great write up Alex. I do appreciate Emma's contributions greatly.

Me confused. Yankees got more runs last night than other team. What means this? Who is "Mariano Rivera"? What means "save"?

I know I hardly recognized him.

Too bad, Blue Jays. We're now even for that Ken Huckaby play a few years ago that caused Derek Jeter to miss two months.

Echoing Vaccaro, I think a lot has to do with the resentment that a lot of players have for A-Rod due to his salary. Guys like John McDonald, who's lucky to be in baseball, gotta hate A-Rod.

My favorite moment was the Jays' self-righteous sit-down/stare-down in the dugout after the end of the game. Although Jason Phillip's indignation - after he SHOVED Phelps out of the way the night earlier - was a close second.

Whatever to the Jays. You can blame ARod for trying a little league play, or you can blame Clark for falling for a little league play.

vockins. You are so on-point with that line. That's really the bottom line.

Let's let John Gibbons tell us how the Yankees play baseball. If this is the beginning of Bronx Zoo II he better just stay the f* outta the way.

2 I also took learning from man who play dirt area on right side, but not all the way to right side in the dirt area. This man Cano.

He take ball to one side for two bags. He take ball to other side for two bags. He put ball in between the far away people for two bags.

8 Gibbons saying anything about class is like Wells preaching to Clemens about being a good teammate. What a weird year.

You can also blame Clark for being at least 5 feet away from where the ball eventually landed.

Meanwhile, all the pundits are screaming because this has NEVER happened before? Excuse me? So then I guess the writers of Major League 2 must have had some pretty wild imaginations, since they definitely didn't lift the idea from actual baseball. Faking a double play throw on a grounder up the middle... faking a catch on a deep fly to center... spiking a first baseman if he leaves his foot on the bag: these things are gritty, but what A-Rod did is "bush league"?

I agree with Vaccaro, and to use some modern examples: David Eckstein, Darren Erstad, Manny Ramirez. If any of these players did this, would there be a controversy? It would certainly be "Manny being Manny" and the other two would be praised for their grittiness and clutchitude.

I usually don't buy into the whole "Yankee way" of baseball or a player being a "true Yankee" crap, but as an outsider looking in there's no way I can see Jeter, Posada, Bernie -- hell, even Sheffield -- doing what A-Rod did.

Yes, a lower-tier player would more likely get away with that play without this criticism, and maybe it's not fair that A-Rod is held to a higher standard than them. But since he's billed as one of the best players in the game it just seems like he should be able to succeed without "dirty" plays.

As for 6, I agree with vockins and blame both. On the other hand, I never hear Jays fans brag about how their team always plays with class. Maybe 3rd gen is right about the coming of BZ2...

6 Unless SkyDome has a grand canyon type echo, there is no way that play actually distracted Clark. At least 2 seconds passed between the infamous "HA" and the ball hitting the turf. If you watch the play, it isn't as if Clark gave way ... he was never under the ball to begin with. The play was simply the case of a career minor leaguer being unable to handle a major league pop-up. If the Blue Jays don't like it, well, Arod has a message for you: "I couldn't care less".

Also, how about these examples of bush league:

1) Lying about players' injuries and then smugly admitting it on qa radio show...thank you, Mr. Riccardi.

2) Nearly coming to blows on the mound with your starting pitcher...thank you, Mr. Gibbons.

Ugh, no Hughes until mid-August! That sucks deeply.

12 The irony is that for someone who is supposed to be so concerned about his image, Arod seems perfectly willig to doing anything it takes to help the team win. Correct me if I'm wrong, but whether it's chopping at Arroyo, sliding hard into Pedroia or yelling "Ha" behind Clark, the underlying motive has been a desperate attempt to avoid an out. I LOVE THAT ABOUT AROD. Most other superstars would be too concerned about sullying their reputation, but Arod seems to only care about winning.

So, when you say most other big name guys wouldn't do what Arod did, I agree. I just don't see that as a knock.

6 = perfection

15 a few years ago i would never in my wildest dreams have predicted that i would feel that way about this guy, but damn it, he wants to win. with all of the talk about a "lack of fire" on the team or however you want to put it, it is refreshing to see somebody try something unorthodox if it means it might help the team.

i've done my share of ghost tags where i pretend to get a throw from the OF in order to trick a runner coming to 3B to slide as opposed to round and head home. cheap? absolutely. it makes a difference in a ballgame, though.

when someone pulls off a hidden ball trick, the most bad news bears trick of them all, they play it on sportscenter et. al in a loop for two solid hours. (if it is eckstein who does it, they'll loop it for a weekend straight.)

i believe it was r. kelly who once titled an opus of his, "much ado about nothing."

Johnny Bench on CNBC this morning said it was a good play by A-Rod and its part of the game. He also said there is no crying in baseball.

A-Rod is on the front and back of the Post and News. Its all A-Rod, all the time.

Sucks to be the Blue Jays.

BTW Alex, this is one of my favorite Sinatra songs. Its actually my wife and I's wedding song - particularly, the 'duet' version with Bono.

Gotta say I love the nomaas picture this morning.

18 actually, i think they're still a game up on the yanks. things could be worse for them.

I'm still laughing. I never watch SportsCenter and I had to see it just to see Arod's response after the play and after the game. The supressed mirth is priceless.

Meanwhile, isn't this exactly what we were talking about yesterday with all the little league comparisons. Granted, we were trying to lighten our own mood, but isn't this stuff funny to the players too?

Shit, if all of baseball is laughing at you, no reason not to poke fun in return. And that was funny. That it turned a close game into a blowout is even better.

20 the best part is how his glove mysteriously changes hands. Did they inverse him?

Thanks, Alex, for the write-up and for having Emma here.

18 Really? But they did win the series...

I know I watched the game last night, but the Yankees actually won? I almost can't remember how it feels like, you know, my favorite team winning...

18 They won the series, but the Blue Jays are team stuck in neutral since the strike. I fully expect the D-Rays and Orioles to contend again before the Jays do.

I had the biggest smirk on my face after that happened last night, but in a good way, as in "Oh, no he DIDN'T!!! Good for us and sucks for them (kudos, 18).
I was a little worried after the great 1st inning and then the Boo-Hoo Jays started sneaking up on us. But whatever, we won...and it was a good game!

All I know is that the ice cream was very sweet.

