Subway Squawkers - A Yankees-Mets Rivalry Blog

Why I Am Rooting for Tim Tebow Over the Hated Tom Brady and Bill Belichick This Weekend

2012-01-14T14:27:00.000-05:00

I make no secret about I can't stand pretty much everything related to Boston and New England. When the commercial says to "Trust the Gorton's Fisherman," I say "No way! He's from Massachusetts!" I also love to hate Tom Brady and Bill (Belicheat) Belichick. It's funny that Brady does Uggs commercials, because that's what I think every time I see him -- ugh!

And Tim Tebow is my favorite NFL player to watch this year. I'm generally pretty cynical about athletes, but he is just so gosh-darn likeable, I cannot help but root for him. And all those come-from-behind wins are nothing to sneeze at, either.

Put those things together, and you have must-see TV tonight. To steal Bart Scott's link, I can't wait to see the Broncos/Patriots game later this evening. And I am going to go out on a limb here, the way I did with Squawker Jon last week on the phone, and say that Denver will win tonight. (I won a $1 from Jon over the Steelers game, but I should have bet that Jon would have to do a Tebowing pose!) While my predictions aren't always right, I did call the Jets' victory over the Pats in the playoffs last year, and the Giants' win over the "19-0" Patriots in the Super Bowl.

What New England reminds me of a little are the Yankees towards the end of the Torre years. Both teams had great dynasties going. Both teams would have impressive regular season records, where they looked pretty dominant, but they would then lose in the postseason again and again.

People talk about New England like they are the best team in football. But the last time they won a Super Bowl was when George W. Bush was getting inaugurated for the second time. The last time the Patriots won a playoff game was in their would-be undefeated season. They lost to the Sanchize and the Jets last year, 28-21, and to the immortal Joe Flacco the year before. But I am supposed to think that there is no way that they can lose today? Sorry, I'm not buying it. The glory days are over, my friend.

So, even though the Patriots are 13-point favorites, I am not counting the Broncos out. New England was nine-point favorites against the Jets last year, and how did that work out in the end?

I am strangely confident in Tim Tebow for this game. There is some sort of magic around him this year. And how great would it be for somebody who emanates such goodness to beat the face of evil? I am imaging Belichick disappearing in a great cloud of black smoke at the end of the game, with the hoodie turning into a cape!

This time around, I don't think even Squawker Jon can root against Tebow. Go Broncos!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

So Much for a Quiet Winter: Yankees Make Two Big Deals

2012-01-14T11:24:00.000-05:00

So much for my saying just yesterday that "this has been arguably the quietest Yankee offseason in ages." Brian Cashman has reportedly shaken up the hot stove league with two deals last night. In the smaller of the two transactions, he signed former Dodger starter Hiroki Kuroda for a one-year, $10 million deal, which sounds like a good move.

The other move he made, which I am not sold on, is trading Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi to the Seattle Mariners for pitchers Michael Pineda and Jose Campos. I was very upset when I heard about the deal. Seeing Montero come up last September was one of the highlights of the 2011 season. He not only has great hitting skills, but he already showed poise and grace under pressure that you cannot teach.

Remember, Montero was the player that Cashman had this to say about when Albert Pujols signed with the Anaheim Angels:

"He is obviously one of the greatest who has played," Cashman said of Pujols. "He makes everyone significantly better. If he played for anybody, he would make them all significantly better. I don't know him personally, but I see what he does with that and it is Montero-like."

Or how about these comments to Ian O'Connor in September, when Montero was called up> I was appalled by what Cashman said at the time, because it seemed to be putting too much pressure on Montero:

"In terms of hitting ability, Montero can be a Manny Ramirez or a Miguel Cabrera." He also said, "As a catcher, he's got a cannon for an arm. As far as everything and what I want him to be, I want him to be Jorge Posada. He has a chance to bat third or fourth. He has the potential to be a beast in the middle of our lineup."

So, let's review -- Montero is, according to Cashman, the next Albert Pujols/Manny Ramirez/Miguel Cabrera. Given all that, you'd think he'd at least be worth getting Felix Hernandez in return! I mean, really! (Yeah, yeah, I know that Pineda projects to be a very good young pitcher, but he's not King Felix.)

Lots of people are comparing this deal to the Josh Hamilton/Edinson Volquez deal a few years back. But that deal worked out better for the Rangers than for Reds.

I hope I am wrong, and maybe it's because I'm not exactly a big fan of Cashman at this point, but I would rather the Yanks had held onto Montero. But we shall see how this all turns out.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

On Jorge Posada and the Real Core Four

2012-01-13T08:47:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not Squawking much as of late, but I have been busy with lots of real-life stuff. Anyhow, this has been arguably the quietest Yankee offseason in ages, so I haven't missed all that much. The biggest news as of late is Jorge Posada retiring. I'm glad he's doing so, and that his last moments in pinstripes were when he was one of the few Yankees to hit well in the ALDS. (For another take, read my friend Jason Keidel's piece on Posada -- and people think I've been tough on Jorge!)

But can we please stop inflating his importance to the late-90s dynasty? Posada's best years were in the 2000s, not in the 90s. Joe Girardi, not Jorge Posada, was the No. 1 catcher for much of the Four Rings years. This Core Four stuff, which inflates Posada's importance to that team, is revisionist nonsense, especially given that Posada had nothing to do with the 1996 team. Yet there are worshipful knuckleheads like Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci, who writes nonsense about how Posada had an "underappreciated career" (underappreciated by whom, exactly?) and talks about Posada and Jeter driving to Yankee Stadium together in 1995:

It was like the Beatles back in Liverpool before things went crazy, this friendship that grew among Jeter, Posada, Rivera and Andy Pettitte, the Core Four, the most famous, longest-running quartet of teammates in pro sports.

Yeah, other than when Andy Pettitte left the Yankees for three years to play for the Houston Astros.

Newsflash: there was another Core Four in Yankeeland in the late 90s. You may have heard of them, although the Tom Verduccis of the world seem to have forgotten about who they were, relegating them to a footnote. Their names were Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, David Cone, and Tino Martinez. All four of them had much more to do with the Four Rings than Posada ever did.

That's not a knock on Posada -- it wasn't his doing that he didn't get the playing time until late in the dynasty years. But it's a little annoying to notice how this other Core Four have been forgotten by sports journalists who should know better. Speaking of which, I never understood why Posada was so bitter and resentful at Girardi for slowing his chance as being the No.1 catcher, when it was Joe Torre, not Girardi, who made the decision to keep Girardi in that spot. Yet Posada considered Torre a father figure. Go figure.

Anyhow, my favorite Posada moment, as it is for many, was his big hit off Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. And Posada was a valuable part of the Yankees team in the 2000s -- if he hadn't been injured in 2008, the Yanks would have made the playoffs. The only Core Four he belongs in, though, is the Core Four of Yankee catchers, as Kevin Kernan suggested.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

With Mets, More Fun to Look Back Than to Look Ahead

2011-12-21T09:19:00.005-05:00

The Mets just finished their fiftieth season, and several books have come out to commemorate the occasion. The latest is from the New York Post: "The Amazins: Celebrating Fifty Years of New York Mets History."

Most of "The Amazins" is devoted to profiles of Met players and stories of classic games. There are also sections on the managers, franchise builders, the ballparks and the team voices.

The player profiles and game stories are taken from the pages of the Post. It's fun to see how various Mets were viewed in their heyday and how the games were covered and what the participants had to say at the time.

Vic Ziegel's account of the Mets' clinching the NL East in 1969 includes details such as several Mets emptying cans of Yoo-Hoo over coach Yogi Berra's head and Tom Seaver pouring a bottle of champagne over future adversary M. Donald Grant.

When the Mets clinched the NL pennant in 1973 at Shea Stadium by beating the Reds, 7-2, there was a dark side, as Met fans began storming the dugouts before the game was over. Reds manager Sparky Anderson was quoted as saying, "I'm not angry. I'm just ashamed. I'm ashamed that I live in this country. I'm not too sure New York is in this country."

After the Mets won the 1986 World Series, Gary Carter said, "Regardless of the jealousy, the envy, the hatred that exists for us, we have to be considered a great team now."

After Mike Piazza homered in the first game at Shea after September 11, the Mets' catcher talked about how depressed he was, "but I was thinking ‘You know what? I have to do something, and it might as well be something productive.'"

Player profiles also offer some interesting comments by and about players. In a 1986 story about Keith Hernandez, Tom Seaver, then a member of the Red Sox, said, "The key to Hernandez's success is that he thinks along with the pitcher. I play more mind games with him than almost any hitter I've ever faced."

In a story about David Cone from 1988, Mets executive Joe McIlvaine recalled how he stole Cone from Kansas City Royals GM John Schuerholz the previous year. "It's very unusual to get the top pitching prospect in an organization," McIlvaine said. "Frankly, I was surprised, because our reports on him were so strong."

In a story about catcher Todd Hundley written in 1998 when he had to move to the outfield because the Mets had traded for Mike Piazza, Hundley, trying to look on the bright side, said "Who's to say I can't be another All-Star outfielder, another Craig Biggio, you know?"

Some game stories feature colorful accounts from Post sportswriters. When Al Leiter shut out the Reds in their one-game playoff in 1999, Tom Keegan wrote "He was Mario Cuomo, giving the best speech of his life. Michael Jordan on fire. Robert De Niro immersed in his character. He was Jerry Koosman three decades later. He was an ace."

When backup catcher Todd Pratt hit a walkoff homer to give the Mets a victory over Arizona in the 1999 NLDS, Wally Mathews wrote, "At 32 years old, with a baseball lifetime of disappointments behind him, finally he had done something that will get him free drinks for the rest of his life."

The book is also filled with photos of the Mets, mostly from the pages of the Post.

"The Amazins" may be short on new material and it does not offer the comprehensive history of other commemorative Met books, but it's a fun look back at the highlights of the team's eventful history.

Daniel Murphy Fourth in Seniority?

2011-12-19T20:20:00.003-05:00

Talk about turnover. ESPN's Adam Rubin has a list of the Mets with the most seniority. Except for David Wright, hardly anyone remains who was with the Mets when they were a contending team.

After Wright, the rest of the top ten is Mike Pelfrey, Johan Santana, Daniel Murphy, Jon Niese, Bobby Parnell, Fernando Martinez, Josh Thole, R.A. Dickey and Jason Bay.

No wonder Wright is unlikely to be traded anytime soon. Who will the fans come out to see? Whose jersey will they buy?

At least the Mets still have Ike Davis (14th on the list).

If the player came from the Mets' organization, seniority is defined as when the player made his major league debut. That explains why Fernando Martinez ranks so high, when in terms of actual playing time he would be a lot lower.

Except for Dickey, everyone on this list is a big question mark. It's reasonable to expect Dickey to continue to be a mid-rotation pitcher. But many of the others could be anywhere between an All-Star or a bust.

Even when the Mets were good, people used to debate over whether they should break up the core. Now Wright is all that's left, and there's no new core in sight.

Maybe in a year from now, some of these players will have shown they can be part of a new core.

Maybe Bay can regain his form with the new fences. Maybe Murphy can play second and stay healthy. Maybe Niese can continue to develop. Maybe Parnell can finally figure it out.

A return to form from Santana would be the best thing, but now it seems questionable if he can pitch at all.

But it's just as likely that most of the Met "veterans" will not be part of a new core, and that the rebuilding process has a long way to go.

New Book Celebrates Mets History

2011-12-16T09:22:00.002-05:00

There may not be much to celebrate with the Mets these days, but as the team heads into its fiftieth anniversary year, the New York Daily News has put out a new book that reminds us that, throughout its history, the team has had many memorable moments and characters.

The Mets: A 50^th Anniversary Celebration was written by current Daily News Met beat writer Andy Martino and Daily News sportswriter Anthony McCarron. (Disclosure: Squawker Lisa and I used to work at the Daily News on the website, but we did not know either of the writers.)

The book is in hardcover and is arranged decade by decade, offering a running narrative of the Mets' story. The most famous years in Mets history, 1969 and 1986, get thorough coverage, but do not get their own chapters. However, that's just as well – most Met fans are quite familiar with those seasons and might even own books devoted just to them. This book takes a wider view.

The book includes over 200 images from the Daily News, from photos to front and back covers of the newspaper. The images set this book apart from other histories of the Mets. Along with numerous shots of Met players in action, there are other photos that offer a unique look into the world of the Mets.

I consider myself a very knowledgeable Met fan, but I had no idea that Olympic legend Jesse Owens worked for the Mets as a running instructor in spring training in 1965. But there's a picture in this book of Owens, wearing a Mets shirt, hurdling a bat held up by George Weiss, Mets GM at the time, and none other than Yogi Berra, who finished up his playing career that year with the Mets.

Another tidbit new to me was that the host of the Mets pre- and postgame radio shows in the mid-1960s was Howard Cosell, not yet a national figure but already outspoken enough to refer to Mets manager Casey Stengel as old and racist.

Other photos from the Mets’ early days include Stengel giving instructions to Shea Stadium "usherettes" in 1964 and Bud Harrelson playing guitar in the Mets clubhouse in the early 1970s.

Speaking of the Mets’ shortstop, one of the most memorable shots in the book comes from his famous fight with Pete Rose during the 1973 NLCS. Rose, his face contorted in rage, heads toward Harrelson, his left hand already forming a fist. There are two followup photos as well of Rose and Harrelson going at it.

Along with the numerous shots of the 1986 Mets, there is one of Fred Wilpon presenting President Reagan with a Mets warmup jacket as Lee Mazzilli and Dwight Gooden stand behind Reagan on either side.

The book also includes the Daily News front page when Gooden was suspended at the start of the 1987 season. GOODEN K’D BY COCAINE was the headline, with a somber cartoon by Bill Gallo.

The Daily News factored in another dark day in Mets history – the infamous Tom Seaver trade on June 15, 1977. Daily News columnist Dick Young's vicious attacks on Seaver played a role in the Franchise's bitter departure. The book details how Young went after Seaver and how the Daily News switchboard lit up with calls from fans angry at Young after Seaver was traded. Pete Hamill wrote a column in the News ripping Young for being "a hit man for Mets management."

One of the later photos in the book looks a lot different to me now than when it was taken. It shows Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan leaping in the air together to celebrate a Mets victory.

As the book heads toward the present, there is currently no happy ending. But there’s fifty years of history, some of it good, some of it bad, and all of it compelling to the diehard Met fan.

Did Derek Jeter's Booty Calls Get Gift Baskets With Autographed Swag?

2011-12-13T09:14:00.001-05:00

There hasn't been much news in Yankeeland these days. But today, the New York Post has a gossipy piece about how Derek Jeter is "bedding a bevy of beauties in his Trump World Tower bachelor pad — and then coldly sending them home alone with gift baskets of autographed memorabila." Heh.

And according to the Post, the story came to light after he pulled the same stunt on the same girl twice:

“Derek has girls stay with him at his apartment in New York, and then he gets them a car to take them home the next day. Waiting in his car is a gift basket containing signed Jeter memorabilia, usually a signed baseball,” the friend dished.

“This summer, he ended up hooking up with a girl who he had hooked up with once before, but Jeter seemed to have forgotten about the first time and gave her the same identical parting gift, a gift basket with a signed Derek Jeter baseball,” the pal said.

Now I'm wondering if Steiner Sports is going to have a new category for "date-used memorabilia."

Personally, I think giving a one-night stand an autographed baseball in exchange for the evening is kind of tacky, and if it were Alex Rodriguez doing such a thing, he would be pilloried from coast to coast.

But this is Derek Jeter we're talking about, so almost all the comments on the New York Post article are about how cool Jeter is, and how this is great. I swear, Jeter could start a dogfighting ring, and there would be fans talking about how those dogs had it coming to them. He really is Teflon.

Squawker Jon and I were arguing over whether giving the one-night stand a gift basket was tacky. Jon sez it depends what else was in it!

So that got me wondering what other treats were in the gift basket. Is there an "I slept with Derek Jeter and all I got is this lousy t-shirt" in there? Is there one of those Christian Lopez autographed baseballs in there as well? Or how about a box of Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat, the way they always used to have that as a parting gift on game shows back in the day.

Come to think of it, I wonder if the driver plays this music when presenting the one-night stand with her farewell gift:

The Mets Are Not Like a Box of Chocolates

2011-12-07T20:34:00.001-05:00

Sandy Alderson joked Wednesday that he should have sent Jose Reyes a box of chocolates. Forrest Gump's mother compared life to a box of chocolates because you never knew what you were going to get. But with the Mets, we now know what we're going to get. And it's not good.

Earlier today, the David Wright trade speculation was interrupted by a rumor that the Mets were shopping Ike Davis. Are Met faces of the franchise turning into Spinal Tap drummers?

Now Jon Heyman is tweeting that Jon Niese is on the block. If Niese goes, he could set a record for shortest tenure as one of the players pictured at the start of SNY telecasts. (Then again, considering that Jason Bay has also joined the opening montage, maybe SNY should just open their Mets programming with pictures of Shake Shack.)

Last week, ESPN's Keith Law ranked the top 50 players age 25 or under. No Mets made the list. But one Met was mentioned among those who just missed being in the list - Niese.

Supposedly, the Mets are getting younger and building for the future with a focus on pitching. One would think that they would want to hold on to a well-regarded homegrown young lefthander who has already shown that he can pitch in New York.

This is not to say that Niese should be untouchable. But if it turns out that the Mets are trading him for even younger players just to avoid having to go to arbitration with him in a year means the Mets are turning into the Oakland A's, who are desperately trying to trade young pitchers like Gio Gonzalez because they can't afford to keep anybody. Not what we thought we were getting with Moneyball East.

Meanwhile, Matthew Cerrone talked to an agent who speculated that the Marlins would trade Reyes to the Yankees once Derek Jeter's contract is up. And the Post's Kevin Kernan speculated that David Wright could eventually replace Alex Rodriguez at third for the Yankees.

I remember when Met and Yankee fans debated over which team had the best left side of the infield. It would be intolerable to see both Reyes and Wright reunited in the Bronx.

Sure, it's a worst-case scenario, but who would have thought that Darryl and Doc would win more rings with the Yankees than with the Mets?

Despite it all, I'll continue to root for the Mets. But I'm beginning to wonder if that's because, to use another quote from Forrest Gump's mother, stupid is as stupid does.

Why Jose Reyes Leaving the Mets Is Bad for the Squawkers

2011-12-07T00:28:00.003-05:00

When I heard that Jose Reyes was going to be a Miami Marlin, I was just as irate as Squawker Jon was. In fact, I wrote this article for a business publication talking about how Jose Reyes is Bernie Madoff's most recent victim. It's ridiculous that a team in the biggest market in the country, with a successful cable network, is acting like somebody in line at the dollar store, thanks to all the money they invested in what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.

It's long past time for Frugal Freddy Wilpon and his idiot son Jeff to be on their merry way, and have to sell the team and let the Mets have a real owner. Heck, as problematic as George Steinbrenner could be at times, there was no doubt that he loved the New York Yankees. I don't know if Fred Wilpon has ever been a Mets fan. From making Citi Field into the new Ebbets Field, to his derogatory comments to Jeffrey Toobin in that New Yorker interview, Wilpon is the embedded Brooklyn Dodgers fan.

You know, people say that rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for U.S. Steel, or Microsoft, but I say that rooting for the Mets is like being the frog in the Scorpion and the Frog allegory. You may know the story -- the scorpion begs the frog for a ride on his back across the lake. The frog is afraid to take this passenger, but the scorpion says that he wouldn't sting him, because it would doom him both. Then the scorpion stings him anyway, they both start to drown, and when the dying frog asks him why he did it, the scorpion says that doing so is his nature. That's the Mets for you. How dare any fan expect them to re-sign their homegrown hero after they cut payroll this year. It's in their nature to sabotage their own team, and decrease attendance and fan interest, by letting Reyes walk. Good grief.

Anyhow, when Squawker Jon and I started writing this blog, way back in 2006, the Yankees and Mets looked to be close to being on even footing. And in fact, the Mets went further than the Yankees did that year, nearly making it to the World Series. Ever since then, the Metropolitans are on a downward spiral. And it was all fun and games to make fun of the Mets 2007 collapse, and 2008 collapse, and the Castillo dropped pop-up, now it's getting just plain sad.

And it's taken an important trash talk dynamic out of Subway Squawkers. I have had to pull my punches bigtime, because I didn't want to look like a bully beating up on Squawker Jon's Mets. For example, I had a great trash talk line prepared tonight, about how the Mets ditched a closer named Francisco with anger-management issues, only to pick up another closer named Francisco with anger-management issues. But if I really unleashed it, I would look like I was part of the 1% beating up on the 99%. Bummer.

So I actually want the Mets to get better, so mocking them won't make me look like a big meanie. It's up to you, Bud Selig. Time to do what you did to Frank McCourt to your buddies, Fred and Jeff Wilpon. They have to go. The future of the Squawkers depends on it!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

The Jose Reyes Debacle: Don’t Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It’s Raining

2011-12-05T21:32:00.003-05:00

The Mets have allowed a homegrown superstar to leave in the prime of his career. It's one of the darkest days in the history of the franchise, and yet the rationalizing has begun:

The Marlins overpaid for Reyes. So what? Big-market teams keep their superstars. Big-market teams laugh at the notion of the Marlins outbidding them. But the Mets are no longer functioning as a big-market team.

Besides, it’s debatable just how much Reyes is being overpaid. For all the talk about “Carl Crawford money,” Reyes came nowhere near the Red Sox outfielder’s $142 million deal. Yes, six years is a long contract to give Reyes, but if you’re willing to give him five, and an extra year gets it done, a big-market team gets it done. Sure, you have to stagger your potentially bad contracts in a way the Mets have not done up to now, but if the front office is as smart as everyone says they are, that’s certainly doable.

Reyes can’t stay healthy. Some people treat Reyes as if he’s Fernando Martinez – someone who has never been able to stay on the field. Yet from 2005-8, Reyes was practically an ironman. He led the majors in at-bats in 2005 and 2008 and finished second in 2007. In the other year, 2006, Reyes played in 153 games and had 647 AB.

After losing most of 2009 to injury, Reyes played in 133 games in 2010 and 126 in 2011, making the All-Star team both years.

Yes, Reyes comes with injury risk, but that risk was factored into his new contract. A completely healthy Reyes might well have gotten Carl Crawford money. If you project Reyes to miss a month every year and offer him 1/6 dollars less as a result, you end up with around what the Marlins gave him.

Mets management has a good long-term plan. Last year, all we heard was how the Mets needed to get out from under the $60 million in payroll that was coming off the books after 2011 from the expiring contracts of Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Francisco Rodriguez, Oliver Perez, and Luis Castillo. I praised Sandy Alderson for cutting his losses with Perez and Castillo, getting out of K-Rod’s 2012 vesting option and landing Zack Wheeler for Beltran. I also praised him for not trading Reyes at the deadline, which I took as a sign that the Mets planned to make a good-faith effort to keep him.

But during the season, the payroll estimates for 2012 kept going down. Now Alderson is talking about a $100 million payroll. Yes, teams can succeed with that size payroll, but not with Johan Santana and Jason Bay taking up 40% of it.

So now we’ll probably be told we have to wait until Santana and Bay are off the books. And, just like this year, rather than offer a chance to reinvest in the franchise, it will produce an even lower payroll. $80 million? $60 million?

Alderson says he wants to build a strong business model. He says the Mets must cut payroll because they lost $70 million last year. He also says the Mets’ woes have nothing to do with Bernie Madoff.

But how exactly did the Mets lose $70 million last year? How is it that other teams such as the Marlins are able to increase payroll as a result of moving into a new stadium, while the Mets end up hemorrhaging profits and attendance?

What sort of business model has you devaluing your product and discarding your top gate attraction?

*

Meanwhile, the Mets have just put holiday five-game ticket packs on sale. These discounted tickets mostly feature games during the week with teams that are not big draws. You won’t find Opening Day or the Subway Series here.

But the marketing department's thankless task just got a little easier. One pack includes the first visit of the new-look Miami Marlins. The other two games in the late April series turn up in other packs.

Wonder how long it will take the Mets to realize that they are offering discounts on games that are likely to produce three of the few big crowds they can expect to draw next year.

On Joe Paterno, Responsibility, and Hero Worship

2011-11-11T08:09:00.002-05:00

I'm gonna switch Squawker gears here today and talk about the whole Joe Paterno/Penn State issue, because I think the whole thing says a lot about what it means to be a fan.

Some people think Wednesday, the day when Penn State fired Joe Paterno after he announced that he would resign after the end of the season, was a sad day. I don't. I think it was a good day. I was glad to see that JoePa did not get to go out on his own terms, and that he was fired for what he allowed to happen on his watch. As somebody who went to Catholic schools from K to 12, I am glad to see somebody who enabled pedophilia finally get a little punishment, even if it pales in comparison to what the victims went through.

My brothers went to a Catholic high school where the priest molested a slew of young boys over many years. He used the power of his office to get his way, and also used an RV and a beach house paid for by his parishoners as lures. When one of the families, who was from Colombia, complained and threatened to go to the police over the priest molesting their young son, the school's principal, who was also a nun, threatened to have the family deported if they told the cops. The bishop in charge eventually moved the priest to another parish, where he got to have another 20 years of being a sexual predator before he finally got forced out of the priesthood. So yeah, I feel pretty strongly about this issue, and about what I think of those who enable pedophiles.

Anyhow, I really have been fired up on the whole Paterno story, as those who follow me on Facebook know! Here's the thing -- growing up in New Jersey, where Penn State was even more of a huge deal than the rest of the country, I've been hearing literally my whole life about how Joe Paterno wasn't just a great college coach, but a great human being. How, as New York Times writer Jonathan Mahler notes, Paterno's "Grand Experiment" put a premium on character and education, and believed in "Success With Honor. How Paterno was a leader of men. How he was Penn State. How he was so powerful that he could tell the school president and the athletic director and the board of trustees that he would stay as coach as long as he wanted to. How he controlled the school and the area with an iron fist.

And now we are supposed to believe, according to his sycophants, that the great Joe Paterno is really just like some mid-level bureaucrat who was only following the chain of command when it came to reporting sexual abuse? Whose hands were tied when it came to protecting children from being anally raped in his own locker room? Are you flipping kidding me? Paterno was the most powerful man not just in college sports, but one of the most powerful men in the country. He counted presidents as personal friends. All he literally had to do was make one phone call to the cops about Jerry Sandusky, and his old coach would have been in handcuffs a decade ago, instead of going on to be in a position to molest many more children.

Paterno's story that he only knew of one incident involving Sandusky also defies credulity. You don't get to the top of the food chain -- and stay there -- without knowing everything going on around you. Besides, I cannot believe that it is just a coincidence that in 1999, the year after police investigated Sandusky for the first time he was reported for groping a young boy in the shower, that Paterno told his protege and would-be successor that he would never be head coach. Why did Sandusky then retire at the age of 55, and never work for another college football program again? And no, I don't believe Scott Paterno's story that his father told Sandusky he could never be head coach because he was too devoted to his foundation. Oh, please!

Anyhow, even if want to stick your fingers in your ears and pretend that Paterno only knew about one case, the 2002 anal rape of a 10-year-old in Paterno's athletic center's shower, and that his graduate assistant supposedly downplayed the graphic details of what actually happened, the fact is, as Paterno admitted to the grand jury, that he knew that "something of a sexual nature" happened with his old coach and a young boy. And that Paterno, other than some perfunctory mention up the chain of command, never called the police, never asked his graduate assistant for more details, never asked Sandusky what happened, and never even attempted to find out who the boy was.

