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

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

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

One month into the 2006 baseball season and it seemed as if the New York Yankees were going to be hard pressed to fill some big offensive holes that developed in their lineup. The injuries to Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield took some 250 RBI’s right out of the heart of the Yankee lineup with the added possibility that Matsui and Sheffield were going to miss a good part, if not all of the season.

The starting rotation was looking very vulnerable. Randy Johnson was certainly showing signs of being a forty-three year old pitcher. Chien Ming Wang  was having some problems keeping his sinker down. Sean Chacon was hit in the leg with a line drive and never regained his momentum. Aaron Small was showing why he was a minor leaguer for nine years. The magic from the previous year where Small had gone 10-0 was gone. Jaret Wright was awful and could not pitch more than four or five innings at best .The one bright spot was Mike Mussina and he was coming off a year where he had to be shut down for several starts due to a sore elbow.

The bullpen was a big question mark also with Tanyon Sturtze reverting back to his unreliable self, giving up home runs at an alarming rate. Joe Torre’s bullpen was already being over worked and seemed to be a mirror image of the previous years’ unreliable lot but with new faces. Plus the Red Sox won the first four games played against the Yankees. The Grey cloud thickens.

Jetter, A-Rod and Giambi  are out with injuries and illnesses. Johnny Damon is playing with a broken foot and needs days off frequently as not to injure himself permanently.

Rookies are called up from the farm system and Brian Cashman is preaching patience. Cashman seems determined to stick by his new policy that he will not give up or trade away any of the organization’s young talent.  Melky Cabrera, the young outfielder called up a season ago and who was just awful defensively, is placed in the corner outfield slot and given a chance to play everyday. Light hitting Bubba Crosby was now playing a regular outfield position. Bubba is a step up defensively and at one time in the off-season was designated the Yankee starting center fielder before the acquisition of Johnny Damon. Cosby then goes down with a hamstring injury that keeps him out of the lineup for six weeks. Bernie Williams, who in the off-season was resigned as a back up outfielder and DH, is now pressed into daily duty in the outfield.

What else could go wrong for the New York Yankees?

Robinson Cano, the Yankees quality second baseman, who a year ago made the most of an early season call up from the minors, pulled a hamstring muscle and was out of the lineup for six weeks. Miguel Cairo, the utility infielder resigned in the off-season by Cashman, was now the everyday second baseman.

Alex Rodriguez decided this year would be the right year to prove the naysayers right and have a terrible time getting his mental game together. His fielding is erratic causing his offense to be erratic causing his fielding to be erratic causing his, well you get the idea.

The rest of Major League baseball is quietly smiling at the unnatural series of pitfalls that have settled like a mid-summer storm over the richest and most successful team in baseball. It appeared that the Yankee string of playoff seasons was coming to an end. So if you are a major league baseball player, on every other team, you are snickering and amused at the Evil Empire’s misfortune.

Somehow through mid season, the Yankees are still hovering around the top of their division. Some in the baseball community are suggesting that this is all smoke and mirrors. After all how could a team missing three of their top RBI guys, two to injury and one the reigning league’s MVP playing like a Freud patient, be near the top of their division? It is a house of cards waiting to fall. So it seems.

Well low and behold, Melky Cabrera comes in and plays stellar defense and hits between .265 and .300. He nails down the left field position so well that off-season decisions have to be made on how they can keep this kid in the lineup everyday. With the return of Matsui, not the best outfielder, who has a multi year contract and an international corporate influence on the bottom line, should cause some real hard decision making by the front office but that is for the off season.

Derek Jeter has a year that is so consistent and clutch that by mid season his name is mentioned along with Big Papi, David Ortiz, as a possible MVP candidate. Jeter is putting up career numbers and is the most clutch of Yankees.

Jason Giambi, has settled in at DH/first base and is putting up power numbers and RBI’s like he did with the Oakland A’s and his first two years in pinstripes.

Joge Posada is having an excellent year behind the plate and is throwing out runners better than at any other point in his long career. Thanks in part to his tutelage from first base coach and former All-Star catcher Tony Pena. Posada’s offense is also consistent, being among the top ten at his position in all of baseball. His handling of the pitching staff has been as solid as ever.

Johnny Damon has been as good if not better than advertised. He is having a career year while suffering form numerous nagging injuries. His presence in the dugout and clubhouse has been very noticeable and well received. He is no #### unless camaraderie is ignorance.

