I'm Glad That's Phinally Phinished

Phinally, the World Series is phinished. Congrats to the Phillies! In honor of the Philles, all "f" sounds in this post will be spelled with a "ph." As I've stated several times, if it's not the Yankees winning, it really doesn't matter to me who does. I don't really care who wins, even the Red Sox. I prepherred to see the Phillies win over the Rays solely because of the ever-growing Rays phan base. It'll be interesting to see how many of them show up to support them next year. I'm thinking that the attendance levels won't be much higher than they were this season, and that's sad. Prove me wrong Rays phans. Prove me wrong.

So now that the Series is over, the real phun can phinally begin. Players will phile for phree agency and then it's on. The Yankees got a lot of work to do and here's my quick wish-list:

1)Bring back Mooooooooooooooooooose
2)Sign CC
3)Sign Tex
4)Don't sign AJ
5)Don't sign Sheets
6)Don't sign Lowe

I think a rotation of CC, Moose, Wang, Joba and Hughes will do just fine. If they pheel the need to sign a 2nd starter, I'd prepher Burnett. Sheets is a Carl Pavano waiting to happen. I hope they're not even entertaining the thought. We'll phind out soon enough.

Stoke up the Hot Stove!

J-Boogie

A Look Back At 2008: Alex Rodriguez

It's been a while since I've posted a "look back" on 2008. Been busy and with the lack of Yankee news I haven't been motivated to do it. I also need to find a way to shorten the posts up as in my opinion they get a little lengthy. Having said that, here's my 2008 look back on Alex Rodriguez.

Statistically speaking, A-Rod had another rock solid year. He hit 302, went yard 35 times, knocked in 103 and scored 104 runs. Most guys would kill to have seasons like that. and it's hard to say that a guy that performed that well had a bad year. But that's just what I'm going to do. Calling Alex's year a "bad year" may be a little much, but he definitely underperformed and fell short on expectations. For starters, he was pretty far from clutch, hitting only 271 with RISP. His OPS with RISP was 274 points below what it was in 2007 and 73 points below his total from 2006. Plain and simple, Alex didn't come through when it was needed most. Considering his salary, his position in the lineup, and the general baseball awesomeness that is A-Rod, it was definitely well below expectations. A couple of clutch hits here and there and maybe the Yankees would have kept their streak of postseason baseball alive.

Another huge problem with A-Rod this year was the # of double plays he grounded in to. In th month of August alone, he hit into 11. Considering his season total was 16, that's pretty bad. the Yanks win-loss record in August was 13-15. A lot of that in my opinion had to do with A-Rod's struggles. Again, had he played up to his normal standard, the Yanks very well could have played October baseball.

One bright spot for Alex in 2008 was that he had tied for the best fielding percentage (.970) in the AL at his position. He improved slightly on his 2007 fielding percentage (.965) and greatly improved on his dead-last in the AL 2006 fielding percentage (.937). Could a 2008 Gold Glove be in Alex's future? I'm going to guess it will be Mike Lowell but we'll see.

Taking everything into account, J-Boogie's final 2008 grade for Alex is a C. He had a solid year at the plate but didn't really help the greater good when I look at the big picture and put his season into context. He's capable of more, a lot more.

If you want to check out any of the previous 2008 look backs, click on this link "2008 Look Back." It'll take you to my previous look back posts. Next up: Bobby Abreu

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Joba News

Sorry for being absent over the last few days. Work has been hectic. The wife has been taking over the home PC for her school work. I tired to blog yesterday and of course the system was down. I came across this little piece o' Joba news a few days ago and I'm not sure if anyone saw it. It was on the Truth and Rumors section at SI.com. I think the article was originally featured in the New York Daily News.

On the night of Joba's arrest for driving under the influence, he was heckled at a Lincoln, NE nudie bar. Apparently while Joba was taking in the "local flavor," somebody yelled out "If you played for the Red Sox you wouldn't be sitting here." Now I have to give it up to the heckler because that's pretty funny. Joba didn't think so. According to the article, Joba gave the heckler some lip service and a "shoving match" ensued between the heckler and one of Joba's buddies. I'm sorry but drunk or not, Joba needs to develop some thicker skin. I hope he doesn't expect to go through life without getting heckled when he's away from the ballpark. How can he, as a member of the Yankees, expect not to get a few digs thrown at him every now and then? I'd have to think Jeter and A-Rod get lip a lot. Maybe Jeter should have a little chat with Joba. If you ask me, this is another knock against Joba being thought of as "mature." Joba has a lot of growing up to do.

Sounds like somebody had a bad night.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Joba Update

According to an article on Yahoo.com, Joba is due in court on 12/17 for his arrest for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol. The article mentions that Joba's BAC was 0.134, above Nebraska's legal limit of 0.08. Yikes.

Joba apologized to the Yankees and we fans for his "error in judgement." Sorry Joba, but apologies aren't going to cut it. He's going to have to do a little more than that. Whether he wants to be a role model to kids or not, he is. He needs to do a little more than issue a public apology. Hopefully he does it without being forced to by the courts. If anyone watches "The Office" I'm totally picturing the exchange between Jim and Ryan when Ryan mentioned doing his community service. I hope when/if Joba does anything it's because he wants to and not because he has to. Be proactive, not reactive. I also hope that this doesn't get thrown out of court for any reason. He needs to learn a lesson here.

Driving under the influence ain't cool.

J-Boogie

And The Rays Are Your AL Champions

I'm sitting watching the Rays celebrate their 1st ever American League pennant. I have to give it up to them. They did the improbable and proved that they belong in the World Series. They almost choked it away but they nutted up in game 7 and did what the Indians and Yankees failed to do in their last attempt at reaching the World Series. Congrats. It's well deserved.

This should put to bed any talk about the Red Sox being a dynasty. There was a lot of chatter from Sox fans all season how they were on the verge of being called a dynasty. I'm glad they blew it because now I don't have to get into a war of words with Sox fans over how even had they won they were far from a dynasty. You can't be a dynasty when you finish in 3rd and miss the playoffs in your "dynasty run." Their 3rd place finish in 2005 basically reset the Sox dynasty watch. I tried explaining that point before the year started. If you're a Yankee fan that ever tried to sell a Sox fan on an anti-Sox sentiment, you know you don't get very far. Thanks to the Red Sox for settling that argument for me. You had a good year. But not good enough.

Lastly, I think I'm going to be sick. I'm getting thoroughly disgusted watching all of the Rays "fans" celebrate this victory. I can guaran-damn-tee you that the majority of that crowd didn't even know the Rays existed at the end of September. The Rays played kick-ass baseball all year and they barely showed. And when they did, it was typically to root for the visiting team. I know there are a lot of transplants down there, but you mean to tell me they couldn't pull together more than 15,000 supporters on a given night? Ridiculous. Part of me wanted to see them lose tonight just so I could see how many people showed up at the Trop next April. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up winning it all and still don't break 15,000 a game next year. I'm curious when I'm going to see my first piece of Rays gear up here in Western New York. What do you think? 2 days? 2 weeks maybe? It's coming. I can feel it. This is going to be the mother of all bandwagons. It's disgusting.

Congrats to the Rays but go Phillies! I hope they kick some Rays ass.

J-Boogie

Tisk Tisk Tisk

I woke this morning and had a text alert from the YES Network. I wasn't sure what it would pertain to as there isn't much news going on in the Yankees Universe. I opened the message and it read "Joba Chamberlain arrested for driving under the influence in Nebraska early Saturday morning." My first thought was "are you kidding me?" I went downstairs and immediately posed this question to my wife, "Guess who got arrested for DWI?" I didn't think she'd have an answer because it was such an odd question, but she immediately blurted out "Don," the name of one of my friends. After chuckling for a second or two, I told her who it was and she couldn't believe it. I then wiggled on over to the PC to see what details I could find. I figured if anybody had the scoop it was Pete Abraham. Here are the details as written in his blog:

Deborah Collins, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska State Patrol, said that the 23-year-old Chamberlain was pulled over after being observed speeding in a 2006 BMW 750i shortly after 1 a.m. on U.S. 77.

Chamberlain was arrested after an odor of alcohol was detected and an open container of alcohol was observed on the front passenger seat. Chamberlain was taken to the Cornhusker Place Detox and booked on charges of driving under the influence, having an open container of alcohol and speeding.

I have one question for Joba: "What the hell were you thinking?" Man what a stupid thing to do. For starters, he could have killed someone. Second, he could have gotten himself in an accident and potentially ended his career. Third, being a public figure there is no chance that he won't be subject to public scrutiny as a person. The heckles should be very interesting.

There haven't been many details released. I'm curious how intoxicated he was. Not that a low BAC would change my mind on anything, I'm just curious if the breaking news is being overblown. And I'm really hoping we don't hear that he was uttering statements like, "don't you know who I am," in an attempt to get out of spending time in the clink.

People have often commented that Joba is an extremely mature person. You can basically throw that notion right out the window because this act of stupidity pretty much erases that. I don't think he, or anyone that drives under the influence for that matter, should be given preferential treatment. It was an incredibly irresponsible thing to do and he needs to learn from this. Getting off lightly doesn't send the right message. I really hope the Yankees don't sweep this under any kind of rug. If I were Brian Cashman or any high ranking Yankee official, I'd really make Joba do a heck of a lot of community service or whatever they come up with. Hopefully, Joba mans up and takes this head on, learns from his mistake, and uses his popularity to help curb this problem. Hopefully some good comes out of this. And again, it's good that nobody got hurt.

Next time, take a cab.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

RIP Tom Tresh

Just got a text alert that former Yankee Tom Tresh has passed away. He was 71. Tom spent his entire 9 year career with the New York Yankees. He won the 1962 AL Rookie of the Year Award and was a member of the 1962 World Series champions.

