Tag Archives: yankee stadium

Dark Days at Yankee Stadium – Part 2

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So now to look at the pitching in June.

Not much to say that is positive here either. However, given the scope of the injuries with both starters (Wang, Hughes, Kennedy) and relievers (Bruney, Britton) out, there is scope for improvement after the All-Star break.

Here’s the figures for the month. I’ve removed a couple of columns that proved confusing for some folks last month.

New York Yankees – Pitching – June

Name                                     GP   IP      H   RA ER BB SO W L    Sv      ERA     OBA

Ponson, Sidney         1  6.0  5  0  0  4  4 1 0  0   0.00  .238
Igawa, Kei             1  1.0  2  0  0  0  0 0 0  0   0.00  .500
Britton, Chris         2  2.1  2  0  0  0  2 0 0  0   0.00  .222
Rivera, Mariano       11 11.1  6  2  2  1 18 1 1  7   1.59  .154
Chamberlain, Joba      5 25.0 22  7  5 13 26 1 0  0   1.80  .239
Veras, Jose           13 13.2 12  3  3  7 14 2 0  0   1.98  .235
Mussina, Mike          5 34.0 33 12 12  5 25 2 2  0   3.18  .258
Giese, Dan             6 19.0 15 10  7  6 12 1 3  0   3.32  .208
Farnsworth, Kyle      11 10.2 11  4  4  4 12 1 1  1   3.38  .282
Pettitte, Andy         6 40.2 39 18 17  9 28 4 0  0   3.76  .255
Wang, Chien-Ming       3 16.2 18  8  7  6  9 2 0  0   3.78  .286
Hawkins, LaTroy        7 10.1 11  5  5  5  3 0 0  0   4.35  .289
Robertson, David       1  2.0  4  1  1  0  1 0 0  0   4.50  .500
Rasner, Darrell        6 32.0 47 24 23 11 24 1 5  0   6.47  .341
Patterson, Scott       1  1.1  1  1  1  2  2 0 0  0   6.75  .200
Ramirez, Edwar        11 11.0 10  9  9  6 13 0 0  0   7.36  .244
Ohlendorf, Ross        8  8.1 12  8  8  5  5 0 0  0   8.64  .333
Traber, Billy          3  1.2  2  2  2  0  1 0 0  0  10.80  .286

Pluses

Mariano Rivera. His worst month of the year and he’s still weighing in a 1.59 ERA and the best OBA on the team. Hall of Fame, Monument Park beckons. The best reliever I’ve ever seen.

Jose Veras. His ERA improves to 2.54 on the season as he produced a spartan 1.98 in June. Also took two wins on the month. He has become a vital cog in the machine that leads to Rivera.

Mike Mussina. It can no longer be described as a surprise but Moose is having a helluva comeback year. 2-2 on the month with 3.18 ERA puts him on track for a possible 20 win season. I would have settled for 10 after 2007.

Minuses

Ross Ohlendorf. Simply fell apart in June to the extent that he has had to go back to the minors to work on his pitches. Don’t know what this implies about the coaching staff at the major league level.

Darrell Rasner. In less injury-troubled times, Darrell would have been allowed a break from the starting rotation and gone to long relief. Again, it is troubling that the coaching staff in the Bronx are not able to help him with his confidence and his mechanics.

Edwar Ramirez. For the second season running, Ramirez looks the business on call-up and then wilts visibly as the batters get used to facing him. His 7.36 ERA on the month (compare to 2.90 on the season) is a little unlucky but even bad fortune can’t account for that bloating.

Surprises

Sidney Ponson. Well, he produced a great second debut. We all know that it is all downhill from here but he gave us one good game.

Kyle Farnsworth. Continues to survive the odd bad outing and bounced back from minor injuries to be a good part of a suffering staff. 3.38 ERA on the month.

Joba Chamberlain. Achieved his first win as a starter but the jury is still out on this transition. He only average five innings an outing in the month and most of the time was good enough to keep the Yankees in the game but not much more than that.

Dark Days at Yankee Stadium

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So after the inter-league play thrust them back into contention, the Yankees have found it tough again against their regular American League opponents. The younger Steinbrenners are now unhappy with their offense and this time they’re right:

New York Yankees – Batting – Month – June  

 

Name                   AB  R  H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO SH SF SB    BA  SLG  

Duncan, Shelley         1  0  1   0  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0 1.000 2.000

