"You don't hustle."
"You're right, coach."
"Okay. Nice talk."
Monday, September 30, 2013
Is Edgardo Alfonzo wearing pajamas?
Betcha didn't think you'd read an article today in which Mike Piazza compared himself to Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio:
" 'The Hall of Fame, I truly feel I got a lot of support,' Piazza said.'It’s a process. I’m very proud of my career. Obviously I put my body of work up against anybody, I’ve said before. But, you know what? I truly feel that the process is a beautiful thing as well. It is what it is.
'I mean, looking back, Yogi (Berra) had three ballots. And Joe DiMaggio three ballots. So if I’m so blessed and honored to get to that point someday, I will enjoy it and be proud and wear the honor that is so important... I know throughout history there is always going to be debate. That’s the best thing about baseball and the best thing about sports. ' ”
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Anyone who praises Selig is willfully blind.
"Maybe the best evidence of this admittedly unscientific observation is the national TV ratings. There’s no sense comparing baseball’s numbers to football’s, which exist in a whole other Nielsen’s stratosphere. But baseball is losing ground to pro basketball, too. In 2012, the N.B.A.’s regular season ratings on ABC were nearly double those of Major League Baseball on Fox. The last eight years have produced the seven least-watched World Series on record.
More to the point, baseball seems simply to have fallen out of the national conversation (unless the conversation happens to be about steroids, that is). The last time baseball felt front and center, culturally speaking, was the 1998 home-run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. And we all know how that turned out.
...
Baseball’s never-ending nostalgia trip has made it an inherently conservative sport, one that’s forever straining to live up to its own mythology. This year, not a single contemporary player was voted into the Hall of Fame because so many eligible players were suspected of steroid use. Never mind that Cooperstown has its share of racists, wife beaters and even a drug dealer. (To say nothing of the spitballers.) "
If you go to a game at Yankee Stadium, the theme song is sung by Frank Sinatra. Bob Sheppard might announce a player or two. Kate Smith sings "God Bless America." Robert Merrill sings the National Anthem.
Never-ending nostalgia trip sounds about right.
More to the point, baseball seems simply to have fallen out of the national conversation (unless the conversation happens to be about steroids, that is). The last time baseball felt front and center, culturally speaking, was the 1998 home-run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. And we all know how that turned out.
...
Baseball’s never-ending nostalgia trip has made it an inherently conservative sport, one that’s forever straining to live up to its own mythology. This year, not a single contemporary player was voted into the Hall of Fame because so many eligible players were suspected of steroid use. Never mind that Cooperstown has its share of racists, wife beaters and even a drug dealer. (To say nothing of the spitballers.) "
If you go to a game at Yankee Stadium, the theme song is sung by Frank Sinatra. Bob Sheppard might announce a player or two. Kate Smith sings "God Bless America." Robert Merrill sings the National Anthem.
Never-ending nostalgia trip sounds about right.
Let's all slag on Alex Rodriguez and pretend it's sportswriting.
Bob Raissman shines the spotlight on ARod by complaining about all the ARod coverage.
Now, if the Daily News really wants to parse the difference between andro and "steroid," they'd solve a medical conundrum. The rest of us know that Piazza cheated his way to the Mets Hall of Fame. Not a peep of outrage from the Daily News' self-appointed Guardians of the Game. A bunch of deluded, infantile keyboard heroes who use their columns to throw temper tantrums when they don't get their way.
To wit:
"They were bidding against themselves when they gave Rodriguez the dumbest contract in sports history, even as people try to tell you now what a star and a TV attraction he’s been, and it’s really not that bad. Right. Another hundred million still owed to a guy who’s calcifying in front of our eyes. Barry Bonds at least still had his hometown fans rooting for him at the end. Who roots for A-Rod except his own lawyers and flacks and other hired friends?"
ARod played pretty well this year. I expect he'll get suspended for some part of 2014, but his hips could probably use more healing time.
ARod is a star and TV attraction. Not arguable. Probably one of the reasons is that the media continually give him free advertising.
Who roots for ARod now? Lupica would be surprised. I root for ARod and so do a lot of people I know (mostly Yankee fans; that's how it works). Not the Daily News sportswriter cocoon, that's for sure.
"And yet: All they have to do is look across the diamond at where their broken-down third baseman was, until he couldn’t even make it through a seven-week season. Look at the deal they gave him when they didn’t have to. Look at what they’re getting out of it on the back end."
1) The Yankees are not giving Cano $300 million. Nobody is. It's the first figure in a negotiation and there is no real need to give it attention.
2) ARod made it through the seven-week season and played pretty well. The last four games don't count and he could have played if the games mattered. He proved you wrong. He proved you wrong and now you won't admit it because you have no integrity.
3) All long-term deals in MLB depreciate sharply at the end. The same fate awaits Cano, Sabathia, Teixeira, Jeter, Wright, and Pedroia.
It is unlikely, however, that Lupica will refer to Wright as a "broken-down heap" the next time Wright gets beaned with a pitch.
Now, if the Daily News really wants to parse the difference between andro and "steroid," they'd solve a medical conundrum. The rest of us know that Piazza cheated his way to the Mets Hall of Fame. Not a peep of outrage from the Daily News' self-appointed Guardians of the Game. A bunch of deluded, infantile keyboard heroes who use their columns to throw temper tantrums when they don't get their way.
To wit:
"They were bidding against themselves when they gave Rodriguez the dumbest contract in sports history, even as people try to tell you now what a star and a TV attraction he’s been, and it’s really not that bad. Right. Another hundred million still owed to a guy who’s calcifying in front of our eyes. Barry Bonds at least still had his hometown fans rooting for him at the end. Who roots for A-Rod except his own lawyers and flacks and other hired friends?"
ARod played pretty well this year. I expect he'll get suspended for some part of 2014, but his hips could probably use more healing time.
ARod is a star and TV attraction. Not arguable. Probably one of the reasons is that the media continually give him free advertising.
Who roots for ARod now? Lupica would be surprised. I root for ARod and so do a lot of people I know (mostly Yankee fans; that's how it works). Not the Daily News sportswriter cocoon, that's for sure.
"And yet: All they have to do is look across the diamond at where their broken-down third baseman was, until he couldn’t even make it through a seven-week season. Look at the deal they gave him when they didn’t have to. Look at what they’re getting out of it on the back end."
1) The Yankees are not giving Cano $300 million. Nobody is. It's the first figure in a negotiation and there is no real need to give it attention.
2) ARod made it through the seven-week season and played pretty well. The last four games don't count and he could have played if the games mattered. He proved you wrong. He proved you wrong and now you won't admit it because you have no integrity.
3) All long-term deals in MLB depreciate sharply at the end. The same fate awaits Cano, Sabathia, Teixeira, Jeter, Wright, and Pedroia.
It is unlikely, however, that Lupica will refer to Wright as a "broken-down heap" the next time Wright gets beaned with a pitch.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Any friend of Selig's is an enemy of mine.
"Bud Selig's legacy is about as uncomplicated as it gets. He's the best Commissioner baseball has ever had. Is that uncomplicated enough?"
As uncomplicated as saying 2 + 2 = 5.
Elegant ... simple ... wrong.
"All the good things that have happened to baseball the past 21 years have been a byproduct of Selig's leadership, persistence and vision."
Steroids.
"Twenty-one years later, baseball has been transformed by labor peace, revenue sharing, drug testing, competitive balance, affirmative action, new ballparks, expanded playoffs, television coverage and a little Internet startup, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, that has become one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of American business."
All built on the overwhelmingly positive response by fans to PED freaks hitting lots of HRs.
