Yankees – Page 218 – Keefe To The City

Sep 24, 2013

At Least the 2013 Yankees Went the Distance

The Yankees aren’t going to the playoffs, but surprisingly I’m not as devastated about it as everyone thinks I would be.

It’s only fitting that J.R. Murphy struck out to end the season on Sunday. And it’s only fitting that Mark Reynolds provided the Yankees’ only run with a solo home run. And it’s only fitting that it was Zoilo Almonte’s baserunning error that cost the Yankees in the seventh inning. It’s only fitting that a 22-year-old catching prospect, the Cleveland Indians’ Opening Day designated hitter and the Yankees’ replacement outfielder’s replacement helped decide a must-win game for the 2013 Yankees.

I eliminated the Yankees back on Aug. 8 when I wrote “The Yankees’ Nightmare Season Is Over.” I wrote that column out of frustration following the three-game sweep at the hands of the White Sox, but I still believed they would find a way to reach the postseason even if it were as the lousy second wild card. They had Alex Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson back in the lineup, Alfonso Soriano back in the Bronx and Derek Jeter on his way back and 49 games left to make up the ground they lost on the 2-6 road trip to Los Angeles, San Diego and Chicago.

Since blowing leads in the ninth and 12th to the White Sox on Aug. 8, the Yankees have gone 25-18, which is actually quite impressive given their health status, but not enough to play in Bud Selig’s One-Game Playoff. They were forced into a must-win nine-game stretch to finish the season against the Giants, Rays and Astros to have somewhat of a chance at Bud Selig’s One-Game Playoff, but they failed to meet that goal in just Game 3 of 9 on Sunday, scoring one run against the Giants, who last saw .500 on June 24 (three months ago today). And the season was finally lost when last season’s World Series champion closer Sergio Romo got the 22-year-old Murphy to chase the same slider he got the Reds, Cardinals and Tigers to chase last October, but really the season was lost long before Murphy’s 13th career plate appearance.

I still don’t understand the people that refer to early-season baseball as “meaningless April and May games” or say things like, “It isn’t even the All-Star break yet.” These are probably the same people that think Bud Selig’s replay system, which will put more value on innings seven through nine than innings one through six, is a good idea. But it’s these people that are calling for Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman’s jobs on sports radio these days (their jobs aren’t on the line, but if they were, they should be called into question for reasons other than not making the playoffs this season) and flooding Twitter with rage about the Yankees not beating the Giants on Sunday or being swept by the Red Sox last weekend. But because baseball doesn’t “count” until Game 50, or Memorial Day or the All-Star break or any other made-up checkpoint or arbitrary date, I guess neither did any of the Yankees’ losses before then either.

The Yankees lost a lot of winnable games throughout the season and games that their full roster and previous Yankees teams would have won, but two series stick out the most: the four-game sweep by the Mets and the three-game sweep by the White Sox. I don’t think I need to tell you where they would be if they had won just three of those seven games or where they would be if they could have won four of the seven. Or where they would be if they had done just a little better than 1-6 in their last seven games against the Red Sox. Even with their incredible record in one-run games, the Yankees had plenty of chances to play in Bud Selig’s One-Game Playoff (thanks in large part to Toronto) and every other team vying to play in Bud Selig’s One-Game Playoff — Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Texas, Kansas City and Baltimore — all did their part in trying to help the Yankees reach the postseason for the 18th time in the last 19 seasons. The Yankees didn’t meet them half way over the last two months and now they have run out of schedule.

I don’t think the Yankees are looking at an upcoming season or seasons of embarrassment like the Red Sox endured in 2010 and 2012 (and would have continued to endure if the Dodgers didn’t bail them out) or the Mets have been enduring since their September collapses. Bud Selig’s One-Game Playoff has made sure that barely-above-average teams like the 2013 Yankees will be in contention for a postseason berth as long as they can tread water slightly above .500.

The Yankees are four games out of a playoff spot and still alive in Game 157 when they barely had a recognizable roster for the first 113 games and saw every would-be Opening Day position player miss significant time except for Robinson Cano and Ichiro Suzuki. Derek Jeter played 17 games, Mark Teixeira played 15, Alex Rodriguez 42 (so far), Kevin Youkilis 28, Curtis Granderson 55 (so far), Francisco Cervelli 17 and Travis Hafner (81). (Brett Gardner played in 145 games, but injured his oblique and would have been available in a limited role, if at all, in the playoffs.) Here are the Yankees’ current leaders by games played for each position:

C – Chris Stewart
1B – Lyle Overbay
2B – Robinson Cano
3B – Eduardo Nunez
SS – Jayson Nix
LF – Vernon Wells
CF – Brett Gardner
RF – Ichiro Suzuki
DH – Travis Hafner

Aside from the previously mentioned Murphy and Almonte, the Yankees called on David Adams, Luis Cruz, Brennan Boesch, Reid Brignac, Brendan Ryan, Chris Nelson, Brent Lillibridge, Alberto Gonzalez, Melky Mesa, Thomas Neal, Corban Joseph and the legendary Travis Ishikawa to replace first-ballot Hall of Famers, All-Stars and everyday major leaguers.

As for the rotation, CC Sabathia was shut down with a hamstring injury over the weekend, Andy Pettitte was placed on the DL in late May, David Phelps has thrown 23 pitches in September, but before then hadn’t pitched since July 4 and Michael Pineda still hasn’t thrown a pitch for the Yankees since becoming a Yankee. And even worse than any injury or terrible replacement was Phil Hughes, who might as well have been injured, with his 13 losses and 5.07 ERA on the season with still a start to go. I’m sure A.J. Burnett is wondering why I let Hughes off easy and spent hundreds of thousands of words each season on Burnett. But don’t worry, A.J.! The offseason is extra long this year and there are plenty of words to be written.

