Peavy to White Sox???

I'm hearing the rumor that the Padres may be shipping Jake Peavy to the White Sox. No word on who would be going to the Padres.

If you recall, the Padres tried to deal him this past winter. However, Peavy has a full no-trade clause and if dealt, would prefer to stay in the National League.

In weak division, the acquisition of Peavy could heat things up between the contenders. Thoughts?

Dwight Howard Breaks Shot Clock

This is just so bad ass
Dwight Howard Knocks over Shot clock in Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers and went on to win.

Yankees Loosening Up and Giving Back

It's nice to see the Yankees making adjustments. For too long they seemed to be run by a rigid corporation, unable to make changes. But there are some really nice things they are doing for the fans, community, and with each other.

First, it was nice to see the Yankees honoring someone who didn't buy an advertisement in the stadium or sponsor that days giveaway. While at the game last night, "Tara", came on the huge HD screen in between innings and I got worried that her voice would send the masses home early. But she calmly told the story of a 6-year-old boy who had just reached one year remission with cancer and got to hang out with the Yankees. As the New York Times wrote, he got to meet a bunch of the Yankees and even asked Derek Jeter to play catch with him. Pretty awesome stuff. And the kid got a HUGE hand last night.

One story that touches the heart today comes out of California and has nothing to do the Yankees, but is definitely worth a read from the Mercury News.

Sam Borden has word via LoHud about the Swish & Chips promotion going on at Foley's NY Pub & Restaurant. A good place to grab a brewskie, Foley's will donate $1 from every sale of the battered fish and fries dish to Nick Swisher's charity "Swish's Wishes".

And as Rob Neyer asks will owner continue to do the right thing (after they had moved up the start time of the World Series to make it more watchable for all)?

Well the Yankees responded and finally did something good with those empty Legends Box seats (also from Sam Borden):"Tonight through Sunday, the Yankees will commemorate Fleet Week. Members of the armed forces will take part in on-field pregame ceremonies. In addition, for each game through Sunday the club has donated tickets in the Legends Suite area to members of the U.S. Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, among other branches of the Armed Forces. With all the controversy over the Legends Suites this year, it’s nice to see the Yankees opening them to people who truly deserve the best seats in the house." Good job by the Yankees.

Lastly, the Yankees are playing more like a close-knit team that actually likes each other. AJ Burnett has started the pie-to-the-face for anyone who ends a Yankee game with a walkoff. Johnny Damon bought a WWE-type championship belt and it's given to the player who has the most impact in every Yankees win. And Mark Feinsand reports that the Yankees are holding a Kangaroo Court...with Mariano Rivera as the judge. I can't even imagine what that entails. But it's glad to see the Yankees are winning games, giving back, and having some fun doing so.

TV Update And Some New Shows

Been following the cancellations/renewal season this year. Lots of interesting moves made by different networks. And with a lull in television from my fall/winter shows (The Office, Lost, 24, etc.) to my summer shows (Entourage, Mad Men, Weeds, Dexter, Californication, etc.), I figured it was as good a time as any to look at what's going on...

Ausiello has a good cheat sheet list of shows with their current status. The only big moves in shows that I watch is that Scrubs was renewed (albeit with less JD and Elliot), and Law and Order and Law and Order: SVU were renewed, though the original is moving to Friday nights (where all shows go to die--*tear*) and SVU is moving to the original slot on Wednesday nights. Glad to see, though, that they cancelled a lot of shows that looked horrendous. Just so I can stop seeing promo commercials for them during sporting events.

First of all, Doc Jensen has become one of my favorite writers over at EW with his Lost writings and his recap of the season finale and article today (on Juliet) were really, really excellent. Definitely got me thinking as we head into a painful offseason for the show. Also, although Ethan Kanin seemed like he was back in as Allison Taylor's Chief of Staff, Ausiello reports it will be a new guy.

There are a bunch of new fall pilots. I don't know what to think about any of them, but I'll over some opinion anyways. ABC roles out a lineup of big name stars: Courteney Cox, Billy Zane, Joseph Fiennes, Jerry Bruckheimer, Kelsey Grammer, and Patricia Heaton (as well as Lost's Juliet and Scrubs Janitor). NBC roles out a very similar lineup for last season, but the big addition for me is Joel McHale's show. I'm very interested to see how that turns out. Also, interested to find out why Subway was so interested in bringing back Chuck. Fox has a very different lineup than the rest, though I'm sort of excited to see The Cleveland Show. My fear is that it'll be a step down from American Dad which is very hit or miss itself. Let's just say ABC's lineup upfront did not go as smoothly as expected thanks to Jimmy Kimmel ripping his own network (according to the New York Times). And I haven't watched a CBS show in as long as I can remember and none of these new offerings are making me think about changing my mind.

