YOU KNEW IT HAD TO END SOMETIME

***YANKS LOSE 3-2***
Normally reliable Ramiro Pena made errors in the 9th and 10th today and which directly led to the Yanks loss. Brett Gardner negated one error by cutting down a runner at the plate, but there was no way to prevent the other error from costing the game. Rivera looked fairly sharp but the Mets were not to be denied. Girardi again over-managed when he replaced Garcia in the 8th with Robertson. Robertson was his usual lights-out, but why bring him in at that point? Garcia had stifled the Mets all day, and had only thrown 82 pitches. If you question Girardi, I'm sure his answer would be, "Well, he's my 8th inning guy." Which is no answer except for being a good excuse if it turns out badly. It's called "Managing For The Post Game Interview." If Freddie got thru the 8th with a reasonable amount of pitches, let him finish the game. He doesn't throw hard enough to hurt his arm anyway.
I see the 'hometown' scorer was at it again on Saturday. With men on 1st & 3rd and no outs in the ninth and the Yanks up by 5 runs, Angel Pagan took off for 2nd while the Yanks basically ignored him. His run meant nothing. Normally, this is scored as "Defensive Indifference." Not tonight. With a chance to get a free statistic, the scorer credited him with a stolen base. He should be ashamed. This is another argument for having umpires be official scorers.

***PICASNER IS NOT ALONE***
Vod's argument in favor of interleague play is the simplistic "It's good for baseball." No proof, mind you, just the statement. In reality, the players don't like it and managers don't like it, mostly because of the inequities of the scheduling. For example, the Mets have to play the Yanks six times, while Philadelphia plays the Red Sox just three times. The only ones who like it are the owners...and Vod. From Mike Lupica, NY Daily News:
"There is this constant hand-wringing about protecting the integrity of the long season. It starts with bringing integrity to the short season of interleague baseball, which is already skewed, some teams playing 19 interleague games, some playing 15, most playing 18. Why? Because baseball gets a spike in attendance out of them, that's why. I get it. This is about business."
He also wants the DH official in both leagues. The Players Association won't let the DH get eliminated without hostages being taken, and baseball needs have consistent rules in both leagues, especially if interleague play is going to continue. American League teams are built around the DH and the NL is at a distinct disadvantage in the AL parks. And vice-versa without the DH in the NL parks.

***THE ALL-STAR TEAMS ARE ANNOUNCED***
Too many Yankee and Red Sox players on the team, but it doesn't make any difference. Most of them will probably only play an inning or two anyway. Here's a game that has such a huge effect on the series to determine Baseball's World Champion, and it's played like an exhibition game. Every team HAS to be represented and everyone gets to play. Now they've changed the rules so that the best pitchers probably won't be able to play. Another fine job, Bud Selig.

I see the Tigers have fired pitching coach Rick Knapp. What did he do? Try to talk to Justin Verlander? Let that be a lesson to all pitching coaches. Stay away from the guy with an 11-3 record.

CP-