Liveblog 22: The Yankees Are Still Winning

Why? Because I am. Since the last time I did this, the Yankees have padded their lead over the Red Sox, thanks in part to taking six out of seven games against them. They now have a six game lead in the division, one that the probability machines seem to think is enough to nearly guarantee them the playoffs, and one the Yankees as a franchise have never blown. So yeah, I'm feeling pretty good about the team.

They lead the majors in runs scored, and have some of the best road pitching in the league. They don't throw it quite as well at the stadium, but then again no one does, and they've made up for it with great offense and a lot of clutch, late inning wins. They've already clinched a .500 record, and today they attempt to complete their vengeance of losing three out of four in Chicago by completing a three game sweep of the White Sox at the Stadium. Joba Chamberlain's starting today, and I hope to see a better performance out of him today. Because of his innings limit as a young pitcher they've been starting him erratically, which doesn't seem to have worked out so well. Starting now they're going to keep him on regular rest and just limit his innings in each game. Having the rotation set and primed for October is more important than winning a couple extra games, and with rosters expanding soon it shouldn't be a problem to keep Joba on a short leash.

Top 1 - Scott Podsednik leads off the game with a triple on a ground ball past Mark Teixeira at first. Gordon Beckham drives him in with a ground ball to short. Quick deficit for the Yanks. A.J. Pierzynski and Carlos Quentin both fly out. Quick inning for Joba.

Bottom 1 - Freddy Garcia returns to the team he won a World Series with after being traded the the Phillies. Derek Jeter leads off with a double off the fence in right field. Johnny Damon grounds one weakly up the first base line that moves Jeter to third. Mark has a chance to extend his lead for RBI in the AL here. He does so with a deep sacrifice fly to right, tie game. Alex Rodriguez singles up the middle to keep the inning going. He fakes a stolen base though and ends up getting picked off by Pierzynski for the third out.

Top 2 - Jim Thome pops out to Jorge Posada, back at catcher after missing a few games with a finger injury. Jermaine Dye takes a strike before flying out on a running play to Eric Hinske spelling Nick Swisher in right. Mark Kotsay flies out to Cabrera, and it seems like the Sox have plans for a late lunch as Joba's only thrown 15 pitches. Michael Kay's talking about Joba being scheduled for three innings, and I'm hoping it's just him being insane again because that's ridiculous.

Bottom 2 - Hedeki Matsui starts a fresh at bat with a swing and a miss. Two more quick strikes and he's down quickly. Posada works a long walk while fans can be heard chanting "Hip hip! Jorge!" in the background the entire time. Robinson Cano grounds into a double play to end the inning.

Top 3 - Alexei Ramirez is yet another batter to put the first pitch in play as he lines a single to center and then steals second. Jayson Nix works a questionable 3-1 count before singling to right, but Ramirez only makes it to third. Podsednik back up again, and he singles up the middle, scoring Ramirez. The ball gets away from Cano at second after it gets thrown back in, which causes Nix to get thrown out trying to reach third. Hey guys - stop pitching out to try to nab Podsednik. Just get Beckham out. Third pitchout of the AB and Podsednik steals second anyway, while Beckham has a free three ball count. Awesome. He watches a called strike to make the count full. Ground ball to first moves Scott to third. Joba's already doubled his pitch count in this game. Pierzynski mercifully strikes out on three pitches to finish the inning.

Bottom 3 - Alfredo Aceves is, in fact, warming up in the bullpen. WTF is this. Bugh. Hinske pops out to short. Melky Cabrera, who's had a rough month, strikes out. Jeter smacks a single to left. Damon homers to right field to take the lead 3-2. Teixeira hits a fly to the same area, but it's caught for the third out.

Top 4 - Aceves is in to pitch, and he gets Quentin and Thome to ground out. Dye sees a 3-0 count become 3-2 before striking out to end the frame.

Bottom 4 - A-Rod works a full count and takes a close pitch for ball four. Matsui grounds into a slightly odd fielder's choice that only wasn't a double play because of Nix's poor thinking. Posada works another long at bat as the chanting continues, but this time he strikes out. Cano also strikes out, inning over.

Top 5 - Aceves is still in and gets Kotsay to pop out to short. Ramirez lines a bullet over Jeter's head that he just manages to snag for the second out. Nix pops out to A-Rod as this alarmingly rapid game continues.

Bottom 5 - Hinske hits one off the end of the bat to left field which Quentin tracks down. Cabrera grounds out. He always seems to lose his mojo as it gets later in the season. Jeter grounds out on the eighth pitch of the at bat, and we're going to the sixth. Inning.

Top 6 - Aceves knocks down a ball hit right at him by Podsednik, but doesn't make the play to first in time. The trainer checks out his arm, but Alfredo stays in the game. Like a true warrior. Beckham grounds it to A-Rod who turns a quick double play. Pierzynski hits an infield single to Jeter, who doesn't have quite the oomph on the throw to make his patented running-turning-jumping play. Quentin fists a fly ball to Damon for the third out.

Bottom 6 - Damon grounds out to second. Teixeira strikes out. Rodriguez walks. Matsui does what Damon did. Am I done? It seems like I'm done. I guess I'm done.

Wrap-Up - After three Yankees combined to pitch the seventh, they blew it open a little with a five run bottom of the frame, including a three run homer by Teixeira. The two Phils pitched the eighth and the ninth, with Coke giving up a solo shot in the ninth before closing it down. Another day, another win, and the Yankees have clinched their fourteenth straight winning record.

Liveblog 13: The Yankees Are Mediocre

This team's pretty similar to last year's, not just in the players but in the results. Last season, they sucked for the first few months and didn't really get in a groove until the second half, where they played like men on fire and made it into the playoffs, where they promptly blew it again in the first round. Now, it's June 8th and they're still at .500, where they've probably been about 25 different times this season. The last three games are a good encapsulation of the problem - they had two huge come-from-behind victories won in the bottom of the ninth inning, but in between they lost 2-1 to the Royals, with a pitcher with a career ERA over 6 shutting them down. Last year they were scoring a ton of runs and just not getting any breaks, this year they're just not that good. They still have time to turn it around, and hopefully they're well out of last place by the time they're hosting the All-Star game in the Stadium's final year.

Today Joba makes his second start. The first didn't go too well, as he reached his pitch count quite early thanks to four walks, but he got no help from his defense or the umpires and still only gave up one hit. People still want him to stay in the bullpen, but right now his starts are the only thing I can really look forward to. The Yankees picked up some pretty good pitching talent in the draft and the offense has generally looked better lately with Alex Rodrgiuez and now Jorge Posada returning, and hopefully Phil Hughes can come back and pitch decently before the end of July. With the general underperformance of some other good teams in the league they still have a good shot at the wild card even if Boston takes the division again.

Top 1 - All right, here we go. Strike one to DeJesus. Nobody fucks with DeJesus. He flies out to Melky. The next batter, whose name I won't bother spelling, bloops a 1-2 pitch for a single. Teahen pops out to Abreu on the first pitch. He gets Guillen swinging on some high heat to end the inning. Much better first inning than his last start.

Bottom 1 - Zack Greinke is on the mound for the Royals. He's got a lot of talent but hasn't fully realized it yet. He saw some of it there easily striking out Damon after he went 6 for 6 yesterday. Jeter lines a single up the middle, tying Mickey Mantle for the second most hits at Yankee Stadium. While I was helping to bring in the groceries, Abreu hit a two run homer and A-Rod singled. He then reached second on a wild pitch. Greinke comes up and in on Matsui and almost hits him. Matsui then draws the walk. Giambi strikes out on a rare swing way out of the zone. Joey Gathright makes a nice play taking a run scoring double away from Posada to end the inning.

