From The LATB Radio Archives: Switch Pitcher Pat Venditte

I was happy to hear that switch pitcher Pat Venditte finally got to show the Yankees what he's got yesterday.  When I heard he was going to be in the game I remembered the interview that I conducted with him almost a year ago on my radio show, LATB Radio. He is such a nice guy! Click the link below to hear the interview:

Pat Venditte On LATB Radio

Due to my housing situation, I still have no idea when I am going to resume the show. But, resume it I will. "Stay tuned" for announcements about when that day might come.

Lady's Choice 2010: AL Central

The Minnesota Twins won the American League Central last year, and with their star player Joe Mauer signed, sealed and delivered, you would expect them to do the same this year. But the Twins are opening a new stadium. Ordinarily that would be a good thing. Not in this case. Target Field is in the middle of Minnesota and it does not have a dome. Expect the cold weather to be a huge factor.

The Tigers have a pretty good pitching staff, plus their offense will be led this year by Johnny Damon. The White Sox are not that much worse than Detroit and definitely not as good as the Twins. The Indians will have their hands full trying to keep up with all three of these teams, and the Royals will be, well, they'll be the Royals.

The AL Central:

Tigers
Twins
White Sox
Indians
Royals

Next: The AL East and Wild Card

LADYBATTING CHAT ROOM Now Open

Good news for those of you who like chat rooms. This blog now has a chat feature! A software start-up is developing a tool by which blog readers can chat with each other live. They asked and I agreed to test it on my blog.

You'll find the chat feature in the lower right-hand corner of your screen.  Click on "General Discussion" to get started.

So gather your friends and go ahead and give it a try. Then let me know how you like it and I'll pass your comments along to the developers. Happy chatting and, looking forward to hearing from you!

Lady's Choice 2010: AL West

Last year the Seattle Mariners finished in third place, 10 games behind the division winners, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. With the moves they made in the off-season they will definitely close the gap but, by how much? Even though the Angels have lost John Lackey to Boston, they still have a very good team. I do believe the Mariners will win this division, but it will be very close, by just one or two games.

Here's how the AL West will shake out:

1 Mariners
2 Angels
3 Rangers
4 Athletics

Next: The AL Central

Lady's Choice 2010: NL East & Wild Card

The National League East belonged to the Phillies last year and it will belong to them this year as well. The question is, where will the other teams in the division finish?

Due to their great young pitching, the Marlins finished second last year, ahead of the Braves. But I believe the Braves are a better team, and even with the loss of Javy Vasquez, they can do better this year. The Washington Nationals have improved while the Mets have stayed the same. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Nats will climb out of the cellar this year. So here's how the NL East will play out:

1 Phillies
2 Braves
3 Marlins
4 Nationals
5 Mets

Wild Card: Not sure about this one at all. I'm going to take a guess and say the Rockies.

Next: The AL West

It Was Joba's Job To Lose & He Lost It

Thanks to his changeup, Phil Hughes will be the Yankees fifth starter in 2010. Joba Chamberlain will continue to compete for a bullpen spot. So, unless there's an injury to anyone in the rotation allowing Joba to start, the Joba Rules will all have been for naught.

Thinking back over this whole competition, I now believe the fifth starter's job was Joba's to lose. Remember two Spring Trainings ago? Hughes and Ian Kennedy were simply handed jobs in the starting rotation. That didn't work out so well. Last year, probably having learned from that experience, the Yankees made Melky Cabrera compete for a job he already had the year before. Melky went on to have a great year. This year they did the same with Joba.  If I were a betting woman, I'd bet Joba has a sensational season.

Good luck to Phil Hughes, and here's to a great season coming up for Joba Chamberlain.

Lady's Choice 2010: NL Central

The NL Central has 6 teams.  You would not have known it last year when St Louis almost ran away with the division. The Cubs, whom many picked to win the division in '09, cowered and crept away like frightened koala bears. I believe they are a better team than the Cardinals, and if they can get out of their own way, they can take back the division this year and, perhaps this time, get past the first round of the playoffs.

