Is this Red Sox team unlikable not just to Yankees fans, but to Boston fans?

I just finished watching Saturday's Yankees-Red Sox game on the MLB TV broadcast hooked up to my television. Well worth watching, even though I knew how it ended! What was really obvious was that Bobby Valentine is the designated Boston scapegoat for the team's woes this year -- he was getting booed way more than anybody else on the team.

Now, Bobby V certainly isn't perfect, but man, the Red Sox are an extraordinary unlikable team, and the lion's share of the blame ought to go on them, more than the manager. Boston is, what, 10-34 since September 2011? Those are 1962 Mets numbers. That speaks to a real dysfunction. Maybe the players are just mad that their little country club got busted up; maybe they are peeved they can no longer booze it up in the clubhouse or eat fried chicken during games. Boo bleeding hoo.

And what a bunch of jerks there are in the Boston clubhouse now -- even more than usual! I was struck by something Friday when watching an interview with Pedro Martinez Friday, after he spoke at Boston's 100-year celebration for Fenway Park -- how he was somebody Yankee fans loved to hate. He was a worthwhile opponent -- talented and intelligent, and a real warrior (although him pushing Don Zimmer to the ground was pretty ridiculous.) He was a real character, and fun to watch, no matter if you were rooting for him or against him.

Who do the Sox have now as their warrior, their ace? Josh Beckett, an ignorant clown who 1) has never apologized for being the ringleader of the fried chicken and beer brigade, 2) who is obsessed with finding the "snitch" who told the media about it, and 3) who reportedly blames Kevin Youkilis for the leak. Whatta guy.

Here's what Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston wrote the other day about Beckett. For all the media interest in Valentine calling out Youkilis, the more interesting story to me was this:

Josh Beckett complained bitterly about clubhouse "snitches," and it turns out he and other players made some effort to identify who the "snitch" was, the person or persons Beckett and others felt had leaked damning information about things that went on in what the players considered their inner sanctum.

There were reasons to believe Youkilis was one of the players called out by Beckett.

So, let me get this straight. You have arguably the worst September collapse ever, even with a record payroll, you think it's okay to get your drink on during games, and your biggest concern is finding the snitches? Good grief.

Then there's Dustin Pedroia, who is apparently bent out of shape that his buddy Francona is no longer in the team. Dustin, who some fans compare to Derek Jeter, had this to say the other day when it came to Bobby V calling out Youkilis:

“I know Youk plays as hard as anyone I’ve ever seen in my life and I have his back and his teammates have his back,’’ Pedroia said. “We know how hard he plays. I don’t really understand what Bobby’s trying to do, but that’s not the way we go about our stuff around here. I’m sure he’ll figure that out soon.’’...


When he was asked if Valentine’s was to try to motivate Youkilis, Pedroia replied: “Maybe in Japan or something, but over here in the US we’re on a three-game winning streak and we want to feel good and keep it rolling.

Calling out his own manager? And what is the "that’s not the way we go about our stuff around here"? No, the way the Red Sox go about their stuff around there is stinking up a storm in September, drinking in the clubhouse during games, and isolating good guys like Jacoby Ellsbury (remember how Youkilis called him out?) Take that quote that Pedroia said, and put in in the mouth of somebody that you may not like in baseball. It would be considered insubordinate by anybody else, that's for sure. Pedroia's only 28, but he already has that spoiled, entitled veteran thing down pat!

Bill Madden wrote this about how the inmates are running the asylum in Beantown, talking about the mess Valentine is in:

And this doesn’t include the near player revolt he had on his hands the very first week of spring training when, the Daily News has learned, he got all over shortstop Mike Aviles in what sources described as “a very ugly scene” during infield drills. After a group of Red Sox players confronted him with outrage, Valentine had to apologize to Aviles.

I wasn't there, but it sounds like most of the Red Sox team are all too happy to keep the place a country club, where they don't get challenged on anything. The thing is, though, I can't imagine that Red Sox fans are real happy to be rooting for these guys. Who wants to cheer for the clowns on this team? But man, is this delicious to watch for this Yankee fan!

Yankees pummel Red Sox, and I miss all of it!

Squawker Jon and I were meeting up in Battery Park City to see the premiere of Knuckleball! last night, so we missed seeing the Yankees-Red Sox game. To be blunt, when I saw that Freddy Garcia was pitching for the Yanks, I didn't expect much, especially given that it was a FOX broadcast, which the Yanks have a bad record on. Nor did the Yanks get much -- Garcia didn't make it out of the second inning.

Anyhow, when I saw that the score was 9-0 Red Sox, I figured that the game was over. Then the Yanks kept on coming back. We ran into the Mighty Quinn Media Machine in the VIP section of the movie showing while waiting for the movie to start (more on the flick in a separate post!) and every time one of us took a look at the score, it seemed like the Yanks were threatening. Then somehow, they ended up putting on 15 runs on the boards, without Boston scoring another run in the game! Unbelievable!

Needless to say, I was pleased as punch at the results, while my Red Sox fan and Met fan cohorts were not exactly thrilled by the turn of events. Heh!

I am watching the replay of MLB TV via Roku right now. I just bought a subscription to MLB TV, and this is the first time I've watched a game on it. I immediately skipped to the top of the inning, and was thrilled to hear no broadcasters. No McCarver, no Buck. It was aweseome! Then they started yakking again -- the reason some of the broadcast replay did not have them is because apparently the FOX broadcast had cut to Philip Humber's perfect game, so people watching live missed seeing Nick Swisher's grand slam live! If I had been one of them, I would have been ticked off. (By the way, how about it -- yet another former Met pitches a perfect game!)

Yankees ruin Fenway's 100th birthday party

Shocker -- Squawker Jon and I had an argument over today's New York Post cover. I left a message telling Jon to check it out -- it features, of course, Alex Rodriguez hitting a homer to help beat the Boston Red Sox and put a damper on Fenway Park's 100th anniversary celebration, with the headline "100 Years of Ass Kicking."

Anyhow, here is the email I received from Jon in return, with the subject line "The Math Is a Little Off':

Since 2003:
Championships: Red Sox 2, Yankees 1
Pennants: Red Sox 2, Yankees 1
Head-to-Head Playoff Series: Red Sox 1, Yankees 0

Nice "Met math" we have going there. 100 years gets cut down to eight. And he doesn't even actually include 2003, a year the Yanks beat the Red Sox head-to-head in the ALCS. Lovely.

So, Jon, if you want to cut 100 years down to eight, I have a few suggestions for the years to pick:

1936-1943:
Championships: Yankees 6, Red Sox 0

Pennants: Yankees 7, Red Sox 0


or maybe these eight years:

1949-1956:

Championships: Yankees 6, Red Sox 0

Pennants: Yankees 7, Red Sox 0


or how about these eight years?:

1996-2003:

Championships: Yankees 4, Red Sox 0

Pennants: Yankees 6, Red Sox 0
Head-to-Head Playoff Series:  Yankees 2,  Red Sox 0
Mets Being Humiliated as the Yankees Beat Them Head-to-Head in the World Series: 1

You see? This is why the Yankees simply had to beat the Mets in the 200 World Series. Because the way the Met math works, like the way Jon tries to twist around the Yankees/Red Sox numbers to most disfavor the Yankees, it would not matter how many times the Yanks beat the Mets head-to-head, or how many rings the Bombers had. In Met math, like it is in Red Sox math, every other time the Yanks dominated the other team would not matter if the Yanks had lost head-to-head.

Fortunately, Jon's Mets did not win in 2000. So all he has to crow about is how another team did against the Yanks in some teensy slice of history. Is that all ya got, buddy?


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Farewell to Jason Varitek: the catcher who fights like a girl

So new Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine is trying to ingratiate himself with Red Sox Nation by, among other things, praising retiring catcher Jason Varitek saying the Red Sox captain was "able to beat up Alex" Rodriguez. (Bobby V also said that Derek Jeter never actually practiced the flip play, and he nearly hurt himself the next day having to do a 180 and take that back!)

Anyhow, I have never understood why Red Sox fans praise that "fight" as being some great moment for their team, nor do I think that Tek "beat up" anybody. Because, frankly, Jason Varitek fought like a girl in the brouhaha. First of all, you cannot be considered a tough guy when you keep your catcher's mask during a fight. Some warrior. Second, he kept his catcher's mitt on, too. Third, he grabbed at A-Rod's face like a girl would in a hair-pulling snit fit or something. Fourth, he grabbed at Alex's crotch, too. Again, that's fighting like a girl, too.

The whole "fight" was stupid -- and orchestrated. If you may remember, Rodriguez helped the Yanks beat the Red Sox the night before, so Bronson (aka "Brandon," as A-Rod always called him) Arroyo plunked A-Rod to start something, one of the many, many times Yankees got plunked over the years by Boston pitchers. (And how long did it take for David Ortiz to get his? A decade? But I digress.)

Here is what one Red Sox blogger said the other day praising Varitek in the week that, as he puts it, "the warrior is hanging up his armor" (you mean the catcher's mask he hid in?) Emphasis added by me:

Arroyo buzzed him squarely in the back on his second trip to the plate. Rodriguez didn't like it and started jawing (that's polite for cursing out Arroyo) as he slowly walked to first base.


Sox catcher Jason Varitek decidedly didn't like what he heard, stood between Arroyo and ARod, asked ARod to repeat himself, ARod obliged and it was on. Rodriguez's head jolted back as Tek mashed his face with his catcher's mitt and then, frankly, raunched him by getting his right arm under ARod's crotch and clasped his left hand behind the ARod's buttocks and lifted. It hurts just to write about it.

Oooh, what a fighter! Puh-lease.

Look, other than the fight, I really don't dislike Varitek -- he stood up and participated in the "It Gets Better" project, and he seems like a decent enough guy, although his leadership during the fried chicken and beer brouhaha last year left something to be desired. For years, he hasn't even cracked  my least favorite Red Sox list. But please, stop telling me what a great fighter Varitek was against A-Rod. I've seen tougher fights in the girls' bathroom in high school.

What do you say? Does Jason Varitek fight like a girl?

Brian Cashman Claims He Never Wanted to Be GM of the Yankees

Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein did one of those "A Conversation With..." blah blah blah type things in Connecticut the other day. And to my complete lack of surprise, Cashman kept up his record about complaining about his job more than anybody in the history of the world, griping about how difficult George Steinbrenner was, and even claiming that Cashman didn't ever really want to be GM of the Yanks. (Really?)

"I never wanted to be the general manager of the New York Yankees," Brian Cashman said, according to Yahoo Sports. "I still don't." Dylan Stableford, the writer of the article, said, "You would think he was joking, but he said it twice."

Brian is babbling sheer nonsense. Why does Cashman say this type of hokum? What is his point, exactly? It's about as believable of the Southern woman who spends days and dollars buying the right dress, then says, "Oh, this old thing" when complimented on it. Fiddle-dee-dee!

The thing is, you don't work your way up the food chain, putting in the crazy, long hours that MLB front office people do, if you don't have your eye on some kind of prize at the end. I interviewed some MLB staffers for an upcoming magazine article, and every single person said how long the hours were. Every day. All year. So why did Cashman put in those sort of hours? Because it was all so he could one day have the honor of being a celebrity bartender at Foley's?
  
And why did Cash not just stay as general manager since 1998, but just sign a new contract with the Yankees, if he really didn't want to be the GM? Because he just wanted to get a chance to rappel down Yankee Stadium in the future?

Here's more from the event. George Steinbrenner "would overreact in every inning. Every inning of every game was Armageddon. He was that way," Cashman said, according to ESPN New York. "That was tough to work through, it really was because everything was the short term, here and now, there was no long term, it was what are you doing in this moment and how are you doing, if you are doing well in this moment." 

Complaining about Steinbrenner being a tough boss is like somebody dating Kim Kardashian in 2012 and griping that she's more interested in publicity than love. You go to work for Steinbrenner, you can't expect sunshine and lollipops every minute.


But even then, we know that the Boss wasn't as tough in the later years as his reputation, and various health reasons ended the Steinbrenner of old. If he were the same old Steinbrenner, heads would have rolled after 2004, for one thing. Yet everybody in power got to keep their jobs after the worst collapse in MLB history. How did that work?
At any rate, nothing is more tedious than hearing people of privilege like Cashman, who have money and fame and power, gripe about how hard their lives are. He ought to team up with actress Katherine Heigl, who is known to do the same sort of moaning about how brutal her life is. Maybe they can go visit some people struggling right here in the good ol' USA, and see how good they have it. Or maybe they can make their tales of woe into a movie -- "Two for the Money."

