Coming into the 2010 season, there did not seem to be a whole lot of questions for the defending World Series champions.

One of the questions, however, centered around the Opening Day outfield: Brett Gardner had not been much more than a fourth outfielder last season who lost his job to Melky Cabrera, Nick Swisher had some crazy home/road splits, and there were doubts over whether or not Curtis Granderson would really make up for the loss of one of the Yankees’ top prospects, Austin Jackson.

By season’s end, however, the view of the outfield was quite different: Nick Swisher was an All Star, Brett Gardner was one of the team’s most valuable players, and Granderson simply went on a late-season tear.

So what did the Yankee fielders do? Let’s take a look.

The Breakout

Brett Gardner was a walk on at the College of Charleston; when he first made his MLB appearance the main asset he was supposed to provide was his speed.

While Gardner still has plenty of that, his speed was not nearly as important as his team-leading .383 on base percentage. It’s not often that your team’s ninth hitter gets on base more frequently than anyone else–even your MVP-caliber second baseman–but this is exactly what Gardner provided.

One area of future concern, however, is that Gardner’s stats dropped phenomenally in the second half. While it’s entirely possible that a lingering injury may be partly at fault, the worry is that the first half of 2010 is Gardner’s high point.

We’ll know more in 2011, but at any rate, even with the second half decline the Yankees got far more out of Gardner–offensively and defensively than almost anyone might have expected–except for Gardner himself.

The All Star

In many ways, Nick Swisher is the hero of Michael Lewis’s Moneyball (okay, so Billy Beane is the protagonist, but Swisher is the guy you actually end up liking), and he has always had tremendous potential value.

The difference, however, is that in 2010, Swisher put it all together. He has career highs in hits, batting average, slugging and OPS–signifying that Swisher wasn’t just hitting, but hitting for power–and was one shy of thirty home runs as well.

Like Gardner, Swisher had a second half slump as well, but if you’ve got an OPS of .833 when you’re slumping, that’s not really an awful thing. In fact, Swisher’s second half slump is most noticeable in September, when the Yankees as a whole had a horrible month.

As Swisher will be entering his age 30 season in 2011, his career years may be past him, but he is still very much in his prime, very much loved by fans (especially those in right field) and, we know, now capable of an All Star season as well.

The Dancer

There’s really no other way to say this: until Curtis Granderson went to hitting Kevin Long for help, he was having a horrible season (missing most of May to an injury, as well). It’s easily reflected in his splits here.

However, once Granderson revamped his swing it was almost as if the Yankees had just gotten an extra player–and one who was a spark in the playoffs, to boot. He hit much better batting second than later in the order, but small sample size and pitcher-handedness caveats should be employed.

If Granderson’s revamped swing holds over winter an works again in the spring, the trade that sent Austin Jackson and Phil Coke to Detroit may go from being a bust to a good one; the jury’s still out.

all the pictures are mine

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Although it’s never too soon to start planning for 2011, there will be plenty time to discuss that later. For the moment, on the theme of hey-it-wasn’t-such-a-bad-year, here are my top ten moments of the 2010 Yankees’ season.

Honorable Mentions: Kim Jones’s porkchop incident, Jorge Posada hits two grand slams in two days, Brett Gardner hits a grand slam in an eleven run outburst inning vs. Toronto, A-Rod grand slamming after Mark Teixeira is intentionally walked on multiple occasions…

10. Hope Week Returns

The Yankees might be the big, bad, evil empire…but for the second year running they showed just how big that Yankee heart can be while honoring those whose ability to overcome various disabilities or obstacles inspire hope in so many of us. Some things are bigger than baseball, and HOPE week is a tradition that we all hope may continue.

9. Golson’s gun

Greg Golson was a bench player, a spare body to come in as a late inning defensive replacement or pinch runner. No one really expected much more from him, but on a September night in Tampa, he may have been responsible for the best defensive play of the year.

Closer Mariano Rivera had been struggling (buh?) that month, and the Yankees were nursing a one run lead over the Tampa Bay Rays. When Matt Joyce hit a fly ball to right field, it was an “okay, we can live with this” second out–or so we thought. Carl Crawford, who was on second base, did as we thought he would and tagged up, trying to get to third base. At this point, Golson unleashed a perfect throw, all the way across the diamond, right into A-Rod’s waiting glove. Game, set, match.

