Ortiz to Yankees?.... oh why not?

It just keeps getting worse for a Red Sox fan.
Each day I wake up there is another factor to throw on to the "Winning 2 World Series should buffer the pain of this" pile.

You have the great collapse.
You have that agonizing last day.
You have the dismissal of Francona.
You have Theo jumping ship.
You have the disgusting character assassination of Francona.
You have the realization that the players remaining were gutless down the stretch.
You have to fear that the corporate stooges are going to turn the Red Sox into the Mets... expensive, old and non contending.

And today?
Ortiz says he might jump ship to the Yankees.

It's not going to happen. Not because of some team loyalty but because it makes sense for the Yankees to make Alex Rodriguez their full time DH.

But can anyone be stunned anymore?
Can anything else even rile us Red Sox fans up?

Right now, I am in full Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump mode, screaming at the rain and wind. "You Call This A Storm!"

I can take anything.

Don't gloat today, Red Sox fans... just grin

Hey fellow Red Sox fans... do me a favor. Stay off the Yankee message boards today.
Don't write on Yankee blogs and don't gloat.

Yeah the Yankees did a faceplant and couldn't take advantage of having Verlander rained out to only one start. They stranded a 25 man roster on base last night and A-Rod is back to being a goat.

Trust me, I understand. I LOVE the sight of the Yankees staring from the dugout with the collective "How did it get to here?" 1,000 yard stare.

It's great.
I'm reading all the articles breaking down the Yankee's disappointing ending which are all basically the same article that has been written EVERY fall since 2001 with the exception of 2009.

I'm watching the clips.

But I'm not gloating.

The Red Sox did an epic collapse and couldn't make the playoffs.
The Yankees collapse wasn't epic. It was more of a whimper.

So yeah, it takes a little of the sting out knowing that there won't be ANOTHER parade in New York.

But that's not reason to gloat.
Just grin and revel in a little Schadenfreude.

A strange universe for the Yankees

The Yankees have just finished a playoff series and are getting ready to hit the golf course.
And their year ended in Bizarro World manner.

Who fizzled for the Yankees?
CC Sabathia did.
So did Jeter for the most part. And Teixeira. And A-Rod. And Swisher.

Who came through in the clutch?
That would be A. J. Burnett.

The Yankees outhit the Tigers and had an ERA 2 runs lower than the Tigers... and yet lost the series.

Strange days indeed... most peculiar mamma.

Some perspective from my son

I watched the end of the Yankees/Tigers game with my sons. My boy Matty, who is starting to figure out baseball, was rooting for the Tigers because "they have the strongest legs."

When the game ended with Alex Rodriguez striking out he saw how happy the Tigers were.

But he also saw how sad the Yankees were.

"Why are they so sad?" He asked.

"Because they lost and their season is over." I replied.

"Well the Yankees should know it isn't about winning but about having lots of fun!" Matty replied.

I nodded.

I wonder how that sentiment will go over in the Yankee front office.

A. J. Burnett earned $41,250,000.00 last night

When A. J. Burnett signed a 5 year $82.5 million contract, I scratched my head. I thought "Are the Yankees ever going to get full value from that?"

And for the most part, Burnett has been a rotten signing.
But whenever someone trashes Burnett, a defender is quick to point out that he won the critical Game 2 of the 2009 World Series.

Had he been bombed that night, the Yankees would have been down 0-2 going back to Philadelphia. It would have changed the entire complexion of the World Series.

He earned his money that day.

And last night, with the season on the line, Burnett didn't pitch like an ace but he pitched well enough to send the series back to New York for a do or die game.

Two critical post season games in the past three seasons that Burnett has won.

So those two games might have justified the contract.
And last night he earned half of his contract.

I wonder if before last night's game I asked Yankee fans "would you have the Yankees pay $41,250,000 for a win tonight?" if they would say yes.

Turns out that's JUST what the Yankees did.

Hats off to Rivera... the greatest closer ever

Mariano Rivera didn't need to pass Trevor Hoffman on the All Time Saves list to take the title of Greatest Closer Ever.

