On the Yankees beat

said:

call as it may but here is the reasons floating regarding Managerial changes, my sources may be good or be bad anyway....

1. Torre is playing strategy here, it is hard to fire him now almost impossible , why ? becasue it would be the biggest distraction and possibl;y affect the players. Torre knows this he plays the yankees well. If the team was to fire him it should have been last year.

2. coaches

Torre connection is too MAttingly and Guidry , reason : Becasue they are worthless and pose no threat to his legacy, OPena and Bowa is cool but at arms length , Torre was,nt to keen on their hiring felt that threat. plus organization is still caught in the middle on hiring a minority manager becasue if so Willie would have been Torre auctioned him for a Job as a friend and to further oush away WIllie's chances of becoming a Yankee Mgr.

This job made Torre who he is, He desires not to be outshined or to reveal the obvious. You see that is a reason Torre continues to hint at extending his contract he wants to leave when his core players are done and over the hill. i nno way does he want any one else to manage Jeter , Mo, Jorge, and even alex while they are in Pinstripes.
Lets say pena comes in this year and the team wins 3 ws in a row already torre championships would be then ok common . Torre wants to have Stengel like championships that would be unreachable in todays market.

I'm tired will continued when asked.

Like i said take it as you want , this is from sources mouths

Wow!
Now that was about as much of nonsense diarhea attack as one can handle in a night!

Please, Step away from the keyboard.

I will ask, do not under any circumstances continue.

Folks, I'm not able to watch the games so can someone tell me what kind reaction Torre gets from the fans at the Stadium when he comes out to make the pitching changes?

I can't imagine they're very infatuated with him right now.

I hope that George and/or Cashman is watching this.

Anonymous says they plan a parade for him. Hes tied in with the org, knows all the internal relationships and all. Oh he also has a view into Joes psyche.

Really great stuff read it, its all there above.

Any one watching the Boston game let me know the reaction when Becket gets his CG.

Cashmans unavailable. Hes busy working out that Pujols for Igawa trade you guys suggested to him.

Wow. Its amazing how those two pitchers from that inferior NL are cruising to victories tonight over those top flight AL teams isnt it?

They must have some of that magic paint on their socks. Thats the only way those NL pitchers came win in the monster league over here, cheating.

eric,

the crowd is dead, completely taken out of the game by the lack of life shown by the team.
they gave a great ovation to hughes when he left and every time a-rod hits.
it's amazing, but virtually every yankee hitter is slumping right now (damon, abreu, mientky...)

Thank god he made it to the fifth. Otherwise we would have had to tax the bullpen.

I think the official scorer should give him the win.

torre has redefined idiocy.
sean henn threw 30+ pitches and myers is going 2 innings, thus emptying his bullpen of lefties for tomorrow. i guess no need for a lefty reliever against the sox... they got no dangerous lefties, do they?...
unless he wants to use igawa as lefty relief, but that's just redefining what "relief" means...

do you have a woman?

F**k your stupid ass sweating the yankees for? get up drink some warm milk.

So what the yankees are losing when they look at their bank accounts the frown goes away.

They can lose every game but still have more class than you.

Your a Twins fan right,

How about them Twins rushing that poor Kid out there and "not knowing " the extent of his injury ? been awhile since they last seen a WS.

Boy you guys better notify Webster of this stuff. Lots of redefinitions here. Get them to stop those presses and all.

Anony,

We didnt ask you to continue, you said you were tired and would wait to be asked. I asked you not to continue because you just kind of blabber on about incoherent conspiracy type theories ans fantasize about being a Yankee insider. People might read that stuff and send people over to your place to take you somewhere serene.

So for gods sakes, step away from the keyboard.

Pooooor little fish!

Hey Gil,

Any chance Torre will redefine champion to mean someone in last place?

hey nudge : put your head in the freezer , go order playboy. you are wasting air trying to be a joke. I post what is said , the team is having issues enough said, Torre head is wanted but for reasons now is not the Time , His protectors begged to spare him last year if the slide continues he MAY be ousted. the team is a DUD now.

Hey An,, can I call you An, I feel like I know you. Yeah there is a reason Torre is safe. There is a spacecraft over the stadium that is projecting an invisible deflector shield around him. See the Carillions are actually decendants of Brooklyn here Joe grew up and vow to protect all their former residents. Joe Pepitone was protected too.

God, wheres Casual when I'm on a roll?

Hey, the good news is there are still 2 teams in the league with a worse record.

Minky, Nieves, Pavano, Igawa, Farnsworth, Myers, and Torre are ALL wasted roster spaces! They need to be dumped and replaced ASAP.

Yeah Rick,

Cashmans working on that now. I know hes real close on the Igawa for Pujols deal. The others are being packaged for Manny and Ortiz and Papelbon. The tough one is Torre though. See read Anonymous above and youll find that Torre is protected and hes got a real scheme going so unless the Carillions change their minds your stuck with him until 2025

Well... lets atleast be a bit positive here, Hughes looked really good once he settled down, biggest problems were economy and he's used to an 80 pitch count... which won't cut it. All in all though he's got some pretty nasty stuff. Personally i think he should work on a splitter to go with that fastball. It might not hit higher than 95, but its got some crazy movement.

I have acute meningitis??? Did the Carillions tell you that? How would you know otherwise?

An, maybe I got the definition of paresis wrong because I hear Torres been redefining words tonight so was that one of them?

Drew, Ill leave you alone, your just a wee bit sad. Keep the chin up my friend.

I have to admit, I think this was a really good night and I had sooo little to work with. But those few really helped me out quite a bit.

Manny,Ortiz,Papelbon,Drew,Shill,Tek,Beckett,Timlin,Dice .......How long before the wheels fall off?

Longfellow the sparks are shooting out all over the place as you type.

Guys, please you need to be a bit better at this stuff. Dr.... you say..you ARE paralgesia in the Anal sphincter.

See a sphincter is a general classification of muscle not neccessarily specific to the anus. For instance the muscle at the top of the stomache that keeps the digestive acids from the Esophogus is a sphincter. Now paralgesia infers sudden uncontrolled pain or spasm in an area. So the call someone a bit in the A** that would be how its done.

And impersonating a doctor is a felony.

Is it Longfellow or Lostfellow?

Is someone looking in the medical dictionary again for some new terms?????

Come on!!!

I know the spelling real hard!! Lots of vowels though.

Bernie, oh Bernie....BERNIE!!!!

I was impressed, with Phil Hughes

The pitching line doesn't do justice for Hughes tonight. After that shaky first inning, he was DOMINANT until he ran into some trouble in the 5th.

Plus, he got hit by guys like Vernon Wells and Frank Thomas. I'd say Phil hasn't seen hitters like that in his minor league days.

F*ck Igawa. F*ck Karstens. Keep Hughes in the rotation.

Hughes looked excellent, but like he could do with getting his arm strength up in the minors.

you dont want a guy who can only throw 80-90 pitches every single time on your major league roster. thats wright territory, no matter how good he is.

I would think you all should be moderately pleased with Hughes. He gave up runs but he only walked 1 with what, 5 strikeouts? His control was pretty decent.

Not a great week to be a yankee fan.

I'll hope for the best but this is horse$hit.

Cano is embarrassing.

Abreu looks like he might be on heroin.

NOBODY LOOKS MOTIVATED

Alex Rodriguez Jorge Posada Andy Pettitte are the only 3 players doing ANYTHING FOR THIS TEAM RIGHT NOW

I can't believe what i've seen to this point. It's disgusting.

As someone who can't stand the Yankees, I must say I enjoyed watching Hughes tonight. He got hit a bit, but that fastball looks like it was shot out of a juggs gun. Live arm and I love his motion - he throws like a catcher.

