Daily Archives: September 18, 2003

The Yankee game has been suspended, proving once again, when it comes to running things in MLB, it ain’t the heat, it’s the stupidity. Man, don’t you think they could see this coming? Wonder how peeved the Yankees are having to sit around and wait for a flight to take them into the eye of the storm?

The Yankee-O’s game is tied after five innings in Baltimore. They are now sitting on their hands as the game as been delayed by rain. Hey, no fuggin kidding. Was it supposed to rain today?

Bunch of greedy sombitches…

I know I’m a couple of days late on this, but Pat Jordan had a piece on flamethrowers in The New York Times magazine last Sunday. I don’t think the article was one of his best—it felt slight—but it is still worth reading. I was, however, taken with Jordan’s portrait of Houton’s Billy Wagner. While interviewing the diminutive southpaw in the Astros locker room, Wagner’s two young boys sat in a nearby chair watching TV:

Wagner is obviously a caring father — as he talked to me his eyes kept flitting toward his sons — in the way of men who experienced difficult, disruptive childhoods. His parents married young in a small Virginia town. They fought a lot and shuffled off their son to live with various relatives. Wagner lived with his grandfather, who used to whip him with a switch, and then his aunt and uncle. No matter where he lived, however, he lived in poverty (food stamps were not unknown) and anger. He remembers as a boy standing outside the home of his aunt and uncle, picking up a baseball and firing it at the house in anger.

”It was the only way I could express myself,” he said. ”I used to rage and explode; now I channel it to aggressiveness on the mound.”

Despite his success, he said, he’s still insecure about it. ”There’s no way I should throw a baseball 100 m.p.h.,” he said. ”I’m small. I see guys 6-foot-8 throwing 88. There’s nothing I did to get it. Maybe throw a football a lot. I have the short, quick arm motion of a quarterback. Some say it’s in my legs, or my wrist. But I don’t know why.”

Jordan has always been able to find the tremendous vunerability in the athletes he writes so well about. That’s probably due to his own experience as a bonus baby prospect, who never made the major leagues. It’s certainly why I find him to be one of the best baseball writers going.

Hall of Fame historian Bruce Markusen details the baseball men we’ve lost in 2003 in his latest Cooperstown Confidentail column over at Baseball Primer. The year isn’t over yet, but some great baseball men have passed on—guys like Larry Doby, Sam Lacy, Leonard Koppett, and most recently, Bobby Bonds. Worth taking a look.

Several years ago my old friend Russell started doing a lounge singer routine in the downtown scene here in New York. I had limited patience with the scene, but I did manage to see him perform as Johnny Fayva once. It involved Russ dressed up in a wild leisure suit, with a blond wig and blond mustache. He sang old rock tunes like Dean Martin, karate-chopped like Elvis, and by the end of the act, he had stripped down to a thong—something neither Dino nor the King ever attempted.

Russ moved out to LA a few years ago, but Johnny Fayva is alive and well. If you want a cheap laugh—and what better kind of laugh is there—stop by his webpage. Be sure and check out the “Iraqi Freedom” video.

SI’s Tom Verducci still thinks Mariano Rivera is a top-flight closer:

Let’s get something straight: Mariano Rivera is not a question mark for the New York Yankees. He may not be unhittable, as he was in the past, but he’s still ultra cool in the clutch and still has plenty of the nasty stuff needed to get hitters out, if not dominate them. If you’re looking for a reason why the Yankees are vulnerable — and there are a few of them — don’t look to their closer.

…I wouldn’t worry about Rivera. He may have lost a smidgen of velocity and sometimes lacks confidence in that high fastball hitters chase, but his stuff is still plenty good. The real problem is the rest of the Yankees’ bullpen, which this year has forced manager Joe Torre to bring Rivera into numerous games in which runners are on base. The slender right-hander has such good mechanics and doesn’t throw a lot of pitches, so I do think he has at least two more All-Star quality years left.

