First up is the Red Sox/Athletics series in Japan …
I actually set my alarm for 4:30 AM yesterday and today so that I could watch both of these first two regular season games being played in the land of the rising sun.
And in first of these two games I actually saw a microcosm of the 2007 Boston Red Sox.
In game one the Red Sox got behind an then rallied to take the lead and then fell behind again.
Daisuke threw a ton of pitches early and got behind every hitter and then after getting out of a bases loaded jam early in the game he went on to kind of settle down a little because the Oakland hitters just seemed to let him off of the hook.
These same batters who had been so patient early on (and who hadn’t been swinging at pitches out of the zone) started chasing pitches low and outside and high and outside.
Even more maddening is that they were chasing these pitches in 2-0 and 3-1 counts.
In the first couple of innings alone Daisuke had walked 3 or 4 batters and had thrown close to 50 pitches.
Why then do you ever swing 2-0 or 3-1 in the third or fourth inning when he’s proven to you that you have to respect his out pitches out of the zone and that he is almost completely incapable of throwing three consecutive strikes to any hitter.
But that’s what happened with Daisuke almost 15 times last year and it happened almost any time that the Red Sox weren’t playing a team with patient veteran hitters like the Yankees.
He’d get into trouble early on and then the hitters would just start swinging at every pitch.
The Athletics needed to play inning three, four, and five the same way that they did the first two innings.
But they got impatient and let him off of the hook.
And make no mistake about it…
Daisuke has got filthy stuff and if you are going to swing at all of his borderline pitches and chase his breaking stuff off of the plate --- he’s going to wear you out all night long.
Despite all of this, the A’s went into the 9th inning with a one run lead and their closer on the mound with a chance for a win against the Red Sox.
That’s when it happened…
That thing that happened more times last year than I want to remember….
In the 9th inning with one out already recorded in the inning --- They rally again (this time off of Oakland closer Huston Street) and then win the game by one run in 10 innings.
I don’t want to call the Red Sox lucky --- because they aren’t lucky.
They’re good.
They’re very good.
But they also seem to have started to catch breaks more often than a lot of other teams do and that’s been happening ever since game 5 of the 2004 ALCS.
Maybe the baseball gods had gotten their fill of watching the Bostonians suffer and watching the Red Sox catch every bad break imaginable from 1918 to 2004.
Maybe their karma changed a little bit.
I don’t know.
I just don’t think that they have a team that’s any better than the Yankees.
I truly don’t.
And I don’t think that their pitching is that much better than ours either (contrary to popular belief).
And we’ve won the season series with them each of the past several years.
It just seems karma finally caught up with them and it’s been a pretty steady tide of it.
They should have been down and out in 2004.
And yet somehow they weren’t.
I'm not sure how or why ...
They just pulled it out ...
Cleveland and yet they pulled that out to.Conventional wisdom left them for dead last year when they dropped to 3-1 in the ALCS against I couldn't believe it.
They just seem to have been fortunate enough to get the breaks when they need them and get hot at the right time.
And now I keep reading each and every day about the Red Sox and their supposed standing on top of the Yankees (and everybody else) in baseball in 2008.
But I wonder if these people would still be saying these same things if the Red Sox lost one more game out of seven to Cleveland last year or if those damned midges hadn't eaten Joba alive in the ALDS?
Probably not ...
I have noticed that the proponents of the idea that Boston is the central focus point in professional sports have been some what less demonstrative since the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the 2008 Superbowl.
Now how would it be portrayed in the sports media if the Giants and the Yankees were BOTH Word Champions in 2008?
Would it be a Yankees Universe or a Red Sox nation? Because hang on Yankees fans --- I really do have a suspicion that their luck (and ours) may be in for a change in 2008 as the ghosts of Yankee Stadium will surely want to raise the cups and celebrate one more World Series Championship victory in good old Yankee Stadium before the pinstriped legion moves into the new Yankee stadium in 2009 …
(Oh --- And by the way --- This morning’s game was much more fun to watch… Maybe the tide is already starting to turn …?)

Second on deck is the Spring Training game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees today at Brighthouse Field in Clearwater, Florida.
The Yankees got shut out and lost the game 4-0 to the Phillies who were lead by RHP Brett Myers.
Chien Ming Wang absorbed the loss for the Yankees and he was sort of shaky on the hill today against the Phils.
He got into too many deep counts and seemed to have trouble keeping the ball down.
But --- Looking at it from a glass half full perspective --- Wang gave up all of his four earned runs and the majority of his six hits in the 2nd inning and was pretty effective in the first inning and in innings three, four, and five (despite obviously not having his best stuff).
Also Joba was able to get into the game and he and Ross Ohlendorf looked pretty sharp and ready for the 2008 Yankees bullpen.
So, all in all, I'm happy with Wang and I'm happy with the 'pen.
I'm not happy with the loss --- but it is still Spring Training and those losses don't count.
Besides --- All of our regulars weren't in anyways.

And in off topic sort of random note, I read this on Steve Goldman’s Pinstriped Blog over on the YES Network Website:

“Over at ESPN today, Rob Neyer says he wouldn't go so far as to call Brett Myers a terrible human being. With all respect to my friend Rob, I would go that far, and I would suggest that what he did — punching out his wife — far outweighs juicing as reprehensible behaviors go. The media will be writing about the Black Syringe ballplayers for the next hundred years, condemning them until you can't even see them anymore for all of the noxious clouds of false piety being spewed into the air, while Myers will remain a player in good standing. Perhaps wife-beaters are less of an existential threat to the game than are cheaters, but when we're getting ready to ride the latter out of town on a rail, we should at least make a show of reserving a spot for the wife-beaters alongside them. If we're going to hold a crusade, let's get rid of all the reprobates, not just some of them ... I feel entirely comfortable in passing judgment on Myers, and in regular times would probably let it go at that, but since we're in ongoing McCarthyism mode these days, it is right and proper to keep reminding people of where the true ******* replacement level is.”

I happen to absolutely agree with Mr. Goldman on this one.
Brett Myers is an absolute disgrace to the Philadelphia Phillies, to himself, and to all of major league baseball.
The fact that he's still allowed to toe the rubber on a big league field is an embarrassment to the game of baseball.
I don't approve of the use of HGH or steroids and I don't approve of cheating.
But this sort of stuff is just as bad and I would actually say that it's probably worse.
Mr. Goldman didn't address how Myers verbally abused Sam Carchidi, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and threatened him with bodily injury.
I don't know why Carchidi didn't file charges against Myers.
I would have at least filled out a police report.
I don't like the Red Sox and I don't like the Angels.
But this is a different sort of dislike and I think that it's a disapproval all fans should show to this jerk.
If you have a moment of two --- check out these two links to see what I'm talking about ... ?

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2006/06/23/phillies_ace_arrested_in_boston_on_domestic_violence_charge/

http://www.bugsandcranks.com/philadelphia-phillies/brett-myers-blows-the-game-screams-obscenities-at-reporter/

And for my last topic --- I'll briefly mention my 2008 Yankees Spring Training sojourn to Tampa.
I made my annual trip to Florida in the middle of this month and took in so Yankees spring training games as well as a Astros/Tigers spring training game and a Phillies/Reds Spring Training game while I was there.
It was loads of fun and I got to be there for the Yankees/Rays brawl in Saint Petersburg and got to attend the Spring Training game at Legends field when Billy Cystal got his one and only at bat.
If anybody is interested I have 6 photo albums now posted on my blog with photos from four Yankees Spring Training games as well as the other two I just mentioned.

Just thought I'd give you guys and gals a heads up.

Well, that's all for now ...

Keep the home fires burning and start making your plans now for the Yankees home opener next Monday against he Toronto Blue Jays.

It's going to be Wang against Halladay and so it should be a good one !

The Yankees announced on Tuesday that their players, coaches and manager will wear a special patch on their 2008 uniforms commemorating the final season of Yankee Stadium. In addition, the team also will wear a patch in honor of the 2008 All-Star Game, which will take place at Yankee Stadium on July 15.

It is the first time the club's uniforms will be adorned with a patch for a full season since 2003, when the Yankees wore a patch commemorating the 100th anniversary of the franchise.

The "Yankee Stadium -- The Final Season" patch will feature the main entrance of the original Stadium as it was prior to renovation in 1976. A "1923-2008" notation along the top of the patch recognizes the lifetime of the Stadium since its original Opening Day on April 18, 1923.

The Yankee Stadium patch will be worn on the left sleeves of both home and road jerseys. The 2008 All-Star Game patch will appear on the right sleeves of both jerseys.

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...

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 ...

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

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 !

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.

• 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 !!!