Red Sox in second place.

Everyone else tied for first.

	W	L	Pct	GB	Home	Road	East	Cent	West	Streak	L10
Toronto Blue Jays	10	7	.588	--	4-5	6-2	4-6	6-1	0-0	Lost 1	6-4
Baltimore Orioles	10	7	.588	--	4-3	6-4	3-4	6-1	1-2	Won 2	6-4
Tampa Bay Rays	10	7	.588	--	6-1	4-6	6-4	3-3	1-0	Won 3	6-4
New York Yankees	10	7	.588	--	4-3	6-4	5-3	2-2	3-2	Lost 1	6-4
Boston Red Sox	6	10	.375	3.5	3-5	3-5	4-5	2-3	0-2	Won 2	5-5

Sorry, Yankee Fans.

I know you're probably gloating about the 2-game sweep in Boston, the comeback from a 9-run deficit on Saturday, and the team's quick ascension into first place in the AL East ...

"The Mets may actually have a better starting rotation than the Yankees.

Who’d have even entertained such a notion in January after Yankee and to his rotation in one fell Friday the 13th swoop?"

Me.

Because the Yankees play in the AL East and the Yankees also play in a very small ballpark.

Furthermore, Pineda is hurt, so it's hard to judge his effectiveness.

Furthermore, the Mets don't have a better starting rotation than the Yankees. The Mets just have a better starting rotation than the Yankees after two weeks.


"Who among us didn’t immediately proclaim the Yankees the team to beat after Cashman’s Pineda/Kuroda haul? They still may be, but so far not because of either of them."

Errr ...

The Rangers are the team to beat in the AL. Is that what you mean?

Or do you mean the team to beat in all of baseball? Then, the Yankees are not the team to beat. One of the top three or four for sure.

Or do you mean the team to beat in the AL East? Yankees are probably the presumptive team to beat because of what you're starting to see ... a lineup that scores a ton of runs and a superior bullpen. The days when El Duque was your #4 are long gone.

Or do you mean the team to beat in the fictional Mets/Yankees League? Then, the Yankees are the team to beat.


"At the same time, who wasn’t a doomsayer when it came to Santana’s ability to come back from the kind of shoulder injury no pitcher has come back from or that Pelfrey would ever again (at least with the Mets) resemble the form that prompted Terry Collins to give him the Opening Day nod last year?"

Santana hasn't come back yet. Unless 11 innings is a successful major league comeback.

So you've got Santana, Dickey, Pelfrey, Niese, and Wendell Gee.

Wait until they play the AL teams.


"At the same time, Girardi just as well needn’t know that A.J. Burnett pitched seven shutout innings in his first start with Pittsburgh Saturday, or that portly old Bartolo Colon is 3-1 with a 2.63 ERA and just two walks in 27.1 innings in his first four starts with the Oakland A’s."

Seriously?

We're just going to keep judging these stats in a vacuum?


"The Yankees felt Burnett and Colon, for different reasons, were expendable as they made room in their rotation for Kuroda and Pineda. Now, however, it would seem they are back to the drawing board with their rotation as they wonder if (1) Garcia is finished, (2) Kuroda is yet another National League pitcher ill suited for the AL East, and (3) Hughes is never going to live up to his No. 1 draft pick billing (and Cashman's lofty expectations)."

I shall end the suspense. (1) Garcia is finished, (2) Kuroda is yet another NL pitcher ill suited for the AL East, (3) Hughes is never going to live up to his No. 1 draft pick billing.

But these are the Yankees. They will enhance their starting rotation. That's what the money is for.

Let's not forget that Alex Rodriguez was 0 for 5 in the game where the Yankees beat the Red Sox 15-9 in Fenway Dump.

After falling behind 9-0. But then, the Yankees scored 15 unanswered runs. So they won the game 15-9 at Fenway Park.

Also, the Yankees are in first place:

"What we really saw Saturday at Fenway after the Red Sox were ahead 9-0, what we saw and kept seeing as Bobby Valentine brought one scrub after another out of his bullpen into this train wreck of a game, was just more of the fall that we thought ended with the last game of last season for the Boston Red Sox."

"We."

I'm just pondering the presumption that Mike Lupica speaks for me.

It's too horrifying to ponder, so I'll just have to move on.


"Somehow the Red Sox just keep falling and falling. And every time you think they have hit bottom, they give you a game like Saturday’s against the Yankees, as bad a regular-season loss as any Red Sox team has ever had against the Yankees in any era, making you imagine by the end that the Yankees had dropped the Red Sox from the top of the Green Monster."

I can think of a lot of crushing regular-season losses, though I don't want to go through them right now.

You see, I am a Yankee fan, not a Red Sox fan. From my perspective, that was not a crushing loss, it was an uplifting win.

It somehow felt more satisfying the day after Kevin Millar ran his mouth, even though yesterday's game really had nothing to do with Kevin Millar or the 2004 ALCS.

"But if you say this is Valentine’s fault after he has managed 14 games, then you must think he picked these scrub pitchers, think he has been in charge of a Red Sox farm system that no longer produces talented pitchers.

Come on, this isn’t just about Saturday, it is about everything that has happened to the Red Sox over the last three-plus seasons, about an organization that lost its way under a former boy genius named Theo Epstein because he lost his way before he found his way to the Chicago Cubs."

Mike Lupica just called Theo Epstein a "former" boy genius.

"Once I ran to you
Now I'll run from you
This tainted love you've given
I give you all a boy could give you ..."

It was a check swing.

"Facing a thick wall of reporters at his locker, Ryan said he would have no comment on the final pitch and then praised Humber for his performance, talking about his great slider and 'A-plus-plus stuff.' When this was met with a brief silence, Ryan said, 'Everyone wants to talk about the checked swing, huh?'

Well, since you brought it up ...

'The closer they get, the more borderline things may go (the pitcher's way),' Ryan said. 'Because that's just the way things go. I just wanted to be more aggressive.'

When someone mentioned that Humber's reaction to the pitch looked as if he thought he had just thrown ball four, Ryan said, 'It was, it was.' He paused and quickly added, 'Hmm, I don't want to finish that.'

'When you're in that situation, you have to be a little more aggressive to anything around the plate,' Ryan continued. 'I mean, that's just the way it has to be. The fans want to see it. So anything that's kind of gray, you have to at least get a piece of.' "

It is interesting how many people see what they want to see.

"It was the right call, given the situation," or some such reaction.

Alright, alright, I give up. But just don't tell me that guy swung at that pitch. I watch enough baseball to know better.

Nunez struggles on defense.

"Eduardo Nunez got his first start at second base last night to spell Robinson Cano, who was getting a break from playing the field as the designated hitert."

Hitter.


"And promptly, Nunez did what he's done at third base and shortstop this season: botch a routine play."

Consistency is important.


" ...This is not a guy that doing this for 10 years and has been a utility guy, this is a guy that was an everyday shortstop, has to be a utility guy and play a roll for us."

Role.

Man, this editor is the Eduardo Nunez of editors.

The good, the bad, and the ugly: Bobby Valentine edition.

Bobby Valentine is a genius for criticizing Kevin Youkilis:

"They've only been playing pro ball in Boston for 112 years (wedged into this very triangle for the past 100), and the likes of Bobby V don't come along very often. He's like a locust cloud, a glorious comet … hurtling toward earth.

There's a genius to what Bobby V does, an intellectual plane on which few of us get to hold a barbecue, and frankly it takes some getting used to."


Bobby Valentine is a mad man for criticizing Kevin Youkilis:

"This is what Valentine does. He is always doing something to draw attention to himself. This is rarely a good idea and never, never, never a good one in Boston. The criticism is going to come anyway, and it did Monday when Valentine failed to pull his wilting starter in a timely fashion, leading to a loss and lusty boos from fans. So why invite it in early?"


Bobby Valentine in a Japanese pop music video.

Roger Clemens trial still going on.

A grey tie with a grey suit?

He's guilty of something, girlfriend. Triple snap in z formation.

This Day in History.

One hundred years after the sinking of the Titanic, please take a moment of silence to ponder the parallel tragedy of the career of Phil Hughes.

Answering rhetorical questions.

"If the Yankees are actually sincere about getting their payroll to $189 million eventually — that means actually having a real 'budget' — how in the world do they keep Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher and pay Robinson Cano a fortune when it’s his turn at bat?"

Pay Cano, pay Granderson, dump Swisher, or spend more than $189 million.

The reason I said that is because Cano is better than Granderson and Granderson is better than Swisher.

That was super-easy.

What is the next question?


"Whatever happened to Kei Igawa?"

Mo Vaughn and Bobby Bonilla own a chain of lunch trucks that they lease to New York free agent busts.

Igawa is currently splitting shifts with Oliver Perez at a lunch truck up in Hunts Point.

Their full-time dishwasher is Shawn Estes.

Grading on a curve.

"He was the first to hit a home run in the new Yankee Stadium the day it opened, but you know his best days and nights were across the street, when Posada was behind the plate for some of the best Yankee teams you will ever see in this world, when he began playing himself to Cooperstown."

Behind the plate, behind the plate.

Let's talk about what it actually means to be behind the plate.


In 1996, Posada had zero playoff at-bats. (You recall Girardi's triple in the World Series, of course.)

In 1997, Posada played 60 games behind the plate. Two postseason at-bats.

In 1998, Posada played 99 games behind the plate. Split time with Girardi in the regular season and the playoffs.

In 1999, Posada played 109 games behind the plate. Split time with Giradi in the regular season and the playoffs.


I always thought that Posada's lack of playing time was a foolish decision by an ex-catcher/manager who was over-valuing Girardi's defensive contributions.

But my opinion doesn't change the following facts:

(1) Posada was not really The Man behind the plate for the Yankees until the 2000 season.

(2) When Lupica is talking about the "best Yankee teams you will ever see in this world," he is not talking about the teams from 2000 forward. In fact, in case you hadn't noticed, Lupica will remind his readers from time to time that the Yankees have won "only" one World Series since 2000.


" 'This is my opinion,' an old catcher named Mike Scioscia said on the field before the game, 'but any conversation you have about the great catchers, Jorge Posada has to be a part of it.' And when it was pointed out to Scioscia that some people see Posada as a borderline Hall of Fame candidate, Scioscia shook his head and said, People who say that about him don't know what they're talking about. He’s a slam-dunk candidate as far as I'm concerned.' "

I will submit an alternate proposal: Mike Scioscia doesn't know what he is talking about.


Posada was great at two things: Walking and hitting homeruns. Which are quite important. A .374 career on-base% and a .474 career slugging% are excellent, especially for catchers.

Nothing else in his game separates him from the pack.

If Posada is a slam-dunk, then you simply have too many slam-dunks.



"Posada, 40 now, came along with Rivera and Jeter and Pettitte, and the Yankees became the Yankees again, and Posada joined a line of great Yankee catchers that started with Bill Dickey, a line that had Yogi in it and Elston Howard and Thurman Munson."

Agreed, but Posada wasn't as good as any of them. (To be fair, Posada was probably better than Howard, but Posada was not as good as the others.)

Posada is not even close to Berra and Dickey, who are in the HOF.

Munson is not in the HOF.

Munson won a rookie of the year, MVP, three Gold Gloves, .357 postseason batting average, .373 World Series batting average, 114 homeruns when Death Valley was 430 feet, and ... I say this with much emphasis ... Thurman Munson would have never been benched in the playoffs for the likes of Joe Girardi.

If Posada is a slam-dunk, what the heck is Munson? What the heck are Benito Santiago and Javy Lopez, for that matter?


"When the Yankees were losing another first-round series to the Tigers in October, losing the fourth first-round series since 2005, Jorge Posada still had enough talent and pride to hit .429, get six hits and look like the toughest out in the batting order once the Tigers had pitched past Robinson Cano."

See?

I told you that Lupica would instantly contradict himself.

Posada was the catcher (DH in 2011) for some of the best Yankee teams you'll ever see in this world ... the kind of Yankee teams that deserve ridicule for losing four first-round playoff series since 2005.

Promotion.

"Girardi switched Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez in the lineup for Friday's game against the Angels, putting the struggling Rodriguez in the third spot while Cano will assume the cleanup duties against Ervin Santana.

