The Knicks' quest for a playoff berth was dealt a major blow this morning when Jamal Crawford was found to have a stress fracture in his right ankle.
Maybe it's just me, but I thought their quest for a playoff berth was dealt a major blow by, um, let's see... the fact that they're playing below .500 ball!
Shorter me: The Knicks suck.
UPDATE: The Dolans suck too. Please fire Isiah.
Yesterday's news was that Bernie Williams would accept a minor league contract and battle for a job in spring training. Last night, the Yankee legend threw cold water on that theory, meaning his days as a Yankee are over. I can't say that I blame Williams for rejecting the offer. It was an insult to an all-time team great who has been nothing but a class act during his entire tenure with the club. The end of his career here is a sad day.
Part of me doesn't fault the Yankees. Their mission is to put the best product on the field and to win. If they don't feel that a player is part of the equation, their prerogative is to move on and use players who they feel can contribute the most.
But Bernie Williams gave the Yankees so much during his 16-year tenure. He was a star performer for most of his career and a linchpin when they won four titles in five years. He is one of the teams legends, ranking high in the club's record books. More to the point is his class. Bernie played with a quiet, dignified air, never once acting the part of a star, even though he was one and had every right to. After all he has meant to the team and to New York, combined with the fact he can still play, he should be allowed to leave on his terms, when he is ready. The Yankees owe him more than a minor league contract and only the thread of a chance to make the team.
I can understand carrying twelve pitchers on the team, but I can't understand putting three first basemen on the roster at the expense of Bernie. The Yankees are choosing Josh Phelps, Andy Phillips, and Doug Mientkiewicz over him. Maybe Bernie deserves a shot at the right-handed component of the first base job. Neither Phelps nor Phillips are anything special. Nor, for that matter, is Mientkiewicz.
Last year, Bernie showed he can still be a productive player, more productive than Phillips. He helped keep the Yankees afloat when they were decimated by injuries. The Yankees could have and should have found a way to keep him on the team for one more year or even two if that's what Bernie wanted. There is also the practical matter that they really should carry five outfielders and give up one of the first basemen. All around it is a bad, heartless decision.
All I can hope for at this point is that Bernie retires. He should only be a Yankee. To seem him finishing his career in some other uniform would be sadly wrong. A retirement, no matter how forced, seems to be the best choice now that his time here is over.
"At this point in time, Alex has certainly reflected to me he's very happy in New York. We have not talked about anything like that [opting out of his contract at the end of this season] and probably will not until the season is completed."
You're very happy in New York? Dude. Yankees fans hate you. This makes you very happy?
As he prepares for the start of spring training this month, his goal is to get a World Series ring for the first time."My burden has always been the same since I was 18," he said.
Your burden must be that you can't hit in the post-season. Against anyone.
Pain. I'm in pain. Can't you just get all Nomar and demand a trade or else?
The San Francisco Giants seem to have joined the chorus that immediately assumes anyone accused of or indicted with a crime is automatically guilty. In their contract with Barry Bonds, they negotiated language that empowers them to terminate the agreement if Bonds is indicted on charges not specified publicly. (One assumes that it would be in relation to the Balco case.) Let's set aside the point that there are many athletes who are arrested, indicted, and/or found guilty who don't have their contracts terminated. We'll forget why Bonds should be treated differently than other athletes. Just a petty nuisance. Let's focus instead on the fact that an indictment doesn't mean he's guilty. In this country, you are presumed innocent until proven guilty, yet there are organizations like the Giants who set themselves up as judge, jury, and executioner. I for one believe Bonds is guilty of steroid abuse and or perjury, but his guilt has to be proven in a court of law. The Giants should have no right to terminate his contract unless he's found guilty, and the union backs me up on this one 100%.
As a Yankees fan, I know a lot of people hate us. Sure, we're arrogant. Well, why the hell not? When your team has the winningest record in pretty much any sport, why wouldn't you be? What, we're supposed to be like "Aw shucks, we're not that good. We're just lucky." How annoying would that be? I'd have to slap us.
Sure, we expect to win. There's only one answer to the question I hear a lot from non-Yankees fans: "Doesn't it get boring winning so much?" That answer is "No." Who plays to lose? And stuff your "but...good sportsmanship!" Good sportsmanship is about how you play. Not about letting the other guy win sometimes just so they won't feel badly. There's no crying in baseball!
People thought they could shame us by referring to our team as the Evil Empire. Come on, people! We're New Yorkers! That was an insult? No, that was The.Most.Awesome.Nickname.Ever.
People are always "Your team buys championships." Um, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Robinson Cano. All from the farm system. OK, sure, you're thinking "Yeah, but what about A-Rod?" Your point? How has that worked out for us? [And note to someone special re: "The Mets'll take him if you don't want him." If it were up to me, I'd do a trade. You going to give us David Wright?]
Still, say all the bad things you want about us. There's one thing you can't deny. Yankees fans are loyal. It's an article about how Torre told Cashman he'd like to give Bernie Williams a shot at making the team. Read the comments to it. Nearly every Yankees fan there has said the same thing. "We love Bernie. Just put him on the team already."
Yankees blogging!
One thing I really hope to see happen: Bernie Williams retire as a Yankee. I love me some Bernie Williams. He's a class act. He's a good ballplayer. And, as one of the commenters to the article says, he bleeds Yankees blue.
Although he's definitely past his prime, I know that another team would sign him for a year as a utility player. I think he would happily stay with the Yankees as a utility player. I think he'd even take less money from the Yankees than he would from another team. He's been loyal to the Yankees all these years. He played well for them for those years. He was a big part of the championship teams.
There's room for him on the roster, if the Yankees want there to be. Who would you rather have as a back-up first baseman? Bernie Williams or the fieldingly useless Jason Giambi, a man so slow that, as my brother once aptly put it, they measure his speed using a calendar (not that that actually makes a difference to Giambi's (in)ability to play first base, but it's such a great line I had to fit it in)? If not as a back-up first baseman, somewhere.
Bernie has been loyal to the Yankees for his entire career. I know that baseball teams aren't managed by staying loyal to players. I know that's especially true when you're dealing with George Steinbrenner*. Sometimes, though, you just want to believe that loyalty will be rewarded. That the team will forego some money in recognition of all the player has done for them in the past. That George Bailey will beat Clarence Potter**. This is one of those times.
*Besides, as much as I am grateful for Steinbrenner's willingness to open the checkbook, I still hate the man.
**Every time a batter swings, an angel gets his wings?
I love it when a plan comes together. Because I'm of the opinion that a mediocre relief pitcher plus a couple of pitching prospects and an infield prospect beats Randy Johnson.
Now if they could only trade A-Rod.
But, seriously, please, no more Roger Clemens. Isn't it bad enough I have to applaud Johnny Damon? You guys know my feelings about Roger. What will you do to me next? Pedro Martinez?
I didn't know until yesterday that Bobby Murcer had brain surgery. A colleague told me that it was for an aneurysm, but I learned this morning that it was for a brain tumor. There's no report yet on whether it was benign or malignant or on his prognosis. I wish the same for Bobby Murcer that I would wish for anyone who's just had a brain tumor removed. That he recover completely, that the tumor is benign, and that the tumor doesn't grow back. Yet this one hits a little closer to home since it's someone who while I don't know personally do know in a way. I watched him as a player growing up, remember his heroics in the Yankees first game after the death of Thurman Munson, and have known him all these years as an announcer. I don't think much of him as an announcer; still, he comes across as a gentleman and a genuinely nice man. Of course, I would still root for his recovery if he weren't a good person. But the fact that he is makes me root and care a little bit more. Best wishes for a full and complete recovery Bobby.
Cross posted on THTRB.
Mass transit. Stuck in traffic on a bus, members of the British soccer team Coventry City opted for the Underground when they realized they would be late for the game. They took some grief from opposing fans along the way, but they made it to the game 40 minutes early. To boot (pun intended), they won the game 1-0.
Courtesy of the 12/4 issue of Sports Illustrated.
. . . goes to Rutgers basketball. They were scheduled to play the title game of the women's U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam in late November against Arizona State. Sadly, the brother of an Arizona State player, there to watch the game, died suddenly. Rather than force Arizona State to show up or forfeit if they didn't show up, Rutgers agreed to cancel the game.
Courtesy of the 12/4 issue of Sports Illustrated.
1. Amazing. Despite their awful play in the second half of the season, the Giants are currently the second wild card team in the NFC. Fancy if they made the playoffs and get hot and roll to the Super Bowl. Ain't gonna happen.
2. I don't really want to see the Giants in the playoffs. They don't deserve it.
3. I do want to the see the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs so that Brett Favre can get hot for four games and go out on top.
