Last year was easier to take when you saw that the lineup was populated by past-their-prime retreads. Ellsbury in not a #3 hitter, but Girardi bats him there out of desperation. Beltran can't play in the field because of physical issues and gets hurt often enough that he can't put a decent season together. And McCann...as I told Annie-O last night, at least we have out first-string catcher in there. I've been saying that Cervelli is a prime trade bait because he continues to hit and has improved greatly behind the plate. But, as is the rule in baseball, the money player always plays.
They keep talking about the return of Tanaka as though he was going to save the season all by himself. He is not Joe Hardy from "Damn Yankees."
If you read Vod's posting from earlier today, you know that Annie-O and I are going on vacation soon where we will travel thru (I hope) Colorado on our way to California. A couple of months ago, we purchased tickets to an Angels game, because I like baseball in general and I wanted to see their stadium in person. Little did we know at the time what an important game it would be. On August 30th, the Angels will host the Oakland A's and we'll be there. There is currently only one game separating the two teams. Should be fun.
Buck Showalter pulled an interesting little subterfuge on the umpires yesterday. While a play was under review, because of a Showalter challenge, Buck stayed on the field during and after and continued to "discuss" the play in question - somewhat heatedly. What did the umpires do? Nothing. There is a strict rule against this and Buck should have been ejected, but no, the umps ignored the rule. Why are they so sensitive about being criticized by managers and players when they choose to ignore rules all the time? Why do the allow batters to call time and step out of the box when the pitcher is ready to throw? Why do they let pitchers and batters wander all over instead of enforcing the 12-second pitch rule? Since baseball chose to ignore my application for Commissioner, these questions will remain rhetorical.
***THEY SAID IT***
"Rookie QB Johnny Manziel was late for a team meeting on Monday. Yes, he’s now Johnny-come-lately." -- TC Chong
"Hal Steinbrenner says he is “confident” his team will make the playoffs, but that NY has “got to step it up.” But looking like the only “stepping up” the Yankees will be doing this October will be on the Stairmaster at resorts in Hawaii." -- Janice Hough
"The NFL announced they are placing tracking chips in players’ shoulder pads to measure how far and fast they run in a game. This from the league that still measures first downs with three guys, two sticks and a chain.” -- Alex Caseberg
"According to TMZ, someone resembling the NFL VP of officiating was seen on a Jerry Jones party bus. OK, I think I know why the Cowboys were confident enough to send out playoff tickets." -- Brad Dickson
"I'm no fan of ESPN televising Little League baseball: “Can tee-ball be next? ‘Billy, leading off for the Unicorns, is potty-trained, which gives him extra speed on the basepaths." -- Scott Ostler
"Pro-rasslin’ icon Hulk Hogan turned 61 on
Monday. Unless, of course, he’s faking that, too." -- Dwight Perry
" A BYU football player was suspended for wearing
earrings. Guess they didn’t match his lipstick." -- TC Chong" College GameDay” is hiring a live DJ. Some say this means “GameDay” will no longer be taken seriously. I think after the key prognosticator dons an 8-foot buffalo head, it’s a little late to worry about that." -- Brad Dickson
"Browns’ management says they will handle Johnny Manziel’s tardiness internally ‘In other words, next time he’ll have to produce a note from his bartender." -- Bill Littlejohn
"So now apparently MLB owners have elected Rob Manfred as their new commissioner. Which means Selig only has one more major task on his to-do list – how to expand the playoffs enough in 2014 to get Jeter in." -- Janice Hough
CP-
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