Video of the Week

There was no Yankees baseball tonight (though LSU-Texas was well worth watching in the College World Series), but this Yankees-Marlins fan brawl was all over the blogs today and so it goes as the sports story of the night. Definitely worth watching. Just tune out the little girl crying.

There ain't no rivalry like a rematch of the 2003 World Series!

(I think they took it down from YouTube so this is from FanDome)

Pettitte Plays The Role Of Stopper Again

In the glory days, Andy Pettitte played a role rarely talked about in baseball: he was the stopper. In 1996, Andy Pettitte had more than half of his wins the day after a Yankee loss. This year, he's also been the stopper of losing streaks: Pettitte is 3-1 the day after a Yankees loss (his lone loss coming against Boston Red Sox who no Yankee pitcher since Mike Mussina has been able to beat).

And he continued that "stopper" mentality again as he shut down the Marlins. There is something to be said about just going after hitters. Instead of aiming for corners, Andy Pettitte went after an agressive Marlins team and got the Yankees a solid 7 innings. Part of his success may have been pitching away from home; he has an ERA of over 5.75 at home and 2.35 on the road.

He also helped wake up the Yankees offense with a big double in their 4-run inning. On a day where A-Rod sat, Derek Jeter played hurt, and Brett Gardner was unable to go after making severe contact with the wall (I think Bobby Abreu cried watching that highlight), Andy was Dandy once again. Now they need to turn the losing streak into a winning streak with AJ Burnett and CC Sabathia closing out this series.

Some Day Of Sports

Today was one of those Sundays where sports ruled.

The New York Metropolitans started out the day. And Johan Santana was dominant for the Mets against the Marlins. But despite 13 Ks and no earned runs from Brohan, he still was hung with the loss as the Mets lost to the Fish (their arch nemesis the past few years).

Next was the Yankees. A cold, rainy day in Kansas City started out fine. Joba allowed only one earned run over 6 innings and handed a 4-3 lead to the bullpen. Bruney got 3 outs and then Marte got 2 more. And then, inexplicably, Girardi decided it was important to go mix-and-match. He brought in Veras who walked the first batter on 5 pitches. Girardi then goes back out to bring in Phil Coke who not only blows the save, but loses the game as well. Soria dominated for the save. I know it's early in the season, but a loss like this stings for the Yanks. Torre overused and abused certain guys in the bullpen (see Scott Proctor's Arm). Girardi micro-manages games (a la Buck Showalter) and the loss has to be hung on him. Other goats include Phil Coke (BS and L), Cody Ransom (.050 BA) and Melky (who had 2 GIDPs).

Next was to the Masters where, despite huge days from Lefty and Tiger, they left some strokes out on the course and it ended up hurting them in the end. There's still a few different guys in it, but Angel Cabrera looks like he's more interested in finishing and getting to the buffet than winning this tournament. Kenny Perry or Chad Campbell seem to be the two frontrunners right now.

Also on TV, the Rangers are playing a meaningless game in Philly...at least for the Broadway Blueshirts. The Broad Street Bullies have home ice advantage to play for. Even so, the Rangers seem to be matching the Flyers as the score is 2-2. Dubinsky has 2 goals. Despite a tremendous start to the season and a lot of promise, Dubi's two goals today only gives him 13 for the season.

There is one baseball game still on that I'm keeping my eye on: Angels vs. Red Sox. The game started off with Bobby Abreu pissing off Josh Beckett who in turn pissed off the entire Halo bench. This led to a Torii Hunter ejection. "Shockingly" no Sox player was ejected. 4-3 Angels in the 7th there.

One last thing. I got a call today from Jay, a contributer on this blog, who wanted to revive the Joba debate after what happened today. I hate rehashing the same argument I give everyone (would you want a great pitcher to pitch 60 innings or 200?), so I pointed out that the Yankees would haven't been in the position to win today had it not been for a really good start from Joba. Look at what happened to the Yankees the first two games of the season when they got really crappy starting pitching? They hardly had a chance to win. But Joba gave them a good chance to win the game today. If it wasn't for Girardi, I think it probably would have been a W. But I'm sure this blown save will bring out the naysayers...