And because of the extra long offseason with no baseball in October, there will be plenty of time to look back on the 2013 season as a whole and not just how Phil Hughes did his part to ruin it. But with the Yankees four games out with six games to play and Number 42 and Number 46 making their final appearances, I thought it was necessary to look at the 2013 Yankees for taking the possibility of the postseason farther than I thought they would when they opened the season 1-4 and farther than I thought they would with the double blown save against the White Sox on Aug. 8.

Now it’s time to ask my friends who are Red Sox fans and Met fans what I’m supposed to do in October.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Sep 5, 2013

The Yankees’ Last Chance to Make a Run at the Red Sox

The Red Sox are in New York for the last time this season unless the Yankees can continue their winning ways to set up a postseason series against their rival. It’s time for an email exchange with Mike Hurley.

The Yankees are 18-8 since they played the Tigers at home starting on Aug. 9. But even with a .692 winning percentage for nearly a month, the Yankees are still 2 1/2 games out for the second wild card and eight games out in the division. Their last chance to make a run at the division starts on Thursday night in the Bronx against the Red Sox. You know what that means. An email exchange with Mike Hurley.

Keefe: It seems like we don’t do one of these for months and then all of a sudden we are doing one a week since here I am talking to you just 19 days since our last one. I guess that’s a good job by Bud Selig and the MLB schedulers for stacking Yankees-Red Sox games and not spreading them out over the six-month season. Between the scheduling, the wild-card format and the replay system, which will put more value on innings 7-9 over 1-6 because that’s logical, well I would say that Bud’s legacy will be about being an innovator and genius and not the man who watched the PED era grow and blossom under his watch. I don’t think we have to worry about him reading this though since it’s an “email exchange” and contains the word “email” and Bud has never sent an email in his life. If there’s one thing I have learned in life it’s that you can’t trust a man who’s never sent an email. And since he’s never sent an email, he’s probably never been on YouTube either since he doesn’t allow MLB videos on YouTube and if we can’t trust someone who’s never sent an email, I don’t even want to know that a grown man that has never been on YouTube exists.

Somewhere in that last paragraph I mentioned the wild-card format. The decision to have two wild cards and a one-game playoff to advance to the division series was a decision made by MLB that I was strongly against and spent thousands of words destroying in a way that I have only ever destroyed A.J. Burnett, John Tortorella, Joe Girardi, Boone Logan, Nick Johnson and Brian Cashman. But here are the Yankees just 2 1/2 games out of playing in the wild-card game in a season that had it been pre-2012 they would be five games out of the only wild-card spot. So guess what, Michael Hurley … I love the wild-card format! I love it so much that I wish there was a third wild-card team. Can we get a third wild-card team? That way the Yankees make the playoffs and the top wild-card team could play the second and third wild-card teams in a one-game playoff before the one-game playoff. More one-game playoffs! Are you with me? Who doesn’t love one-game playoffs? I know Bud does. It’s too bad he can’t remember his AOL password to sign on and read this exchange.

Hurley: The funny part about Bud (just kidding, there’s nothing funny about Bud except for his Google image results page) is that prior to last year, I’m sure adding the wild card back in ’95 would have been near the top of the list of his proudest achievements. But now he’s completely thrown that system in the garbage, even though he used to think it was great, only to force some team that otherwise would have been in the ALDS to participate in a one-game playoff against a team that otherwise would be golfing.

For comparison with other sports, a one-game playoff in MLB accounts for a 0.6 percent representation of the regular season determining a playoff series. You may say, “Well, football has one-game playoffs, and that league is pretty good,” but one NFL game accounts for a 6.25 percent representation of the regular season. That would be a 10-game series in baseball. And in hockey and basketball, a playoff series lasts between four and seven games, which is between 4.9 percent and 8.5 percent of the regular season.

And the “just win your division!” argument is for dopes. The Braves could literally play the rest of the season with each player tying one hand behind his own back and still cruise to an NL East title, while the Cubs, Cardinals and Pirates will battle like crazy to avoid the stupid one-game playoff. All three of those teams could end up winning around 93 games, which could end up being enough to win the NL East and maybe even the AL West, but JUST WIN YOUR DIVISION! Even if the schedules are imbalanced and you play 90-win teams 36 times while another division leader gets to play four of the worst teams in baseball 72 times, I don’t care, just win your division!

So, sorry about that. Did you ask me a question?

Keefe: The last time we did this was on Aug. 16 and you said this regarding the Yankees’ playoff chances:

Do I think the Yankees can outplay the Royals, Indians and Orioles from now until Sept. 29? Absolutely. The Yankees have some soft opponents on the schedule, and they’re destined by a higher power to always split their season series with the Red Sox, so it won’t take an otherworldly effort for them to gain 5 1/2 games in a month and a half.

Since then the Yankees jumped the Royals, Indians and Orioles in the standings and the only thing that is between them and a playoff game is the Rays, who have lost seven of their last 10 games and still have five games left on the West Coast before returning home to host the Red Sox. Everything is falling in to place just like you had predicted and I want to thank you for that.

But before I buy a respirator, a defibrillator, steal someone inhaler, pick up two handles of Jack Daniels and a case of Bud Heavy for a potential one-game playoff involving the Yankees, the Yankees have to do some work against the Red Sox during this four-game series at the Stadium this week. And by work I mean they need to do what they did in August 2009 in the Bronx when they swept the Red Sox and put away the AL East and changed the way that season had been going. OK, so they don’t need to sweep, but they do need to win at least three games here at home in order to keep up with the wild-card race and even slowly drag the division back in the picture.

With the Red Sox holding a 5 1/2-game lead in the division over the Rays are you at all nervous about their postseason chances or can we put the clinched “x” next to them in the standings?

Hurley: To answer your question, yes I am very smart and yes I did nail that and yes I rule.

If 2011 taught me anything, it’s that nothing’s ever clinched. Those Red Sox had a much more daunting lineup than this year’s edition, and the ’11 Sox were 1.5 games up on the Yankees and nine games up on the Rays when September began. On Sept. 6, even after the Red Sox started the month 2-4, they still had an eight-game lead over the Rays for the wild card. Obviously you know that things didn’t turn out too well for the 2011 Red Sox, so no I don’t think anything’s clinched.

Where I do think the 2013 Red Sox are worlds apart from the ’11 version is just in guts. I’m sure the real stat-driven baseball analysts would laugh if they heard that, but I didn’t see any of them calling for this team to be a World Series contender when they assembled in Fort Myers in March. It’s a team that just has guts. They never feel like they’re out of a game, they fight and claw for wins, they pull for each other and they care about winning. Obviously they still need to hit and field the ball, but that type of effort is why I don’t anticipate they find themselves in another 2011 nightmare collapse.

I do see that the Red Sox are 7-5 against the Yankees though, so Boston is due to go either 3-4 or 2-5 against the Yankees the rest of the way. That’s just fact.

Keefe: That is just fact. The season series will end 10-9 one way whether one of the two teams only plays three fielders for the rest of the games against each other.

The last time we talked we also talked about how the rivalry had grown quiet because of the turnover on the rosters and because the Red Sox had been bad for the last few seasons. Then Ryan Dempster goes and throws at A-Rod three times before finally hitting him on the fourth try. The benches cleared, but unfortunately no punches were thrown because either A-Rod knew he might be 1-on-25 or because he realized that he’s appealing a 211-game suspension and he doesn’t need to give MLB any other reason to try and keep him off the field.

A lot was made about the incident since Dempster isn’t exactly Mr. Baseball with a career of mediocrity and A-Rod’s PED use and suspension appeal didn’t have any impact on Dempster’s career or life. On top of that, Dempster plays with David Ortiz, Boston’s own PED user, and I don’t think he threw at Ortiz in any simulated games or live BP in Fort Myers. But even though Dempster didn’t display his hatred for PED users against Ortiz, that didn’t stop Ortiz from taking A-Rod’s side in the incident and saying that Dempster was out of line.

Did Dempster drilling A-Rod lead the Yankees’ comeback in the game (they were down 2-0 when he got hit)? Probably not. Dempster not being a very good pitcher was really the reason for the Yankees’ comeback, but don’t you think Dempster ended up being a joke following the whole thing when you know that going into the game he thought he was going to be a hero?

And how about Ortiz? Why say anything about what happened? And if you’re going to, why go against your teammate? Is it because Ortiz is friends with A-Rod (because he is)? Or is it because Ortiz doesn’t give an eff about what he says since he did call Boston a “sh-thole” last season, which Boston has forgotten about along with his PED use.

Hurley: Good to know the tears still haven’t dried from your face since A-Rod got hit. Wah. Ever think Dempster wasn’t taking some stand against PED users and instead just thinks, like the rest of the world, that Alex Rodriguez is a dink? I honestly don’t know how or why more pitchers don’t throw at A-Rod more often. The man essentially is involved in litigation against the league and the team that pays him $30 million per year and is on his way to becoming the biggest sociopath in sports history. I’d put one in his back every chance I got if I could throw 90 mph. (I can throw about 60 mph.)

As for Ortiz saying something stupid, that’s what he does every year. Sometimes he calls Boston a “shit hole” even though he’s never once been booed at Fenway, even when he was hitting .050 for a couple of Aprils. Sometimes in July he complains about his contract negotiations from the previous winter. Even though he ended up getting more than he wanted, he claims the process was “embarrassing.” Now, he doesn’t agree with what his teammate did, probably because he likes A-Rod as a friend but more so because he hadn’t said anything stupid this year. But because the Red Sox kept winning, and because Dempster essentially received double his suspension because the Red Sox didn’t want him to pitch, it didn’t really blow up into a huge story this year.

You sound like such a sad loser, by the way. Go back and read what you wrote. It has “sad loser” written all over it.

Keefe: I don’t care that people throw at A-Rod, I care that Dempster did for no reason and you made my point. What does A-Rod making $29 million and suing the Yankees have to do with Dempster? Is Dempster’s aunt a member of the Yankees’ legal team and has to work late now to research and go over paperwork because of A-Rod’s lawsuit? Is Ryan Dempster suddenly baseball’s sheriff for no real reason other than that he wants to be?

Before we go on … Koji Uehara hasn’t given up a run since June 30, has retired 73 of his last 80 batters, throws a splitter basically every pitch and is 38 years old. Is Koji Uehara real life?

Hurley: You continue to cry like a school child. That’s weird to me.

