Yankee Talk: Let the good times rule

Stretch of wins slowly wipes away pessimism

Carl cannot take all this winning. We’ll actually he can, but does not how to deal with it. After being beaten down with stressful games and endless drama, it is finally good to see some winning baseball. But there is something about the drama mixed in with the winning that makes him come back for more as he explains this week.

ARLINGTON, TX -This is what happens when you win.

You cannot act like a miserable, grumpy sour puss.

That smile covers up the frown. I know it is easier to do the former instead of the latter, but it gives you a chance to embrace the good times.

The bad players do not look so bad anymore. Only the truly awful ones gain closer examination and create more annoyance.

Kevin Cash, I am really speaking about you.

Angel Berroa is not far behind, so don’t think he’s off the hook. I hand out an honorable mention instead. Now that A-Rod is back, I only see him very late in blowout wins when I have already mentally checked out for the night.

This is a good thing.

By the way, (Straight) Cash probably had the luckiest three hit performance I have seen in several seasons on Monday. He got all these hits and I missed all of them while watching on TV.

I swear I didn’t change the channel when he came to the plate, so I am a little confused as to when this took place.

Garbage time clearly was moved to the fifth inning on Monday in Texas once the Yankees had established a 10-0 lead against a pitcher whose code name must be "Batting Practice".

At first, I thought it was just a fluke. Hell, he was hitting one for 21 before then for a cool .047. But then he delivered another two hit performance on Wednesday to now raise his average to a cool .231, making far less than the scrub he was just days before. If he got four more hits without making an out, his average to a more than healthy .300 and I would have to then give him serious consideration for the All-Star Game.

Who needs Joe Mauer when you have Straight Cash?

When you have numerous Yankee players right now hitting and you are getting some good (though not great) starting pitching that we have gotten as of late, it is always a positive vibe that you have about the club.

I don’t want to use the word arrogant, but maybe smug is a better (though they essentially mean the same). No deficit is too large and on the night the team ends up losing, there is no discouragement, as I know the next day we’ll get that one back.

Talk about sunny.

Negativity is swept aside for the moment in a complex one-sided trade for Full-Blown Homerism and a player to be named later.

Is Full-Blown Homerism available to pitch the eighth inning?

Of course, the exhibition games the Yankees have been playing for the last several weeks are essentially tune-ups for the eventual exam June 9-11 in Fenway Park against the Red Sox.

Lose two of three to Boston again or getswept (thus producing a putrid 0-8) for the season versus them and the Yankees may as well consider playing for the Long Island Ducks the rest of the way.

However, in the interim, we take the good vibes, walk-off wins, broken bat home runs, championship belts and pies in the faces. If the only thing I have to bitch about is the (lack of) bullpen (I’m still going to bitch about that) and wind currents at the stadium (unless you think this is Mutant League Baseball), I figure those can be some measures that will not provide as much agita and things are not that bad.

Seriously, things are REALLY not that bad. Have you looked at the standings lately?

Think of it this way, you could be the Chicago Cubs and slowly begin to question where exactly your season is going. That team is playing a dangerous game of "Chance", while acting out their version of “The Wrigleyville Zoo” on a nightly basis.

At the same time, I do miss complaining about stuff going wrong. It's what a lot of us (me included) do best.

I'm not sure if that is an acquired skill or if it takes any real sense of talent to rev up the "Bitch Meter" and articulate one's thoughts about why Girardi mismanaged the bullpen or did not bunt in a specific situation.

As much as we want the 1998 Yankees to be recreated, we have to play a game of “Truth” and we really do not want to see that happen.

The internet message boards, the 24-hour nature of talk radio and all-sports networks were not on the same insatiable, grotesque level that it is now. Such winning would put all of these methods of media out of business once the team reached 40 games over .500.

I'm sorry, but debating who should be the team backup infielder or long reliever in July and August is probably not going to spark a whole lot of debate when night after night you are kicking the other team's ass.

Back in '98 (colonial times for some), the main argument was whether the Yankees needed a better backup infielder for Chuck Knoblauch and whether Ricky Ledee should be in the lineup over Shane (O'Mac) Spencer.

Are you serious?

This is what passed as serious conversation. Hey, what else could you say? It shows you how far we have come in a decade plus.

Losing brings out far more passion than winning. It is hard to extol the values of good for any elongated period without the impression that you are either butt kissing or carrying their water (really, the same thing).

Yet the losing brings a different emotion. You can complain about what went wrong and assess blame for everything. Scrutiny takes on a completely new look to the point where it is like eating the entire plate of rice and leaving no grain to chance.

We revel in the daily drama because it gives us an unusual sense of sanity. You never know what tomorrow will bring with this team. Now the newest episode of “Yankee Drama” comes once again as the argument of whether Joba Chamberlain should be a starter or reliever.

It is the Yankees recreation of “The Never-ending Story.”

So we take these good times because we know the other side, the complaining side, is sure to find itself again and we will be back to what we do best.

Whine. Bitch. Moan. Mind you, this even happens when we are WINNING.

All will be right with the world soon.

For now, let us get on to some real thoughts...

It really is amazing what one man can do for another hitter.

Since A-Rod returned to the lineup, Mark Teixeira has become a beast at the plate. He finally resembles the $180 million dollar player the Yankees thought they were acquiring in the off-season. Going into the weekend series with Cleveland, he is on pace to hit nearly 50 homers and drive in 130 runs and give Gold Glove defense.

Money well spent.

All it took was the $300 million man to return for the $180 million man to hit and not look like Rob Deer up there.

Now, I listened the other day to a baseball person at the All-Sports Network and he suggested that Teixeira-Rodriguez could be the new version of Ortiz-Ramirez.

I don’t want to go that far, but I sure would love to see it.

Only issue I see is that right now there was not an adequate hitter in place behind Rodriguez to give him protection.

Girardi finally smartened up (what took so long?) moving Robinson Cano in the fifth spot in the lineup and has seen good results. Shortly, Jorge Posada is set to come back (he was activated to play in Cleveland on Friday) to add even more length.

Having Cano and Posada hitting fifth and sixth behind Alex in the lineup puts pitchers in a very difficult situation.

Whom would you pitch to?

So much for the Nicky Swish (known in Chicago by White Sox fans as "Dirty Thirty") season of redemption. After a blistering start to the season, he has cooled off considerably and his average is hovering around .230 (though still sporting a very nice on base percentage).

Translation: He would be much served batting seventh in the lineup.

Right in front of Hideki Matsui or hopefully Xavier Nady.

I’m sorry, but even after having a couple of hits on Wednesday night in Texas, including a home run; it is time to say that Matsui done.

It’s over.

He was a great soldier for the nearly seven years he was a Yankee. Many big hits in games came off his bat. However, to be fair, Matsui was never the same postseason player once Pedro Martinez dusted him in Game 5 of the infamous 2004 AL Championship Series.

