Local sports journalism is the worst

Making fun of regional or local sports media members isn't something I like to do.  But when it's Jeter Month here at FJayM, we throw out all the rules.  (Note, there is still one rule: no outside food please.)

I'm sure not many people (relative to the population of the United States) read the Poughkeepsie Journal every day, but if you had read it last month, you would have found this gem.  The question is: Jeter?  And the answer, as explained to us by some jackass named Dan who writes for the Poughkeepsie Journal, is: Jeter.

This is a plea to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to bend the rules. It’s been done before, so do it again.

He's begging you: please give Jeter the Rookie of the Year again in 2014.  Wouldn't it be a perfect way to send him off?

Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera deserve to be inducted together into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

You seem to think deserve means "Would be kind of neat since they played together for so long."  I tend to lean more towards "Has earned whatever the honor in question is, based on merit."  But really, think of it this way: if both get inducted at the same time, WILL THERE BE ENOUGH HOTEL ROOMS AVAILABLE IN COOPERSTOWN THAT WEEKEND?

It’s the right thing to do. 

Yankees fans are the worst people in America.

Jeter and Rivera came up through the New York Yankees organization together, won five World Series titles together with class on and off the field, 

There it is!  If you had "Third paragraph" in your "When will the author bring up the classy classiness of two guys who made millions playing baseball without murdering anyone?" pool, go collect your winnings.

and belong together on the stage in Cooperstown delivering their induction speeches on the same July day in 2019.

Look, if anything, why don't the writers just decline to vote for Rivera in 2019, delaying him a year so Jeter and him can go in together in 2020?  Better yet, why not just follow the rules that are in place and stop washing Jeter's balls?  I know I'm overusing that, I don't care.  I like the way it reads.

Yes, this will require bending the rules because a player must be out of the game for five years before being on the Hall of Fame ballot. Jeter and Rivera are deservedly both first-ballot Hall of Famers, but are slated to enter the hall one year apart if chosen on their respective first ballot.

So why not bend the rules? It’s been done before and for Yankee greats. Lou Gehrig — the only player on a special ballot — was elected in a special vote at the 1939 Winter Meetings because it was uncertain how much longer Gehrig would live with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — now also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Wait, does Jeter have a terminal illness?  Is that the reason we should bend the rules for him?  Wow, I hadn't heard that.  Poor guy.

Joe DiMaggio was excluded when the five-year rule was introduced in 1954 because he was close to the 75 percent needed for election. He was elected in 1955 despite retiring in 1951.

Wait, is the HOF on the verge of changing the eligibility rules to only requiring four years after retirement, but not until after the 2015 season?  If so, I agree, it's OK to bend the rules for Jeets and let him take advantage of that a season early.

Like Jeter and Rivera, Gehrig and DiMaggio are two all-time Yankee and baseball greats. 

I like how he leaves Clemente out of his analysis.  "Sure, I'll bring up Gehrig, even though his situation has nothing to do with my case for Jeter.  And Clemente's situation was just like Gehrig's.  But why bring up Clemente?  Was he classy?  Only won two championships.  I think that answers that question."

DiMaggio hit in 56 consecutive games, played on nine World Series championship teams and was considered among the best defensive outfielders. Gehrig played in 2,130 consecutive games, won the 1934 Triple Crown and played on six World Series championship teams.

Those guys were awesome.  They were both considerably better than Jeter.  Also, they both got into the Hall earlier than the rulebook says they should have for reasons that were unrelated to "Has another HOF teammate who retired a year earlier, and wouldn't it be kind of neat if they were elected simultaneously?"

Like Gehrig and DiMaggio, Jeter and Rivera had their moments as they became a part of the Yankee lore. Remember Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series, when Rivera’s emotions got the best of him on the mound after throwing three shutout innings and watching Aaron Boone’s game-winning home run against the Red Sox?

Look, I can't say my favorite team has ever "won" a "World" "Series," but I'll talk some trash anyways.  First of all, no, I don't remember Rivera getting emotional in that moment.  I remember Aaron Boone hitting the home run and then everyone going apeshit.  Second of all, remember the 2003 World Series, when the winningest winners of all time failed to win against a team with 1/3rd the payroll?  Not much class exhibited there.  That Josh Beckett, though--he was classy back then.

The next season, Jeter dove full speed into the stands to catch a pop up against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. 

Who gives a flying cunt?  Did he deliver a baby while he was in there?  Did he give a kid a full college scholarship?  Jesus fuck, he made an out in a regular season game on a play that most other shortstops would also make.  Holy fucking shit.

And who can forget “the flip” in the 2001 American League Division Series against the Athletics, where Jeter came out of nowhere to grab a throw from outfielder Shane Spencer and flip it to catcher Jorge Posada, who put the tag on Jeremy Giambi in a 1-0 Game 3 triumph? 

Yeah, who CAN forget, given the way tiresome Yankee fans bring it up every five minutes like Jeter was nailed to a cross and rose three days later?

The Yankees went on to win the next two games to claim the best-of-five series.

And went on to not win the World Series.  Look, I'm not saying they didn't also win several other World Series with Jeter and Rivera.  But facts are facts.  I'm hatin' here.  Don't try to stop me.

Here are some of Jeter’s and Rivera’s numbers:

Jeter is the only player to collect 3,000 hits in a Yankee uniform, sports a .312 career batting average and can finish his career among the top-5 players all-time in hits with 201 hits this season. In the postseason, the longest-tenured captain in Yankee history is a .308 lifetime hitter.

Rivera is Major League Baseball’s all-time saves leader with 652, has the lowest career all-time earned run average (2.21) for pitchers throwing at least 1,000 innings in the live-ball era and was one of the top fielding pitchers of the modern era. In the postseason, he ranks first all time with a 0.70 earned average and 42 saves.

Here are their numbers: Jeter's are good, slightly above average for a Hall of Fame middle infielder.  Rivera's are dominant, although he only participated in 80 or 90 innings per season.  So shouldn't we change the rules for these guys?  WHO SAYS NO?

Jeter and Rivera only wore the Yankee uniform in the era of free agency and were never mentioned in conversations of using performance enhancement drugs.

Again, congratulations to both of them for succeeding where literally dozens of MLB players have failed.

Rivera was deserving of the attention on his farewell tour in 2013 and the same can be said for Jeter in 2014. They are great role models and ambassadors for Major League Baseball.

