Now after getting swept by the Rockies and losing two games out of three to Colorado we come into Baltimore with no bats and no offense and drop the first two games of this series without even a whimper.
We lost 4-3 on Tuesday and then were shut out last night.
Pettitte and Clemens pitched pretty well respectively --- but received almost NO run support of any kind.
And to make matters worse in the first game of the series I sat and watched Joe Torre go and call for Scott Proctor instead of Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the 9th when the score was tied two to two.
What does Proctor do?
What does he do to justify Joe Torre's uncanny confidence in him?
He allows one hit and walks THREE batters.
THREE BATTERS.
He WALKS THREE BATTERS.
In one third of one inning.
In a tie ball game on the road in the NINTH INNING.
Unreal.
I would have actually prefered to see him throw a strike that was a pretty good pitch and see it get tatooed to center for a walk off grand slam.
Either way we lose.
At least we would have kept them honest and made them hit something.
We have a pretty good infield.
We may have even gotten an inning ending double play and then won the game in extras.
We'll never find out because Proctor couldn't keep the ball in the zone.
That's what I loved about David Wells.
Love the man or hate the man he went at people and made them beat him fair and square.
In his 4 years with the Yankees (1997-1998 and 2002-2003) he gave up a total of 139 free passes at a rate of about 34 per year.
That was as a starter.
Right now Proctor is averaging 22 walks a season in his four seasons with New York and he's a relief pitcher.
He's already walked 22 this year and the season isn't half over.
In two of Boomer's four years as a Yankee he had 20 walks per year.
As a starter.
Now as a reliever Scott has put on 22 and we're a week away from the Home Run Derby.
It's time for him to go and I he can't be gone soon enough for my tastes.
He got one out and walked Ramon Hernandez with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th to give the Orioles a three to two win over the Yankees.
What possible reasoning can there possibly be where you would choose Proctor or Rivera in a situation where if a run scores you lose the game and then drop two games below .500?
What possible reason for that is there?
Why would you do that?
I love Joe Torre and have been defending him against any and all detractors for the past several years but that was just insane.
I don't understand that move at all.
This has been something that he's been doing for far too long and until I get an intelligent response as to why, I'll call it what it is...
Very poor decision making concerning the use of Mariano Rivera and the Yankee bullpen in crucial games by Joe Torre.
These are games we really can't lose.
We don't have any padding to rely on because we started out so poorly.

At the start of each season under the Joe Torre era we've had a certain number of games to squander.
If you win 100 games and the closest competition in your specific division wins 93 games, then you had a few games to squander.
And at the start of the season we had a certain number of games like that as a pad.
But we started using them all up right out of the box.
Now we don't have any close games that we should win left to squander if we still expect to make the post season as either the AL East division champions or the AL Wild Card champions.
We can't afford to be giving these games away like this at this point in the game.
We can't afford to lose games like this right now.
And yet we are losing them.
And now as I watch this game tonight we have the bases loaded and one out for Alex Rodriguez and a two run lead in the top of the 7th.
And after being forced to watch on as Alex hits into a double play to end the top of the 7th I then had to sit uncomfortably in my easy chair and watch on as Nick Markakis singles on a soft line drive to left field and that gets followed up by a RBI triple by Kevin Millar.
A triple?
By Kevin Millar?
How is that even possible?
So now the lead that was 4 to 2 is trimmed to 4 to 3.
And of course getting that run in from third is easy as saying A La Peanut Butter Sandwiches for any current opponent of the New York Yankees and before you know it the score is tied 4-4.
But getting out of that inning 4 to 4 would be too easy on us.
So before I can go get a coke and sit back down we've served up another couple of runs and trail 6-4 with Luis Vizcaino reliving a Chien Ming Wang who is probably back in the club house making plane reservations back to Tawian right now.
The way this team is playing he would probably rather be cooling his heels back playing Sudoku than dealing with all of this.
A sweep at the hands of the Orioles will give us two sweeps in the past ten days and give us a record of 8 losses and 1 win on this most recent road trip.
I was going to do more analyzing of this series but why bother?
We stunk up the joint and to add insult to injury --- thanks to MLB and their black out policies I was forced to watch all three games on MASN and get the Orioles broadcasters.
Thorne and Palmer have to be near the top of my list for annoying broadcast combos.
An ugly ten days for the Yankees and their fans.
When will the rain end and is it too late to avoid the flood?
Now it's in a rain delay and since it's been long enough for it to be an official game I almost hope that it just gets rained out and so the team can get a few extra minutes of rest before they come back home to play Oakland.

Anyway, I've been away from the CPU for the past few days so I just rattled off three new blogs in a row for anybody that's interested.

Classes and work keep me busy these days...

MISSING YANKEES GAMES

I didn't get to see the game this past Saturday against the San Francisco Giants for two reasons.
Firstly, I was out of town in Dallas watching the Texas Rangers take on the Houston Astros in game 4 of their Lone Star Series in Arlington Texas.
I'm not sure how many of you know about this but each year for the past seven years the Astros and the Rangers have been playing for a Silver Boot.
And for people that may not know --- the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros play each other six times a year in interleague.
Three in Houston and three in Arlington and they call it the Lone Star Series.
It is an outgrowth of the "natural rivalry" established by MLB as part of interleague.
The winner of the series (best-of-6) will be awarded the Silver Boot. A 30-inch tall display of a size 15 cowboy boot cast in silver, complete with a custom, hand-made spur. If the series is split (3-to-3), the winner will be determined by which club scored the most runs over the course of the series.
They had the boot there in Arlington on display a couple of weeks ago when I went to see the Rangers/Brewers game in anticipation of the series.
Here are a few photos of it that I took at that game ...

You can see the boot in the photo to the right and in the photo to the bottom you can see a close up of the plaque portion of the trophy that has an engraved name plate for each year of the history of the boot and which Texas team won each of the years.
Texas won the game on Saturday that I went to and since the Rangers had won the series in Houston two games to one last month and then had won the first game of this series in Arlington Friday night --- they won the boot this year.
The other reason that I couldn't watch the game this past Saturday is that it was on a Saturday.
For some reason Major League Baseball has decided that out of market Yankees fans will be screwed out of watching ANY Yankees games that take place on a Saturday that do not have a start time after 6:30 PM local time or do not air on ESPN.
It used to be that if a Yankees game aired on FOX Saturday baseball it wasn't available to out of market fans because of the exclusive arrangement that Major League Baseball has with FOX.
I didn't understand this when I was younger because I thought if a game was on a national television station like FOX --- it was available to everyone in every location.
Sort of like if an NBA game is available on ABC, CBS, or NBC --- I thought everybody got the same game.

But, as we all came to find out if a game is a Saturday day game on FOX --- You'll get one of 3 to 6 possible games depending on your area.
In my area I generally get a game that involves either the Rangers, the Astros, or the Cardinals.
Not only are you not able to get the game on FOX, But since FOX has an exclusive agreement for those games you can't watch them on MLB.TV (Which I have) or MLB Extra Innings (Which I have).
I hate this, but I understand it.
But now --- even if a game is not on FOX --- You still aren't able to watch it on MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings if it's a day game that starts between 11 AM and 4:30 PM.
And I just don't understand why.
The Saturday June the 9th game against the Pirates was on YES instead of MY9 or FOX and yet it was unavailable on MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings.
I have the YES Network in my DirecTv package and that game was blacked out on my version of YES and it just said it wasn't available in my area.
Then the Mets game this past Saturday the 16th was also on YES instead of MY9 or FOX and yet it was unavailable on MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings.
I have the YES Network in my DirecTv package and that game was blacked out on my version of YES and it just said it wasn't available in my area.
I don't understand why this is.
On MLB.TV it just says it's not available in my area.
I can listen to them on MLB radio but I don't have a lap top and I don't have XM radio or anything so it's only available to me in one room of my home.
I pay close to 100 dollars a month for MLB.TV and radio and about 150 dollars for MLB Extra Innings and another 40 for DirecTv's HD baseball channels and super fan package.
I don't understand why I can't see these games.
I know that the people that put together MLB Extra Innings would opine that since I get about 135 or 140 games per team that I get over 2000 games a year for my money so that's not much to complain about.
But the thing is --- I don't watch 2000 games.
I want to watch 162 Yankees games, I want to watch the Astros and Rangers games that are blacked out in my area --- even though they don't air on TV in my area, and some other games here and there.
You don't make it up to me that every single Saturday I miss crucial Yankees games by letting me watch 140 Nats games and 140 Pirates games.
Know what I mean?
Anyway, enough of that rant...
I've been AWOL from the blog for a few days so let me briefly offer my thoughts on the final two games of the San Francisco series...

