Winter

Can't delve in too deeply until the dust settles but, in a winter where we're dealing out our bullpen, does trading Bruney, an albeit unreliable guy, make sense, for a 'hard-nosed, hockey-mentality' outfielder? We just traded the two hurlers for a centerfielder. This math doesn't add up. Someone please lock the pen door.

Clinch

Tonight's game was taxing to watch, not least of all because of how late these west coast games run. It was a roller-coaster, and it was almost equal parts glee and frustration. Let me air my gripe:

Throughout the course of the game the Angels were lauded, as they always are, for being a fast team whose smart and speedy base runners put pressure on defenses. Given. In fact, the Yanks tonight won, as Kay pointed out, playing Angelesque small-ball. Here's the thing, tonight the climate of the ninth inning was completely reversed (from hot to cool, so to speak, if you're a NY fan) when the Angels fell victim to a strike 'em out / throw 'em out double play. Is there no one who will just say, out loud, that SOMETIMES speed and aggression can backfire? That some times it is better to not risk your three precious outs when you're down only one run in the bottom of the ninth.

P.S. I'm not sure Jeter knows what a pun is. Unless you can figure his post-game interview out. "We needed to win this game. Get the monkey off of our back, no pun intended." I'm totally with him, until that pun part...

Six in One, 1/2 Dozen in the Other

Question of the night:

Did Big Tex miss having a three home-run game, or miss the cycle?

(Info: Franklin Gutierrez robbed Teixeira of a home-run, but put the ball back in play facilitating another 3-bagger in Tex's recent string of triples. Late in the game, Tex hit a fence-clearing home-run that would have been a cycle-completing double had it knocked off the wall.)

P.S: Call C.C. Bruce Willis, cuz he's Unbreakable.

The Ides of September

Reached a few conclusions watching the Yanks (Mitre) v. Jays (Halladay) tonight:

1.) The Sergio Mitre experiment should officially be over. Enough chances, enough failures. They talked a lot about how a good sinkerballer will mix up some high fastballs to keep hitters off the low balls. Mitre was advised against this, as a precautionary measure, and told just to throw straight sinker. He couldn't even do this, as we all saw him admonish himself for leaving a home run meatball high in the zone. He doesn't have what it takes.

2.) The bench-clearer was awesome. Jorge is old and still has grit. The new Yanks were all in the middle of the action. And Shelley Duncan reaffirmed his greatness in my eyes, acting the wrecking ball in the dogpile, busting up Jesse Carlson's ugly, vein-riddled forehead. Girardi took a weak hack to the ear. Who punches a guy in the ear?

3.) Keeping my eye on Dunn. Tonight he looked great, so my fingers stay crossed.

Number Two, Derek Jeter. Number Two.

Congratulations, Captain.

Southern Discomfort

Took a trip to Camden Yards to witness my second 'final game of a Yankee sweep' this season. Some interesting differences. Apparently there was a referendum put out by Bud Selig mandating some 7th inning, hillbilly-type dance song for every stadium. The O's don't play Cotton Eye Joe, but they play something damn close. A-Rod came up to bat to a Doors song. The home fans [which were few and far between, I honestly believe the ratio was 60:40 Yanks to Oriole fans] yell O! as in Oriole during the Nation Anthem. You're allowed to bring outside food into the stadium. Just three hours south, it's a mad, mad world.

Top Honors

The perennial MVP debate gets a lot of attention, and I certainly don't need to beat the horse any deader. Here's the thing, numbers don't lie:

Mauer; avg: .367 hr: 26 rbi: 80 runs: 80 sb: 4
Jeter; avg: .330 hr: 17 rbi: 61 runs: 95 sb: 23

But as a famous sportscaster once [wisely] observed, statistics are like bikinis. They show a lot, but paraphrasing here, not everything. Catcher Joe's average might be helped by his truncated season, but he's had enough at bats over the minimum to sort of dilute that argument. DJ's runs benefit from his higher place in the order. The only clear blowout stat is stolen bases, with the [Yankee's] captain snagging an impressively high 23, his most since his failed 2006 MVP campaign, when he was beat out by another Twin also with the letters M, A, U, E, and R in his name. Nice insight, right?

Anyway, what I feel it boils down to is this: there shouldn't be preferential treatment for 'Lifetime Acheivement Award' consideration. And I'm saying this with the highest amount of man-love possible for Derek Jeter. The issue here is simply this: every player on the Minnesota Twins is equally valuable and their value could be quanitfied numerically at: 0. When you don't make the playoffs, no one ballplayer was valuable enough. I know it isn't fair to cast off a player because of the shortcomings of his team, but to what end was Mauer's value? There was no payoff, and so, retroactively, there wasn't sufficient value in Mauer's play. The bottom number line of Joe and Jeter are similar enough that the Yankee's forthcoming playoff run should seal the deal for Jeter's MVP.

And that's that.

Call-Ups

While part of me is feeling jilted that teams not named the Yankees were making the big-name moves at the 40-man deadline,

[as well as previously; i.e. the Cards nabbing DeRosa, Holliday, Smoltz & the Dodgers getting Garland & Thome, the Angels grabbing Kazmir, ad infinitum]

I will admit that, moreover, I am excited about the call-ups. It'll be great seeing Francisco Cervelli again, and I hope that he gets some time to prove his first appearance in the bigs wasn't anomalous. Ramiro Pena got a spot, as did Mark Melancon and thankfully, wunderkind Edwar Ramirez. I still have a lot of faith in Edwar.

For anyone who didn't do any extra digging, here's a list of guys who got the call but weren't immediately placed on the active roster: J. Abaladejo, A. Brackman, A. Claggett, W. de la Rosa, C. Garcia, I. Kennedy, K. Cash, J. Miranda, and S. Duncan.

Seeing [International League MVP!] Shelley Duncan unleash a torrent of yarders in the playoffs, as I am wholly sure he will, will be satisfying and wonderful and hopefully will earn him a permanent spot next year. I believe a lot of this year's success comes from the chemistry and levity the youthfulness of this team has, and Shelley's booming grin and potent thunderstick will prove an important addition.

Of the other names, I'm most looking forward to seeing Wilkin de la Rosa, who has been on my radar for awhile, and Ian Kennedy, to see whether he's finally ready to fufill some of his promise.

Godspeed newcomers, keep rolling Yanks.

Slugfest

What a wild 3 game set. As the old adage (sort of) goes, 2 outta 3 ain't bad. In other news, the Giambino may sign with the Rockies after being cut by the Oakland Athletics. I'm pretty sure being cut by the A's is the most ignominious thing that could happen to a ballplayer.

Prediction: Big G grows back the magic 'stache, signs with the Rocks, and sees his avg. skyrocket +50 points.

Where Are You Going, Robbie Cano?

Have you noticed how much walking Robinson Cano does during an at bat? I've seen batters step out after a pitch. I've even seen ones walk back around the ump if the momentum of their swing-and-miss carries them over the plate. But it seems that Robbie takes a lap after every swing. My favorite moments during these trips come when the catcher tries throwing back to the pitcher and has to wait out RC's loping walkabout.

But with his much improved average this year, I'm not complaining.

Introductory Statement

Begrudgingly, I have decided to end my internet silence and (de?)ascend into the blog-o-sphere. The function of this blog will be for me to muse on all things Yankees, and hopefully open some enlightening discussions.