SportsWorldNY

Just to erase questions I’ve discovered the perfect lineup for each starter.

Cano, Jeter, Rodriguez, Matsui, and Abreu start every day at their positions.
Posada DHs when Mussina pitches and catches otherwise.
Giambi DHs when Wang and Pettitte pitch and plays first otherwise.
Cairo plays first when Wang and Pettitte pitch.
Damon plays center unless Posada and Giambi aren’t DHing, in which case he DHs.
Cabrera plays center when Damon DHs.
If Torre wants to give Posada the whole day off when Mussina pitches, either Giambi or Damon DHs and Cairo or Cabrera plays defense.

Starters start as often as possible and Cairo/Cabrera still get to start 40% of the games.

Lineups:

Clemens/Igawa (A lineup)

Damon
Jeter
Abreu
Rodriguez
Giambi
Posada
Matsui
Cano
Cabrera

Wang/Pettitte (B lineup)

Damon
Jeter
Abreu
Rodriguez
Giambi
Posada
Matsui
Cano
Cairo

Mussina (C lineup)

Damon
Jeter
Abreu
Rodriguez
Giambi
Posada
Matsui
Cano
Nieves

Mussina (Posada full night off, house money lineup)

Damon
Jeter
Abreu
Rodriguez
Giambi
Matsui
Cano
Cairo/Cabrera
Nieves

It’s perfect, all right?

Phelps is a bat off the bench.
When Mientkiewicz comes back, he can be the 13th position player if we stick with a 12 man pitching staff, replace Cairo’s starts with him and keep Cairo on the bench, unless matchups really favor Cairo.

It seems like each and every year, at some point, the New York Yankees test the media, fans, and the Boss’s faith in their resolve. After all, it has been twelve straight years of post season appearances for New York’s finest. (I hear the collective groan from all the Met fans, but until your team matches those numbers….) I must admit though, that the Met organization has developed into one of the premiere franchises in baseball in the last few years. The Mets, once they figure out how to dominate at home, should secure a playoff spot this year, hands down. The Yankee’s are, once again, testing the faithful and doom sayers expectation of their post season appearance in 2007. One should not worry about the Yankee offense, no matter how inconsistent and compactly reliable they have been this entire year. They manage to score enough runs from just three spots in the lineup. That of course will change as the season progresses. Career stats prove that out time and time again. The real problem is, and always will be, pitching. Signing Roger Clemens to that prorated eighteen million dollar contract was a great business decision. It is worth 30 million dollars in revenue for the Yankees if they qualify for the post season. So their investment in Clemens is a no-brainer and a good decision at this time. It had to be done. The Yankees should win ninety games without Roger. With the acquisition of Clemens, this should project at least six more wins for the Bombers. That puts them at ninety-six wins which should put them into the playoffs. That is of course if everything goes as planned and, as laid out on paper. (wink, wink, nod, nod…. That is why they play the game) Just for those who were screaming at that last statement. The low ball figure that the Red Sox threw at Clemens was also a good business decision and a no-brainer. Their pitching staff is turning out to be one of the best in baseball. They should win at least ninety-six games without the Rocket. Which would put them into the playoffs and a financial windfall without throwing needless money for pitching. The timing was perfect for both the Yankees and the Red Sox to make wise business decisions. This is all contingent, of course, on the Yankees winning their projected number of games. Injuries are crucial and at what time of the year they occur. Just ask the Red Sox of 2006 and the Yankees of the same year. It has happened again for the 2007 Yankees (early on) and chances are that the injury plague is behind them. Let’s be optimistic on that note. The Yankee young pitching arms were called into duty early this year. We have seen the good, the bad and the ugly on all fronts. Time is on their side and the Yankees will have a pretty good idea who will be the latest gem in their system by September. The offense will come around and the rest of the AL east looks average at best. A wild card berth is a good place to be in October. The expectations are not as grand. The pressure is less. Perhaps this is equally as good a fit for the Yankees as is Roger Clemens. If not this could be, ” The Year.”

With the recent Clemens signing and the upcoming Subway series, the hatred toward the Yankees seems to be out in full force!

From the perspective of a former Yankees fan and current Met fan, this “rivalry” seems absolutely ridiculous, and something I don’t really understand. Not only are the Yankees are in a different league, but they should be of no concern to the Mets or really any national league team until at least October, and that is assuming the Yankees are there.

I don’t like the Yankees but I certainly don’t hate them. Maybe it’s because I used to be a big fan of theirs. Maybe its because I’m just a teenager. But I have to wonder why most Met fans hate the Yankees when who they really should hate is Atlanta. Although they do hate the Braves too, most of the time I think they would rather sweep the Yankees then the Braves, their division rivals–the rivalry that actually counts.

