Big Moments in “Down” Years
Over at River Ave Blues, user bexarama posted this comment:
“So my mom’s boss was apparently going on about how the years from 2002-2008 were “a waste” for the Yankees and my mom was actually logical and pointed out that you can’t really say that. So, what were your favorite memories from those years?
Me:
- Aaron bleepin’ Boone
- Boston Massacre, 2006
- A-Rod trade
- the game where Derek dove into the stands
- I hated the way the season ended, but the comeback in 2007 to make the playoffs was just awesome. Plus, the way A-Rod DESTROYED the AL. There were some really amazing games from 2007, as well.
- the 2005 division comeback
- this game
- this game
- A-Rod’s 10 RBI game against the Angels
- Andy coming back before 2007
- the home run my name links to”
Reading over that list, one thought occurs to me: even though the Yankees did not win the World Series in any of those years, we can’t really consider them a ‘waste’.
Of course, it’s easy to put Aaron Boone head and shoulders above any other moment from that time span, but the reality is that there were a lot of straight out awesome moments to be a Yankee fan.
We’re often very spoiled, as we think that any year without a World Series ring is a failure, but sometimes it might just very well behoove us to remember that there’s a difference between, say, being a Yankee fan in October 2003 and being a Nationals fan, or, maybe more apropos, an Indians fan.
The Yankees can’t win the World Series every single year, no matter how much we want them to, but more often then not, they’ll give us a reason to watch, anyway.
Joba Jabber
[Pitching stats for Joba can be found at BR and at Fangraphs. BR: 2007, 2008, 2009.
Fangraphs: 2007, 2008, 2009.
Joba Chamberlain went on the DL in August 2008 with his shoulder injury.
In 2007, a young pitcher who had fallen lower in the draft because of weight and injury concerns, captivated a fan base as he rose from A ball to the Majors in one season, throwing heat while working as a set-up man in a bullpen that, well, had issues. Relievers not named Mariano included Brian Bruney, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, Kyle Farnsworth…and they were all managed by Joe Torre–so yeah, issues.
Joba so electrified the fan base–and his personal story, with his paralyzed single father, added some color to the legend–that expectations came about which we, as discerning fans, should have realized as unreachable, but did not.
We expected, then, as in 2008 Joba was to make the switch from reliever to starter, that he’d take to the new role as a fish to water.
In fact, I bought tickets to the game in which he made his first start–throwing over 20 pitches in the first inning and not making it past the third. The Yankees lost that game but it wasn’t really Joba’s fault, and that’s more or less how it played out.
Joba threw too many pitches for someone on a strict pitch/innings count, and hurt the team not so much because the other team hit him, but because he left the game early and caused the Yankees to burn through their relievers. Bullpens, as we know, are finicky–they can be rock solid one month, and then a couple bad starts later, they can become utterly burnt out.
The issue, as we all know, was further compounded when Joba sustained a shoulder injury in August 2008, and there is some question (which I will not attempt to answer, because I don’t own a radar gun) as to whether or not Joba’s been able to completely recover.
In 2009, there was a lot of the same–Joba throwing too many pitches–until just after the All Star break, when he reeled off a week’s worth of excellent starts, pitching as though all the hype had been deserved.
His reward? The Yankees, in a fit of helicopter parenting, messed with his routine, and it kind of all fell apart there.
There are so many variables at work here, it’s nigh on impossible to pick just one as the cause of Joba’s problems. I would argue, rather, that the combination of them–expectations set too high, shoulder injury, mismanagement and some sort of primal phobia of the strike zone–have conspired to descend upon one young man. The starter/reliever debate is simple to address if you think of it like this: while the previous four issues are toil and trouble, Joba is probably best as a reliever; if these issues get tackled, Joba will be quite fine as a starter.
It is my belief that in this case, whether Joba is better off as a starter or a reliever is inextricably linked to the problems thus identified.
It’s also impossible to figure out which one of the problems should be the easiest to fix. Forget trying to reset our expectations–even if one of us was to say “well, maybe he won’t be uber awesome”, another one of us would probably say “but he’s only 24! You can’t lose your faith! Pink hat!”
