Sadness

[milky_way]

Shawn Chacon and Chien Ming Wang have looked bloody horrible in 4 combined starts :(

Still early, but still sad to see our 2005 martyrs getting murdered by the Kansas City Royals :( :(

[Yankeesfan27]

It's April for god sake's! The Yankees NEVER do good in April!

[milky_way]

That's not true. We owned April like no one's busines in 2003 :D

They'll be okay, but them sucking in unison is a first since all they did last year was consistently bail us out of crazy situations.

Perhaps Aaron Small needs to come off the DL for thier complete mojo to work ;)

[Yankeesfan27]

I'm not worried at all. Chacon will find his groove. Wang needs to work on keeping the ball down and continue to make guys ground out.

[Durango53]

Dont worry to much about Chacon. It takes him a game or two to get it going. It always had when he was with the Rox.

[Royce]

At least our offense can hit now.

[RollingWave]

Was this worse than last year's start really?

Chacon's K/9 is up significantly and Wang seems on and off between innings. one inning he's pitching even better than last year the other he's pitching like batting practice.

On the bright side.
1.none of the losses were really "out of control blown away off the start and never recover" type that was typical of a Kevin Brown start last year...

2.Damon is hitting well.. Yankees finally have a real lead off guy.

3.The biggest difference between this year and last is that now they have a real bull pen and some reliable contingency plans for starting pitchers... last year they scrambled only after realizing Kevin Brown is junk and Pavano / Wright going down fast with injuries.. and they had what was basically a void in the bullpen until Gordan and Rivera...

The only position that really still give me irks is Bernie DHing.. for all the love of him.. letting him full time DH is just a waste when you have several other guys that need to rotate on it and a very slow corner outfield + a unreliable first base... Phillips and Crosby are both major defensive upgrades if they sub for Sheff/ Matuis/Giambi (espically Giambi) .. and they really couldn't possibly hit worse than Bernie is at the moment not to meantion have more speed.

[milky_way]

I agree w/ the bullpen...I'm definitely lovin the Mike Myers acquisition :banana:

[Yankeesfan27]

Well, Bernie had a big hit two days ago. Sure the guy could be doing better, but personal I wouldn't want to take the bat out of his hands and give it to somebody else. The only thing I would do is have Giambi DH and Phillips play 1B. That way you have a upgrade both ways. If you just straight up take the bat out of Bernie's hand and give it to Phillips making him the DH that would be a downgrade. But again thats just my personal opinion.

[milky_way]

Wait, if you're having Jason DH, how exactly is Bernie in the lineup? :confused:

[Yankeesfan27]

He wouldn't be. I'd out in Phillips to play 1B. Bernie would only be a PH.

[milky_way]

Oooh. Yeah I'd agree with that. I think we should use that lineup whenever we face a lefty or when Wang pitches.

[Yankeesfan27]

Yep. Gotta mix things up.

[PopTop]

The Yankees NEVER do good in April!How long have you followed the team, one year?!

1998: 17-6 (.739)
1999: 14-7 (.667)
2000: 15-8 (.652)
2002: 17-10 (.622)
2003: 21-6 (.777)

[Yankeesfan27]

I had been hearing that they never have/had. Maybe by never they meant last year. I dunno.

What was the record in 2001?

[milky_way]

We've bombed April for the past two years (REALLY bombed it last year), but it's not a trend like the way we always bomb spring training. As I posted earlier, we were untouchable in 2003. Must have been Eric Almonte :D

The 01 Yanks were 14-12 in April.

[Yankeesfan27]

Isn't Almonte in the Padres organization now?

[Royce]

:laff: Eric Almonte couldn't catch a freakin' pop up; him and Nick Johnson were the masters of butchering shallow fly balls.

[PopTop]

What was the record in 2001?Pinstripers were 14-12 in April 2001. I just went back the last 10 seasons and listed the five times they played .600 or better in the opening month.

[milky_way]

:laff: Eric Almonte couldn't catch a freakin' pop up; him and Nick Johnson were the masters of butchering shallow fly balls.
Erick Almonte was the bomb! I loved him! :laff: He had an OPS in the 700s while Jeter was out; he was like Christmas, except for his 80 errors :D

[Yankeesfan27]

He was alright. The only reason we weren't horrible was because the whole team was playing great.

[JACKIE42]

Erick Almonte was the bomb! I loved him! :laff: He had an OPS in the 700s while Jeter was out; he was like Christmas, except for his 80 errors :D

He could'nt make it with the Nippon Ham Fighters, last year.

Thursday, March 23, 2006
Former Major Leaguer Erick Almonte Joins Long Island Ducks
Filed under: Atlantic League— Toby @ 11:27 pm
Shortstop Erick Almonte (TheBaseballCube), a veteran of 39 Major League games with the Yankees has signed to play for the Long Island Ducks during the 2006 season.

“Erick is a great addition to our team,” says Ducks general manager Michael Hirsch. “He has experienced success playing in both the Yankees’ and Rockies’ organizations and we expect him to bring that same level of play to Long Island.”

Almonte, 28, hit .269-1-11 in 104 at bats with the Yankees in 2001 and 2003. In 827 minor league games, he’s hit .265-89-427. In 2004 he hit .318-17-74 for Colorado Springs and spent the 2005 season with the Nippon Ham Fighters hitting .193-3-8 in 88 at bats.

[Yankeesfan27]

He's done.

[RollingWave]

Well, it's 3rd times the charm for Wang as he threw 7 full innings and gave up 2 runs (1 earned ) on 7 hits and 1 error, and he had a new career high strike out of 8 and backed by incrediable defense (on the infield at least) along with a hitting explosino (Giambi belts 2 homer including a upper deck, A-rod hit's 3rd of the year and Cano have he's first) the Yanks cruise to a 9:3 victory.


Wang was in real control of he's pitches espically in the later innings, and seem to ressurected he's long lost slider and mixed in a few split finger and breaking balls also.. while still keeping most of the balls on the ground. (quiet of few of the Twin's hits were the artifical turf or home plate mile high chopper type) The great defense along with the Twins bad running decisions also gave him some help.

:banana: :banana: :banana:
Guess now the Yanks have 3 pitchers ready for their rotation, now it's your turn to settle in Chacon.... who made a brief relief appearance in the 8th but still having some trouble, hopefully like Wang he will work into it soon.

God forbid we could at least salvage another starter from Small /Wright/Pavano ....Wright's first start was the ugliest Yankee start so far as he couldn't finish the 4th inning and used up the bullpen (luckily Wang pitched 7 the next day) Small is healthy now but still need to finish he's spring training stuff to get back into form, while Pavano god forbid might actually pitch in a game before some other wacko injury happens

[nlmouth]

It is nice that we have a lead off man now except, it would be nice for Jeter to stop hitting into DP's and advance Damon around the horn a bit, no?

The Yankees still have a long way to go, and need to stop allowing 3-4 runs in just one of the first few innings. It always seems to be like that, right?

And Bernie Williams needs to be benched, or just retire, or whatever. Sure, he did OK in the first couple of series'. But honestly, With Giambi hitting the way he does, Bernie should hand over the DH spot to him and Let Bubba or Andy Phillips get some playtime. The Yankees of the 90's are long gone... It is time to set some sights on the future of the ball club, which certainly doesn't include Bernie in 2-3 years.

[Yankeesfan27]

Like I've already said before. I would not take the bat out of Bernie's hands and give it to Phillips. He struck out 3 times in 4 at bats the day before yesterday.

And on terms of Jeter. You must be f*cking blind man. Jeter is hitting .340 and has 12 RBIs.

And not to mention the turf helped the Twins out a bit in all three games, mainly the second.

[milky_way]

And on terms of Jeter. You must be f*cking blind man.
Relax, or I will become B!tchMod :)

Jetes has GIDP'd 3 times, tied for most on the team, but he has an OPS of 1.000 so he's been on my good side.

I second nlmouth, Bernie needs to be benched. He's done, and the longer Torre keeps him in the lineup the more apparent and the more painful it will be :ugh:. Put Phillips in at 1B, or if Giambi is so uncomfortable at DH, slot Phillips in there. Andy's got a grand total of 6 AB this year, hardly enough to say he'll be worse than Bernie.

[Yankeesfan27]

I'm pretty sure Torre will switch them up. We all know that Bernie isn't the full time DH.

[RollingWave]

After the first 2 series i too thought bernie shoulda been benched, but seeing a bit more I think i've changed my mind.

Bernie had a slow start, but he is hitting a lot better now, granted he wasn't the sure bet all star hitter he once was, he is still a great hitter for the 9 hole.

On the other hand Andy Phillips have not hit that well with he's chances so far.

While it makes sense to which around this veteran team in the DH, I think Bernie is still good enough for a bat . and he is usually a slow starter... from the stats he's already posting up he might turn out better than people expected.

The Yanks really just need to have Shawn Chacon start putting up consistent outtings and they should be all set to explode.

Wang always seems to get those good turn around wins for the Yanks though.