The Sports Rambler

XIII. Opening Day at The Stadium: A Magical Experience

2006-04-23T12:34:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay in writing this. A few people talked to me or emailed me, wanting to know about my Opening Day experience at Yankee Stadium. Two weeks later, I finally found some time to write it all out. Just to warn you right now, this is long...

So when I was a little kid, I always used to say that MLB Opening Day should be regarded as a national holiday and that people should get the day off from work or school so that they can go watch a baseball game. I vowed that someday when I was "old" and had a real-world job, I would take the day off and go to Opening Day.

Well, I don't think you would consider me "old" yet (although there are a whole group of Major League regulars who are currently sub-age 22 and I always said that I would feel old when I was watching MLBers younger than me), but I decided to use one of my two floating holidays from work to take the day off for Opening Day. Back in February, I found 2 tickets on eBay for Opening Day at Yankee Stadium. The tickets were in Section TIER3, Row W...not bad seats. Up high in the upper deck, but right behind home plate, offering a great view of everything. Their face value is $18.00 each...I payed $75.00 each...still not a bad deal for decent seats to Opening Day in The House That Ruth Built.

So my girlfriend Erika (huge Yankee fan) and I arrived at the Stadium around 11:00am on Tuesday, April 11th for the 1:05 game. As expected, there was a ton of energy outside the ballpark. Outside the stadium, vendors were selling an infinite amount of stuff. We stopped by a Yankee shop to see if there was anything she liked. One of the vendors outside one of the gates was selling hats that said Opening Day 2006 and Yankee Stadium on them. I thought about buying one to have a relic from the day, but the big NY logo on the front of it turned me off and I felt that I didn't feel like paying 24 bucks for a hat I would never wear again in my life.

We walked in one of the gates and received a little Opening Day 2006 "I Live For This" booklet/fold-out poster. I thought about buying a pin, but felt the booklet thing could serve as my relic. I did drop $18 on a Bernie Williams bobble-head doll for Erika (because Bernie is her favorite player)...We both agreed later that, except for his cheek mole and the #51 on his back, this thing looks nothing like Bernie Williams.

The gate we had coincidentally entered Yankee Stadium through was a leftfield gate and when we walked out into the actual stadium itself, security people were motioning and saying, "Monument Park, this way." Neither Erika nor I had ever been to Monument Park (although I had always wanted to go). I don't think it's normally open before games, but I guess they had it open for the fans since it was Opening Day.

Two other things I noticed...The Yankees were taking batting practice while we were standing on line for Monument Park. In all the Yankee games I have ever been to at the Stadium, I don't think I had ever seen the home team taking BP. The Yanks are usually done by the time the gates open. But again, I guess they wanted to let their fans see them taking some cuts before the game. Also, the padding on the leftfield wall is no longer there. If you've seen any Yankee games on tv this season, you may have noticed that a good portion of the left and left-centerfield wall is now made of plexi-glass, so people standing on the other side of the wall can see through onto the field of play.

We walked down to where all the retired numbers are beyond the left-centerfield wall, underneath the netting that protected us from any unexpected BP homerun balls. Seeing all the numbers was really cool and the flowers were very well kept out there. (Would you expect anything less from the Yankees?) I also kept glancing over (through the plexi-glass wall) at A-Rod, Cano, and Bernie taking BP.

So then we got to walk into the monument part of Monument Park--where all the plaques and things are kept. It's an experience. Before they close down the Stadium in 2008, you should all go. Look at this! I'm getting goosebumps just typing about it. I mean, you walk in there and you can just feel the presence of the ghosts--the Yankee legends of the past. I was sucked into the Yankee-mystique. (How could you not be?!)

Right away, you see the stones with the plaques of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Miller Huggins. As I walked past the Babe's I reach out and touched his hat and face. (I know, I know! Very Clemens-esque.) I walked over and saw Joe D. and across the way, touched the Mick's face. Very hallowed ground that Monument Park is.

So we walked along the back wall, stopping to look at all the plaques--Scooter, Yogi, Maris, Pope JPII, etc. To the guy standing in front of me on line, I feel like this was a religious experience. When we got to the Thurman Munson plaque, he took off his Yankees cap, bowed his head, (I am pretty sure he said a short prayer to himself), then lifted his head and pointed his cap right at Munson and told him he was the man. When we got to Elston Howard's plaque, this guy pointed out to me that Howard was the first black player to play for the Yankees. I told him that he should be giving the tour of this place.

So then a funny thing happens. After seeing Mattingly, Berra, and Maris, I turned around to check out the field and saw that Alex Rodriguez stepped into the cage again. I stood there for a minute and watched him taking swings. All of a sudden, he absolutely crushes a ball that went up into the air and just started getting bigger and bigger. I stared at it and realized that it was definitely coming my way and pulled my glove out from under my arm and started to put it on. The ball bounced into Monument Park (nearly taking off a security guard's head) and bounced one more time right in front of me, as I stood next to Joe DiMaggio. I reached out my bare right hand and snatched the ball out of mid-air. Cool! I got a ball! Most of the people in Monument Park hadn't even seen the ball land in our vicinity. Immediately, one guy standing in the bleachers came over to the railing and was very excitedly shouting to me, "You know A-Rod hit that ball?!" I was just thinking to myself, how many people can say that they caught a homerun ball hit by Alex Rodriguez on Opening Day at Yankee Stadium while standing in Monument Park?! (I don't care if it was batting practice because that is pretty rare. Do you even realize how far away Monument Park is from home plate? That's a shot. I think I've seen one HR in a game go into the Park in all my years of watching Yankee games.)

So we finished up walking through Monument Park, got our picture taken next to the field by some West Point cadets, and then headed out. At this point, the Yankees were finishing up with batting practice and the Royals were warming up on the field. It was still an hour before gametime and it was a beautiful, sunny day, so Erika and I decided to hang out for a little while in the leftfield seats before relocating to the upper deck.

We're chilling in leftfield with a few other fans, trying to see how many players on the Royals that we can actually name. We were also watching Bernie Williams finish up his BP session. It was incredible. Bernie was batting lefty since there was a righty starting that day. EVERY SINGLE ball that Bernie was hitting was going into the RF stands or bleachers. He put about 10-12 balls into the upper deck in right. He was hitting them out with ease and putting on quite a show!

At this point, I considered calling Jim or Laura or Katie to share the story of the A-Rod ball, but decide I'll call later. It would have been really funny if I was on the phone with you when this happened...I'm standing there in left, and suddenly a player on the Royals crushes a ball that I see is coming right to me. I took one step to my right and stuck my glove in the air and just like that, I have another baseball. A few other people saw this coming but none of them had gloves and they were all shorter than me. (And, no, they weren't little kids that I robbed a ball from. Actually I think they were all older than me.)

Let me say that I'm really glad I brought my glove because my hand hurt from this one. My glove is always in my trunk and when we parked in the parking garage and walked out, Erika told me I should bring my glove. I wasn't going to, but she said that maybe we would catch a ball, so I went back and got it. Good call! I was telling the guy standing next to me who went for the ball bare-handed that he probably would have broken his hand had he caught that ball with no glove. (I probably would have done the same, but I still would have gone for the ball.) I have no idea who hit the ball since he was wearing a warmup jacket over his jersey. Let's just call it Reggie Sanders for the fun of it.

So once there were two, relatively new Major League baseballs in my glove, we decided that we had had enough batting practice and that we would go to our seats.

The pre-game intros were cool. Johnny Damon got a pretty loud ovation and one group of fans in the upper deck had a sign that read "Here's Johnny." Interestingly, there were some Yankee fans who were chanting "Not-A-Yankee" when his name got mentioned. Of course Derek Jeter got a huge ovation from the Yankee-faithful. But it was Bernie Williams, DHing and batting ninth who received the loudest roar from the fans. They truly love this guy more than anyone. I respect Bernie. He's a classy guy.

The West Point glee club sang the National Anthem and, perfectly on cue, during the last line of the Star Spangled Banner, two jets flew over the Stadium. From my seat I had a great view to see them off in the distance and fly over. Incredibly loud as they went right over us. Like, crazy-loud! Yogi Berra threw out the first pitch...A strike to Posada.

Roll call was also awesome. For those who don't know, after the first pitch is thrown, when the Yankees are in the field, the Bleacher Creatures out in right will chant each players name until that player turns and acknowledges them. They chanted Bernie Williams' name last and waited for him to emerge from the dugout. This went on for a while as Bernie would not come to the top step. I feel like half the Stadium was staring at the Yankees dugout waiting to see him. Eventually, they gave up. I read the next day that Bernie was back in the clubhouse preparing for his at-bat and didn't even know what was going on.

The fans would eventually get their chance to acknowlege Bernie though. When he stepped to the plate for his first at-bat, 54,000 people gave him a standing ovation. Too bad that he popped out swinging at the first pitch.

After that, we settled in for what felt like any other typical game at Yankee Stadium. Chien Mang Wang got rocked by a virtual Triple-A team in the Royals and as Tanyon Sturtze walked off the field after recording just one out and giving up two runs, he learned what it feels like to have a stadium full of angry New Yorkers boo him.

One thing that I did not even realize at first was the absence of the voice of Bob Sheppard. Getting caught up in everything that IS Opening Day, I think a few innings went by before we started talking about Sheppard not being there as the public address announcer. I wouldn't say that it felt weird because I hadn't realized right away that he wasn't there. But I'm sure there were a lot of other Yankee fans that knew right away and it probably was weird to them.

Another observation...We were up pretty high in the secord or third-to-last row. I would look down in front of me at the people in our section and TRY to find someone who was NOT wearing any Yankee clothing. I saw ONE guy in my section, wearing a green sweatshirt, who did not appear to be wearing Yankee garb. (I wonder if he had a t-shirt on underneath.) It really is astounding that everyone is wearing some type of Yankee paraphenilia.

After 7 innings, it was 7-4 Royals. Something didn't feel right. It was Opening Day in the Bronx. To them, this really was a holiday. The Yanks had won their home opener the last eight years in a row. And today, they weren't looking too sharp. They started off well, with Jason Giambi hitting a 3-run homer in the first. (I can't believe how you Yankee fans can cheer for that juiced up cheater.) But after that, it really seemed as though KC had the game in hand. I said to myself, that the Yankees just couldn't lose on Opening Day in front of their hometown fans. Then the bottom of the 8th inning rolled around...

A new Royals pitcher game in the game to walk Jason Giambi. Then Matsui singled to right and the crowd was finally back into the game. It was at this point that I turned to my girlfriend and told her that something "magical" was about to happen. We were in Yankee Stadium! It was Opening Day! It's storybook. There was no way that something magical was not about to happen!

Posada followed with a walk before Cano grounded into a fielder's choice to third that scored a run. Even though a run came across, it was a really nice play by the Royals thirdbaseman to get even one out.

So the Yankees were down by 2 with runners at the corners and 1 out with their hero, Bernie Williams, stepping to the plate. 54,000 people are going bonkers. Erika wants her boy to homer to give the Yankees the lead (as did everyone else). This IS the Yankees. I feel like the fans expect magical rallies like this.

Although he didn't homer, Bernie comes through with a very well-hit line drive to left that plates another run. The guy standing next to me (assuming I was a Yankee fan) turned to me and put up his hand for a high-five. I really didn't feel like giving him one because I really didn't care if the Yankees won or lost this game, but he was having a moment so I slapped his hand. People were into it. After that, Johnny Damon had the perfect opportunity to leave a positive lasting impression in the minds of Yanks fans, but he struck out with a few bad swings to make it two outs. And up steps the captain--Derek Jeter.

As if he needed to add any thing else to his Yankee legacy and lore, DJ put a line drive just over the fence in left and put the Yankees on top.

Now after Sheffield struck out swinging, there was an expected cheer from the crowd since the Yankees had taken the lead with their 5-run 8th. But then I heard an enormous roar ring out through the entire ballpark. I didn't realize at first why everyone was getting so loud and then I looked out to left-centerfield and saw the bullpen door open up. Enter Sandman began to blaze through the stadium speakers and #42, Mariano Rivera began to jog out to the mound. I honestly never heard a stadium get as loud as it did for when the fans saw Mo run out of the bullpen. The noise was almost as deafening as the jets that flew over 3 hours earlier.

And of course Mo finished off the game (even though he gave up a single and hit a batter) to earn his first save of the season. And Frank Sinatra serenaded us with New York, New York as three guys two rows in front of me kicked up their legs Rockettes-style. Yankee fans were in their glory. I mean, a win was expected at home on Opening Day playing the Royals, but was looking doubtful there for a little while. But the boys in the pinstripes pulled it out (as usual) and sent most people home happy.

Side note, while leaving the Stadium and walking down the stairs from the upper deck, a guy a little bit in front of me actually had the guts to wear his Boston Red Sox hat to this game. As you can imagine, he was getting ripped by a whole group of Yankee fans who said quite a few inappropriate things to him. His girlfriend though (decked out in full Yankee garb) responded by giving them all the finger.

I sat in traffic forever as the end of the game conveniently coincided with rush hour in the Bronx, but it was fine. We sat listening to the Michael Kay show on ESPN Radio as callers called in to worship Derek Jeter. Hey, baseball was back!

Yeah, I'm not a Yankees fan, but it was nice to be able to go to a game again...It had been since August! And the day was truly magical. Opening Day at Yankee Stadium is an experience like no other. I highly recommend you all do it sometime. Definitely worth taking a day off to do.

To see all my photos from the day, go to:
http://community.webshots.com/user/dakid4214

OK I'm spent. Hit me back with feedback!

XII. "I Once Rode An Elevator With Harold Reynolds": My Day at Yankee Stadium

2005-09-25T23:49:00.000-04:00

A chronicle of my day at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, where a few not-so-typical things occurred.

So I woke up early yesterday morning, my brother and I hopped into my car, and we headed to Yankee Stadium. After our short, 13-mile drive over the GWB to 161st St. in the Bronx, I pulled into the first parking garage I saw. I parked on the second level and backed my car into a space instead of just pulling in normally. I did this so that another car would block the view of the Seattle Mariners sticker on by rear bumper. I figured that Yankee fans probably wouldn't take a huge offense to the sticker of a last place team that they really don't tend to worry themselves with. (It wasn't like I had a Boston Red Sox bumper sticker. Then I would have just taken the train in.) But you never know. I didn't want to have some drunken Yankee fan, still bitter about '95, walk by and key my car, slash my tires, or break a window.

I was truly amazed at the number of people who were lined up outside the Yankee Stadium gates at 10:50am. (Keep in mind, the gates don't even open until 11am--two hours before game time.) I later realized that this was the Yankees last homestand of the season and second-to-last home game. But still...It was Saturday morning and it seemed like this was THE place to be at 11am. There were, no joke, thousands of fans surrounding the Stadium.

Before the game, my brother and I were having lunch at a reception in the Great Moments Room. (Oh the perks of being a Loyola College Alumnus.) Anyway, I needed to enter the Stadium through the Press Entrance and a police officer kindly directed me to where I needed to the door. It was right next to the door where all the players were entering. So I found myself in a crowd of people who were hoping to get a glimpse of their favorite Yankees as they arrived.

Since the players were walking me in, a guard would not let me through and told me I had to wait until 11. While we stood there, we saw The Big Unit and Gary Sheffield from afar. We also saw Hideki Matsui drive in. Around 11:05, as players were still coming it, I told him I had a reception to get to and he just let me through. As my brother and I were walking towards the door, I saw Jason Giambi walking from the parking lot. I warned my brother, "Mike, we're about to walk right by Jason Giambi." And we did. Something that really surprised me about Giambi...He's a big guy, don't get my wrong. But he's not as much of a monster as I had expected. I guess when you stop taking steroids, your body returns to normal size. But I was still a little shocked.

So I got to the door and because my tickets were inside, they only let me in and made my brother wait outside. My tickets were not brought down to the Yankee Lobby yet, so I stood around inside waiting for a little while. One of the guys working the desk had a huge World Series ring on his finger, leading me to ponder the thought of whether or not I would wear a World Series ring to work everyday if I had one.

Peaking out the window, I caught a glimpse of Mariano Rivera. My brother called me from outside to ask if I heard all the screams and to tell me that Jeter and Posada drove in together and that Jeter was carrying a bag of Burger King as he walked into the stadium at 11:30--just an hour and a half before the game. I know this was a day game following a night game, but shouldn't they be arriving a little bit sooner? They are in a pennant race you know! My brother also said that Ruben Sierra had enough chains around his neck and a shiny enough head that he looked like Mr. T.

At some point during my wait, I saw my friend and fellow Loyola graduate, Laura, who was at the game by herself. (For the record, Laura is a huge Yankees fan and very knowledgeable about the team and the sport...When I met her Freshman year, I actually asked her to name three Yankees other than Derek Jeter to prove to me her allegiance. She responded with the entire starting lineup and positions. Good enough for me.) So we chatted until my tickets were found and my brother could join us.

We got into an elevator and took it up to the Club Level for our lunch in the Great Moments Room. The room was pretty cool. Both the New York Yankees and Loyola tend to do things up pretty nice so it was kind of what I had expected. Basically, the room displays photos of all the (surprise, surprise) great moments in NYY history--The Babe's Called Shot, Gehrig's farewell speech, Larsen's perfect game, etc. The food was pretty good. The desserts were great. After a while of eating and conversing, I began to forget that I was in Yankee Stadium. It really didn't feel like there was the mecca of all baseball fields on the other side of a few walls. It kind of just turned into a typical lunch in a nice hall.

Around 12:30, we decided to go outside to our seats. On my way out, I decided to stop at the bar and pick up one more cup of soda--for free--since I'd have to pay $4.50 for the same soda once I walked out of the room. As we pushed the button for the elevator in the hallway, a Yankee Stadium attendant told me that drinks are not allowed in the elevators. Promptly after that, an elevator arrived. I decided to just throw out the rest of my soda, rather than wait for the next elevator.

So I walk in and stand in the back corner of the elevator. Laura and my brother are standing to my left. Behind them are a few girls and some guy. Next to them is the woman working the elevator buttons. Next to me is some guy in a t-shirt and jeans and a hat with the brim pulled down over his eyes. He's staring at the floor with his head down. I just quickly glanced at him as I walked in, figuring he was some Yankee Stadium worker or janitor or something.

While we're taking our silent elevator ride down to the Yankee Lobby, Laura taps me from behind and gives me "the eye" aimed in the direction of the guy standing next to me. I knew he couldn't be a player because the game was going to start in a half hour and no player would be in this elevator with us right now. So I took a look at him and realized in about 1.6 seconds that it was Harold Reynolds of the Seattle Mariners and, more recently, Baseball Tonight fame.

So I just kind of stood there staring at Harold Reynolds. It didn't feel like it was for a very long time but maybe it was. I was kind of just shocked to see him there--for a few reasons. (1) I really didn't expect to walk into an elevator and have Harold Reynolds standing next to me. (2) He was dressed in a regular t-shirt and jeans. Not that this should be odd, but the only times I had ever seen him on tv, he was wearing either a uniform or a suit. (3) HR is a really little guy. He is a LOT smaller than me--and he played Major League Baseball!

Well eventually--maybe he sensed that I was staring--he looked up at me and we made eye contact. I figured he didn't want to be bothered so I just said to him, "Hey, how ya doin'?" He said, "Good, thanks," and then put his head back down. I'm guessing that he knew that I knew who he was, but the hat pulled low and the looking at the ground told me he probably didn't want to be bothered. I'm thinking that no one else in that elevator except for Laura knew who he was. I debated saying something else to him, but decided to just stay quiet and not bother him--especially since there were other people with us.

When we arrived in the Lobby and the doors opened, I stood there to let HR out first. Except he was remaining in the elevator to go down further. So everyone else walked out and as I was walking past him to leave, I put my hand on his shoulder and told him, "Hey, I'm a really big Mariners fan," and smiled at him. Immediately, his head sprung up and his eyes went kind of wider and he smiled and said, "Really? Hey, that really cool man!" and kind of giggled a little bit. Then I just walked out without looking back.

Laura, my brother and I just stood there in the lobby for an extra second and, laughingly, said, "That was Harold Reynolds in the elevator," still in a shocked disbelief at the randomness of that. (My brother then said to me, "Oh, THAT'S who that was?! I thought he was someone you knew from Loyola who you were just saying hi to.)

We made our way to our seats in Tier 26. Like I said earlier, Loyola always does it up, so I expected some decent seats. When I handed my ticket to the usher, he looked at it and said, "Oh...Best seats in the house! ALL THE WAY up there!" as he pointed to the top of the Stadium. Row X, Seat 6--Yup, last row, highest up. We were in left field, next to the foul pole in foul territory so it wasn't bad since we could see everything. (Or so we thought...Hideki Matsui dropped a ball for an error in the first and we had no clue what happened as he had disappeared from our view as he ran towards the line.)

A view from "the best seats in the house."

A few random thoughts regarding the game...

Because the Yankees were playing Toronto, we got to listen to "Oh Canada" before the Star Spangled Banner. (I don't really have any comment to make about it, just figured I'd let you know.)

I couldn't believe how full the Stadium was for the first pitch. I always like to get there for the start of the game, but I usually don't see any baseball stadium start to fill up until the 3rd inning. This place was jam-packed.

It seemed as if 90-95% of the fans in attendance were wearing some kind of Yankee clothing--a jersey, a hat, a t-shirt, shorts, polos, anything. A sea of navy blue and pinstripes. I decided that I really like that about Yankee fans. When I went to Orioles games all the time at Camden Yards, I feel like less than half the people in attendance actually wore O's gear.

Looking at Jarret Wright on the mound, my brother reminded me how Wright gives up all his runs in the first inning and that all he needed to do was get to the second without putting the Yankees in too much of a hole.

Wright gives up 4 runs in the first inning to put the Yankees into a bit of a hole. (It wasn't all his fault...Matsui did drop a fly ball--which I saw later on tv--for a big error.)

I love how, after JW gave up three consecutive singles to Blue Jays hitters to begin the game, Yankee fans were already calling for Aaron Small and yelling to Joe Torre (from the upper deck) to yank Wright. I love it how knowledgeable Yankee fans are and how they would be able to manage this team if Torre couldn't make a game or two.

When Torre finally pulled Wright in the second with the bases loaded and no outs, there were some scattered boos, but mostly cheers because Aaron Small was entering from the bullpen. I really don't know why this guy is not in the starting rotation. I listened to Joe Torre on the radio today and he said that he still hasn't made a decision on what Small's role will be for the rest of the season. Are you kidding?! The guy has pitched better this season than Mussina, Wright, Wang, Leiter, and maybe Johnson. The only starter who might be hotter than Small is Chacon. Small is 9-0--most of those wins coming as a starter. His ERA entering yesterday was 3.59 and he threw just about 7 innings, giving up no runs, keeping the Yankees in the game. He's played whatever role he's been asked to play and excelled. Put him in the rotation for crying out loud!!! I know that he's unproven in the postseason, but I think he at least deserves a shot with the way he's pitched this year and with all he's done to help this club out.

Back to the game...

Laura, my brother, and I were intrigued by and analyzed the music played for different Yankees as they walk to the plate. I'm glad that Derek Jeter can stay current with his song picks all the time. Yesterday it was Kanye West's "Golddigger," which I don't hear enough on the radio (sarcasm) as DJ stepped up in the first. Jeter actually had a different song the each time he came to bat. I wonder how much thought he actually puts into that. Maybe he thinks of it while he's digesting his Burger King during pre-game warm-ups.

I also thought it was funny that A-Rod has Jay-Z and Linkin Park's "Encore" mashup played everytime he comes to the plate. Don't you need to actually do something/have an accomplishment before you can have an encore? A-Rod still hasn't truly become a Yankee yet.

In the first, A-Rod hit a 400-foot, 2-run homer to left for his 46th HR of the season. That blast tied him with Joe DiMaggio for most homeruns by a right-handed Yankee. So that was a cool little piece of history.

After homering in his first AB, I figured it was OK that "Encore" was playing at the start of A-Rod's next at-bat.

In the third, the Yankees welcomed the Loyola College Alumni on the scoreboard.

I still love the Yankee Stadium groundscrew's "YMCA" in between the 5th and 6th innings. It has and still is one of my favorite parts of a game at Yankee Stadium. Perfectly syncronized and flawlessly performed. Very entertaining. I wonder how much time they spend practicing it. (They MUST practice it!) I wonder if they spend more time practicing the YMCA than DJ does picking out his AB music. Hmm...

Conversely, Cotton Eye Joe has probably over-stayed his welcome at The Stadium.

Before the start of the seventh inning, Bob Sheppard's voice echoed through a silent Yankee Stadium. "Your attention please..." Now Sheppard's voice just naturally has a serious sound to it. And there was really no reason for him to be coming on the public address system at that point in time. My first thought was that Hurricane Rita did some serious damage and destroyed a whole lot of the Gulf Coast this morning and Sheppard was relaying the news and asking us to say a prayer. Then I thought it could be some other tragedy--a terrorist attack, maybe. Or, possibly, someone important may have died. Hey, it's the world we now live in.

What Sheppard really wanted to tell the crowd of 53,911 was that, with all of us there in the ballpark, the Yankees had surpased the 4 million mark in attendance for the season, becoming just the 3rd professional sports team to do so. ('92 and '93 Jays and '93 Rockies also did it.) Doing some quick math, that meant that the Yankees were averaging over 50,000 people per home game. That's unbelievable! They sold out 41 of 80 home games entering today. That's tough to do--especially in New York where there are so many other options when deciding how to spend a night, a day, or a lot of money. Something else that is great about Yankee fans--how much they genuinely care about their team.

I realized that this could be the second-to-last game that Bernie Williams plays at Yankee Stadium. I was hoping that the Yankee fans realized that also.

Cowboy Up! - Part II...Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The Yankees have a new little phrase: "GRIND IT." Apparently Jorge Posada made up t-shirts for all the Yankee players. They say, "There is no trying...Only doing or not doing...GRIND IT." Hey, the BoSox had "Cowboy Up!" The Yankees now feel enough pressure from a playoff race to warrant creating a catch phrase...a phrase, incidentally, that, if they do make the playoffs, they can print on millions of t-shirts that they will sell for $26.50 and make a ton of money off of. Posada should copyright the phrase now while he still can and get in on the profits!

And at the end of the day, as we walked out of The Stadium, the female rendition of "New York, New York" blared out of the speakers...Apparently we only get to hear Frank after a Yankees win. This must be something new. I was slightly disappointed. (Although, when I was little, I could never understand why the Yankees would play, "Start spreading the news..." after a NYY loss.)

Oh, and sitting in traffic in the Yankee Stadium parking garage for an hour was a lot of fun too! (It actually wasn't THAT bad...And at least my car wasn't damaged or broken into.)

Great day at Yankee Stadium. It had been at least four years since I had been to a game there. One of the greatest ballparks ever. A magical place. Yeah, maybe the mystique still hasn't worn off. (And maybe I should have told Harold Reynolds that I was going to steal his job someday.)

-TSR
thesportsrambler@gmail.com

XI. A.L. MVP: A-Rod or Big Papi? (& MUCH More)

2005-09-23T12:43:00.000-04:00

So with a little over a week left in the Major League Baseball season and a few division races and both Wild Card races coming down to the wire, who is going to make the playoffs??? We'll get to talking about that in just a little bit. There's a lot of my plate tonight so try not to fall behind! Here we go...

*AL MVP Race
Remember, before I'm a Mariners fan or a Yankee-hater or any other title you would like to bestow upon me, I am a BASEBALL FAN. And, though it may be a tad surprising, I can be objective...(when I want to be). That being said, Alex Rodriguez is the American League's Most Valuable Player. I'm not saying that he will necessarily win the award, but I'm saying he is the person who most deserves it and if I had a vote, I would vote for him. I'm sure that there have been other articles written on this subject as of late, but I haven't come across or read any of them. Here's my case for A-Rod.

At this point in the season, A-Rod's only real competition for the MVP award is David Ortiz. Ortiz is a great player, don't get me wrong. That will be a decently close race. To compare the two, let's first look at the things on which the voters will (mistakenly) focus most of their attention--the stats:

Runs: AR- 113 / DO- 114
Hits: AR- 180 / DO- 169
2B: AR- 26 / DO- 38
3B: AR- 1 / DO- 1
HR: AR- 45 / DO- 46
RBI: AR- 120 / DO- 140
Total Bases: AR- 343 / DO- 347
BB: AR- 83 / DO- 94
SO: AR- 129 / DO- 112
SB(CS): AR- 15 (6) / DO- 1 (0)
OBP: AR- .418 / DO- .396
SLG: AR- .606 / DO- .616
AVG: AR- DO- .318 / DO- .300

I actually hadn't planned on mapping out all of those categories, but they were just so close that I had to show you. The numbers for these two guys are just so alike. (That doesn't mean that the two of them as hitters are similar though.) The only noticable differences between them are in RBIs (+20 for Big Papi), stolen bases--I suppose they count for something here--(+14 for A-Rod), on-base percentage, and batting average (+ about 20 for A-Rod in both).

This says a lot about A-Rod. He's got fewer homers, total bases, and walks than Ortiz, but because he gets on base more often than D.O., his run total is only one off of Big Papi's. And even though Ortiz is knocking in a lot more guys than A-Rod, Rodriguez is getting on base for the other hitters in his lineup to get him in--a feat that still contributes to his team's total runs scored which translates into winning baseball games which is what it's all about. (And, by the way, 120 RBIs ain't too shabby either!) A-Rod getting on base more often than Ortiz is more valuable than trading a few extra homers and doubles for outs. The other thing that jumps out at me when I see those stats is that A-Rod has more Ks than Ortiz. That surprised me. His total of 129 also shocked me, but since his average is still there, we'll look past it.

Now let's move on to the two meat points of this argument. Simple put, Alex Rodriguez plays third base. David Ortiz (most games) is the designated hitter. I do believe the argument that some guys (like Giambi) hit better when they are playing in the field because they are more apart of the game, but let's throw that one out right now. (Besides, it seems that Ortiz has hit better as a DH and his defense at first base is average--at best.) Let's just focus on "what you have done for me lately."

Alex Rodriguez goes out there just about every day to third base--one of the toughest positions to play in the field. Ignore the fact that this guy was a shortstop just two seasons ago. He has turned into one of the best defensive third basemen in the league. He did struggle early--remember way back when in April--against the Red Sox...
Actually, while I'm mentioning this, let me digress and share a little something with you.

April 7, 2005 - 2:55pm.
I send an email to Jim regarding this article on MLB.com in which A-Rod is quoted as saying, "I had a feeling the ball was coming my way. I just screwed it up. I didn't do a good job," after making a huge error that cost the Yanks a game to the Sox at the Stadium. This quote was of course was under the sub-headline: "Third baseman knows bobble part of learning position." I hated that "still learning the position arguement" for a number of reasons. But Jim, the true and honest Yankee fan that he is, responded with this email, including his own quote--which I really wish A-Rod would have told reporters instead:

Not a Yankee. Can you imagine Munson or Reggie or Paul O'Neil or Roger Clemens or David Wells saying, "Well, golly, I guess I screwed up but it's ok if we lose one to Boston - it's all part of a learning process for us" or "Well, I'm not upset about blowing two saves in a row, because really, (after I loaded the bases) I struck the one guy out and then A-Rod dropped the ball, so it wasn't really my fault so I don't feel bad." ???!!!!????!!!!????!!!!

"I suck - I've gotten six hundred thousand ground balls in my life - and on the big stage I couldn't handle the pressure. Yankee fans and my teammates deserve much better than this - and they should boo me until I deliver at the $252 million level. I want to be a Yankee - I want to hit my 800th home run as a Yankee and go to Cooperstown as a Yankee and more than anything else, celebrate a World Championship as a Yankee because I have been blessed with the opportunity to join Ruth and Gehrig and DiMaggio amd Mantle and Reggie and Jeter and today I did not help and I hate it and I'll work even harder for the fans and my teammates bc that is what being a Yankee is about. So put it in 40-point font on the back page - A-Rod Blows It - and then ride me hard until I get it right."

Maybe Brosius is looking for some extra cash?

I'm sure the sentiments of many Yankee fans were similar at that time. Not anymore though...In the past week, I have managed to catch parts of a few Yankee games, and it seems like every single night now, A-Rod makes a spectacular defensive play at third base. Most of the times, it seems, the play saves a run. He did it again last night against Baltimore with the tying run on third. Great dive to his left and a strong, accurate throw to first. When hot shots are hit down the line, David Ortiz cheers on Bill Mueller from the dugout as he prepares for his next at-bat. These are the intangibles that MVP voters need to look at.

So maybe A-Rod is behind Big Papi by one run. But every run he saves the Yankees with his great defense, we could add onto his total (since scoring more runs than your opponent is the object of the game) and he would be leaving D.O. in his dust. A-Rod just does more to help his team win. To win the MVP as a DH, you might have to have the greatest offensive season in history and be head and shoulders above all other hitters in the league...and your team had better make the playoffs.

Which brings me to my last point. I always say that to be considered for the MVP Award, a player's team should have made the playoffs or be in the race near the end of the season. When A-Rod was with Texas, there was no doubt he was the best player in the league. But with the Rangers finishing in last each year, I wouldn't have given him a first place vote. (And I'm not saying he didn't deserve the award the year he did win MVP in Texas.) Right now, with the Yanks and Red Sox both fighting for the division crown, Rodriguez and Ortiz qualify in this department.

For picking an MVP though, I ask myself, "Could the player's team have won without him or accomplished what they did without him?" (If the team doesn't win WITH the player, it's hard for me to think of him as a league MVP.) And here's the thing. Without Ortiz in the middle of the lineup, there is no doubt that the Red Sox would be more than one game behind the Yankees in the East. And without Papi, the Sox probably wouldn't make the playoffs this season. However, I feel that they would still be in contention for the A.L. East title at this point in late September.

On the other hand, without Alex Rodriguez, not only do I think the Yankees would be trailing the Red Sox right now, I think they would have legitimately dropped out of the playoff race a few weeks ago. With all the great players the NYY have in that lineup, without A-Rod, the team isn't at where it's at. Sure, they're still sitting in second place, but they're looking up at the Indians and Red Sox by 7 or 8 games in the standings. A-Rod is more than making up for those early-season fielding blunders.

All of that being said, there might be two races going on at Fenway Park on the final weekend of the season. I feel that the A.L. East Division winner will be decided in those three games. I also feel that voters might be persuaded by the performances of A-Rod and D.O. No matter what each of them does, I feel that A-Rod should be MVP. But look at what happened last year--Vlad Guerrero carried his team into the playoffs as an injury-plagued Gary Sheffield took days off to rest because the Yanks had already clinched and the MVP went to Vlad. MVP voters this year might do the same thing--giving it to the player who gets his team past the first weekend of October. (Unlike the Vlad-Sheffield situation, only one of these MVP candidates will be playing in the postseason.)

And now, some other random thoughts...

*Less than 2 weeks left. Who's getting in?

I'll start with the National League since it's quicker and easier:
Even though they haven't officially clinched yet, the Braves won the East awhile ago. It should tell you something when teams that were 3 or 4 games behind them were diverting their attention to the Wild Card race.
Were the Cardinals even challenged for the Central crown? Didn't they clinch before the All-Star break?
Sadly to say, the N.L. West title will be won by a .500 team (hopefully). Even with Bonds, the Giants aren't going to be able to make up that 5 game deficit to the Padres. It will be really bad if a sub-.500 team makes the playoffs though. (Note: There are 6 NL teams with a better record than San Diego, 7 AL teams, and 4 teams just 1 or 1 1/2 games behind them. So at season's end, there is a possibility that the 18th best team in the Majors will make the playoffs!)
Weeks ago, I predicted that Houston would win the Wild Card because all their competitors play in the same division as one another and would just beat up on each other. Well Houston is currently sitting in the Wild Card driver's seat with a 2 game lead over the Phils. (Amazing, considering how the 'Stros started the season.) The Phillies are drastically underachieving this season, as are the Marlins. Their talent is too good for them to be dropping off now. The surprising Nationals are now 6 games out, but should be proud of their season. The Nats are currently 3 games over .500 after the Expos finished 67-94 a season ago. That's some improvement! And the Mets, who I predicted to win 83-85 games this season, are at 75-77, slightly off that pace since they decided to stop playing baseball a few weeks ago.

American League:
As of right now, we have a 6-team race for 4 playoff spots. I feel like the A's (2.5 games back in the West) will drop out of that race as they've dropped out of the Wild Card race (5 games back). So the Angels from wherever they play take the West.
The Central is getting real interesting. Chicago's lead is now 2 games over the Indians. Winning in the postseason is all about getting hot at the right time. Take for example the 2003 World Champion Florida Marlins. You don't have to be the best team during the regular season. You just have to play well enough to get into the playoffs. Then, whoever gets hot can win it all. Cleveland picked a good time to go on a tear. I am wondering they peaked too soon and if this hot streak will carry through into October. I feel like the law of averages has to bring them back down to Earth a little bit. And the ChiSox' lead was too huge to just vaporize. The White Sox will get it together just enough and just in time to have their current 2 game lead hold up to take the Central.
It won't matter that Cleveland won't win the Central however, because the Indians will still take the Wild Card--especially with their easy schedule, full of games against Kansas City and Detroit, and with the Yankees and Red Sox beating up on each other.
That leaves us with the always dramatic, always exciting A.L. East. With exactly 10 games left to play, the Yankees lead the Red Sox by 1 game in the A.L. East.

(I'm sorry, but a little bit of the Yankee-hater in me must come out right now.) What bothers me so much about this is how the Yankees played--not poorly--but, so "average" the entire season. They did not play like a playoff team by any stretch of the imagination. They were never spectacular. But they have somehow managed to get to 26 games above .500. Tonight is the FOURTH night this entire YEAR that the Yankees are in sole possession of first place in the East. (And the only other times that they were in first by themselves were opening night, July 18th, and last night.) But the Yanks have won 10 of their last 11...What did I say about getting hot at the right time?

My prediction? The Yanks and Sox will enter the final three-game series at Fenway Park either tied for first or with the Red Sox leading by 1 game. Either way, the Red Sox will take 2 of 3 games at home (where they're almost unbeatable) and clinch the East...And FOX, for the second year in a row, will not show the reaction on the face of Alex Rodriguez after he is left to ponder his decision to play for the Yankees instead of the Red Sox and as he gets used to losing to Boston. Whatever happens, those are games that I don't want to miss and you know referring to them as "emotionally charged" will be an understatement.

*Comeback Player of the Year
You know, I really don't care about this award at all. I can't even tell you who's won it the past few years. Or ever? I think Mo Vaughn may have won it in '95 or '96--but I only know that because I saw it on a baseball card that I got in a pack. But I suppose I have to pull for my two guys...

Ken Griffey, Jr. is, as I've said before, the hands-down winner of the CPotY in the N.L. He would win it if one was given out in all of MLB. And when I went on MLB.com tonight, I noticed the headline, Griffey to have surgery, done for season. It's unfortunate that his season has to end this way. They say if the Reds were actually in contention that he'd still be playing but don't want to risk further damage trying to win meaningless games.

Still, Junior played in 128 games this season--his most since 2000. His 491 ABs were also his highest amount since 2000. His 35 HRs, 92 RBIs, 85 R, 283 total bases, 54 BBs were his most in 6 seasons. His 148 hits and .301 average were his highest totals in those departments since becoming a Red! And I know those stats aren't a return to true form for Ken Griffey, Jr., but they're a lot better than many other players' best numbers.

My A.L. CPotY is probably going to be a surprise to most of you. I'm taking Richie Sexson. I know the voters won't give it to him and a lot of you are probably thinking I'm taking him just because he's a Mariner, but I truly feel he deserves it.
First of all, the guy is coming back from a legitimate injury, not something like...steroids...ahem. He's put up 38 homers, 117 RBIs, and 96 runs on a bad, last-place team that plays its home games in a pitchers' ballpark. Throw in his 140 hits, 34 doubles, and a .545 SLG and it makes him look even better. That strike out total (160) does definitely hurt him, but I feel that everything else outweighs that when considering Sexson for the ballot.

I suppose the only reason why I know of Richie Sexson's decent numbers and other's don't is because I'm a Mariners fan and Seattle is on the west coast. It's true what they say--players not named Barry Bonds who play on the west coast often don't get the publicity they deserve. (Playing on a last-place team also kind of hurts you too!) But that first part is one of the reasons why A-Rod needed to leave. He knew he wouldn't become the greatest player of all-time if people on the east coast couldn't read the box score in the morning paper because his game ended at 1am EST. (But I'm getting onto a subject that could warrant an entire article of its own.)
In short, Sexson for Comeback Player of the Year.

*Total Randomness
Did anyone check out the boxscore from the 20-1 beat down that the Rockies gave the NL West-leading Padres on Tuesday?! The Padres used 21 different players in the game! Even more amazing was the fact that they only used 5 pitchers. So the Padres played 16 different position players. I don't know if I've ever seen a game or a box score (outside of the All Star variety) in which so many players appeared.
In total, 36 players were used, 21 runs were scored, only 4 homers were hit, and--quite possibly the most amazing feat in all this--the game lasted "a mere" 2 hours and 42 minutes!!! (Oh yeah, in case you didn't realize, the game was played at Coors.)

*Barry Bonds
He made some stupid comments earlier in the week to divert the attention away from the fact that he took steroids. He also hit a few homeruns and moved to within 7 of The Babe. We don't want this post to end on a bad note, so we'll just stop right there and not get into it about BB.

Plus, it's now 12:40 in the A.M. and I need to get up for my real job tomorrow morning. (Hey, until the checks made out to "The Sports Rambler" start arriving in the mail, I'll just have to keep at the daily grind.)

I can't believe the regular season is coming to a close. I feel like there's still A LOT more that we're going to witness before this season comes to a close and the playoffs begin.

Until next time,
-TSR

P.S.- If you would like to send some of those aforementioned checks, email me at thesportsrambler@gmail.com and I'll provide you with a mailing address.

P.S.S.- Even if you don't feel like sending me money, you can still email me your questions/thoughts/comments to thesportsrambler@gmail.com.

X. The Hurricane Hypocrite

2005-09-20T22:27:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I was listening to the Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio. At some point Patrick did a little preview of the two Monday Night Football games. He also mentioned how the games would be a continuation of the NFL's Hurricane Relief Weekend and that there would be a telethon taking place during both games that would allow fans and television viewers to pledge donations to the Gulf Coast Relief. At the end of the short segment, Dan Patrick told his audience, "I will not be watching the football games tonight because if I see
anything more of anything dedicated to the hurricane, I will vomit."

I was only half-listening to this part of the show, but my ears heard this comment that struck me. First of all--and people might disagree with me on this one--but I don't feel that Patrick's comment was insensitive. Whenever you turn on the tv or radio these days, it is an undoubtable fact that you will see or hear something to do with the devestation down South or some plea to make a donation. Even throughout sports...People always say that sporting events, especially during times like this, are an escape--a diversion--that allow people to redirect their attention away from tragedy and focus it on a game for a few hours.

But right now, even sports don't offer that escape. Tune into an NFL game and you will see banners for the Bush-Clinton Hurricane Relief Fund hanging around stadiums. Before and after each commercial break, a graphic with a telephone number and web address is flashed. Switch over to a Major League Baseball game and, although it's not as in your face, the sentiments are still present. It's kind of hard to miss the giant white stickers with the huge Red Cross logo that you see plastered on batting helmets throughout the league. There was even one day on which that red cross was sewn onto the chest of every player's jersey and "1-800-HELP-NOW" could be seen on the sides of the bases.

Again, I'm not against any of these things the leagues are trying to do to raise awareness and funds for the victims of the hurricane. In fact, if you recall, in my entry "VII. No Words" posted about two weeks ago, I said:

*Also on Sept. 7th, players will wear patches of the Red Cross logo on their uniforms and the Red Cross telephone number for making donations will appear on the sides of bases. (Let me just say that I have forever and will always be against putting any kind of corporate/sponsorship logo on MLB uniforms and am against the bases being used as billboards, but I think this is a GREAT idea and very, very acceptable. I hope that tv cameras zoom return from commercial break each inning with a shot of the bases or the logo on the players' uniforms.)

But I don't think it's unfair for me to say that I am kind of tired of seeing and hearing so much about the tragedy and having a constant reminder that (a) people are suffering, and (b) I should donate some of my money. I feel like those of us not in the southern region of the country will never know what it's really like down there at a time like this. What we know about New Orleans and the other parts of Louisianna and Mississippi we learned from the tv and newspapers. And at this point, I don't believe we can learn anymore. We KNOW about the devestation. We KNOW about what's going on. We KNOW what needs to be done and how hard it will be to get it done. And I know that those displaced people who have lost homes, friends, and family have to deal with this everyday, but is it really necessary to constantly remind us of everything? Must part of my mind remain on the Katrina victims as I'm typing a blog entry and watching a Yankees-Orioles game everytime the camera zooms in on a players head and I see the giant Red Cross sticker that blankets the side of his batting helmet?

These two photos were both on the opening page of MLB.com tonight.

Here's the conclusion I came to...

Although I'm not really into thought of having to constantly see these hurricane reminders as I watch sporting events, I am more than willing to accept the fact that I have to. And I have no problem with the leagues keeping all the Red Cross logos and banners on the fields, on uniforms, and in stadiums. I won't be bothered by the fact that they will probably remain there for the rest of the season.

Back in 2001, I was, personally, very touched by the events of September 11th. Without dwelling too much on how I felt, mentally, it was tough to handle everything that had occurred. One of the things that really helped to get through it were some great baseball games. I remember getting to tons of Orioles games and meeting Cal Ripken, Jr. the night before he retired. I remember Curt Schillings moving letter to the American people. But I also remember the American flag patches that were sewn onto the backs of all players' uniforms and the small American flag patches that were sewn onto hats. Stadiums were adorned with bunting, large American flags, and logos featuring stars and stripes were painted on the grass. (Even the official Super Bowl logo that year featured a red, white, and blue United States of America.)

Not only did I not have a problem with any of these actions, but I really liked that the leagues were doing them. I loved the American flag on the backs of MLB jerseys and (despite how international the game is becoming) I wished the league would have left them there as a standard part of the uniform. I went online and ordered a new Mariners hat with the American flag patch. (I didn't get it until a few weeks after the Diamondbacks won the World Series because the demand for the hats was so high.) Each time I saw a flag on a field or a uniform, I knew it was not only a patriotic symbol that supported and united our country, but it was also symbolic of New York City.

I'm not from New York, nor have I ever lived there. But I took a look (or at least a glance) at the Twin Towers every single day for four years during my walk to school during high school. I had a connection and felt like my home had been attacked. The presence of the American flag and support for New York from fans and teams in stadiums throughout the country during that time was a really positive feeling and helped make things a little bit better for everyone here. I couldn't get enough of the 9/11 coverage. I sat in my room for hours on end watching tv news reports and visiting news web sites. It consumed me.

I now have no problem repaying the favor for the people of New Orleans and the other cities affected by a tragedy of another kind. It would be really hypocritical of me to not mind all the acts of patriotism that coincided with sports four years back and not feel that the current sentimental feelings were appropriate, if not necessary. (I suppose I could also be considered a hypocrite for saying there is too much hurricane coverage when I have focused a fair amount of attention on Katrina in, now, three of my blog entries.)

And people do need to be reminded of all that has to be done down South. I have a t-shirt that says "Never Forget September 11th" on its back. Last night, during one of the two MNF games, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said that the league is considering doing another hurricane relief-type weekend in December. This will be a long process to rebuild and the support and help must be sustained. People just can't stop focusing their attention, energy, and dollars after the flood waters recede.
Commissioner Tagliabue is a very intelligent man for recognizing this and I feel that the NFL (and MLB) are and will be taking the right actions to do their part to help out the people who lost so much as a result of Katrina.

I was planning on discussing several of my thoughts regarding Major League Baseball. Hey, there's only two weeks left in the regular season, the Wild Card races in both leagues are heating up, Barry Bonds just hit homer #706, and there is a very interesting development in the American League East which will probably be settled at Fenway Park during the first weekend of October.

But after that post (although I DO have the energy to keep rambling), I just don't feel like bringing up MVP candidates and playoff chases. (And hey, this is one of the few entries in which I'll give you a break and not go on for ever and ever and ever...Cherish it now. The MLB postseason is right around the corner. You're going to be seeing an unprecedented amount of postings from me at that time.)
I'll get right back at you a little later this week though! And, God forbid another national tragedy, I'm done talking about this serious stuff for a while. On deck: strictly sports. So check back soon.

I'm out!
-TSR

Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund
(Come on! With THAT title for this entry, did you really think I wasn't going to give you the link to where you can donate?!)

IX. More Than A Game

2005-09-12T23:24:00.000-04:00

So last week, aware of the upcoming weekend Red Sox-Yankees series, I was thinking for awhile to myself about this rivalry. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I really didn't care a whole lot about a Sox-Yanks series. For the first time in a while, I knew that I wouldn't work my schedule around these games and I would only watch them if I wasn't doing anything else. (I ended up catching a few innings of Friday nights game while I was visiting my mother in the hospital.) Would you believe that I was actually more interested in the kickoff of the NFL season than the Boston-NY series?

I knew the series meant more to the Red Sox than the Yankees. I knew that it was still an important series with playoff implications. But I really couldn't get that excited about it.

Now, these feelings of less than excitement could be a result of watching the two teams face off against each other about 281 times during the past 32 months. But that's not it. It's two reasons that go hand in hand with eachother. And this might not be the first time that you're reading this...

You see, this is the subject I had planned on blogging about this past weekend. The reason why I never ended up writing it is because Jim Caple from ESPN.com beat me to it! In an article entitled, "Red Sox-Yankees? Yawn!" Caple managed to steal my idea (ok, maybe he didn't steal it) and say everything that I had literally planned on saying here in this space. (Maybe ESPN.com should think about hiring me if Jim Caple ever leaves.)

So I chose not to write a story that had already been written. I don't do that. (By the way, although I do respect Jim Rome, I don't listen to his radio show or watch his TV show. I don't do it on purpose. They just don't come on at times that are convenient for me. And I don't pay attention to his comments either.) Let me just quickly make my point about the rivalry though.

First off, although I'm a Mariners fan, I always rooted for the Red Sox. Rooting for them (especially in October) was just the romantic thing to do. I had always hoped that some day they would win the World Series and end the Curse and that their fans would suffer no more. After the 2003 postseason (See: Boone, Aaron), I felt physically ill. I vowed right there that I didn't want Seattle to make a run at the Fall Classic in 2004. I wanted the Sox to rebound and win it all the next year.
And when Seattle was fighting Boston for that A.L. Wild Card in late September, I felt like it was a no-lose situation. (Although, I never really made it a point to root for the Mariners down the stretch.) Hey, I'm still a true Mariners fan, but I didn't feel like that had what it took to do anything in October if they did indeed make the playoffs. I honestly felt like Boston had all the pieces of the puzzle to finally do it.

THIS season though, I really don't care much about the Red Sox. It won't bother me if they don't make the playoffs. I'll probably end up rooting for them later on--but that will be because there really won't be anyone else I'll feel like rooting for. We'll see. But, hey, they won. I don't feel sorry for them anymore. Now I want to see the Cubs win the World Series. (And how about those Mariners...We've suffered too!) It's not romantic anymore to root for the Red Sox.

And these series with the Yankees. They've definitely lost something too. Granted, people argue that the two teams are far from being even and that the ONE postseason series victory for the Sox doesn't balance out the years of torture their division rivals from the Big Apple have offered them since the days of the Babe. But RIGHT NOW, at this particular point in time, it feels like the two teams are equal. When in doubt, I always root for the underdog. Neither team really feels like the underdog anymore though. David has taken down goliath. The magic is lost.

So those people were right. The people who didn't like the Yankees (or a few people who were Red Sox fans) but who took a strange kind of joy in the fact that there was this enduring strife between the eternally second place Sox to one day conquer their arch enemy. I definitely recall a pre-game FOX promo during last season's ALCS--right before Game 4--in which Boston fan Dennis Leary spoke all about Boston and the Red Sox and then, at the end of the segment, said that he didn't want his beloved Sox to win because then there would be nothing to root for.

Switching gears now, but while we're on the subject of the Red Sox...

Mark Texiera just moved into first place in the A.L. RBI-race with 125. Before that however, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez ranked 1 & 2, respectively in that category. (Right now they're #2 and #3 with 123 and 120 RBIs, respectively.)

Now HOW INCREDIBLE is that? Forget the fact that these two guys are teammates. The amazing part is that they bat back-to-back in their team's lineup. I mean, people say that guys who amass a ton of RBIs in seasons and careers need to have a good supporting cast around them. And it's true. It's more of a team stat than an individual one. You can hit all the homeruns you want, but if no one ahead of you gets on base, they will all count for one RBI each.

But if the guy batting in front of you is jacking 40 homers and knocking the guys at the top of your order in, who's going to be left on base for you to drive home? It's amazing that Manny has as many RBIs as he does batting behind Big Papi.

Don't lookup teammates who have led the league in RBIs. I wonder if two teammates who batted next to each other in the batting order ever finished 1-2 in RBIs in their league. It would be nearly impossible to research that, but I'm still curious.

******************************************

And now, TOTALLY switching gears...what I REALLY want to blog about here. My apologies for the length of this entry, but I have a lot on my mind and a lot I would like to say.

I know that I already wrote about tragedy and the country's response to it in this space just 10 days ago, but this is a little bit of a different spin on things.

So how important do we regard sports in this, the good old U S of A? The response to that question will differ depending on who you talk to and I'm not going to answer it for you. But I came to thinking about this on Friday night...

After dinner on Friday, I drove over to the hospital to visit with my mother for a few hours. A little after 8:00pm, we turned on the television in her room. (Keep in mind, the in-room TVs at the hospital at which my mother is staying have a nice little cable package.)

So on channel 2, we began watching the Concert for Relief--a benefit to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. After a while, we decided to flip around and see what else was on...
Channel 4- Hurricane concert
Channel 5- Hurricane concert
Channel 6- Hurricane concert
Channel 7- Hurricane concert
Channel 9- Yankees-Red Sox
Channel 11- Hurricane concert
You get the idea.

All in all, the benefit concert was on 12 different channels. Do you want to know what were on all of the other channels? The Yankees-Sox game was on UPN. TNT had a Nascar race. I think it was ESPN that had a college football game. One of the channels was ESPN News, so that was constant sports highlights. All the rest of the channels had either news reports or specials featuring Hurricane Katrina coverage.

So, basically, if you planned on watching television last Friday night, you had two options: Hurricane programming or sports. That's it.

And although I feel bad for those who aren't into sports, there's really nothing better out there for us true fans of the games so many love. If you think about it, it seems that wherever there was a big tragedy in American history, sports were always there to follow and serve as a pick-me-up.

Baseball brought the nation together during World War II.
The Yankees World Series run lifted the spirits of countless New Yorkers and Americans after 9/11.
Now the Saints seem to be this year's "America's Team" and are bringing hope to people with very little.

Seemingly meaningless games played by millionaires have the ability to unite people. Sports can have an effect on people that is so unique, an effect that few other events can offer--a diversion. Sports can take people into a fantasy world for three hours in which a fan's greatest fear is a double play or being stopped on fourth down.

I remember hearing a sound byte on the radio sometime after September 11, 2001. The speaker had a Boston accent who was seemingly being questioned about his hatred for the Yankees in light of the attacks on New York: "The President says that we should return to our normal lives and normal for me is hating the Yankees."

Some people might shrug off this comment, but I always found it very profound. I can't speak for him, but the fan probably had nothing against New York. He most likely didn't hate the people of the Big Apple. And really, he probably didn't hate the Yankees as individual human beings. But he hated the Yankees--as so many baseball fans do--and, at a time when so many things in so many of our lives didn't make sense, hating the Yankees made sense to him. It was a return to normalcy.

I spent my Saturday night at my little brother's high school football game. It was their much anticipated first game of the season and a great Hudson County matchup--St. Peter's Prep vs. Hudson Catholic. There were one or two thousand people there--easily. People were sitting in the aisles.

Before the game, the public address announcer asked everyone to rise and remember the tragic events that had happened four years earlier. He mentioned how we were lucky enough to be there "in the shadow of where the Twin Towers once stood" to play and watch a football game. He offered a few other sentiments of remembrance before the National Anthem was played.

The moment was subtle, but very touching; a very appropriate and adequate remembrance. It made me think about a piece I wrote last year.

I was taking a sports writing class and our assignment that weekend was to go to the Loyola soccer game and observe and write about how the game observed the anniversary of September 11th (and then to write about the game). Since I was going to be in New Jersey the day of the game, my teacher allowed me to complete the assignment, focusing on my brother's football game. Because of the location of my brother's game--directly across the river from the World Trade Center site, my teacher felt that it would even make for a more interesting piece, as did I.

Below is the article (in its entirety) that I turned in the following Tuesday...

UNDER THE LIGHTS: A REMEMBRANCE

Baltimore, MD--On the morning of Saturday, September 11, 2004, I found myself in my 1990 Nissan Sentra, making the 200 mile drive from Baltimore, Maryland to Northeast New Jersey. As I departed for my journey, my radio was tuned to the AM dial and I listened to coverage of the Phelpstival, which was taking place just a short distance from the place from which I set forth. During the celebration, there was a short prayer and a minute of silence to remember the tragic events that had happened three years previous, but the moments of tribute did not capture the day. This day was about Michael Phelps. This day was about eight Olympic medals. In Baltimore, this day was about sports.

After I lost the signal for the Towson station that was broadcasting the Phelpstival, a major focus of the AM talk radio stations still seemed to be about sports. The NFL season was beginning the next day. In fact, Miami and Tennessee would be playing later that afternoon because of the looming danger of another kind of catastrophe—Hurricane Ivan—in Florida. Furthermore, there were very tight pennant races going on in Major League Baseball and Barry Bonds was nearing 700 homeruns. Even on a more local level—my reasoning for making the three and a half hour trek home was so that I could see my younger brother’s first varsity high school football game—the day was all about sports.

Despite all of that, I was still nervous about what kind of emotions would be brought out that day—both from me and from others. Sports are amazing. They are exciting. They are heartbreaking. They represent a form of entertainment that can captivate so many people. Yet at the end of the day, the games remain just that. When the clock hits 0:00, people must return to the real world. I was very curious and unknowing about what the scene and mood would be like at a mere high school football game back home.

To say high school football in Hudson County is big would be an understatement. Thousands of fans from both St. Peter’s Prep and Hudson Catholic, as well as people from other schools, who were just curious to witness both teams, packed the bleachers at Caven Point Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey. To say I was very surprised by the lack of pre-game 9/11 remembrance ceremonies would have been an understatement. Maybe it was the electrical problem in the stadium that night (which had prevented the use of a scoreboard or the public address system) that inhibited an announcer who might say some words of tribute or commemoration from doing so. There was nothing. Families and friends took their seats, watched the teams warm up, and then cheered as the high schoolers sprinted onto the field while the band played. I looked for American flag patches on uniforms. There were none. The Prep band played the National Anthem—just as they do before every game. However there was nothing out of the ordinary that occurred at the game that recognized the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It felt like something was missing.

On September 11, 2001, 36 residents of Jersey City perished in the World Trade Center and one died in the plane crash in Pennsylvania. The distance between Jersey City and the former site of the Twin Towers is less than one mile as only the Hudson River stands in between the two. By the second quarter (long after the sun had set), twin beams of blue light could easily be seen from the football stadium. Several fans in attendance sported t-shirts that carried FDNY Ladder Company numbers and phrases like “Never Forget” on them and one of the students in Prep’s student section was leading the cheers with a large American flag in his hand, but other than that, it seemed like any “ordinary” high school football game.

My initial thoughts were ones of—not anger—but sadness. Only three years removed and people were already forgetting the terrible events that happened. Why was there no remembrance or acknowledgment of those who had died?

Then I reflected more deeply. The people of Jersey City have not forgotten. Although one might not consider using the term “routine,” thoughts of 9/11 run through the people’s minds everyday. They don’t need an anniversary to take the time to remember. Additionally, now that it is three years later, people are at last looking toward the future. As I looked at the young men doing battle on the artificial turf, I contemplated what their thoughts about playing on September 11 meant to them. The 16 senior members of the St. Peter’s Prep football team had a front-row seat to one of the momentous and worst events in the nation’s history. Many of them witnessed the Towers burning and collapsing from their classroom windows. But the other 51 players wearing the maroon and silver jerseys that night were in seventh or eighth grade when the attacks occurred. Were they even mature enough at the time to process what was happening?

I guess that is what sports does for us. It does more than take our minds out of reality and focus them on enjoyment. Watching the 13, 14, 15, and 16 year olds play a game that they love, leaving all they have out on the field in the process, shows us a glimpse of the future. The young kids showed everyone what is to come. We can remember and reflect on the past, but at the same time, we are able to move on and put our hope in a better future.

In the shadow of the mile-high blue lights, quarterback Ryan Boysen connected with junior Kee-Ayre Griffin on a 55-yard Hail Mary game-winning touchdown pass with two minutes left to secure Prep’s first victory of the season. Opening night on the west side of the Hudson provided an exciting game in which St. Peter’s Prep won. On 9/11, Hudson County watched an exhilarating game in which the boys from Jersey City emerged victorious. We will live on. We will not be stopped. When we are down and the outlook is bleak, we will prevail. And when we don’t win, we’ll come back next time fighting even harder. That seemed to be the best sports tribute on September 11, 2004.

The St. Peter’s Prep Marauders move their offense inside the red zone against the Hudson Catholic Hawks at Caven Point in Jersey City, NJ Saturday night [on 9/11/04] as, behind the field, two twin beams of blue light from the former World Trade Center site shined brightly into the night sky.

Watching the games--and never forgetting, four years later,
-The Sports Rambler
Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund

VIII. I'm Sleepy

2005-09-10T03:02:00.000-04:00

So, being that it's currently 2:11am on Friday night and I've completely and utterly EXHAUSTED at the moment, I figured it would be a good time to write this entry. We'll see how far I make it before I realize this is a stupid idea and go to bed. (I apologize now for any type-os.)

Now part of the reason why I am so extremely tired, why my energy is completely depleated from my body, is because I've had a very rough and frustrating and demanding week. After the day off on Monday, it seemed that nothing wanted to go right at work (until today, which was a pretty relaxing day and I was able to accomplish what I had set out to do). On top of all this, my mother had surgery yesterday so I've been driving straight to the hospital after work to spend a few hours with her. (She's doing ok and should be out of the hospital on Monday or Tuesday.) Let's get on to the sports...which is the other BIG reason why I'm exhausted as this week comes to a close.

TUESDAY
I worked until 8:30pm. When I got home, I heated up some dinner for myself, plopped in front of the tv, and put on sports. I was in such a daze that I really can't recall what I put on. I remember seeing the high(low)lights from the Yankees and Mets games and post-game interview with Jeter and Cano, the last 10 minutes of an interview with Eminem on VH1 (hey, the interview took place at the 50-yard line of some football field), and then the 11:00 SportsCenter.

I had brought work home with me because I hadn't finished it all at work. So that laptop got set up right in front of the tv, and the 11:00 SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight, whatever NFL show comes on at 12:20, and the 1:00am SportsCenter helped to pass the time as I struggled to keep my eyes open as I worked.

I vowed that I would go to bed early the next night.

WEDNESDAY
I was looking forward to the Andre Agassi/James Blake match since Monday when it was decided that the two would face off with one another. I always root for Agassi (who doesn't?)--especially now that he's getting older and running out of chances to win big tournaments. (Side note: I'm really not that into tennis. I think I really only follow it somewhat closely during the US Open--which gets a lot of publicity here in the NY area each year.) I also had to root for James Blake. Not only did he used to be one of the sponsors for Citizen Watch Company--a huge client of the company I work for (Do you realize how many times I've had to watch/hear about how "The Citizen Eco-Drive watch is UNSTOPPABLE--just like US tennis star James Blake!" from my office right nextdoor to the video department???)--but Blake's story is a true comeback/feel good tale. A year ago he broke his neck in a freak accident in practice (running into the net pole), then his father died two months later, then he got a severe case of shingles--temporarily paralyzing half of his face. Not to mention he was a wild card entry into the US Open and started knocking off ranked opponents. So I really didn't know who to root for. (Deep down inside I was kind of rooting for Blake.)

So the USTA web site set the match started at 7 but they lied. The Davenport match actually began at 7 with the Agassi/Blake match to follow. This ended up working out well because I watched part of the poorly played Davenport match, ate dinner, and then was able to watch Braden Looper (predictably) squander the Mets' 9th inning lead, the Red Sox win go final, the Yankees comeback to beat the Devil Rays (Giambi homered while I was flipping to one of the other three matches and I was REAL surprised when the score just instantly changed from 4-3 to 4-5), and the Mets loss to the Braves that essentially ended their season.
By the time all of those had ended, the Agassi/Blake match had just begun (at 10:20pm).

Blake quickly went up two sets to none. (You need to win three sets to win the match for all you non-tennis people out there.) Blake was dominating Agassi in every sense of the word. His quickness was like that of Superman. He was returning everything that Agassi hit at him until Agassi eventually made a mistake. Like the Citizen Eco-Drive watch that he once got paid to wear, James Blake seemed "unstoppable."

Eventually he came back down to earth, began to look tired, and let the pro-Agassi crowd get back into it as the guy who is 10 years his senior ran off a string of points. By the time Agassi had tied the match by winning both the third and fourth sets, my eyes were drooping. My mother was headed to bed (as she was about to have surgery in about 13 hours) and suggested I do the same.

I knew going into it that this was going to be a classic match. I needed to force myself to stay awake. I started to pull my hair, rub my face, lie in different positions on the couch. I needed to not fall asleep. This was going to be one of the all-time great contests.

