The Yankees have decided to move Joba Chamberlain into a starting role. I don't know. This just reeks of panic. However, maybe it is time to panic. The Yankees are currently wallowing in the mire of last place. They are 7.5 games behind the Red Sox. The roster has been hit hard with injuries. The starting pitching has looked absolutely horrid at times. Maybe it is time for a change. It can't really hurt right now.
I guess I look at it like this: I'd like to keep Joba as a bridge to Mariano Rivera. On the other hand, what good is having a bridge to your closer when you never have a lead? Do I want the livest arm on the team only pitching one inning (although it's a very important inning)? At this point, something has to change. Maybe this (coupled with Alex Rodriguez's return from the DL) will cause some sparks.
Sports Illustrated had an article up rating the best baseball player that wore each uniform number. Clicking along I was pretty much in agreement or had no real argument until I came to 23. Kirk Gibson? Kirk Gibson is the best to wear the number 23? Au contraire, mon frère. The man listed at runner-up, Ryne Sandberg, is more deserving.
Don’t get me wrong, Kirk Gibson was an outstanding player. He had one of the most memorable at-bats in World Series history. Almost everyone has seen Gibson hobble to the plate, trailing in the 9th inning of Game One in the 1988 World Series and yank Dennis Eckersley’s 2-2 pitch over the right field fence. It was a near perfect moment. However, that does not a "best player" make. Ryne Sandberg is in the Hall of Fame. He is considered one of the best second basemen of all time. Kirk Gibson wouldn’t even crack the top 100 outfielders of all time. Granted, Gibson does have two World Series rings to Sandberg’s zero. If I were building a team though, Sandberg would definitely be on it before Kirk Gibson.
With victory comes tragedy. Big Brown, the Kentucky Derby favorite, won in commanding fashion today over Eight Belles. Unfortunately, the celebration was cut short by a fatal injury to the runner-up. The filly suffered two broken front ankles and had to be euthanized on the track. What a terrible, terrible tragedy.
I don’t know why but lately I find it even harder to take an animal dying than a person. I guess there is a heart inside this ol’ chest of mine somewhere.
A couple of weeks ago we received this email at work:
This update is in regards to our vending services here at Corporate. Due to the continued rise in fuel and on-going product price increases, Custom Food Group will be making a price revision to our snack and soda items. The change will occur Thursday morning. The new pricing is as follows:
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Should you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to give me a holler.
Rising fuel and price increases? We pay wholesale prices for the snacks! We set the prices and the company turns profit. Before I started working here, sodas were a nickel. They raised them to a quarter right as I started. About a year later the price was bumped to fifty cents. A year after that it was sixty cents. Now it’s seventy. It’s an outrage! I want to go get a soda machine key and open that bitch up and start passing out cans to everyone. It’ll be my own private Boston Tea Party except without dressing up like a Native American. And dumping the cokes into the harbor.
