John Flaherty is bugging me

John Flaherty is a former Yankee Catcher turned broadcaster and is  a fairly knowledgeable and  decent broadcaster. To be honest he is a better broadcaster than he ever was a catcher. But all and allhe was a  serviceable backup catcher. Lately he has a bug up his butt  about Alfredo Aceves.  Seems to me Aceves is the best pitcher the Yankees have in their bullpen  (besides Rievera of course) Aceves know as Ace by his teammates is 3-1 with an ERA of 2.75 in 19 innings he has given up 16 hits with 18 strikeouts and has only allowed  6 earned runs. He has proved to be versatile and able to come into the game in multiple situations. He came in the other day for Joba Chamberlain when he had to be pulled due to an injury. Ace pitched three and a half scoreless innings and earned a win. He also has proven he can come into pressure situations and get the Job done. He came in for Andy Petitte in the sixth inning of his last start with two runners on and nobody out. After walking the bases loaded he was able to limit the damage to just one run and preseve the victory for Andy.

As a converted starter he is also available if the Yankees need a spot starter for whatever reason. Be it injury or a double header or even a long rain delay that causes the regular starter to be pulled , Ace is the guy the Yankees would turn to.

But for whatever reason Flaherty keeps making remarks about Ace not having good stuff . Seems to me that if his stuff was bad he wouldn’t be so good. But every other sentence when the guy pitches is about how bad his stuff is. At the same time he is saying that he is pitching well. He uses very passive aggressive sentences like " Even when you don’t have the best stuff if you have confidence and aren’t afraid to throw strikes you will do well"  Huh?  Of course if you throw strikes you will do well. However to throw strikes you have to have good stuff. Now Ill give you that Ace isn’t overpowering he doesn’t hit 94 or 95 on the radar gun. its more like 91 or 92. But Last time I checked 92 with good location and a sharp curve ball to go with it is considered "good stuff" Whenever I watch Ace pitch it seems like he has great control and can throw a strike at will. He is not afraid to pitch inside and uses both sides of the plate.When he runs into trouble its because sometimes he leaves a fat one down the middle and gets tagged. But all and all he is the most reliable reliever the Yankees have right now and is quickly earning the reputation of being the most trusted. John you work for the Yankees don’t bad mouth their good relievers  it makes you look ignorant. If you want to badmouth a pitcher start with Jose Veras he has been horrible.

Yankees on top

The Yankees are back in first place in the Am  league east for the first time this season with a win over the Cleveland Indians and a loss by the Boston Red Sox.

I’m on the Road at Progressive field in Cleveland Ohio where I just took in what turned out to be a great ball game. First lets talk a little about this impressive ball park. Formerly Jacobs field ,Progressive field does not offer a bad seat in the house. Even the Bleacher seats would provide a decent view of the game. The concessions are a bit more reasonable than many of the Ball Parks that I have been to in the area. Now I haven’t been to the new stadium yet so I’m not sure what they are there. But I bought a Hot dog and a Soda and it only cost me 7.50. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that’s cheap but I did pay 6 dollars for a soda in Toronto earlier this year. Ok there is an exchange rate difference but I think it still works out to be more.

Speaking of Toronto, the Blue Jays broke a nine game losing streak beating the Red Sox 6-2 and giving the Yankees this opportunity tonight.

The scoring tonight for the Yankees came early

Top 2nd- Derek Jeter hits an RBI single scoring Nick Swisher  moving  Brett Gardner to 2nd  Yanks 1-0

With the Bags packed Mark Texeria grounds out scoring Brett Gardner moving Jeter to 3rd and Damon to 2nd  Yanks 2-0  

Top 3rd Nick Swisher with the Sac fly  scoring Robinson Cano   Yanks 3-0   and that’s the scoring in this one. That’s all that the Yankees needed. Andy Petitte went 5+ innings leaving with what seems to be stiffness in his back. Alfredo Aceves came in and Pitched 3 Scoreless innings allowing just one of the runners he inherited from Pettite to score. Mariano  Rivera came in to pitch the ninth gave up one hit and struck out two and that’s the ball game. Yankees 3 Indians 1. 

It started with a one and a half hour rain delay and finished with a victory. Pettite struggled through most of the game but to his credit toughed out 5+ innings only allowing one run (actually just charged to him after he left the game) and picked up a win to go to 5-1.

 

Aceves is the big story in this game pitching three dominant innings in relief of Pettite only allowing 1 hit and recording 2 strikeouts.

Tomorrow the Bombers will be back at it again as CC Sabathia takes on Fausto Carmona who at 2-4 has struggled so far this year with an ERA of 6.42.

If you get a chance to go to progressive field I highly recommend it. The baseball experience is very fan friendly and provides great access to all the amenities that you could ever want. I give this trip a 8. Would have been higher if the game had been more exciting.

Torre: Manny should skip All-Stars if voted in

Torre: Manny should skip All-Stars if voted in

Before Manny was suspended he was tearing the cover off the Ball hitting .348. I personaly don’t know whether to believe his side of the story or not. What I do know is that he has been in the leauge a long time and although has not always been the Ideal clubhouse guy I don’t think he is a habitual cheater. Manny is a natural born hitter. He will be returning in the first part of July and is 4th in votes to appear in the all star game. If selected I say. Go for it Baseball is for entertainment and Manny entertains me.

