2008 New York Yankees [Forum Archive]

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2008 New York Yankees

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Posted by: min0 lee

Quote:

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

As somebody who's fascinated by sabermetrics, I find this startling.

A-Rod's Win Probability Added for the last two seasons:
2007: 6.85
2008: 0.40

The One About Win Probability -- The Hardball Times

Going against everything I've been saying, this one statistic basically rates A-Rod at the bottom portion of the league in terms of how well he performs in late/"clutch" situations.

I also included his WPA from 2007 which was one of the highest in all of baseball last season.

What does this all mean?

It means A-Rod, despite leading the American League in slugging percentage and being tied for fourth in on-base percentage has been a considerably worse player in late game situations than he has been in early/"non-clutch" situations.

It also means, that even though he underperformed in the playoffs last year, A-Rod was one of the most effective players in the game in late/"clutch" situations in the regular season last year.

In 2006, he had a WPA rating similar to this season and in 2005, his numbers in late/"clutch" situations shot right back up reminiscent of last season.

I'm not a huge fan of this metric or of the word "clutch" because if somebody is having the kind of season that Alex Rodriguez is having, he's without question helping his team win ball games. Still, to have the MVP caliber season that he's having and to have a WPA so low is telling of just how bad he's performed in high leverage situations this season.

Given these numbers, can you say that A-Rod is an "unclutch" player? Absolutely not, because in high leverage situations last year he was tops in the league.

I'm rambling now, but basically put:

You can't say A-Rod is an unclutch player because he's been as clutch as they come every other year. You also can't say he's a clutch player because he's been as unclutch as they come every other year.

I just woke up to this..my eyes!

Can you explain the curve ball next?

Posted by: min0 lee

I still prefer Jeter when it matters the most.
You can turn blue and come out with all the stats in the world but when you watch them day in day out, see and hear them you'll learn too appreciate him.
Stats wise A-Rod is a monster compared to Jeter.....

Posted by: I Are Baboon

Quote:

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

Quote:

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

Also,

the Yankees demise last season had little to do with Alex Rodriguez. The entire team struggled and as much as Yankee fans want to deny this, Derek Jeter was the worst player on that team last year in the playoffs.

IMO, the A-Rod hate stems from the fact that Jeter is such a respected Yankee. Given that A-Rod is twice the ball player that Jeter ever was, given that they played the same position and Rodriguez was better both offensively and defensively when originally coming over, etc. it makes sense that the New York media would (once again) paint Rodriguez as such a villain.

It happened with Maris/Mantle, and the Jeter/Rodriguez situation isn't very different.

Quote:

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

Final thing before my class begins.

Looking at Derek Jeter' baseball reference page, the top players that compare to him in terms of numbers are Barry Larkin, Alan Trammell, Ray Durham, Ryne Sandberg and Roberto Alomar.

I'm not trying to take anything away from Derek Jeter, but if he hadn't been drafted by the Yankees, had Jeremy Giambi slid into homeplate in the ALDS years ago, etc. there is not one single chance we're talking about a nine time all-star here.

More than likely he'd be a very dynamic ball player who was tossed from team to team every 4-5 years, never won a World Series and made about half of the $140 million dollars he's made over the course of his career.

I need a beer.

Posted by: min0 lee

A-Rod is a great player and we are very lucky to have him, some fans don't deserve him at all.
I was suprised to see him return after all the crap the media and then the fans put him through.
But when people critize a player like Jeter who is well respected around the league, fans and the media.
Who is one of the classiest players around who has proved himself in the playoffs.....I can't just talk bad about him.

Sure he's let me down , but what player hasn't.

Jeter status as the Captain of the NY Yankees is well deserved.

I'm going back to sleep, my other half will take over.

Posted by: min0 lee

Quote:

Originally Posted by I Are Baboon

I need a beer.

Posted by: soxmuscle

No baseball obsessed people?

Damn.

Posted by: min0 lee

I was driving this mourning and heard Mike & Mike make fun of Mr. Clutch, it's not just a NY thing.

Have you seen a Yankee game besides the Yank-Bosox games?

