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April 23, 2007
It's the morning after . . .
WHEW! Now that was a weekend series. (I know it's my department and all, but I have to admit, that headline -- Game, Set, Matchless -- is pretty good.) Friday night was one we'll all remember, but last night, what with history being made, it being Dice-K's first start against the Yankees, and the fact that the Yankees pulled out all the stops to win the game, well, it sure felt like more like October than it did April.
The New York tabloids focused on the Red Sox' four-home-run outburst -- 4-Get It was the Daily News' offering, and the Post screamed 'Blasted!' -- and the Post's George King notes that ''[as] bad as your Monday is, [Yankee general manager Brian] Cashman's will be worse; apparently George Steinbrenner is already complaining about the holes in his team (and that was before they went to Boston and started Jeff Karstens and Chase Wright in two of the three games). King, though, also included some an ominous warning sign regarding manager Joe Torre: "And knowing how much Steinbrenner wanted to ax Joe Torre last October, that thought either has already entered The Boss' mind or is about to penetrate the skull because Torre's detractors in the organization are never far from The Boss when his club is going bad."
That seed has already been planted in some corners of Yankee Universe, such as the blog River Ave. Blues. (Actually, they were calling for Torre's head on Friday night; that's when the post was written.) The main thrust of their argument, as articulated by Larry Mahnken, is that Torre, according to his detractors ''has no freaking idea how to use a bullpen''. (replacementlevel.com) Mahnken, I must note, is not singing the "Joe Must Go!" chorus here, but he articulates the anti-Torre argument succinctly. (For the less articulate side of the debate, head on over to the Joe Torre Discussion Thread on NYYFans.com, which is currently on its 46th page.) Even a dispassionate observer like David Pinto had questions about how Torre used his relievers
The glass-is-half-full view of the weekend, at least from the Yankee side, is that the Yankees went to Boston decimated by injuries, faced the Sox' three best starting pitchers, and still could have won every game (and probably should have won Friday night) (riveraveblues.com) Seth Mnookin sort of agrees, at least a little. (sethmnookin.com)
Here's my view:
-- Everything they say is technically true. Had Chien-Ming Wang and Mike Mussina started Saturday and Sunday instead of Karstens and Chase, the Yanks would have had an entirely different look. And the Yankee offense, even without Jorge Posada for most of the weekend and with Johnny Damon hobbling, did score runs off the Sox' three best pitchers.
-- For all the talk of how the Yankees got to Boston's starters, though, each of them -- Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka -- pitched at least 6 2/3 innings, and Beckett and Matsuzaka were able to turn their games over to the bullpen with leads. And the Yanks didn't do much against the Sox relievers (though Dustin Pedroia's full-body snare of Josh Phelps' liner had a lot to do with that).
-- The Yankee bullpen is healthy and set up exactly the way they wanted, and that bullpen blew a four-run lead in the eighth inning on Friday and a lead (granted, a one-run lead) in the seventh inning on Sunday. (New York Post)
In any case, that was a lot of weekend. Joe McDonald and I will be discussing it today around noon on ProJo Sports Talk.
COMING? The weekend may have heightened Waiting for Roger, at least in New York. (Newsday)
GOING? Alex Rodriguez' white-hot start could lead him down some interesting roads -- like, to Boston -- this offseason. (projo.com) But the Chicago teams are interested, as well. (Chicago Sun-Times). BTW, when they say Sox, they mean White Sox.
PROOF POSITIVE: Here's how big the weekend was: Joe Posnanski blogged last night's game from Kansas City (thesoulofbaseball.blogspot.com), and had a running conversation with the New York Post's Mike Vaccaro as he did so. I'm beginning to think Posnanski could blog a traffic intersection and make it interesting,
NIGHTMARE ON YAWKEY WAY: How different would life had been had the Sox actually signed Eric Gagne to be their closer? (Dallas Morning News)
KEEP ON TRUCKIN': No matter how emotionally exhausting the weekend was, the season actually continues tonight. The free-falling Blue Jays are in town, and they're hoping a change of venue will change their luck. (Toronto Globe and Mail)
WINNING WILL DO THAT FOR YOU: Check out the standings recently? See who's in second place? The Orioles, to their credit, are saying all the right things about it being early and all, but Chris Gomez admits ''[it's] a lot more fun in here''. (Baltimore Sun)
IN OTHER NEWS . . . A professor of economics refutes Bill James' study that ballplayers peak physically at age 27 (dberri.wordpress.com) . . . The Worcester Telegram catches up with Bernie Carbo, who was in town to again tell his story of overcoming addiction. One thing I didn't know: Carbo's three daughters all went to jail for selling drugs (one is still there) and he's adopting his three grandchildren, ages 9, 6 and 4 . . . Old friend Bruce Chen is available again (yahoo.com) . . . It may also be the end of the line, at least in Chicago, for another old friend, Wade Miller (Chicago Sun Times).
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone 
at 6:57 AM | Permalink
