Kuzul

The regular season is over and it is that time for the end of the season awards. Much like the newspapers have the BBWAA that votes on the end of the year awards that everyone makes a big deal about, us bloggers have the Baseball Bloggers Alliance that votes on our own version of the awards.

The BBA is comprised of nearly 300 baseball blogs and will shortly announce the winners, but first the votes must be cast. As chapter president of the Yankees chapter, I have collected and will announce the votes of the Yankees blogs that are members of the BBA. There are 13 eligible Yankee blogs that vote and our final decision counts as two votes in the overall BBA voting for each award.

Here are the eligible Yankees blogs that voted:

• Bronx Baseball Daily
• lenNY’s Yankees Blog
• It’s About The Money
• Subway Squawkers
• Lady Loves Pinstripes
• Double G Sports
• Lady At The Bat
• The Chuck Knoblog

The Connie Mack Award is our name for the Manager of the Year award. The award is named after the Hall of Fame manager of the Philadelphia Athletics. Mike Scioscia won the first Manager of the Year award that the BBA gave out last season.

Here is how we voted:

• First Place: Ron Washington, Texas Rangers – 26 points
• Second Place: Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota Twins – 24 points
• Third Place: Terry Francona, Boston Red Sox – 20 points

Also receiving votes were Joe Maddon of the Rays, Joe Girardi of the Yankees (obviously), and Cito Gaston.

Over the next few days and weeks we will make announcements on a few more awards: The Willie Mays Award (Manager of the Year), the Goose Gossage Award (Top Reliever), the Walter Johnson Award (Top Pitcher), and the Stan Musial Award (Top Hitter).

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Via Chad Jennings:

Brian Cashman just announced that the Yankees are planning to go with a four-man rotation in the American League Championship Series, no matter who they’re playing in the next round.

Cashman said the Yankees will meet tomorrow to discuss the roster, but he expects A.J. Burnett to be the fourth starter.

If the Yankees had gone with a three-man rotation, that would have meant that all three pitchers, CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, and Andy Pettitte, would have to pitch on short rest, including CC twice. With the way Burnett has pitched this season, it’s hard to believe that their chances are better this way even with everyone pitching on short rest.

Cashman didn’t say how the rotation was going to line up exactly. Personally, I would like to see Sabathia pitching games no. 1, 4, and 7 if necessary, with Pettitte going in games no. 2 and 6, Hughes in no. 3, and Burnett in no. 5.

Hopefully the Yankees jump out to a 3-0 lead so this isn’t that big of a deal.

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Via the NY Post:

Johnny Damon will be wearing a new hat next season and he is very open to it having NY on the front of it.

“I would love to have that as an option,” Damon told The Post when asked if Johnny II in The Bronx were a possibility. “It would be very exciting to go back there.”

Damon was informed by the Tigers they will look elsewhere to find a designated hitter and since they have young outfielders, it’s time for the 36-year-old with 2,571 career hits to move on.

“They told me they are looking for a prototypical type DH like Adam Dunn,” Damon said. “They said they need that type of bat in the middle of order. I am a No. 1 or 2 guy, so…”

Damon’s OPS dropped nearly 100 points this season, and he was limited to just 36 games in the outfield while DHing in 97 other games. He earned $8 million and repeatedly turned down offers to rejoin the Yankees at around $4 million.

He may want to rejoin the Yankees in 2011, but it’s hard to imagine them even offering him the $4 million they offered him a year ago. He may not even have a clearly defined role even if Lance Berkman, Marcus Thames, and Nick Johnson do not return, as Jorge Posada will probably have to DH more than ever with Jesus Montero coming up.

So realistically, Damon is probably only coming back to the Bronx if he accepts a bench role at much less money than he is accustomed to earning.

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In his latest column for Sports Illustrated, Jon Heyman suggested that free agent-to-be Cliff Lee might be preparing to ask for something similar to the seven-year, $161 million deal that his friend, CC Sabathia got two off-seasons ago.

Via Sports Illustrated:

Before Halladay took a $60-million, three-year extension with Philly, Lee turned down a similar offer, believed to be for three years and somewhere in the mid-$50-millions from Philadelphia, who eventually traded him to Seattle. Word was, he was thinking about more than double that, maybe something close to Johan Santana‘s $138-million, six-year Mets contract.

Now, rumor has it that Lee might seek three times what Philly offered. In other words, Lee might try to match his old Indians teammate CC Sabathia’s deal, which is for seven years and $161 million. “Why not?” one club executive said. “He’s as good as Sabathia.”

There are some pretty big differences, though, between Lee and Sabathia. The biggest is probably the fact that CC was 28 when he signed his deal with the Yankees and Lee is already 32-years-old.

Those four years are pretty huge in this case. The Yankees had no problem giving a 28-year-old a seven-year deal, at the end of which he will be 35. A 32-year-old will be 39 at the end of his seven-year deal.

Also, the fact that Sabathia is viewed as a guy who can handle a ton of innings with relatively few injuries. Lee, on the other hand, has already dealt with a few injuries during his career and has been dealing with back problems as recently as a few weeks ago.

The thing that Lee does have going for him is that he is in much better shape than Sabathia, and as Heyman points out, relies on velocity much less than Sabathia does.

Also in Lee’s favor, the Yankees are desperate. They really want him. They want him so badly, they were willing to deal their top prospect, Jesus Montero, for him despite the fact that he’s a catcher, as is the 39-year-old Jorge Posada.

Realistically, I could see the Yankees offering him a six-year deal at anywhere from $120-140 million. The bottom line, though, is that Lee is a unique player to hit the market; another pitcher of his caliber will not be available soon. The Yankees will offer them whatever they have to bring him to the Bronx.

My guess is that he ends up with a five-year, $120 million deal. Unless the Rangers are willing to spend that much, all bets are off.

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A lot of people will see this as a bad omen, and I can’t blame them; it appears that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is already planning another Yankees ticker tape parade.

Via the NY Daily News:

When it comes to the Yankees, Mayor Bloomberg is already thinking sweep—and street sweepers.

With the Bronx Bombers up 2-0 in their first-round series with the Twins, the mayor confessed he’s plotting another World Series ticker-tape celebration in the Canyon of Heroes.

“I’m sort of trying to figure out where the parade should start,” the mayor said Friday on his weekly radio show. “We have to plan.”

I should add that I went to the parade last season, and thought it seemed like they had put almost no thought into it whatsoever. It was actually boring, with large gaps in between the floats. Many floats were carrying people that were just friends and family of Yankee front office members. Who wants to see them?

Maybe, planning this early could help make it a more enjoyable experience. Or maybe Bloomberg should just call former mayor Rudy Giuliani; he threw some great parades.

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Despite a little bit of controversy, the Yankees beat the Twins to put them on the brink of elimination.

Today is an off-day, but Phil Hughes goes tomorrow night back at Yankee Stadium.

Here are some notes:

• Andy Pettitte said that Lance Berkman told him the other day that he and Kevin Long made adjustments to his swing, and he was feeling a lot better at the plate.
• Last night’s game was Jorge Posada‘s 113th postseason game of his career, moving him ahead of David Justice and behind Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams all-time.
• Since blowing the 2004 ALCS, Mariano Rivera has allowed one run in 19 playoff appearances, and is 9-for-9 in save opportunities.
• Missed this the other day, but RHP Ryan Pope is going to the AFL. He’s eligible for the Rule 5 draft this offseason, so the Yankees probably want to see if he’s worth protecting.
• OF Slade Heathcott has had an undisclosed surgery. When there is word on exactly what type of surgery it is, I’ll pass that information along. As River Ave Blues points out, he’s already had surgery on his ACL and dealt with a serious shoulder injury when he was younger.

Berkman had a big Yankee moment last night. Hopefully, he can have a few more before the playoffs are over.

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The play Yankees manager Joe Girardi is discussing is Greg Golson‘s catch in the ninth inning of Game One of the ALDS that should have ended the game, but instead was ruled a trap.

Via ESPN:

“As long as it doesn’t slow the games down,” Girardi said in the visiting manager’s office before Thursday night’s Game Two.

“I couldn’t really see it but I go by the reaction of the players and they usually tell you a lot,” Girardi said. “[Golson] said he caught it, so I asked the umpires to convene. After they come back with that decision there’s really not much I can do, but I appreciate them getting together because it might be a call that’s overturned.”

“If Thome hits a home run there and the Twins go on to win, it could change the complexion of the series,” Girardi said.

“Could they have reviewed that play as quick as they talked about it? Probably,” Girardi said. “It takes the same amount of time. To me, that’s the great thing about technology. They can slow everything down. And there’s different things you can do. You could have an umpire right in front of a TV. They could do that. So it could actually speed up the game.”

I initially didn’t make too much of a big deal about this replay issue because ultimately the Golson play wasn’t that big of a deal because it did not effect the outcome of the game. There will be another play that has a larger effect than the Golson play (the Berkman non-strikeout being different because replay wouldn’t cover balls and strikes).

This is a big deal though, instant replay in baseball, because there is no good reason against having it. Instant replay is technically part of the sport in a small way, and it has become a prevalent part of all sports today.

There is no reason it has to slow down the pace of the game. Every time there is an incorrect call, the managers usually are out there arguing for 5-10 minutes anyway, slowing down the pace of the game. If replay is instituted, they could just make a rule that managers aren’t allowed to argue a call.

It’s pathetic, and it needs to end. Preferably baseball could even institute something before the ALCS.

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The Yankees beat the Twins 5-2 last night and the play that everyone seems to be talking about is the Lance Berkman at-bat in the the seventh that ended up being an RBI double.

It’s become an infamous play because it looked like Carl Pavano had him struck out just the pitch before. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was ejected following the double.

Let’s take a look at the Pitch Fx graph via Brooks Baseball:

Look at the sequence here. The first pitch was a ball low. The second pitch is a called strike, but is clearly out of the zone. The third pitch was a foul ball that put Berkman behind in the count 1-2 even though he only swung at one pitch and none were in the strike zone.

The fourth pitch is the one that caused Gardenhire to get ejected. It is clearly in the zone, but called a ball. This brought the count to 2-2 and extended the at-bat. The fifth pitch was smacked into center field for an RBI double.

Now my first thought after looking at this chart was that it was a payback call, meaning that the umpire knew he messed up the second pitch, so he gave another close one back to Berkman. However, based on further evidence, that’s just how home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt was consistently calling the pitches.

Take a look at this chart of all the pitches thrown to left-handed batters last night:

As you can see, all night long and against for both teams Wendelstedt was calling pitches inside to lefties as balls and away as strikes. He’s wrong in doing this, but the old baseball saying is that as long as you are consistent with it, then it’s OK.

Gardenhire should have seen both sides getting the same calls at this point.

While that pitch to Berkman was definitely a strike, the pitch just two before it was a ball but it was called a strike. He shouldn’t even have had two strikes on him at that time.

Some may say that the Yankees got away with one here, but as far as bad calls go this was rather tame. The guys in Atlanta have a much bigger gripe about bad calls than the people in Minnesota…for now.

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The Yankees yet again won another come-from-behind playoff game against the Minnesota Twins as they beat them 5-2 last night behind a strong performance from Andy Pettitte.

Here are some highlights:

• The Twins had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second, but Carl Pavano couldn’t hold it. Pavano pitched six innings and allowed four runs.
• Pettitte needed just 88 pitches. His line: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR.
• The Yankees tacked on another run in the ninth when Brett Gardner scored on a Curtis Granderson single.
• Kerry Wood and Mariano Rivera locked down the Yankees lead over the final two innings.
• Ron Gardenhire was ejected in the seventh for arguing ball and strikes after an apparent strike three was called a ball and in the same at-bat Lance Berkman doubled to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
• Berkman also homered in the fifth inning that gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

With a 2-0 lead in the series, the Yankees are set up pretty well to advance past the first round of the playoffs for the first time ever as the Wild Card. The series resumes Saturday night at Yankee Stadium with Phil Hughes on the mound. If Hughes can’t wrap things up, CC Sabathia will pitch on short rest Sunday night. If the series goes the distance it will be wrapped up in Minnesota on Tuesday.

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Via the Journal News:

The Yankees just sent out a release with their official roster for the ALDS. Here’s the breakdown:

Pitchers: Sabathia, Pettitte, Hughes, Burnett, Mitre, Moseley, Logan, Robertson, Chamberlain, Wood, Rivera

Catchers: Posada, Cervelli

Infielders: Teixeira, Cano, Jeter, Rodriguez, Berkman, Pena

Outfielders: Swisher, Granderson, Gardner, Thames, Kearns, Golson

They also announced that Andy Pettitte will start in game No. two and Phil Hughes in No. three.

The big omissions are Javier Vazquez, Chad Gaudin, Royce Ring, and Ivan Nova. Eduardo Nunez and Chad Moeller are two others that might have made the team that were left off.

CC Sabathia, Pettitte, and Hughes are going to be the starters, which leaves A.J. Burnett, Sergio Mitre, and Dustin Moseley as the potential long-men.

Nevertheless, I have to think that Burnett would only be used in an emergency, while Mitre could be a middle reliever who goes one or two innings at a time.

The only move I’m really surprised about is Ring, because the Twins are a little bit left-handed heavy. Ring really pitched terribly in every opportunity, so I probably shouldn’t be surprised.

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