Remember When?

I know many of us collected baseball cards growing up. Whether you were a serious collector or just bought a few packs, you have probably owned at least one baseball card in your life or felt what it was like to open a pack and see what players awaited you inside. I grew up in the 1980's and 1990's, an era known for having what amounts to worthless cards due to a flooded market by Topps, Upper Deck, Donruss, Score, Fleer, and a host of other short-lived companies or subsidiaries of the bigger companies. Even today, you can pick up a box of late 1980's and early 1990's cardboard for a few bucks. Even though many of the cards are not worth very much I still hold a soft spot in my heart for the days when I traded cards with my friends and used to fill boxes and binders with my cards. I had so many cards that I used to make forts for my army men when I was younger, turning a stack of cardboard into a firebase for my grunts in the carpeted jungles of a faraway land. Those days are gone but the memories remain. Memories I fear kids today will never get a chance to make.

Card collecting has gone from a kids and adults hobby to a mostly adult hobby. Gone are the packs for $0.50 and in are packs that cost $5.00. What kid can afford that? Gone are the days where you might have one or two cards in a set of a certain player and now there are seemingly 300 different variations of the same card with different color borders. Do I, a casual collector to this day, really need a Mark Teixeira card with a black, red, green, purple, orange, gold, silver, and magenta border? No. It might be more fun if there were a different picture on the card making it unique but I'm not interested in adding 300 different bordered cards to my collection. I used to collect Derek Jeter cards but that is not a possible goal because there are tens upon tens of thousands of Jeter cards out there. It's insane. Collectors today will never be able to accomplish what was so easy in the past, actually collecting the cards. With eBay, kids rarely trade cards anymore. I remember hanging out after school and spending the afternoon trading cards. We might have gone down to the local convenient store and spent $3 and came back with 6 packs of cards and then commenced trading Butch Wynegar for Don Baylor or Cal Ripken for Kirby Puckett. Today, kids need a full-time job to collect cards. Even at Wal Mart cards are $4.97 for a pack of Bowman. It's crazy. It's no longer about the hobby in many respects but about finding a card to sell it on eBay. Last year it was Stephen Strasburg. This year it isBryce Harper. Who knows who it will be next year?

When Topps won exclusive rights to produce trading cards for baseball I thought it would be a good thing. It would take away the massive amounts of different cards there were for each player and make it easier, and slightly more affordable, to collect once again. I am wrong. Topps, with its subsidiary of Bowman, has flooded the market with variations and parallels and shiny refractors and small subsets within sets that makes it almost impossible to collect an entire set. Where is the fun in that? The last set I actually collected and completed was the 2008 Upper Deck baseball set, one of the last years Upper Deck was allowed to print MLB logos. It was a nice set, easy to collect because it was void of thousands of parallels and variations. The design wasn't terrible, a foil name and the team name and position of the player that accompanied sharp pictures. The picture was the card. There was no border to offer variations for. I was able to collect Series 1 and Series 2 with few problems, save for a few hundred doubles. Now, with Topps being the only player, I don't think we will ever have such an easy go of collecting again. I'll still dabble in card collecting every now and then. I dabbled this year with Bowman buying a few packs until I got my Bryce Harper Bowman Chrome RC. Now I am satisfied. I'll stick to buying Yankee team sets because that's the only team I truly care about with the occasional Washington Nationals team set mixed in for the Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg, and later the Bryce Harper cards. To me the fun and the passion are gone right now. I love my collection but it is impossible to collect anymore. I will still enjoy a chase every now and then as I did this year with Bryce Harper but, for the most part, its just too hard and too expensive to collect as I did as a kid and that's sad.

Layups

-The Yankees signed Brian Gordon today and announced he will make the start on Thursday in place of Bartolo Colon. Gordon, who has 4 innings of Major League experience under his belt, was pitching well for the Phillies AAA team, the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Gordon owns a 56/7 K/BB ratio in 55.1 innings so far and a 38% groundball rate. Gordon appeared in 4 innings with Texas back in 2008 and fared pretty well in 3 relief appearances. He was born August 16th, 1978 in West Point, New York. He does have 15 minor league seasons under his belt. Personally, I would have started Hector Noesi and signed Gordon as bullpen insurance, just like the Yankees did with Corey Wade and Greg Smith this past week.