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Two years after Series run, Rockies fire Hurdle

Two years after Series run, Rockies fire Hurdle

How can someone keep there Job for over seven seasons and only have a winning record once? Only the manager of the Colorado Rookies can. Clint Hurdle was the only manager in the history of baseball to start out with 5 losing seasons in a row and not lose his job. If anyone out there still wants to say he is without his best Hitter and without his best pitcher speak now or shut up..   Ill wait……… Are you done? Well shut up anyhow because he should have been fired long ago. The amazing run that the Rockies had at the end of the 2007 season when they went 20-1 and got into the wildcard after a one game playoff with the Padres bought him a couple more years but it was only a matter of time and starting out the season with only 18 wins at the end of May and being 14 games back certainly is reason enough in my book.

Jim Tracy will take over for Hurdle as the manager of the Rockies. Tracey was brought in as the bench coach this season at the request of GM Dan O’Dowd. Note : If the GM Picks your Bench coach and his resume is better than yours your probably gettin canned.

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Somebody needs anger management

 

Carlos Zambrano is not known for his even temperament. This is part of what makes him exciting to watch. This is also what just bought him a seven Day suspension and a $3000 fine. Zambranos agent says that no appeal will be made. Duh did you watch the video whats to appeal, he was going nuts. After throwing the ball  into left field during his little temper tantrum he proceeded to go into the dug out pick up a bat and smash a Gatorade container. I know its to early for next weeks just shut up  award  to be named but hey he just earned himself some consideration.

The Mets Corner with Tony G

I don’t even know where to begin this week. Let’s start off with the fact that the Mets have been hotter then Megan Fox over the last six games. To start, NY took two out of three from a stellar Boston team, on the road none the less. That was followed by an outstanding series at Citi field, swatting the Nats like an annoying bug at a family reunion. The Mets got a little help in the third game by a controversial two run home run off the bat of converted first baseman Daniel Murphy. Murphy must have gotten a confidence boost playing a different position or he found himself a girlfriend, whatever it is he needs to keep doing it. Murph had a five RBI game Wednesday night against an awful Nationals ball club. It’s possible that Daniel just needed to get some at bats against some mediocre pitching to find his swing again.

Next on the list is the decision to call up the Mets top young prospect Fernando Martinez. With Ryan Church on the 15 day DL and Carlos Beltran needing a few days off to rest his knee, NY really didn’t have much of a choice. Martinez played well in AAA Buffalo, but by the looks of it he should have stayed there. The kid has showed he obviously isn’t ready for the big leagues. Martinez hit a high fly ball in the infield that the fielder had dropped, and because he didn’t run it out it was an easy play at first base. There are two things that you must have to be a star in this league, one is heart and the other is hustle. If you do not have these two X factors in your arsenal then you might as well not even bother to lace up your cleats.

Gary Sheffield has been hitting like he is either on the juice or he took an ice bath in the fountain of youth and brought him back to his playing days in Atlanta. If Shef can keep this up then expect good things out of the Amazin’s this season.

This is Tony G. and thanks for stopping into the Mets Corner for your weekly Metropolitan fix.

Baltimore saves millions

The Orioles top prospect Matt Weiters will make his MLB debut on Friday Vs the Detroit Tigers.

The brilliant minds in Baltimore saved bunches of money by keeping him in the minors for the first part of this season. Even if Weiters doesn’t ever go back to the minors he will only accumulate 129 days of service and won’t qualify to become a super two after 2011.  The super two rule is a bit complicated but that link does a pretty good job of explaining it. What it boils down to is that . He will only qualify for arbitration three times instead of four times which will save them millions down the road when they expect to be in contention.

This will also work out for the Rays who just called up David Price and will work for Atlanta if they decide to call up their Ace of the future Tommy Hanson

Sizzling Fox Gets the Call Up

The Cubs have called up the hot hitting Jake Fox.  Fox is the best hitter in all of the Minor Leagues with a .423 batting average 17 dingers and 50 RBI in 40 games. That right there is beastly, I don’t care where you play.  Sweet Lou gave the kid the call today.  The only knock on this kid is where are they going to play him? He has some question marks in the field. Fox is a converted catcher. He has played some outfield, and the corners in the infield. According to MLB.com the most likely place for him to land is 3rd base while Aramis Ramierz who is not expected back until the first week of July.  I can’t wait to see this kid get some at bats against major league pitching.  Fox is 26 years old and has been grinding it out in Iowa of the Pacific Coast League.  He will play anywhere they put him and just wants to win games according to all accounts  from coaches and player operations people.  I will be keeping an eye on this kid. You should too.

Mets put Reyes, Church on DL; Beltran still out

Mets put Reyes, Church on DL; Beltran still out

Ouch! The Mets are being decimated by the injuries. Jose’ Reyes on the Dl with tendinitis and Ryan Church on the Dl with hamstring problems spells trouble for the already banged up Mets line up.  Carlos Beltran has a bruised bone and will sit out at least thou the weekend. Not to mention that Carlos Delgado, Alex Cora,Oliver Perez and Brian Schneider were already on the DL. 

How the Mets are able to stay in there with the Phillies is amazing to me. Playing the Nationals and then the Marlins over the next  two series should help them hang in their. But on that same note the Phillies have the fish now and then the Nationals as well. So don’t expect the Mets to gain any ground this week. But if they can just hang in there they should be able to get some of their talent back the early part of next week.

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Commercial of the week

Another winner in our Commercial of the week contest. Matt Parker Is this weeks winner and will get a Behind the Foul Pole T-shirt as well as an opportunity to win the Grand Prize if his submission becomes the overall winner in September. What is the grand prize you ask? Well Im not sure yet but Im sure it will be grand. So continue to submit your funny commercials to Behindthepole@rocketmail.com for your chance to win.