Godspeed Mr. Tresh.

J-Boogie

AWOL

Sorry for the long delay between posts. We had a little reorg at work and I picked up about 10 new peeps to supervise. It makes for a little more work and a little less blogging. At the night the wife has been monopolizing the PC doing work for a class she's teaching so my evening access ain't what it used to be. I can pop off the occasional short post but most of the time when I start out writing something I envision it taking about 5-10 minutes. 30 minutes later and voila. I've been trying to get back to writing my 2008 player look backs but the time crunch has thrown a kink into that.

Thankfully there hasn't been much going on in the Yankee universe. The real fun begins when the World Series wraps up and the hot stove starts roaring. The playoffs are pretty intriguing. I can't believe the boot stomping the Rays have been laying on the Sox. Suddenly the Sox pitching staff isn't so good.You can't count them out though. They've been down before. Last year the Tribe had them down 3-1 and couldn't seal the deal. I wouldn't rejoice just yet Rays "fans." Stranger things have happened. I'm inclined to think the Sox don't have much of a chance. They just look downright awful. The Rays are beating them up and down and I'll admit it and I'm sure you'll all agree, they're an exciting team to watch. I hope they finish the Sox off in game 5 and then proceed to get pummelled by the NL winner. I just can't pull for the Rays to win it all because of the monster that is the Rays bandwagon. It could very well be the largest bandwagon ever.

We should all be afraid. Very, very afraid.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Au Revoir Mr. Bobby

Just got a text alert update from the YES Network. The Yankees fired 3rd base coach Bobby Meachem and special pitching instructor Rich Monteleone. I'm glad Meachem was gone because he was absolutely brutal as a 3rd base coach. I can't even remember the number of runners he got thrown out at the plate. And most of the time they weren't even close plays. Usually they were out by a good 10 feet. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating but most of the time it wasn't even close. See ya later Bobby. Don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.

As for Rich Monteleone's canning? I'm impartial. I'm not really sure what a "special pitching instructor" does or what value they add. I know Rich sits behind the plate and charts pitches. Not sure how anyone can screw that up. But whatever.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Remembering Yankee Stadium

There have been a lot of things that have been released this year celebrating the history of Yankee Stadium. I have found the mother of them all. It's a book by renowned baseball author Harvey Frommer. It's titled "Remembering Yankee Stadium: An Oral and Narrative History Of The House That Ruth Built." As I said, this is the mother of all "look backs." I already have the official retrospective that was released earlier this year and it doesn't hold a candle to this book. I could tell that as soon as I cracked open the binder for the first time. Before you even get to the title page, you're treated to some beautiful photos that encapsulate the history of the Stadium. And they're truly beautiful photos. They're beauty is aided by the book being more wide than it is tall. It allows for stunning 2-page panoramic shots that you don't see in books that are of the normal size/shape. And these photos aren't just contained to the opening pages. They're sprinkled in all throughout the book. Like the Stadium itself, you just can't beat how it was put together.

Each of the book's chapters represent a different decade of the Stadium's life. The book could get by on Mr. Frommer's writing alone. He beautifully details the history of the grand 'ol ballpark and I found myself reading every word rather than skimming through paragraphs or flipping ahead to a subject I find more interesting. Yeah, I'm one of those readers. But I haven't been with this book. But there is more to the book that the writings of the author. The book really comes alive with the countless first person narratives that are intertwined with the writings of the author. If I counted correctly, there were 92 different people whose memories are recounted in the book. They range from some Yankee legends (like Bobby Murcer, Whitey Ford and Phil Rizzuto), to Hall Of Famers (like Rollie Fingers, Brooks Robinson, and Paul Molitor), to politicians (like Rudy Giuliani, Mario Cuomo, and Michael Dukakis, to your every day run-of-the-mill Yankee fans. Like the photos, they're perfectly placed and it's just another reason why the book is a classic.

But wait, there's more. The best part is saved for last. The last section of the book is called "Stadiumology." It tells you little facts about the Yankees and the Stadium. The crown jewel of the section is when it breaks things down "by the numbers." It has little facts that go with numbers. Take the number 24 for example. In 1927, 24 of Lou Gehrig's 47 HRs were hit in Yankee Stadium. The number 413 represents the smallest ever attendance for a home game. I could go on but you catch my drift. This little section is the cherry on top of this awesome sundae.

If you're a die hard Yankee fan like me, you should seriously consider picking up a copy of this book. The pictures alone are worth the price of admission. The book invokes a lot of memories. It made me feel like I was walking back into the Stadium for the very first time. I could smell the grass. I could see the giant interlocking NY painted behind home plate. I could hear the sounds. I could smell the food. I could see baseball being played at Yankee Stadium. It's the crown jewel of all Yankee Stadium retrospectives. If there were a Monument Park for books, this would be featured amongst the legends.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie