Couple of big dudes on the mound on Thursday night in Toronto. You know from CC, baseball’s answer to Andre the Giant. But Brian Tallet, is just as tall and he looks even taller because he’s not as wide as Sabathia. Sporting a scrubby mustache, Tallet looks like he stepped out of a time machine from 1987. He could be Frankie Viola’s cousin, or an extra from the movie Copland.
Either way, both men pitched well, each allowing just a couple of runs. But Sabathia was just that much better as the Yanks earned a satisfying 3-2 win over the Jays. There wasn’t much hitting. Alex Rodriguez’s timing is not back fully–he hit a couple of deep fly balls and put some good swings on a few other pitches that he just fouled off and was robbed of a double by Scott Rolen. But Brett Gardner made a nice throw from center field and scored the game-tying run in the seventh (he was driven in on a classic bloop single to right by Derek Jeter).
Hideki Matsui’s solo home run was the difference and our man Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth, striking Rod Barajas out swinging to end it.
The Yankees improve their record to 17-17 and finish the six-game road trip 4-2.
Baby steps, but it’s a start.
Just as tall but not as wide. Does that make him John Studd?
Some Banterers were wringing their virtual hands when the Jays took the lead, but it was an excellent game to watch.
Big John Studd. Ah, memories.
How about Bob Backland? Not tall. But the man had FUNDAMENTALS!
LOL
Italian National Hero Francisco Cervelli's nickname is "Cervie"
I love baseball nicknames.
Tallet is just a "pencil-neck geek!"
"Classy" Freddie Blassie told me so from beyond!
: )
IfOnce A-Rod and Teixeira start hitting, this team should be tough to beat.Seeing Jeter show some range up the middle was pretty impressive.
Cervelli should stick.
Halladay kinda reminds me of Officer Murray "Superboy" Babitch
"Hitting with a total of 12 men on base, David Ortiz went 0-for-7 with three strikeouts in Thursday's loss.
Maybe this will finally be the end of Ortiz as a No. 3 hitter for now. Manager Terry Francona's patience is one of his greatest strengths as a manager, but this has gotten flat-out ridiculous."
Ouch.
[4] he'll always be Frankie Cervix to me ...
Good game.
Did Girardi ever explain why he put Gardner in center instead of Cabrera?
Gun talk ... some discussion on earlier thread about Mo's velocity. I saw same thing a couple of people did: 87-89 ... william seems to have seen the 'usual' (these days) 92-93. Guns are different, but the one I was seeing had Downs at 95, which is what he throws, so Mo, if right, was either going easy on himself to focus control or ... not quite right. Or the former because of the latter.
But if it really is 88, even though speed is NOT the whole show, that's a worry.
This is the sort of win I expected before the season started, nice to see the big man go out, throw 8, hand a lead over to Mo and get it done. See, that wasnt so hard!
[10] My guess is because of how well Gardner did on Wednesday, and because of Melky's career stats v. Tallet (.091/.231/.091/.322) albeit in 11 ABs.
[11] Gameday had him 91-93, mostly at 92.
PitchFX had him only slightly lower.
Baby steps, indeed.
It's nice to win a series.
[8] "Sorry guys, I don't feel like talking today. Just put down 'Papi stinks'".
Is it wrong to take such delight in this when Tex is also batting about .200??
[16] hell no, it's wonderful! at least, it seems we're more assured of Tex bouncing back. age, athleticism, talent, and all...
you see the lou merloni/boston steroids post at nomaas?
[17] Yeah man, saw it! Damn Sox, how long will that organization continue to get fellated by the national media? While the Yankees are constantly criticized for their absurd stadium and poor performance and...oh, wait a second...
You dig "Agharta" by Miles, thelarmis? Had it on this morning on the iPod to giveme a kick of energy!
[18] i remember when all those 2cd 70's fusion Miles cd's were reissued in the late 90's. i don't have 'em, so i can't really say definitively, either way.
i saw a screamin' metal concert last night and am on a big kick, at the moment!!! : ) that said, i'm about to plop down a damn large chunk 'o change on some Jap Blue Note titles!!!
i'm really tired of espn, gammons and national media shittin' on my pinstriped heroes. if that lou merloni quote, was from, say, Clay Bellinger, it'd be front page news. : /
vagitek, noballs & kapler, HAVE to be on that 2003 PED's list. it wouldn't surprise me if twat nixon, (wo)manny, and fat papi are on there, too...
[19] Man, you GOT to get "Agharta" and "Dark Magus" then, the guitar and drums on those make Slayer sound like Roxette..
Agree about espn, but screw 'em, we'll be the enemy and win the Series anyway!
[18] i've heard a few of those Miles albums, but don't "know" 'em.
my ipod keeps coming up - KREATOR!!! and some Bob Dylan, for good measure... : )
we need to put our foot down here on this big homestand at our new digs. a coupla good young lion pitching matchups. hughes-liriano, could be a doozy...or a mess...
chamberlain-blackburn. wasn't it nick blackburn that boBBy hit in the face with a line drive, or something, last season? thankfully, the kid was alright. i'll never forget how boBBy was running to first, all shaken up and concerned. i can't believe how much his power has disappeared. i fear he'll fall short of my beloved 300-300 club. Soriano & Beltran, are virtual shoo-ins. looks like Carlos will get there sooner, since Sori has had leg issues the last coupla seasons. Mike Cameron, still making his run at it...!!!
