Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the New York Yankees move on
Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Editorial, MLB, Playoffs,
The American League Championship Series is set. The Los Angeles Angels will take on the New York Yankees. As half of the nation turns their collective support from the Minnesota Twins to the Angels, the other half will continue to battle against the opposition’s growing fan base as the playoffs roll on. The Yankees and their 103 regular season victories will welcome the Angels into New Yankee Stadium on Friday night for a weekend of “Bronx cheers”, if you will, and serenades by Frank Sinatra.
The Yankees versus anybody is like the classic battle between good versus evil… or evil versus good. They are arguably one of the most fan-polarizing teams in professional sports. What’s to like about a team that spends almost twice as much as the rest of the league in order to buy their way into the playoffs, stall games to put them near the four-hour mark on average, and basically beat their opponents with nothing more than their sense of entitlement.
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The Best Logo in Baseball
Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Editorial, MLB,
Every team has its star player; it’s “face of the franchise”. Whether that player is recognized outside of his home city is a different story. Whether that player lasts is another one as well. The one constant you can expect from a baseball franchise is the logo that the players go out and represent everyday. Each team’s logo is unique, and each tries to capture some essence of the city it represents. So in the spirit of the September Road to the World Series, here’s my choices for best logo in baseball.
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The Art of Switch Pitching
Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, MLB,
Pat Venditte is a right-handed pitcher who throws left-handed. Or if you prefer, he’s a left-handed pitcher who throws right-handed. To settle it, he’s a switch-pitcher; and he’s the only of his kind currently throwing in professional baseball.
Born on June 30, 1985 in Omaha, Nebraska, Venditte began throwing right-handed, but at the age of three tried with his left as well, and the legacy of this switch-pitcher began. With his right arm he throws over the top with a fastball and a curveball, while his left comes in side-arm with a slider and a slower fastball. His six-fingered glove has two thumbs and can be worn on either hand, which saves him the trouble of having to switch gloves every time a batter comes to the opposite side of the plate of the one he faced previously.
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The Toughest League in Baseball
Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Editorial, MLB,
Baseball has been widely criticized in recent years for its “unbalanced” schedule. Thanks to 18 interleague games per season, teams in each league face teams in other divisions an unequal amount of times, which seems unfair since every team not in first place competes for the same Wild Card playoff berth. This makes it extremely hard for some teams to compete, especially in a division such as the American League East, which is arguably not just the toughest division in baseball, but also the toughest division in professional sports.
If you’re a fan of the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, or Baltimore Orioles, you need to face a grim reality. There are 27 other teams in the majors who have a better chance at making the playoffs than your team. With money-spending powerhouses like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, teams with smaller payrolls need a lot more to go “right” for them in order to compete. A lot of people argue this with the fact that the Rays made it all the way to the World Series in 2008, but face it – that was the only AL East team in the last 11 seasons who were not the Yanks or Sox to make it into the playoffs, and it was also the first time in franchise history that the Rays had a winning record.
The Toronto Blue Jays have had six winning records in the last 11 years, but have only finished better than third once. With an 86-76 record last year, they actually finished in fourth place in the AL East. It took the Los Angeles Dodgers 84 victories to win the NL West by two full games. The Orioles haven’t been as fortunate. Ever since Cal Ripken Jr. left town, the O’s haven’t finished with more than 78 wins and have only reached as high as third place once.
It’s very likely that the AL East has three or four of the best teams in the league, but only two can get into the playoffs. The only way to make it fair – to give the four best teams a chance to be in the playoffs – is to eliminate divisional play. But we all know that isn’t going to happen. At the very least, balancing the schedule and eliminating interleague play would give every team a chance to face every other team an equal amount of times, giving value and fairness to the always important Wild Card team. But while baseball stands to make money by sending the Yankees and the Red Sox to any city in the majors, don’t hold your breath.
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Angels Defeat Yankees On Day of Trading Deadline
Posted by Milo Taibi Categories: Athletes, MLB, Scoreboard,
Pudge Rodriguez made his New York Yankees debut yesterday, but it was of no use against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Halos downed the Bronx Bombers 12-6, with help from homers off the bat of Torii Hunter, Juan Rivera, and Vladimir Guerrero. Andy Pettitte took the loss for the Yanks, in his poor outing he went 5.1 innings, allowing 11 hits and nine earned runs.
“You got athletes on this team,” said Hunter,. “We’re Hyenas. We take advantage of the weak link. You make a mistake and we’re gone.”
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Mets Defeat Yankees, Draw Subway Series Even
Posted by Milo Taibi Categories: Athletes, MLB, Scoreboard,
The highly marketed subway series took place this weekend, with both the New York Mets and the New York Yankees winning two games. Today, the Mets were able to pull out a 3-1 victory, thanks to a tremendous performance from starter Oliver Perez. Perez went seven innings, surrendering just one run and striking out eight.
“If we can get Ollie to be consistent, which has been the dilemma for him his whole career, we will have an excellent pitcher, no question,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said.
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Mets Defeat Yankees, Draw Subway Series Even
Posted by Milo Taibi Categories: Athletes, MLB, Scoreboard,
The highly marketed subway series took place this weekend, with both the New York Mets and the New York Yankees winning two games. Today, the Mets were able to pull out a 3-1 victory, thanks to a tremendous performance from starter Oliver Perez. Perez went seven innings, surrendering just one run and striking out eight.
“If we can get Ollie to be consistent, which has been the dilemma for him his whole career, we will have an excellent pitcher, no question,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said.
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Yankees Avoid Sweep From Reds
Posted by Milo Taibi Categories: Athletes, MLB, Scoreboard,
The Cincinnati Reds entered Yankee stadium yesterday seeking a sweep of their 3 game series. Instead, Andy Pettitte pitched 6 innings of shutout baseball en route to a 4-1 New York victory. Pettitte notched his 8th win of the season, while Mariano Rivera earned his 21st save.
“We wanted this one badly, but it’s tough to sweep these guys,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said.
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Daniel Cabrera and Orioles Dominate Yankees
Posted by Milo Taibi Categories: Athletes, MLB, Scoreboard,
Last night the New York Yankees caught a thrashing at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles, by a score of 12-2. The pace for the game was sent in the first inning when the Birds hit up Yankees starter Mike Mussina for seven runs.
“When you walk out there and don’t feel like you’ve ever been out there before, it really confuses you,” Mussina said. “That’s how I felt. I got out there and I felt like I hadn’t been out there forever, and didn’t really know what I was doing.”
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Yanks Take Home Opener 3-2
Posted by Milo Taibi Categories: Athletes, MLB, Scoreboard,
Chien-Ming Wang proved his place as the New York Yankees’ ace of 2008. Tonight, on the night of the last ever (old) Yankee Stadium home opener, Wang went 7 innings strong striking out only 2 but giving up just 6 hits and 2 earned runs. Toronto Blue Jays’ starting pitcher Roy Halladay was just barely outdueled; Halladay went 7 innings as well giving up 7 hits and 3 runs, all of which earned. Mariano Rivera notched his first save of the 2008 season, striking out one.
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