The Yankees have already accomplished all of their goals for the 2009 regular season. By sweeping the Red Sox over the weekend, they clinched both the AL East title and the best record in the American League, the latter of which gives them home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Their clinching win was also their 100th of the season; Joe Torre’s Dodgers rank second in the majors with 93 wins.
Even before Sunday’s clincher, the Yankees had shifted their attention from a singular focus on winning each game they played to longer-range considerations regarding postseason readiness. One could even argue that their focus began to shift when they began skipping Joba Chamberlain’s starts in August.
This week’s final regular season home series against the last-place Royals is thus a curiosity at best for those interested in the Yankees’ post-season roster construction and two teams’ marginal bench players and relievers (the Yankees’ lineup tonight omits Jeter, Teixeira, Rodriguez, Swisher, and Matsui in favor of Ramiro Peña, Juan Miranda, Eric Hinske at the hot corner, and Francisco Cervelli). At worst it’s a complete and utter waste of time that serves no purpose other than to expose the Yankees to a potentially disastrous injury.
Due to some curious scheduling, the Yankees last faced the Royals in the second series of the season way back on April 10-12 (Yankees took 2 of 3 in K.C.), and now face them for the second and final time this season in the season’s penultimate series. In between the Yankees have emerged as the major league’s best team while the Royals primary accomplishment has been avoiding being the worst.
The Royals had made steady improvements under new general manager Dayton Moore over the last three seasons, but 2009 has seen them stagnate then regress. Zack Greinke and Billy Butler have had long-awaited break-out seasons at ages 25 and 23, respectively, Greinke being the obvious choice for AL Cy Young and Butler ranking among the league leaders in extra-base hits, but that is the sum total of the positives. In my Royals preview in April I listed the team’s assets as:
. . . two front-of-the-rotation starters in 25-year-old Zack Greinke and Gil Meche, 30; one of the best closers in baseball in Joakim Soria, who will turn 25 next month; two top hitting prospects who are already in the major league lineup in 25-year-old third baseman Alex Gordon and soon-to-be-23-year-old DH Billy Butler; and two of the game’s top minor league prospects in first baseman Eric Hosmer and third baseman Mike Moustakas, ranked numbers 18 and 21, respectively, by Baseball Prospectus’s Kevin Goldstein.
Beyond Greinke and Butler, Meche had a brutal season (6-10, 5.09 ERA, and all of his peripherals heading in the wrong direction) and was shut down after 23 starts with shoulder inflammation, Gordon hit the DL in mid-April with a torn hip labrum, missed three months, and was so bad after returning that the team demoted him just two weeks before rosters expanded (since returning he’s slugged just .392). Moustakas hit .250/.297/.431 in High-A ball. Hosmer hit .241/.334/.361 in a season split between A-ball and High-A. Soria, a closer on a team that never wins, had a typically strong season save for the month he spent on the DL with a rotator cuff injury. The light at the end of the Royals’ tunnel is dimming.
The Yankees missed Greinke in April and will miss him again this week, instead catching Luke Hochevar, former Brave Anthony Lerew, and former Ranger Robinson Tejada. Shying away from the likely contract demands of the superior players available, the Royals made Hochevar the top overall pick in the 2006 draft. At age 25, has a 5.75 ERA in 46 major league starts, though he did turn in a quality start against the Yankees last June. Hochevar also made his major league debut against the Yankees in September 2007.
Hochevar will face Chad Gaudin, who could sew up his spot as the long-man on the Yankees’ postseason roster with a good outing tonight against a terrible offense (4.24 R/G, second-worst in the AL).
