Things go better with Coke

Despite his 12 K’s, Burnett was out of the game after 6 innings and 105 pitches, on the short end of a 3-2 score. Burnett is winless in his last 6 starts and his ERA is up to 4.10. Any baseball fan can tell you that being up by 1 run over the Yankees in the 7th inning means virtually nothing, except when Phil ‘the real thing’ Coke enters the game. Red Sox fans will gladly have a Coke and a smile! Coke adds life! Coke is it! Coke promptly gave up another 3 runs (Coke... after Coke ... after Coke) in only 2/3 IP. The Rangers scored once more and the Yankees lose, 7-2.

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Wang's Wife Need Not Worry

Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang is worried that he may have to leave the game early:

Chien-Ming Wang's wife is very pregnant with the couple's first child, and Joe Girardi said tonight that, should the Yankees get word in the middle of the game that Chia-Ling Wu is about to give birth, it will be Wang's decision as to what to do.

He won't be in a position to make the difficult choice after the Red Sox chase him out of the game in the second inning. I just hope he didn't get advice from A-Rod* on what to do in the delivery room.

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Red Sox Rain on Yankee Parade

The Yankees thought they could erase recent memories of Red Sox victories in their new stadium but things did not go as they planned. After a 2 hour + rain delay the game got under way with the Sox offense scoring in each of the first four innings. Jason Bay later added 2 more runs with a homer in the 6th.

Jon Lester pitched very well and had a career high 10 strikeouts. He ran into a little bit of trouble with back to back homers from Damon and Teixiera but settled back down. Ramon Ramirez came in to pitch the 8th but he quickly gave up a home run and a walk so Tito called for Paps to get the 5 out save. The 9th became exciting when Papelbon gave up an infield single, hit a batter and gave up a walk to load the bases with 2 outs before getting a K to end the game. Fist pump followed.

Yankee Stadium looked half full because of the rain delay and pricey seats and you could hear the "let's go Red Sox" chants coming from the crowd. Not want they were looking for out of their $1.5 million palace.

Game notes: Youk left the game in the 6th with a tight lower back and Joe Girardi was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

Red Sox Win 6-4 BOX SCORE

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Red Sox	1	1	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	6	11	0
Yankees	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	4	9	2

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Sabathia Looks Bad in First Start For Yanks

4 1/3 innings, 8 hits, 6 earned runs, 5BBs and no K's. Baltimore announcer Joe Angel said it best with this:

Today he did not look like a million dollar bill...although he did look old and wrinkled.

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Yankees May Still Get Manny

Manny Ramirez is busy playing video games and buying cars while Scott Boras continues to try to sell his client. So far there has been 1 offer (no longer on the table) from the Dodgers for two years. Boras tried to make it seem as if the Giants were interested but that has been discredited. Today the Mets said they want pitching so they are not interested in Ramirez. The Nats seem content to suck for the near future and the Angels have said they will not sign Manny now nor in the future. That leaves Manny with the choice of signing with LA if they put their offer back on the table or look for a deal elsewhere. The one team that still has the money and desire to sign Manny at a contract that would be acceptalbe to him is the New York Yankees. Boras knows how to play them and Hank loves Manny. Teams are dropping quick for Scotty boy so look for him to turn to the Bronx soon to sign his biggest client.

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Report: Manny Close to Signing With Yankees

A newspaper in the Dominican Republic is reporting that Manny Ramirez is close to signing a three year $75 million contract with the Yankees. According to the report he could sign as early as today.

UPDATE: Brian Cashman has said the report is not true in a text message.

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Yankees Rotation Begins to Take Shape

The Yankees have signed A.J. Burnett for 5 years. Burnett joins Sabathia, Wang, Joba (if he does not go to the pen) and possibly Lowe and Pettitte. This is a much better rotation then than had last year but by no means gives them a guaranteed trip into the World Series.

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Who's Gonna Take Manny?

Yesterday's news was filled with reports of Manny Ramirez being upset about getting so little attention at the Winter Meetings and having to play second fiddle to Mark Teixeira. His friends said he was spending his time watching cartoons and playing video games (there you see the real Manny; Ortiz holds a fundraiser for charity, Ramirez plays video games and watches cartoons).

