Rumble In The Bronx

Well that was just about the last thing the Yankees needed. Since May, the Yankees have been the hottest team in baseball. Everything has been going their way. They certainly didn't need a bench clearing brawl in last night's meaningless game. Now, it looks like they'll be without Jorge Posada for 4 games.

Yeah, I guess it can't hurt to give Posada a little more rest. But an incident like this could really hurt a team's momentum. The Yankees have lost 3 of their last 5. Uh, oh. Time to hit the panic button?!

How meaningless was last night's game with the Blue Jays? New York sent Sergio Mitre to the mound against Roy "I own the Yankees" Halladay. The Yankees should have just called up the Scranton or Staten Island teams.

Halladay is 18-6 with a 2.84 ERA in his career vs the Yankees. Makes you wonder why the Red Sox didn't land Halladay. I mean, imagine Beckett, Halladay and Lester in the postseason!

Mitre is 3-3 with a 7.63 ERA in 9 starts with the Yankees. New York is 5-4 in games Mitre has started. That's how good the 2009 Yankees are.

For the entire season, the Yankees have basically been playing with a four man rotation. And the last month you can make it 3 1/2 as they prepare Joba for the post season.

New York has been dragging around two dead horses in Mitre and Chad Gaudin, who goes tonight for the Yanks. Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin pitching back to back! You got to be kidding me! Yet, the Yankees will probably win 100 games.

The Yankees are 3-0 in Gaudin's 5 starts.

And Mariano Rivera has pitched a total of 4 innings in September.

And now with Dice-K's performance against the Angels last night, the Red Sox may have the best starting rotation. But remember, this year Dice-K is 2-5 with an ERA over 7. Along with Tim Wakefield, you never know what you're going to get with these two.

In his last 5 starts, Josh Beckett is 1-2 with 6.10 ERA. Wow! But considering his postseason success, none of that really matters.

Clay Buchholz is 3-0 with a 3.27 ERA in his last 5 starts.

But obviously Jon Lester is currently Boston's ace. His last 5 starts: 4-0, 1.51 ERA, 35.2 innings, 35 K's, and 20 hits. Ooooh.

So a Red Sox/Yankees ALCS seems inevitable. But you never know what you're going to get with the 2009 BoSox. The team that went 31 consecutive innings without scoring a run, or the team that scored 25 runs in two games against the Yankees.

One stat that makes me feel comfortable: You take away the games Boston has played against the Blue Jays, Orioles and the National League and the Red Sox record is 50-45.

Other notes...

Adam Wainwright leads MLB with 18 wins. His teammate Chris Carpenter has 16. That's a pretty lethal 1-2 punch, in the National League.

Since they've been alive, 2009 college freshmen have always had a new season of Matt Groening's The Simpson's every fall. The show has broadcast 441 episodes and begins it's 21st season on September 27th. Congratulations.

Sox Hanging Low

The Red Sox aren't winning the AL East this year. We all realized this when they lost that 15 inning 2-0 marathon to the Yankees. That was the tipping point. That was also the game that sent fair weather BoSox fan (roughly 90% of all BoSox fans) into hibernation. But the real Red Sox fan and Yankees fan know you can't totally dismiss Boston for the season.

Boston is currently 3.5 games up on Texas in the Wild Card. They are 5 games up on Tampa. Neither team will catch the Red Sox.

Texas had a legitimate shot.

On Friday, August 14 the Red Sox began a 3 game series against the Rangers in Arlington. Boston held a slim half game lead in the Wild Card going in.

Texas was up 4-2 heading into the top of the 9th with their closer Frank Francisco on the mound to face the 7-8-9 Boston hitters. Going into the inning, Francisco's ERA was 2.01. When he walked off the mound, it had ballooned to 3.66.

Boston quickly jumped on Francisco and had cut the deficit to 4-3. Terry Francona sent Clay Buchholz to pinch run for Jason Varitek. The move nearly crushed Francona's reputation as a wise manager.

Dustin Pedroia drilled a ball to the left field wall where David Murphy nearly made an amazing catch. Buchholz was totally confused. He looked like, well, a pitcher running the bases. He stopped between 2nd and 3rd and then decided to make a run for home. Needless to say he was gunned down on the relay throw at the plate.

The air had been sucked out of Boston's playoff hopes.

Then wouldn't you know it, newly acquired Victor Martinez stepped up next and delivered a 2 out game winning double down the left field line. The Red Sox had been saved.

Yeah, Boston went on to lose the next 2 games of the series and were a half game out of the wild card. But if Boston had been swept, and lost Friday's game on Buchholz's baserunning blunder, that would have just killed the team's confidence and they would have left Arlington 2.5 games out.

Since that series, Boston has gone 10-3 and Texas 6-7.

Boston's lineup has been too inconsistent this year. Something we never saw during the Manny days. One week they'll fail to score a run in 31 consecutive innings, two weeks later, they'll put up 25 in two days.

Pitching wise, Wakefield will be back, but Dice-K seems highly unlikely. Josh Beckett had a really rough August. In 6 starts, Beckett was 2-1, 39.1 innings, 36 hits, 22 earned runs-a 2.03 ERA.

The Yankees' Biggest Nemesis

The NY Yankees finished their ten game road trip going 7-3. After taking 2 of 3 this weekend at Fenway Park, NY has 1 7 1/2 game lead on the division. Barring another epic meltdown, the Yankees will be division champs and back into the postseason after a one year hiatus.

The Yankees are now a MLB best 27-9 since the All Star break. The one team that concerns me most is the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels are 25-11 since the break.

On June 11, LA was 29-29. Since then they have gone 44-16! A lot of that can be contributed to having Vladimir Guerrero back in the lineup.

The Angels are batting a MLB best .289. The Yankees are second batting .280 as a team.

How potent are LA's bats? The Angels have 8 players with at least 249 AB's who batting .300!

Their biggest concern is their pitching. The Angels are 12th in the American League with a 4.88 team ERA. The Yankees are 8th in the AL at 4.37.

Since 2002 the Yankees are 33-46 against the Angels. That includes postseason losses in 2002 (3-1) and 2005 (3-2).

NY went 2-4 against Anaheim this year.

On the other hand, since 2002 Boston is 42-34 against Anaheim. The Red Sox have owned the Angels in the postseason. Boston swept Anaheim 3-0 in 2004 and 2007. After going 1-8 against the Angels in 2008, the Red Sox beat them 3-1 in the Division series last year.

After last night's game, the Yankees finally got to Josh Beckett. You have to be more worried about the Angels than the BoSox.

Something's Gotta Give

This is really gotten out of hand.

What has basically become a daily incident, MLB pitchers seem to be retaliating more than ever. Just this past week, we've seen Prince Fielder after the game try to barge into the Dodgers' clubhouse. Ozzie Guillen publicly announced that he would seek revenge after seeing 3 of his players hit by pitches last Saturday.

"If I see somebody hitting my players and I know it's on purpose, two guys are going down," Guillen said. "I don't care if I get suspended."

And now, last night the Tigers and Red Sox had a bench clearing brawl that saw Kevin Youkilis and Rick Porcello both ejected in the second inning. All this fueled from Monday night's game where Miguel Cabrera was hit hit in the top of the fourth inning and Youkilis immediately beamed in the bottom of the inning.

The teams didn't waste anytime drawing blood last night. Cabrera was hit in the top of the first inning. Porcello hit Youkilis in the back to lead off the bottom of the second. Benches cleared as Youkilis charged the mound throwing his helmet at Porcello before tackling the Detroit pitcher.

All that being said, it's only a matter of time before somebody is severely injured. Let's not forget that this is a baseball being thrown 90 mph.

Last night we saw Youkilis throw his helmet at the pitcher. How long until we see a batter use his weapon, a wooden bat! in retaliation.

Fielder tried to single handily bum rush the Dodgers' clubhouse. What next? A player lurking outside the stadium waiting for his target. Or even worse, a player tracking down the pitcher after the game at a restaurant/bar/club?

Let's not forget that pretty much all these teams are deeply involved in a pennant race. If your Detroit, why would you risk losing one of your top starting pitchers in only the second inning? The same for Boston. Why would Youkilis, one of the Red Sox best hitter, risk being ejected for nearly an entire game. Although it did work out in Boston's favor. Mike Lowell replaced Youkilis and homered twice.

The fines and suspensions are pretty weak. A pitcher is suspended 5 games. For a starter, that's one start. And a fine for a MLB player? Not really gonna hurt their bank account.

MLB has managers and pitchers who are notorious for head hunting. Joe Maddon of the Tampa Rays has made it clear that the Rays no longer want to be treated like the "little brother." Rays pitcher Matt Garza was fined a couple of weeks ago for hitting Mark Teixeira. And last year we saw James Shields plunk Coco Crisp to spark a Rays/Red Sox brawl.

Remember Dodgers' pitcher Guillermo Mota, who hit Fielder, running away from a storming Mike Piazza?

Just last week, the Texas Rangers released Vicente Padilla who was portrayed as a bad teammate with a poor attitude. Padilla is well known for head hunting. Earlier this season, Padilla hit Mark Teixeira twice in one game.

I guess it's safe to say that opposing pitchers don't like Teixeira.

MLB is going to have to address this problem that is continuing to snowball. They will have to impose stiffer penalties. Maybe they should begin by suspending players 15-20 games.

I get the fact that pitchers are trying to get batters to back off the plate. If you're going to try to brush back a batter, you don't need to throw at their face.

Most people say they should just let the players go after each other and finish it on the field. That would turn baseball to a violent sport with crowds showing up just to see a fight. We have the UFC for that.

I did some research on batters hit by pitch on baseball reference.com. Here a some things I found.

