NYHC GIANT
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Posts posted by NYHC GIANT
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PAYBACKS' A BITCH MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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AVG HR RBI RUNS SB =Melky
.280 7 50 75 12
AVG HR RBI RUNS SB =Matsui*
.302 8 29 32 1
*Missed a very good portion of the season w/injury
Like'em both, but I'm stickin' w/Matsui....
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but it is not nearly as overdone the way YES shoves the Yankees down your throat.
...and I could'nt be happier...
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Does this guy know he's suppose to be a hockey player..not a fuckin' samurai!!!
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...Oh well. Am I crazy for watching the spring training games?? I find it funny, when someone comes up to me if they see me watching a spring game, and inform me that it doesn't mean anything. Like they're bestowing upon me some unknown baseball knowledge I've never heard before. Fuckin' idiots!!!!!
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TAMPA, Fla. -- Here in the non-Daisuke Matsuzaka portion of Florida's Gulf Coast, you are reminded that the New York Yankees also have some starting pitchers of significant stature.
The first three Yankees pitchers of the Grapefruit League schedule have faced 19 batters and recorded 18 outs, leaving little room for either improvement or second-guessing.
Whatever questions there are regarding the Yankees' pitching, one through three in the rotation, in whatever order you want -- Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina -- are not among them.
Wang, a 19-game winner last season, and Pettitte, whose work requires no introduction in these precincts, were both perfect in their two innings of work.
Mussina, working against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday, actually gave up two hits, one of them a home run to Brad Eldred. The other one was a ground ball by Andrew McCutchen off the glove of shortstop Derek Jeter. It might have been an error, but this was Spring Training and this was Jeter, so, fine, a single. McCutchen subsequently was erased attempting to steal second.
Mussina has been a rotation stalwart for 15 seasons. Although he has never had a 20-victory season, his 239 career victories, fifth among active pitchers, point toward the quality and durability of his work. He is one of only 12 pitchers in the history of the game to win 10 or more games in 15 consecutive seasons.
But every time is a new time when Spring Training appears. So it was on Saturday, Mussina's first start.
"It felt strange, it was the first time," he said. "But you want to at least get the ball over the plate, and I did that, for the most part. That's all you're trying to do, just get used to it again."
With a repertoire as large as Mussina's, you wonder which pitches require the most work at this time of the year.
"Sometimes, command of the baseball takes the most time," he said. "It depends on what isn't working that particular year. I felt pretty decent with my curveball today, and I had decent location, but it felt like it was going about 81 mph out of my hand. But that's just stuff you've got to work on. It's just pitching again, just getting out there and pitching again, that's all.
"I'm sure it's changed from when I was 25. When you're 25, you expect to got out there and have it the first day you go out there. Now, I don't expect it to be great the first day, I just expect to find a feel for it and work up from wherever the starting point is."
Asked about how his slider was working, Mussina smiled.
"The same pitch that got called for a ball on the first pitch to [Eldred]," he said. "This time he hit it out of the park. That's all right. Midseason form on the homer, because that was a pretty good one."
All of the available evidence suggests that Mussina will once again be part of the solution for the Yankees. The same could be said of Wang and Pettitte, although sooner or later they will start allowing baserunners.
The questions are further down in the rotation. Carl Pavano's array of injuries over the past two years open up a whole new line of questioning, about not only his potential fitness, but his desire to pitch. Lefty Kei Igawa, the Yankees' own Japanese pitching import, has a track record of success, winning 75 games over the past five seasons. Americans have learned by now not to dismiss the achievements of players in Japanese baseball. For all of that, Igawa is a rookie in Major League Baseball, and the natural questions flowing from that status will linger until he establishes himself in this hemisphere.
Typically, at this early stage of Spring Training, expectations are minimal for starters. The most important components of their early work are regaining the feel for their craft and simply remaining healthy.
"That's the thing when you watch these guys pitch, especially early in Spring Training," manager Joe Torre said. "It's just that they get through it, they feel fine; there are no physical issues.
