DePodesta

Maybe the Yankees should go after former Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta for a position in their front office. He was well-regarded in "Moneyball" to having new and innovative ways of evaluating players, and comes from a similar "new school" of thought as Red Sox GM Theo Epstein. There are probably plenty of "old school" guys in the Yankees organization already. It might be helpful to the Yanks, especially since Gene Michael may not be as influential anymore.

The Saints Will Stay in Louisiana?

For some reason this story sort of sounds like when a team says, "we have full confidence in the coach" and then fire the coach at the end of the season. Anyways, shouldn't the governor be worried about more pressing issues than whether or not the NFL team will stay in New Orleans?

At Least The Jets Can't Lose This Week

It's their bye week.

See the Jets Blog for the state of affairs in Jet fandom. The "fan confidence rating" on the left of 1.8/10 tells it all, I think.

White Sox Win!

Congratulations to the White Sox who finished off the World Series pretty quickly, in four fairly good games against the Astros. Does this mean we will see a ton of White Sox hats now that Chicago has beaten their streak? There was definitely an increase in Red Sox apparel after last year's drought ending victory.

Bud Pong

I don't even know where to start, but I will try by asking, does "beer pong" (or beiruit, if you prefer) need to be encouraged or explained by a major brewery?

They'll probably also have to scrap the "Bud Flip Cups" promotion.

Z's

In the competition to have the most Z's on a coaching staff, it looks like the Baltimore Orioles have gotten a head start.

World Series 2005

Pretty interesting World Series match-up, but sadly, I don't think a lot of people will be watching.

White Sox vs. Astros. The Astros (or any Texas team, for that matter) have never been to the World Series. The last time the White Sox made it to the World Series was 1959, and the last time they won was 1917. Is this karma? Red Sox in '04 after 1918, White Sox in '05 after 1917? If that's so, maybe the Cubs will have a chance soon. On the other hand, the Astros have never won, much less, made it to the World Series, but they are the Wild Card.

The White Sox ALCS victory ends the streak of the team that knocks out the Yankees wins the Series (which has gone on since '01).

I have been enjoying Bill Simmons less and less each day. Statements like this after Houston's game 5 loss are why:

"Once you have the momentum, the other team has to take it back. And they can't do that when they're reeling on the road and wondering what the hell just happened. That's why I believe the Astros are finished, just like that '86 Angels team was."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/051018

To use an old cliche, "In baseball, momentum goes only as far as the next game's pitcher."

By the way, has anyone noticed all the former Yankee starting pitchers in this series? Clemens, Pettitte, Hernandez and Contreras! Wow.

Ok, I'll try to have some better posts coming up soon. Good night.

I Posted This From My Phone

I am such a loser. Yet my phone is so cool.

Subway Chicken Parmesan

I've been thinking of ordering Subway's chicken parmesan sandwich, the latest way Subway has been trying to straddle the healthy / unhealthy line (I don't think Jared was able to lose any weight eating the chicken bacon ranch sub). But what cheese to get on this sandwich? The typical Subway offerings of American, Swiss or Provalone seem inadequate when what a true chicken parmesan sandwich requires is mozarella. I live a sad life because these are the kinds of things that frustrate me.

Bonus Baseball - Braves vs. Astros

One of the best things in baseball is how there is no time limit and no ties. Granted, in the NFL, there are hardly ties, but the baseball extra innings has got to be one of the tensest situations where just a slight mistake can cost a team.

Consider the Astros-Braves game right now, which has just entered the BOTTOM OF THE 18TH INNING. This thing is a classic already and we don't even know how it ends yet. By the way both teams have had grand slams!

This game reminds me of listening to the radio as a kid and hearing the 1986 Mets / Astros LCS game that went 16 innings. The Mets went on to win the game, and the series, but what was so striking about the game was how see-saw the scoring was even in extra innings!

As I write this, Chris Burke finishes off the game and the series in the bottom of the 18th with a walk-off home run. Wow.

Not a lot of Blog

Sorry there haven't been many posts recently, it's been pretty busy. Hopefully soon I'll be able to discuss more about China (I know, the trip was MONTHS ago), Mr. T Chia Head: The Second Go-Around, 15 Days (or more) with the LG VX9800, and a great comic book, Y: The Last Man.

In the mean time, consider whether or not John Lackey replacing Jarrod Washburn tonight in the Angels / Yankees game is a good thing. Since the Red Sox are out of the playoffs, if the streak of wild card teams winning the World Series is to continue, then maybe it's Houston's year? There is another, longer streak than that of the wild card teams winning the Series, and that is the streak of teams eliminating the Yankees winning the WS - '01 Arizona, '02 Anaheim, '03 Marlins, '04 Red Sox. Of course, twice this occurred in the WS. If these trends were to continue it would mean Houston beats the Yankees in the World Series.

Offensive

Amazing. I thought it wouldn't be wise to start Curtis Martin on my fantasy football team this week since he was playing against the Ravens, and since the Jets don't have a passing game, he wouldn't have a prayer against the tough Baltimore defense.

As it turns out, Martin wasn't my worst RB in fantasy football this week. That honor goes to Fred Taylor, who ran for an astounding 14 yards on 8 carries. Ugly!

Aren't They Taking this "Evil Empire" Thing a Bit Too Far?

