Last Night's Loss In Dramatic Pictures

Derp!

Huh?

"It's OK, guy.  We know you suck."

Double sadface

That's some pretty heavy shit right there, people.  Teix and Swish look so distraught that they are currently receiving aid from FEMA.  But that's what happens when you're playing in the shittiest stadium in professional sports and have a big left-handed doofus on the mound who can't make a play most kids in Little League make on the reg.  I'm chalking the 7th inning up to the baseball gods balancing things out after the Yankees benefited from all the walks on Monday night.

Photos courtesy of The AP

Hypothetical Bad Times Scenario

(Don't leave us, Cash.)

So while A.J. was putting on his best batting practice pitcher imitation in the bottom of the 1st last night, I was struck with this horrible series of events that played out in my head while I was talking with my buddy about the game and about A.J.

Imagine this.  Bartolo, Freddy, and A.J. continue to struggle over the next week or so before the deadline.  Talks with Colorado about Ubaldo Jimenez fall apart because of their asking price and because Cash isn't willing to part with Montero, ManBan, and Betances.  But Hank and Randy Levine, like they did in the offseason with Soriano, become obsessed with adding starting pitching because of the other guys' struggles and so they intervene and end up forcing trades where the Yanks give up some combination of those top prospects for Edwin Jackson, Wandy Rodriguez, Ryan Dempster, or some combination of any of the 3.  But those guys don't help the way Hank and Randy envisioned, instead contributing to weird feelings, bruised egos, and interruptions of guys' routines around the clubhouse as the team tries to juggle 7 starters down the stretch, and the Yanks end up bowing out some time before the World Series again.

But it gets worse.  Now it's the 2011 offseason.  The team is minus 2 of the big 3 prospects plus some lower-level guys, and stuck with some combination of CC, A.J., Hughes, and potential bad contracts of the pitchers they traded for if those guys choose to exercise player options.  They have no room to try to move guys to go after other trades or potential FA targets, and most importantly, Cash is still without a contract and pissed that he got overruled again on a baseball decision that didn't work out to the team's benefit.  Tired of having to deal with the interference from above, Cash decides not to re-up with the Yankees, leaving for another team or just take a break, and the Yanks now have to find a suitable replacement for Cash.  There will be some internal and external candidates, but whatever new guy they end up with, they will be back in a position of being run from the top (Hank and Randy) as this new guy won't have the tenure or street cred within the system that Cash did.

This new regime starts changing up of all the plans the team had in place with their remaining younger guys (including trying to trade more of them), which crushes some of their futures, and we end up heading down another path similar to 2002-2008 with each bad trade/signing being supplemented by another one because nobody listened to the smart baseball people in the front office that were supposed to be put in place to make the baseball decisions.

That would suck, huh?

It's an admittedly melodramatic and worst-case scenario, I know.  But I also don't see it as something completely outside the realm of possibility.  I'm already on board as being against trading the 4 names in question to Colorado for Jimenez; I just don't see the baseball logic in sacrificing a potentially great extended future for a potentially better immediate future when the team is still doing incredibly well.  But the first thought that popped into my head when A.J. was blowing up in the 1st inning last night was how that, and any additional hiccups from the rotation over the next 12 days, could be seen as proof that the Yankees NEED to make a move to add a big time pitcher.

That's why it was huge that A.J. got it together last night, and why it's critically important that A.J. and Bartolo and Freddy have these recent struggles just turn out to be blips on the radar and not indicators of declining performance moving forward.  I understand and expect the Yankees to make moves to put themselves in a better position to win, but I don't want to go back down the road of making knee-jerk blockbuster deals just for the sake of it.  And we all already know that Hank and Randy are capable of such things.

AB4AR Recommended Read Of The Day- TYA Tackles Teix

Inspired by his recent July struggles, I had plans to dedicate a post today to the recent goings on of Mark Teixeira and try to find out what the deal was with his continued decrease in BA and OBP.  Fortunately for you readers, Matt Imbrogno of TYA beat me to the punch and put together a comprehensive post breaking down Teix's numbers this season, what numbers he usually puts up, and what his numbers would be if his batted ball stats weren't so out of whack.

It's far better than anything I could have put together on my lunch break today, so do yourself a favor and head over to TYA to read the post in its entirety.  A tip of the cap to Matt for jumping on this.  Now let's hope Teix can start turning this around and get some of these balls in play to actually drop in for hits.

Why Is He Still Here?

I know he's fun to talk about, I know he's fun to make fun of, and I know he makes for great Photoshop opportunities.  But why the fuck is Sergio Mitre still on the 25-man roster???

