LesTerrific

Anyone recall that scene from 'Remember The Titans' when a vindicated, yet crippled Gerry Bertier raises his arms in triumph after his team won the state championship against Ole Ed Henry's squad. Yeah, that's how I feel for every pitch of Jon Lester's pitches. Jon Lester last night was a flat out stud. Going 6 1/3 and yielding no runs and nullifying any questions about the knee that anyone had before the start. I'm actually looking at that sweep at the hand of the Yankees last weekend in a sort of symbolic way. Melky Cabrera tried his best to help the team by knocking Jon Lester out of not just the game but the entire 2009 playoffs. When that didn't happen the Yankees playoff chances just decreased 10-fold. Sorry Melky, 'twas a valliant effort and probably going to be the biggest moment you could have had in this the Year of the Ox, but a giant slap to the face for attempting to dismember my man-crush is coming your way.

The one thing that I am worried about most going into these playoffs is: you guessed it, Daniel Bard. Now I'm sure a lot of you probably thought why not Manny DelCarmen? Because he is horrible, was atrocious, and will be preposterous. He need not make the roster so I will not waste energy talking about all the reasons I loathe him. But back to someone pertinent. Daniel Bard of late has hit a spell of wildness lately and by wildness I mean mis-locating rather than walking the ballpark. This has lead to little bleeders off the end of the bat or ducksnorts off the handle and although he isn't getting rocked he needs the few days in between the end of the regular season and to hit the bullpen and get that precision so that he could knock a pea off of a thimble. (If I can do it anyone can do it. Ok that was a lie.)

Take a look at next year's last place team in the AL Central ladies and Gents, because even with Grady Sizemore, that team is going to lie like a dog which will make the "dog-days" of August are going to be like watching paint dry. That Carrasco kid that threw last night had decent stuff, and looked like a good prospect in return for the invincible Cliff Lee. It's too bad he got hit with a potshot off of the bat of Jacobes because I actually liked watching him pitch. Good pickup Cleveland.

With regards to the Angels I'm starting to think that if we had a catcher that could throw out runners this series WOULD NOT be close but since we don't, that will make it VERY interesting. I've decided to dedicate at least one paragraph to the Anaheim Gum Flappers in each entry because like it or not they're relevant now. I realize that Kendry Morales has had a career year this year but is anyone else thinking that this guy like Manny Del "give up a homer every outing" is going to just be a total flop in the playoffs? They are saying he has filled the void of one Mark Teixeira and I'm here to call bullshit (oops I tried to go a whole entry without profanity) on that. His defense isn't what Teixeira's is and although his average is slightly higher, I'm not going to attempt to draft him in next year's Fantasy draft, so take that!

Today I have mixed emotions, because today my oldest child turns two. Now that makes me feel like the oldest 21 year old in the world and I can't believe that my little slugger (because yes, the kid rakes. I'll post a video sometime so y'all can see) is getting so big. On the plus side, as my Facebook status said I met a Dan Akroyd look-alike. Now I'm pretty sure it was unintentional to look like the dad from My Girl, but that didn't stop me from calling him Elwood Blues 4 times in Irving. I was pretty sure he found me annoying (rightfully so) until when he was about to leave he looked at me and put his hand in his pocket and very Rico Suave-like pulled out a pair of shades (BIG 1980's style hater blockers) and gave me a nod. My life was complete.

Stay Tuned

Ryan