Daily Archives: March 10, 2003

U-G-L-Y, YOU AIN’T GOT NO ALIBI

I stopped by my friend Joey La P’s place in the East Village yesterday afternoon, and was thrilled and delighted to catch a couple of innings of the Yankee game. Joey has somehow managed to scam 6,000 channels of digital cable for himself, so we caught the Tampa Bay Fox feed of the game.

The most exciting thing I saw was Godzilla Matsui bat for the first time.

Boy, is he f-ugly. But like the real Godzilla, Matsui is ugly in a friendly way. Like a three-year old, Matsui has a very large head. He has high cheek bones, and a wide face, and crooked teeth. Matsui doesn’t look unlike a Cro-Magnon version of Christopher Walken.

But he’s not comically ugly, or offensively ugly. His face has character.

Matsui has huge, Robert Newhouse-fullback thighs, and a big, fat ass. He stands very erect in the box, and was selective and patient in the at-bat I saw. He pulled a 2-2 pitch on the ground to the right side. The ball kicked off Travis Lee’s glove, and into the outfield; Rondell White scored from second on the play. I believe Lee was given an error.

Still, Matsui looks to be an appealing hitter to watch. God bless Joey La Pep, and his scamming ass.

WHERE’S YOUR MESSIAH NOW?

One player who has had his fair share of critics over the past year and a half is Andy Pettitte. Some feel as if Pettitte is just not healthy enough to be a big time pitcher any longer. Andy’s performance on Saturday didn’t help dismiss the skeptics.

FANTASY FYI

I recieved an e-mail from a reader, plugging his keeper fantasy league. I’m not going to have the time to participate, but I thought I’d pass it along in case any of you out there were interesting. Here are the details he forwarded to me. Check it out:

Details: This will be a ten-team yahoo keeper league with a live mixed draft on 3-17-03 @ 6:50 pm est. To join the yahoo league click http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1, join private league, then enter league id #53151, password-daggers.

After the season you will be able to reserve 4 players from your team, and use them again next season. There is a $100 entry fee for this league, payable in full or installments via money orders, check, yahoo pay direct, or paypal. PAYMENT DOES NOT NEED TO BE MADE PRIOR TO THE DRAFT!! Please contact me for payment details and address.

Entire amount must be paid by all-star game, or your team will be dropped, and any money paid will not be refunded. Prizes-$850 to overall winner including playoffs, $150 to playoff runner-up.

Scoring will be head to head based on these categories : R H HR RBI SB AVG OPS W L CG SHO SV K HLD ERA WHIP. Your roster will consist of the following: Starting Positions: C, 1B, 1B, 2B, 2B, 3B, 3B, SS, SS, OF, OF, OF, OF, Util, Util, SP, SP, SP, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, RP, DL, DL PLUS 5 BENCH SPOTS.

Please email me with any questions.
THANKS
Jeff

jadevine@optonline.net

CHUMP CHANGE

According to a report in the New York Times this morning, the Yankees will fine Boomer Wells $100,000 for embarrassing the organization with comments made in the pitcher’s new book. Sparky Lyle and Craig Nettles got their asses shipped out of town after they published their books (“The Bronx Zoo,” and “Balls”).

Boomer should consider his fat ass lucky. Fuggin degenerate.

NO CONTEST

Although it’s seemed clear for a while now that Jeff Weaver will earn a spot in the starting rotation over Jose Contreras, Contreras’ third poor outing helped solidify the feeling that the big Cuban will start the season in Triple A or the bullpen.

Joe Torre, who all but promised Weaver a starting role at the end of last year, doesn’t need convincing.

“He didn’t have to make a case for me, everbody knows that,” Torre said. “I like what I see, obviously.”

Contreras relieved starter Jeff Weaver yesterday and gave up 7 runs on 7 hits in 3 innings of work against the Devil Rays. But another poor performance is the least of the Jose’s problems:

There is so much going on inside Jose Contreras’ head. His 80-year-old father, Florentino, who was recovering from surgery on an intestinal blockage, had a stroke Saturday and is in intensive care in a Havana hospital.

His wife and two daughters are in Cuba, too, and Contreras, who has rarely been apart from his wife since they married as teenagers 15 years ago, doesn’t know if he’ll ever see them again.

…”I think I pitched 10 years of Triple-A in Cuba,” Contreras said through a translator. “The level of Cuba is equivalent to Triple-A. Just because I struggled and have had a few bad outings, doesn’t mean I’m not ready for this.

“The last few outings, you haven’t seen the pitcher I am,” Contreras added. “Once I get out of this rut in the near future, you’ll see.”

Meanwhile, Weaver allowed 1 run on 5 hits in 4 innings of work. Not only does Weaver have the support of his manager, Joe Torre, but GM Brian Cashman is a big fan too. And rightfully so. The deal that brought Weaver to New York was all Cashman.

According to Tyler Kepner in an article that appeared in the Sunday Times:

Weaver is here because of Cashman. It may be no coincidence, then, that the right-handed Weaver sometimes seems to be a spare part on the Yankees’ staff. His stuff is electric but his profile is low. He is not here because the owner demanded it.

… “We didn’t have a need for him, but I was like, `This is my opportunity; I have to take advantage of it,’ ” Cashman said. “A guy at this age, with this contract, everything that we believe he is, we have to somehow try to make this work.”

Weaver learned of the trade at his hotel in Boston, when Dombrowski summoned him back to Fenway Park at midnight. When he got the news, Weaver cried. But talking to Cashman that night took away some of the sting.

“He was straightforward and straight up,” Weaver said. “He told me: `I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. We have a few extras in there, but the rotation is getting up in age, and who knows how long they’ll be able to go? We want you to be here for the future, to make the transition a continuous one.’ “

…”I can’t profess to know him well,” Cashman said. “I can’t tell you we’re friends. But I like him. I like everything about him. I get excited when he’s on that mound.”