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The AAA Columbus Clippers are constructing a beautiful new ball park in the arena district named Huntington Park in . We signed a two-year deal to be the AAA team for the Washington Nationals that will end after the 2008 season.

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Well I finally made it to Yankee Stadium last night.  Took New Jersey Transit up from Princeton Junction to Penn Station and then the "D" Train to Fordham Rd., got off at 181st St. and walked about 10 blocks to Mario’s on Arthur Ave.  Met up with Gradysmanlady and a couple of his buddies – ate a little pasta and drank a little vino. All a perfect prelude to a perfect night.  GML's a pretty good dude, and for some unknown  reason the baseball god’s elected to put us right behind one another waaaaay up in the upper deck.  Unfortunately my buddy from Philly was having a hard time – cuz of his knees – making it all the way up to the Himalayan reaches of the stadium so we caged a coupla seats near some NYC secretarial types and their Manhattan real estate agent goomba – he spent most of the game trying to impress the young things with how much he knew about Manhattan real estate – whatta maroon.  Later JulioBernarzard showed up after the sixth and we watched most of the remainder of the game together. 

Anyway suffice it to say that watching Delucci hit that three run pinch- hit shot offa Chamberlain in the eighth was awful sweet.  You could feel the air go outta the stadium as it cleared the fences.  We were sitting with about half a dozen or so other Tribe fans from Connecticut.  We were all screaming and yelling and high-fiving one another amidst a throng of Yankee partisans – all of which gave us their best version of the ol’ stink-eye.  But so what?  The Tribe had just taken the lead over the vaunted Yankees offa the unhittable Mr. Chamberlain.  What could possibly be better – other than listening to about 2 or 300 other Tribe fans screaming their joy at the Yankee’s misfortune?  Like the noted fourteenth century B.C. philosopher Conan the Barbarian usta say, "Good is crushing your enemies, seeing them driven before you and listening to the lamentations of their women".  Truer words were never spoken.

Some observations:

• Fausto is having trouble locating the plate – duh.  And it’s not just that batters are laying off the low stuff.  He has stretches were he can’t locate the plate side-to-side or up and down.  But then he throws that heater up there at 96 and all seems right.  I think he just needs a little work on the side with the pitching coach.
• Marte’s a player.  There I said it.  His defense is excellent.  That tag he made in the bottom of the fifth – on Abreu, I think – was an old school veteran play.  He stood stone still acting like nothing was happening until, at the last instant he caught the ball and tagged out the runner.  Very impressive.  He also looked like he had an idea at the plate.  The boy at least looks like a hitter, which is more than I can say for most of the line-up.
• Hafner looks ab – so – lute – lee lost at the plate.  It looks like he’s guessing on every pitch.  I don’t know if his stance is too wide, or if he’s over-striding or what, but until he starts to recognize pitches he’s gonna struggle.
• Jamie Carroll on the other hand looks like he knows what he's doing with a bat.  He takes good swings at good pitches and plays a pretty decent second base – not a good as Asdrubal – but pretty decent.  Which is why I think that Cabrera is gonna end up in Buffalo soon.  There’s no need to keep him up in the majors and having him struggle when there’s a good replacement available.
• Garko, Peralta and Shoppach all look a little confused at the plate.  And yes I know Peralta hit that homer.  But still they look tentative.  These guys will come around but it’s gonna take some work.
• Gotta love Raffie L – wicked delivery makes his stuff look harder than it is.  Same with Jensen Lewis – if he had a more conventional delivery he’d be getting killed.  As it is the hitters are having a tough time finding his stuff.
• Alert the media!  Yankee fans are a bunch of douche nozzles.   I must admit we were treated politely by almost all of the NY fans but in the end their baseball knowledge, for the most part is limited to, "well we’ve won 26 WS, so this year’s team is gonna be great too".  I had one older fan tell me that the Tribe hasn’t had a good pitcher since Sam McDowell.  Evidently last year’s Cy Young results haven’t been announced yet in Gotham.

I always have big fun at the ballpark – always.  But last night was special.  Got to meet some of my LGT colleagues, watch the current Yankee HoF designate blow-up and listen to Yankee fans kvetch and flop around – perfect.  And, oh yeah, LeStunod choked big time with the game on the line.  Two for eighteen indeed!

Well, that might be my last visit to old Yankee Stadium – unless of course those dipwads some how buy a seat at this year’s play-offs.  In which case I’ll be back to watch the Tribe pound them into sawdust and break a few balls.

I know that offensivly the tribe has looked attrocious, bad approaches, no patience, etc. for most of the season but, why is there not more discussion about therir defense?

I do not get to watch any games that aren't on national T.V. being in LA but, I do listen to Hegan and Hammy and am constantly infuriated by their defense.  It seems they are in poor position before the ball is in play, they take poor routes to the ball and take forever to transfer and throw. 

Obviously it starts at Third with the Chin, but Garko is below average at first, Peralta has little range and does not turn the DP well at all.  Victor as good at the plate as he is still has problems controlling baserunners (which is a problem shared with pitching).  RF and CF are solid but it remains to be seen if whomever they put in LF can pull their weight.

Ever since Wedge ball began the fundimentals, including their hitting approach, baserunning, and defense have been terrible and they don't seem to be getting better anytime soon.

