As a kid I adored Goose Gossage.  That wicked motion, the seeming willingness to throw at anyone at anytime, that glare and intimidation.  That was then.

Today I am trying to understand exactly what Goose means when he says Joba Chamberlain's onfield "celebrations" arent "The Yankee Way."  20+ years removed from what has now become a Hall of Fame career does Goose think criticizing one of the teams most consistent performers while the team struggles in general to be "The Yankee Way?"

I guess the way I look at is simplistic:  Unless Goose intends on racking up a save or two for my beloved Bombers in 2008 then he should pipe down.  This is not intended to demean all former players in any way, but it should serve as notice not to spout off everytime a thought crosses your lips.  In reality, what did Joba do that was so wrong?  Did he taunt, did he motion toward Dellucci?  No.  Did he parade around the mound, did he exaggerate his exit from the field of play?  No.  Did he stand and stare at the hitter, or into the opposing bench?  No.

He apparently is guilty of being emotional after the only team to ever touch him up was served a healthy serving of revenge on his home field infront of his home fans...Apparently being emotional isnt the Yankee Way.  Really?  Ask a Yankee fan.

What's more is examining how Joba took the loss a couple of days prior - did he erupt and toss Gatorade coolers, did he run straight for the showers?  No.  Did he dodge the press and say all the wrong things?  No.  Goose, leave the kid alone.  If you want to ask some constructive questions let's start with why the hell we cant beat Tampa...

Go Yanks!

Did it appear to you that Joba was sent into last night's game with an agenda other than his typical recipe for success, the slider/fastball combination that has made him a dominant late game stopper?  It almost appeared he was told to showcase his "starter stuff" mixing in curveballs and change ups resulting in the very rare walks, 2 in the same in inning no less.  I dont recall him ever doing that, pestilence and famine and any other seven signs aside.

If there was a management (or ownership) directive for Joba to "mix it up" allow me to retort:  Leave Joba alone.  The slider & fastball combination has proved to be near perfect - why tweek it?  We sent Kennedy down, lost Huges for 2 months and will be seeing a lot of Igawa and Rasner so we'll need the typical Joba guaranteed late game stops if the offense finally breaks out...Of all the fixes this pitching staff needs changing Joba's pace isnt one of them.

Go Yanks!

I posted just yesterday about the footwork of Robbie Cano and Morgan Ensberg in the batters' box.  I thought they were aquitting themselves nicely in the early going of last night's loss to the Tigers.  Cano kept his bottom half a little more in balance and lined a home run in his first at bat.  Ensberg got his front foot off the ground and hit a ridiculously loud out to the wall.  Then they both returned to the error of their ways:  Robbie had too much untimed movement and Ensberg had zero lower half movement going a combined 0-7 and stranding a handful of baserunners the rest of the way...Oh well.

ARod to the DL, eeesh.  Ensberg will have to pick it up...when I think of anything more obvious to state I'll be back.

Go Yanks!

Carlos Delgado didnt feel a curtain call was necessary after hitting a seventh inning solo shot when the Mets were already ahead by 2 runs...Good.  It's about time.  It's one thing when your teammates are shoving you up the steps, but the self-adulatory grandstanding in baseball is over done.  I credit Delgado with knowing the difference.  We can all think of players and or plays involving some over the top celebration and to me it's played and it's tired.  On this cold rainy day I am having little trouble thinking of other baseball related issues that I am tired of.

Roger Clemens.  Tired.  If this egomaniacal lunatic had just kept his mouth shut and gone the way of EVERY OTHER NIT-WIT NAMED IN THE MITCHELL REPORT he'd still be going to the hall of fame, first ballot, married, with his assets in check.  After the dog and pony show he's dragged us thru he'll be lucky to manage any of that at this point.  A more likely scenario now for the Rocket appears to be prison, no ballot required, divorce & losing 'half" his cash.  Mindy McCreedy was only the tip of the iceberg as two others have apparently surfaced...Mrs Clemens was helpful talking Roger's way out of Boston, I wonder how helpful she'll be now. 

Speaking of people who love hearing themselves talk, Curt Schilling popped back up on my radar this morning but in an unexpected way.  I love the guy as a competitor, but being trapped in New England with him is unbearable - he's everywhere, does commercials for everything, constantly commenting on everything, etc.  But today he got my attention in a good way:  I was unaware until this morning that he is working to restructure his contract to AVOID COLLECTING bonuses due to him based solely on fitness.  He has come in a little heavy in recent years so he had incentives for meeting certain weight requirements...Given his preseason injury he doesnt want to collect on those bonuses unless he is healthy and actively helping the team win from the mound.  Good on you, Curt.  That's about as rare a thing as you'll see in professional sports.

