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Blogs • NFL

Sep 8, 2010

Jets End One Season, Begin Another

The Jets are just days away from starting a season in which expectations haven’t been this big for them in a long, lone time. And with only a handful of days to go before the

The Jets are just days away from starting a season in which expectations haven’t been this big for them in a long, lone time. And with only a handful of days to go before the Jets take the field against the Ravens to kick off Monday Night Football, the season finale of Hard Knocks airs on Wednesday night.

This has been the best season of Hard Knocks in my mind, and not only because it has followed a local team. Between Rex Ryan’s mouth (both swearing and eating), the constant Darrelle Revis contract negotiations, the awkward moments when the annoying Mike Tannenbaum cuts players and the practical jokes played, the season has exceeded expectations.

With the season of Hard Knocks coming to an end and the regular season about to begin, Jets columnist Jeff Capellini, a.k.a “The Green Lantern” on CBSNewYork.com, joined me to talk Hard Knocks and preview the 2010 season.

Keefe: Hard Knocks has done the impossible; it has made the Jets a likable and unlikable team at the same time. For me, disliking the Jets has always been about disliking the players, their coach and their fans. But now, they have a coach that isn’t Eric Mangini and a coach that I wish Tom Coughlin was more like. There are plenty of players on the team with rich personalities and intriguing background stories that are worth rooting for. But I could do without so much Mike Tannenbaum.

After the first episode of the show, I wrote about how the Jets had started to rise drastically in the New York football landscape, as a team moving closer to what the Giants had become in previous years, while the Giants have gradually declined over the last two years.

Do you think that Hard Knocks has been good or bad for the 2010 Jets, and how has it affected you as a Jets fan?

Capellini: I’m one of those fans who has been sitting outside the candy store with his nose pushed up against the glass for years. So, believe me when I say any time the Jets can seize the spotlight for themselves in a supposedly positive way, I’m all for it. I think the show was too much Hollywood in the first three episodes, but got things just right in Episode 4 with the way it focused less on the garbage and more on the tension that was building toward cuts.

I think the show has been a positive for the Jets, even though we must all remember so much of it is scripted and produced for dramatic effect. The Jets have been second-class citizens for so long in this town and a running joke across the NFL, it is nice to see them be the center of attention for once.

Keefe: HBO couldn’t have asked for a better setup with the Darrelle Revis contract talks, and now that Revis is once again a Jet, who is guaranteed $32 million, it makes me wonder if he should have held out longer?

Obviously not playing is never a good choice, but given the Jets’ opponents in Weeks 1 and 2, if they had gotten off to an 0-2 start, Revis could have gained some serious leverage with Jets fans threatening the livelihood of Woody and Tannenbaum.

I guess on the flip side, if the Jets won both games it would have hurt his negotiations, and no one wants to not be getting paid the year before there might not be football, but I really don’t think the Jets can beat the Ravens and Patriots without him.

Capellini: I was firmly in Revis’ corner when the holdout started because regardless of what his current contract had stipulated there was really no way after the type of 2009 season he had that he could come back as the team’s seventh- or eighth-highest paid defensive back.

I would like to believe Revis caved by accepting the four-year deal. I had hoped he would have been signed for longer, and in the end it just feels like the numbers for his deal are too low – years and total compensation. That makes me believe also that this guy wants to play. The almighty dollar is important, but he obviously came to realize what “within reason” means.

As for whether the Jets could have beaten the Ravens and Patriots without him, I don’t think he ultimately would have made the difference. Mark Sanchez would have and probably still does or still will make the difference either way.

Keefe: Mark Sanchez seems to still be in that territory of “Hey, just don’t lose the game for us.” Rex made it clear last week that the Jets are still going to be the same team they came within one game of the Super Bowl last season, in which they ran the ball the majority of the time and played exceptional defense, and obviously it’s a formula that works.

With the way the offense has been playing during preseason, it’s hard to believe that Sanchez will be given the chance to consistently attempt big plays on offense, and the idea of holding him back got them to the AFC Championship last season, but I think that it is, and that he is, the one difference in the Jets being contenders or actual champions.

Capellini: I think regardless of what Sanchez has shown in the preseason, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer must allow him to air the ball out from time to time, because the Jets will be predictably a run-first team. However, they can’t be known as a team that just goes student body left and right.

Sanchez must be allowed to bring balance to the force through use of play-action and the abilities of his talented receivers. The second this guy throws an interception and Schotty stops allowing him to chuck the rock is the day the Jets’ season ends. For the Jets, being a balanced offense is the key to everything because you know the defense will bring its “A” game week in and week out. By showing a balanced hand on offense, the Jets will keep opponents off-balance.

Keefe: The Jets brought in two aging mercenaries, looking to win a Super Bowl as their careers wind down in LaDainian Tomlinson and Jason Taylor.

Both players were the best at their position at one point in their career, but now they are more of just big names rather than big players. However, I will admit that Tomlinson has looked better and rejuvenated in preseason. Then again it’s preseason.

Which of these two do you expect the most from this season and which do you think will be the bigger contributor?

Capellini: I’m a huge Tomlinson guy. I was one of the few on sites like Twitter screaming the Jets sign him in the offseason. A lot of people were understandably in love with Thomas Jones, but Jones’ numbers, primarily yards-per-carry diminished considerably as the season wound down. Now, some can say Tomlinson is an injury waiting to happen or whatever, but the truth is, if healthy, he will still be very productive, especially if the Jets use him properly – something like 10-15 touches per game. He showed his trademark explosiveness in the preseason and certainly has something to prove.

While most everyone just assumed he’s “lost” it after a career-low 700-yard rushing season in 2009, what really happened was the Chargers went away from the run and bulked up the pass protecting to showcase Phillip Rivers’ abilities. And look where that got them?

I’m not in love with Jason Taylor and it really has nothing to do with the fact that he’s insulted the Jets and their fans in the past. I just think this guy is 36 and how many pass rushers still have the goods at 36? Not many, if any. And it appears, now with Calvin Pace’s injury, at least initially, Taylor is going to have to play every down. I don’t see him being anywhere near as successful as an every-down player as he would be fresh in passing situations.

So, in a nutshell, I expect a comeback-player-of-the-year type of effort from LT and not a whole heck of a lot from Taylor.

Keefe: During the offseason, it seemed like the jets were making a roster strictly for the purpose of Hard Knocks. They signed Tomlinson and Taylor and traded for Santonio Holmes and Antonio Cromartie.

The problem with Tomlinson and Taylor might be that they are old, but the problems with Holmes and Cromartie come away from the field.

There isn’t a doubt that when Cromartie and Holmes are on the field that they make the Jets a much better team, but with Holmes missing four games due to suspension, do you think it will cause him to start slow when he comes back in Week 5. And how excited are you for a secondary that includes Cromartie and Revis?

Capellini: It’s hard not to like either player. Holmes can be spectacular, has great hands and runs routes better than maybe any receiver in the NFL. The potential problem, as you stated, could be his rustiness after staying away from the team for a month. I’d also worry about his rapport with Sanchez. How long will it take to develop? Ultimately, when Holmes is on he should make Sanchez better because he gets open better than anyone on the roster.

Cromartie brings unadulterated ability to a secondary that, not counting Revis, sorely lacked athleticism at certain spots last year. He will gamble. He will at times get burned, but I’d rather have an overly aggressive corner than one who sluffs off and allows teams to keep the chains moving. My one concern about Cromartie is his tackling. The Jets dumped Kerry Rhodes because, among other things, he wasn’t very physical. I watched Cromartie attempt to tackle Shonn Greene on that 53-yard TD scamper in last year’s divisional round and I can understand why some of the Chargers took issue with Cromartie. He better hit people and wrap up. That’s all I’m saying.

Keefe: You voiced your opinion about the Jets cutting Tony Richardson on Twitter and you were unhappy about it and rightfully so. But now that Richardson is a Jet again after just a brief hiatus, I’m guessing you’re happy once again.

After Rex made it clear that Richardson would be on the final roster, it was a shock to see him get cut, considering his leadership role on the team. Were there any other cuts made that surprised you during preseason? And were there any cuts not made that you thought should have been made?

Capellini: I did get upset about T-Rich getting cut because I hate seeing bad things happen to good people. The initial cut bugged me because Rex screamed about leadership on Hard Knocks and then cut one of his only true leaders. Now, of course, I don’t think the Jets brought Richardson back because the fans screamed about it. They probably said, “If we can cut Tony to save some money, sign Darrelle and then bring Tony back we win on every level.”

The one cut that really bothered me was Chauncey Washington. I mean, this guy could easily have stepped in and spelled Shonn Greene a few carries per game if the Jets didn’t want to burn LT out as a featured back. He’s a horse. It’s an absolute shame that a guy who worked as hard and showed as much as Washington did was waived and later replaced by two nobodies off someone else’s scrap heap. Odd indeed. If nothing else, Washington could have made the Jets’ special teams that much better because he brings quite a wallop.

I will not get overly upset about Danny Woodhead making the team. I just think he was a better story last year and if he gets some time and does nothing this season I think it’s safe to say the novelty has worn off.

Keefe: I believe Rex Ryan is right when he says that the Jets can beat any team in the league when they play their best, and if everything goes right for them this season, they could easily find themselves in the same place they were last season: playing for a trip to the Super Bowl.

There are still questions with this team, as there are with every team, and the biggest question mark with the Jets remains the offense. But with probably the best defense in the league, I expect the Jets to be in contention all season long.

I guess the most important question is: What are your expectations for the Jets this season?

Capellini: Wow. I’ve avoided discussing this like the plague. The NFL is such an odd league. One year you’re 10-6 and the next – with largely the same personnel – you’re 7-9 or 6-10. I think if Sanchez is more like a 50-50 TD-to-INT guy, as opposed to the 12-TD, 20-INT QB he was as a rookie, and can get to 3,000 yards, excuse the pun but the sky should be the limit for this team. The defense, barring injury, figures to be pretty amazing and the coaching is beyond reproach.