"The other part, they've been around long enough that they know what works. I think Mike threw a lot of fastballs today, which is good. That's why he started out last season so well, because he used his fastball in the spring and built up his arm strength."
But given the particular circumstances, there will be an unusually high level of interest in Pavano's first start of the spring, which is scheduled to occur Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
"I'm looking forward to it, and I think he's looking forward to it," Torre said. "He seems like he's ready to do this. Basically, it's step one, get him on the mound. He's in this the first time around, there's no special covenant here, he's up with everybody else."
The questions about the Yankees rotation center not on quality, but on depth. The quality in the first three spots is indisputable. The worst you can say about Mussina, Wang and Pettitte is that they will be very difficult acts to follow. If the rest of the rotation could approach their level, the Yankees would be what they always hope to be.
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Never liked pedro, never will, even if he pitched lights out for my team. As for pavano....until he proves otherwise, he needs to live in a bubble. He can hurt himself just wakin' up in the mornin'.
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How's this for a spark.......
on to round two.................
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Hey-he heard me!!!!
Cashman to speak with RiveraTAMPA, Fla. -- Mariano Rivera spoke softly, and the New York Yankees got the message.
A day after the All-Star closer said "if they don't give the respect that I deserve, I have to move on," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said he intends to speak with Rivera -- but would not necessarily offer a contract extension beyond 2007.
Rivera seldom says anything controversial, and his remarks dominated the back pages -- and in one case, the front page -- of Tuesday's tabloids in New York.
"Mo knows how we feel about him. We care a great deal about him. He's been a great Yankee," Cashman said Tuesday. "Obviously there's a contract in place that we worked out a while before. Let me talk to him first. In theory I would always prefer to wait. Right now I want to concentrate on '07 and worry about '08 at another time. When that time will be, that would be between me and Mo."
Rivera and catcher Jorge Posada are entering the final seasons of their contracts and are eligible for free agency after the World Series. Rivera will earn $10.5 million this season, completing a deal that pays him $31.5 million over three years.
"The Yankees always give me the respect," Rivera said Monday. "When the time comes, if they want me back, they want me back. Otherwise, I'm not going to sit in my house crying. I have to move on."
Cashman said the one time he spoke with Rivera during the offseason, the 37-year-old didn't bring up his contract situation. Rivera's agent and Cashman did have one conversation about an extension.
"Every situation has a proper time and a proper place," Cashman said. "My preference is to wait throughout the year on everybody, if I possibly can. We have a lot of people up. I'm going to talk Mariano first, have a conversion with him to see where he's at."
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Give the best closer in baseball history his money so we can put these articles about "no respect" to rest.
TAMPA -- Mariano Rivera acknowledged the absence of longtime teammate Bernie Williams on Monday, calling it "strange."Could players be saying the same thing about the Yankees closer one year from now? Rivera's commitment to the team expires after 2007, and while he said he would love to retire in New York, he realizes that scenario is not yet certain.
"Definitely, I want to finish my career here," Rivera said. "But if they don't give me the respect that I deserve, [if]I have to move on, I have to move on. The Yankees always give me respect. When it comes to these times, I don't like to talk about it."
Rivera -- with Williams' apparent parting, now the longest-tenured Yankees big leaguer -- met the media near the front entrance of the Yankees' Minor League complex, his words draped by the background of passing traffic.
Though he appears to have given some thought to his baseball fate, Rivera insisted that he is not upset. Rivera's focus, he said, remains on helping the 2007 Yankees accomplish their goal of a World Series championship.
That mission begins Tuesday, as pitchers and catchers officially report to Legends Field. As Rivera noted, he is under contract with the team, and would not let any uncertainty concerning his future creep into his current obligations.
"I'm not that kind of player," Rivera said. "I play for the team. I'm a team player. I don't have to think about that stuff."
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Yesterday, a NY paper mentioned Chad and another player to be next on the choppin' block...that player being Tim Carter. But that's just rumor....for now.
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I wonder how people feel about cutting Ponder last year. :brooding:
I thought it sucked!!!!!!!!!
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PHOENIX (AP) -- Amare Stoudemire earned a spot on the All-Star team Thursday afternoon and validated the decision hours later.
