Team USA's Classic exit disappointing

I have to admit that I have only watched one 2013 World Baseball Classic game so far and it was between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic so I was not at all invested in Team USA’s short-lived run. But I find the news that the USA has once again been bounced from the Classic in the second round disappointing and perplexing.

I really don’t understand why the USA doesn’t perform better in this tournament. I know that Major League Baseball teams resist the idea of having their players participate, which has kept many good American players out of the tournament. Andy Pettitte chose to forgo the WBC even though he clearly wanted to play for Team USA because of the concerns expressed by the New York Yankees. But other WBC teams face the same problem so that’s not much of an excuse. Yu Darvish declined to pitch for Team Japan out of loyalty to the Texas Rangers.

I don’t think USA players are any less patriotic than players on the other teams. Derek Jeter took great pride in representing the USA during previous WBC tournaments. But there doesn’t seem to be the same passion out of the US, both by the players and the fans, as there is from the other WBC participants. The joyful celebrations by teams moving on in the tournament clearly shows that victory in the WBC means a lot to both their players and their people.

So while I do find Team USA’s relatively early WBC exit disappointing, I’ll get over it pretty quickly. I have a lot of Syracuse Orange basketball to keep me busy and entertained. Good luck to my Orange in the Big East tournament final tonight after vanquishing the hated Georgetown Hoyas.

Random Yankees thoughts: spring training edition

There can be only one Evil Empire.

I know the nickname was meant to insult the New York Yankees, but I have always loved it and many Yankee fans and the organization itself have embraced it. Now, even the law recognizes that the Yankees are in fact the Evil Empire and are entitled to legal protection for the nickname. I guess we should thank Boston Red Sox President Larry Lucchino for pinning the moniker on the Yankees (and for the profits that came with it).

·         I love Lady Gaga’s music although I’m not always crazy about her antics. Still, I was looking forward to going to her concert at the Barclays Center (my first time checking out the new arena) with my sister. Unfortunately, Gaga’s hip injury and subsequent surgery put the kibosh on those plans. Never to fear because Alex Rodriguez is on the case. The Yankees third baseman reportedly spoke to Gaga (an archenemy of ARod’s supposed one-time paramour Madonna) to reassure her about the procedure. I’m hoping Gaga makes a quick recovery and can resume her tour in 2013. But the best things come to those who wait. I attended a U2 concert almost exactly a year after it was first scheduled due to Bono’s back injury and it was definitely worth the wait.  

·         So a Core Four reunion is not in the cards. Jorge Posada has vowed that he will not pull an Andy Pettitte and un-retire after a year away from baseball. Not even the pull of another spring training with his best pal Derek Jeter could lure him away from the happy home life he is enjoying. If Posada was still capable of playing at his level, he would have a real shot at his old job with the Yankees, who will likely be desperate for offense and don’t really have a #1 catcher now that Russell Martin has joined AJ Burnett in Pittsburgh.   

 ·         I’m generally in favor of the planned switch of outfield positions for Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner as Gardy has more speed and is clearly the better fielder. I do worry that Granderson, in having to learn how to play a notoriously difficult left field at Yankee Stadium, will let any defensive challenges affect him at the plate, where he will be counted on to produce for the often offensively challenged Yankees. However, Mike Cameron raised a potential safety issue in making the switch, with Granderson having to relinquish his take-charge mentality in the outfield to avoid a collision similar to the one Cameron experienced with New York Mets teammate Carlos Beltran. I distinctly remember that terrifying accident and pray nothing even remotely close to it happens to Granderson and Gardner.  

Pettitte chooses Yankees over Torre

Andy Pettitte has chosen the New York Yankees over Joe Torre in what was likely an excruciating decision for him.

The Yankees lefty has officially taken himself out of consideration for a spot pitching in the World Baseball Classic for Team USA, a squad that will be led by his former manager Torre. Pettitte’s rejection of Torre’s offer to pitch for the team was a foregone conclusion once the Yankees expressed concerns about Pettitte participating, and possibly injuring himself, in an exhibition tournament. Those reservations outweighed any loyalty that Pettitte felt toward the man who protected him when he was a young pitcher from George Steinbrenner’s trade-happy ways, the manager who was at the helm for the first four World Series titles Pettitte helped win.