From 1916-1992, the average for a player hit by a pitch in a game never reached above .25%.

From 1995-2009, that average has never been below .30%. The highest was .39% in 2001!

From 1887-1911, pitchers were hitting a lot of batters. Why? I have no idea.

In the National League, from 1911-1994, with the exception of one Ron Hunt, no player was ever hit by a pitch more than 20 times in a season. From 1995-2008, 11 seasons there had been at least one player hit by a pitch at least 21 times in one year.

In the American League, from 1911-1993, with the exception of Don Baylor, only in 5 seasons had the league leader in HBP exceeded 20. From 1995-2008, 9 seasons there had been at least one player hit by a pitch at least 21 times in one year.

So what does all this tell us? One, that Ron Hunt and Don Baylor knew how to get hit by a pitch, just like Ernie "Coach" Pantusso from Cheers-"Just try to miss me!"

Two, pitchers hit a lot of batters before 1911.

Three, basically since 1994 we've seen more and more batters hit by pitches.

You can argue that in the early '90's batters began wearing more protective gear. The elbow pad, the knee bad, the shin pad-think Barry Bonds. He wore everything but a bullet proof vest. That's when more and more batters really began crowding the plate. Maybe MLB should start taking away some of that body armor and batters won't be so bold to crowd the plate.

How Sweep It Is!

So much for 8-0.

It's safe to say these two bitter rivals are going in opposite directions.

The NY Yankees completed a 4 game sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 5-2 win at Yankee Stadium. It was the first time in 24 years the Yankees had swept Boston in a 4 game series. And what a series it was.

Boston went 31 consecutive innings without scoring a run! At the New Yankee Stadium! I mean, you would think by accident someone in the Boston lineup would hit a homerun. Imagine if Boston wouldn't have got those 2 meaningless runs in the 9th inninng on Thursday's game? You could tack on another 4 innings.

Sunday night's series finale was another epic pitcher's duel, this time featuring Jon Lester and Andy Pettitte.

The game was scoreless until A-Rod hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the 7th to put New York up 1-0. It was the second time in three nights that A-Rod hit a homerun to break a scoreless game. On the year, A-Rod has 5 homeruns in the seventh inning or later.

With the score 1-0, you'd think that would have been enough. But the Red Sox finally! got on the board in the top half of 8th. Newly acquired Victor Martinez hit a 2 run homer off Phil Coke put the Sox up 2-0 and perhaps give Boston a pulse.

Of course it was Phil Coke on the mound to break up Boston's scoreless streak. Why did Joe Girardi not go to Phil Hughes?

But when you're hot, you're hot. In the bottom of the eighth, young phenom sensation Daniel Bard easily retired the first two Yankees and looked like Boston would escape with a win. But then back to back curtain calls by Damon and Teixeira and the stadium was electric. The Yankees ended up scoring a total of 4 runs in the inning all coming after 2 outs and no one on.

And then it was Mariano Rivera in the ninth and the game was over. Rivera hasn't allowed a run in the last 21.1 innings. He's converted 100 of his last 104 save opportunities. Yeah, that's why he's "The Sandman." Good night.

The Yankees have won 7 in a row, the Red Sox have lost 6 in a row. The lead has quickly shot up to 6 1/2. And the Red Sox are tied for the Wild Card and have many roster questions.

For the series, NY outscored Boston 25-8.
Out hit Boston 41-25.
Boston batted .174 for the series!

And Boston's strength, their bullpen, allowed 14 runs in 15.1 innings-a 8.34 ERA.

The one bright spot for the Red Sox, the Yankees only scored 1 run off Beckett and Lester. So Boston can still be a lethal team to face in the playoffs.

I don't think I've ever seen a Yankees' team play so loose and have so much fun. You watch the dugout and see all the smiles and dancing. Robinson Cano has his high five jump. Nick Swisher seems to have a personal handshake for every player. And the pie in the face routine brought on by A.J Burnett is priceless. I don't recall every seeing a Yankees team acting like this with Joe Torre.

The Yankees are now 18-5 since the All Star Break. They're 31-10 in the last 41 games. And they have the best record in baseball at 69-42. Yeah, it was a great weekend.

Statement Game

Well, that monkey is gone, thankfully.

On a night with Muhammad Ali on hand, the Yankees sent a knockout blow to the Red Sox. NY's 13-6 win was highlighted by a 8 run 4th inning that might have sent John Smoltz into retirement.

Jorge Posada and Melky Cabrera each hit 3 run homers in the fatal fourth as the Yankees finally beat the Red Sox and are now 3 1/2 games up on the Sox.

The Yankees finished with 18 hits with every starter getting at least 1 hit. The Yankees got 10 RBI's from the bottom of the lineup.

How bad was Smoltz? He only lasted 3.1 innings, giving up 9 hits and 8 earned runs. For the year, Smoltz is 2-5 with a 8.32 ERA.

