This image just showed up in my inbox and since we have hardly posted anything around here lately, I can't just let this sort of easy content slide.
Youk's charity "Hits For Kids" is trying to make their fiscal year-end goals and have evidently stooped to defacing the currency of the United States of America. Despite this illegal behavior, it really is a good cause, so please donate if you can.
Either that or print out this bill and try to sell it to a Red Sox Fan. Just tell them it's like a regular twenty dollar bill, except othah people wickedly undahestimate how it factahs into the economy and it's way fackin' gritty-ah.
As the Yankees lost their way through the mid-aughts, in as much as you can consider years that result in post-season appearances as disappointments, one of the theories floated as to the root cause of their problems was an unhappy clubhouse. Players like Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, and Randy Johnson all had excellent track records between the lines, but weren't exactly considered the nicest people off the field.
Talent will virtually always trump character, but the ideal player is of value both on and off the field. In the past two off-seasons, we've seen the Yankees acquire CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, and Curtis Granderson. All of them are All-Star caliber players, and by all accounts, they are also model teammates and assets in the community.
Born and bred in nearby Vallejo, CC took advantage of the Yankees' trip to Oakland last August to visit his old elementary school, Lorma Vista. There CC and his wife Amber handed out backpacks filled with school supplies to the students, one of several initiatives undertaken by CC's PitCCh In Foundation.
CC Sabathia's philanthropic side has been on display again this week. On Monday's off day, Sabathia traveled to Vallejo. There, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the first night game at North Vallejo Little League's Thurmon Field. The field was completely rebuilt this past winter, using funds donated by the PitCCh In Foundation.
Last night, the Vallejo High School baseball team were CC's guests at the Colisseum, spending time on the field before the game and getting to meet CC and other Yankees. Tonight, CC will have a host of friends and family in the stands as he takes the hill against the A's.
Coming off a rain-shortened six inning complete game against the Rangers Friday night, CC is looking for his third straight outstanding start. After a mediocre Opening Night outing in Boston, Sabathia no-hit the Rays for seven in two thirds in his second start, and allowed just three baserunners and single run while striking out nine Rangers Friday. He's issued just four walks on the season, has yet to allow a longball, and leads the AL with a 0.737 WHIP.
Sabathia faced Oakland three times last year, resulting in two wins and a no decision. Over 21.2 IP he posted a 1.15 WHIP and a 4.57 ERA, with most of the damage coming in his 6 inning, 6 ER start against them in April. After some rough goings in his first eight starts in Oakland, Sabathia shined in his only appearance there as a Yankee, allowing just two runs and six base runners while striking out seven in eight innings of work. The current A's roster has not faired well against him.
Opposing CC will be a fellow lefty, Dallas Braden. Now in his fourth Big League season, the Texas Tech product has built on his promising 2009 and is off to a strong start in 2010, with a 2.70 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP through his first 20 innings of work. Braden has faced the Yankees four times in his career, only one of them starts. They have touched him up for eight runs through nine and a third, with seven of those runs coming in his start at the Stadium last July. The Yankee roster has had limited exposure to Braden, but in that small sample they have done quite well.
The Yankees have taken the season's first five series for the first time since 1926. This afternoon they go for their second straight sweep, and beyond the fact that I always want the Yankees to win, I hope they get it. CC Sabathia is a good dude, and he's done some good things during his homecoming this week. Just like fellow Bay Area guys Tea Leaf Green, CC was taught to be proud of where he came from. He showed that pride this week; here's hoping karma rewards him with another strong performance.
I was taught to be proud of where I come from And I'm so sad that I'm the only one. Like a cold preacher boy talking only to himself How did he think that he got to promised lands?
Gone, gone, gone, Not gone for long, If you're taught to be proud of where you come from.
-Lineups-
Yankees: Joe Girardi shakes things up a bit today. Mark Teixeira gets a half day off as the DH; Nick Johnson will pick up some leather for the first time this year. With a lefty on the mound Curtis Granderson rides the pine for the first time this year. Brett Gardner gets his first start in center field this season, with Marcus Thames playing in left. It'll be interesting to see how he fares in the spacious pastures there. For the third straight start, Frankie Cervelli will be calling the pitches for CC.
Jeter SS Johnson 1B Teixeira DH Rodriguez 3B Cano 2B Swisher RF Thames LF Cervelli C Gardner CF
A's: A late scratch from last night's lineup, Travis Buck has been placed on the 15 day DL. Former Yankee farmhand Matt Carson has been called up to take Buck's roster spot. Carson gets the start in left and will bat eighth.
Rajai Davis CF Daric Barton 1B Ryan Sweeney RF Kurt Suzuki C Jake Fox DH Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B Adam Rosales 2B Matt Carson LF Cliff Pennington SS
The Yankees participated in this contest last year as well. Polly Tompkins served as the Yankees bat girl during the May 20th game against the Orioles. She was graciously hosted by Nick Swisher, who caught the ceremonial first pitch from her, and proceeded to have a pretty good game for himself.
I'm happy to see continued participation in such events by the Yankees and their players. While it's easy for others to push or embrace the "Evil Empire" persona, the Yankees did an outstanding job last year in giving of their time and talents to reach out to the community and support worthy causes. HOPE Week was a great success in July, and coincidentally or not, their charitable initiatives off the field often ran parallel to extended stretches of success on the field.
We all support the team when it comes to what happens between the lines. I think we should all consider supporting some of these off the field efforts as well. In the grand scheme of things, they're far more important than baseball games.
In that light, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Fackin' Youkstah is allowing his facial hair configuration for Opening Day to be determined by a vote. In order to make your opinion heard, you have to donate $1 to his charity, Hits For Kids. The choices are "Fu Manchu", "Goatee", "Mustache" and "Clean Shaven".
Despite the limited options and our reputation as the most distinguished anti-Red Sox blog on the interwebz, we at Fack Youk have taken the initiative of donating $20 and voted for him to go clean shaven. Considering that Youk is a bona fide facial hair aficionado, we are guessing the thing he least wants to do is see all of his grittily-grown whiskers literally go down the drain.
Won't you, loyal readers, join in our quest to make the man shave? Perhaps the Red Sox will never abide by an upstanding grooming policy like the one the Yankees enforce, but we can do out part to make Youk look like a respectable member of society, even if it's just for a few days.
Good morning Fackers. If August is the dog days of summer, then we need a name for this time of year. Spring Training is still sixteen days away and there's virtually nothing in the way of baseball news right now. We have the Super Bowl next Sunday and then football is gone until the fall. I won't care about NCAA basketball until conference tournaments start next month and I have zero interest in the NBA at any time of year. The NHL goes on its Olympic break in two weeks. The Olympics will feature a killer hockey tournament surrounded by a bunch of other garbage I don't care about, out of which NBC will painfully try to squeeze overwrought human interest stories. In short, this is the worst time of year sports wise, and that Old Man Winter has had a death grip on the tri-state area for the past several days makes it all the worse.
That said, this Monday and next will offer a little flicker of sporting hope for me as the annual Beanpot tournament will take place in Boston. Held on the first two Mondays of February each year, the tournament features the men's ice hockey teams from the four major Boston schools: Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, and Harvard.
Clearly this isn't of major interest to the majority of our readership, but it's slim pickings this time year. Despite what some may say, the Beanpot is a great sporting event. For the schools involved, winning local bragging rights in the Beanpot is as important as winning their conference. For those of you with DirecTV or those in New England, you can catch the games on NESN. Harvard-BC is tonight at five, with BU-Northeastern at eight. The consolation game will be next Monday at five, with the championship at eight. If history holds, it will be BC and BU squaring off for the pot, with my Eagles looking to avenge losses to their arch rivals last Friday and last month at Frozen Fenway. And if you're looking for a remote Yankee related angle on the tournament, Harvard is coached by former Bruin, Islander, and Ranger forward Ted Donato, whose brother Danny spent three seasons in the Yankees' minor league system.
