Side Note:

The Big Unit is hot headed. Kenny Rogers is crazy. Carl Everett is nuts.

What the hell did Shea Hillenbrand do to get himself DFA'd? He adopts a child.
Damn, Blue Jays...it's not like he stole the child!

I hear he was trouble in the clubhouse because he was not getting enough playing time. I just think they didn't like the guy anymore.

So what happens to Hillenbrand? That's a big bat waiting to be picked up? Any thoughts anyone?

1 i read that news too..

looks like Gibbons went on a triade against him.. i also read soemthing funny..

JP Riccardi their GM complained that their 4-5-6 hitters were killing the team..

whoa.. it seems like these kind of races are getting to them.. JP should remember its their pitching that is the issue..

i read a stat, TOR 5th starters are soem 1-10 or something.. imagine a 5-5.. they would be leading East..

regarding Hillenbrand.. i think they would have 10 calls by now.. Yanks should pick him up.. great bat off the bench..

Yeah, it's not Murphy's Law. Yesterday's Yankee hosing was straight out of "The Book Of Jobbed": The Ump Giveth, The Ump Taketh Away.

Yo, If Bob Sheppard decides to hang it up "The Kid From Brooklyn" is the way to go.

A friend hipped me to the Big Man about a year or so ago, but I haven't checked him out in a while. He's ripped out a few good ones at the Yanks' expense.

Wouldn't get too worked up about Shea. He'll be traded or picked up faster than you can say "Pennant race."

I was at the game yesterday and, honestly, I didn't think the ump's call was that unreasonable - unnecessary, perhaps, but not indefensible. The play was over, the catcher was arguing with the home plate ump, so the third-base ump called time. What's the big outrage? Phillips really didn't start running until the play was already over.

Riccardi is a dope. Any chance that the Yankees can pick up Hillenbrand?

Did you hear Cash on ESPN's Mike & Mike show defending A-Rod? I find this whole thing exhausting now.

Say NO to Hillenbrand.

6 Did you hear and see Ravich and Kruck on BBTN? They go over the Yankee game and Ravich says the following:
"ARod was 'only' 2 - 4 ".

Kruk proceeds to diss him....it's so crazy already. It really is. It's frustrating too.

6 I heard Cash too, Simone - dude is the bomb. Cashmoney indeed. I loved what he said about the media treatment of A-Rod:

"I'm disgusted by it."

Rock on, Cashmoney!

At the end of yesterday's massive thread, folks were talking about what could be done to get ESPN to stop this ridiculous A-Rod bs. I am going to e-mail their ombudsman, George Solomon, and I would recommend the same to everyone else; link is:

http://tinyurl.com/pn2jh

{4} Exactly. I just hope toronto does not just unload him for unloading sake. Keep him out of the East. I would hate to see Boston reap the benefits of their own trade that backfired on them (Kim from Arizona).

There's more than one kid from Brooklyn who looks and sounds like this meatball. And they tend to spend most of their time yelling at the TV in the neighborhood bar. Still, this was funny stuff.

8 Don't waste your time Shaun P. The more e-mails they get, the more they'll be sure to encourage their guys to rip on A-rod. The important thing here is whether the fans are able to see through this nonsense. And it's fair to say that most do.

2 "regarding Hillenbrand.. Yanks should pick him up.. great bat off the bench."

// Hillenbrand said that the relationship between he and Gibbons soured this season when the former everyday player was limited to chiefly fulltime DH duties. "I was unhappy not playing (at a position)," Hillenbrand said. //

If Hillenbrand was pissed because he was DH'ing regularly and not getting to play the field, how would he feel being a bench player?

Hillenbrand is not that good anyway, but having a career year. But who is he going to displace on the Yankees? Miguel Cairo? Does not have the vrsatility of a bench player, so no.

Andy Phillips? He is much, much better defensively, and the offensive upgrade isn't big enough.

Blue Jays are morons to DFA him, but he does not have a role with the Yankees, unless he develops some backup catching skills.

