Thursday, May 7, 2009

Thoughts on A.J. Burnett, Mark Teixeira, and Jerry Remy

I wasn't feeling well last night. I'm afraid I'm coming down with a cold after that evening in the rain at Monday's game. Maybe it's Swine Flu. (Or Swan Flu, as Squawker Jon joked to me!)

And I was also bummed over hearing that Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy has lung cancer. I'm a big fan of him - his sense of humor is refreshing. Get well soon, RemDawg!

Anyhow, after all this, the end of the game was even more of a downer. The Yanks came so close, and it looked like they were going to win this game. So much for that.

Michael Kay and the YES clip guys were all ready for Mark Teixeira to have his so-called True Yankee moment last night - the legendary big hit that fans would remember him for. He did get a pretty big hit in the rain to drive in three runs in the eighth inning. But it didn't rise to the "Jason Giambi grand slam" moment, because and Teixeira failed in his next at-bat, and the Yanks ended up losing the game.

I do think that waiting and pushing for this True Yankee moment is a bit much, though. It puts a lot of pressure on the guy.

Other than one mistake, A.J. Burnett pitched pretty well last night. I'm very impressed with his demeanor - and his pitching.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Despite Dave Eiland the starting pitching will get better, the pen needs changes and the offense needs confidence. NY has some of the best players in the game but are not playing like that. Eiland and Long need to be replaced and if that doesn't help Girardi as well. Hitters will have peaks and valleys as will the pitchers, but having hitting and pitching coaches that never played at the major league level start to tinker with thier approaches is stupid. Hey-- CC and AJ, I was a minor league pitcher--listen to me how to get better. Hey-- Mark T. you need to change this or that, and I know I was a minor league bust that never played major league ball, listen to me! How dumb is that.

Ryan O said...

MANNY BUSTED...you should have 3 months of material to go on from this Lisa.

Im sure your already furiously writing now

The Emperor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Emperor said...

First of all, Lisa, get well soon! God forbid it's swine flu. Don't even joke about that - and get checked out!

I know it's still very early in the season, and we have a couple of very important guys on the DL, but our pitching - in spite of the rather high ERA on CC and AJ - has not been that terrible. They definitely would've had more wins if only our offense wasn't so inconsistent these past couple of weeks.

Also, our pitchers could pitch better games if they were more relaxed and confident that the offense would give them some run support, but when you're always behind trying to catch up and keep the other team at 1 or 2 runs all the time all game long, really that's very difficult to do.

Once our offense gets going and we get A-Rod and Posada back, hopefully the rest of the line up will pick up and it's time for Tex to start getting hot now. It's already May.

Paul from Boston said...

I called it first! (well to my friends anyway). Checking scores on my phone while out watching too many different games and I saw based loaded with Teixeira at the plate and I said here comes the true Yankee moment. I was close. Sure it didn't happen again in the 10th, but there were 8 other batters in between who could have made something happen too.

Unrelated...am I the only one a little tickled by today's news? Since McCourt seems to think LA is a small market - hope the Dodgers were smart enough to put a clause around PEDs in Manny's contract and save some dough!

Paul from Boston said...

P.S. Feel better Lisa!!!

Lisa Swan said...

First thought on the Manny news was that Jose Canseco was right again!
Second was that Squawker Jon and myself have noticed (and so has reader acapelad) that every time talk about some player being such a workout warrior and hard worker (A-Rod, Bonds, Clemens, Manny), they end up testing positive for steroids.

Anonymous said...

I've been kind of thinking the same thing as the previous poster regarding both the pitching and hitting coaches. I know that Stottlemeyer is back home in Seattle, but I am not at all impressed with Dave Eiland. I'm sure there is someone else better out there than him(David Wells (j/k)). Kevin Long doesn't float my boat either he will never replace Chris Chambliss for me but to be fair, Chambliss had better overall players to work with during the his time with the Yankees.
One question that I'm surprised hasn't been asked about last nights game.Mariano had not pitched in six days and he struck out the side in the top of the ninth but he wasn't sent out to face batters in the 10th inning. Now I am not second guessing because Coke gave up the homerun; but I've watched enough Rays/Yankee games to know that Pena has had a hard time hitting Mo. So why not at least send him out against Pena who is the Rays biggest HR threat (and is the leading MLB in homeruns?) Back in Boston, Girardi sent Mo in to pitch in the bottom of the 8th against(that didn't work out as we all know)but Girardi should know the history Pena has against MO. Phil Coke is OK but he's not MO. Sometimes you've got to play the percentages versus match-ups. I just hope that if it happens again tonight Joe will get it right this time and keep Mo in to pitch to Pena or Ryan Howard for that matter.

Anonymous said...

In light of the Manny news...
Only 102 more names to go!


Jeanne

NAM said...

Manny busted. Good. You get what you pay for and I am grateful that the Sox got rid of him. I can't pretend I didn't enjoy most of his time with the Red Sox, but he was so awful at the end. And I hate the steriod use and all its implications. This is why the list should be released. We should all know the ugly truth and deal with at once rather than piece meal. Maybe Manny was using just to get back to the game faster but maybe he's been using for years. Is there really any way to keep the game clean?

nutballgazette said...

2004 and 2007 is tainted now.

Get well Jerry Remy. You make watching a Red Sox Game fun to watch even to this Yankee fan

The Emperor said...

Manny testing positive doesn't come as any surprise. It's like I said before: every team has or had players that juiced. The Yankees are still the highest profile team, so they get the majority of the focus and media coverage.

I wish the Yanks weren't the highest profile team, though. Not anymore. These past few years the Yanks have created a monster even they cannot take down, and all the publicity they elicit does more harm than good over the long haul.

NAM said...

Remy is the best. He represents all the good things about baseball. I enjoy their baseball banter while they call the game. Get well soon Remy!

Uncle Mike said...

When I was a kid, Jerry Remy was one of the guys I hated because he drove the Yankees nuts. As did his double play partner, Rick Burleson. They were the kinds of players championship teams have. The Red Sox just full one starter short at the time, though, and never found him. But every so often, I'd turn on Channel 11 for a Yanks-Sox game and see Remy on base, or see a Yankee hit a ground ball right to him, and say, "Oh, no, not HIM again!"

But he turned out to be a terrific guy, unlike George Brett, a player I'd still like to strangle 30 years later. Get well, Jerry.

Red Auerbach smokes all those cigars and fleeces just about every owner in the NBA and lives to be 89; Remy gets cancer at 56. Sometimes there's no justice.

Mark Teixeira starts to get his act together, A.J. Burnett keeps the Yankees in it, and Mariano Rivera is put in position to be the winning pitcher. And then... Sometimes there's no justice.

And then we have the case of Manny Being Juiced. Sometimes justice takes baby steps. It's not Schilling or Ortiz (or Beckett or even Youkilis), but it makes the point all Yankee Fans were thinking: The Red Sox were tainted, and can no longer accuse the Yankees of "cheating" without it boomeranging onto them.

Now, if we can just find the proof, not just the already-known rumor, on that smug Piazza...

The Emperor said...

I also want to wish Jerry Remy a quick recovery and to get well very soon.

Anonymous said...

I am not a Sox fan, but I don't understand how anyone can say the Sox were tainted, or their 04 and 07 championships are tainted. He passed his tests back then obviously.

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