My favorite pairing of courtside celebrities at the Laker/Celtics game

Steven Spielberg and John Salley! And Spielberg is evidently talking Salley's ear off.

SPIELBERG: I really think that the Piston teams had such an extraordinary bench. When you think about you think about a starting 5 with Isiah, Dumars, Lambier, Dantley and Aguirre... and you'd have Rodman, Edwards, Mahorn, Vinnie the Microwave Johnson and yourself coming off the bench. I mean you'd constantly be putting a playoff caliber rotation out there. I know the Jordan Bulls teams won more games, but I'd take that 1989 team in ANY head to head matchup.

SALLEY: Thanks man. E. T. was awesome.

Quick question

Is Billy Wagner single handedly trying to get Willie Randolph fired?

If so, he's doing a hell of a job.

Does J. D. Drew realize this ISN'T a contract year?

Maybe he is under hypnosis!

Nobody tell him, OK?
I love eating crow about J. D. Drew.
And yes, I am still the president of his fan club.

We interrupt the baseball discussion to talk Celtics

Um... HOLY CRAP!

I am in Los Angeles now.
I am in enemy territory.

Then again I was in New York during the 2004 ALCS so maybe there is something to being on unfriendly soil during my teams unlikely wins.

I was at work last night and I clicked on the Yahoo ticker and I saw the Celtics were down by something like 24 points in the first quarter and I thought "Yeeesh. Better concentrate on work!"

I threw my token "Don't worry" to pessimist Celtic fans Dan Cronin and Michael Bernard all the while thinking "Well, maybe we'll win game 5."

I finished work and it was already the 3rd quarter and the Celtics were still getting walloped.

I drove to the gym I go to in Sherman Oaks and I didn't even put the game on. I don't need to hear the home announcers going nuts and heaping more praise on Kobe.

Now the gym I go to is in a mall in Sherman Oaks and is the Magic Johnson Gym. Therhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gife is something odd about a Celtics fan watching a Celtics/Lakers final in an establishment run by Magic Johnson.

Needless to say all of the TVs were on the game. I checked in, looked up to see how badly the Celtics were getting creamed.

The game was tied.
Somewhere in the 10 minute drive from my office to the gym the Celtics went on a run. And now it was a game.

I didn't want to take my eyes off the tv and I weighed the pros and cons of getting dressed right there in the lobby. I could look around and say "Hey folks, I'm going to be naked for a second. Hope that is cool."

Changed I got on a treadmill. I figured with my heart already racing, it is better to watch the game while running and burning calories instead of going to and being tempted by nachos or a lobster roll.

So I watched the last quarter running 6.5 miles per hour with my heart in my throat... all the while trying hard not to cheer too loudly.

I was indeed in Magic's gym.

When Ray Allen did that layup past Vujacic, I couldn't resist a yelp.I didn't care if Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Michael Cooper, Byron Scott, Kurt Rambis and Mychal Thompson were standing behind me.

The drive back I got to hear all of the Laker fans calling into the local show much like I heard the stunned in denial Yankee fans in 2004.

I don't think it reflects on me well that I get a perverse pleasure out of that.

I called my friend and current Santa Monica resident Kenny Mack, who I went to Weston Middle School with, to gloat.

He said he wanted to take a victory lap for both the Celtics and Obama.
I warned him... neither the Celtics nor Obama have won yet.

And let me tell you something else... the Lakers and John McCain... neither are the Colorado Rockies. Both have a shot to win.

So my Celtic fans friends out there, I don't want to hear ANYTHING about "I want to win it in Boston."

NO! I want to win THIS SUNDAY!!!!
I want to win in front of Jack!
I want Kobe to do his Jeter 1,000 yard "I thought I was going to win so many more titles" stare.
I want Phil to say "F this, I'm out."

I want a stunned silent Staples Office Supply Center.
I do not want this sleeping giant getting up!

And if Kobe's press conference was any indication, the Giant might have a hangover.
OK, back to baseball.

Blue Jay fans... why not bring back Cito?

Let's talk Blue Jays baseball today.

First of all, I tip my hat to the Blue Jays organization for dumping Armando Benitez in less than a month.

After he let up two home runs in 2/3 of an inning for a crushing loss against Baltimore on June 6, the Jays basically said "OK, everything we read was true. I guess the fan bases of the Orioles, Mets and Giants weren't 100% wrong about this guy."

It took the Giants 3 years to dump him. The Jays didn't need that long.

