4/22/09

This was undoubtedly, one of the best games I have ever attended. The combination of being at/enjoying the beautiful new Yankee Stadium and the fantastic game that took place on the field just made the whole day one to remember.

THE GAME- CC Sabathia didn't pitch very well yesterday. To be honest, I was underwhelmed. He went 6.2 and gave up 7 runs (6 ER). His BB:K rate was off again yesterday as well. He only had 2 Ks and walked 4. Sabathia is, traditionally, a slow starter, so I fully expect that he will find the command of his fastball and pick it up again. In my opinion, the bullpen won the game for us. They went 7.1 innings without giving up a run. Although Melky (2 HR- Walk Off) attracts the most attention because of his game winner, Jose Veras was the MVP for the game, as he went 3.1 innings, striking out 4 and only allowing 1 baserunner (walk). He really pitched beautifully and kept them at 7 runs long enough for our offense to win it. The offense as a whole played very well. Everybody in the starting line up had at least 1 hit, which is always a good thing for an offense. 

Melky played a great game yesterday. He went 2 for 6, with 2 HR. His game winner made the small crowd go nuts. I ran into the Delta Suite to look around quickly and heard John Sterling scream "MELKY CABRERA" and I bolted outside, just in time to see him rounding 3rd and jumping into the mob. The place was so enthusiastic. I was giving random high fives all over the place. Melky did play very well, but this obviously does not give him the CF job. As PeteAbe said, "baseball is a movie, not a series of snapshots". If he wants the job, he has to play consistently at this level, and he has not shown he can do that. That is not to take away from his great start. He is hitting .304/.385/.826 so far, but he needs to keep up his hot hitting. But regardless of whether he is starting or not, Melky is one of my favorite players and seeing him have this huge game made me very very happy.

THE STADIUM- First, I'm an idiot and forgot my camera. So I don't have any pictures, except the ones of my brothers with Joba which I took with my cell phone. Pictures or not, the stadium is absolutely gorgeous. Walking in, you are just overwhelmed by the grandeur of the place. It is HUGE. The Great Hall, is probably 5 times bigger than any of the concourses at the old Yankee Stadium, and it is spectacular. The pictures that hang on the wall are pretty cool, and they really let you know that you are in YANKEE stadium. Everything in the ballpark looks so crisp and new, which is maybe because it is all brand new, but that just added to the amazement that I felt. 

 My favorite part of the stadium was the open concourses. Everything is much wider and all outside, which allows you to watch the game from anywhere in the ballpark, which is cool. You won't miss anything if you run to get food. This reminded me a lot of Coors Field in Denver. 

Security is tight at the New Yankee Stadium. The ushers aren't supposed to let you go into any section, even the bleachers, if you aren't ticketed for that area. My family and I were lucky as we got to go to every part of the ballpark. We checked out the bleachers, the field level, the mezzanine, the luxury suites, and both levels of the upper deck. Let's just say politeness goes a long way with the ushers. I really liked watching the game from the mezzanine section. you were still very close to the field, but the fact that you were raised a little bit gave you a better view of the game.

I have been sitting primarily in the Upper Deck for the last 4 seasons. I actually enjoy sitting the upper deck, because you get a full view of the field. At the old Yankee Stadium, every seat in the upper deck was a good seat, and to be honest, I was nervous that the pulled back upper deck would diminish the great views that I got at the old Yankee Stadium. Although it is further away from the field, the upper deck actually gives you a better view of the whole field, because the corners weren't cut off. At the old Yankee Stadium, if you sat on the first or third base lines, you would not be able to see the left or right field corner. In short, the views from the upper deck are still great, and the fact that the seats only cost 17 bucks make sitting there all the more attractive.

I did not get a chance to go to Monument Park or the new Yankee Museum, which I was bummed about. Next time I go, I would love to see both of these things, because they are supposedly really interesting. 

The Jumbo-Tron is really Jumbo. I was so impressed with it.

People have been saying the new ballpark is very quiet. I didn't really get that feeling. At least where I was sitting, the people were really getting into the game. There were very few people left in the 14th, but those who remained made some serious noise for Melky.

Yes the legends seats were relatively empty. I think the Yankee really need to find a way to fill these seats, but as long as they are winning games, it doesn't really matter. I had a friend sit down in the legends seats and supposedly there is a great lounge for all ticketed people. It sounds pretty cool.

I don't really know what more to say about the new stadium. It was absolutely beautiful, amazing, and spectacular and I can not wait to go back again. If you get the chance, don't walk, run to the new stadium in the Bronx.

