Monthly Archives: June 2009

Jonah Keri and Rob Neyer on Jorge Posada’s chances of making the Hall of Fame.

Whadda think?

I saw the actor/director Tim Blake Nelson (pictured above with George Clooney) on the IRT this morning. He was with his son, taking the kid to school. I met Nelson when I worked for the Coen brothers and later adored him in their movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?  He was a friendly, unassuming guy.

Though I was sitting just two feet away from where they were standing, I chose not say hello.  I went back to my book, and looked up at them occasionally, not wanting to invade their privacy.  Nelson was warm and loving with his son.

Talented actor and director. Good man.

An apology to Star-Ledger Yankees beat reporter Marc Carig is in order.

On Monday, I wrote:

STAR LEDGER: Marc Carig copied off Erik Boland’s paper in that he had individual stories on Gardner and Wang/Hughes, But he had a couple of other tidbits: 1) His recap was short and had additional bulletpointed notes. I thought this was an interesting format. It reminded me of an anchor calling highlights and then reading key notes off the scoreboard graphic. 2) He had a full feature on Phil Coke and his blaming the umpire’s call on the 3-2 pitch to Trevor Crowe. Check out the last paragraph. Looks like he copied off Pete Abe’s paper, too.

I realize that the above block can be construed as an accusation of plagiarism, but it is not. The “copied off his paper” lines were meant to be tongue-in-cheek, to demonstrate that there is information overlap, and in some cases, quote and word overlap, in deadline situations. The fact that Marc Carig’s stories in the Star-Ledger were similar to the ones in Newsday and the Journal News was a coincidence.

These coincidences occur daily if you follow all of the media. For example, late last week, Michael Kay interviewed Mets GM Omar Minaya on his radio show in the afternoon and asked him, in a different order, nearly the same exact questions Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason did on WFAN in the morning. Michael may or may not have listened to the FAN show, but in analysis, I could have written, “It sounded like Michael Kay ripped his questions off the morning team at WFAN. Wouldn’t that add to the WFAN-ESPN rivalry?”

To Marc, I am sorry for the loaded nature of the statements above and for any fallout or criticism it has caused you in the past few days. I know the seriousness of that accusation and wouldn’t wish it upon myself or anyone else. Moving forward, I will do a better job of reading between the lines as I proof these pieces to make sure the words I choose are the right ones.

Thank you.

Let’s get right to it . . .

• Joe Sheehan weighs in on the never-ending “Joba to the pen” saga:

Joba Chamberlain is a fantastic starting pitcher. He’s the team’s second-best starter right now, and there’s a chance that he’ll be the best starter by 2010. His SNLVAR of 1.3 is just a fraction behind Andy Pettitte‘s mark of 1.4 for second on the team, a gap that would likely not exist had Chamberlain not been knocked out of his May 21 start against the Orioles by a line drive. Used exclusively as a starter this year, Chamberlain has a 3.71 ERA in 53 1/3 innings. Last night was his fifth quality start in ten, with one of the others being that injury-shortened outing. Durability is an issue, but it’s as much a created one-the Yankees continue to be hypercautious with Chamberlain-as it is a weakness in his game.

In his career, Chamberlain now has a 3.19 ERA in 22 starts, averaging a little more than 5 1/3 innings pitched per. He has 125 strikeouts, more than one per inning, and a K/BB of 2.6. There’s never been a team in MLB history that could afford to move that guy to the bullpen. Even if you were to say that Chamberlain is a six-inning pitcher, something that isn’t clear yet, getting 192 innings of 3.19 ERA ball in a season would make him a top 40 starter in baseball every season, a six-win pitcher in line to make tens of millions of dollars a year.

The conversation on whether to move a starter to the bullpen begins with whether the pitcher can be a successful starter in the majors. Chamberlain has proved that he can prevent runs with the best of them, so that’s not a problem. While he’s suffered nagging injuries on occasion, he hasn’t had the kind of durability problems that, say, Rich Harden has. By pitching standards, Chamberlain has a good health record, and the kind of record that doesn’t warrant a role change.

• Tyler Kepner profiles prospect Austin Jackson:

Through Monday, he was hitting .349, third in the International League, with 11 stolen bases in 11 tries.

A 22-year-old center fielder, Jackson is still developing in his first season at Class AAA. As well as he has played, including a .436 average with runners in scoring position, he has not hit a home run all season. . . .