16 Huh. I liked r. kelly as Tibault in 'Hamlet', but his best role was probably opposite Jay-Z in "The Importance of Being Earnest", written by a young Marshall Mathers...

Jeter may have never pulled a stunt like A Rod did last night, but as Durocher mentioned, I've seen Jeter lay on a basestealer at second base for an extra second after a throw has sailed into center field.

Regardless, Billy the Kid would approve.

26 Boo-Hoo Jays. Me likey, AbbyNormal821.

And they say A-Rod has trouble with pop-ups... I thought he "handled" that one nicely. ;-)

16 i thought that the young pauly shore really showcased his chops in that one.

30 heheheheh

Let me try this out.
A-Rod is a player with all the talent in the world. (Geez, I sound like John Sterling, this is not starting well.) He knows that popular opinion says that he's missing something. He doesn't quite understand what it is, but it's something that Jeter has, and it has to do with doing a little something extra on the field, something that doesn't merely flow from supreme baseball ability. Going the extra yard, playing a little harder... He wants to do that, too, if for no other reason than that people say he doesn't or can't.

Only he's 'tone deaf'. He can't tell intuitively what it involves. (Maybe he asks himself, WWJD?) So he keeps getting it just slightly wrong, and to the fans and players who don't like him it's like a wrong note in a Beethoven symphony.

Maybe he should just do what A-Rod does, and have a June like his April. Who'd complain?

It was sweeeeeet! I love the fact that somebody is willing to do anything to get a W right now. And I like the fact that Giambi probably got into it with Phillips because he backed A-Rod up. I'm picturing...

Phillips: "That was a bulls%*t play!"
Giambi: "STFU and play ball."

This isn't golf, Gibbons. If you can't stand the heat in the kitchen...perhaps you can get Hillenbrand back. ;-P

Personally, Alex's smirk made the play for me. It's basically as if he's saying (after all the piling on regarding the Yanks' play and the strip club stories) -- "fine, **ap on me, I'll give it right back. And not care how you feel".

In general, he seems less apologetic for the things he's done this year that the media love to blow up to cataclysmic proportions. He brushed off Pedroia like a gnat and made him look like a whining little midget, and he'll survive this just fine.

And we do realize that all this discussion has taken away from Arod's HUGE clutch 2 out hit to plate the insurance run. That was pretty sweet too!

You know, we've all been looking for a 'moment' to point to, where the Yanks turn it around. A unifying, rallying moment for the entire team. Maybe A-Rod's "HA" is it. I bet the Yanks are having as good a laugh over it as we are.

35 ...oh yeah... was that him?

35 Why should the MSM talk about A-Rod's clutch hit, when they can discuss whether or not he made a 'dirty' play?

Its just like politics. Why should the MSM discuss the substance of a candidate's position, when talking about, oh, the price of his haircut, or whether he can tell a joke or not, gets much higher ratings?

Great point Jim.

I noticed Phelps didn't complain the other night when he took an inside linebacker hit at first base from a baserunner who was well inside the line.

Baseball players routinely go about their work with 50,000 fans screaming, massive banks of lights shining in their eyes, broken bats flying at them, fastballs whizzing at their heads, etc.

Stop whining.

They still celebrate Eddie Stanky for stunts like this.

So last night, the Yanks beat up a kid pitcher who is two weeks removed from double-A and then they pounded the back end of the Blue Jays' bullpen. In between, they basically did nothing. A win is great (as is an actual Mariano Rivera sighting!) but it's going to take a lot more than this to persuade me that this team isn't cooked.

37 A-Rod is hitting .417/.500/1.208 with 2 outs/RISP this season.

And a not-too-shabby .279/.333/.605 in "Late and Close."

But shhhhhhh.

38 To be fair I only remembered it because it was in the SC highlights in the context of how he got on base. But they didn't make a big deal of it in reference to the game score - it was all about the "Ha!"

36 I certainly hope so! It is one great way to respond to negativity - laugh!

Like I said yesterday, the line between so called "bush league" and "dirt dog" seems to be rather fuzzy. That is to say, one team's dirt dog is "bush league" to their opponent-like the point about Rose. Why its okay to physically knock the ball out of a fielder's glove a la catcher or 2b, but not verbally, beats me...

43 Because it's the Yankees. If A-Rod had fallen for a Blue Jay doing the same thing, the media would be all over him for being a $252 million sucker.

36 I said it! Right here. Well, in the previous thread. And I said it before it turned out that A-Rod had 'participated' in the play. But I said, "This is it, our luck has turned!"

But Mike 40 is right, superstitious stuff aside, the hitting last night was not exactly convincing. Let's see what Cano and Matsui do against the Sox' front end. Then we can be whole-heartedly optimistic.

45 "Let's see what Cano and Matsui do against the Sox' front end." Unfortunately, with Wakefield, Tavarez, and Schilling on the mound, we won't get a chance to see that happening either. Besides, I'm much more interested in what the Yankees can do to the Sox back end. Wait... I mean... crap.

44 I find it really hard to call anyone with $252 million a sucker. Tom Hicks maybe, but then I'm no Scott Boras...

46 Actually it's Wake, Schilling, Beckett - Cliff hasn't updated it yet.

Me, I'm just glad the Yanks miss Tavarez!

46 Maybe they'll move Beckett up in the rotation because of the off day today?
But if they can hit those three starters, that's enough evidence for me, anyway.

46 I'll say it. I hope they spankdatazz. Hey, we've got to play fundamental ball on them, they're pitching can't hold up so much if the Yanks do the basics defensively. That's probably the main reason why teams are a little scared of this team coming back; if they'd focus on the play in front of them instead of worrying about the score or Torre's job or whatever, then you'd see a much more shocking turnaround.

All in good time...

50 Neither Here nor They're...

I don't think it's the defense that's been the problem. In May, anyway.
But May is over! Summer is a Cumin' In! And what is so rare as a day in June?

43 Why its okay to physically knock the ball out of a fielder's glove a la catcher or 2b, but not verbally, beats me...

Bronson Arroyo for A-Rod on line one....

52 A steak, just before it hit's the grill (ahh...) I was referring to the unfocused gaffes that've occurred recently by Cano, Bobby, and a couple of others. It implies a lack or disruption of focus; i.e. A-Rod has been a complete non-story defensively this year. Focus? You bet. I'm thinking that the team has a better chance of sweeping Boston than people are willing to admit right now; albeit the only thing I'm going on is how well they hit Wake and Schilling. Some of that focus coming at Beckett as well and this could be a very competitive series; at the least it won't be as draining as watching LA. And I believe that when the defense is fundamentally focused, the offense will follow through.