GAME 2 : SATURDAY  06/23/2007
YANKEES 5, GIANTS 6

O.K., I didn't see this game --- as I said --- but I kept track of it via Verizon wireless's version of GameDay or GameTracker as well as text alerts that I get sent to my cell phone.
This game just seemed painful though...
Wang didn't seem to have his best stuff but he battled thru to pitch 86 pitches in six and a third innings and left the game with a lead.
A lead that the bullpen promptly surrendered.
Still I had hope.
It seemed like we could come back and win the game.
Especially after Alex hit the homer to give us a tie in the 9th to send us to extra innings on the road.
When he hit that bomb (his 28th of the year off of Hennessey) I just knew we'd fight our way back into it and win the game in the bay.
We had our chances.
Like in the 11th when we had the bases loaded with one out for Matsui.
That's when I just knew we were going to take the lead.
I mean, there's nobody that I trust more to get a run in from third with less than two outs than Hideki Matsui.
But he struck out and soon that inning was over without us scoring a run.
That was a motif for the game as the Yankees had 17 base hits and only 5 runs to show for it over 13 innings.
We left a small army of men on base and squandered numerous situations with a runner on third (or runners on second and third, or the bases loaded) in the game only to come up empty.
And the way that we were hitting, or actually the way that we were not hitting, it may not have actually ended up mattering...
But why Scott Proctor was allowed to throw 40 pitches over 3 innings and why we used every available relief pitcher at our disposal and somehow not use Rivera is just beyond me.
Rivera should have pitched the 13th and 14th and if there had to be a 15th then it would have fallen on the shoulders of one of the starters.
I think Torre made a very questionable decision to not use Rivera and to extend Proctor to 3 innings.
Especially when Proctor got into the jam in the 13th and is on fumes.
Like I said, It may not have ended up mattering the way we were hitting --- but I don't think he gave us the best chance to win.
And I'd love to hear a explanation of why that actually makes a modicum of real sense.

GAME 3 : SUNDAY  06/24/2007
YANKEES 2, GIANTS 7

Now, unlike the second game of the series this was a game that we were never actually even really involved in.
You know how when a pitcher pitches in a game and his innings don't factor into the decision directly and when he doesn't get saddled with the win or the loss?
Sometimes you'll hear people say or write that that pitcher wasn't involved in the decision or something like that?
That's how I felt about the team as a whole in this game.
Our offense is sputtering again and we didn't muster up any help for Mussina who had his own woes to deal with as he had to throw over 100 pitches just to scratch and claw his way through the 5th inning after giving up 2 runs and 5 hits and walking three batters.
The Giants did well and were very aggressive on the base paths all day and we just didn't seem to be into the game.
So we ended up dropping the series to San Francisco by losing two consecutive games and 5 out of our last 6.
Which wouldn't be quite as bad had we not had such a tremendously awful April and May.
This is where the first fourth of the season really becomes an albatross.
It's sort of like those games that Pettitte pitches where he knows if he gives up even one earned run it might be too many and so he's pitching on a tight rope all night.
We're playing a season on a tight rope.
Boston lost Curt Schilling to the DL until after the ASB and they got swept by the Mariners.
He's the time we could have gained ground.
But we didn't and since we have so much ground to make up for losing these games is like falling into quick sand or getting stuck in a tar pit...

Sad...

Now it's on to Baltimore to face the Orioles ...

The Yankees earned a win against the Giants tonight in San Francisco tonight by a final score of 7 to 3.
Vizcaino earned his fourth victory of the season as he came in with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth inning after Yankees starting pitcher had walked Ray Durham to load the bases and then walked in Barry Bonds to force in a run and make the score at that time 5-2 in favor of the Yankees.
Vizcaino came in to try and get the last out of the inning before the Giants were able to bring the Giants even closer to tying the game as a hit by Bengie Molina could have cut the lead to two or even allowed San Francisco to tie the score.
Molina hit a fly ball to straight away left field off of Vizcaino but, Hideki Matsui made a spectacular catch in deep left field at the wall to collect the third out and end the inning.
It might have been the most important defensive play of the game because if that ball had gotten by Matsui it would have probably have cleared the bases and tied the score.
In relief of Kei Igawa the Yankees brought in Luis Vizcanio to pitch the last out of the 5th and the first two outs of the 6th, Mike Myers for the last out of the 6th and the first out of the 7th, Scott Proctor for the last two outs of the 7th and the first out of the 8th, and then Mariano Rivera for the rest of the 8th and the 9th to record his 9th save of the season.
The Giants scored twice in the 5th off of Igawa and added a third run in the 8th when Scott Proctor allowed the 749th home run of Barry Bond's career (a solo shot) in the bottom of the 8th.
Igawa actually looked pretty good in the first four innings of the game as he allowed only two hits and struck out five batters in those four innings.
One at bat was particularly impressive when he struck out Barry Bonds with three pitches in the bottom of the 4th inning with one on and one out.
He just looked like he got a little rattled when he got into a jam in the 5th and couldn't seem to navigate his way out of it.
But when he was lifted from the game he'd allowed two runs and then walked Durham to load the bases and walked in a run to make what was a 5-0 ballgame with nobody on base a 5-2 ballgame with the bases loaded.
Torre sort of had to make a move.
The Yankees had just lost three games in a row to Colorado and were in a position to win this game.
I think had the Yankees just swept the Rockies and had the score been different, Igawa might have been allowed to try and work his way out of it.
Hopefully he'll do as well in his next outing as he did in the first four innings of this one.
The losing pitcher for San Francisco was Matt Cain who had an uncharacteristically mediocre outing as he gave up 7 hits, 4 walks, and 5 earned runs in just 5 innings of work to bring his season record to 2-8 with a 3.46 ERA.
To put that in perspective he has only given up 5 earned runs in his past three starts for San Francisco before tonight and that took twenty and one third innings.
Key offensive players for the Yankees tonight were Alex Rodriguez (who went 4 for 4 with a walk, a double and 2 RBI's), Melky Cabrera (who went 2 for 5 with a triple and 2 RBI's), and Derek Jeter (who went 2 for 4 with a triple, a walk, one RBI and a run scored).
The only real complaint that I have is that some of the dumb base running from the Colorado series seems to have carried over as Jeter got himself picked off in the top of the 7th and it didn't look like heads up base running at all.
Then in the 8th inning Cario is on second base with a double and after watching Scott Proctor getting struck out trying to bunt he then inexplicably takes off to go from second base to home on a line out to first.
He gets caught in a sort of run down and is out easily.

These three plays that resulted in outs were really sloppy:

• Jeter getting picked off in the 7th
• Proctor tying to bunt with two strikes with a runner on 2nd base and striking out
• Cario trying to come all the way home from 2nd base on a line out to the first basemen

These three plays didn't hurt us that much in a game where we never led by less than 3 runs after the top of the second when it comes to the winner and loser of the game.
And all the Yankees players were all smiles.
And that's good.
I want them to be in a positive and confident frame of mind.
But these types of blunders are part of the reason that we lost the game yesterday to Colorado 4-3 and part of the reason we seem to be so much less successful in one run games than the Red Sox are.
I hope tomorrow is a good game for the Yankees offense and for the Yankees pitching staff and hopefully a game without some of that sloppiness.

Tomorrow's Yankees/Giants game is going to be to be an afternoon game televised on FOX.
Game time is officially at 3:55 EST and the game will feature a pitching match up of Chien Ming Wang (7-4, 3.33) against Matt Morris (7-4, 3.21).
Wang has been pitching well as of late and has been a winner of his last 4 games in a row and has been the winning pitcher in 6 of the last 7 games that he has started.
Morris has been solid this season and has earned consideration for the NL All Star Game pitching staff.
Matt Morris has gone up against the New York Yankees during interleague twice before as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff and has a record of 0-1 a 6.75 ERA.
Well, that's all for now...
Until tomorrow afternoon ---- LETS GO YANKEES !!!

Mike

ROCKED IN COLORADO SWEEP

I'm starting to re-think my opinion of the Colorado Rockies franchise right about now.
They've just got done polishing off a three game sweep of the Yankees and just two weeks ago they won 2 out of 3 against the Red Sox and came an eye lash away from a sweep there.
They might be on to something out there in Denver and this went from a series that I couldn't wait to play to help pad our record to a series I couldn't wait to put in our rear view mirror as we leave Coors field and head to off to San Francisco.
Why our hard luck Yankees couldn't muster up any significant offense against the 'Rox is beyond me, but I'm going to go on record here and now as suggesting that this Rockies team will be one that could contend in the NL West sometime soon.
They are 3.5 games out of the NL Wild Card and 3.5 games out of first in the NL West.
I don't know if Arizona can hang in there all year and if they don't --- I could easily see the Rockies either pushing past them and LA and taking the division or playing the role of spoiler.
That's one of the positive things about interleague for baseball fans.
It allows you, or maybe forces you, to take a closer look at teams that you really never paid any attention to before.
The Rockies have some very good hitters and their pitching staff managed to go 5 for 6 against the Red Sox offense and the Yankees offense.
Not to shabby.
I'm happy to leave Colorado and leave it to the NL West...


THE SAN FRANCISCO TREAT

Continuing the theme that was started with the Diamondbacks and the Mets last week, the Yanks will see another former World Series rival in the form of the San Francisco Giants.
The Yankees met the Giants (the New York Giants at that time) 7 times in the World Series (1921-1923, 1936, 1937, 1951, and 1962) and won five of the Fall Classics and lost two.
This time there won't be any Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays.
No Babe Ruth, or Carl Hubbell, or Mel Ott.
No Bobby Thompson and the 'Shot heard 'round the world'.
Just the 2007 Giants and the 2007 Yankees and a little interleague action by the bay...

