Well, it is past midnight and it’s now my birthday. Cheers!
Another year over and deeper in……….
5
Live in Leeds
A periodic update on the fortunes of my football team, Leeds United
When I first visited Elland Road in 1972, Leeds were the best team in the old Division one of the English Football League (what we would now call the Premiership). At that time, Cheltenham Town were in the old Southern League Division One (a non-league team, in short). Somewhere along the line, history changes things and now both teams are in the Football League, League One (third division, when I was a boy). All these name changes make it very hard to describe historical development in the life of football teams but to cut a long story short, they got much better, we got much worse.
On Saturday, we met at Elland Road. Cheltenham are struggling to stay in League One without much success (they are bottom of the table). Leeds are fighting to get out of League One without much success (we are well out of the automatic promotion places and four points below playoff qualification at the time that the game kicked off). Both teams could have used a win but in the end Leeds came out on top by a two-nil advantage. Jonny Howson, a player that I would have left out of the starting line-up, scored both goals. I was there and I’ll take a moment to review the performance of the Leeds team, player by player, and look at what I think this means for the future.
Goalkeeper
1. Casper Ankergren. Leeds United’s Danish goalkeeper is hardly the safest pair of hands in the division. He seems to lack confidence and seemed to be anticipating losing control of the ball – which he did on a couple of occasions. He conceded a goal which was disallowed but the clean sheet he maintained probably had more to do with Cheltenham’s ambition to play for the draw. 4/10
Defence
22. Andy Hughes. Injury to club captain Frazer Richardson left midfielder, Hughes, playing out of position at right back. An innocuous performance which saw him withdrawn in the first half. Nothing wrong here but not much right. 5/10
5. Rui Marques. The African central defender seems to have lost confidence since he was a target for some Premiership teams a year or two ago but he is faring much better now than he was at the tail end of Gary McAllister’s time as manager. He marshalled the limited resources he had around him well and made few mistakes. 6/10
36. Richard Naylor. Recent signing, Naylor is club captain in Richardson’s absence and there are whispers that might become permanent. Despite this Marques seemed the more significant influence on those around him. Naylor produced a solid but decidedly unspectacular performance. 5/10
19. Ben Parker. Injury and the end of Carl Dickinson’s loan period has handed the left back slot to Parker who is 21 and has some promise. On Saturday, he did enough but no more. 5/10
Midfield
4. Jonathan Douglas. Douglas is probably capable of playing at a higher level but is temperament is a little suspect. He keeps the midfield organised allowing Delph room to roam and be creative. 6/10
15. Fabian Delph. Talk in the transfer window had Delph departing from the Premiership for anywhere from £2.5 million to £8 million and to anyone from Fulham to Arsenal. In the end, he went nowhere and to be honest, he is far from the finished article. His ball control is good and he is inventive and skilful but too many of his passes go astray. Having said this he is still far better than most of the meagre feast on display. 7/10
14. Jonny Howson. Two goal Howson skied a few other chances but didn’t seem to do very much else. A game to remember for him because of the goals but he will need much more than enthusiasm to stay in the team. 7/10
Attack
18. Andy Robinson. Ex-Swansea man, Robinson began wide on the left but moved to the right when Hughes left the field. Last time, I covered a Leeds game, I mentioned his suspect temperament and his tendency to drift out of the game. He has conquered the second of these. He looked like the most committed and dedicated man on the park on Saturday and he was involved in everything that was good about Leeds. However, he was also involved in a running battle with ex-Leeds man, Ian Westlake which saw him gain another yellow card. A player of real passion, skill and ability. 8/10
10. Lucian Becchio. The big Argentinian is at his best with his back to the goal, holding the ball and laying it off for his strike partner. Problem was that on Saturday, he was the only natural central attacker in the team. Options to partner him were Trundle and Grella who were on the bench for the majority of the game. Becchio though is determined and did well in less than ideal circumstances. 6/10
23. Robert Snodgrass. Better as a wideman, Snodgrass was drawn in a little to provide help for Becchio. This didn’t really work but Snodgrass still had a good game when he could use his speed and flair to good effect. 7/10
Substitutes
8. Neil Kilkenny. Usually out of favour under new manager Grayson, Kilkenny had most of the game to impress. However, used out of position, he was little in evidence in this game. 5/10
35. Lee Trundle. After missing a penalty against Hereford, Trundle (on loan from Bristol City) was left out of the starting eleven. In the short time he was on the field, he had a couple of chances and gave the impression that things might have been better if he’d have partnered Becchio from the beginning and Snodgrass had been given more room to get out on the flank. But then Howson would have been left on the bench so who knows……. 6/10
