HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

I'm done with the Census and starting my "second retirement.:

***LET'S START WITH THE YANKS***
The Yankee bats have been silent for a while, thanks to the pitching staff of the Mariners, in part, but they blew it open yesterday. ...not really. An 11-run explosion fueled by Tex's 2-run double and Gardner's grand slam. A-Rod gets credit for 4 RBI's, if you just look at the box score. Check out the game live and you see one run scores on a soft ground ball that Romero missed completely and the other 3 on a 2-out bases-loaded easy fly that the left fielder turned into an adventure. Walks, a hit batsman and a silly fielding decision -- where were the hits? I counted three good ones. They'll have to do better than that.
When is Michael Kay going to quit spouting off the one thing he thinks he knows about hitting? Every time Brett Gardner hits a home run (all 4 times, now), Kay goes into his " Gardner has to guard against swinging for the fences and get away from what he does best." First of all, Gardner is not your typical "Punch & Judy" hitter like Ichiro Suzuki, who just slaps at the ball. Gardner will slap an outside pitch to left, but come inside and he gives it a full swing. He's still hitting .316, so obviously he's under control. Give it a rest, Michael.

*** A CHECK ON THE DISABLED LIST***
The last I looked, Boston has 3 outfielders, a 2nd baseman, 2 catchers and 2 pitchers playing gin-rummy on the DL. Yet, they're still winning. Does this mean the 'right' guys are getting hurt? Nick Johnson is still there and the Yanks continue to lead the league, so he's obviously not being missed. Right now he's scheduled to come off in August, which is good timing: he'll have just enough playing time to get re-injured in time for the playoffs.

***HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GEORGE***
Today is George Steinbrenner's 80th birthday. A lot of people say he should be in the Hall of Fame, but Veterans Committee refuses to even make him a candidate. The argument against him is his two felony convictions, one for illegal campaign contributions but the 2nd is for paying off a known felon to try and find incriminating evidence against one of his own players. George was one of the most innovative owners in baseball and had an immense impact on the game, but that last conviction is hard to overcome. I believe it's the same area as the Pete Rose case.
The Committee won't let Charlie Finley in either, and he also had a big impact on baseball. In his case though, the Committee is just being vindictive. Charlie may have been too innovative.

***OLNEY IS OFF BASE ON THIS ONE***
Buster still thinks the Yanks will in on the bidding for Cliff Lee if (or really, when) the Mariners try to trade him this month. Not gonna happen. Why give up young prospects and/or good major league players for a guy you don't have a crying need for and you can just 'buy' this winter when he's a free agent? Time will tell...but I think I'm right.

***NOT REALLY A SPORT, BUT...***
Takeru Kobayashi of Japan, the legendary hot-dog eating king, won't be participating in the Hot Dog Eating contest today, because he wouldn't sign a contract with the sponsors, Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs. When asked why, he replied, "Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Weiner..."

CP-