Iron Man

I have to say I really enjoyed Iron Man. I see so few movies at the theater and this one was worth it. I could see the sequel being even better. I'll admit that I'll most likely be seeing the new Indiana Jones movie in a theater as well. I try to avoid trailers for movies that I want to see but I watched the trailer in the previews before Iron Man and it looked pretty bad ass. So I'll be dat. I was upset that Ghostface Killah's cameo was cut from Iron Man. Thankfully that's what DVD's are for. If you are going to see Iron Man stay for a bonus after the credits. It's worth it.

Yankees Stuff. Evil Empire Haters Be Warned.

Finally made it out to Yankee Stadium for the first time in over a decade. We'll get the logistics out of the way first. The game was Sunday and the Yankees won 8-2 to complete a sweep of the Seattle Mariners. Darrell Rasner assumed Phil Hughes' spot in the rotation and got the start after being called up from AAA. Adrian Beltre belted a 2-run homer to left in the first inning, but that was all the Mariners got. Rasner pitched six innings, gave up 5 hits, 2 runs with 4 k's and no walks. Definitely better than anything the Yankees have gotten from Hughes or Ian Kennedy thus far. The Yankees blew up for 6 runs in the third inning, highlighted by back-to-back homers by Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano. Cabrera is quietly playing very well right now and hopefully the home run by Cano can shake him out of his current slump. The Yankees and fantasy baseball players everywhere are counting on you. That was pretty much the ballgame. Good game for Yankees fans, bad weekend overall for y'all Mariners fans.

Some Yankee Stadium Notes and Whatnot

• Really wanted to check out Monument Park. I arrived at about 10:45 and was in line to get into the stadium right as it opened at 11. Then I messed up. Decided I had to use the bathroom. Then debated about getting something to eat first. Then took a couple of pictures of batting practice. Window shopped at the Yankee store for a hot minute then it was off to Monument Park. By the time I got there (call it about 11:20) there were already hundreds, if not thousands of people in line, I shit you not. The line stretched from Monument Park (left field) into the stadium, then up the ramps to the top level of the stadium where the line just continued. Give the number of people and the fact that they close it just before game time, getting in line did not assure me of getting in. Just another excuse to go again this year. Moral of the story is, if you want to see Monument Park go very early to the stadium, be first in line to get in and the proceed immediately to Monument Park. Or bring a very good, long book.
• Walked right past Angelo Cataldi (morning guy on Philly talk radio station, 610 WIP) right as I was walking up to the stadium. My buddy shouted him out and he acknowledged him and kept walking. Pretty sure he had a Yankee hat on.
  
• Digital cameras destroy batteries. Even the good ones. When you see AA batteries for sale at the Dollar Store (8 batteries for $1.00!) do not buy them for anything other than remote controls. I got about 7 pictures for every 2 batteries. I figured they'd be kinda lousy so I brought a bunch but that was ridiculous. So Good Batteries=Expensive, but worthwhile.
• Was not too impressed with the food offerings at Yankee Stadium. I really didn't get a chance to go to experience everything, I got a pretty good idea. Everything was out of this world expensive (to be expected). Regular hot dog and a soda ran you $10. And that's the small hot dog and smallest soda. Beers were $9 for a 16-oz domestic draft. Bag of peanuts was $5, slice of pizza was $5, smallest fries were $5, you get the idea. They did have a pretty decent selection and a lot of locations which helped with the lines (which were not too bad). Nothing I had was really very good, most notably a hot dog which was lower than gas station quality. The vendors were all pretty nice though.
  
• I actually wanted to get a scorecard and fill it out. I haven't done that since I played ball when I was a kid. Well to cop a scorecard you had to buy a program. For $7. Maybe I'm nuts but that's just too much for me.
• I openly mused how much it would cost for a family of 4 or 5 to come to a ballgame. That hurt. Then later some guy showed up with his family and they sat in front of us. Dude had at least 5 kids. Yeah the tickets were only $15 bucks but I'm guessing he spent $300 easy, without buying t-shirts or the like.
• Since I got there early I got a pretty good parking spot. There's not a lot of them though, so if you ain't on the train, get there at least 2 hours early. Expect to pay about $20.
• The new Yankee Stadium is going to be amazing. It looks like the current Yankee Stadium crossed with a modern version of the Roman Coliseum. Absolutely unreal. But it will be a long time until the parking situation is handled.
  