4. Do you think the Houston Texans rue the day they passed up on hometown hero Vince Young? All he's done the last 6 weeks is lead the Titans to 6 straight wins and position them for the playoffs after they started 2-7.
5. The Eagles were surely done when Donovan McNabb went down for the season. Now, they're at the top of the NFC East and can clinch the division on the last weekend with a win. My friend Eve is happy.
6. Looking more and more like the Giants made a mistake when they mortgaged the farm for Eli Manning. I didn't like the trade when they made it and like it even less now. Like the Texans, they might have made a move that will haunt them for 10 years.
I'm probably the only one on this blog who cares about it, but the Nets just lost Nenad Kristic, their talented young center, for the season. They were already weak in the middle. Now, barring a trade, they have no inside presence. Up the creek indeed.
Two goal-to-go possessions. A total of six points.
A 16-14 lead followed immediately by an Eagles touchdown.
A 22-21 lead followed by another Eagles touchdown.
2 interceptions, one returned for a touchdown on the first play of an attempted comeback deep in the 4th quarter.
2 fumbles.
Add it up, and what do you have? A 7-7 team that's not worthy of the playoffs.
Joel Sherman opines today that Mark McGwire doesn't deserve to in the Hall of Fame because steroids made him into the "great" ballplayer he turned out to be:
For the first 990 games of his career, a period from 1986-94, McGwire was an injury-prone first baseman who produced an offensive performance roughly equivalent to that of [Jay] Buhner. . . Then, suddenly, McGwire's career swerved toward greatness. His body broadened and his success soared.
Sherman has a compelling point. From 1996-1999, McGwire's batting average spiked to .289 and his median number of homeruns was 62. Contrast that to the pre-1995 McGwire. Tossing out 1993-1995, in which he missed considerable time, leaves us with dramatically different numbers for McGwire earlier in his career. His batting average was .248 and median number of homeruns was 36 between 1987 and 1992.
Granted, neither Sherman nor I have proof that McGwire started injecting steroids after 1994, but the circumstantial evidence is hard to ignore. Based on these numbers, I'd have to agree with Sherman that McGwire does not belong in the Hall of Fame.
Cross posted on THTRB.
Mel Gibson gets roasted. Michael Richards gets roasted. Steve Lyons gets fired. The first two are bigots and should have been roasted. Lyons said nothing and shouldn't have been fired. So it leaves me scratching my head when former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver and ESPN NFL analyst Michael Irvin, who is African-American, gets a slap on the wrist for saying this of the white QB of the Cowboys:
Somewhere there are some brothers. . . . (Maybe) his great, great, great, great Grandma ran over in the hood or something went down.
snip
No, that's [being of African-American ancestry ] not the only way [to be a star athelete], but it's certainly one way. Great, great, great, great Grandma pulled one of them studs up outta the barn and said, "Come over here for a second."
Jimmy the Greek got fired for saying the same thing. Al Campanis got fired for racially insulting remarks. Why does Michael Irvin still have a job? What he said demeans two race groups: whites and African-Americans. He's saying whites are only athletic if they have African-American genes.
Why does Irvin get a free pass? Because he's African-American. Had a white analyst for ESPN, say John Clayton or Sean Salisbury, said the same thing, there'd be a national uproar. Yet when someone African-American says it, it's somehow palatable and gets swept under the rug. Can you say double standard?
No, who's on first, but who is this guy that the Yankees have won the rights to? Never heard of him before. $26 million is twice what the Mariners paid to sign Ichiro, and it seems that the Yankees are overreacting in the wake of the Red Sox snagging the rights to Matsuzaka. Say he gets a three year deal worth $24 million, which is my guess based on current market trends, that's $50 million for three years. As much money as they're paying to a known commodity in Johnny Damon for four years. Seems a bit steep. Hope this guy doesn't turn out to be another fat toad.
Excitement abounds. I have started work on a book about why fans root for their teams, called aptly enough "Why Fans Root". The primary basis of the book will be interviews with fans to learn about their passion for their teams, how they came to be fans, their most memorable moments (lows and highs). Basically to understand just what it is about sports that draws us to identify with specific teams and too root ardently.
