I’ll have to follow this online until I can

Hmm.  Do the Royals have a good lefty reliever?

Ack.  I meant to say I’m stuck @ work until ~5… I hope you guys are gonna hook me up with a running commentary until I can (gulp) catch Sterling & Waldman on the drive home.

This is a smart lineup, at least the first half of it, it should be interesting to see how Bannister does against Abreu, Matsui, Giambi and A-rod, those guys know their hitting.

I think bad ball hitters have the easiest time with Bannister, since he’s not going to make mistakes and is going to make you hit hitters pitches. I’m hoping A-rod and Cano can carry the weight if I’m right. Should be a fasicinating match up.

Hmm.  Do the Royals have a good lefty reliever?

They have Jimmy Gobble, Ron Mahay and John Bale.  Not sure if any of them qualify as good or not.

I like this lineup too.  Cano’s ABs over the last 2 games have looked leagues better than the first few games.  He might be ready to break out into July form already.  And when he’s on, he’ll moida any mediocre lefty KC might have.

Bold—no—Idiotic Prediction #255:  the Wilson Betemit Era begins today, with Jeter playing the role of Wally Pipp.

LOL.

Uh, in three the phrase “hitters pitches” should be “pitchers pitches” otherwise it reads like I’m an idiot.

I feel pretty good about Betemit not Wally Pipping the Jeter. He could take a solid lead over Ensberg and Duncan as top back up corner guy with a decent run while Jeter is out and I think that would be best for the Yanks.

Performance of Royals lefty relievers against LHB, three year splits (‘05-‘07)

Gobble: .263/.314/.480
Mahay: .234/.302/.419 (and he’s not awful against RHB, actually)
Bale: .281/.351/.375 (small sample, better against RHB in also small sample). 

None of these guys is death to lefties, but Mahay seems decent.  Whaddya think?  7th inning, tie game, runners at the corners, Abreu at the plate.  Do you PH for him?  If so, Ensberg or Duncan (I’d say Ensberg except I’m not sure Ensberg can even pretend to play RF, whereas Duncan can, in a vaguely Erik Hinske sort of way).

Brian Bannister is the new hero of the stat nerds.

Who was the previous one?

“Idiotic Prediction #255”

Appropriate for FF.

Whaddya think?  7th inning, tie game, runners at the corners, Abreu at the plate.  Do you PH for him?

The bench is thin with Jeter out but not on the DL.  I’m not sure Giambi’s up for a full nine innings so they may want to hold Ensberg or Duncan out in case they need to replace him.  I think Girardi’s going to continue to be pretty conservative with pinch-hitting until his regulars show that they should be pinch-hit for.

Who was the previous one?

Hmm.  Bill James?  Voros McCracken?  Billy Beane?

Let’s hope he regresses to the mean today. Go Yanks.

Let’s hope he regresses to the min (or max?) today.

SG,

Granted, they’re playing with 24 men.  Worst comes to worst, though, you could put Posada at 1B and put Molina in.  I’m talking emergency-only here.  Posada isn’t a first baseman and Molina just caught a night game like two hours ago

I get to cover Hughes and the boys today for STATS LLC as I get used to the mlb stats program. Hooray!

...otherwise it reads like I’m an idiot.

And this is a problem because…?

Bannister theorized that he could keep his BABIP down if he got to two-strike counts more often. It was a brilliant hypothesis that melded the practical—hitters are taught to, and thus tend to, take more defensive swings with two strikes—with numerical data.

This might be a reasonable thought if anybody actually cut down on their swing with two strikes anymore.  Or if the league-wide BABIP was significantly lower with two strikes.  But .296 doesn’t seem all that different from .303 to me.  He will do better if he gets to more two-strike counts though, because he’ll strike more guys out.

That wasn’t very constructive.

Does anyone know if there is online streamming audio for the Yankees broadcasts?  I’m stuck in Maryland and the purported broadcast home for the Yankees, WCBS 880 is broadcasting Gen. Patreaus… 

Please don’t ignore this, I’m seriously jonesing for some Yankees audio!!!

The weather finally turns nice and the Yanks have to play in miserable Kansas City.

Rather unimpressive it is not being able to nail Gathwright on a pitch-out.  It’s time for Hughes to take some Ks out of his bag of tricks.

Is #20 blank for anyone else?

Settle down Hughes.

Just kidding.  But no idea.  Which is probably as helpful as ignoring your comment.

mlb.com’s audio package is pretty cheap for the year.  but be careful, they automatically renew you if you don’t cancel after a year.

This umpire has been squeezing both pitchers. The 1-2 to Butler was a clear strike.

Actually, the 2-2 was less a strike than the 1-2. Make-up call?

Sterling thinks Bannister is the best thing since sliced bread.

Maybe Bannister is deceptive or something, because Matsui looked late on a couple of 3-2 fastballs, neither of which was faster than 89 MPH.

