BomberBanter.com

February 2012
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Jan
	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29

May 18, 2011

The Streak Is Over

by Jamie Insalaco

So many inspirational phrases come to be mind; before the game, it was something to the tune of, "The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther! And I will make them pay for what they’ve done!"

Make who pay, you ask? Uhm, Joe Girardi for calling all of those bunts; the Yankees offense for not knowing how to bunt; A.J. Burnett for coughing up a lead; Freddy Garcia for coughing up a lead; Joba Chamberlain for giving up that homer; the Yankees offense for their continual RISP failures; Jorge Posada for throwing a hissy fit when Girardi moved him down to 9th in the batting order… you know, those things.

During the bottom of the 9th, with a runner on second and one run in, Mariano Rivera came running out to the mound, shouting to his teammates: "Infielders, outfielders – my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come, when the ability of our team to win a game fails, when we forsake our friends and refuse to play [cough] Jorge [cough]… But it is not this day! This day we play! For all that you hold dear, for your pride and vanity, we stand together, Yankees of New York!"

But after the game, it went more like this:

"Win at last, win at last; thank god all mighty, the Yankees have won at last!"

"Ask not what the Yankees can do for you, but what you can do for the Yankees!"

"It depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is…" OK, maybe it’s not like that one at all.

It’s kind of like that part at the end of The Two Towers: "Victory! We have victory!" Yeah, it felt that way, except instead of facing an insurmountable army (300 style), it was just a matter of the Yankees getting out of their own way. All teams slump, but its tough when a team slumps for so long – but the first big hurtle has been jumped – a win has been secured. It’s time to march into Baltimore and kick ASS!

Posted in 2011 Season | 1 Comment »

May 3, 2011

Yankees Win Tied Game Before Extras

by Jamie Insalaco

I have to admit, I was about ready to throw in the towel on last night’s game once it was tied up at 3. It’s pretty hard to win one of those games on the road once you get to so late an inning, but the Yankees found a way to get it done.

The Pitching:
Justin Verlander might have started out slow, but he hung in there and gave his team 6 IP or 3 run ball, which is a decent outing – maybe not when you consider it took him over 120 pitches to do it, but impressive, nevertheless, especially considering his hardest thrown fastballs came in his last inning of work – those pitches he K’d Derek Jeter on were in the high 90s. I know a lot of people have been noting that Jeter’s bat has been a little slow this season, but few can catch up to the kind of heat Verlander was bringing. Too bad for him he was so wild last night – despite hitting 100 with his fastball.

While poking around the Yankee Blogosphere, I’ve seen some rumbling concerns that Bartolo Colon is throwing two many fastballs. While it is true that both his four seam and two seam fastballs make up about 85% of the pitches he’s thrown this year, the results clearly indicate that it’s not a problem. Sure, I’d love it if he mixed in a few extra change ups and sliders, but whatever – his four seam fastball has been topping out in the mid 90s (huh – that’s when pop music stopped being relevant, too, but probably just a coincidence) and his two seamer is devastating - it’s like Charlie Sheen’s four seam fastball from Major League – The Terminator or the Eliminator or something… well, except it’s the two seam version. And two seam it does! It can be difficult to explain to pitch movement to non baseball people, but when you say, “Watch this next pitch move,” and Colon uncorks one of his two seam fastballs, whipping across the strike zone and finishing in on a righty’s hand, even the most novice of observers will be heard to comment, “Holy Shiite! What the hell was that?” It’s that amazing.

The Tigers have a realized on their team named Alburquerque? “You just can’t predict baseball.”

Nice outings by Joba Chamberlain and the flawless Mariano Rivera. Mo is probably off tonight, so if the dice fall right, we’ll see Rafael Soriano get the ball for the save tonight. Should be fun!

The Bunt:
There wasn’t a ton of good things to say about the Yankees offensive performance last night (felt like there was a solid hour or longer where they didn’t get a hit), but they got some runs early and some more late, and that’s enough. Even a struggling Verlander is a tough match up, so no big deal. What is a big deal was that stupid bunt.

After the aforementioned Alburquerque walked Russell Martin, Brett Gardiner bunted on the first pitch. Given that Gardner went to bunt immediately, I can only assume that Joe Girardi called this from the bench. Why? Gardner is red hot and knows how to work a walk – why bunt when Alburquerque is wild? With Eduardo Nunez and Derek Jeter coming up? These guys look like they’re both poised to hit an RBI single to send Martin in from second? I think not. Let Gardner swing there. I don’t have any problem with small ball or bunting or whatever you want to call it, but that bunt was a pain in my ass!

Tonight:
Tonight, he that is called The Other Big One takes the mound. (He’s not called that, nor is Colon called The Big One, but I think we might want to start considering calling them The Twin Boulders or something.) As always, I like Sabathia’s chances to be effective and go late in the game, but with these crazy 6:05 start times (that’s local in Chicago, 7:05 here in greater NYC), who knows what will happen? Also, I’d like to see a pizza eating contest between Sabathia, Colon and Ramiro Pena. Pena is gritty!

Posted in 2011 Season | 1 Comment »

April 18, 2011

Freddy Garcia And Bats Combine to take Games 2 and 3 From Rangers

by Jamie Insalaco

Another home stand over, another series victory.

After Friday night’s rough outing from Ivan Nova, the Yankees got 6 shut out innings from Freddy Garcia – maybe the last place you’d look in the Yankees rotation for a pick-me-up performance. I suspect that Garcia is the the kind of pitcher who performs better on extra rest, but I don’t have the data to back it up; just notating that he exceeded expectations against a good hitting team after not having started a game in a few weeks. (Garcia did get that one relief inning in Boston, so this is only his second appearance of the young season.)

CC Sabathia just didn’t have it last night, most notably with his awful fastball control. The ESPN announcers can credit the text bats all they wish, but if CC is going to throw his fastball right down the middle like that, it’s akin to putting the ball on a t-ball stand for big league hitters, never mind a good hitting team like Texas. Sabathia is, however, an elite pitcher, so he has his secondary pitches to keep him in the game through 6.1 innings, most notably his change up to right handers and several good sliders. Last night, it was the Bronx Bombers doing it Bomber Banter style with homer after homer: Robinson Cano, Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson all contributed with the long ball. Martin and Eric Chavez also contributed via the 2 out RBI, so these guys were all getting it done box score style. Meanwhile, Derek Jeter, the anti-box score hero, contributed with a hit of his own, but I don’t feel like he’s in the zone yet, but I do think he’s close now. Chavez has continued to prove himself to be a valuable piece as he’s hit well in limited duty and has played a solid third in A-Rod’s absence – hopefully, A-Rod’s stiffness is a thing of the past by Tuesday. For next year, the Yankees are probably better off going with a right handed bat who can also play left field for Garnder as a DH so A-Rod can spend more time there. The guy is a beast at the plate, but I just don’t trust him to stay healthy if he has to play 150 games in the field.

We got to see the big three again last night – Joba Chamberlain was not great in relief and surrendered a run, but Rafael Soriano was downright nasty as he took down all three batters he faced with authority. Mariano Rivera came in and was Mo – that’s all there is to that.

I do want to take a second and mention that the new ESPN Sunday night baseball crew is twice as bearable as the old one. I guess they got a new director in there, too, because everyone is a lot more focused on what’s happening on the field rather that showing us the announcers in the booth, talking about nonsense or pimping topics/interviewing other things/people that have something to do with something that’s going to be on ESPN on another day. I think this puts ESPN slightly behind of FOX Sports in my ‘Totally Unbearable To Watch Sports On Your Network’ race – meaning FOX is currently the most unbearable. On the other hand, ESPN’s constant badgering of the Yankees leading MLB in home runs was annoying – I don’t care what anybody says, LEADING THE LEAGUE IN HOME RUNS IS NOT A BAD THING!

The Yankees are off today and will be back tomorrow at Toronto to face the Blue Jays. The Jays will be pesky again this year, but I don’t see them as a playoff team this year.

Posted in 2011 Season | Leave a Comment »

April 15, 2011

Yankees Take Rained Shortened Series Against Orioles

by Jamie Insalaco

I read a Yankees blog that jokingly heralded this series as a battle for first place – it was true, but in April, it’s not to be taken seriously. Nevertheless, the Yankees find themselves at the top of the AL East while the Red Sox are 2-9, so for now, life is good. Sure, the Baltimore orioles look like a better team with an improved roster, but they still have problems and their pitching is still suspect – and that’s coming from a Yankee fan. I think the Os will be pesky this year, but nothing more.

There’s lots to smile about so far this season:

AJ Burnett looks like he’s finding his way through his 2010 troubles (which I still maintain weren’t that bad – drop a comment if you disagree and we’ll battle it out!) with some decent starts
CC Sabathia looks good even when he’s not happy with the way he’s throwing
The offense is showing plenty of signs of life, particularly when it comes to power. Jorge Posada has only 7 hits on the early season, but 5 of them are home runs… figure that out!
Joba Chamberlain has regained his vintage form, and suddenly, the bullpen is a force to be reckoned with. If a starter can go 6 innings and limit the opposition to to 3 or 4 runs, the Yankees have a decent chance of winning that game.
Batolo Colon has pitched great as the Yankees long reliever – without him, last night’s come from behind win would have not happened.

There’s lots to frown about, too.

Pedro Feliciano is done for the year and Damaso Marte might be available by September. Maybe. Perhaps once Manny Banuelos has pitched a significant number of innings as a starter in the minors, he can join the major league pen to finish off his 2011 innings limit. Otherwise, Boone Logan will be the go to guy all year long when it comes to lefties out of the pen – not that its a bad thing, Logan can certainly throw, but he makes me nervous sometimes. He’s certainly better than Phil Coke.
Phil Hughes is making Burnett’s 2010 season look like Aaron Small‘s 2005 season. If Hughes is truly healthy, I assume he’ll come around at some point; again, I’d take 6 innings of 4 run ball from him and call it a day, but right now, he can’t get out of the fifth inning.
It’s pretty wild that we still haven’t seen Freddy Garcia on the mound this season (except that one relief appearance) – If I were a betting man, I’d go all in on Garcia getting shelled his first time out.
Brett Gardner has yet to find his swing yet and I’m not liking his at bats at all. I was surprised Girardi didn’t go to the bench and bring in Andruw Jones in the 9th inning
I wish I could say I was shocked when Derek Jeter hit a ground ball to short stop last night in the 9th inning, but that’s his new favorite spot to ground out to dating back to last year. Before 2010, I think the negative broadcaster quote everyone loved to say was ‘Passed a diving Jeter!’ in reference to his limited range at short stop, but this year it’s definetly, “Jeter hits a ground ball to short.” You know, like last year.

The Yankees have the Texas Rangers coming in this weekend, minus Josh Hamilton. The Rangers have a ton of young starters this year, and if they aren’t left handed, I’m hoping the Yankees tee off on them… if they are left handed starting pitchers, be prepared for our beloved bombers to take a beating at the plate.

Posted in 2011 Season | 1 Comment »

April 4, 2011

Yankees Pitching Takes Down Twins

by Jamie Insalaco

You can’t draw it up much better.

Sure, it’d be nice if your starter went nine innings every time out – seven or even eight would also be great. But when you’ve got a bullpen like the Yankees, 6 IP of 3 run ball will do.

That’s just what Ivan Nova gave the Yankees tonight, and one of those runs that came around to score was probably a tough one to swallow, but if that’s how you have to take the win, I’m sure Nova will take it. The Twins have some good bats, but I thought Nova looked pretty good out there, and if this is the start of something he can maintain, Nova is going to win ten games this year.

Nova hands the ball over to what might end up being one of the best three headed monster bullpens that baseball has seen in the last few seasons. Joba Chamberlain looks like he’s found his old rhythm, Rafael Soriano is too good, and Mariano Rivera – well, we all know about Mo, and Micheal Kay is so enamored with his greatness that it’s more interesting to him to analyze his uniform than his performance, because the higher socks look that Mo is sporting this year is less consistent throughout his career than his performance, which is always GREAT.

