As the Sox have a much-deserved day off, we can take a break from baseball for a second. Ten minutes, tops. If you haven't yet seen the video of Triumph interviewing Michael Jackson supporters, watch it now.
Okay, back to baseball. Yanks are beating up on the Pirates and SP Oliver Perez, making this article seem sort of silly; the Big Eunuch looks dominant, for the second start in a row. And the fireworks continue in yet another Great Interleague Baseball Rivalry, with managers and players of the Angels and Nats going at it. Brendan Donnelly is ejected for having pine tar on his glove; Robinson claims he also used sandpaper the day before, and bizarrely brings nice-guy Adam Kennedy into it; Scioscia gets all petulant (and defends Kennedy more than Donnelly); Guillen suddenly reverts to 2004 form and starts talking trash about Scioscia and the Angels. The whole thing sounds sort of silly, but there's one thing about it that keeps bothering me...back on June 4 (the Great Sox Bullpen Implosion), didn't Donnelly pitch with an extra baseball in his back pocket? Or was that all just a Vicodin-fueled hallucination?
I'll have to check out the video when I'm not in office.
ReplyDeleteYeah the Yanks knocked Perez around a bit. The article looks silly anyway as Perez is clearly not the same chucker he was last year. The 5.88 ERA is one thing, but he is now in possession of a still high 9K/9inning ratio compared to last year with 11. He must have lost some movement since the real culprit appears to be he propensity to give up the long ball this year.
An interesting side bar to the Yankee game - it looks like Flaherty is becoming the Unit's personal catcher. Posada who previously criticized the unit for not covering home, has not caught either of Johnson's last two starts. And Johnson has pitched great, which will allow for an easy "excuse" to keep using flaherty. I wonder if Torre will keep it up or if he will reinsert Posada? Or if the NY papers will pick up on this (and care).
And yes, Donnelly did have an extra ball in his pocket. That was strange.
I'm less than pleased about Perez. He was going to be the anchor of my awesome fantasy baseball rotation, along with Kerry Wood.
ReplyDeleteI've been able to patch things together with Jon Garland, Matt Morris, and Brandon Webb... but man I wish Oliver could figure it out again.
Yeah, that was the first time Flaherty has caught the same pitcher two starts in a row. He doesn't seem comfortable with the idea of being an (ahem) personal catcher: "I guess it works for some guys, like when Greg Maddux had Charlie O'Brien and then Eddie Perez. I'm not really a believer in it. First and foremost, we've got an All-Star guy here [Posada] who's always a threat to hit the ball out of the yard and does a great job. Besides, when [Johnson's] on, it doesn't really matter who's behind the plate."
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, on a Yankees board, durin a discussion of Yankees catchers, someone wrote this gem:
"Flaherty will get you nowhere."
I recall reading somewhere that maddux and o'brien used to spend a lot of time between starts analyzing opponents. And the day before they would talk their way through the lineup (assuming the same team). somehow I just don't see the same chemistry happening with the big use-less and anyone, let along Posada.
ReplyDeleteThrowing well against the Pirates... Let's just say that the Yankees continue to pound on the sub-500 teams. Let's see what happens when they head back to real competition.
ReplyDeleteI expect the Sox to keep their winning streak going throughout this weekend as it will be their turn to take it out on the Pirates.
Yeah, looks like some of Donnelly's tricks may have been exposed. Apparently, and I have been looking for this, you can have pine tar in your glove up to a certain amount. But, I had never seen a pitcher have an extra ball in their pocket...