No sympathy: A-Rod and the Yankees are paying stupid tax

Squawker Jon and I heard ESPN's PED investigative reporter T.J. Quinn speak this weekend when we attended New York's SABR Day festivities. Quinn talked about performance-enhancing drugs and baseball and said that the MLB PED test wasn't really a drug test; it was an IQ test. You know, how people like Manny Ramirez get caught while others get away with it.

I couldn't help but think of Quinn's trenchant comment when hearing about the allegations that Alex Rodriguez allegedly did PEDs -- again -- and that a Miami clinic reportedly saved information about him and other players. According to the Miami New Times, from 2009 to 2012 Alex, under the code name of Cacique, allegedly received a variety of PEDs supplied by an antiaging clinic. 2009 would be right after his PED admission, and 2012 would be the worst season of his career. (Did he ask for a refund on the latter?) What a dumbass.

So yeah, to expand on Quinn's point, if there were an IQ test here somewhere, A-Rod failed. Bigtime. How stupid do you have to be to do this again after being exposed as a PED user? Pretty dumb.

Stupid tax is in effect

But you know who was also pretty stupid? The Yankees for re-signing him to the dumbest contract in MLB history. And they have only themselves to blame.

Radio host and financial guru Dave Ramsey has an expression for senseless spending. He calls it a "stupid tax." So in essence, both the Yanks and A-Rod are paying a stupid tax. A-Rod for doing PEDs again and costing himself millions in bad reputation, and the Yankees for signing this ridiculous deal.

There's all sorts of talk that the Yankees are trying to void the contract. Good luck with that. Here are some of the many reasons why this will never happen:

* It is pretty much impossible to void an MLB contract for any reason. And nobody has ever successfully gotten a contract voided for PEDs.

* That's because the players' agreement with MLB does not allow for anything other than a 50-game suspension for first-time PED use (A-Rod's admitted use of steroids came in before this agreement, so this would still be a 50-game suspension.)

* The team didn't try to void his contract in 2009, when they knew he did PEDs. They also were unsuccessful in their attempt to have Jason Giambi's contract voided, even though Giambi had health issues reportedly related to his PED use.

* The Yankees can't claim to be shocked, shocked about PED use given that 10 members of the 2000 Yankees were named in the Mitchell Report, with 16 Yankees in all in the report.

* Even after the Mitchell Report, Cashman has repeatedly signed either players who tested positive for PEDs or were named in the report (Jerry Hairston Jr., Sergio Mitre to name two) or those who were strongly suspected of PED use (Andruw Jones, Bartolo Colon, and a whole slew of those so- called low-risk, high reward signings.) It's hard to say

* The Yanks re-signed Andy Pettitte FOUR times after his admitted PED usage. Shocking, I know, that a team that signed him and Jason Giambi would have no idea that A-Rod ever juiced.

Anyhow, it's stupid tax time. And forget all this nonsense about how the Yankees will get A-Rod's contract paid for by insurance. As if the insurance company will just willingly fork over $114 million just to save the Yankees from paying their stupid tax. Spare me. Nobody else is that stupid.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Mets vs. Yankees, R.A. vs. CC -- Who will win the battle of the initials?

Listen up, Met fans -- my presence at Citi Field Friday meant nothing. Your team still beat the Yankees! So much for my so-called jinx. Now, I am about to head to your ballpark for the battle of the initials -- CC vs. RA -- but if Dickey's scoreless streak ends, don't blame me!

I hope it doesn't rain tonight -- Jon and I and 40+ thousand fans had to wait out an hourlong rain delay Friday. Not fun, although at least I didn't feel claustrophobic like at the old ballparks. Speaking of which, that's when I finally felt it was time for a new Yankee Stadium -- during a 2006 Subway Series rain delay, and the hallways inside were so cramped and crowded.

The last play of Friday's game, of course, was a popup. Needless to say, I was hoping to see another Luis Castilloesque play, but no such luck.

That was an awful Andy Pettitte start to the game -- five runs in the first took the crowd out of the game right from the beginning -- but at least he settled down, and the Bombers even made it get close. Did the Roger Clemens verdict mess him up?

Meanwhile, Clemens was at Fenway Park Friday, watching a Boston game. Good, Rocket -- stay with that old team and forget about going to any Yankee games!

I noticed that Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden do a "Let's go Mets" chant. Of course, I helpfully pointed out to Squawker Jon how many rings each had as a Yankee!

Anyhow, as much as I like R.A. Dickey, here's hoping that CC wins the battle of the initials!

Roger Clemens: Still a lying jerk

So let me get this straight. Now that Roger Clemens has been acquitted of all the federal charges against him involving lying to Congress, I am supposed to believe that Brian McNamee supplied Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch and even Debbie Clemens with the juice, but Clemens never let McNamee, the trainer whose salary he was paying, touch him with steroids or HGH? Really? C'mon now. It's all Roger's hard work that enabled him to throw a fastball into his mid-40s? Spare me.

I am unsurprised by the verdict, and expected as much ever since Andy Pettitte backtracked on his testimony -- thanks for nothing, buddy. Not to mention that when you have not one but two people thrown off the jury for falling asleep,  the prosecution isn't exactly putting on a scintillating case. It also didn't help that the jurors were picked because they knew nothing about baseball. 


I read and watch a lot of true crime stuff, and whenever I see a trial, I am usually aware of what the great trial lawyer Gerry Spence advises attorneys: tell a story. That means to say something understandable for the jurors to ponder. That doesn't mean spending almost two months on minutia. I was on a murder trial that took less than a week. The prosecution in the Jerry Sandusky trial managed to tell eight victims' stories in four days. Yet this Roger Clemens trial dragged on for 10 weeks, much of it due to the prosecution's inability to tell a coherent story.