Rodriguez, Alex       101 24 37  23  6  0  9 17 19  0  2  5  .366  .693 

Damon, Johnny         102 12 37  10  4  2  0 11 15  0  0  5  .363  .441 

Giambi, Jason          82 16 25  19  3  1  6 12 18  0  0  1  .305  .585 

Jeter, Derek          110 20 33  10  8  0  2 12 13  2  0  1  .300  .427 

Cano, Robinson        101 13 29  14  7  0  2  2  6  0  2  0  .287  .416 

Matsui, Hideki         61  6 17   8  1  0  1  8  8  0  0  0  .279  .344 

Moeller, Chad          11  2  3   0  3  0  0  0  3  0  0  0  .273  .545

Posada, Jorge          63  5 17   9  5  0  2 13 13  0  1  0  .270  .444 

Betemit, Wilson        45  9 12   9  4  0  3  1 14  0  1  0  .267  .556 

Molina, Jose           35  4  9   4  2  0  0  3  8  2  1  0  .257  .314 

Abreu, Bobby          103 15 26  17  6  0  3 12 14  0  0  6  .252  .398 

Cabrera, Melky        102  8 21   8  2  0  1 12 16  1  0  3  .206  .255 

Christian, Justin      15  2  3   2  1  0  0  1  1  0  0  0  .200  .267 

Rasner, Darrell         1  0  0   0  0  0  0  2  1  0  0  0  .000  .000 

Pettitte, Andy          2  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  .000  .000 

Ohlendorf, Ross         1  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  .000  .000 

Chamberlain, Joba       3  0  0   0  0  0  0  1  1  1  0  0  .000  .000 

Wang, Chien-Ming        3  1  0   0  0  0  0  0  2  0  0  0  .000  .000 

Gonzalez, Alberto       9  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  .000  .000 

Mussina, Mike           3  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  .000  .000 

Ponson, Sidney          2  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  2  1  0  0  .000  .000

Gardner, Brett          3  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  1  .000  .000

 


Pluses

Alex Rodriguez. With the bat he is once again the best player on the staff. He has hit 9 home runs in June well ahead of everyone on the team including:


Jason Giambi. No longer a surprise. Whether it was the mustache or just the right moment, Giambi broke out of the funk he was in and has become one of the best players on the team. .305 on the month with 6 home runs

Johnny Damon. Mr Damon has proved his ability and his commitment to the team over and over again this 
season. .363 batting average on the month even if his power numbers haven’t really been there.

 

Minuses

 

Melky Cabrera. Defensively solid but not pulling his weight with the bat. On the month, .206 batting, .255 slugging. It has to improve.

Alberto Gonzalez. Alberto’s time has almost passed. It’s hard for the Yankees to keep him around. He’s solid enough on defence but with Jeter and Rodriguez ahead of him, he needs to be able to pinch hit. 0 for 9 on the month settles the argument.

 

Jose Molina. Simply hasn’t repeated his performance of last year. If they decided to reduce the staff to two catchers, they would keep him but it would seem a little unfair on Moeller.

 

Surprises

 

Justin Christian. He came, he went. He did well on his debut but then he was gone too quickly. Gardner, his replacement, is not exactly setting the league alight. Thankfully but regrettably, injuries means that one or both of them is going to a real chance to prove himself.

 

Robinson Cano. Don’t how it became the case that Cano hitting is a surprise but the slump had gone on a long time. Now he’s collecting multi-hit games.

 

Bobby Abreu. It’s all gone quiet. With Matsui and maybe Damon injured, Abreu needs to rise above that .252 he’s produced on the month.

Designated for assignment

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In April, I said:

“Morgan Ensberg (11). Another surprise name. And another journeyman who is unlikely to be in the post-season in 2008 whether the Yankees make it there or not. Recently with the Astros and Padres, he is patient at the plate and will draw walks but it’s hard when that’s the best thing you can think to say about him.

 

Scott Patterson (no number allocated). A surprising exclusion. His time will come.”

Today, the Yankees released Ensberg and called up Patterson who is actually pitching against Minnesota at this moment, as I write. I am therefore officially clever and I should be transported to Yankee Stadium, by means of jaunting, as a reward.

Opening Day at Yankee Stadium

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It’s a trifle unusual to find a huge baseball fan in the UK but I have to confess. I first discovered the sport in 1986 when Channel 4 decided to show the World Series. In 1994 I made the first of a number of trips to New York to take in a game – only to find that my flight out coincided with the beginning of a players’ strike which wrecked the remainder of the season. Anyway, having arrived in New York I still made the journey to the Stadium and a very pleasant member of the NYPD went way beyond his remit by giving me a guided tour. I fell in love with the architecture and ambience of the place (even when empty) and decided then and there that it would be the first of many trips.
Since then I’ve attended over 40 games at Yankee Stadium and as they begin a new season to day I approach it with a rare feeling. Not only is today opening day for the New York Yankees, it is the last opening day which will ever take place at the old stadium. The stadium which opened in 1923 is being replaced. Like Wembley Stadium here in London, time moves on and new venues are demanded but there is a sense of history lost which can never be transferred or replaced. Add to this that as my diary and wallet currently stand my chances of visiting the old stadium one last time are nil and I feel very strange about all this. New York feels a bit like a second home but I guess beyond 2008, it will never be quite the same.