At this point, the ARod story is purely media-driven. The fans yesterday did nothing but cheer him.

It's not just ESPN, though. Monday's win - and Wang's pitching - were completely lost in the story about ARod's essentially meaningless errors. Michael Kay led off his radio show with a long segment about the errors - not just "Arod had a brutal game," but a breathless "Will ARod develop the Chuck Knoblauch yips?" And he was serious...

He also went off on Rodriguez over the Central Park pictures - "Jeter would never be caught in a compromising situation like that." Compromising? Shirtless in the 100-degree heat, along with 50,000 other guys? Personally, I think everyone got that story backwards. I think it was pretty cool that Alex was just hanging out in the park with his wife and kid, there with everyone else, no entourage, no security. I can't imagine Jeter ever just being around people like that.

If they bring in Shea (and Yanks get dibs before Boston, due to the standings), I think Cash and Torre will sit him down and patiently explain what his role would be. And that would be on a team that's gone to the post season the last several years. Or he could try his luck in KC.

5 But did any player call time? Remember Knobby's blochhead arguing in the Cleveland series in '98? Still, you get a break that helps lead to a win, the next day the opposite happens. I can't really complain.

7 Yep, I was bitching about Ravich and Kruk on the yesterday's thread. They are just annoying.

8 I agree with 10 re: emailing ESPN. Solomon is nothing, but their enabler anyway. He is a joke of an ombudsman.

I didn't hear Cashman but I hope it was a very brief discussion re: Rodriguez.

What could Cash, Torre, Jeter, or God Himself possibly say on A-Rod's behalf other than:

"He's one of the best players in the history of the game. Every team in Major League Baseball would be fortunate to have him. Indeed, the New York Yankees are as happy with Alex Rodriguez as we were the day we signed him. End of story."

Any further defense of A-Rod by the Yankees is not only not necessary, it feeds into the nonsense.

13 That's just Kay earning his ESPN pay.

14 Players can't call time, only umpires can. A batter asks the ump to call time, but the ump calls it. In Knoblauch's case, no one did - though someone probably should have. So while the ump's call yesterday might not have been mandatory, it also wasn't unreasonable.

11 he needs to understand he is on the Yanks.. not BJs.. many players -- not everyone-- will make those compromises for penant runs..

8 10 15 i have done that before, no use.. zero use..

Did u guys read a column on "ESPN page 2 yesterday" Bill Simmons was going thru a process of selecting his EPL team and he ended eliminating team based on their similarity with Yanks..

Pathetic..

i think Yank fans just shud start ignoring ESPN shows..

3B call:

I would obviously have to look over the rules to the letter, but I had the impression this call was at the umpire's discretion, much like awarding a player third on a ball touched by a fan if it was obvious he was going to make it there anyhow.

I know it won't be looked upon favorably, but this does smell a little bit like "See, it happens to us too, see, see?!?" because that call yesterday was so viciously black-and-white terrible. It was nothing like yesterday's call at all.

A-Rod:

As far as A-Rod goes, the mania from the press is just outstandingly annoying by now. The view above on the idiocy of "compromising position" is dead-on. Sadly, I can't get away from the view that the moronics of the press REFLEFCT the idiocy of the majority rather than INFORM that idiocy.

I admit this may be a bit of a bleak view.

Someday, I'll post something with no typos.

20 on the flip side.. its making many sane people to see how "AROD stays above these stuffs".. hes handled with class..

maybe it has reached the point.. where people start turning around..

Dear ESPN,

Are you aware that there are 700 players on MLB rosters? Your continuing barrage on ARod is disgusting. It has become rumor mongering, yellow journalism and simple pandering to the lowest common denominator. It is tasteless, insipid reporting that has nothing to do with real issues, and little to do with baseball.

I would suggest that you start reading baseball blogs daily. There are some Yankees Blogs that are quite intelligent (Bronx Banter for one and Replacement Level Yankee Weblog) and offer far better opinions, insights and statistical analysis then does ESPN or BBTN.