In his 4 appearances since making his gallant return, The Tray has not only not had a clean inning, he hasn't even had one BAD inning.  They have pretty much all qualified as Hurricane Katrina-level disasters (it's been 6 years, I can use that joke.  You don't like it?  Tough).  In 5.1 IP, Mitre has allowed 9 hits, 4 walks, either 7 or 8 ER depending on whether or not you're referencing ESPN's stats or FanGraphs (I'm going with Fangraphs), and just 2 Ks.  That equates out to a 13.50/5.03/6.12 tripleslash and a .5007 K/BB rate, which, by some stroke of black magic, is still not worth negative WAR (thank God for small sample sizes).

I understood the logic in picking up Mitre at the time the Yanks made the deal.  The 'pen was hurting for warm bodies, he was cheap, he's familiar, and when he's on he can generate a lot of ground balls.  But the fact of the matter is, he hasn't been remotely close to on and he's an anchor to an otherwise still solid bullpen.  And the Yankees have Kevin Whelan, George Kontos, Eric Wordekemper, and, once he's fully healthy again, Tim Norton to choose from at Triple-A.  Or they could even go back to the Buddy Carlyle/Lance Pendleton well.  Now none of those options may turn out to be better than The Tray, but they certainly couldn't be much worse.

It really is starting to become inexplicable why the Yankees have such an infatuation with Sergio.  Does he have compromising pictures of Brian Cashman?  Did he walk in on Randy Levine shredding documents?  Is he holding Joe Girardi's family hostage?  At this point, I would not consider any of those possibilities as unlikely, because he sure has shit hasn't done anything on the mound to deserve a roster spot.

The Rockies Are Hilarious

Via Jon Heyman's Twitter:

"rockies name price for ubaldo: montero, banuelos, betances & nova. nyy will do montero plus other pitchers (not those guys)."

Oh, that's all?  Just the top 3 prospects in the Yankees' system plus another young pitcher who has thrown almost 100 innings of above-average ball in the Majors this year?  That's all you're looking for, Colorado?  Well at least the Yanks would be getting Troy Tulowitzki back to solidify the SS position for the next 10 years?  What's that?  Tulo isn't in the trade?  Well then good thing the Rockies are also throwing in Chris Iannetta to bolster the Yankees' depth at catcher?  What?  He isn't in the trade either?  It's all that for JUST Ubaldo???

Get bent, Colorado.  Cash may be in the last year of his deal, but he wasn't born yesterday.

Hughes Continues To Progress

It's hard to not be happy with Phil Hughes' performance today.  He threw 6 innings of 2-run ball, allowed only 6 baserunners, and struck out 5.  After demonstrating improved and maintainable velocity in his first start back, Hughes showed even better velocity today and a much better curveball than he showed in Cleveland.  Whatever work he and Larry Rothschild did to tweak the grip certainly worked as Hughes was very effective with the curveball today and used it to generate 8 swings and misses on his 80 pitches.  And he was aggressive in the strike zone too, throwing 51 of those 80 pitches for strikes.  It didn't take a genius to see that Hughes looked much more confident and comfortable on the mound today than he did against the Indians, and the results spoke to that.

And I'm even OK with Joe taking him out after 6 innings.  80 pitches doesn't seem like that many, but Hughes worked hard early and it's still early for him coming back from the shoulder problems.  With a decent lead and his better bullpen guys available, it was a good situation for Joe to get Hughes out while he could and let him end on a high note.

With Bartolo Colon scuffling and Freddy getting knocked around this weekend, Phil's role is becoming more and more important down the stretch.  Today was another sign that he's on his way back to being that 2-3-type guy that many of us expected coming into the season.

Just Call CC Sabathia Butter...

'Cause he's on a roll.  7 straight wins, 14 for the season, and 5 straight starts of 7+ IP and 1 or fewer runs allowed.  His fastball is consistently cranking in the mid-to-upper 90s and his slider is practically unhittable.  It's nice to know that, for at least one day during a rotation through the lineup, you don't have to think about the inconsistency in the bullpen, the question marks in the rotation, and how the lineup is going to replace A-Rod.  On CC's day, you just check the game update every now and then to see how many the Yanks have put up in support of him, because you know he's going to dominate.  That's a good feeling.

8 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 1 ER, 8 K

That'll do, Carsten.  That'll do.

(Courtesy of The AP)

David Price Is A Bitch

"The pitcher who gave up Derek Jeter’s 3,000th career hit has a deal to sign memorabilia connected with the milestone.

Tampa Bay’s David Price agreed with Steiner Sports to autograph collectibles, including baseballs and pictures. Some of the souvenirs will bear the inscription, “I Gave Up DJ’s 3K,” and be signed by both Price and Jeter." (courtesy of The AP)

Really, dude?  Are you serious?  You can justify it in your head as much as you want to, Dave.  Tell yourself it's fun and cool to be a part of history.  Tell yourself that it's worth it because you'll be making money off the deal.  But the bottom line is this is a pathetic and potentially career-defining decision, and not in a good way.  Unless you go on to have a Hall of Fame career and win a couple Cy Youngs, you just resigned yourself to being "The dude that gave up Jeter's 3,000th" until the day you die and beyond.  Your kids, should they go on to sports careers, are going to be known as the sons of the dude who gave up Jeter's 3,000th.  You might as well just let Jeter come into your house and bang your girlfriend while you're at it.

So good luck with this deal, bro.  Let's see how you feel in 25 years when you're still signing "I Gave Up DJ's 3K" on shit for little kids who weren't even alive when he hit 3,000.  Pussy.

And something like this could only happen to a Yankee.  You don't see anybody signing on to make money off giving up Craig Biggio's 3,000th hit.  Or Paul Molitor's.

Did I Jinx Colon?

(Bartolo sad.  Courtesy of The AP)

I thought it was a good idea to do the quick little "Yankees At The Break" series this week.  It gave me something to write about over the Really Good Player Break and I thought it would lead smoothly into the 2nd half of the season.  But after last night's debacle, I'm starting to rethink that strategy, especially when it comes to Bartolo Colon.

"Both Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon are pitching well above expectations and, save for Colon's quick DL trip, have stayed healthy."

"The rotation's effectiveness will hinge almost directly on Colon and Garcia's continued strong performances and the performance of the defense behind them."

That last quote is the one that clearly did the most damage, as Bart's defense was absolutely brutal behind him last night in the first inning.  But he also admitted after the game that he's still worried about the hammy and that's having an adverse effect on his performance on the mound.

For the sake of Bart, I'm going to step up and take the blame on this one.  Sorry, dude.  I didn't mean to jinx you.  And your D didn't mean to shit the bed behind you.  Don't worry about the hammy, just go out next time and pitch your game.

2nd Half Starts Tonight

And it's about damn time!  After the Really Good Player Game break, shit's about to get real.  The trade deadline is looming, division races are heating up, magic numbers are starting to get important, and it starts tonight against the Blue Jays.  Here's the lineup, courtesy of LoHud:

1) Derek Jeter- SS
2) Curtis Granderson- CF
3) Mark Teixeira- 1B
4) Robinson Cano- 2B
5) Nick Swisher- RF
6) Russell Martin- C
7) Andruw Jones- DH
8) Eduardo Nunez- 3B
9) Brett Gardner- LF

Jones gets the start at DH tonight against a lefty.  Time for him to start producing a little, which means it's time for Joe to get him a few more ABs.

In Other Semi-Yankee Related News: Clemens Case Declared A Mistrial

"The federal judge presiding over Roger Clemens' perjury trial declared a mistrial Thursday because the prosecution revealed information that he previously deemed inadmissible." (courtesy of The NY Times)

Ouch.  Yeah, bringing back evidence that was already thrown out will get your case blown up 10 times out of 10.  I guess the prosecution MISREMEMBERED that critical step in legal proceedings.  BOOM!  Roasted.



I'll be here all week, ladies and gentlemen.

P.S.- If you think Roger Clemens didn't take steroids and didn't lie about it under oath, then you're an idiot.

J.C. Romero, Come On Down!

(Meh.)

The first piece of the Yankee deadline puzzle seems to be in place, as Ken Davidoff reported last night that the Bombers will be adding J.C. Romero today.  In the never-ending quest to find reliable left-handed relief pitching, this is probably the best option in terms of committing money or players to a viable arm, but still, this does more to shed light on just how crappy the Yankees' current options are than to make their bullpen better.

Romero has never been one to light the world on fire with his stuff or his command, and this year has been no different.  In 16.1 MaL innings with the Phillies, Romero has put up just a 5.51 K/9 while straight up walking the fucking yard with his 6.61 BB/9.  He gets by by managing to limit the damage of all the runners he puts on base, but his real value is as a lefty specialist and the splits support that.  He has a 3.46 FIP and 8.23 K/9 against lefties in career vs. 5.25 and 6.68 against righties in his career, and this year has been more of the same, with a 2.39 FIP and 8 K in 7 IP vs. lefties and a 5.24 FIP and 2 K in 9.1 IP vs. righties (small sample size alert!!).

Those numbers become more attractive when you look at the internal lefty candidates.  Randy Flores' stats in Triple-A look decent (2.95 ERA, 3.25 FIP, 3/1 K/BB in 21.1IP), but he's scuffled lately and has never bee able to hang full time in anybody's bullpen since 2002.  And Brad Halsey, after a strong start in Double-A, has come crashing back to Earth and now sits at a 5.85 ERA, 4.46 FIP, and a Romero-esque 6.28 BB/9.  Basically, if you're the Yankees and you're going to be eating off the steamed shit section of the buffet, why not take the best looking pile (Romero)?

