Triple the pleasure, triple the fun

[I will do a separate post detailing the umpiring or lack thereof in the morning. For the moment, let the Yankees' win in spite of the umpires speak for itself.]

For mere humans, starting a Major League baseball game on three days' rest is asking for disaster.

For one Carsten Charles Sabathia, starting on three days' rest is just another way to earn his paycheck.

We, lesser men and women, can only marvel as Sabathia is pictured in the dugout, yawning during the Yankees' at-bats.

This, of course, would be the best spot to mention how Scott Kazmir took forever between pitches, never looked quite comfortable and flirted with disaster the entire night. We'll get to the Yankee offense in a moment.

For now, Sabathia.

The Yankees' ace--and if he has not yet earned that moniker, he never will--was so good that he was still throwing mid nineties when his pitch count was roughly equal to that.

Sabathia was so good that his line is deceptive. He struck out five, but this has more to do with the fact that Sabathia was consistently getting outs early in the count--he walked just two through eight innings.

The last time the Yankees asked a starter to go on three days' rest in the postseason was Chien Ming Wang in 2007 and it didn't work out so well--the Yankees were eliminated that game.

That, in my mind, is all you need to know. In 2007, pre-foot-that-led-to-shoulder injury, Wang was a very good pitcher.

Sabathia, however, is an ace.

Aces do heroic things.

In the grand scheme of things, pitching a baseball game is hardly worthy of comment, but for us Yankee fans, tonight was heroism. Pure and simple.



Of course, if one starts talking heroes, one will have to bring Alex Rodriguez into the discussion.

Rodriguez hasn't just shattered the notion of postseason demons; he's gone way past obliterating them into ridiculous, other-worldly, and now...well, profound.

Rodriguez keeps asserting that nothing profound has happened, and that he's just in a good place, but, really, what he's done this October is, itself, profound.

There's no other way to describe it than that. Profound.


If the ALCS was over today, and you had a vote for the MVP, do you give it to Sabathia or Rodriguez, who has not only exceeded this round, but is perhaps the reason the Yankees made it this far in the first place?

It's a tough call.



While you're busy oggling Sabathia's and Rodriguez's performances (and oggle you should), don't forget the production the Yankees received tonight from one Melky Cabrera.

Cabrera had two RBI early that put the Yankees up 3-0, and then two more late, after the game had reached the 'pouring-it-on' stage.

Many have remarked that the Yankees' bottom of the order is not producing, but Cabrera is batting .353 in the postseason.

If we expect an all star, Cabrera will disappoint, but if we expect a number nine hitter who stands a reasonable shot of getting on base as anyone, we ought to be well satisfied.


There are rumors that Cabrera repeated a certain phrase that he uttered after hitting for the cycle, but these are thus far unsubstantiated and I do not have DVR.



The Yankees now have a 3-1 series lead and will have their chance to close it out on Thursday. They needed to take at least one game in Anaheim and they've done that; now they're out for Angel blood.

Yankees vs Rain. I Mean, Rays, 7 May 2009: A Liveblog

6.03 PM: Still have another ten pages to write on this paper and all before tomorrow! Yay! Expect sparse-ish updates!

6.04 PM: A-Rod will rejoin the Yankees on Friday. Fans of scoring with RISP rejoice! Wait, what's that you say? A-Rod is unclutch and hits 'wasted' home runs? Fie! Fie on you I say!

6.34 PM: For the first time since Saturday I can say with absolute certainty: I SEE THE SUN!

7.59 PM: Mark Teixeira and José Molina are killing me. I have eight pages left to go. Screw this 1.5 spacing. It screws with everything.

8.45 PM: Hava Molina!

8.46 PM: It's early, sure, but check out the Swisher splits:

.125/.378/.188 at home
.370/.443/.907 on the road

8.48 PM: Oh, Johnny be good!

9.07 PM: Cervelli on deck there? Huh?

9.14 PM: So who's the backup to the backup to the backup?

10.10 PM: GO JOHNNY GO!

10.22 PM: And despite all this Mo still hasn't walked a batter.

A-Rod Conference Today's Big Draw

Alex Rodriguez is supposed to have his press conference today at 1.30 PM. I will be unable to cover it, so I figured I'd write a tiny bit before hand.


The most crucial thing for Alex to do is come clean. Pretend the Gammons interview never happened and come clean. Don't act like you're holding back, either. Come clean. Oh, and you probably should apologize, too.

After that, if you want to say that after today you never want to talk about this again, it's your right.

It might seem odd to us that Alex hired a PR firm to help him with this, but we have to remember that two years ago, this was the guy that 'opted out' of his mammoth contract during the clinching game of the World Series. Good PR is not exactly his thing.

However, as much as we might want to hope that the A-Roid saga will end today, the answer is that it won't--not when there's a book coming out, not while Alex is still a Yankee, not when the saga will continue to sell papers and magazines.

The thing the Yankees can look forward to after today, though, is that if they and Alex do this press conference thing right, they won't have to address it after today, at least, not publically.

A-Rod's admissions create more questions

Undoubtedly, Alex admitting that he used steroids was the right course of action--ie, not doing what Clemens or Bonds did.

That says, it raises a whole host of other questions:

1) How on earth did he not know what he was taken? I'm right now only taking one prescription medication and I was damned sure I went over everything with my doctor--side effects, risks, etc. However, I'm not being paid hundreds of millions to keep my body in top shape.

2) How did Alex get the drugs? Fortunatley for us, this steroid use took place before Alex was a Yankee, but however he got them, the procurement was still illegal.

3) How many times has A-Rod been tipped off about tests since then? Did he really stop using when he came to New York? Who else was tipped off?

4) Why did Alex feel it necessary to hide this from the Yankees once Roberts told him he would be named?

There are maybe another thousand questions that we could ask, and now, only a few days before pitchers and catchers report, we are no closer to getting our answers.

Just remember this, folks: if Alex did it, chances are, your favorite probably did as well. Until that list of 103 names is made public--nearly 15% of active mlb players for that year--no player is safe.

Alex Rodriguez admits to Steroid Use

According to the handy dandy text I just recieved from ESPN.com, A-Rod has admitted to steroid use in 2003 and will make confession on the 6 PM edition of Sportscenter

I'm on my way out to do grad school stuff but I'll write more later.

Schilling: Name All 104 Positives

Curt Schilling (!) has a suggestion that is probably felt by many baseball fans right now: Name all players that tested positive, and not just A-Rod.

The tests were supposed to be anonymous, but now that someone has named Alex, is it fair to name only him? Moreover, is it fair to let others remain under suspicion when they may be innocent?

I'm keeping my opinion to myself on this one--it's a contentious issue.

A-Rod A-Ruined?

With A-Rod's situation now out in the open, there are these possible courses of action for him to take:

1) Admit whatever allegations are true, even if they aren't. The Pettitte/Hamilton/Giambi route seems to be the most successful in terms of dealing with illicit substances, although it should be noted that Hamilton's situation was different.

2) Clam up and say nothing, which solves nothing.

3) Go the Clemens/Bonds/Palmeiro route and deny everything. This, I don't need to tell you, hasn't always worked very well.

However, whatever path Alex takes, there is one basic constant--rightly or wrongly, he'll never be considered a "clean" player again.

That clean break of Hank's record?

Gonna have to wait for someone else.

It sucks for everyone involved--Alex, the team, the fans, baseball as a whole.

For every argument that the anonymous names should have remained anonymous, there's the more powerful argument that Alex shouldn't have put himself in that situation in the first place.

We want to like A-Rod. We excused the stripper in Toronto incident, and then tried not to pay too much attention when he started banging Madonna and divorced from his wife, despite their two young daughters.

For everyone that argued 2006 and 2008 were subpar, we said, look at 2005 and 2007.

We welcomed him back after the op-out fiasco and only a few dared voice complaint when he signed on for ten years.

But this, this strikes at the very heart of the game. If it's true, we can't simply brush it aside, and neither can Alex.