And it was. It was fitting that a match like that needed to go to a 5th set tie-breaker before the experienced Agassi won it. Most of the crowd (of I think 20,000) at Arthur Ashe Stadium was still there at 1:15am when the match finally ended. Both competitors were exhausted. Blake was and incredibly gracious loser as he praised Agassi. A class act Blake proved to be--another reason to root for him next year. I was mad because I knew this incredible match would get 20 seconds on the SportsCenter highlights and that would just not do it justice.

THURSDAY MORNING
I walked into work, with eyes that were very glazed over from two consecutive nights of minimal sleep, and asked the first person I saw if he watched the match. He told me that he turned it off after the second set. (Don't you know that it's never over till it's over?!) He said he "heard" it was a great match. Ugh! I can't believe he missed it.

The second person I talked to had stayed up until 1:15 and watched the whole thing. He is a huge tennis fan and very knowledgeable about the sport. He said it was one of the best matches he's ever seen and the best match in years. I heard my boss also talking about it that afternoon so I assume he watched it also. Everyone else in the company read about it on Google News.

THURSDAY NIGHT
On my way home from the hospital, I stopped and picked up Wendy's because I didn't feel like cooking while the game was on. Opening Night for the NFL.

I turned the game on at the final seconds of the first quarter ticked away. I watched the entire second quarter, but noticed that my eyes were getting real heavy, real quick. I declared that I would never make it to the end of the game.

So I checked the 23-14 score before I went to bed--with 6 or 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, and then saw the final this morning when I got into the office. It would have been nice to see what the box score tells me was a good game by Tom Brady. I had to succumb to sleep though.

And what's my point in all this? Well, I kinda wanted to just describe my last few nights of great sports to everyone. I also wanted to work that tennis match into this (normally) baseball blog. But I also DO have a point to make...A point that is usually made by people every year during MLB's postseason. So I'll be the first to say it this year I guess...

Sports games start way too late. I'm not saying we have to be like the 1950s and start baseball games at 2:00, 3:00. But when I turn on my TV at 9:56pm and it is still the 1st quarter in an NFL game, I KNOW right then that there is no way I will be able to see the end of it--not when I have to wake up around 7am the next day for work.

It's one thing for my beloved Mariners to routinely start their games at 10:05pm EASTERN time--that's 7:05pm where the game is being played and I'm OK with that. But these post-8:00 start times are killers to us viewers on the East Coast. And it's not fair that we should be missing games/missing the ends of games/completely and totally delierious while watching games.

1994 Stanley Cup Finals, Game 7, Canucks-Rangers
MY guy (Mark Messier), MY team were about to accomplish something that I really had no true understanding of. I hadn't suffered enough of those 54 cup-less years. This was big to me--and I didn't even grasp how big it was until years later. I remember the Rangers winning the title and Messier hoisting the cup up, but it was through half-open eyes. At what time did that game start? (It had to be in prime-time you know!)

1995 ALDS, Game 5, Yankees-Mariners
Arguably the greatest Division Series game in the short history of the Division Series. I was in 7th grade so I still hadn't built up the strength that I would need to survive games and series such as the ones I would watch in the 2003 and 2004 postseasons, and the game did go into the 13th inning, but I think it was around 1:30 in the morning when my mother told me that this was the last inning I would be allowed to watch. My brother--3 years younger than me--had already been sent to bed 2 innings ago. He never got to watch his favorite player, Don Mattingly, play in a game again. (He still despises the fact that Donnie's career ended with a loss to my team.) My life would be different had I not witnessed Junior sliding into home on Edgar's shot down the line off McDowell (as the young A-Rod waited on-deck). Seriously. That series was the collective moment that I truly fell in love with the Mariners--everybody on the team--and I almost wasn't able to watch the greatest win in team history.

I could go on here with other examples, but it's now 2:53am and I think it's way past my bedtime. OK, one more. I think it was the 1997 World Series. I know, I know. Everyone always brings this one up because those games went REALLY late and ALWAYS ended long after midnight. That's not what I want to say. Do you remember that, during the games that were played in Cleveland, it was actually SNOWING?! The games were going so late, that it got cold enough out that it began to snow! When it's cold enough to snow in October, you know that (a) you're playing in Toronto with the SkyDome open, (b) you are in the 23rd inning, or (c) you started the game WAY too late.

This is one of the reason why baseball is losing fans, why baseball is not garnering a new, younger fan base, and why rating for games are down. It's not enough that MLB must now contend with satellite dishes and 1,000 other options for people to tune into at night. They also must deal with their self-created problem of games ending too late.

It's not the length of the game. It's not that there are too many runs being scored that prolong the game. It's simply the fact that the start time is too late. Bump them earlier--ESPECIALLY post-season games--so that ALL of us can watch ALL of the game--even the very end. Even though I know I'll be up watching, I want other people to see the dramatic homerun that won the game so that I can discuss it with them the next day. I mean, if I'm only one of the few to see the fantastic play, then I'm forced to just sit down here at blogspot and discuss it with myself...and all of you of course!

OK, it's officially 3:00am. Time for me to get some shut eye...There's a packed schedule of sports this weekend--including my brother's high school football kickoff tomorrow night. (Yay for live football!)

Tune in next time as I discuss my recent thoughts on the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry and sports in our 21st century American society. (I know, very poor teaser...but it's more of a reminder for me than it is an invitation for you.)

Good night!
-the (tired) sports rambler

VII. No Words

2005-09-02T18:35:00.000-04:00

It's been a little while since I've posted anything. There are two reasons for this:
1) I've been really busy with a few other commitments lately. Work, family, etc.
2) For the last week, when I pick up a newspaper or go on a news web site, I haven't been heading right away to the sports section. Even when I'm at ESPN.com or MLB.com, I usually end up spending the majority of my time reading about the various stories relating to Hurricane Katrina. The images on the news and in the paper are incredible and this is one of the few times (at least in my life) where sports takes a back seat. This is a terrible tragedy--in the end it might turn out to be worse than 9/11--and those people in New Orleans right now are living in a third world country.

That being said, I would first like to encourage people to help the relief efforts in any way they can. If I wasn't employed right now, I would consider letting the Red Cross send me down south to help out. I realize that most people can't offer that kind of commitment, but it will take billions of dollars to get those cities back on track so, if in no other way, we can help out that way.

Since I haven't written in a while, I would like to get a few, brief points out there.
(And if you decide not to read this whole entry now, at least skip down to the bottom and read the last few paragraphs...They are a lot more important than any of the baseball nonsense I will discuss here.)

First of all, the Mets...
Before this series with the Phillies, I said it was the biggest series of the season for the Mets. They needed to win it. After coming from behind on Castro's exciting 3-run homer in the 8th inning of the first game, and knowing that Pedro was pitching the next day, things looked really good for the Mets. But they dropped the next two and are 2 1/2 games behind the Phils and they're going on the road for 3 against Florida (who happen to be pitching their three best pitchers in the series), 3 at Atlanta, and 4 at St. Louis (who are, in case you've forgotten, the best team in the N.L.). It's not like I ever said the Mets were going to make the playoffs. They're done.

Yanks...
Before the Seattle series, I said that the Yanks need to win EVERY series from here on out to make the playoffs. (Remember, I predicted that they would not make the postseason.) The split in Seattle satisfied me as a Mariners fan. The first game really frustrated me because we had the lead and blew it because our pitches couldn't locate fastballs or any other pitches and kept leaving fat ones over the plate for guys like Giambi to hit out. The two wins were satisfying--also good games. The other loss I was able to accept. I was looking forward to that pitching matchup of Johnson vs. Felix Hernandez for a few days leading up to it. It was the first time I was able to see Hernandez pitch--and he didn't disappoint. Even though I had never seen him throw before, it was apparent that the 19-year old kid didn't have his best stuff. He walked 4 Yankees after only walking 5 in his previous 5 starts. He wasn't sharp and still only made two mistakes the whole game. At the start of the game, Sheffield was the only batter who scared me because I knew that he was the only player in the Yankees lineup who Hernandez would not be able to throw his fastball by. Sheff's bat speed is just too quick. Of course, Sheffield added the insurance run by depositing a fastball into the bullpen, but it was still a decent pitch. If Randy Johnson wasn't so on, I feel like the M's could have pulled it out.

Speaking of Johnson, if you haven't heard, he had never thrown off a mound between starts in his career...He had always thrown off a flat surface. Well he threw off a mound before his last two starts and his last two starts have been arguably his finest of the season. He says he's only going to throw off a mound one more time before a start. Why, Randy? If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Props to him the other night though...It was flashes of his old self.

But back to the Yankees...Before the Seattle series, I told my brother that, if they want to make the playoffs, the Yanks need to win EVERY SERIES from here on out. So they split the series with the M's 2-2. OK, we'll say that doesn't kill them--although they really should win 3 of 4 against a last-place team if they're going to be playoff bound. So now they really need to win all of their remaining series. And that begins tonight in Oakland.

I said yesterday that I really think these three games in Oakland this weekend will reveal to us what we need to know about the Yankees. Not only is this a must-win series for them, it would help if they took all three games. If they lose this series, Yankee fans might as well make their October arrangements to do something other than sit in front of the tv at night and watch baseball...(unless of course they want to be watching the Red Sox). Forget about the division--that's lost already. The Yanks need to go for the Wild Card and they need to take out Oakland. I feel like those games against the Devil Rays will actually bring a lot of pressure to the Yankees and that is just funny to think of, but Tampa Bay could really throw a wrench in this whole playoff race.

The other thing that is a huge factor for the Yanks is injuries. I just read today that Tino has a strained rib cage muscle and won't be playing until (hopefully) Tuesday when they return home against Toronto. (By the way...That Blue Jays series at The Stadium...that is a team that the Yankees need to beat three games in a row. I don't think that expectation is unreasonable. It's the Blue Jays!) Mussina will be skipped over tomorrow because something's wrong with his throwing elbow--that's never good to hear. (Moose will actually be replaced in the rotation tomorrow by Aaron Small--what I feel is an upgrade for the Yankees' pitching.) You never know what you're going to get out of Al Leiter and that is a scary thought. Randy Johnson's back could go at any time--plus he's inconsistent. Jaret Wright just took a line-drive off his neck yesterday. It looks like he'll be ok, but you know he will be tentative and flinch when he gets back out there on the mound--all pitchers are after they've been hit--even Pettitte was. It's human nature. Plus, based on his history, are you really comfortable with Jaret Wright pitching a big, postseason game? That means that that majority of the confidence lies with Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small. Hey, I think those two are the best starters for the Yanks right now. But October is a whole different ballgame and I don't see the Yankees winning a series when Chacon and Small are their two best and most reliable starters. (Not to mention that Flash Gordon recently had a dead arm and we don't know what Tanyon Stuertz will show up in the next few weeks.)

I still say it will come down to the end and the Sox will win the series in Fenway on the last weekend of the regular season and that will keep NY out of the playoffs. For now though, the Yanks need to focus on one game at a time, get healthy, and start winning some games if they even hope to have a shot at October.

If only the Yanks had the Mets' starting pitching OR the Mets had the Yankees hitters (+ Mariano Rivera). We could have a New York All Star team that would be playoff bound. But for the first time in a while, I don't see any October baseball in the Big Apple after the first weekend of the month.

Coming Back Strong...
This guy--I think his name was Jason Smith--was filling in for Dan Patrick on the Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio this afternoon. He was arguing that the hands-down, slam dunk winner of this year's Comeback Player of the Year Award will undoubtedly be Jason Giambi.

True, Giambi was beyond terrible--no, TERRIBLE--last season. He was an automatic out. He stunk. This season he has been much better. 25 HRs, 85 BBs, .444 on-base, only 64 RBIs and 57 R respectively (in that lineup, those numbers should be higher), and a .278 average.

Good for him. He's on his way to getting back to be his old self. But he in NO WAY deserves ANY type of award for that. Keep in mind, the reason he was injured and turned into a terrible baseball player was because HE cheated. HE took steroids. HE destroyed his own body. Giambi was brave and worked hard to get back into shape to keep playing, but he was the reason he was forced to come back from something. There is evidence (leaked grand jury testimony) that Giambi was a steroid user. If writers aren't going to give Palmeiro and other players a Hall of Fame vote, they surely will not give Giambi (or Bonds in 2006 maybe) a Comeback Player of the Year vote.

So, with that, the hands-down, slam dunk winner of this year's Comeback Player of the Year Award HAS to go to Ken Griffey Jr. I'm not saying this because he was may favorite player with Seattle. In case you haven't noticed (he somehow has managed to do this all quietly), Junior is putting up SUPERB numbers this season...returning to being his old self...

125 games, 143 hits, 30 2B, 33 HR, 90 RBI, 52 BB, .299 AVG, .569 SLG

So he'll finish the season with over 165 hits, 35 2B, 40 HR, 115 RBI, .300 AVG

What more can you ask for--especially in TODAY'S game where offensive numbers are beginning to go down slightly. (Andruw Jones might be the only player to put up 50 homers this season.) I mean, those are STELLAR numbers. Those stats are also very close to (still slightly under) the numbers he put up with Seattle during his prime--a time when he was considered the best player in baseball.

And Junior's coming back from on-field injuries that occurred while trying to play the game hard--diving for balls in the outfield, running around the bases, and trying to score runs. As we all know, this is not even a typical "comeback" situation--where he had one injury plagued season that he is returning from--that warrants the award. This comeback has been four years in the making. Great job Junior!

(P.S.- We're still missing you in Seattle.)

Lastly...
I was going to mention this at the beginning, but I figured it would be a good way to end since it's kind of the way I began.

"The New York Yankees, in heeding the President's call to help the people devastated by this hurricane in the affected areas, are going to donate $1 million to the relief effort," said owner George Steinbrenner in a statement. "This is one of America's greatest natural disasters and tragedies and it is the responsibility of the American public to step up and help those in need."

As much as I complain about the Yankees and George Steinbrenner all the time, I would like to give them their major deserved props right now. The Boss was the first MLB representative to come forward and donate money to the Hurricane relief efforts. Moreover, Steinbrenner sent the Red Cross a check for $1 million. That's a spectacular act of generosity and he should be applauded for that!

Since then, MLB and the MLBPA have chipped in $1 million, and tons more is being done. A few highlights (for those of us who complain all the time about how much money athletes make and how sports has become a business)...

*Baseball hopes to ultimately raise $3 million
*For every purchase made at the MLB.com store, $1 will be donated to the Red Cross
*The Dodgers raised $200,000 on Wednesday in the Dodger Stadium parking lot
*Hats will be passed around the stadiums at all 15 games on Roberto Clemente Day (Sept. 7th) and MLB will match up to $1 million in funds donated by fans
*Also on Sept. 7th, players will wear patches of the Red Cross logo on their uniforms and the Red Cross telephone number for making donations will appear on the sides of bases. (Let me just say that I have forever and will always be against putting any kind of corporate/sponsorship logo on MLB uniforms and am against the bases being used as billboards, but I think this is a GREAT idea and very, very acceptable. I hope that tv cameras zoom return from commercial break each inning with a shot of the bases or the logo on the players' uniforms.)
*I saw a list of at least 12 other teams besides the NYY who made generous donations also...I'm sure more are to join in.

The NFL is doing a whole lot of things to try and help out also. I won't get into details here because this will just get too long. I'm sure the NHL and NBA and college football teams will also do their part to raise money.

***********
I hope that you have all stayed with me up until this point. I NEED to share this with you.

When you finish on this page, read this article about Atlanta Falcons running back Warrick Dunn. I know about Dunn and his career, but I never really followed him that closely and don't know a whole ton about him. I also couldn't tell you (up until now) if Dunn was considered a "good guy" or "bad guy" in sports.

Dunn is truly one of the best GOOD GUYS.

Brief synopsis...Dunn appealed to all the NFL players to donate $5,000 to the Hurricane relief effort. Now $5,000 doesn't sound like a whole lot for guys who make multi-millions so Dunn's request is reasonable. As he says, if everyone in the NFL can contribute this ammount, the 31 teams of 53 players each would raise $8.2 million. Setting team goals at $260,000 is also a great push. I hope and I believe that the NFL players will come out in full force and respond with a tremendous sense of spirit and push their total contribution to over $10 mil.

When that happens, this plea to his colleagues will be the greatest thing that Warrick Dunn will ever achieve in his professional football career. He's my pre-season MVP.

