HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUGGYBEAR!

I've been trying to have some fun with this blog doing contests and all... what do I get? Nada. We've had two participants in our current Yankee trivia contest happening live on Twitter. The World Cup reference contest? No participants...

Happy birthday to Phil "Huggybear" Hughes. A young man, Hughes has lead this team throughout this season. Disregard the cliche, he's finally stepped up to the plate this season. He's a serious contender to win the Cy Young if he keeps up this pace.

I completely hate these Hughes Rules. They're sooooooooooo dumb. They didn't work with Joba "The Pizza Hut" Chamberlain and Huggybear is way better than him. We need him now. We're in the midst of a tight pennant race. He's our best pitcher. It's a bad logistical decision to take him out for a series of games. Come on Joey Braces. What are you thinkin'? We need wins. Wins are important.

Topic 2: Beating the Diamondbacks

We should take 3 out of 3 from a team as dismal as the Diamondbacks. I mean, come on, what is a Diamondback. But you know why we didn't break out the brooms? A-FREAKING-J-FREAKING BURNETT. I'm still furious about this. He's sooooo bad. Some say we should trade him. Go ahead, type "Burnett for" into Google. Look at the suggestions. He's worth, according to Google, carmel. Carmel. That's what we have pitching for us. Carmel is pitching for us. Thats right friends.

But seriously, we couldn't get jack for AJ. If we're lucky, the Metros would take him off our hands.

So. If you can get three things out of this post, here they are:

1. Have fun with us. Off day twitter trivia contests and blog post contests. Win magical prizes.

2. The Huggybear rules are dumb.

3. I hate AJ. He's dumb and worth carmel.

I HATE the West Coast

Full disclosure: I am an old lady. Always have been. Always will be. My mom referred to me as her "little old lady" as a child and she still does.

I am happiest when I have a routine. I don't really like surprises. I have a hard time dresssing youthfully. I tend to notice trends as they're ending. And most importantly, I go to bed and wake up early.

So this series against the Diamondbacks is killing me. With games that don't start until 9:30 or 10, I barely make it through the first inning. It's embarrassing. I'm writing this during the first inning on Wednesday and I can barely keep my eyes open.

I barely noticed that Vasquez almost just pelted someone. At least I think that's what happened. I'm not entirely sure.

As an aside, I have an excuse for being so tired. I have to be at work at 7, so by 10 I'm normally pretty wiped.

What I'm trying to say is: I hate west coast series. And it doesn't end with the Diamondbacks. We're off to LA soon. I'm never going to see a full game again. Or at least it feels that way.

I don't really hate the west coast (in spite of what the title says). We went to California once. It was lovely, but I had a really hard time with the time change. So I slept most of the time. We went to Dodger stadium while we were out there. It's true what they say say: it does have a HUGE parking lot.

I guess my real issue is with time changes. Not so much the west coast. (Fun fact: China is all on one time zone.)

In other news, Mike and I are mounting a campaign to get Swisher on the All-Star team. He may not be the best, but you have to smile when you see him. He's always smiling.

I'm going to end this before I fall asleep.

How are we actually in first?

Ok. Here's a scavenger hunt for y'all. Open up your newspaper to the Sports Section. Find the baseball standings. What team is in first place in the American League East? The New York Yankees. While I am truly overjoyed by this, I have to wonder how this happened.

Have you watched this team lately? We've been playing like garbage, similar to how North Korea looked against Portugal. I see two key reasons as to why we are in first:

First off, Andy Pettite and Phil Hughes have been indomitable lions this year. They have a combined 18 wins and 3 losses. Hughes is third in ESPN's Cy Young Tracker (behind Price and Bucholtz). Pettite is 4th. Both these pitchers are rolling. They're the Super Eagles of this squad.

Second, Robbie Cano. Don't Ya Know? Cano is on a tear this season. His BA is about .25 points higher than anybody in the majors. First in the AL in hits, second in the Majors to Martin Prado on Atlanta. He's driving the car known as the Yankee offense right now. He's batting like the Celestial Blue Sky.