Rodriguez has hit fourth in all six games this season, but has struggled mightily in the cleanup role. Rodriguez has zero home runs, zero RBI and is hitting .174 in 29 plate appearances."

Is this extended April Fool's Day?

"Atlanta Brave Chipper Jones will be honored by the New York Mets in September as the veteran 3rd baseman retires from baseball, WFAN's Craig Carton revealed on the Boomer & Carton show today.

Chipper has hit 48 HRs, 154 RBI, and has a career .318 batting average against the Mets so it makes perfect sense to honor the guy... "

Item!

This sounds like a good idea:

"Alex Rodriguez has been contacted about playing a drag queen in an upcoming indie movie about Salvador Dali. The New York Post reports that the film's brass believes Rodriguez would be perfect in the role of Dali's 'factotum social secretary.' Apparently Ricky Williams and Charles Barkley, famed dress-wearers, were unavailable."

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! "Ricky Williams and Charles Barkley," he said.

That's hi-la-ri-ous.

"A-Rod makes more than $30 million a year to play baseball, and he'd make quite a bit less in the role of the stunning, leggy drag queen named Potassa."

He does not make more than $30 million a year to play baseball, but if Mike Lupica can't get his facts straight, why should Ben Maller?

"While it's highly unlikely he'd ever consider showing off his legs in a dress, this is the real deal."

Which is it? Is it highly unlikely or is it the real deal?

"A-Rod's people didn't comment on the story, which might be another way of saying he's got a better chance of playing for the Jets than wearing a beautiful gown."

Playing for the Jets?

That's a football team.

Ben Maller, you're outrageous!

Wait a second ... I think I've been punked ... Ben Maller is a made-up person and this is a made-up story.

Felz Stats of the Day.

-- Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira are a combined 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

-- Freddy Garcia's five wild pitches is the most by a Yankee pitcher in one game since every game A.J. Burnett pitched.

It's an issue.

In his first game of the season, on the first ground ball hit his way, utility man Eduardo Nunez made an error. It made for an easy reminder of last year, when despite playing a part-time role, he led the team with 20 errors.

But Girardi eliminated any question of his trust level with Nunez, starting him at third base for Alex Rodriguez, who as expected was given a day at designated hitter.

Nunez flubbed a grounder in the third inning, though it was scored an infield single for Nolan Reimold. And in the ninth, Nunez nearly misread a pop-up, recovering at the last second to catch it. But Nunez also saved a run in the fourth, making a sprawling grab to rob Wilson Betemit of a hit.

“It gives me more confidence, that they believe in what I’ve got,” Nunez said.

The shift didn't affect the Yankee hitters psychologically. No, no, no, no, no. Nope. Definitely not.

"Mark Teixeira was robbed of a two-run single in the eighth on Saturday, one of many hits the Rays stole from the Yankees with their infield positioning. Although Teixeira worked on hitting to the opposite field this spring, Girardi wants him to take his regular approach in run-scoring situations like he did Saturday.

'If the pitch presents itself on a ball that he can drive, he's not going to try to filet it over there,' Girardi said, pointing at the left side of the infield. 'If he gets a little air under that ball, you're looking at a three-run homer and maybe it's a different ballgame. So, you don't want to turn a guy who has the ability to hit 40 homers into a Punch and Judy just to beat a shift.' "

What about when it's the ninth inning, no one is on base, and your team is losing by three?

He looks like the same ol' Giambi to me ... I mean, Teixeira.

A New York sportswriter who has never heard of Jason Bay.

"When he got here, after the big trade in February of 2004, before we found out about the steroid use in Texas, before all the injuries, he was supposed to be on his way to hitting 800 home runs, on his way to eventually being called the best baseball player of all time."

"Alex Rodriguez is the best baseball player of all time."

There.

Now he has been called the best baseball player of all time.

So he has fulfilled his contract.


"The Yankees were putting him on a team that had just been upset by the Marlins in the World Series but had won four World Series in the seven years before that, and it was going to be the start of the kind of dynasty the Yankees had produced from 1996 through 2000."

Only a fool would have thought that the Yankees were going to continue winning championships four out of every five seasons.

Other teams play baseball and, with all deference to Yogi, modern-day baseball now has three playoff rounds instead of one.


"Alex Rodriguez had New York now, and so he had the chance to be the biggest star around, not just in baseball, but in all of sports."

I guess.

I mean, who's the biggest star in all of sports? It's probably a football player, since football is the most popular sport. In fact, right now, it's probably the Jets' backup QB.

ARod is still incredibly well-known and popular and his contract is worth $250+ million and you can't stop writing about him ...


"Only despite gaudy numbers, and despite more MVP awards, and an even bigger contract that he came here with from Texas, it has not worked out that way. In Rodriguez’s eight seasons so far with the Yankees, they have won one World Series helped mightily by him, of course and played in just one."

Yawn.

MVPs. Gaudy numbers. Playoffs and World Series. New stadium. Franchise worth $2.5 billion.

He's a regular Von Hayes.


"It is the season when Rodriguez will look like one of the most dangerous hitters in the game again, the kind of hitter who hit 54 home runs and knocked in 156 five years ago, or will just continue to look like the worst contract in the history of the Yankees, in all of baseball, at least until Albert Pujols starts to break down in Anaheim."

This is tiring. ARod is not going to hit 50 HRs and drive in 150 runs. That happens rarely.


The worst contract in baseball history?

Joey Votto just signed a $250 million contract. He probably will not hit 50 HRs or drive in 150 runs.

Matt Cain just signed the biggest contract in pitching history.

Barry Zito; Mike Hampton; Darren Dreifort; the guy from KC that who refunded the last season of his contract; Pedro Martinez with the Mets; Denny Neagle; Joe Mauer; Vernon Wells; Carl Crawford; Jayson Werth; John Lackey; Albert Belle; Chan Ho Park; Richie Sexson; Kevin Millwood ... like I said, this is tiring.


Even if the analysis is limited to Yankee contracts, ARod's contract is nowhere near the worst.

Lupica knows A.J. Burnett's contract is worse (present tense, since the Yankees are still paying most of it).

He knows the Yankees paid Jorge Posada $13 million last season to drive in 44 runs.

He knows who Kei Igawa is.

He knows that the Yankees pay Teixeira $20 million per year to bat .250 and bat fifth in the lineup.

He remembers Dave Collins, Steve Kemp, Jim Abbott, Pascual Perez, Mike Witt, Hideki Irabu, Danny Tartabull, Carl Pavano ...

No New York sportswriter can be that ignorant of New York sports.


So when Lupica states that ARod is the worst contract in Yankee history -- the worst contract in baseball history -- Lupica is not truly displaying his own ignorance. Lupica is not merely and incompetent fool.

He's worse.

He's a god damned liar.

Down the rabbit hole.

"Last September, a baseball researcher with a background in physics released a groundbreaking study about catchers. Mike Fast analyzed their ability to impact the game by making pitches on the edge of the zone appear to be strikes.

He concluded that pitch framing, already considered an important skill, wasn’t being valued nearly enough.

Fast’s research suggested that a strike-stealing catcher could provide value comparable to a strong offensive player, and that the effect of framing appeared so powerful that even part-time players could significantly effect a pitching staff.

Catchers, he concluded, 'appear to have a substantial impact on the success of their pitcher through their ability to gain extra strike calls from the umpires.'

Included among the best in the game: Jose Molina, Russell Martin and an obscure journeyman named Chris Stewart. It’s the reason, a person with knowledge of the team’s thinking, that the Yankees made the deal."

The study is probably a hoax, for one thing.

For another, the last thing the Yankees need are a bunch of A.J. Burnetts trying to hit the corners with two strikes (just like Sabathia and Kuroda in the first two games of the season).

Stop nibbling the corners, you cowards. A 1-2 count always ends up becoming a 3-2 count, which ends up becoming a walk, which ends up becoming a run.

Of course, I knew Robertson should have started the ninth. I was yelling at my television that exact thing: "Don't bring in Mariano."

I have been saying that for 16 years, for crying out loud.


First recap I hear about today's game ... some guy named Chris Moore on WFAN ... a Good Friday fill-in host perhaps? ... says the Yankees are in trouble if they stick with the routine and ignore what's in front of their eyes.

Robertson should have started the ninth.

Yankee fans shouldn't be worried about Mariano per se, but they should be worried if the Yankees are unwilling to deviate from the formula.


Well, you know what? One day, Mariano will lose it. It is inevitable.

Maybe this is the day.

Maybe this is the year.

But it's hard to take these concerns seriously when I've been hearing it every time he has blown a save since 1997.


If he is finally finished and Robertson is out-pitching him, then the Yankees won't sit idly by while the team slides into third place.

You can ask Bernie and Jorge, among others, about the Yankees' priorities.


Besides, what is there to worry about? Ibanez is on pace for 648 runs batted in.

Brett Gardner is good, not expendable.

"So the Yankees showed up here on Tuesday without their billion-dollar infield or their star center fielder, and that sort of took the glitter off the first spring training game against the Mets since 1996."

Because, in normal circumstances, the Mayor's Trophy game is glittery.


"I’m aware these games don’t count, but if the New York teams are going to bother playing Grapefruit League games against one another, shouldn't the paying customers have some sort of guarantee they'll get to see the big names?"

No.


"Of course, here’s the real problem for the Mets. For all the Yankees who weren't here, it wasn't hard to find one that epitomizes the huge gap between the two teams these days.

Put it this way: How much do you think the Mets could use Brett Gardner?

A solid on-base percentage guy with tremendous speed, Gardner would be a lot more valuable to the Mets as their leadoff hitter and center fielder than he is as the No. 9 hitter and left fielder for the Yankees."

Well ... yeah.

Every good player is more valuable to a bad team than he is to a good team.


"Actually, the Mets would love to have someone like Gardner as a lefthanded-hitting option for left field, such is the level of concern for Jason Bay after an invisible spring."

Make an offer.


"Meanwhile, Gardner’s speed is a quite a weapon, and yet you can find baseball people who believe the Yankees would be a stronger ballclub, at least offensively, if they played Eduardo Nunez in left field."

"Baseball people."


"Instead Nunez, who is hitting .357 this spring after going 1-for-3 on Tuesday in the Mets’ 7-6 walk-off win, gives the Yankees the type of bench depth that further separates them from the Mets."

So if Gardner would help the Mets ... and Nunez is better than Gardner, according to some "baseball people" ... then Nunez could probably help the Mets even more than Gardner could.

Which is a long-winded illustration of something you already know: The Yankees are good and the Mets are bad, mostly due to the surplus of good players on the Yankees combined with the paucity of good players on the Mets.

Mike Lupica taunts the New York Yankees.

"I said this at the time that the Yankees traded for Michael Pineda, and it was another one of those winter moves that was supposed to make it game, set, match for the Yankees in the AL East again:"

You were wrong when you said that.


"I don’t care how many prospects the Mariners have coming along, they must have at least had some doubts about Pineda being the real deal, or they wouldn’t have moved a young arm like that."

Well, like most observers, I thought it was an underwhelming trade of a young hitting prospect for a young pitching prospect.


"Even for Jesus Montero, who will turn out to be the most special hitting prospect the Yankees have developed since Cano."

I was going to say most special hitting prospect since Mickey Mantle, but, you know ... if you want to take the bold stance that Montero will turn out to be a better big league hitter than Greg Golson or Ramiro Pena, then go ahead and step out on that limb.


"So suddenly the Yankees’ young-gun rotation features Hiroki Kuroda and Freddy Garcia.

Just sayin’."

Not sure what you're sayin'. The Yankees never claimed to have a young-gun rotation, and you didn't even mention the impending arrival of Pettitte. If anyone is talking about young guns, they're referring to Betances and Banuelos.

So you're essentially mocking the Yankees for their failure to meet an imaginary goal. Just like you are mocking Pineda for his failure to be a great pitcher that nobody ever thought he was.

It's an easy strategy which I can apply to anything.

When the Mets claimed that Jason Bay would rebound and hit 50 HRs this season, I knew they were exaggerating the effect of the shorter outfield fences.