Yankees start second half off with a bang

The New York Yankees started off their second half with a bang, two of them in fact.

Mark Teixeira, who drew mixed reviews in the Yankees’ midseason report cards, proved that his reemergence in Boston last weekend was no fluke, hitting not one, but two home run bombs, the second of which tied the game after the Yankees were effectively throttled by CJ Wilson, who desperately wished to be a Yankee. Teixeira is a notoriously slow starter, but I think a lot of his early struggles this year could be traced to that mysterious coughing illness. I’m expecting a big second half from him now that he is fully healthy (unless his archrival Vicente Padilla decides to take another shot at him when the Red Sox come into town).

Russell Martin did not fare so well in the midseason report cards, drawing poor grades of C’s and D’s due to his offensive struggles, although his work behind the plate has remained consistent. He needed a big night more than anyone else on the Yankees roster and last night he got it. Martin’s clutch two-out base hit completed the Yankees comeback and he ended the game by throwing out his third runner of the evening. His obvious elation about the comeback victory and the huge role he played in it was priceless.

It was nice to see the Yankees start off the second half of the season with a win. All the glowing reports of their first-half performance, plus their substantial lead in the American League standings, clearly have not gone to their heads at all. We could be in for something very special the rest of the way.   

Apologetic Reggie Jackson should go silent

The great Reggie Jackson has been humbled and embarrassed by the reaction to his ill-advised comments in Sports Illustrated. He has repeatedly apologized for expressing his opinions about Alex Rodriguez’s use of performance-enhancing drugs, even though many people, including yours truly, agree with him. He has expressed deep remorse for his hurtful words about the late, great Gary Carter’s Hall of Fame credentials. But now what Reggie needs to do is just disappear for a while.

Reports surfaced that Jackson will rejoin the New York Yankees when the team makes a West Coast swing later this month. I think that’s a big mistake. I think Reggie should stay away and stay out of sight. With the Yankees, there is always some new controversy on the horizon. If Reggie stays away until then, the impact of his words will diminish and some people will even forget what the big deal was.

But the heat is not going to die down until Reggie stops talking, if he can. Reggie loves to talk and we love him for it, but right now it’s not in his best interest. I hope he realizes that sooner rather than later, before he says something he can’t take back. 

Random baseball thoughts: All-Star edition

That was an embarrassing performance by the American League All-Stars, who got spanked by the National League 8-0 and lost home-field advantage for the third year in a row. Remember when the American League had that 13-game unbeaten streak in All-Star contests? That is now a thing of the past. What was most disappointing was that the early drubbing made the rest of the game a total snoozefest. I got so bored that I fell asleep and missed the last two innings of the game. I didn’t even know that Melky Cabrera won the Most Valuable Player award until this morning. Good for him.

I     * I can’t say I was thrilled to see Justin Verlander laughing it up on the sidelines after getting pounded for five runs in the first inning, putting the American League in a hole they didn’t have a chance of climbing out of, especially since “this time it counts” gave the National League home-field advantage in the World Series. I bet Verlander will rue his performance if he finds himself pitching Game 1 of the World Series for the Detroit Tigers in some National League ballpark.

       * Just when you thought Kansas City Royals fans couldn’t behave any more despicably, now comes word that Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees had to have extra security guard his family during the All-Star game because of the disgraceful behavior of Royals fans upset at Cano for supposedly snubbing their hometown hero Billy Butler in the Home Run Derby. I thought the merciless booing of Cano was extreme, but this just takes it to a whole new level. To be fair, Yankee fans have been guilty of similar boorish behavior as Cliff Lee’s wife reported getting spit at and beer thrown in her direction during the 2009 World Series. But that doesn’t make it right, either in New York or Kansas City.  



Bud Selig and Joe Torre both expressed remorse for Cano’s treatment at the hands of Kansas City fans. Hopefully, it will be enough to convince them that they are setting these players up for this kind of treatment by putting them in the position of having to choose the Derby participants. Major League Baseball should retake control of that responsibility. They can be assured that they would be safe from that type of vicious treatment since most fans couldn’t pick baseball officials not named Selig and Torre out of a lineup.  

* You have to admire R.A. Dickey, not only for the way he has dominated opposing baseball teams this year with that knuckleball, but for what he has survived in his life to get to this point of tremendous success. My admiration for him grew stronger this week as he expressed disappointment over not starting the All-Star game, a start that he earned, without criticizing National League manager Tony LaRussa for taking the start away from him. Dickey is a class act. I make it a point to turn on the Mets games when I know he is starting just to watch him pitch. I’m rooting for him to continue his fantastic run in the second half. 

Did ARod have Jackson banned from Yankeeland?

The New York Yankees effectively banned Reggie Jackson from the team after his inflammatory comments about Alex Rodriguez and other performance-enhancing drug users. While I’m sure that the ultimate decision was made by Hal Steinbrenner or one of his top deputies, I can’t help but wonder how much, if anything, ARod had do with Jackson’s banishment.

Right now, ARod has a lot more pull with the Yankees than Jackson, despite his Hall of Fame pedigree, simply because ARod is a current player. Regardless of the regrets the Steinbrenners must have over the expensive, long-term deal they gave him, they have to do everything in their power to make sure ARod is happy and comfortable, so he can be as productive a player as possible. And that means not allowing Jackson anywhere near the Yankees third baseman.

