Yankee stadium tribute

Hey everyone, i found a really cool Yankee stadium tribute video and i thought i'd share it with all of you...

Bernie William's CD review

Hey guys sorry I haven't posted in a while, like Alex I've been swamped with work. I will definitely be posting more once the season starts.

Anyway, today I finally got the chance to listen to the new Bernie Williams CD I had sent to me, and have to say I really enjoyed it. The CD is a combination of rock, jazz, and country all with a bit of Latin mix thrown into them. The songs range from happy and upbeat to slow and not necessarily sad, but more nostalgic. Sort of like remembering back to the first time you ever saw the ocean glistening in the sun or the view from atop a mountain. Oh it also includes Bernie playing an old favorite, "Glory Days" with Bruce Springsteen, my second favorite song on the track. Bernie can really play the guitar solos well.

By far my favorite song on the track though is Bernie Williams’s rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (I'm listening to this right now"). Bernie Williams had this to say about the song...

"This song has a special place in my heart. There are a lot of versions of it so I wanted to make one that reflected the way I felt about the game that I have played since I was 8 years old and for most of my life"

And I have to say he did a great job capturing his feelings for the game. His rendition of the song is slow, soft, somber, as well as nostalgic. Listening to it I remember back to when I was 7 or 8 playing catch with my older brother on a bright and sunny summer day.

I definitely suggest you go out and pick yourself up a copy on April 14th. If someone like me who mainly listens to hard rock was able to enjoy this CD almost anyone will.

Yankees destined for greatness?

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of posts lately, i can tell you i've been swamped with work, but i'll try to get posting alot more within the next few days.

Anyway... i thought i would share with everyone a little interesting story... if you'd call it that.

As most of you know... or don't know, i purchased MLB 2k9 March 3rd when it was released, i've been playing it since, i thought it would be a cool idea to simulate the 09 season and see how it turned out, with injuries on.

To be fair to the rest of the league, i had Cody Ransom play all of April and switched A-Rod in for May. The season started out slow the Yankees were hovering around 500. for the first 3 weeks. Then they went on a tear winning 8 games in a row... A-Rod joined the team in the midst of this streak.

Joba Chamberlain came down with a shoulder injury in mid June, but was back a few weeks later. C.C. Sabathia started out very poorly, but settled down in mid April and began to dominate. A.J. was amazing basically for the entire season, no injuries, no blowout losses, he finished with a line of 19-6 and an ERA of 2.87, pitching 226 innings.

CC's numbers by the end of the season were not as great as you'd want, he was 16-10 with a 3.85 ERA. Wang was solid going 17-5 with a 3.63 ERA and Joba went 13-3 with a 2.46 ERA. I had Phil Hughes start while Joba was out, he was solid, he won 3 out of his 4 starts in that time period.

Mark Teixeira started out really well, he had 13 homeruns in April, but then slowed down hitting only 3 in May. Robinson Cano was O.K, his final line was 313. with 15 HR and 75 RBI, i had him projected for higher, but this is just a video game. A-Rod despite missing all of April had 33 HR and 113 RBIs.

The Yankees made it to the playoffs with a final record of 97-65 winning their division. They beat the Twins in the first round 3-1, then the Rays in the second round 4-3.

They then played the Cubs in the world series... sweeping them in 4 games. Well, i thought that was pretty cool, so i simulated another season, just for fun without following the stats or injuries... the Yankees made it to the world series again playing the Cubs, beating them again, except this time 4 games to 3.

I'm not one to be jumping to conclusions, but that outcome sounds just fine to me. A.J Burnett also won the Cy Young, which i found interesting, hopefully this all comes true.

If you're curious as to how Andy Pettitte faired... not so great...

Here's a clip from Role Models... which is a hilarious movie... watch it...

Yankees vs. Blue Jays

Yankees are rollin right now, pitching has been great, hitting has been solid, players who have been recovering from injuries have been doing well, and i just jynxed it...sorry...

Here's the lineup for tonight...

Posada C
Damon LF
Swisher 1B
Matsui DH
Nady RF
Ransom 3B
Cabrera CF
Berroa 2B
Pena SS

...and pitching is A.J. Burnett followed by Mariano Rivera, Edwar Ramirez and Dan Giese.

...back in a bit with updates from the game...

Update 7:27: well i missed the top of the first, but looks like A.J. got through it unscathed.

Update 8:02: Ramiro Pena rips a double to left scoring Angel Berroa. Posada spanks a double to dead center scoring Pena, 2-1 Yankees.

Update 8:13: and nick swisher just doubled home posada. 3-1 Yankees

Update 8:35: Well, i stepped out for a bit, looks like the Yankees scored another run, it's not 4-1 in the top of the 4th with A.J. still pitching.

Update 9:10: It's 5-3 now.. Bruney let in a few, it's bottom 5 Yankees up.

Update 9:28: this game never had my interest... so that's it from me for tonight, 7-3 Yankees top 7, Edwar Ramirez is on.

Odds and ends

Just a few notes about the Yankees and the WBC this past week...

-Did anyone else find the WBC boring until the Puerto Rico game? That game had the feeling and intenstiy of a playoff game to me, I can't wait till the US plays Cuba, Japan, or Korea.

-Derek Jeter has looked pretty bad defensively so far in the WBC, missing two diving plays against Puerto Rico. Hopefully this is just a preseason problem and he settles in as we get closer to opening day.

- The fact that Youkilis and Pedroia could miss extended amounts of time due to injury only adds to the awesomeness of the WBC. Maybe this will balance the Arod injury a little.

- There was a really cool article in the Post earlier this week here its nice to see that chemistry in the club house already.

- Matsui, Posada, and Mo all look really good so far. Hopefully they can put up numbers similar to what they were before they got injured. Matsui had the best batting average in the American league at one point last year.

- My thoughts and prayers go out to Aaron Boone who announced he will be undergoing heart surgery later this week.

Anyway I'm out, March Madness starts tommorow good luck with your brackets everyone!

Yankees vs. Pirates

Tonights game is on YES... and CC is pitching!! here's the lineup...

Posada C
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Matsui DH
Nady RF
Cabrera CF
Ransom 3B
Pena 2B
Nunez SS

...and pitching... CC Sabathia, Mariano Rivera, Alfredo Aceves, Edwar Ramirez.

I'm very excited to see CC in action, aswell as Mariano... and i'm kind of curious to see Jorge Posada... lead off?

Back in a bit with updates from the game...

Update 7:16: i can't believe i'm saying this, but those pants look a little big on CC...nonetheless, he strikes out Nyjer Morgan, nice start.

Update 7:28: John Flaherty says Mark Teixeira looks comfortable at the plate, i say he doesn't, he may have a great average so far this spring, but he has really stunk it up lately as he strikes out again... but Matsui ripped a double down the line in right, 2-0 Yankees.

Update 7:34: Flahrety just said Melky Cabrera was having a decent spring... really? 259. is decent? damn, news to me.... and that 259. just went down as he swung at the first pitch and flied to left.

Update 7:38: CC... if you strike out Jose Tabata, you'll be my best friend...

Update 7:39: Damn...

Update 7:39: That was awesome...

Update 7:43: Damn you Jose Tabata...i know what you're trying to do... trying to make Jorge Posada's arm fall off, i know... 2-1 Yankees

Update 7:50: There goes John Flaherty talking about how 258 is respectable for spring training again... OH WAIT, i forgot... it's John Flaherty, lifetime 252. hitter (higher than i thought).

Update 7:57: CC Sabathia is naaaaaaasty tonight, and he's pitching O.K. too, 6 Ks in 3 innings.

Update 8:03: Yea.. i was only kidding when i said Mark Teixeira wasn't looking good at the plate... he just ripped a double down the right field line, Hideki Matsui then followed with a HR to deep right, 4-1 Yankees.

Update 8:05: Well, i just saw the Pirates starting rotation and... woooooof.... i feel bad for their fans... 5-1 Yankees after a Melky Cabrera double scored Nady.

Team USA Update 8:11: Team USA is beating Puerto Rico 3-1 in the bottom of the 3rd.

Update 8:16: Here's Ramiro Pena hitting a "respectable" 250. and respectably just drove in Melky Cabrera from 2nd, 6-1 Yankees... now here's Eduardo Nunez hitting a miserable 474.

Update 8:22: This is going to be a long game...

Update 8:25: I just had a flashback to the 2003 ALCS game 7 with that last bloop single to center by Jorge Posada... ahhh good times... 8-1 Yankees.

Update 8:33: So... yea... this is a long inning... going on 36 minutes right now, and it's not over yet.

Update 8:49: that's probably it for CC Sabathia tonight, he did really well, 4 innings, 1 hit 1 run, 1 walk, 7 Ks... and the last out was a really nice play by Mark Teixeira.

Update 9:02: Mariano Rivera just pitched the 5th inning, 2 Ks, solid.

Update 9:47: ok, this game got boring fast, i'm out. 8-1 Yankees... top 8.

A-Rod = Bernard Madoff?

I saw an interesting article about how you can tell someone's personality by their face... oddly enough, A-Rod was similar to Bernard Madoff...

here's what this woman had to say about A-Rod...

