Topic: Yankees Baseball

Just like you have to be prepared against Halladay, Burnet, Beckett these pitchers know they have to be careful when pitching against you and they are human and they get rattled when you attack them effectively or wait on them to make mistakes also effectively and get to their relievers early they are not cold blooded mammals, they are frigging humans just like you.

"You're not going to see that too often," Jeter said of the Yankees' assault that saw them score 10 runs in the first two innings off Royals starter Brain Bannister. "I thought everybody contributed. Everybody had good at-bats."

Why is it so difficult to have some very good at bats almost every game? All it takes is total dedication, focus and execution. If you believe in yourselves (and we already know you do) you can keep this approach and don’t let your guard down not even for the tiniest moment. You see Halladay or Burnet up there you ought to think ‘This guy has to go down    . . . . .   he is going down” and don’t ever doubt your abilities or how lethal your team can be from one to nine.

If you do not believe you can beat any of these great pitchers you’re wasting your time and ours.  They are great pitchers but you believe deep down you’re a great team too. If you do believe it can be done and it needs to be done then fear nothing. How are you going to land on the playoffs unless you shoot for the stars? When you are in sync you can rally forever (with the occasional HR for emphasis) against the best   . . . . . . .    We all know that.

Forget about series you’re beyond series you’re going for the jugular now and you won’t be taking prisoners. Who says that? You do. That’s what it amounts to.

If it has been done before it could be done again. It if hasn’t then that is because there’s never been a team like yours. You’ve said it in your own words.

If you do believe in yourselves and act accordingly you’ll make a true believer out of Girardi and his job will be a lot easier because when he fully trust what you can do as a team he can then be daring and unpredictable and effective as a manager because you all want to make it to the playoffs and truly  believe you can when all of us have given up on you because we said “there is no time left” and you insisted over and over “yes there is”  so I like to think you’re right and there is a precedent for that: Mussina.

We were all wrong about the Moose and now we truly believe in his effectiveness and we look up to him as the stopper he has become in his own right.

Fortunately, you don’t have to go very far for a source of inspiration.

On a different subject.

Sorry Wallace Matthews but this time you went beyond idiocy. The reason why Torre’s Dodgers sit atop the NL West has a first name and a last one: Manny Ramirez. Many came and Manny won (at least so far) so your pseudo Psychoanalysis doesn’t hold any water. You should try working on Jeff Kent instead at least he’s the same type of idiot you are.

Good news and Bad news about C.C. Sabathia formerly known as the Sux piñata.

The good news is that Manny has left the Fenway building and Ortiz is not the same without Manny so now Foston is no longer that effective when facing Sabathia if Sabathia ever . . . . . .

The bad news is that

the Brewers know when to suc/k a bargain dry and they are going to blow Sabathia’s arm or shoulder and knowing how lucky Cashman gets it will probably be his shoulder and there is not a damn thing Cashman can do. Believe it or not. You know where you read it first (we’re getting ****y aren’t we?  Well after reading about Torre’s philosophy and strategy in the LA times and LA Daily news  Why not? )  I bet Torre is really hating it in LA commuting between Malibu and Maui with the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains in between.  Yeah what a life    . . . . . .  the Yankees really did a number on Torre    . . . . .    Right Wallace?

Posada goes: “It’s not Maui but Mahi-Mahi”  I know my Hawaiian.“

One of the collegiate softball players I always loved watching when she played for Hofstra University a few years ago was Danielle Stewart and she’s now representing her country Australia in the current Olympic Games in Beijing helping her team make the medal round.

She used to play for the Hofstra Pride and she was always a tough competitor like most Hofstra Pride stars are. Credit goes to Hofstra’s fine coach Bill Edwards.

A good tip from that fine former Olympic pitcher from the USA team Michelle Smith for struggling pitchers is: forget about the big picture concentrate instead and focus on every pitch then on every out ONE at a time if you want to help your team or keep your team in the game and it’s worth repeating: “Concentrate on every pitch one at a time then you can focus on every out one at a time.”

Speaking about the 2009 season (Global Warming permitting) there doesn’t seem to be a way for Cashman to blow that one. We already know that Hank will go for a big arm during the offseason (just like we already know that the real mini-boss is Hal the thrifty side of the family) so that would give us: Big Name Guy, Mussina, Wang, Pettitte and Joba IF that idiot Girardi doesn’t ruin their hamstrings with that boot camp mentality that took us nowhere this year.

So all those fugazzies Hughes, Kennedy, Brackman, Sanchez, Melancon, Coke, Esteves or Aceves (whatever) etc will be just the icing on the cake.

We know that Abreu should be back, So that would give us a decent lineup: Damon, Jeter, Abreu, A-rod, Matsui, Nady, Cano, Posada (not bad if Girardi doesn’t run them into the ground either), the pen should do OK, Cashman is an idiot (that’s a given) but he can’t be that stupid that he won’t be able to find a group of guys including the present group who can‘t be an effective bridge to MO.

Throw in a fine centerfielder maybe Beltran (depending on how the Mets finish this year and whether their fans continue to blame Beltran even for the problems Wagner is going through, some people make their own bad luck I believe Wagner is one of them another player I disagree with Lupica on) or someone else with a decent range, power and OBP numbers and we’ll be almost set.

Then let Girardi show us what kind a of a genius he can be with a superstar lineup (as we all know turning potentiality into a reality is not an easy task) at least on paper.

Actually I can’t wait for that to happen. When do pitchers and catchers report to camp?

Remember how we used to covet Rowland for our CF? He didn’t do great this year so that would have been another failure at least for this season.

He can stay the hell away from Yankee Stadium for the rest of his natural life.

How about this for inspiring his players to do well in tonight’s game: "You know what you are going to get with Halladay," Girardi said. "He is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball."

He didn’t say “He’s one of the best pitchers in Baseball” he had to add: “ . . . in ALL OF Baseball . . .”  So what’s the message here?  Don’t even bother to show up, we are going to lose this game.  If you asked him he’ll tell you my players know what I meant? So that’s the way he did it with the Marlins? A huge WOW.

Another pearl but this one is from Andy referring to Jeter: “He’s been clutch all the time.”  Andy you’re up there in my books but please  . . . . .   if that statement was true we would be in first place in the AL East trust me.

I know you meant more or less: “it feels like if he’s been clutch  . . etc. . . .” The faux-pass is understandable.

That reminds me of the time Girardi went one step further and modified the maxim: “It’s all about winning series”  by saying: “And it all starts with winning the first game”  as soon as these guys started losing the first game of every series they also lost the series.

Torre used to do the same thing it was only after some of us zealot fans called his remarks stupid that he refined them and perfected them. He was resilient all right.

So the question is: Is this team going to show up for tonight’s game or are they going to follow their manager’s implied call to defeat and just mail in their individual 0 for 4 instead?

I still want this team to succeed this season. It’s a shame for a bunch of guys who believe so much in themselves to let the dream die. More power to you guys  . . . .   Soldier on. Win pretty, win ugly  . . . just win.