The funny thing is I wanted to put a picture of him in a Blue Jays uniform on the blog... and I couldn't find one on the web.

But their correct handling of Benitez doesn't mask the fact that the Blue Jays are blowing a big opportunity this year. What has everyone been saying about the Jays over the last few years?

"They'd be a contender if they were in a different division." Basically saying the Red Sox/Yankees cold war has prevented more October games being played north of the border.

Well look at this year. The Yankees have been hovering around the .500 mark, and while a lot of people including yours truly think they will go on a run, there is a possibility with the thin rotation and question marks in the bullpen and no Torre on the bench that the Yankees won't.

So an AL East team that is usually an after thought has a shot to be a playoff contender. And you'd think that team would be Toronto instead of the post Exorcism Rays.

The Blue Jays have the pitching to win but they can't seem to get out of their own way. They lost series recently to Seattle (inexcusable) and the Yankees and Orioles, whom they should be trying to move past.


Which brings us to the manager John Gibbons.
First of all, why is he still the manager?

Once you pick fights with your own players and don't turn those fights into wins, shouldn't you be canned?
Or caned?

But worse than battling with Dave Bush, Shea Hillenbrand, Ted Lilly and I'm guessing Frank Thomas... his team could be blowing a chance to take advantage of a crack in the AL East armor.

Yeah they've had injuries, but so has every team. And any team that has a rotation of Halladay, Marcum, McGowan, Burnett and Litsch should be winning more than 1 out of every 2 games.

How many teams say "Hey we HAVE enough starting pitching?"

The Blue Jays need a spark. This is Gibbons fifth season as manager. Maybe give the keys to someone else.

And why not have that person be Cito Gaston?
Seriously... bring back the manager of the greatest glory era of Toronto baseball!

Heck when Cito first managed the team, he took over an incredibly talented but underachieving Jays team that was 12-24. Jimy (sic) Williams wasn't getting it done.

They went 77-49 the rest of the way to edge the Orioles for the AL East. He lost the AL East on the last day of the 1990 season to Boston and then rattled off 3 straight division titles.

Then he became an interesting answer to a trivia question:
Who was the first manager of back to back World Champions in the Free Agency era?

Remember the Yankees won back to back in 1977 and 1978, but Bob Lemon had replaced Billy Martin.

The 1980s had only a handful of back to back division winners and repeating as champs seemed like a thing of the past.

And free agency took its toll on the 1992 World Champs. A bunch of players flew South of the border after the World Series parade. And not exactly insignificant players either.
Jimmy Key
Kelly Gruber
Tom Henke
Manny Lee
Candy Maldonado
Dave Winfield
David Wells
David Cone

Sure they replaced some with big names (Dave Stewart and Paul Molitor signed on and Tony Fernandez and Rickey Henderson were brought in as mid season trades) but they had to fill in other holes from within.

Todd Stottlemyre, Pat Hentgen, Ed Sprague and Duane Ward had to play bigger roles.

And Jack Morris was hurt and useless in 1993.

The result? A World Series title courtesy of Joe Carter.
Now he never had another winning season and the Jays took a while to recover after the strike and he was fired during the 1997 season.

And he hasn't managed since.
To this day only two managers have won back to back World Series titles in the Free Agency era...
Joe Torre and Cito Gaston.

One is going to the Hall of Fame and the other can't get a job.
He evidently has been up for a couple, but why isn't his name the first on people's lips?

All the managers he beat in the post season got jobs!
Tony LaRussa, Gene Lamont... even Jim Fregosi!

Don't tell me he's been gone from the game too long.
Jim Leyland left the game bitterly after the 1998 season and didn't come back until leading the Tigers to the 2006 World Series.

Don't tell me he's too old.
I think Jack McKeon calls Methuselah "Son."

Cito has as many World Series rings as those guys combined.

Someone like Terry Collins, who actually had player revolts on two teams, has been mentioned more times than Cito for jobs.

And I am not going to open the racial can of worms.
Don Baylor, who won exactly gotch as a manager, found more work.
And Dusty Baker, the man behind the biggest collapse of a potential World Series clincher in history as the Giants manager followed that up the next year with the 2003 Cubs collapse.

I say bring Cito back now!
Why not?
Maybe he's hungry! (He hasn't worked in 10 seasons, I hope he saved his money.)


What do YOU say, Blue Jays fans? The members of Blue Jays Nation!

