Igawa is a Bum....ok Not a bum but he stinks (AND BONUS AC EDITION)

Now I am not saying that he is as worthless as say Carl Pavano, but Igawa just can't seem to get his act together. Every time he does a stint in the minors its like Torre is sending him to the corner for a time out. He comes back full of promise, but then disappoints all over again. There is no question that once Phil Hughes returns (which should be next week or the week after) Igawa will be sent down for the rest of the season. I think the problem is that he thinks too much. You can't try to fine tune each and everyone of your pitches, you just have to feel it. Igawa may benefit by watching a little movie called Bull Durham. How funny would that be if he actually tried wearing ladies underwear when he pitched. Funnier still if it worked for him.

In other news I am off to Sin City tonight.....no not Vegas, but Vegas' red headed stepchild that is hidden in the basement and chained to a wall every time guests come over. That's right, you guessed it....ATLANTIC CITY NEW JERSEY BABY. For those of you who have never been to Atlantic City (lovingly referred to as AC) let me paint a picture using the Monopoly board, which in fact is based on the city.

Mediterranean Avenue - Rent $2 dollars, with hotel $60 - The real Mediterranean avenue is actually a lot like the Monopoly one. There really are no buildings there both because the ones that had been there are crumbling, or just because no one wants to buy a property that is hardly ever landed on and when it is, doesn't pay that much.

Jail - Cost to get out $50 or Rolling Doubles. In both Monopoly and the real AC your chances of winding up there are about the same, but getting out will probably cost you more than $50 dollars and rolling doubles wont get you out since that is probably what got you in there in the first place.

Free Parking - Rent, Free of course. A favorite for "house rules" we used to play that if you landed here you would win money from the middle of the board. In AC there is no free parking unless you car has been stolen, or you are playing at a Casino. House rules apply at the Casinos of course, but chances are you aren't going to win any money.

Water Works - Rent Determined by a roll of the dice - Atlantic City doesn't actually have a Water Works, instead its water is piped in from the New Jersey "mainland" through two pipes. Given that fun fact, you are rolling the dice so to speak every time you dare drink the water.

Community Chest - There are plenty of "Community Chests" in AC, however they are not little yellow cards (I think you can see where I am going with this here). If you choose a community chest in AC you might wind up turning yellow but you certainly are not going to get second place in a beauty contest.

Illinois Avenue - Rent $18 dollars, with hotel 1,100. One of the Reds, Illinois Avenue is a sought after property for both its high rent value, and high probability of landing there. The real Illinois Avenue however was renamed Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in the 1980s. If you find yourself here you're in trouble...just trust me on that one.

Boardwalk - Rent $50, with Hotel $2,000 - The gem of the Monopoly board boardwalk is the most valuable property there is. The rents being so high one would expect the real boardwalk to be just as glamours....nope! The real boardwalk is a mixture of depressing music being pumped from the casinos, cheesy two bit "massage parlors" and fortune teller stands, crazies, homeless, and the occasional tourist who didn't realize what they were getting themselves into when they hailed one of those bike taxis. Throw in a few empty syringes on the beach and your advanced token to Boardwalk may not draw the same level of excitement as your used to.

So anyway wish me luck, and if you happen to find yourself there tonight I'll be at the 1/2 poker tables somewhere on the boardwalk.

MIA

I've been MIA lately, but it has been for a reason. Aside from being unbelievable busy the past few days I am also trying to give a theory a try. Today I am blogging about the Yankees...well kind of....so if they lose tonight I'll stop writing for a few days. If they win I'll write a more detailed post. Let's face it, baseball is a sport full of superstitions so I want to make sure that I'm not the one jinxing them.

Back In Black

The all-star break is over, and now I finally have a computer to call my own (yes I know I know make fun all you want). So as we begin the second half of the baseball season here are the first set of topics that are either bugging me, or I just feel like writing about.

BACK IN BLACK (hopefully):

The Yankees managed to take two from the Devil Ray's this weekend, normally I would say big deal but considering the fact that the Yankees need to win every game they can (especially against teams under .500) I'll take what I can get.

THE 30 MILLION DOLLAR MAN:

It has been widely reported that A-Rod's agent feels that he is worth $30 million dollars a year. Excuse me Mr. Rod....but NO PLAYER is worth that much money unless he comes with 8 other players. Of course the only team aside from the Yankees who could even foot a salary that high is the red sox. While they have expressed interest I have a hard time believing that Theo Epstein would pay one player 20% of Boston's entire payroll, or believing that A-Rod and Jason Varitek could ever be teammates. Frankly it is disgusting. His salary (already the highest ever in the majors) is an example of greed and goes miles to help justify the argument that only big market teams can afford to pay for top talent. Keep in mind that this is the same guy who at the beginning of the season said he wanted to retire a Yankee. Of course team loyalty has never been all that important to Rodriquez as we all saw first in Seattle, and then again in Texas (although I suppose I should tread lightly here for obvious reasons).

JORGE SAY IT ISN'T SO:

Jorge Posada is interested in exploring free agency at the end of his contract. I have to say I am a little surprised by this. Posada like Jeter is one of those players who you just assume will retire in pinstripes. While I can't see paying much more for a catcher who is entering his last years, still, the Yankees should have some loyalty to the guy (within reason) and not do to him what they did to Bernie Williams.

DEREK JETER ISN'T BLACK THAT'S WHY TORRE LIKES HIM:

Gary Sheffield claims that Joe Torre doesn't treat his black players fairly, and the Derek Jeter isn't black because his mother is white. When asked if he thought Torre is a racist he answered no. So he treats black players unfairly but isn't a racist.....hmmm. Sounds to me that Torre, just like a lot of other guys in MLB just don't like Sheffield regardless of his race.

It's the all-star break, so I'm taking a brief break too. Frankly I have just been too busy to write but I'll be back soon enough.

Halfway There (almost)

The all-star break is looming and the Yankees are now 12 games out of first and 8.5 games out of the wild card. In short, do or die time is a week away. So what needs to happen for the Yankees to make the post season. I'll break it down by the key players with their mid season statistics:

Derek Jeter - .341 (BA) 5 (HR) 43 (RBI) 54 (R) .886 (OPS): No rest for the weary. Jeter is set to play in his 8th all-star game next week. The problem his knee has been bothering him for a few weeks. Torre should give him a few days of rest so that he can stay strong. Jeter going down would be a disaster right now especially given the monster season he is having that is going undetected because of the guy to his right. For the rest of the season we need more of the same from Jeter if we want to make the playoffs.

Alex Rodriguez - .314 (BA) 28 (HR) 80 (RBI) 74 (R) 1.065 (OPS): No doubt about it, A-Rod is having an unbelievable season. While the staff here at 567mfh have varying opinions about his personality, A-Rod is another guy the Yankees can't afford to lose. It would be smart for him to sit out of the all-star game to rest his hamstring. Hopefully his pride doesn't get the better of him. Just like Jeter we need a healthy A-Rod to keep working on a record setting season through the second half.

Roger Clemens - 2-3 (Rec) 4.26 (ERA) 1.20 (WHIP): Clemens needs to earn his money. Although he has shown moments of grandeur, the Rocket has been shaky from the get go. Clemens needs to keep his legs healthy and work on alternate pitches. He can't throw a high 90's fastball anymore, but his splitter is looking better. Despite the clause in his contract, Roger should also spend more time with the team not only to boost morale, but also to show the young guys some of his stuff.

Bobby Abreu - .261 (BA) 5 (HR) 39 (RBI) 58 (R) .722 (OPS): Abreu needs to get the monkey off his back and start hitting like Bobby Abreu. He's having a terrible season of mediocre highs, and terrible lows. The move down in the batting order should take some of the pressure off, but he needs to think about it less. Hopefully the all-star break should give him a chance to readjust and shake off the first half of the season.

Mariano Rivera - 10 (SV) 3.77 (ERA) 1.13 (WHIP): Rivera needs to plead with Torre to play in more games, even if the Yankees are not in a winning situation.

Phil Hughes - 1-1 (REC) 3.38 (ERA) 1.03 (WHIP): Hughes needs to be smart about his comeback. Everyone was impressed with his last game before going down to a hamstring injury, but if the Yankees are going to make the playoffs this year, and in the years to come, Hughes should make sure he is strong enough to be a starter and not risk more time on the DL.

There's still a lot of baseball left to play so I'm still cautiously optimistic that the Yankees can exorcise their demons of the first half and pull it together.