Red Sox Stink 2007

Wow, what a strange event. Not only does something as rare as a small plane hit an apartment building in NYC, but it was piloted by a Yankee pitcher. First, it is very very sad considering he was a professional athlete and his role in life was to entertain. But worse is that he was a young guy with a young family. Truly tragic.

I have to admit that a buddy sitting next to me in a conference room in Chicago, when we saw the news on the web, said "They could have just released him."

Lidle actually did a good job in his role with the Yankees coming over in the Abreau trade. He filled a need and of course he pitched that great fifth game of the Boston Massacre against David Wells in August, he gave up like 3 hits and no runs.

Sad.

Posted by David at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What a joke. A f***ing embarrassment. 200 million dollar payroll to go 20 innings without scoring a run. To completely and totally fold for three straight games against a team that lost over 100 games three years ago. This mighty line up of all stars, the greatest team in history, totally shut down by a post season joke camera beating 40-something year old and a guy who almost lost 20 games a couple of years ago. And to make it worse, I had to listen to Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, two guys who wear three piece suits with pocket squares who think the 4 hours is about them. And to make it EVEN worse, they rolled out some corps the other day and talked about things that happened in 1918 instead of calling the f***ing game.

I don’t care so much that this team lost. Losing in the post season comes with having a team good enough to make it to the playoffs. But I am more frustrated this year than I can ever remember being.

1995. Great post season and classic game against Seattle.
1996. Stunning Yankees victory.
1997. Still hung over from 1996 so I don’t care so much when they lose against Cleveland. The Indians go on to blow a late inning victory against the Marlins.
1998-2000. All Yankee wins.
2001. The Series against the Diamondbacks was one of the greatest sequence of games I have ever seen. I remember pacing in my apartment in David Square waiting to call my friends when Rivera threw the ball away to second. The late inning come backs against BK made losing less painful.
2002. They lost against the Angels but at the time it felt like a fluke.
2003. The excitement of the Grady Little Pedro Martinez game 7 Yankee win made the World Series a non event.
2004. Bad year.
2005. Another early exit against the Angels.
2006. The most frustrating I can remember.

The reason this year is so bad is because of payroll. It’s bad enough to have Red Sox yahoos sound off on the salary thing when the Yankees WIN. It is unbearable when they lose. In 1996, the Yankees opening day payroll was 52 mil. And it went up but still remained under 100 million through the 2000 season. They were still winning championships. But from 2001 (112M) to 2005 (208M) it doubled while the Yankees did not win a single World Series. This year, 2006, opening day payroll was 194 million and it went above 200 million by the time the season was over.

Even I, a diehard Yankee fan, am starting to get fed up with the huge payroll. The Yankees need to spend more money in the farm system, hiring great coaches to work with their young players, spend on great scouts and build young talent. If they keep buying All Star teams, I’m not sure if they are going to win any time soon.

If the Yankees actually played great ball, hit well, played good defense, pitched perfectly, and still lost, then so be it. The Tigers do have a good young team. But the Yanks were swinging at first pitches (39 pitches to get through 5 INNINGS??? What the …???!!! The pitcher should throw 39 pitches to get through the line up ONCE), they played terrible defense and the pitching was what we all knew it would be – suspect.

Anyway, I am now rooting for the Tigers. I still hold firm to the belief that I want the team that beat my team to go on and win it all. Then I could say we lost to the best.

Ugh. What a fiasco this post season turned out to be. Torre is going to lose his job, they are going to let Sheffield go to the Red Sox and ARod MUST go. That fool sealed his own fate by going 1-240 this post season with a .0000301 batting average. And please take Randy Johnson out to pasture and either shoot him or let him stud. His days are over. Mussina, it was nice knowing you. Glad you helped out. Bernie, yesterday was not your fault. Torre should have known better. You will be back some day as a coach.

I’ll write more on another day after I get to read through the NY papers. I can’t wait to hear what the Daily News and Post have to say. If the Mets were not still in it, the Yankees would get beat like an Iraqi prisoner.

Later.

Posted by David at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

That was freakin pathetic. The mighty Yankee line up. The best line up in history. All stars at every position. What a freakin joke. Randy Johnson gave up 5 runs in 6 innings, about what to expect from him. But Kenny Rogers, who Met fans hate like Yankee fans hate Kevin Brown, shut down the studs of the Bronx.

To be honest, I didn't lose sleep over it. In the past I would have. But if they lose, life goes on. It'll just be a huge embarrassment to this 196M dollar club.

Wright, if you have any tricks, pull them out. Because coming back to Yankee stadium tied 2-2 with Wang pitching is a nice prospect.

Why did Torre put ARod back at number 4?? What was Sheff doing sitting all night?? What the eff?

I'll write more later, I need to get out for my Saturday morning job.

- Freakinly pathetic pissed off yankee fan

Posted by David at 07:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Game three is about 5 hours away and I am nervous. Not because I’m worried the Yankees will lose. If they lose, they lose, life goes on and we play another day.

