Boston's hopes for the division title left town with the Yankee team bus recently but you have to wonder what kind of supernatural forces are at work since then. First Manny takes himself out of the final Yankee game with a somewhat mysterious knee problem. He's hardly played since and Boston writers suggest its because he's upset at a scorer's ruling taking an infield hit away from him. Then Big Papi develops heart issues. Terry Francona spits up blood during a press conference. Turns out he has a variety of illnesses. John Lester, a rookie pitching phenom, goes down with a bad back. This is weird.
...you forgot Nixon down...Gonzalez down Moishe Pena down...Varitek down.. Left standing and healthy. Crisp, Youk, Loretta, Lowell. ABSOLUETLY the most amazing turn of events in sports I have ever seen....oh and not to forget 3 starting pitchers went down most of season. jif
Those are regular injuries and, as you guys always correctly point out to me, a part of the game. Remember, the Yankees have played virtually all year without Matsui and Sheffield. They lost Cano for seven weeks. Carl Pavano hasn't pitched in a year and a half. I feel your pain. The stuff I pointed out is bizarre.
LOL! As an impartial observer, I would say that the curse of the Bambino went out the window with the Bosox 7-game sweep of the Yanks and subsequent WS victory a few years ago. What is happening now to the Bosox is an unfortunate part of the game of baseball. Put another way, --it happens. If I was a Yankees fan, I'd be more concerned with the curse of the overpaid roster, otherwise known as George-itis. Take Carl "Hydroplane" Pavano, for example, who so far is being paid $5,000,000 per pitching win. The Yanks are headed for the post-season. I like this team because I like Torre, Jeter, A-Rod, Bernie, and the other players who give 110% on the field despite their high salaries. But pitching will make the difference, and IMO the Yanks should be concerned about this aspect of their game as they go into the playoffs.
Terry, try to find the story about Pavano's auto accident down in Florida and the aftermath. I've heard radio reports that describe what happened. His Porsche hydroplaned out of control, and he crashed. The reports say he was at fault. He had either bruised or broken ribs, not sure which. He withheld the information from the Yankees for - I think - about a month. It's become big news in terms of his fall from grace with his employer for not immediately reporting the accident or the injury.
Sid, Yankee starting pitching is their Achillies Heel. The Yankee roster is overpaid by other's standards, not New York's. Like it or not, they exceed 4,000,000 paid admissions at home, have an extremely lucartive cable network and the #1 selling sports logo. What has made this Yankee team good is not "overpriced" talent as you put it. It's the bargain basement youngsters.... Melky Cabrera, Cano, Wang, Phiilips. Rick: When your manager starts spewing blood in the middle of a press conference I don't think you can rule out The Curse :wink:
Practically speaking, there probably is no curse..... Rookie Pitcher Has Lymphoma Sep 2, 12:24 AM (ET) By HOWARD ULMAN BOSTON (AP) -Boston Red Sox rookie pitcher Jon Lester has a form of lymphoma and will start treatment in the coming week, the team said Friday. Enlarged lymph nodes were identified when Lester, 22, was tested to determine the cause of back pain that sent him to the disabled list last Monday. The club said Friday he has a treatable form of anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a type of cancer that forms in the body's lymph system. Manager Terry Francona visited Lester in the hospital on Thursday morning and several players commented later that day, before the diagnosis was announced. He also met with the team about an hour before Friday's 2-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. "It was pretty quiet. That's part of our family in here and we're all astonished," reliever Mike Timlin said. Closer Jonathan Papelbon, who came up through the minors with Lester, said Friday, "they say it's curable or treatable and they're expecting him to be at spring training with us next year." On Thursday, pitcher Curt Schilling referred to the melanoma his wife dealt with several years ago. "Having been in a situation where cancer was an operative word, it's an incredibly scary thing," Schilling said. "You're talking about a kid at the beginning of his life." Lester, a left-hander, is 7-2 with a 4.76 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 81 1-3 innings. He was called up to the majors for the first time June 10, when he started in a 7-4 loss to Texas. He wasn't involved in the decision. He improved to 5-0 with a 1-0 victory at Kansas City on July 18. On Thursday, Timlin said baseball pales in significance to Lester's health. "It's his life. It's not him not being able to get out of the sixth inning," Timlin said. "He's 22. That's a long future not to have if you come up with an illness that you can't get rid of so we are praying for him. "Winning baseball games, yeah, that's great. Losing baseball games, no, that's not very much fun. But dealing with horrible things in human life, that's a whole lot worse than losing." Anaplastic large cell lymphoma is one of a group of cancers known as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, said Dr. Robert Soiffer, chief of the division of hematologic malignancies at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. "It is a disease that can strike at any age," said Soiffer, who is not involved in Lester's treatment. "It's responsive to chemotherapy and very treatable." Prognosis depends on the stage at which the disease is caught, Soiffer said. Age can also play a limited role in determining a patient's outcome, he said. "In general, younger patients ... have a better prognosis than older ones," Soiffer said. Red Sox president Larry Lucchino is a non-Hodgkins lymphoma survivor. Lester, from Tacoma, Wash., was Boston's first pick in the 2002 draft. In his first four minor-league seasons, he had a 24-22 record with a 3.38 ERA in 73 games, 69 of them starts, and was considered one of the Red Sox top prospects. Last year with Double-A Portland he had an 11-6 record and led the Eastern League with a 2.61 ERA. This season with Triple-A Pawtucket, he was 3-4 with a 2.70 ERA in 11 starts before being promoted and this from last night's game BOSTON (AP) -Even when the Boston Red Sox get good news about their pitching, it's overshadowed by the bad news. On a night when Kyle Snyder (4-3) allowed two hits in seven innings of a 2-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, closer Jonathan Papelbon left with a shoulder injury and starter Curt Schilling was scratched from his next start with a mild strain in his right side. That came several hours after the Red Sox announced Friday that rookie Jon Lester has a treatable form of lymphoma.
A real kick in the gut. I hope the kid makes a full recovery and can resume his baseball career. On the lighter side, if Papelbon and Schilling go down, my fantasy team bites the dust. George, I agree that "overpaid" is a subjective term, and with the exception of a few pitchers who haven't lived up to their pre-Yankee performances, it's debatable. I also agree with you that the youngsters have been key spokes in the wheel this season. A more appropriate term would be "high-priced". In any event, I'm mellowing in my old age to the point where I recognize that there is another league besides the NL in MLB. I like the Yanks and the Bosox, and I am interested in the rivalry and all that goes with it.
Sid, In a free market economy by definition no one is overpaid. Baseball fans have shown that they have not yet reached the saturation point in rising prices. With that said, I don't personally feel anyone is worth that kind of money but I am one against 4,000,000 here in the metro NYC area. I echo your wishes that Lester makes a full recovery. The Irish flag flies over my house in 40mph winds from Ernesto.