Something special happens around 0:59 of this video

7th inning of Game 5...Lee and Lincecum are locking antlers in a pitchers duel...Giant fans at the Public House watching.For the first minute of this video, everyone is paying close attention, but know there are 2 outs, Cliff Lee is not the pinata he was in Game 1, and that a scoring opportunity may be squandered here.I mean how many times can Edgar Renteria come through for the Giants.Then the

Brian Cashman is having a hell of an off season

On December 3rd of this year, Brian Cashman rappelled off of a 350 foot building in Stamford Connecticut. He did NOT fall to his death.And that is probably the one positive thing that has happened to Cashman this off season.As of this writing, Cashman's improvements to the team have been NOT losing two Yankee legends, signing a non tendered catcher from the Dodgers, an adequate lefty reliever

Can we please ease up on the "Cliff Lee turned down money!" rhetoric?

I am getting a little tired of hearing about all the money Cliff Lee walked away from when he signed with the Phillies.Yes, he could have tens of millions of dollars more if he signed with the Yankees and Rangers. And yes it is rare for a player to NOT sign for the highest dollar.But let's slow down the selfless Cliff Lee not caring about money storyline please.He isn't walking away from the

File this under HOLY CRAP! Cliff Lee goes back to the Phillies

OK, who saw THIS coming?Seriously... when I heard the Phillies were wandering in the mix for Cliff Lee I thought "They are still trying to make up for sticking Lee in the Roy Halladay trade. They are at least showing their fans that they knew they screwed that up."It seemed like it was for show.And I had asked Phillies fans to let their team off the hook for dealing Lee.But obviously they weren't

Carl Pavano and the American Dream

Has there ever been a player in baseball history with better timing than Carl Pavano? It’s staggering if you think about it from a certain point of view.If I turned the clock back just two years and mentioned Carl Pavano’s name, it would be a baseball punchline.He was the $39.95 million bust with the Yankees… the guy who pitched 9 games total in his last three years with the Yankees… the guy who

Cliff Lee... one the best post season pitchers ever? Not so sure about that.

The Cliff Lee sweepstakes keeps on rolling and I hear commentators and writers talk about how he is an All Time great post season pitcher.Now I am not going to belittle his post season record but let's calm down for a little bit.First of all, if I turned back the back the world a la Superman all the way back to 2008, Cliff Lee's career post season numbers would look like this:0 Games.So he went

I actually am happy for Cleveland fans this off season

Why do you ask?Imagine if Cliff Lee was still with the Indians and he was the bad ass Cy Young winner and hope for any World Series title by the Lake.Then imagine if he was going through this whole footsie with the Yankees, Rangers and the Indians this off season and EVERYONE trying to guess where he is going to go.Will he stay here.Will he take the big bucks elsewhere?Will he go to New York?And

Reviewing who was traded for Cliff Lee

As the baseball world focuses on Arkansas for the first time EVER and wonder where Cliff Lee will go, one thing is certain:One team will be grumbling when the season begins that all of their courtship yielded nothing.Well, if he goes to New York, the Rangers will get a pair of draft picks.And if he goes back to Texas, the Yankees will still have the money and some prospects to try and make

Another Cliff Lee thought

Each day Cliff Lee doesn't sign, it seems like the Rangers, the Yankees and probably some other team add more money to the offer.Each week that goes by it seems like another year is thrown onto the contract.What if Cliff Lee waited until just before spring training?Get the teams all sweating.He could have a 15 year contract for $375 million.Hey, it's worth a shot!

Hey Arte! You can still make this biggest splash this off season!

Arte Moreno, I understand you aren't happy that the Angels stayed home this October. Since you took over the Angels in 2003 (when they were still the defending champs), the Angels have made the playoffs in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009... yet have yet to make it past the ALCS under your guidance.I know that this year with the injuries and Kendry Morales breaking his own damn leg must have

If all things were equal, Cliff Lee should be a Cardinal

Wherever Cliff Lee will sign, it will be for the biggest contract. And why not? Would YOU turn down the most dough?And after being a Cy Young winner in 2008, he has played for four different teams. So why shouldn't he go for stability in his life now?And of course the Yankees are front runners.The Rangers want him back and supposedly there are some other clubs in the running.If it weren't a money

Will Cliff Lee's free agency be like the end of Superman 2?

There's a great scene in Superman 2 that I will spoil here.If you haven't seen the movie... it came out nearly 30 years ago. Take your time.In the scene, the evil Kryptonians led by General Zod have been obsessing over one thing: Capturing and defeating Superman.And when they cornered him in the Fortress of Solitude, Superman was forced to go into that chamber that takes all of his powers away.

Jonathan Sanchez should start today... and here's why

The Giants should take Sanchez's sorry arm out of the ice pack and throw him today... against Cliff Lee.And I am kind of serious.Right now they have Lincecum going up against Lee. It could be a wash. Two awesome aces, neither had their best game in Game 1.And Lee knows that a win tonight could help him get that $100 million contract in the off season.So I am basically going back to the logic I

I told the Rangers to start Cliff Lee

As I wrote on Thursday, this is not a second guess. Cliff Lee should have started Game 4. He didn't go 5 innings in Game 1 and this could have been a series changing game.Yes I know Madison Bumgarner pitched brilliantly, but who is to say he would have pitched as well knowing how little margin for error he would have with Lee pitching for the other team.Maybe Lee goes more than 4 innings and

Not a second guess

Note time and date that I am typing this.With Cliff Lee pitching less than 5 innings in Game 1, Ron Washington HAS to throw him in Game 4.As it stands right now, if the Rangers split Games 2 and 3, then they will be handing the ball to Tommy Hunter to prevent it from being a 3-1 hole.Cliff Lee versus Madison Bumgarner is a mismatch and (assuming Texas wins games 2 or 3) would give the Rangers the

Poll Results from the Live Blog

During Game 1 of the World Series, I did a Live Blog. And along the way, I would give quick polls to the participating readers.Let's see the results of the polls:When Tim Lincecum looked shaky in the first few innings, I posted this poll.When Linecum forgot to throw to third on a run down, I asked this question.I posed this one after the Giants just looked over matched in the first few innings. A

A win is a win... no matter how ugly

Giant fans should be really happy they don't have style points for World Series wins. Because this was Jabba the Hutt ugly.In what everyone and their moose thought was going to be a classic pitchers duel devolved into a sloppier than Oscar Madison's bedroom fiasco.You had Lincecum, who pitched the first two innings like he was as high as Cheech and Chong during the car scene from Up in Smoke.In

THIS is why people hate the Yankees

I've had some interesting exchanges with people regarding the whole "people other than Rangers fans are going to take pleasure with the Yankees losing" concept.One person, whose name I will NOT say but you know who you are, kept trying to defend the Yankees saying "Hey, they had a terrific year and you have to give them that."As if people were saying "Man, Joe Girardi led a rag tag bunch of

Yankee haters... give them 24 hours. Yankee fans... expect to get it BADLY

I urge my fellow Yankee haters to not taunt Yankee fans tonight. In fact give them 24 hours to grieve.Out of courtesy.Out of dignity.Unless of course if you are a Texas Rangers fan.Then by all means let loose. But you must also supply a photograph of you wearing a Texas Rangers hat PRIOR to 2010.Preferably a picture of you with some classic Rangers player. Maybe with Ruben Sierra or Rusty

It is feeling a lot like 1992 around here

A franchise that had been a post season monster was on the verge of losing the ALCS 4-1 in their home park.A franchise that had never ever won a post season series had stunned the biggest and baddest team in baseball to take a 3-1 lead in the ALCS.The proud recent champion sent their stud ace to the mound... and he held serve. The big bad recent champs won Game 5 convincingly and sent the series