aaaaghhhh

My normal computer got infected with a virus :( so it's getting fixed and I have to use my mom's ancient desktop which kinda sucks. So I might not post that much for a little bit? Yeah.

Cheese is delicious.

There is nothing to post about.

Blah blah blah I'm Mike Mussina and I went to Stanford and I crap-talked Mariano in The Yankee Years despite the fact that he's saved more games for me than any closer has saved for any starting pitcher in history other than Pettitte and Mo and Eckersley and... someone, and even I am kind of shocked I have not publicly said something whiny about the fact that I joined the Yankees the year after a World Series and left the year before they won again, but this clip is still kind of cool, no?

(Mike Mussina is not one of my favorite Yankees if you couldn't tell. Though Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS is still awesome.)

I just literally

fell off my chair laughing over The Soup's mocking of Survivor. You win this time, Joel McHale.

dear lord I have almost 100 posts in November

And this when I haven't really written all that much lately.

Happy Thanksgiving!

And keeping up the random baseball discussion, apparently next Wednesday MLB Network will have Baseball's Seasons: 2001. I get a sort of black humor kick out of the fact that they said "the Yankees and the Diamondbacks faced off in an emotional World Series"... yeah, I'll say. Should I even bother to watch or should I cry, puke, and punch a wall all at once and save myself some time? SIGH

But yeah. I am thankful for many things. Maybe not my unemployment, but damn, I am thankful the Yankees won the World Series.

no new Top Chef/ANTM tonight :(

And why are all these Bravo shows on at 11 now anyway?

yeesh

These Captain Morgan commercials are like... very inappropriate. Seriously, the key party one???

Also, most hilarious baseball moment ever: Albert Pujols' HR off of Brad Lidge in the 2005 NLCS. Poor Lidge. I remember watching that and getting irrationally angry at Lidge for blowing a really good game by Andy Pettitte (when he was with the Astros). :P

I think I found the one thing more annoying than people complaining about movie awards

People complaining about baseball awards! Especially when the writers GOT THEM ALL RIGHT this year and most are basically quibbling over one or two lame points.

Also, sorry guys, yeah he shouldn't have won the MVP this year to Mauer, but Teixeira being in second place was not OMG TRAVESTY!!! If the Red Sox have the guy on their team, they likely run away with the AL East and are looking at their third WS title in six years. He very much defined "valuable." But like I said - that award was totally Mauer's and it would have been a laugher if he didn't get it. Oh, and gosh he's cute (but really dorky with an annoying voice).

oh hey.

I'm here. Just... nothin' to write about.

I find this pretty amusing

What would Seinfeld be like if it came back today?

i'm back woooo!!!

but busy

going on vay-cay.

Back Sunday night.

bahaha I love random people on the internet

On the Yankees possibly needing to get younger (which I agree with):

"I hope everyone knows this doesn't apply to Mariano. This discussion is about aging men, not robots, gods, or god-robots."

BAHAHAHAH

so the finale of Top Chef is Kevin, Michael V., Bryan V., and Jen?

SHOCKER NO ONE SAW THIS COMING

That said, they are all extremely deserving and Eli clearly knows this and isn't being a whiny bitch about it like douchey Mike or Robin were.

did Jen just say she had CHARCOAL in her meal?

If so, ew ew ew ew ew ew ewwwwww

It was nice to see her win a challenge and she seems a lot less spazzy and it's definitely not painful to watch her like it has been the past few times. But oh no they don't like her dish that much :(

Brothers looks super-terrific...

but a trailer that starts with "three of the best actors of our generation" and then goes on to list Tobey Maguire first... uh.

Watching Top Chef

WTF is "shrimp flan"?

Michael V. is kind of an asshat.

Wow!

I'm still kind of in shock that a model as awesome as Nicole actually won ANTM. Like... she was an incredible model! She wasn't the Asian girl! She's not actually the shortest winner (thanks Eva)! Whoah. O_O

oh, Judge Judy

You are so dramatic.

I am probably inviting bad karma by posting this but oh well

This article reminds me of that article Fire Joe Morgan posted that was from right after Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS that was like "oh it's so cute that the Red Sox managed to win a game. They ain't winning the series."

I was in school for a lot of those early games, so I didn't get to see such wonderful things as Mo blowing saves or Jacoby Ellsbury stealing home against Pettitte (I really missed baseball while I was in college :( but all things considered, it's probably very good that I missed the 2007 postseason entirely due to being in Spain, because it would have just made me angry. The way the entire thing played out, plus what happened afterward with Mo, Alex, and Posada almost leaving, would have just pissed me off excessively). It's nice to see the Sox fans say the latter was the best moment of their season; sure, it was awesome for sure from a Red Sox fan perspective, but it was April 26. And it's a looong season...

I still kind of can't believe the Red Sox lost to the Angels in the playoffs. And they got swept. Let me repeat that: the Angels swept the Red Sox in a postseason series. The Angels have been completely owned by the Red Sox in postseason play since literally before I was born. This year, though, they totally flipped the switch on those guys, and the way they did it was freaking awesome.

Why am I talking stuff that happened in mid-to-early October in mid-to-late November? Cuz that's what I do. Yeah.

you're silly, E!.

You have a Fashion Police for the New Moon red carpet. Silly.

Also... is that Sofia Coppola on The Girls Next Door??????? WHAT THE HECK? I don't really disapprove or anything, I'm just confused!

hey Reebok Easytone shoes.

You really don't need to have that commercial that focuses on boobs and ass the entire time. Really.

Still hasn't gotten old.

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do...

unnecessary:

Those commercials that talk excessively about "skunky beer." PUKE

Launch My Line

Bravo, you already tried this. It was called The Fashion Show, remember? And it was not very good at all and nobody liked it?

Project Runway marathon on Bravo...

Remember when this show was good? Like, remember people complaining about Season 5? This seems silly in retrospect. >:(

oh! Something to write about!!!

I saw The Men Who Stare at Goats and it was uhhh... weird. I can't tell if it was supposed to be pure political commentary or a dark comedy or a combination or something else. It was just totally weird. It definitely wasn't bad or anything and it's certainly worth seeing. The acting is good and it's nice to see Kevin Spacey in something that isn't totally horrendous. Honestly, though, expect weirdness.

I seriously have not been posting here all that often, it's weird

I dunno, man. I dunno.

Also, I think there needs to be a Yankeeography: 2009. :D Seriously, I am watching the Yankeeography of 1998 and honestly, there were TWO moments where they would have had doubt about their season: they started out 1-4 (including a game in Seattle where some guy named Alex Rodriguez hit a walk-off home run and I was like "but that's a good thing! See, he's so clutch!!!" and then I remembered, 1998) and at one point in the ALCS, they trailed two games to one. Uh, that's about it.

2009 Yankeeography. And make it like two hours long. DO IT, YES.

(ETA: I forgot Darryl Strawberry was diagnosed with cancer in the beginning of the playoffs in 1998. :( But... as Mariano just said on this Yankeeography... it served to motivate them all the more.)

I would just like to let it be known

I think I would throw up if it turned out Albert Pujols was on steroids. The only two names that would upset me more are probably not surprising considering who I root for: Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter, and I do believe both are clean. Same with Albert, but ugh, there's so much "OMG HE MUST BE ON STEROIDS BECAUSE HE IS A BIG POWER HITTER IN THE STEROID ERA" bullshit.

The name that would make me more satisfied than anyone else's? Curt Schilling. Luis Gonzalez, considering it's very likely, too.

Ew, I'm sort of voluntarily watching Bride Wars

It's about as bad as you'd expect. "Your wedding will be huge... just like your ass at prom" is indeed the worst line delivery in the history of the universe.

KATE HUDSON FOR MVP!!!!!

yay!

I guess you can say "douche" on TV now

hmmm

I'm watching Kill Bill, Vol. II right now and it never really struck me before, but for a director that's such a genius with sound effects and music, this movie is really, really quiet a good amount of the time. And it totally works. Ugh Quentin baby, I love you.

I never commented on ANTM this week

Ugh, Erin honestly has one of my favorite ANTM portfolios of all time. I know she'd clearly fallen out of favor with the judges, but I was really hoping she'd stick around. Oh well.

I read spoilers so I knew her elimination was coming, but it's still kinda shocking to me that Jennifer isn't going to win. Her edit just seemed so Teyona/McKey. And... I mean... she's Asian! In the short girl cycle!!!!!

Nine

Goddamn this movie looks so awesome. COME OUT NOW PLEASE.

heh

Pete Abraham is really terrible at analysis and I'm super glad he doesn't write for the Yankees any more.

In the post of the year, Giuseppe Franco says that the Yankees cannot win the World Series without Alex Rodriguez.
The Yankees have won 26 World Series without him. Somehow.

How DARE that selfish A-Rod not help the Yankees win the 1962 World Series!!! Can the Yankees win without A-Rod? Sure. I mean, they did it while he was still with the Mariners. But without A-Rod at third base, and with Cody Ransom, they were one hell of a weaker team.

I realize it’s spring training, but the Yankees have looked terrific.

You know who also wasn't there at this point during ST? Derek Jeter. I think I read somewhere that during Jeter's injury in 2003, the Yankees went a pretty incredible 25-11. Nobody suggested the Yankees were better without Jeter because that would be the stupidest thing ever. You're never a better team without your best players.

But that money they spent on him in 2007 could have been used elsewhere.

Yeah, maybe we could have gotten Sabathia and Teixeira in the off-season. ;_;

The last comment (in case anyone else pokes in to make fun of him, it's the November 8 comment) in that thread is gold.

John Wetteland! :(

really fond memories of you from 1996. I hope you get the help you need and everything turns out okay.

God I want some spinach dip right now for no reason.

PUKE PUKE PUKE

I was just innocently watching The Daily Show and OH GOD WHY DOES JOE BUCK HAVE A RENT-A-CAR COMMERCIAL?! He's NEVER GOING AWAY is he???

oh wow

This has been an even more boring episode of Project Runway than usual. How is that POSSIBLE?

"Murder"

Teehee. I loved Kevin asking Andy to do the accent of the Swedish Chef.

Also, it set up some great storylines. LOVE this season.

unintentionally (???) funny headlines

"Lou Dobbs Bids CNN Adios"

aaah hooray!!!

E! True Hollywood Story: America's Next Top Model!!!!

YAY WHOOOO

Top Chef answered my prayer.

OMG Robin why are you crying so annoyingly, you got like 500000 people farther than you should have

Jen, ohmygosh, SACK UP.

Postseason Commentary: Let's All Remember.

10. One inning during the ALCS, Fox skipped out on the commentary on, you know, what was actually going on in the game to talk about CC Sabathia's paycheck (CC wasn't pitching that game) and to compare Kendry Morales and Mark Teixeira... entirely in terms of money. Wow, it's CRAZY to think that an untested rookie who turned out to be insanely talented would get millions less in his first season than possibly the best first baseman in all of the American League, who was already firmly established!

9. Prior to Game 1 of the ALCS: "CC Sabathia is not the kind of pitcher that goes out there and dominates." He then... went out there and dominated. WHOOPS! Also, Tim McCarver screeching about how he could tell that Mariano had looked really off during his warm-ups after he walked the lead-off guy in... some game... which I'm pretty sure was followed by Mariano getting a ground ball double play and a strikeout in like five pitches. Nice.

8. David Wells was not allowed to cover every play of every game. Nooooo!!! :(

7. That guy on TBS' suits.

6. Chip Caray. Just... Chip Caray. The guy's name is "Chip," how could he not be awful? I still have his SCREAMING during Jimmy Rollins' walk-off hit in my head. Yeah, it was really exciting, but dude, calm down. By the end of the ALDS, he was screaming about random singles. ANNOYING!

5. Joe Buck and Tim McCarver's excessive analysis of A-Rod's postseason gum chewing during one of the ALCS games. Though it was kind of awesome that they were like "he's really locked in" and then he hit a huge home run.

4. "Pedro Martinez: 5'11", 170 pounds, all heart." Nah, he's at least 3% Jheri curl and 45% pure orneriness.

3. Ozzie Guillen, on Fox's pre-show, calling Derek Jeter "God" multiple times, and all the analysts coming to the conclusion that Derek Jeter is the greatest Yankee player of all time. I love Cap'n Intangibles too, but... no.

2. Noted asshat Mark Grace confidently declaring (I seriously can't get over how incredibly smug he was when he said it, but it was kinda cool that he actually apologized on the post-game after Andy was awesome), on Fox's pre-game show, that Andy Pettitte would lose hardcore in Game 6 of the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels in 2009 because in 2001, he pitched poorly in Game 6 of the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. SENSE, YOU DON'T MAKE ANY!

1. LINE DRIVE BASE HIT!!!!

a wish for Top Chef tonight

Please get rid of Robin PLEASE thank you.

I love Wednesdays,

naps, lazy rainy days, and quesadillas.

I CANNOT STOP LAUGHING AT THE New Moon TRAILER

How do people watch and enjoy this shit?!!?!?!?

SERIOUS IMPORTANT QUESTION

How the HELL did the Braves only win one title in the '90s when their starting rotation was Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine?! Did they have literally no offense? Did they have only those pitchers who were constantly pitching on three days' rest or something? Yeesh

ooooh, the ANTM pictures for this week leaked too!

