Every time I see Jason Bay burn the Yanks, my reaction is still "Well at least it isn't Manny."

A truly pathetic showing wherein the only silver lining is that the Yanks know how wretched they are with five months left in the season.  The home series especially... An injured Youkilis was replaced by a tomato can.  And Beckett has been far from dominating this year.  Papelbon is throwing well, yet keeps opening the door wide for the Yanks to come back, but... no takers.  Varitek looks like a third string catcher.  Ortiz has not been seen since Manny was batting behind him and has since been replaced by vapor.  If it is true that Big Papi is healthy, this answers the question I've wondered for years of what kind of hitter this guy is without Mannyworld lurking in the on deck circle.

Vs Tigers

The beauty of this latest Yankee loss was how fast and efficient it was.  Sabathia got dinged up a little, but he was good enough to give the bullpen a bit of a holiday.  That's our $161M man!

As an added bonus, fans were not forced to witness Cody Ransom or Angel Berroa with a bat, though against Verlander, everyone looked like Berroa.  I found it refreshing to watch a game and not find myself calculating how devastating either C-Ran or A-Ber might have been toward the loss in A-rod's absence.

Vs Red Sox

It's easy to look toward the Yanks pitching, certainly the pen, for their shortcomings, but looking at the Red Sox series...

Game one featured Rivera blowing the save, but it came right after the Yanks loaded the bases with no one out and failed to score.  The time it took me to wonder why Terry Francona was letting Javier Lopez languish out there was about twice the amount of time it took for the Yanks to go down in quick succession without pushing anyone across.  There went the game.

Game two featured 11 runs - a great outburst, and mostly against Beckett at that.  Yet when the game was tight late, they couldn't get runners home from third with less than two out--a feat at which the Sox were more adept.  Can't fault an 11 run tally, but poor situational hitting is something to file away.

Game three they were quiet against Masterson and almost completely dead silent from the middle of the fifth inning on against minor league reinforcements. 

Vs. A's

Tex's play at first against the A's provides beautiful juxtaposition to what the Yanks had at 1B for much of the previous seven seasons.  I'm not anti-sabermetrics, but anyone who says first base defense makes an inconsequential difference over the course of a year wasn't tuned in to the YES network between 2002-2008.  The Giambino was as nice to opposing hitters as he apparently is to the press and teammates.

Oh, and Cano went chasing after the runner... again, spoiling what could have been a 4-6-3 double play.  This time, he booted the ball as he tried to one hand it while looking at the runner.    I'm extremely relieved the Yanks did not trade him over the winter, but I guess I'll forever be frustrated that what starts as a routine double play turns into Cano chasing down the baserunner like he's Elmer Fudd with a rabbit in his cross hairs.

I was amused by both Michael Kay's the Rays' apparent humorlessness at Nick Swisher taking the mound a few days back.  Made me long for the day of Rick Cerone facing the Rangers in a 20-3 route and seeing Bobby Valentine send Bobby Witt up to pinch hit against him.   I'd just as soon not see Swisher drop down and throw sidearm, however.  Maybe electrodes can be applied to him so a mild electric shock zings him when he approaches 90 degrees with his arm slot.  Seeing the Yanks bullpen of late, Swisher may not be retiring with that 0.00 ERA since he well could be pressed into service again.  In fact, the way Chien Ming Wang is throwing, Swisher might consider doing a side session between Wang's starts.

One good game (vs KC) and one bad game (the home opener) after getting wracked on opening day and I'm feeling a little more optimistic about Sabathia, if only because his velocity came back to the fold.  But how many times can the excuse of nerves due to a big game be used?  I'm thinking none since that's kind of the whole reason the Yanks shelled out all that cake for him.  For now... we will let you live... For now.

AJ Burnett's three starts have already outperformed Carl Pavano's four years.  But how concerned are we about the offense that Pavano was apparently somewhat effective on Sunday...  Truly unprecedented.  Even more so is the fact he has made three consecutive starts.

