Burnett’s and Shields’ ERAs have the same numbers in them. That means something, right?

Never heard of those first two D-Rays batters.

I’m going way out on a limb and predicting that this is AJ’s best game of the year to date. Hold me to this guys. I mean it.

[2] Player’s a huge prospect. Although, I hear there are questions about his night life.

Country Joe West on Yankees and Sox: “pathetic and embarassing”.

I wonder what the fine will be.

Have you been living under a rock, Pinstriper?

[5]
Pin, you do know that he was talking about their sartorial decisions, right? He wants them to play in high-heeled boots, like other teams.
With spurs on one of them.
And if Pin wants to live under a rock, btw, that’s fine with me. (Joe West, on the other hand…)

West has been a joke for a long time. Just saying if a player or manager called the umpiring pathetic and embarassing, fines would follow.

Never heard of those first two D-Rays batters.

They’re still under the radar, but expect to start hearing more about them.

Maybe Player will make a name for himself. You know, later.

(10) was awesome.

Cute.

MLB.com headline: “Reds set to spring Leake into big league history”
Somebody do something.
This has to stop.

Setting aside whether you believe that Girardi would actually have not let CC pitch the ninth if he was still pitching a no-no, if he HAD pulled him, do you think the fans would have booed Girardi at the home opener?

That’s ridiculous, right?

Some Daily News writer did a column stating that.

Basketball player Michael Jordan switched to baseball.  Maybe golfer Gary Player is doing the same thing.

I didn’t want to see Sabathia throwing 130 pitches yesterday, but I don’t think there’s any way Girardi would have actually pulled him with the no-hitter going, assuming he didn’t walk three guys or something.

Ridiculous, Brian? You can imagine a scenario where no fans boo a manager who’s pulling the team’s ace in the eighth inning with a no-hitter going?

[14] There are still people that think pitch counts are stupid. Yeah, he’d get booed.

Ridiculous, Brian? You can imagine a scenario where no fans boo a manager who’s pulling the team’s ace in the eighth inning with a no-hitter going?

No no, his assertion was that Girardi would be booed at the home opener if he had pulled CC yesterday.

You know, where the Yankees would be getting their championship rings. He thinks that Girardi would have been booed there.

From Tim Smith’s column today...

This is when a sound baseball decision runs headlong into a player’s legacy and his wish fulfillment. If Girardi had yanked Sabathia in the ninth after he had thrown 111 pitches and was on the verge of pitching his first no-hitter, the manager would have been booed at Tropicana Field Saturday and when the Yankees return to the Bronx for the home opener Tuesday. The decision would have lingered that long, maybe longer. It would have been up there with Grady Little’s decision to let Pedro Martinez stay in the game for the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against the Yankees. You know what happened after that.

[19]
Oh.  Well, then, yes, that’s ridiculous.

[13] Assuming rehabs and debuts go well, June 4th is setting up nicely for a Leake-Wang showdown.

{ducks, running for cover}

I wonder whether Smith considers whether the Grady Little situation was influenced by little things such as, you know… the outcome of the game and the season?

Dibs Pete the Pup.

[20] It seems odd that Smith tried to make his point by referencing an instance in which the manager left the pitcher in too long.

[24] Yeah, that won’t lead to any confusion.

Wow, Johan giving up a granny in the first to Willingham.  As if Mets fans don’t have it bad enough already.

[20] As “bad” as pulling CC during a no-hit bid would have been, I really don’t think it ranks up there with Grady Little’s decision to leave Pedro in the game.  That’s just silly.  An individual accomplishment vs. an opportunity to go to the World Series.  Would people really be calling for Girardi to be fired for that decision?  I can’t imagine it.  I mean, it’s feasible.  This IS New York and all, but he’s looking out for CC’s career and the 2010 season, not costing a team that hasn’t won a World Series in 85 years an appearance against a 10 year old expansion team.

[27] Well, Verlander gave up a 1st inning slam to someone named Luis Valbuena.

Agreed, shaked - I think it was a ridiculous article.

Smith is mostly a boxing columnist - maybe he doesn’t write about the Yankees often?

The whatever is just not same without the whatever chick. Whatever happened to her?

Also, game is on TBS.

The whatever is just not same without the whatever chick. Whatever happened to her?

We’re in negotiation to bring her back, but she’s holding out for a fifth year which is kind of a sticking point.

I wonder if Joe pulls CC with no-hitter in tact if he puts in Mo despite the lead to give him the best chance of preserving it? A CC/Mo combined no-hitter would be at least a little cool, right?

[31] And blacked out where I am currently stationed.  I guess one benefit to living in the Bristol area is that we get both NESN and YES.  Up here near Storrs, only NESN is available.  So I’m pretty excited right now.

So this is what it feels like to be out of network, eh?

The Blue Jays just called. They want their pajamas back.

Man, Zobrist really robbed Johnson of a hit. Damn!

I’d like to reference post [19] in the last thread.

Bad luck Johnson.

Nick Johnson can’t buy a hit.

Yeah, Jonathan - he’s had more than a few balls end up in gloves that easily could have fell in.

Shields working about 93. He has a good change-up. K for Teix.

Bust.

Do the Yankees have a policy of making Burnett cover up his tattoos when he starts at DNYS?

I imagine most people heard or read Ken Rosenthal’s blurb about Carl Crawford yesterday.  As awesome as it would be to get Carl Crawford (pending Gardner has a marginal year), I am more interested in what it means about CC Sabathia’s tenure in pinstripes.  If he’s recruiting, that would likely indicate that he’s happy and plans NOT to opt out, right?  Or is this just wishful thinking?

Effin’ Yahoo Sports reverse jinx!

If he’s recruiting, that would likely indicate that he’s happy and plans NOT to opt out, right?  Or is this just wishful thinking?

If we take CC at his word (that he would only opt out if unhappy), then it is a good indication, yes.

[44] who knows. With the fall in win value, he might not get a better deal after next year.

Get an out.

Burnett sucks and with Posada behind the plate he sucks even more

I still blame Yahoo Sports.

bad AJ… Long game ahead.

That was ... not good. 1-0 Rays. Burnett is also not a good fielder of his position, apparently.

TSCC is going to steal another one.

Posada made a good throw??? Really???? Way offline

Man, it is not good to let a guy steal a base on a pitchout.

Who would we prefer to see right about now - Phil or AJ?

Steal on a pitchout?  Jeez.  WTB Ceverill.

Can’t the SS block the second base? Or is it too risky?

This is getting annoying.

Way offline

Yeah, there was no chance to get him with the throw where it was.

Get
an
out.

This is teh suck.

Odd decision by Zobrist to bunt.

Something tells me I’m not going to be upset about this game being blacked out.

I think they are probably trying to pitch around Longoria and see if they can get a DP out of Carlos Pena.

Can we re-start this game?

[64]
Sure.  Really, why not do everything possible to put off actually getting anyone out?

Free Bases, here !! Come and get your free bases !

Agreed, sam.

Such an annoying opening to the game.

But the threat now is that if Longoria tries to steal, they may have to just allow that, because in that case, Crawford can go home.

There is nothing good about this situation. Nothing good at all.

[65] I just refreshed Gameday, but no dice.

Damn, AJ! Throw a freaking strike.

No way you could get the speedy Pena there.

Ugh! Can’t turn the DP. 2-0 Rays.

Jeter woulda made the DP.

OK, Sam - explain why they’re pitching around Pena, too.
Go ahead.

Coulda been worse.

Let’s hope this is the trademark “bad inning” for AJ.

Can’t be too upset after going 3-3 on the road against the 2 next best teams in baseball, really.

That was pretty well hit, just at Granderson. I will take it.

Messrs Rodriguez and company needs to start hitting. So far, the contributions of Rodriguez, Teixeira and Johnson has been minimal on the offensive side.

[79] I’ll bet we can.

I’m with Pin. And 2 runs shouldn’t daunt us.

[76] They weren’t. That was incompetent.

Offensively compare the start of Longoria and Rodriguez for their first 3 years? Rodriguez played SS, got to the big leagues at an younger age, and played at a park that was death to power hitters.

We are still in the dark ages when Buck Martinez is in the booth.

Cano disguising the bunt well.

Messrs Rodriguez and company needs to start hitting. So far, the contributions of Rodriguez, Teixeira and Johnson has been minimal on the offensive side.

Pretty much.  Here’s the team’s BRAR for each player entering today.

Jorge Posada   3.3
Curtis Granderson   3.0
Robinson Cano   2.8
Nick Swisher   1.8
Brett Gardner   1.5
Derek Jeter   1.1
Francisco Cervelli   0.7
Marcus Thames   0.0
Alex Rodriguez   -0.1
Randy Winn   -0.4
Nick Johnson   -0.7
Mark Teixeira   -1.0

I’m pretty confident that the next time around that the Yankees will start getting some hits - they’re making some strong contact.

That first strike to Granderson was a ball for Burnett.  Just sayin’.

Yay Granderson!!

2-1 Rays.

OK. I like this guy.

I’m pretty confident that the Yankees will start getting some hits this inning - they’re making some strong contact.

For comparison’s sake, Vernon Wells is at 5.9 BRAR already, which means he’s been more valuable than Cano, Swisher, Gardner, Jeter, Cervelli, Thames, Rodriguez, Winn, Johnson and Teixeira COMBINED.

Granderson can play a little.

Granderson is very very good against righties.

You can watch Stephen Strasburg on mlb.com

Wells’ resurgence has been remarkable so far.

I’m sure Wells will keep this pace up for the entire season.

[85] SG, it appears that Rodriguez may have picked up a point or so to get to the replacement level with that walk and run. Baby steps, obviously.

Rodriguez played SS, got to the big leagues at an younger age, and played at a park that was death to power hitters.

Safeco didn’t open until 2000, which was Rodriguez’ last season as a Mariner.  The Kingdome was anything but death to power hitters.

I’m back from the spring break college tour.  Darling daughter has decided she likes her some Dartmouth.  $53k per.  Donations gladly accepted.

Cooperstown was worth the detour, though.

I’m sure Wells will keep this pace up for the entire season.

That Gallea fellow is Canadian, after all.

Taught there, MC. Not sure I’d endorse it wholeheartedly.
The bottom 3rd of the Ray’s lineup are not scaring me.  Just thinking of the MSM’s gushings.