They are not role models.  They are not heroes.  They do not ooze class from their pores.  The 2001 flip play did not turn Jeter into Mother Teresa.  These guys played baseball and were awesome at it.  Now they will be honored with baseball's greatest recognition of career achievement.  I know it might cause the Earth to fly off its axis and directly into the sun if they are forced to do it 365ish days apart due to preexisting rules that have only been broken in extremely exceptional circumstances, but that's a risk I think we'll have to take.  Breathe deeply.  We'll get through this.

They’re definite first-ballot hall of famers, but baseball and the writers should do this duo justice by inducting them together into the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2019.

I hate this man and I hate Derek Jeter and I hate all of you.  Good night.

Suprise! Celizic Overrated Something!

HatGuy recently wrote this. It's really bad. Like, really, really bad.

Joba off to pen; Yanks should leave him there

Because minimizing the innings pitched of a pitcher with a shot of being pretty damned good is smart, right?

The plan announced by Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is to start the 2008 season with Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen. That should be good news to the team’s fans.

Because they don't want to put a lot of strain on Chamberlain's arm at a young age. That makes perfect sense.

The long-range plan for the season is to move the sensational young pitcher into the starting rotation. That news might not be nearly as good.

Ah. Because of some interesting statistical/scouting evidence that Chamberlain would be less effective as a starter, right? Right? (I'll bet millions that HatGuy gives reasons that have nothing to do with this, if he even gives reasons.)

It’s a tough call the Yankees have, one that I wouldn’t like to make. Chamberlain, Philip Hughes and Ian Kennedy are the kids whom the Yankees have groomed to form the core of the team’s rotation for the next decade or longer. And there’s no question New York needs the lift that strong, young arms can give a starting rotation.

I'm sorry, were you giving an argument AGAINST Chamberlain becoming a starter?

The plan all along had been to use the 22-year-old Chamberlain as a starter, the role in which he excelled as a minor leaguer. But last year he proved to be an exceptional reliever, and in this era of ball, there’s no one more important to a team than a great closer.

Why Michael, you are just, just so totally wrong!

He's more important than a 3B that can hit 54 homers in a season?
He's more important than having a great ace starter, who throws way more innings than a closer?

Ask the Angels if they'll do A-Rod for K-Rod straight up. I bet they'll say no!

The Yankees know that as well as anyone, having had the luxury since 1997 of the services of Mariano Rivera, arguably the greatest closer ever. We spend inordinate amounts of time every year talking about the mighty Yankee offense, but the reason they’ve been in the playoffs every year since 1995 is their closer, first John Wetteland and then Rivera.

No, it's their offense. Trust me. And in the late 1990's, it was good starters supplementing that offense. If like, Rafael Soriano closed every closable game for those Yankees, you think that they don't still make the playoffs every single fucking time? Am I reading this right? Do I need glasses? With all due respect to Mariano Riviera, the inequality "Rivera > Yankees' offense" completely results in the collapse of mathematics as we know it.

I guess other than that, this paragraph wasn't completely and totally horrible.

Rivera got his start as Wetteland’s set-up man, and after the Yanks won the 1996 World Series, they let Wetteland go to Texas and handed the job over to Rivera. He’s done pretty well with it ever since.

And that, friends, is why Joba Chamberlain should be in the bullpen, and not a starter.

Get to the point, please.

But Rivera is 38 years old, and even though the Pinstripes gave him a three-year contract in the off-season, it’s foolish to think he’ll still be the Sandman at age 41. I’ve been wrong on Rivera a lot, and I don’t think there’s been a season in the last three or four when I haven’t said his end is near. So I’m not going to make any dire predictions other than to point out the obvious: he’s getting old and won’t last forever.

What’s notable about Rivera is that the Yankees brought him up through their farm system. They’ve gone everywhere for starting pitching and position players, but Rivera has been there year in and year out.

Still looking for Chamberlain-related information.......

Lord knows where the team would have been if they didn’t have them and had pursued their usual course of hiring over-the-hill free agents with bloated salaries to do the job. But I’d say you can get an idea by checking out what Billy Wagner has done for the Mets — or is that to the Mets.

Billy Wagner, in 2 seasons as a Met: 2.43 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 74 saves. Time to start earning that bloated salary, Billy. Stop doing things to the Mets and start doing things for the Mets.

(::sigh::, this is truly pathetic, and almost getting boring actually. He's wrong like every paragraph. HatGuy takes all the thrill out of searching the internet 30 hours a week for a dumb sportswriter comment.....there's no suprise element here.)

Last year, as Rivera’s set-up man, Chamberlain pitched 24 innings in 19 games. He gave up just 12 hits and one earned run while striking out 34; his ERA was 0.38. I submit those are better numbers than he would have had as a starter.

You mean that if Chamberlain threw 200 or some other amount of innings that wasn't a ridiculously small sample, he WOULDN'T have lower than a 0.38 ERA? Bravo, Cappy Hattington, you're a king among writers!

And you know what? If Chamberlain stays in the bullpen, I'm sure his ERA will never rise higher than that, because 24 innings is a totally reliable and perfect sample size to determine the true quality of a pitcher's performance in his role.

(I almost wonder if he tries to be stupid this much, because he never gives an interesting viewpoint, and I only read his columns beacuse of said stupidity. Maybe that's how he achieves a following. Kinda like a less angry Mariotti.)

I understand the Yankees thinking. They’re tired of old and overpriced starters like Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson who are no longer reliable and spend too much time on the disabled list.

Equivalent to saying, "Listen Yankees, I understand your thinking. You have tons of past precedent to warn you against using awful, old guys in your starting rotation, but..."

Going into this season, they have two old-timers — Mike Mussina, whose effectiveness has been declining,

That's generous even for Mussina.

and Andy Pettitte, still a premier left-hander.

Above-average. Not premier. Ask me how long he's going to keep a 4.05 ERA with a 1.43 WHIP. Not gross luck, but still lucky.

The rest of the starting rotation will be Chien-Ming Wang, Hughes and Kennedy. Chamberlain is supposed to be there to step in when someone gets injured or proves ineffective.

Read: After Mike Mussina turns in like 5 horrid starts.

The bullpen needs him from the get-go. Rivera is the one reliable arm out there, with the mercurial Kyle Farnsworth as his set-up man. After him is LaTroy Hawkins, signed from the Rockies in the off-season, who returned the favor by signing the Yankees’ reliever Lius Vizcaino.

Except starting pitching is way more important. You forgot that, Mikey. Unless there's something with Chamberlain's style or mechanics that makes him personally a better pitcher as a reliever, he should start if he's good enough to. Except you aren't arguing those things. So I am not required by law to listen to you.

