My thoughts on the George Steinbrenner monument and tribute

I thought the Yankees did Monday's George Steinbrenner ceremony right Monday night. Things got a little dusty in this Squawker household, to use a Bill Simmonsism. Here are a few thoughts on the evening:

* I've decided that if there is anybody I want to meet in the Steinbrenner family, it's Hank. He seems to be the child with most of his father's personality.

* I don't ever remember seeing Joan Steinbrenner before -- she's definitely been out of the public eye forever. The funny thing was, though, when I saw some addled-looking man escorting her, I wondered to myself at first, "Gee, that guy's in bad shape." Then I realized that the befuddled-looking person was Bud Selig!

* Don Mattingly looks so young! Younger than when he was a coach with the Yankees. He still needs to bring the mustache back, though. It was nice to see him. Mattingly was truly a class act in the way he left the Yankees, which is why no fence-mending was needed on his part.

* Good to see David Wells at the event. He was one of Steinbrenner's faves. But, unless I missed it, where was Paul (The Warrior) O'Neill?

* Smartest thing the Yankees did -- and I am sure it was deliberate -- was to not introduce any of the VIPs. While fans cheered for Mattingly and Joe Torre, them being there didn't overshadow the ceremony itself. On the other hand, the media is all about Torre today in the stories. Well, that, and one other thing...

* ...That monument is, um, monumental! I'm wondering if Yankee players in the batters' box will be able to see The Boss' image looking at them, the way the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleberg gazed upon the characters in "The Great Gatsby."

* I'm also glad the Yankees won. There wouldn't have been anything sort of Grandish if they were to lose on the night of the Steinbrenner tribute!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Squawker reader mail, and what Joe Torre and Cher have in common when it comes to memorials

I got a lot of grief in the Subway Squawkers comments section for saying that Joe Torre ought to stay away from tonight's George Steinbrenner monument dedication at Yankee Stadium. I appreciate the feedback, but I'm not changing my opinion.

Uncle Mike chastises me, saying, "Lisa, this has to stop. While it's true that, without George Steinbrenner, Joe Torre would be a ballplayer just short of the Hall of Fame and a manager just short of greatness (he did, after all, manage the Braves to a Division title well before that became common), without Torre, Steinbrenner would have lived the last 32 years of his life without winning another World Series."

Oh, come on. The nucleus of the late '90s dynasty was created by Gene Michael and Buck Showalter. Yes, Torre came in, and led that team to four rings to five years, and he deserves a ton of credit for doing so. But to suggest that the Yankees would never have won a World Series without Torre is a bit much.

And no, Torre was not "a manager just short of greatness" until the Yankees. Here are his winning percentages with the teams he managed prior to the Bronx: Mets: .405, Atlanta Braves: .529, St. Louis Cardinals: .498. He made it to the playoffs ONCE in 14 years prior to the Yanks. That's mediocrity, at best.

Mike says "tonight's ceremony is a way for Yankee Fans to say "Thank you" -- to both men." No, tonight was supposed to be about honoring George Steinbrenner, until the Torre PR machine tipped off Bill Madden and made sure everybody knew he'd be there. (It sure wasn't the Yankees who told the papers -- John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman said the team told them not to reveal the guest list.)

Reader RockN'RollStreetRat wrote: "Tomorrow's ceremony should be about Steinbrenner's baseball legacy with the Yankees, not about any personal squabbles anyone had with Geroge, or that George had with anyone. And when it comes to Torre, he's one of he most important figures in the Boss's Yankee legacy, and one of the team's best ever managers."

I get that point that he and Uncle Mike are making, but here's the thing with that argument. I remember what happened with Sonny Bono's funeral. Sonny's widow Mary asked Bono's ex-wife Cher to give the eulogy. But thanks to Cher's star power and emotional speech, the funeral became all about Cher, and little about Sonny.

Yes, Cher was a huge part of Sonny's legacy, but to hear her weep after she had trashed her ex-husband's reputation for the previous two decades was a bit much. And by the end of her speech, you would have thought she were the widow, and not Mary Bono! Although I think Cher's grief was sincere, I just wish she had shown such appreciation for Sonny Bono when he was still alive to hear it.

Tonight is supposed to be about George Steinbrenner getting his place at Monument Park, not about Torre getting face time shedding crocodile tears. Reader JonMouk71 wondered, "the more cynical might say he is cultivating the media to pressure Wilpon to meet his high price to manage the Mets." Count me in that cynical category.