Bernie Williams is making twelve million dollars less than he did a year ago. The bargain of the century.  He has played almost regularly and proved the skeptics wrong. Bernie is far from done. This is a role that he has adjusted to very well. His outfield play has been solid and his offense has been consistent and brisk.

Andy Philips played a solid defensive first base and showed some power while sharing the first base position with Giambi for half a season. A formidable duo.

Miguel Cairo played all four-infield positions flawlessly spelling injuries to Cairo, Jetter, and A-Rod. He always seemed to have tough at bats when the game was on the line.

The bullpen took a while to get formulated but now has settled in. Scott Proctor has been solid and durable. Leading the league in appearances from day one. His over powering fastball (96-98 MPH) and good
Curveball have served him and the Yankees well.

Ron Villone the quality lefthander, has come into his own as a Yankee and Torre has now developed faith in his reliance on Villone for middle to late inning relief.

Kyle Farnsworth can be dominating (100-101 MPH fastball and slider) and frustrating (any thing under 95mph is straight and over the fence hittable). The trick is to not have him pitch two innings one day and then pitch the next. It took Joe Torre over a half season to figure that one out. He also is in the top two in appearances among relievers.

Mariano Rivera is the best closer in the history of the game.  “Das it”.

The coaching staff is the most experienced and the best in baseball with four major league managers on their staff. , Bench coach Lee Mazzilli, Third base coach Larry Bowa, First base coach Tony Pena, and bullpen coach Joe Kerrigan. Add to that Ron Guidry as pitching coach and probably the best hitting coach in all of baseball Don Mattingly and you have the most post season experienced coaching staff in Major League baseball.

Joe Torre is having his hardest year as manager and is doing a remarkable job. The shuffling of ballplayers, due to injury, has been a skill he has mastered. Although Joe could use a refresher course on how he handles his bullpen at times.

Brian Cashman , if he had a number, his number should be retired just on his player personnel moves the last two seasons. The acquisition this July 31st of Bobby Abreu and Corey Lidle From the Philadelphia Philles for four minor leaguers put this team right back in the thick of the playoff picture once again. Perhaps even a trip to another World Series. Brian has turned this club over from a streaky, power hitting, three run homer offence that at times would be shut down, to a energetic single, double and occasional power hitting juggernaut. One that is patient at the plate and wears down the opponents starting pitching then attacks their bullpen. Brian has done this during the season and has not skipped a beat. In fact the Yankees now have a strong hold on first place by seven games with five weeks to go in the season.

So the silver lining in the cloud came in the form of replacement players and a general manager who did a tremendous job despite losing Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield and playing with a fractured reigning MVP.

We all know it comes down to pitching in the playoffs and no one other than the Minnesota Twins  seem to have three aces. Let us see how this Yankee team will do. Johnson, Mussina and Wang are formidable.  If the Twins make it to the playoffs I’m sure the Yankees would rather see them than the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Yankees just can’t beat that team.

The Boston Red Sox are finding out that some clouds are just that, clouds. They are experiencing the rigors of war at the end of the battle. I'd rather have been through the war than approaching the battle.

by Ron Prezzano

With the third best record in all of Major League baseball the New York Yankees look like the class of the American League. They will display more than adequate starting pitching, strong relief pitching, good defense, timely hitting, and the best third base coach in the game. That is on any given day. Yet, also on any given day, the New York Yankees might look like a team that is more suited for the second half of their division or league. Spotty starting pitching. Pitchers who are unable to pitch with a lead, a tired an ineffective bull pen, poor and lackadaisical fielding, offensively squandering base runner after base runner and the best player in the game not being the best player in the game. Who are these guys?

The first half of the year they kick around the top tier teams in the Central division and made the baseball annalists look at the Central Division teams as imposters to their records, inflated by playing in a heavily scheduled weaker division.

The Yankees take a five game series from the Red Sox, in Boston. Unheard of in sixty-three years in Boston. Yet they are now having a hard time winning a series from lower echelon teams like Baltimore and Seattle (it’s always dangerous to play a team who has lost eleven straight games). Now they are off to play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ( could we make this teams name longer or more confusing?) who out hustle, out pitch, and out manage the Yankees every time they meet. Then they're off to play the Detroit Tigers (best record in baseball) and the Minnesota Twins who are one of only three teams to have a winning record against the Yankees this year.

This stretch of twenty-one games in twenty days has a kiss your sister kind of feel to it so far. The Boston series being the big bright spot that keeps the pressure somewhat tolerable today. Boston is not going to go away. There are still four more games with the Red Sox at Yankee stadium and right now the Red Sox are only five and a half games back.

 The Red Sox rebounded nicely after the Boston Massacre of 2006, winning two of three from the Angles after flying cross-country. Not so for New York and it will only get tougher for the next nine games (Angles, Tigers, Twins). Boston has a break for the next three games as they play the Seattle Mainers who should be primed for a sweep after their winning ways against the Yankees, although the Red Sox are only 3-4 against Seattle. Then they too have a rough schedule playing Oakland, who they are 3-4 against, Toronto 4-7, and Chicago 2-1.

The Yankees still should be the team to beat. They have benefited nicely by their July 31st trades. Bobby Abreu has been nothing short of stellar offensively and is an upgrade defensively in right field. Corey Lidle has pitched like he always has in the second half  of the season throughout his career. Craig Wilson certainly hasn’t hurt the team but between him and an uninjured Andy Phillips I’ll take Phillips defensively. Wilson is just awful swinging at pitches low and away.

Pitching is the key, as always, and the Yankees seem to have a nice edge here also. Wang, who has pitched more innings then at any other point in his short career, is their ace. A watchful eye needs to be focusing on preventing a reoccurrence of last years shoulder problems.

Mussina is being protected and rested and that should be all he needs to finish out the year on a strong note.

Randy Johnson will give you mostly good outings and lots of innings. You will always get the occasional stinker. Lets hope if this is his last year he lets it all out.

Jaret Wright, amazingly has been injury free and is a bulldog, showing an ability to keep his team in most of the games he pitches. The bullpen needs to be rested when his turn in the rotation comes up. Strategic bullpen planning is required here by Joe Torre and Ron Gudry.

Maybe a Jeff Karstens can sneak in a few good starts while the Yankees periodically rest their starters. He throws strikes and has a decent assortment of off speed curves and change ups. Certainly the Yankees can’t be the only team dazzled by young unknown pitchers.

The bullpen has really come around and it looks like everyone has his niche. If Proctors right arm is not four inches longer than it was at the beginning of the year I would be surprised. He has done more than an adequate job. The same can be said for Ron Villone.

Mike Myers is brutal to all lefties and is seasoned for the playoff run.

Kyle Farnsworth is starting to look like the pitcher who pitched brilliantly for the Braves the second half of last season. The Yankees hope that in the playoffs he pitches better than he did for the Braves last year.

Octavio Dotel ???

Mariano Rivera. Enough said.

So if the Yankees can master the art of not playing down to their competition then all is well in Yankee land and a trip to the Championship series and beyond is likely. Anything less could mean a interesting series with the dreaded Red Sox.

So who will they be today?

By Ron Prezzano

                     Who says the Yankees are bad for baseball?

Don’t tell that to all the major league teams that sell out their stadiums when the Evil Empire comes to town to display their talent. Don’t mention that to all the teams in major league baseball who receive luxury tax dollars supplied by the team with the highest team salary over the tax cap.

 This week you can put the Chicago White Sox on the top of the list that think the Yankees are good for baseball. The White Sox hosted the New York Yankees for a crucial three game series last week after playing uninspired baseball for nearly two thirds of a defending championship season. The White Sox were ten games out of first place behind the surprising Detroit Tigers who sported the best record in baseball when the Yankees rolled into town. New York had swept the White Sox, in New York, right after the All Star break and were playing their best baseball of the year. Adding to this the Yankees were now being tabbed the team to beat by baseball analysts and sports writers from around the country.This after the Yankees pulled off a major trade at the July 31st trading deadline. They acquired out fielder Bobby Abreu and pitcher Corey Lidle from the Philadelphia Phillies for some minor leaguers and they obtained first baseman Craig Wilson from the Pittsburgh Pirates for ineffective starter Sean Chicon.

  What happened next was the inspiration the White Sox needed to spur them on to save their season of malaise and make a run at a division title. Never mind the wild card.

  The Yankees played poor defensively and offensively they were not hitting with runners in scoring position. To top it off their ace reliever, Mariano Rivera, blew a ninth inning save in the first game of the series. This was the kindling that lit the fire under the defending world champs. The White Sox showed fire and confidence from that moment on and have been on a tear ever since, knocking five games off the Tigers lead in the Central Division, taking two of three from the Yankees and sweeping the Tigers in a following three game series. Chicago has taken nine out of twelve games from Detroit this season and they have seven games remaining with the division leaders.

  If the Yankees came into Chicago and swept them I’m sure their confidence would have been damaged. After all, they were playing poorly from the All Star break. Chicago’s starting pitching, their strength last year was, with the exception of Jose Contreas, to a man an ERA 1.00 higher than a year ago. The bull pen was not much better.

New York, with a normal offense and Mariano being his predictable self could have easily swept that series but that is why they play the game. The home crowd really was a contributor. Rising to the occasion in late innings and giving the White Sox that extra bit of emotional energy to put them over the top. There is nothing like beating the New York Yankees in a crucial series to get the momentum going. Just ask the Boston Red Sox, and the California Angles of Anaheim

 Thank you New York for waking up a sleeping giant and making the last two months of the baseball season more exciting.

Who says the New York Yankees are bad for baseball?

By Ron Prezzano

While looking at the American League and breaking down the numbers I saw an interesting figure.

The Central plays the East at twelve games under .500 with a 35-47 record.

The West plays the East at eight games over .500 with a 48-40 record.

The West plays the Central five games under .500 at 48-53 record.

The numbers are not overwhelmingly slanted in the American league.

As we know the American League really struts it's stuff against the lesser potent National League.

American League East inter league 58-35

American League Central inter league 63-27

American League West inter league plays .500 ball at 36-36

So what does all this mean? I'm going out on a limb and saying that given these numbers it's still anybody's game for the American League Division winners and Wild Card berths.

Unless the Tigers completely fall apart (unlikely) or they play exceptional ball (also unlikely) I see the divisions and wild card races going down to the final weeks or week of the season. I think the Wild Card could now be coming from the Eastern division. Two weeks ago I did not think that.

The American League East seems to look like the stronger division when compaired to the rest of the League despite the strong numbers that Detroit and Chicago have in the standings. They have fattened themselves on the National League by going a combined 29-7 against the senior circuit.

The upper tier teams in the East dominate the upper teams in the Central. Nobody even mentions the Western division when it comes to Wild Card predictions.

So no matter what anybody says it's still a good bet the AL East will once again reign as Wild Card favorites.
If you are a stat guy.

With the sudden awakening of the Minnesota Twins that all important American League wild card race just got a lot more interesting. Minnesota who looked, on paper at the beginning of the year, to be a legitimate contender to challenge for a least a run at the wild card got off to a miserable start.

The defending World Series Champion Chicago White Sox almost by default were given the edge for the American League Central title for 2006. After all they only made improvements in the off season to a team that ran over most AL teams during the season and playoffs and pretty much manhandled the NL elite in the World Series.

Out of nowhere the Detroit Tigers propel themselves into the AL Central mix with a strong first half showing. This the result of good quality young starting pitching and a fairly decent offense. They have the best record in baseball and at twenty-nine games over .500 it is very hard to count them out for at least a run at the wild card and maybe even the Central Division title. This is a young and talented team but as we saw last year with the Cleveland Indians inexperience can be a grim reaper when September pressure hits near hurricane force.

These three teams will play each of the other two in their division an average of forty-three games over the remainder of the season. Detroit has a slight edge over Chicago at the half way point in head to head competition while Minnesota has been the whipping boy losing nineteen out of twenty-seven to their two divisional fore runners. Not an encouraging statistic if you are a Twins fan.

A similar pattern has developed in the American League East With the Boston Red Sox, The New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. The difference is the way the Blue Jays play the Red Sox. They just give the Red Sox fits.( along with Tampa Bay). We all know how well the Red Sox and Yankees play each other. This is probably going to be a two team race in the end in the AL East between the all too familiar Red Sox and Yankees. No surprise here.

Back in the AL Central, the Twins seem to be getting their act together and pitching is leading the way. Johan Santana (Cy Young 9-4 ERA 2.76) Brad Radke (off to a horrendous start but has been lights out his last three starts with an ERA under 2) and Francisco Lario ( 9-1 ERA 1.99) have started to mesh as a legitimate 1-2-3 starting punch that could make a big difference and turn around in the second half.

With all of this starting to take shape in the AL Central I'm looking forward to a very interesting Divisional and Wild Card battle and the winners could very well be the AL East.

If this were two weeks ago I would not even thought about the scenario that faces the AL Wild Card today.
But thanks to inter league play Minnesota ( 16-2) is right back in the mix. Who says these game are meaningless?

So, the Tigers ability to keep it together and to play better than .500 ball the rest of the way plus the pitching of the Minnesota Twins to make up the gap or possibly dominate the head to head battle between the other big two in the Central will be the deciding factor in the AL Wild Card race.

Unless of course the Tigers continue to play .600+ baseball then I have written all of this for naught

Posted on Monday 19 June 2006