Posted by: min0 lee

A-Rod reaches a milestone of his own

Quote:

A-Rod's eighth-inning home run was his 35th of the season, giving him 11 straight seasons of 35 or more homers and 12 in his career (1996, 1998-2008), tying Babe Ruth for the most such seasons all-time and passing Hank Aaron and Mike Schmidt. He called the accomplishment "very humbling."

Posted by: min0 lee

Quote:

Jeter played in his 1,000th game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, joining only four other Yankees. With only four games remaining, Jeter will finish behind Mickey Mantle (1,213), Lou Gehrig (1,080), Yogi Berra (1,068) and Bernie Williams (1,039) for career games played at Yankee Stadium. ... Jeter is bidding farewell to the ballpark in style, hitting .444 (32-for-72) over his past 18 games at Yankee Stadium since Aug. 1, with 11 multihit games. ... Phil Coke has not allowed a run in his first seven Major League appearances (10 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 SO). ... The Yankees will welcome 102-year-old Emilio "Millito" Navarro to Yankee Stadium on Thursday, the first Puerto Rican to play in the Negro Leagues and the oldest living professional baseball player. Navarro was selected by the Yankees in MLB's 2008 Special Negro League Draft on June 5.

Posted by: min0 lee

By Wright Thompson
ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- Four hours before the last game at Yankee Stadium began, I walked through the low-ceilinged innards of the place, winding past the clubhouse, finally catching the attention of a worker. I asked him if he could show me what insiders call the Gehrig room, one of the many legends that will be lost when the wrecking balls tear down 85 years of baseball history.
He motioned for me to follow.
"Don't tell," he says. "I'm not supposed to show you."
At the end of a hallway is room BS-003, filled with broken seats, miscellaneous chair parts, paper towels and a motorized cart. Once, it had another purpose. When Lou Gehrig was dying, in his last season, he needed a sanctuary. The story goes that he, too, followed the narrow tunnels until he came here, alone, to this room. A small mural is painted on a post near where he used to sit. "Yankee Captains Forever," it says. The mural will die with the ballpark.
The room will be destroyed soon.
All of this will.
*****
No place renews itself like New York, where sentiment doesn't impede commerce. Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds are both housing projects. Toots Shor's, the nightclub where Mantle and DiMaggio held court, now holds offices. An entire New York, the New York of Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Cannon, has almost vanished forever. Yankee Stadium was one of the last artifacts left.

Fans, most armed with digital cameras, get one last tour of Monument Park.
"There are so many people who get that we've lost something very valuable," says Kristi Jacobson, moviemaker and granddaughter of Shor, the famous saloonkeeper. "I don't think people have ever gotten over those losses."
The classy hotel where the Yankees stayed in the Bronx, the Concourse Plaza -- built the same year as Yankee Stadium -- was abandoned and is now a housing project for the elderly. It is where Don Larsen lived when he threw his perfect game in the World Series. FDR and JFK campaigned here. Now, the grand ballroom has been gutted and turned into a courtyard.
On Sunday afternoon, old men played dominoes where they could see the blue seats of the ballpark.
Nearby, resident Gene Williams stood in the vestibule, where celebrities once walked after stepping out of limousines. He would hang out across the street from the hotel and stare. "Marilyn Monroe slept upstairs," he says. "'The House That Ruth Built' brought 'em all. Mink shawls. Mrs. Ruth herself. Oh, those were the good days. Those were the good days."
That, of course, was why everyone came out Sunday. To remember a time gone by. Fans arrived early, turning the few blocks around the stadium into a zoo. Scalpers congregated on the corner of East 161st Street and River Avenue. A policeman walked through them, putting his arm theatrically over his eyes. The scalpers laughed. So did the cop. On this day, dogs and cats were friends.
A car circled the stadium, the man inside taking it all in. It was Bernie Williams, a Bronx legend who hadn't been back to the park since the team told him he was no longer wanted two years ago. On Sunday, he returned home. Before going inside, he wanted to see and remember. "Concrete doesn't talk back to you," Williams says. "Chairs don't talk to you. It's the people. That's what makes this place magical."
On this day, the fans finally got something in return: pregame access to the warning track and area near the green grass of the field. Dusty handprints covered the outfield wall as people pressed their palms up against it. Richard Gere posed for a photo with Paul O'Neill. A father and son stood in Monument Park, trying to take a picture by the DiMaggio marker. The dad, old and nearing the end, used the granite to steady himself as he slowly inched himself around. Then both men grinned like neither had a care in the world.
Near Gate 6, Rob Kerr walked with his brother toward the entrance. Rob proposed to his wife 22 years ago in parking lot 13.
"This will be the last time that we go in this place," he says. "I may cry tonight."

