Cliff Lee rejoins Phillies!

this happened just moments ago. as a Phillies fan and Philly fan, I am beyond stoked. Of course, it never hurts to see the Yankees get fucked either. Is this now the best rotation in the modern era; all time? Who knows? Not me! But my other thought is this: how much longer until there are LeBron James comparisons, with regards to Cliff Lee's decision? There are some similarities, no? ...going to play w/ friends...loves the city...taking advantage of free agency...took less money....spurned New York... going to the team he felt had the best chance of bringing him a ring.. just sayin!

"...KILL.....THEMMmmmm..ah!!!"

"...game #6...AWAITS!"

Tips & Pointers on Yankee-Hating!

"I know I'm unloveable; you don't have to tell me.
Oh, message received; loud and clear.
...I wear black on the outside,
because black is how I feel on the inside." - Unloveable, by the Smiths.

My friend Chip D., a hardcore BoSox fan, offers up tips and pointers on Yankee-hating, based on three decades of oft-bitter experience! Stay tuned for more, hopefully! - sj

Tip/Point #1
They spent half a billion dollars to buy this year's pennant. Sabathia, Teixeira, and Burnett collected $500M in contracts last off-season. Remind Yankee fans that their team is a collection of mercenaries owned by a ruthless convicted felon. Envision your joy if - when! - the Phillies defeat them - like Washington bravely crossing the Delaware to take out that frat-party of complacent Hessians.

Cole's Woes

Cole’s Woes

“…count all the fingers and the toes; now I suppose you hope the little black boy grows…” I can’t help but think of that line & hook from Pete Rock & Cl Smooth’s “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y)", as I convey these thoughts…

Folks, here's what's going on w/ Cole Hamels, and I'm fairly sure he's going to be battling this throughout the World Series.

He's a brand new, first-time dad. He's tired. He's tired physically; he's tired mentally. You can see it on his face, you can see it in his pitching. You can see it in his interactions with Carlos Ruiz. And It couldn't have been more obvious than when, during last night’s game, with the Phillies just outs away from their second consecutive World Series appearance, the camera cut to him in the dugout, a headshot, and he wasn't really there. His face was a 1,000-yard stare, looking well past the action on the field. He was somewhere else.

You know where he was? Home. Trying to stay afloat in the ocean of chaos and love that a newborn baby brings (son Caleb was born Oct. 9th, not even two weeks ago). He was back at home, wrestling with exhaustion, communicating with his wife, Heidi, perhaps trying to listen to her fun anecdotes about what he's been missing, her frustrations and difficulties with “normal,” new-baby stuff, and perhaps even trying to get along with his mom-in-law, for all I know (if she's there, lending a hand)!

I don't know much about their new baby. I don't know if there is anything abnormal, or complex going on (which can make things even tougher). But even the “usual,” "normal," and "baby-and-mom-are-fine" situation, is extremely difficult, the first few weeks, for everyone involved. There is a lot to stay on top of, lose sleep over, and just plain manage. Including emotions. Heavy ones.

I've been around the world, was a Special Forces Marine (and Desert Storm Vet), and experienced a lot of hardcore, crazy things and difficult times in my life. And you know, when it came to the days and weeks immediately following the birth of my first child, it was all I could do to survive – seriously! And our baby was perfect, by the way! It is an extremely difficult time. Exasperating, and every once and a while, things truly seem futile.

Parents know what I'm talking about. Kid-less folks, er…not so much. I won’t begin to get into everything that goes on the first few weeks a first-born is brought into the world, for those who don't have children, but suffice it to say: you are toast. Burnt toast. Mentally, physically. There are times, when you're just like, "holy &^%#, how the hell am I going to make it?!" “Is THIS what this is?!” When you really do feel, “somehow, I have to survive.”

Cole is wearing these precise emotions on his face. It was crystal clear last night when the camera showed him in the dugout. He was more alert in his post-game interviews, and he had to be: he knew the cameras were on him, and he “snapped to it” with relative ease. But I could still see it gurgling underneath.

If this were his second child, it would be easier on him. You learn tons. You learn how to deal. You’ve learned that you can actually survive it all. Your spouse learns these things as well, and if this were their second child, both of them would be more well equipped to handle everything; the interaction and communications between new parents aren't as daunting; caring for baby is less difficult (though still hard). The global task is a bit easier. But, alas, that's not the case here.

In case you’re wondering, here are Cole’s stats from his last three starts (all post-season):

Game #2, Colorado Series (Phillies lost), when his wife went into labor either just before he took the mound, or once the game had started (he was told as much, after being pulled and headed straight for the hospital):

5 innings pitched, gave up 7 hits (1 homer), 4 runs, 5 strikeouts, with a 7.2 era.

