My annual All-Star break edition of the Hit List is up at Baseball Prospectus. The Yankees hold the #5 spot, but even with their win last night to return to .500, I remain unconvinced, consistent with my recent ranting: Don’t kid yourselves, Yankee fans–despite the high ranking and the upcoming soft schedule, it’s all over …
Yes, I’m still boycotting the All-Star Game. It sure was tempting to cave in, what with Fox’s seven-year broadcast rights re-up and the choice to play the game in front of the only crowd gullible enough to worship Barry Bonds. But once I stuffed my mouth full of aluminum foil and found an old hemostat …
For all of the ranting and raving within — and about — my last two posts regarding the 2007 Yankees, I still find myself holding a handful of tickets to their ballgames. Between that fact and the obligation I have to stay on top of the team for my various BP and radio duties, I …
Yankees’ overall record to date: 37-41 (.474 winning percentage) Record without their early June 14-3 hot streak: 23-38 (.377) Record vs. AL East opponents: 8-17 (.320) Record needed to match the Red Sox’s 99-win pace: 62-22 (.738) Record needed to win 95 games, the same number as the last two AL Wild Cards: 58-26 (.690) …
“Kick in the idiot box and wait for the news in the history books/ It’s like junkies who hate their heroin.” — d. boon, lead singer of the Minutemen, “Shit You Hear at Parties” I give up. I’m done. To hell with the 2007 Yankees, and while I’m at it, to hell with the managerial …
Dear Alex, Oy, it feels like ages since you responded to my first volley, which gets at one of the drawbacks of a set as massive as this — particularly during baseball season, finding the time for a three-hour dig through the archives takes some doing. Anyway, you did a great job of bringing the …
Continue reading ‘Spirit of ’77, Part III: The Dandy Dons’ »
Another week, another Hit List, this one completed under the influence of my wife’s 103-degree fever, Sammy Sosa’s 600th home run, a suspicious-looking early-morning handoff of a laptop at Port Authority, and my editor Christina Kahrl’s impending move to Chicago. As such, it didn’t go up until late Friday afternoon and missed inclusion in BP’s …
Rockin’ the blockquote: Last night, Sammy Sosa hit his 600th home run, becoming just the fifth player in baseball history to do so. Ironically, he hit it against the Chicago Cubs, the team for whom he walloped 545 of those homers, including 243 over a four-year span. While that barrage arguably made him the game’s …
Continue reading ‘Sammy Sosa, 600, and the Hall of Fame [BP Unfiltered]’ »
I came off the bench to pinch-hit for one of my Baseball Prospectus colleagues yesterday. The fruits of my labors can be found in my latest New York Sun piece, about the fall of the Cardinals, the recovery of the Brewers, and some bad behavior and worse spending by the Cubs. A quick taste: It …
Buried within his daily column, Salon’s King Kaufman takes note of a wonderful moment on Friday night when Dodger announcer Vin Scully let a ninth-inning confrontation between Dodger closer Takashi Saito and Angel slugger Vlad Guerrero speak for itself. The Golden Throat of baseball history told his listeners, “Boy, when you get a matchup like …