Matsui, like most of the other Yankees, did not resemble the same hitters from that moment on as the years went on he systematically began to break down. Now, he has lost whatever speed he had, lost his legs and cannot field a lick to where he is a now full time DH.

Allow him to walk at the end of the year and allocate his funds to a player who can play the outfield consistently, hits right handed and produce at a good clip.

I won’t say what his name is, but if he is not resigned, there is certain someone on the Red Sox that I would like to take from them.

How can you not like Francisco Cervelli?

With Posada coming back, his playing time is going to be reduced. The question now is that when Jose Molina is healthy, what do the Yankees do?

Well, let’s break it down.

Cervelli hits better and runs better than Molina. Their game calling skills have been very good and though the veteran Molina has a gun for a throwing arm, it s not as if he has a noodle.

I will address my thoughts on Joba Chamberlain in another column.

AJ Burnett was in my doghouse before his six-inning shutout start on Wednesday against the Rangers.

He may be the ringleader of the “Pie Circus”, but perhaps all the residue from the pie had gotten into his eyes and affected his pitching.

Let’s face it, since his start in Fenway Park when he blew that 6-0 lead, he has not been a great pitcher. That 5.28 ERA he had before Wednesday was not acceptable. For all of that great stuff, he appeared on the surface to be the best six-inning four-run pitcher in the league.

Not much value for $82 million. However, if you want some solace, his ERA is lower than Jon Lester. One friend of mine suggested he was the best left-handed pitcher in the league, obviously unaware that Johan Santana is still playing in Major League Baseball.

I hate when a pitcher yields a two out walk. Force the man to get on base with a hit.

On Sunday in extra innings, pitcher Brett Tomko looked like he was going to have a scoreless 11th frame. Instead, he walked Chase Utley and eventually scored on an RBI double by Carlos Ruiz that would later give the Phillies a 4-3 win.

Ruiz seemed to have the Yankees number last weekend, resembling Johnny Bench at the plate.

How is this possible?

Phil “The Franchise” Hughes was so dazzling on Saturday; it put a smile on my face. But before I could be completely ecstatic, Girardi told the righty that he would not come out to pitch the ninth inning. Hughes did not want to come out of the game and initially refused to shake the manager’s hand for a job well done.

I like that. It showed me that there is a pulse inside of him. There is a drive and competitiveness he possessed on the mound and a confidence that things were going so well that he wanted to finish what he started.

I do not know whether his future the rest of the season is in the minors, but with more starts like last Monday, he does not look to be going anywhere soon.

Which make my belief that he should not have been traded for Johan Santana even more justified.

Yankee Talk: Homer Haven

New Stadium turns into launching pad

NEW YORK – The dimensions of the new Yankee Stadium are reportedly the same as the old stadium they left behind.

Or so they say.

Oddly enough though, for the first 23 games that have been played at our new palace, something very odd is happening.

Yankee Stadium has transformed into Coors Field East.

How is this possible? It is still 314 to right field.

We think.

It is 408 to dead center and 399 to the power alley in left center.

We think.

After 86 home runs, we really do not know what to think anymore. Baseballs are flying out the park at an alarming and absurd rate.

What would look to be a routine fly to the outfield off the swing of the bat now brings no surprise if it finds the seats for a homerun. Balls hit out to right field come as a shock to me when they do not go out of the yard.

It has turned out to be Nintendo baseball being played for real. The old controllers are being replaced by players holding bats when they come to the plate these days. It is a humanized version of RBI baseball.

Camden Yards, US Cellular Field and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington were thought to be the bandboxes of the American League. That title (for now) must go to our place in The Bronx where it is on pace to have over 300 home runs hit, a record for the most ever hit in one ballpark.

Now, you can look at this situation two ways. Is this a good thing for the Yankees or a bad thing?

Well, considering the offensive power that the team possesses, having a park that plays to this strength should be a plus. It means that you are never out of a game if you can get a few men on base.

Achieving a “crooked number” is never that far away and when you have hitters like Jeter, Damon, Teixeira, Rodriguez, Cano and Posada, this is good thing.

Now, the downside is that the pitchers have zero margin for error. Because of what appears to be an opening of the wind currents in the new stadium that were nonexistent at the old place has allowed homeruns to be given some aided assistance and in many cases, too much.

Over the weekend against Philadelphia, several homeruns hit off the bat had the look of routine flies that simply continued to carry…all the way out of the park.

Saturday afternoon saw Phillies right fielder John Mayberry Jr. made his Major League debut and hit a drive to left field off Andy Pettitte that did not appear to have much power on it. Unfortunately, like a portion of the home runs that have been hit this season, it carried 10 rows into the seats.

In the ninth inning, Alex Rodriguez a shot to right field off closer Brad Lidge on a line. He struck the ball well, but it was able to barely clear the fence to tie the game. I’m almost sure last year that ball at the very best goes to the wall or comes up short. Instead, it went out.

The most egregious was on Sunday when Mark Teixeira got great wood on a pitch from Phillies starter Cole Hamels. The pitch broke Teixeira bat and it looked as if it would be a harmless fly. What ended up happening was something you very rarely see, a broken bat home run that went eight rows into the seats in left field.

Incredible.

We are still searching around how to best play the park and here are some early conclusions:

1. If you are a fly ball pitcher, expect to give up home runs.

2. If you are an average pitcher that yields an inordinate amount of fly balls, good luck to you.

3. Groundball pitchers will best succeed here.

Of course, this would have worked well for Chien-Ming Wang, but because of his problems this season, it has never been put into practice.

4. Dominant pitching will win out.

Now it is still early in the season, so there is no telling if an eventual market correction. The problem though is that the weather, outside of a few games, has not been very good. As the weather warms up here in these later months, the ball is only going to carry out even more.

This is going to result in Yankee pitchers having to adjust the way they pitch to guard against the long ball while knowing that a few of them will find their way out. Earned run averages are sure to be inflated because of the uptick in the amount of runs that will be given up there.

However, a problem for the Yankees offense would come from how their lineup would perform on the road. What we have seen from other teams when they leave their hitters friendly park is that they do not perform as well on the road. Whether we see the same situation take place with this team is yet to be seen.

A decade ago, baseball had a marketing campaign that said, “Chicks dig the long ball”.

The chicks might. The hitters might. The concession vendors might.

Perhaps the only detractors are the pitchers who have looked to enter their own personal hell.

We all just have to deal with it.

Yankee Talk: May bringing fun, fun, fun

Aided by comebacks, Yanks on roll

NEW YORK - All it takes is a little winning for a team to show it has a little personality.

Of course, when you are losing, any team would resemble Oscar the Grouch and reside with their head in the trashcan.

