When the season was over, Martinez called for a meeting with Steinbrenner, but never did get an offer out of him. Deep down, Martinez always wanted to believe that he would be the beneficiary of The Boss' desire to cripple the Red Sox by signing him, but he wouldn't touch Martinez. Steinbrenner wouldn't have him ( Read more... )

latching onto whatever bright side there might be, here's to hoping mel stottlemyre doesn't undo whatever good leo mazzone might have acheived with jaret wright. i'm still scratching my head over the womack thing.

Maybe he hoped the Balco investigation and his testimony would just disappear. Maybe he was assured of confidentiality. You can argue that a dirty game is being played by whoever leaked the testimony, but that shouldn't obscure the now public admission by Giambi, as reported in the newspaper, that he played first ( Read more... )

it's sad that he felt, somewhere along the line, that the potentiality of destroying his body and his career was worth some extra chemically induced bulk. maybe i should muster some indignation or moral outrage, but all i keep coming back to is how utterly pathetic it all is.

since there's not much of note to be on topic with, and the holidays sneaking up:

- if anyone's interested in a spot on my xmas card list, feel free to email me with contact info
- and if anyone magically has something to spare after all the shopping, or's just feeling a little generous, do consider donating to the alzheimer's association this ( Read more... )

"He had a great first half last year, then it got away from him and he couldn't find a way to pull it back together," Mussina said. "Javy can pitch; he has too much talent. He can pitch in New York ( Read more... )

...I cling to a murmured line of Joe Torre’s on this: “You like to think that the incentive for winning games is winning games.” One day, a smart publisher will anthologize “The Aphorisms of Joe,” for that space up there next to La Rochefoucauld. [roger angell, on The Brawl]

also, a belated pat on the ass to captain intangibles himself, who won his first gold glove award this year. i can hear the hate train a-spluttering in self-righteous indignation now.

stumbled on a great allen barra article on The Thing in the village voice, of all places:

It has practically become an article of faith among local writers and ( Read more... )

both from newsday:

Raised in Brooklyn, baseball-educated in the Bronx, Willie Randolph will get the opportunity of a lifetime in Queens with the Mets planning to introduce him today as the club's 18th manager during a news conference at Shea Stadium.

Give Randolph the benefit of the doubt. Take him at his word that this is the opportunity of a ( Read more... )

per the new york times:

Mel Stottlemyre, the pitching coach who has been at Manager Joe Torre's side since the Yankees hired him in 1996, will not return in 2005. A person who spoke to one of Stottlemyre's colleagues said this week that Stottlemyre would not be back for a 10th season as coach ( Read more... )