Blogs – Page 197 – Keefe To The City

Sep 2, 2014

The Rivalry Is Now Irrelevant

Yankees-Red Sox in September isn’t what it used to be and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be what it once was anytime soon.

The last time the Yankees and Red Sox met was 30 days ago at Fenway Park when the Yankees overcame two three-run deficits on Sunday Night Baseball and looked like they might be ready to go on an August and September run after back-to-back come-from-behind wins in Boston. They went on to win three of four against the Tigers at the Stadium and my wish of a run down the stretch from the Yankees was coming true. But that run has been put on hold as the Yankees are just 9-11 over their last 20 games and are 4 games out of the second wild card with 28 games to play. Fortunately, the Red Sox are in the Bronx this week and if the Yankees want to keep their postseason dreams alive, there isn’t a better opponent to begin what will need to be a memorable September.

With the Yankees still somewhat alive in the wild-card race and the Red Sox just counting down the days until their miserable season is finally over, I emailed Mike Hurley of CBS Boston because that’s what I do when the Yankees and Red Sox play each other.

Keefe: The start of second grade. For both of us, that’s the last time both the Yankees and Red Sox missed the postseason. The fall of 1993, 21 years ago, was the last time September was basically meaningless for the two superpowers that have spent two decades at or near the top of baseball. That’s remarkable and astonishing and also sad and depressing.

The Red Sox suck and are the team they were in 2012 and the team they should have been in 2013, while the Yankees are 4 games out of the second wild card, the same wild card I was adamantly against with you when instituted two seasons ago. And at this point it’s going to take a 20-8 September from the Yankees to possibly have a shot at the one-game playoff or a one-game playoff to get to the one-game playoff.

The Red Sox aren’t going to the playoffs. The Yankees are most likely not going to the playoffs. The Orioles and Royals most likely are and the Indians or Mariners could be. Is this a world you want to live in?

Hurley: I have distinct memories of being in second grade, sitting at my desk. I drew a hockey net on the front side of the box, and I wrote “MOOG 35” on the back of a little troll toy I had. Remember those? Those were messed up. Anyway, as you might imagine, I was a genius and I didn’t need to pay attention in school, so I kept myself busy by using a pencil to fire slappers at my troll Andy Moog.

Now for you to tell me that the last time the Red Sox and Yankees didn’t make the playoffs was when I was going top shelf in Mrs. Castiglione’s class, that’s pretty messed up. Though admittedly, it’s kind of misleading. I mean, that’s much more about the Yankees, who have made the postseason in 17 of the last 19 years, than it is about the Red Sox, who kind of pop in and out of the playoffs when they’re feeling good and then occasionally drop to last place.

I’ll tell you, and you’ll probably agree, that it’s easy to root for the Indians. Any time Terry Francona can make Red Sox ownership look bad for firing him for no reason, it’s going to be pretty funny.

But to answer your question, is this a world I want to live in? I believe Michael Scott said it best.

Keefe: I do like Terry Francona even if he was the man responsible for ruining the year 2004 for me. If only he hadn’t been so calm and composed and had been freaking out and going wild in the dugout and throwing things and skipping press conferences with the media, the Red Sox wouldn’t have come back. I hate you, Terry Francona. (But I also don’t.)

I was in Mrs. Lazar’s class, Don Mattingly was still playing first base for the Yankees, Mike Gallego was wearing No. 2 and splitting time at shortstop with Spike Owen (no wonder the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs) and I didn’t understand that the Whalers sucked and would finish 25^th out of 26 in attendance that season. (The Islanders, Jets and Panthers outdrew the Whalers in 1993-94.) It’s been a long, long time since both teams were home in October. The problem is that this is going to become a frequent event thanks to teams locking up their players and ruining their chances at becoming free agents for the Yankees and Red Sox to fight over signing.

In New York, Yankees fans are upset that the Yankees don’t have young, homegrown talent, while also being upset that the team isn’t competitive right now. These fans likely forget that the dynasty that began in the mid-90s was made possible because of a long period of losing in the Bronx. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada didn’t magically appear in the Bronx one day on the 4 train. It’s somewhat impossible to build through the draft and also sign big-name free agents in 2014 and while Brian Cashman continues to try and plug both old and new holes on a sinking boat, it seems inevitable that at some point you just need a new boat.

What’s the mood in Boston when it comes to the Red Sox? Do people even care that they suck this year? I realize they won the World Series last year and their five-year grace period is just starting while the Yankees’ five-year grace period from 2009 is over this season. Now that the Patriots are five days away from beginning their season and the Bruins are a month away from beginning theirs, do people even care about the Red Sox? It pains me that they won last year because if they were still looking at no postseason since 2009 and another miserable finish, I would imagine that John Henry wouldn’t be showing his face on Newbury Street or going out to dinner in the North End.

Hurley: The mood in Boston is kind of ridiculous, to be honest with you. The Red Sox traded away Jon Lester because they were unwilling to even get serious when it came to contract negotiations. Four years and $70 million for a durable lefty who was a badass in winning a World Series last year? What is that?

So they didn’t want to pay him because he’ll be in his 30s, and apparently they believe that no pitcher has ever pitched well in his 30s.

Nevertheless, the Red Sox traded away their homegrown star pitcher and then leaked info that they’re going to go after him hard in the offseason. And so many people bought it. What the hell is that? You don’t let your best players see what life is like on the other side of the fence, and you sure as hell don’t let them go to free agency when you have a chance to lock him up forever. It’s insane. Yet people are like “Oh, well they’re going to sign him in the winter, and they got Cespedes, so that’s OK!”

It’s madness.

As for the Sox now, they’re kind of non-existent. Some no-name on the Rays slid into second base on Saturday night and elbowed Dustin Pedroia in the head, and nobody seems to care. Everyone’s busy talking about Ryan Mallett and Logan Mankins.

But I’ll tell you, it’s not entirely different from last year. It was about a year ago to the date that Mike Cole and I bought tickets for $12 the day of a game and waltzed right in. It was pretty insane that just a few weeks later, they were beating Verlander and Scherzer and then winning the World Series. So even though the Red Sox were good last year and basically owned first place all year, there wasn’t much “Red Sox fever” gripping the region. People might be Sox’d out, which is understandable if you’ve seen how freaking hard everything Sox-related gets pushed on you in Boston.

