Posts tagged ‘cleveland indians’

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April 29, 2011

Yanks and Chi Sox split 4 game set

by Jamie Insalaco

When two teams get together and play a four game set, I would bet on a split every time – yet the Yankees should have took three out of four against the inferior Chicago White Sox. Let’s take a look at the series using my The Good, The Bad and the Fug-Ugly style. I heard that Mark Teixeira was sitting for game four just as a precaution to rest his sore shoulder, but I don’t know why The Captain sat for that game, too. Maybe just a scheduled night off for Derek Jeter? Or Joe Girardi is hoping a rest will jump start his bat? No idea. However, I think it is only a coincidence that the Yankees scored a million runs on the night Jeter wasn’t in the line up.

The Good:
The Starting Pitching – sure, you can argue that the Chicago White Sox aren’t the best offense in the league, but they’re far from the MLB leading worst run scoring San Diego Padres, who have only managed to score 70 runs on the young season. In case you’re wondering, the Yankees have 126 and the White Sox have 103 – the Cleveland Indians lead MLB with 129 and the St Louis Cardinals lead MLB with 136.
So yeah, the Yankees starting pitching blew my mind during this season, performing well above my expectations. We got two stellar eight inning performances from AJ Burnett and Bartolo Colon, and CC Sabathia had a fine night while any time Ivan Nova doesn’t get his ass handed to him, I call that a victory. If you’ve already started building a statue to Colon on your front lawn so you can leave offerings at it before each of his starts, I don’t blame you. Finish that shiz! =)

The Bad:
The Offense – For an offense of the Yankees caliber, a shutout is pretty hard to accept despite who is pitching on the opposing side. And yes, I know they got their hits in last night, but it sure did take long enough. But, Nick Swisher finally got the home run column filled, so maybe he’ll start hitting… wait, did he hit it right handed or left handed? Please tell me he hit it left handed, because he’s been so bad against left-handed pitchers so far this year…

The Fug-Ugly:
The Bridge to Mo – They only had one chance to get the ball to Mariano Rivera, and they blew it. I’m not worried about Rafael Soriano going forward, but it’s time to pick it up. Blowing leads against the White Sox at home is not acceptable!

The Yankees have Toronto coming in this weekend – hopefully, the Yanks pitching can keep the Blue Jays homers to a minimum.  Also:  Francisco Cervelli returns to the roster tonight!

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January 19, 2011

Yankees Days at the Polo Grounds

by Jamie Insalaco
polo grounds yankee stadium

That's the Polo Grounds in the background and Yankee Stadium in the foreground.

The New York Times ran an interesting article in today’s paper about the Polo Grounds and its history.  They had a quote from one New York Giants fan (that’s old school baseball, not Football Giants) who said, “[The Polo Grounds didn't have] as much obstruction, although there were poles. And everything was a little cheaper.”  Ha, so I guess the Yankees have been over-charging for concessions since the beginning!

It’s interesting to note that both the Yankees and the New York Football Giants both played at the Polo Grounds – and both moved to Yankee stadium.  Babe Ruth played three seasons at the Polo Grounds… my understanding was that he helped the Yankees outdraw the Giants, which was pretty much the catalyst that got the Yankees kicked out of the Polo Grounds and led them to build their own stadium, complete with a short porch to right for that hot dog eating, beer guzzling, womanizing animal we all worship.

The Cleveland Indians’ Ray Chapman was killed at the Polo Grounds by a pitch thrown by the Yankees’ Carl Mays in 1920… a dubious moment in the Polo Grounds history – not to mention the Yankees and Indians.  Still, when you mention the Yankees and the Polo Grounds, you can’t leave something like that out.  I guess it’s also impossible to leave out The Shot Heard Around The World, but lets leave that to the fans of the teams involved, shall we?

It’s one of my great regrets that I’m not old enough to have visited The Polo Grounds.  It’s dimensions, tenants and it’s history are something that the sporting world will never forget – and will never see again.

