by Ron Prezzano

Okay, something baseball.

How about those Yankees? They look like a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter during their first thirty-seven games. They can’t hit, especially with runners in scoring position. And their defense was never their strong point.

The Yankee pitching, with the exception of Chien-Ming Wang and Mariano Rivera is totally unreliable at best. Whenever one of the relief core steps up his game the disabled list is just around the corner.

The wheels are spinning but the hamster seems to be dead.

Although their future is bright the strongest things that the Yankees have going for them today, are their yesterdays.

Now the Yankee pitching staff has to endure the horrors of Kei Igawa. This guy has as much control as two rabbits on their first date. On the mound his appearance seems to project the luminance of a black light.

It is quite obvious New York or the major leagues are out of Igawa’s league of mental endurance. During the game, when the pressure is on, Igawa appears to be as smart as a box of hair. Sort of like our great president George W. who on occasions (like everyday) is a few clowns short of a circus under pressure. “Hey Ya’ll, the government is open seven days a week and weekends too.” “It`s tough to make predictions, especially about the future...”

Sorry for the side bar it’s that dementia thing creeping in and politics are on my mind. “ Where’s my watch?”

The Yankees invested forty-six million dollars on Igawa, this body by Nissan brains by Mattel toy. The Yankee scouting team was a few peas short of a casserole when assessing Igawa’s talent. Revoke their passports please.

Packaging Igawa in a deal to acquire a player with a pulse has certainly had to cross management’s minds. I’m sure Cashman and Hankenstien are afraid that Igawa will suddenly find his niche the minute he is dealt to another team. But even in Japan his pitch location was up in the zone. He will do no good here.

Management’s assessment of its young pitching staff was a bit premature. Patience has never been a virtue with this organization no matter what they preach. The rest of this year should be interesting if things continue to deteriorate. If the Yankees are still close to their division leaders by the end of June look for a packaged deal for pitching.

Getting A-Rod and Posada back will at least help this anemic offense. But the offense has not helped them in the playoffs. That is IF they make the playoffs. It’s all about pitching.

With a new stadium in the mix and the economy in the state of flush attendance next year could be an issue. Although corporate America seems to buy it’s share of seating in the Bronx, so maybe not.

The Yankees need some front line pitching and this off-season should produce some major changes. There is a lot of money coming off the books so look for a major free agent or two to be signed.

And Igawa, sayonara!

by Ron Prezzano

 

I have been a Yankee fan since; the average cost of new house was $6,600.00.

The average wages per year was $2,850.00.

The cost o####allon of gas was 15 cents.

The average cost of a new car was $1,300.00.

A loaf of bread was 13 cents.

A United States Postage Stamp was 3 cents.

Well you get the idea. A man is only as old as the woman he feels. (Sorry, I just had a senior moment and that was truly uncalled for).

If I were a tree there would be more than twice as many rings in my trunk than in the Yankee organisation. So why is it that I still have not taught myself the rewards of patience?

I guess it all goes back to when I was young and I started out to try and save the world. Then I saw something shinny. A.D.D. Attention Deffisate Dissorder. Riddlin would have been the drug of choice to address that syndrom but the drug makers hadn’t formulated that yet. So for my generation our Riddlin was Catholic school. I’d prefer Ridlin.

Back to my original thought and that was my attention and attitude towards baseball. Specificially, the Yankees.

On any given game day I will treat that days game as the seventh game of a world series. I know you can’t win every game but yet that is what I expect. Years of therapy haven’t corrected that character flaw. Unlike women who won’t admit their age I refuse to act mine when it comes to watching the Yankees.

Each day I read about the team and all of the current events surrounding them. (By the way, at my age I don’t need glasses. I just drink straight from the bottle). After reading I rationalize, with great logic, the reality of this team’s place in time, talent and standings. I put all of this information into my logical storage vault somewhere in my cranium. I go about my daily business and the world goes round .

I will proceed to have daily conversations with other sports people regarding the Yankees. My comments are very rational and analytical. I never make predictions. I know better. Sometimes I am even respected… Okay, let’s not get carried away.

Then I settle down to watch the game and it’s like I fell out of the #### tree and hit every branch on the way down. I become a cynic like the guy who smells flowers and looks around for a coffin. I think every Yankee is going to hit into a double play given that game situation. A-Rod is a piece of #### and will strike out with runners in scoring position. Mariano is washed up and will blow every save opportunity. Johnny Damon throws like a girl. Well that one makes sense.

