Where did I read that the best place for speedy guys with moderate OBP was sixth or seventh?  So when they do get on and steal a base, they maximize the value of any hits made by the poor hitters behind them.  Was it Baseball Between The Numbers?

Anyway, I hope Gardner has a good night.  I’m calling 2-4, 1 BB, 2B (legs one out), SB, RBI, R.

Here is the biggest difference between Girardi and Torre.  Girardi is not only starting Gardner, but also putting him in the lead off spot.  This is a good day for the Yanks, the youth movement continues.

I’d love to see Gardner score from second on a ground out, like he did last week for Scranton/WB.

"Girardi is not only starting Gardner”

That’s not totally fair--Torre did let some guys rot (like Britton, but so has Girardi).  But Torre had a policy of playing kids as soon as they were called up, or as soon as possible.

Its nice to see Gardner play but over Damon instead of Melky or Molina?  Is Damon’s arch still bothering him?

Gardner goes 3-5 with 2 homers and a double to the catcher. He also throws in two steals and a webgem.

Fabian, in your scenario, two steals would mean he steals home too right?

Yes, Damon’s foot is still bothering him.

Presented without editorial comment, some rookies of the Torre era:

Chamberlain
Hughes
Cabrera
Cano
Wang
Soriano
Johnson
Spencer
Ledee
Rivera (not that one)
Mendoza
Jeter

Those are some scary numbers for the Texas hitters by the way.

Crafty Moose will stifle the Rangers like McCain stifled Chuck Norris

CP, yes.

According to Pete Abraham, Damon is just getting a day off by the way - although that clarifies nothing.  After all, Chien-Ming Wang had a “bruised foot.”

Go Yanks!

Gardner: 1-5, two K’s, one BB, scores two runs.

Why not catch Po and DH Betemit or Damon and DH Po tomorrow?

Bradley is due to come back to earth, big time. I doubt that I have a Monopoly on that thought.

Gardner is a very intriguing. His ability to draw walks against Triple A pitching has been impressive, but the big question is whether he’ll be overmatched by MLB hurlers, nullifying his eye. Some guys however, are very talented at getting on base. If Gardner possesses this talent, combined with his speed, he could prove useful. The question of whether the walks will translate up here just may define Gardner’s career.

Gardner is going to put on a show tonight. Multi hit game, 3 runs, 3 steals, and TWO webgems. how about that fabian.

Iasogna is one of the biggest jerks in the majors.  He looks for reasons to throw people out of games.

MC--

All true , but I was even thinking of scrubeenies like Erick Almonte and Chris Green.  It was one of the things I liked about Joe T.

Bullshit get your eyes checked blue.

When Gardner draws a leadoff walk make sure Jeter know not to bunt, he’ll get to second on his own.

Love the pun Don.

Uh, he was out.

I don’t understand how major league umpires can be this bad.  Young was out, and 99 out of 100 times an ump calls that play an out.  So awful.

mlb.tv is frustrating and bad. That is all. I now have a green screen and Michael Kay’s voice that threatens to take over my computer’s monitor.

So Moose is getting squeezed and the ump at first is giving away basehits to the Rangers.  Is someone paying people to effect a Yankee loss here?

clearly it’s the blue jays.

I despise Bradly, i hope he eats a pitch up and in tonight.

Moose is reprising his performance from his last start.

I like Bradley.  But I hope he goes 0-4.

Nice recovery Moose

That was a monster strikeout. This ump is a dick, has no appreciation for pitching calling a zone like this.

This umping crew has delayed Gardners at-bat far too long.

Fuck, 30 pitches.

Who will pitch teh 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th?

Mooooooooooose!

Best defensive outfielder of all time

Wow can Mussina locate. that 2-1 was filthy. ITS GARNDER TIME! 

wow theirs a lot of early venom here

Holy shit he can run.

Well, he’s fast.

38. Yes, Moose was in a jam but his stuff looked really good.

Enjoy the game, folks. Not a bad AB from Gardner right there.

and out

Well, he saw more pitches than Melky does.

I don’t think anyone thinks Melky is a legitimate CFer.

Aw, Jeter.

