Those Pesky Yankees

Better Than the Real Thing  -U2

Public Service Announcement:  Ok here we go.  Sheffield out.  Matsui out.  Cano out.  Chacon being sent down.  Damon hurting.  Sturtze is out for the season.  Small has been designated for assignment.  Big Eunuch, win one lose one, ERA 5.25.  Jaret Wrong, 5-5.  Sox destroy the National League.  Win two in a row against the reigning World Champions.  Papi’s hitting a home run every other at bat.  Sox should be up like 12 games, right?  Nope.   Only up 3.         

Could’ve been two.  Yesterday, Boom Boom Beckett leaves the game.  Up three.  No outs.   Bases loaded.  Look who it is.   Jim Thome, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye.  Trouble.  Big Trouble.  But don’t worry here comes the other Javy Lopez.  Lopez struck out Thome. Now its Craig Hansen’s turn.   The St. John’s product promptly retired the two men he faced. No runs, no worries.  So, what gives?  How is this happening?  How are the Sox only up three?  Pitching my friends, pitching. 

The Red Sox’ 4 & 5 pitchers are awful.  Jason Johnson cannot be long for this team.  He is a nightmare.  Where’s David Pauley when you need him?  Wakefield is what he is.  An innings eater and not much else.  If the Sox had a guy like say, I dunno, Bronson Arroyo, the lead would be insurmountable.  So, as King Kong prepares to come back August 15th, and Sheffield, September 1st, Sox fans begin to worry.  But call me Alfred E. Neuman. 

What?  Me worried?  No way.  I say, Sox continue to beat the daylights out of everybody of consequence; and the Bombers, with or without Messrs. Matsui and Sheffield do not make the playoffs for the first time in a long time. 

Public Knowledge:

1.  King James agreed to a contract extension of up to five years and worth as much as $80 million with the Cavaliers.  Good news for the Cavs.  They win at least 2 in those five.

2.  Francisco Liriano wins his sixth straight.  Puts him at 10-1 for the year.  Imagine if the Twins decided to put him in the order to start the season.  Yowza!  He’s making things very tough for Papelbon to win the Rookie of the Year.

3.  In case you missed it.  An unbelieveable dunk.

4.  Pujols does it again.  Another game ending home run.  Between him and Papi, its almost becoming expected.

5.  Why do they even show the third place soccer game.  Would you watch the Mighty Ducks vs. Buffalo.  C’mon, it’s just stupid.

6.  Check out this website:  Drunk Athletes.  Steve Nash and John Daly are the best.

7.  Kerry Woods, hurt again.  Shocker.  Partial tear in his rotator cuff.  This guy is killing the Cubs and fantasy players everywhere.

8.  Its put up or shut up time for Stephon Marbury.  The Knicks are his team to run now.  No more Larry Brown scapegoat.  No more excuses.  Zeke has turned over the keys to the hoopty to Starbury.  Let’s see what he does. 

Public Figures:  Brought to you by the good folks at Elias Sports Bureau and ESPN the Worldwide Leader.

1.  Did you see that Red Sox-White Sox game on yesterday?  We didnt.  Even with the package it was blacked out.  Disgraceful.  But,  if you did, you saw something that had never happened before in the history of Major League Baseball.  David Ortiz broke a 3-3 tie  (suprise, suprise) by hitting his 31st home run of the season.  Jim Thome responded with his 30th homer of the season to knot the game in the bottom of the fifth.  It was the first time in major-league history that, in a game prior to the All-Star break, two players had each homered, lifting their season totals to 30 or more.

2.   Nomah extended his hitting streak to 20 games, the fifth time in his major-league career that he has had a single-season streak of that length. (Earlier this season, Ichiro fashioned his fourth single-season hitting streak of 20-or-more games since joining the Mariners, so Nomar’s current streak again provides him with the lead among active players in that category.)

3.  Francisco Liriano threw seven shutout innings in the Twins’ 4-0 victory over the Rangers, lifting his record to 10-1 and reducing his ERA to 1.83. He became only the second rookie to head into the All-Star break with at least 10 wins and a sub-2.00 ERA. The other was Jerry Koosman of the Mets; he headed into the 1968 All-Star break with a record of 11-4 and an ERA of 1.94.

4.  Justin Verlander also got his 10th win.  This is only the third season since 1933, the year of the first All-Star Game, where two rookies had amassed 10-or-more wins prior to the midseason classic.  It also happened in 1934 (the Cardinals’ Paul Dean, 10-4; the Phillies’ Curt Davis, 10-8) and in 1970 (Cincinnati’s Wayne Simpson, 13-1; Montreal’s Carl Morton, 10-6).

Peace out homies.  Six Two and Even!

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