On the Yankees beat

I'm not sure how many more Red Sox/Yankees games on national TV I can watch. They always assume that you are a) an idiot and b) you’ve never watched the Yankees and Red Sox before thus you get the same repeated garbage over and over again. If Wakefield is pitching you have to hear over and over what a knuckleball is, how to throw it and how it works etc, if it’s Lester you have to hear over and over about his cancer story, or if Molina is playing they wil inform you of useful tidbits like his brothers are both catchers - Benji on the Giants and Yadier on the Cardinals - as if there is a baseball fan still alive that doesn’t know that.

Good series win this weekend, even if we did have to suffer through FOX and ESPN.

Seems like most broadcasters approach certain players or stories that way.

Yankee announcers do the same thing on YES, especially Michael Kay.

We hear about Moose’s resurrection this season every time he starts.

We hear about the Joba argument of old and his move to the rotation whenever he takes the mound - especially if he pitches well.

Michael Kay also has to tell us that “Enter Sandman” is being played at the Stadium whenever Mariano Rivera comes in the game.

All broadcast teams do that. It’s not limited to national broadcasts like ESPN or FOX.

FOX, besides ahving closet red sox fans like buck and mccarver, has a littel more credability.

but ESPN is brutal. First, when they show the defensive alignment last night for the Yanks, they had "Pavano" on the mound instead of Ponson.

Jon Miller is on cloud nine the whole game. The only name he knows is "big papi". And we all know steve phillips. if he wants to give insight on making deadline moves, i'll listen. but when he states that jeter needs to be closer for double play balls, that abreu needs to be more towards the right field line, etc etc, then i tune it out.

YES excuse to be biased is simply because they are broadcasting on the Yankees network. ESPN adn FOX need to do better.

2 out of 3 is nice. Thanks Yanks !

Great series win for the Yanks, I had no faith in us winning that game last night so I wasnt really disappointed. We just need to keep winning series. Who knows, we may be able to squeeze a few more games out of the old stadium.

Now that Ive had the weekend to think about the trade, Im OK with it again. I would have preferred if the Yanks gave up the 1st package, but Im OK with Karstens and McCutchen. I really like Danny Mc, threw a couple complete game shutouts at AAA, but he's 25 ( going to be 26 this year ), and is a RHP, which the Yanks have in spades. 20 year old Zach McCallister is also a RH power pitcher who is a big kid ( 6-5 230 lbs ) with a higher upside, so there are plenty of higher upside options to take his place. When guys like McCallister, Betances, Sanchez and Brackman are ready ( all younger power RHP's ), along with Ian, Phil and Joba..plus whoever the Yanks sign in the offseason ( CC, Sheets )..where would a 26-28 year old McCutchen fit? I wish Danny boy well, he could be a nice innings eater, workhorse type of SP..much like Ohlendorf could be. Its a good deal for Pitt since they have 4 or 5 LH starters. Its a good deal for us since we have Farny and Abrue's replacements for next year, and solid pieces for this year. If both guys perform, they're young enough to stick with the team a couple years after their contracts are up.

Here are some weekend highlights from the farm, reported by Eric Schultz on mvn =

Jesus Montero was a combined 3 for 12 on the weekend, and hit his 10th home run of the season. He’s as .312/.362/.456 on the season.

Zach McAllister threw 7 innings of shutout ball on Saturday, giving up just 3 hits and no walks, and striking out 4. His ERA in Tampa is down to 2.23.

Dellin Betances was great on Friday, pitching 7 innings of 1-run ball, while striking out 7 and surrendering just 4 hits and a walk. He has just 4 walks in his last 17 innings, so maybe he is making progress on the control front.

Mark Melancon struck out 4 in 3 shutout innings, while allowing 2 hits. He lowered his ERA to 1.81 with this outing.

In other news, Phil Hughes and Carl Pavano are set to begin pitching rehab games, and will each be throwing 2 innings in the GCL soon. Also, Kei Igawa was placed on waivers when he was removed from the 40-man roster recently, and no team claimed him.

From ESPN =

========================

Cashman not optimistic about Washburn

Sunday, July 27, 2008 | Print Entry

Posted by Jerry Crasnick

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, in Cooperstown to watch the induction ceremonies for Goose Gossage and Dick Williams, didn't sound like a man who's optimistic of making another significant trade before the deadline. The Yankees have been linked to Seattle's Jarrod Washburn, but ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney now reports that the talks have stalled.

"I can only speak about the players on my team,'' Cashman said. "We've got a 25-man roster and hopefully an army of prospects behind them that we're prepared to go with right now. Unless something makes sense outside of our organization that's fair for both sides, we're going with what we've got.

"In general, I approach it that I'm never optimistic until I get a 'yes.' It's so hard to find matches with anybody in the game where you can get fair value on both sides. I'll stay engaged with everybody that's open for business. We just hope that the guys we have are healthy, continue to perform and, in the end, are good enough.''

==========

I think Cash Money is just playing some Texas Holdem with the Mariners, once the asking price goes down, I think Washedup...oops, I mean Washburn will be with the team. The Mariners are going nowhere this year and would love to dump his contract. Jarrod has been pitching well over the past month, so the M's may be trying to up the asking price. We'll know one way of another by Friday.

Hey Kat, looks like some annoying posts were removed from this thread, good stuff and thanks!

Here's something from the Seattle Times on Washburn, looks like you can teach a old dog some new tricks =

=================

TORONTO — First, he got a grip on his changeup. Then, with trade rumors swirling around him, Jarrod Washburn got a grip on himself.

In what may have been his final Mariners start, Washburn shut all trade talk from his mind and dominated the Toronto Blue Jays for eight solid innings on Sunday afternoon. By the time he was done, after just 101 pitches and with some gas left in the tank, the Mariners were cruising to a 5-1 victory and had achieved possibly a more solid trade footing from which to deal the pitcher.

Washburn used a changeup he described as "by far the best I've ever had" to keep the Blue Jays off-balance and snap Seattle's seven-game losing streak.

"To me, the toughest part was trusting the grip and throwing it like a fastball with the exact same arm speed," Washburn said after notching his fifth victory of the season in front of 33,367 fans at the Rogers Centre. "That's the biggest thing, is you try to fool the hitters by selling it with the same delivery."

Washburn admitted the continued trade rumors involving the New York Yankees were a distraction throughout Saturday evening. But he went to bed fairly confident — as his agent had yet to call — that he'd be pitching for Seattle on Sunday, then took his usual pregame nap and felt ready to go.

The results were there to see, as they've been through a two-month run that has Washburn in demand as a pitching solution that won't cost teams a ton of prospects. It was the eighth time in nine starts that Washburn allowed two earned runs or fewer.

The left-hander breezed through the Toronto lineup, allowing four hits and just a fifth-inning solo home run by John McDonald.

"I have more confidence right now in all my off-speed pitches than I've ever had," said Washburn, "which allows me to mix it up more than I have in the past. So hitting the spots with the fastball and the off-speed is just a good recipe right now. I feel I've matured a little bit as a pitcher. I'm learning the secondary pitches and getting more comfortable with them, and I feel I've really taken a step forward in my career."

Learning that changeup hasn't come easy.

"How long have I been pitching in my career?" he said with a laugh. "It's been a 14-year battle."

=================

14 years old is usually when you put a dog down, looks like he may have some bite left. Im not sure that the M's want, I heard Gardner and Justin Christian, take Gardner out of that deal and maybe slide in Matt Carson and we have a deal. Carson is hitting a solid .303 in Scranton and just turned 27 on July 1st. Im sure that wont be enough, but you never know.

Dru, how do you see Gardner fitting in with the Yanks in the future? I love his speed, but he couldn't hit a lick in the show. I know alot of guys struggle making that adjustment, but what concerns me is that this guy has absolutely no idea how to use his lower body when swinging. It boggles my mind that a professional hitter that has made it this far has such a terrible swing. I am not big on moving prospects for guys in their mid-thirties, and I know we will need OF's in the near future (I'm personally done with Melky, who absolutely refuses to learn the strike zone), but I'm not sure I see Gardner fitting in? Your thoughts....

I saw Gardner up close and personal in Spring Training this year and he is not the same guy who is playing for the big club right now. The Gardner of ST was relaxed, hitting the ball hard when he was in there and made things happen. He got a number of AB's against good pitchers so it wasn't all ML pitchers he faced. My thoughts on him are that he can and will relax and play his game and succeed in MLB, but he just needs a little more time. I wouldn't give up on him right now.

After last night's outing, do you folks think if the Yanks got Washburn he would replace Rasner or Ponson in the rotation? All we really need is Hughes to come back and be a beast! If he did and the Yanks got the Washburn who has been pitching lately (2.44 ERA or something like that over his last 8 starts or so), the rotation could be very good: Moose, Pettitte, Wash, Hughes and of course Joba. If the Yanks could hang in there and get Wang back that would be awesome but I don't see that happening.

Jim, sadly, china-doll Hughes earns the 2008 Carl Pavano award. I think Kennedy is a better bet at this point. Ponson and Rasner are really the same guy; underwhelming stuff that is easy for the hitter to pick up. Truth be told, they both need to go. I can't believe Seattle is playing hardball with the poor year they had, but I like the way Cash is dealing these days, and I think Seattle will cave when the deadline approaches.

oh and in terms of redundancy from the broadcasters, if I have to hear one more time how Robbie Cano is a second half player the TV goes on mute.

Why is it they ALWAYS assume this is the first time this year you are watching a baseball game?