A Tirade

Joba needs to start.

First and foremost, the main point is this: I can’t stand a Yankee fan being so upset over losing a game at the end of May because Latroy Hawkins is pitching in the 11th inning.

At this point last season, the Yankees sat at 21-27. The sky was falling, the Yankees were going to miss the playoffs for the first time since 1993.

On May 27, 2007, the Yankees dropped a 4-3 game to the Angels on a Sunday afternoon. ESPN’s quick recap said this: “• Summary: The Angels barely had to swing their bats in a three-run seventh-inning rally against the Yankees’ beleaguered bullpen and Los Angeles swept the reeling Yankees.”

So I’m thinking this time last year the Yankees had some bullpen problems. I’m sure there were the “chicken little” Yankee fans who thought the season was over, the bullpen was toast, because Mariano Rivera was 1-3, with two blown saves and a 5.94 ERA. I’m also thinking just about all those fans wouldn’t have had a clue who Joba Chamberlain was if he sat next to them on the train.

Now of course, Joba is one the most electric relievers in the game today. When he can crank that fastball up to 100, and drop his slider off the table, there’s nobody on the planet who wants to step into the batters box against him. But just because he can’t dial it up every time he throws the ball he won’t be a good starter?

I cant almost guarantee that there are a ton of hot-shot pitchers who came up and pitched out of the bullpen and fizzled out so quickly no one remembers there names. This will be something that I will keep running throughout the year, I’ll think of guys randomly and write about them. I wanted to find something to keep writing about over the summer while school was out, and I this subject is something I wll come back to.

The other thing that gets on my nerves is people already upset that the Yankees didn’t get Johan Santana, ready to call Hughes and Kennedy busts. Brian Cashman needs to be out as GM. It reminds me of Nomaas’ slogan at the top of their blog: “If we had $200 million to burn, the Yankees would never lose a game.” And sadly I think they believe that. They just put that back at the top of the blog after having a reference to the WNBA for a week or so. Talk about fair weather fans. I don’t know what anybody possibly see’s in those guys.

Anyway, the deal to not trade for Santana was made for the FUTURE. The FUTURE is not two months in the next season!! Young pitchers have bumps in the road. How many come up with no trouble and are great off the bat? (Besides Tim Lincecum) And on top of that, this is what Buster Olney led off his daily blog on ESPN.com with last Friday.

After the item on Johan Santana’s diminished velocity was posted here yesterday, some scouts from other teams chimed in, indicating through e-mails and phone calls that they were seeing the same thing. “The Mets were asking around about that in spring training, about what his true [velocity] baseline was,” one talent evaluator said. “They were concerned.”

Said an AL scout who has seen Santana this month: “His stuff isn’t even close to what it was [with the Twins].”

How much has his diminished stuff affected him? We have less than two months’ worth of starts to consider from 2008, a very small sample, and keep in mind that except for last season — when Santana suffered a significant statistical decline in the last six weeks — he has often done his best work in the second half.

With that said, here are the primary indicators:

* His ratio of strikeouts per nine innings over the past six seasons has been 11.38, 9.61, 10.46, 9.25, 9.44, 9.66. This year: 7.79.

* His strikeout-to-walk ratio over the past six seasons: 2.80, 3.60, 4.91, 5.29, 5.21, 4.52. This year: 3.87.

* Opponents’ OPS over the past six seasons: .607, .642, .564, .594, .616, .678. This year: .723.

As I wrote a lot about during the winter of Santana trade talks, rival talent evaluators saw a noticeable — not dramatic, but noticeable — decline in his stuff after his 17-strikeout performance against Texas on Aug. 19. He’s made 17 starts since then, and here are his primary numbers:

* Innings: 111
* Hits: 109
* Earned runs: 50
* Home runs: 20 (By comparison, Paul Byrd has allowed 21 during the same span)
* Walks: 28
* Strikeouts: 102
* ERA: 4.05

(Since the beginning of the 2007 season, Santana has allowed 44 home runs — most in the majors.)

Look, Santana is still obviously among the better pitchers in the game, and his remarkable ability to change speeds means that he probably is going to age better than a lot of his peers. He is smart, dedicated and seriously competitive, so if there is something to figure out and there are adjustments that can be made, he’ll get there.

