Sorry for the late thread…

Does it really matter?

Why did you bother? Take the weekend off.

Heck! Take the rest of this season off. The offense has.

Okay, I’ll turn out the lights.

I thought this yankees.com headline was hilarious:

“Yankees hoping roster shuffle sparks run”

WOE has gotten to the point where Cashman makes moves hoping to score a single run!

I hope Abreu walks just so we can see A-rod fail spectacularly again.

Leadoff double by the fastest guy on the team for the top of the order….

If the 4th inning wasn’t the low point for the offense I don’t want to see what is.

Fire Girardi. Just blow up as much of this season as possible. Again, not necessarily Girardi’s fault but he is the symbol for this pathetic group of asshats and needs to go.

i dunno, the 4th might have been the low point ... if i hadn’t seen this team do the very same thing about a dozen times this year.

Thinking rationally, there have been seasons recently where the Yankees probably shouldn’t have made the postseason but did.  So I can’t get too worked up if they miss this season with all the injuries and underperformance.  Really, isn’t missing the postseason better than being swept in the 1st round by the Rally Monkeys of Anaheim?  I think so.  Then they can start fresh in the new stadium with hopefully a much more successful iteration.

Does anyone else laugh when they hear Al Trautwig doing gymnastics?

I keep expecting to hear Al Trautwig say “welcome everyone to the MSG Yankees pregame show. Today in Cleveland an AL East showdown as Melito Perez squares off with Bobby Ojeda”

Tough call there.

Did anyonew see the 100m final where Bolt broke the WR record easely, while still showboating for the las third of the race? That was impressive.  We should hire him as a pintch runner and have him steal second, third and home, probabçy our best shot at scoring a single run for the rest of this season.

Even the umps want te yankees to get that draft pick

Tough call there.

You mean to follow this team the rest of the season?

This game would be less frustrating if the Ponson hadn’t pitched yet another unexpectedly non-sucky game.  Can they score a run?  Can they?  Really, I’m asking.

...probabçy…

???????????

Brian Bruney, lucky as hell.

That would be impressive if this weren’t the Royals they were playing.

I’d also like to point out that last night, as my last night in the stadium, with the ninth inning pick off and the failed rally, was symbolic of the entire season.

CP—They knew you were there and did that special for you.

It was meant to read probably, but the ç is next to the l in the brazillian keyboard.

They knew you were there and did that special for you.

I guess I should feel honored.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaha! Put ‘em on and tease the fans.

In case Nady wasn’t a true Yankee yet.

go WOE!

GIDP

This team is the opposite of the old burlesque routine of taking it off to tease the crowd. The Yankees put ‘em on to tease the crowd.

the X Man got the memo ...

Girardi fell into Torre’s trap.  Pinch run for Giambi in a non-critical situation.  Now we’ll see Cody Ransom or Wilson Betemit in the 9th.  Stupid, stupid move.

If Cano starts hitting in August and September, I will be happy.

RIPPER!

Yeah, in tight games you want the Giambi bat around. That was one criticism last year we all had of Torre.

Indonesian mens doubles badminton in upset of China.

that make 4 good at bats out of 6 for robbie in the last 2 games

WOE needs many errors.

Hey, the Royals are concerned we will pick ahead of them in the draft!

More errors, please.

YEAH!!!

SLAPPY MCGIRLYSWING!!!

He had a OBP of .400+ in AAA. He takes time to adjust to a higher league.

No error, no run. Just more WOE.

Re: my previous Giambi pinch-running comment ... now we’ll probably see a replacement-level DH in the 8th, not the 9th.  I really don’t understand the fascination with taking him out of the game at any opportunity.

it’s not the OBP that’s the key, it’s the SLG.

if pitchers don’t fear him when he makes contact, he won’t walk.

Yanks get 2 gift runs and Veras walks the leadoff batter to start the next inning.  That is BAD.

He had a OPS of .811 in AA last year after adjusting to that level. He has an OPS of .836 in AAA after adjusting. It takes time. How about giving him as much a shot as Melky got?

I agree with you UsualNoise, although Giambi was playing first and the Yankees might feel that he can’t play a full nine innings regularly anymore.

How about giving him as much a shot as Melky got?

I think he’ll at least get a month and a half.

That said, the guy has a skill set (Speed, no power, lots of Ks, lots of walks) notorious for not translating successfully to the Majors. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s just a AAAA player. But we’ll be in a much better position to judge that at the end of the season, now it’s hard to know.

