Awesome Color Video From 1956

This is color footage of a game from August 4th, 1956 that was recently posted on Youtube. It was a game between the Yankees and Tigers, if you like vintage baseball clips you'll love this video.

Here's the box score of the game.

Game 54: Yanks @ Twins

Regular Season Game 54
Yankees (26-27) @ Twins (28-25)
Metrodome - Minneapolis, MN
Game Time: 8:10 p.m
TV: MY9 -MLB.TV | Radio: WCBS 880

Here are the lineups:

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Hideki Matsui LF
Jason Giambi DH
Shelley Duncan 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jose Molina C
Melky Cabrera CF

Mike Mussina RHP (7-4, 4.39 ERA)

TWINS
Carlos Gomez CF
Alexi Casilia 2B
Joe Mauer C
Justin Morneau 1B
Michael Cuddyer RF
Jason Kubel DH
Delmon Young LF
Mike Lamb 3B
Brendan Harris 3B

LHP Glenn Perkins LHP (2-1, 2.77 ERA)

Yanks vs. Perkins

The Yanks have never faced Perkins.

Twins vs. Mussina

	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
M. Lamb	16	6	1	0	1	3	0	1	.375	.375	.625	1.000
M. Cuddyer	13	2	1	0	0	1	0	2	.154	.154	.231	.385
J. Morneau	11	4	2	0	0	1	1	1	.364	.417	.545	.962
D. Young	11	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	.182	.250	.182	.432
M. Redmond	8	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.250	.250	.375	.625
C. Monroe	8	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	.250	.250	.250	.500
J. Kubel	7	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	.143	.143	.571	.714
J. Mauer	6	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000	.143	.000	.143
B. Harris	4	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	.250	.500	.500	1.000
A. Everett	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.667	.667	.667	1.333
H. Clark	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333	.333	.333	.667
N. Punto	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	.333	.000	.333
A. Casilla	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	1.000	1.000	2.000
Totals	93	24	6	0	2	8	6	13	.258	.303	.387	.690

Stick around and discuss the game

in the comments section.

Joba to Start Tuesday

From the NY Post:

Joe Girardi said Joba Chamberlain will make his debut in the Yankees New York Yankees starting rotation Tuesday night against the Blue Jays at the Stadium.

"There were a ton of factors that went into it," Girardi said of the decision. "We like the way our rotation sets up that way."

Girardi said Chamberlain will throw 65-70 pitches in his start, and that should take him somewhere from four to six innings.

"We're just expecting him to compete," Girardi said.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting my tickets for Tuesday's game as we speak.

Minnesota Writer Jim Souhan is Talkin' Trash

Jim Souhan is a sports writer for the Star Tribute over in Minnesota, and he didn't have many (any) nice things to say about our Yankees in today's paper in an article titled Last-place Yankees showing their age.

The Yankees come to town today, sweeping in with all the grandeur of an off-Broadway show playing one of the Twin Cities' nicer bowling alleys.

This graying 2008 edition is the reincarnation of the mid-'70s Yankees of Horace Clarke and the early '90s Yankees of Danny Tartabull, who represented poorly-spent riches and who played with such lifelessness that the East Coast media elite was fooled into thinking that the entire sport was dying, when in fact it was only Yankee Pride going dormant.

Is he talking about when attendance was down all across the league (besides maybe Minnesota cause they were a good team then) and it took Cal Ripken's streak, and the '98 HR chase to bring the fans back?

I guess that was all made up by the "East Coast media elite."

Joe Torre's calm is gone, replaced by Joe Girardi, last seen playing egomaniac in Florida. George Steinbrenner is gone, replaced by his excitable son, Hankerin' Hank, who declared Red Sox Nation fraudulent even as his Rome burns.

Girardi playing egomaniac in Florida? Was that the year he won the NL Manager of the year?

The real problem for these last-place Yankees is who remains. Only four players on the roster have won World Series titles with the Yankees -- Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, the injured Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte. The rest are a testament to what happens when you substitute Geritol for steroids in your daily regimen.

A couple of the rest that Souhan speaks of:

Hideki Matsui leads the AL with a .330 batting average.

Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano (who is just 25 yr old) have turned their season's around since their bad Aprils. Giambi is hitting .339 with 6 HR and 14 RBI in May, and Cano is hitting .302 with 2 HR, 12 RBI, and 7 doubles in May.

Bobby Abreu is leading the team in RBI.