Most news outlets were saying Scott Boras was going to try to deal Manny to teams that lost out on Mark Teixeira but that may not work. The Red Sox don't want him, the Angels wanted Ibanez as a fall back (too late for that), the Nats may go with Adam Dunn, and the Dodgers have yet to put their offer back on the table. There is only one team out there that may have the money and be willing to sign him; that team is.....the Yankees.

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Not much Yankin' on the tube either

As posted previously, there's not much Sox on West Coast tube this month, so I decided to take a look to see how much air time our second favorite team is getting this month. That team being whomever the Yankees are playing and again we come up a little short:

Sat 9 Aug, NYY @ LAA on Fox @ 1:00 pm

Mon 1 Sept, NYY @ DET on TBS @ 10:00 am

Are the networks purposely avoiding the throwdown in the Bronx on the 26th, 27th, & 28th just to whet our appetities for the September finale at Fenway?

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Bring It On

Now is the time for the Sox to bury the Yankees for the season. The Yankee fan base and their media believe their team is on the verge of recapturing its former glory. They will go out and get a big arm to help the rotation for the second half. When the Sox bats, led by the return of Big Papi, beat up on Joba, the Yankees will go back to reality. The Daily News and the Post will shred them and their fans will call for Girardi's head. Josh Beckett is due to shine tonight and Manny will be there to give him some support. Masterson can stop any bleeding in the pen and Paps has something to prove. The Yankees should be afraid, very afraid. Red Sox games are always exciting but playing the Yankees in the second half when it matters makes for a great weekend.

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Yanks Get Beat Up By Sox, Then NY Media

For me there is nothing more fun than reading the New York media after the Sox beat the Yankees. Today proved to have some more entertaining reading, below are a few highlights.

From NY Post:Of course, the Yankees now have to win both games just to get back to the same unfavorable position in which they started the series. Not an exciting prospect.or this from the Daily News:

As for the games, Girardi seems to overthink things at times, whether it was not starting Ian Kennedy because of a bad weather report early in the season, or not bunting Melky Cabrera

earlier this week in a late-inning sacrifice situation, leaving himself open to second-guessing.

He seems to have plenty of respect in the clubhouse, but you wonder if his style creates tension among his players at times. Torre's style never failed to produce a playoff berth. Fairly or unfairly, Girardi's style is now officially on trial.

Or this that Dumbass Hank told to the NJ Star Ledger:

"We're looking into different things," Yankees co-chairperson Hank Steinbrenner said yesterday by phone. "I think we all had more confidence in what we could do with what we have than what we've shown lately.
"I don't think there's going to be any -- for most teams in baseball, 90 percent of the teams in baseball -- there's not going to be anything major that's going to happen."

The Yanks had better do something quick because Ponson is not going to get them into the playoffs.

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A Win Tonight Will Make All of This Go Away

Note to Red Sox Nation: it is still early July, the Sox will have their best hitter back soon, and the Sox will make a deal to improve the bullpen before the deadline. It is tough to see the big picture in the middle of losing streak but the Red Sox will regroup. Boston has been very streaky this season and have followed their losing streaks with big win streaks. There is heat on Tek, Manny, Tito's managing skills, and the pitching staff in general from the media and the fan base, but the great thing about baseball is you usually get to play again the next night. Tonight the Sox face their real rival with a chance to remind the Yankees and the country(2 of the games are on national TV) that they are World Champs and they are still the team to beat. The Sox are due for some big clutch hitting, tonight it will come at the Yankees expense.

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Yankees go the healthy route in clubhouse?

Joe Girardi, in a desperate move to motivate his players and keep Hank off his back and his mouth shut, has banned candy and ice cream in the clubhouse, according to an LA Times story seen on yahoo today.

Uh, Joe? It’s going to take a little more than a token discipline gesture to get the Yankees back on track. While I commend Girardi for striving for a better diet for his players (don’t forget to put steroids on the sweet list), this action reeks of “I gotta do SOMEthing before ol’ dumbass opens up his trap to the media again!”
Better check those trainers to make sure they’re not smuggling in any Kit Kats! I guess Hank is not allowed in the clubhouse if Ding Dongs are on the list!

Speaking of health Joe, is that a cigarette in your hand?