(photo courtesy of AP)

Why did Chewbacca throw out Wednesday's first pitch at the Boston / Toronto game?

FOX Box

Here's a little rant about the awful coverage that FOX has provided today's Yankees / Red Sox game.

At present, the fourth inning has just ended.

So far, throughout the game, there have been live cut-in score updates of the White Sox / Indians game at the rate of about one update per half inning. That's understandable because there is a direct Yankee / Red Sox playoff implication from that game. Of course, but the score updates have been updating the fact that the score is 0-0, and also interrupting game play! In addition, the screen already contains a graphic with continuous updating of the White Sox / Indians game scores. So when they go to game break, we know it won't show any scoring because the live score update still says 0-0.

The biggest abuse of all was in the bottom of the fourth, the Yankee / Red Sox game was relegated to the little FOX Box and we were forced to focus on the Chicago / Cleveland game, which was 0-0. Who cares! Nobody watching the Yankee / Red Sox game cares about the specifics of the Chicago / Cleveland game other than the results. While the FOX box would have been annoying regardless, why did the main game we all tuned in for get relegated to see in the tiny box (and audio of the Chicago / Cleveland game)?

As I finish this post, A-Rod has just hit a non-clutch, top of the 5th, one out, solo home run to put the Yankees up 6-2. Fortunately, there was no FOX box to be seen.

Hopefully one of my favorite tabloid news sports media columnists will complain about this in the next day or two, because this was a horrible misuse of the FOX box.

No More Email

Trying to unsubscribe from a mailing list, this page is full of contradictions.



First of all, why does it say "Join the Team" if I'm trying to unsubscribe?



Ah, the best part of it all, we won't send you anymore email... except an email to tell you that we won't send any more email!!

Four-Way Tie?

There's a chance of a tie in the AL Wild Card race, with the loser of the AL East finishing out with the same record as the Indians, which would necessitate a play-in game for the playoffs. But what happens in this unlikely, yet awesome, scenario?

White Sox go 1-4 (losing final games versus Cleveland)
Tribe go 3-2 (winning only games versus ChiSox)
Yankees go 3-2
Red Sox go 3-2 (one AL East team must split their remaining two games versus Bal or Tor, and then come back to take 2/3 in the final series, while the other team must win both games versus Bal/Tor and lose 2/3 in the final series)

This would set up four teams with identical records (95-67). What then? I think it means three play-in games (for the two division titles, then with the losers going for the wild card). That would be the closest MLB ever gets to having a one and done "tournament" style playoff, and that's what I'm rooting for. Couple this amazing scenario with the Red Sox getting eliminated from the playoffs and it would be like a personal dream. The second best scenario eliminates the White Sox from the playoffs because that sort of collapse would be monumental. Hey, if the Red Sox could win the World Series, perhaps we could have this elaborate and complicated tie scenario!

Vinny's Back

Vinny Testaverde is back with the Jets. Brooks Bollinger is going to start, but does anyone expect him to play well versus the Ravens?

Let's face it, the Jets season is pretty much lost. It will take time for Pennington to recover from the shoulder injury (the only other active QB I can recall who's had major shoulder problems is Brian Griese) and while Vinny's a fan favorite, he's not getting any younger.

It was sort of funny to hear that Fiedler and Pennington traveled together to visit guru Dr. James Andrews.

By the way, the over / under for Sunday's Jets / Ravens game is 32 points. Can Anthony Wright and Brooks Bollinger put up those points? Has there ever been a game where the special teams and defenses might put up more of the points for both teams?

Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Yankees - 9/22/05

Wow. The Yankees are back in first place. I would have never expected it.

For the end of the year, it was another $5 night at the stadium, so I got the chance to see the team one last time in '05 (unless some miracle scores me playoff tickets). This was quite a year for me and Yankee games. Please enjoy the photos.


This is where our seats were. Jorge Posada hit his 2nd HR in the area just to the left of this photo.


A-Rod should be the MVP. Let's face it, his offensive numbers are so similar to David Ortiz's and he also plays in the field! This "clutch" stuff I've been hearing about is total garbage. Not to mention, A-Rod, while he won't get a triple crown, is pretty damn close. As of today, 3rd in batting average, tied for 1st in HR and 4th in RBI. Granted Ortiz is 1st in HR and RBI but he's not even in the top 10 in BA.


Bruce Chen pitched very well against the Yankees earlier this year. Fortunately this game wasn't earlier this year.


Mike Mussina pitched a great, great game. But he was limited to under 80 pitches.


These fans were trying to start the wave. I think the people who like the wave the most are the ones trying to start it.


Coaches (counterclockwise from top left) Luis Sojo, Dave Cash, Rick Dempsey and Roy White. Only Dempsey stands in the white box by the base. Why does that box exist? Nobody ever stands in the box.

Overheard in New York

Here's one that I'll post here before submitting.

Overheard in a hospital lobby between two security officers:

Officer 1: Astroglide. Is that the one you use?
Officer 2: Oh yeah. It's much better than K-Y.
Officer 1: Really? I've never heard of it.

Citysearch

I was invited to something at "Top of the Copa." So I looked it up on Citysearch.

My result?

"We assumed you meant Top Of The Cove, instead of top of the copa."

No, in fact I actually meant, "top of the copa."

This reminds me of an old saying:

If you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.