At least no Beckett

by Travis G on Aug 25, 2008 1:22 AM EDT

Josh Beckett, celebrated as an ace by most media pundits (even though his career ERA+ is worse than Chien-Ming Wang, who's considered to be an ace by few), will miss Tuesday night's game with 'numbness' in his pitching arm. Tim 'The Ageless Wonder' Wakefield will start in his stead.

For the Yanks to have a realistic shot at the playoffs, they need to take two out of three, and avoiding Beckett should certainly help the cause.

- If you're a Giants fan, today is a horrible day. Osi Umenyiora will miss the entire 2008 season with torn cartilage (lateral meniscus) in his knee that he suffered in Saturday's game against the Jets. The solution should be to move Mathias Kiwanuka back to his normal position of defensive end, but with the start of the season so close, and Kiwanuka already entering his second year at linebacker, the Giants may instead opt for Dave Tollefson, Renaldo Wynn or a trade. Remember how Ernie Accorsi was ripped for selecting another DE in 2006 when Justin Tuck, Michael Strahan and Osi were still around? The move looks pretty great in retrospect.

- The Olympics are like a strange blip in a sports lover's year. You're enjoying baseball season, watching games every day, and all of a sudden you see crazy shit like pole vaulting, badminton, water polo and handball. But let me just say that I love it. I've read a lot around the blogosphere about how much they suck, and how they're boring and meaningless, but it ain't that way for me. For two weeks, I was into volleyball (beach and indoor), swimming, diving, discus throwing, hurdles and even gymnastics, just to name a few. (My favorite athletes included Shawn Johnson, Michael Phelps, Lolo Jones and May and Walsh.) Fortunately, it happens just once every four years, because those events could never hold my attention for more than a couple weeks. Now back to our regularly scheduled sports lives.

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Comments

Somebody

ought to see if that dude Usain Bolt can catch a football.

He’d be a Jamaican Forrest Gump on kick returns.

Re the Giants, rumors are floating around that a call may be placed to Mr. Strahan:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/25/sports/football/25wcr.html?ref=sports

"Well, that kind of puts a damper on even a Yankees win."
-- Phil Rizzuto after hearing about the Pope's death

by matthaggs on Aug 25, 2008 8:22 AM EDT reply actions

if he could catch

he’d be a stud WR. plus the dude is 6’5". it would be impossible to overthrow him. but he’s probably never even seen a football game.

by Travis G on Aug 25, 2008 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions

rumor has it that the Dolphins may have interest in working Bolt out and placing him on their practice squad for a few weeks. To me its NOT a Parcells type move though.

-Dave
http://www.eSellOut.com
Yankees Tickets for the fan who needs odd #’s of tickets!

by esellout on Aug 26, 2008 12:30 AM EDT up reply actions

Beckett is an interesting case

He’s the man in the postseason (72 2/3 innings, 1.73 ERA, 10.1 K/9, .74 WHIP) but he’s always been somewhat of a disappointment in the regular season. He seems to be a lock for 25 starts and 170 innings, and his regular season ERA with the Red Sox is a somewhat uninspiring 4.20.

Beckett is a free agent after 2009, and it’s going to be interesting to see what he gets. He’ll be 30 shortly after Opening Day 2010, and his career stats have trended downard, and he’s injury prone. We’ll se….

by 3460kuri on Aug 25, 2008 8:51 AM EDT reply actions

no doubt

he’s been great in the playoffs, but always underwhelming in the regular season. i could definitely see Boston not re-signing him. they’re cold and practical when it comes to aging stars (e.g. Pedro, Manny, Damon, Nomar).

by Travis G on Aug 25, 2008 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions

"numbness"

That sounds a lot like what Cone was complaining about in 1996.

by long time listener on Aug 25, 2008 9:58 AM EDT reply actions

absolutly

I feel the same way about the Olympics. I was loving this years baseball season and than all of a sudden the Olympics come on. For the past 2 weeks I watched maybe 2 baseball games. I had my eye on the Olympics! I love womens gymnastics :D haha! On a real note, the women’s USA team got royally screwed!

by Fluke on Aug 25, 2008 10:09 AM EDT reply actions

you could tell

just by looking at them, that the chinese female gymnasts were underage. no surprise though.

by Travis G on Aug 25, 2008 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions

The "Ace" Difference

is that Beckett has dominated in the playoffs and CMW has gotten lit up like a Christmas tree on fire.

by runbrettrun on Aug 25, 2008 7:43 PM EDT reply actions

That happened just in 2007

Yankee fans and the media simply focus on his disastrous 2007 ALDS and go overboard in describing his lack of “ace” credentials. But those same people often don’t apply the same standard to Sabathia when he was hammered last October.

Wang’s two postseason starts prior to 2007 were actually pretty good:

13.1 IP, 14 H, 4 ER — 2.70 ERA, 1.13 WHIP

by anaconda on Aug 25, 2008 9:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Sabathia is off-topic

and “actually pretty good” does not an ace make. Aces come up aces in big spots. CMW hasn’t to date. Hopefully he will in the future.

by runbrettrun on Aug 25, 2008 10:05 PM EDT reply actions

Sabathia is not at all "off-topic"

because he will be the #1 target for Cashman and Hal once the season is over. The fans want the Yanks to go hard after Sabathia because he would be the “ace” that they supposedly lack with Wang.

And guess what? Sabathia didn’t pitch like an “ace” in a big spot last October. He got hammered – just like Wang.

Like Wang, I think it would be unfair to suggest that Sabathia is not an ace because of his postseason numbers last season. But Yankee fans don’t seem to apply the same standard to Sabathia that they have with Wang.

Sounds like you are one of those people.

by anaconda on Aug 25, 2008 11:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Ummmmmm

The topic was Beckett v. Wang. So, clearly it is off-topic for this thread.

Now, as far as free agents, your statements still make no sense. Who cares if CC is no better than Wang in big spots? The only question with FAs is, Will they improve the club at a price we can live with? In CC’s case, I’d say yes.

Besides, Joba’s gonna be the titular ace next year.

Joba – CC – Wang – Moose – Pettite (or the kids) .. Sounds like a great rotation to me.

(If I have time tonight, I may pull out post-season numbers on some of these guys, though. It’d be interesting to compare #s, even if just to confirm perceptions or not.)

by runbrettrun on Aug 26, 2008 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Joba won't be the ace if can only throw 120 IP - 130 IP

which looks like a real possibility if he doesn’t return to the rotation this season.

BTW, I’ll decide what is off-topic and what isn’t – since, ya know, I do run this blog. But thanks anyways.

by anaconda on Aug 26, 2008 6:14 PM EDT up reply actions

"ace" and "clutch" are ridiculous

if guys can turn it on and off, like Beckett allegedly can, then why don’t they pitch like that all the time?

Like a few years ago, when David Ortiz was hitting .700 in “clutch situations” with runners on after the seventh inning or something like that. If he really had control over that, then why doesn’t he hit .700 all the time??

by 3460kuri on Aug 26, 2008 9:06 AM EDT reply actions

Yes, but

you can still look at #s over time to see if a guy is generally clutch or not. Sure, some luck plays in, and guys have off-years, but by your logic, why keep track of stats at all? Joe Torre had the great line that one year he hit .250, and one year he hit .350, and he tried just as hard both years. That’s why it’s better to look at the #s over a longer period, when possible.

by runbrettrun on Aug 26, 2008 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions