F**K

Phil Hughes hamstring is all better...unfortunatly now he has a serious ankle sprain and will be out an additional 4-6 weeks.

Damn it A-Rod

A-Rod, oh A-Rod.....why do you have to play the game like a little league bully? Is it beacuse the ladies of the night you frequent frustrate you? Is it because you get heckled so often from the other players you feel the need to fight back? Or is it just because your parents didn't love you enough. Regardless, that is not the type of crap that is consistent with wearing the pinstripes. Playing for the Yankees is about pride, respect, and history. We don't want to win games by cheating. Yes, there have been instances in the past where fan interferance has made a difference, but that was a little kid, not the highest paid player in baseball history on the most storied franchice in all of sports. Maybe A-Rod needs a lesson in sportsmanship, but in my opinion its disrespectful to the game to pull the kind of crap that he pulled last night. The last thing we need right now is a bench clearing brawl with Toronto that will knock out a few more of our players just as June starts. So quit the crap and start playing the game by the rules.

Now, I am happy to report that despite A-Rod's on the field and off the filed antics we won, and the red sox lost. We still have a lot of ground to make up but since I don't want to feel the wrath of "the girl from Jersey who can't play pool" I will say that it isn't impossible. The Yankees made up a 14 game deficit in 1978 to come back and win it, so why don't we just do the same thing this year.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

It seems like you can't turn on sports center or read the paper without someone commenting on how bad the Yankees are this year. Well I wish that I could say that it isn't the case, but yes, right now the Yankees stink worse than that unwashed pile of laundry I keep meaning to get to. Everywhere you turn there is speculation about who will get fired. Will it be Torre, will it be Cashman, is Giambi done? It pains me to even speculate about this because I feel that it gives Yankee haters a victory, but I think that we may actually be heading for a purge.

There is an argument to fire both Torre and Cashman. Cashman after all was the one who hired the new training staff that was most likely responsible for all of the early injuries. Torre just doesn't seem to be able to make the team gel, but I still don't blame everything on him. I think if anyone should go it should be Steinbrenner himself. Steinbrenner has done great things for the Yankees, but he is still holding on tightly to his idea that he can simply buy a championship. When it looked as though his son in law (now ex son in law) would be taking over the reigns in the near future, Cashman was able to rebuild the farm system and pretty much everyone else was able to breath a little sigh of relief. A passing of the torch would certainly ease some tensions around the club and everyone might even be able to have some fun and turn it all around. But honestly let's be realistic, Steinbrenner isn't going anywhere until the reaper comes so we can just put that idea to bed.

Really I think what will happen is that Cashman gets the ax, Giambi gets traded, and Torre gets one more year to work out the kinks. After that I expect to see Donny Baseball taking over in Torre's shoes. It will be a sad day in New York when that happens, but honestly something has to give and if anyone can fill in for Joe its Don.


* P.S. A big congratulations to Alexis and Dylan on their marrage this weekend in Philladelphia, I had a great time!!!

YANKEES WIN!!!

Simply put, they looked the team that they should have looked like from the start. It's exciting but I still want to be cautious.

Clemens did so so in his minor league start last night. But I am too busy to write about it now. I think he needs one more minor league appearance before he is ready to return to the big show.

Ok, that's it for now. I'll try to write more later.

Cautiously Optimistic

That is what I am, cautiously optimistic about last nights performance by the Yankees. Wang has had some trouble historically with the sox so he took some juice off his pitches to try and offset them. It worked, last night at least. Now I don't want to make a bold statement like "it looks like the offense is finally coming around" because the minute I say that they will cool right back down. Things could have gone to hell in a hand basket really quickly when the sox had the bases loaded in the 8th, but if the one thing the Yankees have that no one can deny it is veteran players who know how to make routine plays in clutch situations. So I think that I want to wait until the end of this series to dissect its every play for now, I don't want to jinx my boys after all.

To make a hard right turn if I may, one thing that I am not cautiously optimistic about is the fact that the democrats have removed their insistence on a time line in the battle over the budget for the troops. I have always been a fan of the speak quietly but carry a big stick mantra, unfortunately the democrats seem to be yelling loudly and breaking their stick over there knee causing them public embarrassment. (Sigh) if only Pelosi and the democrats could grow a pair....metaphorically of course.