I wish it weren't so, but this kid's gonna be good.

As for the rest of your overpaid, undermotivated team...blah.

Teflon Torre is going to start losing his players with the bizarre bullpen handling. His moves make no sense short of long term. And I am sorry but there is a HUGE difference between the old staff of Zimmer, Randolph, Stottlemyre, Mazzilli, etc. and the current one. Guidry and Mattingly were great players but were underqualified to be big loeage coaches - their hirings were as much PR as anything. And Pena, Bowa...it's like the Yankees wanted to prove they could get a bunch of ex-managers to agree to be simple coaches with them, but there's a reason they are all ex-managers. Hell Pena couldn't even talk his stud prospect kid into choosing the Yankees over the Mets!

Yanks ran into a buzz saw last night. What can you do? Hughes was not going to show up and throw blanks.

Posada -- keep calling the same pitch over and over. Players like Wells and The Big Hurt never catch on.

Here's the pitch sequence to the Big Hurt inning 1. Fast ball away. Fast ball away. Fast ball away. Fast ball inside(should have be strike 3, but he's a rookie), now fast ball outside ... base hit. Way to mix it up.

Hughes did fine and as expected. The Yankee hitters on the other hand .. well, when you have - Doug "I can't hit" Man-Cave-ich hitting 2nd, what can you do? Abreu looks lost.

Everytime Arod hits a long fly ball, M. Kay thinks its a home run.

Now -- for the people who like to hold on the the years 1998-2000 --- Torre talked on WFAN yesterday and made it VERY clear. All Bernie has to do is pick up the phone. Remember he WAS invited to CAMP. It was BERNIE's decision not to show. Torre made the calls.

So stop crying that Torre and Cashman should get Bernie here. Maybe Bernie shouldn't have quit. Although, I'm not sad he's gone. I've said it 1000 times, he's not the reason the Yanks will win or lose.

Torre's time has come to just retire and walk away before things get ugly. There's been too many times over at least the last two years that he shows disconnect from the way the game has changed.
The front office has chose to ignore or stall Torre's exit. It makes no sense to wait any longer for the inevitable. Don Mattingly will someday manage this team but not for the present. Joe Girardi knows the team and is on top of where the problems lie. He can be a fresh approach yet known to most of the players. His style can wake this team up when it's needed - not when it's too late.
Whether it's George or a subordinate, Torre needs to be told it's time to call it a career.

Hughes your thoughts

It was ok he probably could have benifited from more time in AAA. He wasn't good but didn't get hammered and he was solid in the middle. The first inning IMO was alot of 20 year old nerves but he setteled down. I think the 5th was a perfect example of why they wanted him to be in AAA longer because the low pitch counts from previous seasons clearly hurt him he lost control and mph as he tired. The plan according to eiland was to have him at 100 pitches when the weather got warmer. He obviously has big time stuff his change was actually very good at times and definitly greatly improved from ST. He struggled 2-3 games historically at a new level and could probably stay and pitch in the bigs but might benefit from more AAA time.

Let me just throw this in as well to the Peter Abraham of the world on their high horses he isn't going to get hurt because he is pitching in the majors they still throw pitchs at AAA. These young pitchers with arm problems either had a track record of injuries or were very abused at a young age and niether is the case here.

From what I saw .

Fastball: 89-94 & flat .

Curve: His best pitch . + pitch .

Change: Average to below average .

Don't see why ppl compare him to Clemens .

"We get them at home, and getting everybody on the field, that's big," Jorge Posada said yesterday.

I find this a little humorous...since all he's done since returning is to be hideous in his defense, and strike out at the plate with runners on.

Not trying to bash, or gloat folks..but you gotta see the humor in that statement.

JaN -- I differ just a little bit about your points.

There's nothing wrong with a flat 94, it's location. First inning was a prime example. Except for the Big Hurt's at bat. That was a decent pitch, but the 3 same pitches to the same spot made it even easier.

