The Yankees flew off the west coast last night and have an off-day in Detroit, which is probably not as nice as having one off in SoCal, but such  if life. After sweeping the A's, the Yanks finally salvaged the third game and went 4-2 on that part of the trip. Nova didn't pitch well last night, but Girardi and the line-up backed him up for the win.

After the game Russell Martin reported he was "being punished" by the home plate umpire. His offense? Arguing balls and strikes. His penalty? The ump wouldn't let Martin throw the ball back to the pitcher all game. The catcher says he needs the throws to keep his arm loose; the umpire says throwing the balls is an earned privilege. As for me? That's a new one and I've been watching this game for a long time.

The Rangers signed free agent pitcher Roy Oswalt which is the first big mid-season transaction. He could be good back-up as Feliz is on the DL. The Rockies designated ancient Jamie Moyer (he's even older than me) for assignment; the Twins would be smart to take a flier on him you ask me...

Saw the Twins beat the hapless A's yesterday at a noon game. Liriano threw his best -- and fastest -- game of the season as the home team sent Oakland to their eighth loss in a row, but demonstrating some "Minnesota nice" the game only took two hours and sixteen minutes meaning I could get to happy hour -- and the first Manhattan of the day -- by the 3pm start.

I think the bartenders recognized my ink more than my face; had only been in the joint once (that I can recall) but was recognized and treated to big shot o' Rye...

Got the first royalty payment for "Rose" yesterday, which was great, but it's not anything I can retire on my yacht on. Maybe next month. Actually, next month I will finally have copies of my book on hand. If you're looking to buy a copy straight from the source -- and signed by "the author" -- drop me a line.

Thanks,
Brian

Who'd a thunk it, but selling books is even harder than writing them. No wonder the predilection toward fire-arms for writers; the author photo on the back cover of my book may be more prophetic than I knew when I submitted it to my graphic designer. As May wraps up, I can count the number of print editions that have flown off the print-on-demand shelves with one hand. C'mon, you know you want to help make me count with two hands, right?

A Rose by Any Other Name

An Alphabet of Tales About a Man & a Woman

Authored by Brian Mazo
"A Rose By Any Other Name: An Alphabet of Tales about a Man and a Woman" is a collection of twenty-six snap-shot short stories, each about a moment between two people at a crossroads. From New York to Los Angeles, from Black Rock City, Burning Man and back to Brooklyn, the tales give us a voyeur's view to sweet first kisses all the way to the bitter final ones:

A man in the midst of an ugly break-up rips out the last page of each of his lover's book collection and then wishes he could change their ending ("Last Paige"). 

A flower-bearing man, who hates taking taxis, has the duration of a ride to win over his cabdriver and her alluring smile ("Hail Mary"). 

A piece of jewelry solves a mystery and leads to a twisted tryst ("The Cross of Lorraine"). 

An unexpected, second chance at love and happiness amongst Senior Citizens in Florida is sparked by a hurricane and the ability to drive at night ("Mustang Sally").

Also included: a tale of breakups and breakdowns ("Nina, the Pinto & the Santa Ana Winds"), fortunate mistaken identity ("A Rose by Any Name"), one man's obsession with his bartender ("Fiona, the Irish Girl"), sex during a torrential downpour ("Hannah & the Hitchhiker), jealousy ("Charlotte's Web)", deceit, ("Victoria's Secret") and one woman's first foray into nude modeling ("Ursula, Undressed").

You can still read about a fourth of the book free of charge, here: http://www.wattpad.com/user/BrianMazo

And you can read reviews, purchase the Kindle version, or even a reduced price print edition copy via Amazon, by clicking here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007SABVQC/ref=tag_dpp_yt_edpp_rt

Meanwhile I've been spending most of the Memorial Day Weekend at such an appropriate place, the VA hospital.

Enjoy your grilling...

Cheers,
Brian

WHY WE MISS BRETT GARDNER MORE THAN YOU THINK

If you asked Nolan Ryan – both as a pitcher and as president of the Rangers – he would most likely say it’s a BS-number to look at, but to just about everyone else around the game of baseball these days, pitch count has become something like the National debt. As Yankee fans we need look no further than the ever-present YES scoreboard box. This, in the minds of the television brass, is where the most pertinent data is displayed on the screen. Back in the day, this just provided the score. Later, the count and the outs were added; then the runners on base and the speed of the last pitch: clearly the information we have deemed crucial.