• The All-Star Game this summer will be a memorable experience. Good luck getting tickets but they'd be worth it.
  
• Be warned. It's a steep climb to the upper level seats. And there's a lot of ramps and very few escalators.
  
• There were a lot of cops in uniform (working I guess) at the game. There was one (kinda young guy) posted right by our section. He actually was more like a ticket guy, telling people how to best get to their seats. He would just look at your ticket and point pretty much. Then later I watched as two attractive younger females asked for his help. And I'll be damned if he didn't actually walk them all the way to their seats. Not like I wouldn't have done the same thing, but never be naive as to how the world really works.
• I love the New York fans. Good times.
• Couple of decent bars right around the stadium. Lots of flat screens, pretty waitress and decent food. Be warned though, stadium inflation applies here as well. Try to the tune of about $6 for a domestic bottle.
  

All in all, I had a blast and it was a beautiful day. Not bad indeed.

The Yankees Meet M*A*S*H

Ding-Dong the Wicked Witch is dead!

Or is she? Things are not all well in Yankee-land right now. The $300 million dollar man is on the DL. One of the most durable catchers in MLB history is joining him. So is the young fireballer who's talent is so great, and ceiling so high, he was valued more than Johan Santana by the Yankee organization. Let's break em down.

A-Rod. The $300 million dollar man. His injury is not serious but any missed games for A-Rod are a big deal. Look at it this way. For the sake of making this easier let's assume A-Rod makes $27 million per year. That's roughly $166,667 PER GAME. So we'll assume that over 15 days A-Rod misses 12 games. That's $2,000,004. That A-Rod made. While on the DL. For about 2 weeks. That's almost 10% of the Florida Marlins payroll for the entire season. My point is, that's how important A-Rod is, especially to the Yankees right now. The Yankees are not the dominant offensive team they should be right now. A-Rod has to be the MVP in the middle of that lineup. He needs to make everybody batting around him better. He can't do that on the DL. The Yankees might have more "Mad Money" than Jim Cramer but don't think for a second that they couldn't use that $2 million right now to buy some more bullpen help. When A-Rod's on he's worth every penny of his deal. But if he's not, that deal is an albatross that will not go quietly into the night. Look for A-Rod to turn it around when he gets off of the DL but he needs to step up as a team leader.

Jorge Posada. A 36 year old catcher who signed a huge 4 year deal last off-season. He'd never been on the DL in his entire career. Guess what? There's a first time for everything. This is bad. The Yankees have 3 or 4 guys who should be the DH so there's no room for him there. He can play some first base but that forces Giambi to DH and pushes Cabrera, Damon, Matsui or Abreu to the bench. With exception of Cabrera, that means putting a $10 million+ per season player on the bench. So that's not a great option either. So the Yankees need Posada to catch. If you put a gun to Brian Cashman (Yankee's GM) right now I suspect he would say that he expects very little, if anything, from Posada the rest of this season. Next to Derek Jeter, Posada is the most important Yankee in that locker room. Not to mention the Yankees will be playing musical catchers all season. Posada was also their second best hitter last season. If Posada can make it back by the All-Star break at 100% or very close to it, the Yankees will be a much better team. Without him..... let's just say it won't be pretty.

Phil Hughes fractured his 9th rib sneezing. It's been tough to verify the sneezing part but Sportscenter said it so it must be true. It's been well documented that Hughes is the youngest pitcher in the big leagues. And is hype has been building for 3 seasons now. Remember, Joba Chamberlain came out of nowhere. Hughes was and has been the Yankees highest profile young pitcher since Cashman took over. The Yankees have time and time again refused to part with Hughes in any deal. He's supposed to be their future, their next ace to put up in the rotation with Wang and Chamberlain, someday. Yet he's been injured constantly and has not pitched even average this season. Hughes flashed his dominance last year but this year has been a whole new ballgame, literally. Maybe this injury is the problem. But we won't get a chance to find out until after the All-Star break most likely. If he doesn't return to form this year it could spell curtains for Cashman. Parting with Hughes and Ian Kennedy in a Johan Santana deal doesn't look so crazy right now. Except for the team trading for Hughes and Kennedy. Remember though, it takes a certain kind of pitcher to pitch well for the Yankees. That's why it's even harder for them to import pitchers from other organizations. A startling number of pitchers were successful for one team, unsuccessful for the Yankees and then successful again upon leaving the Yankees. Look for them to stick it out with Hughes and Kennedy. Hell, they don't really have any other options unless the Yankees want Billy Beane to rob them blind and severely deplete their farm system.

So what the hell does this all mean? It means that the Evil Empire is in trouble. They're gonna need to kick, claw and scrap their way to a .500 record going into the All-Star break. If they can do that and Posada comes back healthy and Hughes pitches like he did last year, they've got a shot. The Red Sox do not look as strong as they have in recent years. The AL East is the deepest and strongest it's been this decade but the Yankees and the Red Sox are clearly to the front runners. They always are.

So where does Joba stand in all of this? That's gonna require it's own post. You do know it's Friday right? I typically only see 1 movie in the theaters per year but this might be an exception year. I'm mosdef going to see the new Indiana Jones but I really want to see Ironman. I haven't gone to a movie on opening weekend since T3 but I think I just might. Oh and a word to the wise, don't see Speed Racer unless you want to have a seizure. Yeah the Wachowski brothers made the Matrix. But they're not the Wachowski brothers anymore because one of them had a sex change. Just some food for thought on Friday.

Now I Feel Pretty Bad

Sorry DC. I ripped on you the other day about your injury on the show "Pros vs Joes" and that was insensitive. Well not really, but today I found out that you need a heart transplant. Seriously. I'm sure that there are numerous cities full of NBA fans (Charlotte, Detroit, Philly, etc) who would have some things to say about that. By which I'm implying that Derrick Coleman was often accused of playing "without heart". I think the main problem with DC was that he was so talented. He could've (coulda, shoulda, woulda,) been a sure fire Hall Of Fame player. His skills were that good. He could've been a player who was a combination of the best parts of Rasheed Wallace and Chris Webber. A complete inside/out player. Never happened though.

DC was such a tease. He would rarely turn it on for a string of games. Don't get me wrong, he played well at times but he was just scratching the surface. But occasionally, for some short bursts within games, he exploded. His body continued to let him down as the seasons wore on and went past. I was very conscious in comparing him to Sheed. Similar size, similar skill set and a similar mindset. My opinion has always been that if you took Kobe Bryant's drive (desire, hunger, passion, whatever you want to call it) and put it into Rasheed Wallace you would have the best player in the NBA. Sheed would be Dirk with defense, rebounding, attitude and leadership. Sheed could play anywhere on the floor, post up anybody, shoot over anybody. Yet he only seems to do it for short stretches at a time. Hence the comparisons.

Anyway, I'm not baggin on ya DC. Alright maybe a little, but that's just the voice of a frustrated fan. You're an OK dude DC and I hope that you undergo a successful heart transplant and live a long and productive life. Two pieces of advice though. (1) If you have any children as athletically gifted as you, please find a way for Kevin Garnett to be their role model, teacher and coach. (2) Do not go back onto a basketball court under any circumstances ever. You're cursed like the Cubs, man. Good luck and best wishes DC. Here's hoping Sheed visits you in the hospital.

So They Lost, Does It Really Matter

The Philadelphia 76'ers finally fell tonight to the Detroit Pistons. Let me go out on a limb right now and pick the Orlando Magic over the Pistons in Round 2 of the Eastern Conference. Were the Pistons the better team versus the 76'ers? Absolutely. Does that really mean anything? Not a chance. Why did the Pistons win? 2 reasons. (1) The Sixers have zero 3-point shooters. (2) The Sixers were not able to match up against Rasheed Wallace and Rip Hamilton.

So what does this really mean? It means (A) The Sixers have a bright future (B) The Pistons will have their hands full against the Magic, much less against the Celtics (Hawks permitting). The Magic have the players to match up against the Pistons. Even more so, do the Celtics. The Pistons are aging notably and although their bench is young, they lack that spark 'Sheed first brought to them. That is the spark that Garnett brings the Celtics and the spark that the Spurs never lack.

Tomorrow I'll do the the "What the Sixers can do to make themselves better next year" post. I feel that Philly exposed Detroit more than Atlanta has exposed the Celtics. The Sixers had their best player (Andre Iguodala) play as bad as he possibly can and the Sixers still won 2 games, including 1 in Detroit. Joe Johnson has done his thing against the Celtics, but we all knew that he was a dynamic scorer. (That trade for Joe Johnson from Phoenix does look a lot better now doesn't it?)

Does this mean that Iguodala has hurt his contract value? Absolutely. But that's tomorrow's business.