Saturday News: The Tools of Ignorance

by jscape2000 on Feb 20, 2010 8:47 AM EST in New York Yankees News

I'll miss Hideki Matsui's bat. But I will not miss his knees, especially when he opens Spring Training by saying: "to be honest, my knees aren’t 100 percent." (h/t LoHud)

Now he could mean that he doesn't feel the way he felt in 2003 before a series of injuries and surgeries sapped his mobility. He could mean that he just needs a couple weeks to test things out to chase away any nagging doubts after not playing the field in more than a season.

But he must know Spring Training interviews are the time for the "best shape of my life" stories, right?

Speaking of "best shape of my life stories," here's one about Nick Swisher shedding 10 pounds in 3 months.

And while you're at MLB.com, did you check out the wallpaper on the official Yankee site? It may have been up all winter, but I just noticed the pinstriped plate with 27 and the NY in front of the trophy.

Andy Pettitte said he wanting to hoist the trophy was why he came back to NY, but did he really pass up a fortune to remain with the Yanks in 2009?

On a day when Johnny Damon moved closer to signing with the Tigers – no doubt, deepening his regret at not taking the Yankees’ last offer in December – Pettitte recalled the $5 million offer the Bombers made for the 2009 season.

Talk about a test of loyalty. The Yankees were asking Pettitte to take a pay cut of more than $10 million, when the left-hander said other teams were offering him "a fortune."

The Yanks certainly played hardball with the lefty, but he did earn about $12M last season, plus a World Series share and a ring.

And to bring it full circle: if the schedule remains as is, and the Yanks decide to use the home opener as Ring Day, I have one thing to be excited for and one thing to complain about.

The cool part: Hideki Matsui will be in the house to receive his ring.

The suckitude: it will happen at 1 on a Tuesday, so most people will be at work/ school and not get to watch on tv.

Solution? Make Opening Day a night game.

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Comments

Man it's cold then

If I could get a ticket i’ll take the day off.

Record it!

Night games that early in NY are torture.

Kepp smiling.

"You don't realize how easy this game is until you get up in that broadcasting booth." Mickey

by Cbeck3 on Feb 20, 2010 10:13 AM EST reply actions

Grammer, DUH?

"You don't realize how easy this game is until you get up in that broadcasting booth." Mickey

by Cbeck3 on Feb 20, 2010 10:13 AM EST up reply actions

Grammar?

by david d on Feb 20, 2010 2:11 PM EST up reply actions

Opening DAY

It’s Opening DAY, not Opening NIGHT. Opening NIGHT is on Broadway, Yankee Stadium is in The Bronx.

by 209209 on Feb 20, 2010 11:32 AM EST reply actions

Make Opening Day a night game.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not enough games played in the sunshine.

by RobertG on Feb 20, 2010 1:00 PM EST reply actions

Opening night is why the invented sick days 'scape.

by FreeBradshaw on Feb 20, 2010 1:14 PM EST reply actions

Touche!

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Feb 20, 2010 1:58 PM EST up reply actions

Did you say toupea?

I wish I were an Oscar Myer wiener.I farted in the bathtub and the bubbles messaged my pee pee.You can not kill what you did not create.There is a brown snake in the toilet so look out.

by cashman bashman on Feb 20, 2010 8:58 PM EST up reply actions

Good Stuff

Sick days in the Big Apple are usually caught on opening day unless done super stealth. I looked at Godzilla in his Angels red last night and it was kind of a bummer. The fans are treating him well over there, though. He was a neat player, definetly one of a kind. I had a good hunch the Yanks knew about his knees, because he was just too loved to let go or ‘swap’ for Nick Johnson. Like Molina, I’ll miss this guy a lot. I had to laugh thinking about him plodding around in the outfield with his hat always flying off looking like a duck out of water. The ball sometimes flew past him, but he gave it his all. (much better DH, lol) I do remember when the Yanks played the Rays in Japan as MLB opener and Matsui hit the HR and got MVP. The Japanese fans went nuts and Matsui got that cool trophy. It was nice having one of the biggest legends in the history of Japanese sports wearing pinstripes… and snagging us a series.

by SteveBalboniHOF on Feb 20, 2010 1:57 PM EST reply actions

Pettite has played in the bronx for his entire career (except for like 3 years)

Damon for just 4 years, i can see why Pettite has more loyalty

by Brian5517209 on Feb 20, 2010 3:30 PM EST reply actions

when is our next impact Japanese player?

Kyle Higashioksi(or however you spell it)?

by Brian5517209 on Feb 20, 2010 3:32 PM EST reply actions

Higashioka is from California.

Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by CasanovaWong on Feb 20, 2010 11:56 PM EST up reply actions

Opening day

I’d love to go to the game, but if my work doesn’t let me that would really suck. I like your solution of making it a night game. Maybe I’ll call in “sick”? But then I wouldn’t want to risk any chance of getting on TV, so I could stay home “sick” and watch on TV. Thats probably what I’d do lol.

I’ll miss Matsui too. Can’t believe they passed him up and signed Nick Johnson for virtually the same price. Both are just as injury prone, but Matsui has more benefits. He will be very missed.

And while you bring up Swisher, here is a yesnetwork.com video of him and things he does during the offseason. lol Swish is hilarious I love the guy. Here’s the link- http://web.yesnetwork.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=7170083
It was also on Yankees Magazine, so I’m sure some people here have already seen it.

What about the other people who need their rings? Damon, Molina, Hairston, Bruney, Coke? When do those guys get their rings? Just on a different day I’m guessing but I’m not sure.

by nyyrocks29 on Feb 20, 2010 4:09 PM EST reply actions

They can ask to be excused from the game, or they’ll get them in the mail.

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Feb 20, 2010 4:30 PM EST up reply actions

Funny Swish

Just watched that-funny stuff. ‘It was in a controlled environment, it wasn’t like I was throwing haymakers out there." lol

by SteveBalboniHOF on Feb 20, 2010 5:22 PM EST up reply actions

Gone Gone Godzilla and the mystery of Japanese baseball statistics

I know this might be a little off the subject. After reading this and thinking about Godzilla, I decided to write the Angels fan a little blog about him. I started off by discussing how he looked when he was healthy and how he looked when he was hurting here in NY. I moved on his Japanese days and started to talk about a HOF case. (he should definetly go-it would be an honor for international baseball and especially Godzilla). While looking for his Japanese stats, I ran into a problem. WHERE ARE HIS JAPANESE STATS? One site wanted to ‘sell’ them to me. I finally got some stats; HITS, ABS, HRS, and RBI, from an outdated article in the Buffalo News. Does Japan keep track of other stats? Where I can I find them without paying for them? For anyone interested I added his US/Japanese stats and they came out as .293 AVG 8047 AB 2360 H 472 HRs 1486 RBIs (would be a lot more but Japan has a shorter schedule and apparently not as many baserunners). I would love to build the whole case sometime.

by SteveBalboniHOF on Feb 20, 2010 5:02 PM EST reply actions

Great moment in YSII

I hope he joins the team on the first base line if that’s how they do it. Also I’d love to see him don the “55”. I will stand and clap at work for sure. Long live his last game in pinstripes!

I wish we could continue to just show up and play for no reason. No umpires, no scorers. Just show up and have fun.
-- Alex Rodriguez

by dorsal on Feb 20, 2010 9:38 PM EST reply actions