Assorted Baseball News

Another day, another walk-off win for the Yankees. That was their 11th walk-off of the year and they are on a tear, having won 9 of their last 10 games. When they are behind or tied, you almost have this hope built inside of you that they will be able to find a way to get it together and come out with a win. They seem like much more of a confident team this year, as opposed to the teams from the past few years.

As for around baseball, there are a lot of interesting things going on. Here are some worth noting:

• Pedro made his first start tonight for the Phillies against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He pitched pretty good for his first start, going 5 innings and striking out 5 while giving up 7 hits and 3 ER. Having that early lead must have been a huge relief for him and a weight off his shoulder I would imagine.

• Youk and Porcello got into quite the brawl the other night. I think it's unfair that they both received the same suspension. In these cases the starting pitcher always ends up benefiting the most as Porcello is only going to miss one start. Youk on the other hand is going to be out for 5 games. I assume they decided to do that so he would be ready in 5 days when the Yankees come to town.

• Matt Holliday is on a tear. This makes me so happy as I knew he had this potential to be good, and everyone would tell me how wrong I was and how it was an effect of Coors Field. Well, in 18 games as a Cardinal, Holliday is hitting .486 with 8 2B's, 16RBI's and 4 HR's. He has raised his overall average to .320. It will definitely be an interesting offseason in which Holliday will be a free agent.

• I have to vent for a few. This venting goes towards Leiter, Kay and O'Neill, and all the other rich people out there. I am listening to the games and these guys are all going on about Mitch Modell being in the ballpark. First, isn't he always at the park? Second, they were besides themselves trying to see if he would give them some free gift-cards. While I for one would be thrilled at the sight of a 100 dollar gift-card, I am not a millionaire. In fact, I am a poor college student working 1,000 jobs just to get by to pay for grad school. These 3 individuals have more money coming out of their butts and they were begging for gift cards? Why in the world do they even need these? It's not just them though, even these rich baseball players are like this. Damon got a 400,000 dollar car for free. The players get gift cards after doing an interview. Come on now, do these people really need it? I can think of about 300,000 other people that actually would be in need of help and actually use the cards on practical items. Its so ridiculous at times how the rich do really get richer for no apparent reason. Ok I am done.

• Ok wait, I am not done actually. Michael Kay, you need to stop putting down the children of America. Not all kids that go to summer school are there because they goofed off. Some actually have learning disabilities and need it to catch up, or others go to get ahead in school. Ignorant comments about children are not warranted, especially during a baseball broadcast. I note this because he has made this comment on more than one occasion and it makes me angry each time he says it. Don't get me wrong either, Kay is a really nice guy and keeps the broadcasts interesting. I just hate when I hear these comments in general about kids, regardless if there was intent or not.

• Back to baseball, I think Chad Gaudin owes the Yankees a big thank you. Had it not been for them signing him, he would still look like this
• Also wanted to note that my site was linked on baseball-reference. So anytime you look at Al Leiter's stats, you can be linked to the blog. Thank you to the individual who sponsored my site :) Your prize awaits you at some point.

• Lastly, there was a great article written in ESPN the magazine that is worth mentioning. The Yankees and Jason Zillo did a great job in July during HOPE week in which the team went around the community and did a handful of good deeds for those who were most definitely deserving. This link tells about an organization known as Camp Sundown that provided children with a disease known as xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) with a place to go in which they can meet other children that suffer from the same disease. Basically these children cannot be exposed to the sunlight and can only participate in activities that take place during the night time. It is a great read and the Yankees have really provided a great deal of exposure to many about this horrible disease which will in turn hopefully lead to them raising more money for research and also towards maintaining the summer camp that is provided to these kids.