Most players or coach would like to avoid road trips for as long as possible, but Yankees' hitting coach Kevin Long hit the road early this year. Bergen Record writer Pete Caldera tells us about Long's trips to see A-Rod, Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada, and Johnny Damon.
Shelley Duncan cleared waivers and was out righted to Scranton. He'll also receive an invite to the Major League training camp along with Austin Jackson, Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, Mark Melancon, Kei Igawa (CRINGE), Jason Johnson, Angel Berroa, Jason Johnson, Kevin Cash, Kyle Anson, Colin Curtis,Eduardo Nunez, Ramiro Pena, P.J. Pilittere, John Rodriguez, Doug Bernier, Justin Leone, Todd Linden, and Kevin Russo.
Xavier Nady, Melky Cabrera, and Brian Bruney have filed for salary arbitration.
Jorge Posada said he's training for the World Baseball Class, but the Yankees have other thoughts...like NO.
The Yankees split a day-night doubleheader with the Rays yesterday. Unfortunately MikeMussina was not the winning pitcher for the Yankees. Moose was off his game, allowing 5 runs in five innings, and dropped his ninth game of the season. He'll likely have three starts remaining with no room for error. The Yankees dropped the opener 7-1, with a ninth inning BobbyAbreu home run the only thing that kept them from being shut out. Moose did pass Cy Young for 19th place on the all-time strikeout list.
Xavier Nady's RBI single in the seventh inning snapped a 4-4 tie in the nightcap. DamasoMarte picked up the win, with Mariano Rivera, pitching for only the second time in two weeks, earning his 34th save in 35 tries.
Derek Jeter went 6-7 in the twinbill, putting him within three hits of Lou Gehrig's career hit record at Yankee Stadium. Being that we're going to the game tie, we would love a 3- or 4-hit performance. The last September game we went to was 10 years ago when David Cone beat the then Devil Rays for his 20th win of the season. That was team win number 113.
For some reason the LA Times is talking about A-Rod's need for a ring.
Trenton has taken a 2-1 lead on Akron in the Eastern League championship series. GeorgeKontos, Anthony Claggett, Mike Dunn, and Jhonny Nunez combined on a 4-hitter in the Thunder's 4-1 triumph. Claggett picked up the victory after Kontos was removed with two outs in the fifth inning.
Austin Jackson had a big night with a home run and two tremendous catches in centerfield. Mike Ashmore has more on the game.
The Thunder can close things out tonight in a 6:05 start.
The Daily News has another goodbye to Yankee Stadium.
Joe Girardi says Kevin Long shouldn't be a scape goat.
What's left of the season? Finger pointing of course, by those who hadn't done it as of yet. Bob Raissman says it only took Michael Kay and company 144 games to rip the Yankees a new one. Neil Best has his take on this new twist on the YES Network.
Mike Lupica says it's the "House that Ruth Built", but the Yankees are bringing it down.
On the bright side, Bernie Williams has confirmed he will be attending the Yankee Stadium closing ceremonies. Bernie Baseball was performing at Robinson Cano's Foundation Fundraiser at Frankie & Johnny's Pine Restaurant in the Bronx.
Scott Patterson, who we thought would be a major contributor to the Yankees this season, started out well in the minors and then was mediocre. The Yankees released him to make room on the 40-man roster for Humberto Sanchez, and he's already pitching for the San Diego Padres.
Hank is trying to play George again. He's going to put a "committee" (baseball people?) together and Cashman could lose power. Here's a look at it from the Post, the News, and Peter Abraham have to say. PeteAbe also has a look at the final homestand.
Whether he'll be a Yankee next season remains to be seen, but either way, Robinson Cano will be working with Kevin Long this season after a very disappointing 2008. Long is planning on making major changes to Cano's swing.
"You're going to see a huge difference visually," Long said. "You'll see less movement, an explosive, compact swing, and you'll probably see more home runs. I think his average will go way up and I think his walks will go way up."
Kat O'Brien takes a look at next season's starting rotation.
Bill Madden spoke with Yogi Berra about his favorite Stadium moments.
With with the way the Yankees have been playing, everyone was waiting for a missive from Mt. Steinbrenner. It finally arrived yesterday, but was nothing like what anyone would have expected. Hank Steinbrenner spoke up, defending his team, and blaming injuries for the Yankees struggles. He even went on to guarantee the Yankees would win it all next season. "Wait'll next year" kind of rings hollow with us, though.
"It's not making excuses. It's reality. That's part of the game. That's clearly our problem," Steinbrenner said of the injuries. "We're going to win it next year. If we need to add a top veteran pitcher, we'll do that. We'll do whatever we need to do. Next year we'll be extremely dangerous."
"I'm not writing off this season. They're trying hard to win. There's only so much you can do. They're not supermen," Steinbrenner said. "No team I've ever seen in baseball has been decimated like this. It would kill any team.
"Imagine the Red Sox without (Josh) Beckett and (Jon) Lester. Pitching is 70 percent of the game. Wang won 19 games two straight years. Chamberlain became the most dominating pitcher in baseball. You can't lose two guys like that."
Joe Girardi didn't disagree with his boss, but still feels the Yankees can win this year.
"I know we have had a lot of injuries to deal with," said Girardi, who lost Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui for extended time. "But I still believe this team can win."
In the good ol' days, or bad ol' days, Kevin Long, and possibly Dave Eiland, would have definitely lost his job by now.
If you look atop the American League pitching victories leader board this morning, you'll see two names, both of which are a surprise. It's hard to tell though which is the bigger one. Mike Mussina joined Cliff Lee with 10 wins last night when the Yankees beat the Houston Astros 8-4 to earn their third straight win. It also put the Yankees three games over .500 for the first time this season.
Mussina became the 5th pitcher in major league history to have at least 17 double digit win seasons. He tied Warren Spahn and Don Sutton, and trails only Greg Maddux (20), Cy Young (19), and Steve Carlton (18) for the most seasons in double figures. Last night's game didn't start out promising though.
With two men aboard in the 1st inning, Moose hung a breaking pitch, and Carlos Lee bashed it into the left field "Crawford Boxes" for a 3-0 lead. The Yankees came right back to cut the lead to 3-2 in the 2nd against Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez. Alex Rodriguez hit his 11th home run of the season into the right field stands with the help of an Astros fan. Right fielder Hunter Pence leaped and appeared to have a good shot of robbing A-Rod of his 529th career home run. But an Astros fan, glove in hand, reached across and collided with Pence's glove, ensuring the home run. A stunned Pence glared and had a few words for the fans in the area.
Jason Giambi and Melky Cabrera followed the home runs with back-to-back double to produce a second run and the Yankees were right back in the ball game. Mussina then retired the Astros with relative ease. He didn't walk a batter, threw 19 first pitch strikes to the 23 batters he faced, and retired 15 of the last 18 Astros overall. He also made us laugh snot out our noses with his line as reported by the Star Ledger's Ed Price.
"I didn't stop at 10 any of those years," Mussina pointed out. "I actually made it to 11. Just like 'Spinal Tap.'"
The Yankees took the lead for good in the 3rd on a Melky Cabrera bases loaded walk and Jose Molina's 2-run single. Brad Ausmus got the Astros back to within one with an RBI single off of Ross Ohlendorf, but the Yankees tacked on runs in the 8th (Robinson Cano pinch-hit single) and 9th (Wilson Betemit 2-run double) innings.
News and Notes Mike Mussina's victory was the 260th of his career, tying him with Ted Lyons for 39th on the all-time list.
The combination of Mussina and Jose Molina neutralized the Astros running game. After being successful 4 times in 6 attempts on Friday, the Astros were 0-2. As a result of their success on Friday, Joba Chamberlain is working on his timing to the plate and a slide step.
Struggling Robinson Cano got the day off, though he delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the 8th inning. Recently recalled Alberto Gonzalez got the start in his stead. Peter Abraham spoke with Kevin Long about Cano's struggles. Long even spoke to Don Mattingly about it.
King George has definitely mellowed. In past years blood would have surely been shed by now. The manager, the general manager, etc. King George has already stated that Brian Cashman wanted full control and is now "on the hook". A firing will take place before the week is over. You can bank on it. Except it won't be Cashman or Joe Torre. Kevin Long will be the victim.
For years now, King George has fired one of the lieutenants to get a the generals. I've lost count of how many pitching coaches have lost their jobs in the wake of one of George's tirades. This time it will be the hitting coach, Long. Ron Guidry is safe for now because the veteran starters have pitched fairly well, and there have been far too many rookies making their debuts. The bullpen is another story all together.
The biggest problem that the Yankees have right now, besides a complete lack of desire or grit, is a total lack of offense. Bobby Abreu hit .330 in his time as a Yankee last season. He's at .233 entering tonight's action. Robinson Cano was in a race for a batting title last year, finishing at .342. A recent 11 game hitting streak helped raise his average to .260. The team batting average is .273, but much of that is due to the superb years Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada are having. So the sacrificial lamb will be Long.
I am certainly not saying its Long's fault. A supposed professional hitter like Abreu should not be hitting .233 at this point of the season. And injuries have effected Johnny Damon's and Jason Giambi's season. But Long is the new kid on the block and will go. Right or wrong, it's King George's world.
AKA Mantlemurcer (MM). I'm Married to Mrs. MM, who is also my editor/proofreader and biggest fan. I became a Yankees fan in the late 1960's and attended my 1st game at Yankee Stadium in 1970. I hope to bring you a unique perspective about the Yankees, past, present, and future.
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