Valentine Takes His Lunacy One Step Further On 9/11 Comments

All this clown needs a pair of big shoes and a red nose.

Bobby Valentine shoved his foot in his mouth on Wednesday, the 12th anniversary of 9/11. It was comments that never should have been made, let alone on one of the most horrible days in our country's history. Then he escalated things after Yankees vice-president Randy Levine responded with a much more thought out statement.

Valentine's exact comments to Evan Roberts and Joe Benigno on WFAN radio Wednesday:

"Let it be said that during the time from 9/11 to 9/21, the Yankees were (not around). You couldn’t find a Yankee on the streets of New York City. You couldn’t find a Yankee down at Ground Zero, talking to the guys who were working 24/7.”

 "Many of them didn’t live here, and so it wasn’t their fault. And many of them did not partake in all that, so there was some of that jealousy going around. Like, ‘Why are we so tired? Why are we wasted? Why have we been to the funerals and the firehouses, and the Yankees are getting all the credit for bringing baseball back?’ And I said ‘This isn’t about credit, guys. This is about doing the right thing.’”¹

Valentine has been controversial in the past and loves to draw attention to himself, but this time he stepped beyond the bounds of good taste. I'm not a fan of Levine, but he deftly handled Valentine's comments, which of course Valentine could not leave alone.

Levine's statement to Newsday:

It’s very sad that Bobby Valentine would pick this day. This is a day for reflection and prayer. The Yankees have always remembered the heroes of 9/11 and continue to do so. What Bobby Valentine should understand is that nobody wants to hear about his opinion as to who does what better. He should be silent and remember.”

“This is not the day to point fingers at anybody. This is a day to reflect. Moreover, since he only thinks about himself, he must have forgotten when the Yankees visited Ground Zero, St. Vincent’s Hospital, the Armory, the Javits Center, where rescue crews were working.”²

Valentine responded to Newsday in an email:

"Sorry, I must have missed that. If it was between the 11th and the 20th (of September) it was my mistake. I might have missed it. I will follow Randy’s lead and be silent.”

Did anyone think Valentine would be silent?  The mouth that roared then went on NBC Sports Radio and stuck his other foot in his mouth.

“I don’t know if I was trying to take credit for the team. I was trying to make a fact, that 12 years of hearing what was done and (hearing) it reported incorrectly, I just thought I’d speak for the record that, that week, there weren’t any Yankees out there. And if there were, Mr. Levine can just come up with a photograph of somebody at a firehouse or a funeral or at someone’s house.

“All I remember is people asking for the Yankees and me making excuses for them not being there.” ³

The New York Daily News' Mark Feinsand, then with mlb.com wrote this after talking to Joe Torre on the 5th anniversary of 9/11:

"After the workout, Joe Torre, Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter and other members of the Yankees visited the rescue staging area at the Javits Center, the Armory and St. Vincent's Hospital, though they were unsure of the roles they were supposed to play. Most of the people they were set to encounter had either lost loved ones or were holding out hope that their family members would emerge from the disaster from five days earlier."

"At the Armory, I felt very uncomfortable, like we needed someone to go in and test the waters to see if we had any right being there," Torre said. "One family looked up at us, and with their eyes, asked us to come closer. I remember Bernie going up to someone and saying, 'I don't know what to say, but you look like you need a hug.' That was probably the most emotional part of the whole thing."

"My role in the world seemed very insignificant; I hit a ball for a living," Williams said. "There are people out there who have great jobs that impact people in a way I could never imagine, and it took this incident to realize what kind of impact I actually did have, just by playing for the Yankees."

Jeter remembers feeling uncomfortable during the trip downtown, but he knew that, despite his own feelings, it was a trip he had to take.

"What do you say to someone who just lost a family member?" Jeter said. "It made you feel good, though, because there were people who were happy to see us. It put a smile on some faces, so I was glad we were able to go." ⁴

Perhaps now that Valentine has both feet in his mouth he'll shut up. Yeah, you are right, not a chance in hell of that happening.


1 - New York CBS Local
2 - Newsday.com
3 - New York CBS Local
4 - MLB.com

Yankees Demolish Boston For 18th Division Title

24 hours after Raul Ibanez nearly single-handedly kept the Yankees in first place, the team clinched the AL East with a 14-2 blow out win over the Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees actually captured their 18th AL East title before their game ended when the Baltimore Orioles lost 4-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays. The win gave the Yankees the best record (95-67) and home field advantage throughout the AL playoffs. Their 51-30 mark at home was the best in all of baseball.

Unfortunately, that 51-30 show of excellence at home won't matter in the first round of the playoffs when the Yankees play either Texas or Baltimore. With the extra wild card "play-in" game, the Yankees open the playoffs on the road as Major League Baseball (aka Bud Selig) has gone back to a 2 (road) - 3 (home) format.  But back to Game 162.

Robinson Cano continued his torrid finish to the regular season with a pair of home runs, two singles, a walk, and 6 RBI. Curtis Granderson gave the Yankees the lead for good with a first inning, 3-run home run off Daisuke Matsuzaka and added a solo shot in the 7th to give him a career high 43 home runs.

Hiroki Kuroda won his career high 16th game with a solid 7 innings (2 ER allowed) and for a pitcher who didn't have much run support during the season, there was plenty to work with tonight. His counterpart and fellow countryman was not so fortunate.

Matsuzaka most likely ended his Boston career in ignoble fashion. The Japanese native was acquired by Boston prior to the 2007 season with a posting fee in excess of $51MM plus a six-year, $52MM contract that is set to expire shortly. He went 33-15 in his first two seasons (2007-2008) and finished fourth in the Cy Young voting in '08 with an 18-3, 2.90 ERA. But since then he was ineffective and often injured, and appeared in just 56 games in the last five years.

Dice-K retired the Yankees in order in the 1st and had a 1-0 lead, but Cano started the 2nd inning with a single and Nick Swisher followed with a walk. One batter later, Granderson began the onslaught with his first long ball of the night. In the 3rd Cano followed an Alex Rodriguez single with a 2-run shot for a 5-1 lead. When Swisher followed with a single, Bobby Valentine, likely also finished in Boston, ended his starter's night. The Yankees just rolled from that point on.

The Yankees actually had one less hit than Tuesday night's 16, when they scored only four runs, but they made the most of them. One of those hits was by Derek Jeter, who at age 38, led the Major Leagues in hits with 216.

Cano's 33 home runs set a career high and finished 24-39 (.615) over the last nine games to raise his average from .296 to .313.

Phelps Gets His Irish Up and Yankees Win

David Phelps didn't get too much notice when he attended the University of Notre Dame. After all, baseball took a backseat to football and both men and women's basketball. But since the start of the 2012 baseball season, plenty of people are paying attention to the former Fighting Irishmen.

Phelps bounced back from a pair of poor starts to limit the Boston Red Sox to one run in 5.2 innings pitched and the Yankees hung on for a 5-4 win at Fenway Park. The win kept the Yankees tied for first place in the AL East with Baltimore, which beat Tampa Bay for the second straight night.

The win didn't come without some rough moments, the most worrisome of which was when Derek Jeter had to leave the game after he lunged in attempt to beat out a play at first base and came up hobbled. After  the game, Jeter repeated that he "was fine" an

d "it's no big deal", and that he would not talk about the injury. The captain also insisted he'll be in the lineup for the series finale on Thursday.

The Yankees went back to their home run ways to take the lead in the 4th. With the game scoreless, Curtis Granderson parked his 36th home run over the wall in right for a 1-0 lead  against Aaron Cook and later in the inning Robinson Cano hit a two-run into the seats atop the Green Monster. The home run was the 30th of the year, a career high for the Yankees second basemen.

Granderson hit a second home run, this time with a man aboard, in the 7th inning to provide the margin of victory.  While Granderson's home run totals measure up to his terrific 2011, the center fielder is well below last year's RBI totals and his two strikeouts last night gave him a career high of 170 (one more than last season). The Yankees will put up with the K's if Granderson can continue to drive in runs as he did last night and on this past Sunday when he had five RBI in a victory against the O's.

Phelps held the Red Sox scoreless until the 4th inning when James Loney singled in Dustin Pedroia, but Phelps avoided further trouble by getting Cody Ross to bounce into an inning ending DP.

Another double play in the 6th proved to be crucial after Phelps allowed a two-out single to Pedroia. It ended the night for the 25-year old, who won his first game since August 13 and evened his record up at 4-4. The Red Sox didn't make it easy for the Yankees pen; they scored a pair of runs off Cody Eppley, Boone Logan, and Joba Chamberlain in the 7th, and Rafael Soriano gave up a solo home run to Jarrod Saltalmacchia in the 9th. Sotiano was nearly in more trouble when Daniel Nava's fly ball to left came within inches of scraping the Green Monster before it landed in Chris Dickerson's glove for the first out of the inning and Soriano went on to record his 37th save.