Joba Chamberlain

Well, I picked a good game to be my first at the new Yankee Stadium. I took my little brothers and sister to the game today, and boy was it a treat. The stadium is beautiful and the game was just  epic. Melky walking off in the 14th was unbelievably thrilling. Tomorrow morning I'm going to do a bit of a write up on my experience at the stadium and the game in particular. But now, I have a story to tell you. And it's all about the 6pound8ouncebaby himself. For the record, the pictures are of my brothers, and they are both very important to the story.

Ok, so we arrived at the stadium at 11 O'Clock. We were all so excited to be there, and we initially just wandering around the Great Hall. Scoping it out and what not. Some guy who worked at the stadium quickly told us that batting practice was going on and that we should get out to the field. We hustled down to the field and of course were denied entry onto the field level. My frustration with security was definitely rising at this point, so we left and went up to the mezzanine level. After a little begging, the mezzanine security guard let us down to the edge of the section about the RF field seats. We noticed Joba shagging flies for BP. We quickly started to call for him to throw us balls. I ended up catching 2 balls on this "upper" level. 1 from Joba, that I kept, and one from a mystery Yankee (I forgot my glasses) which I gave to my brother. After BP, Joba ran to the RF foul line and started to sign autographs. We decided that we would try everything we could to get down to the field level. We ran down and begged the security guard to let us down, and he was very nice about it and allowed us to go. We moved down to the end of the line and my little brother (top picture), sat up on the wall and passed all of our stuff to Joba to sign. We ended up getting 2 balls, 2 hats, and 1 ticket signed in total. My little brother then asks Joba for a fist pump, and screams "JOBA CHAMBERLAIN TALKED TO ME". Joba loved this and started to take an interest into him. Sean (little brother #1) asked for a picture, and started to take a picture with his phone. I used my phone to help him out, but he wasn't paying attention to the fact that I was trying to take the picture. Joba tried to tell him, but he was too excited at the fact that he was sitting next to the 6pounder. Joba ended up swatting him on the head to get his attention. Sean absolutely loved it. Finn (brother #2) also wanted a picture, and Joba picked him up to get him up on the wall, which Finn just loved. Finn went on to ask Joba for a handshake, that lasted for about 20 seconds. Joba even said "I'm not letting go dude". Finn complemented him after on the "firmness of his handshake" and Joba cracked up. My little sister also played a role. She was making jokes to Joba and he was just loving it. 

The best part about all of this was how thrilled he made my little siblings and I. We could not stop talking about it for the rest of the 7 HOURS we spent at the stadium. It's great to see that these people can have such a great impact on fans. 

It was so funny to have my family give Joba a good laugh. We were "hanging out" with him for a solid 20 minutes. He seems like a really nice guy and got a huge kick out of my little siblings. He is totally worthy of having this blog named after him.

I'll post tomorrow about my experiences today. It was so fantastic. 

Minor Leagues

I just wanted to fill you all in on how the big prospects are doing down in the minors. Here are their stats so far...

Austin Jackson- Austin is hitting .448/.528/.517. He is off to a spectacular start down in AAA. Let's hope he continues his hot hitting. I wouldn't be surprised to see him later on...

Shelley Duncan- You can't really call him "big prospect", but he's off to a hot start as well. Shelley is hitting .381/.458/.714 with 4 HR in 10 games.

Phil Hughes- Phil is off to a fine start down in Scranton. He is 2-0 wiith a 2.31 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. He should be the first person called up in the event of an injury.

Ian Kennedy- IPK is off to a great start. He's thrown 18 innings and has a 2.00 ERA and an outstanding .89 WHIP. HE WILL BE GOOD.

Mark Melancon- Another guy off to a great start. Hes thrown 9 IP and hasn't given up a run yet.

Francisco Cervilli- Not off to such a hot start down in AA. He is hitting .129/.182/.226. I'm sure it will get better for Frankie...

Zach McAllister- He's thrown 10.1 innings so far. His WHIP is 1.26 and his ERA sits at 2.61. Pretty respectable for the young guy.

Austin Romine- .222/.237/.306. Expect him to heat up as well.

Dellin Betances- 11.1 IP so far. He has a 1.24 WHIP and a 2.38 ERA.

Jeremy Bleich- Through 2 starts and 10.2 innings, Bleich has a 1.41 WHIP and a 2.53 ERA. 

Jesus Montero- .395/.452/.658. Good start for Montero.

Andrew Brackman- He's had a rough 3 starts. Brackman has a 5.06 ERA through 16 innings. On the upside, he has 17 Ks and a low 1.19 WHIP.

There you go. 

