On the Yankees beat

Another big laugh riot. Remember the great condition that this team was in in Spring....all attributed to the great Joe Girardis directive. Then the Boot Camp ST.. Well that plan should go in the trash can along with the pitching staff and start with a new plan and new pitchers. But no that won't happen. The moron manager and brain dead GM will simply whistle past the old grave yard and talk up the guys that are in AAA and the bright future as every new player who comes up tanks in disgrace.

Yes siree this is the most entertaining team in sports history. Should be the lead act on Comic Relief!

Say Hey, laugh now, just like Mad Dog Russo who has predicted the Yanks would miss the playoffs every year for the past--what is it, now--eight years? Usually he can contain himself enough to wait until May. But April's pretty impressive for a guy calling an MLB manager of the year a "moron." Doesn't matter what you say now. Be here on Oct. 1. If you can laugh then, more power to you.

Pretty nicely timed rain delay for the O's, huh?

Though, on second thought, Joba got hit and the O's had their first momentum of the game. So I suppose you could look at it either way.

Is that Joba's first regular season earned run?

I was impressed last night at the number of O's fans in the crowd. The news down here has been that Camden Yards has been pretty empty all year and that Baltimore is expressing its frustration with Angelos and his perpetual mismanagement. But the fans really came out to counter the influx of Yanks fans last night. Every time a Yank chant went up, it seemed like the O's fans started one of their own to shout it down. Nothing mean, nothing got violent. Just good natured rooting and good fun.

Even as a New Yorker, I was glad to see that. I'd hate to have another team's fans take over Yankee stadium year in and year out. I remember in the early '90's the Carter/Molitor/Alomar Blue Jays would descend on the Stadium and a huge contingent of Dominican fans would come to root for Toronto and almost drown out the Yankee fans during some mid-week night games. This is our fourth year seeing the Yanks at Camden, and every year the O's base seemed to get smaller until last night. Baltimore's a great baseball town. Its fans showed it last night.

Boy, the grounds crew is getting jerked around by the umpiring crew and I'm actually glad they delayed it to give Joe Girardi a chance to reconsider pitching Mariano Rivera from a soaked mound!

DC Yank, aka Bleeker: I was at the game last night as well and I was very surprised at the amount of O's fans in the crowd. The "Yankees Suck" chants were as loud as I've heard them since the mid to late '90's.
The people sitting near me were a mixture of O's fans and Yankees fans and the only obnoxious person was an arrogant SOB who sat behind me and didn't shut up the whole game. He was going on and on about what a**holes Yankees fans are and when I glared at him after about an hour or so he said "sorry I've had a few beers" to which I replied "you may want to consider not drinking anymore". Then when he said something about going to get another beer his wife said "I don't think so". So he pouted the rest of the night and kept his mouth shut.

Jim,
We were lucky not to have any hugely obnoxious people around us--a Yankee fan family from NJ in our row, and some loud giggly college girls in love with Melvin Mora in front of us. There was one crazy person who shrieked a lot right behind us and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. But all in all it was a pretty happy group, beer-drinking or not. I'm really beginning to enjoy that park. I hate to say it, but it's so darn user-friendly, it's impossible not to like. Have you been to the new stadium in DC yet?

DC,
Were you in section 60 by any chance? I had a shrieker near me who was just one of those people who thought the players could actually hear her, she made me wish I had ear plugs handy.

I've been to Nationals Park, I went to the opening game there and while it is a nice stadium, in my opinion it doesn't match Camden Yards.
I love the upgraded HD scoreboard at the Yards, that is really nice. The scoreboad at Nationals Park is enormous though!

ninja my @zz ! Mikekiss@zzzzz she got put in her place and like a good pos you have as well. How pathetic she posts "anon"!

Maybe that flies with Oprah , Dr. Phil , and Rosie but no true man!

ruse is right...
The teams of the last 3 seasons have started awfully making every Yankee hater (and some pessimistic Yankee fans) to think "Man, this is the year we miss the playoffs."

And every year it works out that the Yankees play in October.
I see nothing different with this team.