8. 600

Bruised shins and banged up calves may have marred Rodriguez’s season, but the Yankee third baseman still has the power to wow, like he did on a Wednesday afternoon game. There were a couple funky notes to his becoming the youngest person ever to hit 600 home runs:

It was the third year anniversary of his 500th home run, and the same starting pitcher–Phil Hughes–was on the mound for the Yankees.

Over the previous weekend, the Yankees had first inning, two-run home runs in multiple games, only to go on and lose almost all of those. Rodriguez’s home run? A first inning, two-run home run (the Yankees won).

7. Papelbad, Part One

Is there a better way to ingratiate yourself as a member of the Yankees than hitting a home run in your first at bat? How about an extra-inning home run that gives the Yankees a lead up in Boston in the first series of the season? Curtis Granderson did both of these, which no doubt built him his fair share of post-trade good will. The moment was huge, but what may have been bigger was that, as the Yankees’ new center-fielder, Granderson helped anchor an outfield that may have been the best the Yankees have had in years. Their defense, coupled with the offensive breakout of Brett Gardner and All Star campaign of Nick Swisher was far more than the Yankees could have possibly expected back in March.

6. The Awareness of Robinson Canó

It’s impossible to pick just one moment or one play for Robinson Canó. That’s how good his season was this year. Truth be told, he was great last year, but for one fluke or another, couldn’t hit with runners on base. This year, however, was a much different story. Canó was the most valuable Yankee, and it wasn’t even close. Whether a grand slam after an intentional walk or a defensive play that looked so easy you almost think you can do it, Canó was owning it.

If you’re a Yankee fan, you are no longer unaware of the team’s superstar second baseman.

5. Behold the power of Colin

Coming into a game to pinch hit is hard enough. Coming in to pinch hit when it’s mid-count and you have two strikes on you is even harder. Now, try doing it as a rookie. Tough, right?

Well, not according to Colin Curtis, who blasted a three-run home run while pinch hitting for Brett Gardner. The Yankees went on to win the game–one of the few Javy Vazquez games that Yankee fans will remember fondly from the 2010 season.

4. Mariano Miracle

At this point, there’s probably nothing more that Mariano Rivera can do to amaze us. In the postseason, in the regular season, it is as though Yankee fans are watching an immortal when the otherwise-very-humble Rivera steps on the mound. Yet, for all the accolades, Rivera still had yet another trick up his sleeve in Arizona.

In the bottom of the tenth inning, after the Yankees had taken an extra-inning lead, after a single, double and intentional walk, the bases were loaded with no one out and Rivera was in his second inning of work.

That’s when Rivera got down to business: a foul out, a pop out and a strike out that ended the game.

It makes us wonder: is there anything the great Rivera can’t do?

3. Sunday Night Surprise

The 2009 Yankees left their mark via the late-inning comeback and walk off. The 2010 Yankees hadn’t done that much, but on this Sunday night in Los Angeles, it felt as though the Yankees stuck a season’s worth of comebacks all into one evening.

The ninth inning play by play:

M Teixeira struck out swinging
A Rodriguez singled; A Rodriguez to second on fielder’s indifference
R Canó doubled; A Rodriguez scored
J Posada singled; A Rodriguez to third
J Posada to second on fielder’s indifference
C Granderson walked
C Huffman singled; R Canó and J Posada scored, C Granderson to third
C Curtis grounded out to first; C Granderson scored, C Huffman to second

The Yankees took the lead on a two-run extra inning home run from Robinson Canó, and the most dramatic comeback win of the regular season was secured.

2. Swisher honors the Boss

Ever have to go back to work after a death in the family? It’s hard. Yet, this is what the Yankees were tasked with doing after George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard passed on over the All Star break.

The game was a catharsis; while the tributes to The Boss and Bob Sheppard were moving, the game itself was a tense, playoff-like atmosphere. Although Derek Jeter had a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth, it feels almost fitting that instead it came down to Swisher, someone who’s loose, fun demeanor may have been precisely what the Yankees needed, because once you’re done mourning, you still need to go on living…

1. Papelbad, Part Two

One gets the feeling that absolutely everything could go wrong in the Yankee season, but if the team is still better than the Red Sox, you can live with it.

So it was this evening, when the Yankees had a 5-0 lead, then blew it in the latter innings, only to recover with a game tying home run from Alex Rodriguez, and a game winning home run from Marcus Thames. The game echoed the pre-2004 sentiments long expressed in the Yankee/Red Sox rivalry: that no matter how hard the Red Sox tried, the Yankees would still somehow find a way to win the game.

