An Ending, of Sorts

Leap Day seems like an appropriate point to make a major decision about how I spend my free time.

It's been over a year since I decided to streamline my approach to this blog (and the time I spend on entertainment), and it's been to my benefit to do so. I think it's time to do so again, because while the changes have made it easier on me, I still find myself wondering why I do some of the things I do. Why spend time typing up single paragraph summaries of things I've experienced, with no actual interesting analysis or entertainment value to justify it? I don't need to tell myself what I've seen and done, and no one else is being served by it either. I'm not going to stop blogging, but I'm going to stop doing so when I don't actually have anything to say. I want to start writing in a way that if someone were to stumble upon what I've written, they would actually be interested in reading more. Less fluff, and more actual thought. I thought a new blog with a new name and a clean slate would be best for such a significant change, so I'm going to work on that, but in the meantime this is probably going to be it for this blog.

When I have actual content to show for my attempt to do this blogging thing right, I'll post a link here, but more importantly on Twitter, where you probably got to this post from, unless you came from Things That Don't Suck, my Internet Friend Bryce's much better blog, and apparently my biggest traffic driver besides Google. So, thanks for that, Bryce. I might keep the posts with my various compulsively maintained lists updated, but other than that, this has been Pretty Sure I'm Right.

Liveblog 30: Oh God Make It Stop

It's kind of funny how in years past I would cover Phil Hughes maybe too often, and this season I've blogged a game by pretty much everybody who's started for the Yankees except for him. Today was actually supposed to be his start, but he's getting close to his inning limit and has gotten steadily worse as the season's worn on, so journeyman Dustin Moseley gets the nod in his stead. What's less funny is the team's play of late. Last time I blogged they were just starting what would be an eight game winning streak. I'm thinking the team's finally back on track, right? But they follow that up with abysmal play against the Orioles and the Rangers, including two late blown leads in the last two games, and are back down to a half game lead over the Rays. If it weren't for Nick Swisher stealing a win with a walk off home run against the O's, they'd have immediately followed the eight game streak with a six game losing one. And today doesn't look too hot since they're facing Cliff Lee, who in recent years has owned them, although he hasn't pitched well since joining the Rangers and the Yanks ended up coming back to win last time he faced them. I just hope the last liveblog of the season isn't too painful.

Top 1 - Yanks lead off against Lee. They're missing three of their regular starters, not counting Nick Johnson who's been out all year. Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner are a bit banged up, whereas Alex Rodriguez... I don't know. I guess Joe Girardi is okay with getting swept by a likely playoff opponent. Derek Jeter is easily having the worst season of his career, but works a tough walk against Lee to start the game. For some reason the lefty Curtis Granderson is batting second against one of the toughest lefties in the league, and promptly rewards Girardi's optimism with a double play. Mark Teixeira strikes out looking for the third out.

Bottom 1 - Dustin Moseley on the mound to shout at the devil. I have no idea why I made that reference. He starts Elvis Andrus with a strike. The next pitch is an easy ground ball to Jeter. The veteran Michael Young works a full count before flying out deep to Greg Golson. David Murphy grounds out to first, pretty nice inning for Moseley.

Top 2 - Leading off is clean-up hitter Ale- no wait, it's Marcus Thames, who grounds out. Robinson Cano does the same. Lee starts Jorge Posada with a strike. Then another. Why not a third? Oh, there's a ball! Posada hits a bouncer that might end up in an infield hit if he wasn't himself, but he is, and he is slow, so it's an out.

Bottom 2 - Moseley begins with a ball to Vlad Guerrero. Two quick strikes though and the count's in his favor. Vlad still manages to club a double just past Austin Kearns' reach because that's how Vlad do. Nelson Cruz, a hero in the first game of the series, moves Vlad to third with a grounder. Ian Kinsler grounds one right to third, which prevents Vlad from scoring, two outs. Some guy called Mitch Moreland lines out to left, where Kearns has to leap to make the catch because he misjudged the ball. Sure glad it's him out there and not Gardner! Ah well, no real damage done.

Top 3 - Kearns manages to foul off a few pitches but eventually goes down on strikes. Eduardo Nunez also quickly makes an out. Golson lines out to third, and another quick one for Lee.

Bottom 3 - Catcher Matt Treanor hits first for the Rangers. He pops out to Cano in shallow right. Julio Borbon works a full count, but pops out to Moseley himself. Back to the top of the lineup with two outs. Andrus strikes out and is none too pleased with the call.

Top 4 - If nothing else, this game is going at a furious pace compared to the first two. Three full innings in 40 minutes. Another full count for Jeter. I feel like he's at least been working the count better lately, but it certainly hasn't helped his numbers. He grounds out to short. Granderson can't hold up on a high strike and goes down. Teixeira grounds out and the game continues to breeze by.

Bottom 4 - Young flies out to Granderson on the first pitch. Another full count, this time to Murphy. These counts have been the most exciting part of the game so far. Fly out to Golson. Another hit by Vlad, this time a single up the middle. Another hit, this one by Cruz. Runners on first and second for Kinsler. A few hitters seem less than in love with the umpire's strike zone today. Three ball count. Swinging strike on a change up. Ground ball to Jeter for the third out, Moseley escapes trouble. Four innings in less than an hour!

Top 5 - Hey a full count to Thames. He is rewarded for his effort with a strikeout. Adam Lind just hit a two run walk off home run for the Blue Jays to avoid a sweep by the Rays. They've actually been a worse spoiler in this last month than the Orioles, it seems. Cano made an out while I was typing that. Posada goes down too, five good innings for Lee. He's no hitting them, by the way.

Bottom 5 - Moreland leads off. Line drive right to Teixeira for the out. Treanor flies out to left. Another pop out to Moseley by Borbon. I'm quite confident I've never seen a pitcher handle two fly balls in one game, let alone by the same hitter.

Top 6 - Kearns up again. He takes a couple balls, you know what I mean? Grounds out to third anyway. Nunez of all people breaks up the no hitter with a single up the middle. Stat just showed the Yankees have left 32 runners on base so far this series. Pretty astonishing. But it shows that they've beaten themselves more than the Rangers have. Kinsler makes a nice play to throw out Golson at first, Nunez moves to second. Jeter hits a double down the right field line, Yankees lead 1-0. Nice. He's now just a hundred hits away from 3000, which he'll get next year. The question is how much the Yanks will be overpaying him to do it. Nice hitter's count for Curtis, but he fouls one off to make it full. He walks. That's two in the game for Lee, which doesn't sound like much but is actually out of character for Lee, who last time I checked was having one of the all time great seasons in terms of strikeout to walk ratio. Teixeira wastes the opportunity with an easy pop fly to right. Still, a lead is a lead until you lose it.

Bottom 6 - Andrus walks to lead off. He steals second with no throw by Posada. Fly out by young deep enough to move Elvis to third with just one out. Important play here, infield pulled in close. Grounder to Teixeira who tries to make the play at home, but the run scores anyway and there's still just one out. Well, they didn't have that lead for long. Vlad hits one pretty deep to left, but it's another fly out. Wind might have held it back a bit. Cruz flies out to center.

Top 7 - Thames pops one into that dangerous triangle between a middle infielder, a corner outfielder, and the guy in center, but it's high enough for Kinsler to get under it. Cliff Lee doesn't seem too happy with the strike zone either. Cano grounds out to second. Jorge Posada watches a couple debatable called strikes go by for the third out.

Bottom 7 - Judging by what's on Gameday, the umpire has a very bizarre strike zone definition indeed. Kinsler walks. Game's slowing down a bit as it goes on, as it always does. Moreland smokes a fly ball deep enough to move the runner to second, which is fairly uncommon. Treanor hits another deep one, and Kinsler's at third with two outs. Borbon hits a bunt towards first in the perfect place and slides into the base for no reason with the infield hit, scoring the go ahead run. He makes some gestures towards his dugout in triumph. Nice one, asshole. You bunted and slid into first. I wonder if there was no play at home for Teixeira. Borbon steals second. Andrus lines a single past Cano, another run scores. God I hate that stupid gesture they make whenever they score. "Myxomatosis" is only fueling my rage. Jonathan Albaladejo comes on to face Michael Young. Hey, another hit. A fourth run scores for Texas. Haha, Young looks like such a chump doing the gesture. If you don't know, it's sort of like they're in the middle of a big balloon party and they're pushing some balloons away from their face so they can see a clown. That's what the gesture looks like. Single by Murphy. Vlad grounds out, but the damage is done. I'm done until the game's over. Sour note to end the year of baseball blogging on.

Wrap-Up - Jeter drew another walk to keep Lee from throwing a complete game, but the Rangers' electric young closer Neftali Feliz struck out the side to secure the victory. The Yankees maintain a half game lead over the Rays with seven games against them in the next couple weeks. It's gonna be interesting.

Liveblog 29: The Yankees Are Not Winning Enough

This has turned out to be a pretty atypical Yankees season, at least compared to the way things seemed to usually go in the last decade. They actually got off to a great start despite usually struggling out of the gate, but after July being their best month all year, they've really struggled in August. It seems like around now is when the team always seems to turn it on, but they've only won half their games for the entire month, and seem to be stuck in a tie for first place with the Rays, as the Red Sox continue to struggle with injuries but still manage to be only about five games back in the hunt.

If I'm being honest, I see the Yankees getting to the playoffs but not winning the division. They only have one truly reliable starter in CC Sabathia, who just got his league-leading 18th win last night. But beyond him, Andy Pettitte is stuck on the disabled list, Phil Hughes seems to be struggling as he pitches deep into a big league season for the first time, and A.J. Burnett and Javy Vazquez have flat-out sucked. The bullpen finally turned into a strength, but the lineup seems streaky at best. I don't know how much of a real help Ivan Nova will be, but he's making his second start today after he pitched pretty well and really only made one mistake in a game the Yankees ended up losing. Well, two, if you think he intentionally threw that ball near Jose Bautista's head. Hopefully the Yankees pull out a series win against the White Sox today while the Red Sox and Rays play a 30 inning game that wears out all their players for the rest of the season.

