How Can I Resist?

Johnny Damon. Johnny Damon. Bonafide New York Yankee lead off hitter. Ex-Bosox lead off hitter. Four years. 32 years old. 197 hits. More than 100 runs a year for I think 8 years running....Feels pretty damned good - mostly. We (meaning we Yankees - as you know - the fans are an integral part of team :-)) are going to have an AMAZING lineup this coming year with a potentially powerful bullpen and once again, our big if, IF our pitching is healthy 6 possible starters - at least that's the PC line. Here's what we're looking at.

Projected Lineup

Johnny Damon, CF Derek Jeter, SS Gary Sheffield, RF Alex Rodriguez, 3B Hideki Matsui, LF Jason Giambi, 1B Jorge Posada, C Bernie Williams, DH Robinson Cano, 2B

The Pitching
Starters
Randy Johnson
Mike Mussina
Chien-Ming Wang
Carl Pavano
Shawn Chacon
Jared Wright

In the Pen
Lefties Setup
Mike Myers
Ron Villone

Righties Setup
Aaron Small
Kyle Farnsworth
Octavio Dotel

Closer
Mariano Rivera

Supercharged as we say in the lingo, ain't it? 43 percent (as of 3:00pm) polled on Sports Illustrated think that Johnny Damon will "show Carlos Beltran how its done in NY" and 36% say he'll do okay. I think he'll do what we need of him and maybe a little more. Another poll I saw somewhere said that 66% of those 85,000 polled think that the Yankees have the best lineup in baseball. So much for that stuff.

I think:

• The Yankees will win the AL East, the Pennant and the Series
• Damon is a good addition that will not be a great "chemistry add" but will perform
• The 1998 Yankees team was the greatest baseball team of all time with the chemistry to match
• The 2006 version won't have clubhouse chemistry too much but as Larry Bowa says "they are veterans who know how to win
• The Yankees did the right thing by bringing back Bernie Williams - diminished skills or not. He should retire a Yankee. He has been one of our greatest ever and a totally class act.
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There we go.

So, Yankees fans, Bosox fans, other fans, what do you think? Blog comment me, baby.

Hey what about the much, much improved Blue Jays?

Nah.

Housekeeping Note

I'm going on a cruise starting tomorrow with my beloved wife for 4 days and will return on Monday. If I can, I'll send on an entry or two during the cruise. If not, sorry, but I'll be sipping a single malt somewhere on the ship. So if you don't "see" me or me, you, Merry Christmas or any holiday of your choosing.

Comments

[pure acai berry]

Great site you have here. Enjoyed the post will bookmark. :)

[Paul Greenberg]

Mike,
We're working on it. Not there yet. Everyone should check out the link that Mike from VisualMining (a BI/dashboard company with some panache) sent. The Onion is one of the greatest satires of all time and just cranks out brilliant stuff every day really. This particular entry is fantastic!!

[Mike]

Well, this is old but its still relevant:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27656

Damn Yankees.

[Mario]

Hi Paul
You and Yvonne have a good one.
Up the Yankees!
Mario

[Gerhard]

OK, that's the Pirates, "stealing" is totally an Evil Empire trick

[Gerhard]

You and your Damn Yankees. The only reason you have a team at all is that you always steel the best Red Sox players- starting from way back with the Babe to the latest-Damon

Have a great cruise.