Blood is Thicker

Announcer Gary Thorne stirred up a firestorm of controversy when he stated on-air that the famed Curt Schilling bloody sock episode was actually faked. He claimed that a teammate of Schilling's had told him that it was actually paint and not blood on the sock. The press latched on to the story and pretty soon denials, retractions and challenges were flying. Thorne retracted his statement after speaking to the teammate of Schilling stating that he misunderstood what was said. The teammate insisted that he never said such a thing and Schilling issued a challenge on his website of a million dollars to anyone who could prove that the stain was not blood.

The sock now resides in Cooperstown as part of the their memorabilia collection. They have no plans to have the sock tested and I can't imagine under what circumstances that would actually take place. I have never doubted that the sock had blood on it, I always doubted whether the blood was from his incision actually bleeding through the sock. It seems to me that Curt Schilling would be just the kind of player to try and make his actions seem more heroic by using his own blood to create the appearance of a bleeding wound. Here's my point, even if the wound was still bleeding, there are certainly ways to make sure that the blood does not seep through to your clothing. I've been cut before, but I usually don't show up with blood seeping through my clothes. If the bloody sock were tested, I have no doubt that the test would come back with Curt's blood on it. He did have surgery that week and I'm fairly sure that there was some blood present. How much blood I can't say.

I'm not a Doctor and I don't even play one on TV, so I can't really comment on the state of the ankle of Curt Schilling at the time of the creation of the sock in question. Actually given the fact that Curt isn't exactly a beloved baseball player, I'm pretty sure that if that were some substance other than blood on his sock, it would have gotten out by now. So Curt, you can relax and be assured that no one is going to step forward to accept your million dollar challenge. Your legacy and bloody sock are safe for now. Also your reputation as a loud mouth, attention hog is well intact.

Future Shock

Brian Cashman has made the decision that now is the time for Phillip Hughes to make his debut for the Yankees. They gave Chase Wright two starts and decided that they'd seen enough. The Yankees now turn to their number one prospect (who has been called the #1 pitching prospect in baseball by many) to see if they can restore some order to their battered pitching staff. The last time the Yankees went through an early season malaise, they called on Chen Ming Wang and Robinson Cano to jump start the team. That was 2005 and the Yankees were struggling to just get above the .500 mark at the end of June. The rookies provided a big spark, along with a miracle season by Aaron Small and an MVP season by Arod, and the Yankees went on to win 95 games and the division.

Will the addition of Hughes have a similar effect this year? I'm not one to be a pessimist, but I've seen Hughes pitch in spring training and I really have yet to see what all the fuss is about. From what I've seen, he doesn't have the devastating stuff that everyone talks about. His fastball is good, topping out at about 95, but it's straight and doesn't appear to have the late movement that will elude major league bats. His breaking stuff is average and he doesn't have a put away pitch. He is only 20 years old and despite his meteoric rise through the minor league system, he simply doesn't have a wealth of experience. So besides those reservations, I'm sure he'll do fine. Seriously, he is going to have to combat his nerves in order to have any semblance of success in his first trip to the majors. The biggest problem for young pitchers is control. If he walks a lot of people, then his fastball is going to be hit all over the park. Thankfully, he isn't making his first start against the Red Sox. I do believe that he has the ability to develop into a pretty good pitcher, I'm just not sure that he's really ready to handle major league hitters at this point.

In the 90's the Yankees brought up a string of triple A pitching stars who simply could not make the transition to the majors. It would be a shame if Hughes is rushed to the majors and loses his confidence because of a lack of success. Last year I said that perhaps the best thing the Yankees could do would be to trade Hughes because his value is never going to be higher than it is right now. That will change after a few starts, however. His deficiencies will become more evident and there is the chance that he will join the likes of Jeff Johnson and Sam Millitello on the scrap heap of Yankee prospects. I have heard that he has a great curveball, but that the Yankees told him to limit the use of it because they didn't want him to damage his arm in the minors. It's possible that he has been held down somewhat in the minors and that he has been waiting patiently to unleash his full repertoire. I certainly hope that's the case. he could rely on blowing away minor league hitters with his 93MPH fastball, but in the show, hitters eat those for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I guess I could be wrong about this and Phillip Hughes really could be the second coming of Roger Clemens. But even the great Roger Clemens had an ERA of over 4 his first year in the majors. I would hope that Yankee fans will keep the expectations fairly low for Hughes. It will probably take him a little while to figure out how to get major leaguers out consistently. Let's hope that the Yankees allow him the time to learn how to do his job. However, Yankee Stadium isn't usually the kind of place where you get the luxury of learning on the job.

The Lost Weekend

The Yankees went up to Fenway this past weekend for three games and managed to leave without a victory. As if getting swept by your arch-rival wasn't enough, Mariano Rivera blew his second save in a row and the whispers are already starting about whether he nearing the end of the line. Of course I would ask all Yankee fans to keep this in perspective. It is April and the Yankees did go in to Fenway with only one proven starter pitching in the three games. They did have a chance to win all three games and in fact had the lead into the 7th inning in two of them.

Of course the Yankees ended up with three losses, but there are definitely some positives to take out of the weekend. Arod remained on fire. I'm sure there were some who thought (and may have been secretly rooting) that he would go into Fenway and revert to some imagined (by many) mediocre player. That didn't happen. In fact Arod hit over .450 for the series with two home runs and five RBI's. Andy Pettitte continues to pitch well in his return to the Bronx. He should have two more wins than he does, but the bullpen has wasted his last two stellar outings. The Yankees managed to score at least 5 runs against all of the Red Sox starters. The Red Sox had their best starters lined up for the games and the Yankees offense managed to push runs across consistently against them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the offense in spite of the fact that Matsui was not in the lineup and has been replaced by Melky Cabrera, who is currently having difficulty keeping his batting average off the interstate. The lineup also carries the sub par bat of Doug Mientkiewicz. He is hitting in the low .100's. Also, Johnny Damon has been having hamstring issues and was replaced in the starting lineup on Saturday by Kevin Thompson.

There were some bad signs though. The bullpen, which had been a strength of the team heading into Boston, appeared very ordinary in the three games. Outside of Mike Myers, I don't think any one got out of there unscathed. Joe had no choice to go to the pen considering the efforts he got from his starters on Saturday and Sunday. Joe has been going to the bullpen early and often this year, but thankfully there is help on the way. Chen Ming Wang will be back today and Mussina should be back by early next week. Carl Pavano is a different matter, but at least he did show some of the form that enticed the Yankees into signing him to a $40 million deal. Matsui is now back in the lineup and Damon should be back up to full speed any day now.

The bottom line is that there is no reason for panic. It's way too early and there are too many games left to be too concerned about being swept in a three game series. Their is a high annoyance factor because of the fact that it was the Red Sox, but it does not signal that there are major problems for the team. In 2005 the Yankees went 10-14 in April and in fact were only one game over .500 at the end of June. That team went on to win 95 games and capture the AL east. I'm not saying that this team will do exactly the same thing, but the end of April is no time for Yankee fans to start worrying about the team. There have been way too many injuries to get a proper perspective on how the team is going to play as the season progresses. As for Mariano, he is going to be fine. His problems stem from being under worked, not the loss of any velocity or movement. His location has been off because he's only been working once a week. Once he starts getting his regular appearances, the Mariano of old will return. Here's the recap of the season so far: The offense looks fine, but the starting pitching has been shaky. It's as simple as that. That pattern won't necessarily continue for the entire season. Everyone should just relax. As I've always said, the only people who get excited about the standings in April are Mets and Red Sox fans.

Hammer Time

I was reading an article this morning (don't ask where) about the impact that Jackie Robinson had on the game. In the article Hank Aaron talks about what Jackie Robinson meant to him. He also talks about Barry Bonds. Mr. Aaron brings up the fact that his chase of the all time home run record was less than enjoyable because of all the hate mail and negative comments that were directed toward him. He says that Bonds is probably going through the same thing because of the steroid allegations. He also says that that unless there is actual proof that Bonds took steroids that he shouldn't be persecuted. Mr. Aaron seems to say that he's perfectly alright with Bonds breaking his record. If I remember correctly, he used the oft quoted line, records are made to be broken.

