Right Side Up. Again.

I don't know when it started.  People ask me all the time, and I'm embarrassed that I don't have a good answer.  What made me start rooting for the Yankees.  I guess it was the run they made in the late 70's.  I was so little, and I don't really remember any of the games, but there is one clear recollection that I have.  My father worked in downtown Manhattan, and on the day that the City held the tickertape parade for the Yankees back in '78, he brought me back a souvenir.  It was a button, one of those old-style big buttons that you would pin on yourself, like they used to use for political campaigns.  It was one of those things that you have long after you realize that they don't really make them anymore.  The button was interesting because of its message.  Across the top it said "New York Yankees - 1978 World Champions."  And along the bottom it threw this down - "We Will Do It Again."  Talk about scratching a baseball fan right where he itches.  It was beautiful.  Was that where it all started?  Tough to say...  I just know that it started, and it's been a wonderful ride...

            So here's a question.  Have I stayed away from the blog this year to avoid jinxing the season?  What do you think?  I started writing this thing (with a little help from my friends) because my boy Sean asked me to back in early 2005.  He worked for mlb.com at the time, and they had started a new blog forum called mlblogs.  They needed bloggers, he asked me to do it, so I did it.  I'm a pretty lazy cat most of the time, as I've made pretty clear over the years.  But I found it somewhat therapeutic, as I realized that it was a good way to get stuff off my chest about a particular game without waking my wife up and explaining to her why Jorge Posada needed to take a pitch in his at-bat in the seventh, and why Torre shouldn't have pinch run for Giambi a run down in the sixth.  It also made me realize what a jack*ss fan I really was.  But hey, like Sammy Davis Jr. once said, I gotta be me.  So in 2005, the Yankees lost in the first round of the playoffs.  2006, first round again.  2007, another first round exit.  And then they finished third in 2008.  Third.  So yes, this year I wasn't taking any chances.  For the good of the team and Yankeedom everywhere, I was keeping the keyboard covered.  So here I am.

            A couple of notes about this playoff run:

            Is there anybody out there who didn't feel even the slightest bit good for Alex Rodriguez?  I'm sure there are, of course, but man, what a monkey that guy had on his back.  After all the meltdowns, the demotion to 8th in the order, the boos...  After all that, have you ever seen anything so clutch in your life?  Considering there are only 11 wins in a successful postseason, the fact that the guy tied two games when the Yankees were losing in the ninth or later with bombs is ridiculous.  And he tied another in the seventh.  That's three games out of 11 that he pulled out of the fire with clutch bombs.  And then he got a two-out, ninth-inning double to put the Yankees ahead in what was probably the key game of the WS, game four.   I don't ever remember anyone having that kind of a clutch post-season.  If there had been a playoff MVP, rather than just an LCS and WS MVP, you'd pull your hair out trying to decide between Al and Mo, but my vote goes to Al.  It truly was vindication for a guy who had earned a month like that.  The big fly lit up again, just when we needed it most.

            Jimmy Rollins.  Poor Jimmy Rollins.  Jimmy, shooting your mouth off is fine in the National League.  You can talk smack to the Rockies, and the Dodgers, and the Brewers, and whatever other silly teams you had to go through the past two years, but now you're way out of your league, dude.  You may have slapped around the Mets, but now you've got to deal with Big Brother.  And you got what was coming.  Go play the Pirates next time, dude...  Save yourself the embarrassment....

            I had been saying since '96 that I didn't like Jeter leading off.  To me, he was such a classic two-hole hitter.  I always felt the Yankees were at their best when Jeter hit behind a classic lead-off guy like Knoblauch or even Damon.  Soriano wasn't really a classic leadoff guy, but you get the idea.  But Torre would often throw Jeter in the leadoff spot in big games, especially in the post-season.  So now, after 14 seasons, I finally get it.  What better guy to send up there to set the tone for a game, what better guy for your team to watch stepping in to the batter's box, especially when they might be up against the wall, or have butterflies...  What better guy to stare all that in the face than Derek Jeter?  I finally get it.  When Derek Jeter hit the bomb to tie the first game of the playoffs against the Twins, Big Angelo and I both commented that he's hit a disproportionate amount of bombs in the post-season.  Not to mention clutch hits, clutch plays, and everything in between.  So yes, I finally get it.  Derek Jeter leading off.  Genius. 

            Speaking of Jeter, I was introduced to a new term this post-season.  Apparently Jeter, Mo, Pettitte, and Posada are now the "Core Four."  Okay.  Michael Kay used to call them the "Lords of the Rings."  A bit too dramatic for popular consumption, perhaps.  Whatever you want to call them, you can see why they've had so much success.  Cool under fire.  All of them.  Jeter and Posada collected clutch hits all October (and beyond, thanks Mr. Selig...), and Mo and Pettitte battled like pros, always keeping themselves and their team in the game.  It's funny as you watch guys who have big numbers, and even some past post-season success - Lidge, Hamels, Nathan, Fuentes, etc, melt down like something out of "The Real World Las Vegas."  But not those guys.  The core four.  Five Yankee rings each.  Five.  Remarkable.

            There's been a lot of talk about the umpiring.  As many of you know, I've always been a proponent of making the whole thing automated.  Everything from balls and strikes to calls in the field.  One ump for weird outlier calls that need a decision.  The qualifier would be that you would need the technology to make the calls without having to review every play with replay.  It has to be automated.  We're not there yet, I know.  Particularly with calls in the field.  Balls and strikes can already be called electronically with 99% accuracy.  And you can see on TV how erratic the umpires are with their strike zones.  Eliminate the subjectivity, I say.  I understand I'm pretty much alone in that, but that's cool.  One man's opinion.  Speaking of the umpiring, one thing jumped out at me this post-season.  In game two of the ALCS, which I attended with Big Joe and the missus, Erick Aybar didn't touch second while turning a double play, and the runner was called safe by virtue of the "neighborhood play."  Everyone - the announcers, the Angels, the media - was up in arms.  Tim McCarver almost had a stroke.  "You NEVER see that play called!!" he crowed.  "Now you're going to call it?  In the playoffs??"  Mike Scoscia was beside himself out on the field, arguing his fat face off.  So, a word to the irresponsible mainstream media.  Never see it called?  How about game five of the Division Series in 2005?  Ringing a bell, Mike Scoscia?  Robbie Cano was called for the exact same neighborhood play, contributing to the Yankees losing to Mike Scoscia's very same Angels in the deciding game of that series in Anaheim.  What goes around comes around.  Do your homework, guys.  Somebody.

            Speaking of the late 70's, I've heard a few talking heads saying that this Yankee team more closely resembled the Yanks of the late 70's than the late 90's.  Sounds about right to me.  The late 70's bunch was a bit shaggier, had all of the payroll allegations, had a blend of home-grown and imported talent.  They were also a bit less buttoned-up-corporate.  The mustaches and the afros were a bit more pronounced.  They strike me as a bit more likely to smash pies into each other's faces...

            There are a couple of guys you feel good for in a year like this, because they seem extra psyched to have stepped into a championship.  Guys like Nick Swisher and Jerry Hairston.  Especially Hairston.  Here was a guy who was toiling in Cincinnati for most of the year, a journeyman in every sense of the word.  He was probably just hoping to hang on for a few more years of usefulness somewhere.  Anywhere.  Then his agent tells him he's going to the best team in baseball.  And then he makes a solid contribution, scoring the winning run in game 2 of the LCS, starting game 2 of the WS and coming up with some key hits, and finally, standing in left field when Tex squeezed the last out to win the World Series.  His story and his game reminded me a lot of Jose Vizcaino in 2000.  Good for you, Jerry Hairston.  I'm glad you're getting that World Series ring.  You earned it.     

            This is why we got Johnny Damon.  It took a few years and some heartbreak, and I'm sure he felt weird watching some of his old teammates celebrating in '07, but when his time came, he came through in spades.  Two words.  Game four.

            I sent a text message to Tony Sherry the day after the Yanks won the World Series.  It said this, "I don't know if I've ever felt happier for anybody than I feel right now for the Ferocious Lion, Hideki Matsui."  There was a great article in the Wall Street Journal a few days afterwards, with an even better headline - "Japanese Baseball's Best Day Ever."  Man that made me feel good.  Good for MLB.  They got this one right.  They could have given the MVP to Mo.  They've done it before, and he's deserved it.  And you could make a real case for him again.  But the Ferocious Lion was just as deserving, and MLB recognized that they had a golden opportunity to set off a blinding crush of energy for the sport of baseball on the Asian continent.  Amazing, considering that Japan has now won two consecutive World Baseball Classic trophies and Ichiro Suzuki has won an AL MVP on his journey to the Hall of Fame.  Amazing that everyone agreed that this was Japanese Baseball's Best Day Ever.  The only guy as excited as the Japanese mobbing the streets of Tokyo at lunchtime on that Thursday afternoon?  The Lion's biggest fan, of course.  Tony Sherry....

