Joe Torre On Larry King Live

Joe Torre's new book, "The Yankee Years", has been a hotbed of discussion amongst Yankee fans in recent days. Joe is scheduled to appear on Larry King Live tonight at 9pm EST. It should be interesting to see what Joe has to say for himself. I doubt Larry will ask him any tough questions. I'm inclined to think that all questions, whether they be from Larry, callers, or whoever, are going to be screened. As much as I'd love to see it, I don't see them backing the bus up over Torre. I hope it doesn't end up being a powder-puff piece but I have the feeling it's going to be. Only one way to find out and that's to tune in.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Moose Bashes Mo? Say It Ain't So

I was at work this morning, sifting through the comments on Jason's (from Heartland Pinstripes) guest blog at Pete Abraham's blog and a particular comment caught my eye. It mentioned Mike Mussina and it referenced comments he made about Mariano Rivera. It basically said that Moose said Mo isn't as good as he used to be. Unfortunately, some work came up so I didn't get to scour the net or the rest of the comments to find where that came from.

It was posted in an article at the NY Daily News. The article had to do with what else, Joe Torre and his book. Surprise surprise. The article was written by Mike Lupica, who I've never really liked. Moose comes into the story on page 2 of the article. I'm guessing the book talks about the collapse to the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS and it quotes Mussina:

"We were up 3-0 and Mo (Rivera) came in again with the lead and lost it. He lost it again. As great as he is, and it's amazing what he does, if you start the evaluation again since I got here, he has accomplished nothing in comparison to what he accomplished in the four years before. He blew the World Series in '01. He lost the Boston series. He didn't lose it himself but we had a chance to win in the ninth and sweep them, and he doesn't do it there. I know you look at everything (Rivera's) done and it's been awesome. I'll admit that. But it hadn't been the same in those couple of years. That's what I remember about the '04 series."

Let's break that quote down, my comments are bolded.

• We were up 3-0 and Mo (Rivera) came in again with the lead and lost it. He lost it again. True.
• As great as he is, and it's amazing what he does, if you start the evaluation again since I got here, he has accomplished nothing in comparison to what he accomplished in the four years before. Hard to argue with that considering the Yankees haven't won the World Series since 2000. Mo was invincible in that run and as Moose points out in the next part of the quote, Mo wasn't as invincible since Moose joined the team.
• He blew the World Series in '01. He lost the Boston series. He didn't lose it himself but we had a chance to win in the ninth and sweep them, and he doesn't do it there. It's hard to argue with that. I know it's a team game but when Mo came in during the World Series run, the game was over. Mo did blow the lead in 2001, something he had never done. Mo also blew it in 2004.
• I know you look at everything (Rivera's) done and it's been awesome. I'll admit that. But it hadn't been the same in those couple of years. That's what I remember about the '04 series. Again, it's hard to find fault with that statement. Mo was and still is awesome. But in 2001 and again in 2004, he wasn't the Mo from before Moose made it to NYC.

I know some people think I'm biased to Moose. But come on. If anyone out there really thinks Mike was bashing Mo with his comments, I'd like to know why. I definitely don't read it that way. All Moose is saying is Mo was automatic before the 2001 World Series and he hasn't been since. I don't think he's bashing Mo. He's merely stating his opinion, which I find to be deeply rooted in fact. Mo hasn't been as automatic since 2001. He did blow the 2001 World Series. He did blow game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. Pre-2001 Mo wouldn't have done that. That's all Moose was saying.

So, Moose bashes Mo? It ain't so.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Joe Torre Needs To Stuff A Sock In His Pie Hole

OK, maybe the title of this post is a little harsh, and to be completely honest with you, I don't really feel that way. The title was meant to elicit a reaction and pique your interest so you'd want to read it, which is pretty much what's been happening the last few days with Joe Torre's (and Tom Verducci's) soon-to-be released book, "The Yankee Years", available February 3rd at book stores everywhere. I don't put too much stock in anything that's been leaked. That's what happens. They leak a little bit of info to whet the appetite, everyone starts talking about it everywhere, and then it's at the top of the bestseller list.