As for competitive balance -- though I dispute whether or not competitive balance is good for the sport in the first place -- tell it to the Astros.
The 1980s had nine separate Champions, many of them small-market. Not sure what problem Selig thought he was solving when he got all freaked out by the 1998 Yankees.
"As he prepares to leave the sport he transformed, that single image of Bud Selig, this good man, this smart, funny man who remade a sport, is the one that will endure."
I think he's a sad old man who has some problem with the Yankees, and ARod in particular, even though he profited greatly from both of them.
The rest of his so-called accomplishments? Tell me how the game is better today than it was in 1991.
I'm not complaining about the game as it is, but I don't see how Selig has improved the game in any way. Selig capitulates to old, white men instead of embracing the modern athlete and the younger fans. The next commissioner ought to be Scott Boras.
As uncomplicated as saying 2 + 2 = 5.
Elegant ... simple ... wrong.
"All the good things that have happened to baseball the past 21 years have been a byproduct of Selig's leadership, persistence and vision."
Steroids.
"Twenty-one years later, baseball has been transformed by labor peace, revenue sharing, drug testing, competitive balance, affirmative action, new ballparks, expanded playoffs, television coverage and a little Internet startup, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, that has become one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of American business."
All built on the overwhelmingly positive response by fans to PED freaks hitting lots of HRs.
As for competitive balance -- though I dispute whether or not competitive balance is good for the sport in the first place -- tell it to the Astros.
The 1980s had nine separate Champions, many of them small-market. Not sure what problem Selig thought he was solving when he got all freaked out by the 1998 Yankees.
"As he prepares to leave the sport he transformed, that single image of Bud Selig, this good man, this smart, funny man who remade a sport, is the one that will endure."
I think he's a sad old man who has some problem with the Yankees, and ARod in particular, even though he profited greatly from both of them.
The rest of his so-called accomplishments? Tell me how the game is better today than it was in 1991.
I'm not complaining about the game as it is, but I don't see how Selig has improved the game in any way. Selig capitulates to old, white men instead of embracing the modern athlete and the younger fans. The next commissioner ought to be Scott Boras.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Bill Madden can't admit he was wrong.
Nice first sentence, professional writer:
"If you didn’t already know that has been a liar and a total phony through all of this ... that he told kids from the Taylor Hooton Foundation about the dangers and evils of steroids when he himself was continuing to seek them out ... that he selfishly dragged the Yankee organization and his teammates through an ugly summer of mudslinging distractions once it became evident he was going to be severely slammed by Major League Baseball for multiple violations of the joint drug policy, you could almost feel a little sympathy for him after watching him strike out twice, looking helplessly bewildered at one pitch after another Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium against the Tampa Bay Rays’ David Price."
I don't even know where to start:
1) That's a ridiculous run-on sentence.
2) "... through all of this ..."
Through all of what? Provide a setting, a context. Writing 101.
Because, yeah, I know all about Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees, but I still don't know what you "all of this" refers to.
This season?
This career?
This game?
The biogenesis scandal?
Help us out. We're the readers, you're the writer.
3) " ...that he told kids from the Taylor Hooton Foundation about the dangers and evils of steroids when he himself was continuing to seek them out ..."
a) Did someone just use the word "he" followed immediately by the world "himself"?
That can't be right. I must be hallucinating.
b) The way this sentence reads? ARod continuing to seek out the Taylor Hooton Foundation kids.
"After his second called strikeout in the fifth inning, A-Rod concluded that his night was over. As it turns out, his season will likely end Thursday as he may not join the Yankees in Houston for the final series of the season."
Yeah, he strikes out too much, without a doubt.
As for his season being over, it's the 200th time you predicted this and you're finally right. Four games left, after the Yankees have been eliminated from the playoffs.
“ 'Take me out, coach, I’m no longer ready to play,' is what he essentially told Joe Girardi in the eighth inning Wednesday night, paraphrasing John Fogerty. He needed to take care of his legs, which were pained by calf and hamstring problems, to which Girardi said something to the effect of: 'Whatever. Take care of your legs.' "
"Paraphrasing John Fogerty," he says.
It seems like a wise move to me. Girardi rode this guy for as long as he could, got some decent production for a while. I see no reason to push it.
"Not that we should be surprised by any of this. All the medical people you talk to — other than, perhaps, the 'five-minutes' famous Dr. Michael Gross of Hackensack Hospital who A-Rod’s handlers pulled out of central casting to refute the Yankee team physician’s MRI of a Grade One hamstring strain that was keeping him off the field during his re-hab circus back in July — agreed the surgeries Rodriguez has had on both hips, if not necessarily career-ending, would significantly diminish him as an everyday All-Star caliber player.
They all cited the fact that frequent related leg injuries, like the calf and hamstrings that have hampered him this year, were inevitable."
No one is ever again expecting him to be an everyday All Star caliber player.
As an aside -- those medical people you talk to - do they wear white coats? Have they cut back on your meds?
"According to one source in the know, despite his blowhard lawyer Joe Tacopina’s bravado that Rodriguez doesn’t deserve even one day of suspension, A-Rod, 'is terrified' about the upcoming hearing on his 211-game drug suspension that begins Monday in New York. According to the source, that might partly explain the recent 3-for-17 (.081) slump in which he’s looked so helpless."
Listen to this freakin' guy.
Slumps happen all the time. ARod is a streaky hitter. ARod strike out way too much. His bat is slow, he refuses to adjust, his legs are shot, his conditioning is poor, David Price is good. Lots of reasons he'd strike out twice in one game.
One thing that is definitely not a reason? ARod is scared of the upcoming MLB hearing.
Even if ARod is terrified of the hearing, it certainly is not the reason for his slump.
"If that’s true, then maybe A-Rod needs to stop listening to all these lawyers who are bent on keeping their meters running and bleeding him for more money than he’s going to lose from his suspension, and take the weekend to see if Commissioner Bud Selig’s drug sheriff, Rob Manfred, and his MLB honchos might be amenable to a deal."
Really?
This ought to be good.
"I don’t propose to know if they would be — they’ve already come down from the lifetime ban Selig wanted to the 211 games — but even if, say, as many as 60 games were taken off the sentence, it would still amount to A-Rod getting three times more punishment than all the other 12 guilty players in the Tony Bosch Biogenesis case. And it would still keep him out of the game for nearly the entire 2014 season and, for all intents and purposes, end his career."
A career-ending deal?
Well, when you put it that way, it's an offer too good to pass up.
"At the same time, it would save everyone the further time, expense and trouble of a hearing that Rodriguez must surely know isn’t going to be deemed to be a lot of trumped up falsehoods based on forged documents, unreliable testimony and devious investigative means, as his lawyers are claiming. Not after his own union head, Michael Weiner, essentially said he was guilty when the Biogenesis suspensions came down in early August, and that only the proper punishment needed to be determined."
So we're finally ready for the hearing ... we're four days away ... and Madden's proposal is for ARod to scrap the idea to save everyone time, expense, and trouble.
"He needs to get a grip on reality — which is that he’s finished as a player and guilty as charged as a serial steroids cheat. His best option now is to try and make a deal with MLB, so at least all the lurid details of just how guilty he is and how much he betrayed Don Hooton’s kids, may never come out."
Madden insists ARod will never play again. ARod plays.
ARod outperforms Madden's expectations. Madden insists ARod is finished as a player.
MLB leaks all of its ARod information since day one, so there is no reason for anyone to believe the lurid details wouldn't come out.
Who needs a grip on reality here?
