Mike Mussina.

Mike Mussina.

Great answer.

That was my answer.

Does anyone know if Karl Ravech wears a piece?

Dunno if this has been linked already, but it’s got lots of interesting info about our favorite minor leaguers:

Chad Jennings rocks.

Whoa, new gameday.

I love how Jeter is shutting me up.

I’m not sure I like the new gameday.

yeah, the best view is just the old gameday view.

I do, however, like where this is going.

but if the new gameday makes the Yankees hit like this I’m all for it.

the new scoreboard flashy thing is nicer though.

Doh.

Anyone want to take a flyer on Chris Shelton?

WOE, kind of.

Mooooooooose!

I feel like all the batters in Gameday look like skinnier versions of the players in RBI Baseball.

Bad Moose.

Very bad Moose.  Can *anyone* get Doumit out?

It’s a fucking crime that the Pirates are making the Yankees play tonight (and not during the day) with rain looming and a doubleheader tomorrow. Assholes.

Boooooooooo

but if the new gameday makes the Yankees hit like this I’m all for it.

Not if it makes Moose pitch like this.

Well, this isn’t very economical.

If the radar at weather.com is to be believed, it’s going to be a deluge in old Pittsburgh.

Hmm, didn’t it take Moose like 5 innings to get to 30 pitches last time out?  Oh well, at least he got out of it.  Good Moose!

Who will pitch the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth?

fixed that for you SG.

Prrrrrr…OWESS!

Nice to see Damon back and running well.

From here on out, I want every inning to be 3 pitches, 3 outs, for both teams.  The sky is looking scary.

Not a fan of this new gameday

Blaaaaahhhhh.  Rain delays suck.

See you guys in a couple hours.

and there’s the rain.

On another note.  Bring back Chacon?  He was outright released by the Astros today

It’s a fucking crime that the Pirates are making the Yankees play tonight (and not during the day) with rain looming and a doubleheader tomorrow. Assholes.

Oh, come on.  This was scheduled as a night game back in December or something.  It’s not like they knew that the Yankees would be making up a rain out the next day back then, much less that it was going to rain.  So what you’re really saying is that the Pirates should have made a last minute schedule change that likely would have been damned inconvenient for thousands of their own paying customers.  Great business practice.

Well, it’s well documented that Yankees play a ton of night games on getaway days.  It’s simple economics: Yankees draw well, and a night game has a much better chance of being sold out than an afternoon game in the middle of the week.  Hence, home teams schedule them this way.

Any Knicks fans here?

What are these “Knicks” you speak of?

I don’t think it’s unfair criticism, MC. The Yankees would have liked to play today, like most other teams, and the Pirates knew that in December, but the Pirates wanted the better selling game, so they made them play the night game.

So if you want to criticize the Pirates for making the Yanks play a night game on a getaway day, I think it’s fair.

Knickerblogger is doing a chat right now about the draft.

Something to follow during the rain delay.

http://www.chatzy.com/897432297581

Oh, and I don’t hate the Knicks’ draft pick, but I am hoping they drafted him to trade him.

I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it. Don’t know who I would have preferred though, they need help everywhere. Doesn’t this just scream that they’re not trying to win immediately?

Yeah, I’d take Chacon… he is a past All-Star reliever and therefore he has teh experience factor to be a leader in the pen…  just ask Waldman, she’ll tell you.

Also, Knicks fans are dicks.

Also, Knicks fans are dicks.

The radio had a great line about that - “these are the guys who can’t even get tickets to the actual games, so ignore them.”

A 19-year old kid is leaving his country to play for our joke of an organization. If they don’t like it, STFU. Don’t make it even harder on him.

To me, it’s worse than booing A-Rod. He’s a freaking teenager, and he hasn’t even done anything yet.

Shame Moose won’t get his 11th win tonight.

So if you want to criticize the Pirates for making the Yanks play a night game on a getaway day, I think it’s fair.

Fine.  But how about criticizing them for not knowing months in advance that it would rain?  Or for not knowing months in advance that the Yankees would have a game rained out in May, and choose to make that game up by playing a double header on the day after this game?  Because that’s what 19 criticized them for, and that’s what I was responding to.