Until I read it for myself and see exactly what's printed and in what context it's used, I won't have a real opinion on it. For all I know, I'm going to open it up, turn to the part where it mentions that some Yankees called Alex Rodriguez "A-Fraud" and find that it's used in a light-hearted context. Something like, "the guys used to tease Alex and call him A-Fraud because he had frosted blond tips." To me, that's not so bad. Now, I highly doubt that's what it says but again, haven't read the book, so how do I know? The book is 477 pages long. I guarantee that about 450 of those pages are all positive. I'm sure there will occasionally be a little nugget of negativity, but if you're expecting the book to be nothing but Torre ripping the Yankees, I think you'll be disappointed.

What surprises me the most about this is the timing. I'm a little surprised that Joe didn't wait until he was done managing for the book to come out. In all likelihood, this is probably his last season and maybe he doesn't give a crap. But if I'm a member of the Dodgers organization, whether it be on-the-field or off, I'd be scratching my head wondering if he's ever going to open up his trap about his time with the Dodgers. I'm also a little surprised that Joe is talking about what went on in the clubhouse. He always struck me as the type of guy who believed what happened in the clubhouse, stayed in the clubhouse. Isn't that pretty much how it goes? An unwritten rule maybe, but I'm pretty sure it's a code that most of them go by.

The book drops a week from today and I'm definitely going to buy it, likely the day it's released. I'll admit it. My interest is piqued and I want to read it for myself before i hear about it from everyone else. I can't wait to get my hands on it and see what Joe really has to say. I have a feeling I'll definitely be blogging a little about it.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Pettitte Is Back In The Fold

In what could be the last move the Yankees make this offseason, the Yankees and Andy Pettitte have agreed to a 1-year deal, reportedly for a guaranteed 5 and a half million dollars plus incentives, which could bring the total deal up to about $12 mill.

I have mixed emotions about the signing, but only because of how long it took Pettitte to realize that he wasn't worth nearly as much as he thought he was. I am pleased that he's back at the terms listed above. $5.5 million doesn't impact the payroll too much and it will likely still come in under what it was last year. And if Andy can pitch like he thinks he can, he'll get the money he was looking for. I'm glad the Yankees are making him earn it. After his abysmal 2nd half last year, he needs to reprove himself, at least he does in my eyes. I still think a lot of the team's 2nd half meltdown had a lot to do with Andy. I know he only gets the ball once every 5 days, but what he did on the days he pitched didn't do anything to help the team. He flat out sucked.

This signing basically completes the rotation and pretty much puts an end to any other signings. We're looking at an Opening Day rotation of CC Sabathia, Chien-Ming Wang, A.J. Burnett, Joba Chamberlain, and Andy Pettitte. Not too shabby. I'd put it up there as one of the best in the league. You can never have enough starting pitching. The Yanks will have a few arms waiting in the wings in Phil Hughes, Alfredo Aceves, and even Ian Kennedy If they decide to go forward with having Phil Coke work out as a SP, he's an option also. That's a lot of depth and that's good. Joba isn't going to start 30 games so they'll need someone to fill those innings.

Pitchers and catchers in a little more than 2 weeks. Baseball is almost back folks. Baseball is almost back!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Pics Of Mussina Dinner Swag

Here are some pictures of the things I picked up on Saturday at Mike Mussina's fan club dinner. To read a recap of the dinner, check out my previous entry.

A 2009 magnet schedule

A Nike water bottle, napsack, and some sports bands

The table's centerpiece, a piggy bank full of candy

The bank's booty

The logo on the fleece pullover given to all fan club members

2 signed baseballs

The new gem of my collection, can't wait to have him add his induction year

The thank you note attached to the centerpiece.

No Mike. Thank you. It was truly a pleasure watching you pitch and I look forward to seeing you in Cooperstown.

J-Boogie

Dinner With Moose

I'm back from my road trip to Williamsport, PA, where I attended the 16th and final Mike Mussina Fan Club Appreciation Dinner. Like last year, which was my first time attending, I had an absolute blast. A good time was had by all.