"His face is the archetype of a lover's. The tops of his ears are pointed, showing emotional volatility. His upper lip is bigger than his lower lip, showing he tends to create drama in a relationship. He's not an easy-going guy."

I didn't need to look at his face to know that...

I also felt the description of Bernard Madoff could be used for Alex...

"His face says, "I care about you - and your money." Yet his eyes are deepset and slant down, showing someone who tends to be pessimistic and give up, and maybe do the dishonest thing. When the going gets tough, rather than be honest, he'll keep secrets. His lips aren't even visible - that's a sign he doesn't care as much as you think."

"HA!"

This may very well be the biggest load of bull... i have ever read...but whatever, thought you guys would find that interesting... now here's a video....

I drew an interesting conclusion from this video: You steal your sister's dumplings... you die...

Busy

Hey everyone sorry for the lack of posts the past few days, me and alex have been busy and haven't had the chance to post. We should be back to posting every day tommorow. To keep you entertained in the mean time, here are best scenes from the comedy... err horror The Wickerman starring Nicholas Cage



They gave this man an oscar? really?




HOW'D IT GET BURNED!

Lost in translation...

Well, by now everyone knows the two indian born players Rinku and Dinesh who recently signed with the Pirates, but it seems the two have had some hilarious encounters recently...

Here's the story, as told by them...

"Yesterday locker room man coming to us from company Topps. He saying we sign contract. We telling him we not reading this english. we say he have talking JB sir. He saying he talking JB sir and JB sir say OK signing.

So we signing this thing and he give me and Dinesh $5.00. Then we finding out JB sir not knowing this. Man from company lying to us.

We never making same mistake like this again.

We giving JB sir the heart pains and we very sorry. We not signing nothing unless JB sir or Pirates asking us."

Turns out JB misunderstood the guys and they were actually supposed to meet with the representative from Topps... but here's what stood out to me... they only got $5.00? Sounds like someone's taking advantage of two confused foreigners...

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Mike aka Ace recently did a Q&A with Rinku and Dinesh, or Dernish as he likes to mispell names... here it is...

Ace- Have any of your inital opinions about America changed now that you have been here for a few months?

R&D-We liking America. very good place.

Ace- How is spring training going so far?

R&D- Very good sir. Many medias talking to us. We learnig more the pitching. Pirate City very very good.

Ace- Who is your favorite baseball player who you have gotten the chance to work out with so far?

R&D- We working out coach Bonila. he very good guy.


Ace- Do you feel any pressure being the first players to come over from India?

R&D- We want only be pitchers. Nothing more. nothing less. We from India, but here we pitcher only.

Ace- What do you miss most about home?

R&D- We missing family and friends but we going home after season for visit.

I also did a Q&A with them, check it out here, if you're interested...

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Here's a youtube video because i know you want one...


That woman needs more plastic surgery, seriously...

Yankees vs. Reds

Hey everyone, so tonight's game is on YES, the only night game to be televised... anyway here's the lineup-

Gardner CF
Damon LF
Nady RF
Matsui DH
Ransom 3B
Molina C
Miranda 1B
Berroa SS
Pena 2B

...and pitching today is... Joba Chamberlain followed by Kei Igawa, Christian Garcia, Phil Coke, Mike Dunn and Anthony Claggett.

looking for big things from Kei Igawa today...NOT... i wonder if he's going to be rockin the shades.

Thanks to Peter Abraham for the lineup...

...back with updates at gametime!

Update 7:18: first pitch by Joba clocked at 91, his arm strength is still not there. second pitch grounder through the right side for a single.

Update 7:21: Molina threw out the runner at 2nd, grounder to short, and a blistering fastball on the outside corner by Joba for a K, he made it through the first!!

Update 7:24: Another hit by Gardner... let's see if he runs... i bet he does...

Update 7:26: He never got a chance... line drive bullet to first by Johnny Damon for a double play.

Update 7:30: Nasty slider by Joba to strike out Brandon Phillips, he looks alot smoother than in his last two starts.

Update 7:36: Ransom single to center scoring Hideki Matsui. 1-0 Yankees

Update 7:38: Can i just say something? Bob Lorenz and David Cone do not mesh together as announcers...

Update 8:24: Apparently Juan Miranda had a solo shot, it's 3-1 Yankees now middle of the 5th, sorry had to step away from the game for a bit.

Update 8:40: Damn... Igawa isn't rockin the shades... now i'm sad... maybe if someone homered off of him tonight, i'll feel better.

Update 8:48: The YES network was either really trippy just now, or i'm way out of it... Cody Ransom up. 3-1 Yanks.

Update 8:59: Kei Igawa is a god among men.

Update 9:11: i would pay good money to see Shelley Duncan vs. Jonny Gomes...

Update 9:12: oh... i was hoping that Jonny Gomes was in left when that ball went over the wall... that would have been some sort of payback for Shelly. 7-1 Yankees, bottom 7.

Update 9:19: Christian Garcia is a giant, and his stuff is good too.

Update 9:21: Well, google is telling me Christian Garcia is a sex offender from Mexico... uhoh... another scandal..

Update 9:25: Ok, well i forgot it was the 8th inning, and i planned to show everyone a video in the 7th inning stretch... so, c2c is starting the 8th innining nap... who needs stretching...


Notice at 5 seconds in, the same guy at the end is walking with a dick on his back...

Update 9:43: Anthony Claggett looked pretty good retiring the side in the 9th, Yanks win 7-1... im out...

Arod..

Okay this will be the last post made about Arod, I promise. For those of you who don't know Arod has elected to have surgery now and estimated to be back mid to late may assuming no setbacks (please god). First off, anyone that argues the Yankees are better without Arod because he is a distraction is an idiot. The guy slugged .573 with an OBP .392, and that was an off year for him. So what if he brings a little drama to the club house the dude can downright mash. It's not like he is getting into fights with the traveling secretary or anything (everyone looks better compared to Manny).

Anyway, let’s take a look at just how much Arod being out for a month will hurt the Yankees. To do this I'm going to use the VORP (Value over replacement level player) stat found on fan graphs. It basically measures how many wins a player is worth over a replacement level player which is essentially an average minor leaguer. Taking Arod's average VORP from the last three years it can be estimated that he will be worth about 7.4 wins. So assuming he is only out for 1/6 of the season it should only cost the Yankees about 1.3 wins.

Now here comes the tricky part, trying to factor in Cody Ransom. Everyone says he is a solid defender, but according to fan graphs he has never posted a UZR/150 (stat used to calculate how good a fielder someone is) in the positives. Keep in mind the small sample size though. Even harder to determine is just how good of a hitter he is. Last year when given the chance he did pretty good batting .302 with 4 HR's in only 43 at bats. Before last year though he was pretty mediocre, in 2004 he hit .250with 20 strike outs in only 68 at bats. Even though it’s a small sample size Cody Ransom looks to be about the equivalent of a replacement level player, maybe a little better.

Overall it doesn’t look as if the loss of Arod for 1/6th of the season should have that much of an effect on the Yankees this season. This could of course change if Arod comes back from injury slumping. Then again maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised by Cody Ransom this coming season.

Minor Thoughts: A-Rod, WBC, Yankees

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last few days, Ace and myself were both unable to find the time to write something. I have several thoughts on a few things that have happened since our last entry.

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Alex Rodriguez has decided to have surgery, he will miss anywhere from 6-9 weeks. This was actually a smart move, whether you like it or not, had Alex played through his injury, he may have just been miserable, and possibly worsen the injury, i.e Mike Lowell last year.

But now the question remains, who will play 3B for the Yankees while he is out? There are very few options within the Yankees system to take the role, like Ransom and.... uhhh... ok Ransom is the only viable candidate i can think of.

The Yankees could make a trade for someone like Hank Blalock or Chone Figgins, two options Peter Abraham mentioned on his blog. However i would be O.K. with Cody Ransom filling in for the time period, this just means someone is going to have to pick up the slack for A-Rod. The Red Sox lost David Ortiz last year, the only reason they stayed in contention was because of JD Drew stepping up and crushing the ball while he was gone.

Players i can see taking this step... Robinson Cano, Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher. Ofcourse players like Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter are going to have stellar numbers, but i'm saying, someone who will break out of their shell and help pick up the slack, i.e the players i listed above.

Through all the controversy with A-Rod, i still think the Yankees are destined to have a spectacular season, as long as everyone performs to their expectations...and possibly even better than expected.

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I'm slowly gaining interest in the World Baseball Classic, i have seen a few games, the USA vs. Canada, Panama vs. Puerto Rico and the Netherlands vs. the Domincan Republic.

The USA game was somewhat boring for me, i actually stopped watching to play some MLB 2k9 after the 4th inning, but i went back for the 9th to watch the ending.

There were a few things that shocked and upset me Saturday...

First, Sidney Ponson beat the Dominican Republic team...

yea... him...

Secondly, Pudge Rodriguez had two homeruns against Panama...

Wait, he was a Yankee?

Finally, Bernie Williams had one at-bat for Puerto Rico...

...and was intentionally walked...

So all in all, i was... somewhat entertained by the WBC on Saturday.

