The Bottom Line » New York Yankees

There’s No Crying In Baseball!

patrickdonohue — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:02:19 +0000

Two baseball posts in less a month? I know, not like me at all, but I just couldn’t resist this story.

New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi is peeved at Tampa Bay Devil Rays reserve second baseman Elliot Johnson for running over Yankees catcher Fransisco Cervelli in a spring training game yesterday, breaking the 22-year-old’s wrist in the process.

Quoting New York Newsday:

“I think it’s uncalled for,” a visibly angry Girardi, a former catcher, said minutes after Elliot Johnson knocked Cervelli out of the Rays’ 4-1 exhibition win at Legends Field. “It’s spring training. You’re going to get people hurt. That’s what we got. We got Cervelli hurt. I’m all for playing hard, but I don’t think it’s the time when you run over a catcher.”

You know what I say to Girardi and a lesser extent to Cervelli (who had no problem with the play when asked by reporters)? Tough. If you don’t want to play the game within the spectrum of the rules, don’t field a team.

Every year guys come into spring training and NFL training camps fighting for a spot on a roster and will do whatever it takes to make the team. If that means going 100 percent during a 75 percent drill against an all-pro tackle or going headlong into a catcher at a play at home plate. The 24-year-old Johnson was giving it his all and trying to make that roster and make a living. If Girardi doesn’t like it, I suggest he find another line of work.

That being said, I do think that some of Girardi’s outrage was posturing. Appearing angrier than he was to stick up for his guy but my guess is, after seeing Girardi play for a good chunk of his career, that if Elliot Johnson was his guy, he would have gotten a pat on the rear for giving it everything he he had.

This likely isn’t the end of this story and Elliot Johnson will likely have one coming between his shoulder blades the next time these two teams play but with all the press this kid got today, I think that sting of that fastball between his numbers will have been well worth it. Welcome to the bigs.

LSU, Team USA, Becks and Joba

patrickdonohue — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:48:24 +0000

Is LSU overrated? That was a question posed to the ESPN talking heads prior to kickoff in last night’s game between the Bayou Bengals and the fighting Crooms of Mississippi State in Starkville. And after last night’s game, one would have to say that based solely on last night and nothing else, the answer to that question is yes. Forget the score. Everything you need to know about LSU and how good they may or may not be can be found in the first quarter and a half of that game. You know, the part where, despite Michael Henig’s two bonehead turnovers, the Tigers managed to muster only a field goal. I heard some talk in postgame that maybe offensive coordinator Gary Crowton was trying not to tip his hand, trying not to give Virginia Tech too much to look at leading up to the season’s best nonconference game next weekend in Baton Rouge. But come on. You mean to tell me in the first half, the Tigers barely managed to score 17 points off four Henig interceptions on purpose? No way. Defensively, LSU is an absolute nightmare. Glenn Dorsey is every bit as good as advertised and Tyson Jackson looks better because he plays with Dorsey, who is hands-down the best defensive lineman in America. Jonathan Zenon and Chevis Jackson may be the best pair of corners in college football and Craig Steltz looked like a dominant safety last night but offensively, there are big question marks starting with the unit’s ability to sustain a drive and score in the red zone. You have to be concerned about that if you’re Les Miles given that this team has to find a way to score points against Virginia Tech next week and Virginia Tech’s defense is a lot tougher than Mississippi State’s. LSU really leaned on the defense for most of the first half but against a better opponent, they may not be able to lean that long. One thing became unmistakably clear last night: LSU isn’t ready for USC. They may not even be ready for Alabama.

This is Slyvester Croom’s last year in Starkville and last night solidified that. What I don’t understand about Mississippi State’s gameplan last night is why they abandoned the run. The most effective and sustained drives of last night’s game for MSU came when they handed sophomore Tony Dixon the ball and let him break tackles and make plays. Given two quick, stupid interceptions, why in the world would you trust Michael Henig to continue throwing the ball? Especially in the rain?!? It defies logic. You have to wonder if the Mississippi State coaching staff looked up at the scoreboard at the end of the first quarter, saw the score and panicked. But make no mistake, Henig is the reason Mississippi State lost that ballgame last night. You cannot throw four interceptions in the first half against any college football team, let alone the second best team in the country, and expect to win or even compete in games. It was always a bad situation in Starkville for Slyvester Croom but Michael Henig really sealed his coach’s fate last night. Getting shutout at home on national television is never good for job security.

So can we stop talking about Major League Soccer now? Is it officially alright to bury soccer’s hope for pop culture and mainstream sports acceptance once and for all? It looks like David Beckham won’t play this season for the Los Angeles Galaxy and somehow life goes on in American sports. The reality is that Beckham did more for soccer in America off the pitch than anything he did on it. Dancing with the Stars has a better chance of getting on Sportscenter than the MLS does during the NFL and college football seasons and with or without Beckham, I’m not sure the MLS ever really had a chance. Americans sports fans have figured out what they like and what they don’t like and professional soccer has made a home in that latter category.

