Frayed Knot

I'm guessing that ballet wasn't part of CC's off-season training.

Where was that single ... maybe 18 inches outside of Jeter's right foot?

I have no idea how to answer this question either. Mainly I just put this up to start the conversation when I realized how this whole topic not only isn't going away anytime soon but that the events of this week bring them to the forefront much quicker than I anticipated. I mean, if the Yanx win today the very first question in the post-game is whether he'll be in the line-up on Saturday. And if they lose (heh, heh) what his role will be and what his relationship with Girardi and with his teammates is going to be the overriding topic of the baseball winter and the first thing brought up when ST starts. And it's one thing when an increasingly below his value player has 162 games left on his contract (Bay) but it's quite another when one has five times that length left with a deal that is worth between seven and eight times as much.

A bit of a goofy, off-the-wall question here which could take years before we know the actual answer at which point we'll have probably forgotten all about this stupid thread, BUT ... When does Alex Rodriguez play his final game in a MFY uniform? For a little background, his current deal runs through 2017 with salaries of: $28mil (in 2013), $25 in '14, $21 in '15, $20 in '16, $20 in '17 (at least the Yanx learned their lesson about back-loading) There are also a bunch of goofy performance clauses that really don't mean much here except that he gets various piles of cash in exchange for "marketing agreements" after reaching HRs # 660, 714, 755, & 762. He currently is sitting on 647 and has slugged a whopping 34 over the last two seasons combined. So at this rate he'll probably catch Mays next year around ... oh let's say late September, but that's only if he stays healthy. But does the PH-ing swaps this week and the (at minimum) one-game benching tonight forever harm (despite all the happy talk) his relationship with his manager and with the Yanx? On the other hand, can they afford (in both dollars and rep) to just get rid of him? And if so who takes him? Or will they just at some point cut him? Or is this year just a fluke caused by an injury and a bounce-back is in his future? Or are these injuries simply the beginning of the end and he'll be forced to retire before the Steinbrenners can get around to axing him? These and other questions all need to be considered as you weigh the options as to when the Pinstripe Empire and Sir Alex of Rodrigia part company.

Verlander fun-fact (courtesy of Tom Verducci): Opponents (not just 'The Opponents' but all opponents in general) are hitting ~.150 w/no HRs against Verlander this season [u:8lv6dx7q]after he reaches the 100-pitch mark[/u:8lv6dx7q] For those who didn't stay up for the late game yesterday: Complete game, 4-hit, 1 BB, 122 pitch shut-out to close out the series Two of the hits came after pitch #100, singles on pitches 101 & 109

Ceetar wrote: I so wish they could manage dynamic playoff dates too. Say the ALCS and NLCS both only go 5 games. Instead of waiting a week to start the WS, one day off and go. That's something that won't happen because of TV. We may think of these games as sporting contests but the networks view them as programming to be carefully placed so as to fill specific time-slots, maximize viewership, and promo that networks upcoming events.

Edgy DC wrote: Sheesh, with all the years the Yankees would waltz to a championship playing three games a week, I'm all for stacking 'em up. Yup. We were talking about the 2009 set-up in another thread yesterday so I looked it up last night: 15 games played by the Yanx (out of a possible 19) spread out over 31 days THAT is making the post-season follow a totally different pattern than the regular. Having back-to-back games with first-pitch times separated by approx 26 hours which may or may not be in a different city within the same time-zone is most definitely not unusual or a hardship.

bmfc1 wrote: The Crypt Keeper strikes again: the ALCS starts tomorrow. No day off for the O's or Opponent while the Tigers wait to see if they have to fly to NY for a game tomorrow. And I'm sure someone on (or claiming to speak for) the surviving team will complain about the lack of an off-day between rounds, and that someone at MLB will promise this won't happen in the future. But I don't have any problem with it. It's not like you're suddenly putting teams & players through some kind of pace that is over and above what they do during the regular season. Play a series, jump on a plane, play the next day in the next city - and in this case they will have only played 3 days since the last day off. It's not a hardship and if it helps you avoid November then it's a win all around as far as I'm concerned.

Tigers taking nothing for granted as Verlander comes out again to at least begin the 8th and no one is even up in the pen

Can't say that I was expecting to come out on the good side of that one. Let's do it again at 5:30 [crossout:3bmpg8o0]tomorrow[/crossout:3bmpg8o0] Friday afternoon

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: How does Buck feel about the Squeeze? How does he feel about run scoring doubles?

Tigers busting loose in Oak-town 6-0 and still runners all over the place in the 7th

David Letterman suggested that as a result of Ibanez's HR while PH-ing for ARod that, after the game, he also got to go home with Cameron Diaz

I don't know why they're looking at his right arm, it's his left one that looks all fucked up and discolored.

Gwreck wrote: I hope this is where the Orioles gain an advantage, having outlasted Soriano and Robertson. Considering that the only runs these guys have scored in over 20+ innings now have been three solo HRs I'm beginning to doubt they'll ever score.

[u:3dj63nlt]Game 5[/u:3dj63nlt] 2-0 Detroit in the 5th Verlander just gave up his 2nd hit An Austin Jackson double and a later wild pitch account for the runs.

I remember it [the Ibanez talk]. He was one of those guys seemingly "destined" to be a Met for a while. I don't think it was as early as you say. For a couple years there were talks about trades with Seattle and then again prior to his FA signing w/Philly but that Philly deal was 2009 so I think most of the talk was around '05 and later. He was always a good though somewhat anonymous player out in Seattle but I also imagined the outcry if Omar had signed or traded for a mid-30s guy with a Spanish name.

After all our complaining today about how the Yanx always get the 8:00 game, Game 5 in this series will actually be in prime time on Friday while the MFY/Balt game (if there is one) gets shifted to the late afternoon slot -- most likely because,as of now, the NL tilt is the only one they KNOW will be need to be played.

O'Day can you see!!

The Opponents hit more grounders with full swings that wind up being hit too shitty to be turned in DPs than any team I've ever seen. I don't know how they do it but they do it all the time. That's two by Cano just tonight.

You can't call me out on that pitch, I'm Derek Jeter.

No way that's going to come back to haunt them.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Actually it was Machado, the TV announcers botched the call. Davis's whiff was the bigger goof, really. Yeah, if you assume that everything else in that inning would have played out like it did, Machado going or holding up there doesn't matter in the end. Just too many freakin' Ks & pop-outs w/runners on in 3 of the 4 innings so far.

Hey don't worry Orioles, it's not like you're going to need any of these runs you're leaving all over the place later on.

I was kind of rooting for Cincy here, but I'm starting to get the idea that Mat Latos is a bit of an ass so it was kind of cool to see him as Posey went deep. When some big 6' 7" dude has a bunch of douchey tattoos and you keep hear him being described as "still maturing" and "really intense" you get the opinion that all that is mostly announcer speak for something that rhymes with 'glass bowl'