Stoudemire had 24 points and a career-high 23 rebounds as the Phoenix Suns rallied to beat the San Antonio Spurs 103-87 Thursday night.
"I've worked hard the last year and during the offseason, strengthening the muscles in my knee," said Stoudemire, who along with Steve Nash and Shawn Marion were added to the All-Star team as reserves.
Leandro Barbosa scored 25 points, Boris Diaw had 16 and Nash added 13 points and 11 assists for the Suns, who won for the third time in 13 regular-season games against the Spurs.
Phoenix, which had its franchise-record 17-game winning streak snapped Monday in Minnesota, has won 10 straight at home and 36 of 40 since starting the season 1-5.
Included in those first six games was a 111-106 overtime loss in San Antonio in Stoudemire's season debut.
"The team that played those guys in early November is not even close to being the same team today," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said.
Manu Ginobili scored 32 points for the Spurs, who have lost two straight. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker each added 20 for San Antonio. Duncan also had 18 rebounds.
"We had a really tough game against a difficult team (Utah on Wednesday) and today we played a team that runs fastest in the league," Ginobili said. "It's hard to keep up with them. But I don't believe we lost because of being tired. They made key shots. We didn't."
The Spurs took a 78-77 lead on Ginobili's 3-pointer with 8:09 to play. But Stoudemire was fouled on a layup for a three-point play and Barbosa added a 3-pointer to give the Suns an 83-78 lead.
San Antonio closed to 85-84 when Parker hit a long jumper with 5:22 to go. But Diaw scored four points and Barbosa added his second 3-pointer to key a 10-2 run, with Nash adding a free throw after the basket when he was fouled away from the shot, that put Phoenix ahead 95-85 with 2:22 remaining.
"I don't think we were worn out," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They played better than us. They made some shots down the stretch. We didn't make shots. They got away from us once in a while in transition but overall we did a pretty good job."
The Suns rallied from a three-point halftime deficit, opening the third quarter on a 15-3 run aided by the Spurs' 1-for-10 start from the floor.
Barbosa scored four straight points, Stoudemire added a long jump shot and Marion had a layup as the Suns took a 65-56 lead with 6:56 left in the third.
Parker scored four straight points and Ginobili added a 15-footer to cap an 8-0 run as San Antonio pulled within 65-64 just 90 seconds later.
Phoenix responded with a 7-0 run of its own only to see the Spurs score the quarter's final six points and cut the Suns' lead to 72-70 at the end of three.
Duncan scored six early points and the Suns missed nine of their first 10 shots as the Spurs opened an 18-7 lead with 4:00 left in the first quarter.
Marion hit a 3-pointer and Stoudemire added a layup off an offensive rebound and a 17-foot jumper with 30 seconds left as Phoenix pulled within 22-16 at the end of the period.
"I don't know what happened," Barbosa said. "We didn't start the way we are supposed to start, but at the end of the game we did a great job and we won."
Duncan scored 10 points in the first quarter but missed seven of his final nine field-goal attempts.
"We played pretty well," Duncan said. "There were just too many mistakes for us. I also missed a whole lot of stuff close to the basket that they were able to transition with. They just turn those things into points very quickly."
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:worshippy: :worshippy: -
Raja Bell scored 27 points to lead all five Phoenix starters in double figures, and the Suns set a franchise record with their 16th straight victory by beating the scrappy Milwaukee Bucks 98-90 on Friday night.
Shawn Marion grabbed 23 rebounds and Steve Nash had 16 assists for the seemingly unstoppable Suns, who have won 32 of 34 overall. They had a 15-game winning streak earlier this season, a run that ended with a 144-139 overtime loss to Washington on Dec. 22.
Still, Nash was frustrated.
"There's no rings for streaks," he said. "We've had a tendency to really take people lightly and not be as focused as we need to be, and I think you saw that again from us tonight."
Suns coach Mike D'Antoni didn't sound happy about his decision to give the team the day off Thursday in Milwaukee, a mistake that won't be repeated before Phoenix plays at Cleveland on Sunday in the fourth stop of its five-game road trip.