And that’s about it for the Yankee pen. Oh, there’ll be plenty of bodies out there and there’ll be plenty of people who’ll get to try out in camp, but the pen was thin last year and it’s not really better this year. It’s not nearly enough, especially if anything happens to Rivera

The rotation was noticably thin last year too. It's perfectly reasonable to think that randomly, one of the Yankees' 5 relievers besides Rivera will turn in an adequate set-up-man-ish season. It's much harder for a starter to "luck" into having a good season.

As long as Chamberlain is starting the year in the bullpen, why not keep him there? He can set up and he can save Rivera from having to pitch in back-to-back games or in three games in four days. And he can learn at the foot of the master himself.

Alternatively, he can save Mike Mussina or whoever else might be ineffective from causing every 5th game to be a highly probable loss.

If Rivera goes down, Chamberlain’s there. If Rivera keeps rolling, Chamberlain can help keep is that way by taking some of the load off of him. Keep Mo’s innings and appearances down, and the chances that he’ll last to the end of his contract improve.

So that's the motive. Sacrifice innings pitched for a good young pitcher so that a closer on his last leg has slightly greater odds of pitching out his contract. Because Joba might spell him 5 separate instances throughout the season.

I know it’s a huge sacrifice in the short term to put a potentially great starter in the pen at the age of 22 to be a back-up and an insurance policy. But I’m not sure how smart it is to have three kids in the starting rotation of a team that wants to win – now.

It's smarter to have Mike Mussina, who seems to have lost all his talent in the rotation, than to put in a pitcher who would probably do much better than him. The reason? Because of Joba Chamberlain's age. Having 3 young kids in the rotation destroys your team, regardless of pitching ability. Make a note, GMs.

And before you start asking about how smart it is to sacrifice a potentially great starter to the bullpen, ask yourself where Boston would be without closer Jonathan Papelbon, a highly promising young starter who was forced to the closer role by injury and then chose to stay there.

They're still a team with very good offense and very good starting pitching. Then they have Okajima close, and Manny Declarmen/Brendan Donnelly sets up. Where does that put Boston? If it's not the same place, it's damned close.

It’s the most important job in baseball.

Completely and totally false.

The Yankees got a kid who’s showed he can fill it. Leave him there.

I can't wait to see what you write when Chamberlain puts up a 4.00 ERA over his next 24 innings.

The End of an Era

It's noon on a Friday and I notice "SportsCenter Special" is on the screen. What is it for? The Yankees. Joe Torre not signing with the Yankees. In the middle of Rockies vs. Indians/Red Sox, there is somehow hours of Yankees coverage. Honest to God - it's called SportsCenter Special: 2007 Yankees The End of an Era Take a look. If this is the new direction of 'This is SportsCenter' ads, then you can count me out. How is this any better than the repeat of the west coast show? At least then I could have seen highlights of the Rutgers/USF game... instead I'll have to watch FSN's Final Score. The ALCS is still going on. I know nobody is really watching ESPN in the middle of the day, but c'mon. I'm watching in a bar and there's no volume or captioning, so I borrowed a computer and TiVoed it on over the internet. Here's the best of the best of what I heard from Joe Torre's news conference. All times are central. 1:17 pm - and not very important - The TiVo was awakened from recording a suggested recording of Card Sharks to record. I join the press conference in progress, which is a shame. I really wanted to hear what was said when I was in the bar. 1:20 pm - Budd Mishkan, NY1 - "We've seen some strange things from the Yankees in years past. Managers fired, then the decision is reconsidered in the next couple days. Billy Martin was announced at an Oldtimers day a couple days after he was fired. I know it's a long shot, but in the next couple of days, they reconsider for whatever reason would you or is the door absolutely shut?" I bring this up not because of how confusing the question seems at the end there, but what's on the screen. TheBottomLine has JOE TORRE STATISTICS scrolling along the bottom instead of who will play tonight and a meaningless stat about that match up or a player in that game. Moments later, the SportsCenter Pièce de résistance of live action split screen with vaguely related stat gives us Longest Tenured GM/Manager. No doubt that somewhere in Bristol, makers of these stat screens were sitting at the screen like parents at a children's beauty pageant. Quickly, they pace around a control room hoping that something is asked that kind of resembles their stat so that THEY get picked. Sure it's interesting that the four longest GM/Manager relationships all broke up this year, but maybe it's time that they moved on. I'm sure there are other managers looking for a GM out there. Better managers. Managers with feelings. And a boat. 1:23 - Amy Nelson, ESPN.com - "What is it that you're going to miss most about being manager of the Yankees?" Hard hitting questions today. I can name a couple of the things that I would miss about being a manager: The money. Bottomless buckets of bubble gum and sunflower seeds. Being the only coach that wears a uniform, therefore being the only coach allowed on the field in all of sports. But let's see how Joe answers: "Well, spring training is wonderful. Even though George'd never agree with me, I said spring training is great because you don't have to win games." ...and then he talks out of the side of his mouth, waiting for uproarious laughter from the press. Nothing. Boy, tough crowd. Maybe something a little blue will crack them up yet, Joe. Quick, SAVE IT! "...but that didn't always sell on my part. I had a lot of fun with it though. The thing I'm gonna miss most are the players... I mean, the players and the game itself... uh... and my coaches. That was the most fun for me." Well I guess I missed the mark. He could have two of the three of those things with a fantasy team and MLB Extra Innings. 1:30pm - Joe Torre: "I know Brian [Cashman] as General Manager has a lot of balls to keep in the air at the same time. As fas as I'm concerned it's pretty simple..." A little out of context, juvenile quoting for you. I was actually typing the intro when I heard that and pressed pause so I could get right back to it. 1:34 pm - CJ Papa, TV55: "What was it like for you this morning when you woke up knowing you were not the manager of the Yankees anymore?" Torre at the Improv: "Well, you know, it wasn't that tough. I mean, which time when I woke up?" Torre brings out the laughs with incontinence. I really hope there's a follow-up question coming from NY1 that involves holding a lead. CJ Papa hiccups into the microphone laughing. Torre is probably kicking himself that he forgot his fart machine. That thing would have killed. 1:37 pm - Bob Wolf, News 12: "All of the sudden, the Yankee front office seems to believe that a 3 out of 5 series is more important than a 162 game campaign. Have you ever been able to convince them that it's just a matter of luck, you're going to do a short series like that? Let me check real quick... nope, they still play a postseason. That would make a 3 out of 5 series more important than a 162 season. It would appear winning the regular season didn't get the Yankees a championship. 1:47 - Back to the studio, where we are told to tune to ESPNews What's interesting about this is the last question that aired on ESPN was from ESPN, then they cut away. The studio crew takes us to the top of the hour, where the coverage is accidentally summed up by Karl Ravech as he throws it to Buster Olney to close it all out. "Let's get Buster in here quickly. We had Donald Trump talk about the early 70s and we know how they struggled in the 80s. What crossroads do you think the next 6 months will be for the Yankees?" That's right. To talk about baseball, ESPN called Donald Trump. They can bring in an endless parade of sports writers to be talking heads. But somebody said "GET ME DONALD TRUMP!" and it was so.

I'm Back From Vegas!

Wow....I sure did pick a bad set of days to be away from Fire Jay Mariotti. A thank-you to Pearlman for raising our readership to what seems like eleventy billion compared to what it was before. My flight landed recently, and it's 3:15 A.M., so yeah, dead tired. But after taking a cool 2 G's from the complete lack of poker common sense found in Las Vegas tourists, I think the gambler inside me is appeased, and I'm ready to blog it up again.

That having been said, lets take a look at what Wallace Matthews was up to while I was away.

Yankees' Chamberlain right man for job

Yankees' Chamberlain: 5 IP. I have a similar theory along the same lines.

Kevin Mench between Apr 21, 2006 and Apr 28, 2006: 7 games played, 7 HR (one in each). Conclusion: Kevin Mench is the best baseball player who ever lived.

The buzz spread through Yankee Stadium as soon as the bullpen door swung open, the way it does in a plaza de toros when it is time for the matador to meet the bull.

They were excited by a pitcher they had never seen, not in the flesh, yet it seemed as if they believed that maybe they had seen his like before, in a different time under a different name.

Just a guess....but couldn't they have been cheering him because he had been pitching very well so far, and not because they had this mystical sense of him being the new Jeff Nelson?

They weren't cheering the man so much as they were cheering the concept, one that had carried the Yankees to four world championships in five years but of late has seemed as outdated and unattainable as 300 wins. They were cheering the concept of the seven-inning game.

Okay now you're pushing it. I think that most Yankees FANS are more sensible than you. They're giving a hometown ovation for a pitcher who has performed very well, not assuming they have a lights-out setup man after 3 games.

That was what those other Yankees teams were built on, the crushing reality that while they had 27 outs to complete their job, their opponents had only 21. Or, on some nights, 18.

First it was Mariano Rivera pitching two innings and handing off to John Wetteland. Then it was lefthander Mike Stanton and righthander Jeff Nelson clearing the path to Rivera.

This is such a bullshit exaggeration, with all due respect to Riviera being an awesome closer. The middle relief is NOT EVEN CLOSE to what those Yankees teams were built on.

2000 New York Yankees:

Jeff Nelson: 2.45 ERA, 1.27 WHIP (pretty decent, ERA probably lowered by Riviera stranding inherited runners)
Mike Stanton: 4.10 ERA, 1.35 WHIP (this is lights-out???)

1999 New York Yankees:

Mike Stanton: 4.33 ERA, 1.43 WHIP
Jeff Nelson: 4.15 ERA, 1.62 WHIP

1998 New York Yankees:

Mike Stanton: 5.47 ERA, 1.22 WHIP
Jeff Nelson: 3.79 ERA, 1.64 WHIP

I guess teams should have just fucking gave up against the Yankees once the 7th inning rolled around and they didn't have the lead, because those guys were just plain UNSTOPPABLE (Riviera was pretty damn good for Wetteland, though).

Now it was the kid's turn, a 21-year-old who grew up on an Indian reservation in Nebraska, raised by a divorced father confined to a wheelchair by polio, a kid whose weight sometimes rose higher than his ERA.

Weight rose higher than his ERA? Does that make any fucking sense at all, Wallace? Please, help me out here.

Now Joba Chamberlain - with a name pronounced like the name of a computer-generated sci-fi villain in a movie made two years before he was born

A Star Wars reference! Matthews is a closet nerd! This can't be a sports column. This is a blog.

was being asked to nurse more than a one-run lead over the Baltimore Orioles. He was being asked to nurse a pennant race, a race the Yankees had fought their way back into during the past month but could just as easily fall out of during the next.

No. He was being asked to nurse a one-run lead over the Baltimore Orioles. That's the kind of thing middle relievers do. The Yankees were playing amazing baseball before stumbling upon Joba the Hutt. Granted, he can help a great deal, as the Yankees' bullpen hasn't been good, but you're WAY overstating his importance.

This was what they have been waiting for around here, not another one-dimensional slugger or overpaid starter who goes five innings and calls it a week. Those Yankees teams of 10 years ago, the ones who brought baseball fans back to the Bronx and continue to do so to this day, were strong because they were strong in the middle. Middle relief, that is.

Yeah, get rid of fucking A-Rod, he isn't helping anything. He's a one-dimensional slugger. Mister One-Dimensional and his weak-sauce 12.3 WARP3 should high-tail it out of New York. And I just proved up above that the Yankees' championship teams were not that strong in the middle, save for 1996. Those teams were awesome because they outscored their opponents by a ton and Riviera is one of the best closers ever, NOT becuase middle relievers had WHIPs in the 1.20-1.70 range.

Those teams didn't need A-Rod or Giambi or Sheffield to win. They needed Nelson and Stanton and David Weathers and, of course, Rivera.

I really, REALLY don't want to look up the WARPs of these players to disprove that. You all can do it yourself to see just how stupid Wallace is. What I do want to call your attention to is the fact that Wallace Matthews JUST SUGGESTED THAT THE YANKEES NEEDED DAVID WEATHERS TO WIN.

First of all, David Weathers pitched exactly 17 1/3 innings for a Yankees' championship team (in 1996). He had a 9.35 ERA and a 2.14 WHIP. And David Weathers was a part of the reason they were winning games? Really? DAVID WEATHERS?!?!?!?!?!

Brian Cashman has made his share of mistakes in the past couple of seasons, but holding tight to Chamberlain - and Cabrera, for that matter - do not qualify. After all, had he given in to temptation as in years past, that bullpen door could have swung open last night and Eric Gagne could have waddled out.

Gagne was incredible for the Rangers this year. Despite his recent Red Sox struggles, I would definitely take him over some guy who's thrown 5 major league innings.

Instead, it was Joba Chamberlain, who brings more with him than a wicked fastball and a nasty slider.

He brings, too, the promise of a return to the formula that made Joe Torre's Yankees great: Nine innings for them. Seven innings for you.