But these days, the YES box always has the pitch count; the same information is now displayed prominently at most ballparks’ scoreboards. And the adherence to this number has become something of a “cover your ass” statistic for most managers and pitching coaches everywhere. If a reporter asks why a starter was taken out despite how well he was pitching, the reply these days is more often than not something along the lines of, “Well, he was over one-hundred pitches, so…” The same works for leaving a guy in too long: “He was only at eighty-seven pitches, so…”

And this is an area that the Yankee line-up has exploited for many seasons. Forget about adherence to all the tenets of “Moneyball,” but seeing a load of pitches is, in my estimation, about as crucial a tactic a line-up can take against just about any other team’s rotation. If there is a weak underbelly to any staff, it’s those guys who are called in early. Not the starter with good stuff, not the set-up guys or closers, but if you’re going to make traction and score “put away” runs, your best bet is nearly always going to be against those pitchers who come in from the third to the sixth.

Obviously, the season ending injuries to the seemingly indispensible Mariano Rivera and the disappointment of having to wait ‘til next year on Michael Pineda and Joba Chamberlain have taken their toll; hopefully Robertson will be back soon. But I don’t feel like I am going out on a limb when I say the loss of Brett Gardner has possibly been more disadvantageous to the team on a whole than any other.  A team is a puzzle and the loss of certain pieces can have something of a “domino effect.”

The numbers bear this out. In 2010, Brett Gardner led all of the American League by seeing an average of 4.61 pitches per AB. That season, the Yankees had four guys in the regular starting line-up in the top twenty-five in pitches seen: Gardy, Granderson, Swisher and Texeira seeing an average of over four pitches per AB. In 2011, the Yankee line-up was even more impressive as those same regulars comprised four of the top eleven spots in the AL in pitches seen per AB with Curtis Granderson leading the way with 4.44.

But in looking at the qualifying batters for this season, only Curtis Granderson (at number six with a 4.26 pitchers per AB) ranks in the top twenty five in the AL. Swisher, in his contract year and seemingly trying to impress with power over his batting eye, still has a representative 4.02, but his walks are down significantly. I had to look way down the list to find Tex at 53^rd (3.76) and A-Rod at 55^th (3.74). I then went to check on the guys who have been “replacing” Brett Gardner in the line-up, but guess what? I couldn’t find the names of Nunez, Jones, Nix or Ibanez anywhere on the list of tops in the statistic of pitches seen per AB although the ESPN list “only” went down eighty four spots.

Yes, the Yankees have started to hit more like the Bronx Bombers over the last few games, but I don’t think the line-up – and by extension, the whole jigsaw puzzle of a team – will start performing to heightened expectations until that little spark-plug of a pesky number nine hitter, Brett Gardner, is back playing every game, seeing so many pitches that it helps his teammates get into the other team’s bullpen early and driving the engine that has made this Yankee line-up fire on all cylinders.

Injuries are part of the game and it would be easy to blame the season ending ones that have put first Michael Pineda (young-stud starting pitcher) and Mariano Rivera (closer supreme) on the shelf for the 2012 season. But as the Yankee season has just slogged and stumbled across the quarter-done mark, to my eyes, it's the injury to speedy left-fielder, Brett Gardner, that may be having the most impact at present.

Right now, just about everything is failing. The pitchers expected to make up for the anemic offense -- an offense that lives up to that word: the Yanks are hitting less than a buck with RISP for a week or so now -- the bullpen, now also minus David Robertson, can't pick up the slack especially when counted to throw some many "keep the team in the game" innings.

For awhile I had been saying that as soon as the team got Nick Swisher (since returned from the DL) and Gardy back in the lineup, things would pick up. And yes, Swish is back, but he's not the same hitter he has been for the Yankees the last three seasons. Swisher's in the walk year of his contract and it seems like he is re-inventing himself to a degree as more of an RBI guy than the patient hitter who would take a slew of pitches and the accompanying walks and increased OBP.

I am not a stats/numbers guy so I am not going to look this up, but take my word for it when I say that the extended absence of Gardner and the change in Swisher has affected the entire team dubiously. These two guys take so many pitches that they not only let their teammates see them as well, the wear down starting pitchers which helps the entire lineup get into the other team's bullpen more quickly. This directly leads to more runs scored, alleviating the pressure on the starters to be perfect and, in turn, permitting the relievers to not be over-taxed, making them more effective when they are called in to the job.

Yes, the Yanks are in last place right now and have played themselves there. But, it is also still early in the season and the AL-East is pretty bunched up as every team is at least at .500 with 40+ games played. The Yanks have a nice stretch upcoming versus teams playing under the average line which will help, but mark my words: when Gardner returns and when Swish goes back to Kevin "Cage Rat" Long, their highly esteemed batting coach to ask, "WTF?" who in turn will get the excitable right-fielder going things could pick up in the Bronx.

