I keep reminding myself that it is only the first week of the season, but the starting pitching is beyond dreadful so far.

To be fair, Pavano and Pettitte had to suffer really bad defense, and both were behind in their work in ST, so I'll take a grain of salt with their first starts. And Petitte is always better second half anyway.

Technically, Torre could have left both of them in longer, but opted not to because it's early in the season and they need more time to build up.

And if you're really that worried, Phil Hughes (he hates being called Philip) is dominating again, and all while using his needs-improvement changeup more and more.

Anyone check out fangraphs.com? It's sweet. It shows live probability graphs for winning a game, amongst other things. And the cover graph, when I last checked, was yesterdays Yanks game. Gotta love the end of that graph......

I gotta agree with Max. It is our JOB to piss and moan, critique and criticize, punch a pillow or jump for joy, whenever the moment moves us.

But it is VERY early. This is an older team that takes a while to get into their groove. The Sox are 2-3, we've played in blizzard conditions, had some bad luck with injuries (although luckily fairly minor) and our defense is not really THIS bad.

Baring injury, this team, like last year, should have slightly above average SP. It should be as good as last year, and odds are somewhat better... depending on Pavs, Iggy and the kids. And of course, their is always the threat of Roger/Hughes.

We expect to have a better BP this year, and so far, so good.

To me, the keys are Posada, Giambi and ARod.
Posada is irreplacable. We will have a ton of baserunners, and ARod and Jason are the guys to bring them home. We know we have to outscore our pitching, and these three guys are the key.

And on that front, so far so good.
And while we really haven't seen it yet, we know that ARod has the potential to carry this team. He will get a bizillion RBI chances.

I remember as a kid, when behind in a close game, we simply counted the ABs until Mickey came up. With Giambi and ARod, its the same thing. Last night, with help from the supporting cast, 7 runs in 2 innings. We are never really out of the game.

I'm still buzzing from last night. The idea of a new, at peace, svelt ARod having a bust-out season is really exciting. Let's hope it's not his last with us.

FWIW: Jason Stark from ESPN
'One baseball man who visited with George Steinbrenner recently says the "ouster" of his son-in-law, Steve Swindal, as Yankees heir apparent is an overblown story. Now that Brian Cashman is entrenched at the top of the baseball operation, with Randy Levine and Lonn Trost dividing the off-field stuff, the Yankees' lines of power are clearly drawn. And the assumption that Swindal would succeed Steinbrenner some day was based on a shaky assumption -- that the Boss ever plans to back off. Steinbrenner may not be as involved, or as healthy, as he used to be. But his friend says: "His supremacy, on a day-to-day basis, still exists."'

7 runs in 2 innings from 2 swings. That's a great way to put it.

Arod currently leads the league in HR, 2B, XBH, runs, and slugging. Yeah, it's early. Sue me for getting really excited!

Cairo starting in LF. Man I'm glad we don't have a 5th OF, but we have 3 1B. Argh....

2 Thanks for the suggestion. Hadn't seen that before, it's pretty entertaining, at least for yesterday.

Cabrera leading off.

Cairo in left field.

Nieves catching.

Phelps batting 6th.

It is the odd lineup we are throwing out there today.

I would have said I wanted a 5th outfielder as opposed to a 12th pitcher...but that wouldn't have worked this week either because our starters haven't been able to get out of (or even into) the 5th inning.

7 More accurately we have 2 1B and 1 DH. But I agree that is an issue. I kind of would like to see Phelps become permanent at 1B and call up a 5th OF.

What's that you were saying Cliff about Cairo in the OF only as an emergency?

With Matsui out until Friday, today counts as an emergency?

Fine, Damon can't start. But this is f'in ridiculous.

Option one of the pitchers and call up Thompson. If they don't option Rasner after the game, I might smash my face into a brick wall.

I wasn't in favor of picking up Doug M., but he's swung the bat fairly well so far. So before we give the first base job to Phelps, it would probably be smart to see who performs better first. Because it's obvious that Phelps is as bad at first base as Giambi. We've also seen the evidence of his infamous long swing (he's easy to strike out). If these outfielders keep dropping like flies, Phelps might be out of a job and Thompson or Sardinha or Gardner might get called up.

A bit off-topic, but Jose Tabata is absolutely tearing up High-A pitching.

Check out this article by Neyer (stat freak) about how Michael Kay should get off his knees on Jeter:

"So I'm watching the Yankees last night, because they're the Yankees. In the second inning, with Baltimore's Kevin Millar on first base, Corey Patterson bunted. Broadcasters Michael Kay and Ken Singleton, take it away ...