Keefe: So I’m guessing the Fenway bricks and that sing-along CD from a couple years ago didn’t go over so well? That’s too bad.

In 24 days, Derek Jeter will either be playing three meaningless games in Fenway Park or playing three games that could determine the Yankees’ postseason chances. Right now, Jeter will be playing his final baseball game on Sunday, Sept. 28 in Boston in what could be a game full of September call-ups mirroring more of a March Grapefruit League game rather than a Yankees-Red Sox Game 162. But if the Yankees are eliminated from the playoffs before Game 160 in Boston, maybe Jeter doesn’t play that weekend at all?

Just last year, Mariano Rivera pitched at Yankee Stadium for what would be his final appearance ever in the Bronx and then he went with the Yankees to Houston and made that Stadium appearance his final appearance ever by not pitching in the final three games of the year. It’s obviously different for a position player than a closer and Jeter doesn’t seem like the type of person who would sit out three games he could play in before riding off into the sunset on the back porch of his Tampa mansion, but it would be better if Jeter plays Game 159 at the Stadium against Baltimore and then doesn’t board the plane to Boston if the Yankees are eliminated.

I would prefer if Boston doesn’t get to say goodbye to Jeets and give him four Duck Tour tickets, a burned out bulb from the Citgo sign, an old T token, a $25 gift card to the Bell in Hand and a painting of Haymarket or whatever they were going to give him for his farewell tour.

Hurley: See, in my ideal scenario, the Red Sox sign Pedro Martinez to a one-day contract and let him start on that Sunday. Jeter can bat leadoff and Pedro can go in on the hands with the first pitch, in on the hands again with pitch two, up at the chin with ball three, and then square in the back. Benches will clear, Boston and New York will be enraged, and for one fleeting moment, baseball will feel like it used to feel.

Do you think that can happen? Oh, and it would all come immediately after an over-the-top standing ovation from the Fenway crowd as Jeter is digging into the box. Tell me that wouldn’t be infinitely more exciting than whatever boring-as-crap reality is more likely to play out.

Keefe: I would sign up for that. Well, if the Yankees signed Roger Clemens and Jorge Posada for the day as well and we made things even more interesting. You can have Gabe Kapler too.

It disgusts me that Fenway Park is going to give Jeter an ovation every time he comes to the plate that series. Have some pride, Boston. This is a player who was the face of everything you hate for the last 19 years. He was a main reason for a lot of heartache and devastation your team and the focal point of many explicit T-shirts being sold outside the Kenmore T stop. Boo him, shout obscenities at him, feel free to bring batteries and golf balls to throw at him.

Let’s use David Ortiz as an example. Let’s say David Ortiz never used steroids and was even 10 percent as respectable of an athlete and person as Derek Jeter. Now let’s say David Ortiz is having a farewell tour and it’s coming to Yankee Stadium. There is no chance people are cheering for David Ortiz and thanking him and saluting him for the 2004 ALCS or any form of RE2PECT for him. And if they are, they should be held without bail in a Bronx jail for no less than a week.

Yankees-Red Sox used to mean something and in September it meant everything. Now not only might it not mean anything for both teams, but the face of the rivalry for the last two decades might be cheered the way Ortiz, Bobby Orr, Larry Bird and Tom Brady are in Boston. What an embarrassment.

Hurley: Yeah, sure thing. I bet if Jeter came and got booed, you’d be ranting and raving about how everyone from Boston is scum. So it’s kind of a lose-lose situation as far as Boston is concerned — well, that’s if anyone in Boston cared what Neil Keefe thinks about them.

Also, it’ll be 90% Yankee fans at Fenway on that Sunday. Ticket prices are absurd right now because my smart Boston brethren are fleecing you fools for a game in which Jeter might not even attend. Man, after saying that, I really hope he doesn’t make the trip. A bunch of jabronis spending $400 per ticket to fill Fenway, only to see Stephen Drew and Will Middlebrooks play baseball. That’d be classic.

I like how you praise Jeter as a great human too even though he agreed to star in a commercial where literally everyone in the world just tells him he’s the greatest thing to ever happen, and he’s just like, “Yeah, guys, I know it. Looks, Michael Jordan, I know, I’m the best. Thanks for the hat tip.” What a goober.

Nevertheless, you cheer the guy, because he was a good player who was a worthy rival for a long-ass time. People here won’t be cheering for him the way they cheer for Orr and Bird and Brady — people here would cheer when those guys fart. “Wow! Best fart of all time!!” Instead, people here will begrudgingly cheer for Jeter because A) it’s the right thing to do, and B) they’ll never have to see him send a dinky bloop single over the first baseman’s head to drive in another run.

Keefe: That was harsh. You won’t have to worry about those bloops even in September because he isn’t hitting the ball anywhere other than to short at this point. In the ninth inning on Sunday with the tying run on third and two outs, he hit his patented bloop to right and I thought at first it would fall and the Yankees would tie the game. But instead it fell at second base and the game was over. Not even the bloops are blooping anymore.

Since baseball has been over in Boston for a while now and the summer became more about you trying to get tickets for $2 and waiting until Week 1 of the NFL season, we are now there. It’s Week 1!

Even though you didn’t have much of a baseball season, at least you know your football team is going to walk through the regular season once again and end up with a first-round bye because the Jets still suck, the Dolphins somehow haven’t improved and the Bills are the Bills. You have at least five wins from your division before the opening kickoff of the season and then you just have to go .500 against the rest of the schedule and you have January football once again. It’s disgusting. Vegas has the Patriots over/under wins at 11 even though the last time the team won less than 11 games was Brady’s first season back from ACL surgery. Is there anyway the Patriots don’t win at least 12 games barring anything happening to TB12? Let me know so I can get a wager in on since is the last time I plan on talking to you until Sept. 26.

Hurley: 16-0. See you in Glendale, baby.

