Well it was a pretty interesting weekend in sports for me, whether it was the Kentucky Derby, Ian Kennedy getting sent to the minors, the Yankees actually sweeping a team for once, Darrell Rasner's performance, etc. I'll get around to all of that in today's blog.
I'll start with the Kentucky Derby, and i'll be the first to admit that i'm not a big horse racing fan. I only watch the Triple Crown races, since they're such big sporting events that it's almost hard not to watch, to see if a horse can win the first Triple Crown in 30 years. I'll start by saying that I really liked "Big Brown"s performance, I think he has a good chance to pull off the triple crown, but that's not really why i'm writing about the Derby. As most people probably know by now, "Eight Belles" was the first 'filly' horse to run the race in about ten years, and she ran a great race with the boys, ended up finishing second after fading away at the end. Unfortunately, just minutes after the race, the horse collapsed on the track, broke both of her front ankles, and had to be put down immediately since there was no way to move her, an unbelievably sad ending to a great race.
   But what was even sadder about this, was the lack of attention paid to it. NBC Sports did a terrible job of covering this race. When the horse went down, it seemed as if they really didn't care. Sure, they initially reported the whole thing when it had to be put down and stuff, but after it happened it seemed like there was almost no mention of it. It was kind of like a "oh a horse just suddenly died, boo hoo" type of approach. Just after they had reported the incident, they of course, went to go interview the owner of the winning horse, he was jumping around, hugging, celebrating, and he probably had no idea what had happened to the runner-up, since this was so sudden. But the reporter who interviewed him did know, could have said something to him about it, but didn't, and seeing all these people celebrating just after a tragedy had happened, was probably the most sickening thing i've ever seen. Then later on, when all the corporate sponsors of the race spoke, I don't think one of them even said a "our thoughts are with the horse's owners" or anything of that nature. Absolutely sad situation. NBC tried their best to sugarcoat the whole thing, but in my opinion, they just made it worse by trying to make the day's derby seem like a happy situation, when it really wasn't. But of course, NBC's getting so much in sponsorship dollars, so who cares about the horse, right? As long as we're bringing in money! Man, what is this world coming to?
   Okay, now that i've made your life extremely depressing by saying that, let's move on to much lighter things. The Yankees just swept a 3-game series for the first time this season, I believe. They hit the ball very well, got very good outings from Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, and Darrel Rasner each game, just looked very good. Maybe this is a turning point for this season.
   Speaking of Darrell Rasner, I spoke highly of him yesterday, and he came through today. He pitched a solid 6 innings, gave up a 2-run home run in the first inning, but gave up no runs ever since that. It helped that the Yankees offense gave him a huge lead to work with, but all in all, I thought he looked very good. If he pitches well in Phil Hughes' absence, then the Yankees are in very good shape. 
   But the big news for Yankees fans wasn't even the fact that the Yankees swept the series today. The big news came before the game, when Joe Girardi had announced that Ian Kennedy, who hasn't won a game yet and has pitched terribly, has been sent to AAA to work out his problems. Thank God. But what was even more shocking, was what he had to say about being sent down. He said things like "it'll be nice to go pitch in an environment where you're not scrutinized for every pitch you throw." A quote like that is a huge red flag to any Yankee fan, or anyone in the Yankees front office. I have news for you, Ian. If you don't like pitching where every pitch is scrutinized, then I strongly suggest you get a new job, because that's what being a major leaguer is all about, ESPECIALLY when you're playing for the Yankees.
    I think it's very possible that Ian Kennedy might be the newest head-case to pitch for the Yankees. I really think the pressure of pitching in New York is getting to him, to where he wants to pitch in the minors, and if you want to pitch in the minors, then there's something seriously wrong. If i'm the Yankees front office, i'm under the impression that he's not serious about being a big-time major league pitcher, and I trade him out first chance I get for a big-time pitcher like Roy Oswalt.

All in all, very interesting weekend in sports, hope everybody enjoyed their weekend off.  I'll try to post on here daily, but that's it for now.

Keep it Real!