Joba's 3rd Spring Training outing

7:33pm After watching Joba's first 2 innings, Joba's velocity looks just fine. He also has variety of breaking pitches range from 77mph to 85mph. That's why I always say Joba should be a starter.

7:35pm By the way, I saw Moose on the seat with his family.

7:36pm Matsui just hit a leadoff double. Guess who drive him in? Cody. Alex who?

7:40pm I am glad to see someone(Molina) to be able to move runner to 3rd base with less than 2 outs.

7:50pm Is that just misjudged play by Gardner? or hit too hard?

7:57pm I am glad Gardner drive that run in. However, I will be happier Gardner can put that put down successfully. I don't have problems Gardner's aggressive base running.

8:07pm Nice 3 innings from Joba. He should release many people's concern. Coke is up and looks good as well.

8:18pm The most impressive thing I see from Coke is the ability to mix his pitches well. It seems to me Coke is able to locate his fastball well and throw his breaking pitches. Not to mention, he throws a lot of strikes. I hate pitchers walking batters.

8:33pm One thing Gardner often does better than Melky on the plate is seeing more pitches.

8:38pm Why Damon try to steal 3rd base with 2 outs? Someone must miss signs.

8:45pm Is just me to feel this way? Igawa looks good so far this spring. Based on what I see from Igawa pitching, is it possible to have Igawa in the bullpen as a lefty specialist first?

9:01pm If Igawa can pitch low in the strikezone and has command like that, he should be able to pitch good enough in the big league. Since Igawa come to Yankees, I always can't believe how bad Igawa command is because it seems to me Japanese pitchers always have good command and control based on what I have watched for many years.

Which one is the best of 2008 season in Yankeesland?

I refuse to discuss or think the bad things happened to Yankees in 2008. Let us look back to 2008 season and talk about the best thing happened to Yankees in 2008.

I struggle to come up with the conclusion which one was the best thing happened to Yankees in 2008. Was Mo's continuous incredible performance with not so good shoulder or Moose's first 20 wins season in his last season of his career?

Moose..............

Mike Mussina officially decided to retire. I am not going to talk about Moose's numbers. I am not going to talk about his chance for HOF. I am not going to talk about his playoff performance. I am not going to talk about his "almost" which includes an almost perfect game and an almost world series ring with no no-hitter and no CY Young Award in his resume.

As a fan, I like to talk about memory. No matter they are good memory or bad memory. I only care about those memory that players bring to me. Those memory play a big role in my life because of how many time we spend on watching them playing. It seems players become part of our life and go through good things or bad things with us.

I become a Yankees fan when I went to America to study film school in 2005, so I don't have that much memory about Mussina to talk about when comparing with you guys.

2006, May

I always remember the game Moose pitched against Tiger. Moose pitched a complete game. When Torre was going to come out to take the ball from Moose in the 9th inning with 2 outs, Moose yelled and pointed to Torre,"No, you stay there".

During the same period of time, I was busy at my pitch for my film project. I was so happy I am able to put everything together and get ready for graduation. Only thing I regret is my family was not able to attend my graduation when my other classmates' family all attended.

2006, October

When Moose struggled with Tiger in ALDS playoffs, I also struggled to convince my family to let me stay in America. I was struggling with getting a company was willling to help out my visa issue and start questioning myself.

2008, September

I always remember the look Moose had when he sat in the dugout and looked at Mo pitching in the 9th inning of his 20th win game in Fenway Park. I can't forget the big smile Moose had after getting his 20th win.

For me, I finally get better results during the time in Sydney and start feeling better to myself.

I don't know how many Yankees players will miss Mussina, but I am sure Wang will be one of them. Wang always says Moose help him a lot. Wang told to Taiwanese media at the end of season. He asked Mussina to come back for two more years during the course of season, but Moose always smiled and said, "No". During the first press conference one week ago when Wang just arrived Taiwan, he still said he hopes Moose and Pettitte will come back.

I remember Moose help to fix Wang's delivery many times. In 2006, After Wang lost to National for that heart-broken loss, Moose told to Wang his story the next day. I am sure Wang will miss him a lot. When Taiwanese reporters asked Moose, Why you don't let people know you help Wang so much? Moose said, "I do this for Wang. The purpose is to help Wang, not to let people know".

I know we are going to miss you, Moose. However, we have those memory with us. As a child from single family without a good father with me, I am glad for Moose's family. They have their father with them to go through every good or bad time.

I was planning to post something regard of Manny and Teixeira originally. However, Today belongs to Moose. I decide to leave everything else to tomorrow. I will come back more after Moose's conference call.

Updated: I was listening to the interview Moose on WFAN. Moose said the decision of signing with Yankees is the best decision he ever made. i am glad to have you on my Yankees team as well.

I just told about the memory I have about Moose. How about yours?

Updated: Wang just attended the ceremony for the award he got earlier. Wang said it's so sad to see Moose go. He said he loses another good friend and good teacher on the team. Moose and he always look after each other when Moose teach him a lot. In his opinion, the difference between 2007 season and 2008 season for Moose is Moose doesn't care about the velocity of his fastball any more with more control and command in the strike zone. I think knowing 2008 season is his last season seems to help Moose a lot for his great 2008 season. By the way, Wang knows Yankees try to get front-end starters. He restates he doesn't care about who is No.1 on the team. He knows all those pitchers have different stuffs. He definitely can learn a lot from them. Everyone just goes out every 5 days to do their parts to get a championship.

Welcome Back, Wanger

Wang arrived Taiwan earlier. This is the photo in airport station. Wang just had a press conference 2 hours ago. However, there is huge political news in Taiwan today( I don't want to talk about that. If you guys are interested, go check out news).

I don't think there will be a huge coverage of Wang today. In fact, Taiwan media just like New York media. This is so rare someone like Wang to have any coverage at all. This tells you something. The way he speak(so few words) is really not a news material(boring).

I got few quotes from some news .


*Yankees ask Wang to ride bike, not to run.

*Wang knows there are a lot of great pitchers on the free agent market this off-season. How he feel? He said let go to get champion together. No matter who Yankees get, they are the best ones. He will just do his job which try his best to win every game. However, Wang said Moose and Pettitte really help him a lot. I think we can't underestimate the impact those veterans pitchers will bring to the team, especially for young pitchers.

*Wang really want to play WBC for Taiwan, but he knows he need to rehab first. Wang actually asked Cashman before coming back to Taiwan. Cashman already told him to prepare spring training.

*He said he felt so sad and miserable for not able to help Yankees, especially he sat there and looked at what happened to the team the end of season. When he knew Yankees' chance for playoffs become lower and lower, he wanted to play so badly and apologized to team.

Come back later for more if I have more.

Updated: I am finally able to watch Wang's press conference. Sorry about being late. I was so tired because I haven't slept much for few days.

*Wang said Bowa kept sending him text messages to encourage him and want to know how he feel after he get hurt. I think Yankees really miss Larry Bowa. If they actually have a chance to sign him after 2007 season, they definitely should not miss.

*Remember the difference between Joe Torre and Joe Girardi? Wang said Torre joking around with him a lot. However, Kuo(another Taiwanese pitcher) is the relief pitcher on LA Dodgers said Torre is quiet. He doesn't say much. As for Joe Girardi, Wang said he is more serious than Torre. During practices, Girardi actually run with them. Wang said he runs harder and tried not to lose to him.

I think Torre is really a good players manager based on what I heard from Wang and Kuo. Based on players' different personality, Torre uses different ways to communicate with them. Wang is quiet guy and is very hard on himself. Joking around with him and making him loose is a good way to get most out of him. On the other hand, Kuo is a voluble guy with good sense of humor. Torre use more serious way to deal with him.

