Kuzul

Get ready, folks, for the other pink sox to drop.

Remember back in 2004 and 2007 when practically everybody not working for Everybody’s Sox Patriots Network (including many who only days ago were yet again spewing the “best team ever” Red Sox spin) were publicly broaching the issue of drug testing for Manny, his longtime roommate Papi and some of their other bloated Beantown buddies?

(Try Google Archive if your memory needs a jolt.)

Anybody who believes this clown was bending over all alone taking the juice up his back door in that lineup through those years ought to be tested themselves…for mental illness.

Sorry, Beantowners, but the Babe is the ONLY big guy you ever had who won a ring without juicing.

Oh and by the way…before you 1-7 whiners hit back with the A-Rod card, I leave you with three thoughts:

1) He didn’t juice with the Yankees;

2) It wasn’t illegal when he did it with the Rangers; and

3) when he was hit with the rumor, he manned up and fessed up, unlike the lying sacks of scuzz like Ortiz, Manny and everybody else in that Boston lineup who lied then and are still lying to this day.

Prediction: Manny’s next move is a Canseco-styled Sheen-esque tell-all whine shredding the whole scruffy happy miraculous lovable idiot Boston myth into confetti.

Remember, you read it here first.

That said, let’s play ball. The Rays won their first game without the Manny luggage, and the Sox only have to win six more to get to .500.

God is watching, and he’s keeping score.

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Now that the Cliff and Andy questions have both been answered and put to rest, the biggest immediate concern across Yankee Universe going into spring training appears to be the two big question marks in the back end of our starting rotation.

How crucial is the back end of the rotation to a successful season for us?

Not as much as some might think. Certainly not as crucial as a kevlar bullpen, which we now have.

Hard as it may be for some to recollect it, the 2009 world champion Yankees wound up running their back end rotation by committee to a great extent, much as this year’s team appears about to do.

And it worked beautifully.

Just compare the contributions of the team’s pitching staffs over the last two seasons to see exactly where our wins came from—throwing out the games pitched by the rosters’ No. 4 and 5 starters—and you may take  greater comfort from the moves our Bombers made and didn’t make this offseason.

In 2009, a championship season, the Yankees’ top three starters—Sabathia, Pettitte and Burnett—combined for 46 wins while our bullpen accounted for 40 wins, the most in MLB.

In 2010, a year the team fell a little short of their objective, the team’s top three starters—Sabathia, Hughes and Pettitte—combined for 50 wins while our bullpen, though improving its ERA by nearly a half run, produced just 23 wins.

Since the Yankees led all MLB teams in scoring both years, run support can be safely ruled out as a variable.

So, to summarize, our 2009 front-end arms and bullpen combined for 86 wins without the help of our No. 4 and 5 starters. 

Our 2010 front-end arms—with four more victories to their credit—combined with our bullpen to produce just 73.

That’s a 13-loss differential year over year right there.

The impact of those 2009 bullpen wins becomes even more pronounced when you consider 2009’s championship-winning rotation back-enders Joba Chamberlain and Sergio Mitre combined for a mere 12 wins while last season’s backenders  AJ Burnett and Javier Vazquez combined for 20.

Those eight additional victories by 2010’s No. 4 and 5 starters still didn’t make up for the sharp reduction in our bullpen wins.

Put another way, bullpen wins could have easily been the difference between the Yankees winning the AL East or losing it last season—and, consequently, home field advantage in the playoffs.

The point?

Cliff Lee and his maybe 12 to 15 wins would’ve been helpful, no question. And Andy’s return would maybe have provided 11 to 14 wins. 

Maybe, that is, if both managed to stay healthy; hardly a lock for either of them.

No, what we truly needed a whole lot more than either of them this winter was to bulk up our bullpen into a bona fide scary no-man’s land for opposing hitters.

Mission accomplished.

Consider the Yankees’ penchant for long early inning at-bats and late scoring outbreaks, so much so they led MLB  in comeback wins last season with 48.

How many more of those late rallies came up just short due to that shaky bridge from the sixth inning to the ninth?

Now, that’s a bridge to nowhere for our opponents.

Am I saying back-end starters are a nonfactor? Of course not.

I am saying, however, that they’re just not as big a factor as a nasty shutdown door-slamming pen; especially in the case of the Yankees and their present configuration.