Wedding's and Broken Bones

First of all I would like to extend a congratulations to my friends Jason and Andrea on thier wedding in Annapolis this weekend. It was a great time and I was honored to be a part of it. No doubt you two are still recovering from the Sherman clan and thier hard partying ways, but I have to say that even though I wasn't cannonized as "an honorary Sherman" I always enjoy thier parties (or at least from what I can remember of them I do).

I didn't get to watch much baseball this weekend because of the wedding (and because I had to keep a low profile since I was surrounded by red sox fans) but all in all not watching much baseball turned out to be a good thing.

I can't believe it, but yet another pitcher has been injured. Darrell Rasner broke his index finger after throwing a mere nine pitches thanks to a bad hop in the Yankees loss to the Mets on Saturday. Fortunatly Tyler Clippard gave us a good showing yesterday. To top it off he also managed to get a hit and a sacrafice bunt, and saved the weekend from the sweep. Clippard was so nervous about being late to his first major leauge start that he took a car service and arrived four hours ahead of anyone else.

As if the Yankees injuriy woes haven't been bad enough, now it looks like Jason Giambi could be headed for baseball purgatory thanks to comments he made regarding his use of steriords. MLB has promised a throughough investigation (no doubt they will seek to make an example out of him) and the Yankees may try to nullify his contract as a result.

We start a series against the sox tonight, the way things are going it looks like I'll get the call from the bullpen to pitch. Maybe I should just break my finger, leg, and strain my hamstring now to save the trouble of doing it at the ballpark.

Back to Politics for a Bit*

I didn't have time to post yesterday, so today I want to write about a number of different issues.

The Yankees (of course)
Rained out last night but they didn't call the game until after 9:30. There will be a double header today to make up for last nights game.

Clemens threw 71 pitches yesterday at the Yankees Tampa facility and said he felt good. He could join the rotation as early as late May.

Politics

Wolfowitz**
Wolfowitz is in serious hot water over at the World Bank. Backed by the White House, he blames "ambiguous bank rules" as his excuse for promoting and giving a raise to his special lady friend. How absurd does this have to get before he finally bows out? No one wants him there, or anywhere for that matter. The Europeans are so anxious to get him out of there that they offered to let the US choose his successor. Now I realize that everyone in Washington, Republican or Democrat, puts their friends in coveted positions. This however is a serious ethics violation, coupled by the fact that Wolfowitz has no business being the head of the world bank in the first place. To use "ambiguous bank rules" as an excuse is akin to saying that he is pretty sure he did something wrong but technically he didn't. Given bush's history with Rumsfeld et al, I'm sure that Wolfie will stay put until the very last politically possible moment. After all, this guy has done a great service to our country by helping make the case for the liberation of Iraq....or was it the search for WMD's....sorry, it's changed so many times I can't remember myself.

Attorney-Gate / Domestic spying
Gonzales has resorted back to blaming his subordinates in the investigation into the firing of 8 US attorneys. All I can do is sigh, he has no credibility left. Especially after this report that Gonzales et al went to visit an ailing Ashcroft to get his approval for the domestic wiretap program after his temporary replacement wouldn't.

Election 2008
A lot of people have been asking me who would I vote for amongst the democratic candidates for President. I have been avoiding this issue for sometime because I really don't know. In fact I still don't know, I like most people am trying to get a read on the candidates before I choose. But if I had to choose today I think my money is on Obama, although I reserve the right to change this at any given time. So why Obama? For one I like the fact that he is somewhat of a moderate, at least in the eyes of middle America. I am not a religious person, but I think that it would be a good thing for a Democratic candidate to have legitimacy in this area, that is just as long as he doesn't legislate from the scripture as Bush does. He was against the war, and still is. Hillary will always have that hanging over her head, and in the end I think 2008 will still be a referendum on the mistakes of the bush years. On the other hand I do think that Hillary Clinton would be a strong president, and I would like nothing more than to have some of the all stars from the Clinton years return. My biggest problem with her is that she is such a polarizing figure, you either love her or you hate her. After eight years of bush I think that it is important to have a leader who we can all agree with in one aspect or another and who doesn't propagate more years of political division and cat fighting. I will say that I think this country is just about ready for a black and / or a woman president, so I would like to come out and say that gender or race is not a deciding factor for me in picking a candidate.