Notes

In a wild sequence in the 8th inning, home plate umpire  Alfonso Marquez tossed Cody Ross, Bobby Valentine and third base coach Jerry Royster from the ball game.  Ross struck out looking and argued the call, which led to the triple ejection sequence. Valentine got his money's worth in the argument that ensued and anyone who can read lips got an eyeful.

Aceves Latest to Lose Battle With Valentine

Who's pitching the 9th?

Adrian Gonzalez was front and center of a mini-revolution in Boston a week ago. Reportedly, 17 players wanted manager Bobby Valentine fired and Gonzalez was one of the players pushed to the forefront to approach owner John Henry. The Sox principle owner told the players that Valentine's his man and a week later Gonzalez was shipped to the LA Dodgers as part of a blockbuster deal. Victory to Valentine.

Though his job could still be in jeopardy, the team backed Valentine again yesterday when reliever Al Aceves was suspended three games for conduct detrimental to the team.

What reportedly set Aceves off was Valentine's decision to let Andrew Bailey close out Friday night's game. Bailey had entered the game in the 8th inning to record the final out of the frame and remained in the game to record his first save of the season.

Bailey had been acquired in the off-season to be the Red Sox closer, but injured his thumb in spring training, underwent surgery, and didn't return to the team until recently. After a shaky start, Aceves established himself as the team's 9th inning guy and saved 25 games in 32 attempts. His most recent appearance was Thursday night when he allowed five runs in an inning of work (plus two batters faced in the 10th) and took the loss.

Aceves got into a heated argument with Valentine in the manager's office and stormed away. No word on whether or not Valentine has decided to use Bailey going forward or if it was just a one shot deal for the time being.

Bigger question...how did Al Aceves go from throwing 90-91 mph as a Yankee from 2008-2010, to suddenly throwing his fastball from 95-96 mph. Fueled by anger?

Down 9, Swish & Tex Deep Six Red Sox

When Bobby Valentine was introduced as Boston's new manager in December there was skepticism, but overall Red Sox (third world) Nation was happy. Especially when Valentine took shots at the Yankees. Then the season started and the Red Sox were swept in a three game series by the Detroit Tigers.

Entering Saturday's play, Boston was in the midst of a four game losing streak that included a 6-2 defeat at the hands of their bitter rivals on the day they celebrated Fenway Park's 100th anniversary. Valentine had to be stung, who wouldn't be, by the tremendous ovation former manager Terry Francona, who was at the helm of the Red Sox first title in 86 years in 2004 and another in 2007, received when introduced on Friday. But Saturday was to change all that.

The Red Sox pummeled Yankees starter Freddy Garcia (1.2 IP) and continued against the Yankees bullpen to build a 9-0 lead after five innings. This could be the game that could turn everything around in 2012. Tonight, most Red Sox fans are hoping the Mayans are right. The Yankees scored 15 runs combined in the 6th through 8th innings to come away with a 15-9 victory.

Things started out harmless enough- Sox starter Felix Doubront had scattered three hits over the first five innings before he surrendered a solo home run to Mark Teixeira with two out in the 6th inning.. His day ended when Curtis Granderson popped up pitch number 100 to end the inning. And then the fun began.

The Red Sox bullpen has been a mangled, tangled mess so far this season. Boston had acquired closer Andrew Bailey from Oakland during the off-season, but then lost him to thumb surgery. Another trade pick up, Mark Melancon, had saved 20 games for Houston last season, but was sent to the minors after he compiled a 63.00 ERA. The closer role fell to Al Aceves, whom the Red Sox would rather have as a 2-3 inning reliever. So when Dubront left the game, the Yankees had to be happy.

Vincente Padilla was the first victim in the 7th. He loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk before he surrendered an opposite field grand slam to Nick Swisher. 9-5, still not so horrible. Robinson Cano's double sent Padilla to the showers and Matt Albers stepped into the punching bag role. He didn't get any help either when shorststop Mike Aviles booted Alex Rodriguez's routine grounder. Teixeira then did something he hadn't done all of last year, belt an opposite field home run. 9-8, the Fenway faithful were in full panic.

Lefty Franklin Morales gave up a single to Curtis Granderson, but then retired the next two hitters to preserve the Boston lead. Rafael Soriano kept the score where it was after he gave up a lead off double in the bottom of the 7th and then it was the Yankees turn to bat and batter the Red Sox bullpen.

Eduardo Nunez led off the 8th with a single, which prompted Valentine to send for his closer, Aceves. The former Yankee walked Derek Jeter, before Swisher tattooed the left field wall for a go ahead 2-run double and his 5th and 6th RBI of the day. With no one out, Valentine inexplicably intentionally walked Cano, only to have Aceves unintentionally walk A-Rod.

With the bags loaded, Teixeira matched Swisher's RBI total  with a rope to right that bounced into the seats for a ground rule double and two more runs. Justin Thomas would come in and give up a 2-run double to Russell Martin (both charged to Aceves) and Junichi Tazawa was touched for an RBI single by Jeter (charged to Thomas).

When the bloodbath was over, Boston relievers had allowed 14 runs, 12 hits, and five walks in three innings.  It got so bad that Valentine was booed with all of the frustration felt in the park. All he could do was tip his cap and hope no one threw anything at him.

Notes


Not all the news was good from the Yankees. Michael Pineda suffered a setback in his throwing program (weakness in his shoulder) and will go for an MRI with contrast.

Freddy Garcia better be sleeping with one eye open. Andy Pettitte makes his next start for Double-A Trenton on Wednesday.

The Bobby V Backpedal

One day after taking shots at Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter (see what I wrote for Yahoo by clicking here), Bobby Valentine took back his words about the Yankees captain and the "flip play".

Valentine spoke with his catching instructor, and former Yankees' employee, Gary Tuck who set the record straight that the Yankees do practice the play. (In fact they happened to work on it Wednesday afternoon)

Valentine also made sure to tell the media, "I love Derek Jeter."

The Daily Roundup For 11/18/11

Starting out this Friday morning with some sad news from the college basketball world.

Condolences and prayers go out to the Oklahoma St. community after women's basketball coach Kurt Budke and assistant coach Miranda Serna were killed in a single engine plane crash last night. The crash occurred 45 miles west of Little Rock, AK. It's the second such tragedy for the school in the last decade. 10 people associated with the men's basketball team died in a plane crash in 2001.

Now on to some less important stuff.

How the hell do you only score 13 points against the Denver Broncos? That's what you Jet fans must be wondering this morning. That and how you made Tim Tebow's 95 yard game winning drive look like John Elway's "The Drive". One of the first things you notice about Tebow is just how bad his mechanics are throwing the ball. But the next thing you notice is how elusive a runner he is. He completely baffled the Jets on the the Bronco's final possession and especially on the game winning run.

Tebow will NEVER lead an NFL to a Super Bowl let alone a Super Bowl victory. QB is not the position he should be at if he wants a long term career in the NFL. The Broncos could use him as the Jets had done with Brad Smith, but Tebow needs to be utiliized elsewhere. You can say what you want about him, but the guy is tough. Make him a wideout, a tailback, use him in wildcat formations, or have him return kicks. He can definitely be on an NFL squad, just not as the starting or 2nd string QB.

Getting back to the Jets offense though...13 points? Seriously? Mark Sanchez's 60% completion pct and 252 yards are misleading. They're definitely better looking numbers than the game Sanchez had or has been having lately. He threw another killer interception that turned into a game tying pick-six in the 3rd quarter. When the defense gives up 10 points, you HAVE to win the football game.

Perhaps it's time for Rex Ryan to duct tape his mouth for the rest of the season and do some coaching instead. No matter how popular he is, he could very well talk his way out of the head coaching position if the team continues to slide. There's only so long you can make promises and not keep them. Ask any politician.

The Red Sox are talking with Bobby Valentine about their managerial opening. I have not heard the word "interview" used as of yet, but this would definitely be a douchebag match made in Heaven. That being said, how many Yankees fan will automically panic that the "Red Sox have Valentine as their manager..we're in trouble". Valentine is one of the most overrated managers in baseball history. He's a good manager, not a great manager, and I don't give a crap about his success in Japan. The game is not the same overseas.

Valentine, however, is a better manager than he is a baseball color commentator/analyst and I would welcome his exit from the booth. His haughty, Kermit the Frog/Fozzy Bear delivery is unwelcome on my TV set. What Valentine is best at is self promotion and making wild predictions (Hideki Matsui will be a perennial 50-HR hitter in the US).

Finally, if you haven't seen The Daily Show's Samantha Bee's report on the NY Occupy Wall St. movement, you need to NOW.

No V for Valentine

Peter Abraham has learned that the Yankees will NOT be interviewing Bobby Valentine for the manager's spot. Hank Steinbrenner told reporters its not happening.

Source

No V for Valentine

Peter Abraham has learned that the Yankees will NOT be interviewing Bobby Valentine for the manager's spot. Hank Steinbrenner told reporters its not happening.

Source