This question remains: Will he be worth to the Mets what they will pay him over the duration of the contract? We’ll see.

But it’s probably not a good thing that rival scouts are seeing signs of diminishment fewer than two months into a seven-year deal.

I’m not trying to spell out the demise of Johan Santana. He’s still one of the best pitchers in the game. But maybe, just MAYBE, he wouldn’t even have been the savior the Yankees needed THIS SEASON.

A post from Peter Abraham on his LoHud Blog, on January 30th, the day the Mets-Twins deal for Santana went down:

Bob Klapisch of The Record reported today that the Twins tried a last-ditch proposal of Ian Kennedy, Melky Cabrera and another prospect for Johan Santana.

No dice. Klap also says the Red Sox took both Jacoby Ellsbury and Jon Lester off the table.

In the end, Minnesota had little choice but to take what the Mets were offering. Omar Minaya got Santana and held on to his best pitching prospect (Mike Pelfrey) and his best hitting prospect (Fernando Martinez).

Talked to three people today about the deal, two scouts and a former GM. They all said the Twins were held up without a gun. Carlos Gomez is fast. And beyond that, well he’s fast. He’s an undisciplined hitter with a good glove.

Phil Humber is a kid the Mets had no faith in when they were searching bus stations and homeless shelters for starters last season. Deolis Guerra is a big (6-5) kid with a below-average fastball. Kevin Mulvey’s ceiling may be as a No. 4 starter.

There is no question whatsoever that the Yankees or the Red Sox could have come up with the players to make the trade yesterday. But both teams were clearly put off by the idea of paying Santana $120 million.

Good as he is, there were red flags all over his second half of the season. The idea in baseball now is to pay a pitcher for what he can do for you, not for what he did for somebody else.

Meanwhile, hot dogs at the new stadium in Queens will be $17.50.

Is it not possible the Yankees are actually trying to build a winning team with a young core? All Yankee fans have been subjected to that same, “Oh you guys bought all your World Series rings,” only to shoot back with, “So we bought Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte?” Those were the core guys, who were surrounded with great complementary players. Obviously those days are gone, but when Carlos F’ing Silva gets four years and $48 million from Seattle this past offseason, Barry Zito gets $126 million, Jeff Suppan gets $42 million over four years, Jason Schmidt gets $47 million over three years, can’t we realize that maybe it’s time to use our financial strength in better ways? I love seeing the Yankees go into the draft and take the best players available, no matter what Scott Boras’ crazy demands are that scares away the Royals and Pirates from taking these kids at the top of the draft. Bring in good young talent, and keep the good young talent we have now.

Aside from the whole other point of what defines a successful season, Yankee fans have been spoiled. So maybe we don’t make the playoffs this year. Guess what, ticket prices are only going through the roof next season anyway. And the promotion and hype machine will be going full out, and people will be filling the new ball park next year. If you wanna jump off the wagon now and demand that a $200 million team better be great every year, be my guest. But just know your seat will be taken before you hit the ground.

- Gene

Subway Series, Game 2

What a time was had tonight in the Bronx.

After our excessive tailgating, we’re walking out of the parking lot and notice a truck near us has its lights on.

“Hey, is that your truck? The lights are on!”

“Oh thanks, is that your car? The back tire is flat.”

And the night didn’t get any better once we got in the ballpark.

I’m pretty sure that was the high point of the night.

I also must say, even though I am one of the rational Yankee fans, I’m growing tired of how they continue to play terrible baseball in the beginning of the season, but always make the playoffs. I thought Joe Girardi was supposed to inject them with energy because they tuned out Torre. This looks like the same old team. And they ALWAYS made the playoffs under Torre. It’s still early, but maybe those who ran him out of town should think about this?

And there was also way to many annoying ass Mets fans in the crowd. Our four tickets were not together, but by the middle of the game we found a place next to each other.

I had to go buy the popcorn near section 4 in the upper deck. Waited on line for a good 20 minutes, but I saw Reyes get caught off second by Wang, saw Delgado’s shot hit the foul poll, missed Matsui’s homer. Not that any of that ended up mattering in an 11-2 game.

At least the sun came out before the game started, unlike Friday night when we never got out of the car before the game was called.

Unfortunately, walking toward our new seats we interacted with this ass hole.

I asked him what the fuck was on his hand, he said something about the incredible Hulk. And then he ended up sitting about four seats and a row in front of us. I was hoping he would just fall down and die like the pink shirt guy from last week, but unfortunately after trading barbs back and forth he tried to be nice. Although all he could say was, “How ’bout those Mets!” “You can’t beat Tampa!”

I really wanted to steal that shit from him but it was not worth going to jail over.

Near the seventh inning we had a 300 pound guy in front of us stand up and start dancing. I missed most of the video, but got a nice picture of him putting his jacket back on.

He won the Drunk Fan Quote of the Game by uttering the remark, “Good thing they stopped that song, shit was about to be ‘Boys Gone Wild’ up here.”

Good thing it was 11-2 and we could leave before 11:00, because we had a great time in the parking lot after the game too, trying to make sure the tire had enough air to get home.

Fuck the Mets.

- Gene

Subway Series, Game 1

NOT!!!!

Yes, that is the Shirley Bowling Alley, not Yankee Stadium.

Good time had by all, especially me since I was able to finally beat Billy in a game of Bowling and win a bet.

But yeah, so me, Matt and Billy will be at the Sunday night game. Then whenever they decide to play today’s game at Shea we will be at both games, somehow.

But for tonight bowling will just have to do…

Yankees vs. Indians

So it’s been about three weeks since anything was posted on here. It’s the first game I’ve been at since April 6 against Tampa. I should be working on stuff for school but of course I’m easily sidetracked and here I am. All I know is Matt has been to two games since then but hasn’t written anything…

There really wasn’t anything to remarkable about this game beside Joba giving up the lead in the eighth. It’s ridiculous to think this had anything to do with it, but there were a ton of bugs up in the lights tonight, some even flying into people in the upper deck. Just saying.
The Yanks also should have scored more than three runs of Carmona. They had baserunners all over the place but couldn’t get the big hit, and had a rally cut short early with what looked like a dreadful call by the third base umpire. But when you get 11 guys on base in five innings you have to score more than three runs.

The rest of the crowd must have gotten really bored to during the middle innings, because of the incessant attempts at getting the wave going through the upper deck. I really can’t think of anything I hate more than the wave, except maybe Christian Backman and Sidney Crosby.

Billy, thinking of last years playoff/bug debacle posed this question during the middle of the game…

“Do you think Joba’s pumped up to get in this game and face Cleveland again?”

To which Lyndsie replied, “Because he’s an Indian?”

And finally the newly expanded

Drunk Quote/Drunk Fan Moment of the Game

Easily goes to the guy in the pink shirt with his collar popped who started the game about three rows ahead of us. Unfortunately for him he ended up about 15 rows in front of us, and he didn’t use the stairs to get there. Basically bounced his face off the seats in the upper deck. And that’s why you don’t sneak a bottle of Jack Daniels into the Stadium in your jacket.

It’s times like these that make me wish my camera wasn’t broken. Somehow the guy got up on his own an walked away, but I’m sure as soon as the alcohol wears off he’s gonna be feeling that one.

Tonight was not the best night at the Stadium, but at least I didn’t tumble down 15 rows of stairs.

- Gene

Dammit

Billy here with some random thoughts (keep in mind the Yankees are currently getting blown out by Boston)

- Fuck Manny Ramirez.  He kills us.  I would recommend Mussina throw at him to maybe intimidate him, but Manny could probably catch the ball.

- Josh Beckett needs to go back to giving up home runs and pitching like garbage.

- Jon Albaladejo really has some nasty stuff and he will be something with some more work I think.

- I want to see a fight….a good one, like with Graeme Lloyd running out of the bullpen and shit.

Finally A Home Game!

So after a week on the road and a satisfying two game sweep of those pesky Devil Rays, the Yanks return home. For all of two days. Then it’s back off to Baltimore, Chicago and Cleveland while the Pope is in town. When it’s all said and done, it will have been 18 out of 27 on the road to begin the season. 18 of the last 20 on the road with no off days.

