Byrd-brained

The early information that's trickling out paints Cleveland's Paul Byrd as a fraud.

The self-proclaimed good Christian who says he would never cheat, said he was on a hormone treatment regimen that he claimed MLB and his team were aware of. He has been thrown under the bus by the Indians and MLB. The Indians who disavowed knowledge of his treatment regimen, and MLB who said he never had an exemption to receive hormone treatment with HGh. As a matter of fact, Indians GM Mark Shapiro said that his contact with Byrd concerning this issue began on Friday.

To make matters worse, Byrd obtained his prescription not from a medical doctor, but from a Florida dentist who was disbarred for fraud and incompetence.

Byrd reportedly spent $25,000.00 out of pocket for what he called a legitimate treatment for a pituitary problem. Personally, I'm a little surprised that the player's union has that bad a health insurance plan. Twenty-five grand out of pocket for a legit prescription? Yikes. That's one shitty co-pay he's got there.

Then of course there's the issue of the doctor who isn't a medical doctor and the fact that Byrd is evasive about when the problem was identified.

I would say, at this point, there is an outside chance he's telling the truth. Unfortunately, too much of what's coming out makes no sense - the doctor, the money, the source of the HGh, the evasiveness as to when it was determined he needed the treatment - in regards to a legitimate reason for taking the hormone.

Yankees braintrust - an oxymoron if ever there was one...

From 1977, Joe Torre's first year as a manager, until 1995 he had only five winning seasons. He was largely a mediocre manager until he was given the biggest freakin' payrolls in the history of American sport.

Since 1996 Torre has managed the Yankees to twelve straight playoff appearances and four World Series titles.

I am of the school that just about anybody could have success managing a line-up of all-stars either drafted or bought at every position. However, the last two seasons Joe Torre might have been the best manager in baseball.

As a Red Sox fan it pains me to say it, but given the Yankees pitching staff for the last two seasons, the fact that he got these yahoos to the playoffs both seasons is nothing short of amazing.

And as much as the Yankees are trying to make it appear that Torre turned them down, they made him an offer he had to refuse. He was fired. Twelve straight seasons in the post-season dance, and the man gets fired.

People that think that manager of the Yankees is the best job in major league sports hasn't taken a close look at the ownership they would have to answer to.

Rumor mills and reactions

With the source credited as the New York Daily News, Yahoo reported the following rumor -

the Los Angeles Dogers, Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox have the best chances of landing Alex Rodriguez in 2008. The cost? How about as much as $30 million per season?
Longer shots to sign A-Rod – this is all assuming he opts out of his contract after this season – are the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets and San Francisco Giants.

The reactions to this have been fascinating, ranging from the simple, "we'll take him," or, "we don't want him," to the reasonably well thought out post of this person -

Quit B.S.ing all you who said "Hope he doesn't come here" He's the best player
of this generation and when he's done he'll be the best ever. No true fan
wouldn't want that added to their hometown team. Don't think I say this as an
A-Rod fan, I'm a Mariners fan and have more reason to hate him than any of you
but get serious. No one can stand him here but if he were re-signed he'd get a
standing ovation for everything he did. He's that good. Like him or hate him but
don't deny he's the best and any GM who had the chance would be an idiot to pass
on him. Sure, he's had a rough time in the playoffs for the Yankees but if he
isn't on that club they don't even make the playoffs a few of those years. He's
not the problem, the pitching staff having one starter younger than Yoda is the
problem..... GO MARINERS!!!!
Posted by ateabug1 on Tuesday, Jul 10, 2007
5:21 pm EDT

It's well though out, but it's not right.

A lot is made about him being the highest paid player in the game. If he can get that sort of contract, more power to him. But he needs to go into it with the understanding that when he doesn't produce as the highest paid player in the game, the fans will come at him hard like they have done in New York. If your team is giving you the highest paid player in the game, then that player damn well better produce as the best player in the game. A-Rod hasn't.

Statistically, A-Rod is a freak. If looked at based solely on his regular season numbers, not broken down by month, or what inning he's batting in, Rodriguez looks like the best player in the game. He might end up the all-time home-run leader, and he is likely to finish his career with numbers that will get him into the Hall-of-Fame on a near unanimous first ballot.