I think the Jets should win a minimum of 11 games. They should win the division. If they can get home-field advantage throughout the playoffs I really think they will get to the Super Bowl.

But then again, that’s 30-plus years of fan frustration talking right there.

Follow Neil on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NeilKeefe

Follow Jeff on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GreenLanternJet

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Blogs • NFL

Aug 12, 2010

Rise of the Jets

Following the Yankees early exit in the 2006 ALDS, and the rise of the Mets in their near trip to the World Series that season, I was legitimately worried that maybe, just maybe the landscape

Following the Yankees early exit in the 2006 ALDS, and the rise of the Mets in their near trip to the World Series that season, I was legitimately worried that maybe, just maybe the landscape of baseball in New York City was starting to change in favor of the Mets.

That season, the Mets had produced the same record as the Yankees and had now advanced into the championship series of their league while the Yankees were home wondering how Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman embarrassed them, and also wondering whether or not Joe Torre would be back in the Bronx in 2007. While the Yankees had become a team overpopulated with “me first” personalities and a tabloid’s dream, the Mets had become the better baseball team for at least one season.

The Mets’ position as the talk of the town was short lived and lasted only about a week before the Cardinals ended their season. But that one week was scary enough that I started to envision life as a Yankee fan and a second-rate baseball citizen in the tri-state area. Luckily, the Mets lost Game 7 of the 2006 ALCS, collapsed in 2007, collapsed again in 2008 and had the season they did in 2009 and again this year to restore order in the baseball world in New York City and make everything right again.

Last season I began to watch a similar shift in power in the NFL with the area’s football teams. While the Giants were busy blowing a 5-0 start to the season and giving up 74 points a game, the Jets went from AFC East losers led by the class clown all the way to the AFC Championship Game completely changing their team’s future and how they are perceived in the sports world.

Here were the Giants, just two years removed from the greatest Super Bowl win in history, limping to an 8-8 season with the worst secondary to ever take the field and a pass rush that didn’t fully understand the concept of “rushing the passer.” And here were the Jets, perennial heartbreakers, whose stock was suddenly skyrocketing as they became the George Mason of the NFL postseason by creating a personality and identity that the Giants had lost since their Super Bowl win.

The problem with the pre-2009 Jets is that they were just an unlikable team – at least to me they were. Aside from Fireman Ed and a crowd that continues to make opposing fans fear for their life, there wasn’t a whole lot to like about the Jets. I’m not sure any kid or sports fan in the area without a favorite football team and looking for one to like would have adopted the Jets and called them their own before last season.

Now, when you look at the Jets roster it looks like one of the two rosters for the Pro Bowl. It’s full of superstars and household names. They have a coach that might be the most likable and entertaining in professional sports, and a franchise quarterback who makes it hard not to like him. It’s all these reasons why as a Giants fan, the Jets intrigue me. No, I am not a Jets fan and will never ever switch sides, but I fully understand why that same person searching for a football team to like that I just talked about would choose the Jets over the Giants right now.

The Giants would never let HBO document their training camp for Hard Knocks. They would never expose themselves or prostitute themselves as a sideshow to become a TV program for fans to watch uncensored, and I understand that and I support that. But with the Jets building their brand on the field and off the field, all the Giants can do to make sure they don’t concede their superior ranking in NYC football is to produce wins on the field, and after the way last season finished, I’m not sure how many wins we can expect from this team.

The new-look Jets are why I was more excited for Hard Knocks this season over any previous season in the show’s history. From the moment it was announced that the Jets would participate on the show, it was almost as if they started building their roster accordingly. Just following Rex Ryan and listening to Bart Scott would have been enough, but by adding LaDainian Tomlinson, Santonio Holmes and Antonio Cromartie and including the storyline of the most important contract negotiation in the AFC East and maybe the NFL, it’s almost as if the show became as scripted as Friday Night Lights.

The first episode of Hard Knocks on Wednesday night was as good as advertised. If you missed it, here are the three men responsible for stealing the show in the first hour of what will be the most memorable season of the series.

Rex Ryan
There are going to be a lot of people that watch Hard Knocks simply to see what Rex Ryan is like outside of his comedic press conferences and aside from his extravagant Daily News and Post headlines. After watching Rex freely make fun of his in-laws in the opening minutes of the show, you just knew he was going to make the most of this opportunity to have a camera and censor-free microphone in front of him for training camp.

In the show, Rex Ryan appears to be an actor rather than an amusing and overweight NFL coach. Some of his lines and actions seem a little over the top and rehearsed, the same way that the cast of Jersey Shore now plays up their personas to fulfill the roles of the celebrities they have become rather than be themselves like they were in the first season when the show gained popularity. (Don’t get me wrong, I will continue to watch Jersey Shore no matter how fake the cast becomes, just like I would watch Hard Knocks even if Rex Ryan were reading off cue cards.)

I think the pre-camp meeting was the best example of Rex being a head coach that knows there is a camera recording him. Rex made it clear that he wants his team to lead the league in the wins, but it was almost as if he was trying force every last swear word he could into this scene, so that fans would come away from Hard Knocks and say, “Wow, Rex Ryan is a badass.” But if you take away Ryan’s HBO vocabulary from that meeting, it definitely wouldn’t have passed through the final cut. A power point presentation on Day 1 of camp for NFL players? What player would pay attention to that? It was almost as if someone recorded the first day of class from each semester of college when the professor would just stand there and read the syllabus word for word before you letting you go early. Not exactly captivating TV without Rex trying to break the South Park movie’s record for most swears in one scene.

Rex has reached a point in my life that not many other people can achieve: the point where I could watch Rex Ryan do just about anything. It’s such an elite club that I can’t even think of another person on this list. Whether it’s trying to drop 37 F-bombs before taking a breath, wearing Chuck Taylor shoes given his body type, eating a lunch big enough for a family of four at Cafe Ryan, throwing footballs, punting footballs or just standing around making small talk, there isn’t anything Rex Ryan can’t do that wouldn’t be compelling. I only wish Tom Coughlin could be half as likeable as Rex Ryan.

Rex will never have trouble finding a job in the football world, which is disappointing, because the man could carry his own reality show. And like a lot of other people, I would watch every second of it.

Darrelle Revis
Rex Ryan and the Jets tagged Darrelle Revis as the best player in the league last season, and maybe he is because I’m not sure if anyone other than the best player in the league could take up as much air time as Revis did in the first episode, despite not even being at camp.

There is no chance that Woody Johnson likes watching Rex and the other Jets talking about Revis constantly throughout the show as they further instill the notion that the Jets need Revis to achieve their ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl. It can’t be good for Woody’s negotiations and his stance on not budging on a new contract for Revis when every Wednesday night for the rest of training camp, you have other members of the Jets reminding Jets fans that, “Hey Woody, we really, really need Revis to come to camp, so how about you give him that money?”

I have been torn on both sides of the Revis contract talks. On the one hand, he did sign this contract and he is obligated to live up to his end of the deal, whether or not he has become the player he has since he initially signed. But on the other hand, he does deserve more than his current pay since there are a handful of Jets defensive players making more than him. Like Mike Francesa says, if Woody is going ask fans for every dollar they have to purchase PSLs to attend Jets games, how can he turn around and say he won’t use his own money to sign “the best player in the league?”

It’s time for Woody to pay up.

Joe Namath
Joe Namath appeared in the first episode for maybe two minutes, but every bit of those two minutes was entertaining.

Joe doesn’t exactly look like the guy I grew up watching on TV telling me to shop at “Nobody Beats The Wiz,” but eventually living life as Joe Namath and also as Broadway Joe was going to take its toll.

Namath was genuinely pissed off when Mark Sanchez fumbled during the goal-line drill in the rain, and it set him off, causing him to tell the Jets and Sanchez that Sanchez needs to change the way he receives the ball at the line. Watching Namath speak so passionately about the proper hand technique on the snap and just taking the rest of the coaching staff to school in the film room was like watching Shooter draw up plays in Hoosiers while everyone stood around knowing that the man talking knew more than anyone else, but not being absolutely sure if the man talking was still all there.

When Namath said he “had a good time on the field, but off the field it was all work,” before uncontrollably laughing, he came close to breaking into my Top 5 Athletes I Wish I Could Drinks Beers With For An Afternoon And Listen To Stories While In Their Prime list. The Top 5 is currently Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Jim Kaat, Bobby Orr and David Wells, but Broadway Joe is right on the bubble and with another appearance before the end of the season, it’s going to be hard to keep him off that list.

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Blogs • The Joe Girardi Show • Yankees

Aug 3, 2010

The Joe Girardi Show

The Yankees no longer sit atop the AL East alone, but it didn’t have to be this way. It didn’t have to be this way if Joe Girardi didn’t want it to be.

I guess it was only fitting that on the night the Yankees lost sole possession of first place in the AL East for the first time in 42 days, the two losing pitchers to cause this happened to be the Carl Pavano and A.J. Burnett.

From June 20 to August 1, the Yankees sat alone on top of the AL East Mountain. Now they don’t. But it didn’t have to be this way. It didn’t have to be this way if Joe Girardi didn’t want it to be.

Somewhere between going to Tampa Bay with a two-game lead and losing to the Blue Jays on Monday night at home, Girardi decided to shake up a good thing. He decided that cruising through July was too easy, and he decided he needed to fix something that wasn’t broken.

Back in May, I wrote a piece as if I got to host The Joe Girardi Show instead of Michael Kay. With the Yankees enduring their first slump in over a month, I think it’s time for another episode of My Joe Girardi Show. Here are my questions for Joe:

What were you doing that was so important during the fifth inning on Monday that it took you as long as it did to take out A.J. Burnett?

