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Author: Neil Keefe

Blogs • Yankees

Jul 3, 2012

Freddy Garcia Gives Reason to ‘Trust’ Him

Freddy Garcia had a lot on the line on Monday night in Tampa Bay in a crucial stretch for the Yankees, so it only made sense to do a retro recap of his first start since April.

“Dirty Dozen” is what the Daily News headline read on May 15, 2007. The Yankees were eight games out in the AL East and a 12-game stretch against the White Sox, Mets, Red Sox and Angels was said to be the defining moment of the season. Either the Yankees were going to climb out of their 17-20 hole, or Joe Torre’s job was going to be seriously questioned following two straight ALDS exits and whatever happened in the strike-shortened season of 2004 in which there were no playoffs.

Mike Lupica wrote a column that day that called for that headline. In it he talked to Brian Cashman about the state of the Yankees and whether or not an aura still surrounded the team. The Yankees’ answered Lupica’s question and the Daily News’ headline by going 4-8 over the 12 games and sat at 21-27 after the four series.

At the end of that season, the 12-game stretch – that I took as a set of 12 one-game playoffs because the Daily News made it seem like that – ended up being just part of a bad stretch to begin a 94-win season. The 2007 Yankees proved that it’s hard to distinguish the key moment in a season or the turning point of a season when the season is still going on. But this hasn’t stopped us from pulling out parts of the season and deeming them more important than other parts.

I first saw the week of July 2 the day the Yankees’ 2012 schedule came out: seven games on the road against Tampa Bay and Boston to finish the first half. Up until last Wednesday at around 11 a.m. I viewed this week as a chance for the Yankees to separate themselves even more than they already have in the division and possibly take themselves out of the one-game playoff scenario before the All-Star Game. (Crazy, right? A wise coach one said, “It’s not worth winning if you can’t win big.” Yes, that coach was Coach Reilly in The Mighty Ducks.”)

But on Wednesday at around 11 a.m. CC Sabathia hit the disabled list with a low-grade groin strain. About three hours after that Andy Pettitte’s ankle was broken by a line drive. About 31 hours after that, Joe Girardi managed the Yankees to a loss to the White Sox despite having a two-run lead entering the ninth. About 21 hours after that, Adam Warren making his major league debut in place of CC Sabathia blew a 4-0 first-inning lead and put 10 men on base in 2 1/3 innings as the Yankees allowed 14 runs (the most runs they have allowed this year) to the White Sox. The idea of trying to create even more separation in the division suddenly became a mission to just hold down the fort (a favorite Brian Cashman saying) until CC returns.

The biggest problem, aside from losing CC and Andy, became the idea that Freddy Garcia would rejoin the rotation for the first time since a disastrous April that has to make April 2009 Chien-Ming Wang and April 2011 Phil Hughes not feel so bad about their places in history. In four starts, Garcia put together this line: 13.2 IP, 25 H, 20 R, 19 ER, 5 BB, 11 K, 3 HR, 12.51 ERA, 2.195 WHIP. Who would want the owner of those numbers to take the ball every fifth day for them? More importantly, who would want the owner of those numbers to take the ball in Tampa Bay and then in Boston in his first two starts since being removed from the rotation? Not me.

Monday night marked an important game for the Yankees because it would start this seven-game finish to the first half against the team’s two direct threats, and it would be the debut of the return of Freddy “The Chief” Garcia. With such a significant game and start, I decided to watch Garcia’s outing and write down my thoughts during his innings of work for a retro recap. Here’s what happened.

First Inning
Freddy Garcia has a two-run lead to work with thanks to a four-hit first inning from the offense. Let’s see if he can do the opposite of what Adam Warren did with an early lead. I’m setting the over/under on innings at 4 2/3, hits at seven and wild pitches at two.

Garcia gets things going with an 88-mph fastball called strike to Desmond Jennings. Some velocity from The Chief!

Garcia gets a little bit of luck (no, not the Lotto guy) as Jennings hits a grounder up the middle and Garcia goes for it, but it deflects off his glove and to Robinson Cano for the first out. If that gets through then Jennings is off and running, and this might be Adam Warren Friday Night 2.0.

No one ever wants to see Josh Hamilton or Jose Bautista or Albert Pujols up against them, but to me, Carlos Pena falls into that same category even if his numbers don’t match up. I felt like the Charlestown Chiefs locker room when they found out Ogie Ogilthorpe was suspended when Pena moved to the NL Central last year. And I felt like the Charlestown Chiefs lineup when they saw Ogilthorpe skate out for introductions when Pena signed with the Rays and returned to the AL East this year.

Garcia gets Pena to 2-2 and then tries to paint the inside corner with a 90-mph fastball that looked like the signature Bartolo Colon two-strike pitch to lefties. The count runs full, but Pena flies out to center for the second out.

Ah, B.J. Upton … yet another guy that most fan bases wouldn’t understand why I don’t want to see him up against the Yankees.

Ken Singleton tells us that Upton is currently 3-for-41, and Lou Piniella says, “Upton should be more consistent than he is.” Everyone always say that Upton has all the potential in the world and should be one of the best players in the league. Upton will be 28 next month, so at what point do we stop thinking he is going to be a perennial All-Star and do we just accept the type of player that he is? I know the 2008 ALCS is a reason to believe that he can be one of the premier players in the game, but as a career .255 hitter, who hasn’t hit over .243 since 2008, he needs to start showing it.

Upton flies out to right field on a great diving catch by Nick Swisher (see, I can give Swisher credit when he deserves it) to end the inning.

After a 1-2-3, 14-pitch first inning from Garcia, I’m really too scared to comment on his performance or his stuff at this point. Why break up a good thing?

Second Inning
Jeff Keppinger replaces Hideki Matsui to lead off the second inning, as Matsui injured himself running after a Derek Jeter foul ball. I used to always think the Yankees were overreacting when they wouldn’t let Matsui play the outfield in 2009, and I thought it was a non-story when people were surprised that he was allowed to play it with the Angels in 2010 and the A’s in 2011. But I guess there’s a reason why Matsui is supposed to only be a DH at this point and not playing right field on turf.

Keppinger drills the first pitch (a fastball down the middle) to left field for a leadoff single and the first hit off Garcia. There goes the perfect game.

Ben Zobrist cranks a 1-2 pitch down the right-field line and it looks like it’s going to be a two-run home run, but it misses the foul pole by a few feet and now I have to erase the “Ladies and gentlemen, Freddy Garcia” tweet I had started typing. I only got as far as “Ladies and gentlem” before the ball went foul.

Zobrist hits a rocket to the gap, but Swisher gets there for the first out. (It’s probably not good when you’re worried about your right fielder making every catch.)

Luke Scott comes to the plate, and if you’re going to have the facial hair design that Scott has you better be an unbelievable hitter. Because if you’re going to go to the plate looking like that and the big screen in the outfield shows that you’re hitting .207 and Ken Singleton tells us that you are in a for 1-for-30 slide then you might want to think about toning the look down.

Scott hits a line drive, but right to Mark Teixeira who steps on first for a double play to end the inning.

Luck has certainly been on Garcia’s side so far. How does that saying go? It’s better to be lucky than good? I think Garcia would sign up for that since no one knows if he’s even good anymore.

An 11-pitch second inning and Garcia has faced the minimum.

Third Inning
Jose Lobaton flies to right on a 1-2 slider to start things off.

Here’s Will Rhymes, who I have never liked from his days with the Tigers, and really for no specific reason. But if that feeling is triggered then he must have done something against the Yankees in the last two years.

Rhymes singles to left on a 1-1 curveball from Garcia and the Rays have their second baserunner.

Elliot Johnson pops out to A-Rod and Garcia is one out away from three scoreless innings. If you had told me before the game that Garcia would pitch three scoreless innings, I would have laughed at you then cried tears of joy when I realized you weren’t kidding and then hugged you to make sure the world wasn’t going to end. We’re one out away from me hugging you anyway.

Jennings grounds out for the second time on 1-2 slider to second. Garcia throws just 13 pitches in the inning and is at a very economical 38 through three. He’s expected to throw between 65 and 70 for the game.

Fourth Inning
Garcia strikes out Pena to lead off the fourth inning, for his first strikeout of the game, and it’s always good to see Pena go down swinging (this time on a slider).

Just as I’m about to type a B.J. Upton joke, he hits a first-pitch slider for a solo home run to left field to cut the Yankees’ lead to 2-1. Upton had been 3-for-42, and just like most players who are slumping, the Yankees are always there to right the ship.

Keppinger goes down swinging and Zobrist grounds out to second to end the inning. A 14-pitch inning and Garcia is at 52.

One run through four innings isn’t bad for Garcia. Actually it’s unbelievable. I would have signed up for three runs in four innings from Garcia and that’s a 6.75 ERA. So, one run in four innings? This feels like watching Cliff Lee pitch for your team in the playoffs, which sadly I have never experienced.

Fifth Inning
Here comes Luke Scott again. Scott usually kills the Yankees and since Upton was in a 3-for-42 slump and then homered, I’m expecting some sort of dagger from Scott here now that he’s 1-for-31.

Garcia falls behind him 3-1, and if Scott sees that “fastball” we could have a tie game here.

A 3-1 slider gets Scott to pop out to A-Rod in foul territory and there’s one down in the inning. A 3-1 pitch from Garcia in April meant an extra-base hit so there’s clearly progress here.

Lobaton goes down looking on a slider for the second out. This game feels too easy. A Freddy Garcia start in 2012 is supposed to be painful and agonizing to watch, but this feels like a Sabathia or Pettitte start. It can’t keep up this way, can it?

Even though Garcia is cruising, this game won’t erase my fear of him starting in Fenway Park again this weekend. Speaking of which, there are four games in three days at Fenway Park. The over/under on hours of baseball is 18, and total runs is 44. I’m going to take the over on both and might even parlay them.

The pesky Will Rhymes singles on a line drive to center field to keep the inning alive, and he’s now 2-for-2 tonight.

Garcia bounces back to strike out Johnson swinging on yet another slider. Garcia has allowed one run on four hits through five innings. Is this real life? Seriously, is this real life? This Garcia start has been so good that I’m too scared to tweet during it because it feels like a perfect game. Yes, four baserunners feels like a perfect game.

Sixth Inning
Garcia is supposed to throw 65 to 70 pitches in this start and he will start the sixth inning at 69 pitches against the top of the order. I’m not sure if he’s batter to batter at this point with Joe Girardi, but you can’t blame Girardi for leaving him in the way he has looked.

Desmond Jennings grounds out on the first pitch (an 87-mph fastball) from Garcia, and there’s one down.

So, remember before when I said how Carols Pena is in the elite class of opposing hitters that scare me? Well, that’s why. Pena hits a 2-1 slider out of the park to tie the game on Garcia’s 74th pitch. Again, you can’t blame Girardi for leaving him, but there certainly are questions as to why Garcia was left in if his maximum pitch count was 70 pitches. And where are the two lefties in the bullpen to face Pena? That’s not me asking these questions of Girardi. That’s just me saying there are potential questions. I’m calm. Everything is fine.

Here comes Girardi to take out Garcia as he signals for the righty, Cody Eppley.

The Yankees would go on to take a 3-2 lead only to blow that lead as well and wind up losing 4-3 after David Robertson couldn’t get a big out and Mark Teixeira couldn’t field a ground ball for their eighth loss in a row at Tropicana Field.

As for Garcia it was obviously his best start of the year. The Chief showed that his thoughts about him lacking arm strength in April were accurate and he finished with the following line: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 2 HR. He proved that he still has some 2011 left in him and that he can be trusted to fill the void left by Pettitte. Well, maybe “trusted” is too strong of a word. I probably shouldn’t throw a word like that around so carelessly until we see what he does this weekend at Fenway.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jun 22, 2012

Subway Series Storylines, Part II

It’s the second part of the Subway Series 2012 and that means more interesting storylines for both the Yankees and Mets this weekend at Citi Field.

Another meaningful Subway Series! Is this really the second meaningful one in two weeks after not having one for a few years? Are we sure about this? Quick, someone check the standings and make sure the Mets are relevant.

Three more games to go in the 2012 Subway Series and three good pitching matchups to go with it. We’ll see a repeat from the Sunday game in the Bronx with the Lefty Battle of Young vs. Old between Andy Pettitte and Jonathon Niese on Friday night, Ivan Nova and Chris Young on Saturday night (sorry no unique connections in that one) and the marquee matchup between CC Sabathia and R.A. Dickey on Sunday Night Baseball.

With only two weeks and nine games separating the two teams since they last met the storylines haven’t really changed. But even though it’s only been 12 days since the Yankees came back against the Mets’ bullpen and finished the sweep with a Russell Martin home run off Jon Rauch, it would feel weird if we didn’t look at interesting storylines for the second half of the Subway Series.

Initials This Weekend
For Part I of the storylines, we had the “No Initials This Weekend” storyline, but this weekend we get the initials with CC vs. R.A. Every once in a while when the time is right and the stars align and Jason Bay lands on the disabled list again, everything falls into place and you get a perfect Sunday Night Baseball matchup, and we have that this weekend.

It feels like CC Sabathia hasn’t been himself this year and he’s 9-3 with a 3.55 ERA. But there’s a reason he hasn’t felt like CC and that’s because before his complete game against the Braves on Wednesday, he gave up four earned runs against the Braves on June 12, lost to the Rays on June 7 (he allowed five runs, but just two earned) and gave up three earned runs to the Tigers on June 1. You know you have an ace when he allows nine earned runs in 21 innings (3.86 ERA) over three starts and you feel like he’s sucked. Sabathia has pitched at least six innings and thrown at least 104 pitches in all 14 of his starts. So I guess I’m a little off on thinking he CC hasn’t been CC, but I’m telling you that he hasn’t looked like himself and I think other Yankees fans would tell you the same thing.

R.A. Dickey is currently the best pitcher on the planet. He’s 11-1 (matching his career high for wins in a season in 14 starts) with a 2.00 ERA. He leads the league in wins, win percentage (.917), ERA, complete games (3), shutouts (2) and WHIP (0.889). He’s allowed just 67 hits in 99 innings with 103 strikeouts. He’s averaging 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings, which is his highest since 2003 when he pitched in 38 games (13 starts) for the Rangers and averaged 7.3 (his career average is 6.0). At 37, Dickey has gone from reinventing himself in 2010 and 2011 with the Mets to Cy Young frontrunner in 2012. Two weekends ago I said, “Part of me wanted to see what Dickey could do against the Yankees in what is turning out to be his best season.” I must have been drunk when I wrote that because I don’t want any part of Dickey right now.

