...and all is right with the world

Mark Teixeira hit his first home run in 96 at-bats yesterday against the Twinkies (tee hee).

Yankees>Twins

Yankees vs. Twins in 2009

7 Wins
0 Losses
RS - 41
RA - 25

Kevin Millar Hates the New Stadium

Kevin Millar made an appearance on Sirius XM yesterday with Seth Everett and Jim Duquette discussing, amongst other things, his first visit to the new Yankee Stadium. Let's have some fun, this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on the blockquote:

The Blue Jays just completed their first trip to the new ballpark. Millar played in the old Yankee Stadium many times as a member of the Boston Red Sox (2003-05) and Baltimore Orioles (2006-08).

Host, Jim Duquette: “What’s your impression of the new Yankee Stadium?”

Kevin Millar: “I’m going to be honest with you. You know I’m going to shoot from the hip. I’m not a big fan of it. Nothing pops there, nothing pops. The old stadium, you walked in, you knew this was where [Mickey] Mantle played and [Joe] DiMaggio. It was just that old school. I got booed a lot louder. They didn’t boo me as loud here. I like to get booed. They were too nice to me here. They’re too nice to me. I don’t know if it’s all corporate, but they’re too nice. But it’s just like a big, huge – it’s a beautiful facility, don’t get me wrong – but the navy blue seats, a lot of concrete and nothing pops. I mean, nothing pops there, personally. Now, it was our first trip in and I don’t know if I was expecting more, but that’s the truth and it’s just I loved the old stadium.”

The Frankie Cervelli Farewell Tour

Back on May 5th I posted a piece suggesting that the Yankees sign Paul LoDuca, citing the fact that the catchers that the team had in the system would be a detriment in the lineup. Francisco Cervelli has gone ahead and made me look like an asshole.

Now that Jose Molina is playing in rehab games, Cervelli becomes a lame duck as the Yankees backup catcher. During his time here, however, Cervelli has been impressive. He has handled veteran pitchers admirably, at one time sparking rumors that A.J. Burnett would rather work with him that Jorge Posada. Frankie has also, most notably, handled himself with the bat to the tune of a .269/..284/.346 slash line to date.

What Cervelli's stint will be remembered for, though, is his unwavering enthusiasm for the game and energetic appraoch to the game. I am not much for "rah-rah" shit in baseball, but at times the Yankees are missing any semblance of that component. Cervelli, as with Nick Swisher, has provided a youthful exhuberance to a team that was painfully flat at times last year and others. Jesus Christ, I just wrote "youthful exhuberance" on a blog filled with a trucker-like vernacular. I suck.

Anyways, thank you to Francisco Cervelli from Yankee fans as a whole. See you again in September.

The Eric Hinske Era begins with a loss

Get off your knees, Blue...

The Yankees lost an immensely frustrating game yesterday to the Blue Jays, due in no small part to three horrific calls on the base paths. The picture above shows Derek Jeter's left hand blatantly planted on the bag prior to Scott Rolen's tag (oddly enough, Rolen was not injured on the play). Althought I have to ask - what the HELL was Jeter doing even making that attempt with no outs? (/blasphemy)

I am not going to go on a rant like my Grandfather did last night, calling for the arrest and execution of all umpires, but I will say this - umpires need to be held more accountable for their calls. The explanation given by the man in blue on this particular play was deplorable. He basically gave the "ball beat him by a mile" argument that you would here in an in-house Little League game. (Check out some other opinions here and here).

In the end, though, the umpiring didn't cause the Yankees to falter with RISP, and they sure as hell didn't make Eric Hinske swing at two consecutive balls to end the game. Umpires alone do not lose games in most cases, and this game was most certainly in the majority.

(hat tip to noMaas.org for the pic)

Creamy Goodness

Alfredo Aceves had another dominating performance out ot the 'pen yesterday, holding down the fort after Joba Chamberlain's soiling of the sheets. Aceves has been the constant in a bullpen full of question marks in his 21 outings this year.

Aceves in 2009:

5-1, 40 IP, 30H, 34 K, 0.93 WHIP, 2.08 ERA

Can you hear that?

That roaring sound you hear is the Joba-to-the-bullpen bandwagon gaining steam. Although the bullpen and offense saved him from the loss, Joba Chamberlain was ugly to watch yesterday.

Chamberlain's fastball was reaching 92 as he was smacked around Yankee Stadium by the Blue Jays on Sunday to the tune of nine hits over 3.2 innings. It is rumored that Mike Francesa was so excited to see this that he choked on the arm of the child he was eating.

Unfortunately for Francesa and his constituents, the Yankees now have bigger fish to fry in regards to the starting rotation. Chien Ming Wang was placed on the DL this weekend, apparently with a genuine injury - unlike his last DL stint, which was purely for sucking donkey anus. The Yankees must find a replacement in the rotation for the duration of his stay on the DL, which will presumably mute the Joba-as-a-setup-man contingent for a while.

Although I see it clear that Chamberlain should be in the rotation, the fact that he has struggled cannot be ignored. His consistent failure to put away hitters, especially yesterday, has been unbelievably frustrating to watch. Growing pains are expected and tolerated in other cities, but this isn't one of them. Maybe skipping him a start before the All Star break could help Joba regroup, but only time will tell if the loss of Wang prevents that from happenning.

Just a reminder: even though the uneducated fan continues to scream from the mountain tops that Joba should be setting up for Mo, it seems as though the Yankees are 15 games over .500, and just a game back of the Red Sox.

Happy Independence Day

To all of our faithful readers, we here at The Balls wish you a happy
and healthy 4th of July. We will be posting again coming on Monday, so
don't get all platered today and drive home.

Also, a happy 70th birthday to the greatest owner in the history of
sport, George Steinbrenner.

This is not a reprint

Alex Rodriguez watches his two-run, go-ahead homerun (this time off of Jarrod Washburn) leave the park in the sixth inning. A-Rod is teh suck.

Mitch Kramer continues to dominate

It seems as though pitching in high pressure situations in Little League games anticipating ass-whippings from seniors has paid off for Mitch Kramer.