By the numbers, at least over the past two seasons, the Yankee bullpen has proved to be a more significant  force in putting up W’s—and not just saving or holding leads—than our back end starters.

Certainly in 2009 it was the difference between winning a championship and just coming close, and possibly the difference between just coming close and no championship this past season.

Of course, I’d love to see Brian Cashman and the Boss’s boys pull off a blockbuster trade for a Type-A starter in the coming weeks and months. And there’s no reason to believe they won’t.

When they do, it’ll be Christmas in July.

In the meantime, though, there are plenty of young and old committee members coming to camp to fill the back end rotation picture out, and plenty to celebrate and anticipate come Opening Day.

You’ve got to believe the Yankees’ front office was thinking about more than just shortening tough outings for a couple of mystery guests in the rotation when they snapped up Rafael Soriano and lefty Pedro Feliciano this offseason. 

The way the former’s contract is structured with opt-outs, it sure wasn’t designed to lock up Big Mo’s successor.

These guys aren’t consolation prizes. They’re key pieces in a proven strategy to win now.

Their additions leverage virtually every member of our relief corps into specific roles in which they can excel, and provide Joe Girardi with multiple options and a path to a win through any lineup, as long as our own lineup keeps scoring like it has.

We may be shy a couple of name brand back-end starters at the moment.

But no serious evaluation of the coming season should allow those relatively minor vacancies to overshadow the direct and major impact this bullpen is going to make in our win column this year with the rotation and lineup we’ve already got.

The pen is truly mightier.

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Now that Andy Pettitte has returned from his Hawaiian Hau’oli Makahiki Hou, it’s hard to tell who’s awaiting his plans for next season with greater anticipation: Yankee fans or Yankee….ummm…shall we say, non-fans.

While his return certainly would be cause for a cheer by the former, if he decides to retire, it will hardly be cause for a funeral in Yankee Universe, nor will it be a body blow to the team’s ultimate mission of returning to the World Series this year.

So the latter had better reserve their eulogies and shovels for another occasion.

Here’s why:

For all the blanket condemnations concerning the aging of the Yankees, in Andy’s case it certainly appears to apply, as his DL-shortened 2010 campaign proved.

If he returns, even if fully mended from his multiple physical ills, the Yankees would count themselves fortunate if he could match his 23 starts of last season. Likewise, his 11 wins, though an attainable objective, would hardly be guaranteed.

He would need to be rested at scheduled intervals like last season; more frequently and for longer periods at the first sign any of his painful strains and pulls might be bothering him.

Not even the Yankees are expecting him to be a front-of-the-rotation pitcher this season if he returns.

Conversely, however, that means if he decides to retire, it’s not hard at all to imagine one or even two younger healthier arms, from within or without the organization, being readily available and easily replacing those 11 wins and more.

An ace of Cliff Lee‘s stature is hardly necessary to replace those 11 wins, nor is one necessary to repeat or improve upon a decidedly ragged rotation performance that still managed to take the team to within two games of a consecutive Series appearance.

Just two games better.

The rest of the American League has a decidedly longer way to go than that, including the now-Leeless Rangers.

As for losing Lee, the Yankees likely improved their record by at least three games or more this season in doing so…and it didn’t cost them a cent.

The Phillies handily accomplished at least half of what the Yankees had hoped to achieve themselves, which was remove Lee as an obstacle to the Series for the remainder of his effective pitching career.

Just as the Red Sox did last season in their three-team swapadeedoo that sent Roy Halladay north and John Lackey east, the Phillies removed yet another certified Yankee killer from our universe and made the path to the next ring that much smoother.

I’ll leave you with this final thought:

The talent pool for trades is light years deeper and wider than the curbside garage sale of the Hot Stove; the Yankee farm is hip deep in bargaining chips; and Yankees GM Brian Cashman has Lee’s $150 million severance pay bulging in his back pocket.

If you think you’ve seen Cashman and company stalk their quarry with a take-no-prisoners vengeance in the past, can you picture what they’ll be like with all that live ammo if Andy doesn’t return?

Hardly anybody’s starting pitchers will be off the table…or untouchable.

In summary, anyone betting the Yankees—who’ve only missed one post-season in 16 years—won’t be returning again in 2011 as good or better than ever, with or without Andy, now hear this: Your money is going to be in my pocket.

So say aloha already, Andy, and let’s play ball.

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It’s been quite a few weeks since former Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland was removed from the team’s equation for 2011, and Cubs coach Larry Rothschild was hired to replace him.

The many ways in which Rothschild is a major upgrade for the Yankees this coming season (and the obvious and equal number of ways Eiland’s departure was necessary) will be dealt with by others in the coming months and season.

But in each interview since his bon voyage and subsequent landfall in the the front office of the Tampa Bay Rays, Eiland has relied upon both the good will and silence of the Yankees organization and New York beat writers to rewrite history.

Not once has he thanked the team that gave him his biggest shot in the baseball business, or even wished them well.

If he can’t man up to the fact the whole country is pointing at Yankee pitching as their downfall last season and weak link currently, that’s fine. Yet another reason why he’s gone, one might say.

However, Marc Topkin, a St. Petersburg Times beat writer of long standing who has proven eminently fair and balanced in his many years covering the Rays, conducted an introductory interview with Eiland yesterday.

And I’m afraid Dave’s story has grown such a long nose in such a short time I believe someone should alert Mr. Topkin and others in his new environs they should resist the temptation to treat this guy like an abused victim of the Evil Empire.

Mr. Topkin:

Nice piece. You’re cozying up to a new suit in the front office with an interesting history, and that’s cool.

But we Yankee fans (and all NY Yankee beat writers, I suspect) notice a few swings and misses in your little feature regarding that history that perhaps you might need to re-address at some point with Dave:

1) When Eiland says “there was never any real reason as to why” he wasn’t rehired by the Yankees, certainly you, the Yankees and every thinking Yankee fan know seven little letters are the reason:  R-E-L-A-P-S-E…and it’s not the first time.

If you don’t believe so, ask him. And if you don’t feel asking would be polite, then at least please don’t rely on this guy as a knowledgeable source this coming season. His Yankee legacy is that of a bungling sabateur, not artful mastermind.

2) Eiland is no longer a coach. The Rays didn’t hire Eiland as a coach, and nobody else ever will either. The Rays aren’t allowing him within a mile of their own pitchers or any of their other major league personnel. He’s special assistant to somebody who also isn’t allowed on the field near players.

3) When Eiland said his firing by the Yankees “was a bit surprising, but he hasn’t said much about it,” that’s either a momentary lapse in research or a blatant lie by Eiland.

Google-news Eiland’s comments immediately following his ejection from the Yankees and you’ll see he had plenty to say about it…a lot more than did the Yankees’ brass and manager Joe Girardi, who all stayed classy and didn’t diss him like he did them.

4) When Eiland says “I’ve got plenty of them” regarding “secrets on how to beat his previous team, the Yankees,” we all know he is indeed telling the truth since “Joba’s rules,” “Hughes’s rules” and most heinous of all, “AJ’s rules,” whatever those might have been, all helped detonate the team’s 2010 season, and were all his own.

5) When you mention that Eiland “lives in Wesley Chapel with his wife and two daughters” you hit the real nail on the head. With his family living within a short daily commute from the Trop, the Rays have a reasonable expectation he won’t be hitting the bars (and whatever else he was hitting) after games up in the Bronx and on the road this past season.

I personally hate stories dealing with the human frailties of anyone in the public spotlight, and I have tipped my Yankee cap elsewhere repeatedly to NY beat writers for not grinding their boot heels into Eiland’s personal problems before now.

But until Eiland shuts up, goes gently into his good night and embraces his last chance appropriately, I’m uncomfortable with the coverage of the AL East going forward lest there be anything he’s saying now that might be referenced as authoritative or prescient come October.

Coaches who screw up get fired, but usually latch on elsewhere. Employees who use up their last chance change professions. That’s what happened to Eiland. He’s no longer a coach.

Zip it, Dave. If you had any clue how to help (or defeat) the Yankees, you’d still be coaching somewhere right now.

For two seasons, everybody gave you the benefit of the doubt that it was AJ and not you that needed counseling.

How ironic it is the reverse turned out to be true…and will be all the more so if he has a bounce-back season in what is shaping up to be the AL East’s most exciting race in years while you’re printing out spreadsheets in Tampa.

Count your blessings, Dave, go home after games this season for a change and shut up already. Your 15 minutes are over.

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Dear Santa,

Let’s get one thing straight right now.

Everybody knows the longer Andy Pettitte waits to decide, the more likely he is to pitch again next season. It’s been awhile, so we’re not asking you for anything extra there. We’re pretty sure he’ll make the right choice for all concerned…

Now that that’s out of the way and everyone has finished opening their presents and consumed mass quantities with family, friends, and loved ones, there are probably a few citizens of Yankee Universe who may feel Santa has thrown them a curve this ho-ho-Hot Stove season.

While fans of certain other teams have found new toys and shiny expensive presents under their tree, Bomber fans have been forced to guzzle a seemingly bottomless nog of commentary and coverage explaining in gleeful gushing detail why the Yankees will finish somewhere between also-rans and irrelevant come October.

Fear not, however, for reports of the demise of the Evil Empire are very, very premature.

Many and mysterious are the wonders of Santa’s benevolence, and with less than two months to go before pitchers and catchers report to camp, we should take a few moments to reflect upon some of the reasons those of us partial to pinstripes should be thanking Santa and eagerly looking forward to the New Year.

For all the talk about their vulnerabilities and whithering old bones, the 2009 World Champion Yankees came within just two games of returning to the Series in 2010—their 15th playoff appearance in 16 years.

They accomplished this feat with half their rotation and core veterans playing hurt down the stretch, and relying heavily upon a handful of role players and spare parts GM Brian Cashman picked up along the way for the MLB equivalent of a couple bags of balls.

Failure to repeat their 2009 finish was a disappointment, surely. But their injuries were of the ill-timed and not major variety.

They’re the only team from 2010’s Final Four not to lose a major impact player to free agency this off-season (Rangers-Lee, Phillies-Werth, Giants-Uribe).

So we’re returning with a team that came just that close, and they’re returning whole, healthy, and intact.

Right there, if you’re ranking teams by how little they need to improve in 2011 to return to the show for another swing at a ring, the Yankees have to be pretty close to topping the list.

Retention is an invaluable gift few teams find under their tree this time of year.

Big market teams suck key free agents away from other teams, big and small, all the time.

Except in Yankee Universe, where an ex-Yankee is a discarded Yankee. Period.

Say what you will about the Evil Empire, but grant us this: once they join up, nobody wants to leave it, and nobody takes them away from us unless we want to let them go.

Now, we’ve all heard the carolers sing about the Red Sox shopping spree and how it somehow magically leapfrogs them past the Crawfordless, Penaless, bullpenless Rays and the Leeless Yankees, all the way back to the Series.

It’s a catchy refrain, but it doesn’t hold its tune.

Save for the potential loss of closer Rafael Soriano (he’s gone FA, but yet to sign elsewhere), the division champion Rays have already implemented their plan to replace their departed personnel with young guns that all but mirror younger versions of the players who have left.

The Rays’ young flame-throwing starting rotation proved last season to be the most resilient in the AL Beast; it’s still intact and a year older and wiser, with yet another invaluable post-season experience to build on in 2011.

Between their embarrassment of riches down on the farm and their full-house pitching depth, a trade for another big bat and 9th-inning stopper between now and the trade deadline is easily imaginable.

As for missing out on Lee, another steady lefty would certainly be a beautiful thing to behold for Yankee fans. But the value of the Lee deal to the Yankees was as much about eliminating him as a future opponent as it was about deepening the rotation.

Most Yankee observers agree the back end three or four years of that seven-year offer smelled like fish waiting to rot. But the Yankees were willing to write it off as the cost of insuring he wouldn’t continue his pinstripe-punking ways for the remainder of his effective pitching career.

Fortunately, the Phillies did for the Yankees with Lee what the Sox did for the Yankees with their three-team swap that brought Lackey east and sent Halladay north—that is, removed another certified Yankee killer from the universe.

In the meantime, the Yankee farm is even more fertile than the Rays’ with trade bait.

And there’s also that thick wad of loose Lee money just bulging and burning a hole in GM Brian Cashman’s back pocket.

That’s a game-changing megatrade waiting to happen right there, and trades can be even more fun than free agent signings in a number of ways.

The trading season lasts until July 31st.  Player performance, health, and usefulness are easier to evaluate. There’s more flexibility and opportunities to make a deal. The players’ personal preferences are much less of a factor, if at all.

And best of all, the talent pool is practically limitless.  

Nobody anywhere is untouchable or out of reach if the right combination of prospects, ham-and-eggers and cash are dangled over the kitty.

Meanwhile, it can be argued (convincingly) that the Sox’s signings of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford merely replaced the lost production of Beltre and Martinez; that lefty Crawford’s offensive production will take a subsequent steep dip in Fenway; and that the Sox’s rotation and bullpen stumbles of yesteryear were not anomalies.

Put another way, the Rays haven’t lost much at all; the Yankees haven’t lost a thing and remain a penstroke away from a major upgrade of their own; and it’s hardly a safe bet that all the Sox’s moves this offseason result in actual net gains.

That means 2011’s Battle Of The Beasts could very easily be a replay of the 2010 version.

For the Beast that came the closest to the promised land, what could be sweeter?

Thank you, Santa. Thank you very much.

(Now Santa, about Andy…)  

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Did Armando Galarraga pitch a perfect game or didn’t he?  

And if he did, so what else is new? Good for him.

And if he didn’t, so what?  The umpire at the plate giveth;  the umpire at first base taketh away.

Yawn.

Next.

By now, the mystery and wonder of no-hitters and perfect games should be long gone from fans’ minds and hearts;  save for the lamentable degradation of hitting skills by modern players in the age of overexpansion, role players, and skill specialization.

There have been many, many articles questioning the odd frequency of such pitching feats of late and you can take your pick of pet theories. And here’s mine.

The reason Galarraga  was screwed out of his place in the record books was the same reason he was close to getting into it in the first place—amok umpiring, signed  and stamped with the team owners’ seal  of approval.

Just look at the balance sheet of history for a clue as to why Galarraga really shouldn’t be crying into his beer over this.

As the redoubtably mediocre Dallas Braden so clearly proved earlier this season, this stat just ain’t so special anymore, folks.

Eleven of the 20 perfect games in history have come in the last 29 years.

That’s one for every two and a half seasons. Throw in the usual one or two no-hitters now being thrown every season in recent decades and it’s all really not so special anymore.

Not since the 1981 strike and split-season, anyway,  when the owners (aka MLB.Inc)  lost their final battle over unfettered free agent compensation and came up with special rules for playoff eligibility—and got away with it.

Ever since then, MLB has used its legal monopolistic prerogative to implement numerous new policies, rule changes and directives to the umpires union to more directly influence game outcomes for the sake of accommodating television production, commercial programming, and ratings.

Rules have been added to speed up the pitcher’s delivery and batter’s plate time, alter the strike zone, remove distracting colors and accessories from pitchers’  gloves, eyewear, and uniforms.

An entire book could be devoted the massive programming shift toward night games in recent decades to accommodate TV viewers—a trend that no pro player past or present would argue hasn’t forever  altered the equation toward a pitcher’s advantage.

The result: Of the 50 best season batting averages in MLB history, not one has come since 1980.

Is there anybody in the world who believes the overall quality of major league pitchers has suddenly dramatically increased in the last 30 years?

Of course not.

The simple fact is baseball has never been above changing the rules to suit their needs.

Let’s skip the obvious examples, such as the institution of the designated hitter rule, and reach a little further back.

Foul balls didn’t used to be counted as strikes, and four strikes used to equal an out.  

Spitballs were legal, and cut fastballs actually used to have cuts in them  not all that long ago.

In the 1960s when power pitchers were in their heyday and premier hitters were dirt-diving for their very lives, the mound got lowered. 

Approval and subsequent widespread use of artificial turf has eliminated 90 percent of the “bad hops” faced by the fielders  of yore.

In the post-strike season of 1998 when attendance and ratings were cratering, steroids and bat corking were far from the mind of MLB and the corporation did everything they could to encourage fan interest through the McGwire-Sosa race to the home run season record.

With a mindful eye toward the fact that both players on track for the record played for dismal teams and might not get the pitches necessary to reach their goal, MLB announced at mid-season any pitcher serving up a homer to the eventual record-breaker would be immortalized with their name on a plaque in Cooperstown  commemorating the feat.

As more than one pitcher commented the rest of the season when asked why he chose to pitch to—and be victimized  by—the Cards’ and Cubs’ lone dangerous batsmen in their lineups:  “Hey, it’s the only way I’ll ever get into the Hall, so what the hell.”

So after an era of wild scoring and pumped-up, corked-up offensive numbers and records, MLB has since countered by once again meddling with Abner Doubleday’s—or whoever’s—original winning formula.

It’s no secret any longer that MLB has empowered umps to manage and influence the game like never before, as witnessed numerous times through the glaring spotlight of the 2009 postseason and evidenced by the the embarrassing firings of several umpiring officials  made scapegoats for their effort.

The criminally blatant antics of umpires union chief Joe West and company and the institution of replay on fouls balls and home runs this season are simply another step in that game-influencing direction.

The next logical progression has to be instant replay on all calls but balls and strikes .

After that, is there any doubt  we will see electronic review and booth reversal of crucial balls and strikes calls that influence games?

It’s not a question of whether it’s a sucker punch to the heart of the sport’s purity or not, or whether it’s good for the game or not.  

In the eyes of MLB Inc., who have always exploited every means at their disposal to bend  the game to their commercial needs and wants, none of that sentimental stuff matters.  

It’s just what’s next.

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I am mad as hell right now.

After the way Josh Beckett tried to injure three Yankees tonight, I’d almost feel better if Jacoby Ellsbury sneezes and his fractured ribs puncture his lungs.

Or maybe I’d almost feel better if Joe Girardi gave struggling Javier Vazquez a chance to boost his fortunes with the team’s fans and work on his control at the same time. Give him a surprise start to open the next game in this series and let him aim at every Red Sox head he faces until he’s tossed, thus sparing the regular starter disciplinary action.

Almost, but not quite.

Nut-less thugs like Beckett and the A’s Dallas Braden who throw at players out of frustration or anger—or threaten to—belong in a jail cell bent over a bench getting broom buggered.

Terry Francona and any Sox fan here and elsewhere who defends scrotum-less, cowardly, talentless punks like that—or simply dismiss such acts by shrugging their shoulders and saying, “Well, that’s baseball”—belong in there with them.

Just as prisoners receive a much harsher penalty than the general populace for assaulting a guard because they have nothing to lose and require a stronger deterrent, so too should there be a sterner discipline for American League pitchers who feel they can throw to injure with impunity, safe in the knowledge that they themselves will not be subject to retaliatory measures.

More so for serial offenders like Beckett who have been suspended by MLB for this type of thing before.

Compounding their arrogant and dangerous antics is the hard truth that it is always the retaliator who receives the discipline anyway. Great system for encouraging criminals to act on their impulses in the first place, isn’t it?

The Red Sox embarrassed themselves tonight on the field.

Their pitcher embarrassed all who play his position.

And in lamestream media articles and blogs across the country tonight, and especially in New England, the comments are full to overflowing with numbnuts who are embarrassing themselves by defending, making alibis, or worse, cheering for and applauding Beckett’s criminal thuggery.

You know who you are, and this message is aimed at you. Your no-class team blows and your owners pay has-beens like Beckett $65 million to throw bean balls because fans like you, who came to see a contending MLB club, have to get something for your overpriced seats in that junkyard they play in.

And lacking a contending team, this appears to be the type of alternative spectacle your manager, owner and fan base have deemed worthy of capturing your attention, and justifying your investment of time and money.

It’s clear to all that wins don’t seem to be what you’re aiming for when you’re plunking Hall-of-Famers and All-Stars with the bases loaded, and even scrappy little hot-hitting replacement catchers wearing over-sized helmets that everyone in the world knows has already been beaned and received two concussions this year.

Anyone who genuinely believes Beckett’s bean ball penchant is due to control problems is an idiot. His control is perfect when he’s aiming at swinging bats and bodies. If you believe otherwise, well, enjoy your bridge to the cellar fellas, and say hi to the O’s for us when you get there.

Your team, your manager, and your fans who, like you, applaud or attempt to justify crap like this are guilty of aiding and abetting, and you will all get your just reward in the end.

It should be jail.

In the end, though, real baseball fans will simply have to settle for watching your franchise deteriorate into another 80-year abyss of wretched futility.

For not rising up and condemning this type of abominable behavior, you’re all getting off way too easy.

For more Yankees fun, check out the musical comedy vid “Joe’s Job – The Ballad of Terry Francona” . It’s must-see entertainment for Yankees and Sox fans alike!

Go Yankees! 28 in 2010!

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