Looking Ahead: January

Here's what's on tap this month as we are just a month and a half from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training.

The new MLB Newtork premiered yesterday, kicking things off with the first showing of Don Larsen's perfect game, complete with original commercials. This month also includes the 2004 World, gag, Series, gag, this past season's series, the 1946 series between the Cards and Red Sox (you know who won that one, heh heh), the '96 Series (yessss), and more.

Jan 5-15 is the period for filing salary arbitration. In between on the 12th, this year Hall of Fame (Rickey Henderson and ?) class will be announced. The two arbitration sides exchange figures on the 19th.

Morristown Green magazine, which may or may not be affiliated with NJ.com had a sit down with Michael Kay in this month's issue. The only problem you may have is finding a copy of it.

The Baseball Assistance Team annual dinner is January 27 at New York City's Marriott Marquis. The following former players are expected to attend the dinner which is open to the public (but not a cheap night out) - Wally Backman, Jim Bouton, Orlando Cepeda, Chris Chambliss, Whitey Ford, George Foster, Steve Garvey, Bob Gibson, Cleon Jones, Al Kaline, Ed Kranepool, Lee Mazzilli, Joe Morgan, Graig Nettles, Willie Randolph, Robin Roberts, Rusty Staub, Roy White, Randy Winn.

In case you missed it yesterday, the Detroit Red Wings topped the Chicago Black Hawks 6-4 in Wrigley Field. The outdoor game in freezing temperatures was very entertaining as the two "Original Six" teams wore throwback uniforms. Hopefully the Rangers play the Bruins in the new Yankee Stadium. It would be awesome.

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The Daily Yankeeland - 11/20

Plenty of praise and a few shots coming in today for Mike Mussina after word came out yesterday he would be calling it a career. Here's some of what's being said by the area writers:

Pete Abraham

Mike Lupica

Joel Sherman

George King

Mark Feinsand

Tyler Kepner


Moose held a press conference today in which he apologized to reporters for misleading them. He had intended 2008 to be his last season from the first day of Spring Training.

Nick Swisher was on with Mike Francesa the other day. He's quite a character. You can take a listen for yourself on WFAN's website.

Joe Girardi and Michael Kay were among the honorees at Tuesday night's "Remember When, Remember Now" fundraiser for Alzheimer's Disease. Girardi's dad suffers from the hideous disease. MLB.com's Bryan Hoch had a chance to talk to the manager about the 2009 season.

Phil Coke was named to the Topp's Double-A All Star team. Do you get free baseball cards?

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Live and Die in LA

Dodgers Prepare to Batten Down the Hatches.

Joe Torre knows what pressure situations are like. He was in plenty of them in New York, going to battle in the playoffs for 12 straight seasons. One of Torre's worst times came in the 2004 ALCS when the Yankees blew a 3-0 lead to the Red Sox and saw Boston go on to end their 86-year world championship drought. Now Torre is on the other side of the ledger.

With Philadelphia's 8-5 win on Tuesday, the Phillies took a commanding 2-0 lead in the best of seven NLCS series. Of course a Dodger win tonight could turn the momentum in the completely opposite direction. Torre has experience in this situation as well. Down 2-0 to the Braves in the 1996 World Series, the Yankees won three straight games on the road before wrapping up the series at home in game 6.

Torre will have to make better decisions tonight though then he did in game 2. Already trailing 4-2, Torre rolled the dice by sending starter Chad Billingsley back out to start the third inning. The move backfired and the Phillies put four more runs on the board and put the game virtually out of reach.

Hiroki Kuroda gets the call for LA tonight. The Japanese native was 9-10, 3.73 in the regular season and finished off the Cubs in game 3 of the NLDS with 6.1 scoreless innings. Kuroda has allowed just two earned runs in 13 career innings against the Phillies, going 1-0, 1.38 in two starts.