They are somewhat better, mostly because they simply couldn't get worse!

Yay, yay, yay

MLB images of 2009

群晉 | MySpace Video

ESPN aired this the last day of the regular baseball season and I've been looking for it for a while. Yay, it finally turned up on the internet!

Obviously, it'd be cool if they had a playoff "update" of this... but yeah.

Why can't there be more baseball? :(

you'll probably notice I haven't done the ANTM photos this week

That's because they were all awful and honestly, they're all on the same level of awful. I can't rank them. Ugh. Maybe later, sometime. Project Runway is coming later because it should be pretty short-ish.

I love Bridget Jones' Diary

Movies, I used to watch them. :(

PAYROLL ARGUMENTS!

ZOMG guys the Yankees, they spend money, they and their fans shouldn't be allowed to enjoy that they won a World Series!!!!

Seriously? If you're arguing along this line, eat me. I realize how incredibly lucky I am to be a Yankee fan in terms of available income and whatnot. I realize it's completely ridiculous that, as I read on some blog, the Yankees spent "half a billion dollars on three human beings" in the off-season.

That said... I can't feel that bad that other owners, who are richer than the Steinbrenners, use their teams to horde money for themselves. The Marlins won the Series in 1997 and 2003, and after their wins, the owners sold so many of the players that had given them their successes just to make profits for themselves at the expense of their fans.* Um. No thank you.

Knowing how to spend money effectively is a boon, too. The Cubs? The METS (okay, the Mets had like $100M in payroll on the DL this year, but uh... 2007 anyone, and even 2008?)? I fully admit the Yankees are not always all that great at this type of thing, either. Kevin Brown... Carl Pavano... Randy Johnson. That said, Cashman rocked this year, getting three great players (though I think AJ Burnett's contract was probably a little too much for a little too long, but I'll take it) and even doing a great job with the utility players like Hinske and Hairston. And of course, the second the Yankees return to success, this is an ISSUE and the Yankees won ONLY BECAUSE THEY OUTSPENT EVERYONE and they should just, I don't know, give their World Series rings to the Pirates or Orioles or something.

And honestly? I am really fucking tired of Red Sox fans complaining about payroll. You're a big market team too, jerkwads. I mean, I know no one is ever supposed to imply that the Red Sox have succeeded because of anything other than grit, ugly facial hair, and selfless heroics involving ketchup bloody socks, but yeah. May I remind you that in 2007, you beat an actual small market team in the World Series, and your roster included a guy that you spent $50M just to talk to? And Phillies fans who are complaining about it, you beat the Rays last year! Nobody's screaming that either of those championship teams should have to surrender their titles.

Also, as far as "OMG it's not fair, the Yankees will always win with that kind of advantage," I guess I missed the part where the 2003 Marlins took one look at our payroll and gave up on the World Series, or the part where the Rays in 2008 decided, pre-season, not to bother playing, considering they were in the same division as two of the biggest market teams in baseball. I know these are mostly exceptions, but they prove it happens, so pony up cowboys.

In conclusion, haters to the left please. I will show y'all something that should make you very very happy:

See? Look at this picture. Be happy. OMG I wanna cry every time I look at it! ;_;

* all 152 of them that show up for the games, anyway /iapologizeforthecheapshot

aaahaaaa!!/truth

Spotted on someone random's Twitter:
"The Yankees made a Jay-Z song more famous than a Jay-Z can."

(The first time I saw this song's lyrics, I MAY have asked "what's a Yankee can?" MAYBE. You will never get confirmation from me!)

Not Another Teen Movie

Uh... it loses something on cable. Mostly, the fact that it has to be censored and this takes away about 90% of the "jokes."

MLB Network is quality.

This weekend, to celebrate the Yankees' win I guess (yay!!!), MLB Network has been airing these... sorta documentaries of the various World Series wins by the team, up to 2000. The summaries of the pre-'90s WSes were mostly just boring overviews (the stuff with Reggie Jackson was interesting, though), but during the dynasty years, the shows take more of a documentary feeling and... wow. Just wow. I've seen them before, but I haven't seen them in a really long time.

There were just so many moments. David Cone's return from shoulder aneurysm surgery in 1996, only to find himself pitching in a must-win World Series Game 3 in Atlanta, while his family watched (it's adorable that both his dad and brother called him "Coney"). From 1998, they had the team dedicating the win to Darryl Strawberry, who was suffering from cancer, El Duque describing what pitching in the World Series meant to him after escaping from Cuba, and Andy Pettitte carefully writing "DAD" on his hat in honor of his hospitalized father before pitching the clinching game of the Series (and I'll fully admit I actually shed tears when they had a clip from John Sterling calling the series and, after Andy pulled a big double play to end an inning, Sterling said "And there's a very happy man in a hospital in Houston right now." I have a huge soft spot for Andrew Eugene, what can I say). 1999 had Paul O'Neill's father dying right before the clinching game, as well as Roger Clemens talking about how moved he was to get a standing ovation from the Yankee Stadium crowd (that made me actually cry too, and I don't even LIKE Roger Clemens!). Just... wow. Yeah.

It really made me realize... I am so lucky to be a fan of the New York Yankees. All Yankee fans have a bit of Lou Gehrig in them in that way, I suppose. The Yankee "mystique and aura" may just be "dancers at a nightclub," as noted genius Curt Schilling once said, but it's hard not to get choked up over stories like these... and those are only from three years in the team's history.

Here's to many more than merely #27 and the stories yet to come...

oh, shit! Project Runway!

I totally forgot it was on/existed. I can look at Wikipedia to see who got eliminated though and I will see the outfits online and then bitch about them.

Thank you for existing, internets!!!!

Words can't express.

a. OH MY GOD SHUT UP JOE BUCK I AM SO TIRED OF YOUR BULLSHIT
b. I can ignore how annoying Joe is, because this video is seriously hilarious.
c. "Hey Dave, we did it!" BE MINE!

oh my god

Who the HELL decided that they should play "We Like to Party" by the Venga Boys over and over and over and over and OVER again while handing out the keys to the city? MY EARS!

Deadspin says it really, really well.

"So they spent more money than anyone else. So they didn't have to wait as long as anyone else. Ask us fans if it feels any less amazing. It doesn't."

and on a lighter note

I still need to watch America's Next Top Model from this week, hmm.

My attempt at being epic.

This will be long.

