By David Robin

Pictures are often worth a thousand words. This would be like a million.

It’s the last week of the 2008 Major League Baseball season and much like every season since 1996, the Tampa Bay Rays are in first place of the American League (AL) East…WHAT?! The sports section of the newspaper has many typos these days. Either that or the absence of the word “devil” from the name of the team from Tampa actually boosted their performance. The Devil Rays were last place with 96 losses last season and this season, the Rays are at the top and currently have 96 wins, with three games left to play. With this impressive turnaround, they are clearly the biggest story of the AL East. When people talk about baseball, they talk about either the rise of the Rays or the fall of the New York Yankees. The Yankees have 87 wins and 72 losses as of today, only a few games back from last year’s  94-68 record. This may not seem like a big difference but they currently sit in third place in the division, with no chance of the playoffs for the first time since 1995. This may not seem like a big idea to some, but this is New York and they are the Yankees, they have no choice but to make it to the playoffs!

I want Bud Selig, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball to take back those words he said in 2003, where he complained about the “competitive imbalance” in baseball. The Yankees are in third place and the Rays, a team that has never made the play-offs, are in first. What did the Yankees do wrong? What change dragged them down the standings for the whole duration of the season? Was it the players? This is clearly not the case because the Yankees did not make as many changes over the offseason as usual. Almost all of the starting players from 2007 were back on the team last April, destroying any thoughts of the team not “meshing.” Was it Joe Torre’s stoic face in the dugout that made the difference? He had a managerial record of 1,173 – 767 during his 12-year term with the Yankees. He left at the end of last year and Joe Girardi edged out Don Mattingly for the manager job during the offseason. While Girardi was the 2006 NL Manager of Year with the Marlins, his job this year with the Yankees has to be looked at with scrutiny. While it is difficult to find out what happens behind the scenes, Girardi was the biggest change from last season and the decisions of a manager can greatly affect a ballclub.

Another scapegoat of the Yankees’ plummet is the Yankees General Manager, Brian Cashman. While he has been with the Yankees since 1998, he has been at the helm for 3 World Series titles. While he has signed great players like Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui, he has also signed huge busts like Jaret Wright, Jose Contreras, Kei Igawa, Kevin Brown, and Carl Pavano. Is it possible that these bad moves have compounded over time and finally greatly affected the Yankees? The same thing happened to the Braves, who are in 4th place, 18 games out of first place. While looking at management, the owners of the Yankees, Hank and Hal Steinbrenner. Last year, the never subtle George Steinbrenner was the owner of the team. He has always given players and managers a short leash and while he has been criticized for his moves, he always puts winning before everything else. While this may not have been healthy, especially since he stepped down after being too sick to continue as the owner, it may have given motivation to the team that simply not exist with George’s sons.  Okay, enough about management, let’s look at the players, since they are the ones who actually play out the games.

The Yankees pitching has been seen as inferior to previous years, especially due to early season injuries. They were already gambling during spring training with a starting rotation consisting of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, two unproven rookies. The third notable rookie, Joba Chamberlin, was going to be a starter but began the season as the setup reliever, his proven position. Hughes and Kennedy did not perform to expectations and they both ended up getting injured, as well as the Yankees ace, Chien Ming Wang. However, the holes were filled and the rotation did much better than expected. Mike Mussina had arguably the best season of his career, with a 19-9 record and a 3.47 ERA. In addition, Andy Pettitte went 14-14 with a 4.54 ERA which wasn’t his best but he still had many impressive outings. Rookie reliever, Dan Giese had a 3.53 ERA and while he only started three games, he still came through when it counted. Chamberlin also came through once he became a starter but was bitten by the injury bug. However, hese few positives could not outweigh the negatives and the injuries. Sidney Ponson had one or two good starts but he was inconsistent, Carl Pavano is providing too little, too late, and a 5.34 ERA and a 5-10 record was not what the Yankees expected when they called up Darrell Rasner. Without the injuries, these weaknesses in the farm system may not have been revealed and the Yankees may have had a stronger starting rotation, but hindsight is twenty-twenty and hitting is also important in baseball.

Wow, A-Rod sucks at everything!

The Yankees are .259 with runners in scoring position. This is the worst that they have done in these clutch situations in a long time. When watching a Yankee game this season, it is hard to get excited when players are in scoring position because the Yankees have flat-out not come through in these situations. However, the Rays also have a very low batting average with runners in scoring position so the importance of this statistic may be overstated. Many of the Yankee starters have not had the seasons that were expected of them. Derek Jeter has finally made it just over .300 with only 69 runs batted in (RBIs). Abreu is batting .296 with only 20 homeruns and Alex Rodriguez is at .300 with only 101 RBIs , impressive statistics but not what A-Rod is used to. Cano is batting only .264 with 66 RBIs, Melky Cabrera was batting .243 with 46 RBIs before he was sent down to the minor leagues, and Giambi is sitting at .251, a far cry from the .342 that he posted in 2002. It seems as if almost all of the Yankees most important hitters just fell into a malaise. Injuries are also a key element to the collapse of the Yankee offense. Jeter and A-Rod were injured early in the season, with Matsui and Posada following soon after. Damon had a good season until his shoulder bothered him, sitting him out for an important segment of the season. While Molina did a satisfactory job behind the plate and the Xavier Nady was a great addition from the Pirates, it just wasn’t enough. Cody Ransom, Brett Gardner, and Justin Christian tried their best to fill in the numerous holes but they could not compensate from the great loss. This combination of injuries and bad years for many players definitely contributed to their collapse.