1000 at bats?

no thanks.

i don’t have a problem giving him the next 40 games, though.

at least we agree he has to adjust to have any chance of being useful at this level.

he *is* very good at providing the folks down the 3rd base line with foul balls, though ...

There really isn’t much choice in CF for 2009. Damon can’t handle it full time, Melky is Melky. Gardner gets 250-300 PA is my opinion.

Dear Joe Girardi:

Please, no Mariano Rivera in a tie game. Put that one to bed for this season.

Yours,

Yankees fans everywhere

A-Rod goes deep, I’m calling it.

So is Madonna.

Damon can’t handle it full time, Melky is Melky.

Melky isn’t Melky. Melky will be 24 years old next year. Gardner is 24 this year. Does Melky suck a lot right now? Yes. Is there a chance he turns in a 2006 type year again? Yes. Does he have a better chance of contributing than Gardner? I don’t know. I’d try to get Byrd or Kotsay or Cameron rather than trust it to either of them.

hmm, so which is more likely: WOE making the playoffs or finishing below .500?

The Yanks could let Damon play the first half of 2009 and hope Austin Jackson is ready by the second half.

depends on what he shows in the next 6 weeks

if he can improve enough to just be mediocre, yeah, they might roll with that

if not, a trade is a possibilty ... or a stopgap veteran on a 1 year deal

could be a number of different ways of patching it up ...

WOE making the playoffs or finishing below .500?

Finishing below .500 would be an awful embarrassment. But it’s probably more likely than making the playoffs. I don’t think either will happen.

A-Rod goes deep, I’m calling it.

Well, it won’t be Giambi since he’s OUT OF THE GAME.  OK, I’ll stop beating this horse now.

The end of this game is so easy to see.  The Yanks score nothing here.  Mariano gives up a run and Soria closes them out and the ignominy continues.

I’m calling that A-Rod is going to walk in his next AB if the bases aren’t loaded.  Would you pitch to him in preference to Ransom?

finishing below .500 might be more embarrassing than finishing a couple games over and 5 games out of the WC, but it’s worse for the franchise in the long run ... like i said earlier ... i either want the WC or a bunch of losses

LEMMIWINKS!!!!

Sigh ... I hate it when I’m right.  I hope Betemit makes up for Girardi’s blunder.

I was really hoping for a much better job out of Girardi this year.  He has been one of the biggest disappointments of the season to me.  Still better than Torre as far as in-game tactics (mostly bullpen) but not as good as I expected.

Royals just setting up the DP at any base.

Melky has gotten worse as he’s been exposed to more and more ML pitching. What evidence is there that Melky will ever be anything but a player with an OPS+ below 100? He has a career OPS+ of 84 in 1425 AB’s.

Enough already.

there isn’t really ... the only thing going for him is that he’s young and has some nice looking comps on his bb-reference page. but when you take a closer look, he really doesn’t have a career path that looks anything like how those players actually started their careers.

Hmmm…. Thinking of ways to give up a DP (in the spirit of WOE) and still score a run on the play.  There actually are a few.  I’ll be realistic and root for that as the best likely option.

CP, thanks for your efforts against salfino over on BBTF. Reading most of the stuff the guy writes about the Yankees makes my head want to explode.

What evidence is there that Melky will ever be anything but a player with an OPS+ below 100?

He doesn’t have to be a league average hitter to be useful.

He has a career OPS+ of 84 in 1425 AB’s.

And if he can get it up to 94 as he gets closer to his physical peak, he’s roughly average in CF or very useful off the bench. If someone can screw his head on straight again, he could regain some of his ability from two years ago.

Enough already.

I don’t think you should give up on players before they’re 24.

Melky with a 90 OPS+ makes him worthwhile.

Nady was hitting when Giambi was pinch-run for.  This season Nady hits 2B or 3B in about 7.5% of his AB’s.  If you assume that in 1/2 of those cases Giambi doesn’t score on a ball when Ransom does then there is a 4% chance that you are positively influencing the game.  Put it up to 5% to account for the increased odds of scoring from 2B on a single if Nady walks.  So will 1 or 2 Giambi AB’s over Betemit increase the odds of winning by a similar amount?  I doubt it but it’s close.

Did those comps have their OPS+ decline each year over three seasons?

WOE, freakin’ WOE.

