Upon the Yankees- 8/7
Some thoughts re: the Yankees this week-
- The Joba Chamberlain era began last night. For those who don't know, Chamberlain is a 21 year old prospect whom the Yankees are very high on. They have zealously guarded him in the minors, refused to discuss him in trade rumors, and have coaxed him along in much the same way as Phil Hughes. Last night he got the 8th and 9th innings, and looked impressive. He has a good looking slider, and a upper 90s heater. There is no room in the rotation right now, and it was only 2 innings, but the first impression was positive.
- The Yankees are continuing to show that their farm system is capable of producing impact players. Cano and Cabrera are among the Yankees hotter hitters, and Wang might be the staff ace. This year, Hughes, Chamberlain and Shelley Duncan are high-profile names contributing in their brief appearances, Andy Phillips plays first on a regular basis, and Jeff Karstens, Sean Henn and others are pushing for bullpen spots. The fact that the Yankees are keeping their kids, and letting them play next to the $15-20 million dollar players is encouraging.
- Roger Clemens is not going to stop being old-school. Retaliation is never going to be a Yankee trademark, but Rocket is going to protect his superstars, and Alex Rios got one right between the numbers to prove it. A-Rod may have asked for something to happen with the "Ha" play, but 2 days in a row several weeks after the fact is pushing it. I like brawls for team chemistry, even if one didn't materialize.
- Jason Giambi is back with the team. He will get ABs at DH, and should, but Torre needs to be cognizant of youth, chemistry and enthuiasm. Forcing Sheff back in last year was a mistake, and removing Shelley Duncan's bat or Phillip's glove should be done carefully.
- Looking at the schedule going forward, there is a stretch beginning 8/16 that is 4 home to Detroit, 3 at LAA, 4 at Detroit, 3 home to Red Sox. This will probably determine the playoffs for the Yankees, especially given the Sox schedule during the same time: 4 home LAA, 3 at Tampa, 4 at Chi Sox, 3 at Yankees.
posted by Charlie at 12:10 PM
5 Comments:
Why do you blindly accept as true Arod's allegation that he said "ha", where both Bluejay players said he said "mine"? Arod deserved to get hit and should have taken it like a man and walked to first base. It would have been over if he took his lumps like a man and handled the situation with class. But that's not the "Yankee way." God forbid another team gets even with them. Arod has to PRETEND he wants to fight (I assure you that that pretty-boy, phony is no tough guy) and the biggest bully and fraud in the sport, a/k/a Roidger Clemens, has to make sure that the Yankees get ahead of the game by plucking Rios for no reason after finishing his 6 innings. But why should I expect class from a team owned by a convicted felon who was twice suspended by MLB?
On a lighter note, how do you feel about taking one of your top prospects and throwing him in the pen for the first time in his life for a pennant run and possibly risking arm injury to him like that genious Charlie Mannuel did this Spring with Brett Meyers? Tough call. Not sure if I trust Torre with him in light of Torre's history of overusing relievers, particulalry where you have to figure that this is Torre's last year and he wants to go out with one last ring.
First, the notion of blindly accepting something is more than a little off-base (NPI). The play has come to be referred to as "the 'ha' play" on the telecast and in two local papers, so I used the term. I also watched the game itself, with DVR, to listen for the call. Sure it was a YES broadcast, admittedly less than unbiased, but the audio couldn't be altered in real time.
As to "But that's not the "Yankee way." God forbid another team gets even with them." If you watched games with the Red Sox over the years, Posada and Jeter were routinely drilled by Pedro, and no Sox were hit in return. Pedro threatened to head-hunt Posada while on the mound, and only Don Zimmer even went to mix it up with him. Yankee pitchers rarely hit folks, and you have to protect a superstar. A-Rod got hit, and Melky was hit earlier in the game. 3 HBP is too much.
Clemens sent a message, and hit their best guy (and not Frank Thomas, who is the only bigger guy than him). Classless acts are throwing firecrackers into a crowd of fans, or sniffing so much coke and drinking so much that your championship falls to pieces.
Joba is 21, and won't be worked to death. That's what Vizciano is for (just like Proctor, Sturtze, Quantrill, Ramiro Mendoza). Torre usually picks one whipping boy, and it wont be a farm system crown jewel.
Hope you're right about Torre and Joba. Hate to see a young stud ruined by short-sightedness. My concern is that he'll be overthrowing to impress, and Torre will keep going to him b/c he will be the most reliable guy you have other than Mariano. Time will tell.
With respect to Arod and the "ha play", the fact that the local media parrots his allegation and ignores the Bluejays' players doesn't make it true. It just proves their bias. Do you think the local media in Toronto accepts Arod's version as true? Or do they "report" that he said "mine." And if Arod is telling the truth, why were the Bluejay players so bothered by his conduct and why did Torre and several Yankees attempt to distance themselves from Arod immediately after it occurred?
As for drug use and teams, at least my boys (Keith, Darryl, et. al.) used the old-school drugs of Mantle and Ruth. That is, drugs which impair rather than enhance performance. Same can't be said for Grimsley, Leyritz, Sheffield, Petitte, Clemens, Giambi and maybe even Arod.
By the way, you'll never convince me that Clemens is not a total piece of crap. Remember him quivering in fear as Strawberry was trying to goad him to come out of the dugout and fight after a bench-clearing brawl started by Clemens? Clemens has always been my test to determine whether someone is a real Yankee fan as opposed to a bandwagon fan. The real fans, i.e., the ones who watched games before the Yanks won a few rings in a row in the late 90's, hated him and not simply b/c he played for Boston, but b/c he was an asshole who played for Boston. Those fans never grew to like him and can just barely tolerate his presence on the team. Many of them even wished that Piazza had shoved that broken bat up his ass. While it's true that more Yankees have gotten hit over the years than Red Sox, I never got the impression that there was any intentional "bean-balling" going on, and I believe that the Yanks never responded b/c they felt the same way. That time when Pedro nailed Soriano and Jeter on the hands back to back, those pitches were practically on the inside corner.
To play the MVP's Advocate, why is yelling "mine" so wrong?
Was the 3B really so focused on the ball as to think he was getting called off a pop-up he was clearly settled under?
Did A-Rod cheat or break the rules in any way? I am not talking about the BS unwritten rules either? he made a decision that ultimately allowed him to score the go ahead run if I'm not mistaken.
I actually didn't have a big problem with it -- whatever it takes to win a game and to hell with the unwritten rules of the game. I said to a friend that if Jeter or Wright had done it, the media would have called it a smart play. His response: "Jeter and Wright wouldn't have done it." Well put I believe.
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