My Apology

It hit me just as I was walking into the living room.  Vino recognized it right away as well, as per his comment.  Not sure how I missed the one key piece of information yesterday as I wrote off the Moose before the ball was even in his hand.  I couldn't believe I didn't see the angle.  But I'll get to that.

There was some great dialogue in the booth tonight on the YES broadcast.  I yawned my way through David Cone's first few broadcasts, as he seemed to me to be reticent to go outside the box even a little bit.  Nothing was a bad play, nothing was a bad call, nothing was anybody's fault.  Strange, because he was always known to be a cerebral guy as a player.  Very tuned in to the game, wasn't just going to give you the standard sound bite, could speak on any topic; by all accounts he was a guy who could have a good baseball conversation.  Tonight he was leaps and bounds better.  Tonight the YES viewers, specifically this YES viewer, learned something new.  First, David Cone taught us how "scuffing the baseballs" works.  We've all heard the term and are familiar with the concept, but he gave some good insight as to what the ball does when it is scuffed in which areas.  I, for one, found it an insightful lesson, and well demonstrated by Cone in the booth with a baseball.  He also went into another topic, one that I found particularly fascinating.  We here at the BPS are always talking how the umpires affect the game.  Cone mentioned that most teams will keep a stat called "Umpire ERA."  Along with this, there are tear sheets on each umpire in the league - who is a homer, who favors the pitcher, who favors the hitter, etc.  Now that's the kind of info that broadcasters apparently all know but are usually loathe to give you.  I always have to wonder why.  I always come back to the idea that they all feel like they have to maintain this charade that every game is won and lost on the field.  Umpire ERA.  Of course.  It tells you plenty, especially when you start to see trends show themselves over the course of a few years.  You could also trend some of the things that we have talked about on the BPS, like the ump who is afraid to "affect the game."  Great work by David Cone in the booth tonight with Paul O'Neill and Michael Kay.

The Chicago White Sox are a pretty good team.  The middle of their lineup is scary.  Thome's been a thorn in the side of the Yanks for years; Konerko went from Dave Kingman (lots of bombs and ribbies with a .235 BA) to a serviceable power hitter in a few years time.  Jermaine Dye is a patient hitter with lots of power.  And I have to say - I don't know that there is a guy in the league other than Manny and Ortiz who makes me more uncomfortable in a big spot than Orlando Cabrera.  I really have to scratch my head and wonder how he doesn't hit .375 ever year, because he always seems to hit .475 against the Yanks.  So put them all together and the White Sox can play.  They can get you.  You saw it in the eighth inning tonight.  Before you knew it, they were right on top of the Yanks, closing the gap on what had been a 6-1 lead.  You really do see the value of having Joba and Mo.  If you don't have one or both of those guys available, you might blow those games and you might not.  But you will almost certainly shred your bullpen in the process.  So then you head into tomorrow night's game, and then Cleveland, with a skeleton crew.  And that creates a cycle that's tough to break.  All of that said, this is a good series win for the Yanks.  The White Sox are a first place team.  And all of this without Allie Rodriguez.

If the Yankees can manage to split the next four games, they will have had, in my opinion, a successful 18-of-20-on-the-road stretch.  Playing division rivals, legitimate contenders, et al without a break and on the road is a difficult proposition.  If they could walk out of that with their record north of .500, they will be in good shape.  But they need to split the next four....

So back to what I started in the opening paragraph.  What hit me as I was walking into the living room to un-pause the DVR and resume watching the game after dinner (chicken cutlets, rice, salad) was that I failed to factor in one key point.  Moose, as anyone who reads the BPS knows and as Vino pointed out in his comment today, is Sean's boy.  Usually I call it out before the Moose starts, and not only did I fail to do that this time, but I failed to realize that the Moose wasn't going to let the BPS's own Sean down today.  Not today.  Because today at 2pm, Sean's wife gave birth to a baby girl.  And tonight at 11:17pm eastern daylight time, the Moose presented her with the gift of a win on her very first day as a Yankee fan.  Silly me.  There was no reason to worry about the Moose tonight.  Tonight, the Moose went out there on a mission.  And he was brilliant....