Torre Hopes to Return for Official Closing Ceremony

According to USA Today, Joe Torre reiterated the sentiments we all thought he still held, seeming pretty resentful of the Yankees and how they treated him last offseason regarding his playoff incentive laced one year deal. Don Mattingly and Larry Bowa also did not have very nice words to say about the parting in the same article. However, this isn't what the main theme of this post is. Joe Torre mentioned that he would like to attend the Yankees November 9th official Yankee Stadium closing ceremony at the Stadium. He will be in town two days before that on the 7th for a 1998 Yankees reunion for his Safe at Home Foundation.

I would like to go, says Torre, who plans to get a couple of seats from the stadium. It would be nice to say good-bye.

I'll always think of '96 when we won our first one. I reminisce about 9/11. We didn't win the World Series that year (2001), but those games at Yankee Stadium were so memorable.

I came from a very special place. It's tough to compare Yankee Stadium to anything else. Hopefully, we can create some new memories here (In Los Angeles).

This would be a nice redeeming gesture by the Yankees, after being very distasteful and not even giving Torre a mention at the Yankees final game at the Stadium. Joe Torre was an integral part of one of the Yankees dynasties, and easily deserved a mention in the closing ceremony. However, he did not receive a mention in a tactless move in my opinion. Hopefully this time around the Yankees do the right thing.

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Ponson, "Dazzles" However Yankees Fizzle

Sidney Ponson surprised me, in a good way. Going six innings and yielding but one run, while striking out five, he gave the Yankees a chance to win the last game of the year. Granted it was against the Red Sox Z squad, but impressed me nonetheless. The ample Aruban moved his way through the hitters with a relative ease. No walks is unheard from out of Ponson. Not a bad final start for the Yankees.

Yankees came up short however, with the amazingly bad Rasner letting up two to make it 3-1. Yankees quickly tied it however with a top of the 9th rally against the pitcher who is only notable for knocking off Hank Aaron for alphabetical order by last name, David Aardsma. Robinson Cano tied it up, ending his season on a 11 game hitting streak, good to see he finally woke up at the tail end of the season...

Anyway to wrap the game up we go to the 10th and Jose Veras loses the game on a single ending the season officially, and capping what was a terrible ending to what was a promising start to Veras' season. Both he and Edwar Ramirez really went death spiral at the end of the year. Yankees end the season at 89-73, same record as their crosstown, "rivals" the Mets, who also failed to make the playoffs. All things considered with injuries the Yankees didn't do too badly. However the AL East is so tough it's really difficult to make the playoffs. Expect the same thing next year...hopefully they pull it out in 2009.

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Congratulations Mike Mussina

On his 20th win, first time ever for him! He's the oldest player to win 20 games for the first time ever. That's a pretty nice accomplishment and will add to his Hall of Fame resume. That brings Mike Mussina to 270 wins on his career with both Baltimore and the Yankees. It'd be very nice to see Mike in Cooperstown. I still think he needs to get closer to 300 wins in order to really solidify his Hall of Fame status. If not actually getting to 300 wins. I gather he'll need about three more seasons being conservative to get to 300. I really don't think Mike wants to pitch three more seasons. Maybe he'll hang around a year or two more with one more contract but I don't think he'll be looking for a three year deal. He can also retire, a definite possibility. Good luck Mike, you had a good Yankees career. We all appreciate it, whatever you decide to do.

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Mariano Rivera Injury?

It looked as if the season was going to end against Boston with little more bad news. Until the news that Mariano Rivera would be getting an MRI on his shoulder after pitching in four games between September 19th and the 23rd. The Yankees were officially eliminated on the day of his last appearance when he recorded the save against the Blue Jays. With the Red Sox win over the Cleveland Indians, the Yankees season ended, not with a bang, but with a whimper.

What really gets to me, however, is the disconnect between Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi, which is what seems to have been the case here. Whereas Cashman had said that Mariano's shoulder was the specific issue, Girardi told reporters it was nothing more than a, "cranky body." Not sure what that really means, but I digress. This quip from Girardi led to a rather tense media session with reporters. The media really pressed Girardi for information on Rivera, and Girardi took the offensive saying that he would never pitch him if there was even a possibility he could hurt him.

This brings me to my take. Joe Girardi got a little defensive when the media really tried to get a real answer on Rivera's condition. I'm not sure why Girardi is surprised by this. One, it's their job to get confirmation on injuries such as this, and it would make sense that if Cashman and Girardi had said the same thing, that it could be reasonably certain Rivera was going for the MRI, which we now know. Second, Girardi's past, even just with the Yankees, in reporting player injuries, has been shaky. It has been several times now where he has said a player will be fine or it's just a little this-or-that and the player ends up hurt for a significant amount of time. That's where I see the mistrust from the media coming from, and I can understand that. Here's to praying that this time it's nothing more than a, "cranky body" for real.

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