deal?
Am I the only one who grows tired of his entirely disingenuous routine.
I actually watched the other night, and he and what's his name, some white guy, actually went 1 for 1 for the length of two segments, neither of them calling a play from a player outside of their own race, well, Scott took the Latinos. I wonder if that is planned.
It went Rap reference-Rock reference-Rap reference-Rock reference-Rap reference-Counrty reference, it was rather disturbing.
206. Well, at least Ventu will never forget his MLB debut. Yeesh, how embaraskin.
207. I take back everything I ever said about Mike Vento!
208. Storm — I still like our AL East chances big time, and whatever the push for that produces will be probably be enough to secure the Wild Card. I'm not sure The Tribe can keep up their lights-out play for another 20 games...
209. That was even worse than Cano's little adventure in baserunning.
210. What happened to Vento? I already feel sorry for him.
This is actually a good time to use F-Rod. This guy needs work to be effective in my opinion. Although I was hoping he'd let Franklin spin the last 4 innings to effectively remove him as an option for Torre for a day or so.
211. I'm with you guys- where is Mendoza? Franklin?
I guess it's good that F-Rod gets some inings.
212. I agree Bklyn,
Can I really get my hopes up again? 2.5 back. Eeeks, only from the mind, of Mylanta!
Cleveland is absolutely En Fuego!
213. I think Torre has made up his mind to leave Frankin off the post season roster, go with two lefties, Lieter and Embree.
Pettitte, Pettitte, Et Tu Andy, Et TU! I would trade my girlfriend for Andy in that rotation right now!
214. Ventu needs to grab the green smock and hunker down at Starbucks . . . good going Jete, that's why you da Cap!
215. Bubba is making a statement!
216. Bubba dogged that... should've been on third ;-)
217. I wonder if Manny ever walked off 1st thinking it was 3 outs the way Vento did. Then again I guess everyone's bored to death and not concentrating with the score what it is
218. Pettitte didn't want to be here. Good riddance.
219. Speaking of 'Stros hurlers — did we ever get our Hummer back from Rocket, that non-retiring SOB?
220. Rich,
You seem like a nice guy. I don't feel there is any reason to bad mouth Andy, he'll always be a Yankee in my mind, we raised him, and he moved on, well unless the Astos are in the Series against us, what, whoa, Astros in the Series, did I actually say that? I must be smoking what Vento is?
221. Finally, we needed a game like this a long time ago
222. What I want to know is if the Rocket got his Hummer back. Last I heard, it was stolen.
223. Bklyn,
You know what, that's a pretty good point, I mean not about the money--well not that I wouldn't like it--but on principle, I am interested to find out if he kept it.
224. Yeah, that was solved within a day. Can't recall the specifics, but he did get it back...
225. I thought the front office hadn't tried to keep Pettitte.
226. I will always like Pettite, but Rich is right. The Yanks offered plenty of money to Andy, though a little later than he would have liked.
Now Clemens, I never really liked. He was always my least favorite Yankee. Though if he was on the team this year, Womack would have had that honor. Now not liking somebody and realizing how incredibly good somebody is are two entirely different things(see also Bonds, Barry).
227. I'm guessing a win has been a foregone conclusion for a while - but WOO-HOO anyway! Looking forward to reading back over tonight's comments, and seeing the highlights later.
228. Storm, yes — he kept it, but never heard anything (at least in the media) about any sentiments Rocket had about it all. I mean, that was a pretty quick 'retirement', then 'unretirement' period...
229. Stormer,
I'm merely pointing out the following facts:
His last offer to the Yankees was for four years at $52 million, but then he offered to sign with the Astros for three years at $30 million.
Does that sound like someone who wanted to stay with the team that drafted him, developed him, surrounded him with enough talent to win four rings, and made him a multi-millionaire?
Unlike Bernie, he did ask George to make him a comparable offer to the one he was about to sign so that he could remain a Yankee.
230. Bklyn,
I really respect Rocket's pitching but he should not have kept it, it's just wrong!
rilkefan
Actually, cashman offered him more than he is currently being paid by the Astros, and a longer term deal, as well! He wanted to go play with Roger, and the reality is, if they are really as close as they say, can we really hold that against him, no matter how many games he won for us. I just wanted to see him get to 300, a number he has absolutely no shot at, pitching in Houston. Bible thumping aside. Further, his wife is fugly, gotta respect a ball player who doesn't trade his wife in for the hottest thing available.
231. He kept the Hummer. Gave it to his kid when he was accepted to Texas. Kid drove it to school, left the keys in it, and someone took it for a joy ride. They found it later in a parking lot nearby. (I just Googled it.)
I guess Longhorn orange Hummers aren't exactly inconspicuous.
I wonder how they got the money to buy him a Hummer. Did George foot the bill, or did they do what they usually do for retirement parties, hit up the employees? "Buck a man, to buy Roger a goodbye gift. Come on, don't be cheap..."
