Wednesday -- Yankees 10, Jays 5: In the category of surprises, Jesse Litsch getting jocked for five first-inning runs is right up with the news another early-20-something chedderhead, Lindsay Lohan, is checking into rehab.
Litsch needs to return the minors like yesterday and with Roy Halladay back to face Chicago tonight, that should be where he's headed. As for Alex Rodriguez yelling at Howie Clark to cause him to drop a two-out pop-up that allowed the Yankees to get those three add-on runs in the ninth, that's gamesmanship -- low-class, but it worked. It should be expected from someone on a slumping team who was smarting from being tabloid fodder and from being asleep at the wheel when Aaron Hill stole home in Tuesday's game. It's a dick move coming from biggest name on a team with a $200 million payroll has to resort to such a desperate move, but it worked. Besides, at worst Mariano Rivera would have had a two-run lead to protect.
John Gibbons calling A-Rod's gambit "bush league," well, ain't that that pot calling the kettle black. Isn't it also "bush league" to sit Alex Rios for Adam Lind when the former has better numbers vs. right-handed pitching, or to leave Scott Downs in to face a top-end righty hitter in a critical situation, or to believe John McDonald can actually hit American League pitching?
Lastly, learning A-Rod or any other visiting jock likes to hit the Brass Rail in Toronto with a woman who's not his wife is about as newsworthy as finding people on the beach in Southern California who don't know anything about hockey.
The Rail is a central part of Toronto sports lore, although only the Raptors give the impression that they have incorporated it into a home-court (or ice, or field) advantage. It's a big reason why the Raptors are so good in those Sunday afternoon games which begin at 1 p.m. -- the other team, especially if their home city is in another time zone, are often zonked after taking the Raptors' players advice and spending a fun night at the Rail sipping on some Grey Goose.
A-Rod's a good-looking guy with lots of cash, and he's never really presented himself as holier-than-thou, just someone who doesn't want his private life discussed. In other words, it could be assumed that deep-down, he's a dog and would cheat. He's a man.
So anyone who expresses shock at that, or plays it on the front page of the newspaper, is being Claude Rains-in-Casablanca disingenuous. The real story might be that Rodriguez evidently doesn't stay in the same hotel as the rest of the Yankees.
(Fun fact courtesy of Todd Devlin at The 500 Level: Last night's starters, Litsch and Tyler Clippard, combined are still younger than Roger Clemens.)
Tuesday -- Jays 3, Yankees 2: The Evil Empire, tied for last place on May 30 and boasting a 5-14 record within the AL East. It doesn't happen often.
Nice win for the boys -- although they shouldn't have to sweat out a game where the pitchers hold the Yankees to one earned run. For most of the way both teams seemed engaged in a one-downsmanship contest over who could hit the most two-hop ground balls. Seriously though, Shaun Marcum was solid again and the Jays are going to have a somewhat solid rotation once Roy Halladay stretches out his arm.
If the Jays were above .500 we might be able to enjoy this a little more, but between Vernon Wells posting a stat line that wasn't straight out of late-1960s baseball and John Gibbons giving every impression that he would trade his danish for a delicious doorstop, there's so much to be concerned over.
Monday -- Jays 7, Yankees 2: It's never a good idea to revel too much in the Yankees' misery.
Nevertheless, Dustin McGowan pitched lights-out, which could sort of be seen coming based on his recent half-decent outings. As for the seven runs, the hitters were due for an evenout — there's no way they could continue to go that brutally.
So don't make too much of it that tonight's martyr to Steinbrennerian hubris, Matt DeSalvo, needed a reporter's help to get admitted to the ballpark before he was knocked out in the fifth inning, as CP's Shi Davidi noted in his game report. Try to overlook that Bobby Abreu, another pricey player Boss George just had to have, came into tonight hitting .233/.320/.296 (that last number in his slugging percentage), which has to be a record for suckiest performance by a past Home Run Derby winner through 50 games.
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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4 comments:
toonie tuesday are only the first four tuesday games, not anymore, which is sad - it was the livest Jays crowd there is.
More than 30,000 people for the Yankees would be nice.... of course, their fans aren't as likely to travel for a midweek series, especially with the Yankees down in the dumps the way they are.
Oh come on now -- those, "Americans who don't know anything about hockey" stories are just SO fresh! Hardly anyone has written one in the last ten days, and I just can't wait to read one!
Sincerely,
No One
Seriously, what can editors be thinking when they send a poor reporter out there to do this story? WTF did they think Don Brennan was going to find in Disneyland? We get it -- hockey is a niche sport in the States. Time to move on. A more interesting story would be about the strength and growth in youth hockey in the U.S., but that might require some research and digging, and isn't nearly as easy n' breezy as talking to people on the beach.
Good point... one former NHLer Nelson Emerson of Waterford, Ont., (go Wolves!) was interviewed on the CBC the other night since he now coaches a midget team in El Lay.
When I covered the RBC Cup in '02 the B.C. team, Chilliwack, had several players from California and even Nevada.
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