Top 1 - Gavin Floyd pitching for the Sox. I get him and John Danks confused despite the different handedness. Brett Gardner strikes out looking to start the day. Derek Jeter flies out to right. Nick Swisher grounds a single up the middle to extend the inning a bit. I don't think I've seen him bat third before this year. Seems like Joe Girardi's trying everything with Alex Rodriguez on the DL. Mark Teixeira was supposed to be in the lineup today, but I guess his bruised thumb from yesterday kept him out after all. Robinson Cano works the count a bit, but he grounds out to second for the third out.

Bottom 1 - Nova kicks things off by inducing a ground out from Juan Pierre. Omar Vizquel, somehow still on a big league roster, swings through a curveball for strike three. Alex Rios strikes out on a low fastball, and Nova looked pretty good there.

Top 2 - Marcus Thames leads off the inning with a home run. He's really been very good all year. Came in to mash lefties, which he's done, but he's hit righties too. Curtis Granderson flies out to center. Austin Kearns bounces a ball towards Paul Konerko, but it deflects off his glove and Kearns reaches. Eduardo Nunez at the plate. I'm not sure how good his bat actually is, but compared to Ramiro Pena he looks like the Babe Ruth of utility infielders. He grounds one up the middle, but Alexei Ramirez makes a great diving grab and the Sox turn a double play to get out of the inning.

Bottom 2 - On the TV it looks like the home plate umpire is consistently giving pitchers an inch off the left side of the plate from his perspective, but Gameday says they're all pretty much on the edge of the zone. Michael Kay makes a pretty routine play on a ground ball by Jeter off Konerko's bat sound more exciting than it is for the first out. Andruw Jones, who's had a very confusing career (is he really overrated or really underrated?), grounds out to third. Nova's throwing an easy 95 and the curve is bending pretty well. Obviously I'm no expert but I'm surprised the traditional Yankee prospect hype machine hasn't built him up more. A.J. Pierzynski works a full count before getting a single up the middle. Maybe Nova's control has been abnormally good in these two starts? I've always heard good things about his stuff. Wow, they just showed a little of the new Resident Evil movie in a picture-in-picture thing, and it looked exactly like Milla Jovovich's other movie, Ultraviolet. Probably doesn't bode well. Ramirez fouls off a few pitches, but Nova gets him swinging on what must have been a change up.

Top 3 - Francisco Cervelli, who probably shouldn't be on a major league roster, especially for a contending team, and even more especially getting the majority of the playing time from the catcher position, makes me look silly for writing this sentence with a double down the right field line. Gardner squeaks a single past the second baseman, and Cervelli scores without a throw home. Gardner goes for second, but Jeter lines it right to second for a double play. Swisher pops out to third, and the inning's over.

Bottom 3 - Mark Teahen strikes out on a curveball in the dirt. Gordon Beckham slashes a single towards right field. Pierre strikes out on a pitch that looked a big high perhaps, but it was lower than the first called strike of the at bat, so he can suck it up. Right when Ken Singleton was about to make a Hall of Fame case for Vizquel, he lays down a bunt that Nova fields for the third out. That's a speech that will have to wait until the next half inning, at least.

Top 4 - Cano flies out on one pitch. Oppositely, Thames works a full count and draws a walk. Lots of scoreboard errors today for some reason. Multiple pitches have been marked as balls instead of strikes, and that whole last at bat there was a phantom runner on third base. Granderson gets a hit up the middle, runners on first and second for Kearns. He's fit in pretty well with the team since he came over, though he really doesn't have a regular position. Does the umpire's strike zone seem weird because he's actually calling the entire area, according to regulation? Maybe! Kearns grounds into a double play to cut the rally short.

Bottom 4 - I made a sandwich. Also, Rios grounded out, Konerko singled, and Jones and Pierzynski flied out.

Top 5 - Nunez flies out to right, and Cervelli gets down a bunt base hit. For today's text poll, 29% of voters don't think Frank Thomas is a first ballot Hall of Famer. In related news, 29% of the people watching this game are morons. Because he is inept, Cervelli attempts a steal before Danks starts his motion, allowing him to step off and throw him out at second. Gardner draws a walk, and moves to second on a wild pitch. Jeter strikes out though, and the inning ends.

Bottom 5 - Ramirez hits a lazy fly to left. Kay noting that every batter was taking the first pitch against Nova, but now the last three have swung (and still made outs). Teahen takes it for a ball, but eventually gets called out on strikes. Beckham hits a double off the wall in left. Pierre singles to right, driving in the Sox' first run. Cervelli once again utterly fails to throw out a runner, Pierre's on second for Vizquel. But he strikes out, Yankees still lead 2-1 after 5.

Top 6 - Swisher strikes out to begin the sixth. Cano follows suit. I think the Yankees should stop striking out and try hitting the ball more. But that's just me, I guess. Thames tries to follow my advice, but it only results in a ground out to third.

Bottom 6 -Still pitching well, Nova gets Rios to ground out again. Konerko draws a walk, though. CAN NOVA HANDLE THE PRESSURE OF PITCHING MORE THAN 5 1/3 INNINGS? Jones lines out to center for the second out. Girardi comes out for another early exit by Nova despite fewer than 90 pitches. You gotta earn the right to finish the sixth inning, kid. Boone Logan on to try to finish it. Pierzynski hits a weak ground ball to third, but Nunez can't make an accurate throw and the inning continues. Kerry Wood in to give the third out a shot. He's been pretty damn good for the Yankees so far, and is a big part of that bullpen resurgence. Unfortunately his first pitch is wild, and the runners move up. Full count to Ramirez. He draws a walk and the bases are loaded. Teahen saves the Yankees' asses by grounding out to first. With Nova out of the game, I'm about done doing this crap. See you guys later.

Wrap-Up - The Yankees couldn't score again, but the bullpen held the line and Mariano Rivera got the save for the Yankees 80th win of the season. Would have liked it being a bit less close, but still a win. Now to keep doing that through September.

Liveblog 28: Right Before the Break

Here we are on the last game before the break. The Futures Game is tonight, Nick Swisher is going in the Home Run Derby tomorrow, and eight Yankees will be at the All-Star Game the day after. The team's been doing very well lately - despite losing out on the Cliff Lee sweepstakes (something I don't terribly mind since if there's one weakness on this team, it's not starting pitching), they have the best record in the majors and are on pace to do even better than last year's 103 wins. And that's despite an occasional inability to hit the broad side of the barn and the fact that Mariano Rivera is their only reliable reliever. Joba Chamberlain just blew his second 1-0 lead in as many opportunities, and they've got to stop putting him in those situations until he figures things out. I know the important things that are in his control have been pretty good, but he's simply not the pitcher he was two or three years ago. Anyway, CC Sabathia has been fantastic lately and is pitching this afternoon. He'll try to get the Yankees their third win in this four game series against Ryan Rowland-Smith. I'll probably start this a little late because of the World Cup final but I will try to go more than two innings this time.

Top 1 - As regulation time drew to a close in South Africa, the Yankees loaded the bases against Rowland-Smith and managed to score two runs. Marcus Thames is batting sixth, and strikes out looking.

Bottom 1 - Of course the World Cup Final is scoreless and going into extra time on the day I intended to blog the Yankee game. I'll be watching that, but also keeping this updated with Gameday until it's over. CC was voted onto the All-Star team by the players, but he won't participate because he's pitching today. He's actually not the best candidate, but he's been pitching very well lately, winning his last seven starts. Ichiro Suzuki grounds out to first. Chone Figgins strikes out swinging. Franklin Gutierrez grounds out to second. Pretty simple.

Top 2 - Curtis Granderson grounds out to first. He really hasn't done that much this year besides a few clutch hits. He's really got to figure out this left handed thing, or at least start against them less often. That would be easier if they could pick up a bat at the deadline since Nick Johnson seems to be in fine constantly-injured form. Brett Gardner gets a free pass in the form of a hit by pitch in what looks to be the upper arm area. Derek Jeter hits a deep fly ball, but Gutierrez catches it at the wall. Swisher grounds out to third and the inning's over.

Bottom 2 - Last night's hero at Joba's expense, Jose Lopez hits a line drive right at Mark Teixeira. Casey Kotchman hits what I assume is a solid single to left field. Newly acquired Justin Smoak does the same. Josh Bard flies out to the same general area and Jack Wilson grounds into a force though, so it's for naught.

Top 3 - Besides that kick to the chest that the referee missed, this has been kind of a boring World Cup Final. Here's a pretty amazing statistic: Brett Gardner has a higher slugging percentage than the entire Mariners lineup today. This is Brett Gardner we're talking about! Talk about a team that can't hit. Spain flops to get a red card called against the Dutch, but can't do anything with the free kick. Meanwhile Tex hits a double to left. A-Rod actually tries a bunt, but hits it foul and moves the runner to third on a foul fly out instead. Tex scores on a wild pitch over Robinson Cano's head. I don't understand why the team is letting Swisher hit in the derby but not Cano. They say he has a back issue, but if so it's so minor that he didn't even know it was a problem until they told him about it. Cano and Jorge Posada make fly outs to end the inning.

Bottom 3 - Late goal for Spain, looks like the Cup is theirs. Two cards on the play. Lots of cards in this game, man. Meanwhile CC has two quick outs. In case you were wondering, only one of the Yankees' three runs was earned, because in the first inning rally the Mariners actually made two errors. And the third run was scored on a wild pitch, so... that's not how you win games. When you can't hit, defense should be a priority. Figgins grounds out.

Top 4 - Game over, Spain wins its first World Cup, Netherlands fails yet again in their third final. I finished second in my pool to pick the winners. I've enjoyed the cup, but the combination of referee failure and lack of accountability makes it difficult to really care about soccer otherwise. Thames singles to start the inning. Granderson moves him to second with a ground ball. Gardner reaches base again with a walk. Passed ball moves up the runners. Really sloppy defense. Jeter doubles in both runs and things are looking nice on ice, all right. Swisher pops out, but Teixeira hits another double and the Yanks lead 6-0. Rodriguez flies out.

Bottom 4 - The Futures game starts at 6. I might watch that instead of finishing this if it's still so one-sided. Cano misses a ball but still manages to throw out the runner. CC knocks down a ball and throws to first for out number two. Full count against Kotchman, but he grounds out to second. CC's consistently cruising.

Top 5 - New pitcher for the Mariners, Brian Sweeney. Cano leads off with a double and Posada flies out. Thames smashes a home run just fair (off a right hander!), and this game is getting out of hand. Granderson singles to right. Gameday's lagging behind quite a bit for some reason. Gardner loops a fly ball to left for out number two. Jeter hits it far yet again, but it's caught by Ichiro.

Bottom 5 - Smoak and Bard make outs quickly. Wilson hangs in a while, but grounds out to third. Breezy game considering the eight runs.

Top 6 - Another deep fly by a Yankee as Swisher flies out to center. Tex flies out to right and A-Rod grounds out somewhere. On we go.

Bottom 6 - CC gives up consecutive singles again, and Figgins works a full count. Yet another single, and Michael Saunders breaks up the shutout. Gutierrez lines out to Jeter, who can't make the accurate throw to first to pick off Figgins. No worries though, as Lopez grounds in a double play on the next pitch. Game looks to be in hand, I'm going to flip over to the Futures game and wrap up later.

Wrap-Up - CC finished seven innings and with the Mariners only managing one run off the Yankees bullpen, they won 8-2, giving Sabathia his eighth straight win despite only one strikeout. They did great in the first half despite a few hiccups, and are maybe one trade away from a completely dominant second half of the season.

Liveblog 27: I Don't Really Like Joe Torre

I was surprised to learn that last night was the first time former Yankee manager Joe Torre had ever competed against the team in any capacity, whether as a player or coach. It made more sense though when I remembered that there was no interleague play back when he was on the field, and he was always a National League guy before joining the Yanks. Ah, interleague play, something we all love so much, right? Um. Anyway, the Yankees won the first game against Torre's Dodgers last night on the strength of a great start from CC Sabathia and a tie breaking home run by Alex Rodriguez, which had to feel good after some of the stuff that was said about him in Torre's book. Tonight A.J. Burnett, who's been pretty awful lately, changing his season from good to sub-average in nearly the blink of an eye, faces off against Hiroki Kuroda. I'm not actually sure if I'll be here when the game's happening though... huh. I'll try to talk about it if I can. I know how much you love my comments on sports! Go USA!

Top 1 - Darn that soccer game. I feel like the US should have won, but Ghana just played better in the first half and held them off well in extra time. Maybe in four years. Anyway, Derek Jeter leads off with a walk. Curtis Granderson swings through strike two, but Jeter steals second and reaches third after the ball skips away. The next pitch is ball four, and the Yankees are in a great position to score here. Mark Teixeira might finally be turning things around, and he continues that idea with a three run home run to right field on a high fastball. A-Rod lines a pitch to center, but right to Matt Kemp who makes the catch. Robinson Cano strikes out swinging. He's currently leading the league in hitting like many a broadcaster has predicted he one day might. Probably the best hitter on the team right now. Nick Swisher grounds out to first for the third out.

Bottom 1 - Did you see Edwin Jackson's no-hitter last night? Eight walks and a hit by pitch. The Diamondbacks actually got a force out at home at one point. That will go down as the least impressive career-defining feat of all time. Rafael Furcal leads off A.J. with a single to left. Tim McCarver's already pounding on Burnett for pitching like "they're tied", rather than with a lead. It's the second at bat, Tim. Calm down. Kemp strikes out on a couple breaking balls. They're talking about the game a couple days ago where the Dodgers lost partly because of mental mistakes, but also partly because the umpires totally jobbed them. I always enjoy seeing whenever a team (besides the Yankees) manages to lose in a crazy and depressing way. Andre Ethier singles, runners on the corners for Manny Ramirez. He belts a ground rule double, Yankees lead 3-1 with runners on second and third. I do think A.J. was good for the Yankees in the playoffs last year, but the five year deal really was probably a mistake. Javy Vazquez couldn't get an out to save his life in April and now their numbers look almost identical. Brett Gardner makes a nice effort to shag a James Loney fly ball, but a run scores on the sacrifice. Casey Blake watches strike one get called ball two. Francisco Cervelli throws on ball three and almost catches Manny off second. Full count to Blake. A third straight fastball gets him swinging, and A.J. keeps his ERA under 5 for the time being.

Top 2 - While I was eating, the Yankees failed to score.

Bottom 2 - So did the Dodgers.

Top 3 - Okay, I gotta go! Bye!

Wrap-Up - The Yankees lost, which makes me less happy than I was before they lost. They still have a two game lead in the AL East though, which is nice.

Liveblog 26: Come On, Javy

I recently realized that the Yankees are 14-5 in the regular season when I liveblog their games, a .739 winning percentage. Their record when I don't blog during that time span is 293-205, a mere .588 clip. They also happen to have won the last five straight games I've blogged, including the playoffs. Javier Vazquez has struggled mightily in his return to the Yankees this season, the only blemish on an otherwise (mostly) sparkling run of success by the rotation so far. Let's see if some of my magic can rub off on him, and get that percentage up to an even .750. I'll be back later.

Top 1 -The game was postponed thanks to rain. How about that? It was pushed to tomorrow, so I may or may not end up blogging about it. In either case, there will be a new post about some dumb science fiction movie before noon.

And we're back! Same starting pitchers as last night, so the only difference is an 18 hour delay before the first pitch. Will anyone see this with the Star Trek: Generations post at the top of the page? Would anyone have seen it anyway? Who knows! Rick Porcello is pitching for the Tigers. He was this close to falling to the Yankees in the 2007 draft, but the Tigers snatched him and he pitched pretty well last year. Not so hot this year, though. Derek Jeter chops a ball into the ground and gets thrown out at first. Brett Gardner basically does the same thing. Mark Teixeira grounds out as well, and Porcello gets out of the inning in just ten pitches. Great job, guys.

Bottom 1 - Austin Jackson hits first for the Tigers. He was a Yankees prospect that they traded for Curtis Granderson. Since he's second in the league in hitting and Granderson is on the Disabled List, that deal doesn't look very good for the Yanks right now. But Jackson is striking out a ton and has been phenomenally lucky with the batting average so far, so I suspect that it will look pretty even by the end of the season. He flies out to left. After the Yanks decided to skip Andy Pettitte's start thanks to his sore elbow this week, they moved Vazquez' start from Monday to yesterday, with the reasoning that it would line him up to start the upcoming series against the Mets in Citi Field. They want to do this, according to Michael Kay, because he has experience hitting. Let's ignore that three of the Yankees other four starters have spent at least half a season pitching in the National League for a second, and just laugh at that. Right, you're starting Vazquez against the Mets because of his hitting, and not because it will be an NL lineup complete with a pitcher in the ninth spot. I totally believe that. Johnny Damon and Magglio Ordonez both struck out while I was typing.

Top 2 - Alex Rodriguez hits into a ground ball out on the first pitch. Seriously, guys. Robinson Cano hits one up the middle for the Yankees' first hit. That's good, but I'd like someone to put the ball in the air some time. Jorge Posada obliges, although it ends up as a harmless fly ball to Jackson. Nick Swisher up. He fouls off a good strike one and watches a questionable strike two. The next ball is fouled directly off catcher Gerald Laird's mask. A couple more fouls, and he hits a single to right field, moving Cano to third. Randy Winn, who's been useless so far besides a home run against Baltimore that decided the game, walks on four pitches. Bases loaded for Ramiro Pena. He hits a fly ball that Jackson gets too easily. It appears Pena's luck in that situation is coming to an end, but Porcello looked vulnerable there.

Bottom 2 - Miguel Cabrera hits a ground ball near Jeter, who makes the play seem more difficult than it should have been but gets the out. Brennan Boesch pops out to Posada, two down. Vazquez' fastball looks a bit better today. At least he's not consistently hitting 87. He started Brandon Inge 0-2 but the count has gone full. Strikes him out on a nice slider though, second inning over.

Top 3 - One pitch, one ground ball for Jeter. His numbers looked fine as recently as the last time I liveblogged, but not a great season so far. Not walking, tons of ground balls. Gardner walks on four pitches. He steals on a 2-0 strike to Teixeira. He's quite fast. Tex grounds out, moving Gardner to third with two down. A-Rod hits a fly ball pretty deep to right, but Boesch catches it. He really hasn't gone on a year yet, but the team is still doing great in general, which is nice.

Bottom 3 - Ramon Santiago pops out to Winn in left. Laird hits one that Jeter makes a valiant effort on, but Tex can't make the scoop and it's a base hit. Adam Everett mimics Santiago. Reliably good shortstop, reliably bad hitter. Jackson strikes out on some high heat as Laird takes off for second, inning over. Kay calls it a pitcher's duel, but I think Porcello looks close to cracking.

Top 4 - Another weak ground out by a Yankee hitter. Cano was unbelievable in April but not so much in May. Inge drops a foul ball by Posada. He tried to make a basket catch but it didn't go so hot. Posada makes them pay with a double to right field. Nice. Swisher looks overmatched as he strikes out on a fastball. Bit worse of an at bat by Winn, as he takes five pitches to draw a walk this time. Pena takes a high slider for a called strike and a foul ball puts him in the hole. Another high fastball and another strikeout. Kay is still complementing Porcello, but I fail to see how six base runners and a ball that was five feet from a home run in the last three innings is particularly impressive.

Bottom 4 - This is about when Vazquez has usually started sucking this year. We'll see if he can buck the trend. Damon hits a soft line drive right at Jeter. Two pitches later and Ordonez grounds out to Teixeira. Cabrera flies out to center, and Vazquez has only needed 47 pitches for four crisp innings.

Top 5 - They just played a new commercial that happens to feature the last song from Nick Drake's final album. It was about cell phones. Okay. Jeter again, and Damon makes a nice running catch on a long fly ball. Gardner quickly grounds out. Another chopper from Teixeira, but the throw beats him to the bag. Damn quick game.

Bottom 5 - Boesch battles Vazquez, but he strikes out on a changeup. Inge fails to atone for his error with a ground ball to Pena at third. Santiago walks, as Javier doesn't seem quite as sharp as he did earlier. Laird walks on four pitches. Uh oh. He comes back with a strikeout on Everett on three pitches though, disaster averted.

Top 6 - A-Rod sees a few pitches but grounds out to short. One pitch is all it takes for Cano to hit one to second. Posada rolls one over too. Woah Vazquez is already pitching again and he

Bottom 6 - allows a single to Jackson. Damon lines one to right, Jackson moves to third. Great. Two former Yankees starting a rally. Ordonez grounds into a fielder's choice, but the run scores. Tigers take a 1-0 lead. Cabrera singles to left. Hoo-boy. Boesch just misses a home run foul. Another single through the infield and another run in. Inge finally hits one that finds an infielder for an easy double play. But I'm afraid the damage is done.

Top 7 - Swisher knocks one off Porcello's shoulder, but it bounces right to a fielder and he's out anyway. Just the kind of luck I expect in this game. Winn reaches base for the third time with a single. Pena fairly promptly grounds into a double play. Is there anything this guy can't not hit?

Bottom 7 - And Vazquez reaches the seventh inning for the first time this season. Let's see if he can get through it. Santiago flies out to center. Gerald Laird works a full count, but lines out to left field. Automatic Everett's second strikeout of the day ends what may or may not be the last inning of Vazquez's best start this year, though unfortunately it will be another loss unless the Yankees can remember what a hit with runners in scoring position is.

Top 8 - Derek Jeter lines out to a diving Santiago. Fantastic. Gardner lines out to center. Oh, by the way, Ryan Perry's been pitching this inning. Teixeira watches strike three on the outside corner, three up, three down.

Bottom 8 - Boone Logan takes over, and gets Jackson to fly out. Damon Strikes out with nary a ball. Ordonez grounds out, nice job by Logan.

Top 9 - Jose Valverde on the mound, last shot for the Yankees. A-Rod grounds out and Cano flies out. Posada draws a gritty walk to give Swisher a chance. Kevin Russo pinch runs for him and takes second on ball one. Swisher strikes out on a slider though. Game over.

Wrap-Up - I think this is the first time the Yankees have been shut out all year. Damn. My magic worked on Vazquez, but not the team, and they drop their third straight game, another bad first this season I think. They'll have a chance to bounce back in game 2 tonight.

Liveblog 25: Let's Watch Baseball

I'm not going to do as many of these as the last few years because I don't think anyone really cares, including me. The Yankees have been pretty great so far early in the season, although they just lost two in a row for the first time. That's okay when you still haven't lost a series, though they'll have to beat the Angels two times in a row on their own field to keep that from happening. Andy Pettitte will be facing Joel Pineiro, who I am still surprised has apparently turned into a decent starting pitcher. Hopefully the Yankees can get to him, unlike the last time when he got his team's only win in a series in New York.

Top 1 - According to FOX, the first pitch is NEEEXXXTTT. The offense hasn't been great in these last couple losses, let's see if they can get off to a good start. I'm especially glad that Tim McCarver's not doing this game, because I don't want him to talk more about this non-story with A-Rod stepping on Dallas Braden's mound. It will probably get brought up anyway. Wait a second... they just had a segment of the announcers talking and they went back to commercial before the first pitch. I feel lied to. Okay, game's started. Derek Jeter hits it right to Brandon Wood at third for the first out. Seems like he's grounding out a lot, but his overall numbers still look really nice. I'd complain about Brett Gardner batting second over Nick Johnson if he didn't have a freaking .420 OBP right now. And he lines a single into center. He might actually turn out to be a solid player. They're talking about Mark Teixeira's regular slow start to begin the season, and mention that he hit .200 in April last year, without Alex Rodriguez behind him in the lineup. But wouldn't the fact that he's doing even worse this year without that detriment be enough proof that that whole protection thing was bunk? Mark grounds into a double play to end the inning.

Bottom 1 - Pettitte's been fantastic to begin the season, but it always seems like he's never too far from a bad start at this age. Erick Aybar grounds out to Jeter to start the inning. Three members of the Angels lineup used to be Yankees, which is kind of high but not crazy. Former Yankee Bobby Abreu strikes out. Torii Hunter also grounds out to Jeter, and this game is going quick.

Top 2 - A-Rod grounds out to the pitcher. Come on, guys. At what point will people stop saying Robinson Cano is going to get a batting title "some day"? I really don't think he walks enough to pull it off, and it's not like he can't be a great second baseman without it. He singles to the right side. Nick Swisher works the count full before smacking a double to right which scores Cano. Oh yeah, Curtis Granderson is on this team. He was awesome to start the season but hasn't done much lately. Pops out to left. Ramiro Pena also pops out, and the inning's over. What happened to Pineiro being an extreme ground ball pitcher?

Bottom 2 - Pettitte faces off against last year's World Series hero, Hideki Matsui. He clubs a single to right. Kendry Morales, whom I am already tired of, takes a couple weak hacks before nearly grounding a ball through the hole in left, but Jeter gets to it and throws out the slow Matsui at second. Joe Buck, please look at Jeter's season in 1999 before you start calling any other year in his career possibly the best. It's just silly. Pena dives to snag a line drive off Juan Rivera's bat. Isn't it about time the Yankees started getting Howie Kendrick out? Pettitte obliges by having him hit the ball to Jeter, who steps on second before Morales can slide in.

Top 3 - Francisco Cervelli grounds out. I've come to like him quite a bit, he could be a backup catcher for this team for a while. Can we please stop making fun of these larger, more protective helmets that a few players like Cervelli are wearing? Yeah they look a bit funny but we don't need to encourage these players to value how cool they look over their own safety. Jeter hits a single up the middle. Gardner pops it up to short center, Aybar makes the catch. Hey other guy talking, if Teixeira wanted to avoid the collision last night all he had to do was not cause it. Sure it's a "clean play" but it wasn't a necessary one. He grounds into the shift for the third out of the inning.

Bottom 3 - Mike Napoli rips a single to left on a full count. Wood singles to left, but Gardner throws out Napoli at third to cancel it out. I just got to say, I hate the way Ken Rosenthal begins all of his paraphrased quotes by saying "Hey." It just sounds awful and he's bad at his job. Aybar rips one right at Cano who makes the catch, two outs. Abreu singles to the opposite field. Pettitte's pretty lucky he has any outs this inning and a lead to protect. Hunter watches a third strike that was probably actually a ball for the third out.

Top 4 - A-Rod and Cano single, but Swisher foolishly lays down a bunt to move the runners over and the Angels intentionally walk Granderson, loading the bases for Pena who has a surprisingly high batting average with a small number of at bats in that situation. He strikes out on three pitches, although I question two of the calls. Cervelli singles under Wood's glove to drive in two and bail out Swisher. Jeter hits another one up the middle, and Granderson scores before Cervelli is picked off trying to reach third. Yankees lead four to nothing.

Bottom 4 - While I was doing stuff Andy Pettitte got three outs. That's all you need to know, man.

Top 5 - Apparently Swisher told someone that if that bunt hadn't worked, he would never do it again. I kind of wish that happened, because this just encourages him to keep giving away outs. I kind of want to mention this Activision/Infinity Ward/Respawn Entertainment thing that's been happening even though it has nothing to do with baseball. Basically, Activision has easily held the crown as most evil game publisher for a few years now, and one of their most recent moves was to fire the two heads of Infinity Ward, the creators of their extremely profitable Call of Duty franchise and developers of some of my favorite shooters this generation. Gardner triples to right field, though Teixeira can't bring him home, grounding out to a drawn in infield. Anway, those firings have led to a mass exodus of employees at IW, many heading to Respawn Entertainment, which was formed by those studio heads and is currently partnered with EA, a company which has looked like a bunch of boy scouts in recent days compared to Activision. I'm both interested in seeing what Respawn does with their new creative freedom and wondering if I'll even end up playing Modern Warfare 3 after this fiasco, which is a bit disappointing because I was pretty curious where it was going despite the last game's failure to not be mostly totally ridiculous. A-Rod strikes out looking, but Cano prevents the team from achieving utter futility by singling yet again to score Gardner. He moves to second on a wild pitch, and third on a passed ball. Swisher drives him in with yet another single. Why do people think Jeff Mathis is really good and him going on the Disabled List is a big loss for the Angels now? A few hot weeks in October and to start the season don't make him better than Napoli somehow. Granderson grounds out. He can start hitting again any time now.

Bottom 5 - Kendrick strikes out on a ball in the dirt, Cervelli throws him out at first. Napoli also goes down swinging. There's a pizza place nearby called Napoli's that makes really awesome wings. Never had the pizza though. Takes away from the wing eating time. Wood hits a couple foul balls just out of the reach of fielders before striking out as well. Yankees look pretty good right now.

Top 6 - Pena grounds out harmlessly. The most interesting part of the Activision thing might actually be the lawsuits between them and the guys their fired. I could believe that they had meetings with other publishers and that breaches their contracts, but I don't blame them for doing things like that if they weren't paid owed royalties for several months. If they somehow win they could actually stop production on Modern Warfare all together, which would be pretty amazing, but somehow I doubt their chances. Cervelli grounded out too. The other guy talking answers an e-mail question about Cervelli having a better catcher ERA than Posada this year by accurately citing sample size issues with the comparison. Good on you, other guy. Jeter flies out for Pineiro's first perfect inning, though it's a bit late for that.

Bottom 6 - We're cool if this is my last inning, right? Hahaha who am I kidding no one is reading. Man, I am getting real low on hard drive space. Thank god for this 8 gig flash drive. Aybar doubles down the left field line. Swisher makes a running catch on a ball of Abreu's bat as Aybar tags up and gets to third easily. They just played audio of Hunter arguing that called third strike with the umpire, it was pretty funny. You had to be there, dude. He hits a sacrifice fly to right, and that breaks up the shutout. Full count to Matsui who then strikes out, and I am outta here.

Wrap-Up - The Yankees won.

Winning the World Series

It might not seem like a long time to fans of other teams, but the nine year wait between championships for the New York Yankees sure seemed like forever. And since I was barely a teenager the last time they pulled it off, this is the first time I was actually old enough to stay up past midnight and see my favorite team win at all. It's extremely gratifying, and I feel lucky to be born into a family that loves a team that other fans hate for their payroll, but always does their best to give the faithful what they want - a shot at the best players and a constant hope for victory.

I've always liked Alex Rodriguez when almost nobody did, and this was the year he finally got rid of his demons. Spring training was a disaster, but he homered in his first and last at bats of the season, and became a hero in the playoffs, hitting three game tying home runs in the first five games and powering his team to the final round. He wasn't quite the same force in the World Series, but he did manage a couple more big hits including the go-ahead double off Brad Lidge in game 4. When he slowed down, Hideki Matsui picked up the slack and earned himself the MVP award for the series despite not starting a game in Philadelphia. He hit the game winning home run off old Yankee nemesis Pedro Martinez in game 2, and punctuated that last night with six RBI in his first three at bats. Matsui is a consummate professional who might have just played his last game as a Yankee, and if so it was nice to see him go out like that.

I don't have much else to say, other than I still feel good, and I hope this feeling carries through the off-season as the Yankees make their moves to prepare for a run at number 28. I feel like this was the best team they've had since that amazing one in 1998, and it was a pleasure to watch them play for the last seven months.

Liveblog 24: ALDS Game 3

I'm surprised this is the first Yankees game I've done started by Andy Pettitte. I'm not surprised it's the first to be started by Carl Pavano. Anyway, we're in the middle of the playoffs. The Red Sox and Cardinals got swept out of the first round by the Angels and Dodgers respectively, partially thanks to both teams blowing a lead in the ninth inning with their closer on the mound at some point. If the Yankees do their job tonight, the Rockies and Phillies are our only shot left at a really interesting series in the first round. The Yankees won the first two at home against the Twins, thanks in part to a rally of their own off closer Joe Nathan on Friday, and now stand in a good position to close things out in Minneapolis, possibly the final game ever in the Metrodome. I'd love to see that tonight, especially against Pavano, but even if they don't they have two more chances, a position they haven't seen in the postseason in years. So no more screwing around, let's watch a baseball game. Also, this will be posted two days later WHAT omgsghsfgbfnkjbnlfgj

Top 1 - Derek Jeter leads off with a ground ball out to shortstop Orland Cabrera. Jeter's had a good ALDS, helping set the tone for his team. Johnny Damon is next, and takes the first pitch for a strike. He really hasn't been much of a presence this series, and swings at a ball that bounces in the dirt for strike three. Mark Teixeira got his first walk-off hit as a Yankee in game 2, a home run to left field. This time though he pops out to second base, to end a very quick first shot at their old teammate.

Bottom 1 - Denard Span grounds out to Robinson Cano at second on two pitches. Cabrera watches five pitches go by before flying out to short right as Nick Swisher makes a nice running catch. After a conspicuous ball 1, Joe Mauer hits another grounder to second, and we move quickly to the second.

Top 2 - Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui struck out, then Jorge Posada grounded out. What, I was eating dinner.

Bottom 2 - Michael Cuddyer pops out to first. Jason Kubel, who has done precisely Jack and Shit this series, strikes out yet again. Delmon Young pops up to Jeter in short left, and this game is cruising.

Top 3 - Cano breaks his bat and grounds out to third. Both pitchers look pretty good so far. Swisher works the second longish at bat of the game against Carl, and tosses his bat after ball three, not realizing it wasn't a full count already. He then strikes out on an inviting changeup that would have been a real ball four. Melky Cabrera hits a ball that Nick Punto dives for and snags, but he's unable to get nearly enough on the throw to make the out. First hit for the Yankees. Jeter swings at the first pitch because he's kinda dumb sometimes and bounces it to Cabrera at short who makes the play.

Bottom 3 - Strike one to Brendan Harris, who nearly killed the Yankees in game 2. He works a full count, but strikes out on a fastball well above the strike zone. Jose Morales strikes out as well. Punto hits a chopper to Jeter, who makes the play at first. You know, I've noticed announcer and all-around dipshit Chip Caray complement Pavano's pitching a lot more than Andy's tonight, despite slightly worse overall results. He... he just sucks, man.

Top 4 - Damon swings through another third strike. That's five for Pavano in 11 batters. Come on, guys. Teixeira watches a slightly high strike for yet another K. A-Rod up. He's finally a monster again this postseason. All it took was seeing the Twins again. He grounds out to short here, though. Game is just blazing by.

Bottom 4 - Second time through the order for Pettitte. Span strikes out. Yay. Cabrera hits a liner up the middle on the sixth pitch, but Cano catches it. Mauer takes two breaking balls for called strikes before swinging at one out of the zone. Both pitchers looking real good.

Top 5 - Matsui starts off with a bloopy single up the middle. Delmon Young makes a sliding catch on a liner by Posada that he almost has to trap. Cano rockets one to Cuddyer who's closer to second than Matsui, which freezes him. He tags him out and steps on second for the irritating double play. This is about the quickest I've seen the Yankees play.

Bottom 5 - Cuddyer singles sharply to left to break up the perfect game. Kubel scoots one under Cano's glove, but Cuddyer held up and Swisher is able to quickly get the force at second anyway. Delmon hits another first pitch pop up, this time it's a tough play for Cano who gets it. Another sharp grounder in the vicinity of third base, but this time it goes in A-Rod's glove and he gets the out at second.

Top 6 - Swisher swings at a third strike changeup in the dirt as Mauer throws to first to complete the out. Cabrera hits a grounder to Cabrera who throws out Cabrera at first. Jeter will hopefully take a pitch in his third at bat. I'll set up this by say that in game 2, Mauer should have gotten a double on a ball down the left field line that would have been fair by a foot if it didn't hit Cabrera's glove, but the umpire called it foul. Just now, Jeter hit one down the right field line that literally hit the foul line, and a different umpire got the call right, and Jeter got his double. Twins fans didn't react well. Unfortunately, Damon watches an obvious third strike for his third K on the night. He really hasn't looked very good lately.

Bottom 6 - Morales hits a fairly simple ground ball to Jeter for out number one. Punto does basically the same thing. Span hits a hopper through the middle of the quick infield for the Twins' second hit. Cabrera walks on five pitches with quite a bit of help from the home plate ump. Mauer singles the other way and Span scores the game's first run as Caray screams like the Twins just cured cancer. Cuddyer strikes out in a foolish looking at bat. He needed just 75 pitches to go six but Pavano needed one less, and has the lead.

Top 7 - Teixeira grounds out to short, one out. A-rod works a long at bat, reaching a full count and fouling off several pitches, before hitting a bomb of a home run over the stupid baggy in right. Awesome. Matsui swings at yet another strike three change in the dirt. Cut it out, guys. Posada makes up for it with another home run, this one just over the left field wall. Yankees take the 2-1 lead. Cano works a nice little at bat, but fouls out to the catcher. Nice start by Carl, but he couldn't keep it up.

Bottom 7 - Pettitte's still in. He might be on a short leash with Joba Chamberlain getting ready. Kubel strikes out for what must be the millionth time, and Andy's night is done. Each Yankee starter this series so far went at least six innings and only gave up one earned run. Joba is in against Young, who fouls a ball off his junk. You hate to see that. He stays in the game and rips a double to right field, still favoring his crotch a bit. Harris grounds to A-Rod, who fumbles the ball a bit but still has time to throw him out. Game's slowed down in this later third. After a long at bat, Morales strikes out on a slider buried in the dirt. Here we go to the eighth.

Top 8 - Matt Guerrier pitches against the Yankees. Swisher grounds out harmlessly. Cabrera does the same. Some insurance would be nice, but I'm fairly confident in Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera. As does Jeter. Whee.

Bottom 8 - Nick Punto against Hughes, who vexed him in game 2. He unfortunately does it again, with a dobule off the sixth heater from Phil. Wow, weird play. Span grounds one up the middle that Jeter gets to easily, but Punto thought it was through and goes way too far around third. Jeter throws it to Posada, who throws to A-Rod who nails Punto at third. Cabrera up. He flies out to Cabrera. And now it's time for Mariano Rivera to get four outs. And this time he can get away with a single before shutting the door. He instead breaks Mauer's bat, who grounds out to Teixeira. On to the ninth.

Top 9 - Ron Mahay pitching. Damon earns his golden sombrero with a fourth strikeout. Meh. Full count for Tex, who draws a walk. Let's see if A-Rod can rub it in their faces against heavily neck-tattooed Jon Rauch. He settles for another full count walk. Jose Mijares in to face a lefty who mashes lefties. Matsui walks on a full count. This is getting funny. Joe Nathan is in. The game has slowed to a crawl. Posada lines a single to right, one run scores. I can live with that. Cano bloops another one run single just in front of Kubel. Swisher strikes out, two down finally. Cabrera does the same, and we're on to the Twins' last gasp in the Metrodome.

Bottom 9 - Man, Cuddyer looks down. A little happier after a bloop single to right field. Twins are still alive! Kubel strikes out for the final time. I hope. Crazy fan runs on the field. Good job, crazy fan! He almost made it over the outfield wall before they nabbed him. Young's getting some good swings here. He goes down swinging in the end, though. Brendan Harris is the Twins' last chance. He grounds out to Jeter. Yankees sweep the Twins, end the Metrodome's use for baseball-like activities, and wil fly back to New York to face the Angels in the ALCS on Friday. Feels nice to finally be back there after five years.