Kay: A push-bunt toward third, A-Rod fields, there was nobody covering second, so A-Rod will take the out at first. Sacrifice successful, 5-3, and heads-up by Jeter: third base was not covered when A-Rod fielded the ball, and Jeter darted over to cover the bag.

Singleton: Now I don't know if there's supposed to be somebody at second or not, but when this ball is fielded by Alex Rodriguez, they had plenty of time to get Kevin Millar. He's not the fastest runner. The ball is bunted fairly hard. I mean, a couple hops, and you can see there's a play at second base if somebody's there to cover.

Kay: Robinson Cano never made a move toward covering second. His initial step was to first, because he was backing up the throw, I guess, to first base.

Singleton: No, he is supposed to go over there on a bunt play. If the first baseman charges, he's the one that's supposed to cover first. My question more would be with Derek Jeter, who alertly -- as you said -- went over to third to cover up in case Millar went there. But at first, if he moves over to second, there's a chance for a force play there.

Kay: But Phelps never charged, that's why it seemed strange that Cano didn't move to second.

Singleton: That's my point. When a bunt is laid down, the second baseman, his job is to get to first base and cover. If the first baseman doesn't charge, he lets the first baseman take it.

Awkward pause. Followed immediately by change of subject.

If you weren't paying attention, it would slip right past you, but Singleton was suggesting, ever so gently, that perhaps Jeter should have covered second base. Singleton also, and again ever so gently, made it terribly obvious that even after all the years Kay's been in the broadcast booth, he doesn't seem to know that the second baseman automatically breaks for first base when the batter squares around to bunt.

Here's the way it's usually supposed to work, when the batter's bunting: first and third basemen charge plateward, second baseman goes to first base, shortstop goes to second base, catcher goes to third base, and pitcher covers the plate. (Four years ago, Jeter suffered the only serious injury of his career when he collided with Blue Jays catcher Ken Huckaby, who was defending third base.)

Michael Kay went out of his way to commend Jeter for covering third base -- the sort of thing that shortstops do routinely, every day of the week -- and tried to blame Cano for not being at second base, but seemed utterly unwilling to acknowledge the possibility that Jeter did something wrong.

Isolated incident? Maybe. Except it happened again in the fourth inning.

Melvin Mora's on first base, and tries the delayed steal. That never works. Except it worked this time, because when Jorge Posada popped out of his crouch to throw, nobody was covering second. He then unleashed a one-hopper to the shortstop side of second base, which Jeter snagged. After which came this dialogue:

Singleton: You can see that Mora gets in there safely, ahead of the tag. Posada had nobody to throw to, and sometimes when you're catching you're taught just throw it to the bag, if nobody gets there it's not your fault.

Kay: That's exactly what happened, Kenny: Nobody was at second base, so Posada double-clutched, and then threw it wide.

OK, so we've established that it wasn't Posada's fault. Then whose fault was it?

Insert sound of crickets chirping here, because again the discussion, just as it approached the prospect of saying something negative about the beatified shortstop, simply ended.

What you think about all this depends on what you believe is the broadcaster's role. If you believe his role is to create and perpetuate myths about the local boys, then you probably don't mind at all. But if you believe he should report the facts on the field, then a steadfast refusal to consider a player's possible mistakes is something that should bother you quite a lot. The Yankees have all the advantages a baseball team could have. They don't need any extra help from the guys in the booth.

wilgor (4/7/2007 at 8:54 AM)
Jeter winning gold gloves is worse than that time Raffy Palmeiro won when he only started like 14 games at 1b all year. Hardballtimes.com has some fielding metrics that absolutely kill Cap'n Jetes.

yankeefan118 (4/7/2007 at 9:11 AM)
The broadcasters role is to tell it like they see it; the analysts role is to describe what happened versus what should have happened. I have been a Yankees fan for years and I am no fan of Kay as an announcer. Kay is best suited as a sideline/clubhouse reporter; he is really at his best when in that role. Singleton tried to analyze the play but fell woefully short of performing his job. No one wants to get on the wrong side of Derek Jeter so this is how it plays out. That is apparently what you heard, Rob.

