We hear at PLS make no bones about it. We would love nothing more than for Alex Rodriguez to step out of new Yankee Stadium, take a nice deep breath and maybe a good stretch, walk three steps and get hit by a piano dropped from 33,000 feet by a Southwest airlines flight (first bag is free, bitches!). Steroids aside, Captain Boli is as arrogant and purblind as they come. We did not read Selena Roberts slambook (all it was missing was stickers and a sign drawn in with a pink marker "STAY OUT!!!"), but we didn't need to. All of the juicy details were told on the TeeVee or on the various tubes of the internetz. "Who's hotter: Me or Jeter?" was probably my favorite, though him getting really pissed about his teammates calling him "Bitch Tits" is a close second. After growing up playing several team sports, I learned early that teammates will be relentless no matter what even if they are your friend, but I guess the lessons of a kid who writes a blog doesn't correlate to a guy who will make more in one year than 1,000 Americans below the poverty line will make in 2 years.
All of that aside, we really need to point something out that the media and Yankee empire is missing. Yes, A-Rod sucked copious amounts of penis the last few playoff runs for the Bronx Bombers. 2005: .133/0/0... 2006: .071/0/0... 2007: .267/1/1. We can agree that is terrible despite the fact that he played 5, 4 and 4 games respectively in of those years. The media ran with this like it was Watergate for baseball. "It doesn't matter what he does in the regular season, it's what he does in the playoffs!," "He is terrible and not worth it!," "It's like he doesn't care or try!!!!" Those are all quotes I read online from writers or message board posters. Let's isolate that last one; He doesn't try or care? OHHH... right... I forgot the time A-Rod showed up to a playoff game late and he even forgot his glove because he was at IKEA until Johnny Damon called his cell after the middle of the 2nd inning.
Now A-Roid is hitting .455 (IN THREE GAMES!!!!!) with 2 HRs and 6 RBIs. Apparently he has saved himself and saved the Yankees from potentially having to play the Twins a dreadful second time in Minneapolis. (The Twins, by the way, had a record of 0 and 10 versus the Yanks this year. Ouch.) But let's look at Captain Boli pre-Yankee era: 1997: .313/1/1... 2000 .371/2/7... 2004 .320/3/8! Wait a second... 2004 he was with the Yankees! Maybe, he isn't completely terrible in the playoffs and maybe if the Yanks didn't lose in the first round like they did the last three times (coincedentally the last three times were the times he gained his terrible playoff player status), it wouldn't be like that.
That being said, A-Rod still sucks.
What an A-Hole. Pinky up, sir!
The series versus the Angels is interesting for several reasons. Most interesting of which is the pitching matchups. The Yankees spent 15% of the world's total GNP on their pitching staff this offseason. The Angels did not. John Lackey goes game 1 for the Halos against CC Sabathia. Not a shocker there. But game 2 is Joe Saunders versus AJ Burnett is puzzling. Andy Pettitte's playoff aura is built around him being a stopper. He is golden in games coming off of his team losing. AJ Burnett has never pitched in the playoffs before this year. He was there once in 2003 (beating the Yankees as a Marlin... ROTFLZORZ) but was in a pressurized arm cast due to Tommy John Surgery. Joe Saunders in more puzzling because he is a noted first half pitcher. He started with a 3.26 ERA after May and ended with a 4.60 ERA and touched 5.27 in late August. Yes, Saunders was 16-7, but with that kind of run support, I could have gone at least 10-13. This is more confusing because noted Yankee killer Scott Kazmir is on the Angels. Kazmir made his career tormenting the Yankees in Tampa. The Angels very well could go back to Anaheim down 2-0 rather than 1-1. Both bullpens are solid, but the advantage goes to the Yankees. Hitting is a push.
Prediction: Yankees in 7.
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