Topic: Yankees Baseball

When the talent is there (that’s why we went out and got the best for the money) all you have to do is let your talent take over and bring your “A” game. IT IS THAT SIMPLE. Just FOCUS and EXECUTE.

Relax and enjoy the game.

I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine because he thought I’ve never liked Torre. I’ve started picking on Torre since that stupid book came out because I knew it was not going to be an isolated incident you may call it "knowing my sux" if you will.

Two things about Torre I never liked: He played favorites and he didn’t protect his batters.

Overall Torre did a fine job from the day he took over until the 2005 season I would say; but later it became obvious we needed a new direction that was all.

I feel he’s enjoying his tenure in LA, he gets to go the beach all year around and when he gets tired he moves to Maui for emphasis on relaxation (I bet you he doesn’t drink that much tea anymore -an italian drinking tea instead of Espresso?- Mama Mia!)  the tabloids are less demanding and their fans get up to speed in a hurry when they get something good going like MANNYWOOD for instance (that scene at the beginning of “Pretty Woman” when the guy is yelling “Welcome to Hollywood” comes to mind).

 They’d probably call it East MANNYWOOD now (forget it you had to be there), they love to come to Dodgers stadium crawling on those 110, 10 and number 5 freeways Oh and that ultra short Glendale freeway (Yeah I know they all end up on the Alvarado (street) and the number 5 freeway), getting there is worth the effort and when you have a good team to cheer on   . . . . . . .   well you know what I mean (frigging Torre’s smiling he knows what I’m talking about).

And how in the hell did they manage to move those frigging San Gabriel Mountains and placed them in the background in the first place?

Says the Zen master: “beats me.”

Good game for Andy last night who knew what to do in order to prevail and really “pitched” this time. Andy the warrior of 4 WS titles (together with other four or five starters and relievers including Mo) showed his mettle again, nothing but an honest effort, guts and hard work.

The team also stepped up and took care of the opposition via strings of hits some of them extra bases. When you trust your teammate behind you (like Arod does and Tex was doing when Arod was out) the hits come in bunches and more often than not they also happen to come in a timely manner and games are won  . . . . . . . .    similar to what the sux, Blue Jays and the Dodgers are doing this year and just like the Rays did last year     . . . . . .   the 1 to 9 success story. That’s what an effective at bat does it extends the inning and scores runs; you add to that the effect of the occasional HR and you become a winning team. It all starts with good (effective) pitching of course.

Talking about effective pitching what happened to Aceves this year? You left the guy out of the main roster because he didn’t show his mettle during ST? What kind of silly crap is that?

Whatever happened to his gutsy (although his experience came through and he made it look easy) performance last year?  Those are the things we fans get angry about; managers make idiotic decisions based on the media suggestions. Of all those positions players or pitchers the media felt they would become blockbusters they’ve been right only about Joba so far.

I was so convinced about Aceves effectiveness that I even suggested the Yankees obtain Perez (when nobody knew if Andy was coming or whether we could get both C.C. and A.J.) I was wrong about Perez but he and Aceves being Mexican (and now Ramiro Pena) who knows the effect that might have had on Perez since nobody seems to dispute Ollie’s talent.

Aceves can do anything for you (Girardi claims he knows that now) he might be our future Ramiro Mendoza or better   . . . . . . .  he might not be flashy but he knows how to pitch and he will win far more games than he’d lose for you.

When you are focused you don’t let an occasional error fog your concentration and that’s how Andy was able to erase Pena’s mistake all in a team’s day work. Pena’s mantra should be “eyes on the ball at all times.”

“My bad” is not always enough; you need to let the ball come to you once that’s accomplished you can go and make your throw we don’t need flashy players we need effective players at a moment’s notice, if you can’t get to the ball in time don’t compound the error with a bad throw. Defense 101.

Girardi kept Jeter out of the lineup because an oblique muscle injury that is not something you treat lightly not when you’re trying to make contact with a 90 plus fast ball and opposing managers know about it.

For the good of the team you have to rest it until the possibility of more serious damage is no longer there. The oblique muscles? They only connect the ribs with the major back muscles so a “not so serious oblique pull” is a misnomer. No time to be a hero there still is plenty of time for that.

A very good game by C.C. and some timely hits won another series for our team; it feels good because these were two AL East Division teams. A few innings of effective baseball surely helps forget the loss at the hands of Halladay a few days earlier    . . . . .    but that’s baseball we know that.

Matsui woke up as he usually does as the professional hitter he is and he helped his team again just like Jeter did. Damon is staying locked and that’s very encouraging and expected since he’s one of the team leaders.

In general pitching continues to improve so is hitting but the big surprise is Cervelli.  Piazza had told us after the WBC that Cervelli was going to be a fine catcher and that he was already a Major League caliber catcher.

I thought his chances of succeeding were slim I stand corrected (so far) I’m always ready to admit I was wrong. I’m not sure that’s the case yet I’m  not as convinced like some tabloids sportswriters are but I’ll say he’s proven himself so far although I’m not so crazy about him rushing to first base (isn’t that the way our two senior catchers hurt themselves?) every time he makes contact    . . . . . . .    not while Molina and Posada are still out.

We know Cervelli is very courageous (we remember his injury last year during ST when he got hurt by that Ray) and he comes from one of the hotbeds of great baseball players the land that gave us Bobby Abreu.

The first time Cervelli caught Hughes this season it was not a very positive experience but I believe Hughes was unsure as what they both could do at this level (surely in triple AAA their chances of being successful as a battery were great) and it showed but now it’s different Hughes having seen that Cervelli hasn’t missed a beat catching the studs of the team Hughes might now trust his own talent and ability to get men out.

The Twins got that monster named Morneau    . . . . . . .    Us?  We GOT MILK.

Melky to be exact a fearsome player that can stand toe to toe with the best when he’s locked.

Damon got himself thrown out of the game and before we could yell “that was stupid Damon” we saw the brilliancy of it.  Off course he did it so Garner could have his first inside the Palace home run   . . . . .   brilliant just brilliant but that’s not all.

The team walked like if they were out on a hiking trip and although the timely hits didn’t get them home they never forgot this game is played for at least nine innings and that thinking paid off.

The somewhat improved Hughes kept his team in the game   . . . .    Yes he did because this team is capable of scoring at least 4 runs per game with the occasional loss for words against a pitcher like Halladay (although sooner or later we’ll have to decipher the Toronto sphinx too)    . . . .  but     . . . . . . . .   what now with Wang coming back?  the media cries.

We think we’d rather have more pitchers for the five spots in the rotation that less      . . . . . . . .    another golden rule. The first golden rule was faithfully honored by Gardner THREE TIMES and then some.