The Patriots have never played a bad game in Arizona after an undefeated regular season, have they? Didn’t think so! All right, now I’m ready for kickoff.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Aug 26, 2014

A Similar Situation for Yankees-Tigers Series

The Yankees’ three-game series in Detroit will likely serve as the turning point of their season one way or another after they spent the last week climbing out of their hole.

A five-game winning streak has the Yankees miraculously alive in the AL East and on the doorstep for the second wild card. This week’s three-game series in Detroit could put the Yankees in prime position to clinch a playoff berth over the the final 30 games of the year or it could put the Yankees back in the same hole they just spent the past week climbing out of.

With the Yankees and Tigers meeting for the first time in Detroit and the final time this season, I did an email exchange with Rob Rogacki of Bless You Boys to talk about what has happened to the Tigers since the trade deadline, the breakout season from Rick Porcello and the futures of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.

Keefe: I saw on Sunday that you tweeted, “Tomorrow, we are all Yankees fans,” with the Yankees playing a makeup game in Kansas City. The Yankees got the job done in Kansas City with an 8-1 win on Monday night and with a Mariners’ loss in Texas, the Yankees now trail the second wild-card spot by just 2.5 games. I know I shouldn’t be excited about the Yankees being in play for the second wild card, but that’s where injuries and an underachieving offense have left me. But your jump on the Yankees bandwagon only lasted a few hours as they now head to Detroit for a three-game series with your Tigers in a series that both teams desperately need to win.

On the day of the trade deadline, everyone sort of penciled in the Tigers and A’s for the ALCS because of their moves to strengthen the already strongest rotations in the league. But over the last four weeks, the Tigers and A’s have played themselves out of running away with their respective divisions and the Tigers aren’t even holding on to a playoff spot right now.

When the Yankees played the Tigers at the beginning of August, they looked like a different offensively and it was almost as if Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez didn’t beat you then no one would. Did the Tigers make one too many moves that actually made them worse since July 31?

Rogacki: I think that the pair of moves the Tigers made at the deadline definitely improved the team, especially given how well David Price has pitched so far. Price has a 2.35 ERA and 2.90 FIP in four starts in a Tigers uniform, but is just 1-1 thanks to a lack of run support. Price tossed a one-hitter against his former club in his last start, but lost 1-0 on an unearned run.

Losing Austin Jackson at the deadline definitely hurt the offense — especially given how he had been hitting in the second half — but the team’s struggles largely fall on the big bats in the lineup. Ian Kinsler had a .515 OPS in the second half prior to the team’s last road trip and scored just eight runs in a month-long span. Miguel Cabrera’s .820 OPS is excellent for most mortals, but far below what the Tigers expect of their $292 million man. Victor Martinez took a little while to recover from an oblique strain that hobbled him in July, but has turned things around with a .992 OPS in August.

The hitters aren’t the only problem, though. Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez have both missed starts this month, leading the Tigers to use guys like Robbie Ray and Buck Farmer in the rotation, with left-hander Kyle Lobstein tentatively scheduled to start on Thursday. The team’s lack of starting pitching depth is finally starting to be exposed, but with Verlander already back and Sanchez not far behind, the team looks poised to climb back into the playoff picture.

Keefe: I never understood the hype and attention paid to Rick Porcello as he grew up in the majors over the last five years, but now everyone is seeing why the Tigers have always been so high on him with 14 wins, a 3.10 ERA and a league-leading three shutouts. Porcello has become the front-end starter the Tigers hoped he would when they picked him in the first round in 2007.

What has been the biggest difference in the back-end starter Porcello was in his first five seasons and what he has become in 2014?

Rogacki: Porcello’s big leap actually came in 2013, but largely went unnoticed thanks to an unimpressive 13 wins and a 4.32 ERA. He posted the highest strikeout rate and strikeout-to-walk ratio of his career, resulting in a career-best 3.53 fielding independent pitching (FIP) measure. If that isn’t enough, look at what he did in the second half. From July 1st onward, Porcello was 9-2 with a 3.57 ERA in 14 starts. He held opponents to two runs or fewer in seven of those starts and logged his first complete game in a victory over the White Sox.

This season, Porcello’s strikeout rate has returned to earth, but his walk rate has also dropped. He is holding left-handed hitters to a .673 OPS, by far the best mark of his career. Opponents also have a .215 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) on ground balls against Porcello, well below the league average of .250. Part of this may be to weaker contact induced by Porcello locating his pitches, and part of this may be due to the Tigers’ improved infield defense. Third baseman Nick Castellanos and shortstop Eugenio Suarez have not been very impressive, but Ian Kinsler and Miguel Cabrera have statistically been two of the best defenders in baseball at their respective positions.

Keefe: In 2012, Justin Verlander was virtually as good as he was in his Cy Young an MVP season in 2011. In 2013, his ERA jumped to the mid-3s and his WHIP climbed and while he still had a good year, it wasn’t what we had become used to after his previous two seasons. Now in 2014, at age 31, in the second year of a seven-year, $180 million deal, Verlander has had a lot season.

Verlander has only had one full sub-.500 season in his career (when he led the league in losses with 17 on a bad 2008 Tigers team) and that same year was the only year his ERA was above 3.66 (it was 4.84), but this year he’s on his way to having his second-worst season of his career and his worst in six years.

What has happened to Justin Verlander? Do you just chalk this up as a lost season for him or are you worried about his future and his contract?

Rogacki: There’s always some level of worry when a pitcher gets a contract as long and expensive as the one that the Tigers gave Verlander prior to the 2013 season, but I’m not very concerned about his results in 2014. Verlander had core muscle repair surgery in early January — similar to the surgery Miguel Cabrera had last October — which seems to have sapped his stamina. He has a 3.67 ERA in innings 1-3 this season, but that figure jumps to 5.33 in innings 4-6 and 8.04 in the seventh inning or later.

Verlander hinted earlier this year that he still doesn’t feel 100 percent after the surgery, something that Cabrera reiterated around the All-Star break. It will be interesting to see how both stars come back in 2015, provided neither runs into any more setbacks along the way.