"If you didn’t already know that has been a liar and a total phony through all of this ... that he told kids from the Taylor Hooton Foundation about the dangers and evils of steroids when he himself was continuing to seek them out ... that he selfishly dragged the Yankee organization and his teammates through an ugly summer of mudslinging distractions once it became evident he was going to be severely slammed by Major League Baseball for multiple violations of the joint drug policy, you could almost feel a little sympathy for him after watching him strike out twice, looking helplessly bewildered at one pitch after another Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium against the Tampa Bay Rays’ David Price."
I don't even know where to start:
1) That's a ridiculous run-on sentence.
2) "... through all of this ..."
Through all of what? Provide a setting, a context. Writing 101.
Because, yeah, I know all about Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees, but I still don't know what you "all of this" refers to.
This season?
This career?
This game?
The biogenesis scandal?
Help us out. We're the readers, you're the writer.
3) " ...that he told kids from the Taylor Hooton Foundation about the dangers and evils of steroids when he himself was continuing to seek them out ..."
a) Did someone just use the word "he" followed immediately by the world "himself"?
That can't be right. I must be hallucinating.
b) The way this sentence reads? ARod continuing to seek out the Taylor Hooton Foundation kids.
"After his second called strikeout in the fifth inning, A-Rod concluded that his night was over. As it turns out, his season will likely end Thursday as he may not join the Yankees in Houston for the final series of the season."
Yeah, he strikes out too much, without a doubt.
As for his season being over, it's the 200th time you predicted this and you're finally right. Four games left, after the Yankees have been eliminated from the playoffs.
“ 'Take me out, coach, I’m no longer ready to play,' is what he essentially told Joe Girardi in the eighth inning Wednesday night, paraphrasing John Fogerty. He needed to take care of his legs, which were pained by calf and hamstring problems, to which Girardi said something to the effect of: 'Whatever. Take care of your legs.' "
"Paraphrasing John Fogerty," he says.
It seems like a wise move to me. Girardi rode this guy for as long as he could, got some decent production for a while. I see no reason to push it.
"Not that we should be surprised by any of this. All the medical people you talk to — other than, perhaps, the 'five-minutes' famous Dr. Michael Gross of Hackensack Hospital who A-Rod’s handlers pulled out of central casting to refute the Yankee team physician’s MRI of a Grade One hamstring strain that was keeping him off the field during his re-hab circus back in July — agreed the surgeries Rodriguez has had on both hips, if not necessarily career-ending, would significantly diminish him as an everyday All-Star caliber player.
They all cited the fact that frequent related leg injuries, like the calf and hamstrings that have hampered him this year, were inevitable."
No one is ever again expecting him to be an everyday All Star caliber player.
As an aside -- those medical people you talk to - do they wear white coats? Have they cut back on your meds?
"According to one source in the know, despite his blowhard lawyer Joe Tacopina’s bravado that Rodriguez doesn’t deserve even one day of suspension, A-Rod, 'is terrified' about the upcoming hearing on his 211-game drug suspension that begins Monday in New York. According to the source, that might partly explain the recent 3-for-17 (.081) slump in which he’s looked so helpless."
Listen to this freakin' guy.
Slumps happen all the time. ARod is a streaky hitter. ARod strike out way too much. His bat is slow, he refuses to adjust, his legs are shot, his conditioning is poor, David Price is good. Lots of reasons he'd strike out twice in one game.
One thing that is definitely not a reason? ARod is scared of the upcoming MLB hearing.
Even if ARod is terrified of the hearing, it certainly is not the reason for his slump.
"If that’s true, then maybe A-Rod needs to stop listening to all these lawyers who are bent on keeping their meters running and bleeding him for more money than he’s going to lose from his suspension, and take the weekend to see if Commissioner Bud Selig’s drug sheriff, Rob Manfred, and his MLB honchos might be amenable to a deal."
Really?
This ought to be good.
"I don’t propose to know if they would be — they’ve already come down from the lifetime ban Selig wanted to the 211 games — but even if, say, as many as 60 games were taken off the sentence, it would still amount to A-Rod getting three times more punishment than all the other 12 guilty players in the Tony Bosch Biogenesis case. And it would still keep him out of the game for nearly the entire 2014 season and, for all intents and purposes, end his career."
A career-ending deal?
Well, when you put it that way, it's an offer too good to pass up.
"At the same time, it would save everyone the further time, expense and trouble of a hearing that Rodriguez must surely know isn’t going to be deemed to be a lot of trumped up falsehoods based on forged documents, unreliable testimony and devious investigative means, as his lawyers are claiming. Not after his own union head, Michael Weiner, essentially said he was guilty when the Biogenesis suspensions came down in early August, and that only the proper punishment needed to be determined."
So we're finally ready for the hearing ... we're four days away ... and Madden's proposal is for ARod to scrap the idea to save everyone time, expense, and trouble.
"He needs to get a grip on reality — which is that he’s finished as a player and guilty as charged as a serial steroids cheat. His best option now is to try and make a deal with MLB, so at least all the lurid details of just how guilty he is and how much he betrayed Don Hooton’s kids, may never come out."
Madden insists ARod will never play again. ARod plays.
ARod outperforms Madden's expectations. Madden insists ARod is finished as a player.
MLB leaks all of its ARod information since day one, so there is no reason for anyone to believe the lurid details wouldn't come out.
Who needs a grip on reality here?
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Saturday, September 21, 2013
2014 is nothing like 1965.
Bill Madden still gets paid to write about baseball even though he is always wrong. The reason he is always wrong is because he is rooting against the Yankees and his judgment is therefore warped. This is not a genius observation, it's plainly obvious, and there is no way anyone should take him seriously anymore:
"You have to wonder now if Derek Jeter isn’t going to come to the same conclusion that it’s time for him, too. With Jeter’s 3,316 hits in the bank — 10th-most all-time — his legacy as one of the all-time greatest shortstops and automatic first-ballot Hall-of-Famer is secure. In all of their cases, however, it’s also time for a different reason."
I don't know for sure, but I'll bet Jeter gets healthy and plays for the Yankees next season.
On second thought, since Bill Madden says Jeter is quitting, I know for a fact that Jeter will play for the Yankees next season.
"In all their years with the Yankees, Rivera, Pettitte and Jeter have known nothing but Octobers, nothing but championship-caliber teams, and more rings than any other players in baseball could hope to own for the foreseeable future. All of that ends this year, and the future of the Yankees beyond this season is even more dubious."
The future is always dubious. It is indubitably dubious. It is the future.
"If it wasn’t for the fact they are all class acts whose careers have been fulfilled, you could perhaps liken this to the proverbial rats deserting a sinking ship. For why would they want any part of this immediate Yankee future that is going to be so unrecognizable?"
Pettitte and Rivera are retiring, as expected. They are both over 40 years old.
Not sure how that's likened to rats deserting a sinking ship.
Oh, yeah, I know why. Because Bill Madden is a sad prick.
"Once this season of overachieving retreads and sadly gassed and broken down former superstars mercifully comes to a close, the Yankees go into an uncertain winter with more holes than almost any other team in baseball."
Almost any team in baseball?
That makes no sense.
It makes sense to Bill Madden because his brain is puerile and diseased.
"Welcome back to 1964, when the Yankee dynasty ended with a resounding crash because the core veterans got old, and the minor league pipeline that had sustained them through four decades dried up."
The circumstances are entirely different in 2013.
Madden is not explaining how the Yankees got their minor league pipeline in the first place. That is to say, the MLB amateur draft started in 1965, followed soon by the ending of the reserve clause.
The current Yankees are in an entirely different circumstance in every way.
"And now you wonder if maybe Joe Girardi, seeing the same thing, won’t also follow his fellow ’96, ’98, ’99 ring-bearers out the door? Is Girardi — who will almost surely get a goodly share of Manager of the Year votes even if he isn’t able to complete a miracle run to the playoffs with this rag-tag, beaten up Yankee team — prepared to be Johnny Keane circa 1965?"
It wouldn't bother me too much if Girardi took the Cubs job. Girardi is good, not great.
But he will probably be back. If Bill Madden says Girardi will not be back? Girardi will definitely be back.
As for Manager of the Year, it's Farrell unanimously. Francona a distance second. Girardi will get a handful of votes.
"Unlike the Yankees, the Cubs under Theo Epstein have been quietly assembling a top-rated group of young players and prospects through the draft (shortstop Javier Baez, outfielder Albert Almora, righthander Kris Bryant), trades (first baseman Anthony Rizzo, third baseman Mike Olt) and international signings (Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler). Dare we say the lovable losers of Wrigley Field look to have a brighter future than the Yankees right now?"
You only say that because it's wishful thinking because you hate the Yankees. I'll believe it only when I see it.
Mike Olt might be Drew Henson. Kris Bryant might be Phil Hughes. "Potential" is a French word that means you haven't done anything yet.
"And there is also this to consider: In years past, the Yankees had an added advantage in the free-agent market besides just money: As a team that was always assured of being a World Series contender, players wanted to come to the Bronx."
This guy is living in a fantasy world.
Can you name one free agent in the past 20 years for whom the Yankees underpaid?
All I remember is the writers whining about the obscene salaries. Every single one, from Pascual Perez to Roger Clemens to Chuck Knoblauch to Randy Johnson to Alex Rodriguez to Tom Gordon to Kevin Brown to Jason Giambi to ... well ... every single damned one.
They were "buying the Championship," ruining the competitive nature of baseball, forcing Selig to institute a salary cap.
Who knew the whole time the Yankees were getting all these players at a big discount?
"Now they are back to where they were during George Steinbrenner’s manic ’80s, a purgatory the Mets have been mired in, seemingly forever, without a championship-caliber team and having to overpay for free agents in order to get them to come to New York."
The Yankees are exactly like the Mets. I can't stop laughing about that, for one thing. We're in purgatory! Help us! Help us!
But that last line? I really can't stop laughing about that last line.
Overpay for free agents? Well, I declare, the mere thought of this is profane to my delicate ears. What would that ever be like for the Yankees to overpay for a free agent?
I did the math, and I won't bore you. Every player who leaves gives the Yankees a lot of salary to play with, even if they insist on getting under $189. Youkilis and his 8 RBIs, Kuroda, Pettitte, Rivera, probably Granderson, probably 60% - 75% of ARod. Maybe they even drop Cano and decide to spend a ton of money on depth instead of superstars.
Winning the World Series is tough indeed. I am not expecting a dynasty anytime soon from the Yankees or any other team.
But Madden is essentially predicting a decade of ineptitude. Sub-.500. Worse than the Cubs. Baseball purgatory.
It might happen. It probably won't.
When you consider the source, it definitely won't.
"You have to wonder now if Derek Jeter isn’t going to come to the same conclusion that it’s time for him, too. With Jeter’s 3,316 hits in the bank — 10th-most all-time — his legacy as one of the all-time greatest shortstops and automatic first-ballot Hall-of-Famer is secure. In all of their cases, however, it’s also time for a different reason."
I don't know for sure, but I'll bet Jeter gets healthy and plays for the Yankees next season.
On second thought, since Bill Madden says Jeter is quitting, I know for a fact that Jeter will play for the Yankees next season.
"In all their years with the Yankees, Rivera, Pettitte and Jeter have known nothing but Octobers, nothing but championship-caliber teams, and more rings than any other players in baseball could hope to own for the foreseeable future. All of that ends this year, and the future of the Yankees beyond this season is even more dubious."
The future is always dubious. It is indubitably dubious. It is the future.
"If it wasn’t for the fact they are all class acts whose careers have been fulfilled, you could perhaps liken this to the proverbial rats deserting a sinking ship. For why would they want any part of this immediate Yankee future that is going to be so unrecognizable?"
Pettitte and Rivera are retiring, as expected. They are both over 40 years old.
Not sure how that's likened to rats deserting a sinking ship.
Oh, yeah, I know why. Because Bill Madden is a sad prick.
"Once this season of overachieving retreads and sadly gassed and broken down former superstars mercifully comes to a close, the Yankees go into an uncertain winter with more holes than almost any other team in baseball."
Almost any team in baseball?
That makes no sense.
It makes sense to Bill Madden because his brain is puerile and diseased.
"Welcome back to 1964, when the Yankee dynasty ended with a resounding crash because the core veterans got old, and the minor league pipeline that had sustained them through four decades dried up."
The circumstances are entirely different in 2013.
Madden is not explaining how the Yankees got their minor league pipeline in the first place. That is to say, the MLB amateur draft started in 1965, followed soon by the ending of the reserve clause.
The current Yankees are in an entirely different circumstance in every way.
"And now you wonder if maybe Joe Girardi, seeing the same thing, won’t also follow his fellow ’96, ’98, ’99 ring-bearers out the door? Is Girardi — who will almost surely get a goodly share of Manager of the Year votes even if he isn’t able to complete a miracle run to the playoffs with this rag-tag, beaten up Yankee team — prepared to be Johnny Keane circa 1965?"
It wouldn't bother me too much if Girardi took the Cubs job. Girardi is good, not great.
But he will probably be back. If Bill Madden says Girardi will not be back? Girardi will definitely be back.
As for Manager of the Year, it's Farrell unanimously. Francona a distance second. Girardi will get a handful of votes.
"Unlike the Yankees, the Cubs under Theo Epstein have been quietly assembling a top-rated group of young players and prospects through the draft (shortstop Javier Baez, outfielder Albert Almora, righthander Kris Bryant), trades (first baseman Anthony Rizzo, third baseman Mike Olt) and international signings (Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler). Dare we say the lovable losers of Wrigley Field look to have a brighter future than the Yankees right now?"
You only say that because it's wishful thinking because you hate the Yankees. I'll believe it only when I see it.
Mike Olt might be Drew Henson. Kris Bryant might be Phil Hughes. "Potential" is a French word that means you haven't done anything yet.
"And there is also this to consider: In years past, the Yankees had an added advantage in the free-agent market besides just money: As a team that was always assured of being a World Series contender, players wanted to come to the Bronx."
This guy is living in a fantasy world.
Can you name one free agent in the past 20 years for whom the Yankees underpaid?
All I remember is the writers whining about the obscene salaries. Every single one, from Pascual Perez to Roger Clemens to Chuck Knoblauch to Randy Johnson to Alex Rodriguez to Tom Gordon to Kevin Brown to Jason Giambi to ... well ... every single damned one.
They were "buying the Championship," ruining the competitive nature of baseball, forcing Selig to institute a salary cap.
Who knew the whole time the Yankees were getting all these players at a big discount?
"Now they are back to where they were during George Steinbrenner’s manic ’80s, a purgatory the Mets have been mired in, seemingly forever, without a championship-caliber team and having to overpay for free agents in order to get them to come to New York."
The Yankees are exactly like the Mets. I can't stop laughing about that, for one thing. We're in purgatory! Help us! Help us!
But that last line? I really can't stop laughing about that last line.
Overpay for free agents? Well, I declare, the mere thought of this is profane to my delicate ears. What would that ever be like for the Yankees to overpay for a free agent?
I did the math, and I won't bore you. Every player who leaves gives the Yankees a lot of salary to play with, even if they insist on getting under $189. Youkilis and his 8 RBIs, Kuroda, Pettitte, Rivera, probably Granderson, probably 60% - 75% of ARod. Maybe they even drop Cano and decide to spend a ton of money on depth instead of superstars.
Winning the World Series is tough indeed. I am not expecting a dynasty anytime soon from the Yankees or any other team.
But Madden is essentially predicting a decade of ineptitude. Sub-.500. Worse than the Cubs. Baseball purgatory.
It might happen. It probably won't.
When you consider the source, it definitely won't.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Wild cards are bogus.
The fans don't care, and they shouldn't.
John Harper suggests the Giants can spoil the Yankees' playoff hopes. The Giants are too late. We're talking about a team that has been swept by the Mets and the White Sox; a 4th-place team that has been outscored about 20 runs this season. The full roster provided a little short-lived rejuvenation, but let's get serious.
The Lind HR felt like sweet relief:
"As Adam Lind pulverized a Joba Chamberlain slider Thursday night, sending it deep into the right-field stands and burying the chance of another come-from-behind Yankees victory, the ugly truth emerged:
These Yankees have been too terrible, too often. They have virtually no chance to qualify for the playoffs, and no right to do so, either, even in baseball’s watered-down format.
Another must-win game turned into a tepid, 6-2 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, and at 80-73, the Yankees are gasping for their final breaths. They head home Friday coming off a roller-coaster, 4-6 road trip through three cities that likely will be remembered as season-killing."
You can't kill something that is already dead.
"It’s almost certainly too late. Until Girardi made the highly questionable decision to call upon Chamberlain to keep the Yankees’ deficit at 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, you thought that maybe the Yankees could pull off another late-night theft as they did in Wednesday’s 4-3 thriller. The problem is, it’s hard to keep winning games in that fashion.
When Chamberlain spit the bit, the hope evaporated. A bases-loaded, one-out rally in the ninth proved mere window dressing.
Girardi defended his choice of Chamberlain, both in starting the seventh and then staying in the game against Lind, who entered the at-bat with eight hits in 18 at-bats against the fallen prodigy. Shawn Kelley has been shaky since returning from his injury hiatus, David Phelps is just back off the disabled list, and Girardi wanted to save Adam Warren for the eighth. And Chamberlain had thrown two shutout innings in two appearances against the Red Sox. Lefty Cesar Cabral is an inexperienced rookie.
'Where do you want me to go?' Girardi asked reporters.
It’s easier said than done, but anywhere besides Chamberlain, once he walked Munenori Kawasaki and gave up a seeing-eye single to Brett Lawrie. Not given how bad Chamberlain, now the owner of a 4.97 ERA, has looked for the duration of this season."
Hughes and Chamberlain should have been abandoned mid-season, just for the sake of the fans who stuck with this team. Watching Hughes and Chamberlain on the mound is a big downer. It's fitting that Joba went out like a punk and took the team down with him.
John Harper suggests the Giants can spoil the Yankees' playoff hopes. The Giants are too late. We're talking about a team that has been swept by the Mets and the White Sox; a 4th-place team that has been outscored about 20 runs this season. The full roster provided a little short-lived rejuvenation, but let's get serious.
The Lind HR felt like sweet relief:
"As Adam Lind pulverized a Joba Chamberlain slider Thursday night, sending it deep into the right-field stands and burying the chance of another come-from-behind Yankees victory, the ugly truth emerged:
These Yankees have been too terrible, too often. They have virtually no chance to qualify for the playoffs, and no right to do so, either, even in baseball’s watered-down format.
Another must-win game turned into a tepid, 6-2 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, and at 80-73, the Yankees are gasping for their final breaths. They head home Friday coming off a roller-coaster, 4-6 road trip through three cities that likely will be remembered as season-killing."
You can't kill something that is already dead.
"It’s almost certainly too late. Until Girardi made the highly questionable decision to call upon Chamberlain to keep the Yankees’ deficit at 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, you thought that maybe the Yankees could pull off another late-night theft as they did in Wednesday’s 4-3 thriller. The problem is, it’s hard to keep winning games in that fashion.
When Chamberlain spit the bit, the hope evaporated. A bases-loaded, one-out rally in the ninth proved mere window dressing.
Girardi defended his choice of Chamberlain, both in starting the seventh and then staying in the game against Lind, who entered the at-bat with eight hits in 18 at-bats against the fallen prodigy. Shawn Kelley has been shaky since returning from his injury hiatus, David Phelps is just back off the disabled list, and Girardi wanted to save Adam Warren for the eighth. And Chamberlain had thrown two shutout innings in two appearances against the Red Sox. Lefty Cesar Cabral is an inexperienced rookie.
'Where do you want me to go?' Girardi asked reporters.
It’s easier said than done, but anywhere besides Chamberlain, once he walked Munenori Kawasaki and gave up a seeing-eye single to Brett Lawrie. Not given how bad Chamberlain, now the owner of a 4.97 ERA, has looked for the duration of this season."
Hughes and Chamberlain should have been abandoned mid-season, just for the sake of the fans who stuck with this team. Watching Hughes and Chamberlain on the mound is a big downer. It's fitting that Joba went out like a punk and took the team down with him.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Second wild card is bogus. In fact, the first wild card is bogus.
Why was anyone expecting a great team to take the second wild card?
Ten teams out of thirty make the playoffs in MLB.
The Yankees, at their best, are a mediocre team. The sole reason the Yankees have hope is because lots of mediocre teams make the playoffs in MLB and quite a few mediocre teams go on to win the World Series:
"While it has indeed been a bit of a miracle managing job on Joe Girardi’s part, keeping this Yankee team September relevant in the face of all the injuries and all the wear-down of his veteran starters, he still couldn’t have done it without the help of the Tampa Bay bullpen, the Kansas City Royals’ offense, the Orioles’ strikeout-challenged pitching and now, all of a sudden, a second straight September implosion on the part of Ron Washington’s Texas Rangers."
Of course.
Just like the Rays are "lucky" the Astros didn't win 120 games. If the Astros had won 120 games, then the Rays would not make the playoffs.
"Of course, even with the easy schedule, Girardi’s wild-card task just seems to get tougher and tougher. With Gardner gone for the season with an oblique injury, Soriano nursing a sprained right thumb and the uncertainty of just how many more games, if any, Rodriguez has left in him, Girardi’s lineup, which also now includes light-hitting Brendan Ryan at shortstop, appears to be once again diminished to its first-half model that averaged 3.9 runs and eight hits a game. Overall, the Yankees rank 12th in the AL in on-base percentage, a category in which they routinely finished first or second the past 20 years."
The Yankees offense has improved greatly since the additions of Granderson, Reynolds, ARod, and Soriano. The on-base% is up from 14th or 15th.
"So it stands to reason, the Yankees are going to struggle scoring runs again — at least everyone is going to be spared that magic moment of A-Rod passing Willie Mays on the all-time home run list — leaving in question whether the starting pitching can at least keep games in check, as they did in the first-half formula of getting a lead to David Robertson and Mariano Rivera."
I feel relieved.
Since Bill Madden just wrote off ARod again, I'm pretty sure ARod is going to come back strong in the next two weeks. Maybe "everyone" will not be spared the torture of an ARod home run.
In fact, this is the only time I have felt confident the Yankees can make the playoffs.
"Maybe the Blue Jays, Giants, Rays and Astros will provide a welcome end-of-season breather for this beat-up Yankee team. Or maybe the Yanks are simply too beat up now to make a big finish.
