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NYC's Weak Sisters 2007

Johnny Dickshot Feb 15 2007 07:40 PM

MFY Nooz. Between this and Mariano's vaguely insulted remarks regarding the "dissing" of Bernie, we're off to a good start. ] Steinbrenner's son-in-law arrested LARGO, Fla. — George Steinbrenner's son-in-law and designated successor to run the New York Yankees was arrested early Thursday for suspicion of driving under the influence. Yankees general partner Steve Swindal was arrested by the St. Petersburg Police at 4:26 a.m., according to a copy of the charge report posted on the Pinellas County Sherriff's Office's Web site. He was booked for a misdemeanor and released at 9:53 a.m. on $250 bond. "Mr. Swindal apologizes profusely for this distraction during the Yankees' spring training and no further comment will be made until this is resolved," said Steinbrenner's spokesman, Howard Rubenstein. The 52-year-old Swindal, who lives in Tampa, is married to Steinbrenner's daughter, Jennifer, and has taken an increasingly active role in running the Yankees. In June 2005, Steinbrenner said Swindal would eventually succeed him. Swindal did not immediately return a message left on his cell phone. Swindal also is part of a group bidding to become the next operator of New York's three major thoroughbred racetracks — Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga.

Edgy DC Feb 15 2007 07:46 PM

I swear, if one more Yankee statement includes an apology for being "a distraction" ... .

metirish Feb 15 2007 08:46 PM

I would like to see Omar sign Bernie,just for the fun of it.

Johnny Dickshot Feb 15 2007 09:13 PM

he could be this year's Gerald Williams.

metirish Feb 16 2007 08:22 AM

Mug Shot

Edgy DC Feb 16 2007 08:25 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Feb 16 2007 08:29 AM

Thursday's line score: Met Ownership $12 Million University Donation Yankee Ownership $250 bond

Willets Point Feb 16 2007 08:27 AM

A future Yankee owner named Swindal? The bad pun headline possibilities are endless.

MFS62 Feb 16 2007 09:39 AM

Willets Point wrote: A future Yankee owner named Swindal? The bad pun headline possibilities are endless. I remember when the Yankees were owned by guys named Topping and Webb. They built gambling casinos. Different spelling of swindle. Same result. Later

