The New York Chronicles Part I: Delayed World Series celebration from annoying Yankees fan.
(Elevation note- This article was originally written back in November. Joel took a month to get it to me following his jail stint for punching a horse in the jaw at the Yankees’ World Series parade. Since he wrote this, they have traded for Curtis Granderson in CF & Matusi signed with Los Angeles Angels.
Joel rodriguez will be performing January 12th at the Eastville Comedy Club. I implore all of you to go and throw eggs at him.)
I know I took a little while. It has been a couple of months since the Yankees clinched number 27. I know I came off a little annoying the last time bragging about my team and predicting a World Series victory in five games and going on and on. Well, just in case you guys got over baseball…… BAM!!!! Number 27 is here. Excuse me while I do my Ric Flair strut once again. This time I am gonna double up by doing that Alex Wright techno dance before every match. The Phils gave us a little bit of a scare winning game 1 but after we realized Cliff Lee can’t pitch every game we relaxed a bit. Now on to the next season, where the Yanks have plenty of work to do.
For some reason, A-Rod decides to show his appreciation to Diamond Dallas Page by doing a Diamond Cutter at a World Series parade.
There are a few guys whose contracts expire this offseason. There is a lot of debate as to whether they resign Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, both or neither. My vote would be on neither of them. If you resign Matsui, Posada would have to go back to catching full time. While that would make for great comedy and if he played his cards right he could parlay that into a sitcom, I am not with that. Posada can still contribute at the plate, the man can hit. We also have more than enough offense to make up for Jose Molina (also a free agent) playing more often. If you aren’t cool with that Molina catching every day, his brother Bengie is also a free agent. He is used to playing every day and is a better hitter than his bro. Then again, you and I can give Jose a run for his money.
Another problem that may arise with Molina playing every day is he could turn out to be the new Glenn Foley. Foley was the backup QB for the jets in the late 90s who took over a few times for Neil O’Donnell and played pretty well. All of a sudden, Foley was the new Namath. The fans called for him during Jets games that were not going so well and went bananas when he came in. He eventually became the starter, and everyone realized why he was the backup in the first place. He eventually was replaced by Vinny Testaverde. Molina has been a backup his whole career. Everyone loves the Glenn Foleys and the Herb Williams of the world. And although I think Herb Williams would smack Jared Jeffries around one on one, there is a reason why those guys were backups and didn’t play. Molina is in that category.
Johnny Damon would make more sense to resign because he can still play left field a little bit and he can still run and the midget porch in right field has helped his power numbers. His play in left is average at best, sometimes he looks surprised he actually caught the ball. You can also add that 3rd base coaches everywhere straight disrespect him by sending everyone home on a ball hit his way. Jason Bay, Matt Holliday and Marlon Byrd are better outfielders and ball players in my opinion. The Yankees would be better served to go after one of those guys instead. The whole outfield could use an upgrade actually. Swisher and Melky are better served as extra outfielders.
Johnny Damon chasing a ball in left field.
Andy will be resigned because of his stellar 5 and two thirds of an inning playoff games. Anyone who knows me knows I am not the biggest Petitte fan in the world but the guy gets the job done. Joba proved he is a reliever and is much more comfortable as a reliever and Hughes may be the bait for Roy Halladay, who is expected to be on the trading block again. Hot stove season is an exciting time. Let’s see what happens with the Yanks.
Sorry Joel, Roy Halladay decided to latch on to a classier franchise than the Yankees.
The Mets will get some attention in this column as well. These guys need to make a big move. If Omar Minaya still believes that the nucleus of Beltran, Delgado and Jose Reyes are good enough to win he needs to be fired. It is understandable if he does not find a first baseman this offseason because there aren’t any out there to get unless someone goes on the block. There are still ways to improve that team. Jeff Francouer was a good move and he is their right fielder. Left Field is a spot where they desperately need an upgrade. The same guys I just mentioned for the Yanks are the same guys the Mets should go after.
What are they waiting for? There is no one in that farm system that is going to help them right away. They have a good amount of veterans that are ready to win right now and their window of opportunity is slimmer than an extra on Gossip Girl. These guys have to make a splash. Get rid of Luis Castillo for whatever you get for him and get Orlando Hudson. John Lackey is available for the taking, even though the Brewers seem to be making a big push for him as well as the champs (couldn’t help myself). He will most likely want AJ Burnett type money. The guy would be the perfect fit as the number 2 behind Johan Santana. One thing that would bother me is Anaheim doesn’t have great starting pitching. Why are they so willing to let the guy walk? He does have a history of injuries and maybe they know something no one else knows. Either way he is worth the risk for the Mets.