But the verdict isn't really a true vindication of Clemens. The thing is, my issue with Clemens at this point is more about the lying and the sanctimony than the steroids and the HGH. I think that he and Barry Bonds were both Hall of Famers before they ever touched a needle. That being said, don't give me this garbage about how it was just that hard work that enabled Clemens to pitch through 2007. Of course he worked hard -- PEDs generally don't work unless the player works out as well. But that doesn't mean he's innocent.


And I hope this verdict doesn't mean he gets invited back into the Yankee fold. It already makes me vomit that Joe Torre got such cheers at last year's Old Timers' Day. Seeing Roger Clemens get such accolades will make me just as sick.


What do you think? Tell us about it.

Andy Pettitte's Frankie Pentangeli moment

When I heard today about how Andy Pettitte indicated that he might have, um, misremembered what Roger Clemens said about HGH, my first thought was that it was something out of a movie. The Godfather, Part II, that is!

Specifically, I am referring to the infamous scene in which Frankie Pentangeli, who is set to testify as to what he knew about Michael Corleone's crimes, all of a sudden clams up. That's because Corleone has arranged for Frankie Five Fingers' brother to come in from Sicily. Seeing his brother keeps him from testifying -- he tells the Senate committee that he doesn't know anything:

The FBI guys promised me a deal. So I made up a lot of stuff about Michael Corleone. Because then, that's what they wanted. But it was all lies. Everything. They said Michael Corleone did this, Michael Corleone did that. So I said, "Yeah, sure."

The final script of the movie movie doesn't really explain why just seeing his brother would compel him not to testify, other than it being about Sicily and omerta, although Michael tells his wife Kay that "it was between those brothers." (An aside -- Pentangeli's character wasn't in the first movie, and he serves as a replacement for Clemenza after Richard Castellano, the actor who portrayed Clemenza in the movie, couldn't come to terms with Francis Ford Coppola on a new contract. While The Godfather, Part II is a great movie, I think Pentangeli's role would have been much more powerful if he were still Clemenza, like in the first film. But I digress.)

Anyhow, back to Andy Pettitte. According to his Congressional testimony, he told Laura Pettitte of what Clemens said back in the day about using HGH. However, as Ken Davidoff, now of the New York Post, reminds us:

The government’s best weapon to fight back would be to reveal that Pettitte acquired HGH from Brian McNamee, who will say he injected Clemens with illegal performance-enhancing drugs, and that Pettitte shared the details of the conversation with his wife, Laura. District Judge Reggie Walton has closed both doors, however, saying the McNamee connection would be “guilt by association” and the Laura Pettitte testimony “hearsay.”

Oh, great. Thanks, Andy, for potentially helping to set Roger Clemens free, by saying this today in court:

“As you sit here today, you believe in your heart and mind that you very well might have misunderstood Mr. Clemens in 1999 or 2000?” asked one of Clemens’s defense lawyers, Michael Attanasio. “Could have,” Pettitte said. “It’s 50-50 that you might have heard it, might have misunderstood it?” “That’s fair,” Pettitte replied.

The thing of it is, being so ambiguous, and unsure, will not change anybody's minds who thinks that Pettitte was a rat. It will not repair his friendship with The Rocket. But what it could do is give a jury reasonable doubt on finding Clemens guilty. Lovely. Thanks for nothing, Andy!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Why I have very mixed emotions about Andy Pettitte coming back

Of all the dramatic things! Oh my goodness gracious! Andy Pettitte is coming back!

Even though Andy Pettitte is one of my all-time favorite Yankee players, I have to say I'm not so sure that him coming back in 2012 is such a great idea. For one thing, he's going to be 40 years old this summer. I know Pettitte says he's mentally ready, determined, will work as hard as physically possible, blah blah blah, but Father Time stops for nobody, not even Andy Pettitte. Not to mention how much injury time Pettitte missed over the past few years, and could miss again.

In addition, other than Jamie Moyer and Mariano Rivera, how many pitchers are successful into their forties? And the reason we remember them is because they are so rare.

Lots of Yankee fans were excited when Roger Clemens came back, but he ran out of gas in about three months. So did Pedro Martinez with his go-round with the Philadelphia Phillies. Could that happen with Andy?

At any rate, I'm kind of astonished that Brian Cashman would offer Pettitte in December $10-12 million for one year, according to various news reports. Paying a pitcher heading close to 40 that kind of money, when he hasn't pitched in a year, is a bit wacky. The current $2.5 million contract is much more sensible, though.

I also really liked the way Mike Mussina and Paul O'Neill retired, and I thought Pettitte would stick to that -- go through your last year, play well, and leave people wanting more. It will make me very sad if Pettitte embarrasses himself on the field this year.

Look, I'm not trying to be a hater here. I hope I am wrong. But I'm not sure if pulling a Brett Favre here was the best of ideas for Pettitte. If he ends up having a great year, I will be happy to eat my words. But right now, I'd hate to see him tamper with his great Yankee legacy by having a sub-par season.

What do you think about Andy Pettitte coming back? Tell us about it!

Why did Brian Cashman pursue Carl Pavano -- and insult Andy Pettitte?

I've been saying all winter that for some strange reason, Brian Cashman seems to have shown very little interest in wanting Andy Pettitte back. His comments have been very tepid in talking about one of the greatest pitchers the Yankees have ever had. And the fact that Cash recently compared Pettitte to Brett Favre, the day before praising Carl Pavano (!) seems to be a real passive-aggressive message to the Texas hurler.