On the other side, Joba Chamberlain wasn't his post all star break superior self. Joba was wild in 5 innings walking 7 batters! All the walks hiked Joba's pitch count to a total of 108. He did get the win and is now 8-2.

Yankee killer David Ortiz was 0-5 and now batting .222! As a team, Boston left 15 runners on base and were 3-21 with runners in scoring position.

With the Yankees up 13-4 in the 8th inning, relief pitcher Mark Melancon got a little wild against Dustin Pedroia. Melancon threw one over Pedroia and the next pitch hit Pedroia. Posada had to walk Pedroia down to first base as Pedroia's lips never stopped moving as he stared at the pitcher's mound.

Now wouldn't that have been a sight, Dustin Pedroia charging the pitcher's mound!

I highly doubt the Yankees were looking to hit Pedroia. I mean they were up 13-4. Melancon has only 10 total innings pitching in the big leagues. Last night was probably the biggest game he's ever pitched in and the emotions probably ran a little high and he got wild. But in light of what just happened the other night between the Dodgers/Brewers, anything will be questionable. Melancon was not ejected.

The was the second sell out at the new Yankee Stadium, the first was opening day. Jorge Posada was a triple shy of the cycle. Joba is the first Yankees pitcher to win a game with 7 BB's since David Cone 4/9/99 against Detroit.

Game 2 Friday night is probably Boston's best chance to win a game in this series as Josh Beckett goes for Boston. Beckett is notorious for nailing down the Yankees.

Let's Get It On!

Yes, it is the dog days of summer and football is just around the corner. But for baseball fans, it certainly is Christmas in August. MLB has some great division races going on right now. And even better for baseball, pretty much every major market team is represented.

But of course nothing beats the rivalry of the Red Sox/Yankees which is restored with a 4 game series starting in the Bronx tonight.

We all know the Sox have owned the Yanks this year, with Boston winning all 8 meetings this season. That's all fine and dandy, but it's the Bronx Bombers who have a 2 1/2 lead on the Sox. Boston has outscored the Yankees 55-31 in those 8 meetings. There were two games that New York probably should have, could have won. Imagine if the Yankees had won 2 games against Boston. The Yankees would be up 6 1/2 games. If the teams had split the 8 games, the Yanks would have a 10 1/2! game lead on Boston.

One thing Joe Torre did right was knowing the importance winning games against opponents you're next to in the standings. Torre said it best by basically saying when you win one of these games, it's a two game shift in the standings.

So now don't think these games don't matter. But at the same time, New York has yet to beat Boston once and yet here they are in August ahead of the Red Sox.

Obviously a lot has changed since these two teams last met, which was June 11. For one, Jason Bay was considered the AL MVP and batting .277. That talked has died and Bay has gone back to his Pittsburgh Pirates' roots currently batting .252. Oh, and now the Red Sox are the latest franchise to have the dark steroid cloud hovering above.

The Yankees have all the confidence and momentum going into this series. Not only are they home, but they have their 4 studs set up to start all 4 games. Joba Chamberlain starts tonight. If the Yanks can win tonight, they can probably take 3 games this weekend.

Back in the middle of June, New York dropped 2 of 3 at home to the Washington Nationals. They lost the series finale 3-0. They scored 7 total runs in three games vs. the Nats. At home! In Coors Field East!

Since that loss, the Yankees have gone 28-13.

Remember Boston's epic meltdown against Baltimore back on June 30? The Red Sox blew a 10-1 lead! to the Orioles, losing 11-10. Since that horrific loss, Boston is 15-14.

Starting tonight, the Yankees can put a choke hold on the division and leave Boston to battle for the Wild card.

Tainted Titles

I was wondering how ESPN would fill 45 minutes of sportscenter now that Brett Favre, at the moment, is not coming back.

Well, that didn't take long.

And honestly, was anyone really surprised? David Ortiz was nothing in Minnesota and then became Big Papi overnight in Boston. And the last couple of seasons his numbers had significantly dropped.

As a Yankees' fan, I'm very much relieved. Finally the Red Sox have been spotted under the steroid cloud. And it's hard to find two bigger stars.

When the Yankees blew the 3-0 2004 ALCS, I felt like my dog had got hit by a car. Now, it's like I woke up from a horrible dream.

Manny and Papi were the faces of the Red Sox resurgence. They were the cornerstones of the franchise. They were the biggest names in Boston this past decade. 100 years from now, when someone looks back at how the Red Sox reversed the cursed, the first two people they'll see are Manny and Papi.

So are Boston's 2 World Series' tainted? Yeah, they are.

This was the best 1-2 punch in all of sports. They were lethal together. With Bonds and A-Rod, it was about homerun records, neither of them had won a World Series. With Roger Clemens, it was a pitcher, someone who only played every 5th day. And Clemens was juicing at the end of his career. Manny and Ortiz were in their prime.

