Hey there hi there ho there . . . I’m baaaaaack!
Today’s news is powered by the one and only Roy Orbison:
- Mr. October buys some portions of the old Stadium:
Jackson has purchased the letters that spelled “YANKEE STADIUM” on the upper ring of the old ballpark and the concrete from the blacked out part of center field, where his third Game 6 World Series homer in 1977 landed.
“I might build a Stadium at home [Carmel], light it up and make it with 100-foot fences so that when I am 75 I can hit a home run at Yankee Stadium,” Jackson said.
- Chad Gaudin reporting for duty, sir:
(Joe) Girardi said that he told Gaudin to be ready for use as a one-inning hurler or in a distance job, and perhaps a spot start as the club continues to look for rest days to fit in for the regular five-man rotation.
“Right now, it’s just to go out there — I could give them two innings, I could give them 60 pitches,” Gaudin said. “I don’t know. Whatever the game calls for or whatever they need, I’ll be ready to do.”
- Sayonara Mr. Irabu.
- Steve Serby interviews Robbie Cano.
- Not really Yankee-related, but an interesting video story about APBA tabletop baseball.
- Sal Fasano turns 38 today. Fasano was a career .687 OPS catcher, who compiled a .143 batting average in 49 ABs with the Yanks in ’06.
- Gerald Williams turns 43 today. Williams compiled a .241/.298/.420 line in 384 games as an outfielder over seven seasons with the Bombers in the early ’90s and 2001.
- Andy Stankiewicz turns 45 today. “Stanky” played 1+ seasons for the Yanks in the early 90s, before being dealt (with Domingo Jean) for Orlando Xavier Hernandez.
- On this date in 1957, Mickey Mantle blasts a 460-foot homer to become the first player to clear the center-field hedge at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, as the Yankees beat the Orioles, 6-3.
- On this date in 1977, Billy Martin installs Reggie Jackson as the Yankees’ regular clean-up hitter. The Yanks beat the A’s 6 – 3, as Ron Guidry outpitches Vida Blue. Graig Nettles belts his 26th homer of the season. New York will win 40 of their final 53 games, with Jackson contributing 13 home runs and 49 RBIs.
- On this date in1986, during Billy Martin Day at Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Bombers retire uniform #1 to honor their second baseman and four-time manager.
- On this date in 2005, after being released from the hospital, an 18-year old fan appears in court to face criminal charges of trespassing, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief stemming from his 40-foot plunge from the upper deck of Yankee Stadium into the netting behind home plate the prior night. George Steinbrenner called the incident “the only exciting thing that happened today”, after his struggling club loses to the first-place White Sox. 2-1.
WB, Diane.
Until they make Gaudin the 5th starter, even with his inability to get LH hitters out, and bring Melancon back up, this team will not be as good as it could be.
re: Stanky the Yankee: Xavier Hernandez, not Orlando
Looks like the Yankees are the only supremely talented team that may be hampered by their manager down the stretch and into the post season. From Buster Olney's blog:
"5.For weeks, Dodgers Manager Joe Torre kept using his relievers heavily, especially Ramon Troncoso and Ronald Belisario, and right on schedule, the L.A. bullpen seems to be crumbling, and the Dodgers' lead is sliding away. The L.A. advantage in the NL West is down to 5 ½ games over the Rockies and Giants, and tonight, the Dodgers open a three-game series in San Francisco. Torre called a meeting after Sunday's loss."
[2]
thanks for the eagle eye, Cliff ...
[3]
Well, their starting pitching *is* full of land mines ....
Kuroda was hurt after his first start of the year ...
Kershaw and Billingsley are mere kids, and they need to be handled with care ...
Schmidt was a non-factor ...
No Derek Lowe ...
Soooooo .... it would figure that the bullpen would be taxed (Scott Proctor grimaces in the background)
[3] If and when the Yankees replace Girardi (and I hope they win four more rings in spite of him), having worked under Torre should be a per se disqualifier for his replacement.
[0] From Cy Toad to Sayonara... ;-)
Edit: in spite = despite
[3] I am shocked, shocked! I tell you! Joe Torre overusing members of his bullpen?!
Next thing I know, you'll tell me the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
;)
[4] I heard that Scott Proctor's right arm sent flowers and chocolates to Troncoso's right arm.
[9]
How could Proctor raise his right arm high enough to reach the keyboard to order the flowers and chocolates? :-P
[3] because all other teams have great managers!
seriously though, leaving coke in to predictably give up the lead last night was pretty dreadful. i don't so much have a problem with hughes' unavailability (since my only real problem with his recent usage was that he should definitely not have been taken out in the 9th inning friday, so if anything he should have been even less available), but i would have gone to mo (or, if that really weren't possible, aceves or even robertson) after ellsbury's at bat. and especially after pedroia got on.
and why the fuck isn't melancon still up? aren't they just wasting options with him? he's one of the top relief prospects, and he's been good when he's gotten a chance.
