IN A STUNNING TURN OF EVENTS, LITTLE LEAGUE TO BE COMMENDED FOR MOVING THE RIGHT WAY WITH ITS REVISED PITCH COUNT RULES

                                                                          Kallas Remarks by Steve Kallas

According to a source involved with Little League International, the Board of Directors of Little League International has voted to change the pitch-count rules for both the Little League regular season and the Williamsport tournament.

Since this column has always mainly been involved with focusing on the rules for 11-12 (and, now, with the age change, 13)-year-olds, the main group that plays in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, we will continue to focus on this age group. Apparently, according to the source and the text of the rule changes to be made public next week, pitchers under the age of 14 who pitch 66 or more pitches in a day (that would be 66-85 for Little League Majors pitchers) will now need four days of rest during the regular season AND during the tournament.

This is a massive change from the last two years.

In the past, Little League Majors pitchers (again, 11, 12 and 13-year-old pitchers) who threw between 61-85 pitches per day needed only three days of rest (less than pitchers like Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia, just to name two) between starts. Even worse, during the Little League Williamsport tournament, the days of rest were reduced to only two, which gave rise to 11 and 12-year olds potentially throwing up to 170 pitches in four days (more than Cliff or CC) and up to 255 in only seven days (more than all but the sturdiest pitchers in the major leagues).

All of these Little League pitch-count numbers should be viewed in the context of the recommendations made by Dr. James Andrews to U.S.A. Baseball and Little League a few years ago. Those recommendations were for 11 and 12-year-olds to pitch up to 75 pitches a day and 100 pitches per week.

WHY THE CHANGE NOW?

Well, you have to think that Dr. James Andrews was involved in this change. Dr. Andrews (the top expert on the planet about youth pitching injuries), when interviewed a little over two years ago on the rising pitch counts for young kids in Little League, stated that the possibility of a young pitcher throwing 255 pitches in seven days solely in Little League games was “worrisome” to him. He said at the time that it would be monitored. Steve Keener, President of Little League International, also stated when interviewed a little over two years ago that, if Dr. Andrews called him and said that there was a problem with the days of rest, Little League would take a look at the problem.

Presumably, that’s one thing that happened to cause the change.

WHAT ABOUT PITCHERS WHO PITCH IN MULTIPLE LEAGUES?

Little League has long said (correctly) that they should be applauded as the only baseball group to institute pitch counts for young pitchers. And they are totally right. The problem with Little League arose when, after trying a pilot pitch-count program in 2005 and 2006 that required four days of rest between starts, the Little League made the pitch count mandatory in 2007 and changed the days of rest from four days to three in the regular season and to two in the Williamsport tournament.

This “new” change that will be announced nest week is really a return to the Little League pilot program in terms of days of rest.

But where does that leave you, the parent, with a star pitcher who pitches in multiple leagues and is under enormous pressure to win that next “big’ game (you’re told that they are virtually all big games, right)? Well, in that instance (and, frankly, in all instances of pitching), it’s up to you the parent to take charge of when and how much your child pitches. Again, you should speak to your pediatrician, your orthopedist and consider the Dr. Andrews recommendations of 75 pitches per day and 100 pitches per week and decide what is best for your child. Because the child who is forced to pitch beyond his capabilities has a fool for a parent if that parent lets him pitch too much. And, yes, you have often seen this in the Williamsport tournament and many non-Little League tournaments (just win, baby, right?).

With the new rules, at least in the Little League, this shouldn’t happen anymore. Hopefully, other leagues will follow suit (but don’t bet on it).

IS THERE ANY MORE FOR LITTLE LEAGUE TO DO WITH PITCH COUNTS?

Well, under the new rules, young pitchers will now be throwing up to 85 pitches in a day and 170 pitches in six days. While the 85 (as compared to the doctor-recommended 75) has been called a “fudge up” by Dr. Andrews himself, at least it is in the neighborhood of the recommendation. The 170 in six days (by comparison to the doctor-recommended 100) is still obviously 70% higher than what the doctors recommend.

