I thought the following article on the MLB website was interesting, especially since Octavio hasn't even thrown a pitch in the Bronx yet.


Never to early to campaign for a new contract, huh?

No, seriously, Puffy will hurt you if you don't vote.

It saddens me to no end that the current starting catcher (Varitek) for the AL All-Star team is the guy who comes in second to last in OPS among qualified catcher. What's worse than that? The guy behind him (I-Rod) in the voting is third to last. Wow. Come on people, show the guy hitting .392/.458/.538 some love! And if not him, I can think of two other guys, at least, who deserve your vote.

If you haven't filled out your ballot, I strongly suggest you read this post by Cliff over at Bronx Banter. Mr. Corcoran outlines each position and all the major candidates and spells out who's the best of the bunch. Definitely worth the time.

Finally, if you can, go vote for Cano as your starting 2B. Fans across the country might (and probably will) stop voting for him now that he's hurt and due to a late surge, someone else could be announced as the starter. Let's make sure that doesn't happen.

For all the fire he showed on the field and in the dugout, Lou Piniella comes off as a great guy in this Daily News article about his meeting with A-Rod.


Take a look - it's a good read.

Alex Rodriguez homers in extra innings to win the game for the Yankees.
I repeat: Alex Rodriguez homers in extra frames to salt the victory.....

To the boo-birds, media, etc.: There's a reason they called him "The Natural" when he was coming up through the Seattle organization...

Was that Glenn Close who rose to her feet about 20 rows back in the first deck today in the bottom 12th?

ESPN is reporting that the NHL is looking at the possibility of having the New York Rangers play the New York Islanders in a regular season game at Yankee Stadium.


That would certainly be an interesting piece of marketing. While the rest of the country might not care all that much, I'm sure NY would be buzzing about it.

MLB.tv is up and running, pardon the late start but I will be liveblogging today's game from work. I am risking being caught red-handed, but fortune favors the bold!!!

We're now joining the game in the bottom 3rd, with the top of the Yankees order coming up:
Damon pops out to 3rd...
Cabrera grounds out to short...
Jetes grounds out to short after a good battle...end of 3rd still 0-0.

Top 4th:
Renteria doubles...
Chipper grounds to Jetes, Renteria to 3rd...
A. Jones doubles, 1-0 Braves.
McCann grounds to Jetes, Jones to 3rd...
Francoeur grounds weakly to Jetes...Braves 1-0

Bottom 4th:
(I realize with MLB TV that I miss the Avacor hair replacement adds on YES...)
Jason flies out to center....
Alex goes opposite field for a single...I think Smoltz thought he was facing Soriano with that pitch selection...
Bernie swinging sac bunt, Alex to 2nd
Andy lines to 2b Giles...Braves 1-0

Top 5th:
Laroche grounds to Cairo...
Betemit weakly to first....
Langerhans routine grounder to Cairo...Nice inning, Tiger. Braves 1-0

Bottom 5th:
Miguel pops out...
Speed Merchant Stinnett attempts a bunt!!...and K's looking...
John Damon: flies to center Braves 1-0

Top 6th:
Giles Ks..
Renteria weak grounder grabbed by Kelly...
Chipper singles...
A. Jones singles, Chipper to 3rd....
McCann in Chipper, Braves 2-0.
Francouer grounds to Jetes....
(MLB TV on the fritz, sorry about the delay)

Bot 6th:
Melky singles...
Jetes Ks...
Giambi 1B, Melky to 3rd
Alex back to Smoltz, Melky scores, Braves 2-1
Bernie flies out to right...it had a chance.

Top 7th:
Laroche lines to Alex...
Betemit to Jeter...
Wang easily disposes of Langerhans (and the side)...