The biggest thing to take from this latest move, should it become official today, is that the organization still doesn't have faith in Boone Logan.  He was better in June than he was in the first 2 months, but he still does nothing to inspire confidence when he's out on the mound (see: 1st-pitch plunking of Hafner against Cleveland), and the fact is he hasn't been good at getting lefties out.  14 Ks in 13.2 IP against lefties looks nice, but 21 baserunners allowed is just not good enough, and his FIP against lefties is over a full run higher than against righties.  Any way you cut it, that sucks.

Make no mistake, a move to get Romero is definitely scraping from the bottom of the barrel.  But when that's really where the Yankees already are in terms of the left-handed relief pitching, why not take another cheap chance to improve?

** UPDATE- 12:57PM- It's official.  Romero has signed with the Yankees.  He might be headed to SWB to pitch tonight.  **

Can We Finally Stop Talking About The Whole "Yankee Fan Guy Who Caught Jeter's 3,000th Has To Pay Taxes" Thing?

If you follow AB4AR's Facebook page, and you damn well should be if you aren't, then you probably saw my comment on the whole Christian Lopez saga on Monday.  In my opinion, it never should have been a talking point for anybody to begin with.  The guys did what any REAL fan would do, give the ball back to the person who deserves it and not turn the whole situation into a bargaining/auctioning drawn out mess.  Then the whole tax situation on the gifts he received from the Yankees came up and everybody was up in arms again.  Well this should help finally put this thing to rest.

"Miller High Life issued a statement Wednesday saying that the company would cover Lopez's tax bill....

Lopez will receive five percent of the entire chain's [Modell's] Yankees merchandise sales for one week. Both Modell and Brandon Steiner, CEO of Steiner Sports, guaranteed Lopez at least $25,000 each....

In addition, Topps will produce a trading card featuring Lopez that will be included in sets later this year. Company vice president for sports Mark Sapir says Topps employees were impressed by Lopez's selfless act.  Sapir says Topps also will have Lopez choose the image for its 2012 Derek Jeter card." (courtesy of Fraud Sawx fans.com)

So there you have it.  The guy is going to have the taxes on all his swag covered and he's getting even more money and his own baseball card.  What I said was correct all along.  Lopez did the right thing and he has been handsomely rewarded for it.  That's how it should happen.  And do you know how I know that?  Because I'm a selfish dick who never does the right thing and I've never had offers from companies to pay my taxes or make a baseball card honoring me.  It's pretty simple.

Case closed on this non story.  Let's get back to baseball.

Yankees At The Break- Looking Ahead

(Definitely want to see a lot of this in the 2nd half.  Courtesy of The AP)

With one more off-day before the season starts again, we know where we've already been so far this year and we know where we are right now.  So the only left to do is gun the DeLorean up to 88 and try to look into the future to see what the rest of the season has in store for the Yanks.

Thanks to bad weather, the Yanks, along with the Orioles, have played the fewest games in baseball at 88 and have had the benefit of their schedule so far being home heavy.  Of their 74 remaining games, they will play just 32 at home and 42 on the road.  Those remaining games include 9 against Bahhston and 13 against Tampa, their 2 main competitors for not only a playoff spot, but what playoff spot they get.  They'll be on the road for 6 of the 9 games against the Fraud Sawx and 7 of the 13 against the Rays, an uphill battle for sure but not a situation in which the Yanks are incapable of doing well, especially considering recent history.  Also included are a couple of potentially big series against Anaheim, one at home and one on the road.

The biggest thing for the Yankees to overcome in the 2nd half will probably be injuries.  The 15 players that have already landed on the DL match last year's total and they'll be without The Horse for at least a month, maybe 2, because of his recent surgery.  With older players like Jeter and Posada, Joe will have to get creative to give guys rests as they need them, even more so now that his bench depth is all but depleted.  But once again, Eduardo Nunez will get to show whether or not he's capable of shouldering an everyday load as he'll get the majority of time at third in A-Rod's absence.  Questions also still linger about how long Colon and Freddy Garcia will hold up, and whether or not Phil Hughes has fully regained his shoulder strength.  There are definitely more than a few potential injury landmines that the team needs to avoid.

Performance-wise, everybody in the lineup not named Curtis Granderson should be looked at to step it up a bit to make up for the hole A-Rod left in the lineup.  Mark Teixeira, specifically, needs to get the BA and OBP back up to match his gawdy power numbers, and I'm interested in seeing if the seemingly rejuvenated Derek Jeter is a mirage or a real rebound from his last year's worth of at-bats.  Continued production from Cano and Swish will be vital, and a rebound from Russell Martin's 2-month long swoon would be nice.  The rotation's effectiveness will hinge almost directly on Colon and Garcia's continued strong performances and the performance of the defense behind them.  That effectiveness can be bolstered by a true return to form from Phil Hughes.  CC and A.J. almost don't need to be commented on.  We know what to expect from them, for better or worse.

The most interesting part of the 2nd half is always the injection of new blood into the lineup, and the Yankees certainly aren't afraid to cannonball themselves into the trade pool to improve their team.  Cash is already on the record as looking for pitching help, both in the rotation and the bullpen, but the return of Hughes and the possibility of Rafael Soriano returning soon makes these issues a little less critical.  One potential target, the kind and friendly Francisco Rodriguez, is already off the market after the Mets traded him to Milwaukee last night.  A temporary replacement for A-Rod could also become a high priority if Nunez can't repeat the success he had filling in for The Captain, and RAB already took the liberty of breaking down some of the candidates.  Whatever direction they end up going, you can take it to the bank that the Yankee front office will be active as the deadline draws closer.

The last, and potentially most fun, thing to look forward to is roster expansions in September.  There have already been enough calls for The Jesus to come up and bring some much needed pop to the C/DH spots in the lineup, but will the team actually do it?  There's also the stable of young arms in Triple-A (Phelps, Warren, Mitchell, Whelan, Norton) that could get a chance to make a splash should injuries sauce rotational havoc, and let's not forget about Ivan Nova down there in SWB either.

It's already been a great season and it's only going to get more exciting (and more frustrating) from here.  There's a lot to look forward to as a Yankee fan looking at the next few months.  Hopefully it ends with another playoff berth and World Series run.

The Hot Streak Is Over

So it looks like I was a little off with my predictions yesterday.  Oh well, you can't win 'em all.  I'm going to go ahead and lay all the blame squarely at the feet of Buck and McCarver.  Sweet Jesus those guys were awful last night.  Even for them.  I would have settled for Jon Miller and Joe Morgan.

Nice job by D-Rob coming in to cover for Beckett's sorry ass in the 2nd inning, though.  Now I just hope little Joshy ends up on the DL.  Then we'll see how many people want to criticize Jeter and Mo for pulling out because of injury questions.

AB4AR's Fearless ASG Predictions

I nailed it with the Cano call last night at the Derby, so I'm going to ride the hot streak and make some predictions for the uninjured, non-exhausted Yankees who are playing tonight.

- C-Grand: 1-2 w/ a single and a nice running catch in center.

- Robbie Cano: 1-2 w/ an RBI 2B and a slick DP turn with Ass-DREW-bull in the 4th.

- Russell Martin: 0-1 w/ a K and a BB.

- D-Rob: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K.

I don't know if there are any prop bets being laid on this stuff tonight out there on the interweb, but you loyal readers would be wise to print this out and lay a few bucks down if there are.  Don't worry, you can thank me in the morning.  Or use that money to buy the AB4AR t-shirts I've been meaning to design for months now.

Yankees At The Break- Where They Stand

(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

Yesterday, we looked back at what's already happened leading up to the All Star break, so today we'll focus on where the Yankees currently stand after the last 3+ months.

Currently, the Bombers are 53-35, 1 game behind the Fraud Sawx in the AL East, 0 in the loss column.  They are 30-19 at home, 23-16 on the road, and possess the MLB's best run differential at +121.  They are 5 games clear of both Tampa Bay and Anaheim for the Wild Card right now, with 2 games in hand over Tampa and 4 in hand over Anaheim, which works to their advantage.  They are an astoundingly good 26-5 in day games, a surprisingly sub-par 27-30 in night games, and have played the AL East and Central at a slightly above-.500 clip while feasting on the AL West and the National League.  They have also been better than usual against LHP, racking up an 18-8 record so far.  All in all, the Yankees are in a very good place considering the combination of serious injuries and uneven performances they've experienced so far.

Offensively, it's pretty easy to say that the Yankees are the 2nd best in baseball behind the Fraud Sawx, with a small window to argue that they are #1.  They currently rank 2nd in team OPS (.784), wOBA (.346), wRC+ (116), and WAR (21.6), 3rd in R (455), and 1st in HR (123).  There are 3 legitimate All Stars in the lineup in C-Grand, Cano, and The Horse, with Mark Teixeira putting up All Star-caliber power numbers.  Those guys have carried the load with the likes of Swish, Jorge, and Jeter rebounding from slow starts, Gardner and Russell Martin bringing up the rear in terms of production (while still remaining productive offensive players), and the bench chipping in a little here and there.  Really nothing out of the ordinary for the type of lineup the Yankees roll out on a daily basis.