Compare and contrast:

Cashman on Pavano: "I had several discussions (with his agent). I still believe Pav can pitch here. He has proven he can pitch in some difficult situations. The thing is, he's healthy. I don't think he was afraid to come back here, either."

Cashman on Pettitte: "I told him don’t ‘Brett Favre’ us. You got to be all in and fully dedicated to play. Do I need him? I need him, but I don’t want him to play if his heart’s not in it.”

Yes, because nothing shows how much you need Andy Pettitte than comparing him to Brett Favre. How insulting, especially given that Pettitte is known for living his life as a Christian family man, while Favre is known for allegedly sending pictures of his genitals to girls half his age. Way to go, Brian!

Besides, the comparison is not even accurate -- Favre actually retired and unretired a gazillion times. Pettitte has never done that. And as much as I despise Favre, nobody can accuse him of not being "all in" when he did play. Suggesting such a scenario with Pettitte is also insulting.

Squawker Jon notes Cashman even using a friendly nickname - "Pav" - for Pavano. As far as I'm concerned, Pavano already has two perfectly good nicknames -- American Idle and the Crash Test Dummy!

Anyhow, I thought Derek Jeter was wrong to think that the Yankees mistreated him this offseason -- they clearly made him their priority. Pettitte, on the other hand, has a right to feel slighted. And it's not the first time this has happened -- remember the halfhearted offer they made to him after the 2003 season? Or the way they halved his salary a few years ago? I'm sure Pettitte remembers that, too.

My old boss posted here the other day that he thought Pettitte might play for the Astros again. Given the inept way Cashman has pursued him, I wouldn't be surprised.

As for Pavano, Cashman wants us all to forget that it was he who made Carl get a second, a third, and a fourth opinion on whether he needed Tommy John surgery. And this was *after* Pavano had gone to see Dr. James Andrews. Now he acts like Pavano was just misunderstood or something. Puh-lease.


And remember, Pettitte played hurt in the playoffs this year to help his team. Not that his Cashman cares about that. Maybe if Andy had been laid up for months with bruised buttocks or something, his GM would have more respect for him.

At any rate, it's sad that Randy Levine, of all people, showed more passion in just one statement on Pettitte than Cashman has all winter. The Yankee president said this a few weeks back:

"Andy's a great Yankee and a great person and I know he'll give it thought and follow his heart and we'll respect his decision. But we're out there, all of us, hoping every day that he comes back," Levine added. "I think he knows we need him. I think he knows how much we respect him and what a great leader he is."

Is it too much to expect the Yankee GM to say something similar about one of the most beloved players on the team? Apparently so.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Why Roger Clemens is not the reason Andy Pettitte may retire

I saw there was some whole to-do over Brian Cashman saying that it looked like "right now," Andy Pettitte is "still saying, 'Don't count on me'" for next season.  Oh, great.

The Yankees GM also said, that "Andy's been very communicative [with me] on this issue. Right now, he's not playing. If he decides to play, it will be for us. He's a Yankee, from start to finish." (Well, other than that whole "going to Houston for three seasons" thing, but I digress!)

Cashman told reporters, "I don't think he's determined whether he's officially finished, but is choosing at this stage to not start 2011" and that "I'm certainly not going to hound him or bother him." Hmmmm. Did the Yankees "hound" or "bother" CC Sabathia when they opened up the Brinks' truck for him? How about when -- shudder -- Cashman got Roger Clemens back in George Steinbrenner's box to pitch for the team in 2007? Goodness gracious!

At any rate, there's been some speculation in the media as to why Pettitte hasn't re-signed with the Yankees. Bob Klapisch and Wally Matthews are hooked on the idea that Clemens himself -- or, more to the point, the Clemens federal trial set for next summer -- has something to do with it. Matthews wrote:

"...you know Clemens' attorney, Rusty Hardin, is going after Pettitte in the only areas he can in order to discredit his testimony. He is going to do his level best to crush Pettitte's reputation for honesty and sincerity and religious convictions. Simply put, he is likely to try to paint Pettitte as a lying hypocrite whose word cannot and should not be trusted.

The cross-examination could get embarrassing and highly personal.

And in a situation like that, pitching for the New York Yankees every five days and facing a ravenous media horde on a daily basis is not exactly where anyone in his or her right mind would want to be."

Klapisch had similar sentiments (an aside: what do these reporters know -- or think they know -- that makes them say Clemens will expose Pettitte in some personal way?):

"Therein lies his defense strategy: for Clemens to prevail, he’ll have to destroy Pettitte’s credibility. One person who’s known the left-hander for many years said: 'You think that’s not weighing on Andy’s mind? Who knows what Clemens is going to dig up?'


Indeed, the dual burden of facing Clemens in court and then taking the mound in the Bronx might be too much for Pettitte. After 16 years, he might be thinking there’s no reason to fight two wars, not this late in his career, not at this point in his life."

A few points:

* The idea that Clemens will actually go on trial in July is laughable. Barry Bonds was indicted on federal perjury charges in 2007 and hasn't yet faced a trial (one is scheduled for this March, but there's all sorts of legal wrangling going on right now about the evidence.). I found this story online talking about the "eve" of the upcoming Bonds trial -- written in March 2009!

The wheels of justice move very slowly, especially in federal court, where years can go by between indictment and trial date. Clemens was only indicted last August 30. Bonds' lawyers have been very aggressive -- and sometimes very successful -- in challenging the evidence against him. Why wouldn't Clemens' legal team do the same thing, and drag this ordeal out for as long as possible?

