Crazy eights and other observations

Eight in a row after an eighth inning comeback.

Are the Red Sox in the Yankees' heads? Maybe. Maybe not. I think it's as much the fact that the Yankees just aren't constructed to hang as anything else. Yes, there are a lot of big names in there, but let's really look at this. And just for symmetry, lets look at eight reasons why the Yankees are looking up at the Red Sox after dropping eight in a row to their arch-rivals to start the season (and nine total going back to last season)...

1. CC Sabathia, the would-be ace to get the team over the hump - 5-4 with a 3.68 ERA. Only 50 percent of his starts qualify as quality starts. Solid, yes. Dominating the way an ace should be? Hardly.

2. The revamped bullpen - The Bronx Bombers are 19th in ERA after the 7th inning so far this season with a team ERA of 4.33, and the team as a whole is also 19th in ERA with men in scoring position and 2 outs at 19.73. Sure, no one has a spectacular ERA in that position (the Dodgers lead the league with a 15.86, and the Red Sox are 5th at 16.96, almost three runs better per nine innings than the Yankees). As good pitching will almost always overcome good hitting, this does not bode well for the Bombers as the season progresses.

3. Counting on Wang and Burnett - The Yankees were counting on Chien-Ming Wang to bounce back from a year in which he struggled due to injury during the first time in his career. Wangs' issues, reportedly, had to do with a foot injury. Even if he's healthy, working back from a foot injury is going to affect a pitcher's mechanics. They have also counted on the idea that AJ Burnett would dominate like he did last season. But outside of contract years, Burnett is an imminently mediocre pitcher. AJ was signed with the expectation of being the number two or three guy in the rotation. He would be the four or five guy in the Boston rotation.

4. The New Yankee Stadium - A raucus home park gives any team an advantage. A home park that can't sell a significant portion of its seats due to overpricing gives visiting teams an advantage, particularly when the team is already starting with an overrated pitching staff and has redesigned the home park to be a launching pad.

5. Better depth overall - Without starting center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, back-ups Mark Kotsay combined to go 3 for 11 (.273) with one run scored against the Yanks. On top of that, both made spectacular defensive plays in the field on what looked like sure extra-base hits. Instead, Yankees found themselves walking back to their dugout, failing to reach base. For all the talk about the Yankees combating injuries, the Sox played the series without their aforementioned outfielder, started their back-up catcher in one game, and continue to play without their starting short-stop. The back-ups thrust into starting roles this series went 9 for 26 (.346), with two home runs, 3 RBI, 7 of Boston's 17 runs scored. This doesn't even deal with the fact that the Sox bullpen can overcome a bad outing by one of its members. The Yanks' pen can't.

6. David Ortiz - Before anybody reads a whole lot into a potential resurgence of the Boston slugger, it should be noted that Ortiz is batting .263 against the Twins and then it drops again to .235 against Baltimore. There are four AL teams against which Ortiz is batting .160 or below. He's been strong batting .364 against Texas and .313 against Cleveland. He has been a Yankee killer, however, batting .321 with 8 RBI against Yankee pitching.

7. The starting rotation - The Yankee starters are a respectable 21-16, with six starters putting that record together. The Sox, with six starters, racked a 28-18 record. Both teams have logged 60 starts with Sox starters qualifying for 46 decisions and averaging just under 8 decisions per starter as well as 4 wins per starter. NY starters are averaging just a shade over 6 decisions per starter and 3.5 wins per starter. In essence, the Yankees are having to go to their bullpen with greater frequency. During the series, at least 8 of the Boston runs crossed the plate with a Yankee reliever on the mound while Sox starters logged 18 innings in three games to the Yankees' 12.1.

8. Timing - for all the to do made regarding the Yankees errorless streak, it seemed that whenever the Yanks needed a big defensive stop, or a clutch hit, the team came up short while Boston made the plays. Whether it was A-Rod's double clutching leading to unearned runs, or the Sox relievers coming up with the big stop when NY relievers couldn't, the Yankees in the first eight games of the series against the Sox have made mistakes or failed to come through at the worst possible times.

And other observations...

Vince Young wants his starting position back. I suggest he fight for it on the field rather than in the press. I suspect that he's not the only "quarterback of the future" that will end up riding the pine this season. My guess, Matt Leinart continues to ride the pine, as does Tavaris Jackson, and that Jamarcus Russell loses his starting job to Jeff Garcia.

