Carl has been trying to figure out the Yankees through the first quarter of the season. So far, he has received minimal answers. This has left him just trying to find alternative ways to get through these games as he shares in another installment of Random Thoughts.
TRAINER’S ROOM – Look at all these injuries.
You name the player and he is probably hurt too.
One by one, they are falling like flies being smacked by a fly swatter
Geno (Gene Monahan) and the rest of the strength and conditioning staff may want to check me out soon. I have been feeling some pain in some areas too lately. It may not be as serious as Jorge Posada and Jose Molina leg injuries, Brian Bruney’s elbow, Phil Coke’s back, Alex Rodriguez’s hip, Derek Jeter’s oblique, or Mark Teixeira’s wrist, yet it may be serious enough to land even me on the 30 day DL.
The training room has been nothing more than one large conga line. Pretty soon we’re going to hear stories about teammates fighting each other just so they can be the first ones in there getting therapy.
Think of it like in grade school when you had to stand in a single file line and someone tried to cut you. During those days, someone cutting in line might damn near start a riot.
Not sure who would win a brawl on this team. Problem is that if one of those guys won, they would probably find themselves on the DL too.
What is the deal with all these injuries? It seems like we have gone through this each of the last three years. Of course, when you have a creaky, old bunch like we do that always is one wrong step away from being out from two weeks to a month.
As Chris Rock said, “No matter what you got, Robitussin better handle it.”
I wish the Yankees could just use some Robitussin to ail their problems. If they run out, just put some more water in the bottle and shake it up so more “Tussin” can come out.
Hey, it would save on treatment, wouldn’t it?
Because of these injuries, I am forced to see Angel Berroa on the roster. Even for “defensive” purposes, I would rather not see his face even on the bench or anywhere near my television set.
Ramiro Pena was on my Yankee man love list and because of injuries, found himself back in the lineup and immediately joined the hate list when he had a terrible at bat against Josh Beckett in the sixth inning of the game against the Red Sox. He swung at two pitches, one at his feet, and other six inches into the other batters box.
Perhaps the only good thing about him I can say now is that he plays a decent shortstop.
We can debate how much better range he has compared to Jeter at another time.
With Posada down, Molina down, and third stringer Kevin Cash simply awful, this allowed a youngster from Double-A Francisco Cervelli (my newest professional ballplayer man love) to come up to the big club more out of desperation than anything else.
Hell, when you are hitting .190 in Double-A Trenton, you are not going to get many looks.
Instead, he has come up and been a pleasant surprise.
His catching behind the plate has been great. Unlike Posada, he is not a run fairy for opposing base stealers. He is not molasses running out of the box, and even has been able to hit a little and not be the equivalent of the pitchers spot.
Maybe the Yankees have something here.
Now, does Brian Cashman get credit for this move? Or do I question why Kevin Cash was even given consideration in the first place?
Is this the part of the column where I tear Cashman apart?
Perhaps.
However, I cannot place the complete blame on him when his 82.5 million pitcher is pitching to an above five ERA.
Maybe I can blame him for giving AJ Burnett a five year contract in the first place despite the fact his best season ever (last year) still resulted in him having an ERA over four even though he has at times unhittable stuff.
It sure looks as if Cashman and his gang of cronies (assuming he has some) only looked at videos of Burnett dominating the Yankees and drew their own conclusions.
Mind you, using last year’s team as a guide for prolific offense would have been the height of stupidity. Did they not see how BAD it was last year?
The knock on Burnett has always been that he will cruise for innings at a time and appear to the viewing eye as (he has done this season) one of baseball’s best pitchers. The problem is that he will invariably reach a rough patch during a certain part of the game and will get "rattled" on the mound. Eventually this leads to the roof caving in on him. By the end of the night, he will have appeared to pitch a very good game until you look up and see that he has given up four runs.
I fear that this will not change. Any hope for him finishing with an ERA of 3.50 or below are being thrown out.
Surely, Cashman did not pay Teixeira $180 million for him to hit the interstate for the first six weeks of the season.
It has gotten so bad at times that I place bets with fellow posters over at NYYFans.com to see whether he is going to strike out looking or swinging.
Yes, it has come to this.
Already.
He sure can talk a good game though. You would be of the mind that he would definitely like to consider public office when his playing days are done.
Judging by the reaction he gets in Baltimore now that he plays for the Yankees, it is unlikely to happen.
When you watch him at the plate, teams are employing the old “Giambi Shift” and almost daring him to hit the ball to the left side.
Whether it is pride or just ignorance, he has yet to take advantage of this. Considering he is hitting under .200, he needs all the hits he can get no matter where they land.
I just want A-Rod to hit. Nothing else.
I’ll deal with the needles, mirror kissing and all the other nonsense if he can hit over .300 with a near 1.000 OPS.
Call it “desensitization”.
By the way…while I may have been excited over his homerun in his return game against the Orioles at Camden Yards, but lets not go out of the way to marvel at all of the ‘issues” he has had to overcome and how dramatic it is.
This was not a storybook tale. Here we have a guy who made his own trouble and now were supposed to celebrate him?
Please. Just hit the damn ball.
Where the hell did Johnny Damon get all this power? He is on pace to hit over 30 bombs this season.
No, I’m not suggesting that he is doing anything illegal. Though lets face it, if he somehow amasses his best homerun output of his career at the now baseball AARP age of 36, one can only wonder.
As I say, it’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.
I know new Yankee Stadium is aiding some of these blasts with the wind, but it’s not as if these balls are barely clearing the fence. These are legit shots at home and on the road.
That said, I still would not sign him for next year.
He is 36, a daily candidate for the DL on any ball hit to him in the outfield and if he actually performs this well, will want more than a one year contract at the same salary he is getting paid now.
Cut your losses and do not overpay for performance he will not repeat next season or the year after. If you choose to bring him back, you are kidding yourself.
I see my man Nicky Swish has come back down to Earth a bit.
Sure, I did not expect to him to hit .315 and drive in 120 runs, but it was a nice thought.
But what the hell was doing airmailing the ball in Baltimore last Saturday?
The way I see it, Phil Hughes can either turn into Jon Lester or he can be the Yankees version of Daniel Cabrera.
How long does the team wait to find this out? Who knows?
This was their prized jewel, so do not expect it to happen anytime soon. However, if you told me right now I could trade Hughes straight up for either Jay Bruce, Cameron Maybin, Troy Tulowitzki or Adam Jones; I would seriously consider such a move.
CC Sabathia is finally pitching as if the Yankees are paying him $23 million a year.
Starting the front and back end of the road trip, he pitched a great complete game against Baltimore and then went eight strong innings against Toronto to close out a 4-2 trip.
I’m still keeping my prediction that will win at least 18 games.
Can we please stop the whining about Aubrey Huff celebrating his home run off Joba Chamberlain, mimicking him as he crossed home plate?
If Joba is going to show histrionics like that on the mound, he has to see it coming the other way and not complain about it.
There is not a “well, I don’t really mean it, but you do” situation. I’m sorry, but that is the height of hypocrisy.
And there was not another situation during that game where could retaliate if he wanted. This is probably a good thing.
Joba went on to win the game. That is what really matters.
I still do not want to see Jose Veras on the roster anymore.
When I see him warming up, I keep saying out loud, “May Day! May Day!”
Why don’t we add Edwar Ramirez to this list?
Bugs Bunny’s changeup make work, but when his Road Runner is slowing up like it has this season, he is almost useless.
Seems like over 200 million can’t patch up all these holes.
And $1.6 billion can’t clean up the problems that the new Yankee Stadium currently has.
Empty seats in the premium locations still exist. You could not (before this past Thursday) access the dugout field level during batting practice before games where the new Legends Suites seats currently exist.
According to our glorious Chief Operating Officer of Idiocy Lonn Trost, he justified the policy by saying the following:
“If you buy a suite, would like someone to be in your suite? If you buy a home, would you like someone entering your home?”
This nonsense, along with other new Stadium policies is turning the Yankees organization into some type of Communist party. When did the Cuban and Chinese government suddenly join forces and start running the team?
Has Castro smuggled into the country?
It may be the reason the cost of tickets on the secondary market are going for ridiculously low prices.
One quick glance at a site called Fansnap.com shows tickets for this weeks games at home against the Orioles for as low as $7.
Who says Yankee baseball is not affordable?
The same ticket from the Yankees themselves retails for $25, a 75 percent increase.
You think you may be hurting the Yankees, but if you buy the seats from Stubhub, you are not. Why? Because Stubhub is the official ticket reseller of Major League Baseball with numerous teams getting a cut of the sales made on games purchased, including the Yankees themselves!
The year has gone by so fast, yet it seems as if we’ve played nearly a whole season already.
To think, we have another four and half months to go.
Just win and I will not complain as much.
That’s what being a .500 team does to you.
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