Xavier Nady

So, maybe he won't be out for the whole season! According to Jon Heyman, Nady has been diagnosed with a partial ligament tear and will not require surgery. Via PeteAbe, the Yankees are hoping Nady will be back in 5-7 weeks. Nady has a slightly more optimistic belief, saying that he will be back in 4-6 weeks. The only question now is whether he will return as an outfielder or in a DH role. Either way, having him back in the lineup will greatly improve our depth. I learned from MLBTR that it was rumored that the Yankees were planning on looking outside the organization for more depth, specifically at Austin Kearns or Jason Repko. This will not longer be necessary. Having Nady back makes or bench much stronger, whether its him sitting on the pine or the great Nick Swisher. 

Wednesday

I am lucky enough to be going to the Yankee game on Wednesday. I must say, this rainout is kind of bumming me out, because it means that I will not be seeing the 6pound8ouncer himself. I guess the 300 pound CC Sabathia will be alright. Anyway, I'm so excited for the game. I'm hoping to get there 2 or 3 hours early so I can really look around and get a good feel for the park. I'm bringing my camera, so I'll be sure to upload some pictures onto the site. As many other websites have done, I'll do a bit of a review of the new place, just to give you all some perspective. I'm also very excited to welcome Jason Giambi back to NY. I was a huge fan of the mustache last year. And the whole gold thong thing was pretty hilarious. He was a great guy and will get a nice ovation, at least from me. Anyway, Let's Go Yankees.

Chien Ming Wang

Chien Ming Wang, our most reliable stater over the last 3 seasons, has had some issues to start the season. The most notable that come to mind are the 23 runs, 23 hits, and 6 walks he has given up in a mere 6 innings. In short, it's bad. Real bad. To be honest, this is probably the worst 3 consecutive starts of any pitcher I've ever seen, except (maybe) Mike Mussina in 2007. According to Wang (quoted in The Daily News), he "felt fine" during his last start, a 8 ER, 1.1 inning outing. His ERA as of right now is 34.50. His ERA alone brings the team ERA from 3.38 to 6.39  According to ESPN's Matthew Berry, he would need 46 consecutive shutout innings to get his ERA under 4. Berry also urged fantasy owners to "drop Wang as quickly as they could". On the fantasy front, the only somewhat positive advice I read about Wang was from Eric Karabell of ESPN, who told fantasy managers to "put him on the bench. He belongs there, not on the free agent wire". Other people in the media are "sure that Wang is injured", but Joe Girardi is insisting he isn't. Wang believes that he "might be leaning to the left during his deliver", which could very well throw off his mechanics. RAB posted a bunch of interesting graphs examining the deliver points and pitch elevation of Wang's pitches thus far. I mostly looked at the pitch elevation one, but the others are not hard to find. According to the graphs, close to 70% of Wang's pitches has been middle to high, which for a sinker baller, is a death sentence. Wang will have his next start skipped, which will give him 10 days to work on his mechanics and hopefully get this all sorted out. I think the great Nick Swisher had the best attitude regarding this whole situation. According to PeteAbe, just as he was leaving the clubhouse "good ‘ol Nick Swisher walked through the clubhouse and tore off the covers of all the Daily News sitting on a table. They read “22-4!” on the front and “You Stink” over a picture of Chien-Ming Wang on the back. “New day,” Swisher shouted. “It’s a new day, brotha.” 

Personally, I think Wang will figure it all out. He has shown over the last few years that he is a very very good pitcher, and probably a front of the line starter. I think that the media and fans are blowing it way out of proportion. Is he having a horrible start to the season? Absolutely, but that in no way means he can't and won't bounce back. I have all of the faith in the world that he will return to form rather quickly.

Q & A with Peter Abraham

Peter Abraham of the Journal News was nice enough to answer a few questions for us....


Kevin Seefried: After Xavier Nady's injury, many writers and fans started claiming that the Yankees need to look outside the organization for some depth on the bench. The Yankees have Melky as a 4th outfielder, and hopefully by June, Matsui might be able to play a game in the outfield once in a while. We have Austin Jackson less than a year away, and Todd Linden,Shelley Duncan, and John Rodriguez as options at triple A. Should the Yanks look outside the organization even though we have all these internal options? It is a bench spot after all, we're not trying to find a new starting outfielder.


Peter Abraham: The Yankees very much need a bat and probably from outside the organization. Melky is a AAAA player. Matsui's knees are a mess now. He'll never be able to play the OF. It's certain half the time whether he can DH. Austin Jackson needs a full year in AAA. Todd Linden, Shelley Duncan and John Rodriguez are AAAA players, too. The Yankees had a terrific bench when they had either Swisher or Nady in reserve. Now their bench is Melky, Molina and Pena. That's not a remotely good enough bench.

KS: New Yankee Stadium is already gaining a reputation of being a hitter's paradise. I was under the impression that the dimensions are generally the same as at the old stadium; why the burst in homeruns?

PA: I'm hardly an expert on these sorts of things. But the open concourses seem to have created a wind tunnel toward the opening in right field. The fence also isn't as high as it used to be and the dimensions appear to be slightly shorter than they were across the street. There is also evidence across the game that home runs are up. I wouldn't put it past MLB to juice the balls to try and help their attendance issues.

KS: Chien Ming Wang is...well let's say he's not playing to his full potential. If we see another mediocre start or two from him what will the Yanks do? Can Wang be sent to the minors? Would Phil Hughes make a spot start?

PA: You can't just give up on him. Look at Mussina in 2007 and how he turned it around. There's a day off on Thursday, so I think the immediate answer is to skip him and give him some time to work out his issues.

KS: The Yankees brought up Anthony Claggett, who I would assume is supposed to be used for multiple inning relief outings. Is he the best candidate for that job? Or should it be given to one of Jason Johnson, Kei Igawa, Brett Tomko, or Alfredo Aceves?

PA: Claggett is already gone. I think they need Aceves as a long reliever.

KS: What is your favorite Nick Swisher moment? Like us, you've expressed your fandom of Swisher frequently. Can you give us a brief lowdown on what makes him such a lovable character?

PA: There is no one particular moment with Swish. He's just a very energetic guy who treats everybody the same way and tries to reach out to everybody, from the clubbies on up to the stars. In spring training one day, I asked him for an interview and he ended up asking me more questions about New York, the media, etc. He's just a good guy.

KS: Our bullpen hasn't been spectacular thus far this year, though it is early. Who do you see being the most effective pitchers in the 'pen this year, and when are we going to get to see everyone's favorite phenom Mark Melancon?

PA: Who do I see being the most effective pitcher in the bullpen this year? Take a guess. That would be Mariano. As for Melancon, I think he'll be here by June 1.

Thanks for your time Pete. Everyone be sure to check out Pete's blog here.

Links

Here's a few links from around the web...

Nationals' Outfielder Elijah Dukes was benched one game, and fine $500 for showing up to practice 5 minutes late. Seems a tad excessive, but not terribly unreasonable. But catch this, he was doing Nationals affiliated charity work with a little league program.

Jayson Stark has a great Useless info article up.

Jeff Passan has an article up about "indulgence" at New Yankee Stadium. As does Tim Marchman.

Buster Olney has two articles up at ESPN.com about the crazy home run numbers at New Yankee Stadium. Ken Rosenthal gives his take on "Coors Field East."

Tom Verducci has a rather comical poem about Old Yankee Stadium.

Kevin Kernan has overreacted already, and pressed the panic button on the Yankee season.

Jeff Moore lists main concerns for contenders.

Here's the breakdown on Jorge Posada's "instant-replay approved" home run.

The Return of The Devil: Pavano vs. Burnett

Carl Pavano returned, in an Indians' uniform, and stunningly he pitched 6 innings of 1 run ball, striking out 4, walking one, and allowing 4 hits. He also hit Johnny Damon with a pitch. The Yanks ended on top with the win though, behind AJ Burnett's 6.1 innings of 3 run ball. We took the lead on a 7th inning pinch-hit Jorge Posada two run homerun, which was reviewed, but wasn't overturned. In the eighth Cody Ransom hit a bases clearing double that got lost in the sun to put us up 7-3. Jona Albadejo, Brian Bruney, and Mariano came in to finish off the game.

Wang's Home Debut

Mark Teixeira hit a two run shot to right in the first, his 3rd on the season. Our boy Chien-Ming Wang is off to another bad start. Through 1.1 innings he's already allowed 4 runs, three of them due to a Shin-Shoo Choo home run. He's allowed 6 hits so far. He needs to get his game straight or we'll have some trouble. Stay tuned for more updates.

Update: He's now let in 7 runs. We're still only one out through the top of the second.
Update: Anthony Claggett was brought in to relieve Wang. Apparently the Yankees sent Juan Miranda back down to triple A (after he was called to the bigs yesterday) to bring Claggett up.
Update: Claggett gives up back to back doubles to Hafner and Peralta. Then walked Choo. This isn't going well....
Update: We're now down 14-2, thanks to an Asdrubal Cabrera grand slam and a Grady Sizemore home run. This is one of those days I wish that we'd never let Dan Giese go. He pitched 2.2 innings for Oakland, letting in 2 earned runs, but that's a helluva lot better than Claggett.
Update: We finally got out of that half inning...after 14 runs...a bummer of an inning. The only bright news is that Claggett's two outs were both strikeouts. Just trying to find some type of silver lining. Don't be surprised if we see Swish take the mound again at some point today. I personally say let's send Jose Molina out there. He's a catcher, he's got a good arm. Why not? Maybe Melky could throw? Who knows...
Update: Interesting. Yankees.com says Juan Miranda was sent to triple A, but Gameday says he's on the bench...
Update: Let's just never talk about this game again.....