It Began in Boston

If you haven't been watching the Yankees are the hottest team in baseball of late. They won nine in a row before losing to the Mets Friday night and are 12-3 since June 1st as of today.

Interestingly enough just when the Yankees are winning, Boston is losing more often than before this season. On June 1st the Yankees were 12.5 GB and are now 8.5 GB. What's been going on with these teams since June 1st? Let's take a look at some numbers.

Overall Cumulative Numbers (since June 1st)
quick glossary: offense numbers are BA/OBP/SLG
BAA is batting average against
BABIP is batting average balls in play
BR per 9 innings is base runners per 9 innings of play

NYY
W-L: 12-3
RS/RA: 92/53
Offense: .309/.389/.487 15 HR, 13 SB
Pitching: 3.53 ERA/.259 BAA/.295 BABIP/4 SV/11.9 BR per 9 innings
% IP: starters 66.1% vs 33.3% bullpen

BOS
W-L: 7-8
RS/RA: 58/64
Offense: .264/.346/.388 11 HR, 7 SB
Pitching: 4.15 ERA/.248 BAA/.284 BABIP/2 SV/11.7 Base Runners per 9 innings
% IP: starters 70.2 vs 29.7 bullpen

By the way, June 1st is also the day the last Yankees/Red Sox series had started. As any reader of Bill James knows, baseball games are won by scoring runs--one team has to score more runs than the other to win. As the numbers show, the difference between the Yankees and Red Sox over this stretch is in their offenses. The Yankees have outscored their opponents by 39 runs while Boston has been outscored. The current trend is quite a reversal of the first two months when Boston's offense was in the top three in the AL each month (posting OPS's of .778 in April and .829 in May).

But in this month one thing stands out between the teams' offenses: the lineup. I haven't watched too much of Boston's games, but as Doug has pointed out Boston's leadoff woes. Lugo was still Boston's leadoff man until June 4th. Since then Francona has tried Pedroia and Drew in the leadoff spot (Pedroia moving up from 8th and Drew from 6th). Crisp who started the season as Boston's leadoff man now bats 9th and Lugo is now 8th. I wouldn't argue this is depesperate times yielding desperate measures, but Francona's going by the numbers (since June 1st):

Lugo .135/.203/.212
Crisp .208/.250/.208
vs.
Pedroia .391/.431/.565
Drew .306/.350/.528

It doesn't get better for Boston though because Youkilis (who formerly batted 2nd), Mike Lowell, and V-Tek are either slumping or hitting below an average hitter.

The Yankees on the other hand have the hitting bug just about all around. And unlike Boston's lineup, there's has been more stable in terms of who hits where (with the exception of Giambi and Mientkiewicz who landed on the DL but were both a drag on the offense). How good is the offense this month?

• Six of the nine current starters are hitting over .300 this month:

Jeter .304; Abreu .415; Matsui .333; Posada .319; Rodriguez .360, Cabrera .313

• And seven of the nine's OPS is at least .800

Jeter .831; Abreu 1.210; Matsui .929; Posada .935; Rodriguez 1.256; Cabrera .844; Cano .841

• I personally also applaude the Yankees running more on the base paths, not only stealing bases, but doing quite a bit of hit and runs.

The biggest positives for the Yankees offense of late have been Abreu, Rodriguez, and Matsui. These guys, the 3-4-5 hitters are hitting .370 10 HR 49 RBI. The big negative is their leadoff hitter Johnny Damon who's hitting slightly better than Lugo and Crisp, but still hasn't found his stroke this season.

As for both team's pitching the Yankees have avoided injuries and a couple Red Sox starters have had some bad luck of late. Clemens, Mussina, Pettitte, and Wang have pitched well this month going a combined 6-1/3.45 ERA/73 IP/46 K in 11 GS. For the Red Sox this month Beckett's ERA is 5.59, Wakefield's 5.89, and Schilling's 4.26. Dice-K and Tavarez have been solid though.

What's In Store?

It's only been three weeks into June, yet the Yankees needed this offensive surge and a nine game winning streak to prove to themselves that they are for real. As for Boston, the timing couldn't have been worse, however I don't doubt that their offense will come alive any day now.

Confessions of a Mildly Dangerous Mind

All-Stars

Dang it, Teddy's outdone me again - I voted for my All-Stars a couple of weeks ago, but didn't take the time to document my decisions.

I don't disagree with Teddy's selections on any particular point, but I do agree with a few - and this is based not so much on his picks, but of the All-Star voting as a whole.

Teddy chose outfielders Vlad Guerrero, Torii Hunter, and Magglio Ordonez from the AL, and Carlose Lee, Jason Bay, and Matt Holliday from the NL.

My problem with this is that neither set comprises an actual outfield.

The AL Outfield is composed of 2 rightfielders and a centerfielder - which isn't terribly problematic. My guess is that Magglio would start in left in that scenario.

As for the NL, there are three left fielders chosen - I'm sure there's at least a passable right fielder in the bunch (Holliday or Bay) but none of those guys would actually play Center on a real baseball team.

Of course, I have the same problem with Fantasy Baseball...

Anyway, I for one am a fan of the Midsummer Classic. I watched it last year and it was a surprisingly exciting game. Yes, it doesn't matter the way it once did, and players find excuses to cop out (see the cases of not only Martinez, Pedro, but also Clemens, Roger) - but it's fun to watch. It would probably be smarter to do what the NFL does (hold the All-Star Game after the season some place fun like Hawaii), but players count on the 3-day break as a chance to spend time with their families, and of course there's the silly determination of World Series homefield advantage nonsense to contend with.

With the dilution of Major League talent the whole "every-team-gets-an-All-Star" tradition has become a little ridiculous. Of course, I think the NL will do better than Dmitri Young as the Nationals representative - probably Chad Cordero or Ryan Zimmerman, even though neither of them really deserve it.

Of course, you could do worse than Zimmerman as a backup All-Star third baseman (see the case of Cooper, Scott - the Red Sox representative in '93 AND '94) or for that matter, from the Nationals' current roster (Robert Fick - the Tigers representative in '02)

What will always make me question the credibility of All-Star games isn't just Joe Torre's habit of packing the roster with Yankees' players in the late '90s ("So Zim, how do we justify Bernie Williams this year?" - Berniewhocky was an All-Star 5 times, Torre managed all but one of those games) but the fact that two years ago Shea Hillenbrand became two-time All-Star Shea Hillenbrand.

I think I just threw up in my mouth.

Sox Stuff

I will continue my utter lack of consistency on the hindsight/foresight tip - giving a review/preview early, after giving a late one earlier this week.

Another ugly week - 3-4 against the D'Backs, the Rockies, and the Giants. And they needed to beat the woeful Giants twice to look that good. It was inevitable that Beckett would have a lousy start eventually, but where are the bats? Take away last night's 10-2 game, and the Boston offense scored 7 runs all week. The team continues to ask too much of the pitching staff, but Tavarez and Dice-K certainly looked very good against the Giants yesterday and today.

(I didn't read anything to this effect, but I do hope that "No Doubt" Dave Roberts received a standing O from the Fenway faithful when he led off the first game)

I'm intrigued by the shakeup of the lineup. Crisp and Lugo/Cora have been banished to the bottom of the lineup where they belong. Yes, I know I advocated starting Cora every day and putting him at the top of the lineup, but after his white-hot start, he's cooled down into, well, Alex Cora. If only the Red Sox could get a shortstop like, I don't know, Orlando Cabrera/Edgar Renteria/Hanley Ramirez. Nah... no way the Sox could ever get their hands on that kind of talent.

Youkilis is hitting 5th now, which has gone from the kind of thing that should only happen when a bunch of regulars are getting routine days off to a move that makes sense. Pedroia is batting second, which is where I always thought he'd end up, though I certainly didn't think he'd get there this soon.

J.D. Drew batting leadoff is the most intriguing move - it certainly worked last night. Drew is definitely an OBP guy (only .347 this year, but .390 for his career), so he makes more sense than Lugo (.313 this year, .335 career). It's also welcome evidence of the Red Sox' willingness to think outside of the box. I don't know if this was Francona's call - or Epstein's, or Bill James', or Dr. Charles Steinberg's - but it is thinking different. Last year Youk was the unconventional leadoff choice (due to his lack of speed), and now they're taking a guy who conventional wisdom says is a middle-of-the-order hitter and batting him leadoff. I like it.

The Sox have one more game against the Giants, and then a series against the Braves and the Padres - neither of whom will be easy pickings. The Sox took 2 out of 3 from the Braves the last time they met, so there is hope - but the bats seriously need to wake up.

I have to take back what I said about J.C. Romero upon his release - lousy peripherals and all. Mike Timlin has become the bullpen equivalent of throwing enriched uranium at a nuclear test site. I still like Snyder and Donnelly, but it sounds like the Sox are stuck with Timlin and Joel "The Last Son of Krypton" Piniero.

Timlin was a sentimental choice to stick - a member of the '04 World Series champs and the Last Man Standing from the '03 "Closer-by-committee" debacle. The Sox are on the hook for Piniero to the tune of $4 Million this year - apparently "White Flag" Wayne Gomes wasn't available.

The Sox' bulllpen has held its own thus far this year, but I remember '04 when Joe Torre had Quantrill and Gordon (and to a lesser extent, Jeff Nelson) pitch until their arms fell off and left them inneffective in the second half and in the postseason. The Sox need another bullpen arm stat, unless they want to see Kaji and Pap suffer through the same indignity - a scenario that seems likely given the anemic state of Boston's offense.

But what do they get and how do they get it?

I know that Troy Percival is trying to make his way back, but I'm not ready to sign up with that corporation. Keith Foulke is also reportedly contemplating a comeback - but to say that there is no love lost there would imply that there had been love there to begin with.

Jon Lester came off the DL and was promptly sent to Pawtucket - which means that, for the time being anyway, Julian Tavarez isn't leaving the rotation to reinforce the bullpen. Hey, at this point, why mess with a good thing?

To hammer away further at a theme I've hammered at before, Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen aren't going to help anytime soon - unless one or the other of them turns into one of those guys who inexplicably can't get AAA hitters about but dominates big leaguers.

Besides, don't rush anyone - see Fiasco, The: Meredith, Cla.

Of course, there's always Matt (shudder) Clement, the Red Sox' version of Carl Pavano + half a good season, and a guy who could theoretically step into a rotation or a bullpen role. The Sox owe him a lot of money, too ($8+ Million), and as far as I know he hasn't even begun rehabbing yet. If and when he becomes healthy, the Sox will be in a play-him-or-trade-him situation.

Wily Mo Pena is the hot name featured in trade rumors recently, so that's the likely lure for a bullpen arm. The question is - where does it come from? What teams are going to be sellers?

A rundown of possible partners:

Baltimore - Chris Ray is struggling this season, but he's too young and too cheap to part with. I'm sure the Orioles would love to dump Danys Baez, but there are 6.52 reasons for that - plus he's injured. I wouldn't want to relive the Chad Bradford show, and I had hoped the Sox would reacquire Scott Williamson this past offseason, but the O's have invested a lot of dollars over a lot of years on these guys - don't see it happening.

Tampa Bay - The D-Rays already have more promising young outfielders than they have room for, and I don't trust Al Reyes any further than he could throw a pitch and ruin Nomar Garciaparra's career.

Toronto - Pass. J.P. Ricciardi doesn't want to do business with the Red Sox, unless it involves off-loading a - what would you call it? - Hinskesque contract.

Chicago - The White Sox are supposed to be willing to sell parts off, but I'm sure Bobby Jenks isn't one of them. And as for the White Sox bullpen - Hey, look, Ozzie Guillen offended someone again!

Kansas City - I'll admit that this surprised me - the Royals actually have 6 relievers with ERAs below 4 - Joakim Soria (3.04), Jimmy Gobble (giggle - 2.59), David Riske (3.14), Joel Peralta (3.59), Brandon Duckworth (2.94) and Octavio Dotel (3.12).

Soria is a Mexican league find that GM Drayton Moore is unlikely to part with, I don't really know anything about Peralta, Gobble and Duckworth have never pitched this well in their lives, and you'd need a Haz-Mat suit to handle Dotel's elbow. Riske would be a Red Sox rerun.

So for the sake of reliving the past, I'll take Riske out of the equation. I'll put Soria on the Royals' untouchable list, and Dotel on the Dear-God-Don't-Touch list. The other three - Gobble (giggle), Peralta, and Duckworth might be viable - Moore traded Jeremy Affeldt for promising slugger Ryan Shealey a year ago, so history might repeat.

Texas - Another club whose bullpen is more promising than expected. I'm terrified of Eric Gagne for the same reason as I am Dotel, and as long as he's a risk, Otsuka isn't going anywhere. That leaves the intriguing C.J. Wilson (a lefty) and Frankie Francisco - a former Sox farmhand better known for throwing a chair into the Oakland stands than throwing strikes. Wily Mo would be a great fit in Texas though (great home run park, lousy outfielders) so this, too, bears watching.

Washington - We already know that Jim Bowden wants the moon, the stars, and unlimited access to Scarlett Johansen in exchange for Chad Cordero - let's just avoid that road altogether.

Cincinnati - David Weathers is a decent closer for the worst team in the worst division in baseball - not exactly a ringing endorsement. That and the reason the Reds traded Pena to Boston in the first place was that they had too many outfielders. Even with the Austin Kearns trade, that hasn't changed.

Houston - A couple of weeks ago, Lidge probably could have been had - but would have only agreed to a trade had he gone some place he could have closed, which wasn't an option in Boston. Now, he's apparently had a brush with medieval history and has turned into a shutdown closer again. The Astros, making their home at the other homer-friendly Texas ballpark, could certainly use Pena's bat, but they probably still think of themselves as contenders and their bullpen is split between guys that they can't afford to lose and guys that no one would want.

Pittsburgh - Jason Bay and Xavier Nady are the only guys who can actually hit on that team, and Pena's not really an everyday centerfielder, so not a good trading partner. Matt Capps and Damasao Marte are intriguing, and hey, you only need to scam a UMass alum to make a trade there.

San Francisco - I'd love to say that the Giants have another future Joe Nathan to spend here, but I don't really see it. Besides, Brian Sabean only likes position players who are halfway to Social Security - Pena's too young for his taste.

Colorado - Because Dan O'Dowd has been operating the Rockies' post-full-frontal lobotomy for some years now, he's considering trading closer Brian Fuentes. But with three young outfielders (Hawpe, Taveres, Holliday) - Colorado isn't really a potential trading partner either.

So there are options out there, just nothing safe, obvious, or apparent.

Here Come the Yankees

So the Yankees' won 9 games in a row and 10 out of their last 11.

Ho, hum

Don't get me wrong. I don't ho hum this in a dismissive manner - just with an utter lack of surprise.

A few weeks ago every sports columnist in New England was racing to stick a fork in the Yankees like hipsters trying to take credit for "discovering" a new band. I can't wait to see the round of columns in which they scold their readers for believing in this notion, all the while disavowing the fact that they were the ones who perpetrated it in the first place.

(Here's a freebie for Dan Shaugnessy - "For all you "idiots" still living in 2004, I have another year you might want to think about - 1978")

Kenny Williams could have taken a Bobby Abreu for Jermaine Dye trade, but turned it down. Since then, Dye has continued to disappoint, while Bobby Abreu has gone crazy Broadway style. Of course, the results could have been the same had the trade been made - putting on pinstripes seems to be the equivalent of sewing a big red S on the chest of underperforming players (or to put it another way, Truth, David Justice, and the Yankee Way).

I have a friend - a White Sox fan - who expressed hope that his team could swing a Mark Buehrle-for-Melky-Cabrera deal with the Yankees. Had the Yankees continued their poor play, and had this resulted in Cashman being fired and the Boss taking over the reins of the organization himself again, this might have happened. Unfortunately for those of us who root against the Yankees, Melky Cabrera is exactly the kind of player that Cashman would not trade for a rent-a-player or, more likely, at all.

I took some fleeting pleasure in seeing the Rocket outdueled by Oliver "O-Face" Perez yesterday, but of course they bounced back today to win 11-8 in game that featured a rogue's gallery of grotesque ERAs. I mean, Scott friggin Proctor was the only pitcher on either side with an ERA under 4 (at 3.28 he's way better than I've ever given him credit for).

To sum up, in order of appearance:

Mets:
Glavine: 4.67 - Isn't this guy supposed to be closing in on 300 wins?
Schoeneweiss: 6.65 - Further proof that being a lefty guarantees you a job for life.
Mota: 7.20 - If steroids are "performance enhancers", I'd hate to see this guy unenhanced.
Sele: 5.25 - Ah, the meltdown artist in Boston who inspired Lowe and Clement

Yankees:
Clippard: 6.62 -Desperation is now spelled T-Y-L-E-R
Vizcaino: 6.06 - He's pitched 30 times this season. Is Torre trying to get himself fired?
Proctor: 3.28 - Pass
Farnsworth: 4.94 - All that, and he resents Clemens!
Rivera: 4.50 - Isn't this guy supposed to be the best closer this side of Kyra Sedgewick?

Ah, New York, New York - if you can make it anywhere, you can make it there.

So, the Yankees aren't going anywhere - and despite what happened today, their pitching is catching up to their hitting, which certainly isn't the case in Boston. The sickening sense of dread that is all too familiar to Red Sox fans should be settling in any day now.

No Cure for the Common Cold

I realize that I spend way more time writing about the Yankees than Teddy does writing about the Red Sox.

This is a symptom of the rivalry - Red Sox fans are obsessed with the Yankees, and Yankees fans (excepting my collaborator on this blog) really don't care about the Red Sox.

Case in Point: as I mentioned earlier in this post, and in at least one previous post, a lot of ink was spilled by Boston writers in the past month about just how done the Yankees allegedly were. Had the roles been reversed, with the Red Sox floundering, do you know how much coverage it would have gotten in the New York press?

None. Nada. Zippo.

Because while Red Sox fans enjoy Yankee tribulation as much (if not more) than they do Red Sox success, Yankees fans simply do not care.

Who can blame them? For a Red Sox fan, it's a matter of "What's going to go wrong next?" For a Yankees fan it's, "Whatever, we're going to win anyway."

I like to thing that I've risen above most of the rivalry - I have never participated in a "Yankees Suck!" chant, and as I always like to tell people, one of my best friends is a Yankees fan. (Hint: he also posts in this space)

But while a Yankees fan can put the Red Sox out of his mind, I, as a Red Sox fan, am incapable of reciprocating.

My All-Stars

I'm going with my first non-Yankee post in a while. I just voted for the All-Star game this year and below are my All-Stars.

AL
1B David Ortiz
2B B.J. Upton
SS Derek Jeter
3B Alex Rodriguez
C Jorge Posada
OF Vlad Guerrero, Torri Hunter, Magglio Ordonez
Write in: Kevin Youkilis
Difficult ones not picked: Carl Crawford, Grady Sizemore

NL
1B Prince Fielder
2B Chase Utley
SS JJ Hardy
3B Migel Cabrera
C Russell Martin
OF Matt Holliday, Carlos Lee, Jason Bay
Write in: Todd Helton
Difficult ones not picked: Derek Lee, Edgar Rentaria, Jimmy Rollins, Adam Dunn

I'm an odd one when it comes to the All-Star game. Since the game calls for fans to participate, I like to do so but only vote once each year for players I feel are the All-Stars during the first half of the season. My voting only once is my feeling that voting multiple times is unfair to the entire process, other players, and a bias the results. I don't know any other voting system where you can vote as much as you want by some deadline. Imagine if this country did that in the 2000 presidential race, I'm serial...that's for another blog.

Of course, I don't even watch the All-Star game because honestly I don't give a damn. And I don't give a damn because I don't think the majority of players who are All-Stars give a damn (unless its an incentive clause in your contract and you need the money perhaps. Mr. Sosa would know about that one this year). After all it's called the All-Star "Break". When I was a kid in the 1980s and early 1990s the feeling of the All-Star game was different to me. I used to be exicited about it and it hasn't been like that in a while. It's just not as much fun to watch. So when baseball takes a break, so do I. And not watching baseball makes the gf happy because it opens up the evening for all sorts of things--hey now.

But the above are my All-Stars for 2007. I have a line called "Difficult Ones not Picked" because these players could be All-Stars (and may be since they want at least one player from every team, makes you wonder who from the Nats is going--Dmitri Young--that's frightening to me) but I picked someone else at their position.

Here's my line of thinking when I picked my All-Stars. It boils down to stats for me. I don't go on if they've been in 10 of the previous All-Star games or if they're a "popular" player. To me the All-Star game is about who the best players are in each league during the current season. But then what is best to me based on stats? OPS is a big factor for me since all you can vote for is hitters.

If you don't know what OPS is, it is the sum of a players on-base-percentage (OBP) plus their slugging percentage (SLG). Therefore on-base-percentage plus slugging (OPS). The higher the OPS the more likely it is that the player can get on base more, has great power or both.

So for example, here are two players I voted for and their OBP, SLG and OPS.

Player A: .378/.643/1.021
Player B: .396/.545/.941

Player A has a lower OBP (18 points less), but a much higher SLG (almost 100 points higher) than Player B. Player A is Prince Fielder and Player B is Derek Jeter. Jeter hits for average and takes walks, Fielder is more of a power hitter than anything else. Both are different hitters but also very good ones this year.

But I don't always pick the player with the best OPS at a position. Certainly fielding comes into play too. I don't look at any stats with fielding, but go on what I've seen or heard. That's probably not the best way to sort that out since it's how they pick Gold Gloves each year, but I watch non-Yankee baseball games time to time and see Baseball Tonight at least 3 times a week to make an assessment.

