RIP: George Steinbrenner, 1930-2010

   The world lost an outstanding human being yesterday.  RIP George "The Boss" Steinbrenner.

   NY Yankees owner George Steinbrenner passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 80.  He was a lightning rod of criticism as well as a pillar of strength for an organization that was going nowhere when he acquired it.  He could have had the Indians, and quite possibly turned them into a perennial powerhouse, but was outbid in his efforts to purchase the club back in 1973. He is, and I know it's been said before (like 1,000 times yesterday), solely responsible for the outrageous salaries that athletes make today.  He was never afraid to spend his money, so long as he believed in the individual.  He put a lot of pressure on his players, and ultimately on himself.  When you have the highest payroll in sports every year, there is an extreme pressure to succeed.  And succeed he did.

   During his time as owner of the Yankees, they won 7 World Series Titles, 11 American League Pennants, 16 AL East Titles, and 3 Wild Card berths.  Not a bad body of work.  And from what people say, he was a hell of a man off the field as well - community service, charity work, donations, giving a guy who he found spray painting Yankee Stadium a job.  The list goes on and on.

   Had he not won 7 World Series', we may not have celebrated his life as you've seen in the past day or so.  But he did, and people of all walks of life speak only great things of The Boss.

   He was a character on 13 Seinfeld episodes and never physically appeared on the show.  George Costanza worked for him (if you can call it work) and was one of the most hilarious parts of the show.  He hosted Saturday Night Live in 1990.  He was a huge fan of General George S. Patton.  He signed Hideki Irabu to a huuuuuge contract - and it backfired, the guy sucked.  He also signed Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter.  He gave Joe Torre a chance when he was hardly established as a manager.  The Yankees are the Yankees because of him.  The old Stadium was "the house that Ruth built" and the new Stadium is "the house that George built".  Pretty amazing stuff. 

   Jerry Jones even looked up to him.  Donald Trump looked up to him.  Bobby Knight, for Christs sake, looked up to this man.  Why?  Because to George Steinbrenner, winning was second to breathing.

   Thanks George.  You will always be "The Boss" to Yankee fans worldwide.  Rest In Peace.

RIP George Steinbrenner, "The Boss" (1930-2010)

Break Time

   First of all, LeBron James is a bag of expletives.  Go after a title on a team where you're the man, not one head of a three headed monster.  Way to wimp out.

   Now that the MLB season has reached the All-Star break, I want to take a look at some of the top stories, as far as I'm concerned, in the first half.

   1.  Friar Power.  The San Diego Padres are 14 games over .500 (they were 75-87 last year) and up by two games in the much-improved NL West.  I mean this is a pitchers dominated team - with the best ERA (3.25) and WHIP (1.23) in the MLB.  They're hitting a paltry .250 but are in first place - pitching wins.  Look at the pathetic KC Royals - they lead the majors in hitting (.282) and are 10 games under .500 and 10.5 GB of the 1st place White Sox.  Watch out for the hooded clergy, they're here for real, and I don't think their pitching will go out of style.  They have no pressure to succeed and their best pitcher has only 27 starts under his belt for his career (Mat Latos) and a journeyman John Garland is reverting back to old form (when he won 18 games back-to-back years with the White Sox).  The Padres are good man, but so is everyone else in the West.  It's gonna be exciting.

   2.  Abe Vigoda (aka Jamie Moyer).  How in the hell is this guy 9-8?  I watched him dominate the Yankees (8 IP, 3 H, 2 R) and get shellacked by the Red Sox the very next start (1 IP, 9 H, 9 R).  He's got a 4.51 ERA in over 107 innings pitched - better than A.J. Burnett (4.75), John Lackey (4.78), and Brandon Morrow (4.86) - all guys with far superior stuff.  I watch him pitch and it actually infuriates me.  How can this guy do this at the highest level?  He throws 83 mph!  Are you kidding me?  I have to move on, it's pissing me off even thinking about it.  Good for you Jamie, you old bastard.

