The Yankee Clipper

May 20, 2007

Well the New York Yankees got a fantastic performance out of their 22 year rookie right hander Tyler Clippard as he was able go six strong innings and only give up one run on three hits against 3 walks and 6 strike outs.
The one run came on a home run in the 2nd inning from Mets third basemen David Wright.
It was Wright’s 3rd home run off of Yankee pitching in the past two days and his 7th home run of the season over all.
It was really a great pitching performance by the young rookie and he also looked at home with a bat in his hand as his successful sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning helped contribute to their four run inning and he later took a 3-2 pitch out to center field for a double as the Yankees were playing under national league rules against the Mets in Shea Stadium.
That must have been quite a night for Clippard.
His first major league start.
His first inter league game.
His first Subway Series.
His first strike out of a major league hitter as a major league pitcher.
His first major league at bat.
His first hit (and his first double).
And his first big league win.
Quite a night for the youngster and his enthusiasm seemed to rub off on his team mates and maybe this was the boost of adrenaline that the team has been needing for the past week and a half because they have almost looked like a different team over the past 12 innings than they looked in the 5 or 6 games prior to the end of yesterdays game.
It seems as if the offense might be coming out of it’s funk.
The Yankee offense that had lain somewhat dormant over the past week shook off the dull-drums yesterday in the 7th inning to score 5 runs in the last three frames and then came alive again to tonight to plate 6 runs.
In the past 12 innings the Yankees have scored 11 runs and have hit 5 home runs (two from Posada, one from Jeter, and two from A-Rod).

Jeter and Posada have stayed hot as Jeter went 3 for his last 9 at bats with a home run and 3 RBI’s while Posada has went 5 for his last 9 at bats with a walk, a home run, and with 3 RBI’s.
Damon also got a 2 RBI double that put the Yankees ahead for the first time in the game and maybe his engine is about to get started a little too.
Alex Rodriguez seems to be finding his power stroke a little as well as he hit a home run in yesterdays game and also in tonights game.
It was a fun game to watch again and that’s something I haven’t been able to post in a while.
I’ll post something about my thoughts on the pitching match ups for the third Red Sox – Yankees series of the season tomorrow.
Right now I’m just happy we’ll have our main three guys going for the three game set in Wang, Moose, and Pettitte and that there will be no rookies making their first big league start.
Although if they would pitch like Tyler Clippard did tonight, maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing?

Until Tomorrow…

LETS GO YANKEES !
NEVER QUIT and NEVER SAY DIE !

Mike

P.S.

"(New York Yankees DH Jason) Giambi told USA Today
"what we should have done a long time ago was stand up — players,
owners, everybody — and said: ‘We made a mistake.’ We should have
apologized back then and made sure we had a rule in place and gone
forward. … Steroids and all of that was a part of history. But it was
a topic that everybody wanted to avoid. Nobody wanted to talk about it."

According to a report in the New York Daily News, Giambi’s admission in Friday’s USA Today
could lead to the Yankees trying again to void his contract if it is
ultimately determined that he used illegal drugs after signing him to
the deal.

The commissioner’s office is investigating Giambi’s
comments and is expected to summon him to a meeting to discuss them.
According to the Daily News, the outcome of that meeting will determine in part how the Yankees proceed."

At some point somebody might explain to me why we are supposed to be so angry at Jason Giambi for the statements that he made in the USA Today article.
Now, granted, it was lousy timing for something like this.
This is something, that if he wanted to get it off of his chest that could have and should have, waited until the off season.
With the problems that this New York Yankees ball club has been having ON the field, the last thing that we really needed was yet another distraction OFF of the field.
As much as I do like Jason Giambi and as much as I do enjoy watching him play — he really should have known that his coach and his team mates really actually didn’t need this distraction right now with their 2007 season going the way that it has been going thus far…
However — having said all of that — this thing were Cashman and others are miffed and offended at the implication that they knew anything is just stupid.
At least to me.
I don’t like it when people that I respect and admire and have always thought to be stand up people stand up and try to shine me on like Cash seems to be doing right about now…

This is the quote from Cashman:

"There’s an implication that there was a lot of people that were
involved that would know that, what was going on, and I can tell you
that’s false," Cashman said. "We’ve spoken to that in the past, so I do
have a problem with that, without a doubt, because I can tell you — I
can speak from being right there, too — that whatever goes on
individually with these guys is really on them."

Really ?
What exactly does that mean anyway?
What do you mean that they didn’t know?
I’m sort of tired of that over and over again.
Did Jason Giambi use steroids?
Yes.
Was it wrong?
Yes.
Did other people (GM’s, owners, trainers, coaches, players, managers, reporters, and etc.,) know that players were using?
Of course they did.
Having them continue to come out over and over and over and say we never did know anything about anything and we had no idea that players (including some on our watch) used anything like that is just insulting to listen to.
I understand their being reluctant to talk about it and their being annoyed that Jason said anything.
I also understand them trying to protect their assets as best as they can.
Just don’t make me try and believe that they never were aware of anything and didn’t know anything at the time when this "stuff" was at it’s apex from 1997 thru 2001.
Just don’t try and sell me that "stuff" because I’m not buying that "stuff".
And Joe Morgan was on Costas Now on HBO along with Tim McCarver last year where he and the others talked about these things and now tonight on ESPN he’s playing dumb and echoing what Cashman said and saying how nobody knew anything.
Jason is one of the only people that ever admitted anything and I agree that a lot of people have some apologizing to do, either for their direct involvement or the tacit approval of what happened.
No GM or owner was complaining when Giambi and Sosa and Big Mac were belting tape measure blasts from 1997 thru 2001 and helping bring fans back to the game after the strike.
But now that the dust has settled and the fans are back and now that Giambi is older and they don’t rely on him for anything they’re ready to throw him under the bus.
If you want any open and honest conversation about the remainder of the steroid problem or you want a frank discussion with the people who were directly involved in it so that you can try to learn from the mistakes that were made and go forward to make things better two things need to happen:

First:
Everybody needs to ‘fess up.
The players that did the drugs, the trainers and coaches that knew about it (and in some cases assited with it), and the owners and the GM’s that knew what was going on and turned a a blind eye
because those players who were hitting 40-60 homers were helping their team win ball games.
Then Major League Baseball needs to acknowledge their role in this thing.
It’s almost like they are Vietnam war veterans who came back home and were vilified.
Nobody in the commissioners office cared how the home run hitters of the steroid era hit their tape measure blasts.
They just cared that the numbers were up after the strike and fans were coming back.
Surely some of them knew what was going on.
They aren’t stupid people.
But nobody wanted to upset the apple cart or risk strangling the goose that was laying these golden eggs.
Now that these guys aren’t needed anymore and baseball, as a business is thriving, it’s time to play dumb and act like that they never knew anything with one hand while we throw these same players that we tacitly encouraged before under the bus with the other hand.

Second:
What good does it do a player like Giambi to even try to be a little more honest or forthright if he’s immediately pounced on if he does?
The stories in all the major news affiliates now is that the Yankees are going to (again) try to void out whatever is left on his contract.

I’m not saying that either side is totally right or totally wrong here.
Just that it’s complicated and that they need a frank and open discourse that’s not going to happen while 99% of the people that knew what’s going on clam up whenever anybody else breaks the silence even a little bit.

I’m quoting this from the Bleacher Report website:

"Maybe it’s just me, but this one seems to set an awfully
hypocritical standard in a baseball world so intent on getting down to
the truth on the steroid issue.
Think of it like this: If copping to bad behavior is going to get you fired, only a fool would come clean on his past.
Think Barry Bonds is paying attention?"

Anyway, that’s just my thoughts on it…

Written by mlblogsmointhe9th Posted in Dailies