Thoughts on A-Rod turning 40, Teix's hissy fit, the Tulo-Reyes trade, and Shane Victorino, the Cryin' Hawaiian

I was excited to see Alex Rodriguez homer on his 40th birthday last night (his sixth on his B-Day, which sets an MLB record), but I went to bed early. So I missed the Mark Teixeira shenanigans. After he was thrown out at home plate by Leonys Martin, who robbed him of a homer earlier in the game, Teix threw the mother of all hissy fits, tossing around a trash can in the dugout. Turns out that Yankee third-base coach Joe Espada told Teixeira "easy" when rounding third, and it cost him the chance to score. And Mark openly criticized the coach to the media after the game.


 

Then I woke up this morning to see that the New York Daily News actually had a positive back page about A-Rod! I can't remember the last time that has happened, or if it has ever happened. Oddly enough, though, Bill Madden hasn't written about Alex lately. (Remember, Madden said Alex was "finished" as a player and would never play again. Hardball Talk lists the most egregious Madden pronouncements on Rodriguez.)

The New York Post, on the other hand, had a negative cover of Rodriguez, regarding him telling reporters yesterday that he was "clean." Pretty nifty Photoshop, though. Glad they made sure the "Mr. Clean" A-Rod had an earring!

But the News' back page wasn't the most shocking thing in the baseball world I saw this morning. No, the Troy Tulowitzki-Jose Reyes trade takes the trade for that. Toronto, along with Baltimore, is seven games behind the Yankees. But they are clearly going for it this season -- they haven't made the postseason since 1993, as Joel Sherman notes.

I think the Yankees have to be considered to be in the catbird seat for the postseason. But they still need another starting pitcher. Will it be Cole Hamels? Or David Price? Or somebody else?

And what about the Mets? They traded for ex-Yankee Tyler (The Yankee) Clippard last week. But they need a big hitter. Will it happen?

The trading deadline is this Friday at 4 p.m., just around the time I have to phone in to find out if I am going to be in jury duty next week! So that should be a momentous afternoon in a variety of ways. (Squawker Jon said this comment is very solipsistic, even for me!)

In other trading deadline news, Shane Victorino, aka the Flyin' Hawaiian, got traded from the Red Sox to the Angels. Victorino cried -- repeatedly -- in the presser announcing the deal. Dude, you should be happy to get out of Boston! The Angels actually have a playoff-worthy team!

Squawker Jon and I were talking about the trade, and I mentioned that Victorino is retiring the use of Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" as his at-bat music. That song became a rallying cry for Red Sox Nation in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing and subsequent World Series championship.

Jon knew the song but didn't know the title, so I had to mention the lyrics about "every little thing gonna be alright." His excuse was that he wasn't a Deadhead. Huh? What do the Grateful Dead have in common with Bob Marley? Oh, wait!

Is Mark Teixeira going to take A-Rod's place as the designated Yankee scapegoat?

About a month ago, I said to Squawker Jon that I thought Mark Teixeira would be the new target of the Yankees' ire in the future, basically becoming the new Alex Rodriguez when it comes to being the team's designated Yankee scapegoat.  After all, Tex not only has a ridiculous contract, like Alex Rodriguez, and he also is no longer in his prime, and he is injured all of the time now, it seems, but he has also said a number of outrageous -- but mostly ignored -- things.  Mostly ignored, that is, until now.

Here's the thing -- while A-Rod is coming back, of course, there is only so much mileage Brian Cashman and the Yankees can get anymore over blaming him for everything that goes wrong. So I figured that Tex would be the next Yankee target. And some of it might actually be deserved. After all, in this past year, not only is Mark refusing to adjust his game to compete against the shift, but he also announced that he he basically was never going to be the same player that he was in his prime. (Of course, he will still get paid like he did in his prime!)