This so SOOOO 2008 Yankees- can’t get a run in w/bases juiced and 1 out.  Now bring in Mo so he can blow the gme and I can finally get out and do something…

Melky is truly, at best, a bench player. Sorry, I’m not getting this Melky love.

Well, this seems like a pretty good time to stop following the game and go do my workout. Have fun being frustrated guys.

Girardi gets the memo, hopefully for the rest of 2008.

WOE just didn’t want to ruin Girardi’s clever plan to not bring Mo in.

Just put Mo in.  He’s not a mental midget- he can get past this tie-game phobia.  This is stupid.

Risky move by Girardi. Edwar loses the game, manager gets killed. Mo loses the game, Mo gets questioned.

[71] no, no they did not. hence what i wrote. i posted this testerday over at RAB ...

NAME AGE OPS+
Hacky 21 95
22 89
23 69

Lezcano(1)
21 135
22 101
23 129

Raines(3)
21 100
22 116
23 133

Lemon(6)
21 83
22 117
23 147

oddly enough, the only guy who kinda has some sorta similar path to Hacky is Clemente.

clemente
21 77
22 105
23 73

but then, clemente had one *weird* career path and i don’t know how much more time that the yankees should spend hoping the melky recreates the career path of an historic anomaly …

Now…I’m not saying Edwar is the greatest reliever ever…but why is it that people constantly question his best pitch when almost every reliever is a guy with one dominant out pitch?

Is Mo everywhere and always a better pitcher than Ramirez? Yes.
Should Mo be it the game? Yes.
I’ll win or lose w/Mo. 
This season is like watching a car wreck in slow motion.  How many game sin a row did the A’s win a few years ago?  We need one of those runs.  If we can win this game maybe they can go on a min-run and then extend it to a serious run when they get Joba, Hughes, Matsui and/or IPK and Melancon.  Notice I still have hope but my gut tells me they’re done.

Nady was hitting when Giambi was pinch-run for.  This season Nady hits 2B or 3B in about 7.5% of his AB’s.  If you assume that in 1/2 of those cases Giambi doesn’t score on a ball when Ransom does then there is a 4% chance that you are positively influencing the game.  Put it up to 5% to account for the increased odds of scoring from 2B on a single if Nady walks.  So will 1 or 2 Giambi AB’s over Betemit increase the odds of winning by a similar amount?  I doubt it but it’s close.

That’s all fine, but why do it with nobody out?  I would have thought about it with 2 out (and still probably not done it) but with nobody out a double puts runners on 2nd and 3rd.  It doesn’t make sense to me.  Giambi has an OPS 200 points higher than Betemit.  One AB in a high leverage situation (like last inning) could make the difference.

Because he doesn’t throw enough strikes with his FB to make it work at this level. Not yet anyway.

thank you al leiter. edwar’s FB *is* enough. *if* he locates. now go tell all-you-can-eat pete over at lohud. you’re a baseball guy, he *might* listen to you ...

TWIN KILLING!!!!

Go Edwar.

what the hell is up with pudge. that might be the first “good” throw he’s had as a yankee ... and it wasn’t even that good ...

Go WOE! WOE go!

again ... i’d say the problem isn’t throwing strikes, it’s throwing *quality* strikes with the FB ... the difference between command and control ...

[68] CP is sooo cute over at BTF, he only just realized that kevin is King Shit of Troll Mountain ...

That is exactly what I mean, I sure as hades don’t mean meatballs down the middle.

LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO!  They’re gonna win this game and they’re gonna win tomorrow then they are gonna win 5 of 6 against that cocksucker JP Ricardi’s BlueJays and the O’s.  Then with Joba Hughes and Matsui on board and Jeter and Cano reverting the the mean they are gonna sweep Baaaahhston and Toronto.  Bam: 13-1 to end August and now we’re ready for a September battle.  GO YANKS!!!!!!!!!

Gardner was supposedly a great bunter in the minors.  In the show, he hasn’t had one decent one.

Buck hasn’t made a decent throw to 2B all series.  Perhaps Pudge should just steal the base.

HUh?

Very good. C’mon Damon!

Hillman if foolish for not bringing in Soria here.  He has no reason to be conservative, after all.

Hey yo.  Just stopped in to rubberneck a bit.

This is NOT NOT NOT a bunt situation is it?

[92] your power of perspicacity is amazing! when do i get my pony and nympho supermodel???

SLAPPY!!!