So now, we some rather interesting things as whipped cream pies, championship wrestling belts and even kangaroo court.

For the most button down team in sports, this represents an incredible change. Perhaps these guys are actually having some fun out there.

Hey, when you have won nine games in a row (10 of 11 after Saturday’s comeback win against Philadelphia) the way they have lately, you should be having fun. It is not as if you are going to see this stuff when the team is on a streak when they lose four in a row.

At least for now, the Yankees have brought some joy back to the game. Of course, at the end of the day the winning ultimately matters.

AJ Burnett, CC Sabathia and Nick Swisher are all key members of baseball's new "Fun Bunch". You never know what is going to happen next.

For those that may not know, here is how the following breaks down:

A whipped cream pie in the face (started by Burnett) is given by whichever player produces a walk off hit to win a game. Recently award winners include Melky Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon.

The championship belt (started by Johnny Damon) is given to the player who is the MVP of the game. Over the last eight games, there have been many of those.

Kangaroo court (started by several teammates with Xavier Nady tracking all wrongdoing) brings all the minor infractions each player has noticed and brings it to a court of Yankee law. Alex Rodriguez, who was fined for being late to the season, committed the most egregious of all.
A-Rod did not appeal.

It may seem like a bunch of garbage, but for rich millionaires, this helps make the game become what they grew up loving. For too long, it appeared the Yankees gave the impression of businessmen masquerading in baseball uniforms. It would leave them soul-less and short on real emotion.

You sometimes get the impression they were zombies out there.

Whether that had an intangible effect on their ability to go out and play effectively is always for debate. Over time, many teams alluded to the fact that their atmosphere provides an environment easier to play in. The thinking is that a loose clubhouse is a happy clubhouse. Having a happy clubhouse eventually translating into victories night after night.

Whatever works is fine by me. Just get it done.

And the Yankees have been getting it done, to the tune of nine games in a row. It is a stunning turn around. Each night brings a new hero. The starting staff has started to turn around with Sabathia leading the group and the offense has taken off since Alex Rodriguez came back to the lineup.

Ok, so I may have underestimated the team’s ability without A-Rod. If you would have told me that Cody Ransom was going to resemble that of a Single-A player as opposed to a barely serviceable major leaguer, than I would have changed my mind. All of that gifted athletic ability was rendered useless whenever a curveball was thrown in the zone.

Seeing Angel Berroa made me want to cry.

In many ways, the team could not wait for Rodriguez to come back. It is not a coincidence that Mark Teixeira is reflecting the player the Yankees thought they were getting back in December. All it took was for number 13 to return to the lineup.

Suddenly, Teixeira no longer resembles the bum I was calling him two weeks ago. A strikeout looking machine he is not.

All it took was for the $300 million man to take pressure of the $180 million man.

While Swisher may be struggling now after a hot start, most of the lineup has shown a looseness at the plate, and that has allowed to team to come up with key hits in situations with runners in scoring position.

For the Yankees, things are looking up. We can only hope that the rest of the season continues to be as fun as the recent winning has brought us.

It had better not be a pie in the sky.

Yankee Talk: Up and down like a Yo-Yo

A step forward seems to follow a step back

Carl has been trying to figure out the Yankees through the first quarter of the season. So far, he has received minimal answers. This has left him just trying to find alternative ways to get through these games as he shares in another installment of Random Thoughts.


TRAINER’S ROOM – Look at all these injuries.

You name the player and he is probably hurt too.

One by one, they are falling like flies being smacked by a fly swatter

Geno (Gene Monahan) and the rest of the strength and conditioning staff may want to check me out soon. I have been feeling some pain in some areas too lately. It may not be as serious as Jorge Posada and Jose Molina leg injuries, Brian Bruney’s elbow, Phil Coke’s back, Alex Rodriguez’s hip, Derek Jeter’s oblique, or Mark Teixeira’s wrist, yet it may be serious enough to land even me on the 30 day DL.

The training room has been nothing more than one large conga line. Pretty soon we’re going to hear stories about teammates fighting each other just so they can be the first ones in there getting therapy.

Think of it like in grade school when you had to stand in a single file line and someone tried to cut you. During those days, someone cutting in line might damn near start a riot.

Not sure who would win a brawl on this team. Problem is that if one of those guys won, they would probably find themselves on the DL too.

What is the deal with all these injuries? It seems like we have gone through this each of the last three years. Of course, when you have a creaky, old bunch like we do that always is one wrong step away from being out from two weeks to a month.

As Chris Rock said, “No matter what you got, Robitussin better handle it.”

I wish the Yankees could just use some Robitussin to ail their problems. If they run out, just put some more water in the bottle and shake it up so more “Tussin” can come out.

Hey, it would save on treatment, wouldn’t it?

Because of these injuries, I am forced to see Angel Berroa on the roster. Even for “defensive” purposes, I would rather not see his face even on the bench or anywhere near my television set.

Ramiro Pena was on my Yankee man love list and because of injuries, found himself back in the lineup and immediately joined the hate list when he had a terrible at bat against Josh Beckett in the sixth inning of the game against the Red Sox. He swung at two pitches, one at his feet, and other six inches into the other batters box.

Perhaps the only good thing about him I can say now is that he plays a decent shortstop.

We can debate how much better range he has compared to Jeter at another time.

With Posada down, Molina down, and third stringer Kevin Cash simply awful, this allowed a youngster from Double-A Francisco Cervelli (my newest professional ballplayer man love) to come up to the big club more out of desperation than anything else.

Hell, when you are hitting .190 in Double-A Trenton, you are not going to get many looks.

Instead, he has come up and been a pleasant surprise.

His catching behind the plate has been great. Unlike Posada, he is not a run fairy for opposing base stealers. He is not molasses running out of the box, and even has been able to hit a little and not be the equivalent of the pitchers spot.

Maybe the Yankees have something here.

Now, does Brian Cashman get credit for this move? Or do I question why Kevin Cash was even given consideration in the first place?

Is this the part of the column where I tear Cashman apart?

Perhaps.

However, I cannot place the complete blame on him when his 82.5 million pitcher is pitching to an above five ERA.

Maybe I can blame him for giving AJ Burnett a five year contract in the first place despite the fact his best season ever (last year) still resulted in him having an ERA over four even though he has at times unhittable stuff.

It sure looks as if Cashman and his gang of cronies (assuming he has some) only looked at videos of Burnett dominating the Yankees and drew their own conclusions.

Mind you, using last year’s team as a guide for prolific offense would have been the height of stupidity. Did they not see how BAD it was last year?

The knock on Burnett has always been that he will cruise for innings at a time and appear to the viewing eye as (he has done this season) one of baseball’s best pitchers. The problem is that he will invariably reach a rough patch during a certain part of the game and will get "rattled" on the mound. Eventually this leads to the roof caving in on him. By the end of the night, he will have appeared to pitch a very good game until you look up and see that he has given up four runs.