"and out”

Thanks for the update.

Gardner = 6 pitches.
Jeter = 2 pitches.

Um, OK.

4 pitch walk, Abreu was on his way to first before the pitch got there. Awesome.

Well if he swung with a 3-0 count in-front of Arod Girardi would kill his family.

This blows.

As Girardi should do now. dammit Abreu

Wow he got gunned, that was an awesome throw.

Hey, whatever happened to liveblogs?

"Abreu was on his way to first before the pitch got there.”

Non-ironic thanks for the update.

Yankees are out, Mussina is crafty.  Blogging done till 6th

Though I do love the 68 mph curve from Moose

68 mph hammer for a strike.  Nice.

Am I the only one who finds it funny that Abreu got thrown out by a mile after Kay expounded for like half an hour about Rangers’ lousiness in throwing out base stealers?

That was AWESOME!

Nice inning for Moose.  That last pitch to Salty was ridiculous.

C’mon offense, demolish this Feldman character!

Yankees have been 28/40 this season on stolen base attempts.  That’s a pretty putrid percentage, isn’t it?

3-2 walk to A-rod. A-rod steals by a mile.

"pretty putrid”

70%, it’s not that bad actually.  Break-even or so.

What happens to the pitch stats of the previous AB if out 3 is on a steal?  If there was an error on a foul that lives, I guess.  But the pitcher ends up having thrown more pitches than were seen by batters, right?

Gameday has pitch 2 as 85 MPH changeup with 9” break, pitch 3 as 85 MPH fastball with 9” break.

Yankees have been 28/40 this season on stolen base attempts.  That’s a pretty putrid percentage, isn’t it?

I think it’s worse than break-even, but better than terrible.

Base clogged.

9 of 27 pitches for strikes, now that’s bad.

I think SB% has been better of late, I remember they started off awful.  Jeter was something like 0-4 to start the year, wasn’t he?  I’m too lazy to look it up.

Take a strike, Jorge.

Not that it woulda happened this way, but would you rather Posada hit here with 2 on and no out or bases loaded and two out.

Wait, I was reading the stats wrong.  They’ve stolen 28 and been caught 20 times.  So that’s about a 58% percentage.

Feldman is staring at me with really creepy dead eyes. He’s not looking at me, but through me. Jorge is slightly better as it look like he’s simply looking past me.

58% is indeed putrid

"Feldman is staring at me”

Hoadley’s coming off a 3-day meth binge.

There have been a lot of pitches thrown thus far, considering how little hitting has been done.

Aw man why cant Gardner hit in Melkys spot too.

Is it really this freakin’ hard for the Yankees to get a puny RBI single against a team with a horrible pitching staff?

shocking.

Hoadley’s coming off a 3-day meth binge.

Perchance. But you can’t tell me his gameday picture isn’t profoundly creepy.

Yankees, sometimes, in fact, do suck.

forget Gardner, at this point I’d rather see Girardi hit in Melky’s spot

Texas working on a no-hitter.  A NO HITTER!!!!

WOE.

Feldman is staring at me with really creepy dead eyes.

Hey, as long as he’s not telling you to tattoo your face, shave your head, and change your name to Lucy.

Wow, “Giambi’s lucky stache”. Best YES ad ever. Wow.

Are they raffling off a ride on the Stache?

Mike Mussina looks like he’s trying to shoot lasers out of his eyes. God I hate work at the end of the day.

Perchance. But you can’t tell me his gameday picture isn’t profoundly creepy.

Not as creepy as Ramon Vazquez’s porn stache....

87. I agree.

Texas working on a no-hitter.  A NO HITTER!!!!

oh right, after you guys started talking about how Gardner was going to do I forgot to mention that texas would pitch a no hitter (using multiple pitchers) tonight.

Seriously, Vazquez is terrifying in that picture.

Jim Kaat is in the booth.  Man, I miss that guy…

God I hate work at the end of the day.

The AC in my office was broken today, resulting in roughly 100-degree temps.  Don’t tell me about work. /bitter

Vazquez’ picture just made my night

Where was Gardner on that double? He should have run all the way there and caught it.

that sucks ym. The heat wave here 2 weeks back was pretty unbearable.

