Monthly Archives: March 2009

Over at The New Yorker, Roger Angell weighs in on the Joe Torre book.  Angell is impressed with the book and he misses Torre:

Floods of media will turn out at Yankee Stadium on April 16th for Opening Day (against the Indians), the official début of the new $1.3 billion park, built largely at taxpayer expense, and also the unveiling of the Yankees’ two brand-new starting pitchers, C. C. Sabathia and A. J. Burnett, signed for a combined two hundred and forty-three million dollars, and a new first baseman, Mark Teixeira, who comes with a hundred-and-eighty-million-dollar price tag. They will be closely watched, but probably not as much as Alex Rodriguez, whose recent admission that he used steroids while with the Rangers in the 2001 to 2003 seasons has dominated the Yankee news in spring training, as it will through much of the summer. Fans and sports columnists and op-edists and bloggers will ceaselessly debate his future as a potential Hall of Famer, when and if he surpasses the lifetime seven hundred and sixty-two homers struck by the tainted Barry Bonds, who is about to go on federal trial in California for perjury. Also on trial, so to speak, will be the new Stadium’s attendance figures in this era of economic anxiety, and renewals on those new corporate luxury boxes (grand luxe, perhaps, at a half million dollars and up per season). When the races begin, the Yanks will have to win in the unforgiving new baseball arena created by the luxury-tax impost on top team payrolls, which has produced fourteen different names in the World Series in the past nine years, and eight different winners, and will make it hard on dynasties, however famous, in the years ahead.

Joe Torre won’t be there, and, come to think of it, he’s better off where he is, away in the wrong time zone. He’s a cinch for the Hall of Fame—as a manager, not a player—whenever he’s ready to retire, and he’s already in the Grownups Hall of Fame, which has a few more members than the one in Cooperstown but tougher admission standards.

Today’s news is powered by a pitch from The Mick:

• Two of the Baby Bombers got nicked in the Yanks Grapefruit League game on Sunday:

Yankees catching prospect Jesus Montero left Sunday’s Grapefruit League exhibition against the Reds after suffering a strained right groin. …

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that Montero had been examined by trainer Gene Monahan and that the 19-year-old backstop would miss at least a few games.

Earlier in the contest, Yankees right-hander Jonathan Albaladejo was also forced to exit after being struck in the left calf by a batted ball.

Albaladejo was working in the bottom of the third inning, when Cincinnati’s Jeff Keppinger hit a hard shot up the middle and off the pitcher into center field. …

• Mike Vaccaro of the Post profiles Mariano Rivera:

“People come and people go,” Derek Jeter said the other day, smiling, shaking his head, “and then you have Mo, who isn’t going anywhere.”

The smile thinned a bit.

“Who’d better not be going anywhere,” he said. …

It is Mariano Rivera. It is the ninth inning. It is, as his arm can attest, as often as not a few outs in the eighth inning, too. It is 482 saves in 542 lifetime opportunities, an 88.9-percent success rate that the record books insist is just fourth, all-time, among all relievers with at least 200 save opportunities. …

Especially because last year may have been Rivera’s finest, 39 saves in 40 chances, a 1.40 ERA, all of that at age 38, with more than 800 appearances and close to a thousand innings already on his right arm, elbow, shoulder and rotator cuff.

“I like the idea of being consistent, of being slow and steady and reliable,” Rivera says. “I like that I’m an element of the team the other guys can count on being ready to do my job. That’s what I do. That’s why I’m here.”

(more…)

A few weeks ago I went to see an old friend who was apartment-sitting on the upper west side.  Before I left, I cheked out what was on the bookshelves.  It was as if they hadn’t bought a book in years, but many standard titles from the Eighties were there: “House,” by Tracy Kidder, “Edie,” by George Plimpton, and of course, “Growing Up,” by Russell Baker.

One book that wasn’t there, but very well could have been, was “The Collected Stories of John Cheever,” a book that I noticed at my grandparents’ apartment as a kid because of the reddish orange cover. 

There was a long piece in the Sunday magazine yesterday by Charles McGrath on Cheever, who lived one town over from where my mother lives in Westchester.  Interesting to see how a reputation changes over time.   

The Times has a wonderful page of articles devoted to Cheever.  Check it out, if you like that sort of thing.

The 24 runs scored by the Yankees and Reds this afternoon included eight home runs. Think the wind was blowing out? In the last game before the World Baseball Classic participants departed, the Yankees lost 13-11 and dropped their spring record to 2-3.