They had better...

Cheers,
Brian

ps-- The traffic has slowed on the site(s) where you can get more info/buy my new book, "A Rose by Any Other Name" so there's no excuse now, is there? If you would like to read about a fourth of the tales that comprise the book, click here: http://www.wattpad.com/user/BrianMazo

Hey y'all: sorry for the lapse in posting; my laptop wound up in the shop and the back-up would work for about 2 minutes everyone 13 hours...

Also meant I didn't get to see the Yankees play for much of the week which, even though they're losing, was a personal hardship; caught the last couple hours of Saturday's loss against the Reds w/DTA, but that was that...

This is the scribbled together blog post for BBD yesterday; it's as timely now as then; maybe not so much.

"Preaching to the Converted"

"Yeah, yeah," they'll bitch in Boston. "Bought another pennant," they'll lament in Los Angeles. And everywhere Yankee fans will take a long moment from celebrating number twenty eight to have to have that same old, it's exhausted  argument; this argument is so old and musty it should be hanging in a museum. Admittedly, it was valid in the late 1970s when George M. Steinbrenner bought the languishing team from CBS and took advantage of the first wave of free agency and imported Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter who helped the Yanks return to their proper place as World Champions.

But those teams were built around farm-raised stars like Thurman Munson and Ron Guidry, aided and abetted by players "stolen" in trades such as Sparky Lyle, Lou Pinella, Chris Chambliss, Willie Randolph and Graig Nettles. And this was just as true in regards to the champion teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Let's never forget that the "Core Four" of Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter were not purchased via the auction block.

Now, this is a New York Yankees blog and to a great extent I am preaching to the converted, but one thing should be clear: payroll does not equate success on the field. Seriously-- we don't even have to look outside our own division to see crystal clear evidence of that. The Tampa Bay Rays have figured out a way to win and to succeed with payrolls that would leave the Yanks about twenty players short a roster after paying A-Rod, Tex, CC and Jeter. But for all their success, their fans still stay away in droves. Perhaps a new ballpark will help, but I only need to look at all the "help" that beautiful, new Target Field has done for the suddenly hapless Twinkies.

But let's stay in the AL-East for a while longer: perhaps you've heard but the Boston Red Sox (#3 in team payroll) are in last place and the Philadelphia Phillies (#2 in team payroll) are also in last place. In case you were wondering, the Blow-sox were also third in team payroll last season and we know how well all that $161M spent worked out for the Nation.

And yes, it is nearly the end of May and the Baltimore Orioles are in first place, but I'll bet you my Robinson Cano rookie card that the wheels will fall off that cart. The O's haven't even played .500 baseball for fourteen seasons while spending over a billion dollars of Peter Angelos' money in futility. Clearly: money doesn't buy happiness when it comes to baseball and yet, we Yankee fans tend to be happy more than anyone else.

Things are different in the Bronx. The Yankees can never take a season or two off from competing and call it a "re-building" year; we leave that kind of organizational plan to teams in other cities, like the Mets. Yes, the team in Queens has the same record as the Yankees, but don't make me play my Cano rookie card again...

Of course the New York Yankees' payroll is going to be higher than that of anyone else. Do you ever hear about a player's agent using the Kansas  City Royals to drive up the price of a free agent? Now, I'm not saying the Yankees are guilt-free on some of the spending. As Yankee fans we still get angry when we feel like we're being ripped off; like it was our own money going into Carl Pavano's pockets for doing NOTHING! But it was Tom Hicks in Texas and not Mr. Steinbrenner who initially gave A-Rod his exorbitant deal. And while the back-ends of his and Tex's deals will sting, the Yanks can afford to absorb such things. Time will tell how that will work out for the teams holding the big paper on Pujols, Fielder and Werth: case, case and point.

Baseball more than other sport seems designed to elicit discussion (outside of New York City this is commonly referred to as "argument") -- it's part and parcel to the enjoyment. I love talkin' baseball; I'll often know nearly as much about your team as you fans of "other" teams do, but all that these non-Yankee fans have in their argument arsenal is the tired, old yada yada yada of "buying the pennant." Very much like having to walk about from a conversation about music with someone who claims they love the Dave Matthews Band, I'll just turn my back and walk away when the conversation is nothing but payroll.

Major League baseball is a business and if there was a more obvious indicator of this or if you don't believe this to be true I have two words for you: revenue sharing. This is how I personally have taken to ending these not-really-about-baseball arguments. I remind the other so-called baseball fan that due the Yankees higher payroll (after again reminding them of what they already know: EVERYTHING is more expensive in New York City; you want a discount, move to Pittsburgh) we - The Yankees - put money in their team's coffers and what does ownership do with it? You can nearly hear the crickets chirping in the distance as I wait for an intelligible reply.