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Of course, the Beanpot is big business for our friends in Beantown, and local business are seizing upon it. Local restaurant chain Qdoba Mexican Grill is sponsoring a Rice & Bean Pot Burrito-Eating Contest for the students of the four participating schools. Aside from being an excuse to binge on delicious burritos, it's for a good cause. Proceeds from ticket sales to the contest finals will benefit the Kevin Youkilis Hits for Kids Foundation. We spew an awful lot of venom at Mr. Youkilis in these parts, but I think we can all agree that this is a worthy cause. If attending a competitive eating contest isn't your thing, you could still get in on the act by purchasing the "Youk Burrito" at Massachusetts Qdobas. Not only will a portion of the sale benefit the Foundation, but consuming the burrito is thought to help you grow hideous looking facial hair and develop a ridiculous looking batting stance. We encourage all our Massachusetts Fackers to take part.
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Lastly, in NYC-based charity news, Bernie Williams be performing tonight at Feinstein's at Loews Regency, located at 540 Park Avenue. The show starts at 8:00 PM, and all proceeds benefit Ed Randall's Bat for the Cure, dedicated to prostate cancer awareness, education, and prevention. Also on the bill for tonight are guitarists John Pizzarelli and Earl Klugh. Klugh has recorded and performed often with Derek Trucks Band drummer Yonrico Scott, but Yonrico does not appear to be on the roster for tonight.
DOB: July, 4th 1923 Bats: Right Throws: Right Weight: 401 LB Favorite Movie: 61* and Pride of the Yankees Favorite Music: Plutonian classic rock Favorite Food: Scooter Dogs Favorite Drink: Saturn Soda Favorite Song: Take Me Out To The Ballgame Favorite Color: Yankees blue Favorite Player: Derek Jeter
Some more pertinent information:
Q: What is Blue? A: He is an alien from Pluto who loves the Tampa Yankees
Q: Why can't Blue talk? A: Although Blue is a huge Tampa Yankees fan, he has not mastered the languages on Earth
Q: Can Blue play baseball? A: He was a 2004 Plutonian All-Star shortstop back at home but would rather watch and cheer on the Yanks now. (His big feet slow him down)
Q: What does Blue do when there is no game? A: Blue visits children in the hospital, goes to schools, and loves to play catch!
Q: Where does Blue live? A: In a secret hide-away under the stadium
Minor league teams need to do all they can to cater to families and such so I can't say I have much of a problem with this.
Big Willie Style and are are heading up to the Stadium for the first time in a long while so the preview gets short shrift. It goes like this:
Andy Pettitte is coming off a strong start against the Orioles in which he threw 7 1/3 innings of one run ball but got a no decision. He struck out 8 in that game, gave up six hits and only walked 2. He started once against the A's this year, going 7 innings and giving up 2 runs on 9 hits.
Gio Gonzalez goes for the A's and he's been, um, pretty terrible this year. He's been used as both a reliever and starter, but has been especially unsuccessful in the later role. In four starts he's only managed to last 17 1/3 innings and has surrendered 22 runs. His last outing, a 2 2/3 inning 11 run debacle against the Twins, certainly didn't help his line, but he's been far from good.
Most of the time, a blog is a one way mode of communication. Only a small fraction of those who read posts make comments and an ever tinier percentage feel compelled to write an email to us saying that they enjoy the site, there is an egregious error in one of our posts or to ask why there are no women listed as contributors. It's really exciting whenever that happens because I get to connect names with the numbers I see on Google Analytics and have actual proof that writing for this blog isn't a complete and total waste of time.
Well, over the weekend I received far and away the best email in the history of the site from a reader named Giles McNamee (presumably of no relation to this man). Here it goes:
Dear Jay:
I was just over at Fenway Park with some friends who were recording your friend Youk and a couple of the other Socks players singing Sweet Caroline and Dirty Water. Youk is putting out an album for his charity.
Interesting that the Socks would play Sweet Caroline, a song which was written by a 40 year old man in tribute to an 11 or 12 year old girl, in the eighth inning of every game. “Touching me, touching you.” Think about it. This has to be on the pedophile classic hits top ten list, don’t you think?
Anyway I was there because a band I’m in laid down the instrumental tracks for the songs. As a Yankee fan, I only agreed to do this because I could then bring my kids, who are Bostonians and died-in-the-wool Red Sock fans, to meet Youk and some of the other players. Being a dad sometimes trumps being a Yankee fan... Sort of...
Anyway, I had Youk sign a ball to you because I thought you would enjoy it (see attached photo).
Shoot me an address and I will send you the ball.
Keep up the excellent work on your blog.
Best,
Giles
Pretty sweet, right? I don't gather that Giles told Youk that the person he was signing the ball for actually created a blog named after his hatred of him, but that is quite understandable. The event was for a good cause, after all.
I made sure he was okay with me turning the email into a post and his response he also added:
Four explanatory things for the record: (1) Youk’s charity is called “Hits for Kids” and it supports a number of worthy children’s causes in the greater Boston area; (2) The CD is being produced by Rounder Records and, in theory, all the bands who have played at Fenway Park (Jimmy Buffett, Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Dave Matthews, etc) are going to donate one song each to put on the album; (3) The little girl about whom Sweet Caroline was written was Caroline Kennedy which makes Neil Diamond seem even creepier; (4) My band is called EGGSLAP, a recent incarnation which includes myself and the drummer from my former band, the Rockhoppers.
So, Bostonian readers, keep an eye out for EGGSLAP appearing to a music venue near you. And if any of you happen to meet our boy Youk, you know what to do if you would like to star in your very own guest post. Operators are standing by.
Entering last night's game, Nick Swisher was mired in a long slump, hitting .102/.262/.184 for May. While he was struggling on the field, the ever-positive right fielder didn't take his troubles outside the white lines. On the heels of his charitable outing Wednesday afternoon, Swish spent some time pre-game with Polly Tompkins and her guests at the Stadium. A lifelong Yankee fan, Tompkins is battling breast cancer, and was the Yankees' honorary bat girl as a guest of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Polly threw out the first pitch, and it was caught by none other than Swisher.
Swisher went on to hit a HR in his first AB of the night, draw 2 BBs and score 2 runs. After the game, he presented Polly with the line-up card as a memento of the evening. This on the heels of Brett Gardner's visit to the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital last Friday, that preceeded his 3 for 3 performance featuring a triple and the first Yankee inside-the-park HR in 10 years. If you do good things, good things will happen for you. So in a break from our usual tomfoolery here, I'd like to ask you all to consider doing something good today.
Virtually no one can go through life without being affected by cancer in some way. I work for a medical device company that deals exclusively with cancer treatment. While we are a for-profit company, I find comfort in knowing that the work we do can help people stricken with this awful disease. My job does not entail seeing the people we aim to help, but cancer has hit close to me in recent weeks:
Last week, Mark Herzlich, star linebacker at my alma mater, reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and all around good person, announced he has Ewing's Sarcoma. A month ago he was projected as a top ten pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. Now at age 21, he has a disease with a 5 year survival rate of 70 to 80%. His prognosis is good thankfully, and I'm sure Herzy can win this.
A co-worker, universally liked and respected in the office, was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer recently. She's started chemo and is battling like a champ. It's inspiring to see how bravely she's facing this and the constantly positive outlook and good humor she's maintaining.
Another well-liked co-worker lost her father over the weekend. He had been fighting cancer for some time.
My grandmother, who can discuss the state of the Yankees as well as anyone I know, beat breast cancer four years ago. My family is now anxiously awaiting the results of tests that could indicate a recurrence.
Below is a list of cancer charities. I need some good karma, so I'm going to make a donation or two. I ask you to consider doing the same, not for my benefit, but perhaps your own, and certainly for those affected by the disease.
Yankees Universe Fund - benefits pediatric cancer care at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
American Cancer Society - A charity with which Bobby Murcer worked. Murcer lost his fight with brain cancer last year and would have turned 63 yesterday.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure - The charity that brought Polly Tompkins to the Stadium last night. MLB also partners with them annually for Mother's Day
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer - Another American Cancer Society effort. This link goes to the personal page of Shari, wife of our friend Jason at IIATM, S. Shari is participating in this event to raise money for breast cancer support and can you use our help.
Thanks for listening. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
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This image just showed up in my inbox and since we have hardly posted anything around here lately, I can't just let this sort of easy content slide. 
Some other "interesting" "facts":
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