Yeah it was a shit sandwich.

It's April and we showed some real signs of fight in a tough environment with less than ideal circumstances.  Can this team battle?  Yes.  Enough to win?  I'm not so sure.  But I like this team better than any since '01.

Girardi should not be fired for a .500 start with our best player, second best pitcher, and our second best reliever hurt.  Those days were over a long time ago.

Baseball isn't football guys.  There are 162 games not 16.  Sometimes in this game adversity breeds character and a team finds strength in the gritty determination that they are better than people think. 

Am I ready for some A-Rod bullshit?  Yes bring back the narrcicist.  Screw the baggage.

Am I ready for Melky's detention to end?  Yes and if B.G. keeps sucking let's give Austin Jackson a shot. 

Do I want Joba back in the bullpen like Mike Francesa and many others did; calling it the second coming of Goose?  No.  If this series taught us anything, it was that this kid has too much fire to waste on one or two innings a game.  He showed up with no stuff and found a way to get a win ( even if we blew it ).

The easy years are long gone.  They were great.  This is a new team; to me it feels like a new team.  The time for booing C.C., Wang, or A-Rod when he gets back because they don't crush everybody is over.  Boo the empty seats instead.

I visited the stadium for the first time today with high hopes.  The afternoon was perfect for baseball.  The new park exceeded my expectations.

I took my seat in the upper-deck and felt giddy.  My seat's view was as good as the old mezzanine.  All around me the crowd was in good spirits.

But there were creeping signs of shadows I should have heeded.  Coming in on the 4 train, I caught a glimpse of the old Stadium's field.  It was dry , brown, and dead.  Walking into the gates, I couldn't stop looking back at the old place.  I stopped before going in because I was captivated by the ghostly sight.  I looked around.  No one else was giving it a second look.  It was like it was already demolished.

Entering into the new Stadium all was forgotten.  It really is the best balance between function and form of any sports facility I'd ever been in, or even imagined.  What shadow?

Not long after I was in my seat I heard the gripes, and they came from all sides.  The seats behind home plate that cost the tears of our newly poor country were empty.  People were angry even in their first euphoric experience in this glorious new park that in so many ways payed more attention to them then the other park ever did.  And the bad feelings didn't go away even after Wang's scoreless first, and Tex's homer.  "Look at that " they said.  "How can they let that happen".  Those damn seats.

I stayed longer then the game deserved and walked around exploring the the new home for my favorite team.  You can go to the Mohegan Sports Bar in center and watch the game in style.  The causeways are so massive you can watch the game on field level without feeling like your back on the train.  You can even take your beer outside at Hard Rock and smoke a stoogie and get back inside.  It is an incredible stadium.

But there are no memories.  Ruth doesn't live there.  And the ball flies out like it was Citizens Bank Park.  I still enjoyed myself; kind of like I would at a wake.

So in trying to figure out what I felt about such a conflicted emotional experience, I ended up with a surprise: a haiku.  Here it is and feel free to give me the full Abu Ghraib for it. 

                                          First game at the park

                                 Doppelgangers take the mound

                                         Ghosts across the street

I've been excited.  I've got to admit I've been excited. 

The Yanks are throwing weight around and it's striking a nostalgic chord.

But I looked at A.J.'s stats on baseball-reference.com, and got fucked in the ear.

IP:221.3

H:211

R:109

ER:100

Are those real numbers, I asked myself?  Or another cruel hoax of free-agencies past?

He also walked 86 guys.  At least it's not a hundred.

I am aware of Bill James's arguments against the impact of batting order.  I believe it has a lot of validity.  But I also believe that not everything can be represented by stats.

Without getting into speculation why, Johnny's number's have been falling even before his ill-advised signing with the Yanks. 

I'll also refrain from commenting on Damon's desire, except to say that his "demeanor" has been much more subdued in his NY tenure, as opposed to his time with Boston, Oakland, and KC.  I know "joy" is not quantifiable, but my impression is he has a lot less of it.

It's early, so his numbers for this year fall into the "small sample" arena for stat crunchers.  But regardless of size, they aren't good.  His numbers last year were his worst, almost across the board, in a full decade( under 100 runs, under 150 hits are the two stats that stand out to me). 

Johnny's poor performance at the plate has flown under the radar since he's been in the Bronx.  His fielding garnered the most criticism and a proper on-field response.  It's time to apply the same scrutiny to Johnny's hitting. 

