What he left out is that Bean tore his ACL in a wrestling match with Torre, following backing over Torre's dog, Torre's wife, Torre's wife's dog, Torre's dog's wife, and Torre's dog's wife's dog, in Legends Field parking lot.

what would happen if Colter hired the services of Bean Stringfellow?

Cool to know that. Good work, thanks.

Thanks for the info, Cliff (and Peter Abraham!). I've now added TheLoHud blog to my daily reading list.

Did you see that massive home run that Bernie just hit for Puerto Rico? I can't stop smiling. I'm so happy for him.

The Puerto Rican are still going wild. The WBC is wonderful. It is like the World Series when the Latino countries play.

Bernie is the man. I don't know what he'll do for us this year, but seeing him in another uniform producing big hits and receiving ovations, helps us to stand back and observe what we've had for the last umpteen years.

I'm sure we'll see more of this in the Yankees season. How often is the only question. Glad I blogged about him at COH.

I blogged about Leiter today, but I'm hoping to see none of what he has done in the WBC in a Yankee uniform this year....or from Erickson, who I may dub Leiter 2.0 if he ever makes the roster.

mikeplugh, I've been meaning to go to your blog. Could you or anyone else who knows the url post it here for me? Thanks.

Actually, he blew it out doing plyometrics.

http://www.weightsnet.com/Docs/plyometrics.html

Simone, Mike's blog is Canyon of Heroes, linked under Bronx Bloggers on the sidebar.

Gee Cliff,
what a way to ruin our "what did Bean do to piss off Torre" ruminations.

Sorry, but the truth will out. Or at least it will if I have anything to do with it.

Mike, keep up the good work at COH, its good reading...

Thanks Zack....

If anyone is interested on my US/Japan preview it's up at COH. Click the link at right to take you there.

I'm all amped up for it, and I plan to be wearing some kind of subtle US paraphenalia when I walk in on Monday morning. The game will be about 2/3 complete by the time I arrive at the job, so I will know more or less how things are going.

Thanks Zack....

If anyone is interested in my US/Japan preview it's up at COH. Click the link at right to take you there.

I'm all amped up for it, and I plan to be wearing some kind of subtle US paraphenalia when I walk in on Monday morning. The game will be about 2/3 complete by the time I arrive at the job, so I will know more or less how things are going.

I posted twice so you could search for the one word that is different between 13 and 14. If you find it, you win a "No Prize".

(Actually, I'm just a computer hack and messed up.) ;)

"in" and "on". Yippee, I don't win anything again.

Thanks, Mike. I had been really down on this WBC thing. I am gaining interest grudgingly by fits and starts. It doesn't sound like you're overly impressed with the Japanese side. Did you expect them to field a stronger entry (minus Matsui) in this thing or is this the best they can put out there?

Don't get me wrong. They will be competetive, but they definitely didn't bring the A-Team into battle. Had they successfully recruited Matsui and Iguchi to the team the guys in the middle of the lineup would fall lower and they'd be much more dangerous.

Ichiro
Iguchi
Matsunaka
Matsui
Fukudome
Iwamura
Ogasawara
Tamura
Nishioka

A few guys would have to change positions in this equation, but the team is much deeper and ready for Major League pitching. Likewise, adding a few tougher guys in middle relief would have been nice. They have two good frontline starters and a good closer, but they left some guys at home that may have helped.

No matter. They are no match for the Dominicans, Venezuelans, or the US. One day, when Japan produces some #1 type major league starting pitchers you'll see a real competition. Until then, they will finish in the 2nd division.

Watching the US-South Africa game yesterday - especially that young go-getter in the 3-hole - I remembered how I thought that the best pre-Damon Center Fielder for a team with a OPS-man of A-Rod and a low ERA-man of Randy Johnson would be Ken Griffey, Jr.

I don't know the state of the Cincinnati Reds. I thought at one point they had too many outfielders and they seemed pretty dumb to give the Yankees "more than a sack of balls" for Womack. I mean, could they flip Damon and Duncan for Junior?

It's probably very unrealistic, but I would like to see Ken Griffey play!

It would shut me up about Bubba Crosby (even more than Kevin Thompson - if you can believe - though it sounds like Thompson's better.)

The Reds finally figured out that the weak link in their OF chain was actually first baseman Sean Casey. He's now a Pirate and Adam Dunn is their first baseman. That opens the OF for Kearns, Griffey and Pena, assuming any of them can stay healthy for a full season. Still, smart move. Three NL clubs had one too many first basemen, and all of them made the right choice, Philly flipping old and injured Jim Thome to give Ryan Howard the job (though if Thome hadn't been injured last year they likely would have made the wrong choice and flipped Howard), the Brew Crew flipping the overrated (though I still dig him) Overbay to clear room for the likley similarly overrated Prince Fielder, and the Reds dumping Mayor Casey to get all four of their big OF bats into the line-up.

Not that they'd do it anyway, but the Yankees can't trade Damon until July, there's a rule against trading newly signed free agents until July 1. For what it's worth, the Griffey that's now sporting #3 for the Reds is not the one we remember from Seattle. He's heavier and after years of leg injuries is not really viable in center anymore. He can still rake, but there's no guarantee he'll stay healthy. Plus he's four years older than Damon. To put it another way, he's the age Damon will be when his new deal with the Yankees expires.