I'm always disappointed the fans can't vote for pitchers. If I were commissioner for a day I would allow fans to vote for five pitchers--any combo of starters, relievers, and closers. What do the managers know more about pitchers than fans who watch them?

I also don't understand why there's only one write in player. How about at most three? Like I said, there are some players that I can't and others can't decide between that deserve to be the backup at a position.

We'll see how the voting turns out, I haven't even looked to see where it is now. And once the pitchers are picked some will pull the whole Pedro Martinez excuse and decline to pitch because they're a pitcher and above playing in the All-Star game for some reason (I can understand to a point if they're on a couple games rest). There is always some politics before, during or after an All-Star game. This year it's Barry Bonds being hand picked I believe by LaRussa.

And by the way, yes I picked three Yankees, but they're all the best at their position based on my method.

Time to catch up...

Well, on a purely housekeeping note, I'll soon need to surrender my borrowed laptop and sketchy wireless connection, so I guess it's time to call ComCast...

Glad to hear that Teddy's relatively comfortable - I know I can promise him better than WalMart-style accomodations next month...

I though I had missed out on big news this week regarding Verlander's no-hitter, until I found out it happened tonight - good for him. The guy's a rock star, and will no doubt be the subject of a Sox-Yankees free agent bidding war in a few years...

So last week was pretty brutal - four losses in a row (1 against the Yanks, 3 against the A's) and the fact that they scored only 3 runs in the last 3 games against the A's was something of a harbinger.

Fortunately, the Sox woke up against the Diamondbacks (J.D. Drew in particular) and even though they lost Sunday (Dice-K is rapidly becoming the Japanese Pedro - great starts, lousy run support), they stil exceeded my expectations.

Tonight was a fast game - I came in when Wake gave up his first run of the evening to push the game into a 1-1 tie. In the 8th the Sox had a chance to do a lot more than they did, but J.D. Drew's sac fly was enough - still a mere 2 runs against the combined forces of Aaron Cook and Jeremy Friggin' Affeldt?

Tomorrow pits Curt Schilling against Josh Fogg in a perfect trap game. This is Schilling's first start since his near no-hitter - hopefully there will be some momentum from that. I've always liked Fogg, so I have my creeping dread that tomorrow night will be the night he makes good on his promise.

Thursday is the marquee matchup - Beckett and Jeff Francis. Francis still hasn't become the all-world pitcher he was projected to be, but he has his moments. I'm counting on Beckett to continue his dominance.

As a result of scheduling, Schilling will not have the opportunity to walk Barry Bonds 7 times - but unless he really turns it on, he doesn't stand to break Aaron's record this week anyway.

Both series should be easy sweeps for the Red Sox - the Rockies and the Giants are both the dregs, so this should give the Sox the chance to build on their league-leading winning percentage.

Hindsight and Foresight: Yankee Review June 4th to June 17th

I'm a bit better now, just exhausted still after yesterday. I got me some new clothes from Walmart (ugh) and my luggage arrived here. Who knows how things will go on Thursday when I return. The Yankees are doing much better than me though.

I can finally report the Yankees had a good week and it started to look like things were coming together. As in winners of six straight type of coming together. Clemens also made his 2007 debut, Bobby Abreu's bat is waking up, and Alex Rodriguez looked like his was back in April form. The team is now one game under .500 and still 10 GB the Sox, but it was a week of progress.

Hindsight: June 4th to June 10th

After taking 2 of 3 from the Red Sox at Fenway the Yanks headed to Chicago and made a disappointing showing in the first game. Technically Clemens was supposed to make his debut, but he had been pushed back with a "fatigued groin". During the game there were some ugly errors by A-Rod and a hiddious one by Josh Phelps to screw up a potential double play, which lead to the early demise of Matt DeSalvo (a former "My Yankee of the Week" on here). The game was 6-1 going into the top of the 9th and the Yankees scored three before Jeter grounded out to end the game. At this point I figured it would be another underperforming week, but the next six games were a great combo of solid offense and starting pitching. Clippard did well, a complete game by Wang, the 3 and 4 hitters A-Rod and Abreu's bats (5 HRs, 24 RBIs combined this week), and even two saved games by Rivera made it an all-Yankee effort. Clemens made his debut Saturday and pitched well enough to get the win--nothing dominant though albeit against the Pirates--who the Yankees swept quite easily.