ARod is a great player. He's not the only one. The fact that Tom Hicks was a moron and gave ARod 25 mil/year is no reason to continue to single him out. How about a report about Hicks and his need to make that ridiculous offer to bring ARod to Texas? How it skewed the entire pricing of free agents? How about a show the really examines the choice a player makes between salary and other issue when a free agency offer is made?

Reporting on a star players failures is fair game, but 'failure' is measured over parts of the entire season, not daily. The bottom line is that you are simply incapable (or too lazy) to come up with real sports news, so you simply trash ARod over the most inconsequential actions. Does this show have an editor? Does anyone review your stories with an eye to quality... veracity... appropriateness?

Really, with the huge number of baseball fans in this country, is it that unimaginable for you to produce an entertaining AND thoughtful show? To actually teach and enlighten viewers about this fantastic sport?

You should be ashamed to call yourselves professionals.

Larry

23 brilliant...

23 I wish I had come up with something that good to say to ESPN.

101519 It might be useless, and Solomon might be nothing more than an enabler, but I gave it a shot anyway. What's the worst thing that can happen - especially with NFL training camps opening soon, they can't make ESPN the 24-hour-a-day A-Rod bashing channel.

I think I'm just going to boycott them, outside of Rob Neyer and Keith Law. Speaking of which, sounds like Mr. Law did the right thing getting out of Toronto when he did. Something is rotten up there.

If you type in "irony" on Wikipedia you should get redirected to that "Kid from Brooklyn" clip. A loud-mouthed guy in a bathrobe screaming obscenities into a webcam is criticizing Sterling's overzealous signature call?

I do agree with him on a couple of points: Waldman is painful to listen to and I wish we could bring back Mel Allen (or Scooter). I always thought it was great that Mel Allen somehow made it from Birmingham, Alabama to being the "Voice of the Yankees"... "How about that!"

Michael Kay getting on A-Rod for being in a poker den is one thing. Michael Kay getting on A-Rod for hanging out in Central Park with his shirt off? Ridiculous.

Let's hope all this nonsense jumps the shark soon. The soap opera quality to it is tiring. Leave this crap to the NBA.

I guess the manager didn't like Hillenbrand's prank.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2006/07/shea_hillenbran.html

I wonder whether Hillenbrand could play the outfield or how long it would take him to learn? He'd hit better than Bernie. Maybe he'd field better too.

That's not going to happen, of course. Displacing Bernie is exactly what Torre doesn't want to do.

Actually, I was expecting the discussion this morning to be all about Torre's continued desire for a deal for a "proven bat"...Madden's column in the Daily News makes the point pretty forcefully:

"When you get to September and October, the game speeds up," Torre said, "and that's where you'd like to have some experience."

So Johnny D and some other team members may not feel the need for a trade given the accomplishment of the young ones, but sounds like the skipper does.

25 "I think I'm just going to boycott them, outside of Rob Neyer and Keith Law"

Rob Neyer is just as bad. He seems to have a thing for bashing Jeter, as I saw him ALL over ESPN2 two years ago calling his defense 'horrible', and that he was 'seriously overrated' as a shortstop.

This was, of course, before he won the gold glove for the next two seasons. Needless to say, I was beyond smug about that.

That's because Torre would like to have a roster composed of guys that are at least 30 years old with 5 years of playing experience. Young players and rookies are kryptonite to him...

Hillenbrand is a not so good player with a strong history of being a jerk. We wouldn't be "happy" being a bench guy, and he doesn't really fit into our team, position or attittude-wise.

31I hate Neyer too. He's an arrogant prick much like his idol, Mr. Bill James. I like a lot of the stuff James does, but there's no denying he's a total a-hole and comes across as a total blowhard. I liked reading the book, Inside the Mind of Bill James, but there were a lot of parts there that he came across as being such a prick. One thing is for sure, he has a good understanding that he knows he's a prick.

How many times have I said "prick" already?

I like how Shandler hates him too. I'd like to see a steel cage match - like the good ole days when King Kong Bundy would go at it with the Hulk - between those two.

For those who think we should sign Hillenbrand: Which of our loyal bench players should we reward with a demotion so we can add a guy who complains about lack of playing time?

31 34 I can't stand Neyer also. He used to be informative and even entertaining, but now he has become a pompous buffoon. He doesn't have like Jeter or the Yankees, but he doesn't have wallow in the hate like Caple and rest of the ESPN crew. I hope the Royals stink forever so his bitterness will only grow.

31 Not to get into it, but Neyer isn't too far off the mark re: Jeter's defense. And ever since Raffy Palmiero won a gold glove in a year where he played like 20 games in the field, I don't exactly take the Gold Glove to mean much of anything.

95% of the time when discussing the Yanks, Neyer is very sacrastic, which I don't mind. The other 5% of the time, I ignore - dude grew up a Royals' fan in the 70s fercryinoutloud, can you blame him for not always staying objective about the Yanks? How many of us could always be objective about the Red Sox?

Neyer and Bill James sometimes do come across as Dimelo described them in 34 - but their analysis is always solid. I'd rather read/listen to them than a down-home, aww shucks type like Morgan or McCarver, where cliches are analysis and facts are irrelevant.

31 I love Jeter, but as we all (should) know, Gold Gloves mean nothing (hello Rafeal Palmeiro).

I think Neyer is great, even with his so-called anti-Yankees bias. He's objectoive, so far as I can tell, especially regarding his own admitted favorite team, the Royals. The way I see it, he doesn't take shit from fans (like many WFAN callers), who make ludicrous claims without backing them up with a shred of evidence. Or the fans who constantly bitch about how he's not answering enough questions about their favorite teams in his chats, etc. My sense is that he appreciates teams like the Twins and the A's more than what the Yankees are now. In other words, he likes teams taht look for new solutions within limited budgets as opposed to the Yankees tendency to spend a lot on the same old solution each year. He has, several times, admitted in chats to having liked the Yankees in the mid-to-late 90s, when they were not the highest payroll in MLB. Now, he just calls it like he sees it, even if it's a bit hard on the Yanks.

As for Jeter, in a recent chat or column he stated that Jeter is, as of right now, a Hall of Fame player. So he can't hate him too much. I just think that Neyer won't come close to clalling him th ebest ever, which he is not in any way shape or form.

3 Hillenbrand would obviously mean a DFA for Phillips. It's a bad idea. He has a better bat, but a lesser glove and he's a jerk. I still think the Yanks need a better bat on the bench, but Hillenbrand would only be a good idea if Bubba is gone.

My post was meant as a response to 335

yikes 35 I can't type today.

37 Neyer is worsening.. he cant appreciate a thing abt Yanks..

I find him disgusting to say the least.. bashing the Yanks for no reason.. the informative bits.. uc an find if u have a "zoom lens" handy..

his man crush for Epstein and Bill James makes me wanna puke...

and if u watch some of his ESPN chats.. he will never come around to appreciate anything that the Yanks do..

we dont need HIS blessing.. but unfortunately him and caple and simmons are big rotten fishes on ESPN.com

and most ppl get the info from ESPN.. useful or not..

i attribute a lot of the hate towards Yanks from outside NYC to be ESPN driven..

GOD i wish there was an alternate national giant.. why cant CNN make SI a TV thing too..

it will work..

38 the issue is not Jeter alone.. its a whole anti-yankee thing..

if he said Jeter shud not be a HOFer well i think everyone will know "his obvious thoughts".

no matter how skewed one is.. they cant deny HOF to Jeter/Randy/Sheff/ARod.

The complaint abt him is he objective towards ALL teams.. that he aint.. if u ask him A RedSux qn and a Yank qn.. his condescending answers are proof of his lack of objectivity..

i loathe him

Let us not forget one of Neyer's most humiliating moments, when he used that fake name to write that book review at Amazon and ESPN made him apologize on their Web site. I had a good laugh over that one. What a knucklehead.