Anyhow, I'll watch the event tonight, but don't expect me to clap at my TV screen about seeing Joe Torre take over what should be George Steinbrenner's tribute.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Joe Torre ought to stay far away from George Steinbrenner ceremony

Just heard that Joe Torre and Don Mattingly reportedly will be attending Monday's Yankee Stadium ceremony to honor George Steinbrenner with a monument in Monument Park. Donnie Baseball will be a welcome face at the ballpark. Joe Torre, not so much, at least for me.

I'm not about to let bygones be bygones and welcome Torre back to the ballpark with open arms.  Not when he has never apologized for the way he bit the hand that fed him for twelve years. Not as long as the vile "Yankee Years" book remains in print, where he trashed The Boss when he was unable to defend himself. And certainly not after Torre and his wife Ali compared Steinbrenner, the man of honor tomorrow night, to Torre's own abusive father, the monster who threw Torre's mother down the stairs when he found out she was pregnant with Joe Jr.

What a phony Torre is to even have the nerve to show up in the first place. He's going to "honor" Steinbrenner's memory with his presence, right? Spare me the sanctimony. Just by showing up, Loe will make the evening all about him. If Torre were as classy as his PR machine claims, he would stay away, and not make a mockery of the night.

I remember how Joe and Ali Torre "honored" Steinbrenner back in November, after the Yankees won the World Series. They had an interview with T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times, where, as I noted in a Faster Times piece, they described Steinbrenner this way:

“George was such a domineering figure in Joe’s life and his father was like that,” says Ali Torre.

Joe Torre backed that comment up, saying about his experience as Yankee manager, “That was a big part of it with George too. I don’t know how many times I told George, ‘The only thing I wanted to do was make you feel proud of what I’ve done.'"

Columnist Simers didn’t raise his eyebrows at these accusations. Instead he agreed, writing, “The abused going full circle, five times as likely to become the abuser, the experts say, or become abused again. Or go to work for Steinbrenner.”

Torre's wife used that analogy again in another part of the interview:

Ali Torre told her husband and Simers, “The parallel was very similar to what you had with your father. Some of the people in the Yankee organization were bullying you and not treating you with respect all along. You kept trying to survive until you got worn down.”

Comparing domestic violence to the travails of the highest-paid manager in baseball history? Oh please.

It's funny. Torre constantly accused Alex Rodriguez of hogging the spotlight, and making everything all about him. Guess it takes one to know one.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

A-Rod's A-Bomb, and A.J.'s black eye

Friday night was a very frustrating game for eight innings, with the Yankee bats continuing their disappearing act. But I had a very good feeling in the ninth, especially after Jorge Posada's epic at-bat. So when Alex Rodriguez came up with two men on and two outs, I called Squawker Jon and called him to put on the game. He must have had a good -- or in his case, bad! -- feeling about what would happen, as he refused to do so. A little while later, with the possibility of an Orioles' win just one strike away, A-Rod hit his 25th homer of the year, and the Yankees went ahead, 4-3.

I was very excited about the win, watching the A-Rod homer clip several times. Then in the postgame, after a Facebook friend alerted me to A.J. Burnett's eye, I looked at the TV screen and did a double-take when I saw him! Of course, when I called Squawker Jon and told him to switch on the YES Network to see the black eye, he was all too pleased to do so.

It's always something. Finally, A.J. Burnett pitches well, and now his eye is all messed up. My first reaction to what happened to him was that he did it to himself in a fit of anger, instead of slamming his hands against a clubhouse cabinet!

I had a black eye myself once, and no, it wasn't from a fight. I went to see a Circle Jerks punk concert when I was in college. Some slam-dancing guy's whirling foot somehow went askew and hit me in the eye. It hurt, but not terribly, and I didn't know I had gotten a black eye until I woke up the next morning (it takes a while for the bruises to develop.)

I'm watching the Yankee replay now, and doing a little CSI/Forensics Style analysis. You can see some redness by his right eye in early innings, but nothing as awful as he looked in the postgame. So my guess is that something happened to him sometime Friday afternoon.

Burnett said the injury, which he wouldn't explain, was not baseball-related, but does that mean he didn't hurt himself on the field, or that he didn't get  into a fight with a teammate? I do think it's curious that he wouldn't explain how he got it, especially since in his previous start, he had bruises by his ear. It's just another enigmatic moment in the baffling career of A.J. Burnett.

