In other news, Man Lands on Moon...

It had to have been the worst kept secret in all of Major League Baseball. Mark McGwire admitted today that he took steriods the year he hit 70 home runs, breaking the record of 61 homers previously held by Roger Maris. According to reports that are quickly popping up on the internet, Big Mac came clean in a phone interview with the Associated Press this afternoon. He said that he had called Tony LaRussa and Commissioner Bud Selig to personally apologize for his trangressions.

Why did he decide to come clean now? I think there are a whole host of reasons. McGwire wants back into baseball and knows that this was going to be an issue hanging over his head from the start. He also wants to make the Hall of Fame, something he is assuredly not going to do any time soon. But our country tends to be pretty forgiving and if you drag yourself out on the carpet, say you were a bad boy, and a really, really sorry, people tend to forget.

McGwire is a different story though. He is part of a brash and unrepentent part of baseball history that now wants to rewrite what happened. (see also Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds) He sat before Congress and said he only wanted to talk about the future. Now, in search of a future in the sport, he is the one dragging the past back into focus. As some time passes, I am sure we all have a chance to look at McGwire's numbers and wonder what he would have been without the Andro and Steriods. My gut reaction is he would have been a pretty exciting, skinny player. He always had fast hands. There are going to be those who think differently though. My good friend Joe fired off an email within five minutes of the news breaking, "He had so many injuries in his career, if he never took them he would have been out of baseball ten years earlier than he was."

Maybe Joe is right. Without steriods, do we sit watching Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire going toe to toe as the summer slipped into September? Do we let baseball slowly gain our trust back after that awful player strife of 1994-95? Would Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig's record been enough to bring us back? I doubt it highly. Baseball is a great sport, but a lot of fans felt extremely wronged by the strike.

One of my favorite quotes explains it best, "Chicks dig the long ball." So do middle aged men, ten year olds, and corporate stiffs who pay the highest ticket prices. Only history knows how this one will play out. You have hope that baseball has the worst of this behind it now and can move forward with a new crop of stars who excite the kid in all of us.

Vazquez to the Yankees

As I am sure you have heard by now, the New York Yankees have made a deal to bring Javy Vazquez to the Bronx for his second tour of duty. In return, Atlanta will receive Bombers outfielder Melky Cabrera and a couple of young arms.

So, what in the world is going on here? New York clearly felt they had fallen behind the Red Sox in the "arms race". Adding Vazquez allows New York to have almost as deep a rotation as their bitter rival. It also allows them to leave either Phil Huges or Joba Chamberlain in the pen. (This was made even more necessary by shipping Brian Bruney to the Nats and Phil Coke to the Tigers in the Curtis Granderson trade. More on that later.)

While it definitely helps out the rotation, what does it do to the outfield depth? Cabrera seemed like the starting left fielder next season. They trade for Curtis Granderson made the Bombers younger in the outfield and allowed them to move on from Johnny Damon. Did the door just open back up to bringing the great hitting, soft throwing outfielder back? I think where there was seemingly a closed door, there may now be a slightly open window... but don't count on seeing Damon back in pinstripes just yet.

Jason Bay and Matt Holliday remain on the free agent market. How unlikely is it to think that Brian Cashman is eyeing the Mets troubles in offering Bay a fifth year? Or that Holliday has yet to pull the trigger with the Cardinals? I think the probability is high.

If the Bombers add either of these two players, it will be an embarassment of riches and the MLB should strongly reconsider pushing for a salary cap. Either or of the above players would provide New York with possibly their deepest line up ever and would see them getting incremently younger while still putting out the best team (on paper) in baseball. You would have a line up that sees Nick Swisher batting eighth.

Keep an eye on the two big name free agents now that left field is open for New York. Don't be surprised if Scott Boras is sitting on River Avenue right now, trying to wrap up a gift for the Steinbrenner's family Christmas.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...

Turn and face the change people. The Major League hot stove has been red hot and some of the major power players in the game got richer.

The biggest news so far has to be the Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners, and Toronto Blue Jays coming to an agreement (yet to be finalized) sending Roy Halladay to the Phils, Cliff Lee to the Mariners, and prospects to the Blue Jays. The word on the internet is the defending National League Champions knew they wouldn't be able to re-sign Lee and desparately wanted in on Halladay. Former Blue Jays GM JP Ricciardi had tied Toronto's hands last season, so this move was inevitable.

The move obviously keeps the Phillies as the team to beat, swapping one dominant pitcher for possibly the second best arm in the game. Halladay should have no problem adjusting to life in the senior circuit, I would imagine his ERA (already microscopic) will drop into the high ones next year. Amazing.

Another pitcher on the move will land in the AL East. John Lackey has agreed to a five year deal with the Boston Red Sox. Rumor has it the Sox are looking to retool their team with pitching and defense this offseason. Lackey joins a pitching rich ball club, boasting Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Bucholz, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Tim Wakefield. That list doesn't even include the hard throwers they have in the bullpen.

While the Angels lost out on bringing Lackey back, and on bringing Halladay in, they seemed to have moved on nicely in the offensive category. Multiple newspapers and blogs are reporting Hideki Matsui, the reigning World Series MVP, has all but signed on the dotted line with the Halos. It seemed Matsui's at bats might be severly diminished this year with Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez both needing time at DH. Also, the Yankees seemed determined to have a DH that could also play the field, something Matsui did not do at all last season.

Who is firing up the hot stove?

Just a day after the Yankees won their 27th World Series Championship, some interesting story lines are cropping up around Major League Baseball.

For the Bombers themselves, the story surrounds their pending free agents and the overall age of the team. World Series MVP Hideki Matsui and World Series catalyst Johnny Damon are both now free agents and their are major questions on whom New York should bring back. Can you let a World Series MVP walk? Does Damon's speed and fractional ability in the outfield make him a better fit?

The Red Sox didn't waste any time making a deal. They picked up Jeremy Hermida from the Florida Marlins. It seems many in Red Sox nation think this could be a bargain deal for the former first rounder. The Sox gave up two second-tier pitchers for the 25 year old outfielder. It doesn't seem this is indicative of what the BoSox plan on doing with Jason Bay, but it could be a move that helps soften the blow of Bay leaves.

Tim Lincecum had another great year for the San Francisco Giants. The diminutive righty has been known for smoking major league hitters with his high 90's heat. Now, he'll be know for smoking something else. Lincecum faces misdemeanor marijuana possession charges after being pulled over for speeding near the Washington/Oregon border.

And Bobby Abreu resigned with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim with a two year deal for 19 million dollars. Abreu was once again his consistent self this year and decided to stay put. The question now isl; did Abreu set the market for outfielders?

Baseball Fundamentals

It was the top of the ninth inning and Johnny Damon had just had a great at bat against Brad Lidge. He had fought off fastballs on the outside corner, seemingly reacting a split second before the pitch would cross the plate. He got a pitch out over the plate and seemingly placed it into left field.

This game was a strange one. New York seemed to be losing the momentum as the game wore on. Joba Chamberlain had served up a mammoth homerun to Pedro Feliz in the bottom of the eighth to even the score at 4-4 and Citizens Bank Park was absolutely electric.

Brad Lidge looked great through two batters. He had Damon in a hole and the Phillies were ready to charge into the dugout for the bottom of the ninth.

Damon battled. He fouled off pitch after pitch until he got one he can handle. The game of baseball is full of cliches and adages. One that always comes to mind in this situation is that the batter's probability of getting a pitch to hit increases as the at-bat is prolonged. So as Damon fouled off the good fastballs from Lidge, you could feel the at-bat swinging into his favor. Lidge didn't want to walk Damon, so he grooved one, and the Yankees left fielder dropped it into left.

That's when things got just plain nutty. Damon took off for second early in the at-bat by Mark Teixeira. He would say after the game that he wanted to give Teixeira the best opportunity in the at-bat, so he broke for second early. The pitch was low and the throw from Carlos Ruiz skipped towards second base. Pedro Feliz was covering (the shift was on to combat Tex batting lefty). The throw pulled him only slightly towards the first base side of the bag.

What happened next just doesn't happen. Damon popped up from his slide, looked at third and took off running. I thought I was watching the Twins or Angels run the bases. I thought that Johnny Damon had been fooled by the player covering the base into thinking the ball got a way and would be easily caught in a run down to end the inning. I thought even more momentum was going to swing to the Phillies. But there was no one at third base. Lidge had ducked on the mound when the throw went through, Ruiz hadn't hustled down to cover, and the bag was there for his taking. Two stolen bases, one play. Johnny Damon changed the entire complexion of the inning, game, and the series. Teixeira was hit by a pitch and then Alex Rodriguez followed with a clutch hit.

It's not often I suggest taking professional players and using them as examples for kids learning the game. Sometimes they are just too good of athletes to use as examples and other time they just don't try hard enough. But what Johnny Damon did should be replayed over and over again for Little Leaguers. His at-bat was a thing of beauty and his hustle and quick thinking were amazing.

That will be second guessed...

Joe Girardi brought in Alfredo Aceves to replace David Robertson with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the 11th when Robertson seemed to be throwing well. Aceves then proceeded to give up a single to Howie Kendrick and a game winning RBI double to Jeff Mathis.

Why in the world did Girardi take out Robertson?

Is he a "true" Yankee now?

Alex Rodriguez has been absolutely haunted by his shortcomings in the post-season in New York. He has been raked over the coals on both sports talk stations in NYC (1050 ESPN Radio and 660 WFAN) for his lack of "clutch" play. And he never quite helped himself, always pushing to hard and saying what just seemed like the wrong thing.

Then, as all of you know, this season put everything on its ear. A-Rod was outed for having done steroids. Whether you take him at his word that he only did them in Texas or not, he no longer had to carry that secret with him. He was a cheater, right up there with Barry and Manny. Then came the hip injury that might sideline him the entire season and the surgery that followed.

When Rodriguez returned to the Yankee lineup, Mark Teixeira started to hit and the Bombers line up finally started to click. Since rejoining the club back in early May, they have been one of the best records in the majors, as evidenced by their run to the playoffs. But last night, A-Rod put so many demons to rest. Rodriguez hadn't driven in a runner since the 2004 series against the Red Sox. In game one, he picked up two RBI, which most certainly helped to set up last night.

And last night was some of that old school Yankee magic. I am not one who really compares teams over the years. I think each team is different and when you compare you are doing yourself and the team you are talking about a disservice. But last night, listening to the game, it was hard to not get that warm and fuzzy feeling (or that sick to your stomach feeling if you are not a Yankee fan) when Teixeira lined the ball to right. Then walked up arguably one of, if not the, best player I have ever seen play, even if he is a cheat.

Last night, A-Rod was able to help the Yanks win a playoff game and continue a journey that still has some very large steps to it. But it was a culmination for Rodriguez. It was a moment in time where a very proud and talented man could pump his fist and realize it was "about time".

Will A-Rod ever be a "True Yankee"? I really have no idea. But for one night, and maybe one post season, A-Rod doesn't have to worry about the boos. The fans were chanting his name in the bottom of the ninth, and I am sure there is no sweeter sound in the world for him.