The Super Terrific MLB Thread - Part 2

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Steinbrenner backs Torre and Cashman, but says results not acceptable

April 30, 2007

NEW YORK (AP) -- Yankees owner George Steinbrenner backed manager Joe Torre and GM Brian Cashman on Monday, challenging players and staff "to show me and the fans what they are made of" following a start he termed "clearly not acceptable."

Steinbrenner previously had refused comment on his team, which went 1-5 against the Boston Red Sox the past two weekends and dropped into last place in the AL East at 9-14.

"The season is still very young, but up to now the results are clearly not acceptable to me or to Yankee fans," Steinbrenner said in a statement. "However, Brian Cashman, our general manager, Joe Torre, our manager, and our players all believe that they will turn this around quickly.

"I believe in them. I am here to support them in any way to help them accomplish this turnaround. It is time to put excuses and talk away. It is time to see if people are ready to step up and accept their responsibilities. It is time for all of them to show me and the fans what they are made of.

"Let's get going. Let's go out and win and bring a world championship back to New York. That's what I want."

After Sunday's 7-4 loss to Boston, Yankees captain Derek Jeter said criticism of Torre was misplaced.

"It's unfair," Jeter said. "There's no way he's responsible for us performing. He's not hitting for us. He's not pitching for us. He puts the best players out there on the field, gives us an opportunity to win. We're just not doing the job. That's unfair, and it should stop. ... He's doing a great job this year. We just haven't done the job on the field. That's the bottom line."
 
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:wink:
 
Yes, because nothing screams "real man" more than ramming a 72 year old man's face into the ground.
What was Zim thinking charging at Pedro? Not a good move. Did anyone notice how short Manny's hair was?
 
I always wonder what those who denounce Pedro's actions would have expected him to do. Clearly he's being attached by an enraged, oversized gerbil...should he have let Zip just punch him or tackle him?
Frankly I think he showed restraint by merely tossing him asunder, others might have clocked the old man.

Perhaps our residnet Yankee/Met super fan can answer the question for me...what would have been the correct action for Pedro MrPryck?
 
bad news: I'm really worried about Wright/Delgado

good news: we're winning more than losing in spite of their anemic bats.
 
If you read my whole post, I questioned what Zim was thinking for charging at Pedro. Zim should have never charged Pedro. Zim felt badly afterward and tearfully apologized. What could Pedro have done? Gotten the fuck out of the way! The guy was 72 years old. You telling me he couldn't have dodged him.
 
MrPryck2U said:
Yes, because nothing screams "real man" more than ramming a 72 year old man's face into the ground.
What was Zim thinking charging at Pedro? Not a good move. Did anyone notice how short Manny's hair was?

i wondered the same but i :lmao: my ass off when i saw that, stupid move by Zim.... (i'm a yankee hater!)
 
Many of you know that I'm a Yankee fan, but, I didn't really think Pedro was out of line for what he "did" to Zimmer. Zimmer charged him, Zimmer is to blame, simple as that. That game was so uncomfortable to watch.
 
MrPryck2U said:
If you read my whole post, I questioned what Zim was thinking for charging at Pedro. Zim should have never charged Pedro. Zim felt badly afterward and tearfully apologized. What could Pedro have done? Gotten the fuck out of the way! The guy was 72 years old. You telling me he couldn't have dodged him.

Um, that's what Pedro did. He dodged him by moving him to the side. Yes, it's unfortunate that Zimmer fell to the ground, but that was more due to his momentum of charging Pedro rather than being thrown to the ground. I think Pedro did the best thing he could do. He certainly didn't "ram" him to the ground, though, which was how you originally worded it.
 
You're right! I think I should've said slightly guided his head. Pedro did kind of guide the old man's head. When I watch it now, I laugh my ass off. Like I said, what was Zim thinking?
 
the yankees really might just be snakebitten this season...

phil hughes has a no-no going into the 7th inning of just his second major league game, and he hurts his leg and may have to go on the DL.
 
It was bound to happen. He's only human.

Papelbon's fastball was in the 91-92 range for most of the game, and the Oakland batters were fouling off his pitches instead of whiffing. Let's hope this is just a temporary blip and not a sign of injury.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
the yankees really might just be snakebitten this season...

phil hughes has a no-no going into the 7th inning of just his second major league game, and he hurts his leg and may have to go on the DL.
Out 4-6 weeks, Yanks do seem to have a black cloud hanging over their pitching staff.
 
joe torre pretty much said to the baseball gods "here... here are my balls. could you please kick them for me. thank you."

really though... that's like a pre 2004 red sox injury right there. the team is desperate for pitching, they bring up their young stud, probably earlier than they wanted him to be brought up, he's pitching a dominating no hitter into the 7th inning, comes up lame and is out for at least a month and a half.

the mets had a young kid last year... brian bannister... was pitching well to start the season. hurt his hammy rounding third base in san francisco, was said to be out for 4-6 weeks, never made it back and was sent to kansas city in the off-season. not saying that'll happen to hughes, but hammy's do take a long time to heal, usually longer than the initial diagnosis, and if he comes back too soon are very easily hurt again. i suppose it all depends on wether it's the leg he pushes off on or not.
 
There's still room on Brewers' bandwagon
By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com

This just in: April's over. Don't ask us what to make of it.

Al Reyes saved eight more games than Mariano Rivera. Kip Wells made as many home run trots as Mike Piazza. John Buck outhit Sean Casey by .128 points.

The Devil Rays had a better record than the Yankees. The Pirates had a better record than the Cardinals. No first-place team in either league had a bigger lead than the Brewers.