I will then fill in that uncomfortable silence by asking that White Sox fan a question: what would you want your team's ownership to do with all that money coming in? Yes, the Yankees have the great television deal and lead the Universe in marketing their brand, but as a baseball fan what could possibly be better than spending that money in an effort to put the best possible team on the field? That's when I look that other baseball fan in the eye and sincerely inquire as to how else they would want their team to spend the money? The light goes out in their eyes, the air goes out of their argument. They sputter and will repeat their tired, old complaints about the Evil Empire.

So, Yankee fans, how do you respond to the Yankee haters in your baseball world?

Thanks
B

I got to feel like a restaurant in taking yesterday off from this here blog, but didn't want to serve you an 2-day old oysters. Andy Pettitte wasn't bad seafood making his first start on Sunday since the end of the 2010 season  and he wasn't chopped liver either, but he did lose to the Mariners, who can't hit a lick. Pettitte should have been comfortable facing what amounts to not much more than a AAA lineup for Seattle and Andy threw three hitless innings to make us think for a moment that this was 1999, but he got in trouble with some walks and those wound up being followed by a couple 2-run homers and Pettitte also took his first loss since 2010.

Ok, apparently I tweaked something in the important right writing wrist and this blog is hurting me more than it's hurting you.

But I bet if you went and picked up a copy of "Rose" - my book (in case you're new or just stumbled across this site) - that may make my wrist feel better and I'll write another one of these some time this week.

Yeah, body telling me to back away from the computer. If someone want to finish this up for me-- go for it...

Thanks
B.

Lou Gehrig’s Disease: May is National ALS Awareness Month

Lou Gehrig’s Disease: May is National ALS Awareness Month

LOU GEHRIG’S DISEASE: May is National ALS Awareness Month

It’s probably the most famous speech a Major League Baseball player has ever delivered despite over seventy years of history been then and now. Delivered on the 4^th of July from behind home plate at a sold-out Yankee Stadium, Lou “Iron Horse” Gehrig’s words still ring out strong and lasting; we know how they go:

"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans."

- Lou Gehrig at Yankee Stadium, July 4, 1939

May is National Awareness Month for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or, more commonly, “Lou Gehrig’s disease,” named for the Yankee Hall of Fame firstbaseman who died, at the way too young age of thirty-seven, a short five months after delivering his speech to nary a dry a eye in the entire Stadium.  So much time has passed since then: the Yankees now seek championships across the street and scientists and researchers still seek a cure for this incredibly heinous disease.

For the last handful of years, MLB and especially the New York Yankees have been involved in outreach and fund-raising programs toward the goals of both awareness and the hopeful cure of this highly degenerative disease.  From the ALS Association (www.alsa.org) webpage: “(ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.”

Last November, former Yankee manager Joe Torre was honored by the New York chapter of the ALSA at a dinner that helped raise over three-quarters of a million dollars toward research. But Lou Gehrig is not the only famous Yankee felled by this horrible affliction. Jim “Catfish” Hunter, a big part of the great Yankee teams of the late 1970s, died in 1999 from Lou Gehrig’s disease as well. Catfish has his own chapter on the ALS site (www.CatfishChapter.org) where the motto is: “Leading the fight to treat and cure ALS.”

Yes, today is Mother’s Day and while ALS is a disease that more often than not affects men, let’s think about Dad today and let’s think about Mr. Gehrig and his speech while we’re at it. I would like to think that when Lou was telling the Stadium and the world that he considered himself “the luckiest man on this face of this Earth” he didn’t quite know what was in store for him; Catfish Hunter surely did. Right now, I am watching a dear friend live with this disease with much of the same dignity and strength that Gehrig represented on that Independence Day in 1939. The world would indeed be a better place if we could be free of this truly horrible, deadly affliction. Take a moment today to be thankful for your health and that of your family and if you have the desire and means to give to one of the ALSA chapters, please do so. Thank you.

Brian

Sometimes, if it gushes, it leads. Here's what a renowned hobo had to say about "Rose" yesterday:

Last night, I bought it and read it before going to sleep...when I finally rested, I dreamed I was the size of a brownstone, with NYC tap water running through my veins. When I woke up I had 26 girlfriends and spoke 17 dialects of English. CHECK IT OUT!


Very soon I will be ordering a bunch of my own book and will be making them available for direct purchase from the author. And although it probably reduces the value -- much like getting my 1972 Topps Steve Garvey high-number baseball card signed did -- but you will be given that opportunity.


