The Enemy Uptown: The 2012 Yankee Thread

[metirish]

Only the bore of the core is left, is AP considered part of the famed "four core"?

[Frayed Knot]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Supposedly Andy Pettitte is wrapping up his minor league warm-ups now that he's done defending Clemens. Think he'd be a candidate for them to throw out there for the ninth?

Nah, they're even more desperate for starters.
Once you get past Sa-bathtub-ia and Rookie Carroca (I once knew a lethal Bantamweight by that name), they're left with Phil Hughes who they'd like to demote to the pen but can't; Freddie Garcia who they'd like to dump in the river but can't; [crossout]Michael Pi[/crossout] oops, not him, and Ivan (not-so Super) Nova whose wins are going to go down rapidly as soon as he stops stumbling into games where he gets 12 runs/game scored for him.
Even their vaunted prospects Manny Banuelos & Dellin Batances -- whom they've cleverly dubbed with the highly original name 'The Killer Bees' -- have been injured and/or sucking in the minors so far this year.

is AP considered part of the famed "four core"?

Yes.
Also is considered part of the field in the Kentucky Derby tomorrow. As in; "Hey Andy, why the long face?"

[Frayed Knot]

'I'm coming back ... there's no way I'm going out like this" -- So says Mr. Rivera.

Prior to this season he had been cagey about his plans for 2013 even though he claimed to have already decided - so either this injury changed those plans or just moved up the announcement of them.
That means a lengthy rehab plus gearing up for a season having turned 43 and with an 11 month or so lay-off.
I believe this also entails negotiating a contract for next season as his current one runs out at the end of this year.
And does he automatically get his old role back even if Robertson is good there?

Should be interesting to follow.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Something tells me Rusty Torres won't be invited to Old Timer's Day.

(warning: gross)

[Frayed Knot]

Former MFY OFer (and out-spoken Christian IIRC) Chad Curtis was in the news recently over some accusations involving youth players.
The charges over that one sounded a bit more iffy although he dissed Jeter once so the odds of him ever getting an OTD invite were already in the toilet.

[ashie62]

Pettitte starts Sunday against the Mariners..

[Frayed Knot]

Pettitte starts Sunday against the Mariners..

Getting your first start in over a year against Seattle is what they call in the business, a soft landing.




Meanwhile, YLDBs not enjoying the first two days of the David Robertson era:

- Tuesday night; comes in in the 9th with a 2-run lead:
GO, BB, 1B, K, BB, K -- gets the save but loads the bases in doing so

- Tonight; comes in with a one-run lead to begin the 9th:
1B, 1B, BB, K, SF (Blown Save), 3R-HR ... and yanked.

[Ceetar]

Robertson feeling a little bit of the Parnell effect. Due for a bit of a letdown, and promoted just before it happens. Now let the blame fall on the promotion rather than the randomness of it.

[MFS62]

Something tells me Rusty Torres won't be invited to Old Timer's Day. (warning: gross)

That's sick.
Please don't tell us that he gave them gift baskets and autographed pictures afterwards.

Later

[MFS62]

Yogi Berra visited Yankee Stadium III yesterday.
There was a picture of him in today's NY Daily News. It shows him being driven around in a golf cart. And hanging around his neck is what looks to be an ID badge.
Anyone associated with baseball in general and the team in particular should recognize Yogi Berra - from the casual fan to the stadium guards to the ushers to the vendors and especially to the person who told him to wear it.

Infamia!

That person who made YOGI BERRA wear an ID badge at YS III should be banned from baseball, then locked in a warm humid room for a week, listening to a continuous audio tape of Suzyn Waldmann.


Later

[Frayed Knot]

Everyone has to wear a badge in order to get past the "moat" in the stands that separates the elite from the mere mortals who only pay like one or two hundred dollars for their seats.

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: Everyone has to wear a badge in order to get past the "moat" in the stands that separates the elite from the mere mortals who only pay like one or two hundred dollars for their seats.

I like your sarcasm.
But if Yogi isn't elite there and needs to wear either an ID badge or some other type of pass, then someone has to redefine that word.

Later

[Guest Kong76]

It's pretty comical listening to Sweeny M. sounding like
Eddie C. of old lately.

[Frayed Knot]

Does anybody on this fucking team ever get old?

- Jeter, 38 in a few weeks, is having his best season in about a decade while leading the ML in hits

- Rivera is already 42 fer chrissakes and, in a position where no one dominates for more than a few seasons, was, prior to fucking up his knee, maintaining sub-1.00 WHiP and sub-2.00 ERAs throughout his late 30s and into his 40s

- Raul Freakin' Ibanez turns 40 next week and, after signing for dirt cheap, is on pace for 30+ HRs (after hitting 36 over the last TWO seasons combined), has had half of his hits go for extra-bases, and is averaging nearly an RBI per hit

- and now Pettitte, 40 next month, tosses a 4-hit (8 inning) shutout w/9 Ks in his 2nd start in 18 months.

[MFS62]

Somewhere there's a Yankee team picture ...
Later

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: Does anybody on this fucking team ever get old? - Jeter, 38 in a few weeks, is having his best season in about a decade while leading the ML in hits - Rivera is already 42 fer chrissakes and, in a position where no one dominates for more than a few seasons, was, prior to fucking up his knee, maintaining sub-1.00 WHiP and sub-2.00 ERAs throughout his late 30s and into his 40s - Raul Freakin' Ibanez turns 40 next week and, after signing for dirt cheap, is on pace for 30+ HRs (after hitting 36 over the last TWO seasons combined), has had half of his hits go for extra-bases, and is averaging nearly an RBI per hit - and now Pettitte, 40 next month, tosses a 4-hit (8 inning) shutout w/9 Ks in his 2nd start in 18 months.

there's a pill for that.

[Ceetar]

I always enjoy the Braves organist. I forgot to pay attention last week though.

#Braves vs #Yankees - Jet and 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' for Jeter

#Braves vs #Yankees - Take the Money and Run for Teixera next time

#Braves vs #Yankees - Next for A Rod - 'I Wan't a New Drug' ;-)

#Braves vs #Yankees - they just showed a sleeping Yankees fan on BravesVision ;-)

#Braves vs #Yankees - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for Andruw Rudolph Jones

#Braves vs. #Yankees - Mrs. Robinson for Robinson Cano

[batmagadanleadoff]

A-Rod loves Mex and the Davey Johnson Mets; even owns a game used Keith Jersey, gifted to him by Keith himself.


A-Rod's first true love? Mex's Mets
Yanks? As if! Bombers star grew up idolizing Keith Hernandez and the Amazin's
By Andrew Marchand | ESPNNewYork.com