That's the brilliant secret. THAT'S THE FORMULA FOR JOE TORRE WINNING THOSE CHAMPIONSHIPS. "Nine innings for them. Seven innings for you." Not only is that one of the dumbest sayings in the world, it completely ignores the fact that the Yankees consistently scored a lot of runs every year (10th, 5th, 3rd, and 10th in MLB in runs scored during championship seasons) and had David Cone turning in great season after great season, supported by some solid performances by El Duque, Pettite, David Wells, and Roger Clemens.

Hell no Wallace, I'm wrong. It was all Jeff Nelson and fucking Mike Stanton. The Yankees should trade the Red Sox A-Rod for Okajima straight up, immediately. The Red Sox are suckers and will bite. They have no idea that A-Rod isn't what championships are built on.

Honestly, lose your job already.

The "Other" Dumb Mike of MSNBC.com

I feel bad for Michael Ventre. After all the coverage Mike Celizic has had here at FJM, he hasn't had a single thing written about him. It's not fair! He says stupid things too, ya know.

Red Sox on verge of Mickelson-like collapse?
NL East leaders hitting summer swoon as rival Yankees lurk

This is a pretty legitimate concern. The Red Sox are 62-40. The Yankees' Pythagenport is 61-40.

Yet I can’t help but think of the Red Sox as the Phil Mickelson of baseball.

Heh. Maybe. Go on.....

Lefty had once held the title of Best Golfer Never to Have Won a Major. Then in 2004, he won a major, the Masters. He added to his credentials by winning the PGA Championship in 2005, and another Masters in 2006. Life was good.

Red Sox win 1 thing in 1 year, Mickelson wins 3 things in 3 years. Continue.

But it appears Mickelson had intended only to visit his sport’s peak, not set up camp there. Since then, he collapsed in the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. This year, he faltered badly in the Scottish Open, a warm-up tournament for the British Open, then missed the cut at Carnoustie.

So you're cherry picking Phil's worst moments to draw this comparison. In addition, you're comparing to how the Red Sox have only visited their "sport's peak" by winning the World Series, and then fell off, rather than set up camp there. Just one little problem, there, Ventre.

NO TEAM HAS WON THE WORLD SERIES MORE THAN ONCE THIS MILLENIUM.

You know what, the Arizona Diamondbacks, LAAnaheims, Fish, ChiSox, and Redbirds are the "Phil Mickelsons of baseball" as well.

If you stare at Mickelson long enough, you can see Mike Torrez. If you look even harder, you can see Bill Buckner.

And if you study the Red Sox these days, the phenomenon is mutual. Stare intently at the wobbly American League East leaders and you’ll see Mickelson, smacking errant tee shots and bogeying three of the final five holes at Loch Lomond.

"anecdotal bullshit" label going on this one? You betcha....

It may not be completely fair to compare the two, since Boston’s bustling infirmary has had something to do with its recent vulnerability. David Ortiz is just recently back from resting a strained shoulder. Curt Schilling is rehabbing in the minors because of right shoulder tendinitis. Jon Lester recently returned to the team after battling a form of lymphoma. J.D. Drew has constant hamstring issues. Matt Clement is still working his way back from offseason shoulder surgery. Brendan Donnelly is recovering from a strained forearm.

It's not fair to say Boston is faltering, because they pay players with higher-than-average injury risk, and now those players are getting hurt. Oh wait, that is fair.

But the Red Sox have shown disturbing signs — for their anguished fans, at least — that they might not feel comfortable at the top. Despite their World Series breakthrough in 2004, their natural tendency to collapse appears to be surfacing.

This is more due to a surge coming from the Yankees than anything (who are STILL way behind their Pythagenport)

And the Red Sox collapsing is about them "not feeling comfortable at the top" and a "natural tendency to collapse". These are good explanations for baseball things, no?

Before Thursday’s games, they held a 6.5 game lead over the second-place New York Yankees, who had been stuck in as large a mental quagmire as they have ever had to try and overcome. It marked the first time since May 11 that Boston had held a lead of fewer than seven games. The Red Sox held a 12-game lead in early July, but the Yankees have somehow asserted themselves.

Somehow, a team that was scoring more runs than they were allowing started to win more games than they were losing! How I wish that there were explanations for things like these! Let's attribute it to a "mental quagmire". Yes, that's it, the Yankees busted out of their "mental quagmire".

And despite the fact that the Red Sox had won five straight before falling on Wednesday against Cleveland, the omens are present.

Oh boy, this is going to be a tough one to explain. "Despite winning 5 out of their last 6, the Red Sox look like they're about to collapse". Bring it.

For instance, on Wednesday night Boston lost to Fausto Carmona and the Indians, 1-0. Nothing to be ashamed of, yet it was unsettling that Josh Beckett threw an outstanding game but lost on one measly mistake to Franklin Gutierrez, which turned into a solo shot. And it was Beckett’s first road loss since last September.

Losing a 1-0 game to a pitcher who has thrown well pretty much all year = sign of imminent collapse. Got it.

Not a problem. Nothing to panic over. Sometimes a black cat crosses your path, and most of the time it means nothing. Most of the time.

You feeling okay there, Mike? They lost one game here, by one run, after winning the last five.....

Meanwhile, the Yankees, a team some consider the luckiest men on the planet — usually the people who believe that live in, or hail from, the New England area — have managed to avert a complete oil spill of a season and are making a run.

Some people consider them the luckiest men on the planet. Other, more informed men, look at the fact that they have been consistently 6 or so wins behind their Pythagenport for a long time and say "wow, they're very unlucky to not be only a game or two behind Boston right now!"

Much of New York’s recent thrust can be credited to white-hot Alex Rodriguez, who is having the kind of season that will enable him to opt out of his contract and will prompt his agent Scott Boras to ask for a new deal worth $35 million per season. A-Rod turns 32 on Friday and is approaching 500 career home runs.

Good. A little love for A-Rod. Finally.

The Yankees trailed by 14.5 games in late May, but they’ve won 11 of their last 13. Probably nothing to fret over. I’m sure the Red Sox will be cool. Historically, they’re known for their composure down the stretch, especially with the numeral “14” involved. They had a 14-game lead in 1978, but it disappeared down the stretch, and Bucky Dent put an exclamation mark on the disaster with a game-winning home run over the Green Monster in a playoff game.

I quote this just to cite that awful, awful connection and transition. I mean, look at it. "Some random date in May, the Red Sox were up by 14.5 games. Speaking of numbers involving '14', remember when...?"

But it’s silly to toss and turn over what might happen in the future. After all, what are the chances that the Boston Red Sox will somehow fail to live up to their promise? They have legions of devoted fans who live and die with their exploits. Why in the world would a team disappoint their fans like that?

pnoles: Hey Mike, will the Red Sox collapse this year?

