Replacement Level Yankees Weblog

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by Larry Mahnken

If only they had faced Sele in the ALDS last season, we might be talking about the defending World Champion New York Yankees...

I wouldn't place too much emphasis on the performance of the Yankees tonight, since they were facing a pitcher who they've beaten several times. I'm also not going to go out and say Soriano's out of his slump because he went 2/4 with a homer and triple. What is encouraging is that he took two balls deep to left field, which does give me hope that he'll be back in a groove by Monday, when the games really count.

Steve Karsay has suffered another "setback", and might be out for the season at this rate. In the past three seasons, the Yankees have let Stanton, Mendoza and Nelson leave as free agents. Nelson's departure probably cost them the title in 2001, and while Stanton and Mendoza have had their struggles, they certainly appear more dependable than the motley bunch in the pen this season. The Yankees are certain to go out and get more relief somewhere, but they haven't traded for a quality bullpen arm since Graeme Lloyd, so I don't have much faith that they'll plug the holes. Someone needs to step up.

Today was my last day of classes for the semester, and having no exams, I can now look forward to having the rest of the summer off. Well, I do need to get a second job--Wegmans doesn't pay much--and I really need a roommate. If anyone from the Rochester area is reading this and wants to share a place with an annoyingly obsessive Yankees fan, send me an email.

With school out of the way for now, I'm looking forward to having the day off from work without some important project stressing me out and eliminating my leisure time. Fortunately, Moneyball arrives in the mail tomorrow, so I'll lounge around and read that tomorrow afternoon. In the evening, I'll watch the game, unless it gets rained out (which I will become extremely bitter about should it happen). I'll also be able to spend the day reading most of the threads on Primer and rec.sport.baseball, which I haven't had the opportunity to do in quite a while. Maybe spend a while talking online to the lovely lady who I'm trying to get with (who is most definitely out of my league), more likely spend a longer while complaining online to my other friends about how my efforts to get with this lady are coming to naught. And perhaps embarrasingly trying to account for my talking about her on a weblog she is not entirely unlikely to take a glance at, thus revealing all my evil plans for her.

She will be mine. Ahh, yes. She will be mine.

Hey, I stopped talking about baseball, didn't I? Sorry about that...

There was an interesting post on Baseball Writing today about Giambi's slump. Joe posits the theory that Giambi's performance has declined because he's not getting pitched around in New York like he was in Oakland. That might make some sense, he was walked intentionally 24 times in 2001, only 4 times last season. But David Grabiner wrote an essay some time ago that basically shows that protection has little effect on a batter's hitting ability. I find it unlikely that someone of Giambi's obvious skill would be unable to hit more hittable pitches, and consider it much more likely that his struggles are a result of an early decline, as many predicted, as well as a combination of the knee injury and staph infection, and maybe a genuine slump thrown in for good measure. The latter two will pass, the former not so much. Giambi will probably be one of the better hitters in the league again once his injuries heal, but it's legitimate to question how effective he will be in the next few seasons. With the luxury tax in effect, the Yankees can't really eat salaries like they used to, unless they really are going to make $200 million a year from the YES network. I have a sinking feeling that the Giambi and Jeter contracts are going to keep the Yankees from being able to hold onto either Soriano or Johnson when they come up for free agency, maybe both (I'm guessing Soriano, as he'll probably sign for $20 million+).

So Rocket goes for 299 tomorrow night--maybe. The forecast calls for showers throughout the day, but it should slow to a drizzle by gametime. Hopefully the field will be in good enough condition to play (although I have a feeling the Yankees aren't too eager to get this one in). I for one would like to see Clemens win 300 at Fenway, because it would be appropriate, and it would be interesting to see if they boo or cheer him. If they cheer him, then they deserve to see their old hero reach the milestone in front of him, and if they boo him, they deserve to see their old hero beat their team. So, you can't go wrong either way.

--posted at 11:15 PM by Larry Mahnken / |

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