Posted in Yankee History, Yankee Stadium | Leave a Comment »

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July 30, 2010

Dustin Moseley picks up the win

by Jamie Insalaco

After a first inning during which he threw 30 pitches, it looked like Dustin Moseley’s start had disaster written all over it. Yet Moseley showed some grit – granted, he wasn’t facing the most powerful offense in the league, but he bounced back and turned in a line of 6 IP, 4 H and only 1 ER. If Moseley can keep the Yankees in the game Sergio Mitre can get back to some of he form we saw earlier in the year out of the bullpen, the Yankees should be able to weather the Andy Pettitte injury storm just fine.

Then there’s the Yankees offense – what a strange game. The Indians had to use seven pitchers, including a position player, to get through last night’s contest. After Talbot left in the top of the third with an injury and was replaced with Perez, the Indians proceed to parade out a seemingly never ending cornucopia of ineffective pitchers. Still, the game was tied at 1 until Derek Jeter’s RBI single in the 6th, which finally injected some excitement in between Alex Rodriguez quest-for-600 at bats. The pace was awful, with tons of walks and the Yankees failing to execute – leaving 14 runners on base! Still, the Yankees finally opened a can of whoop-there-it-is-ass on the Indians bullpen in the seventh inning – by dropping a seven spot, and then two more runs in the eighth. Suddenly, it was 11-1, and I was moving on with my evening…

Until Chan Ho Park came into the game. His first inning was fine, but the 9th was another story. Park lost the plate; he looked like Guy Pearce in Memento. Three walks in the ninth inning… if you can’t throw strikes with a ten run lead, I’m not sure there is any place for you on this team. Francisco Cervelli went out to check on Park – he seemed to be asking him if he was OK. Let’s just say he’s not OK and DL him and bring up Jonathan Albaladejo again. He can’t be any worse than Park, right?

The Yankees are in Tampa this weekend for what will surely be an epic battle for control of 1st place in the AL East. After Matt Garza’s no hitter in his last start, I’m predicting the Yankees will CRUSH HIM. Just watch.

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July 29, 2010

the box score says it all

by Jamie Insalaco

There is not a ton to say about last night’s romp by the Yankees over the Indians – the box score says it all.

Oh never mind – here’s a bunch of crap I’d like to talk about for a sec:

AJ Burnett threw 6.1 innings of no run ball with 7 Ks.  The Indians offense isn’t exactly equivalent to the Red Sox, but after Burnett’s June, I’m more than pleased with this outing.

Fausto Carmona took a beating at the hands of the Yankee offense and say his ERA bloom from 3.51 to 3.92; I guess 7 ER in 2.2 IP will do that.  Carmona is a great pitcher, but I missed the beginning of the game, so I don’t know what went wrong – my guess is he was up in the zone.

Joba Chamberlain had a perfect .2 IP outing.  I think this demotion away from the pressure of the 8th inning is just what he needs; the break from the stress, and the kick in the butt of losing his job will right his ship.

A-Rod didn’t hit his homer, so he’ll go for number 600 again tonight.  I’m sure no one wants this over with more than A-Rod, but I’m sick of everybody saying, “He failed to hit his homer again.”  The guy was 2-5 with an RBI.  Sure, he left 5 runners on base, but it’s not like he’s slumping.  I just can’t get over the A-Rod phenomenon:  he’s a MLB player with all the talent and money in the world and half the time, I feel sorry for the guy.

I always felt he would, but now that Mark Teixeira has turned the corner (two more RBI last night on 2 hits, his average is up to .262), I can’ t help but be amazed.  I always rationalized that Teix would come around, even if he didn’t have a great year, he’d still have a good one – because the alternative was – well, I don’t know what it was.  He’s not, he’s not hurt, and he doesn’t seem to have lost his mind, so I figured it was only a matter of time, and it was.

I just noticed last night when the game was coming on the radio that John Sterling is a bit greedy with his Teix home run call; he’s got two for him:  “Mark sends a Teix message!  Oh Teixeira, You’re really on the Mark!”  Does anybody else have two?  If Metallica is the master of puppets, surely John Sterling is the master of puns.

Posted in 2010 Season | 2 Comments »

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July 28, 2010

Yankees versus minor league pitchers

by Jamie Insalaco

Everything you need to know about last night’s game is in the box score – but really, it’s far simpler than that: the Yankees faced Cleveland Indians rookie Josh Tomlin, just called up from triple A – so of course, they barely got one run off him in 7+ innings. I didn’t see anything especially awe inspiring in Tomlin, this just seems to be the way it goes when this situation comes up. The Yankees seem to lose this game, every single time. If the Yankees opposition brought up rookies for every game, it feels like the Yankees would lose 100 games. You can see more of my frusteration with this game at Twitter.

On the other hand, CC Sabathia was not sharp, giving up 9 hits, 4 ER in 7 innings. Still, It’s not like he got blown out, and the real story for this lose is the Yankees stagnant offense against inferior pitching – when you only score 1 run, you’re probably not going to win the game.

You can see more of my frustration with this game at Twitter. You can also catch my contributing post at TheFowlBalls.com.

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July 27, 2010

Umpires, warnings and rules 2.1

by Jamie Insalaco

Now these are the kind of blown calls I can live with. With one exception…

With Mark Teixeira on first, Alex Rodriguez hit a ball that dropped in front of Trevor Crowe – or so everybody with a pair of functioning eyes thought. But the ruling umpire said he caught it on the fly for an easy double play, as Teixeira, who has excellent vision, went to second as the ball was trapped, not caught. The Yankees argued, but the umpires never huddled to at least confirm that all of the umpires saw the same thing. I don’t want to hear that they didn’t huddle because of the, ‘it slows down the pace of the game,’ argument. That argument is ASS. The Yankees would have stopped arguing sooner if all of the umpires convened and said they all saw the same thing.

Curtis Granderson hammered a ball off the top of the wall and was thrown out at second… accept his foot was clearly on the base before he was tagged. The Yankees didn’t argue.

I can live with these blown calls – they should have convened on the A-Rod/Teix call, but whatcha gonna do? These calls happen and aren’t a result of a strict interpretation of the rules, just humans making errors, which is part of the game. I can live with that.

Otherwise, there isn’t much to tell about the Yankees 3-2 victory of the Indians. Nick Swisher hit a towering solo home run, as did Curtis Granderson, but with a man aboard. Jake Westbrook pitched a great game, but those 2 homers to the bombers were all the Yankees needed to win against Cleveland’s offense. Javier Vazquez had about everything working from the 2nd inning and going forward: fastball command, a good curve ball and change, and that put a lot of the Indians off balance, particularly some of their younger hitters. Speaking of the Indians and young players, they’ve got so many on their 25 man roster right now because they’ve given up on 2010, which means Westbrook is available, and he’s expensive, so the market for him isn’t that big. I’m not saying the Yankees need him, but you never know… As far as starting pitching goes, I think they’re waiting for the off season to throw money at Cliff Lee instead of surrendering prospects. David Robertson, the champion of pressure situations, pitched well in relief, coming into yet another game with runners on base and getting two outs in the 8th before giving way to Boone Logan, who retired the only batter he faced. Mariano Rivera came on for the save – he’s 21 for 23 so far this year, and his numbers are outstanding. That guy is like… uhm, somebody that grows old but continues to perform at a high level in almost the exact same way as he did when he was young. Can’t think of a good metaphor for that… I don’t think Joe Girardi has any interest in using Joba Chamberlain in the middle of an inning; that’s definitely Robertson’s job. Robertson is the Yankee fireman – you ring the bell, he runs out of the pen, puts out the flames and heads to the showers. Rivera might get the saves, but it’s Robertson’s holds of the last few weeks that makes a lot of those saves possible. I don’t want to speculate on what the Yankees record would be without him. They’d probably be tied with Tampa Bay.

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July 26, 2010

Umpires, warnings and rules 2.0

by Jamie Insalaco

If you didn’t catch last week’s post on Umpires, warnings and rules, the intended message was:

Umpires and rules are all well and good, but sometimes, the umpires need to impose the rules while using their common sense. We’re not in court, no one’s life is at stake – a strict interpretation of the rules is not always necessary. Let’s just play ball.

I think that might have gotten lost a bit in the rules I was ranting against, so I just want to reiterate that. I’m not anti-umpire; for the most part, they do a great job, but I do believe they should be seen and not heard. Well, I guess the, "Strike!" screaming is OK, but let’s keep the Leslie Nielsen performances to a minimum.

Today, I’d like to call attention to yesterday’s interference call against Jorge Posada during Chan Ho Park’s disastrous ninth inning. When the ball got away from Posada, he through away his mask, which spent a lot of time bouncing around on the ground. The ball was slowing down, and, by chance, his mask landed on top of the ball. The umpire called interference, meaning that the catcher’s mask/equipment can’t be used to retrieve the ball, and awarded the runner at 3rd home plate, making the score Yankees 12, Royals 6.

It’s really important to understand that Posada’s mask was not intentionally used to slow the ball down – he didn’t through the mask at the ball. The ball was already moving very slowly, hence the mask, which bounced several times before hit landed on top of the now virtually stopped ball, was able to catch up to it. Posada didn’t use his mask to scoop up the ball, or deliberately throw his mask at the ball. This is what the spirit of the rule is intended to guard and punish, and that’s not what happened on Sunday. Some common sense needed to be exercised in that situation, and it wasn’t. It didn’t change the game, as the Yankees still won, and it’s not worth deliberating ifs, but this was a bad call by the umpire. This didn’t help the Royals, it certainly didn’t help the Yankees, I don’t see how any baseball fan benefited from this call. MLB needs to modify this rule so the umpires can use their own judgment and determine if the catcher’s action was deliberate and if it would have altered the course of the ball. In Sunday’s case, there was no way the ball was traveling fast enough to get far enough away from Posada to allow the runner on 3rd to score. I believe the umpires can use their judgment to determine this.

I feel that this year, more than any other year, the umpires have injected themselves into the game in a way that is not necessary. I think the Rays at Blue Jays game was probably the best example of this, during which Angel Hernandez called strike three on Carlos Peña after Peña asked for time out and Hernandez, being one of those ‘up the game tempo’ guys, didn’t grant it. Ah, Hernandez and Joe West – my favorite umpires! Those guys just can’t seem to keep their mouths shut. Having these two guys on the same crew is just begging for problems.

NOTES:

Robinson Cano got his 1000 career hit!

Joba Chamberlain let up 2 ER in the 8th inning. It’s time to give somebody else a shot at the eighth inning – Joba needs a kick in the butt!

Chan Ho Park gave up 2 walks and 1 hit in a horrendous 9th inning. If you can’t throw strikes with a 12-5 lead in the ninth inning, well, I don’t know what to say. You just suck. I know I stuck up for this guy early in the season – well, that’s because it was still early – and he had a great outing against the Red Sox. It’s not so early anymore, and when you walk guys the way Park did on Sunday, I can’t have your back.

The Kansas City Royals suck. More than half the time, they don’t seem to be trying; or they’re trying to hard. Not sure which is worse.

The road trip begins with 4 games in Cleveland against the Indians (41-57) and 3 in Tampa against the 2nd place Rays (59-38). The Yankees need to fatten up against Cleveland – they stink. The Indians have scored 403 runs and allowed 472 this season – compared to the Yankees 533-405.

Posted in 2010 Season | 1 Comment »

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