Fuck Hamilton, he was of more use to me on the junk.

Awww fuck.

I love Moose.

man, i know he gave up a run, but moose looks SHARP.

I’m pretty sure Vazquez twirls that mustache as he ties innocent damsels in distress to the railroad track.

Sometimes one run is all this Rangers team needs.  That could be the ballgame.

On Gameday it looks like the ump is giving Moose the outside corner.

GARDNER TIME!

It seems to me that Moose received a generous strike call on strike 3. Or maybe Bradley received a bad call.

hit your spots like moose has tonight and you’ll get that call more often than not

and Texas is getting the same calls despite their wildness. just dont listen to anything i say.

Who am I supposed to root for in the Sox-Rays game?  So confused…

106, that used to be a lot simpler.

ALWAYS root against the Sox.

Who am I supposed to root for in the Sox-Rays game?  So confused…

Smallpox.

hmm, this year I might root for terrorists

nice at-bat, but that strikeout pitch made him look silly

At least Gardner has seen 13 pitches in 2 AB.

Also, never root for the Sox.

Can we extend instant replay to balls and strikes, please?

Man Iasogna sucks.

"terrorists”

According to Holy Joe Lieberman, we’re not due until 2009.

holy crap this strike zone is HUGE.

That’s Schmoe Lieberman to you.

holy crap this strike zone is HUGE.

The strike zone is reminiscent of the staircases at Hogwarts, you never know where it’ll be next.

Mussina’s thrown a lot more pitches than I realized so far

30 in the first will do that to you

Ugh.  This game sucks.

Mussina’s thrown a lot more pitches than I realized so far

30 of them in the 1st inning.

im thinking we score 3. so moose has to shut them down from here.

Grrr.

Why do the Yankees hate playing in YS?

where in the heck was that pitch? that’s been a strike all day

You know, this guy shutting down the Yankees really isn’t very good.

Uh, Micheal Young and...FRANCO! I woulda gotten that if I had seen the question last inning.

You know what would be nice here?  A hit.

This is the inning the Yankees put up a crooked number on Feldman.

Abreu was clearly not listening to me.

Good thing he’s on the team.

That’ll do, Alex.  That’ll do.

No more no-hitter.

about time. Thank you Arod. man does he hit some blasts.

This pitcher is good, he’s working on a NO HITTER

Sometimes it feels like A-Rod hits the longest HRs, on average.

A-ROD!

I did that.

Yeah, I’m not irked with Gardner’s at-bats so far.

ARod was listening to me however.

Arod is having another MVP year.

"Davis made that play look easy”

The ball hopped into his glove. I’d have made that look easy.

By the by, you’d really think that it would make more sense to have Betemit in there instead of Molina, no?

jip jip JOR-GE!

come on robbbbby

Thats how you first pitch swing.  Melky should be taking notes

Scott Feldman looks like the spitting image of a math teacher I had in 10th grade.  Uncanny.

That was not optimal, but it does seem like the Yanks are seeing this guy a bit better the second time through.

If the Yanks got a run for every time they grounded out to SS, they’d be beating the Rangers right now.

The yankees would make your math teacher look this good too.

I liked the “prodigious” homerun by A-Rod.

Marty Feldman had better stuff than this lad. If we cant knock him out soon we should just trade everyone for Tampa Bay. Except Mo and Joba.

Wow, Moose has 6Ks on the night.  That’s got to be near his season high, no?

I’d rather see the Red Sox get swept.

Tied a season high.  Struck out 6 BJ’s.

otf - and A-rod. we should keep him.

Um, that was a blatant strike.

6 is Moose’s season high.

i think the ump is just guessing right now. Closing his eyes and flipping a coin.

re 156. Can he pitch the 8th?

Marty Feldman had better stuff than this lad.

So does Corey Feldman.

man on 2nd and 1 out for the 3rd inning in a row.

re: 160 it’s A-rod! he can pitch the 7th too!

Melky does not look amused.

Wow, that’s locking a team down.

Man he’s angry.

Sit down.

Why is Melky angry? Is Cano sitting with Gardner in the dugout or something?