If indeed Rivera can put up two more All-Star seasons, will he have a legitimate shot at the Hall of Fame? It’s a tough one to figure simply because great closers like Sutter and Gossage have yet to be recognized. I keep thinking that once Eck is elected, the thinking on closers may change. I would guess that if Rivera continues to be very good in the regular season, and sensational in the postseason, he’d have a decent chance at making it into Cooperstown somewhere down the line.

David Wells was gunning for his 200th career victory last night, but he gave up five runs in the early innings, and the Yanks couldn’t score enough runs to help him out. (They managed eleven hits, to no avail.) Wells stayed in the game and pitched well after that, but the Yankees lost, 5-3. The game took all of two hours and twelve minutes.

The Bombers played the game as if they had a plane to catch. If it were up to them, that’s exactly what they would have done. With a massive storm headed up the east coast, today’s game has been rescheduled as an afternoon affair. The only snag is that the game is about the only thing that will go ahead as planned in Baltimore today, as the schools and local government will be shut down.

“I’m sorry we have to play, period,” said David Wells, who pitched a complete game in the loss. “It’s not good. The city’s closing down, the government’s closing down, and we’re playing. Figure that out.”

…”I don’t really see it,” first baseman Jason Giambi said. “I don’t see the need to get it in, especially when they’re shutting down schools and having the Navy get their ships out. I hope everything works out and everybody’s safe. I don’t understand the thinking of what they’re trying to accomplish.”

Joe Torre, the Yankees’ manager, had a theory. “Everybody’s scratching their head about why we’re cutting it so close, but it’s not our decision,” Torre said, later adding, “When you’re dealing with revenue in today’s game, that’s what it comes down to.”

Mike Mussina will pitch for the Yanks today, and has a chance to earn his 200th career victory.

The Red Sox were shut out by the D-Rays in Boston last night, while the Mariners finally beat the Rangers (thank you, Mr. Moyer). Boston’s lead in the wildcard is down to a game and a half. Johnny Damon missed last night’s game, and the Sox, who have been relatively injury-free throughout the season, are starting to show some bumps and bruises.

The A’s won behind a strong effort from Barry Zito, and their magic number—like the Yankees’—is down to six. The Twinkies beat the White Sox again and now lead Chicago by two and a half games in the central. Finally, Doc Halladay pitched a complete-game shut out against the Tigers and may have earned himself the Cy Young award.

THAR HE BLOWS

Is old man Steinbrenner starting to look out the front door? Maybe yes, but on the other hand, certainly not. According to an article by Richard Sanomir today’s Times:

Steinbrenner manufactured his own intrigue yesterday in two telephone calls.

In the first one, he was discussing the business acumen of his sons, Hank and Hal, and his son-in-law, Steve Swindal, when he said: “You don’t want to let go, but I’m going to let go. After this many years and so many ups and downs, if I can deliver a championship, I can feel like I can step aside.”

But minutes later, Steinbrenner called back to say that he did not mean to say that a 27th Yankees championship would trigger his retirement, only that he might slow down a bit.

“I didn’t say I’d step aside,” he said, “but there will come a time in the not-too-distant future when I’m going to step aside and let the young elephants in the tent. This is not a retirement announcement. What I mean is that the young elephants, the young sons and the son-in-law, will be more and more active.”

Love him or hate him, the Yankees will be forever altered when the old elephant shuffles along. I’ve mostly disliked Boss George since I started rooting for the Yankees in 1979, but I’m also grateful that he’s been dedicated in providing us with a winning team, despite of his unsavory methods. I’ve been thinking a lot about the day when he’s gone this summer. Everything that I know about the Yankees, the way they operate with free agents, with the media, with the rest of the league, is rooted in the Steinbrenner Era. I can’t help but wonder if I’ll actually miss the big bully when he’s gone.

In the late 1980’s and early ’90’s, I remember wishing that George would not only leave the Yankees, but God’s green earth as well. It was the only way the Yankees would have a chance to win again I figured. Of course since then, George has enjoyed a Nixonian twilight. Some teams wish they had a guy like Steinbrenner running their team—just ask Christian Ruzich.

Just goes to show, you got to be careful what you wish for, huh?