Insult To Injury

We all held our breath when we saw Mariano Rivera hit the ground in Kansas City last year. Then A-Rod needed surgery. Then Jeter broke his ankle. Our faces turned blue. Then Teixeira hurt his wrist. And then Granderson got hit by a pitch. And then we all passed out due to lack of oxygen. At least the NY Yankees can joke about it, as witnessed in KC this weekend. Even Mo can laugh about it now.

Mo has the last laugh at the spot of his injury in KC.

But is it just me or are there more injuries in baseball than ever before? I’m not just talking about broken bones–fluke injuries due to being hit by a pitch or crashing into an outfield wall. I’m talking about the weird injuries like the one that happened to Nunez. Pulling a muscle near the ribs while taking practice swings in the on-deck circle? ARE YOU SERIOUS, DUDE? I can pull a muscle springing out of bed to answer a late-night phone call, but I’m almost fifty! Nunez is only 25!!!

Suzyn Waldman on the radio broadcast went off the handle when Nunie was replaced in that game. What is wrong with players today? Her answer was that too many players are in the weight room too often, during the season AND the off-season. And that leads to stress on the body. (Hmmm…could it also be the use of steroids in the weight room as well?) Waldman and Sterling went on to reminisce about all the ballplayers who were definitely not bench-pressing anything except beers after the game. David Wells, who never cared about muscles, was quoted as saying “You can’t pull fat.” Maybe there is something to that. If anyone out there has any answers or possible reasons for the huge list of injuries around the league, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. I’ll check the comments section after I ice my wrists after all this typing.

It gets late early out there.

–Scooter

Cashman for MVP

“How do you like me so far?

Well, we’ve played a month of baseball and, I must say, I’m pleasantly surprised. If you look at the AL East standings, it’s completely flipped. Toronto was supposed to be in first, not last, place. And the Red Sox were expected to be in the basement. As a matter of fact, it looks like we’ve gone back in time to the early 2000s. Red Sox and Yankees at the top of the division; ah, seems like old times.

Except that this is quite a different Yankee team. A-Rod, Jeter, Granderson, and Teixeira are all still injured, but the Yankees have plugged the holes in the boat with capable players—a bottom of the bin roster that has a whole lotta heart. And I think we all know who deserves a lot of the credit–Brian Cashman, the wheelin’ and dealin’ Yankee GM. He’s glued together a group of players who have been able to competently compete, winning 16 out of 26 games in April. (Granted, half the time I can’t figure out who’s batting next, but that’s Girardi’s job anyway). Cashman got us capable players, some at the eleventh hour, and they’ve managed to adopt that “never give up” attitude. Reporter Mark Feinsand during the offseason tweeted “Cashman said NYY could look at a pool of 1B or 3B thanks to Youkilis’ versatility: ‘It’s kind of like a baby pool. A lot of kids pee in it.’” Well, Cashman got what we needed before the pool closed. When you think of the NY Yankees, the first names that come to mind are not Hafner, Overbay, Wells, and Youkilis. But they are taking their pinstripes seriously and the results show it.

These guys have done more than just keep the boat afloat until the regulars come back. They’ve found ways to win and they’ve also backed up our good-but could-be-better rotation. In the pitching realm, we’ve had some excellent outings, some gutty performances, and some really-just-plain-awful innings. Yet our offense has found a way to battle back, even if we’re down by three runs after the second inning. Yeah, I know, it’s still early, but this bunch of guys has given us hope. Yankee fans can breathe a little easier as we await the return of the injured. We don’t know how long it’s going to take for this team to look like they’re supposed to, but in the meantime one tradition is staying alive: the pride of the pinstripes.

It gets late early out there.
–Scooter

Getting Back to Normal

When two bombs go off right next to your wife’s office building near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, many questions fly through your mind. However, one of them is not “Who’s batting clean-up for the Yanks tonight?” When pictures surface of two men suspected of terrorism in Boston, your first thought is not “I hope Derek Jeter’s ankle heals faster than expected.” When one suspect is killed and the other is caught in a neighboring town, you breathe a sigh of relief and completely forget about baseball.

It’s been a tough week for us in Boston, but it looks like we can at least start thinking about returning to normal. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone around the world for all of your thoughts and prayers during this extreme situation. The city of Boston greatly appreciated the classy move of the New York Yankees—who would have thought that you would ever hear “Sweet Caroline” at the Stadium?? I was proud to be a Yankee fan AND a Boston resident at the same time! And that seldom happens! Hopefully, in the next few days, I can open up a newspaper and turn to the Sports section first, instead of scanning the front page with baited breath.

