The Daily Yankeeland - 9/12

What's left of the season? Finger pointing of course, by those who hadn't done it as of yet. Bob Raissman says it only took Michael Kay and company 144 games to rip the Yankees a new one. Neil Best has his take on this new twist on the YES Network.

Mike Lupica says it's the "House that Ruth Built", but the Yankees are bringing it down.

Joe Girardi says he'll take the blame. Tyler Kepner says you can blame the offense.

On the bright side, Bernie Williams has confirmed he will be attending the Yankee Stadium closing ceremonies. Bernie Baseball was performing at Robinson Cano's Foundation Fundraiser at Frankie & Johnny's Pine Restaurant in the Bronx.

Scott Patterson, who we thought would be a major contributor to the Yankees this season, started out well in the minors and then was mediocre. The Yankees released him to make room on the 40-man roster for Humberto Sanchez, and he's already pitching for the San Diego Padres.

Hank is trying to play George again. He's going to put a "committee" (baseball people?) together and Cashman could lose power. Here's a look at it from the Post, the News, and Peter Abraham have to say. PeteAbe also has a look at the final homestand.

Whether he'll be a Yankee next season remains to be seen, but either way, Robinson Cano will be working with Kevin Long this season after a very disappointing 2008. Long is planning on making major changes to Cano's swing.

"You're going to see a huge difference visually," Long said. "You'll see less movement, an explosive, compact swing, and you'll probably see more home runs. I think his average will go way up and I think his walks will go way up."

Kat O'Brien takes a look at next season's starting rotation.

Bill Madden spoke with Yogi Berra about his favorite Stadium moments.

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Francesa on the Move Too

No, Mike Francesa is not bailing on WFAN like his tongue-tied partner. But according to the Daily News' Bob Raissman, Francesa's show will be leaving the YES Network when the current contract expires. According to Raissman, Francesa already has a deal in place with MSG to switch the show over there.

The MSG Network took a huge hit with the loss of the Yankees, and though this clearly won't make up for it, it adds some better attention to MSG than Isaiah Thomas' missteps, and some additional revenue.

Raissman is also reporting that Chris Russo's deal with Sirius Satellite radio should be announced shortly. Russo hasn't been forthcoming with his plans, but he's been seen quite often at Sirius HQ.

Now the question is what will YES do with the time vacated by MMD? Since YES is already practically the Michael Kay network, they could simulcast his ESPN radio show, which runs from 3-7 P.M. EDT. That would still leave a gap from 1-3, which they could fill with yet another Yankees-Royals instant classic (sarcasm). They wouldn't be able to air Kay's entire show during the Yankees season since the pre-game show generally begins at 6 P.M..

It would also be hard to imagine that ESPN would allow one of its shows to be simulcast on another television network. YES hasn't been innovative in years so it will be interesting to see what transpires.

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The Daily Yankeeland - 5/20

Maybe we should change that title to the sometimes Yankeeland, since we haven't been writing it on a daily basis. Anyway........

Bob Raismann doesn't write new stuff every day either which is why he's a week behind in his shot at Hank Steinbrenner. Even Suzyn Waldman took a shot at Boss Jr. when she was on with Benigno and Roberts on the FAN.

"No. I don't think anybody pays attention (to Hank Steinbrenner)," Waldman said. "... Every time Hank goes out and says something, 10 minutes later he's saying, 'Well, that's not exactly what I meant to say.'"

That's stunning coming from one of the all-time Koolaid drinkers. Of course Waldman does have a point. As the Post's Kevin Kernan reports, Hank said yesterday not to count out the Yankees.

The NY Times reports that the idiot who buried the David Ortiz jersey in the concrete of the new Stadium, also buried a scorecard from the 2004 ALCS. Does anyone really care? If you are a Yankees fan does this really bother you? Seriously? They should have left Ortiz's jersey down there, he was hitting like he was buried in cement. Perhaps they should just bury the construction worker instead.

In case you didn't see it, and we only saw the headline of the video (just why did NBC give him the weekly spot), Mad Dog Russo, that moronexpert on all sports, said the Yankees are dead. May not happen, but I guess he hasn't learned from the past couple of season. No matter how bad things are, you don't kill off a team in May.

And in case you missed it in yesterday's paper or online, Phil Mushnick gave the Yankees a well deserved tongue lashing for their treatment of fans on Friday night. As we said on Saturday it was a disgraceful act that also occurred on opening day.

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The Daily Yankeeland

MLB.com has a piece on Don Mattingly's Hall of Fame credentials, or lack thereof. The most common argument by Mattingly for the hall supporters, is the inclusion of Kirby Puckett in Cooperstown. But as is always pointed out, Puckett had 2 WS rings. Unfortunately, we have to agree with those who don't feel Donnie Baseball should be in the hall. There was none better for a 6-year stretch, but a bad back ruined what would have been a sure hall career.

Another former Yankee is running out of time to get into the hall in the conventional manner. Tommy John, who won 288 games in his career, is in his 14th year of eligibility. That means if he doesn't get voted in this year or next, he gets kicked over to the veterans committee. We are on the fence on this one. It seems that players sometimes get punished for longevity. "He won 288, but look how many years it took him". But the fact that he was able to pitch at a high level for that many years is what might be his best argument for enshrinement.

Welcome to LA, Joe Torre. The Yankees ex-skip never encountered this in NY. A float in the Rose Bowl Parade. The Dodgers will have a 35-ft float in this year's parade, and its being put together, in part, by Dodger players and their families.

Bob Raissman, who makes a living by ripping people, takes aim at the YES network and David Justice. It's a lot more fun when he's ripping Mike and the Mad Dog, or Sterling and Waldman.

MSNBC takes a look at the endorsement hit Roger Clemens is expected to take.

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Kay Taken to Task

We recently discussed the seemingly personal vendetta that Michael Kay has towards Joe Torre. Kay has been using his show on 1050ESPN radio to regularly take shots at the recently departed Joe. He's also been kissing the ass of his new bestest buddy, new Yankees manager Joe.

While we don't always agree with Bob Raissman's critique of the media, he hit a home run today with his slice and dice of Kay. Raissman's words were in response to Kay's diatribes including this one...

"There are things about Joe Torre, if I wanted to come out and say, would show how cold and calculated he really is," Kay fumed. "... Joe Torre is for Joe Torre. ... The graveyard of Yankees coaches is loaded with bones of coaches Joe Torre did nothing about."

Raissman points out, as we did, that Kay never ever criticized Torre (except for an occasional remark about in game moves) on the YES network. Yet he feels the need to vent his spleen on a regular basis on his radio show.

Antics like this will not help Kay at all in his ratings battle with the 2 buffoons down the dial. He only comes out looking like an even bigger buffoon. Give it up Michael.

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