Superfan... do you want Cito back?

Hey everyone at American Jays Fan... Is there something I don't know about him that is preventing him from getting another job?

Hey Matt and KP at Jays Nest, do you think Gibbons should be gone?

Do the folks at The Mockingbird think this year is a unique opportunity?

Let's hear from you Jays fans!
I don't want to cause an international incident

We will start today with a picture of Oscar Gamble

Good morning.

And you are welcome

We interrupt the baseball discussion to say...

LEON POWE?
Are you kidding me?

2 more wins! Come on Celtics!

And a quick note to some of my fellow Red Sox/Celtics fan friends.
Please spare me the "I hope we win at home" sentiment.

I got that enough during the 2004 and 2007 World Series.
Sox fans, good Sox fans and smart Sox fans, would say "Man, I wish they won at home."

In other words they were kind of saddened by THE RED SOX SWEEPING THE WORLD SERIES!!!!

Someone asked me last October when the Sox went up 2-0 (thanks to a nifty Papelbon pick off move) "Wouldn't you rather see the Red Sox win in Fenway?"

I countered with the question "What game am I supposed to be rooting AGAINST the Red Sox?"

In order to be rooting for a six game series, by definition I am rooting for my team to lose two.

It applies to the Celtics series.
I want a sweep.
I want four games and done.
I want Dyan Cannon to be very sad. Nothing against Ms Cannon. She's great in Heaven Can Wait.

But I will be rooting for the Celtics every night they play... ergo I am rooting for 4 and out.

Trust me, the title wasn't any less special for the Red Sox when they celebrated in St. Louis or Denver.

LET'S GO CELTICS
(And Leon Powe for that matter.)

OK, we now return to baseball discussion, already in progress.

There is someone wearing #7 on the Red Sox

He is hitting big home runs and picking up the slack for the injured Big Papi.









He is playing great defense, taking away extra base hits and even moving to center field for a game.











And didn't come out of the game, even when hit with a pitch.


WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH J.D. DREW???

I guess I am still the President of the J. D. Drew fan club.

I think Ozzie Guillen knows what he is doing

If you read about all the turmoil with the Chicago White Sox, you'd assume they were floundering this year.

Instead, after sweeping the Twins this weekend, the White Sox have a 5 1/2 game lead (6 in the loss column) which is the biggest lead of any first place team in baseball. They are the only team above .500 in the AL Central and with the Tigers and Indians unable to get out of their own way, it could be a great year on the South Side.

All the controversy started by Ozzie calling out hitting coach Greg Walker did was spark a six game winning streak where the bats were explosive.

Ozzie knows what he is doing folks.
It blows my mind that he has people who don't believe in him in Chicago.

He's the only manager of either Chicago team to win a World Series title since the Woodrow Wilson administration.
And remind me which player on that 2005 playoff roster was a Hall of Famer?
Which was a consistent MVP candidate?
Which one took home the Cy Young?

Nope... he took a team that was greater than the sum of its parts and became the second team to go through a 3 round post season with only one loss.

The other one was the 1999 Yankees, led by Torre and with Jeter, Rivera, Clemens and company.

Ozzie Guillen should be cherished!
Managers all look and sound the same now with the safe sound bites and constantly looking up at the GM for approval. I defy anyone to tell me the difference between the A's last three managers... Art Howe/Ken Macha/Bob Geren.

White Sox fans are lucky! They have a throwback manager.

They have a tantrum throwing, toss the book out and play with instinct, colorful and sometimes putting his foot in his mouth skipper who is getting his team to win.

When I was growing up there were managers like Tommy Lasorda, Billy Martin and Earl Weaver who could fit that bill.

Let's appreciate Ozzie for what he is... a lunatic who gets wins out of his team.

The Yankees are making the 2008 playoffs

I'm not saying I WANT them to.
But the last few games showed they will win games the way they did in 2005.

They'll get lousy starts but the offense will wait out the starting pitcher and they'll beat up the middle relief and closers of teams like Kansas City.

Then there will be 9th inning drama which will make Michael Kay lose his voice.

Then people will forget all about being sub .500 in June and they will win around 92 games and win the Wild Card.

Then they will face a team like the Angels and discover they can't just bludgeon a team with good pitching.

When the Angels win the series, Jeter will have that 1,000 yard stare and a couple of other players will stand next to him looking sad making sure that the fan base knows that THEY care.