The Knicks have 2 wins. One win was against the Hornets and a wild comeback victory against the Pacers a few nights ago. The victory against the Hornets probably got former Nets coach Byron Scott fired. That exit interview must have been entertaining. Scott pleading for his job saying he tok them to the playoffs two years in a row and the GM saying nothing but “Dude, you lost to the Knicks” as his reasoning for letting him go. Jim O’ Brien better watch his back. There was also chatter all week about Allen Iverson possibly joining the Knicks. Garden CEO James Dolan had some reservations about acquiring the former scoring champ and not much else. Dolan likes high character guys on his team. Apparently he likes high character guys on the court to balance out the front office clowns who were found guilty on sexual harassment charges and his own substance abuse issues. He has since kicked that habit, but that is some really stupid logic. You are 2 and 9. You have a bunch of guys who look like they have no clue what they are doing or can’t wait for the season to end so they can get outta there. Why not sign him?
He would give you points, which isn’t exactly as easy to come by even though their system is shooter friendly. He is what Nate Robinson strives to be like yet will never ever achieve that level. Why not get the real thing? For at least a couple of weeks you will have some buzz in the garden that has nothing to do with the circus or Yo Gabba Gabba. And he plays hard every time. He may be an idiot on the court sometimes with his decisions but he plays hard. Can’t say that about every guy on your team. I am in no way a fan of Iverson but that was a bad move not signing him.
The Rangers have gone from possible dark horse in the eastern conference to tied with the Islanders for last place in their division. It is a very competitive division however. The Rangers are still a playoff team and if they are in last in their division then that division is pretty tough. They still need to pick it up a little. There is a some talent on that team and they should be performing a bit better than what they have been.
The Jets and the Giants seemed to be joined at the hip. When they win they win together and they lose the same as well. The Jets are not as good as Rex Ryan thought. Kris Jenkins is the most important guy on that team and losing him for the season has hurt them considerably. They can run the ball very well but I just do not trust Sanchez to win a game for you in the 4th quarter with under two minutes. Which is why I thought it was really stupid what Maurice Jones Drew did taking that knee. For one, you still must run a few more snaps and anything can occur. You need a good snap to kick the field a good hold and a good kick. They got away with it, but I think that was dumber than Belichik going for it on fourth down that same night. May be in the minority there.
The Jets face the Pats this week, and I expect the Pats to officially finish off the Jets playoff hopes. Not because the pats will be foaming at the mouth to defend their coach or anything like that. Psychology in sports is overrated. Keep in mind this is the same coach who got rid of Deion Branch, Lawyer Milloy, Asante Samuel and Ty Law while they were still good players. I just think the Pats are a much better team and are also much better than they were in week 2 when they lost to the Jets.
After the Giants lost their Super Bowl to the Chargers they get a consolation game against the Atlanta Falcons. The Giants defense improved during the game against the Chargers and should have an easier time against a banged up Falcons squad. If the Giants are to show any signs of them being a championship team they must win this week. They got a break with Philly and Dallas losing last week and letting them back in the swing of things. Time to capitalize on it. Give the ball to Brandon Jacobs and watch him work. And thank God CC Brown isn’t starting anymore. That guy sucks. He looks like an extra ref back there sometimes. He is always near no one on big plays.
St. Johns has started their basketball season. Does anyone remember the last time this program mattered? They have fallen on hard times for sure. This is a very storied program. They have the 7th most victories in all of college ball. Mike Jarvis just screwed them with all those scandals. He was the blueprint for Isiah Thomas. That and the University of Pittsburgh seems to be doing a great job at taking the city players. It is sad college sports isn’t booming here. We do not have a college football team to root for, so we are forced to call Notre Dame our home team. The Johnnies aren’t making any headlines anytime soon and Syracuse is too far for most of us to care about (huge cuse fan here). St. Johns needs an upset. They need to walk into a big time programs house and beat them. Even if they don’t do much else for the rest of the season that would be a good start. They also have what many believe is a really good coach and basketball man in Norm Roberts. As long as they don’t beat the Orange I’m cool.
Last Monday the WWE brought their show to the Garden. There was a montage about all the great moments they had here at the Worlds Most Famous Arena for lottery teams and it was set to Jay-Zs Empire State of Mind record. I just wanna go on record and say if I hear that song one more team for anything New York sports related I am taking hostages. This also goes for those of you who like to say “Who Does That?” right after you find out or sometimes SAY IT YOURSELF who is doing it, and athletes who say he left it all out on the field/court(that’s nasty), he gave 110 percent (who was the math wiz who said that first?) and we gotta take it one game at a time (no effing kidding). We need new clichés. Fast.
Elevation Note- this video was actually pretty awesome.
Thanks once again for reading this. I love writing for this site then reading my work over and over again. Hope I wasn’t as annoying to all you Yankee haters this time. Have a happy Thanksgiving and remember: Black Friday is the reason for the season. Later
lordelevation
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The New York Chronicles Part… | The Gers Info said this on December 19, 2009 at 4:57 pm