although he's a truly disgusting human being, i find myself helplessly enthralled by r. kelly's music. the beats and music are usually quite catchy and his lyrics are so juvinile that they border on unintentional brilliance. i don't usually listen to much contemporary R&B (give me otis or marvin or al green and i'm happy), either.

i just downloaded his new album this morning (i'm not going to pay his lawyer's fees), and there are a couple tracks on there that are so ridiculous it is worth swiping online.

the truly astounding use of the word "rainforest" is only surpassed by the fact that he rhymes with it when he calls himself a "sex-o-saurus" for the love of god...

i sometimes wonder if he knows how ridiculous he is, or if he truly believes his own hype.

sorry for the tangent.

go yankees.

How many disappointing games have the Yanks had this season thus far?

In other words, can we just go get Helton and plug him in or would we have to free up another spot?

-----------------------------------------
"I would like to own a team," Jeter told New York's 1050 ESPN Radio prior to the Yankees' 7-3 loss to the Red Sox on Tuesday. "That would be kind of cool to get an opportunity to call some of the shots."

Jeter then predicted he will achieve his goal.

"I will do it one day," Jeter said.

When asked specifically if that team could be the Yankees, Jeter laughed.

"Do you know how much money that costs?" Jeter said. "That is a lot of money, baby."

--------------------------------------------

http://tinyurl.com/2b5a9t

Sucks to be Giambi, but he's not alone. All sorts of MLB superstars of yesteryear used greenies regularly (see at least Ball Four). The rags and the screaming wags will make a big deal out of it, but is it a big deal? My guess is that 90% of the people in the Yanks clubhouse have used greenies at least once - including the manager, the entire coaching staff, and Captain Flirt. ;)

7 Jeter could always buy the Marlins. I'm guessing they are more in his price range. =)

But this quote from Joe Torre, taken from the Pinstriped Blog, is amazing:

A writer queried Joe if, during this difficult season, he had ever asked, "Why me, Lord?" Joe answered, "A lot of times you say 'Why not me?' Why shouldn't things happen to you? It's something you have to deal with and you just move on. Through my career here with the Yankees I can guarantee you I've looked up and said, 'Why me?' when it was on the good side. And I'm certainly not going to go question what's happening now."

3 I hate myself for it, but I too like R. Kelly's music. His voice is velvet-smooth. Got any recommendations on songs? I personally love "Go-Getta."

if you want to download the new album without giving the perv a single red cent, go here:

http://tinyurl.com/33ekl5

you can get it as a zip file. you'll need a password to unzip it, but the password is in the filename, between parentheses. enjoy. try not to laugh at the track where he turns an outgoing voice mail message into a slow jam. i dare you.

C-Posada is a free agent, but should be back and at least solid in 2008.

1B-Black hole - god forbid they are back.

2B-Cano should be around, but I think the jury is once again out on the extent to which he will be productive.

SS-Jeter - here forever.

3B-Arod - How ominous does that opt out look now? With the lineup crumbling around him, is there anyway the Yankees don't offer (and Boras doesn't demand) a blank check?

LF-Matsui - Still here...should be solid.

CF-Damon - Still here, but appears to be in a worrisome, injury hastened decline.

RF-Abreu - His 2008 option is no longer as attractive and his return no longer a given.

DH-Giambi - see above.

If the Giambi/Arod situations play out adversely, you could enter 2008 with only Jeter and Matsui confidently expected to be productive. With very few position prospects on the verge, the 2008 lineup could be scary (in a bad way).

Meanwhile, on the pitching side, the Yankees appear stocked. It seems to me that if they do fall out of it, the team needs to do three things:

1) Go to Arod (and Posada and Rivera) and make a decision either way so as to give more lead time on preparing for 2008.

2) Try to trade veterans for position prospects (no more pitchers!), or at least solid major leaguers who could at least be useful bench players going forward.

3) Deal some pitching prospects for offense prospects.

Just because this season goes down the tubes doesn't mean the near-term future has to go down with it. It is going to be very important for Cashman to get a good read on this team and react accordingly. Nothing would be worse than "throwing good money after bad" in an attempt to save the season. Once he determines that 2007 is a lost cause, he needs to immediately act on plans for 2008.

Anyway, that speculation is a pleasant diversion in Yankeeland this morning.

The Giamphetaroid saga is officially depressing.

A-Rod's horseshit slide into 2nd would only have been more embarassing if he was laying the lameshot on Jennifer Aniston, or Sasha Cohen etc.

Moose's momentum-sucking stinkbomb opened a new trap door on rock bottom, and the team is freefalling again.