[12] I'd love there to be room for Melancon, but who would you have sent down in his place? (Note: Bruney is out of options.) And they can send Melancon up and down as often as they like, and it only uses one of his option years. IIRC, he was only added to the 40-man this past offseason, so he has at least two option years left.
[11] No, but all other teams are not potentially great. Besides, who cares about other teams. Just because they don't all have great managers doesn't mean the Yankees shouldn't.
I also don't have a problem with not using Hughes there. What I do have a problem with is Girardi managing to use him in two games for a total of about 10 pitches. Hughes wasn't unavailable because he had contributed to the Yankees first three wins. He wasn't available because Girardi completely wasted him. Not only could that have impacted Sunday's game, but it also could have been a deciding factor in Friday's marathon. Just because Bruney, Aceves and Coke were out of this world doesn't excuse the awful decision to burn an arm like Hughes for 1 batter in a scoreless tie.
[12] I'd make Gaudin the 5th starter, DFA Mitre and recall Melancon.
[11] yeah in retrospect i can understand the inclination on girardi's part to not use hughes last night. but if the number of days he has been the last 6 days led to him being unavailable last night (which both girardi's actions and words indicate), it shows how poorly he has been used the previous 6 games - in other words don't get in a situation where you can't use hughes because he got one or two outs the previous few days. that is just really under- and mis-using the guy.
i wish mp were around for this one - supposedly (and i can't find where i read it right now) aceves' back is bothering him enough to miss a few games, but not enough to go on the dl - why not? just dl him and get melancon back up. the pen is already taxed and you add a mitre start to the mix - it just doesn't make sense.
[13] sorry william, i basically repeated what you said - i hadn't refreshed when i submitted my comment
[16] The more the merrier!
[14] even though mitre is certainly a dfa waiting to happen, it might make sense for the yanks to hang on to him a bit to create a plan to keep joba's innings down.
i am not exactly sure, but something like having either mitre or gaudin as the 5th starter - probably gaudin - and use the other to shadow joba or skip his starts altogether.
with the hope and assumption the yanks make the playoffs, is it better for joba to be skipped occasinally or only pitch say 4 innings or so and then build back up? - i am thinking skipped, but i don't know.
Besides, who cares about other teams. Just because they don’t all have great managers doesn’t mean the Yankees shouldn’t.
"Other teams" gives context to the discussion. It's apparent that Girardi manages his bullpen like everyone else in the league. Given the dearth of "great managers" (what does that even mean?), I'm not expecting the Yankees to have one anytime soon.
[19] I don't think it gives context to the discussion because I don't think the Yankees should base their manager's ability relative to other team's. There are good managers out there. Buck Showalter is one example. If he was managing this team, they would be much more dangerous, IMHO.
[20] Of course it gives context to the discussion; Girardi manages the game just like every other manager out there. They have their preferred (or "trusted") relievers, and they manage for the save stat. That Girardi manages the Yankees doesn't give him some magical ability to be heads and shoulders over other MLB managers.
You don't think it's telling that Showalter hasn't managed since 2006? Has his name even been considered for any openings since he left the Rangers? You don't think that teams would or should be falling all over themselves to have a "baseball mind" like Showalter leading their team?
Why are people bitching and moaning about the manager of the best team in baseball? Since A-Rod returned they're on a 100-win pace. And that's not good enough for some people? Coke was obviously used last night as a test. You don't know what kids can offer if they're never given a chance. That's exactly why Torre didn't develop one reliever.
Showalter, by the way, is the guy who flamed out with every team he's managed only to watch two of them win the Series after he left. He's no improvement on Girardi. And there's a reason why he's still out of a job.
That’s exactly why Torre didn’t develop one reliever.
Define "develop." There were young pitchers from the Yankees system that he used (Rivera, Mendoza), there were young pitchers from outside the system (acquired via trade) that he used (Wickman, Boehringer, Proctor). There were castoffs from other systems that he used (Sturtze, Bruney)
Now that we've whipped bawston's ass, how do the Yanks turn it on again against Toronto?
BTW the sox have a soft September schedule so now is the time to create some space. Our next 10 games look easier than Boston's & then we go to Fenway.
Torre's problem was that he overused Quantrill, Proctor, and Sturtze.
Right now, it makes more sense to have Melancon on the roster than Pena.
[25] I got the sense that melancon wasn't sent down because the Yanks had better options, it was more because they needed an extra pitcher on saturday, who had some innings in his arm. And then they added gaudin. Once mitre gets DFA'ed I think melancon will return.