Ortiz single handily brought Boston back from the dead in the '04 ALCS. Remember those walk off homeruns? Well now we know he had a lot of help, and so did the guy batting in front of him.

Why am I so relieved? Because as a Yankees' fan I've been tormented the last couple of years about my team-"Jeter and the cheaters." The Red Sox had flown under the roid radar and were presumably clean. But come on! Remember this team was a bunch of self proclaimed idiots. Well now they're really looking like idiots. If Manny and Ortiz were juicing, what's not to make you think that whole team wasn't. Their entire lineup was having career years-Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek. And now don't you think Varitek had a roid rage moment back in '04 when he attacked A-Rod, ala Clemens/Piazza?

Are the Yankees' titles tainted? Well first we have to determine exactly when the steroid era began. It could have been back in the late '80's with the "Bash Bothers" winning with Oakland. Roger Clemens won two rings with the Yankees, in '99 and 2000. You can very much argue that Clemens was nearly as instrumental in those Yankees' titles as Manny and Ortiz were to Boston's.

When asked about Ortiz testing positive, Alex Rodriguez said,

"He's my friend and I care for David.

I have nothing else to say about it."

When A-Rod was busted last spring, well, we've heard what Ortiz had to say about baseball and steroids.

From 1997-2002 with the Twins, Ortiz hit 58 homeruns in 1477 at bats. A homerun every 25 at bats.

From 2003-2007 with the Red Sox, he hit 208 homeruns in 2738. A homerun every 13 at bats.

We've all heard the phrase, "Cheaters never win." Well, these two guys cheated and they won. They carried that team to their titles. And they were cheating.

There's still nearly 100 more names on the infamous list, but really, how much bigger names can come out. If Albert Pujols or Derek Jeter are named, I might just give up on baseball and feel like a huge part of my life has been stolen from me. That would probably be my worst nightmare.

How do you say Big cheatin liar in spanish?

Ortiz Heats Up, Goes 1-5

How bad are things for David Ortiz? He went 1-5 last night and actually raised his batting average! Ortiz, we need to find a new nickname for this guy because "Big Papi" doesn't work anymore, came into last night's game batting .185. By going 1-5 with 3 K's, his average actually sparked up to .186!

I wish I could say I feel sorry for the guy and the Red Sox, but Nah!!!! I fucking love it! I'm not going to bring up PED's, steroids, no Manny hitting behind him, being an average player when he was with the Twins, etc. Whoops! Just did. Sorry. No, not really.

This guy is a mess. And I love it! Maybe it was a good thing that guy tried to bury an Ortiz jersey in the new Yankee Stadium. And maybe it was a good thing the Yankees spent X amount of dollars to dig up that jersey. The Yankees are in first place and everyone's hitting homeruns at the new Yankee Stadium, except Lil' Papi.

Maybe the "Mendoza Line" should now be referred to as the "Big Papi Line"?

Once A Douche, Always A Douche

We all know what an idiot Jonathan Papelbon is. I really gave up on the douchebag last summer when he said he should be the closer in the All Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

And last Saturday, Papelbon blew his first save of the year at the hands of the NY Mets and a backup catcher. Omir Santos hit a two run homer in the ninth to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. In 36 career games, it was only Santos's 2nd career homerun.

In the bottom of the ninth, a NY Post photographer was just doing his job and snapping a photo of the player most responsible for the loss.

Papelbon screamed at the photog, "Don't take my f- - -ing picture!"
And proceeded to throw a towel at him.

Come on! I'm sure Papelbon and Red Sox fan will claim that Papelbon was just showing his competitive nature. Say what you want, but this was typical childish behavior from Papelbum.

Going into Saturday's game, Papelbon was 11-11 in save opportunities with a 0.95 ERA. Since then, his ERA has blossomed to 2.57 after allowing a two run homer to the Twins's Joe Mauer and nearly blowing another save yesterday.

Lebron Receives MVP, Yankees Swept, Nuggets Go Up 2-0

Is anything for certain?

In sports, Lebron James winning the MVP this year was for certain. Another thing you can be sure of is the Bron-Bron and the Cavaliers winning at home. They've lost twice all year.

So last night, nothing was different. Lebron received his first of many to come MVP Awards Then King James showed there was no rust after being off 9 days as the Cavs took care of business in Game 1 against Atlanta, 99-72.

Lebron had his usual MVP performance with 34 points, 10 rebounds, 3 dimes and 4 steals. Bron-Bron is so dam good he really doesn't even need to play the fourth quarter.

The Hawks will be another minor bump in the road to Cleveland's NBA title. Atlanta did play the Cavs tough at home in Phillips Arena. Maybe Atlanta steals one at home and this series goes 5. Maybe.

I don't know if its the effect of the high altitude in the Rockies, but another guarantee I can give you is the Denver Nuggets playing at home will crush their opponent in the fourth quarter. Every home playoff game so far this year the Nuggets have started the final quarter by blowing out their opponent and sealing the game. Last night was no different. Dallas, led by Dirk Nowitzki's 35 points, was keeping up with Nuggets until the near the end of the third quarter. Then the fourth quarter happened and Denver proceeded to go on another patented 16-2 run!

