Whew!!!!

 
Indulge me for a minute . . .

I knew we were in for one of those years.  The Yankees' opening day pitcher was Carl Pavano, whose only claim to fame was leading the league in injuries despite a ten million dollar per-year contract.  He hadn't pitched in a major league game in over a year and a half.  He lasted less than a month before he was injured yet again and out for the season.

By May 29, the Yankees were 8 games under .500 and some 14 games behind the streaking Boston Red Sox.  Pundits and beat-writers blew the Yanks off.  No way they'd even make the play-offs.

Injuries mounted.  There was an air of desperation.  Things got just plain weird.  Two starting pitchers were hit by batted balls and suffered broken bones--both in the first inning!  Another pitcher was in the seventh inning of a no-hitter when he tore a hamstring.  Unbelievable.

The Yankees used some twenty-five pitchers, nine of whom made their major league debut.  Unheard of for a mega-bucks payroll team like the Yanks.  Unheard of for even a crummy team.

But after the All-Star break something truly remarkable happened.  Roger Clemens (who is 45 going on 30) had signed for the year--certainly his last.  The veteran pitchers stepped up--especially Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera.  The influx of rookies brought new energy (especially Hughes, Joba and Duncan).  And the perennial all-stars of the team (Jeter, Damon, Posada, Cano and Matsui) played like it.  Even journeyman-type players made big plays, got big hits and won critical games.

And then there was A-Rod (pictured getting doused in champagne by a bunch of rookies) who had an absolute monster of a year.  He put up numbers like those of Ruth, Mantle and Dimaggio.  He's not going anywhere . . .

After going an amazing 48-24 in the second half (far and away the best record in baseball over that time), the Yankees are in the play-offs for the thirteenth straight year, twelve of those under Joe Torre.  I wanted Torre sacked after the Yankees lost to the Tigers last year with an inexcusably lethargic performance.  But nobody but Joe Torre could have handled this year's mess and then turn this team around like he did.

How will the Yanks do from here on out?  With this team it is impossible to tell.  The fact that they'll play Cleveland in the first round is good (the Angels seem to have the Yank's number).  My guess is that the Yankees will eventually play the Red Sox in yet another epic battle between the evil empire and the Sox nation for the American league pennant.

Whew . . .  There was time there I didn't think they'd make it.  Now that was a roller-coaster of a season!  Lets go Yankees!!!!

Yet Another Reason (or Two) to Dislike Barry B*nds

As if you needed one, here's another reason why Barry B*nds is so universally disliked by baseball fans.  Yes, he is the greatest hitter of the modern era.  Yes, he belongs in the hall of fame (unless we find out he committed the unpardonable baseball sin--betting on games in which he managed, like Pete Rose).  But his home run record should have one big, giant asterisk!  The man is a cheater.

Aside from the steroid abuse (read Game of Shadows if you still think this is unfounded), the very public mistress (while B*nds parades his wife and kids around like nothing was going on), the impending perjury charges and tax fraud matter with the IRS, B*nds is simply one cold-hearted dude:  Click here: Beaver County Times Allegheny Times - Steigerwald column: Bonds isn't a good guy.

Another writer thinks that B*nd's armor plated elbow brace has helped him hit more home runs.  I'm ambivalent about this one, but found it interesting nonetheless (Click here: Barry Bonds' HR Record Tainted by Elbow 'Armor'?)

As Peter Abraham so aptly puts it (Click here: If Yankees pony up the money, A-Rod isn't going anywhere), "The less space and energy wasted on fraudulent home-run king Barry Bonds, the better. But here's our question: How can Curt Schilling be the only honest man in uniform? Throughout baseball, dozens of players, managers and coaches offered Bonds hearty congratulations, as if Tuesday were a day to be cherished.

`He's the greatest player to walk between the lines,' Arizona second baseman Orlando Hudson said. `It's good for baseball,' St. Louis outfielder Jim Edmonds said.

Good for baseball? In what way, shape or form can having a surly cheater holding the game's most cherished record be good for baseball?  Only Schilling - often a boor himself - has called out Bonds in public. Why haven't any others?

It seems obvious that a much larger percentage of players than believed have used performance-enhancing drugs to some degree and are afraid to have their own skeletons exposed. Or they fear the wrath of teammates who have used.

Even some writers, in an apparent case of Stockholm syndrome, now view Bonds in a sympathetic light. He's a product of his times, a flawed hero. Hopefully, Bonds will fade away after this season and join Mark McGwire in shameful seclusion. Perhaps then baseball will move past its steroids era.

In the meantime, here's to Roger Maris and Hank Aaron, two sluggers whose accomplishments should be remembered with a smile, not a grimace."

IMHO, Peter Abraham's Yankees blog is the best sports blog, period (Click here: The LoHud Yankees Blog.