On the other hand, the way most of the other wild-card contenders have been playing, it may not take a big finish."
Of course this ... it stands to reason that ... maybe this, maybe that ... on the other hand.
The Yankees will make the playoffs ... the Yankees won't make the playoffs ... the Yankees will make the playoffs ... the Yankees might make the playoffs.
So you're basically saying you don't know what will happen over the next 12 games. Big ups to the in-depth baseball columnist.
Ten teams out of thirty make the playoffs in MLB.
The Yankees, at their best, are a mediocre team. The sole reason the Yankees have hope is because lots of mediocre teams make the playoffs in MLB and quite a few mediocre teams go on to win the World Series:
"While it has indeed been a bit of a miracle managing job on Joe Girardi’s part, keeping this Yankee team September relevant in the face of all the injuries and all the wear-down of his veteran starters, he still couldn’t have done it without the help of the Tampa Bay bullpen, the Kansas City Royals’ offense, the Orioles’ strikeout-challenged pitching and now, all of a sudden, a second straight September implosion on the part of Ron Washington’s Texas Rangers."
Of course.
Just like the Rays are "lucky" the Astros didn't win 120 games. If the Astros had won 120 games, then the Rays would not make the playoffs.
"Of course, even with the easy schedule, Girardi’s wild-card task just seems to get tougher and tougher. With Gardner gone for the season with an oblique injury, Soriano nursing a sprained right thumb and the uncertainty of just how many more games, if any, Rodriguez has left in him, Girardi’s lineup, which also now includes light-hitting Brendan Ryan at shortstop, appears to be once again diminished to its first-half model that averaged 3.9 runs and eight hits a game. Overall, the Yankees rank 12th in the AL in on-base percentage, a category in which they routinely finished first or second the past 20 years."
The Yankees offense has improved greatly since the additions of Granderson, Reynolds, ARod, and Soriano. The on-base% is up from 14th or 15th.
"So it stands to reason, the Yankees are going to struggle scoring runs again — at least everyone is going to be spared that magic moment of A-Rod passing Willie Mays on the all-time home run list — leaving in question whether the starting pitching can at least keep games in check, as they did in the first-half formula of getting a lead to David Robertson and Mariano Rivera."
I feel relieved.
Since Bill Madden just wrote off ARod again, I'm pretty sure ARod is going to come back strong in the next two weeks. Maybe "everyone" will not be spared the torture of an ARod home run.
In fact, this is the only time I have felt confident the Yankees can make the playoffs.
"Maybe the Blue Jays, Giants, Rays and Astros will provide a welcome end-of-season breather for this beat-up Yankee team. Or maybe the Yanks are simply too beat up now to make a big finish.
On the other hand, the way most of the other wild-card contenders have been playing, it may not take a big finish."
Of course this ... it stands to reason that ... maybe this, maybe that ... on the other hand.
The Yankees will make the playoffs ... the Yankees won't make the playoffs ... the Yankees will make the playoffs ... the Yankees might make the playoffs.
So you're basically saying you don't know what will happen over the next 12 games. Big ups to the in-depth baseball columnist.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Nate Silver he ain't.
A sample size of 1,000 is huge.
One does not need to poll "ten bazillion" people. After the first nine bazillion, the final bazillion are just going to confirm the results you've already observed.
In fact, you don't need to poll anywhere near 9 bazillion. A survey of 50 people is quite accurate.
A poll of 1,000 people gives us 95% confidence that the results are within the 4-percentage-point margin of error (+/- 2%):
"But maybe my favorite addition to A-Rod’s ever-changing narrative is this recent survey of 1,000 baseball fans across the country who have him as the face of baseball. A thousand.
Out of a whole country of baseball fans, about ten bazillion of them.
If you polled a thousand people across the country, Anthony Weiner would have been the face of the New York City mayoral campaign."
A few observations that should be obvious to adults, but are not obvious to mushbrains like Lupica:
1) Picking ARod as the "Face of Baseball" may be intended as an insult to baseball.
2) Weiner may very well be the "Face of the Mayoral Race." This is accurate, as long as the "Face" of the Mayoral Race" is differentiated from the "Winner" of the Mayoral Race.
3) Like it or not, ARod is the Face of Baseball. Lupica should not be so shocked. The Daily News is the vehicle, Madden and Lupica are the drivers, ARod is just along for the ride. Maybe if the Daily News wrote one word about Josh Donaldson ...
"Suddenly there is this notion, because Alex Rodriguez has exceeded expectations as a baseball player in his return to the Yankees, that somehow he’s altered the circumstances of Major League Baseball’s case against him."
No.
Few who admire ARod's performance on the baseball field have altered expectations regarding MLB's case.
Lupica should ask himself why the expectations were so low in the first place. It's because the writers hate ARod and are rooting against ARod. This personal animus poisons their opinions and is a disservice to their readers.
The same writers who drool at the memory of Piazza's post-9/11 homerun.
So please don't tell me they're anti-steroid. They're just anti-ARod.
"Since the Yankees are in Boston right now, by the way, just remember where the Red Sox were one year ago and where they are because of all the moves Ben Cherington made.
Starting with making John Farrell his new manager."
Says the guy who enthusiastically endorsed Bobby Valentine last year.
In normal circumstances, I would conclude that the Valentine endorsement hurt Lupica's credibility. But, since we're talking about Lupica ...
"If you’re going to lose your mind because you think the other team is stealing signs, the way Joe Girardi did in Baltimore this past week, you have to make sure that your guys have never done the same thing themselves, right?"
Wrong, wrong wrong! Wrong, I say!
You really don't get it.
We are not impartial observers, we are not moral arbiters, we are not looking at the big picture.
Stealing signs is good when we do it, but it's bad when they do it. Whatever helps our team win the game.
Whichever team wins the World Series, steroids will be on that field. If you want to take a moral stand and abandon sports, be my guest. I am rooting for my team's cheaters to score more points than the other team's cheaters.
One does not need to poll "ten bazillion" people. After the first nine bazillion, the final bazillion are just going to confirm the results you've already observed.
In fact, you don't need to poll anywhere near 9 bazillion. A survey of 50 people is quite accurate.
A poll of 1,000 people gives us 95% confidence that the results are within the 4-percentage-point margin of error (+/- 2%):
"But maybe my favorite addition to A-Rod’s ever-changing narrative is this recent survey of 1,000 baseball fans across the country who have him as the face of baseball. A thousand.
Out of a whole country of baseball fans, about ten bazillion of them.
If you polled a thousand people across the country, Anthony Weiner would have been the face of the New York City mayoral campaign."
A few observations that should be obvious to adults, but are not obvious to mushbrains like Lupica:
1) Picking ARod as the "Face of Baseball" may be intended as an insult to baseball.
2) Weiner may very well be the "Face of the Mayoral Race." This is accurate, as long as the "Face" of the Mayoral Race" is differentiated from the "Winner" of the Mayoral Race.
3) Like it or not, ARod is the Face of Baseball. Lupica should not be so shocked. The Daily News is the vehicle, Madden and Lupica are the drivers, ARod is just along for the ride. Maybe if the Daily News wrote one word about Josh Donaldson ...
"Suddenly there is this notion, because Alex Rodriguez has exceeded expectations as a baseball player in his return to the Yankees, that somehow he’s altered the circumstances of Major League Baseball’s case against him."
No.
Few who admire ARod's performance on the baseball field have altered expectations regarding MLB's case.
Lupica should ask himself why the expectations were so low in the first place. It's because the writers hate ARod and are rooting against ARod. This personal animus poisons their opinions and is a disservice to their readers.