American basketball is back. If you hadn’t heard the U.S. basketball team has been getting medieval on the competition at the FIBA Americas tournament in Las Vegas. The team is trying to secure its bid for the ‘08 summer games in Beijing and if last night’s game was any indication, they’re a lock. The Americans throttled defending gold medalists Argentina last night and has put the rest of the world on notice. With a starting five that consists of LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Jason Kidd and Dwight Howard, you have to feel pretty good about your chances of a return to the glory days of The Dream Team. The truth is that this team hasn’t even been threatened in this tournament and you have to wonder if maybe Coach K wasn’t onto something when he made the players sign on for a multi-year commitment to the team and to U.S.A. basketball. The chemistry on the team is great and relatively ego-free (these are NBA players we’re talking about — let’s keep a little perspective) and you have to wonder if there’s a team in the world that can play with Team U.S.A. the way they’re playing now. We could see a return to gold in 2008.

A rare sight in these parts: a baseball post. It takes stones for a rookie in pinstripes to throw at a Red Sox (upon review, it wasn’t really all that ballsy, the game was at Yankee Stadium after all). But I think Joba Chamberlain’s missiles over the head of Kevin Youkilis really speak to a larger problem in baseball. Throwing at people and bean ball needs to become a thing of the past in the game before someone gets killed. I know there are codes of etiquette and unwritten rules and all of that but isn’t that why baseball is becoming an afterthought once football season starts? All the nonsense rules and strategy that make the game drag on for mind-numbing hours is lost on modern America. Me, I prefer for my rules to be written and all of the nonsense machismo of pitchers that never have to go to the plate putting one between someone’s shoulder blades is fit for the squared circle and not for the diamond. Chamberlain’s tough guy act in the Bronx yesterday didn’t threaten anyone, they didn’t come close to making contact with Youkilis’ skull but is that what it’s going to take for Major League Baseball to wake up and knock off the goonery? I guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised. As a nation and as a culture, we are way more reactive than proactive and what’s going on at Virginia Tech is a perfect example of that. Maybe Major League Baseball could be ahead of the curve for once but given its track record for nipping problems in the Bud (pun intended), I wouldn’t bet on it.

Tuesday’s Line

patrickdonohue — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:30:55 +0000

I’ll get to my usual list of stories that I think are cool and noteworthy but first this. One of my weekly rituals at work is checking the iTunes music store for anything that might strike my fancy. Usually, I’m in the market for exclusive live recordings from some of my favorite bands or other equally cool things but today I saw something that just goes above and beyond stupid. For just $11.99, you can pre-order your very own copy of the Live Earth performances. When you order your copy today, you get the live recording of John Mayer’s Waiting on the World to Change (I’m a self-professed Mayer fan, recovering Mayer addict but if I hear that song again, I’m going to hurt someone). But here’s the thing, there are 13 tracks … and you have no idea what they are when you throw down 12 of your hard-earned schekles to pre-order this compilation. But it gets better, when can you expect to see the CD that you pre-ordered? “Later this summer,” according to the description on the iTunes store. Unreal, so you have no idea what’s on it and you have no idea when it’s going to come out but you want me to buy it because with it, I can download the only song I know for a fact is on the record but it’s a song that I hate with such passion that for the three and a half minutes that song’s on the radio I wish I were deaf. No, thanks. Do the organizers of this concert really have that little respect for the people they’re trying to reach? I mean, really. Unbelievable.

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No, seriously…

A juror in England is being charged with contempt of court after it was discovered that she was listening to her MP3 player during a murder trial.

A Cape Cod man told a judge that he was a homophobic racist with a propensity for telling lies in an attempt to avoid jury duty.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen dished out $12 million for a 40-foot yellow submarine.

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A pretty solid piece in the San Diego Union-Tribune on the decline of the sports trading card industry.

Ex-Purdue QB Brandon Kirsch wishes he had stayed at Purdue instead of acting like a petulant child and stupidly declaring early for the NFL draft. The reality is that there was a reason why Kirsch played behind Kyle Orton and why he was replaced in his junior year by redshirt freshman Curtis Painter — he’s not a very good quarterback.

The New York Daily News looks at which team is likely to land A-Rod when he opts out of his contract with the Yankees at the end of this season. What?! The Pirates didn’t make this list?! Come on.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist and resident screamer on Around the Horn Jay Marriotti volunteers himself for a ruthless beating in his column today.

Michael Jordan’s son, Jeff, becomes college basketball’s most celebrated walk-on.

Interesting story in the Dallas Morning News about former Nevada forward and Dallas Maverick Nick Fazekas.

Former Iowa guard Pierre Pierce is out of prison and back on the basketball court. I think that one of the lines in this story perfectly summarizes why people like Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson continue to find themselves on pro rosters. “He is here at the invitation of the Warriors, who are intrigued enough by his potential — and undeterred by his past — to offer a summer-league spot…” This guy has been twice convicted of charges related to sexual assault and just served an 11-month prison sentence. The people of the Bay Area should be vocal and make sure this guy doesn’t make the roster and represent their community.

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Well-rounded news…

Will there be an iPhone nano?

I’m tired of hearing about The Simpsons Movie but you can vote on just which Springfield is the real Springfield.

Head of EA says video games need to be more innovative.

Good piece in Newsweek on Digg founder Kevin Rose.

The heat of summer is hurting consumers at the pump in more ways than one.

Chicago film critics are not happy that Fox is trying to control press on their films by limiting press screenings.

The Kings of Leon are apparently at odds about drummer Nathan Followill getting married.

Bloc Party will be heading to North America for a tour this fall. Luckily for my girlfriend (who unabashedly hates Bloc Party), the band will not be playing Atlanta.

The Beverly Hills mansion of William Randolph Hearst can be yours for $165 million.

Spike Lee is saying he is not a part of ‘mainstream’ Hollywood.