I’m worried that Randy Johnson’s spine will come shooting out his lower back. He had an EPIDURAL. He had a procedure that is most often used when a woman GIVES BIRTH, one of the most painful experiences a human can go through and requires MONTHS to rebound from.

He had “injection of an anesthetic into the lumbar area of the spine in the space between the spinal cord and the dura, which eliminates sensation from the point of insertion downward, used esp. in childbirth.”

CHILDBIRTH my friends. Have you ever been with a woman who goes through childbirth?? No?? Well, I have!! It’s awful. I broke my collar bone once in 6 places while skiing. About 24 hours after it happened, after I had it looked at and x-rayed and was wearing a figure 8 brace, it hurt. It hurt like hell. THAT experience is like a paper cut compared to childbirth.

And the guy Yankee fans are hoping to win tonight just had a procedure to block the pain of childbirth.

Forget the bloody sock. This will be the bloody underoos.

Watch the game tonight, I feel something bad happening. It could be a good one.

Posted by David at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ughhh. Freakin A – ROD. What the f*** is his problem? Why can’t he be the huge post season stud that I want him to be? He had three freakin strike outs yesterday. He had three left on base yesterday. He went 1 for 4 on Tuesday with three left on base. So far this series he is 1 for 8. I’ll admit that yesterday it was not him alone. The team hit into double plays and could not get anything going. The Tigers didn’t look especially good but the Yanks didn’t play well.

Back to 0-Rod. I know this guy has huge pressure to produce in the post season. I know that. I know the Yankee fans rode him this year like a pack mule down the Grand Canyon. I know he had an otherwise good year but mediocre for him. The problem I have is that when we need someone to carry the team like yesterday, when Sheff and Giambi were 0-7, Cano was 0-4 and Jeter only had one hit, A-Rod didn’t come through. I was asked last winter on a radio show if I thought he was a true Yankee. No way I responded. To me, a true Yankee is someone that comes through and picks the team up when others are not on their game. Good or bad, the Yankees are defined not by how they do during the regular season, but how they do in the playoffs. Unfortunately A-Rod has not done anything in the post season. Statistically, he is better than Jeter but to me, the better “player” is Derek.

It’s only one game but for all Yankee fans it’s tough to watch them lose. We sort of expected 3 and out for the Tigers and then maybe 5 games in the ALCS before heading to the World Series.

The only thing that makes me feel good about Randy Johnson going tonight is that the Tigers have Kenny Rogers. I am taking bets on who gives up a 4 run inning and is pulled from the game first. My prediction is an 8-6 game by the third and two spent bullpens when the final 12-11 game is over. Please Randy, if you can hear me, please please please do not pull a Kevin Brown circa 2004 ALCS against the Red Sox. The last thing the Yankees need is to be down 2 games to 1 with one left at Tiger’s stadium.
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Posted by David at 08:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tuesday night the Yankees could not have looked better. At least on offense. Jeter did what Jeter does in the post season – he hit the ball well, ran aggressively and played solid defense. All this stuff about him having the most post season hits and runs scored and doubles and stuff is a little skewed though. Remember that the wild card first started in 1995 (implemented after the 1993 season but a strike in 1994 resulted in no playoffs). This is called the Division series (ALDS, NLDS). The League Division Series (ALCS, NLCS) started in 1969. Before 1969, the team with the best record in each league (NL, AL) won the pennant and went to the World Series. Any playoff games were because of a tie in the league. So Jeter, playing since 1996, has enjoyed 11 post season series where he played in as many as 19 games (5 for the ALDS, 7 for ALCS, 7 for WS). Before 1969, players would play in a max 7 games in the post season.

Anyway, Jeter had a great night and if anyone, including Mike Adams of WEEI, still have doubts about him being MVP, they should look at that. The votes were in before the start of the playoffs but he does this stuff when it counts the most. In fact, his average with runners in scoring position is like 390 and his average with bases loaded is like 450, both first in the American league this year.

Bobby Abreau looked like a little kid out there who just got a double in Babe Ruth baseball.

The only thing that looked bad was the relievers. They are going to be trouble.

So now they play again today after a rain delay last night. The good thing is that the Yankees can give up some runs with bad pitching because they can score runs. The bad thing is that it looks like Oakland might win the other series and the Yanks historically do not play well against the A’s. But that is getting ahead of myself. There are still 2 more games to win with the team going to Detroit for a game tomorrow.

I just wanted to post a quick note. Will post more later or tomorrow.

I wonder if the Red Sox players are watching. Probably not.

Posted by David at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks G*d this train wreck is finally over. The last 6 weeks of the Red Sox season has felt like a terrible blind date that won’t end. And the way the last game finished was pretty indicative of the end of the season – long rain delay, then another rain delay with the game quietly sinking below the surface in the 6th because of weather. No standing crowds cheering them on for a tough season. Just a bunch of soaked middle-aged soccer moms huddling under the overhang.

Before I get to the Yanks, let me point out a couple of things from this pathetic Red Sox team.

- Manny Ramirez is a freakin joke and this weak-minded town lets him get away with it. Ok, so maybe he was hurt. I don’t know. I have my doubts but I’m in no position to say if he was faking or not. But based on how he has acted in the past, and the fact that he didn’t want to play game 5 of that glorious Yankees sweep in August because the other super stars were sitting, well, I have my doubts. So now he wants to be traded again. Let him go and boo him on the way out. Manny is one of the best hitters in my generation. He works hard, can hit the ball a ton, and could care less about doing anything other than walking out to the field for this town. Remember a couple of years ago, or maybe last year, when he demanded a trade in the middle of the season. He came back and played the field after a break and the fans CHEERED HIM. For asking for a trade out of this town because HE HATES IT HERE. Manny being Manny is making idiots be idiots on Red Sox Nation. It’s sad to watch.

- One more thing about Ortiz and Mike Adams lobbying for RBI and HR to be the only thing in an MVP. Dennis Eckersley won the MVP in 1992, Roger Clemens won it in 1986 and Willie Hernandez won it in 1984, all pitchers. I doubt any of them had a single at BAT. But who cares? Peter Gammons was talking about a conversation he had with Derek Jeter earlier in the year and Gammons asked Jeter if he felt like he was having the best year of his career. Apparently Jeter, with complete honest and sincerity, responded that his best year was 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. He cares about winning rings, not plaques.

- The Red Sox this year were like the emperors new clothes. They beat the crap out the national league, 16-2. The owned the Orioles, 15-3. How did they do against the rest of the league? They had a winning record against three other teams – White Sox (4-2), Tampa (impressive 10-9) and Texas (5-4). They had a 500 or losing record against every other team, and I’m not just talking about the Yankees. Cleveland (3-4), KC (4-5), Seattle (4-6) and Toronto (7-12). This team was fooling everyone when guys like Youkilis and Lowell were having great first halves.

- I have to admit I love Terry Francona. He does not give stock answers that provide no insight, he is honest, he is direct, and he lets some of his frustration show through but not in a demeaning way. Saturday Manny hit a meaningless one run HR and stepped out of the box to watch it and then spread his arms in a V for victory. Francona’s response? ``I actually thought maybe we won the World Series.” I try to listen to him on the WEEI pre-game shows as well as each Wed during the replay (he calls into the mid-day show). Look, I love Torre as much as the next Yankee fan, but listening to him is like reading stock job interview responses. It’s boring. But Francona gives them fairly direct answers.

- Moving Papelbon into the starting rotation and letting Tavarez start will not be the fix to your pitching issues. Who’s going to close? Faulke? A guy who is thinking about retiring and giving up 5 mil in salary. That guy from St. John’s?

- The Doug Mirabelli thing was fun when he was on a private jet and speeding along in a state trooper vehicle. But it was a disaster considering who they gave up for him. Bad bad move, and makes me proud.

- You might not like Derek Jeter, and take him out of the Yankees line up and they still win the division, but he did more for the Yankees than Ortiz did for the Sox. You might not want to believe it, but it’s true. Lie to me, but don’t lie to yourself. Jeter is more of an MVP than Ortiz, although that Twins guy might have it locked up.

So that’s it. The season is over for the Red Sox and the Yankees will try to win in the post season. I am curious as to what the front office will do in the off season. Epstein is no longer the golden child and hopefully he can restore some of the damage he did. If not, I might be able to get more cheap Sox tickets next year, because not too many people will want to continue to pay to see a third place team. Oh, ha, that’s another thing. I turned on the TV on Friday afternoon and the local sports news had “The Drive For Second”, talking about the Sox push for second PLACE IN THE DIVISION. It was wonderful. It was better than celebrating the Wild Card (we’re number two! We’re number two!). The media was actually making a big deal out of the Sox chances of taking second in the AL East. At least the Globe sports section started hiding Sox news on page 6 and gave up on them. The local TV channels were promoting who can be the biggest loser.

I’ll leave with one quick story for those celebrating the Jewish high holiday. For some reason I’m a big Sandy Koufax fan. Before major league baseball had two rounds of playoffs to make it to the World Series, the team with the best record in the NL and the AL won the pennant, then played in the World Series, usually starting in the first week of October, right around the time of Yom Kippur. Sandy Koufax, with the Brooklyn Dodgers, refused to pitch in game one of the 1965 World Series because of the Jewish holiday. So the manager of the Dodgers, Walter Alston, started Don Drysdale instead. Drysdale lasted like two innings and gave up 7 or 8 runs. When the manager walked to the mound to remove Drysdale from the game, Drysdale said “Well Skip, I bet you wish I was Jewish today too.”

By the way, the Dodgers won the World Series in 7 games against the Twins. Sandy Koufax was the World Series MVP.

More on the Yankees in a few.

Posted by David at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)