38 Yeah, I realize sometimes the Gold Glove award may be a bit overblown in terms of importance, but it was really the timing of his anti-Jeter rants that got my goat. He seemed to be all over the media (ESPN TV, radio, etc) that week, just smashing Jeter & his defense to anyone who would listen.

In my mind, he's no different than Caple or Simmons now in regards to their bias... At least Simmons can be funny at times (when I've heard him in afternoon drive on ESPN radio), but ultimately the conversation is always peppered with a few jabs at the Yanks or at Steinbrenner. I tend to switch the station at that point- at least Russo's got Francessa to keep him somewhat in line.

Oh, did I mention I saw one of these hats the other day on a guy coming out of an IHOP?

http://www.wackyplanet.com/yankeehaterhat.html

I really wanted to smack it off his head and pour boisenberry syrup down the back of his shirt...

43 Not sure where Neyer's reasoning about Jeter not making the HOF comes from. Has he spent every summer since 1996 hermetically sealed in a big plastic bubble....?

in a cave....?

on the surface of the moon....?

General question: If many of you consider the things appearing on ESPN, et al., to largely consist of buffoonery, why are you so emotionally invested in getting them to change their ways?

Hey, I understand that ESPN markets itself as the foremost authority on sports but I think we all see through the veneer of that hollow slogan.

Let them say what they want. It's no sweat of our collective backs. In the meantime, the outlets are there (and this is one of them) to voice your approval/displeasure.

47 It's a shame that someone doesn't try & step up to challenge the monster that is ESPN.

I occasionally find myself watching FoxSports or the local MSG Sportsdesk, but it's the sheer 24-hour omnipresence of ESPN that keeps me coming back.

If someone else could produce a decent equivalent to 'ESPNNews', though, I'd switch over in a heartbeat.

42 I have to agree with you 1000%:
//his man crush for Epstein and Bill James makes me wanna puke...//

47 I try and stay away from ESPN as much as possible, except for PTI. I can't say that I watch it as much as I did when I was younger, or even 3 years ago. If the Yanks aren't on, I find myself really enjoying Discovery channel. There's something so relaxing watching a lion mauling a zebra, it just makes everything feel right in the world. I guess I wish I was the lion and the zebra was Schilling. Schilling has more stripes though.

38 Sheffield isn't such a clear-cut Hall of Famer. I'm not jsut saying that because I loathe him; I just don't see that the numbers are there. Possible, yes; undeniable, no.

46 Neyer said that Jeter is a HOF'er. 43 was a poorly-worded response to 38.

23....ROCK ON!!! That was AWESOME!!!!

Jeez, stop the dogpile on Neyer. Dude is smart as hell, was primarily responsible for making sabermetrics go down easy for me in the late '90s. So what if he's not a Yankee fan? Why does everyone have to be? This goes for Bill Simmons as well (although, admittedly sometimes he's too annoyingly pro-everything Boston). Simmons is in my opinion the most entertaining sportswriter out there.

Requesting or expecting ESPN to be "fair and balanced" regarding the Yanks has become sort of akin to expecting the YES network to produce "Red Soxography: Jason Varitek."

Of course ESPN's annoyingly arrogant anti-Yankee bias would be a lot more "kosher," and easier to stomach if the network was owned by the Red Sox, or vice versa.

But I don't get too worked up about the ESPN drivel. Surely, there's a market for ESPN's brand of bitchy Yankee-hate across the country. Whatever. I just turn it off, or tune it out.

I feel sorry for you Yankee fans out there who have to rely on ESPN for your Yankee fix. It's gotten a lot worse this summer, probably because the Yanks are still doing very well despite the loss of Matsui and Sheff. That has to be driving Yankee-haters everywhere nuts, and what's also fueling their pinstriped bonfire is that the Yanks are getting by with likeable homegrowns like Melky and Andy.

The easiest thing for Yankee-haters to do is pick up on the mindless A-Rod booing, and try to twist it into a bigger issue.

Hell, the NY papers are doing the same thing.

Bottomline: no media-outlet is going to spoil my enjoyment of the Yankee games, and rooting for the team along with insightful and entertaining fans like the ones I've "met" here.

