CSF

Cleveland hung on for the 5-4 victory.

Yet another Rotoworld tidbit:

I hate the fact that fans determine who makes the team. Last year when Frank really was tearing the cover off the ball, he was way behind Delgado (justified because he was putting up massive numbers) & Giambi (not justified as he was of the major suckage), therefore didn't get the nod by the fans. Then when MLB gave the option of adding an additional player, all those Red Sox fans stuffed the f***ing ballot box for a 2nd straight year (Mags got screwed in 2002 because BoSox fans stuffed it for Damon) to put Varitek in there.

CNN/SI Power Rankings Power Rankings Yankees-Red Sox makes for nice story, but it's no rivalry Posted: Thursday April 22, 2004 11:30AM; Updated: Thursday April 22, 2004 11:37AM OK, anybody else tired of all this fuss over the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry? The two teams played last weekend for the first time since the ALCS, and ESPN, FOX and every other sports outlet of note were all over it. I mean, People wouldn't have paid as much attention to the second coming of Princess Di. Hey, I admit it. I watched. But rivalry? Excuse me, shouldn't that come with quotation marks? Call me simple-minded, but how's this a rivalry when one team has won 26 World Series since 1919 and the other has won diddly, nada, squat, zero, zilch? Duke-North Carolina basketball, that's a rivalry. Michigan-Ohio State football. Heck, give me the Cubs and Cardinals in baseball. A rivalry implies an even competition. Red Sox-Yankees? Hey, I got a better one -- Wile E. Coyote vs. the Roadrunner. Yeah, yeah, yeah -- I know all about how the fans, the players, the front offices, even the owners don't care for each other. So what? There wasn't any love lost between Custer and the Sioux either, but that didn't make Little Big Horn a rivalry. Two words for you: media hype. And who can blame us? The Bambino in 1919, Joe DiMaggio in 1949, Bucky Dent in 1978, The Boss for the past 30 years -- the Sox and Yankees certainly share a fascinating history. So when they get together (only 15 more games this season, starting Friday), it's OK to get excited. Just don't call it a rivalry. MLB Power Rankings Rank LW Team 1 11 Los Angeles Dodgers Milton Bradley has 15 RBIs through the Dodgers' first 14 games. I just knew he was going to be trouble there. 2 1 Florida Marlins Dontrelle Willis had hits in seven consecutive at-bats going back to last season before going 0-for-3 on Tuesday. That makes him a career .328 hitter (23 for 67), you know, just in case that pitching thing doesn't work out. 3 18 Minnesota Twins They bought Terry Mulholland's contract from the Mariners for $1. He only pitched once during their six-game winning streak, but that was a scoreless 1 1/3 innings. "It's a dollar well spent," he said. 4 25 Baltimore Orioles They're giving away a "dual bobblehead" of former manager Earl Weaver and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer in August. Incredibly, it will mimic Weaver and Palmer's legendary arguments, managing to bob up and down and sideways at the same time. 5 5 Houston Astros After nine seasons in the American League, Andy Pettitte switched leagues and promptly hurt his valuable left elbow -- swinging a bat in the on-deck circle. Andy, the skinny end goes down. 6 10 Boston Red Sox Mark Bellhorn has seven hits in 33 at-bats in their first 13 games -- and a major league-leading 17 walks. That's the patience of Job -- well, you know, if Job could have laid off that pitch in the dirt. 7 4 Cincinnati Reds After a rainout last week in Philadelphia, relievers Todd Jones and Brian Reith were spotted in the hallway to the showers playing catch -- naked. Sean Casey took pictures with a digital camera. Next year's media guide should be something. 8 9 Chicago White Sox Closer Billy Koch may have lost his consistency, but his sense of humor is still intact. Royals reliever Curtis Leskanic blew a ninth-inning lead last week, giving the Sox a 10-9 victory. Said Koch: "I appreciate that he pulled a Billy Koch and we were able to win." 9 21 Chicago Cubs Todd Hollandsworth is batting .267 -- with an .867 slugging percentage. That's because three of his four hits (in 15 at-bats) this season have been home runs. Matching, by the way, his 2003 homer total ... in 228 at-bats. 10 3 Detroit Tigers Reliever Danny Patterson wears braces and, because he suffers from migraine headaches, a mouth guard that prevents him from clenching his teeth. "I'm 33 years old," said Patterson, "and I still have braces and a lisp." 11 2 Oakland Athletics A year ago, Jermaine Dye hit .172 with four home runs and 20 RBIs in 221 at-bats. So far this year in 60 at-bats, he's batting .300 with seven homers and 15 RBIs. And I took Bobby Higginson in my fantasy draft. 