I don’t understand the Koji thing. I mean, I understand it, but when you watch him pitch, he hardly looks like a dominant closer might look in your mind. What’s gotten it done for him is his splitter. Jarrod Saltalamacchia was saying last week that he doesn’t even know what the splitter is going to do. It’s got a lot of movement, and it’s not always the same, so hitters have just been baffled. I don’t know how someone hasn’t gotten into one over the past few months, and I don’t know how much longer it can continue, but to answer your question, no, he’s not real life. He was the team’s fourth choice at closer, behind Joel Hanrahan, Andrew Bailey and Junichi Tazawa. I don’t think a team has ever lucked into a dominant closer quite like this before.

Keefe: Ah, the Red Sox just lucking in to more things like going to Los Angeles for a three-game series and not facing Clayton Kershaw or Zack Greinke or getting Rick Porcello in the series finale against the Tigers or even getting the Dodgers to bail them out and stopping what looked like five-plus years of more bad baseball in Boston. And now a dominant closer down the stretch that they didn’t even consider for the role earlier this season?

On Thursday night the Yankees will face Jake Peavy for the first time with the Red Sox. Peavy has been very good in five of his six starts with Boston with the exception of one clunker against the Royals on Aug. 9. The Red Sox will face Ivan Nova 2.0 who has been dominant since returning from Triple-A and was just named AL Pitcher of the Month after going 4-0 in six August starts with a 2.08 ERA. On Friday we get Andy Pettitte and Felix Doubront, on Saturday we get David Huff in what would have been Phil Hughes’ spot and John Lackey and on Sunday we get Hiroki Kuroda and Jon Lester. Sadly, CC Sabathia will miss out on the chance to put the Yankees in an early hole and blow a lead and there won’t be a Ryan Dempster reunion.

When it comes to these two teams the pitching matchups never seem to matter. The Pettitte-Doubront game will end up being the 1-0 affair and the Kuroda-Lester game will turn in a 12-10 gongshow. But even knowing that the starters don’t matter since long gone are the days of Roger Clemens-Pedro Martinez games, which matchup or matchups intrigue you this weekend?

Hurley: You’re leaving out the fact that Miguel Cabrera missed two of the three games against Boston this week. That was pretty lucky too.

I don’t know which game will be best, but what is up with Sunday’s game being at 1 p.m.? I believe there is a sport called football on at that time. I wish that game was at 4 p.m., when there’s only one good football game on, but such is life.

I’m looking forward to seeing Jake Peavy pitch in Yankee Stadium. That dude gets charged up and drops F-bombs on the mound for throwing one ball. It’s nuts. I guess I like watching guys who look like Mutant Jeremy Renners curse angrily on live TV.

Keefe: Speaking of guys you like watching, I have somehow never ask you what your obsession with Cliff Pennington is. So what is it?

Like you said, the Yankees are due to win at least four of the last seven games of the season series because that’s just how it goes. When these two teams meet for important four-game series (or five in the case of 2005), crazy things tend to happen. And with the Rays playing the Angels on Thursday and then the Mariners over the weekend, the Yankees need to win this series or even do what they did in August 2009 in the four-game series in the Bronx that changed the division and the season.

The Yankees need three or four of these games this week to keep the pressure on the Rays and to even put some pressure on the Red Sox. And if that happens I will see you (well, your inbox) next week for the final three game of the season series.

Hurley: Cliff Pennington has a rocket arm. You should see that guy throw. Best player ever. No competition. He hasn’t figured out hitting yet, but maybe in his 30s he’ll get there.

I’m rooting hard for the Red Sox because if they win three of four and send the Yankees onto a slide, that means you won’t be invading my city next weekend. And any time you can stay away from me, I’m happy.

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 20, 2013

Alex Rodriguez vs. Ryan Dempster

Ryan Dempster wanted to leave the game a hero on Sunday night in Boston, but he left the game a loser, who helped the Yankees’ playoff chances and made A-Rod out to be the good guy.

The last time the Yankees and Red Sox started a regular-season gongshow I was playing in a Wiffle ball tournament on my friend’s front lawn. I remember hearing the news and being devastated that I missed it, but not as devastated as I was a few hours later when I found out the Yankees had lost the game on a Bill Mueller walk-off home run.

I never believed that brawl turned the Red Sox season around. The Red Sox had a rotation led by Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling, the best 3-4 lineup combination in the world with David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez (two performance-enhancing drug users that the city of Boston has conveniently forgot about), a .304/.380/.477 guy leading off in Johnny Damon and a strong mix-and-match bullpen. They made a key deadline trade and won 98 games. They weren’t an underdog story and were never supposed to be one. They were built to be a juggernaut and a bench-clearing brawl didn’t make them one.

I don’t think the near-brawl on Sunday night will turn the Yankees season around. If the Yankees make the playoffs it will be because they are finally healthy for the first time this season and their lineup finally has actual Major League players in it. They will make the playoffs if CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte stop sucking. And they will make the playoffs if Phil Hughes only sucks a little. They won’t make the playoffs because Ryan Dempster wanted a picture of him and A-Rod in every bar in Boston the way the picture of A-Rod and Varitek is.

After Ryan Dempster’s first fastball sailed behind A-Rod’s legs on Sunday night, I thought it just got away from Dempster and the Fenway crowd’s cheers were an attempt to relive what happened nine years ago and make something of a nothing moment. Then the second fastball came inside on A-Rod, but not enough for him to move out of the way and I thought Dempster was just going to pitch A-Rod inside and try to get him to ground out to short or pop one up in the infield. The third fastball was more inside than the second pitch and A-Rod jumped back, but it wasn’t as much inside as the first pitch and a reason to think anything. And then there was the fourth fastball, which drilled A-Rod in the side.