Keefe: Max Scherzer turned down a reported six-year, $144 million from the Tigers after his Cy Young-winning season, putting his right arm and future financial status on the line every time he throws a baseball. But this season, at 29, Scherzer has followed up his 2013 21-win season with another impressive year and with starting pitching as coveted as it’s ever been, he is likely to blow away the $144 million the Tigers offered him.

If I were Scherzer, I would have taken the guaranteed $144 million knowing that on any pitch at any time, you might never get a chance to make that kind of money again. But as long as he is able to stay healthy for another month (and possibly October if the Tigers get there), his gamble will have paid off.

Is there any chance Scherzer is a Tiger in 2015 and what do you think he will end up getting?

Rogacki: I don’t ever want to doubt what Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski is capable of, but the trade for David Price seems to have all but sealed Scherzer’s fate. The Tigers seem reluctant to offer him a contract longer than six years, while Scherzer appears to be after the biggest payday possible (a safe assumption when you’re talking about a Scott Boras client). If he hits the free agent market, I would not be surprised to see Scherzer become baseball’s second $200 million pitcher, especially considering that he has pitched at an ace level since mid-May of 2012. I would love to see him back with the Tigers next season — he’s as outgoing and goofy as baseball players get — but not at the kind of money he appears to be looking for.

Keefe: As this series starts, the Yankees are 6 games back of the Orioles and 2.5 games back of the second wild card. The Tigers are 1 ½ games back of the Royals and ½ game back of the second wild card. I think I’m safe in assuming that you didn’t expect the Tigers to be going down to the wire for a playoff spot when the season started or after they landed David Price and I know that on July 31 you didn’t think they might be looking at a scenario where they have to play a one-game playoff or one in which they don’t reach the postseason at all.

What are your feelings on the state of the Tigers on Aug. 26 and after their final 33 games, where will they be?

Rogacki: The Tigers definitely aren’t where any of us expected them to be at this point in the season, especially given how good they have looked at stretches this year. That said, I think that the Royals’ recent hot streak will end in the next week or two, and the Tigers will win their fourth consecutive AL Central crown. With 27 of their final 33 games against AL Central opponents — and the other six games at Comerica Park — they have plenty of time to jump ahead of the Royals and get back into the postseason.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the help. Nicely done last night, Yanks.

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 14, 2014

The Joe Girardi Show: Season 5, Episode 4

David Roberston went unused once again as Joe Girardi called upon Shawn Kelley to hand the Yankees’ their fourth straight loss in the middle of a playoff race.

Each off day for the Yankees feels like an eternity, but after the rain created an off day on Tuesday, I thought it would work in the team’s favor after a two-run lead became a blowout loss. Here we are again with another off day for the Yankees and the lingering feeling from Wednesday night isn’t going away and I’m not sure it’s going to.

Last Friday, I said:

As of now, I haven’t been this down on the Yankees since, well, what I said next last Friday:

But Swisher misplayed that ball, Jeter broke his ankle, I nearly broke down in tears in Section 230 at the Stadium and aimlessly wandered home.

After winning three of four against the Tigers, and playing well enough to have swept the series if Joe Girardi only knew Matt Daley wasn’t going to be a good idea, and then beating up on the Indians last Friday night, in my delusional Yankees mind, I thought that I prematurely wrote the column “Sign Me Up for the Second Wild Card” and thought they could make a real run at the Orioles and their then-five-game lead. But here I am, six days after beating the Indians and the Yankees haven’t won a game since. Back-to-back losses to the Indians at home followed by back-to-back blown-lead losses to the Orioles on the road and the Yankees have played themselves out of contention for the division and each night their chances at winning the second wild card fade a little more.

So yes, the last time I felt this bad about the Yankees was when Jeter got carried off the field and now the realization that Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS might have been the last time Jeter ever plays in the postseason and that the last Sunday in September in Boston might be the last time he ever plays baseball is a real possibility. The only way that Game 162 isn’t Jeter’s last game if the Yankees win at least 25 of their remaining 43 games, and even then that might not be enough.

On Wednesday night, Hal Steinbrenner tried to be his dad by saying his team “has to step it up and they know it,” in what was the emptiest of all empty gestures since everyone will be back and paid next season and everyone will keep their job even if the Yankees miss out on the postseason for the second consecutive year in a world where 33 percent of the league gets into the postseason. While Hal was busy meeting about who the next commissioner of baseball should be (and it should be anyone other than Tom Werner), his team was busy giving away another game to the first-place Orioles thanks to some more questionable decision making from Joe Girardi.

So once again, it was necessary to fill in for Michael Kay on my version of The Joe Girardi Show.

Why the sudden urgency to use Dellin Betances?
Someone must have told Girardi that last night was Game 119 of the season and there are now only 43 games left because I can’t think of another reason to explain his sudden urgency. The urgency that I have begged for and waited for all season came in the sixth inning when Girardi turned to Dellin Betances to get nine outs, something that he hasn’t done as a reliever and something that I’m happy he asked him to do. But why all of a sudden, Joe? Where was this urgency when you didn’t care about giving away games or playing with the mindset of losing battles to win the war even if you might not end up winning the war anyway? I’m ecstatic to know that you know not only what “urgency” means, but that you are now also aware of the date and how many games remain on the schedule.

Betances got the first seven of nine outs before giving up a solo home run to Jonathan Schoop. Schoop is hitting .217/.255/.349 with 11 home runs and 32 RBIs this season in 97 games. But against the Yankees, Schoop is hitting .379/.400/.862 with four home runs and 11 RBIs in just 29 at-bats. So of course the newest Yankee killer, and Orioles’ No. 8 hitter, was the one who blew Betances’ impressive outing to that point with a game-tying home run.

Maybe Girardi didn’t expect Betances to get all nine outs, but I have a hard time believing that he was going to ask Betances to get eight outs and then with Betances cruising with two outs and no one on in the eighth, that he would then call on David Robertson. So if Betances retires Schoop, he faces Nick Hundley. But Betances gives up the home run and Joe Girardi calls on Shawn Kelley to get the final two outs of the eighth inning instead of Robertson. So it’s Kelley in a now tied game, a game the Yankees had to win to have any hope of fighting for the division and to keep them from losing further ground in the second wild-card race.

Why did Shawn Kelley relieve Dellin Betances?
Before Joe Girardi calls on Shawn Kelley to relieve Dellin Betances, here is what we know about the situation: Shawn Kelley isn’t good at pitching. And really that’s all you need to know about the reliever you’re bringing in instead of the best reliever in your bullpen.

Kelley got Hundley to ground out before giving up a single to Markakis and walking Chris Davis. (Now would be a good time to bring in your best reliever, right? Wrong.) First-pitch slider to Adam Jones … ballgame over.

Kelley followed his horrendous outing by talking to the media and saying, “I think we’re looking more at the second wild-card spot. That’s a little bit better number, it’s a little more achievable at this point.”

There’s nothing quite like single-handedly destroying a game and then saying that the team is no longer playing for the division after losing to the team in the division you’re trying to catch because of your own performance.

Is David Robertson ever going to pitch again?
Today is Aug. 14. David Robertson last threw a pitch on Aug. 7 against the Tigers. He has pitched in four games in August and has thrown 57 pitches in 14 days, or 4.07 pitches per day for August. The Yankees have pitched 109 innings in August and Robertson has pitched four of those, or 3.7 percent of the Yankees’ pitched innings. Adam Warren, Chase Whitley, Shawn Kelley, David Huff and Esmil Rogers have all thrown as many or more innings than Robertson in August. But why would you want to use your best reliever more than once a week while fighting for your playoff life?

I guess Joe Girardi’s plan is to save Robertson’s arm for 2015 when he could be on a different team since he is a free agent at the end of the year, the way he saved Mariano Rivera’s arm so he could play catch with his kids for the rest of his life, or the way he is saving Derek Jeter, so he has enough energy to play on the beach and make love to Hannah Davis for the rest of his life. So while Shawn Kelley was busy destroying the Yankees’ chances at splitting two games in Baltimore, David Robertson was sitting in the bullpen, unused for the fifth game in a row.

This shouldn’t really be a surprise though when you look at the history of Girardi and the rest he has given Robertson. In 2011, David Robertson pitched 13 1/3 innings in September, appearing in only 13 of the Yankees’ 28 games. He threw 11 pitches in Game 161 on Sept. 27 to get some work and also be completely rested for the playoffs. But once the playoffs started, he continued to go unused, pitching just two innings in the five-game series loss to the Tigers. His first appearance in the series didn’t come until Game 3 on Oct. 3 (so he had five full days off). But guess who pitched in Games 1 and 2? Luis Ayala! And even Cory Wade got to pitch in Game 2 before Robertson. So Joe Girardi used Luis Ayala and Cory Wade before his rested, dominant, All-Star setup man in the playoffs. Why? Because playoff innings don’t matter the same way games in August apparently don’t matter. And with this bullpen management, games in September won’t matter either.

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 12, 2014

The Everybody Gets To Be A Yankee Once Team

Everybody gets to be a Yankee once. It’s true. Just ask current Yankees Stephen Drew and Rich Hill, who will one day get to be a part of this version of the Yankees.

On Monday night, the Yankees lost to the Orioles 11-3 in a game they once led 3-1. Two of the Yankees’ three runs scored on a play that will likely be shown between innings on stadium big screens as part of a blooper reel for the rest of time thanks to a couple of errors from the Orioles. Without those two runs, the Yankees have scored two runs in the last 29 innings. And even with those two runs, they still have only four.

If the Yankees are going to make the playoffs, they are going to need a lot of their low-risk, high-reward and rental players to step up and play above their heads, and on this Yankees team, there are a lot of those players. If Brian Cashman puts someone on the roster, Joe Girardi is going to use them, whether or not they deserve to be in the majors, let alone playing in the middle of a playoff race.

Since Cashman’s tenure as general manager of the Yankees started in 1998, he has traded for and signed a lot of former All-Stars and even Hall of Famers well past their prime looking to either hang on to their baseball careers are hoping to cash in one more time. Sometimes Cashman’s plans to squeeze one more season or half of a season or a couple of weeks out of these players worked out, but more times than not, it didn’t.

After talking with JJ of Barstool Sports New York about this concept and the idea of an Everybody Gets To Be A Yankee Once Team on a podcast, I decided to write mine out. It was a grueling process that left many worthy names off the roster. But like Herb Brooks said, “I don’t want the best players … I want the right players.” And while these weren’t the best players to have a cup of coffee with the Yankees, they were the right ones to show some of the decisions Cashman has made over the years.

The rules were that the player couldn’t have been drafted or debuted with the Yankees, they couldn’t have played in more than three seasons with the Yankees and they couldn’t be a current player (sorry Stephen Drew). So let’s take a trip down memory lane and remember 25 Yankees (13 positions players, 12 pitches), who can say they put on the pinstripes.

C – Ivan Rodriguez (2008)
The arrival of Pudge in the Bronx came with the departure of Kyle Farnsworth and tears were flowing down Farnsy’s face, devastated he wouldn’t be able to blow more games for the Yankees.

A future Hall of Fame catcher and former MVP, Rodriguez was a disaster in 33 games for the Yankees. He came over to try and solidify catcher for a team that lost Jorge Posada to a labrum injury and was shuffling a variety of names in and out of Posada’s spot, but Pudge might have been the worst of all the catchers the Yankees used in 2008, which included Jose Molina, Chad Moeller, Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart. Pudge hit .219/.257/.323 with two home runs and three RBIs in 101 plate appearances for the Yankees.

1B – Doug Mientkiewicz (2007)
Michael Kay would tell us every chance he got that Mientkiewicz played wide receiver on the same high school football team quarterbacked by Alex Rodriguez in Florida because Michael Kay doesn’t like to give any Yankees fans credit for watching multiple games in the same season.

Mientkiewicz was a 2004 World Series champion with the Red Sox, caught the last out in Game 7 of the ALCS and Game 4 of the World Series. He was supposed to bring the type of defense at first base the Yankees hadn’t had in the Jason Giambi era, but with his defense came a weak bat for a corner infield spot and a concussion and broken wrist suffered in a collision with Mike Lowell kept him out of the lineup from June 2 until Sept. 4.