It's easy to remind Arod haters that Cody Ransom is, well... Cody Ransom.  But Ransom would make fewer of those anti-Rod folks eat their words if he even showed an ability to move a runner over from second with no one out.  And did fans forget all about Arod when Ransom was caught 45 feet off 2B on Jeter's ground ball against KC?  Was Ransom not on his game because he was nervous due to the fever pitch that the KC home opener creates?

I like the new Boston away jerseys.  Classic looking.  Too bad they went to the names on the jerseys a few years back, though.  It's baseball for crimany's sake - not too fast paced to see who everyone is.  I suspend my rule, though, for the Yankee bullpen, since the revolving door of call-ups during this pitching-poor stretch is going to make viewers think we're in September.

Last week, with a man on 1B (I believe against the Rays), a ground ball was hit to Cano playing 2B, the baserunner froze in an attempt to bait Cano to chase him to prevent the double play, and...  it didn't work!  There's improvement in Cano's defensive game!  I don't think anything has made me happier this year than seeing him immediately get rid of the ball to Jeter to turn two.  Cano previously would not only chase the runner and lose the DP, but he would usually give up the run-down and throw to first, ensuring the lead runner would reach 2B.  Baseball is a hard game, but it's funny how often the pros forget the theory of All I Really Need To Know About Baseball I Learned In Little League.

Hey, I'm not saying this story should have fast, nimble legs, but what the heck ever happened to the Piazza Did Steroids bit?  As soon as I heard this was cited in SI writer Jeff Pearlman's book, and that (wholly unlike the Arod story) a source of someone not named "Anonymous" actually went on record, I scoured all the papers looking for the hundred different angles and denials and innuendo and clever banner headlines and date of the inevitable Peter Gammons interview... but, nothing.  I like Piazza, so I have no interest in him being nailed to the wall exactly, but maybe I'm the only one left who would be happy to continue seeing the guilty not be protected by such things as "confidential testimony" or "anonymous test" since that didn't work for a couple other guys.   The difference between a beloved player and a despised one seems to wade in a very grey threshold.

Ah, but which guy am I referencing?  (AJ Burnett can breathe easy...for the moment.)

So much blame to go around for an ugly opener.  So let's go in size order, peppered with other meanderings.

-CC was worse than his linescore indicates.  His channeling of Dontrelle Willis featured a fastball that was not only all over the map, but topped out around 89mph, which may explain his ZERO Ks.  His high wire act yielded labored innings even when the O's didn't score.  The score would have been worse if Brett Gardner didn't make a great throw to the plate to double up the runner.

Seeing CC nurse his side between innings makes me assume his performance is the result of an acute appendicitis or someone in Cleveland having a big, heavyset voodoo doll with pins in the figure's abdomen.   Hopefully CC will be A-OK, but if not, the Yanks could always use him as a $161M pinch hitter, because if you factor in Spring training, they are well past the 30 day return policy, receipt or no.

-Last week a friend of mine said that Cody Ransom would make people forget A-rod.  It's the kind of statement so cockamamie it's not worth arguing about, but it sure rattled around my mind as I saw Ransom strike out looking with a man on 2^nd base and no one out as the Yanks were trying to mount a comeback.  Not that the other guy - the injured one - hasn't done that on occasion, but combine that failure with Ransom's huge error an inning or so prior during an Oriole rally, and you got the makings of "Can Alex speed up that timetable a little more?"

-On a related note, that huge error I just referenced was actually called a hit.  So just want constitutes an error these days?  Maybe it's not the athletes, the steroids and the small ballparks that are ballooning pitchers ERAs these days.  It's the official scorer who will receive an in-game call of complaint should they have the gall to suggest an infielder should field a routine hop one step to his left.  (I'm being generic here, of course, as I doubt Cody Ransom has the phone number of the scorer's table on speed dial.)

