Lester dominated the Yankees tonight. It was a sad sight to behold. Three double plays to kill the pitiful attempts at rallies the Yanks put together. Melky and Cano had two hits apiece, Jeter added the fifth in the ninth. There isn't much more to say about this one.
Pettitte pitched to bad luck early on. A Jeter error was responsible for the first two runs. The third scored on a couple of broken bats. The fourth on a bloop single, stolen base, bunt and sac fly.
This series has me extremely worried at this point. I'll be in the Bronx tomorrow afternoon and to be honest with you, I can't say it's a pitching match-up I'm looking forward to. Rasner vs. Beckett, ouch.
The Yanks fall 4.5 games behind the Sox with this loss. A split in this series would be a stroke of luck after losing this one tonight. Another dark day for me, hopefully tomorrow will be brighter.
Player of The Game: Melky. 2 for 3, single and double. Team Record: 45-41 Damon: Nada.
Things got a little more interesting tonight for Elton Brand when the Golden State Warriors reportedly offered him a max contract for 5 years. Somewhere in the $85M-$90M range.
This brings up an excellent question, and I think the ultimate decision will show Brand's true colors.
Look at it this way. If Elton cares most about making the playoffs and playing for a franchise who should compete, and get deep into the playoffs for the remainder of his career, the clear choice is the Sixers.
If Elton cares most about money, well Golden State just put more money than anyone else can on the table.
If Elton cares most about making movies, then L.A. is where he needs to be and he'll toil in mediocrity for the rest of his career, but continue his love affair with Tinsel Town.
Over simplification? I don't think so. When he opted out he lathered on the lip service about wanting to play for a winner, etc. Well, assuming the Sixers extend an offer to him (or even have a chance to), he'll be able to show exactly where his priorities lie when he makes his decision.
It's feast or famine with this team. Let's just hope that tonight's offensive explosion was a sign of things to come, rather than a blip on the radar.
Sidney Ponson reverted back to his usual garbage self, but to be fair, he was facing a monster lineup that had been held in check for two consecutive games. It was bound to happen. The same can be said for every pitcher the Rangers trotted out there.
Two things I want to talk about, then I'm heading to bed. The first is Brett Gardner's first hit. The hit itself was nothing, a broken bat single over the Kinsler's head into shallow right. What he turned the hit into is another thing. He stole second, after almost being picked off. Then he tried to steal third, but Damon fouled the pitch off (breaking his bat in the process!!!!). Damon singled through the left side, and Gardner flew around third, beat the throw to the plate to score what was still a meaningful run at that point. I don't know if the kid is going to hit enough at this level. The early results haven't been heartening, but it's still very early. Either way, he has to be on this roster the rest of the way. Even if he can't hit a lick, they need his speed off the bench. Best-case, he turns out to be a .300 hitter with a .350+ OBP at the bottom of the lineup who drives pitchers crazy every time he gets on base. Worst-case, whenever the Yanks need a run late in the game and Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi or any of the other speed-challenged vets finds himself on base, Girardi has a secret weapon to go to.
The other thing I want to talk about is A-Rod's home run. I'm 100% convinced that he came up to the plate in that situation looking to hit a home run to right field. He was keyed in on the outer half and you could tell by the swing he took earlier in the at bat that he was going that way, and going that way with power. I don't know if he did it for fun, just to see if he could. I don't know if he did it because he had a scouting report showing they were going to work him away with fastballs. I have no idea why, but he did it with premeditation, and he made it happen. Amazing.
Player of The Game: The Giambino, his salami was huge. Team Record: 45-40 Damon: 1 tonight (42 on the season. The graphic will be back over the weekend).
Tomorrow is the first of 4 against the Sawx. Check out Who Made You Mirabelli for you Bahston fix. I'll be in attendance on the 4th. It'll be my daughter's first regular season game. Looking forward to it. By the way, if the Yanks sweep the series, they're in 2nd place.
You can read it if you want, but here's a beauty from Jasner's latest work of amateur journalism at professional prices.
Childress, 25, a 6-8 forward who came off the bench in 76 games last
season, is scheduled to meet with the Sixers later this week. Childress
is being considered for the Sixers' need at small forward.
Yes, that's right. The Sixers apparently have a need at small forward because having two starters at that position already isn't enough. Brilliant.
His article is filled with more drivel, including a piece about the Sixers trying to clear more cap space. It may be true, but who would they use it on?
An article from PhillyBurbs lists Channing Frye, Charlie Villaneuva and Chris Wilcox as possible trade targets. I want no part of Frye nor Villaneuva. Wilcox, it would depend on the price, I guess. Those are some exciting names, huh?
Joba didn't have it. I suffered through another dominating pitching performance turned in by the worst staff in the league only to watch the Yanks claw back into the game late and have Mo blow it. Unbelievable.
Melky should've bunted in the 9th. It's Girardi's fault that he didn't, that's unforgivable. Brett Gardner is lighting the world on fire. At this point, whoever gets a hit first, he or Melky, deserves the center field job.
I don't have anything else after this one. Terrible sports day.
Player of The Game: David Robertson Team Record: 44-40 Damon: 1 to end the game. I'm sorry to say I'm in too foul of a mood to put together the Damon Deforestation image tonight. I'm going to lick my wounds and fall asleep.
Baron Davis reportedly has a verbal agreement with the Clippers for a 5-year, $65M deal. If this move appeases Elton Brand, which it probably will, then he'll sign with them.
To make it work, Maggette would have to be renounced, then Brand would have to sign for somewhere near $14M for the first year to clear up the $13M to pay Baron.
It looks like it's Josh Smith or no one in the free agent market at this point. Unless Maggette at the 2 intrigues Ed Stefanski, which I don't think it will, at least I hope it won't.
Bad turn of events after a feel-good 24 hours. Oh well.
Don't be surprised if we start hearing Nenad Krstic's name when Josh Smith signs his extension with Atlanta.
I've spent the past twelve hours reading everyone's comments and mulling over this fictional decision. I think I've narrowed down the key factors, check out my pro/con lists below, add your own in the comments and vote in the poll.
I'm still in the Brand camp, but it's not as clear to me as I feel it should be. Vote below, keep in mind, if the Sixers land either of these guys, that's probably going to be the end of the moves this Summer. No shooters will follow unless they can find a way to trade for one (possibly moving Jason Smith/Carney/Evans/Willie Green, or any combination thereof.)
UPDATE: John Hollinger is making ESPN history right now in his NBA chat. He's fielded three Sixers questions already, head over there and see what he has to say. I've never seen the Sixers get so much ink from an ESPN talking head, it's amazing.
Jose Calderon says he's staying in Toronto. Not much of a surprise there.
Gilbert Arenas got not one, but two max offers last night. One from Golden State, one from Washington.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution thinks the Sixers are going full-steam ahead after Josh Smith, and they aren't happy about it. Smith will reportedly visit the Sixers this week, possibly as early as tomorrow morning.
Stephen A. Smith thinks Baron Davis wants to go to the Knicks, which would only be possible as part of a sign and trade. Seeing as how the Warriors are already trying to use the cap space created by Baron opting out, I find it unlikely that they'd sign Davis to a max deal, then trade him to the Knicks for Marbury's expiring contract. Smith also says he thinks the Clippers will resign Brand for 4 years, $60M. If this was anyone other than SAS it would have me worried. Check out the video here.
The first 12 hours of free agency have been eventful. It appears as though the Sixers are focused on Josh Smith, according to reports, but Elton Brand's name in the hat should garner a great deal of attention as well.
I don't know where these guys think the money is going to come from. At this point, the Sixers, Grizzlies, maybe the Clippers and maybe the Warriors have significant cap space. Maybe they're looking for sign and trade deals to get them to contenders.
Here's an important quote from the story about Brand opting out of his deal:
Brand's agent, David Falk, said the forward wants to see the
Clippers sign a quality free agent and try to assemble a winning team
in Los Angeles.
"It preserves options to make the team better,"
Falk said. "Clearly, if Elton decided he wanted to simply max out the
dollars, he would have stayed in the deal, had a monster year and a lot
more teams will have cap room next year."
This is fine logic from Brand, in theory. The only problem is that the position his opting out has put his team in. Earlier today, Corey Maggette opted out as well. On the surface, this looks like excellent news, cap-wise, for the Clippers. If you remove Brand and Maggette from their cap number they've got a ton of space. Here's the problem. Both of the players still count against their cap space unless they renounce their rights. If they renounce their rights, they lose their Bird Rights to re-sign either player, and cannot go over the cap to bring them back. This would also limit them in any sign-and-trade deals. If they renounced Brand, they could only sign him for as much room as they have under the cap, same with Maggette.
In a nutshell, if the Clippers need to bring in another quality free agent to prove to Elton Brand that they are a team headed in the right direction, they'll first have to renounce Corey Maggette and take his cap-hold number off the books (150% of previous salary = $10.5M). Once they do this, they will have 5 players under contract for a total of $28.4M. Add in the contract for the #6 pick in the draft, Eric Gordon ($2.394M) and figure a minimum salary of $797,000 for DeAndre Jordan, picked at #36. Now you have 7 players counting against the cap for a total of $31.591M. If you figure the Clippers get up to the minimum of 12 players counting against the cap with minimum contracts for players with one year of experience, then you're at $34.78M, not including the cap hold number for Brand. Now, this is where it gets tricky.
Going by the rules of the CBA, as I follow them (check out a helpful Q&A here), Elton Brand's cap-hold number should be 150% of what he made in '07-'08, which would be $23.016M. So add that to the number above and the Clippers total salary against the cap would be $57.79M, and they'd have maybe $2M or $3M under the cap to go out and get that free agent who may or may not convince Brand to stay.
There is, however, one thing I'm unclear about. $23.016 is way over the max salary, and I think it's more than the Clippers would be allowed to pay Brand. I believe the max contract for Brand (9 years of experience) should be about $15.65M, or 30% of the cap. They can go higher than that number, but no higher than $16.1M (105% of previous year's salary). If the cap hold number is limited to the max contract they could offer Brand, then the Clippers would have more wiggle room to bring in another free agent, maybe as much as $10M.
I think the best chance the Clippers have at satisfying Brand's demands is a sign-and-trade of Maggette, although I don't think they're going to get a player back who is better than Maggette. In other words, if Brand truly wants to play for a winner, his best bet is to wait for a sign and trade between the Clippers and a good team, or to sign as a free agent with another team (like the Sixers).
By no means am I a qualified capologist. I cobbled together all of this from online sources, linked to above. Please let me know if you have anything to correct and/or add to the thought process.
On a night when the Yanks held the highest-scoring offense in the league to 2 runs on 7 hits, you'd think they'd walk with a win, right? Wrong. You see, the pitching staff with the highest ERA held the Yankee "offense" to 1 run on 4 hits.
It was kind of an exciting game to watch, we got to see Brett Gardner make his debut, and steal a base on a pitch out. All night long you felt a kind of electricity, waiting for the bombs to start flying, the runs to start piling up. It just never materialized. A-Rod almost hit another bomb into the left field bleachers. It landed deep in Monument Park and bounced in. But that was it. The only run the Yanks could muster.
The Rays beat the Sox and extended their lead in the A.L. East to 1.5 games over the Sox, the Yanks dropped to 6.5 back.
Mussina pitched well, the Yankee pen pitched better. Jose Molina was crossed up by Veras and took a 96 MPH fastball in the last place you want to take a 96 MPH fastball. He would stay in the game, though. He's a trooper.
Jobamania takes the mound tomorrow night and looks to right this ship. You'd think the Yankee bats will have to get hot again against this pitching staff, right? One last note, the comedic highlight of the game was definitely Jason Giambi legging out a triple.
Player of The Game: Moose. Holding this offense to 2 runs over 6 innings is no small feat. Team Record: 44-39 Damon: Pinch hit in the 8th, no broken bat.
The largest stumbling block keeping the Sixers away from the best fit for their team has been removed. Elton Brand has opted out of the final year of his deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.
He's available, now it's time for Ed Stefanski to get on the phone, or better yet, get on a plane and convince Brand that if he comes to Philly he will be in the playoffs every year for the rest of his career and he can become part of a winning franchise for the first time. Adding Brand to the Sixers' young core would be ideal and he would have a chance to dominate in the Eastern conference. Ed has to find a way to get this done.
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