Those Weaker Sisters In The Senior Circuit

With the Yankees clinching the Wild Card last night, the AL playoff picture is set, save for who'll have the best record, home-field advantage and the choice of days off. Not so in the NL. What the heck is going on over there?

I'll tell you what's going on. Someone always gets their feathers ruffled when it's pointed out that the American League is beter than the National League. Well, they might as well smooth out their ruffles because it's true. That's all there is to it. There's a very simple reason for it, too. Well, two actually: 1) The New York Yankees and 2) The Boston Red Sox. The other twelve teams know they have to compete with these two powerhouses and they try their best to do so, whether it's with their bank accounts or with strong farm systems.

Who in the NL is like the Yankees or Red Sox? The Mets? No, they're just pretenders. They pretend to be spenders, then fall into situations like the one they're in now, in danger of missing the postseason. If they had spent money on their bullpen (wisely, instead of paying Guillermo Mota) they might just have clinched the division by now. This is also the reason Willie Randolph will not be fired if the Mets do collapse. The Mets would have to eat the remainder of Willie's contract and, they're too cheap to do anything like that.

Needless to say, it'll be an exciting last couple of days of the season in the National League.

The Lady

Not Like Father, Not Like Son?

Last night Prince Fielder became the youngest player ever to hit 50 home-runs. Unfortunately, he won't be happy until he hits two more homers and is NL MVP, two things his father Cecil Fielder never did.

Most people know that this isn't joking or good-natured ribbing on Prince's part. He and his father are not on speaking terms, at least, not face-t0-face. They communicate "at" each other through the media. Cecil is on record as saying, "I don't think he's grown up yet. Until he can move on and talk to me like he's my son, we don't need to talk." The breakdown in the relationship appears to stem from the fact the Cecil gambled away all the money he made as a Major League player. This caused a lot of legal problems which Prince was subpoenaed for. He was actually served as he left the the ballpark one day when he was a minor leaguer.

I don't claim to know all the details of this family feud. But based on what I do know, when I put myself in Prince's shoes, I can understand how he feels. I can also understand how Cecil feels: he did some bad things in the past and he's being treated as if he's still doing them. I hope that the Fielders will be able to patch things up before one of them is no longer with us and the other one lives to regret it.

The Lady

[Photo: Morry Gash/AP]

Somewhere Over The Standings

Who are those weird looking people on the back page of the New York Daily News today? Apparently they're (from left to right) Joba Chamberlain (The Cowardly Lion), Ian Kennedy (Dorothy), Shelley Duncan (Scarecrow), and Phil Hughes (Tin Man).

After their loss to the Blue Jays yesterday, the Yankees had their rookies dress up as characters from The Wizard Of Oz for the annual end-of-year rookie hazing. Peter Abraham thinks these guys got off easy, considering that Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang were required to dress up as cheerleaders two years ago. I disagree. The Yankees are where they are today because of the Yankee Youth Movement. These guys are trade deadline acquisitions. Eric Gagne didn't have to put on any embarrassing costumes yesterday. Why should they?

The Lady

The Melkman's Late(st) Delivery

If Melky Cabrera had played on the Yankee teams of the '70s and '80s he'd have been traded long before he had a chance to develop into a Major League player. There'd have been none of the waiting and encouragement given to the Melkman while he fought his way out of slumps and made mental errors throughout a long Big League season. Imagine if Eric Gagne was a Texas Ranger during that time, and the trade deadline approached. Gagne would have ended up in pinstripes and Cabrera would be slugging it out at that old ballpark the Rangers played in years ago.

But this is 2007. The Yankees don't trade away their future anymore. Melky Cabrera is still with the Yankees, and last night he proved why he's worth keeping, by driving in five runs in the game's final four innings, including the game-winner in the bottom of the 10th inning. After the game he expressed gratitude to his coaches and teammates for sticking by him during his end-of-season hitting slump and making him feel like he belonged.

