On the Yankees beat

The JV doesn't look bad. Usually we see the kids one at a time surrounded by a safety net of regulars, but they're out there pretty exposed right now, so I guess this should be pretty much what they are.

Joba's not hitting his HIGH heat tonight; capping out at 94MPH. As a result, he was "hittable". At least he got through it though.

Any chance the Yanks told Joba not to dial it up as he gets his arm in shape to pitch two days in a row? I can't see him being too tired to throw his normal heat.

HYD!!

JOBA WAS DEEKING THEM!!

HAH

I hope anyway...

I was beginning to feel uncomfortable as well but that last strike was very encouraging and it helped me through what I believe was just a probable order from Torre.

They hopefully said-

"Hey Joba howyadoin...this da ting...

We wannyata pitch but we dont wannyata'PITCH...Go easy arright?"

PS...In my head Torre sounds like Tony Soprano sorry about that ;-)

Michael PTRS, you have some of the funniest in-game comments.

yeah,

thanks ;-)

Mike Jacobs
Anna Benson (I mean Chris)
Scotty Kazmir
Brian Bannister

How would they look in a Mets uniform now?

And Carlos Pena is the bomb!

And Scotty K is the K man with more K's than even Johan Santana ... a total of 239 ...

That's half as many K's as Michael PTRS struck out with the babes this past year ...

Just kidding ... he is the great Devil Dog of Manhattan!

What a great win ... win them all, win the division, beat Cleveland, the Angels and or Boston, then beat the NL patsie and this will go down as the greatest season ever.

Greatest EVER?
1927, 1939, 1956, 1961, 1978 and 1998... how soon they forget!

The JV, as they were appropriately called played well last night. What I liked was the pitching of Hughes, Joba and Veras against a good hitting club. The pitchers looked confident. This looms large down the road both in the playoffs,somewhat but in 2008.

How about Carlos Pena, I would guess that he is for real. Could you imagine him at firstbase in the stadium. Didn't we have him in ST and at AAA? Who was evaluating him, The Dancing with the Stars judges?

Hughes looked good, and the papers say that his pitches were hitting the same numbers on the YES gun as usual (98 and 88, I think it was).

In case you missed the Verducci column for SI about the reality behind certain post-season myths a couple of days ago, here's a link:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/tom_verducci/09/25/wild.card/)

Sully, how you tell real fans from bandwagon fans.

Hughes used all four of his pitches last night -- but in the past he only used two. Good Strategy maybe? to save him for the playoffs -- and not reveal all his stuff to the competition? Get him to master two pitches and then throw in the rest?

Sully: If the Yankees win, this will have been the most EXCITING season for me. Mainly because I love the involvement of the young guys. They're my age and I've met most of them while they were in the minors. Back in '96, while that was exciting, I was only 12 and 14 in '98. It wasn't my comment, but at times, I can understand it. There's been A LOT of fun this year and the fact that my blood boiled at times and things were tense only added to the excitement. I watched more games this year than any other year and attended more as well. Add in my trips to Trenton, SWB, and SI and it was really amazing.

Both the Yanks & Sox had Pena last year. Both weren't interested in keeping him around. Both made a mistake, though not one that many wouldn't have made. I mean, he was willing to sign a minor league contract with TB in the offseason. No one was knocking down his door.

Hughes has been working on those pitches on the side all year. They wanted them to be tested out. I said that it would happen a while back.

I'm not sure Joba was deeking them. I wonder if he loses a little power pitching on back to back nights. But if Tony Soprano told him what to do, excellent.

Joba did reach 98 and 99 on the gun with a few pitches to the third and fourth batters but he wasn't throwing that hard consistently and to the first couple of batters. Obviously he didn't need to. If you can get batters out with 92, why pitch 98 and use up more energy?

My bad. I meant to say, Hughes looked good, and the papers say JOBA'S PITCHES were hitting the same numbers on the YES gun as before (in contrast to what the TB board showed).

Apologies. I guess I shouldn't try to move anything from brain to keyboard at 8 in the morning.

It's okay Marianne I have a hard time moving stuff from brain to keyboard any hour of day.