* I'm working on a piece with the help of Abbott and Matt about what it takes to make it to Cooperstown. It isn't ready yet, and in fact I haven't even worked on it in a couple of days, but if you have any thoughts on the subject please leave me a comment.

**Breaking News: WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and the White House were in talks Wednesday afternoon with World Bank officials to work out details of his resignation, senior administration officials told CNN.

Ok, Now I Am Starting to Get a Bit Worried

The Yankees took only one game from the Mariners this weekend. I'm starting to get pretty frustrated. It is now the middle of May and every time I think that they are turning it around they drop a series. It's do or die time I'm afraid, especially after watching the red sox come back from a 5-0 deficit against Baltimore in the bottom of the 9th. (I can't believe I am about to say this....but) Boston just seems to want it more this season, and their pitching is no doubt younger and so far healthier that our staff. Hopefully I look back on this post in late July and scold myself for doubting...but unless we can close May within four games of Boston I'm afraid we may miss the playoffs this year. Now excuse me while I go and stick my head in the oven.

Busy Today...so a poll

I have been pretty heavy on the baseball lately and pretty soon I want to start writing on some politics, but as for today I Have a ton to do and little time to post so here is a poll:

1. Barry Bonds, victim or deserves it

2. Dice-K, 16 or more or 15 or less wins

3. AL East, who will finish first at the end of the regular season Yankees or red sox

4. Since position players can't win a Cy Young award should pitchers be able to win MVP?

**By the way Yankees won last night 6-2 (Mussina looked good)

Yankees Win, and Schilling vs. Bonds

Last night 8-2 win over the Rangers was encouraging. The Yankees are finally starting to look like the Yankees. Andy Pettitte pitched through 7 solid innings, A-Rod hit his 15th homer, and the rest of the line up seemed to be reawakening. But of course that is all moot if the pitching doesn't pick up, so I'll be watching to see how Mussina does in his second start back from the DL tonight.

I didn't mention this yesterday, but I would like to give proper respect to Doug Mientkiewicz who made a really smart play at first Monday night. After missing the runner (and both of them missing the base) Mientkiewicz went for the bag rather than for the base runner. Smart Doug, good work. We appreciate the hits from last night too of course. I'll be watching for more of the same from him the the weeks to come. It's nice to know that we have first covered so that Giambi can concentrate on hitting.

All Juiced Up

By now I am sure that every baseball fan has heard Curt Schillings thoughts on Barry Bonds use of steroids. Just in case you haven't here is the quote from a local Boston radio show:

"I mean, he admitted that he used steroids, I mean, there's no gray area. He
admitted to cheating on his wife, cheating on his taxes, and cheating on the
game, so I think the reaction around the league, the game, being what it is, in
the case of what people think. Hank Aaron not being there. The commissioner [Bud
Selig] trying to figure out where to be. It's sad.
"And I don't care that
he's black, or green, or purple, or yellow, or whatever. It's unfortunate …
there's good people and bad people. It's unfortunate that it's happening the way
it's happening."

I hate Curt Schilling, in fact I think I hate him more than any other player in baseball, but I'm glad that he called out Bonds (although he certainly went over the top by saying he cheated on his wife and his taxes).

Is there really any question that Bonds used steroids...of course there isn't. I have had discussions with people about how it doesn't matter, everyone was using them and they weren't illegal at the time so it doesn't matter. I don't buy that argument. Bonds wants us all to think that he is a victim of media abuse, racism, etc etc. In my eyes much of the controversy that surrounds Barry is self induced. However I can't prove that Barry juiced up, so for now unfortunately I have to say that he should go to Cooperstown. But once the Balco grand jury testimony leaks and we can confirm that he did, baseball needs to take a good hard look at how much cheating it is willing to endure and it needs to make an example of the people who put a stain on the game by juicing up.

More on Clemens, Pavano, and a little about last night (I'm tired of writing about losing)

The Yankees lost last to Seattle last night 3-2. Rivera gave up a home run, but encouragingly Matt DeSalvo went seven innings, allowing one run. Not bad for a rookie.

Joe Torre sat out last nights game serving a one game suspension for Sunday's skirmish. It was comforting to see Don Mattingly take his place, could that be a glimpse of what's to come?

Bumsville:
The Yankees want Carl Pavano to see one more specialist before deciding to undergo season (career?) ending elbow surgery. How did the bum respond?

"I got three professionals telling me what to do, and now I'm supposed to go to
a fourth?" Pavano said. "There's ligament damage. ... I don't want to have
surgery. But if that's what it takes to get my arm better, that's what I'm going
to do."

As if I couldn't hate this guy anymore. Maybe Pavano doesn't understand that the Yankees expect a return on their 40 million dollar investment which so far has only garnered 5 wins. Maybe Pavano forgot all his talk about wanting to come back and be a part of the team. Or maybe Pavano has his money and just doesn't care. Guess which option I am going with?

Return of the Rocket
In other news David Wells doesn't agree with the Yankees decision to allow Clemens to not travel with the team. To a certain degree I agree with Well's on this. I don't agree with giving any player special privileges like this, no matter what team they play for. My consciouses is going to tear me up about this but that is who Roger Clemens is, a phenomenal pitcher, but a somewhat sketchy character who has an unhealthy sense of entitlement. I have always thought this, even while he was helping the Yankees win World Series titles. When he played for Boston Clemens constantly complained that he had to carry his own luggage when he traveled, and was contractually obligated to charge for autographs. On the other hand the whole reason Clemens retired in the first place was to spend more time with his family and less time on the road. That is certainly admirable.

Clemens Return's to the Bronx (oh yeah and Yankees Win 5-0)

The Yankees beat the Mariners 5-0 yesterday thanks to a great pitching performance by Darrell Rasner. Hideki Matsui earned his 2,000 professional hit....but the real headline is what happened in the 7th inning stretch...yep, Clemens is coming back to New York. I had said in an earlier post that I didn't think a return of the Rocket would be a good thing for the Bombers, but now with our depleted pitching staff and lack of any better options I guess I'll have to take what I can get.

Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly about Clemens return.

The Good - Roger shouldn't need anytime to adjust to the spotlights of New York. He finds himself in familiar territory rejoining his best friend Andy Pettitte, and it was pretty clear from the shot of the dugout after his announcement that the players will enthusiastically welcome him back which will boost morale. He's no spring chicken, but pitching a short season should off set some of the age factor. A return to the AL also means that he won't need to pick up a bat and risk injuring himself, hopefully that helps grandpa stay healthy. Plus, he is still Roger Clemens (I'll give you a more vintage version). The thought of a Pettitte, Mussina, Wang, Clemens, Hughes pitching staff come June is a something to be excited about. Let's just make sure all the hamstrings are protected like the crown jewels from now on.

The Bad - Clemens isn't getting any younger, the guy is 44. That scares me, that scares me a lot. Another concern for father time is that the AL has a deeper depth of batters than the NL.

The Ugly - Clemens is getting an 18 million prorated payday to pitch part of the season. Yankees pitching troubles need to be worked out on the front end (the farm system) not the back end (Roger "Mr. Burns" Clemens). Giving 18 million to a guy for part of a season is a risk that I don't think Cashman would have taken if it wasn't for the desperate need for a pitcher.

*****
By the way, it looks like Pavano is headed for elbow surgery and the DL for the rest of the season. That gives us a total of five wins from this guy over the life of his contract. What a bum.
*****

Yankees Take Two, Pavano Dies...(to me at least)...And Some Musings On Baseball in General

The Yankees took both games of a double header against the Texas Rangers last night elevating them 5.5 games behind Boston and a mere .002% points out of a second place tie.

Andy Pettitte - Unfortunately the bullpen denied Pettitte a decision in the first game, but he still pitched a decent game giving up five hits, two earned runs, while striking out five in six innings of work.