Yankees fans get to see their favorite team play the San Francisco Giants this weekend in the Bay Area and we'll get to see Barry Bonds and Barry Zito at AT&T park.
Well, they'll get to say "hi" to Zito and they'll get to "see" him, but they won't be facing him in this three game set.
The pitching match ups are set to be Kei Igawa (2-1, 7.63) against Matt Cain (2-7, 3.15) tonight, Chien Ming Wang (7-4, 3.33) against Matt Morris (7-4, 3.21) tomorrow afternoon on FOX, and Mike Mussina (3-4, 5.10) against Noah Lowry (6-6, 3.74) Sunday afternoon.
Tonight will be Igawa's first game back as a New York Yankees starting pitcher since his outing in at Yankee stadium against Seattle on May the 4th where he gave up 8 earned runs on 9 hits in just four innings.
Since that time he's been down on the farm working on his control and mechanics and Joe Torre seems satisfied with his progression.
This will be the first time anybody from the Giants has faced Igawa but it should be noted that Giants outfielder Randy Winn is batting over .340 off of lefties.
The hitters for the New York Yankees may not be too familiar with Cain and Lowry, but Bobby Abreu seems to have tomorrow's Giant's starter Matt Morris all sorted out as he is hitting .348 (8-for-23) with two home runs and five RBIs against Morris.
And don't let Matt Cain's win/loss record fool you.
He's a very good pitcher and has pitched very well so far this season.
As a matter of fact this is what Jayson Stark had to say about him recently on ESPN.Com:

Here's the question we should be asking about Matt Cain: Is he the best 2-7 pitcher in history? Hey, he just might be, as a matter of fact.

We couldn't find a single pitcher in the expansion era who had an ERA as good as Cain's (3.15), or a hits-per-nine-IP rate as good as Cain's (7.02 per nine IP) who wound up a season with a winning percentage as lousy as his is now (.222). But even 2-7 doesn't do justice to how crummy the Giants have played behind him. Their record when he starts is an incomprehensible 2-12.

So how do we explain this? Just about every way possible. He has lost two 1-0 games and a 2-0 game. The bullpen has blown three saves for him. And the offense has scored two runs or fewer in nine of his starts. It's been so ugly that he has allowed three hits or fewer five times -- and won one of them.

"To me, he's a lot like Justin Verlander," says one scout. "It's easy to think he could throw multiple no-hitters. That's how good his stuff is. And he's 2-7. Now that doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

GIAMBI TALKS

Well, Jason has finally broken down and decided to speak with Bud Selig and the Mitchell Investigation about his use of anabolic steroids.
What impact this will have on his career as a New York Yankee for the remainder of the 2007 season or the 2008 season is yet to be determined.

Here is his official statement:

Today, I have agreed to commissioner Selig's request that I meet with Sen. George Mitchell. In a direct conversation the commissioner impressed upon me the idea that the game of baseball would be best served by such a meeting. I will continue to do what I think is right and be candid about my past history regarding steroids. I have never blamed anyone nor intended to deflect blame for my conduct. I alone am responsible for my actions and I apologize to the commissioner, the owners and the players for any suggestion that they were responsible for my behavior.

I've come to this decision for a number of reasons. I did not want to put my family through a lengthy legal challenge in support of my position. In addition, the uncertainty of my playing status could detract from the efforts of our team to win the American League East. My focus at this time needs to be on rehabbing my injury, getting back on the field, and contributing to the goals of my team. To be embroiled in a legal battle could undermine all of this and I would never put my family, my teammates, or the Yankees in that position.

Accordingly, I have agreed to this meeting. As I have always done, I will address my own personal history regarding steroids. I will not discuss in any fashion any other individual. My hope is that this meeting will serve as a positive step, as all parties involved seek the best approach in dealing with the issue of "drugs in sport." That has always been the intent behind all of the comments I have made on the subject and it remains so to this day.

Myself, I sort of wish that he had not said these things and sort of wish that he not decided to cooperate with Senator Mitchell and Bud Selig.
I just don't know what good can come from this or will come from this.
People in major league baseball had to have known that a significant number of players used some form of steroids or performance enhancing drugs from the years of 1986 to 2006.
They must have known.
I don't think any of these people are stupid men.
I don't think that they are exceptionally gullible men either.
These are highly educated men, for the most part, with years of experience dealing with professional sports.
I might be more inclined to believe that they didn't know what was going on with these things at the start of it.
I might be more inclined to believe that they didn't know about it in the 1980's or the early 1990's.
I might be more inclined to believe that they didn't know about it before 1997.
But after the home run chase and the home run boom from 1997 through 2001 --- I just can't understand how anybody with an ounce of common sense to go along with their education and experience with professional baseball and professional athletics would not suspect that at some of these players had dabbled with supplements, steroids, and other performance enhancers.
That type of naivete just defies description.
I just don't believe it.
I'm sorry --- I just don't.
I mean, prior to 1998 only two players had ever hit 60 home runs in a single season (Babe Ruth and Roger Maris) in the previous 100 years and only Roger Maris had hit more than 60 (he hit 61 to set the home run record with the New York Yankees in 1961).
Babe Ruth's home run record of 60 home runs stood for 34 years until Maris broke it.
Maris's home run record of 61 homers stood for 37 years until McGwire brook that.
Big Mac's record of 70 stood for all of 2 and a half years until Bonds smashed that one.
Also while all of this was going on --- in the four years from 1998 to 2001 Sammy Sosa averaged 60 home runs per year and hit at least 63 home runs three times in that span (66 home runs in 1998, 63 home runs in 1999, 50 home runs in 2000, and 64 home runs in 2001).
In addition there are 18 players to hit 500 home runs or more that joined the 500 club prior to 1998 but since 1998 there have been 3 new members to the 500 club...
And there will be at least 3 new members this year and perhaps 4.
By the end of next season there will be 1 or 2 more.
That means it took 100 years to get 18 members of the 500 club and we'll get 7 or 8 more in a matter of 10 years?
If anybody looks around they can see it.
Baseball turned a blind eye to what was going on as long as it helped the turnstiles start spinning again after the strike and they didn't care how things got done to help to restore baseball to prosperity as long as they got done.
Well it worked.
Home runs flew out of the ballpark and tickets got sold and money got made and records got broken.
And then got broken again.
Now almost ten years later ticket sales are at record highs and attendance at the ballparks is going up each year for the past several years and everybody got what they wanted.
But now, almost ten years later, there's finally a fuss being stirred up about steroids in baseball and that we need to "clean it up".
So now, after a decade of doing almost nothing about the issue, the league decides it's time to get tough on the problem and the players they look at as the worst offenders.
And now, almost ten years later, they want to strong arm one of the few guys that actually admitted doing anything wrong and had the temerity to suggest that they were other people besides just him that knew what was going on and maybe if baseball wanted to clean itself up that lots of different people should speak up this time.
Such as coaches, GM's, trainers, owners, sports writers, broadcasters, doctors, club house people, and more.
I don't see anything wrong with that and I don't know why Giambi has to wear the scarlet A for everybody else.
Especially while Sosa, Bonds, Sheffield, and dozens of others get to act like nothing happened...

Anyways, that's the odds and ends for today...
Tonight's game is at 10:15 EST on YES...
Until later tonight lets all get ready to stay up late and cheer for the boys in pinstripes...

LETS GO YANKEES !!!


Until after the game,
Mike

P.S.

It was just announced today that the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League Central division have claimed first baseman Josh Phelps off of waivers from the New York Yankees.
Josh Phelps was designated for assignment by the Yankees on Tuesday after hitting .263 with two home runs and 12 RBI in 36 games this season.
So far in his  career he's played in 388 total games and has a career batting average of .268 with 59 homers and 224 RBI's.
In addition to his time with the 2007 Yankees, Phelps has played with the Toronto Blue Jays from 2000-2004, the Cleveland Indians in 2004, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2005.
When he was selected by the Yankees from the Baltimore Orioles in the Major League phase of the 2006 Rule 5 Draft in December of 2007 he became the first Major-League Rule 5 Draft selection by the Yankees since Marc Ronan from the Milwaukee Brewers in the December 1995 Rule 5 Draft.
His best season was probably with Toronto in 2003 when he hit 20 homers, drove in 66 RBI's, and had 186 total bases in 119 at bats.
The 29 year old Anchorage, Alaska native and wife Eleanor have one daughter named Hannah who turned two this year.
Phelps graduated from Lakeland High School in Idaho in 1996 and was named the Most Valuable Player in baseball while graduating fourth in his class.
He has been added to the Pirates minor league roster and it remains to be seen if and when he'll be brought up to Pirates major league roster.
My thanks go out to Josh Phelps for his time and effort this season so far and in Spring Training.
He always worked hard and did his best to be the best player that he could be for the New York Yankees and I appreciate that.
Good luck in the National League with the Pirates Josh.
I hope you find happiness and both personal and professional success there !