I have posted nearly one quarter of the stories on Wattpad, so if you're one of those people who needs a bigger sample size, here's your chance. Click here: http://www.wattpad.com/user/BrianMazo to read and become a fan.


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Behind the huge left arm of CC Sabathia the Yankees took the rubber game against the Rays in the Bronx last night. Had Roberston not blown the save on Wednesday night the Yanks could have swept their main division rivals. We are already feeling what life after Mo will be like and nobody likes it.


Last night, Girardi went to Rafael Soriano to close it out in the ninth. Both he and D-Rob had thrown a two nights in a row and the skipper likes to avoid three in a row. He made the decision to go with former Rays closer Soriano and he closed out the game, earning his first save of 2012 although he gave up a run in the 9th. Final 5-3 Yanks.


I am having a terribly good time watching the Red Sox disintegrate again, proving that September of 2011 was no fluke; it was just the tip of the iceberg of more bad times to come for the Nation. At least booing Beckett has become the favorite past time of those disgruntled in Beantown, taking Bobby V off the hook for the moment.


Sorry to be brief today, but it's a gorgeous day to have off and I am about to go read someone else's book while you (hopefully) read mine.

Catching my first Twinkies game tonight at Target. I'll be rooting for them to beat the Jays; the home team needs all the support it can get.

Cheers,

Brian

A day after earning his first save of the 2012 campaign, David Robertson blew one last night against division rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays, at the big ballpark in the Bronx. Now, unlike the night before when the bats did some work and left D-Rob with some breathing room, he had but a 1-0 lead that starter Phelps and the bullpen delivered to him in the 9th. Robbie, who hadn't given up a run all season, finally had that bad outing and when Girardi finally had to yank him, it was 4-1 and the way the Bombers have not been living up to that moniker, the end was inevitable.

But if Robertson has learned anything from learning from the master, Mariano Rivera, it's to turn the page and short-circuit your memory. The substitute Yankee closer is not going to make things easy like Mo did -- but there's nary been a closer who can; he can't fill Rivera's shoes, per se, but he can get the job done.

Meanwhile, a blood clot was discovered in Mo's  injured leg and it may have been there for some time, so there's some sense that this was a blessing in disguise in that it was discovered and is being treated. As soon as all the swelling, etc. goes down, then the surgery to repair the torn ACL can commence and then Mo can begin his recovery toward that goal of taking back his closer job in 2013.

But for now, this again does give the Yanks a free look at what the pen will be without Mo at the back end. As long as the team doesn't fall too far behind the Rays, this could be as good an exploration into what life will eventually be like for Girardi calling the shots out of the pen.

Gardner, who's been playing a few rehab games, could be back in a matter of days and then will be a boon to the Yankee lineup. I've been beating this drum, but the team had been missing the amazing pitch-taking abilities of both Gardy and Swish. Swisher has returned to the lineup and the outfield which has already paid dividends, but that will only get better when the full 1-9 is on the field and healthy.

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"Rose" has some people saying some real nice things about it this past week:

My friend Brian wrote this fun romp of a book - a series of short stories about women...because if there is one thing Brian Mazo knows about it is women...and words, and together, this is what you get!. Buy it now.


As someone who rarely ventures away from non-fiction, I am thoroughly grateful to have indulged in this quick, riveting read. Whether you're trying to get the girl or get rid of the girl (or boy for that matter) you just might learn a trick or two while being fully entertained. Mazo is quick to turn a phrase, twist a plot and tug at your heartstrings. This book is a perfect balance of what a collection of short stories should be. Only wish there were more letters in the alphabet..


If you want to read what they're talking about with such lovely praise, go here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007SABVQC/ref=tag_dpp_yt_edpp_rt

Thanks,
Brian

A few days into the era of what it will eventually feel like not to have Mariano Rivera coming out of the Yankee bullpen to close a game has been easy so far: there has yet to be a save situation. The Yanks, who'd been looking more like the Giants the last week when it comes to hit, came alive yesterday hanging double digits on the Royals. Phil Hughes pitched well with the big league staked to him, earning the victory in the 10-4 win.

Cano doubled his early slow production numbers with a grand slam. A-Rod hit a 3-run shot and Swisher, back in the lineup after "coincidentally" missing those six games that the Yanks' bats floundered, hit a monster solo shot in the DH slot. Gardner is about to start a minor league rehab assignment and is hopefully returned to the lineup and patrolling the outfield.

The Yankee announcers, wonderfully minus Michael Kay for the 4-game series, had been talking about Royals' shortstop, Irving Falu, who at the advanced age of twenty-eight was making his major league debut. The guy had toiled in the Kansas City minor league system for about eight years and, due to an injury, got called up to the Show and made his debut.