* I think both these sportswriters have been watching too many reruns of the Frankie Pentangeli Congressional committee scene in 'Godfather II" or something. Because Roger Clemens isn't going to be able to haul in Andy Pettitte's brother (or an equivalent) to get Pettitte to shut up. And it's not very realistic to think that Clemens is going to somehow drag Andy down to his level and discredit him. You don't get to throw out rumors and innuendo willy-nilly in a federal court situation. Besides, Pettitte is pretty much Teflon, as his still great reputation besides admitting to PED use shows. Unless Clemens has evidence that Andy was running a dogfighting ring, I don't see anything the Rocket's lawyers saying as hurting Pettitte's rep.

* As for the "ravenous media horde' Matthews thinks will harangue Pettitte, I have to laugh over that, given that I'm still waiting for one of the tough media guys to 1) explain how A.J. Burnett got that black eye, and 2) tell us exactly why Dave Eiland lost his job with the Yankees, and what his leave of absence from the team was all about. All Pettitte would have to say is that he's not allowed to talk about the trial, and most media types will leave it at that.  If anything, still being part of the Yankees would give Pettitte more protection, not less, from the media inquiries.

At any rate, retirement isn't some silver bullet that will somehow prevent Pettitte from having to testify. And I really don't see that this trial -- if it happens at all this year -- is what's keeping Pettitte from returning to the Yankee fold. I would put Andy's lack of interest in returning on two things: he really does want to spend more time with his family, and Cashman hasn't made him a good-enough offer to convince him to come back. No need for wacky Clemens conspiracy theories here.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Why the Yankees' offseason is in the Schlitter

Well, the Yankees didn't get Cliff Lee, or even get Andy Pettitte back, so far this offseason. But hey, they did re-sign Sergio Mitre, give Mark Prior a contract, and now they've claimed Brian Schlitter off waivers from the Cubs. Whoo-hoo!

I know I sound like a twelve-year-old boy here, but the fact that the Yanks have picked up a pitcher named Schlitter makes me laugh and laugh. Sorry for mocking your name, Mr. Schlitter, but it pretty much sums up the Yankees offseason.

Speaking of which, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com interviewed Brian Cashman earlier this week, and he had this to say:

"We've got a lot of time left on the clock. Who knows?" Cashman said. "The bottom line is, there's a reason we haven't done anything up to this point."

Um, no. There are six weeks to pitchers and catchers, and Sergio Flipping Mitre is in the starting rotation for the New York Yankees. That's a big problem. And don't tell me I'm impatient or "saber-rattling" -- an insult Cashman throws out later in the interview -- for saying so. There's a guy named Andy Pettitte out there. Why the Yankees don't make him an offer he can't refuse (no, not that he's sleeping with the fishes, but that he gets a big payday for 2011) is beyond me.

Besides, even if the Yanks can't get Pettitte back, don't tell me there isn't a single pitcher in baseball available out there who would be better than Mitre. That's just silly.

Cash also had this to say about Pettitte:

"I could just tell you that he has been very good about it," Cashman said. "He informed us about, 'Don't wait on me, I'm leaning toward retirement. As of right now I'm not playing, and if I change my mind I'll let you know.'"

You know, I've gotten a lot of grief from readers over harping on this, but why is it that Cashman can't say anything remotely passionate about wanting Pettitte back? Why can't he make him a big offer? Every time he speaks on this, he shows all the spirit of a wet noodle.
Compare and contrast with what Yankees President Randy Levine (yes!) had to say about Pettitte last week:

"Andy's a great Yankee and a great person and I know he'll give it thought and follow his heart and we'll respect his decision. But we're out there, all of us, hoping every day that he comes back," Levine added. "I think he knows we need him. I think he knows how much we respect him and what a great leader he is."

I'm not a big Levine fan -- all too often, he has said the wrong thing -- but he hit a home run with this statement. Is it too much to expect the same from the Yankees' GM?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

A-Rod, Andy, and a Squawker Beach Day

Squawker Jon and I took advantage of Monday's beautiful weather to head down to Asbury Park for the day. So I missed watching the Yankee game, of course, although we heard the highlights later. (About fifty times, really, given that it took us three and a half hours to get back to Staten Island - everybody in my borough seemed to be coming back from the beach at the very same time!)

Anyhow, bad things happen to other teams when they walk Mark Teixeira to face A-Rod. He's hit three grand slams that way, most recently that monster shot he hit yesterday. Fellow blogger Greg Cohen of Sliding Into Home compiled a list of all the times this has happened, and the results. And guess what? It never really works out well for the opposition - Alex is "5-for-6 with 3 HR and 18 RBI," Cohen notes, in those situations. The blog did a good job noting all the numbers, like the one time when A-Rod should have ended the game by making an out ended up with the infamous Castillo dropped popup play!

Speaking of A-Rod, we heard Lori Rubenson interview Ken Davidoff on WFAN on that long, long drive home. She started by praising Andy Pettitte for being so great this year, then mentioned Alex's grand slam, and criticized A-Rod on the steroid issue. Of course, she never mentioned that Pettitte admitted to using HGH.

This is a real disconnect that I hear a lot, now that A-Rod is heading towards 600 homers, and Pettitte is about to surpass Whitey Ford for most Yankee wins. While I think a lot of the criticism A-Rod gets is silly, I can understand why people might question the validity of his home runs because of steroids. But geez, at least be consistent. As much as I admire Andy Pettitte - he was my favorite player of the late 90s dynasty years - he is just as guilty of PED usage as Rodriguez is. If you're going to knock A-Rod for it, then you have to give Andy the same sort of treatment. Fair is fair.

