Now this, from high atop PNC Park
Here’s the view from my seat in the press box as the Yankees and Pirates face off in the first of three games in Pittsburgh. One of the dangers of working in Baltimore is that the press box is really one of the best seats in the house — direct behind home plate and in line of numerous foul balls. It’d take a monster shot to crank one up here to the top of the upper deck … good thing I just got fitted for distance glasses.
Anyway, this is a gorgeous ballpark and here’s the reason why we’ll continue to see Interleague play for years to come. This Yankees vs. Pirates matchup may not mean a whole lot to New Yorkers, other than the whole aspect of celebrating the 1960 World Series, but it is a huge deal here in Pittsburgh.
The Pirates haven’t had a sellout since Opening Day but they’re actually getting demand for standing room only tickets for all three games of this series — Aaron Small was in the area and wanted to drop by, and the best he was able to do through the Bucs’ ticket office was one of those dreaded SRO tickets.
One of the cool things about traveling with a team like the Yankees is that no matter where they go, it is an event. The Yankees’ trip in is one of the days you’d circle on the calendar for the entire ’08 season. It’s also a pretty big day to be a Pittsburgh-area reporter — the crush to get a few minutes of Derek Jeter’s time was immediate and forceful.
Anyway, very briefly, Justin Christian is in left field tonight because neither Johnny Damon (left arch) nor Hideki Matsui (left knee) can be. They selected Christian over Brett Gardner because Christian is hitting at Triple-A (.412 this month) and because the Yankees will see a full slate of left-handed pitchers in their next few games.
Other than that, Kyle Farnsworth is available — the gash is between his pinky and ring fingers, which would be bad news for a changeup artist like Edwar Ramirez, but not necessarily for Farnsworth. More as we go along here.
Bryan Hoch
So old friend Dougie Mientkiewicz can play right field. Who knew?
Darrell Rasner, professional hitter. How ’bout that walk?
Kevin Long did mention a couple of weeks ago that Rasner was the best hitting pitcher on the team. Not the best hitter on the team, though, that’d be sad. Ohlendorf has some pop and Brian Bruney actually was a power-hitter in college.
More on Christian:
http://emedia.thetimes-tribune.com/Blogs/SWBYankeesBlog/tabid/552/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3880/Justin-Christian-called-to-New-York.aspx
Bryan, are the Yankees gonna get Sabathia? and who would they put up for a trade? Hughes?
This leaving bases loaded is getting consistently boring on both occasions with Rasner getting on base, the end result so far 7-1 down. This with The red Sox down 4-1. in the third. In any sport you have to capitalise on chances given
http://theburghblues.mlblogs.com/
Check it out for a PIRATES take on this matchup.
I think it’s safe to say Darrell Rasner may have turned back into a pumpkin. Clearly he has some mechanical issues to work out, which he alluded to after his last start. He hasn’t looked quite right since the Oakland game.
The pirates pitcher was for sure a Yankee fan. All those walks and opportunities he put into our hands. Too bad the Yankees are such die-hard Pirates fans to even take advantage of them!! Why? Why let the them go by unscathed even when they basically gave you runs. How many of the Yankees grew up in Pittsburgh? This whole game was strange and very not MLB standard. That’s AA ball right there…there’s always the next two games to play on a major league level.
Matt cannot argue with you or Abraham about Farnsworthless stats. My question still has been why did this team sign him? He has been like this with the Cubs, the Tigers, the Braves and now the Yankees. Another example of Crashman’s inability to function as a GM. It is also apparent that Rasner is not a reliable starter. Look for the Yankees to make a trade for starting pitching this year. And for God sakes DO NOT get Bronson Arroyo. Checkout his stats tonight. Another absolutely splendid performance by Hawkins tonight (another Cub reject). Great job Crashman. Why is this franchise even considering resigning him?
YANKEES MINOR LEAGUE SCOREBOARD June 24, 2008
Columbus (Nationals) 4
Scranton/WB 2
W: C. Balester (9-3, 4.00); L: A. Horne (2-2, 3.86); SV: B. Sanches (8)
HR: COL: Y. De Caster (8), L. Broadway (7).
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_06_24_colaaa_swbaaa_1&t=g_box&did=milb
Erie (Tigers) 2
Trenton 6
W: P. Coke (5-3, 3.21); L: A. Kown (4-9, 4.95)
HR: TRE: E. Gonzalez (4).
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_06_24_eswaax_treaax_1&t=g_box&did=milb
Daytona (Cubs) 1
Tampa 4
W: M. Dunn (3-3, 4.17); L: G. Johnson (0-1, 7.50); SV: J. Hovis (6)
HR: TAM: A. Perez (3).
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_06_24_dbcafa_tbyafa_1&t=g_box&did=milb
Rome (Braves) 2
Charleston 4
W: C. Heyer (4-0, 1.35); L: Y. Castro (0-5, 6.90); SV: C. Vacek (5)
HR: CHA: B. Laird (7).
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_06_23_romafx_crdafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb
Staten Island 4
Aberdeen (Orioles) 3
W: J. Selenes (2-0, 0.00); L: J. Tamba (0-1, 13.50); SV: P. Venditte (2)
HR: None.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_06_24_staasx_abeasx_1&t=g_box&did=milb
GCLYankees
GCL Phillies 12p
W: T. Cloyd (1-0, 0.00); L: H. Sanchez (0-1, 13.50); SV: J. Ellis (1)
HR: PHL: S. Valle (2).