Jeter will say in post game interviews "We lost our way" and insinuate he wishes that O'Neill, Brosius and David Cone were back.

Sports writers will write "the Yankees had bigger stars but the Angels were the better TEAM" and stress that the Yankees get younger.

The fans will then demand the Yankees spend MORE money.

There, I just saved every Yankee fan the trouble of watching this season.

It's June, so spring training is almost over for Joba

Some people are praising Joba Chamberlain's latest outing where he ALMOST pitched enough to meet the minimum requirement for earning a win.

Almost.

Extended regular season spring training continues as the Yankees map their entire season around Joba's development.

They even left Andy Pettite out there on Saturday to absorb 10 runs because they couldn't waste a bullpen with the Non Starter/Non Reliever going the next day.

And why not favor Joba over Pettite? What did Pettite ever do for the Yankees?

Now if Joba becomes the next Nolan Ryan, then this will all be worth it.
But turning the entire season into the "Let's not hurt Joba show" still strikes me as kinda sorta bizarre.

Meanwhile the defending World Champs' young pitchers continue to do things like "win" and "throw innings."

Justin Masterson is going the make the decision of what to do with Schilling and Buchholz very difficult.

He's 3-0, pitched 6 innings in every start (if Joba threw 6 innings he'd get a parade down the canyon of heroes.)

Wait... he's already thrown 24 1/3 innings? That's a lot of innings.
SHUT HIM DOWN! SHUT HIM DOWN!

YOUK DIDN'T HIT MANNY TODAY

I guess the feud is over.

Another well pitched game... another homer from Manny.
Ho hum

Hey Kansas City Royals bullpen

Thanks for blowing today's game against the Yankees.

I guess 11 runs wasn't enough for you guys.
You know having the Yankees winning a bunch of games in the bottom of the ninth inning might give them the terrible impression that this season isn't lost.

Don't wake this giant up.
Seriously... 12-11? Really?

Oh well... can't win them all

Colon was due for a loss.

Sometimes a fat pitcher will pitch like a fat pitcher.
Besides, there is always a let down after the intensity of a Red Sox/Rays series

I interrupt talking baseball to scream...

LET'S GO CELTICS!!!!

We now return to Sully Baseball already in progress.

Draft Dodging

Once again baseball goes through the strange ritual of televising and analyzing the amateur draft.

Look, I am thrilled for the high school and college kids who were drafted and what a great day this must be for them.

But seriously the analysis is the definition of meaningless.
"Here's a kid... good player... he won't see a major league game for at least 3
years and these days who knows what a team will look like in three seasons."

What they should do is cover PAST drafts.
Heck 10 years ago the first round produced 1 Cy Young winner (C. C. Sabathia) and zero MVPs.

So when I hear an analyst saying "Not sure why the team made this pick when there was a sure bet still available" I would respond

"Sure bet? Like Matt Anderson... the first overall pick of the 1997 draft who had 7 unremarkable seasons... or like the 1999 draft when 16 of the first 30 picks (more than HALF) never played a GAME in the majors.... or the next year when 8 of the first 14 picks never made the big leagues... and three of the ones that did never played a full season in the show."

It's a lottery.
Brien Taylor could bust up his pitching hand killing the first over all pick Mike Piazza could prove that he was more than a favor to Tommy Lasorda and give the Dodgers a Hall of Famer with the 1,390th pick.

Come to think of it, scouts should be asking Tommy if he has any more God Children

Just your typical day at Fenway

Ho hum...
Nothing special about last night's game

The standard script...
Manny homers (OK, that IS standard)
Coco charges the mound
Shields swinging and missing
TWO piles of players punching
Manny and Youk fighting in the dugout
Ellsbury hurt and the entire outfield having to shift
Chris Carter scores a run before he takes the field or hits in a major league
game... then smacks 2 hits on his own
And Coco basically calling out Carl Crawford for fighting like a girl

If I had to live blog a 7-1 game, that's the one!

Oh yeah, the Red Sox completed a sweep of the team they were chasing, outscoring
them 12-2 in the last two games.

Folks, this looks like a rivalry.
Circle June 30 on your calendar!

TAMPA AND BOSTON... things are heating up!

LIVE BLOGGING WITH SULLY!

Well, I wanted a rivalry between the Red Sox and Tampa... and it looks like I get to do my best to pour gasoline on the fire!

After praising the Professor at Rays Index for the anti Red Sox shirts and having my jaw drop at Dirt Bag Fan calling out Sox mediocrity... evidently the stakes have indeed been raised.

