Nothing since May 15th, I know - I was in the Caribbean for a week and then spent a week catching up at work. Anyway, here comes what will be my longest post since I started this thing a few weeks ago (let's hope I still have a couple readers!):

I've been reading it all over ESPN.com, MLB.com, CNNSI.com - "No team has ever come back from a 13.5 game deficit to win a division"; "No team 8 games under .500 after 50 games have ever won a playoff series in the Wildcard Era"; Ladies and Gentlemen, as Chris Berman would say, "That is why they play the games..."

Does anyone remember (I try to forget) 2004? I had Game One World Series tickets all paid for and ready to face the Cardinals at Yankee Stadium, and then the Yanks lost 4 straight. God, I even tried to root for Kevin Brown. That was desperation. What I'm saying is that ESPN.com, MLB.com, CNNSI.com, etc...all said: "No one has ever been down 3 games to none and came back to win four straight..."

Guess what guys, call me nuts, or call it the Caribbean sun (or the vast amounts of rum that were poured down my throat), but how about the Yanks rewrite a little history? We won last night, now it's a 12.5-game deficit...one game at a time, we're in business.

*(sidenote: I convinced myself that this year I would remain as optimistic as possible in several situations that don't involve Mike Myers; like for instance, I was going be an A-Rod fan - no getting on his case, no booing, etc...so i'm going to remain as optimistic about this season as I can)

The Yankee Clippard makes his debut against the Muts:
I happened to be in a bar/restaurant in St. Thomas when the projection TV put on the Yanks/Mets game when Clip made his debut - and yes his ears are huge. But I like the way he pitches, even that weird stutter-step he does - against the Mets he wasn't afraid to go at some guys, which was nice to see, because some guys get all scared once they get on a big-league mound. Yes, he regressed a little in his next start against the Angels, but I see him as a keeper in the Yanks rotation for years down the line with Wang-er & Hughes....

2 of 3 Against the Red ***:
The Yanks took 2 of 3 against Boston after salvaging the last game against the Mets, and to be honest with you, I thought that was the turnaround - all of a sudden the Angels didn't seem scary and the Yanks were back in business! Even the game I had tickets to (Wed, 5/23) they won - so my father's coworker must've had a blast!

Angels Sweep the Yanks into the Gutter:
...and then they lose 3 straight to Los Angeles of Anaheim which resides in California along the Pacific Ocean on the West Coast. Ugh, what a step back. And then it's about this time that I realize why all the Phillies phans I know were laughing at me when we got Abreu last year. The guy really stinks (I know, I should remain optimistic for my blood pressure's sake).

Pettitte = bigger Savior then Roger?
Andy has rekindled the reason as to why he is and always will be one of my favorite pitchers ever. The guy can pitch! He's out there busting his *** every 5th day - he's had exactly ONE bad start all year (naturally the game I went to see him against Matsuzaka). I wonder if he is having any impact on some of our young starters like DeSalvo, the Yankee Clippard, Hughes, etc...after all, the guy spends a large amount with Clemens, maybe by osmosis some of it has been brought Pettitte's way.
Just think, if Andy actually got 3 runs a game, he might have 8 wins with that tiny ERA, and nobody would be talking about Beckett, or Lackey, or anyone else with all the wins...

"Ha!":
I can argue for both sides, because I coach High School baseball and constantly tell my players NOT to pull that ****, but then I play in a Men's league and guys do it all the time. I
Howie Clark should've been yelling "Mine", "I got it!", anything like that, since he was camped out under it. That is something taught all through the ranks of baseball - "Call the ball!" It's always easy to pin a mistake on the guy making $25million when YOU should've been the one yelling the loudest.

With Giambi hurt, unfortunately Abreu has to play:
I'm getting tired of lazy Bobby - he refuses to dive for a ball, or even slide on his knees in the outfield for fear of a grass stain - and I'm convinced I could hit better then him right now, and I've been exclusively pitching since college. The whole fantasy of mine that they could bench him while Melky plays went out the window because the Giambino went down. Which *****, because I sit in the RF box seats very often and would one day love to snag a Giambi-bomb...I sure as **** know that Abreu won't hit one to me, and when he's in RF on defense I need to wear sunglasses for the night games because he refuses to get his uniform dirty. And the whiteness blinds me.