Carmelo Anthony scored 15 of his 25 in the final period as Denver went up 2-0 with a 117-105 drubbing of the Mavericks.

Another guarantee? The Red Sox beating the Yankees! They've played 5 times, Boston has won all 5. They've beaten the Yankees almost every possible way you can think of. Coming back from 2 down off Rivera in the bottom of the ninth. Being down 6-0 and coming back to blow the Yankees out of the park. Stealing home plate in a game. Withstanding a 2 hour rain delay. And last night beating Joba Chamberlain despite Joba striking out 12 Sox.

Now all the Yankees have to is go 10-4 against Boston for the rest of the year.

One more guarantee...It now seems to be annual occurrence on where will Brett Favre be playing next season.

And one other thing. There are so many great things about NYC, one of the best aspects of the city is the subway. I lived in NYC for about 5 years and a train or bus was my mode of transportation the whole time. I didn't own a car for 5 years. I never had to worry about the price of gas, insurance or a car payment.

And yet, you could go on and on about what makes the subway so great. This video shows just one of many everyday occurrences you could fall upon during your afternoon commute in NYC.

Bulls/Celtics One for the Ages

If you haven't been watching the Bulls/Celtics series...

Six games. 4 overtimes. Series tied 3-3.

This series has it all. We've witnessed the coming out party for Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose has premiere point guards in the NBA.

We've had nail bitting overtime games and last second three pointers.

Rondo putting in bad blood by nearly decapitating Brad Miller on his drive for the tying shot.

And what did the two teams do last night? Only a triple overtime ending after nearly 4 hours with the Bulls winning 128-127.

Not to mention Ray Allen going for 51! And Rondo adding more fuel to the fire with a skirmish with Kirk Hinrich. Not only has Rondo been the most valuable player for the Celtics in this series, now he's going to be regarded as a dirty player. Rondo could have easily been ejected last night because of the tussle with Hinrich.

The Bulls were up double digits in the first half, blew that lead. Then went up double digits again and the fourth quarter, blew that lead and somehow even got down by 8 points with under 5 minutes left to play. I don't know how they rebounded to tie the game and go to overtime!

Ray Allen hits a three to send the game into a third overtime. In the third OT, Joakim Noah steals the ball and dribbles down the court for a breakaway and one dunk that just electrified the crowd. How does Paul Pierce allow Noah to dribble the length of the court and punctuate it with a dunk?

By the time the game ended, the Blazers/Rockets game had already started the 3rd quarter.

Speaking of the Blazers/Rockets...

The Houston Rockets finally got rid of the first round hex and won their first playoff series since 1997.

The Portland Trailblazers just didn't have enough fire power. Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Alridge were the only real scoring threats throughout the series.

Greg Oden is looking like the incredible bust. Yeah, he's been injured and hasn't played much, but even when he plays, he doesn't look good. Thus, a bust. So far. Could you imagine this Portland team with Kevin Durant? That would be flat out sick!

For the entire series, Oden finished with 30 points, 24 rebounds and 29 fouls!

As for the Rockets? Congratulations! You now get Black Mamba and the Lakers. Actually, I think the Rockets match up decent with LA. Good enough to maybe take this series to 6 games. Ron Artest had problems with Brandon Roy, how do you think he'll stack up against the Black Dagger?

Houston's biggest weakness is probably at point guard. Aaron Brooks can show flashes of brilliance, but is too young and inconsistent. Kyle Lowry just can't shoot and is turnover prone.

No Superman, No Problem for Orlando...
What a no show by the 76ers. You're at home, an elimination game with the opposing team's best player out. Not just any player, Dwight Howard! The defensive player of the year! That's 20+ points, 14 boards and 3 blocks out of the game. Magic starter Courtney Lee was out too.

And Philadelphia gets beat 114-89! WTF!

When is the last time the Cleveland Cavaliers have played a game? Still waiting to see the who they'll sweep next, the Hawks/Heat.

Tampa's Matt Garza had a perfect game going into the 7th inning against the Red Sox. Tampa pummeled Boston 13-0. Tampa had 18 hits to Boston's lone one.

And Yankeeland?

After a 4 game losing skid and being swept at Fenway in one of the worst possible ways, the Yankees got a more than solid start from call up Phil Hughes and have won 3 in a row and are just 2 back in the division. Pretty good considering all the injuries and hoopla surrounding the team.

And speaking of hoopla...

A-Rod gets back to playing ball and hits a homerun, but that was hardly the biggest story involving Rodriguez. Selena Roberts' new book has already leaked new "allegations." The biggest concern is the whole "pitch tipping" A-Rod did with Texas. I have never heard such a thing. Selena Roberts is an extremely credible reporter and everything's she's printed has been true. But why in this book are sources not named? If A-Rod was pitch tipping, then who were the other players involved? If former Yankees claim they saw A-Rod taking roids while with the Yankees, how come these players aren't named?