See...we really shouldn't be in first place. I'm a huge Yankee fan, but come on:

We have AJ. He's tanking fast. Last six starts? 2-4, 6.55 ERA, a WHIP over 1.5, and not too statistically, he can't get people out on two outs. We've got nothing on the top. Jeter is struggling, Tex started slow, but hopefully will get up soon and A-Rod just isn't crushing it this season. We need these guys to get going soon.

We're not going be in first for long without a third of our line up hitting and a two fifths of our rotation pitching like garbage. Especially since we have the Red Sox Fury and the Bafana of the Rays slowly gaining on us.

World Cup Contest:

I will give a prize to the first person who can name all the World Cup References in this post. In order to win, you must comment the references on this post. There are 5 of them.

Other notes:

Vote Nick Swisher to the All-Star team. He needs all the support he can get. Vote here early and often.

AJ looked like crap yesterday. No two ways of saying it.

GO TEAM USA TOMORROW IN THEIR GAME.

Liz, learn some practicality

YANKEE FANS LIKE THE YANKEES. WE HAVE NO INTEREST IN YOUNGER SIBLINGS TAKING MORE RISK. WE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT TEX'S MONSTER SERIES AGAINST THE NEW YORK "JAYVEE" METROPOLITANS.

Fear not Yankee fans, for I, Mike, am here. I will analyze the heck out of everything about this "Tex Message" to Yankee fans that he is still alive.

For those of you who did not hear about Marky Mark's Monster weekend, he single handedly destroyed the Metros. A two run shot yesterday to put away New York's JV team and a grand salami today, absolutly wrecking Johan Santana.

While I've said this about 3 times this season, Tex is back. I said it after his 3 home run game against the Evil Empire. I said it when he hit a big 3 run home run a few weeks back against Cleveland. But now, I think things are going to turn around Big Mark.

Things have been changing for Mark "Legs" Teixeira since his 5 strikeout game against Toronto on June 5th. That game was a travesty. Since then, his OBP is up above his career average, and the desired .400 mark. His BA, while below his career average, is about .05 higher than this season's average. Since June 5th, his slugging percentage is up an astonishing .15 points, to .549. These numbers don't even include today's game, which he slammed the Mets on his own.

So, can everybody shut up about Tex crashing? He's fine. It was an extended slow start that will bring his finial numbers down. But I think he's going to go on a thrash for the rest of the season. Look for some pretty good things from Mark Man for the rest of the year.

Mark, I know you're a techno-phobe (similar to Liz). But we have some questions for you. How long are your legs? Also, send us a picture?

Risky Business

First, lets celebrate the 2-1 series against the Mets. Teixeira's grand slam was a beautiful, beautiful thing.

But I really want to discuss this article in the New York Times a month ago, about a study conducted about siblings and risk. It describes a study by Frank J. Sulloway and Richard L. Zweigenhaft for the current issue of Personality and Social Psychology Review.

The two wanted to see if siblings acted differently with regard to risk given their birth order. They used MLB siblings as they're data group. The article reads, "Given how younger siblings have been shown to take more risks than their older counterparts — perhaps originally to fight for food, now for parental attention — Drs. Sulloway and Zweigenhaft examined whether the phenomenon might persist to the point that baseball-playing brothers would try to steal bases at significantly different rates."

Their findings supported their hypothesis. In over 90 percent of baseball siblings, the younger brother tried to steal more bases than his brother. They also controlled for overall skill.

Anecdotally, it's totally true that younger siblings take bigger risks. I'm a complete perfectionist, who spends hours antagonizing over simple decisions. Seriously, it will take me a minimum of twenty minutes to decide whether or not I want whip cream on my waffles if we go out for breakfast. Mike can attest to this. We went out for Indian last night and it was a huge deal that I ordered something I'd never gotten before. This is a risk for me.

Mike, on the other hand, dives head first in situations. I don't want to say he does things blindly, but he's much more likely take a risk than I am.

If you put both of us on first base, there's no doubt in my mind that he'd steal and I'd wait. It's just the way we are.

The researchers offer up possible explanations for this behavior in younger siblings, such as "originally fighting for food, [and] now for parental attention."

In my case, my risk-averse nature has nothing to do with fear of losing food or parental attention. And everything to do with a fear of failure. I don't want to screw up, so I take the safe track.

Mike, I'm interested to know what you think about this article.

Dear Nick Swisher

Dear Mister Swisher,

Thank you. I think you are the only true, blue baseball player. You clearly play for the love of the game and have so much fun doing so. For that I thank you. You treat the "Bleacher Creatures" like they're your step-brother and have a great connection with the fans.

This season, you've been on a tear. All your stats are up this year from the averages. Your BA is up almost .50 points, slugging the same. Even your OBP is up about .3 You're more valuable than an average player is (WAR at 1.8, higher than the average 1.0). You should be an all star. You're better than a lot of players out there.

Why else do I like you? You have fun and aren't afraid to show it. I think thats why you didn't prosper in Chi-town. Ozzy held you down. Now, you're with Joey Braces and the Funtime Gang. I have a picture from the World Series celebration hanging up, and you are having so much fun. Your mouth is wide open and you're flying into the pile. It was a brilliant photo, but it describes you so well.

Mr. Swisher, if you ever read this letter, know one thing. I graduate high school next year. I want you at my graduation party. You seem like one of the best people to have a non-alcoholic beverage with. I just want to pick your brain and learn all about you (in the least creepy sense of that statement). So if you are reading this, send me a sign. Hold one up at the game on July 21. We'll be there. Or reply to this post. Or send me something on Twitter. Or something like that.

Your Friend,

Mike

PS TWITTER ME @BACK2BACKNYY

Once the Yankees let up two runs in the eighth, Mike and I turned off the game. We actually turned on two of our all-time favorite sports movies: Mighty Ducks 2 (D2) and Cool Runnings. The two of us have rather low-brow taste. They're goofy movies, but we have been known to stay up half the night watching them whenever they come on.

Mike went to see Toy Story 3 tonight with a friend. You should know that as a I child, Mike was obsessed with Toy Story. He had Toy Story everything. We're talking action figures, sheets, placemat, cup, posters and as he says "all that jazz." So nothing was going to get in Mike's way of seeing Toy Story 3 tonight.

I was reading a review of it that pointed out that the original Toy Story came out fifteen years ago, when Mike was two years old. That's the same year the Core Four came out of the farm system and started playing for the Yankees. So a good year for entertainment, a good year for the Yankees and a good year for us.

One other thing I wanted to point out, is the historical context of this weekend's Yankees/Mets series. While inter-league play only began in '97, the Yankees have been engaged in it since they played in the "City Series" against the Giants in 1910. Then, in 1946, the Yankees began playing the Giants and Dodgers in alternating years for the Mayor's Trophy. The proceeds were donated to charity.

In '63 the Mets got in on the game. The tradition went on until '97 with the birth of interleague play.

And of course, the two played each other in the 2000 World Series.

So this weeks series is just one piece of the history between the two teams.

The dreaded injury bug

We caught it my friends. And we just can't catch a break now. At this point, almost every player in our starting 9 (DH, not pitcher) has gone down. With the exception of Derek, Robbie and Gardy, everybody has gone down. The latest to fall is A-Rod, but a much more important loss to the team is Georgie.

Jorge Posada went down on May 17th against the Twinkies. He broke his foot after fouling a ball off of it. He was projected to miss 3-4 weeks.

Posada (Po for short) is the most crucial player the Yankees have on their team. He's the field general for the Yanks. Posada, even though he missed about 15 games this season, is still having a great season by his standards. His OBP is about .22 higher than his career average, and his BA is about the same. His slugging is up big time this year compared to his average (.577 to .482). Its incredible to see such numbers for an older player like Po.

I'd go as far as saying he is the reason for the Yankees success in the last decade. Posada leads the team in a major intangible: spirit. He's always supporting the team. He's a true team man. He may not be a hall of famer. He'll get his number retired.

I recently read that Posada will be named "Father of the Year" by the Father's Day Council. Good for him. He deserves it. His son has been diagnosed with craniosynostosis, a serious medical condition. Posada does everything in his power to help his son. He's a great person and deserves this award more than anyone.

It's absolutely necessary that Po gets back soon. He may not have the numbers like A-Rod, the paycheck of Tex or the notoriety of Jeter, but he is just as important as these players. So Jorge, if you ever read this, get well soon. I know you're playing, but get to full strength. You're a true leader, on and off the field for this team.

A shoutout to our new favorite Tweeter-@YankeeMegInPHL. She got us 30 followers tonight. It's really appreciated.

An open letter to AJ Burnett

Dear AJ Burnett,

Stop sucking so much. You are far and away the worst pitcher on the staff. Even Javier Vazquez is better than you. Well, heres the deal. Either suck all the time, or pitch well all the time. No more necessary prayers for you to pitch well. Just do it. We shouldn't have to ask you. You get paid way more than my 8.50 an hour. You make 565 times what I make in an hour PER PITCH. Pitch like you do.

You're berserk. Watching you pitch in 3 different games is like watching Clint Eastwood's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Your last three starts (not counting tonights dreadful game against my sister's love affair: The Phillies): 1-2, 13 runs allowed (11 earned), an ERA of nearly 5, with 4 hit batters! These are in "Low Pressure" games (.89 aLI, below the league average of 1). These are Joba "The Warrior" Chamberlain numbers. Not 16 million dollars per year numbers.

AJ. Step it up. We want more rings. We can't do it without you. Well, thats a lie. We can. But things would be alot easier for us if you would just pitch well.

Love,

Yankee Fans all over the world

PS. Tonight was ugly, and it sparked me to write this letter.

Liz is having an affair

The first of the World Series re-match just ended and Mike and I have turned on Psych. As an aside, Psych is on of the funniest shows on TV. It's about a private investigator who pretends to be psychic. I'm not selling it well, but it's hilarious. Here's the promo for the winter season.

Anyway, I've been looking forward to this series for about a week now. It's not just the World Series re-match thing. The Phillies are my National League team. I always had a soft spot for the Phills. The Phanatic is just so loveable.

And sense starting school in Philly, they've grown on me even more. Citizens Bank is a great ball field. And say what you will about Philadelphia fans, they're fun people to watch a ball game with. Unless the Phillies are losing. Or you run out onto the field.

But more than that, they're such a motley crew. Shane Victorino is one of less than ten Hawaiian players in the Majors. Cole Hamels married a reality TV star ( I hate using the word star for people who have been on Survivor.) Jayson Werth is the grandson and nephew of major leaguers. And Ryan Howard may just be the slowest runner in the Major Leagues.

I just adore them.

But there's never any question as to who I love more.

During the World Series, one of my friends asked me who I would be rooting for.

I responded, "Blood's thicker than water."

She gave me the strangest look. But to me it made total sense. The Yankees were/are an extension of the family. My allegiances are clear.

That being said I was not overjoyed when my dad and Mike spent the evening mercilessly mocking the Phillies. They're a fun team. Made of fun people. And they deserve our respect.

Mike's rebutal

Do I have a favorite Yankee? No. No I don't. Have I lost my mind? Well, yes, but I'm not the one to blame for that. I don't have a favorite Yankee. I have a series of equally favorited players.

Derek Jeter-Among the classiest players out there. He's clutch, he's a champion and within a year, he'll have 3000 hits, a great accomplishment.

Jorge Posada-Sure, he pees on his hands and yes, that is a little bit nasty. But he's a great player and a class act. I've never had a chance to talk to the man, but he just seems smart. He knows baseball. Is he a Hall Of Famer? Probabaly not. Will his number be retired? I sure hope so.

Mariano Rivera-Where would we be without Mo? I think we take him for granted as Yankee Fans. He's going to be the alltime saves leader (after Trevor Hoffman retires). Number 42 will go down in history as the Godliest relief pitcher of all time.