And finally, Quote of the Week:

"We want to really emphasize above all that sport is a small part of life," Tagliabue said. "We want to use our visibility and the respect we have with the public and the respect our teams have to support the national recovery program. That's the big thing."
-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue

From the sunny outside of my house's front steps,
~The Sports Rambler

American Red Cross Web Site

VI. Playoffs in the Big Apple

2005-08-24T21:45:00.000-04:00

Wow...Look at this...Two posts in as many days for me! (Don't worry, I still have a life...I caught the dramatic Yankees win last night while throwing darts in a bar across town. I can't believe the Jays intentionally walked Jeter to load the bases to pitch to the rookie with the bases loaded. That's a LOT of respect for DJ.)

Anyway, my apologies to those who follow teams in the rest of the continental United States. I live in Northern New Jersey. We focus our attention on and talk about the Mets and the Yankees (and just sometimes, the Red Sox).

Alright...First up, the Mets...

Here's what I've been saying for weeks...The Mets will not make the playoffs this season. They are just too flawed. Even so, they could probably make it to the playoffs if they didn't have to overcome all their divisional oppenents to get there. I'll have to find the email, but before the season began, a few people asked me my opinion of the Mets and whether or not they would make the playoffs. My prediction was a just-over .500 season. My prediction was that they would win 83-85 games. Right now, they reside in 4th place in the tough NL East at 65-60. My prediction is looking SUPERP at the moment.

But seriously, I wouldn't count the Mets out of the Wild Card race--except look at the other teams in that race: Philadelphia, Florida, Washington, and Houston. The Mets will have to overcome three teams from their own division--teams that they will play a whole lot of games against. You could argue that the situation is one which puts the Mets in a position to determine their own fate and not have someone else do it. Well, when the Phillies are playing Florida, or when Florida is playing the Nationals, who are you going to root for? This is precisely why I felt the Wild Card winner would not come out of the East this year. All of those teams will just beat up on each other.

The Mets are currently sitting 2 games out of the Wild Card leading Phillies and they have red-hot Seo on the mound tonight against Arizona. That should be a win, so we'll put them at 1 1/2 games out. So they should make it very interesting--especially if Carlos Beltran finally decides to get hot. Max Kellerman is predicting Beltran to get "white-hot." That is VERY feasible. He's TOO good a player NOT to get hot at some point this season.

One more thing...Actually, the discovery that inspired this post. We all know that the Mets cannot win on the road this season. They are 15 games over .500 at Shea (40-25), but 10 games under .500 (25-35) away from Flushing. So their inability to win on the road is a big reason people don't have them contending for a playoff spot (myself included).

But what I looked at today are the road records of all 16 National League teams. You know what I found? (This might surprise you.) Take a guess how many of those 16 teams have a winning record away from home this season? Exactly ONE--the St. Louis Cardinals, the top team in the Major Leagues, who boast a 38-22 road record. So maybe I only hear about the Mets' road woes and no one else's because I live here in the tri-state area, but how come people aren't mentioning this? Granted, not every NL team is 10 games under .500 on the road, but things balance out a little bit when you realize that the Mets have the 4th best home record in the league (and only a half a game worse than the Cardinals home record).

In the end however, I feel the Mets will do to their fans what they do it seems every year...Play really good baseball at the end of August into the start of September and then take a nose-dive that takes them right out of the postseason race. There won't be a total collapse this year, but the Mets just don't have the offense to sustain their season into October.

Like I said at the trading deadline, the Mets should look towards 2006. Even if they DO make the playoffs this year, are they really a World Series-caliber team? Hell no! Not even close. They should have dumped Piazza at the deadline to ANYONE who would be willing to give them ANYBODY and move on with their talented young core of players. Still, Minaya's doing good things over there in Queens.

***Intermission***
A little Triple Crown talk before continuing with the playoffs...

OK, did anyone honestly think that Derek Lee would make a run at the Triple Crown? It's a nice thought and all (wishful thinking), and Lee is a great player. (Everyone in my fantasy league thought I was nuts last year when I traded Bagwell for Lee straight up mid-draft. I was so mad I couldn't draft him again this season.) But come on. He's Derek Lee. He just couldn't win the Triple Crown. (I apologize for that being my argument...It's not my sole reason. I just don't feel like getting into it right now.)

So now that Lee is 1st in AVG (17 points better than 2nd-place Miguel Cabrera), 2nd in HRs (3 behind Andruw Jones), and 6th in RBIs (5 behind Andruw), why are people giving up on him? A lot of people thought at the All-Star break (if he stayed healthy), he could make a run at it. He's really not that far off the pace. And he's got a nice lead in average--possibly the toughest component to pull off since HRs and RBIs have a direct impact on one another.

However, how come people don't talk more about Albert Pujols when discussing the Triple Crown? He's 3rd in AVG (20 points behind Lee), 4th in HRs (7 behind Andruw), and tied for 1st in RBIs. And looking at his consistency throughout his short career, you could make a case that Pujols could make a run at the Triple Crown any year. I'd put money on him before putting it on Derek Lee.

***OK, back to the action.***

First off, Shawn Chacon. My first "I Told You So" in the history of The Sports Rambler. If you go back not too long ago and read Post IV in which I rambled at length about the Yankees, you'll notice how I was predicting great things from Chacon in pinstripes. So far Chacon is 2-1 in 5 starts with a 1.64 ERA, 22 Ks, 11 BBs, and 6 ER in 33 innings. People are talking about Mussina being the only consistent Yankee starter. (They might not anymore after tonight's 5th inning meltdown.) I think Chacon has been the most solid start for the NYY as of late.

One possible contribution to Chacon's success in the Big Apple that I've been wondering about lately is the lack of pressure. When guys like Randy Johnson or Alex Rodriguez come to play in NYC, immense amounts of pressure to win comes with them. The Yankees' rotation was in such shambles when Chacon came over from Colorado however that the general mentality was, ANYTHING this guy does out there on the mound will be better than what our other options will be able to give us--so we'll take whatever we get from him.

What Chacon has given the Yankees is more than they could ever expect of him. He has kept them in games and given them a chance to win every time he has been out there. (He gave up a single run in his only loss as a Yankee--to the White Sox.)

So regarding the rest of the team...After losing two games in a row to the Devil Rays, all of the papers had Torre's mug on the back cover. People were questioning his leadership and there was talk that he would be canned if the Yanks don't make the postseason. I heard the Yankee players had lunch that day and discussed the situation and decided that they really needed to start winning because they didn't want the responsibility of Torre's firing on their heads. And with that, the Yanks have won 9 out of their last 12 games. After that lunch meeting, I knew they'd go on a tear. (I actually would have predicted them winning 11 of 12.) Typical Yankees.

One big thing that I've noticed the past few weeks about the Yankees is that their problems haven't routinely been their pitching--which is the negative that everyone is focusing on with this team. Let's look at the amount of runs the Yankees scored in their losses this month:
5, 4, 5, 1, 1, 3, 6, 2. Right now they're being blanked 9-0 by Toronto entering the 7th (at the Stadium).

If the Yankees are going to win games this year, their offense is going to need to manufacture more than 1, 2, 3, or 4 runs. Depending on the night, with their questionable pitching, 5 or 6 will clearly not be enough. (8 runs in 3 innings tonight won't be enough, and that was with their "most consistent pitcher" on the mound.)

Still, for some reason, I feel like the Yankees have a better shot at making the playoffs than the Mets do. After tonight, the Yanks will be tied with both Oakland and Cleveland for the Wild Card lead with 27 games left to play. They won't be playing too many more games against the A's and Indians so they will have to beat everyone else they play. There's a lot of games against the Devil Rays, Blue Jays, and Orioles still left on the Yankees schedule (teams that are a combined 27 games under .500 this year). These are teams that the Yankees should beat. (Amazingly, after tonight they will be 15-19 against those three teams this season.)

But the Yankees need to overcome the A's who were on an unfathomable hot streak before going cold (but don't count them out) and the Cleveland Indians. (I just can't see the Indians making the playoffs.) The Twins will make it an interesting four-team race. Forget trying to catch Boston. The AL East is out of the question for New York.

So am I changing my thoughts and predicting the Yankees to take the AL Wild Card? Two words--NO WAY. And it's not because I don't like the Yankees. I just don't think they have what it takes. You can't tread water for 130 games and then just sprint to take the tape at the finish line. Their pitching is still very questionable. (Randy Johnson was pretty shaky--to say the least--his last start.) And once the pressure of not making the postseason for the first time in the Joe Torre era begins to mount during the last few weeks of September, the feel like the Yankees will crumble.

Here's what I am thinking...(And how sweet would this be for all you Boston fans out there?) By the last weekend of the season--Sept. 30th, Oct. 1st, Oct. 2nd--when the Yanks travel to Fenway park for their last regular season series, the Red Sox will have already clinched the division title and will be getting their rotation set for the playoffs. The Yankees however will need to win 2 or 3 games that weekend to win the Wild Card. The Red Sox will have a little something to play for. They will have the opportunity to keep their hated rivals from making the playoffs--one year after pulling off the biggest comeback in MLB postseason history against them.

In that situation, the Red Sox will have fun pounding the Yankees pitchers as the boys in pinstripes self-destruct and A-Rod is nowhere to be found until we see his purple lips again in Tampa in March.

No matter what, as we said back during Spring Training...It's gonna be a lot of fun to watch!

V. In A Word...MANNY

2005-08-23T23:36:00.000-04:00

Manny...Come on...Isn't that enough said? (Right now half the people that just clicked to this page are approaching this column very cautiously, wondering what I have decided to say about the quirky Red Sox leftfielder.)

OK, take a look at Manny Ramirez's career stats. In fact, wait until you're done reading this before you do so. (I can't believe I'm directing people away from my page.)

I was thinking about Manny a little bit a work this morning before my day got crazy. Two nights ago, after a bunt single by David Ortiz, Manny smacked a two-run homer in leading the Sox to a 5-1 win over the very respectable Anaheim Angels. (Sorry, I still can't refer to them as the LA Angels of Anaheim.) Right now, Boston is sitting in 1st place in the East, 20 games over .500, and currently leading the lowly Royals 5-0 in the 8th. Did anyone realize that the BoSox are 20 games over .500?! And did anyone notice that they currently have the 3rd best record in the Majors (behind the Cardinals and ChiSox)? I thought that the Red Sox pitching (starters and bullpen) was in shambles this season. Their team ERA is a whopping 4.81--good for 24th in the Majors. Let me also add that Boston is 23rd in MLB with a .982 fielding percentage. So how are they doing it? I thought pitching and defense are what win championships...

I'm not at all straying from my belief that offense only wins games while pitching and defense reign supreme in October. However, the Sox' offense is truly carrying them despite their pathetic performances in other departments.
Entering tonight's action, the Red Sox are...
*1st in the Majors in batting average (.284). (2nd - Detroit, .275)
*1st in the Majors in runs (696). (2nd - NYY, 665)
*1st in the Majors in hits (1211). (2nd - Cubs, 1182)
*1st in the AL (2nd in the Majors) in doubles (261). (Reds, 267 / Indians, 254)
*5th in the AL (7th in the Majors) in HRs (147). (Texas, 203. Cincy follows with 179)
*1st in the Majors in RBIs (660). (2nd - Texas, 634)
*3rd in the Majors in total bases (behind Texas and Cincy)
*Get This: 1st in the Majors in walks (493). (2nd - NYY, 484)
*1st in the Majors in on-base percentage (.360). (2nd - NYY, .353)
*3rd in the Majors in slugging percentage (.456). (behind Texas and Cincy)

So truly, the Red Sox are slugging their way into the postseason. I know that the last few years, the Sox (by the numbers) have been up there with some of the greatest offenses of all-time. (Yes, all-time!) And a lot of people did focus on their lineup.

So, what? Have people taken their hitting for granted? This is an incredible feat--ESPECIALLY this year, when offensive numbers are down with pitchers' ERAs and hitters seem to have come back to an earthly level. (Amazing what happens when you stop taking steroids.)

Now I'm not saying at all that I think any of the Red Sox players are on any kind of performance enhancing drugs. Until they test positive, they're innocent and just great hitters in my mind. And no one in the team's lineup has been a better or more consistent hitter than Manny Ramirez.

Say what you want about this guy (God knows there's plenty to say), he's a great, pure, power hitter. Ever watch him at the plate. Manny is in Manny's little own world--probably tuning out everything else. All he does is hit--and produce runs. He can hit when he's happy, unhappy, sick, about to be not-traded, after not being traded, any time of day, any situation--pressure or not.

We just took a look at where the Sox stand as a team compared to other teams, so let's take a real quick look over where Manny stands among his peers THIS season...
*5th in the AL (9th in MLB) in runs. (Damon and Big Papi--two guys who bat in front of Manny are both 2nd and 3rd in the AL in runs (87)--something for which Manny is pretty much solely responsible).
*2nd in the AL (5th in MLB) in HRs (33).
*1st in MLB in RBIs (111).
*7th in the AL (15th in MLB) in total bases (243).
*7th in the AL (19th in MLB) in walks (62).
*2nd in the AL (4th in MLB) in slugging percentage (.593).

OK, OK, I know. His numbers aren't incredibly out of this world. They don't totally jump off the page and catch you in the eye. But come on. The guy is top 7 in the league and top 20 in MLB in THOSE categories. You wouldn't want him on your team in the middle of your lineup?

The thing about Manny is, his odd behavior (to say the least) ends up overshadowing his consistent dominance at the plate each year. (Yes, that's right--DOMINANCE.) He wasn't a World Series MVP for nothing people.

Once again I managed to make my blog entry long-winded...

My point of this whole thing is to put Manny in an historical perspective.

Manny Ramirez was born on May 30, 1972. (10 years to the day before Cal Jr. began his consecutive games streak.) That puts Mr. Ramirez at the age of 33. 33 is not old at all. 33 is the prime of his career. 33 means (if he doesn't get injured), he should have a few more "great" seasons and then a few "very good" seasons after that. If he sticks around longer than that, he's a good enough hitter to have a few more "resonably productive" seasons.

I suppose now you can go look at Manny's career stats page. In his (almost) 11 1/2 full seasons in the Majors, Manny has amased 1154 runs, 1877 hits, 406 doubles, 423 RBIs, 1381 RBIs, a .314 career batting average, a career on-base percentage of .409, and a Bonds-like .599 slugging percentage. Over the past 7 seasons, he's averaged 40 HRs and 128 RBIs a year. That's SICK! Has anyone ever done that over a period of time as long as 7 years??? (James, anyone?) I feel like A-Rod is the only one who could put up those kinds of numbers. I am not going to bother checking the stats, but I feel like Bonds would fall behind Manny here.

So let's say Manny puts up another 7 HRs this season, giving him 40 on the year and 430 for his career. Do a little more math and we figure out that if he hits 40 HRs a year for the next 5 years, Manny's got 630 HRs by age 38. 38! I don't think passing Willie Mays is a long-shot for Manny Ramirez.

One thing about Manny that I feel is that he won't stick around for a long time. If the Red Sox or whatever team he's on aren't very good and he doesn't have a good surrounding cast and his team is not winning, I feel like Manny will just pack it in. (It's not like he needs to keep earning a paycheck to feed his family.) He also doesn't seem to care about records.

When he's done however, Manny Ramirez could VERY REALISTICALLY have a line that looks something like: 680 HR, 2300 RBI, .310 AVG., 2000 R, 605 2B, .590 SLG.

If he finished with those exact above numbers, here's where Manny would rank all-time in those departments (based on present-day stats):
HRs - 4th
RBIs - 1st
R - 7th
2Bs - 10th
SLG - 8th
(plus a + .300 career batting average)

The CRAZIEST part about this whole argument is that these are REALISTIC projections. I didn't use any crazy mathematical formula to figure them out, and I'm not guarranteeing anything...I'm just saying that these numbers are attainable for Manny. He's too good a hitter for them not to be. The question will be how much he wants them. I honestly feel he has a shot at challenging Aaron's RBI record if he has a lineup like the current Red Sox one surrounding him for the majority of the rest of his career.

Manny Ramirez...Top 10 player all-time? No way. He'd be up there on my list, but never top 10--even if he DID reach all of those plateaus mentioned above. But he's the closest you're going to get to a sure thing at the plate and on your Hall of Fame ballot the first time around.

Ah, Manny...Just like I was at the beginning of this post, I'm just shaking my head and smirking. If only we were all so lucky to be the best at what we do and not even know (or care) about it.

IV. The "Team" Concept...Pitching...the Yanks...even Roger Clemens...This is a LONG one!

2005-08-14T21:26:00.000-04:00

There's no "I" in "TEAM," as the old saying goes. And it's been proven true over countless years that one, single superstar cannot carry a baseball team. Unlike basketball, in which a Michael Jordan or Allen Iverson can take over a game, one single player in baseball cannot carry a team on his back. Being a Mariners fan, it was always great to have Ken Griffey Jr. on the team. But once Junior batted, you had to wait for eight other guys to hit before The Kid would get up again. Randy Johnson was an amazing pitcher to have on the mound. But he was usually only out there every fifth day. It's hard to argue that baseball is not a true TEAM game.