*Wang doesn't regret for running hard on bases and getting hurt. He said injury is part of athlete's life. He always does his best no matter what he is doing. However, he thinks he needs to focus more to train his legs because he has a lot of injuries related to legs recent years.

*Wang said doctors told him he is 100% healthy right. This foot injury won't have any impact on his pitching. However, there are always few cracks over there. I am kind of understanding this. Just like our normal persons. Every time we hurt ourselves, there are always some concerns over the places we get hurt and there are always chances to hurt the same place again.

*There is one period of time in 2008 season he didn't pitch well. Wang said he think too much. He wants to get every batter and want to pitch better. I think Wang actually really wants to prove himself after what happened in 2007 playoffs.

*It will be a huge honor for Wang to be able to pitch in opening day in New Yankees stadium, but he doesn't think he will get it.

That's all I get. This week we can't do anything until we get past November 14 which all players become free agents. This is good. I actually can focus more on the stuffs I need to get it done in my real life.

Bring Pettitte back

What are Yankees waiting for? I posted another post regard of owners vs players vs fans earlier. I can't quite used to see my favorite players on my team coming and going as you guys may be able to used to. When coming down to make those decisions on favorite players on my team, I admit I can't make rational decision.

On top of that, When I talk about shopping experience earlier, I am the one make decision very quickly. Thinking about Angels the way they sign free agent.

If these Pettitte and Marte's situation tell us something, that's Yankees really have a plan on hand. Good to hear if you are a Yankees fan. Another thing to think about is Yankees probably wait Pettitte and Marte's price to come down when it approaches to November 14. From Yankees' standpoint, if you can save some money, why not? Don't forget one thing. Pettitte let Yankees keep waiting and giving him 16 million the past two seasons when he had leverage.

I still think Yankees should bring back Pettitte as a back of rotation guy no matter what Moose's decision is. I know Yankees want to get younger, but you never have enough pitching. Of course, I have some concerns regard of Pettitte. First of all, it's his healthy status. Secondly, it seems Pettitte lose his stuff. For example, he seems to lose his cutter. Evidence shows on his stats against righty which is very high. However, I have no problem with a pitcher with middle 4 ERA and over 200 innings as a back of rotation guy. Not to mention he is a lefty which is rare commodity in baseball.

In fact, I will bring back both Pettitte and Moose back on one-year deal to goes with CC, Wang and Joba as my 2009 rotation when tons of other options wait on the minor. I rather have them instead of Lowe, Sheets, Burnett, etc.

CC
Wang
Pettitte
Moose
Joba

However, I do think Yankees will only want to have one of Pettitte and Moose back. It looks like Moose is their first choice. I don't blame them after Moose's 20 win season with low 3 ERA, especially Moose shows the ability to make adjustment when velocity of his fastball slow down few mph. However, keep in mind one thing. Pettitte is going to be 37 while Moose will be 40 in 2009 season. On top of that, it seems to me Moose always put together great season on his "walk" year, doesn't it?

I actually can understand why Yankees only want to bring one of them back. When you look at the rotation I put above. There is a risk. CC come out two seasons with high innings workload. Wang and Joba come out of injury season when Joba has limitation on innings pitched. When you put them to go with two old pitchers(Pettitte and Moose). There is a risk. The ideal is Yankees actually bring 6 starters to camp and see what happen in my opinion.

However, I am not really so high on other free agent options. A.J Burnett? Inconsistent & injury prone. Lowe? Red Sox & age & AL East & another sinkerball pitcher with our defense. Sheet? Injury. Peavy? tons of prospects & switch from NL West to AL East & don't like New York and its spotlight. When you look at his number, Peavy will have a similar ERA as Wang in the AL East. I think his careeer ERA closer to 4 against AL team. Not to mention those not good numbers against AL East teams, especially on their park. Who else?

If Moose retire, we are going to need to have Pettitte back to go with one more free agent after CC. That's why I think Yankees will or should sign Pettitte back before November 14. No matter what, we should be able to know about Moose, Pettitte and Marte's situation with Yankees around November 14. I don't think Yankees will keep waiting Moose's decision and risk to lose Pettitte on free agent market.

Interesting Joe Girardi interview on WFAN

I heard an interesting Joe Girarid interview on WFAN. It's a good one.

*Based on what I heard, I think Joe Girardi learn a lot from this first year. He will improve next year. He already took the first step: more honest.

*Girardi think the most important thing he learn is keep building up the relationship with players in order to get most of them, but it takes time. I agree with him. The thing people don't realize is Joe Torre basically got his new core players when he got to Yankees in 1996 and they go on to win world series at first year. Of course, it makes everything much easier to deal with after championship. It's much harder for Joe Girardi because he needs to work on the core players who had been with Joe Torre for a long time and He took over after Yankees fail to make out of first round for many years.

*Girardi thinks it also takes time to figure out how to work with coach staff well.

*Girardi likes players are able to do many different things. He also would like to have a team with better defense and pitching. I think this is Yankees' offseason focus.

*Girardi thinks it's important to have two lefty in the bullpen. He wants to have Marte back and Yankees are talking deal with him. It seems to me Yankees have a deal with him on hand, otherwise Girardi won't be able to talk things like that.

*As for Mussina. Girardi think there are two factors for Moose's decision: what family members think and do Moose want to keep playing or not. It's not about HOF and 300 wins for him. He expects Mosse to make up his mind two months after season ends which is November. It's now. I think Yankees already know what Moose's decision by now. I think the reason Moose hasn't made in public is help Yankees. They actually can play some game with other free agent signing. It sounds to me Moose will retire.

*Joba is a starter now. It all depends on what offseason goes in order to make final decision. I think Joba will be in the bullpen if Yankees get enough starting pitching. It's not a final decision yet.

*Yankees are not sure or havn't made up their mind what they want to do in 1B.

Interesting, right? I think so. Girardi actually is honest this time and actually say a lot of things regard of team and himself. We actually can tell part of direction Yankees want to approach this offseason.

If you miss this interview on WFAN, go to their website to download the file later on.

The reasons Moose won't retire

Check out this post on Pinstripe Post regard of Moose's status. Great one. At this point, I am not sure who knows what will happen. When you talk about off-season move, you have to consider one may affect the other. That's why it's wasting time to second guess every move Manager or General Manager make, especially when you consider not only this is two-way street but also there are 29 teams out there . Sometimes, when the hearts of players don't want to come, it may be better off not to get them.

As for Pettitte and Moose, I want both to come back for one-year deal. I am sure Pettitte will accept one-year deal from Yankees. I think Moose will want more than one-year deal. However, I will really consider not to bring back Moose if he wants more than one-year deal. Don't forget Moose will be 40-year old when 2009 season begin. If team options will be accepted by Moose, I may do it. Yankees need more experience, proven and inning eater verteran pitchers. Of course, all this bet is off if Moose chooses to retire.

Basically, there is always a huge injury risk involved when signing pitchers. I rather gamble on pitchers who get track record of not getting hurt all the time, handling New York spotlight well and pitching well in AL East. I rather Yankees bring back Moose and Pettitte on short-term deal than signing Burnett, Lowe and Sheets for long-term contracts who either injury-prone or aging. Of course, all this assumption will change if we can't get CC to come to New York.

20 wins vs 19 wins = Great vs Almost Great

Moose told Wang in one conversation the difference between getting 20 wins and getting 19 wins, "If a pitcher can't get 20 wins, it means nothing eve though he gets 19 wins". Gator also told Wang how he was so disappointed Wang can't get to 20 wins two years in a row when Wang got his 19 wins in 2007 because he knew how people will think about Wang later on. For Wang, he still can't understand, he feels getting 19 wins is not bad at all even without getting 20 wins.

Congrats, Moose. You did it. I am really happy for you even though I am one of people don't understand the difference between 19 wins and 20 wins.