With the exception of the Cubs (and to a lesser extent, the Giants and A’s) everybody schedules as many night games as possible, even on getaway days.  The Marlins and Rays played this afternoon because the Marlins (home team) have to go to Arizona, not because they were worried about the Rays having to go to Pittsburgh.  The Tigers and Cardinals played a day game because the home team (Tigers) have to travel to Colorado.  They’re playing right now in Cleveland because the Indians are staying home this weekend and they don’t give a crap about the Giants having to fly across the country after the game.  Night game in Houston too, and (surprise, surprise!) the Astros are staying home while the Rangers have to get to Philadelphia to play tomorrow.

The general criticism of MLB clubs for letting greed rule the schedule is valid.  The specific criticism of the Pirates for doing something out of the ordinary to the Yankees in this particular instance is pretty baseless.

Looks like the game is going to be called.

Considering what the radar has looked like the last few hours, those clowns should’ve called it hours ago.  Meh.

Makeup July 10.

god dammit. now what am i gonna do with my night

And they lose all the stats. Brilliant.

just for the record

“After watching two of Joba Chamberlain’s starts, one scout’s conclusion is: “I think he ought to be a closer, not a starter. His pitch counts get so high that I don’t know how deep he’ll be able to get in the game. And he’ s such a max-effort guy, I keep asking myself: ‘What’s he going to look like after his first surgery, if he keeps starting?’ ” from ESPN’s Jason Stark

Nolan Ryan just must never have existed. Like, because apparently max-effort guys suck. or something.

granted, that’s not Stark’s opinion. but that scout is an idiot.

myspace layouts

That ‘scout’ is part and parcel of the disease that has infected the game. Forty years ago, in a four man rotation, guys regularly threw 110-120 pitches.

Now with a five man rotation, pitchers are considered extended if they throw 100 pitches. If anything, pitchers get injured at least as often now as then.

The team now has to fly out of Pittsburgh, in bad weather, and get ready to play an afternoon game before the second game? Real nice. 

I think baseball has been wrong for years with the rule to start these games over and throw away the stats.  The stats should count and these games should restart where they left off in terms of what’s already in the books. I mean what if the Yankees had four homers and a ten run lead after four innings. It is clearly a very wrong rule.

btw, I think I read that Maris and maybe Mantle as well lost a homer to rain in the 61 homer chase of Ruth?

The Pirates couldn’t have seen the Yankees dh or the rain, but the main point that the Yankees get night games on getaway day while many of the opponents like the Rays play in the afternoon in similar situations. That’s a valid complaint and MLB should even the field and not leave these decisions to the home town teams regardless of the money aspects.

And they lose all the stats. Brilliant.

They don’t continue from where they left off?

They don’t continue from where they left off?

They don’t. Shit.

The stats should count and these games should restart where they left off in terms of what’s already in the books.

Yeah, but that’s real tough to do.  It’s hard enough when the game is already after the 8th or 9th inning.  Considering the fact that when they try to restart the game, rosters may be different, and the starting pitchers likely won’t be available to pitch that day, so you’re already limiting the team to a 24-man roster.  I know it sucks, but I’m not that upset about it, or think it needs to change.

Jeter really coulda used that double.

Oh, this the day with Ponson pitching huh? I’m glad I’ll miss that I guess.

I feel pretty good about the Yanks odds today. Lefties kill Pelfrey. Even if both Damon and Matsui can’t play, they should whoop on him. And Pedro just kinda sucks. Tonight should be a shootout, the day game should be a blow out.

the day game should be a blow out.

Be very careful when you say such things, or at least specify clearly which team will come out on top

That said, I’m calling a no-hitter for Ponson.

the yankees will be tired and they have never seen Pelfrey before.  i could easily see them being shut down. 

with the way the pitching matchups are lined up, i will be THRILLED if the Yankees split these 4 games.

Pelfrey only has two pitches. A righty fastball-slider guy is not the kind of guy I think of as being dangerous. Then again, the travel might come into play I guess. The Yanks are playing two hitters short right now (Damon and Matsui), but the Mets suck. Should be an interesting weekend of ineptitude.

Speaking as a Met fan, I have a hard time believing Pelfrey will shut the Yankees down.

As Cowboy says, lefties kill Pelfrey.  Career, they are hitting 330 with a 430 OBP off him, and he’s walked 20 more lefties than he has struck out.  Honestly, with a 330 BA and a 430 OBP it’s a shock they are “only” slugging 480 off the guy.  Pelfrey’s best trait is that he is very hard to take deep, especially against righties.  He has allowed 2 HR in 427 AB against righties.  Even lefties, who murder him, hit one HR every 42 PA.  Pelfrey does about as good a job keeping the ball in the park as Wang, who is great at it.  The big difference is Wang has much much better control.