Nick Swisher-He has fun. Thats what baseball is all about. He clearly plays for the love of the game, not for the money or the fame. He's one of the most likeable guys on the Yanks.

Andy Pettite-Read Liz's post from Sunday

I equally like all of these players. They make the team what it is. They lead us (with the exception of Swish) to 23,24,25 and 26. And these 5 led us to number 27. And these 5 will lead us to infinity and beyond (a necessary plug to go see Toy Story 3 this weekend!)

Why I Love Andy Pettitte

Well, Jorgie juiced not one, but two.

Two grand slams in two days. I have nothing but respect for the man.

In my brother's first post, he said he was a "Posada guy." You'll notice he didn't refer to Posada as his "favorite." I point this out because of a conversation Mike and I had the other day.

Me: Mike, who is your favorite Yankee?

Mike: I don't have one.

Me: What?

Mike: I know who I don't like. (He grimaces). Scott Proctor (with detectable venom in his voice).

Yes, that's right. My brother insists he doesn't have a favorite player. This is a completely foreign concept to me. I'm a Pettite girl. And by that I mean Andy Pettitte is my favorite player.

Mike probably finds this a little odd mainly because Pettitte seems to go against what I stand for. If you asked my best friend to describe me she would say "Intensely loyal." Seriously, I've been known to blacklist people just for looking at my friends the wrong way.

And Pettitte left us for the Astros.

And anyone who knows me would describe me as a rule follower. My dad called me "the sheriff" when I was three.

And Pettitte admitted to steroid usage.

So why would he possibly be my favorite?

The honest answer is I have no idea. I think it has something to do with the crazy eyes he gets when he's pitching well. He pitched all three clinchers in the post-season. And the clincher in the '98 series.

But I've always just felt he was a good guy. He seems to genuinely love his kids and his team.

Only 100 to go!

Thats right folks. We have a mere 100 games left to this season. Following today's win against the Astros, the Yankees stand at 39-23, an excellent 16 games over .500. So, here is the report card for Yankee Players as of the 38 percent of the season mark. In no particular order

Robbie Cano-A. Cano is on fire this season, and shows no signs of slowing down. He's batting .373 with an OBP of .417. He's slugging .610. He leads the Yanks in OBP (1.027), so he's having a great year. On the fielding front, he hasn't made nearly as many bonehead plays in the field as he has in past years.

Derek Jeter-B. A subpar start for Jeter, but that's ok. He tends to come on later on anyways. I'm not too concerned about Jeter. He's only about .1 points below .300 batting and his OBP is respectable (.343). He looked strong today with 2 home runs against the 'Stros.

Mark Teixeira- D-. Tex has clearly struggled. About a month ago, we blamed it on April. May wasn't much better. Mark is last among the Yankee starters in batting average. However, he's 4th on the squad in RBIs and 3rd in home runs. It's just the lack of singles and doubles thats keeping him down. I foresee a down year for Mark, but he should still improve by the end of the year.

Carsten Charles Sabathia- B-. Sabathia has looked brilliant in his wins this year, especially in his near no hitter against Tampa Bay. However, it's the losses that's dragging Carsten Charles down. 4th among the starters in ERA, Sabathia just isn't shutting down opponants like the way he was last year. Expect a rebound soon from CC.

Andy Pettite- A. A Cy Young-esque year for the Southern Man . He's wheelin' and dealin'. He's leading the Yankees with 8 wins. He leads the starters in ERA (2.46) and BB/9 (2.5). Pettite looks poised to win a Cy Young this season, but in order to do so, he'll have to beat out teammate...

Phil Hughes-A. Cy Young-esque year for the young gun. If Pettite doesn't lead the starters in a category, Hughes does. This is the sort of pitcher the Yankees have been waiting for from Hughes. Have a pair of teammates ever been this dominate? One has to look back to the dreaded 2001 Diamondbacks with Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson.

And last, but not least

Joba Chamberlain-D. Joba has done horrible this season. He is 1-3 on the season (from the bullpen) with an ERA of 4.94. Joba seems to be struggling to get anyone out. As of late, he's brought his grade up from the depths of hell, but he needs to give up less runs. His strikeout number is excellent and his low walks make him seem better. But he needs to turn around quickly in order to be the dominant pitcher he has the potential to be.

Let's go on a badenture through the Blogosphere

As I just said to my Yankee copanaera Liz, let's take a badenture through the world of Sports Blogging. As Ron Burgandy said, "I'm kind of a big deal". Well, not really. I just survived my Junior Year in high school. I'm still convinced that the only way I actually survived Spanish was because my teacher loves the Yankees. On November 5th, he and I had a "fiesta"in class.

I love the Yankees. I'm a man, so I try not to cry. But when we won in November, I cried. Broke down in tears while on the phone with my sister. I was 7 when we won in 2000. Not really a fan, I remember only this from the series. I never thought we would win again, but we did.

The Yankees are my first, my only and my true love. Sure, I like other sports. I'm a Knicks, Giants and Rangers fan. But there's always been something about the Yankees. Maybe it was the first major league home run I saw (John Van Der Wall, by the way) or maybe it was just the first view of the grass at the Stadium. Maybe it was the kid in the net against Chicago. Or maybe it's just hearing John and Suzyn or Michael, Kenny, Al and Flash calling the game. I love the game and I love this team.

I'm a Posada guy. He's a natural, among the best catchers ever. I like Jeter too. He's never said a mean thing about anyone, a real class act. I like Andy. Man, he can pitch. Robbie, Gardy, Swish, Tex, Mo; All great players, love 'em all.

Two players are clearly missing from that list. A-Rod and Joba. They're both completely overrated. I was at the Cleveland game a couple of weeks ago. We had a lead and Joba comes in. I look to my dad and say "10 bucks we're losing after he's done". Guess who walked out of the Stadium with 10 dollars more than he started with? A-Rod is completely annoying. He thinks he's hot stuff. But really, no. He's nothing more than a pretty boy with some decent strength and a weak groin.

I hate the Sox. Pedroia is terrible. He's a niche player who can only play in Fenway. Papelbon is a Mariano wannabe. He'd be lucky to be half the man that Mo is. Beckett requires a shave NOW. He looks like a complete scumbag. Playing for the Evil Empire doesn't help his image either. But the worst player on the Red Sux? David "Big Papi" Ortiz. He's a horrible, horrible player. He's fat, can't field, can't run and can't hit (ever since he quit the 'roids)

So, I look forward to writing sports for all of you. It's a hobby of mine. I hope all y'all enjoy this. I know I will!

Going for 28

Last fall, I was in the midst of a miserable semester. It was my sophomore year of college. I was 250 miles from home and nothing was going my way. I was exhausted, run-down and hadn't gotten a full nights sleep in weeks.

After three weeks of tossing and turning, I'd tried just about every solution in the book. I drank chamomile tea and no caffeine, I took herbal supplements, I tried running before bed, I started meditating. Nothing worked.

Finally, one night in a fit of desperation, I signed up for an mlb.com account. I gave them my credit card number and could now listen to any baseball game in the country.

I immediately turned on the game John Sterling was calling that night on WCBS and I felt a sense of calm I hadn't felt in weeks wash over me. It took me back to the summer nights of my childhood, driving home in the backseat of the car, listening to a Yankees game.

I fell asleep in twenty minutes.

I use this as a story of what baseball and the Yankees mean to me. It's not that I find baseball boring, and listening to Sterling puts me to sleep. I wouldn't be writing this if Idid. But baseball, and the Yankees, have always been a piece of my home. It's not an exxageration to say the sound of my childhood was the Yankees Soundtrack. I feel like the team is an extended part of the family.

So it's fitting that I'm writing this blog with my brother, Mike. He's much stat-focused than I am. So look for me more for my feelings about the team, growing up a Yankees fan, being a transplanted Yankees fan, team gossip (Will Jeter ever actually marry Minka Kelly? What's up with ARod and Cameron Diaz) and book/magazine/blog reviews.

We're going for 28 this year. Leave a comment if you are too.