RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Sports and Wrestling hows bout those yankees for 2007 - cuz no other team matters

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Brad Lee said:
The more you say, the more I win.

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Dude, you're not basams. For one thing, you don't quote The Big Lebowski nearly often enough.

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Joe Mama said:
You're still bald. And gay. And "Tessie" sucks. Now "Skinhead On The MBTA" and "Finnegan's Wake", on the other hand...

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Congratulations. Your comeback skills have improved enough to move you up to seventh grade this fall. We're all proud of ya, Little Davey!

Seriously, though, I own just about every track the band's ever recorded (maybe not legitimately but I just don't know how to quit BitLord), and Finnegan's Wake is near the top of my list of favorites. I mentioned Tessie (well, referenced it) because it's one long ode to the Sox. Fields of Athenry is probably my favorite right now.

And I notice you didn't try to dispute any of my other points. Though I am a little disappointed I still haven't found my way back into harley's sig...

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Captain Sammitch said:

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Joe Mama said:
You're still bald. And gay. And "Tessie" sucks. Now "Skinhead On The MBTA" and "Finnegan's Wake", on the other hand...

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Congratulations. Your comeback skills have improved enough to move you up to seventh grade this fall. We're all proud of ya, Little Davey!

Seriously, though, I own just about every track the band's ever recorded (maybe not legitimately but I just don't know how to quit BitLord), and Finnegan's Wake is near the top of my list of favorites. I mentioned Tessie (well, referenced it) because it's one long ode to the Sox. Fields of Athenry is probably my favorite right now.

And I notice you didn't try to dispute any of my other points. Though I am a little disappointed I still haven't found my way back into harley's sig...

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Because I don't care about your other points. The fact that you need to justify your Red Sox and Dropkick Murphys fandom to me is reward enough. As is knowing that I'm quoted in Harley's sig...and you're not.

I'd close this post with a winkie graemlin to let you know that I'm returning the cage rattling that you gave me, but that's too G-Man for my tastes.

Say Hello To: 1Bs Doug Mientkiewicz, Juan Miranda and Josh Phelps, LHP Andy Pettitte, RHPs Chris Britton and Luis Vizcaino

Say Goodbye To: C Sal Fasano, 1B-OF Craig Wilson, OFs Gary Sheffield and Bernie Williams, LHP Randy Johnson, RHPs Jaret Wright and Octavio Dotel

Projected Starting Lineup:

C - Jorge Posada (leads all catchers this decade with 163 HR, 626 RBI and 561 walks) 1B - Doug Mientkiewicz (.781 OPS this decade second worst among all first basemen) Andy Phillips (.675 OPS in 2006, .657 OPS in first three years) 2B - Robinson Cano (.362 with 23 2B, 11 HR, 57 RBI in 207 AB after hamstring injury) 3B - Alex Rodriguez (5-46 postseason with 1 HR, 2 RBI since Game 4 vs. Boston in '04) SS - Derek Jeter (5th player in 75 years to hit .340, 90 RBI and 30 SB in same season) LF - Hideki Matsui (hit .412 in September after returning from fractured wrist) CF - Johnny Damon (.324 with 6 2Bs, 4 HR, 13 RBI in 17 games vs. Red Sox) RF - Bobby Abreu (2nd this decade with 300 2B and 787 walks; career-low 15 HR '06) DH - Jason Giambi (27 HR, 72 RBI before All-Star break; 10 HR, 41 RBI after)

Projected Starting Rotation:

RHP - Chien-Ming Wang (Cy runner-up was 10-2, 3.13 ERA after All-Star break) RHP - Mike Mussina (holds AL all-time record with 15 straight 10-win seasons) LHP - Andy Pettitte (.500+ record 12 straight; 14-1 in Sept. since 2002) RHP - Carl Pavano (big bust since signing huge deal after 2004 season; hurt in '06) LHP - Kei Igawa (27-year-old 3-time strikeout champ in Japan; 14-9, 2.97 ERA in '06)

Projected Closer:

Mariano Rivera (2.29 ERA and .596 win percentage best all-time among closers)

Spring Training Battles: The everyday lineup is set with Mientkiewicz platooning with Phillips or Phelps, but can the Yankees resist putting Giambi back at first to get Cabrera in more often? The Yankees will have a big void at the back end of the rotation if Roger Clemens can't be lured. Pavano has been working hard and factors in, but stud Philip Hughes, Humberto Sanchez and Jeff Karstens also will compete.

