What’s up with Billy Wagner? Can’t Billy find a different song? We call the Mets the “Baby Yankees” but Billy takes it to another level. (For those of you nice readers who don’t understand, Mariano Rivera uses Enter Sandman and has through all his Championship years) Here are some new song suggestions for you Billy:
1. Closing Time
2. Meet the Mets
3. Mr. Sandman
4. Man! I feel like a Woman!
5. O.P.P.
6. Chicken Dance
7. Gold Digger
8. Pump up the Volume
9. Careless Whisper
10. Potholes in my Lawn (would L.I. mind?)

Billy is taking suggestions from all 4 of my readers. Let him know, he obviously doesn’t have time to be original!

“I shoulda been a farmer, ” Pop Fisher said bitterly. ” I shoulda farmed since the day I was born. I like cows, sheep, and those hornless goats — I am partial to nanny goats, my daddy wore a beard — I like to feed animals and milk ‘em. I like fixing things, weeding poison oak out of the pasture, and seeing to the watering of the crops. I like to be by myself on a farm. I like to stand out in the fields, tending to the vegetables, the corn, the winter wheat — greenest looking stuff you ever saw. When Ma was alive she kept urging me to leave baseball and take up farming, and I always meant to but after she died I had no heart for it.” Pop’s voice all but broke and Red Blow shifted nervously on the bench but Pop didn’t cry. He took out his handkerchief, flipped it, and blew his nose. “I have that green thumb,” he said huskily, ” and I shoulda farmed instead of playing wet nurse to a last place, dead-to-the-neck ball team.”

Rest In Peace Kirby

Just heard on “Ron and Fez” that Clemens went high and inside on his son Koby, after the kid went deep. Now, I never had a situation where I beat my Dad in anything (he went for cigarettes at an early enough age), but I did see my brother drop kick him from the top of the couch during a wrestling match. Took him oot of work with a bad back for a while. What if Clemens hit his kid in the head? We all know he plunked Piazza, and then tried to spear him with a broken bat, but imagine him at home? I can just see him if he wasn’t a Hall of Famer at home in Texas, coaching his sons, yelling and sreaming, throwing fastballs at their heads…..
mlb.com

With the recent signing of Jeff Weaver to the Angels, it got me wondering what the Yankee staff could have looked like today if they did things a bit differently. You can’t complain with Randy Johnson, or as some people like to call him, “The Big Unit”. The guy is intense and throws fire, but he did beat us in the World Series of 2001. Wang is the man, he’s young and has the poise of a poised veteran and throws a deceivingly heavy fastball along with his sinker. Mike Mussina has had inconsistent starts throughout his carrer in the Bronx. He used to be the guy who would pick us up after a tough loss, but these days can’t really compete with the skilled and often hot batters the playoffs throw at him. You have Shawn Chacon who has impressed all of us with his stuff, but along with Wang, we’ll have to see how batters adjust this season. Aaron Small had a fairytale year. Then there’s Wright, Pavano, and my arch nemesis Mr. Brown. I don’t know about the rest of you, but he’s given me more grief in the last 2-3 years…can’t even watch him pitch.Starting him in Game 7 against you-know-who was quite the mistake. Who do I think should have started? Mr. Vasquez of course. I had a bad feeling when Joe didn’t start him, and when he let up the big dinger to the new Yankee center fielder, he was the easy patsy. So, we keep Brown and get rid of Vasquez, smart move.
Then there is Jose Contreras. Need I say more. Like Weaver and Vasquez, the Yankee coaching staff just doesn’t want to deal with their ineffectiveness and attitude. The Yanks just hire the $$ pitchers instead of molding these arms into Champions….Mel threw these talents away like rich mommies hire nannies, it’s sad.
We can add to this list. How about the crafty Ted Lilly. He has developed into a pretty solid pitcher and with some bats behind him, should shine this season in Toronto. We had Esteban Loiaza for about 3 weeks. Here’s the Cy Young award candidate who comes off an injury at the end of the year and goes 1-2 while getting booed. Just don’t get it. Ok, I’m pushing Loiaza’s worth, but he did ok in Washinton with a lineup a little less menacing than the Yanks. Let’s not forget our man Wells and Orlando Hernandez.
How crafty and entertaining would a staff like this be:
Weaver
Contreras
El Duque
Wells
Lilly

Come on, who doesn’t like the Effus pitch?

On February 26, 1969, Boston Red Sox star and American League batting champion Carl Yastrzemski becomes the highest paid player in league history. Yaz signs a one-year deal worth $130,000. In 1968, Yaz batted a league-leading .301 and also paced the AL with 119 walks.

On February 26, 1942, the Philadelphia Phillies hire former Washington Senators skipper Bucky Harris as their manager. The Phillies become the fourth different team that Harris has managed. Harris will compile a record of 38-52 in 92 games before being fired, but will resurface as manager of the New York Yankees in 1947.

On February 26, 1914, the Chicago White Sox and New York Giants play an exhibition game in front of King George in London, England. The White Sox win the game in 11 innings on Tom Daly’s home run.

On February 26, 1935, the New York Yankees release longtime star outfielder Babe Ruth, freeing him to sign a $20,000 contract with the National League’s Boston Braves. Ruth’s new contract with the Braves also gives him a share of the team’s profits.
In 1934, Ruth had endured one of his worst seasons with the Yankees-at least by his lofty standards-with a .288 batting average, 22 home runs, and 84 RBIs. In 1935, Ruth will play only 28 games for the Braves before announcing his retirement on June 2 at the age of 40. Ruth will hit the final three home runs of his major league career on May 25 against the Pittsburgh Pirate, giving him a total of 714. His last home run will clear the right field grandstand at Forbes Field and will travel an estimated 600 feet.
(www.baseballhalloffame.org)