And finally, I suspect that Michael Vick will land somewhere, but not anytime soon, and I can hardly venture a guess as to where he will land. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if no one signs him, but I think someone will at some point. Someone will think that he will make for a good option in the Wildcat, or might help their team out in some way or other. However, given a little bit of time removed from the "excitement" that is the Vick experience, I think that most personnel people have realized that he's not going to be the answer at quarterback, and for all the excitement he might bring on the field, that he's not worth the headache and lack of dedication off of it.

Changing expectations

Realistically, it doesn't behoove anyone to make snap decisions based on the first two weeks, but some pretty significant stuff has happened in the NFL's first two weeks - things with season-long implications. Some of the things even predate week one...

Shawn Merriman - let's face a couple of basic facts here...Merriman changes the complexion of the Chargers defense, and so far that defense hasn't been very good. Merriman avoided doctor recommendations to get his knee operated on at the end of last season, choosing instead to rest the knee. Then, once again ignoring the doctors who told him not to play on the screwed up ligaments, chose to play in the first game of the season. With a sub-par Merriman in game one and with his understudy in game two, the Chargers have given up 65 points through the first two games - the most in the AFC. Fourteen more than Miami, 25 more than Kansas City. The only teams that have given up more? The Lions (82), Rams (79), and Seahawks (67). Neither the Lions nor the Rams were expected to compete by anybody, and people are having serious doubts around now about Seattle.

Sure, general manager AJ Smith said all the right things about Merriman's understudy, intimating that they expected no drop off in play, but if that player were really as good as Merriman, wouldn't he be starting opposite Merriman, not playing behind him? If the Chargers cannot get it together on defense, they will be watching the playoffs from their living rooms, not from the sidelines. Period.

Vince Young - Young is as much an emotional and mental description as it is his name. I give the Titans a better chance with Kerry Collins guiding the attack than Vince Young. I don't really believe that Young beat him out in camp so much as the team was committed to going with their first round draft pick. I've said this before about Young and I will say it again - he's a talented athlete, but a mediocre quarterback. He's not committed to the game and that's the last sort of person you want leading your team in a sport where people are expected to sacrifice their bodies. To paraphrase Bull Durham, he has a million dollar arm, but a ten cent head.

My guess is that Young is the second coming of Todd Marinovich, although Akili Smith might be a better comparison. Akili Smith vaulted into the first round of the draft when he had a great senior season in college. Before that, he was on no one's radar. What people forget about Young is that he wasn't even in the discussion in regards to the top of the draft until Texas qualified for the Bowl game, and wasn't mentioned as a top five pick until their Bowl win.

I suspect that when his contract ends, he either goes away completely, or bounces around the league as a back-up for a couple of seasons before fading away.

Jeff Saturday - I'm condensing this one. Saturday, the Colt's long-time center, is one of...well, most of the Colts starting line which is injured. The Colts have struggled mightily on offense through the first couple of weekends without their vaunted line. Fortunately for the Colts, no one is looking like they're ready to just take control of the division.

Osi Umenyiora - So far the pre-season loss of Umenyiora for the season hasn't affected the Giants on defense, but his loss has a definitive impact on the team's depth along the defensive line, one of the team's definitive strengths and a reason why they won last year's Super Bowl. It might never come back to bite them as long as the team remains reasonably healthy along the defensive line. Not unrealistic. And right now this team has the best defense in the NFC East. Given that and their running game, they will compete for the playoffs.

Yes, I predicted that the Eagles and Cowboys to finish ahead of New York, but I also said I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants ended up at the top of the heap at the end of the season. With Umenyiora in the line-up the team can afford injuries to the likes of Justin Tuck. Without Osi, the Giants have to hope that the back-ups are up to snuff - otherwise that changes the landscape in the East. (My prediction assumes that an injury will happen).

Tom Brady - This injury has changed two things...the Pats offensive philosophy (2001 revival on our hands here), and the Patriots as Super Bowl favorites. Yes, this makes life harder for the Pats, but all the favorites in the AFC are struggling early while the Pats work their way through a cupcake schedule that is likely to see them go into their bye at 3-0, and meet up with the Colts with anything from a 5-2 to a 7-0 record. Not unrealistic given the fact that the prolific Denver offense has not yet been challenged by a quality defense and that neither the Chargers nor the Broncos has been able to stop anyone.

Can Matt Cassel take the team all the way? That's the great unknown in regards to the Patriots.

Seattle's receiving corps - Put simply, Seattle has lost their top receivers. Their offense has been the third worst in the NFC. Coupled with the team's defensive problems, Seattle could well be screwed.

That Deion Branch trade/signing is looking pretty weak now, isn't it?

