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39 years ago today (yesterday)...Sept. 12, 1969, some Met minutiae.
Doubleheader against Pirates, Forbes Field.
Game 1 Koosman goes 9 shuts out Pirates 1-0 and drives in the only run.
Game 2 Cardwell goes 8, McGraw finishes shutting out Pirates 1-0 Cardwell drives in the only run.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT196909122.shtml
It was a blessing in disguise that he lost the no hitter
(see Buckholtz and Verlander)
although you couldn't help but wonder what would have been if someone like Varitek and his no hit notoriety had been calling the pitches.
Betemit can be easily had with the curve that breaks off the plate or high heat but broke up the game on a hanging curve that broke right into his swing over the heart of the plate.
Very impressive rook.
M's fans at least have *To-Morrow* to look forward to.
what the clown looks like when he does the the tha tha tha tha tha..Yankees Win !
Yanks announcer changes self serving home run call for Damon from
*Simply Demonic*
to
*A Johnny Rocket*.
Guess Damon, or one of his fam finally had enough.
Demonic is evil.
Maybe PayRod is next to complain about
*An A Bomb from A Rod*
The Gambler mortaged his soul and baseball future to beat the Yanks in the first round 2 yrs back after they had bludgeoned him in all previous outings.
Take it from a Tiger fan; there isn't much gas left in the ole tank not to mention the memory of his last fateful pitch as a Metro to andru Jones.
You watch with more interest when your team is in but you still watch when they are not
but to the baseball illuminati it is all about demographics and Nielson Ratings and licenses and Pepsi and Geiko and Budweiser.
The crackling fastball and the 12-6 curve take a backseat to the pharmaceutical firm's mouthpiece telling you in endless commercials you need a prostate shrinking tablet or an E/Dysfunction pill in front of your 6 yr old kid. (at 11:00 PM btw)
Notice when the Yanks and the Sox play just about anywhere..half the stands are filled with front running fans...the home teams dont even care anymore as long as they get a slice from the luxury tax pie and gate receipts.
Unknown whether these two clowns have an agenda or are just two more stumblers that are bad at what they do.
One thing that *IS* for sure is that MLB and the networks that pay for post season games sweat blood worrying about bad Divisional and W-Series matchups.
How do you think a Tampa Ray v. Diamondback lollapalooza would ve received at Selig Headquarters.
When the owners voted this pimp back for another term unanimously nothing more needed to be said.
Ratings to these pustules eclipse everything...family..friends..health...integrity...ethics,
legality.
How to manipulate Oil Futures in one easy lesson.
No doubt this gaming of the system has been going on for years in many commodities markets creating the current cash dry house of cards we call Wall Street.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1834888,00.html?xid=feed-yahoo-biztech
If there is ever any cosmic justice and payback one day
Bud
(Ive been in the Steinbrenner's backpocket for years)
Selig will be the one on the business end of an investigation.
He calls in the heavy armor to look into the Manny trade and right under his nose the Yanks somehow miraculously get the two most sought after trade deadline pieces for pocket lint and have been pulling off similar Imaculate Conception like trades for years when the real greasing of the hand comes far from the light of day.
Seconds apart,
In Texas Pudge rolls a little league grounder to short pinch hitting for Yanks
and in Chicago his trade counterpart Farnsworth gives up an 8th inning tying gopher ball to the white sox.
Ray's offense is anemic these days and desperately needed some trade deadline help.
They are overloaded with prospects and sat by with 7-8 other clubs that were in the Nady sweepstakes and watched the Yanks magically *acquire* him and Marte for pocket change.
Also worth pointing out that the Sox brass in the face of severe criticism got out from under Pedro and Damon just before they started to decline.
(from the cleanup spot and playing left Manny grounded out to short in his first AB against the Big Unit who is sitting on 292 wins going into tonight's game)
Blah, blah, blah… Ramirez is not the player he once was. I don’t understand why posters on this board find this difficult to grasp.
Giambi was one of the few Yanks that allowed his wild elation go public but if you don't think that the entire Yankees org from clubhouse attendant to brass is doing cartwheels over this you must be following baseball in an alternate dimension...and they aren't talking about the FORMER manny..they are happy about the current manny being gone.
***************************************************************
GiambiJason Giambi couldn't hide his enthusiasm about YankeesNew York Yankees killer Manny Ramirez no longer being a Red Sox.
"It's huge for us," Giambi said of the deal that sent Ramirez to the Dodgers and transformed Jason Bay from a Pirate into a Red Sox. "He kills us every time we play him. Having him in their lineup makes every hitter around him better. With him and (David) Ortiz it was pick your poison. And then Mike Lowell is behind them. If you are a Yankee fan you have to be excited big-time."
Though Bay is a good hitter, nobody is Ramirez,[b/] especially against the Yankees. In 200 career games he hit .321 with 55 homers, 163 RBIs, had a .411 on-base percentage, a .618 slugging percentage and a 1.029 OPS against some of the best pitchers in baseball.
