SB Nation User Blog: nyyfaninlaaland

Times have changed in Tampa

nyyfaninlaaland — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:42:20 -0000

Amazing!

Jake McGee is scheduled for Tommy John surgery and nary a word. Folks are actually talking about today's games. Last year at this time this would have been a news flash of the highest order. I'm expecting it will be shortly knowing RJ, but in one sense it's a very positve sign of the times for you all that this isn't topic #1. Nice when it isn't just about prospects and the future isn't it.

How about a closest to the win "contest"?

nyyfaninlaaland — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:19:58 -0000

Okay, I guess we can play this for pride and prescience.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Yeah, in the immortal words of Carl in Caddyshack, "There won't be any money in it, but on your deathbed you'll have true contentment", or something like that.

Guesses for wins in '08 for the Rays of Tampa? With the ad cash rolling in perhaps the management can toss up a little something for closest - you won't get anything from me. Or we can just play for what matters most after all - pride.

I'll get this party started with a low ball shot to get everybody riled up and participating. Hey, it's still a best ever!

75 wins.

Update on Tampa's favorite Yankee

nyyfaninlaaland — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:23:14 -0000

Had to share this - hope you can find a way to appreciate it. From yankees.com

Duncan earns Dawson Award
Selected as top Yankees rookie in Spring Training

Link to whole story below - including short comment on The Slide - but the finish was the best:

"In conjunction with the award, Duncan received an engraved Burberry watch from William Barthman Jewelers.

"I always need a new watch," Duncan said. "It's funny. You can joke around and say, 'Some people say Spring Training doesn't mean anything.' Well, now it means a watch to me." "

People in NY just love this guy - he's like our Scooby-Doo... or maybe Shaggy. Goofy, but loveable. Or Matthew Lillard (again, Shaggy?) in that movie about the Cape Cod League with Freddie Prinze Jr. ... and Jessica Biel! Summer Catch - thanks Google.

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080327&content_id=2462020&vkey=spt2008 news&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy

3500 Pitches a Warning Sign

nyyfaninlaaland — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:21:07 -0000

Don't know if any here saw this but an interesting article on total pitch count (perhaps a truer measure of arm stress) vs. IP impact on performance / health of starters. The link:

http://kobayashibaseball.blogspot.com/2008/02/3500-club.html

Maybe an explanation for Kaz's issues - he was 1 of 8 to exceed this mark in '07.

The author talks of how often this holds from '05 on. I looked back to '00 and it's still a strong correlation - a surprisingly few exceptions of course, and some pitchers have recovered their performance after getting back under the level. Seems to me this makes more intuitive sense than just going by IP counts.

Pillsbury or Ball Four?

nyyfaninlaaland — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:17:23 -0000

Since it appears to be among the last issues left, what's the opinion consensus here - Dohmann or Balfour? Balfour's got the ST performance edge, Dohmann the edge from '07 and the out of options thing playing for him.

The reserve IF seems Johnson. Have to make a roster move to elevate Cannizaro, and it seems Zobrist's job again once he's healthy. Hinske seems a certain add, Backup C is DeFelice's to lose, no? Will require another roster move to keep both - who goes? Perhaps a Dohmann waiver? Orvella or Birkins to the 60 day? I'd have just waived Orvella - since he's hurt he'd likely clear, but that could be against the rules. And where in the world is Juan Salas?

WW IV tonight. Time to stoke the embers.

nyyfaninlaaland — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:18:31 -0000

Well they're back at it tonight. Yanks conspire to dodge bullets - and Elliot Johnson - again (or wuss out if you prefer) by pitching Rasner and letting Wang pitch a AAA game. They've still got plenty of tacklers - er, minor league players - on the roster and available for the late innings and/or fireworks.

Do they have those in Tampa at Friday night games? Guess not, since the Rays play in a dome.

Oh and attached for your viewing pleasure, a link to a sequence of photos of Shelly Duncan, Borderline Criminal (he's had business cards made up), on a headfirst dive into home with the plate blocked by the Toronto (same team against whom he slid hard into 2B and kicked the SS's glove and the ball into LF last season) catcher in Spring Training where he...

extends his left hand to touch home plate and rolls away. Scored the run. Yanks won, but not on this play alone.

Good, hard, winning baseball play.

Disclaimer: No catchers were harmed in this photographic sequence.

http://emedia.thetimes-tribune.com/Blogs/SWBYankees/tabid/552/Default.aspx

It's gonna be fun talking baseball with you all this season. Hope you see the tongue firmly placed in cheek. Have fun at the game, your local watering hole or wherever. It's Friday Night Baseball in Tampa!

Thoughts on Saturday - Act 3 - from the other side

nyyfaninlaaland — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:06:07 -0000

Couple of considerations for round 3 on Saturday when Yanks, Rays meet again in Tampa.

Both are split squading that day, so neither will have all their starters present. I'd expect Girardi will have Duncan at the other game, to cool things down. If you think that's a dodge, that's your right.

On Girardi's approach to Duncan, this from Pete Abe at LoHud.com this AM:

"Joe Girardi said yesterday that if he saw a replay that showed what Shelley Duncan did was dirty, he would have a meeting with him.

Girardi and Duncan met this morning.

Duncan said later he didn't want to talk about the meeting. Let's see, 2 + 2 ...

"We talked," Duncan said. "Whenever you have private conversations with people you like to keep it between them."

Duncan said he saw the replay. "When you do something, it never looks the same as what you thought you did," he said. "So it didn't look the same as what I thought I did."

Asked whether he would do the same thing again, Duncan paused. "A lot of time situations don't repeat themselves. ... When you have a walk with the manager he's going to give you things to learn from that's right or wrong, whatever his viewpoint is. That's what we talked about." "

I other news, the Yanks announced Igawa will start against the Rays. When (with him it may not be an if, regardless of context) he hits a batter, try to keep this in mind, also from LoHud today:

"Kei Igawa threw a bullpen before the game and wanted somebody to stand at the plate and pose as a batter.

His interpreter, Yohei Fukuda, volunteered.

You can guess what happened. Yes, Igawa hit him with a pitch."

Maybe the Yanks will rethink that plan. But it's his time to pitch. Problem is he tends to be wild high. And low. And in. And away. Hope your guys know that - they have seen him before. Again, interpret as you will.

Phillips loves Delmon!

nyyfaninlaaland — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:36:17 -0000

Guess he's likes the bad boys.

Did anyone see Steve Phillips on ESPN's 2 hour Baseball Tonight show pick Delmon as his player to watch in the AL Central? Suggested he could hit .300, with 20+ HR's (he could). No Rays slamming in the discussion, in fact no Rays talk that I saw (was flipping between the show and the Honda Classic).

Gammons did suggest the Jays could be a sleeper in the East, and Phillips had the M's beating the Halos in the West. Also a segment on the Sox Yanks rivalry heating up after Hank S's comments about ESPN and the Sox this week - he's already making his dad look subtle. Apparently in response John Henry is sending him a membership card to Red Sox Nation - maybe he'll use it to get Green Monster seats for some friends or a date for his brother. A joke there you all probably won't get. I'm a little worried about those 2 at the helm. As you all know, your owner can be a problem.

Among the player guests were CC Sabathia, Glavine and Smoltz, Lee and Ausmus from 'Stros, Joba. Apparently Joba did a thing with Make A Wish bringing a family to Disney for a few days. Nice to see a very young kid giving of himself - not that he's alone in that. Glavine made an interesting comment about teams taking a power approach to the game, that the rest can be taught. I don't think he completely agrees. I didn't hang in for the team performance projections, maybe catch that on replay.

Place your bets!

nyyfaninlaaland — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:58:07 -0000

Talked about this in a diary below. Confidence here is high about the Rays win prospects.

Well, the betting is again open and you can bet the over / under on Rays wins in 2008. The number is 74 wins. The action is trending strongly towards the over - you have to bet $125 to win $100 if you take the over. For the pessimists among you (is there 1?) $105 wins you $100 on the under. Max bet is $600, so that on the over nets you $500 once win # 75 is in the books. It has to be during this season of course.

From the talk here I'd expect all to be on this investment opportunity like white on rice!

A word of caution: last year the number was 67. You might remember how that came out.

BA has Rays system #1 again

nyyfaninlaaland — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:16:41 -0000

Ran across an article that listed BA's top 10 systems - from Washington Post touting Nats' improvement. Don't want to steal anyone's thunder- sure you'll have more details to come. The link:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/nationalsjournal/2008/01/baseball_america_nats_farm_sys.html

On the same Google search an older - 2005 - interview with Jim Callis touched on how they choose, placing more emphasis on high impact players than depth. Makes sense. The link:

http://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050302105751327&mode=print

Might want to note that AL East rivals Boston and New York were ranked #2 & #5 respectively, so you're not out of the woods just yet!