How Sweep It Is

The brooms were out in full force yesterday in the Bronx as the Yankees completed their 3-game sweep of the first place Red Sox. They now stand 5 games out of first. Not too bad considering they were coming off a 2-5 road trip and dropped 4 games to the Sox in the standings before the series. Now as the calendar turns to September, the race for October gets a lil more tense.Yesterday's 5-0 win for the Yanks also put them ahead of the Seattle Mariners (who lost last night) in the wild card standings.

Pitching for the Yanks dominated in this series. Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and Chien Ming Wang all delivered quality starts. Via Bill Madden NY Daily News
"We got outpitched three days in a row," said Curt Schilling. "Outpitched and outplayed."
Clemens and Wang both held Boston hitless through the first 5 innings. Mariano Rivera came in and got 2 saves, Joba Chamberlain made 2 appearances and left the Yankee Stadium crowd wanting more. Joba added some juice to the next Yanks-Sox series Sept 14-16 by "throwing" at Kevin Youkillis, that according to home plate umpire Angel Hernandez, who ejected the rookie pitcher in the 9th inning. Derek Jeter went 7 for 11 in the series.
"We need every game, I'd tell you the same thing if we beat a high school team three games in a row. We need victories, no matter who we play."
Robinson Cano hit a pair of HR's off of Schilling Thursday, the first lefty to do it since Barry Bonds did it in 2001.. Via Bryan Hoch, MLB.com
"Nothing's over until your last out," Cano said. "We've got a month left. We've got to keep playing hard and win games."
Even Jason Giambi did his best Tino Martinez impression in the series by playing an ourstanding first base. Johnny Damon hit a go ahead 2-run HR on Tuesday night against Boston, the way he used to hit them when he was on the other side of this rivalry. The Yankees made their pitches, got their hits, and made their plays when they needed them the most. The end result... picking up 3 games in the standings, leading the wild card, and Boston leaving town shaking their heads.
Read more »
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Furl
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati

756 or Cheater*?

By now we have all seen the video, we have all read the papers and we all know Barry Bonds is your new All-Time HR leader. How does that sound? Not too good to most people.

Last night we saw the greatest record in sports broken in San Francisco. Bonds finally hit HR No. 756. Say what you want about him, but it was an event we will all remember. In an era of the "homerun", this was something that caught everyone's attention, whether you're a sports fan or not. Everything that came out of the chase for HR 756 would be good enough to put on the silver screen. It had drama, suspense, controversy, betrayal, loyalty, love, compassion, determination and it had its big star, Barry Bonds.

Steroids or not, what Bonds accomplished was nothing short of spectacular and last night demonstrated just that. Several Major Leaguers have been suspended for using illegal performance enhancing drugs and still haven't accomplished anything near what Barry did. It still takes skill to hit a ball over the fence. Did Barry have a little help? All the evidence leads you to believe yes. But what evidence are we talking about? His physical appearance? He allegedly began using steroids in 1998, and since then, his appearance has bulked up, to the point where he's stronger and his bat speed is quicker than it was back in his 20's. He is under investigation for perjury by a federal grand jury regarding his testimony in the BALCO case, but he has not been indicted. His trainer Greg Anderson has been in and out of jail solely because he won't talk on the issue of what he knows about Bonds and steroids. In 2003 Anderson was indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and charged with supplying anabolic steroids to athletes. In March, 2006 the book Game of Shadows, written by Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, was released and stated that Bonds used stanozolol and a host of other steroids. That's more than enough evidence for most people.

We may never know what exactly was said during the BALCO trial and what was found during the BALCO investigation but until we get some official facts, I believe we should lay off Bonds. We have all at some point or another taken the easy way out or "cheated" to get ahead, so for us to reduce Bonds is ridiculous. The fact remains that the HR record of all-time was broken and it now belongs to Barry Lamar Bonds. In a society where we live by "innocent until proven guilty" we should all wait until we get the official facts. Until then, we should accept Bonds as the new all-time HR king and take it for what it is: a great accomplishment by a great athlete. Besides, a guy named Alex Rodriguez is on pace to one day break the record himself. Now that the chase is finally over, we can all get back to our everyday lives... and watch A-Rod's chase of Bonds and his all-time HR record*.
Read more »
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Furl
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati