Be thankful she doesn't take a Glock to one of those City critters.

There's a huge black snake around here that can be found sunning itself on the rosebushes every morning. It would never occur to me to kill it.

Em's got a killer instinct, god love her, to go along with her belly full of guts. Hmmm...you know, seeing as how she's good at striking things with a blunt object, and how our heros are a little deficient in that regard...

Seriously, that's a hilarious story. Tell Em she's my hero, too. Now, if she could only chase the rats out of NY.

They're my bugaboo. The spook me to the core.

Whenever I'm walking down a narrow street and the garbage is out, I instinctively walk in the street, lest I get attacked by those hell-rodents.

Anytime I see a vacant lot or a weedy area, I go on alert.

Once, long ago, I was under the Brooklyn Bridge, looking at a great vacant lot, just utterly transfixed by the multitude of rats there. I kept my distance so I wasn't afraid they'd get me, but Christ, they were just so repulsive I couldn't stop looking at them, like I was hypnotized by the horror of it all.

A passer-by kind of looked at me to see what I was looking at and I told him, "My God, look at all those rats!"

His response was classic: "They come from Brooklyn," he quipped wryly and disappeared into the night.

Pete Abe reports Kennedy has been sent down. No word on who starts for him.

He was also spoken to about the "way he expressed himself."

Melky benched again today, despite his good game yesterday. Are we going to have a Cabrera-Christian platoon?

Hang onto your hats, and here's hoping Andy can be the golden god he is.

That was huge.

Keep it going, keep it going!

alex, i think your black snake story brought the bats alive.
man i hate snakes too - i remember in like 7th grade science class the teacher made everyone hold a snake and i refused - what that had to do with science class is still beyond me.

Hey, at least we got the two: good job, numbers three and four.

Well, snakes are alive, what's alive is natural, science looks into the natural, and ergo, science=traumatizing young people by forcing them to hold snakes.

Or something.

16 yes maybe weeping's hope for andy to be the golden god will be answered

"Kennedy was sent down with instructions to work on his pitching, not work on throwing seven shutout innings. He has proven he can win in the International League. He need to work on specific things now like his two-seamer and curveball.

"Kennedy also apologized for his comments the other day, saying it didn't come out the way he wanted. Several players, including Andy Pettitte, spoke to him about how better to express himself in the future."

That seems like exactly the right way to use a trip to AAA. Rather than proving (again) that he can be successful there, he can work on what he needs to do to be successful in the bigs.

I'm also glad to see his comments about his comments.

Things are looking up.

Nice job, Andy.

If players like Mussina and Pettite have issues with the way he expressed himself, there's nothing "over the top" about talking to a player about how he should conduct himself as a professional.

Why?

Why?

http://tinyurl.com/6aqly6

where in LI, btw...

26 see 16 - maybe that's why...

what's up w/ these infield singles? should they have been outs?

nice alex, way to start the inning! c'mon X!!!

cone keeps calling joe saunders tony
normally find it annoying when announcers get names wrong, yet i don't care, cone can say what he wants

And the really amazing thing is we actually got one back right away.

I have no problem demoting the man because of his performance. That he was demoted (as Pete Abe seems to believe 8 ) for what he said after the game, that is silly and somewhat worrisome.

If Kay, Singleton and Cone are to be believed, the players weren't real thrilled about it, either.

In any case, the purpose of the demotion is exactly the right one.

I guess I wasn't bothered by what his comments "revealed," so I wasn't upset by his comments, so I don't believe that his comments should bear at all on his demotion. I thought what he said was mainly accurate: he did get dinged around at the end by some bloops and grounders. I thought what Girardi said was mostly inaccurate: he was not hurt by getting behind hitters and grooving pitches, as a scan of the gameday play-by-play shows that most of the damage was doe on 0-0 pitches or when he was ahead in the count.

Overall, I thought that coommentgate was much ado about nothing. Now, if he is in fact being sent down to hone specific skills, such as the use of certain pitches, that's fine. And if the organization believes that those skills can be best honed in AAA rather than MLB (and also, and also that the organization does not want to risk future starts in the bigs until he has improved in those ares), that's great. Hopefully when (if) Kennedy comes back, he will have dominated AAA and learned a few more skills.

Then, when (if) he is more successful, he can express himself more how he feels. Or Pettitte can advise him some more.

Damn it.

That should have fallen in.

Capitalizing on breaks, however...

Can't we catch two breaks?

