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.

Another Heartbreak For US Soccer

American soccer fan's latest hope to popularize "futbol" in this country fell flat, again. Yesterday the United States lost a 2-1 nail biter to Mexico. Today there are roughly 30 people in the U.S. crushed.

This was the time. The United States were gonna win in Mexico and the whole country would be soccer crazy.

Not gonna happen.

My favorite part is how everyone blamed the loss on the altitude. Huh? You mean because the team was caught off guard. No, people were saying that would be an issue going in. Well how about this. There's this place, in the United States, called Colorado. The NFL Denver Broncos used to play their games in Mile High Stadium.

If this soccer game was so dam important and meant everything to the country, why wouldn't the US soccer team prepare for such a meaningful event in, lets say, Denver?

When the World Cup was played on American soil in 1994, soccer was going to be huge.

That didn't last.

And Brandi Chastain tearing her shirt off, revealing basically a smaller shirt, for sure brought soccer to the United States.

Not even a blonde in a sports bra could popularize the sport. The LPGA is far more exciting. The L-P-G-A! for Christ sake!

We brought David Beckham over from across the pond and that was for sure going to make soccer America's past time. Instead it has become an ongoing punchline.

I can't believe I'm actually writing about soccer!

I loved all the facebook posts from my toolass friends-"USA! USA!", "I wish I was in Azteca!", "I love soccer!"

Really!?

I get rallying behind your country. I love seeing the United States beat another country in any sport. It just seems like every other year something big is about to happen with soccer and some people jump on the bandwagon only to fall off a day later.

Let's face it. Soccer is something the United States has never, and will never be good at. Why? Because the sport is boring. It has no historical significance to this country. 99.9% of the country doesn't care about it. There are too many other exciting, more marketable sports to follow. There's not room for another.

Yeah when the US beat Russia in hockey it was labeled the "Miracle On Ice." But that victory meant so much more than just one hockey team beating another. Hockey might be less popular today than it was back in 1980.

Well, the only reason I am mentioning soccer is so I can plug a "Simpson's" video. No one can sum up America's attitude on soccer better than Matt Groening and "The Simpson's."

Keep beating that dead horse soccer fan.