Number of Days Until Spring Training: #23 (Mattingly)

There are 23 days remaining until catchers and pitchers report. The number 23 on the New York Yankees was last shouldered by a man that needs no introduction... Sir Donald Arthur Mattingly, a.k.a. The Hitman a.k.a. Donnie Baseball. From 1984-1987, he had the makings of a surefire Hall of Famer.

In 1984, at age 23, in his first full season in The Bigs, he finished 5th in the MVP voting after batting .343 with a 156 OPS+.

In '85 Donnie batted .324 (3rd in the league) with 35 home runs (4th), 48 doubles (1st), and 145 RBIs (1st), then the most RBIs in a season by a left-handed major leaguer since Ted Williams drove in 159 in 1949. Don's efforts were recognized with his first and only MVP award.

He had another spectacular season in 1986, losing the MVP Award vote to only pre-tractor-teeth-pulling/forehead ear Roger Clemens. In '87 he racked up 30 homers and 115 RBIs and finished 7th in the voting despite only playing 141 games. That year, Mattingly tied a major league record by hitting home runs in eight consecutive games, set a major league record by hitting six grand slams (somehow, the only 6 of his career) and got an extra base hit in 10 consecutive games.

Donnie's career was cut short by a series of ongoing back problems starting in 1987. He retired in 1995, a season before the longest World Series drought in Yankee history ended. Unfortunately for Yankees fans, his bad back is going to keep him out of Cooperstown. However, his outstanding career batting numbers, his amazing 1984-1987, and his 9 Gold Glove awards were recognized by the Yankees when they retired his #23 and placed a plaque in Monument Park to honor him on August 31, 1997. His plaque reads:

"A humble man of grace and dignity, a captain who led by example, proud of
the pinstripe tradition and dedicated to the pursuit of excellence, a Yankee
forever."

On a personal note, I love Don Mattingly. He is my favorite Yankee of all time and the reason I started liking the Yankees in the first place. I saw him at training camp in 1991 and he gave me a baseball which he then signed a few hours later. I was seven years old then, 24 now, and that ball still adorns my dresser.

God Bless the Yankees, God Bless Don Mattingly, and God Bless these United States of America.

Doug Gottlieb: A Poor Man's Jeremy Schaap?

Yanks Settle With Nady

First from MLBTR, The Yanks avoided going to arbitration with Xavier Nady by settling with him for $6.55M. PeteAbe points out that he nearly doubled up his salary. It's a little higher than most of the estimates I heard before, but no so much that it will affect his trade value.

Good for you, X. You rode that extremely high BABIP you had last year into the best season of your career. Your .305 batting average was .25 higher than your next closest season. Your OPS+ was 128, 19 points greater than any other year. Unfortunately for the team you end up playing for, you're probably coming back down to earth in 2009.

[Update: 6:45] Melky Cabrera has also settled with the Yanks for $1.4M. Only Brian Bruney remains.

National Non-Productivity Hour [Non-Sports]

I know everyone watched the Inauguration just now. A few (apolitical) things.

Seriously, what the fuck is this? CNN, how does this make you any money? Yay, we can all comment on each other's Facebook status!!1!1! Not sure if you can read it, but one of my Facebook "friends" is saying that Biden's wife is hot and two people are agreeing with him.

Did you know that Rick Warren's Saddleback Church is located on Brokeback Mountain? True story...

Good to see Dick Cheney in a wheelchair. Pretty apt metaphor for how the previous administration left the country. Drown in the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool you evil bastard. (oops, was that political?)

The song that Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Pearlman played was called "Air and Simple Gifts"? Wow. If you are going to write a song with no words for a specific event, don't you think the title should at least have a tangential reference to the proceedings? That sounds like the intro song for a Lifetime movie. And also, that guy on the clarinet couldn't hold Kenny G's jock (panties). If anyone talks to him, please tell him he was awesome in Season 2 of The Wire for me.

Ladies and Gentlemen: The black Andy Rooney...

The Next Great Debate

Yes, the "Next Great Debate" (that's sure to be played out by the time I'm done writing this post.)



What position would LeBron play if he was in the NFL?

In that freeze frame above, it looks like he's lined up wide, but #23 is a RB's number. He's listed at 6'8" 240 or 250 (or 6'9" 270). We'll go with 6'8" 250, close enough. He could be a defensive end, but he's probably not quite bulky enough. He could be a linebacker, but I don't think he's mean enough. I think most people agree that he should be on the offensive side of the ball at a skill position. It basically boils down to RB or WR.

Am I the only person in the world who thinks that LeBron should be a running back?

There is one thing every single person who disagrees with me says: "He's too big". Is he? Being large in and of itself is not a bad thing, it's a good thing. It's the things that come along with being unnaturally massive that those doubters are referring to. Freakishly tall people's bodies break down because our infrastructure just wasn't made to support that much weight, except in very rare cases like LeBron, who I assume was genetically engineered in a laboratory under the NBA headquarters on Madison Avenue. The thing that makes him such a transcendent athlete is that he has the quickness and agility of someone much smaller than him.

The tallest RB in the NFL right now is Brandon Jacobs (6'4" 264), and truth be told, LeBron would be tied for the tallest WR ever in the NFL with Harold Carmichael. Kobe recently claimed he could play wide receiver for the Eagles (via Deadspin). I'm not sure I've ever heard of that franchise, but I agree with that casting. Kobe (6'6" 205, er 220?) [Ed note: Can we get these fuckers on a scale and get this straight?] is built a lot more like Randy Moss (6'4" 210) than LeBron is. He's lean and graceful, and could never take the pounding necessary to carry the ball even 10 or 15 times a game. LeBron is a whole lot sturdier than Kobe.

What it really comes down to is the injury factor. If LeBron could stay healthy as a RB he would be more valuable that he would at WR. It's almost exactly the same conundrum you have with Joba Chamberlain. In both cases, you have a freakishly gifted athlete who could probably play two different roles. The more valuable one seems like it would create a greater potential for injury.

Running backs get hit almost everytime they carry the ball, but at the same time, they have more control over how they get hit. You rarely see a RB take a crushing blow (Willis MaGahee not withstanding). They develop a sense of how to cushion the blows, while a wide receiver can get blindsided going over the middle in a way a running back is rarely going to. LeBron is tremendously shifty for a guy his size and would be extremely hard to tackle. Evidenced by his incredible passing ability on the hardwood, he's the great vision and awareness necessary to find seams in defenses.

Brandon Jacobs runs a 4.56 40 yard dash and on a basketball court, he'd probably lumber down the floor like a C or a PF. LeBron blasts down the floor to the tune of a 4.4 40 and runs the break like a PG. Please direct your attention to the video below and then tell me King James couldn't blow open any counter rush or screen pass and take it to the house.

Pettitte Ultimatum Must Be Issued

I have had it with Andy Pettitte.

This guy thinks he deserves more than $10MM, given his August/September splits and the current state of the economy? Ridiculous. Andy, you have made $108,082,416 in your lifetime (not including endorsements). What the fack is a few million? Seriously. If you truly cared about the Yankees and pitching in the new Yankee Stadium you would have signed by now. But it is now clear that you do not and all you care about is money.

Spare me this loyalty crap. The Yankees handled your HGH/Mitchell report affair with grace. If the Yankees had any true principle, they wouldn't even consider bringing back an admitted steroids user.

If you are so valuable then why haven't other teams signed you?

Screw the Hendricks Brothers. They already made out like bandits from the ridiculous Clemens comeback contract.

Brian Cashman needs to issue an ultimatum. Sign by a particular date or be gone. The emotions of Yankees fans notwithstanding, the team will not be losing much. You can be easily replaced. Anybody can put up a 5.00 ERA, including those who make the league minimum.

[Ed. Note: According to MLBTR, for $2M more than what Pettitte is asking ($16M), you could get two years of Ben Sheets]

Number of Days Until Spring Training: Martinez (#24)

There are now only 24 days until Pitchers and Catchers report to George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. 24 is most notably Tino Martinez's number.

In his two stints with the Yankees, he hit 192 homers and drove in 739 runs. Tino was renowned for his defensive skills and timely hitting (see: Game 1, 1998 World Series vs. Trevor Hoffman, or Game 4 of the 2001 Fall Classic against Byung-Hyun Kim). In my opinion, he is the best 1B to never have won a Gold Glove.

His best season statistically came in 1997, when he was second in the American League in home runs and RBI (with 44 and 141 respectively), and finished second in AL Most Valuable Player voting.

In 2008, Martinez agreed to be a special instructor for the Yankees to help their first basemen with defensive skills. An all-around class act and nice guy. I remember talking to a him a few times during my 4 year "prison" stint in Boston. One of the nicest guys you ever want to meet.

Most admirable was his ability to replace longtime fan favorite Don Mattingly.

Syracuse v. Pittsburgh Recap

Alright, well that game sucked ass. First of all it was pretty sloppy on both ends with a combined 23 turnovers. 'Cuse was flat all night and the Blair and Young for Pitt were too much.

Here are some observations:

First of all the student section at Pitt has the worst name ever, the Oakland Zoo.

They had this dipshit announce the starting five and I thought he was from an actual Zoo in Oakland, CA (even though I don't know if they even have one.) During this interview this guy also said that he started at Pitt in 2001, and for those of you who have been in college that long, that means you should be a fucking doctor by now.

My main problem with this game was the refs. From the very beginning they were calling minor calls and stopping the game to discuss calls, just trying to make their presence known in the game. This happens all the time in both football and basketball and it pisses me off to no end. Just a small example, Routins hit a 3pt shot from about a foot behind the line. They stop the game for about 2 minutes to review. What the fuck is that?

"How much does Pitt need to win by again?"

The biggest BS call in this entire game was the technical on Harris for talking shit to a Pitt player. This was ridiculous because Blaire threw (dropped) the ball on Onuaku's lap after he got called for the charge, which is blatant taunting but wasn't called. I think that is fine but then to call a taunting T on Harris later makes it bullshit.

Anyway, that game sucked, I kind of figured 'Cuse would lose in Pitt, so fuck it. The Orange are off until next Sunday at 12PM when they play #9 Louisville. Look for the game preview on Friday or Saturday.

P.S. - Lavence Fields is still gay.

Sucking a dick? You decide.

Syracuse v. Pittsburgh Preview: I Hate Levance Fields Edition

Tonight's match-up should be a really good game between two heated rivals. Cuse is coming off a strong win against Notre Dame while Pitt was just handed their first loss. There is a lot to be said about this game but I am not going to get into that. What I am going to discuss is how much I hate Levance Fields.

It might just be me, but Fields is one of those guys that it seems like he has been playing for 7 years. [Ed. Note: During the broadcast Jay Bilas said "Doesn't it seem like Levance has been there for 7 years?"]
The thing about him is that I don't think he is that good, but he somehow pulls his shit together every time he plays Cuse.

So in honor of my hatred of Levance Fields and the overwhelming response to the hatred of Luke Harangody here are some similarly gay pictures of Levance Fields for your enjoyment.

(Just to clear up a few questions I have got, I know Harangody scored 26 pts on Cuse, but when you do that while taking 28 shots, all that means is you suck AND you're a ball hog.)

"Guess who!?!?!"...................................Eddie Curry?




"I hate you. I HATE YOU...... I fucking love you!!"

Levance can juggle balls while doing other stuff (semi-NSFW.)

"OOOOO, you know how I like it!!!"

Fuck you Levance, LETS GO CUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy the game.

Number of Days Until Spring Training: Teixeira (#25)

There are now 25 days until Pitchers and Catchers report to George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. 25 is Mark Teixeira's number.

Teixeira, who will replace the old #25 Jason Giambi at first base, and presumably will bat 3rd, comes to the Bronx after stops in Texas, Atlanta and Los Angeles (or is it Anaheim?).

For his career, Teix has a .290 BA/.371 OBP/.533 SLG for an OPS of .904. The 28-year-old, switch-hitting Portuguese slugger has 203 career HR and 676 RBI.

Teixeira has twice won the Gold Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award.

In 2005, Teixeira became the third switch-hitter in MLB history, after Eddie Murray and Chipper Jones, to hit at least 20 home runs in each of his first three seasons. He is also one of just five players in Major League history to hit at least 100 home runs over his first three seasons, joining Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Ralph Kiner, and Eddie Matthews as well as current first base star, Albert Pujols. Other players - Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Todd Helton, Ryan Howard - have hit 100+ home runs in their first three full seasons. His 2005 total of 144 RBIs is a Major League record for a switch hitter. Teixeira signed a contract worth $180M over 8 years with the New York Yankees. His contract is the 3rd biggest in the history of the organization.

Tune in Tomorrow For #24.

It's Okay Guys, Let It Out

Check Out This M_____f____r [Creep Of The Week]

It really came down to the wire, and I know that it is technically "next week", but this guy really took [Creep Of The Week] by the horns. Yes, that's him there in the Santonio Holmes jersey.

And the capri sweatpants...

This asshole was calling for the Steelers to challenge Santonio Holmes' near touchdown in the first quarter, and I'm like "WHY??!?!" You have four tries to punch the ball in from the six-fucking-inch line". Of course, the challenge totally backfired and they ruled the play an incomplete pass, at which point, my compatriots and I enjoyed a hearty guffaw.

He was walking around the bar chanting "Let's go Steelers (clap, clap, clap clap clap)" when Willis McGahee was on the ground with a huge crowd gathered around him, which NEVER happens in a football game unless someone is seriously fucked up. After the vicious hit Ryan Clark laid on him, McGahee was splayed on the field, vacillating between twitching spasmodically and laying totally motionless. It was eerie to every person in Bourbon Street except this incomprehensible piece of shit.

We actually watched the game with some Italian kids we met the night before named Ricardo, Ricardo and Eduardo (did I mention I'm not gay?), and fulfilled our offer to extol the virtues of American Football to them. They couldn't understand why there were so many commercials, but were thoroughly impressed by the ridiculous brutality of the "match", as they continued to call it.

When we walked into McAleer's Pub, our waitress asked how we were doing, to which I responded "Not as good as you..."


Nothing prettier than snow in the city.


Good night, great weekend.

Oh No He DIT-ENT

There is just too much comic gold in this picture to pass up. This was taken shortly after Akers sent a kickoff out of bounds. Andy Reid is clearly livid, the little guy absolutely can't believe what Andy just said, and the dude between them looks like he just pulled up to a urinal at a Thruway rest stop.

(The reflection on Andy Reid's head is my faggy lampshade, and I'm not about to go through this process again)

Aaaaand Akers misses an extra point! Charming. No footage of sideline confrontations, however.

Jeff Feagles would have never let this happen.


LACES OUT, DAN!