53 Right. That was illegal, and the Yankees paid for it, as Jeter was not allowed to score. But countless collisions at second base and home (and in this series, first base) are allowed... and I believe the "bowling over the catcher" at home is techinically illegal but allowed.

32 That's perfect, RI. Brilliant, I love it.

Salieri to Derek's Mozart?

27 Forgive the pedantry, Will, but there's no such character in Hamlet. Thibault is from Romeo and Juliet, if I'm not mistaken.

"...Look, I wish I could offer more lofty sentiments, but let's be honest. At this point in the Yankees' season, if getting an actual win requires A-Rod to screw thirteen transvestite prostitutes, on a pile of corked bats, in front of Babe Ruth's plaque in Monument Park? Fine."

Hear, hear, Emma.

Once more, with feeling: HA!

53 That's Brandon Arroyo.

54 "Just before it hit's the grill"
What's with you and apostrophes today, CW?

So, do we match up Pettitte against Beckett? I'm down with that.

56 I figured I'd get you on board.

58 What apostrophe's?

56 No problem. I sometimes get my Shakey mixed up when referring to R Kelly >;)

55 No... Bowling over the catcher is usually legal and allowed. It usually comes from reading 7.06 including the note. Basically, the basepath belongs to the runner if the catcher doesn't have the ball, otherwise the catcher has a right to be there, in order to make the play. Most bowl-over plays are close plays where the runner and ball arrive at the same time. It's really a judgement call for the ump on who interfered with whom if, in fact, interference happened. Umps probably just view it as the guy running the bases and the guy trying to field the ball running into one another. Who doesn't like a good car crash?
Not sure what you're talking about at second. I'll assume it's double plays. Due to rule 7.09(e)(f), runners and batter-runners can be, and are, called out if the player makes an obvious attempt to break up the DP. Note the weasel word "obvious". Normally an "obvious" attempt is one where the runner can't touch the base, but that's up to the umpire.

57 Is that some sort of McCarverism? I usually watch on mute unless something out-of-the-ordinary happens.

58 I just don't know! I've gone positively apoplectic placing inappropriate apostrophes...

Yes, I'm prepapred for 13 innings of one-run ball for both sides. And spelling mistakes! I'm multi-tasking at work right now, albeit not very well it seems...

62 After the karate chop, Arod kept referring to him as "Brandon," saying things like "I think Brandon's a great guy, I really like Brandon, I've never had a problem with Brandon before."

61 Yes, I was referring to the instances where the catcher blocks the plate without the ball, and when a runner comes barreling into a middle infielder. In these cases the contact is much more clearly illegal (compared to verbal psych outs), yet rarely called. I took issue with your comparison to The Slap, which was an illegal play called correctly by the umpires.

Does this remind anyone else of Baseketball? "I told you, dude. No more Journey psych-outs!"

62 Yes, McIdiot has repeatedly called him Brandon.

63 No need to apologize for the apoplectic placing of inappropriate apostrophes. It's neither apocalyptic nor appalling...
Wait, does this make me a Chyll Will apologist?

66 I apologize only when a propos >;)

66 APOPLECTIC...APOCALYPTIC...them there's a tonge twister! YEESH

68 ...and speaking of graphically mutilated body parts, did you see "Apocalypto"? I prefer "Apocalypse Now", but I'd hate for the season to go down that river...

69 LOL! Haven't seen that one, but hey show me Apocolypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, and Platoon - that and throw in some guacamole and you've got a paaaartaaaay!

70 Party For Your Right To Fight! >;)

65 A collision with a catcher blocking the plate w/o the ball is interference by the catcher not the runner, but then, the runner will score anyway. That's why it never gets called. Catchers get huffy about it, but the response is usually, "Why the hell were you in the basepath without the ball?"

A runner taking out a shortstop is pefectly legal so long as the runner also is making an attempt to reach the base and not being obvious about their interference. That means stay within reach of the base, and no pop-up slides.

72 and esp. 61: Hm, the rules you cited (on double play break-ups) are pretty specifically about fielders fielding a batter ball. That's different from the shortstop taking a throw from a second baseman.

69 Can you imagine Steinbrenner ruling from a temple in the jungle? At one point I totally could. Not now though.

It is a great movie, but I also liked Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" better.

54 FWIW, A-Rod this year has a 109 Rate/111 Rate2 at 3B, which is outstanding - far and away his best numbers at 3B. In fact, it matches his best years at SS ('96 and 2000 - 109/110).

So there's something else to be very pleased about!

73 You're right, I should have cited 7.09(d) regarding take-out slides.

74 Don't you worry, I think Torre could snap at any moment...

76 ...though I'd keep my eye on Jim Dean >;)

74 It's been a while since I read the Conrad version, but it's basically the same story without the Vietnam backdrop, no?

74 76 I swear...this is the only site where I run into people that know things like the fact that Apocalypse Now is Conrad's Heart of Darkness set in a more modern jungle. I guess that just proves baseball is a thinking man's game. ;-)

/salute

I need to get a Yankees shirt that just says "HA!" on it.

79 Very simple. Just get a A-Rod jersey and replace the '13' with "HA!"

73 75 Though, if your reading is correct, I do wonder what that rule is refering to. Surely, interfering with a batted ball or fielder attempting to field a batted ball, regardless of its double play potential, is covered by 7.08(b), 7.09(i), 7.09(k)?

74 Funny, I was just thinking yesterday how much this season reminded me of "Heart of Darkness"... you know, gradually losing touch with our civilized trappings as we spiral ever deeper into barbarism and insanity. And a much lower than usual OBP.

The horror! The horror!

Dear Emma. I could not have come up with a more picutresque deal-with-the-devil for A-Rod. The Babe would most certainly come back from the dead to voyeur, beer and dog in hand. He'd wear his crown. I leave the rest of the pic to others, but frankly, beware if the season comes down to this. Better to go 2 for 4.

Happy Birthday, Alex.

"The Horror, the horror!"

82 Though you have to admit, this A-Rod doppelgänger is kinda interesting. Notice how some of his teammates are starting to support him as well 33. Dirty A-Rod from TO, Canada... shweet?