No, better to think about Jeter owning the Yanks someday. When's "Scarlett Johansson Bobbleass" day at the Stadium?

At this point the best thing I think the Yankees can do is identify a young catcher to bring in to either split with or take the load off of Jorge until Cervelli could be ready.

Also, earlier in the game in the 2nd inning, Pedroia went well out of the baseline to take Jeter out on a double play. While he didn't pop up and go forward, he was far from the bag. Sometimes, what goes around, comes around.

thankfully nobody got hurt.

he was trying to break up the double play. that's his job. pedroia moved out of the baseline to throw and rodriguez tried to still make contact. it happens everyday. while it may not always be so blatant, this shouldn't be as big a deal as they're making it.

It would be very weird to be on 'the other side' at the trading deadline, unloading useful but time-limited players for prospects. But if we haven't made up significanct ground by then, it's the right thing to do.

I don't blame him for trying to break up the play, but that was very poorly done, and if a Red Sock had done it to one of our players they would be rightfully mocked and scorned here.

Watching it again, especially in slow motion, its not even that bad of a play. ARod goes into the bag (proper slide) and pops up towards the fielder, the only questionable part is that he tried to lean into pedroia on his way up (calling it an "elbow" is silly). I wish more guys would try this hard. He was running the risk of getting them both called out for sure, but Posada was going to be out anyway, so he might as well have taken the chance.

Could it be Moose's time as well? I dunno, leaving him in past the six was questionable to begin with in light of his struggles early on, but when your only immediate option past him is Luis Vizcaintno, well the game was doomed from the first inning. Meh.

Like most R.Kelly songs, he's got great music backing up creepy lyrics, and that's the main reason most people give him a pass. I admit that I think of three instances where I'll sing along with sexpense; "Bump'N'Grind", "My Body's Callin'" and the "Best Of Both Worlds" album, (sans Lil'Kim); again great music, lyrics I'll pass on. "I'm A Flirt" made me cringe the first hundred times I had to hear it on some blaring radio or IPod, but now I'm numb (and that's probably why it gets a pass from most people who would otherwise violently rip the IPod phones off the clod's head leaning over them at full blast; it's not worth the trouble).

My at-bat music? "Straight From The Seweh", "Microphone Checka" or "Hosts Wit'da Most" from Das EFX to lead off an inning, "The Wrath of Kane" or "Set It Off" by Big Daddy Kane during rallies and anything by Art of Noise or Negativeland for anything else >;)

Giambi... cricket, cricket...

I'll buy the Marlins if no one else wants it...?

R Kelly is repellent and I'm not into his music because other than Mary J. Blige, I have no interest in contemporary R&B. All that said, those lyrics as Derek's choice of hitting song are too funny and deserve to be mocked. Derek is not faking the modesty any more.

10 Joe has an amazing outlook on life. Very Buddhist. I wonder if he refers to Jeter as "grasshopper."

8 Slide? More like something from kick boxing.

MLB gets its revenge on Jason Giambi for taking them on by leaking his positive test. Karl Rove must be flattered.

however i will admit that it was clumsy, potentially dangerous, and probably a bad idea.

To me the Phelps collision the other day was more of a cheap shot than the A-Rod play (in fairness to Phelps, I don't think he was trying to hurt anyone). I have seen players take out the 2B/SS in worse ways with no call (IIRC, Sean Casey even took out Jeter last year on a stolen base attempt which I had never seen before).

The real question is what the Red Sox think about the play and will they try to retaliate when A-Rod comes up to bat in tonights game?

When Arod does get plunked, I'm most curious how the Yanks will react. Arod is their best all around player and Torre and Co. can not just sit there and take it. If he does, then he will have lost all of my respect and quite possibly the respect of some of his players.

Having said all that, a nice good fight might just be the red ass thta this team needs ot wak them the fck up!

I wonder if this is only a big deal because it's ARod. If it were Abreu, for example, making that slide I don't anyone would be talking about it.

As for Tavarez, these things happen. Big fluke . . . except that it almost fits the URP pattern. Tavarez isn't unknown, or a rookie, but he's a guy the Yanks ought to destroy. Lots of those pitchers over the last 4-5 years have instead destroyed the Yanks.

I'm not sure if that's just because I never noticed it happening before, or if it really has been that way lately. Someone ought to do an URP study - but expand it to include crappy pitchers, like Taverez, as well as unknown rookies.

if schilling touches a baseball tonight, he'll throw it at rodriguez. he's known for his theatrics, isn't he?

