I don’t know if NYS is a joke or a disgrace, but…despite only playing as a slight hitters park, it still yields a lot of HRs.  Looking at the splits, NYS gives up more HRs but far fewer 2B and 3B, which makes sense for a park with more cozy dimensions.  It’s a bandbox, and perhaps the most homer-friendly park in the league (so long as they use the humidor in Denver), but not necessarily a great hitters/scoring park.

Wouldn’t it be easier to take your stats and throw them in the Harlem River, which is actually alongside Yankee Stadium, whereas the East River is like a mile away?

Pete Abe sez:

The Yankees are 84-48 with 30 games left . . . Raise your hand if you had them winning 103 games this season. Anybody?

SG and RLYW say hello!.  Okay, so it’s 102, not 103, but as Pete Abe’s point is that the team’s success is a total surprise, Pete Abe is an idiot.

Not exactly the newsflash.

Pete Abe is an idiot.

That sounds pretty harsh. Or he seems like a decent enough dude as I’ve read his blog more. Or there are far worst sports writers out there.

Did anyone else see AJ’s reaction after he gave up the HR to Pie? I didn’t notice anything in the game chatter about it, but the highlight shows are making it a point to show it.

He pointed at Pie as he rounded the bases and mouthed, “this farnsworthin’ guy?”

Is it safe?

Repeat after me: Andy Pettitte starts game two. Andy Pettitte starts game two. Andy Pettitte starts game two. In the fifth my ass goes down… er… I mean Andy Pettitte starts game two…

[This isn’t meant to single Frog out, and I apologize if it comes off that way]

This Pete Abe bashing has to stop.  So his site, and his readers, aren’t as smart as all of us.  After we’re done patting ourselves on the back, can we all just let him be?  He serves a purpose, and he isn’t nearly as bad as people make out.  And I’ve quite often seen people post scoops that they’ve gotten from that site.  Let him be and/or just stop reading his site. 

And with that quote, would he be any less of an idiot if he threw in the obvious qualification of “Raise your hand if you had them winning 103 games this season, after it was announced that Arod was going to miss significant time.”  SG had 102 wins in January.  Great.  I bet he modified that after Arod got hurt.

Yanks need 105 wins.  Why?  I checked yesterday.  They’ve never *not* won the World Series in a season that saw them win more than 104 games (they’ve actually never won 105).  However, they’ve never won a World Series when winning 103 or 104 games.  They’re safe at 102 wins (2-0), but iffy at 101 wins (2-2).  To be safe, I think they need to win 105.  Simple logic.

I’m not too concerned about AJ.  Why?  AJ’s streaky, we know that.  He’ll pitch GREAT for 8-10 games, and then crappy 8-10 games.  Whether it is mechanical, an issue of how “fresh” his arm feels, or in his head really doesn’t matter.  But what DOES matter is if he pitches crappy for 2 more games and then gets on one of his hot streaks, it should carry him right through the post-season…

This Pete Abe bashing has to stop.

Why?  Folks around her will bash almost anything, including mom, apple pie, cute puppies, and most frequently, each other.  What gets Abraham off the hook?

Here.  Folks around here.

It’s true that it was superfluous and rather beneath me to call PA an idiot. 

However, as long as I am allowed to post on this board I will continue to point out hacktastic sportswriting in the Times, which I visit regularly, and PA, which I visit rarely.  I suggest that those uninterested make use of the block user function, or simply skip over the posts.

It’s a bandbox, and perhaps the most homer-friendly park in the league (so long as they use the humidor in Denver), but not necessarily a great hitters/scoring park.

I guess I’m more concerned with run scoring levels being relatively normal than how said scoring is achieved.  Does it really matter if it’s because there are more homers hit?  Homers are fun!

SG and RLYW say hello!.  Okay, so it’s 102, not 103, but as Pete Abe’s point is that the team’s success is a total surprise, Pete Abe is an idiot.

I’m not going to take credit for that post.  Those were run in early January, before A-Rod got hurt and before a lot of other teams had finalized their rosters.  The more exhaustive projections pegged them around 96 wins, in a range of 90-102 wins and with a 49% at the division.  I guess I can take some credit for saying Yankees > Red Sox when no one else was doing it, but as a Yankee blog that should be a requirement.

I don’t really care if people criticize anyone here, even if I don’t agree with it, but I will say that I’ve exchanged emails with Abraham and he is very much into statistical analysis, moreso than you’d think from his blog, and is from what I can tell a pretty nice guy.  But I think he writes for an audience that isn’t, and he caters to it, and because his traffic directly affects his livelihood at a paper that just let almost all its sportswriters go I’m not going to judge him for it.  I do also think he’s got the best blog hands down for pure information about the team, be it injuries, roster changes, trades, etc.,  I just can’t read his commenters, they give me migraines.

But I don’t really care if anyone here says anything negative about anyone.  Even me.  So don’t feel you have to stop bashing anyone.  Although I will ban ANYONE who says ANYTHING bad about our closer.  And anyone who ignores the business side of baseball.

My problem with Ham is/was when he took what I considered to be unfair shots at A-Rod. He doesn’t seem to have done that nearly as much lately. His strength is that he posts more than any other beat writer in he history of the world, so his blog is sort of like a Yankee newswire.

As David Cone (who the Yankees should consider hiring in a decision making capacity, if he is interested) has pointed out, if not during the regular season, then in the offseason, AJ should consider working on the ability to feature a third pitch when he has trouble commanding his FB or curve.

Whoever came up with the Panamanian Mastiff is genius, and I feel it some how needs to make it into main stream media reports on Mo.

Although I will ban ANYONE who says ANYTHING bad about our closer.  And anyone who ignores the business side of baseball.

Gold.  Solid gold.

SG, you’re a man amongst boys.  Or at least a bully amongst school children.  Or that one girl from elementary school that hit her growth spurt in 2nd grade and looked like a 6th grader amongst 3rd graders.

Hughesy, Hughesy, Hughesy.

But I don’t really care if anyone here says anything negative about anyone.

Not that I have any say in the matter, but I prefer if we’re somewhat respectful towards people.  I guess (to me anyway) it’s different if you say an *idea* (or statement) is stupid/idiotic, compared to if you say a *person* is an idiot.  Everyone can have dumb ideas.  Whole Golden Rule thing.

I thought I’d have a chance to meet Pete Abe, because what was his ORIGINAL “Lohud SWB outing day”, I had tickets to that game.  However, that game was rained out and I was unable to make the outing he had last week.

I just can’t read his commenters, they give me migraines.

I did that once and was in the hospital for a week.  I’d definitely not recommend anyone here try that.

[15]  Pretty sure that was OTF, the mad genius that he is.

My problem with Ham is/was when he took what I considered to be unfair shots at A-Rod. He doesn’t seem to have done that nearly as much lately. His strength is that he posts more than any other beat writer in he history of the world, so his blog is sort of like a Yankee newswire.

But I think he writes for an audience that isn’t, and he caters to it, and because his traffic directly affects his livelihood at a paper that just let almost all its sportswriters go I’m not going to judge him for it.

Rich and SG capture my sentiments exactly…I think I may have posted this once before, or used this analogy at least, but I like it so I’ll do it again: Lohud is kind of like Times Square.  Native NYers despise it for its gaudiness, but it certainly does a great job of collecting and retaining loudmouth idiot tourists and keeping them out of New York’s more interesting venues.  So hooray for PA and his red-meat throwing, traffic-garnering ways!  Someone has to command the steaming pile of Heredia.  Let it be him!

It sounds like Dunn has an what Kepner calls an “outside chance” of making the postseason roster.

Link:

This September, Mike Dunn will try to follow the same path. Promoted to the majors for the first time Tuesday, Dunn could challenge Coke and Damaso Marte for a vital role in the Yankees’ bullpen.

“I consider Coke and Marte to be our left-handers out of the bullpen, but you never know,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “I don’t think you ever lock into anybody. You have to have some flexibility. But you also have to look at their body of work.”

How about we stop bashing Pete Abe unfairly when he stops bashing ARod unfairly.

Dellin had the TJ surgery.  I am always conflicted about this, on the one hand, Mo has had it, on the other hand, so did Liriano.  And Liriano is for shit.

I thought I’d have a chance to meet Pete Abe, because what was his ORIGINAL “Lohud SWB outing day”, I had tickets to that game.  However, that game was rained out and I was unable to make the outing he had last week.

I met him at Fenway and he was extremely nice.  He even asked if he could help us out by pushing anything from RLYW to just let him know, he would be happy to help.

You simply need to separate his readers from the blog itself.  When you get as much traffic as his site does, you are going to get more numbskulls than not.  His site is really second to none for “to the minute” Yankee news.

But I don’t really care if anyone here says anything negative about anyone.

While I agree that’s it’s pointless to just throw jabs at a sportswriter, the frequency of Abraham’s posts gives exposes us to, what I think is, the general issues with sportswriters. In that capacity, I think those jabs are certainly fair game.

For example, it’s obvious Abraham doesn’t like ARod, and it’s obvious that he likes other guys like Damon, Jeter, and Swisher.  When you read his news updates about these guys, it’s pretty easy to catch the slant in the reporting. Knowing that Abraham does this, it’s logical to assume that most reporters do… and it’s poor journalism. The reasons Abraham doesn’t like ARod are his own and they shouldn’t show up in his reporting about him as a player.  In that regard, he is (and should be) completely vulnerable. Steve Lombardi is another great example of this.. although he’s more of a headcase than anything.

