Tagged: Cooperstown
Don’t Get My Halladay Hopes Up, Cashman
I just read the latest Hot Stove article on MLB.com and immediately bolted up from my chair and did this.
According to the article, the Yankees spoke to the Jays about the possibility of trading for Roy Halladay, the pitcher I’ve coveted since I first started this blog! Be still my heart!
Who needs Lackey, Ben Sheets or any of the other names being bandied about? Halladay is the best pitcher not currently on the Yankees. (OK, there are a few others, but I’m conveniently overlooking them right now.) Sure, Doc actually lost a few games this season. But he was coming back from a stint on the DL, plus there was the uncertainty of being shipped out at any moment. I say he’s still in his prime and I want him on the Yanks for the following reasons and in no particular order:
* He’d look better in pinstripes than in that girly powder blue.
* He’s best friends with A.J. Burnett. They’d have so much fun hugging and shoving pies in each other’s faces.
* He would probably come packaged with Vernon Wells, which is OK because Vernon would play the outfield if Damon left and his offensive skills would miraculously return.
* How cool would it be to have a pitcher nicknamed after a gunslinger?
* He’s a horse like CC and could give us complete games. OK, he’s a smaller horse than CC but still.
* He throws a cutter, and we all know how successful cutter-throwers can be.
* If we had Halladay in the rotation, it would give Joba and Hughes some room to grow (assuming one of them isn’t part of the trade).
* Adding Halladay to the Yankees would drive the haters crazy and motivate them to come up with even more clever slogans than this gem.
I realize that any discussion Cashman may have had with the Blue Jays is only preliminary. But maybe he’ll make it happen. He’s been known to act disinterested in a player and then all of a sudden…..
P.S. Remember how we were talking about Cooperstown the other day, and some of us said how much we wanted to go? Well, one of our commenters, wirishrose, sent along some pics from her last visit. First, we have the statues of Gehrig, Robinson and Clemente.
Then there’s this one of Joe DiMaggio’s locker.
And finally a sign that’s very appropriate for a blog called “Confessions of a She-Fan.”
What would the sport of baseball do without women fans? I shudder to think!
And The Award Goes To…. (With a P.S.)
Baseball’s version of the Oscars gets underway Monday while I’ll be on a plane back to California. So in anticipation, I thought I’d add my totally biased, completely Yankees-centric two cents on who should win.
1) AL Rookie of the Year: Alfredo Aceves
I know, I know. The award will probably go to Elvis Andrus. But Aceves was 10-1 this season. That’s a lot of wins for a reliever, even a long reliever. Yes, Dave Robertson had the best strikeout to innings ratio (63 Ks in 43.2 IP), but I don’t think he qualifies until next year. So congrats, Alfredo. In your honor, every Yankee fan should have fettucini alfredo some time this week.
2) AL Cy Young Award: CC Sabathia
Sure, you can talk about Greinke, Verlander and King Felix, but CC won 19 games and threw 230 innings. What’s more, he struck out 197 batters and only walked 67. He was the guy who fronted the staff, plain and simple. He wasn’t just a horse; he was a giant horse.
P.S. Honorable mention goes to Mo. He may be “just” a closer, but his name has to figure into any discussion of the year’s best pitcher.
3) AL Manager of the Year: Joe Girardi
While it’s true that Mike Scoscia pulled his team through adversity, I’m picking the guy we love to bash – and not just because the Yankees won 103 games with him at the helm, impressive as that is. I give him props for slotting Jeter in the leadoff hole, for sending the players off to the pool hall during spring training, for manipulating the rotation after Wang got injured, for leaving Hughes in the pen and for resting CC, AJ and Andy enough that they were good to go the extra mile in the playoffs. Joe, you gave me heartburn on a regular basis, so I’ll celebrate your honor by downing some of this.
#4) AL MVP: Derek Jeter
A case could be made for Joe Mauer, obviously, but I honestly think Jeter could win this one. He had 212 hits, batted .334 and won a Gold Glove. If all that’s not valuable to a team, I don’t know what is. I love Tex as a candidate too. And A-Rod deserves to be mentioned because the Yankees’ season turned around after he came off the DL. But I’m tipping my cap to the Captain.