To do it versus Jonathan Papelbon, of course, just makes it that much better.

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(Minnesota vs Yankees tropes checklist: 1) Minnesota scores first, check. 2) Yankees come back and score more, check. 3) Yankee bullpen is better than the Twins bullpen, check. 4) Umpires do something stupid, check.)

Since all the important tropes are checked and this is in every way the exact kind of Twins-Yankees game that gets played in the postseason, let’s talk about these things three: Andy Pettitte, Curtis Granderson, Lance Berkman.

Andy Pettitte: Seven innings, five hit, two run ball. Easily his best pitching performance since returning from the DL and a vintage Pettitte postseason start. Not perfect, but filled with double plays, gettings-of-clutch-outs, makings-of-pitches and nerves (and stares) of steel.

Okay, seriously: Pettitte looked fantastic. Any qualms about whether he or Hughes should have started game two seem to have been fully set aside, because now if Minnesota wins games three and four (possible, though, it would seem unlikely), the Yankees can rest assured that their vaunted postseason lefthander is healthy and ready to take the mound game five.

The Hudson home run was a bad pitch, but almost everything else worked flawlessly, especially after the second inning when he escaped a jam giving up just one run.

Curtis Granderson: Look, I know giving hitting coaches lifetime contracts is ill-advised, but in this case I’d be willing to make an exception.

Since his mid-August Long-ian retreat, Granderson has been on fire and shows no signs of abating now. He came up with one of, if not the biggest hits of the game last night, and tonight hit the double that eventually scored the Yankees’ first run.

The only blemish was a bunt that may not have needed to be made in tonight’s game, as he otherwise went three-for-four, and is now batting .500/.500/.875 in the postseason. Yeah, two games is a small sample size and ultimately insignificant, but he has been phenomenal in the first two games.

Lance Berkman: The Big Puma, in his first postseason game in pinstripes, hit a home run that gave the Yankees their first lead tonight and then the RBI double that gave them their second and final lead.

Want to know what’s crazy about how deep the Yankees’ line up is this postseason? Berkman, a formal All-Star, and the offensive hero of tonight’s game, was hitting eighth.

Eighth.

Oh, and while we’re on the theme of Cashman’s 2010 acquisitions striking gold tonight, how utterly dominant was Kerry Wood in the eighth inning?

Yikes!

Now the Yankees head back home, up two-games-to-none, and can potentially clinch a spot in the LCS on Saturday.

Only one team has ever come back from losing the first two LDS games at home to win the series. You may remember–it was the 2001 Yankees that did it.

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(Brief recap because it’s 2 AM and I want to sleep)

Just call them the Gods of OBP.

In Oakland tonight (err, this morning?), the Yankees managed a 7-3 win over the Athletics with only five hits–but they were helped by their ten walks.

Yankees’ starter Javier Vazquez was spotted a three run lead before he even threw a pitch; although Vazquez was not particularly efficient with his pitch count, he pitched well enough to win, and would have likely remained in the game longer had Curtis Granderson not misplayed a fly ball he should have caught.

Boone Logan made his Yankee debut, and seemed to be doing all right until coming undone after a Derek Jeter miscue (one which could have been called an error, but was not.)

Home Plate umpire Ed Rapuano took a foul ball off the mask; he left the game one batter later and as of this writing, had been taken by ambulance to a hospital for a CT scan. Here’s hoping that he is not seriously hurt.

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A little over a month and a half ago, I sat in the dining room at a fancy Boca Raton country club, and over pizza and steamers, heard my grandmother talk about watching the Brooklyn Dodgers in their glory days. I heard about cutting class to see the team win in 1941–and seeing her teachers at the game, about watching Pee Wee Reese and Roy Campenella, and, of course, Jackie Robinson.

The next morning, as my brother and I said our good-byes before we were about to head north, she made us promise that we’d come visit again, and that this time we’d stay for longer.

We both promised.

These are the things that haunt me, haunt me as I stroke her hand while she’s in an ICU bed, haunt me as I labor to understand monosyllabic words and short sentences from half-paralyzed lips, haunt me as I think about how for so long she’s taken care of us and now we have to take care of her.

These things haunt me then, and haunt me long after.

They haunt me in the nursing home, when every day I also say hello to Nana’s roommate, who’s blind but still tells my cousin that she looks like her daughter; they haunt me when I watch Nana try to eat pureed kosher mush since she’s still too weak to swallow solids; they haunt me when I look at the photos of a smiling, vibrant grandmother and I realize that it might be years before we get that back. If ever.