The last time there was a baseball game on November 4, it was because the season had been pushed back due to a national tragedy. It was the 2001 World Series, between the Yankees and the Diamondbacks. The Yankees had dropped the first two games in Arizona - Game 1 was a blowout where Mike Mussina was not good at all, and in Game 2, they were shut out by Randy Johnson - only to return to New York and win all three games in beyond dramatic fashion. The first was a 2-1 nailbiter where I think the two runs were unearned... and the other two are practically legend. Two nights in a row, with two out in the bottom of the ninth and trailing by two runs, the Yankees shocked Arizona's closer Byung-Hyun Kim by homering off of him to tie the score, then won in extra innings. Even though the Yankees had a pathetic overall batting average in the Series (I think I read somewhere that it was like .163! This is what happens when you face prime Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling about 45 times.), it was incredible how we rallied. After those wins, there was just this feeling that we could do anything, especially after 9/11. For maybe the only time in history, you felt like everyone was rooting for the Yankees.

In the first game back in Arizona, the potential clinching game for the Yankees, Andy Pettitte pitched poorly and didn't last two innings, and Arizona devoured the Yankee bullpen, forcing a Game 7.

I'll provide Wikipedia's summary of the end of that game, because... yeah:

With the Yankees ahead 2–1 in the bottom of the eighth, manager Joe Torre turned the game over to his ace closer Mariano Rivera for a two-inning save. Rivera was one of the strongest closers in the game, and had pitched brilliantly throughout the postseason up to that point. Rivera struck out the side in the eighth, including Arizona's sluggers Luis Gonzalez, Matt Williams, and Danny Bautista, which lowered his ERA in the postseason to a major league-best of 0.70. Although he was sharp in the eighth, this game would end in the third ninth-inning comeback of the Series.

Mark Grace led off the inning with a single to center on a 1–0 pitch. The real turning point was Rivera's errant throw to second base on a bunt attempt by Damian Miller on an 0–1 pitch, putting runners on first and second. Derek Jeter tried to reach for the ball, but got tangled in the legs of pinch-runner David Dellucci, who was sliding in an attempt to break up the double play. Rivera appeared to regain control when he fielded Jay Bell's bunt and threw out Dellucci at third base, but third baseman Scott Brosius decided to hold the ball instead of throwing to first to attempt to complete the double play. Midre Cummings was sent in to pinch-run for Damien Miller. With Cummings at second and Bell at first, the next batter, Tony Womack, drove a double down the right-field line on a 2–2 pitch that evened the score and blew the save. Bell went to third and the Yankees pulled the infield and the outfield in as the potential winning run stood at third with less than two outs. After Rivera hit Craig Counsell with an 0–1 pitch, the bases were loaded. The winning run would be batted in with a gentle tap over the drawn-in infield. On an 0–1 pitch, Luis Gonzalez lofted a soft single over Derek Jeter that barely reached the outfield grass, plating Jay Bell with the winning run. This ended New York's bid for a fourth consecutive title and brought Arizona its first championship in just its fourth year of existence...

As an objective baseball fan, the 2001 World Series was, without a doubt, one of the greatest World Series of all time. Believe me, I know. Books have been written about it, and documentaries made. I think ESPN declared it the second or third best World Series of all time, and again - objectively, it totally was. But... as a Yankee fan and a New Yorker less than two months after 9/11, it fucking sucked. It wasn't just that we lost, it was HOW we lost and the other circumstances involved. Maybe it was karma for those walkoffs in the Bronx, but man, I would have much rather lost via a blowout like Game 1 or Game 6 than with a heartbreaker like that. I'll fully admit I cried over it, as did many others I know. It was silly and stupid to cry over baseball, but it was the way to cement the catharsis we got 99% of.

After that year, many lynchpins of the dynasty years left. Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez were both absolutely BELOVED, and they left. In 2002, for the first time since 1997, the Yankees failed to make the World Series. At the time, it was pretty damn shocking, but they were beaten by the Angels, who won the World Series themselves. So we lost to the champs. No big deal. The Yankees would be back next year. Right?

2003. A lot of people like to joke that the Yankees won "the real World Series" this year with the 2003 ALCS, and it's, in a way, true. Aaron Boone hitting that home run and Mo collapsed on the pitchers' mound in disbelief and joy are pretty much everyone's favorite memories from these "drought" years (or they should be!). That said, we did lose the World Series to a team that was probably inferior to ours, and, honestly, that Series was probably the beginning of the end for Torre (thanks for bringing in Weaver with Mo sitting in the bullpen!!!!). Oh, and the game where the Marlins won the Series was a complete game shut-out at Yankee Stadium by Josh Beckett. This sucked for so many reasons.

2004. Everyone knows about this. It's not THE WORST COLLAPSE IN BASEBALL HISTORY! like everyone likes to paint it as, but it was a really, really, really bad and conspicuous collapse. There were many reasons it happened, such as Tom Gordon sucking in the postseason that year, poor Mo probably being distracted by the fact that his hometown and family were, like, underwater (seriously, three blown saves in one postseason? I don't blame Mo for Game 5's blown save at all, but that's more than he has in all his other postseason series combined!), Torre making some truly terrible decisions including being ~too classy~ to bunt and steal bases on a supposedly HORRIBLY INJURED Curt Schilling but not being too classy to write a book once he left the Yankees trashing several of his former players, and the fact that Boston was ZOMG SO SCRAPPY!!!! COWBOY UP!!!! NO TEAM HAS EVER HAD THAT KIND OF CHEMISTRY AND NO TEAM EVER WILL AGAIN!!!! HEROIC BLOODY SOCKS!!!!! AKA David Ortiz and probably like 20 other guys on that team were on steroids (oh, get over it, it was almost certainly true for the Yankees as well but I will take my jabs where I can get them).

Was 2004 as gut-wrenchingly painful as 2001? To me, it wasn't. There was just so much about 2001 that just viscerally hurt. 2004 was really humiliating and it stung Yankee fans until this win, but I thought the Red Sox were honestly a better team than the Yankees in 2004 (their starting pitching was significantly better, especially for a short series; letting Pettitte walk was horrible). I was amazed that the Yankees went up 3-0 to begin with, and once Game 4 went into extra innings, I had a terrible feeling about the series; when Game 5 went into extra innings, I was pretty sure the Red Sox did, in fact, have this one in the bag. That said, the fact that we're still the only team to blow a 3-0 lead in a 7-game series still hurts and, again, it freaked out our fanbase and enabled our haters for years - witness the "ZOMG IT'S 2004!!!!!" panic by both casual Yankee fans and the media (there was an ESPN/SI article about the WS, I know for sure) after the Yankees didn't win Game 5 in the ALCS and World Series, even though the situations were not in any way similar - and the fact that it was against the Red Sox really, really, really sucked. Oh, and A-Rod slapping the ball? Yeah, that was terrible.

