Hughes Saves Yanks Season

Phil Hughes saved the Yankees season tonight.

Tonight, Hughes found himself in the same win or go home spot that Mike Mussina did when he relieved Roger Clemens in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. And like Mussina, Hughes came in and helped the Yankees win...8-3 tonight against the Indians in Game 3 of the ALDS.

When the Yankees needed their $25 million man to come through in the clutch, Roger Clemens did not come through. In tonight's game, Clemens pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up 3 runs before leaving with a strained hamstring. From the start, Clemens didn't look comfortable tonight. So it was up to young Phil Hughes -- or Pip, as my wife calls him -- to take over for the old Rocket.

Hughes came in and pitched lights out shutting down the Indians through 3 2/3 scoreless innings with six K's, no walks and 2 hits. What a huge, gutty performance from the kid.

Phil Hughes' contributions helped keep the game close until the Yankees bats came alive.

Finally.

Johnny Damon had a huge night going 3 for 4 with a 3 run homerun and 4 RBIs. His homerun in the 5th inning was huge and put the Yankees ahead for good. A bunch of other Yankees also came up huge tonight. A-Rod got two hits and Matsui and Cano made great contributions to the team. Posada and Jeter were still subpar, but at least this is a start.

Tonight's win cuts the series deficit to 2-1 and means the Yankees live to fight another day. ... Thanks to rookie Phil Hughes.

Has the momentum swung in the Yanks favor?

... Stay tuned.

Giants Win Battle of New Jersey, 35-24

It was a tale of two Giants teams in today's 35-24 win against the New York Jets. In the first half, Eli Manning was 3 for 10 with 22 yards and 1 Interception. The defense, which had 12 sacks the previous week against the Eagles, had none in the first half and were playing completely average football.

In the second half, the team came in and it was a different story. Led by a more confident Manning (13 for 25 for 186 yards, 2 TDs and 1 Int on the day), the return of Brandon Jacobs (100 yards and 1 TD on the day) from injury and two interceptions and a TD return by rookie CB Aaron Ross, the Giants racked up 28 second half points to beat the Jets.

Aaron Ross was really, really impressive today. On top of his two picks (one of which was returned for a 43 yard TD), he was in the right spot at the right time on numerous occassions to tip balls away from Jets receivers. He stole the starting CB spot away from disappointing 2 year veteran Corey Webster two weeks ago and it looks like we finally have found a shutdown corner.

Let's see if the Yankees can keep my Sunday positive. ...

Doldrum Days

Doldrum Days

What are you doing?

Will you be happy in your ruin?

Will you be happy when the walls fall down?

And will you realize that you made them?

What will you be doing when it happens?

Probably the same as before, right?

Or will you make an attempt to make the change?

Or will you just stay the same?

When before have we heard this refrain?

When will you just stop for a second

to turn around and realize

Where you've been...

What you've seen...

and who you are deep inside

Will thinking change it?

And if it won't, what will need to be done

to make you stop self destructing

to make you stop and realize.

My Words Have Been Eaten

I'm fucking disgusted. Get your kicks now Yankee haters.

Pettitte pitched lights out tonight. It was Game 5 of 1996 World Series all over again when Pettitte led the Yankees to a 1-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves. Tonight, Pettitte gave up 6 hits over 6+ innings and pitched his heart out. Then the bugs came and screwed with the invincible Joba Chamberlain. I'm not going to blame the bugs though.

I'll just blame the lack of hitting in the last two games. It starts with A-Rod and it ends with the ineptness of Posada, Matsui and the rest of the Yankees lineup. What an embarrassment. For the past 4 or 5 years, the Yankees haven't been successful in the playoffs because their lineup disappeared in the playoffs. That's exactly what's happening again this year.

I did have a good night playing poker after the game though. I played with 15 guys and chopped the $280 pot with two other players in the first $20 tourney and then finished just out of the money in the second tourney. Plus, Under Siege is on TBS HD now. Great flick.

Fucking Yankees. ..

A Horrible 12-3 Loss to the Indians

Jesus. What an ass whupping.

Wang pitched horrible, but so did Sabathia.

The Yankees didn't capitalize when they had men in scoring position.

Overall, it wasn't a good night for the Yanks.

In some ways, I'm happy that they got the first game out of the way. Since 2000, the Yankees have had a pretty good knack of winning the first game of the series and then losing the overall series, so maybe they are breaking out of that trend. Facts back it up: In the last 7 division series involving the Yankees, the team that won the first game of the series went on to lose the series. Sounds like a good gambling statistic to me. ...

And an extremely optimistic spin from your favorite PR junkie ...

A Huge Postseason in Store for A-Rod

Do me a favor and write this down....

Alex Rodriguez is going to have HUUUUUGE postseason.

The past few days there was a slew of articles in the New York media talking about how Rodriguez had a tremendous regular season, but still had to prove himself to New York fans in the postseason - when it really counts. While it's true that the team and its player have been truly measured by their October record during the past dozen years -- 4 World Championships by the way -- I think that Rodriguez proved himself tremendously during the regular season and doesn't have anything to prove to anyone.

During the regular season, A-Rod had a run away MVP season. He was on a different level than any other player in baseball hitting a league leading 54 homeruns, driving in a league leading 156 RBIs, and scoring a league leading 143 runs. See a trend forming here?

When he wasn't racking up league leading numbers, he was driving in game winning RBIs to single handily win games for the Yankees and keep the team afloat when it was struggling in April and May. If the Yankees didn't have A-Rod this season, they wouldn't be in the playoffs. It's plain and simple.

Still, most of New York -- mainly the blow everything out of proportion New York media -- believe that he still needs to prove himself in the postseason. It's true that A-Rod hasn't done anything in the past postseasons, but he was clearly a different player and person in New York this season.

So, I'm telling you right now to write this down.

A-Rod is going to have a huge postseason.

Finally.

I'm going to write about it everytime he gets a big hit. I'm going to gloat about it when he wins a postseason game(s) for the Yankees. You are going to want to punch me in the face and tell me to shut the hell up because I'm going to be talking about it so much. That's how much I believe in this statement. A-Rod is going to be the reason the Yankees win the World Series this year.

Mark it down.

And I promise that I'll be a man about it and admit that I was wrong if he doesn't have a big postseason. But I guarantee I won't have to.

I just have a feeling this year.

Giants Down Eagles, 16-3, Behind 12 Sacks From Defense

I've got to hand it to the Giants defense after last night's 16-3 thrashing of the Philadelphia Eagles. They were completely and utterly ferocious last night against the Philadelphia Eagles.

I bashed the hell out of the defense after they gave up 80 points in the first two games of the year. I wasn't alone in bashing the complete ineptness of the Giants defense. Since then though, the team has really turned it around. They replaced 2nd year CB Corey Webster with rookie Aaron Ross. They moved Mathias Kiwanuka back to the defensive line - while still not admitting that their LB experiment with Key was the wrong thing to do. And they finally got a pass rush on the opposing team's QB. They definitely had a pass rush last night against the Eagles.

While losing Brian Westbrook for the game certainly hurt the Eagles, the Giants defense completely dominated the game allowing 190 yards to the Eagles offense. From the start, they pressured Eagles QB Donovan McNabb the entire night, sacking the once mobile QB an NFL tying record 12 times.

12 Times!!!

Defense End Osi Umenyiora had 6 sacks by himself - a season for many defensive ends in the NFL. Since giving up 80 points in the first two games of the year, the defense has given up just 20 points in two games to the Eagles and Redskins.

Last night wasn't the greatest night for the Giants offense, as the team just managed to best the Eagles with 212 yards of total offense. Eli Manning went 14 for 26 for 135 yards with 1 Td and 1 Interception. It was clearly one of his worst nights of the season, but the ineptness of the offense was covered up by the complete domination of the Giants defense.

Next Sunday can't come soon enough for me. Giants vs. Jets at 1 p.m. and Game 3 of the Yankees-Indians ALDS. Stay tuned that day for my running blog from 1-7 p.m. Yes, I stole that idea from ESPN's Sports Guy.