(Once again, I forgot to start both Sabathia and Dickey in fantasy on Monday night costing me this line: 2-0, 18 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 23 K, 1.00 ERA, 0.611 WHIP. There’s nothing worse than someone talking about or complaining about their fantasy team, but I had to be that guy for a moment for this unique situation.)

Terry Francona is going to spend a lot of time on Sunday night comparing the knuckleballs of R.A. Dickey and Tim Wakefield, and I mean a lot of time, but it’s acceptable. I would rather have a color guy talking about something relevant to the game than to have Tim McCarver talk about the abilities of Bryce Harper and Mike Trout for an entire inning of a Yankees-Mets game.

You Scratch My Back and I’ll Scratch Yours
Since these two teams played each other two weekends ago the Yankees have gone 7-2 and the Mets have gone 6-3. While the Yankees were helping out the Mets by beating up on the Braves and Nationals, the Mets were returning the favor by sweeping the Rays and Orioles.

I love interleague play because it breaks up the schedule and gives fans the opportunity to see different teams and new players. However, I understand the mindset of those who would rather see more division games because there’s nothing like seeing Chris Davis, Edwin Encarnacion, Sean Rodriguez and Brian Matusz a few more times.

This weekend marks the final weekend of interleague play for 2012, and as a Yankees fan, I’m going to be sad to see it go since the Yankees have gone 11-4 against the Reds, Mets, Braves and Nationals. With the All-Star Game becoming less and less serious even though the stakes are high, interleague play is a necessity to compare the AL to the NL and gauge the differences in the leagues. But I’m not going to lie, I enjoy interleague play because it’s usually the point of the season where the Yankees use the schedule to create separation in the division and they’re doing it again.

Citi Field Complaints
If you don’t know a Mets fan that complained about Yankee Stadium being a bandbox after the three games in the Bronx then you either don’t have a lot of friends or you don’t get out much. Mets fans will find anything to complain about, especially when it comes to the Yankees, and they were out in full force two weekends ago to share their opinions on the “cheap home runs” at the Stadium.

I don’t know what games I watched two weeks ago because it looked to me like the dimensions of the walls were the same for both teams’ at-bats. I guess there is a chance that they could have moved the fences in for the Yankees when they were up and then moved them back when the Mets, and I just wasn’t paying attention, but I feel like I would have noticed something like that.

This weekend if the Yankees hit some balls that would have been out of the Stadium that are kept in, are Yankees fans going to complain the way that Mets fans did about the reverse happening? OK, I’ll answer that one: No.

Subway Series Finale
There’s a very good chance this is the last time we see two Subway Series in the same season with three games on each side of the city. With the Astros moving to the American League and scheduling changes in the works, it looks like we are headed for a Subway Series modification.

No one likes change. Well, let me rephrase that. No one likes poor change. But Major League Baseball is all about making poor changes like the All-Star Game deciding home-field advantage and two wild cards in each league and still letting pitchers hit in the National League. So I fully expect them to take away the six games between the Yankees and Mets that we have grown accustomed to, and that some people have grown sick of. Those same people will eventually long for the days of six Subway Series games.

If this is goodbye to the Subway Series format we have known for so long, I’m going to miss it.

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Blogs

Jun 21, 2012

Henrik Lundqvist Has Been Validated and Other Thoughts

Thoughts on Henrik Lundqvist finally getting the recognition and credit he deserves and the glorious disaster that is the 2012 Red Sox.

There were 204 names called before Henrik Lundqvist’s in the 2000 NHL Draft. The Rangers took an 18-year-old Lundqvist in the seventh round with the 205th of the 293 total picks in the draft.

Here are the goalies selected before Lundqvist with the round they were selected in, their overall pick number and the amount of NHL games they played in parentheses.

1/1. New York Islanders – Rick DiPietro (315)

1/9. Calgary – Brent Krahn (1)

2/44. Anaheim – Ilya Bryzgalov (385)

2/45. Ottawa – Matthieu Chouinard (1)

2/60. Dallas – Dan Ellis (165)

3/70. Toronto – Mikael Tellqvist (114)

3/84. Pittsburgh -Peter Hamerlik (0)

3/90. Toronto – Jean-Francois Racine (0)

4/102. Detroit – Stefan Liv (0)

4/111. Buffalo – Ghyslain Rousseau (0)

4/116. Calgary – Levente Szuper (0)

4/120. Florida – Davis Parley (0)

5/143. New York Rangers – Brandon Snee (0)

5/164. New Jersey – Matus Kostur (0)

5/165.  Los Angeles – Nathan Marsters (0)

5/166. San Jose – Nolan Schaefer (7)

