The Hughes Corporation Back In Business

The economy is still down for the count but the Hughes Corporation seems to have received a bailout and is on its way back to the success it had when it first opened for business late in the 2007 season. Phil Hughes was outstanding last night: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO.

If Hughes can build on this start, the Get Santana Gang will finally have to find something else to gripe about. The Yankees kept Hughes and didn't get Johan Santana. Their rotation is now more complete than that of the Mets', who really have no one else to speak up aside from Santana.

Good luck, Mr Hughes.

Bernadette

What Are You Carrying On Game Day?

When you go to a Major League Baseball game, what's the one thing you must bring with you, the one thing you cannot leave the house without? Your answer to this question might win you this:This is the Tessuta Game Day Purse, created by Andrea Claster Greenspan. It's available in colors and logos of each of the 30 Major League teams. Andrea's company, Tessuta Life Woven produces an entire line of baseball merchandise, officially-licensed by Major League Baseball. She will be my first guest, this coming Sunday night, May 3rd, on the innaugural broadcast of LATB Radio. At the end of the show one lucky listener or reader of this blog will win a Game Day Purse!

Here's how to enter for a chance to win- Send an email to latbradio@gmail.com with an answer to the question above, repeated below:

When you go to a Major League Baseball Game, what's the one thing you must bring with you, the one thing you cannot leave the house without? Please include your favorite baseball team in your answer. (Note: Your email address will be kept confidential and you will not be spammed or otherwise contacted by me in any manner.)

Once again, the winner (randomly chosen) will be announced at the end of the show on Sunday night. I'll also post it here the following day. So, get your entries in now for a chance to win!

Bernadette

The Page Has Been Turned. Almost

The Yankees are back at .500 after being swept by the Red Sox over the weekend. Being at .500 at the end of April is not a bad thing at all. Neither is being swept by the Red Sox in April (contrary to what some fans might think). What's bad is how the Yankees were swept: Mariano's blown save on Friday night, Bruney's injury and the implosion of the bullpen on Saturday and Jacoby Ellsbury's steal of home last night.

Last night. Over the weekend. Not tonight. Not this week. That's the way the Yankees will look at this series. They've turned that page and are looking toward the next series in Detroit. Well, almost. While Joe Girardi gets his team ready for the Tigers today, you can rest assured that wood is being gathered and matches are being lined up. As the wood is piled up and the matches are being taken out of their boxes, you'll start to hear the cries: "Fire Joe Girardi! "Fire Joe!" "Joe must go!"

If they take at least 2 out of 3 in Detroit you wont' hear this. The wood will be abandoned and the matches will be forgotten. If they don't, put this together with Girardi's 2008 failure to make the postseason and you'll definitely hear calls for Joe Girardi's head.

Bernadette

Casual Friday: Pitching Tidbits

The Yankees are all about the pinstripes, in every sense of the word. The rest of MLB is more casual. This is the latest post in a Friday series called Casual Friday, in which I take a quick look around the rest of Major League Baseball.

* Good pitching stops good hitting. That saying couldn't have been more true this week in Florida where Pirates pitching cooled off a red-hot Marlins team. Thanks to pitching coach Joe Kerrigan, Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens and Paul Maholm seem to have their arms pointed in the right direction, in the early goings, at least. I don't think they're this year's Tampa Bay Rays, but if they keep it up, the Pirates will have a pretty decent season.

* Right pitcher, wrong jersey. Darren O'Day was claimed off waivers this week by the Texas Rangers. He had to fly up to Toronto the same day he was claimed to appear in a game against the Blue Jays. Nothing out of the ordinary about that. That does happen to players. But investigate the story further and you find out that O'Day's new Rangers jersey wasn't ready. He had to wear Kason Gabbard's jersey! One final twist to the story: Gabbard was traded to the Red Sox yesterday. Let's hope they didn't really mean to trade O'Day.

* Paul Byrd is ready to start pitching again, after spending Spring Training and the beginning of the season off the radar. Now he's being criticized by some who say he just didn't want to bother with Spring Training. Knowing that Byrd's wife Kym is a certified life coach who helps athletes with their marriages, I'm guessing that the Byrds just wanted to make sure they're practicing what Kym preaches. He probably just wanted to spend some quantifiable quality time with his family.

* Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt, signed a 2-year $8 million deal with the team back in November. Soon after that he joined the fight to help stop human trafficking. He has donated $5,000 to the Not For Sale campaign in Thailand and will donate $100 for every strikeout he notches this season. Affeldt told the media: "I wanted to be able to help someway, somehow, and I could just give the money, but I'd really like to start something. I don't think it's something people are really keyed in on. They think of slavery as something that didn't happen after the 1800s. There are 17,000 people, I think, who are brought into the United States as slaves every year." Kudos to Jeremy Affeldt.

Until next week, ladies and gentlemen.

Bernadette

Guess Who's On The All Star Ballot?

Here are your choices for AL Third Baseman in this year's All-Star Game in St Louis:

A Beltre, SEA

J Fields, CWS

E Longoria, TB

S Rolen, TOR

E Chavez, OAK

C Figgins, LAA

M Lowell, BOS

M Young, TEX

J Crede, MIN

A Gordon, JC

M Mora, BAL

M DeRosa, CLE

B Inge, DET

A Rodriguez, NYY

Alex Rodriguez is on the All-Star ballot! He hasn't played a single game this season, yet he's on the All-Star ballot. After all that has happened with him since Spring Training, and after all that might happen (The Book), it'll be interesting to see just how many votes he'll get.

Did you vote yet? Would you vote for him? Who would you vote for to start at 3B for the AL squad this year? (I voted for Evan Longoria.)

Bernadette

Oakland Is A Contender This Year?

A lot of people, including myself, played it safe this year and picked the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to win the AL West. But there were a few people out there who predicted that the Oakland Athletics would be in the race to win this little 4-team division.

Based on what I saw from them last night against the Yankees, however, I'm thinking those people might be off their rockers. A's pitchers only gave up 5 runs, few enough to keep their team in the game. But they were unable to make up deficits to get past the Yankees. They have the same problem they had last year: not enough offense.

Meanwhile Brett Gardner seems to be figuring out the offensive side of his game. Looks like he might stick in the Big Leagues after all. He certainly has solidified his defensive game:

Casual Mention: If the Texas Rangers had pitching to go along with all their hitting, I'd give them the nod as the team to give the Angels a run for their money this year. Their bats kept Roy Halladay from getting his 4th win last night.

Bernadette

[Photo: A/P]

Baseball Tonight vs MLB Tonight: Which Do You Prefer?

MLB Network has been broadcasting for three months now. They started off with a bang: Don Larson's perfect game, Ken Burns's Baseball, in-studio player guests and on-air personalities like Al Leiter and Harold Reynolds.

ESPN began its "Baseball Tonight" programming for the 2009 season about a month ago. Their format is basically the same, save for the addition of Hall Of Famer Dave Winfield.

When I first heard about MLB Network I got very excited. Baseball 24 hours! I couldn't wait. I wondered if they would give "Baseball Tonight" a run for their money. On January 1st I was thinking they would. Now, I'm not so sure. I really enjoyed "Hot Stove Live" (or was it "Hot Stove Tonight?"). It was fun to see people talking baseball for extended periods of time in the middle of Winter, especially when ESPN was so busy with the NFL playoffs, the NBA, etc. "Thirty Clubs In Thirty Days" was okay, but a bit more serious than I'd expected it to be.

When "MLB Tonight" debuted I watched closely to see how it would distinguish itself from "Baseball Tonight." It didn't. Watching "MLB Tonight" is like watching "Meet The Press," in my opinion. It's too serious! "Baseball Tonight" is much more lively, much more fast-paced, and much more enjoyable.

I guess it's all a matter of preference. If you like hardcore baseball analysis, "MLB Tonight" is for you. But, if you're like me and prefer lots of highlights and soft analysis, "Baseball Tonight" is better.

How about you? Which do you prefer? Click on Cheers & Jeers below to leave your comments!

Bernadette

It's Only A Launching Pad When BOTH Teams Hit A Lot

Heard all buzz about the new Yankee Stadium?

Wow! The ball really fies out of there!

That place is a real launching pad!

Wait a minute. How can that be true when one team scores 22 runs and the other scores only 4? Also, how can it be true when one team scores 10 runs and the other scores only 2? There's something wrong with that reasoning.

Chien-Ming Wang (above) has an ERA over 30. Damaso Marte's is over 21. Plus, one of the three blow-outs this team suffered wasn't even at The Stadium. It was at Tropicana Field against the Rays.

It's time for everyone to get their heads out of the clouds all those home-run balls are forming and face reality: The Yankees have pitching problems.

Bernadette

Casual Friday: Progression & Regression

The Yankees are all about the pinstripes, in every sense of the word. The rest of MLB is more casual. This is the second post in a Friday series called Casual Friday, in which I take a quick look around the rest of Major League Baseball.

*April 15th was MLB's annual observance of Jackie Robinson Day. Unlike last year when players had the option of wearing number 42, this year every player, coach and manager wore it. Good call, MLB. Seeing the number scattered around on different teams last year looked completely silly.

*April 15th was also the day the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports released a report about the state of diversity in MLB. The percentage of black players in the game has risen to 10.2 percent, up from the all-time low of 8.2 percent in 2007. Roy S. Johnson over at Yahoo doesn't want to get too excited about it, however, and I think he's right.

*The Toronto Blue Jays have the best record in the AL East. Are they really that good? Probably not. The reason they're leading the division is really very simple: They haven't played teams in the AL East yet. All of their opponents have been in the Central and the West. They don't play an AL East team until the beginning of next month when they play the Orioles. After that series it's right back to the heartland. They don't play any back-to-back series against AL East teams until mid-May. Let's see where they are in the standings at the end of May before we declare them this year's Tampa Bay.

* Looks like yet another third baseman named Alex will need hip surgery this season. The Royals Alex Gordon will go under the knife shortly to have his own right hip tear repaired. Something tells me that, unlike coverage of another Alex, this post will be one of the last times this particular Alex will be mentioned before he comes off the DL and starts playing again.

* Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals has been on the DL eight times since 1999. This week he went on it again with an oblique tear. Some guys just can't get a break. They're too busy getting tears.

* Nats win! Nats Win! Congratulations to the Washington Nationals who got their first win of the season last night.

Until next week, ladies and gentlemen.

Bernadette

From Sweet Sounds In CF To Stench in The Bullpen

Opening Day at the new Yankee Stadium started off so sweet and clear, to borrow from an old Carpenters song. John Fogerty walked in from centerfield playing the terrific song he wrote about that part of the outfield. Bernie Williams strolled in from his old position, too, to play his beautiful new rendition of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame," which I'm predicting will come to be known as his signature song. Ah, so sweet and clear.

By the end of the day, however, there was nothing but a foul stench, and it came directly from the bullpen. What was a close, winnable game for the Yankees turned into a lost cause when the pen gave up 9 runs in the 7th inning. Simply awful. I don't even want to think about it. I'd rather just forget about it, or better yet, listen to Bernie play his signature song again. Listen to it yourself by clicking here.

Bernadette

[Photo: Bombers Beat]

Burnett's Biggest Pitch

AJ Burnett was on last night. He took a no-hitter into the seventh and made big pitches later in that inning to keep the Yankees in the game. But his biggest pitch might have been made earlier, in the fourth inning.

Burnett threw a pitch up and in to Evan Longoria, causing Longoria to hit the deck. This came after Matt Garza threw one up and in to Nick Swisher in the top of the frame. Swisher let it roll off his back and proceeded to homer to right later in the at-bat. Was Burnett's pitch to Longoria retaliation? I like to think so.

Since he made his pitching debut the night before, Swisher's been the subject of much discussion among fans, players and the media. Was he having too much fun on the mound? Members of the media appear to be split on the issue. Fans, myself included, are solidly behind Swisher. Most players haven't said much about it, but Jorge Posada has expressed his disapproval of Swisher's behavior. No one was laughing, he said. Darryl Strawberry, in an appearance on The Michael Kay Show, called it bush league.

In any case, appearances can sometimes make all the difference in the world. The Yankees have a history of not retaliating, and when guys like Jorge Posada and Darryl Strawberry make old-school, old-fogey proclamations, it's nice to see that there is a possibility that not everyone in their precious MLB fraternity agrees with them.

Bernadette

Long Relief No, Comic Relief Yes

This year, the Yankees decided to break camp at the end of Spring Training without a long reliever on their roster. If they didn't think it would cause a problem this early in the season they were proven decidedly wrong last night. It appears they assumed, wrongly, that the rotation would be off and running right out of the gate. But Chien-Ming Wang's up-in-the-zone pitches had other ideas.

So the Yankees finished the game using four short relievers, including Jonathan Albaladejo, who was stretched to his max. You know by now who the fourth pitcher was: Nick Swisher. Swish went out there and had fun, which is what he's done since he got to New York, which is probably what he has done his whole life. He walked around the mound with a bounce in his step, a smile on his face and laughter coming out of his mouth. A lot like Mark "The Bird" Fydrych.

Hearing about Fydrych's death was shocking, to say the least. "The Bird" took MLB by storm during 1976, his one magical season. He was known for the fun he had while pitching: smoothing out the mound with his hands, talking to the baseball and slapping five with his teammates. Not high-fiving, of course. People didn't start doing that until long after Frydrych had retired.

I think it's fitting that the always-animated Swisher pitched last night, in a laugher, laughing and having fun, on the day "The Bird" left this earth. A fitting tribute, indeed.

Bernadette

[Fydrych Photo: AP]

Casual Friday: First Week Of The Show

The Yankees are all about the pinstripes, in every sense of the word. The rest of MLB is more casual. Today I start a season-long Friday series called Casual Friday, in which I take a quick look around the rest of Major League Baseball.

* The Rangers swept the Indians this week, beating both Cliff Lee and Carl Pavano in the process. Beating Pavano doesn't say a lot. Beating Cliff Lee might not being saying much either. After not doing much during his career, Lee had a breakout year last year, winning the Cy Young Award. He had a terrible Spring Training this year and bombed in his first start this week. Could we be looking at a One-Year-Wonder here?

* It was business as usual for Kyle Farnsworth this week. He failed to hold a lead for his new team, the Royals. Yes, it was only the first game. But given his history, it would seem hard for the Royals and their fans to say that and to really feel optimistic about the rest of Farnsworth's tenure with the team.

* Ichiro was cleared to take batting practice this week and went 7 for 10 in minor league intrasquad games. The ulcer appears to be fading away. Why did he get it in the first place? Perhaps if he gave more profanity-laden motivational speeches throughout the year, instead of just during the All-Star Game, he could have prevented this. It's called venting, right?

* The Diamondbacks' Brandon Webb just wanted to put his mind at ease. Talks about a contract extension stalled and it was rumored that the team was concerned about Webb's shoulder. The team is worried they won't be able to get insurance for him because of it. Webb says he took the matter into his own hands and got himself checked out by Dr James Andrews who gave him a clean bill of health. This should put the Diamondbacks at ease. After all, this is simple compared to the case Dontrelle Willis, who we learned recently has anxiety caused by a blood disorder. More likely it's the Tigers who have the blood disorder. The blood is green and its platelets have insurance policy numbers on them.

Enjoy the rest of The Show and have a great holiday weekend everyone!

Bernadette

Yankees Playing A Familiar Tune

There’s something alarmingly familiar going on with the Yankees in this young 2009 season: Last night Yankee hitters left 17 runners on base. On Monday, Opening Day, they left 20 runners on.

This was a frustrating trend for this team all last season. A team that was supposed to score a ton of runs was consistently unable to get the big hit to drive in the big run. Will this be the norm in 2009? Well, there have been only two games, against one team, so at this point it’s too early to tell. But it is alarming just the same. If they had gotten half the LOB runners in from each of those games they would probably have won those games. I’m guessing that Mark Teixeira being 1 for 9 in the 3 hole and Matsui no better batting cleanup has a lot to do with it.

Teixeira might have better luck once he gets away from the boo birds in Baltimore. (Come on. Did they really expect him to sign with the Orioles?) Matsui is a streaky hitter. Yankee fans are hoping he starts one of those streaks this afternoon in the series finale.

Bernadette

Sabathia No Big Deal, Cano One To Watch

There is nothing earth-shattering to say about CC Sabathia's awful Yankee debut yesterday. The only thing you can really say comes off sounding like a cliche when you say it: "It's just one game." But, it's true. Sabathia will get better. I'm not worried about him. If he turns out to be less than what was expected, the Yankees are stacked with pitchers to take up the slack. Yankee fans have nothing to worry about when it comes to pitching, so it doesn't make much sense to take CC Sabathia's temperature after every single start.