ESPN article abut what Boras does for clients besides getting lots of $$$ is at http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3039348

Well then, that makes me feel better.

Thanks Marianne.

Mornin yall..

Marianne,

I share your "measured"-enthusiasm regarding "FIL'UZE"...

I agree with you, I think he looked the best he's looked all year save the "hamstring no-no" effort.

I know it's easy for us to get excited against the Dead Devil Rays when we're resting half the "VARSITY"

But I was actually very encouraged by his velocity and breaking pitches.

YEAH I JUST SAID "PITCH'ES"!!!

AS IN "PLURAL" AS IN MORE THAN A FASTBALL+CBALL!!

$hit he looked every bit as good as I remembered and maybe better?

He's got a CHANGEUP!!

I thought he did but I don't think i've seen it since May.

Whatever...

I was very happy with last night-with regard to our number 1. "Santana trade chip" AKA "YEWZZZ"(as francessa calls him)

I say that in jest of course because like most of us I'm quite fond of the lad.

Proud that he's our homegrown Yankee-ala Andy/Mo/Derek/Jorge NOMSAYIN!!!!

I'm sorry that "NOMSAYIN"(That was for Ruse and Lucy who I suspect may be in Ant's refrigerator)

Lets cut the rhetoric about what a great job JT has done this year. Even with the injuries this team, with the exception of A-Rod, played uninspired baseball in the first half and JT was embarrassingly inept at motivating them. Win or lose the man is done managing the Yankees.

I don't think any team made a mistake on Carlos Pena, he just happened to get his sh*t together after 4 or 5 years of struggling. Remember when he had a couple of really good seasons for Detroit, then he just stopped hitting? He bounced around for a while to Oakland, Yanks, Sox etc. but couldn't find his stroke and now he has. I don't blame the Yanks on this one, nobody saw this coming.

I enjoyed "Yewzz" performance last night as well as most of you. I think it will give his confidence a lift going into the post season which will be a big boost to the team.

Sully, how you tell real fans from bandwagon fans.

Posted by: NSH | September 28, 2007 8:07 AM

He doesn't know nor care just as long as he posts his rhetoric with a link to his blog. What a traffic stealing wh0re...

You need help

Anon-
I think you are wrong. Torre kept that clubhouse from coming apart and made sure nobody pointed fingers at anyone except him and when the TEAM GOT HEALTHY they played better, like they were expected to play all along.
Torre shouldn't get 100% of the blame for the bad start just as he shouldn't get all of the credit for the turnaround, but he deserves a tip of the cap. When you hear guys who have been in baseball forever like Tony Pena, Larry Bowa and even the guys who want his job (Mattingly and Girardi) saying they have never seen a better managing job then Torre has done this season, it means a little more than anything anyone on this blog can say.

But he can tell the real ones from the bandwagon, not like that nut with his great win, win all, greatest season ever s**t.

I still think Torre's best job was 2005.

They came off the 2004 collapse, and were a 4th place .500 team on July 1 and 4 games back in mid September.

They won the division not because the Red Sox collapsed (the Sox actually had a winning record in September) but because the Yankees played .800 baseball the last 5 weeks.

Torre got the Aaron Smalls and Shawn Chacons of the world to win big games. There were no phenoms coming out of the farm except Wang who came out of nowhere.

Because he won all of those pennants and World Series, people probably won't give him the credit he deserves for 2005 (Guillen won manager of the year) but if they had someone else as manager, they would have been in 4th

PTRS: WE WILL NOT TRADE HUGHES!

Seriously, it would make NO SENSE. Why give up a great, 21 year old player to get Santana for a year or a half year? Come on now. Wait Santana out and sign him next offseason. If he's on the trade market, see what MINOR LEAGUE talent we can peddle to get him.

Um..

I don't know, Hughes Your Daddy... I for one think it would be a GREAT idea to deal Hughes.

Throw in Kennedy, Joba and Wang while you are at it!

Give the front office a call, Michael PTRS!

Remember Santana's first two seasons: He had ERAs of 6.49 in 86 IP and 4.74 in 43.2 IP. He started to come around in year 3.

