Topic: Yankees Baseball

Let’s hope Andy’s back is just barking and nothing else. I remember Andy having problems last year and the guy in charge of conditioning being fired because the malady was wide spread.

When athletes lose weight and they have weak stomach muscles (most professional athletes have weak stomach muscles) the back gives. The normal way to strengthen those muscles under those conditions is the easy soft Yoga way (slowly and gradually) not lifting weights as Andy was stupidly advised last year and that should be on the program for next offseason; the stronger the stomach muscles the better the overall athletes conditioning is.

The good thing is that those back ailments easily go away (if it involves no more than just a muscle weakness); they vanish as abruptly as they show up.

Andy’s back problems should be a red flag for Cashman since it makes us realize that in order for this rotation to work and the Yankees achieve the ultimate goal this year, although everybody is on record as willing to be patient (except those vocal tabloids who have never cared about the team), the whole rotation must be working and healthy which is a tall order.

It’s for that reason that we should secure the services of Freddy Garcia for the lift we are going to need at the end of the season or whenever Freddy Garcia is ready to pitch. And the time to secure his services is now when the sux are busy earning some extra Yens in Japan. Let’s hurry up and then we could comfty wait. With all the pitching talent the Yankees have in the minors it’s easy to get comfortable and say “we’re covered” but as everybody knows: You can never have enough good pitching.

The longer we wait the more troublesome this tricky pitching nuance will become. No time to stop and smell the roses Cash, not just yet. And after all the love we've spread around during the offseason what’s a few more bucks well spent?

One thing we expect to see this year is Girardi using all players available to him as opposed to Torre’s dirty dozen system.

If you are going to play just a sector of your roster what good is having a solid overall roster? We might as well be a small market team trying to make ends meet.

And the time to start intensifying the FOCUS and paying attention to details and EXECUTING (remember that fly ball lost by Duncan? Now it’s sort of funny but comes the Season that won’t be no more, EYES ON THE BALL AT ALL TIMES) is about now and that’s the good news because if we are trying to take care of business this year that intensity and focus and hunger should only increase as the season progresses even if we are just ahead or way ahead of the rest. EVERY GAME COUNTS during the whole season. You hear people say: well it’s just April, tell it to the Mets when two more meaningless wins would have made a world of difference last year.

Games that need to be won should be won matter-of-factly: that's the sign of great teams.

The latest flavor in CF for the foreseeable future seems to be this kid Gardner. What jumps at you besides his speed is the fact that he seems to be a very hungry player and that tells me something; one of those intangibles that make more than break a player.

I’m not crazy about guys stealing bases or making opposing pitchers nervous; that works until they face a pitcher who consistently strikes batters or picks them cleanly off first base and that usually happens on crucial games more often than not. Look at Reyes such a talent yet that still hasn’t translated to a great showing in the post season for the Mets. Oh yeah because the post season is a crapshoot says the mutts section . . . . Exactly.

So don’t tell me this guy Gardner is another Juan Pierre, a CF who happens to be a slapper?    Get real.

He likes to bunt his way on?  This is not college division I baseball.

He’s batting .379     Yeah in ST!

He’s got great discipline at the plate and is learning how to pepper the whole field with singles and doubles; he covers a lot of ground chasing fly balls in CF and owns a .455 OBP.

Why didn’t you say so? What’s not to like?  Brett Gardner hmm?

I guess we could use a CF without HR power. I guess if the wunderkinder pan out Gardner might be the answer because we won’t need too many HR’s anyway but we could use the “D” out there.  

And what’s the latest on Freddy Garcia? Are we waiting for the sux to wake up and hike up the price? Why doesn’t that surprise me?  I guess it’s going to be wait and then stumble and miss i/o Hurry up and then wait . . . . .

According to Sports Illustrated (in connection with those exciting BKB NCAA games), we just witnessed one of the most exciting opening weekends in recent NCAA tournament history.

March Madness just went mental.

On Beckett’s outing in the minors on Sunday his back felt just perfect (that great Foston medicine at work as usual) as time progresses Beckett thinks he’ll get better (more perfect that is). I guess it all depends on how accurately you define perfect.

Good article in the Post by Kevin Kernan on the Yankees needing to protect Andy from himself.

I agree, we need Andy to help the team long term; it doesn’t make any sense to rush him and get him to start the season short of effective. Now it’s the time to take advantage of the pitching surplus we apparently have and not disrupt the rotation, unless Girardi knows something we don’t which is always a possibility.

Pettitte’s back pain is taking a life of its own.

Back spasms require just rest and unless a person does something stupid (like doing weights) the pain will go away just as quickly as it started. Worrying doesn’t help because your back follows your mind; if you relax so does your back. Strengthening your stomach muscles is something you do when you’re back in shape not when your back is acting up. Driving doesn’t help either.

