Monday, May 16, 2011

CAN'T LEAVE THEM ALONE FOR A MINUTE

***YANKS IN A TAILSPIN***
Being swept by the Red Sox at home is not the way to stay in contention in the AL East. I wrote previously that the Yanks were looking "ordinary." I'd settle for that now; currently, they're looking futile. The starting pitching is stumbling, the defense is bumbling, the hitting is crumbling and that 'great motivator,' Joe Girardi, couldn't convince the wicked witch of the west to come in out of the rain.
Where's that team spirit? Posada refuses to play because Girardi batted him ninth in the order. He batted him ninth because there is no 10th spot. I know they're friends, but why didn't the Captain, Mr. "Winning Is Everything" Derek Jeter step in? He should have chased Jorge across the outfield with a bat. Of course, with Posada's speed, Jeter would have had to give him a two-day head start. A $210 million payroll, and the only guy I want to see play is Curtis Granderson.
A-Rod looks terrible at the plate (and in the field) and Kevin Long keeps saying, "He's close." Yeah, right. And Nicole Kidman wants to bear my child. I have a better chance.

***THE INTERESTING STUFF***
The hottest rivalry in baseball these days, is between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. They went at it again this weekend and another little drama appeared, when Red's reliever, Francisco Cordero hit Albert Pujols in the arm with one out in the ninth. That put the tying run on base, which you don't want to do with the numbers 4 and 5 hitters coming up, so I doubt it was intentional. But the Cardinals screamed at Cordero, Cordero screamed back and it doesn't look like that's going to be the end of it. Of course, even though he wasn't there, LaRusso never lets these things subside. Retaliation is sure to be in the future of this matchup.
LaRusso's take on this: "I know our guys," La Russa said after that game. "This is not the first time that we've been challenged. ... Like I say, there's times that you beat us, we're not good enough. But you're never going to scare us and we're never going to back down."
Writer David Schoenfield has the book on Tony: "La Russa does seem to believe in a certain code of conduct when it comes to pitching inside -- not that he necessarily follows that code too religiously himself."
He's right: You can't throw inside to his batters, you can't knock them down and you certainly can't hit them. LaRusso will retaliate to every threat, real or imagined. In the meantime, the Cards are second in the league in hit batsmen.

***THEY SAID IT***
Of course, Cincinnati doesn't help ease the the tension.
"The Cincinnati Reds, rotating a themed food item for each opponent, served up smoked quail with St. Louis in town last weekend and called it "Smoked Cardinal." (Dwight Perry)
"Archarcharch is being retired to stud after he fractured a leg during the Kentucky Derby: "Sure beats the heck out of my disability insurance." (RJ Currie)
"Murray Handwerker, son of Nathan, and the man who turned Nathan’s Famous hot dogs into a national name, died at the age of 89. Murray attributed his long life to never eating his own product." (Janice Hough)

CP-

No comments: