tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Red Sox Roll, Mavs Win & Pryor Leaves

0-4....That's what the New York Yankees are against their blood rivals the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.  It's not only that fact, its the way they have been bullied in their own playground.  There is much to focus on.  Freddy Garcia was terrible.  3-0 after the 1st inning put the Yanks in a hole they never got out of.  It gives you pause, if you are a Yankee fan, if what you saw last night from Garcia is what you would see if the Yanks are playing in October.  It also puts the spotlight on the fragile status of their rotation.

The bottom of the first illustrated a familiar site: Mark Texiera gets hit on the knee, putting him out of the game, and possibly out of this series.  Thankfully, there was no break.  But how many times have we seen Yankee hitters getting plunked by Red Sox pitchers.  Do you remember the game several years ago when ARod and Jeter were nailed in the same game???  Was there any pay back last night??? Absolutely not and I for one am tired of it.  Anyone of the Red Sox 3-4-5 hitter should have been plunked.  It needed to happen last night but it didn't.

This lack of fire and team pride gets me hotter than a firecracker.  What happened to the Yankee intensity as exhibited by the playoff game that saw Don Zimmer go after Pedro??  What happened to the intensity that saw Graig Nettles go at it with Bill Lee??  The Yankee players of the past had the same intensity for this series as their fans.  Now, it seems like its beneath them to get down and dirty.  Case in point, in an interview after the game, ARod was asked his reaction to David Ortiz's theatrical bat flip after he homered off rookie Hector Noesi.  "We have a lot of respect for those guys over there," he said not directly answering the question.  Respect??  These guys are taking it to you in your own backyard and your talking respect???  How about we gotta put an end to this!!!!  Somehow it is hard to imagine Thurman Munson or Lou Pinella talking about respect after the Red Sox took out one of their top hitters and beat them once again at Yankee Stadium. 

With respect to the bat flip by Ortiz, if that was ARod who did that off some rookie pitcher that put the Yankees ahead 6-1 you would have heard all kinds of howling as to what a jerk he is.  But, Ortiz basically said go stuff it when he was told that Joe Girardi took exception to it.  That says it all to me.  Red Sox players have the same intensity as their fans.  They don't give a damn about the Yankees, Yankee Stadium or anything else.  Since 2004, they have the swagger the Yankees once had.  As Yankee fans we have to endure the grab-ass feel good crap while the Red Sox roll along.  This is why I try not to get too worked up about these early games.  But this is a big series and if the Yankees don't see that well then all I can say is: if they don't care why the hell should I care!!!

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Watched the last quarter and a half of the NBA Game 4 Finals last night.  It was a very exciting game and I was very happy that the Mavs came back and held on to defeat Miami to even up the series at 2.  Dirk Nowitzki played heroically with a 102 fever and Tyson Chandler had a big rebound at the end which kept possession for Dallas late in the game.  We have a series now and hopefully the Mavericks can pull this one out.

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It was announced yesterday that Terrell Pryor is leaving Ohio State.  The move is interesting since it would appear that Pryor will now not play football all year heading into next year's NFL Draft (if there is one).  Not sure where Pryor would fall in the draft.  Some believe he is of the Vince Young mold, more a runner than passer.  I felt that Pryor had showed glimpses of being a decent pro quarterback.  But not playing football for a season could impact his draft status.

What also could impact his draft status are character issues which had resulted in him being suspended for 5 games this year if he had stayed in school, along with plenty of other information that came out as a result of the OSU investigation.  It's interesting that the two key players in the investigation, Tressel and Pryor, have now left Ohio State.  I'm sure that the administration believes that this will bode well for the athletic department when the NCAA comes out with its findings.

Pryor was the new fall guy after Tressel resigned.  It will be interesting if the Buckeyes find a new fall guy.  The problem for them the most logical fall guys should be the athletic director and the school president.  Somehow I don't think that those two will point the finger at each other.  What a joke!!