Hypocrites Get To Steppin'

Hey COH fans. I've been a bit busy the last few days, so I wasn't able to stay on top of the last two Yankees contests. A few things to address. Buckle up.

Randy Johnson was dominant in shutting down the Indians. He had everything working, and while he has a lot of work to put in to salvage a bitterly disappoiting open to the 2006 season, he looks like he's got his fire back. After Posada was hit by Indians starter Jason Johnson and took offense, the Big Unit threw way inside to nemesis Eddie Perez prompting tempers to flare and ejections were issued. In my opinion, that should have been the end of it. That kind of business is part of the game, and while ejections for such encounters are a relatively new addition to the game, suspensions for pitches that didn't even hit a player are virtually unheard of. That's exactly what Torre and Johnson are dealing with now, pending appeal.

That makes me want to punch someone. The Yankees among the top 5 teams in baseball for "being hit by pitch", while they rank DEAD LAST in the pitching statistic "hit batsmen". Giambi (9), Posada(6), and Jeter(4) rank among the games most hit players in 2006. In 2005, Giambi was 4th in the Majors with 19 HBP, and A-Rod was tied for 7th at 16. In 2004, both Jeter and Miguel Cairo were tied for 6th in baseball with 14 apiece. Giambi led the AL with 21 HBP in 2003 and was 3rd in all of the Majors. How many times over the last few years have we watched guys get drilled in the hands and back by opposing pitchers, and nothing has been done to settle the score? I'm not talking about settling the score in terms of macho posturing, but rather as a way to keep other pitchers honest. If they know they have to face the powerful Yankee lineup and feel the need to intimidate our players by keeping their feet "light" in the batter's box, we're going to get beaned a bunch. It's either the result of nervous pitchers with control issues, or veteran guys trying to "alpha male" their way to a looser strikezone. If we can't buzz a couple of chins in response to the latter, we're going to keep seeing our star players wearing casts on their hands and icing bruises on their backs.

The other thing I want to say today is, "Any Yankee fan who boos Alex Rodriguez in our home park can piss off." All you're doing is showing your abject lack of knowledge about the game, your team, and civil human etiquette. Just to set things straight, I booed the hell out of Hideki Irabu after he signed his $13 million contract and proceeded to bloat his way to mediocrity. That's a guy you can boo. A guy who just helped you win the division in a tight battle with the Red Sox, broke the Yankees single-season record for homers by a righty, took home the American League's Most Valuable Player award for 2005, won the Player of the Month award for May 2006, sports a 1.117 OPS with runners in scoring position and 2 outs, and who you desperately need to play well to win the division again DOESN'T NEED TO HEAR YOUR SIMIAN VOCALIZATIONS AFTER EVERY AT BAT!

There. That feels much better. Let's go get 'em Yanks. See you tomorrow.