Wednesday, August 05, 2015

IT'S WEDNESDAY AGAIN, WHICH MEANS...

...the Yankees beat up on somebody last night. In the last three weeks, the Yanks have scored 11, 21 and 13 runs respectively on Tuesday nights. Next Tuesday the Yanks will be in Cleveland and if I'm Danny Salazar, the Indians expected starter, I'd be praying for rain. Make that a monsoon; you don't want to take chances.

The Boston starter, Henry Owens, pitched well into the 6th inning but was charged with three runs and the loss. The Red Sox bullpen looked petrified out there and I think it took three security guards to force Alexi Orgando, the 4th reliever, to leave the bullpen, but he finally got there in time to give up Chris Young's 3-run blast.

Joe Girardi's late-inning panic mode is getting worse. The only relievers he trusts are Betances and Miller. Last night, he pulled Wilson in the 8th when Wilson ha a 1-2 count on the hitter. Girardi did everything but tackle Wilson to prevent him from throwing another pitch. But at least Joe had a good reason: "Strategy," he said. "Just strategy. You figure out the reasons."  Oh yeah, that's encouraging.

Dustin Ackley, the Yanks lone trade deadline pickup, is on the 15-day DL with a bad back. How do you get hurt when all you have to do is walk from the clubhouse to the dugout and back? You don't even have to walk fast.

In an interview, the Toronto Blue Jays have said they are not trying for a playoff berth, they expect to overtake the Yankees and win the division. Just so they are aware, yes, they are five and a half back, but they are seven games back in the loss column. If New York continues to win at their current pace, Toronto will have to play .685 ball to TIE New York. The Jays current pace is .519. The Jays and Yanks will meet 6 times in 10 days starting this Friday. I think Toronto will have to win 5 of the 6 in order to have a chance at the title.

Toronto and Kansas City had a little dust-up Sunday because of a couple of hit-batsman and close pitches. The umpires, of course, had no clue how to prevent it and there will be more to come. Back in the day, the pitchers took care of it themselves. There is a story that a rookie had the gall to hit a home run off of Bob Gibson and was seen enjoying it. The nest time up, Gibson knocked him down, the rookie got up and Gibson knocked him down again. After the third straight knock-down the catcher, Tim McCarver, told him, "You might as well let him hit you because he's going to keep doing this until he does."   And there were no "warnings" from the umpire.

***THEY SAID IT***
"A Cincinnati Reds fan ran around the field and then escaped over the wall without being caught. I’m glad Reds’ security isn’t in charge of capturing El Chapo."  -- Brad Dickson
"NY Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores was shown on TV crying after they told him he had been traded. The deal fell through but Tom Hanks still said he wanted to have a few words with young Wilmer."  -- TC Chong
"Talk about painful to watch at times: This year's squad puts the S&M in Seattle Mariners."  -- Dwight Perry
"The U.S. fell to Panama in the CONCACAF Gold Cup: "Losing in penalty kicks is like losing a beauty contest to a game of rock, paper, scissors."  -- Alex Kaseberg
"If Pete Rose were a Buddhist, would he be banned for more than one lifetime?"  -- Scott Ostler
"The NFL training camps are in full swing. As usual, the New England Patriots camp began with a ceremonial burning of the rule book."  -- Seth Meyers
"The biggest drawback to the Browns’ variable ticket-pricing policy is the fact that one of the two teams will still be the Browns."  -- The 'Rajah" Cleveland Plain Dealer reader
"A video purported shows Cowboys’ WR Dez Bryant fighting with his teammate Tyler Patmon. Well, training camp hasn’t even finished yet and the Dallas circus appears to be in mid-season form."  -- Janice Hough
"Saturday night a small satellite crashed to Earth – wait, that was the head of Ronda Rousey's last opponent."  -- Brad Dickson
"Toronto has acquired all-star shortstop Mark Tulowiski and former Cy Young winner David Price. It’s nice to see the Blue Jays adding big-name talent for their September collapse."  -- RJ Currie
"Rumor is Urban Meyer suspended those four Ohio State football players after he caught them in the library."  -- Phil Mushnick

CP-

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