            Speaking of the Ferocious Lion, everyone seems to think he's not coming back to the Yanks.  Here's why I say he is.  Take a look at the ads on the right field wall at Yankee Stadium.  Sony.  Komatsu.  Something else written entirely in Japanese.  I have no idea what that's for.  Point is, Matsui pays for himself.  The Wall Street Journal estimated that the Yankees bring in $20 million a year from Japanese advertising, merchandising, and broadcast rights.  The Yankees will argue that's because they have a big Japanese fan base and not necessarily all because of Matsui.  Right.  And now that he's the reigning World Series MVP, imagine the payday looming for the Yankees.  I don't care what kind of roster flexibility you're looking for.  I need somebody to explain to me why you wouldn't want a guy who gives you that kind of production, against lefties, righties, whatever, even if he's only a DH, who pays for himself and then some...

            This is apropos of nothing, but I'll say it because I haven't heard anybody else say it.  The amount of tickertape this year at the parade was p*ss-poor.  I understand that these days the windows are often sealed shut in favor of year-round climate control, but this isn't that hard.  I understand the City gave recycled paper to all of the buildings, but they didn't give enough.  You didn't see the usual shots of the blizzard of paper raining down on the paraders this year.  No good.  More tickertape. 

            So there was one thing that came out of this World Championship run that I didn't expect.  The retribution.  During the run in the late 90's, the Yankees won every World Series they were in.  They weren't avenging anything.  When this post-season started, the Yankees last 8 years had gone like this:  Heartbreak in the ninth inning of the World Series against Arizona, out in the first round against Anaheim, losing a World Series they should have swept to a Marlins team that was far inferior, '04 (nuff said), then the three first round exits I detailed earlier.  I wasn't expecting that, with this run, all of that would somehow be okay.  I wouldn't trade this championship to get any of those back.  Even with all of those sour moments of the last eight years, you couldn't be in a better spot than you're in right now.  World Champions.

            Speaking of which, I was at game six with Big Ange and Acc's dad.  Yup, Bert Acc...  Had a great time, too.  They were good company.  The texts came pouring in all game.  I had sent Mikey D a text in game 2 (which he attended), telling him to bring one home for us.  He sent me one before game 6, telling me the same.  "I'm giving it everything I got," I texted him back around the fourth inning...  An hour after the game ended, I was still standing there, in the Stadium that had started me off so sour this season (I'm still not happy about the Pepsi...), singing along with Ol' Blue Eyes, all by myself.  Big Joe called.  "I'm still standing here," I told him.  "You're still at the Stadium?" he asked incredulously, laughing out loud.  "Yup.  Still here..."  Where was I going to go?  What a night...        

            Speaking of the last few years, I've gotten better at understanding that you need to enjoy the journey.  I understand you can't win every year.  There will always be some heartbreaking moments.  It only makes it sweeter when they win.  I can go through my laundry list of great baseball memories.  Where I was, who I was with.  Going to games when I was a kid, watching the '81 World Series in my parents' room with my sister, going bananas when Butch Wynegar hit a two-out bomb to keep the Yankees season alive in '85, Donnie Baseball tying the record for home runs in consecutive games, being at the Jim Leyritz walk-off game against Seattle in '95.  Chanting with 15 guys at Acc and Mike Sherry's house in Long Beach in '95 and '96 when the Yanks were just getting warmed up.  Being on the Upper East Side after the clincher in '96 (which was pandemonium, by the way) when all of the Yankees showed up at Cronies to celebrate.  Watching game 1 against the Mets at the Stadium with Ruddy, watching with Sean in the bleachers when Scott Brosius pulled off Miracle, Part II in 2001.  Singing with Mikey Dantone when Aaron Boone catapulted us into the World Series.  Taking my baby boy to the old Stadium last year, just so he could say he was there.  Christening the new Stadium with a World Championship last week.   I remember them all.  That's why I'm a fan.  That's why I show up.  I understand it seems silly, investing so much in something I have so little control over.  It is silly.  But you can't put that much emotion into your memories just BS-ing with your boys at a bar.  Sometimes moments like these make perfect bookmarks on the story of your life.   

            And then there was perhaps my best baseball memory.  The day after Thanksgiving, 1996, far from the grand baseball stadiums of New York and long after baseball had boarded itself up tight for the winter.  There had been, in the weeks following the World Series, all kinds of souvenirs and knick-knacks that popped up on the carts of the street vendors in the city.  Anything to commemorate what was at the time the 23rd Championship for the Yankees.  One thing had caught my eye, and I had it with me that day as I trudged through a late November wind across grass that had just suffered its first frost way out on the east end of Long Island. 

            My dad didn't make it to see the Yankees fulfill the promise of that button that he had given me some 18 years before.  He wasn't a big baseball fan, or a big sports fan.  He liked the Mets, as he had grown up a Manhattan kid rooting for the New York baseball Giants.  He didn't root against the Yankees, as he always said he was a New York fan first.  And he knew that his boy liked the Yanks, so he always made time for them.  So that day back in late November '96, amongst the many flowers, American flags, and the occasional early Christmas wreath, I placed something that must have seemed curious to the caretakers at Calverton National Cemetery.  A small button (by this time they were primarily made to pin on knapsacks and the like) that said - "New York Yankees - World Champions."  What was not printed but understood, as far as I was concerned, was "Again."

            It may have taken 18 years that time, and it may have taken 9 years this time, but the Yankees delivered on their promise.  The world has turned right side up again.  The Yankees are Champions of the World.

            And now, like then, it was worth the wait.             

Vindicated

You knew I'd be back after that Big Papi news....  

    I'm sitting in my living room right now, watching the Yanks/White Sox on this rainy (shocker) night in Brooklyn.  The Yanks are down 5-3 in the bottom of the third, in what was a battle of the bullpens before the game even started.  The White Sox had to make D.J. Carrasco their emergency starter, and he immediately coughed up three runs in the first inning.  It took Sergio Mitre, fresh off the revelation that the fifth starter job is his to lose now that the Yankees stood down at the deadline, just four outs to puke the game right back up.  The problem with Mitre is the same problem that you have with Wang when he's at his worst.  When a sinkerballer gets the ball up, it's pure batting practice.  And that's what you're getting with Mitre as I'm tapping the keys.  Carrasco hasn't been any better, but like last night, he's spaced the Yankees 7 hits out better than Mitre's spaced out the 7 hits for the Sox.  

    This is an important series for the Yanks.  [This is annoying.  Cano led off the inning with a base hit, so as Melky hits a rocket to the wall, Carlos Quentin, who has been hobbling around with plantar fasciitis (spelling is wrong, but I don't care), raced over and makes a running catch...  The guy has literally been limping on and off the field.  Whoops.  Hinske just tied the game with a two run bomb.]  This series is big because the Yankees and Red Sox matched up for a 10 game stretch in which the Yanks had the final 3 of 4 against the A's, and then went away for the first 7 of a 9 game road trip against the Rays and White Sox, while the Red Sox were playing seven at home against the O's, A's, and out to Baltimore for three more.  On paper you look at that set  as 5-5, and you pencil in a 7-3 stretch for the Sox.  Since the Yanks started the stretch with a 2.5 game lead, you figured the Yanks they would start that series against the Red Sox next week tied in the loss column.  But the Red Sox blinked.  The Yanks went 4-2 to start the stretch, and the Red Sox futzed their way to 3-3 in their first 6.  So you scratched your head a bit and wondered if the Yanks were actually going to take the reins.  Then the Red Sox righted their ship (barely) by coming back late against the A's on Thursday and O's on Friday[that game just went final], while the Yanks lost a tough one on Thursday and are locked in a battle (an ugly battle) here on Friday.  And ugly battles rarely end well for the road team.  The longer the game goes, the more the home team is favored. [I'm about three minuted behind the game on the DVR, and my phone just buzzed with a text.  The Yanks had been set up with two on and one out, but I knew that text was going to be Acc with bad news.  Acc always texts with bad news.  Never good news.  I sent him a text back crushing him.  While we're at it, the White Sox got a run and took the lead back, as they are 7 for 10 with runners on base.  The Yankees, since Hinske's bomb, are 0-10 with runners on base at the end of 7.]  So what started out as a promising 10 game match-up is back up in the air.  The last part of the equation is that the Yankees play in Toronto just before the clash next week while the Red Sox play in Tampa.  Still, I think if you add it all up on paper, including the four in the Bronx next week, it ends in a dead heat in the loss column.  The good news there is that the Yankees have been head and shoulders above the Red Sox when it comes to playing against the rest of the league.  But we'll see. 

    Took a bit of a break to watch the rest of the game.  The Yanks ended up getting out-hit by just one, but outscored 9-2 after the 1st inning.  The White Sox, for the second straight night, couldn't miss with runners on.  The Yanks are 3-18 with RISP in the series, with an 0-7 tonight after one out in the first inning.  Way to go Sergio.  Let's see what A.J.'s got tomorrow...

    A note on the trades today.  When the Yankees dynasty was getting off the ground in the mid-nineties, Mike Lupica used to say that "nobody did the business of baseball better than the Yankees."  Part of this was that they got very good at hyping their minor-leaguers.  The trick wasn't having the best chips to get the better established players, the trick was to convince everybody that you had the best chips to get the best established players.  They were able to turn the Eric Milton's, Ricky Ledee's,  Drew Henson's (twice), Jake Westbrook's" etc into real pieces like Cecil Fielder, Chuck Knoblauch and David Justice without any real major league talent going back.  Like anything else, it was all great until everyone started doing it.  All GM's these days cast a skeptical eye towards the over-hyped minor-leaguers, and most do all of their own scouting.  No one trusts anybody else's scouts anymore.  But the Red Sox, recently, have taken it one step further.  They have established, effectively, a trading book.  Assets that they don't ever intend to keep themselves, but that they own only to move out to the market.  And with that, they've started to horde chips that are flashy hooks; stuff that jumps off the page.  We saw this work in spades this year, when guys like Mike Francesa would gush about the Red Sox system; "Have you seen what the Red Sox are doing??  They've got six or seven guys who throw 98 coming up!!  These guys are going to be good for 10 years!!!"  Which, of course, is silly.  The late-inning closer-graveyard is littered with the Mark Wohlers/Kyle Farnsworth types who throw 99 but couldn't get anybody out.  But you can't easily hype a guy like Greg Maddux or Johan Santana (He throws 93, but bites the corners and makes umps give him calls like a man-ster!!!").  So the Red Sox go for guys who throw 99, purely to dangle him with just that tag-line.  You can always hype that guy.  And they turn those guys into Victor Martinez.  Kudos to them. 

    So let's get to the main event.  Pardon me while i yawn profusely.  Four years, boys.  Four years ago right here the BPS hit everybody over the head time and time again about David Ortiz.  Big Papi.  Big HGH was, if I recall correctly (sarcasm added for effect), the name we gave him.  Whatever guys.  No big deal.  You know.  We were right.  Whatever.  I'm not even going to link to all of the posts.  (Conveniently syncs with my sheer laziness). I guess the things that jump out at me are these.  The number of people who said, "I'm devastated, but I'm not surprised."  Really?  I remember all of the blood-curdling screams from everybody digging in to defend him.  I love how everybody becomes an attorney when it suits them (They don't have any hard evidence!!  He's never been implicated!!  He never failed a drug test!!  Innocent until proven guilty!!)  Fine, guys.  This isn't a court of law.  Not everything is a court of law.  If you see a guy running away from a double-murder scene with blood on his shirt (for argument's sake, let's call this guy...  Ray Lewis), is that a guy you're going to want to hang with that afternoon?  He's innocent until proven guilty, right?  Sometimes, common sense is the best guide.  And common sense could clearly tell you, four years ago plus, that David Ortiz was perhaps the best example of everyone in the juice era.  A guy who just burst out of absolutely nowhere to scrape the top of the record books and who was unconsciously automatic.  Bonds was perhaps more automatic (you could probably also throw Manny in that category), but certainly didn't come out of nowhere.  Brady Anderson blew up from out of nowhere but was by no means as automatic.  In terms of one guy who best exemplified the juiced-up superstar, it's Big Papi.  It has to be Big Papi.  So now it's out there.

    So here's the kicker.  He's still doing it.  As is A-Rod, and Giambi, and Manny, and Pujols, and Posada, and Varitek, and on and on.  You can't test for HGH.  The union won't allow blood tests, folks.  This is the crazy part of the PED era.  The people that got caught are basically all still juicing...  What a crazy thing!  This begets some bizarre moments.  I love all of the carefully crafted statements.  Papi's was classic.  "I'm surprised, given the way I live my life, that I tested positive."  What does that mean, dude?  That you're surprised you got caught, given all of the effort you put into not getting caught?  A-Rod's was just as good.  "I used steroids from 2001-2003."  Really?  You mean before you had some statistically monster seasons, including a 57-bomb MVP season?  Amazing...  

    One of the interesting things you're hearing on talk radio this week is people saying that they should release the whole list already.  I completely disagree.  Why do that?  This way is way better.  Release them little by little.  One superstar at a time.  Why give these guys the gift of getting lost in a whole gaggle of names?  These guys broke the rules, let them all get their little moment in the spotlight to face up to what they did.  All by themselves...  Do the crime, do the time.

    We'll see what the next few weeks bring.  I like the team.  I think they'll make a good run.  They do have this way of spitting it just when they're at their peak, though.  At least it's fun again...  Yankee baseball is fun again....

Wild Ride

"Is it weird that I'm completely crushed for the guy?  I feel terrible for him."  It was last Friday night and I was on an impromptu conference call with Tony Sherry and Acc following what is generally known as the "Holy Cr*p" game. "Not me," insisted Tony Sherry.  "I laughed right out loud and I'm still laughing."  "Please turn on the MLB network right now," Acc interjected.  "Please turn it on right now."  Tony and I flipped channels just in time to see Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams drawing above Luis Castillo's glove on the telestrator.  It was pretty bizarre.  "Honestly dude, do you want to not feel bad about it," Tony asked.  "Yes," I said, "What do you got?"  "Take a look at the replay again, and watch K-Rod as Castillo is about to catch the pop-up.  Watch what he's about to do..."  And I watched it, and he was right.  K-Rod was about to go into yet another ridiculous mound-stomp after the last out of a save.  It couldn't have happened to a bigger donkey.  Castillo, on the other hand, I have no beef with.  If it was Jose Reyes, I would have been laughing along with Tony.  But I still felt bad for Castillo.  That is, until Saturday afternoon, when Castillo lolly-gagged around the bases while Brett Gardner was flopping around like the scarecrow in the outfield on a routine fly ball that would have been the third out.  And didn't score because of it.  After watching Texeira bust it the night before and win the game for his team, Castillo doesn't bust it and costs his team a run.  Then I really didn't feel so bad.  I was more glad that he wasn't on my team, actually.  And I can say that I've never seen that kind of ending to a game before.  Never.  Brutal for the Met fans.  Big Joe was ready to puke.  Highway robbery for the Yanks.  After what happened in Boston the three days prior, I wasn't going to argue with a win, no matter how it came.

    Speaking of K-Rod, there was a bit of a dust-up over the last few days between K-Rod and Brian Bruney.  Bruney echoed Tony Sherry's sentiment when he said, basically, it couldn't have happened to a bigger d*ck, meaning K-Rod.  K-Rod flipped out.  Here's the deal: Bruney was right.  And, for that matter, so was Aubrey Huff.  If you act like an a*shole, expect people won't take too kindly to you.  And it's your own fault.  Pretty simple.  And that goes for K-Rod, Joba, and Papelbon.  The act-like-a-donkey-out-of-the-bullpen hall of fame...

    Was at the game today with the missus and my brother-in-law.  Evened out my record at 3-3.  It was a nice pick-me-up after yesterday's sad showing.  On the radio here in New York yesterday morning, all of the Met fans were crowing about how if the Mets could come back and win after that kind of a loss, it would show how tough the team was, how resilient the team was, etc.  And they came back and won.  So was that really the big testimonial to the Mets resiliency?  Okay.  So what now?  They just got handed the second worst shutout loss in their history.  So now what do we know about them...  Your guess is as good as mine.  

    Speaking of yesterday, I have an easy rule of thumb with the Yanks.  If it's cold and raining, they are going to lose.  There are a million other things going on with the Yanks this year, but that's really just a quick simple one.  Cold, rainy; lose.  Write it down somewhere.

    So what of last week's Red Sox series?  Ouch.  So after a few days to reflect, here's what it comes down to.  The fact that the Yankees lost all eight to the Sox this year is a bit of an anomaly.  The fact that they've gotten the short end isn't.  The Yankees aren't as good as the Red Sox right now.  The truth hurts.  What can I say.  The Sox are great at home, and six of their eight wins have been at home, so that probably explains a good deal of the series sweep so far.  But it should probably be 2-6 , 3-5 at absolute best.  Here's the way I see it breaking down.  The Red Sox and Yankees have similar starting pitching.  Take your pick.  Beckett, Lester, Wakefield, Penny, and Dice K.  CC, Burnett, Pettitte, Joba, Wang/Hughes.  The Red Sox bullpen is overrated.  They're all hittable and they've all been hit hard in close games of late.  Bard, Delcarmen, Okijima, and Saito.  Papelbon has been a bend-but-don't break guy this year, taking lots of pitches to close teams out this year, costing him appearances, e.g. last Friday night in Philly.  They've got good numbers, less good of late.  And they'll even out more as the season goes on.  The Yankees, on the other hand, have a hilarious bullpen.  Sometimes you have to laugh.  Teams never miss against the Yankee bullpen.  Are they this bad?  I don't know.  It certainly looks pretty bad.  In a playoff series, should they get there, I think Hughes and Joba would both end up in the pen, which would make the bullpen immediately and markedly better.  Until then, I guess we wait for Bruney and hope that he isn't the sometimes-I'll-throw-strikes-and-sometimes-I'll-throw-balls guy he's been his whole career.  But for me, the real reason the Red Sox have the edge right now is the same reason I've been talking about all season.  Their lineup has tougher outs.  It's that simple.  Even with Ortiz feeling the long-term effects of his HGH romance (while we're there, is there anybody out there who still doesn't believe me about that?), Nick Green starting at short, and Varitek continuing his career as a .235 hitter, they have a tougher lineup.  That's why they have the edge.