Anyhow, ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews writes what will undoubtedly be the first of many New York media hit pieces on Teixeira. In the article, Matthews speculates on whether Teixeira has lost the hunger to succeed, referencing how boxer Marvin Hagler once said that "it's tough to get out of bed to do roadwork when you've been sleeping in silk pajamas." Matthews writes, "There are some Yankees who wonder if the same syndrome is starting to affect Teixeira."

He goes on to say:

A baseball insider I spoke with this week said Teixeira's "outside interests" -- he is financially involved in real estate holdings, a chain of juice bars, and is working to create what he called a "marriage of baseball and social media" -- had become a point of concern, with some wondering how badly he still wanted to be a baseball player.

Brian Cashman, come on down! You are back to doing what you do best -- leaking anonymous smears on Yankees out of favor!

Look, I think Teixeira has said a lot of dumb things, most of which he has gotten away with until now. That being said, I seem to remember somebody else who started a "marriage of baseball and social media" while still playing -- Derek Jeter, who launched his Players' Tribune site this month (and had to have been working on it at the same time he was still an active player.)

And these days, most players have outside financial interests. Is there any hard evidence that Teixeira's terrible play is due to these interests, or to his YES Network show, which the article also references? No.
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I do think that Teixeira has been a disappointment, and he says a lot of dopey things (that he has gotten away with doing until now), but that has nothing to do with whether he owns a few Juice Press stores. And the anonymous leaks are a little unseemly.

Matthews' article also talks about how Tex's numbers have tanked in recent years, which is fair game. But what he does not mention is how Cashman and the Yankees did not have a backup plan for his absence this year, which made no sense. (Hint: having your catcher play first is not a real backup plan!)

Anyhow, get your popcorn ready. I expect Tex to be a big target next season if he doesn't get it together quickly; he was already facing some boos this year.

Subway Series Game 1: Shades of Luis Castillo, but with better result for Mets

It's been five years since the Luis Castillo game, and it still gives me nightmares. During the ninth inning of last night's Subway Series opener, it was starting to look like deja vu all over again.

Five years ago, the Mets let the first game of the Subway Series, 8-7, in the bottom of the ninth. Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira reached base, A-Rod popped up to Castillo, and I still don't want to think about what happened next. 

Last night, the Mets led the first game of the Subway Series, 9-7, in the bottom of the ninth. Once again, Jeter and Teixeira reached base. But there would be two crucial differences between 2014 and 2009.

In 2009, the game ended when Met infielder Castillo muffed what should have been an easy play. 

In 2014, the game ended when Met infielder Lucas Duda made a great play on a sharply-hit grounder by Brian McCann, starting and finishing a double play.

The other difference was Teixeira's health.

In 2009, Teixeira scored the winning run from first because he was hustling all the way when A-Rod hit what looked like a game-ending pop out.

But in 2014, a hobbling Teixeira could only make it to first when he hit what should have been a double. Teixeira was immediately removed for a pinch-runner.

If Teixeira had made it to second, the tying run would have been in scoring position. Duda would not have been able to get the force at second to start the double play. The inning would have continued after McCann's at bat, and the way Farnsworth was pitching, the Yankees would have had a good chance to give Met fans more nightmares.

Instead, the Mets have now beaten the Yankees five straight.

Did smoking, profanity cause a rift between Mark Teixeira and Ron Washington?

There's a story in today's Daily News about Mark Teixeira and Ron Washington not exactly being BFFs when Tex was on the Texas Rangers. But what are the reasons behind it? Among other things, according to the article, "former teammates and a club executive said Teixeira complained of Washington's penchant for profanity and smoking in the dugout."

While I don't doubt that the two of them had a conflict - Washington acknowledges as much in the article - I wonder if those two things are really some of the reasons the two of them reportedly didn't get along.

First of all, unless Mark is challenging Tony Dungy these days, he has to be used to hearing profanity, even from the manager. But if this is the case, guess Teixeira won't be palling around with Jets coach Rex Ryan, eh?

