so must admit the boys on baseball tonight had me quite worried when my boy derek went down early. who's gonna pick it up? well i must say its been a wonderful team effort hasnt it. i cant wait until we go play in boston to see how real we really are. isnt matsui just grand, and although pettite got a bit roughed up hes lookin good too. it may be yanks k. c in the championship series. look me up in october. ill be one of the fellas with the huge . have a good day boys.

I agree... except I think we are going to beat Oakland, not Kansas City in the ALCS. Whomever wants to be the sacrificial lamb to the Yankees doesn't really matter to me until October. They are still dominating without Jeter, or more importantly, Rivera. Other teams like the Boston Red Sucks, New York Mutts, Diamondbacks, Rangers, and Braves spend tons of money, too. But the truth is that these other teams just can't get it done. Thus, the only green that these other teams will get back in the end of the season is the typical envy that they laughingly exhibit each year towards the greatest organization ever. GO YANKS!

cattledog, if ya ever get to san fran, id love to check out a yankee game with a true fan.

Of course they don't skip a beat, they just buy whatever they need.
I heard today on the radio that they have more money invested in minor leaguers (52MM in Henson and Contreras) then some major league rosters.

Josh

Buy, Buy, Buy...that's all we hear--this is a good article that talks about it -- and not written by a NY paper!
----------------

Talent, not money, keeps Yankees hot
Terence Moore - Staff
Friday, April 18, 2003
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/ep...1e213600ac.html


They are doing it again. Yes, the New York Yankees are spending another April sprinting toward the middle of October. They are following the storied path of their forefathers named Lou, Joltin' Joe, Yogi, Whitey, Mickey, Billy, Reggie, Thurman and those in between.

Hear that sound? It's whining coming from the slew of Yankee bashers out there. They already have sore throats from screaming early and often this season about anything in pinstripes, mostly because of jealousy, partly because of ignorance.

Definitely ignorance.

Here is one of those Big Lies that ranks somewhere between "the check's in the mail" and "the dog ate my homework": The Yankees win because of money, money and more money.

The truth is that the Yankees win because of talent, talent and more talent. That applies to the front office as well as the field.

In other words, sorry to burst your bubble the size of Babe Ruth's tummy, especially if you're commissioner Bud Selig, an owner other than George Steinbrenner or anybody else who would like to take a Louisville Slugger to the Yankees' dominance for the wrong reasons.

After Thursday's 4-0 shutout of the visiting Toronto Blue Jays, the Yankees are 12-3. They lead the American League East. Again. They've taken the division five times in a row and seven out of the past nine years. They've prospered despite losing super closer Mariano Rivera and all-everything Derek Jeter, both out with injuries. They'll eventually return to the Yankees, and so will the whining.

And, yes, we'll admit that Steinbrenner's jumbo pockets help acquire that talent among his players and executives. Just the other day, Forbes magazine said the Yankees are worth more than twice as much as 26 of the 29 other teams in the majors. Not only that, the Yankees' payroll is slightly less than the cost of the U.S. war in Iraq.

Still, this is why folks get out of control with their Yankee bashing: It isn't about having the cash to spend. It is about how you spend whatever cash you have, and how you do so consistently.

Not even the Yankees purchased guys at a higher rate than the Baltimore Orioles of Cal Ripken Jr., Roberto Alomar, Rafael Palmeiro, Mike Mussina and Brady Anderson. It didn't matter. Despite the game's top payroll in 1998, those Orioles finished fourth in the AL East.

Since then, the New York Mets, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers have been mighty spenders.

They've also been mighty busts.

The Yankees once were such a team under Steinbrenner. In fact, they've earned that distinction throughout the three decades in which he has owned the franchise --- except for the latter 1970s and for the mid-1990s to the present. All of those other seasons, he ignored his baseball minds, rolled up his sleeves and tinkered with everything.

Now Steinbrenner hires the best baseball minds he can find and mostly gets out of the way.

The results? Productive free agents and trades that make a difference. Then you have this: Alfonso Soriano, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams, Nick Johnson, Rivera and Jeter. They are among the key Yankees during the continuation of their run that has produced four world championships since 1996. They all are products of the Yankees' farm system.

