Just Say No to Michael Kay's "JoSoMo" Nickname

I am very excited about the way Joba Chamberlain, Rafael Soriano, and Mariano Rivera are pitching out of the bullpen for the Yankees this year. I am significantly less excited over the possibility of the wretched "JoSoMo" nickname sticking to the trio. Ugh. C'mon, Michael Kay, as if foisting "QuanGorMo" onto Yankee watchers weren't enough, now you come up with JoSoMo? Good grief.

My friend Sully Baseball has been complaining about what a terrible era we're in for baseball nicknames, with the creativity consisting of the first letter of the first name, and the next three letters of the last name (A-Rod, A-Gon, etc.), or shortening the last name (Youkilis becomes Youk, etc.) What Kay is doing is even worse. It's like putting Squawker Jon and I's names together and calling us JoLi. JoSoMo is not a nickname; it's an abomination!

How about something emphasizing the power of three, like Triceratops? Now that's a cool nickname. Three Mile Island -- they're so tough, they're nuclear? Three Ninjas? The Three Kings? The Three Amigos? We could get musical with Three Dog Night or Three Days Grace or Three Doors Down. Or operatic with Threepenny Opera! Heck, even Three Billygoats Gruff would be better than JoSoMo!

Or maybe one of our readers has a better idea for a nickname. Please, somebody must have a better idea than JoSoMo!

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I am going to the Yankee game tonight with Kelly, my childhood friend from Passaic, New Jersey. We haven't seen each other since Reggie Jackson was on the Yankees!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Michael Kay and Jodi Applegate Get Married -- But What About the Chicken Parm?

The New York Post had a big story today about Michael Kay and Jodi Applegate's wedding at The Plaza last night. And it just goes to show you the things people will do for love. There was a "giant seafood bar with six-foot mermaid ice sculptures," and "guests feasted on filet mignon and branzino" according to the Post. Seafood at Michael Kay's wedding? I'm shocked!

Kay is a notoriously picky eater. In 2007, Mark Feinsand was the first writer to talk about Kay's weird eating:

As I enjoyed a bowl of clam chowder, Michael mentioned that he had never had soup in his entire life (he thinks the slurping sound associated with it is grotesque). I found this amazing. He then told me he had never had any fish or seafood of any type, either.


As the conversation went on, he informed me of several other things he has NEVER tasted in his life: bananas, condiments of any type (though he lost a bet on his radio show and had to eat a packet of ketchup, which made him sick), jelly, any cheese not on a pizza, veal, coffee, etc.

So how the heck did Kay not say "see ya" to the interlocking crab legs in a seafood bar? Or not gripe about the branzino? What's the story here?

Ginger Adams Otis, who co-wrote the wedding article, wrote a piece last fall talking about Kay's wacky food habits, yet she didn't delve into them in the nuptials piece. Applegate told the Post last year that her fiance only really liked three foods: chicken parm, bacon, and steak. He's so devoted to chicken parm that he insisted on eating it when the two traveled to Italy for a 10-day trip last year.

"It was like being on a great chicken-parm search through Tuscany and Rome," Applegate said. "We couldn't find it on any menus. Apparently, it's an American thing. He actually lost weight. Who goes on vacation to Italy and comes home with their pants loose?"

That article said that the news anchor had "given up trying to change her meat-loving man -- and has even agreed to serve sliders and mozzarella sticks at the cocktail reception for their winter wedding."

So, did he get his slider bar? Or a special groom's table with his three favorite foods, the way Southerners have a groom's cake at weddings? This is what I want to know about!

The Post did have details about who attended the wedding; there were a reported 350 guests, including both Mr. G and Joe G(irardi), Darryl Strawberry and Danny Aiello (Kay's uncle), and a whole bunch of other Yankee broadcasters. (But what about John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman?) And Rudy Giuliani performed the ceremony.

Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman tweeted from the reception that Lonn Trost danced to "Play That Funky Music." Heaven help us!

I've met Michael Kay twice, and he is a very nice guy and one of the friendliest celebs I've ever met. I wish him and Jodi all the best, even if his food habits are a little, well, wacky!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

The morning after: Thoughts on the Yankees' ALCS loss

I had the worst dream last night. The Yankees got shut down by Colby Lewis and the Rangers, and lost the ALCS. What a nightmare. Oh, wait, that actually happened! Bummer.