For the next decade, Paterno went to bed every night knowing that his old coach was around young boys all the time, at Sandusky's foundation for at-risk boys, at his home, with the children he adopted, at schools, at his coaching camps, run on Penn State satellite campus. He also let Sandusky himself have an office on the Penn State campus, and his old coach was seen in his locker room working out just last week. If you knew for a fact, as Paterno did, that somebody you knew was a child molestor, and you had the power to stop them, would you be okay with letting them be around children?

Not to mention that Jerry Sandusky was able to get so much access to children precisely because he was connected to Paterno's Penn State program. He took his victims to Penn State games and events, for goodness sake! And JoePa was okay with that?

I just don't understand the Penn State students rioting over Paterno being fired, or the sycophants defending him. Because when it comes down to it, it ultimately doesn't matter how good a coach Paterno was, or how many young men he did help in his career. He didn't help the vulnerable boys who needed his help the most. How many children were molested because Joe Paterno chose not to act on what he knew? One is too many.

As much as I root for A-Rod, and as much as I admire and appreciate Vince Young and Mack Brown for bringing my Texas Longhorns their first national championship in 35 years, you'd better believe I would be marching in the street against them if they did anything to enable a pedophile.

Real life should come before sports. And the lives of young boys should come before Joe Paterno's career. He didn't deserve to get a flipping victory lap after what he did -- make that didn't -- do.

Put aside the hero worship, or the appreciation for Joe Paterno as a coach. When it comes down to it, he is a man who enabled a pedophile to wreak havoc on countless boys' lives. He is no better than those bishops and nuns who looked the other way when priests took away the innocence of young children. Paterno has had a great 84 years of life. How great have the lives been of all the young boys who were sexually abused by Jerry Sandusky, his old coach? And how many of those acts of abuse could have been prevented, if only the great Joe Paterno had made one phone call? Think about it.

Tell us what you think.

Oh, Great. Brian Cashman Is Back for More

2011-11-02T07:53:00.000-04:00

Now that Brian Cashman has been re-signed as Yankees GM, shortly after making a deal with CC Sabatahia, I have one request for him: To shut up about how oh-so-tough it is to be general manager of the New York Yankees. Boo bleeding hoo. Enough already. If the job is sooooo much for poor Brian to handle, then he should have taken his talents to St. Louis, or to Anaheim, or to Boston, or to Chicago. Oh, wait, he was never actually in the running for the Cubs job, now held by Theo Epstein. The talk that he was in the running there, like the talk that the Red Sox were considering him, was just media-driven fluff to make him see like he was in demand. Sheesh.

At any rate, I don't think I can bear to hear another three years of Cashman talk about how stressful and difficult his job is. So I really hope he quits his whining.

You know what's really stressful? Being unemployed. Trying to figure out how to pay your bills when you have too much month left at the end of your money. Being outsourced. There are millions of Americans suffering right now in this country's poor economic state. I have empathy for them. For Brian Cashman, who is the 1% when it comes to MLB management, not so much.

And by the way, can we please, please get rid of the myth that working for the Yankees is infinitely tougher than any other team, because every season is supposedly considered a failure if the Yankees don't win it all? Our enemies in Boston actually stick to that more than the Yankees do -- Terry Francona was essentially shown the door, and Theo Epstein was given a strong hint to take his own talents to Chi-Town, only after they brought two World Series titles to a team waiting since 1918 for another World Series championship. The team's September collapse this year made heads roll, the way heads should have rolled in the Bronx after the 2004 collapse.

Meanwhile, back in the Bronx, the franchise that claims that any season without a title is a failure just re-signed a GM who has brought the team exactly one ring since 2000.

The email I got from Yankees.com regardng bringing Cashman back emphasizes how the Yankees "have earned a postseason berth in 13 of his 14 seasons as GM," and notes that Cashman's "feat of reaching the playoffs in each of his first 10 seasons (1998-2007) remains unmatched in Baseball history." But, but, aren't those seasons all failures if there's not a ring involved?

Look, as I noted after the Yankees lost in the postseason this year, I thought it was ridiculous for fans to flip out over it, given that the Yanks won the World Series just two years ago, and I also thought Randy Levine's "failure" rhetoric was obnoxious. But at the same time, I really want to see this franchise stop with that myth that anything short of a title is a failure. Because it's inconsistent, given that Levine still has a job, and Lonn Trost, and, yes, Brian Cashman. And you can't have it both ways -- bragging about making it to the postseason each year, at the same time you're calling those years failures. Which one is it?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Remembering Mets History on Historic Day

2011-10-25T17:22:00.001-04:00

The most famous game in Mets history was 25 years ago today, and all Met fans know what happened when Mookie Wilson hit a ground ball to Bill Buckner. But how much do you know about the “Ball on the Wall Game” that helped the Mets win the NL East in 1973? “New York Mets: The Complete Illustrated History” offers a detailed history of the Mets’ first five decades.

Author Matthew Silverman has written several books on the Mets, including “The Miracle Has Landed: The Amazin’ Story of How the 1969 Mets Shocked the World.” In “New York Mets: The Complete Illustrated History” Silverman has plenty of details and photos on 1969 and 1986, including things even the diehard Met fan may not know. When spring training was delayed in 1969 by baseball’s first work stoppage, Tom Seaver led players-only workouts.

While I’ll never get tired of reading about 1969 or 1986, what sets “New York Mets: The Complete Illustrated History” apart is the rich detail of the less memorable years in Mets’ history. Even the events that Met fans try to forget are worth revisiting, if only to learn that the Angels originally asked for Gary Gentry in the Jim Fregosi trade, but the Mets preferred to send them Nolan Ryan.

As for the events leading up to the Tom Seaver trade, Silverman unearths an astonishing quote from Met chairman M. Donald Grant, who resented that Seaver was known as “The Franchise.” According to Grant, “Mrs. Payson and I are the franchise.”

On a brighter note, one of the numerous photos in the book is of Seaver with Dave Kingman and Joe Torre when Torre was named Mets’ manager. Another photo is of Willie Mays drenched in champagne after the Mets clinched the division in 1973.

Speaking of Kingman, in the spring of 1981, a time of rising cold war tensions and calls by some for a nuclear freeze, the Mets put up a sign in the Shea Stadium parking lot warning that it was a “Kingman Fallout Zone.”

The book includes profiles of the top 50 players in Mets history. The numerous photographs include not only game action and shots of individual players, but also yearbooks, programs and other memorabilia.

An appendix lists all-time Mets records, while charts throughout the book offer lists of such items as Mayor’s Trophy Game results and every game in Anthony Young’s 27-game losing streak.

I recommend it to any Met fan that embraces the team’s whole history, good and bad. And even if it is an unbelievable 25 years since the glory days of 1986, there’s still a lot worth remembering.

Were Jason Giambi and Roger Clemens Drinking in the Dugout?

2011-10-20T10:02:00.001-04:00

I have been enjoying the heck out of the Boston Red Sox Fried Chicken and Beer (and Video Games!) scandal. What the heck were Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey thinking? They were paid to be part of a baseball team; not to act like something out of "Animal House" or something!

Anyhow, I'm a little disappointed to see all the rationalizations for their shameful behavior out there -- Babe Ruth drank, Dwight Gooden did coke, blah blah blah. Of course, these rationalizations only go for booze and recreational drugs, not performance-enhancing drugs -- you'll never hear somebody say that doing steroids is okay because Mark McGwire did it, or taking HGH is okay because Andy Pettitte did it.

Besides, it's 2011. Maybe it's time that people stop doing stupid things just because other people did them in the past. And you cannot justify drinking alcohol during a game when you are an MLB player, no matter how much people try to. If players cannot wait three hours until the game over before getting their drink on, they've got issues.

And I have said on Facebook, I would be equally as outraged if The Three Stupidos were Yankees. And now it's time to put my money where my mouth is. Today's New York Daily News has a combination apologia for boozing in baseball, combined with details on other players who drank before, during, and after games. Yet there's no mention of St. Louis pitcher Josh Hancock, who died in an accident after driving drunk. Nor of the six MLB players who were arrested for driving under the influence this season. But the article does claim that Jason Giambi and Roger Clemens drank in the dugout during games:

According to one of the insiders, Jason Giambi and Roger Clemens would routinely drink beer on the dugout bench when they played for the Yankees, passing back and forth what Giambi called his "protein shake," code for a cup of beer, the source said.

If this is true, where was Joe Torre? Snoozing in the dugout again? How can you not detect the smell of beer -- it doesn't exactly smell like a protein shake!

The article also talks about unnamed Mets players drinking during games, and Keith Hernandez drinking after games. Um, drinking a beer after the game is over is not the same thing at all as doing it during games, so I don't know why that Keith Hernandez tidbit was included.

Anyhow, I think it's perfectly reasonable for the Red Sox pitchers to get their share of ridicule and scrutiny right now. You go 7-20 in September, and have the worst collapse in regular season history, you deserve all the grief you get. But please, enough with the "everybody does it" argument. Everybody does not do it.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Rangers, Cardinals and Big Contracts

2011-10-19T13:11:00.001-04:00

The Rangers and Cardinals got to the World Series without big-market payrolls, but they wouldn't have made it without some big contracts that were far from sure things.

This past offseason, the Rangers signed Adrian Beltre to a five-year, $80 million deal. Beltre, who turned 32 in April, had had only two really good seasons, both the year that he was going into free agency.

Signing Beltre also meant that longtime Ranger Michael Young would now mostly be a DH, which made Young ask to be traded.

So far, the Beltre signing has worked out great for the Rangers. Beltre hit .296 with 32 homers and 105 RBI and did so in only 124 games. Young dropped his trade demand and hit .338 with 106 RBI.

The previous offseason, the Cardinals signed Matt Holliday to a seven-year $120 million deal. The Scott Boras client would be averaging $17M/year through age 36. The Cardinals were tying up payroll just as Albert Pujols was approaching free agency.

When Holliday was a free agent, another power-hitting left fielder was also available. Jason Bay would end up signing for four years and $66 million, which appeared more reasonable compared to Holliday, who was getting about the same per year but would have three additional years on his deal. We know how the Bay signing has worked out.

This offseason, if the Cardinals re-sign Pujols, they will doubtless face criticism for giving him too much money and years. But Pujols is irreplaceable - one of the best players of all time who is also a great postseason performer. He may be past his peak, but he still seems far from going into decline. The Cardinals, generally far from a powerhouse team, are now in their third World Series in eight years, which would not have happened without Pujols.

Jose Reyes is no Pujols, but he could end up making as much or more than Holliday. And if that happens, people will complain that he's getting too much, especially if he ends up back with the Mets. But even the well-constructed teams that get the World Series do so with the help of big contracts that are not without controversy.

***

Squawker Lisa and I find ourselves on the same side in this World Series. She likes the Rangers from her days living in Texas and I am rooting for Nolan Ryan and against Tony La Russa. One would think the Rangers would win with that powerhouse lineup so I'm picking them, but I hope the Cardinals don't turn out to be a team of destiny.

Who Is Promoting Brian Cashman as Red Sox GM -- Brian Cashman?

2011-10-13T07:28:00.005-04:00

I should be used to Yankee GM Brian Cashman's constant need for whining, puffery and self-promotion by now -- after all, just last month, he complained to ESPN New York's about how his current job required "a price of time, effort, expectations, pressure, stress levels, all that different stuff." You know, kind of like how every other job in the universe does, but at a close to $3 million a year salary. Boo bleeding hoo.

Anyhow, I was still taken aback by the "rumor" that Cashman could be in the running for taking over Theo Epstein's GM position in Boston. Who fed the media the rumor -- Cashman himself? (Incidentally, remember this summer, how Cashman's name was included as a possibility to be the new Cubs' GM? Yet it looks like Chicago only talked to Theo Epstein for the job? Funny how that works.)

It wouldn't be the first time Cashman threw his hat in the ring to be Boston's GM. Remember that New York Magazine profile of him from the summer of 2004, where his wife Mary said, “Brian would like to go to Boston and win the World Series as general manager of the Red Sox. That would be any man’s dream, to go up there and become the god of Boston." That was the same profile which had Brian talking about how smart he was in getting Javier Vazquez over Curt Schilling, and had some anonymous agent praising his trade of Jeff Weaver for the immortal Kevin Brown. At any rate, the fact that Cashman never even got called on the carpet in Yankeeland for that interview showed that the days of the Big Bad Boss were long over. But I digress.

Anyhow, aside from the fact that it's very likely, given how much he has been included in postseason postmortems, that Red Sox assistant GM Ben Cherington is going to be the next GM of the Boston Red Sox, what, exactly, would convince Boston ownership that Brian Cashman would be the right man for the job? What would make their fan base accept somebody who has spent his entire career in the Yankees organization?That at least the Yanks' overpriced free agent pitcher A.J. Burnett stays in the dugout and watches his team during games, unlike fried-chicken eating, beer-drinking, video-game playing John Lackey? (Incidentally, if you haven't read the Boston Globe's investigation of what went wrong, please do so. It is absolutely delicious reading for Red Sox haters!)

I also had to laugh of the ridiculousness of Yankee president Randy Levine's own puffery in declaring that the 2011 Yankees season was a failure, then talking in the same interview about bringing back Cashman. Remember, Levine said: "We are the Yankees. That is the way The Boss set it up. When you don't win the World Series, it is a bitter disappointment and not a successful year." So, when is Levine handing in his own resignation? Or looking for a new GM? Gee, you'd think that all this talk of "World Series or bust" is just a sop to the rubes, since nobody ever actually loses his job or anything! Not even a general manager who once looked longingly at being Boston's GM!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Note to (Some) Yankee Fans: Grow Up Already

2011-10-07T07:28:00.005-04:00

I was in a bad mood after the Yankees lost Game 5 of the ALDS, and I'm still peeved this morning. But frankly, most of the my peckishness is directed at some of the Yankees fan base than at the team. The way some of these fans carried on last night, both online and at the Stadium, you would think that the team hadn't won a playoff series in 50 years.

Please understand that I'm not talking about all Yankee fans. But some of the team's fans need to hear this: Get over yourselves already. Acting like spoiled, entitled jerks doesn't make you good Yankee fans. It just makes you spoiled, entitled jerks. Newsflash: The Yankees won the World Series TWO YEARS AGO. It really wasn't that long ago, folks. Show a little gratitude for once in your miserable lives.

You think you have it bad? Imagine being a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, who hasn't seen their team even sniff .500 in nearly 20 years. Or a Chicago Cubs fan, rooting for a franchise that hasn't won in 103 years. Or a New York Mets fan, being in the same town as the Yankees, but having dumb owners who lost their money in a Ponzi scheme and are now making it clear that they're going to run a big-market team with a very small-market budget. I could go on and on, but you get the point. How many teams' fan bases would love to make the playoffs every year but one since 1995?

Back in March, the Yanks weren't expected to win anything this year, not with CC and the Has-Beens and Never Weres in the starting rotation, let alone win the AL East with 97 games. I certainly didn't think so this spring. No Cliff Lee, no Andy Pettitte, and no hope. The joke was that Brian Cashman had assembled a team that would have been great for 2005; not so great for 2011. It was supposed to be the Sox's year, not the Yanks.

And the Bombers had a ton of injuries throughout the year, including to Derek Jeter, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Alex Rodriguez, Bartolo Colon, and Rafael Soriano. Not to mention A.J. Burnett pitching horribly for the second year in a row. Yet the team overachieved, got key contributions from the Class of 2005, and made it to the postseason with the best record in the league.

Sure, I'm disappointed and ticked off that the Yanks lost the series. And I can point to a lot of things that went wrong -- like Joe Girardi refusing to pinch-hit for anybody last night, and the Yankee hitters' inability to get much done in runners in scoring position (and frankly, when you only score two runs against the Tigers at a home game, and one of them was driven in by a bases-loaded walk, you don't deserve to win.)

But it's one thing to be upset over the series loss (although for me, it doesn't even make my top five worst losses, and nothing will ever match the pain of 2004.) It's another thing to act like some unruly, hateful mob, scapegoating one player (you know who, of course!) Some of the very same "fans" who couldn't open their mouths to cheer on their team in the ninth inning -- the Yanks were behind by just one run, but the place sounded like a morgue -- found their voice outside the Stadium after the game, chanting "A-Rod sucks." Sure, Alex had a bad series, but this was a collective loss, and shouldn't be pinned on one person. Ross Sheingold of NYYStadiumInsider.com was at the game, and described the scene this way on Facebook:

Never been more embarrassed to be an New York Yankees fan. Hundreds (if not more) were chanting "A-Rod Sucks" in unison as they exited the stadium and headed down River Ave. In the past, chanting as a crowd down River Avenue was reserved for joyous moments. Now, the fans are entitled and only enjoy the game of baseball if the team marches to a World Series victory. It is sickening, and not enjoyable to be a part of.

Do those Yankee fans think this makes them look good? As Sully Baseball, a Red Sox fan friend of mine, put it last night on Facebook, "THIS is why people hate Yankee fans. Most fan bases would salivate to have a 2 time MVP who led their team to a World Series title. You cry that he hasn't given you more. Next time you wonder why the rest of the planet Earth cheers when the Yankees lose, look in the mirror. (That is if they allow mirrors in Bellevue.)" Exactly!

I just hope A-Rod has bodyguards with him anywhere he goes in this town. The unbridled hatred for him out there is out of control, and more than a little frightening.

Not only have too many Yankee fans forgotten 2009, they have forgotten who led them to that title. When I pointed out online to some Yankee fans last night that A-Rod carried the team on their shoulders that postseason, they either denied that he was the reason they won, or said "that was two years ago," like it's ancient history, or said that he only did it once, and implied that it somehow didn't count (tell that to Bucky Dent, Aaron Boone, Jim Leyritz, etc....) When I then pointed out that the Flip Play was ten years ago, but people still talk about it incessantly, I was chastised for daring to put Rodriguez in the same category as Derek Jeter. Good grief. What a bunch of ungrateful clowns.

Sure, it stinks that the Yanks lost, but they did do much more this year than I expected them to. Besides, things could be worse -- the Red Sox humiliated themselves way more this season than the Bombers did!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

A.J. Burnett, "The Godfather," and Fickle Fandom

2011-10-06T07:57:00.006-04:00

It's a miracle! As I had hoped and predicted, A.J. Burnett kept with a contrariness of his career by actually pitching a great game Tuesday, after a shaky first inning.

Two things settled him down, I think. That first was Curtis Granderson's great catch (the first of two terrific Grandy Man catches of the night.) The second was the little discussion pitching coach Larry Rothschild had with Burnett after the first. Supposedly, the two talked mechanics, but I would like to think the talk went a little more like this:

Anyhow, while I wrote the other day that A.J. "could erase the last two years with one gutty, gritty performance," I then remembered the fanbase the Yankees have, where some scapegoated players never get redeemed, no matter what they do. (Not that A.J. hasn't given people a lot of reason to be frustrated with him, but he did save the Yankees' 2009 season with a great performance in Game 2 of the World Series. To me, that's what's the most frustrating about Burnett -- there is a Good A.J. in there!)

But the next time Burnett has a bad start, this game will be forgotten with some of the fan base, even though Derek Jeter said: "Trust me -- I'm pretty sure all New York fans will remember this game as opposed to some of the other games." Not everybody will. Remember that the A-Rod haters have forgotten his two MVPs as a Yankee, and his 6 homers and 18 RBI in the 2009 postseason.

I saw it on Facebook Tuesday night. One person I saw screamed "TradeRod" when he only hit a sacrifice fly to drive in a run. (Good luck with trading that contract!) Another posted on my wall that he read that AROD stood for "Another Regular October Disappointment," and when I responded "Who cares?," he said that "True Yankee fans care." (Um, I thought that True Yankee fans remembered what he did in 2009 to get the team No. 27!) A third said that the only reason Rodriguez got two hits Tuesday is because the game was already in hand. (And if he hadn't gotten a hit, he would still be Chokey McChoker, of course.)

Anyhow, A.J. did built up some goodwill with the fans with his great performance Tuesday. But unlike some Yankee players, who will never get criticized, Burnett's leash with the fans will be about as short as Joe Girardi's leash on him Tuesday night. Expect this game to go down the ol' memory hole with some fans, the way A-Rod's 2009 performance for the ages has been forgotten.

* * *

Squawker Jon had this to say, after Jesus Montero got his first hit in his postseason, after his first at-bat in the postseason. He noted that it only took Montero one at-bat with runners in scoring position to get an RBI, while it took Nick Swisher 30 at-bats to do it. Harsh!

One other thing. I listened to the presser of Ivan Nova. Some members of the media were annoyed that he said he didn't feel any pressure over Game 5, asking him over and over why not? I guess they expected him to appear in the fetal position or something, hoping that he would cry "It's all too much!"

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Squawker Media Alert: Lisa on the Radio at 1 p.m. Today

2011-10-04T12:15:00.005-04:00

Squawker Lisa will be on the radio at 1:00 p.m. today, squawking about the Yankees's do-or-die Game 4. You can hear her talking to host Mike Lindsley on Syracuse's The Score 1260 AM. Click here to listen live online.

Keep the Faith: A.J. Burnett Must Save the Season and Redeem Himself

2011-10-04T07:57:00.001-04:00

If I could believe that Jorge Posada could look like a kid out there (the way they said about Brett Favre) and get a triple in the ALDS, I can believe that A.J. Burnett can win tonight. Keep the faith, as Tavis Smiley says at the end of each of his shows.

I had to check on Facebook that Keep the Faith wasn't copyrighted by Red Sox fans. So I was told that was okay to use, but a Met fan friend warned me to stay away from Ya Gotta Believe!

I keep on having flashbacks to the horror that was the 2006 ALDS. (And I'm glad I missed Kenny Rogers throwing out the first pitch last night!) But at least the Yanks showed some fight in rallying during Game 2 and Game 3, even if the rallies were ultimately unsuccessful. Verlander may have won the game, but he did not look great out there.

On the other hand, Joe Girardi kept CC Sabathia in too long. CC's outings as of late have been awful -- not exactly a great contract drive for him getting that new deal! And he looks like he's put on another 25 pounds this year. Is it any surprise that he has been laboring so much when he pitches?

And it would be nice if Mark Teixeira contributed a little. (For all the grief A-Rod gets, he drove in a run and walked twice last night, only to be stranded by Tex.) Not to mention Captain Clutch striking out to end the rally last night.

Anyhow, given that so many of the big names for the Yanks haven't come through in the playoffs, while the two players who have shown some consistency are Jorge Posada and Brett Gardner, it would be fitting if A.J. hurled a brilliant game tonight. He could erase the last two years with one gutty, gritty performance.

Or he could make me hurl. But I'm gonna stay positive here. Keep the faith!

Why Some Yankee Fans Feel the Need to Put the Goat Horns on A-Rod

2011-10-03T08:16:00.001-04:00

The Yankees can never just lose a game in the postseason. There always has to be a goat. And it should be no surprise that many have already decided that Alex Rodriguez is the Game 2 goat. It's amazing how the tone in Yankeeland changes so quickly -- Saturday night, everything is sunshine and lollipops. But less than 24 hours later, you'd think the series was already lost.

Anyhow, it really ticked me off last night when Alex Rodriguez was getting booed by his own team's fan base during the game. Sometimes, I really can't stand some so-called Yankee "fans." As I've said over and over in this blog over the years, booing your own home players doesn't fix anything. All it shows is that you're a fair-weather, petulant moron. And that goes for the Met fans who booed David Wright, too.

The booing yesterday -- and the subsequent media attacks on A-Rod-- are nothing but predictable. (Although I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by ESPN New York writer Wally Matthews defending Rodriguez, saying about that the scapegoating: "It isn't fair and it isn't right.")

As I have been saying for years, no matter what he ever does in the postseason, A-Rod will always be held as a scapegoat. Those booing Yankee fans who pride themselves on being so knowledgeable on Yankee history seem to have conveniently forgotten that if it weren't for him, the Bombers wouldn't have won the 2009 World Series. And all the talk back before 2009 how if he would just have one great postseason, all would be forgiven is just nonsense, as I said at the time.

Sure, A-Rod is hitless in this series, although he does have an RBI and a walk. But the Yanks only got five hits yesterday, and Jorge Posada was the one batter in the lineup to have two hits (including a triple, my favorite moment of the day.) Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano, and Curtis Granderson were the other batters to have hits. And how did Derek Jeter, aka Captain Clutch, do? He went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts, left five runners on base, did nothing when the Yanks were trying to rally in the ninth, committed an error that led to a run, and helped cause a Boone Logan balk.

Also, I wasn't crazy with Joe Girardi pitching Luis Ayala in the ninth inning. Best bullpen in baseball, and he goes to the last man in the lineup? Hey, Joe, we're not playing Tampa anymore!

I've already heard talk about switching Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira in the starting lineup -- one ignorant writer from NBC Sports' Hardball Talk even sez A-Rod should be batting eighth, with Teixeira batting cleanup, because Mark is "the better option right now." This, even though Tex has exactly one hit in the ALDS this year, and has a .168 average in the postseason as a Yankee over the last three years. When, exactly, did Tex become Mr. October?

Anyhow, CC Sabathia better win tonight, or there will be full-scale panic in Yankeeland, given that A.J. Burnett is the Game 4 starter!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Where's Suzyn? The New York Times' Very Strange Profile on John Sterling

2011-10-02T12:03:00.002-04:00

The New York Times has a 3000+ word profile this weekend on the Yankees' radio broadcaster John Sterling. I found the article, written by Bill Pennington, interesting, but I also found it a little infuriating and head-scratching as well.

First of all, Pennington doesn't seem to understand the Internet. He writes that Sterling "has spawned more than 100 Web sites dedicated to denigrating his emblematic calls and his anomalous broadcasting style." Nonsense. There may have been more than 100 sites that have criticized Sterling at times (including Subway Squawkers!) but writing that there are that many sites devoted just to mocking him is completely untrue -- and it's also a scurrilous accusation to make. It's the type of so-called "fact" that people will quote, because they read it in the Times, even though it's inaccurate.

The truth is that there is exactly one site -- It is High, It Is Far, It Is Caught -- that is solely dedicated to mocking Sterling, albeit in a good-natured way. And the article described Hart Seely, creator of the site, as calling himself "a Sterling fan." Seely says that "Sometimes, John is like a caricature of a baseball announcer who would be on a TV sitcom." However, he also says this:

"But for the serious Yankees fan, he has a lot of appeal. Some people, most of them not Yankees fans, think that because the Yankees are a flagship franchise, they should have a network-level announcer who is never a homer. But the truth is, when the Yankees do something wrong, John rips them, like any psychotic Yankees fan. At the same time, like a true Yankees fan, when they win, John cannot control himself. The joy bursts from his breast."

Look, I'm not saying that Sterling doesn't get criticism on the web -- of course he does -- but the idea that there are over 100 web sites owing their very existence to mocking his every move is overstating the case by about a hundred! I mean, really. Casey Anthony may be the most hated woman in America, but there aren't even 100 web sites devoted just to her!

Anyhow, the author of the Times piece also writes:

He is the regular whipping boy of two New York tabloid sports media columnists. Radio talk-show hosts play tapes of his radio calls almost daily, frequently mocking his shtick and picking apart his missteps, whether they are misidentified players or a hasty, over-amped home run call on what ultimately became a long flyout.

That is true, but sometimes some of the Sterling clips played, like the home run calls and his WinWarble at the end of the game, are done in a good-natured, funny way. And Evan Roberts of WFAN, to name one example, is as obsessed as I am with coming up with possible home run calls for new players for Sterling to use.