13. Mike Grella. Grella entered the game in time added on and touched the ball once. A pointless substitution.
I really don’t think this team is good enough to get us into the playoffs. When Jermaine Beckford returns from suspension, and provided he can remain fit, we will have a better chance but it will still be an outside one.
Another season in the third division (I can’t get away from the old terminology) seems a dire prospect but most likely. Perhaps then Grayson can add some new faces – permanent signings, please – and better times might lie ahead.
Sereyna (my daughter) and Darren
Lee Trundle and Sereyna
The Pleasures of Electricity
(Ignoring the snow outside)
One of my favourite arists, John Foxx has come up with three new albums for the first half of 2009
The first on the 23rd of February (just in time for my birthday) will be "My Lost City"
Track Listing:
01. Imperfect Hymn
02. Holywell Lane
03. Magnetic Fields
04. Just Passing Through
05. Barbican Brakhage
06. Hidden Assembly
07. Hawksmoor Orbital
08. Piranesi Motorcade
09. City of Disappearances
10. Umbra Sumus
11. Scene 27 – Intro to The Voice Behind The Wallpaper, Trellick Tower 3am
It will be released on Metamatic Records META21CD
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His second release will be a collaboration with Steve Jansen (brother of David Sylvian and formerly percussionist with Japan) and Steve D’Agostino (who joined Foxx on his recent "Metamatic" tour.
The album entitled A Secret Life will be released on the 23rd of March also on Metamatic META22CD. Track listing:
01. A Secret Life (Part 1)
02. A Secret Life (Part 2)
03. A Secret Life (Part 3)
04. A Secret Life (Part 4)
05. A Secret Life (Part 5)
06. A Secret Life (Part 6)
No artwork yet.
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The third album will be another collaboration, this time with former Cocteau Twin, Robin Guthrie. The album will be on Metamatic and will be distributed by Universal. Released on the 4th of May, it will be entitled "Mirrorball".
Pettitte and the Yankees ….. the story continues
A few weeks ago I said:
"I’d like to see: Sabathia – Wang – Burnett – Pettitte – Aceves."
In another post I said:
"I think he (Pettitte) should swallow deeply, remember last winter and all the damage that did to his reputation and take the $10 million that the Yankees have on the table. He would be a good no. 4 or no. 5 starter."
Yesterday, Pettitte accepted far less than that offer – albeit in an incentive-laden deal that could net him more than that if the season goes well.
Another piece falls into place in the puzzle.
All the Merry Little Elves Can Go and Hang Themselves…….
Bob Dylan learned everything he knows about film-making on the set of Sam Peckinpah’s "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid".
That’s not to say that Dylan is a good film-maker and certainly not to imply that he is the equal of Peckinpah. But the episodic nature of Dylan’s two feature films is drawn from Peckinpah’s masterpiece. Dylan appears as the mysterious and enigmatic "Alias" in the 1973 Western – a film where there is no narrative and our understanding of the film’s plot requires the outside knowledge of the Billy the Kid story to help us follow the plot development. In Dylan’s two cinematic efforts – 1978’s messy "Renaldo and Clara" and 2003’s beautiful mess "Masked and Anonymous" – we do not know the progression of the story and so we go away with more questions than answers.
James Coburn’s magisterial performance as Pat Garrett is at the heart of so much that is good about "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" which I viewed once more this evening as part of the British Film Institute’s Peckinpah series. His Garrett is a man in transition. In his younger life, he has trod the same road as William Bonney (Billy the Kid) but now as the West is changing, he has taken the shilling of the rich landowners and become a sheriff on their behalf to track down Bonney, played here by Kris Kristofferson. It is Garrett desire to survive the changes that is society is going through and to live to a good old age but he has failed to calculate how much this will cost him. At the culmination of the film when the Sheriff shoots Bonney in cold blood, he is panicked and also shoots at his reflection in a mirror as he sees something move. The inference is obvious – in killing Bonney, he has killed himself. We see nothing else of his life but know that he, himself, is ambushed and killed in like manner several years later. The landowners’ tolerate murder and rape and something inside of Garrett has died long before he takes that bullet. Garrett has become their man, their servant, their hired hand.
