Sunday, September 04, 2016

"IT AIN'T OVER...

...till the fat lady sings." Well, she's coming thru loud and clear for the Yankees. Supposedly, a team needs at least 88 wins to make the playoffs this year. For New York to do that, they need to go 19-9 the rest of the year. That's about a .678 pace, which they have shown all year that they are not capable of.
Everyone thought that the Yanks problem would be pitching, but the pitching has been adequate, but the bats are too often silent. So far in this series with Baltimore, a team ahead of them in the wild card race, NY has garnered exactly 6 hits and 0 runs total in two games.
Their hot young catcher, Gary Sanchez, is currently very human at the plate and Aaron Judge, next year's right fielder, looks completely over-matched. First baseman Tyler Austin can't even unseat Mark Teixeira, who is currently hitting .200.
Unlike the Cubs, whose "next year" appears to be this year, the Yanks will have to revamp and reload next spring.

Do they need another excuse?
The Princeton Review has named the Univ. of Wisconsin as the nation's #1 Party School. Yesterday, they  upset #5 LSU, 16-14. Add the fact that tomorrow is a National Holiday and some students won't make classes until Friday, just in time for the weekend. Momma, don't let your babies grow up to be Badgers.

My final word
Since this topic seems to generate more heat than light, I will not discuss this any further.
Some of my friends disagree with my stance on Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand during the National Anthem. They obviously misunderstood my point. I fully agree with his point that Blacks are still being mistreated by America and I support him in this. I do not agree with his method of protest. He says he respects the men and women in the armed services who fight for this country and that's not what he means with his protest. I'm sorry but I reject that completely. You can't protest against a symbol of this country and then claim you don't mean all of it, just some parts of it. You've insulted the whole anthem and country, not just one part . Find a different way to protest, please.

Pujols is one of the greatest
Should he play two more years, he should reach career totals that are nothing short of phenomenal. He will amass about 1800 runs scored, in the top 20 all time, 3000 hits, over 600 home runs, only the 9th player to do it and over 2000 RBIs, along with only Ruth Aaron and A-Rod.  Plus, in his 16 year career there have been no scandals, no steroids and no drama. Just production.  Wish there were more like him.

Girardi continues to amaze me
As stated earlier, the Yanks are teetering on the precipice of a lost season. They are playing what Manager Joe Girardi calls, "...probably the most important games of the year," yet he is starting 4 rookies, the backup shortstop and the backup catcher. They are also using their most enigmatic starting pitcher, Michael Pineda.
Can someone explain this to me?
The Yanks also lost another pitcher for the season on Friday, Chad Green. That makes six pitchers on the DL at this time. Last night they showed pitching coach, Larry Rothschild, sitting on the bench and scratching his head. Maybe he should sit on his head and scratch the other end. He couldn't do any worse.

Those well-respected coaches
Speaking of which, what good are these coaches anyway? Not just the Yankees, all the teams. The current pitchers say they love working with Rothschild, but they're always hurt. Years ago, hitters loved working with hitting coach. Kevin Long. The Yanks released him.  Now he's with the Mets, who love him.
In the 1990's, Leo Mazzone of the Braves was considered to be MLB's best pitching coach. He left them in 2005 and joined the Baltimore Orioles. They dumped him in 2007 and now he's out of baseball.
You know what makes good coaches? Great players. With pitchers the Braves had in the 1990's, I could have been the pitching coach. My only duty would have been to make sure they all got to the ballpark.

It is entertainment, after all
While the Mets don't place a high value on defense, clearly Daniel Murphy was not an asset in the field or running the bases while a Met. After one Murphy misadventure on the basepaths,  David Wright joked that Murphy "sometimes thinks that he's invisible."

***THEY SAID IT***
"Endwell, N.Y., has won the Little League World Series. So all’s well that — nah, too easy. -- RJ Currie
"Tim Tebow homered in his workout for MLB scouts. It’s been so long since Tebow played baseball, during his home run trot he stiff-armed the first base coach."  -- Brad Dickson
"Defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon, a top recruit from Leesburg, Ga., backed out of his oral commitment to Michigan after the team sent him a letter misspelling both his first and last names — not to mention thanking him for going to a UM team barbecue he didn’t attend. -- Dwight Perry
"The Washington Nationals have acquired pitcher Marc Rzepzyynski from the A’s. Make sure you spell his name right. It’s Marc with a C."  -- Eric Kolenich, Richmond Times-Dispatch
" The Denver Broncos released  Mark Sanchez, who’s expected to sign with the Dallas Cowboys.  Great news for comedy writers who wonder what they will do post-election."  -- Janice Hough
"Before a Houston Astros game, Miss Texas threw a first pitch that was 10 feet short and 30 feet wide. With the year they’re having, a lot of major league umpires would’ve called it a strike."  -- Brad Dickson
"People in the Bay Area were outraged that Red Sox infielder Dustin Pedroia was not standing during the National Anthem at the Oakland A’s game. PeeDee said “But I am standing!"  -- TC Chong
"Disgraced swimmer Ryan Lochte is endorsing a crime-prevention gadget. The device is so advanced, it can even stop crimes that you completely made up."  -- Conan O'Brien
" BBC News reports Tokyo companies are paying for workshops to teach staff how to cry. Not to be outdone, several Toronto firms bought employees Maple Leafs tickets."  -- RJ Currie

CP-



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