What could be more rare?  How about those pesky 1st place Tampa Bay Rays!?  Getting to see them 18+ times a year I have had time to become a fan of some of their players and have enjoyed watching them turn the corner.  Now dont get me wrong, the Rays wont win the AL East or make the playoffs, lets not get crazy, but they have some top notch talent down there, just ask a Red Sox fan after the weekend sweep the Rays threw down on them.  They can hit, they can run and they are actually beginning to muster some starting pitching which will only improve when Kazmir returns.  I am biased because he came from my home state, but just imagine this team with a healthy 5 tooler like Rocco Baldelli, his injuries were a shame.

Equally as shameful was my selection of Mike Lowell on my fantasy team.  The pick in and of itself wasnt shameful as much as the injury that dumped him on the DL from which he is expected to return today.  He basically went down to all fours to make a play at third and strained the thumb on his glove hand, the thumb on the bottom hand of the bat, making him infinitely useless in the field, at the plate or in my fantasy league.  One interesting thing that was infinitely clear from his injury, however, was how versatile Kevin Youkilis is.  Every team wants a guy like Youkilis.  My stud third baseman will be down for a bit as his right quad recovers and Morgan Ensberg will be more than servicable as a defensive replacement, but Youkilis' offensive production out matches Ensberg.  I understand we arent exactly comparing bench players here because Youk plays everyday.  Moreover he was able to play third in Lowell's absence because The Mayor was able to step in at first.  My beloved Bombers have more DH's and first basemen than you can count, but if Sean Casey and Youk can cover a loss like Mike Lowell and the Sox dont skip a beat then who really has a better bench?  Now that bothers me.

Well, that's all for now...Go Yanks!

Back to back above solid starts from Moose, the last backing up a gem by Wang in an instant classic and the best news is my beloved Bombers are headed back to the Bronx.  No team played more on the road this April, and thankfully, the long strange trip is over.

Since my Pitching 101 rant Moose has been moving the ball much better, purely coincidental no doubt, but all I care about is the results.  Changing arm angles, throwing some crazy slow off speed junk...Moose is clearly making the adjustment.  If you had a chance to see the ridiculous 68 mph change up he thru to Casey Blake you know what I mean.

The injury bug is proving to be as nasty as midges in October.  Jorge on the DL - what?  I thought it was some sort of Yankee by law that those words were to never be phrased in that order, ever.  But it has to happen I guess.  I know Dr. Andrews is the best in the business but I get a little uptight whenever his name comes up in a Yankee discussion.  Right now Molina is pulling his weight but the "what ifs" are starting to pile up.

Speaking of piling up, so are the number of games missed by ARod who apparently wont play tonight in the Bronx against Detroit.  I know its preventative: sit him now to get him back sooner than later, I get it.  But this is New York, no one is that patient.  Girardi will have to protect ARod and Ensberg will have to produce.  Production from some of the still conspicuously quiet bats brings me to my final point, footwork in the batters box.

I wrote a few posts back that Robbie Cano was "stuck in the middle" or off balance at the plate...Paul O'Neill later referred to it as "drifting."  I am noticing the same thing from Ensberg to a lesser extent.  The two have completely contrasting styles at the plate.  Cano is all about timed movement while Ensberg is basically statuesque.  Regardless, the common thread of all hitters is their footwork.  What Ensberg lacks in footwork is what Cano has too much of.  I understand these guys are big leaguers for a reason, and I am not talking about any drastic changes being required, just pointing out the subtleties of the game.  Both of these guys, as examples, need to simplify things to increase their production.  I know Cano will do it, and I think Ensberg can too.

Back to the Bronx, bring on the Tigers - Go Yanks!

Ahhhhh. Finally, a day off.  I hated it.  I hated every second of it, aside from knowing that my beloved Bombers needed a day.  It's awful tough watching the BoSox winning with their bench and starting lineup playing reverse roles, especially when the Yankees need to get healthy.

Looking back to Sunday, Pettitte was excellent.  He was perfect into the fifth until a swinging bunt broke that up but continued right along.  It was great to see him dealing.  NOTE TO PITCHERS EVERYWHERE:  Get the ball, get your sign, pitch & repeat.  See Andy Pettitte.

ARod...was yesterday enough of a breather or will I be rooting on Morgan Ensberg tonight?  I am hearing mixed reports that it is day to day and then simultaneously that a stint on the DL isnt out of the picture...I prefer bad news early and often, but as a seasoned New England Patriots fan I understand certain intelligence is not always forthcoming. (Update:  The Yanks' homepage is reporting ARod will rejoin the team in Chicago tonight and be re-evaluated prior to game time.)