Johnny Damon has his average back up to .288.

Melky Cabrera may not be hitting right now, but he's just 23 years old and certainly not using Geritol.

Oh, and that A-Rod fellow, who still happens to be pretty good.

He ignores how many of the older/overpaid players contracts run out after this year and next, and he also completely ignores the Yankees farm system, which happens to be very good. But what would someone from a small market, with a team that has relied so heavily on homegrown talent know about the minor leagues?

With an old, overpaid roster that will become only more ancient and overpaid each year, the Yankees should be trying to win this year. And while Santana is helping keep the struggling team in Queens afloat, the Yankees have suffered while trying to force-feed Kennedy and Hughes into the starting rotation.

Does this idiot know the Mets are just a half game better than the Yankees?

He also calls Carlos Gomez, "one of the most electrifying players in Twins history." And that instead of electrifying, the Yankees are more "stultifying."

Gomez has been very good so far, but slow down. What happens if he hits .220 the rest of the way? You should wait a while before anointing someone the most/best/greatest anything. And maybe you should also wait a while before burying the Yankees, or was last year too long ago for you to remember?

Yanks @ Twins Series Preview

Yankees - Twins
@ The Metrodome
(4 games)

Last season the Yankees took five of the seven games between the two teams, and this is the first time these two teams will meet this season.

The Twins have been surprising some people so far this year, they enter this weekend series with a 28 and 25 record, and are just two games behind the first place White Sox -another surprise - in the AL Central. They've also won four straight, and five out of six.

As we all know the Yankees haven't been able to find their groove yet as a team. Last week they won five in a row only to lose the next two to Baltimore. They were able to salvage the final game of that series though, and with that victory have won six of their last eight. But they remain in last place in the AL East and under .500 with a 26-27 record.

MATCHUPS

Game 1 - Tonight @ 8:10 p.m.
TV: MY9, Radio: WCBS 880
Mike Mussina RHP (7-4, 4.39) vs. Glen Perkins LHP (2-1, 2.77)

Game 2 - Tomorrow @ 7:10 p.m.
TV: YES, Radio: WCBS 880
Chien-Ming Wang RHP (6-2, 3.82) vs. Boof Bonser RHP (2-6, 6.16)

Game 3 - Sunday @ 2:10 p.m.
TV: YES, Radio: WCBS 880
Darrell Rasner RHP (3-1, 1.80) vs. Nick Blackburn RHP (4-3, 3.39)

Game 4 - Monday @ 7:05 p.m.
TV: YES, ESPN, Radio: WCBS 880
Andy Pettitte LHP (5-5, 4.11) vs. Livan Hernandez RHP (6-2, 4.60)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Yankees - Alex Rodriguez: A-Rod is currently hitting .276 with 7 HR, and 17 RBI, but will look to improve on that when he faces Twins' pitching this weekend. Not because Twins' pitching is bad, but because he has always killed the Twins (A-Rod has killed a lot of teams). In 105 games he's hitting .327 with 38 HR, 92 RBI and an OPS of 1.055. But his number in Minnesota are even better, in 48 games at the Metrodome A-Rod is hitting .371 with 19 HR, 45 RBI and a 1.180 OPS.

A-Rod vs. Perkins: NR
A-Rod vs. Bosner: .200 (1-for-5) 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1.133 OPS
A-Rod vs. Blackburn: NR
A-Rod vs. Hernandez: .615 (8-for-13), 2 HR, 8 RBI, 1.974 OPS

Twins - Justin Morneau: The first baseman is currently leading the Twins in HRs (9) and RBI (40), He's also hit .305 and has an OPS of .871. In his career he has also done well against the Yanks, in 23 games he's hit .296 with 4 HR, 17 RBI and an OPS of .876.

Morneau vs. Mussina: .364 (4-for-11), 1 RBI, .962 OPS
Morneau vs. Wang: .667 (4-for-6), 1.500 OPS
Morneau vs. Rasner: 0-for-2
Morneau vs. Pettitte: 0-for-2

INJURY REPORT

Yankees:
- Jorge Posada is still on the DL with a shoulder injury. He was sent down to Tampa and has began a throwing routine, and has played several extended spring training games. He could be back by the end of next week.
- Ian Kennedy is on the 15-day DL with with a strained right lat muscle and bursitis under the right shoulder blade.
- Phil Hughes is out until at least July with a stress fracture of the rib.
- Brian Bruney might miss the rest of the season with an injured foot.
- Jonathan Albaladejo is on the 15-day DL with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament and a strained posterior capsule in his elbow.

