In case you weren’t aware: Just across the river in Newark there is an independent league team called the Bears (a legacy name taken from the AAA teams that played in the city).

It’s a very, very easy trip to Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium from New York. Hop on an NJ Transit train to Newark Broad Street and the park is literally across the street. The street wasn’t so easy to cross thanks to confusing stoplights that didn’t change but we made it there in one piece. Our train ride there was slower than usual because of congestion on the tracks (according to the conductor) and it still only took about half an hour to get there.

The park itself is pretty nice, not mindblowing but I really do love brick built parks so I was charmed by the outside appearance of the stadium right away.

Atlantic League baseball isn’t really the best around, it might not even be as good as AAA. But it is a good place to see some people you forgot existed who put some time in at the MLB level. The Bears most notably have Scott Spezio playing for them this year, which I was taken aback by because I thought he was in jail after his last DUI brohaha. Other members of the team this year include Nook Logan, JR House and Armando Benitez (boooooo). Yankees fans may recognize Chris Malec as well, who is keeping his dreams alive and all that.

There’s really a dearth of pitching at this level, which isn’t shocking. The game wound up running much longer than we expected and the final score was 16-5 (I might be wrong because it’s off the top of my head).

It was “Pasta in the Park Night” and we got a free small bowl of pasta with Prego sauce or whatever to kick off the game. While it was like your typical lazy home dinner, it wasn’t very filling so we hit the concessions area. The prices are about what you expect at a non-MLB park ($3 for a hot dog, $3.50 for french fries and so on), and while the selection wasn’t amazing it was good enough and we were happy with our ballpark dogs and fries. The park staff was very friendly and I felt extremely welcome there.

The park itself was pretty empty, but I’m told this is normal. I purchased the tickets in advance, and I really liked the ticketing system (you pick out your exact seats from the inventory) I’d recommend just walking up to the box office and saving the fees.

Even though the quality of the actual baseball wasn’t the greatest–and it never is unless you’re at Yankees-Rays games or something–we had a great time. My boyfriend and I enjoy just going to baseball games more than the average fan but we’re definitely planning on going again. Easy to get to, cheap in all respects and the opportunity to make angry faces at Armando Benitez make for a good night out. Even if it is in Newark.

For 8 seasons, Kevin Appier was a really good pitcher for the Royals. How good? Take a look:

He finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1990 (behind Sandy Alomar and True Yankee Hero Kevin Maas) and followed it up with 7 more awesome years. He only finished in the top 5 of Cy Young voting once in 1993 which went down like this:

So he probably should have gotten more than, you know, one 1st place vote but wins are often blinding to the powers that be. 1993 is also notable for being the year that Randy Johnson stopped walking so many dudes and became frightening.

So what happened after 1997? A sad thing that derails many pitchers: Major arm surgery. He had surgery to repair a torn labrum in early 1998 and was never really the same, although he did pull two more good years together. Here

It’s funny because when you compare the 2009 Nationals roster to the 1962 Mets or 2003 Tigers you are struck by how not terrible it is in comparison. Three genuinely good players? That’s more than those teams had combined.

Adam Dunn destroys right-handed pitching and hates baseballs so much he hits them very long distances away from where he’s standing. Ryan Zimmerman is finally putting it all together. Nick Johnson (sniff sniff) is not hurt right now and hitting the way you expect him to when he’s healthy, minus a bit of power.

The rest of the offense is mediocre, sure. But in a vacuum it’s hard to see how they are playing less than .300 ball just looking at that. The answer is they have worse pitching than even the Baltimore Orioles. Here are the numbers for every pitcher they’ve run out there this year:

Ouch. I mean, yeah the Yankees raw numbers don’t look all that much better at first glance but they’ve been improving and there’s room for more improvement. The Nationals rotation isn’t even completely horrible. John Lannan is what he is–averageish–and Jordan Zimmermann is a guy who is going to improve. Shairon Martis has a bit of room for improvement, and if Scott Olsen is ever not hurt he should put up at least average numbers.

What we have here is a completely terrible bullpen. It had Kip Wells in it before he got hurt and they intentionally added Mike MacDougal. Ron Villone looks good on the surface but then you look past the ERA and see that he’s walked more than he’s struck out.  Oh and you remember that he’s Ron Villone and wince with the memories of him taking the mound for the Yankees.

I mean, they just signed Horacio Ramirez to improve it and he probably will. Yes, it’s a minor league deal but I’m sure he’ll be up soon enough.

The patched together pitching staff is not helped out at all by the defense, of course. Fangraphs even wrote up a post about it–”The Nationals are Poor at Run Prevention” (summary: It’s been ugly, but some players are under performing). The pitchers will find some relief in this series, though, since Adam Dunn is indubitably going to be given DH duties (unless Manny Acta wants to go out with a bang and DH Corey Patterson or something–I would not complain).