Well, I will have to go ahead and admit that I vastly underestimated the Colorado Rockies.
When I saw the three games on the schedule for the Rockies at the end of June earlier in the season I picked this for an easy series win and perhaps even an easy series sweep.
But that's not how it's shaken out and right now we have already dropped the series and are on the verge of a sweep.
Not only that, but Colorado Rockies pitching has held the Yankees offense to just 1 run over 18 innings.
That's just not what I thought that I would be seeing here for these three interleague games this week.
Then I looked back at the calender and the schedule for the Rockies and saw a couple of interesting things.
Firstly, they played the Boston Red Sox for three games a few weeks ago and walked out of that series winning 2 out of 3 ballgames and outscored the Red Sox twenty runs to five in those three games.
Secondly, the Rockies actually have a better won/loss record than we do and they are only sitting 5 games out of first in their division and 4 games out of the NL Wild Card race.
The Rockies seem to actually have foundations of a good ball club out there in Colorado and if the Yankees offense doesn't get it's act together behind Roger Clemens tomorrow afternoon at Coors field we could be looking at a sweep.
And if that happened --- I would have to say, at least in the context of these last three days, that the Colorado Rockies were the better team between themselves and the New York Yankees.
And that they were the better team between themselves and the Boston Red Sox a few weeks ago.
And those games that they played against the Red Sox in interleague were in Fenway Park.
In any event, Tomorrow's day game will feature Roger Clemens --- who is coming off of two consecutive quality starts to begin his 2007 season facing former Baltimore Oriole Rodrigo Lopez who is coming off his fifth quality start of the season and his third victory of the season.
He has started 7 games this season and is 3-0 with a 2.90 ERA
In his starts at home, Lopez is 3-0 with a 3.29 ERA and his ball club is 6-1 in his seven starts so far this year.
This will be another tough test for Yankee hitters as they try to avoid a sweep in Denver before heading out to the Bay Area to take on Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants this weekend.
Good luck to the boys...
The way that they have been hitting, they're going to need it !

Mike



LETS GO YANKEES !!!

P.S.
Here's wishing a warm New York Yankees "Welcome back to Andy Phillips" !
Josh Phelps was called back up to the big league club last night after spending more than two months playing for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, the organization's Triple-A affiliate in Moosic, Pennsylvania.
Andy has been batting a cool .301 with 11 homers and 36 RBIs down on the farm and has spent most of his time there playing second base.
Andy has been playing well and it looks as if he has been able to put his assorted off-field issues, like his wife's battle with cancer and this spring's critical car accident involving his mother, Linda, behind him.
So please join me, my fellow Yankees fans as we sing this few bars to the tune of Welcome Back Kotter...
Welcome back....
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back....

P.P.S.
Congrats to Sammy Sosa tonight for clubbing his 600th home run at home in Arlington, Texas against his former team --- the visiting Chicago Cubs.
Somehow it seemed very appropriate that he was able to get his history making homer off of the Cubs and with the Ballpark in Arlington loaded to the gills with Chicago Cub fans.
Congrats to Slammin' Sammy...
Truly a remarkable accomplishment.
500 may not mean what it used to, but 600 is still a pretty big number for me.

Tonight is game one of a three game series for the New York Yankees as they are taking on the Colorado Rockies from the NL West.
The pitching match up tonight will feature Mike Mussina (3-3, 5.17 ERA) taking the hill for the Yankees and opposing Josh Fogg (2-5, 4.95 ERA) for the Rockies.
Josh Fogg allowed seven hits and two runs in his last outing, against Boston, but the Rockies provided him with six runs against Boston's Curt Schilling.
He did, however, show a lot of poise in getting in and out of jams in the game and did get the win.
He also struck out four Red Sox batters in that game.
The last time we saw Mike Mussina he was walking off the field to the tune of a standing ovation this past Wednesday night after allowing just two runs off six hits in 7 2/3 innings during the Yankees' 7-2 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Moose struck out seven batters and walked none on the night and he threw 101 pitches (74 for strikes).
Mussina has pitched well in his last couple of starts and looks to continue to turn things around tonight by having yet another solid performance against Colorado to bring his record above .500.
The right-hander has surrendered only three runs in his past 13 2/3 innings, striking out 11 along the way.
Matt Holiday will be a player for Yankees fans to keep their eyes on in this series as he's batting .429 in his last ten ballgames and has been a nightmare for opposing pitchers to get out.
Brad Hawpe and Todd Helton are also formidable presences in the Rockies batting order.
A few pieces of business are still up in the air for Joe Torre between now and game time concerning the infield and the starting line up.
With the team playing in an NL park there will be no designated hitter.

This brings up two issues for Joe Torre:

• With Wil Nieves as Mike Mussina's newly minted personal catcher, how can you have Nieves do the catching and still keep Jorge Posada's hot bat in your starting line up?
• Who plays the outfield positions and what about Johnny Damon? Damon, slowed by injuries all season, has to play the field in order to hit because the designated hitter isn't used in the National League. Damon has been banged up, but he is hitting better now. What do you do? Do you take away Melky's arm in the outfield and put a hobbled Damon in center?
  
  

One fix to the first issue is to allow Jorge Posada to play first base in the game tonight.
This is something that has been floated around for the week or so with Joe Torre and Don Mattingly and Jorge Posada and it appears that that is something you might expect to see tonight.
With Giambi out indefinitely and Mientkiewicz out for the next couple of months --- this is an issue that could be re-visited several times before the season is over.
I know that they've flirted with having Damon play fist a few times and I know that Posada has played infield positions before.
When Posada went to high school in San Juan he was a All Star shortstop and played second base for the triple A Columbus Clippers when he was in the Yankees minor league system,
They converted him to catcher after a particularly nasty home plate collision in 1994 in which he broke his left leg and dislocated his left ankle.
I have also known of speculation that either Posada or Jeter (or perhaps both, first one and then the other) could be converted into first basemen at some point in the next 3 to 5 years to extend their Yankees playing careers.
But most of this stuff is something that could be, and should be, years away.
In in the scope of this season I think that Miguel Cario is doing amicably as the first baseman for now and I wouldn't be surprised if the don't get another first baseman in the Bronx before the trade dead line.
But with Clemens and Pettitte both possibly leaving after this season, I think any deal that deals away pitching is too high of a price to pay.
If we can't get a quality first baseman without dealing out Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes then they just need to keep their money in their pockets and walk out of the store.
We are doing O.K. in the last 14 games with Cario and if you give away one or both of the pitchers who could possibly be two and three in your starting rotation in 2008 or 2009 for an over priced star first baseman who might not stay with the team beyond the 2007 season then you are shooting yourself in the foot.
Look at next year's rotation if Clemens and Pettitte don't stay...
It's Wang and then Moose and then...?
We cannot deal Hughes.
We just can't.
And I don't want to deal Joba either.
Just not good moves to make.
Not unless the deal includes a quality and major league ready starting pitcher.
And if a team had such an animal they wouldn't deal it away for a minor league prospect pitcher?
That just wouldn't much sense, would it?
I mean if we can trade Hughes, Joba, and Farnsworth to the Twins for Santana and Morneau --- then lets make that deal A.S.A.P. !
Otherwise....

Anyway, I've gotten woefully off topic here...

What WAS the topic?

Ahhhh yes, the Colorado Rockies game tonight...

It's the first game of a three game set between these two ball clubs and the first pitch is scheduled to be thrown out at approximately 9:05 PM EST and will be available to Yankees fans on MY9, WCBS radio, MLB Extra Innings, and MLB.Tv.

Tomorrow's game is also at 9:05 PM EST and will feature Andy Pettitte (4-4, 2.93) being opposed by Jeff Francis (6-5, 3.61) for the Rockies.

Then the last game of the series will be a day game at 3:05 PM EST on Wednesday and that will feature a pitching match up between Roger Clemens (1-1. 3.65) squaring off against Rodrigo Lopez (3-0,2.90) for Colorado.

So tune in tonight and cheer for the boys as they soak in some of that cool Colorado air and try to win another series and inch closer to Detroit and Boston as the quest for another pinstriped October continues !

67 games down....
95 games to go....

Until game time,
LETS GO YANKEES !!!

