The all 2002-2008 Yankees pitching staff: The worst pitchers of the drought years

Torre catches some sleep while
watching the 2002-2008 Yanks.

This is part two of a two part series, looking back on the drought years of 2002-2008. Today we look at the pitchers that the Yanks sent to the mound during eight year drought. If you want to see the entire team, check out yesterdays post. 

The Yankees were always spenders, but after the 2004 collapse against the Boston Red Sox, the Yanks went crazy signing Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano, and then trading for Randy Johnson. All three of those players are of the list, lets see who else is.

Starting rotation:

Randy Johnson- The Randy Johnson era got off to a bad start when he pushed a camera man on his way to get his physical. It never got much better, he was always grumpy with reporters and refused to pitch to Jorge Posada. In all fairness the season before Johnson was insane out in Arizona and Yankee fans expected much of the same in 2005, but the league change was too much too handle. In 2006 Johnson was down right awful, with an ERA over five, but thanks to the bombers offense he still ended up with 17 wins.

Jaret Wright- I hated this signing from the start, Wright had always been injury prone, but in 2004 he went to the Braves and had a 15 win season. The Yankees foolishly jumped to sign Wright, a move that looked even worse when after Wright got hurt not even two months into the season. Wright would return to pitch in September, but was left off the postseason roster. In 2006 Wright was better but only threw 140 innings, never giving the Yankees depth in games. His Yankees career would end when the Yankees traded him for Chris Britton. Over two seasons Wright threw just under 200 innings.

Carl Pavano- Do I really need to explain myself on this one? Pavano is the poster child for this era of Yankee futility. It began with one of his first starts when he got hit in the head with a batted ball, it was down hill from their. The Yankees clubhouse hated his guts, thinking he was a wimp for not being able to pitch thru the injuries. He missed all of 2006 and lied to the Yankees once he crashed his car in Florida and broke a rib. He tried to make it back in 2007 and was named the opening day starter, but after two starts once again got hurt. In 2008 he made it back for just 7 starts, ending his Yankees career. In his four seasons in pinstripes he made just 26 starts but was paid close to $40 million during that time. Just pathetic..

Jeff Weaver- The Yanks got the worst of this deal, in 2002 the Tigers, A's and Yanks were involved in a 3 way trade. The Tigers got Jeremy Bonderman, the A's got Ted Lilly and the Yankees got Jeff Weaver. Looking at the trade the Yankees were the big losers in the deal. Weaver struggled through his tenure as a Yankee and often was seen sulking on the bench after a rough start. That was a major issue of his was his body language always showed what type of day he was going to have. To this day Yankee fans wonder why Joe Torre left him in to face Alex Gonzalez in the 2003 World Series. Weaver would eventually be shipped off for Kevin Brown, another guy of this list.

Jose Contreras- The best part of Contreras in pinstripes was that the Yankees were renamed "the evil empire". Contreras struggled in 2003, and then began to pitch better in 2004 but was traded for Estaban Loiza. Sadly Loiza was awful while Contreras had a nice stretch over the next few seasons.

Kevin Brown- Last season the Yankee fans booed Javier Vazquez for his part in the 2004 collapse. I never really bought into that. The man I blame is Kevin Brown, he was awful during that game and his entire Yankee career. Another surly guy in the clubhouse, Brown began the 2004 season off hot but soon would spend time on the DL with an intestinal parasite. Once he came back he punched a wall like an idiot with his pitching hand. Then in 2005 he hurt his back and was never heard from again. All I can say is good riddance.

If you think the Yankees starting rotation was bad, the bullpen was not much better.

Bullpen:

Kei Igawa- Someone needs to be the long man in this bullpen. I must admit I feel bad putting Igawa on this list after the disaster in Japan, but he pitched so poor while he was here. The best part of Igawa's stint was when he came in from the bullpen in 2007 and pitched well against the Red Sox. Other then that he has spent much of the last three seasons in Scranton.

Latroy Hawkins- You steal Paul O'Neill's number expect to be booed. That's what happened in 2008 for Hawkins. Hawkins stunk and had to switch his number, but was shipped out to Houston before he was able to turn his season around. So much for being the set up guy for Mo.

Felix Rodriguez- This one might not be completely fair. Rodriguez did not come over with high expectations but got hurt in the strangest way in 2005, hurting his knee while slipping in the shower. He was never heard from again, no really he was never heard or seen.

Kyle Farnsworth- When Farnsy came into the game it was a guarantee he would give up at least one run. He never gained the trust of Joe Torre in his first two years, sadly my best Yankee memory was when he almost gave up a homer to Manny Ramirez but Melky Cabrera was able to rob him.

Steve Karsay- Who could deny a New York kid? Well the Yanks signed him to an insane four year contract prior to the 2002 season. In 2002 Karsay did a great job, but once again was over worked. Karsay would miss the entire 2003 season needing Tommy John surgery, he would make a few appearances in 2004 and 2005 before being released.

Paul Quantrill- QuanGorMo was the three headed monster in the first half of the 2004 season. But Quantrill fell of the tracks in the second half of 2004, probably from over use. In 2005 the Yanks would finally cut him half way through the season. He was just that bad.

Felix Heredia- Heredia the horriable as I called him. Heredia wasn't that bad when the Yankees got him in 2003 pitching to a 1.20 ERA in 12 games. Heredia was always wild walking lots of guys and that caught up to him in 2004. He was so bad pitching to an ERA over six. The Yanks would trade him to the Mets (suckers!) after the 2004 season for Mike Stanton. Heredia would throw just 2.2 innings for the Mets before injuring his shoulder and testing positive for a steroid test.

Yankee Stadium Experiences : 9/6/10 Baltimore Orioles come to town on Labor Day

Welcome back to another edition of Yankee Stadium experiences, this time it was the Yankees facing the Baltimore Orioles on Labor Day.

For most Yankee games I attend I go with someone who drives to the Bronx. This time I went via public transportation (go green!) so my morning started with taking the Long Island Rail Road to Penn Station. From Penn Station, I took the A train to Columbus Circle then I hopped on the D train. The subway was a lot quicker then I had remembered from the last time I went.

Once I got to the stadium, the crowd outside of gate 6 was huge, lots of people were mulling about all around on Babe Ruth plaza. Instead I went to gate 8, their was no line at all and the security workers were just standing around chatting. I may have mentioned this before but gate 8 is always the quickest way into the stadium (also the quickest way to monument park).

Once inside I wondered around and went to gate 2, to check out the kiddie cafe cart. But instead I was surprised to see a make shift team store in its place. The store is selling former player tees and other shirts relating to 2009 events for $10. They also had pins and lanyards for $ 1 and hats ( sized 7 7/8 - 8 only) for $10. I purchased a pair of lanyards that hold tickets.

I was sitting in my usual bleacher seats, this year most of the games in my plan had been night games, I had forgotten how hot the sun is out there. After the first inning my guest and I headed for shade, so we found a place to stand on the field level. We stayed down on field level from the second inning till about the sixth inning. The entire time their was an entire section of empty bleacher cafe seats, the entire time the security guard kicked people out who sat their or even put down their food. I can understand doing that early in the game, but by the fifth you have to realize nobody is coming. Just another bad job by the Yanks security.

The game was pretty exciting even though I saw A.J Burnett pitch for what felt like the 100th time. The Yankees came back from a two run deficit but Burnett couldn't keep the birds down and they would take the lead. The Yanks bats were silenced by star relievers Jim Johnson and Koji Uehara (sarcasm referring to star) and the bombers lost the game 4-3.

The season is coming to an end and since my college starts back up tomorrow so I have sold off most of my remaining games, but my final game before hopefully the playoffs is against the Boston Red Sox.

Some pictures from the match up :

What happened to the good ol' program booth.

Kei Igawa as part of the $10 shirts

This ad I found funny for the Jets on the LIRR

Yankee Stadium Experience : August 9th 2010 Yankees vs Red Sox

It had been 3 years since I had attended a Yankees vs Red Sox game at the stadium. I have realized alot has changed since when I saw them play on a cold April 2007 night. The Yankees hadn't won a World Series since 2000, still played in the old Yankee Stadium and at the time Doug Mientkiewicz and Kei Igawa were part of the roster. For the Red Sox, Manny Ramirez was still loved for "Manny being Manny" , David Ortiz was still beating up on the bombers and Dice-K had just come over from Japan. Of all the things I listed the only thing that is still somewhat possible is Ortiz beating up on the Yanks and even that, we now find out was performance enhanced.

So about the stadium experience. In my last trip to the stadium, I wanted to grab a Lobel's steak sandwich but the line was way too long. This time with a 2:05 pm start time, and myself arriving at the stadium an hour and a half early, the line was reasonable. Its different how they do it at the small Lobel's stand in left field compared to all the other concessions in the stadium. You tell the cashier what you plan to order, pay them and they give u a receipt. You then move along, show your receipt to another worker and they grab your food and put it in a Lobel's bag, even if it is just one sandwich.

The sandwich runs $15, but compared to a $5 crappy hot dog it suddenly seems like a bargain. Part of me believes that after eating the sandwich that for only $15 it is a bargain. The meat was tender and juicy, and they piled a lot of it on the bun. So in case you don't get my point, next time your at the stadium and you got some extra cash to spend and don't mind spending some time on line, head to Lobel's. Trust me you will thank me once your mouth is in heaven.

While walking around before the first pitch I noticed that the Yankees have added one of those machines in which you put a penny into it along with a dollar and an imprint of your choice will come out on the penny. Maybe it has been there for a while and I hadn't noticed. Anyways if you would like to make a penny yourself , the machine is located outside the team store behind home plate.

Finally 20 minutes before first pitch, I ventured to my partial plan seats in section 235 of the bleachers. Lucky for me, I am the last row so a cement wall is behind me that i can use as a back rest. Last row or not it was not going to save me from the heat on this warm August day. I was surprised by how sparse the crowd leading up to first pitch, eventually the seats would fill in and the Yanks drew another crowd over 49,000.

Through the first few innings the crowd never really seemed into the game. Maybe it was because it was hot or it was a day game during the week, maybe the rowdy people had work, also maybe because for this Monday matinee I did not spot many Red Sox fans. Either way for a Yanks - Sox game it was very calm.

Here are some of my thoughts on the game while it was happening :

• Why in the world is Curtis Granderson playing against a tough lefty like Jon Lester
• Great, Lester is having trouble throwing strikes and we cant get a hit off this guy
• Um Yankees can you not get no hit by Lester here in the Bronx ?
• Alright now I'm getting annoyed. The worlds most annoying voice over guy is doing the Zales marquee message board and the Yankees still don't have a hit. I hope the Zales marquee guy gets laryngitis and had to miss the next 25 seasons.
• Marcus Thames almost saved the Yankees with a ball that hit off the top of the wall. Had the ball gone over it would have tied the game. At the time I wasn't too worried since the Yanks had no outs and I was feeling confident.
• Following strike outs from Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher to leave the bases loaded suddenly my confidence turns into frustration.
• Also it should be known Jorge Posada and the Yankees pitchers could not contain Jacoby Ellsbury on the base path.

When Jonathan Papelbon struck out Mark Teixiera ( who will miss the next game,due to his wife having a child) it meant that the Red Sox had come away with a 2-1 victory and a series split. As i mentioned earlier the game didn't really feel like a game against the Red Sox. Mostly because I didn't notice any fights in the stands and only once heard a "Boston Sucks" chant.

Following the game, it took forever to leave out of the 161st street parking garage, as my friend and I stood outside his car and chatted I took a few pictures from the top level. Certainly a nice view of Yankee Stadium.

In case you have not noticed the Yanks have lost the last four games that I have attended. I hope to change that trend next Wednesday August 18th when I head back to the Bronx to see Johnny Damon return. I will be sitting in my usual section 235 in the left field bleachers, should be interesting to see how the fans respond to Damon's return.

I leave you with some pictures from the game

The mess in the parking lot trying to leave.

The view from 235

Nobody cheering or standing as Phil Hughes had two strikes on a batter with two outs and runners on.

The crowd following Tex hitting a solo blast

Odd looking picture of Gate 2 following the game. It looks like the stadium is bending.

The gorgous Yankee Stadium following the bombers 2-1 loss against the Red Sox