53 Sliced - well said. One of the more rational responses to the subject I've read anywhere.

ESPN has every right to report and have a anti-Yankee bias. I have every right to wish cancer on them - caused by usage of their ESPN mobile phone.

I'm not a big Neyer Fan but this is a quote from his most recent chat on espn.com

"Brad (NY, NY): Isn't Jeter really over rated? He has been pampered his entire carreer in the sense that he has always been surrounded by an insane amount of talent.

Rob Neyer: Jeter is both overrated and underrated, depending on who you're talking to. He's clearly a deserving Hall of Famer, even if he retires tomorrow."

A couple other quotes.

Eric (DC): When will the Yankees fade out of contention?

Rob Neyer: I'm guessing that you question is sarcastic, and I don't blame you. For all the talk about the Yankees fading -- and I'm sure I've done some talking myself -- at this moment the Yankees have, according to Baseball Prospectus's postseason odds, a 71 percent chance of reaching the playoffs.

Ross, Providence: MVP talk here... The Sox's would suffer without Thome and Ortiz in the lineup, but the Yanks would be lost without Jeter at short and setting the table (.344 avg, .425 OBP). He's also on pace to drive in 100+ runs and steal 30 bases.

Rob Neyer: Jeter's having an MVP-type season, and if you're wedded to contenders then he's a top candidate. But you know who I would vote for? Travis Hafner, who's been just as good as Albert Pujols.

I don't really care if Neyer hates the Yanks or not. If nothing else, at least when he disses a Yankees player he uses stats to back himself up and doesn't just say that the Yanks MUST trade ARod NOW.

If he has a fault, it's that he spends far too much time in his chats putting down idiots. For example, in the chat going on right now:

//Aram (Brooklyn): I was just wondering if you ever planned on coming up with reasonable evidence for your opinions, of if you are going to continue writing articles about how there are no statistics backing up intangibles, and how Liriano is much better than Kazmir because you think he knows exactly what pitch to throw in every possible situation.

SportsNation Rob Neyer: (1:53 PM ET ) The second one of those. Trust me, it's a real time-saver.//

He just loves that.

Lest anyone think I was serious...I was kidding .

I may be wrong, but I think that this whole ARod deal may have already peaked. He got hot again in July and the booing basically stopped. Then he had that one bad game and ESPN jumped all over it trying to stir something up. However, it seems to my that while there is still some booing going on at the stadium, it is no where near as bad as it was in June. Yankee fans know that he is a hell of a player and that he will be fine. The jerks at ESPN need something to fill their airwaves right now. As soon as football training camp begins, they will quit covering baseball as much. I am convinced that ESPN really doesn't like any sport other than football and they do all they can to try to bring down the others (except how they try to force feed soccer to the country). There has been virtually no positive coverage of MLB in the last couple of years. It seems as if they are trying to drive people away from MLB. But, it isn't working. Attendance is way up, and poll after poll show that basically, people don't really give a damn about the steroid issue. How many people think that all these NFL linemen have gone from an avg of 275 lbs 20 years ago to 350 lb. monsters now without some help. Hell, they even caught my hometown boy J. Peppers juicing a couple of years ago.

To add to the discussion on ESPN, I would refer everyone to this link. www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/?p=1406, or 52 reasons why ESPN/ABC/Disney sucks.

56 57 58 i dont have an Insider subscription.. the current chat is more civil.. he hasnt taken many Yankee qns, so i cant quote much from the current chat..

if i had Insider.. i could quote many of his replies.. that are not objective or fair..

I think Bill Simmons is hilarious. Unlike most of the mainstream media, he worships the Red Sox because he's a lifelong fan. If they lose 100 games 10 years from now, he'll still write about them AND still bash the Yankees. Would you rather he sell out?

I don't really mind the ESPN dribble. If anything it seperates the "True" Yanks fans from the riff-raff. Plus, in my experience, most Yanks fans hate to be told what to do. ESPN is just feeding that beast.