Hughes big + is his accuracy/control. That's evident in his numbers. He didn't have that control and like any pitcher throwing flat without control is dangerous -- RIGHT FARNSWORTH?????

Hughes is VERY young and should only get stronger. He velocity should improve an MPH or 2. He isn't great as is, he's supposed to be great. That's what we're banking on.

CO -- I only expect Posada to say stupid things. He's like a butter knife in a draw full of steak knives.

Not much longer until schools out and kids start posting agian. I guess I'll skip the summer blog's once schools out.

Tony,

From all accounts, I agree with you on Hughes....he looks to be a top of the rotation type of pitcher who is big, strong, durable, and seems to have remarkable poise for a 20 yr old kid. Last night was one game...and against a team that has a very good offensive lineup. I think Hughes is the Yanks "ace" in waiting. The wait may not be all that long.

The comparisons made between Hughes and Clemens are mainly because of his delivery. They look almost exactly the same.
They both can throw gas too.

I think Hughes is going to be really good. When you have three pitches that have such different velocities, you are going to get people out.

Curve - 68-71 mph
Changeup - around 80
fastball 92-95

I am pretty sure they are going to keep him up for a few more starts. We just need to give him some run support.

I didnt here anyone pointing out how the poor Blue Jays are devastated with injuries. Did you see that list of guys on the DL. Wow its amazing they arent 8-12 or something. They are just snakebit this year.

But once they all get healthy then the real Blue Jays lineup can get them right there in the race with Boston.

How bout the Jorge Posada huh?

Can he like even get his glove on the pitch occassionally?

Balki was pretty funny I thought too!

I know there were some people who couldn't see the game and were planning to follow it on the computer. For those people let me just say the final numbers on Hughes look worse than the results.

His first inning was his worst, understandable since I'm sure he was fighting a lot of nervous energy. The RBI single by Frank Thomas was a very good pitch that Thomas fought off to the opposite field. The middle innings were very good and even in the 5th, he was let down a little by his defense on the Cairo throw from SS.

Overall the thing I think he needs to improve on is throwing strike one and figuring out that the pitches he could get minor leaguers to chase, major leaguers will lay off of.

Bottom line, his first start was uneven, but unlike the other guys who have gone before him, I think he will only improve.

The plan is to stretch him out a little at a time, this start he threw 90 pitches, next time out (vs. Texas) he may throw 100.

Tonight is a HUGE game (and I never thought I would say that about a game in April) but the Yankees have Andy who has always been a stopper on the mound against Matsuzaka whom they had success against last time out - given that I'm not expecting much from Karstens tomorrow, the Yankees have to win tonight to ensure that when Wang faces Tavarez on Sunday the team has the chance to win two of three.

Almost makes you wish for Will Nieves.

Have the Yanks thought about trying Giambi behind the plate?

Nudge - again I'm forced to question why someone who does not like the Yankees, does not root for any MLB team from what you have said, spends all his free time on a Yankee message board? Is your life really that boring? Are you homebound? There must be some logical reason for this.

Phil Hughes is compared to Clemens because they have identical deliveries. There was a split screen comparison of both Hughes & Clemens showing their movement and mechanics to be exactly the same. You couldn't tell them apart from behind as their bodies and movements appeared to be mirrored.

When Hughes is pitching, I think he looks just like Papelbon in facial features, focus and intensity. They exhibit the same calm confidence.

Imagine a pitcher who has the same mechanics as Clemens with the same intensity, calm and confidence of Papelbon? Awesome. I'm glad he's a New York Yankee.

Easy,

Start at the top of this thread with that amazing dissertation by anonymous last night and follow it on through to when I last posted. Pure entertainment. Gems if you ask me. Of course the other part is I can really bring the bacon when it comes to attempts on your guys part to re-invent the baseball world. Im kinda like the teacher who grabs you buy the ear when you say things like "put Nieves, Farnsworth, Pavano, Myers, Proctor, Mientkiewicz all on the DL and free up the roster spot".

Thats when I step in and bring fact to fiction.

Lucy,

I agree - in what has been a very uneven month Hughes is a very bright spot.

Sounds like Lucy's got her eye on Papelbon. Watch out Casual.

That doesn't answer the question of why you are obsessed with a team you care nothing about. So obsessed that you are here everyday starting first thing in the morning and often not leaving until last thing at night.

Even some of us who root for the team are only here when we are at work or something like that - but you are here all the time.

Chip, it appears nudge is here from early morning until late at night. I stopped by here yesterday morning and nudge was here; I stopped by at lunchtime and nudge was here; I stopped by before the game and nudge was here. If you look at the time of his last post, it states 11:17 PM. When I got here around 9 am to add a post about Hughes, nudge was already here. This behavior speaks for itself.

Actually,

I've been told that I resemble Papelbon.....of course I have a daughter older than him....but men from Maine, like a fine wine...age wicked good!

Hey Guys, lets pick up the chins and be positive about the remainder of the season. The SP is starting to reassemble and Jeter will be back tonight, hopefully. As our starting pitching improves so will the team. With any changes to the team, you must expect periods such as the one that we are going through. If, Doug M. continues to be anemic at the plate. I'm sure Phelps will get more starts at first and behind the plate.

Hughes should get another start to see if he should stay or go down for more pitch count strength. Mussina is on the mend. It will take 2 starts for his impact. And Pavano who cares is a non point on this team. he has been for two years . Yes, we are 8-12 but with almost 90% of the seasom remaining there is still time but some changes in player usuage must prevail. The starters must go longer come hell or high water and phelps needs more playing time equating to 300-350 at bats. Nieves should not see the stadium dirt unless its a blowout for either team. Thses are small changes because the issue is and has been pitching.

Yes Lucy I agree - I just feel bad for a guy who has so little going on in his life that he has to seek attention (negative attention) from strangers on an internet message board - it's quite sad.

Yeah you guys have me pegged. Im obssessed with the Yankees and have nothing to do all day except blog here with you folks. But at least there is one guy on this board who knows something about the Yankees!

Always look at the bright side I say.

Larry

I'm not terribly worried (after all it is April) and the Yankees are far from buried - teams are never as good as they look when things are going well or as bad as they look when things are going badly - I look at it this way: This start gives all the Yankee haters and bandwagon national media types a chance to get out the Yankee funeral shrouds and when the Yankees come back like they did last year those guys will be scrambling.

I checked like 15 other MLB blog sires last night and there must be something wrong because nobody else is screaming for their team to overhaul the pitching staff, fire the mangaer, make desperate trade, change the roster, question the lineup, give up on the season and all. Dont those people know its horrible times???

Nudge and Casual Observer = Paul Tm Dandruff..

A Redsox Fan who posing as Yankees Fan. He also write in

http://yanksfansoxfan.typepad.com/ysfs/

A piece of garbage and crap website . lol..

He's nerd, blogging on his computer all day long.. No Life at all.... hhaha

The Devil Redsox are Here, maybe Paul TM Danruff kiss Osama Ass.. lol

I love the transformational nature of you guys.

Daytime....Im not worried its April theres time to right the ship.

Nighttime.....This is a complete disaster..Torre is sleepwalking and the team is sleepwalking with him....Pavano, Nieves, Farnsworth, Torre, Myers, all are taking up valuable roster space.

Chip,
Maybe Torre should call a strike on every first pitch as some have suggested earlier. That cracks me up, I know it sucks having guys like Nudge here to bust our *sses, but when people make statements like "it's Torre's fault because he should call the right pitches and get strike one on every batter", I just fall out of the chair laughing. I mean, do people really think Torre is on the bench thinking to himself 'okay, let's get behind on Vernon Wells, that's always a good thing'. That is just ammunition for guys like Nudge.