This article was published in the New York Post newspaper at the end of May and it irritated me when I read it and now after reading about those fans who ridiculed Jorge Junior it made me think about this article again.
I used to have more respect for Orlando Cabrera than I do now.
I do not consider myself a Red Sox fan, as most Yankees fans do not, but through the years that I've watched this rivalry between the Yanks and the 'Sox there have been many Boston players that I've had an enormous amount of respect and admiration for.
Nomar Garciaparra was one of those people.
Now I won't go into some long diatribe about how and why he ended up being traded to the Cubs in a three way deal that ended up sending Orlando Cabrera to Boston to become their new shortstop back in the mid summer of 2004 and I won't say who was wrong or who was right.
Because quite frankly it's a complicated issue with blame that can go around to everybody involved if one wants to look for somebody to blame.
There is a book out in bookstores right now entitled "Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top" by Seth Mnookin that I recommend reading if you feel the need to examine that situation in more detail.
But I digress, the only reason I bring all that up is that --- at the time --- it seemed as if the Red Sox had started down a path of diminishing returns in the shortstop department.
What I mean by that is that I thought Nomar was superior to Cabrera.
Then I thought that Cabrera was superior to Renteria (at least the AL East version of Renteria).
Then I thought that Renteria was better than Lugo is now.
Sort of like they took one step down the ladder with each yearly shortstop replacement that they've been doing since mid 2004.
Now that the chips have fallen and the dust has settled, I've often looked back and thought that Cabrera was much better than I gave him credit for and as Nomar has sort of leveled off over the past 2 and a half years Boston might have actually came out of that whole situation for the better at that infield position had they been able to keep Cabrera and never even bothered with Renteria back in 2005.
Cabrera went on to Anaheim and has been fantastic there for them.
Now I know that once Cabrera was not retained that Renteria was probably the best on the market and I can't fault them for giving that a try.
Then when he left town Lugo may have been the best on the market at that time and so there again, they did what they could to get the best available guy for the money in that slot.
But I have always thought that letting Cabrera go was a mistake.
Maybe a mistake that wasn't seen as one at the time, but I would imagine if the Angels wanted to trade Orlando to Boston for Lugo that the Red Sox would take that deal.
Anyway, the point of all of this rambling is that I have a lot of respect for Cabrera's talents on the field and for the most part have had a lot of respect for him off of the field as well.
But this article just made me lose a little of the respect that I had for him.
When I started writing this blog I was all ready to point out all of the times that I've watched Red Sox fans chant nasty things about Jeter or A-Rod or all the signs and T-Shirt's that I've seen them hold up and wear saying all kinds of foul and derogatory things.
I started to refernce the time in Fenway when a few particularly salty Red Sox fans made fun of Jorge Posada's young son with Craniosynostosis.
I started to talk about the time when my friend paid scalpers 200 or 300 a ticket to take herself and her 11 year old son to a game in Fenway and had fans call her son all kinds of names and make fun of him so badly that he ended up in tears.
But really, what does that prove?
It proves that there are rude fans at Fenway on some nights.
Is that really a revelation?
No.
At least not to me.
But you know what?
There are rude fans at Yankee stadium too.
I know it's a lot easier for us to say that Boston fans are rude and obnoxious and the fans at 161st and River Avenue are polite little angels who never say an unkind word.
But you know that's not true.
The fact of the matter is that there are rude fans everywhere because there are rude people everywhere.
Don't be so quick to paint us all with the same brush Orlando.
You should know better.
You played in Boston when the Yankees came to Fenway.
You're trying to sell me on the fact that the Red Sox fans were not "mean to the other team"?
Give me a break.
The Red Sox fans are always hard on the Yankees players and I've never seen them fail to distinguish themselves in that regard.
What about this last trip to Fenway that the Yankees made as visiting players?
Are you really wanting me to believe that the Red Sox fans wearing those masks (of a blonde white woman) and chanting all the things that they chanted at Alex Rodriguez was not "mean" spirited at all?
If Alex did have an extra-marital affair then that's sad and wrong.
But we don't know if he did it or not and to me making fun of his marital situation is below the belt.
If you want to make fun of him for slapping the ball from Arroyo of calling "Mine!" or "Ha!" or whatever the case me be --- I think that's fair game.
It happened on the ball field.
But what happens in his personal life shouldn't be ridiculed by the fans on national television with his wife and daughter watching on.
If that's not "mean", then I don't know what is.
If you are a Red Sox fan and are reading this right now --- there is a distinct possibility that you have a half dozen examples of Yankees fans being "mean" to Red Sox players or their fans at the ready.
And you know what?
Don't bother.
I know you're right and I believe you.
There's a segment of both fan bases (Red Sox and Yankee) that are loud, rude, belligerent, mean, and ill tempered.
And for the most part they embarrass the other fans who don't do that sort of thing and for the most part the embarrass their favorite players.
Think Jeter and Oritiz like that sort of behavior from people that are supposed to be their biggest fans?
Think again.
Anyway, my point is that Cabrera should be smarter than that and I expected better.
And at this point in my life, I'm actually finding myself disliking the Angels FAR MORE than I dislike the Red Sox...
Just my thoughts....
What do you guys and gals think ?

-------------------------------------------------------------------

--

May 28, 2007 -- Angels shortstop Orlando Cabrera ripped Yankees fans in --yesterday's editions of the Los Angeles Times, calling them --mean-spirited poor losers who don't appreciate good baseball. Their --response - censoring out the profanity of course - was "Who is Orlando --Cabrera?" -- --

-- --

-- -- --

--Even before the Bombers had suffered through the indignity of --yesterday's 4-3 loss that capped an Anaheim sweep, their fans suffered --through being insulted by Cabrera, who told the newspaper "They don't --appreciate good baseball: They just appreciate the Yankees beating up --on everybody."

They haven't seen that too often lately, --watching the Yankees lose 11 of their last 16 games with the Angels at --Yankee Stadium.

"In Boston, they admire baseball. In Anaheim, --those fans are some of the best in baseball. They know you care there. --They know you can't do it every day. I appreciate that," said Cabrera, --who saw Yankees fans at their most vociferous when he played for Boston --in 2004. "These people here, they're mean. And they're really mean to --the other team.

"When we came here last year, they were in --first place, so it was OK. Now they're just looking for an excuse. When --people say [stuff], they only motivate me. They're bad losers."

--Cabrera actually seemed friendly enough with the fans, chatting while --leaning against the wall during a seventh-inning pitching change. When --asked by The Post whether he was surprised the crowd of 53,508 hadn't --been tougher on him, he turned his back and walked away, replying over --his shoulder "That's your answer right there."

When approached --again, he was in a snit, reproaching The Post with "Don't try and play --
a . . . game with a chess player, Papi."

None of the fans The --Post interviewed had any idea of Cabrera's indictments. When asked his --opinion, West Haven, Conn., native Chris DelVecchi just sniffed and --said "I don't give a [bleep] about Orlando Cabrera."

Jen Prisco of Orange, Conn., said: "He's not a Yankee, so I don't care what he thinks."

Prisco's sister, Lisa, responded to the question with a query of her own.

"When's the last time the Angels drew four million?" she asked.

--For the record, the answer is never. Their club record is 3,406,790 - --which the Yankees have bettered the last five years. This season, the --Yankees are on pace to lead the majors in attendance for a fifth --consecutive year.


-------------------------------------------------------------------
--

I don't know how much many of you know about Jorge Posada's son Jorge Luis and his seven year life long battle with craniosynostosis but I was reading this really excellent and emotional article that was recently published in the New York Newsday about it and it's been on my mind a lot in the last 24 hours or so...
For those of you who are not already aware of it George's son Jorge Luis Posada suffers from craniosynostosis,which he was diagnosed with 10 days after he was born, and has endured numerous surgeries to correct the condition.
Posada established the Jorge Posada Foundation on his website to help find a cure for the disease and support families with children affected by the condition.
Craniosynostosis is a birth defect of the brain characterized by the premature closure of one or more of the fibrous joints between the bones of the skull (called the cranial sutures) before brain growth is complete.
Closure of a single suture is most common. The abnormally shaped skull that results is due to the brain not being able to grow in its natural shape because of the closure. Instead it compensates with growth in areas of the skull where the cranial sutures have not yet closed. The condition can be gene-linked, or caused by metabolic diseases, such as rickets or an overactive thyroid. Some cases are associated with other disorders such as microcephaly (abnormally small head) and hydrocephalus (excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain). The first sign of craniosynostosis is an abnormally shaped skull. Other features can include signs of increased intracranial pressure, developmental delays, or mental retardation, which are caused by constriction of the growing brain. Seizures and blindness may also occur.
Treatment for craniosynostosis generally consists of surgery to relieve pressure on the brain and the cranial nerves. For some children with less severe problems, cranial molds can reshape the skull to accommodate brain growth and improve the appearance of the head.The prognosis for craniosynostosis varies depending on whether single or multiple cranial sutures are involved or other abnormalities are present. The prognosis is better for those with single suture involvement and no associated abnormalities.

The NINDS conducts and supports a wide range of studies that explore the complex mechanisms of early neurological development. The knowledge gained from these fundamental studies provides the foundation for understanding how this process can go awry and offers hope for new ways to treat and prevent brain birth defects, including craniosynostosis.
I'm sure that we all have fond memories of little Jorge coming to the All Star games with his dad and running out onto the field with his dad in his own little Yankees uniform.
I remember him with his own little Yankees hat and his eye black running out onto the field when he heard Jorge's name called and just running about all willy nilly until he was finally picked up and carted off of the field.
I can't find my pictures right now but I did had some photos of him running circles around Pedro Martinez giggling at him and watching Manny pick him and carry him around.
He was such an adorable toddler then and he's such and adorable little guy now.
He doesn't deserve to have to suffer like he's suffering right now.
No child does.
It's so sad and I ask anybody who reads this who has a few extra bucks to spare this week to drop by the Jorge Posada Foundation website and for any of you who believe in the power of prayer or positive thoughts to send some to Jorge, Jorge Junior, his beautiful wife Laura, and their little daughter Paulina.
I'm hoping, along with everybody else, that this latest surgery for Georgie Junior is his last and that he's able to play and run and be happy like all children should and won't have to endure any more of this madness.
Here is a new article that was published in New York Newsday that details the current status of the situation:

Little Jorge Posada catches a break

BY KAT O'BRIEN
kat.obrien@newsday.com

June 17, 2007

Jorge Posada and his wife, Laura, could only wait while their son, Jorge Luis, had surgery this past December. He had just turned 7 years old, yet this was his eighth operation to treat a congenital birth defect, craniosynostosis.

