Dave James

Only the best of the best could challenge ownership before Curt Flood took MLB to court over the reserve clause. Reading about how the owners negotiated back in the '40's and '50's makes your hair stand on end. Everything was done on a year to year basis and players were paid solely on a "what have you done for me lately" basis. Even when a guy had a good year, the owners still found ways to put the wood to the players. That's why very solid and serviceable players like Gino Cimoli wound up driving a UPS trucks after they retired. When the Yankees finally ended up breaking the $100,000 a year barrier for Mickey Mantle, most of baseball thought the world as they knew it had ended.

I've been a Yankee fan since I was six years old. That was 1954. In that time I've seen a lot of thick and just as much thin, but I've never wavered for a second when it came to my commitment. For all intents and purposes, I was born a Yankee fan and I'm sure as hell going to die one too. Here's the only question you have to answer for yourself. If you owned the Yankees and the baseball rules, as stupid as they might be, allowed you to spend whatever amount you wanted to bring a winning team to your city and to your fans, would you not spend it? If you can honestly answer "no", and putting any pathologically based hatred of the evil empire aside, please tell me why.

Noj, Thanks. Frankly, I'm already over it. It was apparent when the Yanks began their season ending swoon that they weren't ready for prime time. I resigned myself to their losing long before they ran into Texas. Congrats to the Rangers and their fans. It's been a long time coming. Wish I could find it within myself to root for another team, but I really can't. If you sliced open my arm the second layer of skin would be pinstriped.

Not to worry, the Yankees are taking care of that as we speak. Why would you bring it that punching bag Robertson when he's been lit up every time you give him the ball? Time to fire Girardi and bring in Bobby Valentine. This team needs an ass kicker.

Nice to see Phil Hughes pitching down to his normal level of post-season incompetence. Gets ahead of Andrus 1-2 and then gives up double. How many times in this series has he had two srtikes on a batter and then given up a hit? I will never understand why Girardi didn't go with Pettitte in Game 2. All he's done in his career is set the record for most post-season wins ever.

What I'd give for a rain out. Pettitte could pitch tomorrow and Sabbathia on Sunday. Unfortunately, Bud and MLB wouldn't call this game if you needed a rowboat to get to the mound.

They could issue it with a particulate respirator. How cool would that be?

Hopefully, with a metal spine. I know there are people out there who would buy a CD of Miles farting in his bathtub but I'm pretty sure I already have everything of his I'm ever going to need.

My take on Cliff Lee. If he's a Yankee, you go to the World Series next week. If he's not, you go home this week. Dan, I wish I shared your enthusiasm for a comeback, but New York bats are so quiet that even with some decent pitching, I can't see it happening. As a group, they are hitting just .188 in the ALCS. The fact of the matter is, this is an aging ballclub with marginal pitching that is getting zero production from Texiera (.000) and Rodriguez (.154). These are the guys who make huge money and, at least in theory, are supposed to be doing the heavy lifting this time of the year. As much as i'd like it to be otherwise, I'm afraid the Yanks have left the building.

Here's some interesting information from ESPN - New York about how close the Yankees came to getting Cliff Lee: Last, it means that Eduardo Nunez and Ivan Nova better be good, because those are the guys that Cashman refused to part with (he needed to include one of them) to get Lee in the package that was headed by Jesus Montero. The Yankees were willing to do a deal with Montero as the lead guy, but Seattle kept asking for better second and third prospects. Wow! If The Boss was still around and even marginally functional, Brian Cashman would be running for his life.

ESPN says the Yanks have decided to stick with Burnett in Game 4. Frankly, I'm not sure how you make that call before you know the results of Game 3, but I guess they know what they're doing.

I'll go on record right now. If the Yankees drop tomorrow night's game, they will lose the series. For one, a loss will make Cliff Lee seem even more unbeatable than he already does and New York will need to deal with the prospect of seeing him one more time in the ALCS. Second, A.J. Burnett, a.k.a. the human superfund site, will have so much pressure on him that he'll be baked by the third inning on Tuesday night. That would put the Yanks down 3-1 and it will be all over but the shouting. As I said in an earlier post, they will rue the day they were unable to land Cliff Lee. One other unrelated thought. The networks must be cringing at the thought of a Texas San Francisco World Series.