79 Oh my God, that's about the best idea for a tee-shirt I've ever heard.

It's quirky, tongue-in-cheek, playful, a hint of cynicism, and best of all, bordering on the absurdist.

I like it a lot.

ha ha haaha hha!!

Here's an even better idea: when Arod gets inducted, his plaque should read simply: "HA!"

74 That's delicious, Shaun. Absolutely delicious.

Whose head, though, do you suppose he'd toss onto a guy's lap?

Of all the guys whose head the man has ever called for, who would be the one guy whose head would be featured in that scene?

Irabu's the first guy to come to mind, but there must be a better candidate.

It's gotta be someone who's basically hapless, like the poor bastard sous-chef or whatever he was.

Good stuff.

82 Emma you beat me to it.

Did anyone hear Arod's full post game interview? He was not just unapologetic, he was downright nasty. I love it. Looks like he's taking lessons from the Barry Bonds School of Media Relations.

At one point he was asked what McDonald was saying to him and he answered bruskly "I didn;t hear him!". When pressed again by the reported, he repeated I didn't hear him -- but it wasn't a deflecting answer. It was as if he was really saying "I could give to shits what he said so I just blocked that baby out!"

The full interview can be viewed on yesnetwork.com. CLASSIC!

77 Nah, I got all my snapping (or most of it) out of the way before the season started. That way it's helped with this start, Mhgjkg, Big Unit, etc.

79 80 I would SO love that to become the unity of this team.

HA!

In a nice big fat FU kind of way.

86 "Of all the guys whose head the man has ever called for, who would be the one guy whose head would be featured in that scene?
Irabu's the first guy to come to mind, but there must be a better candidate."

Pavano.
Unfortunately the head slipped, fell down and sprained its ear.

82 Well, if we're getting all freshman English here, T. S. Eliot quoted Heart of Darkness as an epigraph to his poem about the 2007 Yankees:

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

86 "It's quirky, tongue-in-cheek, playful, a hint of cynicism, and best of all, bordering on the absurdist."

My roomate said the same exact thing about my iced tea. Throw in a little Sly & The Family Stone and this will be one interesting summer...

89 rbj, you're on a roll today - that merits its own HA!

86 weeping, given their long and acrimonious history, I'd say Winfield's would have been Evil George's preferred tossed head.

But all credit goes to Chyll, who got me thinking about Heart of Darkness when he brought up Apocalypse Now in 69.

82 It is an interesting comparison, isn't it?

91 sweet. sly & the family stone. i was just trying to decide what i should listen to on my way home... thank you (fahlettinmebemyselfagen).

81 I thought the point was that if it's deliberate interference with a DP ball, both the lead runner and the batter are out. (I'm in a rush and don't have time to check that, but it's what I thought at the time.)

85 Chyll, nice umlaut. You are absolved of all previous punctuational sins.

ok, this is totally off-topic (non A-Rod related)...

did anyone see Manny running after that double in the gap last night? his effort could only be described as "casual". even though i can't stand him, he is absolutely hilarious.

Phil Hughes walks into the clubhouse one August afternoon....

Hughes: Who's in charge here?
Farnsworth, looking up from a pizza: You are, sir!

91 "My roomate said the same exact thing about my iced tea."

STOP -- you're killing me! People can hear me in my office all alone laughing...next thing you know, they'll be sending Martin Sheen in to get me.

Where's that site that does custom MLB shirts?

95 That was pretty funny. Left, Manny...go left!

90 Nicely played.

95 Would it be accurate to say that last night was just a case of "Arod being Manny"?

100 today marked the umpteen thousandth time i've had to bust out the old "if manny did that, we'd all be expected to laugh and say that it was just 'manny being manny'" argument this season.

i'm just going to record it and keep it cued up and at the ready.

i'll be at the game at fenway tomorrow night. right on the LF line. if there's a pop up to rodriguez, i'm expecting a "HA!" explosion from the stands.

101 I don't know..."HA" is kind of hard to say in unison. I'm sure there will be more than a few creative signs. Unlike last, this year, I think Arod will be able to handle it. In fact, I almost suspect he is looking forward to it.

98 Serpentine, Manny...Serpentine!!

100 Nice, but when A-Rod TOTALLY blows off the media, then we'll know...

I'll stop now >;)

Interesting that Cervelli is doing well, but from Stark:

In Atlanta, multitalented rookie catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia has started taking ground balls at first base as the Braves try to figure out his future with the trading deadline approaching. "We have our franchise catcher [Brian McCann]," GM John Schuerholz said. "So who knows what will happen? We could find another place for Salty to play. Or somebody else could want him and make us an offer where we say to ourselves, 'This is a deal that makes sense for us and for him and for everybody.'"

"Do you know what the man is saying? Do you? This is baseball dialectics.
It's very simple dialectics. One through nine, no maybes, no
supposes, no fractions -- you can't run backwards, you can't go out
of the baseline, how are you going to run the bases, you know, without, like, you know, with fractions -- what
are you going to stop on, one quarter to first, three-eighths from third -- what are you
going to do when you go from here to home plate or something -- that's
dialectic baseball, OK? Dialectic logic is there's only safe and out, you
either reach safely or you're out."

Is Clippard going to stay in the rotation for the time being with Hughes return delayed until August or will they go with DeSalvo?

If Darrin Erstad did what A-Rod did last night, people would talk about how his "Football Mentality, and Tough and Gritty style of play once agains proves why he is the most valuable player in baseball."

92 Hey Shaun, I know, Winfield actually did come to mind, but something seemed not quite fitting about that, maybe because he's a hall of famer and not quite feckless enough.

Don't know.

102 "I almost suspect he is looking forward to it."

i got the feeling that the grin we all saw after the play was one of anticipation as much as reflection.

i'm sitting on the LF line, so i'll be getting an earful, i'm sure. i'll bring back a full report.

108 Or that Winfield is kinda big and would tear him a new one if he tried?

Has there ever been a human being in the history of the universe less adept at cheating than Rodriguez?

From the Arroyo play, to getting caught cheating on his wife on the front page of the post, to this latest incident.

Can't the dude learn how to cheat the right way?

You know what?

Arod still isn't my favorite player in the world and it still exasperates me how easily fooled he is, but that interview really endeared me to him.

I can't stop laughing.

"I don't know what my intention was."

"One word, 'Ha!' that's it."

"I didn't hear him either."

I'm beginning to have second thoughts about sloughing him off.