The Posadas waited anxiously for six, eight, 10 hours while the boy's skull was being taken apart so the bones in it could be reshaped and reassembled to give him a normal-shaped skull.

"I was brave," Jorge Luis said. "I was a little bit scared, though."

Perhaps, his parents prayed, this surgery would finally grant their wish and give their son a normal life. Perhaps, they dreamed, they could take Jorge Luis home and not have to put him through any more operations. Perhaps, they hoped, he would be healthy and happy and no one would ridicule him for having a funny-shaped head.

"We are praying that that was the last one, the last big operation," said Posada, the Yankees catcher. "The way Dr. Staffenberg described it, he said he was going to do everything possible to make sure that that was the last big operation. It was tough times."

Craniosynostosis affects approximately one in 5,000 babies, said Staffenberg, the surgical director at the Center for Craniofacial Disorders at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx. Craniosynostosis is sometimes hereditary, though not in Jorge Luis' case. It is characterized by the premature closure of one or more fibrous joints, or sutures, keeping the brain and skull from growing properly. It can generally be corrected with one operation.

Jorge Luis was an exception.

Jorge Luis' skull remained asymmetrical, his neck tilted to one side, his left eye socket was out of line, and one-third of his skull bone was missing -- leaving his brain unprotected in case of a fall or bump on the head. Said his father: "If he bumped his head on the corner of the table, it could be really severe."

The reactions of others put his parents in anguish. Laura recalled one particularly cruel afternoon, when her husband was on deck at Fenway Park and a fan called out that Posada's son "looked like he was retarded."

After Jorge Luis' latest operation, they should never hear comments like that again. Staffenberg split a portion of the skull bone in two, and used the newly divided piece to cover the unprotected portion of his brain. He also removed previously inserted plates and pins, and plastic surgery covered up the scars.

"I've got to say, things look really fantastic now," Staffenberg said, "and everyone is really pleased with how well he's done ... Both mom and dad were in the intensive care unit all the way through the weekend. Dad helped me change the bandage. Dad helped me take about 200 stitches out of Junior's scalp. They were both just extraordinary."

It has been a long journey since Jorge Luis was diagnosed with craniosynostosis days after his birth Nov. 28, 1999. His parents met while Laura was working both as a lawyer and on a Puerto Rican TV show. After one show, she and some friends went to a lounge. That's where she met Jorge, who told his friend, "I'm going to marry that girl." They got married a few months later and they soon had a new baby on the way. "You get your first child, your first-born, and you hope that everything's good, and it wasn't," Posada said.

Laura said: "Your world crumbles, and you're upset, and you're ignorant about this condition. The worst thing is that it's beyond your control."

Jorge Luis had his first surgery at 7 months old, and the next soon after. "You get nervous," Posada said. "You cry at night the night before. The first two operations were during the season, and I wasn't here for pretty much 10 days. I played, but I wasn't here ."

In the fall of 2000, the Jorge Posada Foundation was created to raise awareness of craniosynostosis and funds for research and treatment. He had already wanted to begin a foundation and said his son's condition "was like a sign from heaven."

When Laura's not with Jorge Luis and their 41/2-year-old daughter Paulina, she's running the foundation. On Monday, they hosted the Heroes for Hope Gala at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. About a dozen Yankees attended. The dinner and auction raised more than $680,000, doubling last year's total.

Jorge Luis was the night's star when he welcomed the guests, greeted by a hearty ovation. With their son's health problems, they hope, behind them, the Posadas can just be a family. Perhaps not surprisingly, Posada is having a career-best season, batting .354 with 41 RBIs in 59 games entering Friday. "That's why Jorge is having the year that he's having," Laura said, "because we can relax and breathe, and not worry. We can look at [Jorge Luis], and he's so smart and normal and healthy. For the first time, we can enjoy it, and not have people stare at him."

No more thoughts of hospitals and needles and pain. Jorge Luis, who was playing on the field before Friday's game at Yankee Stadium, is otherwise occupied, saying: "I like to play with my friends, and play video games, and color and play baseball."

Happy times.

Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

There were lots of several great offensive and defensive plays in tonight's ball game against the New York Mets as the Yankees win the series this weekend by upending the Mets by a score of 8-2 on a home game televised nationally on ESPN.
The Yankees banged out 11 hits and 8 runs with some help from two run home runs hit by Alex Rodriguez (off of Orlando Hernandez with one on and two out in the first inning) and George Posada (off of Aaron Heilman with one on nobody out in the eighth inning).
Despite all of the offensive fireworks there was calm eye in this storm and that was the unflappable Chien Ming Wang who pitched 113 pitches (72 for strikes) in 8 and two thirds innings pitched.
He struck out a career high 8 batters and allowed only 2 earned runs and only one base on balls in the ball game.
I mentioned in my previous blog that I still consider Wang the ace of the staff until another pitcher proves him wrong.
And tonight as he lowers his ERA to 3.33 and won his seventh game of the season and his fourth win in his last four games --- I don't see anything that changes that opinion.
I don't even need to go into a long drown out break down of the game.
All you need to know if you are a Yankees fan is that Wang was masterful tonight and saved our bullpen a lot of unnecessary work.
He pitched well.
He pitched calm.
And he was just what the Yankees needed tonight against a scrappy and speedy Mets line up.
It wasn't necessarily a game to get emotional about or anything like that but when they showed Wang in the dug out sharing a warm embrace from Gator, it sort of warmed my heart.
Wang is such a good guy and such a talented pitcher who doesn't want or need the spot light.
He's on-line for a $489,500 salary in 2007 from the New York Yankees and is pitching in more than a lot of guys making tens of millions of dollars.
He's humble and forthright and a hero in his native Taiwan who spends the off season there with his wife and parents.
A great game pitched by a remarkable pitcher who, even though he won 19 games last season and was the runner up in the 2006 AL Cy Young balloting, never seems to get the credit he deserves.
Sometimes not even from Yankees fans.
Yes, it was spectacular that A-Rod hit another home run (his 27th of the year) and yes it was awesome that A-Rod picked up his seventy first, his seventy second, and his seventy third RBI's in the ball game...
But for once ...

Lets shine the Yankee spotlight and the MLB spotlight on somebody who badly deserves it...

Chien Ming Wang.

PHILLY STUPIDITY
Ever since one of my blog comment contributors was nice enough to point out that we were in fact 3.5 games back in the AL Wild Card race and not 4.0 games back, I have began keeping a more jaundiced eye on games that involve Oakland, Detroit, and Seattle.
Today Seattle received a unmerciful beat down by the Astros as the lost their game 10-3 and got swept by the 'Stros in Houston and as of this moment the Athletics are leading the Cardinals in their game in Oakland.
So, As a diligent Yankees supporter --- I am hoping for a Cardinals come back in that game.
That leaves me with the Phillies and the Tigers...
The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Tigers yesterday and had a 3-1 lead going into the top of the 7th inning today.
I had high hopes for a hard fought win for some of the most raucous fans in Major League Baseball out at Citizens Bank Park today and a heart breaking loss for the Tigers.
That would have put us just 3 games behind in the Wild Card race and just 2.5 back if we could beat the Mets later tonight.
Things were looking pretty good when Pudge flew out to start the top of the 7th and Adam Eaton had looked pretty crisp for the Phillies thru 6 and a third and I had no reason to expect the implosion that was only a few short minutes away.
It started out with a double by Brandon Inge and then followed with a base hit single by Guillen that had the Tigers set up with runners on the corners and one out.
I gritted my teeth as I watched Gary Sheffield (who hadn't been in the line up) stride out onto the one deck circle to pick up a bat and pinch hit for Justin Verlander.
The Phillies countered this move by going to their bullpen to fetch Geoff Geary.
Both Eaton and Geary are lefties and Geary doesn't have anything eye popping in his numbers that would make me think he's the guy to get Sheff out so I assume it's just to get a fresh arm out there (Eaton had pitched 101 pitches in the game (66 for strikes)).
I was thinking that they should walk him and then try for a double play on Granderson who was due up next.
But they pitched to him and Sheff hits a line drive single to left that scores Inge and moves Guillen to third with one out.
Now the Phillies lead is 3-2 and they again have runners on the corners with one out and their grasp on this one has almost slipped away.
The Phillies then bring in lefty Mike Zagurski to face Granderson which prompts Jim Leyland to send out Omar Infante to pinch hit.
Zagurski is successful in his assignment and grounds out Infante for the second out.
On the play, however, Guillen goes to third and Sheff goes to second.
Now with first base open and Placido Polanco at the plate the Phillies summon Voel Hernandez who comes into the game and walks Polanco to load up the bases.
Now with the bases loaded Craig Monroe singles on a ball off of Jimmy Rollins's glove that scores both Guillen and Sheffield and gives the Tigers a 4-3 lead.
What a bad break for the Phillies !
They had seemingly done everything right up to that point in the game...
Then comes the move that, in my opinion, may have cost them this ballgame...
With Polanco at third and with Monroe at first and with two outs they allow Hernandez to pitch to Magglio Orndonez.
These are the moments where games are won or lost.
There are the moments when coaches make the decisions that earn their salaries and have fans and sports writers either singing their praises or calling for their resignation in the papers and around the water coolers the next day.
Your team has two outs and your two run lead has metamorphosed into a one run deficit.
Two outs in the top of the 7th with runners at the corners and Maggs at the plate and Sean Casey on deck?
What do you do?
Well, if it's me I walk him.
Isn't that the obvious decision here?
Magglio is only leading both the NL and the AL in batting average (.367), 2nd in the AL in RBI's (64), and tied for 7th with home runs (13).
And, oh yeah, he's only hitting a paltry .395 in the last 10 days.
Why do you let him have a chance to beat you?
If you walk him and load the bases and then Casey (who's batting .286 with 22 RBI's and zero homers) scorches one --- then you just tip your cap and move on.
You don't let their best hitter (and maybe the league's best hitter) beat you with a base open and two outs.
But that's what they did.
They pitched to Maggs and he hits a laser to right field and brings in two more runs to give the Tigers a 6-3 lead and he all but ended the game with that one swing in the top of the 7th.
Oh yeah, then Casey comes in and pops up to end the inning.
Obviously he was the threat you really didn't want to face with the bases loaded.
The Tigers end up scoring one more run and the Phillies get one more and the Tigers end up winning 7-4.
If Maggs hadn't gotten that hit maybe things would have shaken out differently.
All I know is it looked foolish to me to let the league's leading offensive player take you like that.
I mean, the Phillies are looking up at the Mets in the NL East race and we're looking up at the Tigers in the AL Wild Card race.
I thought we could help each other and help ourselves by beating the Tigers and the Mets respectively.
We would have both benefited by a Phillies win today.
Oh well, hopefully we can give you a boost by beating the Mets later tonight.
You're welcome...

