Gotta Love The Yanks Right Now

Now the Yankee's are somewhat comfortably in 2nd place in the AL East.

They just beat Boston tonight, and Mariano Rivera picked up his 12th save of the season.

I guess Boston doesn't have his number after all.

Ahh, these are great times, Mariano had a shortened spring training with the bursitis in his elbow, Boston got all cocky when they were able to hit him while he was still getting into the swing of the season. And now that the Yanks are clicking, they pass the Sox up in the standings with ease.

The Yanks are 16 out of their last 20, and the Sox, ohhh, yeah, 10 out of 20. But .500 ain't bad. Well actually, in the AL East, it is. 1st place Baltimore is 13 out of their last 20 and the Sox just got swept by the now 3rd place Blue Jays, landing them nicely in 4th. Oh yeah, then there's The D-rays. Are they still a professional team?

The Orioles have built a very strong offense, but I'm telling you right now, they don't have the pitching to make them 'the real deal'

Pick the Yankee's out of the East, that's all I'm sayin'

I'm Feeling Better

My picks are looking better.

San Antonio played at the pace Phoenix wanted, and still beat them.

That's the thing about The Spurs, they can play whatever style you want, and beat you.

They played the fast-passed game that should favor The Suns, and won. If the Suns try to play a slow-paced game, The Spurs will destroy them.

The Pistons-Heat series that had me on the fence, is looking good for me.

Shaq was good tonight, not stellar, but good.

Dwayne Wade looked like a sophomore for the first time in the post-season.

Not suprising, what do you expect? He's played all year against a very weak Eastern Conference, and met the Nets (that just eeked into the playoffs), and the Wizards in the first 2 rounds. Neither team could even hand them one loss.

The Pistons are the first real team they've faced.

The Pistons have been given very little respect since becoming World Champs last year, from myself included.

This is the best blessing they could have hoped for.

What better way to motivate a team?

I don't necessarily think The Pistons are going to run over The Heat, but they gotta win the series.

So says The Great Fu2rman!

Pistons-Heat

I'm still up in the air on this pick, but with the series starting tomorrow, I gotta get off the fence.

So I say, take the Pistons here.

But just for the record, if Shaq can come back and play well, the Heat could prove me wrong.

I do think the Pistons can beat Miami, even with Shaq, but the Heats bench has been great through the playoffs.

Not to mention, nobody has even beaten the the Heat yet this postseason!

But, they haven't played the Pistons yet.

This Is Funny

I had not seen this before.

The Red Sox Last Supper, and Johnny Damon as Jesus!

Oh boy, that is just great, from The Idiot, to the Lord and Savior.

Good for you Johnny!

I hate the Sox a little less today.

Pacers-Pistons

I feel this must be addressed.

Last night was Reggie Miller's last game, ever.

This was to be his last season, so however far they went in the post season, was how long his career would last.

Last night was the end.

I was never a big fan of Reggie, probably because I never liked the Indiana Pacers.

I would always be rooting for the other team, and it drove me nuts how good he was.

Same feeling I had about Karl Malone, John Stockton, Isaiah Thomas, or Larry Bird.

I hated those guys, but if I could have them on my favorite team, I'd take 'em in a second.

I'm sure you can relate.

It's the same reason everyone except Yankee fans hate Derek Jeter.

So I watched, with great respect, as Reggie walked off the court for the last time. Fitting, it was at home in Indy.

Then in one of the most classy moves I've ever seen, Piston coach Larry Brown takes a timeout, just so Reggie Miller's standing ovation could continue.

Even after The Brawl in Detroit, between the Pacers and the Pistons, all the Pistons walked out onto the court and joined in the ovation.

This makes me think, I hope that punk Ron Artest was watching, so he can learn a little something about class.

Reggie, I agree with your fans, ONE MORE YEAR!!

You will be missed....


Now, one last thing.



I was at the NBA Finals, game 4 at The Forum, when the Pistons swept the Lakers, in 1989.

Then I watched them beat the Lakers again last year in the Finals.

Needless to say, I have no love for the Pistons.

Like I said below, I don't know yet who I'm picking in the Detroit-Miami series. But, I am starting to want to root for Detroit.

It would be beautiful, they shut down Shaq's team 2 years in a row. They host a classless Ron Artest and the rest of the Pacers, and Artest insights the biggest melee seen in the history of American sports. Then walk into the Pacers house, and show more than respect for Reggie, the 12th leading scorer in NBA history.

You know, except the part about beating them, and knocking them out of the playoffs and ending his career....



The Pistons are starting to emerge as that elite kind of team, a Patriots, a pre give-Kobe-the-team Lakers, and dare I say, a Yankees.

Why do I make such a bold statement?

Strong leadership, that doesn't allow super rich, super immature, little chuckle-heads get away with murder, or rape, whatever the case may be.

Have you noticed Rasheed Wallace?

Under Larry Brown's leadership, he doesn't get in trouble anymore.

And now, he has a Ring, coincidence?

I think not.

Take a Tom Brady, Patriots Quarterback, signing a fair, but not the biggest, contract he could get, just to keep the team together.

Young super-stars to be, Carmello, LeBron, Dwayne Wade, if you want to be truly successful, look to the Larry Browns, the Reggie Millers, the Tom Brady's, even the new-and-improved Rasheed Wallace, and any of the Detroit Pistons.

Let go of just a 1/4 of your greed.

You'll still be extremely rich, and your team will be able to afford a whole team.

Kobe's Lakers won't be signing anybody next year, you know, over the salary cap and all, hope you're happy Kobe, Laker fans, like myself, ARE NOT!

Thugs, and I mean you too Kobe, you could learn something here.

But I know, you won't.

I guess Sports Agents will be an upcoming topic!

NBA Playoffs

Any doubts about just how good I am?

This round, 4 out of 4, as picked on May 9th.

No doubts?

Of course not, how can you argue with results.


However, I have to admit, next round is a whole lot tougher.

Detroit against Miami.

Even if Shaq is healthy, Miami will have a hard time with Detroit.

Look at last year, Detroit beat Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers to put them in this Defending World Champion position they find themselves in.

I still can't give it to Detroit yet.

Here's the deal, Shaq is in much better shape than he was last year. Although, like when he was a Laker, a bruise on his thigh is keeping him out of the PLAYOFFS! Just like his freakin' toe we had to hear about every other day!

It's starting to look like Shaq is regaining his true form, a Huge Baby.

I was, and still am, hoping they win it all. That way he'll get complacent, again, and get fat, lazy, and out of shape, again.

Just like the LA Shaq.

Phoenix against San Antonio.

I'm a little more confident here, but just a little.

Take San Antonio.

The Suns had a hard enough time with Dallas, even though they won in 6 games.

The Spurs play a much better defense than Dallas did, and it bores me to say it, but defense wins championships.

The Suns are great to watch, but they won't stop enough of the Spurs rather potent offense. And The Spurs will slow the Suns just enough.

The scoring scale tilts slightly in San Antonio's favor.

My Job Is In Jeopardy!

My GM job with the Yankees is in jeopardy...

And I've never been so happy!

The Yanks have extended their win streak to 10 games.

Giambi is hitting again, A-Rod leads all of baseball with 13 homeruns, Tino Martinez has 12, life is good in the Bronx.

And in The City, 'cause Brian Cashman doesn't live in the Bronx.

His job seems to be safe for now. His team is on the biggest winning streak in almost 7 years.

I've never been so happy to be out of a job in my life!

Not that I've ever been out of a job, I'm just sayin'......

Holy Streak, CashMAN!!

Yanks go to 20-19 after defeating the Mariners tonight.

J.J. Putz, pronounced, 'puts' not 'putz', although we may want to rethink that after he gave up a second Grand Slam in a week.

Imagine, Bernie Williams calling this shot, 'From a Putz pitch, I'll hit it off Jeremy Reed's glove, over the center field fence, for...a grand slam.' That would be impressive.

That's what it looked like, but actually, it was just out of Reed's reach, and went over the wall on it's own power.

Then, how about this...

Mariano Rivera picked up another save!

That's 2 in 2 days. And more than that, he's 7 out of 9 opportunities. Things are looking up for Mo.

I still am concerned that he gave up a hit, a walk, and only struck out one. He has, however, lowered his ERA to 1.98.

That is encouraging.

Nine straight wins, how good is that?

Best in almost 4 years.

The '01 Yanks had a 9 game streak that ended on July 6th.

Now, 5 games behind The Baltimore 'Do We Need Pitching?' Orioles, and 2.5 behind the breaking down Red Sox.

The future looks so bright, I Gotta Wear Shades!

Yanks Are Starting To Put It Together

The Bronx Bombers just won their eighth straight to put them at .500 for the first time since they were 4-4.

Who's have thought Tino Martinez would have been the answer all along? Tino has 8 Homeruns in 8 games.

Yes, Tino Martinez, not Gary Sheffield, not A-Rod, not even Derek Jeter, Matsui, or Giambi!

Tino freakin' Martinez.

Mariano Rivera picked up is 6th save today. Not very impressive for arguably the best closer ever.

Well it looks like Brian Cashman can breath a little easier, the team is at least heading in the right direction.

These Yankees, What To Do, What-To-Do?

The plan of rotating the Yankee lineup like a little league team isn't going to get it done.

The Yanks are going to come around, they're still only 7 games out of first, trailing Baltimore.

Baltimore has no pitching, so they won't last on top of the AL East.

They are trailing 2nd place Boston by 5.5 games, so a wildcard is very doable.

Plus, the Yanks are 5-5 in the last 10, but on a 4 game win streak, so anything is possible.

The problem is, this won't get it done next year.

It's time to revamp the team.

Where do you start?

First, a big issue is that The Yanks have taken on the huge contracts of old players.

Take Randy Johnson, it was a good gamble, but it's not working out as well as we all thought it would. RJ is still very good, at 3-2, a 3.68 ERA, 50 K's and an impressive 1.01 WHIP. I can't fault Brian Cashman on this deal, and I'd still keep RJ next year.

But what about 40 year old Kevin Brown?

Brown, Jason Giambi and Bernie Williams shouldn't even be on the team this year. Check out those stats.

That alone would cut $41.4 million (or almost 20%) out of the already inflated payroll.

Giambi is looking at the possibility of a minor league assignment.

That's rough.

Williams at 36 years old is a $12.3 million bench-warmer/DH/pinch hitter.

Not good.

Other players that should be on the trading block, for the right deal of course.

Jorge Posada, at 34 years old, $11 million this year, either start playing him at 1st base, or trade him. Playing Catcher is the most demanding, career shortening position in baseball.

Mike Mussina, at 36 years old, and $19 million, shows flashes of brilliance, but still gets lit up on occasion.

Mariano Rivera, at 35 years old, $10.5 million this year, and like I have said many times, is my favorite Yankee. Mo is still basically effective, so get what you can at the end of this season or maybe next.

What can you buy with all this extra cash?

Look at Arizona, they have 2 solid Catchers, Koyie Hill (26 years old) and Chris Snyder (24 years old), and a great set-up man turned closer Brandon Lyon . (25 years old). When AZ. Closer Greg Aquino went down in spring training, Reliever Lyon stepped into the Closer role, and has excelled, 1.65 ERA and 12 saves so far!

I'm not suggesting dealing Mariano to get Lyon, that would be a little scary, but put Lyon in the set-up role next year, deal Posada and maybe Flaherty to get Snyder and/or Hill.

Baltimore needs pitching, Yanks need a 2nd baseman. Brian Roberts (27 years old) is a great 2nd baseman, and and BJ Ryan (30 years old) is a great Reliever/Closer.

To fill Center field, if memory serves me right Johnny Damon (31 y/o) is a free agent at the end of the year. Or maybe a Mark Kotsay (29 y/o) from Oakland, or the Dodgers Milton Bradley (27 y/o).

Another reason to look at the Dodgers is their Bullpen.

Giovanni Carrara (37 y/o) is solid, but check out Yhency Brazoban!

Brazoban turns 25 in a month, and took over for the injured Erik Gagne with ease.

Just some things I have been looking at.

Gotta get ready to take my rightful spot as GM of The Yankees ya know!

NBA

OK, real quick, since I didn't get my post in before the games tonight.

In the East

Washington vs. Miami

Take Miami

Indiana vs. Detroit

Take Detroit

In the West

Dallas vs. Phoenix

Take Phoenix

Seattle vs. San Antonio

Take San Antonio


I'll say more about why later, I just had to post the fu2r picks....



Wow, I can't believe I missed 2 series in the first round!

That's not like me.

6 out of 8!

Some would say that's pretty good, but not me...

Sorry

Like I Said

Just like I said yesterday, Washington was going to wrap up their NBA Playoff series tonight.

They did.

That puts me picking 5 correct, and only 1 wrong.

Tomorrow is the moment of truth.

Two game 7's

Indiana at Boston
Houston at Dallas

With both my picks going into the enemies arena, I'll I can say right now is....

GO INDY, GO HOUSTON!!!!!

Well Damn!

With 5 of the 8 Playoff series over, I'm sitting pretty at predicting 4 of them right.

Today was a good chance for me to win one and lose one.

Neither happened.

Indiana lost in overtime.

I gotta thank Bahb for this email last night.

It looks like you are going to be right
about your Indiana over Boston prediction.
Good call.

--Bahb

It would have been a good idea to wait until the series was OVER, Bahb.

You had better not have jinxed me.

That puts Indy in a tie with Boston at 3 each.

No big deal, I'll give up that one game to get the Houston game.

Houston finally stepped up, cruising the 4th quarter to an 18 point win, a 4th I might add that Yao Ming didn't participate. With Mutumbo in the game, blocking and rebounding like mad, the struggling Yao was able to watch from the bench.

So, where we at?

Indy and Houston are pretty much down to one game, winner take all 7th games.

Unfortunately, both play on the road this Saturday.

What about the last series?

Washington has 2 games to get one win against Chicago.

Tomorrow they play in Washington, and that should wrap it up.

Fu2rman standings--

4 and 1 so far.

Indy has a great shot against Boston.

Washington should make short work against Chicago tomorrow.

Houston looked good down the stretch tonight, but playing Dallas at home is going to be tough.

But of course I stand by my pick, Houston will find a way to win.

Even if I miss the Indy or Houston picks, I won't miss both, and Washington is my lock, that puts me at 6 out of 8. Maybe 7 of 8!

And remember, my picks went in April 19th and 21st.

That was well before the first game, unlike some people, and I never changed teams, once I picked 'em, I stuck with 'em.

Even though I saw the freakin' Kings setting me up for dissapointment.

By The Way

Thank you emailer Chris.

I bash Brian Cashman on a regular basis.

Chris made a great point.

Name another team that could have signed the best Shortstop in the game, and make him play Third Base?

Oh, oh, oh, I know! Pick me! I know the answer!

Only the Yankees!

Yep, only the Yanks, that is correct.

Thanks Chris, but how has A-Rod worked out so far?

Should Yankee Fans Panic?

Do not panic yet

Bernie Williams just got demoted to the bench/occassoinal DH/pinch hitter.

Second Baseman Tony Womack is going to Left freakin' Field?

That puts Matsui in Center.

Top Yankee prospect Robinson Cano will take over at second base.

Will that turn this season around?

Time will tell.


I think not so much.


What did I write on Dec. 5th?


4) Yanks do sign pitchers Carl Povano & Randy Johnson. They go for Carlos Beltran, and make him a very rich man. They don't have a choice, they need a center fielder. Giambi's contract will be voided (that whole steroid thing) so they'll bring Bernie Williams in to play first base.

They couldn't void Giambi's contract, so they signed Tino Martinez to play First.

Great move, I loved that,

but...

Brian Cashman forgot to sign Carlos Beltran.

Now what?

Cashman is going to be fired.

Joe Torre is going to stay, he is one of the best coaches out there, and the Boss knows that.

This season is going bad because the players (mostly the pitching staff), are too old, too expensive, not producing, and the worst part, Cashman traded away too many prospects.

I truly hope Cano does well, but seriously, this is how you fix the greatest team in sports history?


Is this season lost?

No, look at the AL East.

Baltimore and Toronto lead the division, Boston is in 3rd, NY in 4th.

Here's the bottom line, name the top 2 pitchers for the O's and the Jay's.

You can't!

How long are either of these teams going to stay hot?

The Red Sox are having all kinds of issues with their pitching staff, they're dropping like flies to the DL.

As long as The Yanks can get close to 100 wins, they'll get in the playoffs.

The White Sox have the best record in the AL? But the AL Central will not be a factor in the long run.

I hate to say it, but watch out for the Angels.

Their only issue is that the AL West is the best division overall, and they are going to beat up on eachother all season.

The Yanks have their work cut out for them, but they should still find the post-season.

Four Down, Four To Go

The first round of the NBA Playoffs are half over.

Four series have closed out.

How is The Great Fu2rman doing?

3 out of 4.

Miami, Phoenix and Detroit came through, but Sacremento dissappointed me.

Seattle proved too much for the Kings.

San Antonio and Indiana only need one more win, and both play their next games at home.

Washington is sitting tied, it could go either way.

Houston has to win both remaining games, as they trail 2-3.

That could be tough.

These NBA Playoffs!

Of course I got the 2 easy ones right.

Miami and Phoenix swept their series'.

That's 2 for me

Detroit and San Antonio are both up 3-1, and heading home.

Denver had me worried, for about a minute, but Tim Duncan being the X-factor, like I said, has stepped up.

I picked Indiana and Sacramento.

Indy has tied Boston at 2-2, I still say they're going to win. They both have one win at home and one away. Indy will step up to take the series.

I picked Sac over Seattle, and Seattle is up 3-1, and going back to Seattle.

Yep, I'm in trouble here. I've always hated The Kings, and here's yet another reason to hate them.

I said Washington and Houston would win.

I started out looking golden in the Houston series, and thought I blew it on Washington.

Now, not so much.

They have flipped on me. Washington won 2 in a row and tied it up at 2 apiece, and Houston dropped 3 straight, to go down 2-3.

At least Houston is going home to play the game that could tie the series, not that it has mattered so far.

Washington vs. Chicago is going to come down to who can win on the road.

I still say Washington, I picked 'em for a reason, stick with 'em.

How am I doing?

2 series are a done deal, 2 more have 3 games to win 1 to clinch.

That alone gives me half my picks.

Add the 2 series that are tied, and my win percentage should be solid, to say the least.