But too many people don't think that way. It's easier to just pretend that the only juicers in the game were villains like A-Rod, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Manny Ramirez, instead of noting that somebody like Pettitte - one of the classiest, nicest players to ever put on the uniform - also used PEDs. To me, an upstanding citizen like Pettitte being involved makes me think that this problem was even more widespread than has been acknowledged.

Look, I'm not saying Andy should have have to wear scarlet HGH letters on his uniform or anything like that. Just that if you're having a conversation about the Yankees, and you decry No. 13's steroid use, you ought to remember what No. 46 did, too.


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Starting Andy Pettitte on three days' rest is risky

(from Squawker Jon) Is Joe Girardi making a mistake by going with a three-man rotation? I think he is. Game 5 is hindsight now, but going into Game 6, I think the Yankees would be better off having used Chad Gaudin in Game 5 and having A.J. Burnett available on full rest for Game 6.

I wrote about it for The Faster Times. You can read the article here.

I still expect the Yankees to win the World Series. While I am skeptical of Andy Pettitte pitching well on three days' rest in Game 6, I also expect the Yankees to get to Pedro Martinez the second time around. This game looks like it could be decided in the bullpens, and that will be a bad thing for the Phillies.

If the Yankees lose Game 6, they are still likely to win Game 7 with CC Sabathia likely face a pitcher who cannot wait for the season to end.

Do you agree with Joe Girardi using all three of his top starters on three days' rest? Tell us what you think.

So what should we call this Yankees-Phillies World Series?

Here are the words I've wanted to say for six years: The Yankees are going to the World Series!

What a night. I stayed up very late rewatching all the coverage. How cool is it to have the Yankees finally going to the World Series? Hooray!

I was also trying to figure out what we call this series - the Turnpike Tumult? CC and the Cheesesteak? Ben Franklin vs. the Benjamins?  And will the Yankees run that "Rocky" clip against the Phillies?

Anyhow, here are a few of my other thoughts from last night's win:

* The Yankees exorcised a bunch of demons last night. They finally bested the Angels and their stupid rally monkey, and they also ended the 2004 worry/jinx/concern/whatever you want to call it. (And, yes, I know that Red Sox fans will say that their team still has the upper hand there. Why, exactly? The Yanks could have beaten Boston this year, but their team got swept by those same Angels. Sox fans, you can enjoy re-watching your 2004 "Faith Rewarded" DVD. The rest of us have 2009 World Series games to watch!)

* The Stadium was as loud as I've heard it on TV this year. Fans seemed ready to will the team to win.

* Maybe it is all about the hair. The new Swish-Hawk seemed to bring Nick Swisher some luck!

* When Johnny Damon was up with the bases loaded in the fourth, I was thinking "grand slam," but a two-run single to put the Yankees head was pretty cool as well.

* How about A-Rod with that clutch walk? I still think he should have gotten MVP, or at least shared the award with CC. Sabathia deserved the MVP, but A-Rod did too.

* And Bobby Abreu finally touches the wall! What's up with that?

* Andy Pettitte finally won a Game 6, after three previous losses - 2001 and twice in 2003. He looked like the Big-Game Andy of old. And Mariano Rivera did give up a run, but he still looked like good old Mo.

* The wheels really came off for the Angels in the bottom of the eighth, didn't they? Two bunts, and two terrible throws. Scott Kazmir's throw was particularly horrendous. Maybe Rick Peterson needs to fix him in 10 minutes!

* Very touching Yankee celebration. I'm not ashamed to admit that I got teary-eyed watching it, especially seeing Posada and Rivera hug, and Jeter, A-Rod, and Teixeira embrace. That's the good stuff.

* The bad stuff was the FOX camera work. They messed up with the Phillies-Dodgers series, and they messed up here. From the shaky camera to the bad angles, they did a lousy job of capturing much of the moments. There were a lot of touching scenes there - too bad they messed up the first time, although they did partially redeem themselves later on with some the other shots.

* The Fox voices were terrible, too. Joe Buck's "the Yankees win the pennant" call had about as much emotion to it as him saying "yes, I would like fresh pepper on my meal, please." And Ken Rosenthal channelled Jim Grey with his postgamequestions to Derek Jeter - right off the bat, he was super-negative, without even congratulating the captain. Jeter put him in his place but good, though!

* Hal Steinbrenner sounds like his father, but looks like Tucker Carlson. Quite a match.

* I'm sorry, I'm not digging the looks of the AL Championship hats and shirts. Like what they represent, of course, but I'm not crazy about the style.

* Was cool that they had a long celebration. I also liked how Jeter said they were going to savor this.

Anyhow, what are your observations? Tell us about it!

Yankees clinch AL East, and I was there to see it in person!

What a day. I got to see the Yanks sweep the Red Sox, clinch the AL East title, win 100 games, tie the season series with Boston, and get home field advantage for the AL playoffs, all thanks to today's victory!

Here's what happened - I decided at the last minute to try to get tickets for today's Yankees-Red Sox game.  I hadn't been to the Stadium since early this summer, and I figured getting to see the Yanks clinch the AL East would be a cool thing to see. Fortunately, I found grandstand tickets on StubHub for $8 each at just before 11 a.m., when the sales stop.

But I was required to buy two tickets in order to get that set. So, I figured I would bring Squawker Jon with my other ticket. He said no way - he wanted to watch the Jets game, and besides, he didn't really want to  watch the Yanks celebrate. I offered to buy him a beer. He said no. Then I upped the ante with a Lobel's steak sandwich offer. He still said no.

Can you believe that? Guess he really wanted to watch that Jets game (or, more to the point, he didn't want to be at another memorable Yankee win - he was at the Gardner inside-the-parker game with me, and we also watched three Yankee Subway Series wins together, including the Castillo drop game.)