Willie Randolph raises his hands, but it was a triumphant return for all of the former Yankees.
Beneath the stadium, former players came back one last time. Inside the clubhouse, Goose Gossage talked to Carl Pavano. Hideki Matsui looked up from an autograph he was signing to find Williams standing at his locker. Matsui was genuinely thrilled, putting down the baseball, rising and grinning. Williams bowed. Matsui gave his old friend a hug. Reggie Jackson wandered around. So did Don Larsen, and Whitey Ford, and Dave Winfield.
Some of those who are no longer here were represented by family members. During the pregame ceremony, with the full-throated tribute of the crowd, David Mantle trotted to center field, where he was joined by Kay Murcer, the widow of Yankee great Bobby Murcer, who died two months ago of brain cancer at 62. The fans understood that this was a moment when they could show a grieving family how much it was loved. It began to chant "Bob-by Mur-cer," over and over, louder and louder, until the old ballpark was shaking. David Mantle pulled Kay close and the two hugged. The crowd went nuts.
As the first pitch approached, everyone was emotional. Yogi Berra, wearing his old flannel uniform, seemed to tear up. He's one of the few left. Mantle's gone. Drank himself to death. Billy Martin died in a pickup truck crash. DiMaggio's dead. Maris is, too. So many of Yogi's friends are. This was a place where he could commune with them. Now that's gone, too.
"I'm sorry to see it go," he says. "I really do."
The woman who threw out that first pitch perhaps summed up the mood best. Julia Ruth Stevens is 92 years old, and a hip broken several years ago keeps her in a wheelchair a lot of the time. But she walked out to the field and bounced one to Jorge Posada, connecting with one throw the breadth of Yankee history. To her, Babe Ruth wasn't a fictional character or the genesis of an adjective. To her, he was Dad, and even now, she misses him. Seeing this ballpark torn down is personal to her but, after nine decades, she understands a thing or two about mortality. Nothing lasts forever.
"I guess like all things," she says, "it has come to its final days, as we all do."
*****
When the game began, the crowd settled in to watch the action. The electricity would come later. High up in Tier Reserve 33, Row R, a 33-year-old woman named Elizabeth Duncan sat with her husband, Jon. The people around her had no idea, but she, too, had a special connection with this place. A few stories down, the clubhouse is named for her grandfather, Pete Sheehy. He ran the clubhouse for almost 60 years. He fixed bicarbonate sodas for Ruth, half-cups of coffee for DiMaggio, took care of Mantle and Jackson and Mattingly. It wasn't until he died that his family knew what he meant to so many legends.

Mariano Rivera collects dirt from the mound, where he was part of many memorable moments.
At the funeral Duncan sat next to Billy Martin, who wept the entire time. DiMaggio himself came. In the years that followed, when they'd need a little Yankee magic, she and her sister would call on Pete, whispering "Come on, Grandpa, save us."
"I can definitely feel his presence," she says.
I ask if she thinks his presence will follow the team across the street.
"I hope so," she says.
She doesn't sound convinced.
She returned to her seat, and the action flew by. It seemed like the game had just started when the sound system began to play "Enter Sandman" for the final time, ushering Mariano Rivera in. He made quick work of the Orioles, and at 11:41 p.m. ET, the final game at Yankee Stadium ended.
*****
Only then did it become clear what this night meant. Sinatra's "New York, New York" kicked in; it would play in a continuous loop for nearly the next half-hour. Fans didn't leave. They didn't sit down. They snapped photographs, and cheered for their favorite players. Orioles and Yankees alike began scooping up cupfuls of the dirt.
Then Derek Jeter walked to the center of the field with a microphone. For the first time all day, someone with the Yankees put words to the emotions. He urged those standing in the old ballpark around him not to forget. A building was being torn down, not the events that had happened there. The love, and the joy -- all of that didn't exist in concrete, but rather deep inside a person. "The great thing about memories," he says, "is you're able to pass them along from generation to generation."
The place was quiet.