Will continue to post TV updates as they come, but I think that, for the most part, this blog will be concentrated on sports until the summer season starts. And I can tell you I'm looking forward to that.

A-Rod and Kate Hudson Need To Find Classier Places To Make Out

Is this Page 6 story true? Mustang Grill? Are they serious? And isn't Kate Hudson too young and unmuscular for Alex Rodriguez? Is this how you get back at Madonna for her attending a Mets game? I'm a big fan of the UES and I've had a beer or a meal a few times at Mustang Grill but this seems to be a bit of an odd place for a man who will make over half a billion dollars to commandeer an area to make out. I hate to go out on a limb, but this may be for publicity more than for the location. Or maybe he just wanted his cigar lounge which it ends up Mustang Grill has and which has eluded A-Rod in the past because he didn't want to change out his shabby clothes...

Oh A-Rod, why can't you have a more normal love life like Derek Jeter. Remember ESPN's Page 3? No? Me Neither. But they did document his amazing love life from 1996-2005. And you know what's not in there (besides recent flings Minka Kelly, Adriana Lima, Jessica Alba, and Jessica Biel)? Weird shit like this. Or at least not to the degree of closing off a section of Mustang Grill to make out with Kate Hudson.

Yeah...This Stuff Only Happens To Mets Fans

Somehow I can't see this being a Yankee Stadium story...but wow: read this NY Post story.

Think A-Rod Makes A Difference To Tex?

Mark Teixeira before Alex Rodriguez came off the DL (and before his talk with Tino): 25 games, .198 average, 5 HRs, 15 RBIs, 5 multi-hit games

Mark Teixeira after Alex Rodrguiez came off the DL (May 8th): 11 games, .341 average, 6 HRs, 15 RBIs, 4 multi-hit games

Yeah...and there have been 4 straight games with A-Bombs from A-Rod. They're a pretty good 3-4 combo.

View From The Seats

Section 332A, row 1. A StubHub special for $11. Amazing. Love the depleted secondary market.

Good game for the Yanks. Beat up a AAAA squad. Why do they still bring in Chris Ray against the Yankees. They murder him (though it wasn't all his fault this time).

Was a little scared for a while when they weren't doing anything against a pitcher they hadn't seen before (surprise, surprise). But they broke it open with another blast from Tex and A-Rod. Those two like hitting together. Good to see Bruney back too. Looked good out there.

7 game winning streak. Boy that feels good.

-Andrew

Letting Jack Go

I have to come right off and say I was a tremendous fan of the first hour of last night's two hour finale of 24 and couldn't stand the second hour. Kiefer Sutherland promised the "most dramatic 24 finale ever" and, well, it was a lot of drama. I always thought that 24 was miscast as a "drama". It was an action show. It was an intense show. The times when this show usually got the worse was in its dramatic scenes. There are clear exceptions--when President Palmer signed off on Jack's death in Season 2 with Nina pointing a gun at him, when Jack had to deal with Season 3's emotional weight at the end, or when Jack has felt betrayed by those close to him, to name three--bust most times, this show has sucked the life out of it by slowing it down and talking.

The show got probably got rid of one of its best characters of the season in Olivia Taylor. Trying to get back to the David Palmer mold of Presidents, Allison Taylor needed to tell the truth about her daughter (harking back to Season One's amazingly annoying plot of Keith Palmer's murderous ways). Olivia brought back the Sherry Palmer vibe in a big way. I thought she could have been an asset to the show next season. And she still may be. But how they ended things, I highly doubt that (unless it's to sabotage her mother's administration).

Kim Bauer's plot was...interesting. She almost got kidnapped again. She fought back. She set herself on fire. But she managed to stay out of cougar traps this time which is good. The odd part is she was very willing to get on a plane and let her father die. But then she finally found some duty to not only follow this guy who tried to kill her (which didn't look like it was going to end well), daringly retrieve his laptop from a burning car, and find the location of her father...but then also to go through the potentially harmful procedure to save him (?). I have a feeling that she may be back for Season 8. Despite some weirdness, she made a good return to 24 unlike her Season 5 reunion with her dad.

The show also brought out its inner Lost as the end of the season was very, very ambiguous. Did Freckles end up torturing Alan Wilson? Did she learn anything while doing so? Did she get in trouble? Is she still a part of the FBI? What happened to Tony? Did Olivia go to jail? Did Henry Taylor forgive his wife? Did Kim get hurt by the stem cell procedure? Did Kim find a way to get kidnapped again? Did Jack convert to Islam? Did the stem cell treatment work on Jack?

The last answer is of course it did, as one of the lamest in a long line of lame ways to bring Jack back to life. They've injected him with adrenaline, restarted his heart, etc. But this whole stem cell thing is way out there. Not that I don't think stem cell treatments are effective or that I don't support stem cells. But, please, this is a weaponized version of a bioweapon that they know very little about but they do know stem cells may work...? I dunno. Seems a bit much for me. There was no miracle cure (I have expected after he finished praying with Muhtadi Gohar he would be miraculously cured), but this was as close as you can get to it. And all after Jack instructed no one to save him. I'm sure Jack will be PISSED when he wakes up (Kim better tell Jack about that granddaughter)!

One semi-satisfying thing: it was good to finally meet the guy at the top of the food chain (if he is really that person). According to my calculations (thank you 24 Wiki for some help), here's how the chain went: Chloe was sleeping with Spenser Wolff who was a mole (albeit an unknowing one). Spenser was working for Walt Cummings who was Charles Logan's head of security. Walt Cummings was working for former CTU agent, Christopher Henderson (and James Nathanson). Christopher Henderson was in turn working for President Charles Logan. Charles Logan was working for the "Bluetooth Gang" headed by Jack's brother, Graem Bauer (and also involving Jack's father, Phillip Bauer and some dude named Darren McCarthy). Then this season, we had Tony Almeida was working for David Emerson who was working for Michael Latham who was working for Iké Dubaku who was working for Benjamin Juma who was working for Jonas Hodges who was working for the Bluetooth Gang. And it seems the Bluetooth Gang's head was Alan Wilson (Ok...I'm winded). But he wasn't working alone...so there's probably more to this story next season (oh joy).

That being said, this ending was far from satisfying. We found out Tony's reasoning behind the whole thing: to get to the guy behind Michelle's murder since he also killed Tony's unborn son. But Jack's wife died with his unborn child and Jack didn't go kill thousands of people and try to kill thousands more in the name of justice (or at least not good people...only bad people). But we didn't get Tony's death which I thought we'd have by the end of the season. We didn't get some justice for the man in charge (most of the other guys on that food chain I laid out are long dead or in jail). And we had a Jack finally content on dying but his daughter was too selfish to let him go (really, that is all it comes down to with Kim).

Which is okay. We still need to have Season 8 (*well...if Kiefer is not in jail). And maybe Jack's best is yet to come. From Kiefer: "We're shooting it in New York. I can tell you that it's grounded in a political shift that's taking place in the world, and I actually think it's probably the most realistic thing we've ever done. It's going to be centered in one of the most realistic circumstances. Some of our stuff, to be fair, is kind of far-fetched. This one is actually quite possible, so that's going to be very interesting on that level."

Realism from 24? I'm not sure about that, but I am excited for the 8th and final season of a show that's kept my rapt attention for many years now. Will Jack die in the end? I don't know. But I'm not ready to let Jack go just yet either.

It's Not a Bandbox, But A Sandbox

An interesting stat from Buster Olney about the Yankee sandbox (what one player called it), AKA Coors Field East:

 

"After five homers were hit in the Yankees' win over the Twins on Monday, there have now been 63 homers in 17 games in new Yankee Stadium: 32 by the Yankees, 31 by the Yankees' opponents. Last year, the Yankees' pitchers allowed 68 for the entire season, and the Yankees' hitters mashed 92, for a total of 160. So at the current rate, there will be more homers hit in new Yankee Stadium by July 17 -- the first home game after the All-Star break -- than there were during the entire 2008 season in old Yankee Stadium."

 

Some of it is certainly due to bad pitching on both sides, but with the weather still not warm and the ball still flying out of there, I think it's official that the Yankees play in a homerun park. Not that it's the worst thing in the world. With A-Rod Back in the lineup, the Yankees will probably sport the best 1-9 in baseball once Posada returns. Imagine a 7-8-9 of Cano, Swisher and Melky.

And the one big difference is this team--unlike the team who plays in the real Coors Field--hits on the road as well. At home, according to Baseball-Reference, they're .277/.368/.863 with 91 runs and 65 XBHs (32 HRs) and at home they are .267/.337/.792 with 114 runs and 79 XBHs (27 HRs). Granted they have played 4 more games on the road, but those states are pretty similar. Add in that they've actually had a higher batting average of balls in play on the road than at home (.297 vs .287), and maybe the wind tunnel isn't the only thing that's helping the Yankees score.