    And while we're on that, do you know what's almost as insane as the Yankees losing all eight to the Sox?  The fact that they're still only two out.  That is completely insane.  We'll see what happens from now until August, when they meet again.  

    So now the Yanks go on a two week inter-league journey.  Nine games on the road with the pitchers hitting.  Watch how different Santana looks in Citi Field, where fly balls all go to die.  And the Red Sox get to play six against the Braves....  Must be nice...

Sunshine in May

If only I could get this tilted umbrella to stop swirling around.  A minor malfunction, I think.  It's late Sunday afternoon in Big Joe's yard.  "The Fear" by Lily Allen is cranking on my iPhone, I've got an ice cold Coca-Cola next to me, and the Yankees are - yes- in first place.  For the first time in almost three years; through a manager change, the midges in Cleveland, the emergence of Joba, the retirement of Sean's boy, the Moose, another playoff appearance by Joe Torre (just not here), the first playoff miss since I was in college, the birth of my baby boy - first name Donald, middle name Mattingly (just kidding), and the indignity of watching the Tampa Bay Rays playing in the World Series - the Yankees are in first place.  In fact, the interesting thing about today was that not only were the Yankees in sole possession of first place, they were assured of being in first place tonight, regardless of what happened around the league today.  Yeah, it's a good day today, regardless of the fact that the tilted umbrella won't stay put on it's base, creating a crazy unintentional sunlight show around me as I type on the laptop.

So what did they do today?  They lost.  Oh well.  I understand you can't win every game, but I wish they would finish these games off.  They tied the game, and then put the go ahead in scoring position with less than two outs twice, not getting it done.  At least they keep coming at you.  Cleveland had to pull everything they had out today, including what can only be considered a desperation move, bunting with two strikes and a man on first in the bottom of the ninth.  I think they figured they had no shot at the bottom of their lineup generating anything, so they had to try to get what they were going to get right there in the ninth.  Here's a better strategy; as soon as the Yankee bullpen comes in, put the bats on your shoulders and don't swing.  Because the Yankees have two Achilles heels, and one is that the bullpen is hilarious.  Just stand there.  They'll either walk you or fall behind and serve up a nice fat ice cream cone.  Scoop of mint-chocolate chip, scoop of coffee, just like Acc likes it...  Today was both.  Thanks Dave Robertson.  One piece of good news.  Despite the fact that he pitched well, Carl Pavano got a no-decision.  No, Carl, you do not get to walk away with a win against the Yankees; the baseball gods and the lords of karma simply will not allow it.  Here's an idea.  Why doesn't Carl Pavano ask what he can do for the Yankees on the charity front.  Maybe something with Jeter's foundation, or some sort of appearances.  I don't care what it is.  All I know is I'd be looking to make somebody whole if I stole $40 million from them...

I was out in Jersey today at Nicky the Sack's kid's three-year old birthday party.  Brooklyn's Own Mike Dantone and I were monitoring the game on the iPhones.  You take what you can get in life, sometimes...  

So we know the bullpen is one Achilles heel.  The other is that the Yankees are no longer the patient team they were in the late 90's, early 2000's.  That is a bygone era.  You'll still hear people refer to them as a patient team that takes a lot of pitches, but the numbers don't bear it out.  They invented it, basically, at least in terms of a philosophy.  People like to refer to the "Moneyball" influence, but most Yankee fans know the famous story of Gene Michael laying out the blueprint for the next Yankee era on the flight back from Seattle after the 1995 playoff loss.  The base was to be patient, smart hitters, who took a lot of pitches and a lot of walks.  The Wade Boggs mold.  That blueprint was to manifest itself in the acquisition of Chuck Knoblauch, Scott Brosius, and Tino Martinez, among others.  They basically perfected it, riding the formula to four championships in five years, and six pennants in eight years.  Baseball hasn't seen a run like that since, well, the Yankees....  And they did it before Billy Beane was anywhere near Oakland.  So now the Red Sox have taken up the mantle, with everyone framing Theo Epstein as a "Moneyball" disciple.  Right.  Who was in second place all those years, when the Yankees were serving themselves the American League for the better part of a decade?  The Red Sox.  Every year.  Theo Epstein is no "Moneyball" disciple.  He was just an observant kid who knew how to play monkey-see, monkey-do.  But the fact remains that the Red Sox are the preeminent high-pitch-count team right now.  The Yankees aren't even a high-pitch-count team, in fact.  They swing, swing, swing.  Jeter, Cano, Melky, Molina, and at times everybody else.  Good pitchers last a long time against them, because they're swinging away.  I'm not saying it's always a bad thing.  Teams have been successful by swinging away.  The Angels have done it very well the last few years, including a World Championship.  And the Yankees are having a lot of success right now by swinging away.  I just don't like it as a formula when you're in a hostile park against a premier pitcher.  Look what happened today as soon as they got Pavano out of the game.  If they hadn't let Pavano stay on the mound until the eighth inning, it probably would have been bombs away much earlier.  Not my preference, this swinging early and often stuff, but I'll deal, I guess.  It just makes me uncomfortable as a long-term strategy...

So here's the problem if you're the Red Sox or a Red Sox fan.  If you think that the Red Sox are going to continue their domination of the Yankees, there is no problem.  If you think that the fact that the Yankees and Red Sox have played to a statistical dead heat over the last ten years of head-to head play is a thing of the past, if you think that the Red Sox will continue to get the miracle two-out, bottom of the ninth comebacks against Mo without any reciprocity, that they will be able to continue to come back from six runs deep, that it didn't make a difference that A-Rod was out of the lineup and Texeira was in no-man's land in the five games they've played thus far, then you have no issue.  If you think it was a fluke that the last time the Red Sox started out 5-1 against the Yankees, in '07, the Yankees ended up winning the season series anyway, and if you think that the Red Sox will end up with a season series record of 12-6 or better, then you have no problem.  Otherwise, you are like me.  You think that the possession arrow is squarely with the Yankees right now, and at some point the Yankees will get their wins against the Red Sox.  If the Red Sox go 7-6 in the remaining 13 games against the Yankees, they will end up 12-6 against the Yanks this year.  And it certainly could happen, don't get me wrong.  In fact, if you want to argue in their favor, you could say that the Red Sox play their best games in band box, HR happy parks, and all 13 games will be just such.  So you've got a case.  But just know that it would be against every single rule of the last 10-15 years between these two teams.  When the Red Sox came back from three runs down in the ninth against Mo to start the year in '07, A-Rod got Papelbon with a bomb later that year in the bottom of the ninth with two outs.  And so on and so on...  So the bad news if you're the Red Sox is that the Yanks will get their wins eventually.  And they're already a game up in the loss column.  So what else do the Sox have to worry about.  Well, they can't win on the road.  Again.  It cost them the division last year, and then it cost them the pennant.  And this year they're just as bad.  And the Blue Jays are right next to them.  The only team in the AL East that wins on the road is the Yankees.  But then again that was true last year too.  Whoops...  And although I say boneheaded things all the time, it seems I wasn't so far off on the Red Sox staff.  My points at the start of the year - everyone was thinking that Jon Lester, he of exactly one full season in baseball, would be an automatic stud this year (and for years to come).  I wanted to see him do it for two years, consistently.  Next - everyone was letting Dice K's numbers last year wash over what everyone could have and should have seen with their naked eyes - that he wasn't dominating anybody.  Eight wins when he didn't make it past the fifth inning last year should have been a clue.  Well, I felt that this year it would come home to roost.  So where are we this year?  Lester and Dice K have been awful, with ERA's of 5.6 and 9 as of today.  Beckett's also struggled, but at least he's got history on his side.  Lester and Dice K have one good year apiece.  Guys, you need more than that to anoint them a great staff.  The Red Sox even had to make up an injury for Dice K to try and get him right with some minor league starts, the same thing the Yankees did with Wang.  So the Red Sox have struggled just a tad with starting pitching.  Some seem to think Smoltz will be the answer.  Really?  Smoltz?  He's spent his entire career pitching in the comfy, cozy National League, he's coming off major arm surgery, and at times over the last five-six years has been absolutely abysmal.  You're going to throw this guy in the middle of the AL East at the age of 67 and expect that he's going to be the savior?  Okay.... 