Immediately following the fourth fastball, I didn’t think Ryan Dempster was trying to hit A-Rod. Why would he? Up until that hit by pitch, A-Rod had been 2-for-2 (two singles) with a walk against Dempster in his career, but that certainly wasn’t enough for Dempster to want to hit him unless A-Rod showboated on one of those two singles. And here were the Red Sox, leading the Yankees 2-0 with a chance to win the game and the series and bury the Yankees’ division chances, so why would Dempster hit him? It couldn’t possibly be because A-Rod had been suspended 211 games by Major League Baseball for performance-enhancing drugs and that he was still playing after appealing his suspension? Ryan Dempster, who has been a player rep, couldn’t possibly be against the rules that he helped create as part of the union, could he?

I didn’t immediately think that Ryan Dempster could think he is Mr. Baseball and the protector of the game. I didn’t think that the failed starter turned failed reliever turned failed closer turned average NL starter turned awful AL starter would think that it’s his duty to take a stand against PEDs and back the sport that cared less about PEDs 15 years ago than they do terrible umpiring now. But for that at-bat and I’m sure the time leading up to that at-bat when he found out he would pitch against the Yankees and A-Rod in the series, Dempster thought he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer and the face of the good guy’s in baseball and forgot that he’s the career under-.500 pitcher with the 4.87 ERA since coming to the AL last season and the only thing he’s ever led the league in is walks (2001) and earned runs (2002).

Going into Sunday night and into that first at-bat with A-Rod, Dempster undoubtedly thought he would leave Sunday night’s game as someone who did baseball a favor, a hero in Red Sox Nation, a role model for the sport and the first guy to stand up to PED users on the field. But when he left Sunday night’s game with one out in the sixth inning to the most embarrassing of Fenway Park standing ovations (and there have been plenty of them over the years) after giving up an absolute A-Bomb to A-Rod and loading the bases, Dempster hadn’t accomplished any of his goals. And when Brett Gardner smoked a three-run triple, which cleared the bases that Dempster had loaded up for Drake Britton and gave the Yankees the lead, the only thing Dempster had accomplished was opening the door for the Yankees’ division and playoff chances a little more and turning A-Rod into somewhat of a likeable figure for those who have no reason to like him.

The difference between Ryan Dempster and I is that I don’t care that A-Rod used PEDs. (This is also the difference between beat writers and I. Well, it’s not the only difference. Excessive eating, giving unnecessary stats, asking bad questions, telling corny jokes and tweeting the play-by-play of spring training games are also some differences.) I don’t care that A-Rod used PEDs, admitted to using them, said he would never use them again and then used them again. I don’t care that he might have thrown other players under the bus or that every day there’s another story connecting A-Rod to shady characters in South Florida or doctors with sketchy pasts or to lawyers better suited for a Lifetime movie or that Brian Cashman is “uncomfortable” talking to him or that his lawyers are planning to sue the Yankees. I care about the Yankees winning games and A-Rod helps them do that.

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 16, 2013

A Matter of Trust with the Yankees Rotation

It’s been weird a season for the Yankees and it’s been especially weird for the rotation, which has been shuffled when it comes to who you can and can’t trust.

It’s been a weird year. Kevin Youkilis became a Yankee; CC Sabathia got skinny; Francisco Cervelli was relied on at one point and then missed and then suspended; Derek Jeter played in his first game of the season on July 11 and then went on the disabled list twice in three weeks; the Mariners cut Shawn Kelley and he became the Yankees’ third best reliever; the Yankees traded for Vernon Wells; Lyle Overbay went from unwanted to having a starting job; Ichiro was used as the cleanup hitter; A-Rod underwent a second hip surgery in four years, appealed a 211-game suspension and returned to the lineup; Eduardo Nunez learned how to play defense; and Alfonso Soriano returned to the Yankees for the first time in nearly a decade.

But what might be weirder than any of those things is that the Yankees rotation has undergone some changes when it comes to who you can and can’t trust. Every five days when Hiroki Kuroda pitches you know the Yankees have a chance to win, but every five days when Phil Hughes pitches you hope you have plans other than to watch the Yankees.

With the Yankees needing to win just about every game from now until Game 162, the rotation is going to be trusted to give the team a chance to win every single day and not take the team out of the game before YES gives you the lineups and defensive alignments.

So here’s the current pecking order of the rotation based on level of trust and performance.

1. Number 18, Hiroki Kuroda, Number 18
It was a long, long time ago that I gave Kuroda the nickname of “Coin Flip” for never knowing what you would get from him from start to start. But that was back at the beginning of the 2012 season and the name was justified.

After losing to the Royals on May 21, 2012, Kuroda was 3-6 with a 4.56 ERA and 1.481 WHIP in his first nine starts with the Yankees. But since then, Kuroda has made 48 regular season starts and he’s 24-12 and the Yankees are 30-18 in those starts. Here’s his line since losing that game to the Royals: 321 IP, 275 H, 97 R, 94 ER, 60 BB, 243 K, 27 HR, 2.64 ERA 1.044 WHIP.

This season alone, Kuroda is 11-7 with a 2.33 ERA, but has earned a no-decision in three starts where he pitched seven shutout innings along with no-decisions in three starts where he went at least 6 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs or less. (But according to Jim Leyland he’s not an All-Star because of his wins total. Good thinking, Jim!)

