Time for Yanks to Make Their Move

I'm getting concerned about Edwar Ramirez. He turned what should have been an easy Yankee win today into a typical Yankee-Oriole 4-hour slugfest. In the 1st half of the season, he looked like a potential Mariano successor. Now he's starting to look like Paul Quantrill.

And again, Darrell Rasner didn't get out of the 5th. So he won't be in the postseason rotation.

That's the bad news. The good news:

We swept on the road. Yes, it was Baltimore, or as Michael Kay calls it, "the Really South Bronx." But the O's have been a pain in the neck the last few years.

A-Rod, Giambi and Cano, all of whom have been rightfully ripped and needed to step it up, have. Cano was 3-for-4 today, with 2 doubles, and his homer in the 7th made the difference in the 8-7 game.

Xavier Nady continues to make the Mets look like fools for letting him go. And when it comes to looking like fools, the Mets don't need any help: They are quite capable of doing that for themselves.

And we gained a game on Tampa, finally. Thank you, White Sox.

Next up, the Dark Side. The Red Sox. Wonder if Lindsay has taken little Carla Yastrzemski Wrightman and left Ben with his real "life-partners," Troy, Gerard and The Bald Anesthesiologist?

This is the time to make the move. Especially since Josh Beckett won't be pitching in this series.

*

Speaking of whom: Beckett has been said to have "tingling" in his arm. That could be a lot worse than a mere baseball injury. David Cone had that in 1996, and it turned out to be an aneurysm. He came back and was a World Series hero -- not just that year, but four times. But it could have been the end of his career. Even his life.

The Sox doctors better be absolutely sure this is nothing like that before they send Beckett out there again. Especially since he's already won two World Series, one with them: Another isn't worth risking his life. The Red Sox will probably still be contenders next year if he's healthy (especially since he does much better in odd-numbered years, like Bret Saberhagen used to). No need to roll those dice, unless and until you know this is not a life-threatening condition.

(UPDATE: It wasn't something life-threatening.)

*

The Mets. Does anybody still think they're a postseason team? I mean, the Astros ain't that good. No way they should take 2 of 3 in Flushing. And they would have swept the Mets if Jerry Manuel hadn't let The Great Johan Santana throw a complete game Friday night. (Still, the Mets didn't pay for 12-7, did they?)

*

Shawn Merriman, the controversial linebacker for the San Diego Chargers, has a torn-up knee. He may be out for the season. If so, the Chargers, a lot of people's pick to be a serious Super Bowl contender, can forget about it.

Is this injury the result of his past... steroid use? Or has Bill Belichick hired Tonya Harding and her goons?

*

A baseball team losing 1-0 is disappointing, but usually not lousy. A soccer team losing 1-0 on the road, even to a crosstown rival, is disappointing, but this early in the season, it's hardly a crisis. But Arsenal did just that at Fulham yesterday.

The Gunners need midfield help, as soon as possible, if not sooner.

So why did they lose to an apparently inferior club? Maybe they were Tottenham in disguise.

No, I take that back! I'm sorry! That was over the line! (Too bad the Gunners didn't put 2 "footballs" over the line!)

Incidentally, the name of Fulham's home ground is misplaced. "Craven Cottage" more accurately describes the owner's box at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge.

UPDATE: Later in the season, Arsenal faced Fulham again, at the Emirates, and it was a turgid 0-0 draw. And the Arsenal fans booed their own players off the pitch.

This got their attention, and they played much better for the rest of the season, eventually reaching 3rd place, and the Semifinals of both the FA Cup and the Champions League.

*

(This was the first time I ever did the countdown on this blog.)

Days until Rutgers kicks off: 8.

Days until East Brunswick kicks off: 19.

Days until the last regular-season game at Yankee Stadium: 28. (Sob... )

Days until the Devils drop the puck: 45. (Days until the Rangers suck: 0, always 0!)

Days until the Nets' next-to-last season in New Jersey begins: I don't give a damn anymore. Let them move. There was never any point in rooting for them anyway. So who's my favorite NBA team now?

Do I have to have one? I don't know...

Sometimes it seems like I don't know anything anymore.

But I will always know more than Met fans, and Ranger fans, and Penn State fans, and Man U fans, and people from Old Bridge.