Shoulder injuries can be fixed in theory, but they’re nasty, and come with no guarantee that they won’t be re-injured. There’s a reason they’re considered much more serious to pitchers than elbow injuries.
Mismanagement is only easy to fix in hindsight. The Yankees thought that they were doing the right thing with Joba, in trying to find a way to limit his innings, because the new conventional wisdom states that you have to limit the innings of a young pitcher to avoid injury.
The inability to throw strikes? One first has to figure out if the problem is mechanical or psychological. I’d wager that the nibbling is in a large part psychological, but I’m no coach or doctor, so take my word with a grain of salt.
The Yankees, Joba, and yes, ourselves (since issue #1 is of our own doing), don’t have to address just one of these issues, we have to address all four. When we do, we just might get that old Joba back–the one we’ve been so high on in the first place.
Spring Fling
Florida is awesome in March.
It’s sunny, but not hot, and there’s baseball. Lots, and lots of baseball.
How much baseball? Well, let’s start off with the fact that I shared my flight with a New Jersey college team. Yeah, there’s lots of baseball.
I went to Jupiter to catch the Marlins and the Cardinals, and as is probably normal, by the fourth inning, completely stopped caring about the game, and just enjoyed it.
My view. Roger Dean Stadium filled up fairly quickly–the Stadium is shared by the Marlins and the Cardinals, but as one might expect, the crowd this day was heavily skewed towards the Cardinals.
Like I said.
Cardinals warm ups.
Game action.
Albert. He struck out twice.
There was some sort of classic car show going on right outside the stadium, so I got a few.
(My personal favorite)
****
So some of you might ask, “why not the Yankees”?
The answer is simply one of convenience–Tampa is too far from where I was staying to make it a realistic possibility.
It’s not often a Yankee fan gets to see Pujols in person…
Oh, and Josh Johnson looked phenomenal.
Bonding over Baseball
“The Dodgers won the pennant my senior year, must have been 1941. We all cut gym class to go see the game. We saw our teachers there, too.”
***
For a very long time, I’ve read about baseball in the 1940s and the 1950s. I’ve read about the glory days of baseball in New York, of Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, of Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and Roy Campanella.
I’ve never, until tonight, actually talked to someone about it.
The way the face lights up, remembering one’s favorite players, how you could get into Ebbett’s field for $.10 and get a decent seat on the third base line for $.35, the despair when talking about the events of 1957…
Tonight, almost by chance, I had the chance to talk.
****
I’m in Florida for the weekend, and I’m staying with my grandmother.
I’ve known that Nana is a baseball fan and that she was a Dodgers fan, but not much more than that.
The dinner conversation tonight–over steamers, pizza and my brother’s steak sandwich–ambled like only a dinner conversation can, moving from one topic to the next.
First, it was food. Then Europe. Then art. Then a conversation about a house-museum in upper (way, way upper) Manhattan, and an off-hand remark about going to visit as a young girl.
“Nana,” I said, “I thought you said you grew up in Brooklyn?”
“I was eleven when I moved to Brooklyn. I was born in the Bronx and lived in Manhattan.”
I did not know this.
“So,” I said, having never before made the connection, “you got to see the original Yankee Stadium?”
“Of course,” she said. I can do the math in my head and realize that sometime between Nana’s birth and her move to Brooklyn, she got to see Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play. No wonder she likes baseball…
The conversation shifts, then, to the Dodgers, and to her memories of the team.
“Robinson, Reese, Campanella…I can’t remember who played first base.”
So begins a mad chase, my brother and I, using smart phones to try to pin down the first baseman. I suggest looking for the 1955 Dodgers–the year they won the World Series–but Nana says that’s too late.
That’s when Nana says she’s thinking of the year the Dodgers won the pennant, the year she cut gym class to go see, and that year had to be 1941.
So we look up the 1941 Dodgers on Baseball Reference, and I read off the names.
Owen.
Camilli. (Good old Dolph! )
Herman.
Reese.
Cooki– Lavagetto
Reiser.