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_06_24_yanrok_phlrok_1&t=g_box&did=milb
You may also see http://www.yankeesdaily.com for details.
CORRECTION
GCLYankees 1
GCL Phillies 5
this is random, but the yankees need to figure it out that was pathetic, as much as i love the yankees this season is the worst ive seen in a while, seriously losing to the pirates?!?!?!?
Matt I know the answer to my question but all the GM had to do was look at this guy’s overall career stats and what he has done in pressure situations. The stats for Farnsworth that you cite are correct but the most memorable event for him that season was the 3 run shot he gave up in the playoffs helping Houston into the World Series. The guy has been the same everywhere he has been, great potential but a head case. The same for Pavano. I saw Pavano pitch in KC his first season and he looked 40 pounds overweight and got knocked around by a weak Royals team. The Yankees GM ought to be able to distinguish between a one season wonder and a quality pitcher. Perhaps that is asking to much of Crashman. Thus the Yankees are in the situation they are in this season.
I am not very surprised that Rassner is struggeling. He is similar to Small, Chacon Karsten etc. who once in a while hit a nice streak, but in the long run their stuff is just not good enough. They will eventually get hit hard. Rassner has done a great job in April and May, and the Yankees should thank him for that. Unfortunately tha Yanks dont have a logic replacement, so right know he’ll stay put.
The bottom line is that the Yankees are not bound for anything in 2008.. look at the following players.
Damon: To often injured –> Bad
Jeter: Performing below par for his own standards
Abreu: Very hot and then very cold –> you need constant production from the no. 3 hole
Matsui: Too injured like Damon otherwise swing a good bat, but cant play the outfield — > inflexible
Cabrera: No power at all but he’s doing okay for a no. 9 guy
Cano: Still think he will pick it up
A-Rod: Decent job with bat and glove
Giambi: Pleasant surprise
Posada: Need to stay healty
The Bench: Downright awfull – makes it less easy to rest guys like Jeter and A-Rod witch will haunt you in the long run
Starters: Moose, Andy and Joba are good, but after that its so so. Giese will eventually get hit like Rassner, so the Yankees need a solid no. 4.
Bullpen: Aside from Mo.. Hmm let me think… Nothing. Ohlendorf, Farnsworth, Hawkins etc… oh my god!
So look forward to 2009/2010
Still believe Hughes will be good.. remember his age.. 21
Hughes, Joba, Wang, Pettitte plus a no. 5 sounds good.
This year… aint to be
Regarding my previous take on Traber, LISTEN UP. I said we needed a “MR. RIGHT NOW” as in Traber’s numbers for April were what we needed in a left arm (one of the TWO on the staff!) in the pen. He wasn’t SENT DOWN in April, he got hurt. Look at his game log. He pitched for us the whole month. Then his next game was the end of May for SWB, AFTER coming off the DL. Do you think we would have sent down a left hander who was actually doing as good as or better than most of our pen?? THATS what I mean by Mr. Right Now. We don’t have another ML ready left arm for the pen and now we don’t have a left arm IN the pen. In this particular case, mid-season, you HAVE to go with whose ever got the hot arm. Do you think we should have dumped Aaron Small in the middle of his 10-0 run because he had crappy career numbers??? Some of you are really high. You can talk about signing this or trading that. But until that happens you still have games to play.
It would be too much to hope for for Christian to turn into our Ellsbury….. Decent bat with good power and a speedy baserunner and a legitimate SB threat.
RCN I hear ya… you’re right you’ve got to fill the innings up with someone. These kinds of thing crop up during the year and when you don’t have a loaded staff, yeah, you do have to mix and match and infuse whatever ya can, if that’s a ‘hot arm’ from the farm then so be it!
It does seem like every year we have one of those guys!! And it seems like every year we have to have one of ‘those’ guys!
Very interesting read on Cash from that link you sent Robert. Let’s hope that it was George and/or Hank behind some of those awful choices. There’s nothing I’d like more than for Cash to really make his mark for this organization; I can’t think of a better way than to see that ML system ranking of ours climb and then inject what it can for us when it’s ready.
Tough one last night… hope we don’t fall back into a losing streaker…
This performance just brings everything into perspective doesn’t it? The offense sucks, the pitching sucks, the defense sucks, the Yankees suck. We can’t beat an NL team with a losing record throwing a guy with a 6.78 era against us? Just give up already.
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AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHHHA…. That is funny chaz.
I agree Chaz good post.
The Boston Red Sox have 12……that’s twelve…… 9th inning wins this season! Talk about a team that never says die! It makes me want to puke.
Here’s a funny stat:
———————————————————————–
The Red Sox have 20 comeback wins this year and have blown 16 leads this year. The Yankees have 20 comback wins this year, and have only blown 13 leads. LOL.
I stand corrected. I would have sworn I recall him being injured right after Bruney went on the DL.
My apologies.
These guys are a joke….Perhaps Cashman should look elsewhere for work, like maybe Barber College….Or do we need to start TAKING money from these losers when they don’t produce. For the money we pay them, I should be way more impressed. There is no more LOVE OF THE GAME here, it’s all about the almighty $$$ for these guys…Pay them less, they aren’t worth it. I’m am embarrassed to wear the Yankee gear out here….