I hate to say "I told you so"... no wait! I LOVE saying "I told you so"

10 days ago I wrote a blog post... basically calling Joe Girardi's pitching rotation for the ALCS insane. I thought that lining up the rotation so Sabathia would not be available to pitch Game 7, flip flopping Hughes and Pettitte so Andy faced Cliff Lee and throwing A. J. Burnett in Game 4 gave the Rangers a clear and almost unfair advantage in Games 3, 4 and 7. In other words, Girardi had set

10 thoughts about Game 4 of the 2010 ALCS

Thought 1: A. J. Burnett wasn't good.There will be some defenders of his outing... that he was effective until the 6th inning and that he pitched better than expected.But let's get down to brass tacks. It was only his jaw droppingly low expectations that made this game look good by comparison.6 innings, 5 runs, 6 hits and 3 walks is not a good line. That is a 7.50 ERA. They needed a quality start

Texas Dragonslayers

You want to slay dragons this off season, Texas… then there’s no better way to do it than this.When my Red Sox slew their many dragons in 2004, they had to go through New York to do it… facing down fears and demons that brought down the franchise for so many generations.Well, so far the Rangers have reached heights that the franchise has never scaled before. They are in the ALCS.They still haven’

Are the Yankees insane?

Let's say you are organizing the entertainment at a casino.While putting the line up of shows together, you realize that you can have Frank Sinatra perform three nights... but you say "Nah... we only want Frank for two nights. We need to save his voice, so we'll book Steve Lawrence instead for a night."And when lining up the shows you say "We won't have Sinatra in our biggest show. We're booking

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2010 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK YANKEES

The Rangers are still looking for their first home playoff win in their history... and after being 5 outs from sweeping their way into the ALCS, they are forced to play a winner take all game and either get eliminated or win but not have Cliff Lee ready for games 1 or 2 of the ALCS.Is there ANYONE who thinks the Rangers could actually beat the Yankees?And if the Rays win, they'll be throwing

YES... you can be a .500 winner and deserve the Cy Young Award

I heard the panel on MLB last night talk about the American League Cy Young Award today and they unanimously picked C. C. Sabathia, mainly based on his 20 wins.John Hart said that Felix Hernandez had the great numbers but his win total wasn't enough.I don't claim to know more about baseball than John Hart nor the panel.That being said, that is "smearing feces on the wall crazy."And yesterday's

Is there an East Coast Bias in Awards voting?

I've been supporting Felix Hernandez as the Cy Young winner even though I think voters will vote for C. C. Sabathia and his 20 wins (even though King Felix has him beat in every other category.)But some people, including the good folks at Emerald City Diamond Gems, think that the fact that Sabathia plays in New York will tip the scales his way.I've heard this before... the votes ALWAYS slant

Felix Hernandez's win total is reason FOR his Cy Young Candidacy

I've been making the case for Felix Hernandez to win the Cy Young Award for about a month now and I have been alone.Yes he leads the league in a lot of statistics that I don't completely understand...Win Probability Added... Situational Wins... Base Out Wins Saved... Adjusted Pitching Wins... I am still learning how to quantify them. But King Felix leads all of those categories, which is

Man, Price and C. C. sure LOOKED like Cy Young contenders tonight

I've been singing the praises of Felix Hernandez to win the Cy Young Award since August.And Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports agrees with me.And I know I am not supposed to be seduced by David Price's and C. C. Sabathia's win loss total.But holy cats they looked like a pair of aces tonight.8 innings, no runs 9 strikeouts for Sabathia?8 innings, no runs, 3 hits 2 walks for Price?In a game for first

It's a big series! (Or is it?)

On the surface, the Rays vs. the Yankees looks like a clash of Titans. The two best teams in baseball going head to head... whoever wins tonight will be in first place by themselves with the best record in the bigs.Each team is throwing their Cy Young candidate. Sabathia vs. Price. Each team is coming off of recent losses where their bullpen coughed it up and will be looking to right the

Most 20 game winners in 90 years? It’s possible

In 2006, when 16 wins was good enough to lead the National League, it seemed like the 20 game winner was going the way of the Dodo and the Liberal Republican.But win #20 is making a comeback in 2010... or at least it COULD be.Now, of course, I know the win total isn't the end all and be all of a pitcher's greatness.I've been advocating Felix Hernandez to win the Cy Young Award even though his

New Cy Young Contenders in the A.L.

After Saturday, it didn't seem like David Price, Jon Lester nor Cliff Lee were really that interested in winning the American League Cy Young Award.Well if the front runners don't wan to pull away from the pack... then the actual winner could emerge from a much bigger pool.Trevor Cahill has the lowest batting average against, is neck and neck with Cliff Lee for best WHIP and is third in ERA. His

EVERYONE wants the NL Cy Young, but NOBODY wants the AL Cy Young

While the National League Cy Young race has been fascinating all year by the number of legit candidates (Roy Halladay, Adam Wainwright, Ubaldo Jimenez, Tim Hudson and with a great September Johan Santana could all win it), the AL race has been kind of lackluster...It's been a rough few day for the AL Front Runners.Last night Jon Lester got bombarded.Tonight David Price was subpar in his game