With new stadiums, Mets and Yankees struggle
The New York Yankees and New York Mets have had a rough start to the season. Things are so bad for the Yankees, specifically, that even Andy Pettitte has struggled in spurts. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The baseball gods are punishing both the New York Mets and New York Yankees. They have good reason to: they have opened new stadiums this season.
Shea Stadium and Yankees Stadium were hallowed sanctuaries, boasting countless priceless memories. Yet, they no longer exist. Instead, the $850-million Citi Field and $1.6-billion new Yankees Stadium stand in their places. Deservedly, the baseball gods have succeeded in toying with the franchises because of their exorbitant spending on the new ballparks and willingness to tear down such memorable monuments.
The Mets are currently 9-10 and tied for fourth in the National League East. Recently, they won two out of three against the Washington Nationals and took the opener of their series with the Florida Marlins, but it doesn’t appear that consistent success is on the horizon. Their outfield is horrible defensively; the combined five errors committed by Daniel Murphy, Carlos Beltran, and Gary Sheffield do not begin to tell the story. On top of that, their pitching has been woeful and their offense stagnant. Johan Santana is the only sure thing in the rotation, with three wins and a .70 Earned Run Average. Aside from his pitching performances, the staff has nothing positive to boast. Oliver Perez, whom they signed to a regrettable 3-year, $36 million contract this past offseason, is a prime example of their ineffectiveness. Perez, who has a 1-2 record in four starts, has allowed a 20 earned runs in 19 innings pitched, while walking 15 batters and relinquishing 23 hits–good for a 9.31 ERA. John Maine has been similarly ineffective and has the exact record as Perez. His ERA is smaller, 5.40, but he needed six innings of one-hit, one-run ball to lower it to that level. This outing aside, the Mets rotation hasn’t given fans hope for a brighter future.
Shea was a hitter-friendly stadium; the likes of David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, and Beltran took advantage of the favorable dimensions, making for a dynamic offense and a very successful home team (up until September rolled around, of course). The same power hitters remain, but Citi Field is where homers go to die. The Mets lineup, in 10 home games, have clubbed just seven homers. This lack of power is cause for concern. Their pitchers aren’t going to keep them in games, so a consistent offense is vital at home.
The Yankees, meanwhile, have had the exact opposite problem: too many homers are hit. Balls have been flying out of the new stadium, especially to right field, where a stiff wind blows out, allowing ordinary flyouts to clear the fence. Though New York, with an underachieving 9-10 record, has benefited from this wind cycle–they have hit 14 homers at home, to the opponents 12–this has made their management sweat profusely. Counting the final two exhibition games, 25 homers were hit in a five-game span. It has been said that the stadium is configured such that their is a wind tunnel of sorts, funneling the ball into the seats with regularity. If it’s somewhat of a home run derby in April, what will it be like when the season wanes into the heat of summer, once the humidity level rises and temperature increases into the high-90s?
Though opposing hitters’ eyes light up once they look into the right-field bleachers, the Yankees pitchers are still serving up balls to be hit. CC Sabathia has allowed only one homer at home, but that’s been the only bright spot during the beginning of his debut season with the team.
According to his contract details, he has made $3.28 million so far during his five starts and only has one win to show for it. Like Perez and Maine, Sabathia has two losses and equally unexceptional statistics. He has a mediocre 4.73 ERA and, though he has thrown the most innings on the staff, he has allowed 17 runs and 14 walks in 32 innings pitched. Fans, brass, and coaches hope their ace rights his individual ship, but so far it’s been far from smooth sailing for the $180 million man. The rest of the rotation, with the exception of Andy Pettitte, has been as paltry: Chien Ming-Wang, a former two-time 19-game winner, is trying to figure out his mechanics after giving up an un-heard of 23 runs in only six innings over his three starts; the mismanaged Joba Chamberlain has an ERA under 4.00 but has been very inconsistent, the main reason why he’s yet to collect a win; A.J. Burnett pitched well in his first two starts, but has turned into the pitcher I hoped he would, as his ERA skyrocketed to 5.47 after the Boston Red Sox torched him to the tune of eight earned runs in an eventual 16-11 loss.
Both franchises are off to slow starts and currently showing no signs of life. The baseball gods are forcing them into a world of hurt. It’s a little thing called Karma.
First off, I haven’t been dodging you. If you haven’t noticed, there are actually a few other things going on in the world, other than the Yankees and the Red Sox.
Unlike Yankee Stadium, nobody ever considered Shea Stadium to be a sanctuary. It was a sanctuarry the same way Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, with its rats running all over the place, was considered a sanctuary.
It was considered a dump, even by Met fans. In fact the NY Post frquently refered to it as “Sewage Central” because it was not unfamiliar to have actual sewage in the concourses due to the frequent plumbing problems.
The Red Sox are exactly where I thought they would be. Granted I did not think that they would sweep the entire homestand, I thought they would lose 2 or even 3, but I also didn’t see them losing so many of the first 9.
The schedule set up to give the Red Sox needed momentum and they got what they needed.