While we hope that it's not true, unfortunately, in public perception he's already guilty (just check out that poll on ESPN.com)

You know, I have to think, for all the wishing we did that the Torre book wouldn't be a distraction during Spring Training, I think we may have to be just a little more careful about what we wish for...

Alex Rodriguez fails Steroid Test?

I was woken up this morning by a phone call that went something like this:

J: WFAN is reporting that in 2003 Alex Rodriguez failed a steroid test, and Alex is not denying this.


I have not yet found anything to substantiate these claims, but if I do I shall edit this post accordingly.

Check this SI article out

A-Rod Looks to Sell House, Remains Rich While Doing So

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Alex Rodriguez has dropped the asking price to his Miami mansion from $14 million to $12.5 million.

What does $12.5 million buy?

Take a look.

Now, then, the way I see it, there's rich, super rich and then the type of rich that gets you your own private dock on Biscayne Bay.

I'm not sure I want to know how much it costs to hire cleaning help for that place...


***

Going to watch the football games today at a friend's party. Although I am not particularly a fan of either team, I will be rooting for the Giants and the Steelers.

A Healthy Dose of Optimism

Don't look now, but there's a team that's just won nine of twelve games to move to four games over .500. In the past three games, they gave up a grand total of five runs while scoring 23 themselves. In the past six, they've given up 15 runs while scoring 34.

With the exception of one bad start in Oakland, the starting pitching has been exquisite--even going back to the last game of the Kansas City series, despite the Yankee loss.

Mike Mussina deserves a spot on the All Star team. Whether or not he gets it is, of course, up in the air, but if there's any Yankees' pitcher not named Mariano Rivera that deserves a spot this year, it's Mussina. He has been the Yankee stopper, on pace for twenty wins this season, which is all the more amazing when one considers that at the beginning of the season, most of the fan base (and even the experts) figured he'd be lucky to win ten games all year.

Joba Chamberlain's transition to starter has not been flawless, but he's improved significantly in each start, and in his next one, he will not have a pitch count limit. In his last start he allowed just one run over six innings while throwing 88 pitches--and hitting 97 MPH on his last pitch.

Andy Pettitte looked more like his old self in his most recent start, getting both the ground balls and the double plays, and Chien Ming Wang looks as though he has emerged from his pitcher's slump, though it may be a while before he makes his next start.

While Darrel Rasner faltered in his last start, it was most likely fatigue after having thrown 110+ pitches in his previous outing. With the exception of that start--one clunker in seven starts--he has given the Yankees a chance to win every time he steps on the mound.

The bullpen, too, has stepped it up a notch. Kyle Farnsworth recorded a save in the Yankees' 2-1 victory on Friday, and then pitched the eighth in Saturday's game, which, at the time the Yankees lead by only two runs. Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez have been excellent; after pitching in five games out of six, Mariano Rivera has not pitched now in four games, so he should be available in the upcoming Padres and Reds series. Though he has given up a couple ninth inning home runs, he has not blown a save opportunity.


The offense, it seems, has finally figured out a way to score runs. Johnny Damon has been utterly on fire--currently hitting over .330, he is perhaps the Yankees' most valuable offensive player of the moment.

Derek Jeter's average isn't quite as high as he'd like, but his eighth inning home run on Friday illustrated why he has been dubbed Captain Clutch.

Alex Rodriguez has also been on fire since coming off of the disabled list; he's had two home runs in the past two games--a sign that he is utterly locked in--and, in other just-off-the-dl-news, Jorge Posada gives an added punch to the Yankee line up.

The rejuvination of Jason Giambi also continues--whether because of the 'stache or thong, though, is a question best left unanswered, and Hideki Matsui is still among the league leaders for batting average.

What does this all mean?

The Yankees have climbed to four games over .500, and while there's no guarantee, it feels like the Yankees have finally broken through the .500 barrier. There's still a while to go before they can catch Boston, but it's not quite time to worry about that just yet.

Currently, the Yankees are only 3.5 games back in the Wild Card--trailing only Oakland (from whom they just took two out of three) and Tampa Bay.