Alex Rodriguez had a nice homer to left and Jorge Posada is starting to look like he’s enjoying the DH position with a homer of his own. Brett Gardner just missed a hit that probably would have blown the game wide open, but that’s how it goes. Russell Martin continues to show us his tools and I think he’s going to win a lot of Yankee fans over very quickly if he keeps this up.

Tomorrow, CC Sabathia makes his second start of the year and hopefully, it will be more Sabathia-like.

Posted in 2011 Season | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Alex Rodriguez, Brett Gardner, fredd garcia, Ivan Nova, Joba Chamberlain, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Micheal Kay, Minnesota twins, new york yankees, Rafael Soriano, twins, yankees

April 1, 2011

Yankees Start Off 2011 With Power, Bullpen

by Jamie Insalaco

Smell the grass! Feel the rain on your skin! Embrace the cold! It’s Opening Day at Yankee Stadium!

I can’t truly express how pleased I am to be writing about an actual game rather than off the field decisions and situations – it’s been a while!

Another season of New York Yankees baseball kicked off yesterday on an ugly day at the stadium as CC Sabathia faced former Yankees farm hand Austin Jackson, who was touted as a major prospect before being traded, along with Phil Coke, for my favorite newish Yankee, Curtis Granderson. Predictably, Jackson struck out to start things off – he lead the league in Ks last year and, not to be out done, he added 3 to his early season total yesterday, but also managed a hit. He’s a nice player, and maybe he’ll grow out of his K troubles one day, but for now, I don’t miss him.

Rather than grind you with the minutia of the entire game, lets just hit the highlights and notable players in yesterday’s contest.

CC Sabathia went 6 IP, gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, 7 Ks (thanks again, Jackson), and only 2 ER because of the error on Robinson Cano when he failed to catch a ball at first base that Mark Teixeira pretty much put in his glove for him. CC didn’t have his best stuff and Cano dropped a ball he should have had, but that’s life, I suppose; it was cold and raining, and I’m glad I wasn’t out there watching, neve mind playing. CC is a notoriously slow starter, so any time you win one of his starts in April, you have to be happy.

Granderson was everywhere, making diving or running catches in the outfield and hitting a no doubter off Phil Coke, which is particularly exciting given that Coke is left handed and Granderson’s lifetime numbers are not great off lefties. Coke, of course, is not exactly a great pitcher, but still, seeing the ball out of a lefty’s hand is an issue for Granderson, so any time he does it, I’m happy.

Jeers to Alex Rodriguez (note: I’m not an A-Rod hater, but we have to call him out here) for not running when he thought he hit a home run – he probably could have had a triple instead of settling for a double, but I’m not going to lose my mind over it – it’s the first game and the Yankees won, so I’ll let this pass.

Mark Teixeira hit that monster home run in the third inning; does anyone think for a second that this is the start of Teix actually getting off to a fast start? I do not, but time will tell. In any case, he certainly knocked the crap out of that one.

Cheers to the Yankee bullpen: the combination of Joba Chamberlain, Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera shut the Tigers down for three innings, and their dominance sure made yesterday’s contest look like a 6 inning affair. Obviously, we’re all hoping that Joba’s good 2010 peripheral stats can turn into more success in 2011 and Mo is obviously a god in this town and the Yankees snagged one of the great closers in the game to be the setup man, so you hope you can draw it up like this for a ton of Yankee wins. I think this three headed monster can power this team to a ton of late innings victories, so I think we have a lot more outings from this tandem to look forward to.

A quick word about Justin Verlander: this guy is good. His final line of 6 IP and 3 ERs might not look good, but the 8 Ks and the high velocity on opening day in cold weather was impressive. The one mistake to Teixeira with runners on and his high pitch count from the first inning led to his undoing, but don’t read anything into that. If the Yankees can avoid Verlander for the rest of the year, it’ll be a blessing.

No hits for Derek Jeter yesterday, so no 3000 hit chase update. (He did manage a walk and a run scored.)

BASEBALL IS BACK!