I posted the extra ticket on my Facebook status update, but it ended up being too late to coordinate with anyone. And I didn't have Squawker Jon as my good luck charm. Fortunately, the Yankees still won, even without Jon! There were a lot of empty seats, though. I don't know if it was the rain, or Sox fans giving up and staying home, or what, but there were a good 10,000+ no-shows.

Funny thing happened on the subway on the way there. I was talking with a mother and son about the Yankees. The kid, who was about 7 or 8, asked if they showed anything on the big screen during rain delays. I told him they usually showed Yankeeographies. I failed to mention Disco Stu. The last rainy game I was at, which was also a Yankees-Red Sox game, they showed not one but two clips of Disco Stu dancing. I spared the child of this knowledge - I didn't want to traumatize the kid for life!

Anyhow, I got to the stadium right at one p.m., and was thankful that the Yanks were showing the Giants game, and not Disco Stu, during the rain delay. Thank goodness for small favors.

I don't know if it was just where I was sitting - upper deck, between third base and right field, but there seemed to be very few Red Sox fans -  maybe 10%, if that. They were also very quiet - no pro-Red Sox chants, and no back-and-forth.

Even though the Yanks were behind until Hideki Matsui's hit in the sixth inning, I had no doubt they would win today,(although I was momentarily scared when the trainers rushed out to see Andy Pettitte during the first, after he was hit by a ball. Fortunately, he was okay.) The crowd, which was subdued for most of the game, came alive in the sixth inning, during that rally. After the Yankees went ahead, the "sweep" chants started. And the sun came out not long after. See, it is a Yankees Universe - the sun is shining on the Yankees!

The next inning, I was stunned when Brian Bruney came in. It was a one-run game, and he hasn't exactly been great this year. Well, he was great today. And he got a standing ovation after getting five critical outs. I was really happy for him.One thing that Joe Girardi has been good at is confidence-building stuff like that. Like with Ian Kennedy against Anaheim the other day. Bruney's got to feel better about himself after shutting down the Red Sox right now, and after hearing the crowd happy for him.

Back to the game.Mark Teixeira's homer was a nice insurance run. And the crowd was on their feet - literally - for the last three outs, as Mariano Rivera shut the door on the Sox with runners on second and third.

It was exciting to see the Yankees all celebrating on the field - I got a tear in my eye, thinking about how cool it was to be there to see the first of hopefully many such celebrations at the new Yankee Stadium. Everybody in Yankeeland seemed very happy at the end of the game - a lot of people, including myself, watched some of the clubhouse celebration clips on the big screen in the Great Hall. And on my way out, I heard somebody with a megaphone suggest  that Red Sox fans throw their team's gear in the trash, and everybody seemed to get a kick out of that.

The only thing that ticked me off during the day was an idiot fan sitting behind me. During A-Rod's epic at-bat against Paul Byrd, this guy, a dude in his early 20s, started griping the usual stuff - A-Rod's not clutch, he makes too much money, blah blah blah. I was going to keep my mouth shut, until the knucklehead called A-Rod "a fruit" and said that he "wears a dress." What made it even worse was that this guy was a Yankee fan!

When I heard those nasty remarks, my head rotated the way Linda Blair's head did in "The Exorcist," as I whirled around to give this clown The Stare. (Squawker Jon knows about The Stare - I'm very good at doing that whole "if looks could kill" expression, and he's gotten it more than once!!) Then I asked this guy why he would say such things.

I continued, asking him, "Why do you root against somebody on your own team?" His excuse was, "But he's 0-for-2." I responded, "Did you know he has 28 homers this year? Did you know that 52% of his RBIs have either tied the game or given the Yankees the lead?" And a few seconds later, after a 10-pitch at-bat against Paul Byrd, A-Rod got a hit, and I ended the conversation, this time with a smile of vindication on my face.

And about an hour later, the Yankees were celebrating winning the AL East. Sweet!
 
Photo courtesy of the Star-Ledger

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The importance of being Andy Pettitte

The Yankees may have had yet another loss in Anaheim, but at least Andy Pettitte seemed to pitch okay. So how valuable is Andy Pettitte? Not only is a healthy Andy (which he appeared to be last night) a vital part of the Yankees' rotation, but his absence from the Houston Astros is being blamed for the team tanking.

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle has an article today about the firing of Houston Astros manager Cecil Cooper. He and others think that the club's downward spiral began when they didn't re-sign Andy Pettitte:

No right-thinking baseball man would even put Pettitte and Jason Jennings in the same sentence, much less swap them in his rotation. That's what the Astros did.

“I believe you can trace this current situation to the failure to re-sign Andy,” Berkman said. “That's the one thing that has happened over the last four years that has caused this organization to be where it is today. That was the beginning of a chain of events."

That wasn't the only Yankee-related thing that put the Astros in the hole. Players criticized Cooper for the following things:

Two veterans say that on the day Aaron Boone tearfully told his teammates he was to undergo heart surgery, Cooper used the moment to get on his guys for not playing harder. To say his timing was bad would be an understatement.

And when Pudge Rodriguez broke the all-time record for games caught, Cooper didn't offer congratulations until the next day.

Very interesting. After watching all the good stuff happening with the Rockies after Colorado replaced Clint Hurdle with Jim Tracy, I don't know why more teams don't try a change in management in the middle of the season, when it might actually make a difference. Obviously, it's too late now for a new Houston manager to fix things this year, after the year is out of hand, and out of reach.

As for the Yanks, I went to bed after Brian Bruney did what he's been doing best as of late - giving up homers!

In other news, I wrote a piece for the Faster Times on Milton Bradley, if you'd like to check it out.