* * *

Squawker Jon did point out to me the very real possibility that A-Rod could still get his usual 30+ homers this year, something that didn't seem  like it would happen just a few months ago. He has 25 homers now, so he's five away from 30 with 15 games to go. I think it's very possible that  he could get his 30 homers yet again.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Snooki and the Mets

When Squawker Lisa told me that one of the most recognizable women on TV had recorded a video about the Mets, I hoped that it was Christina Hendricks, but the way things are going for the Mets, I'm not surprised to find out that it was Snooki:



It's not the first time this year that the Mets have been associated with "Jersey Shore." At the start of the season, David Wright recorded a video with The Situation. The video begins with Wright being asked the following:

Hey, David, last year was tough, but the team looks good this year so far, and you look fantastic. what did you do differently to get in shape?

While Wright's homers/RBI have jumped from 10/72 in 2009 to 23/92 this year, his average has fallen from .307 to .287, his strikeouts have stayed high and his .851 OPS is not much better than 2009's .837. So maybe swinging a bat at The Situation's abs is not the best workout regimen after all.

As for Snooki, it turns out that her video was recorded over three years ago. It includes references to Billy Wagner and the Mets having "two Carloses." Apparently, even Snooki isn't about to record a tribute to the current group. But there's always next year - maybe we'll hear Snooki sing about how Dillon puts the Gee in GTL.

What if sports "journalist" Ines Sainz had been a blogger?

There's been a whole to-do this week in the media over whether the New York Jets treated TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz appropriately -- and whether she acted appropriately in the locker room. I wrote on it the other day, saying that her outfits were more appropriate for a nightclub than the sidelines.

Since then, Sainz has been on pretty much every TV show this week except for "Hoarders" and "Meet the Browns," wearing more -- or is that less? -- of her form-fitting outfits and stating her case. (But Sainz did take down the bikini shot of herself on her Twitter page!)

While some writers have criticized her, a lot of reporters -- both male and female -- have defended Sainz as just another sports journalist doing her job. And the Association of Women in Sports Media complained to the Jets and the NFL on behalf of Sainz.

But I have to wonder how these defenders would have treated Sainz is she had been a sports blogger, especially since most journalists aren't exactly leading the way in demanding that bloggers get media credentials from professional teams. Let's review some of Sainz's career "highlights" covering the NFL:

* She held a biceps measuring contest (see image above) during last year's Super Bowl Week to determine which player had the strongest arm. Hard-hitting journalism at its finest!

* She allowed two Indianapolis Colts to carry her around like Cleopatra or something during this year's Super Bowl Week. Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Ashley Fox witnessed the incident. She wrote about it this week:

"Google 'Ines Sainz' and you'll also find a photograph of her sitting on the shoulders of two Indianapolis Colts players during Super Bowl media day. I remember seeing her there. There was a swarm of people around her, and they were all laughing and joking about this woman who was causing such a stir. For a real sports reporter, that's unconscionable. Word travels fast."

If Sainz were an NFL blogger, and not a TV reporter, it's not very likely she would have gotten media credentials in the first place. But even if she had, Sainz would have undoubtedly had her press pass revoked the moment she first acted up and made a spectacle of herself. In fact, we'd probably be treated to lectures from some of the very sportswriters defending Sainz, saying about how sports bloggers need to learn something about professionalism and decorum. Just saying.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Joe Torre, Tim McCarver, and Rob Neyer show double standard when it comes to Derek Jeter

I've been saying for years that Joe Torre is a phony, and here's more proof. Torre took time out from his Brett Favre-esque act about whether or not he will be back with the Dodgers next year to comment about Derek Jeter's deking the umpire in Wednesday night's game. Here's what he said:

"Hell, yeah, (Jeter) did the right thing. It's not like running a red light. Stuff you can do out on the field, whether you can get away with it, it's not being immoral. We allow people to steal second base. Anything you can get away with is fine. To me, that's aboveboard. It's not like he's loading his bat."

Funny that the manager who refused to call for a bunt against Curt Schilling in the 2004 ALCS would say such a thing. It's also amusing how hypocritical J-Fraud is on the Jeter issue, given what he said after Alex Rodriguez did the Ha Play:

Even Joe Torre says Alex Rodriguez was out of line....

"He may have been excited about the fact that we were leading the ballgame," Torre said Friday before his team's series opener at Boston. "It was probably inappropriate to do it at the time he did it, but you can't change it, unfortunately."....

"[The Blue Jays] were angry," Torre said. "Oh, there's no question. I can't say I blame them, but what are you going to do about it? What's happened has happened."....

Torre said he spoke with Rodriguez after the game.

"It's probably something he shouldn't have done," Torre said. "I don't sense he's going to do it again."

FOX broadcaster Tim McCarver, who last made the news when he compared the Yankee front office to Nazis and Communists for supposedly airbrushing Torre out of Yankee Stadium, also supported Jeter's fake injury move:

"I can't believe anyone would say that's cheating. Once again, it points out Jeter's wherewithal. What upset some people perhaps is that he was so demonstrative … but to think that quickly is remarkable."

Left unsaid was what McCarver's buddy Bob Gibson, the pitcher McCarver constantly uses as the arbiter of what is correct in baseball, would do if a hitter tried that act on him. Gee, I wonder why.

Of course, when A-Rod did quick thinking of his own against Dallas Braden, McCarver was not amused, and cited Gibson in that scenario  when asked about Braden demanding Rodriguez get off his mound:

“Absolutely — I love that,” McCarver said. “That’s his space. You don’t see any starting pitchers in the batter’s box, do you? You don’t see pitchers go in the batter’s box, dig in, anything like that. So why should hitters be allowed on the mound?”....

“[Pete Rose] tried that once with Gibson in the mid-60s and Gibson threw at him the next time up. Pete spat at him. And the next one was a lot closer. Pete didn’t spit the second time.”

And ESPN.com's Rob Neyer thrice called Chicago White Sox A.J. Pierzynski a cheater for feigning injury to get on base, and suggested that he be suspended from baseball. But when Jeter did the very same thing as A.J., Neyer's opinion was much more muted, and he would not call Jeter a cheater. Read my Faster Times piece on Neyer to see his differing positions in the similar situations.

Since I didn't have any problem with A-Rod's Ha Play, Slap Play, or him walking on Dallas Braden's mound, I didn't have any problem with what Jeter did. But my brother disagrees. He thinks that the reigning SI Sportsman of the Year should be held to a tougher standard:

Jeter is considered so highly that some fans believe that Yankee Stadium should be renamed in his honor. When you are at that level, claiming that a pitcher hit you is a more serious offense than it is for a scrub. What if the pitcher was suspended for throwing at a player that some (Colin Cowherd to name one ESPN personality) consider greater than Babe Ruth?

Anyhow, what do you think? Tell us about it!

The Other Guy: Imagine if A-Rod had "acted" the way Derek Jeter did last night?

Maybe I was wrong about Derek Jeter being a bad actor. After all, his master thespian performance at Wednesday's game, where he pretended to be badly hit by the ball, not only got him first base, but it got Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon thrown out of the game for protesting.

I was out at dinner in Manhattan last night, so I missed seeing the play live. When I was heading home, I talked to Squawker Jon, who saw the play on TV and said that either Jeter was really hurt -- or really faking it! Jon thought Jeter was doing the latter.

Since then, I watched the clip (go here if you haven't seen it.) Let me tell you something --  it just goes to show what I have been saying  for years whenever Alex Rodriguez was caught in an on-field controversy, whether it be the slap play, the Ha play, or the "get off my mound" debacle. And that is that if Derek Jeter had done any of the so-called "bush league" things A-Rod had gotten lambasted for, writers and fans would be praising his gamesmanship, quick thinking, and his willingness to do whatever it takes to win.

Just take a look at what happened in the Yankees-Rays game. Jeter, who has been slumping for the last three months, took the opportunity to get on base, even though he didn't deserve to be there in that situation. When Chad Qualls' pitch hit Jeter's bat, and made a cracking noise, the captain writhed around like he got hit by it, and then literally doubled over in pain. Because of the whole dog-and-pony show Jeter put on, home plate umpire Lance Barksdale awarded Jeter first, which proved crucial when Curtis Granderson hit a two-run homer to briefly put the Yankees ahead. Ultimately, thanks to Phil Hughes serving up another homer to Dan Johnson, Tampa Bay won the game.

Jeter readily admitted in the postgame that the ball hit the bat, and not him:

Jeter, smiling slyly during his postgame exchange with the media, made no apologies for capitalizing on the opportunity.

"Well, (Barksdale) told me to go to first," he said. "I'm not going to tell him I'm not going to first. I mean, my job is to try to get on base."

Asked if he was responding to the vibration from the ball hitting the end of his bat or acting when he shook his arm, Jeter said, "Vibration. And acting. Both."