The whole schedule is screwy this year. Starting June 30th, the Yanks play 22 of 28 at home. Throw in the All Star Game at Yankee Stadium and that’s a ton of games at home.

I know I’m barely even paying attention this early in the season, but if they play well in the next 12 games they’ll really set themselves up for a good run over the summer. If not, they’ll have to make those games up at home in July.

We had tickets to the game tonight, but real life sometimes gets in the way with fun. Settling to watch the Rangers strangle the Devils chances in their series is good enough for me.

One reason I wish we could have gone to the game is because it would have given us a chance to have been at all of Wang’s home starts so far this year. To say he’s been great would be an understatement. But he’s gonna have to keep it up if Phil Hughes doesn’t start pitching a little better. I know young pitchers go through rough stretches, and I thought the expectations facing Hughes before the season were too high. I’m sure he’ll bounce back to have a solid season, but they’re gonna need him and Kennedy to keep them in ball games while the offense begins to heat up.

This is getting to long and not making any sense anymore, I just wanted to post something up in hopes that we can raise the number of views to this blog over the two from yesterday.

Anyway, Let’s Go Yankees and Let’s Go Rangers!

- Gene

We’re Terrible Bloggers

Alright, it’s Matt here again. To anyone that reads this (is there anyone?) we’ve totally slacked the last few days. Yes, we missed out on Joe Girardi starting the bullpen, and yes, we’ve missed the beginning of Yanks/Sox. Well, to be completely honest with you, Gene and I aren’t just Yankee fans, we’re complete and utter sports fanatics. During Wang’s no-hit bid Friday Gene and I were on our way to Newark, watching our also beloved Rangers take a 2-0 series lead on the Devils. Also during this time, without getting into details Billy has been pretty sick of late, so he hasn’t been able to pick up for us. So yes, we are complete wastes of life as of right now, but I’ll give you a quick rundown on my thoughts of the last few days. Saving Kennedy made no sense to me unless you were going to push him back a day so Pettitte would have started in Boston. Bobby Abreu is allergic to the wall. I think he got hit with a rash once he hit the warning track, causing him to completely whiff on J.D. Drew’s “home run.” Mussina had no business pitching to Manny in the 6th today. With an open base and 2 outs pitching to him shouldn’t have even been a thought. Oh, and I guess A-Rod is a choke artist again. On that note, I’ll end this for now. I can’t guarantee anything for tomorrow about Yanks/Sox (Rangers and Devils again at 7p.m.) but I’ll leave you with an awesome picture of Gene, me and a few friends with the legendary Bob Sheppard.

David Cone Less Than Perfect

Hey everybody, Matt checking in here. In case anyone was wondering I did survive my 21st birthday at the stadium, barely, but I made it and I’m pretty sure I’m a better man because of it. Let me just say I will never be stupid enough to purchase a Heineken for 10.50 ever again, nor will I ever be stupid enough to dance around the upper deck with it. I feel bad about sprinkling the nice couple below me, but after some intense calculations I realized I probably lost a good dollar’s worth of beer, and that’s just a sin.

Back on the baseball side of things, I just watched the Yankees lose 5-2 to the Royals. They looked flat playing a third straight afternoon game. Phil Hughes struggled. His performance today, along with Ian Kennedy’s on Friday proves that young pitchers will never get the benefit of the doubt from an umpire. Regardless of who was behind the plate, neither was able to locate consistently, but where a veteran like Mike Mussina will have borderline pitches called strikes, the young guys are never going to get that type of leniency in the strike zone.

The Yankees weren’t the only ones off their game today. The only person in Kansas City more exposed at his position than Wilson Betemit (who looks like he could out-eat Eddy Curry with ease) was David Cone. While I can’t say I have a clear recollection of his first tour of duty on YES, he just seemed in over his head today. I was initially happy to see that there would only be a two man booth today because Michael Kay was, well, who actually cares where the hell he was as long as we didn’t have to hear him. With Ken Singleton doing play-by-play Cone was left to provide color commentary. Well let’s just say Coney didn’t exactly get off to a hot start. In the game’s opening montage he referred to Bobby Abreu as a switch hitter. This is an inexcusable mistake. Making such a statement was not just a mere slip of the tongue; it was a sign of things to come. Later in the game Jason Giambi struck out looking. When YES zooms in it is quite apparent that Giambi is not happy with the call and can be seen saying something to the home plate umpire. Cone goes on to tell us that Jason knew it was a strike and was quietly heading back to the dugout, yet YES cameras were showing us the exact opposite.