Minor League Report:

Ready in 2007:

Philip Hughes, RHP

In the 6-5, 220-pound Hughes, New York has one of the top pitching prospects in the game, and general manager Brian Cashman refused to trade him last July.

The righthander was a combined 12-6 with a 2.15 ERA in 26 starts between Class A and AA in 2006. He walked 34 and struck out 168 in 146 innings. In three minor league seasons, Hughes is 21-7 with 54 walks and 269 strikeouts in 237 innings.

A 2004 first-round pick, Hughes has a mid-90s fastball that he can cut or sail, an outstanding curveball and advanced command for a 20-year-old.

Humberto Sanchez, RHP

The 23-year-old Sanchez, acquired from the Tigers this winter in the Gary Sheffield trade, is a native of the Bronx and was 10-6 and ranked second among all Tigers minor leaguers with a 2.63 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 20 starts at Class AAA Toledo and AA Erie in 2006. He struck out 129 in 123 innings, while allowing 97 hits and 47 walks.

After going 5-3 with a 3.86 ERA in nine starts with the Mud Hens, elbow problems shut him down during the second half of the season. He has a clean bill of health.

At 6-6, 230 pounds, the righthander sits in the 93-96 miles-per-hour range with his heater and has improved his control. He is a better changeup and work habits away from being a front-of-the-rotation pitcher.

Tyler Clippard, RHP

At just 21, Clippard will be ready for Class AAA this season and could make his debut in Yankee Stadium before the 2007 season ends.

The 6-4 righthander was 12-10 with a 3.35 ERA in 28 starts at Class AA Trenton, in 2006, including a no-hitter. He walked 55 and struck out an Eastern League-high 175 in 166 innings. He fanned 181 batters in 154 innings in 2005.

Clippard has a projectable 6-4, 200-pound frame that likely will increase his low-90s fastball as he matures. Until that happens, he will utilize an outstanding breaking ball and changeup as his out pitches.

Down the Road:

Jose Tabata, OF

One of the youngest players in organized ball, Tabata followed a smashing debut season in the Gulf Coast League in 2005 with a banner campaign at low Class A Charleston before a thumb injury shut him down in July.

Tabata hit .298 with 22 doubles, one triple, five homers and 15 stolen bases in 319 at-bats as a 17-year-old. He walked 30 times and struck out 66, an excellent ratio for a player his age,

The 5-11 Venezuelan has excellent bat speed with power potential and an advanced approach at the plate. He has plus speed and just needs more experience tracking fly balls to become a quality major league regular.

Juan Miranda, 1B

The 23-year-old Cuban was signed to a four-year deal worth $2 million this winter. He is a lefthanded-hitting power prospect who can play first base or a corner outfield spot.

Miranda is a former teammate of ex-Yankee Jose Contreras, is 6-0, 220 and hit .303 with 27 homers in Cuba from 2002-04. He is expected to start in the Class A Florida State League.

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Rob Kamphausen said:
any of you locals planning on attending more games this year and next, before they make the stadium asplode?

its my dream to get season tickets again for me and my pop

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PJP said:
Updated: March 7, 2007

Hughes represents Yankees' new direction

By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
Archive

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- It isn't often in life that we can see the future. But the New York Yankees can.

And its name is Phil (Don't Call Me Philip) Hughes.

But not just because Baseball America ranked this 20-year-old buzz-master as the No. 2 pitching prospect in the whole sport, behind only Daisuke Matsuzaka.

And not just because a bunch of Yankees legends have been tossing around a torrent of "young Rocket" Roger Clemens comparisons all spring.

And not just because his minor league career has been so spectacular (21-7, 2.13 ERA, only 150 hits in 237 1/3 innings).

None of that, to be honest, is the big news here. The big news is that, for maybe the first time in the Emperor Steinbrenner era, it's finally safe to sit back in spring training, watch a sensational Yankees pitching prospect do his thing and not pose what used to be an automatic question:

What team are they going to trade him to?

Asked Tuesday, on an afternoon when Hughes spun two shutout innings against Cleveland, whether Hughes is a sign that those days -- the not-so-good-old trade-'em-all-away days -- are over, GM Brian Cashman replied, succinctly: "Yes."

Phil Hughes, you see, is the symbol of a staggering new development in this sport: The Yankees are trying to be a baseball team again.

As opposed to the universe's most expensive A-Plus Rental Center.

Hughes, who stands 6-5, 220 pounds, has added a slider and changeup to his arsenal.Not that it wasn't fun running the payroll up to $220 million, having a pitching staff that made more than the entire AL Central and cornering the market on all living multi-Cy Young Award winners. But the Yankees finally have caught on to something:

Bringing in those gazillion-dollar, superstud hired guns hasn't worked so well.