-Is it me or is most of the news about the Finals about the Heat losing rather than the Mavericks winning? Seriously, do we really need all this LeBron coverage? What about Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki...don't they deserve some credit here? Don't the Mavericks deserve their time in the sun? Has any losing team ever received this much credit? Enough already. Let the Mavericks enjoy their moment and shelve the LeBron talk until next season.

-Marc Berman wrote in the New York Post today that the Knicks should abandon the 3-star plan taken by Miami this offseason. Wait, what? The Knicks should avoid signing Chris Paul or some other big free agent in 2012 because Miami fell two games short of a championship? That might be the dumbest thing I have ever heard from a sports columnist in years, or ever. What Miami did is not exactly new. Having three stars is not new. Miami just overpaid for Chris Bosh and instead should have signed several role players to fill needs around the court. They didn't. But does that mean Miami will never win a championship? No. It is asinine to assume anything in sports after one season.

-Mets pitching prospect Matt Harvey is dominating the Florida State League. It is time for the Mets to bring him up to AA and see how he does. I understand why the Mets are taking it slow with Harvey after watching Jenrry Mejia go down for Tommy John Surgery. However, the Mets should be reservedly aggressive with Harvey. He has the makings of a number 1-3 starter, something the Mets don't really have right now. I don't know where Dillon Gee is going to be in three years but if this year is an early indication Gee could be a decent starter. The Mets could have three decent starters in Mejia, Gee and Harvey. At least one of them should become a good MLB starter.

-Ryan Zimmerman is back after missing 58 games due to an abdominal strain. Zimmerman is the face of an up-and-coming franchise. The Nationals missed his bat and his glove over the past 2 months but have kept their heads near the waterline. They won't compete this year but when Bryce Harper, Tyler Moore, Anthony Rendon, and Stephen Strasburg all come up or come back from their own injuries the Nationals might be a force in the NL East.

-Who comes back first? Johan Santana or Rafael Soriano? Santana might be back by August or September. That's too late for the Mets to try and trade him this year. However, if Santana comes back, does well and stays healthy the Mets might be able to dump him next year for some very good prospects. If I'm the Mets I do that because they aren't winning anything anytime soon and Sanatana isn't getting younger, or healthier for that matter. A team like the Yankees might part with a couple of prospects. If I'm the Yankees I'm staying away though. Not worth the money he is being paid right now.

DOCTOR!!!

Injuries are a part of baseball. Every team puts a few players on the disabled list every year, some of them key players. The Nationals lost Ryan Zimmerman for a few weeks. The Giants lost Buster Posey for the whole year. The Twins lost Joe Mauer for a few weeks. The list goes on. It happens. So far, the Yankees have had to deal with a few injuries, most notably Phil Hughes (not really sure if he was actually injured or if his fastball was just dead), Rafael Soriano (elbow), and Joba Chamberlain (Tommy John surgery). Throw in a missed week by Russell Martin for a bad back and now Bartolo Colon and Derek Jeter to leg injuries and you have the makings of a mess in waiting. So far, the Yankees have not put Russell Martin on the DL, instead, leaning on Frankie Cervelli to do the catching which has been something of an adventure since he all of a sudden becomes a Steve Sax/Chuck Knoblauch clone when it comes to throwing out runners at second base. Derek Jeter seems headed for the DL after suffering a Grade 1 strain. Not the end of the world but with Jeter it is better to get back 100% rather than risk further injury by letting him take the field before he is ready. Ramiro Pena will probably get called up to be the backup infielder while Eduardo Nunez tries to fill in at short.

The loss of Colon, Mike Axisa writes at Riveraveblues.com, will probably be a blessing in disguise. Colon hasn't thrown too many innings in the last few years and this shut down might actually help prevent Colon from tiring out or suffering a major arm injury. It will also give one of the younger kids, a Hector Noesi, Adam Warren, or David Phelps a chance to taste a big league start or two. I agree with this logic. It is better to have these kids come up now than in the middle of September as the Yankees are fighting for a playoff spot. It might turn out to be a huge boost for the Yankees.

