Blogs – Page 228 – Keefe To The City

Oct 9, 2012

ALDS Game 2 Thoughts: It’s Always A-Rod’s Fault

The Yankees lost Game 2 of the ALDS to the Orioles and everyone wants to blame A-Rod.

On Tuesday morning on the subway I was standing with my back to the door and the guy sitting down in the second seat to the right of me was reading the New York Post on his iPad, so I decided to read it with him. I couldn’t actually read the articles from where I was, but I could see the headlines. I only needed to see one to stop reading.

Even when A-Rod hits liners it turns into outs for Yankees

If A-Rod went 3-for-4 in Game 2, but the one out he made was the strikeout to end the game against Jim Johnson, there would still be negative headlines about him. But when he goes 1-for-5 and is now 1-for-9 with with five strikeouts in two games, well he’s feeding the New York media exactly what they want.

A-Rod shouldn’t be hitting third. He shouldn’t have been hitting third for a long time now. But does that mean the Yankees’ Game 2 loss is his fault or that he should take responsibility for it because he’s the team’s highest-paid player? Of course not. But that’s how the world works when it comes to A-Rod. He has never been given any sort of pass since he arrived in 2004 when the Yankees lost the ALCS because of Joe Torre, Tom Gordon, Kevin Brown, Javier Vazquez and a short wall in right field at Fenway Park. It was his fault in 2005 when Randy Johnson destroyed Game 3 and Bubba Crosby and Gary Sheffifled crashed into each other in Game 5. It was all on him in 2006 when Mike Mussina couldn’t hold a lead and Randy Johnson and Jaret Wright couldn’t get an out. In 2007, it was all A-Rod and not Chien-Ming Wang giving up 12 earned runs on 14 hits in just 5 2/3 innings in two starts against the Indians. In 2009, the Yankees won because of A-Rod and really only because of him. It was on A-Rod when Phil Hughes pulled a Chien-Ming Wang in the 2010 ALCS against the Rangers and A.J. Burnett was given the chance to face Bengie Molina in Game 4. And last year, it was A-Rod’s fault that Freddy Garica started Game 2, CC Sabathia came up short in Game 3 and Ivan Nova looked like A.J. Burnett early in Game 5.

A-Rod has been bad in every postseason series for the Yankees except the 2004 ALDS against the Twins and all of the 2009 playoffs. And not just “bad,” but painfully bad. Here are his averages in playoff series that aren’t the 2004 ALDS or any of the 2009 playoffs.

2004 ALCS: .258
2005 ALDS: .133
2006 ALDS: .071
2007 ALDS: .267
2010 ALDS: .273
2010 ALCS: .190
2011 ALDS: .111

The last time A-Rod hit a postseason home run was in Game 3 of the 2009 World Series. Since then he has played in 18 playoff games and has had 65 at-bats. But even as bad as A-Rod has been in October, it’s disgusting the attention and criticism he endures because of his lack of production in October.

Guess who these postseason series averages belong to: .167, .222, .136, .308, .000 (0-for-14) and .167. Those would be the postseason series averages for Mark Teixeira prior to the start of the 2012 postseason. Guess how many postseason home runs Teixeira has for the Yankees in six series prior to 2012? Three. That’s three home runs in 29 games and 106 at-bats. Mark Teixeira has been a worse postseason player than Alex Rodriguez in his three postseasons with the team before this year. So why is it that Teixeira gets a free pass for failure and A-Rod doesn’t? It’s not like Mark Teixeira is making the league minimum at $22.5 million per year (just $6.5 million less than A-Rod will make this year) as the second highest-paid player on the team. The reason is because Mark Teixeira was part of a championship team in his first season in New York and A-Rod wasn’t. The ironic part is that Teixeira was part of a championship team because of A-Rod.

Teixeira never had to deal with questions about why he hit .167 against the Twins in the 2009 ALDS or .222 against the Angels in the 2009 ALCS or .136 against the Phillies in the 2009 World Series because while he was busy leaving everyone on base and being what A-Rod was from the 2004 ALCS through the 2007 ALDS, A-Rod was busy winning the World Series for the Yankees. So instead of hearing about what a terrible free-agent signing Teixeira was for Brian Cashman because he isn’t a clutch player, the lasting image of Mark Teixeira in 2009 is him hugging A-Rod and Derek Jeter in the center of the Yankee Stadium infield.

A-Rod is going to hear it from the Stadium on Wednesday night if he doesn’t produce in Game 3 and Mark Teixeira will hear it too, but he’ll hear it less. Because if the Yankees don’t win every postseason game and don’t win the last game of their postseason then it’s on A-Rod’s and no one else. Mark Teixeira will get a free pass. He always does.

***

As I wrote after Game 1 and will do after every Yankees postseason game, here are my thoughts from Game 2 of the ALDS.