They haunt me, still, tonight, when I am, after a three day drive-and-train adventure, back in New York. They haunt me when my first game at Yankee Stadium this season just happens to be Jackie Robinson Day, and the conversation in the Pavillion dining room replays itself, word for word. Baseball. Brooklyn. Reese, Rickey, Robinson.

If I had known then, what would happen just a few weeks later, I would have pushed for more, more information, more stories, more memories.

After all, history books only tell you so much.

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Opening Day is not Opening Day.

Opening day is when you cut class and go watch your favorite players in action, finally, once again.

Opening Day is when everything in the world is good.

Opening Day is when you feel alive again.

This year, it’s different.

This year, I spend Opening Night on my grandmother’s porch, reminiscing with my cousins about childhood memories, about relatives long and recently lost, and the conclusion that right now, baseball simply does not matter.

As I write this, the Yankees have blown a 5-1 lead and are trailing 8-7. I have no idea how this happened, but I know Granderson and Posada hit home runs, and that the Yankees tend to lose to the Red Sox in April, and then wallop them in August.

The Yankees, I know will play on. They’ll remain constant, if not exactly regular. As the summer progresses, with each day there will be another game, some wins, some losses, some rainouts, but baseball will remain constant.

But (grammatical faux pas aside), these moments with my family, I’ve learned the hard way, will not always be here.

So you take advantage of it when you can.

Baseball will wait.

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So it’s been a while since I’ve updated this regularly, hasn’t it?

Well, with the New Year upon us, it seems like a good time to get back into it, no?

Anyway, here are some very non-coherent thoughts about the goings on of the Yankees and the baseball world.

• Left field, left field, I love you, left field…

As it is, right now, the Yankees’ projected 2010 lineup looks something like this (I think):

1) Derek Jeter SS
2) Nick Johnson DH
3) Mark Teixeira 1B
4) Alex Rodriguez 3B
5) Jorge Posada C
6) Robinson Canó 2B
7) Curtis Granderson OF
Nick Swisher RF
9) Brett Gardner OF

Now, a couple of thoughts.

I think many of us assume Granderson will be in center and Gardner in left–assuming it’s these two and not Jaime Hoffman that make the cut.  Granderson’s defense certainly flies in center, but there’s a tremendous difference in the power that Granderson offers versus the power that Gardner offers.

Regardless of where they play, the question is simple–are you really okay with Gardner playing every day at center field?  Last year the Yankees’ line up was so potent that they could carry the Gardbrera construct in the nine spot and be okay, and it didn’t hurt that the two platooned (until Gardner was hurt and then again after).  The platoon kept both fresh and productive–when Gardner was injured and Melky Cabrera played every day, Cabrera’s numbers sagged.

So you probably want the Yankees to have another option in the outfield, if only for depth.  Austin Jackson and Melky Cabrera are now both gone; so too are Mike Cameron and Jason Bay.  Matt Holliday is available but will cost money that the Yankees don’t necessarily want to spend, and the Yankees and Johnny Damon seem to have reached an impasse.

It is here, then, that I make my pipe-dream plea:  re-sign Damon.

It’s not new that Damon would prefer a multi-year deal and won’t come cheap, but the market for his services is drying up and the fit with the Yankees is too perfect.

The kicker, though, (I think, and correct me if I’m wrong…) is that if the Yankees re-signed Damon, they could slot him into the two spot and then move Johnson elsewhere in the order–I’m thinking either fifth or sixth, assuming he remains healthy which is, of course, not a given–so you don’t end up batting Robinson Canó too high in the line up–remember how much he didn’t like that last year?

• We gotta pitcher, not a belly itcher

Let it be known, I am as of right now a fan of the trade for Javy Vazquez.

The Yankees will now go to war in 2010 with, barring injury, four of the five rotation spots already set, and with the fifth likely coming between Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain, with the “loser” ending up in the bullpen or AAA.

This is quite a far cry from, say, 2008, when the Opening Day rotation comprised of three largely inexperienced and kind-of-still-rookies.

The key, of course, is staying healthy, and I certainly wish that the Yankees had a little more depth in the minors, but even so they are much better off than a number of other teams.  Like, say, the Mets.

• There’s a method to the madness

In 2009, with the exception of Nick Swisher, all the large off-season moves were done via free agent signing.  This season, with what’s widely considered a “thin” free agent class, with the exception of re-signing Andy Pettitte, the Yankees have accomplished all of their large moves via the trade.