It was nice to see Joba back and given the time he'll need to shake off the rust I am sure he was happy to see the rain close in on Sunday afternoon.  He'll be fine.  It's so hard to remember he is still only a kid.  Speaking of children, Hank, please pipe down.  Joba stays in the pen.  Period.

My reasoning may be simplistic, but I believe it to be logical:  Why hope your (other than Mo' and Joba) shaky bullpen can get Joba one win every 5 days when he can get you 3 or 4 wins every 5 days once your offense wake's up...?  From a different angle, Joba can not just wake up and start, he's not stretched out right for that, even given the efforts in spring training.  So do you weaken the bullpen temporarily while Joba gets stretched out in the minors?  I guess you do if you want to go 11-19 for April again. 

If the '90's taught us anything it's that turning 9 inning games into 6 or 7 inning games is paramount when you have a lights out backend of your pen.  Given the youth of Hughes & Kennedy and the ever adjusting Moose, all three barely capable of giving you 5 innings on a consistent basis, the Yanks need to be making games as short as possible.  Making Joba a starter only weakens that opportunity.  I just dont understand Hank, even given his lineage.  You want to add a spark to your currently .500 team, fine, but say something that makes some sort of baseball sense without labeling your manager and GM "idiots" by inference.

What a pleasant surprise Chad Moeller has been...a career .220 something guy giving you a .350 stint while both of your catchers are on the mend.  I wouldnt expect it to last for on and on, but it certainly is comforting for the moment.  Hopefully Jorge will be back behind the dish this week and we can get back to normal.

Finally, I leave you with this:  How come the only people you ever hear sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" are already at a ball game?  How come you never hear anyone singing it, let's say, at the supermarket.  I was at the supermarket yesterday with my wife, and I would much rather have been at the ball game...so I broke into song.  My wife hates off days too.

Off to Chicago, go Yanks! 

Gather 'round kids.  Now hear this, commit it to memory and take it to the grave with you:  You do not have to throw the ball 90+ miles per hour to be a successful big league pitcher.  The only key to success with sub 90+ MPH "stuff" is changing the eye level of the hitter.

The slower the pitch, the more movement it should have.  That said, movement in and of itself is seldom enough if pitches are always down, or always up, or always in, or always away.  There in lies the key:  The slower the "stuff" the more variety is required in location, up, down, inside and away.  That's it.  That's all you need to know to be a successful big league pitcher with sub 90 MPH stuff, change the eye level of the hitter.

Now let's apply it to some big league realities.  Let's take, for example, Manny Ramirez...let's just say he's facing, oh, I dont know, Mike Mussina for example.  Let's say Manny took Mussina deep in a prior at bat, and now Moose has turned the tables and jumped out to an early 0-2 count, both strikes down and on the outside corner.  Manny has two options, and only two options:  Look down and in, or look for a 3rd consecutive pitch down and away.  Why only those two options you ask?  Why doesnt Manny have to look up and in or up and away?  Because Mussina never gave him a worry he would throw there.  At no point in any at bat did Moose throw anything other than low and in, or low and away - HE NEVER CHANGED THE EYE LEVEL OF THE HITTER.

So what happens, you ask?  Manny was ready for low and in, but Moose tricked him up, throwing a 3rd consecutive pitch low and away, this time for a ball, bringing the count to 1-2.  How many options do you think Manny has now?  I'll give you hint, 1.  Manny decided to zone in on low and in and he got his wish, and he didnt waste the opportunity taking Moose deep to left.

The moral of the story is this, rather than being worried about Kyle Farnsworth throwing behind Manny later in the game, we should be concerned about why Moose didnt do it when he had Manny set up 0-2.  Change the eye level of the hitter, right?  0-2 after two low and away strikes, perfect time to throw one off the plate up and in.  Back him up a bit, change his eye levels, and most importantly not allow Manny to sit and focus in one zone and then give him his wish. 

I said early in posts that Moose appears to have matched his "stuff" with the right mental approach, throwing slow, slower and even slower to marginalize hitters' ability to stay balanced.  That's all well and good, but if he continues to avoid our simple lesson from today, he'll be in big trouble...especially against Manny Ramirez.

On to Baltimore, Go Yanks!

Unbelievable.  Last night we managed to play without any delays, in a lightning fast 4 hours and 8 minutes.  The Red Sox vs. Yankees games are epics unto themselves...Every one of them is like it's own Godfather sequel, and I love it.