The Phillies will counter with oldest player in Major League Baseball, 45-year old Jamie Moyer. The soon to be 46-year old, went 16-7, 3.71 during the regular season, but took the lone Philly loss to Milwaukee. He allowed two earned runs in four innings and walked three batters. Moyer is just 3-4, 4.80 in 10 career starts against the Dodgers.

The Phillies have the two games to none lead despite the lack of production from potential NL MVP Ryan Howard. The big first baseman is 0-8 in the series and just 2-19 in the post-season.

Manny Ramirez continues to rake for the Dodgers. He's 3-8 in the first two games with a home run and four RBI. The performance comes on the heels of the NLDS where hit .500 (5-10) with a pair of home runs three RBI. He also drew four walks.

"Michael Kay is bashing Torre on the radio today..."

Just a little spoof of the TMKS theme song. For some reason Michael Kay continues to rant against Torre (he blasted for weeks after turning down the Yankees contract offer last off-season), unable, or unwilling, to understand why callers are rooting for Torre in the post-season.

He quickly dismisses any talk that the Yankees disgraced Torre with their offer and continues to point out that Torre is no saint. Okay, Michael...what is it that Torre did to you? Wouldn't come on your radio show (he had a deal with WFAN), blew you off your interviews, kicked your cat? What?

Kay also couldn't understand how fans would root for Torre's Dodgers if they played in the World Series against the Red Sox. "The Red Sox are an American League team. If you root for the Yankees, you're an American League fan. How can you not root for the American League? On top of that how can you root for the Dodgers?"

We paraphrased a bit, but that is the basic lo-down. Kay can't understand that while those listeners who are contemporaries, myself included, still hate the Dodgers (those Garvey-Lopes-Sutton teams in particular), we hate the Red Sox right now a whole lot more. Even when Don La Greca pointed out that the Red Sox would be building a potential dynasty with three championships in five seasons, Kay still didn't get it. "What's the difference? The curse is dead!"

Some people just don't get it, even when they're smacked upside the head with it.

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The Daily Yankeeland - 9/4

Phil Mushnick takes a shot at "screamers" Michael Kay and Gary Cohen. (kudos to TBL for the find.)

As you know by now instant replay made its debut in last night's Yankees-Rays game. While the ESPN replays were inconclusive, ump Charlie Relaford and the office in NY were privy to a replay that showed the ball did clear the foul pole in fair territory before hooking into foul territory. The most remarkable thing, by far, is that only two minutes and 15 seconds elapsed before a ruling was made. Maybe the NFL can learn from it.

Jason Giambi played last night despite suffering a nasty gash to his eyelid after walking into a bathroom door.

Mike Schmidt congratulated A-Rod on passing him on the all-time home run list.

Via the Phillies' PR department, Schmidt said he was happy for Rodriguez, whom he spoke to during the introductions at the All-Star Game in July at Yankee Stadium.

"I want to congratulate Alex on 548 and wish him well the remainder of 2008," Schmidt said before the milestone blast.

Damon Opponheimer must rue the day he picked C.J. Henry over Matt Garza.

Bobby Murcer has been nominated for the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence. Fans can take part in the vote at Yankees.com.

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The Daily Yankeeland - 8/22

We woke up this morning and it was still true: Carl Pavano is pitching tomorrow. The Yankees should just run Phil Hughes out there and stop treating him with kid gloves.

"I'm not asking him to make amends," Manager Joe Girardi said. "I'm just asking him to come and compete. I tell every player when they come here, it's a clean slate. I'm just expecting him to do his thing."

That was what Joe Girardi told Tyler Kepner about Pavano's comeback.

Joba Chamberlain is expected to throw 35 pitches in his Saturday bullpen session.

Phil Mushnick takes a dig at some of Michael Kay's hypocrisy.

The Steinbrenner boys are reportedly in negotiations with Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney for a farewell concert at Yankee Stadium. Can't be outdone by the Wilpons, ya know?

Hal Steinbrenner used Derek Jeter as a conduit last week. As several beat writers have pointed out, Hal- and not Hank- is the Steinbrenner son who is really running the show. Hank may be making the headlines, but he never goes to games, wasn't at Bobby Murcer's Memorial service, etc..

Mike Ashmore reports on the Trenton Thunder's playoff-clinching win last night.

The Staten Island Yankees have won 8 straight.

What a difference a year makes. One year ago today, 8/22/07, the Orioles got lambasted by the Rangers, 30-3. The Yankees can't score 30 runs in a month.

Forgot to mention this the other day: Craig Biggio joined Mickey Mantle as the only MLB player to have number 7 retired.

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Michael Kay can do the Brobot

You've probably seen the ESPN radio commercial (see below) where a fan comes up to Michael Kay and says how much he loves him. The guy wants to do a special handshake, the brobot, with Kay and eventually asks Kay for the PIN to his ATM account.

"That guy" is Bobby Moynihan and he is the newest cast member of Saturday Night Live, according to TV Squad.

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Yankees vs. Orioles - May 28

Andy Pettitte will try to stop the Yankees 2-game losing streak when he faces the Baltimore Orioles tonight at Camden Yards. Pettitte's stopped many a losing streak, even a 1-game skid, and the Yankees need him to do it again tonight. Pettitte's had trouble in the middle innings of late, but the Yankees probably don't need more than 6 innings from him tonight. That's because Joe Girardi plans to use Joba Chamberlain on a 50-55 pitch outing (cover your years while Michael Kay keeps count). Tonight could very well be Joba's last relief appearance for the time being since his pitch count will need to increase further and there's now an opening in the rotation with Ian Kennedy sidelined with a strained Lat.

Jeremy Guthrie gets the call for the O's tonight as the Yankees face a right-handed starter for the first time in the series. Guthrie 1-0, 4.74 in 4 career appearances, 3 of them starts, against the Yankees.

Yankees vs. Guthrie

Abreu 2-8 1 HR 1 RBI
Betemit 1-1 1 HR 2 RBI
Cabrera 3-7 2 RBI
Cano 1-8 1 RBI
Damon 3-9 1 HR 2 RBI
Jeter 3-9
Matsui 2-8
Molina 1-2
Posada 2-8 1 RBI
A-Rod 2-8

Pettitte pitched 7 scoreless innings in the Yankees 7-1 win over the O's on April 20. He's dominated the O's in his career, going 23-6, 3.77 in 35 appearances (33 starts).

Orioles vs. Pettitte

Cintron 3-8 2 RBI
R. Hernandez 7-21 1 HR 6 RBI
L. Hernandez 1-4
Huff 4-23
Jones 1-3
Markakis 6-18 1 HR 3 RBI
Millar 8-28 1 RBI
Mora 7-27 4 RBI
Payton 6-30 1 HR 2 RBI
Quiroz 0-2
Roberts 9-43 1 HR 2 RBI
Scott 0-3


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Congrats to former Yankee Andy Phillips, who was recalled today by the Cincinnati Reds. He'll be Jay Bruce's backup at 1st Base.

* * *

Roger Clemens has added "intentional infliction of emotional distress" to his defamation suit against Brian McNamee. Just let it go already, would ya.

* * *

My boy Drew Jr. over at Scott Proctor's Arm has come up with a Michael Kay drinking game based on the things fivehead says during the game. The only problem is you could die from alcohol poisoning before the 3rd inning.

* * *

And in case you missed it yesterday, nice piece by the Daily News' Mark Feinsand on Darrell Ranser.

* * *

Peter Abraham has reported that Chris Britton is back, yet again, to replace Ian Kennedy. And here's are tonight's Yankees lineup

Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Moeller C
Cabrera CF

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Joba and Other Stuff

Let the pundits go at it again. The Yankees made it official last night, Joba Chamberlain is now in the transition phase of becoming a starting pitcher once again. What this means is that Mike Francesca will make your ears bleed for 5 hours today talking about what a mistake it is. Steve Phillips will go on the Michael Kay radio show and disperse his usual incorrect information. And the newspapers (Joel Sherman, Bill Madden, will go on about it for several days.