Twins:
- Pat Neshak is on the 60-day DL with an elbow injury.
- Scott Baker is on the 15-day DL, retroactive to May 4, with a groin injury.
- Adam Everett is also on the 15-day DL.
- Nick Punto on is the 15-day DL with a hamstring injury. He could be activated on Saturday

Hank On Joba's Move to the Rotation

From George King:

"That's the smart move for us in the long run and for this year," Steinbrenner told The Post. "We can't put it off. That's what the Red Sox did. They tried it with [Jonathan] Papelbon, but they have [Clay] Buchholz and [Jon] Lester.They don't have Buchholz and Lester in the bullpen. You can't waste talent like that.

"You have to do what is right. . . . This isn't just about this year. Everything flows from starting pitching. Chamberlain wasn't doing us any good sitting in the bullpen with [Mariano] Rivera and we were down, 7-2, in the seventh inning."

I think Joba needs to be in the rotation, I've said it many times. So it's pretty obvious that I agree with what Hank is saying here.

The article also mentioned that the Yankees remain undecided about whether Joba will start or relieve in his next appearance.

Now for some more from Hank about the bullpen:

"The bullpen will have to hold up its end. If there is a problem, and I don't think there will be a problem, we will fix it," Steinbrenner said.

J.B. Cox and Mark Melancon should fix it.

Also in the article were several quotes from some scouts:

"I didn't see all the pitches that I saw in the minor leagues," said a scout who watched Chamberlain in Baltimore. "I didn't see the change-up, but what he has is plenty good enough. His slider and fastball are the top two pitches in the league. It is different, going one or two innings as opposed to five or six because he is going to have to use his off-speed stuff, but his stuff is front of the rotation stuff."

Another scout in Baltimore agrees with Steinbrenner.

"I think he was rotting in the bullpen," the scout said. "The only question is will he hold up, but his [stuff] is plenty. A lot of teams made a mistake not drafting him."

High praise from the experts. I don't know is his fastball and slider are really the "top two pitches in the league," but they're damn good, and when you mix in the curve and change that's a lethal combination.

Tabata Removed For Disciplinary Reasons

From John Nalbone:

Tabata was expelled from the dugout and was seen sitting in front of his locker as the Fisher Cats grabbed a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning on a two-run home run by Aaron Mathews.

Manager Tony Franklin refused to address the specifics as to why the 19-year-old Tabata was pulled and sent back to the clubhouse.

"We had an in-house issue we needed to deal with. Don't ask me what it is because I'm not telling you,'' a visibly irritated Franklin said. "We're very pleased with the way he is playing. He is playing hard. But there are certain standards that need to be met within this organization and with this team, and when those standards are not met we take action. It's our job to make sure these players know what they are supposed to do at all times out there.''

Franklin did not rule out further discipline for Tabata, who was 0-for-2 before being removed.

"We'll decide on that later,'' Franklin said. "We'll bring him in, talk to him and explain what we want to see him do and how we'd like to see him go about it.''

Here's what Mike Ashmore of Thunder Thoughts had to say about the incident:

Have heard from two separate sources now that Jose Tabata’s benching was directly related to a play in which Austin Jackson dove for a fly ball, and Tabata failed to back him up as the ball rolled past Jackson and the runner got all the way to third.

This is the second time this has happened this season, the first time he was suspended for leaving a game without permission following a strike out, and now this.

The kid needs to get his act together, he can't continue to hurt himself by being an idiot on or off the field. Having a ton of talent (which he does) is great, but if you don't have your head screwed on right you could end up wasting it.

5/29 Minor League Report

================

We are lucky enough to have a SWB report from BigGuy tonight. He won't be doing these all the time by when he does I will post them. Thank BG for the great contributions.

(AAA) Scranton/WB (34-21) lost to Pawtucket 5-2: Box Score - Recap

PITCHING; Dan McCuthen made his 2nd AAA start and picked up the loss (0-2) He went 4.2 innings before being ejected for throwing 2 pitches behind Jeff Bailey. Yankee batters were hit by pitch 5 times in this series. McCutchen gave up 3 runs in 4.2 innings on 3 hits. He had 4 strikeouts and 1 walk. The Red Sox took a 1 run lead in the 2nd on a solo homer by Chris Carter giving them a 1-0 lead. ... In the 3rd they picked up 2 more runs ona a walk and 2-run homer by Jeff Bailey.. McCutchen was ejected in the 5th and left trailing 3-2. McCutchen had 5 groundouts and 5 flyouts. He threw 66 pitches, 44 of them for strikes.

