Everybody Else is Doing it, so why not?

Farewell Yankee Stadium.


At this time tomorrow, Yankee Stadium will be hosting the last game in its illustrious history. It will be closed by the great rivalry that is the Yankees and... the Orioles. Yawn. Why are the Red Sox not closing the stadium on the final day of the season. To the schedule maker: Why would you do that? (or why wouldn't you do that in this case). I guess baseball must have just assumed that the empire would be going to the playoffs again, but it was far from a sure thing as the Rays have proved. I have no sentimental ties to the Stadium and won't miss it. I thought it was incredibly overrated and is a worse place to watch a game than any of the following parks: Jacobs (Progressive) Field, PNC Park, Nationals Park, Fenway, Wrigley, US Cellular, Comerica, Tiger Stadium, and even Shea. Maybe it had to do with the seats I had, I don't know.

Anyway, great park or not, it has witnessed some of the greatest moments in baseball history, and the most championship games of any sports venue in the history of the country so it deserves some kind of tribute. Which brings me to my top 5 memories of the Stadium. Keep in mind that I can't stand the Empire, so the list will be full of bad things happening to the Yankees.

5 couldn't pick one so there's a tie at 5:

a. Byrd handcuff's Yankees, sends them home
A Yankee team built with guys who hammer fastballs couldn't figure out one of the softest tossers in the bigs. They scored 2 runs off the bullpen, but Joe Freakin Borowski managed to get the three highest profile Yankees: Jeter, ARod, and Posada out in the 9th, sealing the deal with a strikeout of Posada. Sizemore had an excellent day with 2 hits, 2 walks and a homer to lead the offense to victory.

b. Tigers Rally, take control of series
On paper, the 2006 ALDS looked like a mismatch especially when they pounded game 1 starter
Nate Robertson for 12 hits and 7 runs. While people like me were screaming at the TV asking of Jim Leland starting Robertson, "Why would you do that?!" When game 2 was rained out, I skipped my religion class to watch the make up live. The Tigers struck first on Thames's double in the second, but NY made it 3-1 with Johnny Damon's 3 run homer in the 4th. The Tigers chipped away with runs in the 5th, 6th, and 7th as Granderson and Guillen came up huge. The Tigers turned it over to Zoom Zoom Zumaya for the 7th and 8th which he dominated, and after a shaky ninth from Todd ~ Jones, the Tigers left the Bronx with a split. That proved to be all they would need as Rogers turned into Christey Matthewson, Randy Johnson's slider went like this --- and Jaret Wrong could not recapture his 1997 form sending the Empire home empty handed once again.

4. Cone's Perfect Game
It was Yogi Berra day at the stadium, July 18th, 1999. The battery from the only perfect game (or no hitter) in postseason history was in attendance (Berra and Larsen) and David Cone was on the mound against the Montreal Expos. Cone, the man whom I consider to be the most important player for the Yankees 1990s dynasty, had thrown 7 no hit innings in 1996, but was removed after hitting a very strict pitch count. In 1996, it was Cone's first start in 4 months after suffering and aneurysm. Cone had a second chance at immortality and no pitch count, no a rain delay could have stop him as he needed just 88 pitches, and withstood a half hour rain delay to throw the last perfect game of the millennium, and the only perfect game in regular season interleague play. I managed to catch the last 3 innings on bonus coverage. The game strangely marked the end of Cone's dominance as he was largely ineffective the rest of the season, suffered through an awful 2000 season where he was restricted to relief duty in the playoffs, and never regained his previous form.

3. 2003 ALCS
The best rivalry in sports went head to head in the playoffs for only the second time ever in one of the greatest postseason series I have ever witnessed. Only one game was decided by more than two runs. The Yankees had owned baseball for the last decade, but Boston and new hot shot GM Theo Epstein was on the rise. It was Epstein's first year and he wasted no time making changes bringing in players such as Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, and most importantly David Ortiz (who had been RELEASED by the Twins). He also announced that his team would use a "Closer by committee" which was completely against the strategy used by most managers. The Red Sox had also not won a World Series in 85 years while the Yankees had won 26. The tensions had mounted over the previous years and the rivalry was arguably at an all time high. In game 3 those tensions boiled over. With Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens dueling it out, Pedro hit Karim Garcia resulting in a shouting match and Pedro famously pointing at his head which many took as him saying "Ill hit you in the head!" The next inning, Clemens came in high and tight to the always volatile Manny Ramirez. Despite the fact that the pitch was nowhere near his head, Ramirez mouthed the words "F*** You" and began walking towards the mound. The benches emptied and Yankee bench coach, the 72 year old Don Zimmer went after Pedro who threw him to the ground and swung at his head.