What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Squawker Jon does it again - he jinxes the perfect game

Want to know why Andy Pettitte didn't pitch a perfect game or no-hitter last night? Forget about Jerry Hairston Jr.'s error. It really was Squawker Jon's fault, with an assist from me.

I shouldn't have picked up the phone when Jon called to chat during the seventh inning of last night's Yankees-Orioles game. After all, I have caller ID, and I should know about Jon's jinxing skills by now. But I got lured in, anyway.(Let me get all A.J. Burnett here and wail, "Why did I do that?")

Anyhow, we were talking about the perfect game, and what kind of grief Alex Rodriguez would get for not playing in the perfecto if it actually happened. (See how unclutch A-Rod is? They only pitched a perfect game without him. Jeter is teh clutch, etc. etc.) It wasn't going to be a pleasant night for Alex if it had happened.

Then, Jerry Hairston Jr. muffled the play and cost Andy the perfect game. He looked mortified. And after that, Nick Markakis' clean hit also happened to be close to Hairston. Poor Jerry. I think it's ridiculous to blame him, though, as some in the media are doing. The odds were against Pettitte anyway, especially given that it's been three years or so since he's even pitched a complete game.

Besides, if there is anybody to blame, it should be Jon the Jinx!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Bill James is dead wrong about Andy Pettitte

Do you think Andy Pettitte will be in the Hall of Fame one day, and that he will help Roger Clemens make it into the Hall as well?

Bill James does. He wrote a piece in his upcoming new book about steroids and Cooperstown stating just that. He also wrote that our grandchildren will be doing steroids. You can read my thoughts on his article here.

A-Rod and the Yankees beat Seattle again, and cook up a storm

Yankee games are getting to be predictable - in a good way! Last night, the Yankees won their seventh win in a row, and A-Rod homered for the second night in a row to give the Yanks the lead.

While it looks like Alex Rodriguez's decade-long streak of being a starter at the All-Star Game is about to end - he's currently seventh in the balloting, and the Yanks are not leading a campaign to get him on the team - a case can be made that he is the Yankees' Most Valuable Player this year, for better or for worse.

He is - dare I say it? - the straw that stirs the drink for the Yanks!

Look at the numbers - this team just does not win many games when A-Rod is either injured or slumping. Remember, the Bombers were 13-15 without A-Rod this season. Their season didn't start to turn around until May 8, Alex's first game of the year. After Alex came back, the Yanks won nine in a row.

But when A-Rod started slumping after playing so many games in a row without a break - he went 39 games without a rest - the Yankees slumped as well. They lost 9 of 13 games (and would have lost 10 of 13 if it weren't for Luis Castillo dropping A-Rod's popup!) in a timeframe when Alex only got 4 hits.

Not long after getting a little time off in Miami, Alex started hitting again. In the past seven games, he has gone 10 for 23 with 4 homers and 13 RBI. He has also walked 10 times.

The Yanks, for better or for worse, are driven by A-Rod's hitting - or lack thereof. He is the biggest chef on the team. Let's hope he continues to serve up gourmet cuisine, instead of salmonella-ridden fare!

Oh, and that photo above? It's of A-Rod, Cody Ransom, and Brian Cashman serving as Chefs for a Day yesterday for kids at El Nuevo Caridad Restaurant in Washington Heights. Thanks to the Yanks for the pic.

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A few other notes on last night's game:

• Eric Hinske is now a Yankee - his Pittsburgh flight finally arrived yesterday morning. My main memory of Hinske is in September 2007, when he knocked out Jorge Posada on a hard slide to home in a Yankees-Red Sox game. So that makes two current Yanks - him and Mark Teixeira - who have had home plate collisions with Posada!
• Good news that Andy Pettitte - for once - pitched a good game at home, only giving up two runs in seven innings. And he only gave up one homer - to Ken Griffey Jr.
• Did anybody get to meet Alfredo Aceves, Phil Hughes, or Joba Chamberlain when they greeted fans outside the Great Hall yesterday? If so, tell us about it!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Ho-hum - Yankees get flummoxed by an unknown pitcher - again

File this in the non-shocker file - the Yankees only eked out two hits against a no-name pitcher, Fernando Nieve. Squawker Jon and I both called this!

I remember there used to be a time when the Yankees did the little things, like having advance scouting on other teams. Gene Michael and his scouting team got a lot of credit - and deservedly so - for scoping out other team's weaknesses, and providing detailed scouting reports. Back then, the Yanks would have two scouts at opponents' games - one to look at offense, and the other defense.

But in recent years, either the scouts aren't doing those sort of reports any more, or the team isn't listening. When was the last time the Yankees succeeded against a starting pitcher they didn't know? I literally cannot remember.

The Star-Ledger's Marc Carig, who is doing a great job in his first year on the Yankee beat, writes about what he calls the "All-Anonymous Team" of no-name pitchers to beat the Yankees this year, from Koji Uehara to Matt Palmer to Anthony Ortega to Nieve. This inability to succeed against unknown pitchers is getting ridiculous.

I mean really. The Mets don't need to use Johan Santana today. Just call up some minor league pitcher the Yankees have never seen, and they'll win. Good grief.

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In other news, I'm officially concerned by Andy Pettitte's pitching. He was short of breath and laboring on the mound yesterday - he gave up 12 hits in five innings. I'm not sure if it's his age, his back, or it's his trying to adjust to hard to the new Stadium's dimensions, but he's been pretty bad as of late.

If he is hurt, he needs to go on the DL. Phil Hughes can fill his spot in the rotation. Incentive-laden contract or not, Pettitte's not doing the team any favors with putting the team in the hole each time if he's hurt.