Game #1, Dodgers Series (Phillies won, Cole got the win):

5.1 innings pitched, gave up 8 hits (2 homers), 4 runs, 4 strikeouts, with an era of 7.

Game # 5, Dodgers Series (Phillies clinch World Series Birth):

4.1 innings pitched, gave up 5 hits (3 homers), 3 runs, 3 strikeouts, with an era of 6.75.

Here are his post-season stats combined:

3 starts, 14.2 innings pitched, 6.75 ERA, 12 strikeouts, 20 hits (6 homers), and 41 total bases given up.

Good “enough?” Nope. Not with an impending World Series featuring the Yankees looming.

Sure, these three recent outings and set of stats point to Hamel’s struggles right now, but they aren’t necessary to deduce why his on-field performance is suffering: He’s a first-time dad, and husband of a first time mom. It’s a lot to deal with. Seriously. Simultaneously he’s dealing with the big-time, front-and-center pressures, of trying to steer his baseball team through two post-season series, and on-deck, the minefield of one of the best Yankees teams in recent memory, and a second consecutive World Series title.

You can just see it in him. He’s detached. He hasn’t been in the moment. He hasn’t had his head in the game. And it’s quite understandable, why. The implications, moving forward, are fairly big. And the question is this: can he somehow find a way to leave his awesome new family behind, when he heads to the ballpark?

He’s got a few days off to figure it out. Because in less than a week, one day before Caleb’s three-week birthday, he’ll be taking the mound (presumably) to start game #2 at Yankees Stadium in the World Series.

miscellaneous thoughts..

"Some of my best friends are yankees fans!" Look, I don't "love to hate the Yankees," or as I often call them, the Yankmees. I know a lot of people who hate the yankees. tons. none of them "love to hate the yankees," or "like to hate the yankees." Who "likes" to hate something? We would simply prefer the yankees go away and to never hear about them again. I don't like their arrogant players, I don't like their big, sloppy egos; I don't care which celebrities they're screwing, and so on. do I need to say this? I don't like their talent or their century of winning championships either. By and large, I find their fans equally annoying. Yes, I have plenty of friends who are diehard yankees fans. I don't find them annoying; they're my friends. but most yankee fans I meet throughout NY, America and the world, are annoying asses. that's just what I find. I take no pleasure whatsoever in immensely disliking the Yankmees and their fans. It hurts a little actually. And let's be honest, part of the hurt, comes from realizing that Yankee fans, do, to some extent, get a little joy out of knowing how much us 'haters' despise them and their team.

Fergie, singer from Black Eyed Peas, with the terrible voice and excellent figure must've just recently, gotten a lot of work done to her face. I saw her on one of the new Direct TV ads, and didn't even realize it was her at first (until I heard her singing). She doesn't look right in the face, yo.

The movie Anchorman. Look, people, I was underwhelmed the first time I watched it. But I have never, in my life, seen a movie, that got SO much better and funnier, w/ repeated viewings. And there are MANY hilarious scenes in that movie. They just went by me the first viewing, due to the seriously quirky schtick of Will Farrell, and the entire premise of the movie, and the fact that there are bad jokes scattered throughout, that the writers should've either kept out completely, or edited much better. But there are lots of comedies like that recently. Tropic Thunder comes to mind. There are def stupid - and nothing more - jokes in both of these movies; but they really do pale in comparison to the perfect blend of witty/absurd/hilarious jokes and scenes that dominate these movies. I've had this discussion before w/ people, and I can tell you, I am not the first to bring up the 'repeated viewing = way funnier' concept with regards to viewing Anchoman. Same thing happens w/ Big Lebowski (ALL Coen Bros. movies, for that matter). Watch it again. Let me know if I'm wrong.

Oh, one last thing: could republicans be any worse Americans?

The Yankees' Field Of Screams

Now THIS... "will make you think" (and scream and hurt). This is an impressive piece of investigative reporting. This is what good journalism can be.-sj

April 16, 2009 at 10:51 PM
Thomas B. Edsall
Huffington Post

"Wall Street bankers supposedly back the Yankees; Smith College girls approve of them. God, Brooks Brothers, and United States Steel are believed to be solidly in the Yankees' corner... but, as they say, who can fall in love with U.S. Steel?"
- Gay Talese in "There Are Fans... And Yankee Fans"

On Thursday afternoon, some 48,271 New York Yankees fans took a break from the drumbeat of lost jobs and looming tax hikes to take in the season opener, forking over anywhere from $95 to $2,625 for a seat with a view.

As these good folks tried to get relief from endangered paychecks and rising property assessments, at least a few suffered envy and anger as they thought about the millions, perhaps even $1 billion-plus, in public subsidies that went into building the brand-new stadium.

The beneficiary of all that cash is one of the most lucrative sports operations in the country, Yankee Global Enterprises LLC, the franchise George Steinbrenner bought for $8.7 million in 1973 and turned into an empire with a value pegged, last year, at $1.2 billion.

Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg did not blink at this transfer of money to the deserving rich - George Steinbrenner and his two sons, Hal and Hugh.

Not everyone shares the Giuliani-Bloomberg view of how to spend taxpayer dollars.

Westchester County Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, the Don Quixote of sports politics, has been conducting a one-man assault on the financing of Yankee Stadium, but, so far, has little or nothing beyond few headlines to show for it.

In a series of lengthy, detailed and footnoted reports, Brodsky has tried to prove that the construction of the new stadium is, as he told the Huffington Post in characteristically moderate New York language, "the most outrageous and dishonest a deal as has ever existed," engineered by Yankee executives who are nothing more than "bullies and thugs."

Brodsky, chair of the NY Assembly Committee on Corporations, Commissions and Authorities, found that "inappropriate and secretive lobbying by highly paid and politically connected procurement lobbyists, inappropriate hiring of politically connected former government officials, disposition of public property for less than its true value, [and] interference with investigations of such behavior" produced a deal with a "total cost to taxpayers and savings to the Yankees [of] between $585 million and $826 million."

The Mayor's office, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and the NY City Industrial Agency (IDA) dispute Brodsky's calculations, and, using different accounting methods - method some challenge -- argue that the city emerges from the deal a net $59.7 million ahead.

In fact, as the baseball season starts in earnest and the basketball and hockey seasons wind down, New York got what might be described as one of the "least bad" deals in negotiating who will pick up how much of the tab for new facilities -- in the face of team owners armed with a single trump card: the threat to leave town.

Smith College economist Andrew Zimbalist, a critic of most public spending on stadiums and other sports facilities, wrote a January 22, 2006, New York Times op-ed in which he declared, "the crucial public policy question here is whether there will be a net benefit for residents of the Bronx and the other boroughs. The answer is yes."

Neil deMause, author of "Field of Schemes," a book which weighs in against sport arena financing, strongly opposes the Yankee Stadium plan. On his Website, deMause calculates that the new stadium will cost the city $691 million, NY state $115 million, the NY Metropolitan Transit Authority $53 million, and the federal government $327 million -- for a combined taxpayer bill of $1.19 billion, nearly double the $671 million cost to the team.

"The Yankees deal actually manages to be both the largest team expense on a stadium in history, and the largest public expense on a stadium in history, somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 billion," deMause told the Huffington Post. "The city gets no part of the new revenues the Yankees will reap from the stadium; the jobs created are virtually all part-time, and largely cannibalized from other stores and restaurants in the surrounding area; Bronx residents lost their only large neighborhood park [until the old Yankee stadium is demolished and replaced by a park], for at least five years; and fans got more expensive seats with a lousier view of the field. All this, so that the Yankees wouldn't move out of New York - something that was never going to happen anyway, since the entire value of the Yankees franchise is wrapped up in where they play. I'd call that a pretty lousy deal."

The New York Times, in turn, has become increasingly skeptical of the deal: "Seats for $1,500 a game? Suites fit for the royal family? A scoreboard fit for the Big Board? A fabulous steakhouse and granite ramps (no ordinary cement for this crowd)? This $1 billion-plus pavilion and park financed with a lot of taxpayer help is beginning to sound like something fit for the Wizard of Oz," the paper editorialized on January 14 .

"Mayor Bloomberg has - rightly - had to cut city budgets and increase property taxes and explain to residents how times are bad and how we all will have to share the pain. It is time for Mr. Bloomberg to make that same pitch to the Yankees. If the Yankees can sign megamillion-dollar contracts (C. C. Sabathia just landed one for $161 million over seven years), they should be flush enough to contribute more toward their new stadium and to the parks for people living nearby."

The political facts of life, however, dictate that the stadium is a done deal. Property taxes are going up, jobs are down the chute, and the Yankees will play in their new palace. If the team wants to retain support in brutal economic times, their performance Thursday afternoon is not going to help.

The Cleveland Indians crushed the richest team in baseball 10-2.

Some Baseball

Well, the Yankees (aka, the Great Satan) have landed CC Sabathia for 7 years and $161 million, and they're still after AJ Burnett. Talk about a bailout!

Thankfully, the Tribe appears poised to sign Kerry Wood, who, if he manages to remain unbroken for an entire season, will finally provide the back end of a bullpen sorely in need of a back end of a bullpen. In addition, it looks as though Jhonny (wtf is up with how I spell my name?) Peralta is doing well at the hot corner in winter ball, opening up the possibility for Asdrubal (natural shortstop) Cabrera to move to the hole, and giving Josh ("what's this long stick for, again?") Barfield another chance to rise to the occasion of making a major league roster.

Please, oh, please (deity of your choice) let it be true. After all, it's always next season in Cleveland.