Last thing on the Red Sox.  I got a big kick out of all of my Met fan friends pouring e-mails and texts to me after the inter-league series about what a-holes the Red Sox are.  Their big beef was Youkilis jawing at Santana after he leaned into a pitch with an 0-2 count and two outs ("Why would he jaw at him there??!!  It makes no sense that he was trying to hit him.  What a jack*ss!!) and the Papelbon incident ("Didn't he notice that the guy who got thrown out - Youkilis, the biggest whiner of them all - didn't even argue the call??!!  What was Papelbon doing charging out of the dugout??!!  I've never seen that before!  And Pedrioa was right behind him!  Unbelievable!!").  I just laughed and laughed.  "Yup," said I.  "That's the Red Sox."  It was therapeutic for me.  The Red Sox and Mets fans have always been kindred spirits, of course.  I get it.  Common enemy, etc.  Our boy Sean coined a great term for it - "Met Sox Nation."  So it seemed to me that the Met fans felt a little betrayed when the Red Sox went all jack*ss on them.  Newsflash to Met fans - don't be offended.  It's not you.  They do it to everybody.  They are the whiniest sports team I have ever seen.  The Kobe Lakers come close, admittedly.  But this Red Sox team is number one.  And as I've said many times before, it all starts with their captain, Varitek.  At least I think he's the captain.  It's tough to tell...  Oh no wait...  He's got that big ridiculous "C" on his uniform.  If you're captain acts like a whiny a-hole, your team is going to act like whiny a-holes.  I loved that when Beckett was whining about balls and strikes the other night, and Varitek jumped in and got tossed, people tried to act like he "took one to protect his pitcher."  They missed the point.  Why is his pitcher whining about balls and strikes in the first place?  First of all, the ball wasn't a strike.  Second of all, who does that?  Seriously.  How many pitchers can you think of in Major League Baseball that consistently whine about balls and strike calls?  Beckett, Lester, and Papelbon are maybe the worst offenders.  If Varitek was any kind of captain, his team wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place.  Met broadcaster Keith Hernandez said it best (speaking specifically to Papelbon, and with an incredulous tone in his voice); "Get back in the dugout!!"

Acc and I exchanged text messages last night.  Saying, basically, that it's fun being a Yankee fan again.  They're going to be there this year.  Even my Aunt May sent me an e-mail (yup, Aunt May is not afraid to be over 70 and sending e-mails) saying "The Yankees are playing great!"  Yes, Aunt May, the Yankees are playing great.  And for tonight, anyway, the breeze is cool, the sky is blue, the birds are chirping away, and the Yankees are in first place.  The world is finally right side up again... 

Walk-Off, Cubed

                I'm going to start with last week's post.  Because I'm so rarely right...  I flipped the game on last Tuesday when I got home, rolled my eyes, and went back downstairs to eat dinner with the missus and the baby boy.  The missus had whipped up some chili; the last of the year, said she, as the rainy, cold days of the spring were due to break any day.  Throw in some crusty brick-oven bread from Paneantico on Third Avenue and you've got yourself a fine Tuesday night dinner.  I was in no hurry to get back to the game.  As I detailed last week, I was pretty sure I knew how it was going to go.  And that's how it went.  Maddeningly.  I was pretty confident Burnett was going to pitch well.  He's been pitching well all year.  The only hiccup has been that one game at Fenway when he couldn't stop the usual ping-pong game at the original launching pad, Fenway Park.  And the Yankees don't handle the good pitchers the way they should, so they were going to be toast.  So sometimes I know what I'm talking about.  Or I just got lucky...

            This was a mighty fine stretch of exciting finishing for Yankee fans, I must say.  The last few years it seemed we were on the losing end of these things far more than the reverse.  So I'll take what transpired this last weekend with the Twins, whose last few seasons at Yankee Stadium have been the baseball version of Jennifer Aniston's love life.  Plucky, interesting, but ultimately sad.  For them.  Not for me.  Walking-off is no way to go through the season, of course, because the fact that you can't close the deal and need to keep relying on your last at-bat tells you that you've got things that need to be fixed.  Friday night was highway robbery.  A two-run deficit against Joe Nathan in the ninth inning, and then a run down with two outs, well, what can you say.  That was funkadelic.  Saturday's game should have been closed out before any extra-inning nonsense ever happened.  Joba put you in the driver's seat, and Phil Coke and Edwar Ramirez puked it right up.  You need to close that out.  And today's game was a great come-from-behind win, and the Yankees did a lot of things right, but the Ferocious Lion swung at ball four and ball five with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, taking a run and a lead off the board with two ill-advised swings.  And that crazy play in the ninth should have put Robbie Cano in the batter's box with one out and the fastest man in America on third.  In fact, I was scratching my head when, after Swisher walked and Gardner went in to pinch run, Melky bunted him over to third.  Why are you bunting there?  Just steal the base.  You've got a better-than-average chance he makes it, so why don't you just give it a whirl.  You left it up to Ramiro Pena/Francisco Cervelli with a runner on second and one out?  Didn't love that play.  Point is, the Yankees should have won that game before the dramatic Johnny Delicious swing.

            There were actually three defining plays in today's game for me.  Obviously one was the walk-off bomb.  The second was the crazy play in the ninth.  So let's go back to that crazy play for a second.  Was Gardner too aggressive?  Yes.  Do I have a big problem with it?  No.  I want the other team back on their heels.  I want them nervous that he's going to do something off-the-wall like that.  Fielders who are concerned about stuff like that will often rush things and find themselves butter-balling things.  I'll take it.  The hero of that play, obviously, was Joe Mauer.  It might have been the best play I've ever seen a catcher make.  The reason wasn't so much the athleticism (world-class) but the thought.  There was an out to be had at first.  He would have gotten Cervelli, and it would have been the second out, seemingly exactly what you would have wanted.  Watching the play live, I was surprised he didn't throw it.  After having a minute to drink the whole thing in, you realize why.  If he had thrown it, they never would have gotten Gardner coming around third.  Never.  And Gardner expected him to throw it, which is why he never broke stride.  Clever.  Mauer pump-faked it.  More clever.  Then he turned and won the foot race back to the plate.  Brilliant.  Other-worldly.  The other pivotal play was the Ferocious Lion tagging from third on Melky's pop-up to tie the game in the seventh.  That was a therapeutic moment for me, if I can be unnecessarily dramatic for a second.  I can't say it long enough or loud enough.  You have to go there.  Make them make a play.  If you play it safe and don't tag up in that spot, you're again relying on Ramiro Pena with two outs, and only a base hit gets it done.  This was an opportunity to force the issue.  The only thing the runner has to do in this case is not leave early and run as fast as he can.  The fielder has to catch it cleanly, transfer it cleanly to the throwing hand, make a strong throw that will beat the runner, throw it accurately enough to beat the runner, the catcher has to catch it cleanly and apply the tag cleanly and quickly enough to beat the runner.  Granted, if all of those things had happened the Ferocious Lion was a dead duck.  The ball wasn't that deep.  But when you look at what had to go right for the defenders, it was check, check, check, whoops.  Run scores.  This is how Mike Scoscia has been eating the Yankees' lunch for what seems like a century.  Kudos to Rob Thomson the third base coach.  I love the work he's doing down there.  That was the game, if you ask me.  That run doesn't score, and I'm probably still huddled in a corner shivering and muttering to myself about the Ferocious Lion swinging at balls four and five in the eighth.    

            The New York media has decided that Allie's return is the reason Tex has busted out.  Maybe, maybe not.  I tend to think that a guy whose average is hovering 100 points below his career number is going to turn it around at some point.  Might as well be now.  It is getting towards late May...  And although Allie clearly doesn't have his timing all the way back, you can't argue the difference he makes in a game.  Big-moment bombs on Saturday and Sunday.  Plain and simple, you didn't have anybody to hit those bombs for the first six weeks of the season.  Is Allie the reason they're 6-2 since he's come back?  Who knows.  But he hasn't hurt things...

            I hope they ride this wave a while.  It's nice to be back within striking distance.  And three days of walk-off wins is not a bad way to spend a weekend...       

Mother of Mercy


        Sad that it had come to this.  I was at my in-laws on Saturday night, finishing up some Mother's Day ice cream from Baskin Robbins.  I had watched the first half-inning of the game a couple of hours earlier, saw the Yanks fail to score in the first and watched Phil Hughes go 0-2 on the first batter while Michael Kay talked about his last outing, specifically about the fact that he didn't get an inch from the ump in his last start.  Then the chicken parm/pepper & egg heroes showed up.  And as I finished off my hero-and-a-quarter, I realized I didn't want to check the score.  I was afraid to check to score.  Sad, like I said.  Much later on, after my last spoonful of pistachio, I finally checked.  Sickening.  

       Fast forward to this afternoon.  I was discouraged.  No other way to say it.  I was about two hours behind the game, and I was blowing through it on the DVR in about 20 minutes.  It's Mother's Day, of course, and I was doing the heavy lifting with the boy today, while the missus took some time to relax.  I finally caught up in the bottom of the sixth before I got pulled away again.  Losing again.  At one point I wondered if the Yankees' season was on the line.  Of course it's early in the season, and you don't want to be too dramatic.  But still.  If the Yankees lost again, you'd be looking at 6 1/2 games out and sinking like a stone.  Last night I sent a text to Acc saying that I was "a hair away from writing off the 2009 Yankees as a joke."  I remember that 1992 Mets team that sparked the Sports Illustrated headline "The Worst Team Money Can Buy."  Man, is that what we were talking about here?  I found it hard to believe.  Looking at the Yankee roster, you had to scratch your head as to why this was happening.  It didn't make much sense.  Tough to argue with the results though.  And like I said, I was discouraged.  And then, Johnny Damon.  Again.  Thank you Johnny.  