-I also didn't have to wait long before the Yanks failed to get a runner home from third with less than two out.  With a three hit night, Jeter almost made it through the game unscathed. 

-Posada is in usual midseason form - he hit a long home run, made a decent throw to second on a SB, and utterly avoided contact on a play at the plate, relying on an erroneous umpire call to get the desired result.  Does he even watch replays of his plays at the plate?  I guess even with the likes of Girardi and Tony Pena around, there's no teaching a veteran major leaguer new tricks. 

-Cano still doesn't like to dive.  There was just one hit that looked dive-worthy on TV.  It probably wasn't, but I'm just warming up for a long season.

-Why do managers ask pitchers who have zero control to walk a guy to load the bases to set up the DP?  The upside is nice, but the downside is so much more likely.  In this case, a predictable bases loaded walk.

-How is it that I've been watching games for years, yet tonight was the first time I can recall an ump using his judgment to award an extra base to a runner on a ground rule double?  Allowing Cano to score from first was a good call, especially since it is an opposing player which might otherwise encourage fan interference.

-Re. the Jeffrey Maier imitation in left - I have long wondered why ballparks don't have walls that are a few feet in depth.  Three or four measly feet wouldn't make the fans feel too isolated from the field, yet it would prevent anyone who is not blatantly climbing over the wall from interfering with the ball in play.  Any ball hit anywhere near the wall - in fair or foul territory - is quite naturally going to involve hordes of people going for the ball.  An umpire trying to make the call on if the ball was bound for the stands or not might as well just flip a coin.

-I want answers - what went on when Nady killed the Yankee rally by being caught off third base on Jeter's infield hit?  Was he so sure a worm-burner Jeter hit was definitely going to make it through the infield?  The third base coach gives you the red light or the green light.  No reason to make that big a turn if you're not going anywhere.  Robby Thompson probably makes some good money coaching third, so you best listen to him. 

-Nady grounding into a rally-killing 7^th inning DP makes one ask oneself "what would Swisher have done?"

-I have no problem with a player being booed, but I had to keep reminding myself that Teixeira was in fact NOT an Oriole who came to the Yanks as a free agent.  So he gets booed just because he's from Baltimore?  Or did he have dinner with their mayor and fail to use a salad fork?

-For the record, my reaction to the big three free agent signings: 

Teixeira - Rejoice! 

Burnett - Really?  You guys sure about this?   

Sabathia - Weighs three bills, can't buy an out in the playoffs, and pitched more innings than the Brewers played last year.  I'm hopeful, but suspect.  Easier to root for him than Randy Johnson (who, by the way, I thought was a great pick-up.  Then he started pitching for them).

-I have high hopes for Teixeira, but in his interviews on TV so far, he seems too antsy and eager to please.  Granted, if I had the chance to meet Fran Healy, I'd be eager to please as well.  I do look for good infield D this year, knowing that Jeter and Arod won't fear that throwing the ball to first will result in Giambi diving headlong behind the tarp as though the ball is radioactive.  Tex made a couple plays already that I'd bet a $12 new Stadium beer (just guessing) Giambi would never have made.

-I've never seen a logo larger than the Yankee Stadium one on the back of the Yanks caps.  I realize the new Stadium is supposed to be very big, but can't the logo be a tad more subtle?  When I go to a game, I might accidentally make a left inside someone's hat.

-90% of YES viewers think the Yanks will win the East.  And those results came in AFTER Sabathia got trounced.

All in all, a rainout really wouldn't have been so bad.

As the (latest) Arod story swirls, and I continue to wonder how 1200 players all signed their name next to an "anonymous" test...and why Arod was targeted by either whoever leaked the info, or more likely the author (oh that's right, she's got a salacious book on him soon to be released)... and what info Arod held back in the Gammons interview (simply: what did he do, when did he really do it, and how did he do it?  Lack of info, I suspect, was to reduce a trail to other dealers/players)... I can't help but wonder one thing:

Won't it be a scene if Rodriguez hits the first home run at the new Stadium?  If so, the papers may run headlines that will result in a nickname for the ballpark that sticks.