I finally watched the thing yesterday and he seemed like he was trying to hide the fact that he's having serious doubts about his future.

Could be reading too much into it, of course, but I really sensed something pitiable under the surface.

Would he have given a "better" answer if he was talking to Erin Andrews? :-)

I think that was off the end of the bat.

Nice job, Alex, nice job.

Let's get him the fuck in now, Team, please!

You know, Alex, I think you're a great baserunner, but man, that just broke our back.

We're about to get swept.

And Coney didn't mind at all the Alex being aggressive there due to California's dominance of us.

Plus, he may have been safe.

Anyway, personally, I'm disappointed, but I can't say I think it was a crazyplay.

You're a golden god.

If sending A-Rod (or did he go on his own?) in the seventh was a good play, why not send Christian in the sixth inning. If successful, they would have had two cracks at scoring with an out.

I don't know. I'm just ranting now I realize. Frustration with this offense is certainly setting in.

KFC
White Castle

I vote KFC

No instant replay is pretty far down on my list for reason why this game will be lost, if in fact that is the final outcome.

I was glad to see IPK's demotion. He has a lot to learn about pitching and about how ge conducts himself after the game. Even if the plan was to allow him another start after another lousy performance, his comments were enough to disqualify him from that generousity. Ultimately, however, I don't think the problem is with IPK's mouth as much as his arm. He simply does not look like a prospect.

That was fabulous.

SEE 27

I'm afraid to check in tomorrow...

That's my crazy optimism kicking in, even though it probably means I'm swimming in a cesspool deeper than the one IPK is navigating currently.

Hayes was about to begin work on a new album for Stax, the soul record label he helped build to legendary status. And he had recently finished work on a movie called ''Soul Men'' in which he played himself, starring Samuel Jackson and Bernie Mac, who died on Saturday.

And I think A-Rod was out. Just barely. The glove touched his forearm before his fingers touched the bag. But it was very, very close.

I'm rooting for Moose to win 20...that's it.

I think this season is rapidly coming to an end...

i was on the phone with my mom for the end of the game so i couldn't even yell properly over this loss.

Mo should not have had to come in the ninth with two batters on already. Though he still would have been out of the inning if Cano hadn't had a brain lock on Figgins' "hit".

135 It really does seem that Marte has been in the middle of a lot the recent losses. While Nady looks like a nice addition for 2009, Marte seems to have upset the balance of the bullpen. At least he has a good chance of being a type-A free agent.

142 Are we looking at the same stats? He has been used mostly for one inning, but his 1+ inning appearances this season have been very good, including his meltdown on August 4.

Obviously, I expected as much.

That's our Team, Team, what is there left to say?

===
Andy is very out of sorts on the mound. That comebacker Figgins hits is a ball he fields cleanly usually. Then the balk, which was just weird. He's lucky Sexson stopped the ball.

...I'd say there's a 75-80 percent chance that Pettitte will skip his next start or be pushed back a few days. He has allowed 23 hits in his last 13.1 innings. That's not normal.
===

Um...can we afford that? We're running kinda short of starting pitchers here.

He also think A-Rod shouldn't have tried to steal 3B.

But I think I'm siding with Pete on this one.

The Yankees have a second baseman who doesn't seem to even dive for ground balls. I don't recall Cano every recording an out on a ground ball that he dove for.

Didn't affect the game, but Cano also inexplicably failed to catch a throw from Molina on a stole base. All he had to do was reach for it. It's not an unusual play for him.

Hughes' next scheduled start is Tuesday, with a supposed limit of around 85 pitches. They could hold him back and throw him in Pettitte's place. Or, they could call him up to start Tuesday and push Mussina back one day to Kennedy's start--holding Giese or Rasner until Pettitte's turn comes around. Or, they could hold Hughes one day and have him start for Kennedy on Wednesday.

Or, there is the unthinkable...

The season is lost anyway, right? ;)

And I have to ask - what is the unthinkable? Put Igawa back on the 40-man . . . or is it last year's opening day starter? Frankly, given how well he's pitched lately, and how poorly the Twins hit lefties, I think I'd like to see how Chase Wright could do. But, if he wouldn't be available until the Royals' series, forget it, because they can pound a lefty. Then if Pettitte needs a rest, bring on Glass Ass! At least it would be entertaining.

I was referring to Igawa as the unthinkable. I forgot about Pavano, but part of me would find it a hoot if he actually was forced to suit up this season.

In a few weeks rosters expand, no?

But you said crossing the streams would be bad...

Thanks