– Sweeny Murti is calling it the “Ichiro Shuffle.” I’m going to call it magic. The slide and moves that Ichiro put on Matt Wieters in the play at the plate in the first inning were unbelievable. The sad thing is that Rob Thomson sent Ichiro on the play. Is there a worse third base coach in the league than Thomson? I’m not sure, but I don’t know a more known third base coach and that’s never a good thing. Most of the time Thomson holds guys up when he shouldn’t, but when he finally has a chance to, he sends Ichiro home and the ball got to Wieters before Ichiro was even at the “P” in “POSTSEASON” written on the third-base line. If Ichiro was tagged out there, that would have been the second out made at the plate in two games for the Yankees. No big deal!

– If A-Swisheira doesn’t produce then the Yankees will not advance to the ALCS. It’s that easy.

– Mark Teixeira might have been the slowest player in Major League Baseball before his calf injury. Now it’s not even a discussion. If I need Teixeira or Jorge Posada to score from second on a single, I’m taking Posada every single time and that’s scary. Teixeira was thrown out at second in Game 1 on a ball off the right-field wall and in Game 2 he couldn’t score from second on a single up the middle from Curtis Granderson. But that’s not even the worst part. The worst part is that after his leadoff single in the eighth inning, Joe Girardi chose not to pinch run for a guy who has proven he is a station-to-station runner. I guess the decision to leave Teixeira in the game isn’t worth complaining about since Brett Gardner is out for the season and not on the playoff roster and wasn’t available to pinch run for Teixeira. Wait? Brett Gardner is on the postseason roster and was available off the bench to pinch run in Game 2? I don’t believe you.

– I never talk negatively about Derek Jeter and I’m not going to here. All I’m going to say is that he looked drunk in the field and he probably shouldn’t have swung at the first pitch against Jim Johnson in the ninth inning, a night after Johnson was embarrassed for five runs in 1/3 of an inning. But again, I’m not going to talk negatively about Derek Jeter or criticize his play.

– Wei-Yin Chen was getting fatigued and his pitch count was rising like Jason Hammel’s and then in the fifth inning, Ichiro got out on the first pitch and then A-Rod got out on the first pitch and then Cano got out on the second pitch. Three outs on four pitches without a double play. That’s impressive.

– It’s hard to win in the postseason, period. It’s even harder to win when you have to get four outs a few innings a game. Luckily an error hasn’t cost the Yankees yet, but eventually one will if they continue to play this bad defensively.

– How much money did Mark Teixeira give Ernie Johnson, John Smoltz and Cal Ripken Jr. to say nothing negative about him? (Did you notice how I didn’t ask if you think Teixeira paid them because it’s not a question. He paid them.) I’m going with $145,061.73 each since that is what Teixeira makes per regular season game and since he didn’t play for the final month of the year because he wasn’t about to play at 80 percent (his words not mine) during a pennant race that went down to the last day of the season, he probably felt like he could afford to give up three games pay to make sure national TV viewers don’t think he sucks.

The problem with Teixeira supporters is that when he doesn’t hit they can always say, “Well, he makes up for it with his defense.” That’s nice and all, but Teixeira didn’t get $180 million because he plays great defense. Doug Mientkiewicz played well defensively and he made $1.5 million for the Yankees in 2007. If you’re going to misplay grounders like Teixeira did in Game 2 then that argument is destroyed.

– Here’s a picture of Robisnon Cano’s effort on Mark Reynolds’ RBI single that made it 3-1.

If you didn’t see the play, the next picture in the sequence isn’t Canoon the ground with the ball in the outfield after laying out for it. The next picture is Cano standing there with Nick Swisher fielding the ball. What does that mean? It means Cano didn’t dive to knock the ball down. If Cano knocks the ball down then Wieters doesn’t score. If Wieters doesn’t score then the Orioles’ lead is only 2-1. The Yankees scored again later in the game. That means the score would have been 2-2. I understand this is all part of Michael Kay’s “fallacy of the predetermined outcome,” but how is Cano not going to dive there and knock the ball down? Not giving maximum effort to save a run in the postseason doesn’t matter anyway.

– For the second straight game I had no idea what was a ball and what a strike was, and I wasn’t alone.

– Ernie Johnson dropped the old “(Player name) and (Player name) are a combined (number) years old” line when Andy Pettitte faced Jim Thome. Is there a worse and more meaningless saying in sports? No.

– In Game 1, Derek Jeter was asked to bunt. Derek Jeter is the all-time Yankees hits leader. Derek Jeter is the all-time postseason hits leader. Derek Jeter was Major League Baseball’s hits leader this year.

In Game 2, Ichiro was asked to bunt. Ichiro might be the best hitter in the history of baseball and he hit .322 as Yankee in 67 games. Right now Ichiro and Jeter are the only two Yankees you can fully trust to come through in a big spot and they have both been asked to give up at-bats.

Again, I know Joe Girardi will keep bunting in these spots even if he successful zero percent of the time, so I’m wasiting words even talking about it, but if I don’t get my frustration out here it will come out during or after games and lead to me getting evicted from my apartment. And because of me blaring The Wallflowers’ “One Headlight” a couple weekends ago late at night, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

– I wish I were upset when Curtis Granderson strikes out in big spots, but I’m not. At this point I assume he’s going to strike out and if he makes contact I consider it a moral victory. That’s not good, is it?

– I’m saving everything that I have built up in my head for Nick Swisher for another time and another column.