But this topic brings me to the most jarring thing about the article -- the almost complete absence of Sterling's companera, as he calls co-host Suzyn Waldman, from the article. The sole mention of her is this: "He has worked with Suzyn Waldman since 2005." What? No interview with her? No discussion of the complete lack of chemistry the two have (one of my own complaints about the broadcasts?) Writing about Sterling without talking about Waldman is writing about Laverne without mentioning Shirley!

Besides, as we talked about yesterday with the Squawkers' radio show host friend Larry Milian, Suzyn Waldman clips are staples of sports radio, too. Suzyn's "goodness gracious" Roger Clemens remarks, and her crying over what turned out to be Joe Torre's last game as also rebroadcast incessantly on sports radio shows around the country. (The other day, I just heard WEEI hosts play Suzyn's tears as if she were crying over Terry Francona's last game!)

The article also gets into complaints that Sterling is too much of a homer. But I want my broadcasters to be homers! Frank Messer wasn't a homer, and he was pretty dull to listen to. My issues with Sterling is more than it's sometimes hard to follow what's going on in the games, between the schtick and the incessant on-air shilling for advertisers.

The other thing about leaving Suzyn out of the story is that if you're going to talk, as the article does, about whether Sterling will be back, the future of Waldman should also be discussed. Will they both be gone, or one of them, or will they stay? It doesn't make much sense to speculate on his future without including her in the mix.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

It's Ivan Nova and Robbie Cano, Don'tcha Know? Thoughts on ALDS Game 1

2011-10-02T11:00:00.003-04:00

So much for all the media hand-wringing about the unproven rookie Ivan Nova starting Game 2 (which turned into pitching in what was left of Game 1.) He was awesome! Watching Nova grow as a pitcher into a budding young star this year was one of the great stories of the Yankee season. (Although I'm still a little ticked he got sent down to the minors for three weeks this year when Phil Hughes came back.)

And seeing Robinson Cano become a superstar was one of the better stories of the last few years. Last night was a little bit of the "changing of the guard," seeing him be The Man on the Yanks, and driving in six runs (including hitting a grand slam.) To paraphrase Jack Curry from the post-game, Cano ought to be hitting third in the lineup for the next game, and the next game, and the next game....

Anyhow, what struck me today about both of their great games was that these players were not really heavily hyped in the farm system, or as rookies. There were no equivalents of the "Joba Rules" or slogans for either of them. And I think that helped them be able to make mistakes and learn without all the hype. Is it coincidental that the least promoted "Generation Tre" member, Ian Kennedy, is the first to win twenty games in a season?

Anyhow, it was a great win last night. Here's to the Yankees winning Game 2.

* * *

These are the conversations that Squawker Jon and I have -- noting that Al Alburquerque, the pitcher who gave up the grand slam to Cano, has a name that is not spelled like the city!

Speaking of Jon, we got together in Manhattan to meet up with our South Florida sports radio show host friends Larry Milian and Phil (Dizz) Domanic. It was great to see Larry again and to meet Dizz. Glad it stopped raining so they were able to see more than an inning and a half on their trip to NYC!

While we were killing time before seeing them, I dragged Jon into the Yankees Cluhbouse store. Jon got so freaked out over all the Yankee stuff he fled the store after two minutes. The thing that triggered the flee? A "Don'tcha Ya Know, Robbie Cano" t-shirt!
What do you think? Tell us about it!

The Rain, the Park, and Other Things (Yes, I'm Making a Cowsills Reference!)

2011-10-01T11:30:00.001-04:00

I was driving home last night, getting ready to cross the Bayonne Bridge, when I saw a slew of scary-looking clouds in the sky. But WFAN know-it-all Mike Francesa insisted that it was a beautiful night, with a 72 degree temperature and not a cloud in the sky. So much for Mike's weather report. And so much for MLB's weather report.

Not only does the rainout change everything, especially with putting A.J. Burnett in the mix, (and CC had better be pitching tomorrow!) but it also inconvenienced a lot of Yankee fans, including our radio host friend Larry (The Amigo) Milian and his New York Sports Report co-host, Philly "Dizz" Domanic. They flew up from South Florida to see Friday's game, only to see just an inning and a half. Yikes!

To top it all off, the news that Friday's came was being postponed was presented by Joe Torre. You can imagine how thrilled I was to see him, especially after reflecting on the way he mismanaged the Yanks the last time the team faced Detroit in the postseason. Come to think of it, maybe Torre and MLB relied on Mike Francesa's weather report!

Oh, and can we please stop the "Joe Torre should be the Red Sox manager" boomlet in its tracks? Torre has a cushy job now, where he can threaten to punish the people and teams he hates (A-Rod, the Mets, etc.) under the auspices of MLB. He hasn't shown much interest in working very hard for a long time. By his own admission in "The Yankee Years," the clubhouse was hopelessly divided, not playing together as a team. And in any team he managed, he has been the oxygen thief, taking all the attention -- and the credit -- away from the front office and ownership. To top it all off, Joe has no interest in sabermetrics.

So given those facts, how would he possibly be a good fit with Boston, other than entertaining the media with his dopey stories? The press is so solipsistic, focusing on how he made their jobs easier, and not noticing that in recent years, he really didn't do much to make teams better (he would never have even made the playoffs in Los Angeles without Manny Ramirez, for one thing.) Not to mention that Torre going to Boston would make the furor over "The Yankee Years" look like a day in the park. I should want the Sox to hire Torre, because he would make things even worse. But at any rate, the chances of that happening are about as big as Roger Clemens taking over the team.

Here's hoping that Ivan Nova does as well tonight as the Rays' rookie did against the Rangers yesterday.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Yankees vs. Detroit, 2006 and Now

2011-09-30T20:57:00.003-04:00

I really hope the Yankees win the ALDS this week, not just because I want to see them win the World Series, but because I'd also like to see them avenge what went down in the 2006 ALDS against th TIgers. There's some real unfinished business there, with the cruelest cuts self-inflicted. I rank it second to the 2004 ALCS as the playoff series in this era that angered me the most. Here's why.

Squawker Jon and I starting writing Subway Squawker in March 2006, with the idea of capturing the Yanks and the Mets when both of them were expected to make a run for it in the playoffs. Imagine my chagrin when the Mets actually made it to within a Yadier Molina home run of the World Series (more on that in a sec!), surpassing the Yankees in the postseason.

Arguably the biggest issue for the Yanks that year was that A-Rod, coming off an MVP season, was 1) having an "off year" for him: .290, 35 homers, 121 RBI and a .914 OPS, 2) getting thrown under the bus again and again by his manager and his captain. I think Torre was trying to get him to force his way off the team by making his life miserable. He certainly wasn't trying to get the most or best out of him. (An aside -- compare and contrast with the truly classy way Terry Francona stepped away from the Sox today, acknowledging that he failed with getting players to listen to him, and being genuinely broken up about the way the season ended. But I digress.)

Anyhow, that situation was brewing all summer, and it was obvious to me at the time what was going on, from the way Torre refused to tell the fans to stop booing Rodriguez to the way he blew up, instead of tamping down, every story brewing on Rodriguez, that Joe had a nasty agenda. But every time I pointed out how much Rodriguez was being undermined and gaslighted by Joe Torre, I would hear critical responses from readers, telling me I didn't know what was going on in the clubhouse. True, but I do know a little about human nature, and a lot about passive-aggressive phonies!

And the mainstream media wouldn't acknowledge the undermining, not even when Torre hooked up with his past and future ghostwriter Tom Verducci to orchestrate "The Loneliest Yankee" hit piece, set to run on the eve of the playoffs, just when Rodriguez was in the midst of a great September. Funny thing is, though, that years after the fact, Torre finally acknowledged in "The Yankee Years" that the clubhouse was divided. Duh!

Anyhow, I think that year that Torre wanted to make sure that Rodriguez would fail in the playoffs again, so A-Rod would be off the team, even if it meant sacrificing his team's October chances. First, he batted Rodriguez sixth in Game 1, even though A-Rod hadn't been in that role all year, just to make sure to give him more scrutiny.

Also, Torre's lack of preparation for that series was breathtaking. The team never took Kenny Rogers seriously, which haunted them in Game 3, and Torre let Jim Leyland flatter him with that "Murderers Row and Cano" nonsense, playing St. Joe like a fiddle. He also never asked for the umpire to check if Rogers was doctoring the ball, something Tony LaRussa did in the World Series.And don't forget the sight of Gary Sheffield at first base.

The Yanks did win Game 1 at home, but they never won again in that series, although they did lead in Game 2 before Mike Mussina blew that lead. Remember Mussina blaming the fact that the game was a day game, with a quieter atmosphere than it would have been if it hadn't been rained out the night before? Good grief.

Game 4 was the infamous day where Torre decided to hang the entire series on A-Rod's shoulders, scapegoating him by batting him eighth, and never telling him beforehand. Then, when the media hordes inevitably descended on Torre, he chastised them for not asking them about why he had also benched Jason Giambi. I thought what Torre did was one of the nastiest, most cowardly things I've ever seen in my life. He wasn't trying to win the game. He was trying to put the goat horns on A-Rod. And I wished that the Yankees would have fired him then and there for what he did.

Anyhow, Game 4 was the day of my cousin's wedding, so I fortunately missed seeing much of the carnage live, although I knew it was hopeless. I spent most of my cousin's wedding reception in a rage about the Yankees, capped off seeing the Mets' chanting about "Party in Queens, Funeral in the Bronx" on the TV at the banquet's room bar when the Mets clinched the NLDS.

I really hoped that Torre would be gone after that year, but the Yankees were stuck with that gold-plated phony another year. There was talk that the Yanks might get rid of him, but Steve Swindal didn't want to pay him without him managing. I said when the team brought Torre back that they would never win another playoff series until he was gone, and I was proven to be right.

Anyhow, I'd like to see the Yankees beat Detroit this year, and for A-Rod to have a huge series in October, as a little cosmic payback for the 2006 ALDS. In fact, that's my prediction -- A-Rod will have a big series, and the Yanks will win in four games.

Report: Were Boston Red Sox Pitchers Drinking Beer During Games?

2011-09-30T07:55:00.005-04:00

Quick squawk, as I breathe a sigh of relief that Freddy Garcia, not A.J. Burnett, is the Yankees' Game 3 starter: I read this in today's Boston Herald: "According to multiple sources, more than one pitcher drank beer in the clubhouse during games on the days he didn’t pitch." If this report is true, are you flipping kidding me? Geez, is it too much to expect your players to say sober when they are in uniform during games? And what the heck was Terry Francona doing when some members of his rotation may have been treating game time as Miller Time?

Good grief. Maybe I'm naive, but other than the famous Jack Daniels shot in the Sox clubhouse before Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, I haven't heard many stories of players drinking beer in uniform during games. Even David Wells, for all his partying ways, was never accused of boozing it up during a game. Whether or not it was a game a player was pitching in is irrelevant. Crazy times!

I listened to the Terry Francona/Theo Epstein presser yesterday, and while they didn't give explicit details, they did acknowledge that there was some clubhouse turmoil and a bad atmosphere, so much so that Francona had to call a team meeting after a 14-0 win! Terry admitted that "We were spending too much energy on things that weren’t putting our best foot forward toward winning." Interesting!

The thing that got me with that press conference was that they both acknowledged problems in the clubhouse, as well as players not being in good physical condition. Hmmmm, isn't that the manager's job? To keep the players working together, and make sure they are ready to play?

(The other thing that amazed me in the presser was Theo Epstein suggesting that John Lackey just couldn't help it when he rolled his eyes at his teammates and his manager. What, is he suffering from Sarcasm Syndrome or something, where he just can't help but show his disdain to others?)

Anyhow, I'm not exactly going out on a limb here, but my guess is that Francona is going to "leave" today as Sox manager, but it really be a firing by the front office. Speaking of which, I got a link in my email yesterday from SaveTito.com. This Yankee fan completely agrees -- I think Tito ought to be Red Sox manager for life. Get your popcorn ready!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Pride, Power, Proctor

2011-09-29T09:44:00.007-04:00

So the Yankees allow a cast of scrubs to blow a seven-run lead while sitting All-Star relievers Mariano Rivera and David Robertson and some folks give Jose Reyes grief for not being Ted Williams?

Before I get to the conclusion of my brief stint as a Yankee fan, I want to congratulate Jose on becoming the first Met to win a batting title. And there's nothing on the final day to apologize for. As Squawker Lisa points out, the reason we remember Ted Williams' heroics 70 years later is that they are so unusual.

Players sit on their stats in meaningless games all the time. As Mike Vaccaro pointed out in the Post, Bernie Williams left the last game of the 1998 season early to protect his batting title. And as one of Lisa's Facebook friends pointed out, in 2008 Derek Jeter left the game early and sat out the last two games, finishing with a batting average of exactly .300.

I do feel a little bad for the loyal fans who came out to Citi Field yesterday, but they ultimately got what they paid to see - Reyes win a batting title and appear in what could be his last game as a Met.

Reyes' early departure was handled awkwardly, but these are the Mets. And my main concern with Reyes is that the Mets now avoid an early departure for Reyes from his Mets career.

***

So much for my three-day stint as a Yankee fan. If I had wanted to see epic bullpen meltdowns, I could have stayed in Flushing. But the Yankees are not obligated to use Mariano and Robertson in a meaningless game for them as they prepare for the playoffs any more than Reyes was obligated to play the whole game.

And whatever the Yankees did, it was the Red Sox who were responsible for their own collapse. While I wanted to see the Red Sox win, I have to say that I don't mind seeing the Sox and Braves pass the 2007 Mets on the list of epic chokes.

Especially the Braves.

While my brief stint as a Yankee fan was a bust, my brief stint as a Phillies fan went well, with the Fightins finishing off the collapsing Braves. And the Phillies did themselves proud, with veterans Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and even ancient Raul Ibanez playing all thirteen innings of last night's game.

***

Thankfully, the postseason is here, so I can go back to rooting against both the Yankees and the Phillies. I just hope I don't have to make another grim choice in the World Series.

The Choke's on Them: Red Sox Lose, Squawker Lisa Does the Snoopy Dance

2011-09-29T07:44:00.000-04:00

This is the happiest I've ever been after a Yankee loss. I'm exhausted from screaming and clapping and doing the Snoopy Dance to celebrate the Red Sox losing and Tampa Bay winning.

I still can't quite believe it all happened the way it did. Remember, the Yankees had a 7-0 lead against Tampa (what was up with Mark Teixeira hitting two homers?) and even though their bullpen ending up giving up six runs against the Yanks, the Bombers were still within one strike away from winning the game when Tampa tied it. And Boston was also one strike away from winning the game when Baltimore roared back to win.

There was also Atlanta's historic collapse, with the Cardinals making it into the playoffs. All in all, my TV's remote control and picture-in-picture function got quite the workout last night. That was the most action-packed, exciting night of baseball all year.

The funny thing, though, is that if Bud Selig gets his way with adding another wild card, none of this would have happened -- both Boston and Atlana would have made the playoffs, being rewarded even though they blew their wild card leads.

It was so good, so good, as they say in Red Sox Nation, to see Boston back where they belong, choking away their playoff chances and bringing much angst to Beantown. Remember, I witnessed the carnage of the 2004 ALCS in person for Games 6 and 7. I literally cried after Game 7. And the next day, when I went into work at New York's hometown newspaper, I saw how my employer mocked the Yankees with the infamous "The Choke's On Them" Daily News cover. Those were horrible, horrible times.

Well, now the choke is on the Red Sox again. And you'd better believe I am enjoying every single minute of it. It's not just that Boston blew a nine-game wild card lead in a month. They were also in first place as late as September 1 this year, and were in that spot for 60 days this summer. The Yanks knocked them out of first for good at the begining of September, and helped send them on this downward spiral.

BTW, I've already seen some revisionist history by a few Sox fans that this debacle isn't that bad because the team only missed a wild card spot. Puh-lease. This team was being touted as the best Red Sox squad ever. They seemed totally stacked, from top to bottom, and had a great winter of acquisitions. At the beginning of the year, most people, including myself, figured the Sox would win the division, with the Yanks winning the wild card (and who would have expected the Rays to be in the playoff picture at all?) To do what they did ranks right up there with 1978. Only thing is, the '78 Sox actually made it competitive towards the end, forcing a one-game playoff.

I feel some empathy for my Red Sox fan friends -- they deserved better for their loyalty -- but I'm still loving seeing the Red Sox franchise I remember return to its old ways. (I've been listening to WEEI on my phone all week. Great stuff hearing Red Sox Nation lose their minds!) Since 2004, the Red Sox have had their own mystique and aura, of seeming that they could come back against impossible odds. Now that's all gone.

Come to thing of it, a lot of what I see the Red Sox this year reminds me of the Yankees in 2004. And if the ownership is smart, they will fire Terry Francona, the way the Yanks should have gotten rid of Joe Torre after that year. I think that in most cases, the first five years a manager has a team are the most effective (Torre had four rings in that time, Francona two.)

One of the things Joe Girardi did, after some initial resistance, was successfully meld the four rings guys and the rest of the Yanks together as a real team, with a different identity from the late '90s dynasty. That's what the Sox need right now. From what I see, they don't have the all-for-one, one-for-all look that they did in 2004. They also don't seem to have the Kevin Millar-type joker to keep things loose, the way the Yanks have now with Nick Swisher, and didn't have in 2004.

I already see a lot of scapegoating in Red Sox Nation of Jonathan Papelbon, Carl Crawford, etc., the way A-Rod was scapegoated in 2004. But in both cases, this was a team-wide meltdown, with nearly everybody playing a part in the suckitude.

And I don't want to hear any whining about losing pitchers due to injury. The Yankees won the AL East with CC Sabathia, the rookie Ivan Nova, and a bunch of retreads. They won with A.J.. Burnett having an even worse season than last year, and Phil Hughes being terrible and/or injured for much of the year. The two worst pitchers down the stretch for Boston were Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, both of whom are arguably better than any Yankee starter who does not have the CC initials.

Anyhow, I'm going to bask in the fact that the Red Sox of old, the ones who broke hearts all over New England, are back, baby! Good times!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Backwards Day for the Squawkers

2011-09-27T17:46:00.002-04:00

It's as if Squawker Lisa started watching "Doctor Who" and I tuned in to "Dancing With the Stars." As if Lisa started quoting Monty Python, while I quoted Oprah. Lisa is rooting for the Yankees to lose, while I am rooting for the Yankees to win.

People complain that fantasy baseball causes fans to compromise their rooting interests. But look what the collapse of the Red Sox has done to the Squawkers!

Not that it's any fun being a Met fan pulling for the Red Sox these days, when Boston is making the Mets looks good. The Mets have only won five of their last 16. The Red Sox have only won five of their last 22.

And just when I'm putting the 2007 Mets collapse in the past, I get to be reminded of it every day.

Since I know all too well how these collapses turn out, it's not like I have any hope that the Red Sox will turn it around.

The one bright spot about the Red Sox completing their historic collapse is that it will be even worse than that of the 2007 Mets. So maybe every time a team falls apart, the Mets won't be one of the first teams mentioned.

Meanwhile, the Braves are on the verge of their own historic collapse, which would be great, except now I have to root for the Phillies, since they are playing Atlanta.

I'm still rooting for the Mets to finish on a positive note, but even Jose Reyes' pursuit of the Mets' first batting crown is tainted by the fact that these could be his last appearances in a Met uniform.

But when I was hoping for meaningful games in September, I didn't expect it would involve rooting for the Yankees and the Phillies.

On Rooting for the Orioles and the Rays, Disliking John Lackey, and Rookie Hazing

2011-09-27T08:29:00.002-04:00

Yes, along with cheering for the Baltimore Orioles to beat the Boston Red Sox last night, I rooted for the Tampa Bay Rays to beat my beloved New York Yankees. And what of it? As Squawker reader Uncle Mike wrote yesterday, "Tibialia Rufus delenda est. The Red Sox must be destroyed." My brother says I should close every column with that phrase!

I want to see Red Sox fans wailing and gnashing their teeth over their team going down the tubes. I had great fun listening to bridge-jumping fans on WEEI last night. And I've been loving reading Boston fans killing Jacoby Ellsbury, only their team's MVP this year, because he dropped the ball and let in an inside-the-park homer last night.

And my Sox fan friends would feel the exact same way if the shoe were on the other foot, as my BoSox fan friend Sully Baseball and I discussed on his podcast last night (click here to listen.)

This Rays/Yankees series means zero to the Bombers, so why not cheer for Tampa to win, since it would help keep the Red Sox out of the playoffs. I don't want to see Boston rise from the dead, the way I feared they would after winning Sunday's game. I want them to go down in history as the worst September collapse ever. This isn't a matter of which team would be better for the Yanks in the postseason; this is a matter of extracting maximum humiliation. And if the Sox make the playoffs at all, the humiliation factor is not there.

Boston could still wake up over the last two games -- after 2004, I NEVER count them out. But here's hoping they continue their September swoon.

One other note on the Sox. Whenever I have pointed out that John Lackey, who I think is a colossal jerk, is actually having a worse season than A.J. Burnett, I've heard back from fans to not be so hard on Lackey, because his wife has breast cancer, and that's part of the reason for his terrible numbers. There's also been some holding back in the press on slamming Lackey due to that issue. And apparently, even the Sox's Bill James asked people to give Lackey a break because of this wife.

Now comes the news, courtesy of TMZ, that Lackey has filed for divorce from his cancer-stricken wife. Then he tried to make himself the victim here, being all outraged with the media Sunday, because some reporter dared to text him over the issue. Good grief.

I've seen a lot of outrage online over TMZ somehow invading Lackey's privacy by reporting a public filing. I wonder where all these Lackey lackeys were when the media ran story after story putting Alex Rodriguez's personal life on the front page, with zero newsworthiness other than it being a way to sell papers. When the press ran stories which were based on unsubstantiated rumors, like the centaur thing, his alleged behavior at strip joints, his tipping habits, and the supposed meltdown over being filmed at the Super Bowl, a meltdown that never actually happened. Not to mention the fact that MLB did a gambling investigation on A-Rod, based on a story from a scandal sheet, even though he could not possibly have been at one of the games in question because he was playing in the World Series.

At any rate, given the intense media attention that the Boston Red Sox's collapse has gotten, how Lackey thought that nobody in the media would write about him divorcing his wife when she has cancer is pretty astonishing. He ought to ask Newt Gingrich and John Edwards about the issue!

* * *

I was wondering when the Yankees were going to do the rookie hazing thing. They did it last night, having the kids dress up as 80s music stars -- Prince, Madonna, George Michael, Milli Vanilli, Slash, and MC Hammer. Aside from the fact that it made me feel old to see some of the big names of my younger days being a nostalgia thing, I noticed a few other things:

* Other than the Madonna costume, and maybe the George Michael one, the "hazing" was nonexistent, particularly in the Slash costume, which actually looked really cool. And the Hammer pants didn't really look like Hammer Time. Plus, most of the players wore sunglasses with their outfits, which helped hide whatever "embarrassment" there was even more. It made the event fun, not a humiliation. I'm sure that's intentional, giving all the issues these days with bullying. Keeping this good-natured was a good thing.

* As a teenager in the 80s, I was completely obsessed with music, and know that decade's music better than any others. So I think there were some really glaring omissions there in this group. Where is Michael Jackson, only the biggest star of the decade? Or Bruce Springsteen? Or Bono? And there are also no alternative rock representatives. Wouldn't it be funny to see a Yankee rookie dressed as Robert Smith of the Cure or as Morrissey? Or the Flock of Seagulls guy?

Joe Girardi, Scott Proctor Help Save the Sox's Season

2011-09-26T00:30:00.002-04:00

I really wanted the Yankees to sweep this series. I wanted the Yankees to tramp the dirt down, put the nail in the coffin, and destroy the Red Sox's season. A.J. Burnett did his part in the first game to smash the Sox. But alas, thanks to Joe Girardi and Scott Proctor, Boston gets to live again, with a huge victory that could be a momentum-changer to their season. If the Yanks face the Red Sox in the ALCS and lose, I will rue tonight even more.

I subscribe to the Conan the Barbarian belief that what is best in life is to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women. But now I am the one doing the lamenting!

I blame Joe Girardi for making several critical mistakes that helped cost the Bombers the game:

* The first was keeping Ivan Nova in for too long when the Sox were clearly getting to him. Nova should have been pulled by the sixth, not in the seventh when the damage was done, with the game tied.

* The second was Girardi refusing to use most of his bench to get a big hit to win the game. Leaving Austin Romine in to face Jonathan Papelbon with the bases loaded in the ninth inning was inexcusable. Romine has all of 15 at-bats in the majors, with exactly three hits, and you leave him in there to face Papelbon? Joe could have used Russell Martin, Alex Rodriguez, or Derek Jeter instead in that spot. Then he let Romine bat again with runners on base, only to have his strike out. Good grief.

Not pinch-hitting for Greg Golson with Andruw Jones made no sense, either. Or letting Eduardo Nunez go 0-for-6, bat in extra innings with Derek Jeter in the house. Why Girardi let the kids get so many at-bats when there were several people on the bench who could have ended the game with one swing makes no sense. What good did it do to give the veterans "rest" when if one of them had gotten to hit in the ninth, or even the tenth, the Yanks would have been resting on the plane much earlier, after most likely winning the game. Who needs the stars refreshed for Tampa, anyway? Tonight was the night to play them.

* And the third was going to Scott Proctor (yeah, I know Girardi was out of the game then, but I'm sure he helped make the decision) in the 14th. Why would you rely on a guy who is best known for having his arm blown out, and setting his equipment on fire, for anything? Proctor is horrible. He shouldn't even be on this team. (BTW, funny how when Brian Cashman was patting himself on the back the other day for all the moves he made this year, he didn't talk about picking up Proctor. Gee, I wonder why.) As soon as I saw that Proctor in, I knew the Yankees would lose. Thanks for nothing, Scottie.

One other note on Proctor. The media's revisionist history on him amuses me. Back when St. Joe Torre was blowing out his arm as a Yankee, it was bloggers like yours truly who pointed out how Joe ruined so many arms. The media mostly ignored the issue. It really wasn't until the whole Joba Rules thing that the press finally started to acknowledge that Joe was a bullpen-killer.

Anyhow, I was hoping to be jubilant over the Yanks sweeping the series, but I am disgusted that the Bombers let the BoSox escape with a win. Yikes!

Are the 2011 Boston Red Sox Turning Into the 2007 New York Mets?

2011-09-25T09:00:00.000-04:00

Saturday's game was the very first Yankees-Red Sox game that the Bombers have won this year at home, and the Yanks looked about as dominant against Boston as they have since they swept them in that August 2009 series in the Bronx. Jon Lester, who usually gives the Yankees fits, looked more like John Lackey. And Jesus Montero looked like a star. It was fun to have a blowout win, and the game actually lasted less than three hours. Shocking, I know!

I have been trying to keep myself from doing a full-on Snoopy Dance about the Boston Red Sox's September swoon -- they need to be officially out of the Wild Card race before I will put on my dancing shoes. That being said, what I've seen so far reminds me a lot of the 2007 New York Mets. (Squawker Jon, are you listening?)

The angriest I have ever heard Jon in the decade I have known him was when Tom Glavine coughed up seven runs in the first inning of the last game of the season, to put the nail in his team's coffin. Tom Terrible lasted all of one-third of an inning before getting knocked out of the game. Jon was appalled by Glavine's horrific performance and wrote a rant in Subway Squawkers that made my anti-Joe Torre rants look tame. And that was before Glavine poured salt in the wounds of Mets fans everywhere by proclaiming that he wasn't devastated by the loss. Good grief.

Anyhow, I've been reading talk about how it would be unfair to get rid of Terry Francona, because he has two rings, blah blah blah. Nonsense. If the Sox don't make the postseason, after everybody and his brother predicted them to win the World Series, the manager has to go. One of the many mistakes the Mets made in recent years was not getting rid of Willie Randolph after the 2007 collapse, instead waiting until the following June to fire him in the middle of the night after a West Coast win.

The same with the Yankees keeping on Joe Torre after 2004. It's the manager's job to keep the team grounded, and not letting the team drive into the ditch, the way Boston is right now. It's not all Carl Crawford's fault, you know, as much as some people in the media would like to make it that way.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to today's doubleheader, but apparently the matchup I was hoping for -- A.J. Burnett vs. John Lackey -- is apparently not going to happen. Alas. They could have called the game the Toilet Bowl.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

The AL East, Mariano Rivera, the Red Sox, And What's Going on in Yankeeland

2011-09-24T08:17:00.000-04:00

I have been very busy with real-life work projects -- so busy that I haven't had the time to squawk in ages. So here are a potpourri of my thoughts on what has been going on in Yankeeland:

* Mariano Rivera making history with his 602nd save: It was a great moment to see the greatest closer make history. What happened afterwards, not so great. Literally seconds after Mo set the record, I got an email from a certain sports memorabilia company congratulating Mo on setting the record, and pushing all sorts of commemorative products, including that valuable Yankee Stadium dirt. And the very first commercial after the game ended was for that company, pushing more product.

Then, I was horrified to see in the postgame presser that Mariano was wearing a cap and shirt featuring a logo of himself on it, commemorating the occasion. Say it ain't so, Mo! It was bad enough to see Jeter have his own logo after getting his 3000th hit, but to see Rivera promoting himself was even more of a spectacle.

Heaven forbid we just enjoy the moment, without having to see it so commercialized. I feel like Charlie Brown complaining about the commercialization of Christmas or something, but good grief. Could the powers that be wait a week or two before exploiting Mo's achievement with $199 "hand-signed" autographed baseballs (um, isn't that what authentic autographed baseballs are supposed to be? Hand-signed?) And don't forget the free "Dirt Crystal Paperweight" included. Oy. There's also a $799 signed jersey available, with a commemorative patch featuring Mo's achievement. This huckersterism and tackiness all seems so incongruous to the quiet, low-key way Rivera has conducted his career. I get that some people want to buy this stuff, but pushing it so strongly, right after the event, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I don't mind it as much when players get caps and shirts for winning the division, like the Yankees did when they got the playoff gear stuff when they won the AL East the other night. It's a team achievement, not a promotion of an individual. But these individual player logos rub me the wrong way. Not to mention the incessant promotion of the autographs and other memorabilia. And please, Chris Parmalee, do not sign any merchandise about how you were involved in getting "MR602," the way David Price embarrassed himself with his "I gave up DJ3K" autographs.

* I am very glad the Yankees won the AL East (it ticked me off the way last year ended, and they staggered into the postseason with only the Wild Card.) And I want to see the Yankees sweep the Red Sox this weekend (and A.J. Burnett has to be thankful for the existence of John Lackey, as he makes A.J. look like the reincarnation of Cy Young.) I've also been greatly enjoying Boston's September swoon. But I am not going to join in with the "I'd rather see the Yankees face this team than that team in the playoffs" crowd. The last time I did that, with the 2006 Detroit Tigers, the Yankees got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by those Tigers. I'm not taking a chance of jinxing things ever again.

And keep in mind that how a team does in September has zero to do with how well they will do in October. No matter how bad the Sox look now, as long as they can make the postseason, they have just as much chance as anybody to win the World Series. (I feel ill writing that, but unfortunately, it's true!)

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Too Bad Mets Couldn't Cap Off 9/11 Commemorations

2011-09-12T18:45:00.001-04:00

Usually, the Mets do a pretty good job on their own of ignoring their own history. This time MLB and ESPN did it for them.

The Mets may once again not have any meaningful games in September, but Sunday they at least had a meaningful pregame - commemorating the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The Mets played in the first professional sporting event in New York after 9/11. Mike Piazza hit what is probably the most memorable homer in the fifty-year history of the franchise.
And the Mets wore caps commemorating the heroic first responders.

But MLB didn't allow them to wear those caps last night.

I've lost track of the number of times I've wondered, what is Bud Selig thinking? Or more precisely, is Bud Selig thinking? The edict came down from Selig lieutenant Joe Torre, so he must share in the blame as well. As for speculation that the Mets were unwilling to risk a fine because they didn't want to pay it, or because MLB might demand that the Mets start paying back that $25 million loan, even if there's any truth to that, the problem still begins with MLB's ridiculous decision not to allow the Mets to wear the caps.

Had the game been played at the usual Sunday time of 1 p.m., the Mets would have had their ceremony well before the Giants' opening game and the U.S. Open final. The Yankees were also playing later in the afternoon.

Then there's ESPN scheduling the game for the worst possible time - directly opposite the glamor matchup of Jets vs. Cowboys. Complete, of course, with its own ceremony, and frequent shots across the Hudson of the New York skyline. You would think they would realize how many Met fans are Jet fans and vice versa.

Ideally, the game would have been played at the Mets' usual Sunday time of 1:10 p.m, well before the Giants, Yankees, and Jets games, as well as the U.S. Open final.

ESPN recognized that it would be a good night to air a ballgame from New York. But how about at least moving it up an hour to 7 p.m.? Fans could have tuned in to the ceremonies, then switched over to the Jets.

Last Thursday, President Obama gave his jobs speech at 7 pm rather than 8 pm. The President of the United States didn't think a major speech before Congress could compete with NBC's national football broadcast, but ESPN, which knows a thing or two about the popularity of football, thought people would tune in instead to Mets-Cubs?

At least my biggest gripe yesterday involved the particulars of a commemoration. It was far different ten years ago.

When the second plane hit, I knew I'd be coming in early to work that day at the Daily News. My Eighth Ave. subway was diverted to Sixth Ave., so I got out on 33rd St. and Sixth in preparation for walking over to the News' offices near Tenth Ave. It was a few minutes after 10 a.m., and everyone on the street was staring at the smoke pouring from the Twin Towers. I stared as well, unable to believe what I was seeing, before heading toward the office.

What I didn't realize at the time was that the first tower was already gone. There was so much smoke that you couldn't tell. Or maybe I did see just one tower but couldn't process that information - I had enough trouble processing it when I made it to work.

Or more precisely, the street in front of the office, which had been evacuated.

We soon were allowed back in, where I updated the web site with the awful news until finally leaving at 11 pm. I boarded a nearly deserted subway and made my way back uptown.

Sports did eventually offer a respite during that difficult time, but for me, the turning point was not Piazza's home run. It was Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.

I had grudgingly admitted that a Yankee World Series win would be good for the city. When the Yankees held the lead in the ninth with Mariano Rivera on the mound, another Yankee title appeared inevitable. It would be their fifth in sixth years.

Then, miraculously, the Diamondbacks rallied to win the game and the World Series. As a New Yorker, I was supposed to be upset, but I was the happiest I'd been in weeks. The mighty Yankees had lost! Yes, there was a new normal, but at least some things could remain the same. It was all right once again to root against the Yankees.

Remembering the Horrors of September 11, Ten Years Later

2011-09-11T21:08:00.000-04:00

These are my thoughts on remembering September 11, 2001, and the aftermath of the terrorist attack that killed 3000+ Americans. There will be a few baseball-related comments, but most of this post is going to be about 9/11. If you can't bear to read anything more on the subject, I will totally understand -- we do try to keep this blog all about New York baseball, but I feel like I have to say something today about the 10th anniversary of September 11.

I woke up that Tuesday morning in 2001 around noon. At the time, I worked nights as a web editor for the New York Daily News. That night was a particularly late evening at work, as the Giants were on Monday Night Football, and I worked until after 3 a.m. or so, and didn't get to sleep around 5. When my clock radio went off that morning, there was a reporter on the news talking about being on the site of the World Trade Center. I didn't know what he was talking about; even in my groggy state, I remembered that the anniversary of the 1993 attack on the building was in February, so I couldn't understand what the report was about.

Then I got up, looked at my computer, and saw on the Daily News home page that the Twin Towers were destroyed, and the Pentagon hit. How could the World Trade Center be destroyed? How could the Pentagon have been attacked? It seemed like a nightmare too bad to be true; I thought I was having a bad reaction from having taken a Tylenol P.M. the night before or something. Even after talking to several friends on the phone asking what happened, I didn't quite believe the Twin Towers were gone until physically walking up Staten Island's Richmond Terrace until I could see the skyline. When I saw two huge plumes of smoke where the Twin Towers used to be, the horrific truth was confirmed, and my jaw dropped.

I had moved to Staten Island the year before when I started working at the News, and one of the things I cherished was seeing the skyline every day on my drive to work. I used to make sure and look for the Twin Towers each time I passed it by. Now I would never see those buildings again. For years afterward, I couldn't even bear to look at the skyline, finding it too sad. Come to think of it, the New York City skyline has never looked quite right to me since the World Trade Center was destroyed. Still doesn't.

I never made it into work that day, as all the Staten Island bridges were closed, and the Staten Island Ferry wasn't running to Manhattan. But Squawker Jon did. He was called in early by our boss after the second tower was hit, and worked all day, putting up stories on the web site about the horrors. Back then, it was expected that maybe 10,000 of our countrymen were dead. We also didn't know at first about Flight 93.

The next day, I went back to work after a very long commute into the city. You could smell the burning Twin Towers from West 33rd Street. That first evening back, there was an emergency evacuation of the building. I remember a big, burly guy from the sports department barreling past me on his way down the stairs. People were scared out of their minds then, and rightfully so.

Some of that time after 9/11 is a blur. Other things I remember clearly, like walking around town and seeing all the handmade "Missing" signs. Or seeing Staten Island firefighters in formal dress over and over, them attending yet another funeral. (My borough lost close to 300 citizens, a good portion of them firefighters and police officers raising their families in Staten Island). The sound of bagpipes. You couldn't get away from thinking about 9/11 every minute, especially working at a daily newspaper. While we didn't lose anybody we know, we lost almost 3000 of our fellow New Yorkers. I think I might have cried every day for a good two months afterwards.

(Note: After reading this, Squawker Jon reminded me of the anthrax attacks on media companies during that time, and how we were all afraid to get the mail at our office. That's something I had kind of blocked out over the years!)

But there were moments that we cheered, like when watching the defiant, passionate "Concert for New York" on TV. Even Yankee fans like me rooted for the Mets to beat the Braves that Friday night (although I knew things had changed forever when I saw Chipper Jones get hugged by Mets players!)

Then there was the Yankees' playoff run, with even some Red Sox fans cheering for New York. My memories of the World Series that I like to remember are President Bush throwing out the first pitch for a strike in Game 3, Challenger flying into Yankee Stadium that night. And, of course, the Yankees going deep against Kim two nights in a row to win Games 4 and 5. And the gut punch that was Game 7 of that World Series just seemed cruel, although it did put a smile on Squawker Jon's face!

In the months following the horrors, we all kind of waited for the other shoe to drop. People were scared, and sad, and angry. The latter is something I think has been forgotten since 2001. There's been a mountain of news coverage this week, most focused on the sadness back then, and very little about the anger many of us felt back then. I remember how filled with rage I was that those bastards attacked us. This morning, when I saw Google's "Remembering September 11" link today describing the day this way: "The events of September 11, 2001 changed the lives of so many people around the world," and never mentioning that it was a terrorist attack, not just some random sad thing, I got ticked off all over again. Spare me the euphemisms, please.

We also don't do enough remembering of those who lost their lives in the wars after 9/11. The closest thing to a memorial that they have now is Section 60 of Arlington Memorial Cemetery. I went there with my brother on Christmas 2007, to see our father's grave there -- he had died on September 10 that year. I held up okay after seeing our father's tombstone for the first time, but completely lost it when I saw the graves of those who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them in their teens and early 20s. In addition to thinking about those who lost their lives in 9/11, today I'm remembering those who lost their lives after 9/11 in service to their country.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Rain, Rain, Go Away, But the Yankees Still Have to Play!

2011-09-07T07:58:00.000-04:00

I got stuck in yesterday's near-monsoon driving home last night, and heard the rain pounding against the windows when I got home, so I assumed that the Yankees would not play Tuesday night. Silly me. They did play the Orioles Tuesday night -- and Wednesday morning -- with a game that started past my bedtime (after 11 p.m.) and went on past 2 a.m. And according to the clips I saw, it rained pretty much the entire time. Good grief.

It was MLB, not the Yankees, who insisted that the game be played last night. Bud Selig reportedly ordered that the game be played, no matter what. Ridiculous. At least the Yanks are giving those with ticket stubs the opportunity to attend another game. But geez, that game never should have been played in the first place.

Since I was snoozing when the game started, I missed seeing the Francisco Cervelli home run controversy (it involves hands, but not his hands this time!) Big League Stew has the details.

Anyhow, hopefully the Yanks will be able to get today's game in without another huge rain delay. Rain, rain, go away!

Big Disappointment: John Sterling's Jesus Montero Home Run Calls

2011-09-06T08:01:00.002-04:00

When Jesus Montero was called up to the majors, I asked my Facebook friends to predict what John Sterling's home run call would be. I got lots of responses, such as "Jesus Montero Superstar," "Jesus Juiced One," and even "Holy Moses, Jesus Crucified it." And people were very interested in the subject.

So when Montero hit his first home run, I expected something maybe show-tunes related from Sterling. Something memorable. Instead, we got "Jesus is loose." What? He had all weekend to come up with something catchy, and we got a cheesy knockoff from "The Goose Is Loose"? Puh-lease.

And when Montero hit his second home run of the day, Sterling expanded on his call, saying "Jesus has been turned loose." Really? What is this, some Unleash the Kraken reference or something? Hate it. Back to the drawing board, John!

* * *

Something else I wasn't crazy about were Brian Cashman's comments the other day on Montero. He told ESPN's Ian O'Connor that "In terms of hitting ability, Montero can be a Manny Ramirez or a Miguel Cabrera." He also said, "As a catcher, he's got a cannon for an arm. As far as everything and what I want him to be, I want him to be Jorge Posada. He has a chance to bat third or fourth. He has the potential to be a beast in the middle of our lineup."

What, why not throw in Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Yogi Berra to make the comparisons even more hard to live up to? Good grief.

I fail to see how hyping up a rookie so much is a good thing.

How about being happy for now if Montero can be better than Francisco Cervelli? Isn't that enough at the moment?

And when I told Squawker Jon what Cashman said, he snapped back, "Then why did Cashman try to trade Montero for two months of Cliff Lee?" Good point!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Squawker Media Alert: Lisa Will Be on ESPN Radio Today at 5 P.M.

2011-09-01T14:58:00.002-04:00

Lisa will be on Brian Sinkoff's "Sound-Off With Sinkoff" radio show today (Thursday) at 5 p.m. If you live in the Albany area, turn your radio to 104.5 FM, or you can listen to her live by going to ESPN 104.5 The Team's website.

What's the Deal With the Yankees and Bugs?

2011-09-01T08:35:00.000-04:00

My jaw dropped when I heard that a moth flew into Phil Hughes' eye when he was trying to make a critical pitch in last night's game. What's the deal with young Yankee pitchers and insects? First Joba and the midges; now Hughes with the moths! Good grief.

I don't think Hughes should lose his spot in the rotation, thought -- A.J. Burnett ought to have that honor, even though Hughes' overall ERA this year is higher. Hughes, at times, has shown something ever since returning from the DL. All Burnett has shown as of late is the ability to give Yankee fans agita.

Speaking of which, The Michael Kay Show was giving me agita yesterday, with the twisted logic about how it was okay for David Ortiz to flip his bat when hitting a homer, but Francisco Cervelli -- aka the Yankee Clapper -- was committing the crime of the century by clapping his hands. Um, which unwritten rule is this, again? Ridiculous.

The other thing that bugged me was that Kay painted anybody defending Cervelli as being pro-Yankee. But a lot of Red Sox fans, including some of my Sox fan friends, thought John Lackey (who, BTW, has arguably worse numbers than Burnett this year) was out of line, especially since he ended up costing the Sox a run with his hissy fit. Too bad Kay et al couldn't bother to show the other side of the story.

One other thing: Boston Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia suggested that Francisco Cervelli was acting that way because he is Latino. Never mind that Cervelli is also of Italian descent, and that the comment itself is pretty offensive.

Then Salty backtracked, complaining about these kids today acting out. Which is pretty funny, given that Saltalamacchia is all of 26 years old himself. You don't get to complain about these kids today until you're at least 30. It's one of those unwritten rules thingies!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Francisco Cervelli Claps His Hands, And John Lackey Is Not Pleased

2011-08-31T08:33:00.001-04:00

I'm very busy this week, so this will have to be a quick Squawk. (And yes, Squawker Jon and I are fine after Hurricane Irene hit the area, and we hope all of our readers are doing well.) Aside from seeing CC Sabathia finally beat the Red Sox this year, I loved seeing him all fired up when Francisco Cervelli got plunked last night by John Lackey. Great passion!

And I had to laugh about Boston's selective outrage over Cervelli clapping his hands with glee after hitting a homer. How many times over the years have we Yankee fans witnessed David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez showboating after hitting homers? Both of them would be great on Broadway with their song and dance routines. Not to mention Jonathan Papelbon literally dancing on the mound after a big save. But all that is apparently fine and dandy with Red Sox Nation.

Yet Francisco Cervelli shows the least bit of emotion, and the benches clear over it. Can't we just say that it's Frankie Being Frankie, and leave it at that? Good grief.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Javier Vazquez Can Pitch Well in New York After All

2011-08-30T23:46:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday night, Javier Vazquez pitched seven shutout innings as the Marlins beat the Mets, 6-0.

In 2010, Vazquez won a total of three games in New York all season.

In his two stints as a Yankee, Vazquez managed as many as six shutout innings while pitching in New York only once - and that was also at Citi Field, on May 21, 2010.

It was the second time this month that Vazquez pitched well in New York. On August 1, Vazquez allowed one run in seven innings at Citi Field, getting a no-decision in a 7-3 Marlins win.

After an awful first half, Vazquez has found his form, with quality starts in 11 of his last 12 appearances.

If the stingy Marlins cut Vazquez loose after the season, would the Mets give him a look if the price were right? Yes, Vazquez was terrible last year in the Bronx, but he does have years of success in the NL East.

***

By the way, Squawker Lisa, here are Vazquez's numbers with the Yankees in 2010, which caused him to be run out of town, compared with A.J. Burnett's numbers this season:

Vazquez: ERA 5.32; WHIP 1.40; W-L 10-10
Burnett: ERA 5.31; WHIP 1.44; W-L 9-11

Those numbers look pretty similar, whether or not you are smoking the objective pipe.

I Will Be on South Florida Radio Today With The Amigo and Phil Dizz

2011-08-27T10:56:00.000-04:00

I am going to be on South Florida's WFTL Sports radio station today, on the New York Sports Report. You can hear me squawk with Larry Milian -- aka The Amigo -- and co-host Phil Dizz at 11:05 a.m. today. I will be talking about the Yankees, Hurricane Irene, and Hurricane A.J.!Go here to listen live online, or turn your AM dial to 640 if you are in the Miami area.

What's More Shocking: That the Yankees Hit Three Grand Slams in One Game, or That Derek Jeter and Minka Kelly Broke Up?

2011-08-26T07:04:00.000-04:00

It was a big day in Yankeeland, with them overcoming a 7-1 lead to win, 22-9 thanks to a record-setting three grand slams in one game. Then I woke up this morning to hear the really big news, that Derek Jeter and Minka Kelly have broken up.

Remember Derek Jeter's stated reason for having HBO cameras film for a documentary, including all sorts of footage of him with Kelly? He said it was so when he had kids, they could see what he was like as a player? (Yes, because Jeter just languished in obscurity all those years -- until allowing HBO to film him, all they would have had were some old kinescope clips!) Now any future children will see him with the woman who is not their mother. Awkward!

Anyhow, ever since Jeter went on a hot streak since hitting DJ3K, I've heard some fans suggesting that anybody who fretted over his career decline over the past year owes an apology, needs to eat crow, blah, blah, blah. Um, no. We're not talking about, say, writing Mariano Rivera's career off when he blew three games in a row earlier this month. We're talking about over a year's worth of data.

The captain hit .270 in 2010. And for an entire year -- June 2010 to June 2011 -- he hit .255, with a .666 OPS. And his power has been way down. It was not unreasonable to talk about him slipping, no matter how well he has hit over the past month and a half. And if this issue involved any other player, nobody would feel such a need to do this "I told you so" thing. But this is Derek Jeter we're talking about, and he's never allowed to get any criticism, ever, without the "Shut Up, He's Got Five Rings" contingent having a hissy fit.

I'm glad Jeter's doing better right now, because it's helping the team win more games. Isn't that enough?

MLB Eyes A-Rod Role in Earthquake

2011-08-24T06:57:00.000-04:00

Did you feel the earthquake yesterday? I did, as did Squawker Jon, although neither of us quite realized what it was at first. Then, we heard what it was, we both wondered if some bitter MLB writer would find a way to blame it on Alex Rodriugez. After all, A-Rod gets blamed for everything these days. So, given that he jammed his thumb this week, we figured the injury could be blamed on him shaking the earth to cause the quake! Thus, today's silly headline.

Speaking of A-Rod, the New York Post has written about the latest casino kerfuffle.Alex reportedly went to Ruth's Chris Steak House at Mohegan Sun, tipped $100 on a $260 meal, and still had some snarky waitress say Jeter was better. And he was also criticized for supposedly not wanting to pose for photos at the casino saddened somebody who watched it. Um, A-Rod not posing for a photo at Mohegan Sun that could end up being sold for five or six figures to the, um, New York Post is about the most sensible thing he's done all year!

Anyhow, the Post also wrote that A-Rod "was spotted last Monday in a high-stakes gaming room" for two hours. But here's the deal -- Bobby Soper, the CEO of Mohegan Sun, said that Rodriguez did not gamble:

“He did have dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House,” Bobby Soper said of Rodriguez. “He went straight there and straight back out. He did not gamble.”

According to TheDay.com, "Soper said the casino does not generally discuss what celebrities do at the casino but noted he wanted to set the record straight about Rodriguez’ visit." But even though the New York Post story was updated more than once, they somehow never got around to including that quote. Neither did most of the other breathless reports about A-Rod at a casino. Shocker, I know.

* * *

In other news, Brian Cashman is at it again, defending A.J. Burnett's juvenile actions on the mound Saturday:

“I’ve got CC Sabathia cussing in his glove, I’ve got Paul O’Neill, who for a huge run here, was kicking water coolers. It’s not an issue. It’s just silliness. I’ve got other guys on our team doing the same stuff,” Cashman said. “I like seeing passion. I don’t want a guy walking off the mound singing ‘Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah’ and having a skip to his step after a performance like that.”

Oh, please. Aside from the fact that Cashman has to bring down other players to A.J.'s level to prove his point, his argument is stupid. Nobody would be mad if Burnett was cursing at himself over his poor performance. But instead, he cursed at Joe Girardi, his manager, something The Powers that Be in Yankeeland don't want to acknowledge, and something that none of his other teammates have done for the world to see.

At any rate, plenty of times in the postgame Burnett was practically singing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" in interviews, not seeming the least bit upset. Of course, if some reporter were to point that out to Cashman, he'd find a way to defend that, too.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

That Boy Ain't Right: A.J. Burnett Throws a Hissy Fit, Shows Up Joe Girardi

2011-08-21T09:31:00.001-04:00

Squawker Jon and I went to Asbury Park for a day of fun in the sun at the beach, so I missed most of last night's game. When I got into the car to head home, I heard John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman talk about the 9-1 score, and how Aaron Laffey did a good job after the game was out of reach. They went on and on about Laffey, without ever mentioning who put the Yankees in the hole in the first place -- A.J. Burnett!

Anyhow, when I got home, I looked up what happened, and made a snarky remark on Facebook referencing Brian Cashman's Objective Pipe, I wondered how he would insist that A.J. really had a good game, even though he gave up seven runs in 1 2/3 innings. Then I heard from Facebook friends about A.J.'s hissy fit -- how he cursed at Joe Girardi when taken out of the game, saying "That's B*llsh*t," and stormed into the clubhouse after being removed. Then Girardi followed him into the clubhouse, with the body language of an angry father. A.J. came back into the dugout, then left again, after the runs scored, before the inning was over.

I couldn't quite believe Burnett would be so outrageous, but sure enough, the clips shown in the postgame showed exactly that. To their credit, YES analysts Ken Singleton and Bob Lorenz were very critical of what A.J. did, and called it like they saw it. My thoughts after seeing Burnett in action was to channel a Hank Hill line, about how "That boy ain't right."

But then, in the postgame, Joe Girardi came up with a ridiculous story about how Burnett was really upset with the umpire, not him, and was really cursing at the ump calling that pitch to Joe Mauer Strike Three, and not Ball Four. Girardi was very confrontational with YES' Jack Curry, one of the most respected voices in baseball. Joe blamed the media for making something out of nothing, and trying to make a problem with Burnett and Girardi when there was none. Basically, Girardi said to the press, "Who are you gonna believe? Me or your lying eyes?" (Read the transcript of the conversation, and watch the exchange here.)

Look, there are plenty of times when the media makes something out of nothing -- like Mark Feinsand's absolutely shameful attempt to link Alex Rodriguez to the University of Miami football scandal because A-Rod is on the school's Board of Trustees, even though there isn't a shred of evidence linking A-Rod to it. But the Burnett issue isn't one of them. For one thing, Burnett was looking at Girardi, not the ump, when he cursed. Second, according to Burnett, Girardi asked him if the comment was directed at him. And finally, Burnett has a history of losing his cool like this -- it wasn't reported much at the time, but Burnett started taking off his uniform in the dugout after being taken out of a White Sox game a few weeks ago. Also, remember how he cut up his hands after slamming them on the clubhouse door last year?

And I find myself agreeing with ESPN New York's Wally Matthews, of all people, in his very critical assessment of Girardi's coddling of Burnett:

Either Joe Girardi is one of the staunchest managerial defenders of any and all players who have ever worn a Yankee uniform or he is a lot more afraid of his own players than he is of looking foolish and untruthful on live television.

There really is no third choice.

You know, for all the grief the media has given A-Rod for being "bush league," I don't remember him ever showing up his manager, even when the manager showed him up by batting him eighth. Yet A.J. gets away with it. Why? As Matthews writes:

"A.J. was angry at himself," Girardi said afterward.

Well, it's about time someone other than A.J. got angry at A.J. Someone like the manager, who turns the other cheek each time he gets his face publicly spat on, or the GM who signed Burnett to the five-year, $82.5 million deal and now admonishes fans to "smoke the objective pipe" and see A.J. through pinstriped glasses.

I completely agree. Enough is enough. Burnett needs to be taken out of the rotation. Now. How can there be any justification for keeping him in, when Phil Hughes is pitching his heart out these days -- and acting a heck of a lot mature, to boot.

As for Burnett, that boy ain't right. And somebody needs to be a grownup in Yankeeland and hold him accountable until he gets right.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Jorge Posada Sez He Could Play for Another Team Next Year

2011-08-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

I was listening to much of Saturday's Yankee game live on the radio. And when Jorge Posada was 3-for-5 in the game with six RBIs (thanks in part to hitting a grand slam), after not playing for a week, I said to Squawker Jon that Jorge ought to announce his retirement right then and there after the game. After all, he is most likely never going to have another day like that in his career, so he might as well end his career on a high note, after getting a curtain call from the hometown fans. Jon said that retiring would be perceived as Posada quitting on his team.