Now, dont get me wrong - I dont mind a little 2 and 1/2 hour morsel on a Monday night in Tampa, or Baltimore, and given that there are 8 times more of these than day long Yankees vs Red Sox games I do get my rest, rest that is well used to survive these knock down, "drawn out" titan clashes.  The players and coaches will utter every cliche available to tell us Red Sox vs Yankees games are just like any other, and you have to take them one game at a time, etc...But the reason these games last forever is because they all know the truth:  This is the greatest rivalry in all of professional sports, a rivalry so intense from the owners down to the clubhouse guys that every pitch is magnified ten fold.

4 hours and 8 minutes...and I still can't get enough.

Go Yanks!

Thank god the Boston College Eagles won the Frozen Four men's hockey national championship - there was our second shining moment along side Chien-Ming Wang's gem Friday night.

The rest of the weekend was a bust.

Tiger...it's called a putter, I am fairly certain you have seen one before...In fact I believe you have even used a few, but you wouldnt know it by your performance on Sunday at Augusta.  Eeesh.  Shooting even par in those conditions was impressive, but the round should have been better by at least 5 shots (holes 4, 8, 10, 13 & 14 specifically).  Make sure Trevor Immelman takes care of your jacket.

Montreal appeared to be in control until they played down to the hapless Bruins on the road for a game 3 overtime loss (their first loss to Boston in the past 152 games head to head.)

And that brings us to my beloved Bombers...In Saturday's loss, after that ridiculously managed rain delay, I can understand ARod jumping on the first fastball he sees from Papelbon (and he fouled it straight back, just missed it) but in the next inning, Jason Giambi, what pitch were you looking for?  First and second pitch straight strike heat.  It's Jonathan Papelbon, good thing you took the fastballs to 0-2 so he could give his splitter a little practice.

And its not all on Giambi, when you get the walks the Yanks were given this weekend and stranded as many as they did its an epidemic.  THEY WILL HIT, I KNOW THIS, I AM ONLY ASKING WHEN?

Moose walked the tightrope on Saturday and I didnt think he was sub-par, I just dont understand leaving him in to pitch to Manny, although Bruney's inability to get Youkilis next seems to make the argument academic.  Was Hughes overthrowing?  It appeared to be the case to me, but it doesnt account for the pitch selection.  It seems those calls are coming from the bench, but it was at times predictable.  I still think Hughes will be fine eventually, but with a young gun you have to protect his psyche as much as his arm...He needs to right his own ship before he suffers a string of early hooks.

Well, off to Tampa Bay before returning briefly to the Bronx for revenge on the Sox.  Let's get a streak going.

Go Yanks!

Nine games down.  Here are some thoughts on what I have seen so far:

Defense: 

Giambi needs to keep working, but he made some great plays in some early games...The absence of his bat makes it harder and harder to keep playing him everyday, but doing exactly that is the only thing that'll bring him around.

Alberto Gonzalez can flat pick it, fortunately we wont be watching him for long with Jeter's return expected tomorrow.  Until Jeter does return, please leave ARod at third...that's all the NY Press needs during the first two weeks of the season, a "quarterback controversy."

Matsui was up against a tough wind play last night that made him look foolish, but that play was harder than he made it look, and is there any doubt he has the best arm from left?  Given the desire to play Giambi at first, I guess the left field Damon/Matsui platoon makes sense, but it isnt sitting well with me, although I cant exactly put my finger on the reason why.

Melky will win a gold glove in his career, if the voters ever stop making it an offensive/popularity contest...Speaking of, how did ARod not win it last year?

Backups:  Jose Molina & Wilson Betemit have been more than serviceable defensive replacements, especially with Molina's relatively consistent contributions with the bat.  Given that the Yankees have 65 outfielders, it only made sense to make the Duncan/Gonzalez roster moves to keep Betemit on the bench for security.  Duncan will be back soon.

Starting Pitching:

Moose - slow, slower and even-slower - I love it.  Pettitte's first start was the one start I didnt see all of, so I am reserving judgement.  Hughes has stuff, mental and physical, and I am betting it will come around.  Kennedy's two "starts" have been a little bizarre and I think this is a kid who will benefit from a regular flow of the season as things normalize.  Wang, 2-0.

Bullpen:

Joba to Mo - I love it.  If the offense can get right these guys will start making 6 inning games and I am begging management doesnt tweek it. 

Billy Traber has been surprisingly solid for a non-roster invitee, let's not wake him up.

Bruney looked solid last night but his heat is so straight that if he doesnt change speeds or at least be constantly changing the hitters' eye levels he gets killed, ie Kyle Farnsworth.

The rest of the bullpen just has me shaking my head.

Pray we get out of KC tonight and thankfully we wont have to go back in 2008.

Go Yanks!