In my world, Leave It To Beaver, along with Ozzie and Harriet, define the '50's. Even now, 50 years down the road, I still watch it whenever it's on TV. By all accounts Billingsley was the classiest of ladies. And let's not overlook the fact that she's one of the few white people who could speak coherent jive. Just ask those two brothers she helped out in the movie, Airplane. R.I.P.

Best line I've heard describing tonight's game: "NY stuns Texas: You could've heard a 'pen' drop."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy7y8dmmfX4

The Mariners will announce shortly that they have located the body of Eric Wedge and will be hiring him to manage in Seattle. In his seven seasons with the Cleveland Indians, Wedge went 561-571. As near as I can tell, the only upside to this is that he won't have to get used to losing. If I was an M's fan, I think I'd be considering my alternatives.

Under my current plan, I get 50 downloads for $19.99. Under the "new" plan, including what they call a "loyalty bonus" of $3.00, I will have a $22.99 to "spend" each month. If I stick solely to the $.49 tracks (what they describe as most of the music currently in their catalog) I will get 47 downloads. Once you move out of the lowest price level of $.49 per track, you will start to lose out pretty quickly relative to the old DL/pricing structure. I'm going to see how this works for a month or so and then decide if I want to stay. RIght now, I'm leaning towards cancellation. Sure, I'll miss the once a month fun of choosing, downloading and listening to new music, but it's nothing I can't learn to live with. I've been with eMusic long enough to recall getting 90 downloads for $19.99 a month, so this isn't nearly as big a hit as it was when the lopped off almost 45% of my available DL's without an accompanying price reduction. At some point you have to draw the line when they start messing around. I can guarantee you they've done the math and this new approach is going to make them more money, i.e. they're not making these changes with you in mind.

Selig was a used car salesman, is a used car salesman and always will be a used car salesman. Where are the Bart Giamattis and the Fay Vincents when we need them?

Here's what the e-mail from eMusic says about the new additions to their catalog: eMusic’s mission has always been to provide our members with a deep and broad selection of music at the best possible value. So we’re thrilled to announce that this November we will be adding more than 250,000 tracks to eMusic! The additions include classic hip-hop albums on the Def Jam label; groundbreaking, forward-thinking rock music on Geffen and Interscope; giants of jazz on the Verve and ECM labels; a wealth of classical music from the standard bearers Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Records; hard-hitting alt-country on Lost Highway; timeless R&B from the Motown label, and much, much more! It will be the single largest catalog addition to eMusic by far, and it comes thanks to a recent agreement with Universal Music Group.

Classy move by the Giants to interrupt their on-field post-game celebration to acknowledge Bobby Cox. Let the LCS's begin.

Agree that the four man rotation is the way to go. Who knows, maybe the A.J. we've seen a couple of times this year might actually show up. I'm not holding my breath, but you never know. It's not like he doesn't have the tools. With respect to the NLCS and the World Series, If the Phils keep winning and Cole Hamels continues to throw like he has of late and you combine him with Halladay and Oswalt, that will be a steep hill for anyone to climb.

While I was reading the NYT mini-review of the Threadgill box, I noticed that one of the compositions the reviewer mentions is "Luap Nosebor". That's Paul Robeson spelled backwards. Having never heard the piece, I have no idea of the significance.

When the diamond gods spin the wheel of fortune, there's no telling upon whose head the goat horns will land. Baseball's history is littered with the unlucky, all the way from Fred Lindstrom to Bill Buckner to Brooks Conrad.

I'm only speculating, but if this was set up to be a cutting contest, then there's supposed to be a winner.

What do you do if you are in a room with Hitler, Stalin and Kenny G and you have a gun but only two bullets? You shoot Kenny G twice.