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 OPSHa!
.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."
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!
2 comments:
First, the good: Two out of three from the Deviled Eggs. And no whines from Joe Maddon.
Teixeira, Swisher, Damon, Jeter... These are good hitters. It's not like the new Stadium is giving homers to banjo hitters. We're not talking about Jose Reyes here.
Never thought Phil Hughes might be the answer to the pivotal question, "When the time finally comes, as we know it will someday, who succeeds Mariano Rivera as the closer?" I've thought it of Brian Bruney, Edwar Ramirez and Joba Chamberlain. But Hughes? If he can take what he did yesterday and keep it up, be '96 Rivera to current Rivera's '96 John Wetteland, fine with me.
The Yankees are (mostly) healthy, they are hitting, they are playing good defense, they are getting good pitching, both starting and relief. While Joe Girardi isn't looking like a genius, he doesn't have to. He is getting the job done, and so is everybody else. Right now, I'm not upset with anyone on the team.
Not even Phil Coke: Despite some games where it looks like he'd contracted whatever disease was left over in that Number 48 uniform from Kyle (Not a) Farnsworth, right now, even Coke is it.
Now, the bad: Not a whole lot. The weather might mess up this Yanks-Sox series, as "Paul from Boston" suggested. This would wreak havoc with the pitching staff, from which no good can come. At the moment, it's not raining here, although we got drenched earlier. But I wouldn't bet a nickel on either Yanks-Sox or Mets-Phillies getting nine innings in tonight. And it's also supposed to rain on Thursday.
And John Sterling... "Swisher-licious"? Seriously, John, I know the name isn't exactly manly, but you can do better. How about "A Swish in time!" At least "a Johnny Rocket" for Damon is better than "It's Damonic!"
I want these three against the Sox. Real bad. I mean, really badly. Oh, this time, who cares about grammar (or even about speling), as long as we win?
Lisa, was your "Ha!" an allusion to A-Rod's infamous "Ha!"? Tee-hee!
Uncle Mike, it was actually AJ (or another Yank) who coined the term "Swishalicious". (This was mentioned about a month ago by Pete Abe, et al.) I loves it!
Hoping for Ys to sweep in Boston!
Jane Y.
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