I'd like to see Melky in the lead off spot.  I heistate to say it, because I don't have the stats to back it up, but Melky gets around on the fastball much better than Johnny at this point.  Damon's shoulder issues, that killed his throwing arm, seem to have robbed him of his bat speed as well. 

So I recently discovered this site:  http://www.whatifsports.com.

I'm a late-comer, as it has been around since 1999.  It's a simulation league that allows you to draft a team of players from the 1880's to the 2007 season, and then play against other people's teams.  It's a lot of fun and addictive as hell.

They have an exhibition season of ten games that is free and a full 162 game season with more options for $12.  I've played about ten exhibition seasons, and they're great.

I also am just finishing up my first full season, and believe me it is well worth the 12 bucks.  There are twenty-four teams separated into two leagues, and six divisions.  The six division winners get the added bonus of playoff games.

I just qualified for the playoffs with a team featuring a 3-4 of 1922 Ruth, 1960 Mantle, and 1983 Goose pitching the 8th inning for me (just to name some Yankees on my team).

I'm bothering to post all this because in about two weeks I'm going to play another full season ( did I mention It's addictive?), and there's the options to invite others.  So I thought why not throw it out to all the P.A. baseball fanatics out there and see if anybody's interested.

And just so you know, I'm in no way associated with this site.  I read about it in a Bill Simmons column ( he's an avid player ).

So if anybody's interested, I 'd suggest to try it out for free and see if it's for you, and if you're interested let me know and I can send you an invite. 

Here's the link again:   http://www.whatifsports.com 

Here's a link to an excerpt of Canseco's new book concerning A-Rod.

http://deadspin.com/372153/the-excerpts-from-vindicated-about-alex-rodriguez

This is just bizarre.  Up until now, Canseco's allegations about his fellow teammates have been spot on, but this one feels so fabricated.  Then again, I never thought that one of his pool parties would be of Congressional interest.  Go figure.

Hope this story doesn't bother the MVP too much this season.

So Cashman and his new best buddy Theo Epstein appeared at a University in New Jersey last week to tell everybody how great they are.  Halfway through Cashman decides it's time to open up about Bernie Williams and Joe Torre.  He called Bernie "terrible" in '05 and that his music career was a distraction from his play on the field.  He went on to rip Torre's decision to play Williams so much in'06 when there were, in his words, better players available.

I've never been a Cashman fan.  I think he's shown very little skill as a talent evaluator in the signature trades he's given credit for (Weaver for Ted Lilly, signing Javier Vasquez instead of Schilling, etc...), but this is the last straw.  The first thing that came to mind was Freddo and Moe Green from "The Godfather".  Cashman's on stage killing two all time great Yankees with the enemy Theo Egg-sucker right beside him nodding smugly like a Sith.  What was it that Michael tells Freddo "don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again", right?  Cashman showed his true colors here; he's more loyal to the fraternity of GMs than the Yankees.  I think it's time to send Cashman out fishing on the lake

As was discussed in recent game threads, the Yanks struggle against unfamiliar pitchers.  The collapse of the batting order against the young arms of The Marlins in '03 is the most glaring example.  But other examples are out there, some more relevant than others: E. Santana '05 game five.  This year's version of the syndrome is lurking in the form of C.C. Sabathia.

Most posters here are savvy enough to know the kind of pitcher C.C. has become.  He's gotten better every year to the point he's a top contender for this years' CY Young.  He might even be the only legitimate 300 win candidate of his generation.  But the most important fact is that C.C Sabathia hasn't faced the Yankees since 2004.

This year C.C. has faced Johan Santana and Justin Verlander three times each.  Sabathia outpitched Verlander twice and Santana all three times.  He's spent the last three years improving to the point that he's the best pitcher head to head in his division, and the Yanks haven't seen him once.  Oh yeah, he also beat the Angels both times he faced them this year and in his only appearance against Boston lost 1-0 to Dice -K.

On the bright side, the Yanks have seemingly been in the Indians head.  We beat Carmona, an unfamiliar pitcher, the only time we faced him this year.  The way the Yanks lineup is churning since all the left-handed bats have come alive it looks like nothing short of a rotation of Seaver, Koufax, Gibson, and Jack Morris could shut them down.

That being said, The new playoff set-up favoring the team with the best record could allow a situation where C.C. could face the Yanks in a divisional series twice as a starter and once in relief ala Randy in 1995, or in a league series three times as a starter ala Schilling in 2000.  Either prospect could be grim for the Yanks.  On top of that the Indians have picked up Kenney Lofton since we played them this year.  As evidenced from his pilling on Torre during Sheff-gate earlier this year, Lofton would LOVE to stick it to the Yanks.

In the euphoria of taking 5 of 6 from the Sux, I hate to be a downer.  But before we start cheering for the Indians to overtake the Angels, we might want to reexamine what that really means.

Three games with Oakland.  Four games with Minnesota.  And finally three games with Scoissa's Angels.

First things first of course and the Yanks annoying habit of only playing to the level of their opponent    needs to stop in time to take these last two games against one of the worst run franchises in baseball.

I think it's obvious that part of Joe's early success here was based on his partnership with Zim and Mel.  There was notable strategy loss after Zim's departure.  Even more pronounced has been the collapse of the staff under Guidry, who seems to get a free pass.  Coaching at it's core is getting the most out of people especially when they don't want to give it.  With cool customers Ron, Don, and Joe (and Jeter) who's going work hard to confront these problems with creativity and passion?

You need only look to the right to realize the importance of this home stand.  Before they get to the Angels they could make a statement.  Hell, best case they could leapfrog both teams in the WC standings.  The Yanks, I hope, will realize this and "play up to" Oak. and Min., but the possibility is always there that they look ahead to Scoissa's Angels and shit the bed against one, or both of these teams.  Or even worse start planning their All-Star break vacations a little early.

The Yanks currently have a 7/11 deficit.  Are they gonna play it cool and "let the game come to them", or are they honestly going to confront themselves in the mirror and play like it matters?

I've been waiting for a phone call since 8:30 this morning, hence the dual diaries.

But I found this pretty interesting and in some cases mildly revealing.

Baseball-Reference.com lists a multiple stat comparisons for most players.  The most accurate for active players being "Similar Batters through Age X"; X being current age for active players and limit for historical comparison.  These stats are for batting only and don't take into account position.

Without further ado:

Posada = Carlton Fisk
Giambi = Mo Vaughn
Mienky = Sid Bream
Cano = Joe Mauer  (Canos' was very interesting in that out of the top 5 matches 4 were catchers.  And the second and third match was Bill Dickey, and Yogi Berra respectivly.  Two years isn't much to go on but still...)
Jeter = Roberto Alomar
A-Rod = Griffey Jr.
Matsui = Raul Ibanez
Abreu = Bernie Williams (sacrilegious)
Damon = Cesar Cedeno  ( unlike most current players Damons' matches were almost all historical)

Moose = Juan Marichal
Pettitte = Moose
Clemons = Tom Seaver ( I'd take Seaver any day)
Wang = Oral Hildebrand (he debuted in the '20's.  Wang even more than Damon had Histoeical comparisons, most having their debut before '41.)
Mo = Trevor Hoffman

The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that the Sox are interested.  Here's the posting from S.I.'s website: "A rumor that surfaced less than two weeks ago, which had the White Sox exploring a deal that would send Jermaine Dye to the Yankees for struggling outfielder Bobby Abreu, has started to take on some life, according to one Sox source close to the situation. Not only because Abreu is a good friend of Ozzie Guillen's but also because the Sox believe Abreu is a slow starter and his best baseball this season is ahead of him."

Dye's put up some good numbers the past year and a half or so, but he's been injury prone since he fouled a pitch off and broke his leg in the '01 Divisional series against the Yanks (a huge reason why the Yanks were able to come back in that series).  

In a lot of ways, he has the same kind of risk reward as Helton.  Although his contract, like Abreus' ends after this year.

This trade makes sense for the Sox, who have power but low OBP.  The Yankees, I'm not so sure.  The fact that this trade would give us three '01 Oakland A's in the starting lineup gives me pause:bad karma.

is to send Farnsworth to Atlanta, where he had great success, and has max value for rookie catcher first baseman Jarrod Saltalamacchia ( AVG .313 | HR 1 | RBI 5  | OBP .405 | SLG .438)  .  Then we can platoon Posada and Salty, great nickname by the way, at catcher AND FIRST.  Posada needs to move there anyway and this would be a great trade for everybody.  Atlanta doesn't need him as they already have McCann and they lost their number 1 set-up man Mike Gonzalez.  The Yanks would be set at catcher and first base for the next 5 years!