What do you think is wrong with Andy Pettitte? Leave us a comment!

Mark Teixeira sends a Tex message to Rays - and maybe Red Sox

The Yankees hit four homers in last night's victory over Tampa Bay, and not-so-shockingly, Mark Teixeira had one of them.

We had a spirited debate in our comments section yesterday over whether Teixeira is the MVP so far this year (readers Uncle Mike and Peggy seemed to think he had a good case for it, if he keeps it up), or whether's numbers were just due to playing in Yankee Stadium. Reader Ryan O wrote this:

AVG OBP SLG OPS
.237 .361 .485 .846

Uncle Mike, these are your MVP's numbers away from your little league field. Apparently he doesn't want to pay the roaming charges for his "Tex Messages."

Ha!

Needless to say, I'm liking all three free agent signings a lot this year - CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Teixeira all bring something to the table. One of the things I've noticed about Teixeira is how emotional he is - for all the talk about how supposedly robotic he is, he really wears his heart on his sleeve - and on his face. You can tell just by looking at him exactly how the game is going.

Hopefully, he'll be wearing a big old smile on his face at Fenway Park tonight!

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A few other thoughts:

* Fortunately, it looks like Andy Pettitte's back is better. And how about that Phil Hughes in the bullpen! I would have liked to have seen him throw two innings, but the one inning he did throw was pretty intense.

* In addition to Tex's shot Nick Swisher, Johnny Damon, and Derek Jeter also had homers. Gee, you'd think Yankee Stadium was a band box or something!

* What would Judge Judy say? Check out Kangaroo Court Judge Mariano Rivera getting a real gavel from People's Court judge Marilyn Milian!

I'll have my predictions for Yankees-Red Sox later today. But in the meantime, what do you think of the state of the Yankees? Leave us a comment!

On Andy Pettitte's aching back and Chien-Ming Wang being back in the rotation

Last night's game was a frustrating slog right from the beginning. Andy Pettitte looked terrible - he gave up six walks, seven hits, and four runs in five innings. This is the second start in a row where he seemed to be affected by a bad back. What's going on there?

After last night's game, LoHud.com's Peter Abraham made a reference to Andy Pettitte's incentive-laden contract. According to the Cot's Baseball Contracts site, Pettite's 2009 contract, which gives him a base salary of $5.5 million, has an additional $6.5 million in incentives, broken out this way:

• $4.5M in performance bonuses: $0.5M each for 150, 160, 170 IP; $0.75M each for 180, 190, 200, 210 IP
• $2M in roster bonuses: $0.1M for 120 days on active 25-man roster; $0.2M for 130 days; $0.25M each for 140, 150 days; $0.4M each for 160, 170, 180 days

Incentive-based contracts can be good - look at how Carl Pavano miraculously became as healthy as a horse once he had to sign one this year - but they might also encourage players to play through the pain a little too much. I hope that's not what's happening here with Pettitte.

In addition to Pettitte's pitching, the rest of the game also had frustrating moments, particularly the lack of timely hitting. While Alex Rodriguez did get an RBI single earlier in the game, he also had some big failures with runners in scoring position last night. And boy, did the Yankee Stadium crowd let him hear it. Not good - I wish fans would stop booing their own players. It's a fact of life, though, for A-Rod.

Speaking of which, I hope the Yankee Stadium crowd is supportive, not derisive, when Chien-Ming Wang pitches again this afternoon. I think the Yanks are making the right move in having him start again, and moving Phil Hughes to the bullpen.

And no, I'm not going to pull a Mike Francesa and say that Joba Chamberlain should go to the pen. I heard Brian Cashman on Michael Kay's show talk about how that Joba is still doing that simulated first inning in the bullpen before each start. Given that, it makes even less sense to put him in the pen.

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In other news, I was excited about the tantalizing possibility of Tom Glavine becoming a Met again, now that he's been released from the Braves. Omar, do the right thing and sign Glavine!

Here's why I'm so hot to get Glavine as a Met. Squawker Jon is a lot more mild-mannered than I am - shocking, I know! - but Tom Glavine seems to really get under skin. The angriest Squawker post Jon has ever done was after Glavine's horrendous first inning in the last game of 2007. Squawker Jon didn't exactly care for Tom saying how he wasn't devastated after that loss, or how he tried to justify that statement the following spring.

So yeah, I'd love to see Glavine as a Met again. Would be thrilled to see Jon and all the other denizens of Mets Nation having to cheer for him. What fun!

Is something wrong with Andy Pettitte? What do you think of Chien-Ming Wang going back into the Yankee rotation? Tell us what you think!

Yankees have first place all to themselves - for now, at least

While the Mets had the dramatic walkoff win, and the Yankees had a rather pedestrian victory last night, at least the Bombers gained sole possession of first place for the first time since September 2006. Hooray!

I don't really have that much to say about last night's game - I missed part of it, and what I did see wasn't exactly drama-backed.

Hopefully Andy Pettitte will be able to make his next start - he left the game after five innings due to his back.

Anyhow, I'm curious to see what kind of reception CC Sabathia will get for tonight's game. Will he get booed? Cheered? Both?

At any rate, he will not get booed as much as A-Rod does in that ballpark!

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In other news, I heard that the Mets have finally come to their senses on something. No more "Sweet Caroline" in the eighth inning! "Meet the Mets" was played last night instead. But I have a question - did the song mention Shea, or did they edit that part out? And was it the original version of the song, or the 80s one?

If only the Yanks could come to their senses on that horrible "Cotton Eye Joe" (yes, that is the correct spelling.) Hate it.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!