Weekly Stats

W-L: 6-1
RS/RA: 53/26 (best run differenctial since doing this!!)
Offensive Numbers (BA/OBP/SLG): .336/.407/.514
Pitching Line (ERA/Whip/K per 9/BAA/SLG): 3.12/1.27/6.43/.242/.297
Who's Hot: Welcome back, Bobby Abreu. Off to a slow start he went .500/.586/.792 this week. I'm not sure what's happened to Abreu who's been in the 30/30 club twice in his career, but ever since that HR Derby a couple years back he sometimes looks like an old man. But apparently he's not seeing like one.
Who's Not: Kyle Farnsworth. I'll never like the way he pitches, since he has a flare for the dramatic (aka putting runners on). But unlike a magician, he can't make runners disappear off the basepaths all the time.
My Yankee of the Week: Alex Rodriguez who after the whole "mine" and hooker incident (plus a slow May) in Toronto, looked back in the zone. A bit more on this below.

Foresight: June 11th to June 17th

Interleague continues against the a good young D-Backs team and then the Subway Series all at Yankee Stadium. Arizona's staff is pretty good this year and the Yankees face last year's Cy Young winner Brandon Webb, Livan Hernandez and Doug Davis. Interestingly the Yankees will face Livan and Orlando Hernandez this week, who are half brothers. Anyways, we'll see Wang pitch twice this week and he's been nothing but efficient his last five starts (3-1, 36 IP, 2.50 ERA, 19 Ks, 71 GB vs 25 FB outs). The Yankees rotation is now Wang, Mussina, Pettitte, Clemens and Clippard in case you're wondering. Hughes apparently could be done for the year because his ankle sprain is a grade 3, the worst kind of sprain. And I can tell you sprains like that are nasty (just ask a guy named Brett I know who still feels it in his ankle after a year) and the effect on Hughes' pitching could be negative if he comes back too quickly from it. But what's important is that the Yankees got on a roll and all of a sudden they are back in serious discussions for the playoffs.

The other item that is starting to come up is A-Rod pulling a JD Drew and opting out of his contract after this year. Apparently this is a Scott Boras strategy--and if A-Rod has a huge year, even an MVP caliber year, analysts are saying he'll be looking for a new long-term, huge deal, possibly somewhere else. At some point this year, I'd like to share my thoughts on salaries in baseball and how the Yankees, Red Sox (and a couple other teams) have been a part of that but most important, how agents like Boras are a big part of the problem for many outragous contracts the past 15 years of so.

• My apologies to the Savannah design school who I mocked without knowing what Doug knew. Shoulda done my fact checking on that, which I've been lazy about of late.

• Also what a game by Justin Verlander--a no hitter. Throwing 102 mph in the 9th is really sick. What's interesting from hearing the analysis is that everyone's comment is that his stuff was sooooo good tonight that he was bound to throw the no-hitter. In my baseball memory, I have never heard analysts, broadcasters and baseball commentators say as early as the 5th inning they could just feel a no-hitter was inevitable.

Bitch, bitch, bitch--but Justified

Hindsight and Foresight ain't happenin' today, I've had the worst damn day of travel to Louisiana. I'll sum it up for ya: delayed out of DC, missed connecting flight, got on another flight which was then delayed, got here, luggage doesn't make it, airport gives me wrong directions to hotel, and finally, have to shop at Walmart (committing a sin) to buy clothes, toiletries, etc. It's 1:30am here on top of that and I'm hungry, but nothing is open.

So, when I'm rested, in a better mood n' all, I'll do the Hindsight and Foresight and other posts hopefully starting tomorrow.

Musings Involving my Arch-Nemesis

Roger Clemens' season thus far:
1-0, 4.50 ERA.

Today his line read as follows:
6 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 7 K, 2 BB

Let's contrast this with a pitcher we will refer to as Pitcher X, who also started today:
6 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 5 K, 1 BB

Clemens' did this against a team that entered today at 26-35.

Pitcher X did this against a team the entered today at 36-26.

So, Clemens and Pitcher X put together comparable numbers against, respectively, a pretty bad team and a pretty good team.

Clemens stands to make something like $18 Million off of his pro-rated $28 Million contract this season.

Pitcher X is being paid $3.35 Million this season.

Now, for the big reveal:

Pitcher X is none other than...

Julian Tavarez.

Congratulations, Yankees - you're paying 5 times as much for Clemens as the Red Sox are paying for their 5th starter by default, and it looks like you're basically getting the same pitcher.

Sure, Clemens will always have a better K/BB rate than Tavarez, but if the best he can muster is a "Quality Start" against the Pirates, (they of the .694 Team OPS - not the D-Backs are much better at .726) is he really going to be the impact player the Yankees' need him to be?

I agree with Teddy that the Rocket can certainly be an inspirational clubhouse presence, but as Teddy and I have both pointed out, we're both unclear about whether or not he'll actually pitch on the road.

I also agree with Teddy that Clemens is increasingly likely to pitch again next year. I'm not foolish enough to count the Yankees out for the year - despite the Knights of the Keyboard in New England are falling all over each other to stick a fork in the Yankees' this year - but as Teddy pointed out, Clemens wants to go out on top. Had the Yankees beat the Marlins in '03, I don't think he would have "failed" at retirement the way he keeps doing.

There is, after all, still time for him to go back to the Blue Jays.

What happened to day games?

Even though I don't have TV, I do share Teddy's disappointment in the broadcast (or lack thereof) of Clemens' return today. What really disappointed me was the fact that the Yankees'-Pirates game was the only Saturday afternoon game today. Night games are fine during the week, but c'mon - I was hoping to follow the Sox-D'Backs during the afternoon while I was doing some work this afternoon - why wait until 9:40?

At least the Sox-D'Backs game goes at 4:40 tomorrow.

I do find some amusement in Teddy's disgust in the Buck-McCarver team. Those two might as well be holding pinstriped pom-poms during each broadcast.

Showdown in the Desert

Once again, J.D. Drew had a nice little night for himself against Arizona (3 for 5, 2 runs) though his brother Stephen (2 for 4, 1 HR, 2 RBIs) made a nice show for himself as well.

The worst the Sox can do now is win 2 out of 3 in Arizona - and I'm looking forward to the Dice-K/Big Unit matchup tomorrow (though a Schilling/Johnson matchup at the BOB would be even more satisfying).

The extra-inning win was a nice bonus - I was worried about a repeat of the 11-inning loss in the opener against Oakland.

What boggled the mind a bit was the Sox 1-2 top of the order combo of Lugo (.217/.280/.326) and Crisp (.225/.284/.305), when the team has a more attractive alternative in Pedroia (.318/.399/.446) and Cora (.293/.337/.463). I understand Crisp being a necessary evil - as a number 9 hitter his glove would carry his bat - but what is Lugo even doing in this lineup?

I'm frightened by the prospect of the Red Sox continuing their success with Lugo and Crisp at the top of the order and falling into the same misguided assumption that the early-decade Twins did when Guzman and Rivas were at the top of the order - that the team was succeeding because of this 1-2 combo, rather than in spite of it.

Pitching Shakeup

Mike Timlin is off the DL, and J.C. Romero has been designated for assignment. With the ascendence of Hideki Okajima, J.C. became expendable. I know Javier Lopez is out of options, so really the choice came down to whether or not 3 lefties were really necessary.

Romero and Lopez's lines are pretty close:

Romero: 1-0, 1 SV, 3.15 ERA, 23 Gs, 20 IP
Lopez: 1-0, 0 SV, 3.21 ERA, 19 Gs, 14 IP

Clearly, Romero has been used more often and for more extended periods of time, but they were pretty comprable, until you consider this:

Romero: 24 Hs, 15 BBs, 11 Ks
Lopez: 11 Hs, 6 BBs, 10 Ks

Lopez isn't exactly a shutdown lefty reliever, but he is the more attractive option.

I don't see Romero clearing waivers, and with the Yankees' waiver priority, he may well wind up in pinstripes before long - just like recent Red Sox farmhand Runelvys "Supersize That" Hernandez.

Timlin is 41, so I don't know exactly what the Sox expect out of him. It would be nice to see him team with Okajima as a setup option the way he once did with the Em Dog, but I don't think that's terribly realistic. Brendan Donnelly pitched a solid inning tonight, but he seems to suffer from all-too-frequent Chrenobyl outings. I don't quite know why Kyle Snyder (2.25 ERA in 18 appearances) isn't given more responsibility - the 11th-inning HR he gave up to Mark Ellis is his only glaring mistake of the season - and Joel Piniero isn't solving any problems any time soon.

If Jon Lester comes back and takes over for Tavarez in the rotation, Tavarez is likely to supplant Piniero in the bullpen. I don't know that he's the answer either - nor would I put Craig Hansen or Manny Delcarmen on that list right now.

Still, a Timlin/Tavarez/Snyder/Donnelly catch-as-catch can operation is preferable to trading Jacoby Ellsbury for the next Larry Anderson.