During this broadcast it seemed that Ken Singleton would have had an easier time shoving a tennis ball up a tail pipe then getting quality feedback from Cone. Singleton, a good analyst and solid play-by-play man spent the game handling both duties, just hoping for Cone to chime in with something that made sense. On the whole YES has done a good job of bringing in broadcasters, but from time to time they’ve really blown it. While they basically inherited Singleton, Bobby Murcer, and the retired Jim Kaat from MSG, they’ve been hit and miss with their own hires. While John Flaherty, Joe Girardi, and Paul O’Neill have been exceptional, David Cone, Al Leiter, and David Justice have been atrocious in the booth. At least with Justice you were kept on your toes hoping he’d get served with divorce papers live on the air. Let’s just hope Bobby Murcer is able to come back healthy and spare us from the complete snooze fest that was today’s broadcast. July 18, 1999 David Cone was perfect. Today, he couldn’t even get through the first inning.

Yankee Stadium Profile #1 – Bob Sheppard Beer Guy

Billy here. My first Stadium Profile will be on a man many in the Yankee Stadium upper deck know for his signature Robert Leo Sheppard impersonation. He is the Beck’s beer man and a guy that looks so unstable that you’d feel safer around Elijah Dukes.

Name: Bob Sheppard Beer Guy

Height: not tall

Weight: fat

Resides in: storage closet under the bleachers

Hobbies: selling beer, impersonating Bob Sheppard, looking like Abdullah the Butcher

Now, this man is entertaining and all, but quite frankly, he doesn’t do a good Bob Sheppard. Although he and Bob Sheppard look exactly alike, the vocal delivery is a bit off. It is always nice to see him though, as he is always good for a laugh and lightens the mood when you are ready to jump on the field and shadow kick an umpire. There has been a rumor going around recently that he may in fact be the Notorious BIG incognito, but I doubt BIG would ever be able to walk up and down steps. Actually come to think about it, I have never seen the beer guy walk up and down the steps, he is always towards the base of the upper deck…

In all seriousness, this man makes you laugh even when your game sucks and is nice enough to carry around beer instead of working behind a counter where most people don’t wanna walk their lazy asses. If you spot this man at Yankee Stadium, congratulate him for bringing entertainment to the game and being among the legends along with the Daz-Haagen guy. Then yell at him for selling 20 oz Becks for $10.50.

Game #2 Attended, Yanks vs. Rays

Gene:

So the view of the field from Row X in the upper deck might not be the best.

There’s Mo throwing the final pitch of the day, a high fastball that blew by Cliff Floyd. The bullpen was great again today. Joba came in and got Wang out of a jam in the 7th, was good in the 8th, and was lighting up the scoreboard with his fastball. He hit as high as 101 mph according to the Stadium radar gun.

Wang was also great again today, he had a no hitter going into the fifth inning. I didn’t say anything but decided to take this picture showing the scoreboard with no hits.

Next guy lined a single to left field. I’m an idiot.

All in all it was a rather mundane game, the first few innings flew by, the last few dragged on. But since today is Matt’s 21st, I was still very entertained.   Matt even won the…

Drunk Fan Quote of the Game

Walking in to the lady checking our bags, “I wish she would have grabbed my dong.”  I think it might be her response of “That’s one nasty ass nigga,” that really made the scene what it was, but either way another hilarious conversation spurred on by alcohol.  Where else are you gonna read something like that?

Row X also brings about the advantage of being able to stand whenever you want.  With nobody behind you, there’s nobody to bother.  Except maybe the old asian couple in front of us that Matt spilled beer on during one of his dances.  This is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life, and makes me so happy that I thought of the idea of taking every picture and video I could this season.

And of course for some reason I can’t upload the video to Youtube at the moment. But wait for it, this is good.

And just for the hell of it, the fat Bob Sheppard impersonator/Beck’s Beer guy.

All in all a pretty damn good day.