Hoffman, while a fine closer, isn't in Rivera's league.
Only Gossage, Fingers, Wilhelm and Eckersley should be mentioned in Rivera's company. And with no offense to them (nor to Sutter, Quisenberry and Tug McGraw) Mariano is the greatest.

Yeah he doesn't throw the innings that Fingers, Gossage, Lyle or the like threw.
Nobody has done what Rivera does better: Make the 9th inning a foregone conclusion.

And here's the scary thing: Remember when Rickey Henderson passed Lou Brock and declared himself the greatest of all time? We laughed but was he wrong?

Rickey broke Lou Brock's stolen base record when he swiped his 939th base in 1991.
He would play for another 12 seasons and stole 467 more bases.

That's going to be Rivera with saves.
Does he show ANY signs of slowing down?
Is there ANY reason to believe he won't still be an elite closer in 2 or 3 years?

That's why I BEGGED the Red Sox to sign Rivera to a multi year deal last winter.

I have written a lot of positive things about Rivera... a lot considering I am a Red Sox fan.

I drove home the fact that Hoffman is NO Rivera.
I saluted him...
I argued he was the difference over the other playoff teams in 2009....
I argued that he should have won the World Series MVP in 2009...

And I pointed out that if you thought he was overrated then you are an idiot.

Jeter got more fanfare for his 3,000th hit.
Rivera's accomplishment was more muted.

Why?
Because Rivera didn't need it to claim the title of "Best Ever" at what he does.

New Sully Baseball Video "John Sterling Through History"

In the latest Sully Baseball Video, I try to imagine what John Sterling's home run calls would have been like through history.

It's scary stuff.

As always, all the videos can be seen on The Sully Baseball Short Form TV channel.

If the Orioles don't win today, they should be contracted

The Orioles have done everything in their power to drive me nuts this week.
They score 10 against the Yankees one night and lose.
Yesterday they let 2 homers in the 7th sink them.

Today the Yankees are doing everything in their power to hand the game to the Orioles.
The lineup today looks like a split squad spring training game.

Nunez leading off? Andruw Jones batting 5th? The kid Montero batting 6th? Laird, Golson and Pena rounding out the lineup?

And if putting in the Junior Varsity team wasn't enough, A. J. Burnett is pitching.
The 1919 White Sox put up a better fight in the World Series than this team, and they were TRYING to lose.

If you lose this Baltimore, I will do everything in my power to remove the franchise from the big leagues and put a AAA franchise in the AL East.

Get to work!

Come on CC! Have ONE more bad outing in you

The Red Sox could very well be handing the Cy Young Award to Justin Verlander this year.

Why?

Because CC Sabathia has been so terrific against every other team except the Red Sox.

His numbers are Cy Young contender worthy.

17-7 record. 2.99 ERA. 205 innings pitched. 4th in the league in strikouts with 191.



But his WHIP and BAA fall far short.

And I wonder how much of that (plus his ERA which is good but not top 5) is due to his rancid 0-4 record against the Red Sox with a big fat 7.20 ERA.



If he were merely mediocre against the Sox he'd be a 19 game winner among the league leaders of ERA and maybe a few more strikeouts thrown in there.



Now the law of averages say that Sabathia will be good today.

And the Yankees are facing John Lackey, so his performance will probably be filed under "Who the hell knows?"



That being said...

One more Sabathia loss would not only mean the Magic Number for the Division would be 26 going into September...



Not only mean that the favorable match ups of Beckett vs. Hughes and Lester vs. Burnett would finish the series...



Not only give the Red Sox a 2 1/2 game lead (2 in the loss column over the Yankees)...



But put the ole "We're just not as good" doubt in the Yankees cranium.



That's always a good thing.

Let's play ball.

Um... Didn't A-Rod help the Yankees win a World Series?

There was a very odd article in the New York Times by Harvey Araton from the other day. The great Lisa Swan of Subway Squawkers pointed it out to me.



The premise of the article had to do with Alex Rodriguez and his body that could very well be breaking down. His multiple trips to the disabled list in the past few years seem to confirm that.



And yeah, the contract is going to last until I think 3295.



But the article is odd for two reasons.

It implies that he hasn't been an elite player for a dozen years when in fact he was the AL MVP as recently as 2007.



And he kinda sorta helped the Yankees win a World Series.

In fact he hit critical "Game on the line Game Tying Homers" in the Division Series and ALCS and clobbered a key homer in the World Series.



He won the Babe Ruth Award. He had an OPS over 1.500 in both the Division Series and ALCS. It was .973 in the World Series.



Most players who win multiple MVPs and was instrumental in a World Series Championship are kind of revered in a city.



Even one with the baggage of steroids hanging over them. (See Pettitte, Andy.)



I'm not saying that the contract WON'T be an albatross... but shouldn't the 2009 title put a LITTLE in his credit column?

What if Hideki Irabu had signed with the Padres?

Hideki Irabu, one of the fastest throwers in Japanese baseball history and his leagues greatest strikeout artist, died today in Los Angeles County. The first reports say it looks like a suicide.

For a pitcher who has been the butt of many jokes and a Frank Costanza rant, there suddenly is nothing funny about him. Like Donnie Moore before him, a player who was a source of ridicule suddenly became a tragic figure.

In 1997 he was brought to New York as a newly minted millionaire potential hero and given the key to city by Rudy Guiliani and a spot in the defending World Champion Yankees' rotation. 11 years later his credit card was declined in a bar in Japan and he got into a brawl.

And today, trying to find work in an independent minor league, he was found dead.

Sitting at my dining room table, I can't sit and pretend to know all of Irabu's demons. Clearly anyone who could go through with ending their own life has plenty. But it is impossible to avoid the thought that failing on such a grand scale in New York may have contributed to his downfall. Joe Torre had him on the roster for the 1998 and 1999 post season but used him in a single game over 6 series. He pitched in mop up duty for Roger Clemens' dreadful Game 3 start in the 1999 ALCS.

I remember being startled when he came out of the bullpen against the Red Sox that day. I forgot he was even on the team.

He became a symbol of a Steinbrenner move to make a backpage splash and tap into the Japanese market instead of improving the team. (Of course if he delivered, Steinbrenner would have taken the credit of being forward thinking.)

And his debut in 1997 was a solid win where he pitched into the 7th. And remember in 1998, he started off as a very effective pitcher. He was the AL Pitcher of the Month for May, 1998. By mid June of 1998, he was 6-1 with a 1.59 ERA and was a big contributor to the Yankees stellar first half. As late as July 20th he had a terrific record (9-3) and a very good ERA (2.86.) A string of 6 bad starts, plus the emergence of El Duque Hernandez, pushed him out of the post season roster.

But his 1998 could hardly be called a total failure. But 1999 was not a good year for him and by 2000 he was an Expo. By 2002 he was a Ranger, his last season in the majors. He pitched in 2009 for the Long Beach Armada of the Golden Baseball League. Former Padres shortstop Garry Templeton was his manager. His teammate was Jose Lima, who passed away last spring.

I can't help but wonder what would have happened if he played in a smaller market.

The Padres paid the posting fee for Irabu to bring him to America and they owned his signing rights. But, wanting to be on the biggest stage (and have the greatest marketability) he refused to sign with San Diego. He and his agent engineered the trade that sent him to the Bronx.

Had he stayed with the Padres, his fame would not have been as great, but neither would the magnification of his failures. Like the Yankees, the 1997 Padres were coming off a post season berth and had talent.

If he had put up the same numbers with the 1998 Padres as he did with the 1998 Yankees, he would have been beloved by the fans instead of being cursed out.

Remember the '98 Padres were a terrific team that went on to win the National League pennant. They were not as good as the historic 1998 Yankees, but they had a deep lineup and a tough bullpen.

And their fan base is forgiving. Playing for a large passionate fanbase has its disadvantages. Not being able to hide any flaws is one of them. Trevor Hoffman had many high profile critical game blown saves in his career with the Padres. Had he blown those games in New York, Philadelphia or Boston, he would have been run out of town on a rail. In San Diego they are retiring his number.

