Very awkward interview with arod on yes. Wow.

And from the shameless self promotion department, a little love for us in the Voice this week in their "Best of NYC" issue: https://twitter.com/AlexBelth/status/258707648034254848/photo/1

Alex!
Wow, that is very flattering. Damn. (How could you not share that with us?!?!?! Never mind the self-promoting... :-))

I am not upset about the team losing. But I am very upset about Jeter. So much so that although I am still watching, I cannot banter with youse guys. I'm going to try to come back tonight, because it might be the last game thread until April. I dunno.

[2] Huzzah!

[2] congrats, Al. Good jorb.

[3] Yeah, following Jeter really carried me through this season, which for some reason simply did not hold my interest otherwise. If (when?) the season finally ends, I too may take a lengthy hiatus.

(2) Yo, Alex - maybe you should be playing 3d base tonight and batting cleanup for us.

And heeeeerrrrreeeeee comes Sutcliffe...

I'm now completely done with Girardi. He's either panicking or giving in to media nonsense about A-Rod. At this point it's absurd and indefensible.

Hope CC can deliver.

(8) Gameday for me, I cnt take those guys this morning.

[2] Hey, cool. Cheers!

[9] If the starter is RHP, then *maybe* it makes sense to sit him. Not having him PH last night was pretty surprising, though.

Congrats Alex!

Now for my continuing Yankees rant; What the hell? Why are the Yankees benching Alex again? Something has got to be going on behind the scenes. Maybe the organization are done with him and are ready to call it a day with him so they do not care about his feelings.

(12) ARod is still a better hitter now than Raul or Chavez. Shocking disrespect to one of the top ten hitters EVER. Just crazy.

[14] No one denies he's a top ten hitter of all time. The relevant question is what he is today, this game. Disrespect is irrelevant. If Chavez is a better option, then go with him. I'm not saying Chavez is the way to go, only that benching ARod *right now* against a RHP is defensible.

[13] Check out ARod's numbers his year against RHP (.717 OPS)
Now consider that he's slumping, missed 6 weeks just a month ago, and his hand is probably not 100%
Chavez is better defensively.
Now look at Chavez's numbers against RHP (.908 OPS)

Now tell me who you would start tonight.

I think it's like this.
If you believe in streaks and slumps, seriously, then it does make sense to bench A-Rod. You wouldn't do it during the season because you would want to give him ABs to break out of the slump. (I guess.) But right now you can't afford that.

But if you think slumps are just SSS, then it's a really bad move to bench him. Really bad.

Arod v. RHP (2012): .256/.326/.391/.717

Chevez v. RHP (2012): .298/.365/.543/.908

[14] Raul is BY FAR the best hitting Yankee this PS.
We are facing a RHP, against whom Raul had posted a .812. OPS in 2012.
Please read [16].

[16][18] They keep saying he is NOT hurt though. And, you give a LOT more leeway to the guy with 640 career home runs to break out of a slump.
[17] Exactly. All of a sudden Joe G becomes a "go with my gut feel" manager after years of being Mr. Binder? Makes no logical sense at all. No PHing for Ibanez yesterday was an unforgiveable mistake, even if you don't send up A-Rod.

[2] AB, more self-promotion, you deserve it!

"I don't mean to toot my own horn, but 'beep beep'..." >;) What was in there that wasn't true and that we didn't already blab to all of the netmosphere, eh? Kick-ass, B!

[13] Ready to call it a lifetime with him is more like it. Cash is speaking in tongues again, so don't be surprised if a move is made by Christmas. But why stop there? If you go in on that move, you have to move Curtis and Swisher as well, and don't re-sign Martin unless you have another big bat in place to make up for his lack thereof. Tall, tall order, but it beats sitting on your hands and watching this get another year older and more anxious with their humanity.

[21] You're right about Cash-Ninja. He's going to swing something..just kidn of sad. I've always loved watching A-Rod play baseball, he's an all-timer and all the extra tabloid crap is meaningless. Oh well..

Well, at least the game didn't and *then* get delayed, knocking CC out of the start.

I'm afraid it's going to be a late night for you non-West Coast Banterers ...

[22] I agree. I do NOT want ARod traded.
And I too want to watch many more of his ABs.
Just.... not tonight with a RHP going.

Sooo.... Radar and hourly look downright ugly...this thing gets rained out and that means cc only gets one start... I was just starting to convince myself that cc, kuroda, pettite & cc gives us a shot at four in a row

The is some SERIOUS weather headed to Detroit. I'd be surpised if the game started before 10 EST.

[20] And, you give a LOT more leeway to the guy with 640 career home runs to break out of a slump.

So, you don't consider 3-23, 0 XBH, 2 BB, 12 K a lot of leeway?

Again, I'm not saying I would bench ARod tonight, only that it is defensible.

[22] It's easier to cut out the tabloids altogether and just enjoy the ride. All these talking heads drain the fun out of watching sports for me, so I'll just be checking in now and then while I read a book or something. I hope the team goes all out to win tonight and Alex will have a positive impact, there's always that.

