Couple of funny things from this morning:
I saw LaTroy Hawkins wearing a "Joba Rules" T-shirt, and asked him about it, whether Joba Chamberlain had given it to him. He said he bought it at the team store. Hawkins went in there to buy some stuff for his nieces and nephews, he said, and wanted a cotton T-shirt (he's not big on the Under Armour stuff they give out). He said there was nothing better than the Joba shirt.
And there are now decorations in the Mike Mussina/Phil Hughes corner of the clubhouse. Mussina is against one corner, and it's just a gray cement wall. Apparently Mussina asked Lou Cucuzza if he could get a better view. so Lou got a picture of a boat on a lake, and put a curtain valance there to make it look like a window. It's very realistic.
Comments (20)
Kat,
Love the background details, especially when hard news is slow. Thanks for including them.
Great stuff....
A major reason on why i am a huge advocate for Brian Cashman and sticking with our young guys.....
Less ego's = better chemistry
I've always thought the chemistry argument was overrated.
Winning = Chemistry
Nobody talks about how great team chemistry is when they are in the middle of a losing streak.
The Mets had great team chemistry early last season when they were clobbering the competition and had a better record than the Yanks, but not so much when they blew a 7 game lead in less than two weeks at the end of the regular season.
The same can be said about the Giants in the playoffs, but not so much in November and December.
kat
as if im not jealous of your job enough, it seems as though you are close with robbie cano. He is my absolute favorite player so please give me something good. are he and melky as much fun in person as they seem on camera?
enjoy your job, you have a good one
Looks like someone gets their information from PeteAbe's LoHud Yankees Blog!
CHRIST I'M TIRED OF THIS F$%KING SECURITY CODE
PLEASE KAT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GET RID OF IT!!
IT'S BEEN A PLAGUE ON YOUR READERSHIP!!
I CAN PERSONALLY ATTEST I'M HERE EVERYDAY!!
GO BACK AND LOOK YOURSELF.
EVER SINCE THIS MALFUNCTIONING CODE WAS INSTITUTED THERE'S BEEN ATLEAST A 40% DROP OFF IN TRAFFIC COMMENTS AND RETURNING "REGULARS"
I never used to visit other blogs EVER!!!
Viper, from my own experience of playing on baseball, basketball, and soccer teams I can not say I agree with you.
From a fans perspective (which is generated a lot from the media) I could see why you would say this. When teams are winning the media always puts a good swing on whats going on internally on a team. When teams are losing they always try and bring out the worst in what a team has been doing
Ego's cause distractions which kill chemistry. Baseball teams become better teams when the players on them get along and are motivated to work together towards a common goal. I am not saying this is the case with every team that has been good, but it definitely plays a factor in a teams success.
I agree it is much easier to get a long with your teammates when you are winning, but sometimes internal feuds in a team tear a team apart and distract them from what their main goal is.
To say players on teams "getting along" has nothing to do with winning is an absurd thing to say in my eyes. It may not be the deciding factor on whether a team wins, but it makes it certainly helps teams reach their goals when they are working together and getting along.
gandor....love me some Cano too. I think he's gonna win a batting title VERY soon. Other than Utley, there is no better pure hitter at 2B in the entire league. He's well on his way to becoming the next Jeff Kent at 2B.
Im high on the Melk man as well. Look how far he's come since his 1st callup when he couldnt field a can of corn. Now he's the starting CF for the Yanks, led all OF's in assists, is a .280 hitter, strikes out only 1 out of every 9 AB's, has stolen a dozen bases each year, drove in 73 last year...oh and he wont turn 23 until August. He has a shot at going 15/15 this year as a 22/23 year old.
Gary Matthews did hit double digits in both cats until he was 31, also the 1st year he hit over .275, also the 1st year he drove in more than 55 RBI's...how much did the Angels give Gary last year????
Keep working hard Melk...good times are ahead!
I agree, but then again I am Mr. Smarty Pants.
McCarthy - I understand what Viper is saying, but I also understand what you are saying. I was a “jock” as well...
HS - Football, Wrestling, Baseball, Track
College - Football
In sports, the difference between a winning program and a losing one isnt just the athletes, its the coaching as well. Good coaching will create an environment where chemistry can thrive. Talent will only take teams so far, its working as a single unit that differentiates winners from losers. When you get to the pro’s, the talent level is basically all the same for every sport. Sure the mega stars are better than the average player, but what makes the team great is the ability to play as one. This is where the coaching comes into play. The Yanks of the 90’s had that…there were no HR champs, no SB leaders, no batting title winners, no MVP’s, no CY young winners, no league leading strike out kings, no ERA champs…no player on the Yanks led the league in any major category aside from Mo with saves. What they had was a great mix of vets, rooks, great coaching and maybe one of the most underrated factors, no injuries. They worked as a single unit with a single minded purpose. After they lost to the Indians in the 97 playoffs ( Sandy Alomar HR blown by Mo ), they came back in the 98 season with that purpose, that fire. That momentum carried them over the 3 WS’s. Now you could be a great coach, but do nothing. Look at Torre before he came to the Yanks, he did nothing, but he had the right mix of players that fit his coaching style in 96. The players and the coaching staff were a perfect mix. Its not just the players, its not just the coach…its all those factors coming together.
That’s chemistry…
Look at the Sox last year, they were down 2-3 against the Indians. They interview Manny and he says…”who cares if we lose, this is just baseball”. If they lose the next game, Manny would have been a villain, but they won, so then he’s a hero because “he kept the Sox even keeled”???? This is where Vipers remarks make sense. If you win, then everyone ( media ) talks about how great the chemistry is/was, if you lose, they say the opposite.
The media’s idea of chemistry and the players/teams idea of chemistry is two different animals.
DRU along those lines of the chemistry argument (and the Yankees dress code) I remember when the Yankees went up 3-0 against my boys in 2004... all of the writers wrote stuff like "It just goes to show you all of the long hair, sloppiness and idiots of the Red Sox just can't compete with the professionalism and discipline of the Yankees."
Suddenly the Red Sox won the next 4 games and the story became "The Red Sox were loosey goosey and the Yankees were wound too tight."
Maybe it had to do with the fact that Keith Foulke and the Sox bullpen couldn't let up a run, Sheffield, A-Rod and Matsui stopped hitting and Kevin Brown is a moron.
Things like chemistry, momentum and team unity is overrated.
In the end, it has to do with throwing the ball, catching the ball and hitting the ball.
Bernie Williams was a calm clean cut non demonstrative classy player.
Manny Ramirez is a possibly mentally ill slob.
BOTH are amazing post season performers.
I'll never forget what John Kruk said when someone asked him about the chemistry of the 1993 NL Champ Phillies, who were slobs with long hair, ripped uniforms, big bellies and tobacco juice on their chins.
"Everyone said we won because of our chemistry and our look. But we were slobs and we got along great in 1992 and we sucked then. We just played better in 1993."
Sully...couldnt agree with you more my friend! Thats the media's version of "chemistry". Did the Sox all of a sudden band together after being destroyed in game 3 at home? Did they all go over Papi's house that night for a slumber party? There was no difference in the Sox or the Yanks "chemistry" before game 4 and after game 4.
Right on, Sully.
That's exactly my point and the 2004 ALCS is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.
The 1977-78 Yankees weren't exactly holding nightly hug-fests. They just played baseball very well.
Another good example, Jim.
If the "Bronx Zoo" taught us anything - it clearly showed this team had as many distractions and super egos in both the clubhouse and front office as any team in the last 30 years.
They won because the players on the field finally started producing after a slow start. Chemistry didn't have a damn thing to do with it.
Oops, the last post as mine.
Obviously playing the game well ultimately decides on whether a team wins or loses.
But you can not tell me that chemistry does not play a role in how well a team plays.
Everyone is right on the chemistry debate. There is more than one way to achieve success. I played on teams with great familiarity and chemistry that sometimes sucked and sometimes were great. I also played on teams of strangers where no one knew or cared that won and lost. I will say unequivocally the chances for success improve, the ability to overcome adversity increases and the experience is dramatically better in group that has grown together.
There seems to be - and yes, everything is filtered through a media vigorously doing their jobs - an underlying theme to this year's Spring Training, which makes it unlke others (or this could be construed as vigorously wishful thinking).
The sweating together - the youth influx - the coming into camps as pro athletes in shape ready to work out as a team - the personality mix - all appear to equate into a pinstripe'd Band of Brothers who are going to kick some major arse this year.
Underdawg status is fine.
Can't wait to see how the pitchers look throwing live batting practice today.
Keep those updates coming!
One thing I'm very thankful about the media is, as a boy growing up in coastal NC in the '60's and early '70's, the only source for offseason baseball info was The Sporting News at the corner store - now I don't have enough time to read everything offer'd from all the online blogs. Good Show!