It gets late early out there.
Again, thanks for the support,
Scooter

4-6-5-6-5-3-4

4-6-5-6-5-3-4. No, that’s not the combination to my bike lock in elementary school (although it is eerily close). That’s the box score of the triple play that the Yankees pulled off last night. And if you haven’t seen it, you should (http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?topic_id=11493214&content_id=26230559). Not only is it a weird play that stopped Baltimore dead in its tracks, but it emotionally ignited an infield that is still getting used to playing together. Could it be the traceable bonding event that turns this motley crew into the New York Yankees? Only time will tell.

But after last night’s win, there is one thing that I do know with certainty: Never blow a bubblegum bubble when trying to catch a flyball in center field. You should check this one out as well. http://i.imgur.com/4LdFxfa.gif (from DERP over at River Avenue Blues)
Oriole outfielder Adam Jones will never do that again. He proved the classic “never walk and chew gum at the same time” theory, as the Yankees scored three runs on his error. Jones even poked himself in the eye during spring training when he tried to rub his belly and pat his head simultaneously. It will be interesting to see if Jones continues his chewing gum habit in the remaining games of the series. In any event, let’s hope the Yanks’ bubble doesn’t burst (couldn’t resist) and they continue this winning streak.

And speaking of streaks, one streak that you might not know about came to a whimpering end this week. The Boston Red Sox had a humongous sell-out streak going over at their dumpy Fenway Park. It started on May 15, 2003 (which was a great year—thank you, Aaron Boone!) and went 794 regular season games, 820 if you include the postseason. For one thing, it helps if your rickety stadium only seats around 37,000. (I believe Yankee Stadium holds at least 51,000.) The Red Sox home attendance streak should have ended last season, when their players cared more about fried chicken and beer instead of performance; their fans were fed up. But it was allowed to continue because the Sox management considers attendance as all tickets distributed, instead of actual turnstile counts. All tickets distributed? Really? If you go by that logic, I could sell out a performance of me playing my daughter’s old recorder at Madison Square Garden, just by handing out tickets at Times Square. Selling out games is important from a revenue perspective, but it’s not more important than actually winning the games, which is the perspective of the fans.

It gets late early out there.

__Scooter

Pettitte Uses the Force

Well, we’ve been through the opening week of the baseball season. There have been some cold nights where the players were dressed up like alien bank robbers. And there have been some picture-perfect day games. But what have we learned about the Yankees? It seems that the thing we were most certain about—the pitching—has been shaky. And the hitting, which was a big unknown, has slowly become a nice surprise. We are getting extra-base hits and even home runs, but our pitchers have been very inconsistent. And the best game we had (the third game against the Red Sox) felt like we’d taken a time machine back a decade where Andy Pettitte and Mo teamed up for a very solid pitching display. This was the 69th time that Pettitte has won a game with Mo finishing it. Crazy stat #1.

(Andy Wan Kenobi from Brad V. over at his super Yankee blog “An A-Blog for A-Rod”)
Pettitte may be a gazillion years old, but he stills knows how to pitch. He got a number of double-play balls to stop the Red Sox in their tracks. And he did four important things that all the other Yankee starters have failed to do: 1) get an out when the batter has two strikes, 2) prevent any two out rallies, 3) limit the number of walks, and 4) bring a lightsaber to a fist fight. He has said previously that he shouldn’t need more than fifteen pitches an inning to be successful. And with 8 innings of work with 94 pitches, he did even better. Pettitte used the force and kept the Yankees from being swept at home. (He’s now 18-3 when pitching in a game to prevent the Yankees from being swept. Crazy stat #2.)
As I write this, I’m listening to CC pitch a great game against Detroit. Perhaps he took some notes during Pettitte’s start. Whatever the reason, it’s looking good that the Yanks will not get swept by the Tigers. So hopefully, the hitting and the pitching will start to get in sync, because if we only win every third game… we end up with a losing record in last place. And that would be a very bad crazy stat #3.

It gets late early out there.

–Scooter

Not the NY Yankees?