2B – Tony Womack (2005)
He was the Opening Day second baseman for the Yankees, but starting on May 3 he would no longer play second base after a 22-year-old kid named Robinson Cano was called up. Womack signed a two-year, $4 million deal with the Yankees, but only lasted one season and was traded to the Reds along with cash in December. In 108 games and 351 plate appearances, he hit zero home runs as a Yankee.

3B – Kevin Youkilis (2013)
I wasn’t sure how I would feel about Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk being a Yankee, but anything that would put another dent in the Red Sox’ championships and take away from the culture that was built there in the 2000s worked for me.

Youkilis hit.219/.305/.343 in 28 games for the Yankees before being sidelined with the same back problems that caused his career to come crashing down and crated red flags for anyone looking to sign him after 2012. He got $12 million ($428,571.43 per game) to play for the Yankees and never actually played in a game on the same team as Derek Jeter.

SS – Angel Berroa (2009)
The 2003 AL Rookie of the Year, who stole the award from Hideki Matsui because some writers felt he wasn’t really a rookie just two years after thinking Ichiro was enough of a rookie to win the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year. Berroa hit .136/.174/.182 in 21 games with the Yankees and was released on July 7, 2009. Four days later he signed with the Mets, played 14 games with them and then was released after just 27 days a Met. He signed with the Dodgers for 2010, was released in spring training and signed with Giants and was released by them. Then he signed with the Diamondbacks in 2011 and was released by them.

LF – Rondell White (2002)
Rondell White could be the captain of my dad’s most hated Yankee team, if he could beat out Nick Johnson, Raul Mondesi and Nick Swisher for the title.

White played in 126 games for the ’02 Yankees and hit .240/.288/.378, numbers he could never get away with in that many games in 2014 with only 14 home runs 62 RBIs. He did homer for his only hit in three postseason at-bats in the ALDS loss to the Angels, so at least he had that. And like the right fielder on this team I have created, White resurrected his career the following year in San Diego when he was an All-Star for the only time in his 15-year career.

CF- Kenny Lofton (2004)
Ten years ago, the sports radio baseball offseason in New York was centered around who should play center field for the Yankees: Bernie Williams or Kenny Lofton? For me to even type “Bernie Williams or Kenny Lofton?” was hard enough. Imagine having to actually argue and debate that concept.

I was at Fenway Park on Friday, April 16, 2004 for the first Yankees-Red Sox game of the season. Javier Vazquez against Tim Wakefield in the first of an unusual four-game wraparound series from Friday to Monday. Vazquez gave up four first-inning runs and the Yankees lost 6-2, but what I really remember from the game was standing near the Yankees dugout during batting practice when Kenny Lofton came out of the dugout on to the field and some fans were asking him for his autograph and he pretended like he didn’t hear anyone because he’s Kenny Lofton, and Kenny Lofton is too good for that. One fan yelled, “You should sign now Kenny while people still want your autograph.” Lofton should have listened.

Lofton ended up becoming a bench player with the Yankees (83 games) and aside from his Opening Day leadoff triple in Japan, his only other highlight moment was hitting back-to-back home runs with Hideki Matsui in the bottom of the ninth inning in this game (a game in which I had to give up my tickets too LINK because I had to get stitches in my knee from playing Wiffle ball).

RF – Lance Berkman (2010)
Ah, Lance “The Dance” Berkman. I wrote a lot of words about Berkman in 2010. A lot. When the Yankees traded for him on July 31, I told my friend of the deal and he responded by asking, “We got Lance effing Berkman?!?!” I had to remind him that it was no longer 2003 and Berkman had aged seemingly overnight, hitting just .245 with 13 home runs for the Astros in 85 games. He was even worse the Pudge Rodriguez was as a Yankee, hitting just one home run in 37 games and 123 plate appearances for the 2010 Yankees.

Berkman looked like the Berkman of old against the Twins in the ALDS, but showed his age against the Rangers in the ALCS when he was asked to take over for Mark Teixeira’ torn hamstring. Of course, Berkman went on to be an All-Star in 2011, hitting .301 with 31 home runs for the Cardinals, saving their season in Game 6 of the World Series and becoming a champion for the first time, beating the same Rangers he played poorly against as a Yankee the year before.

DH – Jose Canseco (2000)
Canseco called his 37-game Yankee tenure “the worst time of his life” in the Orange County Register on March 26, 2001 and didn’t think he would even receive a ring for the World Series win over the Mets because he was barely even part of the team. The Yankees didn’t want Canseco and placed a waiver claim only to block him from going to Toronto, but Tampa Bay let him go when the Yankees placed the claim, so while he was a Yankee, he was never really wanted.

BENCH – Brian Roberts (2014)
I was all for the Brian Roberts signing thinking that now healthy he could return to at least his 2009 self and possibly overachieve in an attempt to get a chance to play somewhere else next season and continue to play baseball. Unfortunately, Roberts was every bit as bad as a 36-year-old player who hasn’t played a full season in five years should be. And on a day when he was designated for assignment, the Yankees traded Kelly Johnson for Stephen Drew and signed Martin Prado, all of which could appear on this team.

BENCH – Vernon Wells (2013)
The Yankees are paying Wells $2.4 million this season to not play for them. The Angels are paying him $18.6 million to not play for them. So $21 million this year for Vernon Wells to not play baseball? What a life. I’m not playing baseball this year either. Where’s my $21 million?

Once upon a time Wells was one a three-time Gold Glove center fielder with a power bat and a good sport about the heckling from Section 39 and the Bleacher Creatures at the Stadium. I understand why the Yankees took a chance on him last season because they needed to take a chance on a lot of players due to injuries and after hitting .301/.357/.538 with 10 home runs and 23 RBIs in 38 games through May 15, Wells hit .199/.243/.253 with one home run and 27 RBIs in 92 games through the end of the season.

When the Yankees traded for Alfonso Soriano, Wells switched from number 12 to 22. When the Yankees signed Jacoby Ellsbury, he tweeted that he would be switching his number again, except everyone but him knew he wouldn’t be wearing a number or the Yankees anymore.