Posted in 2011 Season | 1 Comment »

January 25, 2011

Cashman Spills the Beans at Breakfast with a Champion

by Jamie Insalaco

Brian Cashman did the WFAN’s annual “Breakfast with a Champion” this morning, which is hosted by their afternoon guy and sports talk radio legend Mike Francesa. (I’m not a big Francesa guy, but there is no sense disputing his place in sports talk radio history – the guy is a pioneer.)

There is a shocking amount of coverage available about this all over the net already, but I guess that’s the way it goes in the age of the smart phone. I saw one picture of the event and nobody seemed to be eating breakfast – curious! A few things grabbed my attention:

Cashman doesn’t expect Derek Jeter to play shortstop for the duration of his new contract. That makes sense to me; I always envisioned him wandering out to left field at some point – hell, he practically played left field when Hideki Matsui was back there, anyway. I’m sure Jeter will be a league average left fielder, but then, in this age of personal trainers, I wouldn’t be shocked if Jeter stayed at short stop as the alternative to him may be far worse.

Cashman said something about Joba Chamberlain’s shoulder not being the same since he hurt it… whenever that was. I think it’s clear that his fastball and slider have both lost some zip since then and when coupling those facts with the team’s refusal to give him another shot at the starting rotation, this revelation doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

Cashman also said something about the team being one starter away from being in the World Series. I can’t say I completely disagree, but I will say that the Yankees are currently a playoff team and it wouldn’t shock me if a three man rotation of CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and AJ Burnett won the world series.

Cashman also apparently said, “The higher up the tree the monkey climbs, the more you see of his ass." I know it’s only January, but that’s probably going to be the quote of the year. Pretty sure this was in reference to how running one of the most popular sports teams in the world was reaching the heights of his profession, but certainly left him exposed to the media. Word, Cashmoney. Word.

Posted in Off-Season | Leave a Comment »

January 18, 2011

Speculating on the Yankees 25 Man Roster for the 2011 Season – Revised Edition

by Jamie Insalaco

Now that the Yankees have signed former Rays closer Rafael Soriano, I’ll need to Revise my Yankees 25 Man Roster Speculation. The signing doesn’t throw too big of a wrench in my guessing, but it certainly creates some interesting question marks as we get closer to spring training.

My January 5th Pitching Roster was set as follows:

Starting Rotation:
CC Sabathia – LHP
Phil Hughes – RHP
A.J. Burnett – RHP
Sergio Mitre – RHP
Ivan Nova – RHP

Bullpen
Boone Logan – LHP
Pedro Feliciano – LHP
Mariano Rivera – RHP
Joba Chamberlain – RHP
Dave Robertson – RHP
Romulo Sanchez – RHP

My first instinct is to simply give the spot occupied by Sanchez to Soriano, but I don’t think it’s that simple. The first thing you have to consider is why the Yankees would side Soriano in the first place – probably because they have no confidence in Joba or D-Rob to be the setup man or to close when Mo is not available. But I don’t think this necessarily slots D-Rob and Joba to the 7th inning – well, maybe it does D-Rob, but I have to hope against hope that the statement ‘Joba Chamberlain will stay in the bullpen’ is as valid as ‘Bubba Crosby will be our opening day center fielder.’ I think this creates a unique opportunity for the Yankees to keep Sanchez – who is not great, but he throws hard, is young and is out of options, so the Yankees will lose him anyway – send Nova to AAA as the sixth starter and at least let Joba try to hold the fifth starter spot.

I like Joba’s stuff as a starter, and I don’t see why they don’t give him another chance – unless his shoulder is wrecked and they aren’t telling us. But, who knows what the Yankees are planning… I never thought the Yankees would sign Mark Teixeira, or Soriano, for that matter. Maybe they pan to package Sanchez and Joba in a trade for a crappy starter. I guess all questions will be answered soon enough… in the meantime, I’ll keep guessing.

Posted in Off-Season | 1 Comment »

Tags: bomber banter, bronx bombers, free agent signing, hot stove season, Ivan Nova, Joba Chamberlain, major league baseball, mlb, new york yankees, off season, Rafael Soriano, romula sanchez, Sergio Mitre, yankees

October 20, 2010

Yankees and Girardi stink up the place

by Jamie Insalaco

new york yankees Imagine your team’s moral as a balloon: before the game starts, your team is pumped. As a manager, you do the best job you can to keep the balloon full of air as the slings and arrows of the opposition and circumstance do their worst to pop your shiz.