And in his first at-bat he lines a legitimate triple - not an Eduardo Nunez-assisted one - into the rightfield corner, easily beating the relay to third base. A-Rod tries to deke the kid that the ball got past him. And I'm watching and it's a May game and not a crucial one and I'm thinking what a douche A-Rod is. Really? The guy triples at home in his first major league at-bat and you try and make him look like a fool? Pretty bush. Al tried to make up for it by going over and presenting the ball to Falu (and I guess that should be something of a thrill if you just look at A-Rod's numbers) by hand, but in my mind: damage done.


Well, I guess I shouldn't have complained about slow book sales in April; they've pretty much ground to a halt this month. Now, I did have lovely company for the weekend and took some time off of actively beating the "Rose" bushes, but I do need to find additional, lucrative means to get the word out and put the book into people's hands.

I thought I had received my first review from someone I didn't know.  I didn't recognize the handle and it said that it was based of a Kindle review. Having just found out that I gave away over two hundred copies of my book via Kindle when they were doing their promotion I surmised it was possible. But, nope-- the really great, 5-star review was put up by a friend, but no matter: a great review is a great review. See, here:


As someone who rarely ventures away from non-fiction, I am thoroughly grateful to have indulged in this quick, riveting read. Whether you're trying to get the girl or get rid of the girl (or boy for that matter) you just might learn a trick or two while being fully entertained. Mazo is quick to turn a phrase, twist a plot and tug at your heartstrings. This book is a perfect balance of what a collection of short stories should be. Only wish there were more letters in the alphabet...


For more information on the book including how to purchase, please go here: https://www.createspace.com/3527985


Thanks,
Brian

It's been a rough few weeks in Yankee-land. Between losing both Michael Pineda and Mariano Rivera to injuries for the entire 2012 season and being closer to the bosox in the bottom of the AL-East. With that in mind, I had a little fun with my piece that will run on Bronx Baseball Daily tomorrow. Here's your advance sneak-peak.

Yankee Promotions 2012: The Fine Line between “Giveaway” and “Throw Away”

When I was a kid I had to beg my Dad to take me to bat day at the original Yankee Stadium. I mean, down on the ground, promise to clean my room, mow the lawn, be nice to Mom kind of begging. These were the days when the South Bronx left a lot to be desired from a safety vantage point on a good day so arming the lot of us probably wasn’t the best idea in the world. My Dad, who grew up in Brooklyn a New York Giants fan, was always loathe to enter “the belly of the beast,” but I finally wore him down.

It is a forever indelible, “priceless” moment when during the game, famed great and late Yankee PA announcer Bob Shepherd, would invite the young fans to all wave their brand new bats in the air. It was a glorious sea of baseball bats. The ensuing pounding of the barrels against the concrete base of the Stadium is a sound etched in my mind’s ear: even at the most raucous of Yankee post-season games no sound can top that of twenty-thousand (give or take) baseball bats beating out a rhythm on the ground.

Raising a Yankee hand-sanitizer key chain (May 8^th) in the air has absolutely none of that appeal to anyone outside of those suffering from OCD. The best sound that may make is when you drop it in the trash can. And how are you going to protect yourself on the D-train with the Yankee stopwatch that was given away on April 29^th?

Now, I understand that Major League baseball is a business and the New York Yankees are one of the  most profitable organizations in the history of sports. I know that promotions with other big businesses are partnerships that are designed to make both companies more money. But the Yankees are also very much about class and giving away garden gnomes, fragranced bracelets and luggage tags belie that valued team stature. That there is a Yankees Halloween Jack o’ Lantern Stencil day on the calendar this season really speaks but one thing to me: someone in the promotions department should get fired.

I don’t think it would have gotten this bad if George Steinbrenner was still alive and calling the shots. I can almost hear him barking, “The New York Yankees do not need to give away aprons to get fans into the park” before summarily dismissing the employee who thought that was a good idea. Giving away “Reggie” bars wasn’t the best idea ever back in the day, especially since the “flying saucer” shape literally made them the perfect chocolate bar to throw, but I would still take that over a packet of tomato seeds .

I don’t still have the bat, but I do still have a Yankee promotional bottle-opener on my key chain. And yes, there’s an ad for carpet on the back of it, but I can still also fit into my “Yankee Legends” t-shirt that was given out during one of Billy Martin’s managerial terms. It features the former Yankee skipper along with a Mount Rushmore of then-all-living Bomber greats Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra. Going to a Yankee game is a great experience and bringing back a special keepsake from the day can be the stuff from which fantastic memories are made. I just don’t see somebody, thirty years later, turning to their father to reminisce about the day they went to Yankee Stadium and came home with a waterproof beach wallet.