We disagreed on that (I argued that a part-time player retiring would hardly be like the Carlos Zambrano hissy fit the other night.) But both of us would agree that 2011 will be Posada's last year. Yet today's New York Post suggests that Posada wants to play again in 2012, even if it means playing for another team.

Posada, a career-long Yankee who is celebrating his 20th year with the organization, said he would consider playing for another team once his contract is up at the end of this season.

"It could [happen]," Posada told The Post yesterday. "I don't know what's going to happen after this year. But we'll see."

Right, because MLB teams are going to be lining up to sign a 40-year-old catcher who can't throw anymore. Or maybe it's that they want him to DH with that stellar .237 BA and .700 OPS. Not to be mean, but those are the facts.

Posada was never Jason Varitek, a catcher that pitchers loved to throw to. Posada was a great catcher primarily because he was a great hitter. But he also used to be able to throw guys out as well. By the summer of 2010, that part of his game was gone for good, with opponents running wild on him. Remember when the Red Sox did a double steal on him twice in one inning?

Anyhow, I get that ballplayers are competitive, but at a certain point, a player has to realize when it's time to say goodbye. If Posada didn't have the pedigree, and the rings, and that whole Core Four connection, chances are he would have been released months ago, and sitting at home collecting the rest of the $13.1 million he is owed for 2011.

In the Post article, Jorge brings up how the New York Mets wanted to give him a five-year deal after the 2007, and he was "very close" to moving to Flushing. But he also batted .338 that season, with a .970 OPS. Big difference. At any rate, thanks to Omar Minaya being seen with Posada at Le Cirque, he got the fourth year he coveted from the Yanks, the year they didn't originally want to give him. Posada should be happy that he got that, and realize that the end is near.

I think I can safely assume that no MLB team is going to sign Posada to a major-league contract in 2012. But he might get a minor-league offer from somebody else. Is Posada really going to want to do that -- ride the buses with the kids, hoping for another shot at the big time? Come on now.

Posada has had a great career. He ought to figure this is his last year, and begin to accept that his career is nearly over. Just because he had one stellar day doesn't mean that he's a viable MLB player for 2012.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Brian Cashman, Crybaby! GM Can't Take a Little Criticism About A.J. Burnett

2011-08-13T07:56:00.000-04:00

I've been saying for months that New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman has gone into Joe Torre mode, where he thinks his you-know-what don't stink. And, like what happened with Torre in later years, anybody who says the mildest criticism about his decision-making gets lambasted.

Cashman is now outraged that the media and the Yankee fan base has lost patience with A.J. Burnett, with many of them thinking that Burnett should lose his spot in the current six-man rotation. So Cash launched an epic whine yesterday, complaining about how anybody who thought that way was "stupid." Cashman said he thought Burnett's failures were blown out of proportion, and called it a "bull - - - - emotional response to stuff that doesn't accurately reflect reality."

“The stuff on A.J. is way overblown. A.J.’s been solid for us this year. I just think the way it’s playing doesn’t necessarily reflect how he’s pitched,” Cashman said. “The public outcry recently is all emotion rather than factual.”

Really? Having an 8-9 record, with a 4.60 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP when you're supposed to be this team's No. 2 starter is "solid"? Spare me.

Granted, compared to A.J.'s 2010 10-15, 5.26 ERA, 1.51 WHIP record, one of the all-time worst Yankee pitching seasons ever, it looks like he's made progress. (Burnett's overall Yankee record is 31-33, with a 4.61 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP.) But that's the thing -- for the third year in a row, Burnett got off to a pretty good start, then tanked as the year progressed. Burnett hasn't won a game this year since June 29, and he is yet to have a Yankee win in August. Those are indeed facts, not emotions. The only Yankee Burnett's numbers look good compared to are Phil Hughes, but at least Hughes has shown some progress since returning from the DL.

More from the rant:

"We've got six guys who are capable of pitching in a rotation in a pennant race," Cashman said. "That's a good thing. Someone is going to have to go, and we're going to make that decision. But this stuff about [whether] A.J. Burnett is worthy of being ripped from the rotation is a bunch of crap."

He also said:

"I encourage everybody to just break it down," Cashman said. "Break it down. Compare him to other people. Look at his start-by-start. Look at his run support. If you smoke the objective pipe, I think the coverage on him would be a little smoother, more accurate."

Again, it's insulting that Cash thinks daring to ponder whether Burnett should be taken out of the rotation is such a terrible "crap" idea.

But Cashman is smoking something, alright, if he thinks looking at the stats and breaking it down actually helps Burnett's case. Run support? He was staked to a 13-1 lead against the White Sox and STILL couldn't make it out of the fifth inning! Besides, as Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York noted:

• Of all pitchers who qualify for the ERA title, Burnett ranks 91st (4.60).

• As far as run support is concerned, Burnett ranks 27th in the majors (6.84).

• He hasn't won since June 29 and is 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA during that stretch (seven starts).

• He hasn't won an August start in his two-plus seasons with the Yankees (0-8, 7.18).

So much for the stats proving A.J's really doing great!

Cashman also claimed:

"I have more objectivity than most of us, let's put it that way. I'm just used to the [expletive] emotional response to stuff that doesn't really reflect reality. A.J. Burnett is not pitching anywhere close to as bad as people say."

Oh, please. First of all, I don't really believe anybody is truly objective. The most we can strive for is to be fair. And the idea that Cashman is really objective is nonsense.

At any rate, I find it rich that a professional who can't manage to get through a few sentences in this interview without cursing and calling others "stupid" and "emotional" is complaining about others not being objective. Cashman ain't exactly acting like Mr. Spock here!

He did concede that he could be blamed for Burnett:

“He’s being treated differently publicly because he has money attached,” said Cashman, who spiced his remarks with a profanity. “So forgive him for saying yes to a contract. If you want to blame someone for his contract, blame me. But the man can still pitch.”

Gee, you think money has something to do with it, Cash? If Burnett were making the major league minimum, would he even have been on the team after 2010? The answer is no. Of course it matters.

But that's not the only issue here. I actually like Burnett -- he would be the current Yankee player I would most like to go have a liquid refreshment with -- and I think he was a critical part of the 2009 World Series championship. If he didn't win Game 2, I don't think the Yanks would have won the series.

However, the facts are that 1) Burnett has melted down repeatedly in the second half, and 2) his post-game interview comments have been abysmal, where he has been in denial about his poor pitching, like when he said after his last start he wouldn't do anything differently. And given that Cashman lost faith in Ian Kennedy after the pitcher gave one dopey interview, and ended up trading him, he's showing a bit of a double standard here.

Funny, Cashman's acolytes love to say how honest he is. No, he's not. He's all about avoiding blame, and criticizing others, and making everybody the bad guy but him. When you make fun of your own fan base, the people who buy your team's tickets that help fund your $200+ million payroll, and call them "stupid" and "emotional," you're not being honest, you're just being an ungrateful jerk.

Squawker Media Alert: Lisa on the Radio at 1:20 p.m. Today

2011-08-10T10:31:00.005-04:00

Squawker Lisa will be on the radio at 1:20 p.m. today, squawking about the Yankees. You can hear her talking to host Mike Lindsley on Syracuse's The Score 1260 AM. Click here to listen live online.

Does A.J. Burnett Look (And Pitch) Like Chord Overstreet From Glee?

2011-08-10T07:56:00.000-04:00

Aside from A.J. Burnett *still* keeping his record of never having a Yankee victory in August, he also debuted a new super-blond hairdo last night. When I saw A.J. in the postgame, I thought he looked like Chord Overstreet from "Glee," aka "Trouty Mouth, as Santana on the show calls him. But a longtime reader pointed out that A.J. looked more like Gomer Pyle in this pic. Shazam!

Anyhow, every time Burnett has a bad outing, which is all too often lately, Twitter and Facebook and Yankees message boards blow up with outraged fans demanding that he be released, traded, or sent to the minors. But guess what? None of that is going to happen. There is still $36+ million left on Burnett's contract. Short of picking up 90 percent of the salary, the Yankees are not going to be able to find anybody to trade Burnett to. And MLB rules prevent him from being sent to the minors.

And forget about releasing him outright. If the Yanks wouldn't release Kevin Brown after he punched a wall, and wouldn't release Carl Pavano after all his issue, what are the chances they are going to release Burnett? Two chances: slim and none.

The other thing fans blew up over last night was Mariano Rivera giving up a two-run homer to Bobby Abreu to give the Angels the victory. People were very upset, and worrying if the end is near. I'm not. At least not just yet. It seems that every time Rivera has a bad game, it's more like multiple bad outings in a row, not just one. They come in bunches. If the two or three awful games becomes five or six, then I will worry. But not just yet.

One other note -- I laughed over the guy in the very cool "Low-Wage Puppet" t-shirt trying to hand money to Torii Hunter to get his eyeglasses back (his glasses had knocked over into the outfield!) Hunter gave him the glasses back, but didn't take the money. Fun moment!

Thoughts on Yankees-Red Sox, Jorge Posada, and Phil Hughes

2011-08-09T07:44:00.000-04:00

Here are my belated thoughts on Sunday's game (didn't have time to write on Monday!):

Jorge Posada is no longer an everyday player, and it was long past time to do so. I've heard some grumbling from fans that the Yankees somehow disrepected him, but I completely disagree. (For one thing, I wish somebody would disrespect me by paying me $12 million a year!) And quite frankly, I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for Posada after his sit-down strike. Posada has had a great career, and been a beloved Yankee, but that snit fit was ridiculous.

Some fans think that he shouldn't have even been replaced as catcher, which I don't understand at all. Did they watch how Posada couldn't throw anybody out last year? Not to mention that the Yanks were worried he was going to have another concussion. Besides, he's nearly 40 -- how many catchers are successful at that age? Carlton Fisk, but that's about it.

Posada has had all year to get adjusted to being a designated hitter. He couldn't do it. That's baseball. And that's getting older. Putting a DH in the lineup every day who hits .230, and who hasn't shown power recently, isn't putting the best team on the field. So don't be surprised if Jesus Montero gets called up soon.

At any rate, if Posada weren't Posada, he would have been released from the team. The Yanks are showing him respect by keeping him on the team at all. Guess what? Players gets their chance to start in the majors because somebody thinks they will be better than their predecessor. If the Yankees had been sentimental about Joe Girardi's triple to win the 1996 World Series, Posada would never have gotten to start.

* * *

Hearing the ESPN broadcasters go on and on about how wonderful the Red Sox are was thoroughly nauseating. Please, don't tell me that if I don't like Dustin Pedroia, I don't like baseball. It's insulting. Not to mention that the Sox got to have Curt Schilling representing them, while there was no pro-Yankee equivalent in the booth.

The only thing I agreed with regarding the broadcasters was Bobby Valentine talking about how the pitchers needed to speed things up. Enough already -- these Yankees-Red Sox games go on way too long.

Who didn't think that after Mariano Rivera blew the save, and Phil Hughes was coming in, that the Yankees were going to lose the game? I felt like the game was over right them. Sorry, I don't have much faith in Hughes this year. (And I still think Ivan Nova should have gotten to keep his spot in the rotation.)

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Citi Field Without Squawker Lisa

2011-08-07T14:32:00.003-04:00

On Saturday night, I went to a Met game without Squawker Lisa, and the Mets not only won, but hit four homers in the process. I was sure it would be announced after the game that Braves starter Tommy Hanson was hurt - how else could he give up homers at Citi Field to the likes of Jason Bay, Josh Thole and Justin Turner (twice)? Bay, Thole and Turner had a combined total of ten homers coming into the game.

By hitting his eighth homer, Bay moves into a tie with David Wright for the team lead in homers among players still on the roster (Carlos Beltran had 15). In other words, if Jorge Posada were on the Mets (a move neither fan base would want to see), his nine homers would lead the active roster.

When the Mets fell behind, 5-2, in the third, it didn't look good, but the 2011 Mets have shown that you should never count them out. Still, I never would have guessed that the Mets would knock out star pitcher Hanson in the fourth inning with no sign of injury.

But speaking of injury, the 2011 Mets make it necessary to celebrate the good times when they happen, because they don't last too long. By the time I'm finishing up this blog entry, Jose Reyes has left Sunday's game with another hamstring injury and all the homers flying out of Citi Field today so far are off the bats of the Braves. Sunday's game so far is the kind of game I usually get when I go with Lisa!

*

Lisa, I see that you blogged earlier today on a new book written by a Yankee batboy named Luis Castillo. If former Met Castillo actually had been a Yankee batboy, that would explain a lot. A-Rod hits an embarrassing popup that will apparently end a Subway Series game with a Yankee loss, but then someone named Luis Castillo drops the popup. You mention that the book discusses how A-Rod initially tipped batboy Castillo less than other stars did, but then increased the size of his tips. Hmm.

Shocker: Luigi Squeegee's Book Has Inside Scoop on Yankees' Habits

2011-08-07T09:22:00.001-04:00

After last night's Yankees' loss, instead of trying to figure out why CC Sabathia can't beat the Red Sox, I was Googling to find out more information about a new book about the Yankees. Clubhouse Confidential: A Yankee Bat Boy's Insider Tale of Wild Nights, Gambling, and Good Times with Modern Baseball's Greatest Team is written by Luis Castillo, aka Luigi Squeegee, a former Yankee batboy and clubbie who worked for the team from 1998 to 2005. Reportedly now all people now who work around the team have to sign confidentiality agreements, but he was the last of the era that didn't have to.

Anyhow, Google Books has some pages online from the book. One of the more interesting tidbits I read last night from the excerpt was that not only was Roger Clemens (who comes off fairly well in it) extremely upset with himself for hitting Mike Piazza, but that he sent Brian McNamee over to the Mets' clubhhouse to get word to him that he was sorry! Heh.

The excerpt I read also talked about how Clemens filmed the 2003 rookie hazing costume event which featured Hideki Matsui bopping around the clubhouse in that infamous pimp costume. Heck, the Rocket ought to put that on DVD to finance his defense costs!

Anyhow, this morning's New York Post has an exclusive excerpt of tidbits from the book, and it looks to be pretty entertaining. Here are the most interesting things in the article:

Longtime Squawker readers know how I complained for years about Joe Torre snoozing in the dugout, and not paying attention to what was going on in the game. There may be a reason behind that -- according to "Clubhouse Confidential," he was more concerned about his bets on horse races than he was on the game! During a late-season game, Torre once asked Castillo to do him a favor.

"Go down to my office," he said. "I want you to check the score on the Off-Track Betting channel and see who won." I was stunned. It was during a game! I had never before been asked to leave my post.

"Make sure you find out the exact track and horse," he added.

Castillo continues:

I ran down into the clubhouse and found the attendant, Joe Lee.

"Joe, Mr. T just asked me to find out something about which horses won," I said. "What's he talking about?"

Lee was chewing gum and looked unimpressed about the whole thing. "Yeah," he said. "Don't you know why he's got that TV in his office? It's usually just tuned to one channel."

"What's that, the YES Network?"

"No, the OTB station."

Yikes! Lee helped Castillo figure out the results of the race and write them down.

I jogged up to the dugout and gave them to Torre, who grabbed the paper and studied it like his life depended on it. When he had discovered the information he wanted, he turned to Don Zimmer and showed it to him. The older man's eyes lit up, and before I left they were talking excitedly not about the next batter but the OTB results!

Are you kidding me? Hey, where's the MLB investigation on Torre paying attention to gambling on horses during a ballgame?

This anecdote was at the bottom of the five-page online article, but I thought it was the most devastating. Torre was the highest-paid manager in MLB history. It's not too much to expect him to pay attention to the game, instead of his horse racing bets, when he's doing his job.

Torre's love for the ponies is well-known. Heck, he has owned several horses that run in races. But that's okay by MLB standards, but A-Rod playing poker in the offseason with Hollywood A-listers is the crime of the century. Can you say double standard?

Castillo clearly likes Derek Jeter, if the excerpt is any indication. It was Jeter who came up with the Luigi Squeegee nickname for him. And every day, he would greet the 14-and-15 year old bat boys with this: "How're you doin', biatches?" Classy!

(Let me note my usual point on these things. If A-Rod had been the one to call minor boys "biatches," the street slang for "bitches," how many wailing columns would we get about A-Rod treating the children poorly? Just saying.)

And when Bill Clinton once came into the clubhouse after leaving office, most players, according to the article, were formal and polite with him. Jeter, on the other hand, before heading into a game, greeted him by saying, "Hey, Mr. President, you staying out of trouble?"

The excerpt continues:

Jeter didn't even stop to have a chat, he continued out to the field. The confused expression on Clinton's face said it all: Here was a man so shot up with confidence that even running into the president didn't make him miss a beat.

I'm sorry, but if you talk that way to a president, you're kind of a jerk. And any other player would be chastised by the media for doing such a thing. But Teflon Jeter does it, and it just shows that he's 'shot up with confidence." Sorry, the word isn't "confidence," it's "arrogance."

In another part of the excerpt, Castillo talks about how what he perceived as A-Rod trying to outdo his teammates at something:

I had to chuckle at how he aped the captain. For example, Jeter and some of the other guys were terrific tippers. Roger Clemens gave me $3,000 at the end of the year. Posada gave me $7,000. A-Rod might come in with $1,400. Sure, it's still a sizable amount, but when he found out that other players were tipping higher, he had to imitate them, and he bumped his tips up. In fact, he had to make sure he was the best tipper in the league. He even tipped me $100 a week to make sure there was a creatine shake waiting for him after each home game.

Anyhow, I dunno if I buy the whole aping the captain thing. Rodriguez was the highest-paid player in MLB baseball history, and after finding out what others tipped, he wanted to make sure he was the best tipper. That sounds like a positive character trait to me.

Although he did tip well, Rodriguez seems pretty high-maintenance -- Castillo had to put the toothpaste on the toothbrush for him and lay out his uniform just so. (It remind me a little of when the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy had that guy Fonzworth Bentley carry his umbrella for him!) And Rodriguez sounded more than a little full of himself, as with the bragging in the dugout about his home runs.

There's also stuff in the excerpt about how Jeter would get his personal trainer to approach women for him, and Rodriguez being out with two blondes.

Anyhow, I will definitely check out this book -- it's coming out next week.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Yay! Yankees Finally Beat Red Sox, Are in First Place

2011-08-06T17:10:00.001-04:00

Last night's game had a little bit of an August 2009 feel to it. Remember how the Yankees lost eight games in a row to the Red Sox, then how good it felt when they actually won one? That was the relief I felt Friday. That, combined with the Yankees getting first place all to themselves, felt pretty good.

But I certainly didn't see that Joe Girardi removing Bartolo Colon for Boone Logan in the fifth inning with the bases loaded would end well. Yet it did. Hooray. The win was the high point of the year so far for the Yanks.

While I'm watching today's Yankees-Red Sox matchup, I wanted to squawk a bit about a few annoying, insufferable people in Red Sox Nation. Specifically, David Ortiz and Larry Lucchino. Big Papi ought to be called Big Baby, or maybe Big Phony. For all his reputation of being a jovial, loveable guy, he's constantly getting into dust-ups, cursing up a storm, and acting like a real jerk. Remember his immature act about finally getting plunked by a Yankee this year?

Not to mention that whole "looking for the real juicers" thing. This month marks the second anniversary of the news that Ortiz was on The List of those who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. And although he promised then to find out why he was on the list. He never did. Shocker!

Anyhow, after finding out that a scorer's decision cost him an RBI, Big Baby stormed into Terry Francona's pre-game press conference, curses flying, to complain about the decision. You can see the video here. Whatta jerk.

Then there's Larry Lucchino, who was able to get away with telling Yankee-hating columnist Mike Lupica this load of nonsense without getting a "really?" or a "seriously?" in return (emphasis added):

When asked about the money the Red Sox spent this winter, Larry Lucchino, the president and CEO of the Red Sox and the guy who sets the tone there, said this:

"Every once in a while, you've got to prime the pump."

Then Lucchino said, "We don't spend money on free agents with any sort of frequency or regularity the way some East teams do. We rely primarily on homegrown players and the players we trade for (Gonzalez came in a trade with San Diego). But you can never eliminate any source of acquisition, including free agency, and we dip into the pool from time to time when we feel we must."

Yeah, right. The Red Sox's payroll is $163 million, second only to the Yankees' $207 million. Oh, and those other teams in the AL East he referred too? Baltimore's payroll is $86 million, the Blue Jays' is $70 million, and the Rays is $42 million. What in the world is Larry talking about?

As much as Lucchino wants to pretend that his gutty, gritty Red Sox were all acquired via the farm system and savvy trades, not only have the Sox signed a ton of free agents, but their recent trades are money-oriented, too. Do you think, say, the Pirates could have gotten Adrian Gonzalez? Um, no. The Sox were able to trade him this winter because they had the money to sign him to a big deal. Incidentally, Boston's fake "not re-signing him until after Opening Day to avoid luxury taxes" deal would have caused an MLB investigation if the Yanks had ever tried it.

How many homegrown players were on the 2004 Red Sox? Kevin Youkilis? There's a few more on the 2007 Red Sox, but the vast majority of that team were people the Sox could sign or trade for because the team has money.

And who are the people who make the most money for the Sox? Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Carl Crawford, J.D. Drew, David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Jonathan Papelbon all make over $10 million this year. Only Youkilis and Cinco Dopo are homegrown. Lucchino likes to pretend the Sox just "dip into the pool from time to time," but it sure looks like they're in the deep end!

Look, I am well aware that the Yankees also have an economic advantage, too -- it comes with having a rabid fan base and an ownership willing to spend. That's something to be proud of, not ashamed of. But please, don't insult my intelligence by pretending that the Sox don't do the very same thing the Yankees do.

What do you think? Tell us about it.

Why the Timing Is Suspicious on A-Rod Poker Story

2011-08-05T09:07:00.002-04:00

Not to put on a tin foil hat here, but isn't it interesting timing that the Alex Rodriguez poker story broke this week just in time for the Yankees-Red Sox series? Especially given that two of the games will be nationally televised, which means that we can have Tim McCarver tell us about how in his day, Bob Gibson would never play poker. And ESPN's broadcasters can be shocked, shocked, that any ballplayer would ever be playing cards for money. You know, just the way that when A-Rod was caught cheating on his wife, they all pretended to act like he was the only baseball player to ever do such a thing?

Yes, I'm pretty cynical, but here's the thing. This is not even a new story that just happened to break about ARod; this is a story that was originally published over a month ago. So why is it being regurgitated again?

Let's take a look at the timeline:

* The week of July 1, Star Magazine ran a story about A-Rod being involved in high-stakes Hollywood poker games. Patrick Courtney, MLB Senior Vice President Of Public Relations, told RadarOnline, The Star's online partner, "This is the first we have heard about this and we will look into it."

The New York Daily News wrote about the article July 1, but the story didn't get much traction.

* A month later, just in time for the Yankees getting national media attention via Fox and ESPN game broadcasts, Star Magazine runs another story about the exact same topic -- A-Rod playing poker at these high-stakes Hollywood poker games. But they threw in some salacious details to get more media attention. There was titillating details about a near-fight, about some poker player using cocaine, and about rumors of sexual shenanigans as well. They re-released the story again this week, just in time for Yankees-Red Sox.

This time, the article proved to be catnip to the media, and it's been wall-to-wall A-Rod coverage in the press for the last two days. This, even though Dan Blizerian, the sole named source in the Star story, told the Daily News that the Star messed up the details about what poker match Rodriguez was at, insisting that A-Rod wasn't at the one with cocaine and a near-fight:

"A-Rod was not at that game," pro-poker player Dan Bilzerian told the Daily News. "It's ridiculous."

Bilzerian claimed to be the main source of the Star story, but insisted the magazine got it wrong.

"I would remember because I got stiffed," said Bilzerian, adding that the game took place at Leibel's house in November 2009.

"He wasn't there, I'm telling you," Bilzerian said of A-Rod. "He was playing in the World Series at the time."

Shockingly, Bilzerian's defense has made it into very few stories about Rodriguez playing poker.

And of course, as is usually the case when it comes to Alex Rodriguez, nothing is ever put in context. In 1997, Albert Belle admitted to not just gambling, but illegally betting on professional sports, and losing at least $40,000. (Hat tip -- Baseball Think Factory.) MLB investigated it to see if he had bet on baseball, determined that he hadn't, and never instituted any sort of disciplinary action about his bets. At the time the story broke, Sports Illustrated ran this about the issue (emphasis added):

The revelation that Albert Belle indulges heavily and frequently in sports betting had barely come to light last week when the pooh-poohing began. Even before pledging that baseball would investigate Belle's gambling, acting commissioner Bud Selig reminded the press that betting pools and friendly wagers are a part of every big league clubhouse. Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the Chicago White Sox, the team that signed Belle to a five-year, $55 million free-agent contract in November, said he was "not worried" because "there is no indication Albert bet on baseball." Belle himself downplayed the gambling issue, telling USA Today that he did not bet on baseball and that he and his teammates merely bet casually on other sports. Said Belle, "It's no different than anyone else's office pool."

Aside from the fact that nothing was done to Belle, I also found that Selig information interesting. Players owing money to each other, especially when some of them may be rookies or journeymen making the league minimum, is apparently okay with Selig. (And remember that anybody tells you about MLB's zero tolerance policy on gambling.) But a guy worth hundreds of millions playing poker with Hollywood A-listers is the crime of the century. Good grief.

There's also been all sorts of speculation about whether MLB will suspend Rodriguez. Aside from the fact that baseball will look to have misplaced priorities in suspending somebody for playing cards, when six MLB players have gotten DUIs this year, and none of them received any disciplinary action from baseball, there is the fact that there is nothing in MLB's rules that prohibit playing poker for money. The only rule regarding gambling is Rule 21, which specifically addresses betting on baseball. Not playing poker with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

And forget about the idea of having A-Rod's contract voided. In contract terminations, MLB's Collective Bargaining Agreement allows the Players' Union to get an arbitrator to hear the case. And historically, the players have usually won here, as a Sports Illustrated story from last year shows. Lamarr Hoyt was convicted on drug charges, and still ultimately got paid. And Sidney Ponson and Denny Neagle ended up getting most of the money owed to them, despite drunk driving (Ponson) and prostitute solicition (Neagle) issues.

Anyhow, I guess it's too much to expect any sort of perspective or context from the press when it comes to Alex Rodriguez. But, what else is new?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

The Ghost of Luis Castillo

2011-08-03T19:38:00.003-04:00

Tuesday night was not the first time that Squawker Lisa and I attended a Met game in which an error by the Met second baseman turned a one-run lead into a one-run loss. It wasn't the Subway Series and it wasn't the over-the-hill, payroll-clogging Luis Castillo, but it was excruciating all the same.

I've bought into trading Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez. I'm content for this year to root for the Mets to finish over .500 and finish ahead of the Marlins and Nationals.

But what I'm not content with is losing four in a row to the Marlins and Nationals.

Sure, the Mets were a better team with Beltran and K-Rod. But they're not making the playoffs with an infield that seems to make a critical error each night. They may be fourth in the league in runs scored, but their offense seems to alternate between powerhouse and puny. Last week, the Mets scored 38 runs while winning five in a row. They've followed up with scoring eight runs in a four-game losing streak. Sometimes the Mets look great, sometimes they look awful. It averages out to mediocre.

Perhaps the quintessential 2011 Met is Daniel Murphy. He's fifth in the NL in batting at .319. And yet, on a team with few consistent hitters, Murphy's defensive woes make him far from a lock for the lineup down the road.

Justin Turner is no Castillo. He's a promising rookie who made a rookie mistake. But as with Murphy, it's unclear whether he is part of the future or the bridge to that future.

I know the Mets are a ways from being a contender. I just don't like to be reminded of it in the way I was Tuesday night.