63 No. Simmons is a Red Sox lover, and that's fine - he doesn't try to hide it. I don't read him for baseball analysis, its clearly not his forte - I read him because he's entertaining.

Now, his basketball analysis is dead on, but that's another topic.

alerity in 38 captured exactly what I was trying to say about Neyer. Ditto in 58.

Finally, there once was a CNN/SI national TV sports channel, meant to be a competitor to ESPN. It was actually pretty good, but it only lasted a few years. The timing was wrong - it went up against ESPN when ESPN was in its heyday. If it came out now, and had the same quality content, it might be a different story.

FYI, former YES studio host Fred Hickman was the co-lead anchor of CNN/SI.

61 Thank you. That was brilliant.

65 I remember the CNN/SI channel, my cable company did not carry it. I wonder if part of their demise was due to cable/satellite providers reluctance to give them space on their systems?

I also remember back in college (late 80's/early 90's) when CNN had a competitor to Sportscenter (Hickman was on that one too). They were very similar to Sportscenter (that's back when SC used to actually show highlights of baseball games and even give you the stats at the end of the highlights). My buddies and I were into fantasy baseball back then and some people liked SC better because they told you who got the save and others liked CNN because they listed every HR after a highlight. I think SC took off more because of the personalites (Berman, Patrick, Olbermann) but they have gotten so full of themselves they have forgotten what got them to the top.

Rangers beating sux 3-2 going into the top of the 3rd.

61 - Great link!!! I can't stand Chris Berman and his "back, back, back" spewing either! And the fact that I had to hear it about 98,000 times during the all-star game??? I put the damn TV on mute!

Here's a link to more info on the defunct CNN/SI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN_Sports_Illustrated

It looks like I speculated correctly, they were only in 20 million homes. ESPN had more clout than CNN when it came to getting the cable/satellite providers to carry an all-sports news channel. So ESPNews won the battle.

Sox now up 4-3 on a two-run double by Wily Mo Pena. Great trade, that one - giving up talent, any talent, to get Drew Henson back after they'd managed to get rid of him.

71 I don't disagree re: Wily Mo just to get Henson back - never should've happened. But that major league contract Pena signed at 17 was an awful mistake, and probably meant the Yanks would have dealt him away later anyway.

Speaking of trades that maybe shouldn't have happened, which would you rather have right now:

LF/CF/RF, Age 28, .286/.345/.543
1B/DH, Age 27, .301/.425.541

OR

SP, Age 42, 10-8, 4.88 ERA, 114 K, 37 BB, 1.22 WHIP

Now I'm sure you all know who I'm talking about. =)

I'm not saying that Unit was horrible, and I was a huge fan of getting Javy Vazquez back in the day, but man would Juan Rivera and Nick the Stick be useful right now.

Looks like the Braves are buying instead of selling. They traded a minor league catcher for Bob Wickman...

53 Sliced, you have summed up the whole ESPN discussion well. Thanks.

73 I think this makes sense. Bravos have been red-hot lately, minus last night's loss, and are only 4.5 out of the WC in the NL. Given that the:

1- Nats will be sellers (10 games remaining)
2- Marlins are no threat (9 games), and
3- Phils are consistently inconsistent (13 games)

This appears to be a solid move. Plus they've got 6 games against PIT and 4 against the Cubbies.

You can never foresee the results, that's why they play the games, but their schedule screams "Go for it!"

73 Oh, and I forgot the most important point:

Boy, would it be sweet to see the Braves 'backdoor it' into the post season and eliminate the Muts.

75 & 76 Good points. Plus, who wouldn't give up a bag of balls (or a single A catcher) for a Major League closer?

I'm just ready for their consecutive division title run to end so all these bandwagon fans down here will turn in their tomahawks...

63 It's not the fact that one or two writers for ESPN.com happen to be a Red Sox fan, it's the prevailing anti-Yankees sentiment on the premier sports network on television & radio that simply annoys the crap out of me...