As for Hughes, I'm not heaping praise on him just yet. He had the same control problems he had in ST which he supposedly fixed in AAA a couple of weeks ago. All the "stuff" in the world doesn't matter if you can't get it over the plate or have to pitch from behind to ML hitters.

I'd still rather see him in AAA at this point but he might give the Yankees a better chance than Igawa does.

I'm thinking that just ignoring his posts and denying him the attention he craves will send him on his way

Boy another guy doing word Math. Is that why none of it really made any sense. Maybe it was Abstract Algebra, I was really good at Abstrat Algebra in College but haven't used it in years. as that Abstract Algebra jb?

Chip,

Jim kinda gets it a bit.

You people need to get over yourselves.

This is a blog...for anyone who wants to comment, to do just that.

None of you...Lucy, Chip, or the other regulars have anything to say about the amount of time anyone else spends on here. Alot of us work at a computer....we do multiple things at a time...computer will allow you to do that. It's not hard to work and follow along in here, as well as other blogs or chat rooms.

You let Nudge yank your chain and then try and convince everyone that he doest bother you...yet you continue to let him play you like a game of darts....he's the dart, you're the dartboard. Nudge is very clever and very funny...if you stopped being so anal, and let the humor flow thru...you might enjoy his comments.

Alot of you Yankee fans ARE arrogant, and you DO think you're entitled. You love to make your little chants like "1918" ..."26 rings"...etc etc...and you DO love to mock and kick around anyone or anything non Yankee.....Nudge obviously is turning the tables on you.

Now, some of you I dont put into the above catagory...for the most part, but there are plenty in here who are mired in it. Dont tell me to go to a Sox site...I will if I want...but I'll stay here if I'd like too.I'll make the comments I choose to. If I decide to point out one of your hypocritical comments, tough...you're welcome to do the same to me. I'll manage.

You do not choose or decide whether Nudge, me or anyone else is "deserving" of this blog.....we do.

I gave you the "key" to Nudge....you're too blind and stubborn to use it. So be it.

Heres a sample of Yankee fan posting....

said:

call as it may but here is the reasons floating regarding Managerial changes, my sources may be good or be bad anyway....

1. Torre is playing strategy here, it is hard to fire him now almost impossible , why ? becasue it would be the biggest distraction and possibl;y affect the players. Torre knows this he plays the yankees well. If the team was to fire him it should have been last year.

2. coaches

Torre connection is too MAttingly and Guidry , reason : Becasue they are worthless and pose no threat to his legacy, OPena and Bowa is cool but at arms length , Torre was,nt to keen on their hiring felt that threat. plus organization is still caught in the middle on hiring a minority manager becasue if so Willie would have been Torre auctioned him for a Job as a friend and to further oush away WIllie's chances of becoming a Yankee Mgr.

This job made Torre who he is, He desires not to be outshined or to reveal the obvious. You see that is a reason Torre continues to hint at extending his contract he wants to leave when his core players are done and over the hill. i nno way does he want any one else to manage Jeter , Mo, Jorge, and even alex while they are in Pinstripes.
Lets say pena comes in this year and the team wins 3 ws in a row already torre championships would be then ok common . Torre wants to have Stengel like championships that would be unreachable in todays market.

I'm tired will continued when asked.

Like i said take it as you want , this is from sources mouths

From Anonymous

Jim

I agree - Torre, Gator, Posada, hell, fans sitting in the bleachers can call all the pitches they want, it falls to the pitcher to execute them.

Joe was on WFAN for his weekly spot with Mike and the Mad Dog and he said a few things - a couple that concerned me:

1 - He has not lost faith in Farnsworth - which is fine

2 - He moved Igawa to the pen because he hasn't like what he has seen from him thus far - that's a problem, if you don't like what you're seeing from him burying him in the pen isn't going to help because spot work is not conducive to improving control - I know that options are limited but maybe a trip to the minors is the better option

3 - when asked about Rivera in the 8th he admitted that he was thinking about how he was going to deal with the press after the game - that might have been tongue and cheek but if not, then that's a big problem - dealing with the press should be the last thing on his mind.

