We continue our survey of the Yankees who have done well and not so well in Spring Training:
The New York Yankees Off Season Update 6 – Part 2
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Where Paradise Ain’t So Crowded……..
(A meditation on Mariano Rivera, Cooperstown and a tenuous link with Bruce Springsteen)
It’s June of 2011 and we’re sitting in a diner in Cooperstown, New York, waiting for our orders to be served when “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” by Bruce Springsteen begins to play on the jukebox. Now this is a song I’ve listened to a thousand times but this afternoon, it seems so right and seems to capture exactly the spirit of our trip across New York State.
Golden Days
When I arrived in New York City, the Yankees were second in the AL East and the first game I attended saw them losing, once more, to the Boston Red Sox – making them 1-8 to the Sox on the season.
Of the Captain and Flash Gordon
In my last article I argued that Joe Girardi had shown the paucity of the Yankees bullpen and that it was now time for Brian Cashman to deliver if the Yankees were at all serious about catching Boston in the regular season.
I’ve Got A Bullpen but I Can’t Get No Relief
(I’m posting this slightly out of sequence as the May baseball updates aren’t up on this site yet!)
Yesterday, Joe Girardi looked hesitant and under-managed the Yankees as they allowed Boston to sweep the series at the Stadium. Sabathia faded quickly in a game that he had largely dominated and Girardi allowed him to wilt and die and a small lead became a huge deficit. Girardi’s indecision showed all the traits that would have cost him his job in a different era under a different Steinbrenner.
Was it all worth it?
Well, frankly, no.
As I’m catching up with posting reviews and articles, it occurred to me that the last two were about my first visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon since the new theatre opened.
In New York – Third Game
September 30th 2009
Yankees Vs Kansas City Royals
@ Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Joba rules! We’ve lived with them for the last two seasons. Designed to ensure that the young pitcher of the New York Yankees develops into the star we all KNOW that he can be. Mmmm……. Tonight after lots of late season restrictions the training wheels came off and Chamberlain was given his head to show what he could do in a game on which nothing depended. And we all sat there and squirmed……. And hoped that this was just another off night and tried to avoid the conclusion that they’ll never make a starter out of this guy. But, trust me, this was dreadful.
Joba Chamberlain pitched 3 and 2/3 innings for 3 runs, and even more worryingly 7 hits and 4 walks. He couldn’t find the strike zone and I would have to say that he was lucky to get off so lightly. He was replaced before the end of the 4th inning by Alfredo Aceves. Now this guy didn’t make the rotation back on opening day and has never really been considered as an option for the starting rotation in 2009 but tonight he looked like twice the pitcher that Joba appeared to be. Aceves pitched two innings and if it wasn’t for the fact that the Yankees’ bats had gone to sleep, we would have been right back in it.
Of the batters, only Jeter produced anything of note. Two hits, one a home run and also a walk before he was lifted for Jerry Hairston in the late innings for a game the Yankees didn’t seem to think they could win but in which they were only one run behind.
The late innings relievers, Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera were as overpowering and untouchable as they have been for most of the season but the Royals’ bullpen was just as effective and the Yankees ran out losers, 4-3.
So the last home game of the stand raised more questions than answers and Chamberlain hoping that he could some way edge onto the post-season roster and re-gain some of the ground he has lost.
In New York – 2nd Game
September 29th 2009
Yankees Vs Kansas City Royals
@ Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
The Yankees are paying AJ Burnett an awful lot of money. After this game he was giving a rousing round of applause for 6 and a 1/3 innings during which he only gave up one earned run. The problem is that from where I was sitting he looked lucky. I kept waiting for the moment when there would be a series of hits and Kansas would then take him apart but it never came. I don’t know why. The problem is that I don’t think it was because Burnett was overpowering so much as that Kansas are a weak hitting side.
The post-season is at hand and the Yankees biggest flaw is their starting pitching – the one thing they spent most of last off-season trying to fix. Sabathia has been consistent (although I wasn’t know to know at this point he was only a couple of days away from one of his worst starts of the season). Burnett has had a poor second half after a solid opening to the season. Pettitte has been good for one good performance in every two. Chamberlain has spent half the time looking like a starter who would make a good reliever which is ironic since he is a good reliever who we are trying to make into a good starter. It is good that we don’t need a fifth starter in the playoffs.
We’ll see what comes. We could be brilliant, we could be embarrassing.
Tonight, we got away with it.
In relief, Phil Coke pitched reasonably well but made some bizarre decisions in fielding and dealing with runners on base – leading to the unearned run that was credited to Burnett. David Robertson looked as good as anyone coming back from injury at this point of season could have done. Brian Bruney removed 4 of the last 6 batters (1 hit, 1 walk) and has been busy playing himself back into contention for a playoff roster spot.
Offensively, we didn’t have much to offer. Teixeira carried us and fan-favourite Nick Swisher added a home run which was just enough for a 4-3 win.
Before the game I visited the Yankees museum (which is excellent) and Monument Park (which, ironically, in this more spacious ballpark is a little too compact). I really must do this more often.
In New York – 1st Game
September 28th 2009
Yankees Vs Kansas City Royals
@ Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Last time I arrived in New York, the newspapers were full of stories about how Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, had benched secondbaseman Robinson Cano. Cano had failed to show sufficent effort in his fielding work resulting in Girardi subsituting him immmediately and deciding not to select him for the next game.
This time, Cano fielded like the guy we also knew he could become and hit a grand slam home run to add the power the Yankees needed to gain their insurance runs.
Oh and all this happened in a completely different stadium.
What else was notable?
Before our journey if I’d have predicted which game I was sure the Yankees would win during our visit, then I’d have gone for the game of the 29th. Burnett looked a possible winner, Chamberlain (due to start on the 30th) can be brilliant on his day. I’m still not sure why we signed Chad Gaudin (who was scheduled to start tonight). We had Sergio Mitre to be an indifferent fifth starter, why did we need another?
At least, the Yankees rule against beards meant that Gaudin couldn’t re-grow that thing he used to sport on his chin when he was with the Cubs. But beyond that I’ve found it hard to think of anything that has come out of him joining the Yankees up until this point. Tonight, he pitched 6 2/3 innings for 4 hits and 2 runs. Now he wasn’t outstanding but he held his ground and kept the Yankees in the lead. I don’t expect to see him on the post-season roster or back in the Bronx in 2010 but he’s good enough to get a job elsewhere.
Cano picked up his 49th double and 26th home run. Jorge Posada got to first base safely in every one of four plate appearance.
Oh and the Yankees collected their 101st win of the season.
This is all the more oustanding because it was their 59th win since the All-Star break. Amazing!
So a 8-2 win for this game, roll on tomorrow
Back in the U.K.!
Well, this time it was a bit of a flying, compact visit to New York but it was well worth the travelling time and the jetlag I’m now suffering back in London. During the time we were there we spent time in four of the five boroughs and attended three games at the new Yankee Stadium. It was a painful experience to see the old Stadium closed up, fenced off and derelict but some people struggle to respect history. Strange to think the last time I was there was in the frivolity and joy of the last game ever held there – now the life has moved across the road into a site which has more comfort, more space but lacks the originality of architecture and atmosphere and the ghosts of great games gone by. Where the new stadium has true class is where it has chosen to echo the old. Let’s just say it’s nice and I’ll get used to it and leave it at that.
Over the next few days I’ll be posting some thoughts about the games we saw and then a summary of September and what I thinks the Yankees chances are in the post-season.
twilightdawning 