I wonder if Irabu had pitched in San Diego, if he would have been able to develop and adapt to America better than in New York, where he was expected to be the next Nolan Ryan right out of the gate.

I wonder if Padres fans could have accepted him for what he was instead of tormenting him for what he wasn't. 13 wins and an OK 4.06 ERA mixed in with a pitcher of the month award would get a lot more respect in a smaller market gunning for their second ever pennant.

Maybe he pitches well along side Kevin Brown, Andy Ashby, Sterling Hitchcock and Joey Hamilton. Maybe he fares well against the Yankees in the World Series.

Or maybe his demons were just too strong to conquer. Maybe this has nothing to do with bis baseball career.

But seeing how far he fell makes it impossible to wonder. Did he have to perch himself up so high?

Phew

It was a group effort of lousy pitching tonight in Toronto... and good news for the Red Sox.

Bartolo Colon was really awful in the first. Yeah, 5 of the first inning runs were unearned, but 3 earned runs in 2/3 of an inning is nothing to brag about.

That would be a 40.50 ERA stretched out to a season.
I don't care which stat you use. That sucks.

The Yankees got 6 wins and a decent ERA out of Colon through the All Star break, which is more than anyone could have expected.

As the second half comes along, and his medical records are in, and the fact that he hasn't thrown 100 innings in a season since his Cy Young season 6 years ago is sitting in front of us, and the fact that he missed the entire season last year and at a fat 38, even stem cells might not keep him healthy... the carriage could be turning into a pumpkin.

He's let up 8 earned runs in his last 2 starts (6 1/3 innings pitched combined in those starts.)

Now the Yankees nearly came all the way back but fortunately for the Blue Jays, Red Sox fans and Yankee haters everywhere, the bullpen sucked almost as much as Colon did.

Seriously, if I told you the Yankees scored 7 runs on 14 hits including 2 Andruw Jones homers and saw Jose Bautista leave the game with an injury, you'd assume the Blue Jays got squashed.

Thanks to Ayala, Noesi, Logan and Mitre, it ended a Jays blow out.

A bad game?
Or the Yankees pitching depth starting to get exposed?

Well find out.

All I know for the Red Sox?
THE MAGIC NUMBERS IS 72!

ROCKIES! Trade Ubaldo Jimenez!

At one point last year, Ubaldo Jimenez looked like he could win 30 games. 25 was a lock.
He was the 26 year old home grown ace of the Rockies and things were just going to get better.

He was 15-1 at the All Star break.
His ERA was sub 1.00 into June.

The second half? He went 4-7 with a decent (especially for pitching 1/2 his games in Denver) 3.80 ERA.

His numbers were solid and Cy Young worthy. But there was something mildly disturbing.

His whole career he's been a decent pitcher who put up decent numbers. And for one half of a year, he was a Cy Young candidate.

What if that one half of a season was a fluke?
What if it was an anomaly?

What if this is... *GASP*... Javier Vazquez all over again?
As I wrote before, Vazquez had a terrific 2001 with Montreal and coasted on the reputation of that season until 2009 when he had another great year for Atlanta.

The Yankees were of course burned when they brought him back... but my point is this:

Jimenez might not be an ace. But teams might THINK he is!
He started the 2010 All Star Game. That was almost exactly a year ago.

When exactly will his value be higher than RIGHT NOW?

The Rockies are sub .500 now and don't have the arms to catch up with San Francisco for the West nor for Atlanta for the Wild Card.

So take a look at Jimenez as a chip. A young good starting pitcher who everyone thinks is an ace!

Why hold on to him until people figure out he's NOT an ace?

If the Yankees want to give up some of their top prospects (and supposedly Jesus Montero is being offered) take it.

Drive up the price as the Yankees, Tigers, Reds and almost every other contender is looking for an arm.

With Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki locked up for long term deals, the Rockies can't really afford many expensive mistakes. And expecting Jimenez to be the pitcher that he was for 1 half of a season as opposed to the pitcher he was for 3 seasons is a risky prospect.

Get two quality players and let him become a decent but not great player for another team!

And don't wait too long.
Did someone say "Brandon Webb?"

If Johnny Damon Were Derek Jeter

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog on the Mets to bring you this PSA (pretty solid argument). In case you're that guy in the Geico commercial who lives under a rock, let me announce to you that Derek Jeter collected his 3,000th hit yesterday. He became the second player to reach that milestone by hitting a home run (Wade Boggs was the other) and the second player to collect five hits in the same game (after Craig Biggio accomplished the feat in 2007).

We're not trying to diminish the fact that Jeter got to 3,000 hits. It's a fantastic lifetime achievement and he deserves to be congratulated for it. But there's another player who's approaching the milestone that doesn't get nearly the love and the accolades reserved for a player of Jeter's stature. He's a contemporary of Jeter and has career numbers that are very similar to the Yankee shortstop. So tell me something. Why doesn't Johnny Damon get the respect bestowed upon Derek Jeter?

Whether on the Royals, A's, Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers or Rays, Johnny Damon has been as consistent as they come.

Both Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon made their major league debuts during the 1995 season, with Jeter playing his first game for the Yankees on May 29 and Damon collecting his first at-bat for the Kansas City Royals on August 12. The following season (1996), both became everyday players on their respective teams.

Let's go through their career numbers to compare the two players.

As of July 9, Derek Jeter has 3,003 hits, which include 481 doubles, 62 triples and 237 HR. Johnny Damon has 2,663 hits, racking up 502 doubles, 104 triples and 224 HR.

Derek Jeter has scored 1,727 runs and has driven in 1,159 runs. Johnny Damon has crossed the plate 1,606 times and has 1,088 RBI.

Jeter has also reached base via the walk 972 times, while Damon has drawn 955 bases on balls. However, Jeter has struck out 1,605 times during his career, while Damon has fanned on 1,182 occasions.

In addition, Jeter has stolen 331 bases in 419 attempts (79.0% success rate), while Damon has stolen 392 bases in 493 attempts (79.5% success rate).

Derek Jeter's career batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage are .313/.383/.450, respectively, while Johnny Damon holds a career .287/.354/.436 mark in those categories.

Jeter has grounded into 241 double plays in his career, while Damon has been victimized by a twin killing only 91 times.

If you look at the individual regular season numbers, their careers are very similar, with Jeter leading Damon in some categories, Damon leading Jeter in other categories, and the two of them having almost identical numbers in several others. Now let's dissect those same numbers a little differently over their entire careers.

Derek Jeter has scored 100+ runs in 13 different seasons. Johnny Damon has accomplished that feat 10 times, with two other seasons in which he scored 93 and 95 runs. In those two seasons (2007 and 2008), Damon missed 21 games (93 runs in 141 games) and 19 games (95 runs in 143 games).

Jeter has had eight seasons with at least 30 doubles. Damon has 11 such seasons, including nine consecutive years in which he compiled 30 or more doubles (1998-2006).

Derek Jeter has never reached double digits in triples in any season (he hit a career-high nine triples in 1999). Damon has hit at least 10 triples in a season three times, including a league-leading 11 three-base hits in 2002.

Both Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon have hit at least 20 HR in a season three times, and both have career highs of 24 HR in a single season, with Jeter accomplishing his high mark in home runs in 1999 and Damon hitting his career-high in 2006 and again in 2009.

Although Derek Jeter's career-high in RBI is 102, while Damon has never driven in more than 94 runs in a single season, Jeter has surpassed the 80 RBI mark in a season only three times, while Damon has done it four times.

In the patience category, Jeter has walked as many as 60 times in a season eight times. Damon has 11 such seasons. On the opposite extreme, Jeter has struck out at least 99 times in a dozen different campaigns. Why is 99 such an important number? Because Johnny Damon has never struck out that many times in a single season. His career high in strikeouts in 98, accomplished in 2009 as Jeter's teammate with the Yankees.

Johnny Damon beat 'em, then he joined 'em.

Speaking of teammates, let's look at those four years (2006-2009) when Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon shared the same clubhouse in the Bronx. During that time, these were Derek Jeter's numbers, followed by Johnny Damon's stats:

• Derek Jeter: .325 batting average, .394 on-base percentage, .453 slugging percentage, 415 runs scored, 130 doubles, 11 triples, 55 HR, 305 RBI, 90 SB, 249 BB, 377 K.

• Johnny Damon: .285 batting average, .363 on-base percentage, .458 slugging percentage, 410 runs scored, 125 doubles, 15 triples, 77 HR, 296 RBI, 93 SB, 268 BB, 344 K.

Jeter had a favorable edge in batting average and on-base percentage while they were in the same batting order and had a few more runs scored (five), doubles (five) and RBI (nine) than Damon. However, Damon had more triples, home runs, stolen bases and walks than Jeter, while striking out 33 fewer times.

Before you say "so what?", let it be known that during the four years used in the above comparison, Jeter played in 47 more games than Damon (613 for Derek, 576 for Johnny) and had nearly 300 more plate appearances (2,813 for Jeter, 2,525 for Damon), meaning that Damon would more than likely have had far batter cumulative numbers than Jeter during the time they were teammates, and would also have surpassed him in doubles, runs scored and RBI, the three categories Jeter had a slight edge in.

In the two years since they stopped being teammates, Damon has surpassed Jeter in almost every offensive category, including batting average, on-base percentage and doubles, as shown below:

• Derek Jeter: .270 batting average, .337 on-base percentage, .365 slugging percentage, 153 runs scored, 43 doubles, four triples, 13 HR, 91 RBI, 26 SB, 87 BB, 139 K.

• Johnny Damon: .274 batting average, .344 on-base percentage, .412 slugging percentage, 123 runs scored, 51 doubles, nine triples, 17 HR, 92 RBI, 18 SB, 89 BB, 134 K.

Once again, Jeter had more plate appearances in those two seasons (1,056) than Damon (968), so the categories in which Damon trailed Jeter might be much closer if Damon had had the opportunities that Jeter was afforded, and of course, the categories in which Damon already had the edge over Jeter would have a much greater difference.

Derek Jeter has five World Series rings to Johnny Damon's two. Jeter has also been selected to 12 All-Star teams to Damon's two and has finished in the top 20 in the MVP voting nine times to Damon's four. Jeter has accomplished these awards and accolades despite having very similar career numbers to Johnny Damon.

So why doesn't Johnny Damon get the respect he apparently deserves? Derek Jeter has played his entire career in a powerful Yankee lineup. Johnny Damon played from 1995-2000 in Kansas City and played one season in Oakland. Those teams were not exactly known for being offensive juggernauts. Johnny Damon was one of the few bright spots on those teams. (Carlos Beltran was another on those late '90s Royals teams. See, I was able to mention a Mets player after all.)

Yet, despite his success in Kansas City and Oakland, he did not receive any attention at all from a baseball standpoint until he became a self-proclaimed "idiot" in Boston. It was in Boston that he became an All-Star for the first time and it was with Boston that he won his first championship, hitting .467 in the 2004 ALCS and smacking the game-changing grand slam against Derek Jeter's Yankees in the seventh and deciding game.

Johnny Damon will always be a legend in Boston, even if they think he's an idiot for becoming a Yankee.

Derek Jeter is a future Hall-of-Famer, of that there is no doubt. But when the topic of Johnny Damon's Hall of Fame candidacy comes up, all you hear is crickets or an occasional snicker. I'm not saying Johnny Damon is a better player than Derek Jeter. Both players are special in their own way.

But if you consider their entire careers, it would be difficult to say that Johnny Damon pales in comparison to the Yankee captain. Derek Jeter has had fantastic career numbers, both in the regular season and the post-season. But Johnny Damon is not that far behind. By the time both players call it a career, their numbers will be almost identical across the board.