It’s almost like an inferiority complex, but why? The Mets are nine games over .500 for god’s sake; they seem to have the better pitching staff, better chemistry, maybe even a better manager and coaching staff than the Yankees, they made it farther into the playoffs last season—all accomplishments to be proud of, and as a Mets fan, I AM proud of this team—so why all the jealousy and resentment?

A friend of mine, a Mets fan, recently said he hated the Yankees because growing up in the Bronx he got a lot of abuse – and since the Mets weren’t very good when he grew up in the 90s, he just developed a hatred for the Yankees and their fans. I’ve also heard a lot of baseball fans–Mets fans and otherwise–repulsed by the display with which Clemens’ return was announced at the game last Sunday. The Yankees definitely milked that announcement for as much publicity as they could get from it–but wouldn’t the Mets, and most other teams have done the same?

Maybe a small part of the hatred is also things like the Yes Network’s slogans the last few years. ‘Where players become legends’ is particularly annoying to me. Not everyone who player for them is or will be a legend. And the print media may also have a role. As we all know, everything is on a bigger scale in New York for the Mets AND the Yankees but does the media blow up what the Yankees do and minimize or ignore what the Mets do — or is that just the perception of many Mets fans?

In writing this I think it bugs me more then I originally thought. I’m relatively new to liking the Mets, and maybe after a few more years, it’ll grate my nerves more. I really hope not. Baseball is a great sport, slow and tedious to those who aren’t fans but excited and sometimes heart-wrenching to the ones who are. I suppose, it’s like a petty sibling rivalry and the Mets are the little brother. Always have been, right? Well, get used to it. It’s been that way for years and I strongly doubt it’s changing anytime soon. The Yankees have been around way longer. Is it really so usual that they are seemingly more popular team? So let the rivalry go and may the best team win. It’s a big town, I’m sure it’s big enough for the both of them.

Comment Here

I was a little bored and insomniac, so I decided to address an issue i came across on another board, that I’ve never discussed in detail on here before.

The cliche Kobe v. M.J. topic. I felt a need to address it because the “Kobe is catching MJ” bandwagon has been picking up steam the last few years, despite 1st round exits in the playoffs for the Lakers without the Shaq-attack manning the middle.

To be blunt, Kobe is in no way, shape, or form even CLOSE to the talent that MJ was. Not even comparable, at all, sorry, unless you’re an imbecile, or throwing it out there purely for shits and giggles, like Jamelle Hill did on ESPN.

To be sure, Kobe is not even a level below Jordan, which is the level occupied by guys like Magic, Bird, Kareem, Wilt, etc…he is a FEW levels below, and it is absolutely idiotic to say he is remotely as good of a talent as MJ.

Just as strongly as Gregg likes to point out that the non-knowledgeable baseball fan will foolishly look at batting average as a dispositive statistic, so too do non-knowledgeable basketball fans look at the scoring average of post-shaq Kobe.

I am not a big stat guy, and these are stats that I’m listing are merely to reflect what I’ve observed to be true with my own eyes.

Offense: alot of people say Kobe has everything Jordan had in his “repertoire.” Newsflash: basketball isn’t a game about “repertoires.” These uniformed fans are probably used to playing World of Warcraft or Pokemon, but the truth is, Jordan was FAR more dominant offensively

Check out Shooting Percentage:
Jordan shot a CAREER .497, Kobe shoots a Career .453. that is a HUGE margin, almost 4% points higher. That translates to roughly 200 more MISSED shots over a season. Kobe scored 35 ppg shootings 45% in 05/06…Jordan scored 35 while shooting a ridiculous .535. Also, Jordan’s career shooting percentage is bogged down slighly by his 2 years on the Wizards. In his prime, MJ NEVER shot below .465 over a season, except in his comeback season from baseball when he played only 17 games, and as 5 full seasons where he shot WELL over .500, and was close to .500 every other season.

Kobe has never been even CLOSE to shooting .500, and since shaq left town, he’s had shooting percentage of .438, .433, .450, and .463, respectively.