DaveTheGrue (4/7/2007 at 9:51 AM)
I expect the announcers to accurately tell me what happened... but it's on me to remember that they are paid by the Yankees and have to see the Yankee players they are commenting on every day. I take in most games via mlb.com radio; one of my favorite features is that you can listen to either team's broadcast. I love Sterling and Waldman, but once every series or two I listen to the other side's crew, just to get some perspective.

PokerJumbo (4/7/2007 at 2:52 PM)
There was another blatant example of this phenomenon in today's Yankee-Oriole game. It happened in the top of the second inning, with the bases loaded and Melvin Mora at the plate facing Igawa. Mora hits a flare to RF which drops in between Minky, Cano and Abreu. The first 2 runners score easily as Abreu picks up the ball and throws it back into second base. Mora is running to 2nd, and the throw beats him by about 7-8 feet, to the point that he begins to stop and turn around to head back to first, resigned to the fact that he will be caught in a rundown. However, Jeter boots the ball, which ends up rolling 10 feet away from him, allowing Mora to continue safely to second and the runner on 3rd to score. The throw from Abreu into second wasn't great, but it was a one hopper on the bag that didn't appear to take any strange bounces. Jeter was standing on the bag and the throw greeted him about waist high. It hit him in the (gold) glove, wound up 10 feet away from him. Kay immediately begins saying that there should be an error on the play, but he doesn't mention any names. Eventually, once he has learned that there will be no error called on the play, he begins complaining that there absolutely should have been an error called on the play, but assigned to Abreu, not Jeter. In fact, Jeter's name is not mentioned once in the few minutes following the play. Singleton stays relatively quiet throughout, but even he seems a little taken aback by Kay's insistance that Abreu should be charged with an error on the play. He does not go so far as to, godforbid, suggest that Jeter should be charged with the error. At this point, I had witnessed enough and changed the channel away from Pravda Sportsnet to another game.

aussieyankee57 (4/7/2007 at 3:22 PM)
I think this is not really a criticism of Jeter so much as it is of Kay. And he's still at it. I was watching today's game, and Jeter hits a grounder right to Tejada, whose throw bounces on the grass and thusly doesn't bounce as high as the first basemen (Chris Gomez, who by trade is a shortstop, isn't he?) expects it to, and it goes under his glove, and Jeter reaches. Kay then proceeds to talk about how the error was due to the fact that the whole league knows how Jeter hustles, and therefore must have rushed the throw as a result. Then he starts talking about how bad Jeter's toe is. Not only was the throw not rushed, and it was a bad pick by the first basemen, but to talk about his hustle, and then talk about how much trouble he's having moving? How does that add up?"

I remember when Raffy beat out Tino, and Tino was pissed. It was the stupidest Gold Glove vote I can remember...

With the way the starters are going, the Yankees can't afford to drop a reliever. Maybe Rasner can go six?

Yes, Jeter is not a Gold Glove shortstop. He's not even very good, at all. I'm the biggest Jeter fan I know, and I have no problem admitting that. But the relay hop thing was a fluke. Jeter is very good at relays. It's baseball, stuff happens.

As for not covering the bag, he's been playing the game long enough to know what to do. Which means the problem is either miscommunication or being distracted. Either way, it has to stop, and I'm pretty confident it will. I blame A-rod! (Kidding.)

11 When 2 of the 4 outfielders can't play, then yes, it is an emergency.

Not much you can do about it.

I will say that I am surprised Damon is starting today, but I have decided that they may be trying to get him an extra day's rest before heading out to Minnesota and their artificial surface.

16 They had a day game yesterday. That leaves 20+ hours for an alternative, esp knowing that one of those two is lost until Friday.

Send down Henn or Bruney and call up Thompson.

If it's Rasner, fine, but still absurd. Almost as absurd as defending Cairo as a starter in LF.

Oh wait: "He's done it everywhere he's been".

With the way the pitching has been, I'd rather start Cairo and have a full pen. Yes, I think it's that bad.

18 The same day they start Nieves?

Anyone else watching the MASN broadcast?

What's up with needing the female blond clones as the on-the-field reporter. I thought I was just watching Kim Jones.

20 The MASN reporter is much better looking than Kim Jones

21 If you like cushion for the pushin'

Thanks - better topic than Cairo and Nieves

Cy Rasner!

23 Gotta hand it to NESN in that area.

Doop da doop da doop. I hate having to wait for the DirecTv guy to show up. Any time between now and 5 pm.

22 Eye of the beholder I guess, I was actually happier with the Cairo/Nieves topic.

sorry, I meant 22

Let it rain, A-rod

Arod with the opposite field shot!