Kuroda’s not an “ace” that way Sabathia is. He’s a real ace.

2. Number 47, Ivan Nova, Number 47
Pitcher A: 4 GS, 16.2 IP, 23 H, 12 R, 12 ER, 8 BB, 18 K, 1 HR, 6.61 ERA, 1.898 WHIP

Pitcher B: 8 GS, 59.0 IP, 50 H, 14 R, 14 ER, 15 BB, 57 K, 2 HR, 2.14 ERA, 1.102 WHIP

Pitcher A is Ivan Nova in April. Pitcher B is Ivan Nova in starts since returning from Triple-A on June 23.

I’m not sure what Nova did when he got sent down to Triple-A, but it worked and he’s back to the way he was in 2011 and not the way he was in 2012 or the beginning of 2013.

3. Number 46, Andy Pettitte, Number 46
His name and number still make me think that he’s the guy he was every other year of his career except for 2008, but he isn’t. For the first time, Pettitte has shown his age and is pitching like a guy who should be home with his family rather than the guy who debates whether he should be home with his family every offseason.

It would make a lot of sense if Pettitte is hurt or playing through injury because he’s looking at finishing under .500 for the first time in his career and he currently has the highest ERA (4.62) of any of his 18 seasons. He hasn’t won a game since July 11 and after two strong starts against the Rangers (6 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) and Dodgers (7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K), Pettitte was embarrassed by the White Sox (2.2 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) and needed 101 pitches to get 13 outs against the Tigers (4.1 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K).

If Pettitte were a fifth starter (which he probably should be this juncture of his career) and the Yankees had a strong hold on a playoff spot, it would be one thing, but the Yankees can’t afford to have Pettitte show his age over the last six weeks of the season because of the next guy, who has forgotten how to pitch …

4. Number 52, CC Sabathia, Number 52
Once upon a time CC was a real ace. Now he’s an “ace” the way A-Rod is a “superstar.” Sabathia won against the Angels on Tuesday for his first win since July 3 (despite doing everything he could to try and lose), evened his record up at 10-10 and even lowered his ERA from 4.72 to 4.66! $676,470.59 per start … well worth it!

At first we were made to believe that Sabathia’s diminished velocity was the reason for his struggles, but then he started throwing hard. Then we were told that his diminished weight was to blame, but that only contradicted the theories that his weight would prevent him from staying strong and pitching for a long time. Now we’re told that all of the mileage on his arm over the years, especially in recent years, is to blame for the worst season of his 13-year career. But I’m not sure any combination of velocity, weight loss and mileage is a reason for him walking six Angels from their JV team in six innings in his last start.

Sabathia is a 45-14 with a 3.31 ERA in 71 career starts in August and 31-17 with a 2.86 ERA in 64 career starts September. If he’s anything short of the guy he has been in those months for the rest of this August and this September, it won’t matter what anyone else does because the Yankees won’t make the playoffs.

5. Number 65, Phil Hughes, Number 65
Hughes has done nothing and I mean nothing to continue to deserve a rotation spot with the Yankees except have excellent luck on his side. With Michael Pineda, David Phelps and Vidal Nuno all injured, Hughes “has” to start. (I gave “has” quotations because he doesn’t “have” to start, but that’s the way Brian Ashcan and Joe Girardi rationalize things. Adam Warren could easily start in place of him.) So every five days the Yankees start Hughes no matter how awful he is or how many games he loses and he has already lost 12 games this year on an over-.500 team.

Hughes has been very bad for a very long time at this point. After Hughes’ start against the Royals on July 8, I wrote “What Is Phil Hughes? Part II” thinking that it might be one of the last starts Hughes would ever make as a Yankee with the trade deadline looming. Hughes lasted four innings against the Royals thanks to the rain as good luck and good fortune once again let Hughes stay in the rotation for another turn. But since that rain-shortened start, Hughes has started five games with this glorious line: 24 IP, 31 H, 21 R, 18 ER, 9 BB, 22 K, 7 HR, 6.75 ERA, 1.667 WHIP, including his loss on a getaway day to the Angels, a team that just wishes the season would end, on Thursday.

I’m not sure why any team would have wanted Hughes at the trade deadline like it was reported and speculated and I’m not sure why the Yankees wouldn’t have gladly given him up for anything. I mean anything. I’m talking a booklet of Frosty coupons to Wendy’s or a MetroCard with a balance of $1.80 or a scratched copy of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist or even a promise that Travis Ishikawa would have to start every game at first base for the Yankees for the rest of the season. Any other team in the league could give the Yankees who they believe to be their worst starting pitcher and I would gladly give them Hughes’ starts for the rest of the year. Just get Phil Hughes out of the rotation.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Aug 16, 2013

Yankees-Red Sox Means Something in August Once Again

The Yankees are back in Boston for a three-game series with the Red Sox and that means an email exchange with Mike Hurley.

It’s been almost a month since the Yankees and Red Sox met in the first series after the All-Star break. The Yankees opened the “second half” by going 6-12, but 5-2 since. The Red Sox started the “second half” strong, going 11-7 , but they have dropped four of their last six.

Here are the AL East standings entering the series:

And here are the AL Wild Card standings entering the series:

The Yankees can’t afford to a lose a series the rest of the way unless they plan on going on a Dodgers-like run to end the season. And as we stand now, it’s probably going to take a Dodgers-like run anyway for this team to make the postseason. Hopefully we look back at the end of the season and say that run started last weekend against the Tigers, which means it would have continued this weekend in Boston.