Note: If you don’t know the three grades of A.J. Burnett meltdowns, then please inform yourself for the purpose of this section.

A.J. Burnett is 33 years old. He is 109-94 in his career. It’s safe to say we know who he is and what he is going to be for the rest of his career at this point. And no matter how hard Michael Kay tried to get Al Leiter to admit that Burnett sucks during Monday’s broadcast, Al wouldn’t succumb to the pressure. Al wouldn’t throw a fellow pitcher and former teammate under the bus, so I will do it for him.

Burnett scares the crap out me. He scares the crap out of me in the way that it would be unhealthy for me to watch him start a postseason game right now. And he scares the crap out of me in the way that we are only in the second year of his five-year deal, and I’m wishing I had the remote control from the movie Click so I could fast forward through the next three-plus years of his career with the Yankees.

On Monday night, A.J. Burnett started off on fire, and then quickly entered the early stages of a Grade 1 meltdown before being downgraded to a tropical storm. But after putting up zeroes in the third and fourth, the night quickly escalated to a Grade 3 meltdown. It all happened so fast in typical A.J. Burnett meltdown fashion: from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds.

In June, when A.J. was going as bad as you can go in the majors leagues as a starting pitching without getting traded, sent down or designated for assignment, I created a system of measurement to determine which Burnett would show up on any given fifth day.

Here is my definition of a Grade 3 A.J. meltdown from that June piece:

“You think A.J. has had his bad inning for the night and that he will enter cruise control, only to have the game unravel in a matter of pitches – and once that second crooked number starts to take shape, there is no stopping it until he is removed from the game.”

Why isn’t Girardi aware of this? How does he not know that there is no fixing Burnett mid-game? He either has it or he doesn’t, and he isn’t about to make an adjustment in the middle of a start or try to battle through without his best stuff. On Monday, he clearly didn’t have it in the fifth inning, but Joe stood in the dugout and watched a bonfire turn into a forest fire before he decided to put it out. The following happened in the fifth inning before Joe pulled A.J. …

Double
Home run
Walk
Double
Fielder’s choice
Double
Double
Strikeout
Double

It took six runs, six hits (all extra-base hits) and seven base runners for Girardi to say to step in and say, “Enough is enough.” By this point, the Yankees trailed 7-2, and it became 8-2 when Sergio Mitre came in and allowed a double in the gap. Burnett and Mitre made MLB history in the frame by becoming the third team ever to allow six doubles in an inning.

The Yankees are never out of any game with their offense, let alone a game at home, where they have won at an outrageous clip since the beginning of 2009. Does Girardi not know this? How does he not? The only logical explanation is that he bet the over last night, and he just wanted to make sure it clinched before he pulled A.J. from the game.

Why move Nick Swisher down in the order in Tampa Bay?

When Nick Swisher hit that second home run on Monday night – the mammoth blast that nearly grazed the top deck at Yankee Stadium – I desperately wanted him to turn around and give Girardi the middle finger or at least point in the dugout and scream, “That one’s for you, Joe!” to let Girardi know what was up.

The Yankees traded for Lance Berkman on Friday and on Saturday he was in the Yankees lineup. But the Yankees weren’t getting the Berkman that hit 45 home runs in 2006 or the Berkman that drove in 106 runs in 2008. This wasn’t even the Berkman that hit 25 home runs in 2009. Instead the Yankees got the Lance Berkman that was hitting .245 in the NL this year and the Berkman that had missed spring training because of knee surgery missed spring training.

Before we go any further, yes, I was and still am a fan of the trade for Berkman. If he can find what he has been missing all year, then the Yankees have a legitimate No. 3 major league hitter batting in the bottom of the order. But the part that gets me is that the Yankees have now had to use and pay Nick Johnson and Berkman and trade away Mark Melancon for a job that Hideki Matsui could have been doing for less money. But forget Johnson’s injured past, the guy is an on-base machine.

Back to my point … Where would you hit Berkman in the Yankees order in his first game with the team? Girardi decided he should hit second, where Nick Swisher is hitting .296 in 51 games this year with 14 home runs 38 RBIs. Joe thought it would be best to move his All-Star right fielder down to the bottom half of the order in favor of the ghost of Lance Berkman.

Berkman went 1-for-8 in his first two games with the Yankees. On Monday night in the Bronx, Swisher was back in the No. 2 spot and delivered an Eff You performance to Girardi by drilling two more home runs.

Why did you play the JV team against the Rays on Sunday?

You have a two-game lead in the division. You are playing against the team that is trailing you by two games at their stadium with a three-game series coming up against the fourth place team the following day. Which game makes sense to rest starters? According to Girardi, the most important game seemed like the best time.

No A-Rod. Mark Teixeira at DH. Berkman at first, hitting second. Ramiro Pena and Austin Kearns starting. Brett Gardner sitting. I would like to know what Derek Jeter’s mental reaction when he walked into Tropicana Field on Monday and saw the lineup that Girardi posted with the Yankees barely hanging onto first place.

My favorite thing about Joe Girardi is how he always seems to find the most inopportune times to try new stuff, and no one on his coaching staff talks him out of it. “Tony, Rob, Mick, Dave … we have a big game against the Rays. Let’s change the whole lineup. Let’s start the reserves and the reserves’ reserves. This is a good idea.”

Obviously players need their rest over the course of the season, and especially A-Rod who is just a little over a year removed from hip surgery. But how does it make the most sense to give every player that needs a day off, the same day off? Why not give Tex “Game A” off, and A-Rod “Game B” and Gardner “Game C?” Why would you dismantle your lineup as much as possible in the rubber game of the most significant series of the season to date?

I need a drink.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jul 22, 2010

Chan vs. Chad

It’s Chan Ho Park vs. Chad Gaudin in a battle to be the 12th man in the bullpen of the best team in baseball. The winner gets to be the mop-up man for the Yankees.

It’s Chan Ho Park vs. Chad Gaudin in a battle to be the 12th man in the bullpen of the best team in baseball. The winner gets to be the mop-up man for the Yankees. The loser gets to pack his bags and wait for some National League team to sign him to a minor league deal. It’s the showdown Yankees fans have been waiting for because it means one of these right-handed relievers won’t be a Yankee anymore, and it’s happening this weekend.

When Sergio Mitre is activated off the disabled list to join the roster and rotation in place of Andy Pettitte, someone must go and it will most definitely be one of these two men. The reason I say most definitely is because it’s not like Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi haven’t made crazier roster decisions in the past (like adding Freddy Guzman to the ALCS roster), so I can’t say that it’s a 100-percent guarantee that it will be Chan or Chad.

I have written a lot of bad things about both pitchers, but hopefully after this weekend I won’t have to write anything more about at least one of them. If it all goes according to plan, one pitcher won’t be a Yankee and the other will start to get to his act together since he will now be the last man on the staff and possibly the last man on the rotation. Then I can save all of my negativity for Boone Logan, “the lefty specialist.”

If it were up to me, the decision would be easy: I would get rid of both Park and Gaudin. Unfortunately, it’s not my call, and all I can do is share my opinion and hope the decision makers agree.

So, let’s make a case for both and figure out who gets to stay for the time being.

Chan Ho Park
If Boone Logan never put on pinstripes, A.J. Burnett didn’t go 0-5 in June and I didn’t have to catch Nick Johnson sitting on the bench during camera shots of the dugout recently, I probably would have written about Chan Ho Park a lot more.

Since Opening Night, I knew the Chan Ho Park experiment wasn’t going to work out. He entered the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry by letting Dustin Pedroia crush a two-run bomb off the roof of the Cask and Flagon, and then he told reporters he had diarrhea (Look at Mariano in the background of that video looking at Park with the “Is this guy serious?” face). If he had diarrhea on Opening Night, that’s one thing, but what’s his excuse for the other three months?

Three nights after the diarrhea incident, Joe Girardi went with Park again to keep the game tied at 1 until the Yankees could take the lead against the Red Sox, and Park ended up pitching three innings in what was statistically his best performance of the season (3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER). The only problem is that your basic box score doesn’t tell the story behind how Park was able to get nine outs before giving up a run.

Baseball Reference says four of the six fly balls hit off Park were hit “deep” in the outfield, and I remember everyone at Fenway Park standing up and raising their arms into the Boston night at the sight of moon shots that looked like highlights from a 1998 baseball DVD during the height of the steroid era. With each pitch Park threw, I just knew one of them would eventually find the Mass. Turnpike or the bullpens, but magically and miraculously none of the shots off Park cleared the fence. If Opening Night wasn’t enough proof that Park wasn’t going to be able to hack it in the American League, his second outing sealed the deal.

I am really struggling here trying to find good things about Chan Ho Park. I am struggling like in high school when I couldn’t meet the page requirement for a paper about the themes and motifs in The Catcher in the Rye or Lord of the Flies, so I would move in the margins or take the last sentence of every page and move it down to the next page. It’s one thing to struggle like that when you are trying to write a six-page paper about a book you read on SparkNotes, but you shouldn’t have to struggle like that to think of reasons why a pitcher should still be on your team.

Let me put it as nicely as I can: Chan Ho Park has done nothing to deserve a spot on this team. He didn’t deserve the $2 million contract or the guaranteed roster spot off of his 2009 numbers because his 2009 numbers weren’t very telling, as I have talked about with Sweeny Murti.

I have tried to run every incompetent reliever out of town, and Sweeny has had to talk me off of the ledge on several occasions when it comes to the bullpen. But even he said last week, “I’m about ready to give up on Park too. What the Yankees saw in him just hasn’t happened, and he’s been given plenty of opportunities.”

Well said, Sweeny.

Chad Gaudin
Do you remember when people actually thought Chad Gaudin should start Game 5 of the World Series in order to save Burnett for Game 6 and Andy Pettitte for Game 7? If Joe Girardi had done that, the World Series would have gone seven games without a doubt.

I’m not going to lie; I was excited when the Yankees picked up Chad Gaudin last season. Even though he wasn’t exactly stellar during his time with the Padres at the beginning of 2009, I remembered him for the success he had during his time with the A’s. But it didn’t take long to realize why the Padres let Gaudin get away, and why the Yankees let him go at the beginning of this year and then why the A’s let him go again after the Yankees did.

Chad Gaudin has become part of the Insurance Run Brigade for the Yankees that also includes Park, Boone Logan and part-time member Joba Chamberlain. No lead is safe and no deficit will remain where it is when someone from the Brigade is on the mound.

The only thing I can say about Gaudin is that he has the ability to serve as a starter, long reliever and middle reliever. I’m not saying he is good at any of those things, but he is capable of being used in any of those roles. If for some reason one of the starters goes down (knock on wood), Gaudin could slip into the rotation to fill a hole. That is something that Chan Ho Park can’t do, and it’s something I’m glad he can’t do.

The Verdict

Back in early February, I talked about the Yankees bullpen and the expectations entering 2010, and I said:

“No bullpen is perfect and no bullpen is unbeatable. There is usually a Kyle Farnsworth or a Scott Proctor on every club. There will always be a game where a three-run lead turns into a two-run deficit, but as currently constructed it’s hard to pick out who will be this season’s LaTroy Hawkins. For the first time in a while, there might not be one.”

That paragraph seems ridiculous now, but it was also written 11 days before Chan Ho Park signed with the Yankees. And yes, in my mind, Chan Ho Park should take the fall when Mitre is activated.

If you’re Chad Gaudin, you can be happy that you are still on a major league roster and still part of the best team in baseball. But you shouldn’t be happy in knowing that it was between you and Park to be given the boot. Basically, Chad, you won by default.

No more Chan Ho Park will mean one less unreliable reliever for Joe Girardi to signal for, and that means the team is one step closer to cleaning up the bullpen.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jul 14, 2010

Awarding a Memorable First Half

Four days without Yankees baseball in the middle of the summer feels like an eternity. The Home Run Derby was as boring as always, and if the Yankees are to defend their title this fall,

Four days without Yankees baseball in the middle of the summer feels like an eternity. The Home Run Derby was as boring as always, and if the Yankees are to defend their title this fall, they are going to have to do it without home-field advantage thanks to the loss in the All-Star Game.

With the Yankees returning home on Friday for a three-game series with the Rays, anyone in attendance on Friday night or Saturday afternoon for Old Timer’s Day should be prepared for a five-alarm gongshow. I was at Yankee Stadium on August 13, 1995, the day that Mickey Mantle died, and literally every nine minutes another crazed fan with a No. 7 painted on their chest was running around the Yankee Stadium field to honor Mantle. With the passing of both George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard, I wouldn’t be surprised if that memorable day isn’t replicated this weekend with first place in the AL East on the line.

Even though the Yankees are in first place, are 56-32 and have the best record in baseball, it didn’t start to feel that way until recently. Maybe it’s just me, but for some reason I still feel like the Yankees are just beginning to click on all cylinders, and can possibly even play better than they have over the last few weeks.

In honor of a successful first half for a team notoriously known as slow starters and strong finishers, I felt it was only right to hand out midseason awards to those Yankees deserving of one. These aren’t your standard Baseball Writers Association Awards, and not every Yankee came away with something. Luckily for those that didn’t receive one, there is a lot of baseball left for the Yankees in 2010.

The Entourage Award for “Wishing Something Was As Good As It Used To Be”
The same reason I keep tuning into Entourage even though it’s been going through a gradual demise for well over a year is why I am still holding out hope for Joba Chamberlain. I remember Entourage for its Season 1 and Season 2 greatness and not its recent year-plus run of horrible storylines and unrealistic writing, the same the way I remember Joba for his 2007 dominance and the way Joba Mania took over the Bronx three summers ago.

I have seen how great Joba can be, even if it was three years ago, and I know deep down somewhere beneath the cocky behavior and unaccountable attitude is the high-90s fastball and the slider that once shut down the American League. Right now Joba is the weakest link of the important players on the team and right now, a reliable Joba is the last piece to the puzzle that will make the Yankees complete moving forward in their quest for No. 28.

I need a setup guy I can trust and I need Joba to be Reliever Joba and not Starter Joba. But more importantly, I want Joba Mania back and I want to be able to trust the bridge to Mariano.

The Jim Joyce Award for “Doing A Job That No One Should Know Your Name For”
Unless you are a devoted follower of a major league team, there is no reason for you to know the third base coach’s name. Half of their job is to give signs and decide whether or not to send or hold runners home, and the other half of their job is to be the manager’s buddy and be a good time on road trips. They are essentially given a free pass to be part of a major league team, to have a job in the bigs and to hang out with their friends from their playing days. As long as they don’t screw up, no one really pays much attention to them, and that’s a good thing. More and more people are beginning to know Rob Thompson’s name, and that’s a bad thing.

There have been a few occasions this season where Thompson has gotten a runner thrown at home with no outs in an inning (I have been present for two of them), and he nearly ruined my celebration of our nation’s birthday on the Fourth when he got three Yankees tagged out at home in one game (I am still waiting to find out from the Elias Sports Bureau if three Yankees have ever been thrown out in the same game on the Fourth of July on a Sunday when the Yankees are playing the Blue Jays).

I will let Thompson’s first-half blunders slide because the Yankees are winning despite his incompetence and because he seems to be friends with Joe Girardi and really because he looks like Michael Scott. I am just hoping that Thompson doesn’t send someone at the wrong time in the wrong game over the final 74 games of the year.

The Michael Jackson Award for “Smoothest Transition From Home-Run Swing To Home-Run Trot”
This was a tossup between A-Rods patented “flip the bat … hop … stare into the Yankees dugout” and Robinson Cano’s version of the Moonwalk. In the end I had to give it to Cano.

No one could pull off that leg kick into a 360 spin into the moonwalk into the toe stand the way MJ could, and as of now, no one can pull off what Robinson Cano does at the plate following a home-run swing. There is no smoother player in the league when it comes to hitting a no-doubter and making a cool and perfect exit out of the batter’s box than Robinson Cano. In April, I wrote:

“I was waiting for the few notes of “Billie Jean” to come across the Fenway PA system when Robinson Cano hit his solo home run on Tuesday, as he swung, made contact and dropped his bat like it was on fire all in one smooth, flawless motion before gliding out of the box.”

… and it never gets old.

I would have liked to see Cano’s home-run antics on Monday night during the Home Run Derby, but not at the price of ruining his swing for the second half. My preseason pick for MVP from the Yankees continues to make me look smart.

The Seaside Heights Award for “Most Emphatic And Excessive Fist Pump”
After hanging onto this award for three years, Joba Chamberlain has surrendered it to Francisco Cervelli in a unanimous decision, mostly because Joba hasn’t had much to fist pump about all season.

Cervelli’s energy has been exerted through his right hand on clutch strikeouts and two-out RBI hits. No Yankee has cut through the air with their first as violently since Brien Taylor on that forgetful Florida night.

Are Cervelli’s antics over the top? Maybe, but I don’t care. I have grown immune to unnecessary celebrations in professional sports for the most part, and it’s not like Cervelli is going nuts after a one-out save in a three-run game like Francisco Rodriguez does. And it’s not like he is running around the infield grass after throwing a complete-game despite being 15 games back in the AL West like Felix Hernandez did on Saturday night. I’m all for Cervelli and his enthusiasm. I hope to see a lot more fist pumps from him in the second half.

The Gordie Howe Award for “Still Competing At The Highest Level Despite Your Age”
Last week on Twitter, someone wrote, “Is this Mariano Rivera’s best season ever?” I am beginning to think the tweet was a rhetorical question since I’m pretty sure it is his best year. You certainly can’t overlook what he did in 1996 as the setup man, but in terms of his 14 years as a closer, his numbers this season can go toe to toe with any of his other years.

Seriously, look at these numbers: 34.1 IP, 16 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 33 K, 1 BB, 1.05 ERA, 0.641 WHIP.

I am starting to think Mariano wasn’t kidding when he told the crowd following Game 6 of the World Series in November that he would be pitching for another five years. I am actually beginning to wonder if he will still be closing games when he is 50, and at this rate I don’t see why he won’t be.

While other closers appear to be breaking down (K-Rod, cough, cough) and losing their invincibility factor (Papelbon, cough, cough), Mariano just keeps on doing what he has been doing since 1997: saving games for the Yankees.

The LeBron James Award for “Becoming The Complete Opposite Of What You Are Known As”
Over the last few days, the LeBron James and Alex Rodriguez comparisons have taken over sports. In some ways I agree, but there needs to be some clarification with these comparisons because LeBron James isn’t becoming Alex Rodriguez. Rather, 2010 LeBron James is becoming 2004 Alex Rodriguez, and there is a big difference.

Prior to last week, LeBron James was the NBA’s golden child, but in one hour on TV that all changed. LeBron produced a two-out rally against himself by becoming a villain, tarnishing his image and destroying the brand he had carefully crafted since being drafted by the Cavaliers. Here was the face of the league, talking in the third-person and playing the part of the biggest scumbag in the NBA. It was the complete opposite of what LeBron James had been for the last seven years.

Now we have 2010 A-Rod, which really has been an extension of Fall 2009 A-Rod. Since last October, A-Rod has become the most clutch player in all of baseball, he has shed the “perennial loser” tag he has carried with him his whole career and has even started to rebuild the image he erased when he admitted to steroid use and being naïve and playing in a culture in Texas where steroids were as common in the clubhouse as short brunettes are in SoHo. There was A-Rod on Monday night, talking baseball with Chris Berman, Joe Morgan and Bobby Valentine during the Home Run Derby and presenting himself in a light in which he could have been perceived all of these years if he didn’t make such poor choices.

A clutch Alex Rodriguez for Yankees fans to love and a personable Alex Rodriguez for baseball fans to begin to like. Who would have thought?

The Clark Griswold Award for “Taking A Summer Long Vacation”
I’d like to think that A.J. Burnett thought he was on vacation during the month of June because if he was actually trying to get people out, then we have a serious problem. According to Michael Kay, Burnett had the worst statistical month in Yankee history, and I didn’t check the numbers, but I sat through all five of the eye-gouging performances and I will just take Michael’s word for it.

Burnett was 0-5 with an 11.35 ERA in June. Not even Tim Redding or Chase Wright or Sidney Ponson or Darrell Rasner could have imagined putting up those kinds of numbers. But here is the Yankees’ so-called No. 2 starter, making $16.5 million a year and $500,000 a start losing every single time he went to the mound for an entire month. Simple mathematics tells us that Burnett made $2.5 million in June. Not a bad payday for a guy who literally did not show up to pitch one single time for 30 days.

As much as my distaste has grown for A.J. Burnett over the first three months of the season and as much as Sweeny Murti probably wants me to stop badgering him about Burnett, the Yankees need him to pitch well.

The Joe Morgan Award for “Not Doing Your Homework For Your Job”
So the Yankees front office not only thought that it was a good idea to let Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon take off, but they also thought Nick Johnson would be a perfect No. 2 hitter and that Chan Ho Park would be a solid jack-of-all-trades out of the bullpen. I mean any time you can get a 37-year-old reliever with a 5.79 ERA in the AL before 2010, you have to do it, right? Excellent work, boys!

All you need to know to about Chan Ho Park is that he has appeared in 21 games this season and he has allowed earned runs in 11 of them. And in the 21 games Park has appeared in, the Yankees are 9-12.

The fact that Chan Ho Park is still in the majors is a bit disturbing. The fact that he is on the Yankees, making $2 million and was given a guaranteed roster spot out of spring training is disgusting.

Before the Yankees went to L.A. to play the Dodgers, Sweeny Murti told me this:

“Park’s guaranteed roster spot was just the result of getting him at an affordable price when a non-roster invite wasn’t going to be enough to get him. He pitched well in the World Series and that may have fooled the Yankees. It wouldn’t be the first time (see: Carl Pavano). The stuff he had in the World Series is not what he’s had so far. He’s really only had one good stretch for them this year and it came in the low-leverage situations I mentioned before. One scout who saw Park pitch a lot last year told me that’s how the Phillies got the most out of him last year and it was a bad job by the Yankees not to recognize that.”

No one really believed Joe Girardi in June when he kept telling the media that A.J. Burnett had good stuff, and no one believed him earlier this season when he said he didn’t skip Javier Vazquez a second time because Vazquez was pitching bad. As fans, we let things like that slide because Joe is supposed to stick by his players, be loyal to them and back them up. But when Joe Girardi sits there and tells the media that he believes in Chan Ho Park, it’s embarrassing for him and for me as a Yankees fan.

In the very near future, I am certain that Park will no longer be a Yankee, and that will be a glorious day … as long as it doesn’t mean that Boone Logan will be once again.

The Marc Summers Award for “Most Yankee Stadium Pies To The Face”
In the late innings at home, Marcus Thames has been like a contestant on “What Would You Do?” With a two-run walk-off bomb off Jonathan Papelbon in May that made an identical flight path to Aaron Boone’s 2003 shot and a walk-off single against the Blue Jays on The Fourth of July, Thames has been the only Yankee to take an A.J. Burnett pie to the face this season.

I always liked Marcus Thames given his unique story from his first at-bat in the majors for the Yankees bank in 2002, though my liking for him waned in 2006 when he was a member of the Tigers team that upset the Yankees in the 2006 ALDS. But I was happy that Yankees got him back to represent the biggest bat off their bench since Ruben Sierra was swinging from his heels on every pitch from 2003-2005.

Right now, Thames is the only true bat on the Yankees bench that includes Ramiro Pena, Francisco Cervelli, Colin Curtis and Kevin Russo. If the four of them had a Home Run Derby, it might last eight days before someone poked one out. Actually an Extra-Base Hit Derby between them might last that long.

I think the Yankees will be in the market for another bat at the All-Star break since Thames currently represents the only true threat for them. And with Nick Johnson using his free time to concentrate on his Farmville farm, who knows when he will be ready to rejoin the team? Not that I am hoping he rejoins the team.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jul 13, 2010

Remembering Two Legends

With the loss of two Yankees legends in the span of three days, I thought it would be fitting to talk to Steve Lombardi, founder of the Yankees blog, WasWatching.com, and a follower of the

With the loss of two Yankees legends in the span of three days, I thought it would be fitting to talk to Steve Lombardi, founder of the Yankees blog, WasWatching.com, and a follower of the Yankees since George Steinbrenner’s first season as owner of the Yankees, back in 1973.

Keefe: You have been following the Yankees since 1973, and lived through the entire George Steinbrenner era. On a day like today, it feels surreal that The Boss is no longer with us. Even though George hasn’t been the in the forefront of the front office or the polarizing figure he once was for the last few years, it is still feel weird to think about the Yankees without him. What are your memories of The Boss?

Lombardi: I went to my first Yankees game on August 8, 1973 when I was 10 years old, so I sort of feel like George Steinbrenner and I have been running side by side with him in terms of our passion for the team. And now, there does feel like there’s a void there for me; granted, he has been out of the picture for the last few years, and he was 80 years old and in ill health when he passed, I should have been prepared for today’s news, but it’s still somewhat of a shock and surreal.

In terms of memories, like many Yankees fans, I’m only focusing on the good stuff now. Sure, there were times in the past where his quick trigger and impulsive moves made the organization look bad, but in retrospect, as Yankees fans, we were very lucky to have an owner who wanted to win so badly, who was not looking to stick profits into his pocket and who was willing to spend money to bring a winner to New York. As I have recently written, in his salad days, Big Stein was narcissistic, illogical, pompous, impetuous, delusional and pathological, and that made life terrible for all those who worked for him.  But, at least 70 percent of the time, he gave Yankees fans teams that allowed them to walk the streets with their heads up and chests out. You can’t say that about a lot of owners in baseball or sports, period.

Keefe: George Steinbrenner was certainly a unique owner and extraordinary businessman, as well as a pioneer of the game in many different ways. He always made sure he reinvested his money back into the team and always tried to put what he felt was the best team on the field for the Yankees even if it didn’t always work out. What would you say was the most significant move George made during his time as the owner of the Yankees?

Lombardi: That would be signing Catfish Hunter back in December 1974. The Yankees had a pretty good team in ’74, yet signing Hunter (to what was then a huge contract) set the tone and let the rest of baseball know that the Yankees were going to do whatever it took to bring premium talent and winning ballplayers to New York.

Bringing Catfish was start. That, combined with Gabe Paul’s trades led to the pennant in 1976, and that led to Reggie Jackson coming and the rings in ’77 and ’78. During the 1980s, the Yankees had a lot of wins but no rings. Wanting to get back to those rings led to the magic of the late ’90s. But, again, it all started with bringing in Hunter. For what it’s worth, I think Steinbrenner has mentioned this in the past too.

Keefe: The Yankees also lost an iconic figure not just in New York, but in all of sports in Bob Sheppard. What are your memories of Bob Sheppard from the old Stadium and how will you remember him?

Lombardi: Bob Sheppard was a small part of the Yankees organization but a major part of their history. That’s not an easy thing to pull off. Pete Sheehy did it. Gene Monahan is doing it. And, Sheppard is in that group too. It’s a very small team picture.

I will always remember him as being part of the Yankee Stadium experience before the Stadium became what it was in 2009. It’s so different attending games now, and the difference is not all good. Bob Sheppard will forever be part of that special “before time” Yankee Stadium feeling compared to what the Yankees, and going to their games, is like today.

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Blogs • Email Exchanges

Jul 6, 2010

The New, New York Knicks

Amar’e Stoudemire is a Knick and Tommy Dee of The Knicks Blog and the SNY Network knew it before anyone else. With Stoudemire making his new home in New York City, and LeBron James and

Amar’e Stoudemire is a Knick and Tommy Dee of The Knicks Blog and the SNY Network knew it before anyone else.

With Stoudemire making his new home in New York City, and LeBron James and Dwyane Wade still up grabs on the free-agent market, the man who broke the Amar’e Stoudemire signing, Tommy Dee, joined me to talk about what the next few days hold for the Knicks, and what we can expect the roster to look like for 2010-11 and beyond.

If you’re a Knicks fan, you will like what was said.

Keefe: For the first time in a long time, the Knicks are the main story in the NBA, and it’s for a good season. A week ago, no one was giving the Knicks a chance in this free-agent frenzy at coming away with any of the big players, but now they are the first team to make a splash. You are credited with having the news about Amar’e Stoudemire joining the Knicks before everyone else, so it only makes sense to ask you what’s next for the Knicks and their aggressive plan?

Dee: Well, we reported last week that the Knicks were confident that they had a real shot at Amar’e, which is why they didn’t rush to meet with him first on July 1. Logically, from a basketball standpoint, many people felt like the Knicks roster wasn’t comparable to other suitors. I debated that at the time. I think Danilo Gallinari is a piece for any star. He’s 6′ 10,” has guts, can make big shots and he’s a team guy who has a really strong skill set. Toney Douglas is a player who will be a really good rotation guard, if not more, on a championship level team. People forget his resume because last year’s draft was so guard heavy. If he were eligible this year he would have easily been a top-20 pick. Wilson Chandler also has great qualities in terms of defense and scoring ability to go along with great athleticism.

The idea is to strengthen their case, roster-wise, as much as possible and set up LeBron or Dwyane Wade to be paired with the best pick-and-roll big man in the NBA. Can you imagine Amar’e and LeBron in the pick-and-roll for 82-plus games? That, along with the amenities in New York, has to be on LeBron’s mind. If he passes, what does Wade do? What does he do without a big like Amar’e or Chris Bosh?

Keefe: The whole free agent period has been about LeBron and his need to team up with one of the best big men. Now that the Knicks are guaranteed to have that, I don’t know how he can risk going somewhere that might not end up getting that complimentary piece for him.

At this point, I just can’t see LeBron going back to Cleveland, even though that might be the easy decision and logical choice for him. But say Wade chooses Chicago before LeBron makes a move (even though it appears as though he is headed back to Miami) … then you have Kobe in L.A. going for a 3-peat, and Wade (arguably the third best player in the league) with a new team in his hometown, making the Bulls a true contender once again. If those scenarios happen, how could LeBron possibly go back to Cleveland and become the third most intriguing story in the league and possibly the third most significant player?

I think LeBron needs New York as much as New York needs LeBron. Not only would he be passing up the opportunity to become the biggest athlete on the biggest stage, but he would also be risking the opportunity to continue being the face of the league. Call it being biased or wanting basketball to be relevant in New York again, but I don’t see how LeBron can stay in Cleveland with the chance to be the most captivating storyline heading into the 2010-11 season.

Dee: Very astute and let’s not forget that Cleveland has had many years to pair LeBron with a complimentary piece. Bosh is the key now that Amar’e is in New York.

I can’t believe that Bryan Colangelo has any interest in what Cleveland is offering. They don’t have to sign and trade him. They can just let him go, but the best sign and trade for the Raptors is with the Rockets it appears.

Keefe: Do you believe that LeBron, or Wade for that matter, have actually needed the last week to make up their minds about where they are going? The two of them have known they were going to be free agents for a long, long time. They have to know where they want to play and where they are going to play.

The whole process over the past week seems a bit ridiculous, unnecessary and even immature. Like the Entourage episode where all the different agencies are trying to court Vincent Chase by comparing him to global icons like Microsoft and McDonald’s, it’s unnecessary that the Knicks need to put together a film with appearances from James Gandolfini and Edie Falco and Chris Rock and other superstar athletes from the city to show LeBron what New York has to offer. It seems even more unnecessary that the Cavaliers would need to put together a similar presentation for LeBron to know what he would be giving up and missing if he leaves Cleveland.

Can you honestly say that July 1 came and LeBron and/or D-Wade didn’t actually know where they would be playing basketball in 2010-11?

Dee: I agree, at least from the media standpoint, that this thing feels very scripted. I mean how can a reporter from ESPN claim that the Raptors are now discussing Bosh to Cleveland. That’s ridiculous. But it’s added drama.

I think LeBron made up his mind a long time ago. Just my personal feeling based on basketball IQ and the like. They have no roster flexibility and a team that he can’t win a championship with. I hear all the time that they have these pieces and 60 wins, but I guess experts only knock things in the “regular season” when business isn’t attached.

Logically, I just don’t believe that a decision still needs to be made.

Keefe: When LeBron makes his announcement on Thursday, won’t any answer that isn’t the Knicks be a disappointment? Knicks management has led the fan base down the LeBron Path since Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni came on board, and July 2010 has been the date that has helped keep Knicks fans from completing jumping ship on the team?

There are obviously solid alternative plans for the Knicks if LeBron chooses somewhere other than Madison Square Garden to call home, but after hearing the front office preach about the 2010 free-agent class and having to watch two more terrible seasons from this team, I just think anything other than LeBron James as a Knick at the end of this week will be huge disappointment, a massive letdown and somewhat of false advertising and a lie from the front office.

Dee: I completely disagree in this regard. The Knicks, particularly Walsh, have made it a point to stress “flexibility.” Look, the reality of the situation for those of us who have been paying attention for a long time and still suffering through every game was that this thing needed to be fixed. And when you consider that all of Isiah Thomas’ mistakes would have been wiped clean in 2011 is fair, but how do you sell your fan base on players and management that stained things in a way that had rarely been seen in sports history. They were a mess that needed cleaning.

Yes, this is about a game-changing superstar, because ultimately it’s about winning a championship. Trust me when I tell you that Walsh and D’Antoni want that more than anything.

They’ve both positioned New York in the most attractive light they could. And when you consider all the amenities, the financials, and now a huge piece of the pick and roll puzzle, it’s nearly impossible for LeBron to pass. Will Wade? Will Carmelo Anthony? There is an opportunity to own this town and anyone who’s ever played sports knows there’s nothing like winning here … cliché or not.

If the big names pass, the game goes on and yes it’s a disappointment. This is a gamble, but it’s easy to think that it will be a ton better than it was, either way.

This is about a superstar and championships. Make no mistake. I have to believe that someone will come and take on the challenge.

Keefe: I agree it’s nearly impossible for LeBron to pass up on the Knicks, and that is why I am puzzled to hear “experts” say that he isn’t going to go to New York.

Maybe Chicago is better built and has better pieces in place right now, but there is nothing LeBron James could ever do that will make him a bigger start than Michael Jordan ever was there. With several big city possibilities, why pick the one where he would always be the No. 2 legend no matter what he achieves?

New York presents the unique chance for LeBron to bring New York basketball back to the forefront of the sport and serve as the face of the league for as long as he desires. In Cleveland, his story gets old and with the free agency of 2010 passed, his attraction and what he represents won’t be as polarizing as it was entering this summer.

New York makes the most sense, and to me the only sense for a player who wants to be the most recognized in the world and for a businessman who wants to potentially become a billionaire.

On Thursday, I expect LeBron James to be a Knick.

Dee: Bosh is the wildcard. If Bosh takes less money to play in New Jersey, maybe the Nets win this thing and I’m forced to do vodka shots with Evan Roberts.

I think he leaves Cleveland. That said, logic and reporting has brought me this far.

I’m sticking with the Knicks.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jun 22, 2010

Grading A.J. Burnett

You didn’t need to stay up on Monday night to know how bad A.J. Burnett was against the Diamondbacks. After his previous three starts prior, you probably could have guessed how his night would go.

You didn’t need to stay up on Monday night to know how bad A.J. Burnett was against the Diamondbacks. After his previous three starts prior, you probably could have guessed how his night would go. I was naïve to think that someone making $500,000 per start could shut down the worst team in the NL West. Stupid me.

It’s never good when a six-game West Coast road trip starts with a first-inning mound visit, and it’s never good when you are hoping your No. 2 starter gets drilled when he comes up to hit and has to be placed on the DL. But such is the life of a Yankees fan dealing with the frustrating A.J. Burnett.

If you missed the game, first off you’re lucky, and second off you don’t even need to see Burnett’s line from the game to find out just how bad he was. All you need to know are the pitchers who followed him out of the bullpen. That would be Chad Gaudin and Chan Ho Park. Yes, it was another egg laid by Allan James Burnett in what has become a trend every five days for the Yankees, and a costly one at that. Here is the supposed No. 2 starter on the Yankees losing four straight games and allowing 23 earned runs in 20 innings in June and doing his best Chase Wright impression by allowing nine home runs over that span. I guess $16.5 million a year just doesn’t get you what it used to.

Sure there are going to be plenty of people with Yankees blinders on that take offense to me saying such terrible things about a player on my team, but honestly, I take offense to the idea that Yankees fans can stand by this guy and say anything good about him. And if anyone has anything good to say about his on-field performance, I know what that good thing is going to be: Game 2 of the 2009 World Series.

I am well aware that A.J. Burnett won Game 2 of last year’s World Series after the Yankees lost Game 1. What about the rest of the postseason? Did we forget that Burnett was 1-1 with a 5.27 ERA in five starts in October and November last year? Did we forget about his Game 5 meltdown in the World Series when he allowed six runs on four hits and four walks in two innings of work, or does that start not count?

I will be forever grateful that Burnett was able to win Game 2 and prevent the Yankees from going into an 0-2 hole with the series shifting to Philadelphia. But it’s not like the man single-handedly carried us to a championship (that would be Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui), and it’s not like he never has to perform well again because of one start last fall.

A.J. Burnett is perfectly capable of going off between now and his last start of the season and making June just a minor bump in what ends up being an outstanding season. The problem is he is also capable of continuing to be the worst starter in the Yankees rotation the rest of the way, and right now, it’s hard to think of him in any other light than what we saw on Monday night, June 16, June 10 and June 4.

It’s not like I didn’t see these types of starts coming from Burnett. We all saw them at times last year, and we saw them prior to his amazing 2008 season with the Blue Jays. Except, I saw them coming at Fenway Park and Tropicana Field. I didn’t expect them to come against the Orioles, Blue Jays and Diamondbacks.

Here is what I wrote about A.J. Burnett after his first start of the season at Fenway Park:

“Watching A.J. Burnett pitch is harder to watch than the scene in Casino where Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) and his brother Dominick are beaten within an inch of their lives by baseball bats and then buried alive. Sure it’s only one start, but it’s not like we didn’t also see this last year. Burnett is either going to come within reach of a no-no or have a start that includes that one letdown inning. On Tuesday, he had the latter and the letdown inning was the fifth.”

And here is what I said about him when I ranked the Yankees starters in order of how much I enjoy watching them (Burnett ranked fourth, but he would be fifth in updated rankings):

“A.J. has two types of starts… 1.) The start where you start checking the inning and how many outs are left because a potential no-no is in the works and 2.) The start where he cruises for every inning except for one and allows three-plus runs that inning. A.J. will never give up a run here or a run there. It’s all or nothing with him. He is either going to try to burn out the P.C. Richard strikeout whistle at the Stadium, or have people heading for the exits with the game out of reach. He’s a nightmare for anyone that likes consistency or good strike-to-ball ratios, or for anyone that plays fantasy baseball. When he’s on, he can be the best pitcher on the planet with the best breaking ball in the league. When he’s off, expect every count to go full and free passes to be handed out.”

This time I decided to take what I have learned about A.J. Burnett since he became a Yankee and take it out a step further. I think its necessary that we have a unit of measurement for Burnett’s starts and a way to categorize his many meltdowns and losses. So like the Richter scale, here is a way to measure another type of natural disaster: A.J. Burnett meltdowns.

Grade 1
Example: June 10 vs. Baltimore

Getting through the first inning with A.J. Burnett is key. If you can get through the first, there’s a chance he will be able to get you through a lot more. A.J. is usually good for allowing at least one run before the Yankees have time to get on the board, but if he can hold the opposition scoreless so the Yankees can take an early lead, you’re in good shape. The problem is you aren’t out of the water yet since there isn’t a lead that is safe with A.J. on the hill.

The meltdown usually starts once the Yankees have given him a lead and he feels it necessary to give it right back. Andy Pettitte did a lot of this in the second half of 2008 before we later found out that he was injured. A.J. Burnett might be the only pitcher that I don’t feel confident with getting out of an inning unscathed with two outs and no one on. Once he gets those first two outs, things can unfold pretty quickly. And when they do, you can no longer control a Grade 1 implosion from becoming …

Grade 2
Example: April 23 vs. Angels

If A.J. doesn’t come with his best stuff (which he never does anymore), then there is without a doubt going to be an inning where he allows at least a three spot.

Most starters prepare for games with the mindset that they are going to go out and win the game for their team. A.J. goes out with the idea that he is going to throw a perfect game. The only problem is that after that first walk, he starts to think, “OK, the no-hitter is still intact.” Then after that first hit, he thinks “Well, now I am just going to strike out every hitter.” It’s this mentality that gets A.J. Burnett in trouble. Instead of pitching the way he finally learned how to under Roy Halladay at the end of his Toronto days, A.J. becomes the oft-injured pitcher he was in Florida, trying to knock down the catcher with his fastball like Steve Nebraska.

A.J. Burnett isn’t capable of limiting damage and working through men on base the way Andy Pettitte has made a career of doing, and he isn’t capable of working through a game without his best stuff the way CC Sabathia can grind through a start. It’s all or nothing with A.J. Burnett and when it’s nothing, it turns into this …

Grade 3
Examples: May 9 vs. Red Sox and June 21 vs. Diamondbacks

This is what we saw on Monday and what we have seen for most of June. It’s like an uncontrollable California forest fire. You think A.J. has had his bad inning for the night and that he will enter cruise control, only to have the game unravel in a matter of pitches (on Monday night it took 15) and once that second crooked number starts to take shape, there is no stopping it until he is removed from the game. The only problem with that is that the game is out of hand by this point and likely out of reach for the offense, so the “loser” relievers (I call them this because they only pitch when the Yankees are losing and also happens to be prime examples of the word) like Chad Gaudin and Boone Logan and Chan Ho Park start to get loose in the ‘pen.

The entire scene is enough to make you think about picking up your remote control and throwing a two-seamer right through the TV screen, or at the very least it’s enough to make you make yourself a strong cocktail.

It was hard enough to watch all nine innings on Monday night that I wasn’t about to sit through the postgame show and listen to Joe Girardi tell us that A.J. “had great stuff in the ‘pen before the game” or that “his velocity and breaking ball were there, he just missed his location.” As much as I despise Ozzie Guillen, at least he would take A.J. to town after a month of losses with a three-team race now taking shape in the AL East.

But the real reason I didn’t watch the postgame show (other than the fact that I had just wasted over three hours of my life watching the Yankees lose 10-4 to the Diamondbacks) was because I didn’t want to see A.J. Burnett. I didn’t want to see him stand in front of his locker and tell reporters that “he sucked” and that “he needs to better.” Tell us something we don’t know. I’m glad that A.J. holds himself accountable (something Joba Chamberlain needs to learn to do and something that got Ian Kennedy a one-way ticket to Arizona), but being sorry on a night when you just made more than Phil Hughes will make all year isn’t enough. Go win a game for once. Go beat the 28-win Diamondbacks.

All weekend long I gave my friend Dusty a hard time because his beloved Dodgers were swept by the Red Sox and allowed the Red Sox to further close the gap in the AL East. After Monday’s loss, I expected a response from Dusty and sure enough at 11:14 a.m. on Tuesday morning, there it was … “The Yankees lost to the worst team in the NL West.”

Thanks, A.J. Burnett. Only another three-plus years of this …

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Blogs • Email Exchanges

Jun 17, 2010

A Game 7 For The Ages

It’s Lakers and Celtics, Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I don’t have a horse in the race, but I’m pulling for the Lakers for two reasons. First, I like Kobe Bryant, though I am

It’s Lakers and Celtics, Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I don’t have a horse in the race, but I’m pulling for the Lakers for two reasons. First, I like Kobe Bryant, though I am completely aware that a lot of people don’t, and second, I hate the Celtics. Maybe hate is too strong of a word in this case. I certainly don’t hate the Celtics like I hate the Red Sox or Boone Logan (despite his Wednesday night performance) or Chad Gaudin or the way I am starting to hate A.J. Burnett, but I just can’t stand them.

The problem is when I do talk basketball (which is rare) the one person I talk about it with happens to be a Celtics fan buried deep in the heart of Massachusetts. So to get inside the mind of someone with something on the line in Thursday’s Game 7, good friend and NESN.com writer Mike Hurley joined me to break down the biggest Finals game since ’94.

Keefe: I thought the Lakers were the best team after Game 3, and the Celtics after Game 5. Now I don’t know which team is better. Do you? Everything I read from Boston is that the Celtics will put Game 6 behind them and already have, and I fully believe that they have. If the Lakers could come back in Game 6 after looking the way they did in Game 5, then I have to believe the Celtics from Game 6 will show up in Game 7. I don’t know who is going to win, and wouldn’t be surprised by either team winning. Does that even make sense? Nothing makes sense anymore.

Hurley: No, nothing makes sense at all. I thought I finally had it figured out after Game 5 that the Celtics were in fact the better team. That lasted all of 75 seconds in Game 6. The craziest part of Game 6: Who was the best player? I mean, it was Kobe by default, but he barely had to break a sweat.

If you want to talk about what went wrong for the Celtics it was simple. They were playing as five individuals. Every trip down the court turned into 1-on-5. Even when they did make a pass, it was usually as a last resort with five seconds on the shot clock. That’s how they lost to the Nets and Wizards in the regular season, so it’s obviously going to fail tremendously in the Finals. That’s obviously a fixable issue, and I wouldn’t expect such a horrific effort Thursday night.

Keefe: I asked you the other day about Kobe being MVP even if the Lakers lost and you laughed at me. I would have laughed at me if I thought of the idea given Kobe’s shooting percentage throughout the series, but I didn’t. I just thought it was worthy of relaying to you to get you riled up and bring out your true hatred for the best player on the planet. Little did I know, you would write a story off of it (http://www.nesn.com/2010/06/kobe-bryants-oneman-show-in-game-5-not-worthy-of-praise.html). I’ve seen the comments from readers on your story, and if I were you, I wouldn’t travel to L.A. anytime soon.

Now, if the Lakers win, obviously Kobe is MVP. But if the Celtics win, I have no idea who gets it since you could make a case for a few people right now. I guess it comes down to which Celtic has the biggest Game 7?

Hurley: For the record, those numbers you speak of are: 10-22, 8-20, 10-29, 10-22, 13-27. Those are questionable numbers for an MVP on a winning team, let alone a losing team.

It’s also worth nothing that the story I wrote had nothing to do with hatred. It was clear as day that The Kobe Bryant Show in Game 5 was impressive, but it simultaneously killed the Lakers. They were down by one point with the whole team involved midway through the second quarter, then Bryant reeled off 23 straight points. And the Lakers trailed by nine.

What Kobe did was great theater, but it’s not conducive to winning. His 19 shots in a blowout win on Tuesday only solidified that point.

OK, but anyway … If the Celtics win, the MVP could be whoever plays the best in Game 7. Nobody’s been consistently excellent throughout the series. You could make a case for Rondo, but for two things. One, he’s only averaging 7.2 assists, which means he’s not doing what he does best. Second, he’s shooting 23.5 percent from the free-throw line. That’s just embarrassing.

But if Rondo puts up 16-10-8 or something around there, it wouldn’t be surprising at all for him to get MVP honors. Obviously, a Game 5 repeat for Pierce would get him his second, and to be honest, I’m not sure a huge performance from Garnett wouldn’t give him some consideration.

If I had to bet, my money would be Rondo. If I were to bet, I would have lost all my money by now.

Keefe: If I listened to your betting advice for Game 6, I would be out of money too, but hey, the Celtics at +250 coming off that Game 5 win wouldn’t have been a bad play even with the outcome. In the end, I just couldn’t justify backing the Celtics since I want to watch them go down in flames.

So here we are … Game 7. The whole season for one game. Obviously you would have signed up for this in November. Actually, you would have signed up for this two weeks ago. Take off your 1986 green nylon Celtics jacket and tell me what each team needs to do to win on Thursday night.

Hurley: For the Lakers, it might be as simple as getting an early lead. This Celtics team is not nearly the same team that pulled off that comeback in ’08. They haven’t shown that kind of resiliency this year, and I think if L.A. can open in similar fashion to the way they did Tuesday, it might be enough.

Of course, that might be dependent on Ron Artest draining 3’s and Jordan Farmar stepping in and playing better than Derek Fisher, so I’m not counting on that happening.

