Yankees pitching

It's fascinating the way teams manage pitchers and pitch counts these days. Imagine this type of thinking 20 or even 10 years ago, where the Yankees are concerned about moving former starters who have been working out of the bullpen recently, back into the rotation, because their arms can't get "stretched out" enough to throw more than 50-65 pitches. I'm reading Joe Torre's book about his Yankee years and one of the early stories is how David Cone threw like 150 pitches in his last start of 1995 (in the playoffs vs. the Mariners) and suffered from an aneurysm at the start of the next year.

I'm hugely in favor of this type of micro-management of younger pitchers, but agree with Nolan Ryan's theory as well, that pitch counts need to be increased and/or even eliminated as pitchers mature. Of course, the Yankees, because of their vast resources, can afford to be careful, as they can always afford to bring in more decent players to cover for pitchers that need to be pulled because of pitch counts.

I've been cringing when I hear that the Washington Nationals want to bring up their recent top draft pick, Stephen Strasburg, to the majors this year if possible, pretty much to try and drum up some more fan interest in the team. Wasn't this what the Texas Rangers did with David Clyde all those years ago? I was just a kid back then, but I remember one of my buddies being all excited when the Indians traded for Clyde. Unfortunately, he was pretty much washed up by then and out of the majors by the age of 25.

Anyhow, I applaud the Yankees micro-management of their pitchers and hope it leads to long and productive careers for the likes of Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes.

Ralph

GE Stock

Interesting article on why GE's stock has taken such a beating in the last year.

Tiger Grinding

I love to watch Tiger Woods golf... and I've probably said this before, because he never quits. I think he was down more than 10 strokes in this year's U.S. Open, and instead of mailing it in, he just keeps grinding - trying to make shots. He just made a birdie to go to one under on like the 14th - putting himself under part (at 1 under) for the first time in the tourney. He's still four off the lead with a handful of holes to play, but he gave it a big fist pump, like he had just taken the lead. He's clearly not giving up - which is why he gives people their money's worth, which is why we love him. Go Tigger!

Bills Marketing

As a Bills fan, I get a ton of questions about what I think of the T.O. signing. As a football move, it's probably not a bad one, as the Bills are only committed to one year. As a marketing move, it looks like it's turning out to be ingenious. Apparently, despite the bad economy and a team that hasn't made the playoffs in almost 10 years, season ticket sales are going great.

It's worth noting here that the Bills GM, Russ Brandon, has a marketing and P.R. background. And last year, despite a pretty lousy team that didn't even have T.O. )and slapped the fans in the face by playing a game in Toronto), the Bills sold their second most season tickets ever! Now, everywhere I go it's T.O., what do you think of T.O. - even though we completely overhauled our offensive line (which was somewhat offensive last year) and not in a good way, all everyone wants to talk about is T.O. So, from a football standpoint, the team may still suck, but if they're selling tickets, more power to them I guess, because that's really the name of the game. It's "professional" football after all, as a GM of an entity that is designed to make money, Brandon seems to be doing a great job.

NBA Finals

Have been great in HD- with the tremendous turquoise of the Magic and yellow and purple of the Lakers. Magic play some pretty entertaining ball too. Not the mention that Pau Gasol reminds me of the caveman on the Geico commercials. Go gekos.

Finally getting back up to speed after what seems to be my annual spring bout with colitis.

Cheers.

Ralph

Buzz-TV

How exactly did this guy get his nickname?

Cringely on IPTV

Great Cringely column on where the medium we currently know as television is heading...

Chauncey Billups

If you haven't noticed, with all the hype Cleveland and Lebron have been getting around here, the Denver Nuggets have been playing really good basketball. Carmelo Anthony, he of the Syracuse fame- where as a freshman he led the Orange through the NCAA championships -- hit a fairly controversial three-pointer the other night to give the Nuggets a 3-0 lead over the Mavericks in their Western Conf. semi-finals. Apparently, the Mavs had a foul to give and tried like heck to grab Anthony before he shot, but the refs would have none of it. Maverick (pun intended) owner Mark Cuban even stormed onto the court to argue after 'Melo's shot went down. The Nuggets are just one game away from the Western finals, while the Lakers are in a battle, tied 2-2 with the Rockets. The Rockets killed them last night even though Yao is now out for the playoffs with a broken foot - and Tracy McGrady, he's been out for months.

Anyhow, don't be surprised to see 'Melo duplicate his college feat and lead the Nuggets to a surprise NBA championship. I know Lebron is great and all, and Mo Williams has been a great pick-up for the Cavs, but the Chauncey Billups trade (for Alan Iverson) has been even bigger for the Nuggets. Check out this great story on Chauncy if you get a chance. It will give you some idea of what the Lakers and Cavs could be up against.

Cheers.
Ralph