Anyway, even though it looks like Matsui may not be playing, I expect the Yankees to have enough lefties in the lineup to where it would be nearly impossible for them to score fewer than 3 runs off him in the 4+ innings I expect out of Pelfrey.  I don’t know enough about this Giese character, hopefully the Mets can score some runs off him.

Pedro has pitched very poorly so far, but I still have hope he can pitch to a better than average ERA.  At least from here on out.  But he has given up a ton of hard hit balls.

the yankees will be tired

This may be a stupid question, but the Yankees have their own plane I’m sure. Is it against some FAA regulations for them to have huge seats that fold open into beds to make the flights more comfortable? Nothing beats a good nights sleep in a bed, sure, but I’m sure it’s much different than when you and I take a red eye.

is there any analysis on the schedules for the different teams? If not there should be. Not so much a strength of schedule but something that looks at days off, long road trips, and night games on getaway days.

A thought on the schedule.

I imagine the Yankees do play more night games on getaway days and stuff like that.  That’s a function of them being the most famous team in the sport and all that jazz.  Isn’t that a fair trade off for playing in the biggest market in the country and having a financial advantage over every other team?

I mean, sure, Tampa got a day game yesterday instead of a night game; but they have a payroll thats how much less than the Yankees?

I’m not trying to get into a payroll argument, don’t get me wrong, but it seems to me that the Yankees having the schedule that they do is a function of their wealth (allowing them to constantly be competitive, allowing them to have a massive amount of people care about them either way) so it isn’t that big a deal.  I feel like every team in baseball would be ok with the Yankees schedule if they got everything else that comes along with it.

Is it against some FAA regulations for them to have huge seats that fold open into beds to make the flights more comfortable?

I don’t know about huge beds, but I imagine they’re seats are all first-class quality or better.  I’m sure some of them will sleep on the plane, and some won’t.  Anyway, from Pitt to NY is less than a 2-hour flight.  I’m sure all of the players got 6+ hours of sleep, and several probably get 8+.  This isn’t like they flew from the West Coast here, getting back at 8AM local time.

I feel like every team in baseball would be ok with the Yankees schedule if they got everything else that comes along with it.

I suppose then it would be only fair to compare them w/ teams like the Mets, Boston, Phillies, etc.  I don’t think the Yankees’ financial advantage is *that* much more than any of those other big-market teams.  So if those teams also have similar schedule problems, then yes, I can say it is fair.  If however they don’t…

I don’t think the Yankees’ financial advantage is *that* much more than any of those other big-market teams.

The only point of reference I have for this is when I lived in DC in 2006. the Yankees came to town (Wang got the save in one of those games I believe?.. could be mixing up years) and the game was sold out weeks in advance. Tickets on craigslist were ridiculous, as expected (though not as bad as Yankee Stadium.) The Mets came to town a few weeks later, and while RFK was busy, you could still walk to the ticket booth a few hours before the first pitch and purchase a ticket. I was pretty shocked because the Metsies were a big draw in 2006, I believe they went wire to wire.

“I suppose then it would be only fair to compare them w/ teams like the Mets, Boston, Phillies, etc.  I don’t think the Yankees’ financial advantage is *that* much more than any of those other big-market teams. “

That’s fair, though I would take the Phillies out.  But I don’t think anyone can deny that the Yankees have more inherent advantages than any team in the game.  (Largest market, and they have a much longer and more storied history than the team they share it with.)

I don’t know about those schedules though, so I can’t make any determinations. 

Not sure what this has to do with anything, but I decided to take a quick look at road attendance.

The Mets have the best road attendance in the majors, drawing around 36,590 per night. ( I was surprised to see this.)  Boston is second at 36,515.  The Yankees are all the way down at 18th, at 30,578.  Of course, the Yankees are about to draw 3 straight road sellouts, and when they go to Fenway they can only draw 37K or whatever it is.  The Yankees have played 3 games in Boston; give them an extra say 15,000 a night there, and the 55,000 they’re going to get the next 3 and their road attendance is about 34K, which is like 5th.

The Yankees and Sox have been 1-2 the last few years in road attendance, which would lead one to think the Sox should have a similar road schedule do the Yankees.

“The Mets came to town a few weeks later, and while RFK was busy, you could still walk to the ticket booth a few hours before the first pitch and purchase a ticket. I was pretty shocked because the Metsies were a big draw in 2006, I believe they went wire to wire.”

One thing I would say on this is; while the Yankees are likely a better road draw than the Mets, the Mets take 3 trips to Washington every year.  The Yankees dont.

The Mets have the best road attendance in the majors, drawing around 36,590 per night. ( I was surprised to see this.) Boston is second at 36,515.

I think this gets skewed by the few games the Mets play at YS, and in particular, the 10 or so games the Red Sox play in front of 55k at YS vice the 10 or so games the Yankees play in front of 30-something-k at FP.

One thing I would say on this is; while the Yankees are likely a better road draw than the Mets, the Mets take 3 trips to Washington every year.  The Yankees dont.

Good point. Yankees in DC is a once every few years thing.

I could be way off on this and correct me if I am wrong but… Steinbrenner is not the richest owner in baseball all of these owners are billionaires yet the yankees are penalized in public opinion because they have an owner willing to put more money into his team than any other owner. I think our payroll is more a reflection of our ownerships commitment to us (the fans) than an unfair playing ground. There are four team owners that have more money than steinbrenner.
5 Steinbrenner
4 Tom Hicks (rangers)
3 Mike Ilitch (Tigers)
2 John Malone (braves)
1 (and most startling)Carl Pohlad owner of the perrenial small market Minnesota Twins

WTF?

“I think this gets skewed by the few games the Mets play at YS, and in particular, the 10 or so games the Red Sox play in front of 55k at YS vice the 10 or so games the Yankees play in front of 30-something-k at FP.”

Agreed.  Though doing the math this year the Yankees still wouldn’t be at the top.  But prior to that they are usually 1-2 with the Sox and throwing in the fact that Fenway is smaller than the Stadium I think its safe to say the Yankees are the best road draw in the game.

“I could be way off on this and correct me if I am wrong but… Steinbrenner is not the richest owner in baseball all of these owners are billionaires yet the yankees are penalized in public opinion because they have an owner willing to put more money into his team than any other owner. I think our payroll is more a reflection of our ownerships commitment to us (the fans) than an unfair playing ground.

Steinbrenner isn’t the richest owner, but he doesn’t have to be.  The Yankees can spend all the money they do and still swing a profit.  Sure, Pohlad could plunge a ton of money into the team (and he should invest more than he has) but the Twins might run in the red for a few years.  For a guy like Pohlad, that’s no big deal, but it’s a different story when you can do all that and still run a profit.

Also-
The Yankees have done a great job investing in their team and building up their brand, so to speak, but that is going to be magnified by where they play.  If they did the exact same thing in a different town they would still be really rich but I don’t think they’d be the Yankees.

The amount of money you put into your team isn’t really about how much you have, its about how much revenue that team generates.  Without looking, I would bet the Yanks generate way more revenue than any other team, hence they reinvest more in the team.

If I invest more in a business than that business generates, I’m netting a loss.  That’s OK in some circumstances (like when your industry is in its growth phase) and you can expect higher profits down the road - I don’t think thats the case in baseball.  Now you can say that paying more to put a better team on the field may put more fans in the seats and generate more revenue, but it won’t be enough unless you also raise prices (tickets, concession, etc), and fans in middle America are not able to pay those prices.

The playing ground IS unfair but, as I’m a Yankees fan, I say F middle America.

The complaints about the Yankees resources relative to other teams has nothing to do with the personal wealth of individual owners and everything to do with the size of the respective revenue streams.  The richest owner doesn’t necessarily own the richest team, and vice versa.

And without seeing the entire MLB schedule analyzed in detail, I’m not convinced that the Yankees actually play a disproportionate number of night games on getaway days.  Yesterday was a getaway day for every road team, not just the Yankees.  And the Yanks/Pirates game wasn’t the only night game scheduled.  The Rangers and Giants had much longer flights to make after their night games.  The Rays and Cardinals got day games on the road because it was getaway day for the home teams in those series too.

It’s interesting to hear this kind of complaint, considering that we also get a fair number of complaints almost every time the Yankees do play a day game during the week.

The playing ground IS unfair but, as I’m a Yankees fan, I say F middle America.

I second the motion (sorry joel)!

It is not like big Stein bought the team and it magically turned into the revenue giant it is. The yankees sucked when he bought them from CBS and the move was criticized (even by his father I think). Who is to say with a few years of investing in talent the twins could not produce high revenues? (albeit not as high as NY)

So basically the consensus is the playing field is unfair because Steinbrenner is a genius (or atleast surrounded himself with geniuses)? I can live with that much more than these teams complaining they cannot compete when they have more than the necessary resources. To field a quality product. How do these owners expect to make money unless they invest in umm PLAYERS? That is ultimately the product. The 9 guys on the field.

Baseball IS in a growth phase. Look at the attendance records that are getting shattered year after year and the assloads of ad money being brought in.

“It is not like big Stein bought the team and it magically turned into the revenue giant it is. The yankees sucked when he bought them from CBS and the move was criticized (even by his father I think). Who is to say with a few years of investing in talent the twins could not produce high revenues? (albeit not as high as NY)”

Who is saying that isn’t the case?  The point was that the effect is magnified in NY.

Also, the Yankees may have sucked when Steinbrenner bought them, but I believe they had a fair amount of success in the 50 years before that.

“So basically the consensus is the playing field is unfair because Steinbrenner is a genius (or atleast surrounded himself with geniuses)?”

I don’t think one person has said this, so I’m not sure how that is the consensus.

The Yankees (as well as the Mets) play in the largest media market in the world.  That is an inherent advantage that no other team has.  Thats the consensus.  Look, that’s fine.  I am not saying there should be a salary cap or anything.  But don’t deny that it is a huge inherent advantage to play in NY.  The Yankees (read Steinbrenner and whoever he has hired) have done a great job building the brand, but they play in the city that best allows them to capitalize on it.

Forbes just released something today saying the Knicks, who are a complete joke of a franchise, are still the most valuable team in the league.

You are still avoiding my point. While the Yankees will almost always produce higher revenues than any other team, teams like the twins have no right to complain about the plight of a small payroll. They **choose** to be small market, which is fine. I am not saying every team has to be big market. What I am saying is that the payroll differences between clubs is not as relevant as the media makes it out to be.

Isn’t there a Mets (or perhaps a Communist) blog for you to visit?

I kid.

I don’t mean to avoid your point.

I said a few times I am not railing against payrolls, or saying there should be a salary cap.  I agree that the media makes too much of the payroll difference a lot.

Just saying that the Yankees have a lot of inherent advantages, and I think it’s more than a fair trade off that sometimes they have to play night games on getaway days when other teams wouldn’t.  Thats all.

They **choose** to be small market

The population of Minneapolis/St. Paul is not something that Mr. Pohlad chose.  You’re confusing payroll size with market size.  Miami is a bigger market than St. Louis or Cleveland, for instance.  The Cardinals and Indians spend more money than the marlins, but not counting revenue sharing, they take in a lot more too.  So there’s certainly some element of choice and marketing and intelligence involved, but there are also real inequalities in play as well.

The population of the New York Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is almost ten times that of Milwaukee or Kansas City or Pittsburgh.  It is highly unlikely that George would have had the same success if he had bought one of those teams, even if brought in the exact same people and tried to use the exact same approach to running the business.

What I am saying is that the payroll differences between clubs is not as relevant as the media makes it out to be.

That’s a perfectly fair and largely correct point.  But it is not at all what you said back in 79 or 84.

I don’t feel sorry for any of the owners, or teams.  Each owner knew what he was getting when he bought the team.  Pohlad knew he couldn’t move his team to a larger area unless all the owners approved.

Personally, I think it is conventional wisdom that the small-market owners dispise/hate/envy the large-market owners like Steinbrenner.  Those small-market owners enjoy increased ticket sales when the big teams come into town.  They also enjoy the revenue sharing.  They also know that they have a monopoly in their area, even if it is a small one.

But, they will take whatever advantages they can get over their large-market bretheren, and if that means having the Yanks play night games on getaway days, so be it.

Plus, the flight was from Pitt to NY.  There was no time zone change.  Could have been much worse.

For years the city with the big shoulders was number two. How did that translate into success for their baseball clubs in the past 100 years? Even after la-la land became number two, they still remain a powerhouse city.

It matters far more how you run your organization.

1964-1976; 1981-1995. Enough said.