I was very angry during last night's game, and I still think that Joe Girardi did a terrible job with his bullpen management moves. He had a quicker hook in the Taco Bell commercial for the chalupa eater than he did for pitchers who deserved to be taken out!

And you don't put in David Robertson with the game on the line when you have CC Sabathia, Kerry Wood, and Mariano Rivera in the bullpen. But hey, at least Mo was well-rested this week, thanks to him not being used on Monday, to pitch the bottom of the eighth in last night's 6-1 loss!

But those weren't the only things that went wrong during the ALCS. The Yankees got outplayed in every single facet of the game in this series. And for all of Michael Kay's talk on 1050 ESPN Radio about how Ron Washington is a terrible manager, Washington outmanaged, and his team outplayed, Girardi and the Yankees.

That being said, this loss was a team effort. You can't get stymied -- twice! -- by Colby Bleeping Lewis and expect to win.

However, even though I'm still bummed, I've calmed down a little, and I actually feel the least terrible that I have had in years after a Yankees series loss. I'm still peeved, but I'm not in complete despair or anything. After all, the Yankees did win the World Series just a year ago. As a friend said on Twitter this morning, "You know when people say 'act like you've been there before'? That applies to losing as well. The Yankees can't and don't win all the time."

Nothing will ever match the pain of 2004. Ever. Even now, I will still swivel my head like something out of "The Exorcist" if I see a clip on TV from that year. I have several good Facebook friends in Red Sox documentaries about that year, but there is no chance I will ever watch them in it!

But there have been some other bad Yankes series losses over the years. 2006 (Torre batting A-Rod eighth and being outmanaged by Jim Leyland) and 2007 (Bug Game) were worse than this year. 2001 was gut-wrenching at the time, but in retrospect, it was a miracle the Yankees even made it past Game 5. But I still won't watch clips from Game 7 of that series!

Funny thing is, though, is that I was able to deal with seeing the Texas Rangers and their fans celebrating last night without it making me want to pull an Elvis on the television set. Maybe it's because my nephew is a lifelong Rangers fan. Maybe it's because I lived in the state for so long. Maybe it's because it was interesting to see a football-loving state like Texas get excited over baseball instead of football. But I don't really have any vitriol towards the Rangers.

But as I noted last night, what I am still ticked off about are people like Mayor Bloomberg talking about planning the parade route, and Michael Kay showing such hubris in declaring the series over after one game. Oh, and Filip Bondy's thoroughly obnoxious "Count the Rings" take on the series still rubs me the wrong way:

[Nolan] Ryan's no-hitters aside, this ALCS represents one of sports' great historical mismatches, 40 pennants versus zero. The Yanks should win this series just by throwing their pinstriped uniforms onto the field and reading from a few pages of The Baseball Encyclopedia.

If only Bud Selig would agree to waive a few silly postseason rules, the Bombers might send their Scranton/Wilkes-Barre roster to Arlington for the first couple of games, make this a fair fight....

The Rangers are the oldest of three existing major league clubs never to have won a pennant. They should be ashamed to bring their media guides to the Bronx....

Why are they even playing this series? Why don't they just use the scores from '96, '98 and '99?

"I can't even think back to those years," Jorge Posada said. "It's over. I don't think it matters."

It matters. The Yankees lead, 27 titles to none. Play ball.

So much for that, dude. Too bad Bondy, like his colleague Mike Lupica, does not allow readers to comment on his articles, because he deserves to be mocked mercilessly for writing those words. Worst. Column. Ever.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Why Cliff Lee could be beatable, Michael Kay is jumping the gun, and Freddy Sez will be missed

I heard Michael Kay said the ALCS was over after the Yankees won on Friday. And if you read the newspapers, he wasn't the only one he felt that way. Yet on Sunday, there's all this hysteria in the media about how the Yankees are doomed. Puh-lease. It's amazing how quickly the pendulum goes from "Yankees are gonna sweep" to "OMG the Yankees have to face CLIFF LEE TWICE in this series now." Spare me.

First of all, I guess I missed when losing one game in a best four-out-of-seven series meant there would automatically jigger a Game 7 to happen. Somebody should have told me that!

Second, while Cliff Lee pitched majestically against the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series, am I the only person who remembers what happened in Game 5? The Yankees knocked him around for five runs and nearly won the game, despite the fact that A.J. Burnett spit the bit. And in 2010, while Lee pitched one great game against the Yankees in September, and one very good game in June, he also gave up four runs and eight hits in 6.1 innings in an August game.

Third, as my Facebook friend William says, the Yankees have beaten lots of great pitchers in the postseason. Why wouldn't they be able to beat Lee? But even if he does pitch well, the Yankees could still face the Rangers' bullpen and get to them.

Fourth, Andy Pettitte is no slouch in the postseason.

Anyhow, I'm going to have faith that the Yankees will beat Cliff Lee. But even if they don't, that doesn't mean the series is over, even if A.J. Burnett is still pitching Game Four!

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I was saddened to hear the news about Freddy Sez's demise. Freddy the Fan, who Squawker Jon saw in his neighborhood a couple of times, had so much energy, enthusiasm, and gratitude. I met him several times, and got to hit the famous frying pan with the spoon. The Stadium will sound differently without Freddy around. I'd like to see the Yanks have a special patch on their uniforms of a frying pan!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

More on Tim McCarver's meltdown, and a new idea for national broadcasts

My Subway Squawkers piece on Tim McCarver's comparing the Yankees front office to Nazis and Communists was the most popular thing I've ever written for this blog. It struck a nerve with a lot of fans, and was featured and linked in a lot of places, including Yardbarker's home page (and the top story in Yardbarker's Morning Bark email Monday), AOL Fanhouse, Yahoo Sports' Big League Stew, Hardball Talk, Bleacher Report, Staten Island Live, and a whole slew of other places. Thanks, everyone, for the linkage, and thanks to Ross from NYY Stadium Insider for being the first to break the story of McCarver's insanity, posting videos of what he said.

I do think the coverage in the blogosphere had something to do with McCarver having to acknowledge Monday that he was inappropriate. And I've written a followup story on it for The Faster Times about McCarver's non-apology apology.

Also, FOX spokesman, Dan Bell gave a statement agreeing his analogy was inappropriate, saying:

"We've discussed the situation with Tim, and relayed in no uncertain terms that his choice of analogies was inappropriate, which he completely agrees with and regrets using," Bell said. "Given his contrition and flawless 25-year track record, we're comfortable no further action is necessary."

The funniest thing about that statement was the notion that McCarver has had a "flawless 25-year track record." What broadcasts are they listening to?

Heck, the infamous WWII analogy wasn't even the only dopey thing McCarver said just in that game. He also went on and on about how A.J. Burnett must have cut his hand on a "pie plate" when celebrating Nick Swisher getting the walkoff win the night before. Um, Tim, "pie" is just an expression. A.J.'s just smearing the guys' faces with a towel filled with whipped cream. No real pie is involved.You would think McCarver, Mr. Baseball Expert himself, would know better.

I just wish that when contract time comes around, FOX and ESPN wouldn't bother with even hiring national announcers. As I've been saying for years, I would love to just hear one person from each team's broadcast booth. How fun would it be to hear, say, Jerry Remy with Michael Kay? Or Vin Scully with Keith Hernandez? Not only that, but they would be a lot better informed on the teams they cover all year. It just makes sense.

Here's what St. Petersburg Times writer Tom Jones noted from fans during Saturday's Rays-Yankees broadcast. He said emails poured in from Tampa Bay fans slamming McCarver right from the beginning. While Jones said that he "thought McCarver and Fox did a decent job talking about the Rays on Saturday," he noted that "McCarver did make two missteps," one being the WWI analogy. The other was this:

One was acting shocked when the Rays attempted two safety squeeze bunts with runners on first and third and no one out in the fifth inning.

"Very unusual,'' McCarver said. "I have never seen that."

Well, it's something the Rays do all the time. In fact, they have become known for that particular play this season, and McCarver probably should've known that. Still, you could give him a mulligan. He has 30 teams to follow, and he can't be expected to know the nuances of every one.

Well, that, and McCarver doesn't seem to do any research on teams beforehand the way he used to - it sounds like he parachutes into other cities without a clue. Not that he's the only guy to do that, but it doesn't make it any better. That's another reason that the local broadcasters idea would make sense.

Look, I get that national broadcasts are supposed to appeal to the casual fan, as well as the diehard. But what better way could a casual fan learn about another team than to hear one of the team's regular voices tell them about them? It would be a lot better than all the inaccurate stuff the national guys do!

What do you think? Tell us about it!