I found this from Jeff Erikson, rotowire.com, in the "Charging the Mound" comments:

"Should Hideki Matsui’s(notes) Japanese career numbers be considered when vetting his name for potential Hall of Fame consideration? His numbers in MLB alone won’t stand up, but because he collected his 1,000th major league hit on Monday, I started thinking about his place in history. He had 332 homers and a .304/.413/.582 line in Japan before joining the Yankees in 2003, entered this year with a .292/.370/.482 line in the majors and now has 144 major league homers. His MLB resume is short on awards, though – just two All-Star games and last year’s World Series MVP. Chances are he won’t get in, but should he be in the conversation?"

To which Chris Liss replies, "I’m a big Matsui fan – always thought he was a very tough out on the Yankees. And he has a 55,000-tape porn collection, which should weigh in his favor. But I don’t think he’ll make it"

90 years ago today is when it happened.  It was a note worthy and important first that I'm sure all Yankee fans will want to observe.

Herman "Babe" Ruth hit his first Home Run as a New York Yankees, 90 years ago today.

This from The Baseball Page.com

n 1920, Ruth shattered the single season home run mark when he clubbed 54 for his new team, the Yankees. Though he would later tie or better that mark three times, he never had a better overall campaign. He hit .376, fourth best in the league; his slugging percentage was an absurd .847 - the highest total ever to that point by almost 200 percentage points. His .530 OBP was the highest in history to that point. He led the league in extra-base hits, runs, RBI, walks and total average, which was an all-time high of 1.934, or nearly two bases for every out made! His efforts brought the Yankees their first pennant.

"On May 6, 1915, Babe Ruth hit his first major league home run off Jack Warhop, who pitched, ironically enough, for the Yankees."

A must see for all Yankee fans!

 The Onion News Network does it again.  

Almost as funny are the YouTube comments:

"I can't believe that the Red Sox are doing this. The President should get involved because it is wrong to discriminate!!! I am gonna root against the Red Sox this year because of this"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PnNBLWA-Sk&feature=digest

Rock-filled horse bladders!  LOL

I give it 5 stars.  Email this to your favorite Red Sox fan, today.

Two recent signings, Adam Lind & Mark Reynolds, seem to indicate that there was indeed fall out from the Damon situation during the off season.  Lind, who hit .305, 35 HR, 114, RBIs last year, got 4 year for $18 million,  with club options through '16 that peak at $8 million. Five million for the next 3 years sounds like a bargain bat for those kind of numbers, although he may be pressed to repeat them with the Jays revamped line-up. Reynolds, who fans at a record pace, still hit 44 homers last year and 102 RBIs and .260.  He was inked to make $500,000 in 2010, $5 million in '11, $7.5 million in '12, and there is an $11 million club option for 2013 with a $500,000 buyout.  A better deal than Lind, but still "Sale" prices when you consider what Matt Holliday signed for $13.5m this season or what Damon wanted.  Mauer may be the exception, still, I'm willing to bet Mauer gets trade out of the Twin-Cities before his contract is up. How can the Twins afford to keep a team around him?

Alex Rodrigeuz is closing in on a lot of "all-time" baseball records, such as the home run record, which I'm sure we would all like to see him break sometime soon, and preferably at home and not of the road. His "swing-for-the-fence style places him in another all time leader category that is a little more dubious, All-Time Career Strikeout Leader.

Currently ranked at number 18 with 1738, A-Rod is in pace to move into the top 10, over taking Dave Kingman who has 1816.  I'm betting he won't make #10 this season, not for lack of strikeouts, he averages more than 100, but because Mike Cameron, Ken Griffey Jr., Manny Rameriz and Carlos Delgado are all head of Alex  (11, 12,15, & 17 respectively).  Cameron could end the season in 7th place,  Manny has the edge over Griffey Jr. for 10th.

FYI  Reggie Jackson is the record "free swinger" with 2596.  Second place will be adding to his total this season. Can you guess who he is?

Manger Joe Girardi has his eye on the Yankees back-up catcher and for good reason

Ben Shpigel of the New York Times reported the following:

Cervelli said he had had at least three concussions since 2005. It is widely believed each successive concussion increases the risk of sustaining another.

Cashman said that when Cervelli had his last concussion, while playing winter ball in November, the Yankees could have let him resume playing. But they shut him down as a precaution.

Cervelli caught Mark Melancon’s bullpen session, and Girardi asked Melancon later: Did Cervelli catch everything?

“I would never do that before,” Girardi said.