Game 1: Yanks VS. Rays

Well that was ugly. The Yanks got rocked 13-4 but the big blows didn’t hit until they brought in LaTroy Hawkins and Kyle Farnsworth (who are, other than Mariano, the two highest paid relievers we have). Up until that point, the Yankee bullpen, including Albaladejo, Ross Ohlendorf and Billy Traber, had been phenomenal. Kennedy had a rough first outing but at least they got him out of there early so he’ll have a few more innings to use up down the road. He simply didn’t have command of his stuff and hurt himself more than the Rays did.

The one thing that bothered me the most tonight wasn’t the loss, actually. In fact, the booing of LaTroy Hawkins truly bothered me more than anything else. Paul O’Neill does not play anymore, get over it Yankee fans. Yes he was great while he played but think practically. Not every number can be retired, at least not right away, and Hawkins is wearing the number in order to honor Roberto Clemente. How can you boo a man for that? What if everyone in the stands began to boo Mariano Rivera for wearing Jackie Robinson’s number? Come on now.

This is your team. It’s funny, people are already beginning to compare him to Kyle Farnsworth, as if Hawkins’ 1 day implosion can even relate to the years of inept pitching we’ve seen from Kyle Farnsworth. Please, stop the insanity and relax. It’s the fourth game of the year. More on the relievers tomorrow.

Quick Notes: Girardi Misses Game, Suspensions for Cabrera and Shelley

Joe Girardi will miss Friday’s game due to a respiratory infection. Also, Shelley Duncan and Melky Cabrera had their suspensions softened up a bit, and will only serve 2 instead of 3. Melky will sit out of today’s game while Duncan will begin serving his suspension on Monday.

The Number 5 Hitter

I’ve definitely enjoyed watching Joe Girardi in the Blue Jays series, as he’s showed confidence in his pitchers and his hitters, while executing some fine bullpen management (thus far). Of course, one could criticize his decision to leave Jason Giambi in when a lefty reliever steps onto the mound, but that’s probably the only explicit question mark. However, there is a lingering concern that I have about his lineup.

Why have Giambi as your number 5 hitter? I think a number 5 hitter should be a guy that you can count on to drive in RBI’s, hit home runs, make contact and have plate discipline (high OBP, relatively low strikeout total). Jason Giambi can hit you home runs and can earn his walks, but can he slap the ball, inside out a pitch, hit a double, and do other offensive things that are necessary in order to score and move runners? For instance, the other day, with an extreme shift on by the Blue Jays, Giambi couldn’t even slap the ball towards third with nobody there. If he did he could have made something happen. Instead, he pulled the ball right into the shift and that makes absolutely no sense at all. The Blue Jays basically burned him on his lack of offensive versatility.

So, my question (in response to my other question) is, why not slot Matsui into the number 5 spot? He has power and discipline, two things Giambi has, but he can also slap the ball when he’s late on a pitch (as seen yesterday) and he can hit a double to the gaps even with his old wheels. Giambi could barely round first on a ball hit to Death Valley in Yankee Stadium. The point is, Matsui is batting 8th in the lineup when he can do more than Giambi can, or, at least that’s what I think about the situation. The only knock on Hideki Matsui is that he grounds into double plays more often than Jason Giambi which can really destroy an inning (2 outs) whereas Giambi grounds into dp’s less, but he strikes out more (1 out instead of 2).

I think Girardi will realize this and will eventually move Hideki Matsui up in the order, especially when the weather warms up a bit. Matsui’s numbers have constantly gone up with the temperature and by the end of May or early July, I definitely expect to see him hitting behind A-Rod. I’m also assuming (which could be dangerous) that Giambi won’t have a great year, sending him down the lineup (he is 37 after all).

For next season, the Yankees will likely pursue Mark Teixeira as their first baseman and he would be the ideal number 5 hitter behind Alex Rodriguez (in terms of batting, he can do practically everything).

So, who do you think should be hitting 5th?

Kei Igawa Throws 6 No-Hit Innings… in Triple-A

 

From Baseball America:

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 4, Lehigh Valley 0
This was not the way the IronPigs wanted to begin their IL career. Yankees lefty Kei Igawa and three relievers (Scott Patterson, Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras) combined to throw a one-hitter against Lehigh Valley, the Phillies’ top farm club which is relocated from Ottawa last year. Igawa chipped in six innings and allowed no hits while striking out seven and walking none. Thankfully for the Pigs, the game was on the road, and they don’t open brand-new Coca-Cola park until April 11. As to the quality of Igawa’s stuff, veteran minor slugger and free agent import Valentino Pascucci told The (Wilkes-Barre) Times-Leader:

“It was just his night. He was getting both sides of the plate, inside and out. That makes it easy to pitch.”

“I’ve seen him before in Japan. I was trying to tell the other guys about him. It’s tough when you’ve never seen a pitcher and he has a little pause in his windup.”

All that money for a great Triple-A pitcher. All jokes aside, I think Igawa will do a fine job when he comes up for a spot start here or there (oh yea, I said it). Others will be counted on to log innings in order to appease the inning caps imposed upon Hughes and Kennedy (Joba’s role in the BP is like its own inherent innings cap). I’m still rooting for the guy to have some success outside of the minor leagues (and Japan).