6/168. Atlanta – Zdenek Smid (0)

6/169. Columbus – Shane Bendera (0)

6/177. Chicago – Mike Ayers (0)

7/203. Nashville – Jure Penko (0)

The amazing thing about this list isn’t that Lundqvist was the 21st goalie selected in his class or that 15 of the goalies picked before him played either one or no games in the NHL. The amazing thing is that the Rangers picked a goalie before Lundqvist in the draft with Brandon Snee at the 143rd pick. Snee had just finished his sophomore season at Union College where he was 8-22-1 with a 3.82 GAA and .892 save percentage after a freshman season in which he went 1-12-3 with a 3.50 GAA and .892 save percentage (and he’s 22 months older than Lundqvist.) Snee ended up playing 12 games in the UHL, 13 games in the ECHL and 12 in the WHA2.

There really isn’t a silver lining to a season that ends two wins short of a trip to the Stanley Cup Final at the hands of your rival in overtime, but I really do think watching Lundqvist win the Vezina on Wednesday night is one for Rangers fans.

I have been telling non-Rangers fans who don’t get to see Lundqvist on a regular basis how talented he is since the 2005-06 season, and it wasn’t really until this season and this postseason that he started to get the recognition and credit he has deserved for seven years. Even though Lundqvist had a better GAA this season (1.97) than last season (2.28) and a better save percentage this season (.929) than last season (.923), I think his performance over 68 games last year was better than his performance in 62 games this year. Yes, the Rangers were the best team in the Eastern Conference in 2011-12 because of him, but he kept the Rangers alive until Game 82 in 2010-11 playing every game from Feb. 7 through the playoffs, and posting three more shutouts (11) than he did this year (8).

Unintelligent people would use Lundqvist’s postseason record entering this spring and his postseason overtime record as a flaw in his abilities. They would cite the Rangers’ three first-round exits and two second-round exits with him as a reason for him to be just “hype.” No one cared to mention his surrounding cast, the Rangers’ lack of scoring during his career or the team’s young and inexperienced defense. On Wednesday night it felt like all of these misconceptions were finally erased.

Lundqvist thanked his teammates and said he wouldn’t be standing up there accepting the award without them. He thanked the entire Rangers organization and even Mr. Dolan for the last seven years. But really it would have made more sense to the have the rest of the Rangers, the front office and Mr. Dolan on the stage thanking Lundqvist because without him they wouldn’t be relevant again.

***

After what happened to the Red Sox in September I didn’t think things could get better as a Yankees fan. And by “better” I mean watching my arch-nemesis continue to be an embarrassment.

First it was Buster Olney reporting that the clubhouse was toxic on ESPN.com and now it’s Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com saying the same thing. Olney’s report was refuted by Josh Beckett, and I’m sure that McAdam’s will be too.

Beckett said Olney’s report is “completely fabricated” and said he doesn’t know where people get their information, and that the 2012 Red Sox are “one of the tightest-knit groups” he’s ever seen. But Beckett can tell me about the team’s family outings together like he told reporters on Tuesday, and he can even show me pictures of his family and the Valentines and the Lesters and the Pedroias on a joint vacation to Disney World if he wants, and I still won’t believe him. There’s a reason everyone is talking about the Red Sox’ internal problems and that’s because they exist. And I love every second of it.

When the Red Sox blew Game 162 and missed the playoffs for the second straight year, and Terry Francona and Theo Epstein left, and Larry Lucchino tightened his marionette strings on John Henry and Ben Cherington to bring in Bobby Valentine, I hoped the recipe for disaster that the Red Sox front office was creating would turn out to be just that. But I never thought it would be this much of a disaster.

We’re 42 percent of the way through the season and the Red Sox are two games over .500 and six games back of the Yankees. Most Red Sox fans have chalked this season up as lost and are counting down the days until the Patriots’ season opener. Those who haven’t given up are holding out hope for the Red Sox to appear in the one-game playoff and are citing the return of the Carl Crawford as a positive sign. The same Carl Crawford who posted a .255/.289/.405 line last year and apologized to fans midseason in his personal blog on ESPNBoston.com.

Aside from the clubhouse issues, Daniel Nava has the second-best OPS on the team, and Scott Podsednik is getting starts, while Jason Repko, Che-Hsuan Lin, Nate Spears and Mauro Gomez have all made appearances. Beckett is injured again, Jon Lester hasn’t been close to the pitcher that Dennis Eckersley has picked to win the Cy Young every year since 2008, Clay Buchholz has five quality starts in 14 games and Daisuke Matsuzaka doesn’t look like the best No. 5 starter in the history of baseball like NESN proclaimed he was last year. The best Red Sox starting pitcher has been Felix Doubront (8-3, 4.31) and one of their original rotation members, Daniel Bard, is blowing two-run save opportunities in Triple-A as he tries to transition back to the bullpen.