The House That _____ Built  (countless options for this multiple choice headline)

...The Yankee Years will have to take a back seat.

Grantland Rice, this post ain't.  But some reactions from soaking up the Arod/steroids coverage on MLB.

-Whew... MLB network signed Bob Costas just in the nick of time.

-Add this to the list of reasons Jeter has kept a polite distance from Rodriguez.

-What was I even doing watching a Met 1991 classic when the network interrupted the game to report this story?

-SI is highly reputable, both in the industry, I trust, and with me personally.  As big a story as this is, and as credible as it may be, how on earth can they run with it with anonymous sources as its basis?  Even if there's one hundred reliable sources, if they are anonymous how do you go to print?

-"Anonymous" testing in 2003?  Hilarious!  As funny as the leak that hung Giambi out to dry when he made the mistake of telling the truth under oath a few years ago.

-VERY revealing off the cuff nugget from Chad Curtis when he shared the fact that he went to Donald Fehr in 2001 with concerns about the steroids problem and Fehr responded "What steroids problem?  Are they illegal?"   I thought the MLB anchors were going to be catching their breath when they cut back to them, but they didn't really underscore that part.

-How the devil was Gene Orza to be trusted with information on when unscheduled testing was to take place?  Whether he actually leaked this info to the players, it still seems to be an egregious breach of common sense to have him in the loop in the first place.

-Why was Arod the only name that was conveniently leaked to this reporter?  If I understand correctly, I believe the SI author Selena Roberts said she was doing a story on Arod.  If so, what was the angle of that story?  And if they were not writing a story on Arod, what was the circumstance by which Arod's name was shared (sought?)... and not the other 103?

-The reveal of the other 103 names would be nice (however unfair to those players who are supposed to be anonymous) because it'd reflect a better cross-section of the guilty parties in the game instead of just those tied to Radomski and everybody's favorite rape suspect Brian McNamee. (I better credit a source: his accuser, and the detectives who investigated him in the case who think he lied when claiming his innocence.)

-If Arod is indeed guilty, I guess I'll just have to hope Pujols has been clean because SOMEbody has got to wrest the HR record away from B***s.

-Even Katie Couric doesn't know how to pronounce the word "asterisk".  Why is it so difficult?

-Old news, but still funny:  the players union being coerced into any form of testing back in 2003 due to PR reasons, agreeing to a preposterously soft test of an anonymous, non-disciplinary, ANNOUNCED first round that would only prompt actual testing if more than 5% failed that test.  People who were rooting for actual testing threw their hands up in the air that such a laughable proposal was what was put forth.  I remember thinking there'd be maybe one anonymous knucklehead would fail the test and the union would say "See?  No steroids problem" and testing would go away forever.  But it turns out 104 knuckleheads thought they'd be in the clear.  Thank heavens for the can-do-no-wrong mentality of the professional athlete for accidentally prompting a stiffer system.  Fehr must have slapped his own forehead so hard he probably loosened his fillings.

I guess Rickey isn't the only Hall of Fame inductee this year who speaks the crazy talk.

I was tickled to open up the cyber-paper this morn and read that Jim Rice blames the Yankee payroll for him not winning a world series (though the Yanks didn't stand in his way in '75, '86 or '88, they did go the post-season five times during his career... hardly a great imbalance).  In the same breath, he lauds Theo Epstein for building the Red Sox "the right way".

"If you look at the Red Sox now, you see them bringing guys up in the organization.  That's why Theo has been the person he's been over the last couple of years. He'll bring young kids up and stay within the organization... The Yankees haven't won in the last eight years. What do they do? They go out and buy high-priced players in the hope to get back the winning percentage they had 10 years ago."

So, to recap, is Rice saying:

1. Staying within the organization is the key to success.  That's what Theo is doing, to positive results.
2. Spending on players outside the organization is the key to a team's success - that's why the Yanks were so successful in Rice's 1975-89 playing career. 

2a. (I guess he's also saying he'd rather lose with all home grown guys rather than acquire Reggie or Goose?  Or is he blaming his owners for not competing with the Yanks for free agents?) 

It's an old contradictory lament, and it's always funny to see how each team has their own idea of what a team's payroll should be - theirs.  Anything above that is TOO MUCH!

The Sox are a successful team, combining development with, yes, a huge payroll relative to most teams in the league.  And the players not named Manny must love that dirty water because they keep signing extensions for less than they could get on the open market. 

[As a related sidenote, I was amused to see Kevin Youkilis talk about how family (his wife's specifically) played a big role in him signing an extension in Boston.  That kind of talk is reserved for players who bail for more money elsewhere, not guys who stick around with their original team.  It seemed like he was about to segue into a rhapsody about the superior school system in Boston. ]

In other news, does Harold Reynolds pay rent at the MLB Network studios?  Maybe the studio is in his basement, because judging by his presence every time I turn on the channel, that place is clearly his residence.  I should have flicked it on early Sunday to see if he was at the desk wearing robe while nursing a cup of coffee and a bagel. 

Would this have saved the Yanks '04 season?

I like Andy Pettitte.  He seems nice.  I don't have kids, but if I did and we all hung around Pettitte, he probably wouldn't swear around them.  Actually, he wouldn't swear around me either.  Actually, he wouldn't hang around me because he'd be embarrassed by all my swearing.  So, he's probably good people.

But people seem to be a little slow to recognize him as being in the same fraternity as everyone else in the league - he's an ath-a-lete who likes to be coddled.  I keep going back to the year he bolted for the Astros, ostensibly so he could be home with his family.  The stories were that he was miffed at the Yanks, who told the free agent to look around the league, see if there is something his size, and then get back to them so they can make presumably the best offer.  Supposedly, he felt spurned because he wasn't wined and dined like Gary Sheffield was.  Well, I guess for Pettitte, it'd be apple juiced-and-dined.  Perhaps unfairly, I've always had this perception that he was waiting for the team to buy him man-furs and take him to 21.  Would the Yanks have won in 2004 if Cash took Andy on a Circle Line tour, and thus we could all have been spared the abject mediocrity that was Javier Vasquez?  Or shall we put it, would that Yanks have won if Pettitte wasn't so petty?

Either way, like any good athlete, the importance of "going home" took a serious backseat when the Yanks came crawling back.  And will they do so again?  Probably a .500 pitcher now, his reluctance to take $10M from a team that unknowingly signed him when he was about to take a bow on the Mitchell Report smacks of someone who might just want to "go home" and be with his kids again.   It'd be as disingenuous as his cock 'n' bull apology for taking HGH - a situation he found himself in which would have been much more forgivable if he said "My elbow was about to fall off.  It looked like my career was going to end prematurely, so I took it x amount of times for short period of time.  And it seems to have worked, by the way."

He's been a good #2 or 3 pitcher throughout his career.  Pitched some memorable gems in the post-season.  And a few BP sessions in the post season.  I'm glad he won the final game at the old ballyard.  But there are enough young pitchers to compete for the last spot in the rotation.  I'd take my chances with them and ignore that sentimental gentle wind.

full disclosure: I'm repeating myself about Pettitte here, but I felt compelled to photoshop the man fur on him.

Given their dearth of productive options at 1B, why not look into bringing back Tony Clark?

The Human Windmill (nicknamed so not for Scandinavian heritage) may not be bobblehead material, but (1)very good glove, (2)some production between strikeouts, and (3)his baseball card tells me he's a very nice man. 

Any other ideas?  Anyone?