The same writers who drool at the memory of Piazza's post-9/11 homerun.
So please don't tell me they're anti-steroid. They're just anti-ARod.
"Since the Yankees are in Boston right now, by the way, just remember where the Red Sox were one year ago and where they are because of all the moves Ben Cherington made.
Starting with making John Farrell his new manager."
Says the guy who enthusiastically endorsed Bobby Valentine last year.
In normal circumstances, I would conclude that the Valentine endorsement hurt Lupica's credibility. But, since we're talking about Lupica ...
"If you’re going to lose your mind because you think the other team is stealing signs, the way Joe Girardi did in Baltimore this past week, you have to make sure that your guys have never done the same thing themselves, right?"
Wrong, wrong wrong! Wrong, I say!
You really don't get it.
We are not impartial observers, we are not moral arbiters, we are not looking at the big picture.
Stealing signs is good when we do it, but it's bad when they do it. Whatever helps our team win the game.
Whichever team wins the World Series, steroids will be on that field. If you want to take a moral stand and abandon sports, be my guest. I am rooting for my team's cheaters to score more points than the other team's cheaters.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Sunday, September 08, 2013
Wells batting second, Reynolds attempts a sac bunt.
Girardi is either panicking or giving up. I don't believe he is incompetent.
Red Sox are old, fragile, and better than the Yankees.
"This was supposed to be the Yankees’ red line, a huge weekend series with the Red Sox that brought you back to this rivalry’s better days in 2003-04. All the peripheral issues had thankfully been peeled away — no more talk about injuries or performance-enhancing drugs or Alex Rodriguez’s schoolyard war with the front office. The Bombers prepared for a sprint to October, and if they weren’t going to catch the Red Sox, they’d at least use the final 20 games as a dress rehearsal for the playoffs."
Meh.
I don't think too many people thought the Yankees were going to make the playoffs.
"It was an intoxicating sales pitch; it certainly helped pack the Stadium over the weekend. If only the Yankees had made good on the promise of pumped-up baseball. Instead, they were nuked again by Boston’s offense Saturday, 13-9, revealing all the dark secrets about a roster that’s too old and too fragile to hang with the Sox."
The Yankees have scored 25 runs in 3 games and a lot of old players are driving in a lot of runs.
Jeter got hurt this weekend, ARod rested one game this weekend. Those are concessions to age.
Robertson, Logan, Phelps, and a lot of other injured players are "young" and the accompanying "athletic."
Kind of like how Ellsbury got hurt again and the Red Sox are on their third closer ... which may be proof that the Red Sox are brittle ... except there is no reason for alarm since the Red Sox won the games.
"None of that matters over these final 20 games, however. The Yankees’ only consolation has been the Rays’ surprise slump, which has kept not only the Bombers but the Orioles and Indians relevant. But don’t be fooled, the Yankees are barely breathing right now. They’ve been humiliated all weekend by their archrival, learning firsthand the Sox are younger, more athletic and on a run-producing surge that would intimidate just about any pitching staff."
I think the Red Sox are better than the Yankees in every aspect of baseball: starting staff, bullpen, fielding, baserunning, bench depth, coaching, managing, heart, guts, smarts ... and, oh yeah, hitting.
But it's not really the athletic youngsters that are dominating the Yankees. Victorino is old, Napoli is old, Gomes is old, Ortiz is old.
Meh.
I don't think too many people thought the Yankees were going to make the playoffs.
"It was an intoxicating sales pitch; it certainly helped pack the Stadium over the weekend. If only the Yankees had made good on the promise of pumped-up baseball. Instead, they were nuked again by Boston’s offense Saturday, 13-9, revealing all the dark secrets about a roster that’s too old and too fragile to hang with the Sox."
The Yankees have scored 25 runs in 3 games and a lot of old players are driving in a lot of runs.
Jeter got hurt this weekend, ARod rested one game this weekend. Those are concessions to age.
Robertson, Logan, Phelps, and a lot of other injured players are "young" and the accompanying "athletic."
Kind of like how Ellsbury got hurt again and the Red Sox are on their third closer ... which may be proof that the Red Sox are brittle ... except there is no reason for alarm since the Red Sox won the games.
"None of that matters over these final 20 games, however. The Yankees’ only consolation has been the Rays’ surprise slump, which has kept not only the Bombers but the Orioles and Indians relevant. But don’t be fooled, the Yankees are barely breathing right now. They’ve been humiliated all weekend by their archrival, learning firsthand the Sox are younger, more athletic and on a run-producing surge that would intimidate just about any pitching staff."
I think the Red Sox are better than the Yankees in every aspect of baseball: starting staff, bullpen, fielding, baserunning, bench depth, coaching, managing, heart, guts, smarts ... and, oh yeah, hitting.
But it's not really the athletic youngsters that are dominating the Yankees. Victorino is old, Napoli is old, Gomes is old, Ortiz is old.
Saturday, September 07, 2013
Friday, September 06, 2013
Koufax threw out his arm and has fewer career wins than Kevin Appier.
"But just in case Keith doesn't mention this, I will: One of the biggest problems with saying that modern pitchers get hurt because they're babied -- relative to their forebears -- is that we generally remember only the forebears who didn't get hurt, while forgetting the hundreds and hundreds who did get hurt.
I don't think anybody would suggest that anybody's figured anything out. We don't know if the current amount of babying is too much, not enough, or just about right. But this longing for a bygone era in which men were men and nobody blew out elbows and shoulders is a longing for an era that never actually existed."
This is not difficult to figure out. The lineups are better nowadays, so the pitchers have to strain themselves.
But even if the pitching conditions are exactly the same, Seaver and Ryan (and others) inexplicably forget hundreds of contemporaries who blew out their arms and were never heard from again.
David Clyde and Mark Fidrych come to mind.
My nightmares are much more imaginative.
Can't take your eyes off him, can you?:
"You watch Alex Rodriguez in the Yankee Stadium sun a little before 4 in the afternoon, fielding one ground ball after another, making throws across the infield to first base and occasionally to second, and try to remember what it was like, less than four years ago, when he owned the place."
Infield practice? I sure hope Nunez taking infield practice. I didn't know big-leaguers did that anymore.
Oh, as for "owning the place," my memory tells me that ARod has been the most hated player in baseball since 2001.
My memory is correct.
"Not only did he own the place in the postseason of 2009, when the Twins and Angels and finally the Phillies couldn’t get him out, when he was finally the kind of October Yankee he had always wanted to be, he was supposed to own the place for a long time."
Yeah, it was great.
It's certainly an odd situation when a player inspires such passion, both good and bad. His presence instantly pushed attendance up 1 million per season, but it seemed like 1/2 the people were there to boo him.
"Now it is September of 2013, what the Yankees hope will be a big September as they try to clinch a wild card or maybe still win the American League East from the Red Sox, whom they would play in three hours. And less than four years from A-Rod’s dream October, he has become Major League Baseball’s worst nightmare."
Aaron Hernandez.
Jerry Sandusky.
Sarin gas attack.
"The idea of Rodriguez in the playoffs has to be about as appealing for Bud Selig as it was for the late Pete Rozelle to hand Super Bowl trophies to Al Davis in the 1980s, back when Davis was suing Rozelle and his own league every couple of hours.
Or as appealing as it was for Selig to be in the ballpark when Bonds, an obvious drug cheat, hit the home run that passed Aaron.
Might still turn out to be a dream September for the Yankees. Maybe the best of it starts this weekend. Doesn’t change the fact that their third baseman is their game’s worst nightmare."
My dream, however unlikely, is Selig handing the World Series MVP trophy to ARod in a champagne-soaked locker room.