I fear that this will not change. Any hope for him finishing with an ERA of 3.50 or below are being thrown out.

Surely, Cashman did not pay Teixeira $180 million for him to hit the interstate for the first six weeks of the season.

It has gotten so bad at times that I place bets with fellow posters over at NYYFans.com to see whether he is going to strike out looking or swinging.

Yes, it has come to this.

Already.

He sure can talk a good game though. You would be of the mind that he would definitely like to consider public office when his playing days are done.

Judging by the reaction he gets in Baltimore now that he plays for the Yankees, it is unlikely to happen.

When you watch him at the plate, teams are employing the old “Giambi Shift” and almost daring him to hit the ball to the left side.

Whether it is pride or just ignorance, he has yet to take advantage of this. Considering he is hitting under .200, he needs all the hits he can get no matter where they land.

I just want A-Rod to hit. Nothing else.

I’ll deal with the needles, mirror kissing and all the other nonsense if he can hit over .300 with a near 1.000 OPS.

Call it “desensitization”.

By the way…while I may have been excited over his homerun in his return game against the Orioles at Camden Yards, but lets not go out of the way to marvel at all of the ‘issues” he has had to overcome and how dramatic it is.

This was not a storybook tale. Here we have a guy who made his own trouble and now were supposed to celebrate him?

Please. Just hit the damn ball.

Where the hell did Johnny Damon get all this power? He is on pace to hit over 30 bombs this season.

No, I’m not suggesting that he is doing anything illegal. Though lets face it, if he somehow amasses his best homerun output of his career at the now baseball AARP age of 36, one can only wonder.

As I say, it’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.

I know new Yankee Stadium is aiding some of these blasts with the wind, but it’s not as if these balls are barely clearing the fence. These are legit shots at home and on the road.

That said, I still would not sign him for next year.

He is 36, a daily candidate for the DL on any ball hit to him in the outfield and if he actually performs this well, will want more than a one year contract at the same salary he is getting paid now.

Cut your losses and do not overpay for performance he will not repeat next season or the year after. If you choose to bring him back, you are kidding yourself.

I see my man Nicky Swish has come back down to Earth a bit.

Sure, I did not expect to him to hit .315 and drive in 120 runs, but it was a nice thought.

But what the hell was doing airmailing the ball in Baltimore last Saturday?

The way I see it, Phil Hughes can either turn into Jon Lester or he can be the Yankees version of Daniel Cabrera.

How long does the team wait to find this out? Who knows?

This was their prized jewel, so do not expect it to happen anytime soon. However, if you told me right now I could trade Hughes straight up for either Jay Bruce, Cameron Maybin, Troy Tulowitzki or Adam Jones; I would seriously consider such a move.

CC Sabathia is finally pitching as if the Yankees are paying him $23 million a year.

Starting the front and back end of the road trip, he pitched a great complete game against Baltimore and then went eight strong innings against Toronto to close out a 4-2 trip.

I’m still keeping my prediction that will win at least 18 games.

Can we please stop the whining about Aubrey Huff celebrating his home run off Joba Chamberlain, mimicking him as he crossed home plate?

If Joba is going to show histrionics like that on the mound, he has to see it coming the other way and not complain about it.

There is not a “well, I don’t really mean it, but you do” situation. I’m sorry, but that is the height of hypocrisy.

And there was not another situation during that game where could retaliate if he wanted. This is probably a good thing.

Joba went on to win the game. That is what really matters.

I still do not want to see Jose Veras on the roster anymore.

When I see him warming up, I keep saying out loud, “May Day! May Day!”

Why don’t we add Edwar Ramirez to this list?

Bugs Bunny’s changeup make work, but when his Road Runner is slowing up like it has this season, he is almost useless.

Seems like over 200 million can’t patch up all these holes.

And $1.6 billion can’t clean up the problems that the new Yankee Stadium currently has.

Empty seats in the premium locations still exist. You could not (before this past Thursday) access the dugout field level during batting practice before games where the new Legends Suites seats currently exist.

According to our glorious Chief Operating Officer of Idiocy Lonn Trost, he justified the policy by saying the following:

“If you buy a suite, would like someone to be in your suite? If you buy a home, would you like someone entering your home?”

This nonsense, along with other new Stadium policies is turning the Yankees organization into some type of Communist party. When did the Cuban and Chinese government suddenly join forces and start running the team?


Has Castro smuggled into the country?

It may be the reason the cost of tickets on the secondary market are going for ridiculously low prices.

One quick glance at a site called Fansnap.com shows tickets for this weeks games at home against the Orioles for as low as $7.

Who says Yankee baseball is not affordable?

The same ticket from the Yankees themselves retails for $25, a 75 percent increase.

You think you may be hurting the Yankees, but if you buy the seats from Stubhub, you are not. Why? Because Stubhub is the official ticket reseller of Major League Baseball with numerous teams getting a cut of the sales made on games purchased, including the Yankees themselves!

The year has gone by so fast, yet it seems as if we’ve played nearly a whole season already.

To think, we have another four and half months to go.

Just win and I will not complain as much.

That’s what being a .500 team does to you.

MLB Talk: Not shocked and not caring

Steroids, other drugs no big deal


RADOMSKI’S LOUNGE – All these years later, I am still puzzled by many people’s anger.

I had my initial thoughts on the matter of performance enhancing drugs nearly seven years ago after a Sports Illustrated story began to (finally) highlight the use of steroids in baseball.

I remember saying that if they are just coming to this realization now, where have they been the last 7 years?

Simply put, I refuse to believe that everyone involved in the game was simply taking a very long nap while this “evolution” of the game was taking place over the decade that saw cartoon characters masquerading around as Major League Baseball players.

Years ago, I did not care.

Years later, I still do not care.

So here are we are again, with another potential future Hall of Fame player testing positive for masking his use performance enhancing drugs and tainting his career forever.

Manny Ramirez did not fit the "profile" of a steroid user. But how do we define exactly what that "profile" is?

We have definitely had enough years or circumstantial and factual evidence to know that these users came in all shapes and sizes whether they are young and old, it really does not matter.

A rather sizable percentage of the public is outraged, unbelieving that some of these players would resort to cheating in order to enhance their own performance as a means to stay in the league if they are not good enough. They are looking for any means of hanging on to make a few extra million, or seeking out that big payday if they put up the right numbers.

One by one they have fallen. A-Rod, Manny, Palmeiro, McGwire, Bonds, Sosa and Clemens all now members of the All-Juiced Up team that are a few more great players short of fielding a Steroid Starting 9. It has become another fraternity where admission is only granted once a positive test or a blind denial despite whatever overwhelming evidence may exist.

Yet, for years, this brought uproar from the public. Anger and resentment for these players and other cheats who all succeeded in beating the system for as long as they could and became handsomely paid through their hard…err…enhanced work.

Still though, in ballparks all over the country, there was this outrage and the feelings that people were being cheated out of a game that they presumed was legitimate that was now nothing more than fantasyland.

Baseball now suddenly took on the feeling as if Vince McMahon and the WWE were in control.

How can people really be surprised?

Did it not strike people as a little odd that when players were coming to camp in the spring suddenly 15 to 30 pounds heavier? When asked about the gain, they would attribute it to such things as Flintstones vitamins, the discarding of McDonalds and GNC supplements.

Hello! Anyone home? Should that have sent out an alarm?

The alarm rang, but everyone continued to hit the snooze button. Everyone inside the game knew what was going on, but it was a little secret.

Hell, why not? Players were juiced up. Home runs were flying out of parks. Attendance was up. Baseball owners were making a lot of money and the players themselves were getting fat contracts because of this.

Problem? What problem?

Seeing this, it left me with one simple thought:

“I don’t care.”

Consider me not a champion for morality, but the bottom line is that these guys want to shoot themselves up, go right ahead. At the end of the day, if doing that can help their performance and in turn help my team (or teams) win, I am perfectly fine with it.

I am not the one that is being hurt. The players are.

Baseball players are not doing anything that we ourselves as everyday citizens would not do. This double standard that we placed on baseball, making them the bastion of good behavior went out of the door a long time ago.

Also, this is still ENTERTAINMENT. No different than an Sly Stallone trying to jack himself up so he play the role of Rambo and Rocky and make another 30 million despite nearing the age where most old men are not taking punches to the head in a boxing ring or running through the woods.

If you told me that I could take some supplements that would make me 50% better at my job and eventually lead to a promotion or a better job that will eventually improve my salary and lifestyle, I would take it in an instant considering that despite the health risk, the reward will always outweigh it.

Mind you, not everyone dies or suffers life-threatening conditions from this stuff unless they seriously abuse it. Those people I have no sympathy for. But given the choice, and then to add to it that I would have the ability to prevent being caught with this stuff in a test.

Sign me up!

There is not one person in this world that can honestly look at themselves in the mirror and say to themselves that they have done everything 100 percent clean. Whether it is in our personal or professional life, we are looking for an edge to get ahead. Yet now, we put up a red flag when a professional ball player does it.

Does that not seem a little hypocritical?

If I am not 100 percent clean, I cannot get angry or show rage towards a player who stick a needle in his ass so he can boost his power numbers by a sizable amount. In the end, if his new and improved self can be a benefit to both the team and to him, then all the better.

Much has been made about the records and I threw out my care for them the minute Barry Bonds hit his 73rd home run. It was going to be difficult for me to believe that Roger Maris home run mark of 61 back in 1961, which stood for 37 years, was now going to be toppled seven times over four seasons by three players.

This was made worse when even smaller players were becoming big time sluggers. How the hell did Bret Boone, a puny second baseman with minimal power for the Cincinnati Reds and the Atlanta Braves, suddenly turn into a near 40-homer player overnight?

The list of players goes on. Greg Vaughn, Luis Gonzalez, David Ortiz and Shawn Green were middle of the road players with average (or in some cases, below average) power magically morphing into home run beats.

Let us not be naïve here.

No team is clean. If someone wants to tell you that their clubhouse was pure, tell them to get a clue.

104 players failed the drug test that precipitated testing in the big leagues. Simple math bring that to an average of at least three players per team that failed. Not even considering that the percentage is fairly high that countless others had good enough money to mask their use and pass the test.

It is no different than people in their normal life trying to hide their drug use when their employer comes around with the little cup.

In the end, most of the paying public is really not going to care despite their admissions that they do.
If a report came out that a certain team had all of its players flunk a drug test two years ago, you think they would stop going to the games assuming their team was pretty good?

The answer: No.

The fans really don’t care about this. Not out of morality, but out of laundry.

It is why I don’t care either.

Yankee Talk - Rivalry Edition: The Truth Hurts

Face It, Sox are better

NEW YORK - What one would call an over-reaction, I can simply describe it as one looking at the situation realistically.

What you call perspective; I call it the same too. Only problem is that our feelings on what is "perspective" varies.

The Red Sox have sent their opening message in the first five games of the 2009 installment of The Rivalry (where the official score reads both teams tied at 75 wins after 150 games). They have picked their method of victory against the Yankees in each case. Being fair, it does not hurt to channel some of that excessive hubris, come out, and say the following:

Boston is better than New York.

Anyone with two eyes can see this. If you are one of those still in denial, you are either blind, not paying attention, or simply an idiot.

If we really want to delve further into the score, we can see some much deeper numbers:

League Championship Series appearances since the start of 2004:

Boston: 3
New York: 1

World Series appearances:

Boston 2
New York 0

World Series titles:

Boston 2
New York 0

The Red Sox have been an efficiently run operation over this course of time. Meanwhile, the Yankees have put in the position of chase, desperate to gain the upper hand in this elongated battle of chess that sees Boston moving pawns and knights as means of setting up a much larger scheme. Meanwhile, New York finds they need to use their rook and queen in order to make a big splash, but now coming up a few pieces short.

This would be different if it were just one man dominating an entire team.

It is not.

This is a collective effort from a group that when compared to its rival, is a complete team. Their balance, their structure and the way they run business.

It used to be that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were the true "Yankee Killers". That has since moved to guys like Jason Bay, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia.

One look at their numbers against the Yankees tells an incredible tale. The most shocking is Bay, who was placed in the role of replacing Manny Ramirez and he has become the new terror.

When you go 10 for 18 with three home runs and an on base average of .652, surely he is doing something right.

Do they dig in at the plate against Yankee pitching?

Absolutely.

They have no fear off any Yankee pitcher. Those hitters get in their good swings. Rarely are they made to feel uncomfortable unless Joba Chamberlain wants to use Youkilis' head for target practice.

So you want to make them uncomfortable by putting one of them on their ass, huh?

That's great. But it’s not as if the next guy isn't going to make up for that by getting a big hit.

Want to drill Jacoby Ellsbury? That's fine, because Pedroia will take care of that.

Want to hit Pedroia? Youkilis will get you.

Want to hit Youkilis? Lowell will get you.

Want to drop Lowell now too? No problem. Bay is right there to play long ball or get a big hit.

No Yankee pitcher this year has put the Red Sox on notice that they are there and needs to be accounted for. Whether it’s Chamberlain, AJ Burnett, Andy Pettitte or Phil Hughes.

The closest thing came last night when Chamberlain hit Bay with the first pitch in the back. This may have drawn their ire, but their approached did not change.

When they need the hit, they get it. If they need a sac fly, they can get that too from the most unlikely of sources.