   3.  Vuvuzelas at a baseball game?  Really Marlins?  Fire the PR guy instead of letting Fredi Gonzalez get the axe.  This was something that people bitched about at the World Cup 2010, and once the USA was eliminated, everyone bitched about everything related to the World Cup.  And the Marlins decide it's a good idea to hand out half-assed vuvuzelas to fans for a game versus in-state rival Tampa Bay?  Give it a rest.  That goes against everything a traditional baseball fan stands for.  At least give out cowbells or something like that, everyone needs to have more cowbell.  Vuvuzela Night?  Never going to a Marlins game, on principle alone.

   4.  Marco...Polo...Teixeira?  He's hitting an eye-popping .254, but surprisingly has 17 HR and 60 RBI.  He seems to be AL version of Adam Dunn - HR's and right around a .250 BA (Dunn is at 22 HR and .288 in 2010).  He went into the break on fire, hitting .419 in July.  I mean he did virtually nothing in April (.136, 2 HR, 9 RBI) and the Yankees still managed to go 15-7.  They have a two game lead over the Rays and a five game lead over the Red Sox and they haven't even had the best record in the AL East in any given month (TB - Apr., TOR - May, BOS - June, TB - July).  Not to mention the heading to this paragraph - Mark Teixeira is having a mediocre season at best.  If they played the White Sox, Twins, and Mariners every series, he'd be hitting .450 for the year (.545 vs. CWS, .400 vs. MIN, .448 vs. SEA).  If he can stay hot after the break, watch out baseball!  Good time to be a Yankee fan.

   That's all I have time for.  Gotta go work on a few things.  We just got a new GTee in, may go take a few hacks off that, get some frustration out.

   HR Derby tonight at 8 pm Eastern (5 pm Pacific) - Swisher looking to bring the trophy back to the Bronx with him.

   Be well people.

Seal Island

   I as just watching a segment on ESPN about Seal Island, off the coast of South Africa, and the chain of command down there.  The dense population of fur seals is what leads to the prevalence of great white sharks.  Heading into the water down there would be insanity - something I would never even consider doing.  Just seeing those beasts flying out of the ocean and snagging a meal mid-air is amazing.


   Speaking of getting thrown into the sharks, here is my list of 2010 All-Star game snubs.  These are the guys who fell off the vote-boat.  (Answers will be at the bottom)


   1.  Position Player Snub:
   1.  Player A:  .318 BA, 21 HR, 59 RBI, .599 SLG%, 1.017 OPS
   1.  Player B:  .305 BA, 20 HR, 60 RBI, .567 SLG%, .981 OPS
   1.  Player C:  .291 BA, 16 HR, 51 RBI, .517 SLG%, .902 OPS
   1.  Player D:  .296 BA, 15 HR, 59 RBI, .502 SLG%, .852 OPS


   Three of these players are on the squad and one is not, an to me, it's not even close.  There is one guy (Player A, cough cough...) that should have been a lock.  Fans don't know players in smaller markets, and it's sad because this players team is actually competing for a change.

   I mean the Marlins tried to bribe fans with 2 free tickets to a game if you punched all Marlins to the All-Star Game on at least 200 ballots.  Doofs!



   2.  RHP Starter Snub:  9-4, 2.62 ERA, 91 K, 0.96 WHIP, .193 BAA


   His team is at the top of it's division and he has the lowest WHIP in his league and the lowest BAA in baseball.  His stuff is dirty and he's a huge dude (6'6", 225 lbs.)


   3.  Reliever Snub: 
   3.  Player A:  2-0, 22 SV (2 BS), 2.04 ERA, .241 BAA
   3.  Player B:  3-0, 17 SV (2 BS), 2.02 ERA, .231 BAA
   3.  Player C:  3-1, 12 HLD, 2 SV (1 BS), 1.03 ERA, .122 BAA, ZERO HITS to LHH


   Granted you want closers in the game, and seeing how the Pirates are so bad that their lone rep was a middle man (Evan Meek), I guess there was no room for a guy who knows how to shut down an inning to get it to the closer.  Plus, he's had four arm surgeries - this guy is known as "The Cockroach" in the clubhouse.   This guy hasn't let up a hit to a LHH - all year - in 10.1 IP.  He is a specialist.  I hope Player A or B comes in when a LHH comes up and serves one up - if only Player C was available.  Or they'll use their only other LHP, who's like 100 years old.



