Welcome to another addition of Jeremy's Weekly Worm as I wiggle in and out of the hot topics in NY Sports today as well as the sports world in general.
We start with the Yankees who have had a turbulent 8 days that started with the passing of Bob Sheppard, the former "Voice of Yankee Stadium" followed the passing of "The Boss" the day after. I'm sure that the Yankees were filled with mixed emotions as they opened up a three game set against the second-place Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, a game that I was fortunate enough to attend in person. Before that game the Yankees honored both men with a ceremony that included a moment of silence as well as Mariano Rivera laying two long stemmed roses across homeplate. Very touching moment.
That night Nick Swisher honored both men baseball style in walk-off fashion with 2 outs and 2 one in the bottom of the ninth. Will go down as one the most memorable nights in Yankees history. And although the Yankees took the series from the Rays, it was still a down weekend as the Yanks lost Andy Pettite to a groin injury and the speculation is that he will miss up to five weeks. This is a huge blow to the Yankees especially when Phil Hughes is going to be dispatched to the bullpen likely by early September and A.J. "Bonehead" Burnett keeps injury his pitching hand by slapping walls a la Kevin Brown.
According to the team, Sergio Mitre who is due off the DL at week's end will take Pettite's rotation spot. This to me means that Brian Cashman must make a deal for bullpen help. Going forward you cannot expect more than 5-6 innings per outing from Mitre, and with Hughes' innings limitations, the bullpen will have to eat up innings during those starts. I would make a move for a reliever before I go for a starter. The Yankee bats seem to be heating up and that should take some burden off of the pitching staff. With the trade deadline roughly 13 days away, Cashman will not stand pat.
In another news the New York Mets barely avoided a sweep at the hands of the Giants last night due to a bad call by the homeplate umpire. K-Rod with yet another blown save, but still got the win. Carlos Beltran returned to the Mets' lineup on Friday and went 1-4. Tonight with Reyes and Castillo back in the lineup, the Mets will have their complete lineup together for the first time this season. Although it won't help if their bats don't support the strong outings by their starter's, or if the bullpen continues to blow leads, or unless the Braves start losing, which isn't likely.
In addition the Mets simply have to play better on the road. They started this post All-Star break with an 11-game road trip in which they have now started 1-3, which one call should have made it 0-4. Hopefully, the mental satisfaction of having their entire team will provide them with a spark. That, plus they now have a three game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks which should help the even out that road trip record.
From the NBA:
Dwayne Wade made a stupid comment with regard to the Miami losing a couple of games in a row, that fans will treat it like the World Trade Center coming down again. What an idiot. No matter how much I try to like what these 3 guys have done, it seems eveyday one of them is doing, or saying something that makes you hate them more.
And speaking of the Miami Heat trio, the Great One Michael Jordan offered his comments on the unification of the three best free agents in the Summer of 2010 landing together. This according to espn.com:
"There's no way, with hindsight, I would've ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, 'Hey, look, let's get together and play on one team,' " Jordan said after playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada. "But that's ... things are different. I can't say that's a bad thing. It's an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys."
Well said MJ. I can't get anymore into this LeBron stuff until the NBA season starts. We have to see how it plays out.
Tiger Woods lost another major yesterday finishing well behind. Watching some of the highlights, the guy does not look to be in the right place mentally. He needs to take a few months and get away from golf, the media and just out of the public eye in general. I think it will do him some good.
Well that's all for this addition of the Jeremy's Weekly Worm. Stay tuned for next week's addition as I preview the Jets and Giants as they open up training camps.
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