The Professor has invited me to take part in their Live Blog of the Red Sox/Rays first place showdown.

We'll both be commenting on the game live and giving our thoughts, insights and goofy comments.

It's an early start today.
If you are around 6 PM EDT, or 3 PM PDT.... click on Rays Index and join the live Blog!

I hope to see Pat and Christin there!

Now if you will excuse me, I need to brush up on my Tampa Bay baseball history.

Tampa Bay Rays Fans Are ADORABLE!

Well my call for a rivalry between the artists formerly known as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Defending World Champion Boston Red Sox has been heard by the Tampa Bay Rays fans...
Both of them.

The Professor at Rays Index gave me a nice mention and it led to me being introduced to my third favorite Rays fan (after Pat and Christin of course).

Dirt Bag Fan (his given name) has started Rays the Stakes... and has also started talking smack.

And we here at Sully Baseball welcome it all.
But man let me share you one piece he posted...

I'm sure you heard every imaginable put-down during your 86 years of mediocrity.

Folks, this guy has a pair. Seriously... big hairy ones too.

86 years of mediocrity?
First of all, in case you are slow to checking on the sports section, the whole 86 years thing ended 4 years ago. And the Red Sox happened to have won another World Series since. FYI. It's like taunting Brad Pitt because he had braces in high school. He looks better now.

Secondly... mediocrity?
You do know that during those 86 years the Red Sox won 4 AL pennants, 3 more Division Titles and 3 Wild Cards.
And 24 seasons of 90 wins or more.

Let that sink in for a second. That's 90 wins in one season... not over the course of two.

And I do recall that during the last ten years the Red Sox considered trips to Tampa "padding the win column."

Thirdly... you root for a team whose GOAL is mediocrity

As the other three recent expansion teams (the Marlins, D'Backs and Rockies) all have gone to the World Series, the Rays are focused on the number that defines mediocrity:

.500

Of course they've never even sniffed it.
The greatest year in Tampa Bay history (2004... remind me who won the World Series that year) was a 70-91 season.

The greatest height this team has soared was 3 full weeks behind mediocre.
They've had ten 90 loss seasons since 1997.

The Red Sox have had only 13 since 1901!

And don't blame it on payroll and unfair economics.
The 2002 and 2003 Montreal Expos had winning seasons and they didn't even have an owner! And if you can believe it played in a worse stadium and drew fewer fans!

I wish your team luck.
Maybe this year you can soar to mediocrity and the idea of there being ten great moments in your history wouldn't seem so silly.

Man, this is cool!
BAD BLOOD WITH TAMPA!

Is this it for John Smoltz?

Anytime someone in their 40s has season ending surgery, you've got to wonder if that's it. He already missed one entire season (2000) came back as a closer and solidified his Hall of Fame career.

Part of me hopes he doesn't come back. Glavine and Maddux have hinted they might hang them up after this year. How cool would it be to see all three make the Hall of Fame at the same time?

So I hope John Smoltz arranges his career over things I find cool years before they happen!

A REAL Ace Pitcher throws for a New York team

There was an ace caliber pitcher making an eagerly awaited start for a New York team last night... and it wasn't Joba.

As of this writing, Pedro Martinez has three times as many Cy Youngs as Joba Chamberlain has Major League starts... but naturally Joba gets the attention.

Man I miss Pedro. He really has become that Fred Lynn, Carlton Fisk, Mo Vaughn, Nomar Garciaparra type that I root for and check the box scores to make sure he is doing well.

Sorry he beat your Giants, dad.

Meanwhile... back at the actual pennant race

Man oh man I will TAKE IT!

J. D. Drew getting key hits and taking away doubles with his defense?
Manny Ramirez beating out throws to first?
Coco Crisp playing wall ball?
Craig Hansen getting key outs?
Another nice start from Justin Masterson?

Is this the new look of the Defending Champs?
Now if Javier Lopez could throw a strike it would feel like bizarro world... but that would be greedy.

I love taking game one of a big series (and make no mistake, Red Sox fans... this is a big series)

I especially love taking game one of a big series when Josh Beckett is pitching game two.

Let's see some more surprises tonight.
How about Julio Lugo hitting for the cycle and not making me nervous with his defense?

JOBA CHAMBERLAIN AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

I had the exact same reaction to Joba Chamberlain's first start as I did to seeing that lousy new Indiana Jones movie.