I’m not one of those baseball fans who hates the World Baseball Classic and I like the idea of seeing Yankee players participate. But I do understand the Yankees expressing concern about a potential injury to their #2 starter, particularly because they know Pettitte is such a competitor that he won’t be able to restrain himself from giving it his all. And Torre doesn’t have the best reputation in terms of not burning out his arms—protecting his pitchers is one area where Joe Girardi definitely is the better manager.
 

As much personal affection as Pettitte has for his former manager, in this situation the lefty simply was not going to go against the wishes of his bosses. Loyalty only goes so far.

Will Clemens ever ‘fess up like Armstrong?

I couldn’t care less about cycling and never bought into the myth of Lance Armstrong even before he got caught doping, but I tuned into the first part of Oprah Winfrey’s interview with him out of pure curiosity.

For me, the most astonishing part of the interview was not that he finally told the truth and confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs. The most interesting and infuriating part was his lack of genuine remorse about the way he attacked and tormented good, innocent people who dared to tell the truth about his PED use.

Let’s be clear: Armstrong did not confess because he feels bad about his despicable behavior. He only admitted the truth because the evidence against him was undeniable and because he wants to broker some kind of deal to return to professional cycling one day. He finally came clean only because he wants something in return, a chance to rebuild his legacy. But I don’t think Armstrong’s interview did him any favors. By his own admission, he was a bully and a cheater and I would be shocked if cycling officials decide to give him another chance after all the damage he has done to their sport.

I couldn’t help but wonder if we will eventually see the same kind of confession from Roger Clemens. The former New York Yankees pitcher and 7-time Cy Young award winner has fiercely denied and battled accusations that he used steroids, even through a perjury trial that could have landed him in jail. He has disparaged the reputation of his former trainer Brian McNamee and challenged the memory of his former pal Andy Pettitte in sticking with his story that he did not cheat the game of baseball by using PEDs. But many baseball writers and other observers believe he did and that belief kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first try.  

But I doubt Clemens will follow in Armstrong’s footsteps and confess to his sins. I can imagine that Clemens desperately wants to be in the Hall of Fame, but admitting the use of PEDs will probably not be enough to get him in. We saw Mark McGwire tearfully admit to using steroids. While it cleared the path for him to return to baseball, it didn’t win him any more support from the baseball writers, who have consistently chosen to keep him out of the Hall.

Clemens, unlike Armstrong, doesn’t have much to gain from a confession, other than the small chance of Hall induction. He can un-retire whenever he wants and does not need the permission of Major League Baseball to return to the sport since he was not suspended or banished from the game.

If I had to put money on it, I would guess that Clemens will never come clean about his PED use.

Thanks to McSmit via Wikimedia Commons for the Lance Armstrong photo.

Yankees get their way with Pettitte out of WBC

The New York Yankees will never admit to this, but they obviously put some subtle pressure on their veteran lefty Andy Pettitte not to pitch in the World Baseball Classic.

Reports earlier this week said Pettitte would pitch for the USA in the tournament, but the lefty’s name was notably missing from the official list of players announced today. While there is still a chance he could be named to the team because one more slot remains open, his appearance on the roster would be a rather shocking development.

The denials will continue from here to eternity. But there’s no question that the Yankees were very concerned about the possibility that Pettitte, who they desperately need this year to solidify their starting rotation, could get hurt during a glorified exhibition, far away from the caring hands of the Yankee trainers. The Yankees could not forbid Pettitte from participating in the WBC, but they could easily have sent him a strong message that pitching for the US squad was not a good idea.

Derek Jeter, captain of the last US squad, is obviously unavailable to play this time around as he recuperates from his ankle injury, which is probably devastating to him because his former manager and second father Joe Torre is managing the team. But the Yankees will be well represented in the 2013 WBC. Mark Teixeira will play for the US, Robinson Cano will represent the Dominican Republic and Francisco Cervelli will play with Italy.

