"Booo!"

"Youk!"

Yankee fans, it all sounds the same so keep doin' what you're doin' with him.

What do you do when you have an old, injury-prone third baseman with rapidly declining skills?

Why, you sign an old injury-prone third baseman with rapidly declining skills, of course. 

So now that the Red Sox have waived Zach Stewart....

....and Brent Lillibridge is long gone, the Red Sox traded Youkilis for..........well nuthin'.

Just sayin'.

I would sue if I was Youkilis!

Or at the very least take it up with the Players Union!

You think the designers of that toy are saying, "Yes, we made a nice quality product."?

No way!

They are saying, "HA HA HA HA! Look what we did! Nothing he can do about it! Let's see what we can do with Jar Jar Binks next! Lovin' this job!"

They need to learn!

I am not going to buy these throwback jerseys now

I think I am going to wait for the knock-off versions.

Based on his reactions, there has never been an accurately called "strike three" on Kevin Youkilis

Sorry about the season-ending injury and all but I for one am not going to miss that.

At all!

Look, I don't like Youkilis either but...

.....Yankees fans just voted an inferior player to the All Star Game which will determine home field advantage for a series their team may be in.

On what planet is Swisher better than Youkilis?*

*I know it is not likely that the last guy on the roster is going to decide the game but it is the principle of the thing, ok?

He's not ever happy

He's just not.

I bet Pineiro was laughing his ass off.

Did you see.....

.....that fan give Nick Swisher the finger when he was chasing down Youkilis' hit to the wall.

Why so angry?

You can get arrested for that in Guatemala you know.

Defense attorneys down there make a living on that stuff.

Not surprising but still.....

Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald had a sit down with everybody's least favorite personality, Kevin Youkilis and out came this gem from the "personality-challenged" one:

"I read where they used to hang people down at Boston Common. That's one I don't think too many Red Sox players are aware of. Sometimes a player will say he's taking his family down there, and I'll throw that one at them. I think that's a pretty interesting fact."

What the.....?

What a killjoy!

A teammate (probably not considered a "friend") is going to take his family down to Boston Common and Youkilis butts in with "Hey, did you know they used to kill people there. They hung em until they dead. Before that, they used an axe. Tell your family that! Welcome to Boston! Ha Ha Ha."

You know Kevin, there is a reason you didn't get invited to a Super Bowl party this year.

Or last year.

Or.....

No, your teammates DO like football.

Give me a break!

If Youkilis was not a ballplayer, there is no way this would be possible.

Sorry.

No way!

How can Kevin Youkilis possibly hit that way?

So I am watching the Red Sox/Yankees game tonight and every time I see the Red Sox play, I am perplexed at how Kevin Youkilis has ever gotten one hit at any level of baseball including t-ball.

Look at the way he holds and grips the bat. The batting stance is quite contorted but that in itself is not too much of a problem as there are other guys that are even more twisted up. No, it's the bizarre way he holds and grips the bat.

First, he's got the bat held at an almost 180 degree angle. Then, he deliberately puts his right hand several inches up the handle of the bat almost into the barrel doing what I have no idea. As the pitch is delivered, he slides his right hand down the handle meeting his left hand and then properly grips the bat and if he does this successfully, then he can consider swinging at the pitch if he likes it. What the heck is that?! How can he possibly hit that way?

That is just too much work if you ask me. He is multi-tasking WAY too much here! Hitting a major league baseball is hard enough without all that extra work.

Obviously it is working pretty well for him so you know don't change a thing but this is really a mind-bender.

(That pitch from Beckett to Matsui on his second home run in the 8th inning was pathetic)

How did he ever get through the minor leagues? Surely, more than once, he had a batting coach in the system take him aside and say "Son, we need to talk. I don't care how well you are hitting now, you will never ever make it past this level of ball holding the bat like that. Where in the world did you learn that? I want to see you real early tomorrow at the cages."

(He's up right now. I asked Computer Boy what he thought of it and he said it is messed up. Belaboring the point, I know but still...)

Hey Youkilis! Ever look at the big picture?

You and Porcello both get suspensions. Porcello pitches once a week and will miss a start. You, on the other hand, will miss.......well all those games.

You are 5 1/2 games behind the Yankees and we are getting into late August. Your GM went out and made all those moves for the stretch run and you go out and get yourself suspended. Classic buffoonery.*

*Plus when you went out there, you got thrown like a rag doll. Not impressed.

Kevin Youkilis sure seems to argue with umpires a lot

The above is a photo from last night's Red Sox/Rangers game of Kevin Youkilis and Terry Francona arguing with an umpire over a disputed hit by pitch call.

Maybe it is just me or maybe it is just the Red Sox games that I happen to watch (and in fairness I did not see yesterday's game) but it seems to me that Kevin Youkilis complains and argues with umpires more than any player I know. From what I have seen, he seems to argue about anything but in particular, he likes to argue balls and strikes while at the plate.

I think most major league batters understand that each umpire's strike zone is somewhat subjective and it just does not make sense in the long run (or even the short run for that matter) to argue balls and strike calls in the middle of an at-bat. Of course, from time to time you will see a batter give the umpire the "stink eye" after a call or even mutter a word or two to them but that is usually as far as it goes. Youkilis not only does this but on more than one occasion, I have seen him flat out argue balls and strike calls in a whiny fashion with the umpire while in the middle of an at bat. I know on quite a few occasions, during these and other type arguments by Youkilis, I just want to say "Come on Kevin, just play. This is counter productive and also just makes you look bad. A big guy like you complaining?"

This reminds me of an interview with Youkilis I read about a year ago (and frankly I forget the source) where the interviewer advised Youkilis that among other major league players, Youkilis seemed to be one of the most unpopular players and he asked Kevin's opinion on that. As I recall, Youklis responded something like "Yea, I know and I don't know why."

I think I know why.

On the disputed hit by pitch ball yesterday, apparently Youkilis was in fact hit by a pitch in the left elbow but the umpire did not award him a walk as he was of the opinion that Youkilis made no attempt to avoid being hit as the rules require. Frankly, it is quite rare for an umpire to make this call even though quite a few players do not attempt to avoid a pitch thrown right at them. You see this call maybe once every 2 or 3 years as again the umpires usually just simply award the base regardless of whether the batter tried to avoid the pitch or not. There are probably only a select very few players for which an umpire would make this rather technical call against and obviously Kevin Youkilis is one of them.

I think I know why.