The Daily Yankeeland - 4/23

Jason Giambi had to leave last night's game with swelling in his right thumb. It happened when he awkwardly went after a ground ball to his right. At some point this season, the Yankees need to move him off of 1st Base. His inability to make throws has, and will, kill the Yankees.

Bad news for former Yankees hero, El Duque. The right-hander has regressed in his recovery from a right foot injury and will remain in a walking boot indefinitely.

The Yankees may get Alex Rodriguez back tomorrow, though the status of his quad remains to be seen.

The Record's Bob Klapisch throws in his 2 cents on the Joba tug of war, and expresses his concern about Robinson Cano's bad start.

The Daily News' Mark Feinsand spoke with Mike Mussina about Hank Steinbrenner's recent comments and about how his 2008 season is going so far.

Joe Girardi went to visit his Dad on Monday's off. The senior Girardi is ailing from Alzheimer's Disease, but had one of his best days in a while when his son came to visit.

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Friday Hot Stove

With reports of the Yankees close to tying up Robinson Cano with a long term deal, the Twins are doing likewise with Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau. Cuddyer inked a 3-year, $24 million deal, and Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP, will get $80 million over 6 years.

The Yankees are close to a minor signing with veteran utility man Chris Woodard.

The A's added Jeff Fiorentino off of waivers from the Reds. The A's are Fiorentino's 3rd team in 3 weeks. The once highly thought of prospect, who's still just 24-yrs old, was released by the Orioles on January 2nd.

Buster Olney says that the Giants and Mariners are the favorites to land veteran 1st Baseman Tony Clark.

The Rocky Mountain News is claiming the Mets are close to signing Livan Hernandez. It would be great to see him as a teammate of his brother, El Duque.

Rod Barajas was supposed to be the Blue Jays starting catcher last year, but free agent talks broke down at the last moment. This time around Barajas has signed on with Toronto as a back up to Greg Zaun. Had Barajas' deal gone through last year, the Jays would have let Zaun go.

The Braves have signed reliever Rafael Soriano to a new 2-yr, $9 million contract. Atlanta decided to buy out Soriano's 1st year of free agency, by paying more than he requested in arbitration.

If the Orioles can't find themselves a closer to replace the injured Chris Ray, Andy MacPhail indicated that Greg Aquino may be the 1st option.

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Yankee Greats Take Pen in Hand

Yankee and baseball legends will be in New Jersey this Saturday and Sunday signing autographs and chatting with fans. But be sure to being your checkbook. In addition to the entrance fee, there are charges for various autographs as well.

The Crown Plaza Hotel in Secaucus will host the 2 day event, which has a ton of Yankees greats and not-so greats. One day admission is $10, 2-day will set you back $18.

The 1998 team is celebrating the 10th anniversary- could it really be that long?- of that special season. David Cone, Homer Bush, Chad Curtis, Chili Davis, Joe Girardi, El Duque, Rickey Ledee, Ramiro Mendoza, Graeme Lloyd, Jeff Nelson, Tim Raines, Luis Sojo, Shane Spencer, and coach Don Zimmer are expected to be in attendance on Saturday.

Sunday will see Paul O'Neill, Mike Stanton, Daryl Strawberry, and coach Chris Chambliss.

Newly elected Hall of Famer Goose Gossage is expected to be at both days of the show. Tracey Stallard, who gave up Roger Maris' 61st home run, Hall of Famers Bob Gibson, Dick Williams, and our favorite guy Bobby Murcer will also be among those attending. Oddly, the only current Yankee expected to be there is Wilson Betemit.

Click here for all the details

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Cubans Watch Their Native Sons

Cuban television viewers got to see some of their native sons, such as Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, pitch for the first time since they defected. The Cuban government allowed the airing of "Fuera de Liga", a documentary which features interviews and highlights from the American careers of El Duque and others.

The film was made in 2003 by Ian Padron and features the Industriales of Havana team, the "Yankees of Cuba".