Does anybody else feel this way or am I just crazy for thinking that they give up a run or two a night based on either inadiquate or downright poor defense?

JBR

Those of you who voted for Jason Michaels to be the first thrown overboard (42%) - congratulations!  Your prognosticating skills are mighty and prodigious.

Now that the easiest scapegoat and most spare of spare parts Michaels is gone,  who's next?

• Casey Blake - could be relegated to super utility duty
• Derek Shelton - if the batting funk continues
• Abacab - Still has options left, might profit from some time in Buffalo
• Eric Wedge - Change begins at the top?
• Stil too early to shake it up again?
• Andy Marte

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This ain't really a fanpost, cuz I don't expect any discussion.  But here it is: me and some of the other LGT guys are goin to watch the Tribe massacre the Yankees Tuesday night in NYC.  Anybody else wanna join up?  Yous can reach me at cghardy@maui.net or on my cell at (808) 268-5220.  Oh yeah here's sixteen more words to make it 75 word total - ya know so it's 75 words.

Found this on mlb.com, regarding trades that didnt happen that have had an impact.

1. Cliff Lee, Indians
• Then: The Tribe was desperate to find a taker for Lee, who had spiraled from a top Cy Young Award contender in 2005 to a Minor League journeyman in 2007. But the $10.5 million remaining on the 29-year-old left-hander's contract turned off potential suitors.

A couple of weeks into Spring Training, the Indians appeared stuck with Lee. He'd been bombed for 17 hits and eight runs in his first 8 2/3 exhibition innings. Only his guaranteed contract kept earning him more chances,

• Now: This is the guy keeping the new name of the '07 AL Central champs' ballpark from being Regressive Field. **At 5-0, he owns one fewer win than the rest of the rotation (Fausto Carmona, C.C. Sabathia, Paul Byrd and Jake Westbrook) combined.

His statistics read like typos, with an 0.96 ERA, 32 strikeouts to two walks, and one baserunner allowed every two innings.

Says the AL April Pitcher of the Month's manager, Eric Wedge: "That's nothing you'd expect from anyone at this level, the highest level in the world. To have a month like that is very special."

** I bolded that part because eventhough I am a fan, I found it a bit humorous

While the offense continues to %&*$ing stink, I reviewed the recap for tonite's game. In the Notes to the AP recap was the following tidbit:

Manager Eric Wedge said RHP Joe Borowski (strained triceps) will return to the closer's role when he comes off the disabled list. Borowski is scheduled to throw off the mound next week

While I know Wedge likes to be loyal to the veterans on the team, I think this would be a very poor decision.

First, RaffyB has yet to get a real chance to prove he can or can't do the closer's job. Second, if Joe is not throwing at the velocity he did last year during his high wire acts, he really needs to be eased into use again. I'd rather him get a few games/weeks in lower leverage situations first before being thrown into fire.

We are trying to win a pennant here, not smooth over Joe's ego. Besides, Joe more than likely retires at the end of the year anyways.

Sheldon Ocker, in Saturday's article , again references Wedge's disappointment and disdain with the quality of the team's offensive approach in Thursday's win. 

''You have to pull yourself back and assess things, maybe talk to the coaches,'' Wedge said.

-snip-

''Last night, I got the hell out of here,'' he said.

When things aren't going smoothly, Wedge makes sure to leave his anger at Progressive Field and have some idea how he will initiate corrective measures the next day.

''That's what I did last night,'' he said. ''I sorted it out, so when my head hit the pillow I would have some clarity when I woke up. I'm a big believer in separating (from one game to the next). I have my moments, but I try to keep those private.''

It seems like Wedge here is offering an explanation for his anger from the post-game comments after Thursday's game.  At first, when I read some of those quotes on Friday, I just skimmed through and couldn't figure out why he'd choose to react this way - through the media after a victory.  After all, I was just glad that they won, Blake's 4 strikeout performance be damned.  So, I went back to Friday's paper and the quotes from directly after the game.  Here's the set that drew the most reaction from us at LGT:

''I wasn't happy with our at-bats tonight,'' Wedge said. ''Our at-bats have to get better. We have to stick our nose in there with two strikes [and not be timid]. We have to concentrate and be disciplined every at-bat.''

Wedge's voice rose as he continued: ''That's the only way we've done it in the past, and that's the way we need to do it now. It's not OK to do it one day and not the next or for one guy to do it and the next guy not to. I try to be as positive as I can, but it's time for us to turn the corner.''

Seems like a true, non-premeditated reaction, I think.  And, it really shows his frustration with the state of the offense (as further evidenced by line-up changes, etc.). 

Some thoughts/questions before I completely lose my train of thought:

-Can Wedge's post-game comments/anger be seen as anything more than venting?  Was he '"pulling a Leyland" and using the media as a source of motivation/way of calling out particular players?  Was this an out-of-character moment for Wedge?

-Could it be that Wedge, in his post-game comments, was directly calling out everyone's favorite Shocker, the Beard?  And, might this finally be seen as a sign that Blake has been put on notice, so to speak?  Was the method behind his madness?

-Or, alternatively, did Wedge wake up on Friday, realize that he may have been too raw in his comments after the game and decide to explain his reactions, diffusing the tension that they may have caused? 

-Or, much ado about nothing?