MY BASEBALL BIAS

I saw this cool thing mentioned over at The Hardball Times - a daily, downloadable box score report called the “The Rundown” from Heater, the online baseball magazine. In addition to the MLB boxes, you get all of the other professional sports as well. It either comes free with a subscription to Heater or costs just $9.95 for the year which I think is a great deal.

Check it out if you get a chance!

As long as Derek Jeter plays for the Yankees, one thing will never change - the voice that introduces him when he comes to plate -

“It’s unfortunate, because one of the first things I looked forward to when I was called up was coming to Yankee Stadium and hearing him say my name,” Jeter said on Monday. “I had Bob Sheppard record introducing me. I’ll always come to the plate with Bob Sheppard.”

Pretty cool thing, but who’s in charge of pushing the play button and how much is he/she getting paid? Is this person payed hourly or on the payroll? Just curious…

The Yankees/Blue Jays opening day game has been postponed due to a weather system threatening the New York Metropolitan area. It has been rescheduled for tomorrow night at 7:05 PM ET.

According to Peter Abraham, the start of today’s game has been delayed. The announcement was made at 12:28 PM ET. However, the weather should improve later in the day and they have every intention of playing this game.

Here we go! The season has finally arrived after a long spring. Chien-Ming Wang takes the hill today against Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays for the last regular season opening day at the old stadium. Should be a great match-up for a Monday afternoon.

Blue Jays (0-0) at Yankees (0-0)
RHP Roy Halladay (16-7, 3.71) vs. RHP Chien-Ming Wang (19-7, 3.70) - stats are for 2007 season

Game Time: 1:05 PM ET (DELAYED)
TV: ESPN (ch. 73) and YES (ch. 622), both in HD on DirectTV
Weather: 43°F and Cloudy; Wind: SE at 2 mph; Humidity: 92%

Lineups

YANKEES
18 Johnny Damon LF
2 Derek Jeter SS
53 Bobby Abreu RF
13 Alex Rodriguez 3B
25 Jason Giambi 1B
24 Robinson Cano 2B
20 Jorge Posada C
55 Hideki Matsui LF
28 Melky Cabrera CF
40 Chien-Ming Wang RHP

BLUE JAYS
11 David Eckstein SS
4 Shannon Stewart LF
15 Alex Rios RF
10 Vernon Wells CF
35 Frank Thomas DH
17 Lyle Overbay 1B
2 Aaron Hill 2B
19 Marco Scutaro 3B
9 Gregg Zaun C
32 Roy Halladay RHP

Lineups come courtesy of Peter Abraham

Fenway Park in Boston is older and has the 37-foot “Green Monster” in left field. Chicago’s Wrigley Field offers ivy in the outfield, and is also older. Camden Yards in Baltimore, AT&T Park in San Francisco and PNC Park in Pittsburgh are ascetically pleasing and architectural marvels. And yet none compare to what stands at 161st Street and River Avenue in the South Bronx – Yankee Stadium – home to a record 26 World Series banners and more baseball history and lore than seemingly all the other teams combined.

Sadly, this will be the Stadium’s final hurrah, but alas a “New” Yankee Stadium will be located across the street. This year’s All-Star Game will played there, which is fitting. Erected in 1923 and built in less than a year, Yankee Stadium – with its world-famous façade ringing the upper deck – was the vision of owners Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston. Ruppert bought out Huston two weeks after construction began. After sharing the Polo Grounds with the New York Giants, the Yankee brass was told to find a new ballpark. Ruppert was determined to build a state-of-the-art facility. They wanted to make sure it would be visible from the Polo Grounds, and have the largest seating capacity in either league.

When the first game was contested against the Red Sox, nearly 75,000 fans turned out, and Babe Ruth clouted the first home run as the Bombers prevailed. The ballpark was triple-decked, and had odd dimensions that played to the Yankees’ left-handed power hitters like Ruth and Lou Gehrig. A ball hit down the left-field or right-field line had to travel about 300 feet for a home run, but a ball smacked to the left-field gap or center field needed to be driven more than 460 feet.

