The Sports Chick Blog

 Sneak attacks at night are usually reserved for the Army and burgularies, but the Mets decided it would be their best tactic when they fired Manager Willie Randolph. The Mets sent out the press release announcing the decision at 3:15 AM this morning! Oh, like nobody would talk about it if it happened at 3:15 PM??

Anyway, Bench Coach, Jerry Manuel, will be filling in for now, but Pitching Coach, Rick Peterson, and 1st Base Coach, Tom Nieto, were also let go early this morning. The Mets will use their minor league resources to fill those two coaching spots.

Listen, the problem with the Mets all along was the players, they could honestly give a s**t if they won or not. Willie Randolph had no gusto as a Manager, but I honestly believe that the players would’ve have cared anyway. All they seemed to care about was the money. Also their was a reported divide between the American players and the Latino players. And not to mention the team just imploded! They were a few outs away from the World Series and choked, and last year they were a lock for the division and chocked leaving them out of the playoffs! Yankee fans like to bash my favorite guy, Kyle Farnsworth, all the time for his inconsistency, but let’s thank God that us Yankees didn’t have Aaron Heilman AND Billy Wagner!! The Mets fans have something to seriously complain about!!

 Many many moons ago my brother’s little league team went to a Yankee game. His coach at the time, George, got a box for the whole team and their fathers. At the last minute there was one extra ticket, and even back in the day I was the Sports Chick so I got to go to the game with the Hills Hawks. That game happened to be Jeff Weaver’s Yankee debut.

After arriving in the Bronx and seeing that Weaver was the pitcher I immediately told my Dad (& I quote), “This guy sucks!” My Dad responsed (quoting again because I will never forget this!), “You never know, he can be a great Hall of Famer and you can say you saw his first game!”

Oddly enough the Yankees beat Toronto that day 10-6, Weaver pitched 7 innings and gave up 6 runs. But still I truly believed that Jeff Weaver was the scum of the Earth … therefore my player I loved to hate!

Fast-foward to 2008 and you’ll see that Jeff Weaver was released, but not by the Milwaukee Brewers, by their AAA team in Nashville.

So good ridance Jeff Weaver! You suck and I called it 6 years ago!!!

 Steroids are the hottest topic in sports, so hot that even non-sports loving people know of the subject. But many people don’t know exactly which drugs are steroids: HGH, the clear, the cream … yada yada yada. Now, the NY Daily News is reporting that that certain little blue pill also increases athletic performance, as well as other performance. Yes, we are thinking with the same dirty mind … it’s Viagra!

Viagra has said to improve athletic performance, as well as performance under the athletic supporter. According to the NY Daily News, Viagra was used by all BALCO clients, including Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi. The little blue pill was also a favorite of recent MLB punching bag, Roger Clemens (who kept his in a GNC vitamin bottle).

The paper also says that Viagra has many other-function besides it’s intended ED remedies:

Helps build endurance, especially for athletes who compete at high altitudes

Delivers oxygen, nutrients and performance-enhancing drugs to muscles more efficiently

Counteracts the impotence that can be a side-effect of testosterone injections

Now ED wasn’t the primary function for athletes, but it did help them to keep up with their hard parting lifestyle. Because you know it’s not easy playing hitting a baseball for three hours, then hitting other things for the rest of the night!! It seems that all along the story was not that performance enhancing drugs were all the rage in MLB, instead it was the little blue pill that gave the ballplayers the biggest smile on their faces. It produced wins, HRs, and an extra bonus after the game.

 Two sluggers are making some waves in the ocean of baseball history, and they’re doing it the right way. Last night Red Sox LF, Manny Ramirez, hit his 500 HR in Baltimore. And Manny being Manny was slightly shown we he dropped the bat and waiting to see the results of his bomb before walking 2 feet to first base. I dislike when Manny admires his homers, but this might have been the one exemption. So congrats! (see all my friends that are Red Sox fans, I can write a nice Boston post ).

 Today, Ken Griffey Jr. is stuck on 599 in Cincy. You can track the action via ESPN here.

The one thing I found interesting about these two HR hitting stars is the fact that their is no controversy surrounding their feats. Think about it, we are in the midst of a baseball world that revolves around the steroid-era. With Manny and Griffey there is no talk about HGH, syringes, creams, pills, and BALCO. It is a nice breath of fresh air for a sport that needs a few nice clouds in it’s stormy skies (haha I don’t know what’s with all my weather comments! It may be the nice weather here on the island! ).