Curtis Granderson Yankee bat day is scheduled for Sunday, May 20^th at the new Yankee Stadium.            

It’s been a tough week in Yankee-land: if you’re looking for something to read for distraction, my first book came out a few weeks ago. For more information, please click here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007SABVQC/ref=tag_dpp_yt_edpp_rt

"You want to know the most sure-fire way to make God laugh," the old adage goes, "Tell Him your plans." Now I prefer the far more succinct, "Man plans, God laughs" but it's six of one etc....

And if there were any New York Yankees player since Lou "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth" Gehrig who would get that sentiment, it would be Mariano Rivera. Yesterday afternoon while doing something he loved, something he wouldn't have changed, the greatest closer the game will ever see crashed into the wall at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City shagging flies and tore his ACL. He is lost for the season.

Now, there were plenty of expectations that this was going to be Mo's last season in pinstripes. He had hinted at retirement and he was adamant about going out on top and he did that even if it wasn't his plan. Perhaps it was God's. Rivera is an honest to goodness, God-fearing man. I believe he is also a God-loving man and when he says he will pray on a decision as to whether he wants to even attempt to come back from this injury, I believe him. This is no "I couldn't have done it without Jesus" lip-service kind of ballplayer or kind of man.

And yes, it leaves the Yankees scrambling, but there are options in closers. Brian Cashman, who really didn't want to sign Rafael Soriano in the first place, does have the surly righthander in the bullpen with serious closing qualifications. There's homegrown David Robertson, who has learned at the master's feet and was the potential heir apparent when #42 decided to hang up his spikes and retire that number finally.

But I can't treat this as a tragedy. Tragedy was Thurman Munson crashing his plane. Tragedy was Cory Lidle dying in the same manner. This is awful. It's a shame that such a class act (and to bring up Gehrig and Munson, two of the most class acts the team and the game has seen is no accident) couldn't go out the way he wished and richly deserved. The game goes on. Someone will come running in from the bullpen in the ninth when skipper Joe Girardi taps his right arm. There will be no "Enter Sandman" blasting from the Yankee Stadium PA system. There will be no more foregone conclusions; Mariano Rivera has been as good as a "sure thing" for over fifteen seasons;  something literally unheard of in the hundred-plus years of history of the game.

Mariano Rivera was smiling when he was carted off the field. He was nearly crying when he addressed the media later on. Neither image is how I wish to remember him. I will see him firing that cutter and breaking bats without seemingly breaking a sweat. But this is sad, but again, not tragic. Mo will be able to play with his kids. He will run out onto the field for Old Timer's Day and throw his cutter with a smile on his face. And in five seasons from whenever he announces his retirement he will be inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, possibly even unanimously; I cannot imagine what sportswriter could look himself in the eye and think even for a second that Rivera doesn't deserve enshrinement.

If he never throws another pitch that counts, I will treasure all the times I got to see him close out yet another Yankee win during the regular season wherein he closed out more games than anyone in the history of the game; his post-season record is unassailable. Mariano Rivera is truly one of the great New York Yankees and a class act and was always proud to wear the pinstripes, the only uniform the best should wear.

The Yanks had started the season 0-3 having been swept by division rivals the Tampa Bay Rays. But right after that, they got to play three against division whipping boys, the Baltimore Orioles. Now, at the point the O's were 3-0, having swept the Twins to start the season. But the Twinkies are proving to be baseball's whipping boys seemingly in a concerted effort to show that last season's 99-loss campaign was no fluke. How bad are the Twins? Jered Weaver hurled a no-hitter against them yesterday and official scorers across the country are scrambling to see if it should even count*.

But it was a decidedly different looking Orioles team that arrived in Yankee Stadium this week. They were in first place a month into the season and while nobody anticipates that will last long, they were seemingly doing it with pitching - not the O's strong suit for quite some time - and it was the pitching that did the Yanks in, losing two of three.

And honestly- the Yanks were lucky to take the opening game. The so-called Bronx Bombers scored a whopping three runs over the three game series, dropping them back 3 1/2 games in the AL-East. Now, we're not worried about that, per se. It is early, reinforcements in the way of Andy Pettitte's big left arm are on their way and Cano is going to hit. A-Rod is going to hit. Now, that April is over, Tex is going to hit too.

But as I am forced to listen to Michael Kay pontificate on the above, the thing that the Yankee announcers have been missing is the combined force of Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher who are missing from the line-up. First off, losing the two corner outfielders have negatively effected the team with the replacements of Jones, Ibanez and middle-infielder Eduardo Nunez filling in. The Yanks have given up some runs -- both earned and unearned -- directly because of the outfield play of the less-than-super subs.