I think that the Yankees once Mussina comes back will look at Karstens, Hughes and Igawa and the two that show the most promise will stay in the rotation.

"Hail Lucifer" THe Evil are winning the Al east. That's The Redsox

All Redsox Players pleads his allegiance to Lucifer especially Larry Lucchino .

Here's a poem on the Redsox

In Darkness.
I Live.
In Darkness.
I Prey.
In Darkness.
I Hunt.
In Darkness.
I Eat.
In Darkness.
My Emperor Live´s.
In Darkness.
My Emperor Prey´s.
In Darkness.
My Emperor Hunt´s.
In Darkness.
My Emperor Eat´s.
DARKNESS SHALL RULE THE WORLD!!!

The raven´s eye´s...
So black and hateful.
Out to hunt light.
And when the light has fled in horror before him,
And our desire is upon thee below.
Shadows will conquer the world.
THAT is the time for our emperor to come up,
to the surface of earth
and reigen for all time.
That is when Darkness is forever.
HAIL SATAN

I can see the red light, and I bow to my lord. Hand-in-hand with my dark
sister Lilth, I wander on the road to my salvation! I am one of the
chosen few! And we will make a new world together! And there we will
live without God and his patetic army, but before we leave this world we
have sworn to fight for our eternal quest, our goal, to destory heaven
and "God"...... Reige Satanas! Hell Satan! Ave Satanas! In nomeni dei
nostri Satanas Luceferi exelci! Shemhamforash!

The devil send the beast with wrath,
and it’s number is 666.
He has come to prepare for Satan’s arrival.
The beast…. Clearing the left hand path
from the true Christian believers.
And when he has cleared the path,
That is the time for Satan to come up.
Satan our father, our emperor. WE….
Your children,
have not yet destroyed the enemy.
But that time will come to,
when all Christian believers are killed.
Then darkness will conquer the world.
HAIL SATAN

See this you read and are OK with. Can anyone tell me what the load or garbage means? The only way to deal with these type of posts is treat them as entertainment fodder. If you cant laugh at yourselves then you are definitely taking yourselves tooo seriously.

What I saw:

1. A talented young pitcher who looks like the pick of the litter as alleged, but needing work on location, his changeup, etc. Showing indications of a front-line future, but not at this stage a 'savior'.

2. A team that looks to be in free fall at the present moment, in need of immediate help in the form of stoppers on the mound NOW.

3. A slow, boring game that did not seem to attract much interest even from the players, let alone the fans in the Stadium, who were lucky to at least have the novelty of the new guy to focus on.

4. My team, right or wrong. Not a subject for hateful gloating. Affectionate or even impatient humor, yes. Demands for better play, absolutely. Envious spite, no. Bandwagon types and those who get their tacky little thrills from the hope that others will be brought down to their level are showing who they are now -- to their shame, not that of the team or its loyal fans.

I have a bit of a rant about a radio DJ who is a Red Sox fan. I'm so angry, I have to relate this story. I was listening to a Connecticut radio station where a poor little boy with a rare disease was on the air asking for support for his cause of getting a home makeover to help accommodate his medical needs (which his family couldn't afford). He said he was a Yankees fan. This is how part of the conversation went:

RED SOX DJ: So you're a Yankees fan. Do you have any friends who are Red Sox fans?
DYING BOY: Yes.
RED SOX DJ: Well, you have another one here. The Red Sox are playing the Yankees this weekend. Good luck. You're gonna need it.

What kind of mean thing is that for an adult, especially one in that position, to say to a dying child with a rare disease who calls the radio station seeking support for his cause? And they say Yankees fans are mean because we boast 26 World Series wins? Unbelievable.

Sorry, but I had to get that out of my system.