I never thought things could get this good for me and this bad for the Red Sox even when anonymous sources were snitching on the Red Sox’ chicken and beer problems and John Henry was making a public fool of himself on afternoon drive radio in Boston. I realize that all good things must come to an end at some point, but I hope this good thing can last the rest of the season.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jun 19, 2012

The Unsung Heroes of the Yankees’ Bullpen

The Yankees are getting big outs from unlikely arms, and their success has forced power rankings for the makeshift bullpen.

When I hear “Tuesday’s Gone” I think of Happy Gilmore. When I hear the word “magic” I think of Happy Gilmore shaking his caddy on the ground after clinching the Waterbury Open with Pilot’s “Magic ” playing in the background. With the way the Yankees’ bullpen has been performing, the only explanation is magic and because of it, I want to celebrate by shaking Joe Girardi while screaming, “Oh, ho, ho, it’s magic you knowwww! Never believe it’s not so!”

If you told me on the morning of Opening Day that on June 19 I would be writing about the Yankees bullpen currently featuring Rafael Soriano as the closer, Boone Logan and Cory Wade as setup men and Clay Rapada and Cody Eppley as middle relievers, well let’s just say I would be living in Europe and writing about Euro 2012. Luckily no one told me this was going to happen.

The Yankees are 41-25 and in first place in the AL East with the best record in the AL thanks to a 10-game winning streak, which this group of ragtag relievers (that’s the first and most likely the last time I have and will ever use “ragtag,” and you can thank Jack Edwards for putting that word into my vocabulary) has been a large part of. Sure, it’s easy to win games the way the Yankees did on Monday night when CC Sabathia pitched a complete game against the Braves (Side note: I forgot to start CC and R.A. Dickey, who pitched a one-hitter against the Orioles, on my fantasy team. Devastating.) But it’s not so easy to win games when Cody Eppley and Clay Rapada are being asked to serve as the middle relief bridge.

It’s crazy that right now I have confidence in everyone in the bullpen not named Freddy Garcia, but I don’t trust anyone in the bullpen not named David Robertson. And since David Robertson has become the must trustworthy Yankees reliever not named Mariano Rivera since 2007 Joba Chamberlain, I’m leaving him out of these power rankings that I have created to figure out the my personal bullpen pecking order. I’m also leaving out Rafael Soriano since he is now the closer and because he’s making $11 million this year, so he should be expected to get outs.

I have heard these ragtag (OK, there it is again) relievers called a lot of things over the last couple of weeks. Most of the things I have called them while yelling at games or shouting at my TV have been derogatory, but I have heard different forms of the word “hero” thrown around to describe this relief corps. Dwight Schrutte said, “A hero kills people, people that wish him harm. A hero is part human and part supernatural. A hero is born out of a childhood trauma, or out of a disaster, and must be avenged.” I don’t think that’s the type of hero that these guys are, so let’s go with “unsung” hero. And let’s go through the bullpen to figure out who should get the ball from top to bottom.

Number 48, Boone Logan, Number 48
I want to start this off by saying it’s effing scary that Boone Logan is the No. 1-ranked pitcher on any list I create. Oh yeah, Robertson and Soriano aren’t on this list. OK, I feel a little better.

If I make Boone Logan a mixtape that includes Chicago’s “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” do you think he will forgive me? Actually I don’t want him to forgive me. Because deep down I know that the Boone Logan I watched in 2010 and 2011 in key moments is just waiting for me to let my guard down before he ambushes me. He did it to me on Sept. 14, 2010 when I finally wrote an apology to him only to have him on that same day give up a go-ahead, three-run home run to Willy Aybar in Tampa Bay. So Boone, I’m manning up here to say I’m sorry. You don’t have to accept my apology or the mixtape, or the flowers or the fruit basket I am having sent to the Stadium on Tuesday night. Just go out there and keep putting up zeroes and that will be enough for me.

Number 53, Cory Wade, Number 53
Last Monday (June 11) was the one-year anniversary of the Rays releasing Cory Wade. I know what you’re thinking: Where was the party? Well, there wasn’t a party, but there should have been in either Cashman’s office or Girardi’s.

In 68 games and 67 2/3 innings with the Yankees, Wade has 60 strikeouts and 14 walks, a 2.39 ERA and a 1.020 WHIP. He has been prone to the home run (like he was on Saturday) with four allowed in 28 innings this year, but he’s gone from the scrap heap to the reliever “B” team to the reliever “A” team in a year. Thanks again, Tampa Bay!

Number 38, Cody Eppley, Number 38
In real life, Cody Eppley would have gotten sent down and David Phelps would have stayed with the Yankees. But this isn’t real life since Eppley is getting huge outs for the Yankees, and also because the Yankees needed Phelps to go back to the minors to get stretched out to be a starter again.

Eppley getting that double play on an 0-2 pitch last Wednesday against the Braves to preserve a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning with runners on first and third and one out is enough to buy him some time in my book in the even that he remembers he’s Cody Eppley and not Jeff Nelson. (Yes, I’m willing to forget that he gave up hits to two of three hitters he faced before the 6-4-3 double play.) How much time that double play will buy him has yet to be determined.

Number 39, Clay Rapada, Number 39
Clay Rapada has become my Pitching Whipping Boy for 2012 (Nick Swisher remains the Overall Whipping Boy) now that A.J. Burnett is pitching in Pittsburgh and Boone Logan has become (or rather been forced into being) a valuable part of the bullpen.

Entering this season, Rapada had appeared in 78 games with the Cubs, Tigers, Rangers and Orioles. He had a career 5.13 ERA in 52 2/3 innings with 32 walks. Everything about Rapada forced me into the lengthy “Nooooooooooooooo!” that Michael Scott used upon Toby’s return. I wanted the Yankees to have nothing to do with Rapada because I wanted to have nothing to do with him interfering with my baseball season and my summer. But because he throws a baseball using his left arm, (if you have watched Clay Rapada and you have a child and aren’t tying their right hand behind their back until they are 16 then you are doing whole parenting thing wrong) you just knew that Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi were going to find a spot for him on the roster.

Rapada has been goo… Rapada has been goo… He’s been… He’s been goo… OK, he’s been good. There, I said it. Are you happy now? He’s been better than I expected and lefties are just 7-for-46 (.152) against him. However, don’t let him fool you. He will blow up at some point in this season. Let’s just hope it isn’t in a big spot because it’s going to happen. I “Mark Messier guarantee” it’s going to happen.

Number 36, Freddy Garcia, Number 36
I hate to break it to the Freddy Garcia fans out there (if there any), but the 35-year-old righty no longer belongs on the Yankees. Sorry, Freddy and sorry to your fans.

Garcia came up huge in the 12th and 13th innings in Washington on Saturday to earn his first win since last September, but he owed that performance to Yankees fans. I still can’t get over the writers who cover the team tweeting about how Garcia is a “gamer” and sarcastically asking their followers if they still want Garcia off the team after his effort in extra innings? I guess they forgot about him giving up 19 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings in his four starts in April? Maybe they forgot that in those four starts he got pulled in the second inning twice (against Boston and Detroit) and the only reason the Yankees went 2-2 in his starts instead of 0-4 is because they came back against the Orioles on April 10 and erased a 9-1 deficit at Fenway Park on April 21? And how much of a “gamer” was Garcia when he lost Game 2 of the ALDS to the Tigers? Isn’t the postseason when a “gamer” shows up? (I understand what the Yankees got out of Garcia and Bartolo Colon last year was a replica of the lightning caught in a bottle with Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon in 2005, but let’s be serious.) So, to answer your question, yes, I still want Garcia off the team.

And I want Garcia gone because he doesn’t serve a purpose. He has become the long reliever/extra innings/mop-up duty man only because Rivera is out and Robertson has been hurt. Those are actually the roles for Eppley and Rapada, but their recent success and those same injuries have moved them into more important roles. The only thing Garcia presents out of the bullpen is a scary option for Joe Girardi to turn to when his other relievers need a rest.

The problem is there’s a good chance that Garcia will survive the season with the Yankees unless Eppley and Rapada keep getting the job done and Joba Chamberlain and David Aardsma can make healthy returns, and he will survive because he’s owed $4 million this year. If you don’t plan on eating a meal anytime soon, then think about this: Garcia will make $4 million this season and R.A. Dickey will only make $4.25 million.

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Jun 14, 2012

Hiroki Kuroda Is No Longer a Coin Flip and Other Thoughts

Thoughts on Hiroki Kuroda, A-Rod, Nick Swisher, perfect games, no-hitters and Zach Parise.

It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time for Thursday Thoughts, which is my way of putting together things that didn’t end up in columns for the week.

The Coin Flip Kuroda name is officially retired … indefinitely. That doesn’t mean it won’t make a comeback like Andy Pettitte, but it really holds no meaning as of late. I’m not about to start calling Kuroda “Sure Thing,” but I can’t justify his “Coin Flip” status.

Here are Kuroda’s last four starts.

May 27 @ OAK:  8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

June 2 @ DET:  7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

June 8 vs. NYM:  7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

June 13 @ ATL:  6 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K

Total line: 28 IP, 21 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 22 K, 1.29 ERA, 0.929 WHIP

Kuroda has now made 13 starts this season and has allowed three earned runs or less in 10 of them. He has six losses and one no-decision, but in those seven games the offense has scored 16 runs, including being shut out twice and scoring just one run twice. (The offense has scored three runs or less in eight of his starts.)

