Not sure I'm ready to write Byrd off. Can Sabathia come in if Byrd blows up?

At least the Tribe staked themselves to a couple of runs in the first.

Maybe Byrd can pull a Livo??

Another thought: Do the Indians think they've mastered Wang, and can thus afford the risk of running Byrd out there and saving Sabathia?

I dunno, it's kind of nice to see an old friend of a different sort. I feel like I grew up with Moose and the Orioles of the early to mid '90s. So, even though I want to see the Yankees lose, here's to you, Mr. Mussina. This Nationals fan misses you more than you may know.

Hmm, who knew Wang was gonna be the one knocked out? (I didn't, I swear.)

"here's to you, Mr. Mussina. This Nationals fan misses you more than you may know."

Woe, woe, woe!

Egad, they're getting their money's worth at the Stadium tonight. This is on pace to be a six-hour contest.

Of course, that would also mean the Yanks and Tribe are on pace to score 25 or so runs between them. Which would be ridiculous.

And I wouldn't bet a nickel against it.

Not to mention what's going on in Buffalo tonight....

Weird sports night

My Buffalo-native Nats rowmate -- with whom I'm attending the Skins-Bills game later this season -- will be sticking that interception-return TD in my eye for, oh, about the next month and a half.

Ah well, whatever it takes to put the Dallasites in their place.

Meanwhile, this business in The Bronx is edging on farce.

A-Rod gets a single!! Give him another $20 million!!

(Apologies to Chip Caray.)

That wasn't really a 73-yard field goal by the Cowboys just now?? (So sez the Post.)

I'm watching TV with a friend of ours who is a big Cowboys fan. He has decided he wants to watch the baseball game now.

Wonder how Wang would match up against Roma?

Yes, that's a snark-foul into the screen behind home plate, and I am mildly ashamed of it. Only mildly.

Should I know who Alyssa Milano is?

Only if you're a Dodger fan, #1 Lurker.

Milano is an actress and a baseball fan.

Thank you, Hendo and natsfan1a. Definitely NOT a Dodger fan.

Glad to hear it, #1 Lurker.

The Dodgers are IMO one of the more ham-handedly-run teams these days. I'm still ticked at the way they kicked Paul DePodesta out of the front office. Full props to Kevin Towers and the Padres for scooping DePodesta up.

How do you spell Schadenfreude? Go Sox!

The Indians win it! The Indians win it! Oh my God, the Indians win it!

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Congrats, Tribe! You spanked those Yanks just like my 86-year-old aunt told you to. See you in the ALCS!!

Well, that's that for the ALDS.

Caps 3-0 on the season? How sweet is that? (Yeah, take it to a hockey room. But still.)

natsfan1a, please ask your 86-year-old aunt to lift a toast to my 87-year-old Ohioan Dad in honor of the Tribe. Next stop Fenway!

I just have to say how depressing it is that with this new baseball schedule there is no game until Thursday night. What am i going to do tomorrow and wednesday night? I mean of course I will watch House tomorrow, but what else?

Lurk around here, natsinthevalley. I bet either Barry or Dave will have a good post or two between now and Thursday.

(Alas, the Caps don't play again till Friday. Yeah, I know...)

Will do, Hendo! She sent all of the nieces and nephews a gleeful email at about midnight...

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natsfan1a, please ask your 86-year-old aunt to lift a toast to my 87-year-old Ohioan Dad in honor of the Tribe. Next stop Fenway!

So the Reverse Lock is alive and well.
Which is more than you can say for the 2007 Yankees ...
________
"I'm clearly in the camp that thinks the Indians should have started ace C.C. Sabathia tonight, instead of Paul Byrd, who I think is going to get crushed."

"Syllables, 506. Syllables."

---------
"here's to you, Mr. Mussina. This Nationals fan misses you more than you may know."
Woe, woe, woe!
Posted by: Section 506 (Before moving) | October 8, 2007 08:54 PM

Excellent read by Peter Gammons today on ESPN.com. After reading this it makes me even more confident that the FO has the Nats on the right track with "the plan". Patience, patience, patience.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3054454&name=gammons_peter

Boz captured the gravity of this game perfectly in his column this morning.Even Yankee-haters like me could not listen unmoved as Susan Waldman, in tears herself, described the tears of the assistant coaches as Joe Torre said good-bye to his team. Mr. Steinbrenner has provided excellence for his city of 9 million people, who have been able to count on their baseball team to lift their spirits. That's a lot of spirits to lift, and you have to give credit to the entire organization for the class it brings to baseball. And New York and Boston may be the only baseball towns left in America. My three daughters were particularly amazed to learn that the Yankees have a female broadcaster who offered such intelligent and soul-wrenching commentary on the end of an era.

"Mr. Steinbrenner has provided excellence for his city of 9 million people"

Not to mention providing great comic fodder for an entire generation of Americans by virtue of his extended run as a major character on Seinfeld. Ever notice that the Yankees did not start their last great run of championships until after he finally got rid of that worthless George Costanza? On the other hand, though, Mr. Wilhelm was one of his greatest unsung hires. I would say that even before Joe Torre is granted his plaque in Monument Park, Wilhelm deserves to get one. Are you with me on that, flynnie?

With the big gap till the league series starts maybe Barry will get to the Starting Pitcher portion of the position-by-position breakdown...

Interesting how Barry's article on the Red Sox new identity didn't mention Daisuke.

Don't look now, but Boswell wrote a column about the Yankees! How often does the Times write about the Nats.