Michael Ventre: Of course not. Why would they choose to do that? That would disappoint the fans!

David Ortiz has 16 home runs this season. Last year he finished with 54. I’m sure that if he bears down and goes on a tear he can match that total. I wouldn’t worry about it.

The team signed Drew to a five-year contract in the offseason worth $70 million. Lately he’s been limping a lot. So far he’s batting .247, with six home runs and 38 RBI. But he’ll catch fire soon, I’m sure.

In the past, Curt Schilling has been great at two things: popping off, and pitching baseballs. Recently he took a few shots at Barry Bonds during an interview with Bob Costas. That shows that Schilling is at the top of his craft in one area.

But this season he is just 6-4 with a 4.20 ERA in 15 starts, and he hasn’t pitched since June 18. Yet I feel certain that the 40-year-old veteran of 21 major-league seasons will spring to life soon and power the Red Sox to victory like he did in the days when he was pitching in Arizona alongside another invincible war horse, Randy Johnson.

J.D. Drew was playing at his worst when the Red Sox were playing at their best this year. He's improved slightly since the start of the season, and was never the reason for their success in the first place. And Ortiz is by no means having a bad season. .431 OBP, .560 SLG. And yeah, Schilling isn't what he used to be, but there's nothing wrong with a 4.20 ERA, especially when you aren't the number one or number two guy in the rotation.

Folks who follow the Red Sox don’t stress when they see a sizeable lead in the AL East disappear like Whitey Bulger, and notice that the Yankees are making a move. That’s because they’re used to stress. They live with stress 24/7. They’ve had a lot of practice coping with stress. Compared to them, air traffic controllers at our busiest airports are Zen bunnies.

And..."hyperbolic crap"? Yep, that's another one of our labels. Perfect.

The PGA Championship is scheduled to take place in two weeks at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla. The best thing that could happen to the Red Sox would be for Mickelson to snap out of his funk and win another major. That would illustrate to them that negative habits can be broken.

Wow. That would be pretty damn good for them. I had an idea too, but yours is better. So here's what I think is the second best thing that could happen to the Red Sox: they don't lose another game this season.

Estimated number of Red Sox players who give a crap how Phil Mickelson golfs: 1.5

A generous 1.5

But if he doesn’t win? No big deal. The Red Sox will cope. They’re used to this. Really.

Phil Mickelson, the fate of the A.L. East is in your hands. Just know that if you mess this up, the Boston Red Sox will forever look to you as the reason they didn't make it this year, because you didn't lead them by example. Why is that your problem? Ventre said so.

The Hottest Story in Baseball: The Chicago York Cunkees

This is a relatively brief article entitled "Watch out, Cubs making noise in NL Central". The article has to be brief, because by nature, the topic has nothing to do with New York, and Mike Celizic wrote it. We're going to be keeping track of how often he mentions or alludes to the Yankees anyway in this article. Ready? GO!

For more than half of the baseball season, we’ve been so consumed by gnashing our teeth and rending our garments over the New York Yankees, we’ve been missing what may be the best story of the season.

One.

First of all, what do you mean "we". The collective group of analysts? Fans? Everyone who follows baseball has been too busy thinking about the Yankees to notice the other 29 teams?

And who the hell REMOTELY NEAR BASEBALL has "missing" out on what's going on with the Chicago Cubs? NEWS FLASH Celizic, when a team spends $300M in the offseason, the team isn't going to be overlooked, or hidden away, or under-the-radar, or anything of the sort. They've been talked about repeatedly on SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight. Tons of columns have been written about them. Their manager has been such a fucking attention magnet that it's been questioned whether Ozzie Guillen really is the most bizarre manager in Chicago.

That having been said, up to the minute, the Cubs are 47-43 and 3.5 games out of first place in a bad division. Is this really the "best story of the season"? Really? Weren't there any milestones reached? Isn't some guy about to break some sort of long-standing record? Magglio Ordonez, Hunter Pence, A-Rod, and the Brewers' infield minus Rickie Weeks have all been way better "stories" than some team spending a ton of money and winning 52% of their games.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Chicago Cubs are chasing down the surprising Brewers in the NL Central. After falling to nine games under .500 back on June 2 and watching manager Lou Piniella suffering a public meltdown, we pretty much wrote the Cubbies off, because they are, after all, the Cubs.

Losing is what they do.

"We" again. Who writes off a team like that in a bad division? Again, before the season, you wrote off the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres, so we won't be taking to heart anything you write off there, Mikey.

But as of Sunday night, they were on an extended hot streak that had taken them to four games over .500 and just 3.5 behind the Brewers, a young and exciting team that had been running away with the division just a couple of weeks ago.

That description was for those of you who are like Celizic and are hearing about the "Brewers" for the first time.

There shouldn’t be any question of whether the Cubs can catch the Brew Crew, not anymore. Even without perpetually injured Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, they’ve got more pitching -- especially in the bullpen -- than Milwaukee. With Carlos Zambrano finally pitching near his capabilities, they’re a dangerous team.

OK. You're done. Look here. Now look here. Notice anything? Collectively, the Cubs have had a 3.92 ERA. The Brewers are at 4.11. A noticable difference, but not astronomical. My problem is that "especially in the bullpen" garbage. You can just GLANCE at the numbers and notice that the Brewers' pen has been WAY better than the Cubs' pen. The starters are the only reason the Cubs have been a better pitching team than the Brewers this year. With Capuano and Bush underperforming like mad and Marquis/Marshall overperforming like mad, you can't justify the claim that the Cubs have "more" pitching than Milwaukee "especially in the bullpen". If anything, they're pretty damn close to equal.

They’re not slamming the ball out of the park, but they’re scoring .4 runs more per game than their opponents, while the Brewers are scoring .5 runs more. The Cubs have Piniella, whose passion, fire and baseball savvy could be a difference-maker.

Half of this is actually good analysis (though it's unexplained how it helps his case). The other half is a completely bogus lie. I'll leave you to determine which is which.

They also have owners who have to sell the team at year’s end and would dearly like to go out winners. Plus, if they’re selling the team, why should they care what they have to spend to win now? They’ll be getting it all back in November.

Because when you trade away young talent (the thing most sellers in the trade market for soon-to-be-free-agent rentals are looking for), you don't just "get it back" in November.

It could be a great race, because the Brewers haven’t held on to first place for most of the season by accident and aren’t going to simply roll over.