“There’s nothing about Austin — defense, arm, base running, nothing — that gives me any doubts that he’s going to be a good player one day,” said the Class AAA hitting coach Butch Wynegar. “I just hope nothing happens at the big-league level where they yank him out of here premature. I’d love to see him stay here all year, see what kind of year he has and go from there. Because he’s not there yet.”

• Here’s how a Yankee Triple-A player can make it to the show.
• It’s nearly impossible to get a player’s autograph in the new Stadium:

The Yankees’ gleaming new ballpark opened this spring to mixed reviews, with criticism for sky-high ticket prices, obstructed views and the ease with which batters hit home runs there. But the difficulty in getting autographs at the new stadium has particularly chafed many fans, who routinely add three or more hours to their game outings for the chance at personal interaction with a player.

The situation is little better inside the stadium, where visitors continue to be restricted from the prime autograph areas — near the dugouts — during batting practice, unless they have tickets in those sections. The best of those tickets now go for $1,250, which reflects the Yankees’ recent 50 percent discount. The team had an even more restrictive policy, but eased it last month; fans can now watch batting practice from the field-level box seats in the outfield.

The loss of these traditional access points has fans complaining of the further widening of the already huge gulf between those who make millions playing the game and the fans who support the team with their hearts, time and money.

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“Payback is a pitch that lands in the bullpen.” — Yankee play-by-play man, Michael Kay

Before he signed with the Yankees I knew that Mark Teixeira was a very good player, even a great player, but I didn’t have much of a sense of him. He seemed professional and aware, unremarkable and sterile. My wife said he looked like a white Barry Bonds. That was his defining quality to me. Cliff ranted and raved all winter long that the Yankees needed to sign Teixeira or else the balance of power would remain in Boston for years to come and I had no reason not to believe him. Teixeira slumped in April but has otherwise been a marvel; a brilliant and exciting fielder, a wonderful hitter, and a spirited competitor. I didn’t figure on the competitor part–which we first glimpsed against Carlos Gomez a few weeks back–and didn’t know how much fun he would be to watch.

Teixeira had his signature moment as a Yankee on Tuesday night when he broke up a double play after being plunked in the rump by Vicente Padilla. It was the kind of play that inspires columnists and is later referred to by announcers as a “turning point.” It earned Teixiera a standing ovation and more importantly led to six extra runs as the Yankees pounded the Rangers, 12-3.

It was hard not to think back to 1998 when Armando Benetiz hit Tino Martinez square in the back. The brawl, the back-to-back Yankee home runs and the win. That was one of the most memorable and satisfying regular season games I’ve ever seen. I don’t know that this was as juicy (nobody threw a punch), or how good this Yankee team will be, but it sure  felt good. Damn good.

Padilla and AJ Burnett matched wits in a suck-a-thon shoot-out for the first few innings. The Yanks let Padilla off the hook once and then twice while Burnett was touched for a three-run dinger in the third. The next inning, with the score tied at three, the Yanks had runners at the corners with one out when Padilla drilled Teixeria in the ass. This after hitting Teixeira in the second inning.  Teixeira slammed his bat down and cried “Bullshit,” looking hard and angry at Padilla, a known red-ass who looks like a cheap, greasy bad guy from a Sergio Leone western. I don’t imagine they were the best of friends when they were teammates.

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The Yankees and Rangers enter this week’s three game series in the Bronx separated by a half game for the best record in the American League. Since the Yankees took two of three from the Rangers in Arlington last week, both teams won three games of a four-game series against a lesser opponent. Beating up on losing teams has been the Rangers’ m.o. thus far this season, but they’re just 5-10 against teams currently over .500, including last week’s series loss to the Yankees.

The Yanks, meanwhile, are flat-out rollin’, beating all comers. Dating back to May 8, they’re 16-6 (.727) and 6-1 in series. Their one series loss came at home against the NL East-leading Phillies, but their current run also includes series wins against the then-AL best Blue Jays and still-AL best Rangers. Since May 13, the Yankees are 14-4 (.778) and have not made a single error, setting a major league record with 18-straight errorless games. Just three American League teams have turned balls in play into outs at a higher rate than the Yankees (Texas is one of them), and no team in the majors is scoring runs more often than the Bronx Bombers.

The Yankees current run began after they were swept at home in consecutive two-game series by the Red Sox and Rays. After this week’s three-game set against Texas, the Rays return to the Bronx for four games after which the Yankees travel to Boston for three. That will be the real test, of course, but by taking two of three from the Rangers now, they could enter that gauntlet with the league’s best record.

