Sago Boulevard

Phil Rizzuto, the Hall of Fame Yankees shortstop, passed away today at age 89. He won 9 pennants and 7 World Series Championships with the Yankees between 1941 and ‘55. See here for his baseball statistics.

Holy Cow.

The Yankees have been an incredibly frustrating team to follow over the past 6 seasons. It’s one thing to watch your team rebuilding but it’s quite another to watch an All-Star team falter in the post-season year after year. Hopefully this year will be different but I also thought last year would be different, and the year before that. In an effort to figure out why the Bombers keep on losing in the post-season, I decided to look at the great Yankee teams of late 90s (’96-’00) and what I found was puzzling. The Yankee teams of ‘01-’06 were considerably better, at least statistically, than the teams of ‘96-’00. From ‘96 to ‘00, the Yankees’ winning percentage was .601, an average of 97 wins per season. From ‘01 to ‘06, their winning percentage was .609, an average of 98.67 wins per season. In fact, the worst Yankee team of the past decade was the 2000 team (87-74), which won the World Series. The championship team of ‘96 won only 92 games and the Yankees have won more games than that in every season since 2001!

I can’t figure it out. What is it that made the Yankees better in the regular season and worse in the playoffs? And I’m not interested in any theories of the “Yankees suck” variety. I want serious answers. Anyone?

In the controversy surrounding Bonds’ steroid use, the best his supporters can do it invoke the legal principle of “innocent until proven guilty.” The problem is that the baseball diamond isn’t a court of law.

According to an espn.com article, “On the subject of Bonds, most Hall of Famers take the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ line in public. ” Robin Yount said, “Until somebody tells me for sure that this guy had some ‘artificial help,’ I won’t hold it against him.” Tom Seaver declared himself to be “one of those people who believes you’re innocent until you’re proven guilty” when asked about Bonds. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig recently announced that he would be there when Bonds hits number 756 “[o]ut of respect for the tradition of this game, the magnitude of the record, and the fact that all citizens in this country are innocent until proven guilty.”

In American law, we presume innocence until guilt is proven and for good reason. Before the government deprives an individual of a his basic freedoms, it ought to afford the accused every reasonable chance to exonerate himself. The law rightly considers a mistaken conviction to be far worse than a mistaken acquittal and this important value is codified in the 5th and 6th Amendments to the United States Constitution.

But we’re talking about baseball. If Bonds were on trial for drug use, the law would offer him the presumption of innocence that all defendants deserve. At issue here, though, is whether the baseball record books or the Hall of Fame should treat Bonds as a cheater. Since nobody is in danger of losing his life or his basic freedoms, I don’t see why the situation calls for the beyond-all-reasonable-doubt standard of criminal court. Simply put, it’s far more likely than not that Bonds used illegal steroids. There is considerable circumstantial evidence that he did, i.e. he first began hitting 45+ home runs at age 35. Bonds also had ample opportunity to vindicate himself by volunteering for drug testing when rumors started circulating. Again, he had a legal right to refrain from testing and if we were in a court of law, his exercising of that right could not be held against him. But we’re on the baseball diamond, not a court of law. And from out here, there’s more than enough evidence to convict Bonds.

Jayson Stark presents ESPN’s annual baseball mid-season awards. After weighing the relative strengths of Alex Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez, he sides with Ordonez as the AL mid-season MVP. His argument reveals an anti-Yankee bias. While conceding that A-Rod has “had a more eye-popping year,” his dismisses A-Rod’s accomplishments because “the Yankees haven’t been a factor in the division or wild-card races for more than about 20 minutes all season.” Yet, Stark’s NL MVP is Matt Holliday. Holliday’s Rockies enter the All-Star break at .500, half a game ahead of the Yankees. If being a major factor in the division or wild-card races were so crucial, Holliday should be disqualified along with A-Rod.

Stark’s bias aside, A-Rod has been far more valuable to his team than any other player in baseball and precisely because the Yankees have been playing so poorly. In April, with Wang injured, Mussina pitching poorly, and Rivera blowing rare save opportunities, A-Rod’s bat kept the Yankees in games they deserved to lose. And, now with Giambi injured, A-Rod’s homers are that much more valuable.

As far as statistics go, A-Rod and Ordonez are fairly comparable. Ordonez’s OBP is better, A-Rod’s SLG is better. Combined, A-Rod comes out on top by a hair. But there’s one statistic that removes all ambiguity. In the 9th inning, A-Rod is hitting .542 with 7 HR and 18 RBI. His OPS in the 9th is a whopping 2.145, which includes two grand slams. So much for A-Rod’s reputation for not hitting well in the clutch.

It’s hard to overstate just how good Sidney Crosby is. Yahoo! Sports drives home the significance of Crosby’s break-out season. (more…)

A great NHL season is coming to a close next week and the playoffs start on the 11th. Unfortunately, law school has pretty much kept me from seeing any games this year but I’ve caught a few on TV and followed the standings pretty closely. As a Rangers fan, it pains me to watch such a talented team play so poorly. They may end up in the playoffs after all, but I don’t expect them to go all that far. Jagr, Straka, & Shanahan lead an above-average offense and Lundqvist is the best Rangers goalie since Mike Richter retired. But a weak defense plagued the Rangers all season and it will be an even bigger problem in the playoffs. (more…)

The sports pages all week have been about A-Rod’s hitting woes and throwing errors. Today’s NYTimes reports that trade rumors are circularing. Dallas Morning News’ Tim Cowlishaw accuses A-Rod of “not measuring up to MVP standards”. Ben Cook falls just short of blaming A-Rod for the Yankees’ lack of World Series wins in recent years. I could go on. Sports writers and baseball fans around the country are all lamenting A-Rod’s slump.

But there’s an irony to all this. The fact that A-Rod is considered to be slumping is just another testament to how great a player he is. Let’s put things in perspective. A-Rod is hitting .279 with 21 homers and 71 RBI. He’s on pace to hit 35 homers and 120 RBI. If last season is any indication, those numbers would put him in the top-10 of both categories. For how many other players would that be called a “slump”?

As for the fielding errors, it’s frustrating to watch and I’m sure even more frustrating for his teammates on the field. But great fielders - and he is a great fielder - have a way of putting the breaks on bad skids like this. I’m not worried.

Reining AL MVP Alex Rodriguez is finally showing signs that his hitting slump is over. Yesterday, he went 2-for-5 and his 2-run homer began a 7-run inning. Today he was 2-for-2 with two walks and an RBI. Most importantly, though, was how he did with runners in scoring position and with two outs. In the 6th, with Jeter on 2nd, he drew a walk (Jeter scored on a sac-fly by Posada). In the 8th, his 2-out RBI-double gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

Of course all of this would be much sweeter had the Yankees won (Zimmerman homered in the 9th to win). But it’s still nice to see A-Rod hitting like his old self again.

Fellow Yankee fans, I’m taking a poll. What’s the best Yankee team in history? I’ve listed the five teams that I think are contenders but feel free to disagree. There’s certainly no shortage of great Yankee teams to choose from.

1927 (Ruth hits 60 homers; Gehrig is AL MVP)
1956 (Mantle hits triple crown)
1936 (Gehrig hits triple crown; DiMaggio’s rookie year)
1961 (Maris hits 61 homers; Ford wins Cy Young)
1998 (114-48 record)

I’m torn between the ‘27 and ‘61 teams. What do you think?

Attention fellow hockey fans: James Mirtle has compiled a complete listing of hockey blogs (via Ranger Pundit).