They have the big offense, led by Prince Fielder, who would be leading the league’s hitters in headlines were it not for the phenomenal year being posted by Alex Rodriguez. They have youth. What they don’t have is the financial wherewithal to go shopping for experienced help before the trade deadline.

Two.

When did Fielder and Rodriguez play in the same league? Must've missed that one. And what type of stat is "headlines"? Leading the league's hitters in "headlines"? Major snub to Barry Bonds on that one.

I think that will make the difference. The Tribune Company will pay for one last run, while the Brewers won’t.

And let’s face it, the Cubs making the playoffs is always a huge story. And if they were to get to the World Series, a venue they last visited in 1945, it would be right behind the Red Sox winning the Fall Classic as the biggest story of a very young century.

Dangerously close to Yankee territory here, just try not to completely regress and lose focus at this point....you've come so far! Don't let it sli-....

It’s funny that the Brewers-Cubs race is essentially the same plot line we’ve been flogging to death in the AL East -- a team with big hopes and expectations trailing another team for the first half of the season and finally getting hot.

Three.

Damn. Oh well, I guess you're back in your element now. Too late to save this one, folks, here he goes again.....

The difference is that the Cubs are actually doing what the Yankees have been unable to do -- catching the leader. OK, there’s another difference: in the AL East, it’s two of the most famous teams and ancient rivals in the game, the Red Sox and Yankees. It was the biggest story even before the season began, and we’re going to keep hammering on it no matter how poorly the Yankees play or how big a lead Boston has.

Four. Five. Six.

So....let's say it's September 15th. Yankees are 20 games back of Boston. You're going to keep hammering on that and ignoring all the heated pennant and wild card races. Cool. Glad your head's in the right place.

The Brewers can’t provide the same counterpoint to the Cubs that the Red Sox do to the Yankees. You don’t expect to see Milwaukee on top of anything. It doesn’t matter that they’ve been in first place on merit. They don’t have the history that makes your brain take them seriously. The Red Sox got to the World Series multiple times between 1918 and 2004, when they finally won again. The Brewers have been to the season’s final series just once, in 1982, and the last time they won was never.

Seven.

I should also point out that a small, crazy subset of people who follow baseball take teams seriously on the basis of how well they have been performing. But most people are correct when they take the Yankees more seriously than the Brewers this year, because the Yankees have won like a bazillion championships in past years.

So even if the Cubs reel them in, it won’t seem as big as it would be if the Yankees were to somehow catch the Red Sox. That’s a story line with which we are familiar, one that resonates in every neuron. But in reality, it would be just as good a story because it’s the Cubs, and the Cubs don’t overcome adversity, they succumb to it.

Eight.

So, the point of this paragraph was to say that a thing that doesn't happen too often will be almost as good a story or equally good a story as a thing that happens a lot and that the world is familiar with. Juuuuuuuust checking.

Even if they overtake the Brewers, as I think they will, they’ll still have plenty of opportunities to live down to their reputation in October. But they’ll also have a chance to overcome it. Boston did it; Chicago can, too.

Why not this year?

In retrospect, I wish I was counting Boston mentions too.

When The Onion came out with this article. I'm pretty sure it was directed at Mike Celizic.

Criminal Negligence

More evidence to prove the fact that sportswriters are not more knowledgeable about baseball than the people who are not paid to write about it, which I allege in an earlier post. The longer I write for this esteemed media outlet, the more convinced I am of this.

Larry Dobrow's Bottom 10 Major League Starters

Owing to a particularly treatment-resistant fractured tooth, I have spent much of the past two weeks alternately sobbing in the bathtub and bonked out of my head on painkillers. Unable to do much else, I set up shop on the couch. Armed with a remote control and the Extra Innings package that Major League Baseball so graciously allows me to purchase, I watched a whole lotta games.

So wait, only when you were incapacitated by your poor dental health did you do what was required to get the information necessary to execute your job? I'm glad you watched some baseball, but nobody gives a shit about your dental health. Also, I suppose you are introducing this as an excuse for the egregious factual error you will commit in this article.

The article continues to list bad players, and I don't really care about his selections, since they're all shitty players and arguing about the shittiest player in baseball is like sitting next to your friend in class and arguing about who the ugliest girls in the class are.

But here's my major problem with this article. While talking about DougieDoug Mientkewicz, he drops this irrelevant and criminally ignorant bomb:

Separately, there's lots of talk this week about how the Red Sox shouldn't feel too comfortable with their 10-game AL East lead, since the Yankees surmounted an even more severe deficit back in August/September 1978. I don't know how to respond to this, other than to say that such a comeback has happened exactly once in the 100-plus-year history of big league baseball.

The moment I read that, I was taken back to the halcyon dan-bob's baseball-fan childhood past. I recall reading dozens of references to the famous "Miracle of Coogan's Bluff" where the Giants caught and passed the Dodgers while being down thirteen games. How could this guy have not heard of "The Shot Heard Round the World"? Perhaps he had heard of Thomson's homer, but remained ignorant of why the situation had such drama.

Now that I was certain that this gentleman's knowledge of baseball was poor, I thought this merited investigation. Then, in doing seven seconds' worth of research thanks to my insider tool (google.com), brought me to this page, which identifies at least nine other comebacks which could be considered comparable. Now the Yankees did come back from the second-most games back (14), but the aforementioned Giants did 13 games in three weeks' less time. The point is, this sort of comeback has not happened "exactly once" in baseball's history, but something like "exactly ten" times in baseball's 100 (well, more like 138) years.

My guess is that he conveniently forgot those other comeback teams because they happened to be current teams not named "Boston" or "New York". It's sad to see that the plebe sportswriters have Yankee/Red Sox tunnel vision so bad that they ignore basic baseball history.

HATGUY!!!!!

Finally, a Mike Celizic post will hit the young, fresh, fjm. Finally, pnoles is deciding to man up and post something of non-Mariotti significance. Here we go friends, it's two Fire Jay Mariotti firsts, all in one fun-filled post!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18773667/#storyContinued

Yankees must go drastic to save season

Oh boy....HatGuy must go drastic to save article.

I don’t know if the New York Yankees are dead. With three quarters of the season yet to play, anything can happen. But I do know this much: Unless they do something drastic, this will go down as the year the dynasty died.

Alternatively, they could refocus themselves, have their players work hard and improve back to their projections, get their pitchers healthy, and expect the Red Sox to cool off a little bit. Anyone believe that Schilling, Beckett, and especially Wakefield are this good? Mike Lowell gonna slug .560 all season? Kevin Youkilis normally a .320 EqA kinda guy?