Notice there are no pitchers on that list. The Yankees were not taking a chance with any of their arms, especially the arm of an aging Andy Pettitte. They need him for when the games really count.

Yankees turned off by pitiful free agent class

Brian Cashman is as candid as can be for a baseball general manager. But even I was startled by his honest assessment of this year’s free agent class, which has so far kept him on the sidelines.

“This is not a good strong, free agent class,” he said. “It’s actually a pitiful one to be quite honest.”

Cashman is blaming the lack of aggressiveness on the part of the New York Yankees on a weak slate of free agent options. And he’s right. When the best free agent available is an injury prone, drug addict in Josh Hamilton, there aren’t many good options. In previous years, that hardly would have mattered to George Steinbrenner, who always wanted to make a splash and show the world that he only cares about winning. He would have spent whatever was necessary to put Hamilton in pinstripes. But with the Boss long gone, these are different times for the Yankees and fiscal discipline will prevail over the desire to win the back page.  

The Yankees general manager is being cautious in signing players because he does not want to make the same mistake that he and the Yankees have made in the past in throwing tons of dough at a baseball player, only to find out that player wasn’t cut out for the New York spotlight. Strange as it may sound, he simply can’t afford to make those mistakes anymore due to Hal Steinbrenner’s payroll mandate. Rather than throwing his limited funds at a player he can’t be sure can perform under the intense pressure in New York, Cashman has focused on re-signing players he knows who can: Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Hiroki Kuroda. It’s a wise approach and one that should serve the Yankees well, even in future years when the free agent choices get better.

Mariano Rivera back for final curtain with Yankees?

Mariano Rivera is coming back to the New York Yankees because has way too much pride (the good kind of pride) for his Hall of Fame career to end on the Kansas City warning track. But will this be the final hurrah for the legendary Yankee? I think it could be and we all need to prepare ourselves for that possibility.  

Like with Andy Pettitte, the negotiations on Mariano’s new deal seem to have been relatively painless, even though he took less money to return to the Bronx after his unfortunate knee injury. But once Mo decided on one more year, he and the Yankees quickly came to an agreement because they know that they are meant for each other and that they need each other.

But this has to be a transition year for the Yankees. I suspect Mo is going to call it quits after this season. Even though the pull of baseball is strong, there were signs that the pull of family was getting stronger for Mo. If he is injury free, he will likely put up Mo-like save and ERA numbers and then walk away on a high note. The Yankees are going to have to spend 2013 testing David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain and the rest of their relief core to see who has the guts to step into those legendary shoes.

This is a transition year for Yankee fans as well. We’re going to have to make peace with the fact that in the near future we are not going to have Mariano closing games for us anymore. We’re going to have to live with the sheer nervousness of slim 9^th inning leads that other baseball teams navigate on a daily basis, but that we haven’t worried about in 15 years. We’ll just have to enjoy this while it lasts, however much longer that will be.

Pettitte and Yankees back together again

Well, that was easy!


Less than a day after Andy Pettitte informed the New York Yankees that he has another year of baseball in him, the two sides reached a fair deal that will bring the lefty back to the Bronx.

The deal was easy to negotiate because both sides really wanted each other. Pettitte could have decided to call it quits with no regrets after his comeback this year (he had a good year that was unfortunately interrupted by that freak ankle injury). But when he decided he wanted to keep pitching, the Yankees were the only option for him, especially with Brian Cashman reaching out early in the offseason to make sure Pettitte knew how wide the door was open for a return to the Bronx.

The Yankees desperately needed Pettitte to round out their rotation again. With Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda back in the mix, the Yankees have a solid 1-4 starting rotation and will roll the dice that one of their internal candidates can win the 5^th man job. But without Pettitte, the Yankees would have had a gaping hole in the middle of their rotation that would have been costly to fill at a time when they are really trying to stick to a budget.

With the Yankees expected to reach a relatively painless agreement with Mariano Rivera soon, the Key Three (Pettitte, Rivera and Derek Jeter) will be back in the pinstripes together for at least one more year. And that’s critical if the Yankees hope for success in 2013. For all the talk about the Yankees trying to get younger and all the attention Alex Rodriguez and other players receive, the Yankees rely on their core, home-grown veterans more than ever.