 I love the Yankess (no shock there), and like any other New York based Yankee fan I watch the games on the YES Network. You see Jon Miller on ESPN makes me wanna pull every effing hair out of my head (mainly because he is a Yankee-hater), on Fox if it’s not Joe Buck it’s a no-name announcer, and radio?!? forget it! You can only listen to John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman squwak for so long. So like I said before I watch my Yankees on YES.

My only pet-peeve about YES games is Michael Kay. He is a great announcer, but there are a few Michael Kay catch phrases I can live without! When I was browsing through the internet the other day I came across a website that had a “Michael Kay Drinking Game.” Basically everytime Mr. Kay says certain phrases you take a drink, shot, swig, whatever you want! So I decided to come up with my own MKDG buzz words! Enjoy, and trust me you’ll get shloshed by the 5th inning!!

1. “Only on YES” - I know YES has to plug their own shows and their catch phrase, but is “only on YES” the best slogan they came up with?
2. “See Ya…” - Ahhhhh, the classic Michael Kay HR call! Every announcer has one, and apparently Kay’s “See Ya!” is so catchy that little Natasha Rodriguez repeats it over and over when her Daddy is up at bat! Ahhh youth!
3. “Those Maple bats splinter all the time” - a new one for the 2008 season! Mo’s cutter can break any bat and Johnny Damon splits more wood than a lumberjack, but Michael Kay’s maple wood bitch fest is getting old!
4. “Paul O’Neill is eating once again” - Paul O’Neill maybe works 3 games a month for YES, and every inning I have to hear about what the great number 21 is eating instead of a play-by-play of the actual game!
5. “You know Girardi trusts Farnsworth, because he caught him in Chicago” - For me it’s always nice to hear about the Farns, but for the 2903790235726596th time WE ALL KNOW THAT JOE CAUGHT FARNSY!!!! It’s not that exciting!
6. “Michael Kay hosts …” - This one only counts if Kenny Singleton, John Flahtery, Bobby Murcer, Al Leiter, Nancy Newman, Paul O’Neill, or Bob Lorenz says it. Does YES have anyone else to hosts shows?
7. “Jim Kaat used to say that …” - Jim Kaat retired. Apparently Michael Kay misses him alot! Awwwweee announcer lovin’!
8. “Ohhhhhhh What A Play …” - There are many great palys in baseball, and ESPN has there top 10 web gems every night. Michael Kay thinks their should be at least 25 plays from the Yankee games that are web gem worthy! It’s that exciting!!!
9. “That was a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious catch by Derek Jeter.” - Michael Kay went to Fordham, most of us did not. Therefore, we must hear about it often followed by some big ass nerdy word that we’ve never heard before! That is unless your studying the SATs. In that case watching the YES Broadcast is a great study tool!
10. “Generation Trey” - that refers to Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Ian Kennedy. Probably the stupidest nickname I ever heard for a group of three people. And Oh lemme recap: Joba is now a starter, Hughes has a mysterious cracked rib, and Kennedy has not one win (and is now on the 15 day DL with a strained lat), Generation Trey indeed!

 According to everyone and their mother Jose Canseco is now trying to be a boxer. The fight, with no opponent yet, will take place on July 12 in Atlantic City, NJ. Canseco is promoting without an opponent because he wants to attract a “big name” to face. Also if you win you will be paid the whooping celebrity sum of … $5,000. WTF! Who in their right mind with a “big name” would fight for that!?!

Canseco is also promoting himself as “the bad-boy of baseball.” Listen you small balled dope! The only thing bad about you was when Carlos Martinez’ long ball became a homerun when it bounced off your big steroid filled head!

 Last night was probably the best Yankee game I saw all year, and mainly because it was the first walk-off win of the season. Joe Girardi says his Pinella-like hissy fit was not a factor in the win against the Orioles last night, I would have disagree because it clearly lit a fire under the team. However, the MLB Police showed it’s gusto again and suspended Girardi for one game and fined him an undisclosed amount. And why was he suspended? Apparently when he was kicking some dirt around some got on the Ump’s (Chris Guccione) shoe. Oh boo-hoo my shoe is dirty!

Girardi said he was shocked my the decision because he didn’t intentionally kick dirt at the Ump. Ok, but honestly MLB, is this little literal dust up suspension worthy? No, they should’ve just suspended Girardi for being ejected and arguing balls and strikes. Instead of trying to be the MLB version of the NFL Sock-Police! 

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