Category — MLB Jerseys

Joba Chamberlain’s debut as a starter was by most measures a dissapointment. Chamberlain lasted just 2 1/3 innings Tuesday against Toronto, and Girardi pulled him after 62 pitches, about what the Yankees had planned to limit him to. He allowed two runs on one hit and four walks, striking out three.

Chamberlain’s latest start against KC was also mixed, and he will not stand to win this game. He allowed 5 hits and 2 earned runs through 4 1/3 innings.

So how good does this decision to bring Chamberlain out of his set-up role after two starts? It’s probably too early to tell, but it’s clear that Chamberlain may not be completely comfortable starting games. It does not help that he’s on another pitch count leash, which may serve a kind of distraction.

There are rumors that the yankees may be interested in Brian Fuentes of the Rockies who would potentially fill the void that Joba left in the bullpen. A deal for Fuentes would indicate the Yankees are fully committed to Joba as a starter.

Expectations for Joba are high. While he wasn’t rocked in any of his starts, he hasn’t come out of the bullpen seemlessly a la John Smoltz. Joba doesn’t look fully confident.

Unfortunately, with with Ian Kennedy ineffective and Phil Hughes injured (again), moving Chamberlain into the rotation is a clear desperation move on the part of the Yanks. With Boston pulling away in first place and the yanks continuing to play .500 ball, there may not be much more amo left short of a blockbuster deal–one that would include more than Brian Fuentes.

After a third of a season gone, how smart does the non-deal for Johan Santana look now? Not very good.

Since the beginning of May, the Mets’ world has been consumed by whether their manager, Willie Randolph, will be fired–not exactly the kind of press a team needs. On almost a daily basis there is speculation about when/how Willie will get the ax, and every time the Mets blow a lead to lose a game, Willie’s head is the first thing to be discussed.

On May 26, SI reported that the Mets leadership will support Randolph for now at least. (This is the Wilpons AND Omar Minaya lending their support.) On Mike Silva’s NY Baseball digest, Mike and Howard Megdal speculated last week that Willie will still be on a very short leash in the coming weeks and that the Mets players are, at best, indifferent towards the manager’s fate.

There does seem to be consensus about one thing: if there were a decent manager out there to replace Willie, the Mets would have pulled the trigger already. The Mets brass can’t be happy with the Mets lackluster performance so far this year on top of one of the worst late-season collapses in recent memory. Since the second half of last year until June 1, 2008, the Mets are a .500 club. With all that talent and a payroll that is 3rd in the majors ($138 MM), no wonder fans are grumbling.

(Interesting note: As of June 1, the top 3 payrolls in baseball, the Yankees, Tigers and Mets (a combined $486 MM) are each in 4th place in their divisions.)

There are some who strangely believe that the return of Pedro Martinez and Moises Alou and some others will somehow rejuvenate this team and save Willie’s job. I doubt this will happen. There is a pall that has fallen on this team. Like the Yankees, I’m not seeing a team that can consistently play with determination and grit, and this clearly stems from the leadership.

The Mets are a good team that has been underachieving for almost a year now. If you’re still a fan, check out some of this Mets gear available on BizRate. Making a leadership change makes sense; too bad there’s nobody the Mets can slip into the Manager’s role overnight. Until then Willie will be at the helm, and the Mets brass will continue to make glib statements of support so that they don’t undermine their manager too much.

I’m back from vacation, and the Yanks are still in last place–7.5 games out of first with Boston pulling away. It’s not only the Yankees this year who are disappointing, but pre-season favorites Seattle and Detroit are also well in last place as of this post. All three of these teams are suffering from similar problems.

So what’s going wrong with the Yanks? There’s the obvious loss of A-Rod and Posada, but even when they were in the lineup the offense was not clicking. A-Rod is now back, so get your A-Rod jersey now and hope he can break this offensive malaise. Currently the Yanks are ranked 19th in the majors for batting avg. and and 13th for home runs. This is a surprise for a team that is essentially unchanged from last year and was a top 10 offense for most of that year (albeit below the top 10 in hitting with RSP).

Perhaps less of a surprise is the pitching. The Yanks are currently ranked 19th in the majors for ERA. (At least this team is consistent for something!) I think many predicted that it would be either feast or famine for this year’s staff, which is composed mainly of young arms who have simply not performed. Chien Ming Wang has been impressive as the occasional ace of this staff and Mike Mussina had a string of 5 wins, but Andy Pettitte seems lost, and Hughes and Kennedy combined have 0 wins. Even Joba Chamberlain has an almost human ERA of 2.66.

This may be a coaching issue, as Girardi brought in new coaches as the Joe Torre era ended. Some of the players may need to adjust to some new coaching styles. It goes without saying that if the offense continues to struggle this mightily that heads will roll but probably not Girardi’s. What may very well happen is that the front offense (i.e. Hank and Hal) will step in and have a much more hands-on approach with on-the-field matters.

The 2008 Yanks have not been an inspirational team, have not shown the ability to grind out wins, and have not shown that there is a leader willing to carry the team on his back. In short, this is a team that is not fun to watch and is in serious jeopardy of not making the playoffs.

Last year at this time I was saying that 2007 would be the first year since 1993 (I don’t count ‘94, the strike year) that this team would not play in October. While the Yanks have a marginally better record so far this year, they somehow seem more lost. This is all very unfortunate considering that this is the last year in the Stadium.

There is still a lot more baseball to play, however. On the plane back to NYC, I did manage to play the new MLB 08 for the PSP. It was awesome. Great way to kill time on a coast-to-coast flight.

As everyone knows by now, a Red Sox fan construction worker infiltrated the new Stadium work crew and buried a David Ortiz jersey in the wet concrete to try and hex the Yanks’ new stadium. In a classy and somewhat deliberate move (Yankee management clearly wanted to take the high ground with this), the excavated jersey was sent up to Boston and auctioned off for charity to the sum of nearly $200K.

So what’s the real story here? Some Boston fans, despite winning two of the last four World Series, clearly are as insecure as ever. You would think the actual process of winning a championship would mellow Boston fans, but there is much anecdotal evidence to the contrary–the Ortiz jersey notwithstanding.

Since the Red Sox actually won, I have never seen so many Red Sox hats being worn. It’s as if Boston fans are finally coming out of the closet to accept their team, jump on the bandwagon and bask in the light that Yankees fans have know for almost 100 years. More to the point above, I’ve never heard so many “Yankees suck” barbs in New England accents whenever I venture outside wearing some Yankees gear. 

So here’s my take on the “greatest rivalry in sports”. First off, there really hasn’t been a rivalry until this decade. Until then the Yankees had won 26 championships to Boston’s 5 (all around WWI). Ohio State and Michigan is a rivalry that’s much longer where both teams have shared in the winnings fairly evenly. 

What gives the New York/Boston rivalry life is this sense among Boston fans that everything great that has happened to the Yankees should have happened to the Red Sox if it weren’t for the ill-fated decision to sell Babe Ruth around 1918. But here’s a little know fact: the Boston Red Sox were the last team in the American League to integrate its roster. Don’t believe me, click here. Perhaps the Red Sox “curse” is simply driven by the fact that they were dead last in taking on non-white players who had plenty of talent when the Yankees and Dodgers were winning penants with Elston Howard and Jackie Robinson

The Yanks/Red Sox rivalry is (somewhat unfortunately) driven by the the intense jealousy-cum-hatred that Red Sox fans feel towards the Yankees. No such intense hatred exists on the Yankees side, and why would it? Between 1918 and 2004 the Red Sox could not beat the Yankees in a significant game. The “rivalry” exists in the hearts and minds of Red Sox fans.  Yankee fans know that their real rivals are the Anaheim Angels who have been the only team since the mid 90s to have a real edge in wins over the Yankees. 

So Boston’s inferiority complex with New York and its Yankees continues despite the Red Sox actually doing what nobody thought they could do: win a big game. If the Red Sox won as many rings as the Yankees, would the intense hatred continue? Only an experienced psychologist can answer that.  At any rate, check out this yankees gear here and let me know if it makes it into Fenway Park somehow.

So the 2008 MLB season is underway. It’s been a long off-season. The Mets opened strong with a standout performance from their new ace, Johan Santana. Click here for an array of New York Mets jerseys. Who says I don’t cover the Mets enough?! And my beloved Yanks beat Toronto in a close game.

I love how already there’s analysis about how each team will perform in 2008 when there’s 161 games left on the year. Imagine forecasting how the next six months of your life will go based on what happened yesterday. But it’s still fun to kick around different scenarios about how this season will play out. Opening day is the one time in the year when all teams are on the same footing.

The combination of having the first new manager since 1996 and playing the last season in the old Yankee Stadium will make for a memorable year (and even higher ticket prices) for Bombers fans. The Mets too will say goodbye to their much-maligned Shea stadium. While switching homes for the Mets is a real no-brainer, (See plans for the new Citi Field here), replacing Yankee Stadium is much more controversial.

First off, Red Sox fans love the idea of tearing down what has been until recently their personal house of horrors. Check out the last time the yanks really stuck it to the Sox in the 2003 ALCS. Yes, the new Yankee Stadium will be adorned with the various hagiographies of its retired players and will have all the winning mementos, but it obviously will not be the same. The new Stadium will be built very intentionally to be a Boston fan’s version of hell with constant reminders of the 26 world championships. But we all know there’s no substitute for the real thing.

All this said, let’s focus on reality for a second. Yes, the old ballpark will be gone, and what can replace it? But let’s focus on all the good things the new Stadium will have (higher ticket prices notwithstanding):

1. Better access to Metro North and additional subway services is huge. Getting to/from games now is just not fun.

2. A lot more open space. The old ballpark feels in a lot of places like it really is from the 1920s. Too much old concrete and steel makes most fans feel very confined. Plus those nice old facades return in the new stadium.

3. An overall better look. Face it, the old stadium was half-torn down in the early 70s to build the monstrous upper deck. The result is a stadium that looks a bit half-baked. The new Stadium will be a unified structure that invokes all the best of the pre-renovated stadium with all the modern amenities.

I know I’ll take a lot of heat for “dissing” the old Stadium, and it’s an amazing place where I’ve had some of the best moments of my life (first home game after 9/11), but nothing’s going to bring it back. Plans for a new stadium have been in the works for decades, and now it’s finally happening. So let’s not forget the old HTRB and welcome in what’s essentially the HTSB (the ‘S’ is for Steinbrenner).