100 "Arod being Manny."

Nice. :)

104 Interesting. And I bet Salty would run faster if his uniform wasn't weighted down with all those letters. So who gets traded for him?

113 Farnsworth? Please?

108 well, if willard was merely "an errand boy sent by grocery clerks", how low does that put chef?

so, how about dale murray? if i recall my "Bronx Zoo" correctly, he was signed from Toronto because he was a friend of gossage, who they were trying to resign, not because he was worth anything.

i could see george casually walking by the goose's locker after a blown save or during a losing streak and dropping poor dale's head in his lap ...

'course there is another scary analogue in the comparison ... consider these words:

"... I mean, what are they going to say, man, when he's
gone, huh? Because he dies, when it dies, man, when it
dies, he dies. What are they going to say about him? What, are
they going to say, he was a kind man, he was a wise man, he had
plans, he had wisdom? Bullshit, man! ..."

111 No kidding!! ha ha ha!

It doesn't seem to bother him, though, which I suppose is part of his charm, the poor man.

He certainly is a character, I'll give him that.

110 Yes, Will, there is that. :)

108 110 True. But there's no one George disliked quite like he disliked Winfield. Not even Billy - because, after all, he kept bringing Billy back.

Now if it was Billy in the temple - which one could imagine - it would have been Reggie's head that got tossed. Or he would have tied George and Reggie's heads together, and tossed both.

I always thought the 90s 'dynasty' Yanks should have voted Winfield a full playoff share every year. Without him, they might not have existed - using the old "fly sneezing in southeast asia" logic.

107 Totally. The funny part is that punters are mostly looked down upon by the football world - and Erstad was a punter! (Punters shouldn't be looked down on, because field position is so important - but that's for Gints Banter.) Its not like the dude played middle linebacker.

115 Perfect scenario. Dale Murray to Goose it is, then.

I'm trying to recall, Dale Murray, Dale Murray.

First I thought "Murphy," but he was someone else.

Was Dale Murray a shortstop?

Or am I just confusing him with Dale Berra?

God, who was that guy, the name rings such a bell, sort of.

Was he around ca. '81, '82?

118 relief pitcher, pitched for the yanks in 83-85 ... managed era+ of 87,77 and 30

119 RHP?

Was he the RH counterpart to Righetti?

117 But he also played hockey!!!

And is a bad baseball player. But shhh, or Scott Long may write a 2000 word rant about my vendetta against the White Sox.

101

ill be in that same section! i hope you like pizza!

120 i think his current comparison seems like luis vizcaino ... looking things up on BB-REF, i recall that the move didn't quite work, goose skipped ship after the 83 season to go to SD, which led to Righetti being moved to the closer's spot

123 So kinda like Cashman bringing in Minky (mediocre like Murray) since he was buddies with A-Rod in high school, and then A-Rod opting out of his contract after 2007 anyway?

122 i sure do. keep in mind that thos slices cost about $8 a pop. just toss the crust, man. you can dip it in some $8 beer if you want the satisfying messy "splat!" save your cash.

i'll be the guy in the yankee shirt who cheers really loudly for youkilis, calls for donnie baseball to pinch hit when mientkiewicz comes up to bat, moons manny whenever he decides he's ready to take the field, and is stuffing the all star ballot box. (write in youkilis!)

see you there!

To be honest, I think the people who are trying to claim A-Rod didn't do it or said something else are just as absurd as those who are calling it bush league. He did exactly what we thought he did and what the Blue Jays thought he did. He didn't yell "Ha." He didn't wait until he passed Clark. He wasn't talking to himself. He deliberately tried a little league trick and it worked.

And good for him.

122 " i hope you like pizza!"

SPLAT!!

(YFiB, that sounds like you better duck when you reach your seat... if you see anchovies wrapped in little bulletproof vests laying around, watch out!) >;)

124 So who says we have to keep Minky?

Texeira!

125 (!) Jinx! (heh) You owe me a a couple of root beers for that...

126 They asked him, "Did you say 'mine'?"

"No, I would never say that," he dismissed.

What, you don't believe him?

128 Careful how you sling them (!) next to that-there name, pardner. We still haven't gotten over the Neifi! craze...

128 "So who says we have to keep Minky?*

Satan.

126 Not for one second.

And, as I said, good for him.

133 I was teasing.

;)

134 I hoped so. But some people apparently do. People like to jump all over A-Rod, and to a much lesser degree, people like to defend him at all costs.

I don't think he did anything wrong. Embrace what he did. It was clever and it helped the Yankees win the game. There's no reason to make up excuses or be ashamed.

125

im actually sitting in the non-drinking family section by that ugly ass gulf sign :( so its gonna be a dry night, so maybe i can splurge on the pizza ;)i'll spare you, but ill keep my eyes peeled for the infamous "Section 39 Crew".

Are you on the NoMass Team or the Feinsand Team?

Nomas: Tonight's game was an illuminating illustration of Joe Torre's managerial incompetence....use a pitcher who could either strike a batter out to take away the sac fly possibility... Brian Bruney. Although he tends to be a flyball pitcher (.59 G/F on the season), he more than makes up for this disadvantage by his excellent K/9 of 9.00. However, Scott Proctor, recovering from the flu and sporting both a worse G/F ratio (.49) and a significantly worse K/9 (5.47), was inappropriately brought into the game here.

Feinsand: Alex Rios was 0 for 8 against Proctor with three stikeouts and was 2 for 2 against Bruney with two doubles. But don't let a few facts distract you from kicking the manager."

Is it Torre who is incompetent, or NoMass?
Everybody thinks they are a better manager then Torre. Right?

I wonder if A-Rod has started wearing that t-shirt under his uniform - you know, the one that says:

"F*ck You, You F*cking F*ck!"

HEE HEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

126 After wathcing the replay, I honestly think he said "HA". Any word beginning with an "m" would be easy to distinguish and I can't make out "mine".

I'm not sure why you think that would make me absurd, especially because like you, I'd have had no problem if he did say "mine". In fact, I kind of whish he had whispered to Clark that he spent the night with his wife at a strip club.

17 "Its all A-Rod, all the time." GREAT LINE!!!
It's A-Time A-Rod!

126 Matt, did you see the replay of A-Rod rounding the bases? The camera is fixed directly on his face, and you can distinctly see his mouth form the word 'Hah!'...

Saw it on YES and on ESPN again this morning.

137 First off, I believe that was from PeteAbe's blog, not Feinsand's (unless one likes to plagiarize).

Secondly, I don't think it's necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison because the Yankees NEEDED a strikeout. The question you had to ask was not who was more likely to get Rios out, but who was more likely to record a strikeout.

Finally, on Sunday, Torre brought in Proctor to face Kendrick, who, sure enough, had been 2-2 against Scottie with two doubles to left. Sure enough, Kendrick laced another double to left. If Torre is playing match-ups based on past history then shouldn't he be consistent? I have a feeling Torre doesn't really look at things like match-ups anyway.

137 No Maas is virtually without merit.

143 I actually like NoMaas...they are a bit irreverent, but often make good points (like the one mentioned in 137).

144 I guess I should provide as a disclaimer that I made the exact same point on the game thread (but BEFORE Rios hit the sac fly).

141

http://tinyurl.com/ys9tcj

It certainly looks like "mine" here. He's pursing his lips like you would when saying an "M" word. I also think, career minor leaguer or not, "Ha" is not going to cause any pro baseball player to back off a play.

Either way, I'm glad that he said whatever the hell he said, and I think it got the intended result.

my boss just looked at me funny. i'm sitting at my computer listening to the michael kay show. he started off the show talking about A-rod and she-males.

the look i received was priceless.

87 Great interview. ARod is way cool. I'm just loving the guy this year. God... I hope we don't lose him.

Breaking news over at Lo Hud.
Giambi, to the DL, torn planter fascia!

136 i'm in a dry section as well... 32 maybe? i was just so excited to get through the virtual waiting room, that i took the first option that came my way.

i'll have a few before i go in. my dad is coming in from ny.

should be a good match up. should be fun.

149 What in Christ is a torn planter fascia?

141 If anything, he looks like he's saying 'MAO!' - the way his mouth ends up definitely looks like a short 'AH' or 'AW' sound. Just my opinion anyway...

Maybe A-Rod's really a communist?

Gotta love the YouTube comments, btw - lot of Yankees fans there I see... ;-)

152 Well, whatever the hell he said, good for him.

Tendon, along the bottom of the foot.Very painful, runners get them all the time.

151 From a Google search: A diagnosis of plantar fasciitis means you have inflamed the tough, fibrous band of tissue (fascia) connecting your heel bone to the base of your toes.

So I guess Giambi tore it completely. Ouch, I can't imagine the pain he's in - a strain is painful enough. I speak from experience, although my problem was pretty much cured with a few shoe inserts recommended by the podiatrist.

151 You can tear a plantar fascia?

OK, I guess you can:

http://tinyurl.com/2bs53h

137 I'm on the "don't overanalyze when the data you are working with is TOO SMALL OF A SAMPLE SIZE" team.

BP's advanced reliever metrics - which I trust more than two or eight ABs - suggest the guy to use would have been Bruney, who leads the Yanks in WXRL and ARP. And in Inherited Runs Prevented.

Proctor is very low on all those lists.

152 "MAO" that's funny stuff, Pete.
A-Rod might even say that the play was so funny that after the game he was in the clubhouse "ROFLMAO"... ;-)

Arod's interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iErO9MZclDc

Is YouTube slow as molasses for anyone else?

157 And here I thought he was declaring an interest in Communism... "camel through the eye of a needle" kinda issues with that, I suppose...

Is Giambi gonna be out for longer than the expected 15 days? It sounds pretty serious... Despite his lack of production, he still is a presence in the lineup. who will fill the spot longterm?

161 I'm guessing Shelley Duncan? He's been raking, is RH, can play 1B, and probably wouldn't be used much (I bet Melky gets a ton more playing time now).

161 He'll be out at least 3 weeks, but probably more.

Whoever they bring up simply won't play, torre style. it'll be Damon and Matsui DHing a lot while Melky plays OF, and maybe some Josh Phelps too...

162 yAAAAy!

161 Also, LoHud says he'll be reevaluated in 3 weeks, so I'm guessing a month at best.

I love that the Sox websites and blogs are focused more on A-Rod than the Sox with typical "A-Frau" type comments. Puh-lease. Maybe they should be a bit more worried about their "ace" Dice-k...

164 Tell me about it. But who else? Andy Phillips? Kevin Thompson?

160 Speaking of the ol' "camel through the eye of the needle", did you ever see this SNL skit (it's a classic):

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/96/96cheyward.phtml

WasWatching has a source saying it'll be S. Duncan.

162 I thought Shelley too (can play LF/RF too) but I'd be really surprised.

Phillips or Thompson seems much more like the organization MO.

But if Shelley can hit like Chris...

170 He's 27 and in AAA. Somehow I doubt he can hit like his brother.

170 ...and hopefully not like Sandy...

I just realized Johnson is seven Ks behind Roger. Those two will trade off all year.

168 Holy crap - I can't believe that site! Too funny! You know I had to look up the "Baseball Wives" skit when Jeter hosted. Lord, he's one fine lookin' man, but he sure is one ugly woman! (David Cone too!...YEESH!) LOL!

172 If Andy Phillips or Bubba Crosby are any barometer, I suspect that may be a possibility.

172 ...or Sabrina (although she probably was the toughest of the Angels... at least with RISP and Charlie on the speaker phone)

171 No, but if he can hit better than Minky, that will be fine.

Seeing more of Phelps - especially if it leads to less of Mientkiewicz - may be a big bonus.

171 Obviously it was a joke. But stranger things have happened than an AAA getting hot on his callup.

177 Seeing less of the Stink is always a good thing. But I'm not sure Duncan will be better.

175 Ah, but if he hit like Winters, then we'd have ourselves a bona-fide #5...

176 Something tells me that Tim isn't much of a baseball player either.

One hell of a basketball player, though.

173 Johnson has slight advantage in facing pitchers who hit. Roger might be in better shape, though. Should be interesting to watch.

178 Shane! Come back, Shane!

181 Hell, if he can bring some donuts with him, he'll likely stick around a while. Good luck, "kid"...

178 Yeah, like last May and June when Andy Phillips went .324/.342/.543 and was leading the team in triples... ;-)

181 I agree. I've heard stories of Ryan and Carlton trading off the strike out total, and I'd like to see the new version of that.

And hell, I think Clemens and Johnson are stubborn enough to hang on long enough to catch Ryan. :)

183 or even some cake mix...