The Old Disappearing Pitcher Trick

Just kidding, sorry everyone. A lot of Yankee fans were worried about Mark Melancon, one of our top pitching prospects (Mariano’s successor?), warmed up to pitch in Tampa last night, however, after warming up he was nowhere to be found and did not throw a single pitch. Of course, Yankee fans, being as astute as we are, knew something was amiss and PA went straight to the source and asked Brian Cashman about it (probably because he was flooded with awkward emails).

Brian Cashman reports that Tampa manager Luis Sojo forgot to put Melancon’s name on the lineup card, so he couldn’t come into the game.

“The player is fine,” Cashman wrote in an e-mail.

So, for anyone who was worried about Marky Mark, ease up. He’s just fine. If you’re interested in knowing more about Melancon, here’s a nice writeup (although a bit old) from what I believe is the original Replacement Level Website. Also, here are his stats (he hasn’t pitched in a while due to TJ surgery) courtesy of The Baseball Cube.

Joba’s Celebrations Pt.2

I was reading through a few Yankee-related articles when I came across the following items that need to be commented on. With that said, here I go (okay, so I still haven’t gotten these post intros down, even after 5 months, sorry).

Brian Costello had this relatively humorous title for his article on the media driven controversial Joba celebration (the patented fist pump-twirl) in the season opener. The reason it’s humorous (well at least to me anyway) is because Joba couldn’t fist pump during the game. Due to the context, it simply made no sense and he would have looked like a fool. Joba didn’t strike Alex Rios out. He simply induced a fly ball out. How can you fist pump for a fly ball out? That makes no sense at all. Here’s what Costello says:

As Alex Rios’ fly ball settled in Bobby Abreu’s glove to end the eighth inning last night, there were no fist pumps, no twirls, no screams. New York Yankees star Joba Chamberlain simply took his glove off and walked off the field with his head down.

Don’t worry, though, the lack of emotion was not due to criticism from certain radio hosts in town. The 22-year-old picked up the victory against Toronto in the 3-2 Yankees win last night, facing four batters in the eighth. Afterward he vowed to keep celebrating any way he chooses.

Why would I worry? If Joba would have done a fist pump-twirl after inducing a fly ball out, only then would I worry. He’d look like an idiot. This is how the media furthers stories. They write about something that is absolutely meaningless (e.g. Joba’s celebration after striking out Frank Thomas) and then create more stories about it for no reason. Yes, Joba has said that he’ll continue to celebrate when he feels the need (I reported it) to but his comments really had no bearing on the out Costello begins his article with.

Once the man Joba was accused of showing up laid this to rest, the media should have listened to him and moved on. Here’s what Frank Thomas had to say about Joba as well as Phil Hughes (both of whom struck him out during the series).

“It’s pure energy,” Thomas said of Chamberlain. “I don’t mind that at all. I like him and the Hughes kid. I think they made the right decision sticking with those young guys.”

There you have it. Okay, no more Joba celebration posts.

Upcoming Series: Yanks VS. Rays

 

Old faithful, PA from the LoHud Blog, has posted the upcoming pitching matchups:

Friday: RHP Ian Kennedy vs. RHP Andy Sonnanstine, 7:05 (YES)

Saturday: LHP Andy Pettitte vs. RHP Edwin Jackson, 1:05 (YES)

Sunday: RHP Chien-Ming Wang vs. RHP James Shields, 1:05 (YES)

Monday: RHP Mike Mussina vs. RHP Jason Hammel, 7:05 (YES/ESPN)

I’m pretty excited to see Ian Kennedy verse Andy Sonnanstine. Both guys are very young, are highly underrated and, of course, have a lot of potential, as they are still developing at the big league level. Essentially, both pitchers are similar in that regard, but they’re also similar in terms of their pitching styles, as each focuses on control and location in order to maximize their raw abilities and overall level of effectiveness.

While Sonnanstine’s 2007 stats are pretty abysmal (130 IP/5.85 ERA), they really don’t reflect the numbers he’s actually capable of producing. In 495 innings of minor league work, Sonnanstine has a 2.58 ERA and 463 K’s. Also, his minor league WHIP is a clean 1.00 and his BB/9 is 1.36 (he only has 75 walks in 495 IP). When he faced the Yankees last year (twice), he flashed his true stuff in his first game against them (8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 K) but then he got pounded for 5 ER his second time around. He’s been great for the Rays during the spring, so we’ll see what he does against the Yankees tomorrow (it’ll be his first start of the season).

Ian Kennedy is another guy we’re all looking forward to watching tomorrow as well (I’m not a Rays fanboy, I promise I like Kennedy more than Sonnanstine). Out of the Yanks’ three young arms, IPK had the best spring and he’s enjoyed his “background” success, thus far. Like with Sonnanstine, Kennedy isn’t talked about as much because of the young pitching stars that surround him. Sonnanstine has Shields, Garza and Kazmir, whereas Joba and Phil Hughes continue to mask Kennedy’s talents. However, we all know what he’s capable of and if he throws up some solid numbers against the Rays tomorrow everyone should be very happy with that. Remember, they’re not JUST the lowly Devil Rays anymore. That’s a tremendously solid lineup and it would definitely be a great win for Kennedy to build on (if he is successful).

I think it’ll be an even matchup. The past 3 games have been particularly fun to watch with great pitching and timely hitting, so I hoping to see more of the same. Oh yea, and let’s not forget the entertaining ST fiasco between the Rays and the Yankees.