The day kicked off at 9am when I left Buffalo with my friends Dan and Joe. According to Yahoo Maps, we had about a 4-hour drive ahead of us. We made great time as we rolled into Williamsport at about 12:30. The doors to the dinner didn't open until 4pm, so we decided to go to our hotel to see if we could check in early. As we approached the hotel, I saw one of the most beautiful sites I had ever seen sitting in our hotel's parking lot, a Sheetz gas station. Aw yeah. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of visiting a Sheetz, it is one of the greatest places on Earth, solely because it has the best food on the planet. Anytime I pass one, I have to stop and grab something to eat. There is one in Scranton, PA and anytime I travel to the Bronx for a Yankee game, I stop there on the way down and on the way back. I love the food that much. So of course, we popped into Sheetz before checking in. I ordered a bag of fryz and a burger cordon bleu on a pretzel roll. It was absolute heaven. After finishing that glorious meal, I quickly began thinking about eating there again after Moose's dinner.

We checked into the hotel, an Econolodge, at about 1:15 or so. Dan hung out in the hotel lobby and took advantage of the free wi-fi. Joe hung out in his room. I hung out in mine and Dan's, watching reruns of iCarly, killing time until about 2:45, when we left for the Genetti Hotel, where the event was being held.

We got to the Genetti at about 3pm, an hour or so before we could even get in. There were already 4 or 5 people ahead of us. Seating at the dinner is first-come first serve, and the best way to ensure you get to sit up close to moose is to get there early. At about 3:15, there were about 40 or so people in line so we made it there at just the right time. We spent the hour chatting with an older couple that was in line just front of us. What's weird is that it was the exact same couple that was right in front of us last year. We remembered them. They remembered us. That made the time go a little faster.

4pm rolled around before we knew it and we quickly went inside and grabbed a table right up front, a little to the right of the head table. When you first walk in you get your first treat of the night, a little gift bag of sorts. This year's bag had in it a 2009 Yankees magnet schedule (with Moose and Molina on it), a Nike napsack, some Nike sports band, a Nike water bottle, and a picture of Moose, which is kind of like a custom 8x10 that they created. The head table was adorned with all sorts of Moose memorabilia. He had a ball from each one of his wins last year. He had the glove he used in each one of his wins. He had the ball from his last pitch ever in Fenway. He had the ball from his last strikeout. He had Jose Molina's glove, which was signed by Jose. He had a signed ball/glove that Jamie Moyer sent him in response to Hank Steinbrenner's comments about Moose after the 2007 season. For those that don't remember, Hank said Moose needed to learn how to pitch like Jamie Moyer. He also had his first ever glove used in the majors, the first jersey he ever wore as an Oriole, the jersey from his last home start in Yankee Stadium, as well as his Yankee Stadium clubhouse chair. The coolest stuff though were some of the t-shirts that Moose wore under his jersey throughout the years. My favorites were a Sanford & Son t-shirt, as well as a Captain America t-shirt, which Moose said he busted out for all big games. It was all very cool.

At 5pm, the event started, and it was kicked off by an introduction from Mike's brother Mark. Before he talked about Moose's season and his career, they showed a 3-minute clip of photos from Moose's career set to the song "My Way" by Frank Sinatra. The video was created by Shelley, who runs a Moose fan site/discussion board called the Moose Lodge. Shelley and Doris (a poster at the Moose Lodge), then presented Mike with a gift, a framed Wheaties box with Moose's photo on it and something else I couldn't make out. Moose was grateful and in return gave each one of his game-issued gloves. They were floored to say the least. His brother Mark then made his opening comments, then the mic got passed to Moose for a Q&A. Moose did a Q&A for about 45 minutes to an hour. Prior to the start of the Q&A, they asked a trivia question, where the winner would get a signed Mike Mussina bat. The question was: name all of the players Moose played with in both Baltimore and New York. People had until after dinner to submit their answers. I totally blanked and knew none. But more on that later.