Presumably, Dr. Andrews, who is a national hero in this writer’s opinion for getting the pitch count instituted in the first place, will continue to monitor this number as well. But for Little Leage Baseball to do what it will announce this week is a huge victory for the arms of young pitchers all across America. Little League is to be commended for its actions.

We’ll see what the national reaction to this will be in the coming weeks. And we will see how the implementation of this program goes next season.

Stay tuned.

© Copyright 2009 by Steve Kallas.  All rights reserved.

NO REAL NBA BASKETBALL WITH THE NEW YORK KNICKS THIS SEASON; WHAT ABOUT NEXT SEASON?

                                                                                Kallas Remarks by Steve Kallas

We knew as early as last year (see Kallas Remarks, 11/4/08) that this was going to take awhile. Most of us (i.e., Knick fans) didn’t think it would be this terrible (1-8 as of Friday afternoon) but, hey, the Knicks are waiting for the end of the season to enter the Lebron sweepstakes. Or the D-Wade sweepstakes. Or the you-fill-in-the-blank(s) sweepstakes.

HOW IS IT WORKING OUT WITH CHRIS DUHON?

The Chris Duhon (a Donnie Walsh acquisition) experiment has been pretty bad. While a Knick fan can talk about all the blown leads and the “chances” to win, etc., in the first nine games, one play at the end of the half against Atlanta on Wednesday sums up part of the bigger problem. The Knicks have a nine-point lead after Atlanta scores with 25.4 seconds left in the half. Duhon brings the ball across half-court (obviously the Knicks are going to hold for one), dribbling out the clock just past the half-court line. Duhon starts to make his move with 10 seconds left (presumably to go to the basket and dish out for a jumper by a shooter at or near the buzzer).

But then, inexplicably, Chris Duhon, one of the last guys you would want to take a three off-the-dribble with time winding down, takes a three off-the-dribble with time winding down. With SEVEN seconds left (too early). So Chris Duhon, that heady point guard trained in winning at Duke, made two mistakes – taking the three and, worse, taking the three so that the Hawks could come back and get the last shot.

So, you know what happens next. Duhon misses, the Hawks come back the other way, and score with .01 left in the half. A nine-point lead, that could have been 11 or 12 with a timely dish to a shooter, becomes a seven-point half-time lead. If you’re a Knick fan, you got a bad feeling in your stomach.

And it only got worse from there as the sleeping Hawks woke up, shot 64% in the second half and won easily, 114-101.

WAITING FOR GODOT (OR EDDY CURRY)

Did you see the interview with Eddy Curry? Tremendously slimmed-down, Curry was shown making jump shots at a practice session and then interviewed on MSG. When asked when he would be back, Curry said that he’s “not too far away.” When asked specifically when, Curry said, “I still haven’t had a chance to practice yet, go up against the guys yet.”

Uh-oh.

As with Carl Pavano as a Yankee, waiting for Eddy Curry is like waiting for Godot. He may never show up and when (if?) he does, it’s hard to expect much from him. Is he a cog in a Lebron-in-New-York championship team? Hard to believe.

SO, WHAT ABOUT LEBRON?

Well, it’s going to have to be the lure of New York plus the Knicks obtaining another superstar (other than Lebron, I mean, the Knicks don’t even have a star now) before Lebron will even consider New York. Yes, he’s a Yankee fan, and yes, his buddy C.C. Sabathia will tell him how great it is to win in New York. But Lebron has to look at the Knicks and say to himself, “Can I really win with this group?” That’s a tough question to answer yes to at this juncture.

Can the Knicks get D-Wade to come here and hook up with Lebron? It seems unlikely since D-Wade seems close to staying in Miami (plus, Wade might try to get Lebron to go to Miami). But maybe the Knicks can get an early commitment from Chris Bosh or Carlos Boozer or the most underrated star in the NBA, Joe Johnson. Will one of those guys be enough to bring Lebron to NYC and the Mecca? Who knows?

Is Lebron “inspired” by NYC and the Garden? Absolutely. He owns the place when he comes here but he’s certainly not playing against an even average NBA team. Does he want to “branch out” into other things and is this still the place to be for that? Absolutely, but it doesn’t seem that these things are more important than winning an NBA title to Lebron.

Frankly, it might be easier for Lebron to stay home, get the most max money he can get (which is only from the Cavs) and attract HIS superstar of choice to Cleveland. He’s got a coach there who leaves him alone to do what he wants, he’s comfortable playing near where he grew up and he could be a key recruiter for any star to come to Cleveland. Plus, he’s got Shaq to be the complimentary big man for another year or two after this one of he wants him there (Shaq has already made it known that he’d be happy to stay there).

If Lebron really wants to win a title, it would be very hard to get one in New York without Wade. He could do it with one of the other names mentioned above, but it would be much harder AND he would need help from five or six other Knicks. And, no, I don’t know who those guys are. Maybe David Lee, maybe Toney Douglas (he can defend), maybe Danilo Gallinari (he can’t defend), maybe Al Harrington off the bench (if he can be controlled). Maybe Wilson Chandler, maybe Lebron’s friend Larry Hughes. But there is a gap there and no serviceable big man (I don’t think it will be Eddy Curry. Do you?).

So, it seems the best thing, on the court, for Lebron to win a championship, would be to stay in Cleveland and attract the best superstar of HIS choice. Remember, whatever you think of the great Michael Jordan, he never won anything without Scottie Pippen. And while nobody with a brain puts Pippen anywhere near Jordan, there’s no way Jordan would have won six titles without Pippen.

And if that happens (Lebron stays in Cleveland and brings in a superstar), it will be even longer for the Knicks to get to the top than an intelligent Knick fan would have hoped (dreamed?) for. If the Knicks don’t get Lebron, exactly who is coming here?

You get the point.

© Copyright 2009 by Steve Kallas.  All rights reserved.

Steve on Rick Wolff’s The Sports Edge 11/08/09

Steve on WFAN to discuss the recent jury verdict in favor of the family of Brandon Patch, an 18-year-old pitcher who was killed by a ball hit off an aluminum bat in 2003.   Joining host Rick Wolff and Steve is Joe White, Jr., the attorney for the Patch family.

HIDEKI MATSUI (FINALLY) GETS HIS DUE AS THE YANKEES WIN IT ALL

                                  Kallas Remarks by Steve Kallas

If you knew what you were watching, you knew that Hideki Matsui was the World Series MVP when he hit a two-run homer off Pedro Martinez to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead they would never relinquish early in Game 6. Most people didn’t know that, but it dawned on some of them when Matsui hit a two-run single off Pedro Martinez in his second at-bat to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead that they would never relinquish.

Between Matsui’s second and third at-bats, Ken Rosenthal of Fox, maybe not understanding that he was watching the World Series MVP, reported that, essentially, it was unlikely that Matsui would be back next year. Good grief!

Having no idea what to do with Matsui, Charlie Manuel would take Pedro out of the game before he had to face Matsui again. Going by the “book,” he brought in tough lefty J.A. Happ.  As any Yankee fan can tell you, Matsui is tougher against lefties than he is against righties and hit more homers off lefties than any lefty hitter in the majors. Matsui promptly hit a two-run double off the fence in right-center, giving the Yankees a 6-1 lead they would never relinquish.

AND NONE OF MATSUI’S GAME 6 HITS WAS THE BIGGEST OF THE SERIES

Very few understood at the time, but the biggest hit, the most important for the Yankees, was Matsui’s Game 2 homer that gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead, a lead that they would never relinquish in their 3-1, Game 2 victory to tie the World Series at one game apiece.

Why was this Game 2 homer the most important? Well, that’s easy. After losing Game 1 at home, the Yankees would have been in brutal trouble if they had lost Game 2 at home. To beat the Phillies four out of the next five (had they lost Game 2) would have been virtually impossible, especially since the Phillies had Cliff Lee for what everybody thought would be a Phillies win in game 5 (it was). So, it was subtle at the time (see Kallas Remarks, 9/29/09), but was clearly the homer that saved the Yankees.