2005. Oh hey again, Angels. Losing on a stupid error is awesome.

2006. Heavily favored to win the ALDS against the Tigers, who had blown a big divisional lead and had to settle for the Wild Card and were horribly scuffling in the last weeks of the season, the Yankees instead lose in an embarrassing fashion as the offense feels the need to take the series off against pitching that frankly wasn't that good (except Verlander. Notice the Tigers' pitchers all rolled over and died in the World Series.). Does this sound familiar? Oh, and thanks for being awesome for us after dominating us in the past, Randy Johnson! We really appreciate it!!!!! (I still kinda hate that guy.)

2007. We fight tooth and nail to get into the postseason, after starting off cellar dwellars in the AL East. Then, Wang falls apart and Joba is eaten alive by bugs. A team as streaky as the 2007 Yankees needed to get all the breaks going for them in the playoffs to go far, and everything went against them. As an extra kick in the crotch, the mega-douchey version of the Red Sox win the World Series (Seriously, though, Papelbon, Schilling, Varitek, Beckett, Manny, Ortiz, Youkilis, Pedroia, and Ellsbury on one team?). When the season is fully over, Torre leaves (I love what Joe Torre did for the Yankees in his early years with the team and it's still totally weird and frankly wrong to see him fist-bumping with Manny in Dodger blue, but this was more than likely overdue), A-Rod opts out of his contract and causes a total mess, and it seems unsure and unlikely Mo and Jorge will return and... God only knows. I'm pretty sure I've said "humiliating" a lot here, but... it still applies. (I actually wasn't in the US for this, but my mom called me in Spain to yell about the whole situation a lot.)

(I use parenthesis a lot)

2008. We don't even make the playoffs as the new manager doesn't quite seem like he knows what he's doing and our pitchers - minus one grumpy old guy - suck and Jeter has a terrible year and everyone is injured and/or dead. We say goodbye to old Yankee Stadium and are left to wonder if the ghosts will travel across the street. Based on the last few seasons, I know quite a few fans felt like maybe they wouldn't.

2009 seemed like it would be much the same. Before the season, our best player - who has never been uncontroversial - admitted to using steroids, then had to go through surgery, with his return uncertain. We'd made some huge free-agent signings, but early on it seemed like they all struggled. The guy who had been our ace of the staff in 2006 and 2007 had an ERA over 30. We were 0-8 against the Red Sox and we ended the first half by being swept by the Angels in pretty degrading fashion... as is usually the case when we play in that goddamn Stadium.

And then... and then... and then... something happened. Actually, many things happened, and most of them were just awesome. After the All-Star break, we went on an absolute tear. We beat the Red Sox, and we didn't just beat them, we beat them in some of the most humiliating ways possible (and it's really nice to use "humiliating" in a way that involves us doing it to other teams and not vice-versa). We won a series in friggin' Anaheim. We'd come to love pie in the first half of the season, and that continued in the second. Derek and Mo made history. Mystique and Aura came back, and they brought Kate Hudson with them! We swept our way through the ALDS, shook off the demons of the Angels in the ALCS, and dethroned the reigning champions to finally, finally, finally get that 27th ring... and yes, I realize it's a totally whiny, spoiled Yankee fan thing to say that after only nine years between titles. For so many reasons, the championship was absolutely perfect.

What happened on November 4, 2001 still hurts. I suspect it will pretty much any time I think about it. 2004 is still awful, as are all the other too-early playoff exits. But thanks to November 4, 2009, both of these hurt a lot less. Now, the last image of the Yankees in the World Series isn't Josh Beckett tagging out Jorge Posada in 2003 (and the last time Mariano was on the mound with the chance to close out a series, it didn't end like 2001 did). It's this, and it's awesome. And then, we celebrated. You did me good, boys. You did me good.

I think I'll write more on the season later because HELLO I need a highlights post. But for now, I am just enjoying this.

(And for a little levity, to prove how bad this decade was for the Yankees - in 2000, we lost a World Series game to the METS! The ultimate humiliation.)

It's coming. No, really!

Also, while I know why they ranked it so high... it makes me want to fucking puke that ESPN ranked the 2001 World Series as the #3 all-time (and 1996 should be higher than #30!).

And yeah, you bet your ass I'm gonna talk about that.

oh, yes...

There's an epic post coming shortly.

And it ain't about Top Chef or America's Next Top Model, either.

Hmmm

They're making a musical of The Addams Family? Interesting. Then again, Nathan Lane is in it and it seems like everything he's in bombs lately.......

ugh

Robin is... she's just so annoying. I mean, she's not as annoying as Ariane, but will anyone ever be? No.

"Hey, here we are in the desert, cooking for cowboys...

I'm gonna make a ceviche!!! DURRRRR"

I mean, even the chefs I like made, like, fish dishes. WHY DID NO ONE MAKE A STEAK WITH POTATOES OR SOMETHING FFS?

I love Top Chef marathons

Like... Jessie... Mattin... Ashley... Preeti... all these people I sort of forgot were on the show to begin with. And oh man, Eve! I think I tried to forget about her

that's... nice, Jeremy.

Really I'm only posting this because I enjoy the word "moobs"

I approve!

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to host the Oscars. Awesome!

man, Swimfan is awful

I kind of wanted to see this when it first came out because it looked interesting enough, but now... I'm very glad I just watched this on TV and didn't spend money on it.

no, The Ugly Truth

You are not "the perfect holiday gift"

I am apparently new to the internet and just saw this.

LOVE SO MUCH.

YES. WE. CAN.

I may be all choked up right now. Maybe.

Michelle Obama is truly the most badass of badasses.

Truly. LOVE.

Ugh, guys, I need a Twitter for this or something, don't I

this documentary is SOOOO disjointed

It's like PRIMARIES! CLINTON! AYERS! SPEECHES! DEBATES! GRANDMA! YES WE CAN!

Though right now, they're showing the speech that he had to give after his grandmother died and he wasn't really crying, so to speak, but there were tears running down his cheeks and... oh, man, Obama. Oh, man. ;_; I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

oh GOD

Sarah Palin is going to be in this election documentary, isn't she. :(

ETA: Yup, here comes all the racist bullshit. Thanks for inciting that, asshole!

actually this documentary isn't very good

It's not that well-done or anything and I feel like it maybe needs a narrator but I DON'T CARE I LOVE OBAMA.

oh, man

Some people who canvased for Obama were really, really, really dorky about it. Uh, not that I wasn't and that I didn't basically cry everywhere when he won.

Oh, HBO Obama documentary

I LOVE HIM I REALLY DO. Congress is killing me, but I love the man so much.

Also, only slightly related because it's politics, but I'm so glad 23/6 put their archives back up.

because it's Wednesday now

I am going to paraphrase Mariano Duncan again: "We play today, we win today. Dassit."

I ended up deliriously happy last year on November 4. Boys, make me that happy again tonight.

Fail, NJ.

I expected it and all. But still, fail. It looks like Maine might be a fail too. FAIL.

Joe Buck has his own show on HBO?

Oh ew gross this should not happen

wellllll this is odd

Mad Men and Office character comparisons.

I admit that have not seen too much of Mad Men but I'm pretty sure Don Draper is a terrible comparison to Jim Halpert and Kelly Kapoor is not a billionth as awesome as Joan Holloway.

I am too amused

by Iron Chef America.

Top Chef dramaaaazzz!!!!

Next week's episode is like a reunion and, well, just watch this preview video. Oh, how very Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?! I can't wait.

epic fail ANTM

It's the F5 and these pictures are all like not good at all.

I am so glad

that the dickwad movie reviewer for New York Magazine is being taken to task for his awful review of Precious. I haven't even seen the movie, but his review made me severely uncomfortable because it was basically "omg a fat black poor girl!!!!!!" and... yeah. It was satisfying when people tore him apart because he hated The Dark Knight, but that was just because he hated a movie everyone loved (and his review was bad, because he's the movie reviewer for NYM), but this is even better because what he wrote was offensive.

I love Project Rungay

Love

This is a really insightful post - and it's about Project Runway! Whoah.

The blog also had close-ups of Irina's outfit from this/last week and OH MY GOD THE DRESS WAS SO AWFUL AND SHODDILY MADE, I am sorry I gave it as much credit as I did. Seriously awful.

the contestants...

on Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader have been remarkably tool-y today.

I think I need a Twitter for these kind of thoughts, but I am stubborn.

is it wrong that this makes me giggle a little?

30 Rock Scores 0 Rating in German Debut.

I dunno why I think this is so entertaining; I like the show.

"You the man now, dog!"

So true story, I watched Finding Forrester in one of my college classes and when Sean Connery said that line, me and one other person burst out laughing. Though I had never talked to that person, I knew he was probably kind of cool.

hilarious

Terrible lyrics

For the record, off the top of my head, though I love the song: "Are we human/Or are we dancer?" AAARGH!

YAY!!!!!!!!

It's back!!!!

Seriously, I love that site SO MUCH.

ahaha awesomeness

Poor Pam.

I love carbs

Nom nom nom.

on the Yankees vs. the Phillies

After Game 1, there was a LOT of "HA how could anyone pick the Yankees to win, Phillies in 4!!!!" from the Phillies fans (actually, there was a lot of that before Game 1, but that's just Philadelphia fans for you). It's AMAZING that these people are darn near nowhere to be found now, but anyway. The point I'm really trying to make here is that Philly fans got all OFFENDED that many sportswriters chose the Yankees to win. When you go through the teams... this is very silly.

Also, consider this my belated analysis of the two teams. I'm sure it's nothing you haven't read before but... eh. Both the Yankees and the Phillies are extremely good and the Phillies are like the one NL team I actually really like watching (chicks dig the long ball!), but they both have their weaknesses, so I've tried to address those fairly. This post will probably be verrah, verrah long, so... yeah.

STARTING PITCHING
Cliff Lee has been the best starter for any playoff team. Remember before the NLDS Game 1 when all the Philly fans were taking Charlie Manuel to task for having him be the Game 1 starter over Cole Hamels? A lot of people were all ZOMG HE HAS NO POSTSEASON EXPERIENCE!!!! They look very silly now. That said, their rotation beyond Lee is decent but not particularly great, and we know that after Game 5, we more than likely won't see Lee again, save some crazy bullpen appearance.
Pedro Martinez has been strong so far in the postseason, but I have a pretty good feeling that the Yankees will do a better job against him the second time around, especially considering that he's had HUGE breaks in between all of his starts this year. For all the "three days rest ZOMG!!!" talk, Pedro - who was kinda fragile even in his unbelievably awesome prime - will be going on normal rest, as opposed to like, seven to twelve days' rest, for the first time this season. Maybe it'll fire him up, but it's worth noting.
Cole Hamels, who has been downright shitty this postseason, out-and-out saying he wants his season to be over, is the scheduled starter for Game 7, and Charlie Manuel is desperately loyal to his players to the point where it can backfire (hey sticking with Lidge as closer the entire season) so I don't see him changing his mind. I do not want to jinx anything but if it goes that far, good luck with that. Tonight, Joe Blanton is starting. Um, yeah. I have no idea why Charlie Manuel wouldn't consider starting JA Happ in Yankee Stadium for Game 6. He was one of the Phillies' better starting pitchers to begin with this season; he's a lefty, and though the Yankees can hit lefties, opposing pitchers who are lefties do better than righties at Yankee Stadium; and he had a strong start against the Yankees when they played during interleague, though the Yankees were a different team to an extent back then. But thanks for not doing that, Charlie.
As for the Yankees, I admit that the three-man rotation has me a little nervous, especially with the prospect of Andy Pettitte, who didn't exactly have amazing stuff last night (sorry Andy, I love you but it is true :( ) and who hasn't done it in years, going on three days' rest, but... you know, if anyone's gonna gut it out and get it done, it'll be Andy (again, see: last night). With his experience and the way he's been pitching since July or so, I honestly trust him in a big spot more than I trust almost any other pitcher not named Mariano Rivera.
Also, Sabathia is generally awesome on three days' rest in his career and he's got a pretty extensive history of that (the only time he was really bad was against - gulp - the Phillies in the NLDS last year, but that was like his fifth or sixth consecutive start on short rest because of his overuse to get the Brewers to a playoff spot and you could tell he just didn't have it. I fully expect the Citizens Bank Park to be merciless, but I fully expect him to be awesome just the same.). Burnett has a smaller sample size of starts on short rest, but he's also been very good. And, again, if this goes to Game 7, which GOD I HOPE NOT JUST GET IT DONE YANKEES, I honestly think the Yankees can handle whoever the Phillies throw out there, as long as it is not Game 1 Cliff Lee - and it won't be.
Edge: Yankees

BULLPEN
Though Hughes seems to have fallen off a cliff in a disturbingly rapid fashion, the prospect of Coke against the Philly lineup makes me nervous with his tendency to give up home runs, and lord knows we cannot trust Brian Bruney, that Philly bullpen is mediocre-to-pretty-bad. At least, for the Yankees, Joba, Marte (!!!!!!), and Robertson seem strong. As far as the Phillies bullpen, again, Happ is the only one that scares me, and we hit even him pretty hard last night.
As for closers... Brad Lidge, after a God-awful 2009, has been doing quite well in the postseason even though it's only been a small number of innings,* and when he is good he is damn near untouchable, but I'm sorry, as I'm sure you've heard endlessly, nobody compares to Mariano Rivera. Nobody. Here is the HUGE advantage to the Yankee bullpen: if the Yankees have a lead after seven innings, barring something terrible, we win. Even at his best, Lidge almost never went more than one inning. And, if Philly fans are throwing out the "we beat the Yankees two games out of three in the regular season, we'll win the World Series!!!" line (hint: it's more or less irrelevant, given the small sample size and the fact that it was May and both teams were very different at the time), I'll throw out the "Brad Lidge blew two saves against us" line. I don't think either of those is relevant right now, though. Just sayin'
Edge: Yankees
* Update after tonight: Um... maybe not? I won't lie, I feel bad for him. Every time we beat up on a relief pitcher/closer to get some epic late-inning comeback/walkoff, like 99% of the time, after my jubilation, I keep thinking "GOD I wish this was Papelbon and not this other person that seems perfectly nice." Case in point: Junichi Tazawa. But I digress. Seriously, though, WTF is wrong with Brad Lidge? We all thought he was dead after that Albert Pujols home run in the 2005 NLCS. He'd been lights out before that, but he was awful in the postseason after it and suffered for the entire 2006 season. Then, last year, he was obviously excellent and it seemed like he was back to form... but oh dear, he's totally fallen off a cliff again. He has terrific stuff as evidenced by him making Derek look stupid on that payoff pitch, but he just IMPLODED and very, very quickly.

1B
Neither of these guys is really contributing right now, but at least Teixeira did something with that home run off of Pedro that sort of got the offense started. Plus, he's taking his walks (and uh, his hit-by-pitches?). I also think he's the better player because he's a switch-hitter, doesn't strike out so darn often, and plays slightly better defense, though Howard is also very good.
Edge: Yankees, though not by all that much

2B
Before the series, I heard pretty much everyone - Yankee fans, Philly fans, random people - calling this area "more or less a tie." Uhhh are you kidding me? Even before Utley started his best Reggie Jackson/Babe Ruth imitation while Cano did nuttin' offensively in this series, I'd take Utley any day. In three years I dunno if that'll be the same, but right now Utley is one of the best players in baseball. He's probably the best second baseman out there. This isn't meant as a slight to Cano, who is both excellent and young and who aaaagh kills me with his lack of hitting this postseason, but Utley is just that damn good.
Edge: Phillies

SS
Defensively, Rollins beats Jeter, but it's apparently quite close this year and you could make a case for either one, really. Offensively, Jeter has a higher batting average than Rollins' on-base percentage. That's kind of ridiculous, considering that Rollins is the Phillies' leadoff hitter. Rollins' OBP is under .300. That's unbelievably awful. He can obviously threaten to steal, but dude, the guy's gotta get on base first, and he doesn't do that enough. Oh, and I love the fact that after bragging about how he could hit Mariano Rivera, he had a totally pathetic at-bat against him in Game 3. Awesome.*
Edge: Yankees
*Update: And Game 4.

3B
Hahahahahaha*
Edge: Yankees
* Pedro Feliz is excellent defensively, but he's Pedro Feliz and we're comparing him to Alex Fucking Rodriguez. Let's be real here.

C
Hahahahaha*
Edge: Yankees when anyone but Burnett pitches, Phillies when Burnett pitches
* Again, Carlos Ruiz is a great defensive catcher and like Feliz, he's done very well in the postseason the past two years. Plus he is from Panama, so, you know, extra awesome points. Buuuut Jorge Posada is the best offensive catcher not named Piazza or Mauer over the past ten years. Molina is also a very strong defensive catcher but his hitting is outright awful whereas Ruiz's is just kinda mediocre, so when Molina is catching, the Phillies do have an edge.

OF
Raul Ibanez has cooled down a lot after a red-hot start to the season, but he's playing injured and he's still a power threat. He also plays slightly better defense than Johnny Damon, though neither is fantastic. Damon can definitely hit, but he's been on-and-off this postseason. I'll take Ibanez over Damon, but it's close.* If Ben Francisco is playing, he can play better defense but ehhh, he can't really hit. He's a good choice for late-inning defensive substitutions, though.
Center field is not close. I like Melky and all, but Shane Victorino is a superior defender and hitter. I'm actually kinda surprised that Victorino's OPS+ isn't that great but he's not a power hitter so... yeah. Gardner is useful for his speed but I don't know if he's quite an everyday player right now. Like Francisco, though, he's a good defensive choice for close and late situations.
In right field, I'd take Werth over Swisher, especially this postseason. Swisher has had surprisingly awesome defense at times, but, save last night's game, his bat has been ice-cold. He's not even taking his ZOMG WALKS I LOVE MONEYBALL!!!!!. I really hope he totally breaks out after that game, but we'll see. Werth is terrifying, especially against lefties. The guy positively murders the ball. Like, those two pitches where he homered against Andy... those weren't even close to bad pitches, he just absolutely destroyed them. I haven't noticed/heard much about his defense either way, which means it's probably at least decent. And yes, at this position, I'd rather have a monster hitter who is a decent defender than an excellent defender who's hitting like Swisher, last night aside.
Edge: Phillies
* Update after Game 4: I take it back. You still kinda suck at defense but I love you Johnny!!!!

DH
I hope I'm not jinxing anything here but at this point, Matt Stairs is pretty much awful. Granted, he mostly plays a pinch-hitter role in the NL and that's always difficult, but I think I saw that he's batting like under .100 since July. Of course, I was very nervous when he was facing Mariano because a. I'm always nervous and b. if he hits anything, it's gonna be a home run, but he's just kind of funny to watch now. Raul Ibanez will give you better production for DH, but it means you have to put Ben Francisco's bat in the lineup. I guess at least Stairs is a power threat, and he did drive in the Phillies' lone run in Game 2. The Yankees have Matsui, who has been spotty this postseason (he'll be great, then he'll be bad, then he'll be awesome...), but he already has two home runs this World Series, including a pinch-hit home run in Philly, and is used to the DH role and was generally kind of awesome if streaky at times this year.
Edge: Yankees

OVERALL OFFENSE/LINEUP CONSTRUCTION/WHATEVER
Chase Utley. Ryan Howard. Raul Ibanez. Matt Stairs. What do they all have in common? They are terrifying to face because of the huge power threat - and they are all lefties who don't really do great against lefties.** Last night Andy Pettitte didn't have much of anything and he still completely shut down Utley, Howard, and Ibanez. Marte has done a great job dealing with those guys, too, and only Utley could get to Sabathia, though get to him he did. Lefties actually fare worse against Mariano Rivera than righties. I think it's a great advantage that the two guys at the top of the Philly lineup are switch-hitters, but they aren't hitting much to get on base.
The Yankees obviously do very well against right-handed pitching, but they don't fear lefties either. Teixeira and Posada are switch-hitters who hit lefties better, Tex significantly so. Jeter and Rodriguez are honestly two of the best right-handed hitters in Yankee history (I read an article before the ALCS that said the Angels had the advantage in their bullpen because their closer is a lefty. A-Rod says "yo, 'sup.") and Derek has a ~.400 batting average against lefties this season. Matsui is a lefty who absolutely crushes lefties; his slugging % is .465 against righties and .618 against lefties. Cliff Lee shut the Yankees down, but that was just Cliff Lee being awesome. The Yankees did a very good job against Hamels and the lefties in the Philly bullpen.
Jeter, the leadoff hitter, consistently gets on base. Heck, Andy Pettitte proved that even our pitchers can hit (first poseason Yankee pitcher RBI since I think 1964! First time in the World Series that an AL pitcher has tied the game since 1967, I think!). and I can't wait to see Sabathia club one tonight. I'm only half-joking, too. :P *
Edge: Yankees
* Update after Game 4: Dammit CC. Way to let me down. :P
** Update, months later: Uh, my bad, Utley and Ibanez might be lefties themselves but they murder lefties. Whatever, Pettitte did a really good job keeping them in check.

MANAGING
Ehhhhhh. I thought Girardi was basically giving away Game 2 by attempting to solve the Yankees' offensive woes by putting in lesser players based on stats from five years ago, but this actually worked as Molina walked and had a hit (I think), plus he had that awesome pick-off of Jayson Werth, and Hairston had that hit that let the third run eventually score. Honestly, it kinda reminded me of the dynasty years, where it seemed like there was a new hero every night, including random scrub players and rookies (Shane Spencer hit 10 home runs - including three grand slams - in 67 at-bats, and just look at what Scott Brosius did in the 1998 postseason!!!!), and every one of Torre's moves worked out more or less perfectly. That said, Girardi's "BUHHH WHAT???" moves this playoff series are quite huge and well-documented.*
I don't follow the Phillies as much as I do the Yankees, so I can't yell at Charlie Manuel or whatever. He seems to have a terrific influence over his players in the clubhouse, always an advantage, but I've seen him do incredibly stupid things, such as using Cliff Lee as a pinch-runner (why would you do that with your ace and risk injury?! Or maybe I'm just scarred for life because of what happened to poor Chien-Ming Wang :( ). I had to giggle when he used five pitchers in one inning in the Phillies' lone loss to the Dodgers in the NLCS. He also seems, like I said earlier regarding Hamels, way too loyal to his guys that are struggling badly, and Cliff Lee only being available for two games in this series really hurts his team. That said, because his guys won it all last year, I'll give him the edge here.
Edge: Phillies
* Update as of tonight: putting in the home-run-prone Coke in Citizen's Bank Park to face the scary top of the Philly order in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game would have been ENORMOUSLY stupid on Girardi's part. In fact, it reeks of when Torre put Weaver in over Mo in 2003 (which was probably the end of the Joe Torre ~magic). So thanks, Johnny, Alex, Jorge, and Brad, for saving Girardi from making that tremendously dumb decision. You could argue that Manuel also made a dumb decision putting in Lidge instead of keeping Madsen in, but Madsen had been kinda shaky the inning before and throughout the postseason, while Lidge seemed to have his stuff back during the postseason and he certainly did for the first two batters.

LEAGUE/DIVISION CONSIDERATIONS
The Yankees have the best record in baseball, with a ten-game advantage over the Phillies - and they play in the AL East. Despite the early "NL Least" jokes, the NL East was probably the strongest NL division this year, but the NL is simply an inferior league to the AL and the AL East in particular is positively ridiculous. Even an almost-100-loss team in the AL East, the Orioles, has a very strong offense. Put them in the NL West or Central or the AL Central and... I'm not saying they'd win the division or even have a winning record, but I don't think they'd be circling 100 losses, that's for sure. The fourth-place team, the Blue Jays, has one of the five best pitchers in baseball and two Silver Sluggers. The Rays have a potent and very speedy offense. They're in the top ten teams this year. The Yankees and Red Sox were in the top five/ten teams in baseball this year (Yankees are #1 and the Sox are in the top ten, if not the top five), have been pretty much throughout the 2000s, and more than likely will be for years to come. The AL East is a scary place and the Yankees thrived there. Of course, it didn't give the Rays a World Series title last year, but the Yankees of 2009 are much better than the 2008 Rays.
Edge: Yankees

So...
Starting pitching: Yankees
Bullpen: Yankees, significantly
1B: Yankees, but it's close
2B: Phillies, not particularly close especially because Cano isn't hitting
3B: Yankees, not close
SS: Yankees
C: generally Yankees
OF: Phillies
DH: Yankees
Overall offense/lineup construction: Yankees
Managing: Phillies
Division/league difficulty consideration: Yankees


I'm sorry, but the Yankees have a clear advantage, at least on paper. The Phillies are a great team. I don't know if they're ABSOLUTELY THE BEST in the National League like everyone was saying when they clinched the division (I still think that might be the Cardinals, but they were doomed the second they were 0-2 in games that Wainwright and Carpenter started), but if they're second it's a very close second, and really, they're excellent. Their ridiculous firepower (yes, I say that as a Yankee fan, because you just don't see offenses like that in the National League) and the way they EASILY dispatched of the very good Dodgers made me extremely nervous, plus anything can happen in a short series (if the ALCS/WS were best-three-of-five like the ALDS, the 2001 World Series doesn't break my heart and we're not talking about any sort of epic choke in the 2004 ALCS. The Nationals won two out of three from the Yankees this year. It happens.), and I'm certainly not counting them out now. But their fans acting like it was ridiculous and MEDIA BIAS! to pick the Yankees is very stupid.

That was... long.

love this/them!

Obamas on Halloween!

I love how Michelle went as a cat, but she's still wearing a cardigan, and Barack went as... uh... a dorky middle-aged dad? Seems about right. LOVE!

rewatching Top Chef

Somehow, Natalie Portman making dick jokes never gets old. Also, I'd eat Kevin's vegetarian dish every day. Nom nom nom. He's the winner, right?!

I know I've said it before but I LOVE WONKETTE SO MUCH

Here
And also here.

I am not ashamed...

I own a Snuggie.

No Country for Old Men

Probably not the best movie to watch before bed? Probably not the best movie to watch before bed.

oh hell yes

Nice game. Love you, Andy, and it's such a testament to your skill and experience that you really buckled down after two terrible innings. AND AN RBI!!!! I was so, so happy.