Keep the drug cheats out of Baseball Hall of Fame

The next candidates for the Baseball Hall of Fame will be officially announced today, but we already have a good idea of who will make the list. Whether the drug cheats who will appear on the ballot are worthy of induction is another question that for many is difficult to answer, but for me is a no brainer.

I have long argued that baseball players linked to performance-enhancing drugs should not be allowed into the Hall. My position has not changed. But it will be tested for many of the baseball writers now that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens will be on the ballot. There will be some writers who will attempt to separate their supposedly clean years when they started to build their Hall of Fame credentials from the latter years of their careers when they were linked to steroids or human growth hormone. That to me is a futile exercise so I have a hard-and-fast rule: if you cheated, you’re out.

That rule has allowed me to draw an unmovable line in the sand, even with players that I have had a great deal of affection for in the past such as Andy Pettitte (whose apparent decision to return for another year is great news for the New York Yankees). Pettitte, to his credit, admitted that he cheated and will likely be kept out of the Hall, even though his career postseason stats build a solid case for induction. I suspect Pettitte will receive a respectable number of votes given his resume and general likeability, but he will fall far short of the Hall of Fame, as he should.

But Pettitte’s probable return means he won’t even be on the ballot for five years after he decides to retire for good so his candidacy can be debated in future years. The writers will face the more immediate test on Bonds, Clemens and some of their contemporaries. There will be a lot of outside pressure from those who believe that rejecting such dominant players would make the Hall selection process a farce, but I hope the writers stick to their guns and keep the drug cheats out.   

 

Thanks to Keith Allison via Wikipedia for the Clemens photo.

Yankees give fans early reason to be thankful

Happy Thanksgiving fellow Yankee fans! Here’s your gift.

The New York Yankees have re-signed pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, who unexpectedly became the #2 man in the starting rotation despite coming from the National League West to the notoriously tough American League East in 2012. Truthfully, Kuroda pitched better than ace CC Sabathia at times and helped the Yankees survive Andy Pettitte’s unfortunate ankle injury. I had the pleasure of watching Kuroda pitch in person several times this year at Yankee Stadium, including in Game 3 of the American League Division Series (forever known as the Raul Ibanez game), and each time he was impressive.

This was a no-brainer for the Yankees. They would have had a sizeable hole in their starting rotation if Kuroda left to return to the West Coast or Japan. And for once the Yankees actually benefitted from baseball’s new labor agreement because it meant that whichever MLB team signed Kuroda would have given up a first-round draft pick, a seemingly high sacrifice for a pitcher they would only have for another year or two tops.  

These contract negotiations usually drag on so it’s nice to see the Yankees reach a deal with such a key player so quickly. Just something else to be thankful for.

Mariano could go, say it ain’t so

The news that Mariano Rivera could decide to call it quits is almost as distressing as the New York Yankees being swept out of the playoffs.  

Rivera vowed to return to the Yankees in 2013 after his unfortunate injury brought his 2012 campaign to an early end. But it seems that Mo may be backing off of that pledge despite the knee apparently responding well to his intense rehab program. Perhaps Mo enjoyed his time away from baseball with his family more than he thought and is leaning toward retirement. Or maybe he planned to retire after the 2012 season anyway (he was hinting at such a move during spring training) and decided to stick to that plan, even though it must sting his pride as an athlete for his career to end on such a note.

As great as Rafael Soriano was this year during the regular season, and he was terrific (I even advocated for an All-Star spot for him), he wasn’t really tested in a save situation in October due to the Yankees inability to secure a lead for their pitchers. He did pitch pretty well in all the tie games, but there will always be doubt about how fully he can fill Mo’s shoes until he proves he can save big games in the playoffs. Plus, Soriano is expected to opt out of his contract and his agent Scott Boras is going to want the moon, especially if he knows Mariano is not coming back and the Yankees have a gaping hole at the closer spot.

But everything revolves around Mariano and whether he wants to play another year of baseball. Who knows what he will decide. He could always pull an Andy Pettitte and come back in a year. Like with Andy, the Yankees would welcome Mo back with open arms.  

