40!

Forty pennants. Wow! To put that in perspective, the Yankees have as many pennants as the Milwaukee Brewers have seasons.

Andy was dandy last night. The starting pitching has been darned impressive, and bailed out some shaky offense. His post-season career numbers - 38 starts, 16-9, 3.83 ERA, would be the numbers of a Cy Young contender if they were a season line, and these were all compiled against the best teams in baseball, no Royals or Brewers softies to pad the stats.


I loved Mariano's low-key celebration, just this fist-pump and an embrace of Jorge Posada. No jumping up and down like a maniac for this closer, who acts like he's been there before - which he has, six times. This photo would make a great baseball card.


Up now are the Phillies. Damn, they look like a tough team, a mirror image of the Yankees in many ways with their power, pitching, and ballpark. At least the Yankees will be familiar with some of their starters, like Lee, Pedro and Blanton, so they won't have the excuse that they don't do well against pitchers they haven't seen.

Interview with Gerald Smiley

Gerald Smiley pitched four years of professional baseball, mostly in the Rangers organization. He is now an associate scout for the St. Louis Cardinals. In addition, he runs Smiley's Baseball Institute where he is always on the lookout for any good high school baseball prospects, and is also a scout at Perfect Game Showcase. He kindly took the time from his busy schedule to answer my questions about baseball cards.

- Do you have any stories about cards of yourself or of other players?

1.Every city I go to coach or scout in, it seems like people find me and have a card handy. And I gladly sign them. It's the fans who support all of our paychecks. Without them there would be no baseball.

- Do you have a favorite card of yourself or of another player?

2. My favorite card of myself is the T264 Topps Platinum Rookie Card.

My favorite card of someone else is the Topps Rookie Card of Mark Teixeira.

- Do you collect baseball cards?

3. I used to as a kid. I stopped collecting cards in High School. I'm going to start back up though. That's a good hobby. My grandfather used to buy my boxes of Topps cards as a kid.

Thanks! Any high school baseball prospects interested in playing in Oklahoma should look him up.

Don Slaught answers my baseball card questions

Don Slaught played sixteen years in the major leagues, mostly for the Royals, Rangers, Yankees and Pirates, catching over a thousand major league games. He is now the President of RightView Pro, a baseball instruction technology company that is the only analysis system licensed to use video of Major League Baseball players. He kindly replied to my questions about baseball cards.

- Do you have any stories about cards of yourself or of other players?
I was listed as a pitcher one time.



- Do you have a favorite card of yourself or of another player?
The 3D card from Texas Rangers.


- Do you collect baseball cards?
No.

Thanks!

I had to include a Yankee card of Slaught, so here he is making his Yankee debut on April 9, 1988, going 2-3 with an RBI in the Yankees 4-1 win at Milwaukee.

Burger time

Looks like the Yankees are gearing up to blow another one against the Angels. What can they do to stop the Angels momentum?

As you can see from his 2006 Topps card, Angels manager Mike Scioscia is not a small man. He loves junk food so much that he proposed to his wife at an In-N-Out Burger. Maybe the Yankees should make sure he gets a constant supply of burgers in the dugout to distract him from the game.

Benching Swisher for Gardner and making Robertson the eight-inning guy might help too. Just some suggestions, Joe.

Nikco Riesgo on baseball cards

Nikco Riesgo played six years of professional baseball. The 1990 Florida State League MVP with the St. Lucie Mets, he made his major league debut in 1991 with the Montreal Expos. Now the president of Major League Players Organization, which promotes youth baseball around the world, he kindly replied to my request for his thoughts about baseball cards.

"I used to collect cards as a youngster. I knew everything about everybody. When I first saw my own MLB card, I was like a kid in a candy store. My dreams actually came true."

Thanks! Here is that first major league card, from 1991 Bowman.

The Stopper

What a magnificent performance by CC Sabathia last night, in what was really a must-win game for the Yankees.

It's funny, the announcers always talk about how he has such an outsize personality to match his outsize frame, but he has actually had a really low profile for such a major acquisition - which is a very smart thing to do in New York. There's nothing better than a player who quietly goes out there and just gets the job done.

Most Valuable Angel

Is Joe Girardi secretly in the employ of the Angels? That is the only explanation for his bizarre managerial moves last night.

Also, would it kill the supposed best offense in baseball to get a hit with runners in scoring position in this series? If not for A-Rod and the Angels defense the Yankees would be down 3-0 instead of up 2-1.

I am fearing that the collapse is beginning...

Greg Sheppard on baseball cards

Greg Shepard played four years in the White Sox organization. His best year was 1997, when he hit .307 with 12 HR and 62 RBI for Hickory of the South Atlantic League. He is now a hitting instructor who runs the site www.hithardernow.com. He kindly responded to my request to his thoughts about cards.

"I stopped collecting after 2000 which was my last professional minor league season.

My favorite card is posted on my blogsite."

Thanks!

The best offense is your opponent's bad defense

Once again, an error by the Angels gave the Yankees a win. Thanks, Maicer!

Jerry Hairston's clutch single leading off the thirteenth put him in position to score when Izturis threw the ball away, making him the latest Yankee to get a pie in the face.


On an unrelated note, the announcers were talking about the Angel coaches, and I noticed that their hitting and pitching coaches were Hatcher and Butcher. That's pretty funny, I thought, their names rhyme. So then I thought what the equivalent for the Yankees would be.

Long Eiland. Nice.

CC! CC!

CC was spectacular for the Yankees last night, which was key considering that the Yankees best offensive contributors were the Angels' gloves. This is quite a performance for AJ and Andy to live up to. I can't get too excited yet as the last two times the Yankees played Anaheim in the playoffs they won Game 1 then completely fell apart. Still, better to win Game 1 then lose it, right?