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And The Two Point Conversion is Good

The Red Sox gave up 15 runs in the Bronx tonight to the Yankees. Clay Buchholz looked lost on the mound tonight giving up 7 runs in 3 2/3 innings. The Red Sox will have to decide if Buchholz can remain in the rotation after failing to build on his one good outing this season. The bad pitching for the Red Sox did not end with Buchholz; Tavarez and Timlin struggled mightily on the mound. Aardsma was the only one who was not lit up tonight.

Offensively the Sox were good, scoring 9 runs on 14 hits. As good as the offense was it could have been better; 11 runners were left on base. The only starter without a hit was Ellsbury (0-5).
David Ortiz is still not hitting well and looked like the slump was starting to get to him.

Overall it was a long slugfest with a bad outcome. On top of that, ESPN took a page out of Fox's playbook and felt the need to show Jeter's parents every 5 minutes. Luckily since it was such a long game we don't have to wait long until Beckett takes the hill and shuts down the Yankees tomorrow.

Box Score

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Schilling on the Yankees Next Season...No Way

There were rumors that Curt Schilling might pitch for the Yankees next season based on his doctor's comments on WEEI but the notion was quickly squashed. Curt had a follow-up interview on WEEI and said the following:

"Me wearing pinstripes, regardless of what point of the season or my career it would have been, is not an option, I can't ... think back to having that conversation specifically … it's not an option. Never has been an option."

You can listen to the interview here.

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Tarp is On the Field In the 8th

The Red Sox lead 4-3 with 2 outs in the top of the 8th. A-Rod is up and Papelbon had just been called in before the game was halted. Based on the radar below it should get back underway quickly.

Update: the tarp is coming off the field.

Update 2: the tarp is back on before a pitch, Papelbon has had to warm up twice. We'll see if it has any adverse effects or if he enters the game at all.

Update 3: The tarp is off, the game is on FX (channel 36 on Comcast Bay Area) now due to the NACAR race on Fox

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Time For Red Sox-Yankees

The Red Sox and Yankees will play for the first time in the Joe Girardi/Hank era. Even though it is only a spring training game there are some interesting story lines. Andy Pettitte will be starting for the Yankees and there may be some STER...OIDs chants from Sox fans that were able to get tickets in Tampa. Bartolo "el Gordo" Colon will start for the Sox and get to experience the rivalry for the first time. Both teams are playing most of their starters in this game. There is also the Youk/Joba incident and the Papelbon/Hank war of words in the background. Since it is on St. Patrick's Day the Sox may wear their green uniforms. The game will be shown on NESN at 1 pm.

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Yankees "Jump The Shark" With Crystal Stunt

Have the Yankees really dropped this far? This week the Yankees announced they have signed Billy Crystal to a 1 day minor league contract so he can play on Thursday against the Pirates. You might expect these type of promotions from smaller market teams (think Padres and Garth Brooks) but if this is really Yankee Nation as Hank believes, then why do they have to do lame marketing stunts to get people to pay any attention to them? It's official, the Yankees have "jumped the shark."

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Trouble In Yankeeland As Joba Struggles

The Yankees began to wonder why they passed on Johan today when their young pitcher struggled on the mound. Joba gave up a long home run to the Twins #8 hitter. Kennedy was not much better today as the starter. Girardi had the following to say about his pitchers: "Neither one of them was extremely sharp today. It's a learning experience. They're not going to be perfect every time out. I'm sure they .understand that. This is a humbling game and I don't care who you are, you're going to struggle at times." NY Newsday was already saying this about Yankee pitching: "the Yankees, their fans and even Hank Steinbrenner are going to have to be patient at times."

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Yanks Stew in Turmoil While Sox Remain Tranquil

Sean McAdam in today's ProJo sums up the different atmospheres in the Red Sox and Yankees camps.

While the Yankees in Tampa are dealing with the fallout from Pettitte coming to camp amidst the HGH revelations and trying to deal with life after Joe Torre, the Red Sox are "Traquility Base."


“Anytime issues come up that don’t have anything to do with winning and losing games,” said general manager Theo Epstein, “it can become a distraction.

“It’s nice,” said manager Terry Francona, “that we don’t have our attention diverted by any of that stuff. We’re trying not to let anything get in the way of getting ready for the season. We kind of get caught up in what we’re doing.”

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