"I'm an Industrialista. I am not a traitor to the Industriales," Hernandez said in the film. "I've had the opportunity to play for the two best teams in the world: Industriales and the Yankees."

Among the players included are Angels' 1st Baseman Kendry Morales. The AP reported that a speech by Cuban leader Raul Castro (who took over for Fidel in 2006) in December focused on the excess of restrictions placed on the Cuban people, and helped lead to the decision to air the film.

El Duque was happy about the decision. He's quoted in El Nuevo Herald, a Spanish newspaper based in Miami, as saying, "I imagine the documentary will be a breath of fresh air on television for Cubans."

Now if only Cubans could come and go as they please.

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All Aboard

Subway Series Part Deux

Things have changed quite a bit since the Mets spanked the Yankees 2 of 3 back in May. The Bronx Bombers have won 9 straight, while their crosstown rivals have dropped 9 of 10. The Yankees were in the midst of a pathetic slide that would lead to them being 14.5 games behind Boston in mid May. Meanwhile the Mets were kicking the NL's ass.

After salvaging the final game of the series, the Yankees left Shea 19-23. The 1st place Mets were flying high at 28-15. Oh how the worm has turned since then. First the Yankees would drop 8 of 13 before this current streak got them two 2 games above .500 for the first time since A-Rod's walk 0ff against Cleveland on April 19. They then lost 7 straight.

The Mets went 5-2 after meeting the Yanks at Shea, and were sitting atop the NL East at 33-17. Then injury and poor performance caught up with them. They've gone 3-11 since May 29, and are now 36-28. Just 3 games better than the Yankees.

Pitching Probables for the weekend

Friday - Oliver Perez vs. Roger Clemens. How odd will this look with no Mike Piazza?

Saturday - Tom Glavine vs. Tyler Clippard. 296 career wins vs. 3. If Clippard doesn't perform well he could be headed back to Scranton.

Sunday - El Duque vs. Chien-Ming Wang. It's hard to watch El Duque pitching for another team, let alone the Mets. And against the Yankees to boot. But my boy The Wanger is the pride and joy of Taiwan (Great article in today's Star-Ledger on Wang's hero status back home.).

Injuries

The last time these two teams met, Darrell Rasner was lost in the 1st inning with a busted finger. Since then the Yankees have lost Jason Giambi and Doug Mientkiewicz (joining Carl Pavano, Jeff Karstens, Phil Hughes for lengthy periods with serious injuries.

A week before the 1st installment of the subway series, the Mets lost Moises Alou to a strained quad. He's still not back. Arguably, an even bigger blow was the loss of spark plug Endy Chavez to a strained Hamstring. Chavez is the type of player that ignites a team with his hustle and defensive presence. Shawn Green also missed extensive time with a broken foot.

Hot Streak and Slumps

The Yankees, as a whole, stunk in April, with only A-Rod hitting. Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada had the only active bats in May. But things have changed drastically in June. A-Rod has gotten his stroke back, tearing up pitchers at an alarming rate.

Hideki Matsui has the best batting average of any player (min. 200 at-bats) in interleague playing, and he just destroyed the Dbacks. And Bobby Abreu who couldn't hit little league pitching for the first two months of the season, has a 14 game hitting streak (.440 average) and is wearing out pitchers again with his patient approach.

Carlos Delgado has been having an awful season for the Mets. It was covered up by the fact that the team was winning. While his 10 HR and 39 RBI are decent, his .224 batting average is far from it. This is a guy who is a .280 career hitter. Delgado appeared to wake up in June, hitting .273-6-20, but his troubles have returned in June.

Carlos Beltran may hear boo birds again soon. He's hit just .211 since April 30, with only 3 HRs.

The Yankees need to now take 2 of 3 as the Mets did back in May.

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5 Memorable Games vs Devil Rays

Didn't think it was possible, huh?

1. June 3, 1998

A legend debuts

Much was made of the story of the defection of Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. Now was his time to show the Yankees and their fans if he could really pitch. The opportunity came a little earlier than expected when David Cone was bitten by his mother's dog. Needed a starter, the Yankees called up Duque from Triple-A Columbus.