How much does Melky Cabrera belong? He's the Yankee centerfielder, that's how much. Johnny Damon has been relegated to leftfield/DH, along with his aching legs and big contract. With his gun for an arm, baserunners on opposing teams are finding out the hard way that you don't run on the Melkman. I wouldn't be suprised if, at some point in the future, when people talk about the line of great Yankee Centerfielders, the list will read: DiMaggio, Mantle, Blair, Williams, and Cabrera.

The Lady

[Photo: Bill Kostroun/AP]

Okay, Which Is Best?

Yankee announcer Michael Kay brought up an interesting topic on his radio show yesterday: Both the Red Sox and Mets are in danger of monumental collapses. If you're a Yankee fan, which collapse would you prefer to see?

Kay likes to think of himself as a personal friend of Willie Randolph, often mentioning how much he likes Randolph and that he knows Randolph's wife, Gretchen. Though he claims he hasn't been a Yankee fan since he started his professional career, one of the biggest lies of all time, he said that if he were a Yankee fan, he'd have a hard time rooting against the Mets because of his relationship with Randolph. In fact, ever since the calls for Randolph's firing began earlier this week, Kay has done nothing but defend Randolph, sounding, at times, like a teenager afflicted with a boyhood crush. One of the show's callers actually accused him of not being objective when it came to Randolph, and Kay admitted that it was true. He said he could not be a robot.

I've always been a big fan of Willie Randolph and was so happy for him when he got the Mets job after being turned down so many other times by other teams. However, as a resident of New York City who lived through both the 1986 and 2000 World Series, and who rubs shoulders with Met fans almost every single day, I would love to see the New York Mets fall out of first place and out of playoff contention. Yeah, it would be terrible for Randolph, but I can live with that. Sorry, Willie.

The Lady

Down The Stretch They Come...

Barring anything catastrophic, the New York Yankees will make the 2007 Playoffs. Though I never really gave up hope that this would happen, I was never really sure if the Yankees could come back after the horrendous start they got off to this year. Now, with a 4.5 game lead over Detroit in the AL Wild Card Race with 11 games to play, Joe Torre and his staff are thinking about who should be on the post-season roster and who shouldn't be.

Mike Mussina is definitely making a case for himself to be placed on the post-season roster. After a good start in Toronto last week, Moose pitched beautifully last night, giving up no runs on 3 hits in 7 strong innings, walking only one and striking out 6. It was vintage Mike Mussina. At this point, it looks like he'll be the fourth starter in the playoffs and Phil Hughes, who's been mediocre (but has improved lately), will be in the bullpen or, perhaps, not even on the roster. Lots of decisions for Torre and his staff to make.

These are nice problems for the Yankees to have. How many people thought this team would be having these problems right now? Very few, indeed. I know Red Sox Nation never thought this would happen. Boston only leads the AL East by 2.5 games now, the smallest lead they've had since way back at the beginning of the season. They probably won't, but if the Sox blow the lead entirely, they'll still make the playoffs as the Wild Card, unlike the Mets, who, if they're caught by the Phillies, probably will miss the playoffs entirely. What a turn of events!

The Lady

[Photo: Kathy Willens/AP]

Jim Thome: A Walk-off For The Record Books

What a way for a player to hit his 500th career home-run! Jim Thome became the 23rd player yesterday to hit 500 career home-runs and he did it in dramatic fashion: a walk-off job in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the White Sox a 9-7 victory over the Angels. Congratulations, Jim!

When I heard about the home-run last night I started thinking about those epic battles between the Yankees and the Cleveland Indians a decade ago when the Indians were such tough opponents. Thome was on those teams, and whenever he came up to bat I cringed. He'd stand in the batter's box holding his bat straight up and down with his left hand, his "at-bat" face firmly set, looking as if he was communicating telepathically to the pitcher, saying, I've got your number, pal. He would then go into his stance and, more often then not, do some serious damage to a pitch delivered by a Yankee hurler. He'd run around the bases on those piano legs of his and I would, once again, be tempted to throw the remote across the room.

Thome is still a dangerous hitter but, from all accounts, a great big sweetheart as well. I wasn't surprised to hear that there will be no debate or long, drawn out negotiation between him and the fan who caught the home-run ball. The fan will get season tickets (which he'll actually donate to Thome's charity) and Thome will get his ball. Nice stuff.

