A-Rod, K-Rod, and the Melky Way

After yesterday's whole A-Rod to-do, I tweeted Bay Area writer Jeff Fletcher, after the AOL Fanhouse writer wrote about the feud, noting my point about the "unwritten rule about nobody pitchers not getting to call out superstars." Jeff followed up by asking "Baseball Codes" co-author Jason Turbow about the "hierarchy of unwritten rules," specifically that one.

Turbow seemed to think that what Braden did was fine, saying on Fletcher's Bay Area Baseball site that "I might have a problem with a young hothead trying to intimidate a star, but that isn’t this. Braden wants only what’s rightfully his, and he has every right to do so."

I disagreed, of course, comparing A-Rod's dismissive reaction to Pedro Martinez's takedown of Karim Garcia with the "Who is Karim Garcia" line.

And while I may be biased towards A-Rod, I also believe that nobodies shouldn't lecture superstars on baseball etiquette. Which is why I supported Francisco Rodriguez in his argument with Brian Bruney last year, even though K-Rod gets on my last nerve, and even though Bruney was a Yankee then.

You may remember that feud. After Bruney called Rodriguez a "tired act" last year, the closer responded several times, first saying:

"He needs to keep his mouth shut and do his job,” Rodriguez said. “If he was a big guy, I’d probably pay attention. If he was somebody big like Mariano, I’d respect that. But if I don’t know who he is, I just don’t listen.”

Then later on responding:

“Instead of sending a message through the paper, next time when he sees me at Citi Field come up to me and say it to my face. Don’t be sending a message through the media. I don’t even know who that guy is. Somewhere in Double-A? I believe he hasn’t even pitched one full season. He’s always been on the DL. That’s all I know right now.”

See, I don't remember any handwringing in the media about how K-Rod should have just kept his mouth shut, stayed classy, and let what Bruney said go, the way people are saying today that A-Rod should have done with Braden.

In fact, pretty much everybody back then - including myself - thought the Met was completely justified in saying what he did. As I wrote, "Even though he's my least favorite Met, I gotta give Rodriguez credit here. Both quotes are classic. He was able to make Bruney look dopey just with these rejoinders."

The only thing K-Rod erred in was in having to be restrained from physically attacking Bruney when they saw each other before a game. Rodriguez already won the argument with those lines; he didn't need to take it any further and threaten a physical fight.

Speaking of the Mets, Squawker Jon and I are showing up at Shea...err, I mean Citi Field! tonight. I'm wearing one of my 2009 World Series shirts and rooting for Eric Hinske and the Melky Way! I fully expect boos - from Squawker Jon!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Meow! Brian Cashman gets his claws out against Joe Torre, and I like it!

It

Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports had a fascinating article today about the Yankees. There are some great quotes from Brian Cashman about this season:

They arrive with a different manager, a new ace and a new offensive leader. That’s not all. They arrive, general manager Brian Cashman said hours before they clinched, with a lot less of the other stuff the Yankees always seem to be dragging.

“There are no other storylines,” he said. “No last hurrahs. No trying to save someone’s job or ‘win one for the Gipper’ or anything.

“It’s real simple, not complicated at all. There’s no soap opera stuff going on. It’s all nice and simple and streamlined. It’s about this group of players on this team that will be going head-to-head with the Angels, Red Sox and either the Tigers or Twins in a tournament held in October. That’s all.”
It's pretty obvious to me  that Cashman is talking about Joe Torre here, with the lines about "no trying to save someone’s job or ‘win one for the Gipper’ or anything.. And what's interesting to me is that, contrary to the media myth that Torre's presence cooled down the media, Cashman seems to be insinuating that St. Joe was a reason for the media firestorm -and the "soap opera" around the Yanks. Heh!

To be sure, A-Rod fading into the background has taken away a lot of the soap opera around the team. But all the "is this the end for Torre" talk also sucked up a lot of oxygen.

And incidentally, Torre still can't talking about the Yankees, and still can't stop making digs. Here's what he told the L.A. Times about Girardi:

In New York, it's so easy to get off the track when you're considering someone else's opinion all the time," Torre said. "So you really have to have some self-worth to fight your way through that stuff. Joey is that guy."

1. That's the first time I've ever heard Girardi called  "Joey." It's like how Torre calls him the kid - it doesn't really fit, and it's a little demeaning.

2. Always the little digs on George Steinbrenner. Never mind that if it weren't for The Boss taking a chance  on him, Joe would be just another failed MLB manager turned broadcaster. Good grief.


Photo by Mel B.


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How I called A-Rod's walkoff homer for last night's game

I just knew that last night's Yankees-Red Sox game would come down to Alex Rodriguez, so I predicted in the ninth inning on Twitter and Facebook that A-Rod would hit a walkoff to win it. True, it took six more innings to happen, but still. I totally called it!

