Yankee Planet.

Why is Mike Lupica even paying attention to Randy Johnson? Randy Johnson is old and decrepit and sad.

Anyway, wasn't it nice to see the Yankee GM defend ARod?:

"Brian Cashman said the other day that A-Rod is having the same season as David Wright. On what planet?"

I know Wright is having a better year than ARod. How do I know? The statistics tell me. But the difference is probably closer than you think, given the respective treatment by the fans and the press:

• Wright .317/.391/.576/21/79/62.
• Rodriguez .284/.388/.504/20/68/65.

What's going to happen over the next two weeks? The next two months? The next five years?

Let's just say it would be unwise to doubt the baseball skills of Alex Rodriguez.

You probably can't go wrong with either player. It's kind of odd that we're constantly asked to choose between them in a pointless mental exercise. I choose both.


It's also clear that 11 rbis don't explain why one guy gets booed out of his own Stadium and one guy gets "MVP" chants at his.

It's not the small difference in production, it's the huge difference in salary. Cashman is absolutely right about that. This is clear as day.


I'll answer Lupica's rhetorical question.

On what planet is ARod having as good a year as Wright? Yankee Planet.

On Yankee Planet, ARod is having the same season as Wright. On Yankee Planet, Yankee players are praised and defended.


Is Mike Lupica seriously questioning the baseball acumen of the Yankee GM?

The same guy who thinks the Mets are better than the Yankees. On what planet?

The same guy who thinks the Mets are better than the Tigers. On what planet?

The same guy who thinks Jonathan Papelbon is the AL MVP. On what planet?

The same guy who thinks David Wright is more valuable than Albert Pujols. On what planet?

• Pujols .327/.442/.715/31/83/69. (But Wright has more stolen bases.)

Speaking of Albert Pujols, I direct your attention to one stat in particular. The Runners In Scoring Position split.

You know how great David Wright is with Runners In Scoring Position? Well, he is.

Albert Pujols has 70 at-bats with RISP. He has walked 28 times, so I'm assuming 98 plate appearances, more or less, without investigating sac flies and that kind of stuff.

I'll go slow so you can digest this Truth of the Universe I'm about to reveal. I hope you are sitting down:

• 70 at-bats.
• 32 hits.
• .457 batting average.
• 28 walks.
• .600 on-base percentage.
• 5 doubles.
• 8 homeruns.
• .871 slugging percentage.
• 53 rbis.

So, Mike Lupica, on what planet is David Wright more valuable than Albert Pujols? The answer is Mets Planet.

Just like in Seattle, the MVP is Raul Ibanez. It's Seattle Planet.

On Mets Planet, Steve Trachsel is more reliable than Chien-Ming Wang and El Duque is a proven veteran and Soler is a promising young arm and Floyd didn't celebrate too much after his grand slam in Chicago while ARod celebrated too much after his grand slam in the Bronx and the bullpen is going to get better instead of worse because Duaner Sanchez and Darren Oliver have done a terrific job this year. If you don't believe me, just ask Omar Minaya.


I hope it's easy to see the difference. Brian Cashman is an employee of the Yankees. Brian Cashman is expected to be biased. In fact, he's paid to be biased. He's a walking, talking Yankee sales pitch 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

It's amazing that Cashman is forced to defend the reigning AL MVP and it's pathetic that nobody else in the Yankee organization seems similarly inclined. (Yes, Mr. Torre, I'm looking at you.)

Mike Lupica -- I think -- is supposed to be a relatively unbiased supplier of in-depth and insider baseball information.

He's not supposed to be the President of the He-Mets Yankee-Haters Club.