       I had a few occasions to listen to some of the talk on sports radio shows on my iphone while out this past week for walks at lunch.  And judging by the tone of what I heard, there are plenty of negative voices out there chattering.  And I'm one of them, at times.  Just not on the radio.  So for today I'm going to throw a few things out there that are more on the glass-half-full side.  First of all, as I said early on, the Yankees had a tough draw early on in the season.  They played 15 of their first 21 on the road, and played a record-low 7 games at home in the entire month of April.  And then when they did come home, they had eight games to play against the Angels, Red Sox, and Rays, all in a row.  That's a pretty brutal first 29 games.  I know nobody likes to make excuses, but I've always said that the schedule will tell you a lot about your season.  When and how your tough stretches come will go a long way towards how your season will take shape.  If you look at what the Blue Jays are doing right now, it's extremely similar to what the Rays did last year.  They played a ton of games at home early and stayed away from the tough games on the schedule early.  By the time those tough games did show up, they were playing with a lot of confidence and had the benefit of a big lead in the standings.  Nice work if you can get it.  It doesn't always work out, as the Baltimore Orioles of a few years back can tell you.  But if you've got a good team that has a history of underachieving, you might find a spark.  The Yankees are in a "just hang on" stretch of their schedule.  Last year they went into one of these stretches just after the all-star break.  We talked about it here on the BPS at the time.  They didn't.  They tanked the latter part of that stretch, and their season was finished.  So it could be worse, folks.  But it's still not good.  Lucky to walk away with one today.

        I'll go back to the Michael Kay comment for a minute.  He talked about Phil Hughes getting squeezed by the umps against the Red Sox last week, while Jon Lester and Josh Beckett were getting some friendly calls all night.  Yankee fans have been whispering this for two years.  Phil Hughes and Joba can't buy a call.  It has a way of changing games, I'll tell you.  I know.  It's tough to excuse Hughes after getting smacked around for a thousand runs on Saturday.  I don't disagree.  But it has a way of changing games.  Take last Tuesday, for instance.  The Yankees were making a charge and got a stroke of bad luck when Melky Cabrera's sure RBI double bounced over the wall, forcing the tying run to return to third base (not the first time that would burn the Yanks this week, crazily).  Then, with bases loaded and one out, Ramiro Pena watches Beckett's 2-1 pitch sail about a foot outside the strike zone.  Strike.  It was awful.  Purely awful.  And as we've talked about many times, one strike call can completely turn a game around.  A 3-1 count became a 2-2 count, and it was all going to be downhill.  A pitcher getting a call like that is always more pronounced than a batter getting the call.  If the batter gets a call (i.e. a ball), the pitcher can simply throw to a different part of the zone.  If the pitcher gets a gift call, the umpire is trapped, and with him the batter.  The pitcher is going to go right back to the spot, because, as it's not really a strike, it's going to be impossible to hit with any authority.  And what's worse, the batter knows that the pitcher just got the pitch, and will probably get it again, so he has to swing.  And either he's going to miss or he's going to hit it weakly someplace.  This sequence played out to the letter after Beckett got the call, and Pena missed.  Threat over.  But that's not the call that bothered me most of all this past week.  Now, the Yankees have been terrible.  I get it.  They've lost, lost, lost.  But the one that sent me into fits was the Wednesday game against Tampa.  The Yankees get a huge two-run bomb to tie the game in the eighth (the first of many this week), and have first and second in the bottom of the ninth with one out.  Pena hits a dribbler to short and beats out the throw.  Call: out.  Replay: safe.  Clearly safe.  The everyone-in-the-ballpark-knew-it kind of safe.  Call: out.  Would have been bases loaded with one out, and Molina's long fly ball would have scored the winning run.  Ballgame over, Yankees win.  I know you can't assume things would have played out the same, but I'm saying bases loaded, one out there in the ninth, the Yankees win that game.  Period.  So that one bothered me.  Really bothered me.

        So that's my excuses/explanations segment.  Allie's back, so I'm feeling pretty good about that.  Headed up to Toronto.  Not feeling so good about that.  The Yankees are not going to go on a true run until they get a good string of games against the bummier teams.  And that's not Toronto and it's not Minnesota, the next two up.  

         Apropos of nothing, here's how the game is going to go on Tuesday.  The Yankees don't touch Halladay, Burnett pitches well but gives up a couple of tough runs.  As the game goes on the Yankees swing earlier and earlier in the count (after the game they'll say, "You have to swing early against him, because he's going to throw strikes.")  The Yankees are down 2-0 when Burnett comes out in the seventh, the Jays scratch out two more runs against the Yankee bullpen, and the Yankees get a cheap bomb off whoever pitches the ninth (Halladay will go eight).  Yanks lose 4-1.  The truth hurts, what can I say.  Maybe, by some stroke, between now and then they'll realize that the object is not to hit Halladay.  The object is to get Halladay out of the game.  Simple as that.  

         Happy Mother's Day everybody, love the BPS.  And Johnny Damon.....     

Rainy Sunday

"Dude..." Vino was yelling at me from the condiments table, holding up a bottle of barbeque sauce.  i motioned for him to chuck it over.  We were at the Brother Jimmy's Southern Barbeque stand at the Stadium on Friday night.  Vino, Big Willie, and I did Citi Field last week, and Friday night I hosted them up in Terrace Level Suites.  And as I was slathering hot sauce on my pulled pork sandwich, I was sinking into the dark hole that I go into when I'm watching things go south at a Yankee game.  It was a miserable night, rainy with the temperature in the 60's, yet somehow still humid and steamy.  Gross.  This was my second trip to the Stadium; the first, of course, being Opening Day against the Indians.  I made the fateful decision to drive from Brooklyn instead of taking the subway, and it was a disaster.  A trip that generally takes a half-hour took me an hour and ten.  Big Willie and Vino were waiting for me so long in Billy's Tavern across the street from the Stadium that they called me and asked if they should just buy a ticket and go in.  We finally made it in with two outs in the top of the third.  Needless to say, I missed the Yankee four-run first inning.  So when the Angels started pouring the runs in as we were walking to Brother Jimmy's in the sixth inning, it occurred to me that my experience at the new Stadium had been abysmal.  When the situation bottomed out and the Yankees were down 9-4, some quick math told me that, because I missed the four-run inning, I had seen the Yankees score exactly one run in the new Stadium, while I had seen the Yankee opponents score 19.  19-1.  That was my Yankee Stadium experience.  "I hate this place," I announced to Vino.  He was trying to be diplomatic.  "Two games, dude.  No bid deal."  I would not be denied.  "Nope.  I hate it.  19-1?  How am I supposed to feel good about this place?  I hate it."  I sent a text to Acc.  "I hate this Pepsi h*ll-hole."  "You're a very pessimistic fan, dude," Vino decided.  "I'm a very pessimistic in-game fan," I corrected him, "I'm an optimistic between-game fan."  It was  a very important distinction, and one I fully stand behind.  I'll be the first to admit that I'm an awful guy to watch a game with.  I always think the sky is falling.  But I'm very pragmatic as soon as I'm able to shake off an individual loss.  In any case, I called Acc (I'm shocked he took my call, as he knew full well I was going to be a lunatic), and he tried to talk me off the ledge.  It all looked bleak.  And then, wow.  Yankee Stadium was back.  We were back.  The Yankees were back.  The magic was back.  Before you know it I was singing New York, New York with Vino at the top of my lungs, Big Joe was calling with congrats, and a text from Acc appeared on my phone.  "Yes buddy, this Stadium loves u."

      I'll take it.  Two out of three against the Angels is not easy for the Yankees.  It's been well documented that these Yankees have had all kinds of fits against the Angels in the last thirteen years, with the Angels playing kryptonite to the Superman Yankees.  Nothing else you can say.  It's been brutal.  The Saturday game was a shame, though.  In results-oriented Yankeeland, C.C. Sabathia took a beating for losing his third game in four decisions, although the story has not been that bad.  You want to kill Wang?  Be my guest.  You want to kill the bullpen, I'll yawn while you do it.  But C.C. was great on Saturday.  Shutout inning after shutout inning, betrayed only by Jeter's error.  Then he got a huge strikeout and couldn't get the last out.  It should never have come to that.  Facing a thirty year-old rookie, the Yankees should have been nursing a 5 run lead by then.  They let the guy completely off the hook in the first inning and then went to sleep until the 9th.  Tricky strategy, boys.  Bottom line; C.C. will show up as a member of this team when all is said and done.

