I was expecting the ball to come up, so I had my glove up. If I had my glove down you have a better chance to react to a different hop.

 Eduardo Nunez.

Yangervis Solarte.

Ramiro Pena.

Jayson Nix.

I think all of these players combined don't cost as much as Chase Headley:

"Whether it hit the lip or not, it definitely stayed down," Headley said. "But I could have been in better position. I’m expecting the ball to come up, so I had my glove up. If I had my glove down you have a better chance to react to a different hop. It’s unfortunate because it’s a big time in the game and it cost us a bunch of runs. Just a play that I feel like I have to make, regardless of whether it takes a hop or not. You’ve got to make a play. Cap made a big pitch right there, I catch that and turn a double play, we may be out of there with one run. Obviously disappointing, and another play that I probably should have made."

Probably!

RBIs are still a somewhat important baseball statistic.

"The great thing about Rodriguez holding (by some accounts) an RBI record is it combines the two most mysterious and controversial elements of our time: RBIs and performance-enhancing drugs."

I think most philosophers and scientists would agree that RBIs and PEDs are the most mysterious and controversial elements of our time.



"We can't decide if RBIs are important and we're pretty sure, but not positive, PEDs are, but you could find plenty to argue the reverse."

I don't think I could find one person who doesn't think PEDs are important.


"A big deal? I don't really know. So I asked Albert Pujols, who is 374 RBI behind Rodriguez and 4½ years younger."

You're a baseball writer who doesn't know if RBIs are a big deal?

Your research assistant is Albert Pujols? What do you think Albert Pujols is going to say about RBIs? That he doesn't like them and his salary is therefore fraudulent?

Guess what? Albert Pujols thinks RBIs are important.

I have a theory.

Why is David Ortiz struggling this season?:

''It's a combination of a few things,'' Farrell said. ''There's some of (the mental aspect), there's some of what he's dealing with, battling a little bit, but I think more than anything, hopefully (he can) just take a little bit of a step back and regroup.''

Streaks and slumps.

"In case you haven’t noticed, caught up as you may have gotten in the Rangers’ daily Stanley Cup playoff torture, up in the Bronx we are witnessing one very wacky, head-scratching baseball season."

It's wacky.


"The Yankees — those same Yankees who for 11 days looked like one of the worst Yankee teams in decades in going, on merit, from 21-12 and four games up in first place to 22-22, 1 1/2 games behind — headed for the West Coast on Wednesday once again division leaders after sweeping, of all teams, the defending AL champion Kansas City Royals."

So what you're saying is that the Yankees - those same Yankees who for 11 days looked like one of the worst Yankee teams in decades in going, on merit, from 21-12 and four games up in first place to 22-22, 1 1/2 games behind — headed for the West Coast on Wednesday once again division leaders after sweeping, of all teams, the defending AL champion Kansas City Royals.

That sentence is quite a testament to needless loquacity.


"So just who are these Yankees besides being the beneficiaries of playing in the most inept division in baseball? Are they the team of spotty pitching, sloppy defense and a lineup that drops off the cliff into a dark hole after the No. 6 spot? Or are they the team that, for three heady days in the Bronx, outscored the Royals 23-4?"

They're a bad team who played three good games against a good team.

Significant place in baseball history.

The real ace of the city?

It's Mike Lupica.

Now put on your typewriting shoes and write us a New York article, you wondrous dandy.

New York, New York
It's a helluva town
The Bronx is up
But the Battery's down

"You know, the new guys for the Yankees aren’t doing nearly as well as they were a couple of weeks ago."

There are no new guys on the Yankees, other than Didi Gregorius, who is doing better than he was a couple of weeks ago. Like, now he has been upgraded to an F instead of an F-minus.

I suppose a bunch of anonymous bullpen pitchers are also new, but who cares?


"And by the way?

One 16-strikeout performance from Michael Pineda didn’t turn him into the ace of the city."

Because there is no such thing as ace of the city.


Objectively speaking, now that you bring it up, Pineda has had a better 2015 quarter-season than Matt Harvey -- the supposed ace of the city you're implicitly referring to.

Pineda: 5-2, 3.59 era, 57.2 ip, 5 hrs, 59 k, 4 bb.

Harvey: 5-2, 2.91 era, 58.2 ip, 6 hrs, 60 k, 10 bb.

Pineda has the disadvantage of home games at Yankee Stadium, pitching to a designated hitter, and horrible defensive support.

Am I right or wrong?


I caught a bit of the Mets game yesterday and I saw Harvey walk the bases loaded. Cervelli was the batter.

The next batter was A.J. Burnett and I changed the channel. How can NL fans deal with this garbage game after game?

Turns out, Burnett had a sac fly and the next batter doubled in a couple of runs.