Derek Jeter and the rest of the Yankees saluted the crowd and bid a fond farewell to the stadium.
"There are a few things about the New York Yankees that will never change," he says.
That's when one lone fan screamed in response: "Boston sucks!"
When Jeter finished addressing the crowd, he led the team on a lap around the stadium, waving to the fans. Everyone seemed to realize this was really the end, and -- as if regressing to the first time they fell in love with Yankee Stadium -- turned into children again.
Mariano Rivera dug a big scoopful of dirt from the mound. He gathered his entire family for a photo atop it.
"I will miss this mound," he says.
Bernie Williams walked with his family toward center field. He's missed it out there, too: the way the grass feels, the way the crowd chants your name. The Bleacher Creatures didn't disappoint. "Ber-nie Will-iams." Over and over again. He waved and pumped his fist. His family didn't stop smiling. They were all there, together, finally. Bernie, like most of the Yankees, took a cup of dirt, too.

The Bleacher Creatures were still hanging around, not wanting to go home an hour after the game.
More than a half-hour after the last out, the public-address system crackled to life once more, asking everyone to leave. Few people moved. Again, the voice boomed out over the stadium.
There have been many, many words spoken in Yankee Stadium. Rockne may or may not have said "Win one for The Gipper." Gehrig said he was the luckiest man on the face of the earth. A sick Ruth broke down after giving his farewell speech and wept in front of a friend, saying "I'm gone." Nelson Mandela stood here after being released from prison and said "I am a Yankee." But after 85 years, these were the last words: "Once again, ladies and gentlemen, please clear the stands. Arrive home safely. We'll see you in the new Yankee Stadium. Good night."
About an hour later, as the Major League Baseball authenticators placed holograms on home plate, the pitching rubber and the final ball, and New York City cops put dirt in popcorn bags and pretended to pitch from the mound, the lights began to go off, row by row, a popping noise accompanying each advancing beachhead of darkness.
*****
Three hours after the last game at Yankee Stadium ended, I walked through the 3 a.m. New York streets. There was one more place I wanted to see. It didn't take long to arrive at West 51st, the sky getting brighter the closer I got to Times Square.
The night was dead. New York had gone to bed, and the only sounds were of pressure sprayers cleaning up Sunday, getting everything ready for Monday. Crossing Sixth Avenue near Radio City Music Hall, with four or five homeless people sleeping in the doorways, I was close.
Then I saw it.
It was a bank now: 51 West 51st Street. A small plaque gave the story -- the original site of Toots Shor's. There were two cars parked on this side of the street. When Yankee Stadium was in its prime, this block would have been packed with taxis and limos. But that was in the past, left for stories in books and the fading memories of those old enough to have lived it.
The players were all somewhere else, and the team's former hotel was a housing project, and Mick and the Clipper and Toots were all gone, and Yankee Stadium was going to be torn down. A block away, a man parked his hot-dog cart on the corner. New York was already waking up. Tomorrow had arrived.

Posted by: P-funk

that game shouldn't have even been on prime time TV...how boring!

Seriously...who the fuck cares! The yanks aren't in the playoff picutre. they sucked this year and they were playing baltimore. Why even put that shit on TV? just because it is the skankees....i hate that team.

Posted by: tucker01

Quote:

Originally Posted by P-funk

that game shouldn't have even been on prime time TV...how boring!

Seriously...who the fuck cares! The yanks aren't in the playoff picutre. they sucked this year and they were playing baltimore. Why even put that shit on TV? just because it is the skankees....i hate that team.

They knew no one would be watching anyway. I mean seriously... the cowboys and packers were on.

Posted by: min0 lee

This is the closest the Indians will ever get to the World Series.