ARod accepts the trophy with a huge grin on his face. Awkwardly hugs Selig and refers to Selig as "Buddy."
The AL MVP race is between a steroid cheat and a drunk driver. The supposed leader for NL Comeback Player of the Year is coming back from a PED suspension.
Is ARod's presence on the baseball field unappealing for Selig? Yes. That's because Selig has a personal gripe against ARod.
Would ARod's presence in the playoffs be Selig's worst nightmare? Hardly. Unless good ratings and mountains of money is a nightmare.
"You watch Alex Rodriguez in the Yankee Stadium sun a little before 4 in the afternoon, fielding one ground ball after another, making throws across the infield to first base and occasionally to second, and try to remember what it was like, less than four years ago, when he owned the place."
Infield practice? I sure hope Nunez taking infield practice. I didn't know big-leaguers did that anymore.
Oh, as for "owning the place," my memory tells me that ARod has been the most hated player in baseball since 2001.
My memory is correct.
"Not only did he own the place in the postseason of 2009, when the Twins and Angels and finally the Phillies couldn’t get him out, when he was finally the kind of October Yankee he had always wanted to be, he was supposed to own the place for a long time."
Yeah, it was great.
It's certainly an odd situation when a player inspires such passion, both good and bad. His presence instantly pushed attendance up 1 million per season, but it seemed like 1/2 the people were there to boo him.
"Now it is September of 2013, what the Yankees hope will be a big September as they try to clinch a wild card or maybe still win the American League East from the Red Sox, whom they would play in three hours. And less than four years from A-Rod’s dream October, he has become Major League Baseball’s worst nightmare."
Aaron Hernandez.
Jerry Sandusky.
Sarin gas attack.
"The idea of Rodriguez in the playoffs has to be about as appealing for Bud Selig as it was for the late Pete Rozelle to hand Super Bowl trophies to Al Davis in the 1980s, back when Davis was suing Rozelle and his own league every couple of hours.
Or as appealing as it was for Selig to be in the ballpark when Bonds, an obvious drug cheat, hit the home run that passed Aaron.
Might still turn out to be a dream September for the Yankees. Maybe the best of it starts this weekend. Doesn’t change the fact that their third baseman is their game’s worst nightmare."
My dream, however unlikely, is Selig handing the World Series MVP trophy to ARod in a champagne-soaked locker room.
ARod accepts the trophy with a huge grin on his face. Awkwardly hugs Selig and refers to Selig as "Buddy."
The AL MVP race is between a steroid cheat and a drunk driver. The supposed leader for NL Comeback Player of the Year is coming back from a PED suspension.
Is ARod's presence on the baseball field unappealing for Selig? Yes. That's because Selig has a personal gripe against ARod.
Would ARod's presence in the playoffs be Selig's worst nightmare? Hardly. Unless good ratings and mountains of money is a nightmare.
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
Monday, September 02, 2013
Cano went 0-for-5, so maybe it's Girardi's fault for batting Cano third.
If anything, I think Girardi stuck with Pettitte too long. Kelley, Logan, Robertson, Rivera, win.
If Kelley and Logan can't get anyone out ... if your team bats 1-for-10 with RISP ... your team is going to lose:
• Far easier to question the decision to bring in Joba Chamberlain after Boone Logan put two runners on base. It’s been a while since Chamberlain pitched in a real leverage situation in a winable game, so why bring him in today? “The inning didn’t work out the way we want because we used Kelley, and the outs that we thought he would get, he didn’t get,” Girardi said. “And then Boone didn’t get the outs we thought he would get. So we had to make some changes.”
• Chamberlain actually had been better recently, but it’s hard to think he would have been the go-to choice in that situation had Preston Claiborne been on the roster. Girardi said he didn’t want to use Dave Robertson because it would have meant giving him six outs if he were going to form a bridge to the ninth. “I’ve done everything,” Chamberlain said. “So there’s nothing they can put me on the field in that I haven’t been in. It’s just execution of the pitch. that’s the one pitch I made a mistake on and they made me pay for it.”
• Why three straight sliders to Adam Jones? “We needed a double play right there,” Chamberlain said. “I threw him the sliders and just — as aggressive as Adam is — if I threw it in a good spot and hopefully get him to roll over and get us out of that inning, and keep us within one run. That was the thought process.”
• Interestingly, this was Stewart’s take on three straight sliders: “I wanted to throw another fastball just to get them off there, but Joba felt confident in the slider and unfortunately, all three of them weren’t really good sliders. He just didn’t have it coming out of the bullpen, and he left one hanging and he hit a homer on it.”
This is game #136 of the season. This is Joba's 7th season in the major leagues. Joba is a fly ball pitcher throwing three straight sliders to a power hitter because he thinks he's going to get a ground ball double play ... and he then refers to this as a "thought process."
As for the game itself, Joba pitched two innings and allowed one run.
Kelley and Logan combined for zero outs and four runs.
Joba is a fat, stupid, gutless, sloppy bacon double cheeseburger. Every time Joba take the mound, he mocks Cashman's long-term plan. But this particular loss was not particularly Joba's fault, and it also wasn't particularly Girardi's fault.
If Kelley and Logan can't get anyone out ... if your team bats 1-for-10 with RISP ... your team is going to lose:
• Far easier to question the decision to bring in Joba Chamberlain after Boone Logan put two runners on base. It’s been a while since Chamberlain pitched in a real leverage situation in a winable game, so why bring him in today? “The inning didn’t work out the way we want because we used Kelley, and the outs that we thought he would get, he didn’t get,” Girardi said. “And then Boone didn’t get the outs we thought he would get. So we had to make some changes.”
• Chamberlain actually had been better recently, but it’s hard to think he would have been the go-to choice in that situation had Preston Claiborne been on the roster. Girardi said he didn’t want to use Dave Robertson because it would have meant giving him six outs if he were going to form a bridge to the ninth. “I’ve done everything,” Chamberlain said. “So there’s nothing they can put me on the field in that I haven’t been in. It’s just execution of the pitch. that’s the one pitch I made a mistake on and they made me pay for it.”
• Why three straight sliders to Adam Jones? “We needed a double play right there,” Chamberlain said. “I threw him the sliders and just — as aggressive as Adam is — if I threw it in a good spot and hopefully get him to roll over and get us out of that inning, and keep us within one run. That was the thought process.”
• Interestingly, this was Stewart’s take on three straight sliders: “I wanted to throw another fastball just to get them off there, but Joba felt confident in the slider and unfortunately, all three of them weren’t really good sliders. He just didn’t have it coming out of the bullpen, and he left one hanging and he hit a homer on it.”
This is game #136 of the season. This is Joba's 7th season in the major leagues. Joba is a fly ball pitcher throwing three straight sliders to a power hitter because he thinks he's going to get a ground ball double play ... and he then refers to this as a "thought process."
As for the game itself, Joba pitched two innings and allowed one run.
Kelley and Logan combined for zero outs and four runs.
Joba is a fat, stupid, gutless, sloppy bacon double cheeseburger. Every time Joba take the mound, he mocks Cashman's long-term plan. But this particular loss was not particularly Joba's fault, and it also wasn't particularly Girardi's fault.
Felz Stats of the Day
Derek Jeter's 2013 Season
AB: 42
H: 7
2B: 1
3B: 0
HR: 1
R: 4
RBI: 4
BA: .167
OB%: .234
SL%: .262
AB: 42
H: 7
2B: 1
3B: 0
HR: 1
R: 4
RBI: 4
BA: .167
OB%: .234
SL%: .262
Sunday, September 01, 2013
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