The Ryan Lavarnway Era Begins!

Here’s what I know about Ryan Lavarnway:

He is a catcher who has been destroying pitching in the Eastern League and the International League.

He plays a lot of DH which makes me wonder if his future is NOT behind the plate.

He’s a right handed home grown slugger who is coming into a Red Sox line up in desperate need for a jolt, especially with the injuries to Youk and Papi.

I’ve never seen him play.

I don’t know anyone who has seen him play.

He joins the Sox today.

Mark today down.

We will be living in the Ryan Lavarnway era!

WILLIAMS!

YAZ!

RICE!

FISK!

BOGGS!

The next great Hall of Fame hitter for the Red Sox?

Make room on the wall and mark my words!

IT WILL BE LAVARNWAY!

(No Pressure.)

Um… Didn’t A-Rod help the Yankees win a World Series?

There was a very odd article in the New York Times by Harvey Araton from the other day. The great Lisa Swan of Subway Squawkers pointed it out to me.

The premise of the article had to do with Alex Rodriguez and his body that could very well be breaking down. His multiple trips to the disabled list in the past few years seem to confirm that.

And yeah, the contract is going to last until I think 3295.

But the article is odd for two reasons.

It implies that he hasn’t been an elite player for a dozen years when in fact he was the AL MVP as recently as 2007.

And he kinda sorta helped the Yankees win a World Series.

In fact he hit critical “Game on the line Game Tying Homers” in the Division Series and ALCS and clobbered a key homer in the World Series.

He won the Babe Ruth Award. He had an OPS over 1.500 in both the Division Series and ALCS. It was .973 in the World Series.

Most players who win multiple MVPs and was instrumental in a World Series Championship are kind of revered in a city.

Even one with the baggage of steroids hanging over them. (See Pettitte, Andy.)

I’m not saying that the contract WON’T be an albatross… but shouldn’t the 2009 title put a LITTLE in his credit column?

Instant Replay meets the Human Element in Kansas City

Last night in Kansas City we may have had the great compromise between people like me who are FOR Instant Replay (because we like to have calls be correct!) and the opponents of instant replay, who evidently think screwing up calls makes the game better and players shouldn’t be rewarded for what they actually DO!

Billy Butler of the Royals hit a ball off the top of the wall against Yankees starter Bartolo Colon.

That’s what he did.

We all saw it.

Now it may have looked like it went over the fence when it happened, but all the camera angles clearly showed it stayed in the park.

Even the Kansas City announcers were talking about how Butler should be on second base.

Joe Girardi asked the umpires to review it. They did. All the TV crews showed over and over again that it didn’t clear the fence while they reviewed it.

The umpires returned… and ruled it a home run.

Even the Royals were laughing knowing that they got away with one.

So there you have it! The great compromise! Instant Replay in use, and the human element screws it up!

By finding the mid ground, the umpires for a perfect compromise that EVERYONE can hate.

Instant Replay opponents can complain about the game being slowed down and the over reliance on technology.

Instant Replay supporters can complain that the call was wrong.

EVERYONE LOSES! Which means everyone wins when you think about it.

My previous position still stands!