The Yankees open their season Monday against the Red Sox in New York City. And it’s only fitting that it is April Fool’s Day when you take a look at the projected lineup. But before we do that, a little bit of back story.
Last year when A-Rod broke his hand, I was the only member in my family who was paying attention (see my blog post http://lifebehindenemylines.wordpress.com/2012/07/). Eric Chavez started to take over the third base position. But my kids thought A-Rod was still playing. So when we were listening to the game one night (yes, listening on the old-fashioned radio) and John Sterling announces that Chavez is playing third, my oldest daughter says “Who’s playing third?” And her younger sister answers, “Well, it’s not A-Rod.” And ever since that night, we have called Chavez Not-A-Rod. “Nice throw to first, Not A-Rod!” “C’mon, Not-A-Rod. Time to get a hit!”
So with that in mind, may I present the projected lineup for the Yankees on Opening Day:
1. CF: Not-Granderson
2. RF: Not-Swisher
3. 2B: Robinson Cano
4. 1B: Not-Teixeira
5. DH: Not-Ibanez
6. LF: Not-Jones
7. SS: Not-Jeter
8. 3B: Not A-Rod
9. C: Not-Martin
SP: CC Sabathia

Okay, okay, I took a little liberty and actually there are players in the line-up who played for the Yanks last year, either in back-up positions or as mid-season replacements. And there are some veterans as well, so it’s not a complete crapshoot. It really looks like this:
1. CF: Brett Gardner
2. RF: Ichiro Suzuki
3. 2B: Robinson Cano
4. 1B: Kevin Youkilis
5. DH: Ben Francisco
6. LF: Vernon Wells
7. SS: Eduardo Nunez
8. 3B: Jayson Nix
9. C: Chris Stewart
SP: CC Sabathia

And we’d better get used to it. It’s not as strong as we’d hoped, but this is what we have at the moment. It will hopefully only get better as the season rolls along. Yet, this doesn’t mean that we toss in the hat. Hell, no, we’re Yankee fans and we’ll stay until the ballgame is over. None of this ducking out of the game in the seventh inning to beat the traffic. We’re sticking it out until the final out, regardless of the names on the DL. Who’s with me?!? Let’s go, Yankees!

It gets late early out there.

–Scooter

Got Questions?

“Questions, questions, questions? No questions? Then everybody take out a piece of paper and something to write with. Time for a quiz.” Way back in my high school American History class this is how my teacher (good ol’ Mr. Ryan) would surprise us with a pop-quiz. And this is exactly what Derek Jeter said the other day. No more opportunities for questions about the ankle—it’s time to start playing instead of talking. But it’s so hard to get all those questions out of your head. And believe me, the Yankees have more questions than the fourth season of “Lost.”

How strong is Jeter’s ankle? What about these headaches that Mo is having? Granderson’s rehab? A-Rod’s possible steroid use? Teixeira’s tendon sheath? How will Hughes pitch in a real game? Cano’s contract? Can Chien-Ming Wang play first base? Will Youkilis remember that he’s a Yankee now? Do the Yankees get a group discount on surgeries performed before Opening Day? And oh, so many more. It boggles the mind.

It’s only right that we would have questions at this time of year anyway because it’s Passover. And if you’re not familiar with the Jewish tradition, during the Seder dinner, four questions are asked about why this night is different than all other nights. Perhaps you haven’t heard that Brian Cashman has changed the questions this year for all Yankee fans of the Jewish faith.

The Four Questions:
1) Why is this night different from most other nights? Because this evening we are not playing a baseball game which means that no one can get injured.
2) Why do we let Red Sox Nation eat bitter herbs? To remind them of the bitterness of this rivalry and how misery will always find them.
3) Why is the number 56 carved into the brisket? To commemorate Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak–a record that will never be broken.
4) Why is Mariano Rivera allowed to recline on this night? He’s the greatest closer of all time–he can do whatever he wants.

Amen and let’s finally play ball!

It gets late early out there.
–scooter

Personal Mo-ment

As the announcement of Mariano Rivera’s retirement finally sinks in, everyone will be writing about their greatest memories of the greatest closer in the months to come. And I mean EVERYONE. The new Pope Francis will talk to the masses about how the kind Mariano was a gift from God. Peggy Noonan will write how the economy benefitted when Mo pitched. Adele will be doing a cover of “Enter Sandman” just in time for the All-Star break. So I figured I’d join the bandwagon. A Yankee event like this isn’t going to happen again…well, until Derek Jeter retires.

Rivera has pitched in a boatload of games and he’s been a part of many fantastic finishes (and a few not-so-fantastic). But my ode to Mo is going to be about a Red Sox-Yankee game from 2001. A friend of mine had four tickets for an afternoon game at Fenway that he wasn’t going to be able to use. Sad day for him because the marquee pitching match-up was Pedro Martinez vs. El Duque. I graciously accepted the ticket offer even though I can’t stand Fenway Park. (Most people like Fenway with its Old World charm. But apparently, the average Old World person didn’t mind sitting in narrow wooden seats that didn’t give you a view of the field. And don’t get me started on the Green Monster. You can read my typical Fenway rant on a previous blog post. )

My wife and I, along with our two daughters (who were six and three at the time), prepared for the descent into enemy territory. We put on our war paint, er, sunblock and donned our hats with the NY logo. Luckily, our seats were in a small Yankee contingent out near the visiting team’s bullpen. It was an unbelievably hot day for a pitching duel, with the score tied at 1-1 going into the 9th inning. I was on the edge of my seat, but my kids were getting antsy. So my six-year-old Abby and her sister Lilly walked down the row to look at the Yankee relief pitchers warming up. They waved down to the players and yelled, “Hello, Yankees!” When they sat back down, Bernie Williams hit a home run. Booyah!