With the Yankees and Red Sox playing meaningful games in August for the first time since 2011, it means a mandatory email exchange with Mike Hurley from CBS Boston.

Keefe: Hey Michael F. Hurley, I’m writing to you for the first time since July 19 because the Yankees are back in Boston this weekend for a three-game series. I’m not sure if you’re still at the candlelight vigil you held last night for Tom Brady in the Boston Common, or if you’re sleeping because you got back from the vigil late, but don’t worry Tom Brady is going to make it. He might even play in a meaningless preseason game on Friday because that’s a really good idea. Before we get into it, I have one question for you: That was you offering the shocked and stunning, “OH NO!” in the Brady practice video, wasn’t it?

Right now the Yankees actually look like the Yankees. The Makeshift Yankees have slowly dwindled away and now real, actual baseball players are playing for the most storied franchise in major sports. Alfonso Soriano, Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez have replaced the likes of Thomas Neal, Luis Cruz, Alberto Gonzalez, Corban Joseph and David Adams and thankfully Lyle Overbay is hitting eighth in a lineup that he used to hit cleanup in and for some reason the Yankees have won five of their last seven games. It’s really weird how you can win games when household names are playing for your team and not a handful of guys who are going to have to get 9-5 jobs in the very near future. The problem is you can’t have the future 9-5 players in the lineup for the first 113 games of the season and think you’re going to make the playoffs unless you plan on going on Dodgers-like run over the last six weeks of the season.

So with a team that very closely resembles the 95-win Yankees of a year ago and not the Makeshift Yankees of the first 113 games of the season, are you at all nervous about this series, the nine games the two teams have left against each other or the final six weeks of the season?

Hurley: If I had been within 15 feet of that video of Brady going down, it would not have been usable for the local news programs, because the words that would have come out of my mouth would have been much worse than “Oh no.” The bleep man in the edit bay would have had to work overtime to get that thing on TV.

I am personally glad that the Yankees are the Yankees again, because I’m telling you, Corban Joseph is the best pizza delivery man I’ve ever had. Always on time, pizza’s always hot. Love it.

To answer your question, no, I’m not nervous. I never get nervous. I’m not a psychopath like you, for one, and second, no season has ever been decided by a Fenway series in August. Well, except the 2006 season. But that never happened as far as I’m concerned.

As far as the Yankees go, I feel comfortable saying the division is out of reach for them, but thanks to Bud Selig’s Big Top Circus rules, the wild card is absolutely in play. Do I think the Yankees can outplay the Royals, Indians and Orioles from now until Sept. 29? Absolutely. The Yankees have some soft opponents on the schedule, and they’re destined by a higher power to always split their season series with the Red Sox, so it won’t take an otherworldly effort for them to gain 5 1/2 games in a month and a half.

Pretty bold, by the way, to brazenly joke around with Tom Brady’s career like that, while your captain is still hobbling around on one leg. You’re pretty much daring the karma gods with talk like that.

Keefe: I’m not joking around with Tom Brady. I want Tom Brady to be healthy and playing football because football is better when Tom Brady is playing, which is also why you should want Derek Jeter to be healthy because baseball is better when he is playing. If Tom Brady doesn’t play then which team am I stupidly going to put into my parlays and teasers to ruin my Sunday if I don’t pick the Patriots?

I was pretty down on the Yankees, and rightfully so, after their three-game sweep at the hands of the last-place White Sox and their 2-6 road trip that left looking at a mathematical impossibility to make the playoffs. But with this recent four-game winning streak and you sending me links to 1999 ALCS games, it has me longing for postseason baseball and I can’t be without it again the way I was in 2008.

You mentioned Bud Selig’s great invention of the second wild card, which I was strongly against and the only person more against it than me was you. But if the Yankees can sneak in the playoffs thanks to Major League Baseball’s ridiculous postseason format after this disastrous and injury-plagued season then I’m all for a second wild card! Maybe in 2014 we will see a third and fourth wild card since it looks like we are going to get a challenge system in baseball. Where do you think Joe Girardi is going to keep his challenge flags?

Hurley: I’m hoping that MLB does expand to three and four wild-card teams, but instead of a one-game playoff, they all fly to Omaha and play three-inning high stakes games at Rosenblatt Stadium. If they’re tied after three innings, the pitchers have to sumo wrestle on the mound before the second basemen have to compete in a two-pitch home run derby. If it’s still tied, the managers compete to see how much dip they can fit in their mouths. First one to puke loses. Winner moves on to face the regular wild-card winner. Does Bud read your site? If so, I expect this to be put in place in time for October.

Don’t get me wrong, I watch the one-game playoff, and it’ll be “exciting!” and all of that, but it just completely destroys the regular season. A team plays for 162 games and might have the second-best record in the American League, but because it’s not based in California, it has to put its entire season on the line in a nine-inning showdown with a team that might be nine games worse. It’s absolutely ridiculous. This year, the two NL wild cards could come out of the Central, and both could end up with better records than the eventual NL East-champion Braves. But hey, just win your division!

I won’t crush the proposed replay changes like everyone else seems to be, though. As you know, my dream job in life is to work in NHL headquarters, eating a dozen donuts and fielding calls from NHL arenas, with referees asking me, “Hey, Mikey, how’zitgoin up there, eh? Yeah well ahh, look it dere ahh, is that a goal?” Then I’d say, “Ahh, Billy that’s no goal.” And then the ref would say “Allllrighty, Mikey, thanks a lot dere have a good night.” And then I’ll say “OK dere, Billy, will do now.” Then I’d wolf down three glazed donuts and a cruller.