Dear WOE.
Please don’t hang an L on the Moose.
You suck. Not him.
Love Always.
Old Thurman Fan

Sweet popup, Melky.

Melk is straight up pissing me off.

come on melky. that was freaking right down the middle

Too true, OTF, too true.

Melky has had quite the amazing two months or so.

Molina will get lapped if Gardner gets a hit.

What the hell is Molina doing in this game? Seriously.

PROWESS.

Eh, I’ll take it.

How does that happen, I must ask? Molina is one of the three slowest human beings I have ever seen.

I wanna see Gardner steal.

STEAL A BASE!

Ha! Even with the pitchout!

Done.  You know he might’ve been safe even if the ball didn’t get thrown away.  This kid can fly.

ugh common Jeter

The other two slowest humans are also Molinae.

WOE really sucks.

2 out hits risp don’t exist on this team.

Dear Derek,
You suck.  You have no edge.
Sincerely,
-YM

Jeter is not good tonight.

I swear to god, if Mussina gets hooked with a loss, I’m going to blow a gasket. You can’t waste starts of his like this.

Rocket Moose.

Are these clowns really going to waste another stellar Moose start?  Makes me want to cry.

Gardner is faster than a Nolan Ryan changeup. He’s also faster than Clay and IE.
Lets post drivel til we score.

drivel

Lets post drivel til we score.

How will we tell the difference from the usual level of discourse?

YM- Don’t cry. Talk about makeup and handbags.

Does this mean we’re going to bring back comic book movie discussions?

Abreu sucks.

How will we tell the difference from the usual level of discourse?

Beat me to it.

YM- Don’t cry. Talk about makeup and handbags.

How about I talk about the various painful ways in which I will kill OTF?

A-Rod strikes out.

The mighty Stache is going to smite one.

Jesus, Sterling, you suck SOOOO much!

Rumble big man rumble.

Almost. 

Giambi’s first triple...ever?

what the freak is this offense.

Didn’t see that coming.

Of course no one is on base....

Kevin Long wears braces…

Does it make me a bad person that as soon as Hamilton hit the wall all I was thinking “YES!!! MVP-ROD!!!”

Clogged only 3 bases? Suboptimal.

a 2 out rbi hit would be incredible.

Holy Pelican Beaks. Time to play lotto.

!!!!! Can someone explain how Giambi tripled?

hahaha bad timing on my comment.

I didn’t expect that variety of smite.

If Frank Francisco can throw a baseball as well as he can throw a chair, we’re in trouble.

Um. Giambi...tripled…

Thank God they finally got (checks boxscore, oh yeah nobody) Feldman out of the game.

Awesome!

Does it make me a bad person that as soon as Hamilton hit the wall all I was thinking “YES!!! MVP-ROD!!!”

Yes.  Karma is a bitch.

Had this been Gardner, that would’ve been an inside-the-parker.

The Rangers bullpen sucks too! The Yanks are sure to not score.

Slower runner: Molina or Giambi? Discuss.

Um. Giambi...tripled…

I can’t even get MLB Gameday to load on this computer… I’m saddled with CBSsportsline, which barely even tells me where the ball was hit :( I need a word picture!

You know, the Rangers best pitcher this year is Sidney Ponson.

Had this been Gardner, that would’ve been an inside-the-parker.

If it was Jorge, he would have been thrown out rounding second.

YM- Please beat me with a Prada. I deserve it.

a 2 out rbi hit would be incredible.

Checking dictionary.  incredible = 1. So implausible as to elicit disbelief.

Sounds about right.

Didn’t see that coming

Yanks not scoring?

WOE

Giambi hit the ball to the gap, it bounced off of Hamilton’s glove, Hamilton lost his balance and ran into the wall, the ball caromed off the wall, Byrd comes to warning track, picks it up, Giambi in there with a stand up triple.

Then Jorge strands him by swinging at a pitch at his eyebrows.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Hmmm...extra-base hit with two outs than stranded - is this April again?

son of a bitch.

Dammmmit.

Oh god dammit.

Would it kill someone besides Arod to drive in a run?

Joe Morgan would cry if he saw how incosistent this offense is.

<