Second is the "smoking in the dugout" accusation. Did Washington do it? It's possible. However, as Squawker Jon noted, even famous Mets smoker Keith Hernandez went to the clubhouse to get his tobacco fix. Joe DiMaggio would smoke in the Yankee tunnel. Even Jim Leyland, the famous smoker/manager in the game, doesn't get away with smoking in the dugout anymore. There are laws at almost every stadium these days banning smoking.

At any rate, as a former smoker, I wouldn't blame Teixeira for complaining about this if it happened. I don't really like breathing tobacco smoke now (I always said I wouldn't become one of those hectoring, judgemental ex-smokers when I quit, but it does bother my lungs.) And if I were a professional athlete, I'd be peeved to be around smoking in such an enclosed space during the game.

Anyhow, in an interview with the News, Washington didn't directly address what caused friction between them, but said something happened:

"It was a one-night thing where something happened in a ballgame and I called him on it. From that point on, I guess he disliked me," Washington told the Daily News. "Other than that I always felt I gave him the respect that he deserved.

"More than anything else we didn't get a chance to get to know each other," Washington continued. "If he'd have stayed around long enough, he'd have understood better what I meant by questioning him on some things. But the next thing you know, it was out of hand.

"I never had animosity toward him, but when I had something to say to him I said it."

Saying that you gave somebody "the respect that he deserved" isn't always a compliment, though!


According to the paper, Washington said he never heard the smoking/profanity complaints. But he does say:

"One time I had something to say and he was the guy I said it to," Washington said. "He said something back. And I went right back at him. It was just about the game of baseball, his ideas versus my ideas. But I am the manager."

 When asked about the issue, Teixeira responded:

"I really don't know what he's talking about. That was a long time ago," Teixeira said. "I was here for four months with him and I was on the DL for a month."

Wonder what the real story is here.

What do you think? Tell us about it.

My thoughts on Yankees-Twins, Game 1

I was pretty grumpy for the first half of last night's game, between CC Sabathia looking shaky, and Jorge Posada's passed ball contributing to a run. (I wondered on Twitter whether Jorge would blame CC for it!) And the fact that the Yanks looked flummoxed against Francisco Liriano for the first five innings ticked  me off.

But then the sixth inning came, Jorge Posada redeemed himself, and Curtis Granderson proved to be something sort of Grandish (I wonder how John Sterling called his big hit -- I hope it was better than the TBS announcers, who muffed it!)

I really thought that after the Yankees scored  four runs in the sixth inning, that Joe Girardi should have had a reliever ready to go, especially since CC may be needed to pitch on short rest in the series. Sabathia looked D-O-E-N  DONE, as Jerome from Manhattan would spell it! As great as Sabathia has been for the team this season (they wouldn't be in the playoffs without him), he labored yesterday, throwing 27 pitches in the sixth, 111 overall. He walked three batters his last inning, including the tying run. Yet he ended up with the win, thanks to Mark Teixeira's homer (another call the TBS broadcasters messed up on.)

I thought CC should have been pulled earlier -- getting the Yankees the win, not CC the win, should have been the priority. Others disagreed with me on Facebook.  Fortunately it all worked out, though.

But how about the messed-up call on Greg Golson's catch last night? The Yanks had to get 28 outs, thanks to that. Joel Sherman wrote this in support of instant replay in his blog today:


... "this is strictly about the blown call. There is a way to get a high percentage of them corrected, so why would we not want to do that. One argument I hear is that it would eliminate the human element. Stop. The human element is that Jorge Posada has trouble catching the ball, not umpires messing up.

After years of cheerleading for Jorge, Sherman's really down on him, isn't he?

Anyhow, had a late night watching  the game, so I'm way off schedule. Coming later today -- more thoughts on Carl (Iron Man) Pavano!

Austin Kearns' homer gets special John Sterling call, but what about Mark Teixeira's baby?