But those Chien-Ming Wangs and Robinson Canos and Melky Cabreras -- who must have slipped into town while everybody was busy watching the A-Rod and Randy Johnson news conferences -- all seemed to manage just fine. And the Yankees finally have concluded that that might not have been an accident.

"Wang and Cano and Cabrera all basically came up, and the expectation from the press wasn't there to impede their efforts," Cashman said. "And so, all of a sudden, before you know it, you have a guy [Wang] who finished second in the Cy Young award voting. And you have a guy [Cano] who made the All-Star team.

"And it's like wow, it just happened so quietly and quickly -- versus the other way, where you have some big press conference for some massive free-agent signing or trade in the winter, and they're supposed to be the reason that you're going to win the next five World Series in a row. And then they're getting booed for going 0-for-4, or having back-to-back bad pitching outings. It's almost like the cards are stacked against you that way. So this is a better way to do it -- and certainly a cheaper way -- if you get the right talent."

Well, if there's one thing they all seem to agree on, it's that Hughes is exactly the right talent.

He's 6-foot-5, 220 pounds. He launches baseballs with a smooth, compact delivery that has drawn comparisons to Clemens and Curt Schilling and Mike Mussina. And his four-pitch repertoire is so dominating that he turned the entire Eastern League into a collection of .179 hitters last year.

So Hughes is shaping up as the centerpiece of Cashman's new, welcome-to-the-21st-century blueprint for the Yankees. Why buy an ace down at the old Mercenary Mart for 100 million bucks when you can grow your own?

But before we hand him his first Cy Young trophy, let's remember something:

He's only 20.

He's younger than Tyler Hansbrough and Acie Law IV and Darryl Strawberry Jr. He's so young, he thinks of the wild card as a baseball phenomenon that has been around most of his life.


So even if Hughes already knows he won't be allowed to make this team out of spring training, he also knows -- because everyone knows -- that it won't be long. Which means the biggest question most people will have about him isn't whether he's talented enough to pitch for the Yankees.

No, the biggest question is whether he's mature enough to handle the most turbocharged universe in baseball.

Amazingly, everyone who knows him has no doubt whatsoever that he has the maturity.

"His age, to me, is irrelevant," said his agent, Nez Balelo. "He could pass for 25 years old. You could have a legitimate conversation with him about business. Or you could have a legitimate conversation with him about the game. He could sit down with Andy Pettitte or Mike Mussina and have a conversation about how to set up hitters. You can see this guy's maturity level. He doesn't act like a guy who's 20."

"It's really unusual to see a guy that young who handles himself the way he does," said 32-year-old catcher Jason Brown, who caught Hughes in Trenton last year. "He's not like a normal 20-year-old. I know, looking back, how I was when I was 20. And man, it was nothing even close."

But people have been saying stuff like this about Hughes since he was 17. Balelo tells a story about the day in 2004, when the Yankees invited Hughes their new No. 1 draft pick, out of Santa Ana, Calif. to meet them on a trip to Dodger Stadium.

They gave him a uniform, then marched him out to the bullpen before a game to throw for Joe Torre and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre.

When a group of fans around the bullpen began hooting at him, Stottlemyre walked over to Hughes and asked: "Is all the yelling bothering you?"

"I don't even know what you're talking about," Hughes replied.

"And he really didn't," Balelo said. "He was in such a zone. And he's been that way his whole career."

We've seen enough players get overwhelmed by New York to know it isn't for everybody (not mentioning the names of any 6-foot-10 left-handers here). But it doesn't seem to faze Hughes, even though he grew up nearly 3,000 miles away.

"I'd rather be in a situation like the Yankees," he said, "where there's all this attention and media coverage. Some people think it's added pressure. But I just try and enjoy it."

If there's one word that describes his demeanor, he said, it's "calm." He gets that from his dad, Phil Sr., a retired Naval officer and "the most unrattled guy you'll ever meet." It's a quality, Hughes said, that "has really helped me a lot."

"I'll get in situations sometimes where I'll get a little bit rattled," he said. "But it never really snowballs. I always have the ability to slow down and take everything back to the basics. And that's definitely something I'm thankful to have."

We wish him luck maintaining that calm when it's September in Fenway, and Big Papi is standing 60 feet away, and the entire fate of Yankees-Red Sox civilization rests on his next pitch. But if you review Hughes' minor league career, it's obvious nothing has discombobulated him yet.

His highest ERA at any stop was 2.27 (in the Florida State League). He has averaged at least one strikeout per inning at every level and at least four times as many strikeouts as walks at every level. And he never has allowed a baserunner per inning anywhere.

So Torre says the Yankees would like to see Hughes experience a little failure someplace before they beam him into the Bronx. But they're running out of places he could experience that failure before the big leagues.

The closest Hughes thinks he has come to tasting any negativity was last year in spring training, when the Yankees ran him into a couple of big league exhibition games at age 19, "and I didn't do well at all, and it was a big shock to me."

But he reacted exactly the way the Yankees hoped he would -- by realizing he couldn't get by with the fastball-curve combo he'd been using to cruise through Class A ball. So he dedicated his summer to mixing in his slider and change, and really pitching. And he has an Eastern League ERA title to show for it.

So by the time Hughes rolled into his second big league camp, he was almost as big a story as the Jeter/A-Rod No More Sleepovers Saga. If the GM was holding out any hope he could just sneak this guy into the big leagues some month with no pressure or expectations, well, he knows now there's no shot of that.

"Yeah, his [expectations] now are starting to get overblown," Cashman said. "For instance, the day last week he pitched a batting practice and he wound up on the back pages being compared to Roger Clemens. That's probably not healthy."

But one guy who isn't worried is Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer. There has been so much focus on Hughes for so long already, Oppenheimer says, "It was a more gradual thing for him to get used to. It's not happening all at once."

And the mere prospect of being a Yankee -- so foreboding for some people -- isn't as intimidating for a guy like this, who has known nothing but being a Yankee, he says.

"You can be sitting there in Tampa, getting ready to start up a workout, and in walks George Steinbrenner," Oppenheimer said. "So I don't know if there's the same pressure to being a Yankee when you grow up with the expectation of doing things like a Yankee."

Well, if it means anything, Hughes says he wouldn't want any other kind of expectation. He likes the idea of looking around the clubhouse at "eight or nine future Hall of Famers." He likes the idea that, on the day he was drafted, he had to do a conference call "with about 20 newspapers." He's excited by the thought of having "to make that big pitch in front of 50,000 people."


And if he's as sincere about that as he sounds, he is on the cusp of doing something no Yankees No. 1 draft pick has done in 38 years -- actually winning a game for the Yankees. (Bill Burbach, the Yankees' top pick in the first-ever draft in 1965, went 6-8 lifetime.)


"Hopefully," Hughes said, "I can wipe that stat out. Soon."

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

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PJP said:
click on my Jeter Banner for neato things!

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PJP said:
1-0!!!!

161 wins to go before we win the Series this year!


Pavano looked good....I was happy!

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Alex Rodriguez jokes that one way or another, he always seems to wind up in the middle of something.
He didn't seem to mind on Saturday, grinning from the center of a pile at home plate, his Yankees teammates alternating between slapping his head, offering high-fives or embracing the third baseman's body in appreciative hugs.

Rodriguez hit a game-winning grand slam off Chris Ray in the bottom of the ninth inning to sink the Baltimore Orioles, 10-7, and set off a raucous celebration at Yankee Stadium.

"It felt awesome," Rodriguez said. "I was so excited, I felt like a fool running around the bases, like it was Little League. I just remember I almost knocked [coach Larry] Bowa over at third. I saw the fans rocking behind him. That was kind of cool."

The grand slam -- Rodriguez's second home run of the game -- capped a Yankees' rally against the Orioles, bailing out starter Kei Igawa, who surrendered seven runs in a five-inning Major League debut.

Trailing by a run as they headed to the bottom of the ninth, Rodriguez said that he somehow knew the game was going to come down to him.

"You relish it," Rodriguez said. "As an athlete, you always want to be in that opportunity."

Trying to preserve a victory for Orioles starter Steve Trachsel, Ray retired the first two batters in the inning before Robinson Cano rapped a single up the middle and Derek Jeter walked, representing the winning run.

Bobby Abreu was then hit by a pitch on the left knee, hobbling the Yankees' right fielder as he limped down to first base. That set the ultimate stage for A-Rod, the one that plays out in the minds of sandlot players everywhere -- bases loaded, two outs, bottom of the ninth.

So much of Rodriguez's tenure has been mercurial, even boiled down to Opening Day. On Monday, Yankees fans needed just six minutes to boo him for a dropped foul pop-up, then cheered him as he came back later that afternoon with a home run.

The Yankees watch and wonder when the big moment is coming, the landmark occurrence that puts an end to these types of hot-and-cold receptions. As Torre said, "You'd have to be in that dugout to appreciate how much people pull for him."