Duque struck out Quinton McCracken to start the game a star is born. Hernandez breezed through 7 innings, allowing a run on 5 hits to top the Rays, 7-1. Duque walks 2 and strikes out 7 before turning it over to Mike Stanton to finish it out

Scott Brosius shows a glimpse of the super year he is having, driving in 4 runs.

2. June 21, 2005

Randy Johnson looks like the little unit and is hammered for 7 runs in just 3 innings work. Scott Proctor throws some grease on the fire in relief and the Yankees trail 10-2 after 4 innings.

The Yankees' offense chipped away so that the Bombers trailed 11-7 entering the 8th inning. That one went like this:

Robinson Cano single
Derek Jeter single
RBI ground out by Ruben Sierra
Gary Sheffield single
A-Rod RBI single
Hideki Matsui RBI double
Int'l Walk to Giambi
Bernie Williams bases clearing triple
Jorge Posada 2-run HR
Cano flies out
Jeter single
Sierra single
Sheffield 3-run HR
A-Rod HR
Matsui HR

Incredibly, the Yankees have their second 13 run inning of the season, both coming against the Devil Rays. They bang out 12 hits in the inning, including 4 home runs. 23 hits in all leads to a 20-11 win.

Sheffield drives in 7 runs, with 4 hits, incl. a pair of HRs. Bernie drives in 5.


3. April 18, 2005

The Yankees offense gives the fans something to remember. The 2nd inning of a scoreless game goes something like this:

Hideki Matsui walks
A-Rod hits a 2-run HR
Jason Giambi doubles
Jorge Posada grounds out
Tino Martinez delivers an RBI single
Tony Womack gets an infield single
Derek Jeter RBI single
Bernie Williams RBI single
Gary Sheffield RBI single
Matsui single to load bases
A-Rod 2-run double
Int'l Walk to Posada
RBI single for Giambi
Tino hits Grand Slam

13 runs are scored in the inning on 11 hits, 1 walk, and 1 error. Starter Rob Bell gives up 10 earned runs in just 1 1-3 innings. A-Rod and Tino Martinez have 6 RBI each and combine for 8 hits.

Jaret Wright stinks on the mound, but gets the victory despite giving up 8 runs in 5 1-3 innings. Final, Yankees 19 Rays 8


4. September 26, 1998

David Cone wins his 20th game of the season and breaks the MLB record for the longest span between reaching such heights. 10years earlier, Cone went an amazing 20-3 as a member of the Mets. It's the 2nd to last game of the season and there's no telling how far Joe Torre will allow Coney to go with the playoffs right around the corner.

The Yankees score single runs in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings, including another home run by Shane Spencer, who had a September to remember. Coney limits the Rays to 4 hits over 7 innings and strikes out 8. It's now up to the pen to nail down the milestone.

With 1 out in the 9th, Torre calls for Mariano Rivera. Mo gives up a quick double to Bubba Trammell, but gets Paul Sorrento to pop out to Posada for the 2nd out. And infield single by Rob Butler and a walk to Miguel Cairo loads the bases for pinch-hitter Mike Kelly (pinch-hitting for John Flaherty). Mo uncharacteristically walks Kelly to force in a run and put the tying runs in scoring position.

A nervous Coney watches as Mo induces a game ending ground out by Quinton McCracken.

5. July 29, 2006

The Ray's offense has their day of reckoning.

Randy Johnson had been abused by the Rays before and he will again on this day. The Rays jump all over Johnson for 9 runs in 3 plus innings. But the Rays aren't done yet. They hammer Shawn Chacon, Mike Myers, and T.J. Beam for 10 more and smoke the Yankees, 19-6.

Jae Seo is pretty awful himself, allowing 5 runs in 5 2-3, but gets his first victory in six decisions. The Rays get 4 home runs, one by Damon Hollins who drives in 5. Eduardo Perez continues to make Johnson his personal whipping boy with a 5 hit day.

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