A New Yankee Blog (Orioles 10 Yanks 5)

It happens every year now. The Yankees buy up much of the best talent during the off season, then start the season poorly.

Today was no exception. The story of the game was CC Sabathia, by all accounts the Shaq of baseball, flopping in his Yankee debut. He posted a +10 ERA on the day, gave up 6 runs in 4.1 dreadful innings, walked 5, and perhaps most alarming of all, was unable to strike anyone out. It was hard to watch him loafing around up there, unable to locate his pitches.

In a high-profile game like this, one can expect the experienced, championship caliber Yankee players to perform at their best, and they didn't disappoint. Jeter was 3-5 and Matsui and Posada homered. Though the Yankees lost in dispiriting fashion, the guys we can rely on, Jeter, Matsui, and Posada, will always play inspirational baseball when they're needed most. And that's the primary reason I still think the Yankees are worth watching.

About this blog:

As you read through this blog, you might notice a few things that are different from other blogs.

Here's what I don't do.

1. I don't regurgitate a lot of stats. That's because I think you know what the stats are already. And when I DO talk stats, I have a larger concept in mind that I'm trying to get across. I'll be trying to tell a story. It's also very important to choose the RIGHT stats and let the others go. So I'll be chiefly concerned with batting averages, on-base percentages, ERAs, fielding percentages, and those stats that actually indicate something meaningful about the players' performances. Stats like a pitchers win-loss record, however, are virtually irrelevant (unless a pitcher was 2-14 the year before), so I almost never mention them here.

2. I don't write about tired subjects. The question about whether Joba should be in the pen or a starter is a tired subject. In other words, we've discussed it at length already and it could go both ways. It's time to trust the Yankee coaches to make the right move IN THE RIGHT SITUATION and be done with it. Steroids are also a tired subject.

3. I don't usually weigh in on what Girardi should do with this player or that player unless it is glaringly obvious. I think the coaches almost always have more information to work with, and more experience with making baseball decisions than most of us.

4. I don't talk much about injuries, trade rumors, possible acquisitions, call-ups, send-downs, and the like, unless they PROFOUNDLY affect the team. If you want to read about that junk, there are plenty of sources of information out there. This is not one of them, because the addition or the rumor of an addition or subtraction of a player almost never affects the outcome of a game unless several players are moved around at once. So I rarely discuss it.

5. I don't complain about slumping players, unless the slump is so long that it is having a noticeable affect on the teams ability to win games AND the player seems unlikely to recover his form. Slumps happen all the time in baseball, to everyone, including the best players. It's cool.

6. I usually don't make predictions, but when I do, perk up your ears, because there's money to be made. Sports are, by nature, unpredictable. If you're looking for money-making opportunities, I can tell you this: most games will not make you money over the long run. But if you carefully select the games you bet, you might be able to show a profit. Much of the time, only deep insight will allow you to find those games that are virtual locks. Be advised, though, that you'll have to be right much more often than 50% of the time, which means you should only bet those locks. They're rare, but I'll provide those when I think they're in the immediate future.

Here's what I do:

1. I write about the Yankees in a way that nobody else (at least, nobody else I've read) writes about them. Sports are a human drama, a reality show, but one in which courage, passion, and sacrifice make champions. There's a lot that goes into winning games and championships, and in this blog I attempt to elucidate just what I think those things are.

2. I write reports that I think a Yankee fan would want to read. The blog is called "Yankee Baseball" because "Yankee Baseball" is different from the baseball that is played by the rest of the league. This blog draws attention to that difference in an attempt to explain what's going on on the field, which, in my view, can be quite different from what is reported by the media.

3. I try to get to the core of the issues facing the team, the real reasons behind their successes and failures, and the true nature of their rivalry with the Boston Red Sox.

4. In essence, I want this to become a go-to blog for every Yankee fan who wants the real story, from the perspective of a fan who watches with the sound off, who listens only to the crowd, and who has 20 years of experience watching every major American sport, drawing insight from all of them, along with insights into and reminiscences of past Yankee glory, insights that can be applied to enhance our understanding of the Yankees of today.

5. I hope when you read this blog that you too feel as I always have about this team. I hope that the Yankees' professionalism, respect for their opponents, camaraderie, courage, and poise under pressure inspire you, as it has for me, to emulate those attributes in your own lives, and to be reminded that even in times of adversity, people can and do rise above challenges and perform at their best. And the harder life becomes, the better we must perform, because challenges are opportunities to become true performers in sports and in life. THAT'S Yankee Baseball.