In other words my in game logic is rather sad. Sort of like a mosquito sucking on a mummy. I become the inventor of stupidity.

It is this inconsistency in my mental behavior that makes me a true sports fan. It makes me ponder my age, my self worth and my commitments. Whenever I feel all knowing and wise I look forward to watching a Yankee game. This always humbles me back to reality. Home is where you can scratch where it really itches.



Blessed are the cracked people for it is they who let in the light.

by Ron Prezzano

 

I am not a writer until I start to write. I am not an emotional guy until I get emotional. And I am not a sentimental guy until I get sentimental. So When I turned on last night’s Yankee game I realized what a sentimental curmudgeon I really am. Not that it is a bad thing to be sentimental and a guy. Remember, this is coming from a guy who has the attention span of a blonde in a room filled with shiny objects.

I wasn’t all that interested in spring training. There were no real big interests or excitements for me in the off-season besides the hiring of Joe Girardi as manager. The Roger Clemens, Brian McNamee, “he said he said,” hearings were all about political affiliation. So I filed that one under: “the more you study, the more you know. The more you know, the more you forget. The more you forget, the less you know. So why study?” theory.

There is something about opening day (or night as in this case) at Yankee stadium. The weather is rarely accommodating. Some players are so nervous they probably feel like a pregnant nun in a confessional. After the first pitch the fans feel like the prolonged winter dreariness is coming to a screeching halt. The players feel absolved.

Even though this was the last opening day at the storied stadium in The Bronx I was not overly sentimental. After all there has been no world championship in seven years. The Boston Red Sox have two titles in the last four years. Joe Torre is gone. George Steinbrenner is no longer a present force to be recognized. Reggie Jackson threw out the first pitch. Joe Girardi is manager. The pitching staff is made up of young unproven talent.

Then the TV cameras started to take some unique shots from all over Yankee Stadium. I saw the courthouse and the subway from high above the Yankee façade. I saw angles of the playing field that I used to see as a kid roaming all around the upper decks of the stadium. I started to get sentimental. I started to get emotional. I started to write.

I heard Mel Allen and Red Barber. I heard Phil Rizzuto and Bill White. I heard Frank Messer. I heard Bob Shepard.

I had flashes of The Mick, Yogi, Whitey, Billy, Maris, Elston, Richardson, Bauer, Boyer, Kubek, Macdougal , Skowron, Tresh, Coleman, Stengel, Larsen, Sturdivant, Downing, Duren,, Reniff, Slaughter, Stafford, Terry, Turley, Blanchard, Houk. I saw a packed stadium. I saw world championships

Then there was a decade and a half of darkness.

I had another flash. I saw Munson, Guidry, Nettles, Randolph, Dent, Rivers, Pinniella, Chambliss, White, Murcer, Blair, Ellis, Figueroa, Holtzman, Tidrow, Alexander, Gullett, Dempsey, Stanley, Bloomberg, Gamble, Lyle, Hunter, Johnson, Spencer, Jackson, Lemon. I saw a packed stadium. I saw world championships.

Then there was another decade and a half of darkness.

Then there was an enormous bright flash. Like a flash not seen in decades. Like Haley’s Comet. I saw, Mattingly, Showalter, Torre, Jetter, Williams, Girardi, Posada, O’neill, Rivera, Gossage, , Pettitte, Gooden, Key, Rogers, Wetteland, Weathers, Wickman, Clemens, Cone, Hernandez, Lloyd, Mendoza, Stanton, Wells, Grimsley, Nelson, Brosius, Knoblauch, Leyritz, Martinez, Soriano, Boggs, Fielder, Duncan, Sojo, Vizcaino, Spencer, Curtis, Ledee, Strawberry, Justice, Raines, Davis. A quick flash, Canseco, Polonia, Kelly, Hill, Neagle, Lily. I saw a packed stadium. I saw world championships.

This storied stadium, The House that Ruth Built, The Great Cathedral in the Bronx, Baseballs Vatican, what ever you want to call it. Yankee Stadium, it is a baseball shrine. It makes men out of boys and it turns men back into boys. There are ghosts and there are spirits that linger there. That is if you believe in that sort of lore. I don’t usually until I think of it. Then I am a believer.

This is the first of the last go around in the Stadium. There will be a year long of first lasts progressing throughout the year. Try to embrace all of it as it is happening. It will be just a memory all too soon. Let’s hope it leads us back to the future. I see a packed stadium. I see world championships.

by Ron Prezzano

 

It is I, Hank, son of King George, from the castle of The Empire. King of All things Back Page, years the defeater of the RSN, Sovereign of all Baseball!