METS - YANKEES : RUBBER MATCH:
Tonight the Yankees take on the Mets in the last game of a three game series that is tied at 1-1 after yesterdays win by the Yankees.
Pitching for the New York Yankees will be Chien Ming Wang who is six and four on the season with an ERA of 3.49.
He started things off a tad rocky in the 2007 season but has earned wins for the Yankees in each of his last three starts.
In this last three games he's averaging seven innings per start and has an ERA of has an ERA in his last three games of just about 2.04. In his last start against Arizona this past Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, in his first start against that team, he pitched 7 solid innings
and allowing just one earned run off of six hits against two strike outs.
Tonight's game will be Wang's 11th start of the season and his first career start against the Mets.
Wang has looked very good to me in his last 3 or 4 starts and regardless of what Roger Clemens does or doesn't do in a New York Yankees uniform in 2007 --- Wang will still be the undisputed ace of the Yankees pitching staff until somebody comes along and proves other wise.
I'm also hoping that his ground ball style and propensity to coax batters into double plays will help slow down the relentless New York Met base stealing.
Especially that snotty little Jose Reyes...
And like I said yesterday, if the situation dictates it or if we get up by a substantial amount of runs I wouldn't be crying in my beer if somebody decided to plunk Reyes.
I'm just saying...
But anyway....
Opposing him on the mound for the New York Mets will be former Yankee, and a personal favorite of mine, "El Duque" Orlando Hernandez.
Hernandez is 3-2 with a 2.38 in 9 starts so far this season for Willie Randolph's New York Mets and has looked very good.
He's averaging about 5 strike outs per game and his pitches have had good movement.
He did have a few control issues in his last start this past Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers and that game, while not bad, was one of his poorer outings control wise this season for the Duke.
He gave up 4 runs on 7 hits and walked 3 in his 3 and 5 and 5 and two thirds innings in a 5-3 loss to the Dodgers.
It should be a real pitchers duel tonight as both Wang and Hernandez look to be on their respective games tonight.
Now if we can just keep Reyes off of the bases....

Please ???

Until later,
LETS GO YANKEES !!!

YANKEES WIN GAME 2


Well, we pulled it out this afternoon Yankees fans and managed to capture an ugly win at the stadium that ended up with a football game esqe score of 11 to 8 and at the end of the game the Mets successfully completed a two point conversion off of Mo with 5 hits in the 9th to make the final frame a little too close for my particular comfort level.
The Yankees ended up using five pitchers in today's game as Clippard went for 3 and a third highly ineffective innings in which he threw 77 pitches to allow five earned runs on five hits with three walks and two home runs and three stolen bases.
The remaining four pitchers were Luis Vizcaino (1.2 innings with 1 hit, 1 walk, and no runs), Proctor (2 innings with 2 hits, 1 walk, and no runs), Farnsworth (1 inning with 1 walk, 1 hit, and 1 run), and then Rivera (1 inning pitched with 5 hits and 2 runs).
Of course you can read the offensive facts for both teams for both teams in the graphic to the right here --- but it bears repeating how great Matsui and Jeter were today at the plate.
Cario, Cano, and A-Rod also were solid at the plate and did their share as well (especially A-Rod who hit a BIG two run home run in the third) --- but Jeter was masterful with his 4-5 day that included a key steal of third from second in the 7th off of Mota and had a home run and two RBI's to go along with his four base hits.
Then Matsui came up to the plate in the 7th inning and really had a key base hit.
Jeter was on third with 1 out and A-Rod walked and stole second but Posada struck out.
That left Jeter at third and Alex at second with two outs and the Yankees needing a base hit to break the game open.
So Matsui singles on a pitch from Mota to center field and that scored both Jeter and Rodriguez to give the Yankees, what would be at that time, a ten to five lead.
It seemed like it might be a blow out at that time...
But now take another look at that messy 9th inning jam Mo got into...
It ended with Carlos Beltran popping up to Posada with a ball into foul territory.
But think about it again.
We had a 11-6 lead and Mo loaded the bases.
Then Carlos Gomez hit an RBI single to make it 11-7 and then Jose Reyes singled to make it 11-8 and then Beltran popped up with the bases loaded.
If Matsui hadn't have gotten that hit we would have a scenario where the score starts out 9 to 6 and then Carlos Gomez and then Jose Reyes singled to make it 9-8 and then Beltran pops up with the bases loaded to end the game.
That would have made it a much scarier moment for the Yankees and for Posada.
Anyhow, it's not how you draw it up with a drawn in in-field.
But I'll take it.
The Yankees remain 2 games over .500 and with a one to nothing win over the Giants by the Red Sox keeps us at 8.5 games back from the AL East lead.
It also keeps us 4.0 games out of the Wild Card lead.
So we win a game and tomorrow we try for the series win on ESPN.
Hopefully Wang will give us a really fantastic pitching performance like he's always capable of doing and we'll take this series.
Also, give any pitcher who decides not to walk Reyes, let him steal second, and then score on a single or a ground out an extra cookie.
I'm tired of seeing Reyes running around the bases and then doing his little homie dance and hip bump with Carlos Gomez on the bench.
As a matter of fact I wouldn't mind seeing somebody (probably Proctor because he likes it) bean Reyes --- as long as we are ahead by a bunch.
On another interesting note --- after the game was over today the Yankees optioned Tyler Clippard to Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and recalled outfielder Kevin Thompson.
Hmmmm....
Maybe Cashman is reading our blogs and our blog comments?


POSADA TO PLAY SOME FIRST?


It seems like Moose has set his mind on having Wil Nieves as his personal catcher.
And in the last two games that Moose has pitched he's had Will Nieves as his catcher and in the last game Posada was the DH so that we don't lose Posada's bat in the game.
So in the interleague games coming up Moose still wants Will Nieves to catch him and the Yankees are trying to figure out a way to keep Posada and his hot bat in the line up where there isn't a DH.
Posada doesn't seem too wild about the idea but has been taking infield practice and Joe Torre says that we may see Posada at first base, Moose starting the game on the mound, and Nieves behind the plate as the catcher this coming Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies in Colorado.
Georgie has played first base in 17 previous Major League games, including one last season, a June 4 loss at Camden Yards in which he switched positions after five innings and recorded two putouts, both on double plays.Posada didn't seem extremely comfortable but said he would categorize himself as a "fair" first baseman and that he is doing his best to run through a crash course in first base with Donnie and the rest of the coaching staff.
Still, Torre, who is quite familiar with the move himself from his playing days, cautioned that he would not think of a day's work at first base as an acceptable substitute for rest.

ALL STAR GAME BALLOT MUSINGS

O.K., I've heard lots of belly aching from a lot of different fans of a lot of different players and a lot of different teams about the All Star Game fan voting.

I've heard fans complaining about every position and every vote.
This was the last fan ballot update that I read about:

David Ortiz, Derek Jeter, and Alex Rodriguez have prodigious leads at first base, shortstop, and third base --- nobody will catch them.
Polanco has about a 50 thousand vote lead over Cano at the second base vote and that could possible flip flop, Pudge has about 120 thousand votes over Posada and looks like he'll take that race, and right now Vlad Guerrero, Ichiro, and Manny Ramirez lead the outfield candidates.
Of those three Vlad is a lock and he's got a huge lead over the field.
Magglio Ordonez is fourth in the outfield ballot and could possibly displace third place vote getter Ichiro --- but would need a 120-130 thousand vote boost to do so.

