I am aware of Bill James's arguments against the impact of batting order.  I believe it has a lot of validity.  But I also believe that not everything can be represented by stats.

Without getting into speculation why, Johnny's number's have been falling even before his ill-advised signing with the Yanks. 

I'll also refrain from commenting on Damon's desire, except to say that his "demeanor" has been much more subdued in his NY tenure, as opposed to his time with Boston, Oakland, and KC.  I know "joy" is not quantifiable, but my impression is he has a lot less of it.

It's early, so his numbers for this year fall into the "small sample" arena for stat crunchers.  But regardless of size, they aren't good.  His numbers last year were his worst, almost across the board, in a full decade( under 100 runs, under 150 hits are the two stats that stand out to me). 

Johnny's poor performance at the plate has flown under the radar since he's been in the Bronx.  His fielding garnered the most criticism and a proper on-field response.  It's time to apply the same scrutiny to Johnny's hitting. 

I'd like to see Melky in the lead off spot.  I heistate to say it, because I don't have the stats to back it up, but Melky gets around on the fastball much better than Johnny at this point.  Damon's shoulder issues, that killed his throwing arm, seem to have robbed him of his bat speed as well. 

So I recently discovered this site:  http://www.whatifsports.com.

I'm a late-comer, as it has been around since 1999.  It's a simulation league that allows you to draft a team of players from the 1880's to the 2007 season, and then play against other people's teams.  It's a lot of fun and addictive as hell.

They have an exhibition season of ten games that is free and a full 162 game season with more options for $12.  I've played about ten exhibition seasons, and they're great.

I also am just finishing up my first full season, and believe me it is well worth the 12 bucks.  There are twenty-four teams separated into two leagues, and six divisions.  The six division winners get the added bonus of playoff games.

I just qualified for the playoffs with a team featuring a 3-4 of 1922 Ruth, 1960 Mantle, and 1983 Goose pitching the 8th inning for me (just to name some Yankees on my team).

I'm bothering to post all this because in about two weeks I'm going to play another full season ( did I mention It's addictive?), and there's the options to invite others.  So I thought why not throw it out to all the P.A. baseball fanatics out there and see if anybody's interested.

And just so you know, I'm in no way associated with this site.  I read about it in a Bill Simmons column ( he's an avid player ).

So if anybody's interested, I 'd suggest to try it out for free and see if it's for you, and if you're interested let me know and I can send you an invite. 

Here's the link again:   http://www.whatifsports.com 

Here's a link to an excerpt of Canseco's new book concerning A-Rod.

http://deadspin.com/372153/the-excerpts-from-vindicated-about-alex-rodriguez

This is just bizarre.  Up until now, Canseco's allegations about his fellow teammates have been spot on, but this one feels so fabricated.  Then again, I never thought that one of his pool parties would be of Congressional interest.  Go figure.

Hope this story doesn't bother the MVP too much this season.

So Cashman and his new best buddy Theo Epstein appeared at a University in New Jersey last week to tell everybody how great they are.  Halfway through Cashman decides it's time to open up about Bernie Williams and Joe Torre.  He called Bernie "terrible" in '05 and that his music career was a distraction from his play on the field.  He went on to rip Torre's decision to play Williams so much in'06 when there were, in his words, better players available.

I've never been a Cashman fan.  I think he's shown very little skill as a talent evaluator in the signature trades he's given credit for (Weaver for Ted Lilly, signing Javier Vasquez instead of Schilling, etc...), but this is the last straw.  The first thing that came to mind was Freddo and Moe Green from "The Godfather".  Cashman's on stage killing two all time great Yankees with the enemy Theo Egg-sucker right beside him nodding smugly like a Sith.  What was it that Michael tells Freddo "don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again", right?  Cashman showed his true colors here; he's more loyal to the fraternity of GMs than the Yankees.  I think it's time to send Cashman out fishing on the lake

As was discussed in recent game threads, the Yanks struggle against unfamiliar pitchers.  The collapse of the batting order against the young arms of The Marlins in '03 is the most glaring example.  But other examples are out there, some more relevant than others: E. Santana '05 game five.  This year's version of the syndrome is lurking in the form of C.C. Sabathia.

Most posters here are savvy enough to know the kind of pitcher C.C. has become.  He's gotten better every year to the point he's a top contender for this years' CY Young.  He might even be the only legitimate 300 win candidate of his generation.  But the most important fact is that C.C Sabathia hasn't faced the Yankees since 2004.

This year C.C. has faced Johan Santana and Justin Verlander three times each.  Sabathia outpitched Verlander twice and Santana all three times.  He's spent the last three years improving to the point that he's the best pitcher head to head in his division, and the Yanks haven't seen him once.  Oh yeah, he also beat the Angels both times he faced them this year and in his only appearance against Boston lost 1-0 to Dice -K.

On the bright side, the Yanks have seemingly been in the Indians head.  We beat Carmona, an unfamiliar pitcher, the only time we faced him this year.  The way the Yanks lineup is churning since all the left-handed bats have come alive it looks like nothing short of a rotation of Seaver, Koufax, Gibson, and Jack Morris could shut them down.

That being said, The new playoff set-up favoring the team with the best record could allow a situation where C.C. could face the Yanks in a divisional series twice as a starter and once in relief ala Randy in 1995, or in a league series three times as a starter ala Schilling in 2000.  Either prospect could be grim for the Yanks.  On top of that the Indians have picked up Kenney Lofton since we played them this year.  As evidenced from his pilling on Torre during Sheff-gate earlier this year, Lofton would LOVE to stick it to the Yanks.

In the euphoria of taking 5 of 6 from the Sux, I hate to be a downer.  But before we start cheering for the Indians to overtake the Angels, we might want to reexamine what that really means.