By the way, according to Mets Merized Online:

The last time the Mets lost three consecutive games in their last at-bat was June 10-12, 2009 (two extra-inning losses vs. Philadelphia and a loss at Yankee Stadium).

Yes, the last time the Mets lost their third straight game in their last at-bat was the Castillo game. I've got to stop going to Met games with Squawker Lisa!

Poker Face: A-Rod Could Face Suspension for Card Game

2011-08-03T17:51:00.003-04:00

I was just about to write about how I jinxed the Mets with my presence last night (more on that in a later Squawk) when I heard the big news that Alex Rodriguez could face suspension from Major League Baseball for being rumored to have played in high-stakes poker games.

First off, as was emphasized the last time A-Rod played in one of these poker games, it's not illegal to play in them. It is illegal to charge admission into the games, or to take a cut of the pot. In "Guys and Dolls" talk, good ol' reliable Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra in the movie) would be in trouble, not Sky Masterston (Marlon Brando in the film.) But I digress.

Also, as ESPN New York Wallace Matthews' interview with an MLB executive notes, while the league has two investigators working on the case, "MLB has yet to positively determine that Rodriguez took part in the games," but that same executive is talking to Matthews about suspension time , saying that "Because he had been warned about this before, I would say a possible suspension would be very much in play." Glad to know MLB is talking about punishment before finding out if he were actually involved in the crime! Who said due process was dead?

This same exec tells Matthews, "I could see us trying to pursue this a lot further. The truth is still out there somewhere." Good grief. Are they going to get Scully and Mulder on the case?

Someone else quoted in the article said:

"Bud's totally fed up with him," said a baseball insider. "It's like there's something new with him every day and it's impossible to keep up with it."

Actually, it's been very quiet on the A-Rod front in recent years, unless you consider being fed popcorn by Cameron Diaz in the Super Bowl the scandal of the century.

At any rate, whether or not Bud Selig is tired of A-Rod drama shouldn't matter. What is at issue is whether he broke the rules of baseball. And if playing poker for money is against MLB rules, then shouldn't that be enforced with events involving the team, like poker games in clubhouses and on team planes? Heck, I seem to remember Rickey Henderson and Bobby Bonilla playing poker when their New York Mets were losing a playoff game, yet there was no big investigation of them.

Anyhow, my friend Stacey Gotsulias had an excellent point in her "Spreadin' the News" blog. She noted that six players have been arrested this year for drunk driving, and none of them were suspended from baseball for their DUIs. As Stacey notes, "If MLB isn’t going to suspend people for being arrested, why are they going to suspend someone for not being arrested for something?" Excellent point!

Finally, would any of this be the subject of an MLB investigation if it weren't A-Rod? Of course not. Former Met Jeff Francoeur wrote a $50,000 check last year to then- Mets clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels. Jeff said $35,000 of it was to repay a loan from Samuels (who made 80K a year) so Frenchy could buy his parents a car in cash without his parents knowing the cost.

As Craig Calceterra wrote in the article linked above, "No one ever suggested that Francoeur did anything wrong... but it did raise eyebrows."

But imagine if it had been A-Rod instead of Francoeur. Would "fed-up" Bud Selig have looked at it differently?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

The Carlos Beltran Trade: Mets Rebuild Without Entering Rebuilding Mode

2011-07-28T20:21:00.001-04:00

In March, the New York Post's Joel Sherman correctly predicted that the Mets would trade a core star at the deadline for a top pitching prospect. Only Sherman thought it would be Jose Reyes for the Reds' Homer Bailey. Instead, on the day the Carlos Beltran deal became official, the new-look Mets scored nine runs off of Bailey.

Who would have predicted last spring that the Mets would be able to use Beltran, still trying to come back from knee surgery, to land a top pitching prospect? That the debt-ridden Mets would be able to throw in four million dollars in the deal? And that the Mets would hold on to Reyes with increased hope of re-signing him?

Almost every sportswriter last spring thought Reyes was a goner. ESPN's Buster Olney thought that the "Mets will seek ‘power arms,’ in a deal for Reyes, and says the Giants will be interested."

Reyes may yet leave the Mets. There is no guarantee that Wheeler will pan out. A few years ago, many considered Bailey one of the top two pitching prospects in baseball. The other one was Phil Hughes. While it's too early to write off Bailey or Hughes, both have been disappointments so far relative to expectations.

Beltran, underrated and underappreciated as a Met, is irreplaceable with the current roster.

But Beltran, 34 with bad knees, is not part of the Mets' future, especially as a Scott Boras client. Even if the Mets had no money issues, should they have given Beltran the kind of money and years Boras will demand?

Madoff or no Madoff, it would have still made sense to do what the Red Sox did with stars like Pedro Martinez and Johnny Damon - let them go while they still had something left, but bring back top prospects with which they could retool. With the supplemental pick the Red Sox received for Pedro, they drafted Clay Buchholz. One of the picks they got for Damon turned out to be Daniel Bard.

If the Mets had kept Beltran, they would not have gotten any draft picks. But getting a top prospect was even better. As risky as prospects are, draft picks are even riskier. Better to get a top-ten pick from a couple of years ago, who has had a chance to show in professional ball that his reputation is deserved. Someone like Wheeler, the sixth pick in 2009.

But if Reyes had been traded at the deadline, it would not have mattered how many Zack Wheelers the Mets got back. The Mets would have been in full rebuilding mode.

Last year, the Padres almost won the NL West. Then they traded Adrian Gonzalez in the prime of his career. The Padres supposedly got a great haul of prospects from the Red Sox. Maybe those prospects will pan out one day. But today, the Padres are in last place, 14 games under .500, while Gonzalez is a top contender for AL MVP.

If the Padres get lucky, Anthony Rizzo, the first base prospect obtained from the Red Sox in the Gonzalez trade, will turn out to be another Gonzalez. But then, as he approaches free agency, the Padres will have to trade him.

This spring, the Mets looked like they were turning into the Padres - a low-budget team with little hope of contending on a regular basis. The future is still uncertain, but with both Reyes and Wheeler in the organization, it looks a lot brighter than it did just a few months ago.

Thoughts on the Kei Igawa "Lost Yankee" Article

2011-07-25T08:39:00.000-04:00

I read with interest The New York Times' big article about Kei Igawa, and how he is playing out his $20 million, 5-year contract in the minor leagues. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. Even though he's got all that money, he's in what amounts to a dead-end job. No matter what he does in the minors, he will never get to pitch for the Yankees' big-league team again. And he desperately wants to pitch in MLB -- he twice turned down the chance to go to Japan, in favor of staying here.

Although the article let Brian Cashman play down the luxury-tax issue, it is actually a big reason why Igawa is where he is. The $4 million a year Igawa makes doesn't count towards the Yankees' payroll, unless he is put on the 40-man roster or pitches in the majors. Cashman denied that this money issue had anything to do with Igawa not getting a call-up since 2008, but how could that be, when his numbers are better than many of the journeymen and retreads who have gotten called up to the Yankees?

Once the Yankees decided they were never going to give Igawa a shot at the majors again, I do think the Yankees should have bitten the bullet on his contract and given him his freedom, financial consequences be damned. There's something cruel about taking away a player's hope like that, and dooming him to season after season in the minors, with no chance of getting to achieve his dream of pitching in the majors. People talk about sticking to your dreams, and eventually, they will come through. But until his contract ends, Igawa will never get the chance -- not even one start or relief appearance -- to pitch in the majors, no matter how hard he works.

Although the article makes a big point about how Igawa lives in Manhattan, and has his translator drive his car with him to Scranton or Trenton, Cashman made a rather snotty remark about that as well, saying that "Yeah, he’s passed me on the drive down to Trenton.. He drives faster than his fastball." What was the point of that gratuitous slam, other than to be a jerk?

On the other hand, Igawa comes off as an honorable, uncomplaining person in the article. I don't know how Igawa would have done with another chance with the Yankees, but Cashman doesn't really know, either. And it seems to me that they should at least give him a shot at a September callup spot this year, just to be fair, at the end of his contract.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Squawker Media Alert: Lisa on South Florida Radio Saturday Morning

2011-07-23T10:48:00.001-04:00

Squawker Lisa will appear on South Florida radio's "New York Sports Report" on Saturday, July 23, at 11:15 a.m.

"New York Sports Report" is hosted by Larry Milian - aka The Amigo - and Phil Dizz Domanic. It airs Saturday mornings. During the week, Larry co-hosts the very popular morning drive time radio show "Armando and The Amigo" on WFTL Sports 640 AM.

You can listen live online here at 11:15 a.m. Saturday, and follow the guys on Twitter here.

Mets' First Half: From Clawback to Claw

2011-07-15T16:18:00.002-04:00

At the start of the season, the Mets appeared to be going down the drain - both on and off the field. At the All-Star break, things look better - both on and off the field. But is optimism justified, or merely a product of lowered expectations?

The dominant Met story last winter was Irving Picard's clawback lawsuit hanging over the franchise. As a result, Jose Reyes looked to be a goner.

As for the players, Johan Santana was out indefinitely, Carlos Beltran was a part-time player who could no longer play centerfield and Jose Reyes had to prove he could stay healthy.

Now Reyes has come back stronger than ever, and the trade of Francisco Rodriguez increases the odds of Reyes remaining a Met. The future remains uncertain, but at least the outlook is brighter than in the spring. And who would have predicted that Beltran would play in almost every game and make the All-Star team?

Along with the trade of K-Rod, another off-the-field bright spot was the announcement that David Einhorn will invest $200 million in the franchise and become a minority shareholder.

However, Fred Wilpon's ill-advised comments denigrating Reyes, Wright and Beltran and warning of huge losses and payroll cuts temper hope that the franchise is headed back in the right direction. The clawback lawsuit is still out there. And Einhorn's deal has not been finalized yet.

While it would be nice to eventually begin a Mets' half-season in review without mentioning finances, it would be even nicer to not have to mention misdiagnosed injuries to star players. Unfortunately, David Wright played for a few weeks with a back fracture and Ike Davis was told to wear a protective boot that ended up making his ankle worse.

But, as mentioned above, Beltran has been healthy and Reyes was healthy before getting hurt earlier this month. Reyes is due back soon and the injury is said to be minor, though with the Mets' history, we won't know for sure until he is back on the field.

While the Mets have had bad injury luck with Wright and Davis, the same can't be said for Chris Young, who was the Mets' best starter at the beginning of the season before he went down for the year. The only reason the Mets were able to sign Young in the first place was that he was such an injury risk. Nobody could reasonably expect both Young and Chris Capuano to make it through the season healthy and productive. And the severity of Santana's injury makes any expectations for him a longshot.

Capuano, though, has been a pleasant surprise, and Sandy Alderson also came through with Rule 5 pickup Pedro Beato. Scott Hairston has had some dramatic homers off the bench and as a backup.

Alderson did not do as well with the other Rule 5, Brad Emaus, who quickly showed he didn't deserve the second base job. Blaine Boyer also didn't make it out of April. D.J. Carrasco was sent down, but did return.

Justin Turner has been a good addition, but Alderson can't take credit for him - Omar Minaya acquired Turner last year.

While the Mets hitting has been better than expected, this remains a punchless team without Wright and Davis. And Jason Bay has cooled off again after his recent hot streak, renewing fears that he will never get his act together at the plate as a Met.

The pitching has also been better than expected, with the starters rebounding from a slow start with a strong last few weeks. The bullpen has also been solid.

Of course, the main component of the bullpen was just traded, and the number 3 hitter (Beltran) is likely to be next.

With ownership in turmoil and a dispirited fan base, it would be easy for the team to give up hope, as they appeared to do the last couple of years. But under new manager Terry Collins, the Mets display a spirit not seen in some time around here. The hitters have even started doing their version of the "claw" when they reach base. Collins' infusion of a more positive attitude has some talking about him as a candidate for Manager of the Year.

But Collins has also benefited from the greatly lowered expectations. Last year, Jerry Manuel's Mets were eight games over .500 at the break. They finished 79-83 and Manuel lost his job.

If, as seems likely, the Mets trade Beltran, 79 wins might be optimistic. Not to mention that the Mets currently have no proven closer, which would seem to be a necessity for a team that plays lots of close, low-scoring games.

Still, under Alderson and Collins, there is a lot more reason for hope than there was under the old regime, both for the rest of this year and for the future. It doesn't look like there will be meaningful games in September, but there will be meaningful developments. What will the Mets get for Beltran if he's traded? Will they make other trades for prospects? Will Einhorn finalize his deal? Can Johan make it back? (I have a bad feeling about Ike, so I'm not including him in this list.)

So here's to a second half with more talk of claw than clawback. Let's Go Mets!

Squawker Media Alert: Lisa Will Be on the Radio Today

2011-07-15T14:17:00.004-04:00

Lisa will be on Brian Sinkoff's "Sound-Off With Sinkoff" radio show today at 4:30 p.m., squawking about the prospects for the Yankees in the second half. Something tells me Derek Jeter's name will also come up. If you live in the Albany area, turn your radio to 104.5 FM, or you can listen to her live by going to ESPN 104.5 The Team's website.

Thoughts on Christian Lopez, Derek Jeter, and "Doing the Right Thing"

2011-07-14T06:45:00.004-04:00

So, it looks like Christian Lopez, the starry-eyed Yankee fan who caught Derek Jeter's 3000th hit, is going to get bailed out of the whole mess the Yanks put him in by giving him $50,000 or so worth of "free" tickets and memorabilia. (And by the way, given that players and coaches have to pay taxes on the complimentary tickets the team lets them have, the team should have known in the first place that this was going to be an issue for Lopez. Just saying.)

Anyhow, Miller High Life has offered to pay his taxes, saying "you should be rewarded for doing the right thing, not penalized." Modell Sporting Goods and Steiner Sports are giving him a minimum of $25,000 each, and he also is getting a 2009 World Series ring out of it, among other things. Topps is putting him on a baseball card, saying that "We thought what he did captures the essence of what baseball and the Topps company is about." (Is that what baseball is all about -- giving away an item worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for free to an millionaire MLB player? Just saying!)

How much the fan will end up with is unclear; some say he won't have to pay taxes on the money, but Ed Behrens, a CPA who lives near Lopez, told the Times Herald-Record Lopez would likely have to pay 28 percent federal tax, and 7 percent city tax, on the money and merchandise the companies gave him. But he did say that the fan "can enjoy his fame and maybe break even in this."

You know, I'm glad Lopez is getting some help for the financial mess he is in, and I hope he does enjoy his 15 minutes of fame. And this damage control on the part of Yankee/MLB sponsors will make his life better. (That's what it is -- damage control. I kinda doubt Lopez would have gotten anything from them if it weren't for 1) the tax stories, and 2) the news about his crazy-expensive student loans!)But I will never believe that giving away a ball worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars for free to a guy worth hundreds of millions is somehow a moral obligation, or the right thing to do. I will never think that a guy still living at home with his parents, who has over $100K in student loans, owed the baseball he rightfully caught to somebody who just built a house the square footage of a supermarket. It's not "classy" to do that -- it's ridiculous. It's the equivalent of scratching off a winning lottery ticket and giving it away to Jeter, just because.

"Doing the right thing" would be returning Jeter's wallet to him if you stumbled upon it without expecting a thing in return. But this ain't it.

Is this what our celebrity-crazed society has become? That Derek Jeter is entitled to a ball for free that his estate could eventually sell for $1 million just because he's famous and people admire him? Puh-lease. Guess what? The 3,000 hit achievement stands, with or without the baseball. I accept that baseball is a business, and everything that goes with it. But don't tell me it's a business, then, that when a fan catches a ball fair and square, he should somehow be expected to to turn it over for free, without expecting a thing in return. There would have been nothing greedy or wrong whatsoever about Lopez selling what he caught, or in giving the captain right of first refusal to pay for the ball.

Oh, and by the way, all Derek Jeter himself has so far personally given to Lopez is a "grip and grin" photo op and a hat with the Captain's picture on it, although he is supposed to sign some memorabilia for him. He certainly didn't help with the tax mess. That's gratitude for you. Will moths will fly out of No. 2's wallet the next time he opens it?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Report: Mets Trade K-Rod to Yankees for Luxury Seats, Memorabilia

2011-07-12T12:27:00.004-04:00

Francisco Rodriguez is headed to the Bronx. In return, the Mets will receive four Champions Suite tickets to each remaining Yankee home game and any postseason games, as well as bats, balls and jerseys signed by Derek Jeter.

The Mets will distribute the Yankee tickets to loyal Met season-ticket holders, who will now be able to attend meaningful games in September and October.

The Jeter memorabilia will be put on display in a new exhibit at the Mets' Hall of Fame, tentatively titled "Salute to a Star Shortstop Who Will Definitely Be Playing in New York in 2012."

One potential snag in the deal concerns the taxes the Mets will owe on the luxury seats and memorabilia. The bill could be as high as $15,000. The Mets are said to have asked prospective new partner David Einhorn to chip in, but have not yet received a reply.

Another issue involves K-Rod's new agent, Scott Boras, who says that K-Rod will only make the move to the Bronx if he receives some memorabilia of his own, namely the ball K-Rod used to walk Mariano Rivera with the bases loaded in 2009, resulting in the Yankee closer's only career run batted in. K-Rod would also like a shirt with a picture of Mariano and the inscription MR1 (Mariano Rivera First RBI).

Told Ya So: Christian Lopez to Face Huge Tax Bill for "Free" Yankee Tickets

2011-07-12T07:33:00.002-04:00

Finally, the New York media has realized that the "free" tickets Christian Lopez got in exchange for giving Derek Jeter's 3000th hit ball back aren't going to be so free after all; the New York Times figures he will have to pay at least $14,000 in federal taxes on those tickets. Sure took the press long enough to figure this out -- and they still haven't realized he will have to pay state taxes, not just federal, on the 50K of swag he got from the Yankees. So much for all the great karma the universe was supposed to bestow on Lopez for his deed, huh?

I was talking about the issue with friends on Facebook on Saturday afternoon, as soon as we heard about the Yanks giving Lopez the tickets, and I wrote a Squawk on Sunday talking about the fact that he could be facing a huge tax liability on the $50,000 or so in tickets and merchandise that the Yankees gave him in exchange for the ball. So I can't believe it took two days for the press to realize the tax implications. All they would have to do is remember what happened when the "Oprah Winfrey Show" guests got those "free" cars, and then realized they would have to pay taxes on them. There was such a to-do over the tax issue, that when Volkswagen gave away its new Beetle in Oprah's last Favorite Things Show, VW agreed to pay for all the taxes and fees.

Or the press could have paid attention to what happens in sweepstakes and TV game shows. I know this personally from winning two different trips via sweepstakes what a huge hit the taxes are. I loved the trips; the taxes, not so much, especially since I had to pay taxes on the full rack rate and full hotel rate for the voyages, even though I could have bought the trip cheaper myself on the open market. The same thing will happen with Lopez for those overpriced seats that would be worth below face value on StubHub.

Anyhow, even though most of the press was all aflutter about how selfless and classy Christian Lopez was for giving the ball back to Jeter, I made it clear I thought he made a huge mistake right from the beginning. And now that is has come out that he has over $100,000 in student loans, at the ripe old age of 23, to pay, (not to mention that he still lives at home, while Jeter, the beneficiary of his generosity, lives in "St. Jetersburg," one of the biggest homes in Florida), I feel even more strongly that Lopez thought with his heart, not his head, and it will be something he will regret in the near future.

But too many people have confused what Lopez did -- giving a ball back for free to a ballplayer worth hundreds of millions and a franchise worth billions -- to being the equivalent of Lopez, say, returning Jeter's wallet without asking for a reward. For example, ESPN's Rob Parker compared what Lopez did to when Parker found Dave Winfield's 1977 All-Star Game ring, and returned it to him. While Parker absolutely did the right thing, it's not the same issue at all.

Jeter was not entitled to that ball, and certainly not for free. And the last time I checked, Jeter wasn't giving out any freebies, either. The fans who attended Saturday's game will have to pay for their Jeter DJ3K hat and t-shirt, featuring a picture of their hero, just like everybody else who wants it. (Incidentally, I got a lot of grief and angry denials last week for noting how the "team first" Jeter was marketing an individual accomplishment. Um, did y'all see what he was wearing in the postgame Saturday? a DJ3K t-shirt of himself, and Yankee hat with his own logo on it? Does he play for the New York Yankees, or the New York Jeters?)

The reality is that DJ3K is being marketed to death, with game-used dirt, $550 commemorative watches, and all sorts of products Jeter and the Yankees and Steiner Sports and all of Jeter's corporate partners will make a killing on. So much so, that the Bob's Blitz's site wondered whether the real reason Jeter skipped the All-Star Game was because he had whole slew of Steiner Sports DJ3K items to sign. The items are hyped with this line: "PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A PRE ORDER, THESE ITEMS WIL [SIC] BE SIGNED WITHIN A FEW DAYS OF JETER RECORDING HIS 3000TH HIT." Hmmmmm. Wonder when the captain is signing them? Is writer's cramp the reason he can't appear in the All-Star Game?

Anyhow, Christian Lopez sold the Golden Ticket he had -- the baseball -- in exchange for some overpriced seats that are on the foul lines, not between the bases, and don't even entitle him to visit the Legends restaurants and bars. Even Jay-Z and Reggie Jackson told Lopez at Saturday's game he was making a mistake. But he apparently was too young, and too "starstruck," as he described himself, to realize the tax issues. Not to mention all the money he left on the table.

For his part, Lopez had this solution to the tax issue:

"Worse comes to worse, I'll have to pay the taxes," he told the Daily News on Monday. "I'm not going to return the seats. I have a lot of family and friends who will help me out if need be.

"The IRS has a job to do, so I'm not going to hold it against them, but it would be cool if they helped me out a little on this."

Bet mom and dad, who already have him still living at home, are thrilled with the idea of paying taxes for this. And good luck getting that kind of coin from your friends, dude.

The thing that made me laugh out loud was Lopez's thought that "it would be cool" if the IRS "helped me out a little on this." Right. The government is facing record deficits, but the feds are going to give Lopez a pass here, just because? Gimme a break.

Funny thing is that Lopez is still too starstruck to ask for money from the people who really owe it to him -- Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees. Because besides gracing him with his presence, the only things Jeter himself has given Lopez is a hat with Jeter's face on it, and some memorabilia he will sign for him. Whoopee.

Maybe it's time for the captain to step up and pay Lopez's tax bill and student loans. This isn't a handout -- this is the rightful payment for the ball that Lopez was too starstruck to request. The ball is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is only fair that the Yankees do this. Jeter makes $105,000 a game. He's selling game-used dirt for $177.99. The least he can do is kick Lopez some money to make up for his taxes and student loan debt. And even then, it's not even close to what the ball is really worth.

Anyhow, it's going to be interesting to see what happens here. Get your popcorn ready!

Should Derek Jeter Attend the All-Star Game?

2011-07-11T19:39:00.000-04:00

So, there's a whole media and fan kerfuffle over the fact that Derek Jeter is not going to the All-Star Game. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports sez that it's because what has been described as "emotional and physical exhaustion." And San Francisco Giants closer Brian Wilson complained about all the missing in action players at this year's All-Star Game, saying:

"I would say that you would show up, unless you need these three days to recover,” Wilson said. “You are representing your team, so it would be good to be here.” He also said that "it’s one of your duties as a player, out of respect, knowing that there was a guy that really wanted to be on the All-Star team, and his stats were right there, and he would have loved the chance to be here.” Wilson said that "whether you’re taking it for granted or just think it’s a grind, I always think about the pitcher who is better than me at this moment.”

Anyhow, I understand why a lot of fans are upset that Jeter isn't at least just showing up, the way the injured Jose Reyes is, especially since 1) Jeter is getting a reported $500K bonus for being elected, and 2) Jeter got a lot of votes this year because of the 3,000 hit chase. But personally, it doesn't bother me, because I never thought his numbers deserved the All-Star nod in the first place this year. So why would I be upset that he didn't show up at an event that I thought he shouldn't have been elected to in the first place? Backhanded defense, I know, and I totally understand why others feel differently, but it doesn't really matter to me, and I can't be a hypocrite about it and say it does.

So, I want to hear what readers think -- I've already heard a lot on the subject on my Facebook page. What do you think? Should he have gone to the game or not? Tell us about it!

On Derek Jeter's Tremendous Day, And Christian Lopez's Short-Sighted Decision

2011-07-10T09:37:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was Squawker Jon's birthday. Before we went out to dinner to celebrate his big day, we were yakking on the phone watching Derek Jeter go for No. 3000. When Jeter hit a homer off David Price on a 3-2 pitch, I literally screamed, I was so stunned and amazed!

Last week, two gambling sites sent me information about the odds that the captain would hit a single, double, triple, or home run for No. 3000. The odds were 1-4 (as in overwhelming!) that it would be a single, and 10-1 that it would be a homer. So seeing Jeter hit a homer, when he hasn't hit one in Yankee Stadium for a year, was pretty remarkable and exciting. The rest of his game wasn't too shabby -- 5 for 5, including a game-winning hit. All in all, it was one of the best days Derek has ever had, although I groaned when Michael Kay opined, "Fairy tales can come true, it has happened to 2." Congrats, Derek! What a day!

Anyhow, not long after Jeter hit the homer, I asked friends on Facebook what would be the price they would want if they had caught the ball. I said money, while others had a variety of suggestions, including season tickets, memorabilia, and, yes, money. Some said that they would just be happy to meet Jeter.

Of course, we now know the rest of the story -- 23-year-old Christian Lopez, a Verizon Wireless cell phone salesman from Highland Mills, NY, caught the ball, and asked for nothing in return in exchange for giving back the ball to Jeter:

"Mr. Jeter deserved it. I'm not gonna take it away from him," Christian Lopez said. "Money's cool and all, but I'm 23 years old, I've got a lot of time to make that. It was never about the money, it was about the milestone."

I know some fans thought this was great, but personally, the word running through my mind about this fan was "sap." The fact that the Yankees were so willing to give him four Championship Suite seats for the rest of the season including the playoffs and World Series, worth somewhere around $50,000 or so should have been the clue as to how much the ball is really worth. It's definitely worth six figures, and some have said it could be even worth more than the $752K paid for Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball.

Here's why Lopez should have asked for money:

* He could be facing a huge tax liability. Last year, the Houston Astros gave a fan 315 gift certificates for Shipley's Donuts, entitling him to a free donut and coffee with each one. In addition, he also got a "reward" from the Internal Revenue Service, when they sent him a 1099 form showing the contest winnings as income. I won't be the least bit surprised if the IRS (and for that matter, the state of New York) gives Lopez a tax bill on these tickets.

* The Yankees, MLB, Steiner Sports, and Derek Jeter are all going to make a lot of money on the 3000th hit event known as DJ3K. Jeter himself wore the new DJ3K shirt and hat featuring a logo of himself in the postgame presser. I got emails within 20 minutes of his hit, extolling how I could buy, among other things, a Jeter autographed ball commemorating the event for "just" $699. So why can't the fan who caught the ball actually make a little something off this?

I heard people say that Christian Lopez showed he was a true fan for giving the ball back. Well, he may be a true fan, but I think it also showed he was pretty naive. The Yankees don't give out free tickets to fans down on their luck. Why should a fan have to act like a billion-dollar franchise is some charity case, and offer to give the ball back for free? As much I love the Yankees, I realize baseball is a business, but that should go both ways. Getting some memorabilia and autographs for giving back a journeyman player's home run ball is one thing. But the Yankees and Jeter himself are treating DJ3K as big business -- they're not exactly giving away the t-shirts and hats and game-used dirt, after all. What's wrong with a fan getting some cash for the ball, a very valuable commodity?

* Some said that it was worth it for Lopez to return the ball, as his name will go down in history for what he did, like Sal Durante returning the 61st home run ball to Roger Maris. But there's more to the story than that:

...Sam Gordon, a restaurant owner in Sacramento, Calif., offered Durante $5,000 for the ball. Durante accepted and Gordon returned the ball to Maris, who had told Durante to try to make some money off the ball.

Gordon had made the offer of $5000 before the game, and used photos of him returning the ball to Maris to promote his business. I had heard the story for years about how the selfless Durante returned the ball, but it turns out he did make some real money off it (five grand was the average salary in 1961), and that was in a time when people didn't go memorabilia-crazy, like they do now. Good for him.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Jeter's 3000th Hit Takes Precedence Over the Team

2011-07-09T11:10:00.000-04:00

I have been biting my tongue all week over Jeterpalooza, where the fact that the Yankees have gone 1-3 since Derek Jeter came back to the team is completely overlooked because the Captain is about to get his 3000th hit. I find it more than a little ironic that the player who is supposed to be all about team, and not individual achievements, has a reality show, a bracelet, sneakers, and a slew of endorsements lines up, all about his personal numbers. It is his right to do all that, but it's a little jarring, not to mention counter to his team-first image.

Not to mention his whining about the "negativity" surrounding the achievement. Oh, boo bleeding hoo. Some reporters dared to mention his current numbers, and that's "negativity"? Puh-lease.

Don't get me wrong, Jeter being the first Yankee to reach 3000 is a big deal and a great achievement. But it shouldn't take precedence over the fact that the team has looked terrible this week, after going 14-4 when the captain was on the DL. And, as I always say, switch the player in this scenario from Jeter to A-Rod, and tell me what the reaction would be.

I finally reached my limit this morning, when I read all the hysteria about the big, bad Tampa Bay Rays refusing to play a day-night doubleheader Saturday, and the Yankees not scheduling a regular doubleheader, which means that Jeter only has two games, not three, before the All-Star Break And all the sob stories about fans with tickets to Friday's game, who will miss out on seeing history. Guess what? As John Sterling says, you can't predict baseball. Even if the game was played, Jeter could have gone 0-5. Would those fans demand their money back?

As for the Rays, they did what is best for their team, not Derek Jeter. What the heck is wrong with that? As Evan Longoria said, "It's not like he's not going to get another hit."

Even Joe Girardi has appeared to lose perspective. He said, "I don't know if I've ever been a part of something this big." Oh, please. I think hitting a game-winning triple to win the clinching game in the 1996 World Series was a little bigger. Or catching a perfect game. Or being part of the 1998 Yankees. Or leading the Yankees to victory in the 2009 World Series. What is Joe thinking? Whatever happened to the team being more important than the individual? Good grief.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Always Great to Get the Best of the Great Mariano Rivera

2011-07-04T00:32:00.007-04:00

Two years ago, Mariano Rivera closed out the Subway Series by walking with the bases loaded and getting his 500th save. I enjoyed Sunday's game a lot more. It was only the fourth time Mariano has failed to come through against the Mets.

In 2006, Mariano took the loss when David Wright got the game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth in a game in which the Mets had trailed Randy Johnson, 4-0.

In 2001, the Mets beat Mariano with three runs in the top of the tenth to break a scoreless tie. Mike Piazza, Timo Perez and Todd Zeile had consecutive run-scoring singles. As with Sunday's game, the Mets rallied with two out and nobody on.

In 1999, Mariano was charged with both a loss and a blown save when Matt Franco, pinch-hitting for Melvin Mora, singled home the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the ninth.

And now, in 2011, with two out and none on, the Mets rallied behind the unlikely combination of Jason Bay (walk), Lucas Duda (single) and pinch-hitter Ronny Paulino, who singled home the tying run.

Before the rally, it had been a pretty depressing day. The 52-run, four-game outburst earlier in the week looked more and more like a complete fluke, as the Mets were punchless for the fourth game in a row, and three of those were without anyone close to Justin Verlander on the mound.

Jose Reyes had his MRI in the morning, but the Mets kept putting off announcing the results. One would think if it were good news, they'd want people to know. What were they hiding?

R. A. Dickey did not allow a hit in the first four innings, with Squawker Lisa frequently mentioning he had a no-hitter in an attempt to jinx him. In the fifth, Dickey lost his no-hitter, his shutout, the lead, and soon was out of the game because of tightness in his buttocks (Squawker Lisa, insert Met joke here).

I sometimes forget that Dickey is going to be 37 in October. This is his second injury scare in a few weeks.

So as the storm clouds gathered over Citi Field, they seemed to be gathering over the Mets as well. I would not have predicted at the time that the Mets would rally against Mariano, win the game in extra innings, and both Jose and R.A. would appear to have minor injuries.

Five days after hitting the Mets' first grand slam in almost two years, Jason Bay was the hero. Great to see a Met getting a pie in the face for a change.

The Mets also got good news on the All-Star front, with Jose being named a starter and Carlos Beltran also making the team. Reyes obviously deserved to start, and while Beltran did not merit a starting slot, he is a worthy runner-up.

Squawker Lisa, here in the National League, we like to elect All-Stars who are having All-Star seasons. Albert Pujols is a perennial All-Star, the dominant player of the last decade, but even before he got hurt he wasn't having a year up to his usual standards. So he'll be staying home.

Granted, the American League did deny perennial All-Star Ichiro a spot on the team. But Josh Hamilton somehow ended up in the starting lineup. (At least the game is being played at night, since Hamilton claims to have trouble seeing during the day because his eyes are blue.)

But then there's the situation at shortstop. Cleveland's Asdrubal Cabrera is having an All-Star year. But Derek Jeter has five rings, while Asdrubal is one of five Cabreras in the majors - and he's only the second-best. (Lisa, I'm referring to Detroit's Miguel, not Kansas City's Melky.)

Otherwise Asdrubal leads Derek by substantial margins in batting average (.294-.260), homers (14-2), RBI (49-20), runs (53-39) and steals (12-7). Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci puts Asdrubal eighth on his top ten list for first-half AL MVP.

Jeter returns to action Monday night against Asdrubal's Indians, so we'll get to see the elected AL All-Star shortstop square off against the deserving AL All-Star shortstop.

The only good thing about Jeter making the All-Star team is that he's likely to get a taste of batting at the bottom of the order. The middle of the lineup (3-7) figures to be something like Adrian Gonzalez, Jose Bautista, Josh Hamilton, David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez. That leaves Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano, Alex Avila and Derek Jeter.

With his 14 steals, Granderson should lead off. And Cano should bat second. That leaves Avila and Jeter for the bottom of the order.

Joe Girardi's probably glad he's not managing the All-Stars this year. Imagine having to tell Cano he's batting eighth so Jeter can keep his rightful spot at the top of the lineup.

***

After Sunday's game, Mariano has a higher career ERA against the Mets (3.28) than every other team except the Angels (3.36).

On Keith Hernandez, Jose Reyes, A-Rod, and the Citi Field Fences

2011-07-02T16:02:00.000-04:00

I'm exhausted from doing the Snoopy Dance over the Yankees beating the Mets. But I do have a few comments on the game last night.

* I thought that ball Alex Rodriguez hit last night was one of the hardest-hit he had had all season long. Yet, in Citi Field, what should have been a homer became a double, thanks to that 16-feet fence in left field. No wonder David Wright and Jason Bay don't hit the home runs they once did. Cifi Field really needs to change the dimensions.

* As Squawker Jon noted when he was on the radio this morning, Jose Reyes' game is perfectly suited for Citi Field. A-Rod said that Reyes was the "world's greatest player," something that caused a little bit of controversy. But I noted to Squawker Jon that it's too bad Fred Wilpon doesn't share Alex's sentiments!

* I hope Ivan Nova gets to stay in the Yankees' rotation, even with Bartolo Colon and Phil Hughes coming back. He's earned the spot, and has really grown as a pitcher this year.

* I know Keith Hernandez is the Mets' Derek Jeter, the untouchable hero, but I was really ticked off over his offensive "where's the purse?" comment last night? It's 2011. Can Hernandez find a way to make a point without ultimately denigrating women? Of, course, he'll get away with it, because he's Keith Hernandez, but it's still annoying.

Squawker Appearance on South Florida Radio With The Amigo

2011-07-02T00:06:00.004-04:00

Last weekend, Squawker Lisa appeared on South Florida radio's "New York Sports Report." On Saturday, July 2, at 10:30 a.m., it's my turn.

"New York Sports Report" is hosted by Larry Milian - aka The Amigo - and Phil Dizz Domanic. It airs Saturday mornings. During the week, Larry co-hosts the very popular morning drive time radio show "Armando and The Amigo" on WFTL Sports 640 AM.

Both Squawkers first appeared on one of Larry's shows back in 2007. Lisa has appeared with Larry numerous times since, and I have also put in a few appearances around Subway Series time.

You can listen live online here at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, and follow the guys on Twitter here.

As for the game, it's frustrating that the Mets were outhitting top American League teams on the road during the week, but stumble at home and lose at what is supposed to be their own style of play. I can't complain about Jose Reyes trying to take the extra base in the seventh inning and getting thrown out - Jose's aggressive baserunning helps the Mets a lot more often than it hurts them. But it would be nice if Jon Niese could lay down a bunt, especially when the Yankee pitchers from the DH league are able to do so.

Squawker Jon's Critique of Squawker Lisa's All-Star Ballot

2011-07-01T13:33:00.005-04:00

Lisa, at least you didn't vote for Derek Jeter, who is closing in on the "honorary All-Star captain" phase of his career. And you acknowledged that, while Russell may have muscle, as John Sterling likes to say, he also has a .230 batting average. But you've got to give the Red Sox their due.

Mark Teixeira beats Adrian Gonzalez in homers, 25-16, but that's it. And Teixeira hit 16 of them at homer-happy Yankee Stadium. Otherwise, Gonzalez is hitting .352 with 71 RBI, while Teixeira is hitting just .243 with with 63 RBI.

Travis Hafner may be hitting .336, but he missed a month of the season and has just seven homers. Meanwhile, David Ortiz, everyone else's All-Star DH, is hitting .305 with 17 homers.

We agree on Alex Avila, Robinson Cano, Asdrubal Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez, Jose Bautista and Curtis Granderson. But your last outfielder is Nelson Cruz, who has 18 homers, but is hitting just .237. I voted instead for Jacoby Ellsbury, who could end up with a 20-50 year - he has nine homers and 25 steals to go along with a .300 batting average.

In the National League, we agree on seven of the eight picks. We both voted for Brian McCann, Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks (though I nearly split my ballot with Brandon Phillips), Jose Jose Jose, Aramis Ramirez (thanks to his hitting five homers in the last week, he does have the best stats in this weak category), Matt Kemp and Ryan Braun.

Oddly enough, the only place we disagree is that you voted for Carlos Beltran and I didn't. Don't get me wrong - Beltran's been so valuable to the Mets that I don't want him to be traded even though it's in the best long-term interests of the team. But hitting .281 with 12 homers and 54 RBI in the first half might get you comeback player of the year, but there's another NL outfielder with 20 homers , 58 RBI and a .296 batting average. So my choice was Lance Berkman. The fact that the Yankees let him go at the end of last season is just icing on the cake.

Other NL outfielders who have put up stats equal to or better than Beltran, particularly because he doesn't run much anymore, are Carlos Gonzalez and Andrew McCutcheon. (There's also some guy named Shane that I refuse to include - I have my own biases. I will vote for Phillies, just not Victorino.)

So while I'd like to see Beltran named to the team, I don't hold out much hope (Hunter Pence is another good candidate, and he could end up being the Astros' representative). At one point, Dillon Gee and Francisco Rodriguez looked like possibilities, but now it appears that the only Met at the All-Star Game will be Reyes, making it that crazier for the Mets to allow their one All-Star to leave.

My All-Star Picks -- Or, Why I Voted for Four Yankees, Two Mets, and Zero Red Sox

2011-07-01T11:50:00.003-04:00

So, I did my 25 All-Star votes online last night, just before the deadline. Here's who I voted for:

American League:

1B - Teixeira, Mark

2B - Cano, Robinson
SS - Cabrera, Asdrubal
3B - Rodriguez, Alex
C - Avila, Alex
DH - Young, Michael and Hafner, Travis (I voted some votes for each)
OF - Bautista, Jose
OF - Cruz, Nelson
OF - Granderson, Curtis

I got some grief on Facebook last night from Boston fans for choosing Mark Teixeira over Adrian Gonzalez. Sorry, I am not going to vote for Red Sox. Yes, I am biased that way. Same with David Ortiz -- he will not get my vote. I will root for the Sox as part of the All-Star Game that night, but that's as far as it goes!

Note that I voted for Alex Avila over Russell Martin for catcher. As much as I like Russell -- he's one of my favorite players this year, and I dig that one of his middle names is "Coltrane"! -- this was an easy choice, as Avila beats him in almost every category.

And no, I did not vote for Derek Jeter. Sorry, there is no justification for picking him for the All-Star team this year. After 2010 was the worst season of his career, he is having an even worse 2011. The flip play, and Mr. November, and the rings, and the dive into the stands should have nothing to do with making an All-Star ballot pick for this year.

National League:

1B - Fielder, Prince
2B - Weeks, Rickie
SS - Reyes, Jose
3B - Ramirez, Aramis
C - McCann, Brian
OF - Beltran, Carlos
OF - Braun, Ryan
OF - Kemp, Matt

On the other hand, Reyes highly deserves an All-Star starting slot. I gave Carlos Beltran my vote, too, something even Met fan Squawker Jon did not do!

I could have voted for Lance Berkman, but I didn't. It ticks me off that he didn't get into shape until it was time for a new contract. No wonder some people in Houston are peeved.

And please note that this is the first All-Star Game since 2007 that I did not vote for Yadier Molina for catcher. Four years of giving Squawker Jon the what-for on that was enough!

Who did you vote for in the All-Star Game? Tell us about it!

Ike Davis Charity Event

2011-06-30T19:34:00.004-04:00

Help Ike Davis strike out childhood cancer.

He may be on the DL but he is putting his best foot forward to help two NYC charities by hosting an intimate up-close-and-personal charity dinner benefit on Sunday, July 17 at 7 PM after the Phillies game.

Hosted by Linda Cohn of ESPN Sportscenter, this family-friendly charity event will feature a live interview with Q&A from the guests, a full dinner, drinks, a signed baseball item from Ike, special event T-Shirt, auctions of sports experiences/unique items, photographs, gift bag and special guest appearances.

To purchase tickets and more info, visit "Striking out Childhood Cancer": A Night with Ike Davis.

DATE: Sunday, July 17 – 7:00 PM
LOCATION: Michael’s of Brooklyn – 2929 Avenue R – Brooklyn, NY

All proceeds will benefit Solving Kids’ Cancer and The Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative.

Too Soon: Why the Yankees Should Have Waited to Have Joe Torre Back at Old Timers' Day

2011-06-27T06:43:00.000-04:00

I was looking forward to seeing a former Yankee manager, who also was a very good player, return to Yankee Stadium for the first time for Old Timers' Day. Unfortunately, Lou Piniella's first appearance at the even was completely overshadowed by the return of Joe Torre.

I'm sorry, but I just think it was way too soon to bring back Torre for the event. Especially since he has never apologized for anything he did towards the end, like the way he trashed the organization after he deemed a one-year contract that guaranteed him $5 million (with another $3 million in incentives) an "insult."

And I am not going to forget about "The Yankee Years," and the way Torre, who based his whole Yankee career on being classy, settled scores with anybody who didn't genuflect to him in his time with the Yankees. I haven't forgotten the way he talked about George Steinbrenner's health issue. The way he revealed personal information about Johnny Damon. The way he told the world that A-Rod's nickname on the team was "A-Fraud." The way he got facts wrong, and accused David Wells of being a bad influence on Sidney Ponson when they were never teammates. Torre was so nasty and vindictive in the book, he made me feel sorry for Kevin Brown (!) afterwards.

And the thing of it is, he had a lot to answer for with "The Yankee Years," but thanks to the very same media members who gave him a standing ovation at his Yankee farewell press conference, Torre was able to deflect the bile of his book, as if it was all co-author Tom Verducci's fault. (Which begs the question, how did Verducci find out that information, if not for the guy whose picture was on the cover?)

I'm not saying that Torre should have been kept away from Old Timers' Day forever, but geez, is it too much to expect him to apologize for being a twit, before being welcomed back as Saint Joe of the Bronx again? Or for Joe to acknowledge that he bit the hand that fed him for 12 years, by first walking out in a snit fit slamming the organization, and then writing such a vile book like "The Yankee Years"? And for Joe to apologize for what he said and wrote, before honoring him in Yankeeland?

But instead of having to admit he was ever wrong, Torre got treated like a conquering hero yesterday, not just with the fans, but with the press, where it doesn't look like he got a single tough question at his press conference. I'm not going to be a phony like Torre and pretend that everything he did was okay. It wasn't, and he still needs to answer for it (but unfortunately, he likely will never have to.)

Torre said yesterday:

"I knew this day would come," said Torre, who received a rousing ovation from the Yankee Stadium crowd after his introduction.

Really, Joe? I seem to remember in your farewell press conference that you said you would never return to Yankee Stadium again.

He also said:

“I think they probably wanted to do something else,” Torre said. “I think it became uncomfortable on both sides on how to separate. Unfortunately it wasn’t pretty.”

Heaven forbid St. Joe take responsibility for his immature actions and say something like, "You know, I should have acted more grateful for the opportunity George Steinbrenner gave me. Thanks to him taking a chance on me, I went from being a .500 manager to a Hall of Famer. I should have handled my departure better, and not taken the cheap shots I did on the way out."

But, of course, that didn't happen. Instead Torre said about wearing pinstripes again:

"Putting it back on felt good," said Torre, who managed the Yankees to four World Series championships (1996, '98, '99, 2000) during his 12 years as their skipper. "Taking it off was quite emotional back in '07 because when I was doing it, I knew I wasn't going to be here anymore.

Really, Joe? I seem to remember the Yankees giving you another contract deal, and you turned it down because it was a pay cut. Now you say that you knew it was the last time you would wear the pinstripes as a manager? Which story is it?

Here's the kicker:

I just don't like to dwell on stuff, but I certainly did feel different when I put it on (Sunday morning), because it was something I hadn't done it in a long time, and it's obviously the uniform that has meant the most to my career."

Oh, good grief. Doesn't like to dwell on stuff? That's exactly what he did with "The Yankee Years" -- dwell on every real or perceived slight, settle every score, get back at anybody who didn't treat St. Joe with the deference he deserved.

If you cheered for Joe's return, knock yourself out. Just don't expect me to have joined you.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

I Will Be on South Florida Radio Today With The Amigo

2011-06-25T08:51:00.000-04:00

Miami's own Larry Milian -- aka the Amigo -- has interviewed me on his radio show many, many times since the first time I squawked with him, way back in 2006. He co-hosts the very popular morning drive time radio show called Armando and The Amigo on WFTL Sports -- 640 AM.

Now Larry has a brand-new radio show in South Florida as well on Saturday mornings, called the New York Sports Report, which he is co-hosting with Phil Dizz Domanic.. And I am honored to be the very first guest on the new program. How cool is that?

Check me out at 10:30 a.m. today -- you can listen live online here, and follow the guys on Twitter here. In the words of New York Jets star Bart Scott, can't wait!

Who Would You Rather Have --Jose Reyes or Derek Jeter?

2011-06-25T08:36:00.001-04:00

I have been watching Jose Reyes' MVP-caliber year with the New York Mets with great interest, especially since it's the last year of his contract. Like some Yankee fans, I was salivating at the idea of Reyes putting on pinstripes when he is no longer a Met.

But Brian Cashman has put the kibosh on that idea, saying, "That's just not going to happen." Of course, given that Cashman's own contract is up at the end of the year, never say never. Not to mention that Cashman has said one thing, and ended up doing another, before, like when Bubba Crosby was going to be the Yankees' starting center fielder for 2006! All that said, the Yankees probably will not get Reyes, even thought they should.

Back in 2007, Squawker Jon and I were interviewed on the Mets Weekly SNY broadcast for a Subway Series preview. When I was asked who was the best shortstop in New York, I gave my smartypants answer -- Alex Rodriguez!

Now I would say it's Jose Reyes, which is not exactly going out on a limb here. But it's going to be interesting to watch if Reyes is doing great things for the Mets, or heaven forbid, the Boston Red Sox, over the next few years, while the Yankees have Jeter at shortstop for the next three and a half seasons. (The media always seems to forget Jeter's player option for a fourth year in that contract. And given that he said last year that he thought he was still in the middle of his career (!), there is no reason to think at this point that he will hang it up before that season.)

Anyhow, will Yankee fans be gritting their teeth if Reyes has a year or two like this with the Red Sox, when it's pretty clear that Derek Jeter's 2010 was just a sneak preview of what we're going to see in this contract? And for all the "he's back" talk after his two-homer game against the Texas Rangers, the fact is that the captain has the same number of home runs this year that Eduardo Nunez achieved in 62 at-bats -- two. And while Jeter is better than Nunez with the glove at this point, Nunez is hitting much better in the lineup in Jeter's absence than Derek has all year:

Jeter's 2011 splits: .260/324/.324
Nunez's numbers since replacing Jeter in the lineup:.294/.351/.441 (his overall 2011 numbers are .241/.290/.379.)

I'm not saying Nunez is the answer, but the dirty little secret in Yankeeland is that the team has done just fine without Jeter in the lineup, especially with Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher alternating at the top of the lineup (they were hitting a combined .314 in that spot going into Friday's game.)

Of course, Joe Girardi has already said he won't move Jeter out of the leadoff role when he returns from injury, whenever that is. Because it makes perfect sense to have the player with the second-worst on-base percentage on the team batting more than anybody else on the Yankees!

I know, I know, these numbers don't take into account intangibles, grit, mystique, aura, or five rings. But geez, at some point, maybe after the 3000 hit milestone is achieved, we have to remember that it's the Derek Jeter of 2011 playing, not the ghost of Jeter at shortstop. Sacrilege, I know.

Glory Days, They'll Pass You By

2011-06-21T17:01:00.001-04:00

Last night, I attended a lively discussion on "The Cambridge Companion to Baseball" with the book's editor, Lenny Cassuto, and Caryn Rose (aka Metsgrrl). As it turned out, they had a connection even stronger than baseball - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

When I heard the terrible news about Clarence Clemons late Saturday night, I emailed Lenny. We have both been to at least 40 Bruce shows over the years, most of them with the E Street Band. I included in the email a link to a touching obituary on the main Springsteen fan site backstreets.com.

It was after I sent the email that I discovered that the obituary was written by the same person who was going to interview Lenny two day later.

(Read Clarence Clemons obituary written by Caryn Rose and Glenn Radecki and other Clarence tributes here.)

Though I suspect Lenny might have been just as happy to talk about Clarence, Caryn was coming off a string of radio and TV appearances as well as further updates to Backstreets, so once the evening officially got underway, all talk turned to baseball.

Since we were in Brooklyn (at the Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene), it was only appropriate for Caryn to begin by asking Lenny about an essay in the book on Walter O'Malley.

Caryn also asked if many of the writers identified themselves in the book as fans of specific teams. Lenny said that there was one Met fan, so I immediately jumped up, only to have Lenny remind me that it was actually a different writer.

Since my piece on the origins of free agency included a part on George Steinbrenner, it's probably just as well that I didn't identify myself as a Met fan in the book's bio section. But Squawker Lisa can verify that I was strictly objective when writing about the other Boss.

When the topic of fantasy baseball came up, Caryn said she was not a fan, so I decided not to mention that I have three teams and write on it for The Faster Times. But I should have mentioned that my fantasy football team is called the Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.

Overall, it was a fun event. I got to meet Metsgrrl, and had the chance to talk about Clarence with a writer from Backstreets, all at the same time.

Three Years Ago, Same Record Got Mets Manager Fired

2011-06-17T12:22:00.000-04:00

On June 16, 2008, the Mets were 34-35. In the early hours of June 17, Willie Randolph was fired. On June 16, 2011, the Mets were again 34-35, and Terry Collins is being showered with praise. Expectations have certainly changed.

Collins deserves the praise, and I agree with his comments after last night's game that we should look at it less as a brutal loss and more as the conclusion of a winning road trip (6-4) and the end of a series in which the Mets took two of three from the Braves.

But I miss the days when the Mets were expected to win. When simply getting to .500 wasn't viewed as an achievement.

When there was no question that the Mets would keep their stars. When the only question was which new stars would they seek to acquire.

At least I'm still able to yell at the TV when the Mets lose on a balk. I still have hope for this team.

Things haven't yet gotten to the point they were in late August of 2009 when the Mets lost to the Phillies when Jeff Francoeur hit into an unassisted triple play. By then, it was just the latest in a season-long string of indignities.

This year, at least the management still believes in the team. We'll soon find out if ownership shares that belief.

Blimpie Contest Winners!

2011-06-16T13:23:00.008-04:00

Congratulations to Patricia and Thoughts, the two winners of our Blimpie Ticket Giveaway. Each winner gets two tickets to this Sunday's Father's Day game - Mets-Angels at Citi Field.

If you are one of the winners, please send us your mailing address info ASAP to subwaysquawkers@gmail.com, so Blimpie can get you your tickets! We need to hear from you ASAP!

Last Chance to Win Free Mets Tickets

2011-06-16T07:12:00.000-04:00

Today is the last time you can enter our Mets tickets contest to win two free tickets for Sunday's game, courtesy of Blimpie Sub Shop. Please go here to enter! Two of our readers will win two free tickets to see the Mets take on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Fathers' Day. Good luck!

Win Free Tickets to Mets-Angels; Mets' Baserunning Blunders

2011-06-14T13:47:00.000-04:00

If you want to go this Sunday's Mets-Angels game on Father's Day, a pair of tickets on Stubhub starts at $32 each. But thanks to our contest courtesy of Blimpie, two pairs of our readers will get to go for free.

Go to our earlier blog entry to enter:

Sunday's game also features the Mr. Met Dash, in which kids 12 and under can run the bases after the game. Perhaps Mr. Met can also offer remedial baserunning tips for the actual Mets. Last night brought two more blunders - Daniel Murphy getting caught off second when Mike Pelfrey missed a bunt attempt and Lucas Duda turning a sac fly into a double play (the second game in a row that the Mets managed to do that).

While you've got to be pleased with how the Mets have remained competitive under Terry Collins despite all the injuries, the shoddy baserunning was supposed to be a thing of the past. And while a singles-hitting team needs to be aggressive, they can't afford to be reckless, much less incompetent.

Also, weren't mysterious injuries that never get better also supposed to be a thing of the past? The more things change...

On Derek Jeter's Calf Strain, and Our Ticket Giveaway

2011-06-14T07:45:00.000-04:00

Derek Jeter had the calf strain heard 'round the world during last night's game. Well, maybe not 'round the world, but it certainly was the sports story of the night.

Paul O'Neill was the first Yankee broadcaster to note that something was wrong with Jeter. Now everybody is worrying about when Jeter will get 3,000 hits. What's a little interesting is that I haven't heard much talk about the team implications if the captain is out; it's all about the hit record.

Anyhow, I know from personal experience what a Grade 1 calf strain, which is what the Captain has, feels like. I was gong to catch the subway three years ago, and I tore my calf with just that little burst of energy to get into the subway before it closed. The pain I felt when I had the calf strain felt like I was shot in the leg! Longtime Squawker readers may remember that I had to be helped off the subway, as I could not walk on that leg. It took a few weeks, and a bunch of physical therapy sessions, for my calf to get back to normal.