As for the Rangers, they haven’t changed much since we last saw them save for tonight’s starter, Vicente Padilla, who returns from the disabled list to reclaim his rotation spot from the now-injured Matt Harrison (sore shoulder). Padilla ran off three impressive starts (23 IP, 4 ER) before landing on the DL with a strained shoulder two weeks ago, but had a 7.42 ERA entering that stretch, so who knows what to expect from him tonight. Last year, he faced the Yankees just once, allowing four runs in six innings in Arlington in early August.

Padilla will be opposed by A.J. Burnett, who ten starts into his Yankee career looks an awful lot like the same old A.J. Burnett. He’s struck out 21 men in 18 2/3 innings across his last three starts, but also walked 12 in that span and allowed three home runs in a loss to the Phillies two starts ago. Last time out, he held Texas scoreless on three hits (and four walks) over six innings to earn the win. Here’s hoping for a repeat of that tonight.

Throughout the new month, I’ll profile some of the former Yankees who will be coming to Cooperstown on June 21 to participate in the first-ever Hall of Fame Classic. The list of Yankee old-timers scheduled to play at Doubleday Field includes Phil Niekro, Lee Smith, Dennis Rasmussen and Kevin Maas. In the first installment, we take a fond look at the career of the man affectionately known as “Kitty.”

Jim Kaat has not thrown a meaningful pitch in more than a quarter of a century, but I can still see that pitching motion in my mind today. The photograph from his 1980 Topps card brings it all back: a delivery featuring virtually no windup and the smallest of leg kicks, accompanied by a mechanical precision. It’s no wonder that Kaat’s career lasted a marathon of 25 seasons with hardly a stay on the disabled list.

Like Bert Blyleven and Tommy John, “Kitty” is part of a contingent of longtime starters who fell just short of the 300-win club but remain on the cusp of election to the Hall of Fame. Unlike Blyleven, I’ve never given Kaat a vote in any of my mythical Hall of Fame elections, but I would not exactly shed a tear if he somehow joined the elite in Cooperstown. Though never really dominant and hardly an overwhelming collector of strikeouts, Kaat achieved a high level of successful longevity, fulfilling at least one of the requirements of Hall of Fame enshrinement.

As a pitcher, Kaat enjoyed two careers. The first spanned from 1962 to 1975, when he carved out a niche as a durable and effective starter for the Twins and White Sox. Over the course of his long tenure as a starter, I came to know Kaat for three attributes. First, he loved to throw the quick pitch, often catching hitters off guard by throwing without a windup. Second, he was a skilled and highly conditioned athlete who could run and hit better than most pitchers. (In 1973, Topps issued a card for Kaat showing him batting—not pitching—in a game for the Twins.) And third, Kaat could field his position like no other moundsman. With catlike reflexes that reinforced his nickname of Kitty, Kaat snared a record 15 Gold Gloves.

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It is always the same, the sudden, stomach-dropping, jolt.  Walking along a city block, looking up at a familiar store front or restaurant, a Closed sign hanging in the door way, or a vacant window. Something has happened. Change has come, like it or not.

I gasped last night as I walked past Sal and Carmine’s pizza shop on Broadway between 101st and 102nd (They make a salty but delicious slice.)  The grate was up and a red rose was taped against the metal.  Above it was a small xeroxed obiturary from a New Jersey paper.

Sal died late last week. I’ve been eating their pizza since I was a kid.  Sal and Carmine.  Two short, taciturn men in their seventies, though they look older. I never knew who was Sal and who was Carmine, just that one was slightly less cranky than the other. These are the kind of men that don’t retire but are retired.

The funeral was yesterday; the shop re-opens today.

As I read the obituary, people stopped and registered the news.  They congregated for a few moments, some took pictures with their cell phones, and then slowly walked away, the neighbhorhood taking in the loss.

Today’s news is powered by a trip in the Wayback Machine, to a time when cigarettes were “cool”:

• Matsui’s swansong in pinstripes?:

. . . I was told by several Yankee executives that there is almost zero chance that Hideki Matsui Hideki Ma will be re-signed after the season, even if he were to finish with a strong season and despite the strong presence he affords them in Japan.

The New York Yankees Yanks have long been concerned about the inflexibility of their roster due to having too many DH types, such as exists this year with Matsui, Jorge Posada Jorge Posada and Xavier Nady (if he returns from his elbow injury). Yankee officials envision a 2010 in which Posada takes more at-bats as the DH, and in which Joe Girardi could better rest everyday players such as Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira without losing their bats.

• Kevin Goldstein has some good news on a Yankee prospect NOT named Montero:

Austin Romine, C, Yankees (High-A Tampa)
. . . Once again sharing catching duties (with Jesus Montero DHing when he’s not behind the plate), Romine went 5-for-12 with a pair of doubles and a home run during the weekend, and while his .289/.306/.462 line pales in comparison to Montero, it’s still very good for a 20-year-old in the Florida State League. More importantly, Romine (unlike Montero) actually projects to stay at catcher down the road, and be a damn good one in the end. Montero has a far better chance of turning into a star, but Romine is the guy who should be considered the Yankees’ catcher of the future.

• I poena, you poena, we all poena for subpoena:

New York Yankees officials said Monday that taxpayers would face more than $5 million in document costs if the team is forced to provide internal records sought by lawmakers looking into public financing of the club’s new stadium.

Assemblymen Richard Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat, and James Brennan, a Brooklyn Democrat, are questioning what Brodsky claims is nearly $4 billion in financing and tax breaks over 30 years that was used to build the new ballpark. The legislators say many ticket prices have been hiked beyond the reach of fans.

Yankees’ attorney George Carpinello said the estimated $5 million is for legal review of some 1.4 million relevant e-mails and attachments and doesn’t include reams of other documents.

[My take: $5 million more for a $1.5 billion stadium deal?  It’s a drop in the bucket.]

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… and also in the first-seven-innings role. Someone must’ve told him it was Alex’s birthday.

Great game tonight – drama, frustration, release, a major league fielding record, awe mixed with uncontrollable giggles at the expense of a large man bellyflopping acrobatically, clips from When Animals Attack… this one had it all. The Yanks won 5-2 and they did it with style.

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Photo courtesy of ESPN.com

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Five runs was enough for New York, but it could’ve been more, given that the Indians loaded the bases on walks not once but twice, and handed out 11 free passes all told. Joba pitched very, very well – was in fact perfect until Victor Martinez launched a homer with two outs in the fourth – but the game stayed tied, 1-1, into the seventh.

Chamberlain was briefly in trouble in the fifth, with two on and nobody out, when Kelly Shoppach (who apparently likes to play with black cats under ladders in his spare time) came up and bunted. The ball shot up in the air and Joba, in a move that managed to be both staggeringly awkward and remarkably graceful at the same time, launched into a huge bellyflop of a leap for it, with some very serious hang time. He made the catch just as gravity reasserted itself. Video here. Joba’s teammates were cracking up after the play (Pettitte, in the dugout, looked like he couldn’t even breath), but leave it to ol’ redass Jorge Posada to run up to the prone Joba, screaming for him to get up and get the second out at second base – which much to his credit, Chamberlain actually had enough breath left in him to do.

In the seventh inning, with the bases full of walked Yankees for the second time, Nick Swisher came up and whacked a two-run double that missed grand slamdom by just a foot or two. 3-1 Yanks. Then the Indians did something I’ll never understand: walked Teixeira to load the bases so that they could pitch to Alex Rodriguez. Wha? I mean, yeah, right handed pitcher, whatever, and I know how hot Teixeira is right now, and A-Rod’s not 100% still, and you want to set up the DP… but, no. Steroids or not, clutch or not, how do you intentionally walk anyone to pitch to Alex Rodriguez? Anyway, Rodriguez validated my feelings on the matter with a two-run single.

Mariano Rivera came in for the save – Joba went eight innings, 106 pitches, big velocity, a beauty – and ended the game with a nifty grab, twirl and throw, a play that might actually have been better  than Joba’s, though it was not nearly as funny.

So: who would ever have thought that the Yankees of all people would set a Major League record for consecutive errorless games? This was their 18th. Yes, yes, I know errors are not a very meaningful measure of fielding skill, and this isn’t exactly one of the sport’s more hallowed records, but still. Even in their late-90s heyday defense wasn’t really the Yanks’ thing… and I don’t think it is this year, either, though lord knows Teixeira helps. But hey, Mr. Fielding Controversy himself, Derek Jeter, is looking awfully good these days. I intend to enjoy it while it lasts.