What a tremendous game last night. Unlike Squawker Jon's Mets, who seem to be aiming for the worst game of the season each day, the Yankees have had a whole slew of great games this year.

I was at the July 1, 2004 game, and last night had a similar "instant classic" feeling to it. Watching A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett go head to head was tremendous. But tense. Nearly fifteen scoreless innings was nerve-wracking for both sets of fans.

Did you know that A-Rod's walkoff homer was his sixth walkoff hit as a Yankee? He has twice as many walkoff hits in 5 1/2 years as a Yankee than Jeter does in his entire career. Yet some fans still act as if this is first big hit as a Yank ever. I don't get it. Heck, he would have had the game-winning hit in the final game in the Yanks' Fenway series in June if the bullpen hadn't blown it.

I don't want to forget talking about the pitching. Burnett, Phil Hughes, Mariano Rivera, Alfredo Aceves, Brian Bruney, and Phil Coke were terrific. The biggest surprise, of course was Bruney. Finally he has put it together again!

And to top it all off, Francisco Rodriguez blew a save and lost the game for the Mets, and the Yankees have the best record in baseball. Good times!

Let me continue with the predictions, since I'm still basking in the afterglow with my correct A-Rod one tonight. I predict that A-Rod will get plunked today as payback for Dustin Pedroia getting hit on Thursday. And so the Sox can get all fired up, ala 2004. Will a brawl ensue? I wouldn't be suprised.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Thankfully, the Yankees are no longer in the Red Hat Society

You know what I liked about last night's game, besides the Yankees pummeling the Twins into submission? The fact that the Yanks were back to wearing their regular blue caps, as opposed to the red ones.

Yes, the red hats the Yanks wore on the Fourth of July and Memorial Day weekends are meant to honor the nation's veterans - proceeds from selling the caps go to a great cause, the Welcome Back Veterans organization. But the red is just way too jarring to see with the Yankees uniform.

The hats look great with red-based uniforms - the Red Sox, Cardinals, etc. With the Yankee pinstripes? Not so much.

My suggestion? That the red-based teams get to wear the red caps for this promotion, and the blue-based teams, like the Yankees, wear the Stars and Stripes blue cap that they did last season. The red is too much like - shudder - the Red Sox!

* * *

As for the Yankee game itself, our long national nightmare is over - Robinson Cano finally got a hit with runners in scoring position. CC Sabathia looked like CC again, and the Yanks drove in 10 runs without a homer.

However, I must admit to flipping to the Mets game to see Manny Ramirez, and to see him flip his equipment off and get ejected from the game. A Met fan on Facebook has already accused me of jinxing his Mets by saying I was rooting for them to beat Joe Torre's Dodgers!

The other big news of the night was the new Subway commerical, featuring CC Sabathia and Johan Santana. Too touchy-feely for my tastes!

You know, Subway missed a great opportunity for a commerical. Why not have Brian Bruney and Francisco Rodriguez together, talking over a meal?

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

A.J. Burnett shows glimpses of greatness, and Phil Hughes is eighth inning guy

Squawker Jon royally mocked A.J. Burnett for saying after his Boston loss that he had a few "glimpses of greatness" this year.

Who's laughing now, especially after Burnett shut out the Mets twice? He has gone 3-1 since that Boston game, with the only loss being that heartbreaking one against Florida. In that timeframe, A.J. has given up only 3 runs. Sounds pretty great to me.

Yesterday was more of the same - in a good way - for Burnett. His only big mistake was the homer to Vernon Wells.

The season is half over, and Burnett has not turned into Carl Pavano. I think it's safe to finally buy that Burnett t-shirt I've been hankering for!

* * *

Didn't get to see the whole game, but it was nice that the Yanks bounced right back after Thursday's loss.

As for Brian Bruney apparently losing his eighth inning spot, Joe Girardi needs to go with whoever will do the best job. And right now, Phil Hughes is the second-best reliever on the team after Mariano Rivera.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

That joke isn't funny anymore - bad timing on a Michael Jackson reference

I often make comments about being a jinx on sporting events and such, but what happened today is kind of eerie.

I wrote a blog entry about how Brian Bruney is using a hyperbaric chamber on his elbow. That device, of course, is remembered by many, including myself, as being used by Michael Jackson. So I put a photo of the King of Pop in the blog. And not just any photo, but one of him in the hyperbaric chamber. And I made all sorts of awful puns about Wacko Jacko's music.

A few hours later, I'm reading our comments section, and read Uncle Mike's note that Michael had a heart attack and might be dead. It's such an eerie coincidence, I'm kind of shuddering even looking at the photo of Jackson in the hyperbaric chamber (come to think of it, it looks like he's in a coffin. Yikes!)

It's not like Michael Jackson is a big topic of mine; I hadn't thought about him since his 50th birthday last year. And now he's apparently dead. Rest in peace, Michael.