With the exception of the Brewers, the remainder of the division is, at best, mediocre, and they'll have a tough road to hoe. Here is how I see this division playing out:

1 Cubs
2 Cardinals
3 Brewers
4 Cincinnati
5 Houston
6 Pittsburgh

Next: The NL East and Wild Card

Lady's Choice 2010: NL West

This year, after skipping it for 2009, I have brought back the Lady's Choice Series, in which I take a brief look at each division in MLB and try to to predict where each club will finish in the standings. First up: the National League West.

The LA Dodgers won this division by 3 games last year. They should win it again this year, but not without another strong challenge from the Rockies.  New faces in Arizona (i.e. Edwin Jackson) should help that team switch places with the Padres, and the Giants will finish right where they finished last year. Here is how I predict this division to play out:

1 Dodgers
2 Rockies
3 Giants
4 Diamondbacks
5 Padres

Next: The NL Central

A Bedroom Fit For A Yankee Fan

Craig, a long-time reader of the blog River Avenue Blues, sent the blog some pictures recently of his son's bedroom. He'd recently re-done it using a Yankees theme. Take a look at this photo:

Cool, huh? To see more photos visit River Avenue Blues by clicking here.

Yakcy Sounds Like A Great Idea

Former MLB Network host Victor Rojas has come up with something that sounds like a really great idea. He has started Yakcy, a social networking community for sports fans. Think of it as Sports Twitter.  Now you can tweet and have "conversations" during games without being distracted by non-game stuff in your timeline. I just signed up and I'm looking forward to trying it out.

If you want to learn more about it this Business Of Baseball post is a very good place to start.

Happy Yakking.

Yankees Watching Twins' Talks With Mauer

According to Bill Madden of the New York Daily News, the Yankees are watching the Joe Mauer contract talks "with keen interest."  Madden talked to some scouts recently and they all seemed to agree that the Yankees have what it would take to make a trade for the Minnesota catcher.

Will Joe Mauer become a Yankee at some point this coming season? I don't think so. The Twins, who have let so many of their stars get away, cannot afford the same fate for this one.  Minnesota native, new ballpark, etc.. We all know the reasons. But, what if it did happen? What if Mauer became the Yankees starting catcher? I keep thinking about one situation that could get dicey if it happens: Jorge Posada.

Jorge Posada won't give up his catcher's gear without a fight. We've seen that over the past few years when he's been injued. Will he fight if Mauer dons pinstripes? The Yankees are watching the contract talks with keen interest, but I hope they've been keen on Posada as well: sitting him down and letting him know their plans before announcing to the world that they're on the Mauer Watch. They probably have. I hope.

Update, 3/19/10: Bob Klapisch quotes Posada in this article as saying, "...I'm not going to make it easy for anyone trying to move me out."

Update, 3/22/10: The Twins got it done. Posada is probably happier than a lot of Twins fans right about now.

Easy Cano Expected To Bat Fifth This Year

Robinson Cano is "movin' on up." He'll bat fifth in the lineup of tomorrow's Spring Training game, a lineup which Joe Girardi says most closely resembles the lineup he'll use on Opening Day.

If Cano will indeed bat fifth this year, the pressure will be on him to do better than he did last year with runners in scoring position. Cano knows it. Girardi knows it and more. I like what he said yesterday about Cano's game:

“I think he plays the game easy. When Robbie goes after the ball, you can be going at the same speed as a guy who looks like he’s putting in 100 percent effort, Robbie is still going just as hard, but Robbie has an easiness to him. Robbie Alomar had an easiness to him when he played second base. Some guys just appear that way. The other guys look like they’re working a lot harder, but they’re not necessarily working a lot harder. I see what Robbie does day in and day out, whether it’s on the field, off the field, in the weight room. I see it every day.”[ Lo-Hud Yankees Blog]

Robinson Cano has been tagged as lazy since his first slump in the Big Leagues. I never thought it was true. Now, reading what Girardi said about him only reinforces what I believed all along:  He's not lazy. He's easy.

