What were you thinking?

So George has Joe's back. Not all that surprising, as George seems to be getting all the more patient in his old age. But is Joe really to blame for the Yankee's miserable start? Tough to say. The injuries to the starters have certainly been tough. But Joe, who earlier in his Yankee tenure seemed to almost never panic, seems to be making lots of panic moves lately. Here's one that really caught my attention.

April 22nd - Trailing the Red Sox 6-7, Torre answers the question we've all been asking - "Can Josh Phelps Catch?" With Posada unable to catch due to a injured thumb, Torre panics and pinch hits for Nieves, forcing him to put either Phelps or Cairo behind the plate. My biggest question was "What would of happened if they would have tied the game and forced extra innings?" Disaster. I'm sure Phelps is an excellent athelete, but given an extended opportunity, he certainly would of cost the Yankees a run, and most likely the game. This is the same game, by the way, in which Andy Pettitte was used as a reliever, for the second time this season.

The reason that this alarms me is that they aren't really playing all that bad, and they shouldn't be panicking. They've scored 131 runs this season, yet allowed only 125. That means that they are better than their 9-14 record would lead you to believe. These things seem to settle out over the course of the season. Just ask Tony Pena, manager of the 2003 Royals. They led the Central at the All-Star break, but allowed more runs than they scored. They slowly slid back to where they belonged, finishing third at seasons end.

If they can get just some of their starters healthy, and find a reliever that can post just one scoreless inning every once & awhile, and if Mariano doesn't have some serious elbow problem, then the Yankees will be fine. That's a lot of ifs, but I do know this - if you continue to put DH's behind the plate and pitch starters out of the bullpen in April, you should start panicking.

Summer On the Dean

So my buddy Mike Opitz, the older brother of my fishing partner Chris, is off to the Dean this summer, to chase some hot chrome, fresh from the salt. I can't send him up there empty handed, so down to the basement I go. My desk was a complete disaster, so after a couple of nights of cleaning, I finally sat down to try to do some damage. Here's the first thing I came up with. A kingfisher blue intruder with the saddle hackle flanking tails that Mike likes so much. He prefers white for the tails, but I had these blue ones that were just too sexy to pass up. The photo just doesn't do this color justice. Stay posted, there's more to come.

Yankees MVP

An interesting thing is happening in New York. Alex Rodriquez, who was nearly booed out of the Big Apple last year, is on pace for the best April in big league history. What's changed? Beyond his swing, which he clearly spent a great deal of time tuning up over the winter, I think the answer lies about 127.2792' across the diamond (although lately only late in games or before getting lifted for a pinch hitter.)
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How, you may ask, can a skinny guy who isn't hitting his weight (currently his below Mendoza average is .152) be the MVP of the most potent line-up in the majors? Well it certainly isn't with his bat. And as brilliant a fielder as he is, it's also not with his glove. Doug Mientkiewicz's value to the Yankees lies entirely in his ability to keep A Rod's head on straight.

Baseball and football stars at the same high school, these two go way back, and other than an effective starting pitcher and a reliever that leaves his gas can in the bullpen, it's exactly what the Yankees needed. As expressed in Tom Verducci's Sports Illustrated article The Lonely Yankee, A Rod isn't exactly the most popular guy in the clubhouse, but now he has with Doug what he wished he had with Jeter.

What's really interesting is how Jeter is going to come out of this whole situation. Sabremetric types have know for years that Jeter is no wizard with the glove, but his ability to look so good (and almost never screw up the routine plays), while pulling off enough "to his right Jump Throws" to make the Sportcenter cut has fooled the general public, not to mention the Gold Glove voters, into thinking he's a great defender. But the fact is he has possibly the worst range in the league, and its really starting to show. Combine that with the cold shoulder he threw to "now everybody loves me" A Rod and a cluster of errors on routine plays, I think the captain is about one slump away from seeing just how bad Alex got it last year. Lucky enough from his .316 average should keep the wolves at bay for a little while.

For me, the really most fascinating part will be to see just how A Rod will react if Jeter runs into an 0-fer streak and the media unleashes the hounds. But of course Alex will have to keep yarding them out at a steady clip to enjoy the kind of love he's getting lately.

All and all, I have to wonder just how long Torre can stomach writing MIENTKIEWICZ onto the line-up card, and for that matter, how long Cashman can justify his spot on the roster. Hopefully, for A Rod's sake, he'll get his average up the 100 points he needs to keep his job, so these two old high school buddies can ride off into the sunset after a successful October.

Proof MLB has it's priorities all wrong

Let me start with a disclaimer - Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I hate the Red Sox. But I also hate Jose Guillen, so I feel that this sort of cancels out the Red Sox anti-bias. That being said, let's review these two incidents:

1. Torii Hunter sends a couple of cases of expensive bubbly to the Royals clubhouse as a gesture of gratitude for handing the AL Central crown to the twins, and is told by MLB that his actions could result in a 3 year suspension, based on an archaic rule created to discourage the Eddie Cicotte types from throwing series.

2. 4-10-2007 - Brendan Donnelly, taking advantage of a blow-out, intentionally plunks Kenji Johjima (of all people) after a yelling contest with Guillen. Donnelly is still mad, and still has Scioscia's back, even though he isn't a Angel anymore.
AP Photo
AP Photo
Moral to this story - and pay attention MLB rookies - Display a good sense of humor by sending the worst team in the league a gag gift - 3 year suspension. Maliciously intend to harm another player with the hopes of instigating a fight by hitting someone who was playing baseball IN JAPAN at the time of the original scruff - no penalty. Makes a lot of sense to me.

I hate fighting in baseball, but as long as MLB allows this crap to happen, the problem will continue.

What I really don't understand is that Donnelly struck Guillen out. What more did he want? The only thing Johjima was guilty of was batting after Guillen. Just a punk ass move. I guess what happens when your pitching staff is being mentored by Curt Schilling.

Think these incidents are unrelated? On the surface, no - but here's where things get interesting. I would bet a paycheck that Scioscia sent Donnelly a bottle of bubbly, or a steak dinner, or something as thanks for still having his back - and it will go completely unreported and unenforced. This kind of stuff happens everyday in baseball, and Torii just got busted for being cute about it.