Red Sox Stink 2007

Hmm, things just got a little more interesting. Nixon out, Schill beat up (which, trust me, is not a surprise. Every great pitcher gets lit up now and then. Despite being a jerk, I would want Schilling on my roster), the Yanks getting Abreu and Lidle.

Quick take.

Great move by the Yanks. Giving up last year's first round draft hurt, but basically they gave up nothing. They have to pay Abreu a ton of money next year, which adds to every Sox fan's argument about buying championships, but Cashman did good yesterday. They could have sat around until Sheff came back but why?

Speaking of Gary Sheffield, the Abreu move basically ends his time here. They are not going to pick up his option for next year, although to be honest Sheff would make a great DH. Too bad he can’t play the infield anymore. Put Sheff at first and let Giambi continue to DH. I love Giambi in the line up.

Lidle I could care less about. He’ll make a good 5th starter, something the Yanks and almost every other team needs. Plus they got him for real cheap as well.

Now let’s see what the Sox do. My hope is that they give away some young gun, like Lester, but no way they are stupid enough to do that. This rumor about them getting rid of Mike Lowell, while on the surface appears to be strange, makes sense. A lot of people think he has peaked for the year, plus let’s not forget he is making 9M a year.

So good times for us Yankee fans. We still have issues, but a half game out at this point with 2 full months left, could make for an interesting end.

Posted by David at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have to weigh in on this Manny All Star game thing. I never had a problem with Manny. Because my mother is from Ohio, my cousins and uncles are Indian fans. By default, I used to watch Cleveland games and have been to the old stadium (held like 80K and around 5K would go to the games). I watched Manny when he started out with the Indians. I kind of get annoyed with his lack of respect for the game, but whatever. He is one of the greatest hitters in my generation. If he fails to run out a play, or makes his manager look like a fool, or not go after a pop-up, or try to turn a single into a double to make a point and gets thrown out by 30 feet, or hides when a manager rings his doorbell in the off-season, or constantly asks to be traded, or goes out drinking with opposing team players while he is home sick, or has an affair and promises his wife he will get out of Boston but then doesn’t, or anything like that, who cares. He can hit the ball far, he can hit the ball often, and he can catch a pop-up. Plus he goes to the bathroom behind the Green Monster during the game. He is fun.

But this All Star thing kind of bugs me. And I’ll be totally honest, if he were a Yankee I would change my story. Maybe. But maybe not. Look, Manny is not hurt. He has been in a ton of All Star games and doesn’t want to play. If he were hurt, he would not have played this past weekend. And Bud Selig has to grow a pair and call him on it. One player doesn’t mean a thing. But like one person cheating on their taxes, if one turns into a lot, then it does mean something. What the MLB All Star game will become is the NFL Pro Bowl. It will become a B list player line-up with the big studs opting to head to their Floridian mansions. It’s not a good trend for the All Star game. Forgot for a second the fans that expect to see him play, they get shafted, but there are so many other studs to watch that Manny will be forgotten. What I want is for Selig to stand up to the Sox ownership and tell them to send Manny or forget about getting invited to his off-season country club again.

Posted by David at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This interleague nonsense is finally over. I’m done with it. I am sick of it. Look, I liked it for a while. I like to see the AL pitchers step up to the plate, I like to see the NL use a DH, like the strategy of NL play. I like to see the White Sox and Cubs, Mets and Yankees, and…other teams as well. But 18 games are way too much. And I’m not just saying that because the Sox went 94-2 during that time and put some distance between them and the Yankees. I just want the teams that I watch (AL) to play other AL teams. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t fun to watch the AAA NL teams lose game after game to the Red Sox while the Yankees struggled. But now we’re back in the AL. And guess what? The Sox have lost 7 in a row to American League teams with one more in Tampa tonight.

It’s hard to throw stones though with the Yankees spiraling down. Interleague wasn’t fun, especially the Nats. And after tonight the Yanks go to Tampa to play a pretty good lineup with Damon hurt. But it’s still nice to see the Sox playing more to their standard now that they’re back in the AL.

That’s another thing. The local media guys are putting the Yankees as third best in the American League East. Hmm. They could be right. I’m as worried about the Yankees as anyone else. They are hurting in every aspect of the game – starting pitching, middle relief, offense. But the local guys, fans included, actually especially the fans, have always had an inflated and unrealistic view of their own team. I remember in 1998, the year that the Yankees had what some considered the best team in the history of baseball and won 114 games before going 11-1 in the playoffs to win the World Series, I had an argument, a few of them, with local Red Sox morons who kept saying over and over “Yankees Suck”. They still believed that the Sox were a better team after the Yankees had a great year. Freakin idiots.

Anyway, only time will tell who ends up where when the season is over. Last year the Yankees started 11-19 and ended up winning the AL East. A couple of years ago the Sox started out really hot, had to only go 500 the rest of the year to win the AL East, tanked it, and missed the playoffs. That was a great year. Lots of fun.

Posted by David at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)