That was it?

All that build up... all the games the Yankees desperately needed a quality arm in the pen but couldn't use Joba because he was becoming a starter... all the hype and interviewers asking former Cy Young winner Roy Halladay how he felt about facing Joba...

2 1/3 innings?
Isn't that a good middle relief outing?
Does the manager tend to say "Go out there and give me three"?

Actually they do... In SPRING TRAINING!

They are so careful with this guy's arm that they won't let him pitch... not out of the bullpen and not in a start!

Did they realize that this divisional game actually counts in the standings?
So naturally they have him not pitch out of trouble in the third (why would a starter need to learn that) and the parade of mediocrity made a 3-2 game into a 9-3 game.

When the Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez and Latroy Hawkins trio were serving pumpkins up to the plate, all I could think was "Man, they should warm up Joba... oh wait."

Soon to be fired Blue Jays manager said it best. "I'm glad to be not facing [Joba] in the 8th inning. I'm happy to be their guinea pigs."

This storyline for Joba (he's a starter... he's a savior in the pen.... he's a set up guy.... he's not available as a set up guy... DON'T PITCH HIM PAST 3 INNINGS!) is harder to follow than The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

But unlike that movie, the bugs crawling on Joba were real not computer generated.

JOBA WALKED THE FIRST BATTER!!!

QUICK!
SEND HIM BACK TO THE BULLPEN!

WRONG AGAIN, CHRIS DELUCA!

Chris DeLuca, the writer of What Sucks which is possibly the funniest blog on the internet, is at it again. And, like John McCain, is wrong for America.

Earlier he tried to get under my skin by saying Curt Schilling was an a -hole.
I had to set him straight.

Now DeLuca commented on my thoughts that the Yankees were handling Joba all wrong
(he's neither a starter nor a reliever and he sits while the Yankees blow leads in the 8th left and right)

His response, true to form of post 2004 Yankee fans, is emotional and irrational.

"spoken like a true Sox fan! The goodwill of the Lester no-hitter is officially ended!

Screw you buddy- Joba will be this team's ace- he's an exciting pitcher with 4 pitches, (mo only had 2, really one)."

Now as he rescinds his good will towards a cancer survivor, he also makes three curious statements.

1) My point of view is that of a Red Sox fan... I'm sorry... a Defending World
Champion Red Sox fan... ergo blind of any objectivity.

2) Joba will be not only a good starter but an ace

3) He's an exciting pitcher.


Nobody can debate #3.
He is a dynamic talent with great potential. We already know he is a terrific reliever and solves a major problem for the Yankees. Moving him to the rotation simply shifts a problem from the early innings to the late innings.

And if they knew they were going to make him a starter, why not have him lengthen his innings during SPRING TRAINING???


Point #2 is debatable.
Remember, Hughes was supposed to be the ace of the team. And before he got his fake
injury he was bombing. Same with Kennedy.

Now young pitchers tend to have growing pains when they join the rotation. But what happens if Joba becomes one of those pitchers? Suddenly they have a struggling starter and Farnsworth pitching the 8th?

I ask YOU, Chris DeLuca... what then?

Now point #1... I am actually analyzing this NOT as a fan of the defending Champs but as a baseball fan. It's mindboggling that a team that built an actual dynasty in the free agent era based not on big budget free agents but on pitching depth would forget where they came from.

The argument about what was more important in the 1998-2000 titles... the starting depth or the bullpen depth... the answer is "Yes."

The Yankees didn't have the dominating CyYoung ace in those years but their pitching went toe to toe with the others

The best ace in that stretch was Pedro and the Yankees lost to Pedro... and won the other 4 games in 1999

So having Pettite, Cone, El Duque, Wells, Clemens etc didn't result in any Cy Youngs, but it meant they had a good pitcher throwing every night while the Rangers threw Rick Helling and Aaron Sele, the Red Sox threw Kent Mercker and Bret Saberhagen and the Indians threw the 14th caller.

But... I... am... telling... you... Chris... DeLuca

you never never NEVER in that stretch worried about late leads because you knew that
Nelson was good for an inning,
Lloyd was good for an inning,
Stanton was good for an inning,
Mendoza was good for an inning...

Think about this.
The Yankees bullpen didn't blow a lead for even one single inning in the entire 1996 postseason... the 1998 post season... 1999 post season... 2000 post season... 2001 Division Series and ALCS.