You simply need to separate his readers from the blog itself.  When you get as much traffic as his site does, you are going to get more numbskulls than not.  His site is really second to none for “to the minute” Yankee news.

Well, to be fair, he *does* say (or rather, post), some dumb things.  Perhaps as SG mentions he just does these things to play to the crowd, to keep readership high.  While on the one hand, I hate it when someone with that much readership promotes some poor ideas (like looking at BA or wins and saying it is why player A is better than player B).  However, this is his livelihood, and if it helps to keep him getting us inside information, who am I to complain?

Isn’t it strange to have such a huge difference in Runs and HRs?  Is it because at home, hitters become home run happy? Okay, I it must be a little different, but I guess I’m asking how extreme historically/statistically?

Or simply (and thankfully) the home team don’t get their last licks in?

If the Yankees go 15-15 the rest of the way, they’ll win 99 games.  The team with the next best record in MLB would have to go 21-10 (.677) to win 99 games.  The Red Sox would have to go 22-9 (.710) to catch them.

Well, to be fair, he *does* say (or rather, post), some dumb things.  Perhaps as SG mentions he just does these things to play to the crowd, to keep readership high.

Yes, I think that is certainly part of it.
Can you imagine if he started comparing pitcher’s FIPs, CERAs, etc. in his posts?
The majority of his commenters would march on LoHud HQ with pitchforks and torches demanding someone perform an exorcism on Pete.

Isn’t it strange to have such a huge difference in Runs and HRs?

I’d expect more inflation of overall run scoring if NYS was turning lots of outs into home runs, but it seems to mostly turn doubles and triples into home runs.  Doubles and triples tend to lead to a bit of run-scoring themselves.

Pete is or isn’t Jewish?

Too far?

Dellin had the TJ surgery.  I am always conflicted about this, on the one hand, Mo has had it, on the other hand, so did Liriano.  And Liriano is for shit.

This was posted on another blog:

Betances didn’t have TJ surgery and neither did Mo (Marc Craig of NJ.com asked him about it a few weeks ago).

Or simply (and thankfully) the home team don’t get their last licks in?

You’re sort of onto it I think.  SG actually posted results for both teams, not just Yankees above.  But Yankees win a lot at home and don’t bat in the ninth so home PA are depressed.  At the same time as that, they win a fair amount on the road, meaning the home team there BATS in the ninth, which increases PA.  And more PA will often equal more runs, especially as the Yankees are getting a lot of those extra plate appearances and they are approaching historically great offense status.

The majority of his commenters would march on LoHud HQ with pitchforks and torches demanding someone perform an exorcism on Pete.

Actually, his bosses would probably like that.  LOTS of publicity.  What the readership would actually do is migrate to places like Was Watching, and if Pete didn’t get enough hits either his blog or Pete himself would be canned.  So go ahead Pete, and keep it up!

Isn’t it strange to have such a huge difference in Runs and HRs?  Is it because at home, hitters become home run happy? Okay, I it must be a little different, but I guess I’m asking how extreme historically/statistically?

If you held everything else constant, sure.  But as MC in VA says, it’s suppressing other run-scoring events like hits, 2B and 3B.  This is an interesting question though.  I need to look at my play by play database and fix the missing seasons, but once I do that I’d be curious to see how other extreme HR parks have played relative to overall run scoring.  I know off the top of my head Camden Yards has historically been a high HR park but not so much a high-scoring park.

How about we stop bashing Pete Abe unfairly when he stops bashing ARod unfairly.

I could be wrong about this, but I don’t think he has done that much this season.  If anything, he’s made several comments about how much better the team has been since his return.

He’s also been pretty fair to Girardi this year after killing him last year, AFAICT.

once I do that I’d be curious to see how other extreme HR parks have played relative to overall run scoring.

The high number of walk offs (many off HRs) probably contribute to the noise.  Or maybe it doesn’t?

The high number of walk offs (many off HRs) probably contribute to the noise.

I have noticed it is noiser after a Yankee walk-off hit than after a loss.

Or is that not what you meant?

it’s suppressing other run-scoring events like hits, 2B and 3B.

So, you’re saying HR’s are rally killers?

From Neyer:

• Here’s a freak stat for you: Since the 12th of June, Mariano Rivera has exactly driven in as many runs as he’s allowed: one apiece (freak stat via Cazzball).

That’s almost half a season

On PA: He posts so often that he is bound to make more stupid post. We need a metric to evaluate stupid ideas/post or stupid ideas/touches (longer posts, more stupid ideas). Also, on the Arod Bashing, please check his post from today. It is my opinion that has been pretty much the tone he has used during the year, with a jab mixed now and then.
Now, if he could stop harping on Cano and RISP…

On Pete Abe my thoughts echo [14], [18], and [33].

