Game 45. Tonight’s lineup

A 10 p.m. Eastern start since the Yanks are in Oakland. I hate those West coast times (they mean staying up really late) but what can you do?

The Yanks signed John Maine to a minor league deal today. Maine didn’t pitch in the majors in 2011, nor has he this year. In 2010 the 31-yr. old RHP went 1-3, 6.13 in nine starts for the Mets. He is 41-36, 4.35 in his MLB career, ERA+ 98. His best year was 2007 for the Mets when he went 15-10, 3.91.

From Lohud’s blog:

Former Yankees outfielder Chad Curtis has been charged with five counts of criminal sexual conduct after accusations he inappropriately touched two students at a Michigan high school.

Now that’s odd. Curtis was a person who sort of ticked off some teammates because he was, as they put it, too pushy as far as his religion and beliefs. You may remember him for his two HR (one a walkoff) in Game 3 of the 1999 WS, and for catching the last out of that WS. Now to let the system find him guilty or not.

Yanks 23-21, 4th in A.L. East, 4 1/2 out. OPS+ 110, ERA+ 103. Even with their pythagorean record.

BA/HR/RBI  SB/attempts  OPS+

Jeter SS .348-5-16  3/4  134 Granderson CF .256-14-25  1/3  140 Rodriguez 3B .281-7-18  5/5  119 Cano 2B .297-5-18  1/1  122 Teixeira 1B  .226-5-21  1/2  79 Ibanez LF .263-9-27  2/2  130 Swisher RF  .236-7-27  0/0  102   really slumping lately Chavez DH .293-3-6  0/0  113 Martin C .173-4-10  1/1  74   needs to get off the “Interstate”

RHP  Nova   4-2, 5.69  ERA+ 74     Needs to do better

Jeter has 3152 career hits, tied with Paul “Big Poison” Waner and two behind George Brett on the all-time list.

A-Rod is 180 hits from 3000, and 89 RBI from 2000. The HR count is at 636, and he is 152 runs scored away from 2000.

Game 24. Rain a concern. Once again, Alex DH, Chavez at 3B—a trend?

It’s a raw, drizzly day, so the weather could play a factor tonight.

First off, a shocking day as NFL great Junior Seau has apparently committed suicide. I’d love to know the reason(s) why. Seau last played in the NFL just a few seasons ago, in 2009.

Mark Prior, who attempted a comeback with the Yanks minor league system last year, has signed a deal with Boston.

I don’t know if this will be a trend or not. Maybe only because Swish is out, and Ibanez is in the OF and not DH, but once again, Chavez is at 3B while A-rod DHs. No Nunez tonight. Girardi going for the power, with Jones in LF and Ibanez in RF.

Yanks 13-10, 3rd in A.L. East, 2 1/2 back. OPS+ 115, ERA+ 102. Even with the Pythagorean record.

1/7th of the season is over.

1. Jeter SS  .400-4-13  1 sb/2 att.  OPS+ 173.  3128 hits, 13 behind Gwynn.
Leads majors in H, AL in BA, OBP
2. Granderson CF  . 276-9-17  0/2   169     Leads AL in HR

Here is where the lineup gets disappointing.

3. A-Rod DH  .256-4-11   2/2  108   See below.
4. Cano 2B  .255-1-4  1/1  82    Ditto.
5. Tex 1B  .233-3-12  1/1  74    Once more.
6. Ibanez RF .237-3-12  2/2  93
7. Chavez 3B .310-3-5  0/0  145   9 for 29
8. Jones LF .182-3-5  0/0  98   6 for 33
9. Martin C  .158-2-6  1/1  68

Nova RHP  3-0, 5.18  ERA+ 85

Look at the middle of the lineup. A-Rod, 37 in July, may never be the old A-Rod again (in other words, to pull off a renaissance the way Jeter is doing now). Maybe all Alex is anymore is a Swisher-like offensive player, meaning .265-27-85. Not bad, but not $30 million worth, and not cleanup hitter worthy or #3 worthy. More like a 6 or 7 hitter. The problem is, there are too many years left on his contract, and the decline has probably started. Put it this way, do you expect .300-40-120 from A-Rod anymore?

Cano, what can you say? 1 HR and 4 RBI in 1/7th of the season? Granted players get hot and cold. But do the math. 7x what he has now… Pathetic. It’s safe to say that he has been 75% worse than we expected so far. Teix .233. He usually starts slow, but look at those OPS marks for Cano and Teix. 100 is average. You have an 82 and a 74 in the middle of the lineup, meaning 18 and 26% worse than average. Then you get Ibanez at .237. Jones is all or nothing at .182, and Martin has been a disaster with the stick so far at .158.

Yes, the starting pitching has been a problem. Nova is going for his 16th consecutive regular season winning decision tonight, but even at 3-0, his ERA is a 5.18. But it’s also time to mention and get on the lineup. They lead the league in HR, are 3d in B.A., 2nd in OPS… but it’s been the gigantic effort of a few, and one of them—Swisher—is out.

You know a correction is coming.

But it’d be nice to see the middle of the lineup start producing.

Minor league pitcher Manny Banuelos comes off the DL. He’s scheduled to start for the AAA club tonight.

Clemens may have received a gift today. When asked if it’s 50/50 that he “misremembered” the conversation about HGH that he had with Roger, Andy Pettitte stated, “I think that’s fair, yes.” Meaning that the seed of reasonable doubt has been sown. So what is it? Yes or no? Did that conversation take place or didn’t it? What a mess.

 

 

The minors tonight

AAA: 5-2 win for SWB (Empire St.). Good outing for Warren, 1 R, in 5 IP drops his ERA to 5.26. Whitley 2 scoreless, Cedeno 1. Whelan 1 R in 1 IP. Steve Pearce 2h, double, HR, 3 RBI. .380.

AA: PPD. Trenton is 11-12.

High A: Tampa won 3-0. Mike O’Brien 6 IP, just 2 H. Jose Mojica solo HR.

Low A: No game. Charleston is 16-7.

The Clemens thing. Yuk. At least Pettitte is taking care of business before joining the Yanks.

Tough matchup, and errors large and small

The Yankees tonight will have a tough matchup. Nova vs. Verlander. Verlander, of course, won both the CYA and the MVP last year. Nova, meanwhile, has won his last 15 regular season decisions. Will the streak continue?

The Tigers, meanwhile, have their own issues. OF Delmon Young was arrested early this morning while highly inebriated (NY Post) and after assaulting a man in front of a midtown hotel.

A bit of lazy reporting: my hometown newspaper lists last night’s starter for the Yankees’ AAA team as ex-major leaguer Russ Ortiz. Wrong. It was ex-major leaguer Ramon Ortiz. The writer might have seen R. Ortiz and assumed. Rule of reporting: Don’t assume. Get the facts. He may have remembered Russ’ career but not Ramon’s. Still in all, he could have doublechecked. To me, that’s just laziness.

Ozzie in trouble

Once again, Ozzie Guillen inserts his foot into his mouth

Ozzie Guillen will be having a press conference soon to explain his statement of somehow respecting Fidel Castro for something. How can one respect him for anything? Ill-advised. Being the manager of the MIAMI Marlins, where a lot of Cuban exiles reside who were persecuted under the Castro regime, how can Ozzie even think of saying something nice about Fidel Castro? Absolutely stupid.

There is a line between being “colorful” and being downright dumb. Ozzie has crossed that line. How he will recover from it… if he does… remains to be seen. It’ll be one interesting press conference today.

I wonder if Ozzie has some sort of problem. Maybe he needs some kind of doctor—or pyschiatrist—to perform surgery to extract that foot he keeps putting into his mouth.

For a team that just opened up a new stadium, attracted new players in Buehrle and Reyes and is trying to overcome tepid fan support, Guillen’s statements were the last thing they needed.

Update: I didn’t see the press conference (too busy) but I see where he has been suspended for five games. Ultimately, as written and talked about elsewhere, it’ll be the reaction of the community—particularly Little Havana—that’ll tell if he keeps his job.

S.T. Game 19 Hughes strong in Yanks 5-2 win

Phil Hughes had another strong outing, and is making his case for a spot in the rotation. He pitched 5 innings today, and made just 1 mistake. 2 R, 3 H, 1 walk and 3 K.

Clay Rapada and Rule 5 pick Cesar Cabral are in an interesting competition to be the second lefty out of the bullpen. Rapada had a 1-2-3 inning with 2 K. Meanwhile Cabral pitched two scoreless innings, gave up two hits and a walk, and recorded all six of his outs via the strikeout.

Mike O’Connor wrapped up with a scoreless inning, 1 H, 1 K.

Hughes gave up a 2-run HR to Matt Joyce in the second.

The Yanks tied it in the sixth on an RBI groundout by Ibanez with the bases loaded. The key hit of the inning was a ground-rule double by A-Rod. Ibanez was o for 3, and once again didn’t look good. At least the groundout was pulled. He was late on his first two at bats, flying out to left both times. His S.T. batting average is now .059.

Jorge Vazquez had an RBI double in the seventh.

The Yanks won it in the 9th on an RBI double by Justin Maxwell and a 2-Run HR by Gus Molina.

The win puts the Yanks’ exhibition season record at 10-9. Tomorrow night they’ll be on ESPN vs. Boston, with Dave Phelps scheduled to start.

It’s been an interesting NFL day. Tebow traded to the Jets, but it could fall through…and Saints’ coach Sean Payton suspended for a whole year—and he’s not the only one involved in that Saints’ bounty who got suspended.

Braun wins appeal, no suspension

Ryan Braun, the NL MVP, has won his appeal after having been tested positive for a banned substance late last season. The Brewer OF will not have to face a 50-game suspension to start this season.

Update: No offense to Braun (innocent until proven guilty), but he won on a 2-1 vote, and most likely on a technicality—the incompetence of the deliverer. The Braun sample sat with collector all weekend because he thought FedEx was not open to send to lab. (Joel Sherman)

Classless halftime act

I was answering the call of nature during halftime (beer, lots of good food do that to you, you know), so I didn’t see it until I heard about it today and then went to YouTube.

Another classless Super Bowl halftime performance.

Not by the main performer, Madonna, of whom I’m not a fan, but by one of her side singers. Someone called M.I.A. (don’t ask me, I feel as if real music died with Live Aid in 1985).

Anyway, singing “I don’t give a s**t” on live TV (with kids watching) and chucking the bird?

Classless.

…and I hope somehow, someway, she pays for it.

One piece of news for her— Respect isn’t given to you. It must be EARNED, and you certainly haven’t earned any.

“Fatal Attraction” in the Bronx?

I don’t want to get into someone’s private life, or an upcoming divorce, but if you were looking into a sequel for “Fatal Attraction,” did you really believe that Brian Cashman would be taking over the Michael Douglas part?

The NFL picks more Hall of Famers today. Back later with that…

PSU has a new coach. Through Brown…again?!

In 1949, PSU head coach Bob Higgins stepped down as PSU head football coach.

Follow along, now.

In 1947, the “Hig” took PSU to the Cotton Bowl. They had a 13-13 tie in that game against SMU and Doak Walker. There was some controversy in that Cotton Bowl, due to Mel Triplett (who later played for the 1956 NFL Champion Giants) being on that team. Triplett was black.

After the 1948 season (7-1-1), Higgins was forced to retire due to bad health. His son-in-law turned out to be Steve Suhey, a star of that 1947 team.

One of Steve Suhey’s sons turned out to be Matt Suhey, an excellent back on the PSU team that lost the 1979 Sugar Bowl (1978 season) to Alabama, 14-7. Suhey was one (along with Mike Guman) stopped by Alabama in a crucial goal line stand.  Eventually Matt Suhey’s son played at Penn State, marking three generations…

Higgins coached at PSU from 1930-1948. Before that, he had a distinguished football career at PSU Pre and Post-WWI.

There was a one-year interim (Hugo Bedenk) in 1949 between Higgins and Rip Engle.

Engle came from Brown. In doing so when he began the 1950 campaign, he brought along his QB, who had just graduated…a guy named Joe Paterno.

So Engle came from Brown. He then coached PSU from 1950-1965, with JoePa as an assistant.

Then came JoePa, for  what seemed like an eternity. 1966-2011.

For just four games, Tom Bradley took over. A loss to Nebraska the week JoePa was canned. It was a home game. Then, two games on the road…a win at the Horseshoe, Ohio St., and a big loss at Wisc. Then, a loss in a bowl game to Houston.

I feel for Bradley, whose hands were tied. I wish him the best, at PSU or elsewhere. He wanted to be a head coach, but God Forbid, not in these conditions.

So PSU now has a head coach, and where did he graduate from? Brown, the same institution that gave us Engle (coach) and JoePa (graduated from there), not to mention George Paterno (who, as Joe’s brother, broadcast PSU games).

So now we have Bill O’Brien as head coach, who graduated from (let me say it again…) Brown. With  a name like that, you’d think he’d be Kelly’s assistant at ND, wouldn’t you?

But O’Brien has his work cut out for him. I, for one, want to see what he does with PSU’s offense. Bolden, for example, stinks. Look at this year’s bowl game where he was 7 for 26 or so. His comp. pct., even when “platooning” with McGloin (who, because of a locker room scuffle, concussion and seizure, was ineligible for the bowl game), stunk.

PSU’s offense has seemingly (except for 1982 and 1994) been stuck in the caveman era. Maybe their QB should be that GEICO caveman. Good RBs (and I am a PSU grad; those RBs being Mitchell, Harris, Cappy, Suhey, Guman, Warner, Dozier, Enis, McCoo, Thomas…) … but….

I, for one, will be interested in seeing how someone who coached Tom Brady with the Patriots does with a PSU offense.

It could be VERY interesting in that respect.

Oh…. BTW…. O’Brien’s alma mater? Let me repeat that. Brown. So the lineage continues, from O’Brien back to Paterno back to Engle.

Now, I wonder….

JFK Jr. went to …. Brown.

Hmmm….. Had he not died in that plane crash, does that mean that JFK Jr., no football pedigree at all (save for his family’s touch football games), could have been a candidate for the PSU football position? Doubtful of course, and highly unlikely. But….

But if just being a Brown grad qualifies you, it could have been interesting. After all, PSU is in the middle of nowhere.

Hmmm….JFK, Jr. on the coaching staff. The Brown connection. Engle, Paterno, JFK, Jr. Forget O’Brien.

Imagine the sexy girlfriends coming into PSU with JFK Jr. on that coaching staff.

Not to mention Emma Watson from Harry Potter fame, who attends Brown.

Hmm… O’Brien. Too bad he doesn’t have the late JFK Jr. and/or Emma on his staff…

Maybe THAT could be the way to turn PSU around….