Red Sox advantage helps the Yankees

Cleveland's loss to Kansas City tonight means that the Red Sox get home field advantage throughout the American League playoffs.
And that's good news for the Yankees.
That's right, good news.
Not because the Yankees like playing in Fenway, but because under Major League Baseball rules, Boston gets to choose when it starts its series against Los Angeles. It has opted for an extra day of rest.
If Cleveland had won that right, it would have allowed the Indians to pitch C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona twice each in a five-game series with the Yankees.
The Yankees would be toast under that scenario.

Way to hold them to 9 runs, Andy!

With the playoff picture decided already, Andy Pettitte got a meaningless win over the Orioles tonight in an effort that looked like he was really, really trying to improve Baltimore's self-esteem heading into the offseason.

Pettitte gave up 9 runs, 8 of them earned, in five innings pitched, but still got a victory out of it to improve to 15-9 on the season.

That was due to the 10 runs Baltimore pitchers gave up in the 4th inning.

So the Yankees won 10-9, and it means nothing whatsoever.

It truly was a battle of who could care less about this game. And Baltimore came through again on that one.

What a way to lose a division!

The Yankees blow the lead, "Juice" Giambi chokes with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th inning against the lowly Orioles, Dice-K looks like he's worth the money for the Red Sox, and the Yankees officially lose the AL East division title for the first time in a decade.
No "mo" heading into the playoffs as the Wild Card, that's for sure.

Clemens flies to Texas for special home remedy

BALTIMORE (AP) - Roger Clemens flew home to Texas on Friday, choosing to rehabilitate his bothersome left hamstring there rather than at the Yankees' training facility in Tampa, Fla.
Clemens missed his scheduled start at Tampa Bay on Tuesday and remained behind to condition the leg when the team flew north. Although Clemens said he was healthy enough to pitch, the Yankees decided not to have him pitch this week.
Now he's at home preparing for the postseason.
"Wherever Roger goes, he's got workout facilities for what he needs to do," New York manager Joe Torre said Friday before the Yankees faced the Orioles.
Clemens made the decision to leave Friday without working out.
"He was going to stay away from, as he puts it, digging in there all the time," Torre said. "It was something about getting out of Dodge. ... He's just going to do some conditioning and then Monday he's going to do a simulated game and then he'll hop on a plane and join us."
Clemens is 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA in 18 games.

It's true about them young pitchers

It's true. Young pitchers today are a bunch of pussies!
And we're not even trashing the Yankees with this post.
No sooner did we write about the Joba Rules and how ridiculous it was to treat rookie phenom pitchers like they have the body of a 4-year-old girl than news broke that Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz will miss the rest of the season due to "shoulder fatigue."
They let him pitch (horrors!) a full nine innings so he could get that no-hitter, and there you go, he's ruined for life.
Too young to settle into a good steroid regimen?

The son-in-law officially gone

NEW YORK (AP) - The Yankees have completed their buyout of Stephen Swindal, once George Steinbrenner's designated successor as the team's boss.
Jennifer Steinbrenner, one of the owner's daughters, filed for divorce from Swindal in March, a month after her husband was arrested early on Feb. 15 and charged with driving under the influence.
Swindal was a Yankees general partner and chairman of Yankee Global Enterprises LLC, the holding company for the team and its stake in the YES Network.
Hal Steinbrenner, one of the owner's sons, succeeded Swindal on Friday as chairman on Yankee Global Enterprises, a sign of his increased influence in the team's operations. Hal Steinbrenner also is a director of YES and chief executive officer of Steinbrenner Hotel Properties.
Hank Steinbrenner, the owner's other son, also has worked for the Yankees.
Felix Lopez, a Yankees senior vice president, joined the board of Yankee Global Enterprises. He is married to Jessica Steinbrenner, the owner's other daughter.