In other news: After a bad time at work last night there was no way I was going to turn on the Yankees-Red Sox game. But I heard about the heroics of Captain Clutch and the Yankee win. The war is finally over. Hooray. Will there be a seven day one next month? We'll see.

The Lady

[Photo: Jerry Lai/AP]

The 19-Day War Draws To A Close

Tonight is the final regular-season meeting between the Yankees and Red Sox. The 19-Day War, as I called it back in April, is finally drawing to a close. (I realize it's really 18 days but, heck, who's really counting?) The Yankees lead the season series 9-8 and will either win it 10-9 or it'll be a 9-9 tie. That's the way it always is with these two teams. They fight to the death except neither of them really dies. The whole thing ends in a draw, or a near draw, year after year after pressure-cooking year.

The pressure has gotten to be too much for me. These games are torture. I don't even watch Yankees-Red Sox anymore. I just check online for the score the next day, because if I watch, I'll get sick to my stomach. Sometimes this comes back to haunt me, as was the case during the last series at Yankee Stadium. I missed the entire sweep of the Sox by the Yankees because I couldn't bear to watch. I also missed Friday night's come-from-behind win. Yesterday I had better "luck," if you will, missing Beckett win his 19th game of the season.

I have to go to work this afternoon and I won't get home until almost 10 PM Eastern Time. The Yankees-Red Sox game, which would have started at around 8:10 Eastern, will probably only be in the 2nd inning or so, another element of torture I don't need. I'll just fix myself something to eat, check to see what's on QVC and have a nice relaxing Sunday evening.

The Lady

From The "Don't Look Now" File: The Colorado Rockies

The Rockies' Matt Holliday hit two balls hard last night in his team's win over the Phillies. One resulted in a triple play and the other was his 30th home-run. Significant yes, but when you look at where the Colorado Rockies are in the standings, you see something even more significant: The Rockies are only 2.5 games out in the NL Wild Card race!

With the exception of the East, all of the NL races are filled with teams who seem like they don't want to be there. The Brewers, whom I picked to win the Central, can't get out of their own way, much less the Cubs' or the Cardinals'. Lou Piniella's attempt to bully his team into putting a streak together after last night's big win is going to backfire. The Cardinals don't know how to stay away from controversy long enough to make any hay in the playoff races. Yes, the NL stinks (Sound familiar?); it makes perfect sense that the Colorado Rockies are right in the thick of things.

Maybe they're the X-factor. Maybe the Rockies are the team that stakes a claim in the NL. Then again, maybe I'll be blogging about some other NL team next week, saying they might be the X-factor. Yeah, it'll probably be the latter.

The Lady

The Secret of A-Rod's Success?

So, why is Alex Rodriguez having such a monster season? According to Peter Abraham of the Journal News, it's because of his off-season, early-morning workouts with, of all people, Doug Mientkiewicz.

According to Pete's article, A-Rod, motivated by his failure in last year's ALDS, often called Mientkiewicz at 5:15 in the morning last Winter to convince him to work out with him.

I find this article interesting for two reasons: 1) This might explain away the theory that A-Rod is only having such a great season because he's already decided to opt out of his contract. 2) He really is friends with Doug Mientkiewicz! I don't think, as some in the media think, that Mientkiewicz was signed by the Yankees just for A-Rod's benefit, but there's got to be some kind of friendship there if the utility 1B is willing to get up at 5:15 AM for him!

The Lady

HGH Then But Who Cares Now?

Jay Gibbons is the latest (and certainly not the last) player whose purchase of HGH has been revealed by the media. Rick Ankiel and Troy Glaus bought theirs before the substance was banned by MLB. Gibbons apparently got his after the ban went into affect.

If these guys are shaking in their cleats, they're idiots. What's the worst that can happen? They'll get a talking to and will be asked if they know who else is taking any performance-enhancing drugs. That's all, because although HGH was banned, no test was approved to catch players in the act. This all comes down to one thing: the media trying to make up for what it should have done years ago, instead of ignoring their suspicions. The Yankees are leading the AL Wild Card right now, but a few days ago, when I expected to see A-Rod on the back page of the New York Daily News, Rick Ankiel's face was there instead. I can understand a story about Ankiel, but a back page picture? Come on.

Until there's an approved test for HGH, I don't care about this issue, and I doubt anyone else does either.

The Lady

Harlan Chamberlain's Big Night

Joba and Harlan Chamberlain are two very blessed people:

Joba is blessed to have his father around to see him pitch in the Big Leagues.

Harlan is blessed to be around to see his son pitch in the Big Leagues.

A single parent, Harlan has suffered from polio since childhood. Last year his appendix burst. He is paralyzed on one side and gets around in a scooter. Life certainly has not been easy for him. Yet, he got the mother of all payoffs last night as he watched in tears while Joba took the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning in Kansas City, his first opportunity to see his son pitch live in a Major League game.

As I watched all of this unfold I blinked back some tears of my own, partly out of happiness for the Chamberlain Family, and partly from memories of my own parents, whose own health problems prevented them from being around to see me as an adult. Granted, they wouldn't be tearing up the way Harlan did upon seeing his son take the mound in a Major League stadium, but I'd like to think there would be smiles on the faces of William and Doris if they saw their daughter today.

The Lady

[Photo: Sleezer/AP]

Sorry, Maggs, A-Rod's The One

If there was any doubt about who should be the AL MVP, it was settled last night in the seventh inning during the Yankees' 10-2 rout of the Seattle Mariners. After returning from getting an MRI on his rolled over ankle, Alex Rodriguez talked his way into the line-up and proceeded to hit two home-runs in that seventh inning, erasing, in my mind anyway, any thoughts of anyone other than him being the League MVP.

These are the kinds of things A-Rod has done all season. When his team needs it most, he picks them up, straps them on his back and takes off. Last night was one of those times. Trailing 2-1 and in danger of having their Wild Card lead dwindle to to just one game, he picked up his team once again and went to work.

If it were not for Alex Rodriguez the Yankee season would have been over by the beginning of May.

No one really knows if he's having such a magical year because he's decided to opt out or because of some other reason. Whatever the reason, the debate needs to end now. Alex Rodriguez is the 2007 American League Most Valuable Player.

The Lady

What Happened To The Family Plan?

Roger Clemens will have an MRI on his right elbow today and will probably miss his next start. Gee, thanks, Rocket. Now Mike Mussina goes back into the rotation. Lovely. Just lovely. Clemens was rocked in yesterday's 7-1 loss to the Mariners, and things didn't get any better when Moose came in in relief. The only bright spot in the game (if Yankee fans can call it that) was Ichicro reaching 200 hits for the seventh straight season.

The Yankees are in the playoff race, but they've done it almost in spite of Roger Clemens. The Carpetbagger From Katy has been, for the most part, just what I thought he was going to be: a help but not a savior. I will say one good thing, however, about Roger Clemens. After all the talk about the Family Plan, he hasn't once taken advantage of it. I know many people would say it's because he knows the media is waiting for him to do it so they can jump all over it. But I'm not so sure. He's pretty much his own man. If he really wanted to take off at any point this season he'd have done it. It just makes me shake my head when I see that the media is ignoring the fact that Clemens has been around the team everyday since he first reported.

In other news: Andy Philips will have season-ending wrist surgery, so it looks like Wilson Betamit will get more playing time. Trading Scott Proctor looks pretty good right about now; Pedro Martinez returned to the Mets rotation and promptly recorded his 3,000th Big League strikeout. The Mets won that game against the Reds, but let's wait and see if Pedro will really be a force for the Metropolitans down the stretch; Carlos Zambrano hasn't won a game since signing his big new contract a few weeks ago. Now he's criticizing the fans for booing him. Big Z, one of the trade offs for making outrageous sums of money for throwing a baseball is to be booed by the fans. So, please, just shut up and pitch.

The Lady

[Photo: Bill Kostroun/AP]