What isn't a huge boost is losing your top two set-up men in Rafael Soriano and Joba Chamberlain. Chamberlain is done for the year and might not be back until June or July of next year. Soriano, well, nobody knows when he is coming back. The loss of those two pitchers hurts more because David Robertson now has to fill in for them and bridge the gap to Mariano Rivera. Don't get me wrong, Robertson is an excellent pitcher. He actually deserves a shot at being Mo's bridge. However, it is going to hurt the Yankees because they now don't have an arm like Robertson's to come in and put out the fire in the 5th, 6th, or 7th. Who will fill the void? It could be Kevin Whelan who walks a lot of guys but has been getting a lot of strikeouts. It could be Hector Noesi who has performed very well in his short time in the Bronx. Lance Pendleton? Maybe, but I doubt it. Amaury Sanit? No way. Tim Norton? Well, he would be an excellent option with his strikeout rate (46 K's in 30 innings at AA and AAA) but he is now on the DL in Scranton. He probably would have been the best bet to fill in for Robertson as Robertson fills in for Soriano/Chamberlain. One thing is certain, the trade market right now isn't clear and prying away a top reliever from any team will cost more than he is worth. Right now, the Yankees must be patient. Let the kids come up and see what they can do. Like teaching a toddler to be potty trained there will be mistakes and accidents but its all part of the learning process. The Yankees have to keep the faith in whomever they call up and keep giving them the ball until it is clear that that pitcher isn't major league ready.

The Yankees will suffer a little without Jeter. They will lose a few games because nobody like Robertson could come in and put out the fire that a starting pitcher ignites. They will lose a game because losing Colon is like losing an ace and its a lot to ask of a rookie to fill an ace's shoes. It still isn't the end of the world. The heavy hitters in the Yankees lineup remain, for the most part, healthy. CC Sabathia is still healthy. A.J. Burnett has thrown a few excellent games. Mariano is still Mariano. It will take some time but the Yankees will be better in the long haul if they don't overreact and allow the kids to show what they can do. Soon enough Phil Hughes will come back. Bartolo will come back. Soriano will come back. Jeter will come back and resume his quest for 3000 hits. Russell Martin will return and give the Yankees excellent defense behind the plate with some pop in his bat. The doctor is in and he is hard at work.

Pop-Ups and Foul Tips

-The New York Yankees were able to accomplish something that hasn't been done since 1913 on Thursday night, lose 6 straight home games to the Boston Red Sox. Just to put that in perspective, the Yankees didn't even have Yankee Stadium back then. So, congratulations Yankees.

-The New York Yankees have very big, very real problems. First, their bullpen which was supposed to be their biggest strength has turned into a huge potential weakness. First, free agent signee, Pedro Feliciano, their supposed lefty neutralizer, goes on the DL without throwing a pitch. He is followed by the other free agent signee, Rafael Soriano, who, when he did throw a pitch, wasn't very good at it. Now, Joba Chamberlain is on the DL and likely out for the year after hearing he might need Tommy John surgery. Boone Logan remains up and down, and the rest of the bullpen is pieced together by guys fresh from AAA or guys like Luis Ayala who is trying to put his career back on track. This is probably not what Brian Cashman envisioned this offseason.

-So who is available to step up into the bullpen void for the Yankees? Well, at AAA there is Kevin Whelan who has posted some excellent numbers as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's closer. Whelan is 1-1 with 18 saves, a 1.67 ERA, 30 K's, 6 BB's and has allowed only 17 hits in 27 innings. Tim Norton, who just made his AAA debut this past week was also an option before landing on the DL for a reason I am not sure about. He was 1-0 and struck out two batters in 1 inning at SWB but was lights out with Trenton where he posted a 1-0 record and 1.55 ERA with 44 K's in 29 innings. George Kontos is another option. He has posted a 2-0 record with a 2.64 ERA and has struck out 32 batters while walking 11 in 30.2 innings. All the other guys we have seen in the Bronx already this year. Mark Prior is another option but he is still on the DL at SWB after 1 game. The good news is its not an arm issue. Andrew Brackman has been too wild at AAA to earn a call-up and would be a disaster in the pen right now given his inability to stay in the strike zone.