After examining these factors, it is apparent that it was not one factor, but a combination of different ones which led to the fall of the Yankees- much like the fall of the Holy Roman Empire. The debate will continue all offseason but it is very hard to blame only one aspect of the Yankees’ failure.  The only thing left to say, is that maybe the new Yankee Stadium will revitalize the team next season. Let’s Go Mets?

By Habib Aminy

The top news this past week was the “fundamentaly strong economy” faltering even more and the presidential debates which were just like any other presidential debate, filled with rhetoric, hyperboles, castigation and the same BS promises by politicians. Quoting Nikita Khrushchev, “Politicians promise bridges when there are no rivers.” As an informed American, it’s demoralizing that these politicians who have the power and money to make a difference create more problems than what they “fix.” One of the many reasons why sports is interesting and politics is depressing is because there is nothing shady to what you’re watching or any corruption unless you are watching the MLB with steroid infested players, the New England Patriots, or the NBA with its gambling referees. The headlines of the past sports week comprise of the amazin’ Mets failing to make the playoffs, Allan Houston coming back to the Knicks, Brett Favre’s record day against the Cardinals and Sugar Shane Mosley’s fight against Ricardo Mayorga this past Saturday night.

As I predicted in last issue’s article, the Mets choked and will miss the playoffs. My prediction came true when the Mets lost to the Florida Marlins in their final game at Shea Stadium.

Having alcoholic beverages spilled is the ultimate sign of victory

If Family Feud were to have a question on how the Mets lose, the top answer would most certainly be their bullpen. With the game tied 2-2 at the top of the eighth, former Atlanta Braves first baseman Wes Helms hit a bomb off Scott Schoeneweis. Dan Uggla then hit a homer as well, this one off Luis Ayala, to make it 4-2. Though this game wouldn’t be classified under the embarrassing major league leading thirty blown saves by the Mets bullpen, the pen clearly didn’t do their job again, and it didn’t help that the offense couldn’t hit against Florida’s pitchers. David Wright mirrored Barack Obama’s diplomatic style after the game saying, “We failed. We failed as a team. There’s no pointing fingers. There’s no excuses. We as a unit didn’t get the job done.” Had David Wright followed John McCain’s style, he would have stated, “My friends, my friends, I did my job. The bullpen were terrorists and that’s why we didn’t make the playoffs. We need to get rid of these terrorists or we will always miss the playoffs.” As the Mets experienced “Shea-Ja Vu,” the Brewers are heading to the playoffs after a 26-year hiatus. Such an occasion calls for a champagne celebration best equipped with Michael Phelps swimming goggles, the majority of the Brewers styled.

With both the Yankees and Mets out of the playoffs, the local newspapers are finally going to report on real sports like football, basketball and hockey. Yes, hockey is a sport that is far more athletic and entertaining than baseball. I make this complaint about the newspapers over-posting on baseball because it is disappointing to have reporters post BS articles for seven months about baseball players’ lives. For example, do we have to know how Alex Rodriquez likes men, or how the Mets bullpen watches Déjà Vu before every game. As for the Mets, Yankees and my Braves there is always next year. Though this past year was a disappointment, to say the least, for all these capitalistically talented teams that are all for “orgy spending,” one must commend Larry “Chipper” Jones for winning the National League batting title, hitting .364 for the year.

Moving onto the NFL, Brett Favre had an amazing game as the Jets defeated the Arizona Cardinals. Throwing for a franchise tying record of six touchdowns, and going 24-for-34 for 289 yards and an interception, Brett Favre silenced all the critics and has kept hope alive for Jets fans. His counterpart, Kurt Warner, statistically went bananas throwing 40-of-57 for 472 yards with two touchdowns, though the four turnovers by Warner (two interceptions and two fumbles) were critical in that it led to Jets scoring every time. Had it not been for seven turnovers by the Arizona Canaries, this game would have been far closer because both defenses were pathetic.

Moving on to the entertaining, yet loser loaded, Knicks, another boneheaded move was made by the Knicks’ management in signing 37-year-old veteran, Allan Houston. Absent from the game for a good five years, there is heavy doubt as to whether the move was a wise one; to be more precise, the Knicks need big men that play defense like Marcus Camby or Tyson Chandler. There are also rumors that Stephon Marbury’s contract will be bought out in the upcoming weeks and will be released as a result. It is sad that it has come to this in the Starbury Saga because Stephon gave it his all when he did play. Only time will tell what will happen with Marbury and Houston because the Knicks have seventeen players on the roster and teams are only allowed fifteen at the start of the season. If I were a betting man, Jerome James’ and Marbury’s contracts would be bought out.

The Mets stay true to their tradition of sucking.

Closing out this week in sports is this past Saturday night’s fight between Sugar Shane Mosley and Ricardo Mayorga, which can be described as humorous. Mayorga’s punching accuracy was horrendous at 12% compared to Mosley at 40%. Mayorga spent more time cheering and pumping his fist than actually punching Sugar Shane. He was also more accurate in hugging Mosley at almost 1000% accuracy. Mosley, on the other hand, was just beating the hell out of Mayorga, and I give credit to Mayorga for being Mosley’s punching bag. The final round was entertaining, with Mosley delivering left jabs and left hooks with Mayorga getting dizzy and what not. Mosley knocked out Mayorga with fifteen seconds left in the final round, and Mayorga got up at about seven seconds left. Then, with one second, left Sugar Shane puts the icing on the cake, getting the second KO with a devastating left hook dead on in the middle of Mayorga’s face. In closing I leave you with a thought, why are the Mets known as the “Amazin’ Mets”?