It really makes me wonder just how much of MLB was juicing? Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are really looking more dirty and corrupt, if possible.

I really think Big Papi and Jason Varitek were juicing. Look at how both players' numbers have dropped significantly the last couple years. Last year, Varitek struggled to bat above the Mendoza line. This year, Big Papi is batting .230 with no homeruns. Yeah, he probably does miss Manny batting behind him. And remember the summer of 2004 when Varitek jumped out of the catcher's box and went after A-Rod, ala Roger Clemens throwing the bat at Mike Piazza.

The Kansas City Royals' Zack Greinke is the first pitcher to go 5-0 this year. He gave up his first runs of the year the other night. His ERA is 0.50.

Yes, the season's young and now Greinke is on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Let's watch and see how this guy handles the pressure.

Red Sox Down 3-1

We all know the Red Sox have been here before.

Down 3-1, you probably couldn't ask for 3 better starters in the next 3 elimination games than Dice-K, Josh Beckett and John Lester.

So don't stick a fork in Boston just yet. Just ask the Indians or Yankees.

However, Beckett is hurt, you can easily tell from this year's post season numbers. The Rays clobbered Lester in Game 3. And Dice-K always seems to flirt with disaster but seems to walk through mine fields unscathed.

Literally, Dice-K has been an exception to the pitcher's creed. Don't walk the batter, let 'em hit it. Walks will kill you. But Dice-K always seems to walk a batter here and there to load the bases and always seems to get himself out of the self induced jam.

I have a feeling his luck is about to run out. Game 5 isn't a must win for Tampa, they're home for Games 6 and 7, if need be. The longer the Rays go without finishing off the Red Sox, the more the momentum swings back to Boston.

Tampa is not only young, but they seem so confident and relaxed, not what you'd expect from one of the youngest squads in baseball. And Joe Maddon is the best manager in MLB.

And let's face it, Boston's lineup is not nearly as potent as previous years. No Manny Ramirez, no Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek is at the end of career. Tek couldn't hit the side of a barn with a tractor. The only solid bats in the lineup are Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and J.D. Drew.

Big Papi's era as the best clutch hitter in baseball seems to be over. Ortiz is 5-33 in this post season with 1 RBI. He hasn't hit a postseason homerun since Game 4 of last year's ALCS, that's 59 at bats and 15 straight games without a homerun in the postseason.

His production is obviously down without Manny batting behind him. But also because of a knee injury last year combined with the wrist injury that landed him on the DL this summer.

I would love to see Tampa win the World Series. USA Today's Danny Sheridan had the Rays as 50,000-1 to win the Series! Vegas would only give you as high as 100-1.

The AL East is far and away the best division in baseball, maybe the best all time, and it is only getting tougher. One of Tampa's coaches said they'll have at least 9! pitchers who could start in MLB. The Yankees and Red Sox will still compete. And if Toronto can keep it's pitching staff intact, the Blue Jays are a solid bat or two away from being serious contenders.

Creepin On A Come Up

To date, this is by far the most important week of the year for the NY Yankees. Three games vs. the Twins, followed by 3 games at Fenway Park.



Coming into the week I hoped for the Yankees to go 4-2.

But dam! The Yankees are hot. A 3 game sweep against Minnesota puts the Twins in the rearview mirror and the Yankees sitting alone in second place for the Wild Card.

Since the All Star Break, the Yankees have yet to lose, going 6-0. Yesterday's 5-1 win vs Minnesota gave New York their 10th consecutive home win.

A lot of New York's second half success has to do with the return of Johnny Damon from the DL and Robinson Cano pulling his annual coming out of hibernation for the second half. Cano had is 6th consecutive multi hit game yesterday.

Also, May 28th was the last time Joba Chamberlain made a relief appearance. The Yankees were in last place.

Since Joba has been in the starting rotation, the Yankees are 30-18 and in striking distance of not only the Wild Card, but first place for the Eastern Division. The Yankees are 6-3 in games which Chamberlain starts.

New York's bullpen has been doing just fine without Joba, the relievers have a combined 1.65 ERA for the last month. In his last 10 appearances, Kyle Farnsworth hasn't allowed a hit since June 22.

And now, the Yankees are looking up at the hated Red Sox, 3 games separating the two teams.

The Yankees have had trouble so far this year against the BoSox, going 4-5, and Boston has one of the best home records in baseball (36-11)

New York's rotation sets up nicely for the weekend series with Chamberlain, Andy Pettitte and the pleasant surprising pitching of Sidney Ponson.

The Red Sox will counter with Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield and Jon Lester.

I would love a Yankees' sweep, and the way they're playing I wouldn't be surprised. But realistically I have to hope for 2 out of 3.

Funny, a couple of weeks the always heated rivalry didn't mean anything. Now, both teams are in position to lead the division.

And with the return of Big Papi, the atmosphere, excitement and emotion will be crazy yet once again for this heated rivalry.

More Fuel to the Fire

As if this rivalry really needs anything else to heat it up, Kyle Farnsworth throws a fastball at Manny Ramirez's head.

Ramirez (the AL MVP by far), torched the Yankees for three hits, two of them no doubt about it home runs, and three RBI's. With the first pitch of the 7th inning and the Red Sox up 7-3, Farnsworth (much to the home crowds pleasure )threw a 97 mph fastball at Manny's noggin.

Some still call it questionable, with Farnsworth's inconsistent control, but maybe Joe Girardi was trying to send a message. Manny has killed the Yankees, and Mike Mussina, so far this year and he's pretty much responsible for all three of the BoSox wins over the Yanks.

So far in this young season, we've had a Fenway hawk attack a young girl named Alexa Rodriguez, the Big Papi jersey buried in the new Yankee Stadium, and know this.

The Yanks may have gotten beat last night, but at least they touched "Pap" for two runs in the ninth. Nice nickname.

Whether it was intentional or not, you can bet the Sox won't forget.

Yankees After Two Weeks

So after the first two weeks of the 2008 season, the Yanks are 7-7. Not bad considering their bats have been sleeping for the most part and Captain Jeter was out for 6 games (the Yankees went 2-4), missing the weekend series against the BoSox (It was Jeter's first missed game against Boston since '96).

What's surprising most people (not me) has been their starting pitching. Chien-Ming Wang is 3-0 and two hit the Red Sox at Fenway Friday night (This was exactly one year after Felix Hernandez 1 hit the Sox at Fenway). If Bobby Abreu would have jumped more than 6 inches off the ground, he would have robbed J.D. Drew of a solo shot and probably no hit the Sox.

Pettitte and Mussina have looked good. Moose pitched a good game Saturday at Boston. If it wasn't for Manny (early favorite for MVP) Ramirez and Joe Girardi's young managerial mistake, Mussina would have gotten a W. With runners on second and third, Girardi went out to talk to Moose. Mussina talked Girardi out of intentionally walking Manny, who taken Mussina deep in his previous at bat. Manny then delivered the go ahead double.

Phil Hughes had one good start against Toronto but got the loss. Sunday night Hughes got his first taste of Yankees/Red Sox rivalry and got hit up for 7 runs. Hughes had problems getting ahead of batters which was obviously his downfall. You also had to look at the fact that Hughes and Jose Molina must have been having communication problems. In the first inning, the Yanks did a pitch out and Molina made a bad throw that allowed Jacoby Ellsbury to take third. Ellsbury later scored on a wild pitch. Molina also had a passed ball/wild pitch which allowed another run. Give the Yankees bullpen credit, they only allowed one run after the third inning.

Ian Kennedy looked great against a real dangerous Tampa team until he was knocked out of the game by a line drive. Let's hope he's ok.

The one thing Girardi has brought to the Yankees that we never saw Joe Torre do is move runners over by sacrificing. Wow! There's an idea!

Game 3 against Toronto. Bottom of the 8th game tied 2-2. Melky Cabrera singles, Johnny Damon bunts and is safe at first on an error. Jeter then bunts and all of a sudden runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out. Bobby Abreu singles in the go ahead run and the Yanks win 3-2.

Last Friday at Fenway. Jose Molina doubles. Alberto Gonzalez bunts him over to 3rd and Cabrera hits a sac fly to score Molina.

Saturday at Boston. Molina and Gonzalez both single. Damon bunts them over. Cabrera hits another sac fly and Gonzalez later scores on a wild pitch.

Then Sunday night, Girardi goes against all of this.
Top of the 8th, Yankees cut the Red Sox lead to 7-5, the first two batters get on and Damon comes up with runners on 2nd and 3rd no one out. Girardi doesn't sacrafice and Damon hits into a double play. Threat over.


Already, A-Rod has failed to deliver in the clutch.
Saturday's game against Boston. 8th inning, two runners on, two outs and A-Rod up. Jon Papelbon comes in. Talk about suspense. The game is then delayed for over two hours. When play resumes, Paplebon K's A-Rod.

Sunday night, the Yanks put runners on first and second against Dice-K (Who throws a ton of pitches and has a hard time throwing strikes) with A-Rod up. And A-Rod hits into an inning ending double play. Dam!

Last night against the Rays (that still sounds silly), the Yankee bats finally awoke but their bullpen nearly blew it. Robinson Cano came off the bench to save the day with a go ahead solo shot.

So once again, the middle relief for the Yankees is questionable, showing why Joba needs to stay in the bullpen. Joba's back in Lincoln with his ailing father. Latroy Hawkins will really have to step it up.

The Rivalry resumes at Yankee Stadium Wednesay night.