I Think We Know Whose Fault This Is

Do you think that A-Rod knew Wang would be shown on TV and therefore moved over so as to insert himself into the shot? The guy does love to be the center of attention...

58 pitches... 3 outs. That's not gonna do it.

The line above is actually not accurate.

After that Carlos Pena grand slam served up by Albaladejo, it's 8 ER in 1+IP.

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It's 10-0 as of now (8:40), so if you hang in there and watch the rest of the game, you are a better fan than I tonight.

Game 7: Kashmir

As the Yankees send their groundball machine Chien Ming Wang to the mound tonight to avenge his horrible showing in Baltimore, the Tampa Bay (Nothing Ungodly-Sounding) Rays counter with lefty strikeout tallier Scott Kazmir.

Scott's dad co-owned a company with Adam Dunn's father in Houston and despite being 5 years apart, used to play wiffle ball together growing up. Kazmir was quarterback of his football team in high school, but found that his talents on the pitcher's mound far exceed those under center. Kazmir threw two no-hitters as a sophomore and then four consecutive no-hitters his junior year. As a senior, he broke Josh Beckett's strikeout record for the state of Texas by punching out 175 in 72 innings and was named Baseball America's High School Player Of The Year.

The Mets were surprised when he fell to them at the 15th pick in the draft and signed him for $2.15M, the largest bonus the team had ever given out (guess who his agent was). Kazmir continued his dominance on his rise through the minor leagues, but was traded when he was still in Double A. He was moved to the (at the time Devil) Rays for Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato at the behest of pitching coach Rick Peterson who thought he saw a fixable flaw in Zambrano's mechanics. Although Steve Phillips is commonly assumed to have made the trade in hindsight (since it was retarded), it actually occured Jim Duquette's watch.

After missing the first month of the 2008 season, Kazmir signed an extension last May with TB that locked him up through 2011 with team option for '12. He made 27 starts last year and had a 3.49 ERA, but averaged only 5 2/3 innings per start (5.8 for his career). As is the case with many strikeout pitchers, Kazmir has trouble keeping his pitch count down. In his first start this season he went six innings and gave up one run, but needed 111 pitches to do so.

I know Mets fans pine for Kazmir like an old girlfriend who got away, but he's not a guy that I particularly wish was on the Yanks. Don't get me wrong, if Scott Kazmir is your second or third best pitcher, you've probably got a great staff. But he doesn't seem like a true top of the line starter to me because he puts too much pressure on the bullpen. And I hate guys who throw too many pitches.

Don't go proving me wrong now, Scott.


[I know, the spelling isn't the same, but it's close enough]

Bait & Switch?

This morning I got an email from the Yankees, informing me of the possibility of $5 tickets to the Oakland series in selected areas of the Grandstand, Terrace and Bleachers. They can't all be obstructed view, one would assume, so I decided to check it out.


I clicked through and was taken to a page with the following on it:


I selected the 4/21 game against Oakland.


Here's the problem, though:

There is no option for $5 seats anywhere. I tried to get regular bleacher seats and they were entirely sold out. They didn't offer any promotional code to enter either. I think you just can't buy them online, which is perfect, considering they are advertising their availability via electronic mail.

Not one to just give up on a bargain, I bit the bullet and called the Ticketmaster phone number listed above. You have to listen to a computerized woman's voice count down every price range "Two, thousand... six, hundred and twenty, five... dollars, to... six, hundred... and, twenty, five, dollars" and obviously the $5 seats were at the very bottom. Unfortunately, me shouting "representative" or "operator" did not get me on the phone with an actual person.

Every step in the process was a giant pain in the ass, including having to verbally spell out my first and last name and billing address. I did get the tickets, though, and they are in Section 306, where presumably myself and whoever I go with will be straddling the foul pole.

Not to fear, it's only $5 a pop, and we'll probably just chill near the Bleachers Cafe or see what other sections we can finagle ourselves into. The $5 tickets are a pretty awesome deal, but you'd think that if they really wanted to sell them, they'd make them easier to buy. The shitty part is that the fact that something involving tickets and the New Stadium was annoying and poorly organized just isn't surprising anymore.

I Think We Can Drop The "Maybe"

It turns out it's not only Yankee fans that aren't huge fans of Dustin Pedrioa. He made some disparaging remarks about his hometown of Woodland, California in a Boston Magazine article, which not only resulted in this awkwardly configured but still hilarious sign, but something a lot more serious:

The Woodland Democrat reported that 47-year-old Kenneth Samuels allegedly made multiple phone calls to the Pedroia family business and threatened to shoot and kill the men of the Pedroia family. Those calls were traced and Samuels was subsequently arrested. The reason why Samuels allegedly threatened the Pedroias was not stated by the Woodland police.

Well at least he only threatened the men, right? Wow.

Some friendly advice: If you are going to insult a town/city, go for a bigger one where people won't take it so personally. Observe: FUCK BOSTON! In addition, you'll be less likely to offend a gun owning whack-job who is going to threaten to kill your family.

The Jackson Report: 4/13

The Weekly Austin "Action" Jackson Report

Not a bad first week in Scranton for the CF of the Future:

Games: 4
AB: 17
Hits: 8
Average: .471
OBP: .524
SLG: .588
OPS: 1.112
Runs: 3
HR: 0
RBI: 5
Triples: 1
SO: 5
BB: 3

Watch out Brett Gardner...