So far this season, Alex Rodriguez is batting .381 with five homers and 13 RBI. He is the first Yankee in all of the Yankee's storied history to ever hit five home runs in the first six games of the season. In all of last April he had five homers and now he has matched that. Not only that but he is getting more and more comfortable in the field and is making some great plays. Hopefully he just continues and has a monster year...and continues it into the playoffs.

On top of that, Carl Pavano pitched strong today. Pettite can make up for his first start and Mussina can finish up the series after him. This feels like our year, I am going to go sometime this week to the sports store to buy another Yankees jersey.

Great start from Pettite today that Rivera blew--literally. He even had him on a full count with two outs. That is a tough way to lose, especially since we seemed to have runners on base the entire game. Keep in mind that A-Rod's sacrifice fly that scored Damon would have been a three-run blast if it was hit like two feet harder. Tough loss, but I will take it knowing that it is very rare when that happens, what with Rivera being the best closer of all time and all.

What is horrible news is the fact that Mussina and Pavano are going on the fifteen-day DL. Only good from this is that it is barely April, but still.

There are two certainties in the baseball world.

1. The Phillies will break my heart every year.

2. Everyone who has played for the Yankees since 1995 has a spot reserved for them in the deepest ring of Hell. (Yes, that includes you Brien "Urkel" Taylor and you Josias Manzanillo. Don't even think for a second that we forgot you.)

The Cubs can't win at Wrigley again. 1-4 at home? Come on, guys.

Well, well, well, the Yankees did it again and more specifically, as a team, with the ending sealed by Alex Rodriguez. The poor Indians must be reeling after losing that 6-2 lead in the 9th and everything was done with 2 outs. How much better can it get?

Well of course, there is that three-game series with the highly-overrated, wildly-hated Red Sox coming up. A series that should fuse some incendiary moments. The Red Sox aren't even that good, Manny and Ortiz aren't batting over .300 and Josh Beckett's record only looks good because only when he pitches do the Red Sox bats seem to come to life.

Sorry that the Yankees are so good guys. I know that your hatred is boiling up to the point where you say something like this:

quote:

Originally posted by P-Bo:
2. Everyone who has played for the Yankees since 1995 has a spot reserved for them in the deepest ring of Hell.

but too bad. Hopefully the pitching can keep us in the games and the Yankees continue to swing the bats well.

Are you trying to bait us?

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
Sorry that the Yankees are so good guys.

I'm surprised you're not an Astros fan, being from Texas FKA.

I'm with P-Bo. The Yankees are the devil.

Who knew that FKA was completely and utterly devoid of a soul?

Regardless, last I checked, if the regular season were to end today, they wouldn't even be in the playoffs. "So good" indeed.

Haha, well the bait worked.

You guys know they are good, hypothesizing as if the playoffs started today is futile and not even relevant. There are at least more than 140 games left for all teams and so much can happen. I have plenty of soul, I have stated this many times before but I liked the Yankees before they were the best team in baseball. This was a time when Toronto was the best team in the AL East and Wade Boggs was still a Red Sock. I liked them when Ken Griffey Jr. came sliding home, back when Seattle still played in a dome, and defeated us in the first round of the playoffs. Or even a year later when Joe Torre stepped in and we beat the heavily-favored Braves. This was a time when I was still a young kid fighting the sandman to be able to stay awake and watch Jim Leyritz win the game with an improbable home run. A time when the Braves pounded us in the first two games of the series before we came back and won the whole thing. Before everyone and their mom and grandpa and dog and second cousin and mailman became a Yankee fan. So as you can see, I have plenty of soul. I utterly love the Yankees and am looking forward to this three-game series with Boston. I knew you were just joking MajorNougat but I still had to point out that I didn't just like the Yankees when they started winning.

And ericg75, although I do love the Cowboys and Spurs as my respective NFL and NBA teams, I am a die-hard Yankees fan. I was still old enough to see some of Nolan Ryan's flashes of masterful pitching but the Astros never did it for me. Although I am a Texan, the Yankees are my team and I state that proudly—win or lose.

Heh, yeah, hypothesizing about the playoffs starting is almost as ridiculous as thinking that A-Rod has actually turned a corner.

Well, glad to see my soul comment bait also worked then.

Anyways, I was a big time Orioles fan. Then Jeffrey Maier and Armando Benitez happened, right before Peter Angelos ruined the club... and now I'm just a complete baseball cynic. I pull for both the Os and Nats still, but mostly I feel like my team has won the World Series whenever the Yankees are eliminated(the Red Sox are starting to annoy me too).

I wouldn't worry about your pitching though. If it doesn't get better, I'm sure the boss will just acquire completely new pitchers at the trade deadline. Now that doesn't mean it'll actually be good enough to win in the playoffs, but it'll get you there.

Why does anyone dislike the Yankees? I mean, besides the fact that they have more money than anyone else? Sure they have money but it isn't like they attain this money illegally. They have their own TV network, the stadium always sells out, if anything, they really know how to make money.