The apprehensive 13-year-old approached Keith Hernandez. Like any other kid meeting his idol, a "super nervous" feeling rushed though his body. Finally, with his courage up, the youngster addressed the player he had spent so many nights watching on TV. "You are my favorite player," Alex Rodriguez recalled saying. "I hope to be drafted one day." The funny thing about that chance meeting in 1988 is that Hernandez remembers it, too. Hernandez, the former MVP, was rehabbing a hamstring injury at Florida International University when this kid -- who had yet to hit any of his 640 homers -- walked up to him. What sticks out most in Hernandez's mind was not Rodriguez's "imposing physique," but his intensity. "He was very intent to listen," said Hernandez, now an analyst on the Mets' network, SNY. "He asked questions." Rodriguez has shown some chameleon tendencies during his career, claiming this place or that place was always his dream spot. But, in reality, on the eve of the latest Subway Series, Rodriguez knows it wasn't Texas, despite the money, or the Yankees, despite the history, that tugged at his heart. It was the Mets. Growing up in Miami in the '80s, there were three main outlets for Rodriguez to watch baseball. There was WGN for the Cubs, WTBS for the Braves and WOR for the Mets. He didn't have much affection for anyone at Wrigley. He loved Dale Murphy during the years that preceded the Braves' glorious run in the '90s. But A-Rod's favorite team was the Mets, cemented by the fact that they added Hernandez in 1983. "Him and [Gary] Carter were the finishing two pieces of furniture to create the perfect house," Rodriguez said. "And they got the championship in '86." Fourteen years later, the Mets would return to their next World Series. By that time, A-Rod, just 25, had already nailed 241 homers -- 79 more than Hernandez had in his entire 17-year career. Rodriguez, on the verge of hitting the market as possibly the most celebrated free agent in baseball history, famously showed up at Shea Stadium for the Subway Series, hoping he would emulate his idol and one day lead the Mets to a World Series title. Rodriguez wanted to be a Met so bad that one person close to him still insists he would have taken less than the $252 million the Texas Rangers ended up forking over. Instead, in the first of A-Rod's many public relations disasters, a back-and-forth between his then-agent, Scott Boras, and the Mets resulted in the Mets failing to even bid on A-Rod. All he got from his favorite team was the "24-plus-one" tag pinned on him like a scarlet letter by then-GM Steve Phillips. These days, A-Rod is struggling at the plate, on pace for 26 homers and fewer than 80 RBIs. He will turn 37 next month, which is an age Hernandez never made it to as a player. Rodriguez is no longer a kid. In the Yankees' clubhouse the other day, Rodriguez relished reminiscing about Hernandez's game. Rodriguez never played first base. He was always a shortstop growing up, which is why he has an equal fondness for Cal Ripken Jr. as he does for Hernandez. But Hernandez's intensity, and his leadership on the field, drew A-Rod in. For all of Rodriguez's physical skills, one of the aspects of his game that perhaps has not received enough attention is his mind. While Derek Jeter's success resides in the fact that he simplifies everything, Rodriguez loves the complexities of the game, talking it, living it and, most of all, playing it. "Everything about Hernandez, I loved," Rodriguez said. "I love the game so much. I'm such a gym rat. Hernandez was kind of the epitome of all of it. He was like a manager out on the field. He was always in the pitcher's ear. He was kind of like Davey Johnson, Part 2. And he was such a clutch hitter." The two are acquaintances now. Rodriguez, who can afford nearly anything in the world, calls the game-used uniform and mitt Hernandez gave him one of his "prized possessions." Rodriguez's career will never be looked at as perfect, largely because of his performance-enhancing drug use admission. But players respect his skill level and his accomplishments. Nearly a quarter-century after the two met, the meeting is just as special to Hernandez as it was for the apprehensive teenager in Miami. "It means a lot to me," the 58-year-old Hernandez said. "It is a great compliment. He is a far better player than I ever was. It is always very flattering. Everyone has someone they looked up to. Mine was Mickey Mantle. For Alex Rodriguez to idolize me coming up, that makes me feel very good."

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/8082156/new-york-yankees-alex-rodriguez-first-love-keith-hernandez-mets

[Frayed Knot]

Sportswriters fall for this story every time ARod tells it - and there probably are some bits of truth to it.

But he also insisted that his favorite team was the Braves (Dale Murphy, TBS, etc) right around the time he was talking to them during his FA tour; curiously that talk stopped when they wouldn't give him the money or the no-trade deals he insisted on.
And while he asserts that he would have signed for less money, that doesn't at all jive with hiring the agent whose whole raison d'etre in agenting it to go after the most money or that Boras freely admitted on the old M&MD show that he absolutely asked for the merchandising tents and all that other rumored stuff that were at least a factor in stopping negotiations; or that when the Mets backed out there was no apparent attempt to go back to them with a less monsterous offer; or that or that the deal he eventually took WAS the one for the most money even though it wasn't in one of the previously mentioned favorite places; or that that he's used escape clauses twice in attempts to up his deals; or that he's often said that he wanted to be the highest paid player in MLB and that it's something he's proud of.