Jordan: 10 scorings titles
Kobe: 1 scoring title

“Negative” plays
Beside his missed FG attempts, Kobe has a career 2.91 average turnovers per game, compared to MJ’s 2.71. That may not seem like alot at first, but turnovers are huge, and any small numerical difference is actually alot.
In their prime years, Kobe averages a FULL turnover more than MJ.
Kobe v. MJ, TOs, and year: 3.3/2006-7 v. 2.2/1997-8, 3.1/2005-6 v. 2.02/1996-7, 4.09/2004-5 v. 2.4/1996-6

Defense
This one isnt even comparable, but i’ll do it anyway:
MJ: Career Steals per game: 2.35
Kobe: Career Steals per game: 1.5
Additionally, MJ has SIX seasons where he averages more than 2.7 steals per game(!!), Kobe only has ONE season where he averages more than 2 for a season, at 2.2 in 2002-3

Blocks:
MJ has a ridiculous career average of .83 blocks per game, very high for a guard, and has 4 seasons where he averaged more than 1 per game, including 1.5 in ‘85/’86, and 1.6 the next season. Kobe averages .6 per game and has one season where he averaged more than 1 per game, in a season where the stat is arguably skewed because he only played 50 games.

Also, MJ was defensive player of the year once, and was named to the First team all defense NINE times. Kobe has four defensive first team awards, impressive but not comparable.

Championships:
Jordan has 6, Kobe has 3…But Jordan has SIX finals MVP’s…Kobe has ZERO. Comparing Kobe’s 3 to any of Jordan’s 3 would be almost like comparing Trent Dilfer’s ring to Peyton Manning’s.

Clutch shots:
Nuff’ Said:

The New York Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox, never have two teams generated more media hype, or fan rivalry in American sports history. That statement, in itself, sounds very egotistical and biased coming from a New York Yankee baseball fanatic like myself. Truth be told, this stuff just gets the old blood flowing, even this early into the season. It’s April 20th and, besides the weather, it feels like October baseball.

These two teams have been competitive as siblings for the past several seasons, hell the last eighty plus seasons.. This year seems to be following that same pattern. Almost always though, the results of their rivalry made the Yankees appear to be the older wiser big brother.

What better pitching match up could a Sox and Yankee fan expect in the first game than Curt Schilling facing Any Pettitte. These two seasoned veterans handle pressure with the confidence of a certain NYC Mayor during a city crisis, with leadership and determination.

Both teams have good offenses with the edge going New York’s way. I say this because with the loss of Sheffield the Yankee hitters are taking a more situational approach to the game. The injury to Sheffield last year was a blessing to this Yankee team. It forced them to play more of an aggressive type of offensive game and it paid off. When Sheffield returned they looked like that “wait for the three run homer offense” once again, and that wasn’t working. Replacing Sheffiled’s bat with Abreu’s changed this lineup to a more consistent situational hitting one and this one works. When Hideki Matsui returns from the DL the Yankee lineup is obscenely loaded with good hitters. Sidebar…(the Mets offense is equally as obscene) but I digress; we are talking Yankee Red Sox here.

One last thing on Yankee offense, Jorge Posada just seems to get better with age. His hitting is to all fields from both sides of the plate. Jorge will make a formidable DH when his catching days are over.

The Red Sox offense centers around Ortiz and Ramirez and has been bolstered by the addition of J.D. Drew. Drew has gotten off to a very good start. That part of the line up could produce up to 380 to 400 RBI’s at years end. Scary.

Pitching, at this particular time, seems to be heavily in the favor of the Red Sox. This is in part to the Yaankees having four starters on the DL (Wang, Mussina, Pavano and Rasner). The Red Sox starters have been formidable, to say the least. Schilling, Matsuzaka and Beckett all pitched well, even Wakefeild has had a decent start; their combined ERA is 2.09.

I have got to give New York the advantage in the middle relief department in the bullpen. The closers, (Rivera NY, Papelbon Bos.) at this time, cancel each other out, although Papelbon has four saves and Rivera none.

We never know what lies ahead in life, so enjoying the moment is essential and I truly recommend it. Right now I am not going to worry if Alex Rodriguez opts out of his contract at years end. Alex is here right now. I will ride the current wave of majestic performance he is displaying, knowing this might not happen again in my lifetime. Watching him hit right now is a feeling of provocative anticipation. The past is the past, so now this is fun.

So, I am treating this weekend like a playoff weekend just because it has been a long winter and the atmosphere is there. Enjoy, and guess what? We get to do it next weekend again and at home. Priceless.

Judging by the amount of injuries and lack of post season fight this New York Yankee team has displayed in the past two seasons It is definitely time for a managerial change for the New York Yankees. That last statement exceeded my self-imposed allotment of twenty two words per sentence. That just goes to show you how frustrated and tired I am with Joe and his laid back approach to managing.

The Yankees have once again gotten off to a slow start. I guess we can also blame the atrocious weather conditions across the country for this sub-par showing. Why not, Joe does, but yet the Mets continue to play well in equally poor weather. Can you guess where I am going with this?