The Red Sox, led by Tim Wakefields dominance won games 1 and 4 while the Yankees won games 2, 3, and 5 holding Boston to just 7 runs in the 3 games. Game 6 saw the veteran John Burkett taking on Yankee playoff ace Andy Pettitte with the Sox fighting off elimination. The Sox jumped out to a 4-1 lead but lost it when Nomar Gaciaparra botched the 3rd out in the 5th, leading to 2 unearned runs. Nomar would redeem himself starting a 3 run rally in the 7th to lead the team to victory forcing game 7 and a rematch of Clemens vs. Pedro.


The game lived up to the hype as it was exciting from the start. Clemens was shelled early and left after giving up Millar's homer in the 4th that made it 4-0. It looked like it could be the end of Clemens career in what would be the first of many curtain calls for the king of mismemory. With the Sox up 4-2 in the 8th and Pedro around 100 pitches, Grady Little was ordered by Epstein to remove Pedro from the game. He sent him out there anyway. After Pedro allowed the first run, Little went out and had one of the most famous conversations on the mound in history. With Timlin and Embree ready in the pen, Little asked Pedro if he could stay in. Pedro pointed to himself saying that he was ready and Little left him in. Back to back doubles by Matsui and Posada tied the game and Little went to his pen. The pen was able to keep the score tied, but the damage had been done. Rivera came in and handcuffed the Sox for 3 innings. The Sox once again turned to series ace Tim Wakefield for help, and he pitched a perfect 10th, but in the bottom of the 11th, the flutterball finally ran out of miracles as Aaron Boone of all people led of the inning with a walk off homer, becoming this generation's version of Bucky bleepin' Dent.

2. Beckett Becomes The Man
The Yankees had survived the Sox and faced the upstart Marlins, who were heavy underdogs, in the world series. The Marlins played much better than expected leading 3-2 as the series returned to the Bronx. Unfortunately the only rested Marlin pitcher was Mark Redman who had been hammered in game 2 by the bombers. To add to that, the Yankees had old reliable Andy Pettitte set to start. Marlins manager Jack McKeon boldly chose his projected game 7 starter, the 23 year old Josh Beckett, to start on 3 days rest. Beckett, a former 1st round pick, had been very successful in the playoffs and had pitched well in game 3, but was not an established star at the time, and had thrown 108 pitches 4 days earlier. The move was questioned by everyone, including yours truly. Beckett made McKeon look like a genius when he went the distance for a 5 hit shutout. No Yankee reached 3rd base as Beckett proved himself to be a big game pitcher, becoming the first pitcher since Jack Morris in 1991 to clinch the series with a shutout, sending the Yankees home crying.

1. Shilling's Bloody Sock
If the rivalry peaked in 2003, it rose even higher in 2004. The Sox once again rebuilt themselves in the offseason for the sole purpose of getting past the Yankees. Curt Schilling and closer Keith Foulke were the centerpieces of the winter. Schilling had established himself as the best big game pitcher in baseball, leading the Diamondbacks to the World Series in 2001 and taking the ball every 4th day in the playoffs for most of his career. Foulke was a star closer for the A's and figured to sure up the bullpen that Little had passed over in favor of a tiring Pedro Martinez. In the middle of the season, Epstein shook things up even more trading superstar Nomar Garciaparra for Doug Mentkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera. Schilling did not disappoint going 21-6, finishing second to Johan Santana for the Cy Young, and pitching well in his first round start against the Angels. The outspoken Schilling boldly took the mound in game 1 saying before the game, "I can't think of anything better than making 60,000 people from New York shut up!" The Yankees responded by shutting Schilling up with 6 runs in 3 innings and Schilling left injured. The Yanks fought off a late rally by the Sox to win 10-7 in game 1. The won a squeaker against Pedro in game 2, and destroyed basically the entire pitching staff in game 3 19-8. They entered Fenway in game 4 up 3-0. No team had ever come back from 3-0 in the history of baseball.

With Schilling out, former 20 game winner Derek Lowe took the mound against playoff stud Orlando Hernandez. Lowe blew a 3-2 lead and the Yankees, up 4-3, turned it over to the automatic Mo Rivera in the 8th for a two inning save. What transpired was perhaps the most amazing course of events I have ever seen in baseball.

After a perfect 8th, Rivera walked Kevin Millar who was pinch run for by stolen base specialist Dave Roberts. Even though everyone in the world knew he was going, Roberts survived multiple pickoff attempts by Rivera, went on the first pitch, and barely stole second. Bill Mueller singled and Roberts ran like there was no tomorrow racing home to tie the game. After Rivera kept the score tied, Curt Leskanic escaped a bases loaded jam in the 11th, and the Sox entered the bottom of 12 with the score still 5-4. Ramirez singled and Ortiz homered to win the game 6-4.

