The Sommer Frieze

YANKEES
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Nady LF
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
Molina C
Pettitte LHP

According to Pete Abraham, Melky is back. Rasner is out of the rotation, and Aceves will take Rasner’s next start.

Todd Cruz passed away. The ex-Orioles 3B was on their 1983 WS Championship team. Cruz was 52. He started 1983 with the Mariners before going to the O’s. .199-10-48 that year. Lifetime .220 hitter. Played for six different teams, 1978-1980, 1982-1984.

Play a night game in Tampa on Thursday night. Fly across the country and play Seattle on Friday night. No off day, meanwhile SEATTLE has the off day. Moronic schedulemakers. So what do you get? 3-0 Seattle, bottom of the 5th, and the Yanks have no hits yet.

Some people on another blog are hyping Michael Dunn. Umm, maybe. I need to see more from him. 4-7, 4.55 at Tampa (A+) this year. 23, will be 24 next year. Some went so far as to think he’ll be with the Yanks next year. Oh really? One game at AA before the AA playoffs? They say that various people like his stuff. 120 K in 126 1/3 IP this year. 138 in 144 2/3 last year at low A Charleston. (12-5, 3.42). I need to see more than that. They are excited because he is a lefty.

However, there is one lefty I am intrigued with—Wilkins De la Rosa. De la Rosa, like Dunn, is 23 and will be 24 next year. Both have been converted from other positions into pitching. But De la Rosa seems to have the better numbers. Between A and A+ this year, he was 9-4. 7-3, 2.29 at Charleston, 110 K in 90 1/3 IP (compare to Dunn’s 2007 Charleston) and 2-1, 1.10 at Tampa (A+), 15 K in 16 1/3 IP.

And the Yanks have NO hits through 7.

In the 8th, 2 out, Betemit breaks up the Morrow no-no with an RBI double.
In 2003, six Houston pitchers combined to no-hit the Yanks. Do you know who was the last pitcher to pitch a nine-inning no-hitter vs. the Yanks?
Hoyt Wilhelm. Yup. The HOF reliever was starting for the Orioles. It happened almost FIFTY years ago—to the day. 9/20/58.

Pettitte’s mark? As I wrote before, in jeopardy. 13-12… Babe might wind up standing alone again.