Yankees may not recover from Jeter loss

Could the New York Yankees suffer a more crushing blow than the loss of their captain?

No. It's an easy question to answer. Not only was Derek Jeter the only regular in the Yankees lineup actually hitting the ball and getting on base, but he was an inspiration to his team, clearly playing at well below 100% (which may have contributed to his devastating injury). Jeter was trying to carry his team across the finish line with the sheer strength of his talent and personality, but he couldn't do the job by himself and now the Yankees will have to do the job without him.

Can the Yankees survive this loss? I have my doubts. The starting pitching has been tremendous, with strong outings by playoff veteran Andy Pettitte and Yankee newcomer Hiroki Kuroda in the first two games of the American League Championship Series, and Raul Ibanez providing the thump the Bronx Bombers have been missing. But the rest of the offense, with the exception of two innings in which they scored multiple runs, has completely vanished this postseason. Alex Rodriguez has been the main target of vitriol (despite a brief effort by Yankee fans to will him to get a base hit with their cheers), but there are plenty of culprits. Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher have been particularly frustrating with their numerous strikeouts and weak popups with runners on base. You can only fail a limited number of times in the postseason before the fans start to turn on you.

The Yankees have survived the devastating blow of losing Mariano Rivera. But that happened back in May, giving the Yankees plenty of time to adjust under less stressful circumstances and giving Rafael Soriano the chance to show that he could step into Mo's shoes to soften the blow. Losing Jeter in Game 1 of the ALCS, especially when the rest of the regular lineup can't manage a hit with men in scoring position, could knock the Yankees right out of the playoffs.

Jason Nix is a good player and he makes solid contact when given the chance to play. Eduardo Nunez has explosive power and speed. But neither of them are Derek Jeter. There is no other Derek Jeter. And the Yankees will have to figure out a way to win without their October magic man.

Older Yankees showing the kids how it's done

Youth is a state of mind, isn’t it?

That’s apparently what the older veterans of the New York Yankees think. Yesterday, it was 40-year-old Raul Ibanez rescuing the Yankees with not one but two home run blasts, the second of which helped make an improbable comeback from four runs down in the 13^th inning a reality. The Yankees would go on to win the game on an error in the 14^th inning, but what everyone will remember most about yesterday’s victory is Ibanez’s heroics, which allowed the Yankees to stay one game ahead of those pesky Baltimore Orioles.

Until Ibanez’s fantastic day, most of the attention and marvel around Yankeeland was directed at 38-year-old Ichiro Suzuki, who had another home run yesterday that helped the Yankees start to climb out of the hole that Ivan Nova put them in. Ichiro has an unbelievable.700 batting average in the last five games and has been a key contributor to the current Yankees 7-game winning streak. I had my doubts about the Ichiro trade, not about him as a player, but about whether he was a necessary addition to the Yankees roster. A rejuvenated Ichiro is proving that he is.

Until Ichiro got hot, the only offense being provided by the Yankees vaunted lineup came from their hobbling Captain Derek Jeter. The 38-year-old Yankees Captain has returned to shortstop where he belongs, but is still bothered by that unfortunate ankle injury. You wouldn’t know it from his 16-game hitting streak, even though he had a rare 1 for 7 day yesterday.

Of course, no discussion of ace performances by veteran Yankees would be complete without mention of 40-year-old Andy Pettitte coming off a nearly 3-month stint on the disabled list this week to give the Yankees five shutout innings in the opening game of a doubleheader. Pettitte schooled the younger Yankees about how to win a game when you are a bit rusty or don’t have your best stuff. What was interesting about Pettitte’s performance is that manager Joe Girardi, who is usually very protective against overusing his pitchers to prevent injuries, allowed Pettitte to go out for that 5^th inning even though he was very close to his pitch limit. Girardi has that much confidence in his veteran lefty and wanted to squeeze one more inning out of Pettitte in a game the Yankees had to win.

I hope the Yankee kids are paying attention to what the older Yankees are doing this month. They could learn a few things. 

Bayless gets 15 minutes of fame with Jeter PED insinuations

Accusing Derek Jeter of using performance-enhancing drugs is a good way to get a lot of attention.

I think anyone who plays for the New York Yankees is going to come under suspicion, even the great Derek Jeter, normally viewed as infallible. The Yankees have been the poster child for PED usage, with numerous current and former players outed as cheaters. Jeter’s name has never remotely been connected to PED use. But someone was bound to try to make the connection, particularly with Jeter’s renaissance season in which arguments have been made that he should finally win his first regular-season Most Valuable Player award at age 38. Skip Bayless turned out to be the guy.

It’s fair to wonder how Jeter has been able to pull off his brilliant performance in a year when he is leaving baseball immortals in the dust on his climb to the top of several key baseball categories. But I can truthfully say that I’ve never once thought that Jeter might be using drugs to get ahead. Of course, I could have said the same thing about Andy Pettitte before he admitted to using human growth hormone.

In all honesty, I had no idea who Skip Bayless was until this story broke. But I have to give it to him—he chose his target well. Bayless knew that anyone connecting Jeter to PEDs was going to get a lot of free publicity, and as they say, there’s no such thing as bad press. But some things are truly unfair, such as insinuating that any player, let alone Derek Jeter, is trying to cheat the system with nothing in the way of evidence.

Bayless knows that Jeter can’t really fight back, no matter how angry and annoyed he may be that his integrity is being questioned. Jeter is a public figure so he really has no options to combat such unfounded accusations. He, as always, chose to try to deflect and minimize the situation. But I can only imagine how livid he must be right now.

Bayless got what he wanted: his 15 minutes of fame. Let’s just end it there. 

Yankees right not to panic at trade deadline

I was afraid the New York Yankees would panic and make an unnecessary trade after Mark Teixeira’s injury but luckily that was not the case.

The Yankees made a minor move to shore up their bench ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, trading away Chad Qualls (bye, Chad, we hardly knew you!) for Casey McGehee. I suspect such a small move for a platoon player happened only because the MRI test for Tex came back negative. If the Yankees were to lose him for an extended period of time, Brian Cashman could have been forced to make a bigger move. You can’t go two months without your big guns at first and third base and we already know we likely won’t see Alex Rodriguez until mid to late September.

But as Cashman mentioned, the price was high for any player of value (more so for the Yankees, who have some strong prospects in the minor leagues) and aside from the Philadelphia Phillies, they weren’t that many sellers in the market this year with the expansion of the wild cards. So I think he was smart not to overreact to the team’s recent poor play and the loss of ARod and Andy Pettitte.

To be honest, the Yankees had already made their big move with the trade for Ichiro Suzuki after their rough weekend in Oakland. Giving up a couple of kids for an aging, but future Hall of Famer is just want the old Yankees, led by George Steinbrenner, would do. But I don’t consider it a bad move in the sense that the Yankees didn’t give up much to get Ichiro.

The Yankees are simply going through a tough spell right now, but they will right the ship and I have every confidence that they will survive it and take the American League East division title. There’s no need to panic, folks. Luckily, Brian Cashman didn't.     

Talk of Mariano Rivera return warms my heart

The mere possibility that Mariano Rivera could come back from his horrific knee injury this season has got my blood flowing.

After watching Mo writhe in pain on the Kansas City warning track (I’m really starting to develop a hatred for that stadium after Mo’s injury and the fans’ vicious treatment of Robinson Cano at the All-Star game), I had no expectation that we would see him on a mound again in the 2012 baseball season. I was resigned to the fact that the New York Yankees would have to try for another World Series championship without their killer closer. But not so fast, according to Mo, who would not rule out a return to the Yankees this year.

Mo is a man of unshakeable faith and a fierce competitor so it could be just his competitive fire talking. Brian Cashman firmly dismissed the possibility of a Rivera return this year and he is not going to let Mo take chances with his health, especially not with the Yankees running away with the American League East. But with Mo (and his doctor) confirming that his knee is healing faster than expected (no great surprise given that Mo is the very definition of good health even at his age) and Mo apparently past the scary blood clot situation that delayed his surgery, it seems very possible that Mo could come back sometime in September to get himself ready for a long playoff run. Perhaps as with Andy Pettitte’s injury, Mo’s freak accident could ultimately be seen as a blessing in disguise in that the two older, clutch Yankees could return to the mound incredibly fresh for October.