So, while the Yankees should theoretically destroy the Nationals there is some concern about how the pitching staff will perform. Here are the match-ups:

Tuesday, June 16th: Shairon Martis (RHP) vs CC Sabathia (LHP)
CC looked pretty awesome for most of his last start, and the only reason he didn’t have a real quality start was because he was left in to hang when he started to look cooked (this is a recurring theme that will hopefully fix itself as the bullpen continues to improve). He is left-handed which gives him an advantage over the Adam Dunns of the world, but if he leaves something up it’s going to the moon (ask Johan Santana). Sharion Martis has an okay fastball with solid secondary offerings. He started 5-0 which excited some people, but he’s pretty much an average guy.

Wednesday, June 17th: John Lannan (LHP) vs Chien-Ming Wang (RHP)
God help us all if Wang leaves anything up. That is all.

Thursday, June 18th: Craig Stammen (RHP) vs Joba Chamberlain (RHP)
I’ve got no insight on Stammen beyond his numbers, but I do know if the Joba who showed up on June 12th and May 26th shows up that it is not going to be a pretty game to watch.

Game 1: Look competent for most of the game, hit the Yankees pitching a lot and come back every time you’re down. Take the lead off of Mariano Rivera (with two outs!), then get two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Lose by dropping the easiest pop-up ever.

Mets Status: Heartbreakers

Game 2: Beat up on the starting pitching from the other team, stifle their hitting with a pitcher nobody has heard of before. Breeze through the game. Watch as Yankees fans wail and gnash their teeth in disgust.

Mets Status: Miracle Mets

Game 3: Put your best starter–one of the best in baseball–on the mound and watch in horror as he proceeds to put up his worst start ever.

Mets Status: The worst team money can buy

A series win after the disaster in Boston (again) was absolutely necessary for the Yankees, and I am overjoyed that they managed to pull it off thanks to Luis Castillo. Four walks is still too many by Burnett, but three wouldn’t be bad and the last one came with him looking a bit tired so I can forgive it. He looked good after looking terrible in his last few starts so a good outing is a good outing, period. In conclusion:

To commemorate the event, here are the screengrabs I took from Cleveland’s feed (make sure you click for the full size versions):

You can find some more screengrabs here after the jump.

]]> http://teamnerdrage.com/2009/06/12/coco-crisp-now-starring-in-the-birds/feed/ 0 http://teamnerdrage.com/2009/02/27/the-first-truly-awful-facial-hair-of-2009/ http://teamnerdrage.com/2009/02/27/the-first-truly-awful-facial-hair-of-2009/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:07:08 +0000 leokitty http://teamnerdrage.com/?p=1247

Chad Gaudin, Billy Goat?

• It’s pretty dumb of the Angels, if it’s true. They are pretty much the only team that “needs” him. Maybe they’ll take a look at Manny and save Yankees fans from Randy Levine stepping in and signing him. On the other hand, the Angels could sign Jason Giambi for a one year deal until they can find something better to plug in. While he is said to be close to signing with the A’s, the Angels could with no doubt offer more money. Batting average and overrated first base fielding ability aside, their numbers are pretty similar.
• This might actually make it more likely that Teixeira will end up with the Red Sox. The bidders that we know are certain far are the Nationals, the Orioles and the Red Sox and Boston offered a deal for something like 8/180. If nobody comes up to offer that 10 year deal that Boras is looking for and he wants to play for a big name team right away, then Boston it is. Baltimore would likely become good over the course of his contract, but if you can’t get what you’re looking for other factors come into play.
• This may be a sign that teams are recognizing that while Teixeira is an elite MLB player (there is no doubt of this) he isn’t really worth the deal that you’d give someone like Alex Rodriguez or Albert Pujols if he hit the open market.

Finally, I found this paragraph in the article really funny because it shows you how the Yankees get tied to things when there isn’t any evidence they’re involved:

The Angels’ withdrawal would appear to narrow the field for the switch-hitting Teixeira to the Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles and, presumably, the Red Sox and New York Yankees. It is unknown if the Yankees have made an offer on Teixeira or if the Red Sox’s offer – believed to be in the neighborhood of $170 million over eight years – still stands.

Righthander Tom Gordon, who has not pitched since July because of an elbow injury, is expected to have surgery. The Phillies have a $4.5 million club option, with a $1 million buyout, on Gordon in 2009.

You may remember him as inspiring a Stephen King book as well being one of Joe Torre’s abuse targets in 2004 and 2005. The best thing he did for the team, however, was be a Type A free agent who signed elsewhere allowing the Yankees Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain to grab in the 2006 draft. Thank you, Tom.