Mike Mussina - Not a bad outing for his first game back from the DL. In 5 innings pitched he gave up four hits, one run, while striking out three. I can be happy with that.

Derek Jeter - Jeter hasn't been getting much attention lately amid the A-Rod streak and the pitching disasters, but last night he extended his hitting streak to 20 games. Even Yankee hating ESPN was forced to recognize Jeter:

"Jeter, who had a 25-game hitting streak last season, is the third player
in Yankees history to have a 20-game streak in back-to-back seasons, joining Joe
DiMaggio (1940 and 1941) and Don Mattingly (1984 and 1985)."

Mariano Rivera - 2 games, 2 saves. What did I tell you, Rivera has a couple of bad showings and everyone calls him a has been. He is getting older, but the Sandman is still effective.

Carl Pavano - The bane of my existence. There are more unsubstantiated rumors that he will undergo Tommy John's surgery and miss the rest of the year. If this is true then my previous posts about rumors that he is done for '07 appear to have been true. I don't get this guy. He isn't helping himself or the team by hiding injuries from Torre and the training staff, but he must have told someone something (other than the Yankees) that he didn't think he would be a go for this year. So another year in his 35 million dollar contract goes to waste. We should have cut this guy loose for not disclosing his car accident last year, we didn't and what do we get....more of the same crap. I've given up on Pavano, even if he does come back this year in my mind he has been demoted to bum status.

Musings on The State of The Game

While the Yankees are my blood, I have adopted the Washington Nationals as my National League team. This is partially because as a kid growing up in northern Vermont I used to go to Olympic Stadium to watch the Expos, but also because I live in the District and they are local (no disrespect to Baltimore, but I can't pick you guys since you are in the AL East). Needless to say I was overjoyed when the dying Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals. It was a smart decision for baseball to move rather than expand into a growing market that was desperately thirsty for a team, and finally had a population base that could support and keep them.

It's nice to see that MLB seems to have learned from the mistakes it made expansion wise over the past decade. Fortunately the idea to move the Expos to Las Vegas was nixed (the game has enough problems with gambling), and while Portland may not have been a bad choice clearly Washington DC was the best pick. But there are still the bad choices that baseball has to live with. Case in point, both of the Florida teams. The people who live in these markets are mostly transplants or just don't care. As a result it is hard for Tampa and Miami to get a certified fan base even though the Marlins have won two World Series. It was a similar problem in Montreal, they had a base of people, just no real interest in the team unless they were doing extremely well which was rare. It's all a question of smart marketing, which baseball didn't do a great job of in the 1990's when it expanded. Miami is a Football / Basketball town, Tampa Bay is really a nothing town (none of their sports teams ever amount to much), and while the Expos had been in Montreal since the 60's, it is really a hockey town.

In the absence of some sort of salary cap, contraction would probably be a good thing for the game. In lieu of that baseball needs to think hard about some of it's bad choices and consider moving teams before they ever expand to other markets. It has worked so far moving Montreal to Washington. Even though they are cellar dwellers this year, the new stadium and ownership should provide strong guidance. Further, given that Northern Virgina has some of the fastest growing counties in the country it won't be long before the Nationals have a solid fan base.

Yankees Fire Strength and Conditioning Coach, and a Rant and Rave about ESPN

The Yankees must be listening to me because yesterday they fired their strength and conditioning coach Marty Miller. This is welcome news. It is just inconceivable to me that so many pitchers could have so many of the same problems without there being a root cause other than just plain old bad luck. This begs the question though, what took them so long? I reported weeks ago that I thought the new training staff could have something to do with all of the early injuries. I don't pretend to be a physical therapist, or a great sports writer, but when you smell smoke chances are there is fire.

In other Yankees / injury related news, Mike Mussina is expected to make his return to the mound tonight against the Rangers. Chien-Ming Wang will go Saturday despite cracking a fingernail on his pitching hand, and Carl Pavano is reportedly set to see a specialist about his forearm. We'll see about Pavano, as I have previously mentioned there are unsubstantiated rumors that he may never return. If that is true it would be nice for him to let us know for once.

