## Another good outing for Phil Hughes and the Yanks hit two more "fly balls," according to Jake Peavy. Peavy is unhappy that the Yanks hit so many home runs, especially the three they hit off him on Saturday.
"You have to keep the ball out of the air in this ballpark," Peavy said. "The ball gets in the air, you got no chance. Obviously that happened three times. How many balls get hit to the left side of the field? None. They have no interest in hitting the ball that way." I guess the Yanks are supposed to hit the ball to left field so they won't score as many runs. The Yanks hit 7 homers in the four games. The White Sox hit 5 and Peavy never complained about that. Maybe he should ask to be traded back to the National League, so people won't hit homers and score runs off him.
## You learn something everyday. Bill Madden of the NY Daily News, devoted a column about the increasingly poor work by the Major League umpires. Supposedly, umpires are observed, evaluated and graded by supervisors. "The whole MBL supervisor system is a joke," said a baseball person intimately familar with the umpires. "Half the supervisors are guys who were bad umpires and the only way to get them off the field was to make them supervisors." I suppose the other half were too old to run around the field anymore.
Here's the interesting point: In spite of specific language written into their last basic agreement with the umpires, MLB can discipline, fine and even fire umpires for bad performance or for consistently bad grades. It doesn't happen. When is the last time you heard of an umpire being fired? It appears that they stay on the job until they die, and based on their recent mistakes, for some time after they die.
Keep your eye out for these six umpires, generally acknowledged to be the worst in the game today:
Bob Davidson, Phil Cuzzi, C.B. Bucknor, Gary Darling, Tim McClelland and, of course, Cowboy Joe West. And with Joe Torre as the guy in charge of overseeing them, there is no end in sight.
## Clay Rapada had done a reasonably good job for the Yanks out of the bullpen until his recent outings, when he has been beaten up. The Yanks show little patience with this kind performance, as evidenced by the fact that Adam Warren was sent back down to the minors after his disastrous start, even before he was allowed to take a shower. Now the Yanks have traded for Chad Qualls from the Phillies, who were so anxious to get rid of him, Philadelphia didn't even wait to arrange to get something in return. They basically said to Cashman, "Send us a player when you get around to it, or just some cash or perhaps a couple of baloney sandwiches." I don't think they even held out for Oscar Mayer baloney. I'm sure Rapada is thinking, "This can't be good."
***A FEW QUICK NOTES***
-- Did anyone else notice the absence of Jorge Posada from the Yanks Old Timers celebration? That seems a little strange to me.
-- Jim Thome was traded to the Orioles by the Phillies. This was a little more understandable. Thome simply can't handle playing in the field anymore, and was doing little damage as a pinch hitter. Going to the AL, where he can DH makes a lot more sense. Besides, he wants a ring and he wasn't going to get it in Philly this year. He doesn't have a great chance in Baltimore, but at least they're contending.
-- The Dodgers have lost seven in a row and 10 or their last 11, and I don't think you can blame all of this on the loss of Matt Kemp. They obviously have some other issues.
-- The Yanks will have three starters in the All-Star exhibition (I refuse to call it a 'game'): Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson. Manager Ron Washington of the Rangers, has already said he intends to use his whole roster. He should have added the phrase, "Win or Lose."
-- Joe Torre says that Roger Clemens DEFINITELY belongs in the Hall of Fame. It figures. His name isn't Alex Rodriguez, so Joe likes him.
***THEY SAID IT***
"Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman reportedly paid his ex-wife $1.75 million as part of their divorce settlement. Probably the biggest hit he's ever taken in the pocket." -- RJ Currie
"The Diamondbacks' Trevor Bauer — after throwing his first big-league pitch against Atlanta last week — was instructed to toss the ball out of play so he could save it as a souvenir. So he threw it into the Braves' dugout." -- Dwight Perry
"The Women’s Tennis Association says it is going to crack down on players who shriek, shout and grunt when they hit the ball. Apparently some of the women are just too high strung." -- Jim Barach
"Georgia tailback Isaiah Crowell, last season's SEC freshman of the year, was kicked off the team after police discovered a Luger handgun with an altered serial number under the driver's seat during a traffic stop. So when the Bulldogs say they won't have as many weapons this coming season ... no kidding." -- Dwight Perry
"When he arrived in Omaha, Michael Phelps was sporting quite a mustache. It looked like Anthony Davis’ unibrow fell on his lip." -- Brad Dickson
"Boise State is reconsidering its move to the Big East. I’m guessing the meeting went down like this: “Wait just a dang second — we’re in Idaho!” -- Brad Dickson
"A 6,000-acre fire south of Salt Lake City was believed to have started at a target-shooting range. The NRA immediately put out a statement: Guns don't start fires, people start fires." -- Janice Hough
"The British National Shin Kicking competition has ended. This is believed to be the first major sports competition based on an episode of "The Three Stooges." -- Brad Dickson
I'm starting to feel like Brad Dickson's agent.
CP-
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