The Celtics simply need to play well near the basket. They unofficially missed 408 shots from within five feet in Game 6, and it killed them. They need to rebound, which falls on the shoulders of Rasheed Wallace and Glen Davis. Good luck with that. And they need to score in transition. They’ve made that look easy often in this series, and if they can keep up the tempo on offense, their defense has been plenty good enough to at least keep the Lakers at bay.

Rajon Rondo needs to play 46-48 minutes tonight. Nate Robinson was an absolute donkey in Game 6 and reminded everyone that yes, he is indeed Nate Robinson. Rondo’s been slightly above average this series, which for him isn’t enough. If he can recapture some of that brilliance from the Cleveland and Orlando series, the Celtics are the better team.

But really, you can say all that, and you can throw some fancy basketball words all over the place, but it’s all about hitting shots. The Celtics had open shots throughout the first four games of the series. When they hit them, they won. When they didn’t, they lost. In Game 6, the Lakers shot the lights out in the first half, and it iced the game early.

Keefe: This game is so important on so many levels that the more I think about it, the more reasons it is important I think of.

If the Lakers win, Kobe can further cement his legacy and finally add beating Boston to his resume, and the same goes for Phil Jackson. The Lakers can prove that the Ron Artest experiment wasn’t a failure, and that they would have beaten the Celtics in last year’s Finals as well if Kevin Garnett were healthy and the Celtics made it.

The Celtics can raise banner No. 18, celebrate one more time before the window of opportunity slams shut on their aging stars and make everyone wonder what could have been if KG didn’t have to sit out last postseason.

There is so much at stake for both franchises as a whole and for players individually that we haven’t seen in a long, long time. On a scale of 1-10, how devastated will you be if the Celtics lose this game?

Hurley: To be honest, I see all of that, and I don’t think it’s as big a deal as it’s being made out to be. If Kobe and Phil don’t beat the Celtics, then what? They’re not great? Where were the Celtics in 2000? 2001? In 2002, the Celtics lost in six games to the Nets in the conference finals. Then the Nets got smoked, getting swept by the Lakers and losing by almost 10 points per game. I’m going to go ahead and use the distributive property and say that Kobe/Phil could have beaten the Celtics in the past.

Losing Game 7 of the Finals is automatically a 7 on the devastation scale, but I don’t think it can rightfully go beyond that. This whole playoff run was completely unexpected. The team sucked all year. There’s no other way to put it. They had giant lapses in effort, they had chemistry issues, and they had Shelden Williams playing basketball for them. It was sort of a disaster year.

So yeah, losing in Game 7, to the Lakers, in L.A., against Kobe and Phil, seeing Pau Gasol shouting and yelling with that awful beard … it will hard for anyone with a Boston soul to watch. But nobody – seriously, nobody – expected the Celtics to be in this position, so you just have to sit back and enjoy what we’ll be watching.

Keefe: I know how much it will pain Bostonians to see Kobe flashing his hand around to signify five championships while he is holding his children and kissing his wife. It will probably hurt more to see Phil Jackson pull out a hat with the roman numeral XI on it, and to see Pau Gasol, Sasha Vujacic and Ron Artest hugging at half court.

Hopefully at this time tomorrow the Lakers will have back-to-back championships, Kobe will have five rings and cement his legacy by beating the Celtics in the Finals and every Boston outlet will turn on Doc Rivers and the Celtics and rip the team apart. That would make for an exciting Friday for you.

I’m going with my heart, instinct and hatred for the Green. Lakers 91, Celtics 83 and Kobe gets MVP. And we’ll have to do this again this summer if the Red Sox can stay in the race.

Hurley: Yuck.

You forgot to mention Adam Morrison. Somehow, he’s become the second most annoying person to look at this series, behind Pau Gasol. Just sitting there with his stupid hair and his stupid mustache – in the MIDDLE of the bench! Get down the end, buddy.

I said going into this series that I had a little bit of a head/heart thing going on. My head was saying Lakers in 6; my heart was saying Celtics in 7. Frankly, I thought the Lakers were better than this, so I’ll follow your lead and stick with the heart. Celtics 97, Lakers 91. Paul Pierce’s 20 points, six assists get him MVP.

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Blogs • MLB

Jun 16, 2010

Roy Halladay Now Just Another NL Starter

This column was originally posted on June 16, 2010. With a World Series rematch and possible World Series preview taking place in the Bronx, there is only one place to watch it: the right field

Roy Halladay

This column was originally posted on June 16, 2010.

With a World Series rematch and possible World Series preview taking place in the Bronx, there is only one place to watch it: the right field bleachers. So, I did just that on Tuesday night in the Bronx, thanks to Bald Vinny.

Aside from the postseason, it was the best bleacher atmosphere I have experienced in recent memory (as seen in the picture where the man in the Steve Carlton jersey is the focal point of the YMCA), and also the worst Roy Halladay performance I can remember in recent memory. Sure there was the Fourth of July last year and August 4 as well, but he also dominated the Yankees in every other performance in 2009.

Last night was supposed to be different for Roy Halladay. He was making his return to Yankee Stadium as a Phillie, trying to prove that he is the same old Doc, even if he now pitches in a league where you pitch around the No. 7 hitter to face the No. 8 hitter, and pitch around the No. 8 hitter to face the No. 9 hitter. Considering Halladay pitches for the team that is supposed to have the best offense in the National League and doesn’t ever have to face the Phillies lineup, he only faces three, sometimes four good major league hitters in most starts. Roy Halladay was supposed to show up to the Bronx on Tuesday and represent the tilt of power between baseball’s best in 2009, and make Brian Cashman rethink his stance on giving up the farm for Roy over the winter. He failed to do both.

Halladay looked a lot like every other National League pitcher when it comes to interleague play. Here is the man I refer to as the best pitcher on the planet letting up six runs over six innings. Don’t get me wrong, I will take that kind of performance from Roy anytime he starts against the Yankees, but it’s sad when the man who once dominated the AL East for 11-plus seasons proves that all of these NL starters with sub-2.00 ERAs deserve an asterisk next to them.

Here is Roy Halladay vs. the NL this season:

8-3, 95.1 IP, 81 H, 19 R, 16 ER, 12 BB, 84 K, 2 HR, 1.51 ERA

And here is Roy Halladay in two interleague starts vs. the Yankees and Red Sox:

0-2, 11.2 IP, 16 H, 13 R, 12 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 4 HR, 9.56 ERA

I will back up Roy Halladay’s abilities and go toe to toe with anyone who wants to argue anyone else as being the best pitcher in the world, but he is making that hard to do. Doc has only had 12 starts as an NL pitcher after 287 in the AL, and it’s like he already forgot his roots. Spoiled by a league in which the bottom third of the order is harder to sit through than my ride to the Stadium on the 4 train in which two overweight men had me pinned between the subway doors and their beer bellies, Roy seems to have forgotten about stacked lineups, designated hitters and the meaning of offense in baseball.

The most enjoyable part of playing interleague games at home is that there aren’t any double switches, intentional walks to face the pitchers or outs given away because the hitter at the plate is a pitcher who last swung a bat in his senior year of high school. I don’t care about National League fans still talking themselves into thinking that their league plays the game the way it is supposed to be played, or that it is the “pure” form of the sport. It’s 2010, and it’s time to let it go. It’s time for the NL to adopt the DH. Enough is enough.

In Happy Gilmore, Shooter McGavin tells Doug, the head of the PGA Tour, “I just saw two big, fat naked bikers in the woods off 17 having sex. How am I supposed to chip with that going on?” Well, over the weekend I was watching the Blue Jays play the Rockies (I’m not sure why), and I had to watch the Rockies intentionally walk Jose Molina, so they could face the Toronto pitcher. I would say watching anyone intentionally walk Jose Molina is as painful as watching fat, naked bikers have sex. How am I supposed to take the NL seriously with that going on?

In all honesty I think I would rather face Jose Molina over any pitcher in the league after watching his at-bats in the Bronx over the last three seasons. The intentional walk was the first time a Jose Molina at-bat lasted more than three pitches and didn’t end with a swinging K. I don’t want to live in a world where Jose Molina is intentionally walked, and I don’t think anyone else does either.

But back to Doc and the demise of the two-time defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies …

I feel like I owe the Mets an apology. Prior to the season I didn’t give the Mets a chance at winning the division. I’m not sure if it was the Halladay trade, the fact that the Phillies had been to the last two World Series or me simply choosing against a Jerry Manuel managed team, but I pretty much saw this summer as a lost one for Mets fans. How could I have been so naïve?

Yes, the Phillies have the best lineup in the NL on paper, but without Jimmy Rollins, the lineup isn’t the same, and even with him, their pitching staff outside of Halladay (outside of his two interleague performances) is abysmal. After Doc, it’s a steady drop off to Cole Hamels, and after Hamels it’s a freefall to Kyle Kendrick, Joe Blanton and Jamie Moyer. I’m not sure if the Phillies will survive the 162-game season, and if they do, maybe they could survive a five-games series, but a seven-game series? Not a chance.

Do I think the Phillies are bad as they have been? No. But I also don’t think they are as good as they were when they started the season and everyone thought they could run away and hide with the division. We’re talking about a team that got shut out by the Mets for an entire three-game series.

I’m sure Roy Halladay and the Phillies will be happy when interleague plays ends, the way every other NL team that has to face the AL East and every NL starter is. It might have been one start against the Yankees, and it might just be two starts combined against his old foes from the AL East, but the man who was once the most feared pitcher on the planet is now part of baseball’s retirement home: the National League.

It’s the same place Johan Santana resides, and where Cliff Lee might go this offseason. It’s the place that has allowed Jamie Moyer to pitch into his late 40s and might let him pitch until his children’s children have children, and the place that extended the career of Randy Johnson until he could get win No. 300. It’s the home of the pitcher hitting, sacrifice bunts and wasted outs

It’s the National League: Baseball’s natural performance-enhancing drug.

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