That Marvin Gaye performance is astounding.

A very nice review Alex.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Marcus Thames DH
Austin Kearns LF
Francisco Cervelli C
Greg Golson CF

Interesting — it’s certainly not the B Team, but the bottom third of the order is the B Bottom. I expect to see the infield get the day off tomorrow. (Rob has had one day off since July.)

Also via LoHud: Sabathia will not get another start (this is pretty much mandatory since if he started Sunday he wouldn’t be rested on Wednesday). Hughes probably won’t get another start. Andy will pitch against Boston.

The biggest problem I had was it seems to rely on either the same voices from the original series, or at least the same type of voices. Quite frankly, I don’t want to see baseball according to the likes of Will, Barnicle, Boswell, Angel and Goodwin. When the topic is more distant, it’s easier to abide, but with more recent subject matter, they seem out of touch. Instead of returning to his bread and butter talking heads, Burns would have been wise to enlist commentary from a younger, more diverse pool of qualified candidates (guys like Keith Law, our own Mr. Belth and Tim Kurkjian come to mind).

The segments also seemed to be filled with cliché and hearsay. How does Burns know what was in Bonds’ head during 1998, for example? Also, if Torre brought an NL style of play to the Yankees, why did they rank at or below average in terms of SBs and sacrifices?

At best, the first segment glossed over the handful of years that it covered, but I think it did pick out most of the major points. By far, the best segment dealt with the rise of the Latin player, which is really the most significant development since 1994. Breton, whose Away Games is a must read for a baseball fan, was a particularly interesting commentator, and his emotion helped frame the segment. Probably the only broken ground comes from Burns’ look at the semi-pro games played in Brooklyn. I play fast pitch softball and you frequently come into contact with a player who once had pro aspirations. The juxtaposition of those who made it with those who did not was pretty powerful.

Otherwise, nothing new is really added by the documentary. When Burns created the original series, we were still basically living in a network/newspaper world. As a result, there was a freshness and uniqueness to the presentation. In the information age, however, Burns summary style is really just a rehash of what is available from countless other sources. Ironically, this transition was one of the main themes that Burns should have addressed (maybe he does in the next installment).

On a related note, when I heard about the film of Game 7 of the 1960 Serious being found the other day, I was ecstatic. I can’t wait to watch that game, even though the ending is not good for Yankees fans, just because of its historical value. When my father, who was so upset over that loss he says he didn’t read a newspaper for months, heard about the film, he commented on how of all the old games he’d like to see again, they find a complete copy of the one game he’s spent the last 50 years thrilled he couldn’t see again. =)

But no …..