Maybe Robbie should consider using that old Commordores song for his at-bat music.

Torii Hunter: Bad Choice of Words, Right Idea

The Angels' Torii Hunter is under fire for comments he made to USA Today recently, in which he called dark-skinned Latino players "imposters." I couldn't believe it when I heard about it. I don't know Torii Hunter but I can't see him saying something like that.

Well, let's take a look at what he actually said:

"People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they're African-American. They're not us. They're impostors. Even people I know come up and say: 'Hey, what color is Vladimir Guerrero? Is he a black player?' I say, 'Come on, he's Dominican. He's not black.' As African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us. It's like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper. It's like, 'Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?' ... I'm telling you, it's sad."[ESPNChicago.com]

Obviously a poor choice of words. But is what he saying correct? Well, yes. For the most part, it is cheaper to sign Latino players than African American players. Ozzie Guillen did try to refute Hunter's comments by, among other things referring to Aroldis Chapman who was signed for millions of dollars. However, that's only one player out of hundreds of others who will never see more than that proverbial bag of chips.

But, back to the question of color. Hunter would have done better if he used the word "imposter" as a verb, because that is what is happening really. Teams are "impostering" Latino players. The players themselves are innocent in this matter. In fact, if a lot of them knew that that teams thought of them as black, they'd be highly insulted. My experience has taught me that dark-skinned Latino people hate, absolutely HATE being referred to as black. Believe me, it is true. I've witnessed many an argument and fight about it. By the same token, I've heard many a non-Latino fan refer to dark-skinned Latino players as being black.

I wish Hunter had expressed himself more clearly. I wish he had chosen better words, because in my opinion, he is absolutely right.

Post On The Run: It Doesn't Matter What Alex Does

I'm in a hurry so I'll make this quick:

When this latest chapter in the saga that is the life of Alex Rodriguez first unfolded, I yawned and turned the proverbial page.

I'm still yawning.

Whatever it turns out that Alex did or did not do, it won't matter in the long run. Alex will still be a Yankee until the day he retires. He's too important to their lineup. So, even if he violated the terms of his contract, something will get worked out and Alex Rodriguez will still be with the team.

Gotta run!

Are We Ready For The Hughes Rules?

Joba Chamberlain was on an innings limit last year to preserve his young arm. This year, assuming he wins the 5th starter's job, he'll have no innings limit.

What if he doesn't win the job?

I was all for the way they treated Joba last season. I had no problem with them having him pitch three innings here and four innings there. I wasn't one of those people who kept saying, "Let Joba pitch!" I didn't think the Yankees were messing with his career. I didn't think he was being jerked around. I didn't think the Joba Rules were crazy. But, if he doesn't get the job I will think they were crazy. The Joba Rules will have all been for naught.

Isn't 2010 what the Joba Rules were for in the first place, building up his innings so that he can pitch without holding back in the future? The future is now, but Joba might be left in the past and, instead of Joba pitching without an innings limit, we'll be subjected to the Hughes Rules (because Phil Hughes will need an innings limit, too), and Joba will be back in the bullpen, having gone through what he went through in 2009 for nothing.

Now, I know Joba's not in danger of losing the 5th starter's job because of the one bad Spring Training outing he had last week. That's not the point of this post. (Trying to avoid unnecessary comments or emails here.) I also know that anything can happen; any of the first four starters could get hurt and both Joba and Hughes could be in the rotation  But whatever happens, there's a chance that we'll all have to experience the Hughes Rules in 2010.

Are we ready?

Eri Yoshida Meets Her Idol

That Japanese schoolgirl I wrote about last year finally met her idol. Isn't that nice? Watch:

New Name, Same Blog

Goodbye Lady At the Bat, hello LADYBATTING.COM. I have decided to use the blog URL as the title. No specific reason, other than I think it sounds better. So please update your blogrolls, bookmarks, etc.  The URL and title are one-in-the-same.