I’ve already been critical of Joe Girardi’s decision to flip flop Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte in the rotation – I understand Hughes has better road numbers than home numbers, game 3 is usually considered the swing game of a post season series and the Cliff Lee vs Andy Pettitte match up gives the Yankees the best opportunity to win game 3, but I don’t think this was the best strategy towards winning the series. I thought the Yankees should have managed and played games 1 and 2 like elimination games and thrown Phil Hughes in game 3 and take their chances, but it didn’t go down like that. They stole game 1 and were lucky to do so, and when they came home knotted with the Rangers at a game a piece, I started to worry, and more than at any other time in his tenure, I started to question Joe Girardi’s managing style.

Down two games to one, I fully expected CC Sabathia to start game four on short rest, but it didn’t happen. If they lost the game under this scenario, they would have had to of asked Phil Hughes pitch the elimination game on short rest, and I guess they didn’t want to do that, so AJ Burnett started game four last night.

new york yankees In the bottom of the fourth inning, A-Rod was hit by a pitch to lead off, then Robinson Cano hit a single. With 1st and 2nd and no outs, I fully expected a bunt… which never came. Nick Swisher ended up striking out. I know Swisher is a great hitter and the Yankees were playing for the big inning, but they’ve been so bad at executing in this series that I thought Girardi would bunt for sure. He didn’t.

The Yankees put more base runners on again in the bottom of the 5th and they failed to score again, but even more demoralizing was the injury to Mark Teixeira. For current team moral after the bottom of the 5th, please see the balloon image at right. Joe Girardi was going to need to take his balloon management to a new level to keep things from falling apart.

aj burnett

new york yankees I think it’s fair to say that AJ Burnett exceeded my expectations for 5.2 innings. When he came into the sixth inning, I thought he was clearly tired after just one batter. Joba Chamberlain had been warming up for a long while, so after the intentional walk, I thought Joba was coming in for sure, but no such luck – and BOOM, home run by Bengie Molina – a guy you don’t necessarily expect to hit a home run, but a guy who was challenged by a tired pitcher who hadn’t pitched in three weeks who just walked a guy (intentional or not, I feel it’s a rhythm killer for pitchers) and hasn’t been great at locating the ball this year. Why did he face Molina in the first place? Awful managing. It was pure divine providence that Burnett got any outs in the sixth in the first place – Girardi was already gambling with house money, he let it ride and he lost big. After that home run by Molina, the game was over. All the air was out of the balloon.

Tonight, the Yankees send CC Sabathia to the hill as they face elimination. I honestly have no idea what to expect from tonight’s game – the Yankees could step up and hit with runners on base and Sabathia could turn in his first quality post season start and they could win the game. Or they might get crushed. Coming back from a 3-1 game deficit is a tall order, and with the way the Yankees have been playing in this series, I don’t think they can do it.

I hope they prove me wrong.

Posted in 2010 Season | 1 Comment »

September 30, 2010

Projecting Yankees 25 Man Playoff Roster

by Jamie Insalaco

Now that the Yankees have clinched a playoff berth, I can have some fun and speculate on the Yankees 25 man playoff roster and talk about how I would use them if I were managing the Yankees.

Round 1 – best of 5 against the Minnesota Twins. I don’t feel the Yankees need to use 4 starting pitchers in this series, so I left AJ Burnett off the roster. For the best of 7 rounds, I dropped a backup outfielder (this could also be a relief pitcher in that 25th spot) and put Burnett back on there.