It’s a fact that back pain takes some time to go away (for a long time that is) but it usually takes days not weeks and it’s not something that will threaten the Yankees glorious 2008 season. So just relax and relax some more. You’ll be okay.

Jason’s numbers at the plate have always been better when he’s on the field than when he DHs; so coming to ST in good shape and without any foot problems is an added and unexpected bonus for the Yankees. If Jason’s contributions are greater than in recent years and with the Yankees fielding the same team as last year things will look very good from the start as most loyal fans were predicting during the off season remember? Fast from the starting gate and out of sight by the all star break. It’s beginning to look even more doable than before ST and with the team ready to get up and run we can only feel optimistic about the future.

Enthusiasm, faith in your teammates and the collective will to succeed are contagious.

Can’t wait to see what this team can do this year, although in my heart of hearts I already know the answer.

Listen to this GUSANO: “you coveted my wife.”

I f you are still wondering why she left you all you have to do is take a quick glance at your ba//s or should I say ba//s because that’s what your former wife saw: nothing but mustard seeds. The steroids ate your ba//s and your manhood stupid. Just think about this for a second: while you have all these debts piling up and no decent job Alex is pocketing at least 25 Mil. and will continue to do so for another ten years. That’s your payback for being such a loser.

Not only that but you continue to write about steroids and take credit for its wide spread use and sooner than later you’ll be hit with a lawsuit by one of those parents who lost a son or a daughter after doing those frigging steroids and then you’ll know what trouble is besides what the Feds might have in store for you for signing phony affidavit after phony affidavit.

Alex needs to take care of this nuisance soon and effectively.

If you get upset this scumbag wins, if you start giving deposition after deposition to the media the scumbag wins. If you start working harder thereby losing your rhythm the scumbag wins. Best thing is to take care of the garbage and go back to your business of doing what you normally do at this time of the year no more no less because if you don’t then the team suffers and Foston wins. That freelance writer “finding” that copy of this scumbag’s latest delivery was no accident.

The season hasn’t even started and the pitiful sux are already up to their dirty tricks they’re a bunch of hom.os and we’ll take care of them in the weeks and months ahead. You can bet on it. It’s a united front now. We’re taking no prisoners; the sux are going down.

Other than the showboating Ramirez they had nothing in Japan and they’re not going to get better any time soon.

I will say one last thing about this GUSANO Canseco (how could this balsero fall through the cracks?) I will buy your next two deliveries: INDICTED” and “CONVICTED”

According to Hank (stating the obvious): “There is such thing as a natural, and Alex is a natural. It's that simple.”

CASE CLOSED.

You broke my heart when you sent Scott Paterson down but . . . it is what it is. The team comes first. Scott should never give up and he should continue to work harder and get better.

Here is wishing Kyle will trust his stuff TRULY every time he goes up there. He’s the key to the Yankees been unstoppable and gives the Yankees a whole new bunch of looks and options. When Kyle is on we’re really a Juggernaut. Still, we will succeed but it’s nice to be unstoppable.

The cuts have been made and it’s time to get set for the drive to earn the right to be called World Series Champions for the 27th time.

Girardi at the helm seems the right person to lead our great TEAM to a new glorious era and we wish Girardi and the team the very best.

There’ll be great days ahead as well as sorry ones (far too many great days we feel) but the key will be to focus and never waiver in the will to succeed, to play to win, to win as a team; when that happens everyone is a star. You’ll win as a team and you’ll lose a few times as one, that’s a given.

Baseball is back and so are OUR YANKEES  . . . .  WE GOT YOUR BACK.

Tabloids keep talking about Wang being on a slump since October but they subtlety leave out the reasons why it seemed that way. It was a bad move by Joe Torre, the intent was good: he was trying to save the Yankees from an early exit and decided to bring Wang on a short rest assuming the short rest would have forced Wang sinker to sink even more (something it didn’t do during the postseason). The only problem was Wang being a young hurler didn’t quite get the message and he let the pressure get to him and panicked once he started giving up runs sort of like Joba overlooking lake Erie;  you know, young players learning under fire.

The problem was Torre never tried that before and coming up with such a novel approach right there and then when the Yankees were practically stiff scared of Sabathia and Co. (although Sabathia was not the overpowering Sabathia of the regular season as the sux proved when they had him throw BP for them the rest of the way) it was not going to work and it didn’t and if you don’t believe me ask Guidry.  Torre was trying to save his job and I don’t hold it against him but I do fault him for waiting until the post season for that. I think that strategy would have worked had Torre implemented those moves earlier (near the end of the season or earlier instead of when he did). So give that theory about Wang being on a slump a rest it doesn’t hold any water.