An Interactive Game: “Surprises”

So as we get ready to reach the ¾ pole (sorry horse racing term…) I invite you to gather around the computer screen, because it’s time to play America’s favorite game here on the blog, “Surprises”.

First let me tell you the rules. My game, my rules. Surprises can be both positive or negative, they are just deviations from the norm or what was expected. So you might say that the Orioles early success was a “Surprise”, although now they are back to normal. Two: Today we look only at the NY Yankee every day players. In another post I will get you to play “Surprises” with the pitching staff but today is the every day grunts. Three: The “Surprise” could be either offense or defense. Four: I will give a list of “Surprises” as I see them in no particular order. You can play by either choosing one of my “Surprises” as the biggest of the year OR nominate one I did not include for consideration. I will tell you my choices of a top one in about a week and will also include readers choices at that time (so remember to sign your comment if you do not use a recognizable profile so I know who you are.

And now, onto my list of NY Yankee Every Day Grunt Surprises:

-Jorge Posada going from a serviceable player to “you don’t catch anymore”, to “You will bat where we tell you to bat”, to “We’ll find you a spot, its over on the end of the bench”. I expected more, we could not have gotten less. When blogs and Tweets are asking if he will be released soon, you know it is serious.

-ARod playing at an unexpected low level, lacking power, getting injured, making news instead of getting hits. I really expected him to have a big year and got him on one of my fantasy baseball teams. Early on I started to get a feeling that he was going to have problems living up to MY expectations and being that I needed so much help, traded him to one of my former friends, JHop. I say former friend because she HAS to think I stuck her with him, but I never thought his stock would get this low.

-Curtis Granderson gave us a taste of what was to come in the second half last year when, after working with Kevin Long, hitting coach, went on a tear. Well it has basically continued all of this year and at this point he is third in RBI, hitting for power and generally doing well with a bat in his hand. Sure, he still takes weird routes to balls hit to the outfield but you can’t have everything now can you?

-The resurrection of Eric Chavez, from the scrap heap has got to be mentioned. Sure, he followed expectations by getting hurt and missing a chunk of time but when he has played he has done very, very well, especially playing third base at such a high level. If he stays healthy the rest of the year, he may truly surprise us.

-Eduardo Nunez made the club as a utility infielder because of his bat, not his glove so much. He has filled in at SS for Jeter when he was hurt, at 3B for ARod when he needed a day off or was injured and made a boatload of errors. But his bat has stood out a bit and he certainly packs more hits and punch then former utility players. Right now he has 4 homers, 25 RBI and 16 walks, not bad for a very part time player. Now if he would only get rid of the iron glove for a nice leather one.

So, this is what I got, a couple positive surprises a few negative. Now it is your turn. Support one of mine or come up with one on your own…

So Loud!!!

On Sunday I went for the first time, to the new Yankee Stadium and had a great time with family and friends at the event. In my previous post I mentioned a bunch of personal observations about the experience but there was one thing I wanted to spend a bit more time on, as I thought it deserved a post of its own so here goes…

IT WAS LOUD AT THE STADIUM!!!

I’m not talking about a “hey you kids get off of my lawn” kind of situation here. It was loud. Not the fans. They were normal everyday fans. But the stadium itself was loud – the announcements over the P.A. system were loud. The organ music was loud. The rock and rap music between innings was loud.

HOW LOUD WAS IT YOU ASK?

Loud enough for me to have to ask you to repeat that question or any other thing you said to me during the game. . Normal conversation was impossible. I was looking forward to talking Yankee baseball with my son with some relatives, with my friend JHop. , but it wasn’t normal conversation, it was a shouting match. If you were not right next to a person it was impossible to converse. Trying to talk with 2 people at once was a mighty difficult feat.

SO WHY DO THE YANKEES DO IT?

It is not just the Yankees, it is sports teams all over now it seems. I have read a lot of articles and blogs talking about things being too loud in stadiums and arenas in all sports. It seems they feel the need to entertain or try to entertain during each second of your stadium or ballpark experience. Heavens forbid you attempt to be entertained by the game itself. I mean Sunday’s Yankee win was entertaining. It had good pitching, some good fielding, a nice Yankee rally in the 4th inning, highlighted by a triple, the most exciting play in baseball. We even had a Derek Jeter injury to discuss along with the strange moment when we found out Francisco Cervelli was the extra back up infielder. We couldn’t discuss it though because IT WAS TOO LOUD!

