Don't tell me Reyes is better than Jeter

When you look at the way Jose Reyes play offensively and defensively, there is no way I will take Reyes over Jeter. I know Jeter's age, range, potential, power, etc... But, I will take Jeter every day. Why? Jeter is winner with right attitude who always play the game in the right way. I won't get too far to say Reyes loses this game for Mets because you never can predict what will happen in the baseball game. If Reyes didn't get pickup and Wright was still at the plate, I believe Pettitte will be careful and pitch around Wright with two out. You can say Yankees win this game because their outstanding pitching from Pettitte, Veras, Farnsworth, and Mo or Mets' offense is bad.

Santana didn't pitch badly, but Pettitte is better. You know what, Some players sometimes have sexy stats all over the paper, but they can't get the job done for whatever reasons. In contrast, some players don't have those "wow" number and a lot of so called "experts" rank them overrated. But, they are winner. They know how to get the job done. It seems they always figure out the way to win ball game. Right now, Jeter, Mo, Posada, Pettitte, Wang, Melky, Damon, Giambi and Molina are on my list. Unfortunately, A-Rod is still on his way to my list. By the way, Who else is on your list?

After hearing post-game interview from Santana, this is my reaction. Last time, Santana complained about the error Wright made for that grand slam. This time, He blamed umpires for this game. Stop complaining, Santana. I am glad we don't trade him. Depend on what I saw and what I hear so far, Santana's attitude won't fit to play for Yankees. If he can't survive under spotlight, I don't care how good he is. He won't be a good piece on our Yankees team. From this point on, Cashman shoudn't let any player leave once they prove they can survive in New York. By the way, Basically, Santana is a 6-innings pitcher now in the National league. I couldn't image how well he will perform in AL East for 6 more years.

I learn one thing when I was studying in California few years ago. I don't learn this from Taiwanese culture. When you make mistakes, only thing you need to do is to admit it, correct it and work hard for improvement for next chance.

By the way, How beautiful it is to watch Mo pitching, Melky catching and Cano smiling. Great day in Yankeesland.

I miss Wang...

This is exactly how I felt when I was watching first two games between Yankees and Mets. I am sure a lot of Yankees fans and Yankees thinking about this as well. It's very difficult for me to keep watching without falling sleep when you consider the first game was 4 am in Sydney,but I make it. I am not going to go through what happened those two games. I am just glad Yankees are able to split first two games. I am sure Pettitte will have great game tomorrow against Mets and I will watch closely as well. No matter what will happen, I am still happy for Yankees not to trade for Santana, especially Yankees have to give up a lot talent and money for him.

Some random thought...

****What Yankees fans are doing when they don't have Yankees games to watch? Well, we pay attention on Red Sox and Mets games, aren't we? We should just focus on our team, but it's hard to blame us when we have free time, right?

****After watching Red Sox-Diamondbacks game, I know one thing for sure, Joe Girardi is not the only manager in the major who decides to pitch to Manny when game is on the line even though I am fine with that decision. Why manager of Diamondback decide to pitch to Manny when you lead 2-1 in the 8th inning, second and third with 2 outs, first base open and Lowell on deck? Talk about crazy move. This one is true one than the one Joe Girardi has. How about taking Haren out when he hadn't pitched more than 100 pitches?

****After watching Mets-Mariners game and Dice-K's first game back from DL, I know one thing for sure, I am glad Brian Cashman is our GM who doesn't do everything without thinking. Santana will be a great pitcher in few years, but we won't miss him down the road. Giving up grand slam to a AL pitcher and blaming teammate about making error behind him after the game. How about his defense? Who gave him that gold glover last year? I also notice Dice-K's velocity is way down. We all know the command will be the problem for pitchers who just come back from DL. But when you see their velocity is not there, you know there is something you need to worry about, especially when you consider Dice-K comes back from shoulder injury and the long history of pitching crazily long back to Japan.

****I read couple of news about how well Yankees' starters have been since Wang's injury. Guys, Don't get too excited too soon, when you consider Wang's turn just comes up once and Yankees is on soft schedule which they faces a lot of weak hitting NL teams. Don't get me wrong. I am happy every one pitches so well and can't wait to have the happy problem which we have too many starters when Kennedy will be back in July, "Pavano" and Hughes in August and Wang in September.

****When you talk about crazy fans, I think Yankees fans can be included on the list. Don't forget Taiwanese fans as well. Some Taiwanese start dreaming that Wang does his rehab games for Taiwan national team in 2008 Olympic in Beijing. Crazy!

****I will keep updating Wang's news I get from Taiwanese news. Basically, Yankees teammates keep teasing Wang because he hurts himself by running bases. But, they all keep eyes on him when he is on the trainer's room the whole day. Trainer and Wang seems to have confidence in beating the time.

I can't believe what I just said...

You know, I was worried about Kyle Farnsworth after getting hit by that ball. It really sounds crazy, but this is exactly how I felt and I am not going to lie about it. I said this before and I will say this again. We will never find out who is the Joba's replacement if Joba is still in the bullpen. Without questions, we all know how important the decision is to move Joba into the starting rotation, especially after Wang's injury.

I start realizing we use Mo's standard to judge Kyle Farnsworth. It's not fair. We need every arm we can get to help out our bullpen, especially when you consider we lose Wang who is inning eater.

By the way, Andy is the man, right? Sometimes you just feel more comfort when you see someone on the mound. Andy is one of them on my list. Of course, Mo sits on top of my list. I just never feel nervous when they are on the mound. How cool it is if Mo wins Cy Young Award and Moose finally has his 20 wins season?

I actually feel fine Yankees finish 4-2 during this homestand. We are not going to win every game as long as we keep winning most of series.

We will be fine without Wang

I have faith in Yankees. I actually think Yankees will be fine without Wang. There are so many talented players on our Yankees team. They know how to fight. They know how to complete. They won't give up. They believe themselves they will come through. That's why they always find a way to get into playoff. There is no more evidence than Yankees just swept back-to-back series. Don't get me that weak-NL-team theory because it's still very difficult to sweep a series. On any given day, one team is very capable of beating the other team.

Baseball is a team sport. It needs every one's effort to win a ball game. Unlike basketball, you may only need Michael Jordan to win a game. If our bombers keep hitting like they're now, we will be fine with whoever replace Wang's spot, but sometimes pitching has some impact on hitting as well. This brings the arguments I think the few differences between whoever replace Wang's spot and Wang.

The first difference is the comfort level Wang will bring with him for Yankees fans and his teammates whenever he takes the mound. We probably sweat a lot more during games whoever take Wang's spot.

The second difference is the amount of innings Wang provide for team. Without Wang, Pettitte becomes the only one we can count on more innings because Joba, Rasner, Mussina and whoever take Wang's spot are all 6-innings pitchers. This will burn out our bullpen eventually. This is bad news. The good news is we have a lot of more options down the farm system for relief pitchers, so it may work out pretty well.

Yankees have a very good schedule in June and July. The real test will come when they have to face tough opponents.

If my vote counts, I hope Yankees stay calm and give kids in our farm system a chance to show themselves. You never know we may find another Wang like we did in 2005. Of course, if price is right and not high, I am not against picking someone who can eat some innings before trading deadline.

One thing I know for sure is we can't afford to take another hit on our rotation. I am thinking about this. If Yankees get into playoff and Wang come back in time around September, we will have a strong rotation, including Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Joba, Hughes, Rasner. Sound great for me.

Wang's reaction about injury

I don't think you guys are able to watch Wang's interview about his injury. Wang doesn't get too much television time which he likes anyway. Wang enjoys flying under the radar without catching anyone attention. Sometimes I really doubt how well Yankees fans know about Wang.

You guys probably get few prints about Wang's reaction, such as Larry Bowa and Ron Guidry's words. Wang's injury is a huge news in Taiwan. I know and notice this even though I am not in Taiwan. My friends told me Wang's interview is everywhere. In Taiwan, there is even a news about Wang's parents' reaction. Wang's parents said, every Taiwanese walks past them on the street and says to them"We are praying for Wang".

I will talk about my feeling about Wang's injury on another post. Here we goes, this is Wang's interview. I try to sum it up as much as I can.

Wang apologies to Yankees, his teammates and fans about injuring himself and causing problems. He blames himself about getting hurt and not able to help Yankees.

Wang actually thought injury would be much worse than the one he has now. Before taking MRI in New York, he worry so much about the possibility of breaking bones or ligament which will end his season for sure. He actually breathe a sigh of relief after knowing that he "only" tears ligament.

When he was asked how he feels about his injury by Taiwanese reporters, Wang said, "Being on the field and playing game is the thing make a athlete happy. I am so upset when I know I can't play on the field and help my team win."

By the way, Wang says he will go to ballpark and root for his teammates everyday. One Taiwanese reporter asked how about when Yankees go on their road trips? Wang said, I don't think Yankees will allow me to follow them. During Yankees-Padres series, Wang actually go to ballpark early everyday and stay with them until game ends.

Of course, He said he will do everything he can, rehab everyday and come back as soon as he can.

This is not funny at all

I don't think any Yankees fan can enjoy this 5-1 road trip at all after watching that 6th inning. Only thing we can do right now is praying for Wang and our bombers. I hope this is not a series injury and Wang only miss few starts. I think Cano sum up this whole Wang's injury perfectly,

He is the guy we need in our team.

From what I saw and what I heard, it doesn't look good at all. First of all, Wang need help off the field. Secondly, the reaction I got from Joe Girardi is very telling. Does this injury result from the one Wang had earlier in the Met game? I speculate that injury never completely healed. Otherwise, how come he can injury his foot like that?

If I have to guess now, I don't think Wang's injury is the same as Burney's one because Wang points to his toe and makes a "twist" gesture to trainer. I think he fractures his toe, so he may be out 6~8 weeks which is not good at all.

This is the latest video I can find from Taiwanese news channel(Thanks to TVBS). You can fast forward to around 30 second to see the video when Wang left the club after the game.

What make of a good coach?

In New York, or in any sport, we always feel there must be something wrong with hitting coach or pitching coach when hitters or pitchers are struggling. For example, a lot of Yankees fans feel Gator is not a good pitching coach. Moreover, more Yankees fans question how well pitching coach Dave Eiland is when Wang, Pettitte, Hughes, Kennedy all struggle at some point this season. In addition, we wonder what kind of impact Larry Bowa bring to the table when we see Cano struggling this season.

In Taiwan, we come up with tons of different opinions from all kind of sources on what is wrong with Wang during this past 6 weeks. Taiwanese media actually interview Dave Eiland, Mussina and Pettitte a lot about Wang's struggle. One interesting article from the same great Taiwanese reporter I cite her article earlier let me understand one thing. An old Chinese saying goes, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink". I hope I don't use the wrong idiom. Please let me know if you know the right one.

A good coach only can tell you what is wrong with you and identify the problem. Only players can figure out how to fix that problem by themselves. Mussina said, the biggest problem Wang has is he doesn't know how to fix himself. Wang agrees with this statement. When his sinker doesn't sink, he know there must be something wrong with his delivery that causes him to fly open. But, he can't tell what causes him to fly open. He needs someone else to tell him. Dave Eiland said, one thing coach can help him is to tell Wang his shoulder fly open, but he have to find out why and fix that by himself.

After Oakland game, the most important quote I think is this one from Dave Eiland,

There were a couple of pitches where he didn't get to that slot-his arm was slowing down- and he self-corrected himself in the middle of the inning.

I said this on the preview post regard of Wang. I don't think Wang totally gets his command back even though he pitches a good game against Oakland. I hope Wang has another great outing to prove he can fix himself.

looking good

I think it's fair to say our bombers turn things around. Is it too greedy to wish a sweep and have a 5-1 road trip? I am tired of watching Yankees to stay around .500. I know we already took a series from Astros, but it will be nice to be 4 games over .5oo, right?

I am so happy to see Mussina winning his 260th career victory. Congrats, Moose. Of course, it doesn't hurt that our offense actually shows up in this game. Hopefully, our offense keep producing like that against Oswalt. Girardi looks like a genius when he decides to bat Melky in the 6th hole and pinches hit Cano, right? I think it's fair to say Girardi know what he is doing.

Mo and Posada are so funny

Do you guys check out the episodes "Yankees on deck" on yesnetwork? That's is so funny. They ask Posada and Mo two questions regard of each other in order to know how well they know each other. The interaction between two is so funny. Don't miss out. Go check them out.

We are in business

We are in business. Cool. We are in great shape if we can take one of 2 games left against Astros which will give us another series win when Red Sox seems to struggle on the road. So much for Joba to add some offense for bombers, right? I was laughing so hard during Joba's at bat. There is big difference between Western culture and Asian culture. When Joba and Wang talk about their hitting, they just show totally different attitude.

My heart almost stops during the whole Kyle's saving 9th inning. Good luck for us because Astros make all kind of stupid mistakes. They try their best to help Kyle out for save 1th since 2006. Good sign, right? When you consider Kyle got that save against Red Sox at Fenway Park in 2006, Yankees may have a great 2008 season. Once again, I just can't image to watch Yankees game without Mo.

I am listening to the game, so I can't tell this is truth or not. Maybe you guys can tell me. I have two concerns regard of Yankees. First of all, where is our offense? We score 3, 4, 4, 2 in our last 4 games. It's good to win 3 out of 4 and our pitchers pitch well, but where is our offense? Is it just the case that opposite pitchers pitch well? Does Chacon pitch well? Secondly, Do we need to concern about Posada's shoulder? Is he ok? Astros stole bases on Joba or on Posada?

Let's Go Yankees!!

This is just what a diehard Yankees fan does even though our bombers don't look like to score at least one run to tie the game early on before Matsui's grand slam. We still root for them and believe them will come through eventually. So, here we go. We take 2 out of 3 from Oakland. It seems Wang and Pettitte are back on track gradually. When we can get more consistently from everyone, we are in business.

up and down

Do I sum up the 2008 Yankees season well? I think one Yankee puts in word better than mine. That's our captain, Derek Jeter. Jeter said, we have been consistently inconsistent.

Our Bombers are not able to put everything together. Different pitchers struggle at different time. Kennedy and Hughes struggle in April and then Wang and Pettitte struggle in May. The same goes to our hitters as well. They are not able to score runs to support our pitchers.

Obviously, we don't look like a championship team. In fact, we even don't look like a contender at all at this moment. But, who cares? That's why they need our fans to support them, right? I am going to give you all the stats to tell you why Yankees will come back. I trust them and support them no matter what. Let's Go Yankees!

some reactions from Wang's game

This is Wang's reaction to Taiwanese media after game. He said this is certainly first step to the right direction, but he still isn't happy about walking too many batters(2 BB).

He hasn't gotten the command back and throws too many balls. He still can't throw where he wants like the beginning of season.

Throw Strikes

It's funny how things work out. During the past winless 6 weeks, Wang hadn't pitched as bad as his line. Of course, Wang didn't pitch well during this stretch, but he also ran into some bad lucks. When Wang finally won his 7th game yesterday, I think he was not pitching as good as his line. But, I know one thing for sure. Even though his strike-ball ratio is not good, he only walks 2 and gets the out when he needs it. This is the step to the right direction. Hopefully, Wang can command his sinkers better while he mixes other pitches well.

I said this at the beginning of season. Since the end of last season, this is Wang's transition period. Wang may go through some rough time when he tries to use all his pitches and learns how to mix them well, such as this past 6 weeks. But, we certainly can see what Wang can do from the first month of season. Glad to see Wang making adjustment. This is the photo below from Taiwanese newspaper(apple news) when they break down Wang's delivery. Of course, I translate Mandarin into English.

Let us take 3 out of 4 from Twins

I need to leave home now. I know we lead Twins 2 to 1. Let's go Pettitte. I am so sick and tired of seeing us to hang around .500. I may bring more good luck to our team without watching it.

about blogging

It's quite amazing for me to see many people blogging or writing some comments during the game. I have been tried few times, but I finally give that up.

First of all, I am so nervous all the time during game. How come you guys are able to concentrate on collecting the thought together? Obviously, I can't do that.

Secondly, I feel so weird to comment something when the game is not over yet. Is it hard to come up with a conclusion during the game, isn't it?

I don't know. How do you guys feel?