Pitching is where the team has actually overachieved.  Currently the Yankee staff ranks 9th in MLB in ERA (3.46), 12th in FIP (3.76, which is 4th in the AL), 11th in K/9 (7.03), and 7th in WAR (12.2).  In fairness, a lot of that has to do with the combination of CC, D-Rob, and Mo, but for the most part the rest of the staff has chipped in admirably.  Both Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon are pitching well above expectations and, save for Colon's quick DL trip, have stayed healthy.  A.J. has rebounded from his awful 2010 to get back closer to his '09 numbers.  And Ivan Nova, before being sent down to make room for Phil Hughes, has held his own in his first full year as a Major League starter.  Despite all the injuries to the 'pen, the Yanks are getting solid contributions from guys like Luis Ayala, Hector Noesi, and Cory Wade, and Boone Logan looks like he's starting to get out of his funk.

Defensively, the team has really shined this year, Jeter and Cano's range be damned.  They currently rank 4th in baseball in UZR (25.0) and 1st in UZR/150 (7.5), which tells a better story than their middle-of-the-pack FP and E numbers.  All 3 OF are playing above average, Teix and A-Rod are still Gold Glove worthy at the infield corners, and Russell Martin has been an upgrade over Jorge and Frankie Cervelli behind the plate.  When you add up the defensive with the top-of-the-heap offensive and pitching numbers and it's easy to see why the Yankees are one of the best teams in baseball again.

Injuries are the biggest issue for the Yanks right now.  A-Rod had his meniscus surgery yesterday and will be on the shelf for at least a month, and Jeter, Mo, Swish, and Russell Martin are all a bit banged up from the wear and tear of the first half.  On the positive side of the injury report, Phil Hughes is back and in the rotation, his strength and velocity looking much better than they did in April, and Rafael Soriano and Damaso Marte have started throwing again.  Joba is still out for the years, and things don't look promising for Pedro Feliciano or Eric Chavez, but as a whole the team is starting to get healthier than they have been the last few months.  And that's a good thing when you consider how well they've already done.

DON'TCHA KNOW?!?!?!

(If ya don't know, now ya know.  Courtesy of The AP)

Robbie Fucking Cano!!!!

Didn't I tell you?  I told you.  I fucking told you!

"He's got the type of smooth, easy swing that I think can translate well to an event like this. He won't tire himself out, and if he gets in a groove, watch out."

And he kept that smooth swing going all night, had plenty left in the tank at the end, and put on a goddamn show!  Dude was so money.  There's no other way to describe it.  He barely even broke a sweat, for crying out loud!  Sure, I was in the middle of literarily drooling over Kate Upton when I called it, but I still fucking called it tonight.  I am a genius.  And Robbie Cano is a truckstick.

(How do more people not read my shit?!?!  It's G-O-L-D.)

Kate Upton Is A Yankee Fan?

It certainly appears so now, doesn't it?  Which means I just became a Kate Upton fan.

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Side note, what's everybody thinking about Robbie's chances in the Derby tonight?  He's got the type of smooth, easy swing that I think can translate well to an event like this.  He won't tire himself out, and if he gets in a groove, watch out.  I also don't buy into the theory of him messing his swing up by participating.  Watch him during games, the swing never changes.  It's his problem of swinging too much that gets him in trouble.  I honestly have no clue how these new team rules work, so I don't know if he can actually win or not, but take it to the bank that Robbie Cano is putting up double digits in his round tonight.

Alright, enough of my half-hearted HR Derby analysis.  Back to Kate Upton:

(Photos courtesy of Total Pro Sports)

Derek Jeter And The Meaning Of 3,000 Hits

(Courtesy of The AP)

I wanted to wait a little while to write this post.  Typically, something that historic being done by a Yankee warrants immediate commentary, but in this case I needed time to collect my thoughts and really think about what I have to say.  And even now, as I sit here at my desk, I still don't even know the right way to talk about this, so it will still just come out as a rambling mess but here it goes.

As a Yankee fan, Derek Jeter has always been and  will always be my favorite player, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that would be the case for many other Yankee fans from my generation.  He is our Thurman Munson, our Mickey Mantle, our Joe DiMaggio.  Years from now, when I'm talking to my kids and grandkids (assuming a member of the female gender is unfortunate enough to procreate with me), I won't be telling them about Nick Swisher's exploits in right field or how underrated a player Tino Martinez was during his time in pinstripes.  I will be talking about watching Derek Jeter play and how good a player he was, plain and simple.  So to have those feelings as a fan makes something like what Jeter accomplished on Saturday even more special.

And the statement that Derek Jeter was/is a very good baseball player, regardless of what all the Jeter haters out there want people to think, is a fact.  And his reaching 3,000 career hits and beyond on Saturday afternoon is a testament to that.  Out of all the men who have played professional baseball in history, only 28 of them have ever achieved 3,000 hits in their career.  It is not something that can be easily accomplished.  It takes an almost perfect combination of career longevity, closely tied to healthy and injury luck, and consistent upper level baseball skill.  There is no way to luck into 3,000 hits.  You have to be a damn good hitter to do that.  And the plain fact of the matter is that Derek Jeter has been a damn good hitter for almost his entire career.

