Random Play Saturdays

I was quite impressed with Phillies pitcher Brett Myers when he shut the Yanks down in Philadelphia earlier this week. His breaking ball was sharp, and he seemed one step ahead of the hitters.

Needless to say, I was less impressed with Myers when he was arrested in Boston for hitting his wife. Now, I know that all sorts of weird things happen between men and women, and that you can't always know the truth of the matter from the news reports. But Myers is 6'4", 230 lbs, and supposedly is a boxer and martial arts expert. His wife is 5'2" tall.

To put it another way, for Myers to feel the way his wife probably felt while he was (allegedly) punching her in the face and dragging her around by her shirt and hair, Myers would have to take a beatdown from Shaquille O'Neal. Now that Shaq's won another title, can we take up a collection to make O'Neal/Myers happen, and that right soon?

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Over at Bronx Banter, Cliff Corcoran has his list of his 25 least-favorite Yankees of the past 20 years, and some of the picks are pretty juicy. Still, Steve Trout's gotta make that list, and Gary Ward is another guy whose production died the instant he hit the Stadium in the Bronx. Hopefully, we'll discuss this in greater detail later in the week.

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Speaking of least-favorites, Isiah Thomas was finally able to push out Larry Brown this week completing the most predictable story line in New York sports history. We don't often talk hoops around here, but the battle of wills between Thomas and Brown has been bigtime local drama for the past year. The take has always been that Thomas hired Brown to do the job--coach of the Knicks--that Isiah has long coveted. Thomas looks at Pat Riley with the Heat and thinks that could be him--GM the team to get the pieces into place, and once you have the roster just like you like it, brutally backstab your coach and take his job. You could look a Brown's hiring as a pre-emptive strike, because as long as Brown was out there, he'd always be a media favorite to take over the coaching job.

He's not a favorite anymore. From Brown's perspective, it's hard to understand what he was thinking when he took the job. Maybe he figured he could force Thomas out, get a Brown-friendly GM put in his place, and be the Man over at Garden. Maybe he was blinded by the chance to get the coaching job he'd wanted for so long. Maybe he was just looking to cash out.

It's over now, and the Knicks make a convincing argument for "most incompetent franchise on Earth." I mean, Royals owner David Glass probably looks at the Knicks and says "Whatta bunch of rubes!"

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Does this mean that my funeral can end with a chant of "Let's Go Yankees?"

I still miss the "1918" chant.

Tom Tango has an interesting article, at the blog for his book, which is simply called, The Book, pointing out that (so far, at least) Derek Jeter is the God of Clutch.

Requisite Yankees Health Update: Octavio Dotel is delayed, but Hideki Matsui could be ahead of schedule. No word on Carl Pavano, the Larry Brown of this team.

Looks like it's going to be a soggy Old Timer's Day, for first-time oldies David Cone, Darryl Strawberry, Dennis Rasmussen, and Bobby Meacham.