So Sexy

Joe Mauer SHOULD be a Lifetime Minnesota Twin

There now seems to be a "small" groundswell about what Minnesota Twin Joe Mauer will end up doing as far as staying with the Twins of upping for free agency. Let me say this here and now, Joe Mauer is Mr. Minnesota, not just Minnesota Twin. What a terrible thing would it be to see Mauer leave his home town and home state. Many of you readers know that Mauer grew up a hero in Minneapolis-St-Paul, an All-American high school QB, who drew national attention as a nationally recruited football player. He is the Derek Jeter of Minnesota. What a shame to see him leave.

But I think the latest barrage of articles on Mauer leaving are off base andjust won't lead to Mauer leaving. Basically the writers are stirring up the waters and saying if Mauer doesn't sign with the Twins he is going to be a Yankee. They give the standard reasons, they have the money and the prospects, especially catching prospects. he Yankees are loaded with catching prospects, Romine, Montero and Sanchez being three of them. There is no pressing reason the Yankees would push that button. Imagine what the rest of baseball would accuse the Yankees of doing?

So let's get ready for the season, OK? Only 17 days until Boston on a Sunday night and right between the finals of March Madness. What a great weekend to look forward. Go Yankees!!!

Relax, It's Only Spring

Well, it's started. What's started you ask? The complaining and the doom and gloomers that call themselves Yankee fans, that is what has started. The Yankees are 1-3 in Spring Training and, when you read some the message boards, you'd think they were 10 games out with 9 games to go. Look at the line-ups the Yanks are throwing out there. It's the first week in March for crying out loud. The Yankees are a veteran team and do not need to play everyone all the time. When traveling they don't take but 4 or 5 regulars. And they play 3 innings. Mo won't throw 6 innings in Florida. Girardi won't put his everyday line-up out there until the last week of spring training.

So if you really are a true Yankee fan you will believe in Girardi and Cash, trust that A-Rod and Jeter know how to pace themselves and that the rest of the organization is doing the right things. How can't you think that. And they continue to tweak the roster adding Park to the relief corps. So let's all be quiet and let our team do it's thing because you don't think anyone else will ever give the Yankees their due.

Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter held his only press conference today talking about his Yankee career. Jeter says he wants to stay with the Yankees for his whole career. Wow, there's news! Do we expect anything different from this guy? Do you realize as a Yankee fan how lucky we are to be able to be Yankee fans in the Jeter era? I have told my sons that they haven't lived through a Yankee era without Derek Jeter. Lets just say it, Derek Jeter is an American hero! If he wasn't a New York Yankee he would be more popular that Tiger Woods before the mistresses. Can anyone say something derogatory about DJ? About his personal life? Writers have tried to punch holes in Jeter saying he is smug and never gives straight answers about the ball club. I call that brilliant! That is not his job. They say he is not a vocal leader. So! Either was Mickey Mantle. His peers followed Mickey for what he did on the field and how he handled himself. Remind you of someone? Mantle would do anything to win, getting his legs wrapped before every game with yards of tape, then limping to his position and following that up with game winning hits or catches. Again, remind you of someone. There is going to come a day where the opening day announcement of Yankees at the Stadium to the first base line will not include Derek Jeter. Then we will look at each other and finally admit to ourselves how lucky we were to have Derek Jeter as a Yankee SS for the last 20 or so years. I am not waiting! I am going to enjoy every game, every at bat and every Jeter play in the field. I am not going to get caught wanting like we did for Bernie or Donnie.

Gene Monahan

Baseball is like, I suppose, life in that it's usually the squeaky wheel that gets the oil. You know the type. The guy you work with who craves attention, makes the "funny" comment at a meeting and gets the pat on the back for just doing his job. Gene Monahan is not that employee. In fact I would go as far as to say he is just the opposite, the guy who goes about his business treating other players while being the perfect employee and never saying or bringing attention to himself.

Well now he has gone and done it! It was announced Sunday by the Yankees that Monahan will miss "spring training" and maybe parts of the regular season. First time in 47 years with the Yankees he will miss time! This guy is one of those behind the scene employees that work overtime as part of their day and night duties. At the field hours before the players and staying hours after the game is over, Monahan is as much a part of the Yanks as Jeter or Sabathia. Jeter and C.C. have aches and pains like every other player. Who do you think gets them ready to play the day game after the extra inning night game that ended 12 hours ago.? Gene Monahan and Steve Donahue, the assistant trainer.

I will say a prayer for "Geno" and hope you will do this too. Can you even imagine, in 47 years with the Yankees, the things he has scene, the players he has treated and the stories he could tell. He is a walking talking Yankee encyclopedia. I wonder how many book details he has turned down as a loyal Yankee? He knows where the bones are buried and knows which skeletons are in the closet. But, what a book he could write. And what an employee he is and has been. Good luck to Gene on fighting the illness. We are all pulling for him.

Yankee Minor League System

One of the good things, for me, about being a big baseball and Yankee fan has always been being able to go through the Yankee Minor League teams and looking at stats of some "future" Yankees.

But I learned long ago that just because a player in "A" ball hit .320 doesn't mean we will ever see him in a Yankee uniform. This is especially true of the Yankee system.

For years the Yankees have used their Minor League system for trades and not so much for the calling up of players to help the big team. There have been exceptions, we all know Jeter, Pettitte, Mariano, Bernie and Jorge since 1996, but for the most part not so many. I see a different pattern emerging now! The Yankees have more than a few young players in the lower system, both pitchers and every dayers. Especially, it seems, catchers. Among the names you might be seeing in the near future are Montero, Romine, Sanchez, Murphy and Higashioka. That is more than normal the amount of catching prospects for an organization and should alleviate any concerns about what the Yanks will do when Jorge is gone. In fact, in Jesus Montero the Yankees have the third highest rated prospect in baseball according to many of the magazines that do this type pf player rating. He is prospected out as a back-up catcher but a big tome power hitter at DH or possibly some OF. Romine and Sanchez are considered the future starters. Someone better tell Francisco Cervelli this. It's pretty exciting to know that, beside putting a World Series winner on the field at the major League level the Yanks are doing their due diligence on the minor league level. Bodes well for the future!

Yankees on Letterman Tonight

Already miss seeing your beloved Yankees on T.V.? Well, tonight at 11:35 eastern 3 of the core 4 (Jeter, Po and Pettitte) can be seen on the David Letterman show tonight.

You don't even wanna know how many of the staff members have had sex with Jeter.

Wang Wins, Rivera Saves #500

Its a pattern we've become accustomed to since Wang first came up back in 2005. Wang for six or seven innings, piece together the middle innings, and Rivera to close it out. The combination has been used 24 times now, to great effect for the Yankees. However, before last night it had not happened since June 10, 2008. Wang seems to have figured things out now though. I'll have more on Wang later.

First the game though, the Yankees jumped ahead quickly for what felt like the first time in ages. Jeter dismissed worries about his health right away with a leadoff double. Nick Swisher followed with what should have been an easy ground ball out. However, Daniel Murphy tried and failed to get Jeter at third instead. This set up a big Mark Teixeira double that drove in both Swisher and Jeter. Right away this gave them a 2-0 lead and they would get one more run that inning. It looked like the Yankees were going to run away with this one if Wang could just turn a decent outing. That was all the runs they would get though until the eighth when a combination of an error and walks would lead to K-Rod walking in Mariano for his first career RBI.

The Yankees blew several opportunities with men on base and could have scored more but the pitching was good enough for them to get away with it. Chien-Ming Wang turned in his third straight solid start and was good enough to get a win. He gave up nothing to the Mets until the fourth when they tagged him for two runs and really could have finished the sixth if it had not been a one run game at that point. What's important is that he got twelve ground balls, compared to only three fly balls and no line drives. That's vintage Wang right there. He needs to get deeper into games but he seems to have cemented his position in the rotation again and is gaining back some lose trust. The Yankees then attempted to piece together the rest of the game. The two Phils (Coke and Hughes) finished the sixth for Wang, Hughes would also pitch a scoreless seventh. The eighth was the only time the game really seemed in reach for the Mets. Brian Bruney would get two outs, however, he would also walk two and be forced to give way to Mariano Rivera. Mariano, of course, got out of the jam and pitched an uneventful ninth for his 500th save.

Yankees Win

For a little while it looked like the Yankees were going to blow this one. Nobody was surprised when they pulled this one out though. Aside from the Yankees many comeback wins this year, Washington's bullpen is absurdly bad. I really feel bad for the National's few fans, if Ron Villone is pitching key innings for you, you're in big trouble.

C. C. Sabathia turned in another nice start today. The only mistake he made was the home run he gave up to Anderson Hernandez. However, he went deep into the game again and gave up only three runs. It was a long time before he gave up his one walk of the night. The only concern I have is that he only K'ed two guys. So far C. C. has been good and a big innings eater. However, not the ace we have hoped for. Hopefully, he will repeat his second half surge of last year, to some degree. The return of Brian Bruney to get the last out of the eighth was notable and Mariano turned in a typical 1-2-3 inning for the save.

Cano hasn't been hitting lately much at all lately but today may mark the start of a turnaround. If he could get going it would be huge for the Yankees and any time a guy goes 4-4 its a good day. His double at the end of the game essentially put the game away. Texeira also made some nice stretches in the field in contrast to his Washinton counterpart, Nick Johnson, and blasted a HIGH double to left center.

All in all, a nondescript win for the Yankees but still a if they lost it would have put them three behind Boston. Nobody wants to blow the series opener against Washington at home either.

Dead Sexy

"I approve"

Great Win but X-Man is Down

• Most Imporantly from Pete Abe: Xavier Nady had a “sharp pain” in his right elbow in the seventh inning and was taken out of the game. He previously had elbow surgery. MRI tomorrow.
• Burnett pitched a gem going for 8 and only twirling a no hitter through seven.
• Swisher was well Swisher. He went 2-4 with a double and Home Run.
• Jeter hit a sick HR in the 9th to seal the deal.
• Bruney slammed the door shut with 3 quick outs.
• RAB has a good minor league update.

Spring Update

• C.C. has been labeled, not only, as the Opening Day starter but also will pitch the first day in the stadium (April 16th).
• The beloved old stadium has been slated for an April demolition.
• Sliding into Home has a wonderful New Yankee Stadium photo update.
• Bob Sheppard (The Voice of God) will not be reporting to Opening Day.
• Pete Abe has tons of juicy details in today's game thread. (Jeter led off today)

(photo)

A-Rod News and Quotes

According to the Daily News, A-Rod is going to make the first public comments today on ESPN. He is expected to talk with long time baseball writer Peter Gammons, and it is said that this will go down later today. 

According to the Post, Derek Jeter made some comments concerning the A-Rod situation. Here is what he had to say:

"You have to give him the benefit of the doubt," Jeter told reporters today at the Yankees' training complex."My initial reaction is, let him respond," Jeter said. "Give him the respect to respond to it before you pass judgment. Yeah, of course, everybody was shocked by it," Jeter said. "You've got to find out both sides of the story before you make any assessment.

This is Jeter being a good team Captain and teammate backing up his player in his time of darkness. When Jeter was asked about his name being on the list he replied cooly:

"Why would I worry about me being on the list?" Jeter said.

What a guy.

According to the same Post article, Jorge also said a few words concerning A-Rod. Jorge said he sent a text message to Alex offering support and also said this:

"I've gotta say Alex is my teammate and is gonna be my friend forever," Posada said. "I'm gonna support him any way I can."

When Jorge was asked about the list he had a similar response to Jeter's:

"I hope not. I thik I've done things right," Posada said.

The Players Union had this to say:

"We are prohibited from confirming or denying any allegation about the test results of any particular player(s) by the collective bargaining agreement and by court orders. Anyone with knowledge of such documents who discloses their  contents may be in violation of those court orders. Information and documents relating to the results of the 2003 MLB testing program are both confidential and under seal by court orders."

The MLB had this to say:

"We are disurbed by the allegations contained in the Sports Illustrated news story which was posted online because the survey testing that took place in 2003 was intended to be a non-disciplinary and anonymous, we can not make any comment on the accuracy of this report as it pertains to the player named."

Jeter Worried

D.J. comment about the last road trip and said: "It was a bad trip, you can't sugarcoat it," he said. "We need to fix some things."

Then WFAN’s Sweeny Murti asked a good question. Does Jeter think his teammates are as confident as he is? “They better be,” Jeter said.

