Congratulations Yankee Fans...

...since 2001, your team is the newer, more expensive version of the Atlanta Braves.

Yes, in honor of their home opening day, a little Yankee hating is in order. Of course, Yankee fans can tell me "you jealous shithead, at least we have been there...and we won 26 World Championships while the Mets have embarrassed themselves." You would be right. Sort of.

First, the Mets didn't spend a billion dollars like the Yankees to field those teams. This year? Much of the same thing. Enormous expectations and an enormous payroll destined to meet with another failure. Any time the Yankees do not win, it is a failure. You cannot spend an average of $163,021,454.33 million over six years and say much about anyone else not making the playoffs. You give anyone that kind of loot to toss around, you pretty much guarantee a trip there.

Second, for some reason the losers stand out in our minds more as a joke. How many you commend the Buffalo Bills for making four Super Bowls in a row? That is nothing to sneeze at, but people label them choke artists and losers. Who remembers who beat them in each of those Super Bowls? Who cares more about the team that lost?

Of course, these days I'm over the fact that the Yankees outspend everyone. They have not put the best team on the field in a while despite gargantuan spending and they have added tens of million dollars to revenue sharing for those less fortunate teams. They have signed train wrecks that have completely imploded at an alarming rate. It is definitely true. The richer they are the harder they fall and fall they have. 2006 will be no different and I extend an invite to all Yankee fans to watch the future and some amazing baseball this summer in Queens.

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Minor Update:

• The Norfolk Tides finally got their first win of the season as they took down good offensive Buffalo Bison team 7-1. Hot prospect Yusaku Iriki got the start for the Tides and pitched a very good five innings for the win. He gave up only one hit while walking two and striking out five. Juan Perez and Tim Lavinge finished the game out by throwing two innings each and striking out three batters a piece. Milledge got on base three times in five at-bats and scored two runs and knocked in two RBIs. He went one for two with a double, a sacrifice, and did his best Jose Guillen impression by getting hit by a pitch twice. If nothing else, Lastings has shown a knack for getting hit by pitches. As for the rest, Jeff Keppinger went 1 for 4 with an RBI, Todd Self played left field and went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored, Joe Hieptas, interestingly enough, played first base and went 2 for 4 with a run scored, Sandy Martinez went 1 for 4 with a homer and three RBIs, and Chris Basak went 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored.
  
  
• Binghamton beat the Reading Phillies 5-0 behind six shut out innings from Bryan Edwards. Ryan Cullen finished the game with a three inning save. Offensively, Brett Harper was a monster again going 2 for 3 with one run scored and two RBIs, Jorge Padilla went 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI, and Corey Ragsdale went 2 for 4 with solo homerun.
  
  
• The St. Lucie Mets were beating the Daytona Cubs 5-3 when the game was suspended in the ninth inning due to power. Ambiorix Concepcion had a great game going 2 for 3 with a run scored, two stolen bases, one RBI, and two walks. The guy most people either love or hate in Shawn Bowman went 1 for 2 with a run scored and two walks, Ajay Turay went 2 for 4 with a run scored, a double, and an RBI, Jesus Flores went 1 for 3 with a run scored, a walk, and an RBI, and Mike Carp went 1 for 3 with an RBI and a walk. Michael Devaney went four innings, gave up two hits, one earned run, two walks, and struck out four.
  
  
• The Hagerstown Suns beat the Lakewood Blue Claws 8-7. Fernando Martinez continues to hold his own and went 1 for 3 with a walk. He is still looking for his first RBI, but all in all, a nice start for his first exposure to professional baseball so far. Hector Pellot went 1 for 3 with a run scored and a double, Levi Ventura went 3 for 4 with two runs scored, two doubles, and one RBI, and Drew Butera went 2 for 4 with a run scored, two doubles, and two RBIs. Needless to say, it was not a great game for Sun pitching, but German Marte recorded the win after blowing the save in two innings of work and gave up three hits and one earned run while striking out three.

Ortizzle gets a four year extension for $12.5 million per year and Derek Lee gets a five year extension for $13 million per year. Both deals seem like pretty good bargains considering what they each bring to their teams.

Oh baby. The City Council is playing some hardball and are using poor, unfortunate kids to do it.

"Shame on them if they think that's okay! Shame on them! Our kids are worth more," thundered Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens).

Do your kids like to watch baseball? I'm betting they do.

Let the bean balls begin. It is a bit nicer out so hopefully Bannister's wildness subsides. He can still come inside without plunking people and hopefully that is the game plan. The other two? Pedro and Zambrano. Zambrano had fifteen hit batters in 2005, which was three off the MLB lead, sixteen in 2004, which was four off the MLB lead and tied with Pedro Martinez, and one off the lead with twenty in 2003. Pedro intentionally comes inside and Victor has no idea where the ball is going. There is a good chance there will be fireworks. Pedor has nuts the size of mangos and is going to brush Guillen back. We've seen it a million times. This will be Zambrano's first start and a bit a wildness would be expected from him since he is wild anyway.

The Yankees own the top three salaries in baseball and four of the top six. If you back it up more, they own five of the top eleven. Pedro Martinez is the top Met at thirteenth overall.