As for A-Rod... yeah he's off to a bad start.
Ortiz hasn't put up hall of fame numbers either this year.

By the end of the year A-Rod and Papi will have their numbers.
And if I am not mistaken, A-Rod had big hit after big hit last season including a few off of my boys.

But then again it just goes to show you it all has to do with October.

Don't believe me?
Look at the recent debate to retire Paul O'Neill's number whose best seasons would be considered down years for A-Rod.

The discussion for O'Neill's jersey was heartfelt and some felt it deserved to be retired. Hell, poor Latroy Hawkins was booed for wearing #21.

And then A-Rod, he with 3 MVPs and two with the Yankees, gets the "No Way No How" treatment.

If it didn't happen in October, it never happened.

Who would get a bigger hand at a Yankee game?
Aaron Boone or Alex Rodriguez.

I know only one beat my boys in October!

Ant,

To answer your previous question...
I played high school baseball in California.

I wasn't very good.
I was a better football player and was a starter until I banged up my knee and shoulder.

I like football (been a Giants fan for a while now) but I love love LOVE baseball.

If I could ask anything from a genie, it would be to make me a bad ass closer a la Gossage or Fingers.

Sully,
Let me know if the genie ever answers, he's been ignoring my pleas to be the CF for the Yanks for about 28 years now. :)

BTW, the Yanks are now 9-0 on the season when their starter completes 6.0 IP and 1-10 on the season when they don't.

Starting pitching is always where it starts and ends for major league teams. It is why Joba needs to make that move to the rotation later this season.

Considering everything this team has already encountered the first 20 games, they are rather fortunate to be 10-10.

They just need to tread water for a couple more weeks and they'll be in good shape for the rest of the season.

Provided Joba can give NY 6 innings a start ,it will take him 1 month at Scranton to stretch his arm out.
Let's see right after the All-Star break until mid August Joba will be getting his starting act together at Scranton .So for a month Joba will contribute 0 to NYs pitching staff when it is clearly obvious they are leaning on him heavily right now.
All the while Girardi is going to tinker with finding a new successful setup man ? It belies logic.You base it on YOUR IDEA that it will be successful .
Having Joba as a set up guy makes it a 6 inning game when NY has a lead.
NY will bank on getting 6 inning starts out of Kennedy and Hughes leaving Joba right where he is until ST 2009.

I have a feeling if the Yanks are anywhere close to contending they will scrap the Joba to the rotation plan for this season. They cannot afford to lose him from the bullpen for a month or more.
It's a catch-22 situation. They can't afford to lose him from the pen, yet they really need to move him to the rotation to be taken seriously as a rotation, otherwise the only guy in the starting five that gives any team any concern is Pettitte. Wang isn't scaring anyone these days and the rest are too inconsistent to be considered a legit threat.

Since we don't know what Joba's effectiveness in the rotation would be at the MLB level, I'd say the Yanks should just leave him in the pen for '08. I say this as one of those who thinks the man needs to be in the rotation some day. The only way you don't move him to the rotation eventually to me is if the Yanks sign a legitimate top of the rotation starter. I thought Sabathia was the answer there but we'll see if he can come out of the tailspin he's in right now.

First off, you're putting Joba on your own timetable when you don't have any idea how long it's going to take him to stretch his arm out.

Johan Santana was stretched out at the major league level and the Yanks will probably do something similar with Joba. It can be done.

Secondly, Joba can't help this team win when he's not getting the ball in the 7th or 8th inning. Including today's game, Joba and Mo have appeared in the same game exactly four times in 20 games. How is Joba helping the team in the pen when the Yanks are down by 4-5 runs in the 7th inning?

Simply put, Joba is the best pitching talent this organization has developed in over a decade. Pitchers with his talent don't come around very often and you don’t waste that by limiting his ceiling by keeping him in the pen.

Also, Joba does have a very strong track record as a starter. He was overpowering all last season in the minors and in college. He wasn’t just good - he was overpowering. It was his dominance as a starter last season which gave him the opportunity to help the big club in the first place.