And now a round of applause for all the winner.
P.S. Since many of the comments dealt with Cooperstown today, I wanted to add the pics Cheshirecat sent me from his recent trip there. The first one is a plaque of The Mick. (Be still my heart.) The second is of Cheshirecat standing next to the Holy Cow cow! Enjoy!
Filling Out My Hall of Shame Ballot
Over at MLBlogosphere, there is talk about who should get into Club Cooperstown and who should not. Some say it”s only what a player accomplished on the field that matters. Others take into account what happened off the field; that if a player misbehaved he should be disqualified and branded one of these.
So instead of debating the HOF qualifications of Jim Rice, Rickey Henderson and those who are worthy, I thought I’d stroll down memory lane and amuse myself with the losers – those who either committed acts of stupidity or were simply accidentally stupid. Feel free to add your own candidates for the Hall of Shame.
1) I must begin with two formers Yankees, Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich, pitchers who decided in 1973 to swap wives. Here are the couples in happier, swing-a-ding times.
2) George Bell was a kick – literally. The Blue Jays outfielder earned the wrath of Red Sox fans after charging the mound and attempting to karate kick Sox pitcher Bruce Kison. What a guy.
3) Kevin Brown didn’t endear himself to Yankee fans when he punched the wall outside Torre’s office and broke his hand. I found him so distasteful I had to turn away from the TV whenever he was pitching. Recently, he continued his crotchety attitude by threatening to shoot a neighbor in Georgia after a dispute over yard debris.
4) Vince Coleman tossed a firecracker into a crowd in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. He also missed the ’85 World Series after getting rolled up in the tarp machine. AND he hit Dwight Gooden with a golf club in the Mets clubhouse.
5) Chili Davis was on the California Angels when he slapped a fan who was taunting him during a game against the Brewers in ’05. I wonder if the fan slapped him back.
6) Tigers first baseman Darrell Evans claimed that he and his wife saw a UFO from their California patio. “It was a triangular craft with brilliant white lights,” he said. “It was as if they singled us out.”
7) Kirk Gibson pulled a chair out from under former teammate Dave Rozema, who had a glass bottle of cough syrup in his back pocket. Needless to say, Dave missed his next start.
8) Larry Herndon missed a game after cutting his hand while eating a lobster.
9) Kent Hrbek missed the final 10 games of the ’90 season after spraining his ankle while wrestling with a clubhouse attendant.
10) It was Ball Day at Dodger Stadium when Raul Mondesi argued a called third strike and was ejected, causing 200 fans to hurl their souvenirs onto the field and forcing the Dodgers to forfeit the game.
11) Nolan Ryan missed a start after being bitten on the hand by a coyote. I know. He’s a HOF-er, not a loser. Still, no one should get bitten by a coyote unless they’re a small rodent.
12) George Brett. Pine tar. ‘Nuff said.
13) Bret Saberhagen tried to adjust to the New York media by spraying bleach at a group of reporters.
14) Mets pitcher Bobby Ojeda cut off his middle finger while gardening. Presumably, he hires landscapers nowadays.
15) The Tigers’ Lou Whitaker missed the last month of the ’88 season after tearing a hamstring while dancing at his sister’s wedding.
There are many, ma
ny others I could name – from Wade Boggs and the $12 million lawsuit filled by his mistress, to Gary Carter’s rather tacky attempt to interview for the Mets managerial job while Willie Randolph was still occupying the office.
ny others I could name – from Wade Boggs and the $12 million lawsuit filled by his mistress, to Gary Carter’s rather tacky attempt to interview for the Mets managerial job while Willie Randolph was still occupying the office.
But it’s late here in California. I’ve run out of gas. If I’m not careful I’ll accidentally strain an oblique while washing off my makeup and be the sort of loser I’ve just written about.
Confessions of a She-Fan 