Let's review. Jeter, the manmany fans consider to have the most integrity of any player in baseball, pretended to be hit by the pitch, and he wasn't. His getting awarded first base could have been the deciding factor in the game. Then he smiled in the postgame as he not only admitted faking the whole thing, but essentially blamed the ump for falling for his act. And to top it all off, media admiringly praised his act. One example -- Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger wrote that Jeter "pulled off a performance worthy of adding another item to his trophy case: an Oscar," and said the struggling shortstop "applied a Shakespearian interpretation."


If you changed Derek Jeter's name to Alex Rodriguez in this scenario, do you think there would be one bit of positive press thrown A-Rod's way? Do you think anybody would be praising Alex's gamesmanship, great acting, quick thinking, and willingness to win? Of course not.

Look, it's not that I'm against what Jeter did last night. Good for him. He's been struggling, and the Yankees have been slumping. He wanted to get on base by any means necessary. You know, kind of like the way a struggling A-Rod tried to get on first to get something going for his team in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS.

But it just goes to show  that Jeter, the person treated as a living saint by many Yankee fans, can be just as guilty of committing a so-called "bush league" play as A-Rod. Of course, when the captain does it, it's great baseball, but when A-Rod does it, it's a crime against humanity. As Billy Wagner would say, shocker!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

So much for looking forward to football season

Impotent offense? Dubious coaching moves? Season-ending injuries? And here I thought watching the Jets opener would be a welcome change from the Mets.

The last time the Jets were coming off of a trip to the AFC title game, Vinny Testaverde went down for the year early in the first game. Yesterday, it was Kris Jenkins' turn. At least Johan Santana is definitely coming back, though it's unknown how good he will be. Jenkins' career could be over.

So far, Antonio Cromartie remind me of Jason Bay - big-name acquisition, small-time production.

Kyle Wilson makes me think of Jenrry Mejia - highly touted rookie not ready for a leading role.

Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and Jerry Manuel both sound good on TV. But when it comes to strategy... How do you not have Mark Sanchez at least try to throw against the Ravens' depleted secondary?

Though I'm a diehard Jet fan, even before last night I agreed that the Jets talk way too much for a team that has not been to the Super Bowl in over four decades. But now Squawker Lisa tells me that the Jets' bluster has some of our Boston readers actually hating the Jets more than the Yankees.

Well, at least one of my teams is beating the Yankees at something.

On the Yanks' losing streak, and the Jets' loss

I'm Officially Concerned about the state of the Yankees after tonight. This is the first time they've lost four in a row all year, and their third walkoff loss in four games. And, as Squawker Jon helpfully noted, the Yanks would have lost seven in a row if it weren't for Nick Swisher! If Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin are the answer, I don't want to know the question. Tonight was actually a night I longed to see Joba pitch! And it would be nice to see the Yanks score a run or two. So much for CC getting No. 20 tonight.

Anyhow, I was flipping back and forth, using my picture-in-picture, between the Yankees and the Jets. As I've noted here before, I don't really have a diehard NFL team the way I root for the Yanks and the Texas Longhorns. I root for Vince Young to do well with the Tennessee Titans, I supported the Giants in the Super Bowl against the Patriots (and even predicted their victory!), I cheer for Ochocinco and T.O., and I think Rex Ryan is a hoot. He has single-handedly gotten me to watch Jets games. But no, I don't have any lifelong team loyalty; only player interest!

Squawker Jon, on the other hand, is a real Jets fan. I'm surprised he hasn't blamed me for tonight's Jets loss! Maybe it's because he at least has a Mets walkoff win -- thanks to Chan Ho Park -- to be happy about.

Jon and I were talking about how the Jets have leapfrogged from being a nonentity, to becoming the team everybody loves to hate, without actually winning anything. At least the late '90s Yankees had a little bit of a honeymoon period before they became despised!

My Red Sox/Patriots fan friend Joe had this to say to me tonight about the Jets and the Yanks:

My hatred of Rex & the Jets has actually surpassed my hatred of the Yankees. The Yankees at least win and don't brag. The Jets lose and talk smack...hilarious. I'm still sticking with my 3rd place in the AFC East prediction for Vociferous Rex and the Sanchize...

Interesting points! I wonder how many New England fans agree. What I like about Rex is what gets on so many people's nerves!

Speaking of which, there was actually a time when I didn't despise Tom Brady. It was around Super Bowl XXXVI, and I (shudder) rooted for the Patriots against the Rams. Goes to show you my judgment -- or lack thereof!

What do you think? Tell us about it!