But the biggest crock in this whole thing is that he knows he's got a captive audience of both NYC-based and national writers, each of whom seem to trot this 'I really wanted to be a Met' story out as if they're breaking news despite being on its 25th or so iteration by now.
At least Reggie was a charming bullshitter back when these same writers and/or their previous generation brethren were taking down his words as if they belonged on a stone tablet. ARod doesn't even have that going for him.

[stevejrogers]

Frayed Knot wrote: But the biggest crock in this whole thing is that he knows he's got a captive audience of both NYC-based and national writers, each of whom seem to trot this 'I really wanted to be a Met' story out as if they're breaking news despite being on its 25th or so iteration by now.

Especially in times where Wilpon hate is at its highest levels. "Want more things to blame the Wilpons for? Don't forget that they were the reason the Mets failed to sign ARod when he wanted to be here."

One of my favorite conspiracy theories that got attached to that, is that if the Mets had signed ARod, that would have meant a higher franchise value, and more money to payout to Nelson when the split occurred.

As if the Mets couldn't be creative with future financial considerations, like with the infamous Bonilla deal.

[Edgy MD]

So, DeWayne Wise, you spend a lifetime playing baseball, ten years at the big-league level, then you join the Yankees and become a shameless, pointless cheater. How does that happen? Do they give you a manual at orientation?

[metsmarathon]

in his defense, he didn't actually try to deceive the ump. he was still trying to pry himself out of the seats when the ump called the out. i don't really expect him to open up his glove and tell the up, 'no, actually i never caught it. go talk to the guy in the red shirt a few rows up. i think he has it'

he just smiled and ran, undoubtedly happy the inning was over so that he didn't have to return the phantomball to the pitcher.

[G-Fafif]

Nobody's better at having birthdays than Derek Jeter, who is better at having everything than everybody, per usual.

round 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, two Yankee Stadium kitchen employees walked through the tunnel pushing a cart with a birthday cake on it almost the size of the jersey it was designed to replicate. The cake was for Derek Jeter, who turned 38 on Tuesday but did not exactly embrace his advancing age with much warmness or acknowledgment. It was business as usual, Jeter preparing to bat leadoff and play shortstop as he has done almost every game this season � save for the eight he has served as the designated hitter � with the same verve as when he first arrived as a 20-year-old rookie in May 1995. �I never took anything for granted,� Jeter said. �I never assumed that just because I�m 30, that I�d be back playing the next year. I�ve just never had that mind-set. I�ve always had the mind-set that you have to prove yourself and do your job. That�s what I�ve had since I came up.�

One assume he had the kitchen employees reassigned.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Mazzillionth update: Lacey has joined dad Lee in working for the MFYs.

Also: Sabathia to DL with a strained I-Don't-Wanna-Go-To-The-All-Star-Game.

Edited June 27, 2012 by Guest

[seawolf17]

Mazzillionth update: Lacey has joined dad Lee in working for the MFYs.

??

[Edgy MD]

Why do they always let Jeter essay on how awesome his attitude is? If I'm a reporter, I have to call him on that.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Why do they always let Jeter essay on how awesome his attitude is? If I'm a reporter, I have to call him on that.

yeah, but they you wouldn't get any gift baskets.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Mazzillionth update: Lacey has joined dad Lee in working for the MFYs. ??

I'm talking about the Mazzilli clan.

[Ceetar]

Lacey June Mazzilli ?@lacey_june I cannot wait for Spice Girls the musical!! http://t.co/4NRg8rkW

[Frayed Knot]

Also: Sabathia to DL with a strained I-Don't-Wanna-Go-To-The-All-Star-Game.

That's the line of the day. Although it's probably more along the lines of 'I was ordered not to go to the ASG'
Now the only problem with that strategy is that Pettitte just took a liner off his foot and had to leave the game.