Wrap-Up - I think this is the first full game I've done all year. In any case: Yay.

Liveblog 23: The Yankees Are In the Playoffs

The Yankees have already won seven more games than they did all of last season, and they have ten more to play. If they win just half of those, they'll finish with 101 wins and their best record since 2004. Last night they overcame the Angels in the ninth inning, and in the process clinched the first playoff berth of the year. Needless to say, this is a big improvement over last time. Surprisingly, it really has very little to do with pitching. CC Sabathia has been brilliant and Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera have been rocks in the bullpen, while A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte have at times been very good, but overall the pitching has been a little below average, partially due to the easy home runs at the stadium.

What has carried them to such a great performance is the hitting, as the offense has been outstanding. They have an amazing eight players with an OPS+ of at least 120, meaning they have by a certain measure hit 20% better than the average, and if Derek Jeter can manage three more home runs in the short time left they'll all have at least 20 as well, a big league record. The defense has been less terrible than recent years as well. They set the record for consecutive games without an error, which actually isn't a great measure of that, but they've gotten to more balls than years past, helping the pitchers a bit, as a lot of them are outdoing their peripherals.

The team's magic number to clinch both the division and homefield advantage through the playoffs for the first time 2006 is six, and they can reduce both of those as well take a rare series victory in Los Angeles today as Burnett faces off against former Ray Scott Kazmir. For no understandable reason, in a few hours I'll be blogging at least the first five innings of the game.

Top 1 - The Yankees have four regular players out of the lineup today so this should be interesting. Jeter leads off by flying out to right. Since I last blogged about baseball he took over the record for most hits by a Yankee, but considering how many other teams have players with more it's not as impressive as the New York media made it out to be. Jerry Hairston Jr. works a full count walk. Mark Teixeira pops out to second. Hideki Matsui ends the inning with a line drive right to Gary Matthews Jr. in right field.

Bottom 1 - Watching A.J. pitch this year has been frustrating. You can't say enough about his stuff, but it is too frequently ineffective for whatever reason and he leads or nearly leads the league in a bunch of negative statistics like wild pitches and walks. He's had stretches of brilliance, and hopefully that's the side of him that shows up in October. Chone Figgins, constant thorn in the Yankees' side, singles to left. Burnett gets two strikes on Erick Aybar with a fastball and then the curve. Another curve in the dirt gets Aybar swinging. Former Yankee and Angels-offensive-resurgence-credit-getter Bobby Abreu lines out to Shelley Duncan in right. Figgins finally tries to steal second, but the effort is wasted as Torii Hunter grounds out to Robinson Cano.

Top 2 - Duncan is way late on the first fastball from Kazmir. Two more escape his grasp and he strikes out in a very feeble-looking at bat. Cano drives one to center field that falls into Hunter's glove. Melky Cabrera grounds out meekly for the third out.

Bottom 2 - Kendry Morales, getting some mild MVP consideration from people blissfully ignoring the real world, leads off with a single past Cano. Juan Rivera swings through a fastball for strike three. Howie Kendrick strikes out on the eighth pitch of the at bat as Morales swipes second thanks to a bad throw by Jose Molina. Matthews walks on four pitches to bring up the only white guy in the Angels' lineup today, catcher Mike Napoli. He strikes out on three pitches to end the threat.

Top 3 - I really don't understand Joe Girardi's decision to only play half of his good hitters today. Two of them are kind of hurt, but the others aren't, Kazmir already kind of destroys this team, and there's an off day tomorrow anyway. Brett Gardner gets an infield single off a grounder right back to Kazmir, who doesn't get to the ball quickly enough to make the play. Molina pops out to right. Back to Jeter, who grounds into a double play.

Bottom 3 - Figgins raps his sixth hit of the series, a single up the middle. Aybar bounces one that Burnett grabs and throws to first for the out as Figgins moves to second. Abreu watches three pitches go by and walks back to the dugout. Gardner takes a funny route to a fly ball by Hunter but tracks it down for out number three.

Top 4 - Hairston watches a third strike for the first out. Teixeira doubles into the corner in right. Matsui lets five pitches go by and walks. Duncan rips one that ricochets off Figgins' glove and dribbles to left field, but Teixeira held up thinking it might get caught and is thrown out at home trying to score. Matsui and Duncan moved to third and second on the play. Cano makes up for it by grounding a single between first and second on a 2-2 pitch, two runs score and he moves to second on the bad throw to home. Cabrera doubles into the gap in left and drives in Cano. Rivera puts about twice as much effort into catching a Gardner pop fly as he did trying to prevent the Red Sox from scoring the winning run on a simlar play a little while ago, and the inning's over, but the Yankees lead 3-0.

Bottom 4 - Now pitching with a lead, Burnett responds by throwing three straight balls to Morales, but comes back to strike him out, already his sixth of the game. Rivera walks in a kind of irritating at bat. Kendrick strikes out again. Another full count, and another strikeout, as Matthews becomes Burnett's seveth different victim of the K. He's pitching well.

Top 5 - Molina flies out to the warning track in dead center. Jeter fails to check his swing on a third strike but the ball gets away from Napoli and he makes it to first base. For the record, I think it's dumb that you can do that. Jeter steals second on the next pitch. Hairston pops out to short center. I just noticed that Teixeira is creeping towards .300 as the season ends. After a terrible first month he's been around .280 all year, but if he made it that would be neat. Kazmir just misses a called strike that puts the count full and the next pitch is fouled off the ground into Napoli's junk. After a short break, ball four comes in for a walk. Matsui pops out to cut the frame short.

Bottom 5 - Napoli recovers from the ball shot by smacking a ground ball past the listless Jeter for a single to open the bottom of the inning. Figgins comes up as the only batter A.J. hasn't retired at least once. He stays that way lining a double down the right field line. Aybar swings at a curve that actually hits his foot for strike two. Another curve down and in gets him for the second time. Abreu drives in the Angels' first run with a groundball out to Cano playing deep. Hunter lines out to Duncan in right, and Burnett gets out of it with a two run lead intact.

Top 6 - Duncan works a long at bat before Hunter makes a catch near the wall for the first out. Cano strikes out on another ball in the dirt, but this one doesn't get far enough away for him to reach. Cabrera singles, but Gardner flies out to end the inning.

Bottom 6 - Full count and another called strikeout for Morales. Rivera singles up the middle. Kendrick fans again, the 11th of the game. Matthews crushes one to right that Duncan falls over going after and a run scores. Napoli walks on a questionable fourth ball, and that's it for Burnett. I'm out of here before this gets worse.

Wrap-Up - Damaso Marte finished off the sixth, and then there was a couple of tense innings as the Yankees' second-string relievers bent but didn't break against the Angels' offense before Rivera shut the door in the ninth. Good win, as it's the Yankees' first series win in Anaheim in years and an admirable job in a pressure-filled situation. If Boston loses today or tomorrow against the Royals, then the Yankees can clinch the division with a series win at home against them this weekend. That would certainly be sweet.

Liveblog 22: The Yankees Are Still Winning

Why? Because I am. Since the last time I did this, the Yankees have padded their lead over the Red Sox, thanks in part to taking six out of seven games against them. They now have a six game lead in the division, one that the probability machines seem to think is enough to nearly guarantee them the playoffs, and one the Yankees as a franchise have never blown. So yeah, I'm feeling pretty good about the team.

They lead the majors in runs scored, and have some of the best road pitching in the league. They don't throw it quite as well at the stadium, but then again no one does, and they've made up for it with great offense and a lot of clutch, late inning wins. They've already clinched a .500 record, and today they attempt to complete their vengeance of losing three out of four in Chicago by completing a three game sweep of the White Sox at the Stadium. Joba Chamberlain's starting today, and I hope to see a better performance out of him today. Because of his innings limit as a young pitcher they've been starting him erratically, which doesn't seem to have worked out so well. Starting now they're going to keep him on regular rest and just limit his innings in each game. Having the rotation set and primed for October is more important than winning a couple extra games, and with rosters expanding soon it shouldn't be a problem to keep Joba on a short leash.

Top 1 - Scott Podsednik leads off the game with a triple on a ground ball past Mark Teixeira at first. Gordon Beckham drives him in with a ground ball to short. Quick deficit for the Yanks. A.J. Pierzynski and Carlos Quentin both fly out. Quick inning for Joba.

Bottom 1 - Freddy Garcia returns to the team he won a World Series with after being traded the the Phillies. Derek Jeter leads off with a double off the fence in right field. Johnny Damon grounds one weakly up the first base line that moves Jeter to third. Mark has a chance to extend his lead for RBI in the AL here. He does so with a deep sacrifice fly to right, tie game. Alex Rodriguez singles up the middle to keep the inning going. He fakes a stolen base though and ends up getting picked off by Pierzynski for the third out.

Top 2 - Jim Thome pops out to Jorge Posada, back at catcher after missing a few games with a finger injury. Jermaine Dye takes a strike before flying out on a running play to Eric Hinske spelling Nick Swisher in right. Mark Kotsay flies out to Cabrera, and it seems like the Sox have plans for a late lunch as Joba's only thrown 15 pitches. Michael Kay's talking about Joba being scheduled for three innings, and I'm hoping it's just him being insane again because that's ridiculous.

Bottom 2 - Hedeki Matsui starts a fresh at bat with a swing and a miss. Two more quick strikes and he's down quickly. Posada works a long walk while fans can be heard chanting "Hip hip! Jorge!" in the background the entire time. Robinson Cano grounds into a double play to end the inning.

Top 3 - Alexei Ramirez is yet another batter to put the first pitch in play as he lines a single to center and then steals second. Jayson Nix works a questionable 3-1 count before singling to right, but Ramirez only makes it to third. Podsednik back up again, and he singles up the middle, scoring Ramirez. The ball gets away from Cano at second after it gets thrown back in, which causes Nix to get thrown out trying to reach third. Hey guys - stop pitching out to try to nab Podsednik. Just get Beckham out. Third pitchout of the AB and Podsednik steals second anyway, while Beckham has a free three ball count. Awesome. He watches a called strike to make the count full. Ground ball to first moves Scott to third. Joba's already doubled his pitch count in this game. Pierzynski mercifully strikes out on three pitches to finish the inning.

Bottom 3 - Alfredo Aceves is, in fact, warming up in the bullpen. WTF is this. Bugh. Hinske pops out to short. Melky Cabrera, who's had a rough month, strikes out. Jeter smacks a single to left. Damon homers to right field to take the lead 3-2. Teixeira hits a fly to the same area, but it's caught for the third out.

Top 4 - Aceves is in to pitch, and he gets Quentin and Thome to ground out. Dye sees a 3-0 count become 3-2 before striking out to end the frame.

Bottom 4 - A-Rod works a full count and takes a close pitch for ball four. Matsui grounds into a slightly odd fielder's choice that only wasn't a double play because of Nix's poor thinking. Posada works another long at bat as the chanting continues, but this time he strikes out. Cano also strikes out, inning over.

Top 5 - Aceves is still in and gets Kotsay to pop out to short. Ramirez lines a bullet over Jeter's head that he just manages to snag for the second out. Nix pops out to A-Rod as this alarmingly rapid game continues.

Bottom 5 - Hinske hits one off the end of the bat to left field which Quentin tracks down. Cabrera grounds out. He always seems to lose his mojo as it gets later in the season. Jeter grounds out on the eighth pitch of the at bat, and we're going to the sixth. Inning.

Top 6 - Aceves knocks down a ball hit right at him by Podsednik, but doesn't make the play to first in time. The trainer checks out his arm, but Alfredo stays in the game. Like a true warrior. Beckham grounds it to A-Rod who turns a quick double play. Pierzynski hits an infield single to Jeter, who doesn't have quite the oomph on the throw to make his patented running-turning-jumping play. Quentin fists a fly ball to Damon for the third out.

Bottom 6 - Damon grounds out to second. Teixeira strikes out. Rodriguez walks. Matsui does what Damon did. Am I done? It seems like I'm done. I guess I'm done.

Wrap-Up - After three Yankees combined to pitch the seventh, they blew it open a little with a five run bottom of the frame, including a three run homer by Teixeira. The two Phils pitched the eighth and the ninth, with Coke giving up a solo shot in the ninth before closing it down. Another day, another win, and the Yankees have clinched their fourteenth straight winning record.

Liveblog 21: The Yankees Are In First Place

The Yankees stormed out of the gate in the second half and won eight straight, which along with Boston uncharacteristically losing a bunch gave them a two and a half game lead in the AL East. Yesterday though they trotted out a AAA lineup against a crappy pitcher who ended up doing a good job, and after Andy Pettitte and Alfredo Aceves coughed up six runs they couldn't muster a big enough comeback to prevent their lead from slipping to 1 1/2. Still, this is the best position they've been in all year, and today Sergio Mitre gets his second start for the Yankees.

The key to this run early in the half has been pitching, and even the journeyman Mitre was adequate in his first game, though I'd much rather see Phil Hughes getting these starts. He's been awesome in the bullpen, but I'm hoping Brian Cashman can acquire a good reliever at the trade deadline so Phil can be stretched out again. Even if he doesn't replace Mitre, Joba Chamberlain's going to come up on his innings limit sooner rather than later and I'd rather not have to call up someone like Kei Igawa to replace him. Chien Ming Wang's career isn't looking too good right now, facing the possibility of surgery after coming back from a foot injury and pitching terribly this year. It was only a little over a year ago I thought he was becoming a really great pitcher, and for all we know he might not even start for the Yankees again. In any case, I hope his replacement can have another decent game today.

Top 1 - I'm watching the Hall of Fame inductions on the computer while the game is on TV - good baseball day. It's funny to see the MLB Network try to justify Jim Rice's selection to the Hall. Wow, he compares favorably to Eddie Murray and Mike Schmidt! All you have to do is cherry pick the best years of his career while ignoring his decline along with his poor defense and Fenway's effect on offense! The Athletics really haven't been that good for a few years, but have a chance today to split a four game series with the Yankees. Their team's made up of young guys who haven't done much and castoffs from other cities. I haven't even heard of their pitcher. Mitre's ready to go against Adam Kennedy. Ball in the dirt. He then flies out to Johnny Damon in left. Orlando Cabrera bounces a single over Mitre's head. Scott Hairston of the amazing Hairston family (more major league players than any other) doubles between Melky Cabrera and Damon, scoring Cabrera who stole second on the previous pitch. After an annoying first pitch ball that exhibits umpires' tendency to call based on what the catcher does rather than where the pitch is, Jack Cust belts a 3-0 fastball to left field, now runners are on the corners. Robinson Cano boots a potential double play ball by Kurt Suzuki into center, scoring Hairston. Ryan Sweeney grounds into a force on Suzuki at second. I was distracted by some interesting Hall factoids, but Daric Barton (who?) makes the last out of the inning, 2-0 A's.

Bottom 1 - Derek Jeter begins comeback attempt #1 with a single on the first pitch. This is the second time I've heard Michael Kay say Jorge Posada's double play in the ninth inning last night took the "starch" out of a potential rally. I'm not sure it was so much that the rally wasn't stiff and connected enough, it's just that he made two of their remaining three outs with one swing. Come on, man. Damon draws a five pitch walk. Dallas Braden strikes out Mark Teixeira, currently tied with Carlos Pena for the AL home run lead, on a 2-2 changeup. Posada pops out to second. Always miss Alex Rodriguez when he's not in that cleanup spot. Hideki Matsui lines a single to left which scores Jeter. I'm a fan. Stupid auto-refreshing MLB website cutting off my Hall of Fame video feed. Kay mentions that Matsui has a .303 average with two outs and runners in scoring position, a telling stat. Not so much when it's only 33 at bats, man. Nick Swisher walks on four pitches. Bases are loaded for Robinson Cano, who hasn't done well in this position this year. He smacks a ball just in front of the diving center fielder though which clears the bases, and he's only out at third because he over-slides the bag, which seems to be happening a lot this year. We go the second with the Yankees leading 4-2.

Top 2 - They're introducing all the old Hall of Famers present at the induction. Mark Ellis flies out to center. Eric Patterson takes a couple balls before grounding out to Teixeira. Sergio Mitre's bread and butter is inducing a ground ball with his sinker, so that's what we should be seeing more of. Back to the top as Kennedy singles to center. Cabrera hits into a force out and the inning's over, nice bounce back by Mitre.

Bottom 2 - Cabrera pops out to the catcher. Cody Ransom, who inexplicably still has a spot on this team, flies out to right. This guy just called Hank Aaron "everyone's home run champion". I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. Jeter works a full count walk on what looked to me like an easy strike. Damon grounds out to Ellis for an easy third out.

Top 3 - Hairston is plunked by a pitch, by Cust grounds it back to Mitre for a double play to erase the runner. The next hitter grounds out to Jeter, and now Mitre seems to have settled down a bit.

Bottom 3 - YES just had a poll question about whether Mike Mussina belongs in the hall of fame, and two of the choices were yes, but one on the first ballot and the other on a later ballot. That's such goddamn stupid thinking I can't even stand it. A player is either good enough to be in the Hall or they're not, they shouldn't have to wait a few extra pointless years before being elected. It's why one of the all time great players like Ricky Henderson only gets 95% of the ballots. I can't wait until these backwards thinking morons in the BBWAA die, because that's the only way for them to lose the vote. Also, have you seen their website? And more importantly, have they? It's the most garishly disgusting looking thing ever. What the fuck. Teixeira grounds out to short and Posada singles. Matsui flies out to Sweeney in right. Swisher strikes out to end the frame.

Top 4 - Woah, I just noticed the BBWAA site now forwards to a new one, that while still poorly designed, at least doesn't slowly murder your eyeballs. But why did that take so long, and why the hell does the original site still exist? Redirects aren't that hard, guys. Sweeney singles to left. Mitre sure isn't throwing a lot of pitches that aren't balls or put into play. Barton lines a full count pitch in between the fielders into right, runners on the corners and no outs. Joe Gordon's daughter is accepting his selection to the Hall by the Veterans Committee. He was a Yankee, you know. Word. Ellis hits a sac fly to swisher, and the Yankees' lead is down to one run. Mitre gets another potential double play ball, but he botches the throw, letting runners get to the corners again with still one out. The next batter hits one to Jeter though, and they turn a much more difficult double play to end the inning. Runner might have been safe, but hey, baseball.

Bottom 4 - I missed the first batter, but Cano lined out I guess. Cabrera, now secure in his role as everyday center fielder with Brett Gardner out with a broken thumb, singles to left. Ransom doubles down the left field line, things all set up for Jeter. He flies to short right though, unable to get the easy RBI. Damon pops out to second, threat over.

Top 5 - Good news as Boston's John Smoltz is getting hit around a bit by the Orioles, although it's still way too early to know that they'll win the game. Cabrera hits another single off Mitre. Jim Rice is making his speech. I don't begrudge him for making it in, and he was clearly a pretty great player. I just don't like all the logical leaps and back flips his supporters had to do to make his case for the Hall. Yet another double play ball to Jeter. They're really saving Mitre's ass today. Jesus MLB website, how hard is it not to refresh when there's a streaming video open? Cust becomes Mitre's first strikeout victim of the day, and now he's qualified for his second win.

Bottom 5 - Teixeira pops out to begin things. Posada grounds to Cabrera and Barton does a split to catch the ball in time to be the middle of things. Matsui works the count full and draws a walk. Swisher grounds out to end things.

Top 6 - Rickey Henderson is giving his speech. Suzuki hits one right up the middle for yet another single in this game of singles. That's Mitre's last pitch, as Phil Coke is given the ball to protect the lead. Coke gets the first out on a fly. Not paying much attention to the game, Henderson's speech is pretty entertaining. Kay keeps referring to pitchers being "geeked up", or too excited and overthrowing the baseball. I don't think he knows the expression usually refers to drug use. A ground ball gets another out, and Barton just beats out getting doubled up. He gets to second on a wild pitch. Ellis belts a two run homer to left, retaking the lead, 5-4. Good job, Coke. After a long period dominance, some of the relievers are starting to slip up. Patterson singles. Kennedy grounds out to Coke.

Bottom 6 - Comeback attempt #2 commences with a ground out by Cano, not the best start. Melky walks, though. Ransom gets his second double. We have a complete reenactment of the 4th inning here. Jeter makes right on his first screw up, singling in both runners and getting the lead back. He gets picked off first, unfortunate as Damon doubles to right. Teixeira singles him in. I don't understand why Braden is still in this game. Posada walks, and now we finally see a replacement. Matsui pops out against new pitcher Craig Breslow to end the inning.

Top 7 - Hughes in to pitch, hopefully two innings. Cabrera works a full count but flies out to center. Hairston strikes out. Cust follows suit to end the inning, though it took Phil 20 pitches.

Bottom 7 - You know a Yankee fan actually had to sue to prevent stadium security from forcing people to stay in their seats during "God Bless America"? Give it up guys, you're patriotic, we get it. And YES, you don't have to show it every game either. Swisher doubles down the right field line. He's still not hitting great anymore, but he gets on base enough to be a valuable contributor to the team. Cano hits a deep fly that allows Swisher to get to third with one out. Cabrera draws another walk, runners on the corners for Ransom. New pitcher coming in to face him. That's respect for the man with the .203 average. He strikes out, though. Jeter grounds out and thus ends the threat. I think I'm done for now. Back in a bit.

Wrap-Up - Hughes had to be taken out in the eighth inning with runners on 2nd and 3rd and only one out, but Brian Bruney and Mariano Rivera held down the fort to complete the victory. Along with Boston and Tampa Bay losing, it was a pretty good day to be a Yankee fan, as they're back up to a 2 1/2 game lead in the East. Yeehaw.

Liveblog 20: 2009 Home Run Derby

So the Yankees have played pretty well since that last travesty, and actually managed to completely catch up with the Red Sox before getting swept by the Angels and dropping back three games right before the All-Star break. It's not the end of the world, it's just frustrating to lose that progress. They really haven't played the best teams very well at all, but the sample isn't that big and they're still leading the Wild Card race, so I feel pretty good going into the second half.

This year I'll blog the annual overlong and often boring home run contest, seeing if it will be more fun without the rooting interest. No Yankees are playing again so I'll just be watching eight guys hit balls really hard. This is also won't be posted until a day later, so it's sort of an experiment, especially since I've never liveblogged something that wasn't a regulation baseball game before. Yup. Hittin' balls. With a bat. St. Louis.

Round 1

Introducing the players now. As always, the AL crop seems kinda weak. It's not quite the same without all the old steroid users. Frowny face. Quick question: what's the only way to make Joe Morgan look like a smart baseball analyst? Answer: stick him in a booth with Steve Phillips. Lord is that a dumb group of people sitting at that table. I like how they changed the rules so homers carry over from the first round to the second. The finals should be pure, but it's not fair when a guy who hit 20 in the beginning can't get to the last round because he wore himself out. Before the contest starts, Albert Pujols fails to hit a home run in two swings to win a car for some guy from Philadelphia. If I was him, I'd be pissed. If I was picked out of thousands of people for a contest, I should get a damn prize, regardless of whether some millionaire can hit the ball where I tell him to.

Nelson Cruz

Cruz has had a good year, and I think he was a late addition to the AL roster this year. He's got some power, some of his home runs look like pop ups that just keep going. Maybe it's the crappy camera angle. He's doing a good job. It's always fun when they get on a roll with one out left. He finishes with 11, which historically is unspectacular but should get him to the next round easily. And now they're taking a break from the action to educate us young people on Stan Musial. He was pretty damn great back then, but is going to be surpassed as the greatest Cardinal ever by Pujols as long as he stays on the team.

Prince Fielder

Prince has already started without them telling us. What a lack of respect. First homer is almost to dead center. I don't understand why the break isn't directly in the middle of the season. It skews first and second half numbers slightly. Oh well. Pujols is still talking about stuff while Prince has twice as many dingers as outs. I like Pujols' accent. He talks like a native speaker would, with a complete understanding of the syntax, he just says every word slightly incorrectly. Better than what a lot of latin players can do. Man, Fielder's hitting some monster shots. Another couple gold ball homers with no outs left and he matches Cruz' effort with 11.

Brandon Inge

Seriously, Inge? I realize he's having a really good year but this is a contest for the top sluggers in the game, not utility players. He's proving he doesn't belong with four swings and no home runs to show for it. He's doing so badly that he doesn't even get the full screen as Erin Andrews is interviewing Derek Jeter in the corner. Inge has eight outs and now I know he's just thinking, "Please let me get one before I lose." He almost gets it, but just yanks it foul and finishes with zero. It happens, and I can't imagine he's too disappointed participating in the All-Star festivities.

Adrian Gonzalez

The Padres hit decently on the road, but Gonzalez is the only thing that keeps them from being completely pathetic in their cavern of a home park. His first few swings don't generate anything. Oh, great. It's not enough that Joe Buck calls games all year long for FOX, now I have to hear him as a guest on ESPN. We get it! He was raised in St. Louis! Whoopie! Adrian gets his first dinger with six outs. A bit later and it's gold ball time. Unfortunately, he has to finish with two. After a good start with the first two guys, the last couple have been disappointing.

Carlos Pena

This guy shouldn't be an All-Star. He was a late replacement for Dustin Pedroia who stayed home with his pregnant wife, and like aways he was chosen by his manager over someone probably more deserving. Such as Ian Kinsler, who just barely lost the fan vote against Pedroia and is now sitting around while I think Aaron Hill is the only real second baseman on the whole roster. He gets his first homer on the fourth swing. A bit later and he's got five hits and five outs. Unfortunately that's all he gets as the next five swings don't quite connect, so all Pena does is officially eliminate Inge.

Ryan Howard

Hey guys! It's Ryan Howard! He's pretty darn good at hitting home runs. You know, it's sad that Chris Berman must think he's so damn clever. And we all have to sit here listening to State Farm "farmed out" puns. Howard's up to seven, having eliminated Gonzalez a while ago. And that's the number he finishes with. He'll probably make the cut, because both Mauer and Pujols would have to beat him. Cruz and Fielder are definitely in.

Joe Mauer

Here's another guy who doesn't quite belong. He's an absolutely great hitter, even not account for him being a catcher, but this is the first season he's shown real power and it's not a huge sample. He's not doing too bad, though. Apparently Morgan thinks that if Mauer somehow gets "really hot" he can manage to eliminate the current two best performers with only one other unresolved player to go. His ignorance went past depressing and is back to amusing now. Mauer finishes with five also, so Howard is in, and Pujols needs six to qualify without a three-man tiebreaker scenario. Morgan comments that Cruz and Fielder are definitely in the next round now. They were in before Mauer picked up the bat, moron.

Albert Pujols

The hometown guy's in. Ryan Franklin's goatee is quite freakish. Third swing and we see his first homer. Looked farther than it ended up being. A bit later and he's up to seven outs before getting his second. Please, get either at least four more or fewer than three. He just barely muscles out a third, maybe with some fan assistance. Still at three and down to his final out. Clutch performance to get two more, but that's all and we're headed for a three-man "swing off". They could use a catchier name than that.

Swing Off

Pena's up first. These runs don't count towards the total for the round, it's just an elimination thing. I didn't catch the rules because of the blender in the next room, I think they get five outs. Apparently it's five swings, not outs. Pena only gets one, so his night is probably over. Mauer next. Berman keeps calling it a bat off, which is even worse. Mauer gets none, so it's up to Pujols to hit two out of five or none, lest we repeat this again. He gets the second on his third swing, making it to the next round.

Round 2

Here we go. Pujols and Howard go first to see if Cruz and Fielder need to even bother batting this round.

Pujols

He's clearly not in his best form after a double-header yesterday. He hits six more to bring his total even with the leaders before they even take a swing. Decent job, but he's most likely done.

Howard

He doesn't look that fresh either, although before the eighth out he manages to surpass Pujols' total. There must be something in the air slowing these guys down. He manages to finish the round with an impressive eight, and a two round total of 15. I bet he makes it, because the other two guys have been sitting for a while, and so far this has been a fairly tepid derby.

Cruz

Cruz wastes no time eliminating the local boy. He actually seems surprisingly rust-free. He hits five, which isn't great, but still places him in the final round regardless of what Fielder does.

Fielder

Prince is still putting his whole weight in every swing. I think he wants to win this. He's staying up there swinging even after he has six and not benefiting from standing there. And that's what he finishes, with him and Cruz in the final. I'll take Prince to win.

Final Round

To be fully honest, right now I'm more interested in this essay dissecting why Battlestar Galactica's ending blew than the derby.

Cruz

He's really killing the ball, though. Well, he was. He gets five in his first five outs, but that's also what he finishes with. Prince has a chance to put it away.

Fielder

It's funny to watch the length of these paragraphs peter out over time. There's only so much you can say about national broadcasters being idiots and guys hitting the ball into the seats. Fielder's still crushing the hell out of it though. He ties Cruz with six outs left. A bit later and he smacks one to deep center to clinch it. Nice job in a somewhat forgettable derby. It was actually pretty competitive, but unlike most recent years there was no amazing single-round performance to remember. Not than we're likely to see anyone top Josh Hamilton in Yankee Stadium last season for a while. Well, that wasn't a complete waste of three hours. See you later.