It makes me sad seeing Manny B, knowing what lies ahead.

Freaky photo for the post.

For some reason, it makes me think of Arya Stark.

Anyone else see the story where MLB is investigating A-Rod for again being at illegal, high stakes poker games? He could be facing a suspension over it. Idjit.

The A-Rod gambling story is troubling. I hope it goes away until after the season.

[3] Our messages crossed.

8:20 start to accommdate the 4 letter network.

[5] Great minds.

Leo Doroucher got suspended for a year simply for associating with gamblers. If you want to play high stakes poker, go to Vegas.

[6] I've got 4 letters for them.

[3] He really does have a remarkable ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On one hand, it is kind of a facepalm moment, on the other hand, it doesn't seem to be a big deal at all. So Alex plays poker, so what? So Alex plays poker in high stakes games, so what?

Playing in a high stakes home game *isn't* illegal and, frankly, I can absolutely guarantee that Alex isn't the only MLB player who plays in them ...

[3] I saw it around 5:30. Is it only b/c it was "high stakes?" Or there were actors and possibly cocaine involved. I don't give a rat's ass about A-Rod's poker games. What about the all the poker games in the clubhouse and on planes. Are those "low stakes?" I don't get aggravated about Selig as most, but this is nonsense.

[10] Apparently these types of games are illegal. Don't know why, exactly. Given his gambling past and PED use, he needs to be more careful.

This is good. Mariners SS hits an infield single only to wind up on 3rd b/c the A's defense completely falls asleep. I love Moneyball. If only Damon had pulled THIS trick in the Serious. : )
http://tinyurl.com/3px2pff

[10] The problem is that MLB would like to have us to believe that ball players are choir boys. The truth is professional athletes are natural risk takers...gamblers, philanderers, partiers, etc.

Sunovabitch.

That makes me a little tingly. What if he learns how to do that regularly?

Wow.
WOW!

[13] Yeah, saw that earlier, fantastic.

[12] If the house is taking a percentage of the pot, or rake, then it's illegal ... to RUN the game. AFAIK, it's not illegal to play in it.

Heh. line drives in the box score.

[15] He's been getting MUCH better at it and he's been trying it a bunch more this year than he ever did in the past.

[18] That makes sense, I guess.

The Rays game must have been on in the clubhouse. Maddon called 2 suicide squeeze plays back to back in the 2nd inning about an our ago. Crazy.

[19] And another!

C'mon Tesh!

C'mon, Score Truck

That'll do ... now sweep the leg, Robbie!

Rocket Robbie! Hot Damn!

Consider it swept!

ROBBIE THE RIPPER!!!

Can we play the White Sox more often? The Yankees look very, very good these days.

Now don't blow it, A.J.

Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?

Uh, I'm with Nick, that was a non-strike strike.

You fucking idiot.
What the hell is wrong with Chavez?

Copycats.

Doh!

Oh, I get it, never mind. It wasn't as stupid as it looked live.

[33] It was foul and then it clearly kicked back towards fair. He was trying to get it before it rolled back fair, because once it did, it was 100% a hit.

It was the right play, he was just a second too late.

Fuck you ump. Make up your mind.

Well, that could have been worse.

Driven!

Damn, for a brief moment I thought Brett could score on that.

C'mon Grandy, put this one to bed.

Beauty. It may have kicked outta play, though. hmmmmmm.....

Fuck yes!
Curtis rocks again.

Way to tuck it in, CG!

fuck. espn is NOT airing the game here in my hotel and my laptop is all outta whack on the road and i can't access espn3. i just cracked open an awesome Alaskan Amber Ale, so i'll have to wait til i'm done to head over to the Yanks bar next door and watch there...

once again, i missed the 1st inning fireworks. hope to see the replays later.

GO AJ! GO YANKS!!!

CURTIS!!!

god, i wish i was seeing this!!!

[43] It certainly kicked over some seats before landing back on the field, I guess it's not out of play if it never actually lands in an out-of-play area?

HA! just got the game on in my hotel room.

WAHOO!!!

[48] I concur.
C'mon, AJ. Throw strikes. No lead off walk!

First 3 batters of this inning have started 2-0. Ugh!

Dammit AJ.

THROW. STRIKES.

