Break from the Draft

There has been a request for there to be a break in the draft. So you will get it. Apparently, some readers have never heard of any of the guys mentioned here. Maybe you should watch more college football.

Today we talk about the joke and mockery that is the New York Yankees. I believe it was the great Jack Parkman that said, "Don't stand on the tracks when the trains coming through." Joe Girardi is out of line. Let me ask you a question. Do you have a switch that you could flip when you were playing sports and you could just say, hey I'm going to not go hard right here? If you're a baseball player, you go hard. You don't have to to react by thinking, this is Spring Training, I better not go hard. You see something in a split second and you react. Done.

So Girardi spoke of his lack of pleasure for a Rays player going head on into his catcher, breaking his wrist and causing surgery. The kid doing the damage is fighting for a spot on the roster. The Yankees are fighting for tee times. The Yankee roster is set and they don't have anything to play for. For the majority of the players invited to Spring Training who wear numbers in the 60's and 70's, are playing for a dream they've had since they knew what pine tar was. Joe needs to take a page out of Jack Parkman's playbook if he doesn't want guys to play hard.

But then we get the retaliation. A guy going hard into second base, sliding late and cleats up. I played a lot of baseball in my day. I got a lot of hits and made a lot of put outs but the one play that I will always remember above all was in the first regional game my senior year. We were playing at home and to lead off our half of the first, Brandon Hillier doubled. I walked and then Grez came up. Grez hit a hard grounder to second and I must have gotten a good jump on the ball but I got on the shortstop quick and took him out with a strong slide before he got a handle on the ball. We scored 3 I think that inning and those were the difference in the game. But, I didn't go in late nor high. Yeah, he did get a pretty good kick in the shin when I went in, but too would have the base. Not to mention the state of Illinois would probably give you the death penalty, which is about what you get for running over the catcher. None the less, breaking up two is really an important play in the game. It keeps an inning alive.

In the pros, there aren't too many rules on breaking them up. I mean, there are but guys can slide closer to third base than second and get away with it. The bottom line is most every slide into second is dirty but never spoken of. If someone actually thinks a slide is dirty going into second, it's really bad. The Yankees said they were going to retaliate. They did. Well, I'm not really sure what they retaliated for. A kid going hard? Nice.

This is what the Yankees have come to. Their best player yells at third basemen while the pop fly is in the air and tries to knock gloves off of pitchers. They had Billy Crystal lead off for them yesterday. In case you haven't noticed, the Yankees are flustered. The Red Sox have won two titles this decade to the Yankees ZERO. No one likes the Yankees other than Yankee fans and this whole Red Sox nation thing has really gotten to the Yankees. It's true, I think a lot of Red Sox nation has to do with ESPN. But no one feels it like the Yankees. They are under more pressure than any other team in sports to not just win, but win championships and appear to be more elite than anyone else. They aren't America's team. And they are feeling it.

The Yankees are a joke. Girardi had a shot to make a stance for his team being hard nosed. He went with typical Yankee fashion. He complained. He whined...just like A-Rod would do. I said a few weeks ago about how much it may be the Rays' time. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But the Rays have set the tone for their season. They are going to be a tough, scrappy team. You know, guys like the A's. Are they going to finish ahead of the Yankees? No. But as usual, they are going to play them tough. And you know what, they have nothing to lose. Unlike the Yankees.