Like Mariano, I don’t want to get my hopes up that we will see him on a mound again this year, but just the talk of a possible return warms my heart. Can you imagine the boost he would give to the Yankees and their fan base if he defies all expectations and returns this year to help the Yankees win championship #28? It would just add to the legend that is Mariano Rivera and provide another storybook chapter in a Hall of Fame-bound career.  

As fantastic as Rafael Soriano has been in the two months since he took over the closer’s job, there is no one I trust in a big game situation more than Mariano Rivera to protect a Yankees lead. The Yankees have lived and died with him on the mound in critical games during their championship years. And that is the way it should be.  

Jackson: Keep PED users out of Hall, except Pettitte & Clemens?

I don’t blame Reggie Jackson for being angry at Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds and the other performance-enhancing drug users. I can’t even imagine how bad it feels to watch these guys pass you on baseball’s all-time home run list, knowing that they cheated their way to the top.

But unlike Jackson, I make no distinction between ARod and Andy Pettitte when it comes to PED usage. It’s clear that Jackson would be okay with Pettitte being elected to the Hall of Fame out of an abundance of affection for the lefty, who grew up in the New York Yankees organization. He clearly does not have the same level of affection for ARod. 

Some writers may follow that route, voting in favor of good guys like Pettitte while ignoring controversial players such as Bonds and ARod. But I don’t think that’s fair. I’ve always liked Andy Pettitte myself, a lot more than I ever liked ARod, but I still wouldn’t put him in the Hall if I had a vote because he cheated. Affection for the player should not be the deciding factor. The damage they caused to the game by cheating should outweigh everything else.

I do wonder if Jackson is right about Roger Clemens being elected to the Hall of Fame. His eligibility begins next year and he was acquitted of the federal charges filed against him, as Jackson notes. But a court of law and the court of public opinion are two completely different things. Just because he beat the charges doesn’t mean he is innocent. A lot of guilty people beat the system, because of incompetence by the prosecutors, weak evidence or even their likability.

I wonder if the Clemens acquittal will give enough baseball writers cover to vote for him, if they are so inclined. But I suspect that too many writers hold my view, that anyone even linked to PED usage should not get in, which kept Mark McGwire out of the Hall of Fame for years before he even admitted his steroids use.

Jackson will always court controversy because that is just who he is, but I doubt that Major League Baseball will be happy to see such a prominent Hall of Famer talking about an issue that they probably hoped would go away for a while after the Clemens trial. But Jackson has every right to express his belief that the cheaters don’t belong in the Hall. I also hope that the Hall remains free of the PED users and I make no exceptions for anyone, not even Pettitte and his pal.  

Bad break for Pettitte means trouble for Yankees

Has a first-place team ever experienced such bad luck?

Out of an abundance of caution, the New York Yankees put ace lefthander CC Sabathia on the disabled list due to a groin injury. Out of necessity, the Yankees announced his #2 Andy Pettitte would join him on the disabled list just hours later. So the team with the best record in baseball suddenly looks like it could be in a lot of trouble.

I wasn’t terribly concerned about Sabathia’s injury, which appears to be relatively minor. Heading into the All-Star break, I thought it was absolutely the right move to be cautious and not let Sabathia risk worsening the injury by trying to pitch through it. But the Yankees had to be exasperated by the misfortune of Pettitte getting hit with a comebacker that broke his fibula, forcing him off the mound for at least the next six weeks.

I feel really bad for Pettitte. Despite my personal feelings over his actions during the Roger Clemens trial, Pettitte had stepped up to help right what had been a struggling Yankees rotation both by pitching extremely well and serving as counsel and mentor to guys like Phil Hughes. I admire Pettitte’s bulldog mentality in trying to stay in yesterday’s game, but I cringed after he threw that first pitch after getting hit with that comebacker because it was obvious that he was in an extreme amount of pain. The silver lining of this injury, as Brian Cashman noted, is that the 40-year-old Pettitte will be really fresh when the Yankees truly need him in September and October.