I've ordered a couple of academic books on the subject, the book Friday Night Lights, and a book about the 2004 Notre Dame season, which follows fans as they become more and more disillusioned with then coach Ty Willingham. I've drafted a preliminary set of questions to use in interviews and have e-mailed several people to see if they'd be willing to be my guinea pigs as I feel my way through the subject and refine my questions. I'll also be getting a digital voice recorder to use in interviews.
If there are any readers of the blog - Rick? - who'd be interested in being interviewed, just leave a comment with contact info.
Predictably, there was major fallout in today's news following Derek Jeter's second-place finish in the A.L. MVP balloting. The N.Y. Post blamed it on anti-New-York bias, with the headline Jeeted. Mike Lupica agrees that Jeter was probably the right choice, but didn't blame it on any bias against New York. In the meantime, Chicago Sun Times writer Joe Cowley is taking serious heat for placing Jeter sixth on the ballot. I think Lupica has it right and that Cowley has no right voting for the MVP.
Jeter wasn't robbed and didn't lose because of a bias against New York. Hideki Matsui lost the A.L. Rookie of the Year balloting because of a bias against the Yankees big spending ways. All of a sudden, writers made up this rule that the best rookie had to be a true rookie, even though Ichiro won both the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in his first season. But A-Rod won the MVP last year even though he was a Yankee. You can't blame this one on pure Yankee hating.
Jeter lost because of the misperception that he was surrounded by more good players than Hugh Hefner is surrounded by hot babes, making him less valuable than a one-man wrecking crew like Frank Thomas, and because a number two hitter is less sexy than a slugger like Morneau. The first argument is trotted out by Cowley, who left Carlos Delgado and Vernon Wells off his 2003 ballot and was suspended as a result, and is specious. Three Twins finished in the top seven of the balloting. No other Yankee finished that high. A-Rod was the next best Yankee in 13th place.
Based on the results, Morneau was indisputably surrounded by better talent than Jeter. Writers who favor Morneau point out that the Twins took off when he took off. Not quite true. The Twins made a number of roster changes right before they got hot, including adding Francisco Liriano to the starting rotation. By comparison, the Yankees lost three key players to injury for much of the season and had two other key players - A-Rod and Giambi - have off seasons. The starting pitching was spotty, too.
Jeter had arguably his finest season and was clearly the MVP on his team, something that you can't necessarily say about Morneau. For all the numbers he put up, finding a good first baseman is easier than finding someone like Joe Mauer, a catcher who led the league in hitting.
Yes, I am biased as a Yankees fan, and no, it's not the end of the world that Morneau won. He had an outstanding season. Still, I feel Jeter should have won.
Cross posted on THTRB.
I am both disappointed and puzzled by the news that Derek Jeter finished second in this year's AL MVP voting. I had assumed all along it would be Jeter. He was the best player on the best team in baseball. He's been outstanding for so long that you think writers would have given him the award partially as a lifetime achievement award rather than given the award to a relative newcomer on some obscure team in the hinterlands. The NY tabloids will rip the results to shreds, claiming bias against NY. As much as I'd like to use that argument, it falls short because A-Rod took home the trophy last year. I guess it's just that Jeter doesn't put up prototypical MVP numbers. Still, does that make him less valuable than a slugger like Morneau? Jeter is captain clutch, actually I believe the most clutch player in baseball this year. He carried the Yankees through the absences of three cornerstone players. Should have won it. Probably never will.
Cross posted on THTRB.
I like King James. He's a phenomenal talent and wise beyond his years. I am glad to be a witness. Still, I can't help but marvel at the audacity of his words after the Cavaliers rebounded from a 19-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Celtics last night:
"We could have easily packed it up but that's not who I am," James said. "Any time I'm on the court it doesn't matter how many points we're down, we always have a chance to win."
Say what? Is this the same James who walked off the court before the end of a game earlier in the week when the Cavs were down by 7 with 17 seconds left and the Hawks were dribbling out the clock?
The theory went that the Yankees would be able to get middle-level players for Gary Sheffield. Perhaps some prospects, but no one special. The reality is that the Yankees did very well in trading Sheffield yesterday to the Detroit Tigers. They received three pitching prospects, two of whom I know nothing about, save that they look like hard throwers based on their strikeout numbers, but one of whom I had heard of. He's Humberto Sanchez, who first came to my attention when he pitched in the Futures Game this past summer. He threw one scoreless inning, but the more important data is that he was touted as one of the Tigers' top pitching prospects, if not the top, and that he had put up some impressive numbers at Double A. There was talk that he could join the Tigers later in the season. He didn't, but he got a call up to Triple A, where he got off to a good start before tailing off and suffering an arm problem. The arm problem bit gets me nervous, but it sounds like the Yankees got exactly what they needed. A young hard-throwing pitcher who's Major League ready. Expect to see Sanchez in the rotation this season. Hope that he becomes a solid member of the staff, joining Wang and eventually Philip Hughes in a triumvirate of young studs who can front the rotation for a long time.
Cross-posted on THTRB.
I'm starting a new weekly posting here: The Pop Culture Grid, a feature in Sports Illustrated. Four pro athletes are asked six pop culture questions to see how they "fit in." Each week, I will give my own answers.
This week's questions:
Best thing you've ever gotten for free: the complete set of the Ella Fitzgerald song books
Number of cars in your driveway: I don't have a driveway
A pet you're dying to own: a tiger
I'm secretly afraid of: cockroaches
Scale of 1 to 10: How much do you want Madonna to adopt you: 0
My ultimate celebrity red carpet dream date would be: Heidi Klum
The Knicks still suck.
What's that? The first game isn't until tonight?
Your point?
Gary Sheffield is one unhappy camper. What's new? He's blustering how he doesn't want to play first base for the Yankees on a one-year deal or go to another team without a contract extension. Now in fairness to Sheff, the critics who say his position on the Yankees picking up his option has been inconsistent - he fumed in spring training when they didn't pick it up and is fuming now when they're ready to pick it up - his situation has changed. He thought he would be the right fielder next year, not the first baseman. The Abreu trade shifted the landscape. Still, Gary the Mouth should shut his. You have no leverage, Gary. None. You signed this contract without a no-trade clause and with a fourth-year team option. Your choice. Now you threaten to cause problems if it's picked up without additional years added to the end or you're forced to play first base? Tough noogies! You have no choice. It's either play or don't play. Cause problems and you kill your chances for a new contract. Cause problems and don't produce, and you kill your chances at 500 homeruns and a ticket to Cooperstown. So really, Gary, what I'd like to see more of from you is less. Go away and be a headache somewhere else.
Cross posted at THTRB.
LaRussa appears to be speaking English, but I can make no sense of his words:
This was a huge game and he was our biggest hero," La Russa said of [pitcher Jeff] Weaver.
My feelings about Jeff Weaver have been fairly well-documented on the blog.
There has been much talk of the record low ratings of this year's World Series. Two solutions have been offered by the media. The first is to move the World Series to a warm weather climate. The other is to shorten the season to avoid the sudden change in weather that can make a Series game a miserably cold and uncomfortable experience. Before offering my own thoughts, let me say, "Fools!" We're talking about TV ratings. In the words of Tony Reali, host of ESPN's Around the Horn, I fail to see what the weather has to do with TV ratings.
Now onto my own thoughts. I'm not sure what to do about the low ratings. Not many people outside of St. Louis and Detroit care much about a Cardinals-Tigers series. There's understandably greater interest when a major media market team is in the mix. I suspect that baseball would do better, drawing ratings similar to the Super Bowl, if the Series was shorter and each game correspondingly more meaningful. Asking non-fans to endure seven games, vs. the one game of the Super Bowl, is a bit much. I, for example, watched the end of last night's game because it was the potential clincher for the Cardinals. However, no one is about to shorten the World Series.
Still, it's not a bad idea to shorten the season. Games should not last until the end of October when it gets downright chilly in northern climates. If I were Bud Selig for a day, I would shorten the regular season to 154 games; shrink the Wild Card round to best two of three, with the higher seeded team hosting all three games; and shorten the LCS back to three of five. That would cut two weeks off the season. Since none of that is happening, however, one solution to shortening the season is to have teams host more day-night doubleheaders. Toss in eight of them a season and you can cut the season by a week. The logistical difficulty is that they would have to be played on the weekend, otherwise, owners would balk at the lost gate receipts and TV ratings for the weekday portion of the double dip. I don't know if there are enough four-game series to make the idea workable for a week's worth of games.
Oh well, I guess have no real solution, other than mere fantasies of the way things should be. Wait, here's one. At a minimum play the weekend games of the LCS and World Series during the day. It would be nice to see some day baseball again.
Cross posted at THTRB.
Lesley and I have a bet. The other day it was reported that the Yankees have no plans to trade A-Rod this off-season. Lesley believes he will still be traded. I don't. I offered her the following bet, provided that Judy agreed: if A-Rod is traded, we treat her and Alan to a game next year, concessions included. Otherwise, they treat us to a game next year. Judy has agreed.
Personally, I would like to see A-Rod traded. Not so much because I believe he can't produce in New York, which I do, but more because I'm sick of the drama. Sick of the stories, of the fans booing him every time he fails to come through for the Yankees. I find it stressful, and I'm just a fan. Imagine how A-Rod must feel.
Cross-posted at THRTB.
Why couldn't you have pitched this well when you were on the Yankees? I'm just saying.
Oh well.
Yours in the bond of baseball,
Lesley
PS, Go Tigers (aka Go American League)!
As in University of Miami. For those who missed it, there was a brawl of criminal proportions between Miami and FIU on Saturday. Seems that everyone jumped into the fray, police had to break it up, one player for Miami wielded his helmet as a weapon, and the defensive co-captain of Miami stomped on a fallen FIU player. All in all, 31 players were suspended for one game, 13 from Miami and 18 from FIU. From there, the story takes a different path.
FIU reacted strongly and swiftly on Monday, kicking two players off the team, suspending the others indefinitely, and ordering anger management classes and community service for the team and coaches. Miami's reaction? To make the suspension for the helmet-wielding fool indefinite and requiring community service. That's it. Nothing else. The rest of the thugs miss one meaningless game against Duke and are then back. The guy stomping on people? One-game suspension. He and his helmet-wielding pal should be off the team and behind bars.
I would take it one step further if I were U of M president Donna Shalala. The program has been an outlaw program for basically the last 20 years, save for a stretch under Butch Davis. This is the third on-field incident for the team in its last 7 games. Their players, two especially, were captured for the world to see on video tape committing acts that would get you arrested anywhere else. If Duke cancelled the lacrosse season on what are now questionable charges, rushing to judgment before all the facts were marshaled, then don't you think the Miami season should be cancelled for stuff that's out there for anyone to see and seems based on the facts that have come out so far (see 60 Minutes from Sunday) to be worse than anything that the Duke players did?
Even though I am a Democrat and liberal myself, I can't help but wonder if Shalala, who served in the Clinton Administration, is one of those too-soft-on-crime liberals. Coddle them, hold back the stick? What Miami and FIU did was atrocious, criminal, and shameful. FIU gets it. Miami doesn't. Shame on them.
Update: Miami says the penalties are fair and strong enough. They do add that anyone who fights in the future will be thrown off the team, but still, it's not enough given the team's history and I fail to understand how someone who stomps on a fallen player is suspended for only one game.
Oy vey did I get my predictions wrong for the post-season. Every single series was I wrong on. I had the Yankees going all the way, taking down the Twins in the ALCS and the Padres in the World Series. And I had the Dodgers as the other team in the NLCS. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
I saw it this way. The Yankees had the pitching and the offense to win it all, that Santana would take two for the Twins and the Twins would find a way to get it done in one more game, that the Mets pitching was too shattered to stand up to the Dodgers pitching, and that the Padres had the best pitching in the NL. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Still won't stop me from making predictions for the World Series. After seeing the Mets take down the Dodgers, I see no way they don't take the Cardinals easily in the NLCS. A's and Tigers is a compelling match-up. Good pitching on both sides of the ball. For the same reason the Tigers made me nervous going into the ALDS - Verlander, Rogers, and Bonderman - I like them in the ALCS.
Leaves Mets-Tigers in the World Series. My initial instinct is that the Tigers pitching shuts the Mets down, but the Mets have a talented, balanced, and young line-up - yes, the Yanks had a good line-up, too - one that has a player in Jose Reyes that will give the Tigers fits. He gets on and the dynamics of the game changes, and he has so many ways to get on. Mets in 6.
My other prediction? I will be wrong, wrong, wrong.
Cross-posted on THTRB.
Way back in 2004, Lesley angered the baseball gods with her hubris after the Yankees took a 3-0 lead over the Red Sox in the ALCS. She declared the series over, annointed Hideki Matsui MVP, and went out and bought a Hideki Matsui shirt. Since then? The Yanks dropped dead against the Red Sox, lost to the Angels in round 1 last year, and folded against the Tigers this year. I have urged her on numerous occasions to burn that shirt. She refuses. The Yankees will not win another World Series championship until she does. It's the Curse of Godzilla.
Cross posted on THRTB.
I read today that the Marlins fired Joe Girardi. I have to say that I love Joe Girardi. He was a big part of the Yankees World Series wins in the late 90s. Which got me thinking about how I do have fondness for many former Yankees. I think it's fair to say that if you played well for the Yankees and aren't Roger Clemens, I will always love you. I have to add that "and aren't Roger Clemens" part, because I never liked Roger Clemens. I fully recognize that he may well be the best pitcher ever, but I do not like him. I was at many games where he was pitching and Mike Piazza was batting, and damned if it didn't look to me like Clemens was targeting Piazza. I don't even like Piazza, but that's besides the point. Roger Clemens - Great pitcher. Classless jerk.
Aside from Roger, though, there are many former Yankees that I love.
Willie Randolph. Oh man, I adore Willie Randolph. He was one of the Yankees players of my youth. I can still name the starting line-up of that team. Thurman Munson. Chris Chambliss. Willie Randolph. Bucky Dent (OK, I do not love Bucky Dent; mediocrity, thy name is Bucky Dent). Graig Nettles. Reggie Jackson. Mickey Rivers. Lou Piniella. And, yes, I love all of them except Bucky Dent. One homerun in a playoff game in a career of mediocrity does not earn my undying love. Even if that homerun did knock the Red Sox out of the post-season. I'm totally not that cheap. See also Aaron Boone. I do not love Aaron Boone. I have a mild fondness for Aaron Boone, but not love.
Luis Tiant. Come on, who could not love Luis Tiant? Sure he played most of his career with the Red Sox. Sure he played only two years with the Yankees. But, dude, he's Luis Tiant!
Tino Martinez. Nuff said.
Paul O'Neill. He and I share a birthday. He is the warrior. Plus, he loves the Ramones. Birthday + Warrior + Ramones = I love Pauly!
Scott Brosius. Scotty Brosius, MVP!
Andy Pettitte. I curse whoever for ever letting Andy go to Houston. Whoever might well be Roger Clemens, and that would be yet one more reason for me to hate Roger Clemens.
David Wells. Come on. The man is New York. Drunk. Loud. Obnoxious. What's not to love?
Rickey Henderson. Best.Leadoff.Hitter.Ever. "If you split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers." - Bill James.
Current Yankees whom I will always love:
Bernie Williams. Bern baby Bern. This will be his last season, and he will get a huge standing ovation at his last at bat.
Derek Jeter. Because what's not to love about the Captain?
Mariano "Mo" Rivera. Best.Closer.Ever.
Jorge Posada. Hip hip Jorge!
Hideki Matsui. He's like a rockstar in Japan, and he's like a rockstar to me. If I had a plane, I'd paint his face on it too.
Mike Mussina. The Moose is loose!
Hey, who said that baseball fans don't have loyalty to the players? What? Nobody. Yeah, okay, whatever.
With Detroit's loss to Kansas City and Minnesota's win over the White Sox, the Yankees are spared from having to face inevitable 2006 AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana twice in a short series. With Liriano out of the pst-season and Radke off form (it sucks to be Minnesota fans), I feel better about the Yankees' chances to beat the Twins in a 7-game series. But the prospect of facing Santana twice in a 5-games series was not a happy one (sorry Oakland).
The Mets are also spared from having to face Houston in the post-season, since they lost again today, allowing the Cards to clinch even with their loss. This makes my boyfriend happy, so I'm happy.
*To regular reader and Tiger fan Rick, sorry. I know. But a fan's got to wish for what a fan's got to wish for. And this is for the Twins to win the AL Central so the Yankees face Detroit in the ALDS. Up for another interblog wager?
Hooray! The Yanks clinched the A.L. East crown last night and whooped it up in the clubhouse. I watched the celebration and am left wondering if they weren't a bit overzealous. After all, it's only the division title - true, a trip to the post-season - and that's not the Yankees goal. If you're the Detroit Tigers, coming off a 119-loss season in recent years, then you can trip the light fantastic. But if you're the Bronx Bombers and you're expected not just to make the playoffs but contend for the whole shooting match, then maybe you tone it down a tad. The time to let it loose is when you make it to the World Series.
Cross posted on THTRB.
You know, never believe it's not so.
With another defeat of Tampa Bay and a little help from Baltimore, the Yankees skip eight and go right to seven!