Did anyone else realize that he came up at 21 just like Hughes? The real difference is he spent 4 years primarily as a reliever. He started 41 games over his first 4 years (5,4,14,18), but pitched in 117 (30,15,27,45). He became a dominant starter in his 5th year at the age of 25. It wasn't even until his third year that he began to strike out more than a batter per inning.

HYD

Come on now...You're prettier than that ;-)

You KNOW DAMN WELL that Santana is going to be the holy F^%jing grail between us-the sox-the mets(WOW THEY NEED HIM!!!) LOL

I want him but for who? 6 weeks ago I could've answered this question very easily.

I hate to lose Kennedy or Hughes and Joba is off the table..

So I guess we have to hope the Mets get him or the Sox get him in a "Gange'esque" kinda thing...

Sorry Sully...

PS.

Sully you going to any of those Sox/Angels games? I think you live in LA no?

No worries... I'm the first to admit that the Gagne trade has been a cataclysmic disaster.

If I were the Yankees (and I'm not) I'd make sure there was a big hole in the payroll when Santana becomes a free agent... and you are NUTS to think he won't.

I actually live near San Francisco not LA (6 hour drive) so sadly I won't go to Disneyland to have a 1986/2004 rematch with "the Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim in Orange County off of Highway 5"

You would'nt trade him for Hughes??? / Kennedy right now??

Will the real Philip Hughes please stand up?

This whole argument would make a lot more sense to me if I knew whether the real PH is the guy who pitched the first and last times, or the guy who pitched the games in between...

One of those guys should not be traded, the other one might, maybe, could be...

BOMBER??!!!!

HAH

WHere the Phuck have you been!!

Thought you were with Ruse and Lucy ;-)

You win the fantasy league?

Seriously though...

Lets talk trade...HAH

We got killed I quit like 3 months ago!!

Look at the rookie records of Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Randy Johnson, Santana etc and see how badly they started.

Few aces hit the ground running as a cy young candidate.

But by all means... trade your young players for veterans!

Jim A -

Yes I was a Torre Basher this year and he did a good turn around due to pressure and all his bad habits being spilled to the press (pen , Favorites etc.) what he did was go against him formula and started playing who deserved to be in the lineup, once he left that formula of favorites which doomed him in last years playoff's that was a big boost.

Lets not also forget someone who i feel did a better stand up job than Torre ... CASHMAN!! ( I DESTROYED CASHMAN HARDER THAN TORRE) he said blame him , and still stuck to his ground. he stuck with the movement and along with the brain trust gave instructions to use the youth and preserve them from wear and tear. While everyone including me is saluting Torre , Brian Cashman is actually the one who deserves FULL CREDIT.

BC -

I"M SORRY

Sully says, tongue in cheek, by all means trade your young players for veterans.

I say the New York Yankees have been there, done that, wrote the book, own the rights to the tee-shirt, and sang on the original cast recording.

Now thanks to BC its another opening, another show.

Marianne

Chill!!!

YOu're gonna blow our cover!!

"YEEUEZ" is our Secret WEAPON!@!

We've just been "DEEKING" MLB with this ridiculus 91Mph fball and Cball thing....

SURPRISE BASEBALL!!!

HE ACTUALLY THROWS 95 and throws a CHG and SLD!!

MUAHAHAHHHA

MUAHHAHAAHAHAH

EVIL EMPIRE STRIKES AGAIN!!!

DEEKED EVERYBODY!!

Which is why we'd be PHUCKING NUTS to trade Hughes.

I also DO NOT want us to even talk to any of the FA outfielders unless it's to make another team pay more. No actualy signings. We have TWO VERY SOLID OF prospects, but they're young (Tabata/Jackson). Add that to Melky and we have the potential for a homegrown, dynamic OF.

Cashman is the executive of the year and quite possibly the next 10.

My bad again, Michael.

And thank you for clearing up that spelling for us. I was trying to decide whether Francesa was referring to the big green 'yews' growing around the side of his house, or was 'using' the colloquial 'youse' like in 'youse guys better shape up'.

hahahaha

Makes me think of My Cousin Vinny...what's a Yute?

LOL

The 2 Yooooothzzzzzzzz

Marianne

I agree with you about "uehezewsz"

just checked to see if any tickets for home game #1 were avalaiable and no such luck. according to ny post, yanks will most likely have their first home game on sunday, october 7th.

besides searching through scalper websites for tix, anyone have any thoughtful and effective ways to find tickets? best bet to walk around stadium prior to 1st pitch and find some tix?

(coming down from upstate NY)

I don't want to trade (Texas)Uewezes for Santana but I'd put a bow on that guy who came back in august...

if the twins said here is johan santana for phil hughes or better yet Ian Kennedy - kennedy would getting married in St- pauls

Phucker -

I don't like talking about this years past Fantasy league , All i know is this, If Keyes and Co. try that Indian selling manhattan for a dollar routine to me again I'm decking them , haha

then he wanted to ask me why I was still drafting players AFTER being eliminated..... haha just say were even now

Bomber

I can't give em both to Minny...

I can give em Hughes I guess?

I hate that decision!!

Never thought I'd say this but...

I can not at this time endorse the aquistion of Johan Santana LOL

Bomber

hah!!

You were drafting players in the playoffs that you were not in?

I wish I knew we could do that I would've helped lol

You and I were out at the AStar break...

sucked...

Did you ever let go of A-Rod?

Baumbach fleeced me!!!

I gave him "Papi" for Pettitte and Papelface....

That didn't help much.

That league was way too damn deep though I can't keep track of everybody's "journeymen"...

Sully,

California Freeway lesson #1:

You don't say "Highway 5" or "Highway anything".

You say "The 5", "The 101", "The 55" etc. :-)

They're not Highways; they're Freeways.

That is until the State of california winds up taxing those poor souls to the tune of 75% of their paychecks. Then look for toll booths on each and every Freeway.

Angel Stadium is actually off of "The 57", not "The 5".

How are ya, Sully! :-)

Anyone who thinks that Kennedy, Hughes, Joba should be traded for Santana needs to turn in their "Yankee card" now.

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!

HYD,

Mr Stats! I need a favor.

Who do you like in the NFL this weekend?

What are the rules for the picks John G.? Is this a survivor pool? If so, who else have you picked? Is this a pick-em pool? If so, straight up or against the spread? Do you have to pick all games or just 5? What's a typical "win week"? See in my league, you generally have to pick at least 12 games against the spread in any given week to win. I am in 5th place overall right now out of like 30 people, though I have not yet won a week (lost one on a tiebreaker; the points for Monday night football). As a result though, I have a strategy and like to choose 3 games every week where I think I'll be in the minority. Those are my personal "pick'em" games and are designed to, hopefully, give me the leg up.

Unfortunately, Joe Gibbs is an old man coaching in a young man's NFL and cost me this past week. I thought I had that one in the bag until he started running out the clock as soon as the second half started.

I'm in a confidence pool meaning I have to pick all of the winners for all of the games and give each game a confidence point. The game I like the most I would give the most points to which would be 16 and the game I like the least I would give 1 poin to. This would be done without the spreads.

The way the "regular" lefthanded hitters looked against Kazmir, is indicative of exactly what the Yankee problem is with facing Sabathia twice. All you posters that "wished" for Cleveland as the Yankee opponent in Rd.1, "take notice".

JOHN G-
I was going out to "The Big A" to watch the Yanks, before they finished "the 57". Katella was a mess way back then.

16 - Cowboys
15 - Chargers

Those are the easy ones. I'll get to the remainder after lunch once I've actually looked at the matchups for the rest of my picks.

I will say that my early thoughts say that I like the Steelers over the Cardinals, the Patriots over the Bengals, the Jets over the Bills, and the Colts over the Broncos, Texans over Falcons, Packers over Vikings, and Bears over Detroit. Yes, that means that I believe Dallas is THAT GOOD.

Games that I think will make the real difference:

Giants/Eagles - which version of these two teams shows up? Giants are at home though, so I have to give them the edge.
49ers/Seahawks (I'm a 49ers fan, so they get me in trouble because I always pick them)
Buccs/Panthers (who will be the Panthers QB this week?)

With lesser confidence, I like Baltimore over Cleveland, but who will be the Ravens QB? I think they lose this week or next week though (they play SF next week).
The Raiders/Dolphins game is currently giving me fits. I don't know what to make of either of those teams.

Havent had the chance to give congrats to you guys on making the playoffs (not you guys of course but your team). An interesting turn of teams as the season progressed. Its hard to say who are the pushovers and who are the stalwarts.

Should be an interesting month ahead.

HYD,

CHARGERS!!!!

I wouldnt place a reliable bet on the Chargers all year. They have under-achiever written all over them!

Thank you, Nudge.

Season of wild ups and downs, -- and it's not even over.

Who knows, the 'second season' may be just as amazing.

John G,

I classify these in 3 groups....Confident Pick....Should win.....Crap shoot

Confident:

Dallas
GB
Baltimore
NE
Indy

Should Win:

NYJ
Houston
Detroit
Carolina
Pittsburgh

Crap Shoot:

Oakland
NYG
SD
SF

Marianne,

This season has had more ups and downs than a ........well I better not finish that.

Good to see you back, even if some things are left unspoken!

Marianne,

I am still time limited but hope to pop in as much as my life (and job) permits.

Ugh... more football talk?
All anyone talks about here in the SF area is NFL... even in the middle of June!

Roy- Considering matsui and abreu didn't play, and no jeter and a-rod, and the fact that the clubhouse atmosphere has loosened up considerably, I wouldn't exactly indicate that Kazmir's performance is going to relate to how c.c. will throw and perform.

Again, your posts all year were dillusional and for the most part, off base. Not to mention, your consistent use of quotation marks prove your incoherence on this blog. So to actually find you relevent and even attempt to let soak in what you say is foolish.

I'm still laughing at how hard you pressed to get Gagne for the farm (i.e. kennedy, joba, hughes, whoever it was). And now that these kids you wanted traded away are working out for Yanks, you continually put up more nonsense.

I dont believe your recent posts of begging and hoping for the Yanks to play Anahiem really convinced anyone on this blog to consider your ideals.

The Yanks can, and will, beat anyone. Opinions and freedom of speech are warranted and an absolute in this blog, but at times I wish you didn't know how to type, to think, or even be considered a Yankee fan.

Thanks HYD. I'll give it a shot.

Roy,

You are SO RIGHT about Katella! That was a nightmare way to get to that ballpark. It was awful!!

The 57 was a godsend.

Hey Nudge!
Welcome back, my friend!

Sully,

Other than Bonds, what else is there to talk about in the bay Area other than the Niners? They won 5 championships and the Giants have none.

Sully,

How come you don't football?

Sorry, I mean don't like.

HYD,

I saw on another post that you were asking about autographs, memorabilia, etc.

The only room in the house besides the garage that I have a say in is my "Yankee Room" as my friends would say.

I have a pretty decent amount of stuff. I have a blown up picture of my wife and I with Paul O'neill, lots of autographed balls including Jeter, Cano, Mattingly, Soriano, Pete Rose. I also have some autographs of Whitey, Rizzuto, and Berra. I even got the Boss when I was down in Tampa a few years ago. I've been to ST like 4 times and have met a lot of guys. Years ago it was easy, especially at smaller camps-like when the Royals were there-One year I got Johnny Damon and most of the team to sign a ball over 2 days. I live in Bayville, NJ where Leiter is from. My mother in law actually sees his mom from time to time. He's a down to earth guy-he built a nice LL field that's basically in my back yard

Phucker -

Yes I did!! draft players

I thought We was still playing so I saw a player and drafted him , Then I noticed I was not in it. But after all the crooked trades and blocked waivers I said Forrr GETTTTT ABOOOOUT it and "scutched" them, you know watta I mean? so I guess a lil spoiler role needed to be performed

Bomber,
I did the opposite, I released almost my whole team and let the people fight for them like alligators. After Bedard and Manny got hurt my team sucked so I pulled a "Boss George" circa 1981 and turned over my roster!
I think Roy is recovering from surgery to repair his hands as he was making so many transactions that he probably went through 4 keyboards and I don't know how many brain cells.

It was fun to watch though. So is it over? Who won? Do you win anything?

Jim A,

Hell naah you win the right to jump in front of your PC and yell out I am man hear me raw! while beating your chest

It was fun for the few weeks I was in it (Contention). I realized

the trading shiesters haha

kept My AROD til the End

I used to have a top flight roster. then like the market it crashed, I made trades for cripples, (yeah I owe you Phucker) etc.

It was so sad my dog called me an idiot.

death by Mouse stranglization

HYD - First let me say I think you have the best moniker on this board. Funny as bleep. Now, I've had trouble finding the right post to make comment because we aren't always on the same page, but I love what you said about Cashman. And I agree on our pitching prospects. We finally have Chamberlain, Kennedy, and Hughes to go along with Wang; at no time do we discuss moving any of them for any reason. If we can add Santana down the road (more than) great, but this is the start of something big if we can keep them all healthy. I'm really psyched. Cashman is doing exactly what this franchise needs to the letter. He handles the criticism and we keep marching on. Nobody would love to get Santana more than I would, but not at the expense of what we are building. Well said young man.

Jim A. - We seem to agree on most everything though I don't always post. And though it shouldn't need saying we keep having to remind folks that Torre is the best man for this job all things considered. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why the big rush to run him out of town. That is just madness. I love that he is our manager and I hope he gets to stay as long as he likes.

P.S. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't need a gun to tell me when a pitcher is constantly getting into a hitter's kitchen. I knew the gun was way off as soon as Hughes starting throwing. Guns are nice as a complement to a well located heater, but worrying about what it registers in relation to whether or not a pitcher has it going on is fruitless in my opinion. Just my two cents.

John G,

I don't mind football (I'm a NY Giants fan, not a Patriots fan) but the non stop talk of it no matter what season it is drives me bonkers.

It could be I used to live in a big baseball city (NYC) and now I live in a region that is all NFL (SF area) even though the two teams have stunk the last few years and the Giants and A's in the past 8 years have combined for 8 playoff appearances.

I like playoff football, but I get bored with the hype.

I love baseball... it's on every day. Win a game on Monday? Win another one on Tuesday.

John,
I don't get it with Torre either but I've said it before and I'll say it again: Those who want to run him out of town will be wishing he was back very quickly.

Sully,
You would think that having your team in one of the nicest stadiums in MLB and your team having been in contention up until this year for the most part would get the city excited about baseball more.

The thing about Torre is that he takes an AllStar team and then UNDERACHIEVES with them year after year. His only positive is his ability to neutralize all the egos and handle the NY press well. Let's see him get the most out of these AllStars instead of the minimum!

Sully - I'm with you on the football thing. I loathe the way teams drift from city to city and the indoor/colorless stadiums. I can see why it is popular because of the 16-20 weekends tops thing and the tailgaiting, but I'm completely bored with the NFL. I won't root for the Colts, Ravens, Texans, Cardinals, Rams, Browns, Raiders or any other team that has skipped town for greener pastures. I won't root for the Lions, Vikings, or any other team that plays indoors. I'm acutely aware that this makes me seem old school and someone perceived as hanging onto baseball as the national pastime, but for me there is no other game and it's not even close. There are times when I love the NBA, but that hip check on Steve Nash last spring made me sick to my stomach. The only game not hassled by an expiring clock is baseball and it's such a page turner each year. Maybe it helps that I have spent the last 10 days of March in Tampa for the past eleven years, but I am so in love with baseball I guess I can't see the forrest for the trees any longer. I generally watch the NFL playoffs, but I really don't even care who wins. I still get aggravated when Baseball Tonight gets pushed out to accomodate football or when the game of the week is banished to ESPN2 so we can catch some early season NFL matchup. Our season is long and tough, but when it's over I just take a mental siesta on sports until February I swear. You can't beat the drama of a pennant race even if Bud Selig continues to try and ruin everything with Interleague play and the unbalanced schedule. I used to hate the Wildcard too, but now I just LOVE it ;-). I swear I would trade the DH (which I do like) for killing Interleague play and restoring the balanced schedule. Anyway, sorry I just get on these rants...I know I'm in the minority.