Long Road

            I just heard the news.  Favre is going to the New York Mets.  Wow.  It's big, dude.  What can you say.  It's a huge story here in New York.  Everyone's talking about it.  And just in time, too.  Wagner's hurt, John Maine is on the DL....  The only question is what to do with him.  Can he start, can he relieve?  Tough to say, as he hasn't technically played baseball in his sixteen year professional sports career.  Doesn't really matter, though.  The guy throws gas.  Brett and the Mets is a good fit.  Just the other day Jose Reyes was doing his Brett Favre imitation, waving his finger in the air from home plate to second base after he hit a home run.  It was the sixth inning, but hey, he'll learn.  Brett will teach him the difference.  The only question left is - will this officially seal the NL East for the Mets?  I don't think there's any way that...whoops....wait a minute....never mind. 

            Sean's boy, the Moose, has now tied Cliff Lee for the American League lead in wins.  Dude, I'll just say it.  I'm flabbergasted.  I had absolutely no idea this was coming.  I was listening to the radio broadcast tonight as I was driving back from my mom's house, and Suzyn Waldman had an interesting nugget.  Early in the season, when Moose had put up his second great start after the somewhat rough start, Suzyn Waldman commented to Mariano Rivera, "That was vintage Mussina tonight, no?"  And Mo replied, "No that was vintage David Cone.  Moose has re-learned how to pitch.  You'll see."  Interesting insight.  Well done, Suzyn Waldman.  And I think that somehow our boy Sean has had something to do with Moose's big start.  I've noted that Moose just happened to start his run this season the day his daughter Ava was born.

               So I'll touch on it because I haven't touched on it yet.  Jason Bay is a nice player.  He has started out like a house on fire for the Red Sox, and they were smart to get him.  And I love Brian Giles.  He's another high OBP, grind-it-out guy who wears down pitchers and knows how to hit in situations.  When you can send guys like Casey, Youkilis, Pedroia, Giles out there every night, you are going to torture opposing pitchers.  And I know the Red Sox faithful would like to believe that they haven't missed a beat with Bay.  But they took the same posture when Scott Cooper replaced Wade Boggs.    The bottom line is this.  The Red Sox don't get guys to put up numbers or to help you beat the Royals on the road.  The true test for anyone wearing a Red Sox uniform is this.  What will you do with the tying run on second with two outs in the ninth inning and Mariano Rivera staring at you on the mound?  Manny was a fearless hurricane in those spots.  And the Red Sox will have a tough time getting that back.

            So maybe Joe Girardi can explain this to me.  The Yankees are down three runs to the Rangers last Tuesday night.  Giambi walks to load the bases with one out.  You've got Pudge Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera available.  You've already hit for Molina with Giambi, so Pudge is going in the game regardless.  So Girardi sends in Pudge to pinch run for Giambi, and Melky to pinch-hit for Justin Christian.  Help me here.  Melky, who can't hit but can run, gets to hit, and Pudge, who runs okay for a ninety-seven year old but is the all-time hits leader for the Rangers, is sent in to pinch run.  Joe.  Please listen.  Melky is terrible.  Take the lefty-righty match-up page in your manager manual, rip it out, and throw it away.  Today.  Please.  Melky never hits before Pudge.  I don't care if he can hit lefty.  That's almost as dumb as Billy Martin sending up Mike Pagliarulo to hit righty against a left-hander.  Come on, dude.

            Allie.  Wow.  Ken Singleton and David Cone were talking about his being 0-15 in this series.  That doesn't begin to tell this story.  He also hit into four double plays, three with two guys on base, and stranded everybody with less than 2 out while not moving anybody over.  He was thoroughly and completely lost.  I can only hope he finds what's missing in Anaheim.

            The Yankees have six games left in this brutal 20-game stretch they've been on.  They're 7-7 so far.  You knew they were going to bleed some games in the standings.  If they can hang on, somehow, over the next six games, they'll be in a good position to make a move over the last month-and-a-half.  It won't be easy.  They've got Ian Kennedy, Dan Giese, and probably Rasner going against the best team in baseball over the weekend in their own little private house of horrors.  I'm trying to be optimistic, here, but I need somebody to point me in the direction of which game is our best chance to win.  I guess it's the Friday game, as they're going against Weaver, who can be had.  So let's see.  I'm saying our best chance to win this weekend is Ian Kennedy, who is 0-3 with a .741 ERA and hasn't pitched in the major leagues since sweatshirt weather.  Just wanted to revisit that for a second.  Let's move on.

            Apologies for the choppiness of the posts lately, as I've been on vacation this week and will be part of next.  Looking for 3-3 in the last 6 on the road.  Looking for it.  See you next week.