Payback was sweet for the Yanks that Fall of 1923, as they tangled with the Giants in the World Series. In two previous encounters – 1921 and 1922 – Manager John McGraw’s guys won, and embarrassed the Yanks in the process. McGraw took special glee and gloated that Ruth was a blowhard, and could be pitched to without fear because he wasn’t going to hit home runs every at-bat. This time, the result would be different, and would alter the balance of power in favor of the Bronx forever. Using power, defense, and pitching, the Bombers pushed their way past the Giants in six games and claimed their first-ever title. The Yankees and Giants would meet four more times – 1936, 1937, 1951, 1962 – and come out on top each time.

During their time as teammates, Ruth and Gehrig would combine to bring Yankee Stadium four Series banners, and Gehrig would add another four (though he retired early in the 1939 campaign). The Stadium was packed on July 4, 1939, for Lou Gehrig Day, and he would give his “I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth,’’ speech. Forget his incredible baseball accomplishments. This act alone would place the first baseman high on the list of baseball immortals.

Ruth had his day at the park nine years later, and would stand at home plate with the aid of Cleveland pitcher Bob Feller’s bat, while addressing the crowd and wearing the No. 3 Yankee uniform he made famous one final time. Center fielder Joe DiMaggio would add his indelible stamp to the ballpark beginning in 1936 and running through 1951, while Mickey Mantle would take over the same position and play until 1968. Remarkably, during this stretch, the Yankees would capture 16 World Series crowns.

The ballpark was the scene when Yankee pitcher Don Larsen tossed his perfect game against the Dodgers in the 1956 World Series, and is the only no-hitter in playoff history. Roger Maris would drill his record-breaking 61st home run in 1961 – one better than Ruth swatted in 1927. Chris Chambliss hit the game-winning homer in Game 5 of the 1976 American League Championship Series against Kansas City, and Reggie Jackson would crush three consecutive home runs against the Dodgers, helping the Yanks to the 1977 title. The next season, Yankee pitcher Ron Guidry would fan 18 Angels at the Stadium, en route to the Cy Young award.

After the 1973 season, Yankee Stadium was given a much-needed facelift, and would re-open for business three years later to rave reviews. Not all the results were slanted in the Yankees’ favor. It was during Game 1 of the 1963 World Series that Dodger great pitcher Sandy Koufax whiffed a then-record 15 batters, and forty years later Florida Marlins’ hurler Josh Beckett silenced the Bombers in Game 6 of the Series. In 1981, the Dodgers rebounded from a 2-0 deficit and quieted the Yankees at the Stadium, avenging Series losses in 1977 and 1978.

The Stadium seemed best suited for important playoff games like Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against Boston. A classic, the contest went back and forth, with the Red Sox jumping out to an early lead, only to see the Yankees rally late. The game was forced into extra innings, and wasn’t decided until Yankee third baseman Aaron Boone’s liner found the seats in left field off a Tim Wakefield knuckle ball.

No one knows what’s going to happen at the old ball yard this season. We can only hope that it’ll be as dramatic as the last 85 years.

Andy Pettitte is feeling good today after throwing a 25 pitch bullpen session yesterday -

Pettitte will pitch in a minor league game Sunday.

Originally slated to start the Yankees’ second game of the regular season, Pettitte has been slowed by back spasms and now is scheduled to make his first start next Saturday.

“I’m good to go. I feel good,” Pettitte said.

Next Saturday’s game will be in the afternoon against the Rays.

Bobby Murcer has informed us all that he won’t be ready in the YES booth for opening day -

The 61-year-old Yankee favorite, who has been battling brain cancer for a year and a half, said Friday that, because of the after-effects of the steroids he’s taking and chemotherapy he’s undergoing, he’s just too weak right now to resume his broadcasting duties with the YES Network.

“You have no idea how disappointing it is for me not to be able to be there for Opening Day, especially this particular Opening Day,” Murcer told the Daily News yesterday by phone from his home in Oklahoma City. “But right now, I just don’t have the strength I had last year.”

Get well and get back soon Bobby.