[27] No, i don't think 23 ABs against playoff-team pitching is a lot of leeway. Cano was 0-30! Granderson can barely make contact! Again, if A-Rod is NOT hurt, you let him keep swinging away till he breaks out of it. Sorry but you can't convince me JoeyJoeJoe is not in panic mode with his odd decision making.

[27] Johnny Damon was 3-29 going into game 7 in 2004 (h/t to@kentremendous)

[28] For sure, one of the nice things being over here is that's is super easy to ignore all the surrounding noise and just ocncentrate on watchign the games.

[28] Yeah, I think I'll start reading the new book that came from Amazon today: Master of the Mountain - Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves.

Until later ...

Here's some more ARod insanity.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/.

So, the Yanks would give ARod away so another team only pays $15m-$35m?
My guess is ARod will reasonable post 12 WAR over the next 5 years.
Even forgetting his iconic status, that seems like a great deal.
Nor for the Yankees though.

From RAB:

Cashman shoots down A-Rod/Marlins trade rumor
4:49pm: For what it’s worth, Jon Heyman says the two clubs had a “lighthearted exchange” about A-Rod back in late-April but have not talked since. Even if they were talking, the Yankees would obviously deny it anyway.

4:30pm: Via Bryan Hoch: Brian Cashman said rumors that the Yankees are talking to the Marlins about a trade involving Alex Rodriguez are “not true.” Reports indicated that New York would be willing to eat virtually all of $114M left on A-Rod’s deal to facilitate a trade, and one variation had Heath Bell coming in return.

The Yankees will probably look to shed Alex this offseason but he does have full veto power thanks to his ten-and-five no-trade protection, so it won’t be easy. He did grow up in Miami and makes his offseason home there though, so who knows. I just wouldn’t hold my breath. At some point eating so much money is counterproductive since the Yankees will need to find a replacement third baseman and all that money will still count towards the luxury tax. ·

[2] Well deserved! I told mutual fan on Facebook that I feel like a bistro regular whose favorite haunt has been discovered.

Now, re lineup: The call I'm scratching my head over is Swisher in, Grandy out. I mean, they're both lost lately. But defense, offensive potential upside, and history against Scherzer all come down in Granderson's favor. I don't have NY media in my ear all day - any insight into this?

[32] Or maybe I'll check out the Germany v Sweden WC Qualifier from yesterday on replay, it was a crazy match.

[29] I would have benched Granderson first, as my repeated posts calling for Gardner indicate. I would have benched Cano too, probably, though *right now* he's a better player than ARod and so gets more leeway from me.

[29] That said, Girardi does seem to be throwing the spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks.

[29]
Arod, last 14 days: .265/.383/.286/.669
Arod, last 28 days: .263/.348/.368/.717
Arod, Sept/Oct (28 G): .261/.341/.369/.710

He's been slumping for a while, long before the playoffs, though his problems in the playoffs appear more acute. Plus, he didn't hit RHP well all year.

So again, benching him against RHP is defensible. That's all I'm saying.

It's going to be quite ironical when they delay the game three hours waiting for rain to come.

[39] What is the pitching situation if delayed till tomrrow?

[40] What do you mean? Surely CC starts regardless, so he can throw twice should the game go game seven. Then Pettitte in game 5 and Kuroda in game 6, both on regular rest or longer, I think.

[41] But they would lose the off day if tonight is postponed..?

[41] they'll lose the off day...game 7 still Sunday, meaning cc would only have two days rest

Yeah, this costs them CC in game 7. Whatever slim chance they had to win is going, going....

[42] It doesn't matter, does it, at least for the Yankees? I'm not sure if it affects the Tigers.

[43][44] Ahh, right...I hadn't thought of that.

Another reason why CC should have gone last night!

Game called....brutal

Lets see, the MLB rep says assertively "I think we'll play tomorrow". What a fucking pussy.

[2] Congratulations (again), AB! Its very well deserved. I feel quite privileged to have been a regular reader of the best sportswriter - and one the best writers, period - in New York for over 7 years now. That you give a shout out to the community here means a lot, and says a lot, too.

So, see everyone tomorrow morning, and afternoon, and at 4? =)

I don't think that CC would have pitched much better than giving up 2 runs over 9 innings. It probably worked out as well as it could have, but the Yanks just couldn't get the other runner across.

[33] He may have a full no-trade clause either way, but that doesn't mean New York(ers) won't go out of (their) way to make him want to leave. I won't be one of them, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. Nevertheless, if Alex were to recover his legs and hips somehow, this would be a moot point. I'd rather keep him and concentrate on helping him heal than get involved in what is likely in any scenario a bad value trade for the Yanks.

Plus, not for nothing but the team really needs an enima regarding its minor league development; for all the talent they produce, the stuff they lose between Scranton and the Bronx would make a TSA agent smile.

[51] I would say benching Alex twice in the postseason is the Yankees way of making him want to leave. He knows it too which is why he was open with his displeasure of being benched yet again. I bet that Alex will waive the no-trade clause in hot minute as long as he is not traded to a horrible team like the Royals.