Wang told to Taiwanese media about the future of Moose. Wang said he asked Moose to come back and pitch with him next year during the course of whole year many times, but Moose's answer is "No" every time.

Wang followed team to Boston at the end of season. He said congrats to Moose when he got his 20 wins and said to him,"Moose, how about pitching two more years?". This time, Wang got a big smile from Moose who didn't say "Yes"or "No".

I hope Moose will come back, but won't surprise if he decides to retire. From Yankees' standpoint, it will be nice to get Moose back in one year deal. However, I think Moose will definitely be willing to come back if Yankees offer him three year deal which will let him get to 300 career wins without changing team.

That being said, Yankees need to get younger. If I were Yankees, I would not bring Moose back for more than one year deal. Don't forget Moose is 39 years 0ld pitcher which is very difficult to stay healthy the whole year. On top of that, the velocity of Moose's fastball slow down. If he doesn't have the same command like he had this season, he will be in trouble.

I know Pettitte has a unusual second half this season resulted from a tired shoulder. However, Pettitte number would not be this bad if Yankees had a normal run support. During second half of season, even though Pettitte had a tire arm, he still throws over 200 inning with mid 4 ERA and 90s fastball velocity. On top of that, Pettitte will be willing to take a one year deal with a much lower price. We not only can bring back a proven 200 innings pitcher but also save some money on other area we need.

However, it will be nice to have both back for one year deal.

Congrats Moose

I am extremely happy for Moose. That 8th inning makes me extremely nervous. What a year Moose has.

By the way, Mo is the man. I can't believe to watch Yankees one day without Mo.

As for Moose's future, there are two totally different takes during post-game interview depending on which one you believe.

The interview Moose did with WCBS, there is one stance stand out for me

"It's good to get to next season with a baseball score which is 20 next to my name"

The interview Peter posted on his blog,

"I am able to do this last year of my career is good"&"I am satisfied with what I have done in my career if i walk away now"

So, what do you think? Sound 70-30 which lean toward to retire more for me.

It's over, but don't play blame game.

First of all, I am so happy for Moose for his 19th win. I really hope he can win 20 this season. When I was watching Yankees game yesterday, I can't help myself about keep tracking score of Red Sox-Indians game. I usually don't care much about what happen to Red Sox and only check boxscore. I was hoping Yankees was eliminated because of losing game, not because of Red Sox winning game.

I know there are tons of news about how poor Yankees have been played, how much Yankees should miss Joe Torre, how well Red Sox has played, how many players Red Sox raised from their farm system, how badly Yankees spend their money, how terrible job Brian Cashman does, how dreadful Yankees young players have been played and why Yankees should trade for Santana. Anything else?

But, I am not going to talk about this. As you guys know, this is a blog to talk about positive things. These are all second-guess. No one knows what would happen during any game. No one knows what would happen if Joe Torre was here. No one knows what would happen when you sign any free agent and draft any prospect. No one knows how young players would peform every year. No one knows what Hughes and Kennedy would do the rest of his career. No one knows what would happen if Santana was here. No one knows how Santana would perform the rest of his contract for Mets. No one knows if we really go after Santana, how many potential major league players or superstars we would give up. No one knows if we really go after Santana, he may end up in Boston.

The things I know for sure. We will have a great bullpen next season. Wang, Matsui, Posada, Hughes, Joba and Jeter will be back and healthy for us next season. A-Rod and the rest of position players will not hit worse when runners on base than this season. Joe Giradi will do his job better when he gets his feet wet this year, especially when you consider he well he manages the bullpen. All young players get one more year experience. We will have money to address our problems this off-season. What else?

Let's Go Yankees!

Exciting win against RedSox

I am doing the same thing I was doing at Moose-Mo game. That is listening to the game. I was so nervous the whole game that lead me not to watch the game. Hopefully, I can use the same title for this final game against RedSox.