Look, I’m not asking for a lot here. I like the organ music at the ballpark. I like the in between innings music over the loudspeakers. I especially liked the TVs all around the stadium where you could see replays and such. All that stuff adds to the excitement of the game and the experience. I don’t want to get rid of that stuff. I just want them to turn the volume dial down from 11 to about 6 or 7, that’s all.

Can you hear me…anyone…can you hear what I’m saying?

Well, at least no one tried to do the wave…

Going to “The Stadium” for the first time…

This Sunday, July 31st, I made my first trip to the new Yankee Stadium. It has been a while since I have gone to a game in the Bronx and over the past winter we hatched a scheme to get a bunch of people together to go to a game. Originally we were going to try to do a baseball weekend, seeing a couple of minor league games leading up to the Yankee game but that didn’t work out and it was just the Yankees vs. the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. Before I go any further, let me thank Manhattan Man and CollegeBoy for originally thinking up the idea, PO Jen for her kick start on the effort about 8 weeks ago and the people over at Disability Services at Yankee Stadium who did a nice job of getting us in relative proximity for the game, on short notice.

I was looking forward to seeing the game with CollegeBoy and MillieJupiter and MissNicole (who is a more recent Yankee convert, much to the chagrin of her Red Sox lovin’ family!). I got to see some family and friends which is always fun. So I thought I would take a minute or two and make some personal observations about the game and the trip in general.

-Special thanks to MillieJupiter who did the driving! She was great and can now boast that she has driven in Bronx traffic and survived…

-The parking and the traffic situation at the new Yankee Stadium is vastly improved over the situation with the old place. We made the 3 hour trek from Massachusetts and within 5 minutes of getting off the Major Deegan Expressway, were parked within 500 feet of the main stadium gate. When leaving, the line out was quick and the traffic patrol had us back on the highway within 5 minutes. I have sat for 60 minutes trying to get to or from the old stadium, this was wonderful yesterday…

-the NY Yankees must provide employment for about a billion people. There was security and Yankee staff for help all around the place. You couldn’t swing Derek Jeter’s jockstrap without hitting on of the myriad of employees. They were courteous, friendly, helpful and helped make this an excellent experience. Special props to the guard who got me into the ticket window early and without having to wait on the line.



(the view from our seats!)

-One of the best things that happened (besides the Yankee victory) was that I also got to meet an internet friend JHop, whose blog “Chicks Dig the Fastball” always interests me and is one of my daily internet reads. We got to spend some time with talking baseball and fantasy baseball (where she is a rookie wizard and is positioning my herself to be the first rookie to win the whole a championship in a rookie season in the 28 years I have been running a league!), and fantasy football and Derek Jeter and blogs and podcasts and oh my! It was great to finally meet her and everyone should click on THIS LINK and give her blog a read. You will enjoy it.

-CollegeBoy said it best when he tweeted: “There is nothing greater in the world than being with family and friends at a New York Yankee game. Greatest feeling in the world.” I concur 100%; it was nice to see everybody, catch up a bit and enjoy the game!

-Speaking of the game, it was just a perfect experience. The Yankees won, we got to see Mariano Rivera, the best relief pitcher ever, throw a perfect 9th inning for the save, we saw Brett Gardner triple into the right field corner, the most exciting play in baseball and CollegeBoy and MissNicole collected enough Yankee souvenir cups to last us until the next game we go to. Perfect…



(Mariano enters the game and the Baltimore Orioles shudder...)

-You know, you can never predict baseball… I talked with CollegeBoy about the fact that he had never seen any thing memorable at the stadium in all the games he has gone to and almost before the words were out of his mouth, we had a weird situation crop up. Derek Jeter was hit on the hand with a pitch and the Yankees back up infielder was already in the game as Robbie Cano was the DH. This lead to lots of speculation about what they were going to do as it was early in the game and no one likes to give up their DH. We were among the surprised when Francisco Cervelli, the back up catcher came out to play second base for a few innings, a position he had never played in the major leagues before. “Well, Suzyn, you know, you just can’t predict baseball!”– John Sterling

(This post will be cross posted in Penguin Droppings...)

…and now, the Oscar for best performance in a sports documentary…

And the winner is Derek Jeter in Derek Jeter 3K, the new HBO documentary that will premier tonight. Thanks to the guys over at RAB, River Avenue Blues, the Yankee blog, we get a look at an extended trailer for this documentary and from the very first moments, it is obviously a winner. This four minute clip has the following tidbits: Jeter’s November homerun, “The Flip’, Jeter’s dive into the stands against the Red Sox, Jeter holding a World Series Trophy, other MLB players gushing over Jeter, and Jeter’s 3000 base hit. The only things missing from this clip is his canonization by the pope and a bunch of thumbnails of the girls he has dated over his career ending with a shot of Ms. Lucky, Minka Kelly. Of course this last one could not happen as the documentary is only a hour long and just reviewing the thumbnails would take twice that long.

I kid but must admit I usually love these kind of documentaries. They are a way of summing up a career, putting a sports hero’s life into focus and reminding us about how lucky we have been. In Jeter’s case, we got a throwback to the Yogi and Mickey era when the Yankees were in the midst of glory days that can hardly be matched. Derek has 5 World Series rings and we have a trunk load of memories and good feelings and images we can never forget. It is almost like HBO got a legendary film maker like Glenn Bracken Evans, director of the Sarah Palin Epic “The Undefeated”, to make a positive movie and give it a baseball twist and this is what he came up with. Derek is seen in his entire splendor, without faults or flaws, just the way we most like our icons. Surely a match made in heaven.

(Minka is not wearing Yankee pinstripes here but they're good enough for me!)

Now, I don’t have cable so I do not get HBO but you can be sure I will find a way to see and study this documentary and put all of the things it espouses to good use. Derek is a true Yankee, with pinstripes running through his veins and comes wrapped in Yankee midnight blue. As best I can tell, the only thing we may want that didn’t make it into the documentary would be naked pictures of Minka. Oh well, nothing is perfect, except perhaps Derek…

Now batting leadoff…

This past week, Joe Girardi set the Yankee blogosphere a twittering with the simple statement that Brett Gardner may deserve a look at in the leadoff spot. The unspoken meaning of this is OMG DEREK JETER IS BEING DEMOTED TO ANOTHER SPOT IN THE ORDER. This is immediately followed by comments like “it’s about time” or “how can they do that to him he’s (a) true Yankee, (b) a Yankee Hero, (c) Derek Jeter. I must admit that I am firmly in the “it’s about time” camp. Some thoughts…

Gardner is hitting maybe 30 points higher and has maybe a 40 point lead in OBP, at this point. The leadoff hitter is the set up guy, the one you want on base for the other players to drive in. This fact is very clear - Gardner is hitting better, is getting on base more often, and can steal a base or two (leads the AL with 30 right now). What is there not to like with him leading off.

NY has always had an uneasy relationship with most of its superstars across all the major sports. The Yankees are no different. Look at what happened historically with players like Babe Ruth, Phil Rizzuto, Reggie Jackson, Alex Rodriguez and other like them. I understand that in order to be a superstar, to have that competitive edge, you must believe that the next hit is right around the corner even if you haven’t had a hit for a week. But at the same time is there not some pride in performance, some feeling that you are hurting the team in some way, having a negative impact. Seeing your superstars fade, your childhood heroes crash a burn, is difficult. All of which brings us back to Derek Jeter.

Jeter has had a tremendous impact on the NY Yankees for all of time he has been here. One needs to look no further than the championship rings on his fingers and the title of Captain of the Yankees to begin to understand the impact. But the facts speak for themselves. His is getting older; he has had his hitting decline for several years despite a bit of a blip up 2 years ago. Yes, he has 3000 hits now, the first Yankee ever to do that but his skills are eroded. He is NOT the best lead off hitter on the team. He HAS to know that deep down somewhere. And here is where he needs to make the most difficult decision and most difficult statement of his tenure as Yankee. To be a true Yankee legend, to finish his climb to greatness, to totally seal the deal as one of the greatest Yankees ever now is the time to make it easier on Girardi, easier on the team, and help the Yankees in the best way possible in their quest for Championship number twenty eight.

I will even write it out for him. It goes like this. “I have been the NY Yankees leadoff hitter for most of my career. During this time I have been able to experience a wealth of success as we have won the World Series five different times. I have been blessed with the success of 3000 hits to go along with that. However in my heart I feel that the best way that I can help this team again reach the goal of a championship is for me to do what is best for the team. Today I told Mr. Girardi that I am willing to bat anywhere in the batting order that he feels is appropriate and gives us the best chance at winning a pennant. I will continue to strive to do my best everyday in meeting that goal and expect no less from every teammate, Yankee management and Yankee ownership. This is the only statement I will make about this as I want to continue to focus on the job at hand. We are in the midst of a pennant race and all energies should be going toward finishing the job we started back in Florida in February. Thank you.”

Amen…

Baseball crimes

Back in early July, there was a newspaper article about the NY Mets playing the Atlanta Braves. Jose Reyes, one of baseball’s hottest players right now slipped several times on the base pads around first base and the umpires ordered some drying agent put down. He eventually stole two bases and keyed a Mets win. It seems that the grounds crew got a little overzealous in trying to keep the dust down when watering the infield and made mud. This is reminiscent of how the San Francisco Giants dealt with Dodger speedster Maury Wills by doing the same thing like 50 years ago. This got me thinking about this sort of “wink-wink” cheating that goes on in baseball, anything to get a competitive edge.

Let me begin by saying that I have no issue with this sort of creative competitive efforts. In the long run how different is something like this then a team, not in a dome, using artificial turf and then stocking their team with slap hitting, quick running, and good fielding players to gain a competitive edge. Or how about having loads of space in foul territory to help pitchers getting extra outs. There are lots of them out there and I thought I would highlight a few of my favorites and also identify those that go beyond attempts at competitive advantage.

First up, stealing signs. Whether a base coach tries to pick off the catchers signs or a coach in the dugout tries to figure out what signs the third base coach is giving, this has been around since Abner Doubleday (I know Maqz, Doubleday didn’t invent baseball but most people think he did and I playing to the masses here!) One thing I don’t understand though is why this effort is considered an ultimate baseball skill (some coaches have remained in the game because of their ability in this area) yet if you put an eye in the stands or in front of a TV set they consider it cheating. This is like saying its ok to steal money from a bank but not ok from the corner grocery store.

Watering down the infield to slow runners is on a par with watering down in front of home plate to slow infield hits or letting it bake rock hard to favor your own slash hitters or letting the infield grass or outfield grass grow long to compensate for slow fielders or “tilting” the foul lines to encourage or discourage bunts. All part of the environmental approach to baseball skills I guess. No problem for me here.

Next up, feigning success. Why is it that every outfielder who attempts to make a diving or sliding catch tries to sell it to the umpire as if he was successful even when it obviously was not? Why does a fielder make a sweep tag and hold the glove up even if he didn’t come close to touching the runner. Why does a catcher hold his glove up when the ball was in his hand and not involved in making the tag? Why does the middle infielder straddle the bag or come across it even if he doesn’t touch it officially for the out? These are all gamesmanship and everyone gets away with it. It seems the only time there is controversy is when an umpire makes the correct call when no one was expecting anything other than a phantom tag. Again, no issues with that either.

Finally, a question. Why is it wrong for a batter to cork his bat or a pitcher to scuff a baseball but is ok for a first baseman to use an elongated glove or a catcher using a flexible glove with a knuckle ball pitcher or an outfielder to use a extra long glove to reach farther over the fence or lower into the grass on a shoe string catch. It seems inconsistent to me. I’d ask why a batter doesn’t get credit for a sacrifice fly on a long out that advances a runner from second to third but does for a short fly that gets a runner from third to home but that is rules issues not cheating issues and so it is a topic for another time.

One final note; I know it has been a while since I have written but circumstances required a bit of a break. But I am back, I'm loud, proud and ready to take on baseball once again!

What do we, the fans, want?

June 16, 2011

Dear Bud Selig, Baseball Commissioner:

This is a plan I propose that you follow around the recent stories that baseball is discussing possible realignment and thus changes in the way baseball does its playoffs. A friend stopped by my office yesterday and we chatted about it for a while and my own ideas began to crystallize a bit. Then last night I read this post by a friend, JHop, who writes the very funny and poignant sports blog “Chicks Dig the Fastball,” where she was furiously taking copious notes on the back of her work files for a post about the same issue, so I knew the time to address it had come. I had no idea what she was going to say about other than the clue she gave “rant about realignment”. She told me her thoughts in today's post - she doesn't like the idea. Meanwhile a friend in work, a Red Sox fan (so you know my thoughts about HIS opinion are guarded at best!) also came out against a realignment effort. So I figure it is time to admit it. I am a realignment advocate but ONLY IF you do it correctly. What follows is a well thought out, structured plea for MLB to do the right thing. Mr. Selig I offer it to you for free.

First off, I think the approach needs to be different then MLB has taken in the past. The way in the past has always been "the goal is to make as much money as possible and we will figure out the details later". The real way to approach this whole issue is to say “What do we baseball fans want”? What we want, really want, is exciting, meaningful baseball throughout the last month of the season. We want meaningful games in September, none of this playing out the string because you have made the playoffs. No, we are out of it in the third week of April so who cares. Get this right, and the fans and excitement will follow.

I also think that the idea of realignment, into 2 15 team leagues, makes lots of sense. Where it starts to breakdown is when you are talking about going back to one giant division for each league with 5 teams with best record making the playoffs. In this scenario, the 13-15th place teams loss interest in April with increasing numbers of teams fans losing interest as the season progresses. Plus how would explain how a team in first place in a division does nort make a playoff while 4 teams from another did. And you thought the tie in the All Star Game was a nightmare? No, stick with 3 divisions within the league and then two wild cards from the balance based on record, and unbalance the schedule to focus more games (not too many though) on playing the other 4 teams in your division. Now this also raises the specter of interleague games. With 15 teams in each league, there is the need to have an interleague series every series. My response to this is “So what?” The idea of interleague play is fun, but we do not need to set aside a special time of the season to play all those games. This was done originally to boost attendance (make more money) and is not necessary. It can be just as exciting to have two AL teams playing each other and then playing an NL club and then going back to a AL matchup. “See the ‘National League club” in its only appearance in “AL city” is just as an effective an advertizing tool as is “this week the AL club faces three different NL opponents’.

As for the schedule, unbalance it and don’t worry about it. This highlights the natural rivalries in the different divisions and adds more significance to the race to the division title. Play each team in your own division 15 times (60 games) each of the 5 teams in the other two same league divisions 6 times (60 games) and add 6 games with one division of the opposite league (30 games) adding up to a nice round 150 games. Then start the playoff run a week earlier. The interleague games should be in the same geographic area as the them is in. In other words the AL East plays the NL East, Central versus Central and West versus West. This will allow for less travel, easier to make up rainouts, keep this part of the schedule balanced as each club in the division will play the same five teams in the opposite league, and continue to foster the natural rivalries while not overly contaminating the World Series match up in October.

As for the playoffs, you MUST give significant advantage to the team that wins the division. None of this wildcard madness where they get the same benefit for finishing in second place as the team that wins. Plus, the Wild card Team could have the fifth best record overall. Why should it get any advantage? It made the playoff lottery, which is enough help. You accomplish this is two ways – when games are played and in rest time for teams. In my playoff system this is how it goes. When the season ends on Sunday, the three division winners get at least 5 days off, allowing them to set their playoff rotations, nurse injuries and prepare for and scout opponents. There are then two wild card teams, the two teams with the best records not to win the division. They play a best of 5 series. The Monday of the playoff run is saved for a tie resolution for a division and Tuesday is for the start of the Wild Card series. If there are no division ties, then the Wild card starts Monday. The Wild Card proceeds for 5 consecutive days, no days off, Monday – Friday or Tuesday – Saturday. Don’t like having to fly coast to coast? Then play well enough to win the division! The Wild Card winner then gets to play the winning division team with the best record. Same division? Doesn’t matter. Play the games! The other series between the division winners begins that Friday. This level of playoffs is 4/7 as is the Championship round, as is the World Series.

As for who moves where, the simplest would be for the Houston Astros to move from the NL Central (now six teams) to AL West (now 4 teams). This requires only one move. I guess you could move Houston from NL Central to NL West and Arizona from NL West to AL West but this requires 2 moves and I would rather keep it simpler rather than more complicated.

I like my plan, I think it serves several purposes. It keeps interest higher by allowing one more team into the playoff system preserves balances schedules and unbalanced schedules where important and promoting more rivalry games both in your own division and within the interleague structure. It rewards teams winning divisions with extra rest and opportunities to plan a playoff run, allows teams who do not win a division a chance to play in the post season and distinguishes rewards for division winners versus wild card candidates.

Mr. Selig I say this – You didn’t listen to me about what to do about the no hitter that was ruined by a bad umpire call. Don’t make the same mistake twice. Your legacy will be enhanced by a playoff system that is fun and exciting and offers the thrills of the hunt for fans across the nation. Don’t give into the greedy desires of a handful of owners. This is not hockey or basketball or football for that matter where way too many teams make the playoffs. You can keep it mean and lean and exciting all at the same time.

You’re welcome.