It makes more sense to take the temperature of Robinson Cano. After Cano's horrible start last year, which led to a disastrous 2008 season, it's extremely important that he get off to a good start in 2009. His bat is too important for him not to. He had a respectable first game, going 1-3 with 2 walks. He needs to continue to build on that. I'll be watching him closely during this early part of the season to see if he does. The Cano Counter on the sidebar will be updated daily, showing his progress, or lack thereof. Let's see if he can move forward and put 2008 behind him.

Bernadette

Save The Date! LATB Radio Debuts, Sunday May 3rd

Mark your calendars, everyone. Lady At The Bat (LATB) will soon have a second home. A broadcast home. LATB radio will go on the air at BlogTalkRadio on Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 11:00 PM Eastern.

I'll have more information about the show in the coming weeks. For now, just save the date!

Bernadette

2009 AL Predictions

This is my 2009 look at the American League.

The Oakland A's made some minor improvements over the off-season but I don't think it will be enough to knock the Angels off of their heavenly perch. If the Mariners can get over all of their in-fighting they could have a decent year. The Rangers still don't have what it takes to get out of the cellar. The AL West:

Angels
A's
Mariners
Rangers

Baseball will be fun to watch in the Central Division this year. All five teams have solid players. The Royals finished fourth last year because of Detroit's total ineptitude, but they do have the potential to go a second-straight season without finishing in the cellar. Cleveland was the popular choice to win the division last year and I still think they can do that this year. The AL Central:

Indians
White Sox
Twins
Tigers
Royals

The best division in all of baseball will be pressure packed all season long, both for the teams and for the fans of these teams. All eyes will be on the Rays, Red Sox and Yankees, but the Orioles are never pushovers and the Blue Jays will certainly hold their own all season long. As for the big three, a lot hinges on the bullpen of the Rays. Can it duplicate what it did last year? The Red Sox bullpen is very good but the Yankees' is even better. Other than that, all three teams seem pretty equal. The AL East:

Yankees
Red Sox
Tampa Bay
Orioles
Blue Jays

Wild Card: Red Sox

Penant: Yankees

Bernadette

2009 NL Predictions

Okay! I'm finally getting around to making my picks for the 2009 baseball season. It's too late to do the Lady's Choice Series I did, both for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. What you see here will have to suffice. I'll start first with the National League.

Manny Ramirez's return to the Dodgers probably means a return to a first place finish for that team. The Diamondbacks will receive a challenge from the Giants for second place. Colorado probably will not do much better than the Padres, although I don't see San Diego finishing higher than last. The NL West:

Dodgers
Diamondbacks
Giants
Rockies
Padres

I love Cincinnati's pitching and the rest of their team isn't bad either. They might have a slight edge over the Brewers this year. The Pirates will suprise some people this year. I don't think they're this year's Rays, but they'll open some eyes. St Louis is still better than they are, however. I pity the Houston Astros. The NL Central:

Cubs
Reds
Brewers
Cardinals
Pirates
Astros

The Mets strengthened their bullpen over the off-season but not much else. The Braves have improved and they will challenge New York for second place, but I see the Mets holding them off. Florida will hang around as they usually do and Washington will be Washington again. The NL East:

Phillies
Mets
Braves
Marlins
Nationals

Wild Card: Mets

Pennant: Cubs

AL predictions next!

Bernadette

Doug Glanville: Hope For The World Through Baseball

As a Yankee fan my most vivid memory of Doug Glanville is as a member of the Phillies back in the late '90s. During interleague play when the Phillies played the Yankees, TV announcers never failed to bring up the fact that Glanville was an Ivy League grad, having attended the University of Pennsylvania and that he had written a thesis about a baseball topic. (I no longer remember the exact topic.)

Today Glanville is involved in various business activities and contributes articles and op-ed pieces to newspapers. This morning I read a really interesting op-ed piece he wrote for The New York Times. He talks about his upbringing in racially and culturally diverse Teaneck, NJ, his experiences as a Major Leaguer and how both have shaped his opinion about diversity in the game. To read it click here.

Bernadette