Roger on Monday!
I cannot wait. Roger is the man, can't wait to see him mow White Sox hitters down. Hopefully we'll be coming off a 3-game Boston sweep and the bats will be banging out some runs. At least we know that Jetes and Jorge will be mashing...

A little treat for those of you who read this far; an Alyssa Milano photo, in a Yankees shirt. Most heterosexual males dream of this...

...How about they start hitting! Unless your name is Derek Jeter, no one is hitting right now. The Yanks are losing these low-scoring games, games that they should be winning when all the pitchers are starting to come around. Pettitte went into the 8th, only giving up 2 runs (yesterday). Fine effort. Take away that 14-2 drubbing and the bullpen has done great for the month of May (even Mike Myers).

Jeter Side-note: I want to see Jetes keep it up so that he can win the Batting Title/MVP that he almost had last year (and shut up all those moronic critics in the process).

Rocket re-launch: Rumor is that he'll start in Tampa on Friday (5/18), and then 5 days later in Trenton (5/23). Residing in the Trenton-metro area, I've been attending Thunder games since they formed in '94 - would LOVE to catch the Rocket there next week - one problem though: I'm leaving for St. Thomas on Saturday for a week...decisions, decisions.... ;>)

I'm ignoring the Thursday day-game altogether (my Dad called me Friday morning to say "Good thing we went Wednesday and not yesterday"). Every team drops a bomb.
Yanks lost last night 3-0 - Giambi was a late scratch. Rasner threw respectively, doing his job. He only gave up 3 runs in 5 IP, and he a mere threw 78 pitches. Not sure exactly why he didn't go a little longer, especially with the overworked-bullpen situation. This isn't the first time I think Rasner has been yanked too quick - that game where Arod hit the walk-off against Cleveland he only went 4 innings, and I felt he could've gone longer. It's not like Raz hasn't been starting games - he's been a starter for the Yanks/AAA since last summer, so it's not an endurance thing...maybe Gator sees something unravel in his mechanics, and before Darrell gets into any trouble they pull him...
Tip your cap to Washburn - he threw a gem, as he always seems to do against the Yanks. He's got that David Wells hex on us (then we got Wells - "If we can't beat him, sign him"). So I see Washburn becoming a Yankee in a few seasons...

...and is promptly gunned down at 2nd. Hey, it's nice to finally have an average, even if it's .043. Poor guys hasn't had a Major League hit since 2002!
Went to the game last night - nice win. Abreu was in the 2 slot mainly because Giambi sat and the aforementioned Nieves played as Posada got a day off with a day-game today (Thursday). Jeter, looking as much like a 3-hitter as anyone can, had 3 ribbies to lead the way. Moose was sharp, you could tell quick he was on, even with the hiccup in the 3rd inning.
Mariano came in, he was throwing well even though he got interrupted twice by two numbskulls running onto the field...Mientkiewicz made some sharp plays at 1B, and continued his hitting streak - I'm warming up to him.
Believe it or not, the headline of the night:

MIKE MYERS GOT A LEFTHANDED HITTER OUT!!!! REJOICE!
Granted, it was a .230-hitting Wilkerson, but hey, we got to start somewhere...

Slightly off-topic question to those who happen to check this: Does anyone know what the song name/artist is for the tune the Stadium plays for Arod when he comes to bat? I'm usually up on all this, but this one eludes me...I'm hoping that someone who attends the games frequently this year may be able to help out...or someone who consistently jams to hip-hop...

I will be on my way to the game at 3:00pm - gorgeous day! Feeling real good about the team after the past few games/pitching performances - tonight Moose takes the hill - I'm due for a win since I've seen 2 straight losses since the Opening Day win (4/6 & 4/27)! 