Well, if MLB institutes the same concept, that doubles my chances of one day landing my dream job, albeit one without the great Canadian accents and Tim Horton’s. But hey, beggars can’t be choosers. Bring on the replay system.

Keefe: My favorite thing about the new replay system is that managers get one challenge in the first six innings and then two from the seventh inning on because as you know, the first six innings of the game aren’t as important as the last three innings, just like MLB games in April don’t count the same as games in September.

But as we embark on a stretch run in which the Yankees will have to make a serious push to avoid missing the postseason for the first time since 2008 and the Red Sox will have to hold their ground to reach the postseason for the first time since 2009, our previous discussions about the 1999 ALCS made me think: Is the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry dead or just in a coma? Sure, I hate the Red Sox as much as I did 14 years ago and I’m sure you don’t like the Yankees anymore than you did when Roger Clemens became one, but it just feels so blah lately when it comes to the overall perception of the rivalry.

Obviously the difference in records of the teams over the last four years and their lack of a postseason series in nine years is also part of it, but I think the main thing is the difference in the rosters. Once Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and David Ortiz retire, what are we supposed to do? Should we just pretend that Robinson Cano and Dustin Pedroia hate each other? Johnny Gomes and Mike Napoli have no history in the rivalry other than their disgusting beards and overall lack of hygiene and being slobs, I don’t fear John Lackey or Ryan Dempster and actually enjoy when they pitch against the Yankees and Jon Lester hasn’t been good since 2011 and hasn’t been really good since 2010. Who am I supposed to get angry about?!?! I guess I can manufacture some anger toward Stephen Drew for being related to J.D. Drew the same way I have for Jered Weaver, but that’s all I got. Any suggestions?

Hurley: Yeah, no, things are bleak in the rivalry department. You make good points about the slobbery of some Red Sox, but gone too are the days of absolute jerks like Gary Sheffield or Raul Mondesi or that psycho Tanyon Sturtze or Roger Clemens in his, um, bigger and stronger days but according to the government not his steroid days. It was just so easy back then. You had old men charging professional athletes and getting tossed aside and bouncing around like a Weeble who has somehow managed to fall down. Those were good days.

Now? Everyone in Boston came around on Jeter probably after 2007, when enough Red Sox fans were satisfied with two championships to finally accept Jeter’s greatness. A-Rod is a stooge but even New York doesn’t like him anymore. Cano hits bombs, drops his bat so that it lands flat without bouncing, and then moonwalks his way to first base. If that upsets you, you’re a strange fellow. Curtis Granderson is baseball’s good guy. Brett Gardner is like a faster, less, um, big, version of Trot Nixon. CC is fading away, Phil Hughes is terrible, and if you’re rooting against Mariano this year, you should be checked into an institution.

So yeah, the rivalry is dormant, but it’s not dead. You must know this about me by now, but when I was a kid, like maybe 8 or 9 years old, I bought a Yankees hat for $5 on the street outside Fenway. I don’t know why. I didn’t like the Yankees. But it was somehow acceptable to not just sell a Yankees hat outside Fenway, but to wear it too, and nobody seemed to care. That would have been unfathomable from 1999-2009. So it’s just a down period. It will be back. I hope. It’s hard to have a real rivalry with Tampa Bay, when half of the Rays’ stadium is full of Red Sox fans.

Keefe: The last time these two teams met the Yankees lost two of three games right after the All-Star break, including the Sunday Night Baseball disaster, which they had plenty of opportunities to win. This is the last time the teams will meet until after Labor Day and on the same day of the first game of the NFL season, which I’m sure you have a countdown calendar or clock somewhere on your desk or in your house. And if I know you, you have spent a good 30-40 hours on fantasy football draft preparation.

Starting on Friday, the Yankees and Red Sox will meet nine more times this season and six of those games will be at Fenway Park. I think it’s going to take at least six wins from the Yankees in those nine games to have a chance at coming back in the division or to make a run at the wild card. And with Phil Hughes having pitched on Sunday in the Bronx, and losing his 12th game of the season in the process, he won’t be starting during the weekend series, so we’re already off to a good start.

I’m going to take the Yankees for two out of three this weekend because they have to if they want to play a 163rd game this season. The next time we do an email exchange it will be September. Let’s hope the games mean something, so the exchange means something.

Hurley: I hate it. It’s the worst. I like real football.

With regard to this series, I won’t pretend to know what’s going to happen. From a Yankees perspective, you have to like getting Doubront, Dempster and Lackey … but do you really? They might all be better than Peavy and Lester this year, so who knows. I do know the Yankees are due to pick up some wins, considering they’re 3-6 vs. Boston this year and, as previously mentioned, they are preternaturally controlled by a higher power to split the season series. So you’re probably right about that.

From a Red Sox perspective, well, it’s a good thing Adrian Gonzalez isn’t around anymore. The Sox and Yankees play on Sunday Night Baseball. Last time that happened, it was midnight at the end of nine innings and it was something like 1:15 a.m. when Napoli hit that walk-off homer (somehow the place was still full, which was incredible), so you know this one’s going late again. Then the Red Sox have to fly all the way to San Francisco to play on Monday. Adrian would be getting cold sweats just thinking about that schedule, but that’s the difference between the Red Sox of old and the Red Sox of this year.

And to your last statement, if you think these exchanges ever mean anything, then you’re crazier than I ever thought.