232. Rich, I hadn't heard those numbers before. If so, that really changes my opinion on Andy. I remember reading this ESPN article after he signed, claiming he felt neglected by the FO and players and wasnt ever really wooed like Mussina had been. I always liked him, he was definitely a big game pitcher.
233. While the Yanks were hesitant about Andy's arm that year (which proved right when he DL'd for the season around June), but they also offered him comparable $$$, albeit not fast enough for his liking. The vibe then was Andy had his rings, his place in NY history, his money, etc. and just wanted to go 'home'.
234. Rich,
I can understand your feeling. I never thought for one second he was going to stay, that was his Agent blathering about offers to try to get a little more outta Houson, but it wasn't about money to Andy at all, and I have a hard time holding it agaist him, not after all he did for the New York Yankees. He did about as much for us, as we did for him.
235. yankz,
Reportedly, the Sox offereed Pettitte $52 mil and he wanted the Yankees to match.
Pettitte's legitimate complaint is that the Yankees made no attempt to sign him before his final season with the Yankees began.
There have also been rumors that Pettitte's wife wanted him out of NY because he may have had um, a wandering eye.
236. Stormer,
You have a valid point, but rightly or wrongly, I resent players who don't want to be a Yankee for life.
237. Rich.
Agree to disagree. But not everyone is Derek Jeter, or Bernie, or MO, some guys just can't do it for life.
238. Pettitte was my favorite Yank - for my 22nd birtday, I got a #46 jersey, wore it around Boston - you can imagine the reaction that got. He clearly had priorities beyond cash, and I can't blame the man for wanting to be closer to his family. I'm glad he's doing so well, though I wish he was still a Yank.
239. Shaun P.
I agree, and I still wear mine, without a single reservation.
240. Ok Ok, A Yankee win and the Daily Show coming on, not a bad night.
Good night guys.
241. Rich — same here... Andy was a Yank from Day One. How the hell (especially during this era) anyone can want out is beyond me — unless it's purely selfish. The 'going home' thing really makes me laugh. Shit. You have the rest of your life to be 'home'. You only have so many seasons to make your mark with the greatest franchise is the history of organized sports. Each one is precious. Both he and Rocket blew it — with the sole exception that they help the Astros to a title this year, and both win 2 games each in the World Series.
242. Or maybe she's just one of those wives like Doug Christie's. I've always figured Pettite's Bible-thumping was sincere. But who knows? And not to be mean, but I noticed his wife was a dog too!
As far as the kid losing the hummer, this sounds like something AJ from the Sopranos would do. Just shows you how a life of entitlement can turn your brain into mush. OK, I'll probably regret writing that later!
243. "He wanted to go play with Roger"
Roger having retired.
Google gives a variety of NY sportswriters saying at the time that the Boss was indifferent to Andy and that the FO hadn't done much to try to retain him until it was too late.
Don't get me wrong, I thought he was a great Yankee, and he won a lot of important games, and he was the guy in '97, but I also seem to remember a fair number of 4+ ERA seasons from him (not that these days that wouldn't seem ok) and some playoff games where he got bombed, and I can see the FO wondering about his elbow, and I can see him getting the hint that he wasn't going to get asked back.
244. Pettitte was obviously drinking the Clemens Kool Aid. He wanted to follow his mentor. Plain and simple.
245. I always liked Andy, a farm kid who came up right when Mo and Jeter did, the start of the run. He was never as great as people made him out to be, but he went 13-5 with a 3.01 era against those nasty, ugly boys to the north east, and has a career winning percentage of .654 (just edging out Gator for # 25 on the all time list), with two 20 game seasons ( I know, wins are rather arbitrary but still). Plus he had that cigar store Indian face and all those damn t's in his name...
246. The best thing about Pettitte aesthetically was the way you could only see his eyes over his glove and below his hat brim. Very gunslingerish.
247. I've heard the rumors about Pettitte's womanizing as well. The story is that he was such a dog that he became a born-again to try to save his marriage. And still that didn't work completely. So, his wife made him leave New York altogether to get to a more god-fearing wholesome place. Just a rumor, but a very believable one. My female and gay friends all agree that Pettitte was the best looking player of the bunch (even better looking than Jeter) during the 1995-2000 run.
248. Mmm...no. My female friends all thought Jeter was better looking than Pettitte, if a bit on the skinny side. In fact, they loved to tease me about how wide Pettitte's hips were. They thought he had hips (and lips) like a girl.
But I don't think it matters what Pettitte looks like. If you're a pitcher with a major league team, you're a stud. Even if you haven't won any World Series rings and look like Randy Johnson, the women will be all over you. I suspect it's pretty hard for anyone to be a good Christian in that situation. Like trying to stick to your diet while all around you is a free all-you-can-eat buffet. ;-)