Posted by: min0 lee

Ok....guess thats it...
Last one out turn off them lights..........

Posted by: min0 lee

OOps....Before I forget....Congrats on the Bosox, Rays and the Angels.

Posted by: soxmuscle

Hank yet again:

Quote:

-- On the divisional setup: "... If you want to talk about things that infuriate me about the game today, revenue sharing doesn't top the list. The biggest problem is the divisional setup in major league baseball. I didn't like it in the 1970s, and I hate it now. Baseball went to a multidivision setup to create more races, rivalries and excitement. But it isn't fair. You see it this season, with plenty of people in the media pointing out that Joe Torre and the Dodgers are going to the playoffs while we're not. This is by no means a knock on Torre -- let me make that clear--but look at the division they're in. If L.A. were in the A.L. East, it wouldn't be in the playoff discussion. The A.L. East is never weak."

-- On Joe Torre: "I'm happy for Joe, but you have to compare the divisions and the competition. What if the Yankees finish the season with more wins than the Dodgers but the Dodgers make the playoffs? Does that make the Dodgers a better team? No."

-- On his case for the divisional setup not being good for the game: "Go back to the 2006 season. St. Louis winning the World Series -- that was ridiculous. The Cardinals won their division with 83 wins -- two fewer than the Phillies, who missed the postseason. People will say the Cardinals were the best team because they won the World Series. Well, no, they weren't. They just got hot at the right time. They didn't even belong in the playoffs. And neither does a team from the N.L. West this season."

Quote:

A few points: The last Yankees team that won the World Series had 87 wins. There were eight other teams in baseball with more wins that season. So apparently the Yankees weren’t the best team that season, they just got hot at the right time, right Hank? I guess the Yankees should give that trophy back.

Do a little more research Hank, you fucking dope.

Posted by: soxmuscle

Girardi lies yet again

Quote:

I’ll try to explain this as simply as I can.

Before the game, Joe Girardi told us that Mariano Rivera went back to New York to get his standard end-of-the-season physical. He wasn’t going to pitch anyway, the manager said, because he had a “cranky body.”

Girardi was asked several times and in several ways whether Rivera had an injury to his elbow and shoulder. He denied it every time. The questions were very exact. “He said his whole body was cranky,” Girardi said.

Quote:

This made no sense. Rivera lives in New York all year, he can get his physical any time. Why leave now? I’ve never once heard of a player leaving a road trip to get a “standard physical.” Beyond that, this is Mariano Rivera. It made sense to check this out.

Most of the writers called Brian Cashman. The GM said the Rivera complained about a sore shoulder after Tuesday’s game and was sent back to New York to get an MRI. The Yankees wanted to make sure their closer is OK. Cashman said he isn’t too concerned but was waiting to get the results of the MRI.

Cashman said it was not a standard physical. The New York Times, meanwhile, is reporting that Rivera could need surgery.

After the game today, Girardi stuck to the “cranky body” story and denied that Rivera ever said his shoulder hurt, which contradicts what his boss said. Let’s assume for a second that this is true. If you were the manager of the Yankees and Rivera came to you and said he had a “cranky body” wouldn’t you ask him what was wrong? It is Mariano Rivera, after all. So either Girardi is not telling the truth or he’s irresponsible.

Quote:

Girardi got contentious when asked about his misleading statements, slamming his fist down on his desk. It’s similar to what happened earlier this season when Phil Hughes, Brian Bruney, Chien-Ming Wang and Jorge Posada got hurt. Girardi’a first inclination is to be misleading.

It has gotten to the point where team officials now apologize to reporters for the manager’s actions. Nobody is sure why he does it because he gets caught every time.

The LoHud Yankees Blog

Posted by: soxmuscle

This team is screwed.

Posted by: min0 lee

Quote:

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

Girardi lies yet again

The LoHud Yankees Blog

This looks like they are over reacting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

This team is screwed.

They always are, but they will be there....trust me.
This is not the end of the Yankees despite what the doom sayers say

Posted by: min0 lee

Mike Mussina wins 20 games for first time as Yankees beat Red Sox, 6-2

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2008 New York Yankees

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