The Yanks couldn't have done any better if Cashman were given 3 free moves of his choice..add to that their numero uno antagonist has been shipped into the National League cornfield and you have a real pin-stripe hootinanny...
the reality of it all is however that the best move they could have made was last year by ridding themselves of the Pay(13)Rod curse that will deny them number 27 until he leaves the Bronx.
Yep, his Tampa numbers were off the chart....the Sox right now are STRUGGLING to score runs...Drew, Youkalis and Pedroia kept them alive but the first half well is drying up.
Ortiz is clearly not the same player and loses lineup protection.
They are a top heavy lineup that is producing automatic outs whenever, Crisp, Varitek, Lugo (and now Ellsbury) come to bat.
Say what you will but the pitching staffs of the entire AL East did a collective triple backflip when that trade was announced.
Best clutch hitter, best breaking ball hitter, best two strike hitter, Ive seen a quite some time..AND he studied hitting like few others..AND every stress laden pitch that was thrown to him was like 3 pitch count pitches to a regular hitter.
Big shoes to fill here..Im sure Gerardi and Mikey Mussina arent crying over this deal.
Maybe the Pirate powers that be felt guilty for that glaring on paper lopsided deal they handed the Yankees that no doubt contained backchannel considerations that has every other GM livid and felt like they had to even the score by throwing the Rays a bone.....even if they didnt get greased under the table this time.
To be honest, and never ever being an Arod advocate, if I were him I would be madder than hell if I had to get hit with a pitched ball because some kid named...Joba....had an obsession and kept beaning the same Red sox player for no apparent reason.
Last thing baseball needs is another punk that is also a headhunter knowing that he never has to step into the batters box himself.
Maybe its the swarm of endorsements Joba has gotten as desperate ad agencies flock to the latest hot item.
Surely you have seen his life size cardboard cut-out looming like Lurch in the doorways of Dunkin Donuts.
Childishly, I made believe i got tangled up in the poorly placed thing as I was exiting the other day and somehow it ended up face down on the floor.
Oops.
This was the 4th or 5th time he threw 90+ at his head.
Tomorrow Damon, Jeter or PayRod gets one off the kneecap (with a Wakefield knuckleball???)
and
If Youkalis has the guts the next time he faces this hayseed and he comes within a thought of his head he takes his 38oz bat out to the mound and ends his career with one well placed swing at his pitching wrist followed by a haymaker to land him back in the Nebraska cornfield he grew up in.
Anyone that thinks was ANOTHER accident should take up another sport to follow.
There have been a so many of these head scratcher trades in favor of the Yanks over the years that it really makes you wonderif there isnt more nuanced horse trading going on behind the curtain.
Nady and Matase were two of the absolute top names that ALL the GMS were looking at and the Yanks steal them for questionalble prospects and a C-minus Ohlendorf.
Dave Wirtschafter, president of William Morris Agency, called Rodriguez "one of the world's most iconic athletes whose personality transcends sports."
"In the baseball world, Alex is synonymous with success," he said in a statement Tuesday. "Our job will be to extend that success beyond the field to other opportunities."
------------------------------
Now here is this dave wirtschafter ..a real mover and big wheel in the PR world making an absolutely inane statement.
Personality transcends success ??? He is loathed by most of his teamates and fellow players for a myriad of reasons but none more than his narcisistic, boorish persona.
Synonymous with success ??
His name is synonymous with PERSONAL success but the teams he has played for never enjoyed one iota of championship success..none..zero..zilch.
Better get some better handlers and editors Dave.
Buffoon.
**I guess it's all about the money.
by not pitching the entire game he saves a bit of wear and tear on his arm which enables him to pitch more years.....thus more $$$$$ **
Bingo.
The Scott Boras' and his ilk of the reptile world started whispering into their pitchers ears years ago that complete games shorten careers...which by extension shorten agent's earnings.
They also do this with base-stealers.
Bravo to the Doc Holliday's of the world who take pride in finishing what they started.
Yanks within 3 1/2....
Now, if only they could continue to play the Twins the rest of the season at home who are ..incredibly....an absurd THREE out of their last TWENTY ONE at the stadium and havent won a series there since Tom Kelly's days way way back when.
What an embarassment.
Gardenhire just sits there game after game, loss after loss...some teams (and their coaching staffs) are beaten before they get off the bus in the Bronx.
probably best to just let this speak for itself....
but then again..maybe not.
what is the more likely scenario.
A. ARod takes it upon himself to find and *befriend* 18 yr old cancer patient, set up all the logistics including that classic photo op...
OR
B.
That thar new PR firm..or the Yankee internal media machine arranges the entire thing to show a better side of him after being disgraced the entire year by his off-field dirty laundry.
This si what PR firms do. They create SPIN..they change negative perception,
they write stories and get them PLACED in newspapers with contacts they have cultivated over the years..newspapers love it because it fills pages and it is usually well written and nice and warm and fuzzy.
The saddest part about media manipulation..and it happens in many other venues outside sports..can even lead a nation to WAR..
is that so many people are so easily spun.
* Getting the series winning hit in the 7th game of the World Series would really improve A-Rod's image.*
That of course assumes that he would be a member of a championship team, which, as everyone knows is something that he has never done
with many believing that his mere presense on a team takes away more in resentment and distraction than his on field stats provide.