Tyler Kepner has a wonderful piece over at the NYT’s on the innards of the old Yankee Stadium -

There was no such indoor hitting facility for many years — “Batting cages?” Yogi Berra said, incredulously — but now hitters use it daily, mingling with the stadium workers as they wind past the Dumpsters and ladders and mouse traps to get there.

At the new park, the Yankees and the visitors will each have their own cage, adjacent to the clubhouse. There will be no more long walks. “We won’t be seeing them much anymore,” Bodo said.

There is an artificial-turf floor and blue padding around the cage, with a pennant for each Yankees title team along a wall. There is a mound where pitchers throw in bad weather, and where dignitaries practice ceremonial first pitches.

It was in the cage before Game 3 of the 2001 World Series that Jeter advised President Bush to make sure he stood on top of the mound for his delivery. If not, Jeter told Bush, “They’ll boo you, man.”

I remember my first trip to the stadium with one of my best friends a few years ago. The first thing we did was go to Monument Park. I tried to imagine what it must have been like to play the outfield when the monuments were actually in play. Of course there weren’t as many as there are now, but still, it must have been quite an adventure.

No more projections, no more guessing. The roster has been set as we head into the last weekend before Monday’s home opener against the Blue Jays (1:05 ET). With Andy Pettitte retroactively added to the 15-Day DL and scheduled to come off next Saturday, the Yankees are carrying eight relievers in the bullpen with the addition of Jonathan Albaladejo . Once Pettitte returns, expect Albaladejo to be sent down and either Darell Rasner or Kei Igawa will be called up to fill the long-man role.

A few players with productive springs - relievers Scott Patterson and Edwar Ramirez - were both sent down. You can always count on the bullpen changing numerous times throughout the season so keep these two players in the back of your mind when someone either isn’t cutting it or there’s an injury.

I think the biggest surprises for me were the additions of Wilson Betemit and Morgan Ensberg. Ensberg was added to the 40-man last week and his big league experience will go a long way, but I thought Shelly Duncan would have been enough for the Yankees to platoon with Giambi at first base. Betemit can play all of the other infield positions (2B/SS/3B) which would have left the Yankees with having to fill the fourth outfielder role. I thought Brett Gardner earned his spot during the spring. In a word, he was downright spectacular. I fully understand what the Yankees are doing, however, going with Ensberg over a Gardner type. Plus, the Yankees obviously want Gardner to keep working on his skills at Triple-A. He could prove very valuable if the team suffers any injuries during the year.

So here it is, your 2008 Opening Day Roster:

According to an MSNBC report by David Sweet, the left side of the Yankees infield contains the games “most marketable” players -

1. Derek Jeter: The gold standard in the endorsement game today, Jeter benefits from a clean image and his loyalty to one team throughout his career. He even appeared in a commercial during the Super Bowl, the biggest day of the year for advertising. Still, his $7 million annually in endorsements is a pittance in sports. The smooth shortstop plays for the historic Yankees franchise, is well-known nationally for his World Series appearances, yet he earns the same amount as Denver bad-boy guard Allan Iverson.

2. Alex Rodriguez: His ridiculous move to announce his free agency during the World Series could have been a fatal blow, but he smartly re-signed a lengthy contract with the Yankees, and his miscue has been forgotten. His good looks and sensational play are a marketer’s dream. Yet he and teammate Jeter split the big New York market, hurting both in the endorsement world. The best is yet to come: His expected run at Barry Bonds’ home run mark around the 2013 season will launch him into the marketing stratosphere.

I was surprised Sweet didn’t mention anything about Jeter’s tax problems with the State of New York during the offseason. Even though the incident has been cleared up, it still was an embarrassing moment for the Captain’s “clean image”. A-Rod could run into a few problems if these allegations by Jose Canseco in his new book find some legs. The New York press will undoubtedly do their best to make a story out of it.

As a consumer, I’m not exactly sure why people feel that they need to buy a product if an athlete endorses it. I mean, did Joe Dimaggio really like the Mr. Coffee machine when he started pitching for the company back in the early 70’s? Did Scooter really do business at the Money Store? Are you telling me that Michael Jordan and Cuba Gooding Jr. wear Hanes underwear and Jeter drives a Ford?

I’ve always found that very funny.

Hat tip to BTF.