A couple seasons ago, many of us argued that the Yankees should hold onto all of their top prospects and not trade for Johan Santana.  I would argue that most of us are still glad that’s the road the Yankees took.

This season, the Yankees did trade, but in doing so they have managed to hold onto Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Jesús Montero, who may very well be considered their most tradeable commodities.

Have they given up too many prospects?  It’s hard to say right now–the highest ceiling prospect they gave up may very well be A. Vizcaino in the Vazquez trade, but he is still at A ball and a long was from superstardom.

What the Yankees have given away is depth, and it’s hard to know how much it will come into play.

If 2010 plays like 2009 and everyone stays healthy, the Yankees can weather a shallower talent pool.

If 2010 plays like 2008, and there are numerous injuries–which, with an older team, is not uncommon–there might be an issue.

As it is, there’s no reason to freak out on December 30.  The Yankees, after all, did win the World Series last season.  They’re doing something right…

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Me: “Two packs of skittles, please.”

Clerk: “You like that candy, huh?”

Me: “You have no idea.” As I count my change, I realize that this is the same person with whom I talked about the parade a month ago “By the way, you know the Yankees got Granderson, right?”

Clerk: “Wha? I heard about the Bruney thing…”

Me: “Yeah. Curtis Granderson for Coke, Jackson and Kennedy.”

Clerk: “No way! We’re getting 28!”

******

So yes, the Yankees have, pending physicals, acquired Curtis Granderson for Phil Coke, Austin Jackson and Ian Kennedy. Granted, the physicals are not guaranteed–and Arizona is also a player in the deal (they get Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy and give up Daniel Schlereth and Max Scherzer)–but the clerk’s reaction, wide eyed and “OMG MY LIFE RULES” seems to be a fairly common one amongst Yankee fans.

How do I see the trade?

It’s a little hard to contemplate Austin Jackson not being in pinstripes after we’ve kept talking about him for so long, but Granderson is, as of right now, better than Jackson. He (Granderson) had a bad 2009 so there’s a little risk in hoping that 2009 was an off year and not a downward spiral, but what it does mean is that the Yankees have that much more leverage in negotiating with Johnny Damon.

I’ll miss Phil Coke’s postgame interviews, but I will rest easy knowing that he won a ring with the Yankees.

The part of the deal that strikes me most is that Arizona is giving up Max Scherzer–who is young and with tremendous upside–for the inconsistent Edwin Jackson.

In fact, netting E. Jackson and Kennedy, it’s hard to see how Arizona benefits–although Kennedy, at least, might find much more success in an NL environment.

The other big news of the day is that Peter Gammons is leaving ESPN.

That’s pretty big. Also, one that came out of basically nowhere. However, it does mean that he is trending above Tiger Woods on Twitter, and that is, given recent revelations, a testament to just how big a name Gammons is.

Regardless of any perceived bias, Gammons is still an institution, and helped nurture the talents of many we read today. No word on if this is a retirement or if he is moving on to another gig, but wherever he goes, I do wish him well.

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Couple things.

1) The Yankees traded Brian Bruney to the Nationals for the elusive PTBNL.

The PTBNL, as it turns out, is Washington’s Rule 5 pick–and they, unless I am mistaken–pick first. So the Yankees get to pick first in the Rule 5 draft.

Before you go moaning about how the Rule 5 draft is just prospects that teams don’t care enough to protect, remember that one Johan Santana was also a Rule 5 pick.

And it cost us Brian Bruney.

The potential for this to turn into something akin to Swisher ’09 down the road is intriguing–and one would think Cashman wouldn’t ask for the Rule V pick unless the Yankees had someone in mind.

2) This sentiment has been echoed by others, but thus far it’s the bloggers–and perhaps their cynicism–and not the main stream media that’s doing a better job of not reporting every single rumor they hear as veritable fact.

It might also have something to do with the fact that bloggers seem to be able to grasp how quickly information can spread on twitter, while many of the MSM have yet to figure out that twitter is as much about the ability to interact with others as anything else.

3) The Tigers, according to Buster Olney, basically want Hughes and Austin Jackson for Curtis Granderson, a trade that would basically (IMO) give the Tigers Hughes for free.

Granderson might be the nicest guy you meet, but no thanks. Hughes is the guy you trade for a guy like Halladay–and that’s only if you trade him and not Joba, when the consensus seems to be that in such a case the Yankees would be more likely to go the other way around.

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