I have to admit that I gave up the ghost when Girardi sent Stephen Drew up to pinch-hit for an injured Brett Gardner. I even said to Annie-O that I'd rather see a one-handed Gardner than Drew. "Now give him a chance," she said. "He might surprise you." And surprise me he did. Surprise? I guess so. I figured getting hit by a pitch was the the Yanks best chance of getting anything out of this, but there it goes - a grand slam. In the words of Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe, "I'm shocked! Shocked!"
Sad note: Stephen Drew is now Annie-O's favorite player.
It's a big story in the media, of course, but baseball - and the media - needs to have the Yanks be either awesome or terrible. Only seven games into the season and they've been both.
Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. Besides the Yanks 14-run explosion, the highlight of the night was listening to Buster Olney, Tim Kurkjian, John Kruk and Curt Shilling calling each other "idiots." In my opinion, a couple of them were right.
## Barry Bonds has offered his support to Alex Rodriguez in his return to the game. That's like John Dillinger saying "Let's give Baby Face Nelson a break." Bonds can afford to be generous. A-Rod has almost no chance to overcome Bonds' career home run mark of 762. He's over 100 homers behind. It would take about four more productive years to do that and what are THOSE odds?
## Surprises so far:
The Kansas City Royals are undefeated (7-0).
The World Champion San Francisco Giants are in last place (3-4)
This year's favorite to win it all, the Washington Nationals are 2-5 and only the Phillies and Twins have scored fewer runs than the Nats (17).
Nobody understands what the Atlanta Braves did in the off-sesaon, dumping their highest paid (and most talented) players and then signing Nick Markakis for $11 million. The Braves are in first place at 6-1. Somebody had a plan.
I was asked what I thought about the Cubs putting in new scoreboards and bleachers at Wrigley Field. They should have spent the money on new seats, using seats that are actually wide enough to sit it. Unless you're a contortionist or no larger than a 12-year old girl, you're going to be uncomfortable. It may be a legendary park, but it's not my favorite place to visit. In a future posting, I will rate the parks I've visited.
***THEY SAID IT***
"Meanwhile, the first Monday night baseball game of the season will feature the Yankees vs the Orioles. Guess those three nationally-televised games against the Red Sox didn’t give the Bronx Bombers enough exposure?" -- Janice Hough
"On the Winnipeg Jets playoff-clinching road trip, Ondrej Pavelec gave up no goals in regulation or O.T. — three outings, 83 straight rejections. It reminded me of the week I tried speed dating." -- RJ Currie
"Mitt Romney will square off against Evander Holyfield in a charity boxing
match in Salt Lake City next month. As if they need any added incentive, winner gets first shot at Justin
Bieber." -- Dwight Perry
"The Detroit Red Wings have only eight fighting penalties this season. The old
Flyers teams used to have that many in a game." -- Torben Rolfsen"NBA refs failed to whistle Cavs center Kendrick Perkins for a nine-step travel: “I have gone for runs that were shorter." -- Alex Kaseberg
"A-Rod? The road crowds will be hostile, but they’ve always been hostile, even before Biogenesis, and as his old friend Reggie Jackson once said: "Fans don’t boo nobodies." -- Bill Madden
"The media is obsessed with Tiger Woods. If there were a 5,000-car pileup, the breaking news would be: Tiger Woods wasn’t in it — and escaped unhurt." -- Phil Mushnick
"John Joe Nevin, Ireland’s Olympic silver boxing medalist, has been barred
from every pub in Westmeath County after a brawl outside a bar last week, The
Irish Times reported. Longtime locals are calling it the best donnybrook they’ve witnessed in
those parts since John Wayne in "The Quiet Man." -- Dwight Perry
"I just got back from a week of vacation. The way my NCAA Tournament bracket turned out I had no choice but to leave town." -- Brad DicksonCP-
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