"If a man is sliding into second base and the ball goes into center field, what's the matter with falling on him accidentally so that he can't get up and go to third? If you get away with it, fine. If you don't, what have you lost? I don't call that cheating; I call that heads-up baseball. Win any way you can as long as you can get away with it."

The way the Yanks play the Sox these days, I'm not going to be surprised if the Yanks starter offers Ortiz and Ramirez a glass of iced tea and a cookie before they take their AB. They've got to play them more aggressively.

Again, I can't fault Rodriguez for trying to break up the play, but his attempt was so clumsy and lame, it was laughable.

I have nothing against playing the game aggressively but that slide was a bad joke.

"sex planet" may just be this generation's "stairway to heaven."

Let's let Leo speak for himself:

"As long as I've got a chance to beat you I'm going to take it."

"Give me some scratching, diving, hungry ballplayers who come to kill you."

If I were playing third base and my mother were rounding third with the run that was going to beat us, I'd trip her. Oh, I'd pick her up and brush her off and say, 'Sorry, Mom,' but nobody beats me."

"Some guys are admired for coming to play, as the saying goes. I prefer those who come to kill."

It does not look like he could have touched the bag...

5.2 IP 3 H 2 ER 4 BB 2 K

as a box score line it looks like a typical Tavarez start, other than the low number of hits given up. It does look identical to his other start agains the Yankees, though.

Meanwhile, if he were on the Yankees we'd be pointing to this game, his previous start (7 innings, 1 ER vs the Tigers) and a 7 K in 6 IP start agains the Twins and claim that Tavarez is "finally coming around."

Anyway! As for Giambi and his amphetamines, what bothers me is not so much that he once took them -- everyone did, it seems -- but that he was dumb enough to continue taking them despite the testing now in place. You'd think he would have learned something by now, right?

Also, what the hell is up with MLB and their "confidential" results? Yeesh. Tight ship there, Selig.

if you dont see the difference between THAT and sliding, getting back up and falling backwards towards the pitchers mound with an elbow, then i dont know what to tell you.

56

i turned it off after the midget made his appearance.

I'll take it.

It's nice to see that someone cares.

I don't doubt that it was intentional on MLB's part, same as with the Barry flunking the greenie test leak. And while I want steroids out of the game, I support the players not cooperating with Mitchell and not divulging their medical records what with the way Selig lets things slip out.

I really wouldn't mind if there was a new commish, say, perhaps, Frank Robinson.

"So, boys, you've been warned, but no worries -- I imagine you fellas always put your best pimp foot forward."

Do you have any idea how hilarious this is?

Thanks for the warm humor, it's very appreciated.

If Giambi ends up saying he's not guilty, I'd be inclined to believe him, just because the DN is such a tabloid anyway, and is proving it now.

My point was that you called the A-Rod play "bush league" last night and you brought it back up again today by posting that video link. I just wondered what you thought of the Pedroia play. Is it "bush league" to take out the SS when you can't even touch the bag? Or is it only "bush league" when you think A-Rod has violated a rule?

BTW, I'm not trying to start something with you ric. You post on here a lot and as you have said in the past you are not trying to be a "troll" (I agree that most of the time you are not). However, I guess I take exception to the whole "bush league" thing when it comes from fans of a team whose captain starts a fight with his catcher's mask on and had a pitcher throw an 80 year old man to the ground. So I guess I would say: "He who is without a Manny cast the first 'bush league' comment"

That's the thing that makes me nervous--their apparently inability to eek out those kinds of runs.

Of course I'll take homeruns, but my point was that I want to see them win games precisely like last night's when they fail to hit homeruns.

That's the foundation of a consistent team, imo.

Does that make sense? Is it at least moderately convincing?

"I guess I take exception to the whole "bush league" thing when it comes from fans of a team whose captain starts a fight with his catcher's mask on and had a pitcher throw an 80 year old man to the ground."

i didnt do either of those things myself. i can comment on any baseball player's actions without being a hypocrite. and for the record, if a 200+ lb man were running straight at me, i wouldnt push him aside, id give him one right in the toothless puss ;)i know youre not trying to start something with me, its cool. im posting on a yanks website. i rib sometimes, but its better than the morons fighting in the stands right?

"did you see that? that was the cliffhanger. we made you think that there was going to be a cliffhanger, but there wasn't a cliffhanger... and that was the cliffhanger."

he is so completely proud of every single thing that he has ever done. well... maybe almost everything.

go yankees.

65 My take was almost the opposite. What they needed, in my opinion, was a couple of dingers. The Sox scored their first four entirely on homeruns -- true, Moose came unglued again in the seventh but right up until that point you'd have to say that the game was all about who could get the long flies just a little further. (Well, Manny's certainly had a lot of room to spare, so maybe that's not a good way to put it.)

I'm not really sure what the issue is here. Obviously, I'd love to be able to score seven runs without any home runs. But I definitely do not think that the emphasis on homers is misplaced. If the Yanks can make a run this summer, it will be because they (a) get baserunners with walks, and (b) cash in those baserunners with a lot of home runs and some doubles.

Growing up Nettles was my favorite player. Watching his Yankeeography I realized while his defense was as incredible as I'd remembered, I'd forgotten how feisty and aggressive he was. To this day I'll take that every time over placidity.

Maybe a team of superstars that is winning can afford to play it cool and classy. A team approaching the precipice needs to claw its way back.

http://tinyurl.com/yva5or

Giambi meets with MLB officials

BY CHRISTIAN RED and T.J. QUINN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS

Posted Wednesday, May 23rd 2007, 12:50 PM

Jason Giambi, with agent Arn Tellem (l.), leaves MLB's Park Avenue headquarters after hour-long meeting with top baseball officials.

Fresh off a Daily News report that he failed an amphetamines test within the past year, troubled Yankee slugger Jason Giambi arrived at Major League Baseball's Park Avenue headquarters around noon today, meeting with executives for an hour before he left in a black limousine just after 1 p.m.

Giambi, with agent Arn Tellem in tow, was called before commissioner Bud Selig's top lieutenants to explain his comments to USA Today last week, in which he elaborated on his previous steroid admission and said all of baseball should apologize for its steroid sins.

Hard to explain the lack of hitting. More understandable is the lack of pitching, porous defense, and inability to produce runs. No bench. No arms in left or center. No backup catcher. Three first baseman. Starting pitching that don't make it into the seventh inning with a lead. No pop on the bench. Two second year wonders, wondering. No speed. Guys get on. No one drives them in. Negative energy (Abreau). Unstopping of the stopper. And, questionable moves by the manager (pitching changes, pinch hitters).

Just don't see the resuscitator.

Hard to explain the lack of hitting. More understandable is the lack of pitching, porous defense, and inability to produce runs. No bench. No arms in left or center. No backup catcher. Three first baseman. Starting pitching that don't make it into the seventh inning with a lead. No pop on the bench. Two second year wonders, wondering. No speed. Guys get on. No one drives them in. Negative energy (Abreau). Unstopping of the stopper. And, questionable moves by the manager (pitching changes, pinch hitters).

Just don't see the resuscitator.

I've started a petition to tell Major League Baseball that a significant number of fans dislike interleague play and want it abolished.

Please visit Petition to End Interleague Play (http://www.petitiononline.com/mlb2007/petition.html) and read it. If you agree, please sign it and consider posting it on your blog.

I'm hoping to spread the word among serious baseball fans. I realize it may do very little, but I thought it was time we stop complaining to each other and tell management how we feel. Thank you!

"id give him one right in the toothless puss"

LOL, although you might want to watch out for that steel plate in his head... ;-)

I've got no problem with the friendly ribbing (even if I don't understand why you guys come over here in the first place... closet Yankee fans, perhaps ;-), you always seem to be able to take it in return without getting nasty. Heck, I even gave you a hard time about posting that long link yesterday (www.TinyTROLL.com is your friend).

We've just had some actual trolls recently (Mets fans mostly and some have even been banned) and IMO all the old A-Rod "bush league" stuff starts to sound a little too "troll-ish" for me (but maybe it's just me).

I think it's also perhaps that I'm still shellshocked from that drubbing we took from California in 2002, especially in the final game four, that 5th inning (I think it was the 5th) when they just hit one line drive after another.

And watching Boston last night, getting some critical basehits (Youkilis, Ortiz and Lugo, was it?) in big spots just made me feel that the difference comes down to hitting the ball up the middle and the other way, rather than looking for the bomb.

It's real tough to get guys out if they're not looking to hit homeruns.

Whatever, though, it's just one person's perspective.

Nah, just fans of good baseball writing & discussions. (Not to mention it's good to know what's going on with Boston's AL East competitor.)

There's hope for you guys yet, just look at Zimmer, Boggs, Damon and Clemens... ;-)

I for one was glad to see a little dirty play from the Yanks - they're more often on the receiving end.

Maybe this is the way to go if we're out of contention anyway...

