Jorge Posada will not catch A.J. Burnett’s first start of the postseason, and it’s clear he’s not too happy about it. Jose Molina will get the start when Burnett pitchers either game 2 or game 3. Burnett has been a much better pitcher with Molina behind the plate, which only adds to the criticism from some in the media who for the past decade have been claiming Posada is not a good “pitcher’s catcher”. Batters hit .221 off Burnett with Molina catching, versus .270 against him when Posada gets the start. Burnett’s strike out rate is also about 40% higher when he’s pitching to Molina.
Although I feel bad for Jorge, this move makes sense for the Yankees. Even though Posada is a much better hitter than Molina, he only hits one out of every 9 Yankee plate appearances. The catcher calls pitches for 9 out of every 9 opponents coming to the plate. A 50 point drop in opponents’ batting averages with Molinda back there more than makes up for Molina’s 50 point lower batting average when compared to Posada.
At this point in Jorge’s career, I think he might really be thinking about his legacy when he’s hurt by a move like this. It does put a scar on his career when he’s replaced by a younger catcher who is a worse hitter because it’s clear the younger catcher is a better pitcher’s catcher. Catchers live on their reputation to make a pitching staff better. Why else would Boston keep holding onto Jason Varitek? The guy hits in the low .200’s and he can’t throw anybody out on the bases, but he can take a mediocre pitcher and make him look good by knowing what pitches to call.
As some of you may know from years past, it’s important to buy postseason tickets early, because the closer you get to gameday, the more scarce they get and the higher the price goes. Here are sellers for the Yankees playoff games this year:
Division Series tickets (Games 1-3 in New York):
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
American League Championship Series tickets:
1st ALCS game at Yankee Stadium
2nd ALCS game at Yankee Stadium
3rd ALCS game at Yankee Stadium
4th ALCS game at Yankee Stadium
World Series tickets:
Game 1 at Yankee Stadium
Game 2 at Yankee Stadium
Game 6 at Yankee Stadium (if necessary)
Game 7 at Yankee Stadium (if necessary)
The Yankees toppled the Los Angeles Angels and became the first team in baseball to clinch a playoff berth on Tuesday night. The Yankees 96th win of the season was their ticket back to the playoffs for the first time since 2007. Phil Hughes came away with the win despite a shaky performance while Mariano came and finished the game in the 9th for his 41st save of the season. ARod, Posada, and Matsui all homered for the Yankees.
Don’t expect too much celebrating until the Yankees clinch the AL East division crown. They’ve been pretty much assured a playoff spot since late August, but it’s that division crown they’ve been lacking for the past 2 seasons that really means something special… like the fact they’re better than the Red Sox.
The Yankees’ magic number has been at 1 since Sunday, and they’ll clinch a playoff spot tonight with either a win or a loss by the Texas Rangers. Don’t expect too much celebrating, as the Yankees will probably wait until they clinch the division (perhaps with a win over the Red Sox later this week) before breaking out the champagne. I’ll have a special report later this week on the top 10 reasons this Yankees season was their best in a decade.
The Yankees organization got two championships from its lower minor league teams, one from the Tampa Yankees of the Class A Florida State League and one from the Staten Island Yankees of the Class A Short-Season New York Penn League. The Triple A Scranton Yankees are facing elimination down 0-2 in their best of 5 championship series, but the final 3 games will all be at home in PNC Field. This is great news for a Yankees organization that’s trying to manufacture more talent of its own and spend less in free agency.
Mariano Rivera will be out at least a few days as he recovers from a groin injury. Mo is currently saying he suffered the injury while pitching, but rumor has it he was injured after spending a night out on the town with Derek Jeter. Those New York boys sure know how to party.
You may have heard about the list floating around purporting to be a list of players named in the Mitchell Report. This list is a fake, and it excludes at least one player who was confirmed to be on the Mitchell Report list (former Yankees pitcher Jason Grimsley). You’ll notice this list is heavy on names from the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets. I think the person who came up with this probably had a motive, and probably is a fan of whatever team is least represented by the list. Anyway, here it is in its entirety:
1.Nomar Garciaparra
2.Manny Ramirez
3.Johnny Damon
4.Trot Nixon
5.David Ortiz
6.Shea Hillenbrand
7.Derek Lowe
8.Pedro Martinez
9.Brian Roberts
10.Jay Gibbons
11.Melvin Mora
12.Jerry Hairston
13.Jason Giambi
14.Alfonso Soriano
15.Raul Mondesi
16. Aaron Boone
17.Andy Pettitte
18.Jose Contreras
19.Roger Clemens
20.Carlos Delgado
21.Vernon Wells
22.Frank Catalanotto
23.Kenny Rogers
24.Magglio Ordonez
25.Sandy Alomar
26.Bartolo Colon
27.Brent Abernathy
28.Jose Lima
29.Milton Bradley
30.Casey Blake
31.Danys Baez
32.Craig Monroe
33.Dmitri Young
34.Alex Sanchez
35.Eric Chavez
36.Miguel Tejada
37.Eric Byrnes
38.Jose Guillen
39.Keith Foulke
40.Ricardo Rincon
41.Bret Boone
42.Mike Cameron
43.Randy Winn
44.Ryan Franklin
45.Freddy Garcia
46.Rafael Soriano
47.Scott Spiezio
48.Troy Glaus
49.Francisco Rodriguez
50.Ben Weber
51.Alex Rodriguez
52.Juan Gonzalez
53.Rafael Palmeiro
54.Carl Everett
55.Javy Lopez
56.Gary Sheffield
57.Mike Hampton
58.Ivan Rodriguez
59.Derrek Lee
60.Bobby Abreu
61.Terry Adams
62.Fernando Tatis
63.Livan Hernandez
64.Hector Almonte
65.Tony Armas
66.Dan Smith
67.Roberto Alomar
68.Cliff Floyd
69.Roger Cedeno
70.Jeromy Burnitz
71.Moises Alou
72.Sammy Sosa
73.Corey Patterson
74.Carlos Zambrano
75.Mark Prior
76.Kerry Wood
77.Matt Clement
78.Antonio Alfonseca
79.Juan Cruz
80.Aramis Ramirez
81.Craig Wilson
82.Kris Benson
83.Richie Sexson
84.Geoff Jenkins
85.Valerio de los Santos
86.Benito Santiago
87.Rich Aurilia
88.Barry Bonds
89.Andres Galarraga
90.Jason Schmidt
91.Felix Rodriguez
92.Jason Christiansen
93.Matt Herges
94.Paul Lo Duca
95.Shawn Green
96.Oliver Perez
97.Adrian Beltre
98.Eric Gagne
99.Guillermo Mota
100.Luis Gonzalez
101.Todd Helton
102.Ryan Klesko
103.Gary Matthews
The Yankees have traded the Pirates a couple of prospects for journeyman utility player Eric Hinske. The Yankees will also receive cash as part of the deal. Hinske is a former Rookie of the Year award winner and won a championship ring with the Red Sox in 2007.
I’m not sure how Yankee fans are going to take this. Hinske will surely get some playing time, but is the cost of 2 prospects really worth it for a utility guy who’s over the age of 30? The prospects were Casey Erickson and Eric Fryer. Neither were expected to be big league-ready by the end of this season. Hinske was not happy with his lack of playing time with the Pirates. Will he feel any better about his lack of playing time in pinstripes?
I just happened to be surfing through random pages of Jalopnik when I found this interesting piece about the bullpen car the Yankees used in 1972. The Yankees made a deal with Datsun (now Nissan) to use the B1200 compact car as their bullpen car for the season. They decked it out in pinstripes and put a logo on the side, but otherwise it was just a regular B1200. It wasn’t even a convertible! I think the Yankees may have been the only team that made their relievers get into the passenger seat of a regular car and ride 100 yards to the pitchers mound. I hope they at least rolled down the windows so the pitchers could wave to the fans.
Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, and Nick Swisher all hit home runs on Monday night en route to a 5-3 Yankees win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Gabe Kapler added a homer for the Rays in New Yankee Stadium, which is now on pace to demolish all previous home run records for a Yankee stadium in a season. The physicists, meteorologists, and astrologists are all working round the clock to figure out what is going on here. The current theory is that the old Yankee Stadium is creating unexpected wind patterns that causes the ball to carry out and turns a slap hitter like Johnny Damon into Babe Ruth.
The Yankees start a series with the Red Sox in Fenway today. The Yanks are 0-5 against their division rival this season and hold just a 1 game lead in the AL East, so this is going to be a playoff-like atmosphere for fans of both teams. I’m not a psychic, but I expect some tension between the two clubs at some point this week. There will be ejections in this series.
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