Yankees up by a run, bottom of the ninth, you know the drill. The greatest closer of all-time comes through the bullpen door and jogs onto the field. Abby turns to me and says, “Hey, that’s the guy who waved back to us!” What?!? Really? Yeah, she says, we waved to them and he looked up, smiled at us, and waved back. I was floored. Here was Mariano Rivera warming up with the game on the line, against the archenemy Red Sox. Two little girls wave hello and he notices them. Cool as a cucumber, minutes before expecting to be called upon, the great Mariano, with the simplest of gestures, demonstrated why he’s a class act, on and off the field.

Abby & Lilly celebrate the Yankee win with peanuts in 2001

Oh, and then he took care of business 1-2-3 in the ninth and the Yankees won 2-1. Great game. Great moment. Great Mo. Thanks for that memory, Mr. Rivera!

It gets late early out there.

–Scooter

I Pulled a Muscle Typing this Headline!

You gotta be kidding me. Cashman breaks his ankle in a skydiving accident? Really, dude? Next, we’ll hear that Girardi broke his wrist erasing Granderson’s name from the lineup card. Is this an omen to tell us to brace ourselves for an injury-plagued season? Because even though Jeter and Mo are almost ready, Hughes tweaked his back and Logan still has nagging elbow soreness. And A-Rod and Granderson are already out for a few months (or more). It’s only 27 days left till the opener! Can everyone just stay healthy until then?!?

“Now I know how Jeter felt.” photo from John Harper

In my effort to take John Warren’s advice (from the Yanks in Exile website) and remain calm, I came upon this article in The Wall Street Journal today. (Yes, whenever I’m looking for good sports reporting, I turn to the Journal. Doesn’t everybody?) It’s about Ichiro’s stretching regimen and the machines he uses in his “secret gym.” Almost expected him to admit that he’s Batman.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323494504578340672614346856.html?mod=WSJ_topics_obama

In any event, check it out. It’s very interesting and a breath of fresh air from all this banned-substances-in-the-weight-room talk. And it’s nice to hear about a 39-year-old guy who can still play the outfield without pulling a groin muscle. I’m eight years older than Ichiro and my hamstrings were twitching just looking at the photos. Heck, a good day for me is if I don’t pull a muscle when I yawn. Ouch. Better post this before my carpal tunnel syndrome kicks in. Stay healthy, Yankees!

It gets late early out there.

–Scooter

It’s Only Spring Training

As the players get into the swing of things at Spring Training, I refuse to get sucked into the mini-dramas that surround every team’s roster. Don’t get me wrong; I can’t wait for the baseball season to start (although a brief diversion by March Madness is always welcomed). But I refuse to get overly excited about what’s happening down in Florida. It’s Spring Training, not Spring Season. It’s a time for a team to iron out the kinks in the roster and help players get back into shape. Everyone is hopeful, with dreams of winning 100 games. But following the standings in the Grapefruit League? I’d rather watch reruns of The Nanny.

The same can be said about the off-season, the time of the hot stove. A fan can get so worked up about potential player swaps. And usually these trade bargains are right out of the Crazy Towne Gazette. “We’ll give you two Single-A pitchers and a player-to-be-named later for Robinson Cano.”  Yeah, right, and I’d also like you to throw scalding acid on my face as Cano packs his bags, please. Thinking about outlandish trades is kind of like thinking about marrying a super-celebrity. Yeah, it could happen but not to you, dude. Why bother? It’s not like anyone from the Yankees organization is giving me a call to hear what I have to say about a possible player signing. Hold on a minute, I’ve got to tweet Cashman. #myopinionmeansnothing

Do I look like I want to hear your trade ideas?

The Yankees had a pretty boring off-season, aside from the usual A-Rod steroid and injury stories. And they seem content with what they have to work with down there. So I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Take the players you’ve got and build the best team you can. Get Jeter, Pettitte, and Mo ready to play again. (Can’t wait to see ol’ 42 on the mound!) Let Girardi, Cashman, and the Steinbrenners work on the overall roster plan for the next forty days. But as soon as the season starts, the team better be ready because I know that I will, along with the rest of the fans.

It gets late early out there.

–scooter