12 20 Atlanta Braves Saw 45-year-old Julio Franco, the oldest player in the majors, get tagged out at third the other night when he failed to slide. Can't really blame him. The last words you want to hear from your first baseman are "I've fallen and I can't get up." 13 12 Pittsburgh Pirates Raul Mondesi's $1.15 million salary is in escrow until a lawsuit against him in the Dominican Republic is settled. Former major leaguer Mario Guerrero says Mondesi owes him $640,000 for helping Mondesi improve his baseball skills. Mondesi says Guerrero didn't teach him anything. And Joe Torre will testify to that. 14 7 New York Yankees Rivalry or no rivalry, the Boston and New York fans are a breed apart. Especially the guy at Fenway last weekend in the "Don Zimmer Had It Coming" T-shirt. 15 6 Anaheim Angels They're billing themselves as "The A-Team." And right now, they're only a game out of first in the AL West. I love it when a plan comes together. 16 23 St. Louis Cardinals Reggie Sanders is with his seventh team in seven seasons. The record of eight teams in eight seasons is held by the immortal Shorty Radford, who did it from 1885 to 1892. Well, he was immortal until 1945, anyway. 17 16 Texas Rangers Mark Teixeira is on the DL with a strained oblique muscle in his left ribcage that could keep him out considerably longer than 15 days, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. You have to wonder if Teixeira's a little delicate. Well, you don't have to. But you might. You know, if you wanted to. Freedom -- it's what makes this country great. 18 14 San Diego Padres Right-hander Jason Szuminski, a first lieutenant in the Air Force, is the first active member of the armed forces to be on an Opening Day roster. That still doesn't excuse those awful camo unis, though. Sir! 19 19 Milwaukee Brewers Ben Sheets, who rents a house from ex-teammate Richie Sexson, struck him out when they faced each other last week. "He's probably going to raise the rent," Sheets said. "But that's all right." Oh, yeah? "I'm kicking him out," Sexson said. 20 17 Colorado Rockies Larry Walker, on the DL with a groin injury, was four-wheeling when he found a dead man on his Colorado property. Whoa. You know, some guys really are out indefinitely. 21 22 Tampa Bay Devil Rays They have a reliever named Chad Gaudin. We thought his name was pronounced "Gow-din" but a Rays fan recently corrected us. It's "Goe-dan." Here's how we remember: Rhymes with Rodan. Man, that was a great flick. 22 8 San Francisco Giants Barry Bonds' home run streak ended at seven games Wednesday night. But just so he didn't feel too strange, the Giants went and lost the game anyway. 23 13 New York Mets They've played six one-run games and lost five of them, including consecutive 2-1 decisions to the Expos at Shea. That makes them 5-4 in their other games -- but 2-0 on Mondays, and 1-0 when the moon is full. 24 30 Philadelphia Phillies That sound you hear is the clock ticking on Larry Bowa, a problem you never suffer with a nice Casio digital like mine. 25 29 Seattle Mariners It's over for the M's. Since 1903 no team has lost its first four games and won the World Series. Seattle started 0-5 this season. Hey, I'm just the messenger. 26 15 Kansas City Royals Garth Brooks worked out with the team this spring, and they're considering something similar with Kevin Costner next year. Oh, sure, it sounds like a lot of fun ... until some dude goes and brings up The Postman. 27 24 Cleveland Indians Coco Crisp not only has a great name, but he appears to be channeling goofy Tigers legend Mark Fidrych. After dropping an easy fly in an Indians win against the Twins last week, Crisp said, "The ball didn't do its job. I did my job. The ball didn't do its job." 28 27 Montreal Expos Sure, they've already endured an eight-game losing streak and are having megaproblems scoring. Could be a lot worse, though. Just ask Frank Robinson, who also was the skipper for the last 15 losses of the Orioles' record 0-21 start in 1988. 29 26 Toronto Blue Jays Their 3-11 start is the worst in team history. You gotta think those hitters will snap out of it, but if not ... hey, anybody know Tim Johnson's whereabouts? 30 28 Arizona Diamondbacks Casey Daigle needed just two innings to become the first pitcher to give up five home runs in his major league debut. His fiancée, Arizona softball star Jennie Finch, surrendered 12 home runs in 273 1/3 innings in her senior year. Gonna be some interesting pillow talk in that house. Dan George is a senior producer for SI.com.

Happy B-Day. Have a good one.

f***in' Vasquez. f***in' Posada. f***in' Rivera. f***in' Yankees. I hate them all. :fyou

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD, YES!!!! :headbang

Jay's lucky Hawk hasn't knocked the crap out of him for calling him "Houseman Hawk".