To make room for Matty DeSalvo, the Yanks made a somewhat-surprising move and sent Kei Igawa down to Scranton. Millions of dollars aside, I think this is a very good baseball decision if the Yanks want him to remain a starter - he can work some kinks out and be back in a few weeks, or can assume a Sean Henn-like role in the bullpen which is an option that many people have floated (and then the Yanks can get rid of Mike Myers! Hoo-rah! More on that in a later post) The decision was also based on Darrell Rasner's recent performance on Roger Clemens Day 2007 (Sunday) - Rasner has actually pitched pretty good all year in his starts - the only knock was that he didn't make it deep into some games (and to be honest I think he got yanked pretty quick in some of them). Rasner threw great last year in relief and then some spot starts, and I feel very confident with Raz on the hill. I'm not giving up on Igawa - I just don't have the confidence in him yet. Maybe some AAA work will do him well...

As I write this: DeSalvo has finished 4 innings, only giving up 3 hits (one a leadoff 2B to Ichiro) and a run. Very low pitch count after 4 I might add - a mere 43 pitches.

Caught wind of it, as did everyone else of course, that on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon in the Bronx, Roger Clemens announced to the Stadium crowd he was returning to the Yanks. I can't really describe how happy this makes me - even at age 68, he's still one of the premier talents that graces a mound (actually, 44 years old), AND he replaces Carlita Pavano, who is rumored to be on Dr. Andrews' operating table in the near future to have a new pair of "ligaments" installed...

I can only hope I get a chance to see him live - I have tickets for 6/9, 6/13, 6/15 - he's rumored to be ready in the beginning of June.

Note that only humors myself: Does anyone find it amusing that I perfectly foreshadowed the Clemens signing in my post yesterday?***** I'm good...

I'm starting this blog on a beautiful day of May 5th, 2007. As anyone on the Western Hemisphere is aware, the Yankees pitching staff is a wreck, so I'm not going to rehash the list of injuries, be they legit (Hughes, Philip) or mysterious/eye-brow raising (Pavano, Carlita). I'm also not going to rip into Cashman, because say what you want, for every supposed "bad" move he's made, he's made 4-5 terrific ones. Not his fault if the players don't pan out, sometimes his moves are pre-emptive to keep them from going to Boston, except for the case of Mike Myers, which will be the subject of a future post (trust me!).
The one thing I want throw out there is, and bringing up Hughes was a step in this direction, why the Yanks insist on running out Starting Pitchers that all have the same repertoire or make-up? This irked me when we ran out the Jaret Wright's, the Carlita Pavano's, the John Lieber's, the Esteban Loaiza's etc. WITH Mussina - throw all 3 of those guys out there in a 3-game series and the opponent basically sees the same type of arm all weekend! I have no qualms about the Yanks spending some cash on legit pitchers, just once in a while make it guys who can bring the heat, spice it up in the rotation - I dislike him as much as the next guy, but we could've went for Bartolo Colon the other year, or gosh, even Matt Clement (since injured) instead of Pavano and Wright (i'd still take an injured Clement over those two).
What I meant with the Hughes-call up is that he is that power-arm, brings the heat, and put him in between Mussina & Pettitte, and around Wang (and his deceptive mid-90's stuff) and I like that foursome...then it leads us to the 5th Starter....

Welcome to my Blogging debut - I'm on the computer-savvy side, yet never really found the time to start up one of these...
Anyway, I hope that someone finds this slightly enjoyable, I look forward to comments, and I look forward to commenting on other MLBlogs...
A little about myself: I've been born a Yankee fan (1980), grew up idolizing Donnie Baseball, Winfield, Willie Randolph, Ronny Guidry, Mike Pagliarulo and yes, Steve Sax. Heck, I even liked Alvaro Espinoza for a time. Didn't buy into Rickey Henderson - "hot dog" was the term I used, as at a young age I didn't dabble in too many swear words...I was also convinced Mike Blowers and Bam-Bam Meulens were the real deal...
I've been attending games at the Stadium my whole life, even seeing Rick Cerrone play 2nd Base in an emergency situation.
The past few seasons I've had a mini-plan going, and thanks to the glorious (my wife-to-be doesn't see at so "glorious") YES Network I rarely miss a game.