Edgy DC Feb 16 2007 04:31 PM

Rotation of aggravation. Moose on the loose Mussina questions Pavano's desire and dedication Posted: Thursday February 15, 2007 8:58PM; Updated: Thursday February 15, 2007 8:58PM AP TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Carl Pavano and Mike Mussina pitched off adjacent mounds in the bullpen as the New York Yankees started spring training workouts Thursday. "It's his fault. We didn't win the World Series because of him. We all did everything right. Even A-Rod. Well, not really A-Rod. Get this down. If Pavano wasn't such a bum we would have won, except perhaps for A-Rod being a bum. Is that clear?" A short while later, Mussina said the oft-injured Pavano isn't in sync with his teammates just yet. "He needs to show a lot of people that he wants to go out there and pitch for us. If he shows us that, I think everything is going to be fine," Mussina said. Pavano hasn't pitched in the major leagues since June 2005 because of shoulder, back, buttocks, elbow and rib injuries. Entering the third season of a $39.95 million, four-year contract, the 31-year-old right-hander has made just 17 starts for the Yankees, going 4-6 with a 4.77 ERA. On Tuesday, when asked how much work Pavano had to do to regain the trust and respect of his teammates, Yankees manager Joe Torre responded: "It's sizable." "Joe obviously has his opinions on it," Pavano told reporters. "I didn't come in here nervous that my teammates are going to oust me or give me the cold shoulder. I know that definitely there's respect to be earned. Other things that were said, I think were just things that you guys are having a lot of fun with." Mussina, the senior pitcher in the Yankees' starting rotation, took issue with that, saying the chasm was real and not just a media creation. Sitting in his corner chair in the clubhouse at Legends Field, taking pauses to phrase his words precisely, he spoke of the frustration he has felt. "He's only looking at it from his perspective. We're looking at it from our perspective, those of us that have been through both years. We want him to go out there and show that he wants to do this," Mussina said. "It got to a point where we just didn't even want to hear about it or talk about it anymore." The extent of how much Pavano must do to regain respect was evident when Mussina was asked whether he would give Pavano the benefit of the doubt that he's going to do all he can to pitch. "No, not just yet. Not yet, no," Mussina replied. "I want to see that he wants to do it." Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has repeatedly said that all of Pavano's injuries were legitimate. But while Pavano wasn't pitching, center fielder Johnny Damon, first baseman Jason Giambi, Mussina and others played hurt. "When one guy is out there playing the game despite whatever is going on and somebody else is not, that's how teammates get bad tastes in their mouths," Mussina said. "As another starting pitcher, who hasn't been 100 percent for all of the last two years, I know what it takes to be able to go out there and pitch, and I know when you can't go out there and pitch. And sometimes it's a fine line, but I think after 15 years I kind of know where the line is." Pavano says that one injury led to another and that he finally feels well after working out with a new trainer in Arizona during the offseason. Some of his teammates kept pointing out that each time it appeared he was close to being ready to pitch in the major leagues, another injury occurred. "I'm looking at from a perspective of just the way each thing happened and the timing of it and just piecing all those things together," Mussina said. "You get to form your own evaluation. It didn't look good. From a player's and a teammate's standpoint, it didn't look good. Was everything just coincidence over and over again? I don't know." Taking his regular turn in the rotation would solve Pavano's problem with his teammates. "If he does those things, eventually it's going to show everybody that he wants to be out there pitching for us," Mussina said. On that, they agreed: "Obviously, I've got to go out there and pitch. Other than that, I don't think there's really much left to do," Pavano said. "I know a lot of these guys obviously are frustrated. I think it's more of a compliment. They're frustrated because they know I can help them, and I haven't been able to do that." As always, Yankees captain Derek Jeter was circumspect. Asked whether Pavano needed to regain trust and respect, he answered as if he were a diplomat. "I wouldn't necessarily say that. You want him to be healthy," Jeter said. "He just has to go, prove he's healthy and go out there and pitch. Then he'll be fine." After watching Mussina, Pavano, Andy Pettitte, Chien-Ming Wang and Kei Igawa pitch for eight minutes each, Torre said Pavano would have to learn to compete again in game situations. "I think that's going to take a special preparation and focus, but again that's what spring training is for," the manager said. "Certainly can't do it in the bullpen."

Willets Point Feb 16 2007 05:22 PM

Satire or real article, I cannot tell?

Edgy DC Feb 16 2007 05:25 PM

Real article. Satirical photo caption.

Willets Point Feb 16 2007 05:32 PM

Ah good, Yankees fighting amongst themselves gives me a warm, fuzzy schadenfreude.

G-Fafif Feb 16 2007 05:37 PM

Kid is born in 1995. His dad is a Yankees fan. He turns six in 2001. He adopts his dad's favorite team. Dad tells him how the Yankees always win the World Series. But in 2001, the Yankees lose in the ninth inning of the seventh game. The kid is confused, sad. Don't worry, Dad says, this was a big disappointment but our team will go get more great players and we'll win next year. Next year, they don't win. Kid is dismayed, but Dad says it's OK, we're the Yankees, we always win. It will be better than this year when all we did was win a division title and go to the playoffs. Next year, the kid understands a little more. He sees his team win the pennant, beat that team he's been told he hates but then sees his team, the Yankees who always won before he knew about them, lose in the World Series. Buncha losers, his Dad yells. But then Dad has good news over the offseason. We just got the best player there is. We're gonna be unbeatable this year. Except the year unfolds and that team the kid is supposed to hate comes from way behind and ruins the Yankees' chances at a championship. Another bitter playoff disappointment. Another year follows. Another playoff loss. Another year after that. And another playoff loss. It is now 2007. The kid is 12. He is plenty old enough to call himself a fan with a past. He has never known a Yankee team to have not won a division title but he has never known a Yankee team to have won a World Series which is what his dad and everybody who ever talks about the Yankees from a pro-Yankees slant says they are supposed to do. Six division titles, six playoff appearances, two American League pennants, no world championships. So is this kid a long-suffering Yankees fan?

Willets Point Feb 16 2007 06:01 PM

No fan of a team that has been in the playoffs for 11 years and counting can be said to have suffered. Unless they have leukemia or were illegally locked in prison or something.

