How I called A-Rod's walkoff homer for last night's game

I just knew that last night's Yankees-Red Sox game would come down to Alex Rodriguez, so I predicted in the ninth inning on Twitter and Facebook that A-Rod would hit a walkoff to win it. True, it took six more innings to happen, but still. I totally called it!

What a tremendous game last night. Unlike Squawker Jon's Mets, who seem to be aiming for the worst game of the season each day, the Yankees have had a whole slew of great games this year.

I was at the July 1, 2004 game, and last night had a similar "instant classic" feeling to it. Watching A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett go head to head was tremendous. But tense. Nearly fifteen scoreless innings was nerve-wracking for both sets of fans.

Did you know that A-Rod's walkoff homer was his sixth walkoff hit as a Yankee? He has twice as many walkoff hits in 5 1/2 years as a Yankee than Jeter does in his entire career. Yet some fans still act as if this is first big hit as a Yank ever. I don't get it. Heck, he would have had the game-winning hit in the final game in the Yanks' Fenway series in June if the bullpen hadn't blown it.

I don't want to forget talking about the pitching. Burnett, Phil Hughes, Mariano Rivera, Alfredo Aceves, Brian Bruney, and Phil Coke were terrific. The biggest surprise, of course was Bruney. Finally he has put it together again!

And to top it all off, Francisco Rodriguez blew a save and lost the game for the Mets, and the Yankees have the best record in baseball. Good times!

Let me continue with the predictions, since I'm still basking in the afterglow with my correct A-Rod one tonight. I predict that A-Rod will get plunked today as payback for Dustin Pedroia getting hit on Thursday. And so the Sox can get all fired up, ala 2004. Will a brawl ensue? I wouldn't be suprised.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

That joke isn't funny anymore - bad timing on a Michael Jackson reference

I often make comments about being a jinx on sporting events and such, but what happened today is kind of eerie.

I wrote a blog entry about how Brian Bruney is using a hyperbaric chamber on his elbow. That device, of course, is remembered by many, including myself, as being used by Michael Jackson. So I put a photo of the King of Pop in the blog. And not just any photo, but one of him in the hyperbaric chamber. And I made all sorts of awful puns about Wacko Jacko's music.

A few hours later, I'm reading our comments section, and read Uncle Mike's note that Michael had a heart attack and might be dead. It's such an eerie coincidence, I'm kind of shuddering even looking at the photo of Jackson in the hyperbaric chamber (come to think of it, it looks like he's in a coffin. Yikes!)

It's not like Michael Jackson is a big topic of mine; I hadn't thought about him since his 50th birthday last year. And now he's apparently dead. Rest in peace, Michael.

Thriller! Brian Bruney uses hyperbaric chamber

Update: Obviously, I wrote this story before the untimely death of Michael Jackson. Bad luck and bad timing on my part. Best wishes to the Jackson family.

I don't know quite what to make of this story. The New York Post's George King reports that Brian Bruney is using a portable hyperbaric chamber on his elbow.

"I was in it for 1 to 1½ hours today," Bruney said yesterday. "I thought it helped my foot last year."

A hyperbaric chamber? I know it's a real tool in medicine these days (the oxygen helps healing) but what popped into my mind when hearing about Bruney in the hyperbaric chamber was Michael Jackson. Remember how Wacko Jacko got photographed in one of those devices? What's next - is Bruney going to buy up the Elephant Man's bones, too?

Anyhow, Squawker readers gave me grief last week for coming up with only one John Lennon pun for Nationals' pitcher John Lannan. So I wanna be startin' somethin' here about Bruney, no matter how off the wall it sounds!

Is Bruney going to challenge Francisco Rodriguez to a dance-off this wekend? Maybe the pitcher can use a Jackson song as his theme music. How about "Beat It"? Or "I'll Be There"? Let's hope Bruney's just not "Bad"!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Dog bites man! Kyle Farnsworth's bulldog goes wild

Former Yankee Kyle Farnsworth is back in the news for something other than blowing games. Kerosene Kyle got bitten by one of his two bulldogs, while trying to break up a fight between the pooches. Farnsworth had to get four stitches in the index finger of his non-pitching hand. The dogs' names - Strike and Rambo!

Congrats to Chien-Ming Wang and his wife on the birth of their son, Justin Jesse. Here's hoping Wang pitches a great game tonight. Squawker Jon and I are planning on being there after attending Jane Heller's book-signing at Stan's.

Pretty cool of Alex Rodriguez to meet the fans in Monument Park yesterday. But why is it that David Letterman apologized to everybody else regarding his tasteless joke involving A-Rod and Sarah Palin's daughter....except for A-Rod?

Jose Veras got designated for assignment upon the return of Brian Bruney. While Veras hasn't exactly been good this year, and he's the pitcher who most deserved to get DFAed, I still wonder why Angel Berroa is on the Yankee 25-man roster, given that he literally plays about one day a week. And why hasn't Joe Girardi given Alex Rodriguez - who is slumping bigtime - a day off and had Berroa fill in for him?

It's funny how things work - Veras was one of the peacemakers, along with the Mets' Mike Pelfrey, in Sunday's confrontation between Francisco Rodriguez and Bruney. And two days later, Veras loses his spot on the Yankees to Bruney, and Pelfrey gets chewed out by David Wright!




What do you think? Leave us a comment!

My thoughts on the Francisco Rodriguez-Brian Bruney feud

There was a whole to-do this morning, with a pre-game confrontation between Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Bruney. The Mets' closer had to be restrained by teammates from going after the Yankees' reliever.

Here's the thing - until he looked like he was going to shove Bruney, I actually think Rodriguez was in the right. While I'm as sick of Rodriguez's "tired act" as Bruney is - the Mets' closer makes Joba Chamberlain look like a wallflower - I think Bruney should be concentrating on getting back on the Yankees, and not making unprovoked verbal attacks on Met players. And this quote was a bit much. Bruney said the following after Francisco (I'm still refusing to call him K-Rod) got the loss:

"[It] couldn't have happened to a better guy on the mound, either," Bruney said. "He's got a tired act. ... He gets what he deserves, man. I just don't like watching the guy pitch. I think it's embarrassing."

Rodriguez responded twice yesterday. First, he said this before the game:

"He needs to keep his mouth shut and do his job,” Rodriguez said. “If he was a big guy, I’d probably pay attention. If he was somebody big like Mariano, I’d respect that. But if I don’t know who he is, I just don’t listen.”

After Saturday's game, the Met closer, whose celebration - for once - was relatively subdued after the Mets' win, threw this high hard one at Bruney:

“Instead of sending a message through the paper, next time when he sees me at Citi Field come up to me and say it to my face. Don’t be sending a message through the media. I don’t even know who that guy is. Somewhere in Double-A? I believe he hasn’t even pitched one full season. He’s always been on the DL. That’s all I know right now.”

Even though he's my least favorite Met, I gotta give Rodriguez credit here. Both quotes are classic. He was able to make Bruney look dopey just with these rejoinders. And unlike Brad Penny's slam on Joe Girardi, Rodriguez didn't need to use profanity to get his point across.

Francisco should have left the situation at that. But instead, when Bruney went to talk to him today, as per his own challenget, Rodriguez got heated and had to be restrained.

Bruney may be a nobody, but Rodriguez losing his cool like that doesn't make him look good. The Met closer wasn't a good closer when it comes to this feud.

At any rate, this is one of the sillier contretemps of the year. But nonetheless, it is entertaining!

Whose side are you on - Brian Bruney or Francisco Rodriguez? Tell us about it!