Bottom 7th:
Andy triples... a budding Troy Glaus, Jr?
Cairo grounds out...Let's see what that bunt-attempting fool Kelly does
Jorge pinch hitting for Stinnett...
Renteria makes a great catch to rob Jorge...
John Damon walks...
Melky Ks, showing his youth with huge cuts at pitches in the dirt...Braves 2-1

Top 8:
Giles grounds to Cairo
Renteria grounds out off of Wang..no damage.
Chipper with a single...I guess he's been there forever for a reason.
A. Jones out by a leaping catch by Jetes, Braves 2-1

Bot 8:
Ken Ray replaces Smoltzie....
Jetes hits a bullet right at the RF...
Jason hits his 23rd....the game is tied 2-2...fantastic!!!!
Throw Ray a lifeline Bobby...Alex BB 4 pitches...
Bernie walks....
(Just got busted by our sys admin...I told him I would break his legs if he told anyone)
Chad Paronto replaces Ray...
Andy Ks...
Come on Miguel...you are an offensive machine!!!!
Cairo down, guns blazing, Yankees 2, Braves 2

What's that I hear? (MVP, MVP, MVP) I don't want to hear one word about JG's batting average...

Top 9:
El Presidente is on the mound...
McCann weakly grounds to MR...
Francoeur singles...
LaRoche K's looking..
Betemit grounds to Jetes...tied at 2...

Bottom 9:
George Ks..
John pops out...
Melky walks...come on Jetes...
Melky steals 2nd...
Jetes IBB...
Macay McBride replaces Paronto..
Giambi lines to Jones in CF. Tied 2-2

Top 10th:
Mariano Ks Langerhans
Giles BB...
YES!!!!! Giles caught stealing...
Renteria grounds to Cairo.... still tied 2-2

Bottom 10th: Ladies and Gentlemen, work is calling, I'll post a short recap after the game....GO YANKEES...

I think that's the word that can describe the situation right now.

Before last night, the Yanks had won 5 of their last 6 and with a win today, will have won their third straight series. So why does everyone feel like the sky is falling? Well, I guess it's just awfully discouraging when the team ahead of you just keeps piling up wins. I can't imagine the players are liking the feeling either. Going into every game knowing a loss means losing a game in the standings can't be a good time.

Nevertheless, it isn't as if the Yankees are limping into the last week of the season. There is still a lot of time left and the Red Sox will inevitably cool off. Outside of Schilling, Wakefield and Lester (he's been a godsend for that team), they don't have consistent starting pitching and outside of Papelbon and Timlin, their bullpen is average, at best. They will come down and the Yankees will get hot. Heck, with Pedro and Glavine starting tonight and tomorrow (and skipping the Yanks series), the Mets have a great shot of taking that series. Combine that with a Yankees win today and the deficit gets cut to 2 games, hardly an insurmountable lead.

So Yanks fan, I get it; the team hasn't looked great the last few weeks. The big hitters aren't really doing their jobs. The bullpen is giving up runs when they're at a premium. 3 of the starters (1 HOFer, 1 All-Star and 1 soon-to-be All-Star) are on the DL. But don't hit the panic button yet - maybe soon - but not yet.

Jaret Wright defied the laws of his previous performances last night, as he made it through the 6th inning, giving up only a run on 5 hits, but the Yankees fell short as the offense was shut down by Horacio Ramirez and the Braves defeated the Yankees 5-2. The loss puts the Yankees 3.5 games behind the Red Sox, who defeated the Mets in Boston last night.

Ron Villone began the 7th inning by giving up a solo shot to Adam Laroche as he went on to give up two runs in an inning and a third. Kyle Farnsworth gave up three runs as he recorded only two outs in the 9th and walked into the Yankee dugout to a serenade of boos. The Yankee offense looked incompetent for the third straight game, as Melky Cabrera brought in the only two runs, one on a home run and the other on an infield hit that really should've been scored an error by Chipper Jones.

With the performance that Jaret Wright had last night, there was really no need for the Yankees to use six pitchers. He threw only 90 pitches and showed that he was good enough to at least go out and start the 7th (he threw his hardest fastball, 96 mph, in the 6th inning). I know this guy has a reputation for not being able to go long into games, but if he has the stuff - keep him out there. He kept them in a game that most pitchers would not have kept him in and yet the Yankees had two guys warming up in the pen before Wright even began the 6th inning.