[20] dark magus, YES - that was one of those! i can see the double cd in my minds' eye. the guitarist from my old Fusion trio got ALL of those and LOVED 'em. that's where i heard 'em, but i didn't "study" them. i'm sure i'll get them...eventually. gotta stick to my Blue Note rarity hunting, at the moment! : )
Roxette = OUCH!!! haven't thought about them, since i worked at a record store on Long Island, as a teenager. ugh, i can see that cd cover in my head - the one that looked like a diagonal newspaper cover, or something, ICK!!! reminds me of Everything But The Girl cd. eeeewww!!!! : /
[22] Oh man, "Dark Magus" is just insane..but "Agharta" is my favorite. Just wonderfully heavy voodoo funk.
I remember a college roomate from Sri Lanka who LOVED Roxette, told me they were huge all around Asia..shudder....
Quittin time here finally, let's go for three in a row tomorrow!
[23] i'll have to pick up those Miles cd's. i definitely want to...at some point. i've got a solid 30 miles cd's now. need more!
quittin' time here, too.
GO YANKS!!!
[11] The readings I saw were from PitchFX data, which I think most people believe is pretty accurate. PitchFX had Mo sitting 88-90 most of this season until Baltimore. Since then, he has been mostly 91-93 with more movement (i.e., the old Mo). In the last AB yesterday, Mo pretty much through the same pitch: a 92-93 mph cutter with a PFx of 11-13".
For comparison, when Mo lost to TB, he was only touching 90mph and his PFX on the cutter was as low as 6" on some pitches. Even though he gave up the HR to Crawford on his best cutter of the game in terms of velocity and Pfx (91 and 13"), Crawfords ability to hit it out may have been the result of it being the 10th pitch of the AB and Mo going to much over the plate to avoid a walk. As for Longoria, his HR was an 89mph four seamer wtih very little movement located right over the plate. In other words, it was a pitch rarely thrown by Mo.
[11] [25]
The Pitch f/X has Downs at 91 or so, Mariano at 92-93.
I've heard a number of people (national and local pro sports pundits, so, yeah, mostly morons, but still) raising the question of how accurate the Pitch f/X data really are. It's a good question. Without an independent, reliable cross check, we aren't going to know.
The key, I think, is to get some studies done in highly controlled laboratory conditions, where the experimenters already know how fast the ball is going, have laser sensors for the strike zone, and so on, so they can tell how accurate Pitch f/X is.
One more thing: Premium Gameday is actually really cool. I never bothered to click through to it before last night. For instance, it reports that the average Rivera pitch is coming in at 92.2 mph. It shows the cutter movement, too.
[26] I agree...PitchFX hasn't proven to be infallible. Also, because each stadium relies on different pieces of equipment that are setup based on the geometry of the ballpark, there is also the chance for discrepancy. For that reason, it might be more encouraging to see Mo’s readings pan out back at the Stadium because we at least have a body of data for comparison. Having said that, the readings from Baltimore and Toronto were both nearly identical, so there is some corroboration.
Overall, I think PitchFX is probably the most reliable system being used. Instead of single radar guns, it uses two cameras that each take 25 pictures of the ball to the plate. So, even though improvements are probably still needed, I think it is the basis for a very reliable system.
[27] It is a great service. I like to put it up while I am watching the game to get a sense for how the pitchers are throwing.
I'm somewhat reassured by the various mph data ... my worry was that the TSN gun (Canada's ESPN equivalent) on the game seemed right for what I know of all the other pitchers, including Sabathia at about 93, and then had Mo at 88 and it made me blink a bit.
Maybe it can't handle a cutter?
There's a site (I'm blanking) that tracks the average pitch speed for everyone, and their pitch frequency. You basically can see what everyone likes to use. Verlander is fastest fastball average among all starters, Burnett is up there but what caught my eye (someone help me and post the link!, it is early morning!) is that Burnett throws more curves than any too starter in baseball. I started wondering about injury issues, soon as I saw that.
You dig “Agharta” by Miles, thelarmis? Had it on this morning on the iPod to giveme a kick of energy!
Gonna go with 'Pangea' as the best of Miles' mid-70's output, I'm not particularily sold on the guitarists Miles had in his band at the time but they seem to do better with the quieter, more reflective mood which characterizes much of 'Pangea' than with the more rock oriented aspects of 'Agharta'.
You know 'Agharta' and 'Pangea' were recorded the same day Tokyo? 'Agharta' in the afternoon and 'Pangea' at night.
I'd also recommend the 'Cellar Door Sessions' (which is where the live components of 'Live:Evil' were pulled from) and, of course, 'A Tribute to Jack Johnson', which is probably my favorite late era Miles recording (the complete 'Jack Johnson' sessions are also very worth a purchase) with smoking contributions from John McLaughlin and an uncredited Sonny Sharrock.
Sick, sick playing and a simply masterful job by Teo Macero in producing. If you get the 'Jack Johnson Sessions' there's a complete breakdown of who is playing when as well as where the released album was compiled from.
Meant to comment on this last night, but I really enjoy when conversations switch to music.