The Braves can relate. During the early part of their ongoing streak of 11 consecutive trips to the postseason, they used original Braves such as David Justice, Mark Lemke, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, Ron Gant, Pete Smith, Mark Wohlers and Mike Stanton. That streak has continued with those from the Braves' farm system such as Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Rafael Furcal, Javy Lopez, Marcus Giles and Jason Marquis.

One difference between the Braves and the Yankees, though:

Those world championships.

A Mets fan whining about Yankees spending just sounds like sour grapes to me. Sorry but the Mets spend a shitload of money on washed up has-beens or never-weres like Burnitz, Vaughn, Alomar, Benitez, Cedeno, Bell.

Yo man
Better to buy what you need than buy what you DON'T need, like our Met friends in Queens. All that money spent, all those bad decisions. Be a Met fan, but at least admit there have been some REALLY bad business/talent decisions made over there.

If the Yankees were spending tons of dough on players who don't make the cut, I'd see your point. But as it stands you don't have one--a point, that is. wink

Mark, if you ever make it to the DC area, I would love for you to see the Yanks play at Camden Yards in Baltimore. There are more Yankee fans there than O's fans! The Baltimore fans get so angry because they are drowned out by the yells of "LET'S GO YANKEES!".

Regarding YankeeFan's comments... AMEN!!! I couldn't have said it any better!

Do you ever get the feeling that Mutts and Red Sucks fans think about us more than we think about them?

:cool:

The thing with a team that always has more money is that they can afford to make mistakes. Teams like the Yankees and Mets can spend and spend, and if they make mistakes it doesn't matter because they can keep right on spending. Other teams can make one free-agent signing and if the guy is a bust, your team is ruined until you can somehow remove him from your payroll (example: when the Phillies signed Greg Jefferies).

For all you Yankee lovers out there, the NY Daily News has compiled a list of 100 Classic Yankee Moments.

Who's gonna go with me to a Yanks game???

Oh and BTW, Piazza just HAD to reiterate that he is NOT gay, again today in the NY Daily News.

Dearie, just say nothing!

cattledog, thats a deal. anybody in baseball land watch my boys , whats the word... THRASH the minnesota twinks today. whats that 8 in a row over those guys with an average runs per game of say 17, 18 per . geez, i know its a long season, but this may get ugly quick.

That's because they're blind, along with the rest of the mainstream media, to the truth that Jeter's about the 5th-best position player on the team, and probably the worst defensive SS in the AL.

The Yankees DO have advantages in signing top-drawer foreign talent (eg Matsui) and superstar free agents (Giambi, Mussina) over other high-payroll franchises: history, "aura," front-runnerism, and all that shit. Power to the People, down with the Bronx's Evil Empire!

I guess I was misinterpreting the word "gay" in Mikey's remarks.

I thought that when Piazza says he is not "gay", he is really saying that he is not "happy and jolly" because he plays for a bunch of losers like the Mets!

...Oh, by the way, YANKEES 15, TWINS 1. GO YANKS!

17-3 record.
14-0 starters record--best since 1900.
Bernie Williams batting .377, Alfonso Soriano batting .373 with 6 homers.
Erick Almonte is no Derek Jeter but he's damned cute.

Now, WHY is that psycho George Steinbrenner trying to totally alienate his outstanding manager, Joe Torre?

Can we SEND Steinbrenner over to Iraq???

Bill, I'm usually with you, but really, who cares if Jeter's the 5th best position player on the team--he surely isn't worse than Giambi (you're kidding); and Ventura; and that handsome layabout Mondesi. Jeter is a consistent hitter, baserunner and solid enough fielder. No, he's no Alex Rodriguez in terms of hitting, and there are better fielders, but he's been a key cog in the Yankees' success over the last six years. Derek, get better quickly! When he comes back, Almonte should go to third--gotta keep his sexy behind in those games.

Well Fantomas, how "bad" is Giambi? I'd say slugging .600 and having a .430+ on-base every year makes him one of the 4 or 5 top run-makers in baseball, and that's WHAT WINS THE MOST GAMES. The Yankees would be in much deeper doo-doo losing JG for months than Jeter. Bernie, Soriano, and Posada are now more valuable than the "cog" too, and it appears Matsui might be...

We'll see if the Yankees are really *this* good (ie, 1998 vintage or better) when they play the West Coast teams. If the starting rotation stays healthy, I think they could be.

Anaheim Angels remind of the Nena "99 Luftballoons" hit in the '80's. ONE HIT WONDER!

GO YANKS!

8-3 in the first west coast test. i cant wait until my boys come on up to oaktown. ill be sitting somewhere behind the yankess dugout with the huge ny contingent.

Come with me, my huzzie, and some friends to the 4/29 game against Seattle. It's my birthday, and we're "splurging" on right field bleacher seats.

That goes for you too, CatcherinNY.

Bill W., didn't you specifically say "position player," not hitter? Sheesh...please read responses before you fire off. I did NOT say Giambi wasn't a good hitter or not valuable, I just said that as position players go, Jeter certainly is better than him, Ventura and Mondesi to name three.

Also, right now Giambi is batting .197 with a slugging average around .360 and 4 homers. Not that valuable at all--Williams and Soriano, along with the pitching staff, are accounting for the Yankees' wins.

[ April 23, 2003, 01:31 PM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

OK, I thought there was a possibility you were talking about defense only; I wasn't. By "position player" I just meant "non-pitcher." (Which is also my way of saying if you include Clemens and Mussina, Derek is the Yanks' 7th-best player!)

Giambi and Jeter are both below average gloves, but since you know JG is an awesome hitter (and I think you also know 3 weeks of stats mean very little) he's still more vital... cuz defense is just NOT as crucial to a player's total package in baseball, unless he's Dick Stuart Awful... Giambi is very likely to get MVP votes this November, Jeter isn't.

If Jeter's out till mid-May, maybe not, but I'll say this: the man has played a central role in each of the Yankees' World Series wins since 1996. He plays very hard, he gives it his all, despite what Fatbrenner says, and is a valuable member of the team. Notice that it was JETER who got the first hit of the season and was playing hard when that doofus tore his arm up. Giambi's still a new quantity with the Yankees. As I said, the pitchers, that hot lean Soriano, Bernie Williams, and lazyfus Mondesi, are the reasons the Yankees are just tearing through the league right now.

The Yank$$$ will go on a losing streak when they face the M's and the A's! Yankee fans take the easy road by pulling for an *All Star* team. How f**king boring is that??

I'd love to come FeverDog.
Why single me out? Did I say something I shouldn't have??? wink

Why not single you out? Don't you want to feel special? Maybe I just dig catchers in New York...

Seriously, would you like to join our little group? There's five or six of us going on Tuesday (did I mention it's my birthday?), and the huzzie and I would love to meet another Yankee fan in the area. Besides, Clemens is scheduled to start, and I'd like someone to talk to while Huz is drooling over his Rocket-fueled fantasies...

Wow, Andy Petitte actually lost a game last night. These things happen every once in awhile to the Yankees. The Boston Red Sucks got shelled 16-5 in the afternoon, so no harm was done. My parents (who live in Austin) are driving up to Arlington to catch the Yankees Saturday game with the Texas Rangers. This is the time I should be visiting my parents!

im wondering where the anger in mike t is coming from? i dont see any reason why youve got to use the f word. we're only talking baseball buddy. relax man. take a pill. just cuz san jose doesn't have a squad at all, unless you want to consider the one year wonders of the sharks??? oh or the san jose quakes????? now i see where your anger stems from. get help quickly. or you'll burst. wink

uh oh! I see more F-words flying your way dude!

Oh sorry, I guess I was getting out of control; thanks for the reminder to take my pill, I feel like a new man now! Suddenly, I feel great love for the Yankees and think they finally deserve to win the world series, I mean, it's been a couple of years now(how unfair is that for the yanks?). After all, Isn't baseball only about pleasing Steinbrenner? From this point on, I hate ALL other teams except the Yankees: f**k the other teams! Only the Yank$ deserve victory. Uh oh, am I in trouble with the morality police again?

Let's all send Mike T some kisses. He's so bitter he could use some sugar. wink

hugs to mike T.!

don't mind those arrogant schmucks.