The Yanks will try to take the rubber game of this interleague series this afternoon at 1 ET. The pitching matchup will be Chien-Ming Wang against John Smoltz. The Bombers have a tough set coming up againt the Mets this weekend and they have already fallen 3.5 behind the smoking hot Red Sox, so let's hope that the bats wake up a little and the Yankees can take two out of three from Atlanta.

Yet another Yankee has gone down, this time Robinson Cano, who pulled his hamstring running to second base Sunday night against the Marlins. Cano was placed on the 15-day DL today and Nick Green has been called back up to take his spot on the roster. Yesterday, he became the 9th and final starting position player for the Yankees to miss a game due to an injury. The Yankees were just 73 games into the season.

The All-Star game is July 11th so Cano will probably miss that one as well. Hopefully he'll be back for a tough series at home against the White Sox on July 14th.

There should be an element of sadness and nostalgia when a long-successful thing is in decline. St. Jerome was in Jerusalem in 410 and when he heard that the Visigoths had sacked Rome, he wrote: "What is safe if Rome perishes?"

Atlanta's dominance did not endure as long nor stretch as far as Rome's, but 15 consecutive division titles is amazing. Atlanta: It's difficult to be a Yankees fan and not think back to the '96 WS and the 0-2 obstacle that the Bombers conquered to win 4 straight. Atlanta: The prototype granite pitching staff of Glavine/Maddux/Smoltz.

I could not help but feel a bit of pity for Bobby Cox and Atlanta (even Ted... CNN is out of his control, Jane is gone, now the Braves are in decline) last evening as they were dominated by a certain tall lefty who has been a concern this year for the Yankees universe. Could it be that Randy Johnson still has "it"? Let's review: 4 inconsequential hits. 95-96 fastball. 9 strikeouts. A slider that cut in and down like a serrated blade. This was Johnson's 4th fine start of his last 6.

The post K fist pump last night to end the inning? Ladies & gentlemen, RJ's still got "it."

Unfortunately, the Braves got 9th inning life from another aging Atlanta perennial: Chipper Jones turned a Proctor curve that was hanging like a ripe orange into a 2 run bomb. Our man (for better or worse) Torre brought in the finest closer ever, who crushed this flicker of hope.

The offense, you ask?

I can only imagine what went through Jason Giambi's mind in the hours after he discovered he had a tumor, until the tests returned indicating that it was not malignant. Add this potentially grave bad fortune to his then ongoing, self-created PED media storm. Last evening Jason Giambi had 2 HRs and 5 RBIs, creating 100% of the Yankees offense. He now has 22 HR's on the season and his line is: .271/.432/.624. Why his success given the huge obstacles?

"It is the perfection of man to find out his own imperfections." -St. Augustine

...have been a fun activity of mine for years. Here goes:

For which outfielder would you accept a trade, mano-a-mano, for Phil Hughes?

My list:

Vernon Wells
Grady Sizemore
Carlos Beltran
Manny Ramirez

Tyler Kepner at The New York Times has a write-up on Phil Hughes:


Via Alex.

The game looked like it could have been rained out, but the game started about an hour late and it proved to be quite a pitching duel between the Marlins' Dontrelle Willis and the Yankees' Mike Mussina.

The Yankees took an early 1-0 lead with the benefit of two walks from Willis. With the bases loaded Johnny Damon delivered a sacrifice fly to put the Yankees up 1-0. The lead held until the sixth when Amezaga got on and stole second. Hanley Ramirez battled and was able to walk. Moose then induced a double play with Amezaga moving to third. The next batter was Miguel Cabrera. Moose got two strikes on him and tried to go up the ladder but the pitch wasn't high enough and Cabrera lined it to center to tie the score.

In the Yankees half of the seventh Johnny Damon deposited a Willis hanging breaking pitch in the right field uppper deck to give the Yankees the lead at 2-1. Mussina got through seven innings and was relieved by Kyle Farnsworth in the eighth. Jack Borchard led off with a single to left and was sacrificed over by Amezaga. Hanley Ramirez then lined a single to right but Bubba Crosby fielded the ball quickly on the first bounce and held the runner at third. Farnsworth got the next batter to strike out and then intentionally walked Cabrera to load the bases. Josh Willingham hit the ball well to left but it was toward the end of the bat and Cabrera was able to make the play to end the inning.

In the ninth, Mariano Rivera entered and as usual was perfect. He retired Jeremy Hermida on a grounder to second, got Cody Ross on a grounder to third and then Wes Helms flew out to Crosby to end the game.

For Mussina it was his ninth win of the season and his record stands at 9-3. After three or four bad outings, Moose seemed to turn it around today. Rivera gained his 16th save of the season and 395th of his career. Tonight's makeup game of yesterday's rainout will start at 8:00 pm. It was originally scheduled not to be televised but ESPN announced they will carry the game live in the New York and Florida markets. With the Red Sox rained out vs. the Phillies, the Yankees moved back to two games behind Boston in the AL East.

Is he a finesse pitcher trapped in a power pitcher's body?

Does he think he's Francisco Rodriguez?

On a night when he was throwing 97 to 100 consistently, he hangs off-speed pitches to the Marlins to the tune of 3 hits, 1 run??

Guidry should enforce a version of Gene Hackman's (in Hoosiers) rule on Farnsworth: You can not throw an off speed pitch until you've thrown 5 fastballs...

The Yankees held on on Friday night with Mariano Rivera saving the game for Chien Ming-Wang as New York took the first game of the weekend interleague series vs. the Marlins at the Stadium.

The Yankees started off early by scoring three runs in the first which started with a Damon double and were further helped by three errors from the Marlins infield and probably a poor fielding play on a Posada grounder which went by the first basemen for a two run single. The Marlins came right back in the second and tied the game with back to back doubles from Hermida and Willingham and a two run homer from Miguel Olivo.

The Yankees erupted for three more runs later in the game by having Damon get on again and eventually scoring on an A-Rod single to put the Yankees ahead. Posada also added another RBI and the Yankees were safely ahead at 6-3.

Chien Ming-Wang gave one back when he allowed the first two batters in the inning to get singles and it put runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. The next batter hit into a double play and the runner from third scored to make it 6-4.

Kyle Farnsworth started the eighth and the first two batters got singles off of him also. He gave up another hit to cut the lead to 6-5 but was able to manage to get out of any further trouble. The Yankees could not add any insurance and it was up to Rivera to save the game with only a one run lead.

Rivera was up to the task and retired the side in order to preserve a Yankees victory. He recorded his 15th save of the season with the effort. Tomorrow is Old Timers Day and after the festivities the Yankees again play the Marlins in a 4pm start.

All right, I've kept my mouth shut about Phil Hughes for a while now. I started to think I was jinxing the kid with these writeups so I didn't write anything for a while...and lo and behold, he's been on a tear. So, I continued to keep my mouth shut...until tonight. If you haven't noticed, here are his lines since I stopped writing (all at AA Trenton):

Date, W-L-Sv, IP, H, ER, BB, K
Thu Jun 8, Loss, 6.0, 5, 1, 1, 4
Tue Jun 13, Win, 7.0, 1, 0, 3, 8
Sun Jun 18, ---, 7.0, 6, 2, 1, 11

Yeah. He's on a tear and tonight, pitching against the Connecticut Defenders, here's his line:

Fri Jun 23, 8.0 IP, 1 hit, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 Ks.

More impressively, he took a no-hitter into the 8th (lost it on the first batter of the 8th) and had at least one K in every inning. That brings his totals in the last 4 starts to: 28.0 IP, 13H, 3ER, 7BB, 33Ks

Man. Not a bad early birthday present, huh? He turns 20 tomorrow. I had to write something on that. It's a little hard to stay calm since we haven't had a pitching prospect to follow in quite a while. I'm not discounting Wang - it's just that most fans, only the most ardent, weren't tracking his every start like we (or at least Mike A. and I) are. Hughes, along with Jose Tabata, was also chosen for the Futures Game, which is a pretty nice showcase of minor-league talent. Alumni of the game include Melky Cabrera, Dioneer Navarro, Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang.

Also, with Brett Gardner called up to AA and Eric Duncan sent back down there, we now have 5 blue-chippers (I'm including Clippard because I think his peripherals are still pretty good and J.B. Cox hat tip - Mike A.) at Trenton. (P-T-P-ers BABY! Sorry, couldn't resist the Vitale vibe.)

Newsday is reporting that Bob Boone, who is serving as the Washington Nationals' assistant general manager for player development (basically a big-time scout), was present at the Yankees' Double-A facility in Trenton for a game against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Among the highlights of the article:


Nats' GM Jim Bowden has been quoted as saying that he is intrigued by the Yankees' farm system but the article states that the Yankees have already told the Nationals that pitching prospect Phillip Hughes would not be available in any trade.

We all know about Soriano's ability as well as his availability but one guy whose name isn't shuffled around quite as much in the public concerning the Yankees is Jose Guillen. A trade for Guillen might seem more plausible than for Soriano considering the Yankees' resources (Bowden can say he likes our farm system, but how much are we willing to give up?), but I'm not sure that he is the type of guy I'd like to have on my team. Of course I said the same about Gary Sheffield before he came here and I turned out very pleased.

Of course Livan Hernandez and Ramon Ortiz are on the trading block. Forget rebuilding, if I was Brian Cashman and either of those guys were currently pitching for the Yankees I'd be trying to unload them too. Armas' numbers are better, but he's only gone 7 innings once this season and I'd be looking for more of an innings eater. If we have to give away talent to get someone like that we might as well just stick with what we have. Of course it's all just speculation, there hasn't been too much documented interest by the Yankees in any of these guys that I know of to this point.

Steve points to an interesting article on Melky at Star-Tribune.com:

Tonight, the Yankees erased the sting of last weekend by winning this series against a dangerous Philly lineup. This victory had many attractive components: A solid start from Jaret Wright, fine efforts from Villone/Proctor/Kyle/El Presidente de Panama and offensive production with 2 outs. Some highlights:

Just a moment...I knew I recognized Phillies catcher Sal Fasano from somewhere: When I was in college, I went to a Lynyrd Skynyrd reunion tour date in 1994 and Fasano was the bass player, I'm sure of it.

Innings 1-4 featured strong starting pitching from both Wright and the rookie Hamels. As far as Hamels is concerned, you don't ever see Jason Giambi strike out 3 times. Wright's night was highlighted by his dispatch of Howard's first at bat with a 96 mph fastball.

Top 5: Jaret converted Miguel Cairo's triple into the first Yankees run with a deep sac fly. The second best event of the inning was Ken Singleton (YES) mentioning Jeter's .400 BA in night games to set up a Ray Charles lyric reference: "Night time is the right time." Working hard to set up a Ray Charles reference forces me to forgive Singleton's flaws as an analyst.

Top 7: Melky doubled, and then was moved to third by Cairo's sac bunt. He was out at home (FC) after Andy Phillips's infield ground ball. All was not lost, however: John Damon walked, and Jeter's single drove Phillips in from 2nd, 2-0 Yankees.

The 8th was the key frame: Alex walked and stole 2nd after Jorge K'd. Bernie lined out to the left fielder and then the Yankees did all their damage: Melky, Cairo and Damon all hit RBI singles with 2 outs, 5-0. Suddenly, a tight game was in the bag for the New Yorkers.

Again, this game unfolded as they are supposed to...a lead is nailed shut by the bullpen. Hopefully 10 games over .500 becomes 20 games over .500---in the next couple of weeks.

Lee Sinins gave Steve a database of birth date data for all players that have ever played for the Yankees. He's made it available in a spreadsheet. Neat.

Steve notes in the comments that he noticed someone named Liz Funk played for the Yankees. Liz was apparently the nickname for Elias Calvin Funk. They sure had some fun nicknames back there. Liz?

The only Yankee born on my birthday (11/21) was Todd Erdos. Erg. You?

The Yankees were six outs away from being single-handedly beaten by Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, but the bats finally came through in some big spots as the Yankees defeated the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park by a score of 9-7. The Yankees kept pace with the Red Sox, who beat Washington, remaining two games behind. The Yankees also trail the White Sox by 5.5 games for the A.L. Wild Card spot.

The wheels started turning in the Phillies' favor in the first inning, when Pat Burrell was walked with two outs on a curveball by Mike Mussina that was obviously a strike. The next batter, Ryan Howard, destroyed the first pitch by Mussina for a three-run homer to give the Phillies the early lead. The Yankees chipped away with a one-run 2nd and a two-run 4th to tie the game at 3 before Howard launched another ball into the seats, this time a two-run shot in the bottom of the 4th to put Philly ahead 5-3. Jorge Posada homered to right in the 6th and A-Rod knocked in Johnny Damon with a base hit to tie the score at 5 in the 7th inning, only again to feel the wrath of Ryan Howard, who drove in all 7 Phillies' runs, this time via a two-run triple that put Philadelphia ahead 7-5. The Yankees would come back again in the 8th, highlighted by a two-run, go-ahead triple by Johnny Damon after an RBI single by Melky Cabrera. Damon was brought home by Derek Jeter to put the Yankees up for good, 9-7. Mariano Rivera pitched two perfect innings to record his 14th save, finally retiring Ryan Howard, getting him to ground out to second on the first pitch.

Mike Mussina gave up 5 runs in only five innings, but his performance really wasn't as bad as the box score would lead you to believe. Other than the two home runs to Howard, I thought he was okay. Mussina was pinch-hit for in the 6th inning with the Yanks down a run with a man in scoring position. The bullpen, while not flawless, was for the most part OK despite the two run triple to Howard allowed by Mike Myers. Kinda hard to say whether the pitching was good or bad overall. Seven runs is seven runs, but if it weren't for one guy, the Yankees could have very well shut the Phillies out.

Every Yankee starting position player recorded a hit, including Bernie Williams, who went 5-5 and raised his average to .294. He's just a 2-for-2 away from reaching the .300 plateau and I'm starting to feel more comfortable everyday with him in the lineup. If the Yankees do decide to go out and acquire an outfielder before the deadline it looks like Melky's going to be the odd man out as of now, but hey, in his defense there's still a month to go for the two to turn a complete 180.

The Yankees will try to take the rubber game of this series as Jaret Wright will take on rookie Cole Hamels tonight at 7:05 ET. Hamel is 1-2 with a 4.91 in five starts this season. Wright will try to bounce back from an ugly performance in Washington on Friday in which he failed to get out of the 6th inning. Hopefully the Yanks can escape Philly with two out of three before taking on the red hot Florida Marlins.

Since it was brought up, I figured I'd throw this one out there

I think almost everyone agrees that the Yankees are going to need an additional arm.

I think there is only one name that hasn’t been mentioned but has the potential to be the so called difference maker: John Smoltz.

I know there have been rumors about Tim Hudson but I think Smoltz is the guy we should be talking about. I qualify it because I believe he could be had on the cheap. He is making 11 million this year, and has an incentive that gives him $100K per start. The Braves have a 8 million dollar option on him next year, which is relatively cheap, but for a guy about to be forty and team that needs some rebuilding, they may be interested in moving him. Braves salary info.

I also realize that he may return to the Braves right after this year. But I doubt there is any guy out there who could give the Yankees exactly what they need and fit in perfectly. He is experienced with the postseason, big spots, and high pressure situations. He is an older guy with an expiring contract and from a team that is always looking to save money. Additionally Schurholtz has always been reasonable about making deals, and won't try and hold anybody over a barrel. I think with a package led by Duncan and some other high end low A ball guys may be enough to get Smoltz.

Now I haven’t heard anything so I can really cite any sources, but more than Willis or Schmidt or any of the guys that have been thrown around, I think this man would be perfect. It would compliment the team perfectly, I think Chacon could move into the bullpen, which might be a good fit at this point and Wright could remain as a meaningless number 5.

» Read More