Look across town and you will see a manager who does not take poor or lackadaisical play lightly. Willy Randolph will let his players know when he sees things that are not to his liking. The Met players will run through a wall for Randolph and their on field play shows it.

Joe’s decision to go with a three headed first baseman is a signal that he is showing signs of dementia. This move has created a logjam at first base and will cost the team a much needed roster spot. By electing to nurture this three headed sinkhole, and go with twelve pitchers, Joe leaves himself short handed with position players. This has already been obvious regarding the injury plagued start of the season.

Johnny Damon had a calf muscle strain and Hideki Matsui has a hamstring issue that has put him on the disabled list. This transformed into playing Miguel Cairo in left field for a couple of games. Cairo is a utility infielder and played four games in the outfield last season. This is the New York Yankees for God’s sake. The highest pay-rolled team in baseball. Miguel Cairo, Josh Phelps, Doug Mientkiewicz manning two power positions for the highest paid team in baseball? This is like Having a Bentley and letting your wife use it to pick up groceries.

The Yankee defense has been nothing short of frightening. Derek Jeter’s weakness to cover ground up the middle, and to his left, has always been his Achilles heel. Now his inaccurate throwing to first base is being exposed. Tino Martinez and Jason Giambi were great at making that scoop play at first base and saving Jeter a ton of errors. With Josh Phelps now playing some games at first base it is evident that The Captain will long for days past. There goes that Gold Glove Award.

A-Rod, at third base, has shown signs early that he has more agility at the hot corner, but still is a defensive question mark.

Robinson Cano, at second base, makes the hard plays look easy, and at times the easy plays look hard.

Hideki Matsui, in left field, has looked less than stellar defensively as time goes on.

Johnny Damon, in center field, covers adequate ground but he throws like I do left handed and I am right handed.

Bobby Abreu, in left field, is not the most graceful or fluid of players to play that position. Sometimes, (as in recently) he has shown his Reggie Jackson “Iron Glove” impersonation. Not pretty.

Combine this with a very shaky (so far) and injured starting pitching staff and the formula looks bad for this year’s Yankee team.

If there is a positive and a strength to this team it is their offense and bullpen. Somehow, between Joe Torre’s ability to mismanage and over use his bullpen this could turn into another weak link.

The offense will be solid for the regular season. If the Yankees make the playoffs, and that is not a given this year, good opposing pitching will shut them down again.

Although the Yankees have improved themselves in the off season with a younger farm system and pitching staff, that is not enough. Baltimore, Toronto and even the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have improved significantly. They are all good offensive teams and Baltimore and Toronto have a decent bullpen. Sound familiar?

The American League East is turning into a cloned division, with the exception of Tampa Bay at least. They will beat up on one another and Boston could open up a good lead by June.

The Red Sox, to me, seem to have an upper hand on the division. Good Starting pitching, the usual decent offense, and Jonathan Papelbon as the closer, this will be the team to beat. There, I said it, as painful as it is.

Injuries always play an important role and that could dictate who survives.

Pitching and defense win titles and the Yankees are falling short once again in that department.

This will be Joe Torre’s last stand.

With injuries throughout MLB appearing to coincide with the unusual weather patterns this spring, the New York Yankees are on familiar turf. After all, it was a year ago that the same injury plague descended on the Bronx. The difference this year is that, so far, none of these injuries appear to be season or career ending.

The Yankees can probably count on right-handers Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina and Jeff Karstens to return and contribute quality innings.

Carl Pavano, on the other hand, is as fragile as a mobile home in a trailer park during a hurricane. He is also becoming that predictable. (I just had to say that because the thought was lurking there in the frontal part of my brain). The problem really is his reliance and durability. This latest injury, to the area around his elbow, appeared to be minor last week, but this week may be more tenuous. Hopefully it is an injury of fatigue related to not pitching competitively in the last year and a half. Stay tuned.

The Yankees biggest concern going into the season was their starting pitching. On paper it looked formidable to pretty darn good. There were veterans’ and a Cy Young runner up to take the mound every four or five days. The return of Andy Pettitte was a great acquisition. Fill that out with a couple of young semi tested prospects and hope springs eternal. Unfortunately the questions concerning age, injuries and experience, early on, are becoming issues of reality.

This week the Yankees face two very good offensives. Cleveland and the Red Sox. To put it into missionary terms, pitching wise, the Yankees could be horizontally violated several times in the next six days. The rotation looks rather adolescent with Chase Wright, Kei Igawa, Darrell Rasner, Andy (The Milf Cougar) Pettitte and Jeff Karstens to pitch these six games. Meanwhile, the schedule has the Red Sox throwing Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka at the Yankees The onus is on the Yankee offence to act like knights protecting the chastity of their loved ones.