Hawk slammed Mariotti!!!! "Jayson Blair Mariotti". Classic.

My, how this thread went crazy in a hurry.

Last time Fogg gave up 9 runs to the Cubs. Tonight his line: 0 IP, 3 hits, 2 walks, 6 runs surrendered (5 earned) and no outs. Makes you think that 2001 may have been more of a fluke than anything else.

I was thinking about Mags, but if he leaves via FA, I don't think they'll give it a 2nd thought.

Royals went from 8th to 28th in a week. Twins one spot ahead of the Sox.

The following are all retired: 2-Fox 3-Baines 4-Appling 9-Minoso 11-Aparicio 16-Lyons 19-Pierce 42-Jackie Robinson (retired by MLB) 72-Fisk Who else do you think will ultimately get consideration to have their jersey retired. Here's who I'm thinking at the current moment: #35-Frank Thomas #13-Ozzie Guillen (a World Series championship would make this a non-issue) #23-Robin Ventura (longshot, but I still think he might merit consideration) Others???

From CBS Sportsline.com: White Sox report: Inside pitch April 19, 2004 Roster | Notes, quotes The White Sox want Danny Wright to stop looking over his shoulder, relax and simply go out and pitch. Advertisement Wright, who is 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA after a loss to Tampa Bay on Friday (April 16), has a little different philosophy, and therein lies the problem. "That's nice to hear, but still it's not a situation where you want to get comfortable," Wright said. "I don't think you can ever take your spot for granted." Manager Ozzie Guillen and pitching coach Don Cooper don't want any of the players to take their spots for granted, but at the same time, they're both going out of their way to try to ease Wright's tensions so that he can concentrate on pitching rather then wondering when and if the other shoe is going to drop. "I don't want him looking over his shoulder," Guillen said. "I talked to him and told him he'll be there every five days and be ready for it." While his latest performance was slightly better than his debut against the New York Yankees in week one, there is a common problem that both outings shared. Wright went 4 2/3 innings against New York, allowing five runs (four earned) on four hits, while walking three. Against the Devil Rays, Wright again went 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and walking three. He allowed a solo home run to Carl Crawford on a 1-and-0 count and a two-run homer to Julio Lugo on a 3-and-1 count. "It's still the same stuff for him," Cooper said. "We have to throw a higher percentage of fastballs for strikes. Again, I can take out stuff from years past that show when Danny gets early contact or first-pitch strikes he's been very successful." Cooper was also not thrilled with Wright's methods of attacking certain hitters, especially since they go over the game plan before every start. "Look at the first hitter (Crawford)," Cooper said. "Behind in the count, poorly located fastball, down. That's the thing we harped on -- don't go down there. Then with Lugo, behind the count, poorly located fastball after a walk. That brings in three runs. A few other things I wrote down during the game. We walked Tino (Martinez) on all fastballs, and we talked before the game about attacking Martinez a different way, not with fastballs." Cooper was asked if that was Wright's responsibility or catcher Miguel Olivo's, and he said it falls on the pitcher. "That's on Danny, because Danny's got the ball, he's in charge," Cooper said. Getting Wright to actually believe that he's not only in charge but his job as the No. 5 starter is safe is what Cooper's trying to get done between now and Friday (April 23), when Wright makes his next start. "You can't have the attitude, 'I don't want to lose my spot, I don't want to lose my spot,' " Cooper said. "Well, you got to pitch to take that spot, maybe grab two rungs higher and want to be the No. 2 guy. It's not, 'I have to make this pitch.' It should be, 'I'm going to make this pitch.' " Copyright © 2003 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.

The umpiring has been pisspoor. This dickweed has given the Yankees extra strike after strike.

I think it's gonna be Cotts. Just so he can go back down and join the Charlotte rotation to build up endurance.

Man, Cotts was getting squeezed big-time!

WHEW! That was close! 8-5 bottom of the 4th.

Dave Wills said they're trying to get the field ready for baseball. :banghead

He's at 57 pitches, 33 of them for strikes.

Not a single ball was really hit hard until Giambi doubled in the 2nd with the Yanks already up by 6. Buehrle was missing his spots as he gave up 2 walks and a hit batsmen. Every other Yankee hit was either a duck snort, seeing eye or just remaining in fair territory.

Rain Delay. If this rain is any longer than an hour, I don't think Buehrle will be back out there.

Whew! I thought he got hurt again.

What's even funnier about it: Wright's not going Thursday. Schoenweis is, he of the 3 runs against the mighty evil empire. Hope we take 2/3 to shut the New Yorkers up.