Clueless Joe Lives On

Joe Torre hasn't changed. Two things marked the end of his tenure with the Yankees: sloppy baseball and exhausted relievers. Both of these things obviously carried over into his Dodgers career. The key play in the Yankees' comeback win Sunday night was the groundball hit by Colin Curtis to Dodgers first baseman James Loney. There was one out in the ninth inning and the Dodgers were up 6-5. The Yankees had runners on first and third. Curtis hit a grounder to Loney, who stepped on first before he threw to the plate to try to get speedy Curtis Granderson before he crossed the plate. Loney should either have tried for the 3-4-3 (or 3-6-3) double play or thrown immediately to the plate to prevent Granderson from scoring.

As far as exhausted relievers, Dodgers closer Jonathon Broxton threw 19 pitches in 1.1 innings on Saturday when the Dodgers were up by five runs. He then proceeded to throw 48 pitches in an inning on Sunday - the Dodgers were ahead by four runs. 67 pitches over two days in non-save situations.

Ned Colletti (the Dodgers GM) probably called up Brian Cashman before Broxton even finished pitching Sunday night. Who knows? There might be some "Broxton Rules" in Torre's future.

Hydra
6-4-3 double play... Ballgame over! Yankees win! Theeeeeee Yankees win!

Chan Ho (Out of the) Park

Chan Ho Park came into the Yankees/Mets game in relief of Yankee starter Javier Vazquez on Friday night. It was the 8th inning and the Yankees were behind 1-0. He promptly walked the ninth hitter, followed by two straight doubles. He left the game with the Yankees in a 3-0 deficit after getting only one out. This is just another in a long line of games in which he has struggled. Park's stats for this year are as follows: 1-1, 6.16 ERA, 25 hits, 5 walks, 5 home runs, and 16 strikeouts in 19 innings. Opponents are hitting .313 off of him, with a slugging percentage of .563. (Teammate outfielder Nick Swisher, who has hit 11 home runs this year, has a slugging percentage of only .511.)

The curious thing about Park's numbers this year is that he has given up so many home runs. He gave up only 5 home runs in 83.1 innings last year - in Citizens Bank Ballpark, one of the most hitter-friendly stadiums in the majors. This year's home runs off of Park aren't cheap ones that sneak over the right field short porch in Yankee Stadium, either. They're moonshots.

The answer to Park's struggles could be very simple: He's in the American League now. His only scoreless appearances this year were against Toronto, Cleveland, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Houston, and Boston. Only four of those teams are AL teams, and out of those AL teams, only two (Toronto and Boston) are legitimate contenders. The appearance against Boston was very good: 1 hit over 3 innings. However, his other two appearances against the Sox were horrific as he pitched to the tune of a combined 26.95 ERA.

Yankee fans can only hope he'll turn into another Damaso Marte. Marte hasn't done well in his regular-season Yankee career, but was key to the Yankees' 2009 postseason wins.

At least Park is getting better. He had five straight scoreless appearances in June (albeit against less than stellar teams) before he got crushed by the Mets. Oh, and instead of giving up home runs, he's graduated to mere doubles.

Hydra
6-4-3 double play... Ballgame over! Yankees win! Theeeeeee Yankees win!

Left Is Right - While Right Gets Left In Triple-A

The Yankees called up relief pitcher Boone Logan on June 15th to replace Sergio Mitre, who was placed on the DL. The left-hander Logan was chosen over righty Jonathon Albaladejo, who is also a reliever. On the surface, Albaladejo looks to be a better choice than Logan. Albaladejo has an ERA of 1.14 with 41 strikeouts in 31.2 innings in Triple-A. Logan, on the other hand, has struggled in the majors this season, with an ERA of 5.06, 7 walks, and 6 strikeouts in 10.2 innings. However, Logan has done almost as well in Triple-A this year as Albaladejo, albeit in a limited number of innings. Logan's numbers are: 1.32 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 13.2 innings. Plus, Albaladejo, since he is right-handed, is a bad fit for the Yankees' current series against the Phillies. Philadelphia is a dangerous, although slumping, team and has six left-handed hitters (including two of their best players: Ryan Howard and Chase Utley) and a switch-hitter. The Yankees, who had only one left-handed reliever (Damaso Marte) before Logan's call-up, wanted another southpaw to help neutralize the lefties and keep the switch-hitter away from the short porch in right field.

On the other hand, the Yankees could have called up lefty Kei Igawa. He would have been the perfect guy to neutralize all those Philly power hitters.

Hydra
6-4-3 double play... Ballgame over! Yankees win! Theeeeeee Yankees win!

Near Perfection Raises Questions

Major League umpire Jim Joyce blew a call at first base in the Cleveland at Detroit game on Wednesday night. Indians shortstop Jason Donald was called safe on an infield hit - but he was out by half a step. Donald would have been the last out of a perfect game pitched by Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga. As is the case with any high-profile blown call, this raises the question of expanding instant replay in baseball.

Now, we don't think baseball should expand its replay to NFL proportions, but something needs to be done. There have been many calls over the last few years that have been key to a game or even a playoff series. Major League Baseball needs to expand its replay from just fair/foul, in/out home run reviews. Better guidelines would be a key play in a save situation, tie game, or extraordinary circumstances. That last criteria would cover perfect games and no-hitters where the leading team is ahead by a lot. The "key play" would, of course, be up to the discretion of the umpires - but isn't everything?

Unfortunately, expanding instant replay wouldn't fix all the Joe West - oops, we mean umpire problems in baseball. Watching a play on TV is no cure for a bad attitude.

Hydra
6-4-3 double play... Ball game over! Yankees win! Theeeeeee Yankees win!