The headline says it all.
Some quickies:
- The controversy surrounding A-Rod is 100 percent acceptable. It doesn’t matter if he shouted “mine!” or “hah!” It’s specifically against the rules. There is a rule in baseball (I have to run, otherwise I’d hunt it down and cite it) that states you cannot attempt to deceive someone into not making a play. That can be interference. And by the way, I used this tactic all the time in my playing days. The difference? He got caught.
- Jason Giambi is out for three weeks. Considering he’s slated to return when the Yankees visit NL ballparks, it’s more like a month. Good news for the Sox, bad news for a Yankee team that couldn’t take anymore bad news.
- Runelvys Hernandez, who had a 3.06 ERA in seven starts for Triple-A Pawtucket, opted out of his contract today. Not a surprise, as the 26-year old was enjoying a bounceback season and was not going to get a shot in Boston. He should land with a team with rotation issues, such as the Cardinals or Nationals. Best of luck to Hernandez, but Royals fans will forever hate him.
- Some AL east news around the network:
Do you remember when the Red Sox fans were not loved by the owners? That was what it was like back in the John Harrington/Dan Duquette regime. I got a not so pleasant reminder of how it used to be today with this news: Owner Peter Angelos is in a petty war with a radio station. The war is so petty that this radio station, which was supporting news that the city ‘Baltimore’ was to be placed back on away jerseys for 2008, now is reporting that Angelos is yanking this change just because the radio station is supporting it. Wow. I honestly feel bad for Orioles fans. They don’t deserve this.
Amid news that Brian Cashman could be held accountable for the Yankees’ season so far, The Bronx Block’s Mitchell Plitnick asks the question: SHOULD Cashman be accountable?
Japanese import Akinori Iwamura is back in the lineup for the Devil Rays, having missed significant time due to injury. Does anyone realize we haven’t played the Devil Rays yet? Wow. The first time ALL YEAR we play the D-Rays comes July 3rd. This means we’ll be seeing a lot of them over the last three months. Kill me now.
The team that A-Rod pulled the bush league play against was none other than the Toronto Blue Jays. The take of a Jays fan is here, as is his concern that manager John Gibbons is not doing a good job managing the pen.