D'Antoni said everyone was out-of-sync against the Bucks.
"That comes from a day off and laying around the hotel all day," he said. "We'll lace them up tomorrow at noon and have a little practice."
Marion's 23 rebounds were one off his career high. Nash had 18 points, but he committed eight turnovers.
The victory gave Phoenix a tie for the 10th-longest winning streak in NBA history and the longest since the Los Angeles Lakers reeled off 19 straight wins in 2000.
"It's hard to feel real proud about it because we haven't been playing as well as we can for much of the streak," Nash said.
The Suns, now 19-1 against the East, improved to 11-0 on the road against the Eastern Conference, the best since the 1994-95 Utah Jazz matched that mark.
Amare Stoudemire scored 21 points, Marion 11 and Boris Diaw 11 for Phoenix.
Milwaukee, which has lost six straight and 11 of 12, was led by Charlie Bell with 21 points. Earl Boykins had 18 points, Ersan Ilyasova 13, Ruben Patterson 11 and Andrew Bogut 10.
Charlie Villanueva, who returned after missing 11 games because of right shoulder tendinitis, didn't start but finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Phoenix extended its lead to 83-71 early in the fourth after Milwaukee went nearly four minutes without a point and missed its first six shots to start the quarter. But the Bucks kept plugging away, in part by outscoring Phoenix 23-11 on second-chance points.
Charlie Bell's two free throws cut the Suns' lead to 91-87, and Stoudemire was whistled for an over-the-back call that led to Bogut hitting the first of two foul shots with 1:57 left.
Nash hit a 16-foot jumper, but Bogut answered with a hook shot in the lane to make it 93-90. After Stoudemire was called for a charge, Ilyasova decided not to try a 3-pointer from the top of the key and he couldn't get a shot off on his drive as the Bucks were whistled for a shot clock violation.
"The play was for Andrew Bogut to get the ball in a post-up play," the 19-year-old rookie said. "He kicked it out to me and I hesitated."
Bucks coach Terry Stotts didn't blame Ilyasova.
"I think we have confidence when he's in there," Stotts said. "He is a good shooter, but obviously he wishes he could get that possession back."
On the ensuing possession, Raja Bell hit a 3 from the corner, his seventh of the game, off Nash's 16th assist to give Phoenix a 96-90 lead with 19.9 seconds left to seal the victory.
"We did what we had to to get the win," Marion said. "That's all that matters."
The Bucks, without their starting backcourt of Michael Redd and Mo Williams, simply didn't have the firepower to overcome Phoenix, even on an off night.
Milwaukee, which scored the most points any team has against Phoenix this season in regulation in a 122-116 loss on Dec. 1, tried slowing the pace and playing defense. But the Bucks shot 36 percent from the field for the third quarter, including 2-of-8 from Boykins.
In the first half, the Suns went more than four minutes without a field goal spanning the first and second quarters. A few minutes into the second, D'Antoni had finally seen enough.
Raja Bell hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the lead to 32-20, but the Bucks reeled off three straight 3s of their own that forced Phoenix to call a timeout with D'Antoni stomping on the court and gesturing to his players to get to the bench.
The Bucks briefly took the lead, 47-45, but Raja Bell hit another 3 and Phoenix clung to a 52-50 halftime advantage.
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People at work keep asking me "Do you think Clemens is comin' back??", and at this point I could care less. He's a good pitcher and helped the Yankees, but playing half a season is ridiculous. Shit or get off the pot, Clemens.......
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...and the Rangers lose 3-1.
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Robbins
Short
Wilson
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Open another Guinness and..........begin!
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O.K. they went for it on 4th and 10, and didn't get the first...2 min left......is there any way we can fuck this up??
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I really shouldn't be suprised how this is turning out.... :brooding:
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:worshippy: :worshippy: :worshippy: Tiki Barber :worshippy: :worshippy: :worshippy:
Chien-Ming Wang on the DL
in New York Yankees
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...it has been said that Pavano could be the possible starter opening day. Wonder what kind of ovation he'll get?