Radio appearance announcement, Nick Johnson, and thoughts on last night's game

I'm going to be on Kenrick Thomas' "Real Sports Talk" radio show at 9:30 tonight. You can listen live at www.blogtalkradio.com/realsportstalk. Luis Polonia will also be on the show, in a separate appearance!

Anyhow, I found last night's loss painful - not just because the Yankees looked overmatched until the ninth inning, but because of the Jorge Posada injury news. Hopefully, he'll be back soon.

And, surprise, surprise, Nick (The Sick) Johnson, who underwent surgery earlier this week, is now on the 60-day DL. When Brian Cashman first announced that Nick was going to the DL, he said Johnson would be out "several" weeks, which set Joe Girardi scurrying to the dictionary to find the meaning of the word "several"! I guess "several" now means at least nine!

Oh, and I had to laugh about Cashman's assertion that Johnson would be a $15 million a year player if he could stay healthy. That's like saying that Lindsay Lohan could get an Oscar if she could keep from clubbing. While technically possible, it's not very likely at this point.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Squawker Dilemma: What to watch - and tape - last night during Yankees-Red Sox

I had a very busy evening last night, with some tough television choices. And I didn't even get to see the first half of Yankees-Red Sox live.

Here's the story - I was in Manhattan for a computer software training class that I needed to attend, so I didn't even get home to Staten Island until 9:45 p.m. And if that weren't bad enough, two of my favorite shows were on TV at the very same time as the Yankee game - "Dancing With the Stars" and "The Biggest Loser"!

As my DVR will only let my TV tape two shows at once, I had to have a mini-elimination round at home. Sorry, "Dancing With the Stars," I will have to watch (Spoiler Alert!) Buzz Aldrin get thrown off the show on my computer screen later today. "The Biggest Loser" and the Yankee game made the cut instead (although my DVR taping the game inexplicably cut off at 9:28 p.m., for some bizarre reason!) And that doesn't even get into that I also missed "V" last night, which I taped to watch today.

Anyhow, I got home when the game was tied, 4-4, and watched the rest of it live. Fortunately, I got to see Nick Johnson walk in the go-ahead run, Joba Chamberlain go back to being the Joba of old (as Vinny from "Jersey Shore" would say, Joba was fist-pumping like a champ!), Robinson Cano's homer, and Mariano Rivera's save. Good times!

About Johnson's crucial walk: Joel Sherman has a piece in the New York Post today, called Rivalry now more about patience than passion, in which he complained about the walk:

Not long ago The Rivalry was about Manny and Papi. Jeter and Mo. It was about bloody socks, Pedro tossing Zimmer and everyone hating A-Rod on both sides of the field.

Now the symbol of Yankees-Red Sox is Nick Johnson looking at pitches.....

Johnson saw five pitches in his final at-bat. That is all he did. He never swung. In the current condition of The Rivalry that made him a hero.

Yes, because somebody getting a crucial walk has NEVER become a hero (cough, cough, Kevin Millar) in the Rivalry. Next thing you know, somebody will become a Rivalry hero by stealing a base or something!

Oh, and Sherman can never resist the A-Rod snipes, can he? Even in an article that has absolutely nothing to do with Rodriguez, he's still got to cut the knife. Classy!

Anyhow, back to the game. A.J. Burnett and Jorge Posada seem to have peace in the valley for now, although Burnett said it's going to be the last time he's going to talk about it. Somehow, I don't think that's a promise he's going to keep!

And how about Posada saying that Joba was back where he belonged? That's one thing about Jorge - he always speaks his mind!

On a superficial note, does Mark Teixeira have a new hairstyle this year? And is Jeter's high-top fade finally gone? Talk about the end of an era!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Shocker! Nick the Sick Johnson is hurting for certain

Of all the moves that Brian Cashman made this winter, bringing back former Yankee Nick Johnson was one of his worst, given the player's propensity for injury. Why Cash would bring him back I will never understand. I don't care how good Johnson's OBP is - he will never be able to stay healthy enough in order to put his ability to draw walks to good use.


Anyhow, I was planning on doing a Subway Squawker pool, where we'd pick a date for when Nick Johnson would get his first injury, and venture a guess as to what he would hurt. Too late.

Exactly one game into the Grapefruit League season, Johnson got hurt. He suffered a back strain Thursday, and was scratched from the Yankees' second spring training game.

Here's Johnson's explanation:

Johnson said that he tweaked his back after catching a spike in a turf mat around the batting cage at Bright House Field. Had it been the regular season, Johnson said he would have played "for sure."

Oh great. Johnson has Carl Pavano's propensity for freak accidents. Boy, I'm glad the Yankees passed on re-signing that creaky old Johnny Damon for this picture of health!

Beat writer Chad Jennings has a listing of Nick the Sick's many, many injuries over the years:

He strained his left wrist in 2002, fractured his right hand in 2003, broke his cheekbone in 2004, and suffered a right heel contusion in 2005. All required a trip to the 15-day disabled list. In 2006, a violent collision with teammate Austin Kearns fractured Johnson's right femur, forcing him to miss the end of that season and all of the next season. In 2008 he had season-ending surgery to repair the tendon sheath in his right wrist, and in 2009 he went on the DL with a strained right hamstring.


All told, Johnson has been on the 15-day disabled list nine times, and been transferred to the 60-day disabled list four times. He's played more than 133 games in a season only once, and played fewer than 100 games four times.

It would be great if Johnson's back strain was just a momentary blip, but I'm afraid this is going to be the first of many injuries this year. Come to think of it, why didn't the Mets sign Nick to play first base for them? He'd fit right in with that crew!


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Will you boo or cheer Johnny Damon when he comes marching into the stadium?

I'm not happy that the Johnny Damon Era appears to be over for the Yankees. And I'm even less happy that Nick Johnson is the new DH. But, unlike Red Sox fans did, I plan on cheering Damon whenever he does come back to Yankee Stadium. And I would cheer even louder if he and the Yankees could somehow come to terms, and bring him back next year.

Look, I didn't expect both Damon and Hideki Matsui to come back. But I also didn't expect Matsui to get such a cheap deal with the Angels - $6.5 million for a one-year deal. Or for him to be "replaced" with somebody more injury-prone than he is. So what if Johnson is younger - he can't stay healthy.

While I was happy with the Curtis Granderson deal, I'm not happy with these other moves. But I will try to be optimistic that Brian Cashman has something good up his sleeve. A year ago this week, he gave us the best Christmas gift possible, with Mark Teixeira. Is it too much to ask for some other move this week to make Red Sox wail and gnash their teeth? Dare to dream!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!