The Q&A was pretty interesting. People asked all sorts of questions. Unfortunately, I don't really remember many of them. My friend Dan asked about what the conversation on the mound was like after he got hit by the line drive in his 19th win. Moose said he had to convince Gene Monahan to leave him in the game by letting him throw 2 pitches. The rest of course is history. Joe, a Moose dinner virgin if you will, asked what Moose's favorite road city was and why. Moose answered Chicago, but only after commenting that he seems to get that question every year. Some other answers that I recall are, he didn't take the flagpole, he's not really missing the game, and I kind of get the feeling that if he gets inducted into the HOF, he'd prefer to go in as a Yankee. At least that's what I took away from it.

The Q&A ended at about 6pm and it was time for dinner. Dinner was a nice healthy portion of chicken parm. It was good, but it was no Sheetz. As I mentioned earlier, they asked a trivia question to see who could name all of the players that played with Moose in both Baltimore and New York. People had until after dinner to submit their answers. Dan had put together a nice list of about 10 or so, but unfortunately had 1 wrong, and finished 1 behind a kid from our table who had 10. Lucky jerk. There were 11 players in total and they were: David Dellucci, Al Reyes, Karim Garcia, Sidney Ponson, Scott Erickson, David Wells, Buddy Groom, Armando Benitez, Jesse Orosco, Todd Zeile, and Kevin Brown. Dan didn't have Reyes and Groom on his last, but had Luis Polonia, which was incorrect. I thought he had it for sure and was a little irked we missed out.

Once that piece of business was out of the way, they raffled off a bunch of stuff. The raffle started with about 35 signed Moose baseball cards. We didn't win. After that, he raffled off about a dozen or so signed baseballs (all signed by Moose, all were Yankee BP balls. We again didn't win. They then raffled off a signed team ball, a signed ball by Reggie Jackson, and a signed ball by Mariano Rivera. We struck out there also. Lastly, they raffled off about 5 signed Moose bats. Swing a miss. For the second year in a row we came up losers. Last year, people at our table won a signed bat and also tickets to the home opener. This year, our table won 2 signed cards, the Reggie Jackson ball, and the trivia contest. 4 people at our table didn't win anything, 3 of which were us. Bummer. I did win the table's centerpiece. Every table has a centerpiece and they give it away every year. The winner this year was the person whose birthday was closest to Moose's 20th win. Last year, it was whose birthday was closest to Mike's. I won that also. This year's prize was a baseball bank that is about the size of a basketball. In the bank was about 24 different candy items. My pregnant wife was happy to hear that.

The evening concluded with an autograph session. Moose pretty much sat at his table and signed 2 autographs for each person there. So he probably signed about 500 or so autos. I think that alone took almost 2 hours. My friend Dan was only looking to get a ball signed so he used his 2nd ticket on a 3rd thing of mine. I ended up having Moose sign a Rawlings Gold Glove baseball (inscribed with 7x--which is the # of GGs he won), a Yankee final season baseball (inscribed with his career record of 270-153 and his record from last season which was 20-9). My third item, which has instantly become the gem of my collection, was a signed Yankees home jersey. He signed his name on the "5" and also inscribe some stats for me on other parts of the jersey number. It looks awesome. I'll post pictures of that and everything else I got from the event later. That reminds me. Every fan club member was also given a fleece sweatshirt, which was had a little something-something embroidered on the left breast. It was a pretty nice parting gift if I must say.

After we left, which was about 9pm, the three of us went into the hotel lounge and had some adult beverages. We hung out there for a few hours and then went back to our hotel. When we got back, Dan and I dropped our stuff off in our room and headed to Sheetz. Joe skipped Sheetz and went to his room. We took the Sheetz to go (I had a 6-inch steak sub and onion ringz) and when we got back, Joe was standing outside his room with the front desk clerk. Apparently, his door wouldn't open with his key or the master key. It was about 5 degrees outside so it wasn't the best night to get locked out of your room. The lock to the door had apparently frozen shut. The maintenance guy got it open by taking a blow torch to it for about 2 minutes. The hotel ended up refunding Joe the room cost. At least they made things right.

We left Williamsport at about 10am, stopping of course at Sheetz for breakfast. God, I love that place. This time I went with 2 breakfast burritos. They were so good. And that ladies and gentleman was my trip. It was definitely a great time. Much fun was had by all. If you made it thru this rather lengthy post, I applaud you. I'll post some pictures later of all the stuff. Feel free to check back. It should be up later tonight or possibly tomorrow.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

On The Road Again

Greetings from the road everyone. This post comes courtesy of my friend Dan's Blackberry, so forgive me if it's all whacked out.

