Who's Your Daddy?

Jim Caple from ESPN's Page2 was the first writer to completely blow the top off of this story. I thought his dad was Paolino Jaime, who was an amateur ballplayer, but what do I know. That comment has been blown way out of proportion and has become somewhat annoying. I guess the worst thing about the entire who's your daddy daddy thing is that it has become the hottest fad for Yankee fan's t-shirts. Poor unimaginative fans cannot even think up of their own sayings. They have Boston Sucks! shirts in response to the Boston fan's Yankees Suck! (on the front) and Jeter Swallows (on the back) t-shirts. I mean, can't you come up with something better? Riding off Boston's imaginative coattails is no way to live. Yankee fans, like drones, all repeat the same things: 1918, 26 World Championships, the curse lives, etc. I want the Yankee fans to put their collective heads together and try to come up with something on their own instead of waiting for Pedro to say something silly or Boston fans to come up with their own slogans. The only reason Pedro made that daddy comment is undoubtedly because some stupid NY reporter asked a bonehead question. The Yankees have owned him this year so my guess is that a reporter asked something like this:

Reporter: "Pedro, what do you think about the fact that the Yankees have treated you like a red-headed step child this year?"
Pedro: "What can I say? I tip my cap and call the Yankees my Daddy."

That type of question is similar to what they ask the losing boxer after he is gushing blood from his head. “So how did it feel what he was beating you unconscious?” I mean what they hell should he say? It will all not matter in week or so as the Red Sox are taking down the Evil Empire. The epic battle of good vs. evil will begin tonight. Some may think the Yankees have the advantage because they are the most successful sports franchise and the Red Sox have failed to register a World Series victory in 84 years, but I say they are due. Odds are, they will eventually win one. The Red Sox have the better all around team in my opinion and you can throw out Derek Jeter's intangibles because even they will not help the Yankees. Curt Schilling takes on Mike Mussina tonight for game one and the gloves are coming off.

"How's my fist taste!"
"I'm not sure I can think of any scenario more enjoyable than making 55,000 people from New York shut up," said Curt Schilling.

Me neither Curt, this series is going to be a heated one.

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Three days from now Omar Minaya will interview the Mets' second managerial candidate, Rudy Jamarillo. I just think it is a foregone conclusion he will be in the organization in some capacity. As to whether it will be hitting coach or manager, I do not know. Also, I am not one of the notion that a relative no namer will not be accepted by NY Met fans. The media may make a stink about it, but they make a stink about everything non-Yankee related. If the man is the right guy to for the Mets' job, then so be it. Passing on someone for name recognition only is not the way to run a ball club.

Robin Ventura has announced his retirement. He will forever be remembered as the young upstart that charged Nolan Ryan and got his butt handed to him by a guy about 20 years older. Robin will always be regarded by Met fans for his three years of service with them as he was part of one of the best fielding infields in modern baseball. In my opinion, he also registered his best season of his career as a Met. In 1999 he hit .301/.379/.529 with 32 homeruns, 120 RBIs, and 38 doubles. That was a career high in RBIs, AVG, Doubles, and SLG as well as his second highest OBP and homerun total.

The Phillies are set to interview Don Baylor today. Philadelphia will then interview Charlie Manuel tomorrow and Grady Little on Thursday.

If the Mets are interested in interviewing Kirk Gibson for the job to manage their major league ballclub, GM Dave Dombrowksi will not stand in their way.

“We wouldn’t stand in the way of career advancement,” Tigers President and General Manager Dave Dombrowski said Monday. “If they call and want to speak with him, of course we’d let them.”

Ding dong the witch is dead...well, one of them at least. The Atlanta Braves take their usual spot after the first series of the playoffs, which is their couch. The Astros bashed them in game five and continue their torrid play. At least 54,000 fans show up in Atlanta to watch the drubbing. That was the first time in the playoffs they registered over 41,500 fans in this playoff series. At this point I'm feeling an Astro vs. Red Sox series.