Kansas City Royals
2009 Record: 64-92 (.410)
2009 Pythagorean Record: 65-91 (.417)
Manager: Trey Hillman
General Manager: Dayton Moore
Home Ballpark (multi-year Park Factors): Kauffman Stadium (97/98)
Who’s Replaced Whom:
- Yuniesky Betancourt has replaced Mike Avlies (DL)
- Mitch Maier (minors) has replaced Coco Crisp (DL)
- Josh Anderson has replaced Tony Peña Jr. (minors)
- Luke Hochevar (minors), has replaced Sidney Ponson
- Robinson Tejada (bullpen) has replaced Gil Meche (shoulder, out for the season) in the rotation
- September call-ups Anthony Lerew and Lenny DiNardo have replaced the injured Brian Bannister (shoulder, out for the season) and Kyle Davies (oblique) in the rotation
- John Bale (DL) has replaced Doug Waechter (DL)
- Yasuhiko Yabuta has replaced Ron Mahay
- Roman Colon (minors) has replaced Horacio Ramirez
- Other September additions: IF – Luis Hernandez, LHP Dusty Hughes, RHPs Carlos Rosa and Victor Marte
Active Roster:
1B – Billy Butler (R)
2B – Alberto Callaspo (S)
SS – Yuniesky Betancourt (R)
3B – Alex Gordon (L)
C – Miguel Olivo (R)
RF – Willie Bloomquist (R)
CF – Mitch Maier (L)
LF – David DeJesus (L)
DH – Mike Jacobs (L)
Bench:
L – Mark Teahen (UT)
L – Josh Anderson (OF)
R – John Buck (C)
S – Luis Hernandez (IF)
S – Brayan Peña (C)
Rotation:
R – Zack Greinke
R – Luke Hochevar
R – Anthony Lerew
R – Robinson Tejada
L – Lenny DiNardo
R – Gil Meche*
R – Brian Bannister*
R – Kyle Davies*
Bullpen:
R – Joakim Soria
R – Juan Cruz
R – Kyle Farnsworth
L – John Bale
R – Jamey Wright
R – Yasuhiko Yabuta
R – Carlos Rosa
L – Dusty Hughes
R – Victor Marte
60-day DL: SS – Mike Aviles (elbow surgery), CF – Coco Crisp (labrum surgery), RF – Jose Guillen (hamstring), RHP – Doug Waechter (shoulder surgery), LHP – Bruce Chen (torn oblique)
*injured
Typical Lineup:
L – David DeJesus (LF)
R – Willie Bloomquist (RF)
R – Billy Butler (DH)
L – Mike Jacobs (1B)
S – Alberto Callaspo (2B)
R – Miguel Olivo (C)
L – Alex Gordon (3B)
L – Mitch Maier (CF)
R – Yuniesky Betancourt (SS)
Actually, it's a pretty good match-up. Like watching the International League play-offs.
if they get they game in:
Gardner CF
Cabrera RF
Damon LF
Posada DH
Cano 2B
Hinske 3B
Miranda 1B
Cervelli C
Pena SS
51cq24, I checked the video to see just what Miller said. It's in the bottom of the fifth, when they're still discussing the Swisher tag-up play. If you watch the archived game at MLB.COM, it's at 2:39:30.
Miller says,
And then Morgan explains it to him.
The Royals get a new stadium next year, right?
[3] ha ha hah ah ha ha hha ha ha hah!!
Oh, dear Lord, but that's funny.
It's especially funny because I have the poor bastard's voice in my mind as I read his words. That perpetually astonished tone of his.
[6] Yes, exactly.
Only I don't find it funny anymore. This is the #1 baseball crew of America's sports television station, for god's sake. It's horrible. The reason I posted the story (in another thread) was in support of my claim that Joe Morgan is actually a towering baseball intellect when they surround him with Phillips and Miller.
Tonight I will listen to the KC broadcast (assuming they get the game in), and I have absolutely no doubt that it will be vastly superior to the ESPN broadcasts, or the Fox broadcasts. That's...
unacceptable.
[7] yeah morgan is not as stupid as miller and phillips - there are certain things he actually knows quite well. because of his stance on moneyball and then fjm (which mostly dinged him on his chats), he has been picked apart (rightfully for the most part), but he really does know a lot more than miller and phillips, and much better than another former player on a "top" broadcast like mccarver
[3] aha. well then, he is definitely wrong. i've never seen anything like that happen, and like i said, 5.09(e) very clearly and absolutely states that a foul ball not caught is a dead ball. it gets a little confusing in 10.08(d)(2), which instructs official scorers to score a sac fly on a dropped ball, including foul balls, if a runner scores and if in his judgment that runner would have scored had the ball been caught. but of course no runner could score at all on a dropped foul.
[9] That official scorer's section of the rules is so damn long. And it has nothing to do with the actual playing of the game, either.