Where's the balance? The closest I'd say the Yanks have to an actual supporter at ESPN would be Buster Olney, possibly Jason Stark. I feel I can read their columns concerning the Yanks - even when they happen to take a negative slant - without wanting to vomit on my keyboard in disgust.

They both seem to take a realistic viewpoint without being brutal for brutality's sake.

77 Braves fans never bothered me much, especially since we pretty much shut them up for 8 straight World Series games...

Arrrgh. Bernie's in RF again tonight. Even with a RHP. I guess Joe's lost all faith in Aaron Guiel.

79 Braves fans are like pre-bloody sock Boston fans, they don't let a little thing like losing keep them from being obnoxious...

80 Once again, I would like to channel the spirit of Rob Gee:

afdkjlw reoljadf Bernie vs a RHP ytrtlvd nvanwre nreeew wrwouavc jwmnfldsfldsz

And people wonder why folks complain about Mr. Torre. Its not that I want him fired, or that I know anyone who could take over for him, but the little things that are so overtly stupid - like playing Bernie vs a RHP instead of Guiel - drive me nuts. Because they get repeated over and over and over . . .

Torre said on wfan that Dotel had a bad day today and is going to see the doctor. Doesn't look like Dotel will make it back this year.

This is one of the main reasons why I started reading this blog a year ago, and why I joined in recently. Even in New York there is little objectivity when it comes to the Yanks in so-called mainstream media.

I have an observation, but I have to tell you that the instance that illustrates the "nobjectivity" of New York media was the reporting in the Daily Rues after the Yankees swept Chicago, Mike Stupica leads off with a couple of comments about how they're as tough as the team from '96, but then morphs the story into how wonderful the Red Sox youngsters are and what a great team, yadda yadda.

Okay, we've come to expect that from him so it's poo-paper for the puppy, but soon enough John Harper and the so-called beat writers are shamelessly picking up his crap and calling it sunshine. Please.

My observation: newspapers are falling behind the internet, and these so-called writers realize that they have nothing credible, tangiable or informative to offer the readers that they don't already know from the internet blogs.

Bloggers here are well-informed and armed to the teeth with stats, history, summations, quotes, et cetera; not to mention the freedom to post their reports without fear of reprise from advertisers or publishers (save an occasional rant that crosses the line by a mile and a half), plus they have a good tendancy to police themselves; while the newspaper tokens are writing to please an economic desire from above them.

Newspapers are simply obsolete, but until everyone can afford to have a computer, learn how to turn it on and surf the net, you're always gonna have that fifty cents (or 25 if you're only half-literate) to buy a paper and look for some "mainstream" acknowledgement of what you and most people already know.

Then there's the TV. TV has sunken to manufacturing reality for mass consumption, and that's what the News has to compete with. Otherwise you're CBS where you might have something intelligent to say, but no one in the coveted "young, brainless and loaded" market gives a crap, so eff it.

ESPN is targeting that casual sports fan who reads the paper to be informed, and what you're seeing from the performers is what the newspaper "writers" are saying in their minds when they write. It should come as no surpise that the Rues constantly criticizes YES for their production gaffes, but when SNY, which they constantly trumpet, makes the same or a more (often) egregious foul-up, (cricket...cricket...)

They must realize they're competing with YOU. Both the paper and TV shows have referred to Ron Villone as "Blogger's Delight" and John Harper made a remark on a CBS game cast about how sports writers are still relevant "because they hear talk from scouts, GMs or others about pending moves first because they happen to be there when it's first mentioned." WGAF? One of them might blog about it anyway and there you go. Only in a blog universe, it's talked about much closer to real time than a newespaper or even a radio or TV show that has to prepare themselves first unless it's major-major, and even then can you trust them give you information that's not slanted to their economic taste?

All that to say this: blogs like these represent an economic threat to newspapers and television, therefore they have to compensate their lack of knowledge, information and punctuality by being theatrical. Credibility? That's the price for getting a closer seat to the playing field (or in this case, the opera). Rubbernecking beats clutch hitting in this part of the woods, and that's how they survive.

Yes, no, maybe so?