My thought on the stadium is to give it more time.  The Yankees only have 2 true right handed batters in their lineup, both of which are great at hitting to the opposite field.  Since Yankee Stadium(s) have always been very lefty friendly it’s not overly odd that they hit more HR at home this year. 

As for 2b and 3b I’ve always thought Yankee Stadium(s) have suppressed them but I’ve never cared enough to ask.  Because the stands jut out it seems to deflect hard hit balls down the line out into the field of play.

Repeat after me: Andy Pettitte starts game two. Andy Pettitte starts game two. Andy Pettitte starts game two. In the fifth my ass goes down… er… I mean Andy Pettitte starts game two…

Right now yes, but the playoffs don’t start right now.  If A.J. comes out of this and gets hot the last two weeks of the season then I’d probably prefer him to be the #2 even if Andy remains hot.

I could be wrong about this but it seems to me that other than that game in Boston early in the season, when Burnett is bad, he’s bad the while game and when he’s on, he’s usually on the whole game (not that he isn’t prone to the BB, BB, HR sequence in those games). He needs to be on a short leash

I like PA for what he does: post prolifically and provide tons of information.  If I want to see smart people analyze said information, I come here or River Ave Blues.  LoHud’s blocked from work anyway.

The Yankees winning 100+ games after missing 1 month of ARod (and replacing him with Cody Ransom!) and having Chien-Ming Wang (the putative #2 starter) implode spectacularly is pretty amazing.  The thing is everyone else has managed to remain healthy (exception: Posada’s hammy).  Even Matsui has managed to play nearly full time.

The thing is everyone else has managed to remain healthy (exception: Posada�s hammy).  Even Matsui has managed to play nearly full time.

Yeah, we have to acknowledge that the Yankees have been relatively fortunate health-wise, given the ages of most of their key players, but I think Joe Girardi has done a very good job of resting players for the most part, early overuse of A-Rod aside.  I think his handling of Damon, Matsui and Posada has been very good, because they were all big red flags for me this year, Damon less so I guess.  Posada had the hammy and the finger thing, but that wasn’t due to overuse, that stuff just happens.

[42]  Oh, I don’t know.  Losing Bruney to the DL early in the season when he was on fire - and then having him never really recover - hurts.  Losing Nady REALLY hurt; as good as Hinske’s been, having Nady the whole season would have been nice.  Losing Molina basically at the same time as Posada hurt.  Losing Gardner the last few weeks as hurt as well.

I think it is impressive that for the most part the big boys have stayed healthy, but the Yankees have had enough injuries that very few teams (other than the Mets) could complain that the Yankees have been unusually healthy.

I’d agree with Mike. The Yankees were pretty hard hit with bad breaks. But Cashman and Girardi did a good job incorporating the minor league fixes until Cashman had time to adjust the other role players (bye bye Berroa, Ransom, Veras & Tomko) with more credible utility guys and arms. And of course, for the most part, after maybe rushing or misdiagnosing issues, being careful to get the injured guys healthy.

The organization as a whole has been pretty focused.

That’s Cody Farnsworthing Ransom to you, Rob.

Question: Does anybody know what the major league record is for most players with 20 or more homeruns on a team?

With last night’s game, it looks like Posada will make it. Jeter has a good shot with 17. That would be 8 players. Pretty incredible.

The web says, “The 2005 Texas Rangers were the most recent club to have seven 20-homer players”.

Yeah ... just googled it ...

No team has had 8 players with 20 or more HRs.

2005 Texas, 2000 Toronto, and 1996 Baltimore are the only teams to have 7 players.

1996 Orioles, 2000 Blue Jays, 2005 Rangers all had seven players hit twenty or more home runs.  Those Jays also had Alex Gonzalez hit 15.  The 2005 Rangers had Gary Matthews, Jr hit 17 and Richard Hidalgo hit 16.  I’m pretty sure that eight would be the record.

OTOH, the 1961 Yankees had three catchers hit twenty or more.  Just thought I’d throw that in.

Posada is awesome. It’s such a pleasure to see him hitting as well as or better than younger guys like V-Mart and Varitek.

BTW, Eddie Murray hit 22 in 1996, but only ten of them for Baltimore.

In 1961.  Wow.

Well, Yogi only caught something like 15 games that year.

Oh, right, I had totally forgotten about Nady.  I’ll grant that’s a significant injury.  On the other hand, as a big Swisher > Nady guy, I believe that injury may have been essentially neutral for the team (because, while Girardi will find some playing time for Hinske, he’s not under the mistaken impression that Hinske > Swisher… when he WAS under the mistaken impression that Nady > Swisher).  Nady > Hinske, so it’s a net loss, yes.  But I think the, um, “reality on the ground” moots the point.  The Bruney thing… meh.  Teams lose middle relievers to injury and/or ineffectiveness all the time.  That doesn’t rate.  Gardner does, but the impact is fairly minor.