So my question to all you guys and gals is this...
If you are going to be TOTALLY IMPARTIAL...
Who are your American League starters for the 2007 All Star Game this year in San Francisco.
I have a few Red Sox fans that sit next to me sometimes at the Texas Rangers games and one of them commented to me that he wanted to be fair with his vote and some of the Red Sox players didn't deserve his vote and wouldn't get it.
But he then said he wouldn't vote for any Yankees players.
That's was his version of being impartial.
It's not mine.
My version of being impartial is voting for whoever you think is best at each give position so far this season.

And I especially get weary of the belly aching from the Angels fans who want more representation.
California is a BIG state.
Get out there and start voting for your precious little Angel Orlando Cabrera if you think he should be in there so badly...

Anyway, here's my starters right now:

1B - Kevin Youkilis RED SOX
2B - Placido Polanco TIGERS
3B - Alex Rodriguez YANKEES
SS - Derek Jeter YANKEES
C - Jorge Posada YANKEES
OF - Maggio Ordonez TIGERS
OF - Vlad Guerrero ANGELS
OF - Torri Hunter TWINS

Well, like I said --- that's how I voted...
What do you guys and gals think?

Is it even possible for Clippard to hold a lead for even one half of one inning or to not walk Jose Reyes?
He's given up runs in each inning and given up 5 runs on 5 hits and 2 different home runs (one to Castro and one to Gotay) in less than four innings?
How bad is Igawa doing in triple A that he's not up here having his chance to give up a half dozen runs in less than four innings pitched?
Astoundingly we are only down 5 to 4.
If we lose this game I'll be ready to push Clippard down to either AAA or the bullpen and call back up Igawa as the 5th starter?
I even heard something on the radio broadcast where Waldman and Sterling were suggesting that perhaps the use Sean Henn.
Henn had been starting in the minor league system and it was interesting that when Tyler had to get lifted in the 3rd they went to Vizcaino instead of Henn.
I do know that in his past two starts Tyler Clippard has given up 11 earned runs in 7 and one third innings on 11 hits with two home runs and allowed 5 stolen bases.
That's an ERA of about 13.50 and he caused us to have to use the bullpen for almost 11 full innings in two games.
Clippard also had to throw 90 pitches in his short day last time out and I think he may have thrown about a million pitches today.
I like him and all and he's a good kid, but I think it's time to make a move perhaps?

Today's game so far:

• David Wright singles on a grounder to NYY center fielder Melky Cabrera, Jose Reyes scores: NYM 1 - NYY 0
• Ruben Gotay homers on a long fly ball to right field: NYM 2 - NYY 0
• Miguel Cario grounds out, Matsui scores --- Cano to third: NYM 2 - NYY 1
• Johnny Damon singles on a line drive to NYM left fielder Carlos Gomes, Robinson Cano scores: NYM 2 - NYY 2
• With Carlos Delgado batting, Jose Reyes scores on a balk: NYM 3 - NYY 2
• Alex Rodriguez hits a long home run to left. Alex Rodriguez and Bobby Abreu both score: NYM 3 - NYY 4
• Ramon Castro homers on a ball to left field. Ramon Castro and Shawn Green both score: NYM 5 - NYY 4
  
  

The Yankees nine game winning streak came to an end tonight as the find themselves on the bad end of a two to zero shut out in the Bronx at the hands of the cross town rival New York Mets.
Roger Clemens pitched well enough to get a win in the ball game as he pitched 108 pitches (67 for strikes) over six solid innings in which he allowed two earned runs and struck out 8 batters.
But Oliver Perez pitched a master piece as the 25 year old former Culiacan Tomato Grower threw 117 pitches through 7 and a third shut out innings to earn his seventh win of the 2007 season.
The six foot three inch lefty from Mexico worked in and out of trouble all night as he struggled with his command at times as he threw almost as many balls as he did strikes --- but in the end was effective enough to earn a victory and resourceful enough to make the pitches he needed to make when he needed to make them and get the outs that he really needed most when he needed them most.
And Oliver Perez, a guy that I pretty much regarded as a lack luster Pirates castoff when the Mets first picked him up, is slowly developing into a Yankee killer this season...
If you add his May 18th game with tonight's game Oliver Perez has pitched in two games against the Yankees in the span of the past four weeks and has got two wins.
He also has an ERA of 1.20 over 15 innings to show for it.
The Yankees had opportunities to get a big hit several times in the game and just could never seem to break through.
Perhaps their biggest opportunity came in the bottom of the fourth inning when Miguel Cario came to the plate with one out and with Robinson Cano on first and Hideki Matsui on second base.
Cario hit a high fly ball in fair territory to the deep left corner that was high enough to go over the wall for what could have been a three run home run.
However, to the Yankees dismay, Mets outfielder Carlos Gomez made a leaping catch to haul the ball back in and then wheeled and fired the ball into second to force Matsui into a inning ending double play.
I guess Hideki thought the ball was gone --- otherwise I have no idea why he didn't wait a little longer to take off or why he didn't stop between second and third and wait to make sure the ball wasn't caught.
If it goes over the wall or drops and is misplayed --- you'll score anyway.
But the way our offense was going it probably wouldn't have mattered that much anyway.
Either it was a homer or we probably don't score with runners on second and third with two outs and the 0 for 4 free swinging Cabrera due up.
The catch sort of reminded me of Hideki Matsui's catch back in the second inning off of Kevin Millar in the 2005 Yankees home opener.
Remember that one?
With Randy Johnson on the mound in his Yankee stadium debut and with the Red Sox already ahead one to nothing, thanks to Big Papi, Kevin Millar drilled a deep drive to the left field corner that just looked to all the world like a solo homer?
Then at the last moment Matsui timed his leap perfectly and robbed him of the homer with a spectacular catch?
The Red Sox never got over that and it proved to be a back breaker for their momentum in the ballgame.
They went on to lose the game and although the circumstances were completely different in tonight's ballgame --- it felt like such a back breaking play to us in this game more than two years later.
Especially when Matsui got doubled up.
Interesting to me that it was Matsui that robbed the BoSox 2 years ago and it was Matsui that made the last out on this play tonight.
Anyway, there were some bright spots for us in the game...
Clemens pitched well enough to win again and proved he can still be a strike out pitcher and is capable of throwing 100-110 pitches per game and give us at least six innings and a quality start.
If he can get at least two or three runs in support of his pitching we should be in each ballgame.
But aside from that --- the Red Sox won their game and now we're 8.5 games back again and right now we're 4 games out of the wild card.
I hope that young Tyler Clippard can pitch a beauty tomorrow because we'll need the pick up.
He's set to go against Tom Glavine at the stadium tomorrow afternoon in a day game that will start at 1:05 PM EST at the stadium and will be available on YES and on WCBS radio.
Tyler Clippard has a 3-1 record with a 5.32 ERA so far this season and Glavine comes into the game at 5-4 with a 4.15 ERA.
In Tom Glavine's last start against the Detroit Tigers he gave up nine runs and 11 hits in 4 1/3 and got saddled with the loss in Detroit this past Sunday.
Glavine started this season with 290 wins and looking for at least 10 wins this season with the Mets to reach the magical 300 win plateau.
Once he reached the half way point in that journey he started to slide a bit and he has lost three straight decisions and has been stuck at 295 for his past four starts.
On the Yankees side of the pitching mound Clippard has been a serviceable fifth starter for the Bombers this season and has had good stuff.
However in his last start he avoided a loss that would have sat him at 3-2 due to a offensive outbreak by the Yankees after he was lifted from the game.
In the game in question, last Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Clippard exhibited poor control and allowed six runs in just 3 2/3 innings before being pulled from the game.
Clippard walked two batters that directly led to runs being scored and had to throw 90 pitches in the short time pitched.
Hopefully he's been working with Guidry diligently since then with his control issues in preparation for tomorrow's start against the Mets.
If he doesn't have better control and he's not able to keep the ball down and his pitch count down he could be in for a long afternoon against the Mets offense and base-running.
That's all for now...
Until tomorrow...

LETS GO YANKEES !

Mike

Well the Yankees took on the Arizona Diamondbacks today in a matinee showing at the stadium and we earned a win and a sweep !
Now we're up to nine wins in a row and we got to witness yet another game with really good starting pitching.
This time it was from Andy Pettitte who went out and exorcised some of his personal demons with the Diamondbacks that he may have been carrying with him since the 2001 World Series.
Yes, I know Andy pitched games against the Diamondbacks when he pitched for the Houston, Astros in the National League --- but this was different.
This was the American League and he was pitching for the New York Yankees and it was in Yankee stadium.
Granted --- he lost both games in the 2001 World Series against Arizona on the road in Phoenix at the BOB...
And also granted, Randy Johnson pitched both of those games for the Snakes and got both of the wins in those two games...
But still...
It is some sort of symmetry...