The Daily Yankeeland - 7/15

The Home Run Derby can get quite dull, but last night's display by Josh Hamilton was beyond phenomenal. Reggie Jackson threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Derek Jeter. More on that later though.

A celebrity softball game was played on Saturday as part of the festivities. In addition to actors, actresses, and comedians, the teams included hall of fame players Goose Gossage, Gary Carter, Paul Molitor, Wade Boggs, Rollie Fingers, George Brett, and Dave Winfield, and former Yankees Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez.

Never in our wildest imagination would we ever have expected to hear a (Whoopi) Goldberg to (Billy) Crystal to Tino Martinez, 4-6-3 double play, but it did in fact happen.

Paul O'Neill brought back some memories with a tremendous 3-run home run home run that easily cleared the temporary fence and landed well out into the territory Paulie used to roam. Boggs also homered.

ESPN's Kenny Mayne, by far, was the worst player on either side (though Chris Rock struck out), playing a couple of fly balls like he was Pele. Maybe worse was the fact that he's just not funny any more.

And despite the fact that she wore a Red Sox hat and wasn't very good, Hollywood reporter Maria Menounos looked quite hot.

Phil Hughes threw a 35-pitch mound session on Monday, made up of 25 fastballs and 10 curves.

Johnny Damon was supposed to hit off a tee yesterday, but held off due to soreness in his shoulder.

Brian Bruney threw 15 pitches in a scoreless inning for the Trenton Thunder last night.
Hideki Matsui continues to hit, but has not been cleared to run yet.
Alex Rodriguez received trophies for getting the most votes in the American League and the most votes over all. No truth to the rumor that he "Vogued" when he accepted them.

Kudos to the YES Network for their magnificent coverage on the life and death of Bobby Murcer. It was point on. Tasteful, respectful, and extremely well produced. Great job guys!

Share

What Could Have Been

Comedian/Actors Adam Sandler and Billy Crystal attended last night's Yankees game. We figure the conversation at the time of the picture was something like this.

AS: You're imagining yourself out there again, aren't you?

BC: Oh, Adam, you should have seen me in my day.

AS: Dude, I did. It literally was A day that you played for the Yankees.

BC: If that ball had just stayed fair.

AS: I hit my sand wedge further than you hit that ball.

BC: I knew I should have invited Robin Williams tonight.

Share

Pirates Steal Show from Crystal

Mike Mussina was perfect for 5 innings and Billy Crystal made his dream come true, but the Pittsburgh Pirates came away with a 5-3 win at G.M.S. Field in Tampa. Mussina was as good as he's been in a long time, retiring all 15 hitters he faced. But the start of the day belonged to Crystal, the long time Yankees fan who was fulfilling a dream.

The 2nd pitch Crystal saw, he hit just foul along the 1st Base line. He worked the count to 3-1 before Pirates starter Paul Maholm came back with a pair of 89-mph fastballs that produced swing and misses for strike 3. Crystal left to a standing ovation and was given the ball by Alex Rodriguez.

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the 7th against Jeff Karstens, but the Yankees came right back in their half of the inning against their old buddy, Byung-Hyun Kim. Tino Martinez probably wanted to take a few swings as he saw both Cody Ransom and Robinson Cano take Kim deep for a 3-1 Yankees lead.

But Karstens was, simply put, awful on this day. Karstens left with the game tied at 3-3 and the bases loaded. Lefty Billy Traber came on to face Jorge Velandia, who promptly delivered a 2-run single for the game winning hit. Karstens final line - 1.2 IP 7 H 5 ER 2 BB.

The Yankees manged just 4 hits off the other five Pirates pitchers not named Kim. Justin Christian had 2 of those hits after replacing Hideki Matsui in left field.

The biggest bright spot on the day though was Mussina, whose last 2 performances have been incredibly encouraging. He moved his fastball, curve, and changeup where he wanted.

"It's been the gauge for me most of my career, and it's been the gauge for a lot of pitchers," Mussina said. "If they can get the ball down and away consistently without it being a lot of work, they're going to have good days."

Mariano Rivera made his third apperance the spring, allowing 2 hits, before escaping unscathed.