Did ARod tell someone in the Yankees hierarchy that he didn’t want Reggie around for a while? Maybe, maybe not. I wouldn’t put it past ARod to say something like that. But it seems more likely that the Yankees benched Reggie just for starting an unnecessary controversy that they were forced to deal with, one that took some attention away from the team’s terrific play heading into the All-Star break.

If someone in the Yankees hierarchy made the unilateral decision to ban Jackson, was it an overreaction on his or her part? I don’t think so. It was probably a wise move if for no other reason than to avoid any incredibly awkward encounters between ARod and Jackson that would keep the story alive.

But I doubt Jackson’s banishment will last very long. I would expect to see Mr. October back in the Bronx in October. But until then, Reggie should keep a very low profile to get back into the Yankees’ good graces. 

Rude Royals fans rain on Robinson's parade

I didn’t think I’d see a worse display of sportsmanship and sour grapes than the St. Louis Post Dispatch putting an asterisk on its back page headline about Johan Santana’s no-hitter against the Cardinals. But the Kansas City Royals fans proved me wrong.

The non-stop abuse Royals fans heaped on Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees turned what should have been a positive, festive event into a nightmare for the Yankees second baseman that overshadowed what was truly a fun competition. I was astonished by the lack of class shown by the hometown fans.

I understand their disappointment over Billy Butler not making it on to the American League Home Run Derby team, but it’s not Cano’s fault that he was forced to choose his team before he knew who was going to be on the All-Star roster. If anything, their misplaced anger should have been directed at Major League Baseball. But there was no justification for the constant vitriol they directed at Cano. I was actually embarrassed for Royals fans, whose lack of hospitality proved them unworthy of hosting the All-Star game.

Cano claimed he wasn’t bothered by the sustained booing, attributing his poor performance in the Derby to a lack of sleep following Sunday night’s late marathon against the Red Sox. But it seemed that he was somewhat unnerved by the vicious treatment. He’s a member of the Yankees so booing comes with the territory. But I’m sure he didn’t expect that kind of treatment at an event that is supposed to celebrate the game and be a fun display for the fans. And he sure didn’t deserve it.

I’ve never been to St. Louis or Kansas City before and I’ve always wanted to go, especially to St. Louis, which is known to be a great baseball town. But after their behavior over the last few months, I think I’ll spend my travel dollars elsewhere. 

Happiness for AJ Burnett

There were a lot of feel-good stories in the first half of the 2012 baseball season. But for me, AJ Burnett pitching so well for the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates is one of the best ones.

Sure, most of the talk around baseball this year has revolved around exciting young players such as Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Giancarlo Stanton, deservedly so. But after struggling during most of his three-year tenure with the New York Yankees, I’m very happy that Burnett finally found a place where he belongs, one where he is not weighed down by our often unrealistic expectations.

To be fair, Burnett did not live up to the hype of his $82.5 million contract, given to him in large part because of his dominant performances over the Yankees and the Red Sox while in a Toronto Blue Jays uniform. But that massive contract often overshadowed the fact that AJ came through with some big-game performances for the Yankees, including a crucial Game 2 win in the 2009 World Series and a clutch division series victory last year against the Detroit Tigers.

Perhaps AJ simply belongs in a place like Toronto or Pittsburgh with a more supportive fan base rather than under the never-ending New York media glare. He’s already won 10 games this year (his Yankee protégé Ivan Nova leads the Yankees with 10 victories at the break) to help the Pirates take first place in their division and I’ll be rooting for him to continue with his solid pitching in the second half of the year.

I’m glad AJ found himself again. Perhaps we’ll see him back on the Yankee Stadium mound in October, pitching against the Yankees for the National League champion Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. Wouldn’t that be something? 

Yankees leave Red Sox in the dust

The New York Yankees could not feel better about themselves heading into the All-Star break, with a commanding lead in the American League East standings after another Boston beat-down.

Granted, the Yankees’ play was pretty sloppy at times this weekend, with Hiroki Kuroda giving up the 5-run lead his offense staked him to on Friday night and Phil Hughes unable to pitch out of the mess his defense put him in during Saturday’s double-header nightcap. But they took three out of four games against the Boston Red Sox after getting strong performances by Freddy Garcia and Ivan Nova and a resurgent Mark Teixeira, who wisely decided not to further escalate his feud with a nut like Vicente Padilla.

More surprisingly, they got a turn-back-the-clock performance by Andruw Jones, who has been terrific subbing for the injured Brett Gardner all year, but really stepped up his game against the Red Sox this weekend. He hit four Monster home runs, constantly breaking the hearts of Saux fans anytime they thought their team might finally have a leg up on the hated Yankees. But even more impressive to me was his outstanding defense, including slamming against the Green Monster to make a terrific, rally-killing catch, which immediately conjured up images of a young Jones patrolling centerfield for the Atlanta Braves.

So despite all their injuries and lackluster play during the first six weeks of the season, the Yankees find themselves comfortably in first place with a 7-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles, nearly 10 games up over the Saux (which, let’s face it, is the only team that all Yankee fans truly care about regardless of their problems) and the best record in baseball.  

I hope Joe Girardi and his squad enjoy their All-Star break vacation. After their first-half performance, they’ve definitely earned it.