Funny thing is that A-Rod obviously has "turned a corner." A good depiction of this is the fact hat he might be only having the best April in the history of baseball. I don't know about how the playoffs will be, I want A-Rod to do well so much but the playoffs are still six months from now. The pitching staff should fix itself with Wang expected back soon and Moose and Pavano a little after that. I would personally love for Clemens to come in, he would fit perfectly.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
Why does anyone dislike the Yankees?

My take on the Yankees (and I get the impression others feel this way) is that given the amount of money they spend on their roster, they should be pretty good. I'd rather root for the underdog.

I'll elaborate a bit more on my Yankees stance. I was indifferent to them throughout the late 80's and early 90's. Once they started buying and winning, I started rooting against them: similarly to the way I root against the Cowboys and Lakers. I realize that they play by the rules and players knew they can sign with them for more money and have a decent chance at winning it all. There is nothing illegal about that any more than there is anything illegal with rooting against them. I will draw this comparison...

If a female doesn't like her appearance and gets a tummy tuck to build self confidence, than I have no problem with it. (Although I think it is silly.) If she gets an overhaul with a facelift, nose job, breast implants, liposuction, etc.... then she isn't the same person. I don't mind signing free agents and in this day and age, everyone does. I don't like how the Yankees rape smaller market teams of their talent and constantly upgrade players. It's like changing lanes in rush hour though because lately, it's got them nowhere. To be honest though, it doesn't feel right when they aren't in contention because I rather enjoy rooting against them. Sorta like when the Miami Hurricanes aren't undefeated: I get less pleasure from them losing when they aren't a powerhouse.

quote:

Originally posted by less_success:
The Cubs can't win at Wrigley again. 1-4 at home? Come on, guys.

I LOVE them anyway. I am DEVOTED to the Cubs.

Tough one today for the Yankees, huh? Kind of makes up for last night's game.

Anyways, I've been trying to elaborate on why I don't like the Yankees, but everything I start writing I realize P-Bo pretty much stated(only much more eloquently than I could have). One point in your defense though is that as much as I hate them, they give me a reason to care about baseball when the Os or Nats aren't playing meaningful games. No other team in baseball has that power.

That said, the Cowboys are my one true hatred, but I won't go down that road any further since Dan Snyder is worse than Jerry Jones and since this is a baseball thread.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
Why does anyone dislike the Yankees?

My take on the Yankees (and I get the impression others feel this way) is that given the amount of money they spend on their roster, they should be pretty good. I'd rather root for the underdog.

If you like rooting for the underdog, you should be a diehard Cubs fan, like me.

I could make the assumption that Eric is a Tigers fan. Either way, They were a true underdog last year and those are the teams I root for when the Phillies take the elevator to the bottom floor, which is pretty much every year. I just find the Yankees to be highly unlikable and the Cubbies to be loveable losers but severely confused when it comes to building a team. Ted Lilly? Are you serious? Look no further than the Buffalo Sabres as the blueprint for building a TEAM. That's a team as in "play and win together with chemistry". Not team as in "highest payroll and highest profile players".

Yeah, honestly, I feel for you Cub fans. I was pulling for you the year you were good... thought you were destined to do it for sure that year. Heh, you guys pretty much have the pity market cornered. I guess that's something.

quote:

Originally posted by P-Bo:
I could make the assumption that Eric is a Tigers fan. Either way, They were a true underdog last year and those are the teams I root for when the Phillies take the elevator to the bottom floor, which is pretty much every year.

Yeah, I'm a Tigers fan. Their story last year was great. Three years ago they lost 119 games in the reg season, then they're in the World Series. They're doing great this year too, despite Kenny Rogers being out for probably half the season.

quote:

Originally posted by P-Bo:
That's a team as in "play and win together with chemistry". Not team as in "highest payroll and highest profile players".

I think we tend to forget that the Yankees have a lot of home-grown talent on their team. Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera all started with the Yankees. They are arguably having the best year so far at their position and all should be starters (save Rivera) at the all-star game. So you already have 3 starters on that all star team, Alex Rodriguez will also start, the outfielders maybe not because well there are better ones in the AL. There is a difference between having chemisty and buying the best. However, what is lost in all of this is that the Yankees don't have the best player at every single position. They spend their money on trying to build the best possible team with the best possible amount of chemistry. At last year's trade deadline they could have spent a ton of money to bring back Alfonso Soriano but they went with what chemisty would work in the line-up with Abreu. He completed that line-up and helped protect the rest of the players in front of and behind him. They might have the best player in baseball and the best short stop in baseball but they dont have the best of everything at every other spot, especially at first base and they don't even have a pitcher that would be considered one of the top pitchers playing today. I find the Yankees to be highly likeable because they started from the bottom and have worked their way up. They play classy, wear uniforms that fit them (unlike Manny and Ortiz,) the manager doesn't chew nasty tobacco like a certain other one does, their players don't put tar on their batting helmets, and they have special players at all positions on the field. If anything, they are easily more likeable than the hated Red Sox.

Either way, a lot of you guys hate the Yankees and I obviously don't.

As for yesterday's game, Rodriguez can't do everything for them. A great start by Pettite (why they let him go the first time amazes me) was ruined by the bullpen which is supposed to be much better than that. Hopefully, things go better today.