       I've spent a good part of the season saying I don't like this Yankee lineup, and they've spent a good part of the season scoring a million runs, making me sound like I don't have the slightest idea what I'm talking about.  Not a problem, as I often don't.  I've killed Melky in particular, and although he's had some really bad at-bats in big spots, he's also had some clutch hits in big spots and some decently patient at-bats as well.  So things are still up in the air, as far as I'm concerned.  I don't know what I think.  I do think the best news thus far, though, has been the resurrection of the Ferocious Lion.  Shaky on the knees at the start of the season, often in the seven and eight hole, he's slowly started taking the ball the other way, hammering it with authority, and most importantly, driving in runs.  He can be found in the clean-up spot these days, and that's great news for the Yanks.  Especially when they get their two best bats back, Allie from the DL and Texeira from whatever planet he's been spending the last month on.  I know we all heard the guy was a slow starter, but whoa.  Last time I looked he was hitting .182.  That's pretty weird.  This is what Cano did last year.  I hope that wrist is healthy, because when they talk about Texeira as a notoriously slow-starter, they're talking about him hitting .250 in April.  Not .182.  I hope it's soon.  This offense will be tough if the Ferocious Lion, A-Rod, Texeira, and Cano can come together at some point.

      Funny.  The Red Sox were laughing hard and long last week when Ellsbury stole home against the Yankees.  The cameras kept finding their way back to the dugout where the Red Sox, while backslapping and high-fiving, were all having an uproarious laugh.  Not laughing so hard today, when Carl Crawford tied the record for stolen bases in one game against them, were they....  Congratulations, Varitek.  Couldn't have happened to a bigger d*ck.  What does that "C" on your jersey stand for?  "Can't?"  Keep laughing guys...

       While we're at it, the Red Sox have not solved their chief bugaboo from '08.  They can't win on the road.  It cost them the pennant last year, and so far this year, the story is just as bad.  The Red Sox are a fabulously resilient team and a brilliantly patient offense.  They get as much mileage out of their home park as humanly possible.  Their famous patience is compounded by their almost-as-famous whining, with guys like Youkilis, Pedrioa, and Varitek throwing their heads around and gesticulating wildly when calls don't go their way.  I have no data around it, but I'd love to know what the ball-strike ratios for the Red Sox look like at home versus on the road.  Combine that with all the righty Red Sox bats doinking balls off of the monster, and you've got one dangerous home team.

       So the Yankees have drawn the top two Red Sox starters this week.  Again.  Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain had a good start apiece, but the Red Sox are not a good draw for those guys.  They need to pound the zone, then pound it again and again.  Otherwise, the pitch count will go up, and the bullpen will make an early appearance.  Never good.  I didn't see Hughes's last start, but the last few years his problem has been the inability to finish hitters off.  He had the Dice-K problem.  He could throw a lot of pitches for strikes, but everybody would foul off his 2-strike pitches and his pitch counts would go sky-high.   I don't love the match-up in either game.

      Yanks vs. Sox in the new Stadium.  I'll be there Tuesday night with Acc and Tony Sherry...

      If this rain ever stops..... 

Awesome Guys. Awesome.

"I mean, dude, which is it?  In or out?  You need to decide dude.  None of this sometimes cr*p, whenever you want."  It was Saturday afternoon, beautiful and sunny, and Vino was breaking my chops about my sporadic posts as we sat in section 110 at Citi Field taking in the Mets-Nationals game.  Big Willie was with us.  "I go on there every day, and nothing.  Nothing, nothing, and nothing.  If you're not going to do it, shut it down dude.  Or at least pick a day and do a post that day, once a week."  Of course, he's right.  I don't have any excuses.  Just my own laziness...  So at the very least, I'm going to try to do Sunday nights.  Here we go....

    I just watched Mike Francesa crush the Yankees for the last 12 minutes on "Mike'd up," the show he does every Sunday night here in the New York Metro area at 11:30pm.  Francesa is as pompass as they come, but he is a unique sports commentator in the New York area for one reason.  He's a Yankee fan.  It's kind of funny.  With two 24-hour all-sports radio networks and four New York-based TV sports channels, there is exactly one guy who roots for the Yankees.  Everybody, but absolutely everybody, is a Met fan.  Not sure why that is...  But this is why I'm curious as to Francesa's take, because at least I know he's not another Met fan reveling in Yankee problems, coming at it with an agenda.  He's not going to pull a lot of punches.  The Mets guys usually take a sky-is-falling posture with the Yankees, often seemingly trying to make it so.  So tonight, Francesa was laying waste to the Yankees, saying that the organization from to to bottom is completely and totally out-classed by the Red Sox, and that it was on display in spades this weekend.  And he's not the only one.  There's a lot of that flying around today...

    So I'll take a little bit different posture.  Not because I don't agree with a lot of what Francesa said, but because I'm not as completely convinced that we can put this in the book and call it a season.  So if you're going to accuse me of looking at the world through Yankee glasses, for today at least, I'm completely guilty.

    A couple of reasons this weekend was not as defining as people will make it out to be:  The Yankees were playing with a depleted lineup.  We all know about A-Rod.  Matsui is still not 100% (who knows how healthy he will get, but he started the weekend clearly not healthy).  Mark Texeira, an always-awful hitter in April, was playing in, well, April.  Nady is out, and the Yankees haven't had a chance to plug that hole.  Nick Swisher was not brought to this team to hit in the 3,4, or 5 hole.  Yet that's where he's hitting.  All of this meant that the Yankee bats were not anywhere near where they will eventually be in a month or two.  And yet the Red Sox needed the miracle Friday night to beat them, and had to get every nugget of offense they could on Saturday when this battered Yankee lineup hung 8 runs on their best pitcher, and another 3 on their bullpen.  The Red Sox only have one injury to their lineup right now, and it's in the nine-hole.  Most of their hitters are perfectly healthy and on fire.  They have six guys in their lineup hitting .293 or better.  And the Red Sox bullpen, which was widely touted as a strength, was clobbered by the Yankees, giving up runs in key spots and creating jams all over the park.  Even Papelbon struggled in both of his outings.  The Yankee bullpen, never touted as a strength, was devastated on Friday when Brian Bruney, who had been electric lights-out this year, was unexpectedly sent to the DL at the worst possible time.  And perhaps most importantly, there is one thing you have to remember when looking at this weekend's mess.  The Red Sox got to enjoy their meaty, soft, succulent, home ballpark.  The Red Sox are a magical ballclub in their own home park.  Don't get me wrong; good teams tend to make their own magic at home.  But the Red Sox have made it almost comical.  They've always been a plucky bunch, but in this ten-game home stand they came back from 7 runs down in one game, 6 runs down in another, and pulled off a down-two-with-two-outs miracle against Mo in the bottom of the ninth.  Say whatever you want.  That stuff doesn't happen on the road, and it won't happen twice in one season.  The Red Sox can enjoy that one, because at some point this season, the Yankees will get it back.  And neither team gets two...  That's how it goes with these two teams.  There is a lot that has to go right to pull one of those off, and luck is a huge part of it.  And the last point along those lines is that the Red Sox have now played 12 of their first 18 games in Fenway.  Last year they were otherworldly at Fenway and mediocre on the road.  And it cost them the pennant, as they couldn't beat Tampa in Tampa when they had to.  They could pull off one of their miracles in Fenway, but they couldn't close the deal on the road.  And their road record this year is exactly 3-6.  The Yankees, meanwhile, will play 15 of their first 21 games on the road, including a franchise-record low 7 games at home in the entire month of April.  Make of it what you will.

      My big issue with the Red Sox before the season began was that their starting pitching was not as good as people were making it out to be.  And over these three games, I saw absolutely to convince me otherwise.  Their top two guns, Beckett and Lester, were not good in their own home park.  Lester was bad, Beckett was absolutely disgusting.  And Justin Masterson, whose outing will be portrayed prettier than it was as a few days go by, made it five and a third innings and ran out of gas.  My big beef with the Yankees was that their lineup was not that good.  Again, I remain convinced.  I still don't think Nady is the answer, so they need to find another bat.  A-Rod needs to come back, Matsui needs to get healthy, and they need to go get another bat.  This is only more crucial now that we know that Yankee Stadium is going to have more trouble keeping balls in play than the old Kingdome. 

     A couple of other points.  Melky Cabrera is Joe Girardi's siren.  Girardi seems to be mesmerized by the fact that Melky is a switch hitter.  He can't resist the lure of Melky's decent outfielding, slightly above average speed, and of course, his spellbinding ability to switch hit.  What Girardi doesn't realize is that Melky Cabrera is a cancer in a lineup.  Steer your ship too close and it will crash in a rocky heap.  Swinging at bad pitches, a pathetic approach at the plate, and an absolute guaranteed out with men on base, Melky Cabrera cannot be a part of your lineup if you want to win.  Period.  He needs to go.

    So outside of the playoffs, this had to be three of the most satisfying days of baseball in Boston that there ever was.  What else could you ask for if you're the Red Sox?  I guess it could be the harbinger of things to come, of a season in which Boston solidifies its dominance.  But if you've watched this rivalry over the last few years, it was too perfect.  These series always seem to even out.  And as I always say, if you look at history, this always happens.  The Red Sox always find a way to beat the Yankees.  They always find a way to end up on top, to get the last laugh.  No matter what they try, or how hard they fight, the Yankees just can't find a way to beat the Red Sox....in April.     