Game 5 saw Pedro take the hill once again against Yanks starter Mike Mussina. Pedro blew an early lead, but the Yanks bullpen blew it back leaving the score 4-4 until the 14th as both teams narrowly dodged bullets. Walks by Damon and Ramirez brought Ortiz to the plate with 2 on and 2 out. Big Papi as he had come to be called responded with a clutch hit for the second consecutive night, a single the allowed Damon to score the winning run. The game returned to Yankee stadium for game 6.

Curt Schilling had been trying and trying to get back on the mound since game 1 and after back to back extra inning affairs, the Sox were basically out of options for game 6. An experimental procedure attaching the skin to the bone in his right ankle was put into play with hopes that it would allow him to use his natural pitching mechanics. Schilling responded with the guttiest performance I have ever seen throwing 7 innings of 4 hit ball with a Bernie Williams homer the only run. Midway through the game, cameras panned to the sock on his right ankle which, by then, was stained with blood. The 4 runs the Sox scored in the 4th would be all they would need despite ARod's best attempt to cheat by swatting Bronson Arroyo's tag in the 8th. Foulke held on to a 2 run lead in the 9th to force game 7, the first team that had been down 3-0 to do so. The Sox would go on to blow the Yanks out in game 7, win the world series and break the curse of the Bambino. Ortiz was named series MVP after going 12 for 31 with 3 homers and the two key game winners. Foulke finished the series having allowed no runs on one hit and pitching in 5 games including preserving the wins in 4, 5, and 6.

It may be the house the Ruth built, but Ruth never had to face Curt Schilling, the biggest Yankee killer of them all.

ARod the Scourge of Gotham

Sounds like the title to a Batman movie. Anyway, it seems that every Yankee fan I talk to just hates Alex Rodriguez despite the rather obvious fact that he is the best player on their team. The reasons range from every stupid answer you can think of:

1. "He's not clutch"
2. "He doesn't play the game the right way"
3. "He's not a true Yankee"
4. "He's only in it for the records"
5. "He doesn't play with heart"
6. "He chokes in the playoffs"
7. "He's only in it for the money."

Of all of these, the only one I'll buy is the last one. Alex Rodriguez is murderously overpaid, and this a mistake that has been made not once, but twice! The Texas Rangers outbid everyone by $100 mil to sign him the first time, and when he was stupid enough to opt out of that "the owner must have been really drunk to offer such a deal contract," the Yankees were right there to outbid everyone by more than $100 mil and give him an even worse contract with incentives for breaking records, but none for winning.

As for the others:
1. Clutch: There is really no such thing as clutch, but there are definitely chokers. ARod however really isn't one. His career "clutch" OPSes:

RISP: .959, men on: .982, 2 out RISP: .890, late and close: .906, tied game: .972, 1 run: .981

These are right in line with his career OPS of .968 with the lone exception being 2 out RISP and every single one is better than "Mr. Clutch" Derek Jeter's best clutch OPS of .865.

2. What the hell does that mean? I have never seen ARod fail to run out a ball or take a play off in the field or give up an out by doing something stupid, he has given away the same amount of outs by bunting in his career as Jeter did in the 2004 season, and he has wasted less outs being caught stealing despite stealing more career bases.

3. This still makes no sense. He's on the Yankees. He's a Yankee, and he appear to live the NY lifestyle. Get over it.

4. He definitely likes chasing records, but to say he doesn't care about winning is just stupid. No one likes to lose and I guarantee he isn't accustomed to it. His teams have gone 1068-967 in his career for a .525 winning percentage despite being on some godawful Texas teams.

5. Another thing that can't be measured and doesn't really have a definition, but if not playing with heart means not running into outs or making the highlight reel with flashy plays, then I have no problem with guys who lack heart. They seem to be pretty good at baseball.

6. Ah the favorite for Yankee's fans. This is mostly due to his 1 for 14 with no walks and no extra base hits against the Tigers in 2006, but he was pretty good in 2004 against Boston, and in 2007 against Cleveland, both series where Jeter wasn't. In fact, career playoff OPS: Rodriguez: .844, Jeter: .846. Almost dead even. Jeter had almost as bad a series against the Indians last year as ARod had against the Tigers the year before, but did you hear one person blame Jeter for the loss? No, but you did hear people blame Alex who was considerably better.

The truth is that other than taking the huge contract and generally coming off as a douchebag in his interviews and his private life, the only crime Rodriguez committed was coming to the Yankees when he did. Jeter, Rivera, and Posada, the three players most often associated with the Yankee dynasty were not the players most responsible. That would be David Cone, Andy Pettitte, Orlando Hernandez, David Wells, and maybe Roger Clemens. The first 3 were all great big game postseason pitchers and their stats speak for themselves as their teams have gone a combined 42-13. Wells and Clemens were very effective during their playoff runs with the Yankees. This is something that the endless supply of starters since: Kevin Brown, Jeff Weaver, Javier Vazquez, Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Jose Contreras etc. were unable to do with with the Empire. None of this is Alex's fault, nor were the successes the result of Jeter.

I guarantee you that if Rodriguez had been the shortstops on those 4 teams, they would have won at least 4 titles as they were exorbitantly better than the competition in every one except 1996 a year a young Alex out OPSed a young Derek by 245 points. And they may have won in 2001 in one of the closest series I can recall where Jeter, despite the fact that he was dubbed Mr. November, absolutely disappeared going 4 for 27 with no walks.

Alex Rodriguez, despite the fact that he is a much, MUCH better player than Jeter has gotten a raw deal in New York due to the face that he showed up right around the same time that the dynasty ended and has been unfairly blamed for the lack of postseason success since he arrived. The blame has continued this year when despite the fact that he has been BY FAR their best player all year, Rodriguez is still in some circles blamed for the Yankees missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993. They conveniently overlook the fact that Jeter has had his worst season as a pro.

I'm sorry, but given the choice between the two of them in any situation, I'll take Rodriguez any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

The New York Yankees: Baseball's Version of the US Economy

As the Yankees finish off their first Octoberless season since 1994, people keep asking, "What went wrong." To me that's a question with a fairly obvious answer: The Yankees were a sinking ship long before this year.

In reality, the Yankee ship has been sinking since their last World Series victory way back in 2000 which leads me to draw several similarities to the US economy:

1. They were both power houses that had been strong throughout the 20th century and peaked as recently as the mid to late 1990s.
2. They both began to deteriorate in 2001.
3. Despite rises and falls, they both have not been the same since.
4. There have been numerous attempts for a quick fix rather than the long rebuilding process that is inevitable at this point.
5. It's going to get worse before it gets better.
6. The people running the show don't understand any of this.

The Yankees are a very old team and have been for quite some time. Going into this year, they had one star player still in his prime: Alex Rodriguez. Strangely this is the player most often blamed for the Yankees problems although he without question has kept them respectable in a year where almost nothing went right. The next closest thing to a star is Wang and while he is a good pitcher, he is not the kind of guy you want to build a staff around.

Most of the rest of the guys: Jeter, Rivera, Posada, Mussina, Giambi, Abreu, Damon, and Matsui are old, past their prime, and waaaaaaaaaaay overpaid. Some of the others: Cabrera, Cano, Kennedy, Hughes, and Joba were too young and not ready to step into everyday roles. It is unsure if any of them will ever be stars.

This leaves Yankee management in a tight spot entering their new stadium in 2009. They have a fanbase that demands winning who will have just gone through the longest winter in over a decade, a fan base that will demand changes every day starting last month. The team has a lot of money coming off the books with: Musssina, Giambi, Abreu, Pettitte, Pavano, and Ivan Rodriguez all set to be free agents at seasons end. Of those only Mussina, Pettitte, and maybe Abreu figure to be invited back, all be it at much lower rates. The Yankees will still have Jeter, Rodriguez, Damon, Matsui, Posada, Rivera, Cano, and Wang, among others, owed somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 mil, giving them about $50-$60 mill to spend on free agents, and a whole crapload of needs. Names thrown out as possibly heading to NY are: Sabathia, Texeira, Sheets, Ramirez, Ordonez, and AJ Burnett. Sabathia has said he doesn't want to play in New York, Ramirez and Ordonez are getting old and AJ Burnett seems like a disaster waiting to happen which leaves Sheets and Tex whom I think would be good fits. They will cost between $30-$40 mil annually which still leaves the team with 2/5 of a rotation and glaring holes in the outfield as well as the lineup. Even bringing back Mussina, Abreu, and Pettitte might not fix everything. It might make the Yanks relevant next year, but their problems run much deeper.

Boston and Tampa Bay are loaded for the long haul. Even with a complete makeover in the offseason, the Yankees cannot catch up to the surplus of talent owned by these two franchises. Jeter, Rivera, and Posada are old and past their primes, but all three will be allowed to stay with the team until they retire, as they should, but still not a recipe for success. Rivera shows no signs of slowing down as he has enjoyed perhaps his finest season. The other two are a different story as they appear to be in decline. It is likely that Posada will not be able to catch much longer and will be relegated to DH duties which will dramatically decrease his value. Jeter on the other hand might be done. His range, which was never very good, has been decreasing for years, making him a liability in the field. His fielding could be tolerated when he was still one of the best hitting shortstops in the AL, this year however, he wasn't and there are no signs that he will ever be again.

It could be a very long next five years for the Yankees as well as the US economy. Both consider themselves to be the best in the world, which may have been true for the 20th century, but the twenty first is a different story and both might find themselves taking a backseat for quite some time.