2010 MLB Season

[Dave James]

Boy I hope that loosens things up. The Yanks could stand to start a winning streak. If there's a better team to do it against than the Red Sox, I don't know who it would be.

David, thanks for posting those calls. As you know, I'm a huge fan of both Kay and Sterling.

[Dan Gould]

Why are the Red Sox out of the race?

Reason #467:

After tonight, they will be 15-15 against the Indians, Orioles, Royals and Mariners.

Reason #468:

Former Sox pitcher Justin Masterson dominated his former club on June 9, throwing a two-hit shutout with six strikeouts and two walks.

In his 11 starts prior to that game, Masterson was 1-5 with a 5.46 ERA. In his nine starts since he is 1-5 with a 6.55 ERA.

Tonight he's gone 5 shutout innings so far. Everyone else beats him up, they can't buy a run.

Reason #469:

Jon Lester had never lost three starts in a row in his career before this season. He's on pace now to make it four straight in this hideous, disastrous, embarrassing stretch.

Edited August 5, 2010 by Dan Gould

[ghost of miles]

Via Japan, one helluva catch.

[Tim McG]

I predict the Wildcard will come out of the NL West....again.

You saw it here first.

Edited August 5, 2010 by GoodSpeak

[JETman]

Boy I hope that loosens things up. The Yanks could stand to start a winning streak. If there's a better team to do it against than the Red Sox, I don't know who it would be.

David, thanks for posting those calls. As you know, I'm a huge fan of both Kay and Sterling.

Again, to a native AND lifelong New Yorker such as myself, Kay and Sterling have always been amongst the most annoying and obnoxious sports announcers I have EVER heard in my life. My opinion, I'm afraid, is shared by many, even Yankee fans. I can still remember Sterling doing Islander broadcasts when they had just joined the NHL with his highly agitating (but very infrequent) call of "Islander goal, Islander goal, Islander goal.....".

[papsrus]

I've now seen 2 slams today, having caught the bizarre end to the Rays game this afternoon. Hope it works out better for Boston than it did in St. Pete. Sox need to get rolling for the Yankees series.

Maddon was moaning about the need for a new stadium (he's right) after that pop fly in the ninth hit the catwalk at the Trop, allowing the Twins to score the eventual winning run. This, after the Rays had come back from the dead to tie it on Bartlett's granny in the eighth.

If Benoit had simply stuck around on the mound and been ready to field his position, it probably would have been an out. I think Benoit just headed for the dugout as soon as it was hit. He was certainly nowhere in the picture when the ball fell to the ground about 10 feet behind the mound. That's what Maddon should be pissed about. The catwalk is what it is.

[Dave James]

Why are the Red Sox out of the race?

Reason #470: Kevin Youklis is out for the season. Thumb surgery.

[Quincy]

That's 4 times in 9 days that the Mariners have been shut out. 2 great pitchers & a great defense wins you a division every time. This team is so sad. Good thing I don't watch them.

[papsrus]

During a discussion of that pop-up that hit one of the catwalks at the Trop the other day, and Maddon's subsequent complaint that the club needed a new ballpark, Bob Ryan opined tonight on ESPN's 'Around the Horn' that Tampa Bay shouldn't have a team, doesn't deserve a team, based on the historically poor attendance at the Trop. Grumpy old fart. Somebody needs to relocate his ass to St. Pete.

First of all, the Rays are averaging 22,617 a game this year. Not great, and down slightly from last year, but not too far off the average attendance in Cincinnati (24,600), San Diego (25,600) and within shouting distance of the White Sox (26,100). All three of those clubs are having equally great years and play in mu-u-u-u-u-u-ch nicer ballparks.

I suppose Ryan thinks Cincinnati, San Diego and Chicago don't deserve teams either?

When you combine the bad economy, the shit hole that is the Trop, and the odd location of the stadium itself, what you get is people staying home to watch the team on TV. Those numbers, of course, are way up, as I recall.

Put a new stadium in Tampa, near Raymond James Stadium maybe, and you'll get good crowds.

I'm guessing Ryan secretly wants the Rays disbanded and the roster divvied up between the Red Sox and Yankees.

[ghost of miles]

My sympathies are with Maddon and you, Papsrus. (And that catwalk giveth and it taketh away.)

Dave James, I'm beginning to dread two-run homers by NY that give them the lead in the first. I think tonight's the fifth time it's happened in the past week, and NY is 1-3 in those games so far--and on their way to losing this one. Plus the Bosox again have Javy's number at Yankee Stadium.

[Dave James]

Seems to me Girardi might have tweaked the rotation to avoid having Vazquez start the first game of this key series. Based on his performance tonight, and I use that term loosely, it appears that his recent outings were in no way indicative of a lasting and meaningful turnaround. Unfortunately, his hallmark has been and will continue to be unreliability. I've said all along that pitching is going to be the downfall of this edition of the Yankees and I've seen nothing of late that would cause me to reconsider.

[ghost of miles]

Oddly enough, the bullpen has been excellent for the past week--but the starters haven't been too hot, and the offense continues to be sporadic at best. I'll restrain myself from a Dan-style rant, but tonight's loss is yet another reason why I refuse to write off the Red Sox, and why I continue to wonder if we'll even make it out of the first round of the playoffs--assuming we get there. This year's team gives off occasional sparks, like the win against the Dodgers and the comeback the night of the Steinbrenner tribute, but in general, there's just something missing. Look at the Red Sox, the team of the walking wounded, and somehow they just keep on winning, no matter what happens to them. New York had a hot streak on that West Coast tour before the All-Star break, but other than beating up on Cleveland, we've been flat and sluggish ever since. The solitary wins in the Tampa Bay and Toronto series seemed like aberrations, and if we end up dropping 3 of 4 to the Bosox (or worse!) at home, we'll be in serious trouble. Fortunately TB lost tonight, but a rather pathetic start for the Yanks in a key match-up.

