My guess is Brower goes down in a few days for Edwar (or Britton, who, unless he's injured more seriously than it appears, is really getting a raw deal). They didn't want to play shorthanded yesterday, and it'd be a total dick move to send the guy down after one game.

Karstens is the long man, and Farns will be put on waivers soon enough. At least, he better be.

One of the problems with the Yankee pen, going back to April, is that it's been a bunch of one-inning (or less) pitchers. I don't know if that's Joe's managing or the limitations of the pitchers, but that's how it's been. If the starter gets knocked out early, it takes 5 relievers to get through the game.

Now they've got Villone - who's hardly great but who is versatile and left-handed - and they've got Karstens and Brower. My hope is that they're going to take the next couple of weeks to decide which of them (if any) can help the team down the stretch. Both the righties are easily expendable - Karstens can be sent down, Brower can be released - and then they can bring back Bruney, who's a known quantity

So maybe they can get another middle-inning reliever who can pitch competently for more than an inning at a time. That would be a big help.

Nice to see Cash do the right thing, this gives me incredible hope that Minky has no place on the team after he heals (though I don't mean that in a nasty way, hopefully he catches on somewhere else). Dandy Andy is doing well enough.

I'd like to see Edwar up here, I can't think of what more he needs to do at AAA other than see regular action. Having strong arms in the 'pen down the stretch can mean a game or two. We already know that Kyle can lose ballgames.

A little bit of A, a little bit of B, I'd imagine. Torre emptying the pen when the Yankees have a big lead in a slugfest is one of my gripes.

But I was really talking about early in the season, when the starters were getting rocked - and he was still bringing in relievers for one inning at a time. That really screwed up the bullpen for the next month or two, and I really don't know if that was Joe or the pitchers. There certainly wasn't an obvious "long man," but it seemed awfully strange.

On another note, and I might be jumping the gun here, but who else thinks Joba has the potential to be a HUGE star in NY? He has the skills(so far) the story(not to be cynical, but the Dad-with-polio thing is gold..not to mention the whole 'worked for the Lincoln maintenance department tending the fields but somehow knew, deep in his heart, that he'd make it to the big leagues - thing') and seemingly(again, so far) the charisma.

Does Toronto's field look a lot bigger than it really is to anybody else?

I wish he would stop fooling around with the sac bunt nonsense, it rarely works out well.

I'm sure they are all looking at each other in a "do we really have to go out there? I guess we have to go out there. FINE! We'll go out there."

Then they finally get all the way to the mound/home plate area and the hole thing is over without any punches thrown and only harshly worded statements made.

More harsh words exchanged.

Then they have to get back out there.

It is tiring being all the way out there.

I'd be grateful for some play-by-bench-clearing-play. I'm still at work.

What a lame reason to try and hit a batter - twice.

Humiliation would be nice as well. Ten or twelve more runs, please.

And Cano's THIRD BB

Seeing Duncan up close for the first time is a scary thing

I know it wasn't a dirty play, I'm just saying it was an awkward one

It's worth it.

Man, Roger is just on CRUISE CONTROL.
He looked crappy until ARod got hit.

The end is nigh!

Phew, it hit him. I thought we were going to see four horseman next.

He's not hitting a lick, but but being the most overrated player in baseball, they have to praise him somehow, so they praise his ability to catch the ball.

Not!

couldn't'a happened any better. hmm....

Not that I'd suggest Roger Clemens or Joe Torre would ever do any such thing.

Torre and Clem having a beer in the clubhouse, watching the game, having a good laugh.

1] Now they have to trust Brower, who just added another baserunner.

2] Clemens may get suspended (it always seems to work that way).

I would rather Farnsworth drilled a guy, and then got suspended.

Nice play, Johnny.

So, does Brower only give up line drives (outs or hits)?

Oops. that'll be the end of JD, LF.

Okay, time for Mr. LuvaMan to make his debut...

Ok, why is Viz up? Jesus, someone save Joe from himself!

Joba for the eighth?

Roger Clemens doesn't miss that badly by accident

He didn't accidentally hit a man between the shoulder blades at the beginning of the seventh inning after they threw at one of his players.