I really do appreciate Hank Aaron for all that he has done and the class and dignity that he has carried himself with. The only thing I remember him ever being "controversial" about was when he sounded the call over the lack of minorities in higher positions in baseball. He brought that issue up long before Major League baseball decided to make minority hiring a priority. Hank Aaron probably had to endure more hatred pointed his way than Jackie Robinson did. I'm not saying that he had a harder road to endure than Jackie did, because being the first is always the hardest. But by the time he was pursuing the all-time home run record, baseball on TV had become available to a national audience. During Jackie's day the majority of people in the country didn't own a TV set (only 8.8% of American households owned a TV set in 1950). Jackie got a lot of insults but they were mostly at the ballpark. Hank got so much hate mail that he had to stop reading his mail after a while. It poured in from all corners of the country. The FBI started screening his mail for fear of a letter bomb. Hank Aaron who had to endure blatant discrimination when he first came into the league, also had to endure countless death treats while he was on the trail of Babe Ruth. There were FBI men in the stands on the night he broke the record because of the fear that someone would try and shoot him.

Hank Aaron, who had to go through so much for his place is baseball history, is now willing to gracefully give that position up to Barry Bonds. It just illustrates what kind of a class individual he is. But if he's not going to be outraged, that his record that he fought so hard for is about to be broken by someone as unworthy as Barry Bonds, then let me be outraged for him. Barry Bonds it the worst kind of person that this country produces. He is a son of privilege who somehow feels that the odds are stacked against him. There is a baseball analogy that was applied to George Bush that is very applicable to Bonds. The quote was that Bush acted like he hit a triple when he was actually born standing on third base. Barry Bonds grew up the son of a All-Star baseball player. He had money (from his father), he had athletic gifts (from his father), and he had a chip on his shoulder approximately the shape and weight of his currently oversized (and still growing) head. Barry has always acted as if the world owes him something. He has tried to play the race card in the past, as if he ever had to face real racism in his life. Perhaps he didn't like the looks he was getting at the country club. Perhaps life in the suburbs was just too hard for him. Perhaps his friends didn't kiss his ass enough considering the fact that his father was an All-Star for the NY Yankees.

By the late nineties, Barry Bonds had managed to put together a hall of fame career, despite everything that he had to overcome growing up. Only Ken Griffey Jr. could challenge his claim as the best player of the decade. That wasn't enough for him though. He saw the attention that McGwire and Sosa were getting during their chase of Roger Maris' single season home run record and decided that he had been ignored for too long. So this 3 time MVP, 9 time All-Star who had never been appreciated by the press or the fans, took matters into his own hands. He started taking some illegal combination of drugs (allegedly) and turned into baseball's version of the Incredible Hulk. The madder he got, the bigger he got and the further he hit the ball. He turned into a walking, talking sideshow. The whispers of steroid abuse turned into shouts, but still Barry persisted. He claimed he was being unfairly singled out (which was partly true) and that people just didn't understand him. He said that he just wanted to be loved, but nothing could be further from the truth. Barry didn't want our love. He wanted our hero worship. Just being admired as a great player wasn't enough for him, that didn't satisfy his Mount Everest sized ego. No, he needed to be bigger than the game, literally and figuratively.

Barry, you got your wish. You are bigger than the game. You are the poster boy for all the things that are wrong with the game. You are the gold standard for athletes who will do anything to gain a competitive edge. Not for the glory of the their team or the sport, but for the glory of themselves. I find it a great act of compassion that Mr. Aaron has chosen to be as gracious as he has about this. Frank Robinson, who used to be fourth on the all time home run list, talks openly about the fact that he hates getting passed on that list by players that he knows are not his equal and who would not be in that position without the use of performance enhancing drugs. So Barry, when this is all said and done and you leave this game as the all-time home run king, I hope the record and your 7 MVP awards will keep you warm at night. And as you stand at the microphone after breaking the all time home run record and pay your phony lip service to the legacy of Hank Aaron, I wish you would pause for just a moment and think about what Mr. Aaron and Jackie Robinson and Ernie Banks and Frank Robinson and your godfather, Wille Mays had to go through in order for you to get to where you are. The sacrifice, the hard work, the racism, the insults, the segregation, the flea bag hotels, all of it. Do you think you've done all you could to honor the memory of those men? Do you think you've done anything to honor the memory of those men? But I know that you really don't care. You never have and you never will. There's only one star in town and it's you, Barry.

I would never claim to speak for Mr. Aaron, but I know I speak for a lot of baseball fans on this point. It'll be a sad day indeed when Hank Aaron's name is replaced at the top of the all time home run chart by Barry Lamar Bonds.

Everybody Hurts...Sometimes

The Yankees appear to be in the middle of a injury storm. First Chein Ming Wang pulls a hamstring near the end of spring training. Then Matsui goes down with a muscle strain, Pettite has back issues, Damon has muscle cramps and Mussina pulls up lame from a hamstring strain (hey that rhymes!). It seems the cold weather that the Yankees were forced to play through during the first week of the season is taking it's toll. The Yankees do have a new strength and conditioning coach this year and there are some who are pointing the finger of blame his way. There are whispers that his stretching methods are not working for the Yankees. He apparently hasn't worked with a baseball team since the Montreal Expos, nine years ago.

I don't think that this has reached full scale panic mode for the Yankees and their fans at this point, but if there does happen to be a more serious injury then The Boss would probably step in and make a change. It seems silly to me that seasoned baseball players (and even the rookies have been playing baseball for over a decade) wouldn't know how to warm up and stretch at this point in their careers. If players are getting muscle injuries, their would be multiple causes. One is age (the Yankees are exactly filled with spring chickens), two is the weather (it is harder to get loose in colder temperatures) and third is just bad luck.

Yankee fans should feel fortunate that there hasn't been a more serious injury to any of the indispensable players on the team. As I wrote last year, if Mariano Rivera were to go down, the team would go from being a contender to an also ran. Last year the Yankees overcame major injuries to Matsui and Sheffield to win the division for the 10th year in a row. At some point the combination of cash and luck will not be enough for the Yankees to continue this run. Perhaps this is the year. I don't know, but injuries are part of the game and sometimes things just don't go your way. It seems that in Yankeeland however, a scapegoat is always needed. If there is one more injury to a Yankee starter, Marty Miller better make sure his resume is up to date.

When We Were Kings

I tuned in last night, along the rest of the baseball world, to watch the first national TV appearance of Matsuzaka. The game had the added storyline of the Mariners and Ichiro being in town. I'm sure the crush of Japanese press was practically unbearable. A funny thing happened on the way the Matsuzaka's all but assumed second major league victory. He got upstaged by a just turned 21 year old pitcher by the name of Felix Hernandez with the apt nickname of "King Felix". Last night he demonstrated that he didn't get his nickname because of his resemblance to some long dead monarch.

If you've never seen Felix pitch, you should do yourself a favor and check him out next time the Mariners are on ESPN. His arsenal includes a 95-100 MPH 4-seam fastball, a 92-95 MPH 2-seam fastball, a vicious 12 to 6 curveball and an unheard of (at least by me), 92 MPH slider. He held the Red Sox hitless through seven innings last night and surrendered just one hit over the entire game. It was a masterful performance. For the season to date, he has started two games allowed no runs, 4 hits and has struck out 18 over 17 innings.

If his first two starts are any indication of what's to come, he is well on his way to living up to the hype that preceeded him as he entered the league two season ago as a precocious 19 year old. He was a late season call up in 2005 and dazzled the hitters with his power pitching. He had more trouble last year as he tried to over power every hitter that he faced. It appears that he learned his lesson. Major leaguers will eventually hit you regardless of how hard you throw unless you vary your pitches. Pedro was dominant, not because of his fastball, but because he was equally adept at throwing the change up. Randy Johnson has struck out over 4,000 because of his slider and Roger Clemens continues to rack up the strikeouts because of his splitter.

It would be unfair to expect Felix to repeat his performance of last night in every start, but it would be exciting to watch. Not since the 19 year old Doc Gooden exploded onto the baseball stage has someone so young, been so good. The Mets put a lot of innings on Gooden's arm in those first two seasons and by season three, he had begun to break down. He never again reached the heights of those first two magical summers. The Mariners have been very careful not to overwork their most prized possession. They have limited the number of innings he has thrown in order to minimize the potential for arm trouble. It remains to be seen whether his arm will stand up under the strain of thousands of 90+ MPH pitches. Hopefully he has one of those once in a lifetime arms like Nolan Ryan or Roger Clemens. I am looking forward to seeing what Felix does this year and I do wish him the best (except when he pitches against the Yankees of course).

In my preseason picks, I tabbed Rich Harden as this year's Cy Young award winner. I'm not going to back off of that prediction, but in that article, I proclaimed that Harden had the best stuff in the AL. After having watched King Felix last night, I have to admit that I was wrong. While Santana may be a better pitcher (and the possessor of baseball's best change up), and Harden may be able to throw just as hard, no one in baseball has the arsenal that Hernandez possesses. His arm may fall off tomorrow or some other unforeseen event may derail him, but for right now, his potential is limitless.

Yankee For a Day

On Saturday, Alex Rodriguez did what NY Yankee fans say he never does. He came through in the clutch. I know that I wrote a few articles last year defending Arod and I didn't really want to get on the bandwagon again this year, but I felt it necessary to say a few words about the aforementioned Arod. The home run he hit on Saturday was his third walk off home run for the Yankees. It also happened to be the 2nd walk off grand slam of his career. I can only remember one other walk off grand slam in my entire 30 years of watching Yankee baseball and that was hit by Jason Giambi under even more dramatic conditions. In that game the Yankees had fallen behind the Twins by 3 runs in extra innings. Through a driving rainstorm, Giambi lost one into the night with the bases loaded for the Yankee victory.

That comeback happened early in Giambi's first season with the Yankees. He had been struggling up to that point and had to put up with lots of booing from the fans. I believe Michael Kay pointed out on Sunday that Giambi "became a Yankee" that night. I have no idea what that actually means, though. I thought you were pretty much a Yankees after you signed your contract and made the team out of spring training. But apparently I've been wrong all this time. You only become a "true" Yankee after being a part of a World Series winning team. That would leave out a whole host of Yankees that have become part of the team since 2000. Mike Mussina, Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano, Chein-ming Wang and of course, Arod himself. It would also leave out perhaps the most beloved Yankee of modern times, Don Mattingly. I guess if Arod isn't a real Yankee then neither is Donnie Baseball. Perhaps they should un-retire his number since he never led the Yankees to a World Series victory. Hell, they only made the playoffs once in the 13 years that he was on the team.

Alex Rodriguez has put up phenomenal numbers since he has been a Yankee. He's won an MVP award and has been the best hitting 3rd baseman in baseball. That is apparently not enough for the fans of the team though. They demand perfection from Arod. I guess he could view it as a compliment in a way. They think so highly of his skills that whenever he fails, they feel that he let them down. Almost as if he didn't really try very hard, because if he did try his hardest (like that Derek Jeter guy), he would get a hit every time. Arod is supposed to be Roy Hobbes. It's an unfair burden for any player to bear and especially one in a sport that bestows the label of greatness on a player who fails at his job seven out of ten times.

It was nice to see how excited Arod was after hitting that home run on Sunday. He was so excited that he missed the high five with his 3rd base coach. He was like a kid in a candy store. He came out for a curtain call and hugged each of his teammates at least twice. I would hate to think that this is going to be the highlight of the season for Arod, but it may very well be. He did hit another long home run on Sunday and kept the cheers coming for him, but it is just a matter of time before he fails in a big situation again. In fact, he popped up with the bases loaded in the 8th inning just the night before his grand slam. He certainly wasn't given any slack that night. Arod will fail again and the fans seem to have very short memories when it comes to Arod.

I guess being thought of as the best player in the game is a burden that he is going to have to live with. Unreasonable expectations are just par for the course. I'm sure Arod never asked for the title, but once it was given to him, he couldn't possibly live up to the expectations that were placed on him. In Texas he's hated because even though he averaged over 50 hr's a year there and won an MVP, he couldn't lift a bad team above mediocrity. In Seattle he's hated because even though he put together a string of seasons that were among the greatest ever for a shortstop, he left them for more money. He will probably leave NY after this season and the Yankee fans will hate him because he never lead them to the World Series. I would almost feel sorry for Arod if it wasn't for that $25 million dollars he brings home every year. Arod will probably never be able to fulfil his potential in the eyes of the fans.

Ted Williams was hated in Boston for much the same reason (plus he was surly and unapproachable). Ted is now considered by many to be the greatest hitter who ever lived. I'm not sure that Arod will ever be thought of in quite so lofty a manner, but when he retires, he may be the holder of every meaningful career batting record except for batting average. That may just have to be enough for him (that and about $400 million), because he's never going to have the love of the fans. Respect (begrudingly so) yes, love no.