Hell, even their backup first baseman that was just called up from Triple-A can work a bases loaded walk to add an insurance run.

It’s the way they are now. The Yankees used to be this way what seems like a long time ago.

Those good old days have come and left. While we wonder who is going to get hurt next, strike out in the big spot or fail to get the key hit with runners in scoring position.

For those that say, "Keep perspective", under the ridiculous thinking that this was merely just the teeter-totter balancing on the other side for the moment, either your sunglasses have too much tint, you are clueless or just plain naive.

Are the Yankees missing their best player? Obviously, we all see that. Ramiro Pena should never see the light of day in certain situations. But there is a distinct problem when your entire lineup configuration and success is predicated on one player. The offense has enough good players still around (though short now because Jorge Posada is on the DL) to make for that.

At least one would think.

And how much of a sad commentary is it that the Yankees as an organization has disintegrated its lineup to the point where they cannot wait for his return so he can make guys like Mark Teixeira hit over .200 and avoid consistent booing when he pops up or strikes out looking with men on base.

By the way, a little newsflash here: A-Rod missed a month last year and the offense struggled. His return to the lineup was supposed to mark the end of the Yankees resembling a National League offense. It didn’t. They still had problems hitting with runners on base and he was one of the culprits. The idea that everything is going to magically change is crazy.

For the last few years, Boston has found ways to get it done while the Yankees have found ways to screw it up. Sometimes it seems as if the smallest task is too much to handle for the men in pinstripes.

This is exacerbated by the money disparity in the two teams. Don’t think this is not a factor in many of our thinking. For 80 million more spent by New York, one has to wonder where this money is going.

Is it going to the bullpen?

No.

Is it going to the rotation?

Some of it. Though the big contracts of Sabathia and Burnet are offset by the low figures given to Wang, Pettitte and Chamberlain.

Is it going to the bench?

Hell no.

Is it going to the offense?

Too much of it. When you are paying a third baseman, despite how good he is, upwards of 30 million a year and will be paying him at the age of 42 at the same figure, that is bad business.

As much as I like Teixeira, he is no better than Youkilis outside of the fact that he's a switch hitter. Problem is the Yankees are paying him 22 million while Boston is paying nearly 60 percent less for similar production.

Jeter is on the downside of a big contract and is not producing as if this were 1999 or even 2006 and he’s getting paid 20 million. Johnny Damon, who has been able to maintain longevity with the team through his three years is also not producing enough for the position that he plays.

It’s plenty of bad/dead money on some of these guys. Giving Jorge Posada at age 36 a four-year contract was ludicrous at the time knowing that there wouldn’t be a suitable replacement. Now, after missing most of last year, he is hurt again and going to miss a month. The deal is going to get worse before it is over.

Most of these moves were made out of desperation to be competitive and keep a pulse in The Rivalry. And when you do not have quality players to make up for the eventual decline or overpricing of the player, what happens? You have to go out and spend exorbitant dollars in free agency to get those players, and that is what the Yankees have done. They are forced to do this. At the end of this season, if Jason Bay happens to be a free agent, expect Brian Cashman to come with a large checkbook, overpaying for his production out of desperation.

It is a vicious cycle and no way to run a team. This is not rotisserie baseball here.

The Yankees spend big while the Red Sox spend smart and sometimes get a little lucky.

Good teams make their own luck.

The Yankees used to be good, smart and lucky way back when.

Boston is that way now.

That is why they are better.

Yankee Talk – Rivalry Edition: Sawx Have Five on It

Yanks drop to 0-5 vs. Red Sox after another loss

NEW YORK – The first five games of the 2009 installment of The Rivalry for the Yankees and the Red Sox has been like a boxing match that took place in Las Vegas this past weekend.

Boston is playing the role of Manny Pacquiao.

New York is playing the role of Ricky Hatton.

The Yankees have been knocked down repeatedly. Sometimes being knocked senseless and even may have had the ten count administered.

For the fifth time this season, the Red Sox (17-10) took down their archrivals 7-3, sweeping series in both Fenway Park and the new Yankee Stadium, and in the process exposed every conceivable flaw that this current Yankee team possesses.

The starting pitching, while having its occasional moments of brilliance, still shows leaks.

The offense, unable to string together enough hits, and still failing to deliver with runners in scoring position.

The bullpen, as it has all season, showed once again to be the team’s biggest weakness without a doubt.

Anyone clamoring for the return of Brian Bruney or the shifting of Joba Chamberlain to the bullpen will have to wait.

Chamberlain electrified the crowd through his 5 2/3 innings of work, striking out a career high 12.

However, his beginning should get more attention than his ending when he was removed by Joe Girardi, who was serenaded by a stadium full chorus of boos for making the move.

He served what appeared to be batting practice to the first five Red Sox hitters. Lacking velocity and command, he would give up successive singles to Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia. David Ortiz continued to find his stroke by driving home Ellsbury on a single to center field.

Chamberlain was throwing an array off-speed pitches and had yet to harness his fastball. On a 2-1 count to Jason Bay, he would use it and Bay would deposit it into the left field seats for a three-run homer. Mike Lowell would then follow with a single.

Certifying himself as a Yankee killer, Bay is 10 for 20 with three homeruns and an on base percentage of .652.

After that point, Chamberlain became a different pitcher. His velocity on the fastball rose, and mixing in his slider, curveball and changeup, he would overpower the Boston lineup from the second inning on. 12 of the remaining 20 hitters he would face struck out, including nine of them looking.

For Josh Beckett, four runs would be enough to carry the day. After struggling his last two starts, the big right-hander grinded through the game not having his best stuff.

In the third inning, he gave up a three-run homer to Johnny Damon that cut the lead to 4-3. After that, he would hold the Yankees scoreless through the final three innings. He was aided by a great defensive relay on a double into the right field corner by Melky Cabrera in the bottom of the fourth inning.

On the play, the ball went into the corner and Cabrera on his way to second base made the decision to go for a triple with one out. J.D Drew found the cutoff man, and Pedroia made a great relay throw to third base to gun down Cabrera for the second out of the inning. This would come back to haunt the team on the very next at bat, Ramiro Pena’s ground ball went under the glove of first baseman Jeff Bailey and trickled into right field, which would have scored Cabrera had he not attempted to take third. Jose Molina would strike out to end the inning.

With the rain pouring in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Yankees mounted their greatest threat of the night. Trailing 4-3, Nick Swisher walked with one out and Cabrera would hit a ground-rule double into left field that one-hopped into the seats. The play was eerily reminiscent of Tony Clark’s double that bounced into the first row at Fenway Park in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.

Beckett was on the ropes. The problem was that the two hitters he was going to faced were Pena and Molina, glorified AAA hitters at best. Pena would strike out on a pitch seven inches out of the zone after being up 2-0 in the count. Molina (playing for Jorge Posada, who was placed on the DL with a hamstring injury) once again though would ground out to end the threat for the second time with a runner in scoring position.

For the series, the Yankees batted just .150 with men in scoring position.

In his six innings, Beckett gave up just those three runs, 10 hits, walking one and striking out five on 108 pitches.

Boston added insurance in the top of the eighth against the struggling bullpen. They loaded the bases with one out against Jonathan Albaladejo with Jason Varitek at the plate. With two strikes, his breaking pitch found too much of the plate and he hit a sac fly to center. This was followed up by an RBI single that Nick Green punched into shallow right.

Game over.

In the ninth, recent call up Mark Melancon came on and walked the bases loaded and had to be removed when he reached a 2-0 count against Lowell. David Robertson came in and struck out Lowell, got Drew to fly out to shallow left, but walked Jeff Bailey on a close 3-2 pitch to give Boston their seventh run.

The bullpen in its 3 1/3 innings were awful giving up three runs (one earned) and five walks utilizing six relievers.

Tomorrow night, AJ Burnett takes the ball for the Yanks as they host the Tampa Bay Rays, facing Andy Sonnanstine.

Yankee Talk – Rivalry Edition: Ump, we have a problem

Strike zone leads to frustration


NEW YORK – I am never one to complain about officiating.

It doesn’t matter what sport, just blaming the men in blue or in stripes has never been my cup of tea as reasons behind a team’s winning or losing.

While I do make jokes about it on occasion, it is always meant in jest and rarely has seriousness.

Last night though at Yankee Stadium was a disgrace.

There is no other way you can spin this. Watching last nights game and seeing the home plate umpiring of Jerry Meals was absolutely awful.

You cant say that he was trying to speed up the game because the game lasted twelve minutes short of four hours.

The strike zone that was put in place by him last night was one of the worst I have ever seen. If Major League Baseball does grading of its umpires for quality assurance, then this guy should be put on probation.

From word “go” last night, pitcher Phil Hughes was attempting to get himself into a groove. There were times when he would miss with a pitch here and there, but then when he would come near the plate with his fastball or a cutter to either get ahead or put a Red Sox hitter away, the home plate umpire apparently did not see the same the game I was watching.

Ok, all umpires are going to miss a call on a pitch on occasion. When the ball is coming between 90 and 100 MPH or a curveball or slider with great movement, you wont get all of them correct. However, when its obvious to the trained eye and it is being blatantly missed, that is a problem.

During the game, the reputation of the umpire was that he was a “hitter’s ump” and had a less generous zone then others in his fraternity.

These go to my theory that most umpiring in Major League Baseball is usually inept at best and corrupt at worst. The fact that Fenway Park has by all accounts the smallest strike zone when it comes to opposing pitchers is ridiculous.

To be fair, Yankee Stadium is also the same way and that too is ridiculous, despite the advantageous benefit it offers.

However, where the problem exists is in the umpires themselves. For whatever reason, each man has its own interpretation of what the “uniform” strike zone is.

How is this possible?

The fact some umpires will call the high or low strike, or give a few inches on each corner of the plate, while others will shrink their strike their zone causes mass confusion at times.

Let us be real for a moment, the zone is not a thought process where you may or not think a certain pitch is a strike. The borders have been established. Follow them. We’re not here to see you, or your interpretation of what you think is correct. Otherwise, why don’t we have “Questec” take over?

Case in point: Last night

There were several 2-2 pitches thrown by Hughes that were borderline/strikes and even others through the course of the game. Unfortunately, none of them was given to the right-hander. The bench complained, Manager Joe Girardi complained as well as the fans.

All of this came to a head in the fifth inning when Derek Jeter was at the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning against Jon Lester with the Yankees trailing 4-0. On a 1-1 pitch, Lester’s pitch was called a strike on a distinctly similar pitch that Hughes had been getting squeezed on about three occasions during his four innings of work when the gave up four runs.

Jeter looked at the home plate umpire shaking his head. Girardi had a perplexed and angered look as well. When Jeter went on to strikeout two pitches later, he showed his displeasure with Meals. Seeing that he might have his star shortstop thrown out, Girardi came out to protect him and in the process got himself ejected from the game for arguing about the inconsistent zone.

Jeter obviously would have had the best look considering that he has the best view of the game from right behind Hughes’ shoulder. He rarely argues about calls, so I believe him when he felt there was a problem with how the game was being called.

With all of this in play, it had to be in Hughes’ psyche out on the mound. If my only way of getting a strike call is to throw the ball right down the middle to a great hitting lineup, I am going to get killed!

Instead, he tries to hope for the best with a zone the size of an aspirin and he still gets killed.
In many ways, it was a “no chance” situation for him last night.

That is not sour grapes when it comes to blaming the umps.

Yet, those guys put themselves in a position where they can become MVP for a night.

And that's not how it should be.

Yankee Talk – Rivalry Edition: Sawx Still Rain

Long day at yard ends with Sox beating Yanks again


NEW YORK - The game did not end until 1:10 AM Eastern time after waiting out a two hour and 14 minute rain delay and then taking in another near four hour game (3:48).

In the end though, the result was another familiar theme the Yankees (13-12) have seen this season when it came to beating their blood rival.

The Red Sox (16-12) had come out on top again.

Boston has been victorious in each of its four meetings with New York. This one, a 6-4 Red Sox victory, came in the first meeting between the two teams at the new Yankee Stadium. It saw the Red Sox jump out early, see a Yankees rally in the middle, Boston pulling away late, and finally a conclusion that only The Rivalry could bring.

Robinson Cano was up at the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, trailing by two runs against closer Jon Papelbon. A base hit would have tied the game and an extra base hit would have won the game.

It appeared the Yankees had Papelbon on the ropes. The first two hitters in the inning had reached base via Brett Gardner’s infield single and Derek Jeter hit by a pitch. With no one out, Johnny Damon flew out to J.D Drew in right field. Mark Teixeira, who had homered twice, would be blown away by a 2-2 fastball for the second out.

With Cano up, he quickly got behind 1-2 in the count. Papelbon would then blow a 96 MPH fastball by Cano’s hot early season bat to end the game as the Red Sox closer pumped his fist in triumph.

Early on, it appeared as if Boston would run away and hide against starter Phil Hughes. Unlike his start in Detroit, he would not have the same success against the patient Red Sox lineup (aided by a miniature-sized strike zone by home plate umpire Jerry Meals). The young right-hander was clearly frustrated and it played a role in his ineffectiveness.

Hughes’ (1-1) night only lasted four innings as he was forced to throw 94 pitches, thus shortening his outing. Despite showing good control (56 strikes), he never got a call on the edge, leading the Red Sox to get single runs in each of his four innings. He gave up seven hits and four runs (three earned), while walking four and striking out two.

