Pittsblech

Time to play either/or.

More pathetic: Either the Yankees losing by 7 to the Pirates or Pirates fans standing for three batters with two outs in the ninth as if the final out meant a World Series title. In fairness, it wasn't THAT many people standing, because the place had emptied by the time Derek Jeter walked and Bobby Abreu hit a 2-run homer that sucked ALL the sound out of PNC Park. I would say the people who saw A-Rod ground harmlessly to third was about the normal amount that would see a typical Cutrates game.

More inexplicable: Either PNC Park being built BELOW the level of what I believe is the Allegheny River or Jon Sterling and Susan Waldman waxing poetic about the little blue lights in rightfield. I'm assuming the little blue lights are out there so when the river floods and turns the park into a giant toilet bowl, what, pontoon planes will know where to land. I dunno ... I can't come up with winners every time. In any case, United States engineers simply can't grasp the concept building below water lines leads to disaster. Brace yourselves Pittsburghians, the waters they are a comin'.

More frustrating: The downward spiraling quality of Yankees announcers, even Ken Singleton is getting on my nerves (I blame Cone and Flaherty) or the Yankees inability to beat bottom-dwelling teams. YES showed a telling stat during Tuesday's broadcast. The Yankees are 11-14 in series openers. That's a microcosm of the Yankees post 2003. They dig holes and waste so much effort getting out they're fried when it counts. Happened last year, it's going to have to happen this year if the Yankees hope to make the playoffs.

Mustache watch: I wonder if Jason Giambi is consulting with Don Mattingly about facial hair. Giambi's mustache is several shades darker in the last few days, going back at least to Sunday. It looks ... better?

Instinct

Kyle Farnsworth stuck his hand in front of a Brandon Phillips grounder Sunday and got cut in the process. He's lucky. Pitchers are told to never grab at a ball with their bare hands, but it's natural to do so.

The thing that struck me about Farnsworth's try is the ball appeared to ricochet off his fingertips. Sure, he looks like an extra from "300," but he reacted as if a Nerf ball hit him - no pain, just annoyance he didn't make the play. Then, he looked at his hand, threw his head back and waived for the trainer. He's got stitches and shouldn't miss any time.

The Yankees thankfully halted their skid against the Reds. Cincy stinks, but it just shows you what good pitching will do to good hitting. Yanks are off tonight and travel to lowly Pittsburgh. They may take Nate McClouth with them. I imagine that'd be like catching the last chopper out of Saigon.

Is Jason Giambi's mustache eligible for All-Star consideration?

Whoomp, there it is

This was on the big board as A-Rod was rounding the bases after hitting a solo shot off Jake Peavy last night.

Tag Team made this song a run away hit in 1993. If you wish to relive the tragedy, here’s the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnrLloO7nFQ. The video features meaningless lyrics, plenty of booty shaking and ridiculous outfits ... everything that was great about the early 90s. Also, look for the very confused white people ...

Anyway, I’m prety sure the Yankees can afford the rights to something better when one of their guys hits a home run. I haven’t been to the Stadium in a while, but I’m hoping they stopped playing Cotton Eyed Joe.

Prohibitively speaking

A friend of mine says he won’t step foot in the new Yankee Stadium. This an ideological stand on his part, but let’s be honest, most of won’t step foot in the new stadium because we can’t afford it.

I’ve been trying to get tickets for this season. It’s not easy. Scheduling, travel, cost - it’s tough to coordinate, now inflate the prices and reduce the number seats - oh boy, more luxury suites! That’ll attract my dollar. Literally, my dollar.

I understand the thinking, “Best franchise, best stadium” with all it entails, but I’m disappointed, unless I’m given tickets in that roundabout way one acquires them - a friend of a friend got the tickets from a friend who works for the Pentagon kind-of-thing - I’ll be enjoying Yankees’ home games in 2009 and beyond in stunning HD only.

Superstitious and lazy

Thoughts about the last few days:

Wanger’s hurt. Argh. The Yankees lost the most consistent pitcher in baseball ... check the numbers. That said, getting him back in September will be like trading for a front-line starter without giving anything up - which the Yankees will do anyway, at least for a second-tier starter. I’m not sure they even need to do that. With Mussina and Pettitte straight and Chamberlain settling in, they have Rasner as a comfortable four. Maybe it’s time to try another kid - at least to showcase one or more as trade bait.

Hank Steinbrenner: Shut up idiot. I can’t say enough bad things about the Steinbrenners. Yes, they have money and yes, they are responsible, in a round-about way for breathing life into the Yankees ... but, and I’ve probably said this before, they’ve done as much or more harm to the Yankees, Major League Baseball and my ears.

Jason Giambi: Wow, his mustache is on fire. Has there ever been a more critical piece of facial hair on a professional sports roster, with respect the hockey playoff beard? He’s got 17 home runs this season and has been a main cog in the Yankees offense. He’s even been respectable on defense.

Luck: It’s often better than skill. The Yankees got healthy just when their schedule got weak. The A’s, the Astros, now the Padres and the Reds next. All awful teams the Yankees can feast on to prop up their record.

Found Phil Hughes’ blog. Here’s the link . http://philhughes.wordpress.com/. He doesn’t update often, but, there it is anyway.

In the right direction ...

Four games above .500 and looking good ... but ...

Let's face it, the A's aren't great and the Astros are just awful. However, you have to beat the teams you're supposed to beat ... which for the Yankees is everybody.

There's some intriguing matchups with San Diego and Cincinnati after tonight's break. The Yanks will get Jake Peavy in Game 2, with hard-luck Darrell Rasner on the hill for the Yanks. Rasner has been good enough to win in his last few starts, but hasn't gotten run support. Peavy is the NL Cy Young winner from last year. He was on the DL for while with a bad elbow, but he's still 5-3 with an ERA around 2.50.

The Yanks will face phenom Edinson Volquez Friday night. Volquez is 9-2 on a mediocre Reds team ... he's got 11 quality starts this season.

These games are very winnable. The Yanks got to Roy Oswalt because they were patient - two runs were walked in (15 hits and eventually 13 runs). They'll have to do the same against Peavy. The other guys, Randy Wolf and some dude named Josh Banks, are a combined 7-4 (ERAs 3.83 and 1.29) but neither are unhittable.

Don't get too excited about the Yanks yet, but they appear to by healthy, except for Wanger, and things are going in the right direction.

Uncharted territory

Two games over .500 for the first time this season, and it only took 68 games. 68 games already! These seasons go faster every year.

Anyway ... Joba looked good, with some stellar defense from Robbie Cano ... if only Cano kept his head on straight every game, all season, who knows what he could do.

I still say having Joba on a pitch count is bad for him, but at least, I think, they're done with that. 95 last night, which isn't too far off from what a pitcher would be expected to throw ... which is insane ... I'd like to know when this 100 pitch thing came about. It just sort appeared one day ... it's stupid, so I bet Bill James is involved.

Jose Veras has been a pleasant surprise out of the bully.

In grand fashion

Will the real Andy Pettitte please stand?

Which is the real one? The guy we saw last night, or the one we've seen giving up 10 runs and repeatedly blowing leads? Eight innings and five hits allowed is Pettitte circa 1998. Pettitte made Hideki Matsui grand slam in the 6th stand, throwing strikes and looking comfortable on the mound. A far cry from the guy who always seems to make one or two bad pitches that cost him dearly.

This win puts the Yankees in third place, huzzah, and one game better than .500 ... for about the 500th time this season. The Yanks are 18-15 at home but 16-18 on the road. That's got to change if they're going to have a shot at the playoffs. Taking this series in Oakland is a good start.

Joba gets the calls against Houston tonight and old friend Shawn Chacon.

West Coast trippin'

Usually the Yankees look like buffoons against young lefties they haven't seen much, but they scratched out two runs early and Chien-Ming Wang appears to have straightened himself out after a very shakey May.

Wanger gave them length for the first time in what seems like forever, 7 1/3, inducing (that's another one of the baseball words that is very much out of place) four doubles.

I used to welcome West Coast swings. It was something to watch late when I was working nights. Last night I made it to the 3rd inning.

Jason Giambi is still sporting that awful mustache, although he doesn't appear to shaving much of anything these days. It makes me wonder what happened to the Yankees notoriously stringent personal grooming policy. Most of the guys are clean, but I notice Mike Mussina goes to the mound scruffy, Giambi, of course, and Wanger's hair is usually beyond the collar. Brian Bruney was even working on a quasi-mullet for a while. Guys, you make millions of dollars, invest in a Fusion Power, they work very well.

Things that bother me

David Cone. He's awful on YES. No as bad as John Flaherty, but nearly so. Why? Here's a few reasons:
- He picks one word per sentence and over-emphasizes it. "You see, Damon just DROPPED the bat head on the ball there. He SLASHED that ball into the gap. That's the kind of hitter Damon is, a SLASHER. He SLASHES."
- He's repetitive. He mentioned the "cold water/ammonia" thing no fewer than four times during Sunday's broadcast. We get it. It's cold water mixed with ammonia that acts as a sort of smelling salt. He also told the David DeJesus/Mo Rivera "home run of a lifetime" story at least twice. Once during the open and again when Rivera came in the close out Sunday's game.
- He uses words such as "attractive" to describe a player. This is probably a personal pet peeve, but at no time should a player of any sport be referred to as "attractive" a "stud" or anything similar.

The "is this the spark the Yankees needed?" question. Baseball is a long season. One game doesn't make or break that season. One great come-from-behind win, or two for that matter, in the span of four days, doesn't mean much other than the team won a game. The Yankees are back above .500 by one game. They haven't shown any desire to be much better. If they go on a streak, great, if they don't, it's business as usual for 2008.

The phrases "not trying to do too much" and "grinding it out."

Sideline/clubhouse reporters: There is no group of people better equipped to ask less intelligent questions to elicit the least informative of responses. Except perhaps YouTube participants in presidential primary debates. "So, Bobby, did it feel good to hit that home run?" "Yes, yes it did. I wasn't trying to do too much, just make solid contact ..." Credit athletes, and coaches for the most part, for answering the questions, time and again, even if those answers, like the questions, are unintelligible.

Anything that has anything even remotely to do with horses. Even glue is on my shit list. Now that Big Brown flamed out just like every other horse that has chased the Triple Crown, can horse racing just go back to being for degenerates? Can we stop pretending, like boxing and soccer, it matters in the United States? I like to think the horses that failed in their Triple Crown bids did so on purpose. As if they knew what was at stake and thought, you know what, "Screw you and your trifecta." But they didn't think that BECAUSE THEY'RE HORSES. They just didn't run well, because, I'm sure, even horses have bad days.

Quotation marks and people who use them excessively in blogs.

This thing ...

is giving American League pitchers nightmares.

Jorge's back

It's been a while - the Yanks usually take forever with the injuries. but Posada is a welcome addition to a lineup that has struggled to produce runs consistently. He, like A-Rod, won't save the team, but it's good to have a familiar face back. Also, Jose Molina is probably the happiest guy on the planet.

Bobby Abreu's struggles continue after cracking a liner off Twins pitcher Nick Blackburn's nose. Abreu was clearly shaken when it happened, but I hope this just a slump and not some crazy Knoblauchian pyschological scar.

Moose has nine wins

I'm conflicted. Does the C.B. in C.B. Buckner stand for Certifiably Blind or Complete Bull? I suppose either could apply. I don't like blaming the umps for much, but he cost Mike Mussina a chance to go deeper into his start, a 5-1 six inning win against the Jays. Buckner's strikezone was worse than erratic, a nightmare for a pitcher with Mussina's stuff.

Congrats to Derek Jeter. He moved into third place all time on the Yankees hit list, passing Mickey Mantle. That is some heady company Jeter is now keeping. He's behind only Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. It's fascinating, but you see those names, Gehrig, Ruth, Mantle, and it's as if they're storybook characters, legends who exist only in the imagination, but I've seen nearly every game Jeter has played, he's real, his career is something I've lived, like my dad living through Mantle's. It's nice to be a part of that, nice to know I can look back and say that really happened, this career was lived by someone who was flesh and blood and I saw it all.

Mo Rivera has given up one run and two walks this season. His 0.36 ERA went down. Again.

A new season begins ...

... or not.

As for Joba, called it. Sure, it's easy to predict a negative outcome, and I'm not happy I was right, but it was obvious what would happen. I made sure not to watch this game. Allowing him to throw 60-plus pitches did nothing for him and I've seen him pitch before. There was only the potential for it to go badly, for him go out there and throw half his alloted pitches for balls, to be disappointed. Which he did, which he was.

Yanks get another crack at Toronto tonight, but the ship is sinking, and fast. Still and again, the Red Sox are the team to beat. I don't think anyone believes the Rays arew legit, but stranger things have happened.

Two up and two down in Twinkie town

Now the Joba era begins, with the Yankees' upstart starter allowed to pitch only four innings. Great, keep him in line with the rest of the goofballs that get run out there everyday. The Yankees pitching wasn't awful this weekened, but it was just bad enough to lose when the hitting went south. The Yankees had runners on most of this weekend and they mostly just stood around their respective bases, chatting with Twins infielders, probably wondering what home plate looks like, or calculating how much they're spending on those balsa wood projectile they're calling bats. Seriously, they're claiming those things are maple, but they're reacting like spun sugar. What happened to those big chunky handled bats they used in the '50s? If they were good enough for Mickey Mantle, they should be good enough for these guys.

The good thing is Joba gets to pitch against Roy Halladay (6-5) in his debut as a starter. So, when and if he sucks, the media can just insinuate it was the matchup that overwhelmed him. Still, even if he's great, what do four innings matter? This is setting him up failure, regardless of the outcome. He won't even qualify for a quality start.

The Yanks will face Jesse Litsch (an unlikely 7-1), whoever that is, and Dustin McGowan (4-4) in the other two games. I predict two wins, which keep the Yankees just below .500, right where they seem most comfortable.