The real question I ask with Yankees pitchers is: Do I trust him? I don’t think I “trust” Kuroda yet (since I trust CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte), but I have confidence when he is on the mound. Having trust in a Yankees pitcher is the highest compliment I can give them, and for Kuroda just having confidence in him right now is a big step in the right direction when you consider that 24 days ago he lost to the Royals and 29 days ago he gave up seven earned runs and three home runs in Toronto. (For example, I just now have “confidence” in Boone Logan after two-plus seasons, but I don’t “trust” him. However I’m getting there.) Kuroda hasn’t lost since that May 21 start against the Royals at the Stadium, and since then he has outgrown the “Coin Flip” nickname and given me confidence in him. The next step is gaining that trust and then we’ll start to talk about where he fits into the postseason rotation.

***

Is anyone surprised that A-Rod finished second and Nick Swisher finished third as the most hated players in baseball (A.J. Pierzynski finished first) in the Men’s Journal player’s poll? Actually I’m surprised that Swisher finished third. I can understand why non-New Yorkers hate A-Rod, but Swisher? Is it possible that even non-Yankees fans are seeing what some Yankees fans are in Swisher’s over-the-top and sometimes phony personality? At least one player is.

An unnamed American League veteran said, “Everything about (Swisher) is annoying, from his mannerisms to his always wanting to ‘bro’ it down. Being around him is just exhausting.”

Maybe it’s just going to take me more time to come around on Swisher than others (though we are in the fourth season of this and there might not be a fifth season), but I just don’t see it happening. Between Swisher’s lack of hitting in the postseason, his low Baseball IQ, his shaky defense, his arguing of obvious called third strikes and the way he goes about things (like climbing the wall for a rob attempt when the ball is 30-plus rows back) there’s just something about him that I can’t stand. I guess that “something” is the “broing it down.”

***

Of course the one night I decide to go to sleep early there’s a perfect game on the West Coast. I felt like I had been disconnected from the world when I was scrolling through Twitter on my phone on Thursday morning and finding out in reverse order that Matt Cain had thrown a perfect game. It’s always strange when you a big story from a game, and use Twitter to watch it unfold backwards even though you already know the outcome.

No-hitters and perfect games are always entertaining even if some old, grumpy, miserable sportswriters have nothing to say or write so they go with the angles that the feats are too common now or that they have lost their importance. This season we have seen Cain and Philip Humber throw perfect games and no-hitters from Jered Weaver, Johan Santana and the Mariners staff and all of them have been enjoyable. (Yes, I experienced joy while reading tweets about Cain’s after missing it.) And on top of those, Cy Young favorite (and one of my personal favorites) R.A. Dickey nearly added the Mets second no-hitter in 12 days on Wednesday night after the franchise suffered through 50-plus years without one.

There’s a good chance Justin Verlander could no-hit the Cubs on Thursday afternoon, and no one would be surprised. And if he does I will enjoy it the same way I have for the rest of the non-Yankees perfect games and no-hitters because they never get old unlike sportswriters.

***

“No. No way.” That’s what Zach Parise said and repeated over and over when asked if he would go to the Rangers as a free agent this offseason. Does anyone believe him?

Parise just finished his seventh season with the Devils and it would have been his eighth if there wasn’t a lockout in 2004-05. He started playing for the Devils when he was 20, and they are the only team he has known as a professional. When asked the question, he had just finished losing the Stanley Cup Final after playing in all 106 of the Devils’ games this year. So it makes sense why he would say “no” several times when asked about leaving the only team he has ever known to join their rival in the middle of the Devils locker room after a season that lasted as long and ended as devastatingly as it did.

Does that mean Parise will say no to the Rangers when they officially pursue him? Of course not. He would have to really hate money to close the door on the Rangers before they even talk to him or make him an offer, as it would destroy any leverage he has of getting more out of the Devils, and would take away from what the Red Wings might offer.

For some reason I believe Parise when he says that he wouldn’t play for the Rangers. He seems like the loyal type that you can rarely find in 2012, and as the captain of the team, I think he understands what he means to his organization. But then you start weighing his options of playing at The Rock rather than Madison Square Garden or Hockeytown and for a fan base that doesn’t come close to what the Rangers and Red Wings have, and you would have to think that Parise would have to be more than just someone who hates money to stay with the Devils. He would have to be insane.

The Devils are still Martin Brodeur’s team even if he hasn’t been Martin Brodeur for a while now, and once he retires it will be Ilya Kovalchuk’s team. And while Parise would join a roster with Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, Marian Gaborik, Brad Richards and Marc Staal, if he signed with the Rangers, he would get paid and have the ability to contend for the Cup in his prime as the youth of the Rangers enters theirs. I don’t think you can say the same for the Devils. But maybe Brodeur’s line after the Devils’ Game 6 loss that “These guys will be celebrating a championship in the near future” is a step toward convincing Parise to stay a Devil the way Brodeur has for so long.

If Parise decides he would rather play his home games in Newark rather than Manhattan, and if he would rather try to win the Cup with the Devils and have a parade in a parking lot rather than up the Canyon of Heroes then I can’t help him.

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