So while you're sitting there waiting for news on Wang, perhaps it will cheer you up to remember that these are the Yankees, and no season is ever over before July 4.

Moose-ic to the Yankees' Ears (Postgame Notes 14 June 2008)

In the last fourteen innings he has pitched, Mike Mussina has given up runs in just two of them.

While the two home runs total five earned runs, it also means that in his last fourteen innings, over two games, Mussina has pitched twelve shut out innings.

After last season, you would have been hard pressed to find any Yankee fan that expected Mussina to win ten games this season. If you were on the lookout for a fan who thought Mussina would win ten games before Father's Day, you would have probably spent an eternity waiting for Godot.

Yet, here we are, two hours before Father's Day, and Mike Mussina has ten wins--most of them not flukes, either.

If one subtracts the starts against Boston, Mussina's record would sit at 10-2, not that 10-4 is anything to be ashamed of, either. In fact, by having ten wins already, Mussina could theoretically win 20 games this year--something he has never done in his long career.

That the Yankees are averaging over four runs a game when Mussina starts doesn't hurt, either--and tonight they scored double that.

After Carlos Lee hit a three run home run for Houston in the bottom of the first to give Houston a 3-0 lead, things did not look all that encouraging--Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez entered the game with an ERA of 1.99 and no earned runs allowed in his last thirteen innings.

However, Alex Rodriguez, who lead off the top of the second, hit a solo home run (with a little help from a fan knocking Hunter Pence's glove out of the way), which Jason Giambi followed with a double and Melky Cabrera an RBI single.

In the next inning, Alex Rodriguez was intentionally walked for Giambi, who worked a two out walk to load the bases. Cabrera followed Giambi with a four-pitch walk of his own, to bring in the game's tying run and the Yankees never looked back.

Catcher Jose Molina followed with a two run single, and, in the later innings, the Yankees padded their lead with pinch hits from Robinson Canò (who this season is 2-3 as a pinch hitter with 2 RBI) and Wilson Betemit, whose two run double in the top of the ninth missed being a three run home run by inches.

The Yankees made it interesting when Ross Ohlendorf turned the game into a one run affair with the tying run at third base before getting out of the seventh and when they had Kyle Farnsworth pitch the eighth on back to back nights, but for once, the stars seem to be aligned in the Yankees' favor as they are now a season high three games over .500 (alas, since both Boston and Tampa won today, the Yankees did not pick up any ground in the division, but it's a little too early to be worrying about the pennant quite yet--six games in June is hardly out of reach).

It might be worth noting, that last year, the Yankees had their first extended winning streak of the season when they started interleague play--sweeping Pittsburgh and Arizona while on their way to winning nine in a row.

Maybe a little National League is all the Yankees need to get rolling.

And Win for the Road (Postgame Notes 20 April 2008)

The Yankees needed a solid win today--good starting pitching, offensive effort--and they got it, but the question is at what price.

Andy Pettitte was exactly what the Yankees needed on the mound, perfect through four and two thirds, and going seven strong with no runs and only four hits. Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes should take note; Pettitte threw a clinic out there on the mound.

Johnny Damon, who has been blasted for poor play, blasted a two-run home run, and Derek Jeter had a three RBI double in the ninth.

However, the much bigger concern is Alex Rodriguez who left the game with a strained quad, just as Jeter did a few weeks ago While there is no knowing just yet as to how bad the strain is, losing a bat such as Rodriguez's in the line up is not what the Yankees need.

Jason Giambi continues to struggle, as he grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and went 0-3 on the day over all. It has gotten to the point where he is doing more harm on the Yankee line up than good, especially when the Yankees have other options in Morgan Ensberg (who will play third while Rodriguez is down) and Shelley Duncan.

OPTIMIST TAKE: The performance from Andy Pettitte was stellar. He's certainly not a young pitcher, but he is proving why he was worth the $16 million. The Yankees get a much, much needed off day tomorrow. Not only will the regulars get some rest, but Girardi and Co. might take the opportunity to realign the rotation so Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy are not pitching back-to-back. Yankees are back to .500 on the season.