Anyway, back to baseball... I thought that the pitching was brilliant last night. After the TX Rangers (whom by the way spend tons of money, too) were on fire the day before (16 runs!) against the Boston Red Sucks (whom, by the way, spend tons of money, too), I was a little concerned due to a shaking NY outing on Thursday. However, it was a strong starting effort. More importantly, the bullpen held up! Mussina could be looking a Cy Young Award this year.
GO YANKS!

And how about that catch of the foul ball by Robin Ventura!!! Standing on the tarp and falling into the crowd. Great catch!

Um no Ive been a Yankees fan since childhood, which meant having to deal with them being sucky in the 1980s. Then again, the Mariners and A's have always been sucky and still havent gotten over that hump :-)

I think we should just give the yanks their rings right now and get it over with! There's no need to play baseball anymore this year. The yankees are the ultimate champs, and steinbrenner is king!!! I love the yanks so much that I'm going to buy a NYY cap (I hope that nobody confuses me as a hip-hopper though!)

BTW, hugs n' kisses to Munson Man and Andre29, You know how to help someone through a ((BAD)) day!! Sorry to the yankee fans for being such a bitch, but your team really pisses me off! :mad:

[ April 27, 2003, 12:55 AM: Message edited by: Mike T. ]

Anyway, back to baseball again... Soriano had a another game winning double last night in the extra innings. I always wonder where the high-priced TX Ranger relief pitching and hitting goes when the chips are down? Boy, did my parents pick a great game to go to or what? Why didn't I fly down to Dallas?

GO YANKS!

Mike, just make sure its not a red cap or something silly. It has to be dark blue with a white logo!

I think they go next door to Six Flags and have more fun.

[ April 27, 2003, 12:59 PM: Message edited by: DallasUNC ]

Technically 1982-94, when they won squat... or as we Yankee Haters refer to them, the glory years!

We WILL see a new golden age...

Apparently, Giambi should be returning to lineup today. Rivera will be deactivated from the DL, and could pitch part of an inning tonight. The projected date of Jeter's return is 13 May.

Thank goodness!! Maybe they can start winning a few more games!

yeah i mean they slpit a four game with the lowly rangers. we must be hitting a slide.

Yanks took two out of three in Texas.

Mussina is SMOKING this year. 5-0, 42Ks in 37 innings pitched, and a 1.70 ERA!

The Yankees' entire staff has been in charge throughout, though. Pettitte got walloped two games ago but then came back and pitched a gem last night. Impressive.

Giambi's still not hitting, though.

Mussina is looking at a Cy Young award already!
I can't figure out what is wrong with Giambi, but other guys are definitely stepping up (last night it was the very hot Todd Zeile). The past two series have been their toughest tests so far. They are hanging in every game, except for that disaster on Tuesday night. They lost in the 10th inning this afternoon. Acevido was horrible on Wednesday night (when they almost blew the lead to Seattle), and he got the loss today against Oakland. I am not sure why Rivera wasn't out there, except for the fact that he has been used almost every night since he has been back except Tuesday. They need Steve Karsay back, but I don't think that is probably going to happen this season.

Mussina shuts down the Mariners. He is 7-0! The Yankees have a rubber game today. If they win over Seattle today, they will have won both series against them this year--in the Bronx and at Safeco. Then, on to Oakland for a weekend series for a preview of our probable ALCS matchup this season.

Mussina certainly is locked in. Which is great to see after last years bloated ERA and uneven games. Every time I watch him pitch--he's my favorote Yank hurler by far--I always envision him sneaking off to a fone and calling some buddy and saying, "yeh right, I'm the 'third' starter on this team..."

...then again, I suspect his ego doesn't operate that way. Either way, he's the muhf**kin' bomb...and a 20-win season and a CY YOUNG would be amazing for him.

Can I also just say how sexy he is? Smart as a whip, the best pitcher in baseball, cute ass...Okay, I'll go take my shower now ... wink

[ May 08, 2003, 07:22 AM: Message edited by: CatcherInNY ]

Yes, but it was fun to see the M's totally humiliate Clemens and Pettitte in those two games. Wow, the yank$ ended their losing streak, open the champagne!