;-)

the guy works his rear end off. (i've seen him shagging flies in LF while everybody else was evidently in the clubhouse.)

there is a great article on him in the ny times today that made me like the guy even more:
http://tinyurl.com/24ds9a

what are the odds of the yankees getting him from boston for pavano and mientkiewicz?

I can understand wanting the Yanks to string together some hits and spray the ball all over the field, but to cast aside the long ball completely is to hand-cuff your offense.

But come on, YF/Boston, that hardly sounds fair. Let's be realistic here, they'll probably want us to sweeten the deal a little, I mean, they're not looking to do us any favors, right?

Let's not insult Boston, but deal squarely with with them.

We'll throw in Nieves.

He's gotta be the cincher, no?

First off, I'm not saying cast off the long ball completely, of course not.

Just that I want to see them generate five runs or so without it, because some days the opposing pitchers just won't make many mistakes and the team's got to be able to find a way to win all the same.

And sure, they did score 4 runs via the longball, but that's not an insurmountable lead. The death knell was that seventh. 4-2 is a game, and with some timely hitting of our own, we could easily have come back.

Scoring 3 runs with two outs was the backbreaker.

The stolen base and the nice little hit by Lugo was just demoralizing. When he got that hit it was clear to me just why Boston is the better team. They displayed an extremely diversified attack.

You take away Manny's homerun (which came on a cookie, it was hardly earned) and I still think Boston would have won.

Watching Ortiz hit the ball around the park was amazing--he showed how he can beat you without the longball.

I don't know, maybe I'm gushing too much, but if that's how they play, they've got a great shot at winning the WS.

Boston, meanwhile, has only managed to score 5 runs without a home run three times (winning all three games).

In the end, I think it comes down to common sense: a team that hits a lot of home runs is going to score a lot more runs than a team that hits few home runs, but lots of singles and doubles. And a team that scores more runs is going to win more baseball games.

BTW, how old are you? If you were a Yankees fan in your late-70's during the Nettles era... let's see you must be pushing 110 by now... ;-)

Wait, you meant the 1970's... I see now, I thought we might have a Baseball Methuselah in our midst...

we probably have several, i was a yankees fan during the 70's ...

I drafted no Yanks, BTW. No Mets, either. I rarely draft from NYC teams if everyone in the league is from there. Got Hughes off of waivers, though.

That's complete nonsense. Most home runs come from hitting mistakes. That's the difference between good hitters and great ones. You don't get away with a mistake against great hitters. Go back and look at arods home runs. Most will be against mistakes. The walkoff against cleveland? A batting practice pitch. You don't want to give him credit? A less talented hitter pops that pitch up.

Your understanding of hitting is lacking.

As for Mr. Slappy April's throwing an elbow at Pedroia well beyond the bag, I must confess I've never seen anything like that on a ballfield. Apparently, Mr. April hasn't left the sandlots behind. He didn't pick the best night to do it, with Schilling pitching tonight. Look for Slappy to get drilled.

So then what offends Red Sox fans is that Arod didn't play the game "right" by making that take out.

Ok, I'll buy that. If that is so, then I am all for Schilling beaning Arod -- as long as for the next 38+ times that Manny comes up to the plate that he also gets a fastball in the ear. I mean, his admiring of all his homers doesn't neccesary speak to "playing the game right" too.

deal?

A whopping .012.

Both, BTW, are lower than their overall OPS, so it's not like Ortiz kicks it up a notch.

That said, I'm not convinced it is.

100 I think you're maybe misunderstanding my point.

My understanding of hitting may be lacking, not much I can say to that other than to keep voicing my observations and to begin expanding my view of the game as people point things out to me.

One of the problems is that my observations come from watching at-bats and based on those, I offer commentary, to which I often get statistics in response, as well as appeals to authority (Bill James) and allusions to bad broadcasting teams.

It's as if we're talking past each other, so I'm not sure if I should bother trying to refine my observations, with a little help from my friends, or what I should do.

I'm really not so dim as I might appear and I'd ask a bit of generosity before my remarks are dismissed as nonsense.

But it's ok, I understand I push a lot of buttons. Please know that it's by no means deliberate, it's just me bringing my own background to my appreciation of baseball.

100 The thing is, bbfan1, I really do believe that a game has its own internal logic, its own momentum, its own voodoo.

And having watched the entire baseball game, I still contend that had Mussina managed not to make that mistake to Manny, Boston probably would have found a way to win the game. I base that on their rally in the seventh.

I don't mind being disagreed with, but please don't patronize me.

I watch these hitters fairly closely and have a pretty good sense of their strengths and weaknesses. Not as good as some, to be sure, but nor am I just making things up. I really do pay attention.