Top 2 - Joba's facing Alex Gordon, his old teammate from College. For the record, I typed that before Michael Kay said it. Gordon works a full count and then lines a single to left. The next batter pops out on the first pitch. Gload smacks another single. Joba seems to give up more hits than usual whenever he faces Kansas City. He strikes out the rookie Mike Aviles on four pitches. Gordon scores on a passed ball. Three runs have been charged to Joba since he became a starter and none scored on a hit. Gathright strikes out on another ball in the dirt.

Bottom 2 - Gathright makes a second great catch off a ball hit by Cano. Cabrera grounds out to second. Damon bounces a ground ball to the shortstop to end the inning. Much better job by Greinke.

Top 3 - DeJesus hits a double into the corner. I can't see what's happening now because of a thunderstorm warning, so I'm checking Gameday. The second baseman grounds out, moving the runner to third. Teahen pops out to Jeter. On a full count, Guillen hits his third home run in two days, and the Royals take the lead. These storm warnings are really annoying. Gordon flies out to end the inning but that wasn't a good job by Chamberlain.

Bottom 3 - Jeter leads off and takes two breaking ball strikes. He lines another ball up the middle but this time Greinke nabs it for an out. Abreu strikes out weakly to bring up A-Rod. He walks on four pitches to bring up Matsui, who strikes out.

Top 4 - Joba's gonna have to be stingy with his pitches to make it through five innings and have a chance at a win. His slider's really diving today. He strikes out Oliva staring at a low fastball, which I believe is his first looking strikeout in the last 17 he's gotten. First pitch line out to Giambi by Gload helps the pitch count issue. Next batter grounds out to Cano, and that was just what the doctor ordered.

Bottom 4 - Giambi grounds right into the shift for the first out. Posada watches six pitches go by and strikes out. Cano weakly nubs a groundball for an infield single. It's erased by Melky hacking at the first pitch and popping out to end the inning. Both pitchers look pretty good today.

Top 5 - Joba got another called strike out but then DeJesus worked a walk in a long at bat and that ended his day. Dan Geise relieved him again and got out of the inning on a nice diving catch by Giambi.

Bottom 5 - Damon works a full count and then hits a ball that DeJesus made an ill-advised dive for and booked it to third. Jeter fails to deliver and strikes out. Abreu grounds out, but that still gets the tying run in and Joba's off the hook. A-Rod again draws a four pitch walk. Matsui pops it up and Gathright makes another great play to catch it, but it looks like he hurt his wrist. That's a whole inning's worth of outs that Joey's handed to Greinke today.

Top 6 - Geise gets Guillen to ground out and strikes out Gordon. Olivo strikes out but the ball gets far away from Posada and he makes it all the way to second base. Ridiculous play. The next batter pops out though to end the threat which shouldn't have existed.

Bottom 6 - On a full count, Jason Giambi hits his third go-ahead home run in four games. He's having a terrific year after an unlucky April. Posada walks, and Greinke is not long for this game. Mahay's coming in to face Cano. Cano works the inning's third full count, but grounds into a double play. Cabrera pops out to left again to end the frame.

Top 7 - I wonder how many one-run games the Yankees can play in a row. Aviles flies out to center. Gathright, still in the game after appearing to get hurt on that diving catch, grounds out. I knew Geise was no spring chicken, but he turned 31 last month. That's a little wacky. DeJesus just barely hooks a home run foul. A couple pitches later Geise strikes him out, and he's still in line for his first career victory. At age 31.

Bottom 7 - Damon slices another hit to left, this time for a single. Jeter flies out harmlessly. With the hit and run on, Abreu hits a single through the hole and runners are on the corners for A-Rod. An insurance run here would be good with the Yankees' eighth inning relief questionable since Joba's transition. He hit one that looked like a homer off the bat but hit off the wall for a two run double. The fielders misplayed the ball and A-Rod went for third but got thrown out. If he ran hard the whole way he would have made it easily. Matsui walks. On yet another full count, Giambi pops out.

Top 8 - Jose Veras is getting a chance here instead of Kyle Farnsworth, which is a bit surprising. Maybe Girardi is learning. The weird-name guy pops out. Teahen gets to a full count (!!!) and then strikes out. Guillen grounds a single up the middle. Gordon gets punched out staring at a fastball middle down to end the mild threat.

Bottom 8 - Posada walks. Guess what the count was. Cano grounds into a fielder's choice. Cabrera swings and misses. He had a great April but really cooled down after that. Damon grounds out and we're on to what should be the last half inning.

Top 9 - Olivo pops up the first pitch to Abreu. Gload grounds out to Cano. Another ball to the same place to end the game.

Wrap-Up - Today we learned that these liveblogs are only cursed for the second game by a rookie pitcher, not the second start. So that's good to know. The Yankees are again over .500, but we'll see how long that really lasts. With any luck, they'll stay there this time. Joba pitched well, and by his next start should be more or less able to pitch a real game, and hopefully get the win.

Liveblog 12: Stretching Out Joba

The Yankees have not played well since the last liveblog. They played horribly for about a week, dropping 5 games under .500. But after A-Rod's first game back, an ugly blowout against the Orioles, the Yankees have won three straight, two blowouts of their own and one 2-1 game won on a walk-off single. They might be turning around, although it's too soon to say. The two halves of the problem are ineffective starting pitching and terrible offense. Both have looked better lately, and the Yankees are making a move to help fix the former - having Joba Chamberlain throw more pitches per appearance until he's ready to throw enough to begin starting.

This has been accompanied by the clamoring from idiots in the media to keep him in the bullpen reaching a fever pitch. It doesn't matter what anyone says to them, they see this move as A) an attempt to keep up with the Joneses (Red Sox, who just saw their second young pitcher throw a no-hitter in as many years), B) a silly change in strategy even though the Yankees have said all along that this was the plan, and C) a huge mistake because Joba is excellent in the eighth inning and we don't know what he'll do in the rotation even though that's what he did through college and most of his time in the minors, ignoring that having a lead through seven innings is harder and more important than having someone to keep it in the eighth. Joba will throw about 45 pitches today in relief of Mike Mussina, or at least that's the plan.

Top 1 - Mussina struck out Ichiro, and then gave up a couple singles, but retired the next two hitters to end the inning.

Bottom 1 - Carlos Silva, a mediocre pitcher for the Twins who had a pretty good contract year, became the latest player to get heinously overpaid by the Mariners, now playing for 11 million a year for the next four seasons. He hasn't been awful, but has a 4.83 ERA so far. He retired the first three Yankees he faced, on to the second.

Top 2 - The first batter jumps on the first pitch but flies out harmlessly. Mussina strikes out Sexson swinging on a slider outside. The quick inning finishes with Damon making a nice little catch in left.

Bottom 2 - Some people think A-Rod is just a huge compiler who doesn't get it done when it counts, but you could see how weak the lineup was without him when he was on the DL with a quad injury. He singles to left center, and then Matsui hits it farther in the same area for an automatic double. Michael Kay has been yammering on about Matsui and Ichiro (they're both Japanese!), and it's already becoming tiring here in the second inning. Giambi began the season terribly but has really been having a pretty decent year offensively, especially lately. Giambi hits it even farther to the same spot, getting it over the wall, and the Yankees lead 3-0. He should keep the mustache, it always seems to work for him. Cano, also picking up after a terrible April, hits another double to the same spot. There must be a magnet over there somewhere. Molina, who started off great but has slowed since Posada was placed on the DL, grounds it to second, moving Cano to third. Cabrera dunks a single in front of Ibanez in left, Yankees lead 4-0. Damon singles, runners on first and second. I gotta admit, this team is usually pretty boring. Either they're not hitting at all and losing, or hitting way to well and winning by boring scores like last night's 13-2. I look forward to seeing a few innings from Joba, though. Jeter flies out to right field, and Cabrera takes third base. Abreu pops up behind the plate to end the inning, with a nice lead for Mussina.

Top 3 - Betancourt slices a double down the right field line to start the third. Ichiro hits a ball well but right to Damon for an out. The next batter singles but Abreu fields it quickly and holds Betancourt at third. It's for naught as Vidro hits a three run home run, cutting the lead to just one run. Ibanez grounds out to Giambi. Beltre hits another homer to tie the game. Let's start warming Joba, shall we? Mussina has been solid this year, but he has been giving up too many dingers and after an error by Jeter in his last start, gave up a total of seven runs in just 2/3rds of an inning. He walks Reed on four pitches. David Cone in the booth keeps talking about the frustration of giving up back to back home runs, which would be relevant if Mussina had given up back to back home runs. Unfortunately, he might as well have. He strikes out Sexson again to end the inning.

Bottom 3 - ESPN froze my internet and I lost what I was saying here about the inning. A-Rod struck out, Matsui singled for his fifth hit, he's having a good year, Giambi smoked a double, they walked Cano to get to Molina who flew out, Kay's still talking about Japan, Cabrera picked up the team with an RBI single, and then Damon popped up to end it.

Top 4 - First hitter grounds out to third. Betancourt lines a curveball right at A-Rod. Suzuki grounds out to Jeter, who makes another low throw that Giambi recovers. Lots of low throws by him this year. Nice recovery by the Moose.

Bottom 4 - Jeter leads off by grounding harmlessly to first. Abreu does the same to second. A-Rod does the same to short on the first pitch. Maybe Matsui can ground out to third the next inning to complete the circuit.

Top 5 - Lopez doubles down the left-field line. Drat. Vidro grounds it to Jeter, one out. Kay says he didn't get the job done. I think it's okay after the three runs he drove in the last time up. Ibanez strikes out on an inside curve. Beltre swings at a high pitch, popping out to Cano. Mussina did enough to earn the win, but hopefully it's Joba time in the sixth.

Bottom 5 - Unfortunately, Matsui grounds out to first, ruining the pattern. Giambi pops out to third. Cano doubles past the diving first baseman, reaching base for the third time. Lopez makes a nice play at second to get Molina out, ending the inning.

Top 6 -Joba throws a few pitches before making a nice snag on a ball going over his head to get the first out of the sxith. Sexson strikes out yet again on a nice slider. Another slider to strike out Johjima. That inning used up 16 of Joba's reported allotment of 45 pitches.

Bottom 6 - Melky flies to center for the first out. The next batter grounds out. An error by Lopez allows Jeter to reach base. Abreu hits a two run homer to the opposite field. Just when I was thinking Silva had a pretty good game besides one bad inning. Kay is truly baffling me. Every source has said Joba will throw about 45 pitches today. When Kay brought it up, he said 45-5o. Okay, no big deal. I don't think they'll stretch him quite that far but whatever. Then the next inning he said 50-55. Um, I don't think so, guy. More like 45. Just now he said 50-60. What the hell? Is he even listening to himself? Rodriguez strikes out and now it's time for the seventh.

Top 7 - Betancourt singles with two strikes, and Ichiro flies out. A weak grounder to A-Rod turns into a close out at first. He walks Vidro, but Ibanez grounds it to Jeter for the third out. 40 pitches, and I would not be surprised to see someone else throw the eighth.

Bottom 7 - New pitcher Arthur Rhodes walks Matsui. Giambi singles the other way, and then Cano hits his third double of the game. Not a very good job against three lefties by the lefty specialist. 8-4 ballgame. Brandon Morrow in to face Molina. He finally comes through with a single, runners on the corners, nine runs so far. Melky hits an infield grounder and Cano gets caught on the basepaths, one out. A possible double play ball by Damon is misplayed by Beltre and the bases are loaded. Jeter flies out, but not deep enough for Molina to tag up. Abreu hits an automatic double, two more runs in, and I am very bored. This game is in hand and I think Joba's done so I will take my leave. Back in a bit to wrap it up.

Wrap-up - Kyle Farnsworth had a bad eighth inning, but the Yankees still won 12-6. Joba could have been more efficient with his pitches, but the important thing right now is moving him forward as a starter. Not the best played game ever, but a win is a win.

Roster for Opening Day

Spring training's coming to an end and the season is nearly upon us. The Red Sox and Athletics have already played the first two games, in fact. Most of the players who would make the team were already known in February, but there are still a few questions about the last couple spots. Here's how I think it should play out, and how it probably will.

Lineup

Johnny Damon, LF
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Jason Giambi, 1B
Jorge Posada, C
Hideki Matsui, DH
Robinson Cano, 2B
Melky Cabrera, CF

This will probably be the most common lineup. I would bat Cano higher since he's such a good pure hitter, but it's not going to matter much with all the runs they'll put up. All the hype is on the Tigers with their offseason acquisitions, but I still think this is the best offense in the majors. There will be some regression from Posada and Rodriguez, but I wouldn't be surprised by improvement from Damon, Jeter, Giambi, Abreu, and Cabrera.

Bench

Wilson Betemit, IF
Shelley Duncan, 1B/OF
Morgan Ensberg, IF
Jose Molina, C

I think Jose is the best Yankee backup catcher since Jorge was doing it for their new manager, Joe Girardi. They haven't really needed one with how good Posada has been, but he's getting older and could use more time off. Ensberg seems kind of redundant and really hasn't been great this spring, but he's made his way onto the 40-man roster. Brett Gardner has been impressive, plays good outfield defense, and would be capable of pinch running, but it would probably be better for his development to play every day at AAA instead of riding the big league bench. He should be on the team some time this year, though. Duncan gives the lineup some flexibility, having a decent power bat from the right side. He can play first to give Giambi a bit of a rest, and Matsui and Damon can both play in the outfield to give Melky some time off.

Rotation

Chien-Ming Wang
Andy Pettitte
Mike Mussina
Phil Hughes
Ian Kennedy

That's not a rotation that will blow anyone away, but I think it will be pretty solid the whole year. Wang and Pettitte aren't really the dominant guys you want at the top, but they both record a lot of outs efficiently. Mussina was bad last year, but I think he'll return to something a little better. He's just too good at pitching not to have at least a league average ERA. There will probably be some growing pains for Hughes and Kennedy, but they have shown the makeup and ability to at least perform up to expectations for their given roles.

Bullpen

Mariano Rivera
Joba Chamberlain
Kyle Farnsworth
LaTroy Hawkins
Kei Igawa
Billy Traber
Brian Bruney

Mo is a lock to be a good closer in my mind. I expect Kyle is a little more comfortable with Girardi managing and will at least bounce back a bit from his bad 2007, and Hawkins has reinvented himself into a decent groundball guy. The team wants a long reliever because of the inning limits on the young pitchers, and believe it or not Igawa has a better ERA this Spring than the other two candidates, Jeff Karstens and Darrell Rasner. He's also getting paid more and the team wants to prove he wasn't a gigantic mistake. Personally, I would use Joba in this role, to stretch him out at the major league level and let him work on his secondary pitches without the pressure of small eighth-inning leads, but that's probably what he'll be dealing with. If they're going to move him to the rotation this year anyway, why further cement him as a dominant force in the 'pen? They want a lefty specialist, and Traber has done the best job with his opportunities, and earned a 40-man roster spot. Scott Patterson deserves the last spot, having been nearly perfect this spring, allowing only one base hit and none of his inherited runners to score. But they'll probably put him in AAA and let Bruney, recipient of a $750k arbitration check, continue to frustrate fans with 96 MPH fastballs five inches off the plate.

I think this is a good team, one that will only improve as more young prospects mature enough to come up and outperform the retreads that always seem to grab extra spots. With two championships in four years, the Red Sox are the favorites, but I see the Yankees challenging them in the divison more than some might expect.

Liveblog 9: Spring Training

I haven't talked about baseball here since the Yankees were eliminated last October, and a lot has changed since then. George Steinbrenner's sons have taken a more active role running the team, especially Hank, who has been all over the news with his unnecessary but often humorous comments about every topic imaginable. Joe Torre is out west now managing the Dodgers, and my personal choice for his replacement, Joe Girardi, has taken the role. A lot of players have come into camp in much better shape than last year, and the whole team is being worked harder. It gives me some confidence that it will be a good season, with the players maybe having the drive they haven't recently to go out and win.

Doug Mientkiewicz, Andy Phillips, Luis Vizcaino, Matt DeSalvo, Colter Bean, and Tyler Clippard are all gone. LaTroy Hawkins, Morgan Ensberg, and various minor league players are in, most of them fighting for the extra spots on the roster. Roger Clemens is too busy lying to Congress to play baseball, and Andy Pettitte has come clean, already having been embraced again by the fans. After opting out of his contract, Alex Rodriguez had a change of heart and resigned with the team, but not before again breaking the record for biggest contract in the sport's history. Derek Jeter is seeing something uncommon for him: criticism, especially of his defense, thanks to a new study. While I'm not sure I agree with the assessment that he's one of the worst, he definitely could be better and anything that motivates him to improve is all right with me. The front office broke from their usual ways and signed Robinson Cano to a long term deal instead of dealing with arbitration, and I think it's a great move. I'd like to see more improvement in his patience, but I think he's one of the top 3 second basemen in the majors already and can only get better.

A lot of experts and analysts favor the Red Sox in the divison after their World Series victory, which is fair (although PECOTA likes New York), and puts the Yankees in a position they haven't seen recently: playoff underdogs. It seems like they're being dismissed pretty quickly, but I'm confident that what is basically the same offense that led the league in runs last season will do it again thanks to improved conditioning, and the pitching staff will be better thanks to the emergence of all the young talent they've been drafting the last few years. You can't expect a rotation that will potentially have three pitchers with less than a full year of big league experience in it by June to be consistent winners, but I have a lot of faith in their ability and apparent work ethic they've shown so far. Ian Kennedy will start and Joba Chamberlain will relieve for a couple innings today on YES and ESPN, and I'll be here recapping their work and probably trying to make some funny comments.

Top 1 - Ian Kennedy's on the mound, warming up. ESPN's guys are asking the normal questions about their rotation. If you're wondering why I'm not watching YES, it's not because ESPN's any less terrible, I just don't hear their brand of terrible as often so I'm taking the opportunity to avoid YES' terrible. Carloz Gomez, who the Twins got as part of the awful Johan Santana trade, bunts out to Betemit at third on the second pitch. Brendan Harris, who they got as part of the much more interesting Matt Garza trade, singles through the hole on the left side. Comparing Ian Kennedy to Greg Maddux kind of makes sense as long as you're not referring to a young Maddux, because Ian's stuff is already pretty pedestrian while Maddux used to have a much more impressive repetoire. But that groundball double play off Joe Mauer's bat shows why Kennedy could be pretty successful anyway.

Bottom 1 - The Yankee lineup is pretty close to what it will probably be for most of the season, with Wilson Betemit instead of Hideki Matsui. Johnny Damon flies out quickly. He's another guy who came into camp much healthier than last year, but for some reason I'm pessimistic about how he'll fare this season. Jeter singles the other way as he is wont to do. Bobby Abreu grounds into a force, and it might have been a double play with smarter defense. Kevin Slowey walks A-Rod. Slowey has pretty decent stuff, and is one of the young guys expected to fill multiple holes in the Twins' rotation. There's an easy sex joke in there but I don't care. He strikes out Jason Giambi looking with a nice pitch on the outside corner.

Top 2 - Girardi's having a nice conversation with the guys in the booth. Turns out the first big league game he caught was started by one of the commentators. Small world. Justin Morneau fouls off a few pitches before lazily flying out to center. Delmon Young hit a 3-1 pitch over the wall in straight away center. He was the centerpiece of that Garza trade. Could work on his plate discipline but he can smack the ball. Joe says it's not even set in stone that Joba begins the year in the bullpen, which is good to hear. Anyone who thinks he should be a closer instead of a starter without even seeing him start is just being closed minded. Giambi leaps and snares a line drive that was screaming over his head. If he can consistently play first base this year, that's huge. Someone I've never heard of grounds out to Jeter, and Giambi stays with the offline throw to end the inning. They just said the biopsy on Bobby Murcer showed it was just scar tissue, which is good news. Guy's a fighter. Man, that Dick's commercial with David Ortiz is terrible.

Bottom 2 - Jorge Posada, old catcher extraordinare, flies out to Young, who almost loses the ball in the sun. Cano's up. I think one of the guys just said he's known to bunt, which does not compute. Instead, he doubles over the centerfielder's head. Betemit does the exact same thing, and the game is tied. Melky Cabrera strikes out on three pitches. I like the guy, but I don't see him as an everyday player in the future right now. Betemit gets to third on a wild pitch. Damon squeezes a single past Harris and the Yankees take a 2-1 lead. Damon steals second easily as the ball's in the dirt. No matter, as Jeter draws a walk. Abreu singles to drive in Johnny, and the throw from Gomez is awful, letting the runners advance. Rodriguez swings through a fastball to end a rough inning for Slowey.

Top 3 - Heath Phillips induces a grounder and records the out himself, in relief of Kennedy. He strikes out the next guy and gets a broken bat grounder on the next. Quick inning. The booth guys were talking to the Twins' manager and I don't think they even said his name. I had to check who it was online.

Bottom 3 - Now they give him credit. He's fighting to be the requisite lefty in the bullpen this year. Julio DePaula in for the Twins. Giambi loops a single the other way, which he's hoping to do more of this year. I don't have much of a problem with straight-pull home runs to the upper deck, myself. DePaula balks while the cameras are looking at big Hank. How that little motion is a balk and Andy Pettitte's ridiculous pickoff move isn't is still a mystery to me. Jorge works the count full before popping out to right. They just showed the Yankees' splits for the first and second half of the season last year, and I'm surprised to see they actually pitched a little worse in the second half. They won way more often, but that's thanks to scoring two more runs per game. Cano singles up the middle and Giambi is surprisingly sent home, scoring thanks to another bad Gomez throw, but it's cut off and Cano is tagged out trying to reach second. Betemit strikes out to end the inning. He does that a lot.

Top 4 - Joba's in, and he's going to pitch two or three innings. Fastball's 92-93 right now. I wonder how much of the 98-99 he was throwing last year was adrenaline and how much was knowing he wasn't going to throw many pitches. He gets to 3-0 on Harris on three heaters but throws two more in the zone and gets a ground out. Mauer grounds out on a nice little changeup. Two curves for balls. Someone who faced him in the eighth inning last September would be very confused right now. He walks Morneau. He works Young with mostly offspeed stuff before getting a groundout to Betemit. Not a great inning, but he did his job.

Bottom 4 - New Twins pitcher is Randy Keisler. Melky K's again. Damon grounds to second. Jeter dinks a single past Harris, and he's reached base all three times. Another wild pitch moves him to second. Abreu pops out to center, on to the fifth.

Top 5 - Joba's control was off before, let's see if he's better now. Brian Buscher clubs a single to right field. Right now the announcers are piling on Giambi's defense. It's one thing to say he can't throw, which is true, but they're saying he's not going to be saving the other infielders many errors. Hey, the guy's a statue, but he can scoop a ball pretty good. Joba throws his best pitch of the day, striking out the batter looking with a 95 mph heater on the inside corner. Garrett Jones clobbers a two run home run, 4-3 game. The next pitch is an errant fastball, hitting the batter. Joba's allowed as many baserunners as outs. They're saying he might have hit him on purpose. Really? In spring training? I think Joba's already getting a headhunter reputation he might not deserve. Gomez pops out to short center. Harris grounds into a force out, inning over. The announcers think Joba might begin the season as a starter, and say they were surprised Girardi didn't mention Mussina as a lock for the rotation. I don't know, I'm not surprised a 39 year old with an ERA over 5 last year has to prove himself.

Bottom 5 - Rodriguez pops out. Giambi almost got an infield single, but was thrown out. Posada grounds out on a 3-1 pitch, another good inning for Keisler.

Top 6 - Jon Albaladejo, acquired from the Nationals for Tyler Clippard, starts the inning, and allows a double to Mauer. Morneau flies to center, and Melky picks off Mauer's pinch runner trying to reach third. Albaladejo has an interesting delivery, he just rears back and slings the ball towards the plate. Young singles to right. New batter strikes out and that's the inning.

Bottom 6 - Cano singles up the middle off new pitcher Dennys Reyes. He's a good hitter. Betemit hits what could be a double play ball but the throw is bad and everyone's safe. After failing to lay down a bunt, Melky grounds into a double play. Two outs, runner on third. New hitter Shelley Duncan strikes out to end the frame.

Top 7 - The first pitch is lined out. Albaladejo's still pitching. He gives up a single. It looked to me like Posada threw out the runner on a botched hit-and-run, but he was somehow called safe despite not even sliding. Infield single off Nick Green's glove allows the runner to score, tie game. Another stolen base. Apparently Posada still has to get his arm in shape. Strikeout on a check swing with a full count. New pitcher's coming in, it's Edwar Ramirez, who gets another punch out, end of the inning.

Bottom 7 - Famed blogging sidearmer Pat Neshek in to pitch for the Twins. He induces a checkswing groundout. Non-roster hanger-on Jason Lane pops out. Pinch hitter Greg Porter whiffs and the inning's over.

Top 8 - Changeup wizard Edwar's still pitching. He walks the first batter. The next grounds into a potential double play, but Green botches the throw and they only get one. Edwar drills the third batter. I wouldn't be surprised to see some retaliation now. They comment on how Joba has great command and just gave up a homer so it was probably on purpose, but Ramirez just has some nerves. Where is this mystical tale of Joba having pinpoint command coming from? He has very good control for such a power pitcher, but a few are gonna get away now and then. Morgan Ensberg eats up a grounder at third but can't make an out, the bases are juiced with one gone. A double down the right field line scores two for the Twins, 6-4. Rough inning, but he's been a bit unlucky. He's somewhat of an enigma, with eye-popping numbers in the minors but so far he's failed to consistently get outs in the majors. Colin Curtis makes a nice diving catch in left, runner tags up and scores. Edwar's being relieved by Chris Britton, who apparently didn't jump on the lose-weight bandwagon. Runner steals third off new catcher Francisco Cervelli. Guy in the booth mentions he'd take Jake Peavy if he had to win one game. Odd, since Peavy's a bit notorious for failing in important spots. Grounder to Green for the third out.

Bottom 8 - Curtis grounds to first, Cervelli to the other corner. Green does it up the middle, very quick and symmetrical inning.

Top 9 - Britton's still in, induces a fly to center. He's not flashy, but seems to get outs, and it's a crime he was stuck in the minors all last year while crappy veterans gave up runs. That's it for him, Ross Ohlendorf will try to finish it. Strikes out the hitter looking on a good breaking ball. Next one grounds a single through the left side. Another strikeout, this time swinging, and Ross looked pretty good.

Bottom 9 - Last chance for the Yankees to preserve their spotless spring training loss record. Oswaldo Sosa trying for the save. Ensberg pops to shallow center. Brett Gardner is batting. He grounds to second. Duncan up again. He cranks that Soulja Boy for a home run, deficit's down to two. Chris Woodward smacks a single, the Yankees are still alive. Lane up. Strikes out looking, game over.

Wrap-Up - The loss makes the Yankees 3-1 this Spring, with one tie. Obviously the results don't matter, but it's a little encouraging that they're doing pretty good. The young pitchers couldn't hold the lead today, but it's early, and I'm sure that by the home opener against Toronto they'll be confident in the pitching staff they end up with.

Elimination

Well, that's the season. The Yankees, try as they might, were again eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, after four games. They were looking good in Game 2. And Pettitte had a tremendous, gutsy game. They hadn't scored much, but they were leading Cleveland 1-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth, and Joba was on for a second inning after shutting down the Indians for two outs in the seventh. But something had started previously that was now becoming a big problem... lots and lots of bugs. Midges apparently, they had settled on to the field after the wind had died down and they were everywhere. The Yankee fielders tried using bug spray but it didn't work. Joba's neck and face were covered with them, and it obviously got to him, as he allowed the tying run to score without giving up a hit, just a lot of wild pitches, hit batters, and walks. The offense continued to do nothing until Vizcaino gave up the walkoff in extra innings.

Game 3 started as poorly as Game 2 ended, as Roger Clemens, getting no help from Derek Jeter's phantom error, gave up runs and was visibly uncomfortable on the mound. He was removed in the third inning and replaced by Phil Hughes, who delivered a great performance. He allowed his inherited runner to score on a wild pitch and a bloop double, but shut down the Indians for the next three innings, striking out four. He kept his team in the game until Johnny Damon delivered a go-ahead home run. Joba relieved him in the seventh and seemed to tire before finishing the eighth, and then Mariano closed it in the ninth. Phil was awesome, becoming the youngest Yankee to ever earn a postseason win. Joba was surprisingly human after his incredible regular season, and he shouldn't have let the bugs get to him. But he's not why they lost the series.

Joe Torre, managing what is now likely his last game, decided to start Chien-Ming Wang on short rest for Game 4, despite his poor showing in Game 1. It didn't pay off, as he allowed two runs in the first and loaded the bases in the second before being relieved by the originally intended starter, Mike Mussina. Mussina was decent in reprising Phil's role from the day prior, but not good enough. Cleveland got six runs off the pair, and despite late home runs by Cano, Abreu, and Rodriguez, they ended up losing the game. The Yankees lost because Cleveland got hits when it was needed and New York didn't. The Indians had 12 hits with 2 outs and runners in scoring position, the Yankees had 1. And that's pretty much all you have to know. Derek Jeter grounded into three rally-killing double plays, and Jorge Posada continually struck out with men on base. Alex wasn't great, and will get a lot of blame for this, but he was definitely better than them. He managed four hits in the last two games, but they'll say it wasn't enough, too little too late. There's a strong possibility he and several others won't be on the team next year. He's an amazing hitter, and his offense from third base is simply not replaceable. If he does go to another city, I wish him luck in a place with a local media that's slightly less insane. 2008 could end up a rebuilding year with three promising pitchers 23 or younger in the rotation, but it should be fun regardless of who's still around.

The Yankees Are Streaky

This has been a frustrating season for the Yankees. Since the last game I blogged, they went 10-6. They're within 6 games of the Red Sox and 2.5 games of the wildcard, after being so far from the playoffs for so long. 10-6 wouldn't be so bad in that period, if so many of the losses didn't come consecutively. Those 6 losses include 3 in a row against Baltimore and Detroit and 2 against the Angels, who last night thoroughly embarrassed the team with an 18-9 rout. 10 of those runs were driven in by Garret Anderson, which is disgusting. Garret Anderson is not a good baseball player, at least not any more. The man has 12 walks on the season, how on earth do you give him that many opportunities to hit the ball hard? The Yankees wouldn't be nearly this irritating if they weren't so streaky. They're prone to both long winning streaks and extended slumps. They're fully capable of scoring 10 runs in a game and then getting shut out the next day. The pitching is just as inconsistent as the hitting. Every starter has proven capable of being both great and disastrous, while the bullpen can either shut down an opponent for the duration of a series or get lit up every night.

