Yanksfan Soxfan

The Thong's The Thing

Why not.

Statements of Fact, Followed by a Conclusion

• The Tampa Bay Rays will not finish the season in first place.
• The Toronto Blue Jays will not finish the season in first place.
• The Baltimore Orioles will not finish the season in first place.

Ergo, the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees must finish the season in first place.

By Any Means Necessary

From the Post:

"There's no question we need to turn it around and we have the talent to turn it around. We've got the team in place, and now they just have to go out and do it. "This is going to get turned around," Steinbrenner said. "If it's not turned around this year, then it will be turned around next year, by force if we have too." (Emphasis is mine)

Does this mean that Hank is going to drive a tank into Kei Igawa's locker? Or punch Robinson Cano until he gets a hit?

Actually, what's more interesting is the very un-Steinbrenneresque mention of next year. Would papa have ever talked about next year when going off on the team? Maybe Hank isn't exactly like his win-now dad?

What's Bad for the Goose

Rich Gossage says what many outside Yankeeland can't without being pilloried: Joba needs to chill.

Cure For What Ails You

I heard it helps with getting the runs.

Stats Bite

There are 598 players on Baseball Prospectus' VORP table for position players. At 323 you run into the zero-point-zero-kind-of-guy like Justin Ruggiano, Tony Clark, Mike Morse, and Eric Bruntlett. Last night's Yankee line-up featured: #410. Jason Giambi (-0.5), #502. Wilson Betemit (-1.7). #529. Jose Molina (-2.2), #574. Morgan Ensberg (-4.2), #597. Robinson Cano (-10.2). Curiously enough, each got hits while the priorly resurgent Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera couldn't reach base and left eight men. #463, Shelly Duncan (-1.1), got the night off. It's only May seventh, but come June seventh it will be interesting (or painful and disconcerting) to look at this chart again, wondering if Cashman has the agent's cell phone number for guys like Ruggiano, Clark, Morse, and Bruntlett.

Hey Jealousy

Seeing green when looking at Phil Allard.

The Franchise Goes Down

Ian Kennedy got touched up once again last night in the Bronx, failing to go even five innings. Phil Hughes has a bigger problem, and it may go some way toward explaining his poor performance: a stress fracture in a rib. He will be out for at least a month while it heals, perhaps more, and then he's going to have to rehab his way back to the bigs. Like last year, we might not see him again until after the All-Star break. Needless to say, it's a devastating loss, not only for the club, but for those of us who were so excited to watch his development. (Not that it was going so well.) The Yanks have some replacement parts in the minors that, frankly, can probably reproduce the performances the team has gotten from both Kennedy and Hughes to this point. (Darrell Rasner has been lights-out at Triple-A, for instance), but that's, sadly, not a particularly high bar; the Yanks, after all, are 2-games under .500.

Hey, how's that Santana guy doing?

Strained Oblique Turns Into Broken Rib

Just got in from work. I've been sneezing all day. Working with second-graders while you're in the middle of a full-blown allergy meltdown is a little like a hang over. Anyway, get home and turn on YES and see Mike and the Angry Puppy talking to Joe Girardi. Here's the thing. Joe Girardi is saying something about Phil Hughes being out until July with a stress fracture of the rib.

Glorious day, what else do you have in store?

One thing of note about our hero Hughes: He sure seems injury-prone.

What's My Line?

Throughout my history with journalists and their sources, I've found that the quickest way to make sure you get no slack from the media is to start playing games with the truth.

So I wonder if Joe Girardi took the best approach to the Phil Hughes question yesterday, as reported by Peter Abraham:

UPDATE, 7:30 p.m.: Joe Girardi got testy again today when asked about the status of Phil Hughes. How could he not have anticipated that question? Here’s what he said:

“These are internal discussions that are meant to stay internal. Hughes is in the rotation right now.” When reporters sought more information, it only got worse.

Right now? What does that mean? Either Hughes is pitching Sunday or he is not. It’s unfair to the player to leave him in limbo like that. And please don’t say maybe they don’t yet. They know. Whoever is pitching Sunday will throw a bullpen tomorrow. ...

UPDATE, 9:01 p.m.: The Yankees just announced that Phil Hughes has a strained right oblique and has been placed on the 15-day disabled list. So much for “he’s in the rotation right now.” Why the Yankees work like that, I have no idea. But this allows Hughes to chill out and get some work in without being demoted.

At any rate, they’ll need a starter for Sunday. Likely Darrell Rasner.

UPDATE, 9:16 p.m.: For the record, Girardi said Hughes was healthy when asked before the game. I guess Hughes got hurt while sitting on the bench.

UPDATE, 10:24 p.m.: Girardi now says that Hughes told them he was hurt yesterday. But this afternoon, when asked, he said Hughes was healthy.

Few things rankle me more than unwarranted hostility toward the media. Girardi's no fool; he should be able to anticipate what questions he'll be asked. If Girardi really didn't want to reveal Hughes' "injury" yet, a simple "no comment" would suffice with whatever explanation he'd prefer ("I don't want to discuss the health of my players or any potential roster moves until we've made a final decision" works well). Any professional journalist (and I'll grant not all members of the crew covering the Yankees fit that label) would respect that answer even if he or she didn't like it.

Instead it appears he's choosing a prickly, antagonistic road that doesn't seem to hew too closely with the truth. It's not easy managing a losing team in New York to begin with, but I can't imagine this apparent tack will do him any favors if the Yankees continue to struggle this season.