BASECLOGGER!!!

Huh?  No slide?  Yay.

sterling:    crown vision > bannister > sliced bread

Little Egypt would have been more scrappy about it.

Betemit maybe not all bad, eh?

CBS 880 in NY is broadcasting the game

good slide jeremy gia….i mean posada!

Bannister can’t afford to walk a lot of guys.

“Bannister can’t afford to walk a lot of guys.”
Who can?

In the first inning, Sterling and Waldman were talking about Bannister as if he was the best thing on two legs ever to step atop a mound.  Why?  Because he shut out the greatest offense of all time last week.

Who can?

Carlos Zambrano gets away with it.

Battlin’ Bannister, so says Suzyn.

Never give in, folks… even with the bases loaded.

Run scoring walks are nice.  Good eye by Damon.  Was close enough for a hack.

Time for Cano to bust out…

I didn’t realize that walking batters was important to the sabermetrically inclined.

Cano’s gonna mash the 3-2.

Weak, Robby. Bannister already well over 50 pitches. He might not be lil’ Maddux, after all.

Aww, Robby, how do you miss that!?

way to go cano….

pitch count?

Bannister has thrown 54.

whoops, missed it rlr, thanks.

22 for hughes

Ghastly, Bobby.

Gordon’s got a quick bat. That pitch wasn’t too bad.

Raw Skload sucks. And he comes from the Guyland, so that’s another thing I can hold against him.

I think that was Cano’s play. Kind of surprised Giambi has that kind of range.

Phil Hughes is gonna have to choke a bitch.

Nice work, Bobby.

Good thinking by Gordon sliding head-first into home. No way he’ll break a finger that way.

It is sickening how well Hughes has pitched just to give up two runs in two innings.

Um, strike 3.

This ump’s strike zone is smaller than Suzyn Waldman’s brain.

On the one hand, Hughes really needs to not walk Pena. On the other hand, he didn’t, although Pena is on first.

This ump’s strike zone is John-Sterling-Brain-sized.

I know Hughes is young but so is Pena.  #9 hitters shouldn’t get calls like that.

That’s a CS E-6 there.

Man, the Yankee fielders hate Hughes.

Jonathan- they’re without a leader today.

this inning sucks to watch.

Now Hughes’ pitch count has gone to crap.

Man, this guy’s strike zone sucks.

The umpires hate youth.

Can MLB get a quality homeplate ump with a consistent strikezone?  Perhaps of the robotic kind?

Sleepyirv is right.  If Jeter were out there he would have inspired the fielders to concentrate, and Hughes to dominate.

Totally A-Rod’s fault, for not being inspirational enough.

Mark Wenger, his name is Mark Wenger.
We need to learn these people’s names so not to blame the proud profession of umpiring.

Okay, Hughes’ pitching is now coming down to the level of giving up 2 runs in 2 innings.

At least the strike zone has sucked for both teams, but that’s very least.

same gimme pitch bannister got

Frog- you think playing against Eckstein would rub off again… but I guess A-Rod’s negative energy and the unprofessional ABs catch up.

I’m curious to see how Kyle Farnsworth will deal with this strike zone when he comes into pitch later on.

thank goodness

Wow, that’s an awful swing at a pitch that wasn’t remotely a strike.

Why would the Royals ever swing, with the strike zone being that tiny?

I like it, though.

That sounds kinky…when he comes in to pitch…ah yes.

amazing how fall Goldberg has fallen

56 pitches through two innings.

Gross.

phil is gonna be so good… second youngest player on an mlb roster

Betemit owes Hughes a HR.

By the by, M&MD are on the radio telling why the Phillies are better than the Mets. It is because the Phillies have more “gamers.” Jayson Werth, yes, Jayson Werth, was used as an example of a “gamer.”

Lordy.

What a crappy inning to watch for both teams…

That first pitch to Abreu was down the middle, thigh-high. This Wenger clown should just pack it in and go home.

Hughes is at 55 actually.

Sterling thinks Hughes and Bannister are having trouble gripping the baseball.  Oh yeah, that’s the problem.

abreu really wants that new contract

Sterling thinks Hughes and Bannister are having trouble gripping the baseball.  Oh yeah, that’s the problem.

Sterling has trouble grasping the baseball.

I love the fact that Detroit is nearing 0-7, although I wish this latest loss were not coming at the hands of Joe Biven’s Red Sox.

far. goldberg. fall. farren.

Hughes’ velocity (and his pitch count) not looking good on the FSN/stadium gun.

Sterling can’t seem to figure out how two pitchers with good control have thrown so many pitches so early in the game.

Hughes’ velocity (and his pitch count) not looking good on the FSN/stadium gun.

Mostly 90-91. I saw one 92 and one 89.

WHAT THE FUCK