[49] thelarmis, whazzzzup!!! Tokyo Jazz festival coming up next onth here, I may go check out the DMS super-group (George Duke, Marcus Miller, David Sanborn) along with some local acts. How is your tour?

it is a beautiful city. i played in Chicago for 18,000 people a coupla weeks back. it was hot, but not as absolutely brutal as it is in Tucson in August. ugh.

Fucking AJ is like a misguided male hooker - its one thing for him to constantly suck dick but when he takes it up the ass, he hurts the whole team.

[53] JAZZ!!! hey, buddy! ooh, is DMS "smooth" jazz. the players are badass, but sometimes those guys can get a little safe for me.

the tour is loooong. i'm soooo ready to go home. stretch run now. i'm counting the days!!! cannot wait...

imbibing some really great beer out west and seeing some beautiful country here in our glorious land.

i'm also learning Swedish. so there's that...

Driven!!

[55] that's one way of putting it...

Golfed!

[56] Swedish? That must be due to some statuesque Swedish free-jazz fan, right?
I think DMS are going a bit harder from the reviews I read. George Duke has a LOT of smooth in his background but Marcus won't put up with that. :)
Alaskan Ale sounds great, more details on that please!

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

Eric The Great!!!

JORGIE!!!

Tribe tied it up at 3 !!!

Jeter: Hi Lou, Bye Lou!!!

jetes passed Lou Brock on the hits list : )

speeed kills!!!

SPEED KILLS!

[66] =)

Me likey.

Oof, almost feel bad for Ohlman. 2 ground balls, 2 hits.

DOUBLE DIGITS!!!

[68] : )

i wish RI were here...

YEAH!!!!!

How do you like it, Ozzie? Ha!

Triple may ass. Single. 2 base error. Give me a break.

Ugh.

Glad I'm not a White Sox fan ...

Slasher!

Yanks "O" is in warp-speed these days!

Hey, the pitcher is.....
Ohman.
Apropos.

a baker's dozen!

[60] a bunch of Swedes in the band. i think it's respectful to learn their language. they speak English better than any Southerner i've met. i must say, i'm doing pretty well at Swedish. practicing everyday! : )

it'll be quite useful, i'm sure...

ah, marcus has plenty of 'granola' jazz in his background. i'm glad it's harder playing. their all badasses.

Let's hope AJ remembers what he's supposed to do out there after that extra long inning ...

Adam Dunn is batting .164??! I knew he was having a bad year but that seems impossible..

Big Donkey with a little dinkey!

[60] Alaskan Amber Ale is the *best*!!! i had it about 7 or 8 years ago in San Fran, when my jazz trio played out there, a coupla times. i remember it was good, but not this awesome.

i played in Oregon a coupla weeks back. they had it on tap, but since i had it before, i wanted a local brew instead. Mirror Pond Pale Ale from Bend, OR. it was okay, but the Alaskan was unreal. i drank it all that night.

i played Red Rocks in Colorado and they had the Alaskan on tap at the hotel. i drank it all. none left. at the Denver airport, they had their summer ale, which was okay, but too light for me.

here, in Tucson, i found the Amber in a 6-pack for the first time. it's beyond wonderful.

Stone Pale Ale from San Diego is simply beyond. Lakefront in Milwaukee, is probably the 2nd best i've had on this tour. Lake Louie Pale Ale in Milwaukee, was good, too.

Mission Blonde Ale is excellent. i think it might be from San Diego, but my mom gets it for me at Trader Joe's in NY. i played there a coupla time in July, so i had it at "home-home".

i think there was another good microbrew i've had along the way, but Alaskan Amber *wins*!!! by a lot...

[85] comment of the season!

Thelarmis!
I'm here, I just left the computer for a while, watching the massacre with the kid.

[86] Those microbrews all sound great! But not this morning..comapny event last night extended a bit too late..
This game still only in the 4th inning?

Uh oh.

::facepalm::

come on, AJ!

this is Carol Burnett...

AJ. Good for the opponent's self-esteem.

Can we get a sniper please?!?!?

[88] hey man! i'm watching with my tour manager now. not sure how much longer i'll be around to post...

Oh, lord.
Well, good day for AJ to suck.

FUCKING AJ.

::facepalm::

Wonder what AJ thinks about Scranton.

fuck you, AJ!!!

this does not bode well for October... : /

[95] Cool. Order room service. :)

And even in the AJ Batting Practice Inning, Adam Dunn can't get a hit.

Dammit, if AJ was going to cough up a dinger, I wanted Dunn to get it.

Or maybe AJ could get a pie - with sharp pieces of glass embedded

Ouch, looked away for 5 mins and ChiSox got ?! Oh AJ..sigh..

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Why is Girardi debating between Hughes and Nova when the obvious answer of "who should be out of the rotation and in the bullpen" is AJ Burnett?

I think Alex is right - the Yanks aren't going to win the Serious unless AJ pitches OK down the stretch and into October. If they lose in the postseason, they should accept AJ's horrible contract as a sunk cost and DFA his ass.

life with A.J. is like a fan's version of "What's Love Got To Do With It?"

he even smashes desserts into people's faces

Jeter has four sad hits.

Since he came back, not including the 4-4 tonite, Jeter is .301/.353/.462.

Looks like the old man ain't quite done yet ...

ooh. i totally thought that was fair.

guess it *just* missed...

[105] the problem is, AJ hasn't been THAT bad...at the end of the day he's an overpaid mid-back rotation guy who will give you innings/starts with an ERA in the neighborhood of 4.15. Its just that he's JUST bad enough to make you scream, but just good enough to be worth about a 4 WAR.

It looked fair live, but there's really no way you can tell because you have no sense of where in the stadium you're looking from. Behind home plate? well off to the left?

at least AJ hasn't walked anyone...

bold prediction: Jeter's final season average is gonna be a lot closer to .300 than it is to .270

now granted it could be an incredibly SOFT .290+, but still...

Damn, I thought that was a 13-6 call, but slow-mo seems to say the ump got it right.

Driven!!!

He's going to make it close, isn't he?

Oh fer FUCK'S SAKE.

Just get Noesi in the fucking game already.

I'm looking forward to Cory Wade.

Man, AJ Burnett fucking sucks.

Or Corey Wade.

Either will do.

I can't even imagine how awful Burnett is going to be in two years

This game thread is aptly titled. AJ's ink, but also both team's pitchers are getting tattooed.

Oh, and because thelarmis is here.

Hell, I'd take Corey Hart, Corey Haim or Corey Feldman.

At this point, I'd even take Marty Feldman ...

Drilled!!!!

Ellsbury with his second walkoff in as many games! This time a homer with two out!

[125] Damn Cleveland.

I am with the peanut gallery, coudl happily live out my days never watching AJ pitch again.

PULL HIM

Why is AJ still out there? Is he fucking Girardi in the ass that well???

This is exactly what happened to Hughes at the game I was at last week.
Couldn't get a W despite a double-digit lead.

Unbefuckinglievable.

I sure miss Andy.

[125] boo. i fucking HATE the shit sox. damn.

aj sucks...

[131] yes. i've been thinking that should be said here more often...

DIe AJ die - please

[131] I miss Mussina.

Huh. So I guess the White Sox didn't turn into the Gorillas after all. Or else Cory Wade is Bugs.

Admit it. On some level you're deriving a sick pleasure from watching AJ be humiliated without any real risk of the Yankees losing the game.

Man, you really have to air mail it to throw it over the Big Donkey's head.

How do Kay and Flaherty complain about that call and NOT Teix's "triple?" WTF. The official scorer is drunk.

C'mon DAMMIT, work the fucking count.

[134] i always do, too...

[138] i hope i'll be in a few hours! ; )

[138] Did you see that in that 'infield triple', the official scorer gave Ryan a single and a Fielder's Choice? Strange. I think "Fielder's Choice" means, "I'm the official scorer and I have no idea how to score that."

Shut up about the momentum already.

[136] That's so true.

Michael, come on, no one marginally sensate had a problem with AJ getting told to get the fuck off the mound.

I don't see how they don't throw a blanket party for the guy.

Enough is enough.

That guy needs to start pitching with the fear of getting his ass beat if he doesn't compete.

Bad AJ is just sickening.

Yay, BBruney!

Cory Wade = Rowdy Ace.

this should solve the 6-man rotation.

axe aj...

Also
Wary coed
Ye coward
Ready cow
Weary doc

I hope there is still a Kangaroo Court around to levy a titanic fine for AJ's epic fucking suckitude. Forfuck's sake!

Mark Prior, if it wasn't for bad luck, he'd have no luck at all ...

Remember Mark Prior? He took a line drive off his forearm while throwing a batting practice session today. Nothing’s broken and it’s just a bruise, but it’s yet another setback. He’s currently coming back from back soreness and groin strain.

BaBBa Bruney!

I'm with [105], btw, although I haven't a clue how it would work.

But AJ was the obvious choice to get bounced from the rotation *before* this game, imo, and now it seems painfully obvious.

I'm not interested in "hasn't been that bad."

There's been a lot of "pitching well enough to lose" - I find little to like in the "give up four runs in the first and then muddle through until the sixth" outings.

I'm also just sick of looking at that guy's passive, dopey, crappy expression.

Death by robotic pie-ing for that knucklehead.

[146] i like it!

RIYank = Any Irk?

Driven!!!!

remember back in the good ol' days when we could just bitch about Brian Bruney's general suckiness??

It usually somehow accompanied a rant about Bobby Abreu's defense

Good, so every Yankee has a hit. How come Flash and Michael didn't mention that when Russell doubled?

What the hell was that? He tossed Bruney???

[153] Yuck. And my real name is also terrible for anagrams.

It could be worse

we could all be White Sox fans

That's a beautiful shot. Aesthetically -- it's useless for making the call.

But Bruney is such a meathead. How the hell would he know if Brett got in there ahead of him?

Why was BaBaBruney tossed?

[152] "I'm also just sick of looking at that guy's passive, dopey, crappy expression."

Amen.

Uh, Gritner just mighta been out on that one

[161] I believe the word "bullshit" was involved ...

[161] Very close play at first, Bruney was covering and he screamed something at the ump when Brett was called safe.

You can't tell on the replay, because Brett's headfirst slide blew up a could of dust. It's quite beautiful in slomo.

[161] On ESPN they are speculating that he said something very bad to the umpire. Certainly it was about as quick a hook as you'll ever see.

i want 5-5!

Jeter going for the 2 point conversion.

good job, gritner!

let's make the lead a touchdown.

i'll never ever tire of seeing that Jeter moment for my entire life.

Derek sure is hitting the baseball.

Ooooh. Best whack he's had today, and the only one that wasn't a hit.

[158] i'm sorry to hear that. my real name is actually pretty good for anagrams. so much so, that it's inspiring me to compose a piece based on the title...

Lovely, lovely. Just a beautiful swing from Grandy.

Good.
Nice little day for Curtis, stat-wise.

How's the momentum now, Flash?

Nice hitting, Curtis.

Ah, apparently the momentum has now swung back. Okay.

[174] It really was.

"That's a shot at Jim Kaat you just took!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!

Flash is funny.

[162] That was definitely seven dwarves-influenced.

Thornton is getting whupped. But he throws 97!

Man, if I was a White Sox fan, I'd be drinking bleach right about now ...

Fuck, Chavez looks like a tall version of Mattingly.

And a Mattingly-esque hit, too!

:)

He looks exactly like him.

Anyone else getting a little Donnie Baseball vibe from Chavez when he's hitting?

Especially now that he's rocking the 'stache?

The way his eyes bug out when he makes contact, the mustache, stance, head down on the ball...

[184]-[186] I guess so!

=)

Maybe AJ will pull a Kevin Brown in the clubhouse and come back ultra refreshed in mid- Septermber to prove if he still sucks.

[183] man, if i were a Yankees fan, i'd be drinkin' Alaskan Amber Ale right now. oh, wait...! ; )

[189] Ha! Weird!

I'M NOT DEAD YET!!!

So yeah, Derek Jeter post DL trip has been pretty awesome

Damn, the Yankees really have a lot of momentum now.

[195] Be careful. It could swing back real quick. ; )

jeter really is a tough sumbitch...

nice to see him sitting next to his bff in the dugout...

[196] Yeah, that's the way it is with momentum. Snap, like that, it's changed. Newton, right?

ok, so i know jeter has only had 3 5-5 games, but i'm guessing he's had 5 hits in a game a few more times than that. anyone know? william j/nyy23 around?

Nuñez?