Yankees At The Break- Looking Back

(Easy choice for best first half moment, no?  Courtesy of The AP)

The Yankees started the 2011 season, like most years, with a multitude of questions surrounding their team.  And, like most years, the main questions were related to the pitching staff.  After being stiffed by Cliff Lee for Philly, the Yankees were left without a viable option to replace the retired Andy Pettitte in the rotation.  Rather than reach on the rest of the overpriced, undertalented trade and FA markets, the Yanks made do with an internal promotion (Ivan Nova) and a couple of cheap scrap heap options (Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia) who weren't expected to do much more than steal innings until another young Triple-A pitcher was ready.

As luck would have it, those 3 would turn out to be much more valuable to the rotation and the team in the first half than the likes of A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes.  Burnett has been better than in 2010, but still hardly worthy of the type of money the Yankees are paying him, and Hughes, after a career high workload in 2010 came out of the gate with no velocity and no movement on his pitches to start 2011 and was quickly shelved for almost the duration of the first half with shoulder inflammation.  In Hughes' absence, Bartolo Colon has been a leading candidate for Comeback Player of the Year, posting a 3.20/3.56/3.19 line in 90 innings, good for 1.6 WAR.  Nova and Garcia have also been more than serviceable, pitching 183.2 innings in 31 combined starts and picking up 15 wins and 2.1 WAR.  Not Cy Young worthy to be sure, but definitely better than anybody anticipated, as evidenced the team's 9th ranked 3.46 ERA.

The anchor of the rotation, as usual, has been CC Sabathia.  If the talks of his possible opt out after the season are distracting him, he certainly isn't showing it as he current holds a 2.72/2.50/3.09 line in 145.2 IP, good for an MLB leading 13 wins and an AL leading 4.8 WAR.  If there was any internal doubt about whether the Yankees should re-sign him if and when he opts out of his current deal, Sabathia has all but erased that with his tremendous first half.  Looks like cutting the Captain Crunch out of his diet really paid off.

The offense, expected to have fewer holes and question marks than the rotation, has actually underperformed a bit despite being 3rd in baseball in runs scored, 2nd in OPS, 2nd in wOBA, 2nd in wRC+, and 1st in HR by a wide margin.  The Yankees currently have 4 players with 50+ R and 50+ RBI apiece at the break (C-Grand, Teix, The Horse, and Cano), the first time that's been done by a Yankee team since the late 30s, but save for Granderson you could make the argument that each of the other 3 is having a "down" year.  Early struggles by older players like Jeter and Jorge Posada also didn't help matters, nor did April slumps for Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner.  All 4 of those guys have rebounded since then, but with The Horse's injuries, Teix's inability to hit anything other than a HR, and Cano's refusal to take pitches, there are still improvements that can be made.

Offensively, the MVP has been Curtis Granderson.  A year after flailing through the first half of the season and having his swing completely rebuilt by Kevin Long, Granderson is putting up numbers that have him on pace to shatter all his previous career highs.  He is tied for the team lead with Teix with 25 HR, has 63 RBI from the 2-spot in the lineup, has scored an insane 79 R, and currently leads the Yankees in SLG, OPS, wOBA, wRC+, and WAR.  If the consistency he has shown would have been matched by a few more of his teammates, we would likely be talking about the clear cut #1 offense in baseball.

More than the hitting exploits of C-Grand, the pitching greatness of CC, or the surprising performances of Colon and Garcia, the biggest talking point for the Yankees in the first half was injuries.  To date, the Yanks have had Jeter, A-Rod, Russell Martin, Eric Chavez, Rafael Soriano, Joba, Pedro Feliciano, and Damaso Marte miss significant portions of time because of injury, with Swish and Mo also missing a few games recently.  The majority of the bullpen guys won't be back this year, which makes the jobs Mo and Dave Robertson have done that much more important, but with A-Rod now on the shelf for the next 4-6 weeks Joe and Yankee fans everywhere need to start saying their prayers that the rest of the team can stay healthy.

All things considered, the first half of 2011 has to be considered a success for the Yankees.  With the injuries they've suffered and the guys they're rolling with in the rotation, one would certainly not expect to be sitting 18 games over .500 at the All Star break, but that's exactly where they are.  And with the Phil Hughes injury, the CC opt out talk, the plague of bullpen injuries, the Jorge "day off" saga, and the recent Jeter march to 3,000, there has been no shortage of storylines/distractions along the way.  Now they need to regroup, rest up, and start getting healthy for the stretch run in the 2nd half.

Boss

Keep moving, folks.  Nothing to see here.  Nothing at all.  Certainly not the guy with the most wins in MLB who has put up 31.2 innings of 1-run ball (the last 23.2 of them scoreless) while allowing just 22 H, 6 BB, and striking out 42 in his last 4 starts, all of them wins.  Certainly not the guy who's making a solid case for being considered the best pitcher in baseball even though nobody is really talking about him as such and he wasn't even picked to the All Star Game.