Obligatory comment on Joba Rules

The "Joba Rules," restricting young pitching prospects to strict pitch count limits and required resting periods before appearance, have got to go, say columnists and bloggers. Why? Because Yankees fans have been so damn insecure, and rightly so, about their team's chance of success in the playoffs this year, or even making the playoffs.
The Joba Rules are a wise stewardship not of the Yankees' chances this year, but of the entire future of the franchise and playoff races for years to come, according to other columnists and other bloggers.
Coming from a perspective of not giving a crap if the Yankees win now or later, here's the real truth about the Joba Rules:
Today's young pitchers are apparently a bunch of pussies.
Are they that fragile?
Come on.
Is Major League Baseball's history littered with the untold stories of countless young pitching prospects whose arms were blown out and futures ruined along with their teams because in the old days managers and owners didn't buy into any of this pansy nonsense?
Are we prepping these guys for their coming out in the debutante ball or are they athletes competing in a man's sport?
Maybe that Dorothy dress the Yankees had Ian Kennedy wear the other day is more appropriate than any of us knew.

Roger out, Manny in as playoffs upon us

On a national sports talk radio program yesterday, former Twins and Mets ace Frank Viola predicted that Roger Clemens will not only be out for the rest of the regular season, as has been announced, and for the first round of the playoffs, as has been conjectured in the New York tabloids, but for all of the playoffs and the rest of the year.

Can you imagine the Yankees sending Kei Igawa to the mound in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Red Sox?

Meanwhile, Manny Ramirez is back in the Red Sox lineup, just in time to see them clinch the division and get warmed up for the playoffs.

Chamberlain, Kennedy, Duncan, Hughes

Ahead of playoffs, Yankees rookies get used to abuse

Maybe 20 pitchers can do what three can't

Another blown lead, another nail-biter, another six pitchers used so far in tonight's 6-6 tie ballgame in the top of the ninth inning against lowly Tampa Bay.
This comes on the heels of Friday's 14-inning loss to Toronto in which 8 pitchers were used, and the following night's 10-inning victory in which 10 pitchers were used.
If it makes Joe Torre feel better to finish half a game out of the division lead instead of 2 1/2, and then have no fresh pitching available for the playoffs, so be it.
The strategy doesn't seem to make sense when you've got Clemens about to check into a nursing home and you're desperate enough that you're starting Kei Igawa in his place.

Update on Yankees' push for AL East crown

Eight pitchers combine for the "L."

Use up those pitchers now

Regardless of the outcome of tonight's game against Toronto (still tied at 4-4 in the top of the 13th inning), the Yankees come out losers.
While Red Sox Manager Terry Francona openly admitted prior to tonight's 8-1 blowout victory over Tampa Bay that he's resting his key pitchers and offensive stars such as Manny Ramirez for the playoffs even if that means losing the AL East lead and settling for the Wild Card.
If the Yankees, also virtually assured of the playoffs one way or the other, are taking a different approach, it will come back to bite them in the postseason as it has in past years.
They've already used seven pitchers in tonight's game, including stars Torre would typically reserve only for protecting a lead and sealing the victory, i.e., Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera.
And meanwhile, despite Boston's approach, they won easily tonight, even though they were up against just as dominating a pitcher in Kazmir as the Yankees faced in Toronto's Halladay.

Bring back Boomer

David Wells says he'll pitch again next year, unless the Dodgers win the World Series.

Let us be the first to urge the Yankees to bring him back.

If the Yankees can get Clemens to come back at age 46, and Mussina to come back as well, he'd be a perfect fit on this team.

Maybe the Yankees could re-aquire Randy Johnson also?

Every Yankee Wang suck tonight

Chien-Ming Wang put all talk of contention for the Cy Young Award to rest with his miserable performance against the Red Sox yesterday.
With Wang's stats - if not the sense that he can dominate batters - similar to Josh Beckett and a few others in the American League going into the weekend, there was a strong sense that the Cy Young was up for grabs and that pitching over the last few weeks of the regular season would be the difference-maker.
Yesterday's game was perhaps the marquee showcase as Beckett and Wang went head to head.
Beckett allowed only 3 hits and 1 run over 7 innings, striking out 7 and walking 2.
Wang lasted only 5 2/3rds, giving up 9 hits, 5 runs and 3 walks while striking out 3.
His ERA is up to 3.87, while Beckett has a 3.20 ERA and has a good shot of winning his 20th game before the regular season ends, by far a career best.

Torre, who regularly instructs his pitchers to throw at people, upset with video game depicting A-Rod getting hit

NEW YORK (PA SportsTicker) - Joe Torre apparently is getting tired of the Toronto Blue Jays' ongoing feud with Alex Rodriguez.
Torre told the New York Daily News on Thursday that he was unhappy with the Blue Jays' depiction of Rodriguez on the Rogers Centre scoreboard during Wednesday night's game.
According to the Daily News, Torre was referring to an incident which occurred during a video promotion in the middle of the sixth inning.
The massive scoreboard screen showed a pair of fans playing a baseball video game. While pitching to Rodriguez in the video game, one of the fans intentionally threw at the superstar twice - hitting him once to the delight of the crowd.
"It's ridiculous," Torre told the Daily News. "Some of the videos they have period, it's all about violence. There are certain cities, one of our players gets knocked down and (the fans) start laughing and cheering. I don't understand it. To me, this game is about playing it and not about hurting somebody.
"To me, if you show it at a ballpark, you're telling the youngsters it's OK to do it and that's not a good message to send. I don't know if it's hockey - it's a little more of a violent game than ours - and I'm not sure if that's a carryover in what they do or how they promote. It certainly lacks good sense, I think."
The incident marked the latest chapter in a season-long feud between Rodriguez and the Blue Jays.
The saga began in Toronto on May 30, when Rodriguez sparked controversy while running between second and third base. The two-time MVP appeared to yell at Blue Jays third baseman Howie Clark, distracting the rookie from catching a routine pop fly.
The Blue Jays were enraged by Rodriguez's antics. Manager John Gibbons called it a "bush league play" while several veterans, including designated hitter Matt Stairs, referred to the play as "garbage."
The Blue Jays retaliated the next time the Yankees visited Toronto, throwing behind Rodriguez's head on August 6 and plunking him in the calf the following day to incite a pair of benches-clearing incidents.

Saturday at Fenway: A whole lotta suck

Alex Rodriguez was 0 for 3, struck out twice and left two men on base.
Johnny Damon was 0 for 4, including a strikeout.
Hideki Matsui was 0 for 3, including a strikeout, and left two men on base.
Posada, Giambi and Cabrera were a combined 0 for 7.
The Yankees gave up today at Fenway, pulling many of its failed stars for scrubs on the way to a 10-1 defeat.
Detroit is already beating up on Johan Santana, 4-0, and if that trend continues tonight the Tigers will be only 2 1/2 games back in the Wild Card.
Meanwhile, New York sends a cortizone-injected 45-year-old Roger Clemens to the mound.
Detroit has a realistic shot of catching the Yankees for the Wild Card.
Even if that doesn't happen, Dice-K's success against the Yankees early in yesterday's game and Beckett's and the Boston bullpen's dominance over New York today make it increasingly clear that there's little chance of the team getting by Boston in a seven-game playoff series.

The whiff of A-Rod

A-Rod struck out with a man on base in the top of the 9th inning, and the Yankees lose.
That leaves Detroit within striking distance and New York all but out of contention for an AL East title comeback bid.

Andy Pettitte? He's outta here!

Yahoo Sports just reported that Andy Pettitte is considering retiring at the end of the season.

He wants to be a full-time dad to his four kids, according to Yahoo, and considered retiring at the end of last season as well.

So goodbye Clemens, goodbye Mussina, goodbye Igawa, goodbye Farnsworth, goodbye Rivera, goodbye Posada, goodbye A-Rod, goodbye Abreu.

Hey, you've still got Kyle Farnsworth and Wilson Bettimet.

A-Rod in Boston? Not if Red Sox fans can help it

It's increasingly apparent that Alex Rodriguez won't be a Yankee next year.

He's having an incredible season, and even though the fans now love him, he surely remembers being booed on his way to the MVP Award. He's getting ready to say, as he heads out the door, "Screw you, New York, how you like me now?"

Many have speculated that A-Rod is bound for Boston.

Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell is a free agent after this season, and the Sox have made no overt public moves toward re-signing him. Hell, A-Rod could probably move back to his old shortstop position if he went to the Sox or pretty much any other team without a Derek Jeter.

The problem with Alex Rodriguez in a Boston uniform is that Red Sox fans HATE HIM.

Affectionately referred to as "Gay-Rod" and much worse, he's the antithesis of what makes the Red Sox special and what won them a World Series in 2004.

Sox fans have come to love hard-working, humble, working-class players like Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield and the likes of Kevin Millar and Trot Nixon from seasons past.

To them, A-Rod in a Red Sox uniform would be like Justin Timberlake taking over as lead singer of Aerosmith.

And WHY NOT just re-sign Lowell? He's easily the MVP of the Red Sox this year, and has put up numbers that rival A-Rod. Plus, he's not a friggin' wussy attention whore.

Tigers take second place in Wild Card race

Detroit beat Seattle last night in a series that will determine who has the best shot at beating the Yankees for the Wild Card.
Yankees fans will remember the Tigers from last year.

How the Yankees can lose the Wild Card

The Yankees' best chance of losing the Wild Card and missing the playoffs this year is to Detroit, not Seattle.

Of the three teams (Seattle and Detroit are tied 3 games behind the Yankees for the Wild Card going into tonight's games), the Mariners have the most difficult schedule through the end of the season.

Seattle plays Oakland (69-72) six times, Los Angeles (83-57), Cleveland (81-59) and Tampa Bay (58-82) four times each, and Detroit (75-65) and Texas (65-74) three times each. That's 11 games against winning teams and 13 games against teams with losing records.

The Yankees will play Toronto (71-68) seven times, Baltimore (60-79) six times, and Kansas City (62-77), Tampa Bay (58-82) and Boston (85-56) three times each. That's 10 games against winning teams and 12 games against teams with losing records.

Detroit, on the other hand, has only seven games remaining on the schedule against teams with winning records ... three games each against Seattle (74-64) and Cleveland (81-59) and one game against Toronto (71-68). They play Minnesota (69-71) six more times, and Chicago (59-81) and Kansas City (62-77) three more times each.

And even though the Orioles have absolutely sucked (32-3, anyone?) over the past month, they have owned the Yankees this season, with an 8-4 advantage on the season series so far. So the Yankees could have more trouble with a big chunk of the "easy" part of their remaining schedule.

And Tampa Bay and Toronto, which account for nearly half of the Yankees' remaining games, have played the Yankees almost evenly this year, splitting their respective series so far 8-7 and 6-5 in favor of New York.

Detroit has underachieved all year.

Our prediction is that the Tigers will be the team that leaves New York out in the cold for the first time in a while this playoff season.

Wounded

Oops, A-Rod's got a boo-boo.
And so does Wang.

Starting young

Bronx Nursing Home intramural squad falls to Seattle

The 45-year-old Roger Clemens showed his age again last night, lasting only 4 innings while getting pounded by Seattle for 5 runs and 8 hits. He won't make his next start due to general old man aches and pains.

And boy was it fun watching Mike Mussina (7 hits, 2 runs in 3.2 innings) come out of the bullpen for mopup duty.

The funny thing is that he'll probably take Clemens' place in the starting rotation for at least one turn.

Now that's a dynamic duo.

With the loss, the Yankees' lead in the Wild Card race falls to 1.

And meanwhile, the Red Sox mustered 12 more runs than the Yankees last night in beating Toronto.

The Yankees fall 7 games back in the AL East, and Boston's magic number is 18.

The magic number

You know it's almost over when they start printing the "magic number" next to the Red Sox record in the AL East standings.

It's 20, by the way. That's the combination of Red Sox wins and Yankees losses needed for Boston to win the division.

Yankees fail to make Little League World Series

Andy Pettitte has provided consistent good pitching for the Yankees. Until today, when a Little League team pounded him for 5 runs in 6.1 innings.

The Yankees fall 6 games back in the AL East as the Sox were led to victory by another rookie pitcher, and enter a series with the Seattle Mariners having just gotten their asses kicked by Tampa Bay. That's got to be demoralizing.

And Seattle, in a major slump with 8 straight losses, is due to snap out of it right about now. They're a much better team than their recent performance would indicate.

In short, the Yankees are poised to squander the Wild Card lead. Can't wait.

Young pitching? We'll show you young pitching

The Yankees' big new focus, their Great White Hope, is young pitching.
Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy.
Well, Hughes' ERA is astronomical, Chamberlain has been suspended, and Kennedy didn't look bad at all tonight.
But once again, New York is upstaged by the 2007 Red Sox.
In only his second Major League start, Clay Buchholz, who looks like he's about 12 years old, threw a no-hitter tonight against the Baltimore Orioles. And by the way, the Sox had some offense, too, winning 10-0.

Offense takes the day off

The Yankees put in one of their worst offensive performances of the season yesterday ... and it was against a Little League team, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Meanwhile, the youth strategy isn't working, as Phil Hughes gave up 5 runs in 4 1/3rd innings.