While the jury is still out on Brandon Meriweather, the player the Pats got, in essence for trading Branch to Seattle, Branch himself has not posted the numbers of the top receiver he believed himself to be. Currently, Branch is missing games due to a knee injury, the same Branch that the Seahawks desperately need right now. The same Branch who has started 16 games only once in his career.

Am I the only one who saw this coming?

Wind Sprints...

The Red Sox are suffering from Celtic syndrome - they're having trouble buying a win on the road lately. Road Warriors they're not. At least not so far this season.

I've decided that a good knuckleballer is the equivalent of pitching Russian roulette. Sure, a good one wins more than he loses, but there's always that one start that's like the bullet in the chamber.

It was nice to see Manny finally break out of his home run drought. It's a shame that Mike Timlin couldn't help make it count for something.

The Celtics were absolutely brutal in Detroit the other night. I don't think they can afford another game like that in this series - even in a loss as that's the sort of game that will give the Pistons the confidence that they can take the series if it goes to seven.

The good news for the Yankees is that this time last year they had 21 wins and were already 13.5 games back, tied with the Rays for last place as opposed to 25 wins and only 6.5 games back. The bad news is that the Yanks are once again in last and this year they trail the first place Rays.

Speaking of the Rays being in first as we near June and we're almost a third of the way through the season - is that the third, or the fourth sign of the apocalypse?

Vince Young evidently considered retirement at the end of his rookie year, noting that his heart wasn't into the game. Yeah - the guy to whom they handed the keys to the kingdom admitted that he wasn't thrilled by football. He claims to have prayed really hard in order to realize that football was God's calling for him. I don't know about anybody else, but the couple of times that I saw Young play last season, he looked more like the guy whose heart wasn't in it than someone imbued with God's will.

Anyone else out there think that the Dallas Cowboys are a powder keg on the verge of exploding? Terrell Owens' internal clock has got to be ready to hit midnight, they now have Pacman, Terrence Newman recently threw Roy Williams under the bus, and the team made no secret about the fact that Wade Phillips' successor is waiting in the wings.

Recently attended a roller derby event in Frederick. While entertaining, the whole thing appeared to be slower than film I have seen of the sport dating back to the 1950's. Personally, I'm hoping the sport catches on. Nothing quite like a chick in fishnets and roller skates body checking another one in hot pants. I'm hoping that as the women gain experience that the sport becomes faster and more entertaining. Truth be told - I still am not sure how scoring worked.

Monday morning riffin'

Stupid is as stupid does. And people paid $30.00 to watch that.

The current numbers on Eric Gagne in a Red Sox uniform - seven runs in four innings over five games. Incredibly, that means that Gagne managed to lower his ERA for his time in Boston from 16.20 to 15.75 yesterday.

The Yankees certainly got hot at the right time - getting healthy against the bottom feeders over the last month, and then having games against struggling Indians and Tigers clubs. Of course it helps that the Bommahs are currently facing off against the only division in the American League against whom they have a winning record.

Approximately eight weeks ago the Yanks trailed by 14.5 games. Today that lead is four games. Sox fans can thank the Central for that as against the East (21-23), and the West (12-13) combined the Yankees are three games below .500 - the Central (23-7) on the other hand is having trouble buying wins against the Yanks who have a gaudy .767 winning percentage against the home division of the reigning AL champs.

Note to Vince Young - you're supposed to be the team leader. Team leaders don't get suspended from exhibition games.

Props to former Cardinals pitcher and current Cards outfielder Rick Ankiel - four games played since rejoining the club. During that time - 16 AB, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 6 K's and an on base percentage of .417. While it's pretty much impossible that he could keep this pace up over an entire season, right now this is how that translates over 500 at bats - 94 HR, 188 HR, 188 K's. The man's on fire right now, but will cool off. I just thought it was appropriate to recognize the tear he's on since his call-up.

A few bright things from Friday's exhibition match between the Patriots and Buccaneers after noting that the defense - starting and back-up alike - struggled against the run. Hopefully that works itself out. As a whole, really, it's a chance to get a look at the young talent and begin guessing who has a shot at making the team and who doesn't.

In extended time the following looked good -

Mike Wright appears to be continuing his progression as a reliable back-up, finishing the night with four solo tackles and a sack for a seven yard loss.

Linebackers Justin Rogers and Oscar Lua were active and combined for 11 total tackles (four and five solo tackles respectively) and one sack (Rogers).

Willie Andrews continues to progress, and late round draft pick Mike Richardson went step for step with one of Tampa's wide outs, almost making a highlight reel interception on a jump ball put up along the left sideline by Bucs back-up QB Bruce Gradkowski.

Just a guess at this point - but I would say keep an eye on Rogers, Lua, and Richardson.