IFA season opened today, the Yankees promptly spent 2.75 MM of the 2.9 MM allotted. On 3 guys.

Trotting out a lineup like that, it’s no wonder Tampa’s season is headed straight down the toilet.

My apologies for a Mets-related question, but I’m catching a game at Citi Field for the first time tomorrow.

For anyone that’s ever gone out to Citi Field in the city: how long on average does it take the 7 train to get from Grand Central to the stadium?

Pinella likes to put a positive spin on things

[3] I’d strongly recommend taking the LIRR from Penn Station if you’re starting at Midtown. If you drink beer, you can buy an oil can at Penn Station and get back what you spent on the extra fare. It takes 16 minutes out.

Jeter just tied Ruth on the doubles list.

I actually like him, but when was the last time Boomer called a baseball game? Sounds like it’s his first time.

This place is such a joke. I went to a game in TB a couple of years ago. Just the worst.

Tropicana Field is the worst. Although I’m sure the air conditioning is appreciated on a hot day like today.

Granderson doesn’t look good in center anymore

Matsui’s OPSing 0.501.  Time to hang up the spurs.

[10] In the unlikely event that Brett Gardner ever plays baseball again, I think he should be moved to center with Grandy moving to left.

[12] You mean, “for the Yankees, in the major leagues”.

Did Matsui just retire?

[5] Thanks for the information.  That actually sounds pretty good to me.

[15] I second the LIRR.  It would be the better way to get to Citi even if you couldn’t drink beer.

At least Teixeira can still field.

Teixeira was really on the mark right there.

How have the supposedly defensive minded Rays sunk so low that Hideki now patrols the outfield?

[14] Youkilis is OPSing 0.666.  Time to hang up the spurs.

Actually, the RS are still paying him, right?  Never mind.

sigh

[19] Are you saying Youkilis is Satan?

hmmmmm, temporary RISP aberrancy in the first, I see?

[22] Hey there.  I try to let the numbers speak for themselves.  Admittedly they occasionally need a little assistance.

Garcia has allowed one run over the last 11+ innings.

22: Tru dat. I’ve been avoiding you guys and your replacement level observations while adjusting to my new identity. Unfortunately, I may have to change back to Seattle Sox Fan, as the Mariners have hit under .200 at Safeco as a team since the name change. I’ve led my kids to thinking they should believe in Justin Smoak, and I can’t live with my actions much longer.

[26] What sort of parent doesn’t teach his children to believe in Jesus?  His OPS is 669, by the way.  And upside down 9 is . . .6.

You know what sort of parent doesn’t teach his kids to believe in Jesus? Kevin Youkilis. Take that Mel Gibson!

[26] We’ve been believing (well, there are a few who have left the diritta via) in Phil Hughes for years now, and it’s only beginning to seem possibly rational.

[27] Poetic license.

D-Train finally retired. Another reminder that young pitchers are volatile and success can be fleeting.

WOE won’t score again

[31] From Christopher Durang:

  You remember how in the second act Tinkerbell drinks some poison that Peter is about to drink in order to save him? And then Peter turns to the audience and he says, “Tinkerbell is going to die because not enough people believe in fairies. But if all of you clap your hands real hard to show that you do believe in fairies, maybe she won’t die.”

  So, we all started to clap. I clapped so long and so hard that my palms hurt and they even started to bleed I clapped so hard. Then suddenly the actress playing Peter Pan turned to the audience and she said, “That wasn’t enough. You did not clap hard enough. Tinkerbell is dead.” And then we all started to cry. The actress stomped off stage and refused to continue with the production. They finally had to lower the curtain. The ushers had to come help us out of the aisles and into the street.

Granderson is bad at defense, maybe very bad.

More runs would be nice.

is this the first time the Cap’n has been…well…..below the waterline?

This whole double play thing is far from dude.

[35] He came in at .299

3 inning ending double plays with 2 runners on in 6 innings. That’s exactly what you need to win a ballgame with Freddy on the mound on a 65 pitch count.

9 hits and 2 runs makes me have a sad.

It’s times like this that make me wish we’d scored more fucking runs.

Arod has been awful on defense lately.

I felt a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out for Clay Rapada and were suddenly silenced when Joe Girardi instead let Garcia pitch to Pena.

We’ll see a correction with RISP hitting. We’ll see a correction with RISP hitting. We’ll see a correction with RISP hitting.

Oh right, we are seeing it. The Yankees true hitting ability with RISP is a .000/.000/.000 triple slash. Their robust .225 average with RISP is unsustainably high.

We can safely assume that Chris Stewart will lead off the next inning because of institutional disproportionate risk aversion regarding the possibility that the BUC will become incapacitated…correct?

Great, walk the .211 hitter.

Judging by Boone’s command of the strike zone, we’re boned.

Something is terribly wrong with Robertson.

Oh well.  Robertson’s run of awesome was pretty cool while it lasted….

Robertson is not what he used to be

gah!

I like pre-DL Robertson better than I like post-DL Robertson.

You have to be shitting me Teixiera.  If you aren’t going to hit, you HAVE to field that.

Ballgame.

I take back what I said in [17].

The losing streak at Tampa Bay is ridiculously annoying.  Particularly when plays like that contribute.

Pitching. And defense.

Behind the bag! It gets through Teixeira!

At least we don’t have to wait for Maddon to outmanage Girardi now, the lead is already lost.

This makes 3 games they have completely pissed away to Tampa in the first half of this season.

of course.

The Yankees will not have another base runner tonight, will they?

The second absolute throw away game in a week. I thought the loss on Rapada’s error was the worst of the year, and we immediately get an encore.

This is really disappointing.

Damn you Sterling.

What’s worse, Fernando Rodney is just Rafael Soriano with worse fashion—but he’ll be a Yankee for 4/80 after this season.

I hate warning track power Arod

The Yankees will not have another base runner tonight, will they?

They’ll have three in the ninth. Unfortunately.

Aaaand your Warning-Track Power A-Rod. 

Can’t wait for Edge of the Outfield Grass Power A-Rod in 2016.

Is every pitcher going to pitch every game now?  Where’s that asshole Qualls?

Chad Qualls? Really? I guess Girardi doesn’t want to go home.

Going to Qualls is really the “hope a 747 tail section drops on the other team’s dugout” strategy.

Good news: Qualls SIERA has been 3.79 so far this year. Bad news: his tERA is 6.16.

Come one.  One goddamn run.  And Rodney is a POS.

How many baserunners will we have without scoring?  Place your bets now!

[71] His LOB% this year is 82%, that means we can get four people on before one needs to score, right?

I believe in you, Chavez.

[73] Your simple faith inspires us all.

Love the passion lads!

I AM PASSIONATE

I am taking more positives than negatives in this game. Garcia was actually good.

Robertson just needs time (I convinced myself).

What will the defense look like if the Yanks tie it?

meh. I wrote this one off when I saw the schedule last winter. Not upset.

I work with an incredibly annoying guy who is also a Rays fan (he’s not even from Florida-that’s just how fucking annoying he is).  I really need this series.

Garcia was very good.  I hate when the Yanks cough it up after that kind of effort.

Rodney get’s very little respect.

[80]  You need a new job.

What an extremely awful loss.  Just terrible.

[82]  It’s the POS factor.

what a disaster….

Really, really disappointing.  The Rays/Trop are the new Angels/Big A.

Positives: Freddy looked like a major league pitcher

Negatives: Everything else

poop

Garcia is no Fernando Rodney.

You know, Kuroda pitched a few good games early on that we didn’t get wins on. I’m pretty pleased with the way he and Garcia and now Hughes are turning out to be non-heinous pitchers. And CC woulda thrown a turd one of these games anyway.

Losing Pettitte hurts, though.

This talk about the losing streak in Tampa is somewhat misplaced. The Yankees gave away the last 3 games of 2011 and we all cheered them for it.

We all cheered but I don’t think they gave ir away

Dice Clay lasted one inning.  Hurt or simply sucked.  SoSh must be pissed.

Austin, Williams, Sanchez up.

One of the things about injuries that often gets understated if not overlooked is that they can really be a double whammy in that:
1) The guy is going well, perhaps its taken the player quite a while to hit his stride and then the injury occurs.
2) He leaves a gaping hole to fill, most often with a lesser player who can’t replicate effectiveness
3) The time of absence is more often for the Yankees longer than the estimate perhaps somewhat controlled by management preference or interference
4) and most of the time, particularly with the pitchers they are not what they were before the injury. In other words D Robby’s problems may be a good example of what Joba, Andy and even CC might be when they come back.  So the bottom line effect is that they may suck for a month after they come back. When Jeter came back last year as an everyday player it appeared he benefited from the rest and his case would be the exception, but of course he’s not a pitcher.