CC Sabathia
- game 1 starter
Andy Pettitte
- game 2 starter
Phil Hughes
- game 3 starter (AJ Burnett isn’t really giving me a choice here)
Mariano Rivera
- closer. Mo saves: for he is the power, the kingdom, and the glory, forever and ever…
Kerry Wood
- primary setup man
Joba Chamberlain
- RH RP – comes into the game at the beginning of innings (preferably)
David Robertson
- RH RP – the fireman, comes into tough situations in the middle of innings to deliver us from evil with Ks
Boone Logan
- LH RP – primary lefty out of the pen to get the big bat out in the biggest match up situation
Royce Ring
- LH RP – extra match up lefty, used early in the game – especially useful against all those Twins left handed bats; if the Yankees don’t get the Twins at some point, maybe you fill this spot with another backup outfielder
Sergio Mitre
- emergency long man; Mitre has decent numbers out of the pen this year. Javier Vazquez’s sample size for relief outings is too small and Chad Gaudin’s numbers stink.
Jorge Posada
- starting catcher
Mark Teixeira
- starting 1B
Robinson Cano
- starting 2B
Derek Jeter
- starting SS
Alex Rodriguez
- starting 3B
Brett Gardner
- starting LF
Curtis Granderson
- starting CF
Nick Swisher
- starting RF
Austin Kearns
- 4th outfielder
Ramiro Pena
- pinch runner/backup infielder for every position but 1B, unless absolutely necessary; haven’t seen him play there
Francisco Cervelli
- backup catcher, not an awful option for punch runner, but then we’re out of catchers, so only in a game ending situation
Lance Berkman
- DH/PH against right RHP, backup 1B
Marcus Thames
- DH/PH against LHP, emergency outfielder
Eduardo Nunez
- pinch runner, emergency middle infielder. I went with Nunez over Juan Miranda because with Berkman and Thames, I feel like the Yankees bench has enough bats, and I don’t have a ton of faith in Miranda’s bat, anyway. Besides, Nunez can play more than one position and has speed, which I’d like to have off the bench, say in the 8th inning after Posada walks…
ALDC: Colin Curtis/Greg Golson/Kevin Russo // ALCS/WS: A.J. Burnett, 4 starter
- I haven’t seen enough of these guys to decide who’d be the most valuable as a pinch runner and/or as a backup outfielder; in fact, I considered putting a reliever in this spot, but who? I like Ivan Nova a lot, but let’s face it, he’s a kid and has hardly an MLB experience
- I know, I know – nobody wants to see Burnett in the playoffs. Sorry, folks – you’re going to have to get over that. If the Yankees make it passed the first round, Burnett is going to start. Experience counts in the playoffs, and really, when it’s all on the line, who would you rather have out there? Vazquez? Gaudin? Nova? Mitre? In your heart of hearts, you know Burnett and his 95 MPH fastball and nasty curve ball are the way to go. All starters will be on a short leash, anyway, so at the first sign of trouble, Joe Girardi will more than likely go get him anyway – or anyone else

That’s the way I see it. I know some folks want to give Nova a chance, but I think that’s asking too much, too soon of an inexperienced kid. It’d be a bold move, and I don’t see someone as calculating as Girardi doing it. Joe Torre wouldn’t even consider it; he loves his veterans.

Wild Card or AL East Division winners, it’s all the same. The Yankees are in the dance, so they’ve got a chance. This is what we wait all year for, and we’ve had the opportunity to watch October baseball for 15 out the last 16 years, and it never gets old. No matter what happens, this has been a great year. Let’s see if they can go all the way and get number 28! I’m predicting a rematch of last year’s World Series and despite Philly looking a little better than last year (although I don’t know who they have in their bullpen), I’m also predicting the same outcome.

LET’S GO YANKEES!

NOTE:
Nice job by David Price for calling out his fan base – it might not have been the best business decision for the Rays organization, but they have a good team and it deserves it’s fan’s support. If they can’t get it, they should move – I’m sure Las Vegas would welcome them with open arms.
An even better job by the Rays for giving away thousands of free tickets in the wake of Price-Gate. Maybe they can win the fans over yet

Check out my post at The Fowl Balls on Mariano Rivera’s tough outings in September.

Posted in 2010 Season | 2 Comments »

Email Subscription

Recent Posts

Best of 2010

Contact

SPONSORS:

Authors

Archives

Categories

Bomber Banter on Twitter

Blogroll

Favorite Sites

Tags