Missed opportunity -- I should have written something earlier trying to predict John Sterling's home run calls for new Yankees Austin Kearns and Lance Berkman. At any rate, Kearns hit his first Yankee homer last night, and I heard Sterling exclaimed, "Austin Powers," over it. Good one! I was wondering if there would be an Austin, Texas related call -- like "Keep Austin Weird" or something like that --t, but "Austin Powers" is pretty good.

Anyhow, I'm guessing that Berkman, aka Fat Elvis, will get some Presley-related call from Sterling whenever he hits a homer. Squawker readers, what do you think the call will be?

So  Mark Teixeira was back with the team Thursday, after missing two games on baby leave. I half-expected Sterling to have some baby-related call to announce the arrival of William Charles Teixeira. Wouldn't that have been cool?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

What's wrong with Mark Teixeira?

Why do MLB managers insist on walking Mark Teixeira to face Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded, like Blue Jays skipper Cito Gaston did Sunday? Don't these managers ever look at stat sheets these days?

Besides the obvious - that A-Rod has hit three grand slams and driven in 18 runs when put in this situation - the fact is that Teixeria is still slumping. He got the platinum sombrero just the day before. He's off to another bad month. And he's only hitting .211 on the year. Heck, even Ramiro Pena, at .227, is hitting better than Tex is!

I'm officially concerned about Teixeira. The brief time in May where he was hitting again seems to be the aberration, rather than portending him turning it all around.

And I like Tex, but him characterizing Saturday as just "one bad day" is a lot, um, off the mark!

If he doesn't pick up soon, I think he needs to be moved down the batting order, until he turns it around.

But what do you think? Leave us a comment!

So what kind of a "Teix" message did Mark Teixeira send with those three homers?

So much for John Henry's "MT" curse. Mark Teixeira's three homers warmed my heart, even if I only got to see one of them live (I had a previously scheduled engagement last night, so I taped the second half of the game. Unfortunately, it aired on FX, not Fox so I missed it all, other than seeing the highlights later!)

Anyhow, you know how John Sterling always says that Teixeira sent a "Teix" message, whenever he hits a home run? I'm wondering what the three messages Mark sent yesterday really said. (And I hope he had the unlimited plan - otherwise, those text messages really add up!) Here are a few ideas of what he may have written:

* Tweet this, John_W_Henry!
* How's that run prevention thingy working out for ya, Theo? LOL!
* My wife was wrong. This town is a great place to shop! I bought my brown suit on Newbury Street!
* Hey, Theo. I got your "bridge" right here!
* OMG! Take that, Peter Gammons!


Do you have any ideas for Mark's "Tex" messages? Tell us about it!

So far, so good: Yankees season a welcome change

This is the first April in eons where the Yankees have actually gotten off to a semi-decent start, winning two series in a row, and against division rivals, yet. The last one I can remember the Yankees not tanking in April was all the way back in 2003! Of course, it's only six games so far this season, but it's nice to not have all the usual gloom and doom that we hear this time of year.

And the fact that the Mets are being, well, Metlike for the first week of the season makes it even more sweet. Because you know Squawker Jon would give me the business if the Yankees were in their usual April doldrums!

Anyhow, I was holding my breath Saturday about a potential CC Sabathia no-hitter. Squawker Jon and I were yakking on the phone about it - he called me in an attempt to jinx CC - and he thought Sabathia had a good chance at it after getting Evan Longoria out. I disagreed, saying that it was always the no-name in the lineup who breaks up these things. Like Carl Everett. Or, as it turned out, Kelly Shoppach.

Although, if Sabathia had not given up a hit, it would have been interesting to see if Joe Girardi had really kept up his plan of not letting him throw any pitches. Personally, I think CC would have thrown him to the ground if he had tried to take him out. And if Sabathia hadn't, Francicso Cervelli might have! (Speaking of which, how much is his star rising? First game he catches this year, and it's nearly a no-hitter? Outstanding!)

Oh, and our long national nightmare is over. Mark Teixeira finally got a hit! I loved how he was all deadpan with reporters, telling them:

"During your career, you always aim for milestones. I wanted to make sure I went 0-for-17, a personal best. And then after that, I wanted to make sure I had a couple of hits." 

Ha! I was on the Larry Milian Show Saturday, on Fort Lauderdale radio station WFTL, and when Larry asked me about Tex, I was all deadpan, too, saying that he needed to retire, as it was clear he would never, ever, get a hit again!

A few other things about this weekend:

* Javier Vazquez didn't exactly shut Yankee naysayers up, with his lousy pitching Friday after the first time around the lineup. Fortunately, I was out for the evening, so I missed seeing the carnage live!

* And is there really going to be peace in the valley between A.J. Burnett and Jorge Posada? Two decent starts in a row, and they haven't killed each other yet. Progress!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Yankees' ten most pivotal postseason performers - and two Gold Glove winners

Here's my monthly piece for BaseballReflections.com about the Yankees. The theme? Which 10 players were the most important for the Yankees in the playoffs.

In other news, I don't get why some are bent out of shape over Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira getting Gold Gloves. The awards seem pretty well-deserved to me. There have been years where Jeter got a Gold Glove without really having a terrific year defensively. This was not the case this season. Not only was he great with the glove, but he did it at the age of 35 - ancient for a shortstop.

As for Teixeira, while he certainly wasn't a top 10 hitter in the postseason this year, he was great defensively, both in the playoffs, as well as the regular season. Too bad for the Red Sox that they passed on signing him.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Game 5: Burnett spits the bit; Captain Clutch and Teix don't come through

As I wrote earlier, I really didn't expect the Yankees to win tonight. I just didn't see the Phillies going out with a fight. I also expected Cliff Lee to be great. He wasn't but unfortunately, the bad A.J. Burnett was back. Was it because of the three days rest? Perhaps. But sometimes, A.J. can just be just really bad.

On the other hand, the Yankee bullpen kept the damage at six runs - until Phil Coke torched the game, giving up homers to Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez. Utley is getting on my last nerve. The Cycle blog sez Utley is bringing Pat Riley's hairstyle back. Ha! He's no Mr. October, though - three of the homers are in November!

As for Coke not being it, I'm sure glad the Yankees took the lead Sunday night - and didn't have to use him to pitch then.

The only thing Burnett did that I liked was him hitting Shane Victorino with a pitch. Yes, I'm mean-spirited that way.

The good news, of course, is that thanks in no small part to Alex Rodriguez, who drove in three runs, and scored on Robinson Cano's shallow sac fly, the Yankees had actually battled back. And in the ninth, thanks to Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui, they actually brought the tying run to the plate. But Derek Jeter shockingly grounded into a double play. Johnny Damon got on base again, but Mark Teixeira had another bad at-bat (he's only had two hits this WS) and struck out. And A-Rod never made it back into the game, even though it sure seemed like the game was going to end in his hands.

Anyhow, I'm glad the Yankees battled back, wish they could have won, but they will beat Pedro Martinez to win Wednesday. That is all.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

What should we call this weekend's Yankee sweep?

What a weekend! I will have more to say later today about the Yankees' incredible sweep of the Sox.  But I've spent all morning writing a piece on Mark Teixeira for The Faster Times. 

In the meantime, we need to come up with a name for this weekend's series. On Subway Squawkers, we called the 2006 the Boston Glee Party, thanks to Squawker reader Alvaro. What will be the nickname for this year's triumph?Any thoughts? Please post your ideas!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Whatever happened to 'True Yankee' moments?

In recent years, there's been a whole to-do over when a new Yankee would become a so-called "True Yankee," or when he would earn his pinstripes. For example, Jason Giambi's extra-inning grand slam in the rain was considered his first "real Yankee" moment. And really, it ended up being one of his two most memorable moments as a Yankee (the second was him hitting two solo homers in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.)

I think the whole notion of being a "True Yankee" is silly, though. Everybody who puts on the pinstripes is a real Yankee. Sure, some are better liked and cheered than others, but they're all still Yankees.