It's clear that this had to be done. Just how many 8th inning leads has there been to protect this year? The team is barely treading water and just because they've recovered the past couple of years to make the playoffs, doesn't mean it will happen this year. And if they do and make another quick first round exit will it even be beneficial to be a playoff team? With Phil Hughes struggling and injured, with Ian Kennedy unable to retire t-ball hitters, and Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina getting old and creaky, it was a move that had to be done.

Much to everyone's surprise Joe Girardi revealed that Joba will NOT be sent to the minors at all in the attempt to stretch out his arm and assist in the transition. Conceivably, Joba could become the long man in the pen until he's ready for more innings.

In more nonsensical news, the NY Post has a blurb stating that Derek Jeter's latest catch is Friday Night Lights star Minka Kelly.

Don't have a cow man. Both of the scheduled starters, Chien-Ming Wang and Felix Hernandez, for Saturday's Yankees-Mariners game are iffy with mild calf strains.

The Yankees will be ending their 11 year sponsorship deal with Adidas at the end of the season. They've signed a new 5 year mega deal that with Nike that will kick off in '09.

As part of their coverage of Asian Heritage Month, NY1 has a feature on Johnny Damon's work in the Asian community. Damon's mom is of Thai heritage and the Yankees left fielder takes pride in his background. He hopes to serve as a role model and wants to encourage Asian youngsters to play baseball. That being said, this quote almost sounds like he's stereotyping his own culture.

“I can spread the word and people are seeing now that an Asian ballplayer can be in front of a mic and when he talks people listen,” says Damon. “Asians who look at me probably think I talk well in front of a camera and hopefully it just gives them the courage and the confidence to do it themselves.”

While we appreciate Damon's heritage and his pride, he's never come across as particularly articulate or bright. His quote kind of backs that up.

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The Joba Debate Continues

No not that one; the bullpen-starter debate has been tabled. Now the airwaves are being filled with discussions of Joba Chamberlain's yelling, fist-pumping celebration routine. It really came into focus yesterday when Chamberlain struck out David Dellucci to end the 8th inning. The Yankees had a 3-run lead at the time. Perhaps it would have just been quickly forgotten, but Dellucci had hit a game winning 3-run home run against Chamberlain nights before. Dellucci, for one, was not happy.

"That's what gets him going and that's what everybody likes to see, but if a hitter was to do something like that they'd probably say it was 'bush (league)' and you shouldn't do it," Dellucci said. "It's kind of funny how a pitcher can get away with it."

"If he wants to yell and scream after a strikeout and dance around, I guess that gets him going," Dellucci said. "My home run was in a much bigger situation, more a key part of the game and I didn't dance around and scream."

Dellucci does have a point. We've had mixed feelings about the whole thing, probably because we've been caught up in Jobamania ourselves. But we only have to think about opponent's displays of celebration that have ticked us off over the years. Manny Ramirez's home run stare, Dennis Eckersley's over the top celebration when he recorded a save. The same for K-Rod and Ugie Urbina. And there's no doubt that Dellucci's game winner was a lot bigger situation than than yesterday's at-bat.

Needless to say the topic provided much fodder on Mike and the Mad Dog yesterday (Michael Kay was still talking about Joe Torre calling Jorge Posada), and as we waited for breakfast this morning, ESPN's First Take (Cold Pizza renamed, but just as bad) was about to discuss it as well.
Mariano Rivera's schooling of Joba could have an effect on all of this. Mo has been known to say something to the effect of "you don't want to do anything to motivate your opponent more than they already are." Sounds like sound advice.

What do you think? Take our new poll at the top of the site and let us know.

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You Say Nay to Kay

The response to the Michael Kay poll and post was overwhelming. Nothing close to Gallup or Harris, but 434 respondents was awesome.