184 And then July hit.

Not to kill the mini buzz from last night's win, but I read in the Daily News today that Damon does not have a no trade clause. He's got a restricted trade clause with 12 teams he accept going to. I'm willing to bet my right thumb that both the Angels and the Dodgers are part of the twelve.

So my idea that the Yanks tack Damon onto an ARod deal is more plausible than I originally believed.

186 http://tinyurl.com/2m62x2

187 Good for nothing July. Always has to come after June and screw things up.

185 I could easily see Clemens hanging around to try to get 400 Ws too. He's at 348 now. Let's say he wins 12 this year to get to 360 (at 44). That means he needs 10 wins/year for 4 years to get 400. Unless something really gives out, I think he could still pitch at 48.

Watch him be the first guy to pitch at 50 since, gotta be Satchel Paige, right?

187 yeah, July hit and Andy didn't... I know, I know...
But he did make the folks down here in Alabama proud there for a couple of months.

189 Well, you can't have your cake and eat it too...

He could also bring a few yo-yo's, I'm sure that would be a big hit in the clubhouse...

192 No, I think ho-ho's would work much better...

193 Easy there, Imus... wait, you meant the snack cakes. ;-)

194 Yeah... snack cakes...

I love Twinkies

118,119,120 Dale Murray was the guy traded for Fred McGriff. Well McGriff was a throw-in, Dave Collins was the centerpiece of the deal. Bronx Burners... Sheesh!

195 But I had nothing particular in mind, if that's what you're wondering >;) In all honesty, if I found a store with a hidden cache of Hostess Chocolate Pudding Pies, I'd have to shut the place down for a while... make sure they were all wrapped properly....

196 I used to adore Twinkies. Now they taste gawdawful to me. Just like Hi-C and Strawberry Quik. (sigh...)

What the hell ever happened to Choco-Bliss?

apparently tickets for the next yankees game up in toronto are selling like hot-cakes.

jeez, this thing is getting out of hand.

the sad/funny thing about this is that he'll get beaned, and the yankees will do nothing about it. maybe proctor or bruney takes measures into their own hands, but i doubt it.

199 You mean these:
http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/1971/

Maybe they have gone the way of this:
http://www.cannabisculture.com/whatsnew/chocobliss.html

I needed the laugh, so I ventured into the abyss...check out some of the comments over at LoHud:

"Well, with Bernie yankees never got 13.5GB."
Sheer hilarity aside, isn't that not true?

"It might be a little early for this kind of discussion, but I can say with a bit of certainty that Giambi's career in pinstripes has been a borderline disaster."
The best Joe Morgan impersonation I've ever seen. That's some major league equivocating right there.

199 And yoo-hoo.

201 Years later, I have no regrets for sneaking out of bed in the cover of darkness and making off with a few extra brownies.

203 Nah, I still love yoo-hoo... the trick is to drink it Really Cold.

Btw, would someone be so kind...what's LoHud?

206 Pete Abraham's blog...please tell me you've heard of it...

207 Thanks. Well, I've heard the name from you guys in passing around here, but no, not really.

It's good for a laugh, I take it?

206 Moreover, LoHud is a website by the Gannett Media/Publishing corporation based in Westchester County, NY with respect to the Lower Hudson Valley (Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and part of Orange counties). Look on the sidebar under "Beat Writers" (which I sometimes want to do when I see the crap often written in the papers...) he writes a column for The Journal News. With all due respect; when it comes to Gannett, you're not missing much.

208 Peter provides very useful up-to-date info about the Yankees (he covers the Yankees for the Westchester Journal News). The part that's good for a laugh is the ridiculous comments to the blog.

209 I used to deliver the Herald Statesman.

You know what's funny? It was a step up from the Post, which I delivered before that--higher circulation in my neighborhood.

But man, it was a pain in the ass to assemble on Sundays, so I took to just delivering it in chunks, because the feature sections would show up a couple days early.

Sometimes I'd just blow off delivery for one reason or another (I was a kid, afterall) and just deliver two the next day. This one old guy would school me: "You know what day old newspapers are good for?--Wrapping fish!"

Another woman once told me that she'd been waiting for the activities section or the movies section or something and had to go buy another paper.

I felt pretty guilty about that.

What do you want for child labor, though, eh?

208 Yes and no. Pete's well-informed and is usually sited for breaking news about Yankee stuff, but the commentors... umm... the commentors are usually a lower breed of organism heretofore unclassified. It depends on what you think is funny, I guess. That said, I don't really wonder why Pete is rumored to have become a bit of a facist lately; kinda like casting pearls before swine after a while, I suppose.

211 Ah yes, next to Yonkers train station; the building facade still has "The Herald Statesman" on it, even though Gannett absorbed it years ago and consolidated most of the area papers into The Journal... it was something like the Times-Herald Record up in Middletown. I don't miss it much. We had the Poughkeespsie Journal where I grew up. I looked at it a couple of years ago while riding through on my way upstate. Then I put it down and made my way to the nearest eyewash station.

208 It's a must-read, IMO. Best insider access I've found so far. Lately he's been arrogant and losing his humor, but he usually writes and jokes pretty well.

150

YFiB- yeah, im in section 33- my fiance and i are going- probably going to drink at this quiet place we discovered canesteros on peterosborough st. before the game- you should go.

212 You're a comics writer Chyll - do you read the comic "Pearls Before Swine" by Stephan Pastis? Best comic in the papers, IMHO. Pretty dark humored, but oh so funny.

Especially if you like dumb crocodiles. =)

207 speaking of whom ... Pete reports that it's Thompson coming up for giambi, with the possibility of britton replacing desalvo in time for the weekend as well ... too bad we couldn't find a way to drop The Deuce as well ...

The Giambi news is a big blow. According to Cashman (quoted in AP), it's possible that he could miss the entire season. I'd imagine that Cashman will pursue a deal (someone like Hatteberg, Dmitri Young, etc.). I'm sure he could get either one pretty cheap. If you have any hope of contending for the Wild Card, the team can't simply stand pat with Kevin Thompson or Shelley Duncan.

if damon goes to the DH to rest his aches, we're looking at an outfield of matsui, cabrera and abreu/thompson

ugh

on the "bright side", at least any hitting we get is likely to be better than the May Edition Giambi

206 It's the Bronxbanter J.V. team. The comments section there reads like Rupert Pupkin if he were a Yankee fan.

Baseball Tonight is having a Spelling Bee. Dusty Baker just spelled Teixeira wrong. (Did I?) This is the worst network in television history.

216 Indeed I do. I like all the characters in that strip for various reasons, but I especially like the fact that Pastis revels in the "bad comic strip" persona (very college-newspaperish), which after a period of exposure actually grew on me very well. It's funny that he did a cross-strip jam with one of my current favorites, "Get Fuzzy", where Pastis was literally ripping pictures out of Darby Conley's strip and pasting them into his own, and sharing the same exact jokes word for word at one point. The interplay between the artists within the strips themselves for that particular series was very amusing. That said, the writing can be daring at times and sometimes a bit simple, but I don't know if that and his drawing is intentional or not.

I'm taking some of you-guys' advice; I'll be blogging about stuff like that soon enough. I'll let you all know when it happens >;)

He just put a "T" in Kurkjian.

Fernando Vina wins.

221 Worse than PAX?

213 Ah, the Poughkeepsie Urinal! I remember it well. In 1979, when I was five, I made the front page for lecturing a fourth grade class about dinosaurs. You know - runaway inflation, energy and hostage crises, a little fat kid with a lisp and tricerotops models.

One of these things is not like the other...

226 We must have lived near each other at some point. My sister used to call it that all the time, and I thought she made that up.

225 PAX would never have Dusty Baker imitating 12 year olds who are more intelligent than he is.

Well, I'm going home now. Another day, another fifteen cents... Ciao!

220 J.V. team? More like the waterboys with behavioral problems deprived of medication...those commenters are lunatics spewing straight from the id, and it's amazing Pete Abe puts up with the junk they deal out. NYYfans.com and the Banter are, by comparison, filled with Rhodes Scholars.

Though I have to say there seems to be a parody poster by the name of Pollyanna on Lohud who is hilarious. I look forward to his/her posts -- the last couple have left me in tears.

230 You're absolutely sure it's a parody? I've never read one of his/her posts, but you never know with those people...

It's Abraham's editorializing that has turned a lot of people off. He was practically gleeful when Hughes injured his hamstring- because he felt he shouldn't have been pitching in the majors. He then compounded his idiocy by saying that the sprained ankle was an "inevitable" consequence of the hamstring tear- again w/ the "I told ya so" loud and clear.
His attitude re Arod was equally hard to deal with.
He is fast with news, but he himself has become a source so that any scoop he has is published widely almost immediately.
Couple it with the fact that he's a sawx fan and it's easy to understand why a lot of people have become fed up with him and refuse to give his site any hits

231 Well, it certainly wouldn't be out of character for the poster to be serious given the nature of the lunatic fringe on Lohud, but trust me, if this Polly poster is serious, there's some sort of mad genius going on there.

Some of the other posters don't know what to make of him/her and get angry, or ignore the posts because they're long and rambling and crazy, but I think they're brilliant.

I have determined (ok, I haven't at all, someone else has, and I am simply the messenger), that despite the horrible, horrible start, the Yankees still have a damn good chance of winning 90 games this season and possibly making the playoffs.

Here's the link if you want to wrap your head around all the math far beyond my own capabilities.

http://jeteupthemiddle.blogspot.com/2007/05/odds-of-making-playoffs.html

219 "if damon goes to the DH to rest his aches, we're looking at an outfield of matsui, cabrera and abreu/thompson"

Actually, this is the only upside of the Giambo injury. Considering throwing, Melky is better then JD in CF. and making JD the full time DH might be the only way to keep him productive enough to stay off the DL.

232 PeteAbe is a Sox fan? Where did you learn this from?

234 Hope so. If not, they'll be remembered as the best worst team of all time.

Wonder if they'd sell those T-shirts outisde The Stadium.

234 I would have absolutely agreed with you... right up until I learned Giambi is/was on the DL. There are a lot of Giambi haters, but he is/was an important bat in the lineup. We really lack 'punch' without him.

235 I actually don't think he is at this point. He might have grown up a Sox fan but has said that he no longer roots for teams in sports he covers -- he's still a Patriots fan but in baseball roots for individuals rather than teams. Despite what folks might think of his style, I haven't noticed him being anything less than even handed as between the Yankees and Red Sox.

238 I'm with you. It always seems like he roots for players, not teams.

You want bush league, check out what little Samir's mom did when her son choked: http://tinyurl.com/3dsq7l

Where the hell are you now, Post?!

To annoy you throughout tomorrow, take a look at the caliber of Globe reporting:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2kadwl

241

Yikes! Well, there is nothing I can add to the wrong/right debate that hasn't already been said, but that is a silly article.

Luccino's plan? Seriously? Teammates not supporting him? Some evidence of that please. Umm, isn't there a player by the name of Ramirez in Boston? If the beat writers in NY wanted to treat Manny the way the writers in Boston have treated Arod, they could have filled every paper with his buffoonery for years. I don't think its any secret that he frustrates his own teammates on a regular basis. It's quite simple, they lost for years and now they see an opportunity rarely found in Beantown, and they are jumping all over it. It is best to simply ignore such things, for Boston is Boston, and this too shall pass.

How can anyone keep a job who writes this stuff? It's a no brainer, he works in Boston.

237 Well, the person who did all the math for me, figures that even in the worst case scenario (Giambi misses the whole season, and his ABs are replaced by Mientkiewicz/Phelps/Cairo) the difference is about 15 runs and still only about 1-1.5 games.

It's Thompson afterall. Not much of a surprise but I imagine Torre couldn't see playing Shelley in the OF - sorta like playing Phillips at 2B or 3B. And Shelley as a strict 1B has little value to this team - you know, since they already have two 1B's.

243 Unfortunately, that could very well determine whether they play in October.

In the good news department:

Kennedy went 7 IP in Tampa: 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K

Ed Ramirez had 5 K in 3.2 IP (0 BB) - year to date (AA and AAA): 26.1 IP 11 H 1 ER 10 BB 48 K

I can't see how he's not called up soon. Supposedly, he has a Bugs Bunny chengeup.

Here's another comparison where a player than A-Rod is lauded for his effort to distract and confuse the other team just this week: how is Jose Reyes' little samba that caused Armando Benitez to balk not once, but twice, including plating the tying run in the 12th inning. Don't you think if it was A-Rod they'd be calling him out like they did for this play? Instead, Reyes is lauded for his energy and enthusiasm.