This train carries Hiroki Kuroda in Game 3.

Blogs • KTTC Classics

Oct 8, 2012

ALDS Game 1 Thoughts: Land of Hope and Dreams

If anyone ever says CC Sabathia isn’t an ace, they’re wrong. CC was a beast on Sunday in his best playoff start since 2009.

Back in February I did a retro recap of the NFC Championship Game and then also wrote down my thoughts from Super Bowl XLVI and those teams game played out nicely, so I decided to take it one step further and do the same for every Yankees playoff game this October. Here are some thoughts from Game 1 of the ALDS.

– I’m so scared of “Land of Hope and Dreams” forever being associated with postseason failure. I love the song and can’t get enough of it even with TBS playing it 79 times during each game. I liked “Written In the Stars” and still do, but whenever I hear it I think of the Yankees losing to the Tigers in the 2011 ALDS. I think of Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher leaving men on base every time through the order and I see Ivan Nova giving up two solo home runs in Game 5 and Joe Girardi using Luis Ayala before a rested David Robertson and Mariano Rivera. But when I hear the Black Eyed Peas’ “Meet Me Halfway” I think of the 2009 playoffs and all of the glorious memories. When I hear Nonpoint’s version of Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” I think of the 2004 playoffs and I start to cry. Please don’t let “Land of Hope and Dreams” forever be associated with negativity.

– Derek Jeter is the all-time Yankees hits leader. Derek Jeter is the all-time postseason hits leader. Derek Jeter was Major League Baseball’s hits leader this year. He sounds like a good candidate for a sacrifice bunt in a tie game, right? No, not at all. Like Stevie Janowski tells Reg Mackworthy in Eastbound and Down, “No bunts! No bunting!” But Joe Girardi will stop at nothing when it comes to sacrifice bunting and no matter what the outcome of the bunt is, he will bunt in the same situation from Sunday night every single time.

– If anyone ever says CC Sabathia isn’t an ace, they’re wrong. CC was a beast on Sunday night and had his best postseason start since 2009 after rocky Octobers in 2010 and 2011. He’s now 6-1 in 11 postseason starts for the Yankees, and oh yeah, he’s 74-29 with a 3.22 ERA in four years in the regular season. That’s 74 and 29. He’s averaging an 18-7 record with a 3.22 ERA in 32 starts over four seasons with the Yankees. If he isn’t an “ace” then who is?

– I’m going to talk about Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher together because they are all one unit once the postseason stats. The success of the Yankees will be determined by these three and whether or not they can hit with runners in scoring position, or really hit at all. Before the series I said that either A-Rod or Teixeira and Swisher need to hit. I only expect one of the first two to come through (and that looks like Teixeira right now) since asking both of them to come through would be asking too much. You wouldn’t win the lottery and then expect to win it again, would you? In Game 1, Teixeira and Swisher showed up and A-Rod didn’t and the Yankees won. My theory for postseason success is now a proven formula.

– A lot of people complain about Russell Martin’s bat and of course this complaining comes when the Yankees are losing. FYI: Russell Martin plays catcher. He isn’t a Yankee because of his bat and any offense he can provide should be viewed as extra, but not needed. If the Yankees’ offensive problems are ever blamed on Martin it’s because the guys who are here to hit aren’t. (A-Rod, cough, cough. Teixeira, cough, cough). Martin was the MVP of Game 1 and during the game there was a Jason Hammel fastball that missed his head by an inch that might have forced us to see a lot of Chris Stewart this October. Instead Martin dodged the high heat, made an incredible fielding play, looked like Henrik Lundqvist behind the plate and then showed his muscle with a leadoff home run in the ninth inning. If Martin goes hitless in Games 2 or 3, you will start to hear moans about how bad he is offensively, but he has already done his job offensively for this series.

– Until the ninth inning, Game 1 felt like a continuation of the 2011 ALDS. I really thought I was watching a sixth game against the Tigers from last October. Baserunners every inning and men in scoring position all over the place and nothing to show for it. If the Yankees lost Game 1 after all of the chances they blew in the first eight innings they would have ruined Columbus Day for me.

– How is Cal Ripken doing the Yankees-Orioles series? I don’t care if the broadcast team was determined before the outcome of the one-game playoff. You can’t have the Orioles’ most iconic player sitting in the booth and trying to act objective at Camden Yards’ first playoff game since he played. Ripken was a centerpiece of the Yankees-Orioles rivalry and he’s supposed to not openly root for the Orioles on national TV? If TBS can get away with that then John Sterling’s broadcast might as well double as the national radio feed if you want to really say “Eff it!” when it comes to objectivity for postseason games.

– How about Cal Ripken trying to reverse jinx CC Sabathia while facing Adam Jones and Matt Wieters late in the game? Ripken was talking up Sabathia’s ability to get the duo out so much that it would have made Michael Kay proud if the opposite result happened. Ripken might want to wear a suit to Game 2 because I’m not sure if wearing his actual Orioles uniform with dirt on it should be allowed again.

