ALDS Game 2 pregame
CLEVELAND — Not a whole heckuva lot going on right now minus waiting for the first pitch here at Jacobs Field. Word has it that Queen Latifah is in the house — maybe she’ll don a Yanks’ cap like LeBron did here last night.
The most entertaining thing that’s happened here pregame was myself and a couple other writers spending about 15 minutes quoting the Big Lebowski — the single greatest comedy of all time. If you’re not down with the Dude, well then, obviously, you’re not a golfer. In honor of the Big Lewbowski, a few of us might actually go bowling tonight.
Of course, maybe the highlight was actually last night after Game 1, when Bryan Hoch — our Yankees’ writer — busted out quite an impressive impression of Anchorman’s Ron Burgandy (You know I don’t speak spanish). Hoch was also quick to bring up a picture on his phone, showing him dressed as San Diego’s favorite anchorman for Halloween. Quality.
When we’re not quoting our favorite flicks, we do actually run around and do some work, though. On the Yanks’ side, Hideki Matsui is still in the lineup, despite a recent slump and some right knee issues. New York manager Joe Torre said Matsui was fine to play, and he didn’t want to make a decision to bench him based on one game. For the Tribe, Kenny Lofton (3-for-4 with four RBIs on Thursday) started in left field against lefty Andy Pettitte, sending Franklin Gutierrez to the bench.
YANKEES
Johnny Damon, LF
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Hideki Matsui, DH
Jorge Posada, C
Robinson Cano, 2B
Melky Cabrera, CF
Doug Mientkiewicz, 1B
PITCHING: LHP Andy Pettitte
INDIANS
Grady Sizemore, CF
Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B
Travis Hafner, DH
Victor Martinez, C
Ryan Garko, 1B
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Kenny Lofton, LF
Jason Michaels, RF
Casey Blake, 3B
PITCHING: RHP Fausto Carmona
Major League Bastian 
Do you see what happens, Larry?
-M.
Jordan,
Your watching a classic in Cleveland tonight. Is there anything better in sports than a pitcher’s duel in October?
Cabrera struggled in September and accounts for the only run so far.
Ever since Game 4 of the A.L.C.S. in 2004, A-Rod in October looks totally lost!!!
31 pitches-nice first inning by Dice-K. Keeps going that way and he might last 3 innings. lol
I think Frank Thomas is doing a great job.
Great game by the Tribe.
I work outside (good part of the year), have lived on the west coast and in ontario. In all my life I have never heard of “canadian soldier” flying ants , can somebody please enlighten me or is a another phrase like “canadian” bacon ?
Great job by the tribe tonight and a great pitchers duel
Nevermind I checked…….soldier ants and flying ants but NO “canadian soldier flying ants”. I can sleep easier tonight …lol…take care all
Indigo
I’m glad we could help you out girl.
lol
I must say that the Cleveland and Yankee series has really entertained me. I am more of a Blue Jays fan then a baseball fan but even this series has got me intrigued. It’s also fan to watch A-rod struggle. Based on entertainment value so far I think i’ll adopt Cleveland as the team i’ll root for in the playoffs.
enigma
A-Rod went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts last night and is now 4-for-47 with zero RBIs in his last 14 playoffs games.
At 27 mill + bonuses per year A-Rod is definately a money player-only problem is he goes on holidays every October. Lol
I think everyone under estimated Cleveland’s pitching. So far in this series their pitching has dominated the Yanks. Conversely, it highlights the Yanks main weakness-the bullpen-other than Joba and Riviera.
Carmona was exceptional last night and is a solid candiate for the Cy Young award along with Sabathia.
Let’s hope we have the same quality next year with Halliday, Burnett, McGowan and Marcum
Well, there are some good things about 2007.
We’re now finishing paying our portion of Henskie and Koskies contracts. That saves us $6.57 mill per year. Jordan, has there been any update on Koskie’s condition, is he expected to recover and play again?
In addition, we will no longer be paying for Towers, Royce, Okha, Phillips, Thompson, Zambrano, etc which saves us an aggregate of $7.9 mill per year.
Zaun only made 110 starts in 2007. His contract included a player option for 2009 if he played in 270 games in 2007-2008. That now seems very unlikely.
The other really good news is the Canadian dollar appreciation. Approximately 1 year ago (when all the budgets were likely done for 2007) the dollar traded in the 0.85 US range; now it’s 1.01-that is a 20% difference.
This has huge impact on the Jays since all of the players salaries are paid in US dollars. Assuming a player payroll of $90 mill in 2007 as an example-the difference is about $18 mill going into 2008.
It might mean JP has more flexibility in 2008 than he’s letting us know.
Let’s spend it wisely for 2008.
Another brilliant analysis by gaysumner, you’re a Fu c kin’ genius. You’ll go down in history as that, just like your Mom goes down on that *** bosoxbrian. Your Mom is a ‘ho. I shi t on your head, and I sh it on bosox’s head. bosox your Mom is a ‘ho too!!
sentinel
You really do typlify a Yankees fan. Brash, vulgar, low class and limited intelligence.
Too bad your Yanks are down 2-0. Oh well, soon they’ll be gone.