Mo is Mo, right? I can't believe my eyes Mo was able to get out of bases-loaded wiith no one out jam. I was upset when I know Moose didn't get selected for All Star game. Moose is great, isn't he?

The more I watch Gardner play, the more I like him. We need real baseball players who don't think their personal stats and swipe for fence all the time. He plays good defense with patience at bats and great speed. Yankees need to do more fundamental baseball in order to win games in October, such as grinding every at bat, playing good defense, moving runners and getting the runners in from 3rd base with less than 2 outs.

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.

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.

Why keep pitching to Manny?

Well, Manny beat us. I know, I exaggerate the fact, but this is probably the truth when you consider the final score is 7-5. You may scream at Television,"Why Yankees keep pitching to him?". I somehow come up with a reasonable theory.

Before going into my theory, I have to say that I understand every game counts even the ones in April. Here we go.

First of all, You can't be a successful athlete if you're not a strong competitor.

Secondly, Yankees need to find a way to get Manny out. You can't find out how to get Manny out if you always pitch around him. One day, We are going to face him at much more important moment and need to get him out, such as games in August, September or playoffs. If all our pitchers don't try to figure out that game plan now(April) and try to execute it now(April), when they are going to find out that game plan. There must be one way to get him out. No one is perfect and Manny's batting Ave is not 1 as well.

As the possibility of signing Manny this off-season, I don't think Red Sox will let him go one way or the other, so there is no point to discuss that. I think Theo will pick up his 2009 option while Manny and Boras may want a longer extension.

PS. It seems I am right on the money. Joe Girardi use Mussina(3IP), Albaladejo(3 IP), Farnsworth(1 IP-New Farnsworth? I mean that scoreless inning) and Traber(2 IP). He also give Mo another day off which is two days in a row. Great Job, Joe.

By the way, I still think Moose will be fine as no. 5 pitcher if he keep pitching like has done so far this season, especially after reconfiguring rotation.

Game 2 of Yanks at Fenway~This is what I want, I am fine with any outcome

Right now, I am waiting for that damn rain delay. As you guys know, I am in Sydney now, so I am in totally different time zone as where the games have been played. I usually watch games the day after, in the middle of night or early morning, so you guys have to forgive me about the way I update my blog.

I am very sorry about this, but I have to admit. I was falling sleep around 3~5 innings and woke up around 6 innings. I don't know the outcome of this game now, but we got another good pitching performance from Moose who gives us a chance to win as No. 5 pitcher, especially against tough Boston Red Sox lineup. If we get this kind of performance out of Moose the rest of season, we are in great shape.

I won't second guess the decision not to walk Manny under that circumstances, but I do think Joe Torre would walk Manny. I know Youkilis is not Manny, but he is tough out. I don't think we will be in better situation to face Youkilis when bases were loaded, so I am fine with that decision.

I guess Joe Girardi chose to let Moose make the call. I like it. Just like Joe Girardi chose to let Wang pitch complete game last night. I do think Mo would pitch 9th inning last night based on the tight score if Torre were still here.

We are in the position we want. No matter how this game turn out to be, I am fine with that. Top of 8th inning. 2 on, 2 out, A-Rod vs Papelbon. Let's Go Yankees.

P.S. I told you we will be fine if we win the last game vs KC because I know Andy is the man who always come out big for us. I like Joe Girardi playing a lot of small ball recently, especially Yankees' offense is still not there yet. Melky and Molina probably are two outstanding examples for that.

I also like how Girardi manage bullpen. You can see the great example from Kennedy's game at KC. I heard Joe's interview at radio. The reason he eventually let Kennedy pitch because he wouldn't overuse certain bullpen guys. On top of that, In order to hold back Kenndy, you can avoid losing him for just two innings and burning bullpen or risk hurting young pitcher(Kennedy).

By the way, I will post some stuff about Wang's game later after I catch up more sleep and more information from Taiwanese news

Updated: Well, the result didn't turn out too well for us, but it's a overall good game. Let us see Hughes pitching and experience his first rivalry

Your call?

