// November 1st, 2007 // No Comments » // New York Yankees
The Yankees officially unveiled Joe Girardi as their new manager yesterday, replacing Joe Torre who left amid a contract dispute, and is most likely heading out to LA to manage the Dodgers.
Girardi beat out Don Mattingly and Tony Pena for the job, and in my opinion, this was the best baseball move the Yankees could make.
(more later)
// October 18th, 2007 // 3 Comments » // New York Yankees
Early word out of Tampa is that Joe Torre has rejected the Yankees one-year contract offer. No reason has been given yet, but it’s understood that the offer was $5 million for one season, plus bonuses of $1 million for each round of the playoffs the Yankees won in 2008. I guess that makes Joe the “bad guy” now and makes it easier for Don Mattingly to take over as manager.
As a Yankee fan, I have to say that good for Joe, from a pride/ego sense, but, where does that leave the players? Does Don Mattingly become manager now, or will it be Tony LaRussa?
The fact that he said no to $5 million a year, plus $1 million bonuses for each round of the playoffs allows the Yanks to spin it, and easier to hire Mattingly. Personally, i’d rather they wait on Mattingly, and bring in La Russa for 2 years, then go to Donnie Baseball.
Stay tuned…
// October 9th, 2007 // No Comments » // New York Yankees
Ray of hope? More like a stay of execution. The Yankees did go quietly into that dark night, losing 6-4 to the Indians at the Stadium last night, and thus were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive season. Chien-Ming Wang couldn’t last more than one inning, and go-to guys like Jeter and Posada came up lacking.
It’s the end of an era for sure. It seemed likely that Joe Torre would be gone after last season’s first round loss. This year, it’s just a matter of when.
// October 8th, 2007 // No Comments » // New York Yankees
Johnny Damon’s three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth gave the Yankees a lead they’d never surrender as the Yanks prevented the sweep by winning Game Three of the ALDS 8-4 over the Indians. Roger Clemens struggled in the early going, and was relieved by Phillip Hughes, who came up huge. His three and half innings of shut out work was just what the doctor ordered and gave time for the Yankee bats to finally awaken. Game Four is tonight at 7:30 PM ET. Joe Torre, still fighting for his job, will send Chien-Ming Wang to the mound for the Yanks. Wang struggled on Thursday night in Cleveland, but has absolutely dominated the Indians at Yankee Stadium. Can he do it again?
// October 5th, 2007 // No Comments » // New York Yankees
An entire air force worth of mosquitoes and other insects descended upon Jacob’s Field tonight, and in so doing, won Game 2 of the ALDS for the Indians. I’m too disgusted to write any more.
// October 5th, 2007 // No Comments » // Baseball, New York Rangers and New York Yankees
So, in the span of 48 hours, the Phillies have lost their first two NLDS games by a combined score of 14 – 7, the Yankees got crushed by Cleveland 12-3 in their opening ALDS game, the Red Sox won their opener and the Cubs have dropped two to the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks!
Jimmy Rollins seems to be the only Phillie who realizes that the season didn’t actually end on Sunday, and that there’s a hell of a lot more work to do. Rollins was responsible for all of the Phillies runs yesterday apart from a Ryan Howard solo shot.
Chase Utley is 2-9 with five strikeouts, including a National League record four strikeouts in game one. Is it a case of the pressure getting to the young Phillies?
How to explain what happened to the Yankees last night? I think I can in seven words; Chien Ming Wang’s sinker; Joe Torre; CC Sabathia. Wang’s sinker was nowhere to be found, and all of his pitches stayed up in the zone, making life very easy for the Indian hitters. Joe Torre seemed to give up way too early by going with unproven rookie relievers in the 5th inning. Did he forget this is a FIVE game series? As for Sabathia, well, the likely Cy Young winner had great stuff last night, and was able to keep the Yankees at bay. Can Andy Pettitte pull the Yanks level tonight? History’s on his side, but then his last few starts were less than stellar. I guess we’ll know by 8 pm tonight.
The only silver lining last night was the return of the NHL. A four goal explosion in the third period gave the Rangers a 5-2 win over the visiting Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden. Chris Drury scored in his debut for the team, setting the pace for a dominant Rangers performance. I signed up for NHL Center Ice so I was able to catch some of it when flipping back and forth from the Yanks.  I’m really looking forward to watching some great hockey during the dead of winter, and all indications are that the Rangers are going to build on last year’s exciting play and truly contend for the Stanley Cup come June.
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