Steven White relieved McCutchen in the 5th inning and got the final out. He pitched scoreless 6th & 7th innings. In the 8th he gave up a solo homer to Bailey, his 2nd of the game and 4th of the series. ... David Robertson got the final 2 outs of the 8th inning, giving up 1 walk and getting a strikeout.

OFFENSE: Justin Masterson started for Pawtucket. He beat the KC Royals last week while up with Boston. ... The Yanks scored 1 run in the 3rd inning when Justin Christian scored on a wild pitch after he singled and moved up to 3rd on a sac bunt by Chris Stewart and a groundout. That tied the score at 1-1 at the time. ... In the 4th Jason Lane was HBP moved up to 2nd on an error and scored on a wild pitch making the score 3-2 at the time.

NOTES: The teams split a 4 game series. SWB holds onto a 1 game lead of 1st place with a 34-21 record. ... SWB moves on to Rochester for a 4 game series. Friday Jeff Marquez starts. Saturday Jeff Karstens goes against Francisco Liriano.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Scranton/WB	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0		2	6	0
Pawtucket	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	2	X		5	5	1

W: J. Masterson (1-0, 1.50); L: D. McCutchen (0-2, 4.91); SV: C. Smith (5)
HR: PAW: J. Bailey 2 (16), C. Carter (8).

Scranton/WB:
Brett Gardner: 1-for-3
Jason Lane: 0-for-3, R, SB
Ben Broussard: 1-for-4
Cody Ransom: 0-for-2, 2 BB
Greg Porter: 2-for-4, 2B
Justin Christian: 1-for-4, R
Bernie Castro: 1-for-3
Daniel McCutchen: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (4.91 ERA)
David Robertson: .2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K (2.63 ERA)

(AA) Trenton (34-18) beat New Hampshire 7-4: Box Score - Recap

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
New Hampshire	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0		4	6	2
Trenton	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	4	X		7	14	2

W: M. Gardner (3-3, 3.14); L: B. Camardese (0-1, 22.50)
HR: NHM: A. Mathews (3). TRE: C. Curtis (4).

Trenton:
Ramiro Pena: 1-for-4, R
Austin Jackson: 1-for-4, BB, R, SB
Colin Curtis: 3-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
Edwar Gonzalez: 2-for-4, 2B, BB
Cody Ehlers: 1-for-2, 2B, 2 BB, 3 RBI
Jose Tabata: 0-for-2
P. J. Pilittere: 1-for-4, R
Kevin Russo: 3-for-4, R, 3B, RBI
Reegie Corona: 2-for-4, R, RBI, SB
George Kontos: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (3.21 ERA)

(High A) Tampa (31-22) beat Lakeland 5-4: Box Score - Recap

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Tampa	0	0	1	0	1	2	0	0	1		5	8	2
Lakeland	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	0		4	8	2

W: J. Valdez (6-2, 2.36); L: N. Martin (1-1, 4.95); SV: J. Schmidt (3)
HR: LAK: C. Iorg (6).

Tampa:

Damon Sublett: 0-for-0, BB
James Cooper: 0-for-4, R
Andres Perez: 1-for-4, 2B, RBI, R
Kyle Anson: 0-for-3, BB
Ben Blumenthal: 2-for-4, 2 2B, R
Josue Calzado: 0-for-0, SB, R
Kevin Smith: 3-for-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI
Tim Battle: 2-for-3, RBI, BB, SB
Grant Duff: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (2.18 ERA)

(Low A) Charleston (34-19) beat Hickory 2-1: Box Score - Recap

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Hickory	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	7	1
Charleston	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	X		2	7	0

W: N. Castillo (5-2, 3.39); L: B. Lincoln (2-1, 2.25); SV: J. Ortiz (15)
HR: CHA: A. Almonte (5), J. Snyder (3).

Charleston:
Abraham Almonte: 1-for-3, HR, R, RBI
Justin Snyder: 2-for-4, HR, R, RBI
Brandon Laird: 1-for-3, BB
Jesus Montero: 1-for-4, 2B
Austin Romine: 0-for-3
Braedyn Pruitt: 1-for-3
Carmen Angelini: 1-for-3, SB