BENCH – Richie Sexson (2008)
I remember Richie Sexson doing one good thing in his 22 games and 35 plate appearances with the Yankees and that is hit a grand slam off C.J. Wilson on Aug. 8 in Texas. He was released on Aug. 15.

BENCH – Kelly Stinnett (2006)
Not only did Kelly Stinnett get to be a Yankee, he got to be Randy Johnson’s personal catcher. I have always loved the idea of personal catchers the way John Flaherty also was for Johnson or Jose Molina was for A.J. Burnett. It’s one of the most ridiculous precedents to be set on a team in a given season and the Yankees set it a lot and let it carry over into the postseason a few times.

SP – Kevin Brown (2004-05)
Kevin “Game Seven” Brown. The man responsible for ruining my freshman year of college, sending me into a downward spiral and causing me to not eat for nearly a year. If I ever had a chance to talk to him in real life, I don’t even know what I would say.

I remember being in Florida with my family in 2005 and watching his May 3 start against Tampa Bay on TV. Here’s how his first inning went: single, wild pitch, single, double, out, single, double, single, single, single, out, out. Brown lost that game to fall to 0-4 with an 8.25 ERA.

In two years with the Yankees he went 14-13 with a 4.95 ERA in 35 starts. He made $31.4 million as a Yankee.

SP – Jaret Wright (2005-06)
After collapsing against the Red Sox, the Yankees decided, “We are going to sign EVERYONE!” If you had a slightly above average 2004, you were going to be a Yankee in 2005. Prior to 2004, Jaret Wright was 37-37 with a 5.68 ERA in the majors and hadn’t pitched a full season since 1999. But in 2004, Wright went 15-8 with a 3.28 ERA for the Braves in 32 starts. That classified as slightly above average, so that made Wright a Yankee for three years and $21 million.

Wright didn’t pitch from April 23, 2005 to August 15, 2005 because of injury and made just 13 starts that season going 5-5 with a 6.08 ERA. In 2006, he went 11-7 with a 4.49 ERA and never pitched more than 6 1/3 innings in 27 starts. He started Game 4 of the 2006 ALDS against the Tigers, pitching 2 2/3 innings, allowing four runs, three earned on five hits, one walk and two home runs. The Yankees lost 8-3 and were eliminated.

SP – Denny Neagle (2000)
Denny Neagle was traded from the Reds to the Yankees on July 12, 2000 in a deal headlined by Drew Henson going the other way. Neagle went 7-7 in 15 starts and 16 games for the Yankees with a 5.81 ERA. The Yankees won the 2000 ALCS in six games over Seattle and the two losses were both Neagle’s. He appeared in one game in the World Series and pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs, but he became a champion and has a ring.

Despite his time with the Yankees, the Rockies still gave him a five-year, $51 million deal after the season.

SP – Sidney Ponson (2006, 2008)
It was embarrassing enough that Ponson was a Yankee in 2006, but to bring him back in 2008 and have him round out the rotation with Darrell Rasner for the majority of the season was the most demoralizing thing Cashman had done to Yankees fans since starting the 2007 season with Carl Pavano and Kei Igawa making uo 40 pecent of the rotation.

Here is Ponson’s 2006 line with the Yankees: 16.1 IP, 26 H, 20 R, 19 ER, 7 BB, 15 K, 3 HR, 10.47 ERA, 2.020 WHIP.

In 2008, pitched in 16 games (15 starts) for the Yankees. Here was his line: 80 IP, 99 H, 53 R, 52 ER, 32 BB, 33 K, 11 HR, 5.85 ERA, 1.638 WHIP.

I think those two lines sum it up Sidney Ponson the Yankee nicely.

SP – Sergio Mitre (2009-11)
As Bald Vinny would say, “Did somebody order a meat-tray?” Unfortunately, the Yankees ordered one three times.

Mitre was a Yankee in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and the worst part is that the 2010 ALCS went six games and Mitre appeared in three of the games. If you think Joe Girardi’s bullpen management is overrated when he’s resting Dellin Betances and David Roberton in favor of David Huff and Shawn Kelley while fighting for a playoff spot, him pitching Mitre in three ALCS games might be the worst thing he has ever done and he let Luis Ayala pitch in the 2011 ALDS twice before bringing ina well-rested David Robertson.

CL – Armando Benitez (2003)
The Mets’ closer responsible for blowing Game 1 of the World Series with the walk to Paul O’Neill became a Yankee less than three years later. Traded to the Yankees from the Mets on July 16, 2003, the Yankees quickly turned around and sent Benitez to Seattle to bring Jeff Neslon back to the Yankees on Aug. 6.

Benitez only allowed two earned runs in his 9 1/3 innings as a Yankee, but did give up eight hits and six walks in that time. Insanely enough, he led the league in saves the following year in 2004 with 47 for the Marlins as an All-Star closer with a 1.29 ERA and 0.818 WHIP.

RP – Buddy Groom (2005)
One of two lefties out my pen for this team, Buddy Groom became a Yankee in 14th and final season in the league at the age of 39. He appeared in 24 games, pitching 25 2/3 innings. Lefties hit .265 against him and righties hit .339 before he was sent to Arizona at the trade deadline.

RP – Scott Erickson (2006)
In 1991, Scott Erickson was a 20-game winner, All-Star and finished second in AL Cy Young voting. In 2006, he was throwing his last pitches in the majors for the Yankees as a reliever.

Erickson appeared in nine games for the Yankees, pitching 11 1/3 innings to a 7.94 ERA and 1.765 as he walked seven and struck out just two.

RP – LaTroy Hawkins (2008)
Between being the reason for several emotional and nervous breakdowns and wearing number 21 after it hadn’t been worn since Paul O’Neill retired in 2001, LaTroy Hawkins was one of the worst things about the 2008 season. At the time he was 34 and it looked like his career was over, but it’s 2014 and Hawkins is still in the league and pitching well, which only makes me dislike him more.

RP – Chan Ho Park (2010)
Chan Ho Park blamed his 2010 Opening Night meltdown at Fenway Park on diarrhea and that should have been a sign that things weren’t going to work out. Well, actually everyone saying his numbers in Philadelphia were deceiving (and his numbers weren’t even good) should have been a sign that he wasn’t going to work out in New York for the Yankees in the AL East. Park lasted 27 games and 35 1/2 innings, which was enough time for him to give up seven home runs.

RP – Chad Qualls (2012)
A very underrated pick for the worst Yankee ever, Qualls was a bad idea from the moment I heard he had become a Yankee. Qualls somehow found his way into eight games for the 2012 Yankees. Here was his line: 7.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 6.14 ERA, 1.773 WHIP.

RP – Jesse Orosco (2003)
When Jesse Orosco made his Yankees debut on DATE, he was 46 years old. I said “46 years old.” His first pitch in the majors was in 1979 and here he was in 2003, trying to get lefties out for the Yankees. He didn’t do a very good job of it, but who could blame him? He was 46 years old! Here was his line in 15 games for the Yankees: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 6 BB, 4 K, 10.38 ERA, 2.308 WHIP.

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 8, 2014

Sign Me Up for the Second Wild Card

I haven’t been this excited about the Yankees since the moment right before Nick Swisher misplayed a ball that became a Delmon Young doubled, which led to Derek Jeter breaking his ankle on the next

I haven’t been this excited about the Yankees since the moment right before Nick Swisher misplayed a ball that became a Delmon Young doubled, which led to Derek Jeter breaking his ankle on the next play, just five pitches later. Because at that moment the Yankees had overcome a 4-0 ninth-inning deficit in Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS. But Swisher misplayed that ball, Jeter broke his ankle, I nearly broke down in tears in Section 230 at the Stadium and aimlessly wandered home. Then the 2013 season happened and the first 114 of games of the 2014 season happened. And that’s where we are now after coming off a 3-1 series win against the Tigers, but more importantly, a 3-1 series win against Max Scherzer, David Price, Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello.

Even though I’m excited about the Yankees, I’m embarrassed to say so. In the ninth inning of Thursday’s 1-0 win, John Sterling said the win could be “a great Yankee moment of the year,” and sadly, he’s right. Winning three of four games against the Tigers has been the brightest spot on a season marred by injuries and underachievers as if the 2013 season still hasn’t ended. There was a time when winning a four-game series at home against the Tigers was business as usual and the feelings I felt on Wednesday would have been feelings felt by Tigers fans if they were able to take a four-game set from the Yankees. But that’s no longer the case.

The Yankees are 60-54, six games over .500, which matches their high-water mark for the season. (Six games over .500!) Aside from last year when they were 58-56 after 114 games, it’s their worst record through 114 games since 1995 when they were 54-59. (They were 85-29 through 114 games in 1998, in case you wanted a good laugh.) So why I am excited about the second-worst Yankees team through 114 games in 20 years? The second wild card, that’s why.

When the five-team, two wild-card format was announced, I was the President of the I Hate the Second Wild Card Club. At the time (2012) the Yankees were on their way to another division title and the thought of them having to play a one-game playoff if the Orioles had caught them made me sick. I mean really sick. Like emotionally, physically and mentally sick. I spent a few hours one day on eBay looking at respirators and oxygen tanks in the event the Yankees’ 162-game grind would be decided by one nine-inning game. Luckily, I didn’t need to purchase either.

Last season, the Yankees never really made a run at leading for the second wild card and never got in legitimate striking distance of the division, so any talk of making the playoffs was me trying to tell myself that the Yankees wouldn’t miss the playoffs for the second time since 1995 the way I will be telling myself on Opening Day 2015 that Derek Jeter will be playing shortstop. But there isn’t any delusion this year. The second wild card is real and the Yankees might win it, which is exactly the opposite of what Bud Selig and Major League Baseball wanted when they made a postseason backdoor, thinking the Royals, Blue Jays, Mariners or Indians could take advantage of the additional playoff berth. And oddly enough, it’s those four teams the Yankees are jockeying for position each night with to have the opportunity to go to Anaheim for one game. So I have turned in my letter of resignation as President of the I Hate The Second Wild Card Club and as of Friday morning, I’m officially a card-carrying member of the I Love The Second Wild Card Club.

In the new postseason format, you have to really, really, really, really, really suck to not be in contention for at least the second wild card. The 2013 Yankees had Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay in the middle of the order for nearly the entire season, CC Sabathia turned in the worst season of his career, Hiroki Kuroda ran out of gas, Phil Hughes turned into Sidney Ponson and devastating injuries to Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixiera couldn’t be overcome and even still they weren’t eliminated until Game 158. If you can sit at .500 or just better for five months, you’re going to be in a September playoff race with the current playoff format and that’s what the Yankees have done.

The division is still in play with the Yankees sitting five games behind the Orioles, but with the Yankees just one game back in the loss column for the second wild card, if there is going to be postseason baseball for the Yankees, it’s likely going to result in them playing in the one-game playoff and me googling respirators again. Right now, I would sign up for the one-game playoff right now even if it meant taking the division out of play because mathematically it makes more sense.

If the Orioles play .500 baseball the rest of the season, they would finish at 89-73. The Yankees would have to go 29-19 (.604) just to tie them, which isn’t unreasonable since they are 13-7 (.650) since the break, but it’s unlikely the Orioles will play .500 baseball the rest of the season. Unless of course the Yankees could do enough damage to them in the 10 games the two teams have left against each other.

Last Friday night, I was in Boston for the Yankees series and a woman (and a Yankees fan) sitting next to my girlfriend and I at that game said to us, “The Yankees used to be such a good team and now it’s like … (shrugs her shoulders).” Sure, she was drunk and asked my girlfriend for her phone number so they could hang out and probably never heard of Brian McCann or Michael Pineda let alone Brandon McCarthy or Chris Capuano, so her baseball knowledge was that of the scalpers outside Fenway asking $100 for bleacher seats to see the 12 ½-games-back Red Sox, but she had a point. I’m not sure where the future of the Yankees is going to take me. It’s not likely to be where they took me from ages eight to 26, so they will need every postseason entrance they can get. Second wild card? Sign me up.