Granted, Jeter has more tools for quick healing at his disposal, but I wouldn't be surprised if he goes on the DL for two weeks over this.

I read Filip Bondy suggest that overuse could have led to this injury:

And it is quite possible, in 20-20 hindsight, that Jeter was asked to play too many games in a row, at age 36, in order to assure he achieved the landmark hit in the Bronx instead of in Chicago or Cincinnati.

He hadn't sat out a Yankee game since May 5, though there were four off days built in the schedule and he'd been a DH five times during that stretch. It had become clear the Yanks were going to get Jeter as many at-bats as possible, and in the end it may have come back to bite them.

If there's any consolation in any of this, it is that once again Jeter was right. We don't know, and Jeter doesn't know, where or when he'll reach 3,000.

Nonsense. Players get calf strains all the time -- Adrian Beltre had one in spring training this year. Was that due to overuse? Jimmy Rollins and A-Rod also had the issue last year, to name a few examples. Heck, like I said, I had the injury myself, and I'm not exactly an elite professional athlete! To suggest that it's because Jeter didn't have a complete day off in an entire month is a bit silly, especially when he had four off-days and five days off in the field. Stuff happens.

And Bondy acts like the issue is the Yankees somehow driving Jeter into the ground to get the hit record. But, as Joel Sherman notes, the captain has 12 seasons with 150+ games played per year. He wants to play every day.

Besides, up until this month, there was no way to know for sure when Jeter might possibly break the record. If he had kept up the brief hot streak he had starting in Texas, he would have hit 3,000 by now!

* * *

In other news, we are giving away free tickets to Sunday's Mets game, courtesy of Blimpie. Go here to enter!

What do you think?

LeBron James Outdoes A-Rod in Dopey Comments

2011-06-13T21:24:00.000-04:00

There are all sorts of columns making the comparison today that LeBron James, whose Miami Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs, is the new Alex Rodriguez, a great regular-season player who chokes in the playoffs. I can see the comparison a little, but I don't totally buy it, for several reasons.

First of all, as clueless as A-Rod can be when it comes to how to handle his image, from opting out during the World Series to saying all sorts of dopey things over the years, he never did anything as self-aggrandizing as "The Decision." When he was traded to the Yankees in 2004, the team had a press conference for him, not a pep rally. (And when he re-signed after the 2007 season, he talked to the media via conference call -- on the day the Mitchell Report was released. For once, he low-keyed it.)

Second, the comparison of LeBron to A-Rod in the 2004 ALCS, as I've heard some say, doesn't quite work. If the Yankees had been able to win Game 4, Rodriguez would be perceived as a great postseason hero. Why he gets the goat horns, when the entire team tanked the last three games, doesn't add up.

But the thing that really irks me about the comparison is that even A-Rod, somebody who didn't get that kissing himself in the mirror wasn't exactly a good look, would never say anything as offensive as what King James did last night:

James agreed the loss felt like a "personal failure" but also said "it hurts of course, but I'm not going to hang my head low."

And he said he wouldn't let it bother him that so many were so happy to see him fail.

"Absolutely not, because at the end of the day, all the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today," James said. "They have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that.

"They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they have to get back to the real world at some point."

Good grief. First of all, you can't trash the fans as losers who don't have the great life you do, even when they're rooting against you. The last player to pull such a thing was Red Sox reliever Keith Foulke when he slammed Boston fans who booed him as being "Johnny from Burger King." That move didn't exactly work out well for him.

Second, fans who root for you want to hear that you actually care about losing. LeBron sounds more upset with basketball fans cheering against him than he does about losing the series. We know that LeBron is still famous. And rich. And talented. But for somebody who just lost in a spectacular fashion, he seems more concerned with getting back to his fabulous life than anybody else. And that's something not even A-Rod would be foolish enough to say.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

This Father’s Day, Enjoy America’s Favorite Pastime Courtesy of Blimpie, America’s Favorite Sub Shop!

2011-06-10T07:38:00.005-04:00

Update - June 16 - We have our winners! Thanks to everyone who entered.

Some good news this morning -- Blimpie, our favorite place to get a sub, is partnering with us again this year on another ticket giveaway! This time around, it's a Father's Day giveaway for two sets of Mets tickets. Here are the details:

Blimpie is sponsoring a Father’s Day Giveaway for two pairs of two tickets to the New York Mets game against the Los Angeles Angels at Citi Field on Sunday, June 19, 2011 at 1:10 p.m. Two lucky winners will be able to treat Dad to a day at the ballpark!

Here's how you can win:

* Leave a comment on this blog entry about your favorite Blimpie sandwich and after reviewing their website at www.Blimpie.com, please list a sandwich you would like to try the next time you visit a Blimpie
in the same entry. (Also, please put an email address we can reach you at.)

Additional Extra Credit Entries:

*Subscribe to Subway Squawkers
*Follow Subway Squawkers on Twitter and leave a note on how you want to enter the Blimpie contest
*Fan/Like Blimpie on Facebook
*Follow Blimpie on Twitter

Please enter by Thursday, June 16. A winner will be picked that day, and the tickets sent via overnight mail. Good luck, and tell your friends!

Red Sox Get Brooms Out Against the Yankees

2011-06-10T07:15:00.000-04:00

Even though the Yankees-Red Sox game was running way past my bedtime last night, thanks to the rain delay that went on longer than an Phish concert, I really did try to stay up until the end. But I trotted off to bed in disgust when David Ortiz gestured his arms like a Muppet hopped up on caffeine after getting yet another big hit off the Yanks.

At least earlier in the game Ortiz finally got plunked, thanks to CC Sabathia, after both Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez got hit by a pitch earlier in the game. Squawker Jon called me to tell me to put on the end of the Mavericks-Heat game, and I was like, "Ortiz got plunked! I have to watch this!" I did put the Mavs' game on in picture-in-picture, though. That was the only other real highlight of the evening, although I did also enjoy watching some of the Billy Joel at Shea Stadium concert on PBS while waiting for the rain delay to be over.

As for the Red Sox, funny thing is, though, that I found out last night, thanks to Squawker reader Larry, that technically, David Ortiz did get hit by a Yankee pitch once before -- in Game 1 of the 2003 ALCS. This is something that has been completely forgotten by everyone, including myself!

Of course, Ortiz was whining about the plunking after the game, blaming the media for it. He's rapidly moving up the charts as being my least favorite Red Sox again. For a while, he wasn't even cracking the top five; now he's No. 1 with a bullet!

Anyhow, I could rehash the rest of the painful loss, and discuss in detail that costly seven-run inning. But what else is there to say? It's a debacle!

* * *

Before I end this post, I guess I need to mention Squawker Jon talking about Joba Chamberlain needing Tommy John surgery. He pointed out that there was the Joba Rules, and the Hughes Rules, but there were no Kennedy rules, and he's, of course, still standing, with a 6-2 record this year, and a 3.01 ERA. So much for Michael Kay's Generation Trey, eh? (Speaking of which, I haven't forgotten that Rafael Soriano started going bad the moment Kay came up with the dopey JoSoMo nickname, and now Joba's hurt. If anything happens to Mariano Rivera, I'm blaming Michael Kay!)

Last night, Jon also helpfully pointed out the possibility that Francisco Rodriguez could be a Yankee, due to his contract being too expensive for the Mets, and the Yankees' bullpen woes. Oh, great. I guess I have that to look forward to, right? Good grief.

What do you have to say about this series? Join the squawk!

Another Yankees-Red Sox Game, Another Debacle

2011-06-09T07:27:00.000-04:00

What a frustrating game to watch. Unlike Tuesday night, I did make it home in time to watch the top of the first inning of the last night's Yankees-Red Sox game. Unfortunately, it was the same old, same old, with the Sox getting three runs in the first. To top it all of, David Ortiz, instead of getting brushed back, got to camp out at home plate and hit a home run off The Bad A.J., who seems to show up every time against the Red Sox. What a nightmare.

Oh, and Ortiz had some classy things to say after last night:

“I don’t care what Joe Girardi says,” the Boston slugger fired back at a local New York writer. “Take it like a man. I’m done with that.” ....

“I don't want to be on national news tomorrow,” replied Ortiz on not flipping his bat after a two-run blast Wednesday. “I don’t want to have you guys asking me the same questions. I got almost 370 bombs in the big leagues and everybody wants to make a big deal because I bat flip one of them. [Expletive] that [expletive], man. If I have to make that video on my [expletive], let’s see how many bat flips I got on this [expletive]. Good night.”

Speaking of which, we're coming up on the second anniversary of the news that Ortiz failed a PED test. Remember how Sherlock Ortiz wasn't going to rest until he found out what happened? It's amazing he can still have time to play and solve crimes at the same time!

Dwight Gooden, of all people, weighed in on Twitter yesterday about Ortiz's bat flip, writing "In the 80s Ortiz would be laying on his ass right now after the stunt he pulled last night."And Red Sox Nation had a lot to say in our comments section as well yesterday, especially after my column on Ortiz got mentioned on Yahoo Sports' Big League Stew!

My own thoughts? I don't understand why Ortiz *still* has never been plunked by a Yankee, after all these years. The Yankees make him feel so comfortable at the plate, I half-expect them to bring out a pillow and a mint for him!

* * *

In other news, how about that Brett Gardner? He's on the lineup in no small part because of his speed, and he doesn't run home in the sixth when the ball gets away? So much for that. He said he didn't move because he thought the ball hit Jeter, which makes no sense.

And remember the days when Derek Jeter used to get the big hit? Unfortunately, those days are few and far between now, and last night, he hit into a rally-killing double play after Gardner's bumbling.

For all the hype about Captain Clutch's upcoming 3000 hits milestone, and the DJ3K bracelet, the fact is that he is having an even worse year than he did last season, even though many fans and writers thought his troubles were over after he hit two home runs against the Rangers. Last year, he hit .270, with 30 doubles, 10 home runs, and a .710 OPS. This year so far, he's hitting .260, with 7 doubles, 2 home runs and a .655 OPS. Yikes!

Oh, and what was up with Alfredo Aceves? Aside from the fact I was muttering to myself about why Brian Cashman didn't re-sign him, I was a little unnerved by how much he was sweating. It was like there was a showerhead installed right above his head, he was so wet. Or maybe he splashed cold water on himself between innings? What was the deal there?

What are your thoughts on Yankees-Red Sox?

On David Ortiz' Bat Flip, and The Yankees-Red Sox Series

2011-06-08T07:51:00.000-04:00

I was on the bus home from the Staten Island Ferry when the Yankees-Red Sox game started last night, and I was following the progress via my iPhone. By the time I arrived home, the Yankees were already losing 3-0. Not a great way to start off the evening.

And it got even worse. I also missed seeing Mark Teixeira getting helped off the field. What a nightmare. Between that, and David Ortiz's hitting a home run, complete with an obnoxious bat flip, it wasn't exactly an evening for the ages for Yankee fans. (Although Jorge Posada fans did get to see him ably step up with his best game of the year -- his first 2011 three-hit game -- after he stepped in to take Mark Teixeira's place in the lineup, and at first.)

But as for Ortiz, I was irritated by his antics during the game (what, he was mad Hector Noesi went a little inside on him? Spare me. Ortiz still has never been hit by a Yankee pitcher. Ever!) and even more annoyed by his arrogant comments afterwards. He said:

“It’s not my first time. It’s not going to be my last time. So, big deal,” he said.

“I’m a home run hitter. It’s not like I do it all the time. But it’s part of the excitement. What can I tell you? I just went deep. You want more emotion than that. I just went deep. It’s another homer for Papi.

“That was one of the Papi good ones.”

Two third-person references in one interview? Oy. What happened to the personable Ortiz, any way, the one who didn't come across like a clown in interviews?

The Yankees weren't happy about his little show last night, and we'll see if they enact a little payback this series.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Visit to Citi Field: Vision of a Dark Future

2011-06-03T18:39:00.005-04:00

I nearly went to Thursday's game, but ended up at Wednesday's instead. Big mistake. Instead of seeing a spectacular comeback that will no doubt end up in the slim catalog of SNY Mets Classics, I got to see what a Met infield would look like without Jose Reyes or David Wright.

I did not find out until well after the fact that Terry Collins was even more annoyed than I was about the shoddy infield play that resulted in a steady stream of infield hits and helped the Pirates turn a 2-0 deficit into a 9-3 win. But what Collins really needed to be annoyed with was that Willie Harris is still on his roster and that Sandy Alderson has been no better so far at building a bench on the cheap than Omar Minaya was.

Things got a lot brighter Thursday when Reyes returned to the lineup and Harris returned to the bench. And then there was that comeback for the ages. So I deleted the gloom and doom post I started Wednesday night. After all, I did have a good time going to my first game of the year.

But ownership should know that even if fans can still have fun at the ballpark watching a lousy lineup playing a lousy game, my tickets in the fifth row of the promenade behind home plate were only $6.50 each, plus StubHub fees. And unless I missed it, they didn't bother to put the attendance on the scoreboard. It wasn't too long ago when the Mets would ask you to guess the attendance and put up four different figures, all much higher than whatever they are drawing now.

*

If the Mets want to reduce the gloom and doom surround the club, how about putting an end to rumors that they might aim to keep Reyes, but then they would have to move Wright. What's next - Shake Shack will only have hamburgers or shakes, but not both? I actually read somewhere that this could be the best time to trade Wright, before his value goes down more. Yeah, when he's on the DL with a stress fracture in his back - that's the time to move him!

Wright, like Reyes, is a very good player who has done well in New York, unlike, say, Jason Bay. Nobody should be untouchable, but moves just to cut costs can help you end up with an infield like Wednesday night's - Daniel Murphy, Justin Turner, Ruben Tejada and Willie Harris.

Why I Find the "Overrated Baseball Players" List Amusing

2011-06-01T08:57:00.001-04:00

There was a whole to-do yesterday over four Yankees being named to Sports Illustrated's poll of the Most Overrated MLB players, with Alex Rodriguez, Joba Chamberlain, and Derek Jeter taking the top three spots, and Nick Swisher tying Jayson Werth and Jonathan Papelbon for fourth place.

And for once, A-Rod, the "winner" of the contest voted on by his peers, outdid Derek Jeter, No. 3 on the list, when it came to handling negative attention with a smile and a laugh. For that matter, Joba Chamberlain, who came in second, said all the right things, too. Jeter, not so much.

Here's the scoop. Erik Boland of Newsday describes the scene in the clubhouse yesterday, with Joba, who "won" the title last year, teasing A-Rod about it:

"I lost," Chamberlain proclaimed for the rest of the clubhouse to hear. "I got beat out. No. 2, though...I guess I passed the torch on to Alex."

Upon seeing Rodriguez enter the clubhouse, Chamberlain, surrounded by reporters, yelled at the third baseman.

"You’re next Al, you’re next!"

Here's how A-Rod reacted:

Rodriguez smiled for almost the entirety of the time he spent talking about the anonymous poll.

"I’ve been on this list before," A-Rod said before pausing and taking note of 3/5 of the list comprising Yankees. "So it’s three Yankees? So I’ll see you guys next summer again."

Rodriguez also poked fun at his past reasons for making headlines.

Players vote?

"I’m sure I’ll be on it next summer so I’ll try to come up with some better material for you guys," he said. "But, I will say this. If this is the only thing we’re talking about, fellas, we’re doing good."

Here was Jeter's reaction, which wasn't quite so jovial:

Jeter was not close to being amused.

"We're doing this again?" he said. "I have no comment on anonymous polls. I've never understood those anonymous polls."

He added: "It's the same thing they do every year, right? I'm focused on more positive things. How about that? There's your quote."

Discussing his chase of 3,000 hits later on, Jeter amended that.

"Consistency is underrated," he said, putting emphasis on "underrated." "That's the quote."

Jeter usually has the right thing to say, as in saying nothing while saying something, but I thought he came off as really cranky here. This poll, voted on by 185 MLB players, is the quintessential example of the "you're just jealous" sentiment. Yankees win every year (Jeter was just as perturbed when he "won" the honor a few years back), because players are jealous of the attention and money they get.

Jayson Werth is on the list this year because he's making a ton of money with the Washington Nationals, and others are envious of his money. Nick Swisher is on the list because of his fame, endorsements, and probably jealousy about his TV-star wife. I would like to think that Jonathan Papelbon is on the list for being annoying, but his inclusion is most likely about jealousy, too. Any player who is on this list ought to consider it a badge of honor, quite frankly. A-Rod and Chamberlain took it in that spirit, while Jeter was peeved.

At any rate, Jeter's talk of his "consistency" is no longer applicable to his career, unless you consider consistently hitting .257 over the past year, with just seven homers, as a good thing. From the start of his career, until May 31, 2010, he put up the following stats:

.317 BA .387 OBP .458 Slug .845 OPS

Here are his stats from June 1, 2010 through yesterday:

.257 BA .333 OBP .336 Slug .670 OPS

Yikes!

Why Are Mets Promoting Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran for All-Star Game?

2011-05-31T17:34:00.000-04:00

Just got an email from mets.com: REYES, BELTRAN NEED YOUR VOTES! Yeah, that's the way to cheer up a fan base - tell them to support players that may not even be in Met uniforms by the All-Star Game.

Maybe Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran would have more votes if their owner hadn't publicly criticized them last week.

Perhaps Fred Wilpon can make it up to Reyes by voting for him - just so long as he doesn't get Carl Crawford vote totals.

And Wilpon can vote for Beltran, but fill out multiple ballots with other outfielders so Beltran only gets 65-70% of his support.

The one thing we won't see from the Mets is truth in marketing:

Vote for Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran - increase their trade value!

Vote for Reyes and Beltran - it may be years before another Met has any hope of being voted onto the team!

Enjoy these Met All-Star performances while you can - starting in 2012, the Mets will only get someone on the team because every team has to have an All-Star. (But at least Justin Turner will be able to tell his grandkids he was an All-Star.)

I'd love to vote for Reyes - to sign a new contract with the Mets. As for Beltran, I vote for him to find a team that appreciates him.

In the end, many fans, including this one, will be voting with their wallets. And the exit polls on that score are looking pretty grim.

Perhaps the person most in favor of the Mets' latest dubious marketing ploy is incoming investor David Einhorn. ESPN's Adam Rubin suggests that Einhorn may be counting on the team to tank financially so that he can eventually take it over.

And a good way to make Met fans even angrier is to ask them to cast their All-Star votes for Reyes and Beltran - to think of them as the stars they are, just as ownership is no longer able or willing to pay for stars.

Remembering Dana Brand

2011-05-26T17:30:00.003-04:00

Lisa and I had the pleasure of meeting Dana Brand at a SABR event in February 2010. Dana read from his book "The Last Days of Shea: Delight and Despair in the Life of a Met Fan." Almost all of the mainstream media wrote about Shea Stadium as a dump that would not be missed. It was refreshing to hear someone discuss Shea, the ballpark of most Met fans' formative years, so passionately and eloquently.

Now Shea is gone and, shockingly, so too is Dana, way too soon at 56. Not only was Dana a central part of the Met blogging community, but he also was willing to help out a Yankee fan like Lisa when she interviewed Met bloggers for a piece she wrote for The Faster Times.

Dana inscribed my copy of "The Last Days of Shea" as follows:

To Jon
A fellow long-suffering still-believing Met fan.
Someday. . .
Dana Brand
2/6/10

I still can't believe that when someday finally comes, Dana won't be there to share it with all of the long-suffering, still believing Met fans.

Lisa and I send our thoughts and prayers to Dana's family.

We really regret that we only got to meet Dana and hear him speak that one time. Here are two remembrances from people that knew him much better - Greg Prince and Howard Megdal.

On the Yankees' Walkoff Win, "Glee," "Dancing With the Stars," and the Mets

2011-05-25T08:15:00.001-04:00

I was watching last night's Yankee game until 9 p.m., when I switched over to the season finale of "Glee." Hey, don't judge. I don't like to watch season finales on DVR or tape delay, because I know that even if I wait an hour to watch it, I'll come across somebody talking about the show in question on Twitter or Facebook or online, I'll get ticked off that the show was spoiled, and it will ruin my enjoyment. So I'd rather prevent the aggravation and watch it live.

Anyhow, because of that, I missed watching the end of the Yankees' exciting walkoff win live, although I did catch it later, after watching the season finale of "Dancing With the Stars." I was happy to see Hines Ward, who I have rooted for all season, take the mirror ball trophy home! I still want to see a baseball star on DWTS one day, though.

It was good to see the Yankees have an old-fashioned rally, and they looked about as happy as I've seen the team all year!

In other news, there's word that Rafael Soriano is going to visit Dr. Andrews, which is never a good thing. Brian Cashman looks vindicated on that signing, that's for sure!

* * *

As for the Mets' mess, there have been some really good articles written criticizing Fred Wilpon. In his piece "Choose the Mets," my friend Mark Healey suggests not putting any money into the Mets' coffers until Wilpon is gone. Ian O'Connor has an angry column which asks that Bud Selig take over the team. "Enough is enough is enough," O'Connor sez. "If wresting the Mets from Wilpon isn't in the best interests of baseball, what the hell is?"

And Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post wonders when the fans will get an apology from Wilpon:

When Wilpon described the Mets as, um, “sh***y,” what he did was admit what we’ve long suspected: that he plays his own fans for suckers, chumps, rubes, that he believes they drive to work on the same turnip truck he so vehemently wants us to believe he rides in on (or else how could poor Fred — a good man — have been so relentlessly duped by so many.

Wilpon may believe he is, in the words of that New Yorker piece, "snakebitten," but I think it's interesting how many times a supposedly smart and good man has been "fooled" so many times. Aside from the Madoff issue, and having Kirk Radomski as a clubhouse staffer back in the day, there's the whole Charlie Samuels scandal.

Samuels, who worked for the Mets for 30 years, and was their longtime clubhouse manager, not only was a clubhouse snitch for ownership, but he was involved with illegal gambling (the second Mets employee to be busted for such a thing). And he also was recently charged with swiping $2.3 million in stolen Mets autographed memorabilia from the clubhouse and storing them elsewhere to sell. According to a news story about the theft, the items recovered included "507 signed and unsigned jerseys, 304 hats, 828 bats, 22 batting helmets and 10 equipment bags." And nobody noticed a thing? Are you kidding me?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Is Coffee the Met Fan/Yankee Fan Dog Being Abused?

2011-05-24T16:29:00.001-04:00

Last year, I wrote an article about Coffee, the Met fan dog who wore a David Wright jersey, a pipe, sunglasses, glasses, a bandana, and a Mets cap.

My scoop was that I was the first to notice that this dog, seen as a "Met fan" asking for money outside CitiField, was pawing both sides of the street -- he also showed up dressed as a Yankee fan asking for money during the playoffs! Click on my original article to see the pix. I thought it was funny that even a dog would change baseball alliances when it was convenient! I guess money talks.

Anyhow, a few weeks ago, I noted on our page view reports that we were getting a lot of traffic on that old story, and a whole bunch of new comments. I didn't understand why people were reading the piece. Then I saw that there was a Facebook group called Stop Abusing Coffee set up, with a link to my own article, among other stories about the dog. The page said that "Coffee the dog that is forced to sit outside of Citi Field before, during & after EVERY Mets home game needs to stop being abused."

Anyhow, I didn't want to accuse the owner of abuse without hearing or seeing evidence of it, so I held off on writing something right away. Then the Gothamist site ran several stories last week, with photo evidence of Coffee having to wear a shock collar to stay in line. Yikes! Then they ran a photo of Coffee's owner, apparently holding the controls for the shock collar, a picture where it looks like Coffee does not have any teeth!

The latest news is that Coffee's owner had her pretending to be a Yankee fan outside Yankee Stadium during the Subway Series this past weekend, and some concerned folks took some more pictures. This story is now blowing up -- it's one of the lead items on today's Drudge Report.

A lot of people have called the Mets, the ASPCA, and other animal rights groups to get this stopped, to no avail. You can read more about this issue at the Stop Abusing Coffee page. Here's hoping for a happy resolution to this story.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Sorry, Squawker Jon, Fred Wilpon Is No George Steinbrenner

2011-05-24T09:22:00.003-04:00

Squawker Jon writes that "Fred Wilpon is George Steinbrenner without the success." I take issue with that comparison. Steinbrenner was a winner; Wilpon, with all his "snakebitten" talk; is just a whiner.

Mike Lupica, who slammed the Yankee front office last week for not covering up for Jorge Posada's sitdown strike, has a much more positive take today on Wilpon throwing his stars under the bus. (Shocker, I know.) He writes, "Steinbrenner used to say everything about everybody, even Don Mattingly, then trash the Bronx for good measure. Now we build monuments to him." Um, no. Steinbrenner didn't get a monument for calling Dave Winfield Mr. May. He got it for winning seven World Series rings.

Fred Wilpon has one ring, back from when he co-owned the team with Nelson Doubleday. And it was Doubleday who, back when he co-owned the team, pushed for them to sign Mike Piazza, the way George Steinbrenner would have. If it had been up to Wilpon, the Mets would still be looking for another playoff appearance since the late 80s. And the only monument Wilpon will ever get is a monument to stupidity.

Whatever you can say about Steinbrenner, he was a Yankee fan through and through. And he really had a feel for Yankee tradition. It was The Boss who brought Mel Allen back into the Yankee fold, over a decade after he had been unceremoniously fired by the Yankees front office as a broadcaster. Steinbrenner also got Roger Maris to put on pinstripes again, and later retired his number. (Yes, Mets, people actually get their numbers retired. It's 25 years since 1986, and there hasn't been a single Met with his number retired from that era. What's up with that?)

Even when The Boss fought with people, he eventually brought them back in the fold. Like Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, and even Dave Winfield, who suffered the worst of Steinbrenner's wrath.

Steinbrenner's "Yankee way" pep talks and signs may have made some players roll their eyes, but there is no doubt which team he loved: The New York Yankees. On the other hand, it's pretty clear that Fred Wilpon's first baseball love is the Brooklyn Dodgers, with the Mets just an afterthought to his childhood dreams.

Citi Field when it first opened was more of a tribute to Ebbets Field and a time long gone than it was to the actual team playing there. Here are Fred's comments to New Yorker writer Jeffrey Toobin on the issue:

“The first day the architects came to the site, they started saying blah, blah, blah, and I said to them, ‘Let me tell you how this is going to work,’ ” Wilpon told me recently. “ ‘The front of the building is going to look like Ebbets Field. And it’s going to have a rotunda—just like at Ebbets.’ And then I said, ‘Guess what. Here are the plans for Ebbets Field.’ And I handed them over.”

He also told Toobin:

Today, as Wilpon negotiates with possible investors, he says it’s clear that the team is worth more than a billion dollars. “There’s one National League franchise in New York,” he said. “Fifty years from now, there’s going to be one National League franchise in New York. That’s a very valuable thing.”

I'm sorry, I'm not really feeling the Mets love here -- he can't even muster up the name of his own team when saying how valuable it is!

While Wilpon did eventually acknowledge that he overdid it in Citi Field with the Brooklyn love: "All the Dodger stuff—that was an error of judgment on my part," he tells Toobin, he still seems more interested in walking down memory lane than embracing the team he currently owns. George Steinbrenner grew up a Cleveland Indians fan, but the closest he came to embracing his childhood team was hiring Gabe Paul and Bob Lemon, both of which were good moves.The rest of his life was all about Yankeedom.

Finally, Steinbrenner would never have agreed with Wilpon calling his team snake-bitten. Instead, The Boss would surely have agreed with Oprah Winfrey's quote that you make your own luck. Here's hoping that Wilpon makes his own luck for the Mets, and sells the entire team. Enough already.