Lots of stuff has happened this past week.

The major bit of news was losing Curtis Granderson to a broken forearm five pitches into his Spring. Of course what followed was lots of speculation about who will take over while Granderson is recovering – he’s supposed to be out at least the first month of the season.

Then we have the Yankees struggling to win Spring Training game which isn’t really news because it’s only Spring Training and the regulars haven’t played that much. They’re currently riding a seven-game losing streak (THE HORROR!)

Joba Chamberlain decided he wanted to stir up more controversy by saying he’d rather be a starter. Naturally, the press and angry fans had a field day with this. It was loads of fun for everyone involved.

Let’s see, what else? Oh right, Joe Girardi decided he also wanted to cause a stir by saying Phil Hughes may not be ready for the start of the season. You know what else? He may be ready.

Mariano Rivera and CC Sabathia are well on their way back from their surgeries. Sabathia’s elbow is responding well to pitching sessions and Rivera’s knee is responding well to both pitching sessions and fielding drills. Another guy coming back from surgery, Derek Jeter, has started running and he’s still on track to be in participating in Spring Training games by March 10.

(It is currently 12:53 a.m. and “How Will I Know?” by Whitney Houston is playing on the 80s Music Choice channel as I begin this post. I figured I’d give you an idea of the frame of mind I was in when I wrote it because I am planning on scheduling this post to appear on the site at 9 a.m. just in case I oversleep because I stayed up late to watch the Oscars.)

First things first, this is going to sound a bit nit-picky but as I was looking at Google News for links to put into this post, I kept seeing article titles that say, “Curtis Granderson Breaks Arm,” and that is actually annoying me because he didn’t break his own forearm. It wasn’t like he was diving for a ball and landed on it strangely, J.A. Happ was the one who broke Granderson’s forearm with an errant pitch so let’s not get it twisted, okay? Thanks. Like last season when “Alex Rodriguez broke his finger.” No, Felix Hernandez of Seattle Mariners broke Alex’s finger. Thanks again.

And by the way, my friend’s mother likes to make voodoo dolls, so Mr. Happ better look out because I may be asking for one.

Another thing that’s been bothering me all night is the fact that I was witnessing fans of other teams laughing at Yankee fans who were upset about Granderson’s bad break. More specifically, fans of the Toronto Blue Jays, the team whose pitcher injured Granderson. Did these people not learn from their experiences last season when they lost their entire starting five to injury and lost Jose Bautista to a wrist injury for an extended period of time? You don’t make fun of a guy when he gets injured. It’s not good juju. Plus, they have Jose Reyes and Josh Johnson who both could be injured by April 2 and out for the entire year. Their team’s home field is made of fake grass layered on top of concrete, if Melky Cabrera attempts to make a diving play like the one he made robbing Robinson Cano of a base hit in yesterday’s game, he could break his face or something.

Thirdly, can people please stop declaring the Yankees dead? It’s still February. Is Granderson’s injury bad? Of course it is but if everything goes as scheduled, he’ll be back a month into the season. It’s not a season-ending injury and the Yankees can just plug someone into left field. I know some of you are thinking, “But Stace, they already lost like 1800 home runs with Martin and Swisher leaving for other teams.” Again, it’s way too soon to panic. Does anyone else remember 2007? The Yankees were 12 games out as late as June and they still made the playoffs. Everyone just needs take a few deep cleansing breaths and calm down. I promise, it will be fine.

Next, I briefly touched upon this subject on Saturday but just in case you missed it, trademark judges ruled that an entrepreneur can’t register “Baseballs Evil Empire” because that moniker belongs to the New York Yankees.

“The record shows that there is only one EVIL EMPIRE in baseball and it is the New York Yankees.”

I love this so much that I think the Yankees need to go all out and let everyone know that they are indeed the Evil Empire. They should embrace the evil by dressing Stadium security guards in Imperial Army uniforms and by playing the Imperial March during their lineup intros. Okay, maybe not.

And lastly, Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York tweeted this during the Oscars telecast:

“I didn’t think Seth MacFarlane was that bad. But I listen to Joe Girardi for a living.”

Some people thought it was a good zinger. I thought it was stupid but hey, what do I know?

(By the way, as I ended this post at 1:19 a.m., the 80s channel was playing “Baby Don’t Forget My Number” by Milli Vanilli. Oh, and I’m joking about the voodoo doll. Not about my friend’s mom making them but about me ordering one. Happ’s safe, for now…) 

(Syndicated from The Yankee Analysts)

A few guys that have worn the #25 for the Yankees have had special moments during their time in Pinstripes.

For instance, the man who currently dons that uniform number for the Yankees, Mark Teixeira, had his lone special playoff moment, so far, in October 2009 when he hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to seal a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

In order to even get to that moment, Teixeira was instrumental in guaranteeing the Yankees a chance of even making it to extra innings when he opened the bottom of the ninth with a single. The Yankees found themselves down 3-1 and the Twins were looking to tie the series 1-1.

After Teixeira’s single, Alex Rodriguez stepped in and took the fifth pitch he saw out to the Yankee bullpen to tie the game.

The teams held each other scoreless until Teixeira led off the 11th inning with a line drive home run to left that bounced off the top of the wall and into the seats. It gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead in a series they would go on to sweep in three games.

Next up, we have the man who wore the number before Teixiera, Jason Giambi, who had his special moment within the first two months of joining the team.

It was a rainy Friday night in May in the Bronx and the Yankees found themselves down three runs in the bottom of the 13th inning against the Twins. The game was tied 9-9 going into the top of the inning when Sterling Hitchcock gave up three runs to give Minnesota a 12-9 lead.

The Yankees came up in the bottom of the 13th against Mike Trombley and twelve pitches later was walking off the field a loser.

Shane Spencer singled to lead off the inning, Alfonso Soriano flied out, Derek Jeter hit a single and Bernie Williams walked to load the bases. Giambi stepped in and took the first pitch he saw into the right field bleachers for a walk-off grand slam. The Yankees won 13-12.

Joe Girardi wore #45 for the first half of the 1996 season. He switched to #25 when Cecil Fielder came over in a trade with the Tigers, letting Fielder have the number he had worn with the Tigers.

Girardi’s moment is one that is always referenced when talking about the late 90′s Yankee dynasty. At the time it happened it just seemed like an ordinary  triple but because it put the Yankees on the board first and they were able to hold on to a 3-2 victory to secure a win in the decisive Game Six of the 1996 World Series, it became the stuff of legends.

It is shown over and over and over again when those years are referenced along with Charlie Hayes catching the pop up in foul territory to end the game and the series.

And finally, we have Jim Abbott, who wore #25 in 1993 and 1994.

There are a few reasons why Abbott’s moment was special. One, he was born without a right hand and was able to make it to the Major Leagues and pitch. Two, he made history.

On September 4, 1993, I was in my den, watching the Yankee game with my father. It was a Saturday afternoon for me. I was newly 19-years-old and recovering from being out late with my friends the night before. In fact, I watched the game in my pijamas.

And why is this game so special? It’s because Abbott, the pitcher born without a right hand, pitched a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians.

It wasn’t an overpowering performance by any means. Abbott walked five batters and only struck out three but he able to do something that hadn’t been done by a Yankee pitcher in 10 years. Dave Righetti had pitched the last Yankee no-hitter on July 4, 1983.

I remember the last out of the game, Carlos Baerga hit a grounder to short, Randy Velarde scooped it, throw the ball to Don Mattingly who pumped his fists in triumph when the ump signaled the last out. I also remember the look of relief and joy on Abbott’s face when realizing just what had happened.

Moments like these are what makes being a baseball fan so special. You never know what can happen.

Joe Girardi on umpire Jeff Nelson’s horrific call at second base in the eighth inning:

“It’s different if it’s 1-0 than 3-0,” Girardi said. “It’s a lot easier for a reliever to relax. He knows if he makes one mistake, it is still 3-1. I am not saying we win the game if the call’s right. I am not saying that. And I am not saying if the call was right (on Cano’s play at first) last night that we win the game last night either. But in this day and age, there is too much at stake, and the technology is available. That’s what our country has done. We have evolved technology to make things better.”

Amen, Joe. Amen.

Flickr Image Courtesy of andy.wolf

Oh Wally Matthews…

For once, he wasn’t “G.I. Joe” or “Joey Looseleafs” or “Binder Boy,” the guy who is on autopilot in front of a reporter, and at the mercy of his splits, his spray charts and his heat maps in the privacy of the manager’s office.

For the five minutes or so that he shouted at, gestured at and lectured the umpires on the field at Comerica Park, culminated by a stage exit complete with waving arms and rolling eyeballs, he was a living, passionate, fire-breathing human being.

This was the second paragraph of a Matthews’s piece on ESPN New York which was posted last night shortly after 9 P.M. EST.

It’s all about Joe Girardi getting fired up during yesterday’s game and how his tantrum may have sparked the team to a 4-3 win over the Detroit Tigers.

Seeing Girardi have a meltdown and get ejected from the game was the most exciting thing about it. Not Mark Teixeira’s game-tying home run or Eric Chavez’s go-ahead home run in the eighth inning – which by the way, were back-to-back. Nah, why would in-game action matter? It’s all about Girardi showing everyone he’s a living, breathing, human being and not some cold, unfeeling cyborg.

And according to Matthews, “It was truly a joy to see.”

I don’t know about you guys but I have had it with the binder jokes. They’re tired, they’re stale and they’re stupid. And the fact that Matthews felt it necessary to include his sophomoric names for the Yankees manager in an actual article is completely laughable.

This wasn’t just a quick blog post made in the heat of the moment during the game, this was a thought out, 1,200 word article written hours after the game had ended.

It’s just another reason in the long list of many why ESPN New York and its writers are not good enough for Yankee fans.

I’d put these last two games somewhere between Sandusky’s experience behind bars and Ann Curry’s getting booted off of “The Today Show.”  Honestly, we’re all better off that both of those things happened.  I’m sure Matt Lauer decided both of their fates because he’s friggin Matt Lauer.  “Where in the world is Matt Lauer?”  Short answer: BEHIND YOU.

Yesterday was very strange for Joe Girardi.  I had defended his managing style earlier in the day and had to eat crow today, as he made a baffling move in the 9th, not bringing Robertson in for the whole inning.  In the immortal words of DMX, Joe made me “lose my mind” and “act the fool, up in here, up in here.”  And I really scratched my head when Girardi said he planned on bringing in D-Rob at some point in the 9th, regardless. “I’m bringing him in with two outs.  There should be two outs.  I’m mixing and matching,” said Girardi.  He went on to say he was being careful, because it was his second day in a row.  Fair enough.  He’s coming back from injury, but if you’re going to throw him at all, I just think you give him the inning like my arrest record was when I was 12–clean.

Then there’s tonight. Bears 14-Giants 7.  I had the over.  Tonight’s game was a joke.  Adam Warren made his debut and took a beating, giving up 6 ER in 2.1 IP.  As of right now, he’s been sent back down and I’m pretty sure his parking wasn’t validated.  That is ice cold.

The Yanks can split this series, but it will be tough.  Peavy vs. Kuroda tomorrow and Floyd vs. Hughes on Sunday.  Deep down, I feel the split, but I’m always optimistic about this team.  Bad two games, but it could be worse.  That’s why I said ‘nightmarish.’  Even if they can’t get the split, Old-Timers’ Day is Sunday, so we win anyway.

The Needle And The Damage Done

Is it bad that I don’t have an opinion about Roger Clemens being cleared of all of the charges that were brought up against him by the government? I’m just so sick of hearing and reading about steroids in baseball.

Guys did them. Lots of them – both steroids and lots of guys were doing them.

So what? It’s over and done with. Plus, baseball turned a blind eye to them for so long that the faux outrage in recent years is completely laughable. And the Mitchell Report was a farce. Yes, let’s have someone who sat on the Red Sox board of directors conduct an investigation that didn’t investigate anyone other than ex-Yankees because as we know, the Red Sox and every other team in baseball was clean. It’s just the evil Yankees who injected stuff into their bodies.

Oh wait, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez…

But Manny was only caught recently and it didn’t happen when he was Boston. Excuse me.

There, that was an opinion, sort of.

Here are some links to stories written by people who have bigger opinions about the trial, the outcome and of Clemens’s Hall of Fame chances now that everything is over:

• Roger Clemens, Steroids and the Hall of Fame – The Seattle Times
• Roger Clemens Verdict Won’t Erase The Shadow of Some Doubts – The Washington Post
• Roger Clemens, Lance Armstrong, And Guilt In The Court Of Public Opinion – Forbes
• Clemens Acquittal Latest Blow For Sports Cases – ABC

And here are a couple of links from my fellow Yankees bloggers:

• My Thoughts On The Clemens Trial – Tamar from It’s About the Money, Stupid
• Still Want To Tell Me It’s Not a Witch Hunt – Brien from It’s About the Money, Stupid

The Yankees also reacted to the news. Derek Jeter had this to say about his former teammate:

“I’m happy for Rocket,” Jeter said. “I’m happy it is over with. I think that it is good for baseball that it is over with. We can stop talking about it for a little bit. I’m happy that everything turned out well for him.”

Manager Joe Girardi added:

“It is good for the game of baseball,” Joe Girardi said. “We are trying to move on from all of the stuff that we have went through the last 10 years with the PEDs. We can focus on the game at hand. There is a lot of focus on this trial.”

Randy Levine and Brian Cashman declined comment and Andy Pettitte who testified during the trial said:

“I don’t even care to talk about that.”

Even Chipper Jones, who is in town with Atlanta to take on the Yankees had this to say about Clemens:

“Roger was a great player during our era,” the future Hall of Fame third baseman said. “Regardless of steroid use or no steroid use, whatever, I think he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and I don’t have a problem with Roger Clemens being in the Hall of Fame regardless.”

Happy Tuesday.

Here is the reason why he was so riled up:

Joe West gets paid to be this bad and that is pretty frightening.

It’s only been one game.

But everything is falling apart! CC Sabathia looked bad and Mariano Rivera blew the game!!

It’s only been one game.

But there are so many question marks! What about the rotation??

It’s only been one game.

But what will happen when Andy Pettitte comes back?!

It’s only been one game.

And what about Pineda? What if he’s out longer than that expected?

It’s only been one game.

Mark Teixeira popped up yesterday. He’s terrible!

It’s only been one game.

Curtis Granderson can’t get past the shift! He’s going suck this year!

It’s only been one game.

But the Yankees lost to the Rays and now they’re in last place!!

It’s only been one game.

Joe Girardi intentionally walked someone in the first inning!

Well, okay, you got me there but again, it’s only been one game.

Mariano Rivera looks old! He’s not the old Mariano, he’s just old Mariano!

It’s only been one game.

But, but…

IT’S ONLY BEEN ONE GAME!

The New York Yankees lost one game. And guess what? It is not the end of the world. So can everyone – media and fans included – calm down, take a breath or fifty and just relax?

Yesterday was the first of 162 games. And I’m sorry, but people cannot react like they did yesterday to every loss. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

It’s as if certain Yankee fans forgot how baseball season actually is. They forgot how long it is, they forgot that just because a team loses on Opening Day, it doesn’t mean a thing. The Yankees lost the 2009 Opener and they won the World Series. Even last year’s Cardinals lost their opener and they won the World Series.

The whole “It’s marathon not a sprint” quote applies to baseball season. Everyone knows it but losses like yesterday’s will turn even some of the more levelheaded fans into sniveling numskulls.

The worst thing about this is the scheduling because now Yankee fans have all day to let this mood fester until tonight’s start time of 7:10 p.m. Well, my advice to them is to avoid sports TV, radio and the newspapers.

And if you’re one of those people who are still really bothered by last night’s loss, go out, enjoy the day and then come back in time for tonight’s game to start. You’ll feel a lot better, I promise.

Spring Training 2012 has been interesting so far for the Yankees and their fans. Interesting in that it’s pretty unusual. There hasn’t been any sort of drama in camp and things are, well, kind of boring in a way. So far the biggest news of the Spring was GM Brian Cashman telling the World that the Yankees were going to cut their payroll to $189M by 2014. Beyond that, there hasn’t been much to make a fuss over.

The Yankees did play a Spring Training game yesterday in Clearwater against the Phillies – who they’ll be playing again today in Tampa – and won 8-5. But the most interesting story to come out of Clearwater had nothing to do with the game itself, it was about a man named Matt Smith.

Matt’s son Steven Smith passed away in December 2010. Known to many people on Twitter as @stevensmithy, the younger Smith was a huge Yankee fan. He knew everything about his favorite team and could debate any Yankee topic with the best of them – including beat writers and broadcasters. Steven was smart, he was savvy, he was funny and he was hoping to break into broadcasting someday.

His life was tragically cut short on the night of December 14, 2010 when after a fender bender on the New York State Thruway, another car struck him as he was outside inspecting the damage. When word of his death surfaced on Twitter the next morning, people were dumbstruck. I was one of those people.

I didn’t know Steven that well – only through Twitter – but what I did know of him, I liked very much. He was hilarious, he was passionate about the Yankees and we both shared a love for the show “To Catch A Predator” which was shown every Sunday night on MSNBC.

The outpouring of love and grief on Twitter over the next few days was amazing and I felt like I got to know Steven a lot better through the stories of his close friends who I also knew through the social media network. Steven’s death was a devastating blow to the ‘Yankee Twitter family’.

» Continue reading “It’s More Than Just Baseball: Girardi Honors A Late Fan”