And here comes the (legit) sob story.

Slider?

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather the next Roger, but I don't consider the next Mussina a bust

And, comparing people to Roger is silly b/c there simply won't be another "Roger." Period.

Two words: Johan Santana

That's just the kind of player Overbay is. he takes ball four when its not in the zone. Alot of people probably don't realize how good Lyle Overbay is like that. Overbay is just a great player.

Hey, is Joba going to pitch the ninth too?

sorta

Dripping with irony.

Hopefully we'll see a lot of Giambi as the starting DH with Damon pinch running for him in the later innings. I just worry about his foot while running, and JD is SLIGHTLY different than PR with Cairo and then having Cairo come around to hit in an important spot.

He throws 100 mph, donchaknow.

299 HA!

Ugh, sorry all.

That was a good pounding. I would have preferred 16-0, but that was good enough.

Now Wang can shut these turkeys down tomorrow and we can leave these birds with a nasty taste in their little beaks.

Go for the jugular tomorrow.

How psyched will we all be on Friday? Hughes starting, and if he pitches well (and long) enough, Joba can come in after him, and then Mo. EI better have that game.

Mr LuvaMan (JOBA!!) Champ-yun Luva!

I really hope they don't suspend Clemens - Shenanigans with the rotation we do not need....

Big up to my "Native American" fam, HA!!

So was that the tribe who moved across the country in oversized RV's? That must have helped repel arrows and gunfire really well!

More info than anyone cared for, I bet >;)

Bottom of the page.

Maple syrup?

No WC motion tonight.

I don't dislike the Blue Jays, but I don't like 'em either. I do appreciate that they seem to hate the Red Sox, and play them hard.

Gibbons and especially Ricciardi are smarmy SOBs that have never accomplished a god damned thing but carry themselves like they are the masterminds behind a juggernaut.

Ricciardi in particular certainly doesn't behave like the massive failure he has been.

Wakefield must have crappy control of his knuckler or something.

The message from Aaron was a cool touch.

I'm glad that the very nuanced, very shades of gray issues surrounding Bonds will stop receiving the black and white treatment most of the MSM gives them.

Delcarmen stops the Angels, but still 7-4. =)

It really is a very complicated issue.

I don't think Brower will last long. Torre is easily angered by guys who don't throw strikes, and Brower does not have very good command.

The good news is that if the next player to challenge the record is clean, that will be doubly magical to folow.

The one moment that got to me - just a little bit - was when he cracked mentioning his father. That was touching no matter what you think of Bonds.

Ah well. Nothing you can do now. Just hope he goes away.

This show will be much easier to watch.

Until they remove Gaylord Perry from the Hall of Fame, baseball has no moral high ground to take on Bonds.

make that 9-4.

392 I think monkeypants' point is, just because it happened in the past, doesn't mean it should happen again. I might be wrong.

391 That's a BS argument. 'Baseball' is not synonymous with the HOF ( seperate, private organization that sets its own rules for admissions). The HOF can decide what behaviour it will or will not tolerate. That doesn't vindicate Bonds from the perspective of the MLB or of the fans (or at least of this fan).

Second, no one need argue that Bonds does not deserve to be in the HOF--he did already years ago.

Third, Gaylord Perry's HOF status bear on the present discussion. Bringing him up is obfuscation via false dichotomy.

(i figure it can't hurt to try)

Fact is that MLB was too busy counting the $$ during the "home run explosion" and decided to look the other way.

The moral outrage from fans, owners, and players rings a bit hollow. ESPECIALLY given the names that have shown up as suspended. Neifi Perez? Matt Lawton? Guillermo Mota? Damian Moss? Are you kidding me?

Or does The Man just hate the black man?

With Bonds in 2001, it was readily apparent what was going on. In 1998 with Sosa and McGwire, not as much.

Third, the single season record was at that point over thirty years old, so the chase was a novelty. When Sosa went over 60 multiple times and Bonds broke the record only a few years later--yawn.

Finally, by the time Bonds broke the record the tide of opinion had turned against players using steroids, as more and more came out (and more people dropped their willing disbelief).