-I am still shocked that the Nationals were able to secure Anthony Rendon at pick #6 in this weeks draft. Could a Nationals-Royals World Series be a possibility down the road?

-Francisco Cervelli, filling in for Russell Martin who is dealing with some back issues, gave his best Chuck Knoblauch/Steve Sax impersonation during this Red Sox series. Three throwing errors on attempted steals at second base have to have Yankees brass scratching their heads. All his throws tail away from second which is probably the result of rushing his throws. Either way, I am surprised the Red Sox didn't try to exploit it more.

-Jeff Marquez made his Yankees debut last night. He was part of the Nick Swisher trade but the White Sox released him and the Yankees claimed him. So, seven years after getting drafted, the kid makes his Yankees debut.

-First it was Eric Hosmer. Now Mike Moustakas has been called up by the Royals. Nice to see the Royals doing what is best for the baseball side of operations by bringing these kids up and not worrying about arbitration years down the road.

-The Sporting News came out with their list of the Top 50 baseball players as voted on by MLB executives. Albert Pujols was number one followed by Troy Tulowitzki, Felix Hernandez, Joey Votto, and Tim Lincecum. Jose Bautista was #23. Joe Mauer was #9! Really? Wow. Robinson Cano was #12. I don't know how you put Mauer that high. Must be the Head and Shoulders commercials. How Bautista is #23 I will never know. Notable Yanks and Mets on the list: Cano #12, CC Sabathia #15, A-Rod #17, Mark Teixeira #26, Mariano Rivera #29, and David Wright tied at #41 with Ubaldo Jimenez. First of all, Wright at #41 and no Jose Reyes on the list. Right now, Wright is not in the top 50 and Reyes is in top #15, period.

-Don't look now bu the Dallas Mavericks are one win away from beating the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. The Heat are by no means out of this but I don't think many people expected this. Many hoped for it though.

-After having trouble scoring an goals in the first two games, the Boston Bruins are exploding on Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo. That series is tied 2-2.

-Getting back to the NBA...I am thoroughly shocked the Mavs are up 3-2 right now. Dirk got hurt in Game 1 and the Mavs really lack that second superstar. Still, there they are. But, how can you count out any team that has Dwayne Wade and LeBron James as options 1 and 1A?

-Joba Chamberlain is proof positive that no matter how much you coddle and arm it will still break down if that's what its gonna do. The Joba rules didn't protect Joba anymore than letting him throw too many pitches hurt him. Its not what you do to an arm, its what the arm does when throwing. Shoulders and elbows don't know about rules.

And that's all I got. Enjoy the day. Oh, and my fellow Yankee fans, don't worry. The Sox left town, we can resume winning I hope.

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The Yankees and Mets Drafts

The New York Mets, with the 13th pick in the draft selected Brandon Nimmo, an outfielder out of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Nimmo didn't have a high school baseball team so he had to play Legion baseball. This pick is purely a credit to the Mets scouting department who went and saw the kid play. What they saw they liked. He is a lefty bat that should develop the power necessary to hit some balls out of Citi Field, especially if they move the fences in. Nimmo is the kind of pick that has to have MEts fans a little excited, he could be their corner outfielder for years to come. Hell, I'm sure some Mets fans would take this kid over Jason Bay right now! I'm not saying this kid is a super-prospect but he had to be doing something right if he got noticed without a high school baseball team. While its always hard to project if a kid will make the Majors, I do see Nimmo becoming the Mets left fielder, or right fielder, for years to come down the road. It might take a little while as the kid adjusts to the new level of competition so for a few years Mets fans will playing Finding Nimmo.