Thriller! Brian Bruney uses hyperbaric chamber

Update: Obviously, I wrote this story before the untimely death of Michael Jackson. Bad luck and bad timing on my part. Best wishes to the Jackson family.

I don't know quite what to make of this story. The New York Post's George King reports that Brian Bruney is using a portable hyperbaric chamber on his elbow.

"I was in it for 1 to 1½ hours today," Bruney said yesterday. "I thought it helped my foot last year."

A hyperbaric chamber? I know it's a real tool in medicine these days (the oxygen helps healing) but what popped into my mind when hearing about Bruney in the hyperbaric chamber was Michael Jackson. Remember how Wacko Jacko got photographed in one of those devices? What's next - is Bruney going to buy up the Elephant Man's bones, too?

Anyhow, Squawker readers gave me grief last week for coming up with only one John Lennon pun for Nationals' pitcher John Lannan. So I wanna be startin' somethin' here about Bruney, no matter how off the wall it sounds!

Is Bruney going to challenge Francisco Rodriguez to a dance-off this wekend? Maybe the pitcher can use a Jackson song as his theme music. How about "Beat It"? Or "I'll Be There"? Let's hope Bruney's just not "Bad"!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Dog bites man! Kyle Farnsworth's bulldog goes wild

Former Yankee Kyle Farnsworth is back in the news for something other than blowing games. Kerosene Kyle got bitten by one of his two bulldogs, while trying to break up a fight between the pooches. Farnsworth had to get four stitches in the index finger of his non-pitching hand. The dogs' names - Strike and Rambo!

Congrats to Chien-Ming Wang and his wife on the birth of their son, Justin Jesse. Here's hoping Wang pitches a great game tonight. Squawker Jon and I are planning on being there after attending Jane Heller's book-signing at Stan's.

Pretty cool of Alex Rodriguez to meet the fans in Monument Park yesterday. But why is it that David Letterman apologized to everybody else regarding his tasteless joke involving A-Rod and Sarah Palin's daughter....except for A-Rod?

Jose Veras got designated for assignment upon the return of Brian Bruney. While Veras hasn't exactly been good this year, and he's the pitcher who most deserved to get DFAed, I still wonder why Angel Berroa is on the Yankee 25-man roster, given that he literally plays about one day a week. And why hasn't Joe Girardi given Alex Rodriguez - who is slumping bigtime - a day off and had Berroa fill in for him?

It's funny how things work - Veras was one of the peacemakers, along with the Mets' Mike Pelfrey, in Sunday's confrontation between Francisco Rodriguez and Bruney. And two days later, Veras loses his spot on the Yankees to Bruney, and Pelfrey gets chewed out by David Wright!




What do you think? Leave us a comment!

My thoughts on the Francisco Rodriguez-Brian Bruney feud

There was a whole to-do this morning, with a pre-game confrontation between Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Bruney. The Mets' closer had to be restrained by teammates from going after the Yankees' reliever.

Here's the thing - until he looked like he was going to shove Bruney, I actually think Rodriguez was in the right. While I'm as sick of Rodriguez's "tired act" as Bruney is - the Mets' closer makes Joba Chamberlain look like a wallflower - I think Bruney should be concentrating on getting back on the Yankees, and not making unprovoked verbal attacks on Met players. And this quote was a bit much. Bruney said the following after Francisco (I'm still refusing to call him K-Rod) got the loss:

"[It] couldn't have happened to a better guy on the mound, either," Bruney said. "He's got a tired act. ... He gets what he deserves, man. I just don't like watching the guy pitch. I think it's embarrassing."

Rodriguez responded twice yesterday. First, he said this before the game:

"He needs to keep his mouth shut and do his job,” Rodriguez said. “If he was a big guy, I’d probably pay attention. If he was somebody big like Mariano, I’d respect that. But if I don’t know who he is, I just don’t listen.”

After Saturday's game, the Met closer, whose celebration - for once - was relatively subdued after the Mets' win, threw this high hard one at Bruney:

“Instead of sending a message through the paper, next time when he sees me at Citi Field come up to me and say it to my face. Don’t be sending a message through the media. I don’t even know who that guy is. Somewhere in Double-A? I believe he hasn’t even pitched one full season. He’s always been on the DL. That’s all I know right now.”

Even though he's my least favorite Met, I gotta give Rodriguez credit here. Both quotes are classic. He was able to make Bruney look dopey just with these rejoinders. And unlike Brad Penny's slam on Joe Girardi, Rodriguez didn't need to use profanity to get his point across.

Francisco should have left the situation at that. But instead, when Bruney went to talk to him today, as per his own challenget, Rodriguez got heated and had to be restrained.

Bruney may be a nobody, but Rodriguez losing his cool like that doesn't make him look good. The Met closer wasn't a good closer when it comes to this feud.

At any rate, this is one of the sillier contretemps of the year. But nonetheless, it is entertaining!

Whose side are you on - Brian Bruney or Francisco Rodriguez? Tell us about it!