But, seemingly unreported, it's their effect on the entire line-up and the opposing pitcher that the dual loss of Gardy and Swish that may be the big culprit in the team's sudden ability to score runs and win games. Both Gardner and Swisher take a ton of pitches. They drive up starters pitch counts; they get the Yanks to the other team's bullpen. Now, while the O's pen has been a strong-suit this season - they have the best ERA in the league - you still want to get in there and see what kind of trouble you can wreak.

And their replacements - especially Jones and Nunez - are free-swingers further exacerbating the issue. I don't have the numbers, but if you look it up, I would bet you dollars to dust-bunnies that the overall number of pitches the Yanks' line-up has seen since the two have been inactive would be dramatically down. Gardner is on the DL; he could come off today, but it seems like the Yanks, always cautious, will not be too quick to activate him. Swisher, with a groin pull, is not on the DL; the team thinking that fifteen games was more than his healing would require, but it's left Girardi with a very thin bench. Last night after Chavez left mid-atbat with what was reported by  Girardi's lips read on the YES broadcast as "dizziness." This left back-up catcher, Chris Stewart, on the bench.

I wrote about the Yankee bench last week on BBD and if you want to read that, go here: http://bronxbaseballdaily.com/2012/04/riding-the-pine-the-new-york-yankees-bench-2012/


So, it looks like Amazon is discounting my book today by about four dollars per print edition copy. And while it's better for me if people purchase from the PoD main site, here: https://www.createspace.com/3527985 I would totally understand the need to save a few bucks. So, if $4 is what's been keeping you and my book apart, then by all means go here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007SABVQC/ref=tag_dpp_yt_edpp_rt and pick yourself up a copy or two; they make great Mother's Day or Graduation gifts.

Thanks,
Brian

Baseball is a funny game it's oft been said; in that way it replicates life like no other sport (including tennis) or many other pursuits. And while a month of the season is no real barometer, some trends in the National Pastime can't be ignore this season.

The Minnesota Twins, who despite being one of the teams threatened with contraction some seasons back, rebounded with their new, beautiful downtown  Target Field, and have been one of the more dependable, consistent teams who do things right. But last season, due injuries, bad luck and bad play were fortunate not to lose 100 games, but just by the skin of their collective teeth. And while a couple fan favorites (Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel) went elsewhere along with their closer (Joe Nathan) hopes were higher for 2012 with the returns of hopefully healthy M&M Boys Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. The two of them looked great against the Yankees, helping them take two of four at Yankee Stadium, where the Twinkies traditionally can't buy a win. But that's about the highlight of their season. How bad are the Twins in 2012? Division rivals, the Kansas City Royals (who some thought could compete this season) have had a losing streak of 12 games (yes, you read that right) and STILL have yet to win a game at home (0-10) and STILL have a better record than Minnesota.

The Angels who spent a boatload of money bringing in both the #1 free agent player in Albert Pujols and the #1 free agent pitcher taking CJ Wilson from AL-West division rivals, the Texas Rangers. Anaheim spent all that  money not only to compete with the Rangers, but also in an attempt to curry Los Angeles fan favor from the disarrayed Dodgers. But Pujols didn't hit a single homerun in the month of April while in LA, Matt Kemp is making his plan of 50HR/50SB seem like something he could achieve by the All-Star break. The Angels are already 9 games behind the Rangers, who don't show any signs of coming back to the pack.

Less than ten-thousand people showed up for last night's Tampa Rays game. They're one of the more exciting teams in baseball and they're in first place in the mighty AL-East and yet the fans are staying away in droves, much like their state rivals the Miami Marlins and their new downtown park. You can't blame all of it on Ozzie Guillen, their manager, when they're in last in the NL-East a position the Mets thought was their birthright.

Derek Jeter is taking on all doubters and playing like it's still the 1990s, hitting nearly .400 for the month with nearly as many homeruns as he had all of 2011.

Yu Darvish, the $100M pitcher the Rangers imported from Japan may actually be the real deal. He's 4-0 despite a slow, wild start. His first pass through the league is one thing; as the league sees him more it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Due an injury, the Nationals brought up Bryce Harper this week. The second coming of phenom should take some of the intense scrutiny off pitcher Stephen Strasburg. If the Phillies don't get Chase Utley back and healthy and some hitting, they could get buried in this tough division.

*******

May sets the sales tally back to zero. What do I need to do put you in a new book today? How about this:
https://www.createspace.com/3527985

Thanks for reading,B.