Ray worked the count to a ball and two strikes against Rodriguez before a fastball rode up on Rodriguez. The Orioles' right-hander instinctively leapt as Rodriguez triggered a swing, as if to acknowledge his mistake and cry out for a do-over, but it was too late.

Rodriguez ripped the offering into the black seats beyond center field, with the ball making a jagged bounce up and to the left before being retrieved and landing in its ultimate destination -- a center shelf in Rodriguez's locker.

Rodriguez jumped as he approached home plate, discarding his helmet and sending it spinning toward Baltimore's third-base dugout, accepting a pounding at the hands of his teammates. He called it "one of the best moments for me" as a Yankee.

As Rodriguez made his way to the first-base dugout, manager Joe Torre placed his left hand on A-Rod's cap, ruffling his hair underneath the polyester covering.

Torre has been steadfast in his belief that too much attention is paid to A-Rod -- in the stands, in the newspapers, on 24-hour sports radio -- but he probably won't have concerns with what could be said after Rodriguez's Saturday in the park.

"It's one of those things when you get to a point," Torre said. "When do you have to stop proving yourself? I think that's what it's all about. When you set the bar as high as his is set, people sort of expect it all the time.

"This game has helped him. It's an important game, but it wasn't a game where the home run didn't mean anything. It was a huge lift for everybody. That's sort of a plateau -- people say [that] with men on base, he can't do this or can't do that. Well, there it is. Let's shut the book on that one and wait for the next chapter."

As a postscript, what remained of a Saturday afternoon crowd that endured Igawa's shaky opening cried out for their just rewards -- a Rodriguez curtain call.

It was an unlikely candidate who eventually alerted Rodriguez to their clamors, making contact with the third baseman's lower back and gently shoving him up the dugout steps to accept the crowd's warm embrace.

"I'm happy for him, that he came through," Jeter said. "That was a big hit for us. We needed that. We didn't want to waste another game."

Rodriguez said he appreciated the curtain call and the continuing applause and roars from the fans, which followed the Yankees as they made their way down the tunnel, satisfied with a Game 4 win that some players had even gone so far as to call "urgent."

"That felt really good," Rodriguez said. "They've been wanting to explode for three days. It was rocking right then."

Even through the tumult that seems to trail Rodriguez's every comment and mannerism, the All-Star maintains that he feels at peace; he has since reporting to Legends Field in Tampa, Fla.

Maybe it was uncovering the state of his friendship with Jeter, maybe it's because he claims to no longer over-analyze every single comment made about him in the mainstream media, or maybe it was just his due time.

Torre scoffs when players claim they don't hear the boos and cheers; they're described as ever-present, even if the best players can tune them out and work past the distractions.

Either way, Rodriguez walked off Saturday as a winner. No one would dare say otherwise.

"He's such a big part of this club," Torre said. "He sits in the middle of our lineup and the expectations are high. It's really tough for him to live up to them. Today, he did."

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Knutreturns said:
Fuck the yankees...that is all.

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Knutreturns said:
I want to fuck the yankees...fuck them all.

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Rob Kamphausen said:

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Rob Kamphusen said:
I want to fuck the yankees...fuck them all.

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Knutreturns said:
Fuck the yankees...that is all.

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Rob Kamphausen said:
if you're gonna fake a quote, you can copy and paste the other screen name so as to avoid embarassing spelling mistakes. that way, your cheap heat attempts can shine through!

i mean, do you wanna be beneath captain sammitch?

oh, wait hahaha

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Wow, way to bring the A-game. That was weaker than Hogan's Wii skills.

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Knutreturns said:
hey look on the bright side. they love a-rod again.....for this week.

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Knutreturns said:
hey look on the bright side. they love a-rod again.....for this week.

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That won't last long.

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Rob Kamphausen said:
its purdy difficult to deny he's the greatest player in the game. and its pretty dumb to complain about him having a horrible season, when horrible means 290 with 30+ homers.

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You really should choose your idols more carefully. Gay-Rod? I figured you might have learned your lesson after that whole restraining order business with Hulk Hogan, or maybe when your [wet] dreams were shattered upon learning that Batman and Mario are fictional characters. Though I guess I'm not surprised; you'd give JLA his bowling trophy before you'd deny your undying love for Liza Minelli. Oh, and Gay-Rod.

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MisterJLA said:
That was some EPIC smack, Rob.

Give Sammitch his due.

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invisible jla wouldn't be so naive

...i wish he was here