Grumble

Okay. I'm going to complain a little today. I feel generally optimistic about the Yankees most of the time, or at least I try to, but today I feel like bitching. I will never boo A-Rod, and I'm willing to forgive Torre his various idiosyncrasies. I get pissed when an overrated and overused Scott Proctor makes a mess of things, just like Sturtze before him. You may read an occasional post on this subject. Still, I try to remember that the season is long and the Yankees Pythagorean Win number is 4th in all of baseball. Still, I'm going to bitch.

1. Miguel Cairo has played in a total of 967 games over his career. That's basically 6 full 162 games seasons, give or take a head cold or two. In that time he sports a stupifying .269/.317/.362 line, which pans out to a .679 OPS. Tony Womack, who has been ridden out of more than one town on a rail has a career line of .273/.317/.356 with a .673 OPS. See my point. Why on God's Green Earth would you turn over an everyday American League position to a guy this bad? It may only be for 2 weeks, but that's 13 days too long. On a team with a payroll hovering around $200 million, how is this guy our best bench option in the infield? Nick Green isn't a good answer either. His career numbers at A ball total up to a .765 OPS. At AA he posted a career .744 OPS. At AAA he was .732, while he has done little more in the Majors at .655 in 621 ABs.

2. Who the F is Kyle Farnsworth to get all huffy with Jorge Posada? All year long his Gameday pitching chart has looked like Dick Cheney's target practice bullseye, and he's given up 10 hits and 5 runs in his last 6.1 innings of work. Yeah, he's struck out 8 batters in that time, but maybe taking a little something off your pitches every once in a while would help to keep the ball on the ground a bit. He's got a 0.41 GO/AO ratio. With a 5-ish ERA and a whole lot of attitude maybe he needs a meeting with Mr. Left and Mr. Right. I'm just about sick of him already.

3. Roger Clemens signed with the Astros. At the time they were like 400 games out and had the 20-somethingth ranked offense in baseball. Whatever. His choice. It stings to watch him open the year with two good outings, giving up 9 hits and 3 earned runs over 11.1 innings, and get two losses. He has a 2.38 ERA and a 1.147 WHIP and he's 0-2 on a team in 4th place, 5 games out of 1st, 2 games under .500, and 20th in runs scored. The Astros have scored a total of zero runs while Clemens has been the pitcher of record. What an F-ing waste.

4. I've defended A-Rod enough at Canyon of Heroes that I think I can level a little criticism his way too. I won't kill him for any phantasmic anti-clutch crap, or for failing to live up to what people think he should be. I will only criticize him for being a bit of a pussy. Excuse the terminology, but it fits. C'mon A-Rod. Stop hiding behind the "thinking too much" or "pressing" excuses. It's just as bad as people cheering for Posednik, Eckstein, and Edmonds for being "gritty", "heady", or "mentally tough". You're not "thinking too much" and you're not "pressing". You're "not hitting" and "not driving in runs". It happens. The shit gets in your head when you start to listen to the idiot "know-it-alls" who tell you to "stop pressing" and that you need to "stop thinking and just hit the ball". Relax. You're a Hall of Famer in the making and the reigning AL MVP. Trust yourself and "just hit the damn ball".

That's it for today. We're going to win tomorrow. I guarantee it. Go Yanks.