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I was going to write something else about the Yankees here, but i forgot, so here's a funny video instead...

Please ignore the first 27 seconds, i enjoy this simply for the final 5 of the video...

That poor...poor... homeless guy...

The A-rod situation

Earilier today it was reported that A-rod has a torn hip Labrum as well as a cyst in his hip. Initially it was thought that he was going to have surgery, but now it looks like he is going to try and play through it for the season and push the surgery back to the offseason...

Ok that is a lot to digest right now, a ton of things came into my mind when I heard this news. First off, I think its a good thing hes not getting the surgery now and trying to make a comeback in the middle of the season. Initial reports I read said the recovery period was only 10 weeks. I've had two friends who have had surgery for the same exact problem in the past few months. Both of them were walking around with cane's for 6 weeks and unable to fully sit down. Keep in mind these are 17 year old kids, while Arod is turning 34 in a few months.

Now, how I actually think this will play out. Arod will play most of April and May with Cody Ransom getting a start or two a week. He'll then slow down come june and probably be fully shutdown come the all-star break. At this point the Yankees will probably make a trade for a third baseman in going into free agency such as Adrian Beltre. What I'm much more worried about is how this will affect Arods future. Will he be able to continue to play third base after the surgery? Will he be able to finish his contract which still has 9 yeaers left on it? Hopefully we will hear answers to these questions soon. Man this is shaping up to be a pretty interesting season so far and it isn't even opening day yet.

If you would like to hear What Brian Cashman has to say on this situation you can go here.

MLB 2k9 review... so far...

So as most of you probably don't know, MLB 2k9 came out today, i went and got a copy right after my classes ended. MLB 2k8 didn't really have the greatest success, so 2k9 really has alot of making up to do.

The first thing i did when i got the game was play at the new Yankee Stadium, versus the Red Sox. The graphics were really good, not to say the ones in 2k8 weren't good, but 2k9 has much greater detail. I had played the demo, so i knew the controls, and beat the Red Sox 7-3 in traditional fashion, quality start from CC, brought in Veras for the 7th followed by Marte for the 8th, and ofcourse... Mariano in the 9th.

If you want to get your ass kicked in this game... feel free to email me, and we can arrange the beat down.

I don't want to bore you by talking about the game anymore, and i feel like i'm losing some of you already... so here's a guy falling off a ladder to keep you somewhat entertained...

yea... you blame those slippery floors...

A few Thoughts: Fantasy baseball, Yankee Stadium

Hey everyone, so i'm sure you've been watching the Yankees' spring training games, and you basically know everything i could talk about here, so i won't bore you.

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Anyway, i decided i'm going to make another fantasy baseball league, this one is going to be very small, so if you want to join, you HAVE to email me quickly. It's a Yahoo fantasy league, like the last one, but this time with 8 teams, head to head and a live draft. Our email is under contacts on the right hand side, gogogogo!

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If you're interested to see more of the new Yankee stadium, check here.

Thanks to reader Bill Rasmussen for the link!

Also! Over at our friend's Kevin Rozell and Bob Ruffolo's yankee blog, they have a great group of new Yankee stadium construction photos, here's the link.

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Clearly i did not deliver much of a post tonight, so how can i make it up to you? a funny video you say? OK... fine...

"This is a big horse," classic...

odds and ends

With 5 spring training games so far I feel as if we can already see a few things for this upcoming year. Keep in mind spring training stats generally mean nothing as conditions are different, I still feel as a few things can be taken away from it though

1. Melkey vs. Brett Gardner as starting center fielder- So far Brett Gardner is 5 for 10, while Melkey is 1 for 8. Ignoring all of that though Melkey looks as lost at the plate as I have ever seen him. Also, Keep in mind spring training is supposed to be easier on the hitters with most pitchers only throwing fastballs as they attempt to build arm speed. Now I am not saying that Melkey has no chance to bounce back, but as of now he looks down right awful. Brett Gardner on the other hand looks decent; even though I still don't see him as anything better than average center fielder.

2. Rejuvenated Cano- Cano definitely looks a little leaner than he did last year. So far this spring he is 5 for 9. More importantly though it looks as if his approach at the plate has improved a little. Now he does still look to have some free swinging tendencies that we all know and hate, but it doesn’t look nearly as bad as it did last year.

3. Arod is still Arod- Even amid all the steroid business, Arod is still putting up good spring training numbers. Hopefully this success can translate over to the actual season.

This upcoming season looks promising even amid all the controversy due to Arod and the steroids. The next few weeks should be fun as we get to see more of our younger players in spring training as well as the World Baseball Classic which is always a good time.