Besides, no other team's fan base does this "True Yankee" nonsense. You never hear somebody talk about whether such and such player is a True Met or a True Red Sox or even a True Pirate!

Fortunately, it seems like this year's Yankee imports are not having to worry about getting their true Yankee moments. Mark Teixeira had his own home run in the rain Friday - a three-run homer to win the game for the Yankees. But was it his signature moment? Not really. After a shaky first month, he's been a vitally important hitter for the team.

Alone those same lines, I guess one could say that CC Sabathia's May 8 Orioles game (the night A-Rod came back) or A.J. Burnett's one-hitter were their signature moments. But, thankfully, I don't think any of the three Yankee free agents are still having to pay their dues with the fan base. Other than Mike Francesa and Michael Kay griping about Burnett's pie celebrations, these players have all been accepted by the Yankee fan base. Thank goodness.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

The lost weekend: Yankees get touched by the Angels

This is one weekend I'm glad I didn't get to see much of the Yankee games. What a nightmare. Especially given that the Mets won two out of three of the Reds series, and Squawker Jon is preening.

Then again, his team's vaunted Home Run Apple had a wardrobe malfunction. What's the deal on that?

So now we head to the All-Star break. And three Yankees - Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira - are representing the Bombers in the game. I'm so glad that voters picked Teix over Youk!

Squawker Jon saw a headline about how Dustin Pedroia begged off the All-Star team due to personal reasons. Jon sardonically suggested that my campaign against Pedroia for the All-Star team depressed Dustin so much, that he couldn't face playing! Actually, Pedroia is taking care of his pregnant wife. But I'd like to think he was also anguished that I can't stand him!

On a completely different note, I'm looking forward to finishing "Munson," the great book by Marty Appel about the Yankee catcher. You can read an excerpt of the book here.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Last chance to vote for Carlos Beltran - and Kevin Youkilis

Vote for Kevin Youkilis over Mark Teixeira for the All-Star Game. Let's give Squawker Lisa something to Twitter about.

Lisa, I am touched by your newfound concern for the well-being of David Wright, but the Mets don't need to get out the vote for him. Wright is comfortably ahead of second-place Larry Jones.

As for Carlos Beltran, even with his injury, he still has some of the best stats of any NL outfielder. He certainly deserves to get in over Alfonso Soriano, who is batting .230.

(Speaking of .230 hitters, Lisa, good luck with that "Vote Swisher" campaign you mentioned.)

Based on the stats, the third NL outfielder behind Ryan Braun and Raul Ibanez should be Justin Upton or Brad Hawpe, but Upton is 15th and Hawpe is not even in the top 15.

At least it looks like Manny won't be voted in.

Lisa, if you really wanted to annoy Met fans with your second-base choice, you should have voted for Orlando Hudson, who could have been the Mets' second baseman had they been willing to spend the free agent money.

You could also have suggested Jimmy Rollins, who is in second place behind Hanley Ramirez. Rollins was recently benched by his own team and deserves this year's All-Star spot about as much as the guy in fifth place, Jose Reyes.

It's too bad the Yankees are not mounting a campaign for Alex Rodriguez, currently a distant second behind Evan Longoria. I had a couple of slogans all ready to go:

Pad A-Rod's Voting Stats!
Artificially Inflate A-Rod's Vote!

At least the Mets and Yankees are not in the position of the A's and Indians, who are forced to promote players that have a good chance of leaving the team soon - Matt Holliday and Victor Martinez. Or are they promoting their All-Star chances to enhance their trade value?

Say, Lisa, maybe your plan to vote for Luis Castillo isn't such a bad idea after all.

Last chance to vote for Mark Teixeira over Kevin Youkilis on the All-Star Game ballot

Vote for Mark Teixeira over Kevin Youkilis for the All-Star Game. Let's give John Henry something to Twitter about. Let's help good defeat evil. Well, maybe Kevin Youkilis isn't evil - just terminally annoying - but I still don't want to see him start at first base at the All-Star Game!

Youk is leading Tex by 40,000 votes with just one day to go. This cannot happen. So go to MLB.com and vote on the mark. Send a Tex message to the All-Star Game! You can vote up to 25 times - the ballot saves your picks, so it's easy to keep on resubmitting your choices.

In addition to voting for Teixeira, this Squawker has a few other suggestions for the All-Star ballot:

The good folks at VoteSwisher.com wanted to remind Yankee fans to write in Nick Swisher for an outfield spot.

Dustin Pedroia is less than 7,000 votes behind Ian Kinsler for second base. Why should a Red Sox player who left the field when there were only two outs be rewarded with an All-Star spot? Hope this survey says no!

As I have done every time I've voted on an All-Star ballot since the 2006 NLCS, I voted for the Cardinals' Yadier Molina, just to tweak Squawker Jon. And this year, Jose Molina's brother is actually leading the NL All-Star ballot at catcher. Are there that many Met-haters out there?

I also used the NL ballot to vote for the best second baseman out there. The pop-up king! Yes, I went there - I voted 25 times for the Mets' Luis Castillo!

Speaking of the Mets, I just went to Mets.com to see who they were promoting on their site for the All-Star Game. Each team is promoting one or more players: the Yanks are pushing Teixeira, while the Red Sox are asking fans to vote for Youkilis and Pedroia. The Mets? Well, they're pushing somebody who won't be able to play in the All-Star Game - the injured Carlos Beltran! Granted, he did have an All-Star caliber year until getting hurt, but it's still funny that they're promoting him over their supposed franchise player, David Wright.

Voting for the All-Star Game ends at 11:59 tonight. Get your votes in!

Who are you voting for? Leave us a comment!

Our long national nightmare is over - Yankees finally win!

It took a home run from an unlikely source - Francisco Cervelli, and a meltdown from Yankee manager Joe Girardi, but the Yankees finally won a game. Oh, and Mariano Rivera got to bat. And yes, Alex Rodriguez actually got a hit.

I was out for a walk last night, listening to the game on the radio, when I heard about Brett Gardner breaking up the Braves' perfect game with a walk, and then getting called out on a pickoff. (And yes, it was a bad call - I watched the replay of it.) Then Joe Girardi got ejected. And the momentum changed.

According to mlb.com's Brian Hoch, Joe Girardi apparently did not use any of the magic words managers usually get ejected for. Impressive! I can't get through one inning of attending a game with Squawker Jon without using at least one of those words!

Anyhow, however Girardi did it, the ejection sparked something with the Yankees. And for the first time in what seemed like forever, the Yanks had some watchable moments, from Cervelli's excitement over his first career homer, to A-Rod getting a big hit, to Mariano Rivera stepping up to the plate. Oh, and Joba Chamberlain finally got another win.

I particularly liked seeing Melky Cabrera giving Mo batting tips, and seeing the entire Yankee team intently watching Rivera's at-bat from the top step of the dugout. And seeing Mariano actually hit the ball, despite being told not to by the coaches!

True, it's only one game, but at least it put the wolves at bay for another day. Speaking of which, I don't quite know what to make about Mark Teixeira's postgame quote about Brian Cashman's surprise visit to Atlanta:

“He was a little fired up,” Mark Teixeira said. “There was no yelling, Cash isn’t that kind of guy. But he was here; he wanted to make himself known. … Sometimes the principal needs to show up in the classroom if the teacher’s having trouble with the students.”

What, is releasing Angel Berroa after he took up a roster spot for three months going to make everybody else worry about their job security? Not as long as Brett Tomko is still gainfully employed by this team. Besides, it's not like anybody's lining up to pick up, say, Hideki Matsui's $13 million contract.

But I do wonder about Teixeira's analogy. If Cashman is the principal, and,teacher Girardi is having trouble with the class, who are the students causing the trouble? And when will demerits be handed out?

What do you think? 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!

* * *

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!

Good times! The Bronx is up, while Flushing's down

The Yanks are looking very good - they've been winning series after series, with new heroes stepping up each day. The Mets - not so much.

Yesterday's Yankee win featured a very good Chien-Ming Wang - for two innings, that is. Then it started to fall apart for him. But I'm going to be hopeful, and figure that he'll be better once his arm strength improves.

However, if it's a mental issue affecting Wang, the Yankee "fans" booing him aren't helping. Just stop it already.

Fortunately, Mark Teixeria's hit, which looked like something out of a pinball machine, and Melky Cabrera's home run bailed out the Bombers. It was another nice victory. The Yanks are on quite a run, aren't they?

On the other hand, Squawker Jon's Mets are, well, crashing and burning and all that jazz. Too bad, so sad.

At least Jon's blog entry on how the Mets should just say no to Tom Glavine got noticed by both MetsBlog and Big League Stew. Very cool!

I also read on MetsBlog that the minor-league Binghamton Mets are wearing Star Trek-inspired jerseys at tonight's game. Jon's all excited about this. As for myself, if I had to sit through anything Star Trek-related, I'd be asking to get beamed up!

* * *

Last night, I dragged Squawker Jon to a sneak preview of "The Proposal," the upcoming Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynolds romantic comedy. (Don't judge; the event was free!) The screening also showcased some of the shows on WE TV's Sunday night lineup, like "Bridezillas," "My Fair Wedding," and "Amazing Wedding Cakes." You can imagine Jon's reaction to all this.

After sitting through the screening, Squawker Jon let me have it. "I feel embarrassed," Jon squawked. "I don't think it's fun." My writing partner griped we have to "focus more on what we need to accomplish," and opined that "we have to take this personal, because this can't happen."

Oh, wait. That wasn't Jon; that was Carlos Beltran after the Mets got swept by the Pirates. Oops!


What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Just call him Anti-Yankee Bob! Watson imposes outrageous suspension on A.J. Burnett

I'm spitting mad over A.J. Burnett getting suspended for six games, while the real headhunter of Tuesday's game, Vincente Padilla, gets off with only a fine.

Let me get this straight. Padilla has hit 98 batters since 2000, putting him at a faster HBP pace than even Randy Johnson. The Rangers pitcher has repeatedly targeted Mark Teixeira, ever since Tex hit a homer off him. And he hit Teixeira not once but twice Tuesday night. Padilla's actions apparently so disturbed the Rangers front office that there are reports that the Texas team is planning on putting him on waivers.

Yet the newly-mustachioed Burnett, who didn't hit anybody with his up-and-in pitch to Nelson Cruz in defense of his teammate, is the one getting suspended for six games? Gimme a break.

Why should Burnett be suspended for standing up for Teixeira? It's an outrage. It's not like he had violated any sort of umpire's warning - the umps didn't say anything until after his pitch. And he wasn't thrown out of the game, either. His suspension is completely unjustified. What the heck is Bob Watson thinking?

Red Sox fans derisivelly call MLB's Watson "Yankee Bob," for what they perceive as a bias in favor of his old team. I think Watson's real nickname ought to be Anti-Yankee Bob, or maybe Ranger Rob, for this ridiculous decision. But it's typical of Watson - time after time, he's let other teams like the Red Sox do target practice on Yankee players, but the moment a Yankee retaliates, the way Joba Chamberlain did in 2007, it seems to be an automatic suspension.

Speaking of which, I don't want to hear Sox fans gripe about how Josh Beckett got suspended this year even though he didn't hit anybody, and wasn't thrown out of the game either. It was a very different situation. Beckett threw at Bobby Abreu's head because the Angel called time. When Abreu squawked, Beckett stormed off the mound and walked towards him. Much more aggressive than anything Burnett did.

Burnett is appealing this dopey decision. I hope he wins.

What do you think of MLB suspending A.J. Burnett for six games? Leave us a comment!