I move for no man. I command you, as Acting in Waiting King of the Empire, to stand aside!

You don't frighten us, RSN pig dogs. Go and boil your ####s, you sons of a silly John Henry. I blow my nose at you, so-called "World Champions," you and all your silly Baked Bean RSN Potty Bottoms.

And how'd you get that, title, eh? By exploiting the workers. By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma, which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society.

I #### in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster masturbator and your father smelt of dingle berries.

We have ridden the length and breadth of the land in search of free agents who will join me in my court at the Great Cathedral in Ye Old Bronx. We have ridden since the snows of winter covered this land, through the kingdom of Pigskin and Fore checks. And now we are prepared to do battle with the leather stitched corked core prostitutes of our beloved Empire.

Stand up and fight, you compilation of overachieving Empirical impostors.

Is there no one else I can talk to? I have proclaimed the land back to Lords of the Holy and deed fully keeper of the Grail. I bet you are ####.

Listen to me you parasitical ameba impostors of Diamond Green Pastures. I have come in the nick of time. Look, it's my duty as a nobleman to stride in the footsteps of our great king, King George III to sample as much peril as I can.

I am your appointed King in waiting Do you think supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony? Ha, Ha! I #### on you once again. Strange women lyin' in ponds gathering sperm is basis for a system of Hardball government. I am living proof.

I have been recently charged with believing sheep's bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes. And that I deem the earth to be banana shaped. To that I say, “What a bunch of Bleep!”

Go and tell your master that God has charged us with a sacred quest. If he will give us your hard earned pittance for the season, he can join us in our quest for the Holy Grail # 27.

Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time

Holy Cow

 

by Ron Prezzano
Parity in the baseball business is surely paying dividends. Another season comes trotting around third and heading for home with another walk off home run for attendance.

“Holy Cow, White! Did you see those attendance figures? There aren’t enough canolis on the planet for all these fans. Tell Cora I’ll be home early to beat the rush out of here and happy birthday to Roseallie Bonadondo, from the Bronx, who is eighty-three today and a life long Yankee fan.

God bless the Scooter.

You know the sport is healthy if forty-three thousand fans turn out for a Milwaukee Brewers game on a Monday night in September.

Americans are willing to shell out doles of hard earned cash to watch their favorite pastime sport. This, despite allegations and evidence of unfair play by its players and the blind eyes of its organizers. This is America, this is how we do business. So be it. I love baseball and sport imitates life.

Perhaps we should inject our political constituents with some performance enhancing supplements. Maybe they can rise to the occasion and bring the troops home and return billions of our tax dollars to hard working Americans. Instead of lining the pockets of already financially bloated big business and scheming mercenaries. Revenue sharing in American big business and government is beaurocratically impossible, but it works in baseball. Food for thought.

Can anyone predict a front-runner in this post season? It will once again come down to good starting pitching and a reliable bullpen, plus solid defense. What else is new.

The Yankees have played the best baseball since June 1st. but their pitching has been erratic and the bullpen has been dreadful. Joba Chamberlain has added late inning strength to the pen in the last month and is a true link to Mariano Rivera. Mariano has shown cracks but knows how to close a game. If the Yankee starters cannot get through seven innings then they will be out early. Good pitching will once again shut down this Yankee offense. If the Yankees get through long enough to face the Red Sox, I pick the Yankees. The Red Sox are one of the teams with good staring pitching that the Yankees can handle.

If the Mets make it to the World Series I would suggest that the Washington Nationals kidnap the Mets team bus and uniforms and go about their business.

With the exception of the Chicago Cubs all of the playoff teams will be around the ninety to ninety-five win mark. Can you imagine Lou Pinella pulling this one off? Free Chicago deep dish pizza for life for Lou and family and Steve Bartman can move back home.


This has been an interesting year for baseball. Something is working. Holy Cow!

 

 

By Ron Prezzano











Well, as most logical baseball fans have sensed for months the New York Yankees reign on the American League East title is over. There are thirty one games remaining and New York trails the well balanced division leading Boston Red Sox by seven and one half games. This is not the nineteen seventy-eight New York Yankees.


Although New York leads MLB in many offensive categories their pitching is in the middle of the pack.



Andy Pettitte has been all the Yankees have asked of him with all but three or four bad starts. With a decent bullpen, early on, he would more than likely be among the league leader in wins. After Pettitte and more often than not, Chien-Meng Wang, it is a real #### shoot.






