nice main source alex.

as a follow-up from my statement on how far bj ryan has fallen - the blue jays released him today.

and yes, keep it going burnett and matsui for that matter:
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Gardner CF

[1] wow, hard to believe. Weren't we in the mix in hopes of picking him up to help the pen at some point?

LET'S GO YAN-KEES!!!

Gardner starts again. I guess GIrardi is going on whoever did the best in their last game.

[1] *that* is a damn fine lineup.

[3] i imagine the fact that they're playing on turf contributed ...

[5] I accept your explanation.

This is a dumb question, but what is the difference between released and DFA? Does this mean they cut ties with Ryan outright, rather then trying to pass him through waivers and send him to AAA? I wonder why they wouldn't at least try to stick him in the minors, or at least work some kind of trade for him.

[7] Yup, released means released from your contract, though the team still owes you your salary. I guess the Jays feel there's no way for him to come back. DFA = you have the option of going to the minors, or you can reject it and be a free agent. Not sure if team is then still liable for your salary, as it's your option.

Off to see the Mudhens, Rockin' Ray & the Skyy Dogs. Ah, minor league baseball.

So, what is the verdict on Liriano? Anyone have a feel for what is wrong with him?

Perkins scratched for tonight, fever, flu, etc.

Swarzak (sp) going. May be a break, but these things can come back and bite you: Yanks got 6 off Perkins last start in first inning, remember?

An answer of sorts?

Yankees officials told Joel Sherman of the New York Post that there's zero chance they trade for Roy Halladay, for the same reasons they didn't deal for Johan Santana. The cost in terms of both salary and prospects is too high.

The news is a minor blow for the Blue Jays, who could have used the Yankees' interest to drive up Halladay's price, even if they had no intention of dealing their ace within the division.

[11] Or is Cashman really trying to drive down his value, so he can swoop in and scoop him up at the end?

Bwahahahahahahah

Bah! Since he's two starts removed from the DL, and the "asking price" is undoubtedly similar to what it would have been coming out of ST this year, thanks but no thanks...

That would be a bad trade.

ala PeteAbe: UPDATE, 6:39 p.m.: To the dismay of cougars across the metropolitan area, Francisco Cervelli will be officially optioned to Triple-A Scranton after BP.

I can't believe they are actually going to attempt the Posada/Molina catching duo again, especially during the hottest months of the year...

Doh!

[15] I'm not sure what difference it makes. Po would have caught the same amount regardless, so no increase in jury risk for him whether the BUC is Cervelli or Molina. And if the heat somehow make Molina wilt, then he'll just go back on the DL and Cervelli will return.

Meanwhile the Jays are melting down against the Rays. See, without the veteran leadership of B.J. Ryan that team just can't compete!

Shit. I hate DPs.

[0] i've never tasted bacon, either. no, not for any religious reasons...

[4] i said the same thing! love this lineup. and melk's on the bench, if we need him...

[7] yes, dumb question. next.

HA!!!! jus' kiddin', mp!!!! ; )

btw, nice research late last night. do you think rob gee made some 'guest' appearances as "rob goldberg" on the thread after he was banned?

speaking of bacon, i gotsta cut out for some din-din. i'll catch y'all in an hour plus...

GO YANKS!!!

[19] i’ve never tasted bacon

I can't even fathom...

I'm just gonna throw this out there...I prefer turkey bacon to pork bacon.

there, I said it.

[20] it's true! add it to the list...coffee, cake, apple, etc! : ~

that said, i'm about to go eat the shit outta some slices and salad and drink a keg of barq's root beer! Wed night pizza night with the ipod and new Baseball Weekly paper. hope to nail the crossword, per usual! : )

[7] DFA means they have two weeks to choose one of three options: trade the player, release the player, or put the player on waivers.

I would imagine they've already tried the other options, and hence had to release him to get rid of him.

Ryan probably has enough seniority that they can't send him to the minors unless he agrees. Remember Kelly Stinnet? The Yanks tried to send him to the minors, but he refused, and went home to watch TV with his kids.

i don't like this start. what happened to the 3-pitch strikeout?! ; )

well that was unexpected

i really like the start to this game! : )

roller coaster...

[16] I'm afraid I must politely disagree with you again tonight, MP.

Posada did catch less games recently, because of his injured thumb. Future bumps and bruises will require Molina to catch more than he ordinarily would, leading to the situation where they lost both due to overuse again, when if they carried three, the workload wouldn't be so demanding on all of them.

Oh well.

Over/Under for how long those two last this time? They both didn't make it six weeks from Opening Day and were hurt running rather than catching...

I'm just sayin'.

lotsa speed on the basepaths... ; )

yo yo yo. i am multi-tasking here. on a conference call, watching the Yankees game, working (literally), and now posting here. :)

[22] Bacon? Cake? Apple? Dude... what planet are you from?

[28] double steal!

[29] LOL

Be sure to tell those in your conference it's 1-0 Yanks now...

: )

[28] triple steal!

Swish gets us on the board.

Nancy Drew ties the game at 1

Scutaro comes thru vs. Kaz and ties the Rays at 5

i'm still hungry...

[32] i don't even know that yet. stupid mlb.tv. haha

1-1 at Fenway in the 6th.

[35] heh heh

GRITNER!!!!!!!!!!

Woohoo Gritner!

[30] i'm from "Themis" - the 10th moon of Saturn, which is partly where the name "thelarmis" comes from! : )

[29] multi-tasking rules! welcome to the world of a drummer!

YEAH GRITNER!!!!

i can't wait to see what Gritner did!!

[35] tell 'em it's now 3-nuthin'!!! : )

[40] i'm now skyping with 3 co-workers as well. hehehe

I noticed they made a late scratch on the starter tonight because the Twins scheduled one came down with Yankee-itis...

: )

2-2 on Gritner!

I think Gardy's won the CF job back.

woo hoo Brett!!!

[45] hilarious!

what's not funny is:

Cahill is starting to fall apart vs. the Shit Sox

Blow Jays about to give it back to Tampon...

Note to A.J.:

Continue shutting the M&M Boys down.

That is all...

damn. Zobrist (i HATE the name "zo-rilla), with his 17th. a 3-run job. 8-5 Rays...

fat papi follows suit w/ a 3-run. 4-1 shit sox.

: /

I want a shirt like that guy in the stands has. With the Yankee Stadium subway sign on it.

ok. conference call is done. maybe mlb.tv will speed up. damn jetes.

Maybe Baseball should change their rules and make it the AL East against everyone else.

this stadium is a joke. i always hated it.

Get back out there Twins' sacrificial lamb and be quick about it!

: )

thelarmis, I remember my old aunty "getting stink" with my cousin because he was munching on some Chinese take-out sweet&sour pork..while oblivious to the fact that he was downing a beer alongside it..selective Islamic-rule following in our household was the norm..I'm with you on the pork though, had it once and it didn't take..

NP: Gary Burton quartet "Throb" with Keith Jarrett on piano/electric piano!

to no one in particular: I'm still high from that Gomez catch last night..amde my wife watch the replay twice with me and got a good-effort "wow, nice jump" from her..baseball is the greatest because of moments like that!

nice to turn the game on and see the yanks are up 3-0 already

[56] Agreed on the catch OK Jazz, but he's no Torii Hunter!

: )

Bleh...

Hey, Tokyo...can you tell me what this says? I'm being thwarted in my attempts to watch Japanese baseball. Are they blocking me because I have a US IP address?

[60] You got it, it sayd you can only view it from inside Japan.

You may be able to see some J baseball through the team sites..

[56] i honestly thought it was a pretty routine play. he definitely jumped high, but he had plenty of time to do it. it wasn't like endy chavez sprinting back and then jumping just as high and about 3 feet further back. not that it's fair to compare it to that one.

oh i never tire of coney's craziness

[61] Thanks, I kinda thought that might be it.

That actually is from one of the team sites. Hideki's former team, actually: the Yomiuri Giants.

I did see Andy Phillips homer in his first game in Japan on YouTube. I think it was his second at-bat, if I'm reading the graphics correctly. Bummer - he just missed becoming the first player ever to homer in his first at-bat in both the MLB and NPB.

Things were going great until AJ decided to stop throwing in the general neighborhood of home plate.

jesus christ what is going on here?

Good god.

Holy crap. Burnett is freakin' wild tonight.

What the?

[65] then he counters that by grooving one down the middle

Finally.

If AJ really doesn't want to throw to Posada, we are seeing why in this game. Of course, the whole inning was set up by inexplicably trying to make a perfect pitch to Bartlett.

that was wacky

rick aguilera is my guess.

Both Damon's and Po's defense, as well as Burnett failing to begin the next frame with Mauer were equally unacceptable.

[64] Giants looking strong this year, hopefully my Yakult Swallows can catch them (in 2nd now)

Cmon AJ, don't let the Twinkies hit you!

po trying to make-up for his catching-gaffs

[75] Cone said, "And Damon had no chance at that."
What play was he watching??

Nothing wrong with JD. They ball was stung and directly over his head. Missed a HR by inches. I'd pass out however, if Po ever actually got in front of a WP.

Those were all scored as wild pitches, huh?

A more annoying thing to me is that neither passed balls nor wild pitches are scored as errors. I believe I've said that before. Ah well.

I really can't blame Posada for those wild pitches. They were wild. I don't think any else would have caught them, either.

Though not being able to find the ball when it got past him was kind of embarrassing. I blame this stupid ballpark.

I still can't stand to watch Gardner at the plate. There's also some poetry in the fact that Girardi apparently is in love with him, and I don't like Girardi much either.

Two base runners plus three hard-hit fly balls. Nuthin'.
Burnett better settle down now.

If I were Gardy, I'd wear a jersey at least six sizes too big to get on base even more...

: )

i think he should have at least gotten a glove on the fastball, even though it missed by about 4 ft. the other ones i thought were legit wps

The point is Po NEVER gets in front of a ball. He tries to backhand them. Maybe he just doesn't have the reflexes, but Molina blocks at least one of them. Maybe Cervix also.

[74] Nice!

[74] nice!

"Great Adventures with Johnny Damon" night.

i guess this is going to be lost flyball night

Somebody needs to choke the guy that designed that roof.

[88] Nice!

I just read that Kevin Millar interview on XM Radio, the part about the new stadium. Great stuff.

[89] that's practically every night

does that count oyf?

[85] I dunno. It was on the opposite side of the plate from where he was expecting it, and it was a pretty fast fastball.

Hey, Posada got that one...

[82] Sadly, I agree..Garner swinging is too close to my memories of trying to make contact against the fastball when I was 14..

[93] Is Kevin Millar in person as big of a wienie as I imagine? I try to be a peaceful man but.."Cowboy UP!" is undoubedtly one of the stupidest things I have ever heard and makes me irrationally hate him..

Damon has the "Yips" in the OF. I've never seen that before with a MLB player that's not an infielder. Couple that with his fear of getting injured and there you have it...

jeter is really pulling the ball a lot lately

Maybe we can get a WP/PB now?

[100] I strongly prefer a base hit.

[100] that'd be nice - just that burnett and po is the perfect storm

[101] well yeah - but there is some poetic justice in it happening to the twins

Now a WP here would be okay. Followed by a single...

[104] i'd prefer a triple

the impressive thing about that catch is how high he got

This stadium is such a joke.

Yay A-Rod!

well a single works too

Bah, not clutch. Already up a run and its not the 27th inning.

What is the sudden trend toward base hits with RISP?

Ahhhh.

[107] it really is - just a total joke

that was a pretty quick hook

[111] Well Robbie got one last night so I'd say they are trending "up!"

: )

Wow, bullpen again.
Yesterday they ate four innings with two relievers, right? So there's plenty of bullpen left. But tomorrow might be interesting, if we can get to Liriano early, or even work his count well.

[107] yep. see [54]. :)

ground-up rubber - jesus christ

We really deserve more runs than we have.

A three-run HR would be nice now Jorge...

uh oh - lotsa duckies for robbie. will his new trend continue?

There are no ducks indoors Robbie!

[113] I always weirdly liked the Metrodome. I think because I remember Scooter et al reporting how good Mattingly hit there. I have no idea of the numbers actually support this. But as a kid I used to get excited at the start of a Twins' series anticipating how Donnie would pound the dome.

County Stadium in Milwaukee was another story. IIRC, Mattingly had terrible numbers there.

[117] the new field turf stuff has that too. I've played hurling matches on it. It does help "soften" the surface a little. A very little. I think it gives it a more spongy effect for the ball and running. But damn, those fields in the August sun are brutal.

[117] It's like, Fisher-Price My First Ballpark.

[122] the Mattingly metric. I like it!

[124] exactly!

Jays making it tough on the Rays.

...

Robbie, you MISUNDERSTOOD, they said the Metrodome has DUCTS!!!

oh robbie - trend up not down

[123] interesting. still can't imagine it being too good on the body. it's no wonder some of the guys like matsui, vlad, castillo have knees of a corroded robot.

[130] impact on the knees has to be brutal. And don't try sliding on it! It is like sliding on concrete.

[123] Hurling?

Walking Nick Punto should be punishable by flogging.

What are the "vampire seats," and why do they call them that?

[132] Ireland's national sport. Picture a combination of lacrosse and field hockey on a soccer field. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling

[125] Yes, but my memory (or Scooter's numbers) fail! Matingly's career:

Metrodome: .242/.297/.385/.683
County Stadium: .295/.342/.398/.739

Meanwhile...

Exhibition Stadium: .389/.419/.605/1.025
Kingdome: .346/.400/.554/.954
Anaheim Stadium: .329/.394/.510/.904

[134] I know that they are the seat over the vertical wall in right field. I'm not sure exactly why they are called that but last night they said something to the effect of "because you hang down over it" or something that sounded nonsensical like that.

[134] Something about hanging down like a bat, I think. Kenny said it yesterday.

[136] oh well. I guess on top of the numbers. I see the Mattingly Metric rates Exhibition Stadium real high though.

[135] Ah, of course!! Yes, have seen it once..awesome looking game, very fast.
So "seamus" isn't a psuedonym then? :)

[136] Even an implied criticism of Scooter will not be tolerated..as a kid I defended him as the "best announcer in the game, better than Vin Scully of the hated Dodgers"...

Just no wild pitches, that's all I ask.

[140] I think that my own moment of baseball maturity or loss of innocence or what have you, was when I decided that Scooter was sort of unbearable as an announcer. I know, heresy. And I always had a soft spot for him nostalgia-wise, and I *do* remember dimly when I was a kid that he called a fairly straight game and told cool stories about Joe DiMaggio. But at the end...

[140] well, it is a bit of a pseudonym. my name isn't seamus but the english equivalent. But given my interest in all things Irish...

And yeah the game is fast. I'm not fast! I simply cannot compete in the mid-field at all. But i'm an ok offensive player.

And the Scooter will always rate in my book. He was a great announcer. Though I bet if the banter were around, the criticism of his stories would be legendary! And can you imagine the threads about how Scooter disappears in the 7th inning?

that's an obvious strike

[137] [138] Thanks. I was wondering if they made you hang upside down or something. ;-)

I don't mind that walk, actually. I usually hate loading the bases with a walk, but this is okay. I think AJ will get Cuddyer. He's much less scary than Morneau.

I like dominating AJ better.

Told ya.

are they booing cuddyer who's having a great year?

Oh, but Jorge missed the opportunity for a very unusual play: dropped third strike, step on home for the force! Very unusual indeed.

i know po is not the greatest to ever don the tools of ignorance but aj's pitches have a ton of movement on them tonight - not an easy task and po has done pretty good after the one stretch

Hopefully AJ gets his act together and starts pitching more efficiently again, to save up the BP for the Aceves-Joba one-two punch (and the Aceves-Joba-Andy one-two-three combo).

[149] Oh no, they're just calling, "Miiiiiichael!" You know, that weird Minnesotan accent.

[142] Agreed..near the end he was incomprehensible..

[143] I'll always love "The Money Store" because of Scooter.

sweet. that was scary.

Oh, I am sorry, too gritty for you, Nicky Punto!

speed kills damnit!

I recommend that Gardner try to steal second base, to exploit his speed.

[132] Thelarmis is into Beer and hurling.

Terrible. Why was Gardner stealing with Jeter up?

[158] That was a bad idea that you had. A poor recommendation.

I think he was safe.

well not there - show his jump

[161] Indeed. Most unacceptable suggestion.

Oakland A's giving Papelbon trouble, those teases.

A's have two on against Papelbon, already scored one ot make it 5-4..but two out..

[159] OYF, ever hurled back in the 60s?

[134] did someone say "vampire"? i'm back! : )

Ix-nay on the Cooter-say...

Anyone who proudly states during a broadcast, "A day without canollis is like a day without sunshine." is a philosophical genius!

Additionally, being on the GW in the seventh inning proves he was a practical genius!

He wasn't bad as a player, too...

: )

Does Swisher understand the concept of playing the outfield?

[166] Nope... never drank, never drunk. Went through a lot of weed though.

aj pitching to his twin is funny

another day game tomorrow then at least for the non-night owls on the east coast they are in la for the wknd so only one late game.
then all star break - that was fast.

[166] I have however, eaten bacon.

Paps finishes the A's. He did flirt with disaster, though.

[169] i don't think so. the yanks can definitely claim the most adventurous corner of.

[169] Funny. Sterling described it as a "good play, keeping the ball in front of him."

[159] never heard that one before. ; )

[159] hurling? i VERY rarely ever get sick from beer. VERY rare occassion. very rare...

[56] speaking of rare - i'll have wonton soup every now and then, so i'll have pork there...

well, i'm all filled up on bacon strips and apple pie, washed down w/ some strong espresso! ; )

i see the A's tried to come back and even scored on papelbitch. alas, they couldn't beat the dirty scumbags. Jays have made it interesting: 9-9 in the 8th!

[176] Well, it was a good play considering he utterly misplayed the ball. Having botched it, he did do a good job of preventing it from being a double.

[173] Wild man..

[174] 30 pithces for Pap to get the save..he's not close to automatic anymore..

[176] singleton did too. seems he could have played it differently.

[170] you've never been drunk and you give me sooo much shit for never being getting stoned?!?!?! WTF???

[179] Thanks for the description. You have to understand, I am at the mercy of of John Sterling's broad interpretation of "play by play".

[183] http://tinyurl.com/orgpo4

Wow, that was one nasty pitch.

i just read some good upward trending rates for AJ, but he's not really showing it today.

K/9:

7.1 Apr
8.9 May
10.5 Jun

Ground Ball:

41% Apr
42% May
48% Jun

nice ratios of strikeouts and groundballs. i have NO idea what he's up to tonight, however...

aj is pulling his step to edge of disaster - oh wait everything is okay act the last few innings

[184] I did mention that I was cheap, didn't I? Plus, my wife will kill me if I watch streaming video on the computer every night.

nick swisher might be a candidate for the intergalactic arkestra of baseball.

[186] Well, that was only his second strike-out. So, yeah, he's definitely not dominating tonight, not great.

[188] I solved both problems at once: my wife gave me the subscription for my birthday!

[191] Yay!

[182] Weed spiritual. Alcohol evil. Ask any Native American.

[188] And she doesn't for posting a thousand times on BB?? :)

My wife says "how man more comments could you make on that dorky baseball blog?"
Me: "oh, we were talking about jazz though.."
Wife: silence....

Teixeira foils the shift. Bwahahahaha.

[193] true

[194] It's weird, but that's the reality. Posting only drives her mostly crazy. Streaming video, puts her over the edge. The worst: I would probably stream on one computer and post on the other (her) laptop. Then she would kill me.

[194] hahahaha. perfect reply.

[193] If beer and wine are wrong, I don't want to be right.

[191] Happy Birthday, RI !!! : )

[193] i don't need no stinkin' drugs - esp illegal ones - to be "spiritual". i got it in me simply by being, thank you very much!

[197] that is what the work laptop is for.

[200] Oh, uh, no, I meant she gave it to me in April, for my birthday. (My birthday is great timing for being given an mlb.tv subscription.)

[200] did you form an X with your arms when you said that?

[199] amen, brother. wrong, all night long! : )

i get to have beer tomorrow night after i'm done teaching, and again friday. yay! : )

The Sox won (again) but were outhit 13-7. Maybe it's a slump, but their offense hasn't been what it was earlier. They do seem better then us wirh RISP though.

98 pitches for AJ "Tightrope" Burnett. Do you send him out in the 7th to face the M & M boys? I would pull him for Hughes, or just take my chances.

Burnett's pitch count is 98. It would be great if he could finish the inning, but if not... Hughes for 4 or 5 outs?

[194] Tell your wife that I quite frankly refuse to accept the Banter to be considered as "that dorky baseball blog"...

That's a description of SOSH!

: )

[207] there are 4 or 5 outs in the 8th???

[197] Haha, yeah. On weekend mornings here sometimes, I have the Mariners or Bosox on tv, the Yanks on radio through the web, and BxBanter open for commenting..that wasn't too popular with me lovely..

[200] thelarmis, ever get into any Krautrock? am new to it..but really digging "Can" and "Neu" recently..

[206] surely you jest - it is edpcy time!!!

Oh, EDPCy, of course. I'm such a dope.

Manny just homered off K-Rod.

[209] Doh!
I don't know what I was thinking. My idea would have broken two laws of nature.

[206] First batter to reach ends Burnett's night for me...

[202] NO happy birthday, RI !!! ; )

[203] no. it was more like two very straight and extended middle fingers! (kidding.)

[210] Krautrock? nope, uh-huh. doesn't sound appealing to me though...

manny's shot was to lead off the 9th and brought Torre w/in 1 run. Blake just walked. still no out...

throw strikes, kid!!! : /

[215] yeah, i woulda left AJ in, see what happens...

I don't think that's what Girardi wanted Cokey to do.

shit - that was not the plan cokey

whoops.

edpcy seems to have teh troubles with those who swing from the sinister side ...

fuckin' hell.

Coke pitches against lefties.
Hughes is the eighth inning guy.
Coke for lefties.
Hughes for the eighth.

We want Hughes! Let him pitch two! (innings)

[223] No.
Coke for lefties.
Hughes for the eighth.

Ya know, if I were Po, I'd be busting Mauer in on his hands until he proved he can hit that pitch.

I'm just sayin'.

I think that's enough going away from him!

Dumbass...

Not quite what I had in mind there Cokey. Now a 3 pitch appearance by Hughes? What do you think?

The eighth inning came early tonight.

[214] ruh-roh, looks like Girardi's about to cross the streams!

hughes for 4 outs perhaps - riyank you were on to something

is hughes coming in for Cuddyer? if so, i say he goes for 4 outs, then Mo in the 9th. unless Mo is needed for 4 outs...

I can't kill Girardi for bringing in Cokey because he has been very good of late and Mauer was all over Burnett.

There's 1 pitch. Bruney for the 8th now?

[226] phil don't need 3 stinking pitches

[226] 3?

3???

How about 1!

=)

Oh, man, this could be a one-pitch appearance for Hughes!

[226] Yes, ideally no more than five pitches. That sets him up for short 45 appearances in after the ASB to make his 100 innings.

See, perfect. One pitch, one out . Hit the showers, kid.

phil needs to rest now until after the all-star break.

[231] I guess that's right.
I'm thinking ahead to the next two games, when we'll need the bullpen, so I would have planned longer performances from fewer relievers. I would have let AJ go just a little longer, because that frees up Coke or Hughes to pitch more in relief of Joba and Ace. But, Coke isn't a terrible call there, I admit.

Is it Cone and Singleton for the whole Minn series? I like them though can't imagine what their dinner together is like..

look at all these great minds that posted at 10:38!!!

btw, a little after noon today, it was 12:34, 56 (sec) on 7/8/09

123456789 = cool.

ah, K-Rod got a DP, Muts win. oh well...

[231] "Mauer was all over Burnett."

Not when he pitched him high and tight in the zone... once tonight I think.

I mean I'm convinced Mauer can go oppo with pitches down and away at this pernt, aren't you?

Somebody needs to tell Po...

: /

[239] yeah they seem to do several of the midwest series together.
i'm sure coney ditches singleton pretty quickly.

[242] I certainly do not miss Michael Kay!

: )

[241] Coke's fastball is made to order for Mauer opposite field stroke, but once he got behind, he had to shelve the breaking ball. As much as you hate to give up that HR, you really can't pitch around Mauer with Morneau on deck and a two run lead.

torii out w/ a strained "adductor". do I have an adductor? what about a hip "flexor". ah, baseball injuries...

we're being shut down by...Bobby Keppel??? : /

[245] I've got athlete's foot

I feel like Hurling.

jesus christ - swisher *seems* to geet thrown out at 2nd more than anybody i have ever seen

well, it's been a highlight reel game for Swisher this evening. I like the guy, too.

I've never seen a player get thrown out more often on the bases than Swisher. I like Swish, but he has a lot of hidden negatives in his game that mitigate against his obvious positives.

Keppel got almost as many outs as Swarzak.

[248] well played.

presumably we get Bruney now, what with Phil not being stretched out...

[249] Look at the bright side: he won't be clogging the base paths ahead of Garty next inning.

Sigh..how bad was that decision by Swisher? Does he not seem to make an awful lot of blunders in the field and on the bases??

[251] "hidden negatives" = i like that!

kinda like the opposite of "latent talents" !!!

Wait, Phil is allowed to through another pitch? I don't follow. Is that allowed?

there's phil's 3 alloted pitches. pull him...

Yeah, he looked safe, but remember: if the throw beats you, it doesn't matter whether you're tagged.

Eh, I'm okay with him going for 2nd.

Took a good throw to get him and the ball did die off on the bounce off the baggie.

If he makes it he's at 2nd with Gardner up, where a single will probably score him, otherwise Gardner leads off.

[256] It wasn't a horrible decision, but the mystifying part was he was thrown out with a relay. He just doesn't run the bases well. You'd think he would know that by now and simply stop taking chances.

[258] The rule is that if the Twins don't notice that Phil was mistakenly brought in before the eighth inning, then he's permitted to complete the eighth.

Nice play there by Po. Man is Phil good.

[244] Pitching high and tight in the zone is not to be confused with "pitching around Mauer." It's about throwing to a location within the strike zone that keeps Mauer inside the park. If Po can't figure out Mauer is more than accomplished smashing outside pitches to the opposite field before calling for another outside pitch, as he did in that instance, what else is it going to take?

Coke is quite capable of spotting his fastball up and in within the strike zone to a lefty. Bad call by Po, that. Coke isn't Sabathia...

Posada showing obvious bias toward Hughes.

[262] But my mom thinks he is 'cute' so he is allowed to mess up..she hates A-Rod though so if he doesn't homer every Ab she makes Madonna jokes...

[262] he enrolled in po's reckless baserunning 101 course and graduated with honors

Yay! Hughes breaks 10 pitches!

[263] they can always say they thought it was the "other" Phil.

Andruw has 2 homers today.

Upton stole home when Tallet threw to 1st to check on Crawford. heads up play!

Spanky McSkittles sure has a "good eye!"

: )

[265] I think Posada was trying to do that, but Coke couldn't hit the spot. The only pitch he seemed to command was his fastball tailing away from Mauer. I don't see Posada as being the culprit. If Coke was able to throw the pitches you suggest, he wouldn't have fallen behind.

c'mon get on top of the curve, phil

[268] I think he just saw how everyone pats Gardy on the head when he runs really fast, and he thought it would be nice to get patted on the head.

mo for the 4 out save - not much trust for hughesy

You are frigging kidding me. He's pulling Hughes?? Well, I guess he did just get to 10 pitches.

unfuckingbelievable.

Does Joe really doubt Hughes ability to get this guy? I have no problem going to Mo, but Hughes is really being wasted if he is never going to be used for more than one inning.

[274] hahaha - he should take his goofy ass to the dog park then

Very interesting. So Buscher will take Punto's spot at second.
Also, Mo will have to pitch to Mauer in the ninth.

I am now actually convinced that my seemingly paranoid theory is true: Girardi is conspiring *not* to "stretch out" Hughes, so that he must remain the eighth inning guy.

[277] Unbefuckinglievable, is the correct technical term.

13 freaking pitches!!!!

is he bringing in Mo?

this is completely assanine!!!

i could see apprehension in letting hughes pitch to mauer or morneau but a switch hitting buc???

there is NO good reason for this. none.

Kenny suddenly develops the Spanish style "d" pronouncing "Posada", presumably because the batter is Puerto Rican.

[278] One inning? How about more than 11 fucking pitches, which he has not exceeded in 5 out of 11 relief appearances, 3 of the last 4.

alright, this is where swisher's cunning and subtle plan will become apparent, Gritner's gonna lead off with a triple ...

[281] while i do think girardi want hughes as the "8th ining guy" i don't think that is what this decision was about - i think this was i'm not rolling the dice with hughes when i can go to mo for 4

[272] I just rewatched the whole AB via TIVO. Po never called for a pitch up and in within the zone. They were all called low and away (five pitches).

Doh!

Another thing to consider is Morales was really scrambling to get ready. Facing a 95 mph cold off the bench cant be fun. By making the switch, Girardi gave Morales more time to get prepared. Obviously it worked out (so far) because Mo is Mo, but that was overkill. Girardi basically pulled out a flame thrower to light his cigarette.

[288] if he does, i get the credit for calling it. ...just cause! ; )

[287] Ah, my bad. It was 13 pitches. That changes everything.

There is obviously some intricate and logical plan for the use of Hughes..it's just that we Banterites who watch every single Yankee game and follow the team like obsessives can't discern it...

[288] [292] And no Gomez in CF means a much better chance of extra-base hits. Just sayin'.

[293] Get your facts straight, fer crissakes.

Don't bunt, HIT!

[297] on the ground

On 2nd thoughts, BUNT, BUNT!!!!

damn you crede