EDIT: meant to add that yes, Javy wasn't very good tonight, but that error by Cervelli sure made things much, much worse in the second inning. Also, on the spark/heart topic or whatever you choose to call it, I'd be curious to see NY's come-from-behind record this year vs. last year's. Anecdotally, it seems to me we're not doing it nearly as much this year... we get behind and that's it, game over.

Edited August 7, 2010 by ghost of miles

[Dan Gould]

I think the ultimate wild card in how things go down is going to be the Blue Jays. They are playing better than they were and have taken it to the Yankees and now the Rays in the first game of the weekend series. While I can't find an easy source of head-to-head matchups, my impression is that the Red Sox have played better against the Jays than the dregs of the league. If they keep that up, and the Jays play the leaders tough, that might help.

But the reality is that if the Yankees and Rays play just .550 ball, which they haven't in any fifty game stretch of the season, the Red Sox need to win 98 to eek out the wild card. On what planet can that happen? They'd have to play better over 50 games than they have all season, and without Youkilis, while the Yankees and Rays would have to play worst than they have for any fifty game stretch. What are the odds of that?

[Dan Gould]

Can hope spring eternal now that the Rays had to disable Carlos Pena? I don't know but I am sure it makes the Yankees favorites again.

[Matthew]

Matthew--may I offer you, my good friend and foe of all things Yankee and A-Rod-related, this grudging concession: Mr. Rodriguez is rather stinking up the joint of late with his #599 impasse. NY and Tampa Bay now tied for first in the AL East.

Well, praise to the heavens, our long national nightmare is over: Not only did ARod hit 600, but Al Haynesworth passed his fitness test!

Yikes, are the Mariners ever awful to watch now -- pathetic.

[papsrus]

Can hope spring eternal now that the Rays had to disable Carlos Pena? I don't know but I am sure it makes the Yankees favorites again.

Zobrist being back in the lineup will hopefully help dampen the impact a bit.

[Dave James]

Looks like Lance Berkman has made his first impact on the Yankees since joining the team. Strangely enough, it's with his bat. The same bat that seems to have stayed behind when he left Houston last week. His batting practice line drive this morning plunked A-Rod squarely in the left shin causing enough damage to create a question if he and his .264 batting average will be able to take the field today. Thank you Lance.

Another WTF moment. Joe Girardi says Javy Vazquez has a "dead arm". What this translates to was his inability to hit 90 MPH with his fastball in last night's game with the Sox. Apparently, velocity makes all the difference for Vazquez and his resurgence of late is directly tied to an increase in velocity. So, the question is, if he has a dead arm, why did he start the game last night? How is it they didn't know that beforehand?

[Tim McG]

If the Red Sox are out of the race....maybe Dan will go away? Is that even possible?

Please say it is.

[Matthew]

Baseball is a sickness, I'm actually watching the Kansas City Royal / Seattle Mariner game....

[papsrus]

Nats-Dodgers here.

[ghost of miles]

Looks like Lance Berkman has made his first impact on the Yankees since joining the team. Strangely enough, it's with his bat. The same bat that seems to have stayed behind when he left Houston last week. His batting practice line drive this morning plunked A-Rod squarely in the left shin causing enough damage to create a question if he and his .264 batting average will be able to take the field today. Thank you Lance.

Another WTF moment. Joe Girardi says Javy Vazquez has a "dead arm". What this translates to was his inability to hit 90 MPH with his fastball in last night's game with the Sox. Apparently, velocity makes all the difference for Vazquez and his resurgence of late is directly tied to an increase in velocity. So, the question is, if he has a dead arm, why did he start the game last night? How is it they didn't know that beforehand?

I was not happy about the Lance Berkman acquisition and his performance so far hasn't done anything to change that opinion--hopefully he'll prove me wrong. If Javy's got dead arm (and his velocity has indeed been way down in recent outings), what does that mean going forward for the rest of the season? I don't know enough about dead arm to say, but my impression has always been that it's often a season-ender. I guess that would settle the playoff rotation question, but with Pettitte not due back for another two weeks and Hughes supposedly on an innings leash... not a good situation at all for the NY rotation.

EDIT: this ESPN article seems to show the Yankees as downplaying the significance of the problem for Javy, but it still concerns me.

Edited August 8, 2010 by ghost of miles

[Dan Gould]

"Dead arm" is a temporary muscular condition identified by fatigue and minor discomfort. It normally appears at some point during spring training for nearly every pitcher who is not yet ready for the physical demands of regular throwing designed to ramp up toward longer and longer outings, and it resolves without any treatment whatsoever in a week or so. In-season "dead arm" is less common but hardly unheard of.

Why your "impression has always been that it's often a season-ender" is completely beyond me.

[Dave James]

If I recall correctly, Vazquez had a similar problem in the weeks leading up to his skipped start in Boston.

Edited August 8, 2010 by Dave James

[Dan Gould]

Actually I think that was general suckitude, and even early in the season Girardi was afraid to let him face Boston. The difference this time is that he was actually pitching well before Friday's trouble.

[papsrus]

Rays are fixin' to get no-hit for the third time this season, a day after getting walloped by the Jays.