Offensive Explosion, Bullpen Implosion (Postgame Notes 14 April 2008)

Ken Singleton summed up the offense back in the first few innings of the game:

"These are some real swings the Yankees are taking tonight."

Indeed, over the first four innings, there were three Yankee home runs and seven runs in total. The Yankees were overdue for an offensive breakthrough, and tonight it happened. Only Hideki Matsui missed being part of the hit parade, and even then, his last out was a long fly out that looked like it might clear the fence as well.

It's the first game of the year the Yankees have won on offense, but that should not take away from Ian Kennedy's start.

By all rights, Ian Kennedy should have gotten the win, going six innings and surrendering three runs (though Billy Traber was on the mound when the last one scored), and had he not been hit by Bartlett's infield single in the seventh, the complexion of the game may have remained a laugher.

However, as the baseball deities are fickle beings, it was not to be.

Going to Billy Traber in the seventh was the right choice. That needs to be clear. With three lefties in a row, you are supposed to go to your lefty specialist, and before today, Traber had been excellent. Every reliever will have a poor game, and today, Traber was the unfortunate one.

Brian Bruney had been good so far this season, despite faltering Saturday (probably just because I was there), so there was no reason be outraged at his appearing in the game; though if Joba was around he would have been in as soon as the game became a one run affair. The outrage, however, should come from Upton's home run on an 0-2 count.

Robinson Canò had been due to break out of his offensive sputtering; as far as moments to do it go, he picked a very good one. With luck, that will be the spark he needs to get back to the Robbie Canò we all know.


OPTIMIST TAKE: Best offensive showing so far, and a great bounce-back start for Kennedy. Four home runs, but more importantly, two hits with less than two outs and RISP from Johnny Damon and (a healthy) Derek Jeter. Mariano Rivera was himself in a four-out save. Theoretically, sometime before midnight tomorrow, I'll be done with the thesis. Theoretically.

The First Cut is the Deepest (or something of the sort)

The first loss is always hard to take, but no team goes 162-0. Even in '98 we lost 48 games--and that hadn't been done in nearly a century. We will realistically lose about 65 of them. So make peace with it.

Tonight's game belonged to AJ Burnett. He was phenomenal. Even if the Yankees had Wang or Pettitte on the mound, the Yankees would have still had a hard time winning. The Yankees didn't even get a runner to second base until A-Rod's home run.

That said, Mussina wasn't horrible. He wasn't great, and Giambi's error in the first makes his line look worse than it is, but he mostly kept the Yankees in the game.

The Yankee offense was far from stellar, but again, when you're pitching as well as Burnett was, and then the way Tallet pitched, you'll be lucky to score any runs at all.

In the ninth inning, against a more human Accardo we did get first and second, and if A-Rod, Giambi and Robbie hadn't been trying to tie the game with one swing (it happens in the ninth), we would have probably brought them around to score.

OPTIMIST TAKE: If you get 5.2 innings and 3 ER from your number five starter (which Mussina realistically is, or maybe a four), you will probably win the majority of those games, especially if it's your five against the other team's five, and not the other team's one or two. Kyle Farnsworth pitched well.

SCORES AND STUFF

Nationals over Phillies 1-0. Zimmerman responsible for only Washington run as Phillies get one hit.

Brewers over Cubs, 8-2. Brewers had 14 hits, though when you have Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun in the same line up it's not all that surprising.

Red Sox over A's, 5-0. Harden pitched excellent; the A's bullpen, however, did not.

Royals over Tigers 4-0. Keep an eye on the Royals; they're going to be interesting.

Angels over Twins 1-0. Can't blame not having Santana for this one.

Mets over Marlins 13-0, but no one in Queens is celebrating; Pedro's out for four to six.

Orioles over Rays, 9-6. The battle for last place in the AL East has begun.

Reds over Diamondbacks 6-5 in a walk-off.

Braves over Pirates 10-2. Braves had seven in the eighth.

Indians over White Sox, 7-2, in the ninth; Cardinals over Rockies 4-3 in the eighth; Mariners over Rangers 1-0 in the second; Astros over Padres 3-1 in the second and Dodgers and Giants are scoreless, also in the second.