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Were Jason Giambi and Roger Clemens Drinking in the Dugout?

I have been enjoying the heck out of the Boston Red Sox Fried Chicken and Beer (and Video Games!) scandal. What the heck were Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey thinking? They were paid to be part of a baseball team; not to act like something out of "Animal House" or something!

Anyhow, I'm a  little disappointed to see all the rationalizations for their shameful behavior out there -- Babe Ruth drank, Dwight Gooden did coke, blah blah blah. Of course, these rationalizations only go for booze and recreational drugs, not performance-enhancing drugs -- you'll never hear somebody say that doing steroids is okay because Mark McGwire did it, or taking HGH is okay because Andy Pettitte did it. 

Besides, it's 2011. Maybe it's time that people stop doing stupid things just because other people did them in the past. And you cannot justify drinking alcohol during a game when you are an MLB player, no matter how much people try to. If players cannot wait three hours until the game over before getting their drink on, they've got issues.

And I have said on Facebook, I would be equally as outraged if The Three Stupidos were Yankees. And now it's time to put my money where my mouth is. Today's New York Daily News has a combination apologia for boozing in baseball, combined with details on other players who drank before, during, and after games. Yet there's no mention of St. Louis pitcher Josh Hancock, who died in an accident after driving drunk. Nor of the six MLB players who were arrested for driving under the influence this season. But the article does claim that Jason Giambi and Roger Clemens drank in the dugout during games:

According to one of the insiders, Jason Giambi and Roger Clemens would routinely drink beer on the dugout bench when they played for the Yankees, passing back and forth what Giambi called his "protein shake," code for a cup of beer, the source said.

If this is true, where was Joe Torre? Snoozing in the dugout again? How can you not detect the smell of beer -- it doesn't exactly smell like a protein shake!

The article also talks about unnamed Mets players drinking during games, and Keith Hernandez drinking after games. Um, drinking a beer after the game is over is not the same thing at all as doing it during games, so I don't know why that Keith Hernandez tidbit was included. 

Anyhow, I think it's perfectly reasonable for the Red Sox pitchers to get their share of ridicule and scrutiny right now. You go 7-20 in September, and have the worst collapse in regular season history, you deserve all the grief you get. But please, enough with the "everybody does it" argument. Everybody does not do it. 

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Who Is Promoting Brian Cashman as Red Sox GM -- Brian Cashman?

I should be used to Yankee GM Brian Cashman's constant need for whining, puffery and self-promotion by now -- after all, just last month, he complained to ESPN New York's about how his current job required "a price of time, effort, expectations, pressure, stress levels, all that different stuff." You know, kind of like how every other job in the universe does, but at a close to $3 million a year salary. Boo bleeding hoo.

Anyhow, I was still taken aback by the "rumor" that Cashman could be in the running for taking over Theo Epstein's GM position in Boston. Who fed the media the rumor -- Cashman himself? (Incidentally, remember this summer, how Cashman's name was included as a possibility to be the new Cubs' GM? Yet it looks like Chicago only talked to Theo Epstein for the job? Funny how that works.)

It wouldn't be the first time Cashman threw his hat in the ring to be Boston's GM. Remember that New York Magazine profile of him from the summer of 2004, where his wife Mary said, “Brian would like to go to Boston and win the World Series as general manager of the Red Sox. That would be any man’s dream, to go up there and become the god of Boston." That was the same profile which had Brian talking about how smart he was in getting Javier Vazquez over Curt Schilling, and had some anonymous agent praising his trade of Jeff Weaver for the immortal Kevin Brown. At any rate, the fact that Cashman never even got called on the carpet in Yankeeland for that interview showed that the days of the Big Bad Boss were long over. But I digress.

Anyhow, aside from the fact that it's very likely, given how much he has been included in postseason postmortems, that Red Sox assistant GM Ben Cherington is going to be the next GM of the Boston Red Sox, what, exactly, would convince Boston ownership that Brian Cashman would be the right man for the job? What would make their fan base accept somebody who has spent his entire career in the Yankees organization?That at least the Yanks' overpriced free agent pitcher A.J. Burnett stays in the dugout and watches his team during games, unlike fried-chicken eating, beer-drinking, video-game playing John Lackey? (Incidentally, if you haven't read the Boston Globe's investigation of what went wrong, please do so. It is absolutely delicious reading for Red Sox haters!)

I also had to laugh of the ridiculousness of Yankee president Randy Levine's own puffery in declaring that the 2011 Yankees season was a failure, then talking in the same interview about bringing back Cashman. Remember, Levine said: "We are the Yankees. That is the way The Boss set it up. When you don't win the World Series, it is a bitter disappointment and not a successful year." So, when is Levine handing in his own resignation? Or looking for a new GM? Gee, you'd think that all this talk of "World Series or bust" is just a sop to the rubes, since nobody ever actually loses his job or anything! Not even a general manager who once looked longingly at being Boston's GM!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

The Rain, the Park, and Other Things (Yes, I'm Making a Cowsills Reference!)

I was driving home last night, getting ready to cross the Bayonne Bridge, when I saw a slew of scary-looking clouds in the sky. But WFAN know-it-all Mike Francesa insisted that it was a beautiful night, with a 72 degree temperature and not a cloud in the sky. So much for Mike's weather report. And so much for MLB's weather report.

Not only does the rainout change everything, especially with putting A.J. Burnett in the mix, (and CC had better be pitching tomorrow!) but it also inconvenienced a lot of Yankee fans, including our radio host friend Larry (The Amigo) Milian and his New York Sports Report co-host, Philly "Dizz" Domanic. They flew up from South Florida to see Friday's game, only to see just an inning and a half. Yikes!

To top it all off, the news that Friday's came was being postponed was presented by Joe Torre. You can imagine how thrilled I was to see him, especially after reflecting on the way he mismanaged the Yanks the last time the team faced Detroit in the postseason. Come to think of it, maybe Torre and MLB relied on Mike Francesa's weather report!

Oh, and can we please stop the "Joe Torre should be the Red Sox manager" boomlet in its tracks? Torre has a cushy job now, where he can threaten to punish the people and teams he hates (A-Rod, the Mets, etc.) under the auspices of MLB. He hasn't shown much interest in working very hard for a long time. By his own admission in "The Yankee Years," the clubhouse was hopelessly divided, not playing together as a team. And in any team he managed, he has been the oxygen thief, taking all the attention -- and the credit -- away from the front office and ownership. To top it all off, Joe has no interest in sabermetrics.

So given those facts, how would he possibly be a good fit with Boston, other than entertaining the media with his dopey stories? The press is so solipsistic, focusing on how he made their jobs easier, and not noticing that in recent years, he really didn't do much to make teams better (he would never have even made the playoffs in Los Angeles without Manny Ramirez, for one thing.)  Not to mention that Torre going to Boston would make the furor over "The Yankee Years" look like a day in the park. I should want the Sox to hire Torre, because he would make things even worse. But at any rate, the chances of that happening are about as big as Roger Clemens taking over the team.

Here's hoping that Ivan Nova does as well tonight as the Rays' rookie did against the Rangers yesterday.



What do you think? Tell us about it!

Report: Were Boston Red Sox Pitchers Drinking Beer During Games?

Quick squawk, as I breathe a sigh of relief that Freddy Garcia, not A.J. Burnett, is the Yankees' Game 3 starter: I read this in today's Boston Herald: "According to multiple sources, more than one pitcher drank beer in the clubhouse during games on the days he didn’t pitch." If this report is true, are you flipping kidding me? Geez, is it too much to expect your players to say sober when they are in uniform during games? And what the heck was Terry Francona doing when some members of his rotation may have been treating game time as Miller Time?

Good grief. Maybe I'm naive, but other than the famous Jack Daniels shot in the Sox clubhouse before Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, I haven't heard many stories of players drinking beer in uniform during games. Even David Wells, for all his partying ways, was never accused of boozing it up during a game. Whether or not it was a game a player was pitching in is irrelevant. Crazy times!

I listened to the Terry Francona/Theo Epstein presser yesterday, and while they didn't give explicit details, they did acknowledge that there was some clubhouse turmoil and a bad atmosphere, so much so that Francona had to call a team meeting after a 14-0 win! Terry admitted that "We were spending too much energy on things that weren’t putting our best foot forward toward winning." Interesting!

The thing that got me with that press conference was that they both acknowledged problems in the clubhouse, as well as players not being in good physical condition. Hmmmm, isn't that the manager's job? To keep the players working together, and make sure they are ready to play?

(The other thing that amazed me in the presser was Theo Epstein suggesting that John Lackey just couldn't help it when he rolled his eyes at his teammates and his manager. What, is he suffering from Sarcasm Syndrome or something, where he just can't help but show his disdain to others?)

Anyhow, I'm not exactly going out on a limb here, but my guess is that Francona is going to "leave" today as Sox manager, but it really be a firing by the front office. Speaking of which, I got a link in my email yesterday from SaveTito.com. This Yankee fan completely agrees -- I think Tito ought to be Red Sox manager for life. Get your popcorn ready!


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Pride, Power, Proctor

So the Yankees allow a cast of scrubs to blow a seven-run lead while sitting All-Star relievers Mariano Rivera and David Robertson and some folks give Jose Reyes grief for not being Ted Williams?

Before I get to the conclusion of my brief stint as a Yankee fan, I want to congratulate Jose on becoming the first Met to win a batting title. And there's nothing on the final day to apologize for. As Squawker Lisa points out, the reason we remember Ted Williams' heroics 70 years later is that they are so unusual.

Players sit on their stats in meaningless games all the time. As Mike Vaccaro pointed out in the Post, Bernie Williams left the last game of the 1998 season early to protect his batting title. And as one of Lisa's Facebook friends pointed out, in 2008 Derek Jeter left the game early and sat out the last two games, finishing with a batting average of exactly .300.

I do feel a little bad for the loyal fans who came out to Citi Field yesterday, but they ultimately got what they paid to see - Reyes win a batting title and appear in what could be his last game as a Met.

Reyes' early departure was handled awkwardly, but these are the Mets. And my main concern with Reyes is that the Mets now avoid an early departure for Reyes from his Mets career.

***

So much for my three-day stint as a Yankee fan. If I had wanted to see epic bullpen meltdowns, I could have stayed in Flushing. But the Yankees are not obligated to use Mariano and Robertson in a meaningless game for them as they prepare for the playoffs any more than Reyes was obligated to play the whole game.

And whatever the Yankees did, it was the Red Sox who were responsible for their own collapse. While I wanted to see the Red Sox win, I have to say that I don't mind seeing the Sox and Braves pass the 2007 Mets on the list of epic chokes.

Especially the Braves.

While my brief stint as a Yankee fan was a bust, my brief stint as a Phillies fan went well, with the Fightins finishing off the collapsing Braves. And the Phillies did themselves proud, with veterans Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and even ancient Raul Ibanez playing all thirteen innings of last night's game.

***

Thankfully, the postseason is here, so I can go back to rooting against both the Yankees and the Phillies. I just hope I don't have to make another grim choice in the World Series.

The Choke's on Them: Red Sox Lose, Squawker Lisa Does the Snoopy Dance

This is the happiest I've ever been after a Yankee loss. I'm exhausted from screaming and clapping and doing the Snoopy Dance to celebrate the Red Sox losing and Tampa Bay winning.

I still can't quite believe it all happened the way it did. Remember, the Yankees had a 7-0 lead against Tampa (what was up with Mark Teixeira hitting two homers?) and even though their bullpen ending up giving up six runs against the Yanks, the Bombers were still within one strike away from winning the game when Tampa tied it. And Boston was also one strike away from winning the game when Baltimore roared back to win.

There was also Atlanta's historic collapse, with the Cardinals making it into the playoffs. All in all, my TV's remote control and picture-in-picture function got quite the workout last night. That was the most action-packed, exciting night of baseball all year.

The funny thing, though,  is that if Bud Selig gets his way with adding another wild card, none of this would have happened -- both Boston and Atlana would have made the playoffs, being rewarded even though they blew their wild card leads.