To say that people loved Big Mac and ignored Bonds because of racism is very suspect, and best oversimplified.

The fact that MLB dropped the ball doesn't make it OK.

Cheating is bad. Cheating by breaking the law is worse. I've always thought that, and if I had known McGwire was juicing in '98 (I wasn't as much of a baseball fan back then, I really had no idea), I would've been pissed then too. I don't know about you, but I'm sure most here would agree wth me.

I will say this - to say there isn't nuance involved when it comes to PEDs and sports, and especially Barry Bonds, is very naive. John Perricone does a far better job laying it all out than I ever could:

www.onlybaseballmatters.com

Good night all, and go Angels! (Still 9-4 as I type this.)

Let's get back to Brower and Farnsworth--the last two pieces of the puzzle as far as I see it. Ideally Britton and Edwar replace them, but I am not confident.

410 Possession of amphetamines was illegal according to federal law in the 60s and 70s. I don't care if you consider them performance enhancing, performance enabling, or no big deal. They were illegal. So you'll need to add Pete Rose, Mantle, Mays, and a whole lot of other baseball icons (maybe even Hank Aaron himself) from those days to your list. As well as all the undocumented users from the 80s, 90s, and 00s. Law breakers the lot of 'em.

As for Sosa, he was for all intents and purposes run out of Chicago.

Is there nothing sacred! Please, god, just tell me Jeter and A-rod stayed away from this shit.

We are, all of us, done a great disservice when instead of having an objective discussion of the issues, and their nuances, we are instead fed trash. And like you say, that applies to plenty of things outside the world of sports. =)

Any chance Cairo could come back and DH?

Seriously though - Edwar struck out the side in his first appearance. I mean, frankly, he did better than Joba did. Why should I think Joba won't get Edward?

LAA hangs on and it's 5 games. What a season so far. I'm already out of breath...

Or they bring up someone like Matt Lawton who seemingly got worse on the juice and try to use that as some proof that steroids don't help you. This of couse, completely ignores the astronomical jump in Bonds' slugging percentage in that "disputed" period.

You know, we have 6 games left with the Sox...

What's the deal with that dude's fixation?

One of the problems I had (have?) is that the public wants to have it both ways. Either the stuff helps or hurts. You can't gripe and groan and piss and moan about Bonds, McGwire, Palmiero, etc making a mockery about the integrity of the game (whatever that means) and say "well, they were always scrubs" about Lawton, Sanchez, Moss, Mota, etc.

And when you talk about Scammin Sammy, whose attitude was getting out of control and whose production was in the process of falling off a cliff, you need to say he was run out of town by THE MAN.

When you play the race card and don't use the words "whitey" or "the man" it kills the affect you're going for.

Which, I can only assume is take attention of the actual issue at hand and make it about race, something that scares people off an argument because they don't want to be branded a racist. Its an old Jesse Jackson scare tactic. You can make anything about race and people will back down

Or should we give him time :D

At the risk of reviving a dead horse, does anyone find it amusing that no one mentioned last year that Rodriguez performed better at home than on the road?

Tomorrow's game of Wang v. Halladay looks to be a good one.

They get scared off because they don't believe in their convictions. If you don't want to believe racism exists, in either MLB or in the world, that's fine by me.

Anyway, the "diva" attitude is nothing new in ballplayers. Sosa wasn't the first franchise player to have that attitude, nor will he be the last.

This season's shaping up to be a lot of fun

Barry Bonds, and, apparently you, are using racism as crutch in a situation that has nothing to do with racism. People don't hate Barry Bonds because he's a black man. Hell, people are furious that he just stole the major league record of a BLACK MAN. People hate Barry Bonds People hate Barry Bonds because of the shitty way he's behaved, both on and off the baseball field. Racism is a ridiculous cop out that distracts from legitimate examples of racism

And Sammy Sosa had stopped hitting, was rapidly becoming a PR nightmare, as his easy going Chico Escuela gimmick was rapidly being exposed as a fraud, and his teammates hated him. Perhaps Kerry Wood is THE MAN.

http://tinyurl.com/yqdt52

And what does Jesse Jackson have to do with anything?