So does anything that happened in April mean anything? Your brain might tell you no. But history tells us yes.

April matters.

It might not matter as much in the wild-card age as it used to matter. So teams such as the Yankees, Cardinals, Cubs and Astros may not have buried themselves yet. But it does matter. And because it does, the odds that those teams are going to right the ship and play in October are longer than they think.

So howwwwww long are they?

We looked at every full season since 1982. Here's what we found:

• Of the 144 teams that made it to the postseason in that span, only eight (or 5.6 percent) came out of April more than three games under .500. Clubs that need to worry most about that history lesson: the Yankees (9-14), Astros (10-14), Cardinals (10-14), Cubs (10-14) and Rangers (10-15).

• Just six of those 144 playoff teams (or 4.2 percent) found themselves more than 4½ games out of a playoff spot after April. Clubs that ought to get nervous about that trend: the Cubs, Cardinals and Astros (all five games out).

• And you wouldn't think the standings would mean much this time of year. But more than half of the 120 teams that found themselves in first place after April (66 of 120) wound up finishing first. And 98 of the 120 (81.7 percent) of the teams that finished the season in first place either led their division or were within 2½ games of the lead at the end of April.

So if you're a team such as the Yankees, all those facts and figures are about as uplifting as a Carl Pavano tendinitis attack. At five games under .500 and 6½ games out of first, this is up there with the most dire April predicaments the Yankees have faced in the last quarter-century. Take a look:

• No Yankees team has finished April this many games under .500 since 1984. That '84 team had an 8-13 April, which meant that even a 79-62 finish didn't help it climb higher than third place, 17 games behind the Tigers.

• Only one Yankees team in history has ever entered May this many games out and then come back to finish first. And while it may seem encouraging to know that happened just two years ago -- when they emerged from April at 10-14, 6½ out -- the bad news is, the team they trailed then was the Orioles, not the Red Sox.

• So when was the last time the Yankees were this far behind Boston after April? How about 1912, when they started out 2-10 (while the Red Sox went 9-4). And how did that season turn out? The Red Sox won 105 games and won the World Series. The Yankees lost 102 -- and finished 55 games out of first.

• Finally, George Steinbrenner will really be ecstatic to learn that the 1979 Pirates are still the only team since 1935 to lurch out of April more than three games under .500 and survive to win a World Series.

But since our Starbucks mugs are always half full around here, we'll gladly acknowledge that if there is one team out there with the talent and the checking-account balance to blow away all these trends, this is it. And the Yankees might feel a lot better to know that we've seen more teams beating these odds lately than ever. For instance:

• Just last year, two teams -- the Twins (9-15) and Padres (also 9-15) -- came out of April with records worse than these Yankees and charged back to win their divisions.

• Three teams in the last two seasons -- last year's Twins and Padres, plus the 2005 Yankees -- were at least 5½ games out of a playoff spot after April and came back to make the playoffs.

• And four teams in the last two years -- those Twins, Padres and Yankees, plus the 2005 Astros (9-13) -- were more than three games below .500 after April but still rebounded to make the playoffs. Before that, only four teams had done it in the previous 22 full seasons.

So when you hear these guys tell you there's a lot of baseball yet to be played, they're not lying. But to recover from just this one lousy month, they're going to have to be pretty close to the best team in the whole sport over the last five months.

Just remember this: Over the last five years, the AL wild-card winner has averaged 96 wins. For the Yankees to reach that number, they'd have to go 87-52 the rest of the way.

That's a .626 winning percentage -- the equivalent of winning 101 games over a full season. Which is more than every Yankees World Series champ since 1962, except for the 1998 114-game winners, won. So if they're going to show Boss Steinbrenner "what they're made of," they'd better forget the moral of this little history class:

April matters.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
joe torre pretty much said to the baseball gods "here... here are my balls. could you please kick them for me. thank you."

really though... that's like a pre 2004 red sox injury right there. the team is desperate for pitching, they bring up their young stud, probably earlier than they wanted him to be brought up, he's pitching a dominating no hitter into the 7th inning, comes up lame and is out for at least a month and a half.

the mets had a young kid last year... brian bannister... was pitching well to start the season. hurt his hammy rounding third base in san francisco, was said to be out for 4-6 weeks, never made it back and was sent to kansas city in the off-season. not saying that'll happen to hughes, but hammy's do take a long time to heal, usually longer than the initial diagnosis, and if he comes back too soon are very easily hurt again. i suppose it all depends on wether it's the leg he pushes off on or not.

I'll agree with the hammy taking longer than the initial diagnosis. 4-6 weeks is usually the average, but they can take a lot longer.

It was his plant leg that was hurt, so he may be alright after 6 weeks. It looked like a freak accident as well. He planted it, and it seemed as though his leg buckled at the knee.
 
BEAL said:


I'll agree with the hammy taking longer than the initial diagnosis. 4-6 weeks is usually the average, but they can take a lot longer.

It was his plant leg that was hurt, so he may be alright after 6 weeks. It looked like a freak accident as well. He planted it, and it seemed as though his leg buckled at the knee.

if it was, indeed, his plant leg that was hurt then he won't see a major league mound till at least the all star break.
 
What east coast bias?

AL Player of the Month: A-Rizzie
AL Pitcher of the Month: Roy Halladay
AL Rookie of the Month: Hideki Okajima

NL Player of the Month: Jose Reyes
NL Pitcher of the Month: John Maine
NL Rookie of the Month: Josh Hamilton
 
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