Leave Joba alone

I know the media likes to persistently hound teams like the Yankees and Red Sox, but this is getting to the point of absurdity. Joba likes to pump his fist when he does something well. He doesn't point at the hitter and swing his fist around like Dennis Eckersley. He doesn't throw at hitters heads when they rough him up like Vincente Padilla or Pedro Martinez (though Kevin Youkilis probably thinks he does it just for fun) and he doesn't throw bats at people like Roger Clemens. By most reports he is a good guy who is gregarious and as of yet he hasn't committed any crimes or killed any small animals, at least that we know of.

Apparently Goose Goosage feels that Joba's behavior is unacceptable. It really irks me that they have to dig this deep to find something wrong with Joba. Yes, Mo never reacts to anything good or bad. But that is who Mariano is, a very pious and deeply religious individual. It is his style of play and it is what allows him to be so good. Now let's look at two other elite closers. Francisco Rodriguez is constantly screaming and jumping around when he closes out the most insignificant games. Jonathon Papelbon does the same when he finishes an important game.

These pitchers use their emotions to fuel themselves. I'll be the first to admit that it gets me mad when I see one of these two pitchers finish a game against the Yankees and have to watch them celebrate, but I think that anger is directed more toward my team losing than the their celebrations. Plus Papelbon sucks at dancing.

Hitters pose at the plate all the time and little is done to stop their celebrating. Let the kid be who he is. Joba uses his emotions to pitch well and that shouldn't be taken away from him because someone who pitched 40 years ago thinks he should or some old guys on the radio think it isn't classy. These aren't the business like teams of the late '90s and no matter how badly some people want to live in the past, this is a different team with different players who are younger and more energetic. Times change Goose. Kids these days are just different and so is baseball.

Is K. Cash MONEY?

Rough game for the Sox last night. It is becoming more and more obvious the Red Sox are almost unbeatable at Fenway (14-5) and average on the road (10-11). Maybe its the Fenway faithful or the Monster, but they need to figure out how to improve on the road especially for the playoffs. Last year's playoffs were a perfect example; do they comeback against the Indians without going back to Fenway? I say probably not. I know most teams are better at home then on the road, but the Sox seem to get homesick to a greater degree than other teams. Does anyone have any insights on this?

Also, is Kevin Cash ready to catch Wakefield every fifth day? He seemed to struggle last night and his nervousness rubbed off on a frustrated Wakefield. It is not an easy job, but I would rather see Cash struggle a bit then have Veritek catch everyday.

Finally, I watched the game last night without sound because of random circumstances and it was fantastic. I think ESPN, YES, NESN, and FOX should save themselves some money in this struggling economy, get rid of all their clowns in the broadcast booth, and broadcast in silence. Because silence is golden.

The Igawa Incident

I don't fault Brian Cashman for most of the mistakes that people try to pile on him. Things like Kevin Brown and Jose Contreras are products of the Big Stein's influence. He can't really be blamed for Carl Pavano either since Pavano was targeted by every team that was in contention at the time including the Red Sox. But one mistake is now out shining his Jaret Wright signing.

Kei Igawa is a complete diaster. I used to think he had a chance to be reasonably successful at the big league level because he could strike people out, but he has thoroughly proven that he will never be successful in the hyper competitive AL East. Hopefully the Padres still want to give him a shot in that massive ball park of theirs or else Cashman will look like a fool for pulling him off waivers last season. Right now I would take some peanuts and crackerjacks for him and hope he never comes back.

These last four games have been awful to watch. The Yanks are a shell of themselves at the plate without Arod and Posada. Hopefully Darrell Rasner has some magic left and the Yankees get to Bonderman early. The Tigers bullpen is nothing without Zumaya and Todd Jones is a joke of a closer as evidenced by last night's three run ninth. Get the starters out early, say by the fifth or six, and the Yankees should be able to open up for some runs. In 37 games they have only scored 10 runs once compared to five times last season and six times in '06.

Youkilis Remains Red Hot

Kevin Youkilis hit his fourth home run in the series, and Josh Beckett had another solid outing for Boston as they took 3 of 4 from the Tigers as my brother, Joey, predicted. This is not a bad way to start off the road trip.

I don't think it would be far fetched to see Kevin hit 30 homers and get to 100 RBI this season. He only continues to improve, and his versatility in the field makes him invaluable. Certainly he gets more accolades by playing in Boston, but luckily for Sox fans he isn't toiling in anonymity in Kansas City or Pittsburgh.

The Red Sox were able to knock around Justin Verlander and should have scored more than five runs off of him. No one is really sure what his issue is. I haven't seen him pitch much this year, but there is no question that his velocity is down. Still, even if his fast ball is around 93 mph instead of 96, he should be able to find a way to be effective. He just hasn't been able to reach back and throw in the triple digits when he needs to. The media has speculated that he may be hiding some kind of injury. Verlander has denied this, but it wouldn't be the first time a player has tried to dismiss injury rumors only to confirm the injury later.

On a side note, Josh Beckett recorded his 1,000th career strike out last night. He'll likely get to 100 wins sometime next season.

Tough Night in Detroit for Sox

In 162 games there are bound to be games like last night. The Sox didn't get the best start from Clay Buchholz. (4 innings, 5 runs, and 82 pitches) They were down and then they came back only to lose in the bottom of the ninth. Two unearned runs were the difference. Shortstop Julio Lugo had a costly error when he mishandled a slow ground ball. Papelbon wasn't lights out, but threw fairly well. He was hit, but not hit hard and lost the game on a cheap looper into shallow left field.

When you fight back in a game and have an opportunity to win then lose, it can sting a little. Luckily, in baseball you play nearly everyday. If this was football, the Sox would have to hear about this in the Globe for a week. Not to mention all the crazy dreams Papelbon will have about this game. You hear it all the time from players, "we need to shake it off and play well tomorrow." That should be easy considering the ACE is going tomorrow, and they should be able to leave Detroit taking 3 of 4.

Joba the human?

It has been hard to imagine the Yankees losing games once they reach the seventh or eighth with the lead. Closing out games has been about the only thing the Yankees have been able to do well and obviously most of that success or failure falls on Joba and Mo. My reaction was the same as most of the fans you saw on YES during the last inning and a half. Shock. Not anger or frustration, just shock. He has been so automatic in his first 36 innings that we forget that he's just a rookie and that he will get hit and give up some runs. It's inevitable.

At least a couple of older Yankees got back on track last night. Giambi might be showing some signs of life with that opposite field double that tied the game and Pettitte was finally solid after two rough starts in a row. He went 6.1, striking out six while only walking one.

Tonight we have CMW on the mound again. This time he'll be taking on Cliff Lee who has been disgusting this year with a 5-0 record and a minuscule 0.96 ERA. The scary thing is that he gave up three runs over six innings against Seattle in his last start and his ERA is still under 1.00. It also means his hot streak might be coming to an end, which would make sense since his career ERA against the Yanks is 6.28. It still has the makings of a pitchers duel and Wang will probably need to be as solid as he was against Sabathia 10 days ago.

Sawks vs. Yanks Turns Deadly

It's amazing this doesn't happen more often. Take a look...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/05/05/yankees.redsox.death.ap/index.html