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Crystal, DH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
a-Damon, PH-DH	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	.273
Jeter, SS	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.190
Green, 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.083
Abreu, RF	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.455
b-Porter, PH-RF	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.294
Rodriguez, A, 3B	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.438
Ransom, SS	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	.222
Matsui, LF	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.273
1-Christian, PR-LF	2	1	2	0	0	0	0	.333
Cano, 2B	3	1	1	2	0	0	1	.429
Gonzalez, 2B	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333
Duncan, 1B	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.364
Ensberg, 1B	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	.300
Molina, C	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	.263
Moeller, C	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	.063
Cabrera, CF	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	.391
Gardner, B, CF	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.353
Totals	35	3	8	3	0	7	12
a-Grounded out for Crystal in the 3rd. b-Flied out for Abreu in the 6th. 1-Ran for Matsui in the 5th.
BATTING 2B: Matsui (1, Wright), Gardner, B (2, Kim), Christian (1, Carrasco). HR: Ransom (1, 7th inning off Kim, 0 on, 0 out), Cano (1, 7th inning off Kim, 1 on, 0 out). TB: Ransom 4; Matsui 2; Christian 3; Cano 4; Molina; Cabrera; Gardner, B 2. RBI: Ransom (1), Cano 2 (7). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Molina; Porter; Damon; Moeller. Team LOB: 5. BASERUNNING SB: Christian (2, 2nd base off Kim/Hernandez, M), Cabrera (1, 2nd base off Marte, D/Doumit). FIELDING Outfield assists: Gardner, B (Bay at home). DP: (Duncan-Molina-Rodriguez, A).

	NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Mussina 5.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4.66 Rivera 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Karstens (L, 1-2) 1.1 7 5 5 2 0 0 8.53 Traber (BS, 1) 0.1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Bruney 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.40 Veras 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.00
Ground outs-fly outs: Mussina 4-9, Rivera 3-0, Karstens 3-0, Traber 0-1, Bruney 1-0, Veras 1-1. Batters faced: Mussina 15, Rivera 4, Karstens 12, Traber 3, Bruney 1, Veras 3. Inherited runners-scored: Traber 3-3, Bruney 2-0. Umpires: HP: Mark Carlson. 1B: Eric Cooper. 2B: Marty Foster. 3B: Paul Emmel. Weather: 70 degrees, sunny. Wind: 5 mph, Out to CF. T: 2:35. Att: 10,705.

Share

City Slicker

Share

The Daily Yankeeland

Peter Abraham of the Journal News has a piece on the Yankees high hopes for Robinson Cano. Even Cano isn't sure what his limitations might be.

"This guy can hit 30 home runs. He could hit .330, .340 or even .350," Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long said. "He can be a middle-of-the-lineup guy. It's not going to happen at this junction in time, but he's pretty special."

Some of us are miffed about the whole Billy Crystal sideshow, but Lisa Kennelly of the Star Ledger tells us, a lot of the players are looking forward to it.

"I'm going to ask him, see if he wants to," said Chamberlain, giddy at the prospect. "And I think he might be left-handed. I'm going to ask him and see what he's doing."

"Sweet!" Jason Giambi said. "Great guy. Funny. Loves the Yankees. We love having him around."

The Post's Joel Sherman talks about Mo being Mo. Here's the cutter, try and hit it.

"It must drive hitters crazy to know what it is coming; know what is coming and still not get the barrel of the bat on it," Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland said.

The Daily News' John Harper has a feature on the Yankees patient approach with 2007 #1 pick and favorite prank victim, Andrew Brackman.

"It will just take a little more of what we've been asking for around here," Cashman said. "And that's patience."

Share

Theater of the Absurd

When did the Yankees become the LA Dodgers? We're not in Hollywood. What are we talking about, you say?

The Yankees have signed Billy Crystal, yeah that guy, to a 1-day contract for this Thursday, March 14. It happens to be Crystal's 60th birthday, so the life long Yankees fan will wear #60 that day and play against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yes, play in the actual game.

We love Billy Crystal and have always loved his work. But this is ridiculous and makes a mockery of the game. How about those kids trying to break into the majors who never even get to play with the big club in an exhibition game?

Source: Yankees.com

And to top it off, Major League Baseball approved this ridiculous act. Guess the best way to deal with a steroid crisis is to laugh things off. Great job there, Bud.

Share