YANKEE BAND BOX? EXPLAIN THIS....

If the new Yankee Stadium is such a "Band Box" and "Launching Pad" keep this in mind:

One of the top home-run hitters in the National League, RYAN HOWARD, had more STOLEN BASES (1) in the 3 games at YS3 than HR's (0).

The stolen base was Howard's 4th of his CAREER.

BOBBY JENKS: YES I DID!

Boob Watson will suspend this guy, but this is EXACTLY how you handle these situations AND the guy was man enough to stand up for himself and his teammates. Jenks can play for me any time.

(CHICAGO TRIBUNE, May 9, 2009) White Sox closer Bobby Jenks surprised even his manager with his admission that Saturday night's fastball behind the butt of Ian Kinsler was thrown there on purpose.

And while it didn't necessarily please Ozzie Guillen, Jenks' teammates had to appreciate his effort after six of them were hit by pitches in the last week by Rangers pitchers.

Asked if the two-out, ninth-inning pitch to Kinsler "got away from him," Jenks replied without hesitation:

"No, I meant to. To send a message. Basically I was saying, 'I'm sick of seeing our guys get hit and hurt and almost get taken out of the game.' I threw it with intention."

Jenks eventually retired Kinsler in a 3-2 Sox victory, but not before home plate umpire Lance Barksdale warned both benches against any more shenanigans. Earlier in the game, the Sox's Chris Getz and Carlos Quentin had been hit by Kevin Millwood.

Jenks said he had no intention of hitting Kinsler, especially in a one-run game.

"I'm not going to put a guy on in that situation," he said. "I was not going to hit him. I made my point with that pitch and it came across the way I wanted it to.

"I'm not going to go dirty. I was going to keep it low and behind him."

Guillen said he had nothing to do with Jenks' revenge pitch, claiming no Sox batter was hit intentionally.

"That's his problem. I know what I see and what I think," Guillen said. "I don't think it was the right moment to do it because we can get in trouble. But if he says he did it, I respect his word and I can't do anything about it right now."

But Guillen also said he likes pitchers to stand up for hitters.

"It's good, because we have to make sure the hitters know we're behind them," he said.

http://nyyu.blogspot.com

GIRARDI SET UP LOSS

One of the many jobs a Major League manager has is to put his team in a position to win every day.

Last night, Joe Girardi did not do that.

In fact, he put his team in position to LOSE...and they did.

With the game tied in the 9th, Girardi summoned Mariano Rivera from the pen to hold the tie, and he did.

The Yankees put runners on base in the bottom of the 9th, but could not score...we go to the 10th.

Since Rivera only used 18 pitches to dispatch the Rays in the 9th, one would figure that the pitch count obsessed manager would use his only reliable reliever in the 10th and give the Yanks a chance to win in the bottom of the inning.

Nope. In comes unreliable Phil Coke and TWO pitches later its 4-3 Rays as Carlos Pena deposits a meatball into the mostly empty right field seats.

After the game when asked about using Rivera in the 10th, Girardi offered this:

"It was not a situation you ask Mo for three more outs."

Why not? He only threw 18 pitches! Girardi said it was too early in the season to ask Rivera for 2 innings.

If that is so, why did he bring in Rivera with 2 outs and a 2-0 count on a Boston batter in the 8th last week?

Also, lefties' average against Rivera is 173 points lower than righties'.

Pena is a leftie.

Girardi later added:

"Every day we do the best we can to prepare our club, and every move we make is to win the game, and that's what I focus on."

You didn't last night, Joe.

You set them up to fail and fail they did.

TAKE A WALK JOE

Joe Girardi is very optimistic about Mark Teixeira's slump.

When your $180 million slugger is hitting below . 200 and struck out 23 times in 193 ABs with the Angels, but has struck out 17 times in 86 ABs with the Yankees, one might be concerned.

(Stat courtesy of "Baseball & The Boogie Down")

Not Joe. Joe says he's not concerned because...get this... "he's still getting his walks."

WALKS! Does he think that the fans listening to this garbage are stupid?

Note to Joe: The Brothers Stein did not give Teixeira $180 million for WALKS.

WALKS don't put "fannies in the seats" as the Elder Stein once said.

The 10 year-old boy at his first game with Dad, wearing his $100 jersey with #25 on the back is not saying "Gee Dad, I hope Mark gets a walk today!"

That same Dad, who is about to go spend $30 on a couple of dogs and 2 soda's, is not standing in line hoping he doesn't miss a Teixeira WALK!

This is typical Girardi psycho-babble and I'm sick of it.

If the guy is hurt, sit him and get him well. Don't keep making up these lame excuses for struggling players.

NOBODY BELIEVES YOU ANYMORE. YOUR CREDIBILITY IS DEAD.

The fans are sick and tired of players struggling for no apparent reason, then finding out there is an injury, then saying the player is "day-to-day", only to end up on the DL. Meanwhile these lame and phony optimistic excuses are thrown out to us and we are supposed to believe it.

I don't believe anything that comes from the managers office anymore.

It's time for Joe to go.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

It is time for Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland to go.

This is a .500 team, nothing more, so don't expect more.

Win a few, lose a few, win a few more, lose a few more.

This is the 2009 Yankees.

Get used to it.

Maybe when the empty seats out number the full seats, the Brothers Stein will get the hint.

The manager sucks, the pitching coach sucks, the pitching philosophy sucks, the bull pen sucks and the farm system sucks....

I'm seeing a pattern here.

BOO OF THE WEEK: YANKEE STADIUM STAFF

If you are a sports fan and grew up in the New York City TV area in the '70s and '80s you are familiar with sportscaster Warner Wolf.

Wolf pioneered much of the "schtick" you see on sports casts today.

Things like "plays of the week" and added vocal enhancements as "Swish!" for a basket, "Boom, there it goes" for a home run and his famous "lets go to the video tape " and Give me a break!" were staples of Wolfs nightly reports.

Another phrase Wolf coined was "Boo of the week." This went to someone in the sports world that did something ridiculous.

So in that spirit, I present the 1st ever "NYYU Boo Of The Week" to the New York Yankees stadium staff.

Last night during the 2 1/2 hour rain delay, some stadium personnel told fans that the game was rained out!

Soon after those fans left the stadium, they found out the game was still on!

However, fans who left under false pretenses, were not allowed back in, with the stadium personnel citing the Stadiums No Re-entry Policy!

The Brothers Stein need to rectify this.

BOOO!

Warner Wolf is currently heard daily on the "Imus In The Morning" radio program.

GIRARDI CONCERNED ABOUT SWINE FLU

Major League Baseball is taking the Swine Flu outbreak seriously.

The Yankees have distributed an information sheet about swine flu provided by MLB to all teams and personnel.

Says manager Joe Girardi:

"It is a concern, because we do travel a lot. We're in places where there are big crowds all the time. I feel very good about the medicine in our country and the way our country handles situations. So you try to take as many precautions as you can, but you can't stop living."

According to the Center for Disease Control, there have been 50 confirmed cases in New York.

Other MLB states with confirmed cases are Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. (SOURCE: C.D.C.)

In 1976 experts warned that an emerging strain of influenza, known as the "swine flu," had the potential to cause illness on a massive scale that winter.


A large public immunization campaign was launched, and a photo was released showing President Ford being immunized by his physician, Dr. William Lukash. It was later reported that the immunization killed more people than the virus did. (SOURCE)