Blogging BLOHARDS

Cafardo: Desperate Hours

Nick Cafardo in today's Boston Globe does an excellent job chronicling the Yankees' Desperate Hours.

Quinn: Another Fine Day

Our thanks to BLOHARD member and friend, John Quinn, the Brooklyn Sox Fan, for covering the gastronomic event that was last Friday's luncheon! 

To read the complete article on his blog, The Mighty Quinn Media Machine, click here.

Romo On Caple: Trade Jeter!

Run, don't walk, to read Jim Caple's "Trade Jeter, Not A-Rod" article on ESPN.com.

Finally, here is an article that calls out Jeter for his non-leadership, for his non-support of A-Rod (while supporting Giambi and his BALCO mess), and for the "culture of losing" growing in the Yankees clubhouse...

No 'I' In JETER?

Derek Jeter - Team Player?  Did anyone else notice that with his 25-game hitting streak on the line, Derek Jeter swung at a 3-0 pitch for the first time since the 2002 season?  According to Stats, Inc., Jeter had taken 3-0 pitches 118 consecutive times from the start of the 2003 season until Sunday night's fourth at-bat.  He wound up grounding out softly to first, the runner who moved to third was stranded, and the 4-2 Yankees' lead turned into a 5-4 Sox win. 

As the terrific Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus observed, "Let's be clear about this: Jeter was swinging to extend the hitting streak." 

And So It Begins, Again (Part 2)

The Postscript

It's funny, I won't know where I was for this one.

The Boston Massacre of 1978, I was in Montreal. I was working at a club in Franconia, New Hampshire, that summer, and the short-order cook and myself decided on a road trip. We threw our gym bags and a six-pack in the car, and headed north to enjoy our days off in what was, then, a magical, partying city. We camped open-air in our sleeping bags on top of Mont Royale, and basically roamed during the day. I had been following the Sox' spectacular fade on various feeble White Mountains airwaves already, and now I was buying French language newspapers and getting day-old or two-day-old box scores that looked more foreign than the language: numbers like 14, and 15, and 2, and 3. Geezuz, what's happening down in Fenway? Holy God.

Will Schill?

Remember all that talk earlier this year about how the Yankees should plunk Ortiz in order to cool him off a bit? (65 results on Google.)  Well, I'm wondering if Mr. Schilling has considered whether or not to plunk Damon tonight? (19 results on Google.) Yesterday, Crazy Orange Julian Taverez could have. And does anyone doubt that 2005 Pedro would have? Not that we would condone such behavior; just wondering.

For the record, in three games Johnny is 9 for 18 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs, and eight runs batted in. But who's counting?

And So It Begins, Again (Part 1)

Fellow BLOHARDS,

Sure, I’m at “work,” like you are. But I’m going to open up this new file just now—it’s 1:08 at the moment—and start switching back and forth between what I’m supposed to be doing, and this. They’re about to have at it up at the Fens, and the rest of the afternoon promises to be . . . distracted.
     Ah, a first decision: YES or ESPN. Do I have any kind of confidence that I might be treated to an afternoon of joy, hearing Kaye and Kitty bemoan the Yanks ineffectuality as they were forced to do for nearly four hours yesterday against the lowly O’s? (Nice job on the pop-up, A-Rod—and yes, we’re calling you out, not the Captain, and how’d you get the error switched to his ledger, anyway)? Do I have that kind of confidence, Wang v. Johnson? I certainly do not, so the less painful choice is obviously...

Romo Channels Larry King’s USA TODAY Columns

VICENTE ROMO: Recycled Romo

Jimmy Leyland could manage a Starbucks, and this reporter would bet on them to make the postseason….Speaking of Starbucks, the melon and green tea latte should have stayed in the lab….On the day after they introduced Derek Jeter’s new cologne “Driven,” Avon saw the stock price tank by 16%.

The Independence Bowl still has no sponsor….In a recent issue of New York Magazine, Johnny Damon referred to his wife as “a five-tool player.”  Good to hear that the Yankees will have a throwing arm in CF on Family Day….Must be in Big Unit’s contract that the Yankees use Teaneck (NJ) Police Dept. radar guns at the Stadium when he pitches.  They got a gas station going 30 mph in Teaneck last week.

Road To Nowhere?

Fellow BLOHARDS,

My friend pointed this out to me prior to the Hefty Lefty, David Wells', outstanding Friday night performance: The reality of the Red Sox road to the playoffs is this; At 66-48, the '06 Sox have 48 games remaining. They will need AT LEAST 95 wins to get in, and even that may not be enough.

This means they need to go AT LEAST 29-19 the rest of the way, with 9 games against the Yankees, 8 with the Blue Jays, and other games against the Tigers (best record in baseball), Twins, Angles, White Sox, and  A's. These total 30 games against the best teams in the AL. Translation: This could get ugly.

However...

Sullivan: When It's Weird And Wonderful

I was thinking Wednesday morning as I walked to the train, the Sox having finally yielded first place after a good long stay, what a weird game baseball is. Actually, the reflection goes back three or four days now. Now that I think about it: four, precisely four. The starting point would be sometime after 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon; I know this because we were running late for a four o’clock cookout in Pound Ridge. I was humping the Sienna over the back roads of Bedford. Joe and Jerry were fading in and out from WTIC in Hartford.