Finally, what is up with the animals in Cleveland? Who’s been screening Hitchcock for the seagulls? I don’t think New York pigeons know what fear is, but you almost never see them settle en masse on a playing field like that. I think I’ve only ever seen birds that brazen in Atlantic City, where the seagulls are absolutely HUGE – bigger than many dog breeds, no exaggeration – and always look at you like they’re just biding their time til they can get you outnumbered and pick the flesh from your bones.

I vaguely remember writing something like this during the midge game in ’07, but we need NYC animal life to come out and support the local nine the same way those gnats gave Cleveland a boost.  I mean, let’s see how calm opposing relievers are when cockroaches swarm the mound and the outfield is full of rats. At the very least someone ought to start some false bed bug rumors and induce psychosomatic itchiness.

Anyway, Yanks are in first place by a hair and coming home. Good night Cleveland, there will be no encore!

The Yanks won 2 of 3 in Texas and have won 2 of 3 so far in Cleveland (they split their first series against the Indians, 2-2). A loss tonight would be a drag. So after a lousy start last week against the Rangers, I expect Joba Chamberlain to come out and pitch well this evening.

Ya heard?

As you may have already heard, Steven Soderbergh will attempt to make the great baseball movie out of Moneyball, Michael Lewis’ seminal baseball book.  Brad Pitt is set to play Billy Beane.  Adapted for the screen by Steve Zaillian (Schindler’s List), Soderbergh is perhaps the ideal director to bring Lewis’ book to the screen.  When he’s not directing A-List star vehicles like Erin Brockovich or Ocean’s 11, Soderbergh makes smaller, more avant-garde movies like Schizopolis and The Limey where he experiments with linear narrative.

Moneyball is a book that, on the surface anyway, seems to be ill-suited for the big screen. But I’ve always felt that it had dramatic potential–a charismatic lead, evocative scene-chewing set pieces like the draft room business. The fact that it is not a traditional story works in Soderbergh’s favor. 

The question is: Can the best baseball book of a generation become the best baseball film of them all?
 
“Bull Durham is the model for most baseball fans in terms of behavior and storytelling,” Soderbergh said recently.  “It seems the most lifelike. But I want to do something that’s even more immersive. I’m standing on the shoulders of [director] Ron Shelton. That was his contribution to the genre. Now it’s my turn….”My clearly stated goal is to set a new standard for realism in that [sports] world.”

Soderbergh has the cooperation of MLB (he can use game footage).  Art Howe, Rick Peterson, David Justice and Jeremy Giambi will play themselves as the director attempts to create a realism never seen in a baseball movie.

This all sounds promising.  But here’s the catch.  Moneyball was hip and timely when it was released in hardcover; now, the material is dated. I wonder how Soderbergh can work around this and create something that is aesthetically exciting, dramatically compelling, and relevant. 

Monty Poole doesn’t think it can work. I have my reservations too, but believe it will be an interesting movie regardless. And since the bar for baseball movies is so low, Moneyball could be worth watching–it could even be the best baseball movie ever filmed–even if it is a fine mess.

There was so much hype about Carl Pavano facing the Yankees. The tabloids ate it up, and Suzyn Waldman, as far back as the Texas series, said, “If there’s any justice, C.C. Sabathia will pitch against Carl Pavano in Cleveland.”

Sabathia and Pavano both pitched, but not against each other. Sabathia faced his No. 2 two years ago, Fausto Carmona, on Saturday, while Pavano squared off against Phil Hughes, which may have been a more intriguing matchup considering Pavano’s history with the Yankees and his five victories in May, and Hughes’ stellar outing in Texas and continued effort to stay in the rotation.

As I was listening to the game on the radio (another Sunday spent driving), I got to thinking about the myriad options the local editors and writers had for the game. Would Pavano be the lead? Would I make Phil Hughes’ mediocre start coupled by Chien-Ming Wang’s three scoreless innings of relief the lead, playing up the intrigue of Wang’s possible return to the rotation? Poor umpiring was a theme of the day. Where would that fit in? Are all these topics combined into one or do you do take one story as your base and go with the others as supplemental pieces?

I probably would have made Pavano the focus of the game story and made Hughes/Wang a featured supplement, tying in the early note that Andy Pettitte expects to be ready to start on Wednesday. How would you have presented Sunday’s game? Thinking of the broadest audience possible, how would you have set up your Yankees section as an editor? How would you have attacked the game if you were on-site? It’s two different thought processes. I’m curious to get your thoughts.

An examination of the eight local papers covering the Yankees revealed the following:

NY TIMES: Jack Curry had Pavano leading but alluded to the Hughes/Wang situation, melding everything into a tidy recap with analysis and historical context. Typical goods from Mr. Curry.

NEWSDAY: Three individual stories from Erik Boland, who’s now off the Jets beat and has replaced Kat O’Brien: Hughes/Wang leading, a Pavano piece tied with notes, and a short piece on Gardner’s failure to steal.

NY POST: As of this writing, only George King’s recap had been posted. Interesting to see that he focused on the bullpen, specifically Coke and David Robertson. (Had I been reporting, that would have been the angle I took with the game recap.)

NY DAILY NEWS: Mark Feinsand tied everything together, but it looked and read strangely like an AP wire story.

JOURNAL NEWS: No full game recap posted, but Pete Abe gives more in about 200 words on a blog than most other scribes do in 800.

STAR LEDGER: Marc Carig copied off Erik Boland’s paper in that he had individual stories on Gardner and Wang/Hughes, But he had a couple of other tidbits: 1) His recap was short and had additional bulletpointed notes. I thought this was an interesting format. It reminded me of an anchor calling highlights and then reading key notes off the scoreboard graphic. 2) He had a full feature on Phil Coke and his blaming the umpire’s call on the 3-2 pitch to Trevor Crowe. Check out the last paragraph. Looks like he copied off Pete Abe’s paper, too.

BERGEN RECORD: Only one story on the game from Pete Caldera, but boy does he know how to write a lead paragraph.

HARTFORD COURANT: Associated Press recap. Not much to say except this paper is an example of what’s happening in the industry. Dom Amore’s words are missed.

And this just in … on the “Inside Pitch” segment of the midnight ET edition of Baseball Tonight, Karl Ravech and Peter Gammons said the Yankees were the best team in baseball. This revelation comes hours after the ESPN ticker read “Pavano dominates Yankees” in the first half of its description of the game. I’m not sure what to make of this. I know Ravech, my fellow Ithaca College alum, is as good as it gets, but when Gammons agrees, I get concerned.

I’d say the best team is the team with the best record, and the team that’s playing most consistently on a daily basis. That team is being managed by Joe Torre.

First things first . . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BANTER MAN HIMSELF . . . OUR OWN ALEX BELTH!

Today’s news is powered by this “literal music video”:

• Fielding all right (uh huh):

New York has grown quite used to seeing a zero in the “E” column each night, completing its 17th consecutive errorless game on Sunday to tie a Major League record. . . .

The Yankees have not committed an error since Ramiro Pena booted a ground ball while playing shortstop on May 13 in Toronto. Since then, New York has handled 617 total chances in 156 1/3 innings of play, recording 469 putouts and completing 148 assists with 12 double plays. The team fielding percentage: a sparkling 1.000.

• Tex draws raves from A-Rod and a pep talk from Tino:

“Mark’s phenomenal,” Rodriguez said after Saturday’s 10-5 victory over the Indians. “To me, Mark is a combination of Tino Martinez and Paul O’Neill. He just brings so much to this team, so much to this clubhouse. His makeup is one that’s very impressive.”. . .

“He (Tino Martinez) told me just to be yourself, have fun,” Teixeira said. “Tino is just a great guy and was a great player. We hit it off right away. He knows the kind of player I am, and I think he just wanted me to get back to being me.”

It may have been coincidence, or directly attributable to Alex Rodriguez’s return to the lineup earlier in the month. Whatever the reason, Teixeira put a 4-for-4, four-RBI game on the Twins the next day and has hit .413 (26-for-63) with eight home runs and 21 RBIs in his 15 games entering play Sunday since Martinez’s pep talk.

• Homer-happy new stadium stats:

Through 23 games at the new park, the Yankees’ 45 homers led the majors in home runs hit at home. Texas was second at 38 through Thursday. The Yankees are averaging 1.96 home runs per game at home and are on pace to hit 158 for the season. That would be good enough to break a pair of records.

In 2000, Toronto hit 134 home runs at home (an average of 1.65 per game) to set the American League record. The 1996 Colorado Rockies set the major league record with 149 home runs (an average of 1.84 a game).

But Yankees pitchers are learning that the home run barrage is a two-way street. They have given up 42 home runs at home, which also led the league through Thursday. Philadelphia and Arizona were second with 38. The staff is on pace to give up 148 home runs, which would break the A.L. record of 132, which is held by the 1964 Kansas City Athletics. That team went 57-105 and finished last.

[My take: The wind currents in the stadium are juiced.]

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