Upon a Champion's Manner II

I just finished reading a column by Bill Simmons, ESPN's "The Sports Guy". He was writing about being a Sox fan this year, and how he can live in the grace period that follows winning a title. He continues to remind himself " 'we' won last year". I am wondering if this is the prevailing attitude of Red Sox fans, that this year doesn't matter, nor will the next several, because the Sox won the World Series last year.

Now I have spoken on the subject before, but I really find it laughable to find a bunch of "poor me" fans turn into arrogant defending champ fans. To excuse a performance that is every bit as poor as the Yankees first half (with far fewer injuries to blame it on) because a team won the title the year before is a poor excuse for fan-hood. I expect the best from my team each year, and would even if they had been miserable losers for 80 years.

Upon Updates

A brief flirtation with first place was nice for the Yankees, and taking 3 of 4 from the Sox was even better. The race for the AL East was always the Yankees to lose, and it remains so. this rag-tag bunch of starters is not going to work over the long haul, but it will be nice to see if we can keep it together during this road trip.

Al Leiter was a revelation with his 8 K, 1 run performance in the getaway day game at Fenway that gave the Yankees the series vs Boston. While Big Game Al might not be what he once was, I would love to see him dig deep and find half a season of magic. The loss of Wang is incredibly a hug blow for the Yankees, who have to hope that Brown, Pavano, and Wright can start earning the 10's of millions of dollars that they are paid. Moose and Unit also need to pitch closer to their dominant selves. Amazingly, through all this adversity, the Yankees sit a mere game back of first, and are primed to continue running.

A-Rod and Sheff are amazingly hot right now, and having them in a 3-4-5 with Matsui is a nightmare for opposing pitchers. Jeter is still on-base and scoring runs, Cano continues to hit over .300, and is another invaluable rookie contributer. Giambi looks to have found his way a bit, and when he reaches the minimum at-bat mark he will have the highest OBP in the league. 1-6 are scary in the line-up.

Poor Bernie. Continued gaffes in the outfield have already prompted Bernie to be benched in favor of rookie Melky Cabrera. After that failed experiment, Bernie went back out to the OF, and the problems continued. The newest name on the docket is Eric Byrnes from Colorado, who is a capable defensive player. Hopefully Bernie can get out with another ring, and not too much more embarassment. He has been a great Yankee for well over a decade, and had many years of brilliant play. He deserves a dignified end.

More on the Knicks Later

Upon the Home Run Derby

Baseball's All-Star extravaganza kicked off with the Home-Run Derby last night.(though officially I guess the MLB Future's Game was the real kick-off, but anyway.) Bobby Abreu made the format look a bit ridiculous by mashing 41 HR in the contest, with a record shattering 24 in Round 1. He faced off against home-towner Pudge Rodriguez in the finals, and got the win. 24 HR obliterated the old record of 15 that Miguel Tejada had set, and made the supposed sprawling confines of Comerica Park look like a Little League WS field. David Ortiz saw nearly 70 pitches in his first round attempt, and though he hit 17 bombs, that is pretty insane. The contest was billed as a a National affair, where each player was representing their "home nation". This formula is supposed to inspire some sort of pride in the competion, and may be designed to create momentum for the World Baseball Cup. I think a pitch limit may need to be imposed, or some other modification may need to be made to the contest. All other sports All-Star competitions have some time-based limit. I'm sure if you asked Peja to hit as many threes as he could before he missed 10, he could hit all day long.

Upon Quick Updates

Still enjoying my vacation, but I am here to provide a few updates.

Islamic terrorists struck the city of London, and the estimated death toll currently stands at 50, with many more injured. I am quite concerned that it is only a matter of time before someone on the more fanatic end of the American/English side decides to begin responding in kind, in an eye-for-an-eye tactic. If innocent people are butchered in the US, England, Iraq...etc, what is to stop one of these people from butchering in return? I am sure the argument can be made that this is already being done through the sanctioned military actions our armed forces are taking, but these terrorists are not military personnel (to my knowledge). What if an Englishman who lost his family decides to construct a bomb, drive to a local mosque, and detonate his explosive "to strike back at the terrorists"? He certainly would be horribly wrong, and would not be accomplishing his purported goal. However, this is exactly what the terrorists are doing. By exploding a bomb in the subways of London, you are not striking those who oppose you. You do deal a blow to the leaders of these nations by slaughtering their people, but you do nothing to encourage toward your views. Most of these groups do not even succeed in getting their view across. We hear a muddled bit of information regarding their desire for troop pull-out, but these cowards will not identify themselves or thier organization. They bring no agenda to the negotiating table, they only mindlessly kill themselves and others. These actions are misdirected, and though I can not claim to have any moral authority in the matter, I do not believe that the Islamic conception of God rewards murder any more than my own Catholic God. I feel that this will expand into a Christian v Muslim conflict in time, and that many more innocents will die than if a rational foe were in the mix. People who do not value their own life can not be fought as would an enemy who cares about himself and others. No one wants to see a repeat of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nor do we want to live in the locked-down America which we would have to live to prevent an atoricity on our soil. Something must be done about Islamic fanaticism, and terrorist bombings, and examples may have to be made of soverigns and states.


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Having Derek Jeter miss the All-Star game is another interesting case. The fans were allowed to vote in the starters for the game, as well as one of a group of 5 remaining players on a "last-man ballot". The coaches for the teams select the remainder of the players. Somehow, a campaign arose to get Scott Posednik into the game as that last man, leaving out Jeter and Matsui. Below you will find the stats to date for all 3: (courtesy of ESPN.com)

RK PLAYER TEAM AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB BA OBP SLG OPS
13 Hideki Matsui NYY 316 55 100 23 1 13 66 2 0 38 .316 .383 .519 .902

25 Derek Jeter NYY 329 67 101 11 2 11 36 10 3 40 .307 .393 .453 .846

Scott Podsednik CWS 270 48 78 13 0 0 17 41 9 32 .289 .363 .337 .700

Now for me, Seeing that Jeter and Matsui have better numbers IN EVERY STATISTICAL CATEGORY BUT STOLEN BASES, I would think that they might deserve the spot above Scott. Also, given Matsui's immense popularity in Japan, and Jeter's status as among the most popular players in baseball, you might go for them in that regard. But, you ask, shouldn't their popularity have gotten them voted in? I believe that it should have, but along with splitting the NY vote, NY hate contributed to holding these guys out. I still contend that no one will watch the game to see Scott Posednik come off the bench in the 6th inning, but people would have tuned in from the beginning for Jeter and Matsui. Numbers dont lie, statistical or ratings.

Upon a Trip to DC

Sitting in the living room of the Epic Bogardian, enjoying a 4th of July weekend. Yankees and O's are on the TV, and things are good. Reuniting with friends not seen in over 2 years has been quite enjoyable, and a BBQ this afternoon should be a good capper.

Enjoy