The Yankees didn't have a first round pick this year because the Steinbrenner Braintrust (wait, I thought Cashman had autonomy here) decided signing Rafael Soriano was the better route. So, the Yankees selected 51st overall, thanks to the Marlins signing Javier Vazquez. With that pick, the Yankees selected Dante Bichette, Jr. Yep, son of former Major Leaguer Dante Bichette who was a member of those Coors Field inspired Colorado Rockies teams that launched balls into orbit. Little Bichette is a two-time All Central Florida Player of the Year. He was not on ESPN's Keith Law's Top 100 Prospects List. However, the kid did hit .640 (55-86) with 14 doubles and 10 home runs and 40 RBI's in 30 games as a senior in high school. Keith Law says the power is there but he questions Bichette's hit tool, whatever that means. I think the Yankees might finally have drafted a power bat that plays into a corner outfield slot after years of drafting toolsy guys without much pop (Slade Heathcott, Mason Williams, Brett Gardner, Austin Jackson, etc.) Bichette, Sr. and Joe Girardi are close friends so if the kid eventually makes it and if Girardi is still managing the kid will basically be playing for an uncle. Overall, I like this pick. The Yankees needed some power bats that play into corner outfield positions and Bichette, Jr. definitely has that. Bichette has committed to play at the University of Georgia where he is slated to become the teams starting third baseman but, given the closeness of Giardi and his father, I think something can be worked out fairly quickly to get this kid into pinstripes.

Fastballs and Curves

-Tonight is the MLB Draft where Gerrit Cole is slated to be taken first overall by the Pirates. A couple of years ago, in the 2008 MLB Draft, the Yankees took Cole with the 28th overall pick. Cole, a Yankee fan growing up, passed on the Yankees offer and went to UCLA. Now, Cole will be a Pirate or Mariner.

-Plaxico Burress was released from prison today and is now free to begin his search for a new team, when the labor problem is resolved of course. It feels like Plax served one of the longest sentences in athletic history. There is no doubt in my mind that his sentence didn't fit the crime. Totally overblown by New York City. He made a stupid decision and he paid for it by enduring a lot of pain and will deal with it the rest of his life from the embarrassment stemming from the nightclub incident. When he owned those guns outside of New York they were all legal. He should have registered them in New York but there should be a federal mandate that allows weapons to be transferred easily from state to state. Afterall, states don't guarantee the right to own guns, the Constitution does and last I checked all the states ratified that document.

-Taking Plax's place in the prison system will be former Mets and Phillies standout, Lenny Dykstra. Dykstra has not exactly led the glamorous life since leaving baseball. He has been linked to steroid use and now faces 25 counts of grand theft auto, attempted grand theft auto, identity theft, and a few drug possession charges. Apparently, Dykstra and two other men were trying to lease high end cars using false information and then claiming these cars as a credit on a phantom business. If convicted, Dykstra can face up to 12 years in prison.

-This NFL labor crap is killing me. I love the offseason for baseball, football, hockey, and basketball. I love playing GM and deciding who should where and all that. I get excited to think what new players the Giants will bring in and who will be donning the blue uniforms next season. Now, there is none of that in the NFL. Everyday this dispute goes on without resolution is one less day for rookies and free agents to get acclimated to new teams. This could seriously hurt the product on the field next year. Fans expect to see highly touted number one draft picks take the field and show what they can do. Now, without the ability to learn the plays they might not make much of an impact at all, especially the quarterbacks. Free agents who will pull down millions might not have the time to adapt to the new systems and could look terrible through the first few weeks of a season. This whole NFL situation just sucks.

-Through 46 games this season, Yankee prospect Slade Heathcott has already surpassed last years triples, and home run totals. In 2010, Heathcott hit 2 homers and 3 triples in 76 games. This year he has 4 of each so far and is only 5 doubles shy of last season's mark of 16. Progress.

-Yankee prospect Gary Sanchez returned from extended Spring Training after having some "attitude problems." Apparently, Sanchez, 18, refused to do some things coaches asked him to do. Hopefully, he got it all out of his system and he get back on track as a top prospect.

-Speaking of Yankee farmhands, J.R. Murphy might be doing more to establish himself on next years list of top prospects than anyone else in the Yankee system right now. He is currently posting a .321/.366/.502/ line (AVG/OBP/SLG) while slugging 6 homers and 20 doubles. Last season he hit .255/.327/.376 with only 7 homers and 15 doubles. Murphy was drafted as a catcher but he has been getting playing time in the OF and at the corners this year since the Yankees have Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, and Gary Sanchez as catching prospects ahead of him. If he continues to improve like this he might be a legit candidate for third (if he can play defense there) or a corner outfield slot. He is just raking this year.

-One Yankee prospect whose star is falling is Andrew Brackman. He is clearly having issues adjusting to AAA. In 10 starts, a total of only 46.1 innings, Brackman has posted a 2-4 record with a 6.80 ERA. He has walked 36(!!!!!!!) while striking out only 37 and has surrendered 49 hits. The stuff is there but he has been waaay too wild this season. He is a big guy at 6'10" so his mechanics might be a little off. In 2009 he was terrible before finding his groove in 2010. However, time is running out on Brackman who signed a major league contract after being drafted in 2007 which means he is eligible for free agency after this season. I can't see the Yankees letting someone with his stuff just walk but he will have to take a huge pay cut to continue on as a Yankee.

-Jesus Montero only has 4 homers so far this year and 10 doubles. He is hitting .297 now, down from his lofty start. Maybe he is just bored down in Scranton? Maybe he is working on his defense? I can't imagine he has just lost his power overnight. I'm betting on him being bored down there since this is his second season at AAA. He will get called up eventually, especially if Jorge Posada keeps swinging and missing.

-Yankee farmhand and former Braves prospect Cody Johnson has 10 homers in 183 at bats. He also has 81 K's and only 10 walks! He reminds me of the character played by Joaquin Phoenix in the M. Night Shamalan movie, Signs. Seriously, 81 strikeouts?!?!? At AA?!?!?!?! Good luck dude.

-Cody Johnson seems to be indicative of the type of filler-type guys Yankee GM Brian Cashman has brought in for minor league depth. There seem to be a lot of high strikeout guys who can hit the long ball sprinkled in around the Yankee minor leagues. There is Justin Maxwell, who leads the SWB Yankees with 72 K's and is second on the team in homers with 16. Then there is Jorge Vazquez who leads SWB with 18 homers and is second on the team in K's with 68. Just for measurement, Jesus Montero is third on the team in K's with 49. Montero is also third on the team in homers, tied with, get ready for this one.....Ramiro Pena! That's right, Ramiro Pena has more home runs than Brandon Laird, who hit 25 last season at AA and AAA.

-Wanna know if Bryce Harper is the real deal? The answer is yes. He has 13 homers, 12 stolen bases, 14 doubles, 41 RBI, a .610 SLG %, a .434 OBP, and is hitting .338. He also has 32 walks and has K'd just 46 times. For an 18 year-old kid those are PHENOMENAL numbers. Good for the Nationals for not rushing this kid through the sytem, they are letting him develop, keeping his confidence up, and it will pay huge dividends in the end.

-Here are some updates on some other Yankee Prospects:

Tim Norton has 44 K's in 29 innings out of the pen in Trenton. He owns a 1.55 ERA and 0.69 WHIP.

Dellin Betances is 3-1 with a 1.99 ERA, striking out 50 in 45.1 innings. He has been a little wild, walking 22 but it hasn't hurt him yet.

Manny Banuelos is 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA in 46.2 innings. He has allowed 26 walks and 38 hits but has struck out 42. Not bad overall numbers. I still think he will be the best of the "Killer B's" but only time will tell.

-Well, that's all for now. Enjoy the MLB Draft if thats your thing. Game 3 of the Stanley Cup is also on at 8.

Just Some Stuff Around Sports

-Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals was amazing. I still think Raffi Torres was offsides by a hair though.

-The Brad Richards era in Dallas may be coming to an end. He announced on Thursday that he won't re-sign with the Stars until the ownership situation there is resolved. This prompted Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk to discuss the possibility of trading his rights before Richards becomes a free agent on July 1. Ummm, Joe, where were you three months ago? You are going to lose your best player, and one of the better players in the NHL, and hope you can trade his rights? Umm, Joe, Richards has a no-trade clause. Good luck.

-There is already heavy speculation that the New York Rangers will attempt to sign Brad Richards this offseason. The Rangers lacked a true playmaking center this season and Richards would give Marian Gaborik someone to play alongside. If Richards does become a Ranger then Chris Drury will probably be gone so that the salary fits in with the Rangers cap. Adding Richards should elevate the Rangers into Cup Contenders as well. But then again, everyone thought the same thing when Scott Gomez and Chris Drury came over.

-Despite Rafael Soriano and his bloated ERA, and then losing him to the DL along with Damaso Marte and the Yanks other free agent signee, Pedro Feliciano, the Yankees have the best bullpen ERA in the majors at 2.88. Pretty amazing when you consider Lance Pendleton, who couldn't stick with the Astros 25-man roster after being selected by them in the Rule 5 Draft, Luis Ayala, Buddy Carlyle, Hector Noesi, and Amaury Sanit have all filled in at one point or another. Not to mention Joba has had his struggles and Boone Logan has looked terrible. Just goes to show you, you never know where bullpen help will emerge from and it doesn't make sense to spend big money on free agent relievers. Didn't work with LaTroy Hawkins, Stave Karsay, Kyle Farnsworth, etc., etc., and probably won't work with Rafael Soriano either.

-Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka will undergo Tommy John surgery. Not sure if that is good news or bad news for the Red Sox.

-The Mavericks tied up the NBA Finals on Thursday night as they came back to beat the Heat a couple of days after the Heat did the same to them. Gotta credit Dirk Nowitzki for not allowing his tendon in his left hand to be an excuse...so far.

-Good riddance to Ohio State head coach, or should I say former Ohio State head coach, Jim Tressel. After calling the Miami Hurricanes program "dirty" a couple of years ago, Tressel has seemingly been on a mission to outdo the 'Canes by racking up NCAA violations. Tressel, in my opinion, should never be allowed to coach in college again. He failed the school, failed the kids he promised to mentor, and failed himself.

-Jason Bay might be one of the worst free agent signings ever made...by any team. He only has 3 extra base hits in his previous 31 games including zero over his last ten games, and on the season only has four doubles and two homers to go with a measly ten RBI's. He is currently hitting .228 this season. As a Met, Bay has 8 homers, 57 RBI's, and only 24 doubles and 6 triples in 129 games. Eddie Whitson, a horrendous signing by the Yankees in 1985 is a close second.

-Nice win by the Mets on Thursday, coming from behind to win 9-8 after being down 7-0. A little side note on that game, not a single Pirates pitcher has an ERA over 3.76 after today's game while the Mets featured three pitchers who sport ERA over 5.00. Those three are, Mike Pelfrey, Tim Byrdak, and Robbie Parnell. The game also featured Chris Capuano being inserted as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning for Nick Evans. However, Terry Collins changed his mind and sent Josh Thole out to hit for Capuano. Thole walked.

-Ivan Nova better start pitching if he wants to keep his spot in the Yankees rotation. Phil Hughes should be off the DL by mid-July and Carlos Silva is waiting in the minors. Nova's days might be numbered right now.

-How long do the Yankees stick with Jorge Posada at DH? He is 0-the year against left-handed pitching, has a batting average that is lower than some pitchers, and cannot play the field too often. Right now, and I hate to say this about one of the best catchers in recent Yankee history, he is just clogging up a roster spot that can be better used on someone else which would give Joe Girardi a little more flexibility when making up the lineup.

-Only three Yankees are not leading in the voting results for their respective positions. Russell Martin leads catchers, Mark Teixeira leads first basemen, Robinson Cano leads second basemen, Derek Jeter leads shortstops, Alex Rodriguez leads third basemen, and Curtis Granderson is second among all outfielders. That leaves Jorge, Nick Swisher, and Brett Gardner the only three Yankees not leading. However, Swisher is 7th among outfielders and Gardner ranks 11th. Cano leads all Yankees with almost 1.2 million votes.

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy whatever it is you enjoy doing.