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