– John Smoltz was excellent on the broadcast of the game. Maybe Ben Cherington and the Red Sox will think that because he is great at talking about pitching that he is still great at actually pitching and bring him back for the 2013 rotation. I think it would be a good idea. Run prevention!

– I hate Lew Ford. That’s all there really is there. I have a bad feeling Lew Ford is going to dagger the Yankees in one of these games (he tried to in Game 1) and I’m not capable of handling a 35-year-old journeyman who last played in the league in 2007 being responsible for the outcome of a playoff game.

– I think there needs to be a rule or law in place that prohibits fan bases from chanting their team name if it exceeds six letters. “O-R-I-O-L-E-S!” is a bit much and I’m not even sure everyone was spelling it right. If Orioles fans are going to do this then I’m all for Columbus Blue Jackets fans (if there are any) doing the same thing.

– “Yankees Suck!” chants have always puzzled me. It has always been kind of awkward and embarrassing to sit at Fenway Park and have an inferior fan base start chanting this, but then again those are the same fans that will sing and sway to “Sweet Caroline” for a last-place team losing by five runs in the eighth inning, so it has never really bothered me. It also doesn’t bother me that Camden Yards has now taken over as the “Yankees Suck!” haven since the Red Sox are irrelevant, but really Orioles fans? It’s your first playoff game since I was in sixth grade. Orioles fans chanting “Yankees Suck!” would be like UMass students chanting “Safety School!” while playing Harvard. It just doesn’t make sense.

One down, 10 to go. This train carries Andy Pettitte in Game 2.

Blogs

Oct 4, 2012

NFL Week 5 Picks

It’s Week 5 of the NFL season and it’s time for things to turn around.

The same old Giants. That’s who the New York Football Giants are. A second Super Bowl in four years didn’t change who they were between Super Bowl XLVI and Week 1 against the Cowboys, so why would I think that back-to-back wins would change who they are before they played the Eagles? The Giants will let you down, build you back up, suck you back in and then pull the rug out of from underneath you and if two championships weren’t enough to change who they are then I just have to accept that things will never change.

I’m not sure what Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin and Kevin Gilbride were thinking when Eli threw a deep ball to Ramses Barden at the end of Sunday night’s game. It was almost as if they thought they were trailing by four instead of two and it was that play that led to a loss after they were bailed out by the refs to extend the game.

The Giants had a chance to steal a game in Philadelphia on Sunday night and they gave it away. Now they are 2-2 on the season, 0-2 in the division and have the only real easy winnable game left on their schedule this week in the Browns. A loss on Sunday would be as devastating as the loss against the Seahawks was last year before a series of improbable events led to the Giants winning the division at 9-7. If you believe in miracles happening in back-to-back seasons then you don’t consider Sunday a must-win game for the Giants. I’m not one of those people.

***

As for the picks, the NFL season is 24 percent over and I’m still in search of the elusive over-.500 week. That isn’t good. I have gone back to my roots and I’m stopping with the Thursday pick on Twitter and the rest of the picks on Friday. It’s time to shake things up and it’s Thursday for the picks going forward.

Week 5 … let’s go!

(Home team in caps)

Arizona -1.5 over ST. LOUIS
Any other year and this is the “Do I Really Have to Pick This Game of the Week?” But not in 2012 where te cardinals are undefeated and the rams are respectable. I got so used to just knowing that every NFC west game over the last few years was three point game an just take the points but not anymore. The NFC west is longer the worst division in football. That title now belongs to the AFC east

Atlanta -3 over WASHINGTON
The Falcons’ egg is coming. I can feel it. You can feel it. Everyone can feel it. I’m going to pick them one of these weeks when they lose and lose big and now it’s just a matter of correctly guessing when that inevitable week is going to come. It makes sense that it would come on the road against the Redskins, but I like it better to come next week at home against the Raiders leading into the bye week because why wouldn’t it come then?

Philadelphia +3.5 over PITTSBURGH
I feel like I’m picking between the same team here. I can either go with the Team That Lets You Down that is home or the Team That Lets You Down that is on the road. When there are points, take them.

Green Bay -7 over INDIANAPOLIS
If the game took place in Week 1 this line would be through the roof. The Packers are still dangerous despite what the first four weeks might suggest, and I’m not ready to give up on Aaron Rodgers’ covering ability yet.

NEW YORK GIANTS -8.5 over Cleveland
If the Giants can’t blow out Brandon Weeden and the winless Browns at home with their schedule then pack up the balls because this season isn’t going anywhere.

CINCINNATI -3.5 over Miami
The Bengals have been so good to me this year. I picked against them in Week 1 and I picked for them in Weeks 2, 3 and 4 and it’s all gone according to plan. I would feel like I’m stabbing them in the back if I pick the Dolphins to cover against them in Cincinnati. But at the same time, the Dolphins have destroyed me this season, so maybe I should finally give in and pick them? I know that WFAN’s John Jastremski will tell me how the 1-3 Dolphins could be 3-1 if two plays had gone their way and he’s right, but I just can’t do it because they’re still the Dolphins.

