yankees228

Lol, in the eyes of Yankee fans.

Oh lol. Thanks. Guess I should have done a little research.

I don't know too much about Kevin Jarvis. Is he supposed to be one of the Red Sox top prospects or an AAAA player?

Sierra tied it in game four. ARod tied game 2 in the 12th inning with an RBI double.

And Pujols just hit his third.

Thanks.

Does anyone know the exact time of the waiver trade deadline?

Is that definate?

Completely agree, by the way, in other news, I just read on another site that Joe is considering starting Villone on Sunday. Is it just me or does that make absolutely no sense. That is past the callup date and I'm sure there is some AAA starter that could start that game. Joe, who seems to have decided to rest up a lot of his players, especially his bullpen, would really be contradicting himself if he were to start Villone. Remember last year when he started Sturtze on July 4th against the Orioles? It basically ended his effectiveness. And I remember Proctor starting a game in August against the Rangers, but I'm not sure how he faired afterwards. Taking middle relievers and starting them is just not a good idea in my opinion, especially in September when you have so many people to chose from.

Not to be greedy, considering the Yankees have pretty much won the division, but it would be really, really nice to clinch early. I understand that the Red Sox really seem to be going down the drain, but soon we may be looking at a different second place team. The Blue Jays are close to the Red Sox, and if they pass them, I wonder if that would be a good thing or a bad thing for the Yankees. They don't have the same amount of injuries as the Red Sox, and it may take longer to clinch, meaning that they may not be able to rest players as they would surely like to.

Hopefully they have the results of the MRI on the pregame today.

1050 ESPN radio just reported that Mo is having a MRI on his inflamed right elbow today. Uh oh.

Farnsworth is usually a crapshoot, but if he has decent rest, (would have been 2 days in this case), he can be leaps and bounds better then Proctor. Proctor has been great for them this year, but if Farnsworth has that 98 MPH fastball with the sharp 90 MPH slider he is the guy you want out there outside of Mo. As for his back locking up, it seems like there was a little confusion between him and Joe. At least yesterday was a productive day in the standings.

Good point about Vlad. I guess, statistically, this had been one of his worst seasons, but considering all the injuries that have plagued that team, he is one of the big reasons they are still remotely in contention. Thinking about it more, comparing Vlad to Mauer is something you really can't do. Like you said, Vlad has done it year after year, and this is only Mauer's second full season. But they are also completely different players. With that being said, I'll be very curious to see what happens to Mauer's power numbers over the next 5 or so years.

Completely agreed, what Mauer is doing, being a catcher, is pretty extroadinary. However, he is a number three hitter, and regardless of what position he is playing, he is not putting up the production numbers that extremely good 3 and 4 hitters, such as Vlad, normally put up. His 10 HR's and 70 or so RBI's can not even contend with Vlad. I'm not comparing them based on position, I am comparing them based on spot in the order. Also, I understand that Vlad is hitting fourth this year. The reason that I am referring to him as a 3 hitter is because that is what he hit last year and I was comparing the '05 Angels to the '06 Twins.

I think he was comparing Glavine to Lilly.

Jees, here's to hoping that this does not become a long term concern. But, the good news is that plenty of people, especially pro athletes have this happen to them, and rarely does it become a long term concern.

Yeah, you're right, Rincon blew one in the 8th inning, when he gave up 4 runs including a 3 run homer to Sierra. But Nathan only blew one and technically it wasn't a save situation (came in when the game was still tied). Mauer and Morneau have had great years, I'm not disputing that, but as you said Anderson is extremely underrated and Guerrero is just amazing. You can get him out, but he is much tougher to get out, in my opinion, then either of the Twins guys. On top of that Mauer has only hit 10 home runs this year. He may improve his power numbers over the years to come, but he is not your prototypical 3 hole hitter. Guerrero is much better suited for that spot in the order.

I agree with you that Morneau is better than Anderson, but I disagree that Guerrero is only slightly better than Mauer. Mauer, although off to an extroadinary start through the first 3-4 monthes of the season, has seen his numbers decrease steadily. I think Guerrero, who has put up amazing offensive numbers year after year deserves a little more respect then saying then his is slightly better than Mauer. However, as I said, in my opinion the '05 Angels do not separate themselves from the '06 Twins in terms of offense, but I think they do it in terms of each team's bullpen.

It's tough to win in the NFL if you can't protect your QB and put pressure on the opposing QB. The Texans are looking to improve in both areas, and drafting Mario Williams will significantly help one of those areas.

Mr. Crunchy, Joe Nathan blew one save in that series, so to try to say that he is the only reason the Yankees beat Minnesota in that series is false. In response to the comparison between the '05 Angels and the '06 Twins, I think the '05 Angels are significantly better. The Angels 1-5 was Figgins, Cabrera, Guerrero, Anderson, and Molina. That is better than Stewart, Castillo, Mauer, Morneau, and Hunter. While the 1 and 2 hitters in both orders are comparable, Guerrero and Anderson blow Mauer and Morneau out of the water. Mauer and Morneau have been a great tandem this year, but Guerrero may be the best player in all of baseball and Anderson may be the most underrated player in all of baseball. FOX had a stat on the Sunday game the Anderson is in the top 5 in hits since 1997. He has proven himself in the regular season and the post season over and over again. Hunter has had an average year in terms of RBI's and HR's and his OPS is .814. Molina, who got extremely hot last year in October, was simply a better hitter than Hunter. If, and it is a big if, Liriano comes back healthy, I would certainly concede that the Twins have a better pitching staff, however the bullpen is not even comparable. In the playoffs many games are won and lost in the bullpen. That Angels team had a big advantage in that category. Rodriguez was dominant in the regular season and the playoffs last year, but with the success of Nathan this year i would say that the closer spot is a wash. But after that the Angels bullpen is leaps and bounds better. The middle relief of the '05 Angels was clearly the strength of that team and was the reason they beat the Yankees. Shields had a career year, and he was the to Angels as Mariano Rivera was to the '96 Yankees, a dominant 2 inning setup man. On top of that Escobars numbers in the second half and into the playoffs, as another setup man, were tremendous. Donnelly, was decent in a lesser role. The Twins, on the other hand have Juan Rincon and Jesse Crain as their two setup men. Rincon's WHIP is 1.26 and Crain's WHIP is 1.32. Against teams that hit with RISP, that is not going to cut it. **Didn't mean to put the thumbs up icon.

I'm keeping two things in mind. You say that the Twins resemble the Angels, who kill the Yankees, but over the last 4 years the Yankees kill the Twins. The second one is that the White Sox are the defending world champions. As good a 3-5 as Mauer, Morneau, and Hunter has been, I would much rather have to go through that each time through the order than Thome, Konerko, and Dye. On top of that, even though he's had a great second half, I'd still rather face Nathan than Jenks. Nathan does not have great success against the Yankees in his career, and when the Yanks faced Jenks earlier this year, he was pretty much unhittable.

I agree that the Twins have a good balanced and that if they get Liriano back and if Radke's should is not ailing him, the Twins are a force to be reckoned with. However, I think they have more problems then the Twins. Their lineup is balanced but young and inexperienced. A team with as little power as the Twins does not really scare me in playoffs. Yes, they get on base, but in the playoffs, when you're only facing the front end of teams rotations, it is tough to string to together 5, 6, or 7 hits that you would need to make a big inning. In terms of their starting pitching, Santana is a tremendous pitcher but has had mixed results in the playoffs. Even if Liriano comes back who's to say he will have the same arm strength he had in the first half of the season. Radke, as good as he has been since the all star break, with his age and his shoulder problem, really can fall apart at any moment. In my opinion the Twins bullpen is a bit shaky. In my last post, I alluded to Nathan, who in two playoff appearances with the Twins, has given up 2 runs in 3 1/3 innings pitched. It is a small sample size, but it is really all you have to go on in terms of him in a pressure spot. Rincon has been inconsistent, and has also been bad in the playoffs (Sierra 3 run homer).

In terms of personal accomplishments, Mussina did set the ALCS single game record for strikeouts in 1997 with the O's (it was later tied by Clemens). On top of that, if it weren't for Richie Garcia and Todd Zeile dropping a ball (with Moose on the mound) he probably would have been the ace of an American League champion. He was great with the O's and has been great with the Yanks. The fact that they have not won a championship while he has been a Yankee is little fault of his.