Hell, he's the best bat the Yankees have had this season.

Despite the numbers, as a Red Sox fan, the closest I want this man to my team is on the Yankees - particularly if he opts out of his current contract in the hopes of getting a bigger contract. Why?

He's about as good under pressure as a soft-boiled egg.

When it began unravelling for the Yankees in the 2004 post-season, A-Rod slapped at Bronson Arroyo's glove as the pitcher ran to cover first in a blatant display of interference and unsportsman-like conduct. This year he yelled as he ran from second to third, interfering with the shortstop's ability to field a ball in Toronto during a game the Yankees were winning. He has been dubbed by the New York media as Mr. April - not just a shot at his post-season woes, but a knock that is meant to evoke former Yankee Dave Winfield who was dubbed Mr. May by George Steinbrenner back in 1982. At least Winfield made it to May.

These are just the tidbits that pop to mind, never mind the rumblings that he sets himself apart from his team-mates, or that a $30 million annual salary, even for the Red Sox, would make it prohibitive to go out and sign other people who might help the team.

The Angels? Historically they haven't spent anywhere near that to sign free-agents. Dodgers? I would be surprised.

The Cubs, given their recent spending, might make a run, but realistically, I think the Yankees will pony up with the biggest offer, although I could see the Mets making a serious run.

I'd rather see the Sox go out and sign or trade for someone like Mark Teixeira and move Kevin Youkilis to third if they're not going to resign Mike Lowell. As for moving him back to short? I'm not interested enough in him to even consider the possibility, which is saying a lot considering the lack of production the Sox have from Julio Lugo.

Rounding up those stray little thoughts like the sheep they are...

The NYpon Ham fighters...
Okay, so I stretched a little for a pun here, but right now the Yankees seem to be feeling a little hamstrung. Over the course of the first month of the season the Bronx Bombers have lost four pitchers including the latest casualty, pitching prospect and expected phenom, Phil Hughes to hamstring problems. Since spring training under the stretching program instituted by the Yankees new strength and conditioning guy Bobby Abreu, Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Mike Mussina each went down with ailments that could potentially be tied to conditioning and stretching issues. That's four starting pitchers and three starters for those keeping score at home.

According to the NY Daily News - "After Mussina strained his hamstring on April 11, Cashman threw his full support behind [trainers] Miller and Cavalea, saying, 'None of these injuries have anything to do with this new program.'" Yesterday Miller was shown the door, possibly in a move by Cashman to avoid that same door himself. Someone had to take the fall for the Yankees' slow start, and it appeared that the trainer was ripe for the kicking.

If the Yanks have a May like their April, rest assured there will be other heads that roll before the end of the month.

Not exactly waiting for Godot...
Josh Beckett has accomplished something in a Red Sox uni that not even Pedro did...six wins in six decisions to start the season. Only a handful pitchers in Sox uniforms equaled or topped that feat - Roger Clemens and the ole' southpaw, George Herman Ruth are among them. Not bad company to be in.

The early returns seem to be that Beckett is on course, as long as he stays healthy, for a 20-win season, even if he stumbles a bit, and a strong candidate for the Cy Young. Right now he has 6 wins (1st, which could put him on pace for close to 14 by the All-Star break), is 9th in innings pitched (39.2), 8th in strike outs (35), 9th in ERA (2.72), 8th in Walks/Hits per Inning Pitched (WHIP) with 1.06, and opposing batters are hitting only .219 against him (10th).

If he maintains these averages, he has every chance of finishing in the top five in every important pitching category. The big question is, can he do it? As a Sox fan, I sure hope so.

What is truly amazing is that in almost every one of the categories I mentioned, there is another Sox pitcher in front of him - Schilling in innings pitched, Wakefield in ERA and opponent's batting average, and Matsuzaka in strike outs.

I think Sox fans would be hard pressed to find a time in the team's history when four members of their pitching staff were in the top ten of those statistical categories over the course of any one month period of time in any season. Hitting? Sure. But pitching...

Feeling a little drafty...
As readers may have noticed, I'm not much on covering the draft, but I am going to say a couple of things about this past year's draft -

Feeling Patriot-ic - I think some good and some...well let's just say that the jury is out as to what happened here. I honestly don't know enough about Brandon Merriweather to claim he's a bad guy. Yes he was involved in a gun incident, no, the police found nothing illegal in his involvement - the gun was licensed and it was determined that he was indeed acting in self-defense. I'm not happy about it, but to borrow a Belichick-ism - it is what it is...and what it is appears to be an isolated incident.

Then there was the brawl where he was caught on film stomping on a Florida International player's head. I understand that football is a game of great emotion - when in high school I had to be restrained from going after another team's center, but I was 15 at the time, not 21.

Are these red flags? Yes. But people have been comparing this to picking Pacman Jones which I believe is...shall we say a touch of hyperbole. Jones had been arrested for assault in a bar incident in West Virginia and had a history of trouble in high school including suspensions from both school and team, I have not heard the same in the case of Merriweather. Merriweather could easily be heading in that direction, or it's quite possible that there will be nothing else along these lines. He has shown, from what I've read, little indication of following the troubled paths of Jones, Chris Henry, Tank Johnson, or even Washington safety Sean Taylor.

Trading places - The Pats made one pick on day one of what was considered a weak draft class, trading picks for extra places in next year's stronger draft. One of the big coups for the Pats was getting San Fran's number one next year. While the Niners figure to be better next year, I'm guessing it will still give the Pats a pick in the teens.

Rolling stones gather no Moss - There are a lot of positives to the Moss deal. The Pats picked up a talented player for virtually little to no real cost to themselves. The controversial wide receiver automatically makes the offense better. Currently, he's saying all the right things - even lauding Troy Brown as the best receiver to come out of Marshall. I still don't like the deal.

I don't feel they needed him to put them over the top at this point. I have no respect for a player that, "plays when I feel like it," and feel that it's the equivalent of the Red Sox going out and getting Derek Jeter (or in the past, Don Mattingly or Catfish Hunter) to play for them - it just wouldn't feel right.

More quick hits

In the news for all the wrong reasons...again
It seems my favorite Atlanta Falcon punching bag, the highly over-rated quarterback Michael Vick appears to have run afoul of the law...again, this time he has been implicated in a drug probe which has revealed, at the very least, some sort of indirect support of the illegal practice of dog fighting at a home Vick owns in Virginia. Currently a 26-year old relative who was being investigated as a drug dealer in a narcotics probe lives at the home.

According to the report, "more than 60 dogs were found in three buildings. Some appeared malnourished, scarred and injured, officials said."

Unfortunately, since Vick was not there...and I don't believe this would be his primary residence, I have a hunch that this will provide him with plausible deniability, allowing him to walk away from this dog fighting and what is yet another drug-related scandal unscathed.

I think it's interesting that trouble always seems to be hovering around this guy - whether it's as Ron Mexico, flipping off the fans, or being detained at an airport...not to mention the MySpace photos with a girlfriend and the marijuana use comments contained therein. Sure, to be fair one has to ask, "is he an innocent target?" or, "is he somebody that keeps putting himself in position to be a target?"

Just plain sloppy...
Orioles announcer and Maine native son Gary Thorne screwed up...bad. Assuming he heard Doug Mirabelli right and Mirabelli did actually say that it was paint on Schilling's sock, as someone who has worked professionally as a journalist for over a decade, here are the questions I have -

If the story is true...
1. When he first heard this, as he claims, two years ago (to the best of his recollection), as a journalist why didn't he follow up on this and get confirmation? There were plenty of potential sources to confirm -

A. First baseman Doug Mankiewicz who had a very acrimonious departure from the Red Sox.

B. Former Sox center fielder Johnny Damon.

C. Former Sox first baseman Kevin Millar.

D. The doctor, Bill Morgan, who performed the procedure and later was fired by the Red Sox.

Those are the ones off the top of my head. Keith Foulke comes to mind as well.

2. Mirabelli has a reputation as a practical joker - always has had that reputation. Wouldn't that make it more important to a reporter to confirm a story?

3. Most importantly, why would any reporter sit on a story like this for two years?

Red Sox fan or no, as a journalist I know that's something I'm working on getting out quickly and I'm making sure I have corroboration for my story. This was just sloppy and irresponsible.

28th and wondering where to go...
Right now the Red Sox are third in the majors in ERA (3.21), the Yankees 27th (4.83), the Yankees are 4th in batting average (.275), the Sox are 13th (.259). However, from the 7th inning on the Sox are 5th (.277), and the Yanks are 8th (.263) in batting and the Sox are tied for 2nd in ERA (1.83) while the Yanks are 28th (5.03). All of this has translated into the best record in baseball for the Red Sox heading into the final weekend of April. For the Yankees? A better record than only the Royals, Rangers, Nationals, and Cubs. Technically, that leaves them in 28th overall in the bigs.

How loud will the thus far quiet George Steinbrenner become if the Yankees extend their losing streak against the Red Sox this weekend? If they are swept again? If they lose two of three?

It could get really ugly really soon in the Bronx.

I know that the Yankees started like this last year, but last year they had a deeper bench and the Red Sox pitching wasn't as good as it is this year. They can turn it around. The question is, will they in time?

Let the Games Begin...

There really is nothing quite like it.

I'm talking Sawx-Yanks here.

I've been immersed in the rivalry for as long as I have followed baseball, and that brings me back to about four years old I would guess. For thirty-three of my thirty-seven years I have been through the ups and downs - the 1978 meltdown, Yaz's last game at Yankee Stadium, the mid to late 1980's when the rivalry stalled a little due to fact the Yankees didn't compete at the highest level when the Sox were going to the post-season every other year, the mid-1990's when the same was going on the other way, and of course 2004.

2004 was a very cathartic year for Red Sox fans - and at the same time it was somewhat anti-climactic. After the gut-wrenching drama (The Sox never do anything the easy way) that was the American League Championship Series between the Yanks and Sox (really, the way it needed to happen too), the World Series win over the Cardinals (which was also appropriate considering 1967) was...nice, but not momentous...well, not as momentous as the AL Championship win. That might have been why the dismantling of the Cardinals seemed almost an afterthought in that post-season.

The irony of that post-season is not lost on me either. Up until that point, the Yankees were the Beast in the East, Goliath to the Red Sox' David. They owned all the great post-season records - more World Series trophies than any other team, and more than many teams combined. The Sox? They hadn't won since 1918. The post-season record - no - the post season reputation of the Sox since? Epic collapses - 1967,1975, 1978, 1986 (and my brother is a Mets fan), 1988, 1990, 1996, 2003 (what were you thinking Grady, what were you thinking?).

But in 2004, and this must absolutely eat at George Steinbrenner, the Red Sox turned the table on their nemesis. The Yankees were just three outs away from the World Series and up three games to one over the Sox. No team in major league baseball had ever come back from down 3-1, let alone 3-1 and only three outs away from elimination. But the Sox did it, and against the pitcher universally accepted as the best closer in baseball.

Suddenly, not only were the Sox in the series, but they bequeathed their legacy upon the hated arch-rival Yanks. Suddenly the worst post-season collapse in the history of baseball was in The Bronx. There was a weird sense of relief and joy among Sox fans...even the doomsayers were looking at the nature of the rivalry with new eyes - and having trouble trying to tell fellow fans how the (Sox) world was going to end at the hands of the Cardinals. Hell - if we could beat the Yanks, the Cards would be easy.

Sure, Steinbrenner has driven up salaries around the sport. He has created a multitude of problems for small market teams trying to compete. But he has been good for the sport. He has given us a bad guy...an almost cartoonish evil villain sans any true evil. His biggest sin is that he wants to win at any cost and will try to buy a championship - but he doesn't do anything against the rules. He is the owner of the Indians in the movie Major League, or the owner of the Washington Sentinels in "The Replacements." He is the owner who lacks any real expertise, but is trying to win no matter the fiscal cost. And he is a great villain - I will miss him when he is gone.

But all of that is incidental. Tonight begins the Fair in the Fens, the Carnival by Kenmore Square. It is the only rivalry in professional American athletics that evokes a virtual post-season atmosphere for every game. Tonight and for the next three days John Updike's, "little lyric bandbox of a ballpark," will become a rocking juke joint with pilgrims from New York going to the Park with the Fenway Faithful.

With Sox-Yanks, it's not a game. It's a religion.