The first run of the game on a passed ball by catcher Jose Molina, which rolled to the backstop and allowed Dustin Pedroia to come home.

In the second inning, third baseman Mike Lowell jumped on a first pitch fastball from Hughes to send it into the left field seats to make it 2-0. Lowell would then make it 3-0 when he lofted an outside pitch into shallow right that dropped in front of Nick Swisher for a run scoring single.

David Ortiz would break out of his hitting slump in the fourth inning, lacing a double into the right field corner to score Jacoby Ellsbury as the Red Sox were seeking to build a picket fence.

The plan was to pitch Ortiz inside based on his early season struggles. However, they continued to go inside and not mix up pitch selection to have him thinking about anything else. Knowing this plan, Ortiz (who had been cheating at the plate by starting his swing early) would recognize the sequence, jump on the pitch, and hit it hard, much as he did back in the first inning when he took a similar offering and hammered it.

In between, Hughes would find himself in deep counts. Seven of the 22 hitters he saw found themselves in 2-2 or 3-2 counts aided by Meals’ incredible shrinking zone.

These problems were not given to Jon Lester who was tremendous for seven innings. He struck out the side in the first inning and that set the tone for his performance on the night.

Five of his first six outs came via strikeout and Yankee hitters were confused by the game being called by catcher Jason Varitek and the pitching of Lester.

His only hiccup came in the fifth when Derek Jeter struck out swinging in the bottom half. Two pitches prior, Meals called a strike on a pitch that Hughes had been getting called a ball on several occasions. This incensed both Jeter and Girardi, who showed their frustration. Girardi took the bullet for his player, ejected from the game for arguing balls and strikes.

On the very next pitch, Johnny Damon cut the 4-0 lead in half by hitting a two-run homer to right. This was followed up by Teixeira cranked out a homerun to left center to make the lead 4-3.

Lester would rebound and take the ball through the seventh. In his seven innings, he allowed only those three runs on six hits, walking two and striking out 10.

The deficit would remain that way until new Yankee-killer Jason Bay hammered a drive down the left field line that hit off the foul pole for a two-run homerun to extend Boston’s lead to 6-3. Teixeira would get one back in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 6-4.

After Cano drew a walk from reliever Ramon Ramirez, manager Terry Francona brought on Papelbon, who would need 32 pitches to get the final five outs of the game.

The weather for Tuesday night’s game is iffy. If they do play, Joba Chamberlain will get the start for the Yankees and Josh Beckett will take the ball for the Red Sox.

Yankee Talk - Rivalry Edition: Expanded Coverage

More wall-to-wall coverage beginning Monday

The Red Sox are in town to face the Yankees in the second installment of The Rivalry at the new Yankee Stadium and The World of C is going to have complete coverage once again.

After each of the two games, I'll have a game story and a thought or two on the proceedings.

Time to get some revenge.

Yankee Talk: Bouncing Up and Down

Random thoughts range from happy, angry and happy again

Carl has been running through some different thoughts while Yankee games over the last few weeks. Though never going over the edge, he is doing his best to keep the emotions in check.

So the Yankees decided to “discount” some of their ticket prices last week. If you thought the seat for $2,500, you can get it for only $1,250.

Anyone have $1,250 in loose change hanging around under a mattress or inside a sofa? The answer is probably no.

That must mean that they are too expensive.

And for those that will be getting additional seats as part of the team’s essential “giveaway” of tickets, how are they going to be used? Are they going to try to sell them for face value?

No. If that were the case, the Yankees would have given them to you in the first place.

And what do I get for all that money?

Free food? Plasma TV in the seat? Compact toilet next to me? Rain protection?

If the answer is “no”, then no deal.

Listen, if you tell me you are a slow starter and then I give you $161 and $180 million to you, do you mind finding ways not to struggle early in the season.

For the money being spent, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira have not been performing up to anything. They have been early season flops.

Teixeira finally got my goat on Thursday night when he hit into a seventh inning double play and followed up that gem by striking out looking with the bases loaded the next inning.

This brought out the boos. Well deserved.

At these prices, everyone is fair game. Hitting .182 is going to get it done here despite taking his share of walks.

I’m not going to put with this much longer.

For Sabathia, he may have his good stuff for several innings, but then something happens. His only good start of the year took place in Kansas City. Everything else after that has been either not good or pedestrian at best.

What could be the reason for this? Adjustment? Conditioning? Weather?

Please, help me out with this.

How about the start of the season for Jorge Posada? His hitting stroke is back even though his arm behind the plate has yet to catch up.

This is fine. I’ll take the .953 OPS (through Sunday) and a noodle arm taking my chances.

I am a amazed that Robinson Cano has continued his hot hitting.

Serious professional ballplayer man love for Ramiro Pena. Keep this man on the roster.

This bullpen is flammable. Even when Brian Bruney was pitching well, this pen is questionable.

Jose Veras, please leave immediately.

Damaso Marte, don’t use the disabled list as an excuse for your awfulness.

Phil Coke is still my guy and Mark Melancon should come along nicely along with Bruney when he (hopefully) returns from injury in front of Rivera.

How long will they be able to fight that fight effectively? Who knows?

Who is Anthony Clagett and what is he doing on the Yankees?

No more Angel Berroa please. No more.

Seeing Berroa made me long to see Cody Ransom back in the lineup. How sad is that?

Hideki Matsui seems to be getting healthy. He is not running like he is 80 years old. He is going to the opposite field with his hits and is showing some power.

Making progress and producing at the same time. Just the way I like it.

But I’m still angry at Jacoby Ellsbury stealing home plate in that game against the Red Sox. How embarrassing was that? Now I have to deal with watching replays of that for the next year.

No more A-Rod stories I beg you. I can’t take anymore. You could tell me he was an axe murderer and I would believe it and still wouldn’t care as long as he hit his 35 homers and drove in 110 runs.

Nick Swisher for the All-Star team if he keeps this up. I have to see if they have a spot for him on the ballot. They may not have put him on to begin with.

The great centerfield experiment of Brett Gardner lasted less than a month. Brett Butler he was not. He of the .222 average and .556 OPS was not going to cut it for any long period.

Time was up.

And it allowed Melky Cabrera (aka – Senor Leche) to step up and he has been great. Of course, he started out last season hitting well before finding the abyss. So consider me happy, but unconvinced.

I always say that until 40 games are played, you cannot make a legitimate or even a reasonable conclusion about your team.

Now, if you are the Washington Nationals, this is a different matter. Your season is over. But I look at the standings and that only two losses that separate the Yankees from first place.

Here’s how we treat games now:

Three game losing streak: The sky is falling.

Three game winning streak: We’re going to the World Series

I wouldn’t want this any other way.