Yankee fans are insufferable.

Check this comment left at Bronx Banter this morning:

Additionally, while I am very pleased that the Yankees are in a tie for first place after such a shit storm first 25% of the season, beating the Rangers two out of three in Arlington eerily reminds me of taking two out of three in Toronto after losing the first one to Halladay. In other words, I’m not very impressed when they do what they are supposed to do against a bunch of “Meh.” Let’s see them win a series against Philly, or Boston, or the Mets in a convincing fashion you know, over one or more of the better teams in baseball instead of the pretenders in Toronto and Texas on the road before we start making confetti for their parade down the Canyon of Heroes.

So let me see. 12 wins in their last 15 games. 2 out of 3 from the then leaders in the AL East, and the leaders in the AL West. They swept a Minnesota team that just kicked Boston’s ass. All that without Posada. Yep, the Yankees better get their shit together, first place is not fucking good enough.

I totally understand why people hate Yankee fans.

This sounds unnecessary.

Via Rob Neyer, Steven Soderbergh is shooting for new heights of realism as he makes the Moneyball movie

“We have the dramatic building blocks, so the question is how real can we make the world?” …My clearly stated goal is to set a new standard for realism in that [sports] world.”
To that end, he’ll be recreating the bowels of Oakland Coliseum – where the A’s play – on a soundstage and filming at actual American League stadiums around the country. And since he has the cooperation of the MLB, “Moneyball” will also be able to use actual game footage from the 2002 season.

Sounds terrible first of all, because despite the best intentions, baseball games don’t really make good movies. The best baseball movies aren’t about baseball games, they’re about the characters who play the game or are involved with the game. The Natural for instance is a great baseball movie. I wouldn’t say the game footage is all that realistic, but it doesn’t matter, the characters are compelling, the acting is great, the dialogue is just cheesy enough but not enough to make you want to squirm.

That’s the thing with Moneyball. Moneyball is really not a book about baseball, it’s a book about logic, and economics, and change management, and cultural revolution, and Billy Beane I guess.

Frankly, I have a very easy time imagining a Moneyball movie that doesn’t have any ‘game shots’ at all and still works great.

Jim Caple is right.

Now I have to light myself on fire.

The NBA doesn’t have any sort of PED problem.

But it’s tattoo problem is fucking out of control.

Another reason that MSM might be failing.

On ESPN.com this morning there’s an article about some basketball guy called John Wall. It seems Wall was arrested for breaking and entering, but here’s the part that smacked me in the eyeballs:

According to the report, a police officer detained Wall, 18, after observing him leaving out the back of the home

Is Busta Rhymes in charge of copy editing over at ESPN.com?

I get that Verlander is real good…

nonetheless, I’m getting pretty fucking sick and tired of “tipping my cap” to all the pitchers who have shut the Yankees down over the past few seasons.

Starters, not Finishers

On the average MLB team, the starters pitch 65% of the innings and the bullpens pitch about 35%. Currently the Yankees are at about 60-40. You could argue that Wang’s disasterous outings are skewing that number and you’d be right, but Andy Pettitte is skewing it right back.

Now you might wonder, is the problem with over burdening the bullpen, the fact that our bullpen isn’t very good, or is our bullpen not very good because they are being overburdened. I’m not sure. I don’t think our pen is as bad as it has looked, and I believe part of the problem is that it’s being stretched frequently in the early going.

The real problems here are with Wang, and that’s sorta being addressed, and Joba, who had one start where he went 75% of the way, but two others where he only went 50% of the way. Sabathia has been a little inconsistent too. If the starters can get deeper into games, I think our pitching situation will improve greatly.

Scouting Report: Do the Yankees do that?

For the last few years, I’ve had this gut feeling based on nothing more than frustrations, that the Red Sox do a better job of scouting the Yankees than vice versa.

Does anyone know anything about advance scouting. Might the Red Sox be better prepared to exploit our weaknesses than we are? It just seems like they always have us on our heels a little bit.

Ok, a lot bit.

April 14 v. Tampa: Some Bad Motherfuckers.

If I could paint a picture of last night’s game and frame it and hang it on the wall with soft lighting and an expensive frame, I would. If the Yankees 2009 season can resemble last nights game, we’re in for a fun summer.

Why do I love this game so much? Let me count the ways.

1) From the jump, Apple Jacks was dealin. He needed to give the bullpen a rest, and he needed to be efficient and he was. A no hitter through 6 and not a no-hitter that can be snarked about “A 9 walk no hitter.” He walked one, and just flat out dominated a good hitting team.

2) A little swagger. Garza knocked Swish down with a fastball, Swish got up and took Garza out of the park. Then Burnett sent Longoria to the deck. Don’t fuck with the Yankees.

3)Swisher’s continued awesomeness, HR, Double, need me to pitch tonight? No? Cool. Just let me know.

4) Burnett’s awesomeness. Even better than the 6 innings of no hit ball were the two innings that transpired after the no hitter was lost. Burnett gave up 3 consecutive singles in the 7th. But instead of melting down, overthrowing, losing the zone, he wriggled out of the jam with minimal damage done. In the eighth he bounced back strong and retired the side in order. Warmed my cold steel heart.

5) Jeter’s home run. Everytime I’m about to stick a fork in Jeter he jumps off the BBQ and smacks me in the face.

6) Brian Bruney throwing fucking laser beams past the Rays to end it. That was brilliant, they couldn’t even foul anything off. When Brian Bruney is feelin’ it, he’s a force to be reckoned with.

Of course the one fly in the soup last night was that Xavier Nady might have blown his elbow out. But I’m not gonna dwell on that right now.

Your Attention Please

All of those folks who thought the Yankees would be better off without Alex Rodriguez….you are wrong. This guy might have a great box jump but he’s pretty bad at things like hitting a baseball, catching a baseball, and throwing a baseball.

Also, Brett Gardner, for all his game changing speed has looked pretty darn pathetic in the field this season. Also, he can’t hit. At all.