The tide is changing and the future is rapidly descending on the Bronx. What I like is the Yankees will now be forced into giving some of their young arms major league experience. It is early in the season allowing Cashman and Torre to get a feeling for quality moves, if needed, later on. This is how Brian Cashman has set up his system. Not bad in my book, plenty of young resources and flexibility. No hostage situation here.

As far as Philip Hughes coming up to the big club, he is not ready and will be best served pitching in AAA, hopefully the Yankees will not pop his cherry too early. As Ari Gold says “ we may be whores but we are not pimps.” Please Brian, no pimping allowed.

Now about that Clemens guy…..

I thought with all the silly Doug Mientkiewicz debates going on, I would put together some numbers from what is considered by many to be the greatest dynasty of all time (when you factor in Free Agency, Wild Card, expanded rosters, etc). Lets have a little fun, shall we?

For our little study, please note all numbers are formated as follows: AB’s AVG/HR,/RBI  OBP/SLG

1996 Yankees (How this team didn’t core 1500 runs is beyond me)

Starting 3B – Wade Boggs                 – 501  .311 2 41 .389/.389
Starting Catcher – Joe Girardi            – 422  .294 2 45  .346/.374
Starting DH – Ruben Sierra                – 360  .258 11 52  .327/.403

1998 Yankees

Starting LF – Chad Curtis                  – 456 .243 10 56 .355/.360
Starting DH – Darryl Strawberry        – 295 .247 24 57  .354/.542

1999 Yankees (best OF in the majors thanks to this sick platoon)

Starting LF – Chad Curtis                   – 195 .262 5 24  .398/.369
Ricky Ledee                   – 250 .276 9 40   .346/.476
Starting DH – Chili Davis                   – 476 .269 19 78 .366/.445

2000 Yankees (Cano has a lot of work to do if he wishes to match Knobbie’s ‘00 season)

Starting 2B – Chuck Knoblauch           – 400 .282 5 26  .366/.385
Starting 3B – Scott Brosius                 – 470 .230 16 64   .299/.374
Starting LF – Ricky Ledee                   – 191 .241 7 31  .332/.419
Shane Spencer               – 248 .282 9 40  .330/.460

Clearly, without question, these numbers prove it is an absolute necessity to have a huge bat at each position in order to win a championship. Clearly if the Yankees don’t win in ‘07, it won’t be the starting pitching or bullpens fault, it will most obviously be because Doug Mientkiewicz is hitting 9th in the lineup.

Another season, another NCAA tournament appearance for the storied program of Duke. Teams have felt the power of Duke before, but in recent history, the Devils have under achieved. Getting swept by their bitter rival North Carolina for the first time since 1996, losing in the first round in the ACC tournament, then the icing on the cake, losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament to the number 11 seed Virginia CommonWealth. The game wasn’t a blow out by any means, but they couldn’t hold VCU down. Eric Maynor hit the dagger jumper with 1.8 seconds left. That wasn’t what I was thinking about after the Blue Devils went down 79-77, I only thought of two words, Christian Laettner. To his credit Greg Paulus played the game of his life. Scoring a career high 25 points. Josh McRoberts played his heart out as well to, Scoring 22 points and ripping down 12 rebounds. You can’t stress it enough, if you can’t make your free throws, you can’t win games. Duke shot only 20-32 from the charity stripe.

Duke ended its season with a 4 game losing streak, having an overall record of 22-10. I even had Duke winning of VCU, thinking that they could turn it around on the big stage. Not saying they could get past the second round even. Everyone can sit around and talk about the steady decline of this program, but look who they lost. Two HUGE players on that team, J.J. Redick and Sheldon Williams. Two players that could carry the load on any given night, and break your heart with the flick of a wrist or with a powerful throwdown. Getting to the NCAA tournament every year since 1996, Duke is still considered dangerous and with experience this year, They might be able to turn things around next year. Many young players are still on that roster, not only are they young but they are very talented.

At the end of this season for the Blue Devils, all you can say is, if the ball had just bounced this way, or if they had just done this. Could’ve, Would’ve, Should’ve just won’t do it in this high paced, no room for error environment that we call college basketball. This is truly a league where ANY team can win on any given day. If you don’t believe it, look at George Mason last year. Wait who?! Yes, I said George Mason that beat Uconn and North Carolina on their way to the Final Four. In the end, until Duke can get it together and strike fear into other teams like it used to, Duke’s Wealth Is Not So Common