Sox Swan Song

The term "swan song" comes from an ancient belief that a swan, which otherwise doesn't sing a song the way many birds do, sings one beautiful song before it dies. Basically it's come to mean a prelude to an ending. Anyway, I think the Sox had their swan song when they lost two out of three to the Rays over the weekend. And it was one god-awful song, like John Cage meets Celine Dion or something.

So how does a Sox fan keep interest? I feel like I represent the Sox fan who would watch every game if he didn't have a family, full time job, other interests and a life. It wouldn't matter to me that the Sox were out of the race and didn't have much to play for if my time weren't so precious to me. Then I could just watch and observe and try to make predictions for next year. I could dissect the minutiae of what went wrong during the season and think of all sorts of ways that Theo and the front office could fix it. But honestly, I have very little time for that. Call me when the playoffs start.

Pettitte Feeling Strong

Good news coming out of Yankee camp for the first time in a while. The word coming from Chad Jennings is that Pettitte felt strong after his bullpen and even dialed it up for the last 20 pitches with no adverse effects.

A healthy Pettitte would be huge for the Yankees. Like Sabathia, Pettitte knows how to battle through starts and give his team a chance to win. Having him in the fold would stabilize the front end of the rotation and eliminate some of the uncertainty that follows around either Dustin Moseley or Ivan Nova.

Plus Teixeira is back in the lineup after being pulled with a a bruised right thumb. That makes sense against the right-hander. It problem only bothers him when he hits from the right side.

Rotation Struggling As Burnett Gets Rocked

Start the doomsday whistles in the Bronx, A.J. Burnett go roughed up yet again as the Yanks fell to the White Sox 9-4. I'm sure many will start to freak out a little bit, especially considering how the Red Sox beat the Rays in Tampa and are now within five games in the loss column to both New York and Tampa.

Really though, this is A.J. Burnett and I'm pretty sure the Yankees knew that when they signed him. Hell, I'm sure every Yankee fan knew it when they signed him. He is incredible streaky and is inherently unreliable at the top of a rotation. But I think that Brian Cashman understood that and knew CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte as that reliable horses who would make sure the Yankees got through the regular season and he knew that A.J. could be a dominant playoff force if the timing was right.

Last year that happened and the Yankees won a World Series title. That same scenerio could be playing out again. The only difference is that this season the Rays are markedly improved and are hanging with the Yanks, and Pettitte is still serving time on the disabled list.

August is the second month this season when Burnett has failed to win a game. I think that is what has weighed on the Yankees. Also Burnett has not had a signature game or hot streak to bouy the doubts of fans and management like he did last year.

The problem is that the Yankees have already used their one insurance policy in Triple-A when they called up Ivan Nova to replace Javier Vazquez. They had a back-up for the back-up plan with Zach McAllister, but he pitched his way out of that role and then into a trade as a player-to-be-named-later deal for Austin Kearns. Nova will likely stay in teh rotation for a couple of turns, but the Yankees need to get Pettitte back and get Hughes back on track for the stretch run.

Even Nova is unreliable. Not that he couldn't provide the Yanks with a spark, but he is approaching an innings limit similar to Hughes and just like Hughes he is young and you just don't know whether or not he will be solid on a start by start basis.

Right now only Sabathia and sometimes Dustin Moseley (with a lot of luck) have provided the Yankees with anything resembling stability in the rotation. That's a scary thought when you say it aloud. And it means certain doom if the Yanks can't get Pettitte healthy and Burnett back on track before the playoffs.

Damon to Stay in the Motor City

Earlier this week there was speculation that Johnny Damon was headed back to Boston after the Red Sox claimed him off of waivers from the Detroit Tigers. Though he was claimed many things had to happen before Damon would switch the D to B on his cap. Damon would have to waive his no-trade clause to Boston and the Sox and Tigers would have had to work out a deal with players or dollars or both. Many thought the move was to merely prevent Damon from going to the Rays. In the end, Johnny decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to go back to Boston and I don’t blame him.

When Damon left Boston it was for one reason: $$$. Anyone would take a higher salary (about $5 million more) to do the same job at a different company and anyone who says they wouldn’t is lying. Red Sox fans crucified Damon on his return to Fenway in pinstripes. (Mick and Sully do not take well to traitors.) Damon proved he was a gamer during his 4 years in Boston and was obviously a center piece in their ’04 run. Every Sox fan should be thankful for his contributions in 2004 and buy any Red Sox of the 2004 squad a beer if they ever meet in a bar. (even Mark Bellhorn my least favorite red sox EVER.) When he left, it was a business decision and I respect that.

Damon would have been a nice addition to a 2010 Sox team hurt by injuries, but they have players (Bill Hall, Darnell McDonald, Ryan Kalish) who can fill in and be productive. The last hope of the Sox making the playoffs isn't Johnny Damon, but another Red Sox, Josh Beckett.

From The Story of One Ailing Yankee to Another

Yesterday I posted an interesting story about Lou Gehrig and the possibility that the disease that killed him wasn't really ALS but the result of numerous concussions that he suffered throughout his life. While that story has some relevance to the modern world and today's athlete, this story is purely nostalgic, yet still heartbreaking.

Time Magazine recently released color photos taken on the day of Babe Ruth's final appearance at the house that he built. Ruth made his final appearance at the Old Yankee Stadium on June 13, 1948 and passed away soon after on August 16. The photos do an amazing job at conveying how cancer had destroyed one of the finest athletes of the day and the snippets from the photographer Ralph Morse, who at 93 can still recall the details of that day, make it feel like you understand the emotion of the locker room and the stadium.

Lou Gehrig May Not Have had Lou Gehrig's Disease

Caught this article today and obviously it piqued my interests for many reasons. The first and most relevant to this forum is that Lou Gehrig is a huge part of the Yankee heritage and the idea that his streak might have actually led to his demise would change a lot in the way that the legend that is Gehrig is understood.

Another reason that this drew my attention and should draw the attention of just about every sports fan, is that concussions have a huge impact on the human brain and maybe this study and the facts it brings forth will change the standard male axiom of sucking it up. Perhaps athletes - football players in particular, I'm looking at you Hines Ward - will start to realize the impact that these injuries can have on themselves and their teammates and how they can ruin your life in a number of ways if not properly addressed.

Though it can never be proven that Gehrig didn't have ALS, hopefully any doubt that arises from this study doesn't negatively impact the awareness that Gehrig's name lends to those who fight the disease. And maybe now the NFL and other sports organizations at every level of athletics will begin to take head injuries more seriously.

Buchholz Is Lights Out Again

As I write, Clay Buchholz is helping the Sox school the Angels yet again with six shutout innings. In what will likely end up as a disappointing season for the Sox, Buchholz has been a major bright spot. Not including the present game he is 2-0 with a 1.61 ERA in his first three starts of August. On the season he is 13-5 and has an AL best 2.49 ERA. (By the way, this drives me crazy every time I look at pitching stats. This: 7.1, does not mean seven and one third. It means seven and one tenth. It should look like this: 7 1/3. I know it's not easy to represent 7 1/3 with a decimal since 1/3 is a repeating non-terminating decimal, but 7.1 is not correct.)

I'm pleased to see Buchholz develop and flourish in his first full season in the majors. He seemed to hit a snag after his no hitter in 2007. But now in my mind he has leap frogged Josh Beckett and joined Jon Lester as one of the Sox top two starters. Hopefully this a clear sign that the Sox will have excellent starting pitching for years to come.

A short football digression: I am selling the Jets right now. I just want go on record as saying that New York football's second class citizens will win not more than 10 games. If the sports media is high on your team, especially in the NFL, run for the hills. Also if Brett Favre comes back I'm setting the over/under on ints this year at 18.5. Which one are you taking?