Also,
instead of hiring some marble mouthed, smarmy, mouthpiecePR firm to take pictures of you playing Santa and setting up phony photo ops with sick kids to rehabilitate your image how about
stopping things like putting memorabilia up for sale the moment you pass a stat milestone or how about
being more discreet in your philandering
or at least stop philandering with sweaty hog faced bleachers that are 10 steps down looks wise fron your wife.
PR firm...hahaha..too funny...no team this guy ever plays for will win it all..so plain to see why.
reading this and a segment with Mike Hargrove came to mind as he was on ed randall's *talking baseball* this past Sunday.
The Human Rain delay made it abundantly clear that he is awaiting a call for another shot managing the bigs and all I could think of was years ago when he was managing the Indians..
it was the last game of the season and the Indians were playing the Yanks..Indians had sewn up their spot but the Yanks needed another win for home field advantages...typically the Indians with an embarssment of riches on their roster played half ass baseball gave the game away...robby alomar had some incident and basically told hargrove to shove it and was in the showers nursing some phantom injury by the 5th inning..
anothe Mgr that kissed up to the players..unlike Dick williams...stay in retirement Mike (and dick)
Unless you are in the Nolan Ryan rarified air perfect games and no-hitters are many times the kiss of death for some pitchers.
Take David Cone for example.
After his 1999 88 pitch perfect game his record in
2000 was the worst of his career, 4-14, while seeing his ERA balloon to 6.91, more than double his mark the previous year.
Justin Verlander:
Last year after his no no the sky was the limit.
He started 1-7 this year with a 6+ era.
More :
http://cwardhenninger.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/no-hitter-no-good-career/
but he was becoming a huge distraction to the team. ..
+++++++++++++++
Bingo.
Signing Sexson reeks of desperation.
It's a well known secret that teams are lining up lefty pitchers against the Yanks but they might as well have gone out and coaxed Dave Kingman or Rob Deer out of retirment or re-signed Tony Clark if they wanted someone who could dunk a basketball and strike out over 300 times a year if they played every day.
They would have been better off taking the clubhouse disease otherwise known as Gary Sheffield back if they wanted a R bat that bad. (and freed the Tigers from the divisive negative baggage he brings to every club he plays for)
Thank the heavens for Phil Mushnick...great oversight on the NY media and in this case owner's greed.
Interesting that he never picked up on that disgusting snippet about Sterling's slovenly eating habits at the media food trough as he rips him about every other miscue..many more minor.
Sure hope it wasnt because he himself didnt want to be labeled persona non grata at the new ball balk and future media food handouts.
It got to the point that it was painful to watch Sexson bat anymore.
He had a looping hole in his swing that was on the top of every advanced scout's prep page.
If pitched correctly he was probably the easiest player to strike out in both leagues.
That all said he was well liked and was a good pro that played the game hard.
A lot more than you can say for so many of the current flashes with boatloads of talent that never give you a full days work for the absurd pay they get.
on Page Six of today's New York Post
..
TY
Can you post the source of that Sterling piece?
Was that a snippet or from something longer.
This is what fuels the Jeter detractors.
Since last night's game the papers and voice media have touted Jeter's contribution as superhuman when it was what a major league SS is supposed to do.
The NY Post had a frame by frame layout of his alleged *GREAT* play which unfolded this way:
medium speed ball hit into the 3rd and SS hole..not hit hard..Jeter goes to his right and backhands it, twists and jump throws to 2nd to nab the lumbering Rays CATCHER.
By Sterling's reaction on the radio you would have thought he levitated himself and walked on water...this is why the players in the league roll their eyes every time something like this gets the NY media hype and this is why the rate him the most over-rated year after year.
Can you imagine a Cubs Rays WS?
Yes.
And Id be willing to bet the rest of the country would embrace such a matchup as well.
Your posts have the bitter, forlorn, despondent tone that only a fellow baseball fanatic with an underachieving band of grote cakes can relate to.
Cast the baggage aside and simply throw all in with the Rays.
No, but just heard the Rays hold off a gallant Sox comeback attempt and sweep.
Varitek made the last out and continues to slide downward offensively.
The numbers this year are really ugly and last year wasnt much better.
At some point the Sox will need to come to a tough decision on the heart and soul of their team who still calls a game better than anyone but cant throw anyone out and is sliding into batting oblivion.
The Yanks have played this game for years..using the media, especially the broadcast mouthpieces to build up a player far beyond his worth that they want to use as a trade chip.
It is no secret that Cashman is frantically combing the bigs for pitching and hitting before July 31st becomes August 1st.
The disgraceful part is that these two shills cast ever shred of journalistic ethics to the wind and sing the company line when it is whispered in their ear.
They did the same thing last year before Melky was shopped around over the winter for Santana etc. If you listened and dint watch they had you believing TheMelkMan was a cloned Joe D.
One last thing..this kid they are touting now...his arm is rubber...he threw a 9 bouncer to second last night and all they said was that "he has a really quick release".