Poke, poke, sleeping dogs.

I am kinda torn... On the one hand... is there anything more sweet than a Yankees loss? Or losing three of four? In some respects, it is better than getting swept, because the one win gives them a little hope, that the Indians dashed last night. I don't feel bad for the Yankees, or Torre... or anyone in the organization.

On the other hand... do we really want an event so devastating that they decide to do things differently? What if they accidentally stumble upon a winning formula not based on obscene largesse? Then, Yankee-haters like me might have to grudgingly admit some admiration for them.

We-ell, seeing as how we're poking, as far as I can tell the Times stopped covering much of any baseball after the Nats season ended. And here we are getting doubleheader coverage with the Post (well, triple if you count the Boz column). Gooooo WaPo!!

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Don't look now, but Boswell wrote a column about the Yankees! How often does the Times write about the Nats.

Poke, poke, sleeping dogs.

Shame on you, natsfan1a! The New York Times, not even our Post-bashers would compare it to that crummy little newsletter across town!

Wigi, I'm totally with you on your second point. The worse loss of this season would be the Yankees' hubris.

?? I was comparing the Wash. Times and the Wash. Post. My post had nothing to do with the New York Times.

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Shame on you, natsfan1a! The New York Times, not even our Post-bashers would compare it to that crummy little newsletter across town!

Good analysis of the duality of the situation. I too am a Yankee hater. Through and through. The Moose was dead to me as soon as he put the pinstripes on. I was thinking along the same lines as you and could only come up with the following as a reason to be more happy than concerned:

If they're truly going to rebuild through the farm system and a youth movement rather than by using the rest of the major leagues as their own personal farm system, then they have to go through the "rebuilding period". I for one would relish every moment during that time with NYY languishing at the bottom of the AL East standings and take personal satisfaction with every red, yellow, sky blue, or pink Yankee hat, jacket, or tee shirt on display at the local consignment shop as the bandwagoneers jump of the NYY express and onto other Flavors of the Month.

That to me is worth it... no matter the cost in terms of future World Series Championships.

Oops... forgot to quote in my last post...

================

I am kinda torn... On the one hand... is there anything more sweet than a Yankees loss? Or losing three of four? In some respects, it is better than getting swept, because the one win gives them a little hope, that the Indians dashed last night. I don't feel bad for the Yankees, or Torre... or anyone in the organization.

On the other hand... do we really want an event so devastating that they decide to do things differently? What if they accidentally stumble upon a winning formula not based on obscene largesse? Then, Yankee-haters like me might have to grudgingly admit some admiration for them.

Posted by: Wigi | October 9, 2007 02:08 PM

506, I'm not sure what your point is. The Post does not do a good job covering the home team. By contrast, the NY Times actually does a great job covering the NY home teams, and it also does a great job covering baseball in general. Boswell--the Post's lone baseball columnist--actually wrote a column about (get this) baseball during the playoffs?!? Given what we are used to from the Post I guess that is a noteworthy event, but that just illustrates the problem. (And to answer your specific question, the NY Times has actually written about the Nats quite a bit over the past 3 years, but never to the detriment of their Yankees or Mets coverage a la Sheinin or Saslow.)

Just being snarky, Coverage, just being snarky.

Right...maybe we should have the next 50 or so posts talk about types of "snark" and "snark tools" or something like that. I mean, that would be a lot more interesting than anything else we could discuss here.

419, Sorry I was so long getting back to you, but I was delivering my resume to Yankee Stadium for the position of "Assistant to the Traveling Secretary" and I had a date with a lady in building maintenance. I am with you!

flynnie... Good luck with your application. A couple of eggplant calzones from Paisano's might help sweeten the deal. Make sure you negotiate a no-trade clause or you might find yourself traded for a gross of chicken-dogs and a couple cases of alcoholic-chicken.

MKevin-You are wise!

You're right. We should instead strut and fret our hour over decisions made by a business based on perceived market reward instead of our desired sentimentality with sound and fury.

The tedium of this media dissection makes me actually look forward to closing my account books and doing my taxes this week. Thanks, folks.

Sect. 506, in re-reading the thread, it would seem that perhaps your sleeping dog comment had something to do with the NY Times, which might explain your response below, which confused me. When I posted earlier, I assumed that your earlier post had something to do with the Washington Times, this being a Washington-related blog. So I jumped in thinking that I was supporting the Wash. Post as opposed to the Wash. Times. I was not commenting on the NY Times. Shame on me for not realizing that it was the subject of your post, I suppose.

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Shame on you, natsfan1a! The New York Times, not even our Post-bashers would compare it to that crummy little newsletter across town!

Snark rating for Coverage: Strike three, bunted foul.

It's an off day.

Although, we could discuss the fact that the Peoria Javelinas opened their season this afternoon, courtesy of the Farm Report:

"The Arizona Fall League gets underway this afternoon for the Peoria Javelinas. Adam Carr, Garrett Mock, Alex Morales, Zech Zinicola, Devin Ivany, Kory Casto and Justin Maxwell will make their 2007 debuts for the Javelinas who host the Surprise Rafters at 12:35PM MST (3:35PM EDT)."

Hmmmn ... wonder what the Surprise Rafters' logo looks like. Nine guys in suits going over a waterfall?

good one, Bobble
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Hmmmn ... wonder what the Surprise Rafters' logo looks like. Nine guys in suits going over a waterfall?

Posted by: Bob L. Head | October 9, 2007 05:14 PM