I’m talking fire-the-manager or fire-the-general-manager drastic. Or fire them both and throw the hitting coach overboard, too. Trade a major star.

Oh. Ok. Firing the mannager. The guy who fills out the lineup cards and is in very little way responsible for the performance of his hitters or pitchers. Fire that guy. Fire the general manager....for what exactly? Oh yeah...and in order to help make the playoffs THIS YEAR, the Yankees are supposed to TRADE AWAY A MAJOR STAR?

Dig up Billy Martin and prop him up in the corner of the dugout. Stick pins in voodoo dolls dressed in Red Sox gear.

Hire Scott Brosius to channel the spirits of the great Yankee teams of old! Lock David Ortiz in another dimension! Eat Lucky Charms for breakfast!

The problem isn’t lack of talent but lack of killer instinct, and that’s the real shocker here. On WFAN radio in New York last week, Tino Martinez, one of the most competitive players on the team that won four championships in five years, said that as far as he can see, only two or three players are playing hard every day.

I'm not going to go into how little "killer instinct" has to do with anything. What I am going to comment on is that people are on the Yankees for not giving it 100% all the time, so in what way is that a shocker?

OK nevermind, I will go into it. Killer instinct has about as much to do with the Yankees' problems as you have to do with logic and reason.

I'd really like to know which players Tino Martinez doesn't think are trying.....Celizic has his own ideas in that department.....

Derek Jeter is the captain, but he leads by example.

So....when Jeter tries, other people try? Jeter is trying, so other people must be trying too! YOU LOSE!

No one will listen to Alex Rodriguez, even if he were the type to get on people.

You know this...how?

Johnny Damon is hurting all over, slumping badly and was benched twice last week for lack of performance.

Well I guarantee the Cardinals still see Eckstein as a leader.....

Jason Giambi is dealing with fall-out from his steroid issues.

Meh. I've got nothin.

Hideki Matsui doesn’t speak English that well.

Sorry Ozzie Guillen, but Mike Celizic has removed you from White Sox leadership status.

Robinson Cano is a kid.

Young players can never be leaders. Eat it, Miguel Cabrera.

Bobby Abreu seems to have forgotten how to play the game.

Bobby Abreu: ::Slaps line drive into short center field and starts running::
Joe Torre: DAMMIT BOBBY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING???
Bobby Abreu: Durrr...Coachie always told me to run tawourds Alex Gordon if I hit the baseball.
Joe Torre: NOT ALEX GORDON! RYAN SHEALY DAMMIT! RYAN SHEALY!!!!!!
Bobby Abreu: Huh? ::scratches head:: Bobby need nap now....

This isn’t a slump. This is a crisis. And the arrival of Roger Clemens in another two weeks — or less —

isn’t going to change it. Clemens is a great competitor who will get on his teammates, but a pitcher who takes the mound once every five games isn’t going to be the difference.

Billy Beane: Terry? It's Billy. I've got a trade offer for ya.
Terry Ryan: (munching on some Teddy Grahams) Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?
Beane: I'm offering to give you Mark Ellis. All I want in return is...is....Johan Santana.
Ryan: ::pukes Teddy Grahams:: You've gone batty, Billy! Santana's the best pitcher in the majors!
Beane: I don't know how much baseball you watch there, Terry, but Santana only plays once every five games.
Ryan: Huh. Ya don't say. Go on, salesman.
Beane: You see, Johan just can't be a difference maker, no matter how well he pitches. He can't play every day like my guy, Ellis.
Ryan: Wow, I guess you're right. Hey, should I be sending you some cash as well?
Beane: Nah, don't mention it. Neither of us really has that.

What the Yankees have managed to do — or fail to do —

this year is nothing short of extraordinary. They are, as everyone knows, the most expensive team in American team sports. They have an All Star at virtually every position.

(For the purposes of the following paragraph, I am referring to expected/projected performances, and not what has happened so far this year, to be consistent with Celizic)

Right. Can't do much better than Doug Mientkiewicz at first base, the best hitting position on the field. Ooh yeah, and Kyle Farnsworth and Scott Proctor are wicked awesome setup men. Jeter and Rodriguez, and probably Wang are All-stars. Cano is an all-star because in the AL, it's basically him and Kinsler. Posada, ditto....it's weak besides Mauer and Martinez. The rest of the team is chalk-full of almost-ies that sometimes get into the All-Star game simply by merit of playing in New York. So no, Celizic, the one team you know things about isn't as wicked sweet as you claim.

A-Rod, after a torrid start, has dipped to under .315.

If it weren’t for Jeter and catcher Jorge Posada, both of whom are tearing it up, the Yankees would have virtually no offense at all.

Posada is insane right now. He's EqA-ing himself a lovely .353. And Jeter's at .319. But despite your slamming of A-Rod for lowering his batting average, king of all stats, his EqA is a monstrous .343. He has contributed a TON of offense to the Yankees, and you're gonna say he sucks because his BATTING AVERAGE has just dipped a tad below .315? He's a career .306 hitter! Most of the time his batting average SHOULD be below .315.

This is looking like the year the run of playoff appearances ends. The wild card is pretty much a dead issue, especially with Cleveland and Detroit both on pace to win more than 100 games. If the Yankees want to get in the playoffs, they are going to have to figure out a way to overtake Boston, the team with the best record in the game, a team that scores approximately two more runs per game than it gives up.

I'm not gonna claim I think New York has a great shot at the Wild Card. But mark my words--there's NO WAY that Cleveland AND Detroit win 100 games. Let's follow his logic here, shall we?

1) Cleveland and Detroit are on pace to win over 100 games, and one of those teams will likely win the wild card.
2) Boston has the best record in the game, and therefore, is on pace to win more games than Cleveland and Detroit.
3) Conclusion: The Yankees have to overtake Boston to make the playoffs, because they have no hope of beating out a team on pace to win less games than Boston.

The reason we celebrate teams that overcome huge deficits is because it so rarely happens. What usually happens to teams that are 10 or 11 games out late in May is that they finish out of the money.

On May 21st, 2005. The Houston Astros were 12 games back of the St. Louis Cardinals. They went to the World Series.

On May 21st, 2006. The Minnesota Twins were 10.5 games back of the Detroit Tigers. They went on to win the division.

I'm not gonna keep looking back at past examples just to see how wrong you are, Celizic. I'm convinced that you don't follow any team besides the Yankees, and this is why you didn't know those things happened.

I JUST CANT STOP LAUGHING at how 8 weeks ago, you said the Milwaukee Brewers had no chance at the playoffs this year.