The Girl Who Loved Andy Pettitte

The Yankees had a two run lead going into the top of the 9th inning tonight, meaning it was Mariano Rivera time. Mariano is, as pretty much everyone who has watched baseball in the last several years knows, a very special player and it is a pretty big deal to most people at Yankee Stadium to watch him close out another game. There are probably a good number of people in attendance who’ve never seen it in person before and may never see it again, and it is one of the best things you can see at Yankee Stadium. Me, I’ve seen it a billion times but it is one of those things that never loses its luster.

So imagine my surprise when the count to Jose Lopez hit 1-2 and some girl a few rows down yelled out “I’m going to start the wave!”

If you are over the age of 8 or so you should never do the wave at a close Major League baseball game. If you are accompanying someone of the proper age to do the wave, you should probably encourage them not to and teach them proper ballpark etiquette. I suggest taking them to a minor league game where anything goes for things like the wave and tossing beach balls around. Basically, if you are not a small child do not do the wave.

Seriously, don’t do it. It’s rude and interferes with people who are actually at the baseball game to watch the baseball game. Yes we actually exist, I know it’s amazing. I’ll give you that there are certain times when it’s not a crime against humanity to do the wave (you can read about all that over here if you’re confused and need guidance), but I promise you that Mariano Rivera closing out a game at Yankee Stadium is never one of those times.

And so, if you try to do the wave and block my view when Mariano is pitching, especially on a two strike count, don’t act surprised/offended/upset when I yell at you to cease blocking my view. Because I am watching the game. Funny how that works.

A few bit ago I checked my Twitter feed (because I am very Web 3.0) and saw this:

And threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Am I overreactting? Of course I am. It’s what I do! Well, one of the things I do. But in any case, the reason this specifically bothers me is that Phil Hughes really needs to get back to starting very soon if he is going to hit the innings cap he’s got for this year. And hitting that innings cap is a part of being a “starter long term”.

I mean, not even long term. They’re going to need him next year able to plug in 180-200 innings because there is no way the team brings back Andy Pettitte. In fact, part of bringing back Pettitte was about letting the kid get a full year of professional baseball hopefully unhurt in so that he could jump in to the 2010 rotation.

You may say, “Well has nothing to prove at AAA!” That may be true but it’s short sighted and ignores some important stuff. Such as his splits against LHB and RHB. If you haven’t seen them before, remember that I am here to help:

Split    G   PA   AB   R    H   HR  BB  SO   SO/BB  BA     OBP    SLG    OPS 
vs RHB   14  105  94   11   20  4   8   26   3.25   0.213  0.286  0.415  0.701
vs LHB   13  97   81   10   22  3   10  20   2      0.272  0.361  0.481  0.842

These are for this year only, but they are similar for his brief MLB career. Lefties see him much better than righties, who don’t see him that well at all. This is part of why he did so well against the RHB heavy Texas Rangers lineup.

The team was–allgedly–having him work on a changeup so that LHB wouldn’t just sit on his curveball and fastball. Plus, a decent changeup is always handy to have. Since he came up, it’s been almost non-existent. Afterall, it’s pretty dangerous to test out a not finished product in Major League games. So, not only could he be getting his innings in at SWB instead of pitching out of the bullpen here or there but he could be working on making himself a better pitcher.

I’m sure that Hughes will find himself starting again at some point. The other kid starter on the team (who is older than Hughes, actually) does have an innings cap as well. But as the season passes on, I begin to worry.

And so I’m not a total negative nancy:

Keeping Hughes in the bullpen for the time being does (hopefully) stop the team from doing something rash like acquiring Huston Street for too much right now. A lot of the potential trade chips the Yankees have are hurt, dead or underperforming and I don’t think a relief pitcher is worth Zach MacAllister’s 2009 performance to date.

And depending on what Hughes’ innings total is at the end of the MLB season, they can ship him off to pitch in the Winter Leagues and make up some of that as well. The options they have here are not as large as last year since he cannot go somewhere like Hawaii, but he can spend a few months in Puerto Rico and log some innings there.

In any case, this just leaves a bad taste in my mouth because for the next fifteen years we’ll have to not only hear JOBA SHOULD BE IN THE BULLPEN but also PHIL HUGHES SHOULD BE IN THE BULLPEN and I have enough headaches as is.

It’s June! Short Season A started a few weeks ago and although the original Staten Island home opener (and my first game of the year there) got rained out on the 20th, I decided I wanted to go to on the 25th which happened to be the new date for the home opener. And then I went again on the 27th because I love minor league baseball.

Sure, it’s not good baseball but it’s fun. Where else can you see Subway Series Mets-like defense at every game? Every routine play is an adventure!!

In all seriousness, minor league baseball rules and if you live in the area you should check out Richmond County Bank Ballpark. Big boats go by, the beer costs about as much as it does in a bar and it’s all very fun. Need some more convincing? Here’s my first batch of photos from the year:

Mariano ducks out of the way to draw a walk.

Last night, we were blessed once again with an at bat from Saint Mo and it ended even better than his first. He worked a walk with the bases loaded against one of my most hated players, Francisco Rodriguez.

I’m sure he was once again told not to swing the bat, and just like his last appearance he…mostly listened. The one swing came on a 2-2 count to protect the zone (or, try to hit one out if you ask Mariano). The next two pitches were off the plate in classic BB-Rod style and now Mariano has an OBP of .500 for the year! It’ll stay that way unless the Yankees decide to pinch hit him at some point during the year. The Yankees pitchers have looked pretty good at the plate in 2009 even when they haven’t gotten hits, so maybe it’ll happen. You never know.

If you missed the glorious at bat, you can watch it here. It is a beautiful thing and highly recommended viewing.

Mariano also did something else not nearly as cool in this game; he notched his 500th career saves. Saves are a dumb stat, they are in many ways worse than RBI because of the many ways you can record one (see: Mariano’s one out save the other night when the Yankees were not exactly in peril of losing) but accumulating the amount Mariano has is very impressive because they highlight his longevity as a position where so many flame out quickly. I have been watching Mariano destroy batters since I was 15 in 1996 when he was first converted to relief and it has been an absolutely wonderful experience. I understand that had he been able to be an average starting pitcher we would never have seen this, but it is amazing to see a relief pitcher be so consistently excellent for as long as Mariano has.

And, to be honest, we’re all spoiled for it. The cries to keep Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes in the bullpen are because for the last decade and change we’ve watched Mariano come out and get the job done. No other team has had this luxury. The idea of a closer is overrated, for sure, but even when Mariano struggles we all feel that he’ll get it done. It’s not like watching Kevin Gregg or George Sherrill when you never know which version you’ll get on a night.

So thank you, Mariano Rivera, and congratulations on hitting your milestone. I am very grateful to have you around.

Unlikely to be any controversy about this one, as fist pumps are apparently only a big deal when Joba Chamberlain performs them. Still, I think it’s a clear sign AJ should be put in the bullpen where that kind of fire belongs.

If you missed it, check out the AJ Burnett highlight video for tonight. I realize he was facing the Mets AAA Not All-Stars but the curveball (not a slider, Gary Cohen) was nasty tonight.

Last night as Manny Acosta started letting men on base, I asked the Baseball Gods for one thing: Please, let Mariano Rivera come up to bat. Apparently, the Yankees offensive sacrifice over the last two weeks appeased them and I got what I asked for.

He took a great cut but unfortunately his liner went straight to a fielder. But still, I got what I asked for and the world got a great Mariano quote out of it:

My pitching coach told me not to swing … But I had to take a swing. I apologize to my manager and pitching coach.

You can watch it on MLB.com, and below are the of screengrabs I took of the unfolding event. There are a lot, so make sure you follow along after the jump.

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