It was so good, so good, as they say in Red Sox Nation, to see Boston back where they belong, choking away their playoff chances and bringing much angst to Beantown. Remember, I witnessed the carnage of the 2004 ALCS in person for Games 6 and 7. I literally cried after Game 7. And the next day, when I went into work at New York's hometown newspaper, I saw how my employer mocked the Yankees with the infamous "The Choke's On Them" Daily News cover.  Those were horrible, horrible times.

Well, now the choke is on the Red Sox again. And you'd better believe I am enjoying every single minute of it. It's not just that Boston blew a nine-game wild card lead in a month. They were also in first place as late as September 1 this year, and were in that spot for 60 days this summer. The Yanks knocked them out of first for good at the begining of September, and helped send them on this downward spiral.

BTW, I've already seen some revisionist history by a few Sox fans that this debacle isn't that bad because the team only missed a wild card spot. Puh-lease. This team was being touted as the best Red Sox squad ever. They seemed totally stacked, from top to bottom, and had a great winter of acquisitions. At the beginning of the year, most people, including myself, figured the Sox would win the division, with the Yanks winning the wild card (and who would have expected the Rays to be in the playoff picture at all?) To do what they did ranks right up there with 1978. Only thing is, the '78 Sox actually made it competitive towards the end, forcing a one-game playoff.

I feel some empathy for my Red Sox fan friends -- they deserved better for their loyalty -- but I'm still loving seeing the Red Sox franchise I remember return to its old ways. (I've been listening to WEEI on my phone all week. Great stuff hearing Red Sox Nation lose their minds!) Since 2004, the Red Sox have had their own mystique and aura, of seeming that they could come back against impossible odds. Now that's all gone.

Come to thing of it, a lot of what I see the Red Sox this year reminds me of the Yankees in 2004. And if the ownership is smart, they will fire Terry Francona, the way the Yanks should have gotten rid of Joe Torre after that year. I think that in most cases, the first five years a manager has a team are the most effective (Torre had four rings in that time, Francona two.)

One of the things Joe Girardi did, after some initial resistance, was successfully meld the four rings guys and the rest of the Yanks together as a real team, with a different identity from the late '90s dynasty. That's what the Sox need right now. From what I see, they don't have the all-for-one, one-for-all look that they did in 2004. They also don't seem to have the Kevin Millar-type joker to keep things loose, the way the Yanks have now with Nick Swisher, and didn't have in 2004.

I already see a lot of scapegoating in Red Sox Nation of Jonathan Papelbon, Carl Crawford, etc., the way A-Rod was scapegoated in 2004. But in both cases,  this was a team-wide meltdown, with nearly everybody playing a part in the suckitude.

And I don't want to hear any whining about losing pitchers due to injury. The Yankees won the AL East with CC Sabathia, the rookie Ivan Nova, and a bunch of retreads. They won with A.J.. Burnett having an even worse season than last year, and Phil Hughes being terrible and/or injured for much of the year. The two worst pitchers down the stretch for Boston were Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, both of whom are arguably better than any Yankee starter who does not have the CC initials.

Anyhow, I'm going to bask in the fact that the Red Sox of old, the ones who broke hearts all over New England, are back, baby! Good times!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Backwards Day for the Squawkers

It's as if Squawker Lisa started watching "Doctor Who" and I tuned in to "Dancing With the Stars." As if Lisa started quoting Monty Python, while I quoted Oprah. Lisa is rooting for the Yankees to lose, while I am rooting for the Yankees to win.

People complain that fantasy baseball causes fans to compromise their rooting interests. But look what the collapse of the Red Sox has done to the Squawkers!

Not that it's any fun being a Met fan pulling for the Red Sox these days, when Boston is making the Mets looks good. The Mets have only won five of their last 16. The Red Sox have only won five of their last 22.

And just when I'm putting the 2007 Mets collapse in the past, I get to be reminded of it every day.

Since I know all too well how these collapses turn out, it's not like I have any hope that the Red Sox will turn it around.

The one bright spot about the Red Sox completing their historic collapse is that it will be even worse than that of the 2007 Mets. So maybe every time a team falls apart, the Mets won't be one of the first teams mentioned.

Meanwhile, the Braves are on the verge of their own historic collapse, which would be great, except now I have to root for the Phillies, since they are playing Atlanta.

I'm still rooting for the Mets to finish on a positive note, but even Jose Reyes' pursuit of the Mets' first batting crown is tainted by the fact that these could be his last appearances in a Met uniform.

But when I was hoping for meaningful games in September, I didn't expect it would involve rooting for the Yankees and the Phillies.

On Rooting for the Orioles and the Rays, Disliking John Lackey, and Rookie Hazing

Yes, along with cheering for the Baltimore Orioles to beat the Boston Red Sox last night, I rooted for the Tampa Bay Rays to beat my beloved New York Yankees. And what of it? As Squawker reader Uncle Mike wrote yesterday, "Tibialia Rufus delenda est. The Red Sox must be destroyed." My brother says I should close every column with that phrase!

I want to see Red Sox fans wailing and gnashing their teeth over their team going down the tubes. I had great fun listening to bridge-jumping fans on WEEI last night. And I've been loving reading Boston fans killing Jacoby Ellsbury, only their team's MVP this year, because he dropped the ball and let in an inside-the-park homer last night.

And my Sox fan friends would feel the exact same way if the shoe were on the other foot, as my BoSox fan friend Sully Baseball and I discussed on his podcast last night (click here to listen.)

This Rays/Yankees series means zero to the Bombers, so why not cheer for Tampa to win, since it would help keep the Red Sox out of the playoffs. I don't want to see Boston rise from the dead, the way I feared they would after winning Sunday's game. I want them to go down in history as the worst September collapse ever. This isn't a matter of which team would be better for the Yanks in the postseason; this is a matter of extracting maximum humiliation. And if the Sox make the playoffs at all, the humiliation factor is not there.

Boston could still wake up over the last two games -- after 2004, I NEVER count them out. But here's hoping they continue their September swoon.

One other note on the Sox. Whenever I have pointed out that John Lackey, who I think is a colossal jerk, is actually having a worse season than A.J. Burnett, I've heard back from fans to not be so hard on Lackey, because his wife has breast cancer, and that's part of the reason for his terrible numbers. There's also been some holding back in the press on slamming Lackey due to that issue. And apparently, even the Sox's Bill James asked people to give Lackey a break because of this wife.

Now comes the news, courtesy of TMZ, that Lackey has filed for divorce from his cancer-stricken wife. Then he tried to make himself the victim here, being all outraged with the media Sunday, because some reporter dared to text him over the issue. Good grief.

I've seen a lot of outrage online over TMZ somehow invading Lackey's privacy by reporting a public filing. I wonder where all these Lackey lackeys were when the media ran story after story putting Alex Rodriguez's personal life on the front page, with zero newsworthiness other than it being a way to sell papers. When the press ran stories which were based on unsubstantiated rumors, like the centaur thing, his alleged behavior at strip joints, his tipping habits, and the supposed meltdown over being filmed at the Super Bowl, a meltdown that never actually happened. Not to mention the fact that MLB did a gambling investigation on A-Rod, based on a story from a scandal sheet, even though he could not possibly have been at one of the games in question because he was playing in the World Series.

At any rate, given the intense media attention that the Boston Red Sox's collapse has gotten, how Lackey thought that nobody in the media would write about him divorcing his wife when she has cancer is pretty astonishing. He ought to ask Newt Gingrich and John Edwards about the issue!

* * *

I was wondering when the Yankees were going to do the rookie hazing thing. They did it last night, having the kids dress up as 80s music stars -- Prince, Madonna, George Michael, Milli Vanilli, Slash, and MC Hammer. Aside from the fact that it made me feel old to see some of the big names of my younger days being a nostalgia thing, I noticed a few other things:

* Other than the Madonna costume, and maybe the George Michael one, the "hazing" was nonexistent, particularly in the Slash costume, which actually looked really cool. And the Hammer pants didn't really look like Hammer Time. Plus, most of the players wore sunglasses with their outfits, which helped hide whatever "embarrassment" there was even more. It made the event fun, not a humiliation. I'm sure that's intentional, giving all the issues these days with bullying. Keeping this good-natured was a good thing.

* As a teenager in the 80s, I was completely obsessed with music, and know that decade's music better than any others. So I think there were some really glaring omissions there in this group. Where is Michael Jackson, only the biggest star of the decade? Or Bruce Springsteen? Or Bono? And there are also no alternative rock representatives. Wouldn't it be funny to see a Yankee rookie dressed as Robert Smith of the Cure or as Morrissey? Or the Flock of Seagulls guy?

Joe Girardi, Scott Proctor Help Save the Sox's Season

I really wanted the Yankees to sweep this series. I wanted the Yankees to tramp the dirt down, put the nail in the coffin, and destroy the Red Sox's season. A.J. Burnett did his part in the first game to smash the Sox. But alas, thanks to Joe Girardi and Scott Proctor, Boston gets to live again, with a huge victory that could be a momentum-changer to their season. If the Yanks face the Red Sox in the ALCS and lose, I will rue tonight even more.

I subscribe to the Conan the Barbarian belief that what is best in life is to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women. But now I am the one doing the lamenting!

I blame Joe Girardi for making several critical mistakes that helped cost the Bombers the game:

* The first was keeping Ivan Nova in for too long when the Sox were clearly getting to him. Nova should have been pulled by the sixth, not in the seventh when the damage was done, with the game tied.

* The second was Girardi refusing to use most of his bench to get a big hit to win the game. Leaving Austin Romine in to face Jonathan Papelbon with the bases loaded in the ninth inning was inexcusable. Romine has all of 15 at-bats in the majors, with exactly three hits, and you leave him in there to face Papelbon? Joe could have used Russell Martin, Alex Rodriguez, or Derek Jeter instead in that spot. Then he let Romine bat again with runners on base, only to have his strike out. Good grief.

Not pinch-hitting for Greg Golson with Andruw Jones made no sense, either. Or letting Eduardo Nunez go 0-for-6, bat in extra innings with Derek Jeter in the house. Why Girardi let the kids get so many at-bats when there were several people on the bench who could have ended the game with one swing makes no sense. What good did it do to give the veterans "rest" when if one of them had gotten to hit in the ninth, or even the tenth, the Yanks would have been resting on the plane much earlier, after most likely winning the game. Who needs the stars refreshed for Tampa, anyway? Tonight was the night to play them.

* And the third was going to Scott Proctor (yeah, I know Girardi was out of the game then, but I'm sure he helped make the decision) in the 14th. Why would you rely on a guy who is best known for having his arm blown out, and setting his equipment on fire, for anything? Proctor is horrible. He shouldn't even be on this team. (BTW, funny how when Brian Cashman was patting himself on the back the other day for all the moves he made this year, he didn't talk about picking up Proctor. Gee, I wonder why.) As soon as I saw that Proctor in, I knew the Yankees would lose. Thanks for nothing, Scottie.

One other note on Proctor. The media's revisionist history on him amuses me. Back when St. Joe Torre was blowing out his arm as a Yankee, it was bloggers like yours truly who pointed out how Joe ruined so many arms. The media mostly ignored the issue. It really wasn't until the whole Joba Rules thing that the press finally started to acknowledge that Joe was a bullpen-killer.

Anyhow, I was hoping to be jubilant over the Yanks sweeping the series, but I am disgusted that the Bombers let the BoSox escape with a win. Yikes!

Are the 2011 Boston Red Sox Turning Into the 2007 New York Mets?

Saturday's game was the very first Yankees-Red Sox game that the Bombers have won this year at home, and the Yanks looked about as dominant against Boston as they have since they swept them in that August 2009 series in the Bronx. Jon Lester, who usually gives the Yankees fits, looked more like John Lackey. And Jesus Montero looked like a star. It was fun to have a blowout win, and the game actually lasted less than three hours. Shocking, I know!

I have been trying to keep myself from doing a full-on Snoopy Dance about the Boston Red Sox's September swoon -- they need to be officially out of the Wild Card race before I will put on my dancing shoes. That being said, what I've seen so far reminds me a lot of the 2007 New York Mets. (Squawker Jon, are you listening?)

The angriest I have ever heard Jon in the decade I have known him was when Tom Glavine coughed up seven runs in the first inning of the last game of the season, to put the nail in his team's coffin. Tom Terrible lasted all of one-third of an inning before getting knocked out of the game. Jon was appalled by Glavine's horrific performance and wrote a rant in Subway Squawkers that made my anti-Joe Torre rants look tame. And that was before Glavine poured salt in the wounds of Mets fans everywhere by proclaiming that he wasn't devastated by the loss. Good grief.

Anyhow, I've been reading talk about how it would be unfair to get rid of Terry Francona, because he has two rings, blah blah blah. Nonsense. If the Sox don't make the postseason, after everybody and his brother predicted them to win the World Series, the manager has to go. One of the many mistakes the Mets made in recent years was not getting rid of Willie Randolph after the 2007 collapse, instead waiting until the following June to fire him in the middle of the night after a West Coast win.

The same with the Yankees keeping on Joe Torre after 2004. It's the manager's job to keep the team grounded, and not letting the team drive into the ditch, the way Boston is right now. It's not all Carl Crawford's fault, you know, as much as some people in the media would like to make it that way.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to today's doubleheader, but apparently the matchup I was hoping for -- A.J. Burnett vs. John Lackey -- is apparently not going to happen. Alas. They could have called the game the Toilet Bowl.


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The AL East, Mariano Rivera, the Red Sox, And What's Going on in Yankeeland

I have been very busy with real-life work projects -- so busy that I haven't had the time to squawk in ages. So here are a potpourri of my thoughts on what has been going on in Yankeeland:

* Mariano Rivera making history with his 602nd save: It was a great moment to see the greatest closer make history. What happened afterwards, not so great. Literally seconds after Mo set the record, I got an email from a certain sports memorabilia company congratulating Mo on setting the record, and pushing all sorts of commemorative products, including that valuable Yankee Stadium dirt. And the very first commercial after the game ended was for that company, pushing more product.

Then, I was horrified to see in the postgame presser that Mariano was wearing a cap and shirt featuring a logo of himself on it, commemorating the occasion. Say it ain't so, Mo! It was bad enough to see Jeter have his own logo after getting his 3000th hit, but to see Rivera promoting himself was even more of a spectacle.

Heaven forbid we just enjoy the moment, without having to see it so commercialized. I feel like Charlie Brown complaining about the commercialization of Christmas or something, but good grief. Could the powers that be wait a week or two before exploiting Mo's achievement with $199 "hand-signed" autographed baseballs (um, isn't that what authentic autographed baseballs are supposed to be? Hand-signed?) And don't forget the free "Dirt Crystal Paperweight" included. Oy. There's also a $799 signed jersey available, with a commemorative patch featuring Mo's achievement. This huckersterism and tackiness all seems so incongruous to the quiet, low-key way Rivera has conducted his career. I get that some people want to buy this stuff, but pushing it so strongly, right after the event, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I don't mind it as much when players get caps and shirts for winning the division, like the Yankees did when they got the playoff gear stuff when they won the AL East the other night. It's a team achievement, not a promotion of an individual. But these individual player logos rub me the wrong way. Not to mention the incessant promotion of the autographs and other memorabilia. And please, Chris Parmalee, do not sign any merchandise about how you were involved in getting "MR602," the way David Price embarrassed himself with his "I gave up DJ3K" autographs.

* I am very glad the Yankees won the AL East (it ticked me off the way last year ended, and they staggered into the postseason with only the Wild Card.) And I want to see the Yankees sweep the Red Sox this weekend (and A.J. Burnett has to be thankful for the existence of John Lackey, as he makes A.J. look like the reincarnation of Cy Young.) I've also been greatly enjoying Boston's September swoon. But I am not going to join in with the "I'd rather see the Yankees face this team than that team in the playoffs" crowd. The last time I did that, with the 2006 Detroit Tigers, the Yankees got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by those Tigers. I'm not taking a chance of jinxing things ever again.

And keep in mind that how a team does in September has zero to do with how well they will do in October.  No matter how bad the Sox look now, as long as they can make the postseason, they have just as much chance as anybody to win the World Series. (I feel ill writing that, but unfortunately, it's true!)

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What's the Deal With the Yankees and Bugs?

My jaw dropped when I heard that a moth flew into Phil Hughes' eye when he was trying to make a critical pitch in last night's game. What's the deal with young Yankee pitchers and insects? First Joba and the midges; now Hughes with the moths! Good grief.

I don't think Hughes should lose his spot in the rotation, thought -- A.J. Burnett ought to have that honor, even though Hughes' overall ERA this year is higher. Hughes, at times, has shown something ever since returning from the DL. All Burnett has shown as of late is the ability to give Yankee fans agita.

Speaking of which, The Michael Kay Show was giving me agita yesterday, with the twisted logic about how it was okay for David Ortiz to flip his bat when hitting a homer, but Francisco Cervelli -- aka the Yankee Clapper -- was committing the crime of the century by clapping his hands. Um, which unwritten rule is this, again? Ridiculous.

The other thing that bugged me was that Kay painted anybody defending Cervelli as being pro-Yankee. But a lot of Red Sox fans, including some of my Sox fan friends, thought John Lackey (who, BTW, has arguably worse numbers than Burnett this year) was out of line, especially since he ended up costing the Sox a run with his hissy fit. Too bad Kay et al couldn't bother to show the other side of the story.

One other thing: Boston Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia suggested that Francisco Cervelli was acting that way because he is Latino. Never mind that Cervelli is also of Italian descent, and that the comment itself is pretty offensive.

Then Salty backtracked, complaining about these kids today acting out. Which is pretty funny, given that Saltalamacchia is all of 26 years old himself. You don't get to complain about these kids today until you're at least 30. It's one of those unwritten rules thingies!

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Francisco Cervelli Claps His Hands, And John Lackey Is Not Pleased

I'm very busy this week, so this will have to be a quick Squawk. (And yes, Squawker Jon and I are fine after Hurricane Irene hit the area, and we hope all of our readers are doing well.) Aside from seeing CC Sabathia finally beat the Red Sox this year, I loved seeing him all fired up when Francisco Cervelli got plunked last night by John Lackey. Great passion!

And I had to laugh about Boston's selective outrage over Cervelli clapping his hands with glee after hitting a homer. How many times over the years have we Yankee fans witnessed David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez showboating after hitting homers? Both of them would be great on Broadway with their song and dance routines. Not to mention Jonathan Papelbon literally dancing on the mound after a big save. But all that is apparently fine and dandy with Red Sox Nation.

Yet Francisco Cervelli shows the least bit of emotion, and the benches clear over it. Can't we just say that it's Frankie Being Frankie, and leave it at that? Good grief.

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Yay! Yankees Finally Beat Red Sox, Are in First Place

Last night's game had a little bit of an August 2009 feel to it. Remember how the Yankees lost eight games in a row to the Red Sox, then how good it felt when they actually won one? That was the relief I felt Friday. That, combined with the Yankees getting first place all to themselves, felt pretty good.

But I certainly didn't see that Joe Girardi removing Bartolo Colon for Boone Logan in the fifth inning with the bases loaded would end well. Yet it did. Hooray. The win was the high point of the year so far for the Yanks.

While I'm watching today's Yankees-Red Sox matchup, I wanted to squawk a bit about a few annoying, insufferable people in Red Sox Nation. Specifically, David Ortiz and Larry Lucchino. Big Papi ought to be called Big Baby, or maybe Big Phony. For all his reputation of being a jovial, loveable guy, he's constantly getting into dust-ups, cursing up a storm, and acting like a real jerk. Remember his immature act about finally getting plunked by a Yankee this year?

Not to mention that whole "looking for the real juicers" thing. This month marks the second anniversary of the news that Ortiz was on The List of those who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. And although he promised then to find out why he was on the list. He never did. Shocker!

Anyhow, after finding out that a scorer's decision cost him an RBI, Big Baby stormed into Terry Francona's pre-game press conference, curses flying, to complain about the decision. You can see the video here. Whatta jerk.

Then there's Larry Lucchino, who was able to get away with telling Yankee-hating columnist Mike Lupica this load of nonsense without getting a "really?" or a "seriously?" in return (emphasis added):

When asked about the money the Red Sox spent this winter, Larry Lucchino, the president and CEO of the Red Sox and the guy who sets the tone there, said this:

"Every once in a while, you've got to prime the pump."

Then Lucchino said, "We don't spend money on free agents with any sort of frequency or regularity the way some East teams do. We rely primarily on homegrown players and the players we trade for (Gonzalez came in a trade with San Diego). But you can never eliminate any source of acquisition, including free agency, and we dip into the pool from time to time when we feel we must."

Yeah, right. The Red Sox's payroll is $163 million, second only to the Yankees' $207 million. Oh, and those other teams in the AL East he referred too? Baltimore's payroll is $86 million, the Blue Jays' is $70 million, and the Rays is $42 million. What in the world is Larry talking about?

As much as Lucchino wants to pretend that his gutty, gritty Red Sox were all acquired via the farm system and savvy trades, not only have the Sox signed a ton of free agents, but their recent trades are money-oriented, too. Do you think, say, the Pirates could have gotten Adrian Gonzalez? Um, no. The Sox were able to trade him this winter because they had the money to sign him to a big deal. Incidentally, Boston's fake "not re-signing him until after Opening Day to avoid luxury taxes" deal would have caused an MLB investigation if the Yanks had ever tried it.

How many homegrown players were on the 2004 Red Sox? Kevin Youkilis? There's a few more on the 2007 Red Sox, but the vast majority of that team were people the Sox could sign or trade for because the team has money.

And who are the people who make the most money for the Sox? Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Carl Crawford, J.D. Drew, David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Jonathan Papelbon all make over $10 million this year. Only Youkilis and Cinco Dopo are homegrown. Lucchino likes to pretend the Sox just "dip into the pool from time to time," but it sure looks like they're in the deep end!

Look, I am well aware that the Yankees also have an economic advantage, too -- it comes with having a rabid fan base and an ownership willing to spend. That's something to be proud of, not ashamed of. But please, don't insult my intelligence by pretending that the Sox don't do the very same thing the Yankees do.


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Red Sox Get Brooms Out Against the Yankees

Even though the Yankees-Red Sox game was running way past my bedtime last night, thanks to the rain delay that went on longer than an Phish concert,  I really did try to stay up until the end. But I trotted off to bed in disgust when David Ortiz gestured his arms like a Muppet hopped up on caffeine after getting yet another big hit off the Yanks.

At least earlier in the game Ortiz finally got plunked, thanks to CC Sabathia, after both Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez got hit by a pitch earlier in the game. Squawker Jon called me to tell me to put on the end of the Mavericks-Heat game, and I was like, "Ortiz got plunked! I have to watch this!" I did put the Mavs' game on in picture-in-picture, though. That was the only other real highlight of the evening, although I did also enjoy watching some of the Billy Joel at Shea Stadium concert on PBS while waiting for the rain delay to be over.

As for the Red Sox, funny thing is, though, that I found out last night, thanks to Squawker reader Larry, that technically, David Ortiz did get hit by a Yankee pitch once before -- in Game 1 of the 2003 ALCS. This is something that has been completely forgotten by everyone, including myself!

Of course, Ortiz was whining about the plunking after the game, blaming the media for it. He's rapidly moving up the charts as being my least favorite Red Sox again. For a while, he wasn't even cracking the top five; now he's No. 1 with a bullet!

Anyhow, I could rehash the rest of the painful loss, and discuss in detail that costly seven-run inning. But what else is there to say? It's a debacle!

* * *

Before I end this post, I guess I need to mention Squawker Jon talking about Joba Chamberlain needing Tommy John surgery. He pointed out that there was the Joba Rules, and the Hughes Rules, but there were no Kennedy rules, and he's, of course, still standing, with a 6-2 record this year, and a 3.01 ERA. So much for Michael Kay's Generation Trey, eh? (Speaking of which, I haven't forgotten that Rafael Soriano started going bad the moment Kay came up with the dopey JoSoMo nickname, and now Joba's hurt. If anything happens to Mariano Rivera, I'm blaming Michael Kay!)

Last night, Jon also helpfully pointed out the possibility that Francisco Rodriguez could be a Yankee, due to his contract being too expensive for the Mets, and the Yankees' bullpen woes. Oh, great. I guess I have that to look forward to, right? Good grief.

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