However, I STILL do not think the Red Sox are a formatible team that merits fear, and I don’t put much stock in the 3 games up there. Not all wins are equal.
They stole the first game. Fine. You swing differently with two outs in the 9th when you are the tying run, and about 1% of the time you get lucky and make solid contact swinging harder than normal, it is like a hail mary pass, and about as sucessful.
The second game was a Yankee blow out until home plate umpire Joe West shrank the strike zone on AJ Burnett to be about 6 inches by 6 inches. If you remember the Red Sox rally was started off by walks, and there was one at bat with Jason Bay, not too long before the grand slam, where on a 1-2 count, West called 3 perfect curveballs that dropped into the zone belt high to be balls. Even the renound Yankee haters on the Fox broadcast couldn’t avoid pointing it out.
Why did West squeeze Burnett? Was it intitutional bias against the Yankees? While it does exist within MLB, I do not think it was that. Generally, Selig, in getting rid of the umpires union, has sought to implement the kind of institutional standards that the NBA has in its officiating.
Mind you, it would take at least 30 years for the MLB to get as bad as the NBA, but that is the way Selig wants to go, take care of the home team, because people buy tickets because they want to see the home team win, and take care of the networks, because in a 10-0 national broadcast, viewers change the dial, and advertisers who paid a premium price get screwed.
Who knows why West changed the strike zone in the middle of a game, but he clearly did, but I tend to believe that he had implicit, institutional pressure to carry the TV audience for FOX.
Burnett was hitting all of his pitches and mowing down the Red Sox on pace for a complete game. He did not lose command, instead West changed the strike zone. The game became easy for the Red Sox hitters because all they had to do then is wait for the ball to be placed right at their belt buckle, and if Burnett didn’t put it there, they drew a walk.
The Red Sox then won the 3rd game at home.
However, people are overstating the Red Sox sucesses and the Yankees failures.
All the Red Sox have done is win their home games. They have beaten weak teams that they are supposed to beat, and they have had the advantage of playing the Yankees and the Rays at home.
The Red Sox aren’t going anywhere if Papi does not hit, and it looks like he isn’t going to. This little surge in his average isn’t a positive development, it is because for the first time, he is actually TRYING to go the other way. This is a reflection of a tremendous amount of frustration, and basically represents that he is conceeding that he is not the home run hitter he was anymore. A .250 avg with 15 HRs isn’t going to cut it, and that is where Papi is headed.
It is only April and already his hip hurts so bad that Lowell cannot get down to cover routine ground balls. Sure he is hitting now, but he is already playing in pain, and how long will it be until the pain affects his swing like it is already affecting his defense.
Penny is looking more and more like the Penny of last year, and while Wakefield is pitching like his career is on the line since Oakland, how long is he going to be able to sustain that? Even Beckett has not been dominant.
I think the Red Sox have hit their high water mark, where unless they get Papi striaghtened out, or unless they add players, I don’t see them getting any further, and now they hit an unvavorable strech of schedule.
The Yankees, on the other hand, have played most of their games on the road, without their bast player, A-Rod, and honestly, despite the outcome, playing on the road and without their best player, and with the Red Sox having the advange of being able to better juggle their rotation to give them the advantage in pitching matchups, the Yankees still looked even to the Red Sox.
The Yankees still have a hole in the 7th inning, but contrary to what is written the Red Sox pen is not that formatible. While the Red Sox can argue that they have the best 3 man rotation, and it is only an arguement, they only have a 3 man rotation, and they STILL will have problems scoring runs like they did when they had Manny.
No matter which way you slice it, replacing Manny with Jason Bay is subtraction, there is simply no way around that, and the 162 game schedule will bear it out.
The Yankees still have to add A-Rod in the next 10 days.
Who are the Red Sox going to counter with, someone from Pawtucket?
Yes, I should be writing about more than just the Red Sox and Yankees. I want to, but for some reason I haven’t. I enjoy watching other teams, but because I am ridiculously biased towards Boston, I favor them too much. I need to show that I’m more than just a fan of the Red Sox and the rivalry. A fan of all aspects of baseball. I felt odd writing about the playoffs last year, about other teams, because that was the first I’d written about them. I didn’t have any other posts. I’m sure your tired of responding to Red Sox-Yankees articles, so I’ll be sure to broaden my field of view.
Despite the 11-game winning streak, there are still some question marks down the road. Beckett hasn’t pitched well, Dice-K’s trying to return, Penny sucks, Wakefield may wear down, Lowell as well. When will Drew and Ortiz get hurt? Will Ellsbury consistently play well. So many questions, even though they are right in the thick of the AL East.
The Yankees will be scary once Rodriguez comes back. Their lineup has struggled, so he’ll be an immediate boost of confidence.
You could devote your entire blog to Sox/Yanks, and it wouldn’t bother me. I can talk about the entire league, but as far as I am concerned there isn’t enough time in the day to talk about THE rivalry.
I think Cleveland is going to get off to a run.
It is way to early.
Let’s see if the SI cover jinx gets to Zach Grienkie.
He has a million dollar arm but a 10 cent head. Remember, two years ago he left the team boefore the end of the season because he wasn’t sure if he wanted to play baseball for a living.
I could see how this could actually be a negative distraction for him.
There are just some teams I feel strong about. For example, I really enjoyed writing about the Blazers win because I’ve covered them all season, but didn’t feel the same writing about the Bulls loss. I will write about more teams once summer comes around, but for now, with school and all, I’ll be sticking to what I really feel comfortable doing, and know I can do easily (by my standards).
You are certainly right that is is far too early to tell much of anything. I agree that Cleveland will be in the hunt for Central, given their play of late.
Speaking of early in the season, Grienke has pitched well, but a cover story after four starts? He’s a good pitcher, one of the best to start the season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he falters.
It is your blog, you should write whatever you want to write.
Until and unless someone chooses to pay you to do what you are doing, you are your own editor.
You write good copy, but text is a dying format. Sure people do read newspapers on the internet instead of hard copy, and there is the issue of editorial bias which some people cite, but that is not the reason why the printed word is dying, it is dying because most people are too lazy to read, never mind write.
People nowadays prefer the audio and/or video format for their news and opinion.
It is my opinion that you follow that trend.
All you have to do is go to either blogtalkradio.com or talkshoe.com and with a Skype account, you can have your own radio show.
All you do is paste a widget in the top corner of your page, and then you talk about the issues you have blogged on.
If you really want to get aggressive with it, you could promote through Twitter, MySpace and Facebook to try to draw an audience.
This season is just about done with, but for example, if next season you did a show immediately following each Blazer game, people would check in with you, and you really need only some preparation and six listeners to carry a 2 hour show.
Granted, it will not be easy to do the show on your own until then, but you can do it.
Also, with Pamela call recorder, you could, if you were able to kiss up to some local reporters who cover the team, or even other bloggers, do a 15 minute interview durring the afternoon, and then play it back as part of your evening webcast.
Generally, if you tout their columns enough on your webcast, and prominently link and feature their work, for example if on a travel day for the Blazers, a local print reporter writes a feature on LaMarcus Aldridge, you then write a piece countering his commentary and linking to his story, then have a 15 minute conversation, leading in with the published story and then covering other issues about the team.
If you are persistent enough, yet remain considerate, and let them know that you will do the call in at any time, be it 3pm or 3am, and you basically portray them to your audience as the expert on all things Blazers, you will find that they will be willing to give you at least 15 minutes a month, if not each week.
You could do the same thing with baseball, and do a show when the sunday night ESPN game is on.
However, the way you present it, that you are in Portland, and you love the Blazers, I suggest that you prepare this offseason, to dive in head first, and go about it in the context and frame of mind that you are a professional reporter covering the team, because that is what you will be, if you so resolve it to yourself.
I would however get a more appropriate domain, something with a indirect reference to the team or city in it, like Portlandhoops.com, or rosecityblazers.com, and just run with it.
Start with the draft, cover the team from a far in the Vegas summer league.
If you really want to be bold, and have a laptop, a digital camera, perhaps a digital recorder, and $250 to tide you over, actually drive out to vegas and stay at a Super 8, and cover the games.
If you really hustle it, and let your efforts be known to a few in the Blazers Media Ralations office, you would actually hav a very good chance of parlaying it into a media credential for next season.
Not every news reporter comes out of Columbia University, and not every sports reporter comes out of Syracuse, as about half of the ESPN news room does, you can do it.
Sure, alot of the regulars will openly laugh at you, like look at this dumb kid, but all you need is one person to like you, and you will be in.
I suggest you go for it.
Thanks for the advice. I will take it to heart, because a majority of what you have mentioned I would strongly consider doing. People do like video more, and I think that would be a great way to get my name out there. I can still write about something, but it’s more personal when it’s a webcast of sorts.
I will look into the websites you mention because they would be a great aside to my writing. I really want to be aggressive, and continue to excell with my blog, but I go to school here in Eugene, and my studies are currently very important, more so than writing on here. With that said, Summer is wide-open for me to get into action and do as you suggested: go to Summer League and cover the Blazers.
Though I like to cover other teams, and write such articles as I did on the Reds, clearly, as you can tell, my passion is writing about the Blazers and Red Sox. I wish wordpress would allow me to have two sites in one. So I could have a tab for each team, and write and webcast accordingly. I really should work exclusively this summer on my writing, and set up accounts on Blog Talk Radio and Talk Shoe, so I can really get a following.
What do I have to lose by going to the Blazers Media Department? Nothing. Not to gloat by any means, but I think I could do some really good things within that crowd.
But for now I’ll stick to what I’m currently doing, maybe change my url and such, because I really spend too much time on my laptop as it is, and don’t want to take away from my studies as much as I already have.
To be work really in-depth regarding the Blazers, I would have to move to Portland, which wouldn’t be conceivable considering I’m in my first year of college and plan on attending Oregon a year after next. Still, I will work with what insight you have given me, and be aggressive in pursuing a career in sports journalism.