So for the time being, the Yankees rotation will comprise of Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova and Hughes, with some help from Freddy Garcia and a couple of Yankee minor leaguers. Kuroda, Nova and Hughes have all pitched well of late, but I do worry that they might put too much pressure on themselves to try to make up for not having Sabathia or Pettitte. As for Garcia, this is a great opportunity for him to show that he still has something left in the tank and should not be relegated to mop-up duty.

It’s going to be a challenge, but I think the Yankees can survive the next two weeks without their star lefties. But it’s going to take a lot of luck, something that doesn’t seem to be on the Yankees side right now. 

Feisty Mets put up a good fight

I have a lot of respect for a Mets team that just lost five of six games this month to their cross-town rival New York Yankees.

If the Mets miss out on the baseball playoffs this year by a couple of games, they are going to rue the 2012 versions of the Subway Series. But in truth they played pretty well this weekend, putting up some good at-bats against the Yankees top two pitchers in CC Sabathia (who hasn’t really pitched like the ace we all know he is despite his solid numbers) and Andy Pettitte (who had a rare misstep in his inability to escape a first-inning jam on Friday). They might have even swept the Yankees if not for manager Terry Collins’ debatablepitching moves although he can’t really be blamed for being afraid to go to his shaky bullpen.  

But the games were all pretty close, which was great because the Subway Series always has more meaning when the Yankees and Mets are both competitive. Despite their lack of power and shaky bullpen, the Mets are still within striking distance of the Washington Nationals for the National League East division lead. It will be a lot of fun this summer to see if the Mets can hold on and compete for a division title or one of those wild card slots. It would be terrific for the franchise if the Mets actually make the playoffs. It could help banish the dark cloud cast by the Bernie Madoff scandal for good.

The Mets were scrappy on the field and very feisty off of it, seemingly never believing the conventional wisdom they are out of the Yankees league. This feistiness was reflected by Mets closer Frank Francisco’s eagerness to start a minor New York tabloid controversy by calling the Yankees “chickens.” Francisco did back up his trash talk by closing out the Mets’ sole victory in the Subway Series although he also quickly headed to the disabled list. Was he really hurt that bad or is he the real chicken? We probably won’t know until next year, unless the Mets and Yankees somehow meet up again this year in the World Series. How awesome would that be? 

Pettitte’s cocoon of silence won’t protect him from the truth

Andy Pettitte didn’t want to talk about Roger Clemens’ acquittal on perjury and other charges. I don’t blame him. If I were Pettitte, I wouldn’t want to talk about how I put my hand on a Bible, swore to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then completely bent the truth to save my old pal.

Clemens was acquitted for many reasons, but Pettitte’s suddenly hazy memory didn’t help the prosecution’s case. I’m still quite shocked that the jury couldn’t bring itself to find Clemens guilty of even one charge. But the members of that jury were not baseball fans – some of them had never even heard of Clemens – and didn’t understand the context of just how much damage Clemens and the other performance-enhancing drug users did to the game and how he should have been punished for that.

It’s amazing how my opinion of Pettitte has completely changed since his appearance at the Clemens trial. I root for him to pitch well for the New York Yankees’ sake and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the starters have been on such a hot streak since he came back. (Phil Hughes, brilliant of late, has openly talked about how much of a help Pettitte has been to him). But I get no joy from watching Pettitte pitch. Not anymore. I went from being uncontrollably excited about Pettitte’s comeback when it was first announced to completely disappointed at his off-the-field actions.

By the way, I couldn’t disagree more with Derek Jeter about the acquittal being good for baseball. I know that the Yankees Captain grew fond of Clemens as a teammate, but what Clemens and the other baseball cheaters did has put a permanent black mark on the game. I believed that the biggest names among the cheaters, Barry Bonds and Clemens, had to pay for what they did for the game to truly begin to heal and neither of them did.

But Pettitte’s cocoon of silence won’t protect him from the fact that he went out of his way to bend the truth to get his friend off the hook. And that is something he will have to live with.