Nothing to see here.  Just move along.

P.S.- Screw the stupid HR Derby team thing.  Why not bring CC to the ASG to pitch against all these guys and see how many can actually get a hit off him.  $100,000 to the charity of choice of the first player who gets the ball out of the infield off of CC.

3,000!!

The 3,000 Hit Club has its newest member, and that member is Derek Jeter.

After leading off the bottom of the 1st with a solid single off of David Price, Jeter came up with 1 down in the bottom of the 3rd and worked a 3-2 count against Price before yanking a slider that just hung up enough into the left field seats for a home run and his 3,000th career hit.  If you wrote it up as a Hollywood script, you would be told to go back and change it because it would be too cliche.  But you wouldn't expect anything else from The Captain.

MLB.com already has the video up, and you can watch the whole thing right here.  It was cool to see Jorge Posada come out to be the first to greet him at home plate, and cool to see Johnny Damon come out of the vistors' dugout and applaud.  Just the latest and greatest in the long history of classic Jeter moments.

Congratulations to Derek Jeter on this historic accomplishment.

Let's Talk About Meniscuses

Specifically The Horse's right one, which was revealed to be slightly torn after his MRI yesterday.  A-Rod was already scheduled to be out of the lineup last night as a result of the MRI and the now well documented pain he has been playing with in the knee, and now the amount of time he could stay out of the lineup becomes an even bigger, and much more important question.

He could continue to play through the injury, as he has already been doing and doing well.  For all the talk about his dreaded homerless streak since early June, The Horse has continued to play solid all around baseball, racking up hits and walks at the plate and playing arguably the best defense we've seen him play since he transitioned to the hot corner.  Obviously now we can assume that this meniscus tear is causing some, if not all, of the lack of power that we've seen from A-Rod, and he doesn't look comfortable running the bases, but he has played at a very high level with this injury already.  And with the Yankees far from clinching a playoff spot at this point in the season, it goes without saying that the team is in a better position to when with him in the lineup, even if he doesn't hit home runs.

The other option is surgery, something that would likely put A-Rod on the shelf for at least a month.  Without him in the lineup, the team could struggle even more than they already are this week, but down the road during the regular season stretch run it would be much more beneficial to have a 100% healthy Horse than one playing at whatever percentage he's currently at.  And while the injury may or may not get any worse, it certainly isn't going to get better the more he plays on it.  If A-Rod is at 75% right now, it's possible that continued wear and tear and him trying to compensate for the injury could have him at 50% heading into October.

Recent offensive struggles aside, the Yankees have been very good all year, both at the plate and on the mound.  One would think that they would be able to hold down for the fort for 4-6 weeks without A-Rod, especially if Cano and Swish continue to swing hot bats and Teix can start to be more consistent.  And with Bartolo Colon and Phil Hughes back in the rotation, and CC pitching like a man possessed, there is more than enough talent to get the job done.  This is the same injury that CC pitched through last season, but he was only playing once every 5 days.  Joe doesn't have that option to try and give A-Rod that much rest.

It's a tough decision either way, but if it were up to me, I would want to see A-Rod get completely healthy and be ready to go for the end of the regular season and the playoffs.  We've already seen what a healthy Horse can do when he's locked in in the postseason, so whatever has to happen to be able to get him back to that health level is something I would be in favor of doing.

An Open Letter To The Team- Find The Offense

Guys,

What's the deal?  Last time I checked, Jeter was the only player in the lineup on the verge of reaching a major milestone and yet everybody seems to be playing like the spotlight is on them and they can't handle it.  And he's one of the few who's actually getting some hits here and there lately?  What the hell are the rest of you doing?  The 9 runs in support of CC the other night were nice, but just 9 combined runs in the other 4 games of this 1-4 stretch?  That's just completely pathetic.

I'm tired of watching Robbie swing at the first pitch, or the second, or the third, and make outs with runners on base.  I'm tired of watching Russell Martin beat hittable pitches into the ground like he's doing a Jeter impression, and I'm really tired of watching Teix pull off of everything too early and either hit lazy fly balls to right or ground out into the shift.  I love ya, Teix, and I've been making excuses for you because of your low BABIP, but you're about to dip below .240 on the year and that's just not acceptable.

We've been through this enough this year, and it has to stop.  Cut the shit with these week-long offensive dry spells and live up to your reputations and high team wOBA and hit the fucking ball with some authority and score some fucking runs!!  You got shut down by goddamn Jeff Niemann last night!  Stop playing tight because of the 3,000 hits thing, calm the fuck down, and be professionals.  Everybody knows you can do it, so start doing it.  Christ.

Thanks,

Brad