Roger Clemens, playing half a season, has given them innings but at forty-five years of age is not the Clemens of previous years. Still it is amazing how well he pitches at times.








Mike Mussina has been more awful than respectable. He will throw a gem every eighth or so start. His velocity is down, again, and he needs to be almost perfect with his location to be effective. Not an easy task given the diverse strike zone of many umpires. Add to that equation how Mike shows his arrogance and displeasure when an umpire squeezes his strike zone. Not mister public relations along those lines. Umpires are turning into stage performers, but I digress, that is for a future article.





Phil Hughes is poised for a twenty-one year old but is still a rookie with little experience and will make rookie mistakes. This year, with injuries, has been hard but helpful for this future front line starter.

The procession of raw rookie starters that paraded through the Yankee rotation early was not impressive, at all, at this level. With more minor league development they will thrive given their talent. The Yankee farm system has never been stacked with this quality of young gifted arms. This seems to be the trend for many quality franchises to develop their own young talented arms.

The bullpen has been erratic to dreadful, at best, for most of the season.

Luis Vizcaino, Scott Proctor, Brian Bruney and Kyle Farnsworth were basically the same type of pitchers and were having the same kind of problems. Location, location, location. They walked everybody and gave up a ton of extra base hits. So did the likes of Ron Villone, and Mike Myers.


Mariano Rivera, due to lack of work early, has shown signs of age and inactivity. His velocity is down a notch. He really is only a one inning pitcher but unlike Farsworth can pitch on multiple days and still be effective. He still is among the elite in MLB as a closer.





The bench was weak and shallow.

Given that assessment the Yankees have improved both the bullpen and bench dramatically in the past five weeks. With the addition of Joba Chamberlain and Edwar Ramirez, the resurgence of Vizcaino, the bullpen has a more balanced and diverse feel for Torre.


The bench has been shored up with power defense and diversity. The acquisitions of Jose Molina, and Wilson Betemit proved to be wise. The promotion of Andy Phillips and Shelley Duncan ads some power and energy to the mix.


Back to basics. The Yankees are awful in one run and extra inning games. They do not play consistently well against the better teams in the league. They play bad on the road.
On the plus side, they play well at home (excluding Baltimore) and have beaten up on the lesser teams in the AL.

Losing to a Sheffied-less Detroit on Friday night/ Saturday morning and again on Sunday was telling and painful. Derek Jeter was hurt and was hitting into many double plays lately. If he were healthy perhaps they win those two games. Perhaps.


Seattle has ten of it's next thirteen games against playoff contending teams. Will they crack? I thought they would a month ago. I was wrong, again. They are a legitimate club, with good hitting, pitching and a good bullpen.




The Yankees need to approach and play each game as a potential seventh game playoff. I am not crazy, this is what they need to do thanks to the enormous hole they dug themselves early on.


With Mussina going tonight there is a chance that the Yankees will be eight games behind the Red Sox when they meet at home on Tuesday. A sweep of Boston, while not impossible, is mandatory.


The Yankees are chasing two teams, well, really only one. The Red Sox are not going to fold with that pitching staff and their momentum.

More than likely the Yankees need to play .650 ball to advance into the playoffs as the wild card. Even that is not a given with Seattle playing superb baseball.


The Yankees play Boston six times Seattle three times and Baltimore (ouch) six times in the remaining thirty-one games. With tonights game against the Tigers that is more than half their remaining games against teams who will play them tough. Not an impossible task but not one favoring the Yankees given their season's history.

By Ron Prezzano








Watching the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim consistently feast off the New York Yankees is a work of art. How this team has not won more championships is more about timing than anything else. They have been a solid, if not an elite, team in MLB for more years than W. has been president.


Their pitching has always had quality starters and the bullpen, not so much this year, has been among the best in baseball. K-Rod is a quality closer despite his quirky mechanics. He has managed to stay healthy and consistent ever since his promotion several years ago.


Power has not been a mainstay for this Mike Scioscia managed team but don't let that fool you. They play situational baseball as well as any team in baseball and they score runs.

Base stealing, which they lead all teams in MLB, bunting, taking the extra base and challenging the defense is a characteristic part of their game. They are well managed and coached. There is only one player who swings wildly 100% of the time and that is Vladimir Guerrero. All he does is hit thirty plus home runs and drive in 120 RBI's on a yearly basis. By the way, his career batting average is .324. So swing away Vlad. Imagine A-Rod in this lineup.