This is seen in two telling scenes near to the conclusion of the film. In short span, we see Garrett in bed with four prostitutes in a scene that is titilating but without love. A sexual longing is fulfilled but there is nothing more. By contrast, Bonney is involved in a scene of real tenderness and passion with the woman he holds dear. He is true to himself and still able to feel.
It is a film where the Sheriff doesn’t wear a white hat and the villain is not in black. The West is inhuman and murderous but Bonney is the one with some signs of redemption still sparking within him. Garrett will be the one to survive for a time but he has ceased to live.
This is a tour-de-force of a film which whilst you are unlikely to catch it in a cinema as I had the pleasure tonight, is well-worth picking up the Director’s cut on DVD. It is one of the truly great artistic moments which reflects on the transition from civil war to the Old West. In rock and country music, there is the Eagles’ Desperado and Paul Kennerley’s White Mansions and Legend of Jesse James (which interestingly both feature prominently the Eagles’ Bernie Leadon). On TV and much more light-heartedly, there is Alias Smith and Jones which can now be found on DVD. In film, there is Gods and Generals (for the Civil War) and …. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (for the Old West).
Meanwhile, watching carefully and observing is the curiously out-of-place figure of Bob Dylan, who produces a soundtrack which has all the sentimentality for the Old West which the film lacks. Perhaps, the actor goes away and broods until the day he can produce his own cinematic vision…. albeit with less consistency and recognition.
Yankees in 2009 – Where does it look like they’re going?
Having finally laid to rest the 2008 Baseball season, from a Bronx perspective, a week ago, we now begin looking at the team as it will line-up for 2009 or at least as it looks like it will this side of Spring training.
Here are the players that I would expect to dominate the roster:
C – Jorge Posada
1B – Mark Teixeira
2B – Robinson Cano
3B – Alex Rodriguez
SS – Derek Jeter
LF – Johnny Damon / Xavier Nady
CF – Melky Cabrera / Brett Gardner
RF – Xavier Nady / Nick Swisher
DH – Hideki Matsui / Johnny Damon
Infield Bench – Cody Ransom / Juan Miranda
Outfield bench – Brett Gardner / Nick Swisher
Catchers on bench – Jose Molina / Francisco Cervelli
SP1 – CC Sabathia
SP2 – Chien-Ming Wang
SP3 – AJ Burnett
SP4 – Joba Chamberlain
SP5 – Alfredo Aceves / Phil Hughes
Long Relief – Alfredo Aceves / Dan Giese
Middle Relief 1 – Jose Veras
Middle Relief 2 – Brian Bruney
Middle Relief 3 – Phil Coke
Left handed specialist – Damaso Marte
Closer – Mariano Rivera
Other pitchers in the running: Ian Kennedy, Andrew Brackman, Jonathan Albaladejo, David Robertson, Humberto Sanchez.
I’m reckoning that they’ll only carry one of the back-up catchers I’ve mentioned – very probably Molina. Aceves is in the forefront for two spots but could miss out all together. The bullpen, as always, is the least settled prior to the Spring. Nick Swisher could move prior to the start of the season.
The Twilight Dawning 1st Annual Yankees Baseball Awards
That’s TWI-D (Twilight Dawning) not TWIB (This week in Baseball)
Using the rules I explained so clearly yesterday, here are the Yankees players who fared best according to my bi-monthly updates during the 2008 season:
Batter of the Year 2008: Alex Rodriguez
Pitcher of the Year 2008: Mike Mussina
Bench player of the Year 2008: Wilson Betemit
Relief Pitcher of the Year 2008: Mariano Rivera
Most appearances without getting mentioned in the Twilight Dawning reports:
Jonathan Albaladejo (7 games)
For the record, here are the total points gained:
Batters
A. Rodriguez 6
B. Abreu 3
J. Damon 2
D. Jeter 1
X. Nady 1
R. Cano 1
H. Matsui 0
J. Posada 0
J. Giambi -1
I. Rodriguez -2
M. Cabrera -3
J. Molina -4
Bench
W. Betemit 6
B. Gardner 2
C. Ransom 2
C. Moeller 1
J. Miranda 1
J. Christian 0
M. Ensberg -1
A. Gonzalez -2
S. Duncan -2
R. Sexson -2
Pitchers
M. Mussina 6
M. Rivera 5
B. Bruney 4
J. Veras 4
K. Farnsworth 3
J. Chamberlain 2
A. Aceves 2
D. Giese 2
P. Coke 2
C.M. Wang 1
Andy Pettitte 0
Carl Pavano 0
E. Ramirez -1
H. Sanchez -1
B. Traber -1
R. Ohlendorf -1
S. Ponson -1
D. Marte -2
C. Britton -2
P. Hughes -2
L. Hawkins -2
K. Igawa -2
D. Robertson -3
I. Kennedy -3
D. Rasner -5
There’s the odd anomaly (Rasner simply wasn’t that bad, he was just simply left on the roster longer than other struggling pitchers!) in this but I think it is surprisingly evocative of the way the season went.
It’s fifteen years since my first trip to Yankee Stadium. It was a privilege to be there again this season and particularly to be present for the final game at the old Stadium. Hopefully, next year will see them back in the post-season.
Almost ready to sum up
I’ve now summarised the 2008 baseball season for the New York Yankees position-by-position. Looking back over the season, I listed the most notable batter and pitchers, twice a month, in three categories. Six players (three batters, three pitchers) were recorded as Pluses, Minuses and Surprises. Going back through those lists and awarding one point for being a Plus, subtracting one for being a Minus and adding or deducting one point depending on whether they were a good Surprise or a bad one.
Totalling all this up I’ll reveal tomorrow who is the Twilight Dawning Yankees Batter of the Year, Yankees Pitcher of the Year, Yankees Bench Player of the Year and Yankees Relief Pitcher of the Year.
Yankees – and finally to the designated hitters
The Yankees used fifteen players at designated hitter in 2008……….
There was………
Johnny Damon ……. who was predominately the left fielder. He played there in 27 games.
Jason Giambi ……. who was the everyday first baseman for much of the season. He played there in 26 games.
Jorge Posada …… who would have been the everyday catcher if it hadn’t been for injury. He played there in 15 games.
Alex Rodriguez…. who was the everyday third baseman. He played there when he was recovering from injury……that was 7 games
Xavier Nady….. who took over in leftfield for most of the second half of the season. He was the DH on 7 occasions.
Bobby Abreu….. who was the everyday rightfielder. He was the DH on 4 occasions.
Chad Moeller…… a player looking for a slot in the line-up. Particularly in the second half when there was one catcher too many. 2 games.
Ivan Rodriguez…… not the player they expected at catcher, so occasionally he was used at DH. Again, just 2 games.
Derek Jeter….. occasionally even the captain / shortstop needs to do half duty…… 2 games
Justin Christian…. found time in the outfield harder to come by so he was moved to DH……. 2 games.
Shelley Duncan…… didn’t live up to expectations at 1B…… 1 game
Morgan Ensberg……. another failed first base experiment…….. 1 game
Wilson Betemit…….. the consummate bench player…… 1 game
Richie Sexson….. maybe he’ll hit more home runs without the defensive responsibilities….. 1 game
All of which shows that Girardi regards Designated Hitter as some kind of bonus role for the weak and / or recovering player he can’t slot in anywhere else. This is fine when you’re a manager in the National League where the DH only becomes an issue for the half-a-dozen inter-league games at an American League stadium which are such a pesky nuisance. However, it really doesn’t work in the American League. Whether you like the Designated Hitter or not (and I do) you have to give the player in that position some kind of consistency – and use a fit player. The only player who came close to being consistently used there was also someone carrying a debilitating medical problem awaiting attention……….