Back in the Bronx

     The audio on the mlb app on my iphone kicked in just as I walked past the Stock Exchange.  "Joe Maddon is managing this game like it's the seventh game of the World Series," remarked Suzyn Waldman.  "He's about to use his fifth pitcher."  Nick Swisher, apparently, had just k'd for the second out in the eighth.  Johnny Damon had tied the score earlier in the inning with a double down the line.  And Suzyn Waldman was right.  Maddon was strangely h*ll-bent on winning this game.  Where the h*ll was the Big Boy?  He should have been all over this.  I should have been getting texts, updates.  I got nothing.  Luckily, the iphone came to the rescue.  Unfortunately, As the 4 train came rumbling into the station at Bowling Green, I clipped out just as Girardi was bringing on Bruney to relieve Pettitte.  When I emerged at 95th St in Brooklyn 40 minutes later, the first thing that popped onto my screen was a text from Vino.  "Jeter!" it said.  I knew things must have ended well.  Quickly tapping the mlb app again, it was official:  4-3.  Sorry Joe Maddon.  Five pitchers weren't enough.  Neither were six.  The Captain strikes again.

      I didn't love the Yankee lineup when the season began.  I still don't love it.  I didn't like Nady, as I look at him to be a .278 hitter with maybe 17 bombs and 68 rbi.  I feel like we swapped out Abreu for Texeira, two guys who have put up very similar numbers in their careers; both patient hitters.  Jeter, Posada, and Damon are another year older, I hate Cano's approach at the plate, and who knows what Gardner is going to give you.  Let's leave Allie Rod aside for the time being.  The big surprise has been Swisher, obviously.  Mike Sherry is convinced he's going to be this year's Lenny Kozlowski (Scott Brosius).  Tony Sherry said he might surpass the Ferocious Lion as his favorite player.  But aside from him, the fears have been borne out, to some extent.  The Yankees in a perfect world, would score more runs.  But I'm not expecting too much.  Hopefully Al Rod comes back with some pop.  And hopefully the Ferocious Lion can stay healthy.  Or get healthy.  Stop hitting in the point-zero-teens, anyway...

       The good news, obviously, is the starting pitching has been as advertised.  Except for that first egg from Sabathia and the two Wang disasters, the Yankees have gotten extremely strong outings from their starters.  That's why they were able to come back with a winning record on a nine-game road trip to start the season.  Burnett has been extra-special.  Man, if he can pitch like he did last year, the Yankees will win some games.  As it is, they should do well at avoiding prolonged slumps with those starters.  I hope they can keep it up.

     They were killing Texeira on the radio this week for not playing in those three games.  For any of that Tex-bashing to ring true, you have to buy into the idea that this wrist injury is indeed "a little tendonitis" that "should be gone in a couple of days."  I'm not so sure.  I'm a  bit nervous about that.  Too many times you see a guy who has this mysterious injury to a key body part pop up that ends up getting worse and sidelining them for a chunk of the season.  Big HGH went through this just last year.  I don't like it...  

     Nady is now going to be gone for an "extended period of time," apparently.  I don't really care.  The only issue is you just got a little less deep off the bench.  I wanted to play Swisher over Nady anyway.  Well, as of last week anyway.  Before that I couldn't for the life of me understand why they would ever get a bum like that to play for this team.  But what do I know....

       I'm going to be at the Stadium tomorrow, so I'll try and do some sort of journal on my day.  Maybe I'll even post some updates via the iphone.  Probably not, as I am the laziest man on Earth.  But maybe.

      I watched the Mets opening ceremony at Citi Field the other night.  The poor Mets.  I remember when they closed the Stadium last year, and Tom Terrific bounced that pitch to Piazza before they closed the gates.  How fitting, I remember thinking.  I also remember thinking it was fitting that they closed it on a day that the Mets put the cherry on the top of yet another devastating late season collapse.  The poor Mets...  So there they were the other night, opening up brand-spanking new Citi Field, as pretty as a picture.  And when Seaver threw out the first pitch to Piazza, it was a strike right down the middle.  Maybe this really will be a new era for the Mets, I thought.  Maybe the cosmos will align for them.  And then Pelfrey (Really?  Pelfrey is your Citi-Field opening starter?  Really?) puts the first pitch right over for a strike.  The crowd went bananas.  Maybe it really will be different, I thought.  And then Jody Gerut smashes the third pitch of the game out of the park.  The first-ever regular season batter at Citi Field.  Can it get any worse?  Yes, actually.  After the Mets thrillingly tied the score on a three-run bomb by David Wright, they end up losing on... a balk.  Dude....  The poor Mets.   Hey, love the ballpark, though.  Great spot.  And I thought the opening ceremonies were great.

      One thing strikes me about the new Stadiums in New York. They really are a reflection of the guys who run things right now.  Guys in their late fifties, early sixties.  The new Yankee Stadium is really an homage to the old Yankee Stadium, which is cool.  I'm all for the history.  It just means a little less to me because I was never in the old Stadium.  I grew up in the post-1976 Stadium.  Like I said, still cool, just less relevance for a guy like me.  Citi Field is also an homage, to the old Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, where Fred Wilpon used to wile away summer afternoons as a kid with his dad.  The one and only thing about that field that could have been improved was its location.  Ebbets Field looked perfectly in place on Sullivan Street in Brooklyn, as the angled entrance sat on a street corner, with all of the atmosphere of the Brooklyn neighborhood wrapped around it like a cozy sweater.  Citi Field still sits in the middle of a parking lot, essentially, so the shape of the Stadium looks a bit confused.  And you miss out on the atmosphere of a surrounding neighborhood.  Great once you're inside, though.  I haven't been there yet, but I'm going next weekend.  Another sign the old guys are in charge: Seaver and Piazza walked from the bullpen to the mound with "Beginnings" by Chicago blasting from the sound system.  Appropriate enough title, I guess, but you're talking about a song that was recorded five years after Shea Stadium opened.  A curious choice, I thought.   

       Excited about the big day in the Bronx, boys.  Here's hoping we start things off right.

Banner Start

     Well I thought that went well, no?  Awesome.  That's what I call getting things started.

     Here's my problem with C.C. Sabathia.  Don't get me wrong.  I liked the move, I was psyched they made it, all of that.  But you just can't go by the National League.  Does anybody remember that CC was a decidedly average pitcher last year before he went to the National League?  I'm always skeptical of these guys who are lights-out in the NL. Not that CC exactly qualifies as Jake Peavy, Trevor Hoffman, Roy Oswalt, etc.  He's been a stud in the AL his whole career.  But he rode that NL wave last year right to the monster contract.  You just can't trust the NL.  And today he was a fat disaster.  Fat.  Disaster.

     Guthrie always gives the Yankees fits.  I checked the score somewhere around the third inning and Guthrie was around 47 pitches and the Yanks were up by a run.  I hoped the patience and discipline would kick in.  I hoped guys like Mark Texeira and Johnny Damon would set the tone by wearing Guthrie down and getting into the hapless Baltimore bullpen early.  This was my greatest issue with the 2008 version of the Yankees.  They were like Daniel Baldwin on Celebrity Rehab.  No self-control.  Everybody was swinging out of their shoes trying to get one to hit early in the count.  The best pitchers feasted on that silliness, gobbling up outs more quickly than Tricky gobbled up cheese doodles with his orange sausage-fingers.  Often the toughest pitchers would still be standing on the mound in the eighth inning, the beneficiaries of the Yankees' juvenile impatience.  So I really can't tell you what went down today.  I didn't see a lot of the game.  It was 6-3 when I left work, 6-5 when I got out of the subway, and 8-5 thirty seconds after I got out of the subway.  The story today was CC's fat *ss getting kicked all over Baltimore.  And I guess Texeira going 0-4 and leaving guys sagging all over the bases was a sidebar.  With the Yankee bullpen getting gob-smacked a light dessert.  An all-around giggle of a day, befitting the dark, cold misery hanging over New York City all day today.

     So there's your Opening Day.  What's next.  Acc sent me a text a few minutes ago lamenting tomorrow's  off day.  I sent one back clarifying that the off day after your big (literally) acquisition gets crullered and your new big bat goes o-fer with ducks all over the pond is really what brings the pain.  Is CC going to be a big bust?  I doubt it.  He'll get his wins.  The O's had a monster day today.  I think the Yanks will right their ship.  I just don't want to endure another miserable start and have to play catch-up all year again.  I've had it with that....

     Besides.  I knew this was going to happen.  The Yanks won a million games in the spring, including their last fifty in a row (I might be exaggerating that slightly).  And then they lose when it counts.
 
     So Acc sat in our new seats last weekend.   He said they were okay.  Section 24 is long since a memory, I'm afraid.  We're back in the upper tank, from whence we came.  One note on the new Stadium.  Terrible job in giving Pepsi exclusive rights to the beverages in the concessions.  I don't care if you prefer Coke or Pepsi, you have to respect the fact that Coke is the brand that perhaps best represents the American institution; the champ.  The hunted.  Pepsi will forever be the little guy chasing the champ.  Pepsi is a Met brand.  A Red Sox brand.  The Yankees and Coke are synonymous.  Awful job by the Yanks chasing a buck.  You need to protect your brand.  For that reason and for that reason alone, I'm sour on the new Stadium.  

     But not this 2009 Yankee team...  I'll think they'll be fine...
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