At his current pace, Johnny Damon has a chance to reach the 3,000 hit plateau by the time he's 39 (in two seasons). Ordinarily, that warrants an automatic call to Cooperstown, yet hardly anyone would mention Johnny Damon and Hall of Fame in the same sentence.

Perhaps it's time for the people who have showered their love and respect upon Derek Jeter to take a look at one of his contemporaries. Johnny Damon might not have played his entire career in New York as Jeter has, but he's been as big a star as the Yankees' brightest player since 1995. Whether you agree or disagree with me, it's time to recognize the achievements of Johnny Damon. He's certainly earned it.

That's more like it, Cleveland fans!

Look at that! A huge crowd to see the Indians play. And if the playoffs started today, Cleveland would not only be in, but have home field advantage over the Boston Red Sox!

I'm glad to see it isn't as easy to get a seat at the Jake (or whatever the hell it is called now.)

Now I understand this was a game against the Yankees and it was the 4th of July. So there were some factors going into a big crowd.

But even keeping this in mind, it is officially the second half of the season and even though the Indians have hit some rough patches, they are still in first place by themselves.

Keep showing up, Cleveland fans!
(And don't make me post my video again!)

Baseball's greatest July 4th moment...

Even this Red Sox fan gets a little choked up during Lou Gehrig's speech.
I have never seen the whole speech because at one point he references the New York Giants who also were on hand to honor him.

Ken Burns, as always, captured it best in Baseball.

Thank you Chris Heisey

Hey Red Sox fans, do you know who Chris Heisey is?
He's an outfielder for the Reds. He was on the playoff roster last year for Cincinnati.

Well today he hit three homers against the Yankees and made sure the Reds weren't swept.

So the Red Sox are STILL in first place. If the Yankees won, the Sox would have fallen to second place.

Instead they are still on top heading to Pittsburgh.
And oh yeah...

The Magic Number is 89!!!

Tip your cap to the Yankees... you ruined Joba Chamberlain's career

Hey! Where are all of the "Joba is going to be the ace of the Yankee staff as a starter" people now?

I am looking at YOU Chris DeLuca.

There is cause to fire Brian Cashman, the Yankees scouting and coaching department including Joe Girardi.

Why?

Because they were handed a pitcher with tremendous talent and a larger than life personality and was the clear heir apparent for Mariano Rivera. They turned him into a carefully handed middle reliever... then a mediocre starter... then an ineffective mop up man... and now is broken down and maybe be done.

I wonder if he could have been used as bait for Cliff Lee when Lee was traded three times between 2009 and 2010.

Try getting a Cliff BAR for him now.

This isn't hindsight being 20-20.

I've been saying this has been insane since the beginning of the 2008 season.

If George were still alive and he found out that the organization torpedoed the most talented pitcher the organization has developed in a generation, there would be many bodies to dump out.

And Cashman has the nerve to say he doesn't regret the Joba Rules.

He says the rules are common in the organization.

Even MORE reason to start firing people!

Think about it this way...

In 2007 the Yankees had Chein Ming Wang, who in his third year had developed into a 27 year old front line starter, winning 19 games in back to back seasons.

They had the talented Phil Hughes, a 21 year old with great stuff and of course 21 year old Joba Chamberlain who electrified the fan base and gave the bullpen unstoppable depth.

It's now 2011. All three are broken down.

The Red Sox have had young pitchers like Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon and Clay Buchholz who have had lots of injuries. (Lester had freaking CANCER!)

And somehow they were all able to not break down. And none of them are as big and strong as Joba.

Mission Accomplished, Yankees.

The Joba controversy has been solved.

Starter? Reliever?

How about neither.

My first EVER Mikie Mahtook post

I never heard of Mikie Mahtook before the other day. Evidently he is a very talented outfielder from LSU.

The Rays, who had back to back picks at 31 and 32 in the first round, chose Mahtook.

High School Rivals says he's a great value and has a real shot to be a big leaguer.

This was the pick that Brian Cashman didn't want to surrender for anyone other than Cliff Lee. And the Steinbrenner boys did an end around and got Rafael Soriano which resulted in one of the great awkward press conferences ever.

Soriano is 32 and on the disabled list again.
Who knows when he is coming back and when that 5.40 ERA will go down.

Cashman better hope this is my last post on Mahtook.
Or shall I say the Steinbrenner boys better hope he doesn't. Otherwise, Cashman will remind them every day for the rest of their lives that they went with Soriano.
(I can't help it... I want Mahtook to become an All Star!)

But what is up with the name Mikie?

Which Ex Yankee legend looks more ridiculous?

In my He played in the postseason with WHAT team 25 man roster post, I found lots of pictures of well known players looking strange in different uniforms. Elston Howard as a Red Sox? Dizzy Dean as a Cub? Dwight Gooden with the Indians?

But none of those pictures are as strange as these three Yankee legends who wore the uniforms as a coach for different clubs.

They all look absurd. Which one is the strangest?

BABE RUTH - Coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Ruth never got a shot to manage a team. The closest he ever got was being the first base coach for the 1938 Dodgers under manager Leo Durocher.

It was a match made in hell as Ruth felt he was the superior talent to Durocher (was there any argument there?) and HE deserved to manage the team.

Durocher felt that Ruth's head wasn't in the game and Ruth wound up leaving.

Yes, it is crazy seeing Ruth as a Dodger. But the fact that it is a black and white picture from another era makes it less anachronistic than the next two pictures. And besides, Ruth wound up playing for the Braves at the end of his career, so the idea of him wearing a strange uniform is not so foreign.


JOE DiMAGGIO - Coach for the Oakland A's

OK, this is a little absurd.

DiMaggio played in a preexpansion, pre franchise moving, black and white TV era. The A's were in Philadelphia when he retired after the 1951 World Series.

Now here he is, skipping over the Kansas City move and landing in Oakland? And unlike Ruth who played for three different teams, DiMaggio was a Yankee only icon. He took the baton from Gehrig and became the superstar of style and grace in Yankee pinstripes.

And here he is in the bright green Oakland unis for the 1968 and 1969 seasons? This was AFTER Simon and Garfunkel sang "Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?" Well, I hope the nations lonely eyes turned to the East Bay.

But DiMaggio was a product of the Bay Area. And Charlie O. Finley wanted to bring some prestige to the A's when they arrived in Oakland. So Joe D was offered a coaching job and an executive position. And he did get to mentor a certain young slugger named Reggie Jackson.

It didn't last long and soon Joe's main profession became selling Mr. Coffee and throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium.

(He probably became richer doing those two things than playing baseball.)


YOGI BERRA - Coach for the Houston Astros

This is so surreal that it almost looks like a Photoshopped picture.

It sounds like a scenario from a dream. "I had a dream that Yogi Berra was a coach... but he was in a Houston Astros uniform, back when they had the orange stripes across the belly."

I actually remember Yogi as the Astros coach. During the 1986 NLCS, I remember him in the Houston dugout and patting Billy Hatcher on the back when he hit his game tying, series extending home run in Game 6.

And even with that memory this STILL looks absurd.

Yogi has no connection to the Astros!

He is a St. Louis native so maybe the Cardinals would have made sense... but the ASTROS?

A player who so represented a traditional romantic time of baseball played for the very team whose legacy was the modern and the new era. Yogi, the hero who played in the post war Yankee dynasty, was calling a dome with fake grass and garish orange uniforms for an expansion team.

I am trying to think of some metaphor to explain how absurd that is... but I can't think of one better than Yogi Berra in a Houston Astros uniform!

He had two bitter divorces from the Yankees. One after the 1964 World Series when he was fired as the manager and replaced by former Cardinals manager Johnny Keane. Yogi found refuge with his mentor Casey Stengel and became a Mets coach and eventually a manager.

Then in 1985 when Steinbrenner fired Yogi as the Yankees manager in 1985. He joined the Houston coaching staff and never embraced the Yankees again until DiMaggio passed away in 1999.

Maybe Joe D left him a message. "Don't have the last uniform you wear be that ridiculous orange Astros uniform."