But anytime a pitcher strikes out another pitcher, that stat should be stricken from the record.


"The bottom line for baseball New York right now? 

We’re not riding quite as high around here as we were a few weeks ago."

First of all, don't say "we."

It suggests a collegiality and rapport that simply doesn't exist. You bridge and tunnel it back to Lawn Guy Land and act like you're raving at after parties in the Meat Packing District.

But even in the collapsed universe of New York baseball writers, don't say "we." You don't care about baseball, you couldn't name the Yankees' starting rotation, much less their current leader in OPS.

The Yankees have lost 9 out of 10, just gave up 25 runs in back-to-back games to the lamentable Rangers, Ellsbury and Tanaka are on the DL, and they are no longer in first place.

"Not riding quite as high around here as we were a few weeks ago." Thanks for the insight, sport.

The New Teixeira

ARod has 10 HRs and 22 RBIs.

I was thinking that 22 RBIs is kind of light for a guy with 10 HRs.

Turns out, 9 out of his 10 HRs are solo HRs. Some of them have certainly been clutch and memorable, but the goal is to drive in runs, not just drive in yourself.

His BA with RISP is .161. Two outs RISP, he's 1-for-10.

McCann has had a year and a quarter to adjust to New York.

The horror: 613 AB, 143 H, .233 BA, approximately .298 on-base%.


On a side note, according to baseball-reference.com, McCann's nicknames are "Heap" and "Fun Police."

The most important stat.

Gardner's strikeouts are way down.

Get well soon, Dillon Gee.

"Gee first felt the strain in the sixth inning of Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Washington and wanted to take the cautious route after fighting through a lat injury last year and missing almost two months. He will undergo an MRI today, and expects to return when he’s eligible to."

I could be wrong, of course, but I don't believe him.

I believe he has been pitching ineffectively and the Mets wanted to start Syndergaard instead.

This DL nonsense happens all the time in MLB.

NYY/SEA Data Check

• Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances: combined 33 1/3 innings with a 0.00 ERA for the first place Yankees.
• Robinson Cano: .691 OPS, 1 HR, 8 RBIs for the 12-17 Mariners.

Yankees off to a surprisingly good start.

Bill Madden picked the Yankees to win 79 games. Third place.

Six weeks into the season, guess what?

The Yankees are comfortably atop the AL East and should rumble to the AL East crown:

"Can anyone else win this division? Six weeks into the season there is little evidence of any of the other four teams having the right stuff — their only hope being sustained injuries to the Yankees’ key veteran operatives, such as the previous two seasons, equalizing things."

I see it as an overachieving team that is 3 games up and 5.5 games out of last.

There is no answer for Stephen Drew.

Aside from finding a time portal to the past and refusing to sign him in the first place, it's clear the Yankees made an awful decision. No sense in playing him. That is just throwing good money after bad.

I think I miss old-fashioned newspapers with editors and stuff.

''There's still a long way to go, but you can't feel any better than that,'' said Miller, who saw Ortiz win plenty of games as a Boston teammate from 2011-14. ''He's got a flare for the dramatic. That's been the most important part of his career. It's not how I drew it up and wanted to do it.''

Flair for the dramatic. Not flare.

It isn't Miller's fault, because he simply said the phrase, he didn't misspell it.

Yahoo is a big company ... every responsible person at yahoo signed off on this? Or is there simply zero review whatsoever?

New York Mets Data Check

Granderson batting average: .233.

Michael Cuddyer batting averagae: .231.

Throw in some power and some walks and their offensive output hasn't been totally useless so far this season. But maybe these numbers will dispel the weird notion that hitting coach Kevin Long will help Granderson and that Cuddyer will hit like he did in Coors Field.

I thought they might have paid him his $6 million just to shut him up, but also pointedly refuse to celebrate his achievements.

"Just when it looked like everyone was playing nice, getting along better than ever, and even celebrating with one another, along comes Saturday afternoon.

"It's a drama that refuses to end.

It's A-Rod. It's the New York Yankees. It's the Mayweather-Pacquiao of baseball.

Rodriguez hits the most historic home run Friday since Barry Bonds became the home-run king in 2007, tying Willie Mays with the 660th homer of his career, but the moment is now shrouded in controversy."

Now it's shrouded in controversy. The controversy started Saturday afternoon.


"The Yankees, who were supposed to hand over a $6 million marketing bonus to Rodriguez once he tied Mays, came out publicly for the first time Saturday, saying they refuse to pay it."

The Yankees came out publicly, surprising zero people.


"The marketing dispute is the first wrinkle in this newly repaired relationship with the Yankees and Rodriguez, and although it won't boil over lawsuits, surely it will lead to further distrust."

ARod is playing pretty well so far.

That doesn't mean the relationship is repaired.

It just means ARod is playing pretty well one month into the season.