So, did I tell you to relax a little bit? Mussina pitched great ball game yesterday and Yankees split series with Rays. If we keep taking most of three-games series and split most of four-games series, we will be fine. By the way, we score more than 5 runs, right?

But, the bad news is our captain hurt. They sent Jeter to MRI and didn't know when he is going to play. I think Jeter's injury must be serious enough to concern. Well, If I were Joe Girardi, I would move A-Rod to SS and play Ensberg at 3B. If they don't put Ensberg into lineup under this kind of situation, I don't know why we need Ensberg on the roster. I know it's not easy to make this kind of decision because there is some egos among all star players. We will see how Girardi deal with that.

LAA@NYY May 27th

I don't know Yankees will win this game or not.But,I will say this first.No matter they win this game or not,they already showed me something I really like it.In the top third inning,Moose just flew out and tried to catch a ball back to mound.They will do whatever to win ball game,not to talk to how to win the ball game.

Update:again,at the bottom of 4 inning,Cano ran so hard to get a double.
Update:on top of 6 inning,Cano and Melky,they all make a good defense play.It saves some pitches Moose can throw in another inning.
Update:Man,Yankees fans won't quit
Update:I don't know the overcome of the game.I would like to hand K-Rod a blown save.
Update:Obviously,We lost again,But Jeter is the man.He won't quit.He is the guy I want when this kind of situation come out again.

In my opinion,they are fighting for win.That's all you can ask as a fan.I know,they lost again.I agree Torre's decision about taking Moose out.Moose gave up the first walk of the game.That decision just doesn't work out.You can't second-guess that decision.I will go to Proctor as well.

Offense need to do something.You can't ask all the pitchers in the yankees for pitching perfectly all the time,including starters and relief pitchers.You put too much pressure on pitchers not to make any mistakes.Just like the preview post.Josh beckett has 2.66 ERA.Good,right?Do you know how many runs support he has per games?9.06 Runs support/per game.Dice-K has 8.46 runs support/per game.

Pitchers have runs support or not,it does effect how they pitch.There are too many yankees hitters in the slump at the same time for too long.They are in the slump almost one month.This is the big sample.You can't say they just run into hot pitchers.Yankees can't keep waiting on them to come around.They need to bench some of them and bring someone from minors.

When Yankees pitchers give up the runs,yankees hitters have to find a way to get some runs back as well.It seems this team has difficult time to come from behind.That's how the Red Sox won those games which their pitchers didn't pitch well.You have to pick up pitchers sometimes.

Defense is so amazing.....

I won't go through all the details about what happened to two games.I know Yankees' hitters in the huge slump now,but defense is so great.They play defense beautifully.WoW!!!Cabrera catched two-runs-homer and almost threw out one batter on the homeplate on game 1.He continuously stopped everyone trying to advance to third base on fly ball (I don't think Damon can do that)and actually got one to end Sox 6 inning.Mientkiewicz and A-Rod also made a lot of good play.WoW!!!

Obviously,everyone know I am excited at how great Wang pitch.Actally,I was so amazed at how great Wang pitch when men on base,especially he got into two men on with no one out twice.I can't breathe at that moment.Wang have a big heart.Sometimes I feel he doesn't have one.HA!!

Give you guys more reaction from Wang after games.I believe I probably get more info about Wang than you guys as Taiwanese.You know,The Taiwanese media focus on Wang more.

About how great he pitch....Wang said"I didn't pitch great.I still threw some sinkers high and I threw some spitters too low.I will keep working on my spitters"

About this win....Wang said"Guidry,Mussina and people in the bullpen help me a lot about smooth his delivery in his bullpen section between start"..."I get a lot of great teammates.We will get it going together"

About the possibility to pitch on Sunday on short day rest...Wang said"I will do it whatever they ask me to do"...He start worrying about his hitting..."I need to go to batting practice next few days to practice my hitting."