Medwick.
Walker.
“We had some outfield.”
We read through all of the names, Nana making her comments about the ones she remembers–Medwick, especially, since she always sat by third base.
We compare the roster in 1955–more names I recognize–Campanella, Hodges, Newcombe, Podres, even a 19-year-old Sandy Koufax.
Then comes 1957.
“I never forgave them. I was done.”
That one line explains why I am a Yankees fan–there aren’t Dodgers in Brooklyn any more.
****
How often, I wonder, do mothers and daughters bond over baseball?
What about grandmothers and granddaughters?
We talk about baseball as something that’s passed from fathers to sons, and only recently from fathers to daughters, and yet, here I was, bonding with my grandmother, not over European art or literature or travel as we often do, but baseball (and a little Jets football, too).
So, sure, Nana can’t stand the Yankees, but I’ll give her a pass on that one.
She has memories, and with the memories come the stories, and just that little bit more texture to a world now relegated to books and old film.
Her stories make it real.
I now know why people devote their lives to Jesus
The Hardball Times has come out with six year projections for Jesus Montero.
Of course, they’re just projections and lots of things can happen. Montero is only 20, and has yet to make an appearance over AA.
The projections, however, do seem to give some substance to the statement that: in the long run it doesn’t matter if Montero is a catcher or a DH–if his bat is that talented, you’ll find room for him to play.
Here are the projections, under the jump Read the rest of this entry »
BASEBALL!
Is. Back.
YES and MLB network.
Promise me, though, you’ll do me a favor, and not freak out if, you know, the Yankees lose their first Spring Training game of the season.
Right then. As you were.
Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Flaherty to be honored
From Jerry Milani
Former Yankee Catcher, YES Network Analyst and New York City Native John Flaherty Heads Honorees at Halligan-McGuire Irish American Sports Good Guy Awards Luncheon on Monday, March 15, at Gallagher’s Steak House to Benefit Fordham University Featuring Irish Culinary Delights
***Remembering Two Irish-American Sports Legends In N.Y., Dick McGuire And John Halligan***
New York, March 2 — Two beloved New York sports figures of Irish American heritage who recently passed away will be remembered at a St. Patrick’s week benefit luncheon. On Monday afternoon, March 15, at 12:00 noon at Gallagher’s Steak House in New York City, Dick McGuire, the legendary St. John’s and New York Knicks star and NBA Hall of Famer, and John Halligan, the Rangers and NHL public relations executive, historian and author, will be honored with the creation of the “Halligan-McGuire Irish American Sports Good Guy Awards.” John Flaherty, former Yankee and YES Network analyst; Janet Halligan, John’s loving wife of 41 years; Teri McGuire, Dick’s loving wife of 54 years; and Dave Maloney, the former Ranger and 1050 ESPN Radio Rangers analyst, will be the inaugural honorees at the luncheon to benefit Fordham University.
Tickets are priced at $75, and include a three course luncheon menu and a donation. For information and tickets call Cirillo World at 212-972-5337 or email johnnycigarpr@aol.com. Gallagher’s Steak House is located at 228 West 52nd Street (between Broadway and Eighth Avenue) in New York City (212.245.5336).
New York City native Flaherty enters his sixth season on the YES Network broadcast lineup as a field reporter, studio analyst and game analyst for Yankees telecasts. Though Flaherty was drafted by Boston in 1988, he is perhaps best known to Yankees fans for his 2004 pinch-hit walk-off single that ended a 13-inning regular season game against his former team, the Red Sox. In the 2005 season, he became Yankees ace Randy Johnson’s catcher, in addition to backing up Jorge Posada. Flaherty played in over 1,000 games during 14 Major League seasons.
Born in the Bronx, a product of the Rockaways and a long time Dix Hills, Long Island resident, McGuire was a part of the Knicks organization for 53 seasons as a player, coach and scout. The St. John’s University star was one of the most selfless players in NBA history. The deft-passing McGuire was a five-time all star and led the Knicks to three straight NBA Finals in the fifties. His number 15 was retired to the Madison Square Garden rafters in 1992, and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame the following year. A native of Bergenfield, NJ, and a longtime resident of Franklin Lakes, Halligan began his career in the Rangers publicity office in 1963, upon graduation from Fordham University. Over the next 20 years his role expanded to include vice president of communications and business manager. Halligan left the Rangers for a public relations position with the NHL in 1983, before returning to the Rangers in 1986. He went back to the NHL in 1990 before retiring in 2006. He wrote several books, including “100 Ranger Greats: Superstars, Unsung Heroes and Colorful Characters” and “Game of My Life: New York Rangers.”
Spring Awakening
Greetings, readers.
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? How have you spent your February?
Me? Pulled off a move (still in New York City, just a different place), griping about NBC’s Olympics coverage and making plans to go to my first (!) Spring Training game next weekend–alas, it’s not the Yankees, who are too far from my lodgings, but it’s the Cardinals and the Marlins, and how often does a Yankee fan get to see Pujols up close and personal?
So.
A few thoughts as Spring Training has begun to unfold.
1): I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the monster mash from teh Jesús.
I’ve waxed poetic about Montero before; as I told one of my drinks companions last night, there are very few baseball players I go ga-ga over; Mariano is one, Pujols is another, and Montero is easily the third.
Baseball Prospectus 2010 brings up an interesting point in their capsule review of Montero: sometimes, every once in a while, we’re gifted with a player whose, in their words, G-d given position is DH. As much as Montero’s value would increase as a catcher, he might very well debut as a DH–and if BP’s comparing him to Edgar Martinez and Frank Thomas, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
As it is, at some point, Nick Johnson will probably get hurt, because that’s what Nick Johnson does when he’s not busy owning our notion of .OBP, and he’ll need a replacement at DH. While DH’ing Posada and catching Cervelli for a couple games isn’t the worst thing in the entire world, by the middle of August we could very well be at a point where the Yankees would get the greatest benefit — roster hoop-jumping aside– from DH’ing Montero, and keeping Posada’s bat in the lineup at catcher.
We are, of course, a long way from that–Montero’s not yet played a game above AA. Then again, the guys who mashed similarly at AA at a young age–guys like Miguel Cabrera and Andruw Jones–didn’t spend much time at AAA, either.
The point here is that we’re probably looking at the best bat the Yankees have had in their system in a very, very long time–in terms of pure power, probably the best bat in my lifetime. Montero is employed by a team that plays in a league with a DH. If the need arises, and Montero performs in AAA as many of us expect, the Yankees should not hold him back.
Imagine if Edgar Martinez had been unleashed upon the Major Leagues before he turned 27….
2) Today was Picture Day. This year’s crop is much better than last year’s (and are viewable on Getty Images), but there isn’t any that rivals the pure shock value of Brian Bruney’s 2008 shot–where he was almost unrecognizable compared to his appearance in 2007. You wouldn’t think it possible to change your appearance that much in just a few months, but apparently it is.
3) I’m about to start reading Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. I know, I know, it’s a book I should have read ages ago, before The Numbers Game or Baseball Between the Numbers, but for various reasons, I hadn’t purchased a copy till now.
I enjoy understanding what stats are supposed to tell you, but I’m not too good at calculating them. Thus, Baseball Between the Numbers is a favorite, but I haven’t been able to get through The Book–no fault of the author’s, the math just goes over my head.
Still, if anyone’s living proof that you don’t have to like math to appreciate sabermetrics, I’m probably it.
4) I’m not sure it snowed this much in any of my four years at Syracuse. Seriously.
The Second Best Day of the Year
Yep.
It’s finally here.
Pitchers and catchers (officially) report to camp today. Our long, cold, snowmaggedeon-y winter finally has a light at the end of the tunnel!
Baseball’s back and it feels so good…
How Good was Frank Thomas?
Courtesy of @jay_jaffe:
Any time you can list Ruth, Cobb and Musial as your comprables. you’re probably pretty darn good.
It’s all the more the pity we lost out on an entire 1994 season–Thomas was on pace to do the stuff of legend.