DJ Is so cool. 

Check later for updates about the game.

Richie Sexson Is Not The Answer

In the post below this, Charlie applauded the Yankees signing of Richie Sexson. While it's true that he may help out against lefties, he probably won't do too much. I'm not really against the signing, but at best Sexson will add about half a win. Maybe. The Yankees are averaging 4.59 runs per game, good for 15th in the majors, and 8th in the AL. This middle of the road performance is far from what was expected, and it can't continue if the Yankees want to make the playoffs. Obviously there is room for improvement. Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera are all having sub-par seasons and could theoretically improve. There has been a lot of speculation about trading for Ichiro, Matt Holliday, Xavier Nady, etc. These are all solid options, but there is one player who could be had for a lot less in terms of money and prospects: Barry Lamar Bonds. True, he hasn't played baseball in a while, but he wants a contract, so he has been staying in shape. Give him two weeks in the minors and he should be ready. After all, he's one of the best hitters ever. He had a 1.045 OPS last year. It's safe to say he will regress from that mark, maybe by a lot, but would .850 be a safe estimate, wouldn't it? That's basically Matsui, so there you go, Bonds is the replacement, and he doesn't cost Phil Hughes or Austin Jackson. If Bonds doesn't produce, he can be cut easily, since he will be making the pro-rated minimum.

All-Star Lineups Announced

AMERICAN LEAGUE LINEUP
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Derek Jeter SS
Josh Hamilton CF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Manny Ramirez LF
Milton Bradley DH
Kevin Youkilis 1B
Joe Mauer C
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Cliff Lee RHP

NATIONAL LEAGUE LINEUP
Hanley Ramirez SS
Chase Utley 2B
Lance Berkman 1B
Albert Pujols DH
Chipper Jones 3B
Matt Holliday RF
Ryan Braun LF
Kosuke Fukudome CF
Geovany Soto C
Ben Sheets RHP

Captain Clutch

The captain blasted his 199th home run last night to give the Yankees the lead over the pesky Astros. Veras threw two strong innings and I think he overtook Farnsworth role as the 8th inning man. Since Mariano pitched five of the pervious six days the Yankees had to bring the Farns and he got his first save since 2006. Now the Yankees are 2 games over .500 and are sitting in third place.   

A-Rod and Jeter

Slow News Day

Thought some people would like this video

don't take it too seriously it is a joke

Jeter, Posada Banged Up

Jorge Posada has a "dead" shoulder, and could hit the DL, meaning the veteran Chad Moeller will be called up to replace him. Derek Jeter, as you all know, injured his quad last night. They Yankees say that he will not hit the DL, but Pete Abraham reports that Alberto Gonzalez was pulled from tonight's game. Abraham says this as if it is a fact that Alberto will join the Yankees soon, but that would require a Jeter DL stint, or a demotion/DFA of someone (one of Betemit/Duncan/Ensberg/Traber/Ohlendorf). If Jeter and Posada are out for two weeks or so, that is a major problem. Some have suggested that A-Rod move to short in the meantime, with Ensberg at third. This is obviously better offensively speaking than A-Rod at third and AG at short. However, this would probably only be successful if A-Rod could make a successful return to short, a position he hasn't played in five years.

Yanks Split With Rays

The Yankees won their second game in a row today, splitting the four game series with the Rays, in a game in which Mike Mussina, Brian Bruney, Kyle Farnsworth and LaTroy Hawkins pitched (I know, right?). Anyway, Moose pitched very well, going six and allowing one earned on a Jonny Gomes homer. He was economical too, and probably could have gone seven. Brian Bruney entered in the seventh, and pitched very well. He seems to be much improved from last year, maybe due to his being less fat. If Girardi doesn't burn him out like Torre did he could be a useful part this year. The Farns pitched the eighth, and didn't suck, which is always good. LaTroy pitched the ninth, and was greeted with chants of "Paul O'neill!" He got in some trouble, but pitched his way out of it and didn't allow any runs. The only negative of this game was that Derek Jeter left with a strained left quad. Hopefully he won't be sidelined too long. Tomorrow the Yankees play in KC, as Phil Hughes goes against Brian Bannister, which is a very interesting matchup.