Most of the players who were struggling early on have improved. Melky and Cano are both having fine seasons after dreadful starts, although they've both slumped lately. Abreu's also turned his season around after a bad start, and is making a strong case for having his option picked up. It's very fair in today's market, and there just aren't many possibilities out there, especially with prospect Jose Tabata's development being hindered by a nagging hand injury that now requires surgery. Johnny Damon still isn't near his expected production, although he's shown improvement in recent days. What's annoying though is Michael Kay being down on him for only having seven home runs, when he's a "20 home run guy". He's done that precisely twice in 13 big league seasons. After Matsui's huge surge in July, he's cooled off in August. Jeter's had a deceptively bad season. He still has a high batting average, but isn't driving in runs like he was earlier, he's not stealing bases like he used to, and his power continues to dwindle. He seems more like a non-factor in this lineup than he ever has, for some reason. Alex Rodriguez is still himself, with six homers since his 500th, although they still come in bunches, with three in two different two-game spans. First base is interesting. Andy Phillips was slumping again after being re-exposed to the league, and is showing basically no power, but has been better lately, maybe worried about his job since Wilson Betemit got here. Betemit is still prone to the strikeout, and really shouldn't be facing tough lefties, but he's still OPSing over .900 with the team. Jorge Posada is still amazing for his age, Jason Giambi has been good since returning, and Shelley Duncan hasn't stopped being a useful pinch hitter.

Mussina was going well for a while, but has been awful in his last two starts. Chien Ming-Wang has also struggled lately, but not as horribly. Roger Clemens has done well besides the bone-headed move to hit Alex Rios in defense of Rodriguez, which cost him a start and led to a brutal 12-0 drubbing by the Orioles when Jeff Karstens took the start in his stead. Whatever effectiveness Karstens had last year appears to be gone, as he's been demoted back to the minors. I still think he could be a useful long-man or back-end starter, but probably not on a team that intends to win. Andy Pettitte scuffled around the all-star break after a good-but-unlucky first half, but now he's rebounded and been on a roll, winning all four starts in August. He's been the Yankees' workhorse this year, and definitely who I'd want to start the first game of an important series. Phil Hughes has only had one good start since coming back, against Cleveland. He's been walking batters, which he doesn't normally do, and his command just isn't where it's been in his minor league career. He was doing well against the Angels, throwing four scoreless innings after a three run double in the second, but allowed two base runners in the seventh, both of which scored after he was taken out, making his start seem significantly worse. Right now, if they make the playoffs, I might make him the fourth starter instead of Mussina. His control has been an issue, but he still has shown flashes of his ability, and Mussina has really been terrible the last two games. By the end of the season, if they do make it, I hope Mike has things basically figured out, and I bet he gets the starts, with Phil going to the bullpen to help when he can. I think Phil has the potential for a Mussina-like career, which would be awesome. Right now though, he's been showing some rookie problems and mistakes, like not hustling off the mound to make the play on a grounder to first, which led to two runs and an eventual loss. Going by both the team's record in his starts (3-3) and his Win Probability Added (-0.02), he's neither helped nor hurt the team significantly. Also interesting is despite the fact that righties hit worse off him than lefties (normal), he's above average at striking out lefties while below average at fanning rightes (not normal).

Mariano Rivera's at that time of the year again where he struggles and we all question how much longer he can be good. I think he'll be okay for the rest of the year and hopefully will be effective through 2009 (he really wants to pitch in the new stadium), but he definitely shouldn't be leaned on as heavily as Joe Torre seems to like. He has other effective arms in that pen now, he just needs to mix them well. Edwar Ramirez has recovered after a disaster before his first demotion, and Vizcaino has been a pretty effective setup-guy. Kyle Farnsworth became a pariah, but after pitching some good games and striking out even-more-hated Gary Sheffield and ML-batting-leader Magglio Ordonez in a tight game, he's on the way to winning back some support. Ron Villone probably shouldn't be on the team anymore. I'd rather have another righty like Britton than an ineffective lefty.

You can't mention the bullpen without mentioning Joba. Since coming up he's lit the world on fire. In an obviously small sample size of 7 innings, he's given up no runs and struck out almost half the batters he's faced, with more than half of his outs coming on strikeouts. Obviously he won't keep this up forever, but it's raised an interesting question of his future role. If he can be anywhere near this absurdly dominant as a closer, some think he should stay there instead of moving back to starting. Having a good closer is important to having a good team. A pitcher with an average leverage index for a closer, who throws 70 innings with a 2.00 ERA, which Joba could very conceivably do, has the same VORP as a starter who throws 200 innings with a 3.69 ERA (Sorry about those nerdy, esoteric terms of discussion, you can ask if you don't get it). In a relatively pitching-strong season, that would qualify as 31st among this year's qualifying starters. That's a pretty good pitcher. The thing is, I think Joba could be that good without that much projection. He has a killer fastball and slider, and two more offspeed pitches with room to develop, which would be a very good repetoire. He could be deadly with just average command, which he basically has. He's also very good at maintaining his velocity deep into games, as witnessed in his minor league starts. A lot of the concern about his weight and injury problems has gone away. The fact is, Phil Hughes was the consensus best or second-best pitching prospect in the minors at the beginning of the year, and a lot of those same analysts now project Joba to be better than him. He could be dominant for years to come. A specimen with malevolent stuff, as Bill Simmons would say. I think a lot of people don't realize how many great closers were failed starters. Mariano Rivera is regarded by many as the best closer of all time. He was a bad starter before he converted to relief. You don't need an amazing, otherworldly closer to be a good team, just one who gets the job done. You should at least make sure Joba isn't your best starting pitcher (which he has the potential to be) before you make him your closer.

Liveblog 6: Phil Returns

Since the All-Star break, the Yankees have been one of the best teams in baseball. They're definitely playing better. They're still not that close to Boston, but they're only 2.5 games behind the Wild Card-leading Tigers, who have been having another second half swoon.

A-Rod's been the center of attention since hitting his 499th home run. He's just one away from becoming the youngest player to ever hit 500, which until recently has made a player a lock for the Hall of Fame. That number has lost some luster since offense has gone up in the game from steroids and smaller ballparks, but it's still very impressive. Unfortunately, Alex seemed to be trying too hard, and went 0-21 after 499. He's played a bit better the last couple games, getting some hits and driving in runs, but the home run still eludes him. Maybe he'll get it out of the way today. I think it would be a bit easier since there aren't hundreds of flashbulbs distracting him during day games.

The trade deadline passed, and the Yankees didn't do a ton to improve. They picked up a solid infield bat for an ineffective reliever, trading Scott Proctor for Wilson Betemit. Proctor was a workhorse for the Yankees, but he was struggling, and Betemit improves the bench significantly. Unfortunately, the bullpen didn't improve overall, since terrible Kyle Farnsworth is still on the team and Eric Gagne got traded to the Red Sox instead. Help could still be coming, though. There's a chance they could still get rid of Farnsworth through waivers, and promising young guys like Joba Chamberlain and Edwar Ramirez could be coming up to fix some holes. I'd like to take credit for being high on Joba before everyone noticed him after the Futures Game, as he's now one of the most highly regarded pitching prospects in baseball. His future is as a starter, but he's been shifted to the bullpen and could be a dominant force to the end of the season. Also coming to help the team is Phil Hughes, who's finally returning after that hamstring injury ended his no-hitter back in May. I think he'll be great in the future, but this season all he has to do is be better than Kei Igawa, which pretty much anyone in the world could do. I still see promise in Kei, since he was the best starter they had at getting strikeouts, but he just couldn't stop giving up runs. They still have him for four more years, so we'll see what happens there.

In the meantime, Hughes is starting today, backed up by an offense that has been rolling through AL pitching. Everyone's been great, and most players numbers look way better than they did just a little while ago. They're back atop the majors in runs scored, thanks in part to Cano learning how to take a pitch and getting his average back over .300, and Matsui having a monster month. He hit 13 home runs and won player of the month honors, to go with A-Rod's two this year. A Yankee has won the award 3 of 4 months this season, and going back to May of 2005, they've won 9 of 15, including 5 by A-Rod.

Top 1 - Phil's on the mound. I'm excited. Wilson's starting at first for the first time in his major league career. I like Andy Phillips, but Wilson will probably produce more. Nice, crisp fastball to start the game. He follows with a disgusting curve. Three pitches later, he induces a groundout to Cano. He starts Grudzielanek with a ball, but strikes him out with three straight fastballs. Seven pitches later, Teahen grounds it back to Phil, and that's the first. Not great pitch count wise, but he did his thing.

Bottom 1 - Kyle Davies is a promising young talent, but he's been bad for the Braves this year. He was traded to the Royals for Octavio Dotel, who spent all of last year on the Yankees payroll doing Jack before jumping to the money Kansas City gave him. Damon works the count full. He may not be long for this team, although I'm sure he's there the rest of the season. He seems healthy and has been getting better with his job in jeopardy, Melky taking over center field and Giambi coming back from injury to hog the DH spot. He grounds out. Jeter singles to center. Abreu's been better, but I still don't trust him against left handers. He walks on four pitches. A-Rod has a chance right now to make history. And he does it! Three run shot is his 500th home run, giving Hughes an early lead. Awesome. Funny thing, that means that he had the exact same number of at bats between 499 and 500 as Mickey Mantle. Matsui doubles over the first baseman's head. Posada moves him to third, and Cano triples to right center. 4 run lead for Phil Franchise. Betemit is called out on strikes, inning over.

Top 2 - Hughes is throwing strikes but he isn't putting batters away quickly. He should be able to pitch at least 5 and get the win, though. He walks Butler after going 0-2. He K's Gload looking. That's a backwards K, for those who do scorecards. He finally throws a changeup, for a strike. If he can nail down that pitch, he could be awesome, but for now he can do well off just the fastball and curve. He strikes out fellow hyped rookie Alex Gordon as well. Gordon grew up and played in college with Joba. Ain't life interesting? Joba probably won't get called up in time to see him, though. Tony Pena Jr, son of the Yankees first base coach, looks at a called third strike. 4 strikouts in two innings, but he's thrown 39 pitches already.

Bottom 2 - Melky Cabrera has also improved much since a rough start to the season. He flies out to left, though. Damon grounds out again. Jeter works a 3-1 count before singling again. Abreu launches a fly ball that's caught in front of the warning track. Much better inning for Davies.

Top 3 - Gathright doubles on a botched fair/foul call down the left field line. The next pitch is wild and Gathright moves to third. If Hughes had gotten him and the next guy out, he would have pitched nine consecutive hitless innings. A faux-no-hitter, if you will. Posada blocks another potential wild pitch, and the hitter pops out. Next guy singles in Gathright, and the next grounds out to first. Teahen hits a duck fart double and there's another run. The curve is definitely going left. Might have been unnerved slightly by the bogus first hit. He really isn't commanding the curve, and they've avoided the fastball a bit since it's been hit. Another curve is swung at and grounded back to Phil to end the inning. Despite the runs, he's maintained the same pace of about 20 pitches an inning. Through 3 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 4 Ks, 1 BB.

Bottom 3 - A-Rod's first PA has a member of the 500 club. Even though he was the youngest, Ruth and McGwire did it in fewer games. He walks on four pitches and steals second. So many aspects to his game. I wonder if anyone else stole a base the same day they hit 500? Matsui works a long at bat before walking. Posada strikes out looking. Cano grounds out, moving up the runners. A couple runs would be nice here. Betemit delivers an RBI single. Cabrera pops up to end the inning.

Top 4 - Gload lines a single past Hughes after two strikes. The Royals seem to be seeing his fastball well. He gets a little pick up with a grounder for a double play. He strikes out the next guy for a much better inning, pitch count wise. I'm pretty sure Bobby Murcer said something monstrously stupid, but I'm looking up the numbers to make sure. Just this year should be enough evidence. Bobby called Hughes a fly ball pitcher. This season, in the minors, he has a 2.35 ground ball to fly ball ratio, and 2.83 in the majors in limited innings. He's known for a very low home run rate, partially because he gets so many grounders. Today, he's added six groundballs to one fly ball. I have no idea why Bobby would think he's a fly ball pitcher. He called the game against Texas, in which he recorded three GIDP and only one fly ball out that I can recall.

Bottom 4 - New pitcher for Kansas gets two outs quickly. Gordon snags a grounder from Abreu but he gets to first easily ahead of the throw. A-Rod singles through the hole in the right side. A third straight hit, this time by Matsui, and another run scores. Posada pops out to end the inning. Slow moving game.

Top 5 - Hughes walks Gathright on a very close pitch. The catcher flies out. DeJesus homers, 6-4 ball game. A bit of a disappointing return. People expecting him to dominate should cool off a bit, all he has to do is keep the ERA around 4 instead of 7. He really doesn't seem to have his customary command right now. The fastball's only around 88 instead of the 93 at the game's outset. Grudzielanek pops out to short right. Teahen singles up the middle. Butler doubles, Melky takes a bad route, and a run scores. Hughes is being taken out of the game, and he can't get the win. Disappointing return, although he did show some promise for the future. I'm running on fumes right now and not too interested to see Mike Myers, so I'm going to go hang out my cousins. I'll be back for the wrap-up.

Wrap-up - Myers got the win despite facing only two batters and giving up an RBI double to one of them. Win/Loss rules in baseball are so stupid. Anyway, after the Royals tied the game, the Yankees just kept scoring runs, beating up on the weak KC bullpen. The Yankees ended up winning 16-8. Everybody's hitting except for Damon. Abreu hit another home run, Cano picked up a couple hits, Betemit continued to drive guys in. Definitely another great game for an offense that is stampeding through the league. On the bad side, Kyle Farnsworth continues to be unable to pitch innings without giving up runs. His trade value is decimated and they might have to just cut him if they want to win.

Liveblog 5: 2007 Futures Game

I'm not that interested in the All-Star Game this year, to be honest. As the season goes on and the Yankees continue to be inconsistent and mediocre, the playoffs continue to slip away, and I start thinking of the team's future. Not just the team, but the whole league. I'll watch the game and hopefully see some good baseball, but what I'm actually looking forward to is the Futures Game, where a lot of the top prospects in the minor leagues get a chance to pitch in front of a national audience, and we get a chance to see what they have. Isn't that a little more compelling than watching a bunch of guys who are already famous play in an exhibition that most of them probably don't care about?

Last year, Phil Hughes (Who'll hopefully be pitching in the bigs again by the end of the month) and Jose Tabata were selected to represent the Yankees. Phil actually got lit up a bit in the inning he pitched, which included Tabata smacking a single just past his head. How much would it have sucked to have our #2 prospect take out our #1 with a line drive to the face? Anyway, this year, only Joba Chamberlain will be representing the Yankees organization, but he could be worth it just by himself. Picked in the Supplementary Round of the draft last year, he has great talent and would have been picked earlier if there weren't concerns about his arm soreness and weight problem, but so far he's kept those at bay and been dominating hitters with a K/9 rate of over 13. I haven't been this excited about a Yankee pitching prospect since... Phil Hughes. Anyway, I'll be back to blog this game as it happens starting at 4.

Top 1 - The Yankees just beat the Angels 12-0 after losing 2-1 in 13 innings the day before, and winning 14-9 the day before that. What a weird sport. Michael Saunders reaches on an error off a pitch by Jeff Nieman and steals second. Chin-Lung Hu doubles down the line to score Saunders, then steals third and scores on a sac fly Wladimir "Misspelled Name" Balentin. Nieman has a really nice fastball and strikes out Joey Votto. Max Ramirez pops out on a ball that gets away from a fielder before being saved by another.

Bottom 1 - Boston's Jacoby Ellsbury leads off against Rick Vanden Hurk and grounds out. Justin Upton, brother of Tampa's BJ, is next. He strikes out looking. Evan Longoria, not to be confused with the Desperate Housewives star, doubles to center. He moves to third on a wild pitch. Ian Stewart squibs a grounder to the pitcher and the inning's over. Vanden Hurk had a good fastball too. I think we'll see that a lot today.

Top 2 - Chuck Lofgren of the Indians starts the inning, and I'm not sure why he's here, with an ugly ERA, and a good strikeout rate but a fair amount of walks too. German Duran launches a deep fly out to left. Robinzon Diaz (What the fuck is with these names?) bloops a single to center. Carlos Gonzalez pops out to third. Lofgren's fastball is surprisingly mediocre, but he has a good changeup. A wild pitch moves Diaz to second. Freddy Sandoval goes down on strikes and we're moving on.

Bottom 2 - Stephen Pearce pops out against Carlos Carrasco, but I wouldn't know that without the internet because Erin Andrews was interviewing World Team manager Juan Marichal. He was a great player, but this game is about the young, not the old, damn it. Brent Lillibridge fans on a breaking ball. Jay Bruce wallops a triple off the right field wall, the second Team USA hit that would have been a home run in most parks. Chris Coghlan (this is like an unusual name convention) draws a four pitch walk. Bryan Anderson opts for the completely generic name instead, and pays for it with a strikeout.

Top 3 - This is what I'm here to see, Joba the Hutt. He walks Saunders on 5 crisp fastballs, maybe a bit jumpy with the nerves. Saunders steals second. Hu singles to score the runner. Chamberlain gets ahead of the batter with a change and a curve before blowing a fastball by him, as Hu gets thrown out at second. The next hitter lines an out to first base and the inning's over. Disappointing - not the run, Hughes gave up three last year; rather, on the replay, Hu was safe at second, and I wanted to see some more of Joba.

Bottom 3 - Hey, Joba got an interview with Erin! I like the guy, what can I say. Fautino De Los Santos takes the mound and quickly strikes out Ellsbury. Of the saints indeed. Upton takes him deep on the very next pitch. Longoria gets hit by a pitch and takes his base. The next batter pops out. I've just been informed that he was the first positional player ever drafted in the first round by Colorado. Really? The team known for good hitting and terrible pitching? Okay. The next batter walks. Foul tip strikeout to end the inning, 3-1 World.

Top 4 - Kevin Mulvey is now pitching. This game will only be seven innings, which seems weird since they have ten pitchers, I think. Ramirez slugs a double to left. Duran whiffs. Diaz singles on a play that could have been made, and runners are on the corners. The US defense has been rough today. Replacement Colby Rasmus makes a nice running catch in center as Ramirez tags up easily, and the next batter grounds out. 4-1.

Bottom 4 - Funny thing about this All-Star Game commercial with the players riding trolly cars through downtown San Francisco - it was filmed initially with just a bunch of good players, but a large number of them didn't turn out to be voted into the game. So they reedited the commercial to take out all those players while adding a few other incongruous shots of unexpected guys who got in. New pitcher Henry Sosa induced a ground out to start the inning. He quickly gets another. Steve Phillips quips that Jose Reyes could throw 95 MPH if he pitched. I strenuously object. 95 MPH is an elite fastball, just because a guy's got a strong arm at shortstop doesn't mean he's got a better heater than most of the guys who are actually paid to pitch. A third grounder to end the inning.

Top 5 - Pitching is last year's top draft pick Luke Hochevar. Kenny Williams, GM of a terrible team, tells the broadcasters that Mark Buehrle has verbally agreed to an extension to pitch the next four years for the White Sox, without a blanket no-trade clause. I have no idea why Buerhle agreed to this, he could have gotten more money and it's well known that he wanted to play for St. Louis. Unless he really doesn't care about that anymore. Hochevar gets two grounders before a fly ball to wrap up the inning. He was the first US pitcher not to get exactly one strike out.

Bottom 5 - Deolis Guerra gets a ground ball and then a pop out. He throws a crazy wild pitch, but no one's on base, so no harm done, ha ha ha! I hate this laptop, I've somehow managed to accidently publish this post twice in the last two minutes. John Whittleman clubs a homer, two run game. Pitching change? You know it! Commercial for Pan's Labyrinth. I'm disgusted with myself for not having seen it yet. Franco Morales takes the mound. He looks dominating striking out Stewart.

Top 6 - I don't understand Sam Adams' marketing angle of suggesting that everyone who works at their company is a drunk. Liking beer is one thing, but pointing out someone happily accepting a brew at 5:30 AM... little weird. Votto homers off Boston's Clay Buchholz. Phillips mentions him outdueling Roger Clemens earlier this year. Good job giving up fewer runs than a 44 year old making his second start of the year, Clay. Strikes out the hitter. Brian Bocock makes a nice play to get the second out. Geovani Soto strikes out and the inning's over.

Bottom 6 - MLB's Gameday claims Morales' name is Franklin, ESPN says Franco. Franco seems more likely. Matt Tolbert fans. Quick cut to Joba pointing to the US flag on his uniform and giving a thumbs up. You're a Native American, Joba, this country has been screwing your people since they got here over two hundred years ago. Bocock walks. Steve Phillips, you don't have to tell us that Jose Reyes has "elite" speed. We know, okay? The fact that it's a minor league exhibition game suggests that the average viewer knows a few things about baseball, and the fact that Jose is fast is the first thing they teach you when you sign up to be a fan after they tell you what a base is. Stop patronizing us. Morales strikes out Bruce and he's removed for a reliever. Pedro Beato takes the mound and a pop up falls in between three fielders for a hit. Phillips explains that to be a regular catcher, you have to have a good throwing arm. 2007 all-star Victor Martinez says hi. Beato finishes the inning with a K.

Top 7 - Awesome-named Clayton Kershaw will probably be USA's last pitcher today. James Van Ostrand hits a home run. They're gonna have to pick an MVP for this game, which is usually completely meaningless. It's very unlikely a player even stays in the game long enough to be significantly more important to a victory than anyone else, so what's the point? Ground out. The batter is Gorkys Hernandez. Yes, Gorkys. He draws a walk. You know names are crazy when Elvis Andrus doesn't make me bat an eye. The King strikes out. Ah, manager Dave Winfield removes Kershaw when in all likelyhood, this will be the last out their pitchers have to get. Collin Balester in. Double to the left-center gap. Strikes out Votto, 7-2 World.

Bottom 7 - Rich Thompson will attempt to close out the game. He gets Ellsbury after a long battle with the big hook. A fly out, and Emiliano Fruto is brought in to wrap this bitch up. He allows a walk. Stewart flies out, and that's the game.

Wrap-up - Not a bad game. Some of the players looked pretty good. I was annoyed by how ESPN went out of their way to point out all the great players who played in past Futures Games. Really, have a lot of good players in the minors, selected to play in an exhibition, gone on to have success in the majors? How wild! I didn't pay as much attention as I might have if I didn't watch the Yankee game, because six hours of baseball can start to wear on you.