This is so much fun.

YAY-Rod!

ARod. On. Fire.
So. much. fun. to. watch!

What's the ovation like?

He is risen!

I have a thought that I feel strongly about.
I think ARod will have a monster year.
It will be hard for Jetes to match last year.
If ARod does go monster, and Jetes has an average year....

Will NY still be Jeters town?
I feel there is tremendous sympathy for ARod.. maybe a reaction to all the negative crap he has had from NY fans and media.

Could NY become ARod's town?
Could Jeter be feeling this?
Could this become a nasty undercurrent to the season?

35 I don't see Arod replacing Jeter as the Golden Boy, ever. A close number 2, maybe. But only after a huge October.

Don't worry, Rasner. Arod will bat again.

17 Jim... yes Nieves, Cairo, Rasner? Pretty damn scarey.
BUT WE GOT AROD!!!!!!!!
No problem.

34 Wayyyyyy out of line, but hilarious (I'm Catholic and all, but not easily offended).

It's sad that fans like my father only root for Alex if he does well. Last year he was all over the guy. Now he's acting like he's been rooting for him the whole time. I tell him to savor the flavor because Alex is going to tell fans like that to "Kiss my.." as he walks out the door. Good for him too.

As I type CyRas gives up a 2-R job to left.

36 I don't know. I smell it HERE already. Jetes has lost a little shine for the way he has dodged 'the ARod situation'. He's getting a lot of negativity for his defense (Time to move to 1st base?).

I myself feel that teflon Derek is beginning to develope some tarnish. And we love to win. If ARod brings us a ring, I think there will be a different dynamic in the atmosphere over NY.

It would be so nice to have a starter get through, say, six innings giving up, say, two runs. I guess that's now a real long shot.

Yay, DirecTv guy is here! Maybe I'll get to see the end of this game, with Jeter hitting a walk off granny.

Can someone update me on Karstens? Is he injured or available to pitch?

That's almost the same damn hit as Mora's yesterday.

That one hit the chalk! Being lucky beats being good. Can Ras survive it?

Jeter is still my guy. All this media-driven non-sense to pit A-Rod vs Cap is not just worthless, it's insulting.

45 He did. Good time for the K. Now let's get some insurance runs.

46 Amen. Can't we just love them all?

You raise a good point. Could the people OYF cites in 40 be subconsciously controlled by the media they claim to hate? I mean, the "Captain's poor handling of the press" was media-driven; didn't Arod say he didn't have a problem with it? And the defense thing is no secret, and Jeter fans like myself have readily acknowledged it for years. Every player has shortcomings.

Just read Hampton had a setback related to his surgically repaired elbow. You'd think with the pitching Cashman could work something out for Saltalamacchia. Let's hope so.

i f'in hate millar, but he absolutely has rasner's number.

Man, I still hate Kevin Millar.

This looks like trouble.

It was.

ok, so rasner's finger is gonna fall off. no wang, no karstens, crap jobs by pettitte and moose. why is it that pavano is out most predictable starter right now?

Sigh.

Damn, could have used that Roberts double-play ball first.

Damn.

54 Because he's the only one that's supposed to really suck.

48 It's hard to think critically when your passionate. But, I think the reality is that most fans don't go to many games, or read baseball blogs. Most aren't even aware of metrics. They keep up with their team through ESPN, the newspaper or TV news. Those outlets help to set their perceptions.

Boy, does the pitching suck.

Video of Bernie Williams jamming with the Allman Bros. last night.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7NdlNZm7WY

61 Thanks, jkay. Somehow I overlooked your post last night. Much appreciated... Hey, Bernie looks in shape. He'd better keep his cel phone handy ;-)

I would think the fact that Kazmir struck out the first eight batters would be more important than Young scoring from 3rd, but ok.

Just checking in from the depths of regional filmmaking...

I see that A-Rod was kind enough to give me a birthday present last night. That was really sweet of him; see? I told you he wasn't a bad guy.

This is my Happy Birthday Weekend of Chyll (April 7), and since I had to work all day and night and I'm too tired to wake up today, I just wanted to drop by with a whassup and bless you all, let's hope we can turn this around and go in the right direction from here. Peace of cake for everyone! (Hope you like devil's food...) >;)

ugh. our starting pitching has ben awful.

Wow. 5 starters, and the max IP was 5.0. Sean Henn should demand a raise.

All right, I'm starting to worry. 0/5 has to be a bad sign. Is this on Guidry? Wang can't get back fast enough.

I don't get it. Torre has kept the starters like Pavano and Pettitte, who were underworked in ST, because the games are ALL important enough, even this early to put the best guys out there. But then why not start guys like Chase Wright or Clippard or SOMEONE who can get through the innings. He took out Rasner with 75 pitches because he didn't trust him enough to get out of trouble, but if he doesn't trust Rasner (or early-Pavano and early-Pettitte), then why not use other starters?

67 i'm not sure i get your point.

Woo hoo, DirecTv is now installed. I finally get to watch!
Now the season can start.

Everything I've read recently says the Allmans are playing even better then 30 years ago. Truly a great band in concert. There are giving few shows in Boston in August.

Being a drummer and a high energy guy, at 19, when I first heard the song 'Jessica' from Brothers and Sisters, I swore I'd name my daughter Jessica. 15 years later, I did.

Sweet, Josh.

Josh Phelps - "Mr. Defense"

Who knew?

Oh, Josh, nice. Whew. Take that, eye chart.

Nice stab by Phelps! We still have a ballgame here...

69

Congrats! Welcome to the party.

I'll go change my underwear now....

I'll go change my underwear now...

75 Only problem now is that I have to relearn all the channel numbers.

is pettitte gonna pitch today?

Does this mean Damon CAN'T PH?

Let's get at least one here....

Oh...Pettite?

79 Yep.

Remember when Wang got a save last year?

Looks good, too.

Andy's pulling the vulture act for the win. Just like Mo did yesterday. Shameless...

86 LOL!

I think it was 2003 (last time the boys made it to the WS), the starters started off something like 16-0. Ah, the good old days.

Huh? Why Pettitte?

89 His throw day; and he didn't throw a lot of pitches the other day.

Yipe.
What's with our defense this year?

Release the hound (Larry Bowa)!

88 I was thinking about that yesterday, couldn't recall the year. Moose, Clemens, Wells, Andy and Weaver. Contreras later in the season. Seems like the days when the #5 starter was the only question mark were 100 years ago.

CaNO! He's gonna get an earful from Bowa...

90 Yikes. Is the bullpen already exhausted? This early in the season, with one game rained out?

Plunk Millar.

94 Well, they've sure been getting a lot of work; and a lefty was called for.

If it wasn't for Arod's magic last night, this team would be so far in the shitter that I'd go crazy.

Why no roster moves with two starting outfielders down? Why is Cairo in left for the second consecutive day? Can't they bring someone up from Scranton?

Soooo,
what about the Masters, huh? Ridiculous this year, hardly anyone at par.

98 Torre said he doesn't want to put anyone on the DL, and he doesn't want to send a pitcher down (for good reason, apparently).

Cairo's a gamer.

I like him too (Cairo)but this is his sixth outfield appearance since 2003. I'm surprised this is what we've got.

Ugh. The Yankees are losing, the pitching is horrible, and my fantasy team is purposefully trying to screw me over. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

102 Well, no, I meant that's what Joe's thinking. I agree, he's not what you want to see out there. And, now you don't.

my mlb.tv just died

I hear you, RI.

Myers has to pitch at least a full inning if he's to keep a spot on the roster. LOOGYs are a luxury right now.

Oh god...remember the "Bring in Stanton to turn Roberts around" experiment?

Cairo looks very uncomfortable in the OF, but he's been okay all three times I've seen him there.

But they're going with only four OFers this season, to carry two first basemen. Too bad they don't have one of those utility guys who can play IF and OF, like Chone Figgins or Ryan Freel.

Is MLB.TV dead to anyone else? No that it appears we're missing much.

This is the inning - Damon and the top of the order. Lets go Yanks!

109 Freel would also give us Farney, essentially letting us keep 26 men on a 25-man roster.

my mlb.tv just came back in time for the commercial break

110 Yes.

Try shutting Windows Media Player and clicking on the game you want again. That usually fixes it.

112 farney rules!

i have some ties to the allman bros. and will see if i can find out any 411 about bernabe sitting in...

damon seeing some pitches...

Johnny Damon!

Damon singles. Melky K's. Jeter singles. Abreu walks.

Arod with a GS.

Hey!
Where's standuptriple today?

Great AB, Johnny!

112 LOL! Is Ryan Freel actually insane?

Damn he blew it.

Hey, Walker! Have a nice DAmon!

Bloop 'n' a blast ties it.

Interesting -- would that ball have gone through with the IF in?

All right, new prediction: Jeter 1B, Abreu BB, Arod HR for the lead.

Am I the only one who didn't want Damon to go home on that Melky groundout? I kind of wanted the situation in 117 to occur.

Dammit! I'll stop now.

Bobby walks. Alex homers. This is too easy ;-)

He'll walk. Come on, donuts.

Yeah, winning is nice, but winning in style is even nicer.

Oh, nice, nice nice nice.

Bobby -- please let your leg be ok.

Oh man. Cue the nerves.

GameDay, don't fail me now!

what's the crowd reaction for a-rod?

Freaking ROOGYs

This makes me giggle. A-Rod's mantras must be working.

I'd really love a homer from Arod here, but Bradford's too stingy, so I'd settle for a walk and a Giambi blast

134 Couldn't tell, YES cut quickly to a commerical...

Well, they're standing for A-Rod now.

Yeah, I'm thinking walk here. He'll be very, very careful with Alex, and Giambi is o-fer today.

Good, I'm happy with that. And now Bradford's gone. See what Giambi can do.

got my walk....

Alex is just making sure others have the opportunity to be the hero.

I hate, hate, hate watching games online.

Apparently, the key to this AB is "throwing with conviction."

3-2 with three straight sliders in the dirt.

Be the hero, Josh.

.....didn't get my homer, but it's a start

just need a base bit, phelps.

santana is throwing a 1 hitter w/ 8 k's in the 7th...

C'mon Phelps. Let's see (something) here.

nice at bat by Giambi coming back from 0-2

Biggest AB of Phelps' career.

More careers GS's than Jeter ;-)

Base knock will do. Come on, Josh.

Anything less than a homer and Giambi won't score here -- too slow.

Parish nervous?

C'mon, Phelps. A walk. Please.

9 k's for supernatural. retired 17 in a row.

Nerts.

What a waste. Damn.

Let's hope we get some more late-game heroics.

we'll get'em with Ray

dammit.

C'mon, Yanks. 1-2-3 and let's get some baserunners...

Gogo Loogy!

Torre stole Quest's sunglasses.

And it's the Vizier.

All right O, do yo thang.

Bring the drama, boys!

I'd enjoy watching A-Rod bat this inning.

OK, time for the Melkman to shine...

Damn.... = (

Double nerts.

Off to do chores.

Crud.

Okay, second time through the rotation we'll have five quality starts. See yall then!

It's 11:23pm in Israel... good night all. See you in Minnesota.

Another game given away by awful play and poor managing. It's only April, but you can't these games back in September.

well, that sucks...

%#$#@! Well, off to hide some Easter eggs and get ready for the Sopranos. And 'Let's go, Rangers!'...

And Torre says Matsui is being DLed. They'll be calling up an outfielder. They haven't decided who yet. (My guess: Thompson.)

You know, watching those Bernie videos, he doesn't seem like he has any regrets. I don't know, I like to think that he's happy where he is. Although, seeing him smile made me very nostalgic for those late 90's teams.

So they decide to DL Matsui AFTER the game? That's f'in brilliant. Really, just wonderful work there by the organization. Bravo! Brav-O!

181 Yeah, I agree. While I can understand the reluctance to lose Godzille for two weeks, hamstrings always take longer than the club says. Since they were predicting a week, they had to know it would be at least two. They should have DLed him right away.

My Dad's a Yankees fan (we both enjoy reading this blog, as I root for the Yanks after my Dodgers), and he emailed me today: "know any good pitchers the Yankees can buy?" I said, We have Tomko as an extra pitcher... Okay, I know you scoff, and I was never a big fan, but he did look like he'd fixed a flaw in his delivery and was really sharp this spring (for whatever that's worth). I really want Chad Billingsley to be starting soon and we have Kuo coming back too, so Tomko could be available. Not sure it would take much to acquire him. Oh wait, none of us are GMs so this is a kinda pointless discussion... but still. But really, it'll just be nice to have Wang back when he comes off DL.

Quick story. Pal of mine is in New York this weekend, working on a Yankee miniseries -- he's there to record Bob Shephard announcing the '77 lineup -- and they give him a press pass, and he's in the press box, thrilled to be there, and A-Rod hits a home run, and, like any good fan, he lets out a cheer...and is promptly thrown out of the press box for rooting. No do-over, no warning, and no prior notice.

There is no rooting in baseball. Well, in the press box.

Bernie looked happy jamming with the Allman Brothers. Sounded good also.