Third Degree Burn, Take Deux

Sorry this post is so late, spent all day doing work on...well, you know...

Anyway. You may be interested to know that on his blog, Phil Hughes has posted an email address for fans to "drop him a line."

I'm all for players interacting with fans, it's what makes part of the experience so much fun, but I've got to go ahead and say that the under/over on him reaching the gmail email storage limit is three weeks.


So today's Pete Abraham question/topic I'm going to address is fairly timely given recent events:

The return of prodigal son Alex Rodriguez.


As you probably know, A-Rod was interviewed by the press the other day and in typical A-Rod fashion uttered a comment about being tested by MLB 'nine or ten times' instead of a properly phrased exaggeration of '100 times'. So, in typical NY media fashion, there was a big hubbub, and A-Rod actually had to issue a statement saying that he was only exaggerating and he hadn't really been tested nine or ten times.

Now, if that wasn't crazy enough, A-Rod's also made a comment about Jeter going to have an MVP-like season...and he's getting blasted for it.

It really does make you wonder, just what does he have to do to get people off of his back?

It's great he's returned. Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of ten-year-deals, but A-Rod's (knock on wood) stayed healthy throughout his career so far, and I'd much rather have him with the deal than, say...well, you know who I mean.

However, can the man do or say anything without getting scrutinized to the point that it's a bona fide miracle he came back?

I'm not the hugest A-Rod fan, and I'll be the first to admit it. However, he's a part of the team and as such I will respect him and defend him (to a point) if need be. The chances that this season he produces like he did last season are slim. It doesn't mean he won't produce, but, say, instead of hitting 55 home runs, are we all going to get on him if he hits "only" 40?

If you call yourself a Yankee fan, then you want him to win a Series while he's in pinstripes, and I can almost guarantee that there's no one that wants it more than him. He could retire today and he'd have a Hall-of-Fame caliber resumè, but a ring would probably get him in with a record percent of the vote.

More importantly, maybe, a World Series ring would keep the media lambasting him when he praises Derek Jeter, his teammate.

Third-Degree Burn: The Prodigal Son Returns?

By now, if you're reading this, you're hearing that it seems increasingly likely that Alex Rodriguez will return to the Yankees.

While I am a little conflicted by this, I am encouraged that it seems that A-Rod has done or is doing this without Scott Boras, and the statement he made on his website re-affirms that he went to the Yankees, and not the Yankees going to him.

If it is true, then the Yankees won't have to worry about filling a hole at third, and can instead focus on putting together something vaguely reminiscent of a bullpen, resigning Mo, resigning Molina and convincing Pettitte to come back for one last time.

Alex, dude, if this is true, you don't need to go on a 54 home run barrage. Play solid defense, get those hits in the ninth inning, when it matters, and if a guy's on second or third in October, get a hit. Even a dinky single.

Oh, and if you really did go behind Scott Boras to do this, let's just say I'll be noticeably impressed.

The State of the Yankees: Why Rebecca is going to ACE her GREs!

Greetings!


Well, here we are: 2007 was quite a season, wasn't it? After finding themselves 14.5 games back in May, the Yankees had quite an acclivity to summit, and while they didn't quite reach the pinnacle, they came pretty close.

So now we're in the off season, and the Yankees have a lengthy and complicated agenda.

So let's propound some of the more important points.

First of all, there is Alex Rodriguez, whose mellifluous, mawkish comments about loving New York turned out to be a hurtful lie to Yankee fans, such as this ingenuous blogger.

While we may deride Alex's emolument, there is no doubt that his ability to be a factotum will be greatly missed in the Yankee line up.

Yankees' fans can also not afford to be blithe about the potential departures of Mariano Rivera and/or Jorge Posada; the Yankees should not brook even the possibilities of them leaving the team.

It will take much cerebration on the part of Brian Cashman to rectify the situation, especially as concerns third base, given the limited market. There is no doubt that the endless speculation will eventually pall even the most ardent Yankees' fans, especially if it produces nothing but chaff.

However, Yankees' fans should not be hypercritical. The doings of Phil, Joba, Ian and even Austin Jackson and José Tabata are hortatory, and, hopefully, a portent of the Yankees' future the rest of this decade and next. Joba is so far the most sacrosanct of all the prospects, though that is not to say he is infallible.

We will have to weather the next few months with much patience; with luck our faith in the Yankees' future will be warranted




Yep. I am SO acing this test.

You Learn Something New Every Day, Week 4

For this week's YLSNED, I thought I'd go and explore some of the terms that we keep hearing associated with Alex Rodriguez an his current limbo. I know a business lesson might seem boring...okay, it's not the world's most exciting thing...but there may come a time when such terms are of interest. Also, I need to build up my vocabulary for tomorrow!

Like, now, with Alex Rodriguez.

So, without further ado, here we go!

Arbitration: Occurs when a player and team cannot agree on a salary. A player and a team will each submit a contract offer, and an arbitrator (ie, an independent judge) chooses the one that he or she feels is most fair.

The player can then accept or decline the offer.

If, for example, A-Rod accepts arbitration, he would return to the Yankees, albeit likely taking a huge pay cut, and with compensation provided to the Yankees (this is the whole Texas money thing again). If A-Rod declines arbitration, he would thus be severing ties with the Yankees.



Tampering: This one we here a lot, albeit usually in whispers, and it's fairly easy to understand. The best way to think of it is to think of it as like a false start: if a player that is a free agent or FA to-be has a deal with another team in place before the free agency period officially begins, it's tampering.

The big problem with tampering is that it is incredibly hard to prove. It's very easy to have a verbal agreement in place, and there's absolutely no way to prove that unless you're Richard Nixon and tape your phone conversations...

It's also kind of like when someone plays around with the pills in the bottle of Tylenol before the bottle is sold, but I like the false start analogy better.



Collusion: Dude, this word is actually in my GRE book! Anyway, collusion is the banding together for 'fraudulent' purposes. For example, if baseball's owners all decided to band together to not sign A-Rod or to prevent him from getting top dollar, that would be considered 'collusion'. At least, it would be considered collusion by the MLBPA. I doubt the owners would call it that...


Right, back to the other vocabulary words. I'm making my way through the list. I'm on letter I.

A (Friday) Night at the Movies

Okay, so my camera battery kept dying as I was trying to do this...I know I say 'uh' and 'umm' way too much.

It's kind of long, but stick through it to the end...





...Yes, I do know that I need a hair cut. Play nice.

An Open Letter to Alex Rodriguez

To Alex Rodriguez--

Hi. Like legions of Yankees fans everywhere, I found last night exceptionally painful to bear.

However, I'm not angry.

I'm disappointed.

I had thought that maybe this year you really did want to win, that maybe you weren't lying when you said that you wanted to stay, that you wanted to play in New York. That you would settle for a World Series.

I see that it is not the case.

I see now that you will do only as Scott Boras tells you, and I must say that as long as you keep that up, and keep playing only for the money, your legacy will be just as tarnished as others whose names are not worth mentioning.

Manyt of whom we call the greatest icons, such as Don Mattingly or Ray Borque or Cal Ripken, Jr played nearly their entire time for one team, even during some of their team's darkest days. You can't fault Borque for going to Colorado to win a Stanley Cup--20 years with one team is no small legacy.

What is your legacy with the Yankees? In the four years you were here, we had the greatest choke in baseball postseason history, and then failed to make it out of the first round. The Yankees were not Jeter's team, even though Jeter was the captain. Sure, in 2007 there were spots of promise, but on the whole they are not four years we will remember fondly.

My gut tells me, a few years from now, we'll consider the events of last night and today as the real turning point for the Yankees, the beginning of the return to greatness.

The Yankees of '96-'01 knew it well.

No player is bigger than this team.

No player is bigger than this game.

When you come to this conclusion and start to play accordingly, you might again find me as one of your supporters.

Until then,

Rebecca.




(I have a prospective letter for Joe Girardi but will not post it until the news has been made official, that he has accepted the job).