By nearly a 2:1 margin you said, give Michael Kay the heave-ho. Only 10% of you were happy with the lead YESman, while 25% of you want him to share the play by play wealth with guys like Ken Singleton.

But a whopping 65% of you wanted to tell Michael Kay, "SEE YA", and have him "driven" from the booth.

If you truly want changes, write your congressmanthe YES Network.

YANKEES ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORTS NETWORK, LLC
The Chrysler Building
405 Lexington Avenue, 36th Floor
New York, NY 10174-3699
Phone: 646-487-3600
Fax: 646-487-3612

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Michael Kay, Yea or Nay?

We've been hearing a lot of anti-Michael Kay talk over the last year. Let's quickly re-phrase that a bit. We've been hearing a lot of anti-Michael Kay talk for years, but it has gotten a lot louder the last year. We're only referring to his work as the lead Yankees broadcaster for the YES Network.

Not his work on Centerstage, which we feel he does very well, or on his radio show, which we could take or leave. There have even been "Fire Michael Kay" blogs started.

Let's review some of our own complaints about Kay as well as a lot of what we've been hearing from others. We won't even bring up his "fivehead". Oops, we just did.

Repetitiveness

Kay definitely has a penchant for repeating himself. We don't mean the kind of repeating that Tim McCarver does, where he's still dissecting a play from three innings ago. We're referring to his constant mentioning of certain things. Some examples:

The size of Kevin Mench's head; Every time the Yankees play the team Mench is on, Kay goes on about how large Mench's melon is. Okay, we get it. It's a throwback to the '70s when Frank Messer couldn't stop talking about how Carlos May had half his thumb blown off.

The repeat use of phrases, especially corny ones. "He's like the girl with the curl. He's either very good or very bad."

The "Martini Glass" defense to describe the shift when Jason Giambi comes up.

Part of this next example is obviously an issue with the YES director and production team. Every time David Cone is in the booth we don't need to see the last out of his perfect game. Kay is only partially duplicitous (we use that word here because he loves to use it) here since he just intros the clip.

Another irritating Kayism has even bothered his fellow broadcasters, though it's usually good natured. That would be Kay's use of $5 words to describe a scene that could be easily stated in a more user friendly manner. Don't get us wrong, education and expanding your vocabulary is great, but this is a baseball game not an English lit class. Some examples:

"His speech was filled with vitriol."

Act your age. We are all for immaturity, but when you're 47-years old trying to sound 20, you just sound stupid.

"Are you guys down with that?"

The corny factor.

"When we come back we'll put a bow on this one." Heck we can't even stand when he thanks us for tuning in.

Asinine gimmickry - "QuanGorMo" to describe the Yankees 7th thru 9th inning was stupid, and "Generation Trey" to lump Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy together is obnoxious and loathed. What makes the latter worse is David Cone has picked it up. On the bright side, no one else has.

The obvious - Asking John Flaherty about his approach at the plate. Flaherty, except for a year or two, couldn't hit his way out of a paper bag. We don't want to know what his approach is.

The home run call - Coming up with a distinctive home run call is tough. No question about it. But "See ya" is really weak. It's also become the rallying cry for those who want Kay out of the booth. We also hate it because of the guy we played golf with one time who yelled it every time we hit a ball into the woods. We heard it a lot.

Exaggeration - You have to keep things interesting during a broadcast, but Kay overplays many plays. The grounder in the hole at shortstop is a routine play. It shouldn't sound like Brooks Robinson just dove into foul territory, got up, and threw a runner out. Kay is guilty of this all the time. Every ball hit to the outfield is "driven" even if it's a routine fly ball.

To his credit, Kay does a good job of getting the analysts involved in various discussions. But, we have a major issue with the guys in the suits who gave Kay exclusive play-by-play rights. Back in the day we enjoyed the rotation of announcers. At that point they rotated between radio and TV. What makes this worse is that the best play-by-play guy YES has is Kenny Singleton, and he only gets to have that role when Kay doesn't accompany the team to the towns he hates (i.e. Kansas City).

While he probably has a better grasp of the game than John Sterling, he too, like Sterling, seems like he spent his formative years at tap class rather than actually playing the sport. He makes pointless points, that wouldn't be agreed upon by smart baseball people. We also have an issue with Kay kissing ass on YES and then ripping the same people on his radio show (i.e. Joe Torre after his departure).

We would like to see Kay go...back to radio. We were annoyed at first by the Sterling-Kay extravaganza, but they grew on us. Since Suzyn Waldman is horrible on the radio broadcast, it would be a natural fit.

Michael Kay, SEE YA.

Now please fill out our poll and tell us what you think.

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The Daily Yankeeland

The Yankees finish up the spring training schedule (hard to believe we're there already) with a pair of games in Miami against the Florida Marlins. It's a bit of a homecoming of course for Joe Girardi who was manager of the year as the Marlins skipper in 2006 and then was fired after clashing with the Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. Girardi also butted heads with the beat writers at times so it should be interesting to see what they write this weekend. Both games will broadcast on WCBS radio.

The Yankees 25 man roster is just about finalized. We know that Morgan Ensberg, Shelley Duncan, Jose Molina, and Wilson Betemit will be on the bench, and the final bullpen spots will probably be go to Darrell Rasner (please, anyone but Igawa) and Brian Bruney. Scott Patterson had better be here some time this season.

Kay is for Kool-aid: Michael Kay was overly effusive with his praise of George Steinbrenner in the wake of the Legends Field renaming ceremony. You would have thought Georgie was the greatest thing since sliced bread according to his YESman Kay, who poured on the praises on his 1050ESPN radio show. As you recalled Kay also shredded JoeTorre for weeks after his contract negotiation fell through. Stick to announcing Michael.

Former traveling secretary George Costanza David Szen has asked the court to be spared prison time for failing to report more than $50,000 in tips from players and coaches. Szen pleaded guilty back in December.

According to Peter Abraham, Andy Pettitte threw a 25-pitch bullpen session today in Tampa and felt great.

“As far as during my bullpen and stuff like that, I feel great,” Pettitte told the AP. “It loosened up good. Do I still feel it walking around? Yeah. Sunday is a good day. I need to get some good work in. That’s all I’m looking for now.”

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Kay Taken to Task

We recently discussed the seemingly personal vendetta that Michael Kay has towards Joe Torre. Kay has been using his show on 1050ESPN radio to regularly take shots at the recently departed Joe. He's also been kissing the ass of his new bestest buddy, new Yankees manager Joe.

While we don't always agree with Bob Raissman's critique of the media, he hit a home run today with his slice and dice of Kay. Raissman's words were in response to Kay's diatribes including this one...

"There are things about Joe Torre, if I wanted to come out and say, would show how cold and calculated he really is," Kay fumed. "... Joe Torre is for Joe Torre. ... The graveyard of Yankees coaches is loaded with bones of coaches Joe Torre did nothing about."

Raissman points out, as we did, that Kay never ever criticized Torre (except for an occasional remark about in game moves) on the YES network. Yet he feels the need to vent his spleen on a regular basis on his radio show.

Antics like this will not help Kay at all in his ratings battle with the 2 buffoons down the dial. He only comes out looking like an even bigger buffoon. Give it up Michael.

Source

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What Crawled up Michael Kay's A.....

Every day he takes shot after shot at Joe Torre. Today he's ripping the media for canonizing Torre. Ultimate company man (though he always kissed Torre's behind on YES) or spurned journalist? Either way, he just sounds foolish.

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Rags and Gator

The Yankees visit to San Fran this past weekend gave old friends Ron Guidry and Dave Righetti a chance to catch up. YES' Michael Kay got the chance to talk to the great lefthanders turned pitching coaches. Righetti and Guidry

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