Furthermore, I want to argue that a TEAM of many superstars doesn't always get the job either. There's that little thing called team chemistry that is a huge factor. (Even though they didn't win the World Series, I'm pretty sure that the 2001 Mariners who won 116 regular season games would be listed in the baseball dictionary next to "team chemistry.") It's not always easy for a team full of big-name (and usually big-ego) players to all coexist with one another on a diamond for 9 innings a day.

Last week, the Chicago White Sox brought their best record in the Major Leagues into Yankee Stadium for their first matchup of the season with the Bronx Bombers. I can't believe that people were saying how this series was a true test to see if the ChiSox were for real or not. How about thinking it was a huge test for the Yanks to see if they've got what it takes to make it to the postseason?

I started thinking...How many White Sox players can I name? There's Frank Thomas, but he's injured and out for the rest of the season. There's Paul Konerko (who was an All Star because he's hitting a ton of homers), Scott Podsednik (who's stealing a lot of bases), Aaron Rowand (who I drafted on my fantasy baseball team back in March), and pitchers El Duque Hernandez and Jose Contreras (who were both big name pitchers with the hometown New York Yankees). Oh yeah, Freddy Garcia (former Mariners ace) is one of their pitchers too. And Mark Buehrle (who I just heard of this season because he started out like 8-0 or something.) Umm...That's about all I can name.

So how did the White Sox manage to get themselves into first place in Major League Baseball and I can only name two regular position players and one starting pitcher who doesn't have any affiliation with the Yankees or Mariners? I mean, if you made a list entitled "Superstar Baseball Players," would ANY of the White Sox be on it? I think not.

I think I'm rambling a bit too long about my point.

The Yankees have a payroll of $205,938,439. The White Sox are way down on that list (13th to be exact) with a payroll of $75,228,000.
Let's compare starting lineups to see who has the "advantage":
1B- Giambi / Konerko - PUSH
2B- Cano / Ozuna - CANO (Who the hell is Ozuna?!)
3B- A-Rod / Blum - A-ROD (The best player in baseball)
SS- Jeter / Uribe - JETER
LF- Matsui / Podsednik - MATSUI (even though Podsednik beat out Matsui in the All Star Game's Final Vote)
CF- Williams / Rowand - ROWAND
RF- Sheffield / Dye - SHEFFIELD
C- Posada / Pierzynski - PUSH (you guys can argue this one out)
DH- Tino/Womack / Everett - EVERETT

So that's 5 for the NYY, 2 for the Sox, and 2 Pushes.

Obviously pitching plays a huge role in winning games and, right now, the Yankees' rotation is in shambles. Their bullped is considerably better however.

I had set out at the beginning of this piece to explain why team chemistry and having all of the right pieces to the puzzle is more important that having a whole bunch of superstars on the team. But I just realized that I can't. I feel like I've just wasted your time with this post. Just consider those numbers though and draw your own conclusions. For some unexplainable reason, having a lineup full of guys who can hit the ball out of the ballpark is not as favorable as having a lineup of a few guys who can do that and a few guys who can do "the little things."

With the state that their starting pitching is in right now though, I'll bet Brian Cashman and the Yankees are wishing that El Duque and Contreras were still pitching in pinstripes. You know, the Contreras thing I could understand. But I NEVER got the whole "Yankees letting Orlando Hernandez go" thing. I remember when it happened. I was really surprised. I told my brother that they would miss him and I think he agreed with me and wished the Yanks kept him.

If for NO OTHER reason, the Yanks should have kept him around just for October. Let's take a look at Mr. Hernandez's postseason stats with the Yankees from 1998-2004. (Keep in mind, Hernandez pitched in the postseason every one of those years except 2003 so the sample size is very nice and we can safely tell the kind of October pitcher he is based on his numbers.)

4 AL Division Series: 3-1 in 6 games (3 of them as a starter), 1.98 ERA (6 ER in 27 1/3 innings), 21 Ks
5 AL Championship Series: 4-1 in 7 games (all as a starter), 3.26 ERA (17 ER in 47 innings), 46 Ks
4 World Series: 2-1 in 4 games (all as a starter), 2.28 ERA (7 ER in 27 2/3 innings), 34 Ks

13 Series Postseason Totals:
10-3 in 17 games (14 as a starter), 2.65 ERA, 9-3, 102 innings pitched, 30 ER, 101 Ks.

I don't know where his ERA ranks in terms of postseason performances (I looked and I only found the top 10 which were all under 1.000), but--especially in today's game--that's beyond phenomenal. You're the Yankees...You KNOW you'll be playing in October every year. For what reason would you NOT want this guy on your team?! I mean, you're spending $19 mil on Mike Mussina, $15.7 mil on Kevin Brown, $9 mil on Carl Pavano, and $5.667 mil on Jaret Wright. How do these clowns all stand up in the postseason?

Mussina: 6-6 (1-1 in the World Series), 3.16 ERA
Brown: 5-5 (0-3 in the World Series), 4.30 ERA
Pavano: 2-0 (0-0 in the World Series), 1.40 ERA
Wright: 3-5, 7.24 ERA

Wow...Those numbers for Pavano actually really surprised me. Of course, Pavano only started 2 of the 8 postseason games that he pitched in.

So as a Yankees fan, do you honestly feel confident in running any of those guys out to the mound in a big game in October? I'm not even going to ask you how you feel about Al Leiter's, Aaron Small's, Scott Proctor, or even Chien Meng Wang's October prowess.

Looking at the level that the ChiSox are at right now compared to where the Yankees are and looking at the pitching staffs of both teams PERFECTLY exemplifies that FACT that pitching is much more important than offense if you hope to win a world title.

I've got to say though (WARNING: This is my ever-so-occassional "gotta hand it to the Yanks" comment)...Props to the Yankees for hanging in this pennant race. They've been plagued by injuries all season--and not only to their starting rotation. Bernie, Giambi, other guys here and there. And somehow they have managed to keep pace and remain just 4.5 games behind Boston in the East and 2.5 behind Oakland in the Wild Card. Maybe THAT is what having all the superstars allows you to do--tread water a bit longer before sinking.

I think I'll keep going now that I've begun to warm up...

Shawn Chacon--Excellent trade for the Yanks. Most people around here didn't know him at all and the primary mentality about him was, "Hey, he's GOT to be better than whoever else we'd run out to the mound!" This is very true. What is also true about Chacon is that he's a good pitcher. The Yankees scouts did some good homework.

Two seasons ago, I picked up Chacon on my fantasy team. Yeah his ERA was bigger than Mr. Met's head, but the wins were there (back when Colorado knew how to win) and all his other stats like WHIP and Ks were also decent. I thought Chacon was good enough to pick him up again on my team last season. (My fantasy team last season, I might add, went on to run away with the league championship.) The only thing that was making him look really bad was that his ERA was high and his wins were down. Well getting out of Colorado will undoubtedly help that ERA and playing on any team other than the last-place Rockies will help that win total. Good pick up NYY!

Some other random notes...

*For all of you true baseball fans out there, when the Yanks were playing the White Sox last week and my brother and I were discussing at the dinner table, my MOTHER chimes in with, "The White Sox. Haven't they not won the World Series in a really long time? Like since before Boston?" Yup mom! That's right. 1917. The year before Boston last won the World Series before winning it last season. Most people don't realize that there are/were other teams more cursed than the Red Sox. My mother somehow knew this and it really surprised me. "They're who I'm rooting for to win this year," she added.

As many people knew, after the Aaron Boone homer in 2003 and the expansion of this whole Curse of the Bambino theory, I was rooting for the Red Sox to win it all in 2004. Once they did that, I was done rooting for them. I said that I was now throwing support towards the Cubs. However, maybe I should consider rooting for the boys from Chicago's South side.

*I read the other day that MLB officials are considering bringing the 2008 All Star Game to Yankee Stadium. That will be the final season of play in The House That Ruth Built before the Yanks move into their new digs in 2009. I think it's a great idea. I'd love to see the All-Star Game (and HR Derby) at the Stadium.

It got me thinking however, I wonder if the Yanks are going to name the new ballpark "Yankee Stadium." I swear, I will be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO mad if Steinbrenner sells the naming rights to the stadium to some corporation and I have to visit Bank of America Stadium to see a Yankees game.

One final point that I would like to touch on before this ends and I would like to thank all of you who are still sticking around to read it. (And I apologize if I have bored you...This has been a long one. I'll try to be shorter and more concise next time...This stuff has been in my head for almost a week now though!)

How GREAT has Roger Clemens been this season?! Most people know that Clemens to me is almost up there with A-Rod in terms of people I strongly dislike. But let's put all that aside right now.
How come more people aren't talking about Clemens and how people aren't making more of a big deal of his accomplishments this season?!

Let's look at yesterday's box score for the Pirates-Astros game:
Clemens: 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 9 Ks
Just another ho-hum day for Roger.
And because the Astros couldn't score him any runs and the Pirates won 1-0, the game is even more typical of a Roger Clemens game this season. The guy is 11-4 this season which isn't too shabby. But he should be on his way to a 20-win season!

Clemens has started 24 games this season. His WORST outing was when he gave up 4 ER in 5 innings at home against the Cardinals on June 5th. A quality start is defined as a game in which a pitcher goes at least 6 innings and give up 3 runs or less. You know how many of Clemens' 24 starts this year can be classified as "quality" ones? 22!!!

His ERA is a miniscule 1.32. The next closest to him in that department in the majors is Chris Carpenter at 2.25--almost a full run higher. He's got 148 strikeouts this season--putting him 6th in the majors behind Jake Peavy, Pedro, Santana, Carpenter, and Randy Johnson.

And how about that infinitely impressive Road ERA? 0.37! (3 ER in 73 innings)

If Clemens finishes the season with an ERA of 1.32, that would be the 20th lowest ERA in MLB history. That 1.32 would be the lowest ERA since 1918 (ironically) except for Bob Gibson's 1.123 in 1968.

I have no idea where his road ERA stands all-time, (I looked but to no avail) but it's got to be superb.

Oh by the way, Clemens just turned 43.

This is one of the best and most dominant seasons for a pitcher in Major League HISTORY. And its questionable whether or not he'll win the Cy Young Award. Geez...It's the same problem that Randy Johnson had last year with Arizona. You pitch great, your team doesn't score runs, you don't get wins, you get passed over by the Cy Young voters. Clemens is going to pitch the Astros right into the postseason! (Another prediction: The 'Stros WILL win the NL Wild Card.)

Let the NL hitters whose bats can't touch Clemens vote for the Cy Young Award and I think he stands a good chance at beating out Carpenter, Willis, Pedro, and Co.

But for now, I'm out! Enjoy the baseball kids!

III. From The Archive: My “A-Rod Letter” Revisited

2005-08-11T18:16:00.000-04:00

I knew that eventually, someday, I would create a blog. And I also knew that when I did, my first official entry would be a piece of writing that I would dig up from the vault. When mentioning the blog to Jim Quirk, he told me that the email that I sent to people the day Alex Rodriguez became a Yankee should be my first post. I had already planned on that.

Most people who are reading this blog already read (or received) this email. A little background though...
On Monday, February 16, 2004, Alex Rodriguez officially donned the pinstripes for the first time. I spent the entire day frustrated and mad at the world. I wandered from class to class, but could not pay attention in any of them. In fact, I was so irked by the whole situation, I could NOT get A-Rod out of my head. I was in a bad mood the entire day.

Considering the facts that (a) I am a Mariners fan, the team that raised A-Rod, (b) that I am a huge baseball fan, (c) I hate the Yankees, and (d) I always have an opinion, I figured that lots of my friends and fellow baseball fans (and of course the Yankees fans) would approach me or email me that night and want to discuss the trade. So to save time and energy (and probably as a kind of healing for myself), I decided to sit down and the computer and type my "epic." Hey, players and teams can issue press releases...So could I! As it turned out, this email would go on to become some sort of famous amongst this little emailing group. One year later, on February 16, 2005, I re-emailed it out to the group again (as well as to a few new people who had joined the baseball email train). Thinking about all of that, I had to make it my first entry in my blog...because it really was the piece that really got me going in writing stuff like this (and would eventually lead to this blog).

So here you have it. Below is the text copied from my email box. Underneath it are some interesting things...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From: David Lang
Date: Monday – February 16, 2004 6:57 PM
Subject: Dave’s Official Statement Concerning Alex Rodriguez

OK, so I decided to type a little email to Prof. Jim Quirk, Political Science...Project Mexico leader and huge Yankees fan. I began to type, and then became empowered by the Holy Spirit...no, let's not bring religion into this (although we should)...I was empowered by the baseball gods I guess. It happens every so often when I feel passionate enough about a subject. Anyway, I began to type and by the time I was finished, I had written what I would like to call, an "epic." I have since entitled it, "Disgusted."

Anyway, I felt that I needed to send it out to serious Yankee fans I know and others who might have some sort of "interest" in the Alex Rodriguez trade. The full text of my epic is below...

Because this is mainly to focus on the New York Yankees and Alex Rodriguez, I would not like to digress much. However, I would like to include this quote by our glorious commissioner, Alan "Bud" Selig:

"I want to make it abundantly clear to all clubs that I will not allow cash transfers of this magnitude to become the norm. However, given the unique circumstances, including the size, length and complexity of Mr. Rodriguez's contract and the quality of the talent moving in both directions, I have decided to approve the transaction."

Great job, Bud! Although you probably won't have to deal with anything of this magnitude for an extremely long time because players are no longer signing those big A-Rod-sized contracts, you (or some other unlucky commissioner) will have to deal with this. Thanks for setting this wonderful precedent!!! I really appreciate it.

OK...here it is...

"Disgusted"

So you got A-Rod. I hope that you're happy. I hope that you're glad you have a half-billion dollar infield. I hope you're glad that you have 6 of the top 12 contracts in big league history. I hope you're glad that your starting 9 have a combined 41 all-star game appearances (I counted). I hope you're glad that your payroll is $190 million (and as of right now, you have no-name Enrique Wilson/Miguel Cairo/Erick Almonte at 2B...meaning that George will go out and get someone to fill that void before opening day, pushing the payroll over the $200 million mark). I'm glad that the Yankees will be paying $70 million in luxury taxes this year to the small-market teams like Pittsburgh, KC, and Tampa Bay...money that they really won't be able to do much with. I'm glad that Boston's payroll is 20% more than the next highest payroll in the majors and the Yankees' payroll is 50% more than Boston's. I'm glad you've now got more egos on this team than any other team in history. I'm glad you're paying A-Rod 14 grand an inning. I'm glad George thinks that Lofton is in center and Bernie thinks he's in center.

OK, I'm out of breath. Part of this is about the Yankees and the disgusting amount of money they have. It's bad for the game. Could you imagine if the 1920s were like today. "Babe Ruth injures himself playing basketball [not that I'm comparing ABoone to the Bambino]...Yanks go out and sign Cobb." I mean, come on, really! This is ridiculous.

A-Rod is not getting off either!--By no means am I letting him off the hook. When greed lured him out of Seattle, everyone asked me as a Mariners fan if I hated him for it. I don't know what I would normally say, but I always shared the story of the time I met A-Rod at Yankee stadium (the year after he won the batting title with the Mariners). He was one of the nicest baseball players I have ever met in all my life. So I couldn't hate him as a person. I was just disappointed.

Not that I can say I "hate" him now. But I really lost a lot of respect for A-Rod. He wanted out of Texas. He wanted out of losing. He wanted out of a contract that no one other than HE signed. He said he didn't want to play for New York. He said he didn't want to change positions. It didn't happen with Boston. He realized he had to make nice to the Texas fans. So he was named team captain, told them how much he loved being a Ranger, and even said that when his current 10-year contract was up, he would really be interested in re-signing with the Rangers. He wanted to play into his 40s in a Texas uniform and retire a Ranger. 3 weeks later, he's wearing pinstripes. I don't know what you think, but that sounds a lot to me like Clemens-talk. I heard he even told Scott Boras that he'd be willing to play the outfield--anywhere the Yankees wanted him to play--if he could get him to New York. (By the way, he should be playing shortstop...2 consecutive gold gloves there, I think his fielding percentage last year was .996...Jeter has no more range ever since he dislocated his shoulder and he only looks good when he backhands in the hole and does that jump, twist, throw in mid-air move that only he can do...I digress.)

Anyway, I hope that you're happy and proud to be a fan of the New York Yankees today. The day you signed Alex Rodriguez--the best player in the game and potentially the greatest player of all time by the time his career ends. (It's fitting, right? Don't all the greats HAVE to play for the Yankees at some point in their careers.) It makes me sick. The only question left to ask yourself I guess is, "What number will A-Rod wear?" They better not give him #3 or I will...I will...I don't know what I'll do. I might break something...Actually, I hope they do give him #3. Because then maybe The Babe will get mad and be sitting up in the heavens drinking a beer and be really mad at the Yankees and put a curse of them. Then there will be a new Curse of the Bambino. And Boston can win the World Series and A-Rod can cry that he picked, yet again, another loser, and world hunger will be solved, and the Cubs will win the following year, and there will be peace in the Middle East, and the world will once again be a good place.

But right now, I am still a disgusted baseball fan.

-dave

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After first typing it at 6:53 I, emailed it to myself for some reason. (Though, I don't think I had fully realized its greatness yet.) Four minutes later, I sent it to a large group of people including friends, family, Yankee fans, Yankee haters, and baseball fans.

In the 24 hours following the email being sent out, 24 emails went back and forth between myself and some of the people who received it. The first one was a reply to me at 7:34. This is what it said:

wow dave, i must say, im impressed.... that was quite the well-written pieceof literature.... even i am a little upset with baseball and my yankees atthe moment....

The second response was from Jim:

Send this to Newsweek : Attn: "My Turn" -- you voice a thousand (a million?) voices.What did the Anaheim Angels and Florida Marlins pay for their WS championship teams? And the D-backs?Feel better? See you in October...

JQ

There were a total of 45 emails regarding Alex Rodriguez in my Inbox and Sent box by Wednesday morning. A total of 65 total emails between myself and others were in my box before the weekend. And below are some of (or excerpts from) my favorites...

Monday, 9:51pm – Katie L. to Joe W. & Mike P. (CC’ed to me)
Okay boys... Because Dave Lang can't send you his rant until AFTER RA placements on Wednesday for fear of losing his job, you are going to get MY version of the A-Rod filth. Not only am I the leader of the I hate Yankees club, but I am also the biggest Red Sox fan, probably at the school. So, to you boys who are basking in your "glory" tonight I have a few words for you...DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!! There is no other word to it. I want to be the first to own an A-Rod #13 jersey so that I can be the first one to burn it. Never, in my years of following the game, have I witnessed such an absolute disgusting display of greed, egotism, self-centeredness, and hypocracy as displayed by A-Rod in these events. I refuse to believe that he cares at all about the game. He is in it entirely for the money, the perfect follower of your lovely George. Good luck. Enjoy him. Your half a billion dollar infield has a lot to prove and has now united the rest of the country against your blessed Yankees.

Bitterly,

Katie

a TRUE fan of the game

(You know, the Red Sox fans always seem to have (or seemed to have had) that little bit of extra hostility in their words.)

Tuesday, 12:22am – Jim to Katie and me
Jeez, I woulda settled for Noma'h...altho I suppose it's not too late for that...can he play second base?:)

Tuesday, 1:12am – Katie L. to Jim and me
James Q you have no entered the books with every other Yankees fan in my mind as being absolute scum. The thought of you even hinting that Nomar should be wearing pinstripes makes me physically ill.

Tuesday, 1:27am – Me to Katie & Jim
It's 1:24am and I cannot get A-Rod's smirk out of my head...the one in the photo I saw on MLB.com of him in pinstripes with a Yankee turtleneck underneath.The Yanks have exactly 4 home-growns: Mo, DJ, Jorge (who can't block the plate ever since he broke his neck doing it in AAA...figured I'd take my shot there), and Bernie (whose knees are about to snap). In addition, they have absolutely NO farm system...they traded the last of it away for Aaron "F***ing" Boone...who is the person I hate the most in the world right now because this is the second time he has made me physically ill and want to throw up.Do we take this game too seriously?

(In case you couldn't tell, I was pretty mad at that point.)

Tuesday, 8:54am – Katie to Jim and me
Dave... to answer you question... NO we are not taking this too seriously. It's not possible to.

Tuesday, 9:07am – Me to Katie and Jim
Some people protest the war by wearing a pin or a ribbon. Look for me around campus today protesting the Yankees and all that has become evil in baseball by wearing my "Yankees Suck" t-shirt.A great quote courtesy of Katie:"It's another challenge, but after 85 years, did any of you think that getting over this final hurdle and winning it all was gonna be a cakewalk? No, it'll be more fun this way." -RHP Curt Schilling, posting on a fan Web site, regarding the Yankees' trade for SS Alex Rodriguez, as reported by the Associated Press on Feb. 15

Tuesday, 10:28am – my Uncle Frank to me
When I was younger and the game was still great and we had commissioners with some balls there used to be a clause that was invoked to stop these kinds of trades. It was called "in the best interest of the game" and it was used on occasion to stop things like this. Unfortunately, Selig is a joke, and being an owner, I believe he is afraid to do the right thing.

Tuesday, 9:02pm – Jim to Katie and me
He said Zimmer. That's a funny word. ZimmerZimmerZimmerZimmerZimmerZimmerZimmer

ZimmerZimmerZimmerZimmerZimmerZimmerZimmer

ZimmerZimmerZimmer. Of course, Zimmer didn't try to punch out some old man - and look like an old lady doing it...

(This was the point where Jim went off the deep end!)

Wednesday, 9:47am – Joe W. to Katie, Mike P., and me
Puma and I are bringing you both up on Harassment charges

Thursday, 12:56am – Me to group
It's gonna be SUCH a fun season!!!GO MARINERS!!! (Hey, we upgraded too! Look for us in October!!!)

(That comment was the least-intelligent one that I made throughout this entire dialogue.)

Thursday, 2:19am – Jim to me
Dude, don't you have any work to do?

Thursday, 8:23am – Me to Jim
Dude, don't you have any sleeping to do?

(It was usually stuff like this that kept me from BOTH sleep and work when I was in college.)

Thursday, 10:18am – Mike P. to group
Why all of you are not on sports talk radio, I don't know.....

2/23 – Joe W. to me
I prayed for you last night

2/23 – Me to Joe W.
and during the season of Lent, I will be praying for A-Rod's soul, which is now in the possession of Satan.

2/23 – Joe W. to Katie and me
I pray for every Loyola Student every night :-) But this week I prayed EXTRA for Dave

:-)

OHHHHHHHH I CAN"T WAIT for the season to start!

2/23 – Me to Katie
So I just counted...Received emails in my "A-Rod" folder: 56 Sent emails concerning A-Rod/the Yankees: 22. And we're still more than a month away from opening day. I think I'll have enough for a book in October!

(Oh, in case you were wondering...I saved every email concerning Alex Rodriguez that I sent and received during this time period into a Microsoft Word document. The file is 42 pages long and has 15,695 words in it.)

II. Pardon Me If I Tend To Ramble…

2005-08-08T22:29:00.000-04:00

Rambler (noun):
1. One that rambles.
2. A person whose speech or writing is not well organized.

I found those definitions on dictionary.com and I'll tell you off the bat that they will definitely apply to me the entries in this blog from time to time.

One thing that I have been doing for the past few months is trying to come up with a name for site I would one day post my sports thoughts on. I hoped for something creative and clever, while at the same time relevant and cool sounding. I have officially anointed myself as The Sports Rambler.

There is the obvious. I will get writing about a topic and I will just spew my thoughts until (a) I run out of thoughts, (b) my head hurts from thinking too quickly, or (c) my hands hurt from the lengthy typing. At the most basic level, you can say that I will be rambling about sports, thus, I am The Sports Rambler.

However, I am another writer in a long line of writers throughout history who have expressed their thoughts and opinions in one way or another. (Can you imagine what Will Shakespeare's blog would have looked like?) So with that in mind, I hoped that the title of my blog would have some relation to an historical writer or piece of writing. I settled on Samuel Johnson.

Not surprisingly, the history lessons in this blog might brief readers on the careers of Johnsons who were named Walter or Randy (or even occasionally Howard). But right now I would like to step away from the diamond and discuss Sam.

I knew a little bit about Samuel Johnson from a writing class that I took during the second semester of my senior year in college. It was in that class that I discovered a small interest in his writing. Before I go on, I must give credit to James E. Kiefer, author of Biographical Sketches of Memorable Christians of the Past and the source of much of the following information.

Samuel Johnson was born in England in 1709. Because of a tubercular infection called scrofula that left him deaf in his left ear, almost blind in the left eye and with dim vision in his right eye, any sports involving seeing a ball were out of the question for Johnson. Over time however, he became perhaps the most quoted of English writers not named William Shakespeare.

Kiefer wrote of Johnson, "As a youth, he developed a fondness for disputation, and often, as he admits, chose the wrong side of the debate because it would be more challenging."

Disputation--good word. Noun.
1. The act of disputing; debate.
2. An academic exercise consisting of a formal debate or an oral defense of a thesis.
3. The formal presentation of and opposition to a stated proposition.
4. A contentious speech act

Well, I still consider myself a youth and, although I don't necessarily have a fondness for disputation, I won't back away from it either. The purpose of this blog is to state my thoughts and opinions regarding current topics in sports. If people disagree with them, I'm all for having a good old-fashioned debate where I get to defend my cause. I'll occasionally play devil’s advocate or argument's sake, but I will usually select my opinion because I think it is right.

Let's move on...

Skipping over a few life details, by 1748, Johnson was writing as a moralist in the form of prose essays. Ah, prose essays. Let me reinforce your understanding of the definition of prose.

Prose (noun):
1. Ordinary speech or writing, without metrical structure.
2. Matter of fact or commonplace expression or quality.

"From March of 1750 to March of 1752," writes Kiefer, Samuel Johnson "published every Tuesday and Saturday a periodical he called the Rambler, each issue consisting of an essay by himself."

(Maybe I should post my blog entries on every Tuesday and Saturday rather than on the aforementioned and still tentative Wednesday and Saturday.) Either way, when you check in to read my thoughts, they will be in my ordinary speech, written with matter of fact expressions and with commonplace qualities. I will try to write with some kind of structure, but I can't promise that. (I wonder if Sam would have let me write in the Rambler’s Sports section…Something to ponder.)

One of the topics Johnson discussed in an issue of the Rambler was how "merit rather enforces respect than attracts fondness." That is similar to one of my hopes for this blog. I don't expect you to agree with my every view. I know that some of my opinions will be blasted and completely written off. For example, when I tell my brother (a Yankees fan) that the Bronx Bombers will not be playing in this year's postseason, I am berated as a typical Yankee-hater who hopes they won't make the playoffs but who knows they will.

Through this blog, I hope to write quality thoughts and thought-provoking dialogue. I also promise to display for you my ability to comprehend Major League Baseball (and other sports) and prove that I am a knowledgeable sports fan. Consequently, I would also hope that by doing that, I would earn respect from my readers as a well-informed baseball aficionado. But you don’t have to be fond of me!

Samuel Johnson wrote essays about human motives, self-deception, the "treachery of the human heart," the ways in which we evade the knowledge of what we ought to do, and about some specific duties that we need to be reminded of. (So in case you're self-deceiving yourselves or the knowledge evaded you, or you need to be reminded of it, Yankee fans, your team is not making the playoffs this season…Look at that! The first bold prediction on my blog site!)

So after reading all of these things and interesting facts about the life of Samuel Johnson, I decided to slightly alter the name of his regular publication and use it as the name for mine.

And who knows where this will go. The other day I came home from work (my first "real-world" job) and told my mother that I had a new ambition in life. She grinned and, in an interested tone of voice, asked what it was. I told her that I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up. She asked again what I was thinking. I told her that I want to have my own sports talk-radio show. We'll see how that one goes. In the meantime, I am proud to have my very own sports talk-blog site.

Hey...In 1729, after he was forced to leave Oxford, Samuel Johnson wrote a short poem called The Young Author (kind of like what I am). The poem dealt with the dreams of greatness of someone just starting to write. Unfortunately the poem also focused on the almost certain destruction of those dreams, but I'm going to ignore that part and look at the glass as half-full.

"And now a rabble rages, now a fire..."
-London, by Samuel Johnson

Ladies and Gentlemen, let the sports fire rage out of control. I give you...
The Sports Rambler...

I. The Long, Overdue, Inaugural Posting

2005-08-08T21:28:00.000-04:00

So I finally did it. I finally broke down and joined a blog site--the highly attractive and highly popular blogspot.com. First off, thanks to Jim for getting on me and really pushing me to do this. I suppose this is long overdue. Let me just say, though, that the reason why a tech/computer-savvy person such as myself had not yet created a blog is simply because everybody is doing it--it's the "in" thing to have right now. I understand that blogs are not just a passing trend and they are quite useful tools, but I have always been against “going along with the crowd.”

For example, in the summer of 2004, my brother returned home from several weeks at the New Jersey governor’s school sporting a bright yellow, rubber bracelet that had the word LIVESTRONG imprinted in it. He explained how many people at his school were wearing them. When I returned to college a few short weeks later, it seemed as if the yellow bracelets created by Lance Armstrong to support cancer research were the must-have fashion—right up there with flip flops and the popped collar. (Oh the popped collar!) A few months later, my mother noticed that I (gasp!) was still not wearing a LIVESTRONG bracelet and bought me one. I ended up giving it away to one of my friends and to this day I still haven’t worn one.

Look, I’m all for supporting cancer research. I just don’t feel like defining my wrist attire by what 25 million other Americans are wearing.

And that wasn’t the only reason I hadn’t yet created a blog. During my days as a very-involved student who was attempting to graduate with honors, I would routinely become very busy and need to devote my attention to a million different things. I was worried that I would create a blog, write a few entries in it, and then never have time to post regular updates. If I’m going to do something, I want to DO it.

Then I realized a few things. Maybe if I have the blog, it will almost force me to write my thoughts on a regular basis. I have ideas for “stories” all the time but they often never come to fruition. This blog (which I hope is a regular task) will help to keep me in check in getting my thoughts out.

The other thought I had is that (especially while I was in school), I somehow managed to find some spare time (usually around 3:00 in the morning) to type out (often in VERY LONG emails) my thoughts on the Yankees’ pitching, or my promising Mariners, or the disappointing Orioles, my hopeless Mariners, or the magic of the Red Sox. If I could put that much energy, thought, and time into emails, I could do it with a blog.

I also felt that, as a web designer by trade, I could design a “blog” site, write the code for it myself, and update that on a regular basis. After realizing that I probably wouldn’t get around to building a site like that for quite a while (I do have one of those job things you know) and after checking out blogspot, I figured I could start off with one of their templates and then customize it as I go along. (So this blog page probably won’t look like this for a whole lot longer.)

So here it is—the inaugural issue of “The Sports Rambler.” (More on how I came up with the name in my next posting.) As of right now, I hope to add at least two entries to this a week. (I’m thinking they could tentatively be posted on Wednesdays and Saturdays but I’ll think more about it and let you know.) Of course, when more thoughts come to mind or if some big event in the world of sports occurs that I feel I must state my opinion(s) on, there could be many more than two postings a week. So check back OFTEN for new content!

The focus of this blog is primarily going to be baseball, although I chose not to name it The Baseball Rambler. Honestly, that title just didn’t sound as good as the four-syllable “The Sports Rambler.” Also, although baseball is the sport that I follow most closely, I also happen to be a huge fan of all sports in general. I also happen to have opinions on them from time to time and I will undoubtedly want to express them here. Not to mention the fact that there is no professional baseball being played between November and February and there is only so many off-season stories to comment on.

(Oh, P.S.- I also might chime in time-to-time with things that aren't sports-related. I really don't plan on making that a regular occurrence, but here's your disclaimer now so I don't hear any complaints later.)

So now friends of mine everywhere can rejoice that their email boxes will no longer be filled with my sports-related emails. A blog seems to make much more sense than sending out an email to a massive list of interested and knowledgeable sports fans that I have compiled over the last several years. And (apparently) blogspot will let my readers post comments. I have set up my preferences so that other readers can view these comments. So feel free to chime in with your own opinions, share your thoughts, yell at me, and tell me I’m wrong. Later on when you see that I’m actually right, I want the proof of your poor judgment in writing. (And if your thoughts do happen to be right, I want to give you the props that you deserve. Hey, I’ll admit it when I’m wrong.)

Above all else, enjoy reading the columns. I’m just doing this for me because I think it will be fun. It would be nice if someone reads my thoughts, but if they don’t, I won’t be upset at the end of the day. I want you to have some fun too. Hopefully I’ll be able to stir up a little bit of controversy and debate once I have a few loyal readers. I will probably very rarely go back and edit the things that I type. So be prepared to read my streaming flow of conscious thought about sports. I think I might at long last be prepared to write it.