Baltimore -6.5 over KANSAS CITY
The 2012 Chiefs and I are done. We’re finished. I don’t even want my stuff back. Just don’t call me or text me. I want them out of my life. I’m not going to let them hurt me anymore. And it’s too bad too because I really like Romeo Crennel.

Seattle +3 over CAROLINA
This game was so close to being the “Do I Really Have to Pick This Game of the Week?” So effing close. The one thing holding it back is that the Seahawks may or may not be good (and probably aren’t good), but that decision hasn’t been finalized yet.

Chicago -6 over JACKSONVILLE
Chicago has been good to me and the Jaguars can’t change that.

MINNESOTA -5.5 over Tennessee
Tennessee Titans at Minnesota Vikings! You’re the “Do I Really Have to Pick This Game of the Week?” Congratulations!

Four weeks ago I never thought I would see the day when the 2012 Vikings would be giving anyone 5 1/2 points in a football game. Maybe 5 1/2 points in a PowerPoint presentation on how to set your franchise back at least a decade when you’re a field goal away from the Super Bowl, but not actual points in an actual game. But then again, four weeks ago I didn’t know the 2012 Titans existed.

Denver +7 over NEW ENGLAND
I interned for 890 ESPN Radio and the legendary Mike Felger in 2006-07. On Nov. 5, 2006 for the Patriots-Colts Sunday Night Football at Gillette Stadium in Week 9, I had to go sit outside in freezing weather as the ESPN Radio tent across from the stadium. The Patriots were 6-1 and the Colts were 7-0 and it was the height of the Tom Brady-Peyton Manning rivalry. People were insane for this game. The place was buzzing like I had never seen a regular season NFL game before and the scene hours before the game made it feel like a Super Bowl. It wasn’t buzzing because it was Patriots-Colts. It was buzzing because Peyton Manning was in town and Peyton vs. Brady will do that. Put these two guys on any teams and the atmosphere will be the same. It could be Patriots vs. Colts or Patriots vs. Broncos or Browns vs. Bills or Hoboken High School vs. North Bergen High School, it doesn’t matter as long as Brady and Manning are the quarterbacks. The Colts won 27-20 thanks to 326 yards and two touchdowns from Manning and four interceptions from Brady.

We haven’t had a Brady-Manning game since Nov. 21, 2010 in Week 11. It felt weird in 2008 when the Patriots played the Colts without Peyton and it felt weird in 2011 when they met again without Peyton.

This game on Sunday should be great. Well, really I just want it to be great because the Yankees are going to get the Sunday night slot and that means Giants at 1:00, this game at 4:25 and Yankees at 8:37. No, I’m not leaving the couch on Sunday.

Buffalo +10 over SAN FRANCISCO
What have the Bills done for me lately? Nothing really other than getting blown out by the Patriots, so I guess that has to count for something. In this league it’s risky to back a double-digit spread, but is it a good idea to take the Bills on the West Coast against maybe the best home team in football after being embarrassed by the Patriots last week? Of course not. But when have I ever been one for good ideas when it comes to NFL picks? But where has reason and logic gotten anyone in the 2012 NFL?

NEW ORLEANS -3.5 over San Diego
Drew Brees and the Saints have nothing left to play for at 0-4 except for his touchdown streak. Saints fans know that their season is over, so if they’re going to bring their “A” game again in 2012 it’s going to come on Sunday night against the Chargers for this record. It’s not like I needed a reason to pick against the Chargers, but this is one.

Houston -9 over NEW YORK JETS
Getting nine points at home on Monday night football isn’t a good look. Th Jets’ season is in turmoil even more so than it has been in any other year under Rex Ryan and everyone is starting to find out that maybe Mike Tannenbaum isn’t the “smart SOB” he called himself in Hard Knocks two years ago.

Last Week: 7-8-0
Season: 27-35-1

Blogs • MLB

Oct 3, 2012

Adam Greenberg Earned His One At-Bat

Adam Greenberg got his first official at-bat in the majors on Tuesday night with the Marlins because he earned it seven years ago with the Cubs.

Peter Gammons was on ESPN talking about 24-year-old Adam Greenberg, an outfielder from my hometown of Guilford, Conn., and 23-year-old Matt Murton getting called up from Double-A Diamond Jaxx. The Cubs were 40-44, 13 ½ games out of first place and Corey Patterson and Jason Dubois weren’t getting the job done. It was July 8, 2005.

The following night in Florida, the Marlins hosted the Cubs and Greenberg and Murton were in the dugout. Greenberg was called upon to pinch hit for Will Ohman in the ninth inning. The first pitch he saw was a 92-mph fastball from Valerio De Los Santos that drilled him in the back of his head. One day after getting called up to the majors, one plate appearance after becoming a major leaguer and one pitch after stepping into the box for the first time, Greenberg’s major league career was over. It was July 9, 2005.

I remember the at-bat, the pitch and the aftermath. I remember the photos in the local papers the next day with a concerned Paul Lo Duca hovering over Greenberg, looking like he might have to act as a paramedic rather than a catcher. There were images of Greenberg being helped off the field and looking like Scott Stevens’ elbow or Floyd Mayweather’s fist had found his head. I always thought he would wind up on the disabled list, get healthy and back on track and be with the Cubs again later in 2005. It didn’t happen in 2005, so I thought I would see him in the majors in 2006. Then in 2007. Then in 2008. It never happened.

In 2012, concussions have become a focal point of sports and the most talked about storyline of America’s most popular game. It’s weird and also concerning that just seven years ago concussions and head injuries were still going unnoticed and unattended to. Greenberg suffered from positional vertigo and post-concussion syndrome from that fastball and it was over a year until his vision returned to normal. During this time, his manager called him a liar in front of his teammates about his head injury and he was told his symptoms weren’t real. This wasn’t 1975 or 1988. This was seven years ago.

On Tuesday night, while watching the Yankees-Red Sox game, I flipped over to SNY between pitches and during every commercial break while also tracking the game on Twitter, so that I wouldn’t miss Greenberg’s one at-bat with the Marlins against R.A. Dickey. Ozzie Guillen originally suggested that he might start Greenberg in the outfield and let him lead off the game in the bottom of the first, but instead he decided on giving him one at-bat as a pinch hitter in the middle of the game. This was a better idea since the Marlins entered the game at 68-92, 28 games out of first place and sitting in the basement of the NL East. (Yes, the Mets are better than them.) So there was no reason to go with his original thought. This game was too important to the Marlins and at the top of the order they had the vaunted left fielder Bryan Petersen (.192) and center fielder Gorkys Hernandez (.189).

SNY showed Greenberg taking batting practice (where he hit one out) and mingling with David Wright and other players. On Tuesday morning, I had the chance to talk to Greenberg for CBS Local Sports and he told me that he and Wright have had a relationship. Years ago, Wright went on a recruiting trip to North Carolina and they had dinner and they also had the same agent. He told me he played against Wright in the Florida State League and Ronny Cedeno (now a Met). He was a teammate of Kelly Shoppach (also a Met) when the two were on Team USA. Of all the things Greenberg told me, his prior relationships with players in Tuesday night’s game resonated with me the most because there are people treating his one at-bat like he’s some guy who won a contest or sweepstakes to play in the majors by filling out a questionnaire for a ballot box at Dunkin’ Donuts. These people forget that the guys on the field last night don’t view Greenberg as a charity case because they know him, played with him and competed against him. These players are the people Greenberg spent his teenage and adult years with and on Tuesday night it was as if he had been kidnapped from the majors and was being reunited with everyone for the first time on the field at Marlins Park.

Greenberg isn’t some publicity stunt for the Marlins to make a few extra bucks before their gates close for 2012. He’s a baseball player who played at the collegiate and professional level with the guys on the field last night, competed against those guys and was better than some of those guys before it was all taken away from him. But not everyone believes that Greenberg should have worn number 10 for the Marlins last night and pinch hit against R.A. Dickey in the sixth inning. Two of those people are former players who have a much louder voice than any columnist or blogger because they broadcast Mets games for SNY, the station that aired the game across the Tri-State area.

Prior to the at-bat, in one of my 237 times hitting the “LAST” button to go between YES and SNY, I heard Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling taking away from Greenberg’s night and calling his one at-bat a publicity stunt and basically a joke. I don’t recall Hernandez or Darling suffering from experiencing the ultimate high of their life immediately followed by the ultimate low in the first moment of their major league career. I can’t remember hearing about Keith Hernandez or Ron Darling having trouble tying their shoes because a fastball got away and missed their batting helmet and hit the base of their head.

Darling, a first-round pick, enjoyed 13 seasons in the majors. Hernandez, a 42^nd-round pick, played for 17 years. I’m not saying that Greenberg, a ninth-round pick, would have become a franchise player or a regular or if he would have been a fourth outfielder or if the summer of 2005 was just going to be a cup of coffee, but he never even had the chance. How is it fair to criticize the life and career and path to the majors of someone else who had it taken away from them because a hard-throwing left-hander couldn’t control a fastball?

The answer is it isn’t. But that didn’t stop the empowered Hernandez and Darling from sharing their thoughts on a topic they are as familiar with as Roger Goodell is with player safety. Baseball’s players and its stars feel more entitled than any other group of players in major sports and even retired players are part of this fraternity like Hernandez. It’s guys like Mark Teixeira and Josh Beckett who hold the torch now, but Hernandez (a clubhouse cancer dating back to high school) did at one point and clearly still wants to. He’s the anti-Ken Singleton the way that Curtis Granderson and Russell Martin are the anti-Teixeira, and everything was better and much harder when Hernandez played in the majors. Greenberg didn’t get his first official at-bat in the majors the same way Hernandez did and that makes it wrong. Hernandez is no better than the old-school minor league managers who told Greenberg he was fine when he wasn’t. I’m sure they would have told Sidney Crosby to take another shift or called Marc Savard a “pussy” for being unable to function with the lights on or pleaded with Mike Richter to play a few more years if they were involved in hockey.

I wonder how Keith Hernandez would feel if the first pitch he saw from Mike Caldwell on Aug. 30, 1974 found the back of his head instead of the plate and left him with positional vertigo at the age of 20.

Ron Darling would probably be singing a different tune if the first pitch he threw to Joe Morgan on Sept. 6, 1983 was a line drive back up the middle that drilled him in the back of the head, leaving with him post-concussion syndrome at age 22.

Greenberg’s at-bat lasted three pitches against a guy with the most unique pitch in Major League Baseball since Mariano Rivera’s cutter. It seems like it would have almost been better if Greenberg could have faced Justin Verlander or Felix Hernandez or CC Sabathia as crazy as it sounds because while they throw hard, they don’t throw variations of the best knuckleball on the planet.

When Greenberg went back to the dugout after striking out against the 2012 NL Cy Young winner there was closure to what happened in Florida on July 9, 2005. From the time he grabbed a bat, to his introduction over the PA system with “Dream On” playing and Marlins fans having something to get genuinely excited about at home for the first time since the 2003 World Series, it felt like a one-second blur. I can only hope that the one at-bat wasn’t Greenberg’s last at-bat in the majors.

Prior to signing his one-day contract with the Marlins and getting his one at-bat, Greenberg said baseball doesn’t owe him anything. He’s wrong. He deserved the chance that was taken away from him seven years ago. He earned it.

Blogs

Sep 28, 2012

NFL Week 4 Picks

It’s Week 4 of the NFL season and there hasn’t been an over-.500 week yet.

Sunday Night Football is the best. It’s not always actually the best game of the week, but it’s the best game to be a part of. It’s the best time slot, on the best broadcast with the best broadcasters and the best theme song (though Thursday Night Football is right there) and the best open (which is most likely by default). The Giants get to play on Sunday Night Football this Sunday night in Philadelphia for the first of just two times this season and I’m ecstatic.

Giants-Eagles games are in a select group of regular season matchups for my teams that also includes Yankees-Red Sox, Giants-Cowboys, Rangers-Devils and Rangers-Flyers. Even though others would disagree I would also put Yankees-Mets in there even if the Mets aren’t good and it’s interleague play and I would put Rangers-Bruins in there too even if it’s just a New York-Boston thing and not a divisional thing. That means that in a normal year, this would be one of four marquee matchups for the Giants, but because of their relentless schedule, they will also play the 49ers, Steelers, Packers, Falcons and Ravens. (The Saints were part of that list three weeks ago.)

This will be the Giants’ fourth game of the season. So far they have played on Wednesday night, Sunday afternoon and Thursday night. They have had 11 full days off in between Weeks 1 and 2 and three full days off and Weeks 2 and 3, and they will have had 10 full days off between Weeks 3 and 4. There has been nothing routine or normal about their schedule to this point. After Sunday night they will have played two primetime games and they still have Sunday Night Football against the Packers in Week 12 after the bye week and then Monday Night Football in Washington in Week 13. But after Sunday night, the G-Men will play their next six games before their bye on Sunday at either 1:00 or 4:25, so things gets more routine. However, they don’t get any easier.

After the Giants play the Browns next week, seven of their 11 remaining games will be against 2011 playoff teams and the other four will be against the NFC East (Washington twice and Dallas and Philadelphia once). This game on Sunday night in Philadelphia in front of the most hostile of stadiums is important anyway, but it’s even more so because of what the Giants will endure over the following 13 weeks.

Week 4 … let’s go!

(Home team in caps)

BALTIMORE -12 over Cleveland
In night games on Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday and Monday, I’m now 4-6. That’s not good.

New England -4 over BUFFALO
The Patriots are 1-2. I thought “the Patriots never lose at home,” but they lost to the Cardinals at home and I thought “the Patriots never lose back-to-back games?” Oh, yeah those were the two theories that were debunked last year when the Giants beat them at home and when they lost back-to-back games to the Steelers and Giants. And then there was the theory that Gresh and Zo called me out for on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston saying that “the Patriots never lose to the same team twice in one season.” The Giants proved that theory wrong too.

In 2004, when I was a freshman in college, the Patriots would have won in Week 2 against the Cardinals and Week 3 against the Ravens. There’s no question in my mind. During the height of the Patriots dynasty they always won close games where they had a chance to seal the deal in the final minutes. It was as much of a guarantee as there is in professional sports. But we are far removed from the 2004 Patriots. Since their Super Bowl win over the Eagles, they have reached the postseason in six of seven years, but have lost in the divisional round to the Broncos, lost in the AFC Championship to the Colts, lost in the Super Bowl to the Giants, missed the playoffs with Tom Brady out for the year, lost in the wild-card round to the Ravens, lost in the divisional round to the Jets and lost in the Super Bowl to the Giants.

This year the Patriots were being penciled in for 13-14 wins all over the place thanks to another easy schedule because of the weak AFC East, but that’s no longer likely unless they find a way to go 13-0 or 12-1 the rest of the way.

As much as I desperately want the Patriots to fall to 1-3 leading into a week in which arguably the worst Red Sox season in franchise history comes to an end in the Bronx, I don’t think the Patriots are going do anything or than destroy the Bills this Sunday. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

DETROIT -4 over Minnesota
I don’t know what to make of the 1-2 Lion,s who lost to the Titans or the 1-2 Vikings, who beat the 49ers. It’s all very confusing, but that’s the way things are in the NFL in 2012. If Matthew Stafford plays I feel confident with this pick. If he doesn’t, I still feel confident since Shaun Hill has screwed me in the past, so he owes me one. Or two. Or 10.

ATLANTA -7 over Carolina
The Falcons are due for a letdown. Especially since they are one of only one of two remaining undefeated teams and because they’re the Falcons and that’s what they do. That letdown could very well come this week, but I’m not about to back the Panthers whose only win came against the winless Saints and who were just embarrassed 36-7 by the Giants. Not even the extra days to prepare could change my mind on a team whose quarterback threw three interceptions and then said, “It was nothing they did, it was all on us.”

San Francisco -4.5 over NEW YORK JETS
Rex Ryan isn’t ruling out Darrelle Revis’ return in the 2012 season in the event the Jets make the Super Bowl. I didn’t make that sentence up. He really said it.

“Let’s see what happens when he goes through surgery, because if there’s that 0.0002 percent chance that he can play in the Super Bowl, why would you take the option away from him?”

It’s obvious that Rex Ryan doesn’t live in real life with the rest of us and after a couple years of Super Bowl guarantees and the promise that he wouldn’t make outrageous claims anymore, I thought Rex was really over it. Shame on me for believing him. The idea of tossing a Jets’ Super Bowl reference into a press conference has just been waiting to slip out of his mouth since training camp and he finally got the opportunity to toss it out there and he did.

KANSAS CITY +1 over San Diego
The Chiefs gave up 75 points in the first two weeks and then needed overtime to beat the helpless and winless Saints. So why am I picking them here? The same reason that Joe Girardi keeps starting Andruw Jones against left-handed pitchers. For no reason of all of course!

HOUSTON -12 over Tennessee
12 points is a lot. And if the first three weeks and the Thursday game this week have taught us anything, it’s that it’s really hard to cover 12-point spreads in this league. But if there’s a team right now capable of covering 12, it’s the Texans. And if there’s a team capable of not covering 12, it’s the Titans.

ST. LOUIS +3 over Seattle
Here’s what I wrote last week about the Seahawks.

“I wanted to take Seattle last week at home against Dallas, and I didn’t, and I lost. I want to take Seattle this week against Green Bay, but I’m not going to.”

Now did I know that the refs were like gambling on the game and that’s why they let the Seahawks hang around with bad calls down the stretch before giving the game on the most controversial ruling since the Steelers-Chargers game in 2008? No, otherwise I would have went with my first instinct and picked the Seahawks. The Football Gods can’t be happy about what the replacements refs did to the sport last Monday night and because of it, picking for the Seahawks here is probably a terrible idea since Pete Carroll probably didn’t take time to plan for the Rams since he was too busy running around Qwest Field like he had just won the Super Bowl.

ARIZONA -5.5 over Miami
The Cardinals are going to lay an A.J. Burnett-like egg here at some point. It makes sense that it would come against the Dolphins in a league where the Saints are 0-3, the Packers and Patriots are 1-2 and the 49ers lose to the Vikings.

Oakland +7 over DENVER
Despite all this talk about how bad Peyton Manning’s velocity is, I still expect him to find it and for the Broncos to be in the postseason. But right now, I have to take the Raiders to cover in Denver. (I regret this pick with each word typed.)

Cincinnati -1 over JACKSONVILLE
This line feels a little low and therefore a little sketchy. Oh, well.

GREEN BAY PACKERS -7.5 over New Orleans
The Packers are 1-2. Aaron Rodgers has three touchdowns, two interceptions and 745 yards through three games. The Packers are averaging 19 points per game. Is this real life? If this is real life then Aaron Rodgers is about to return to MVP form following a game that was stolen from the Packers by the refs and put the Saints in an 0-4 hole and end their season before Oct. 1. Lambeau Field is the last place the Saints want to be on Sunday.

TAMPA BAY -2 over Washington
It’s the “Do I Really Have to Pick This Game of the Week?” It’s good to see the Redskins back in it after their impressive performance in Week 1. Or what we thought was an impressive performance when it was really just a win against a bad Saints team. Welcome back, Washington! It’s been a long two weeks thinking that you might be good this year.

NEW YORK GIANTS +2 over Philadelphia
The Eagles are vulnerable right now. They won in Cleveland by one point in the final seconds, won in Baltimore by one point in the final seconds and then lost in Arizona. Michael Vick has thrown for three touchdowns and six interceptions and there is talk that he might not be the starting quarterback for much longer.

The Giants were outscored 48-30 in the first six quarters this season. In the last six quarters they have outscored their opponents 64-17. Somehow, despite winning their second Super Bowl in four years they are still underrated and under the radar. The Eagles, on the other hand, are still getting respect around the league and from Vegas for accomplishing nothing.

Chicago +3.5 over DALLAS
The idea of Jay Cutler avoiding DeMarcus Ware on Monday Night Football scares me. The idea of Jay Cutler as a whole scares me, but I think this matchup is close enough that I have to take the points.

Last Week: 8-8-0
Season: 20-27-1