Lineup:

L – Brett Gardner (CF)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
R – Xavier Nady (RF)
L – John Rodriguez (LF)
R – Cody Ransom (DH)
R – Kevin Cash (C)

Subs: Juan Miranda (1B), Kevin Russo (2B), Eduardo Nuñez (SS), Justin Leone (3B), Jesus Montero (C), P.J. Pilittere (C), Shelley Duncan (RF), Austin Jackson (CF), Todd Linden (LF), Doug Bernier (DH)

Pitchers: Alfredo Aceves, Johnathan Albaladejo, J.B. Cox, Damaso Marte, Brian Bruney, Christian Garcia, Mark Melancon

Big Hits:

Robinson Cano went 3-for-3 with a single, a double, and a solo homer. Brett Gardner went 2-for-3 with a double and a solo homer. Alex Rodriguez doubled twice in three trips. John Rodriguez added a solo homer in three trips.  Derek Jeter went 3-for-3, all singles. Mark Teixeira and Kevin Cash both went 2-for-3, with Cash picking up a double, but also getting caught stealing following his single. Three of the Yanks’ five doubles came off Yankee punching-bag Arthur Rhodes.

Who Pitched Well:

No one really. Mark Melancon allowed an unearned run on a triple, a walk, and an error in the eighth. Brian Bruney allowed just a solo home run to Laynce Nix in his one inning of work. Those performances qualified as “good” in this game.

Who Didn’t:

Starter Alfredo Aceves gave up three runs on a walk and two hits in his only inning of work. Two of the runs came on a Chris Dickerson homer. Christian Garcia entered with an 11-8 lead in the seventh and blew the save by allowing four runs (three earned) on two singles, an error, and a grand slam by Craig Tatum. Damaso Marte gave up a pair of solo homers to straight-away center in the fifth, both to lefties as Dickerson hit his second of the game and Joey Votto also took him deep.

Battles:

Brett Gardner is hot as hellfire, having hit his second homer in four spring games after hitting a total of three between spring training, the majors and minors last year. Gardner leads the Yankees in homers, extra-base hits, total bases, and is slugging 1.300 on top of a .500 batting averge. That said, Gardner’s double today came when he hustled out a pop-up that happened to fall in, then got thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Xavier Nady went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and a rally-killing double play. Jonathan Albaladejo didn’t help himself by giving up a run on four hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings, needing J.B. Cox to get him out of a third-inning jam, but he did well to bury that performance in a 24-run game. After Dan Giese opened up the long-man battle with an awful two-inning performance yesterday, Alfredo Aceves did almost as bad in a single inning today.

Ouchies:

Jesus Montero strained his right groin sliding after a passed ball. Jonathan Albaladejo was hit in the back of his left leg by a comebacker and is day-to-day. The soreness in Jorge Posada‘s shoulder is disappating. Edwar Ramirez has not resumed throwing since being diagnosed with bursitis in his pitching shoulder. He will skip the World Baseball Classic as a result.

More:

The World Baseball Classic participants have departed for their respective teams. Francisco Cervelli (1-for-6) joins the Italian team, which means he should be back in camp in a week, as Italy is likely to be eliminated on March 9. Derek Jeter (5-for-11, all singles) is likely to be gone much longer as the US are the favorites in the tournament despit their early exit last time. Jeter hit .450/.522/550 in the 2006 WBC, then went on to have an MVP-worthy season (.343/.417/.483). Here’s hoping he’s similarly inspired this year (though it’s worth noting Jeter was just 32 in 2006 and is 35 this season). The largest Yankee contingent will be on the Domincan team (even without Edwar Ramirez and Jose Veras, who made the final roster, but won’t be participating). Damaso Marte (2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 HR, 0 BB, 2 K), Alex Rodriguez (.429/.545/1.143 in 10 PA), and Robinson Cano (.556/.636/1.111) will all likely be away for most of March as the Dominican team looks like the best non-Asian team after the US.

Speaking of the WBC, I’ll be liveblogging most of the USA’s game’s for SI.com, and if my new laptop shows up tomorrow like it’s supposed to, I’ll liveblog Tuesday’s game between the USA and the Yankees here at the Banter.

I love the idea of this site and it’s got one of the best names ever. It’s one to keep an eye on. I don’t know if there are any true classics on there yet, but it’s still pretty cool. I like this one.

Tyler Kepner has a nice piece on Billy Eppler, the Yankees’ top scout.