The lone blemishes between 1996 and 2001 were the Alomar homer in 1997, the Chuck Knoblauch game in 1998 (which was a tie game, not a blown lead) and the end of the 2001 World Series

Over 14 playoff series the bullpen blew a grand total of zero leads.

That's mindboggling.

Christ, I think Rod Beck blew 14 leads in the 1999 post season alone!

You needed a solid pitcher to start the game and you need to make sure the late innings are secure.

Without the bullpen depth... when the Mendoza/Nelson/Stanton team was broken up, guess what happened?

Blown leads in the 2002 playoffs... blown leads in the 2003 playoffs... the disaster of 2004.

Without the rotation depth, you have Kevin Brown pitching game 7, the artist formerly known as Randy Johnson and Ching Mein Wang's horrific 2007 playoffs.

You need BOTH.
And moving Joba is solving a problem while creating a problem

So I say this not as a smug Defending World Champion Boston Red Sox fan... but as someone analyzing the game.

But, dear Chris DeLuca, if you want to sacrifice the bullpen for 2008... BY ALL MEANS!



But I will not let you besmirch my character

(Sully slaps DeLuca with a glove and challenges him to a duel)

SHOWDOWN!

OK, raise your hand if you thought that on June 3rd, the Tampa Bay Rays would be in a first place showdown with the Red Sox.

OK, those with your hands up, keep them up if you thought the Red Sox would be the ones chasing the Rays and would have to sweep them in order to take over first place by the second weekend of June.

Anyone who raised their hand for those questions is an F---ing liar!

The feel good story of baseball doesn't feel so good when it is your team that is doing the chasing.

I am EXCITED about the Rays series... and not because I am expecting 3 easy wins but because it should be some good baseball. The Rays hit late homers, they have terrific starting pitching and Evan Longoria's is still hilarious.

It's the David and Goliath story and I'm rooting for Goliath.
It's the heart warming story where I want the mean rich man to crush the good willed
underdog.

I am rooting for Mr. Potter to crush George Bailey.

My God... do you know what this could be?
A RIVALRY!

Don't laugh. There's already bad blood between these franchises with all the bean ball wars and the Red Sox smacking Tampa around over the years.

But this could be a terrific rivalry this year. I know, I know. The Red Sox only rivals are the Yankees.

But there are times a smaller rivalry can break out.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Red Sox and the Blue Jays had a solid rivalry.

Between 1985 and 1993 the two teams won all but one Division Title (the Blue Jays lost the 1987 AL East to the Tigers on the last day of the season.)

Also in the 1980s the Red Sox had a rivalry with the A's, but it was pretty one
sided as Oakland swept the Sox in the 1988 and 1990 playoffs.

In the 1990s the Red Sox and Indians had no love lost and they played in 3 post
season series in 5 years.

So it is possible to have a subrivalry

And why not the Rays?

And with Papi hurt and the Rays riding high on some dramatic wins, it should be a more evenly matched series than expected.

Hell the Red Sox have the younger and less experienced pitcher in Masterson against the relatively more experienced Matt Garza.

I for one am one pumped up Red Sox fan saying BRING IT RAYS!

But does anyone in Tampa Bay care?

The crowds are just now starting to crack 20,000 a game.

COME ON RAYS FANS!!!

For the first time in your teams history you are going into June with a winning record...
hell you are the best team in the AL. You can stick it to the big bad defending champs who have treated your team with less dignity than a pinata.

I want to hear more than just Pat and Christin cheering.


I'm looking at YOU Tommy Rancel


I need the DRays Bay blog and Rays Home Plate to be buzzing tonight.

This is the time that Marc Topkin, Joe Smith and everyone at the St Pete Times has
been waiting for at the heater.


You want your fan base to not be considered a joke?
Then show up... cheer... and talk a little smack.

Start with this Red Sox fan.
GIVE IT TO ME!

The Professor at Rays Index gets it


Look at these beautiful shirts.


Look at the back...



RAYS FANS ARE TALKING SMACK!

It won't take you 86 years to do what?
Put a .500 team on the field?


That's right!
The gauntlet has been thrown down.

I WANT TO SEE A RAYS FAN SHOW UP TO FENWAY IN ONE OF THESE!!!!



(The rivalry starts now!)

HOORAY FOR OUR FAT PITCHER!!!!

Seriously... how awesome is life when you can count on a really fat pitcher!

Bartolo Colon is now 3-0...

Keep Super Sizing your orders!
It's working!