On a side note, I have come to the conclusion that ESPN is filled with Yankee haters. It seems as if every day one of the headlines deals with how the Yankees are in trouble and may never return to glory. Jayson Stark's article from May 1st about how much April matters, and how basically the Yankees are doomed, was the feather that broke my back. While I don't question the accuracy of his statistics or the general importance of EVERY month of the regular season, this article seems to be written by someone who wants the Yankees to lose and is looking for any statistical proof possible to back that up. Every team ebbs and flows throughout the season but 6 games out is not a terrible place to be for a team like the Yankees. As you all remember the Yankees were able to gain 5 games on the Red Sox in just one weekend last year. Assuming we get back on track with pitching (granted, that is a big assumption) there is no reason why the Yankees couldn't do something similar this year. So for ESPN (or anyone) to count the Yankees out is overzealous, premature, and is gerrymandering to anyone who hates the Yankees but for no other reason than they are jealous of our success....unless you are a red sox fan and then I suppose you do have a few historical reasons to not like us, I'll at least give you guys that.

*Last nights game was postponed due to inclement weather....and by that I don’t just mean rain, I mean a freaking tornado warning.

** I added a picture of Marty Miller Speaking to Rivera in strange tongues about how straining your hamstring is actually a good thing

I Mean Honestly....Is Tonya Harding On the Loose in New York?

Phil Hughes (20) took a no hitter into the 7th inning last night. He was unhittable....until....HE HURT HIS HAMSTRING!!!! Since the game wasn't on any network in the Metro DC area I was forced to stare at the Baseball Tonight ticker, my eyes felt like sandpaper because I refused to blink and risk the chance of missing Hughes make history. But given the way this season has been going so far I should have known better. Hughes now joins the long list of Yankees starters on the DL. (You can't see this right now, but I am shaking my head in disbelief)

Hughes was eight outs away from the Yankees first no hitter since David Cone's perfect game back in 1999 when suddenly he grabbed the back of his leg after throwing a breaking ball to Mark Teixeria with one out in the 7th. Hughes said that he felt a pop, and while it didn't hurt he couldn't go on pitching. Before giving the game over to Mike Myers, Hughes struck out six and walked three.

"It was going to happen," Torre said. "That was the sense in the dugout." From the highlights I saw I felt the same way. It was one of those For The Love Of The Game type hold your breath situations. (You can't see this but I am banging my head on the table right now)

On the plus side, the hitting was phenomenal last night. Cano went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two doubles, Posada had three hits, three runs and two RBIs and A-Rod had three hits. But that is almost an afterthought given the fact that the Yankees are now in serious jeopardy with regards to pitching.

Something is going on here and I think that it is something more than a string of really bad luck for Yankees pitching. In the past few years the age of the pitching staff could have accounted for the injuries, but Hughes is only 20. Maybe the adrenalin of his second start, the no hitter, and the pressure to deliver a win made Hughes over exert himself, but I still think that there is more to this injury dilemma. I reported a few weeks ago that the new trainers may have something to do with all of the injuries, that may need to be looked into. New York is running out of options for replacement pitchers.

Wolfowitz Under Investigation For Ethics Violations*

Paul Wolfowitz is under investigation regarding allegations that he unethically promoted and gave a raise to his girlfriend. When I read this in the Express this morning my first reaction was no doubt the same as yours......WOLFOWITZ HAS A GIRLFRIEND????!!!? I don't want to spend a whole lot of time in this blog discussing superficial BS, but come on, the guy sucks on his combs and uses saliva as hair gel for Godsake!

Personal hygiene aside, is anyone really surprised that someone from the Bush administration may be playing cronyism. The list of dangerously under qualified high ranking buddies of Bush is so absurd that if it wasn't actually true I don't think that I would believe it myself. It's too late to start the witch hunt for these guys now, and actually there is no point either. For every dunce that's removed another crony is waiting in the wings to take his or her place. So maybe I should just stick to the superficial on this one. With that I again say.....WOLFOWITZ HAS A GIRLFRIEND????? Hell, she deserves the promotion just for touching this guy.

*The Yankees were off last night