   That is all I have time for today, but these are three of the guys I feel got thrown to the sharks off the coast of Seal Island.  Two are in lesser markets, one is in a big market, but either way, the best players should get in.  (I'm not going to make a push for Stephen Strasburg, because he has just six appearances under his belt and I feel that although he does give the NL a good chance to win, he hype doesn't get you in to an All-Star Game)


   Oh yeah, here are the answers and players listed above:


   #1 - Position Player Snub:  Player A - SNUBBED - JOEY VOTTO, Player B - Albert Pujols (STL), Player C - Adrian Gonzalez (SD), Player D - Ryan Howard (PHI)



   #2 - RHP Starter Snub:  Mat Latos (SD)


   #3 - Reliever Snub:  Player A - Brian Wilson (SF), Player B - Jonathan Broxton (LAD), Player C - SNUBBED - HONG-CHIH KUO (LAD)


   Alright, time to go.  I hope you don't get snubbed.  And remember, if you want to see sharks up close, stand two feet from your television during Shark Week on Discovery Channel.


   Happy 34th Birthday 50 Cent, G-Unit, we in here, party like it's your birthday.  If you see him in the club, bottle full of bub.  Word, yo.

Happy Birthday America

   Happy 234th Birthday USA. 

   Celebrate and I will be back in full force once the holiday weekend is over.  Again, I apologize for the lapses in posts, things are getting busy on the home front.

   Have a great day and celebrate your Stars and Stripes!

Relax!

   I'm talking to my readers, not referring to the Frankie Goes To Hollywood hit. (featured in Zoolander)

   I know more and more of you are probably having a tough time falling asleep at night without getting your daily fill on WRT, and for that I apologize.  I am on vacation and haven't had a chance to log on to post.  I just found the only spot in the whole place that has an internet connection (albeit a poor one), so I am sitting inside for a few with Nathan by my side.  LMD is out watching the third installment of the Twilight saga (Eclipse??)

   I have had a nice time thus far, beach is great (the water is frigid), the food is good (fresh seafood), and the living's easy.  It's vacation, isn't that what it's all about?

    4:00pm is rapidly approaching, which means one thing while down here in Sea Isle City - Dirty Martini's at McNutley's.  I tend to arrive around 4:15 to 4:30, but today I have to be early - it's my day to buy the first round of $3 Dirty's.  McNutley's is the prototypical dive-bar - frequented by no more than fifteen people at any given time.  The bartender works 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off.  The crowd is pro-Philadelphia sports, anti-New York Sports, though they are typically very civil when discussing the two cities. 

   The beach this morning was awesome - sun was shining without a cloud in the sky.  As soon as I began sweating, I took a dive in the frigid water.  I only lasted about 10 minutes before my extremities started tingling.  I did my best to try to eliminate this brutal farmer's tan, but it is still visible.  I guess I need to be out in the sun for longer than 90 minutes.  I used some Banana Boat SPF 50, as I have since the first time here when I was lobster-fied after Day 1, resulting in a miserable week-long vacation (three years ago).

   The Yankees have struggled against the piss-poor Mariners so far (Cliff Lee and Felix the Kid).  Let's hope they can salvage the home-series today as C.C. takes the mound against Ryan Rowland-Smith.  Looks like they're up 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth.  Cano teed another one up (his 16th HR) and Teixeira grounded out to SS in the 1st to score Jeter. 

   Cano is a beast.  He's 1-2 today but overall this season is hitting .354 with 16 HR and 54 RBI.  He's got 10 HR's off LHP's and only 6 against RHP's.  And as hitter-friendly as the new Yankee Stadium is, he's hitting 21 points higher away from the Bronx.  Stay hot Robbie.

   Time to get a shower in and mentally prepare for McNutley's.

   With July 4th right around the corner, I am very excited to see the Stars & Stripes hats come out.  Here's what they look like:

    Man, I love the Stars and Stripes.  Happy Fourth of July Weekend everyone, enjoy yourself.  

   USA!  USA!  USA!