Joba made exactly two career appearances in the pen prior to his debut with the Yanks. Why in the world would anyone want to keep him there if he has the talent and makeup to be a frontline starter?

You can outslug opponents in the regular season, but you had better get your starting pitching in order for the postseason because that outslugging stuff doesn’t fly against elite teams. If not, there will be no more rings for the foreseeable future.

The problem with waiting until next season to convert him is that he'll be limited to 130-140 IP just as he is this season.

If he's moved to the rotation this season, he'll be on pace to go 170-180 IP as a full-time starter next season.

Viper ....aka small penis with a sports car...knows everything about baseball!

PLUS, this condesending member of the so called "mental health" field, disregards everything his supposed profession embracess???????????? By disrespecting other's who don't agree wit a retort of, "Did you take your meds today?"

He said Mattingly would be the next manager....quote from the limpd*ckm, "The writting is on the wall."

He sais Igawa's contract was, "Very tradeable."

He knows less about life than baseball, if that is possible?

Shorty,

I know there are a couple of words incorrectly spelled, please don't allow THAT as a possible retort to quantify your stupidity against my truths.

I rest my case.

I'm glad that to know I get under your skin so much that you feel it's necessary to hide and attack. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

You can't debate me on the argument because you don't have the mental capacity to do so.

And you're grammar is an abomination. It's nice to see 12 year olds get to play on the net too.

You're the same punk that doesn't come in here to talk baseball - it's just to attack me and people like Diane.

Puh-thetic.

Ant Colony....

I would think that even a jackass like you would be smart enough to spread out your posts instead of writing one on the next thread at 20:04 and then writing two on this thread at 21:08 and 21:14 respectively.

I guess that was just a coincidence that you and this moron wrote posts within a few minutes from each other on a Sunday night by yourself?

The above posts weren't Ant. Just some moron who always sticks up for Ant.

I love getting under your skin. It does show how pathetic you really are.

Viper,
The thing is I agree with you. I wanted Joba in the rotation out of spring training but the Yankees came up with this plan and THEY set the timetable, not me. Cashman said they would send him to the minors to stretch his arm out "for about a month".

You and I and a few others have been clamoring for a better rotation for the past year or more. I've always contended that a strong rotation leads to a rested and more effective bullpen.
The Yankees are so busy trying to preserve the few wins they are getting from their mediocre starters that they don't seem to realize how many wins they could be getting from a better rotation.

Jim A,

The thing is that the team only has Joba in the pen now because of his innings cap.

I understand that and I don't have a problem with it as long as they make the necessary switch later in the season.

BTW, here's what Hank says about the situation in the NY Times:

------------------------

With the Yankees off to a 10-10 start, and with two of their young starters struggling, the Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said there was one thing in particular he would like to change: He wants Joba Chamberlain, the Yankees’ hard-throwing setup man, to move into the rotation.

“I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now,” Steinbrenner said Sunday by telephone. “There is no question about it, you don’t have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don’t do that. You have to be an idiot to do that.”

Steinbrenner said the Yankees were working on easing Chamberlain into the rotation, but he would not be specific on a timetable. The Yankees’ brain trust had wanted to limit Chamberlain’s innings by having him spend at least part of the season in the bullpen. “The mistake was already made last year switching him to the bullpen out of panic or whatever,” Steinbrenner said. “I had no say in it last year and I wouldn’t have allowed it. That was done last year, so now we have to catch up. It has to be done on a schedule so we don’t rush him.”

Lol Shorty!

I knew all you could do was use grammar mistakes to try and cover your tracks, talk about pathetic!

2 examples were given on how you knew nothing about baseball and still you try and twist your way out of it by using grammar as a retort. You are simple and predictable, lmao!

ANY health professional would find YOUR behavior unacceptable concerning making light of people taking medication. You are a twit and hide behind the moniker "viper" to make you feel superior. When we all know you are just a needle d#ck with an inferiority complex.

I will say that you are correct concerning Joba but a broke clock is correct twice a day!

Also, I am not Anthony. Yet another thing you are wrong about, lol!