Or, ya know…

…we could just like, do it tomorrow? Cool? Ok, cool.

Guys, get the tarp.

It’s About Time.

Enough with the hoopla, let’s play some baseball. I have to imagine that today is like the greatest day of the year for the players. Imagine waking up this morning, and knowing that your job starts to mean something today, and that for the next six months, you’re going to be part of a whirlwind of spectacle and competition, and that it all starts today.

It’s gotta be like Christmas Morning for Jeter and A-Rod and the rest of them.

Blue Jays today. Let’s kick this thing off right.

Via LoHud, here’s the lineup for today:

Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Posada C

Matsui DH
Cabrera CF

I think this is pretty decent, the one change I might make would be to move Damon down, something like this maybe:

Abreu RF

Jeter SS

Matsui DH
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Damon LF
Cabrera CF

At this point in their careers, I think I want Matsui getting more PAs than Damon. I’m also sorta in the Free Scott Patterson camp, but he’ll probably get a chance before it’s all said and done. Besides that, I’m fired up.

Singalong Blog Post

You know how people with blogs like to tell you what’s on their Ipod or “what they’re listening to lately” like you really give a shit? Well, I’d like to take that one step further, and sing you the song that I’m currently listening to on my Ipod.

But then, it occurs to me, that you can’t hear me and I never get past the first round of American Idol try-outs. So I’d like to sing for you, on my blog. This is especially fun if you roll your cursor over the photos. Trust me on that part.

Ahem….Me me me me me….and cue the music.

I want a

With a mind like a

I want a girl who knows what’s best.

I want a girl with

And

 

Like

I want a

with the right

Who’s

and thorough and sharp as a

She’s playing with her

She’s

She’s

And picking up slack.

I want a girl with a

and a

I want a girl who gets up

I want a

Who

I want

Who uses a

To cut through

With

Like

And  a voice that is dark like

She is

and thorough and sharp as a

She’s

And picking up slack.

I want a girl with a

and a

My Fake Baseball Career.

Since opening day is like, just dragging it’s feet getting here, I thought I’d tell you about my imaginary Yankees team on Playstation3.

I play MLB 08 ‘The Show,’ it’s a visually great game, and while the controls are a wee bit simplistic, it’s a whale of a good time to play guys named N00B08FTW! online.

Last night I played some dude who was using the Red Sox. I started Ian Kennedy, he started Beckett.

Kennedy threw a one-hitter through 6 and a third. Unfortunately, in the second inning, he plunked Ortiz with a two strike slider that ran too much, and Varitek hit a ball into the right field gap that neither Melky or Abreu could make a play on. Melky lept at the wall, fell down, and allowed the ball to elude him.  Varitek ended up legging out a triple, and  Ortiz scored. 

After that, it was lights out for the beantowners. Meanwhile I got to Beckett for a few hits here and there, but wasn’t able to push anything across until the sixth. A-Rod hit a monster home run to left center to tie the game.  And then the battle of the bullpens was on.

I went to Farnsworth and Joba, to get through the 7th, 8th and 9th. Both pitched scoreless innings. Meanwhile, my opponent brought Timlin in in the 8th to get out of a 1 on 1 out jam. He did. But with the game tied going into the bottom of the 9th, he made the curious decision to stick with Timlin instead of going to Okajima or Paps.

Jeter made him pay for that.

Leading off the 9th,  Jeter dug in, looking for a slider away, but at the last minute though  read the pitch out of Timlin’s hand, a fastball in. Jeter made the adjustment, pulled his virtual hands in, and spun on the lukewarkm heater sending it into the left field stands, and sending the Stadium into mass pandemonium.

Chalk one up for the good guys. Tonight, maybe I’ll play the Mets. That is if I don’t break my TV playing Call of Duty 4.

Maybe Tommy Bahama is the safe way to go.

You just know that Gary Sheffield helped Jeter pick out this suit.

Porn-Zilla and his Bride

Hideki Matsui got married to a cartoon lady yesterday. Best part, she sure is pretty, worst part, paper cuts on his Hanzo.

Oh brother Part I

As you may or may not know, I have a love hate relationship with WasWatching.com

In one of his latest posts, WasWatching blogger, Steve Lombardi drops the following headline on us: “TSN’s Pinto: Rays Pitching Better Than Yanks Staff.”

What the fuck??? But I thought Hughes and Joba and Kennedy were going to strike out every batter they face this year. I thought that on many occasions we’d see hitters just resign the at bat after two strikes!!! And, and you mean to tell me that that S.O.B Pinto is saying that Tampa’s hurlers are better than ours????

Well, fuck me gingerly with a catcher’s mitt! Apparently all this hoopla about Phil Hughes and Ian Whateverthefuck has just been a lot of hogwash!!

Oh, wait, yeah good point, maybe I should read what Pinto actually said:

The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays have a mix of outstanding veterans and talented young pitchers… Tampa Bay, however, stands a good chance of becoming the class of the AL East. The Rays show strength in eqERA and innings pitched at every level. With only three-tenths of a run separating the top from the bottom, these four teams should produce great pitching matchups as they face each other 108 times during the 2008 season. The Full Pinto Artice at TSN.

It’s an interesting piece, and it’s not thoroughly surprising either. Young starters like Hughes, Kennedy, and Bucholz, are hard to project and there’s a lot of risk involved with them. So based on projections I’m not at all shocked to see the 4 AL East teams so close. I guess we’ll have to, oh gee, um, play the games to see whose rotation is the best.

Unfounded Predictions: Preseason Set

With no time for analysis, and nothing really bugging me at the moment, here are some completely off the top of my head predictions for the Yankees 2008 season:

1) Giambi’s batting line for the season is .292/.406/.516 , and he plays in 112 games.

2) Abreu and Matsui finish the season with the same number of home runs: 24

3) Jeter spends at least a month on the DL.

4) Joba Chaimberlain  thrives in the set up role, and will never become a starter.

5) Johnny Damon puts up the following line .267/.311/.401 and rides a lot of pine.

6) Mike Mussina loses his spot in the rotation by the All Star Break.

7) Ian Kennedy makes the All Star Team.

A-Rod only has 17 home runs at the break.

9) The Yankees lead the AL East by 3 games at the end of April, 5 games at the end of May, and it’s a dead heat at the break.

10) Phil Hughes gets sent down at least once this year to work on “mechanics.”

11) At least one of these will prove to be sorta right.

A total set up.

PeteAbe is reporting that Girardi officially announced that Joba will start the season in the bullpen and be used in the “back end of games.” I’m not sure that I want Joba doing the set up job again if the long term vision is to move him into a starter’s job someday soon.

I think they need to put Joba in situations where he needs to pace himself, and use all of his pitches and that doesn’t sound like a set up man to me.

The risk is that the more one or two inning appearances he makes, he could forget the starting mentality, and let some of his secondary pitches atrophy.

He’s a professional and he’s surrounded by professional coaches, so maybe I’m worrying about nothing, but I don’t think the Yankees can be too careful with this dude. 

Orly?

I’m not sure why Girardi would say this:

A cool change: Going from the warmth of Tampa to the cool air of the mountains might have been difficult for the Yankees, but manager Joe Girardi was pleased with the climate change. Temperatures were in the high 40s and low 50s yesterday, with a chilly wind and little sun. “If we get an Opening Day (in New York) like this, I’ll be doing cartwheels,” Girardi said. “I think this is really good for our club. I think this is beneficial.”

The Yankees are a home run offense, and the ball tends not to travel as far in colder weather. Also, for some of the Yankees thirty somethings, I would guess that cold weather might slow them down a little. Based on nothing but anecdotal recall, I feel like I remember the Yankees not playing so great in cooler weather.

File this one under, be careful what you wish for.