Toronto scores 4 in top of 1st against not-Beckett ...
Wow, Bowden started.
I still say he'll be a good pitcher some day.
I'm reading that Twins/Tigers has been rained out ...
[13] day-night doubleheader tomorrow
anything that will contribute to verlander not being lined up for game 1 (assuming it is the tigers, which i think it will be for some reason) is good by me
So [13] [14] where do you stand on the 3-pitcher vs 4-pitcher series right now? Suppose we face Detroit.
Oh, Dusty got to 3-0 with the bases loaded, but he failed. He's just too small.
7-2 jays 3rd inning
Michael Bowden is more of a relief pitcher, I'd say.
Are they gonna get tonight's game in?
[15] i keep oscillating.
joba's performance the other day (which i kind of felt he was going to have) sort of makes me want to go with the 4 pitcher series - but it is probably not wise to make that judgment off of one start.
but with that said, i think there are two opportunity costs to weigh that go beyond joba, one favoring the long series, one the short one:
1) the longer series means more rest for the yanks pen (theirs too, but i'm just going to concentrate on the yanks) - so the longer series means we are likely to just see the top relievers in a close game - i think that is a big advantage for the yanks
2) if veralnder does line-up for game 1, the longer series allows him to go more than once. i am a lot more worried about verlander than i am jackson. even though i think the yanks can score on him, i don't know if i want to see him twice.
so, as you can see i am pulling a hamlet (which btw was the name of my cat when i was a kid) on this one.
[17] I was just at Kauffman Stadium last month. They poured millions of dollars renovating it recently so I don't think they are getting a new stadium any time soon. As you asked in [4].
[18] petey says first pitch at 8:55pm
The Yanks can always take the longer series, but still use 4 starters. Would likely result in pitting Joba v. Verlander in Game 4 and CC v. Jackson in Game 5 if it got there. Yanks could decide to do that if they're up 2-1 after three, but then, if they are up 2-1, why not go for it with CC (like the Marlins did with Beckett in the '03 WS).
[22] But in that case the shorter series would be better -- the Yankees use the same pitchers but don't have to face Verlander twice.
[19] I know the shorter series is easier on Hughes and Mo. But I think that's not as great an advantage as it seems, actually, since it's only matter of a couple of innings. And one thing that worries me about the long series is that it could have bad repercussions in the ALCS, assuming we make it there. What if the division series goes five games and CC and AJ have both just pitched as the ALCS begins? That could be a pretty bad situation.
[20] Oh, right. Hm. I swear one of the Royals was talking about looking forward to a new clubhouse.
[23] good points on the longer series. there could definitely be some repercussions for the next round.
at first i thought cliff had gone crazy, but i thought more about it, and the idea of getting to use cc twice and in game 5 if needed is actually a decent idea - though i agree with you that if you want to use joba, might as well go with the shorter series to limit exposure to verlander.
now, if the yankees just sweep, game 4 and 5 will be mute :}
I want to see a Boston area Little League team take the field with the Red Sox and have their 2b pat dusty on the head. : )
[19] I love Hamlet. At least as much as I love baseball.
In [22] I wasn't saying they should, just that they could. Just expanding the discussion.
I wonder how many people waited around two hours to watch Juan Miranda and Ramiro Pena play the Royals.*
*I have less than zero problem with playing the Scranton team tonight.
We got our hit. Everything else is gravy
Nice hit, Melky.
Melky's hot lately.
Oh, shit UP, Kay.
Verlander sacres the beejeezus out of me..
Wayyy late on this conversation but..occasional poster "vockins" chimed in about John Bonham being a revolutionary drummer..I love Zep but not sure why he would say that..if you are out there vockins, let me have some details?
Jimmy Page though, he wiped the floor with Eric Clapton, and still could today!
[29] RagingTartabull had a ticket to tonight's game, so I'll guess he waited out the rain.
[17] Lester looked no better than a relief pitcher once as well . . . I think Buchholz is ultimately better than Bowden, and given his declined K-rate in the majors (vs what he did in the minors), I'm not sure Buchholz is going to be the awesome starter he was once projected as - meaning Bowden might end up as a reliever. But what do I know?
Boston has the major league lineup in the game, but its the PawSox pitching staff. Good thing its past 6 innings, the torrential downpour that just pelted my house ought to be making its way to Fenway soon . . .
And just as I type that, the PawSox hitters take the field, while Delcarmen comes in to pitch.
No, I'm sorry, it's not funny. Hitting into the shift is *not* a laughing matter.
As bad as Michael Kay is under normal circumstances, he is that much worse during a post clinch game against the Royals where nothing of note is happening.
[37] Is he telling stories about his "rockin out vacation" on Long Island? (Who takes their vacation days in Long Island?!? I thought the point was to LEAVE LI...)
[38] I don't even know what he's saying anymore. He has just been talking non stop for 35 minutes now.
[7] How many Emmys have they won? I think that says more about the Emmy voters/determiners lack of knowledge about baseball or baseball broadcasting, than anything else.
Miller used to be quite excellent, but he's really been off the last couple of years. Steve Phillips was never on in the first place . . .
And yet somehow the suits at ESPN think these guys are the best! Unreal. I'm with you, RI - I don't even care about Morgan's cliches that have been proven to be trite - I'd just like to have two guys who can do the job well. Miller and Morgan (and Phillips) can't, and don't.
[39] Ever listen to the "Baseball Today" podcast from ESPN? I listen each morning on the way to work, it's not a bad way to recap the previous night's games..Anyhoo, they interviewed both Jeter and Joe G on Sunday, shockingly neither of them had anything interesting to say...
[39] One could replace Miller and/or Morgan with Michael Kay in any of the posts written about ESPN's broadcast team, and not be far off the mark.
Why are we cursed with such horrible broadcasters? I won't even get started on Mr. You Just Can't Predict Baseball . . .
No, don't do the wave. Please.
[42] I still say Singleton is one of the best going. As was Kaat
Matsuzaka was the loser for Moose's 20th win
[33] I'm not sure "revolutionary" is the right adjective for Bonham, but let's put it this way, (speaking as a drummer) Keith Moon in his prime was like Vlad Guerrero in his prime--unorthodox, somewhat wild, but much of the time unstoppable. Bonham was like Albert Pujols or Barry Bonds---powerful, versatile, devastating. . . almost impeccable.
btw: I tend to agree: I much prefer a drum solo be in some kind of context within the greater musical piece. Open solos are most often fairly tedious.
Is that John Goodman in the bone marrow commercial?
OK, the Yanks scored a run - its over now, right?
Everyone must be resting up in anticipation of the playoffs . . . sounds like a good idea.
[46] Got ya! That was a good comparison....I need to re-listen to my old Zepp albums now..I love comparing musicians to baseball players and vice versa. Though my favorite one was a rock to jazz comparison when someone asked me about John Coltrane..I said, think of Jimi Hendrix..total mastery of his instrument, light-years ahead of playing field, influenced everyone after him, and sadly taken from us way too early...
I don't really recall the post clinch games being this unbearably boring.
[50] Rainy night against the Royals...
Yay!
That was nice
Atta boy, Rook!
just checkin' in real quick to say:
EL NINO!!!!
good for you, kid!
Wow, was that a NYS special or did the kid actually get a hold of one?
[33] OK Jazz - Bonham defines the word "revolutionary". he was a freaking GOD!!!
what you would love is this: Bonham idolized Elvin Jones. in fact, most his "trademark" licks, he stole from Elvin!!! : )
[56] Just cleared the right field wall
[57] Really?? Wow..I REALLY need to get back to my Zepp albums and give a good listen! Everyone loved Elvin..except when he tried to play guitar...
Maier has made 3 atrocious throws from right field tonight. Yeesh.
[59] yeah man. in fact, there's something known as "Bonham Triplets", but they were really Elvin's!!! shhhh!!!! haha!!! it's true, Elvin was playing them w/ Trane and Bonham then developed them, orchestrated them and put them in a different context. Bonham, is a pure genius, and i don't throw that word around very often...
believe it or not, there are actually a lot of folks that DON'T love Elvin. they can't "hear" it. he's not the easiest player to follow or understand, so it puts some listeners off. it took me many years and lots of listening/studying/practicing, to "get it". it was well worth it! : )
[49] Coltrane/Hendrix thing is very apt. Hendrix is a historical watershed to put it mildly. Back in the '80s I schooled the Eddie Van Halen-loving guitarist in my band when he was making fun of early '60s guitar solos, by showing him that when it comes to electric guitar, there is pre-Hendrix and post-Hendrix. Making fun of pre-Hendrix guitar as not being as dynamic is like criticizing Ty Cobb for not hitting 40 HRs. Hendrix defines the word revolutionary!
[57] Good point about Bonham stealing Elvin's licks. I was amazed to hear those same sounds in jazz once I got hip to Coltrane & Elvin.
[61] I remember listening in awe to "A Love Supreme" after someone pointed out what Elvin was doing there (wil leave it to you guys to explain it technically..but it made me listen in an entirely new way..)
[62] Yes, people often opint out that John McLaughlin was faster and more technically complex in the Mahavishnu Orchestra (and I love those guys) but that was a few years after Jimi changed everything..I still love that anecdote of (I think) Pete Townsend and Eric Clapton seeing Jimi in London at a club, just watching in silence and knowing they had some serious catching up to do...
Also interesting to note that Hendrix learned a LOT of his stagecraft by playing the "chitlin circuit" with the Isley Brothers...and from the old blues men ilek T-Bone Walker, who played behind his head and did other tricks to amaze the audience..
[61] You should see me jam out on Rock Band. I'm almost as good as me pre-teen nephews and nieces. lol. But I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you don't know what Rock Band is b/c you're too busy doing the real thing. ; )
[63] i have a buddy who does that playing behind his head trick. He is pretty damned good with the gitter.
So, is this Scranton playing?
It's gotta be the white shoes for Frankie Brains.
Cervix developing a little pop?
The two yoots.
You can't stop Ramiro Pena. You can only hope to contain him
[64] i only kinda know what it is! whatever my students have told me... : )
[62] do you play for a living?!
[63] i'll take McLaughlin any day over Hendrix. any day.
[65] i've played with lotsa guys that do that and plays with their teeth. i guess it's kinda cool, or looks good, but i'm not a big fan of too much showy stuff. it is fun though, i suppose and the crowds love it!
Jimi was in a class by himself even before he was famous in his own right. . .
check out Jimi in '64 with the Isley Brothers
No-one sounded quite like that! Ronald Isley was even sort of singing like him, that wasn't Ronald's usual mode. Jimi had a strong gravitational pull.
[71] it's fun. it always gets a big cheer! of course, i'm pretty happy listening to him play just about anything. I kind of like entertainment value in a band. But I also appreciate the understated performance too. I guess i'm just easily pleased. Unless you play me country or pop music. Then i mgiht throw things.
A few years ago, I was at the Stadium to see El Duque battle someone named John Stephens in a game that lasted approximately 14 years and eventually got so boring that Joe Torre actively got himself thrown out.
This game is better than that.
[72] bad link
Robbie!!!
Cano is just starting to tap the awesomeness of his potential.
Luke Hochevar, you just gave up eight runs to this crew. That takes effort.
Atta boy, Cano. Those bases loaded numbers had nowhere to go but up. : D
[70] I don't play for a living. I make some money composing though, for dance/theater/film etc.
----- I hope Cano stays hot in Octubre. ----
I wonder what Hendrix's collaboration with Gil Evans would have sounded like. They had an appointment to meet up within weeks at the time Jimi died. If Hendrix had lived longer there might be more common ground stylisticly to compare him to McLaughlin.
ok well no reason to stay up for this. g'night all!
I think Mike Dunn could walk into my apartment and set the couch on fire and I would still have no idea who he is
[82] Luckily for you, he'd throw the molotov cocktail at your couch and hit the bodega down the block.
[72] [75]
Sorry 'bout that. I should've double-checked it.
try this for Jimi w/ the Isleys
Angels are going to clinch the West tonight
Does Aceves really need work?
I actually had tickets for tonight, but by 8:15 and working off of 5 hours sleep I just had no real desire to stick around anymore. I figure for all the Esteban Loaiza and Sidney Ponson I've endured in person in my life I could sit this one out, besides I plan on being back there next week for something that actually matters.
[80] that's awesome! i've been big on composing these last few years. i'd love to hear your material sometime!
[82] that's awesome!