DON’T THE YANKEES HAVE TO BRING HIM BACK NOW?

It’s been a theme by this writer that the Yankees, long before the MVP became the MVP, should bring Hideki Matsui back next year (see Kallas Remarks, 9/29/09). He gives a manager so many offensive options, so many offensive advantages, that the Yankees have to make room for the .615 World Series hitter. When you (or the Yankees) try and say the Yankees should only keep one out of Johnny Damon and Matsui, you (or the Yankees) have to now see how valuable BOTH of these guys are to the team. They, as much as anyone (A-Rod, Jeter, Rivera et al.), were responsible for the 27th World Series Championship.

HOW CAN THEY FIT MATSUI IN?

Well, that’s relatively easy. Let Matsui DH for 90 games. That will give Joe Girardi 72 games to give A-Rod his day off, or Damon his day off, or Posada his day off (presumably when A.J. Burnett is pitching and Jose Molina is catching). In the remaining 72 games that Matsui does not DH, he would probably pinch hit in about 45-50 of them (don’t forget, his three pinch at-bats in Philadelphia were home run, out and huge single).

That’s about 420 or so at-bats right there. Then, after a winter of rehabbing those surgically-repaired knees, maybe he can play once a week in the outfield in the right ballpark (not Yankee Stadium). That additional 20 games will give him another 80 at-bats or so.

If you can get Matsui 420-500 at-bats, you’ve hit the jackpot. Remember how Joe Girardi said that Matsui became great after the nine-game interleague road swing when he couldn’t DH and didn’t play the field? Girardi said that rested Matsui in the middle of the season and set him up for his stirring finish and playoff run.

DOES MATSUI WANT TO BE HERE?

Of course he does. Not being a modern day, greedy player (or agent-friendly, you know, look at me) immediately after the game, when asked about whether he’d like to come back or not, Matsui was blunt and truthful, saying, through a translator, that he loves the Yankees, he loves the fans and of course he wants to come back. A sleazier free agent would have said we’ll see what happens, I’m sure there will be great interest from other teams, and then he would hold up his MVP trophy.

DO THE YANKEES WANT HIM BACK NOW?

Well, hopefully they’ve seen the light by now. Considered a done deal by all the “experts” that he wasn’t coming back (if true), the Yankees will need to reevaluate. They’ll have to pay him more now, but it’s hard to believe that something for two years can’t be worked out.

Hideki Matsui has always been a great teammate and a professional hitter. He rose to the top of the heap on the biggest stage in the biggest game (six runs batted in for the first-time ever in a deciding World Series game). Anything the Yankees pay him will already have been paid back in advance by Hideki Matsui. He was the key to winning the World Series. The potential pitching problems never became the actual pitching problems because Matsui tacked on another two runs in each of his first three at-bats.

THE QUINTESSENTIAL YANKEE

Now that Matsui has won his World Series as a Yankee, you can call him a quintessential Yankee, even if he barely speaks English. To let this guy go now would be a disgrace to the Yankee organization. If George Steinbrenner still has a say, it’s hard to believe that he would let this happen.

We’ll see how it goes.

© Copyright 2009 by Steve Kallas.  All rights reserved.

HAS JOE GIRARDI PUT THE YANKEES ON THE BRINK OF … DEFEAT?

                                                                                    Kallas Remarks by Steve Kallas

For those (including this writer) who wanted Chad Gaudin to start Game 5 of the World Series for the Yankees, it really wasn’t about starting Chad Gaudin. It was about NOT starting A.J. Burnett on short rest. That was because, if Burnett started Game 5 on short rest, that would then make Andy Pettitte start on short rest in Game 6 and, if the Yankees lost both games, that would have CC Sabathia start Game 7 on short rest (although he’s probably the most capable of doing it and that was the plan all along).

WHY NOT GAUDIN?

Well, Joe Girardi said that he “didn’t want to put Gaudin in that spot,” that he hadn’t pitched in a long time and that he thought his pitchers could go on short rest.

Yankee fans are now praying that he’s right.

Chad Gaudin had last pitched against the Angels on October 20 (13 days before Game 5) and threw a 1-2-3 inning against the Angels at the end of that Game 4, 10-1 C.C. Sabathia win. Prior to that, Gaudin had pitched a scoreless inning-and-a-third in relief against Tampa Bay on October 3. His last start had been a win against Kansas City on September 28, where he gave up two earned runs and four hits in six-and-two-thirds innings to raise his starting record to 2-0 as a Yankee.

With Cliff Lee pitching on full rest, this was enough of a resume to give Gaudin a start. Again, not cause he “deserved” it, but because it would set up the Yankee rotation for the last two games if they lost Game 5.

WHAT WOULD BE THE YANKEE PROBLEM IF GAUDIN HAD STARTED?

Maybe this factored into the decision: If Gaudin starts Game 5, then A.J. Burnett starts Game 6 on full rest. But, then, assuming the Yankees lost both of those games, Joe Girardi would have another difficult decision to make: start all-time post-season wins leader Pettitte on full rest or stud, number one pitcher C.C. Sabathia on short rest. You have to wonder as to whether or not the Yankees would be reluctant to skip Pettitte to start Sabathia (which would be the logical choice) in the deciding Game 7.

Interesting question, no?

BACK TO GAME 5

So Burnett gets hammered, lasts two innings and, despite a late Yankee comeback, the Phillies hold on for an 8-6 win and send the Series back to New York. Joe Girardi’s quote after the game? “If we could have pitched today, we probably could have one.” Well, that’s a stretch because Cliff Lee wasn’t the same pitcher with an 8-2 lead as when he was in a close game. We’ll never know what would have happened if anybody else had started but it was a longshot to believe the Yankees would win Game 5.

Did A.J. Burnett pitch poorly because he pitched on short rest? Again, we’ll never know. Sometimes you get the good A.J., sometimes you get the bad A.J. But know this: it didn’t help him.

YANKEES STILL THE FAVORITES

You still have to like the Yankees chances to win this series. The Phillies have their own pitching problems. While Pedro was excellent against the Yankees in Game 2, he should have a tougher time in Game 6. The Yankees should be looking more for off-speed stuff and have a better chance to do some damage after seeing Pedro in Game 2. Plus, the Phillies late bullpen is now a mystery: Brad Lidge imploded in Game 4 and, at the end of Game 5, Lidge wasn’t called upon because Charlie Manuel “wanted to give Lidge a break tonight.” Even that quote was bizarre because, when reliever Ryan Madson came into the game in the ninth and got into trouble, Brad Lidge was out in the bullpen warming up. Frankly, the Philies don’t know what to do (fortunately for the Phillies, they didn’t listen to Fox commentator Ozzie Guillen who said that he would close with Lidge “because he’s pitched well all year.” Nobody told American League manager Guillen that Lidge led the majors with 11 blown saves in 2009. Good grief).

Also, who’s going to start Game 7 for the Phillies? Has Cole Hamels gone home mentally? Is there anyone in Philadelphia who can go deep into the game? Will Cliff Lee start on two days rest (where have you gone, Sandy Koufax)? Or will he just be available for late in the game (shades of Randy Johnson or, for you historians, Grover Cleveland Alexander)?

In addition, the Yankees line-up will be much stronger with the return of Hideki Matsui (a home run and a huge single in three pinch-hitting appearances in Philadelphia) and Jorge Posada for the whole game.

It says here that the Yankees will win it, probably in seven games. But don’t forget, C.C. Sabathia was eventually no good last year after pitching the Brewers to the playoffs with a number of starts on three days rest. If this goes seven games, Sabathia will be going on three days rest for the third time. Not as bad as last year, but you never know.

Much like Bob Brenley extended the 2001 World Series with some questionable decisions and gave the Yankees a good chance to win a Series they should have lost in six games, Joe Girardi may have given the Phillies an opportunity to win the 2009 World Series in seven games.

We’ll see what happens.

© Copyright 2009 by Steve Kallas. All rights reserved.