Okay, that said, The Yankees continue to put up good offensive numbers 90% of the time but their pitching, still is their Achilles heal. Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens give them good quality starts and innings. So does Chien-Ming Wang, although he has slumped in his last four starts.






Mike Mussina is a huge question mark and not that reliable. He certainly will not get them innings and the bull pen has to be rested for his starts. Mike's performance can be a product of the home plate umpire. If the ump is liberal with his strike zone Mussina can have a good game. If not, it will be a short game for Mike and a long one for the Yankees and their bullpen.



Phil Hughes is going to be a solid pitcher and his mound presence is very stoic for a lad of twenty one. It would have been interesting to see how this staff would have performed if Hughes were not injured early on.





The bullpen looks different now than it did three weeks ago. The addition of Joba Chamberlain and Edwar Ramirez have given Joe Torre a diversity that was not there earlier this season. Joba throws strikes and has good velocity and a quality sinker. Ramirez has a career changing change up. Prior to these two young arms in the pen Joe was stuck with power pitching relievers with poor location, as the bullpen led the Majors in walks.

Luis Vizcaino, after a rough couple of months, has been much improved. Although the ability for Torre to overuse and abuse him still exists.

Then there is Mariano Rivera. Nothing needs to be mentioned here.

The rest of the bullpen is just awful. Kyle Farnsworth is a head case, Sean Henn is inexperienced and unpredictable and Ron Villone is the left hander no one else wants. Nothing to hang your hat on here.

The Yankees, with their injuries and inexperienced young rookie pitching replacements, early on, dug themselves a huge hole to climb out of. Add to that absolutely no offence, other than A-Rod and Posada, for the first two months and you have a formula for the possibility of no post season for New York. It is a realistic scenario.

This two week stretch where the Yankees play Anaheim, Detroit, Boston and Seattle is the make or break part of the season. So far the only thing predictable is their inconsistency. That won't make it. The Yankees need to win more than they lose. .500 baseball will not cut it for a chance at the playoffs.

Boston and Seattle continue to win. These are the teams who the Yankees are chasing. Seattle has surprised everyone. Their season is about to get harder though, as they come east to play the quality teams from both the East and Central divisions.
Boston has too much pitching for them to fold. Unless they let Eric Gagne close all of their games.

It should be interesting. My guess? The Yankees make it into the playoffs as the wild card. I like this scenario as it puts less pressure on A-Rod and the Yankees to be the team to beat.

Link to article

 

by Ron Prezzano

 

To me, this makes the most sense for the Red Sox. I stated this before and will stand by my original statements. The Red Sox will not be blown out of too many games, not with their lineup. If they are close in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings having that automatic closer in the bullpen is a psychological advantage.

As has been mentioned in the article, Papelbons's college career was all about relief pitching. Relief pitching did get him to the All star game. His mental approach to closing is a perfect match. This is what he is most comfortable with. This is where the Red Sox are the weakest. Also mentioned was his loss in velocity after a few innings, making him more effective in the eighty or so innings he would pitch as a closer during the season.

The Red Sox starting pitching is still a question mark and I am not about to anoint Matsuzaka  the next Pedro. Schilling is a year older and injury susceptible. Beckett is only twenty six but after a poor showing last year the book is still out on him. Jon Lester, although young and talented, is a season removed from dealing with a serious illness. That leaves Matt Clement, Tim Wakefield and a list not worth mentioning thereafter. Lots of question marks. Also lots of potential. Having a secure closer of Papelbon's caliber will help set up and take pressure off the middle relief staff.

Their pen has some veterans who are capable of holding the offense down for an inning or three. This also makes the Roger Clemens lottery more enticing, especially if the Red Sox are showing signs of dominance. Unlikely, but a more than average possibility. Clemens could put them right over the top and into the World Series. A Clemens, Schilling and Matsuzaka starting three in the playoffs is more than formidable.

This is not a make or break move for the Red Sox but a smart one. I hate the Red Sox but like the move from a team point of view.

by Ron Prezzano

For a lot of us baseball fanatics this is our Punxsutawney Phil, “Ground Hogs Day,” week. I know, a day isn’t a week and all of that stuff but, give me some writers suspended reality leeway here, Okay? I just crawled out from under my four-month pile of meaning less, paperless essays and there are bound to be cobwebs.

After crawling out I managed to see my shadow. This means two things. There will be six more weeks of speculation baseball and I need to loose ten pounds. Fortunately, for baseball, the six weeks will pass. Unfortunately, for me, the ten pounds probably won’t.

So far, this off-season, the Yankees addressed their needs like an annual physical exam.

They required a colonoscopy where they found and removed a couple of polyps, of the Gary Sheffield and Randy Johnson variety. A third polyp of the Carl Pavano type was left in tact. They elected to treat the polyp with diet and exercise. The feeling here was removing it now could cause more internal bleeding and require a longer healing process. A re-evaluation of the polyp will be addressed in the next month or so.

The cardio exam revealed the same ongoing issues the Yankees have been experiencing the past few years, a weak heart. There is a lot of plaque built up in those arteries and another new diet is recommended. The Joe Torre Diet has run its course and has been deemed ineffective for the most part. The “Indiana Mattingly Diet” or the “South Beach Girardi Diet” has been suggested. Both are new and trendy. With a little exception of the South Beach Girardi Diet they are basically untested.

In the meantime, they performed another angioplasty and inserted an Andy Pettitte stent with the possibility of a Roger Clemens one to follow in a few months. These should service well for the next year or so but either a triple bypass or a transplant will eventually be needed. I hear the new Philip Huges replacement heart is new and strong but needs a little more development. There have also been discussions on whether to use the new pacemakers on the market. There are several models to choose from: Alberto Gonzalez,Ross Ohlendorf, Humberto Sanchez and the Kevin Whelan. Time will tell and I am still a skeptic regarding these models. A new Japanese model called the Kei Igawa has worked well in Japan but has not been tested in the states.

Endurance has not been a problem for twelve years for the Yankees and the stress test revealed no change.

Strength, which has been questioned in recent years regarding non-prescription additives, will always be an issue, until the medical board sets some guidelines. This is not likely to happen in the near future. Bureaucracy and revenue always cause confusion and delay.

The daily vitamin requirement has been revamped and it will include the Doug Mientkiewicz hand and eye co-ordination supplement. The Juan Miranda Josh Phelps Alberto Gonzalez Wil Nieves and Bronson Sardinha supplements have also been added as a precautionary measure. These supplements are always rearranged and substituted as the season wears on.

The orthopedic evaluation suggested that the bones and joints were all healed. Other than a slight case of arthritis in the first, center and buttocks locations of the anatomy, all is well.

As with every patient willing to go through analysis, there are always issues. The Yankees have their share, with #### envy and non-acceptance paranoia heading the list. A slight case of immaturity and adolescence behavior sprinkled in with some dementia. The latter has been associated with and proven to be a side effect of the Joe Torre Diet.

The Yankees have an excellent health plan carrier in the George M. Steinbrenner group. Given a five star rating by whoever the hell rates these things. They are in good hands, as the saying goes.

So the evaluation seems healthy enough to expect the same results for the coming year. That, my friend, is good enough for me…. for now. Come October I might sing a different tune.

So medication prescribed for these symptoms? Six more weeks of speculation baseball.

 

by Ron Prezzano

All of us who consider ourselves baseball fanatics understand the unique timeless mystery of the game. Our summertime sports passion has evolved into a year round obsession of baseball. With the development of the WBC, baseball is steadily becoming an international sport of merit. With that in mind, what we are seeing in this off-season, regarding the pursuit of Japanese quality pitchers by major market MLB baseball franchises, should not be looked at as a grotesque attempt to acquire the untested foreign talent and sports tabloid headlines. This has become a huge international business strategy that can secure enormous revenue for all baseball franchises involved.

Who knows how much revenue and cash reserve these MLB franchises have secured over the last decade of baseball popularity. Until baseball franchises open their financial books to the public this will always be a speculative guess to the inquiring public.

The New York Yankees are considered the Microsoft Corporation of MLB. Generating international revenue that keeps getting larger and larger with each passing year. It is beginning to sink in with other
Franchises as well. Reinvesting in your franchises pocket strategically, TV revenue, farm systems, network sports venues and signing of international players, will line the franchise pockets for years to come. Playing the international marketing game can be a financial windfall for all those willing to take the initial plunge. This is evident by the 51 million dollar bid that the Boston Red Sox submitted, and eventually won, to the Seibu Lions, of the Japanese Baseball League, for the negotiating rights for their star pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. This was followed up this week by the 25 million dollar winning bid that the New York Yankees secured for the negotiating rights to Japanese pitcher Kei Igawa of the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese Baseball League.

The baseball world is all a buzz by this initial act of, what the public views as, ludicrous spending by the egotistical spoiled baseball owners of MLB. Is it egotistical pandering or shrewd business tactics?


If this was such a ludicrous tactic why hasn’t the commissioner of MLB stepped in to protect the product that has been the golden goose? The silence speaks volumes on the enormity of the financial windfall that is ascending upon this international marketing game and the future of MLB on a global scheme.

The timing of all this to coincide with the success of the WBC interest is not coincidental. This is international big business and the beginning of a world sports market. The MLB has obviously been looking at the talent displayed by the WBC and have decided that the results of interest and talent in the global market is worthy of this kind of attention and good business sense. This is serious folks.

 

by Ron Prezzano

 

I, for one, am truly amazed that O.J. Simpson is still walking amongst the living. Given the general attitude of the racial tension caused years ago by the spill off from the Simpson trial and it’s outcome.

I was convinced that some extremist would take matters into his own hands and squeeze the juice out of O.J.’s life. I am certainly happy that this did not happen. The fall out from that would cause all kinds of unneeded tension in this country. We have enough problems in this country concerning our involvement in a war that we are hopelessly loosing and at the cost of young American soldiers lives.

Since O.J. walks through life, as shameless as he does, it was just a matter of time before the man projected his true image out there for the whole world to see. Maybe he has a secret death wish. I seem to think that his personality, one of needing to be recognized by the media and population as some sort of celebrity, is what has driven him to this latest blunder of negative publicity and general disdain by the majority of the rational thinking public.

OJ is squeezing the life out of several issues and in turn he will eventually squeeze the life out of himself and we all will watch. Everyone stops to watch a train wreck no matter how horrible.

Don’t get me started on Judith Regan.

 

by Ron Prezzano

 

For all the marathon runners out there this is a very special week for your sport. The sports world will tune into the five boroughs of New York City on Sunday November 5th. The media microscope will paint a mosaic picture of thirty-five thousand pavement pounding physically tortured souls proving that endurance, to them, is a lifestyle commandment.

For those who have been through this experience almost any other task in life becomes less monumental and the inner soul becomes rewarded with a sense of strength and character. To all these individuals who participate I raise a glass and toast to you and your character.

The discipline that makes you hit the roads, tracks, trails and treadmills on a daily basis is one that will never leave you throughout your life’s quest. You are strong willed and determined and those who are in contact with you will always be respectful and in awe.

It has been twenty-eight years since I have stepped foot onto the starting line of The New York City Marathon but I can still feel the exhilaration and triumph from each and every marathon I ran. I ran in the New York City Marathon when it was run in Central Park (four plus loops) and a New York City firefighter by the name of Gary Muhrcke won the first NYC race in 2hr. 31min. and 39 secs. There were only fifty-five finishers that first year of 1970.

Sunday tens of thousands of individuals will finish this race and they will have a lifetime of rewards for their efforts. Good luck to all who participate. Through my minds eye I will remember the thrill.

 

by Ron Prezzano

The Yankees did have chemistry this year. Unfortunately it was stripped from the lineup in the last three weeks of the regular season with the return of Hedeiki Matsui and Gary Sheffield. Joe Torre’s hands were tied when it came time to play these two. He had to. This, as it turned out, was the wrong time to screw with team chemistry.

In the beginning of the year the Yankee team that played everyday lacked that chemistry also. Matsui and Sheffield were part of that starting lineup. I remember writing an article on how boring this Yankee team was in the first month to six weeks of the season. No clutch hitting, poor starting pitching and an already over worked bullpen.

There was this familiar feeling surrounding this team that things would eventually work there way to a head to head battle with the Red Sox. Then the injuries unfolded. This perhaps was the highlight of the season for the New York Yankees.

Brian Cashman and Joe Torre had their work cut out for them and the two seemed to be on the same page and that is when the chemistry started to develop. This, in part, was due to the understanding and confidence that Brian Cashman was now the true General Manager of this franchise. Now he and Joe Torre did not have to constantly look over their shoulder for every decision that they collectively agreed upon and eventually made. They would be held totally responsible for their moves and that would be fine as far as Brian and Joe were concerned.

The infusion of younger and hungrier players into the everyday lineup had an immediate impact on the field and the results were equally positive. There was a life to this team that was not present in the past three plus years.

You need a blend of confidence, energy, swagger and yes, even fire. You are not going to win without that mix for the most part. To say that you need a team of Rivera’s, Jetter’s and Williams who just go out there everyday and do their jobs sounds wonderful. It won’t happen because you could never find nine guys with that approach who play everyday. It’s a blend.

The Yankees, in their championship seasons, always had a blend. Knobloch, O’neill, Clemens, Nelson, El Duque, Tino. These guys showed emotion and brought the energy level up to a point where it needed to be, to be a champion. The Yankees had it for a good part of the season but they lost that energy this year in the final three weeks of the season. Too many All Stars and an all too familiar look that lulled them back to a false sense of “We are the best lineup in all of baseball.”

Blame it on pitching, but the pitching was not horrible, the offense was.

Lou Piniella has made a difference every place that he has managed with the exception of Tampa Bay. He can motivate talent. Tampa Bay had a class AA team for the time he managed there and a payroll to match. So it is unfair to judge him on that level. No one could win being dealt with that hand. I am glad he was not hired to manage the Yankees but if he was I’ll bet the ranch he would have been successful.

I like Cashman and I like where he is going with his approach. I’m pretty sure he has learned from his frustrating years as a three-headed GM. I am guessing that this will be the last year of a top to bottom All Star lineup for the Yankees under Cashman’s present day’s watch. He has a lot more rope as far as I’m concerned.

by Ron Prezzano

The St. Louis Cardinals have done what both the New York Mets and New York Yankees could not accomplish in a short series. Hit in the clutch.

 

 It doesn’t take a team batting average of .300 to win in a short series. With the quality of good pitching each team must face in the post season, it would be highly unlikely that offense would dominate the series. Strong starting pitching and timely hitting is of the essence and go hand in hand.

   What killed the Detroit Tigers was momentum. They got it after game two of the first round ALDS against the Yankees and rattled off seven straight wins. The only problems here was that the Cardinals and the Mets stretched the ALCS to seven games. Add in a rainout and that left the Tigers with a week waiting for their opponents to be determined. Now that is a momentum killer. The Tigers had the good starting pitching and timely clutch hitting down pat before their week off.

    Let’s face it the best teams don’t always win in a short series. The Yankees and Mets each won ninety-seven games in their division and were the top winners in each of their leagues. The Cardinals won eighty-three games. The lowest ever win total by any World Series Champion. Tack on the eleven post season wins by the Cardinals and they still did not win as many games as the Mets or the Yankees.

   The Mets get somewhat of a pass, as this is their first post season in five years. They do not have to be embarrassed by their post season showing. They swept the Dodgers in the NLDS and pushed the Cardinals to seven games in the NLCS. It happens.

   The Yankees just were embarrassed once again in the post season. Loosing in the first round of the ALDS. This after a monumental breakdown against the Red Sox in 2004 and a first round knock out by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (can we shorten the name please) in 2005. This momentum has to be stopped.

 

by Ron Prezzano 

 

 Right after the disappointment of being ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the under dogged Detroit Tigers I was all over some much needed changes. I wanted to get rid of Joe Torre and Alex Rodriguez. Obviously decision makers who REALLY count on the Joe Torre issue out voted me. No surprise there.

  Alex Rodriguez is not going anywhere either and after rethinking, I have decided that it is a good thing for A-Rod to stay put. After all pitching did in the Yankees and…well so did hitting but that was spread out equally amongst this post-season offensively challenged Yankee team.

 

 A-Rod did not cost the Yankees a division title and he did not single handedly cost his team a shot at the AL pennant. It was a team effort.

  A-Rod plays a decent third base and we all know his numbers offensively during the regular season. He helped put the Yankees in a position to get into the playoffs every year that he has been in New York.

 Rule number one: Get to the post season. After that it really is about pitching in a short series. That is where the Yankees have failed to match up with their opponents in post-season play, during this recent championship drought run.

   Who cares if Derek and A-Rod don’t like each other or if A-Rod is prettier or self-proclaimed more Bi-racial and makes more money than everyone else. Actually it makes for great arguments at bars, stadiums, water coolers and message boards. It sure takes your mind off important issues like when the hell are we going to get out of Iraq and stop trying to fight two wars and bring our boys home. That’s for another article though.

  

It’s fun to pick on A-Rod because he always has something really scripted and eyebrow rising to say. This has been a writers dream to have the likes of Alex Rodriquez in New York. Derek gets the endorsements but A-Rod gets the press. When it comes to whether Derek gets more money for his endorsements or writers get more page exposure writing about Alex, I’ll opt for Alex every time. It makes a writer’s job easier and we get out all our frustrations to boot.

 

 A-Rod bashing has been in Vogue, but fall fashion is history. It’s time for a new wardrobe. Something geared for spring with a little curve around the right or left arms. Something that says hard and fast and young…but always in pinstripes.