And the real scary thing is....

....that's not the coach's left hand on his left shoulder. (First base coach's don't wear batting gloves)

I heard the players are complaining to Girardi about the "handsy' coach.

No surprise that Willie Randolph never really succeeded as a manager

Joe Girardi is trying to talk Mariano Rivera out of retirement?

 

 

Ummm ok but then somebody has some gifts to return!

Anibal Sanchez

On this date in 2006, Anibal Sanchez of the Marlins throws a no-hitter beating the Diamondbacks 2-0.

"I told him he should send his bat." - Marlins manager Joe Girardi on what Sanchez should send to the Hall of Fame to commemorate the game

Joe Girardi on the field between innings arguing balls and strikes wildly with the home plate umpire....

....and is not ejected?!

Lucky break for the Tigers!

Girardi HAD to get C.C......

....so if they advance he can be ready to pitch Game 8 instead of Game 9.

Do we see Andy Hawkins next?

Anibal Sanchez

On this date in 2006, Anibal Sanchez of the Marlins throws a no-hitter beating the Diamondbacks 2-0.

"I told him he should send his bat." - Marlins manager, Joe Girardi on what Sanchez should send to the Hall of Fame to commemorate the game

(more) Profound clubhouse thoughts

"This kid loves to play the game."

3 stars out of 5 on the "cliche-meter": I will take that over the production of guys like Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent who hated the game!

Jorge Posada

Reportedly just asked Joe Girardi if 6 rbis in a game was "good".

Loved that in-game Joe Girardi Father's Day promo....

....where he talks about growing up in Chicago with three brothers and one sister and their father was great because every Father's Day, he took "all the boys" to a baseball game.

Dad was great!

For four of them!

Good thing Posada wasn't in the Navy Seals Team 6

"Trigger man or nuthin'!"

Ron Washington gets a two year deal for getting to the World Series

Joe Girardi gets a three year deal for losing to Washington's team in the ALCS.

????

Well now that I think about it, Girardi does have all those binders and all Washington has is that hose that he uses to syphon gas out of cars in the parking lot.

"We believe in A.J."

Well "maybe" so Joe but something tells me that Game 5 tickets are probably going for more than Game 4 tickets right now.

"More than a feeling"

It's not about us; it's about them!

"There are too many. Just too many. I don't really understand it. I know he likes to pitch inside; but it's too many." - Joe Girardi on Jeremy Guthrie of the Orioles who has hit 13 batters this season.

The AL league leader in hit batsmen?

A.J. Burnett - 16.

The Yankees just intentionally walked Jason Kendall!

What the?!

I thought this was one of those unwritten rules of baseball like:

1. Never make the third out at third base.
2. Don't bunt with two strikes.
3. Don't use a pitcher as a pinch-runner.
4. Don't EVER EVER EVER disagree with Tony LaRussa.

I thought Joe Girardi was a student of the game?

He GAVE Jason Kendall a base!

Marty Foster's suspension will be how many games?

Ok, you have probably seen the play in Monday's Yankees/Blue Jays game. Derek Jeter steals third base and clearly avoids a tag by Blue Jay third baseman, Scott Rolen. Third base umpire, Marty Foster then "pretty emphatically" calls Jeter out.

Per the New Jersey Star Ledger, Jeter argues with Foster and says "He didn't tag me." Foster responds, according to Jeter, "He didn't have to. The ball beat you."

Joe Girardi comes on the field and on ESPN, you can clearly see Jeter tell him "He says the ball beat me." Girardi argues a bit and Foster tosses him. Between you and I, Foster knows at this point, that he has got some "splaining" to do after the game and was probably thinking the whole rest of the game of some creative way to get out of this mess.

After the game, Crew Chief, John Hirschbeck does not allow Foster to speak to the media (which should tell you something) and actually makes the situation a little worse by saying, "It would make (Jeter's) actions seem appropriate if that's what he was told. It used to be if the ball beat you, you were out, but it isn't that way anymore."

Hey Marty Foster and John Hirschbeck! Listen up! That play at third base is not and never was a force play. I know it requires a little effort to make sure a tag is applied but sorry, you have to do it. If you don't do this, it kind of makes you look well.....lazy. You also need to curb the arrogance more than a little bit as you simply cannot treat the rule book as an afterthought. This is not "Rules By Marty and John" tonight, you know. Frankly, I think Joe Girardi let you guys off easy by not protesting the game as the third base umpire decided on his own, in contradiction to the long-standing rules of baseball, that he would not allow Jeter to have any opportunity to score that inning and apparently admitted it. I know the protest rules are a bit complicated but this situation would seem to be one that cries out for a protest.

I wonder what other rules Marty Foster does not enforce because, I guess, well it is just too difficult.

*Does he bother worrying about balks? That is kind of difficult.

*If a hitter's bat shatters and a bunch of marbles fly out, does he just quickly scoop them up and hand them to the batboy? I mean that can really delay a game to deal with an illegal bat and probably triggers a report of some kind. That has got to suck.

*Does he go over ground rules with the managers before the game or does he just say "Hey, let's just see how this park plays. We will figure it out as we go along"?

*Has he redlined out portions of his own personal MLB rule book?

I guess Hirschbeck will escape suspension as while he did misstate a basic rule, in the end he did agree with Jeter, though in a weasel-like manner. I am all for giving suspensions to weasels but it just wouldn't work here.

Foster, on the other hand, does need a rest. I don't see an alternative. I don't know, 7 games?

For what it is worth, I do know that Marty Foster is going to watch tags at the bases closer from now on and obviously that is a good thing. Might as well earn your pay while you are out there. Why not?