Hideki Matsui (93 games). 66 of these were at DH. Matsui’s days when he was able to be a good leftfielder seem to be behind him now. He will become a useful designated hitter if he can still hit with power…. and that remains to be seen but he will need to be a different proposition in 2009 than he was in 2008. In 2008, his slugging average was .424. This was a career low for Matsui and only 7th amongst Yankees who appeared in more than half of the games of the season. Whether the Yankees should be guiding Matsui towards retirement rather than designated hitter remains to be seen. Honouring someone who’s done good service for the team is one thing but we can’t afford to do this in the active lineup unless he comes off his September surgery vastly improved.
But who will we use at designated hitter if Matsui doesn’t work out. Whether the obvious candidate seems to be Nick Swisher, who looks peculiarly surplus to requirement, now that we have Teixeira at first base. Johnny Damon would have been destined there if we had done the sensible thing and re-signed Bobby Abreu – but that looks increasingly unlikely. Brett Gardner will need to find playing time somewhere …. but he’s scarcely in the big hitting designated hitter mold that I’m arguing for…….
So Matsui it is…… with reservations.
Yankees – Any relief coming their way? part 3
Here we have a last few comments on the relief pitchers the Yankees used this season. And then some predictions for who will man the bullpen in 2009……….
Alfredo Aceves (6 games). 4 starts, two relief appearances. For my main comments on Aceves, please see the article on starting pitchers. Suffice to say that if he doesn’t make the rotation, he should be the long reliever.
Humberto Sanchez (2 games). Both appearances in relief. Sanchez after many stumbles and time lost to injury, finally made it to the Bronx in September. Sometimes you sit in the box seats and watch someone’s debut and you know you’re watching the beginning of an era. Sometimes you sit and watch and you think you see a journeyman. My impression was the latter. He’ll need an awfully good Spring to make the roster. I don’t see it – expect him to begin the year in Scranton.
Sidney Ponson (16 games). 15 starts, 1 relief. See the Starting pitchers comments for my thoughts on Mr Ponson.
Kei Igawa (2 games). 1 start. 1 relief appearance. How the Yankees came by Igawa is anyone’s guess. He came as the next young Oriental pitcher expected to make it big in the States. He became someone who needed to be developed before he was set to be a major league regular. He is now the man who the Yankees just wish someone would take away and put an end to their and his suffering. He suffered a 13.50 ERA in 2008 as the Yankees were willing to try anyone to give them left-handed relief. Unprotected and off the 40-man roster, I doubt we will see him back in New York pinstripe.
Ian Kennedy (10 games). 9 starts, 1 in relief. See the starting pitchers list for my thoughts on his pitching and chances for 2009.
Scott Patterson (1 game). 1 game in relief. The way that the Yankees treated Patterson in 2008 is a mystery to me. He had a great Spring and just missed the opening day roster by a hairs-breadth. In June, he was called up when the Yankees designated Morgan Ensberg for assignement and he pitched a lack-lustre 1 and a third innings in his debut for an ERA of 6.75. Too early to tell but the Yankees needed a reliever the next day so it was back to Scranton for Patterson where the people at the major level seemed to completely forget he existed. Despite a good year at Scranton, he was placed on waivers in September to clear space on the roster for incoming players (never a good sign for your future) and this seemingly expendable reliever / closer was claimed by San Diego where he had a good finish to the year giving up no runs in three appearances. This might make sense if there weren’t times in the year when the Yankees were really scratching around to find half-way decent pitchers. Anyway, good luck to him at the Padres in 2009.
So that’s em all. Where does that leave the New York Yankees’ bullpen for 2009. Well, barring any surprise additions or subtractions, I look at it like this:
Certainties: Rivera, Veras, Bruney, Marte
Likelies: Coke
Possibles: Robertson, Ramirez, Giese, Aceves
Slim chance: Albaladejo, Sanchez
This, of course, doesn’t allow for injuries and the ever-present likelihood that one of the young arms will so impress the coaches in Spring training that they decide to give him a first chance. This happens almost every year and is impossible to predict. It also doesn’t allow for the possibiility that the big noises in New York might change their minds once more and decide that Chamberlain is a reliever after all. This makes way too much sense and therefore will not happen. It does however mean that the Yankees do not have to fill the last relief spot on their roster with some make-weight like Billy Traber.
The year in relief looks good.
twilightdawning 