SteveJRogers Feb 16 2007 06:55 PM

Willets Point wrote: No fan of a team that has been in the playoffs for 11 years and counting can be said to have suffered. Unless they have leukemia or were illegally locked in prison or something. Yup. And if there really was someone who actually SAID that, go ask a Yankee fan about 79-95 or from 65-76, this isn't as bad as those stretches. Say nothing about other teams' prolonged slumps without a championship.

G-Fafif Feb 16 2007 07:14 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Feb 16 2007 07:24 PM

Not going to argue for the 12-year-old Yankees fan who's had six postseason appearances, that's for sure. But just in terms of perspective, he's been told all his life how disappointing his team has been, how he's entitled to something better. It's obviously a very different situation from the two playoffless interregnums (that I fervently hope become three), but one wonders if it's a slightly different insufferable (if not long-suffering) breed coming through the MFY ranks of late. In the other major sports, we readily accept the notion that a team that consistently comes up short in the playoffs (say any football team coached by Marty Schottenheimer) has suffered. Yet, perhaps because baseball still attaches genuine cachet outside of Atlanta and the Bronx to making the playoffs we don't look it at that way. Well, we Mets fans certainly don't. I pose the question in the context of higher expectations for those brats. And also as a cheap excuse to note that the Yankees haven't met their quota of jewelry for six going on seven years.

Nymr83 Feb 16 2007 07:16 PM

Willets Point wrote: Ah good, Yankees fighting amongst themselves gives me a warm, fuzzy schadenfreude. its really nice isnt it? soon we'll get an article about how "captain intangibles" held a closed-door meeting and everyone is one big happy family again

ScarletKnight41 Feb 16 2007 07:26 PM

Nymr83 wrote: ="Willets Point"]Ah good, Yankees fighting amongst themselves gives me a warm, fuzzy schadenfreude. its really nice isnt it? soon we'll get an article about how "captain intangibles" held a closed-door meeting and everyone is one big happy family again Yeah, except for A-Rod, who wasn't invited to the meeting.

Edgy DC Feb 17 2007 12:03 AM

It seems to me the only way that kid can be described as "long-suffering" is as "the long-suffering son of a ludmouth fool of a father."

iramets Feb 17 2007 08:54 AM

Edgy DC wrote: ludmouth Is this some kind of anti-technology fish? The kid always has the solace of those 26 World's Championships. The fact that he's never witnessed one, nor smelled one, nor celebrated one is immaterial. He basks in their glow. He's a certified winner. Of course, he also gets to grouse and complain, Who said this is a fair planet?

Edgy DC Feb 17 2007 08:58 AM

Spelling after midnight.

SteveJRogers Feb 17 2007 09:07 AM

iramets wrote: ="Edgy DC"] ludmouth The kid always has the solace of those 26 World's Championships. The fact that he's never witnessed one, nor smelled one, nor celebrated one is immaterial. He basks in their glow. He's a certified winner. Same kid, is a Celtic fan, or a Canadien fan, Celtics haven't won in 20 years and the Habs haven't won in over 10. Does that kid take solace in all their championships and glory days even though he was born after it all happened? Are Icelander...errr Islander fans not considered "long suffering" because for a short period they had a run that is among the greatest runs in NHL history? There was actually a time where the Red Sox had the most championships in baseball history, I doubt Red Sox fans ever sat back and basksed in their glow. Yes it was several generations ago but still

Frayed Knot Feb 17 2007 09:39 AM

Supposedly Mussina & Pavano kissed an made up, even to the point of Mussina admitting that if he was going to say what he said he should have done it directly to Pavano instead of going through the media. But in the mentality of the locker room - where a player's IQ is often equated with his BA or ERA - Pavano does have a lot to prove to his teammates and that there's a sense that he wasn't working all that hard to overcome his injuries. It's become almost fashionable for callers to sports-talk radio to describe themselves as 'long-suffering' when talking about their chosen team. I've yet to hear a Yanqui fan use that term but I sense that it's coming.

Yancy Street Gang Feb 17 2007 11:25 AM

If rooting for a team makes you "suffer" you probably should find something new to keep you occupied.

metirish Feb 18 2007 11:51 PM

Cashman on Mike'd Up talking tough and sounding pissed that Riveria would choose to talk about a new contract through the media...says that it's tough to start talks when he did that.....

metirish Feb 19 2007 02:01 PM

A-Rod talks....and has caused quite the stir......oh I love it.. http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/ny-spyanks0220,0,5633833.story?coll=ny-main-bigpix