We're not quite out of the All-Star Break yet. While I'm glad the players are getting their rest since they certainly deserve it after half a season of baseball, it's been unsettling to not have real, competitive baseball since Sunday evening. However, the one saving grace I always think of at times like these is that in just a few months, we'll be waiting until April 2013 for competitive baseball. /shudder/
So hang in there for another 36 hours or so and everything will be scrumtrulescent. First pitch for Friday's game against the Angels in the Bronx is 7:05pm. Not that I'm counting down or anything. Apologies for the slow news day today, not much happens the day after the All-Star Break.
- CC Sabathia appears to be good to go for his return from the DL on Tuesday. The Yankees were quite fortunate that this injury happened over the All-Star Break so CC only had to miss a pair of starts. He is kind of good.
- The trade deadline is coming up, and while your friends might be wondering aloud about how the Yankees could potentially pry Felix Hernandez from the Martiners or Cole Hamels from the Phillies, who do The Yankee Analysts think will be acquired? No one, just like in 2011. The only gaps in the regular lineup/pitching staff are at catcher, which they refuse to/are unable to change (no, Francisco Cervelli is not the answer either, small sample size of RISP success nonwithstanding considering his awful .251/.337/.322 triple slash against the likes of Scott Elarton), and at both the #5 starter and middle relief, which are problems for all teams. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, especially if Brett Gardner comes back healthy.
- Mark Teixeira: 1st baseman, multi-multi-millionaire. Loves: Short porch dingers, a good chuckle with a friend, and a nice glass of juice. Dislikes: Knowing what the hell to do with his swing. As frustrating as Tex has been the past couple years (slowly declining from a terrific '09 season that we may have taken for granted), the 32-year-old's on pace for his least homerific season since '07, when he was... 27. Uh-oh. Those were the prime years and he's still owed $22.5 million per year for the next four seasons. His wRC+ of 115 would also be his lowest since his rookie year of '03. Tex is going to some of his patented random hot streaks to get this season at least back on track to matching 2010-11's ~125 wRC+ totals.
- "IT IS HIGH! IT IS FAR! IT IS... caught " is a blog of random humor, but a recent post about the silly playoff expansion is serious and makes valid points. Perhaps the best was the following, which explains how meaningless the first half has become:
- Phil Hughes has some sunburn on his nose! Oh my! Should've packed the Aloe! Err... sorry. People post innocuous things on Twitter. This may or may not be one of them. I have talked far too long about Phil Hughes's sunburn here. Carry on.
- Your Mearns-approved Random Twitter Account to Follow of the Day: Todd in the Shadows. He's posted some great videos in the past with some great riffs on the silliness that is pop music, and his tweets hit on that as well (with more than just music as well).
Look at Seattle, the butchers who sold us Michael Pineda. They are 15 games below .500... but only 10 out of the Wild Cards race. Hell, in August of '79, the Yankees were deeper in the hole against Boston. Ten games is a burp. The whole first half of the season was like suburban yuppy T-ball for six year olds: Nobody keeps score, and everybody wins! Everybody is doing a great job! Everybody is a champion!