Former Yanks Fight

From MLB.com:

PITTSBURGH — One day after going face-to-face with D-backs starter Randy Johnson, Pirates utility man Doug Mientkiewicz wasn’t in the mood to hold anything back.

The two got into a verbal spat in the Pirates’ 5-3 win over Arizona on Monday after Mientkiewicz stepped out of the batter’s box, and then after stepping back in, called time again as Johnson was beginning his windup. Johnson took exception to Mientkiewicz’s actions and immediately began barking at the Pirates’ infielder.

When Johnson stepped off the mound and started toward home plate, Mientkiewicz went toward him, going face-to-face with the 6-foot-10 Johnson. Both benches emptied onto the field; however, no punches were thrown.

After the game, Johnson played off the incident, saying: “It didn’t bother me at all. If it would’ve, [Mientkiewicz] would probably be on a stretcher, and I’d be out of the game.”

On Monday, Mientkiewicz had a chance to respond to Johnson’s comments.

“I’ve been on a stretcher before and, technically, he’s been out of the game for three years in my mind,” Mientkiewicz said, alluding to Johnson’s seasons with the Yankees and his injury-plagued 2007 campaign. “That just shows me how mentally weak he is. That’s why he got out of [New York].”

Johnson played in New York from 2005-06 before returning to the D-backs rotation in ‘07.

“New York beat him down, let’s put it that way,” said Mientkiewicz, in no mood to apologize for his outspokenness. “He doesn’t have intimidating stuff anymore, so I’m not going to stand for it.”

Once play resumed following that third-inning fracas, Johnson threw two straight balls, which handed Mientkiewicz a five-pitch walk. Johnson committed a throwing error on the following play before a five-pitch, bases-loaded walk later in the inning that forced in Pittsburgh’s first run of the game.

Johnson said afterward that his unraveling had nothing to do with his exchange of words with Mientkiewicz. Again, however, Mienkiewicz adamantly held a different opinion.

“It affected him completely,” Mientkiewicz said. “I know how mentally weak he is. I tried to take the high road, [but] not anymore.”

The Pirates and D-backs will face each other one more time this season in an Aug. 4-6 series in Arizona.

Wow, those are harsh words from former Yankee great, Doug Mientkiewicz. He makes a great point though. I can picture Randy Johnson reading his comments in the paper and then beating one of his kids (too much?).

Game 65: Yanks VS. Oakland

Here’s the lineup (via PA):

YANKEES
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi DH
Posada C
Betemit 1B
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF
Wang RHP

Although Matsui has been hitting well overall, as an avid fantasy player with Matsui on my team, he’s been scuffling a bit in terms of quality hits and AB’s, so Girardi seems to have noticed that, giving him the day off (he’s got 2 hits in his last 15 AB’s). Chien-Ming Wang will be looking to turn around the worst slump in his career. Wang has stated that his issues were mechanical (he’s throwing across his body) and that a recent bullpen session with Dave Eiland will hopefully rectify the issue. The Yanks will face off against Dana Eveland (Dave Eiland, Dana Eveland, yikes) who has been a pleasant surprise for Oakland. Eveland is a good pitcher with great stuff and he’s a lefty, so that never hurts when facing the Yankees. If the team wants to do some damage against him, they’re going to have to be patient, especially after he walked 7 in his last start.

Blog Bounce: Melky VS. Gardner (RAB)

The guys at RAB came up with an interesting post last night, as they sparked a debate over who should be playing CF for the Yankees (you can join the debate, here). The RAB writers are big fans of Brett Gardner, who has been doing a terrific job for the club’s AAA team. Like the writers at RAB, most Yankee fans are still trying to figure out what the Yankees have in Melky Cabrera (is he the next Alex Rios or what?), although he remains a fan favorite amongst many circles.

Here’s a bit of text from the post:

This season though has been a tale of two Melky’s. His Opening Day homer gave us all hope that he was in line for the breakout season that many predicted was coming, and as recently as May 4th it looked like the breakout was legit. After hitting .291-.359-.505 with a team leading six longballs through his first 31 games, Melky has become an offensive blackhole. The numbers aren’t pretty: .257-.293-.284 with a whopping three extra base hits (all doubles) in his last 30 games.

This is true about Melky. His BA in June is .294 (so hits are falling), but so is his slugging percentage (it’s also .294), which is sort of scary. His lack of XBH is obviously effecting that number, but his OBP of .333 is pretty decent. It appears as though his homer hitting way at the beginning of the season was a hot streak, but if he can up that slugging percentage, he could certainly be a good offensive CF.

Here’s some more text on Gardner:

Enter Brett Gardner. The Yanks’ third round pick in 2005 has spend the first two-and-a-half years of his professional career terrorizing the opposition, whether it be by working counts (.387 career OBP), spraying hits to all fields (.290 BA), or running wild on the basepaths (141 SB). He’s added another much needed element to this game this year: power. Through 60 games he’s already tripled his homer total of the previous two season combined, and is slugging at a .454 clip, almost 80 points better than his career output coming into the year.

Now, I’m a big fan of Gardner and what he can do for the Yankees. His minor league numbers are much more consistent when compared to Melky’s figures (Melky had a couple of performance spikes which got him a call but they could be signs of his true abilities). He gets on base and is an Ichiro-type, although his abilities are nowhere near Ichiro’s, obviously.

I would like to see Brett Gardner on the Yankees, however, I would not want to see him taking playing time away from Melky. If Melky’s numbers plummeted, I wouldn’t be opposed to a demotion for Melky and a call up for Gardner, since I think it would really help the two through competition. But, until Melky’s BA, OBP and SLG drop, then I’m sort of against the idea. I’m also opposed to having Gardner come up to be a pinch runner or bench player, since he should continue to develop in AAA.

It’s strange to say, but Melky really carried the team (along with Abreu and Matsui) at the beginning of the season with his bat and his defense (his defense has stuck with him and Brett Gardner doesn’t have his arm, but he’s faster and could probably run routes well). Melky, like many other players, will certainly have his good months and his bad months. I’ll wait to see how he performs for the rest of the month and then make a decision about his future. For whatever reason (his youthful exuberance?), Melky has managed to charm us and therefore we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt (he also has a lot of untapped potential, or at least I think he does).

Kennedy Headed to Tampa

From the NY Post:

Ian Kennedy (strained lat) threw about 30 pitches in the bullpen before yesterday’s game and said he felt no soreness. Kennedy will now report to Tampa for continued rehab.

“It feels back to normal again,” Kennedy said. “I hadn’t been on the mound in two weeks, so it was kind of rough. But [the lat] felt good at least, that’s all that matters.”

So, who’s excited for Kennedy to come back? Show of hands!

Okay, just kidding, I’ll be looking forward to his return. However, with the way things are going, he definitely won’t be taking Mike Mussina’s spot in the rotation… Moose actually had his longest outing in 2 years, so unless his arm falls off, he’ll be in there for the year and could possibly push for an All-Star performance (how insane is that?).