Right now we're in a car travelling south to Williamsport, PA, headed to Mike Mussina's annual fan club dinner. Every year Moose invites his fan club members to his hometown for dinner, a Q&A, and an autograph session. Last year was my first time attending and it was a blast. I've been waiting all winter for today and am excited it's finally here! I'll be back tomorrow with a full recap so check back if you're interested.

Blogging on a Blackberry is tough. For some reason it's hurting my shoulders? Weird.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Happy 3rd Birthday Boogie Down

Please forgive my absence over the last week or so. I haven't really been in the blogging mood lately. I'm just not feeling it at the moment and that has more to do with the lack of Yankees news more than anything else. All has been quiet since the Teixeira signing. Spring Training is quickly creeping up on us so the regular blogging will pick up shortly. Pitchers and catchers report in just over 3 weeks! I could talk about the WBC but I was waiting for my tickets to show up before I got into that. If anything Yankee-related breaks between now and then, I'll definitely be here to talk about it.

Finally, happy birthday to me. It was 3 years ago today that this blog was born. Writing this blog has become one of my favorite hobbies and it's something I really enjoy doing. It's hard to believe it's been 3 years and some 1000 or so posts. It's still mind-boggling that anybody wants to take the time to read what I write. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading it as much I have enjoyed writing it. Thank you very much for your continued patronage. It is appreciated. If anyone has feedback, good or bad, about the blog, by all means, fire away. I'm always looking for ways to improve things, and a little pat on the back never hurts either.

As always, Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The Hot Stove Is Cooling Off

It's been a pretty boring new year so far in terms of Yankee news. Andy Pettitte is still floating out there. I've discussed AP many times recently and won't be doing it again unless something breaks. The only other thing really floating around out there is the potential trade of either Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher. There have been some teams mentioned as having interest (I've seen the Reds, Pirates, Brewers, Braves, Nationals) but no names are being floated around in proposed or discussed deals. So there isn't really much to discuss there either and I can't even begin to speculate on who they should ask for in return. I wouldn't mind seeing them get Jeff Keppinger from the Reds. He's pretty versatile and I think he'd fit in well as the team's utility infielder.


I definitely think one of them will be dealt before the season starts. I've read reports that the Yankees prefer Swisher to Nady, which I agree with. I've always thought of Nady as a little overrated. He's also going to be a free agent at the end of the year while Swisher would still be under contract. From what I've read, most teams prefer Swisher to Nady so who knows what Cashman will do. There's not enough room at the inn. Someone has to go and it looks like it's going to be one of them.


Other than that, there really isn't much else going on. I have a colonoscopy scheduled for tomorrow morning. My Gastroenterolgist thought I should have one because of my diverticulitis, a problem which has caused me no issues since it was diagnosed. I'm really looking forward to the "prep" work I have to do today, which is basically, spending 6-8 hours on the toilet. Yay me!


Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The 2009 HOF Class

The votes are in!

Congratulations to Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice on being elected to the HOF. Congrats gentleman. I'll see you guys in July.

Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven fell just short. Dawson was 44 shorts shy, Blyleven 67. Maybe next year fellas. I hope you get there.

Don Mattingly picked up 64 votes, which was about 341 shy of induction. I love Donnie Baseball, but I don't think he's a HOFer. I understand the argument, and i wish I could get behind it, but I can't. It just doesn't work for me.

As I expected, there were a handful of guys who received votes that shouldn't have. Jay Bell got 2 votes. Jesse Orosco got 1 vote. Mo Vaughn got 6. Surprisingly, Ron Gant, Dan Plesac, and Greg Vaughn didn't get any. I'm sorry, but whoever gave these guys a vote needs to get their credentials yanked. There is no way you can justify giving a vote to Jay Bell. And how does Rickey Henderson only pick up 94.8% of the vote. How is he not a unanimous selection? There were 539 ballots cast so that means 28 boneheads didn't vote for Rickey.

Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie