The Daily Yankeeland - 9/10

Just in case you haven't heard already heard, Schitbag is at it again.

Ivan Rodriguez and Torii Hunter both received a two game suspension for their tango on Monday night.

Kat O'Brien has more on Al Aceves and Phil Coke.

Hank said Joe will be back next year. Was that ever in doubt? Dan Graziano knows that Joe Girardi has to take blame too though.

FOX Sports has a piece on the Iron Horse's famous farewell.

Former Yankee Mike Pagliarulo has his take on a possibly Manny Ramirez-Yankees future.

Mark Feinsand looks at Andy Pettitte's future.

Yahoo Sports' Tim Brown looks at the two Joe's, Torre and Girardi.

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Around the Horn - 6/20

Some news first. Curt Schilling has revealed he's going to undergo season ending, and possibly career ending, shoulder surgery.

Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya is expected to return from his season long trip from the DL tonight when the team travels to San Diego.

Travis Hafner will not have to have surgery on his rotator cuff, but he's not close to coming back.

The Mariners fired John McLaren yesterday and reports have the Blue Jays firing John Gibbons prior to tonight's game. Former Jays manager Cito Gaston will take over.

Carlos Zambrano could miss significant time for the Cubs due to a shoulder problem.


Round 3 of Interleague play went as follows:

Rays 3 Cubs 0
The Rays take the sweep on Carl Crawford's grand slam on Thursday.

Twins 3 Nationals 0
Twins outscored the Nationals 22-6.

White Sox 3 Pirates 0
The White Sox scored 37 runs in the series. Jermaine Dye capped the sweep with a 2 HR, 6 RBI game.

Blue Jays 0 Brewers 3
John Gibbons to go out with a whimper. Former Blue Jay David Bush had a no-hitter Thursday into the 8th inning before the Brewers almost blew an 8-0 lead.

Rangers 2 Braves 1
Michael Young's 9th walk off single gave the Rangers the series after the bullpen blew yet another lead.

Orioles 3 Astros 0
Two one-run games and one two-run game. The Orioles ruined Miguel Tejada's home coming. The former Oriole only went 2-12.

Athletics 1 Diamondbacks 2
Two blowouts and then a pitcher's duel decides the finale, 2-1. Justin Upton delivered a game winning home run in the 8th inning.

Indians 0 Rockies 3
Rockies came into the series 14 games under .500. How long until C.C. Sabathia gets dealt?

Royals 3 Cardinals 0
Royals pitching limited the Cardinals to 4 runs in the series.

Angels 1 Mets 2
Mets took the series, but lost their manager.

Mariners 1 Marlins 2
The final demise for John McLaren. Rumor has it that players like Richie Sexson are soon to follow.

Red Sox 2 Phillies 1
The best in the NL is still not as good as the best in the AL.

AL wins this round by a whopping 25-14 margin.

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Around the Horn

The mouth that roared, Curt Schilling reported to Red Sox camp yesterday, and quickly threw management under the team bus. Schitbag is upset that the team is forcing him to choose rehab over surgery on his balky shoulder.

"I don't have any choice. If their course of action doesn't work I don't pitch this year, and I may never pitch again," Schilling said. "I have to mentally get behind it and do everything I can do to make it work."

Schilling had earlier sent this email to the AP.- "When you understand the depths of the different diagnosis, the incredible variations in potential treatments and timetables you should be able to understand to some degree why I might be upset at being forced to take this course of action," Schilling said. "That being said, that process is over and right now I am focused on trying to find out as quickly as possible whether or not this course of action will work."

Miguel Tejada reported to his new team, the Houston Astros today, but refused to comment on being named in the Mitchell Report. Tejada's attorneys advised him to keep a lid on things. The FBI has already launched an investigation to determine if Tejada lied during an interview in 2005.

Odalis Perez has reportedly joined the free-for-all to make the Nationals pitching staff, by inking a minor league deal.

The Angels can't find this to be good news. Vlad Guerrero is still bothered by elbow problems that forced him to DH down the stretch of last season.

Lou Piniella has made Bobby Howry the front-runner to be the Cubs new closer. Last year's closer, Ryan Dempster, was moved back to the starting rotation.



Ownership is now 5-0 in arbitration cases after defeating Mark Loretta.

Talk about a sophomore jinx. Hunter Pence has gotten off to a rough start in '08, suffering cuts to his hands and knees after walking into a sliding glass door.

Ian Kinsler has joined the recent group of young players to receive long-term contracts. The Rangers and Kinsler agreed to a 5-yr, $22 million deal.

Andy Pettitte wasn't the only one offering up apologies yesterday. Eric Gagne said his sorrys for being a distraction to his new Milwaukee Brewers club.

In what has to be a simple case of nepotism, the Nationals have inked Brett Boone to a minor league deal. The 39-yr old hasn't played in a major league game in over 2-1/2 years. His younger brother Aaron is also in Nats camp and his Dad, Bob, is an assistant to GM Jim Bowden.

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Breaking News: Schilling Season in Jeopardy

If you read this blog you know how much we detest Curt Schilling or "Schitbag" as we call him. We don't like to see anyone get hurt, especially if it means said person could end up a commentator.

Word out of Boston is that Curt Schilling's shoulder is much worse than originally thought, maybe even of the season-ending variety. The Red Sox have reportedly even looked into voiding Schilling's contract.

Schilling recently went to see the surgeon who performed his shoulder surgery back in 1995. Dr. Craig Morgan of course could not comment on the injury, and Schilling and Sox GM Theo Epstein both offered up a no comment of one sort or another.

Schilling contemplated retiring after the 2007 season, but signed a 1-yr deal that guaranteed him $8 million with another 3 mill attainable through incentives.

The only thing known for sure now is that Schilling won't be ready for the start of the season, which means Clay Bucholz will probably be in the starting rotation.

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Baseball Writers Have no Incentives

The Baseball Writers Association of America has decided to slam the bullpen door shut on award based incentives in players contracts. Beginning in 2013 any player who is to receive bonuses based on MVP or Cy Young award voting, will not be eligible for the awards. There has been discussion about this over the years, but the recent Curt Schilling contract, in which he reportedly will receive $1 million for getting 1 Cy Young vote, prompted the association to take action.

Source 1 Source 2

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Veterans Day

3 MLB veterans have made or are close to making decisions about their futures. The most important to us is that Andy Pettitte turned down his 2008 option on Monday night. No shocker here. He had to make a decision by Wednesday and it was already pretty obvious that Pettitte was going to need more time. As we previously mentioned, Hank Steinbrenner was cool with this, and one of Pettitte's Hendricks bros. agents said he felt a deal could be struck within 24 hours if and when Pettitte decides to return. Source

Earlier in the day on Monday, Greg Maddux agreed to a 1 year deal to return to the San Diego Padres. Maddux has 350 career wins in his sights. Source

Word out of Boston late Monday evening is that Schitbag Schilling is close to returning to the Red Sox with a 1 year, incentive laden deal. We were really hoping he went back to the NL so we wouldn't have to see his ugly mug so much. Source

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The Great Escape

Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling locked in a great pitching duel. The game is close until a Yankees home run gives them the lead. Then it's up to the Yankees sure thing, Mariano Rivera, to close things out. But Mo is shaky. No this wasn't the 7th game of the 2001 World Series again. It was last night's white knuckler with the Boston Red Sox that the Yankees pulled out 4-3. The victory moved them back to within 4.5 of the AL East lead, and more importantly, kept them 2.5 games ahead of the Tigers for the Wild Card.

Clemens, with the aid of 2 cortisone shots, had a good fastball and a nasty slider to go with Mr. Splittee. Schilling, a mile or two slower than Clemens with his fastball, threw a low 70s curve ball to keep hitters off balance. Clemens departed after 6 in a 1-1 tie and it was still that score when the Yankees came to bat in the 8th.

Schilling (8-8) struck out Melky Cabrera to start the inning, but Doug Mientkiewicz stroked his 2nd single of the game and pinch-hitter Jason Giambi peppered the green monster with a shot that nearly cleared the top of the wall. Mientkiewicz raced to 3rd and Giambi moved into 2nd on the throw. With the infield in Johnny Damon hit a broken bat bouncer to 2nd that froze Mientkiewicz and was the 2nd out of the inning. That left it up to the Captain. Derek Jeter came into the game hitting better than .400 with runners in scoring position and 2 out, and he added to it. He ripped a hanging 2-2 slider from Schilling into the seats atop the green monster for a 3-run HR and a 4-1 Yankees lead. But the game was far from over.

Mike Lowell cut the lead in half with a solo home run off of Joba Chamberlain. It was the first home run and earned run allowed by Chamberlain (2-0), who was in his 2nd inning of work. Then came the 9th, which was not for the feint of heart.

Rivera walked Jason Varitek to start the inning, but retired Eric Hinske and Coco Crisp on ground outs, with Varitek moving around to 3rd. All seemed right. But then Julio Lugo hit a high fastball to the monster for a run scoring double. Rivera hit Jacoby Ellsbury with a pitch and then lost a long battle with Dustin Pedroia, walking the rookie to load the bases. For David Ortiz. With both Yankees and Red Sox fans holding their breath, Ortiz popped up to an awaiting Jeter to end the game. And we could all breath again.

...

Roger Clemens allowed just 2 hits in his 6 innings of work, and 1 unearned run that reached when Johnny Damon dropped a fly ball.

The Yankees won the season series with the Red Sox, 10-8. They won 10 of the last 15 played.

photos courtesy of AP

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Roger Clemens vs. Curt Schilling

Thanks to Peter Abraham for the lineups

YANKEES

Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Posada DH
Cano 2B
Cabrera CF
Mientkiewicz 1B
Molina C

RED SOX

Ellsbury LF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Lowell 3B
Drew RF
Varitek C
Hinske 1B
Crisp CF
Lugo SS

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This Afternoon's Lineups (8/30)

Curt "Schitbag" Schilling vs. Chien-Ming Wang...The Wanger!


Red Sox

D. Pedroia 2b
C. Crisp cf
D. Ortiz dh
K. Youkilis 1b
M. Lowell 3b
J.D. Drew rf
J. Varitek c
E. Hinske lf
A. Cora ss

Yankees
J. Damon lf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
H. Matsui dh
J. Posada c
J. Giambi 1b
R. Cano 2b
M. Cabrera cf

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Around the Horn (6/20)

It hasn't been a good week for veteran pitchers. Randy Johnson (herniated disk), Curt Schilling (shoulder), A.J. Burnett (shoulder), Jason Schmidt (shoulder), and Dontrelle Willis (forearm, elbow) are all hurting. Johnson and Burnett are already on the DL. Schilling went for an MRI (showed no structural damage), and Schmidt is having his shoulder scoped today. Willis hopes not to miss a start.

update - Schilling has received a cortisone shot

No more infighting for Cubs catcher Michael Barrett. The Cubs sent him and some cash to San Diego today for catcher Rob Bowen and prospect Kyler Burke.

Texas Rangers' 1st Baseman Mark Teixeira confirmed that he won't be back before the All-Star game because of his injured quad.

Craig Biggio had a pair of hits last night against the Angels, leaving him just 8 hits shy of 3,000.

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Non-Yankees Hero of the Day

A big high five and a fist pump to Shannon Stewart of the Oakland A's. Stewart seemed to always hit well as a member of the Blue Jays before a series of injuries took its toll. Well today Stewart is #1 in our eyes.

He broke up Curt Schilling's no-hit bid with 2 out in the 9th. Schilling out dueled Joe Blanton, 1-0, allowing only 2 base runners (Julio Lugio committed a 5th inning error), but he doesn't get the no-no.

And we are quite happy.

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Enough Already

Francesa and Russo, and other talking heads - enough bashing the Yankees for the contract they've given Roger Clemens. To continually harp on how it goes against "the Yankee way" is ridiculous. There was a time that a player would never ever leave the ball club to be with his wife when she was giving birth. A manager would not be given permission to go to his kid's high school graduation. It's called progress. It's amazing how you can want instant replay, interleague play, the DH, etc., and then dare bring up how something will affect the purity of the game.

Barry Bonds - stop with the I am just an innocent victim of the media, the white man, and all haters in general. You cheated. I don't care if you haven't failed a test. This is the court of public opinion, not the court of law, and here you are guilty until proven otherwise. If you are so innocent, why have you never sued Mark Fainaru-Wadu and Lance Williams, Dutton/Gotham Books, and the San Francisco Chronicle??? Because you don't have a case.

And please, stop bringing race into this issue. This has nothing to do with Barry Bonds being a black man. Of course, there are idiots out there who hate him because of his race. This has to do with cheating, period. Hank Aaron doesn't want to be near you. Frank Robinson doesn't want to be near you.

And thank you for ruining the pursuit of the HR record. This is something that everyone should be excited about and embrace, just as we did when Hank broke the Babe's. But now it is meaningless.

SF Giants Fans - For acting like nothing is wrong. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Curt Schilling - just shut up already. We don't care what your opinion is on everything under the sun. You do great charity work, but you are a completely classless windbag. Go away...really..go.

Oh and Roger...try to actually visit your family, not play in golf tournaments when you're away from the team.

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